Craw sighed as he woke up. Again one of these dreams. He wondered why he had them. Was Arceus giving him glimpses of his past to show him something or was this just his brain remembering stuff and making up the rest? He slowly opened his eyes and turned around to look at Ariela. She was already awake and just seemed to watch him sleeping. Craw smiled and kissed her. "Good morning."
She looked to him with curiosity. "What happened?"
He blinked a bit confused. "What do you mean?"
She softly stroked his cheek. "As I woke up I couldn't sense your emotions... First I thought you weren't here but then I felt you lying next to me and I thought you were dead but I could see you are alive... Something must have happened in your dream... What was it?"
He looked to her surprised. "I had one of these dreams again... A glimpse of my past... But why..."
Ariela looked to him confused. "So I can't sense your emotions when you have these dreams of your past as human?"
He closed his eyes. "Seems like it... But why..."
She sat up and looked at him a bit worried. "I don't know... It is as if you aren't really here then..."
He raised. "You really think that could happen?"
She looked to him puzzled. "What do you mean?"
He sat up as well and kissed her softly trying to calm her down. He couldn't sense her emotions... at least not without his aura abilities, but he could see she was a bit afraid and nervous by that. "I mean that my soul... or aura if you want so, leaves my body when I have those dreams..."
She tilted her head thinking about that for a moment. "Well... Since I know you I think there is nearly nothing that is impossible... especially if it is connected to you..."
He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
She smiled weakly. "Well... all the things I learned about you... your past, that you are human, your connection to the legendaries and Arceus themselves... All that is something I thought was impossible but now we are here."
Craw sighed and nodded. "Yeah... That's true... I kinda get an headache just thinking about it... Also I doubt that we can get an answer out of it... at least not now..."
Ariela softly strokes his head. "You should-" She stopped mid sentence and Craw knew why. After all they were his feelings that she felt.
He was in panic looking around. Out of the nothing he had this feeling that he just had survived an assassination or got out of a life endangering situation. As he looked to Ariela he could see she felt exactly the same. "W-What was that?"
Ariela looked at him. "I have no idea..."
He slowly seemed to calm down but his heart was still pounding. "I-I think... We are safe... But..."
She nodded. "I know what you mean... But..."
Craw takes a deep breath. "Yeah... I never... Wait... I actually felt that way already once... It was as Brighton and I just arrived in Crystal City..."
The Kirlia seemed to calm down as well. "What happened back then?"
Craw sighed. "I have no idea... I was taking a bath and out of the nowhere I had exactly that feeling too... But nothing had happened..."
Ariela tilted her head. "Did you tell Anubis about this?"
Craw shook his head. "No... I... I can't tell why but I somehow have the feeling that I have to figure this out on myself..."
Ariela looked to him very concerned. She didn't seem to like this.
Craw looked into her eyes. "Ariela... Please promise me that you will never tell Anubis about this... I just know that this is something that... that I have to figure out on my own."
She sighed and nodded. "OK... But please be careful... I have a bad feeling about it..."
Craw chuckled darkly. "I know... Me too." He softly pulled her into a hug and presses his nose on hers. He was a but nervous about how natural this behavior felt to him now. He wondered if it was because he already lived a life in this body and if he would show more of these in the future.
Ariela on her side seemed to calm down a bit. She kissed him softly and licked his nose what made him happy.
He knew she only did this because of him being a Riolu and because it was a natural sign of affection and bonding for them and that made him happy. He should learn more about the habits of Kirlia and maybe Guardevoir for if she should decide to evolve. He nuzzled her softly. "We should get ready... We gonna meet with the others in some hours..."
Ariela smiles and nodded. "Yeah."
A drop of rainwater dripped onto Craw's nose. He looked up. The sky was heavy with dark clouds. This made him smile. "I think it's starting to rain."
Rod growled. "I hate the rain..."
Craw chuckled. "You are a fire type. It's just natural that you hate rain."
Rod shook his head. "Nah. I am fine with water. I even enjoy swimming from time to time. But I don't like the rain because my moves get weak every time it starts raining."
Craw looked to him for a moment before he looked ahead again. "Yeah... I should have thought about that... That we have to remember for fights..."
Rod nodded. "You don't need to worry about that. I have Aerial Ace so grass and bug types shouldn't be a problem. For steel and ice types we have you after all."
Craw chuckled and nodded. "Yeah even though I like it if everyone can cover more than just a few types.
Rod shrugged. "We do it different in our team."
Craw nodded. "I noticed." He then looked a bit up. "Brighton and Fletcher are coming back."
Rod stopped and looked to the two.
As they landed Brighton seemed rather bored. "Our area was clear. Nothing that looks like a dungeon."
Fletcher nodded. "We also met Veg and Ariela. They say their area is clear as well and are heading back right now."
Craw nodded slightly and looked onto his map. "That means only two teams are left. The others should be in that small town soon and when we meet there everything should be checked for today. I hope Damion and Juel are doing fine in the lake and the river. If they get into trouble we can't really help them..."
Rod chuckled. "Don't worry too much about them. Juel is very tough and never lost a fight as far as I know. Even I can't beat him."
Craw grinned. "And you think that isn't because of your type disadvantage?"
Rod chuckled. "Nope. He can even beat grass and electric types easily. He is really strong. The only one in our team that can beat him is Ray."
Craw looked to him surprised. "Now I really want to meet that Ray."
Rod shrugged. "Ray and I aren't the best friends but he is pretty friendly... Maybe he will be back from his mission once we are finished."
Craw nodded. He sighed and took out an four apples. "You hungry?"
Rod looked to him. "Do you have some meat?"
Craw sighed. "No sorry. I just got apples."
Fletcher looked to them. "I can hunt something if you want to."
Rod grinned. "That would be really great! Sadly Lillith forbid me to hunt... something about burning down forests..."
Brighton chuckled. "That sounds reasonable."
Craw smiled. "You want me to join?"
Fletcher nodded. "I would like your company. I can find the prey and you could cut their way so that we catch them together."
Craw nodded. "OK."
Rod grinned. "When you have them I can roast the meat."
Brighton sighed. "Yeah... whatever. I will eat the apples."
Craw grinned a bit. "I will look out for some oran berries for you as well."
Brighton nodded. "That would be nice."
Craw looked to him for a moment. "Is everything OK?"
Brighton nodded. "Yeah everything is fine."
Craw sighed still looking to Brighton for a moment. He decided that he would talk with him later about it. "OK Fletcher. Let's go."
The two ran off and started to search for something that all three could eat. Luckily they didn't need to search long as Fletcher soon gave a signal cry to Craw that he found something.
Craw made himself ready preparing a Focus Punch. He could already see Fletcher flying into his direction and saw him using Overheat probably to scare the prey to run towards Craw. Craw could hear that it was bigger than he expected but he still couldn't see it through the tall grass. He had chosen this spot because of the tall grass because it would hide him but now he couldn't see the prey. He sighed and closed his eyes. If he would be able to use his aura sense this would have been an easy task but now he would have to concentrate onto his ears. He could hear it. It was nearly there. Just a bit longer and... But then something sparked in his mind. For just a split second he could see the vision of a Tauros. He opened his eyes surprised. He grinned. He didn't even care for the Tauros anymore. He knew what that was. It was the first sign that his aura ability was coming back. He was taken back to reality in a very rough way. The Tauros just overrun him.
Fletcher was shocked and quickly landed next to him. "CRAW! Are you OK?"
Craw just laughed. "Yeah. It hurts a bit but nothing serious."
Fletcher looked to him confused. "What happened?"
Craw grinned. "I saw it. Not with my eyes but with my aura. Just for a split second but I saw it. My aura starts coming back."
Fletcher looked to him and sighed.
About an hour later Craw and Fletcher were back with two Raticates. Rod was roasting them together with a bunch of oran berries that Fletcher collected.
As the food was ready Cassandra and Ariela came back from their exploring.
After a few words were changed about what they found or better didn't find Craw took Brighton aside eating with him alone aside from the others. "OK. Would you like to speak with me about it now?"
Brighton sighed. "What do you mean?"
Craw rolled his eyes. "You obviously have something bothering you. You are my best friend and you are acting off."
Brighton sighed again. "OK OK... It is about Kathrin. Not only we can't really spend any time with each other the last week because of the exploration but I am very worried about her. She closed up a lot again since the exploration started and not seeing her much made it even worse. I mean you and Ariela at least are in the same area but Kathrin is with the Meowstic and I just see her when we meet in the inn again every night and then we are both very exhausted and nearly instantly fall asleep... We don't talk about anything anymore and even when I am trying she blocks me out... I am really worried..."
Craw looks to him for a moment. "That is really concerning... Why didn't you tell me before? We could have arranged that you and the Meowstic switch places. I mean sure the exploration would need more time because you and Fletcher as flying team are taking the biggest areas but that doesn't mean you and Kathrin are less important. I will talk with Veg about it and will work something out with him and next time you come to me right away got it?"
Brighton's eyes glanced and his common happy never worry smile appeared back on his face. "Really?"
Craw chuckled. "Well at least there should be some benefits from being best friends with the team leader don't you think?"
Brighton chuckled and punched Craw's shoulder playfully. "Stop acting like if you are so important mister "I am a human turned into a Pokémon to save the world!"."
Craw chuckled. "Oh yeah? Says the "I am a prince but I don't want to be one!" Pikachu."
Both laugh for a moment before they got back to the others.
Craw smiled and did his best to keep it down not acting too affectionate with Ariela to not make Brighton feel even worse. Luckily Ariela didn't seem to be bothered and played along. Craw guessed that she had a hunch about what was going on already.
After another short early dinner they then made their way back towards the village. On their way they met up with Damion and Juel as planned. They didn't find something that looked like a dungeon yet but as Craw and Damion were out of earshot of the others Damion told him that he had found a huge underground cave that would make a good secret base. "The entrance was pretty hidden and there is enough space with several room like caves that we could use as secret base if we ever need one."
Craw grins and scratches his chin. "We are not a group of bandits. But you are right. It could be useful at some point so please keep in mind where you found it."
Damion nodded and grinned. "And? Anything interesting where you were?"
Craw shrugged. "Not really. But my aura ability seems to come back. I guess by tomorrow or maybe the day after I should be able to use my aura sense again what should cover a lot of our area."
Damion grinned widely. "That sounds great!"
Craw nodded.
Veg nodded. "I can understand that. I also think this is the best. We are finished with the most parts of the plains anyway and I think within the next four days we should be finished with them. After that we have only the mountainside left and in the caves Brighton won't need to fly anyway."
Craw smiled. "Good. We will tell them the good news at the daily meeting."
Veg nodded again. "Anything else?"
Craw grinned. "Oh yeah. My aura sense slowly comes back. According to the speed I get them back I should be able to use them to the fullest within two days."
Veg grinned. "That are great news. That will help a lot with the exploration."
Craw nodded. "Yeah but only to find dungeons. It is impossible to sense aura-less."
Veg nodded. "It will still reduce the time we need for exploring extremely."
Craw sighed. "Yeah but we shouldn't only rely on that. There are always things that could go wrong..." He rubbed his arm. "I learned that the hard way."
Veg looked to him for a moment before he started to roll up the map. "OK. I will remember that."
Craw took the report sheets and looked through them again. "I would like to send Fletcher with the reports to the guild after we finished the plains. He should be back before we reach the edge of the mountains."
Veg nodded. "Yeah I agree with that."
Craw nodded. "OK... Whats with the items? Do the teams have everything?"
Veg looked through his sheets. "Cassandra said that she needs more oran berries and Juel said one or two pecha berries would be nice. He said that the ponds that they will check next are probably inhabiting some poison types because it is close to the small marshlands. Fletcher asked for another oran berry and Ariela said she would need one or two max elixir more since she used hers."
Craw nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem. What about orbs?"
Veg shook his head. "We have enough of them for everyone. Except for one mobile orb none was used. Rupert said it was to check out a caved in hole that turned out to be a den of some feral ground types. We have some more in stock so that shouldn't be much of a problem.
The Riolu sighed. "OK... the next point is..."
After about another hour Craw and Veg were finally finished with their reports. He gave the small bag with the reports to Fletcher. "Make sure you don't overdo it. If you need to rest some it's fine. The guild would be a bit safer than the wilderness and we need you top fit the next days since you will have to cover more. We can wait till you are back tomorrow."
The Fletchling nodded. "Don't worry. I am used to fly long distances."
Craw sighed. "I mean it. If you feel tired after giving the reports to Anubis then go to our base and rest a bit. Would be bad for us if you fall asleep mid mission."
The bird nodded. "As you wish."
Craw sighed again. "Good. I will see you tomorrow."
"Yes." Fletcher just answered before spreading his wings and taking off back to the guild.
Craw watched him disappear in the sky before he stretched himself and sighed. It was pretty late and he wanted to go to bed but he had one last thing to do and he already was thrilled to tell Brighton and Kathrin the good news. He went back into the inn they were staying at and went up to Brighton's and Kathrin's room. After knocking on the door he opened it only to see them in a rather compromising position.
Brighton was standing still staring at Craw while Kathrin moaned lowly in pleasure her front on the bed while her rear was raised like stretching. Brighton on his side was standing on her rear with his hands on her back.
Kathrin turned and looked to Brighton confused. "Why did you stop?" She saw him staring to the door and turned to see what was going on. As she finally noticed Craw she squeaked. "T-This is not what it looks like..."
Craw just slowly turned around and closed the door. He shook his head and leaned against the door that was now separating them again. "Next time you should lock the door..."
This time it was Brighton who was stammering. "C-Craw it w-was really not w-what-"
Craw cut him off. "I don't care what you do in your free time. Just lock the door next time."
Kathrin tried to explain again. "C-Craw-"
Craw chuckled. He found it kinda funny how both of them are so embarrassed. "I just came to tell you that you two will go together on exploration the next days onward from tomorrow. I already informed Fletcher about the change and Veg is probably informing Rupert about it now. Good night."
They tried again to convince him to listen to them but Craw was already gone.
Craw still chuckled as he came into his and Ariela's room. She was still awake sitting on the table reading a book.
She looked up to Craw as he entered seemingly interested in what amused her loved Riolu so much.
He just shook his head and kissed her onto her cheek. "You will never guess what I just saw..."
Ariela raised an eyebrow. Now she was even more interested.
Craw chuckled. "Let's just say I caught Brighton and Kathrin in a very compromising position."
Ariela giggled. "I already wondered when they would get to it. I mean the two of them were pretty close all the time."
Craw sighed and sat down on the bed. "Well I wasn't really expecting it to happen this early. I mean with all her past she didn't seem ready for it and Brighton told me earlier today that they somehow seem to have some problems at the moment... She seemed to be very stressed out but didn't talk with him about it."
Ariela smiled and went to the bed as well sitting down behind him and hugging him from behind. "Well Eevees may be more similar to fox like Pokémon but they also seem to be similar to cat like Pokémon... It could be that she is in heat right now and that her feelings because of what happened before the exploration and because of her past made her struggle a lot about what to do..."
Craw looked to her surprised and a bit embarrassed. "OK... First of all how do you know all this? Seconds, why are you telling me this? It is more than I really need to know... And third... How comes that Pokémon use phrases like cat like or fox like? I am pretty sure normal animals don't exist here and that it is for sure a human thing to say..."
Ariela tilted her head. "Well to your first question the answer is that I am learned to become a doctor before I became an explorer and this is some of the basics I had to learn. To your second question, you are the team leader and should know what is going on. Your third question might stay unanswered... Things are just named like this... maybe one of the first humans that were sent to us used these phrases and they got stuck but there is no real answer to that question."
Craw looked to her a bit dumbfounded. "You are pretty honest."
She giggled. "I think it would be only fair to you to be honest. After all I can read you like an open book."
He chuckled and took her hands into his paws. "You are great."
Ariela snuggled onto his back. "I know." She kissed his cheek. "But you are the greatest."
Craw giggled. "This is not a battle."
Ariela sighed. "No but it is true. You are the greatest. You are so much more than anyone of us."
Craw turned his head and looked to her. "Ariela..."
Ariela smiled grimly. "I sometimes feel selfish that I take you alone for myself..."
Craw kissed her cheek softly. "It isn't. I need you Ariela. I need you as much as I need Brighton or Kathrin or anyone else of our team and even more. I love you and if you are selfish because you want me all to yourself then I am happy with that. I would safe the world no matter if anyone here would mean something for me or not but with you and our friends I have a reason to fight."
Ariela looked to him with tears in her eyes. "I love you too."
Craw kissed her again. "I hate to ruin this wonderful moment but we need to get some rest... Tomorrow will be a long day again."
Ariela nodded and they both lay down to get some sleep.
Craw sighed and stretched himself. "OK. Everyone has their orders. Time to go. And for the lovebirds of us don't forget to work." He winked to Brighton and Kathrin.
Brighton blushed. "Really I just gave her a massage."
Craw chuckled. "Yeah sure... However let's get going."
Damion looked to Ariela. "Do you know what they are talking about?"
Ariela giggled. "Don't think about it too much and concentrate onto your work."
It was now the last time they would check an area outside of the mountainside for any dungeon and all of them were thrilled to get to something different than just walking over endless plains and swim through rivers and sees. Even though they would only change them for mountains and a huge amount of caves it would go much faster now since it was a much smaller area and since Craw's aura ability was nearly completely back it would be easy to differ caves from dungeons.
Just as the groups wanted to get going someone came rushed into the inn. The Minun that had entered was fully out of breath and looked around in panic as he saw the two teams. He ran straight up to them. "A-Ariela! Craw! W-We need your help! Quick please!"
Ariela looked to him confused and nervous. "Sam? What are you doing here? What happened?"
Sam was still panting. "O-Orenjii... It's too early..."
Ariela looked to him shocked. "The eggs? Are they coming already? That is bad... It is much too early..."
Sam just nodded still too much out of breath to speak.
Ariela looked to Craw. "I need to help. We are much too far away to get her to the guild in time and teleporting her in this state would be much too dangerous..."
Craw nodded. "OK. You all go on with the exploration. Ariela and I will go with Sam and look what we can do."
Ariela shook her head. "We will need Brighton and Kathrin too. Kathrin knows how I work and can help me and Brighton has the Lightning Rod ability what will be helpful. Don't ask why now we are in a hurry. You four come to me all of the others go on the exploration. That is important too."
Craw nodded. "Veg you have the command. We will be back as soon as possible."
Veg nodded. "No problem. Good luck."
Craw, Ariela, Brighton and Kathrin nodded. Then they all collected around Ariela.
Ariela put her hands onto the Minun's head. "OK. Now concentrate. Try to remember exactly where you were with Orenjii last and how it looks around there. I don't want to accidentally teleport us into a tree or something."
Sam nodded and closed his eyes trying to calm down but he still was too nervous.
Ariela sighed. "OK. I only did a teleport from the memory of someone else once so it will be a hard ride. Prepare yourselves."
The others nodded and just a second later they disappeared.
It was a strange feeling. Craw had teleported several times with Ariela already but this was different. It felt like if they were twisting and warping through the dimensions instead of the calm flow that felt like water that they normally rushed through. It was like if something hat put a rope around his waist and was now dragging him through the ocean with so many curves and sudden breaks that he thought he would have to puke but he wasn't even sure if he still had a belly. It was over as fast as it started and Craw was on his knees trying desperate not to throw up. As he finally started to get his senses back he heard someone scream in agony.
Ariela was already running to Orenjii who was lying on a blanket with Sammy, Kiiro and three other Pokémon surrounding her.
Craw guessed that the other three were Jake, Sarah and Dyle that Sam and Kiiro spoke about the last time they met. Sarah must have been the Female Pikachu. She was pretty tall for a Pikachu similar to Brighton but nut quiet as tall. Then there was a Porygon Z and an Emolga. Craw stood up and helped Sam to stand up before they ran to them.
Ariela gritted her teeth. "Damn... OK... Craw I need you to get these three away from here." She pointed to the Emolga and the Porygon Z. "Brighton I need your help here... Yours too Sam. Both of you take one of her hands. Brighton whenever she starts to release electricity I need you to absorb it. It could be dangerous for the eggs and me if they get too strong. Sam you need to keep her calm and nothing more. Please don't try anything. It would disturb me." Sam and Brighton nodded and did like they were told. "You are Sarah right? You get me warm and wet towels as well as some dry blankets as fast as possible please."
The female Pikachu nodded and ran off.
Ariela looked to Sammy. "Sammy you will have to put your hands onto her cheeks and slowly but steadily let flow your electricity into her. Since you are the only Plusle except for her it will be necessary for her that you do this. Otherwise she could be weakened even more by all the energy she will lose."
Sammy nodded nervously and put her hands onto Orenjiis cheeks.
Then Ariela looked to Kathrin. "Kathrin you know the drill. Get your butt over here and help me."
Craw was very surprised by the harsh and commanding tone the otherwise so friendly and calm Kirlia showed. She surely knew what she was doing. He took the Emolga, Kiiro and the Porygon Z and went with them aside getting some space between them and the team that was helping Orenjii. "I know you want to help but you would only stay in the way. Ariela knows what she is doing and we should let her do what she can do best."
The Emolga crossed his arms and nervously walked up and down. "I hope you are right. If something happens to my sister-"
The Porygon Z looked to him with friendly but stern eyes. "Jake you should calm down. They surely know what they are doing."
Craw smiled. "Look. You might not trust us but you surely trust Sam. Do you think he would bring us instead of someone else if he wouldn't be sure that Ariela can't manage this?"
The Emolga looked to Sam and then to Craw again. "Yeah... Sorry. I am just so freaked out... This is much too early. It should have happened in two months earliest..."
Craw nodded. This was really alarming and now he knew why Ariela and Sam were so nervous.
Kiiro nodded. "Jake we all know how hard it must be for you to see her in this state but what do you think how Sam feels right now? Do you see him getting into panic?"
Jake sighed. "OK... Seems like we have to wait now..."
Craw sighed. "Yeah... Sadly that is the only thing we males can do in such a situation..."
Already three hours had passed and Craw had to stop Kiiro and Jake several times with the help of Dyle to run to Orenjii who was screaming in agony. But then Craw heard something that made his heart sink into his feet.
"She loses too much blood! Ariela what should we do!?"
"Just press the towel on it! Craw! I need you here!"
He looked to Kiiro and Jake who wanted to storm through him to their sister but Dyle stopped them. "Go ahead. I will keep them here for as long as I can."
Craw nodded to him thankful and ran over to Ariela. Orenjii was pale and he saw a lot of bloody towels on the ground.
Sam was in shock only repeating Orenjii's name over and over again.
Kathrin and Brighton were holding an egg each while Sammy was still trying to send electricity into Orenjii's cheeks but she seemed to be extremely exhausted.
Kathrin was pressing another towel between Orenjii's legs. "It won't stop!"
Ariela looked to Craw. "I hate to do this... But we will lose her if I don't do this..." She took the hand of Orenjii that wasn't held by Sam. "Craw I will need you for this. Give me your paw... It will hurt... A lot... but it is the only way to safe her..."
Craw didn't hesitate and grabbed Ariela's other hand.
Ariela closed her eyes and soon a green light engulfed her and Orenjii.
Kathrin smiled. "I-It works. It gets less... Don't stop!"
Craw could see that Ariela was in much pain. Her legs gave in and Craw was barely able to catch her in time to help her sit down.
Then Ariela stopped glowing and she panted. She looked extremely tired all of a sudden and it looked like if she was in huge pain.
Craw gasped as he understood. "Pain Split..."
Ariela just nodded. "Yeah... I am sorry but you have to help me there."
Craw nodded. "Don't worry. I will be fine. Don't waste time."
Ariela nodded. "Thank you." Then she started to glow again and this time her target was Craw.
His feet nearly instantly gave in and he fell to the ground as he felt the pain. He never felt such pain in his life and he was sure that he would never again feel such pain. Was this how it felt to give birth? No he was sure that it was only a fraction of it. After all Pain Split didn't take all pain from the user to the other but only a fraction. This was just a fraction of what Orenjii went through and now he understood why she was screaming in so much pain. He couldn't believe that females would have to bear this for giving birth to an egg. He wasn't able to stand anymore and would have liked to scream right now but he needed to stay strong. If he would scream right now then the others would surely start to panic.
It was over as fast as it began and Ariela now used Pain Split again on Orenjii.
Craw couldn't believe that she was able to bear this without even moving a muscle. She was much stronger than he was that he was sure now. It only lasted some seconds and as soon as it was over Craw prepared himself. Ariela looked to him panting. "After this I will have to use it again... I am unsure what will happen but I will probably fall unconscious after it... Please make sure they listen to Kathrin... She knows what to do from then on.
Craw just nodded. "Do it."
Ariela smiled weakly and used Pain Split again on Craw.
He was barely able to withstand the urge to scream in pain and he was happy as it was over. He felt sore and tired. He looked to Ariela who was already using it on Orenjii again.
She seemed to be even more tired.
He could see that her eyes were about to shut close. He let lose of her hand and instead grabbed her pulling her into a hug. "You are the best... Don't stop... It's nearly done..." He was just able to whisper it into her ear but he saw that it helped her. She straightened her back once more before giving all her energy into the Pain Split. As she was finished she sank into his arms breathing heavily. She was unconscious. Craw looked to Orenjii. She looked much better now and Kathrin exclaimed happily that it was over and that Orenjii would be fine.
Craw wanted to let himself fall onto the ground and sleep but this wasn't the time. He looked to Sam who was still in a shock like state. "Sam... It's OK. She is fine."
Sam was still too focused on Orenjii.
Craw slowly and carefully lay Ariela onto the ground before grabbing the Minun by his shoulders. "HEY! Earth to Sam! She will survive!"
Sam needed a moment to process the words he just heard but as soon as he understood he started crying with a smile that Craw never saw on him. It was a smile of pure joy and happiness.
Craw was sure of it. "Hey. You have something else you can be happy about as well." He nodded towards Brighton and Sarah who were still holding the eggs neatly covered in blankets to keep them warm. "Congratulations father."
Sam nearly jumped to his feet and only stopped because he remembered that he was still holding Orenjii's hands.
Brighton already noticed it and told Sarah to follow him to Sam. "Hey Sam. Say hello to your kids." He gave him the Minun egg that he was holding.
Sarah on her side carefully placed the other egg onto Orenjii's chest making sure it won't fall down.
Kathrin who finished cleaning Orenjii smiled. "You are very lucky. It is very rare to get twins after all."
Sam chuckled still crying in happiness. "Well... It runs in the family kinda..."
Craw had to laugh by this what quickly went over into a cough. He was so tired and sore he just wanted to sleep.
That was when Orenjii slowly opened her eyes. She still seemed to be very tired.
Sam smiled and kissed her. "Orenjii... Look. Our kids..."
Orenjii looked to the eggs and smiled with tears of joy in her eyes. She slowly moved her free hand to the egg on her chest and softly stroked it. "Our kids..."
Craw smiled at the view. He was happy. He was happy that they were happy and that he could help them. He looked over to Kiiro, Jake and Dyle and waved to them so they would come closer.
Now without anyone to hold them back Kiiro and Jake stormed over to the group and looked to the eggs happily.
Dyle on his side just slowly floated over and as he saw all the bloody towels he looked to Orenjii and then to Craw and Ariela. "Is everything OK?"
Craw nodded. "Kathrin? Ariela said you should handle the rest..."
Kathrin nodded. "OK listen. I know you all are excited and happy and all but Orenjii will need rest now. First of all we will need to build a tent for her. The next few days she should not stand up at all. You will have to carry her somehow. Best would be to get her to the inn we were and get her a room. Orenjii if you feel strong enough to stand up tomorrow you can try that but even then don't walk around. A few steps should be OK but nothing more. And you will rest more than anything else. You were at the brink of death so keep it low OK?"
Orenjii looked to her nervous but nodded.
Kathrin sighed. "You are very lucky that Ariela was around. This was much too early. Normally a female would... well widen a lot in the last two months to prepare for the birth but that didn't happen yet. That was why you started to get inner bleeding and the only reason you survived is because Ariela used her Pain Split. It only closed the wounds just so it would stop bleeding and got you back some energy but if you move too much the next days your now not fully healed wounds could rip again and you could die from that so get your rest did you understand?"
Sammy nodded now even more worried.
Kathrin sighed. "You should visit a doctor or even better you should call one to the inn as soon as you are there. Oh and Orenjii?" She smiled widely. "Congratulations."
Orenjii smiled and cuddled the egg.
Sam smiled. "Thank you so much."
Kathrin sighed. "You should thank Ariela. She was the one doing the work. I only helped out because I learned the one or other thing about this stuff from her..."
Craw looked to Kathrin with curiosity. She seemed to know more about these things than she showed. He was sure there were still some more mysteries in that Eevee that he didn't know about.
Kathrin on her side went over to Brighton and cuddled onto him.
Craw couldn't fully hear what they talked about but one sentence he heard fully and clear.
Kathrin was staring at Sam and Orenjii with a grin on her face. "I could imagine to have some too one day..."
Craw could see how surprised and flabbergasted Brighton was as the Pikachu stammered something in response. Craw chuckled. Yeah... He thought to himself. I could imagine to have kids with Ariela too one day... He looked to Ariela who was still lying next to him. "Maybe one day" he whispered to himself.
The next two days went pretty smooth. Craw and Ariela were resting both days to recover while the rest finished the exploration of the planes as well as getting a free day to rest themselves.
Brighton and Kathrin decided to go to a place Brighton saw as he was on patrol with Fletcher some days ago.
Rodriguez and Cassandra had their own date but they didn't tell anyone where they went.
The rest of both teams basically went together to the lake to swim and relax a bit.
Only Craw and Ariela stayed back. Ariela made a visit to Orenjii to make sure she was doing fine.
Craw on his side used some time to meditate. He was finally able to use his aura ability and he didn't want to get rusty. After all he didn't use it for a while and he needed to get back to training. As he concentrated on his energy he felt it. It kinda made him happy. It felt like if this ability was a half of him that he had to miss out for days now. He sighed and went with his view over the area. The Lake was out of his sight but he could see the little clearing in a forest nearby that Brighton wanted to show Kathrin. He chuckled as he saw the two of them. Brighton was really massaging her. He was maybe wrong about what he saw two days ago. He sighed again. It was very exhausting to use his ability after all this time again. It felt like the first times he used his ability. He sighed and just wanted to stop it for now but then he noticed something else in the little forest. Cassandra and Rodriguez were there too. He got nervous. This could end very bad. But then Cassandra stopped in her movement and pulled Rodriguez back. She looked around. It seemed like Rodriguez said something but Cassandra stopped him by hitting him onto the head. She whispered something to him before she pulled him away from the forest. Craw sighed and stopped observing them. "She is good... Luckily she noticed that Kathrin was there."
"What happened?"
Craw nearly jumped. "Damn Ariela... Don't surprise me like that..."
Ariela giggled. "I wanted to know if your ability is already back... but it seems like not..."
Craw smiled a bit. "Well in fact it is back." He slowly stood up and stretched himself. "I saw something quite interesting... Cassandra is very skilled... We should watch out for her..."
Ariela smiled. "Yeah I know. She is quiet, strong and has good instincts."
Craw nodded. "I could see that... She will be the most important to find aura-less if we find a dungeon. But I actually didn't mean that. You know how careful Kathrin and Brighton are. Both of them have excellent ears and great instincts. They didn't noticed anything. She can sneak like nobody else... We should watch out for this. I know she changed but it is till very strange that she keeps this up..."
Ariela looked to him. "Why are you so wary about her?"
He sighed. "I have no idea. Something tells me she hasn't told us everything. She didn't lie at all as I asked her several things together with Miss Serene. There is no doubt she told the truth. But I think she somehow managed to keep something a secret that she didn't want to tell us. I have this hunch ever since I met her. I don't think that it is something dangerous... Maybe I am wrong but we can't be sure so let's be careful about her. You can't read her mind but you should be able to sense her emotions... Also you could keep an eye on Team Second Chance."
Ariela looked to him nervously. "You know I don't like to do these things."
Craw sighed and nodded. "I am sorry to ask you that... I am not sure at all if she could be dangerous but it makes me very nervous about her..."
Ariela sighed. "OK... But don't expect too much from it... And I won't tell you many details... I don't like to dig too deep in someone's mind..." She looked to him. "And even though I never became a doctor I still follow the creed of the doctors. That includes to keep the secrets of others as long as they are not important for a crime."
Craw nodded. "I wouldn't have expected something else." He softly kissed her cheek. "That is one of the reasons I love you."
She looked to him angry. "Then why you force me to do such things?"
Craw looked back to her but with a sad face. "Sometimes I will have to do things nobody likes. If I am not careful it could be our end... I noticed it at the day where we were in the inn of the Spark family." He sat down on the bed. "If I would have been able to use my aura back then Orenjii wouldn't have got hurt. I know you tried to keep it a secret but I know it too. That incident probably caused the early labor." He shook his head. "I don't really know why I know that but in my human life I spend a lot time in the hospital... That way I probably learned the one or other thing about medical things..."
Ariela sighed and hugged him softly. "It is true... I didn't want that anyone knew the truth... But you are also wrong... It wasn't your fault... It was-"
"No! It was my fault... If I wouldn't have been so damn impatient about my arm I would still have had my aura ability at that day and I would have been able to stop that Machamp..." He made a grimace. "I have to be more careful..."
Ariela looked to him sternly. "Now listen to me! You aren't responsible for anything. Things sometimes happen. Even if it would have been your fault then it would have been by a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes! You do, I do, everyone does. I also should have known that that could cause later problems. The doctors in the nursery too! But even then the only one taking fault because of this was the Machamp." She sighed and kissed him softly. "You can't take the burden of the whole world onto you. Every day bad things happen. Every day we do mistakes. The only thing we can do is to try our best and to learn from them."
Suddenly Craw saw something. It was a human girl. It was the same girl as the one from his dreams. The other Ariela. She spoke to him. "Every day we do mistakes. The only thing we can do is to try our best and learn from them."
The Riolu looked to the Kirlia. He smiled. "Yeah... I know... Someone said that to me sometime already I think..."
Craw sighed and sat down. "If this wouldn't be so damn exhausting we would be much faster..."
Veg raised his eyebrow. "Did you see anything interesting?"
Craw shook his head. "No... No sign of any dungeon... Well except for the one leading into the Twilight Empire..."
Veg sighed. "Damn... and I thought we would find something this time..."
Craw chuckled. "You mean I would find something."
Veg shrugged. "Yeah... how about we make a break now and then go on? The others are probably exhausted too. After all they went all the way back and forth to find caves that could be dungeon entrances..."
Craw sat down and took his bag. "Yeah you are right. I will signal them. How about you go and collect some berries around here? I saw some pecha and oran berry trees. We could roast them. I still have some of the meat of that Tauros that Damion and Rodriguez caught earlier."
Veg nodded. "We should send them together more often. After all Damion can extinguish fires that Rod could accidentally start."
Craw nodded. "That's why I wanted to try them out as combination."
Veg chuckled. "You really think about everything right?"
Craw shrugged. "I just like to think about things that others sometimes forget." He learned to tell this lie like it was the truth. In fact it was the most normal thing to him. Water can extinguish fire so it would be just logical to him to send a water type with a fire type just in case the fire type would start a fire. Even if just by accident. But for Pokémon these type of thoughts were rare. They thought more in the now and only those who could think outside the box would make great leaders. He even heard rumors that those who were able to think outside the box would have humans as ancestors or would have been trained by humans themselves but probably that was just a way for the most Pokémon to explain these features that only a few Pokémon had.
Veg grinned. "Really... You must have had a human in your line. I never saw someone think so much ahead... well maybe Sam or Anubis but we know that Anubis was trained by the last human and Sam is... well his family has genius in their name."
Craw chuckled. "That's not entirely untrue... Maybe you are right... Maybe one of my ancestors was really a human." If he would ever show the truth to everyone then Veg would either be one of the least surprised or one of the most surprised...
Veg shrugged. "Wouldn't it be great? I mean sure the last human started this war and all but beside that he was known to be the best explorer of his time... Even criminals respected him and he did many great things... Many have forgotten about that already but I think that beside the war he also did many good things... If this war wouldn't have happened then he would probably be a hero nowadays... Who knows... Maybe he had kids that live nowadays... Maybe you are even one of them. You would be old enough."
Craw looked to him surprised. This Veg was much more intelligent than he thought. "You really know a lot about that human huh?"
Veg chuckled. "Well my parents often said that it was a waste of time that the human saved me. You see as I was a small kid I ran away once and got myself lost in the middle of a snowstorm. The human found and saved me... At least that's what my parents told me." He laughed. "But really... If he saved a little kid that was lost in a snowstorm. He couldn't have expected anything of worth from me or my parents. No he must have had something good in him... That I am sure of." He then stared into distance like thinking about something.
Craw smiled a bit. At least not everyone saw in him the bad one. He sighed and stretched himself before he took his badge and pressed on the shield in the middle. "We are going to make a break everyone. Finish the areas you are in right now and then come back for some lunch." He was still amazed by how many features were fit into it. "How are they made anyway?" He wondered. He was pondering about it for a bit as Veg suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into some bushes. "What the-"
"Shh!" Veg pointed to the cave entrance that was the the entrance to the dungeon that lead to the Twilight Empire.
Craw nearly gasped as he looked to what Veg was pointing at. At the entrance were standing four gray Pokémon. All of them were Aura-less. Craw cursed himself for not noticing them and ducked down more. "To everyone. Take cover and don't come near our spot. Aura-less just appeared here." He whispered into his badge. How many already came through there? Did the Aura-less see him and Veg? He concentrated onto his Enhancer just to be sure and didn't move a muscle keeping an eye on the Aura-less. He sighed as they all went away into a different direction. As they finally were out of sight he looked to Veg. "We have to be careful still... There could still be more around..."
Veg nodded. "We should send Ariela to the guild. She has to tell the leaders and her teleport will lose the least time."
Craw nodded. "We also have to check the cave just in case. Also we don't know if they come through the Twilight Empire or if there is another dungeon..."
Veg nodded. "True."
Craw grabbed his badge. "They are gone. Come back but move with caution. We have no idea how many else there might be. Ariela please teleport to the guild directly. You have to report this to Anubis. After that come here and tell me what Anubis wants us to do next. I would prefer to go check the dungeon for hints from where they came."
The faint voice of Ariela answered. "OK. Stay safe."
Craw grinned. "Don't worry." He sighed and looked to Veg. "Seems like we can't have a break yet. As soon as everyone is here we just eat something real quick and then head into the dungeon."
Veg nodded. "I think that's the best."
After about an hour everyone was back. Ariela was the first who was back already and had told Craw that Anubis told her that they should proceed however Craw seemed to think was the best.
Craw sighed and ate an apple. "OK. We will head into the dungeon now. If you want to eat something then now. We don't know how long the dungeon is and how far it reaches into the Twilight Empire. We have to find out if the Aura-less come through the Twilight Empire or if the dungeon changed and leads up to the northern regions..." He ate another bite. "We have to watch out for other Aura-less. They are extremely dangerous but the dungeon itself is not very easy so please keep an eye on everything."
Everyone else nodded and they started to eat a bit.
Craw looked at his map. If they would go through the dungeon they should end up at the edge of the Twilight Empire. Since they are said to be aggressive towards the other kingdoms and especially to the Crystal City guilds he would prefer not to go there but there is no way around. Also they seem to be very strict with their rules of the guilds so he has to be especially careful with team Second Chance since they could cause trouble there... He sighed and looked to the others.
Ariela seemed to sense his worries and went to him. "What are you thinking about?"
He sighed again. "Twilight Empire. We have to be very careful. If the dungeon leads just to their borders we should search for guards or similar right at the beginning or we will get into trouble I think..." While saying that he glances to the members of team Second Chance.
Ariela nodded. "I know what you mean. We have to trust them though. I would concentrate on Rodriguez and Ilma. They are the ones who get angry fast. Also Kathrin seems to be on edge the last days and she snarls at Cassandra pretty often so you should talk to her."
Craw nodded. "Yeah but maybe talking to Brighton instead of Kathrin would be better. He can keep her calm a lot better than I can."
Ariela nodded again.
Craw stood up and stretched himself. "OK. We should get going. We have to be especially careful. I think I don't need to explain how dangerous an Aura-less can get. So if we run into one in the dungeon don't hesitate to run from them if you think you can't fight them. Also we will end up at the edge of Twilight Empire so be careful with guards. Don't attack them or provoke them. We don't want to start another war by accident."
All of them nodded.
Craw nodded as well. "OK. We will go on like we planned before. Ariela, Hoshi and Rupert are our only supporters so keep them safe please. Especially Ariela since she is the only one knowing healing moves."
Ariela shook her head. "Don't worry too much about me. I know Teleport so I can easily dodge attacks. They should concentrate on Rupert more since Hoshi can fight back at least. Rupert only knows supportive moves so it would be dangerous to let him alone."
Craw nodded. "You are right. OK. Main target of protection is Rupert after that Ariela and Hoshi. Juel I am counting on you on this. Rodriguez and Kathrin will be with me the main attackers. I will stay in the middle with Juel and the support team and Kathrin at the top of the group. Veg you will lead the way and Rod you will cover our backside. Brighton you will be behind Kathrin and Cassandra will be in front of Rodriguez. Fletcher in front of Cassandra. Ilma and Damion will cover the sides and Rex you will stay right behind the supporters. I think that should give us the best cover. Fletcher, Brighton, Ilma and Damion you are our jumpers. You will go wherever the attack comes first. The others will stay as close to their position as possible to take care that the supporters won't be overrun. Everyone got their job?"
Everyone nodded.
Craw sighed. "OK. Then let's do this."
Then the group collected and they went into the dungeon.
Craw sighed and took a gulp of the water. "OK. Just a small break. We have to go on soon."
The others nodded.
He knew they were tired. It must be after midnight already. This dungeon was much longer than he expected and a bit harder too... But at least we finally got through..." He stretched himself and looked around. They were somewhere in a cave. The most of it was lighted by luminous plants and if it wouldn't be such a dangerous place Craw would even admire the beauty of it. He sighed again. "OK. I think we are where we should be... I will rest a bit and then I will use my aura ability to see where the tunnels lead to and then-" He stopped mid sentence as he heard something. As he saw the faces of the others he knew something was wrong and as he turned his head to see what they saw he was shocked. Right behind him were three Aura-less. An Aggron, a Gengar and a Typhlosion were standing there ready to battle them. In this state they had no chance. They all were exhausted and even with his enhancer he had no chance against three of them. He gritted his teeth. "You all flee! I will use my enhancer and then-"
"Don't worry human. I will take care of these."
Craw paled. This voice was not one of the Aura-less. It was a booming deep voice. One that he would expect from of death itself.
Suddenly all three Aura-less were engulfed in pure darkness and as the darkness disappeared the Aura-less were gone. Slowly a shadow seemed to take form. Out of the ground it just formed into a humanoid figure.
Craw just could stare as a Darkrai took form in front of him. He was sure he knew who that was.
"Finally you are back... Craw the disturber." The Darkrai just stared him down while showing no emotions at all.
Author's note: Sorry for the delay. Sadly my family was not spared from corona and I got a lot to do... Luckily everyone survived and everything is more or less good now. After some time of resting I found my motivation back and after rewriting this chapter for like the fifth time I am happy enough with the outcome to post it. Hope you had fun and that I won't need so long to write the next chapter.