"What do you mean I'm fighting Jonah?!" Riptide said, as the five of them entered the tent.

"Well this is all kind of short notice, and I couldn't find anyone else. So the two of you need to get in there." Ashe said pointing to the battlefield. "Just think of it as friendly sparring."

"Yeah…" Riptide said, looking off to the side. The croconaw looked out at the battlefield, remembering his fight with King. But Riptide quickly shook his head, turned towards Jonah and smiled. "Be sure to do your best alright. It'll be cool having you on the team. So don't hold back, alright."

Jonah took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah… Yeah alright."

The two then made their way out onto the field, Ashe and Ivy followed. But the former turned and stopped when she noticed that Dusty hadn't moved. "You coming?"

"Yeah… Um… Can we talk for a bit after all of this…?"


Lance, Cobalt, and Vernal made their way down a stony path that was lined with several tall trees and other foliage. The three soon came across an aggron and tyranitar, both with white scarfs tied around their arms. The two rock types standing in front of a stone wall with a metal gate in between.

"Ah, Lance! Was wondering when you'd show." The tyranitar said.

"Please tell me Pyre's not mad…"

"Can't tell you, besides he always looks pissed. Also we've been out here all day."

Lance sighed before looking back up. "So... how many times did he try to eat the gate…?" He loudly whispered.

"That was one time Lance!" The aggron yelled as the empoleon, his tyranitar partner, and Vernal began to laugh as they were let through. As they walked down a stone-ladden road, several large, white, stone buildings came into view.

"Finally here…" Lance said, glancing around. Marble City always reminded him a bit of Cascade. The busy streets, as well as the many shops that lined them, and of course, "the beautiful scenery…" Lance thought as he glanced at a group of girl pokemon.

"Lance!" Cobalt said, snapping Lance out of his thoughts. "We need to hurry!"

"Right."

The three soon approached a large white building with four towering stone pillars, two on either side of the entrance. They quickly made their way up the stairs, and towards a pair of massive wooden doors. Upon entering, the trio rushed down the slick, yellowish floors that lined the off-white halls.

"Where the hell is he!" An arcanine growled loudly.

"Pyre, there's no need to get so worked up." A large machamp said, walking up to the orange dog.

"Just once, you think he'd show up on time!" Pyre growled again.

"Well we haven't really started yet … It's still kind of early, and half of the counsel, not to mention Vernal aren't here yet either."

"Vernal… I have some words for him…" The two pokemon soon turned to the large wooden doors as Lance, Cobalt, and Vernal slowly emerged.

"We're not late, are we?" Lance asked, poking his head though.


"Jonah! Are you ready?!" Ashe yelled.

The buizel took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm ready." He said, taking a battle stance.

Ashe nodded in response before raining her talion in the air. "Battle begin!"

Riptide started things off, and rushed forwards with waterfall. In response, Jonah leaped into the air and used aqua jet to avoid the croconaw's advance. As he went up and over, the water dissipated as Jonah proceeded to use water gun. Riptide stopped and turned, blocking the attack with his arm.

As he fell, Jonah used aqua jet again to avoid hitting the ground. He made a turn and charged right towards Riptide. The croconaw reared his arm back in preparation to use ice punch. "Right, he knows ice punch too… Dammit, think!... Wait that's it!... this better work…" Jonah leaned up a bit before the water around him once again disappeared, but the momentum he'd built up kept him in the air.

Riptide threw his arm forward and used ice punch, but just as he did Jonah used water gun. The result of which not only propelled the buizel backwards but also created a build up of ice on Riptide's hand, weighing it down. Jonah continued to use water gun causing the block of ice to grow and stick to the ground.

"That was pretty smart of him." Ivy said, as she, Dusty and Ashe watched from the side.

"Now hold still…" Jonah thought as he used aqua jet again, landing a direct hit on the croconaw. But as Jonah pushed forwards against Riptide, the croconaw opened his wide jaws and bit down on the rushing water. Jonah was forced out of aqua jet as the water splashed around them. The buizel proceeded to fall onto the now muddy ground, landing on his stomach.

As Riptide looked down at him, Jonah picked up a clump of mud off the ground in one paw and readied ice punch with the other. But not before being blasted in the face with water gun. Jonah slid across the wet ground, and into a large rock on the field. Riptide then began to bite away at the ice incacing his hand. Jonah slowly got up and watched as Riptide swallowed a chunk of ice after getting his arm free. "Crap…"

As Riptide readied himself to attack he stopped, cringing in pain. "Ahh! Brainfreeze!"

"Really Rip…" Ivy said to herself.

With Riptide distracted, Jonah threw the ball of mud at the croconaw's face before once again following up with aqua jet. But to his surprise Riptide countered with waterfall, sending the buizel flying back and rinsing the mud of of the croconaw's face. Riptide then used water gun once again, pushing Jonah even further away before using waterfall to close the distance between the two. As Jonah struggled to get back up, his eyes widened as Riptide came barreling towards him.

"Oooh…" Dusty and Ivy said in unison as Riptide knocked Jonah to the ground, and into a nearby stone wall.

"Can he still…?" Ashe thought as she waited for Jonah to make a move. The buizel looked like he was about to, but instead fell forwards.

"Oww…" Jonah groaned as he lay on the ground.

"I guess that's that then… Riptide wins."

"Sorry about that Jonah…" Riptide said, helping the buizel up.

"You… really… knocked… the wind… outta me…" Jonah said, trying to catch his breath.

"Well hey, there's still the Dungeon Competency Test. You've got this!" Ivy said, reassuringly.

"Right…"


"About damn time you three got here…" Pyre grumbled, as he gave Lance a death glare.

"His eyes are piercing my soul…" Lance thought as stood semi frozen.

"And you!" The arcanine yelled as he turned towards Vernal. "We need to talk…" Pyre said in a low, growling voice. The decidueye took a step back and nodded hesitantly.

"Yes sir…"

"Come with me…" Pyre said, turning to leave the room.

Vernal sighed and glanced at Lance. "If I don't come back, you know what happened…" He jokingly said before following Pyre out of the room.

"He's really something isn't he…?" A machamp wearing a beige colored scarf around his arm said, as he looked over at Lance. Before he began to walk over towards the empoleon.

"Oh, hey Brick…"

"Look, don't mind Pyre. He's just… kind of in a bad mood."

"He's always in a bad mood."

"I guess you have a point there." The machamp said as he laughed. "Anyways, there's someone with me who'd like to meet you." Brick said, gesturing a rather large feraligatr to come forward. The blue reptile wore a guild scarf matching Brick's around his arm, and had a look on his face that Lance couldn't quite describe. It was… oddly intimidating…

"So… You're Lance huh…?" The feraligatr said as he slowly marched over.

"Yes… I don't think we've met…" Lance replied, holding out his flipper.

"I've heard about you… Name's Torrent. I'm Brick's newly appointed assistant guildmaster.

"It's… good to meet you." A slight uneasy feeling came over Lance as he shook Torrent's hand. There was just something about him… Something familiar that he just couldn't quite put his flipper on.

"Is something wrong?" Torrent asked.

"Sorry, there's just… been a few things on my mind lately…" The empoleon said, giving a smile.

"So, get any good teams this time?" Brick asked, crossing his arms.

"Well two of them seemed to stick out this time around." Cobalt replied, as Torrent looked like he started to pay more attention.

But before they could continue their conversation, a few more pokemon began to enter the room. Pyre and Vernal came back as well, the ladder of which having a defeated and somewhat frightened look on his face. The guildmasters as well as five other pokemon all gathered around a long rectangular wooden table, with the guildmasters on one end and the remaining five on the other.

"So, where shall we begin?" An alakazam asked.

"Well I'm sure we're all aware of what happened in Timberglade…" Pyre huffed, as he glared towards Vernal. "I-"

"Apologies for interrupting, but I feel there is something more pressing that we need to talk about." Cobalt calmly said.

"Oh I'm sorry… BUT ARE BAND-"

"Pyre! … Please…" The alakazam said, before gesturing for Cobalt to continue.

The lucario nodded and sighed. "On our way here, the dungeon of Ridged Pass began to break apart… Almost as if we were taken into the void… We also encountered someone inside who I feel was trying to guide us through and fix what happened."

"Hmph. Well now you have my attention…" Pyre said. "Because I recall one of my teams mentioning something like that… But I assumed it was just an excuse for them being late."

"You've got to be kidding me…" Lance thought.

"Wait, wait… Dungeons don't just "break apart." Brick said.

"This does sound like something we should probably look into…" Said the alakazam. "What about this individual you encountered?"

"They disappeared soon after we made our way though…" Cobalt said, glancing down.

Brick brought a hand to his head and sighed. "Next you'll be telling me another human showed up…"

"His name's Jonah." Lance said, looking over at the machamp.

Everyone turned to stare at the empoleon. "So… Where is he then…?" Torrent asked.

"At the guild." Cobalt replied. "He's currently being watched by one of our newer teams who found him during a job." The lucario said, taking three papers out of his bag and placing them on the table.

Torrent glanced at the paper with Riptide's information on it and began to stare at it, giving a slight smile. However his train of thought was soon interrupted by Pyre.

"Well if these dungeons are in fact coming apart, how do you know this human isn't responsible?!" The arcanine said.

"Honestly… We don't…" Lance answered hesitantly.

"Which is exactly why you shouldn't be the ones watching him, let alone a new team."

"Are you implying something?" Lance asked. "Because I think we have things under control."

"You mean like how you have your neph-" Pyre stopped himself from finishing, but it was already too late.

"If you want to say something to me, then say it…" Lance said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"...You're irresponsible Lance… Someone like you shouldn't be dealing with this…" Pyre spat in a low, almost growling voice.

"Maybe we should take a break…" Vernal Said, lifting his wing.


"How long does it take to pick a damn lock?! Hurry up and open the door! We don't know when they'll be back!" King loudly whispered.

"And here I thought you said you'd lay off of them…" Dusk said in an annoyed tone. The prinplup rolled his eyes.

"Look, how long have we been here again? That buizel's been here for a few days, and gets to take the damn test! There's something going on here…"

"Didn't your uncle tell you he'd talk about it with us when he got back?" The zorua said as he opened the door. "And since you think it's so easy, you can pick the lock next time." As King shoved past Dusk, the zorua sighed. "This is so stupid…"

"What's stupid is that-" King said, stopping himself before turning to the zorua who had a look on his face. A look that Dusk had when he was waiting for someone to say something dumb.

"So, we going through their crap or not?" Dusk asked in his usual snarky tone. Earning a glare from King.


"Pecha prevents poison… Grimy traps ruin food… Violent seeds… Right, makes you stronger..." Jonah thought as he stood behind some large rocks, trying to wash the mud out of his fur. It wasn't that he had a problem with getting dirty, but the mud was starting to dry and began to itch. The buizel then began to rub at his chest, as it still kinda hurt after his battle with Riptide. "Yep… Just like football tryouts…" Jonah thought as he reached into the bucket water sitting next to him..

"You… don't think I hit him too hard… do you…?" Riptide asked the others, rubbing his arm.

"I'm fine…" Jonah said, walking towards the group of pokemon. "Just trust me when I say I've had worse things happen to me…"

"Okay then, we'll head back to the guild and you'll take the last part there." Ashe said before glancing at Dusty. "Actually you guys go on ahead. And Jonah, wait for me by the archives."

As they walked back to the guild, Ivy and Riptide noticed Jonah muttering to himself as he followed them. "Jonah, you're gonna do fine. Or at least better than Rip did on his."

"Eh-" Riptide said, pointing at the treecko before slowly lowering his head. "Okay, fine…"

Ivy chuckled and shook her head before tuning her attention to dojo. "So any idea why Dusty stayed back there?"

Hearing this, Riptide froze. "Is he…?"

"Rip!"

"Huh?! Oh, um… It's probably nothing…"

"Rip…"

Riptide sighed and looked at the treecko. "Dusty's… He… kind of feels like he's… behind…"

"So what, you think he's gonna start something with Ashe?"

"Maybe…"

Jonah continued to mutter to himself, saying the names of various items and their effects as the buizel walked past them. "He's really into this, isn't he?" Ivy asked.

"Yeah…"

"...You still feel a bit bad about beating him, don't you." Ivy quietly said, leaning towards Riptide. The croconaw nodded. "Well don't, he'll get in. I'm sure of it."

Ivy and Jonah later approached the guild's entrance when they noticed that Riptide was gone. "Okay, how did we lose him!?" Ivy exclaimed.

"It's fine, you go look for him. I'll see you around." Ivy nodded before darting off into the main square. Jonah watched as the treecko ran off and began to think. "You don't think he… … He does feel bad doesn't he…"

"Dammit Rip…" Ivy said to herself. "Alright, Ivy… Think like Rip… Okay… If he's not there, then we might have a problem…"

Riptide scarfed down another doughnut as he sat on a bench near the main square. He absent mindedly watched as various pokemon walked past him up and down the stone streets of Cascade. Before an orange clawed hand waving in front of his face snapped him out of his current state.

"Hey, Riptide."

"Oh… Hey Flare… What are you doing here?"

"Heh, yeah… don't tell my dad, but sometimes I come here during my breaks…" The charmeleon said, sounding a little embarrassed. "So, have room for one more?" He said, gesturing at the bench.

"Yeah, sure…"


"So… You had to face him for his test… He lost… And now you feel bad something might happen…" Flare said as Riptide nodded.

"I mean Jonah's pretty smart and all, but-"

"You feel like you did something you shouldn't have… I know that feeling all too well…" Flare said before biting down on a doughnut of his own.

"There you are!" Ivy said as she walked up to the two reptiles. "You know, you could have at least said something." The treecko said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah… I guess…" Riptide said, looking down. Ivy stared at the croconaw for a bit before taking one of his doughnuts. "Really…"

"He's gonna get in. And when he does, no more feeling bad about this, alright." Ivy said as she turned to walk back to the guild.

Jonah stood outside the entrance to the guild's archives. He looked around at the stone walls around him as he swished his tails around out of boredom. "I wonder what's taking Ashe?..."

"Hey Jonah." The buizel was snapped out of his thoughts as he was now face to face with Sol.

"Wha- oh… Hey…"

"So… If you're not doing anything… Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Maybe later…" Jonah said, slightly backing against the wall.

"Okay, well how about just one for now?"

"Whatever is is it's gonna have to wait." Said Ashe as she walked up to the duo. "You ready for the last part?"

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess." Jonah said before he turned to Sol. "We'll talk later, okay."

"So close…" Sol thought, as the heliolisk watched as the two went into the archives.


Sol soon caught a glimpse of Ivy as he entered the guild's main hall. "Well if I can't ask Jonah…"

Ivy soon made her way upstairs to her team's room, but when she reached to open the door. She didn't feel anything… "What the hell…?" She thought, as the treecko reached out again. Ivy paused as it hit her. "An illusion?… Dusk…"

"You called." A smug voice behind her said.

"You better have a good reason for this shit." Ivy said, crossing her arms.

"I swear, it's like no one can take a joke anymore…" Dusk said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey Ivy." Said Sol as he walked up to pokemon. "Is… something wrong?..."

"No, just a small disagreement…" She replied, gritting her teeth.

"Oh, well I was wondering if we could talk."

"Sure, we can go into my team's room." She said while glaring at Dusk.

"Yeah, yeah, I can tell when I'm not wanted." The zorua said walking away.

Ivy slammed the door shut as she and Sol went inside. Hearing the wooden door close, Dusk turned around and walked back. A slight ripple ran down the stone corridor as a second illusion disappeared causing King to seem to fade into existence.

"I sure hope you got what you wanted…" Dusk said in an annoyed tone.

"Well… It's something…"


Lance stood in the hallway with his back against the wall. For the first time the empoleon felt something towards Pyre that wasn't uneasiness, but rather anger. But despite that, he knew that the arcanine had a point.

"Alright Lance… You're gonna walk back in there, and you're gonna finish this… … Okay, so maybe King does get into trouble sometimes and… and… … and now you're just making excuses…"

"How are you doing?" He heard Cobalt ask.

Lance didn't respond, instead just slowly turning his head towards the lucario. "He wasn't wrong… Sis handed him over to me to try and reel him back a bit and… Why… do I get the feeling that he did something…"

"Lance-"

"It's fine… Let's just head back in alright." Lance said with a cheerful look on his face. As the empoleon walked back to the room, there was a distinct sadness that Cobalt could feel in Lance's aura.

By the time the two reentered the meeting room, things had calmed down a bit. But an awkward feeling still lingered in the air. "So I take it we're able to continue now?" The alakazam asked, gazing around the room. "I'll take your silence as a yes." Over the next few hours, they continued to discuss the fracturing dungeons as well as how to possibly handle them.

"Now Cobalt, I recall you said you, Lance, and Vernal encountered someone in the fractured dungeon."

Cobalt nodded. "Yes… But they vanished soon after everything returned to normal…"

"So if we can find them, we could put a stop to this before it starts right?" Brick asked.

"You make that sound like it's easy…" Pyre groaned.

"And it's not like we can give an accurate description of them either." Said Vernal. "They were wearing this long cloak with a hood over their head."

"All I can tell you is that they're a delphox…" Cobalt added.

"A delphox… We'll continue this tomorrow."


Lance and Cobalt stepped outside of the building and looked out at the several ivory structures that lined the city. Cobalt turned towards Lance, noticing the empoleon had a tired scowl across his face. "Are you-"

"I'm fine…"

"...We both know that's not true…" Cobalt said as the black aura sensors on the back of his head began to vibrate.

"… Actually, Lance… There's something I want to tell you… I think… I think that pokemon back at Riged Pass may have been-"

"So what are you two doing later?" Vernal asked as he glided up to the pair. "Cause Brick, Torrent, and I were gonna head out to eat somewhere. Wanna come?"

Lance's expression immediately changed to that of an upbeat and cheerful one. "Sure, don't really have much else to do. What do you think?" He asked, turning towards Cobalt.

"I guess so… Why not." The lucario said before one again facing Lance. "We'll talk about this later…"


"I probably should have this asked sooner, but where exactly are we headed?" Lance asked Brick, who led the search for their destination.

"It's called… Umm… Okay, the name's kinda slipping from me at the moment. But it's around here somewhere. I'll know it when I see it."

"Uh huh… So what kind of food do they have there?"

"Don't really know what they have, but it's a new place and I wanted to try it." The machamp said.

On the way there, Lance could feel the way Torrent was looking at him. It didn't necessarily feel malicious, but… something felt a bit off.

"Well, here we are." Brick said looking up at a sign above the entrance of a large, ornate looking ivory building that was marked with brown accents.

Vernal looked up at the sign as well and whistled. "Heh, I didn't know you of all pokemon would be into places like this."

"Oh I'm not, I just heard earlier that this place had something interesting."

"I think this spot may be a bit out of my price range…" Vernal thought as he tugged on the vines hanging from his head.

"Lance and I'll catch up with you." Torrent said as the others stepped inside.

"Is something wrong…?" Lance asked.

"I just want to talk… Just so that there isn't anything between us."

Lance sighed. "If this is about what happened with Pyre I…"

Torrent shook his head. "I was… referring to King and Riptide…"

It took a few seconds for Lance to register what Torrent had said before it hit him. "I see… So… you know about what happened last year..." Torrent nodded. "Look, lately I've been trying to keep him busy and… ...You know… I don't know why, but I get the feeling he did something that I don't know about…" Lance said with a nervous smile.

Torrent stared at the empoleon for a bit. "Look, you seem like an alright guy. But this is something you should take care of quickly if King is staying at the guild. The last thing I want is for anything to escalate more than it already has. Especially since we'll be working together like this more often… Remember, this is my son we're talking about…" The feraligatr said as he turned around before walking inside. Lance sighed to himself, following Torrent shortly after.

Upon entering, they could really get a sense of the atmosphere inside. "What kind of place has Brick brought us to…?" Lance said under his breath as he glanced around his surroundings. There were a few columns much like the ones outside the Marble city guild hall, the difference being they were smaller and adorned with small lanterns. And as Lance looked over to the side, he saw a large painting on one of the reddish-brown walls depicting what Lance could only assume was probably some important battle.

"Hey, what took you two?" Vernal Asked as he waved them over.

"We were just having a little talk." Torrent said, walking over to their table.

"Yeah…" Lance followed up as he sat next to Vernal.

"What to get…" Brick said mostly to himself as he stared intensely at the menu he held.

"If you can't pronounce it, then you probably shouldn't order it." Torrent said as he did the same.

"Yes Torrent, I remember what happened last time…" The machamp groaned. "But anyways, how about you two tell us a bit more about this… human…"

"Well when I spoke with him, he claimed to be a researcher from the human world. Something about a kind of energy is what led him here." Cobalt said, as he browsed through his menu.

"And you let him join the guild?"

"I didn't sense any mal intent on his end. Besides, it's easier to keep an eye on him this way. And that's where team mire comes in, remember?"

"I'm still kinda surprised that Riptide and the others went to you guys instead of with us." Brick said.

"Ah, it's fine. Besides knowing the kid, it's because Cascade's closer to Bluefield town." Torrent said, smiling.

Shortly after orders were placed, the five pokemon continued to talk. "Why is everything here so expensive…" Vernal said to himself.

"If that's the case, why'd you get that? You know the berries used in it are pretty hard to come by, right?" Lance said in a somewhat teasing manner.

"You're mocking my pain…?"

As the others snickered at the decidueye's remark, Cobalt began to feel something again. "Again…? Where are you…?"

"Hey Cobalt. Doing alright there?" Brick asked.

"Yes… Sorry about that…"


"I'll see you around, alright…" Ivy said as Sol left her team's room. "Damn that was a lot of questions…" The treecko thought as she leaned back onto her bed. "Kinda feel bad for Jonah once Sol tracks him down… I wonder where this sudden interest in him came from?..."

Her thoughts were soon interrupted as Riptide barged inside practically tugging Jonah in along with him. "Ow, ow, ow, ow…" Jonah said, before getting his arm back from the croconaw. "Look I get you're excited, but easy…"

"Sorry…"

"Wait, am I missing something here?" Ivy asked.

"Oh nothing much… Teammate." Jonah said, leaning in towards the treecko.

"Did you tell her?…" Dusty tiredly said as he peered inside.

"Yeah… it was the last test that really saved me there… Ashe said that I did well enough, but that I shouldn't really go into a dungeon without you guys, not that I really plan to… …Honestly, this feels a bit weird… But not in a bad way."

"So like a new start…?" Dusty asked.

"Something like that. By the way, how come you hung back at Ashe's place?"

"I… I was talking to Ashe about if I could maybe start training there every now and then…" Dusty said, glancing off to the side.

"Well, to new goals, and to new teammates." Ivy said.

"Then I guess we have two reasons to celebrate!" Riptide said, grabbing hold of Dusty and Jonah.

"I didn't know you needed an excuse to cram your face with sweets." Ivy jokingly said as Riptide rolled his eyes.

"Please put me down…" Dusty muttered.

"Me too… I'd kinda like to write something…" Jonah said. "Riptide?..."

"Write… Uh… ...Dusty… We forgot to write mom and dad…" The croconaw said as he slowly released the two.

"Yeah… I guess with everything going on… Still, I probably should have remembered that…" Dusty said, the clear embarrassment present in his voice.

"There's some stuff in the archives you can-"

"Alright, we'll be back in a bit. And then we can celebrate!" Riptide said, hastily leaving the room, taking Dusty with him.

"Wait!" The cubone protested, as Riptide carried him away.

Ivy shook her head as chuckled to herself. "For your sake, I hope you get used to this." The treecko said, turning towards Jonah.

"Hey, where's my journal?" Jonah said, digging through his stuff.

"Which one?"

"The new one."

"That's not really that much clearer."

"I know I left it here…" Jonah said to himself as he brought his paws to his temple.

As Ivy watched the buizel continue to rummage through his things, a thought soon came to her mind. "Jonah… Come with me…"

"Huh?"

"I think… I might know where your journal is…"


"How's the letter coming along?" Riptide asked as his face was buried in a book about recipes.

"It would be going a lot better if you helped." The cubone responded.

The two both were sitting at a small wooden table near the archive's entrance. Dusty sat on one end with a few pieces of paper in front of him. While Riptide sat on the other, intensely staring in his book.

"Come on, you know I'm not good with this kind of stuff…" Dusty sighed.

"...Should we… tell them…?"

"Hmm?"

"You know… about everything that's happened here…?"

Riptide finally looked up from the book. "Well… maybe not everything…"

"I don't know… Part of me feels like we should…"

"Hmm I guess so… but maybe not mom though…"

"Well what do you want me to do, lie?!"

"I'm not saying lie, just… leave some things out… Besides, you're a horrible liar."

Dusty sighed. "I'm just guessing Torr- dad… might be able to tell the guildmaster over there about… the dungeon…"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

After a while, Dusty finally finished the letters. "So how does this look?" The cubone said, sliding it over to Riptide. Who was at this time licking his scaly jaws while still staring at the book. "Riptide." Dusty said in a slightly sterner tone.

"Huh… Oh, you're done…"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Riptide said as he tried to shake himself out of his dazed state.

"Alright, let's see…"

Sorry it took us a while to write, but a lot of things have been going on here at the guild lately. In fact the day we're writing this, we got a new teammate. We saved him during our first mission. His name's Jonah, he's… a bit weird, but he's nice enough. Riptide also evolved a little while back. We also kind of ran into Flare a few times. But don't worry, we're on good terms now. And aside from Jonah, we made a few friends here. Sol and Luna, the two of them make up a team called Team Shine. But yeah, a bunch of things have been happening here lately. But so far we're doing okay. For the most part at least…

Love and miss you, Dusty and Riptide.

"Really? You bolded your name..."

"Who wrote it again…?" Dusty huffed.

"Alright, alright, fine. Let's see the one for dad."

Sorry it took us a while to write, but a lot of things have been going on here at the guild lately. In fact the day we're writing this, we got a new teammate. We saved him during our first mission. His name's Jonah, he's… a bit weird, but he's nice enough. Riptide also evolved a little while back. We also ran into Flare a few times. But don't worry, we're on good terms now. And aside from Jonah, we made a few friends here. Sol and Luna, the two of them make up a team called Team Shine. But yeah, a bunch of things have been happening here lately.

Something weird happened while we were in a dungeon. Everything seemed like it was breaking apart. And there was this weird void-like space all around us. It was really scary… we got separated when it happened to… We don't really know what caused it either. It was like it just… happened… Everything's fine now, but we hope that whatever that was doesn't repeat itself.

Dusty and Riptide.


"Alright, where is it?" Ivy said, crossing her arms. She and Jonah stood on either side of Dusk in the hallway outside his and King's room.

"And what exactly are you asking me for?..." Dusk said, in an annoyed tone.

"My journal, where is it?"

"Oh… A journal… Yeah, I don't have one of those." Dusk said, facing Jonah.

"Listen here you little- … You were messing around our room earlier. Did you take it?" Ivy asked sternly.

"Now do I look like the type of pokemon who would steal things?..." The zorua asked facetiously. "Because as a dark type, it's that kind of stigmatizing that-"

"Yes, and you have."

"Whatever. I don't have your dumb journal." Dusk said as he slipped past the two and began to walk away. "I'll let you know if I find it. How 'bout that?"

Ivy placed her hand up to her face and sighed. "We can't let Rip know about this…" She said, turning to face Jonah. "We'll figure this out ourselves…"


"Well that was fun." Lance said as he and Cobalt made their way to a small house that they were staying at for the time being.

"So I take it you're feeling better?" Cobalt asked.

"A little, I guess…"

"Well that's good… ...So… do you mind if we talk about something…?"

"Right, you were trying to say something earlier. Go ahead."

"That individual from Ridged Pass… There was something about their aura… Something about it felt similar to Am-" But before Cobalt could finish, there was a blinding blue light...

"That individual from Ridged Pass… There was something about their aura that bothers me."

"What about it?"

"It seemed almost… distorted… Like it was warped by something… It just… felt strange…"

"Well once we find whoever that was, maybe we can get some answers."

A cloak wearing delphox watched from a distance as the two pokemon walked away. "...Why did you do that…?" She asked as another cloaked figure approached her. "I can't help them from a distance like this…"

"They can't know about you… Not yet…"

"This is starting to be a real pain in the ass, you know that…"

"Do you realise what could happen if-"

"Yes, I get it! But maybe just for once we can make an exception."

"Not until the human has shown that he's ready… Do you want to become useless at the time they'll need you most…?!"

The delphox lowered her head. "...No…"

"Then stay away from them…"