DarkFoxKit: I don't know if anyone else is having this issue with their pre-orders, but I have to wait a week before I can play my pre-order of Pokemon Violet. Because the universe decided I had too many good things already.

Traveling Master: Sorry to hear that. And while I already got my game, we had already agreed to start the game at the same time, luckily I have a substitute to keep me occupied until DF's game comes in.

DarkFoxKit: What substitute is that?

Traveling Master: *I am now wearing snow armor while wielding a frost ax. A low choir is heard in the background.* I'm heading to Midgard to play God of War Ragnorok. Me and Dust will be busy trying not to die.

DarkFoxKit: Meanwhile I'll be trying something else myself until the game comes in. But for now… uh… TM, is this a good idea? I'm pretty sure all our fans will be playing Scarlet or Violet to be interested in reading a new chapter right now.

Traveling Master: True, but it's also why we are updating the story today instead of last Friday, gives everyone a chance to play Scarlet and Violet, and get that nice fill of gameplay.

DarkFoxKit: Yeah, but it's still pretty early. Oh well, just hope people see this as an extra bonus for the new Pokemon games coming out. We should get to the chapter, don't want to keep them waiting like I am.


Chapter 61: Rouge's Secret Weapon

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The Salazzle remarked.

Berry, Dust, and Shab saw Rouge standing in the shadows. She looked particularly annoyed.

"A few annoying intruders trying to release my prisoners?" Rouge growled.

Whether their hiding spot didn't work so well, or that Rouge saw them earlier, Dust wouldn't know. What he did know was that the Salazzle was here, and she knew they were as well. He also noticed that his mind was still his own, so he can only assume Rouge purposely held back her pheromones. Dust didn't know why, but if it meant it bought them a few extra minutes to think of a plan, then he'll gladly take it.

Stepping forward to face the Salazzle, Dust made sure to stop and keep some distance between him and the outlaw. "Well, to be fair, you did kidnap me in the first place. It only seems logical that I'd try and escape."

"Hmm? Who are you?" Rouge questioned. "An Absol? I may have taken a few. I don't know which one you are. Although… you do have unique eyes for an Absol…"

Dust realized he never told Rouge his name, mostly because he wasn't himself when she took him and Shab.

"What are you going to do with us?" Shab asked.

"I could take you now with my pheromones, at least two of you are male," Rouge noted, though she looked at Berry. "Didn't I take you before?"

"Have you…?" Berry said, lowering her tone of voice to try to sound a little more masculine.

"Hmm, well…now I'm even more tempted to just simply use my pheromones and end your little escapade," Rouge sarcastically remarked as she turned her back to Team Night Tide, as though inviting them to attack. Luckily all three knew better than to charge at her. After waiting a bit, she gave a disappointed sigh before turning to face the trio once more. "Then again, I supposed you three are the ones causing all the trouble here. I believe it's more fitting to just get rid of you all together."

She's probably underestimating us, otherwise she would've just used her pheromones from the start. We might be able to turn the tables on her if that's the case. Dust thought to himself as he and his teammates got into battle position.

"This will be the perfect opportunity for me to test out my strongest catch yet~" Rouge grinned. "Come on, big boy~"

There was a sound of movement and footsteps approaching them. Berry sensed a strong presence approaching. She didn't like this feeling.

The being came into the light, allowing Berry, Dust, and Shab to see this Pokemon. To their shock, it was a Zwelious, but there was something odd about it. Normally, a Zwelious would be dark blue with black fur over its two heads, necks, and back, as well as a couple of pink stripes under its stomach. But this one's colors were really off. Dust had read about these guys, and what their shiny forms looked like. The shiny forms were green where the dark blue was, their pink stripes would be purple, though their black fur would remain black.

However, this Zweilous wasn't even that. Instead, its dark blue fur was white, the pink stripes were red, the black fur was the only thing remaining consistent.

While Dust was busy analyzing the uniquely colored Zweilous, Shab was the first to respond to Rouge. "So you don't plan on facing us?"

"Oh Victini no!" Rouge retorted before bringing her right claw to her mouth and letting out a laugh. "Why should I sully myself and waste my energy dealing with you three? If the Absol had stayed a good boy and remained in his cell, I would've just used my pheromones on you and that Goomy just to save me time. Plus, my pet needs the exercise, can't have him getting sluggish," Rouge then turned and faced the Zweilous. "My sweet pet, once you're done with these troublemakers, I'll be waiting for you in my chambers~"

Rouge then turned to Team Night Tide. "But if you three somehow survive, or even more miraculous, defeat my pet here, I'll definitely be glad to take you in again."

Rouge grinned as she moved into the shadows, while the unusually colored Zweilous began to approach the 3.

"Why are we always fighting against these Pokemon?" Shab grumbled.

"It's just one Pokemon, right? Surely we can take them," Dust said, though the Absol couldn't help but notice a sense of dread surrounding the dragon Pokemon.

"This one's powerful, even more so than Tyrantrum," Berry warned. "We can't hold back."

"Shab, our best bet is Ice Beam, Zweilous are known to take hard hits and are able to keep going, so let's try and freeze him in his place," Dust told Shab.

"Are there any weaknesses we can exploit?" Berry asked.

"Dragon, Ice and Fairy type attacks normally work well against Dragon Types. Zweilous is also part Dark, but unless you two learned a Bug or Fighting type move recently, we'll have to stick with Ice Beam, and Berry's Dragon Breath," Dust explained. "Zweilous's two heads don't usually get along with each other, but since they're both under the influence of Rouge's pheromones, I don't think that's going to be a problem for them right now."

"Another Dragon type?" Berry frowned. "We've just been facing a lot of those lately…"

The Zweilous's two heads let out roars as he charged at them. Berry and Shab jumped two different sides to dodge, Dust was getting ready to block the incoming attack when the strange colored Zweilous's heads suddenly moved in the direction of Berry and Shab, grabbing both of them with their teeth. One of the heads was using Crunch on Berry, bringing down large, purple teeth energy near its mouth on Berry, while the other head's teeth crackled with electricity on Shab, using Thunder Fang on the fish. Both Berry and Shab let out screams of pain.

Rushing forward, Dust hardened his tail before spinning forward with an Iron Tail, aiming for the space between the Zweilous's two heads. The impact pushed the dragon Pokemon back while also forcing both heads to release Shab and Berry. As they fell to the ground, the Zweilous growled as both heads faced Dust. One of the heads took a deep breath before letting out an ear piercing roar. Dust's body was thrown back against the wall from the Hyper Voice, unable to move as the one head continued to use the attack to keep him pinned. Zweilous then moved forward as the other head produced flames from his fang, preparing to use Fire Fang while the other head kept on using Hyper Voice.

Dust felt like his brain was melting from the Hyper Voice, while his side was being barbecued by the Fire Fang. Thankfully for Dust, Berry and Shab recovered enough to get the two headed dragon off of him. Berry shot out her Dragon Breath attack while Shab fired an Ice Beam at the Zweilous, forcing it off of Dust.

Zweilous let out two loud roars at them, Berry stood in front of her teammates and put up a white barrier, using Protect and taking the hit for the others.

Shab was trying to nudge Dust back on his feet. "Come on, Dust, we have to keep fighting."

Dust's ears were still ringing while he sides still burned. He figured he got hit with the status effect, unfortunately he didn't bring any berries to cure burn. Thankfully Shab was already a step ahead of him as the Feebas went inside his bag and grabbed an Oran Berry and the Heal Seed with his mouth. Dust held out his paw as Shab placed the two items there. After eating both the berry and seed, Dust felt the burn ailment leave his body as his body recovered. His ears were still ringing slightly, but most of his hearing had returned.

"Thanks Shab," Dust said as he got up. "Now, while Berry has the Zweilous's attention, it's time we use his heads against him. As soon as Berry's Protect drops, I'll go right while you go left. We hit him with our Ice Beam at the same time."

"O-okay," Shab replied.

Berry's Protect soon went down. Zweilous charged at them again.

Dust and Shab quickly went their designated places while Berry used Water Pulse on the ground to propel herself up into the air.

Dust and Shab both shot out their Ice Beam at the Zweilous. The two heads of the Zweilous turned in each of their direction, opening their mouths. Flames burned through their teeth as they chomped down on Dust and Shab's Ice Beam attacks, canceling it out with their Fire Fangs.

"No way! They can do that!?" Shab yelled.

As soon as Zweilous was on the ground, he jumped at Dust. Purple and gold energy wrapped themselves around the Zweilous's body, and the energy transformed into a draconic looking creature with skeletal wings, and a large mouth about to devour the Absol.

Seeing this, Berry frantically pulled out an Orb from her own bag with her horns. The Orb flashed for a second before Dust's body glowed, and it was as if time had slowed down for him. The incoming Dragon Rush suddenly felt slower, and Dust had time to actually get out of the way. It almost reminded him of his Future Sight ability. If it wasn't for the orb, Dust would've started to worry that he unintentionally used his ability. Taking the chance, Dust moved out of the way as the Zweilous charged forward.

Time seemed to return back to normal as Dust dodged just in time while the Zweilous collided with the wall. The collision actually shook the cave, threatening to collapse, but after a few shaking seconds, the area stabilized. Dust then saw the giant hole that Zweilous made and realized that had it not been for Berry, he would've most likely been visiting Giratina once again.

"It's a good thing I packed an Evasion Orb when I did…" Berry said when she landed near Dust. "But it won't last long."

"This Zweilous is really strong… I'm not sure if we'll be able to defeat it without some serious injuries…" Shab frowned. "The two heads are working too perfectly with each other."

"Dust, don't you have any more cures to snap this Zweilous out of Rouge's spell?" Berry asked. "Because we could really use that right now."

Zweilous recovered rather quickly from the missed Dragon Rush, and turned back to face Team Night Tide, ready to do another attack.

One Zweilous head took a deep breath and let out the loud noise of Hyper Voice while the other head shot out a blast of dark energy at them.

The Hyper Voice kept Team Night Tide from being able to concentrate on their moves or dodging, and the Dark Pulse hit Dust back several feet. Berry got in front of Shab since she could take Dark Pulse better than he could, the dark energy blasted Berry into Shab, causing both of them to hit a wall.

Dust was the first to recover and saw that the Zweilous was preparing another attack with both heads, intending to hit Berry and Shab.

Thinking fast, Dust reached for the special berry he tested on earlier and threw it towards them. "Berry catch!"

The Goomy looked up and saw the berry coming towards them and used her horns to catch it, but she wasn't sure what Dust was planning. Before she could ask, the Absol rushed towards them and scooped both her and Shab up with his horn.

With a hard thrust, Dust tossed Berry and Shab into the air while shouting, "Aim for the mouth!"

A second later Dust was hit with another Hyper Voice, though this one was more powerful than the last. Dust could barely see that both heads were now using the same attack as he was pushed back against the wall.

Berry was a little disoriented, but she threw the berry at one of the heads, and Shab helped by using his Water Pulse at the berry to create enough force for it to get launched into the right heads' mouth. The right head closed its mouth when it felt something had zipped into the back of its throat. The left head stopped using Hyper Voice and looked at its right head counterpart, seeing the right head swallowing something it probably shouldn't. Not wanting this unknown object in his body, the left bit down on the right head's neck, stopping the berry from going down any further.

"N-no way!" Dust paled, he hadn't expected the other head to stop the swallowing.

The right head gagged on the berry until it came up back to its mouth. Instead of spitting out the berry, the right head's teeth burned with fire, completely incinerating the berry.

"No!" Dust shouted. They were so close, and yet their only means of stopping Zweilous was burned to ashes.

"What now?" Shab asked after he and Berry had landed back on the ground.

The Zweilous charged at them again, surrounding their body with purple and gold energy once more, creating the draconic energy.

"Survive!" Dust yelled as he ran to get out of the Dragon Rush's way.

Shab moved to get out of the way too, but Berry didn't move. She looked at the incoming attack.

"Berry! What are you doing!? Get out of there!" Dust shouted.

"Berry!?" Shab yelled.

The Dragon Rush crashed down directly on Berry, causing such an impact that it blew Dust and Shab away a few feet. Both of them gasped, horrified that they may have just lost Berry. However, when all the smoke and debris cleared up, they were shocked, and relieved, to see Berry was covered in a white barrier. The Goomy had put up a Protect at the last second before Dragon Rush could hit her.

"Now's your chance! Hit him with everything you've got!" Berry shouted, seeing how she had stunned the Zweilous when her Protect took the brunt of the Dragon Rush.

Taking this chance, both Dust and Shab fired their own Ice Beam, giving it everything they got. The two heads were too stun to counter either ice attacks at Zweilous was hit. He let out a roar of pain just as his body started to get covered in solid ice.

One of the Zweilous's head used Fire Fang and bit down on the ice growing on their body. The other head let out a roar, firing out a Dark Pulse at Dust to push back the Ice Beam.

Seeing the Zweilous had recovered enough to move again, Berry decided to take a chance to attack. She was really close to the body. Berry launched herself up into the air by aiming a Water Pulse on the ground. With the two heads distracted with what they were doing, Berry began falling towards the Zweilous's body.

"Take this!" Berry shouted as she landed on the Zweilous's back with as much weight as possible in her Body Slam.

The two heads cried out in pain as they fell to the ground. Berry's slime soaked the Zweilous's back before she hopped off of them.

"Did that do it?" Dust asked as he slowly got up, wincing from the pain he felt. "Are they finally out?"

Shab cautiously got close and saw that neither heads were moving. "It looks like that final attack was enough to knock them out."

"Oh, thank goodness," Dust collapsed on the ground. He saw that Shab and Berry were now laying the ground as well, equally as exhausted as he was.

The Zweilous began to slowly stand back up. Berry's horns moved a little and she looked at the Zweilous, seeing him getting up again.

"It's not over! The Zweilous is getting back up!" Berry quickly warned.

"You gotta be kidding me?!" Dust grumbled as he got back up.

"How tough is this guy?!" Shab shouted, shocked that the Zweilous could still keep going.

"I did say they were known for taking heavy hits and to keep on going," Dust answered. "We just have to keep going ourselves!"

"That won't be necessary," A sudden new voice responded.

Dust, Berry and Shab all blinked as they looked at each other for a moment, thinking that they were the ones to respond.

"We're no longer under that accursed Salazzle's spell," The new voice stated.

Team Night Tide slowly looked over at the unusually colored Zweilous.

"Are you… talking to us?" Dust asked.

"Yes," One of the heads responded. "I don't know how you did it, but you snapped us out of Rouge's spell."

"Our name is Scarlet," The other head stated. "We were named that way due to our unusual colors when we hatched. We speculate it may have something to do with our parents or how we were born, but we don't believe that is important right now."

"What is important is finding that good for nothing Salazzle. We need to teach her not to mess with us!" The other head growled.

"Did you already forget how well that went last time? If it wasn't for these three, we'd be stuck under that Salazzle's control," The first head argued.

"I haven't forgotten, but we can't just let her get away with this!" The second head snapped.

"And what do you suggest!? Go find her and then be her slave again!?" The first head roared.

"Um, excuse me, Scarlet?" Dust asked.

"What?!" Both heads shouted before the first one shook his head and sighed. "Sorry, it's been a constant headache being under Rouge's control."

"I can see why," Dust responded. "But what were you doing here in the first place?"

The first head was about to answer, but then the second head interrupted him. "That's official Crusader business. Thanks for the help, but this kind of info is a need to know, and you don't need to know-"

Suddenly, the first head whacked the second head, causing him to let out a yelp.

"Don't you recognize who they are?! I know we've been under Rouge's control for a while, but that shouldn't make you forget who they are! Were you even paying attention to anything our leader briefed us on?!" The first head shouted.

"Yeah I remember!" The second head retorted.

"Really? What do you remember?" The first asked with doubt.

"Uh…well…that some team during the tournament first made contact with our target," The second head answered. The first sighed as he nodded towards Team Night Tide. The second head blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Wait, those three? They're Team…uh…Night Toad? Nerd Tide?"

"I knew you weren't paying attention!" The first shouted.

"Hey! It's not my fault, we never met them before. Why should I even bother remembering who they are?!" The second head argued.

While the two heads were arguing, Berry and Shab sweatdropped.

"I can see why Zweilous's heads don't usually get along now…" Berry chuckled. "They have different… opinions, despite being on the same body…"

"And to think they were giving us such a hard time before," Shab added.

"Just shows you what a Zweilous is capable of when their two heads actually work together," Dust remarked before readdressing the Zweilous. "Scarlet, I am Dust, leader of Team Night Tide. This is Berry and Shab, my fellow teammates. We came here on a mission to help Kuro confront Rouge, but in the process our mission changed to helping the prisoners here and taking down Team Purify. We came here on behalf of Torrent the Greninja in hopes to find the team he was supposed to rendezvous with. Are you a member of that team he was supposed to meet with?"

"Yes we are," The second head confirmed. "We were actually sent ahead to scout the place, but we didn't expect Rouge's… pheromones to be so powerful… We've been under Rouge's spell for a few days now. Our team is probably worried about us since we went MIA."

"MIA?" Shab asked.

"It means 'missing in action'," Berry explained.

"Do you think your team will be here soon?" Dust asked. "Or do you need to report to them first?"

"It's been a few days, maybe longer for all we know, so they'll likely be here soon regardless if we report to them or not," The first head of Scarlet answered.

"What Crusader team are you guys on?" Berry asked.

"We're a part of Team-" The second head began to say before the first head interrupted him.

"Actually, it might be best if we remain quiet about that," The first head said.

"What!?" The second head of Scarlet snapped. "You got on my case when I wanted to keep things quiet, now you're saying we shouldn't tell them!?"

"There's a very good reason why we can't tell them!" The first head snapped back.

"What's the reason?" Dust spoke up, hoping to get Scarlet back on track.

"Well, you see, as long as Rouge is out there, she could potentially compromise any of us with her pheromones," The first head explained. "We were able to not spill our team's name to her, she's not even sure if we're Crusaders or not, but if she catches you, there's a good chance she'll pry the information out of you, and we can't afford that. So for the sake of keeping our team a secret from Rouge, we'll keep their names a secret for now."

"Rouge can affect all of us except for Berry," Shab said.

"Berry?" The second head asked.

"This beautiful Goomy here," Shab answered, blushing a little. "She's the only female in this group."

Berry was trying not to blush at being called beautiful. Does Shab think I'm beautiful?

"Tch, so one female, doesn't really help us much," The second head grumbled.

"Actually, she might have helped in more ways than any of us thought. Tell me, you're no ordinary Goomy, are you?" The first head asked.

"Not exactly, but I haven't really met any other Goomy, so I don't know what counts as ordinary for a Goomy. Why do you ask?" Berry wondered. Although I guess there was that one male Goomy I met during our Research Mission.

"Well, despite all your attempts, nothing was going to stop us. When we were under Rouge's control, we were given one order, take you three out. And we were going to do it, no matter how many times you attacked us, no matter how many times you knocked us down," The first head explained. "But then, as soon as your body made contact with us, we were suddenly free from Rouge's control."

"Wait, you're saying Berry's last attack freed you?" Shab asked. "So does that mean Berry just has to knock all the male prisoners out to free them too?"

"I don't think so," Dust spoke up, having an idea of where the first head was leading with. "I think what Scarlet meant was that Berry's own slime might have been what broke Rouge's control."

"You really think my slime had something to do with it?" Berry asked, surprised.

"Well, it was a theory before. I used your slime to inject that special berry, and it showed that it countered Rouge's pheromones. While Scarlet may have burned the berry before eating it, it was after your slime came into physical contact with Scarlet that it managed to counter the lingering pheromones," Dust explained.

"So… my slime…" Berry began, trying to wrap her mind around this whole thing. "... is the cure to Rouge's pheromones?"

"I don't know a lot about Goomy, but that doesn't seem possible," The second head remarked. "How would a Goomy's slime be the cure to a Salazzel's pheromones? That makes no sense!"

"It could be the toxins in Berry's slime," Shab theorized. "Since she grew up with a Quagsire family, it's likely the toxic counters Rouge's own toxic."

"That seems like a stretch," The first head of Scarlet remarked. "But if it works, then it works. Maybe we can pull this off."

"If I may…" Berry began. "Since Rouge didn't watch this battle, and was overconfident you'd take us out, we could use this to our advantage."

Dust, Shab, and both heads all turned their attention to Berry, curious to see what the Goomy had in mind.


Dust, Shab, and Berry were tied up with some chains. One of Scarlet's heads was pulling the chains with their teeth. Dust, Shab, and Scarlet were a bit shiny, this was due to Berry's slime, she had made sure to slither over them earlier so her slime would coat them in hopes of keeping them immune to Rouge's pheromones. Shab was probably the only one who enjoyed it.

"We're almost there," The head that wasn't carrying the chains said. "Get ready."

Dust, Shab, and Berry had to act submissive, tired, and defeated for this to work.

"You better be right about the slime," Scarlet remarked. "It may have broken us out of Rouge's control, but that was when she wasn't near. If it fails, well…let's just hope it doesn't."

Dust was confident in Berry's plan. Already her slime had proven to work on the special Berries, as well as freeing Scarlet. He was 95 percent sure that Berry's slime would protect them, but Scarlet made a fair point. Would Berry's slime counter a direct confrontation with Rouge, the very source of all this madness? Dust can only hope so.

Berry had suggested she tried coating them with her slime in hopes of protecting them from Rouge's pheromones, of course she wasn't 100 percent sure either if it would work. If it didn't work, they would be in big trouble. Shab looked at Berry, hoping her plan would work too, especially since he didn't want to be controlled by some lizard who would never care for any of their well being.

They were finally at Rouge's chambers. It was a rather large room, filled with all sorts of treasures and food. There were several different types of berries. There was also some rotting meat that smelled pretty bad. Dust, Berry and Shab had to physically control themselves from reeling from the stench.

What is with that rotting meat?! Dust mentally asked.

"It's about time," A familiar voice called out. Team Night Tide already recognized it belonging to Rouge's belittling voice. "I was starting to wonder when you'll return, my sweet pet~"

Dust would have to worry about the rotting meat later, now was the time to act.

"You know you can't get away with this forever," Dust growled.

"We will find a way to stop you!" Shab hissed.

Rouge laughed at their bravado. Berry could see Kuro was standing beside Rouge, still looking as expressionless as ever. Berry needed to get her slime on Kuro as soon as she could.

"That's cute, you boys weren't the first ones to say that to me, and they end up as either slaves or a part of my dinner~" Rouge grinned.

Team Night Tide each gave a disgusted look, which caused the Salazzle to laugh even more.

"Oh, I always love that expression~" Rouge remarked as she walked up to Team Night Tide. "Now what to do with each of you specifically?"

She first looked at Shab, barely taking a second to decide, showing disgust at the Feebas. "If you at least had limbs, you could've proved useful in the mines. But even if I were to keep you as a slave, you'd just be taking up space, but don't worry, I'm sure you'll be a great meal for later~"

Berry felt a surprising surge of rage, and if it wasn't for the fact that they needed to pretend that they were exhausted and injured, she would've blasted the Salazzle right then and there.

Berry did, however, made her disapproval to Rouge's plans for Shab known, easily keeping her voice in a low tone to sound masculaine due to how angry she was. "Don't you dare hurt him."

Shab was surprised at the amount of venom Berry had in her tone of voice, but he was definitely happy how protective Berry was of him.

Rouge turned her attention to Berry, unfazed by her disapproval. "Oh, don't worry, since you seem to care so much for him, you can have him all to yourself~" Rouge snickered. "You'll be so grateful that you'll have already forgotten about your old friend. Plus, while I still have my doubts, I'm sure a certain Mawile will finally be glad to get to know you more on a personal level~" Rouge gave a hearty laugh at the idea. "Maybe then she'll finally back off."

Dust gave a frustrated growl, wondering how many times she tormented her victims, how often she taunted them. He assumed she made all her male victims prisoners here. It never crossed Dust's mind that she would actually use some of them as food.

Noticing his growl, Rouge turned her attention towards Dust. "Ah yes, the majestic Absol. When I first saw you come to me, you didn't seem that different from any other Absol, of course you were under my pheromones, so your eyes looked just like everyone else's, with that pink haze," She then knelt down, placed a gentle claw against Dust's face so she could look closer at his red and blue eyes. Dust tried to reel back from her touch, but the chain around his neck pulled against him. "I must say, I'm almost tempted to let you keep your free will, just so I can admire those eyes of yours. You know, it's not everyday I give one of my pets special treatment. You get to keep your free will, but also stay by my side for both our pleasures. So how does that sound?~"

"I'd rather not…" Dust grumbled.

"Well too bad, you'll find you will soon anyway," Rouge giggled. "Once I finish dealing with you annoying intruders, I can finally give Dio the good news and we can move on with our plans."

"And what are your plans exactly?" Dust asked, hoping to maybe learn something more from Team Purify.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?~" Rouge teased. "Normally I wouldn't see any harm in sharing our little secrets with my slaves, but seeing how you three caused quite the commotions, I'll just keep them to myself~"

Suddenly the air grew heavy, and Dust realized Rouge must now be using her pheromones. Whether Dust, Shab, or Scarlet liked it or not, it was now time to see if Berry's slime truly protected them, or if they'll end up succumbing to Rouge's will. Dust instinctively held his breath, despite having Berry's slime over him, but he couldn't help himself. Rouge started to laugh at his attempt, having seen others try this method before, only to take that last second of breath. She always savored those kinds of moments, seeing the hope leave their eyes as they lose their free will.

Can't hold on much longer. Dust couldn't tell if Shab or Scarlet were affected, and he knew he'd have to breathe sooner or later. Berry, I really hope we aren't wrong about your slime.

Berry made it look like she was struggling to hold her own breath, but she was more worried for Dust, Shab, and Scarlet. Of course she knew she would be fine, but while her slime cured them of Rouge's spell, she didn't know if it would make them immune to her constant pheromones altogether.

Scarlet's heads needed to breathe, especially since they shared the same lungs, so they were the first to lose their breath and began breathing in the air. Of course, since they were blind, Rouge couldn't really see their eyes, which did bug her a little bit, but it was fine. It looked like Scarlet became still, but Berry couldn't tell if it was because he was acting or if he actually fell to Rouge's pheromones.

Shab was next, although he didn't breathe air as he had told Dust the same way as the rest of them did, he did still need to intake oxygen from the air to create the small waters in his gills to breathe properly. Like with Scarlet, he became still.

Dust was the last to finally give in and take that fateful breath. Berry watched as he too became still, just like the others. She decided to drop her act and take that final breath, hoping that the others were truly fine.

Now they were all still, looking like zombies. Rouge smiled, always happy to see the males falling under her spell. She looked back at Kuro, who looked like he had gotten closer. Rouge blinked, she was sure she hadn't ordered him to come closer, but she shrugged.

"Well, Kuro, looks like you got some new playmates~" Rouge grinned before she looked at the 4. "The 3 new ones will be a gift to Dio. He would love to add an unusual Absol to his collection. I don't know too much about that ugly fish, or this weak little Goomy slug, or why Patricia seemed so interested in the Goomy, but perhaps there are hidden potentials in both of you that only Dio would be able to see. But don't worry, you handsome Absol, I'll be sure to keep you around for a little bit longer before handing you off~"

Berry was glad her eyes were pretty much dots, it made it difficult for others to tell when she was trying to look at something else when she wasn't moving her head. She was looking at Kuro. Despite Kuro being under Rouge's control, he seemed to be moving slightly closer. Berry was a little confused as to why Kuro was trying to get closer to Rouge, but it was likely the male Salandit was so drunk with Rouge's pheromones that his body wanted to get closer to smell more of those pheromones.

Berry then thought she saw something flash in-between Kuro's claws, but before she could get a good look, Rouge started moving towards the exit. Kuro himself suddenly stopped moving, confusing Berry even more.

"Now you all behave, I have to tell Dio the good news~" Rouge announced. "Oh and if any intruders come in here, be sure to take care of them."

With that said, the Salazzle walked out of the room, leaving the group behind. Berry looked at Dust, Shab, and Scarlet for a moment before she turned over to Kuro. With Rouge gone, Berry could cure Kuro, but she needed to act fast before Kuro realized they weren't under Rouge's control. Berry slithered over to Kuro, and before anything could happen, Berry hopped on top of the now very surprised Salandit.

"Wah!?" Kuro yelped as he fell to the floor.

Berry hopped off of Kuro, seeing that he appeared to be fine now. "Hey, sorry about that. My slime is apparently the cure to Rouge's pheromones, and I needed to make sure to get some on you to bring you back."

"Your slime?" Kuro asked, a bit skeptical, but then he quickly shook himself. "I mean, yeah, seeing how I'm back to my senses, it must be because of your slime. But how did you know your slime would have that effect?"

"It worked on that Zweilous over there when he was attacking us before while under Rouge's control," Berry explained, looking at the other 3. "Um… guys? Are you still with us?"

After a few seconds, Dust, Shab and Scarlet all finally moved, each of them giving a sigh of relief.

"Oh gosh, it worked! Your slime actually worked," Dust exclaimed. "Though not at first, or at least for a moment. Things were starting to get hazy at first, but then after a few seconds, everything was clear."

Before Berry could reply, Shab gave her a surprise hug. "I knew your slime would work, never doubted it for a second."

Berry smiled as she decided she really liked hugs, and wrapped her antennae around Shab. "I'm glad it did work. I was worried that Rouge would control you guys again."

"So is this Salandit a friend of yours?" Scarlet's right head asked.

"Yeah, this is Kuro, he was the one who sent us the request to arrest Rouge," Berry answered as she looked over at Kuro again, before noticing something in his claws. "Um… Kuro? Is that… a knife?"

Kuro looked down at the small knife in his claws. "It looks like it."

"Why do you have a knife?" Berry questioned.

"It's a little hard to remember, but I think Rouge wanted me to start skinning some poor Pokemon's pelt before you guys showed up," Kuro answered. "She likes keeping a part of some Pokemon she liked as a part of her trophy collection."

Dust gulped, recalling how interesting she was in his body. He could only imagine what parts she would've wanted to keep. "Then it's a real good thing that Berry's slime freed you. But we can't stay here much longer, who knows when Rouge will come back. We won't get another opportunity like this again."

"Then follow us, we have a pretty good idea where to go to get out," The left head of Scarlet said.

"No, we can't leave until Rouge is arrested or dead," Kuro hissed. "She needs to pay for all her crimes, especially to my mate! You guys are now, somewhat, immune to her pheromones, right? Why waste this opportunity by running away?"

"We may be protected from Rouge's pheromones, but there is still Team Purify to deal with. Our original mission was to help you deal with Rouge, that now it turned into something bigger, things we weren't prepared for. We've been lucky so far, but it can only run for so long," Dust remarked. "I want to stop Team Purify, and as well as help all those prisoners, especially since we now have a way to cure them, but we also will have to deal with the leader, who we don't know what he's capable of, as well as Undergrowth and Patricia. Yes, we do have an opportunity, and we shouldn't waste it, but blindly going after Rouge would also be wasting this chance."

"We can still arrest Rouge, but we can't stay here, especially since she's bringing in her boss," Shab explained.

"And you won't have to face them alone," The right head of Scarlet spoke up. "Our team should be here soon, we can meet up with them. Trust me, you'll want their help for this."

Kuro frowned, he wasn't too happy about letting the opportunity go, especially since he was so close, but he also knew they were right. If they stay here, they would have to face the boss, and Kuro didn't know how long they could keep the act up before someone slipped and they would all be in major trouble.

"Very well, just as long as we manage to arrest Rouge, I'll be satisfied with that," Kuro relented.

"Scarlet, you said you knew a way to go?" Shab asked.

"Well, we know the way back to that entrance you 3 came in. That would probably be the best place to meet up with our teammates," The left head answered.

"So we're just going to wait for them? That doesn't seem very practical. We're already pretty deep inside this base, we might as well sabotage it before your team comes here," Kuro suggested.

"Kuro, Rouge seemed to have kept you close by, by chance do you remember some of the places she might've taken you with?" Dust asked.

"It's…a bit hazy, but some of it is coming back to me now," Kuro answered. "I recall Rouge taking me down certain routes to get through this place faster. I think I remember seeing a lab of some kind, it gave me the creeps."

"Could it be the same lab we saw?" Shab wondered.

"You mean the one where you guys found that Tyrantrum?" Berry asked. "No offense, but I rather not have another giant dinosaur-like Pokemon chasing after us again."

"When me and Shab were there, only Tyrantrum was the giant Pokemon we had to deal with," Dust recalled. "All the other fossil Pokemon, excluding Cranidos, were in these containers, each in their starter form. Dio and Undergrowth were in an argument for a bit over losing Cranidos. Seems like these fossil Pokemon are really important to Team Purify and the SDS, whatever they are. It was also somewhat near the prison cells where all the other victims were being kept. We can use Berry's slime to cure them of Rouge's pheromones too. Looks like if we want to sabotage Team Purify, that would be our best bet."

"Hmm… well, since we have a literal, slithering cure with us, I suppose curing all the prisoners would be the ultimate revenge on Rouge~" Kuro grinned mischievously.

"So we're in agreement then?" Berry asked. "We sabotage Team Purify by rescuing the fossil Pokemon and curing the prisoners? There's a real chance we could get caught doing all this."

"We're game," The two heads of Scarlet said.

"Our team is coming here to save the Pokemon captured here anyways, so getting an early start would be nice," The right head stated.

"Then we have our goal. Once we get to the lower levels, we'll split into 2 groups, one focusing on the fossil Pokemon and the other freeing the prisoners. Berry, since you're our cure, you'll be in charge of freeing the prisoners. I'll head to the fossil Pokemon and try to release them," Dust explained.

"Wait, if we split up, where should we meet? I don't think if one of us finishes early, we should just wait for Team Purify to come after us. We should probably choose a destination to regroup once both groups are done with their tasks," Shab pointed out.

"Hmm…then how about the cafeteria?" Dust suggested.

"If it's empty, yeah, we'll meet up there," Berry agreed. "Now who's going with whom?"

"I'll go with you to free the prisoners, Berry," Scarlet spoke up with his right head.

"No, we should go with Dust and free the fossils," The left head argued.

"The prisoners should be our top priority!" The right head growled.

"And the poor fossils shouldn't be?" The left head growled back.

"While those two are arguing, I'm going to say I'm going with Berry here. I want to see those prisoners break out of Rouge's control once and for all," Kuro volunteered, walking over to Berry.

"I'll be going with Berry too," Shab added.

"Actually, Shab, I'll need you to come with me," Dust remarked. "You and Berry are the only ones who can communicate with wild Pokemon, and I'm pretty sure these fossil Pokemon are going to be very confused and might grow hostile. Last thing we need is a bunch of rampaging ancient Pokemon. I'll need your help to keep them calm."

Shab frowned, he was hoping to stick with Berry, but Dust had made a good point.

"It's okay, Shab. We'll meet up again soon," Berry promised, seeing the Feebas's hesitance to leave her side.

Berry had noticed Shab seemed to like being near her, she wasn't sure why other than maybe because he liked her slime, but it was a nice thought that Shab wanted to be beside her.

"Y-yeah, okay," Shab blushed a little, seeing how the Goomy was starting to pick up a bit on his affection towards her.

"And Scarlet, you can come with us," Dust suggested. "I have no idea how the fossil Pokemon will react, and even with Shab communication, I can't guarantee they won't suddenly get hostile. We'll need your help in case we need to knock them unconscious."

Both heads stopped arguing, with the left head grinning while the right gave a reluctant nod.

"See, told you we needed to go to the fossil Pokemon," The left head bragged.

"Yeah, I get it, no need to rub it in," The right mumbled.

"Oh, but you always do it," The left head rubbed against the right one. "That makes it 52 me, and 55 you."

"Yeah! And I'm still 3 ahead of you!" The right head shouted.

"Not for long~" The left teased.

"I regret the day I evolved…" The right head groaned.

"You know you love me~" The left head laughed.

"Can we get going now? We've already stayed here longer than we should've," Kuro spoke up.

"Yeah, we better get going," Dust agreed. "Come on, Shab, Scarlet, let's get going."

Shab and Scarlet followed Dust, and Berry and Kuro began moving in the other direction. They knew they needed to hurry. As the group was moving, however, they didn't notice a certain serpent following Berry and Kuro in the shadows.


Thanks to Scarlet's directions, as well as having traveled through Team Purify's base since coming here, Dust's group soon found themselves on the lower levels. Thankfully they had avoided any unwanted attention as they continued to make their way towards the laboratory, where Dust and Shab first met the fossil Pokemon. Dust was honestly surprised no one had noticed them yet, seeing how Scarlet's two heads were constantly arguing. It was a surprise that they even managed to hold off against them when Scarlet was under Rouge's control.

Well, I guess it makes sense if the two heads were under control, they'd fight on a whole different level. How do they get anything done with all this constant arguing? Dust wondered, having somewhat drowned out Scarlet's voice.

"At least you're here Shab, glad to hear some other things besides constant bickering," Dust remarked to Shab, who was floating beside him. Thankfully Scarlet's heads were too busy arguing with each other to really hear his remark.

"Yeah? I think it's kind of a relief to hear them bickering. It means that we're safe for the time being," Shab replied. "I guess I'm also kinda used to it. I had a lot of siblings who would bicker and argue all the time."

"Oh?" Dust was curious, having no siblings of his own, he never really experienced that feeling of bickering with a sibling. "I wouldn't really know what that's like, seeing that I'm an only child. But I take it you came from a big family?"

"Yeah, you could say that. For a wild fish Pokemon who lives in the sea, a big family is usually necessary to stay in schools to avoid being eaten by a predator so easily," Shab answered. "My siblings often argued about which one was stronger, which one would evolve first, which one would be… erm… an important member."

Dust imagined a bunch of Feebas arguing with each other.

"Mind you, I was… usually the favorite of my parents because I was the only Feebas, the rest of my siblings were born on my mother's side of the species," Shab informed.

"Oh, I didn't realize that depending on the kind of Pokemon you were, it determined your value and importance," Dust noted, with something else coming to mind. "Is that why you left your family in the first place?"

Shab was surprised Dust didn't ask him what species his siblings were, but he nodded. "Well, it wasn't the direct reason, but it was the source of the reason of why I left. Wild Pokemon don't just live mindlessly, only thinking about food, survival, and mating like most civilized Pokemon believe. We have our own kind of culture."

Every time Shab made mentions of his family, it only made Dust more curious about the life Shab used to have. He'd normally ask more, heck, Dust was convinced he would've just asked him regardless back when he was at Olympus Guild. But now, he noticed how hesitant the Feebas was whenever others asked more about his family. He may not understand what had happened, but he was sure that Shab would tell him and Berry of his life, once he was comfortable himself.

"I'm always reminded by how very little I know about the lives of Pokemon, both civilized and wild," Dust remarked. "I could spend a decade learning about Feebas, only to be surprised the very next day. Sorry for asking a question like that, I didn't mean to pry."

"It's fine, I was the one who brought it up in the first place," Shab replied before suddenly blushing a bit. "By the way, I wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm?"

"Um… so… what would you do if you liked someone… who you think may like you back?" Shab asked, becoming red as he asked.

"Oh, that's rather simple. I'd assume we would be good friends," Dust asked while smiling, not noticing Shab's red body. "I'd probably ask them if they would be interested in hearing about my research notes."

"No! I mean… like like you. More than like," Shab corrected himself.

"Like a best friend?" Dust asked.

Shab stared at the Absol, starting to get flustered and frustrated. "How oblivious are you!?"

"As oblivious as a Slowbro!" The left head suddenly shouted, only to get whacked by the right head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Can't you see that's a private conversation between them. You shouldn't butt in when the Feebas is asking love advice from the Absol!" The right head shouted back.

"And you just blabbed off a sensitive topic!" The left shouted back.

"Only because you started it!"

Soon the two heads argued once more, but Dust's attention was more towards Shab after hearing the 'love' remark from the right head. "Is that right Shab? You're asking me for love advice?"

Shab was so red that he looked like a Magikarp again. "I… would ask Scarlet, but they're a little… preoccupied… m-maybe I should've waited until we were back at the guild and ask Brody instead…"

Dust was very confused by several things. First, the fact that Shab was trying to ask him love related advice, which he would be the last one to really know anything about the subject. Two, was that apparently Brody was either involved, or Shab was planning on involving the Lucario. Three, if this was all true, the biggest question that came to mind was who did Shab had feelings for. But then Dust noticed Shab's colors, and how it reminded him of a Magikarp. And as the thought entered his mind, a certain Pokemon came to mind, and while shocked by the idea, it seemed to make sense to the Absol.

"Oh, so that's who you're interested in," Dust exclaimed.

"W-what?! Y-you know?!" Shab asked, shocked that Dust figured it out, causing his body to turn even more red.

"While very surprising, honestly I never expected her, but I supposed it makes sense, your kind are compatible," Dust remarked.

"C-compatible?" Shab's body grew more red as swirls formed in his eyes as he imagined him and Berry being compatible. It was one thing that worried him, if a Feebas and Goomy could truly be together, but if Dust believes their kind are compatible, it was too much for Shab to handle.

"Still…besides the species thing, I gotta ask, why Levi?" Dust asked.

The question threw Shab off so much that his brain just froze for a moment. "Huh?"

"I mean if you just admitted it to Levi in the first place, she may not have evolved into a Gyarados and gone berserk on you," Dust pointed out. "She seemed to have the hots for you, it was pretty obvious."

Now Shab was imagining himself with the scary Gyarados lusting after him, especially after he evolved. That made Shab go from red to being pale.

"Oh, that's a new color," Dust noted.

"Dust, you oblivious Absol!" Shab shouted. "It's not Levi! You're so off the mark that you ended up in a different region entirely with that!"

Dust sweatdropped at realizing he was wrong. "Oh…my mistake. But that begs the question, if not Levi, then who? Who is it that you would go so far as to ask me, ME, for love advice?"

Shab decided that asking Dust for any kind of relationship advice was a terrible idea. "You know what? Forget about it. I think I'll just stick with talking to Brody."

"Well you blew it," The left head remarked.

"Shut it, you," The right head grumbled.

The left head started to growl. "Why you-"

"Shh!" Dust cutted the left head off. "We're about to approach the lab. Since Berry isn't with us, we can't tell if there's other Pokemon besides the fossil ones inside. So we gotta proceed with caution."

Both heads gave a quick growl at each other before nodding at Dust. The Absol gave a look at Shab, giving him a nod himself, which the Feebas returned with his own nod. Seeing that all three of them were set, they group entered the lab. Scarlet stopped moving.

"I'm afraid you two will have to guide us from here. We aren't familiar with this place," The right head quietly said.

"Guide you?" Dust asked. "The lab's pretty big, but it's not big enough where you could get lost."

"You didn't notice?" The left head chuckled. "We can't use our eyes to see."

That surprised Dust, especially with how well they fought him and his team earlier. "Then how were you following us the whole time? Or when you took us to Rouge when we were all pretending to have been captured by you?"

"We can still 'see' in a sense of like how Zubat are able to see despite not having eyes," The right head explained. "We can use sound, the sense of touch on the ground, and our sense of smell to guide us through. Fighting others is easy since their scent is strong when they fight. Their movement makes it easy for us to hear where they are. But when we're in a new area we're not familiar with, and there aren't a lot of sounds, or our sense of smell wouldn't work so well, and it won't in this lab due to the chemicals, we are in need of some guidance."

"Luckily, we're only here as bodyguards, we'll leave the freeing to you two," The left head added.

This just further Dust's earlier remark, about how little he knew. He couldn't imagine being blind, and he never realized that a strong Pokemon like Zweilous could fend for themselves so well without having to use eyesight. Once again, Dust wished he had his notes to write all these new learning experiences down.

"Wow, that's really impressive. I never realized how one without eyesight can use their other senses to such a degree," Dust remarked. "But we'll make sure to help you out while we're here."

The group began walking into the lap. Shab shivered a little when he looked at the sleeping fossil Pokemon inside their tubes.

"This place still really creeps me out…" Shab gulped. "How would we go about releasing them?"

"Well, we can always go with the old classic way of breaking their containers, but we don't know what kind of reaction that would have on the fossil Pokemon. Best used that as a last resort," Dust explained before going up to one of the devices.

Despite the limited knowledge on humans and their technology, one thing that always stuck out to him was a device called the computer. Dust had always dreamt of coming across one of these devices, but he never expected to see one here. If it wasn't for Tyrantrum chasing them, he would've taken the chance to study the computer. Looks like he now has a chance to do it, but not for personal gain, but to help free these fossil Pokemon. He could only hope all the information he read about them, however little, would help him here.

"Just give me a moment to see if I can access this computer, with any luck I should be able to get in and hopefully figure out a way to release these Pokemon," Dust explained further more.

"Great idea, we'll stand guard!" The left head of Scarlet suggested.

"Quit shouting, you'll give away our position," The right head hissed.

"You two, stop bickering or you'll give away our position no matter what," Shab hissed at both heads.

Despite their loud noise, Dust was already plugged in into the device, perhaps it was all those times reading alone in the library, his many past experiments and research, but strangely enough, it felt natural using the device. Fortunately for him, it seemed as though the computer had open access. Dust figured that Team Purify never thought that someone would use their computer against them. It took Dust a minute to figure out how to use these buttons in front of him, but he did notice every letter he pushed, it would appear on the screen. Luckily for him, Dust had learned to read Unown letters that humans used to read, so he knew how to read this language.

As Dust typed away with his claws, he saw many documents and files, all of which he would've loved to read through, but he also knew that time was of the essence, so he focused his search for any topics relating to the fossil Pokemon and the containers that they were being held in. It took him a few minutes, but eventually he came across a file that was titled, 'CONTAINMENT: FOSSIL POKEMON PROCEDURES', and opened the file. Immediately the screen was filled with a multitude of documents, Dust was worried he might've opened the wrong file, but as he scanned through some of the documents, he started picking up on certain keywords, and after reading through more of them, he came to understand more the containers that held each fossil Pokemon.

Dust was so invested in the computer, that he jumped when he felt a sudden tap on his shoulder. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Dust turned to see that it was Shab that had tapped him earlier with his tail fin.

"Oh, please, don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack," Dust remarked.

"Sorry, but I was calling your name several times now, and you didn't respond. I was worried that the machine was messing with your head or something," Shab replied.

"Oh, no, I'm rather fine. I just got a little too invested in what I was reading, thankfully years of spending time in the library helped me develop skills to read at a rather fast pace," Dust said before turning back towards the screen.

"Before you lose yourself again, have you found out anything useful?" The right head of Scarlet asked.

"I was actually about to answer, but yes," Dust happily replied. "Took some digging, but I do believe I found the method and purpose behind these containers. Apparently the liquid within these containers act as a nutrient substitute. They believed that the fossil Pokemon wouldn't survive very long, that is until Cranidos and Tyrunt had escaped. Those two have proven that not only can they survive without the liquid substance, but apparently it altered their DNA to the point where their bodies can perform at peak levels. Compared to a regular wild Pokemon, they can surpass them in speed, strength, agility, and such, depending on what Pokemon they are."

Dust then frowned as he thought of another section of what he read. "It also explains why they are so invested in trying to find any offsprings that might have been made from the escaped fossil Pokemon. They theorized that their altered genes may have passed onto their offsprings, enhancing them further."

"So you're saying that Cliff might've inherited these altered genes from Rampardos?" Shab asked.

"Yes, and that if Team Purify had ever found out about Cliff's origins, they wouldn't have hesitated to kidnap and experiment with her," Dust gravely answered.

"Okay, but how are the other fossil Pokemon contained within these liquid capsules?" Shab asked as he pointed at them with his fin.

"Well, apparently they added a new variant to the liquid, something to keep them in a comatose state. They wished to prepare one final variant, Rouge's pheromones. They have gone through some simulations, but luckily they haven't tested it out yet. Their intentions were to get Rouge's pheromones into the fossil Pokemon's blood streams, and I'm not even sure if Berry's slime could cure that," Dust explained. "It's a good thing that we got here before they could do that, and lucky for us, it's actually rather simple to free these fossil Pokemon."

"So what, you just push a button or something and the fossil Pokemon are free?" The left head of Scarlet questioned.

Dust didn't answer as he smiled, going to the keyboard and hitting a few buttons. He raised his right claw for emphasis before hitting the final key. A sudden draining noise was heard and Shab noticed that each of the containers' liquids were being drained. Soon, there were no more traces of the liquid, with the glass containers themselves being drawn downward into the ground. Each of the fossil Pokemon were now all laying at the bottom of their opened containers.

"Well, not exactly one button, but several," Dust chimed.

"Well… uh… great, now what?" Shab nervously asked.

Some of the fossil Pokemon began to stir, and began to open their eyes. They began to look around, confused, but were also fascinated. They were like curious children, seeing the world for the first time. A few of them were scared, some were adventurous and began to climb down from their former containers, and others were mixed, hesitant to come down, but started to slowly come down.

One thing Dust noticed was that these dinosaur aged Pokemon seemed to be attracted to Scarlet. They approached the white, black, and red Zweilous and seemed to be cuddling up to him.

"Uh… why are we being rubbed?" The right head questioned.

"I don't know, but I kinda like it~" The left head grinned.

"Uh…Dust, by chance does that machine say anything on why these fossil Pokemon are acting like that?" Shab asked, having already formed a suspicious answer.

"Uh…" Dust quickly went to the computer, skimming through some of the documents until he came across what he believed to be the answer. "Oh…"

"What?" Scarlet asked with both heads at the same time.

"Well…uh…how to put this…How do you feel about being a parent?" Dust asked.

"Excuse me?" The right head frowned. "What do you mean by 'parent'?"

"I haven't mated yet! Though I do have my covered up eyes on Mist…" The left head grinned seductively, causing the right head to whack him.

"They didn't need to know that, you bone head!" The right head snapped.

Mist? I wonder who that could be, questions for later. Dust thought before answering Scarlet. "Well, turns out all these fossil Pokemon are basically infants. Despite being bigger compared to newly hatched Pokemon, they have been kept in these containers for some time now. And seeing how you're a dragon Pokemon, they felt the most kinship with you, and it looks like each of them imprinted on them."

"You're joking, right? Even this big one?" The right head asked as he pointed with his head at the biggest one with a large wingspan.

Dust recognized the fossil Pokemon as Aerodactyl. "Ah yes, even Aerodactyl, despite its size, is still an infant."

"Awwwww, can we keep them?" The left head asked.

"I'm about to bite your neck…" The right head grumbled.

"Hey! Not in front of our children, we shouldn't be introducing them to violence," The left head scolded.

"Since when did you care about not using violence?! You're always about violence!" The right head argued.

"That was before we became parents," The left argued back.

"Um… Dust, do you think these two can survive as parents?" Shab sweatdropped.

"Well, luckily they won't have to be parents for long. According to the data, these fossil Pokemon will mature really quickly, even faster than a normal wild Pokemon would. They'll likely go through the little kid, and teenager phase by the end of the month before maturing into adulthood," Dust explained.

"Huh… I guess that explains why Cliff matured so quickly…" Shab muttered. "Not as quickly as these fossils will, but still pretty quick even for a natural born wild Pokemon."

"That does explain Cliff's sudden growth, despite having hatched only a few months ago," Dust nodded in agreement. He wondered how long until Cliff would end up evolving, and then dreaded the image of Cliff as a Tyranitar, asking him to carry her.

"Hey, so now that they are freed, can we get a move on? I'm sure it's going to be harder to navigate without being noticed, so we should probably get going now," The right head spoke up.

"Right, Scarlet, looks like since they see you as their parent, you'll have to try your best to keep them quiet," Dust replied.

"Easier said than done," The right head grumbled. "Hey! Don't bite my tail!"

A sheepish looking Kabuto whined a little.

"... Kabuto has teeth?" Shab asked.

"Apparently," Dust replied, finding this to be a research gold mine. The one time I didn't bring my notebook!

"Let's just hope Berry and Kuro are doing just as fine as we are," Shab remarked with a sweatdrop.


Berry and Kuro were walking down the hallway, heading to the prison cells. Berry remembered helping Torrent free the prisoners earlier, but she hadn't seen any of those prisoners lately, so it was likely they had been captured and put back into the cells. It wouldn't be hard, especially with Rouge there since those poor prisoners were deep in her control.

"Since those prisoners have been consuming those berries with Rouge's disgusting pheromones, you may have to get them to consume your slime for it to be effective on them," Kuro informed Berry as they were walking.

"That… is kind of risky, since my slime has toxins in them that could poison them," Berry warned.

"It's not as bad as being poisoned by Rouge's pheromones," Kuro grumbled. "I'm sure those Pokemon can find some Pecha Berries or something if they need to to cure them of your poison. But they need to be cured of Rouge's poison first."

"Yeah, I guess so…" Berry sighed as she continued to slither.

Berry kind of wished Dust was with them so they could move faster. They would've been at the prison cells by now if Berry wasn't so slow.

As they were moving, however, Berry started to notice these weird gray stains on the floor. There normally wouldn't be any reason to find gray stains as strange in a building like this, but what was strange about them was that they appeared to be fresh, and wet.

Berry looked up at Kuro, who was walking in front of her. "Kuro…? What's with the… Kuro!? Are you… uh… getting some kind of disease?"

"Huh, what are you-" Kuro suddenly gasped as he also noticed the gray stains on the floor. Berry heard him silently curse as he suddenly picked up his pace. "I'm fine, completely fine! Let's just hurry and get to the prisoners!"

Berry hurried after him, and frowned. "Kuro… what are you hiding?"

"It's nothing," Kuro replied.

"I think it's something, you wouldn't be reacting the way you are if it was nothing," Berry answered. "Listen, Kuro, I need to know what it is you're hiding. It might be something that could jeopardize our entire mission if we're kept in the dark. If none of us know what's going on with you, it might end up being used against you."

"You don't know that!" Kuro argued. "We've been fine so far, so let's keep going."

"Kuro, we had a chance to escape, to leave this place, but we chose to stay to help the prisoners, to try and stop Team Purify the best we can, but we also came back for you. Me and my team risked a lot, but unless you can trust me to help you now, you'll only end up putting us in further risk," Berry calmly replied.

Kuro frowned as he grew quiet for a moment. "... I've kept this a secret for so long… I had hoped that it would somehow disappear altogether if I never acknowledged it again."

Berry frowned at hearing that.

Kuro turned to Berry. "Alright, if you really need to know, then I'll tell you, and only you. But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else."

"I'll only tell them if it would put them at risk," Berry stated. "But otherwise, you have my word."

Kuro closed his eyes and took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. Once he was ready, he opened his eyes. "The truth is…"

Berry hadn't expected this kind of truth from Kuro, her eyes went wide from shock as Kuro told her something she almost didn't believe. But it also explained something that Berry had been wondering about.

Before I was worried about Kuro, but I know he'll be fine now. Considering what he went through… he should be fine… Berry thought as she still processed what Kuro had revealed to her.

Berry couldn't help but chuckle now. "Wow… you really admire the White Bandit that much, huh?"

Kuro blushed hotly at that. "Of course I did! After the whole banishment happened, she made sure to help me overcome my own instincts and weaknesses!"

Berry frowned. "But it also sounds like you want to distance yourself from the White Bandit too."

Kuro frowned. "Yeah… the White Bandit… also really hurt me… Before she was gone for good, she hit me where it hurt the most…"

The Goomy felt bad for Kuro. "But it wasn't her fault, she shouldn't blame herself for that, especially since it was out of her control… and neither should you."

"I know…I know…The past is in the past, but…no matter how far I try to run, to try and move on, I'm always reminded of The White Bandit and her mistakes," Kuro sadly replied, before showing anger on his face. "It's why I need to make Rouge pay, it's all her fault that any of this happened in the first place. Maybe…once she pays for what she's done…I can finally move on…though I'm not sure what I'd do afterwards…"

"Do you not want to go back to the Salandit clan you told us about?" Berry asked.

"I'm an outsider to that clan…" Kuro sighed. "Even if I were to go back, I would not be welcomed, especially as I am now. I've rejected the Salandit ways. I'm tired of the abuse the females do to the males. I don't want to be a part of that, not anymore, especially not after what the White Bandit had taught me."

Berry gave what Kuro said some thought. "Would it be possible to start your own clan then? One that would go against those traditional rules?"

"Hmm… maybe… but I doubt a lot of Salandit would want to join that kind of clan," Kuro replied. "It… might work if I was famous or something, but that wouldn't be easy…"

"Then…" Berry paused for a moment. "Maybe in the meantime, you could join a Crusader team?"

"Hmm? Why?" Kuro asked.

"Well, it'll give you a chance to help others like how… the White Bandit helped you. It'll also give you a chance to continue to get stronger, while also making a name for yourself that could help you build and create that new clan," Berry explained. "You could meet new Pokemon as well as get rewards that could be useful to you in the future."

"Join a Crusader team?" Kuro chuckled at the question. "I kept on saying that I'd join one ever since coming to Unity Guild, but kept pushing it off. I wasn't sure if I could handle being on a team, or being able to fully trust others…But…I think that would be a good start. In fact, there's a team that I've kept on my mind for some time, only reason I never joined was cause I kept holding myself back, but after all this is over, I'll see if they are willing to have me."

"Oh, who did you have in mind?" Berry asked, curious to see which team Kuro had wanted to join.

"Oh, it may come as a surprise, but I was hoping to join Team Destruct," Kuro answered.

Berry stared at the Salandit for a little while. "Team… Destruct? Y-you're seriously considering them? Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Y-yeah, I mean, they're strong and… pfft…and uh…serious…and brave…" Kuro tried to keep a straight face, but the more he went on, the more he let slip a chuckle or a snort. Finally he couldn't take it and started laughing. "Sorry, but you should've seen the look on your face. There's no way I'd join Team Destruct, nothing against them but they are a bit too extreme for me. Though I will admit, out of the three, Grant is the most tolerable, and that's saying something."

Berry blinked as she realized Kuro was just messing with her. "Oh, come on, you really had to ruin the mood by being a little prankster?"

"Well it was getting a little too serious. I figured a little joke would help alleviate the tension," Kuro replied. "As for who I'm actually considering joining, that'll be a surprise. How about we focus on getting this mission done before we talk about that?"

"Yeah, sounds good, because we're here," Berry said as she looked up, recognizing the hallway of jail cells. "We better watch ourselves, the guards could be on patrol right now."

Kuro nodded, getting serious once more as the two entered the hallway filled with cells. It was a familiar view for Berry, having been put here before, and seeing that each cell had its own prisoner only made it that more familiar. Some of the prisoners barely looked up, a few gave them a glance, but quickly looked down when they saw that they didn't have any special berries, or that they were Rouge. It was a pitiful look, seeing them reduced to such a state. Berry truly hoped that her slimes could cure them, but also give them back any hope and vigor they most likely lost.

They saw some Pokemon roaming around, likely the guards. It wasn't just the Loudred this time, but there was a Taillow flying around, a Deerling in its Winter form, likely due to the cold climate, and a Shroomish. They were all female, so Rouge put them to labor work.

Berry and Kuro stick to the walls and the shadows to stay hidden. They were lucky there weren't any canine Pokemon among them or they would've sniffed them out.

"Great… they're on high alert right now…" Kuro grumbled. "We have to get past these goons before we can try getting your slime in those poor souls."

"Let me handle that. They seem to keep a group of Pokemon in one cell, so I should be able to sneak in…" Berry whispered. "You keep an eye on things and try to let me know when someone's coming."

Kuro blinked. "What are you going to-"

Berry slithered to one of the cells, squeezing herself through the bars. Kuro blinked, and realized now why none of the cells had something like a Grimer, Slugma, or Shellos, those could easily slip through the bars just like Berry did.

Berry slithered over to a group of male Pokemon. She could see a Linoone, a Shinx, an Electrike, and an Ekans just sitting there, staring straight ahead. Okay… Kuro said I need to get my slime inside them for the cure to work… but how?It looks like all they wanna eat are those berries. I have no idea when the next 'feeding time' is going to be.

Berry then sighed as she remembered her own namesake. I'm going to really hate myself…

"Hey boys, it's feeding time~ I got you this one, big berry for you to suck the juices from. It'll give you all the flavor you want~" Berry stated in a surprisingly seductive voice.

At the mention of a berry, the four prisoners slowly stirred as they all turned to face Berry. She noticed how vacant their eyes were, but after mentioning that it was feeding time, there was sudden life, though she knew they only had one purpose, to get more of Rouge's pheromones. Berry really didn't like what she was about to have them do next.

"Come on, start licking this big berry before it goes bad," Berry said.

Whatever hesitation the group had was gone, and they launched themselves at Berry. Berry shivered as she felt their tongues licking her like crazy. Kuro was watching, and snickered. He wished he had a way to take a picture of this moment.

Not long after the group of Pokemon began licking Berry, they started to stop, blinking in confusion.

"Huh…? What the heck?" The Shinx blinked.

The Linoone blinked a few times until he realized what he just did, and what was on his tongue. He immediately spat out Berry's slime and started rubbing his claws against his tongue. "I can sthill tasthe it! Ith's in my mouth!"

"Blargh!" The Electrike nearly threw up.

"Actually not so bad…" The Ekans commented.

Berry was relieved that the Pokemon snapped out of it and stopped licking her, except the Ekans.

"Shh, don't make a fuss," Berry quickly said. "You're prisoners right now, and if you make a fuss, the guards will know something's up and make you eat those berries again."

"Guards?" Ekans asked, the only one not bothered by Berry's slime. But then he rubbed his temple with the tip of his tails. "That's right…we were…kept here. How long? Oh Arceus!"

"Shh," Berry hushed them. "I may have cleared your heads, but it won't do any of you good if the guards find out you're no longer under Rouge's control. So you gotta keep quiet. I'm a Crusader and we are trying to help you and everyone else here."

"You were able to cure us?" The Electrike asked, surprised.

"But what about the rest of us?" Shinx whispered, worried for the others.

"I plan to help them too," Berry answered. "Just keep acting like you're in a trance when the guards come."

"Right, we will-" Linoone began to say when Kuro quickly spoke up from outside the cell.

"They're coming!"

"Act mindless," Berry quickly said.

Everyone sat down and stared straight ahead, including Berry, while Kuro went to go hide as the Taillow, Shroomish, and Deerling began walking over to the cell.

"Weird, I could've sworn I heard talking here," Deerling muttered.

"I keep telling you, you're stressed, we all are," Shroomish remarked. "Ever since the prisoners escaped last time, Rouge has been on all our cases."

"She's right," The Taillow added. "I'm still surprised Loudred still kept her position here. Just focus on the job, or else we all will face Rouge's wrath."

Deerling sighed. "I'm not sure why we need to put them into prison cells in the first place. Clearly even when they're free, they would just go to the cafeteria or Rouge herself."

"We can't have them bothering Rouge or eating all of our food supply," Shroomish pointed out.

"Hmm?" Taillow looked at the Goomy. "Did we have that Pokemon here before?"

"Hmm?" The Deerling looked inside and noticed Berry too, but saw that she had the same expression as everyone else in the cells. "I don't know, considering we spent the last hour rounding everyone up, he must've got stuck on one of the Pokemon. Doesn't matter, looks like he's stayed in his cell, just like everyone else."

"Let's just get back on patrol, Loudred will throw a fit if we keep talking like this for too long," Shroomish grumbled.

The 3 guards began walking again, leaving the cell. Seeing her chance, Berry slithered to the bars.

"Stay here until I get the rest," Berry whispered to the group.

They all nodded and waited as Berry slipped through the bars and headed to the other cells. She repeated the process with the other Pokemon in the cell, having them lick her by saying she was a big berry, then when they snap out of it, they start getting sick from licking her berries, with a few others that seem to like it. She told them all to act like they were still under Rouge's control as she went to the next cell.

And finally, Berry managed to cure the last cell of Pokemon.

Berry slithered forward, seeing Kuro had followed them. "I think that's the last of them, Kuro. Now we have to figure out how to get them all out."

Kuro cracked his neck as he readied himself. "Leave that to me."

Kuro silently and quickly made his way towards the guards, making sure to use the shadows to help conceal himself. Berry was worried at first that he was moving too fast and that he would get spotted, but to her relief, the guards hadn't noticed the Salandit getting closer and closer. If it wasn't for Berry's ability to sense nearby Pokemon, she would've lost track of where Kuro was. She then saw the Salandit had reached the guards, crouching low behind the Loudred and using her as cover. Having already surveyed the group, Kuro saw that Loudred had the key hanging on a pouch on the side. After making sure the other guards were looking elsewhere, Kuro reached for the key and took it from the Loudred, without any of them noticing what he had just done.

Once the key was in Kuro's possession, he disappeared once again into the shadows. To anyone else, they wouldn't have seen the Salandit move away from the guards, but Berry was able to sense Kuro as he got closer to her. She gave an impressed smile as Kuro greeted Berry while spinning the key around his index claw.

"Piece of cake," Kuro gloated.

"Nice," Berry chuckled.

"Hold on, once we get out, wouldn't the guards just catch us again?" A Pidove asked in worry.

"The guards were able to catch you guys before because you were still under Rouge's spell," Berry explained. "Now you're free from her control. There are only 4 guards, and they don't seem to be that strong. They look pretty malnourished actually, I guess Rouge doesn't take care of her female workers. We can easily surround them until everyone is free."

"You'd be surprised how effective numbers can be," Kuro commented. "But we just gotta make sure to surround all of them, it'd be bad if one of them manages to get away and alert others."

"What about the Loudred? She can still make enough noise to be heard by someone outside," A worried Teddiursa pointed out.

"You leave the Loudred to me," Berry said. "Alright Kuro, start freeing everyone quietly, we'll see if we can round up the guards before they notice the cells are being opened up."

Kuro grinned while nodding. He already begun working on the first cell, making sure to make as little noise as possible. He wanted to free as many prisoners as he could before the guards learned of their intent.

The group of prisoners started to come out slowly. Kuro made sure to let them know to quietly surround the guards after he released them, it would be their best chance to escape before someone could catch them again. None of the prisoners wanted to go back to being addicted to those awful, contaminated berries again, so they did as the Salandit instructed. Berry made sure to be a part of the group that were starting to surround the guards, though she was keeping her eyes on the Loudred.

"Do you get the feeling that… something bad is about to happen?" The Deerling guard asked in worry.

Loudred seemed nervous, mostly because she already was in trouble from last time. Taillow and Shroomish were the only ones who still kept a calm demeanor.

"Again, we're all just stressed. You're only gonna give yourself a headache if you keep worrying about every little thing," Shroomish huffed.

"Maybe we should call it a day from our shift, with how stressed you two have been, you might collapse," Taillow remarked.

"We won't get to eat our only meal for the day if we call it quite too early," Loudred pointed out. "I already had to skip meals yesterday as part of my punishment. I'd rather not skip more."

Deerling frowned. "If we could quit this job and leave, we would, but Rouge has a tight hold on us…"

Then Deerling's ears twitched as she began to look around. "... Um… guys… are the cell doors supposed to be open?"

The other three guards then noticed that Deerling was right, with Loudred reaching for her key, only to find it was missing. Already dread filled her as tears welled up in her eyes, realizing that all the prisoners are about to escape, again.

"I'm so dead," Loudred cried.

The 4 guards quickly found themselves surrounded by the said prisoners, all looking ready to attack.

"Q-quick, call for help!" Shroomish said.

Loudred began to take a deep breath, but suddenly her mouth, and her ears, were covered by some kind of sticky substance, keeping her mouth shut, and covering her ears.

"Sorry, I can't have you doing that," Berry said as she slithered through the crowd.

Tears were now pouring out of Loudreds eyes for many reasons. One, she knew she was dead no matter what, either from Rouge when she finds out the prisoners escaped again, or possible from the prisoners themselves. Two, having her mouth and ears covered in slime would make any Pokemon want to scream, and seeing how Loudred couldn't, all she could do was cry in despair. Being too much for her to handle, Loudred did the only logical thing and fainted.

"Is… that Loudred okay?" Linoone asked in concern.

"She's… been harshly punished by Rouge for letting prisoners escape before…" Deerling explained. "We're all scared of what Rouge is going to do to us…"

Berry frowned. "You 4 don't want to work for Rouge, right?"

"It's a nightmare working for her," Taillow shivered. "She works us to the bone, making sure we have a tight leash by having her other male guards keep a close eye on us so we wouldn't try something, she eats most of the food before feeding the leftovers to her male slaves with those special berries, while we barely get any scraps of our own."

"She keeps us weak so we wouldn't be able to turn against her, or to be able to escape on our own…" Shroomish added.

"I see…" Berry frowned before she got an idea. "Then would you like to escape with these prisoners?"

"Is that wise?" A Mareep asked.

"They're just as much prisoners as you guys were," Berry answered. "They have every right to have the opportunity to escape as you guys do."

Loudred suddenly got up, having recovered. After spending a few moments of pulling some of Berry's slime off, she was finally able to speak.

"Screw it, I'm in!" Loudred announced. "I'm tired of being in this Reverse World hole, struggling to get by each day!"

"You heard all of that?" Deerling blinked. "Weren't you out cold?"

"As soon as I heard about possible escaping, everything was clear as the sky I always hoped of seeing if I ever got out of here!" Loudred announced.

"Besides… you guys will need us to show you to the nearest teleporter, otherwise you'll be running around blindly until you got caught," Taillow pointed out.

"Good point…" A Growlithe agreed.

"We do need a Psychic type to use it though," Shroomish said.

"I believe I can help with that," A Natu hopped up to the front of the group.

"So can we leave them to you guys?" Berry asked.

"Yeah… but what are you going to do?" Loudred asked. "The second Rouge realized we escaped, she'll hunt us all down."

Kuro took a step forward to answer that question.

"Rouge has done many terrible things in her lifetime, hurting others for her personal gain. I watched her betray those she swore she was loyal to, killed the one I loved, and in all my time that I spent hunting for her, I have only seen all the damage she has left in her path. I promise you, you won't have to worry about that toxic waste of a Salazzle, cause I'll make sure she answers for all the trauma and damage she has done," Kuro declared with fierce determination.

Some of the prisoners were a bit skeptical, the idea of a male Salandit beating someone like Rouge seemed very unbelievable. But seeing that this Salandit and his gooey friend somehow managed to not only free them physically, but also mentally, gave them some confidence in Kuro's words.

"If it'll help, just know I'm a Crusader. My team and I are working hard to make sure what Kuro said here becomes a reality," Berry spoke up. "We want to free everyone who has to suffer working for Rouge, and any other higher ups who work here."

"Please be careful then," Deerling said. "When you go in deeper, you'll notice the building will start to look like a Mystery Dungeon. There's a defense mechanism that turns the base into an artificial Mystery Dungeon. Sometimes Rouge would throw us in there as punishment. Sometimes we're lucky enough to get out… other times some may not be so lucky and end up turning wild, starving for food."

Berry frowned. An artificial Mystery Dungeon? Is such a thing possible?

"Thank you for the information, that will come in handy, I'm sure of it," Berry said. "Now you guys better go, staying here too long will risk someone coming here and catching you all."

"We better travel in groups of 4," Taillow suggested. "We each lead a group of Pokemon to the teleporter. That way we're not all travelling in a large group where it will be suspicious."

"Do we have at least 4 Psychic types here?" Shroomish asked. "That way once a group gets to the teleporter, we can get out as soon as possible."

The Natu from earlier stepped up, a Solosis floated over, a Bronzor floated up, and a male Indeedee walked up.

"I believe this should suffice, right?" The Indeedee asked.

"Yeah, just make sure to stick close, if you go missing, then there's no way any of us will be escaping," Loudred explained before turning to face Berry and Kuro. "And thank you, despite the slime and trouble you got me in before, I'm glad that you decided to free these prisoners again and give us a chance to finally get out of here."

"Part of being a Crusader," Kuro stated, despite not being on a team himself yet. "Now get going, there isn't much time until news of this prison break reaches Rouge and the others. Better to get as far as you can before that happens."

The 4 guards nodded. The Loudred went out first with her group of Pokemon with the Natu following. After a minute or two, Deerling went next with her group of Pokemon, with the Solosis. Then Shroomish went out next with her group, having the Bronzor with her. And finally, the Taillow flew out with her last group of Pokemon along with the Indeedee.

"I hope they'll be able to get to the teleporter with no issues," Berry said as she and Kuro watched them go.

"Knowing what those four probably went through, I'm sure they'll all be eager to get out of here," Kuro remarked. "Now let's get going, the sooner we meet up with Dust and the others, the sooner we can make our next move. You think they had any trouble releasing those fossil Pokemon?"

"Knowing them? They either had no trouble at all, or they caused a ton of chaos releasing them," Berry sweatdropped. "We better get to the cafeteria."

Berry and Kuro made their way to the cafeteria, hoping Dust, Shab, and Scarlet were successful in releasing the fossil Pokemon.


Berry and Kuro were staring at Scarlet when they made it to the cafeteria. Scarlet had all the fossil Pokemon on him. The left head seemed to be enjoying it, though the right head was grumbling.

"Um… so… why do you guys have all the fossil Pokemon on Scarlet?" Berry asked.

"So, it turns out that all the fossil Pokemon that were kept here are all infants," Dust answered. "And because Scarlet is a big Dragon type, they all felt a sense of warmth and safety from him, and ended up imprinting upon the Zweilous. I'm still wondering, why Dragon type though? Like, if you were with us instead of Scarlet, would the fossil Pokemon have reacted the same and treated you as their parent? Though we really can't test that theory, since there's no way to replicate the fossil Pokemon being nurtured in those containers."

"It's likely because Dragon types have an ancient power inside them, so the fossil Pokemon were drawn to that as being their only sense of familiarity," Kuro guessed.

"Well this makes things harder for us, we need the fossil Pokemon to get out of here," Berry said. "How are we going to deal with Rouge, Dio, and whoever else is here with all these babies hanging around?"

"That's what I've been saying!" The right head of Scarlet agreed. "But this knucklehead prefers keeping all these big rocky babies!"

"And we just let all the prisoners escape with Psychic types," Kuro sighed. "We were lucky that the guards decided to change sides and help the prisoners escape, but I doubt Scarlet could reach them with all those fossil Pokemon before they manage to get out."

"Do you suppose we could find another Psychic Pokemon that might be willing to help us?" Shab asked. "No offense, Scarlet, but with all those fossil Pokemon around you, I'm not sure how well you'd be able to fight or defend them, if it came to that."

"Oh, whatever poor fool dares to try and harm my kids will rue the day!" The left head shouted.

"And how do you suppose you'll defend them if they are constantly around us? We already had a hard time getting here without almost tripping on one of them," The right head argued.

"Maybe we should have Scarlet stay here and watch them while we find a Psychic type who might be willing to help?" Shab suggested. "Having Scarlet would've been nice, but if those fossil Pokemon don't leave him alone, then they'll be a hindrance."

"I'm not sure if we even have time to look for another Psychic type," Kuro grumbled. "We were supposed to move forward with our plan once we got the prisoners and the fossil Pokemon out. Don't you think that the big boss would've caught on that there are intruders in his base by now? We can't get careless."

"I hate to admit it, but it looks like he's right," The right head agreed. "We can't do much right now, and we would only put the fossil Pokemon and the rest of you in danger. Right now, we're more of a hindrance than help."

"Since there's food here, the cafeteria seems like the best place for us to stay in for now," The left head added.

"But if you somehow come across a Psychic Pokemon that's willing to help us, send them to us, that way we won't have to worry about having to try and protect these fossil Pokemon from any Team Purify members," The right head said.

"Considering how big this place is, I wouldn't be surprised if we run into a Psychic Pokemon," Dust remarked. "Hopefully they'll be like those four guards that ended up wanting to escape as well."

"Considering how poorly Rouge treat her slaves, that's more than likely," Kuro grumbled.

"Alright, so Scarlet will stay here while we move on and-" Berry began.

"That won't be necessary." A new voice spoke up.

"... Who said that?" Shab frowned.

Suddenly all the exits were sealed off, leaving the group trapped within the cafeteria. Soon a new smell started to enter the room, and Dust thought for a moment that it might've been Rouge's pheromones.

"Berry quick, use your slime on the fossil Pokemon!" Dust said, worried what it might do to the fossil Pokemon.

"Oh, that slime won't be of much use here," The voice spoke up again, though it sounded distant. Dust wasn't sure if it was a Psychic Pokemon communicating through telepathy, or if they were using some device, since Dust didn't see any other Pokemon nearby.

Berry couldn't sense the Pokemon nearby either. "Who's there?"

"I think you should worry less about that, and more about what will become of you all for causing such a mess for Master Dio," The voice said.

Suddenly, blue looking dust started to cover the cafeteria.

"W-what is this?" Shab frowned.

Kuro's eyes went wide as he recognized the blue dust. "It's Sleep Powder! They're trying to knock us out!"

"Find a way out before it's too late!" Dust shouted.

Already the fossil Pokemon had succumbed to the Sleep Powder, not understanding the danger they were in. If Dust and the others were able to find a way out, not only would they have to carry all the fossil Pokemon, but they'd also have to deal with whoever trapped them in the first place.

"Now, don't try and struggle, you'll just feel more sore when you wake up. Just relax, and it will be over before you even know it," The voice stated.

I can't tell if this Pokemon is toying with us or not. Dust thought as he held his breath. He also thought about using his Future Sight ability to maybe see how they could possibly escape, but he was having a hard time concentrating as he held his breath. Dang it, I should've used it the moment we were trapped!

Shab had the hardest time trying to hold his breath, seeing that he didn't breathe like everyone else. It was only a matter of time until the Sleep Powder entered through his gills, and soon his body slumped to the ground as he lost consciousness.

"Dust! Shab's out!" Berry yelled through the blue dust that was covering them, but despite that, she seemed to be fine.

Dust knew they were running out of time. Scarlet's two heads already succumbed to the Sleep Powder, and it wouldn't be long before he and Berry were next. He couldn't see Kuro, he was likely already knocked out as well.

Dust couldn't keep holding his breath, his mind started to become dizzy, his visions began to get blurry. He couldn't hardly stay standing, and fell to the ground. The Absol fought to stay conscious for as long as he could.

"Who are you!?" Dust heard Berry shouting at someone he couldn't see through the dust.

How is Berry not falling asleep? Dust asked himself curiously.

Berry shot out her Dragon Breath attack at someone in the dust. Whoever she was firing at simply brushed the attack aside. Before Berry could react, Dust saw electricity shot out towards Berry, and while he didn't hear her scream, he saw that she was now having trouble moving.

Dust tried to move to help Berry, but as soon as he took that next step, his whole world was turned upside down as he found himself falling towards the ground. His vision started to blur, with the last thing he saw was some giant figure walking towards Berry. He tried to call out her name, but he succumbed to the darkness before he could even shout.


Earthpatriot117: Traveling Master: Ah, thanks for pointing that out, sometimes it could be a while when these chapters get updated and when we start working on the next one, and we might forget a detail here or there.

Dust: It would be fascinating to see what other human remnants that might be within these mountains. But seeing how we were currently on a mission, I'm afraid besides the lab, I haven't seen much else. Now concerning the whole feral topic, I do believe every civilized Pokemon is capable of that feral instinct, but that is not what occurred when I chased after that Nidoran. I just had more experience now with using Faint Attack. Now what I'm truly interested in is this reference you speak of. Jurassic Park? Sounds very intriguing-

Traveling Master: *Bonks Dust on the head* Nope! We do not need this Absol getting any ideas right now, especially if it involves dinosaurs.

DarkFoxKit: The Transfer Orb is an orb of mystery. I don't know who made them, or why, but those exist in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, so I thought it'd be fun to use them at least a handful of times. As for the 'secret team', we won't say until you see them. XD Team Rocket working for Team Purity is in reference to the trio Team Rocket working for… well, Team Rocket the organization. But yeah, the trio Team Rocket from the anime really needs to quit Team Rocket, it's not good for their health.

Berry4Goodra: Traveling Master: That's a lot of questions for the Transfer Orb. Unfortunately, like we answered earlier, we are only following what the game does with the item. It's completely random as to what Pokemon or item might get changed into. And we haven't really dedicated much to the Transfer Orb lore, all the specific changes it can bring, and all possible outcomes and variables that might happen. If we even tried to tackle every question, I think we'd end up making one long page or two of attempting to figure out the possibilities of Transfer Orb XD.

DarkFoxKit: And the fact other people asked us similar questions makes this very redundant. If you need more in-depth answers, check out our other answers to the other reviewers if you wish.

Now, the question for the language is something we can work with. I think you misunderstood something, and keep in mind that we're tackling your review from top to bottom, so if you write out you realize your mistake for this in a later paragraph, then too bad, we've answered anyways. Tsunami does not speak 'slime', there is no 'slime' language. Tsunami speaks draconic and aquatic. She used aquatic to talk to Shab for him to translate to Berry. The Tyrantrum only spoke draconic, which Shab doesn't understand. Grimer speaks aquatic due to being a sludge that lives in toxic water. We also have the Pokemon's environment to keep in mind of their language, it's not just about their type.

And now I'm seeing that you know Tsunami spoke aquatic and draconic. So where did this 'slime' language come from? As both TM and I had stated before, if you must ask questions, long questions, it would help if you reviewed your own review before sending it rather than sending us a rough draft of your thoughts. If we can't figure out what you're asking, or if you realized the answer to your own question, then it makes both your review, and our answer, a lot longer than it needs to be, filled with 'filler' content.

The Grimer has no memory of its life as a Mamoswine. The Mamoswine is dead, and has remained dead. The Grimer is essentially a newborn Pokemon working off of instinct. That's it.

Traveling Master: Uh, I'm not too knowledgeable with the whole Ash's Greninja thing. I know it has that other form, but I have no idea how they got it in the first place. I just-

DarkFoxKit: Oh wait! I can take this one. I've seen this part of the anime so I have a better idea on how to answer it. Ash Greninja is basically Greninja transforming into some kind of 'battle form', using Ash's form, because the two apparently shared such a close bond with each other, it's basically Ash's Greninja's version of its own Mega Evolution. By that logic, unless Torrent is Ash's Greninja that travelled into the future, it's impossible for him to be able to turn into Ash Greninja with no Ash to bond with. In the game, when you're giving the gift Greninja that can turn into Ash Greninja, they made it obvious that Greninja belonged to Ash, so that's Ash's Greninja in the game, and, as far as I know, the only Greninja able to turn into Ash Greninja. So, in short, no, Torrent can't turn into Ash Greninja. As for Torrent's actual ability… that's going to remain a mystery for now.

Traveling Master: Well, it's too early to say what kind of Pokemon Dio has working for him. But to help give you a better idea, we already showed Rogue, who's a Salazzle, a Pokemon Giovanni never used. We didn't really focus on the whole mafia mob boss vibe for the Pokemon we decided, just what came to mind at the time.

lesbian shipper: Traveling Master: For the most part, yes. The Transfer Orb is normally random, but we are just this off on the game itself.

DarkFoxKit: Just so you know, we didn't make the Transfer Orb, we're just using it because it was in the game. I don't know if it can change genders since I've only used it once or twice in the game, but I'm assuming it is possible to change the Pokemon's gender. There are no female Gallade or male Vespiquen, so I'm guessing no, it can't.

You've asked a lot of technical questions about an item we're not gonna use much, nor are we going into depth about. I will just say this: the Transfer Orb will transform Pokemon into something completely random. That's all I'll say about the Transfer Orb. I would've liked to know what you thought of the chapter, not what one item does.

As for Berry's reaction if she became a Hisuian Sliggoo… no comment.

Sobbas: DarkFoxKit: Thanks for letting us know why you don't review immediately. I apologize that you felt you needed to wait because our updates take so long.

The chapter in question was mostly us trying to remember what happened before, and trying to be cohesive with the rest of the story. But yeah, we do want to try to finish it.

Dust: I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge, but according to the authors, they are following the game's example of the Transfer Orb. Now story wise, it follows pretty similar, and it is completely random, with many different outcomes that no amount of research can cover. Unfortunately it's one of those topics that has too many variables and questions to follow that may never get answered.

DarkFoxKit: It's not just you who's interested in the Transfer Orb. We've had a lot of people asking us about it, and all they asked were about the physical transformation, which our answer is 'it's completely random'. But mental-wise, we only used the item from the game, so we don't have a lot of ideas for it. But if we must answer, then I'd say no, it doesn't erase their memories if they were turned while alive. The personality doesn't necessarily change, but it can depend on the Pokemon themselves. Like if Shab was all about power, but he felt weak as a Feebas, then yeah, his personality could shift if he was suddenly turned into a Garchomp. Otherwise, he would still be the same Shab. The effect can be permanent, but there are ways to reverse it. Guilds probably had trouble with Transfer Orbs in the past, so they came up with a cure for it.

The Transfer Orb can't transform just any non-living things. It only works on Pokemon. The only reason it worked on the Mamoswine meat was because it was previously a Pokemon. The Grimer doesn't remember, because he was dead before, that messed up his memories, so he's basically been reborn anew when the Transfer Orb hits.

Now, as for Berry if she was transformed into a Salazzle, she wouldn't change. She would still be Berry, but she would definitely freak out about being a completely different Pokemon, especially a Pokemon they're trying to take down. But like I said, to turn Berry back to normal, they just need to go back to the Unity Guild. Chihiro, or Dr. Perfume, would reverse the effects.

Traveling Master: We understand your desire for most of these other characters to have more of the spotlight, lots of times we unintentionally introduce a new character who was only meant to appear once grabbing everyone's attention and wanting more from them. Right now, our focus is mainly on Team Night Tide, with Dust and Berry being the two main characters.

DarkFoxKit: Team Rocket had been only meant to be there as a funny reference gag, heck, we didn't even intend to use them as much as we did. We didn't really cut Meowth, it's just we already had someone who was a Meowth, and we weren't sure who to make Meowth. And as for what Pokemon would've been fitting to them, again, we decided last minute on the random Meowth and Pikachu Dust saw at the beginning of the story to be Jessie and James, so we didn't custom make Jessie and James to tailor fit what Pokemon they would be. They're a funny joke reference, that's all they were to us. We gave them more character and screen time, but they're not meant to be a focus in the story.

Torrent and Undergrowth have a history that we don't want to share right now. It's in spoiler territory. But the main reason why we didn't show the battle between the two is because the main story is mainly in Dust or Berry's point of view. Team Night Tide's point of view really, but mainly those two. We do this so we don't overwhelm ourselves. And we're already stretching ourselves as is. I'll let TM explain what I mean.

Traveling Master: We first noticed this back when we started the Tournament Arc, with all the qualifying rounds and everyone getting to battle. While it was cool to show each team their own skills and feats, we realized quickly that if we tried to cover every single round of the tournament, the Tournament Arc would've gone a lot longer and feel like we were dragging it along. Already, we had to change a couple things many times during this arc, trying to fit the narrative and not force it to feel like it's dragging too long. And it also goes back to what DF said, since neither Dust nor Berry were there to witness the battle, they unfortunately don't know the outcome of it, since we are following their POV.

DarkFoxKit: It's why we've cut down on showing Team Silkwing and other teams lately, it was just getting too long, and we wanted to move the plot forward. We do want to try to keep the characters in the story to make the world feel alive, but we're going to stick to Team Night Tide's POV to keep from dragging the story any longer than it already is. As for Icy… heh, perhaps you're judging a little too hastily with her. But that's all I'll say.

Dust: See! They get it! They understand the importance of references! So let me break the 4th wall already!

Traveling Master: No! No! No! Every time you do, we spend time and energy trying to fix it! We already give you some leeway and do a little reference here and there. Don't push your luck!

DarkFoxKit: I have the bunker ready, TM.

Traveling Master: ….I don't know what to say….I'm afraid to even ask. I don't even wanna know why you have a bunker ready. You! *Points at Dust* Behave and no going overboard for references. You! *Points at Sobbas* Stop giving him ideas! Now good day to you all, I'm gonna just go to the bunker and not question anything else! Time to play me some freaking GOD OF WAR! So goodnight everyone!