A/N - Thanks for all reads, reviews, faves and follows! There aren't many chapters left for Part 3. Unfortunately, due to a creative drought, I may have to put it on hiatus again to get Part 4 wrapped up. Please bare with me if that's the case. Chapters haven't been flowing as easily as I'd like.
35 - Milkwort Root
It wasn't easy to tell how late in the day it was. Through the sparse canopy, the sky was a murky grey. The sun tried its hardest to break through the heavy clouds, but could manage no more than a hazy glow. It had long since vanished beyond the trees, leaving Cleo with very little sense of time. She cast nervous glances back to the sky periodically, but she feared they'd very soon lose daylight and have to set up camp again. She paused to grab her map from her bag, quickly re-calculating how long it would take them to reach the Glen and find a path to Stonehaven. Her heart sank. By now they should be there. Had she managed to take a wrong turning somewhere?
"Is something wrong?" Faith asked.
Cleo glanced up at the mawile and turned back to her map. "I… I'm not sure where we are. We should be able to see the Glen by now."
The meowstic looked up at the mass of trees and shrubs beside her. No space for their tent, either. And looking for somewhere to set up camp would only result in them becoming even more lost. She cast a glance at Harlequin, who had been very silent since their discussion that morning. The zorua kept their head low, looking left and right, ears pricked. If Cleo were to guess, Harlequin was as lost as the rest of them.
"I can scurry up a tree and see if I can spot anything?" Spark offered.
Cleo nodded stiffly, and the dedenne shot from her shoulder to clamber up the rough bark of an ancient sycamore. The group watched her go, and Cleo kept a close eye on her tiny companion.
"The Glen…" Mischief scratched his fluffy head as he watched Spark nimbly bounce along spindly branches high above them. "Isn't that where we encountered those Heretics?"
Cleo nodded again. Her blood turned cold at the memory and she bit her lip. Hopefully they wouldn't still be lurking around there. She had no idea how close their lab even was to the Glen.
"Heretics?" Faith inclined her head on one side. "Those pokemon that captured you?"
"The very same," Cleo explained, noting Faith's thoughtful noise. "I want to tell you more about it, but I'm anxious to do so where anyone could be listening. We need to keep a low profile."
Faith nodded her understanding, but said nothing. Cleo couldn't help but think the mawile's mind was elsewhere. But she was snapped from her thoughts as Spark bounced back down the tree towards them. The sparkle in her eye immediately lifted Cleo's spirits and she smiled up at Spark as the dedenne paused on a heavy bough.
"I can see the start of the valley." Spark pointed a claw into the trees. "It's a good while away, but if we work our way through these trees we should find the right path. If we keep going this way, we're gonna head further into the forest."
Cleo checked her map again and clenched her teeth. If they'd kept going that way, they'd be closer to Windflower than Stonehaven.
She thanked Spark as she tucked her map away and adjusted the sack of berries. It wasn't heavy, but Cleo was beginning to feel its nuisance factor rising since it always took up one paw. With Spark back on her shoulder, the group made their way through the trees.
Mischief moved on ahead of them, his fluffy fur clinging to the rough bark of the trees. Cleo bit her lip as she gave a wary glance back at the trail they were leaving. It was reminiscent of the trail they'd left before the Heretics showed up with that tyranitar. Her ears strained against the wind as it swept through the trees, listening for any sign of the tyranitar's terrible howls and roars. But they'd heard nothing since they'd been in the forest.
Nothing.
Did that mean the Heretics were gone? Had they died in that fire? Or had they moved elsewhere? Cleo didn't want to know. She just wanted to get out of the forest and continue their search for the fire-type Xerneas had instructed them to find.
Cleo picked up her pace, trying to keep up with Mischief. But the whimsicott had seen something she hadn't. He deviated towards a clump of ferns and motioned for the others to follow him. Cleo pricked her ears and straightened to see ahead. The undergrowth swayed and the sound of paws crunching over dry debris broke the silence. Cleo darted towards Mischief's chosen hiding place and Faith and Harlequin trailed in behind her.
The zorua huddled down beside Faith, keeping their ears trained on the noise. Cleo crouched down between Faith and Mischief and held her breath.
Voices joined the crunch of paws. Strange, light and jovial. Their was an odd accent to them that Cleo couldn't place.
"… Didn't think it would be in the mountains."
"I know but it was as good a place as any to search, eh? Keeps him off our backs at least."
"Aye, that it does."
A lithe red fox slipped from the undergrowth, followed by a smaller one. The latter skipped along after her taller companion who walked with all the stealth of a professional thief.
A thievul and a nickit. Pokemon Cleo didn't encounter often. Both dark-types, both members of the Darkness. Her fur bristled and she ducked further into the undergrowth. She didn't want to fight. Not while she had a mission to finish. It would slow them down more than getting lost already had, especially if they were to get wounded.
The nickit stopped and twitched her nose at the air. Her tall friend looked back at her and followed her gaze.
"We're not alone," said the nickit.
The thievul let out a grunt and raised his head. His eyes fell on the ferns where Cleo and her friends were hiding, and her breath froze in her throat.
"Wanna check that out?" the nickit asked.
"You're right, boss." The voice came from behind Cleo and her heart struck her throat.
Cleo turned backwards slowly. Lurking behind them, peering from the shadows of the trees, was the black and white face of a linoone.
His muzzle split in a grin and his tongue hung from his mouth. "We're not alone at all."
Surrounded.
Cleo swallowed audibly, fighting the urge to step backwards out of the ferns. She didn't need to run. She could fight the Darkness now. Her ears hummed with energy and she flexed her paws, trying to recall the exact method she'd learned to use disarming voice.
Faith placed a paw on her shoulder and spoke close to her ear. "Don't fight unless they provoke you."
Cleo's eyes widened and she gave the mawile a confused glance. But her question didn't voice, as her attention was drawn away from the mawile. The light pawsteps of the two foxes closed in behind them, and she looked over her shoulder at the thievul's smug smile.
"I think we're being provoked, Faith," Spark whispered.
"Well, what do we have here?" the theivul crooned. "Aren't these the pokemon Lord Hydreigon sent those assassins after?"
The nikkit made a sound of agreement. "And look at that. There's one of them right there."
Harlequin lowered themselves to the ground, not taking their sapphire eyes off the two foxes. The zorua's sides fluttered as their breathing turned frantic, and they took a step back preparing to bolt at any second.
"One of Lord Hydreigon's aces," the nikkit went on, turning her gaze onto Cleo and her friends, "captured by simple Outcasts. And a psychic-type, no less? How pathetic." She grinned down at Harlequin, who's hackles were bristling. "Lord Hydreigon aught to turn you into a mangy throw-rug for your efforts."
Mischief straightened, fixing the small fox in an icy glare. It only served to make the nikkit's smirk even wider, and she flicked her bushy tail.
"You aren't being very nice." Mischief's voice was colder than Cleo had ever heard it. "I thought Harlequin was supposed to be your friend?"
The thievul and linoone both laughed.
"Friend?" the nikkit spat, her face contorting with a mixture of anger and amusement. "Don't make me laugh, weed! I've always wondered how that manky mutt got his status at Lord Hydreigon's side, when none of us can even step foot in his castle without being sliced open like feebas fillets!" She flicked her tail again and puffed out her chest. "Well. We're gonna pick up where this failure left off, and turn you all in." Her eyes fell on Harlequin again and she flashed her canines in a grin. "All of you."
The trio stared down the Outcasts, and Cleo took a step back into Faith. The mawile placed a paw on her shoulder, but her violet eyes remained on the nikkit. She gave Cleo's shoulder a squeeze and stood aside, clenching her fists.
Cleo understood instantly. The nikkit kicked off from the ground and Cleo's ears flew open, followed by a loud cry. Pink sparkles struck the nikkit at point-blank range, and showered over the taller thievul. The small vixen flew away from her with a yelp of surprise, landing in a heap just outside the ferns. The thievul glanced back at her, then turned a snarl onto Cleo. It engulfed her, causing her body to tremble. Her next attack barely phased the thievul as he rushed towards her, canines bared.
Cleo stepped back as Faith intervened, bringing her huge horn up into the fox's jaw. He flew back to join his smaller companion, who had found her feet only to be showered with electricity.
Clawed paws grabbed Cleo's shoulders and yanked her away from her friends, sending her rolling a short distance away into the thick foliage in a bundle of black and white fur. Great, she'd been so focused on that vixen's jibes she'd forgotten about the linoone! Cleo struggled back from the linoone, but his sharp claws dug into her shoulders as he twisted her into the floor. She opened her eyes to look up into the linoone's crazed face.
"Hello there, pretty kitty," he purred. "Looks like you're mine."
He reared up, raising his forepaws into a cross before his chest. His claws radiated darkness and Cleo tried to scramble back from him, but she was pinned beneath his legs. Energy hummed in her ears, but it was still weakened from the thievul's attack. However, it was her only chance. She screwed her eyes shut and tried to will the attack to come forward, but all that came from her was a feeble, frightened mewl.
The linoone laughed, an awful noise that sounded like rocks being shaken in a tin can. "What was that?!" he wheezed. "Do it again. Go on!"
His words were followed by a grunt, and Cleo opened her eyes to see a furry creamy canonball bouncing off the linoone's slender body. The black and white pokemon rolled away from her to sprawl amid the roots of an ancient tree. Mischief stood over Cleo, glaring the linoone down. The badger-like pokemon pushed himself to all-fours and sneered at the whimsicott.
"You leave her alone," Mischief warned him. "I'm not going to fight, but I won't let you hurt my friends."
The linoone snorted and rose to his hind legs. "Not going to fight? Then how do you plan to stop me?"
"We don't need to fight," Mischief told him. "Not like this. This isn't right! We shouldn't be trying to wipe each other out, and you shouldn't be working for that horrid dragon."
"Really? And why shouldn't I be?" The linoone's muzzle creased and he flexed his claws. "You lot are scared of us dark-types anyway. So I might as well terrify you a bit before I cut you both to pieces."
"I'm not scared of you."
Mischief's words carried as much weight as his stoic expression. There was a time Cleo would have thought it was naivety, but Mischief didn't look remotely afraid. He met the linoone's confused expression, and for a brief moment the dark-type lowered his claws.
"Not afraid, huh?" The linoone raised his paws again and they radiated dark energy once more. "Well you should be."
"I'm not," Mischief assured him. "I don't need to be. We're both the same. We're both pokemon, and we shouldn't be fi-"
Mischief let out a strangled choke as the linoone rushed towards him, bringing both paws down into the whimsicott's throat. Mischief tumbled backwards towards the ferns, where Faith turned and caught him.
"Mischief!" Cleo gasped, pushing herself back up.
She met the linoone's manic eyes as he turned to face her, and his long tongue slipped from his jaws as he licked his lips.
"Your turn." He raised his paws again.
"No!" Cleo's words came out as a sparkle of pink light, striking the linoone in the chest.
The darkness around his paws dissolved, and he staggered back into the rough trunk of an oak. Cleo clambered to her feet and faced him, her ears humming. Her strength was still weakened, but her attack had baffled the black and white pokemon.
She uncurled her ears again and let out another yell, fiercer this time. The linoone leapt aside, and her attack just skimmed him. He froze, looking between her and the fallen whimsicott. Then, with one last look at the two foxes lying prone and sparking in the ferns, he bolted away from them into the trees. Cleo tried to give chase, but Faith grabbed her paw to stop her.
"Leave him," she said.
"But-"
"Leave him," Faith insisted. "He won't come back. I could see it in his eyes. He's afraid."
Cleo flexed her claws and let her paws relax at her sides. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of letting the linoone run off. He'd probably ambush them later. She bit her lip and said nothing, taking a quick check of the damage. Faith and Harlequin were relatively unscathed, although Harlequin sported a few leaves and twigs embedded in their fur. Most likely from being dragged along with the collar rather than fighting. Cleo's shoulders were raw where the linoone had clawed her, and Spark nursed a nasty gash on her side, which she was smothering with oran pulp. Cleo's heart leapt, and she dropped to help her, tugging a dock leaf from its stem to fasten around her friend's middle. On closer inspection, the wound looked a lot worse than it actually was, but Spark wouldn't be fighting for a few days at least.
"Are you okay?" she asked the dedenne.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Spark hissed as Cleo fastened the dock leaf over the oran pulp. "That nikkit had a nasty night slash, but it barely skimmed me really."
Cleo smiled at her friend's comment. Ever the optimist. All in all, that battle had been a close call.
She looked up at the nikkit and thievul. They were still breathing. How it should be. She bit her lip and looked away from them, giving another glance towards the linoone's retreat. She knew, if the tables were turned, Cleo and her friends would not be left in such a merciful condition.
She finished fastening the makeshift bandage around Spark and popped her onto her shoulder. Then Cleo turned towards Mischief, who was still nursing his throat. "Thank you, Mischief. You really helped me there."
He opened his mouth to speak, but his voice came out as a whisper. He wouldn't look at her, instead staring after the linoone with eyes sparkling with tears. Cleo reached into her bag for an oran berry, but he waved it off and looked away from her.
Cleo sighed and popped the berry away. "Well… we'd better hurry before those two wake up." She motioned to the nikkit and thievul. "Stonehaven will be wondering where we are."
Stonehaven.
She pawed at her back and flew into a panic, searching the ground for the medicine sack. She found it amid the foliage where she'd been fighting the linoone, covered in debris. She dropped beside it and rummaged inside, and her heart sank. Everything was crushed, save for three pecha berries and a mangled bitter root.
Harlequin gave a derisive grunt. "Is that it? Just some old pecha berries and roots?"
"It was," said Cleo, tossing the mushy remains aside. "Now they're useless to those poor pokemon. What are we meant to do? It's well past the harvest season."
"They would have been useless anyway," said Harlequin.
Cleo rounded on the zorua, but they weren't looking at her, instead searching the surrounding trees as if searching for something. Cleo sat back on her haunches and inclined her head on one side.
"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to hide the frustration in her voice.
"You said it was seviper that had poisoned the river?" Harlequin looked up at her out of the corner of their eye. "Someone had tainted it? You accused me."
Spark twitched her nose at the zorua. "Well you do use poisons."
"Exactly."
Cleo stiffened, meeting the zorua's gaze.
"Pecha berries might stave off the effects until the poison leaves the system naturally, provided the victim survives," Harlequin went on. "But they won't help a pokemon to recover. They don't counter all poisons. A weedle sting? Sure, eat a pecha berry. But for something more potent, something that attacks your nervous system, you want something stronger."
"And what do you suggest?" Cleo ventured.
"Milkwort root."
Cleo and Spark wore matching expressions of surprise, but Faith was beaming from ear to ear.
"What on earth is milkwort root?" Spark asked.
"It grows along river banks and the outskirts of swamps," Harlequin explained. "There is tons of it around the swamps in the Border Woods. There were also a lot of seviper, but they were driven out when Hydreigon got wind of them. Seviper would nurture the plants, offering them to those who were unfortunate enough to get afflicted with their poison."
"Noble," said Spark. "Why would they do that? I thought they ate-"
"Some pokemon would get bitten by accident," said Harlequin. "Not every pokemon wants to eat you, Snack Size."
Spark's whiskers crackled and she stretched to her full height. "What did you call me?!"
Cleo placed a paw on the dedenne's head, and she calmed, although her whiskers continued to crackle. Cleo's fur rose on end along her arm, but she ignored it, her full attention on the zorua.
"So this milkwort root," she said, rising to her feet. "This will help the pokemon in Stonehaven?"
"More than your pecha and bitter root mush, yeah." Harlequin flicked their tail and looked away. "So find some. You can't exactly turn up with nothing, now, can you?"
"How can we be sure you're telling the truth?" Cleo placed a paw on her hip. "For all we know, this could be some sneaky plan to wipe out an entire village with a toxic plant?"
Harlequin pulled their ears back. "I suppose giving you my word would be pointless?"
Cleo opened her mouth to speak, but Faith cut her off with a wave of her paw.
"Harelquin is telling the truth," the mawile explained. "In the Fairy Garden, Milkwort is one of the roots used in cooking! It's incredibly good for you. You had some yourself while you were there. It was part of the vegetable and root soup!"
Cleo's jaw went slack and she looked from Faith to Harlequin. A smirk spread across the zorua's muzzle, and Cleo's mouth snapped shut as irritation took over.
"Okay." Cleo stooped to scoop Spark up onto her shoulder. "So can you find it?"
Harlequin looked up at her, keeping their head low.
"I've never even heard of it," Cleo told the zorua. "So I don't know what I'm looking for. But you do, so you need to help us."
Harlequin looked at each of the pokemon in turn. Mischief was still rubbing his throat, but he joined the zorua's side and nodded. Faith was practically humming with glee.
"Grass-types know their plants too, right?" she said.
Mischief shrugged his shoulders and let his paws hang at his sides. "I want to help." His voice cracked and he looked away from them.
Harlequin sighed and stood up. "Then let's go. We need to find a river."
Mischief nodded and lowered his head to the floor. When he stood, he turned them away from the ferns, towards the trees the two fox pokemon had appeared from.
Cleo gave one last glance at the nikkit and thievul then turned to Harlequin. "Something confuses me. I thought all Hydreigon's assassins and soldiers were male. But that nikkit-"
"Was neither," Harlequin said flatly.
Cleo raised an eyebrow at that, and Harlequin caught her eye.
"Those two work for a different General. They're thieves." The zorua turned back to their task, lowering their nose to the floor. "You're right, though. Hydreigon doesn't employ females as assassins or soldiers." Harlequin paused for a moment and licked their lips thoughtfully. "But don't believe everything you hear."
...
Rio removed the ice pack from his eye to quickly jot something down. Remembering everything about pokerus and its progress over the past few years was an arduous task, since most of it was lost in the blaze. It was made all the more difficult since his right paw was occupied with the ice pack. Writing with his left had never been easy. He silently cursed Enigma under his breath, and not for the first time that afternoon. The door opened, drawing the meowstic's attention briefly. Mint shuffled into the room, closing the door again behind her while balancing a tea tray in one paw.
"I thought you could use a drink," she said.
Rio grunted and picked up the ice pack again, pressing it to his face. It wasn't hurting as much any more, just a dull throb. What hurt more was his pride. The fact he'd let Enigma get in a lucky shot. The fact he'd not been prepared.
Mint popped the tray onto the table and the scent of hot berry juice tickled Rio's nose. She'd added sitrus juice to it. He gave the grovyle a sideways glance and shoved the glass across the desk. It shattered onto the floor, spilling its sticky contents across his discarded paperwork.
"Rio!"
Mint dropped to all-fours to clear it up, muttering under her breath. He thought he caught the words 'stubborn' and 'hubris' and chose to ignore them.
She dropped a few large shards of glass into the waste paper basket and looked up at him. "I'm only trying to help you."
"I don't need your help," he said.
"Yes you do," she retorted, catching a glare. "You just keep refusing it, and look what's happened." She waved a paw at the ice pack.
Rio dropped it onto the desk and sat back in his seat, narrowing his eyes at the grovyle. But she went on regardless.
"I warned you this was dangerous, but you insisted on keeping that psychopath here, trying to bend him to your will. I knew he wouldn't co-operate, and you've ended up hurt. Things could have been a lot worse!"
"I know what I'm doing!" Rio snapped.
"You clearly don't!" Mint stood up and sighed, leaning back against a chair. Her eyes softened as she met Rio's gaze. "Please. You've climbed into a hole much too deep for you to get out of, but there is a way. Just erase his memories, not just for our sake but for yours."
"If I do that, then my plan won't go as smoothly." Rio closed the folder neatly and pushed it into the middle of his desk. "Besides, I've already thought up a new plan to get him to co-operate."
Mint's head leaf drooped and her jaw went slack. "And what might that be?" Her doubt was thick and heavy in the air.
"I'm going to put him in danger," Rio explained. "I'm pretty sure he'll co-operate if he's fighting for his life."
Mint clenched her jaws. "You're going to put him into battle with other test subjects?"
"No." Rio sat back in his seat and folded his paws. "I'm going to put him into battle with someone a lot more fierce than mere frightened test subjects. Someone who desperately wants to get his revenge."
Mint stuttered over her words, and a smirk tugged at Rio's lips.
"You're going to sacrifice Lou?!" Mint gasped.
"I'd hardly call it a sacrifice," said Rio. "Not when Lou has already agreed to it. And if things go as well as I can see them going, then both parties will be no more than a little worse for wear."
"Enigma's an assassin!" Mint reminded him. "He's not going to-"
Rio cut her off with a wave of his paw. "Oh, it will work, Mint." A chuckle left the meowstic's throat. "I'm certain Enigma will fight this time. Then we'll see just how much of a threat he will pose to the Shadow Lands."
Mint dug her claws into the chair's back-rest and tears shone in her eyes. "You're completely losing it… I don't know what to do with you any more."
"Again, staying here is your choice," said Rio. "But you'll be singing a different song when we win this war."
...
The river gurgled over rocks as it rounded a smooth bend, vanishing deeper into the Moorlands Forest. Cleo walked along its bank, the dry brittle plants stabbing her paw pads as they crunched beneath her. Harlequin walked on ahead, sniffing at the foliage. New growth had started to poke through the dry ground, fed by the river deep beneath the surface. Splashes of healthy green permeating the wilted brown plants and fallen leaves. It was safe to say there was no poison left in the river now. Frothy foam erupted over the rocks, spraying Cleo and her friends with a cool drizzle, but it did little to permeate the drought-dry soil.
Harlequin stopped suddenly and looked up at the Outcasts. "This is a young one. That means it definitely grows around here."
Cleo crept closer to the assassin, looking between them and the plant. Its small spiky leaves spread out like a star across the floor. She didn't remotely recognise it. Mischief dropped into a crouch beside her, inspecting the little plant from all angles.
"So this is Milkwort?" Cleo asked.
"Definitely," said Harlequin. "I know my herbs."
"Can we take it?"
"It's not much use at this stage," Harlequin explained. "It's too young. But if we look further towards the trees then we might find more. Sadly, the poison seems to have killed off most of it."
"That's an unfortunate irony," said Spark.
"Nature has a way of bouncing back, though," said Faith from behind Cleo. "And if it's reviving already then Milkwort must be a pretty hardy plant."
"It definitely is," said Harlequin. "It can survive the most bitter of winters, but it only grows in moist climates. With all this drought, it might have died back before the poison hit it. I'd expect it to grow along river banks and in the shallows, but…" The zorua raised their head to look towards the tree line. "It might be growing a little further away. I mean, normally this side of the mountains you get a lot of rain, right? So all we can do is check."
At that comment, Cleo's eye wandered to the sky. The clouds were coming in thick and heavy, marring the blue sky with a huge streak of grey and white. It wouldn't be long before they broke and soaked Estellis with the first rain of the cooling season. Then the snow would follow.
Harlequin had already moved ahead of her towards the trees, reaching the ends of their confines. The tug at Cleo's wrist prompted her to follow the assassin away from the river. Mischief stood in shadows, searching the undergrowth. Cleo noted a small leaf in his paw, plucked from the tiny delicate seedling. Cleo, not really knowing what to look for, followed Harlequin as they nosed around in the thick green patches of woodland plants. The dry seed pods of low growing lillies rattled as the zorua nosed through them, disturbing the dry berries of nightshade which clattered onto decaying leaves.
"I think I've found it."
Mischief's quiet, husky voice drew their attention and Harlequin looked up from amid a patch of wispy Willowherb. The whimsicott looked between the small leaf in his paw to a patch of green, slightly dry plants growing in a clump between two oaks.
Harlequin trotted over to him and took one look at the patch before their muzzle split into a grin. "You're right! This is it!"
Cleo and Faith joined the zorua's side, and Cleo's heart sank slightly. The patch was no wider than a foot on all sides.
"Is this it?" she asked. "I mean… will this heal an entire town?"
Harlequin was already digging it up with Mischief and Faith's help.
"No," said the zorua. "But we can try and find more. And it's a start at least."
Cleo exchanged glances with Spark, still perched on her shoulder.
The dedenne shrugged. "I guess we'll just be a little late. We can't turn up empty pawed, can we?"
"No." Cleo rubbed the fur between her ears. "I guess we'll have to camp out in the woods again tonight while we find some more of this herb."
Faith wiped her paws on the grass to remove the mud and smiled. "That's fine. Like Spark said, we can't show up with nothing. And I think you'll be surprised how far this medicine will go once it's ground down."
The plants had been dug up, exposing their long slender roots to the open air. They were deceptively big compared to the plants they supported. Cleo removed the sack from her shoulder, which had been turned inside-out to allow the berry pulp to dry. They gathered up the plants into the sack with the few pechas and herbs that had survived the earlier skirmish. Once they were in, Harlequin hopped back to their feet.
"Now we know what we're looking for it shouldn't be too hard to find." The zorua turned to sniff at the ground. "I always found that to be the case."
Harlequin wasn't wrong. They'd barely moved a few feet when both the zorua and Faith found two separate spots. Cleo's mood improved as they gathered them up. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before they had more than enough for Stonehaven.
...
Review Reply
Adamfics - I'm glad you're enjoying this story regardless of your disagreements with Xerneas. It is amusing how Tinker goes to extremes to set traps for ghost-types and Enigma just waltzes in when he finds a door lol. Them ghosts can be pretty sneaky. However, they're not really something the Outcasts often have to worry about!
Thanks for reading everyone! Please R&R! =D