Rayzor was dreaming. Usually, his dreams were rather boring, mirroring the events of whatever he'd been thinking about the most the day or so before. Even his nightmares were just flashes of Samurott fangs and Stoutland howls.

But, lately, he'd found his dreams were… a lot less straightforward. Well, the Samurott fangs were still there, but everything else was hair-raising and distorted.

One night, he'd been lying on the ground, a violent pain shooting through his side, while the shapes of Bean and Meyers towered over him. Eventually, they dissipated into neon shapes and reformed into the shape of another Bisharp. He thought maybe it was Bellatrix, but he'd never seen her before in real life, so maybe it was some shadowy version of himself, foretelling some personal atrocity he was about to commit.

Another night, he'd been walking through blackness when a small stone had appeared in front of him. It was entirely white and perfectly round. When he picked it up, it burned his hands, and a massive, feathery figure had erupted from it, obscuring his entire vision and forcing him awake in a cold sweat.

During the current dream, his chest in particular felt like it was about to explode, and everything was very green. With tinges of blue. Someone was whispering something, but he couldn't make out the words. The shape of Dragonspiral Tower loomed above him, and he could feel eyes on his back, like somebody was watching him. When he turned around, he found his companions watching him- well, all but one. He opened his mouth to call the name of the missing figure, and-

Rayzor barked in fear as something cold clamped around his neck. "WAAGH!" Flailing, he kicked his feet out in a desperate attempt to free himself, but the icy feeling retracted and someone gave a snort of laughter.

He feverishly untangled the scarf from his face and squinted against the blinding morning sunlight. "Why the-" As his blurry vision cleared, he saw the figures out of his teammates outlined against the trees, both amused and sympathetic looks across their faces.

A bit like the scene from the dream, except the missing Pokemon was present.

"I told you not to do that!" Bean sighed, rubbing the morning condensation off her glasses.

Sheer snorted. "What else was I supposed to do? He's been asleep all morning."

"Try words next time," Golurk told her, albeit lightheartedly.

Rayzor groaned and squinted up into the sun. It was high in the sky, at the zenith of its journey across the daytime sky. Whoops… Usually by this time, they were already well on their way out of the campsite.

"Sorry," he grunted, sitting up. "I guess I was just… tired."

"Do you talk in your sleep when you're tired?" Sheer sniffed, looking down at him with something bordering on disdain.

He frowned. "I mean, I didn't think so-"

Sheer's smirk became mischievous. "Ah. You were talking a lot just now. Somebody's name? Starts with a G, ends with a..."

Rayzor squawked in horror and pushed himself off the ground, trying to hide the color frantically rising in his face. "I was NOT! I- I-"

"When was that, Sheer? I did not hear him talking," Zero asked, giving her a bemused look.

Bean let out another long sigh. "She was joking, sweetheart. Ruffling feathers."

"Feathers? Rayzor does not have-"

"Eh. It got the desired effect," Sheer snorted, giving him a devious look.

He glared back at her with as much poison as he could muster, but nothing seemed to faze her.

"It was funny," Meyers grunted, eyeing him with a dry smile. "But I don't feel like standing here any longer. Let's go." He and Bean turned and lumbered away into the trees, closely followed by Sheer and Zero.

Rayzor took a couple deep breaths and rubbed at his face, trying to swipe away the flusteredness.

"Um- you okay?" asked Golurk, who was still standing in the clearing with him.

"Fine! I'm fine. Sheer just likes to get under my skin," he grumbled, rolling the stiffness out of his shoulders.

"You can say that again," he muttered, and Rayzor gave him a tired half-smile. They stood there for a few more awkward seconds before the Bisharp said, "Alright. Let's not get left behind."

They filed out into the forest, and Rayzor silently contemplated the meanings of dreams and Sheer's mockery as they walked. Things were getting a little too muddled and confusing for his likings.

It was so much easier to have everything in straight, equal lines, but the lines were curving and curling and definitely not straight now as he tried to figure out his relationships with all of his companions.

Was it weird to think of Bean and Meyers are parent figures? Why was Sheer so rude and obnoxious? Why was Golurk so- well, Golurk was just nice, really. And easy to talk to, and relatable, and funny, and- actually, he wasn't going to think about that one right now. It was a little too uncomfortable at the moment. He'd barely been awake for ten minutes.

And it felt somewhat selfish to be putting his own emotional queries of higher priority inside his head than the dire situation surrounding them. There would always be long, sleepless nights to lie and contemplate the intricacies of social interaction.

Zero found he quite enjoyed his new travelling companions. His favorite thing to do was to observe the behaviors of new Pokemon.

Bean and Meyers seemed to be very protective of the group, always watching over the younger Pokemon with looks of varying satisfaction when they got along well and stepped in if things went sour. Though they only ever appeared together, he saw nothing romantic swimming underneath their surface. Not that he had any idea how romance worked. Still, he enjoyed their positions as platonic caretakers. Bean was very nice to him, and even though Meyers was dismissive, Zero came to the conclusion that that was just Meyers's personality.

Rayzor was another interesting figure, and one that he immediately decided he needed to know more about. Most of the time he appeared cautious, unwilling to say too much, but in certain scenarios the cloud cover broke and a real smile or laugh broke through. Usually, this happened when he was talking to Golurk. Zero took a mental note of that.

Golurk was much quieter than the rest of the group, but the Klinklang could tell he was observing in the same way he was through his posture and movement. He added another mental note to his system to compare his analyses with Golurk's, time allowing.

But even though he felt that he'd gotten a good read on the others, Sheer was still largely a mystery. An intriguing one, but one that would freeze-dry him if he got too close. Her entire presence was both physically and figuratively covered in a thick sheet of ice, keeping him from making deeper observations on her character. He added a final mental note that reminded him to stay away from her 'bad side,' as they called it, or risk a cold, uncomfortable death.

Now, they were all settled down for night, curled around a crackling fire. The snarls and howls of Invictus's army hadn't been audible for miles, and the smoke would be disguised by the starless night.

Invictus…

Zero didn't know much about the tyrant, and yet he found himself morbidly curious. How had one Pokemon achieved so much power? Why was he going around crushing innocent towns and villages? Was the saying to go mad with power grounded in some reality?

If Zero had that much power, he didn't think he would use it to kill everybody. The concepts of mortality and morality were still a little befuddling to him, but he couldn't imagine finding joy in watching the life drain from one of his new companion's eyes. Well, then again, he hadn't tried it. Hmm. That was not a good thing to be thinking about.

He quickly dismissed the disturbing train of thought and tuned back into the conversation at hand. "How are you enjoying life outside of Chargestone, sweetheart?" Bean was asking him from her usual perch on Meyers's head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sheer rolling her eyes at the word sweetheart.

"I think it's pleasant," he said cheerfully. "Everything feels so fresh and new, and it's always moving."

"Ugh. I can't imagine living in a cave for my whole life-" Rayzor started before realizing and glancing sheepishly at Sheer and Golurk. "Er. Well, I'm sure it's not that bad, actually."

Meyers snorted and rested his head on the ground. The embers from the fire reflected brightly in his yellow eyes. "Go ahead and dig your own grave, kid." A little laugh went around the clearing and then died back down again.

"Rayzor, if you did not live in a cave, where did you come from?" Zero asked. He had assumed most Pokemon spent a good portion of the beginning of their life in one place.

Immediately, the Bisharp's expression went from relaxed to hesitant. "Oh. Yeah, just a little town on the outskirts of wherever."

"No, go on," Sheer said, grabbing onto his dismissiveness. "Tell us." Her suspicion was apparent.

He glared at her. "Why don't you tell us? You're not exactly an open book."

"Now, now!" Bean said, hopping off of Meyers's bowed head and flapping her wings. "Be nice. I know you're all just curious, but treat each other kindly. Why don't we all take turns answering that question? If everybody's comfortable, of course. It could make for a good evening conversation!" Everyone stared at her, unsure it was a joke or just unwilling to speak up.

"I'll go first." She hopped back onto the resting Druddigon's horns. "I've been to a lot of places. When I was younger, I wanted to travel all of Unova, so I did! Well, most of it, anyways. I met Meyers while I was traveling. There was a forest fire, courtesy of Invictus's army, and we helped each other escape from there." Meyers grunted to show that he agreed with her version of the story.

Bean thought for a minute before adding, "And I have nine siblings, though I've lost touch with most of them over the years." That finally got a reaction, making half of her audience laugh and the other half stare at her in shock.

"Nine siblings?! That sounds awful!" Rayzor groaned.

"Well, at least you were never lonely," Golurk added. The oppressive hesitance had lightened a little bit.

Bean nodded. "Yes, it was rather busy in my nest. I think that's why I was so eager to get out and go far, far away."

As she took off her glasses and rubbed them against her fur (she did it often, Zero noticed, but he wasn't sure if it was because they were dirty or just a habit), she asked, "Who would like to go next?"

"I will," Golurk said. "I don't have that much to tell. I guess Zero's the only one who hasn't heard the story- I lived my entire life in Dragonspiral Tower until it was attacked by Invictus. Then, Bean and Meyers and Rayzor found me."

"Poor dear," Bean murmured sympathetically. "I'm sure it was a very quiet life up there. You're very strong to have withstood it for so long."

Golurk tapped his fingers on the ground and muttered something dismissive, somewhat embarrassed by her praise.

"I can see why you sympathize with me. Now that I have experienced companionship, living alone seems notably less enjoyable. Thank you for telling me your story," Zero said, giving him a smile. It was something he'd picked up from the others, watching how their facial expressions changed in different situations. The spirit seemed happy, so he must have done it right.

"'Companionship?'" Sheer snorted. "Calm down, there. It's been two days."

"He just means it in a friendly way!" Rayzor said, giving her a narrow-eyed look.

"Shush! You two need to learn to get along," Bean sighed, tapping her feet on Meyers's scales.

Before she could ask, Sheer volunteered to go next. "I lived on top of Twist Mountain, and then I lived inside of Twist Mountain."

Rayzor made as if to roll his eyes before thinking better of it.

"Is… that all?" Golurk asked, looking at her curiously. "You must have made some friends, or something."

"Do you have siblings?" Zero asked. That seemed to be a recurring theme at the moment.

She made cold, unwavering eye contact with him. "Brother."

"Oh, brothers! So much fun, aren't they?" Bean laughed. "How is-"

"He's dead." That considerably brought down the mood. Rayzor and Golurk looked very startled. Even Meyers opened an eye to stare at her. "Oh- my goodness, I'm so sorry," the Swoobat breathed.

"How did he die?" Zero asked, though a reproving glance from Bean told him it was maybe not an appropriate thing to ask. He was just curious.

"Got his face smashed in by a Zebstrika." She surveyed them as if she enjoyed their discomfort. "Anything else you want to know?"

There was awkward silence for a few moments. "Rayzor. Go," Meyers finally grunted, snapping them all out of their surprise.

Again, the defensiveness returned to his face. "I… don't think I'm gonna be able to top that."

"It's not a competition!" Bean scolded. "Go on." Zero could tell she was just as curious as the rest of them.

Rayzor stared blankly into the fire for a moment. Everyone was silent.

"Um… I… dunno. I lived at an orphanage."

"Seriously? That's your big, mournful, melancholy secret that you refused to tell us?" Sheer sighed, glaring at him.

He rose to argue with her, but Zero broke in before anything could happen. "What happened to your parents?"

The Bisharp simmered as he turned away from Sheer, not meeting anyone's eyes. "They passed away. Probably." Bean leaned forward to console him, but he quickly added, "I can't even remember them. I don't feel that bad about it."

Zero tried to imagine not having knowledge of his creators. It seemed unfathomable; the knowledge of his creation was one of the most important pieces of his life.

"Who gave you the scarf?" Golurk asked.

"Um- my parents, I think. It's what I was delivered to the orphanage in, so…" Golurk's gaze softened, and Zero thought he would say more, but he fell silent.

"What was it like?" Meyers grunted from the ground.

"Huh?"

"The orphanage, boy."

"Oh. Right. Um, fine. They're not as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Some of the kids are mean, but that's just kids. The keepers were nice. I never thought of them as mothers, though." His gaze became distant as he recalled the turmoil of the past.

"And then where did you?" Bean asked curiously. "The town we found you in didn't have an orphanage."

"Oh. I left eventually, and started doing work at the lumber yards." He drew his legs in closer to his body.

"So what's the big deal? Why are you always acting like you're hiding something?" Sheer challenged, leaning towards him.

His expression soured again. "Because I don't want anyone's pity! Can we talk about something else?"

"I can go," Zero volunteered before it escalated (again). He was the only one who hadn't spoken yet.

Personally, he thought Rayzor was being at least fairly honest. There were no telltale signs of lying, no avoidance of eye contact or stammered speech (no more than usual, at least), and more than anything it just seemed that he didn't enjoy the attention. Perhaps if he had a rather depressing early life, he wouldn't like to tell the story either. Or maybe he did have a depressing life, and he just wasn't aware.

Bean glared at the two bickering Pokemon and then gave him a welcoming, eager look.

Zero took a few moments to collect his thoughts. The others had kept their summaries, short and concise, only focusing on the key details. He decided to aim for no more than 120 seconds of speech.

"I was born- created, rather- in a laboratory attached to the road that Chargestone Cavern is upon," he started. "I am an organic creature, but the humans in the laboratory altered me; they believed that because my species is rather robotic in nature, insertion of artificial intelligence would be simpler versus the more… natural-looking creatures. They were correct, I think. I cannot remember life before all these interfaces and overlays.

After they were done, they released me into the caverns to observe my behavior. They installed a small camera in my eye, to monitor my position and activity. Eventually, I realized what was happening, that I was being kept as some sort of experiment… and I found that rather unsettling. So I ripped the camera out of my eye and hid from the humans who had released me into the cave."

The group stared back at him in a mix of shock and awe. It seemed like a positive, albeit surprised, response. Even Bean was silent. Her gaze was slightly unfocused, as if she were trying to put herself in the place of that situation.

He decided to keep going. "I lived in Chargestone up until I came across you."

"Until you spied on us," Sheer added dryly. He was learning that many Pokemon did not enjoy being watched secretly.

"Yes. Apologies that that was inappropriate. I've been outside the cave a couple times, but as I mentioned before, I never get far without guidance. When I saw you, moving determinedly, I also saw my ticket out." 200 seconds. A bit over the target time, but he'd kept it nice and neat, excluding all the unnecessary or boring details, so he was satisfied with his performance.

Everyone was still staring at him, processing. Golurk was the first to talk. "That's how I felt! When I saw Rayzor, and Bean and Meyers…" As usual, Rayzor perked up when Golurk said his name. "An escape," he finished thoughtfully.

"Goodness, what an incredible story! Absolutely fascinating," Bean finally said, staring at him in wonderment. Even Meyers had opened an orange eye once again to stare at him. A glowing sign of interest- or approval.

"The humans never came for you?" Rayzor asked.

"They tried to. I am very good at hiding."

The Bisharp smiled. "Well- I can imagine that."

"What do you know about Invictus?" Sheer asked coldly, shifting the tone of the conversation again from casual banter to interrogation. Bean gave her a disapproving look.

"Samurott. Dictator. The murderer of King Satyr. His current location is unknown, but his forces can be found all across the Unova region…"

He paused to see if she wanted to hear more, but she looked annoyed more than anything else. He thought for a minute before realizing she had probably meant his own personal experiences with the Pokemon, not just biographical knowledge.

"Just ignore her," Rayzor stage-whispered to him. Zero wasn't sure if that was a joke or not, so he just smiled. It seemed like it would be rather rude to ignore Sheer entirely.

Their conversation veered back into normalcy as the night continued on, eventually leading to their plans for the next few days. "Lay as low as possible," Sheer had suggested (well, instructed, really), claiming that they should move through the wilderness on the outskirts of the human cities until they could get across to the other side of the mainland. The others had no objection to that, but Bean insisted that if they met trouble, they should detour into a human town to escape pursuit. Sheer begrudgingly agreed that this would be a smart move. Zero thought this was a solid plan, protecting them from all sides unless a human got too cocky. It was very unlikely that such misfortune would befall them, though.

"We should aim for Lostlorn," Meyers grunted. When the others seemed confused, he added, "The forest on the far side of the mainland. It's very dense and uninhabited because lots of Pokemon think it's a… spirit resting ground of something, dunno." Bean looked ruffled by his wording, but chose to keep her mouth closed. "That should provide us some cover and time to decide our next move. And to check in on how the whole Invictus situation is progressing."

The others murmured their support and agreement and slowly began to settle down and drift off, leaving the clearing quiet and peaceful. Zero let himself rest, too. He couldn't sleep, exactly, but he could shut enough systems down that it would allow him to regain some of the energy expended in a day. A thousand theories and ideas were trickling through his head.

Sheer was right about Rayzor; why was he being so secretive about seemingly nothing? Bean and Meyers also provided scarce information about themselves- so does that also make them suspects? But… suspects for what? It feels like everybody is watching for somebody to do something wrong, perhaps, but what that thing is is largely indiscernible.

But it was much too late to be thinking about all of those things right now. He needed to be well rested for the next day of travel. Letting the convoluted thoughts dispel, he closed his eyes and allowed unwakefulness to wash over him.