Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Fate

by RoxasO13

A medium-sized town sits peacefully, undisturbed for years. That will soon change with a surge of wild Pokémon, but these are different than standard ones that live in the wilderness. It'll take a top-tier rescue team to resolve the issue, and Advent Town might not have what it takes. The story follows Glave, a treecko, who's soon to meet someone strangely similar to him. (Lemons)

9. Chapter 9

I gotta say, I'm glad this story doesn't have a following at the time of writing this. I took about a one-month break from typing this out for personal reasons. When I came back, I had a more or less fresh mind, but that's a double-edged sword. On one hand, this chapter is nearly twice as long as the previous longest chapter. On the other hand, there may be reused words or phrases that make reading a tad repetitive. I sure hope not, anyway. Enjoy!

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Cerulean sat up sleepily. She'd been half-awake when Zero woke up, detectable by the way his aura flared when he became conscious. He and Glave burst through the door and the two froze and stared at the lucario. She yawned and peered at them with squinted eyes.

"What's up with you two?"

Team Fate's members were all wide awake and headed to the town hall. The Mayor had requested to see them before they selected another mission.

"Glave, you're sweating. Where were you two running from?" Cerulean inquired, looking at two goodra they passed on the street who glanced at each other and whispered after noticing Zero. The human took no notice of them.

"Uh, Zero and I were training," the grovyle replied. He silently wished Zero would take over, assuming the leader of the team to be good at lying.

"You were training? Your attraction wore off. If you two were really together, then I don't think I wanna know what kind of training you were doing." The lucario gave her grass-type teammate an odd expression.

"Wait- no, it's not-" Glave turned to Zero, who was walking silently. His gaze was fixed on the town hall that could be seen a distance away. His face didn't imply he'd even heard them talking. "Zero?"

"Oh c'mon, if you have to ask him then I know you're lying!" Cerulean smiled and seemed to drop the topic.

"You two had to travel on foot to and from Crimson Forest yesterday, right?" Zero finally spoke.

"Yeah, we did. What, are you proud of us for walking?" The lucario smirked.

"I'm confused as to why Glave was still under the effect of the move attract when he got home."

"I... what? I don't think I understand what you want me to say."

Glave blushed lightly as his two companions went back and forth.

"If need be, would you have helped alleviate the influence if the two of you were in a dire situation?"

"Woah, what are you getting at?" Cerulean stopped walking. Zero stopped and turning his head, not quite enough to look at her.

"I appreciate you helping me return to myself after my battle with..." The human frowned and looked around. Families of Pokémon were stopped and watching them. An aggron stood with two aron on its shoulders. Two frogadier, notably siblings, were huddled close to each other as though protection would be necessary. The list went on. It must've looked like an argument to them. "Tsk." Zero resumed walking.

"You seem to be in a bad mood..." Cerulean pressed. She and Glave followed their leader and attempted to ignore the gazes burning into their backs.

"I see." He sighed and his facial expression reset. "That probably didn't look good back there. I need to remember why this rescue team was formed." Zero said, mostly to himself, and sighed.

"But about what you were saying?"

"To be blunt, what stopped you from helping Glave have an orgasm?" Zero popped the question the same way someone would ask another if they liked their steak rare.

"Woah." Glave and Cerulean said it together.

"Glave's a little young, don't you think? Besides, I'd rather our team not turn into some kind of... I dunno, I just don't jive well with the idea that all three of us are doing it with each other. Not at the same time anyways. No offense, kid." She told Glave, unwavering casualty.

Zero finally checked to see how Glave was handling the situation. He laughed when he saw the grovyle; his small partner was already inspecting him with wild eyes. They calmed down upon registering the human's reaction.

"Hold up, what's going on with you two? You didn't actually-"

"N-no." Glave cut off Cerulean. "I mean, yes-"

"What!?"

Zero laughed more at the interaction.

"N-NO!" The grovyle sighed and turned to her. He was forced to turn his head back away from her when she met his gaze; admitting something like that face-to-face would be too awkward. "Y-you know Team Ultima, right?"

"They have a lucario too, right?"

"Yeah. And the others?"

"A stereotypical lopunny, a cold gardevoir, and one other I can't remember."

"The lopunny," Glave remarked. It was all he said.

"What about... No damn way." Cerulean shifted her attention to the human walking in front of her. The corner of his mouth visible to her was turned up. "No fucking way."

Glave said nothing and Zero's lips parted slightly. Cerulean grabbed her leader's wrist and turned him to her.

"You knew!? Oh God, you came back with him- did you!?" The lucario was in shock. Zero shrugged and slipped his arm out of her grasp.

"Can you move past it? I asked Zero not to say anything about it. If I had to guess, he's doing just that." Glave told her.

"Besides," Zero broke in, "we're here."

They stood in front of the town hall. Once more, they entered and navigated to the second floor, where the mayor's office overlooked the East district of the town. A knock earned the usual response, permitting entry.

"Team Fate. I don't have any other expected visitors until noon, so I'm not surprised. Is there anything you'd like to say to me?" Draco didn't fiddle with any papers. His hands were clasped in front of his mouth and his full attention was on the three-man team before him.

"We're here per you asking us to come before selecting another mission." Zero responded.

"I understand that. I was simply checking if you had any concerns. At any rate, I have some questions for you, Zero."

"Sir?"

"What did you spend yesterday doing?"

The human's self-control was at the top of the totem pole. He was commanding his body to contain itself before he even recalled what he'd done with Cream.

"For the most part, I sat at home. I spent two hours having a sparring match of sorts with Cream of Team Ultima."

"A sparring match? Against my order restricting combat?" He raised an eyebrow at Zero. The human subconsciously thought about how he couldn't do that.

"She was fairly persistent in atta-... striking me, I suppose. I actually took your command into account and did my best not to fight back. I only attacked once and it was at the end of the engagement."

"Very well. What did you do at home?"

"I... not much." Zero replied unsurely. "I was worried about my team for the most part."

"You were? Is that to say you don't think them capable of taking care of themselves?"

"No, sir. I merely think that you never know what's going to happen on a mission."

"Exactly what I mean. If you had faith in them, whatever happens shouldn't overly matter. Allow me to be completely open with you, Zero."

"Yes, sir."

"The entire excursion that took place yesterday had nothing to do with your mission."

Zero frowned.

"In fact, yesterday wasn't about you at all. Other than seeing how you'd respond to my orders, which I feel you handled flawlessly. You may be fooling me, and I may never know if the encounter with Suicune was coincidental or not. But as far as that goes, Zero, I don't feel I have the choice to send you away from this town."

"Sir, I would leave if you-"

"You may say that, but I have to fear you as much the townspeople dislike you."

"I... sir?" Every encounter with the dragonite before Zero was complex. The Pokémon was ridiculously intelligent, and he always threw curveballs at the human. It felt like everything was a test and the human didn't know the material he was being tested on.

"Fighting with Team Luck, taking down a legendary, on multiple occasions, I might add, and possessing access to what could be every attack known to Pokémon all point to the fact that there's likely not a force great enough to stop you from having your way in this town. It's against my better judgment to tell you this, but I'd rather you fight for us because we let you than against us because we won't."

"That's certainly a relief to hear. I think."

"Having gotten that out of the way, you need to understand your situation." The Mayor cleared his throat. "You are no longer a member of Team Luck. All Team Luck is now is archives and memories. Even then, your memories of the team are real."

Zero bit his lower lip. Inside he felt stricken.

"You are now the leader of your own team. I appreciate that you want to protect them, but I refuse to let this be a one-man thing. I sent them on the mission yesterday to let you recharge and to see how they would fare. Both of those points turned out in good ways. Blast, I've forgotten what I was even getting at." Draco sighed. "If it causes you distress to view your team on the battlefield without you, then make them strong enough so you no longer worry. Dismissed."

"Making us stronger..." Zero mumbled. The team was now in the Rescue Federation's office, looking at the bulletin board. "Everything I can think of involves myself. Am I that arrogant?"

The thoughtful, troubled expression on his face was deep enough to draw Glave and Cerulean's attention from the envelopes tacked up.

"Do I need to remind you how powerful I really am?" Cerulean put a paw on her hip. "Because a while back, I just so happened to be the biggest threat to this place in years, no?"

"That would be a much more remarkable feat if it weren't the only threat this place has seen in years. I'm sorry. It's not about you two. I think. I just-"

"We get it," Glave interjected. Cerulean gave him an uncertain glance. "Or at least we kind of get it. Team Luck didn't retire with a happy ending. I don't know about Cerulean, but I've never felt the pain of loss. All I've heard is that it's the worst, and we know that you've been through the ditch with it. So... I get it if you're afraid of failing. I just wish you'd start to look at the magnitude of your success four years ago instead of the severity of your mistakes and losses."

"Tsk." Zero sharpened his focus onto the board. Glave and Cerulean both flinched at his reaction. "I've let this place break me down."

"Zero..."

"I preach about my integrity and self-control, and I'm wallowing here about myself, and being comforted by someone who lost as much as me." The human stated. Everything, from his stature to his facial expression, looked tired. He sighed and immediately refreshed himself. "I'm good now. Thanks for that, though. Being the leader doesn't mean this is my story. Still, I need to finish what you're dad asked of me." Zero placed his hand on the grovyle's head and ruffled the leaf that trailed down his back.

The leader selected an envelope from the board and frowned at it.

"I want to go on an outlaw-rescue mission." Zero proclaimed.

"I don't get it. Is there something special about those?" Cerulean asked.

"Well, we handled an outlaw mission yesterday. The difference is that an outlaw-rescue mission involves a hostage." Glave informed the lucario. His discomfort was clear toward the end of the sentence.

"Oh, I see. Why one of those?"

Zero took another mission to inspect it.

"Say I'm in the mood for one. Between exploration of uncharted dungeons and going head-to-head with gods, Team Luck did these missions when they had to choose one. At any rate, this one here meets the conditions. There's a dusknoir that... what?"

"What's the problem?" Glave crossed his arms from his short perspective. There was no way in hell he could see the letter, and Cerulean was up against Zero trying to read the description.

"This thing is over a month old. The mission request was sent in a few days before you and I got here."

"Seriously? Guess it's expired by now."

"N-no." Glave cut in. "Missions don't expire. For it to still be here..."

"Means the situation hasn't been handled yet." Zero finished for the grovyle. "I think we should go to the home of the family and ask if anything was ever settled. Says here the hostage is a ralts, age three. The dusknoir's last known whereabouts were the dungeon Uncharted Abyss."

"Wait, a little ralts?" Glave asked with wide eyes. He jumped up and grabbed Zero's shoulders, hanging off the human's back. There was no sign that it took any effort to remain unmoved by the action and Zero didn't tell Glave to get down. Holding the letter higher for him, the grovyle began reading it. "Shit! That's Mr. Cyan's granddaughter!" He exclaimed.

"Mr. Cyan? Do you know the family? I understand the situation is dire but is there a thing with the gardevoir family being named after colors?" Zero replaced the contents in their envelope and turned to leave.

"Yeah, there is. Or was that sarcasm?" Cerulean viewed her leader to see his reaction. To both her and Glave's surprise, he met her gaze with a furrowed brow.

"Wait, you're serious? I was made to study a lot about nearly every Pokémon species, and that never came up."

"Well for what it's worth, it's more of a social or traditional thing. If one member of the family is named after a color, then it's customary for them to continue with different shades or closely related colors. Mr. Cyan is Azure's father if you couldn't tell." Glave instructed his instructor.

"I swear to every legendary I've faced in combat if you dare try telling me Team Ultima's gardevoir is a mother I'm gonna impale myself and use reversal on you."

Cerulean laughed at Zero's response.

"Wait, do you not like the gardevoir? They're like the most humanoid Pokémon out there. Is that why you don't like them?"

"It's not about liking the species. I have nothing against them. As for preference..." He trailed off.

"Wait what? I know you don't mean sexual!" Cerulean jumped in front of the group and bounced, turning to face her companions. Glave eyed his leader curiously, looking away in a panic when he got caught.

"Don't tell anyone." Zero brushed past her and kept walking. "Glave, come on, where's the place?"

"Your cheeks were pink, I saw that!" Cerulean pointed at him.

Team Fate stood in front of a vacant house. The lights were off and small cobwebs were visible in one of the window's corners.

"Glave?" Zero asked.

"I-it might be better to check out the department store. Mr. Magma or Sitrus must know something."

The three took off at a jog towards the tallest building in the city.

"Who are those two you mentioned?" Zero called to Glave.

"Mr. Magma is a magmortar and Sitrus is a tropius. Those two and Mr. Cyan make up the owners of the department store. Supposedly, the entire store was just a shop smaller than most of the homes here."

"I see. I could always see the building from outside the city's walls, so I imagine that was quite some time ago. Man, Pokémon really put that thing together?" Zero asked the last part to himself more than anything.

"Get real, most human buildings have their foundations sitting on the shoulders of a shit load of fighting and electric types, and from what I've heard, humans often hired psychic types to design the blueprints for their projects."

"Geez, why do you know so much about human civilization?"

"They haven't been dead that long." The lucario rolled her eyes.

"Well, Glave, can you tell me about those three?"

"Mr. Cyan is the one who permitted me to go on the roof of the store. It's off-limits to everyone else, and it probably is to me too now. He keeps to himself but he's very empathetical. Oh, and I guess it was rhetorical but I didn't answer you earlier. Azure isn't his granddaughter's mother, he had another daughter, but she was presumed dead. Kidnapped from her home in the middle of the night. Being a grown woman, she was considered a lower priority mission and was never found."

"Damn." There was unexpected emotion contaminating Zero's voice. "Stories suck when they don't have a happy ending," He finished somberly.

"Yeah. Mr. Magma handles the financing, restocking, a lot of the behind-the-scenes business stuff that you'd expect Mr. Cyan to. Actually, I'm not too sure what Mr. Cyan does for the company... As for Sitrus, he's incredibly sociable and everyone in town knows his name. He's super strong too, to the point where he can use a full frenzy plant."

"He can what?" Zero and Cerulean inquired together.

"Yeah. He was fighting Entei and Suicune before they 'disappeared' from the town four years ago. His courage was never forgotten, given that Entei is a fire-type and Suicune is a connoisseur of ice-type moves. He's also really knowledgeable when it comes to medical things, such as berries and herbal medicines. Only Mr. Cyan has children, but Sitrus is happy with his wife. I'm pretty sure all of them are over the age of 50, not sure though."

"Wai- Zero why the fuck didn't you teleport us!?" Cerulean stopped running and put her paws on her hips. Zero and Glave looked at each other and then her.

"Shit." He grabbed both of them and they popped in front of the doors to the department store. They received the typical reaction from Pokémon startled by the human's presence, the intensity of which being increased since it was a sudden appearance. "Let's go."

All three members of Team Fate entered, two of them breathing hard.

"Hel-" An ampharos sitting behind a counter in the entrance had her voice catch in her throat when she saw Zero. "He-hello." She looked away.

"She was totally blushing." Cerulean tried to comfort Zero.

"We're here for a reason. Glave?"

"Let's see, the meeting room is on the fourth floor, but the three of them have a shared workspace on the seventh floor."

"Got it."

Grabbing his teammates, Zero warped to the sixth floor and headed for the stairs.

"Why-"

"You can't teleport somewhere you've never been or isn't in your sight. I've never been to the seventh floor."

After climbing the flight of stairs, the team arrived on the top floor. A side door next to the entrance to the next floor led to the roof. Ignoring it, Glave led them to a fancy door with a frame of red, greenish-blue, and brown. Zero knocked and two salazzle whispered. Cerulean's ear twitched as she listened.

"I heard humans think they can get what they want just because." One said.

"Think he wants a discount?" The other asked.

"Glaciate," Zero whispered.

"SHIT!" The lucario jumped back, completely startled. Glave didn't hear the excursion until then. Nothing came from the human's command. He smiled subtlely at his teammate's reaction.

"It looks like gossip bothers you more than it does me." Zero flashed a warm grin at Cerulean. To the team, it was completely fake. To the salazzle pair, who were in earshot, it looked like they'd just attacked a nice being for his species. They left uncomfortably.

"Enough with the knocking, come in!"

"Oh come now, it may be urgent." A voice soothed the initial one.

Upon entering, both sides were met with an unexpected sight. The room contained a U-shaped desk, spanning across most of the room and having three seats distributed around it. One of them was pushed in the corner, unused by the tropius standing at his spot. Another was unoccupied as well, and the third was being employed by a fuming magmortar. Sitrus looked stricken while Magma's jaw dropped.

"What. In the hell?"

"I'll keep this short." Zero stated. Magma gritted his teeth. Sitrus smiled uncomfortably. "I want to know what happened to Cyan." The human retrieved the envelope containing the mission details. "We went to his house regarding a mission stating his granddaughter went missing."

"How dare-"

"Enough, Magma, please remain calm. Don't you recall the town meeting from a month ago? This human claims to be able to use all moves. He could really help, and I haven't heard news of anyone else offering." The tropius turned to Zero. "Forgive him, and forgive me as well. I'm sorry, but I think you can understand the effect your... appearance has on the townspeople. Cyan left the town roughly a week ago. No law or policy is restricting the departure of a citizen from the town, so he only told us he was leaving, but he didn't say where he was going."

"I see. His house was clearly vacant. What of his wife?"

"His wife? He said nothing of her, but neither of us has heard from her since then, I suppose."

Zero glanced at Glave.

"She's really sweet. Loves her family to death. If I had to guess..."

"Damn. We'll have to retrieve them all. Mr. Sitrus, please, did Mr. Cyan state where he'd be going?"

"In his words, he got a lead on where his precious ralts could be." Sitrus frowned and periodically checked to see the state Magma was in.

"This mission claims the last known whereabouts of the kidnapper to be a dungeon called Uncharted Abyss. I've been there before, but it's been a while. I surmise they went there together. But how'd he find out?" Zero began rambling to himself. "He must've seen the mission. But why'd he leave it on the board...?"

"Perhaps he didn't believe in his wife and his abilities for rescuing his granddaughter. It's possible he intended for someone else to come after them should they fail. He became increasingly frustrated with the Rescue Federation when no one took on his mission request. I'm sure you know how old that mission is."

"I do. Thanks for the information. We really need to get going. Hopefully, I can report back later with your friend." Zero turned his back on them.

"Take care of Glave,..." Sitrus waited for a response.

"Huh? Oh. My nam- er... I'm Zero."

The tropius smiled fondly as they warped out of view. The three stood in a triangle briefly, sharing a silent glance. Zero took hold of both of them and their surroundings changed. The human made an uncertain noise when he registered their surroundings.

"What...?" The three of them squinted when they looked up, getting hit with the sun's harsh beams. "Where's the dungeon?"

The scenery consisted of trees spread around scarcely. It wasn't quite a mountainous region, but there were steep, rocky hills. Zero focused and let his aura flare up around him, detectable only to Cerulean, whose reaction alerted Glave that something was up.

"There are a bunch of life signatures underground... The earth is meddling with my abilities. Think you can do it better than me?" The human asked the other aura-adept member.

"I can give it a shot." Cerulean's face showed marginal strain as she tensed up. A fiery blue aura came into existence around her. "I dunno, I'm not good at pinpointing things, just kinda getting the gist of stuff I can feel if that makes any sense. There's a bunch of Pokémon underground, just like you said. Hmm... Hey, the region doesn't disrupt my aura as much around..."

The lucario navigated around a few of the rocky hills and stood before a specific one. There was a collection of what appeared to be poison ivy, thorny vines, and tree leaves. On the ground, a gallade and gardevoir lied unconscious.

Zero rushed forward, skidding through leaves on the ground and coming to a stop between them. He put a hand on both, hands glowing before even touching them.

"They're okay." He took his hands off them and held them in the air and the space glowed a harsh magenta light, even in the open sun. A smell permeated Team Fate's noses, somewhere between a flower field and the salty scent of the beach. Meanwhile, yellowish sparkles fell from his hands onto the pair of gardevoir family members.

"Aromatherapy and... wish?" Glave sniffed, not that it'd help with detecting the latter move.

"Aromatherapy and heal pulse. Good guess, though. I'm not sure they're even hurt, not to mention it's more efficient to use heal pulse instead of recover for simultaneous targets. But... why couldn't our aura find these two? I can sense them perfectly now."

"Actually, it's hard to describe, but my aura feels kinda... blurry?" Cerulean held up a paw and aura flared around it.

"Now!"

The call rang out just before seven sableye and two duskull flew out of the wall. Three sableye each charged Glave and Cerulean, while one and two duskull flew at Zero. Vines whipped down two of the purple Pokémon while a root burst from the ground to slam into the third's stomach. Two paws caught one head each and knocked them into another between them. In both cases, all three sableye fell to the ground.

Glave and Cerulean checked on Zero and saw his three assailants floating in front of him, encapsulated by a pink border.

"Glaciate," he said for the second time that day. A half-ring arc of icicles froze into existence from the moisture hanging in the air, floating in front of Zero. All the Pokémon present stared on with wide eyes.

"N-No- Wait!" A duskull cried out. The two Pokémon accompanying it glared. "Er- please, don't kill us!"

"Perfect. Then you're willing to tell us why you were planning to do the same." Zero stood, straightening his back while his ice attack moved to surround its targets. Suddenly the other two ghost types looked less upset with the duskull.

"W-well- no, wait, w-we weren't trying to k-kill anyone! We s-s-swear it!" The others tried to nod but were prohibited by their psychic bindings.

"He's telling the truth! But we can't tell you why..."

"That's cool. You have a leader, clearly. I can work with that information. Later." Zero waved a hand and the icicles jerked back, pointing at their targets and preparing to be utilized.

"NO!" The three shrieked as the pieces of ice became projectiles. They stopped mid-flight.

"In case it wasn't obvious, I'm capable and willing to obliterate you. You wouldn't be the first, and by God, you wouldn't be the last. Not to mention you're half dark-type." Zero pointed at the two sableye. "And I have no trouble manipulating you with psychic. That should speak for itself. Now, let me lay out all the information you have given me. For one, you're acting under a leader."

All three of their faces bore a nervous expression.

"That's no-"

"You're the only one here specifically that stands out from the others." Zero broke into the duskull's statement. "And you also appear to be the least capable of handling pressure. Your friends here didn't look appreciative of your display, which leads me to believe they didn't want you to betray whoever is over you. Which tells me you're loyal to this leader, be it for his or her strength, or maybe he's just that great of a guy. Finally, the entrance to Uncharted Abyss is either inside or under this hill. You cloaked the front so no one accidentally stumbled in, but you ruin the effect when you jump out from it. My aura, which I'm very familiar with, is least disturbed in the spot you came from. Hey, looks like I don't need you after all."

The failed hitmen said nothing verbally. What spoke was the shock and fear written all over their bodies. The icicles around them melted and dropped. Only a second of joy was provided to the duskull and sableye before they were rammed into the rock wall behind them. They were incapable of using the phasing abilities that were granted to them as part of being ghost type since they were under psychic's control. As a result, they got the full force of the impact with rock and thorny vines. They fell to the ground when Zero released control.

[Those two...] He thought as he checked on Glave and Cerulean. They appeared surprised rather than fearful. [Their reactions were executed perfectly.] He inspected the six sableye that were unconscious from his teammates' attacks. [They took them down without killing anybody and dispatched them in one motion. Hell, it looks like they barely had to think.]

"Good job, you two." The team smiled at each other. "Cerulean, you're physically stronger than me, and these gentlemen lying here gave you perfect handholds to knock the shit out of this hill. Boulder? Rock." After settling on a choice of word, Zero picked up Mr. Cyan and his wife while Cerulean threw a flurry of force palms into the spots on the hill that weren't covered in vines anymore. Cracks formed and eventually, the entire formation began shaking violently with each impact. Cerulean stumbled back panting. She put her paws together on one side and a large aura sphere grew from the space between them. She concentrated, visible on her face, and the aura compacted into a tighter, denser ball.

"I'm gonna launch this thing and you're gonna cover the opening with protect. The explosive force will just be released toward us if you don't." She fired when she finished talking.

The sphere molded into an oval shape before drilling a few feet into the hill. Zero used light screen, covering the entrance, and used protect behind it. The aura sphere exploded, and the force was given no escape route since the entrance was blocked by the defensive moves. To Zero's surprise and Glave's shock, the entire rock structure before them shattered, causing debris to fly high into the air. A cage of vines came from the ground and formed a roof over the team's heads, shielding them from the falling stones. Zero nodded at Glave, and the vines lowered.

"Wh-what in the blazes...?" The elderly gallade mumbled as he came to. "Wha- put me down, vile creature!"

Mr. Cyan flailed his arms and Zero happily obeyed his order, tossing the Pokémon in a way that let him land on his feet. When the gallade looked up, he saw the human holding a gardevoir out for him.

"Wha... I died. Surely." He reached out and touched the woman with one the end of one of his blade arms. They weren't sharp, either from his natural genetics, or they'd worn down as the years went on. "Stand her up. I'll make sure she doesn't fall."

Zero did just that. Mr. Cyan wrapped an arm around his wife and her head lolled onto his shoulder. They were the same height, but she was slumped down since she was in a limp state.

"So you're the source of all the talk in town. Tell me, does that make you feel like Mr. Big Shot, or do you feel malcontent for us all? I'd ask if you were lonely, but these two here seem comfy... Glave!?" The gallade's jaw hung open as he noticed the grovyle who scratched the back of his head.

"Zero's not bad at all Mr. Cyan. I wish the town could see that. That's why he's here to help..." Glave realized the true seriousness of their situation again.

"We can save the chatter for later, but to answer that single question, I feel nothing but a desire to protect every inhabitant of Advent Town. It's what the other Glave told me to do, and every part of me seeks to fulfill that command. Right now, that applies to your granddaughter more than anyone else. Now tell me why you were here and why you were unconscious."

The gallade looked down thoughtfully, distracted temporarily by Zero's words.

"Me and my wife... No one came for our granddaughter. She's so young and sweet, but the town seemed to forget about her when she was taken. We put up the mission you've come on over a month ago. An entire month. We watched the Rescue Federation blossom with business as rescue teams entered and exited day by day, but no one had anything to say about our little girl." His eyes were fierce and his words escaped through gritted teeth.

"We more or less know that. But, I suppose hearing it from you tells us why you're out here as well. I can't blame you at all for your actions. Now I'm going to find your granddaughter. Let's go."

Mr. Cyan began to reach out a hand, but Glave shook his head.

"You have to look after Mrs. Cyan. We've got this."

There was a staircase carved out, leading deep below the rubble that the hill once covered. Team Fate stepped over the rocky remnants of the destroyed stone structure and set foot on the staircase. Glave frowned when he looked down it.

"It's invisible past the first fifteen steps. We can do this, right?" Glave was right. Total darkness before the edge of a floor could be seen.

"You're not scared of the dark, are you? I'm being serious when I say that, by the way. Me and Cerulean can sense attackers through sensory aura, but I get that you can't."

"I mean, if you think this is gonna work out, then I'm going down with you." The grovyle replied to his leader.

"Perfect."

The team descended, finally stepping onto even ground after over forty-five stairs. They were in absolute darkness until a light burst out of nothing, illuminating the entire place. Cerulean fell on her rear, gasping and panting from the shock. Glave swore and covered his eyes that hurt from being exposed to a harsh light, a distinct contrast to their short-lived dark surroundings.

"Oh, I forgot to mention I was just gonna use flash anyways." Zero grinned. A sphere of light shone over his head. It looked like a ball of liquid vanilla with golden wisps floating around it.

"Low blow." Cerulean shook her head and took the hand Zero offered to help her up with. "Please tell me you already know your way around this dungeon." She bemoaned.

Glave and Zero eyed each other before giving her the same expression that usually made her feel stupid.

"What now?"

"This place is a mystery dungeon, Cerulean," Glave told her.

"And? He said he's been here before!"

The two smirked.

"Cerulean, it's a mystery dungeon." Zero repeated.

"Oh my g- you two are so annoying. Fine, don't tell me."

"Mystery dungeons reset every day. And it's probably been years since Zero was here." Glave said nonchalantly, purposely looking away from the lucario and pretending to inspect some purple crystals protruding from the walls.

"Fuck."

Glave laughed and Zero smiled, an expression that became short-lived.

"We need to remember why we're here." He told his subordinates. "I don't remember how many floors this place has, but I'll recognize it when we get to the bottom, where the dusknoir is likely to be. The place is perfectly shaped to be a battlefield. It's sort of a dome shape like where we saw Suicune. The ceiling isn't as high though."

"To be fair, I think we'd know when we get to the end of a dungeon," Glave said, trying to sound polite to counter what he thought might sound abrasive.

"Random question, but since there's nothing else to do, do you remember the mission that brought you here? Or were you just sightseeing?"

"I remember it vividly. This place held one of the few challenges that actually threatened Team Luck."

The statement piqued both Pokémon's curiosities.

"It was also the only time my bio mods went off during a mission. I wasn't as well versed in combat as I am now, so that isn't to say I couldn't handle it now. Still, Glave had to get Ruby out of there. I could never let her see me like that..." Zero bit his lip and trailed off.

"You kinda sidetracked there, but the Latias on your team did know about your weirdo brain, right?" Cerulean grunted when Glave hit her in the side. Contrary to the grovyle's conception, Zero was amused by the remark.

"No, she had no idea. In fact, if she heard the word 'sex' she wouldn't know what you were talking about. Or at least the her I knew wouldn't... I wonder." He pressed a hand to his chest.

"Seriously? How old was she?"

"She's 21 right now. All eon twins are born on the first of the year. And they aren't born for a minimum of a thousand years. Luckily, humans kept track of what year it was. Not sure what historical event caused them to start the count over, but it's the year 2021 right now."

"You know her birthday, but not yours? That's cute." Cerulean gave him a dirty look. She frowned when she saw Zero wasn't having it.

"Keeping a Latias innocent isn't just customary, it's practically law. They're an extremely emotional and caring species, not to mention sensitive. If they knew how reproduction worked at even a hundred years old, it wouldn't take long before it became complete agony for them. They'd want a child more than anything in the world, but like I said they can only be born so often."

"How in the world does any Pokémon go so long without learning about the birds and the beedrills anyway?"

"Most of the time, a Latios is accompanying his sister. They eliminate any threats of their innocent sibling spotting any Pokémon in the action, and they have no problem annihilating anyone who'd dare try anything with her."

"Yeah, but that Latios wasn't on Team Luck, was he?" Glave cut in.

"No, he wasn't. He hated her being on the team to begin with, but Ruby was determined."

"So how did you guys keep her from it? Especially when one of Team Luck's members kinda morphed into a lustful, sex-driven maniac if he worked too hard." Cerulean grunted harder when Glave hit her harder than before. "Stop that!"

Zero didn't say anything about Team Luck's solution. Both of his teammates watched him curiously, wondering what he'd say, but he never spoke. The two Pokémon gazed at each other with a worried look.

"So about the mission that sent you here before...?" Cerulean tilted her head.

"As I said, it was enough to make my mods trigger. The mission was basic exploration. No one else had ever been here, but there was suspicion revolving around some reports of antsy wild Pokémon in this area."

"Yeah, okay, but what about the enemy you had to face? Was it a legendary, or just really strong?"

"Really strong, and there were two of them. Kinda funny actually, it was a gallade and a gardevoir too." Zero scrunched his face slightly.

"Man, there is a lot of that evolutionary line around here." Cerulean mentioned with sudden disinterest.

"Still, you couldn't bust them up? I'll be honest, Zero, two Pokémon challenging you alone seems unlikely."

"It'd be a different story if they weren't mates. They had a bond and it made both of them stronger whenever they saw the other in trouble. Plus they spammed healing moves, which sucked ass. One had a reflect as hard as protect, and the other utilized light screen with just as much proficiency. And did I mention the gardevoir was mega evolved? It was a pain in the ass. In fa-"

"What do you mean the gardevoir was mega evolved?" The lucario stopped walking and gave the leader a superstitious look.

"What's that all about? It's like I said. She was mega evolved. Big deal?" Zero turned his head to hear her better.

"Zero, I'm with Cerulean here. You told us that only lucario, Rayquaza, and one other legendary could evolve without a human to synchronize with. Did you forget gardevoir?"

The human's breath caught in his throat. He doubled over and emitted a series of coughs that surprised his allies. He punched his diaphragm and looked up.

[How? How did all four of us miss that last time!?] Zero raised his head with wild eyes. [Shit! Shit!]

Within seconds every wall in the puzzling cave dungeon's first part lacked a middle. Zero's hyper beams flew from his mouth and tore through the floor's obstacles. He released the hyper beam and placed his hands on his knees and panted. Glave moved to the wall next to them and hit the lower half with two energy balls generated in his hands. The bottom smashed in, making an almost passable hole for the other two. Aura sphere nailed the crumbling part of the wall hanging from the ceiling, making a clear passageway to the next hallway over.

"Th...Thanks." Zero told the two with a scratchy throat. "We have to go quick. I know they won't be here after all this time, but still. I need to get back to town, but there's a ralts that needs rescuing first." His friends nodded and shared his determination.

They were six floors in when Zero's flash wore off. Multiple giggles could be heard from somewhere in the cave, most of them recognizable as sableye or other low-level ghost types. Upon using flash, a dim light flickered into existence, going in and out.

"They're... messing with it? How in the hell...?" Zero focused on the light, but it wouldn't grow stronger. "I guess night shade might have a chance at distorting this, but it's an attack."

Team Fate continued at a careful but steady pace. Very quickly, the mischievous nature of Uncharted Abyss's inhabitants was brought to light. The Pokémon relished in jump-scaring the human and Pokémon intruding their home. As unanticipated as it was, Zero jumped more than his two partners. A shedninja popping out of the dark and hissing in his face gave Zero and Cerulean opposing reactions. Laughter and a frustrated yelp filled the cave.

"Wow, how are you so jumpy?" Cerulean's laughter died down to a chuckle. It picked back up when he glared at her.

"Why the hell aren't you two reacting to this bullshit?" He turned between the grovyle, who looked away swiftly as though he wasn't paying attention and the lucario that laughed even more.

"I'm not sure about him, but my ability is inner focus. As for Glave, he doesn't seem like the jumpy type unless someone licks his balls or something."

"Please don't give them any ideas." The grovyle chipped in.

Either the same shedninja or a new one popped into the darkness.

"FUCK YOU!" Zero hollered, swinging ice punch at it. His arm phased through it and the bug's shock became laughter. The human's hand kept going until it hit scraped against the wall behind him and the ice shattered off. "What do you mean ice isn't super effective to bug?" He shook his hand from the pain.

"Did you really not know that?"

The look Zero gave Cerulean stopped her from saying more. They continued in silence until the same bug-ghost type reappeared. Zero said nothing, allowing dark tendrils to shoot from his body and collect into a compact sphere before exploding on the prankster. The shedninja wailed as it went flying. A thud was heard and the Pokémon went silent.

"What mo-"

"Dark pulse." He cut Glave off.

The trio resumed their venture, going many floors lower. Along the way, more and more Pokémon jumped out to surprise Team Fate.

"Geez, what is your deal!?" Zero shouted, backhanding a yamask into a wall. "Seriously, you aren't even trying to stop us. Just tell us what you want!"

"Th... This place..." Voices whispered from all around them. Zero crossed his arms. "Leave this place..."

"That's not happening." Glave rolled his eyes. "If you'd stop interrupting us, we could get out of he-"

"NOW!" The Pokémon in the cave shrieked the word, causing an ear-piercing sound. The leader of Team Fate grit his teeth. He held out his left hand and a ball of light was constructed in his hand, similarly to the dark pulse he used earlier. The difference was that the beams of light arcing from various parts of his body were the seven colors of the rainbow, condensing into a bright golden-white ball. It grew to be so bright that the corridor they were in was illuminated to the end. Cerulean and Glave shielded their eyes.

"You couldn't do that earlier?" Cerulean expressed. Glave grunted in agreement. There was no response from the head of the team.

A dusclops rose from the ground in one quick motion. Its hands reached for Zero's shoulders as they glowed with purplish-black energy. It never got a chance to attack, being as Zero slammed the ball of light into its large eye. A disgruntled cry came from the Pokémon, but the attack didn't stop there. The light in Zero's hand became unstable, losing its orb shape before finally rupturing and exploding. There were several loud pops, but the explosion didn't cause any force on Team Fate. It was more of a burst of multi-colored light, filling the entirety of the corridor.

When the move subsided, the cave remained illuminated. The dusclops was lying on the ground bleeding from its eye, although it was closed at the moment. Ghost-type Pokémon oozed out of the walls around them, falling from the ceiling and out of the walls into unconscious piles on the floor. Smoke was coming from Zero's hand. Turning it palm-up to inspect it, he frowned and began using recover.

"Holy shit!" Cerulean covered her mouth with a paw at the sight.

"What is it?" Glave was watching the two but was much too short to see what they were looking at. It was out of his sight, but there was raw pink skin exposed on Zero's hand, and the borders of the injured part contained glowing embers. Put simply, his hand had been charred.

The skin slowly sealed itself as white particles fluttered off the wound. When it was fully repaired, he compared it with his other hand and frowned. The lines on his palm weren't reconstructed perfectly, but it didn't matter.

"N-nothing Glave," Cerulean finally replied. "It's just that Zero is a masochist who doesn't feel pain."

"Then you wouldn't know he's a masochist."

"Don't worry about it, but that should teach the others to stay away from us." He shook his hand and brushed it against his pants. While it was the left hand, Glave could still see ashes falling from where he stood on Zero's right.

"Wow. What move was that? I've never even heard of something like that," Glave admired aloud.

"That was luster purge. It's a psychic-type move belonging solely to the eon twins, Latias and Latios. It packs a stupid punch, and if you're strong enough then your psychic types can affect dark types. Case in point." He motioned to several decommissioned sableye. It doesn't actually contain recoil, but when you condense that much energy and slam it against your hand, you'll find it burns. Crying doesn't make it hurt any less, so I don't cry."

"Damn. I thought my ability prevented flinching." Cerulean muttered. "Anyone know what floor we're even on?"

"Basement Floor twenty-nine," Glave replied.

"Twenty-eight." Zero corrected.

"What? I could swear we're already on the twenty-ninth floor."

"We can pin it on Cerulean for not knowing." He smirked.

"Hey!"

Lo and behold, they found the descending passageway to the next floor and Zero frowned.

"Guess you were right. Good job, Glave."

"Huh? How can you tell?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too, big guy." A gruff voice grunted from across the room. That was the thing; the room wasn't like the rest of a dungeon, with narrow pathways and a maze-like structure. It was an open room, similar to how Zero said the final floor would be, but the room was rectangular with a low-hanging ceiling. Across from it were three lycanroc, one for each of their forms. Two of them were on all fours, one being covered in light brown fur, and the other orange. The third lycanroc stood slouched forward on its hind legs and possessed dark red fur. He was the one that spoke.

"Call it a hunch," Zero replied. He remained motionless while his teammates tensed up for a fight.

"Aw, you wouldn't wanna tango in here, would you? Y'know, the ceiling is really unstable here. Someone might get hurt if there was too mu-"

"Stone edge." Zero snapped his fingers and large stone spikes tore themselves from the ceiling, embedding into and cracking the ground. The cave didn't so much as rumble. The two quadruped rock types bared their fangs and the slouching one gave a "tch."

"You're a piece of work, y'know that? Not a problem. Your lucario friend there wears a treasure box, so unless you're thieves, you should be a rescue team. In other words, you shouldn't threaten us if we don't threaten you, capiche?" The same lycanroc spoke. He inspected a paw, spreading his claws before scraping them with his other set.

"Just out of curiosity, what would your response be if we ripped you all in half?" Zero purposed nonchalantly. All three lycanroc tilted their heads down to glare at him. Glave and Cerulean turned to Zero like he was crazy. "Hey, it's just a question, yeah?"

"Then we would have to tussle, and I don't think you want that. My sisters and I have been hungry for more things than one for quite some time now. Be a real shame if a strong, brave rescue team like yourself had to go off the map because of lil' ole' us." Swinging his arms, the midnight lycanroc cut slashes into the rock beside him. Pebbles flew back. "We're standing guard here while the boss does his thing. We were even gonna let you go through and face him and not have to deal with us."

"Is your boss a dusknoir? Yes or no, don't give me any crap."

"Sheesh, what a real go-getter you are. Must be real friendly with the ladies," The lycanroc purred sarcastically. Zero frowned. The Pokémon had an accent that reminded him of one of the scientists that joined up with the facility the human was kept in. If he recalled correctly, that particular one had been from a more industrialized area North of where most of the others resided before war was waged on humanity.

"Have it yo-"

"Yeah, the boss is a dusknoir. Whaddabout it?"

"We're here to retrieve a kidnapped Pokémon. The details of the mission we took on stated he was the culprit."

"A kidnapped Pokémon, huh?" The midnight lycanroc shared a strange look with his sisters. The direct emotion wasn't detectable, it was somewhere between anxious and anticipating, like they knew what to expect. "Well then, there's no need for us to hold you now, is there?"

The three of them stepped to the left, forming a single file line. They kept their eyes trained on Team Fate, and Team Fate did the same to them. Glave just caught them licking their lips when they had their backs turned to the canine Pokémon.

"I'm not sure about those three, Zero. We need to be careful when we're coming back, or keep our guard up now."

"Both."

There was a staircase leading down at the back of the room.

"Did they clear out that floor today? Odds of the second-to-last floor being an open room are phenomenally low. It doesn't add up..." Zero muttered.

Footsteps echoed through the cave as the team descended the final set of steps. The entire dungeon had purple crystals protruding from the walls, floor, and ceiling, and now that they were descending for the final time there were aqua-colored crystals on each wall, casting light down the path. The tunnel opened into a large area with a dome-shaped room. In the middle, a kirlia was lying unaccompanied on the ground. It was surrounded by a pool of blood.

"Oh my God," Glave said. He didn't know the Pokémon very well, but seeing a resident of Advent Town in that state was mortifying. The grovyle felt like he was going to throw up.

Zero approached it calmly. He knelt to inspect the psychic-fairy's wounds. Frowning, the human discovered there were none.

"Son of a bitch." He said as he stood.

"Glave, are you okay? And what is it, Zero?" Cerulean asked with a concerned voice to both of them. Zero sighed.

"The roof has hollow chunks."

Rocks shattered from the curved rock above them. Two green and white blurs flew down at the human. He crossed his arms. Two slices sent sparks flying against one protect, and four spherical attacks with pink, wispy particles trailing behind them slammed another.

[Well that tells me how strong they are.] He scowled. The protects drained substantial energy and added to the pressure on his bio mods.

"Don't either of you dare get hit!" Zero called to his allies. He summoned the Mangekyo, but it was completely dull. A grey and cracked weapon, it dissipated out of existence when its master saw the condition it was in.

Finally inspecting the assailants, Team Fate's leader's heart sunk. A gardevoir stood in a fighting stance a distance away. At the end of both of her arms were three elements. Magical leaf, ice beam, and thunderbolt were on standby at her left, waiting to be launched at their targets. On the right were a flamethrower, shadow ball, and moon blast.

The other enemy was a gallade, with no attacks other than his arms on display. Even still, the two Pokémon were a terrifying sight for more than what they were intentionally displaying. The gardevoir's dress was puffed out in a round shape, as opposed to its normal slim appearance. The gallade's blades were wider with red highlights, and a gallant cape flowed behind him. Both psychic types were in their mega form.

The gallade slashed his arms against each other, sending sparks flying. It screeched at Team Fate, letting loose a savage noise that none of them had heard anything like. It was hard to see in the poorly lit cave, but Glave finally saw the last thing to bring dismay to the team. Both Pokémon were radiating a flaming black aura.

"Zero! They have the same aura as Cerulean did that day!" He called out, snapping out of the stupor brought on from the sight of the injured kirlia. He ran forward to stand on Zero's right. Cerulean had already taken a position on the other side.

Six moon blasts were on their way to Team Fate in no time. Cerulean used bone rush, spawning a blue bone-shaped structure out of pure energy. Zero held out a hand, letting it hang there while a translucent, glassy substance covered his hand. Glave used energy ball, collecting one on each hand.

The lucario swung, spinning and maneuvering her weapon to knock both fairy-type projectiles back at the attacker. Zero allowed them to collide with his hand, turning the move on his it a silky pink. The grovyle, on the other hand, slammed his energy orbs into the oncoming moon blasts. The moves competed for superiority, but neither could pull ahead, causing an explosion of smoke and dust. The grass-type slid back with crossed arms and a wince from the burning of his feet against the ground.

The mega gallade appeared as though it teleported. In reality, it used quick attack with breakneck speed, landing itself bent over in front of Glave, arms raised in preparation to strike. Zero flung his arm like he was throwing a ball and the mirror coat on his hand launched the two attacks he'd absorbed with double power. However, halfway through the resistance on his arm seemingly doubled. Both his projectiles were fired prematurely, both missing the gallade. Looking up, the human discovered a blue aura enveloping his arm.

[Shit!] He mentally swore. A root erupted from the ground, taking the two slashes from the gallade and trapping his arms in it. The deep gashes in the root weren't encouraging though. Glave spat out bullet seeds, pelting the gallade's face, but dealing nominal damage. It forced him to shut his eyes, however and gave the grovyle enough time to wrap two vines around each ankle and one looping around each elbow, restraining the psychic-fighting type's primary source of attack. Given the gallade's "elbows" were the points where his blade-arms met the normal section of the arm, it would be impossible to cut them without using the other arm.

"Go!" Zero barked the command to Cerulean. He hadn't seen her use a steel-type move to date, albeit he didn't give his team much time to attack when they did encounter something. Regardless, steel-type was one of the few types guaranteed to be any good against a gardevoir. He was also more comfortable with the two-on-one odds of having Glave and Cerulean fight the gallade while he took on the gardevoir.

[But even now, my mind isn't totally focused on the fight. How are they mega evolved? There's no other way.] Zero gritted his teeth and prepared for a fight. His proficiency with special attacks was more or less greater than that of his physical ones, so his opponent shouldn't be life-threatening. [But that dark aura around both of them... I don't know if it boosts their power or not. Shit-! Screw special attacks!]

The human's head burst into flames, his hair going wild from the heated air moving it around. He jumped, cracking the dirt under him from the force, and teleported as soon as he was at peak force. The gardevoir had no warning before getting pile-drived in her bowtie-shaped crest. V-create had the intended effect, knocking the female from where she stood into the wall ten plus feet behind her. The fire subsided from Zero's body, revealing not a single hair to be singed. Shadow ball generated in front of his open mouth.

Cerulean gave a low yell from the exertion she performed, swinging her energy-bone into the gallade's crest. The Pokémon would've been sent flying, but it was confined to take even more force since Glave's sturdy vines held it in place. Glave and Cerulean shared surprise when the bone snapped rather than the plant restraints. Wasting no time, the lucario followed up with the move bullet punch, landing a super-speed punch to the psychic-fighting type's jaw.

The vine bindings fell to the ground in a limp pile. There was no time to ask questions since the gallade who'd teleported to freedom sent twin psycho cuts at his adversaries. Glave was standing at an angle that let him know what was coming, but what was coming was directly behind Cerulean and out of sight.

"Shit- look out!" The grovyle only had time to get two vines out of the ground, crossing over each other in an x-shape. They buffered the damage to Cerulean, but she smacked face-first into the ground and rolled forward nonetheless. Her body stopped moving upside, her back against the wall and legs hanging down over her face. Glave spent all his time to react protecting his partner and took the brunt of the attack meant for him. The slash drew a diagonal line across his chest and summoned droplets of blood to splash the ground. The grass-type collided with the wall behind him, and a cracking sound emitted when his head hit the wall. He fell to the floor in a slump, conscious, but severely dazed.

"Cerulean, what are you DOING!?" Zero yelled. He spun his body and arms, expertly weaving around the attacks coming for him. "Go mega already!"

"I-I can't right now!" She rolled from the compromising position she was in and stood shakily. Her back was in a lot of pain, but she wasn't sure how hurt Glave was. "I can't just do it whenever I want! Or I can, but there are rules to doing it solo, okay!?" The gallade slashed its blades once more, almost enjoying the sparks that flew forth. Cerulean began to hang her head, but caught herself and just glared at her opponent.

"For crying out- Gah!" Zero teleported between her and Glave, grabbing them both. He teleported as far as he could from the two fully evolved ralts-family members. He placed his hand on Glave's neck and gave him a quick pulse of healing energy. Sparkling water droplets rose in the air around them, shimmering with light from an unknown source. It was the move life dew, and every liquid orb that soaked into either Pokémon's fur healed that region, soothing the pain they felt all over their bodies.

"Zero, what about you?" Cerulean held her arm in pain briefly, but let go when the pain subsided. "Don't you need to heal?"

Glave groggily pushed himself off the ground. He shook his head, wincing and clutching it when he did, and looked at his taller companions.

"No, I don't." He commented, eyeing the enemy Pokémon. The gallade finally charged. It appeared to have healed slightly, as did the gardevoir. A spherical protect shield encased them, spawning from the ground and working its way up, sealing shut at the top. "I don't get hit."

It was obviously not true; his battle with Suicune all but proved the statement to be a lie. Even still, it inspired confidence in the other two members of Team Fate. Glave glared at his enemy through the shield he was trying to break. Indeed, the gallade was giving his all to shatter the barrier they were in. Zero didn't show it, but he could feel the strength of every hit as the protect sapped stamina to stay intact.

"Cerulean I need you to mega evolve."

"I'm sorry, Zero. I can't." Her voice quivered. It caught the two males off-guard, but only Glave showed it.

"Explain later." Zero lifted his hand and a rainbow-colored aura flared into being around it. "You never complained about it being chipped, so forgive me." He backhanded Cerulean's chest spike. It shattered off, leaving a clean-cut slab of steel at the base. "I don't have either piece for our combination's stimulation. It should still work though, and that thing would've gotten in the way."

The human pulled her into a hug. Or rather, the gesture resembled a hug, but he was really making as much of his body contact with her as possible. Cerulean understood that there must have been a deeper meaning to what he was doing and pressed herself against him, wrapping her arms around him as well. Purple tendrils flowed from Zero's back, coming through his shirt almost like wings. They circled the two, creating multiple overlapping layers to the point where it completely encased them. It wasn't a perfect sphere by any means, but eventually, the purple energy hardened into a somewhat round shell before shattering.

A mega lucario stood inside, embracing Zero. He let go of her and the two said nothing. They didn't need words to understand what'd happened. Glave stared in awe at the sight. He'd seen Cerulean in her mega form twice before, but something else caught his eye this time. Even after there was no more trace of visible mega energy, Zero's hair flowed slightly, like he was levitating high in the air and the wind was moving it. Every so often, traces of his rainbow aura slipped out of the holes of his clothing like the tongues of a flame.

"Zero?"

"..." He balled his fists and they charged with his bizarre aura. "Get ready."

The team braced themselves. In truth, they'd wasted too much time and too much of Zero's energy maintaining the shield.

"Three." They all got into a fighting stance. "Two. One. Go!" The protect went down just in time for the mega gallade to slash, spinning in a circle from the momentum of a full-power slice no longer having a target to stop it.

A blue and orange bone constructed purely of aura and energy nailed the blade Pokémon's arm, sending the sharpened body part into his other arm. The red part of his blade arms, created by mega evolution, was soon discovered to be less durable than his actual body. The arm that'd been struck pierced the other one, resulting in the psychic-fighting type getting stuck in that position. He leaped back, trying to free himself, falling on his back thanks to vines securing his ankles just in time. Before he got a chance to react, the gallade found itself under another mega evolved Pokémon. Cerulean's dreads lifted behind her as aura flowed around her. It collected into dense blue aura spheres in her paws, which she repeatedly slammed into his arms, face, and chest. Each punch she threw brought one of the packed balls into direct contact with his skin, where it exploded. By the time she drew a fist back, another aura sphere collected in that same paw, while the other one was coming down on him.

Zero used quick attack for the sake of transportation, closing the distance between him and the mega gardevoir in no time flat.

"Remember me?" He asked cockily, dodging an ice beam and stopping an entire barrage from magical leaf with psychic power and sending it back at her. Her own protect blocked them. The slender Pokémon lifted Zero with psychic capabilities, something the human hadn't had done to him in an uncertain number of years. He reacted quickly, stretching a palm out toward his adversary before she could do whatever she planned. Rainbow aura spun into a ball in his hand. He fired it with such speed that it couldn't maintain its orb shape and took on an arrow formation, making contact with the center of her crest and collecting in a ball shape around her chest before expanding slightly. She dropped Zero from a lack of focus, and he snapped his fingers. The ball of aura she was swatting at exploded, sending colors in all directions. They drifted to a stop before shooting back into the gardevoir, each piece of light dealing damage. The force of the initial explosion felt as compressing as a singularity, and the gardevoir gasped for breath, having had the wind knocked out of her.

Even after an attack of that magnitude, she glared at her foe as if she'd received a light punch.

"Exsqueeze me?" Zero's shoulders slouched in disappointment. "You spammed calm mind, didn't you?"

The gardevoir launched a moon blast at Zero. He attempted to catch it with mirror coat, but it shattered the glassy structure off his hand and fairy essence exploded down his arm. The human jokingly looked behind him to see if his allies had seen him get hit, which would be contradictory to what he said earlier.

Cerulean delivered a kick to the gallade's upper arm, chipping off the blade that got stabbed through and freeing the other from it. Throwing his arms back, the enemy Pokémon bent over slightly and let out an ear-piercing scream at the lucario and grovyle before him. Throwing his arms forward, icy wind flew towards the two Pokémon. Cerulean seemed unfazed by it, while Glave shielded his face with an arm. The lucario took a single step forward and the fighting-psychic type jumped forward, getting close to them and slamming his foot into the ground. A shockwave was sent in their direction, carrying dust and rocks with it. The ground tore open from the point of impact, shifting the dirt and stone composing the floor. Rocks jutted up and hit Cerulean in the side of her left leg. It wasn't a life form, and currently, there was a smokescreen of dust obscuring her vision, so she couldn't see it coming. She stumbled to the side and out of the thinning cloud of dust.

Glave put up his arms, projecting leaf blades onto them. The gallade swung his arms in perpendicular angles to one another. X-scissor collided with Glave's leaf blades with super-effective malice. The grass-type fell to his knees, now holding his arms over his head and straining to keep the gallade from slicing him in half. From his blades, green lights began bubbling out of the gallade. They tore away from his body and flowed into Glave. The grovyle's breathing got easier as mega drain took effect. It took a lot of focus, using multiple moves when under pressure like that.

[They look fine. What could go wrong?] Zero asked himself. He turned and received a thunder punch buzzing by his face. He sidestepped and ducked in time to watch it go by and see static jump from her arm to his hair. Seizing the opportunity, he used thunderbolt, engulfing his body in electricity and reversing the flow of the electric charge down her arm. She shrieked in pain and dropped to a knee. Using psychic, he threw her body forward and put her on all fours. He used blaze kick, ramming his foot into her midsection. The force brought her up to the human's eye level. Aura flared from his hands as he clasped them together over his head, and the human struck her with the crude force palm as she began to descend. Her body smacked the ground and bounced. An attempt to stomp on her back resulted in failure when her body vanished.

Zero's foot tore a hole in the ground and got stuck. He turned to see the mega gardevoir slowly standing. Shining water droplets rose out of the ground around her. The leader of Team Fate conjured a small electro ball and pitched it at her. It smacked into the first few floating drops of life dew. Electric tendrils jumped from drop to drop, reaching the gardevoir in no time in a network of electricity forging a web of sorts. Her body went completely stiff from the low voltage permeating her body, completely halting her from dodging the full electro ball. It hit her and she tumbled to the ground.

Approaching her, Zero held his hand up the way a Pokémon would flex their claws. Silver light coated his hand, forming several points at the tips of his fingers. He backhanded the gardevoir's neck as she attempted to stand once more. Blood was drawn from three small cuts and green hairs fell to the ground. The move he'd used was metal claw, being as she used calm mind to raise her special defense. The Pokémon stumbled back, reaching for the wall behind her to steady herself, but she was too far away from it and fell on her rear. Purple energy started escaping her body, but her mega form wasn't wavering yet.

Zero finally steeled himself to use a move that possessed more finality. He forcefully brought his palm to the ground and the whole cave room began to rumble. The ground below him tore in half, creating a fissure so deep the bottom couldn't be seen. It spread in a zigzagging motion towards the gardevoir.

The gallade, from his position bearing down upon Glave, jumped, adding his entire body weight to the force the grovyle was required to hold up. Leaf blade shattered off the grass-type's arms and he fell on all fours. The psychic-fighting type fell toward him, preparing to slice at the smaller Pokémon, but received a forceful kick to the chest, knocking him away. A rumbling accompanied by a cracking sound caught all three of their attentions. The source of the noise came from the ground itself, near where Zero and his opponent were fighting. A gap in the earth spread toward the gardevoir, who appeared to be dazed.

The gallade took off in a dash, teleporting almost immediately to both dodge Cerulean's extreme speed and get to his comrade.

Just before the fissure reached its target, Zero witnessed the gardevoir disappear in a blur. To the left, the mega gallade released her from his hold, having picked her up carefully to avoid stabbing her.

"After all this time, and even under these circumstances, you two still feel that bond." Zero was beginning to breathe hard. His two companions caught up to the scene and stood next to him. "I have to wonder why you're still here after all this time. Who are you following orders for, and why is that kirlia here?"

The response was a hiss from the gallade. The gardevoir's facial expression and body language gave it the appearance it was shy.

[That aura needs to go. I know how I handled it with Cerulean, but this doesn't seem like the appropriate time for that.] Zero glanced between the two psychic types. [They retain the core parts of themselves, but from what I can tell, another purpose is imprinted in their minds by that black aura. I need to find out what that purpose is and erase it from their minds.]

"Cerulean, how much time do you have left?"

"Now that I'm in my mega-state, my aura behaves differently. It should maintain this form until the battle is over."

"Fine then. No more splitting up. We're taking this battle three-on-two. Now let's go!"

Icicles formed out of the ground around Team Fate's assailants, pointing themselves at the enemy Pokémon. It distracted them temporarily, but not long enough to give the two aura spheres headed their way enough time to hit with full force. The mega gallade simply dodged the attack meant for him and stepped in front of his partner, crossing his blade arms and slashing through the ball, dispersing its energized contents into nothingness. The gardevoir burnt the vines that Glave started to summon at their feet to a crisp.

Dark tendrils exited Zero's body, forming a wavy collection of black energy in front of his chest. He hopped back and teleported, placing himself behind and facing the partnered pair. Dark pulse ruptured and fired at them, making contact with the gardevoir and knocking her to the ground. The gallade used psycho cut, but the move was instantly suppressed by the attack of advantageous typing.

The female of the two attempted to stand once more. Zero grunted with effort and his irises turned a softly glowing light blue. He fell to a knee and all of his hair was pressed down. The gardevoir slammed into the ground yet again, and the gallade who attempted to pounce at the human was brought to the ground quickly.

"I intensified our gravity, use long-range attacks!" He shouted at his team.

Glave and Cerulean didn't need to be told twice. The grovyle began chucking energy balls from each hand, while also spitting out seed bombs with the velocity of bullet seed. Being as fighting-type moves were trivial to the enemies' defenses, Cerulean constructed powerful energy bones and threw them, allowing them to spin rapidly and curve before assaulting their targets. Eventually, a light began to cover the two of them, taking on the colors of the attacks they were hit with.

"Son of a bitch-" Zero returned gravity to normal and jumped forward, teleporting while maintaining his acceleration. He held out his arms when he reappeared in front of his team members, tackling them to the ground, and creating a curved protect over them. An explosion went off where their enemies were lying. Bursts of colored light shot at the protect, bouncing off and seeming to be wasted efforts. The energy it took from Zero to maintain the barrier told otherwise.

"What is this!?" Glave asked as the powerful barrage continued to nail their shield.

"They were using mirror coat! Every attack is getting flung back at us with double the power! Lucky for us, I don't think theirs is quite like mine. I can use mirror coat without taking the damage from the attack I fire back. That doesn't seem to be the case here."

Sure enough, when it was all said and done and the waves of attacks subsided, both psychic-types appeared nothing short of exhausted. Zero finally relinquished the move protect. The gallade ran at a pace about three-fourths the speed he'd exhibited earlier. Glave jumped up and countered his arms with leaf blades. That time, the green and white Pokémon stumbled back. He teleported to avoid the bone that flew through the space he was just in. Purple energy was escaping both psychic Pokémon's bodies, but their dark auras didn't look darker in the slightest.

Zero teleported to the kirlia lying in the middle of the room still. He lifted her gingerly, once more reassuring himself that she wasn't externally wounded. That still didn't explain whose blood the pool under her belonged to. A scream from the scene of combat caught the human's attention. The gardevoir lost her shit when the human touched the kirlia. It teleported directly above Zero, cocking back her arms while preparing fire and thunder punch on her right and left, respectively.

[Wha-woah!] He leaped back, watching the attacks hit the ground. They didn't damage the flooring that severely, which told how much physical strength she lacked. [Which means you're more worried about her...] He eyed the second-stage Pokémon in his arms. [Than you are about efficiently defeating us.]

Thinking back, it made sense. What appeared to be a staged ambush could've been something more. The surprise attack that began the confrontation had only occurred when he began inspecting the unconscious Pokémon. The gallade was still unaccounted for, however.

[Is he?] Zero questioned as he dodged a sloppy but powerful thunderbolt, followed up with a similar ice beam that froze the ground where he just was. [He stopped her from being KO'd by my fissure earlier. He blocked the aura sphere that was meant for her...]

The human was body-slammed from the left. A stabbing pain filled his arm and hip each. He rolled on the ground as he and something else tumbled over each other. Zero did his best not to let the uncoordinated movements hurt the kirlia he carried. When the rolling stopped, he slid away and saw the gallade had rushed at him. His ridiculously large, not to mention sharp, arms were what caused the pains on him. He felt blood soaking parts of his clothes, sticking the fabric to him.

[I have to assume that didn't involve this one.] He clutched the kirlia tighter as he teleported his shirt off to stop it from distracting him now that it was coated to him.

"Entei and Suicune had this aura. So did those Pokémon from the incident just over a month ago. Both sets... what were they after?" Thinking aloud, Zero stood his ground while vines bound the male adversary from moving. The gardevoir was tackled from behind by Cerulean. The two females landed with the lucario pinning her opponent against the ground, restricting her arms.

"What are you getting at?" Glave popped the question with a slight strain in his voice.

"They had a purpose. This is a shot in the dark, but I think that black aura that's making these two so hard to deal with is applied with an order."

"An order?"

"Yeah. The victim is given a responsibility and this aura forces them to follow through with it."

Letting his guard down, the human's eyes focused on nothing in particular as his mind did all the looking.

"Zero!"

A few thuds accompanied the cry as vines met the ground. The gallade teleported out of his restraints and was prepared to attack. Glave's leader was barely visible to him since his enemy blocked the view. He could see the mega male slash straight down with his injured blade. Blood flew up and over both of his shoulders.

"Oh sh..." Cerulean's voice quivered away. Her sight wasn't restricted. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

The grovyle screamed for his leader, but his cry was cut short. The kirlia's body hit the ground. The species already had a thin body, and a blade like the one that had struck her resulted in more than little damage.

The human said nothing at his mistake. He jumped at a piercing sound to his side. The gardevoir pushed against the ground, throwing Cerulean off her back. No longer did her aura persist, and her mega evolution dissolved off her. The strength she stood with wasn't artificial. It was the strength of a mother. She stumbled over toward the still unconscious kirlia. Even the gallade remained stationary, glaring at his female companion as she approached the deeply bleeding Pokémon. Barring details, more than blood was visible.

"Your objective... was to protect her?" Zero asked himself out loud. He felt the awkward sting of failure, a direct consequence of the wound inflicted on the young Pokémon. More than that, it felt like he'd done something wrong in front of a supervisor of sorts.

The woman tried to cry but her voice merely broke. She fell to her knees over her offspring. Her head snapped toward Zero, delivering a soul-shattering stare that almost made him flinch.

"After all this time... It's been years, but after all this time, you came back and this is what you do. What's next?" She sounded insane. "I never forgot a single damn second of what you did to me last time." The words were spat out hardly louder than a hiss.

She was grabbed before Zero could utter a rebuttal. The gallade wrapped one arm around her, holding her tightly against him. Holding up his unoccupied blade he growled and began crying out illegibly.

"Tsk. So your mission is to protect her then? What a pain in the ass."

[But that means that conditions can be added when applying that damned energy. He didn't interact with her until now. Without that aura, he doesn't think she can protect herself.]

"Zero?"

His teammates were waiting for their orders.

"There's no guarantee he'll ever stop attacking if she gets hurt. Target the gallade. We've only one enemy now; separate those two and give him hell." His words were absolute.

Team Fate sprung into action. The Pokémon they faced didn't have the best arms for holding someone, so two rock pillars knocking him away from his mate did the separating part. The gardevoir shielded her face as her former ally jumped on top of her, but he was struck with enough force to make him collide and crack the ceiling above him. Twin bones dissipated from Cerulean's clutches. A single thick, long root shot out of the earth. Longer than ever, it hit the fighting-psychic type in the stomach region as he fell and pinned him against the top of the room. Zero teleported so he was inches away from the enemy's eyes. He landed softly on a protect. His vision blurred briefly from the effort it took to sustain the defensive move.

Holding up his hand, he shocked the gallade between the eyes. His body tensed up and static ran over his body; symptoms of paralysis. The human's irises spun rapidly, colors filling them as they did. When they stopped the gallade completely slumped over asleep. The barrier under Zero's feet cracked. He hopped to the floor, staggering and falling to a knee upon landing.

"You can let him down. I gave him two status afflictions."

As the root retracted back into the ground, black and purple particles blew off the sleeping male. Slowly but surely, the former assailant was placed on the ground. His mega evolution was gone before he got there.

Team Fate's members looked at their leader. He nodded.

"Intel said a dusknoir was here. Do you rem-" His voice hitched in his throat. The human meant to ask the still conscious psychic-type some questions. He was met with the scene of a woman crying over her deceased daughter. The wound's fatality was clear from the moment it was inflicted, but seeing her in that state never gave warm feelings. There was a painful silence in between the footsteps that echoed in the cave as Zero walked over to her.

"Your face. It's tired, but it's cold. Calculated. This is just a failed mission for you, isn't it?" The white-clad Pokémon issued the question through gritted teeth. Her green hair had red blots in it.

"No. My mission hasn't been reduced to a failure yet. I failed other things today, but my mission won't be one of them."

Glave and Cerulean collected a short distance away while Zero knelt over the kirlia. Her chest wasn't moving in the slightest, and the pool of blood under her had stopped growing. He held a hand near her wound. A green light cast a tint on the faces of the human and gardevoir.

"You really are a human-" Her voice rose as rapidly as she did. "If you're so stupid to think you can heal the dead! Or are you mocking-"

"Stop talking."

The psychic-type looked as though she'd been slapped. The real blow was dealt to her spirit. The feistiness she'd just displayed broke into a million pieces as she fell to her knees once more. Quiet sobs began to echo.

Not concentrating on them, Zero lifted a hand. Static crackled around it and there were audible pops. He frowned at his own arm and shook his wrist. When he tried again, the red liquid lifted off the ground, but the stain remained. He collected the crimson substance into a bubble and held his other hand under it. Fire burst into life, and after a silent eternity, the blood began to boil.

"Zero?" Cerulean could sense his lack of aura. The previous fight had been intense.

"Mm." He grunted.

Losing its spherical shape, the blood bubble split into different streams, breaking into smaller and smaller ones until there appeared to be a thousand tiny pathways all flowing into the deceased kirlia's body until most of it was gone. The rest either splashed on her body or the ground. Using recover once more, Zero placed a hand on her stomach, sliding it over the wound until a disturbing scar was the only evidence of its existence.

"I'm light-headed." It was just more thinking aloud.

He cupped his hand over the second-stage evolution's chest, his thumbs making contact with her crest. Her mother finally began paying attention again.

"I'm gonna beat you into obliv-" She was blinded before she could start screaming. Loud pops and crackling sounds burst into life at his hands. Electricity surged over and over, stimulating the corpse at Zero's fingertips.

A cough painted his face with more blood. He stopped using his abilities on the girl.

"If I knew you were gonna do that after I spent all this time putting that shit back inside you, I would've left it outside." He retorted sarcastically, wiping his face with his wrist, thinking there would be a sleeve there. He sighed and looked around until he spotted his tattered shirt on the floor. At that time there was a different cry.

The gardevoir was clutching her kirlia daughter tightly. Heavy tears flowed down her face while her child began to squirm in fear and confusion.

"That was really noble of you, Zero." Cerulean smiled softly at him. Internally, she was mentally preparing herself for the groundbreaking pounding she'd likely receive later when it was time to let his bio mods reset. However, the human was alternating between squinting and frowning. "Something wrong?"

"What... did they do to her?" He pondered. It got the mother's attention.

"Wha-what are you talking about?"

"That little girl is scared shitless in your arms if you couldn't tell."

The other three Pokémon noticed what he meant. When the gardevoir backed off a bit, the kirlia finally saw her mother's face and stopped fighting as much.

"M-momma...?" She was hyperventilating.

Glave's chest felt tight but his stomach was heavy. There were few options why a bunch of Pokémon would keep an outsider alive with no obvious benefits.

"Well, isn't that something?" A deep voice interrupted everyone's thoughts. The kirlia eeped and jerked her head in the direction of the sound. She left her mother's arms and crawled away from the source.

Team Fate got into a fighting stance, but it was clear they'd already been through hell that day. There was a dusknoir on the far side of the room, slowly floating closer.

"Who are you?" The leader demanded.

"If I told you, what would that information do for you? I could say I'm the leader of an enormous underground organization, or I could say I'm a hostage. I could tell you I'm a ghost-type roaming through this dungeon, or I could say I'm plotting the fall of Advent Town's entire being."

Tension wrote itself on the team's faces.

"Hm? You believe any of that?"

"Be honest. Are you the one behind those black auras?!" Zero barked. It couldn't be true, could it? A Pokémon that could contaminate Entei and Suicune would likely have to be strong enough to beat them, right?

"I think I know what you're speaking of, and they sure do come in handy. What if I am the one who conjured that up?"

Silence briefly followed. In their current state, the human wasn't comfortable making threats. If he was going to be anywhere near as tough a foe as the two they'd just gotten done with, their odds of victory were low.

"Hmph. Rumors have been spreading around the uncivilized part of this region."

"Rumors? And what do you mean by the uncivilized part? As far as I'm concerned, uncivilized Pokémon tend to speak their own language."

"I suppose it makes sense you'd all be this ignorant, but it still irritates me to hear. It must be my lucky day, though. Since none of you are worth keeping alive, I can just release my anger in killing you. Everyone here is too tired to be any fun fighting no matter which way you look at it."

"You're not gonna tell us everything first?" Cerulean asked. Zero tiredly sighed, and Glave gave her a glace. "Sorry... I just thought- the villain thing, normally they're proud of all the stuff they've been doing. Nevermind." She tightened her battle stance.

"Unfortunately for you, 'everything' is very little if you want to hear what's been going on. The Pokémon in this dungeon are devious."

[Damn straight.] Zero internally swore.

"But they have needs nonetheless." The ghost-type let a sly grin creep onto his face. "That's where she came in." He motioned to the kirlia panicking with her back against a wall.

"How DARE you!" The gardevoir was struck with a shadow ball before she could attack.

"I truly wish you would've birthed a male for us. That evolution was not recent. We could've evolved that toy to its final stage long ago with a stone had it been male."

"God- stop, stop talking." Zero shook his head. The dusknoir laughed.

"Had word that a human been roaming the area not reached me, your reaction just now would've convinced me that your appearance is more than an illusion. Your blasted species is the only one that directly frowns upon-"

"Yeah- no, yeah I get it- are we gonna fight are what?"

"Ha! You dare to engage in combat in your sorry state? Nevertheless, I'll grant your- Gngh!"

The dusknoir froze. He'd been moving his arms around in grandiose motions, but suddenly he went rigid. Static bounced around his body momentarily.

[Wh-what?] Zero and the ghost-type thought simultaneously. Panting could be heard once it was no longer masked by voices. The human looked behind him to see the previously subdued gallade on all fours, pointing one blade arm at the new enemy.

"Psycho shift. You transferred your paralysis." Glave made the connection and shared it with the room's attendees.

"Everything is... spotty... But, my daughter... I know she was attacked." He paused to cough and breathe raspily. "I see she's... well now." He said nothing else.

Silently, light began filtering out of Zero's body in tendrils, compacting into a ball. The dusknoir inhaled sharply at the sight but couldn't move. Before luster purge was ready to be used, a buzzing sound could be heard getting louder. Team Fate and the three other Pokémon in the room turned their attention to the entrance. Footsteps grew louder until several bodies came into view.

"Wha-"

"Bzzt. I am Magnezone. Bzzt." The large silver Pokémon floated in place, hovering up and down as it assessed the situation. "Bzzt. There are no fatal injuries to be perceived. Bzzt. The perpetrator has been detected. Bzzt. Restrain the perpetrator. Bzzt."

Two magnezone flew over from their chief's side to the dusknoir's flanks. Electric waves connected his body to their magnets.

"Bzt. Perpetrator has been secured. Bzt. Perpetrator was previously paralyzed. Bzt."

"Bzzt. Understood. Bzzt. Team Fate, you're mission is officially complete. Bzzt. We see the-"

"Oh my stars-!" The voice of a woman called out from behind the large steel-type. An aged gallade and gardevoir stepped out.

"Mr. Cyan?" Glave asked.

"I told you to stay outside..." Zero reprimanded the old Pokémon with a hollow voice. Everyone was exhausted and he didn't really care that the Pokémon entered.

"You said no such thing to me. Either way, my wife recovered and we waited hours but you never returned. We called for the higher guard eventually, and they said it was safe to enter as long as we stayed close to them. To our surprise, every Pokémon in the dungeon past the first floors have fainted."

Cerulean smirked at her leader.

"Mom?" The gardevoir who'd been fiercely fighting not five minutes before clutched her daughter against her chest as she looked at the older member of her species. Tears struggled to stream down her face, but she was almost out of them.

"Grandma? Grandpa?" The kirlia's voice was on the edge of breaking. The things a child like her had endured were excruciating to think about, but seeing that part of her life coming to a close would have tightened anyone's throat.

"She... evolved?" Mr. Cyan inquired as his family collected in a huddle.

"I'm so sorry. I took your daughter away from you." The younger gallade attempted to sit up. The action was only made possible with his mate's assistance. The way they sat together told the older psychic types of their relationship.

"Mom, Dad it's not his fault! We met one day and I wanted to introduce him to you, but I didn't see him for a long time and out of nowhere one day he showed up with this black aura. Come to think of it... I barely remember anything past that. The only thing in between then and now is..." She bit her lip and glanced at Zero.

[Fuck!] He jerked his head away while his face got hot. His focus tightened.

"So he had that aura first... But damn, it's been four years since I faced you two before... That aura persisted that long?" He furrowed his brow. "No, I kicked your asses. Your auras should have been gone past that. Why didn't you return to the town after that?"

"I don't remember. In fact, I don't think we ever made it out of this cave."

"Damn... Either way, can you all report back to the Mayor personally? This is a lot of information that needs to be recorded."

"Wait, was that aura special?"

"You'll have all the time you need to ask about it back in town." Zero shook his head.

"Bzzt. That's correct. Bzzt. In the meantime, please gather around us. Bzzt. We will utilize the rescue badge's ability to return to the town. Bzzt. Unfortunately, there is a limit to the number of people that can be transported at one time. Bzzt. Team Fate, are you alright getting back on your own? Bzzt."

The leader nodded in agreement without consulting his teammates. They both slumped over at the thought of walking back. A blinding light filled the cave, and in moments Team Fate was alone.

"Is there a reason you told them we'd stay behind?" Cerulean placed her paws on her hips.

"We literally didn't have a choice. Zero can teleport us anyway, what's the issue?" Glave looked at his leader for confirmation.

"Thank God they're gone. I was eyeing the hell out of that gardevoir..."

"Hm? I thought you said you didn't like gardevoir's physique?" The lucario smirked. Her cocky expression faded when he turned to face her. His eyes shot to her lower area. It appeared he made an effort to make eye contact with her, but gave up and resumed spectating something else he'd like to make contact with. He closed his eyes hard and turned to the exit.

"I don't think I can teleport us. Wherever we land I'd probably go wild and nail the first thing I laid eyes on."

"We've got these, y'know," Cerulean rummaged through the team's treasure box. The strap had broken in the fight, but the contents shouldn't have been damaged. She pulled out an escape orb. For whatever reason, it lacked its illuminating blue glow. "Uhh..."

"It's not working? That could be a problem. It might mean someone's set something up to stop us from leaving. Moves don't affect the rescue badge, but the same can't be said for orbs. Forces have been known to stop them in the past. We need to get out the hard way, and keep our guard up."

They assembled their standard formation with Zero in the front, Glave behind him on the right, and Cerulean taking the back left. It didn't take long to meet trouble.

In the room before the final one, three lycanroc awaited Team Fate.

"You again," Zero uttered.

"Well, well, well. You three have seen quite the scuffle." The dusk-form Pokémon commented. He stood on his hind legs.

"That was nothing compared to if you pick a fight here."

"Hey now, why so vicious? We want something from you, and if you comply then no one leaves upset."

"Come to think of it, I saw you licking your lips earlier. A couple of non-ghost types in a ghost inhabited dungeon, huh? What are the odds you're all hungry and looking to make a quick meal?" Cerulean barked.

"Hmph. Y'know, you got so close to hitting that right on the money. I wanna eat you alright, but I promise we're not hungry." The red Pokémon retorted. Team Fate shared a tense, awkward silence.

"Wow, you need to work on pickup lines, Brother. Way to make them feel at ease." The dusk form Pokémon eyed Glave lustfully.

"Oh." The grovyle said and stepped back.

"We don't have time for-"

"Don't be so hasty!" The male Pokémon cut off the human. "Well ladies," he turned between his two sisters, "which of you wants who?"

"Tsk, I'm not getting rutted out by a human." The orange lycanroc remarked.

"I-I'm fine taking him." The midday form lycanroc finally spoke, albeit she was incredibly shy and couldn't tear her gaze off the ground.

"Well, that's settled. A sexy, curvy little lucario, some greens and a pile of meat," the midnight lycanroc emitted a booming laugh. "Well, ladies, go get 'em."

The female canines approached their soon-to-be flings. Glave and Zero watched cautiously. The human's lust was begging for control. Glave was intrinsically nervous since a Pokémon was blatantly trying to fuck him. He wasn't scared, however.

"Get real," Zero provoked his almost-mate through gritted teeth. With lightning speed, he slid under the light-brown dog and kicked hard enough to launch her into the ceiling. His neck twitched and he let out a gasp.

"Son of a bitch!" The male lycanroc prepared to attack Zero, but he was hit with a harder, more reckless kick.

A growl escaped Team Fate's leader in place of words. His head jerked around, searching for a target. His attention was captured by the midday lycanroc falling back to the ground. He teleported on top of her, clothes missing when he reappeared. His weight stopped her from standing when she landed.

"Ha! Looks like that case is closed." The dusk form Pokémon turned her gaze from the could-have-been fight scene to her target. "Really, hun', I just want a quickie. Just do what I tell you and we'll both be very~ happy." She spoke seductively, wielding a sultry grin. Her rear swayed while she approached Glave. He barely moved, only taking a single step back while she closed the distance between them. With a wink, her tongue lapped across his scrotum.

"Now, it's just me and you," The crimson lycanroc's tongue lolled out of his mouth when he finished speaking. He wore a devilish grin that would've convinced someone he'd already been having fun for hours. Cerulean looked at Zero and Glave respectively.

"Well, Glave. Are you gonna try and enjoy this or what? We can't leave until Zero's done anyway. I think it's in your best interest to lay down and take it. Not like it will be displeasing for you." She retorted, turning to face the lustful male ahead of her.

"I'll be damned. I'm not gonna have to do this the hard way." More of the horny canine's teeth became visible. "Bend over, bi-" He stopped. Cerulean's paws hit the ground, leaving her on all fours with her rear raised in the air.

"Don't waste my time. I'm a fighting-steel type, I could run you through in a completely different way than what you're about to do to me. So, if you don't want that then come get it."

The rock-type's cock swayed between his legs as he walked past his bitch slowly. He licked his lips and placed his paws on her ass when he got behind her. Inserting a claw into her slit, he pushed it down, stretching the hole into a thin line. Pinching her clit, he relished in the sigh he could hear escape her lips. Pushing her buttocks apart, the dog burrowed into her cunt. His tongue went as deep into the slick entrance as it could and never left it. Cerulean's moans were evidence of his teeth inadvertently rubbing her nub. Growling, he bit down lightly on her whole crotch, pulling his tongue out and running it over the surface of her pussy before twirling it around and collecting her juices. He swallowed them, tightened his jaw on her lower region, and shot his tongue deep into her again.

Meanwhile, another female's screaming moans filled the cave, greatly outmatching Cerulean's. The midday lycanroc under Zero's front legs gave out seconds into their mating session, and it was the impact of his hips against her rear that kept her hind legs in the air. There'd been no foreplay between them; his bio mods had full control and his body wanted nothing more than reproduction. The human mercilessly pounded his member into her, pulling all the way out to his tip and ramming himself in until the whole thing was sheathed in her. Her species was hardly made to accommodate his length, but it was more than capable of stretching to handle his entirety. That was more pleasurable for one of them than another, however.

Taking her by surprise, Zero grabbed his mate's hips and threw himself backward, resting against the cool earth. His dick pulled out of her vagina with a pop, but he lined her up on top of him and rammed her down again. When she was filled to the brim, he let her back rest against his chest and stomach. The position bent his cock at a risky angle where the risk was hurting from thrusting in the wrong angle, and the reward was almost double the stimulation. Holding her in place, he moved with as much speed and little mercy as before, pounding her in their new position. Her cries grew louder, only by a miracle not distracting anyone else.

"She's normally quiet, I swear. Perhaps that says something about the males in your group~?" Glave's pursuer purred over him. His rod was at full mast and coated in the literal bitch's saliva. It pulsed from his heartbeat, just barely tapping her nose and creating a trail of her spit between it and his tip.

The orange dog pursed her lips and pressed them against his cock. They widened as she moved her head down, constantly allowing his girth to spread her mouth open and fill her maw completely. The grovyle inhaled sharply when he felt the back of her throat and involuntarily bucked his hips, forcing her to deepthroat him. He opened his mouth to apologize, but his sexy assailant only winced and pushed it further down. The grass-type let his head hit the ground and reluctantly groaned. The female atop him shook her head and pressed her tongue to his length's underside and lifted her head. The slick snaking sensation on his appendage could've sent him over the edge, but the cold open air that met his soaked flesh rod brought him down from cloud nine.

"D-damn..." Opening his eyes, Glave found his seducer's body was no longer facing him. She stood at his feet, rear staring at him alongside her head which was turned back to grin.

"I'll give you your personal pick. Choose wisely~" Her tail lifted out of the way and she shook her rear.

Instinct was in control, partnered by hormones. The second-stage grass type got to his feet and walked over to her. He struggled with his moral alignment, challenging his integrity on whether the decision he had to make was right. A blush crept onto his face when he noticed a different alignment downstairs, and his worries slowly faded.

"Oh? You're sure about that one?" The confident canine smiled at him and rubbed her pussy against his cock. "Most guys nearly bust wide open when I give them a chance to try a girl's backdoor," she winked.

With no verbal response, Glave wrapped his claws around his dick and made sure he wouldn't miss. He stuck the tip in to secure his spot and grabbed her hips. She was several inches shorter than him, but thanks to their species' genital placement, they matched with neither of them needing to strain to enjoy mating. When fully prepared he forced himself all the way in. He wasn't overly experienced, albeit he had more than most his age, so being in another vagina stole his breath. His legs gave out and he barely caught himself, catching himself on the girl he was in. The motion forced her rear downward, and when he stood his member slid back in at an angle that focused on both their sensitive spots.

"Ngh-" Glave grunted. Primal senses took the reigns, and soon he was repeating the motion, bending his knees ever so slightly and thrusting back into a standing position. To his surprise and accomplishment, the female began crying out by the thrust.

"Hehe, the other two members of your team are something else." The male lycanroc whispered to Cerulean. "Hows about I get you sounding like my sisters?"

The lucario taunted him by raising her rear and spreading it with a paw.

"That's what I like to see."

Playtime was over. His cock flooded her. Cerulean would've fallen to her knees had she not already been on them. This Pokémon's dick was just longer than Glave's, but just a tad thicker, not that the lucario being stuffed would know the feeling of the grass-type. Gasping, she looked back to see his fully exposed knot slapping her sopping cunny with each thrust.

"Hmph. That close to your limit? You ate me the way you wanted to and I'm not even there yet." She flashed him a toothy I'm-better-than-you grin and smacked her ass.

Taking a liking to the jiggle she caused, the male canine of that duo made a habit of slapping her butt when his waist wasn't pressed against it. Pushing up and out, he spread her cheeks far apart, revealing and stretching both her holes. A devious grin found itself on the horny male's face as he took a claw and inserted it in her unoccupied entrance. It was slick from being used on her moments ago and made its way into her smoothly.

"Ah!" Her right leg slid back, creating an audible skid. "Fuck!" She growled, "Make me cum! Yes!" She repeated the last word over and over, but all of her words were worthless given how inevitably close she was to the outcome she plead for.

"What's wrong? That close alrea- Ngh!" A grunt broke the cocky male's words when the pussy he was filling tightened suddenly.

With a large, forceful thrust that found itself amplified by the canine twitching, his knot made its way into Cerulean pussy. She screamed in bliss at being stretched to such a length while he threw his back and howled. Both of them came, but neither's fluids could escape. The female discharge found itself trapped and assisted the midnight lycanroc's cum in filling her womb. A few squirts shot out forcefully from between his knot and her pussy, unable to find room in her full capacity pussy. Coming down, he fell onto her back, causing the lucario's arms and legs to give out. She lied on her stomach with the guy who'd just fucked her senseless resting on top of her. His cock was bound to her cunt due to his inflated knot. She could feel his dick throbbing inside her even after they were finished.

"St-stop! I-I y-yield! I gi-give up, something j-just stop!" The timid, midday lycanroc howled and begged for mercy. They still lied on their backs, and the space at their feet was occupied by a large puddle. At the moment, her cries, Zero's grunts, and a slick suction sound composed the noises from that pair. His cock was forcing its way in and out of her asshole. Whether it'd gotten there by preference or uncorrected accident was a mystery. Either way, it meant the female being violated had nothing restricting her vagina. The pool of liquids below them was the result of several forceful orgasms. She was still waiting for Zero to have one.

He took a hand off her stomach and moved it to her lower mouth. He pushed two fingers in like he was playing with a toy and not a living being. Her howls got louder yet again.

"Damn... she's a screamer, huh?" Cerulean asked her knotted male.

"Like hell. She whimpers when she's getting face fucked or scrambled doggy style. I can't see what's happening from here, but she's rarely had her ass touched, so if I had to guess?"

"Well, it's not out of character for him..."

A third finger made itself at home in the poor girl's cunny. Lightning arced down his arm from the shoulder, but in this state, he couldn't control it precisely. When it touched her clit, a pop resounding a blown fuse rang out.

"SHIT!" A new pool of girl cum started being formed. The spray from her electrically stimulated orgasm flew much further than previous ones, but it died down quickly. The effect it had on Zero was glorious to his horny conscious. Her entire body constricted, and that didn't exclude the rear hole he was inside. A low moan escaped his lips, a rare occurrence in itself, and he clutched the bitch on top of him tight enough to make her scared for the safety of her ribs. Cum scarcely blasted her insides, giving her a much-needed yet underwhelming filling. The Mangekyo's disrepair still rendered his bodily functions slower than normal. He continued thrusting through his orgasm, each reinsertion ejecting strings of his seed out of her.

"What... In the hell?" The dazed leader of Team Fate analyzed his surroundings. What he saw assured him he was dreaming.

"Ngh, ngh, ngh-" Glave grunted as he rapidly thrust in and out of his toy pussy like he was an expert. Light moans escaped the lycanroc's lips, but she was very controlled. The only pleasure she'd received came from a young, inexperienced reptilian cock to have sex with, but she was grateful nonetheless. Not to mention, she was at her edge anyway. Credit where it was due, however, the grovyle had already came once and was going strong. Evidence of such was the cum around her pussy, matting down her fur. She'd sucked him off beforehand, so it made sense.

[I wish he would've played with me more. My little sister even got a better pounding than me this time. And my brother finally got an obedient fucking session? Who did I piss off?]

Smiling through her sarcastic thoughts, both from humor and the endorphins circulating within her from her upcoming orgasm, she released one final moan. Glave's hips met hers and he filled her to the brim between the second round of semen and his generous size.

The grass-type came down quickly. He backed away from his bitch, nearly slipping in the fluids underfoot. A wet, suctiony plop rang out when his cock pulled out of her pussy. He panted and looked around. Cerulean and the main lycanroc from before were watching him. Zero was as well, with a surprised expression. An unconscious dog lied next to him. His mate merely walked a few steps and turned to look at him.

"I think it's fair to say today was a good day, yeah? You all got to play hero and got a hero's reward on top of it." She winked.

"But... The things that kirlia-" Glave looked away.

"And she'll never need to know them again, correct? Regardless, my brother's knot is quicker to deflate than his stamina. You three shouldn't be held up too long."

"Little bitch..." The lycanroc she referred to muttered. She wasn't wrong, though. While he had to force it out, his knot had gone down in swelling enough to dislodge from Cerulean's pussy. Juices poured out fast enough to spread the hole open for a moment as they gushed onto the ground at her crotch. Glave unintentionally stared while she stretched, the motion forcing more to flow out.

"That part is always sooo good~" The lucario moaned as she rubbed her clit. The tightening vaginal muscles that responded helped to cleanse her some more.

"At any rate, we'll get out of here before your badass leader comes to his senses and finds grounds to knock us to oblivion, and unfortunately, not in the way we like." With those words from the dusk lycanroc, all three turned and departed. Their figures became silhouettes when they reached the stairs to the floor above and shadows obscured them.

"...I still don't think I can teleport us." Zero retorted as he stood. He gripped his head tenderly.

"Would you believe me if I said our escape orbs looked functional again?" Cerulean pulled a brilliant blue sphere from the treasure box.

"I'd say that's plot." Glave rolled his eyes.

"Not necessarily. I'm not sure what those three were capable of, but it's possible trick room or mean look could have prevented the orbs from working. They had ample time to use the latter option when we met them the first time."

"Yeah, yeah, it doesn't matter now. Say the word, leader."

"Ready when you are."

And so, Team Fate huddled into its triangle formation and each grasped the orb. One flash of light, a floating sensation, and altered surroundings later and they were standing at the front door of their home in Advent Town. They shared a relieved sigh when the reality of their safety settled in.

"We need to report to the Mayor ASAP but damn if my bio mods aren't demanding round 2."

"That's why you're holding your head..." The fluctuations of Glave's voice from the beginning of his statement to the end demonstrated he'd been concerned but recalled it was over an awkward subject.

"Well, who are you going to get for that?" Cerulean smirked at her leader. "If you're too tired, you won't have time to run to the wild since you can't teleport there and back. I'm fine volunteering if you think it's necessary."

"No... Let's report back first. Maybe keeping my mind off things will help me get a hold on these forsaken urges anyway."

With that decision, the human led his squad toward the town hall. When the building was in sight, another scene awaited them. The dusknoir that'd been secured fell to the ground outside the Rescue Federation building, surrounded and electrocuted by members of the magnezone family.

"Glad he didn't show that much spirit back in the dungeon," Glave commented. He received two nods of agreement and their course was resumed.

Team Fate stood outside the Mayor's office once again.

"Enter," escaped the room before Zero could knock. They obeyed the order and formed an orderly line in front of the political dragonite's desk. "Oh, dear."

His words were a response to the tattered appearance exhibited by the powerful team. Zero's clothes were ripped and the side of his shirt was stained red from his stab wound. Glave and Cerulean naturally didn't wear garments as humans did, but the broken treasure box strap and their dirtied fur gave the wise dragon the information he needed on the effort they'd put in.

"I don't recall giving you a specific mission. However, based on your appearances, I'd venture to say you have something significant to report."

"That's correct, sir. We just got done squaring off with two Pokémon under the influence of that dark aura."

If he didn't already have it before, Zero claimed the dragon's full attention.

"And?"

"Well, I've reached a couple of conclusions, though I don't have hard evidence to justify classifying them as anything other than theories." The human knew to continue from the look he received. "Firstly, in case it wasn't obvious, the subject under the control of that energy gains a significant power boost. Second, it appears that the aura is applied alongside an order."

"An order?"

"Yes, sir. An instruction is provided before the application of the power boost. From the Pokémon I've seen affected, their sanity is reduced to almost zero. They retain basic instincts such as survival and combat, but their mind stays focused on whatever command they were given. I'm not sure how well I'm explaining this... Regardless, this could also be a stretch, but I think conditions can be included in the condition the subject is given to add detail to it."

"Elaborate." The Mayor raised an eyebrow.

"We fought a gardevoir and a gallade today..." Zero retold the events of the mission, ending in the gardevoir snapping out it when her child was injured.

"Unbelievable... A Pokémon among my citizens went that long without help..." The dragonite looked crushed.

"With all due respect, hindsight will only blind us right now, sir."

"You're right. Continue."

"Well, when the gardevoir was set free, the gallade behaved differently from anything he'd been doing to that point. He manually grabbed her and held her against him. I believe his order was to protect her, just like how her order was to guard her child. It was almost like he didn't believe she could take care of herself without that aura. Given the lack of logical processing a subject of that foul power is capable of, I have to think he was told this by whoever cast their affliction upon them."

'I see. Everything you've told me today has been valuable information, Team Fate. If you wish to take tomorrow off, that's fine. I'll be sure to record your findings on paper and get them sent to the Rescue Federation for further investigation. Unfortunately, without a test subject contaminated with that aura, an investigation means little. For the sake of convenience, I believe we need something to call the affliction other than black, or dark, or shadowy 'aura.' From here on, refer to a Pokémon under its influence as a Shade. We can pray we'll never need to use that term, but I'm a realist."

"We understand. Thank you, sir." Zero turned to leave.

"Just a moment, you three. I apologize, but there's something else I'd like to speak about before dismissing you. There's an expedition just around the corner for exploration and rescue teams alike. All teams are intended to attend, but it isn't mandatory."

"That's right. I think Cream told me about that."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she waved it over your head. You never participated in one with Team Luck, did you?"

"...No, sir."

"Nevertheless, the trip will be to Mount Glacia. There've been rumors of an unexplored mystery dungeon there, but the entrance hasn't been located yet. We sent Team Ultima recently to make sure it would be safe to go, and they reported no abnormalities except the temperature." He smirked at the end. "I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the trip. You'll be exposed to several teams, many of which are curious and scared of our human inhabitant. I want to trust you, Zero. If anything happens, I want your team to keep my people safe on this expedition."

The three of them silently nodded. Upon dismissal, they returned to their home in silence. They sat in the bedroom, each on their respective bed.

"Things... feel way more normal than they did a month ago. I know it was just a couple tough Pokémon, but the weight on my chest feels like we're carrying the whole world." Glave bemoaned. His eyes were fixed on the center of the rug resting in between the beds.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Someone has to be causing this. We find them and stop them, and live out life in peace."

"Zero..."

"When we're all together now... I get the sensation we're a team now." The leader let the statement drop out of nowhere. It was mere internal speculation put into words, but when he lifted his gaze he saw a lucario and grovyle smiling fondly. "Don't give me that look." But he wore the same one. He sighed, "whatever. Just get some sleep."

And they did.