"Wakey wakey..."

It was black. Dark. But then my eyelids slowly opened, adjusting to the low light. My ears rotated around, and my eyes shifted left and right, trying to figure out where I am. It looked to be some sort of classy room. I tried to move, but I found out that it hurt. "Akh! What the –" I realized that my body was somehow wound up in barbed wire; tightly. Any more movement might scar me. "Oh Arceus... where am I?"

Looking in front of me, I saw that there was a lit fireplace, the flames crackling. There was someone standing in front of it. Judging by the silhouette and little color I can make of it, it seems to be a female Meowstic. I tried calling her for help. "Uhm... Hello? Who are you?"

In an overly melodramatic fashion, she slowly turned around, her red eyes glinting at me. I felt that sharp stare pierce into me. I felt an aura around her... one of power, control, authority... It made me feel weak; puny, but I tried to look fine and stared right back at her, trying not to show fear. "I-I said, who are you?"

Curiously, the Meowstic just smirked. "I could ask you the same question." She said coolly, in an accent that was slightly... Russian? Maybe? "I did not expect the Legend Hunters to come all the way here." I was surprised that she knew that? Did she see the vehicle we came in with?

"Wh-who are you?" I repeated for the third time. "I demand to kn-know what's going on!" Suddenly I felt a massive headache, like my head just split into two. "YAAAAAARGH!" I screamed in agony, clenching my paws into fists. I tried to stop screaming, gritting my teeth, but the pain was too much. "GRRAAAAAAAHHHH!" Reflexively, I tried to reach my head with my paws, but sinced I was tied up in barbed wire I scathed my arm instead, causing even more pain. After one very painful minute, the headache stopped. My head was thumping from all the torture I endured.

"F-fucking hell..." Yes, I know I swore; it was that painful! "Wh-who the hell a-are you..?"

The Meowstic just started walking in circles around me, our eyes continuing to lock with one another. "Who am I? I run this town, boy." She said coldly. "And much more out there. You have the nerve to come in my home territory? Then again, you were dragged here by those... Legend Hunters... so I guess I'll forgive you." She stopped in front of me, bending over. She whispered into my ear, "Though, you're lucky Hevan didn't kill you right there and then..." She just smiled at my stunned face.

Several thoughts whirred in my head. This scenario... it felt familiar... Then it hit me. I had a dream like this once, a nightmare I had. I think it was my seventh nightmare since being with Sam in the clan. I remembered being in an old-fashioned 19th century room, complete with a fireplace. I was bound up in thick thorns. There was also a figure in the room with me, but it was completely black, not even a silhouette was present. I saw its mouth open and close, but all that came out was incoherent murmuring. After it closed its mouth, it suddenly lunged at me, and a painful headache woke me up from my dream.

"Wh-who are you?" I asked once more. If this is the one from my dream, then I have to know more. Perhaps it was an external source giving me those dreams. Maybe... those weren't even dreams... but visions... "Who are you?" I repeated stubbornly.

The Meowstic just sighed, casually leaning against the wall right next to the fireplace. The lighting effect made it so that only one half of her body and face could be seen, while the other half could not. "If you insist," She said, smirking. "call me Valencia. I run this place."

I was puzzled. "Valencia, huh? Could you tell me where I am?"

"That's it?" She said, staring amusingly at me. "You just wanted to know my name? You did not want to know why you're here?"

I flushed a bit. It felt like an insult to my honor. "Of course I want to know," I told her angrily. "I was coming to that."

Valencia just rolled her eyes. "Hm, if you say so. If you must know, I am a mafia leader." Those last two words were said with such power that it struck fear into my heart. "And, you're our prisoner." My heart plummeted. I've been captured by the mafia? How wonderful. Somehow, she saw my changed expression and chuckled. "Don't worry, you won't be here for long. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. You're lucky I was there, or Hevan would have killed you."

"I assume Hevan's the serpent who tried to strangle me?" I formed a spontaneous hate towards this 'Hevan'. "Why was I targeted? Am I on some sort of hit list?"

"Oh dear, no." Valencia said, smiling at the idea. "I got a tip that an ex-friend of mine, a Vulpix, would be where you were at the time. Me and Hevan went there of course, waiting to get my vengeance. Hevan struck first, strangling you with his powerful tail. I watched you slowly suffocate to death. But then... I realized that you weren't the one I'm looking for. So I told Hevan to knock you out quickly before an unneeded casualty occured."

I raised an eyebrow. She... knew that I wasn't the one she was looking for? I asked her that question, "How'd you know I wasn't the one you're looking for?"

"Simple. Mind-reading. Like I said, I'm extra cautious. When you lasted longer than I expected, I figured something was wrong. I was correct."

Me and Valencia just stared at each other, an understanding made between us. I just nodded quietly. There was just silence, complete silence for several minutes before there was a knock on the door that I never noticed. "Boss! Is he the one?" I heard a voice shout through the door.

"No." Valencia called back. "We're letting him go."

"Boss! You know we can't let a prisoner go! He'll tell the world!"

"I've made my decision." Valencia said, heading towards the door. "Hevan, he won't be a problem. Even if he is with the Legend Hunters. They don't care about us."

"But –"

"Do you want to lose your head?" I just admired how badass that woman actually is, and completely terrified as well. She's a freakin' gang leader! And yet... I remain as calm as ever. I didn't feel any danger. I sensed that... she wouldn't harm me... or was that just false speculation?

I thought about the others. Arthur... Valencia said that this town was her turf. What if something happens to them? I can't let Arthur get hurt! He could be dead for all I know. I tried to move, but the barbed wire only pricked me. "Argh! Uh, excuse me? Valencia?" I called her. "C-could you untie me now?"

Valencia thought for a moment. "Fine. It's an easy cut anyway; I'll have Lezzar cut it. That's just thorny vines."

I was confused. Thorny vines? This was most certainly barbed wire. "These are not vines! This is metal, barbed wire!"

The Meowstic just smirked. "No, no... it's an illusion, cast by me." She explained. "Zoruas and Zoroarks aren't the only ones that can perform them. A simple Scratch should do the trick." Not too long later, a Weavile walked into the room. Male, from what I can make of it. "Lezzar, free him."

"On it." He said in a scruffy voice. With a single cut, he sliced through the 'barbed wire'. I stretched my arms and legs a bit, feeling much more unconfined.

"Th-thanks..." I said to him, trying to smile. The Weavile just snorted.

"Gah, whatever. Get outta here." He grunted. "Boss probably wants to see you anyway."

So I ran out of the room, rushing to chase Valencia.

When I finally found her, I noticed that we were in some sort of study. There were several Pokémon chatting in the corner. The shelves were filled with books and there was a desk with papers scattered all over it. Several pictures were pasted onto the wall. Valencia was flipping through the pages of an old book until she noticed me.

"Where are my friends?" I quickly asked her before she could say anything. I was worried about Arthur. If she runs this place then she should know where he and the others are. Big gangs like this normally have eyes everywhere. Valencia set down the book she was holding, looked at me.

"Don't worry, I didn't harm any of them. Nor did my men." She said calmly to me (even though her tone was very cold). "I assume that you want to get back to you. I allow you to do so, but under one circumstance: that you do NOT mention me, or my mob. Is that clear?" I gave a stiff nod as a reply. "Good. I'll have Puppet deliver you there."

Valencia then ushered me outside of the building we were in, said goodbye, and quickly went back inside. Looking back at the old structure, the design resembles an old Victorian era manor, now covered in vines and walls dull with age. A Shuppet suddenly appeared in front of me, surprising me. "Yargh!" I screamed, leaping back a little. "Wh-what is wrong with gangsters and their surprises!?"

The Shuppet merely laughed. "Ya better get used to it," the young male voice said. "my name's Puppet. Mind you, it's not my actual name; just a code name the Boss gave me." He squinted a bit at me, noticing something. "So... I'm supposed to 'escort' you to your destination, is that right?"

"Yeah..." When I looked at him, I noticed that same look everyone always gave me; about my eyes. "My eyes are blue. I'm one of those Pokémon.

Puppet flushed a bit with embarrassment. "O-oh, I see. Sorry, I've never seen anything like it." I simply said a quick 'it's okay' and then told him to move on. "Alright, follow me!"

Minutes passed as we walked through the remains of the deserted town, old buildings and dead trees lined up along the street. It gave a really eerie vibe. Wanting to break the creepy silence, I engaged an conversation with him. "So..." I started. "You said that you're code name was Puppet?"

"Yes?"

"Does that mean everyone has a code name?"

He thought about it for a minute. "No, not everyone. Only the people who often go out on missions so that their real identities don't get discovered. I'm often sent on scout and delivery missions. I know some other people who have code names. There's Headshot, Vampire, Knight of the Light, Red Herring..."

"Um, okay then..." A thought popped into my head, but I hesitated on whether to ask about it or not. I decided to wait a bit longer. "How's life?"

"Back at the gang?" The young Shuppet just rolled his eyes casually. "Pretty cool, I guess. Sometimes things happen, sometimes they don't... It's actually quite normal, you could say. Except for all the secrecy and our style of life, of course." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Mind you, I don't like rough. I'm not much of a fighting type." He added.

What he said just now just added more to the question I wanted to ask. I decided to go for it. "You know... you look like a good kid..." He stared at me, confused. "Um... What I'm asking is... why are you here? You don't... really look like someone who'd dwell in this gangster stuff."

His levitation shook a little, and he blinked. "O-oh, is it that obvious?" He asked. "Well, ye see..." For a moment, it looked like he couldn't continue, his eyes shining with emotion, but he pushed on. "I'm here because I have nowhere else to go."

"What does that mean?"

"I have a family. I mean, sure, everyone has a family at the beginning, otherwise you wouldn't exist. But... mom and dad never really liked me. They always said that I was a disappointment. That I wasn't strong, worthy, smart, and blah blah, the list goes on and on. But that's not true!" He screamed, a tear almost escaping his eyes. "I was good! I still am! They just didn't notice it..."

Something didn't add up for me. "Why didn't they notice?" I asked him, wondering about his parents's behaviour. "I mean, surely they'd see that you're good at something...?"

"They did see it, but..." He sighed, pausing for a moment. "Do you have an older brother?" He suddenly asked.

"Wh-what? No, I don't have one." I decided not to tell him that I wasn't even raised by my parents because they were taken away from me before I hatched. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I have one... and it sucks." The Shuppet's levitation slowed a bit, thinking. "I was always shadowed by him. Underneath him. Whatever I did, he always did better. That's why mom and dad couldn't see how good I was; they always compared me to my brother. I could never beat him, at anything, and so mom and dad continued calling me a failure. Then I had it. I left and never came back."

I looked at him, stunned. "You... ran?"

"Yes... I couldn't stand living with them, living with him. Even he laughs at how incompetent I am. I felt useless because of him. I lived for years on the streets, no real purpose in life..." His eyes started glimmering. "Until... I met her."

For a second, I though he was referencing some sort of girlfriend, but I quickly realized that he might just be talking about Valencia. "You met Valencia?" I asked, trying to make sure. He just nodded somberly. "And then what?"

"And then my whole life changed," He answered, smiling. "She saw potential in me and offered me a job. Although I know crime is wrong, I had no choice. Would a man wasted in poverty and debt refuse a million dollars for a small price? Morally, no, but that's where crime is born. But I'll admit, I'm living happier than ever. There are actually those who support me in the team; it made me feel useful again. I crawled out of that dark abyss not long ago, and I'm so glad I didn't turn back."

I looked down at the ground for a moment, pondering his words. "I crawled out of that dark abyss"... Lucky you, I thought, I'm still stuck in mine.

"Hey, you there?"

I blinked. Looking up, I saw Puppet staring at me. "You were drifting away there," He said. "Are you fine?"

"I-I'm all good," I told him as confidently as I could bring up. I quickly changed topics. "How much farther anyway? I asked.

"Hmm... Should just be another mile. We can small talk while we walk."

Quickly, I tried to think of a nice topic to talk about. The weather? Notoriously lame. Family? From what I heard from him, best not. Perhaps I should talk about his friends back at the mob. I'm not completely sure that Valencia just let me go and forget everything. She's a careful, meticulous, and fairly thorough Pokémon. I'm sure that she's got someone watching me from the shadows, so knowing more about the gang might be useful.

I asked about his friends as subtle as possible. "Are the Pokémon back there... cool?"

Well, not the best question in the world, but he answered it with joy. "Super cool! There's Jeff, he's the gang's resident hitman, then there's Underling, the littlest guy in the group, but he's just a sweet bundle of joy! After that there's Laxe, he's our main supplier, then there's..."

Puppet continued on and on for almost ten minutes.

"There's also Piór, who's the third supply manager, and then –" He abruptly stopped, and so did his movements. Curious to the sudden halt, I looked around. There was nothing. Just old buildings and dusty fog.

"Why'd you stop?" I asked him. "Do you see them?"

Pupppet didn't respond, he was just staring ahead. I followed his gaze, squinting through the fog. Then I saw it: there, in the distance, was a rover. The headlights were on, most likely recently used. From what the silhouette shows, it looks like the rover I was in before getting seperated. "I think that's it." I said to Puppet.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I thought it was a cop car or something." Noticing my confused look upon the comment, he explained to me. "The gang is mainly centered in this town. It's no wonder a lot of things happen here, so cops go around here all the time. Of course, Officer Jenny knows what she's doing, but that doesn't mean that she can catch us~" I sensed an amused note at the end of his sentence. I chuckled lightly, and moved towards the rover. Soon enough, more silhouettes appeared, those of both Pokémon and humans alike. Once I saw one that looked like a fat rabbit, I knew that this was my group.

"Alright Puppet, you can leave now." I told him. When he didn't move, I suddenly got concerned. He was staring at me weirdly. "...Is there something wrong?"

Puppet continued staring for a full minute, then came closer to me, his eyes concerned. "Be careful," he whispered. "If you're with the Legend Hunters, you better be cautious. Rumors of the bad things they do have spread even to my gang. They're... unpredictable..."

I gulped, but I soon quenched my fear from surfacing. "Noted."

"Oh, and one more thing." Puppet seemed more concerned now. "One day in your life, you'll be on standing on a thin line, where both sides are blurry. And then... you just won't know what to do..."

I stared at him, confused but also equally frightened by his words. "Why do you say so?" I asked.

"I say that from experience. It happens to the best of us." He glanced up, suddenly realizing that the rover had moved and was driving towards us, the headlights getting brighter. "I have to go now. It was nice talking with you." A second later, he flew past me and into the dust fog, disappearing. I only stared after him before the rover stopped beside me.

"Keith!" My ears perked up at the familiar sound. Looking up, I saw Arthur, Adam and Vivico looking down at me. A faint grin appeared at the corner of my lips when I saw them; even seeing Adam. Sweet safety... "Keith, where were you!?" Arthur yelled at me, his voice heavy with worry. "We thought you disappeared! Or worse!"

"I'm fine now, Arthur." I replied, jumping onto the rover's side and climbing up. After settling back in the seat, I finally relaxed. "Everything's fine..." Despite Arthur's many concerns, my brief and modified explanation of what had happened pleased him enough. "Where to now?" I asked.

"We were searching around town for you," Arthur said. "We're still doing so. And that's pretty much it."

We then spent the next 2 hours roaming around the town in the rover. There were all sorts of old buildings, from houses to the city hall. We also encountered several Pokémon along the way. I even saw Puppet. He winked at me as the rover past by. I winked back at him. Fortunately, no one noticed.

Eventually, the team got worn out and since they didn't find any promising evidence of legendary Pokémon having been here, we left. Few hours later, we arrived back at the safety of the clan. The humans got a long lecture by Richard – the clan's leader – who was of course pissed that they didn't find anything and ranted about how they could have tried using different techniques and so on. The Pokémon were left out, since what were they to be lectured about? I felt a bit sorry for Sam.

As nightfall approached, fear started to sink into me. I was afraid of sleeping, the constant nightmares restraining me from having any rest. Black rings were even starting to form under my eyes. Afraid of slumber, I snuck into the library. The lazy librarian was asleep on the job, again, but his Servine remained as diligent as ever. He welcomed me, and told me that the library doors were to be locked in another hour. I nodded blankly at him, heading for the reading area.

At the reading area, the fourty chairs were all empty except for one seat. Xera the Espurr was sitting at one of the tables at the far end of the reading area, reading a velvet-covered book. Noticing me, she looked up and waved at me, smiling a bit. I waved back, though impassively. I slumped down on one of the tables, just staring up at the dozens of bookshelves surrounding the place. Maybe if I just read a book, I'll feel better. Getting up, I walked towards one of the bookshelves and pulled a random book out.

The title read: Bonds Between : Ties That Bind

I blinked. This was the book that Arthur showed me at the Weinstein Library. I shifted uncomfortably. What a coincidence that I find another one here. But for some strange reason, I felt like this was no coincidence... that this was fate...

No, this is bullshit.

Immediately, I chucked the book back into the shelf where I found it. Walking across the reading area, I approached another bookshelf and pulled out another random book.

The title read: Pull

Pull? That's it? Staring at the title – which was written in capital letters – I just realized that the cover also had a picture on it. But when I looked at it, I immediately shoved it back into the shelf. I rushed over to a table, slamming my paws down onto it. But then there was a sickening crunch, and I saw that I had somehow made a crack on the table.

I tried to clear my head of the disturbing image. The book's cover showed a hand holding a bloody knife, with the picture colored in grey. The image reminded me of a dream in where I killed Adam... and faced an evil, black Vulpix that loked just like me.

I just stared blankly across the room, not knowing why the dreams keep happening. Something's wrong with me... I need to find a doctor...

I felt a light tap on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw that it was Xera, the Espurr. The way she looked at me reminded me of the face of a kind mother comforting her child. "Xera..." I mumbled to her, slowly rising. "I'm afraid. I keep getting these freaky nightmares... What should I do?"

Xera didn't answer. Instead, she just pointed at my forehead. "My head?" I was puzzled for a moment, but then I got what she was trying to say. "Oh... my mind. Well, I dunno... How am I supposed to check that? Is there a doctor here? A psychic one, maybe?" Much to my gratefulness, she nodded. "Thank god... I'll go look it up later." But then, that terrifying fear came back to me; one that I am too cowardly to face. "But... what now? I-I'm still afraid of going back to sleep..."

Xera just shrugged. It wasn't a dismissive one, it was the one that said: well, that's up to you to decide. I just smiled sadly at her. "Thanks, Xera." I mumbled shakily. She just smiled, and then walked away.

As I made my way back to Sam's room, a thought crossed my mind. Why does Xera never speaks? Maybe she's mute, I'm not sure. I wanna ask, but I feel like that'll make her feel self-conscious about herself. Eh, I'll just worry about that later.

Finally reaching Sam's room, I saw that everyone has gone to sleep. Sighing, I tiredly jump onto the desk I usually sleep on. Nestling in my six tails, I looked in front of me. There was a mirror there, my reflection also snuggling up. Staring into my ocean blue eyes, I quietly prayed, "May Mew protect me..." Again, I swore I saw my reflection smile a little, but maybe that's just the sleep deprivation. After I've calmed down, I slowly drift off to sleep...

Alas, perhaps peace was not meant to be.