Crusaders of Dusk

by DarkFoxKit

Cut off from the life he knew, an Absol now must work his way and earn his right to return to the place he called home. Joining him is a timid Goomy who desires to become stronger and more respected. The two will face many challenges, learning to trust one another.

40. Chapter 40: Reconciling

DarkFoxKit: What's this? Another chapter? In only a week? What's going on? O.O

Traveling Master: I think I can explain this one, as surprising as it is. You see, last time I mentioned how I was going to be leaving due to work related stuff. Turns out for the following two weeks, I have to do quarantine just as a precaution. Luckily, the place I'm staying at provides internet. And since I'm stuck in my room all day, it gives me and DF lots of time to write. Which is a bonus!

DarkFoxKit: Yup, we were able to finish another chapter due to this. Unfortunately, we're not sure how well we'll be able to write once the 2 weeks are up.

Traveling Master: Just gotta hope for the best, and that where I'm going has good enough internet to allow me and DF to write.

DarkFoxKit: We'll try to figure it out when we get there though. For now, let's enjoy this reprise while we still can. I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter.

---

Chapter 40: Reconciling

Dust set Berry down when they were back in Waterfall Cavern's 9th floor, the same floor Tsunami usually stayed in. He wanted to make sure Tsunami was okay with them taking Berry back before they actually went back to the guild.

"Well, that was a lot of family drama," Ivy sighed. "I've had enough of those for a lifetime."

"You can say that again," Dust chuckled, recalling his recent conversation with his mother. He then turned to Berry, wondering how she felt after that whole ordeal with her father. "Berry, how are you doing?"

"Fantastic," Berry replied sarcastically. "I'm pretty sure my own father is going to make sure I can never come home again after he recovers from his body trauma. Not that I had planned to come back home anyways after leaving to join the Unity Guild…"

"Well, you still have a home at the guild," Dust commented, taking a quick glance at Tsunami before continuing. "Granted that Tsunami decides to have you stay or come back with us."

Berry looked at the Goodra for a moment before frowning. "She might be my biological mother, but I'm still a Crusader. I can't live my life in this cave, especially knowing there are Pokemon out there who would need my help."

"I still don't know what that Quagsire's problem with you is." Shab frowned, looking pretty annoyed about what happened earlier. "He has no idea how lucky he was to have you for a daughter. How could he accuse you of being something monstrous just because he got a little scared of Tsunami?"

Berry sighed. A part of her agreed with her father, especially after that nightmare she had of eating her own siblings one by one. She didn't know much about the Goodra line, or how they normally raised their young. But from what she could tell, their young did need to eat a lot, and they were clearly not all herbivores either.

"It certainly didn't help that Tsunami attacked him." Berry frowned.

"I cannot speak for Berry's father, but I can somewhat understand his reasons," Dust replied to Shab. "He was simply acting as a father wanting to protect his family, though unfortunately he seemed too quick to assume the worst. Likewise, Tsunami's retaliation was because a mother saw her child get attacked. Could that whole situation have been handled better? I think so, but I can understand a bit why both Wave and Tsunami reacted the way they did."

"Are you alright, Berry?" Ivy asked, noticing the troubling look on the Goomy's face.

Berry shook her head. "Everything is only messed up because I was hatched as a Goomy! Why did Tsunami have to be my mother!? I didn't want to be a Goomy! Why couldn't I have been hatched as a Wooper? Then Tsunami wouldn't have had a reason to go to my home, and Dad wouldn't have had a reason to become angry and hurt me!"

Everyone fell silent. Dust turned to Tsunami, expecting the Goodra to be furious by what Berry had just said, but to his surprise Tsunami looked far from angry. She looked heartbroken, and Dust didn't blame her. Her whole life she believed that her child was gone, and it was only recently she learned that she was alive and well. After finally reuniting with her child, Dust figured that Tsunami believed Berry would want to stay with her. But hearing her own child basically wanting to cut off all ties with her caused her more pain than anything she might've felt before.

Tsunami looked like she wanted to say something, but was hesitant. Dust felt like he should at least try to comfort her. "Just give her some time… Berry did just go through some family drama."

Tsunami let out a sigh, but only nodded in acknowledgement to Dust's comment.

Berry slithered to a wall, wanting to sulk for a bit.

"Maybe… one of us should talk to her," Shab suggested. "I don't think Berry should be left alone right now."

Ivy looked at Berry. "I'll talk to her. She and I share a similar… family problem we have right now."

Dust remembered his private conversation with Ivy concerning her father and nodded. "Good luck."

The Snivy went over to the sulking Goomy and sat down beside her.

"Hey… it's gotta suck, huh? To find out you're related to what could be classified as a monster," Ivy started.

"I've always just wanted to be like everyone else. All my life I kept wondering what was wrong with me, why I looked so different from everyone else," Berry sighed. "Now I know why… I wasn't even born a Wooper. Perhaps Dad was right about me…"

"Sometimes dads just say the first thing that comes to their mind and assumes that they're right about everything," Ivy replied. "Doesn't mean we have to take everything they say to heart, even if they are our own father."

"But what if he was right? What if Tsunami had been lying about losing me as an egg, and wanted me to hatch there just to feed off of my siblings?" Berry asked.

"Well… did you?" Ivy questioned back.

"W-well, no, but…"

"But nothing. You never ate any of your siblings, so get that out of your head right now," Ivy said, smacking Berry upside the head.

"Ow!" Berry frowned.

"You may not have been born as a Wooper, but that doesn't mean you should hate yourself and your biological mother for that," Ivy continued. "We can't control what we would be born as, or who our family are. But we can control our own destiny, and who we could become. It's clear Tsunami loves you though, she looked genuinely heartbroken when you practically said you wanted to disown her as your mother."

Berry frowned. "Tsunami… is a wild Pokemon. She attacks others without mercy, she eats other Pokemon without remorse, she would've killed my dad if I hadn't stopped her… why would she care if I 'disown' her or not?"

"Well, how would you feel if you saw Cliff get hurt by someone? From what I've seen, you and Dust really care about that Larvitar, so I'm pretty sure you both would be angry with whoever attacked Cliff, maybe going so far as to lose control," Ivy brought up. "And after everything, after saving Cliff, wouldn't you feel heartbroken too if she suddenly said something similar to what you said earlier? Maybe she wished Dust never had found her egg, that she was hatched in the wild instead of with you two. Would you or Dust care if she 'disowned' either of you?"

The Goomy didn't say anything for a while. She thought of how she would feel if Cliff did react like that. Sometimes Berry was worried if Cliff ever reunited with her real parents, she would want to go back with them, or become angry at Dust and Berry for taking her egg away from her home. Berry, as much as she hated to admit it, now somewhat understood Tsunami's feelings on the matter.

"It just doesn't feel fair… I never asked to be Tsunami's child…" Berry said sadly.

"I know… I never asked to be my own father's child either…" Ivy agreed bitterly. "And there will be some Pokemon who will judge you for it… but you can't let that define you, Berry. While Tsunami is a wild Pokemon, that doesn't mean you have to be like her. Even if you became a Goodra yourself, that doesn't mean you have to live like she does. And despite all of that, Tsunami was only following her nature and how she was raised. She never acted malicious on her own. She enjoyed playing with your siblings, and talking with your Quagsire mother, she didn't hurt or eat any of them. She was only hostile to your father because he hurt you. Tsunami isn't evil or a monster. She's a caring mother who lost her child long ago."

Berry let out a sigh, though she knew Ivy was right. Tsunami didn't really do anything wrong. Tsunami terrified her and Splash when they first saw her, because she was a big dragon they never saw before, who just ate a big snake Pokemon like it was nothing. Tsunami only got angry and attacked them because she thought they were hallucinations to torment her. Tsunami was kind to her teammates, though she didn't know Shab was a friend of her's until later. Tsunami enjoyed playing with her siblings and talking to her mother, if only her father had reacted better…

Berry then gave Ivy an annoyed look. "I wanted to hate Tsunami, Ivy… but I guess I really just wanted to hate myself, and have an excuse for it…"

Berry looked over at Tsunami again, who was sitting at another wall. When Tsunami wasn't trying to attack or eat anyone, she looked like a big, lovable Skitty. "But you are right… Tsunami was… never really malicious… just… grew up as a wild Pokemon. And… I don't have to be like her if I don't want to be."

"Heh, if anything I think Dust is a good example of not fitting the stereotype. Dust doesn't act like how you'd expect an Absol would normally do, and we've seen how his mother can be," Ivy shuddered for a bit, recalling Eclipse's pressure. "Could you imagine if Dust acted all serious, intimidating or moody all the time? I think I'd prefer an optimistic Dust over an emo one."

"Yeah…" Berry shuddered as she remembered facing Dust when he was trying to act like Eclipse, it wasn't fun. "I probably wouldn't be nearly as close to Dust as I am now if he was."

Ivy nodded before she gave a small smile. "Why don't you go make up with Tsunami before we leave? I'm sure you'd rather not leave things the way they are now."

Berry was still a bit uneasy around Tsunami, but she did owe the big Goodra an apology. She wouldn't want Cliff to act the same way she did to Tsunami after all. "Yeah… I'll try."

Meanwhile, while Ivy was talking with Berry, Dust and the others had been watching in silence. Dust didn't know what to say to Tsunami, though it was more that he didn't want to accidentally say anything that would upset the Goodra further. So he decided to just sit there and wait until Ivy and Berry had finished their conversation.

"Is she… doing well?" Tsunami suddenly asked.

"What?" Dust was surprised by the sudden question that he didn't fully register what Tsunami had just said.

"Her time as a Crusader… has she been well? … Has she been… happy?" Tsunami asked.

Dust was not expecting a question like that coming from Tsunami, though he did recall her having some knowledge on what Crusaders are. "Berry has been an amazing Crusader ever since I first met her. Of all the times we've been partners, not once did I ever see her regret ever being a Crusader. She's grown from the first time I saw her, from being shy and lacking confidence, to having strong determination and desire to help others. Heh, sometimes her desire to help others becomes a little too great and she forgets to take care of herself sometimes. But I'm always there to help her, just like she's always helped me. I know about her struggles and coming to terms with who she is, but you can't deny that she truly cares about those who are close to her. I know she had said a lot earlier, but I believe that deep down, she also cares for you too."

"Berry is great that way," Shab added. "Even when Pokemon try to hurt her, she still cares about them. I remember this strange Fire type Lanturn attacked us in another dungeon, but Berry was willing to help him after we heard about their situation."

Tsunami gave a worried look. "Has she… been taking… care of herself?"

"She has, and when she doesn't, we are there to help her take care of herself," Dust answered.

"But what about… meat? Did she… really mean it? She refuses to eat meat?" Tsunami asked, still having a hard time believing Berry would refrain from eating any meat.

"Remember when we said Berry cares a lot about others?" Shab sheepishly said. "She kinda does to a fault… she doesn't want to eat meat because it means she's eating other Pokemon."

"But she… has to eat meat," Tsunami replied.

"And I agree," Dust nodded. "While not intentional, Berry has consumed meat before and I have noticed how well her body reacted. Though that was when she didn't realize she had eaten meat. She didn't exactly react well when a fellow Crusader had forced fed her some meat before."

"I'm worried… a Goomy can't grow well without meat…" Tsunami frowned. "I want… her to grow… happy and healthy… but she can't if… she won't eat meat."

"Even after she said she didn't want you to be her mother?" Shab asked.

"I want her… to be happy… even if it's… not with me," Tsunami sighed softly.

"Well, like I said, give her some time," Dust replied as he gently patted Tsunami's back. "She's been through a lot and has a lot on her mind."

Tsunami looked at Dust. "She… is lucky to have… Pokemon like you… looking after her. Do you… know anyone… who could… feed her meat?"

"Well, like I mentioned before, the only times she has eaten meat was when she didn't know, and when someone else had force fed her meat. And it wasn't the first time Al did it. Even after learning that she didn't want to eat meat, he ended up doing the same thing later," Dust lightly chuckled and remembered Al's interesting behavior. "I'm not sure if he just doesn't understand, or if he doesn't care that Berry doesn't want to eat meat."

"Al, huh? Another Crusader?" Tsunami asked.

"Yeah, he's a bit of a wild one, but he does care for others," Shab answered.

Dust then had a sudden thought as he thought of Al. "Actually, speaking of Al, by chance have you ever met any Charmeleon before? Al is a Charmeleon who doesn't remember his past and so far hasn't met anyone who knows him."

Dust noticed that Tsunami seemed to have paused a bit when he mentioned a 'Charmeleon', but other than that, he couldn't get a read on her.

"... No, I… haven't met a… Charmeleon," Tsunami answered.

"Not surprising, I doubt a lot of Charmeleon would want to come to a watery dungeon like this," Shab remarked.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Dust admitted. "I'll try to speak to Berry about the whole meat thing, but I doubt she'll be willing to eat meat anytime soon."

Tsunami then looked up, noticing that Berry and Ivy were making their way over to them. Tsunami's full attention was on Berry as she slithered closer.

When Berry was right in front of Tsunami, she let out a small sigh. "I'm… sorry for blowing up on you like that, Tsunami… I was just… angry. I guess I also wanted a reason to be mad at you, to blame all my problems on you… but I realize that wasn't fair to you. While I didn't ask to be born a Goomy, you didn't ask for me to be bullied by others when I was born. I'm glad you stopped before you killed my dad. I appreciate you were trying to get along with the family who raised me. That's… more than I could've asked for from you, considering you grew up as a wild Pokemon."

Tsunami gave a small smile before frowning. "I'm sorry… for attacking the Quagsire. I only… wanted to protect you."

"I understand… but maybe next time try to restrain yourself from killing someone?" Berry suggested. "Civilized Pokemon don't live like wild Pokemon do. We don't kill each other, not usually anyways. And I'm also sorry for how my dad treated you… he had always been a bit… overprotective."

Tsunami nodded as she frowned once more. "Will you be… going now?"

"Yeah, we should. I'm a Crusader, Tsunami, and these Pokemon are my teammates, and my friends," Berry answered. "We need to get back to the guild soon."

For a while Tsunami remained silent and Dust couldn't tell if the Goodra was upset by Berry's response. He half-expected her to refuse and have Berry stay with her. But to his relief he saw Tsunami sigh as she smiled and nodded.

"Please… write… or visit me… again… soon… maybe?" Tsunami requested.

Berry looked hesitant, but she nodded. "Yeah. It… might be nice to learn more about my species, and… maybe get to know you under better circumstances."

Tsunami smiled as she went and picked up Berry with her antennae so that she could give her one last hug before Berry had to leave.

Berry was a bit stiff when Tsunami had suddenly picked her up, and felt pretty awkward when she hugged her. But Tsunami either didn't notice or didn't care, she was just happy to hug her child before letting her go.

Berry hopped up onto Dust's back, which Tsunami giggled a little at seeing, likely thinking it was cute to see the Absol with her child on his back. Tsunami giggled even more at seeing the Feebas hopping onto Berry's head.

Tsunami gave them a wave as Dust and Ivy walked away, leaving the dungeon and the Goodra behind.

"She seemed like she would've been a good mother to you, had you hatched with her, Berry," Ivy noted as they were walking.

"Interesting notion," Dust nodded. "I imagine you having a very different life had you and your mother never been separated in the first place."

"I don't know if I would be the same Berry you'd all know… I'd likely be more of a wild Pokemon, or at least semi-wild, like Tsunami…" Berry said softly.

"Doesn't matter to me," Shab replied. "You'll always be the same, amazing, caring Berry to me."

"Of course it wouldn't matter to you, you were already a wild Pokemon," Ivy snickered.

Berry wasn't sure if she would've been as caring as Shab said she would. Tsunami wasn't malicious or evil, but she clearly had no problems not showing any mercy to a Pokemon she didn't like. Not to mention she eats other Pokemon, something Berry had always been against. Berry was worried if she had been raised by Tsunami, she would've likely killed other Pokemon as well, and not care all that much. Then again, maybe it's a dragon thing to assert their dominance. Blizza is pretty much the same way, and she isn't even wild. Al may not technically be a Dragon type, but he is draconic enough, and he can be pretty wild himself. I guess the only dragon who doesn't seem to be like that is Chihiro, but then again, I've only seen her kind and caring side… who knows what she does when she gets serious.

"We can think more about what could have been and what couldn't later, for now, let's go back home," Dust suggested as he held his badge. "Ready when you all are."

---

When the Carriage pulled up at the Unity Guild, Dust and Ivy hopped out of it. Berry was on Dust's back, and Shab was on Berry's head, as usual. Dust paid the Carriage Pokemon their dues since they, thankfully, had plenty of Poke.

"So, what are you going to do now, Ivy?" Dust asked the Snivy as they were walking into the guild.

"I'm not sure…" Ivy hesitated. "I want to talk to Talon… but I'm not sure if he wants to hear me."

Dust wondered if Ivy felt the same way he did when he spoke with his mother last time. Feeling anxious and nervous, unsure of how Eclipse would react until finally he confronted her.

"It's best to find out as soon as possible. You can wait, but the longer you do, the more nervous you'll feel. Doubts will start to come, and soon you'll start getting worried as you think of every possible outcome. If Talon truly does care for you, and I know he does, then he'll hear you out," Dust advised.

"I'm sure he's had enough time to cool off and really think about what you'd had done for him and Tippi since you joined," Shab reassured. "It wouldn't be fair for him to not talk to you just because you happen to be related to a deranged Serperior who ate his family. I mean, that wasn't your fault."

"It may not have been my fault, but fear does funny things to how Pokemon think," Ivy sighed. "And fear often leads to hatred."

"That won't happen with you and Talon," Berry spoke up. "It might take some time for you two to really be able to trust each other again, and you might feel awkward with each other for a while. But as long as you two continue helping each other, I'm sure Talon will see you as your own Pokemon rather than who your father is."

"And there's only one way to find out," Dust added.

When Team Night Tide and Ivy entered the guild, they could see Talon and Tippi looking at job request boards.

"This is your best chance to talk to him," Dust said to Ivy.

Ivy frowned and gulped nervously. "I don't know if now is the best time…"

"It may never be the best time, but the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be in the future," Dust advised.

"You can do it, Ivy. Just like how you got me to talk to Tsunami, I'm telling you to talk to Talon," Berry said.

Ivy sighed, but nodded. She slowly started walking over to Team Silkwing, hoping the Staravia didn't suddenly attack her upon seeing her again.

"Um… Talon… Tippi?" Ivy nervously spoke up.

"Ivy?" Tippi turned around, surprised but happy to see her teammate again. "Where have you been?"

Talon turned to face Ivy, but didn't show much of a reaction seeing the Snivy. While Ivy usually had an easy time reading others, she couldn't tell what Talon was thinking, if he was still furious with her, if he wanted to get away from her. Part of her expected him to just turn away and leave.

"I've been… out with Team Night Tide," Ivy answered. "I needed to clear my head for a bit."

"I'm glad you're okay. We were about to go out looking for you," Tippi said.

"Were you?" Ivy frowned, though she was mostly looking at Talon. "Did you… really care that I suddenly went missing? Or… were you glad to be rid of me?"

Talon didn't say anything.

Ivy sighed before looking down. "Listen Talon, I know that my… father did some horrible things. I really didn't know that he was the one who… well… you know… to your family… and back when he had you and Berry in his vines, I really did try to do something. But he was using some kind of hypnotic power on me or something… you know I would never join someone like him, even if he is my father. I'm not him, I'm my own Pokemon. I have a choice to be who I want to be. So please, Talon, please don't see me as my father…"

For a while Talon had remained silent, but finally after what felt like an eternity, he spoke up. "I'm...sorry."

Ivy was expecting a lot of things, but hearing Talon say sorry was not one of them.

"I know you're not your father, and it wasn't fair for me to treat you like that. Before when we first met, I already had a hard time just because seeing you reminded me of what happened to my family. After learning that you were related to that monster, all I could think about was how my family was taken away. Even now, part of me is still angry and wants to blame you," Talon turned away for a moment as he scowled. But then he calmed down as he sighed and faced Ivy once more. "But I know that it's wrong. It's… gonna be hard for me to get over this feeling… but I still want you on the team. That is if you want to stay."

Ivy actually gave a smile at Talon. "Yes, of course. Team Silkwing just wouldn't be complete without me, right?"

"Of course it wouldn't," Tippi agreed. "I'm very glad to have you back on the team. And I'm sure you and Talon can eventually work things out. Isn't that right, Talon?"

Talon nodded. "Yeah, it will take some time, but we'll be able to work through this."

"That's all I ask for; a chance to prove to you I'm not my father," Ivy said with determination.

"I'm glad things worked out, somewhat, for Team Silkwing," Shab remarked as they watched the conversation.

"Yeah, they just need time now, and hopefully Talon will get over his hatred towards Ivy's species," Berry agreed.

"Yeah, but for now, let's turn in our mission completion, go pick up Cliff, and call it a night. I don't know about you two, but I'm pretty exhausted," Dust yawned.

"Yeah, it's been a long day for all of us," Berry agreed. "At least I'm not sick anymore."

Dust couldn't agree more. After turning in their mission and getting their rewards, they went to pick up Cliff, who was more than happy to see him and Berry again. As they made their way to their room, Cliff shared her day, the fun she had with Phantom and Spooks. Despite how the day was, hearing Cliff laugh, as well as seeing Talon and Ivy reconcile, did make the day end on a good note.

Berry had never been more appreciated to Cliff, it was because of this innocent little Larvitar that let her leave Tsunami on a somewhat good note. And it helped Berry understand how much a mother would care for their child, even if Berry isn't technically Cliff's actual mother. Damp wasn't technically Berry's actual mother either, but she knew Damp still loved her, just as she loved Cliff.

Everyone slept close by that night, even though Shab and Berry needed water, they could wait until the next morning. Berry was also sure to keep a Pecha Berry or two handy to make sure her slime didn't accidentally poison anyone.

---

It was early the next morning when something woke up Team Night Tide. Dust grumbled as he opened his eyes, hearing a lot of noises just outside their room. Berry, Shab, and Cliff all sleepily opened their eyes too.

"What's going on out there?" Berry asked, yawning.

"I don't know, but it sounds like the guild is doing another game of tag," Dust groggily replied as he got up.

As he got closer to the door, the noise only grew louder, making him wonder who was even making that ruckus in the first place. Though when he opened it, he was surprised to see a familiar Kangaskhan.

"Carrie? What's going on? You're not the one making all that noise, are you?" Dust asked as Berry, Shab, and Cliff came over.

"No," Carrie sighed. "I came out to see what all the noise is about."

"Too loud, really hard to sleep," Chloe pouted.

"Too loud for me to sleep too," Cliff agreed with her friend.

"Look ahead," Carrie pointed out.

Dust, Berry, Shab, and Cliff did look ahead, and were surprised to see a crowd of Pokemon gathering around. Though it wasn't the crowd that was noisy, it was two Pokemon arguing very loudly.

"Who's arguing this loud at this time?" Shab groaned.

"One way to find out," Dust answered as they started heading to the crowd.

At first Dust couldn't make out what was being said, but as they got closer, he could start picking up pieces from all the shouting from whoever was arguing.

"You always do this! Every single time there's some random female, you somehow managed to screw things up and make things more troublesome for us!" A voice shouted.

"You're one to talk! You rush in and fight the moment you see even a small hint of battle! All that training has turned that brain of yours into a muscle! How about using it for once!" A second voice countered.

"Oh, big talk coming from someone who is such a clutz, that a Spinda has more balance than you!" The first voice countered.

Despite not seeing who was fighting, Dust had already guessed who were the arguing Pokemon. When they had reached the crowd, they saw that it was Brody and Grant who were at the center of it all. The two looked like they were ready to attack the other, which would explain why no one has made a move yet to stop them. Dust didn't really blame them, knowing how destructive Team Destruct could be. And that was normally when they were in a good mood. He could only imagine what would happen if they did fight with all that pent up anger.

"You know what?!" Grant shouted. "Your cooking tastes like Tauros crap!"

Everyone went quiet as they all watched Brody's reaction. He was fuming with anger, Dust never saw the Lucario so angry before.

"That's it!" Brody shouted as aura started pulsing from his body. "Enough talk!"

"Couldn't agree with you more!" Grant replied.

But just before they could charge at each other, Carrie stepped forth and grabbed the Lucario by his right ear and the Grovyle by his leaf on his head. "All right, that is enough out of you two!"

"Come on! You can't stop u-" Grant began to protest before Carrie gave him a very harsh and scary look. "O-okay, you can…"

Carrie then turned to the rest of the crowd. "Alright everyone, get back to your rooms, there's nothing to see here!"

The crowd of Pokemon all grumbled as they were heading back to their rooms, except for Team Night Tide. Carrie didn't seem to mind having their presence here as she berated the two arguing Pokemon.

"Now, I want to know what caused you two to start arguing at 5 AM in the morning and I want to know right now!" Carrie demanded.

"Anything for you, Carrie," Brody smiled before glaring at Grant. "It was just a simple mission until this oversized weed ruined it all!"

"You want to say that again?!" Grant shouted back.

"Enough!" Carrie shouted, giving another hard yank on the two Pokmeon. "Now what happened?"

"Yeah, what happened?" Chloe repeated from Carrie's pouch

"This oughta be good," Berry mumbled.

Brody and Grant glared at each other until the Lucario sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you what happened. It all started when we had received a special escort mission. It was already late in the day but seeing how it was a special request, we decided to take the mission….."

---

Brody's Flashback

We had to meet up with the client near the entrance of the Blazing Jungle Mystery Dungeon. A jungle where it's so hot that many Fire types take residence there. It was known to be quite a dangerous dungeon, but the client needed to go through there. And the reason?

A Nidoran female, who looked incredibly lovely wearing her silk robes, and a cute tiara on her head, met up with us.

"Greetings. Are you the team who had taken my request?" The Nidoran asked.

Before I could introduce myself to this very lovely Nidoran, I'm suddenly shoved to the side as Grant walked up to our client.

"Yeah, that's us, what's it to ya?" Grant asked in an intimidating manner. "You looking to fight, or something?"

I quickly stepped in front of Grant and bowed in front of the mistress. "I am very sorry for my friend. He doesn't understand proper etiquette. Yes, we are Team Destruct, who you have hired for this brave endeavor. How may we be of service to you?"

---

Flashback Interrupted

"I did not shove you out of the way, nor did I sound that rude to the client!" Grant snapped at Brody.

"Please, if I didn't step in, you'd most likely have fought our client from the very start!" Brody countered.

"I would not!" Grant growled.

"Quiet!" Carrie snapped. "Do you want me to bonk you both on the head?"

"No…" Grant grumbled.

"No, ma'am," Brody quickly said.

"Then stop arguing with each other. Grant, no more interruptions, let Brody finish his story, then we'll hear your side of it," Carrie stated.

"Hmph," Grant grunted as he turned away.

Taking that as a yes, Carrie turned to Brody. "If you may continue."

"I will, now before I was rudely interrupted," Brody shot a quick glare at Grant before continuing. "Now where was I? Ah yes, we had just met our client, who wanted to hire us as bodyguards and escort her through the Blazing Jungle Dungeon…"

---

Brody's Flashback

"Ah, yes," The Nidoran said after I managed to save her from Grant's attitude. "I am Princess Tashi, the Princess of the Grassy Desert. I am to meet up with Prince Naro, the Prince of the Blazing Jungle, so that I may marry him, produce heirs, and unite our kingdoms together. It has been my destiny since I was hatched."

"Destiny?" I heard Grant mumbled. "What a load of Tauros-"

I quickly cut him off before addressing Princess Tashi. "Don't mind him, he's just… very outspoken."

"I'll say," Princess Tashi replied.

I noticed she looked at Grant strangely, but didn't think much of it. If I had, things would've gone a lot smoother.

"So uh, could I get the names of my bodyguards?" Princess Tashi requested.

"Why yes, I am Brody, leader of Team Destruct. That Grovyle over there is Grant. And then there's…" I paused as I searched for our third member, but saw no signs of the Charmeleon. I turned to Grant, annoyed that he let Al out of his sight again. "Grant! You were supposed to be keeping an eye on Al!"

"Knowing Al, he's just looking for food like the wild Pokemon that he is," Grant huffed. "It's not always my job to keep an eye on him."

"I'm sorry, is this a problem?" Princess Tashi frowned. "The name Team Destruct… and losing a member… does not sound very promising…"

I knew I had to do something fast, as we were losing Princess Tashi's trust. I quickly unleashed my aura to find Al's aura signature. Luckily it wasn't too hard to find him, seeing his red burning aura usually stuck out easily. Unfortunately he had already entered the Dungeon, though it looked like he was still nearby. If I acted quickly, I should be able to reassure our client as well as getting Al before he does something else to make things worse.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, but right now our third member had went ahead to scout for any danger. Al is a Charmeleon and we decided it would be safer if he went first," I lied. While I didn't like lying to females, it was the only thing that came to mind.

"I suppose that's smart," Princess Tashi said. "Well… shall we head on in? I should warn you and Sir Grant. This jungle has a lot of Fire types. Are you sure you two can handle it? I mean I do not mean to judge, but you both share a Fire weakness, do you not?"

"I laugh at Fire types, bring them on, I will fight and take down every single one of them!" Grant smirked proudly.

Princess Tashi actually smiled at Grant's rude behavior, and she even looked a little red around the cheeks.

"I will be counting on you then." Princess Tashi grinned.

I was slightly confused by her sudden expression, but I assumed it was due to being close to the dungeon, and that the heat was what made our client a little red.

---

Flashback Interrupted

"Sorry to interrupt, but speaking of Al, where is he?" Dust inquired, noticing that the Charmeleon was missing.

"He's back in our room, wanting to sleep," Grant answered. "Lucky Charmeleon, at least he doesn't have to sit through this Tauros crap…"

"Watch your language around the children! If Chloe or Cliff repeats what you said, you better hope you can sleep with your eyes open," Carrie warned.

Dust had taken to laying on his stomach on the floor while Berry and Shab were sitting beside him. Cliff sat down in front of Dust's paws, as if she was sitting on his lap in a way.

Grant flinched, knowing full well what Carrie was capable of.

"Now… Brody, please continue what you were saying," Carrie said.

"Hold it, so far he's got to share his side, while also exaggerating many parts. If you want to hear what happened, it's only fair if you hear from my side as well," Grant stated.

"Like you're capable of recounting what happened. I'm surprised you're able to retain anything in that brain of yours," Brody insulted.

"Brody, that's enough. Grant has a fair point," Carrie remarked before turning to Grant. "Okay Grant, please continue where Brody left off."

"Alright, and this is how it really happened. First off, it was Brody who was in charge of keeping an eye on Al, he's lucky Al didn't run off when he entered the dungeon. After we entered the Blazing Jungle Dungeon, we found Al soon after. Turns out he managed to find some berries, so finding him wasn't that hard…"

---

Grant's Flashback

I pointed at the bright flame that was Al's tail. "There he is. I knew he'd be hunting for food."

"Food! Food! Food! Yummy, delicious, food!" Al smiled as he was stuffing his mouth with berries, which was staining his mouth and claws with berry juice.

"My, my… he certainly seems to be a clawful," Tashi noted.

"Oh, my beautiful, beloved, perfection Princess Tashi, please do not mind Al, he just loves to eat. But I assure you, you can always count on me if nobody else," Brody promised.

"Stop smothering her, Brody, we need to stay focused," I called back. Though that didn't do much good, the Lucario was still fawning over our client. I turned to Al to give him an order. "Al, I know you're probably hungry. But I need you to stick with the princess and keep her safe. I'll take care of any wild Pokemon that gets too close."

Al grumbled as he stopped stuffing his mouth with berries and walked over to the Princess.

"You're so very brave," Tashi said with a big of a sigh. "But are you sure? There are a lot of Fire Pokemon in this jungle."

"Hmph, nothing I can't handle, now let's get going while we still have some daylight. It's going to be getting dark soon, so we need to be on guard for whatever may come," I ordered as I took the lead.

It was a good thing that I was in the lead, for shortly after wild Pokemon started showing up. I sensed that we were being watched and had already pinpointed where they were most likely hiding. Just then three Pansear jumped from the trees from where I located them previously, and in one swift motion I took all three down with a single Night Slash.

("No you didn't." Brody pointed out. "And there was only one Pansear, who wasn't even looking in our direction. You caused more of its buddies to arrive when you knocked it out."

"Shut it!" Grant snapped.)

Anyways! I was doing a great job at protecting our client, though things would've been easier if Al wasn't busy stuffing his face with berries he kept picking off the ground. And Brody just kept fawning over that Nidoran, I honestly felt I was the only one taking this mission seriously.

Despite my efforts to get these two numbskulls to focus on our mission, eventually we had to stop for the night and set up camp.

"Alright, I'll check around and secure the area while you two keep an eye on our client," I ordered. I didn't wait for a response as I already had left to check for any nearby wild Pokemon.

There are some pretty aggressive nocturnal wild Pokemon, so I had to be on constant alert. Golbat, Noctowl, and Raticate usually like to roam around at this time. But they wouldn't stand a chance if they tried to meet with me, I would make sure of it.

"Hey, Grant? Are there any food out there? I'm hungry!" Al complained.

"How can you already be hungry? You just ate five minutes ago!" I shouted. "I swear your stomach is like a black hole."

"Small berries weren't going to fill me up. Maybe I should stand watch so I can eat some real meat." Al smiled. "I think the client wants you anyways."

I sighed before responding back. "Fine, but make sure Brody is with you. Last thing we need is your running off again."

"I can handle myself! I don't always need someone to babysit me!" Al pouted.

I rolled my eyes before going into the tent we set up. "Brody, get out there and watch Al. Apparently Al wants to take the first watch."

"Oh, no, no, no, I can't leave this beautiful and lovely princess behind," Brody quickly said.

I groaned as I shake my head. "Whatever, I would've prefer keeping watch anyways-"

I suddenly felt a tug on my right leaf blade, causing me to stop. I looked down and saw our client had decided to stop me for some reason.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'd prefer it if you'd stay with me," Tashi requested. "I… um… just feel safer with you than anyone else. You're strong, fast, tough, and brave. I feel like I can count on you more than anyone else."

I sighed as I rubbed my temples. It was already late, and while I would've preferred to keep watch, it looks like I didn't really have that much choice. Plus, make sense why she preferred me over the others. What she said was true.

"Alright," I nodded. "Brody, go with Al and make sure he doesn't cause any more trouble. I'll stay here with our client."

Brody frowned. "Are you sure you want him to stay with you, lovely princess? He doesn't know how to treat a lady such as yourself right."

"I'm sure. You should go outside and make sure your hungry friend doesn't wander away," Tashi replied.

I almost wanted to snicker at Brody's failed attempt to woo her, though he looked so heartbroken that I kept my snickering to myself before he dragged his feet out of the tent.

As soon as Brody was gone, Tashi got close to me and was smiling. "So… tell me… have you ever had to fight with a Legendary Pokemon?"

"Hmph, no I haven't, though if I ever get the chance, I'd fight them on the spot," I admitted.

"What was the toughest Pokemon you've ever had to fight?" Tashi questioned.

I remained silent as I thought about all the Pokemon I fought in my lifetime. And while many were strong, only one came to mind.

"The toughest Pokemon I've ever fought was a Greninja," I chuckled a bit as memories came to my mind. "Of all the times I fought him, not once did I ever get close to beating him."

"Wow, really? That must be one tough Greninja if he was able to defeat you. You're able to fight off against Fire and Flying types, that's pretty impressive," The Nidoran giggled.

"Heh, well, he did teach me everything I know," I remarked. "And it's gonna take a lot more than Fire and Flying types to beat me."

Speaking of Fire types, the tent was suddenly set on fire. Seeing this, I quickly picked up Tashi and ran out before it could burn us. I looked around quickly, trying to see what wild Pokemon dared to burn our tent down.

"Hey Grant! Did you know if you cook a Noctowl with fire, it tastes like Combusken?" Al said as he was eating what looked like fried bird.

Without saying a word, I put Tashi down as I walked up to Al and punched him on top of his head, leaving a rather large bump on his forehead.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Al shouted.

"That was for setting the tent on fire with your reckless cooking! Speaking of cooking, where's Brody? He was supposed to keep an eye on you!" I asked, wondering what the Lucario was doing in the first place.

"He's over there, mumbling to himself," Al pointed with his claw.

I looked to see Brody talking to a tree.

"No… maybe I should say… 'your gorgeous future ruler'..." Brody mumbled. "Does that sound better?"

"I'm starting to wonder how your team functions… no offense, but you seem to be the only competent one here, Sir Grant," Tashi remarked.

"I've been wondering the same thing for awhile now," I mumbled to myself.

I started heading over to where Brody was, watching the stupid Lucario talk to a tree. You'd think he would've sensed me coming, but no, he was so focused on talking with that tree that part of me actually was looking forward to what I was about to do next.

"Having fun talking with a tree?" I casually asked.

"Not now," Brody waved a paw at me, not bothering to turn around. "Can't you see I'm practicing?"

"Really? Cause…" I suddenly grabbed Brody's head and slammed it against the tree he was talking to. "All I see is a moron who left Al on his own so he could talk to a stupid tree!"

"Can I send a request about that Mammothswine who trampled me?" Brody dizzily replied before falling to the ground.

I grumbled as I rubbed my forehead, this was going to be a long trip.

---

Flashback Interrupted

"That didn't happen!" Brody snapped.

"Oh really? So you weren't talking nonsense to a tree?" Grant asked.

"First off, I was practicing out loud how to properly address the princess, and the prince, later. Second, Al didn't burn the tent down! The tent was, as you'll recall, fireproof! Since we knew we were going into a fiery jungle! The only thing Al did was give a few sparks of fire on the fireproof tent, you didn't even have to come out!" Brody snapped.

"Enough!" Carrie shouted. "If you too keep on arguing, we're never gonna hear the end of this story!"

"Maybe I should continue? Grant will only keep talking about his exaggerated battles, and how much the princess was fawning over him," Brody grumbled.

"For the last time, she was not! It's not my fault that she just finds me more tolerable than an annoying Lucario who constantly tries to woo her and a Charmeleon who's stuffing his face with food!" Grant countered.

"Wait, Brody, are you saying that the Princess actually had feelings for Grant?" Shab asked. "I mean, no offense Grant, but you're not exactly the… romantic type."

"I never said I was. But I don't need to be if my own charm was what caused her to like me, even though I already pointed out why she did," The Grovyle replied back.

"Look, will someone just continue the story?" Berry asked, looking sleepy. "So we can get to the bottom of this and go to bed?"

"I shall continue so you can return to your beauty sleep, Berry," Brody spoke up. "So, we were going through the Blazing Jungle, fighting off wild Pokemon…"

---

Brody's Flashback

I smiled as I just took down a Litleo. We seemed to be making some pretty good progress, we were already on the 12th floor, and according to the lovely Princess Tashi, this dungeon only has 15 floors.

The thought of us almost reaching the end made me wonder a few things. "My lady, you must be very excited to be with this prince. I'm sure your marriage will bring prosperity and happiness for you and your future mate."

"Um… yeah. This had been decided for me since I was just an egg," Princess Tashi replied. "My parents were sure Prince Naro would make a good king for both of our kingdoms."

Grant snorted, and I frowned at the Groyvle.

"Your own mate was decided before you were even hatched? How sad," Grant grumbled.

"Grant!" I yelled.

Grant grunted as he replied."What? Honestly sounds like a load of-"

("Language," Carrie warned.

"Right, sorry Ma'am," Broday apologized before continuing.)

"-Balony," Grant remarked. "Why should fate and destiny dictate our actions? If you can't even decide for yourself, can you really call that living?"

Princess Tashi gave Grant a curious look. I knew I needed to correct this and fast.

"She's a princess, Grant, besides, Prince Naro is sure to take good care of her. Not to mention this could bring peace to the two kingdoms," I explained.

"Tashi should be able to just mate with whoever she wants, not who was decided for her. I don't think she even knows this Prince Naro," Grant argued.

"She'll get the chance to meet him, then they can learn more about each other!" I argued back. "And you should address her as PRINCESS Tashi."

Me and Grant then butted heads against each other. I can never understand why Grant can't get it through his thick skull on how important this marriage is. And it looked like he was just as eager as I was to start fighting, maybe then I could knock some sense into him.

We were about to start fighting when Al suddenly called out to us. "Hey, but you won't believe this! I was looking for food, and turns out I found some right next to the stairs. That must mean there's a ton of food on the next floor!"

Grant and I looked at Al.

"You left the group to find food!? We talked about this, Al! Never leave the group in a Mystery Dungeon!" I scolded.

"I know, but you guys were taking so long, and I started getting hungry," Al replied. "Plus, now we know where the next floor is. So let's get going, I'm already starving from just thinking about all the food there will be at the wedding."

"Is… food all he ever thinks about?" Princess Tashi asked.

"Pretty much… your majesty," I sighed.

I couldn't help but wonder how I got stuck with one who only thought about food, and another who only thought about fighting. I guess I was just unlucky.

Though one good thing did come from Al's gluttony, and that was we did find the stairs to the next floor, so we were one floor closer to finishing this dungeon.

I couldn't help but notice a lot of Litleo in the later floors. We did face a few other Pokemon that weren't Fire type, like Shroomish, Oddish, Pidgeotto, and Fletchling, but most of the Fire types we were seeing lately were Litleo. I sensed we may run into something more dangerous soon on the next floor. I wanted to keep Princess Tashi close and safe, but she was clinging onto Grant, the one who wanted to get into a fight as soon as he saw a wild Pokemon.

"Excuse me, Princess, but perhaps you should stay close to me. Grant is a close combat fighter, and I'd hate to see you get harmed because of his recklessness," I suggested.

"If she gets hurt, then that's her problem," Grant grunted.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I'm sure Grant can take out any wild Pokemon before they can get to me anyways, he's that strong~" Princess Tashi smiled, her face looking a little red.

At first I thought Princess Tashi was red because of the heat in the Blazing Jungle, and that she was feeling tired. But I was beginning to suspect that may not be the reason after all. Her actions around Grant was a bit too… on the nose to be a coincidence.

"Princess Tashi, please remember, you are going to see your prince soon. You don't want to give him the wrong message by clinging so close to Grant, do you?" I warned as lightly as I could to the princess.

"And what's wrong with that?" Grant asked. "She should be free to do as she wants. You're always fawning over every female you met, and now suddenly you want to ignore her wishes?"

"This is different, Grant!" I snapped. "She was supposed to be with Prince Naro, not you!"

"What makes you think she'd want to be with me? Maybe she just wants to stay close to the only competent member on the team," Grant huffed.

I just shook my head, knowing that nothing will get through Grant's thick skull. "Just make sure the Princess is safe. I have a feeling we may run into some dangerous Pokemon soon if we are not careful."

"Hmph, let them come, I'll take them all on!" Grant boasted.

"Hey guys!" Al called to us, and he was holding a Litleo cub. "So I decided to find more food while you were arguing, and I ran into some angry Pokemon."

"Al, what did you do?!" Both me and Grant shouted at the same time.

There was a sudden loud roar, and before I could get the princess to safety, we were suddenly surrounded by angry Litleo, and a huge male Pyroar. It was a Monster House of a Pyroar pride.

("I'm still surprised Al caused an entire Pyroar pride to come at us," Brody remarked.

"That's something we both can agree on," Grant nodded. "Luckily I was there to take them all on my own. You guys should've seen it, I was taking down those Litleo and the big Pyroar with my moves, and I was dodging all their fire attacks with my agility-"

"Unless something important happened in that fight, could you skip to the end so we can keep moving?" Carrie suggested. "Did anything happened to princess during that fight?")

Thankfully, I was smart enough to put a protective aura dome around Princess Tashi, so she was safe during the fight while Grant just leaped into action, not even taking a second to make sure the princess was protected. Al joined in the fight too, but I think he just wanted to know what Litleo meat tasted like. For the record, I did the most damage due to them being part Normal type, and being vulnerable to my Aura Sphere and other Fighting type moves.

While my main concern was making sure the Princess was safe, it looked like I didn't have to keep the protective aura dome around Princess Tashi for very long. Even though we were outnumbered, the Pyroar pride were no match for me and my teammates. Though that didn't excuse why they were there in the first place. After defeating the enemy, I took this chance to go to Al and smack him upside his head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Al complained as he rubbed his head.

"That was for bringing an entire Pyroar pride and putting Princess Tashi in danger!" I rebuked him.

"But you were being loud!" Al pointed at me as if that was supposed to mean anything.

Grant then smacked Al in the same spot I had just hit him.

"Why is everyone hitting me today?" Al whined, rubbing his head.

"Cause you keep thinking about food and getting us into more trouble!" Grant shouted.

("Is it just me or does Al seem a lot more trouble and food hungry than he usually is during all this?" Berry asked.

"I mean he's usually a black hole for food," Dust shrugged.

"It just seems like he's being extra annoying and putting his team and client in danger this time. I don't know, I just didn't think Al was that bad… was he?" Berry frowned.

"To be fair, we never really see what Al is like when on a mission. We've only seen him fight at the tournament, and how he acts at the guild. Maybe he's allowed to let loose more when on a mission." Dust wondered.

"Getting back to the story…" Brody spoke up.)

"You're just lucky I've managed to keep Princess Tashi safe. We'd be in massive trouble if we showed up with an injured princess!" I snapped at Al.

Al frowned. "... You two were being loud."

I decided it was best to ignore Al for now, because we were already on the last floor of the dungeon, and it was time for Princess Tashi to meet her prince. Luckily for us, it seems as though our battle with the Pyroar pride had made other wild Pokemon cautious of us and they ended up avoiding us, much to Grant's annoyance.

We managed to get to the next floor with no further issues, though I did notice that Princess Tashi had been very quiet lately. I wondered if perhaps that encounter with the Pyroar might have frightened her.

"Princess Tashi, if you're worried about any more wild encounters, I assure you that you will be kept safe. We are almost to the end of the dungeon, and soon you'll be with your Prince," I tried reassuring.

"Huh? Oh… I wasn't worried about that, but thank you for the reassurance," Princess Tashi replied.

I wondered what was on Princess Tashi's mind, but I didn't want to pry, so I left the subject alone.

Once we found the stairs, we were out of the Blazing Jungle, and ahead of us was a palace. I smiled, glad to see we were here, and we just needed to take Princess Tashi to Prince Naro.

"Are there any Pokemon to fight in there?" Grant asked.

"Oooh, do they have delicious food in there?" Al drooled.

"We're not here to fight or to stuff our faces," I grumbled at the two. "We are here to make sure Princess Tashi gets to Prince Naro safely!"

"Wait! Are you telling me that we might not get to eat any food at the wedding?!" Al frantically asked.

"Only if they offer, but we are only here to help Princess Tashi get to her Prince. If they don't offer, then we go back home," I explained.

Al was practically whining as we were walking towards the palace, while Grant was grumbling under his breath about how boring the rest of the mission was going to be. Frankly, I would've preferred it if the rest of the mission had been boring. Princess Tashi was still quiet, though I noticed she kept glancing at Grant. I really should've talked to her about that before we entered the palace.

When we came to the entrance, there were two guards there; a Mienshao and a Gallade.

"State your business," The Gallade ordered.

I saw Grant was about to say something, so I stepped in front of him, making sure that he wouldn't cause another fight. "We are Team Destruct, escorts for Princess Tashi of the Grassy Desert."

When they saw Princess Tashi, they knew I was telling the truth. They both quickly bowed to Princess Tashi before returning back to their original position.

"You're highness, it is an honor to finally have you here with us," the Gallade spoke. "Prince Naro has been very eager to meet you. If you and your escorts will come this way, I shall take you to him."

The Gallade opened the door to the palace, and we all followed him inside. Though I had to keep a close eye on both Grant and Al to make sure they didn't cause any trouble while we were here. The Mienshao stayed outside to keep guarding the door. The palace itself was huge, I could see several other Pokemon guards, though they stayed in their position while the Gallade led us to the prince's room.

"Wow, this place is big. And I can already smell food cooking nearby," Al licked his lips.

"Stay quiet, Al, we need to be on our best behavior while we're here," I scolded quietly.

"What? I only said that I can smell food cooking. It's not like I'm gonna try to sneak off or something," Al replied as he kept looking towards the source of the delicious smell.

"Just remember what I said. If they offer, you can eat, but if you don't behave then we are going straight home. Do I make myself clear?" I asked, which Al promptly saluted.

I guess that was one way to make sure he tried to behave. Grant could still cause trouble, and if I had paid more attention to Princess Tashi, I could've prevented what happened next.

Gallade stood in front of a large and decorative door. "His royal highness awaits the princess here."

Princess Tashi suddenly gave a look of determination, which I was normally proud to see on someone, until I discovered why she was giving that look.

When the Gallade opened the door, and we walked into the room, which was larger than 4 team rooms in the Unity Guild combined, we were greeted by a Nidoran male, who was Prince Naro. Like Princess Tashi, he wore clothing. He had blue robes made of the finest looking silk, and he wore a small crown over his head, careful not to cover up his horn.

"Greetings, I am Prince Naro," The Nidoran male introduced. "You must be fair Princess Tashi."

"Yes, I am Princess Tashi," Princess Tashi confirmed.

"It is nice to finally meet my future mate." Prince Naro smiled as he walked over and picked up Princess Tashi's front paw to kiss it.

Princess Tashi, however, took her front paw away from Prince Naro. "I'm sorry, Prince Naro… I know it's important for our kingdoms, but… the Pokemon I want to marry isn't you."

This earned a collective gasp from Prince Naro and all those who were present. I was shocked to hear Princess Tashi reject the Prince. I think I saw both Grant and Al trying to hold their laughter, though I was too shocked to tell.

"W-what do you mean?" Prince Naro asked. "If not me, then who?"

Princess Tashi smiled dreamily as she began to approach Grant. "My heart had been stolen by this Grovyle… Brave and powerful Sir Grant, I want to marry you."

"What?!" Grant shouted.

"What?!" I shouted.

"What?!" Prince Naro shouted.

"She said she wants to marry Grant!" Al shouted, probably thinking we didn't hear the first time, and it didn't really help the situation at all.

---

Flashback interrupted

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! The princess actually said that?" Berry interrupted, sounding surprised.

"I don't mean to sound doubtful, but are you sure you two didn't just imagine hearing that?" Dust asked.

"Yeah, she said it alright," Grant confirmed.

"If only I knew what was going through her mind earlier, I could've prevented all of this," Brody added.

"Love is something that just happens, you can't exactly stop or predict it," Shab stated before he looked at Berry and blushed.

"Considering Brody was practically fawning over our client the whole time, I'm surprised he hadn't realized it sooner," Grant remarked.

"Well maybe if you didn't feed her those ideas, she'd never made that announcement in the first place!" Brody countered.

"I meant what I said, but I didn't know she had a thing for me!" Grant snapped. "I am not the type to fall in love, nor am I the type to have Pokemon love me back in that way!"

"But you had a princess loving you, how is that a bad thing?" Chloe innocently asked.

"Yeah, a princess loving you should be good, right?" Cliff agreed with her friend.

"Normally that does sound nice, but in our case, it only made things worse," Brody answered.

"How about we give Grant a turn to tell us what happened from here?" Carrie suggested. "And if you did use bad words, censor yourself around the children, or I'll give you a reason to use those bad words myself."

"Understood," Grant nodded. "Just give me a sec, there's a lot that needs to be censored…"

---

Grant's Flashback

After Tashi's announcement, there were quite a few… colorful words that flew out of my mouth. "What the BEEP did you BEEP say? You can't be BEEP serious right BEEP now!"

I saw some of the females faint from my expressive words, but I didn't care, no way was I gonna get BEEP married. I suddenly felt something hit the back of my head, leaving it bruised.

"Grant! That's no way to talk in front of the Prince and Princess!" Brody shouted.

"Does it look like I BEEP care about that right BEEP now!?" I snapped back.

Tashi didn't seem offended by my colorful language, it just seemed to amuse her more. Which just made my already BEEP situation even more BEEP.

"Sir Grant isn't afraid to be himself, or express himself. He enjoys what he does, he's tough, strong, fast, and brave, he's who I want," Tashi announced.

"That still doesn't mean I'm gonna BEEP marry you!" I shouted.

"Of course, not yet. You have to deal with Prince Naro's guards first. I know you will defend our love and secure our marriage," Tashi replied.

"What!?" I frowned.

Prince Naro was looking pretty angry. "How dare you steal my future mate!? I will make sure you pay for this! Guards! Cease Team Destruct at once!"

"Ooh, look at all these Pokemon coming towards us. Are they going to give us a hug? Or maybe their food?" Al smiled, being as BEEP oblivious as ever and only thinking about his BEEP stomach.

"BEEP it!" I shouted while also letting out a smile.

Despite the situation we were in, I was about to show these guards why they shouldn't mess with me. I saw the Gallade that first brought us here make a move as though to attack. Too bad I was much faster than him. I quickly took him out with a Night Slash, knocking the Psychic Pokemon unconscious. As soon as he fell, that's when all Reverse World broke loose.

I saw a Monferno charging at me, thinking his type advantage would help, but I quickly showed him that type advantages mean BEEP when dealing with me. Two quick slash was all it took to take that guard down. Next to challenge me was a Sandslash, but I didn't even have to use my full strength to take him down. Left and right guards kept coming, and I kept fending them off. At first it was pretty easy, but as the battle kept waging on, my strength started waning. Some guards managed to get a few hits in, others were starting to dodge my attacks. Though I wasn't ready to give up, unfortunately one of the guards snuck behind me and before I could react dealt a blow to the back of my head. Next thing I know everything went dark.

(Brody interrupted Grant. "Hold up! None of that actually happened! Except that last part where you were knocked unconscious by one of the guards."

"Oh really, then how many guards did you take on if I was unconscious?" Grant asked while glaring at Brody.

"Uh…well, I fell unconscious shortly after you did," Brody admitted.

"Then how do you know if none of that actually happened? You probably can't remember correctly after one of the guards easily knocked you out," Grant accused.

"Boys, continue with the story," Carrie spoke up.)

Anyways, the next thing I knew, I was waking up in some kind of underground cell. There were strong bars in front of me. As strong as I was, not even my strongest Leaf Blade or Night Slash was enough to cut through those bars.

I growled under my breath before I looked back at Brody, who was the only other Pokemon here. I didn't see Al in here with us.

"Oh woe is this faithful knight that has been trapped. He only wished to pleased the fair maiden, only for her to fall to distraught," Brody spoke out loud.

"What the BEEP are you talking about?" I asked.

Brody ignored me as he continued on. "If not for the green devil, perhaps her heart shall still be pure, ready to accept her fate for a brighter future."

I growled in annoyance as I turned away from Brody. He could rant all he wanted, but it wouldn't get us out of here. It was up to me to escape from this prison.

I punched the wall in frustration. If I was stronger, I could get out of here easily. But I wasn't, and Brody's annoying ranting wasn't helping my mood. Eventually, I got so fed up, that I turned to the annoying Lucario and shouted at him. "WOULD YOU BEEP SHUT UP ALREADY!?"

"Have you decided to calm down and stop attacking our cell? It's already obvious you can't break out, if you could we would've been out of here long ago," Brody replied.

"Maybe you could try helping me instead of just ranting on about idiotic stuff!" I snapped. "You could at least bend the steel bars with your Fighting type moves! Or burn them with your Blaze Kick!"

"And cause the Princess more trouble? I can already imagine her being locked up in some tower after rejecting Prince Naro. If I were to help you break out, it will only cause her more problems. We should be patient and wait until things have calmed down, if we are lucky, Prince Naro might let us go, on the condition we never set foot in his kingdom again," Brody explained.

"You're not blaming me for this mess, are you?" I frowned.

"Lets see, first off you convinced a Princess that her duty to her kingdom was pointless and she should throw out all responsibility. Second, you made her fall in love with you, which pushed her to reject Prince Naro. Three, instead of peacefully talking things out, you ended up fighting against his guards! There was no reason to attack, and yet you were so eager to blah blah blah! Blah blah. Blaaah blablah."

I tuned him out at that point, but I did feel like I had to defend myself at the very least. "First of all, I did not tell Tashi that her duty to her kingdom was pointless and to throw out all her responsibilities. I simply stated that marrying someone she's never met was not a good idea. And I did not make her fall in love with me! She did that all on her own! So don't even start pointing fingers at me! If you must blame someone, blame the princess!"

"Don't you dare blame the princess!" Brody shouted. "Do you have any idea what must be going through her head? We met her on the day before her wedding, think of how scared she must have felt, how worried she was feeling. You preached about destiny being BEEP and how it didn't really feel like living. What do you think will happen to her now? To her kingdom? But of course you wouldn't consider the bigger picture. You always have to rush into battle, not thinking about why we are battling in the first place!"

"Of course I had to fight back! The guards were about to attack us! I was going to defend myself!" I snapped back. "And you wouldn't be so preachy about this if Tashi wasn't female! You're always talking about a female's feelings and what they want or are thinking instead of thinking about what your teammates are thinking! Maybe if you did that, we wouldn't be so dysfunctional!"

Before Brody could reply, I heard the sound of a door opening. I then see two guards walking towards our cell, with a familiar Charmeleon with them. At first I was a bit relieved to see Al, but then I quickly grew angry when I saw he was currently eating food off a tray he was holding.

My right eye twitched as I folded my arms, watching the guards open the door to our cell and letting Al in. "So, enjoyed your meal?"

"Yup! It was delicious!" Al smiled, licking his lips. "By the way, Princess Tashi decided to give Prince Naro a chance after throwing you two in jail. Isn't that great?"

"What?!" Me and Brody shouted at the same time.

"I SAID PRINCESS TASHI GAVE PRINCE NARO A SECOND CHANCE!" Al shouted.

"We heard you the first time Al!" I shouted back.

"But why did Princess Tashi give Prince Naro a second chance?" Brody asked.

Al shrugged as he took another bite. "Wasn't paying attention, was too busy eating."

I was growling under my breath.

"You're free to go," The Gallade guard stated.

"Hey! How about we stick around for the wedding? I hear they have a lot of delicious food there!" Al smiled.

I was in a bad mood. "Our job here is done! We're not staying any longer than we need to!"

"Come on, can't we stay for the food?" Al begged.

"No, I think we should go now, before we cause any more trouble," Brody answered.

"Couldn't agree more," I grunted.

"Awww, but I want to stay for food!" Al whined.

If there was one thing Brody and I could agree on, it was that we needed to leave, and we would drag Al with us kicking and screaming if we had to.

Al suddenly yawned, his mood suddenly shifted. "Fine, let's go back to the guild. I'm too sleepy to eat anyways."

---

"And that was the end of that," Grant grumbled. "We somehow, miraculously, made it out in one piece without causing a war because Princess Tashi, being fickled, decided to go for Prince Naro instead of clinging to me."

"Most of it was your fault, you know," Brody pointed out.

"Wait…" Berry spoke up before Grant could retort. "If you all made it back after everything worked out, then why were you two fighting?"

"We were talking about why Princess Tashi decided to give Prince Naro a second chance," Brody answered.

"Which I couldn't care less," Grant remarked. "I just told him it doesn't matter since she ended up being with the Prince in the end."

"If that was true, then we could've avoided all this mess in the first place if it wasn't for you," Brody bitterly replied.

"Will you knock it off!? I already told you that it was Tashi's fault for falling in love with me in the first place! I didn't want anything to do with her!" Grant growled.

"Yet that didn't stop you from constantly fighting, did it?" Brody rhetorically asked. "If you actually used that brain of yours, then things would've gone a lot more smoothly, even if she fell for you. Instead you made things worse!"

"You know what?" Grant smirked suddenly before cutting Brody's face with a Leaf Blade. "You're right, that didn't stop me from fighting!"

"Grant, that is enough!" Carrie shouted.

But before Carrie could stop Grant, the Grovyle is suddenly hit with an Aura Sphere. Despite the cut on his face, Brody was more focused on Grant right now.

"And there you go, eager to battle. Well if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you're going to get! Maybe after I knock some sense into you'll learn to think straight!" Brody shouted as his feet started to get covered with flames.

Carrie, Dust, Berry, and Shab all moved to try to stop Grant and Brody from tearing each other apart, but suddenly, a Flamethrower came from behind Team Night Tide, missing them completely, and only hitting Grant and Brody. It didn't cause massive damage to them, despite their weakness to Fire, but did cause some minor burns on them, and it was also enough to get them to stop.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE REVERSE WORLD UP?!" A familiar voice shouted from behind.

Dust looked back and was surprised to see Al standing there. Even more surprising was how angry he looked. It was the first time he saw the Charmeleon upset, and for a moment he almost didn't recognize Al. Berry gave an uneasy look, the only time she saw Al looking close to this upset was when he destroyed the Jaws of Life machine and went after Patricia.

"I've been trying to sleep ever since we got back to the guild, and you two are still fighting?!" Al growled in irritation. "What can you two possible be fighting about?!"

"It's not something you can help with," Grant grumbled.

Al marched up to Grant and Brody, crossing his arms as he looked at the Grovyle right in the eyes. "Try me."

---

lonelyboi69: DarkFoxKit: As stated in the ANs, we have a 2 weeks reprieve before TM will get busy again. Yeah, the dad hasn't been all that supportive with Berry, in fact, he was always distant from her, and his idea that she could be dangerous to his family is what gave Berry that nightmare in the first place. She was subconsciously picking up on it. Berry has a dad, she just doesn't know her biological father yet, but yeah, she has two mothers who love her.

Star Aries: DarkFoxKit: Looking at your reviews… we appreciate you sticking up for us with unknown 2949, but it kinda looks like the three of you are pretty much saying the same thing. We're starting to wonder if you might actually be the same person using different yet similar names. We could be wrong, but the evidence is too much to just be coincidence.

Star Taurus: Traveling Master: Just like DF said, we're glad you'd enjoyed the chapter, as well as sharing your concerns about unknown 2949, but it doesn't leave us much to reply back, since it's pretty much the same thing said before.

Star Gemini: DarkFoxKit: Just read what I said to Star Aries please, I don't want to repeat myself.

Ember2018: Traveling Master: That would've been an interesting plot twist, but this was something we've been planning for a while now, and with all the hints and build up leading to Berry and Tsunami, it'd be a little redundant if we didn't go with what we planned.

DarkFoxKit: Um… when you said 'he did not expect' and 'he hoped', who are you referring to? Yourself or someone else? I'm sorry we need to ask you to clarify, but it really looks like you're either saying you or someone else was really hoping that Tsunami wasn't actually Berry's mom. I'm not sure what you mean by 'you imagine'? We understand that English isn't your language, but if we can't understand what you're saying or asking, we can't really answer you back, at least not accurately.

Berry isn't really getting along with Tsunami, she's just trying to leave before the situation could get worse. In fact, as you could see in this chapter, if it weren't for Ivy talking to her, Berry wouldn've denounced Tsunami as her mother. Berry's also gotten tired of being terrified, she's more worried about what she is than scared of Tsunami though. Berry hasn't come close to losing her fear of evolving, as stated, she may not be afraid of Tsunami, but that doesn't mean she's happy being Tsunami's child or being a Goomy. If you're not sure about Berry evolving, I'd rather not say if she would or wouldn't. We're not really focused on that right now.

A lot of people are reading way too much into Berry's nightmare. Berry had that nightmare due to her own fears, and when she subconsciously picked up on Wave seeing her as a dangerous predator to his kids. Being back at home brought those fears back out. Patricia and Undergrowth, if you remember, had no idea who Berry was, and were shocked at what she could do. They came into her nightmares because they're very messed up, and she had battled with them recently. We didn't show the nightmare to show people that Patricia and Undergrowth had anything to do with Berry and why she's so strong, it was to show what Berry was thinking and why she's so scared of herself, as well as her own fears of Patricia and Undergrowth as well as being their experiment.

It would be interesting if there was an alternate world that had Goomy be wild predators like that. It wasn't something we thought about, but it is definitely interesting.

Yeah, Wave is a big reason why Berry became a vegetarian, and why she's so down on herself. Berry wanted to show her father that she wasn't a dangerous predator. I know we didn't have Berry say that, but there hadn't been a reason to bring it up yet in the story. It was pretty satisfying to see Tsunami beat him to the ground. She had several ways she could've killed him, but she wanted him to suffer for hurting her child.

There's a bit of a misunderstanding, we didn't say a reader guessed the identity of Dust's father, just that they came close.

Berry4Goodra: Traveling Master: Okay, I understand what you meant by those two dragon Pokemon. Only reason they were brought up was because Dust was just describing Goodra to Ivy, and he used Dragonite and Salamence as an example. We mentioned before that we have plans for most of the pseudo-legendary Pokemon, but those are still in the planning phase. Again, it was just Dust using those two dragons as an example, since he's read about them before.

Heh, I think we best leave Star Wars out of this. That's a minefield we best not cross. But I do agree, plot twists are a great tool for catching the audience's attention, to making a story even more interesting, IF it's executed correctly. Otherwise it could throw the whole story off, makes things confusing, etc.

DarkFoxKit: Well, to answer your question about there being more than one book, yes and no. It's the same story/book, but we've divided them into 3 parts, or I guess, 3 books, to help us differentiate the saga of the story. We've been calling this 'book 1' since it's… pretty much 'season 1' if this were an actual anime. But we won't be posting brand new stories after 'book 1' ends, so it's going to all be in one spot like it's just one long book. And like I said before, Kyogre, Zacian, and Zamazenta were the only legendaries we had in mind right now. That's not to say we won't eventually show more, but they're the only ones in the planning stages right now.

Traveling Master: Well, one difference between Ivy and Berry is that Ivy knew what she was growing up, as well as what her evolutionary line will be. So Ivy isn't really afraid of evolving. As for Berry, for a long time she believed she was a deformed Wooper, and had only recently begun accepting that she's a Goomy, but even then, the idea of evolving still scares her. If she chooses to evolve, it will take some time to overcome that fear.

DarkFoxKit: It's like growing up thinking you're a chicken, and all of a sudden you're told you're actually a phoenix. While that seems like a dream come true in hindsight, the phoenix who thought it was a chicken isn't very likely to just accept that and laugh about it since phoenix are pretty much like gods compared to a lowly chicken. And they will become very afraid of actually being a phoenix.

Traveling Master: Especially if their first encounter with a phoenix was not a pleasant one. Berry was running for her life after her first encounter with Goodra, so she hasn't exactly had a positive view on the Pokemon for a while now.

DarkFoxKit: As for Berry's nightmare, it was strictly imagination. Patricia and Undergrowth had nothing to do with Berry or her egg. She picked up on Wave's fear of her being a dangerous predator since she was a child, so being back home triggered those memories which made that nightmare. Patricia and Undergrowth were recent Pokemon that came into her nightmare, and it was her mind trying to explain why her egg could've ended up at the Quagsire's nest. Doesn't mean that's what actually happened though.

Damp doesn't actually know what a Sliggoo is, but Tsunami told her that's her middle stage of the evolution line. Yes, being a dragon in the wild or as a civilian is a big deal, dragons are known for being one of the fiercest and strongest of Pokemon, and they are to be respected whether you're wild or civilized. There's a reason why so many pseudo-legendaries are Dragon type. Though Tsunami is semi-civilized, there's a reason for that.

Traveling Master: Well, while most wild Pokemon don't bother with names, there are a few occasions when one would end up getting a name. An example would be Jade the Trapinch from the Phoenix Desert Dungeon. She had shared how she knew Gale the Flygon in the past. Normally it's thanks to civilized Pokemon interacting with these wild Pokemon, that some of them will end up getting a name later on, learning communication skills and such.

DarkFoxKit: As for if Tsunami knows any water moves or if she uses it often, there's no confirmed data on Tsunami's current move set since she's only used Dragon Pulse on screen so far. But I will say there is a reason why her name is Tsunami, which won't be revealed until later in the story.

Tsunami may still be wild, but she has enough sense not to attack every Pokemon she sees. She only goes hunting when she's hungry. And since she knew Damp is important to her child, she wasn't going to hurt her. Damp knows some of the wild Pokemon language, which was why she was able to talk to Tsunami. And they both love Berry, so that's why they got along so well. Damp got to tell Tsunami how she raised Berry.

As for the 'too many dangers' and 'too many Pokemon', that actually ties into Tsunami's backstory, and Berry's biological father. Tsunami is indeed the most powerful Pokemon in the area, in fact, she shouldn't even be living in Waterfall Cavern. But that's all I'm going to say on the matter.

Traveling Master: Berry doesn't have any siblings that come from Tsunami. The only ones she does have are from Wave and Damp, even though they are not biologically related. As for Tsunami's age, well she's a wild Pokemon, age isn't something they really keep track of, so it's hard to say how old Tsunami was when she had Berry.

DarkFoxKit: And something I want to clear up. Just because the Pokemon isn't fully evolved, unless they are baby Pokemon like Pichu or Togepi, doesn't mean they're still young. I've bred with Goomys before. Heck, Berry's mother could've been an older Goomy. So Tsunami being a Sliggoo doesn't mean she was a teenager. And like TM said, even if she was, she was mostly wild. To a wild Pokemon, as soon as they reach the age to breed, they most likely will breed regardless of their age. They do not care about what society thinks, or what's socially acceptable.

Traveling Master: As for the two legendary wolves, well like you said, they never realized their encounter from early in the beginning was with two legendary Pokemon.

It was revealed that Tsunami was the one to send the letter, she recognized her letter after lifting Dust and having all his stuff fall out of the bag. It's why she stopped attacking, she realized who they were after seeing her letter.

DarkFoxKit: Tsunami, despite being only semi-civilized, understands that Berry was raised and cared for by another family. And they may not approve of a Goomy's actual diet. Tsunami can understand that. What she didn't stand for was when someone wanted to hurt her child. Wave has a lot of issues to work out.

Most of your last few questions were answered in this chapter. Asking about what will happen next doesn't give us a lot to work with since it's either spoilery, or it's answered already in the chapter. We won't tell you if Tsunami will have more things to do or not, because again, spoilery, and also we want to keep you guessing what we'll do with her. Also, in case you forgot, since it looked like you did, or missed it, Chihiro already gave Berry a replacement Everstone. Berry just has the Everstone hidden under her Defense Scarf.

Traveling Master: It's very unlikely Ivy would be jealous of Berry, instead she'd be glad to see her bonding with Tsunami. Main difference is that she knows Tsunami isn't evil, or hasn't intentionally done bad stuff, unlike her father. Undergrowth only cares for Ivy in a sense of, "How can I use Ivy to my advantage?" Undergrowth and Tsunami are very different when it comes to being parents, like you said, one is willing to listen and understand their child, as well as having a positive relationship with the family that raised her.

As for whether or not we have Team Night Tide and Crimson Raiders work together, it depends on the mission itself. We do plan on having Team Night Tide work with others in the future, and Crimson Raiders may be one of them.

The Moonfox Collective: DarkFoxKit: Tsunami probably would've ignored Shab since she thought Berry ate him. Also, love the Tsumommy pun there~

Damp is able to speak the wild Pokemon language, so she was able to tell Tsunami about how she raised Berry. They both love Berry, so that's what sparked a friendship between them. Tsunami may be mostly wild, but, contrary to what Berry believed, she doesn't attack every Pokemon she sees. Tsunami only goes hunting when she's hungry. And yes, if they hear about Cliff, Berry is going to get teased. XD

Wave had always been wary of Berry, he called her a deformed Wooper, but he knew she wasn't really a Wooper at all. He just didn't know what she was, and worried she would eat his children one day. Berry had subconsciously picked up on this, and that's where the nightmare came from, being back home triggered that memory. Patricia and Undergrowth being there was because she had fought with them recently, and it was her mind's way of explaining how she ended up in the Quagsire's nest. So now, Wave, seeing that Berry was indeed the child of this big dragon monster, yeah, he decided it was time to disown Berry. Which was a huge mistake, especially when he hit her, right in front of Tsumommy~

Thankfully we were able to get another chapter done so we could post this today. But sadly it won't last long, so we'll enjoy it while we can.