Chapter 25: Planning and Research

"I will be relocating the litwick, apologies for the interruption to your lives," Alex stated as the litwick and Grey went around apologizing.

Ruby and Tide came up to Alex and said "thanks for your help. We're a junior exploration team and it's cool to meet another official explorer"

They showed Alex their badges, he then pulled out his expedition orb and said "you have an expedition orb right? Why don't I register your badges to my orb, then I can call you and check in occasionally"

Both Ruby and Tide gave an excited look as Alex's orb scanned theirs. There was a noticeable beep that caused Alex to smile as the holographic screen popped up.

"You two have completed enough missions to rank up, I guess it wouldn't hurt to do it" Alex said as he punched in his access code in the orbs' hologram. A Guildmaster-ranked explorer like Alex could issue rank-ups, even if he didn't run a guild.

A beam shot out of the orb and hit Ruby and Tide's badges. When it cleared, the center orb of the badge was now green with the surrounding circle now bronze. The two were so excited that they didn't notice the guildmaster rank displayed on Alex's orb.

"Now that your Bronze Rank, you can take on higher rated missions with better rewards," Alex explained as he turned off his orb and put it back in his bag.

Soon enough all the Litwick had gathered along with Grey, it was time for them to leave.

Ruby held out her paw to shake Alex's hand, but before he could return the gesture, Ruby and Tide were pulled away by none other than Jed, who had just arrived on the scene.

"Come on you two; I've got some stern words for the both of ya…." Jed said in an angry tone.

Alex shrugged and headed to Cafe connection with the litwick. He had already made arrangements with Alice to teleport Grey and Litwick to lively town one after another, but it would take a while.

As Jed continued pulling the two to his house, Wake arrived, looking even angrier than Jed, but the Nuzleaf shook his head and announced "Don't worry, I'll give them both an earful.."

Wake smiled and nodded as Jed led them into the house and slammed the door. After making sure to lock the door, Jed turned around and his anger seemed to vanish instantly.

"Sorry about that, I needed a way to talk to you both privately…I don't fault ya for sneaking out, and it's clear Alex wasn't a threat," Jed explained.

Ruby and Tide both gave sighs of relief as Jed continued "I've been doing so looking around and I've got an idea. Ruby has been here for the better part of a year and still ain't got her memories back, so I think it's time to start finding some answers, and I think our answers may be on Revelation Mountain."

"Revelation Mountain?" Ruby questioned, clearly never having heard of it before.

Tide noticed her expression and said "it's a huge mountain a ways north"

Jed nodded and said, "Yup, and according to what I've heard from people, stories passed down though the years say that there's a spring up there with some very special water"

Ruby tilted her head and asked, "what do you mean special?"

"Rumor has it that the water can heal both body and mind, and I reckon that might just be what ya need" Jed revealed.

Ruby gave an excited look while Tide said "I'm more than glad to help..but what about my pops?"

Jed nodded and said "Tell him you're gonna be gathering firewood with me as punishment for sneaking out. The principal delayed school for another week, so you've got nothing to worry about there…"

Blake went to one of the four public consoles on the Neuxus floor and plugged in her orb, there was a few beeps and then the screen showed "rank up available"

The Meowstick pulled out her badge and placed her badge on the console, soon enough it was upgraded to a shining silver. Blake had done quite a few missions over the past few months and was very happy with her progress. Capturing Ozzy was the last mission she needed, but the encounter with Ringo still bothered her. She had searched the Nexus for information regarding Ringo, but nothing came up.

After collecting her badge, she went over to the main desk directly in front of the globe. Ned was monitoring things as usual.

"Hey, Ned, can you look up something for me," Blake asked, causing the Toxicroak to look up and nod.

"Can you search for a profile of a Pokemon named Ringo? He's a big grass type like Ozzy, I saw him when I brought Ozzy in and I can't find anything even with my rank up, but maybe you can?" Blake requested.

Ned nodded and typed in a few things. The central desk had access to everything, including outlaw profiles and missions that you needed to be high ranked to access. However, as the search results came up, Ned's eyes widened as he said "oh my…"

Blake wasn't sure what was more concerning, Ned's facial expression or the fact that he was so worried that he spoke since she had only ever heard him speak once.

Ned shook his head and allowed his screen to be double-sided, it showed a picture of Ringo with bloody paws and an S rank outlaw title. His list of crimes was also on screen; Blake couldn't even keep track of the list, which only showed ten crimes at a time, and scrolled through them automatically for an entire minute before the list stopped. Just then, Cleft arrived with a stack of papers from the request board check and immediately gave a concerned look.

"Doing some research, Blake? Ringo was one of the most dangerous outlaws ever recorded. He was presumed dead about 10 years ago. Team Go-getters, the second-best team in the world, took an entire year to track him down, and that ended with a fight that left all three of them heavily wounded and their leader barely managing to shove him off a cliff."

Blake turned to the Chatot, with unmistakable fear in her voice as she said, "Remember the outlaw I brought in yesterday, he's Ringo's son, and I saw him face to face…."

Cleft's beak was hung open for the next five minutes…

Author's note-DUN DUN DAAAAA

1. I know it's been a while, but writer's block hit me hard

2. Those who have played Super Mystery Dungeon may have noticed something rather subtle foreshadowing, but that's all I'm gonna say

Please Leave a review, I desperately want some feedback