Author's note: This is a warning. As I said before and as stated in the summary this is a mature content story. This chapter contains mature content. If you are not comfortable with it leave now.

Craw still grinned as they stood in front of the tower.
Anubis looked at the teams. "OK. I will now tell you who will go with you." He looked around. "Blake and Viola you go with Team Shadowsneakers."
The Poochyena and the Roselia looked to him and then to the Sableye and the Sneasel that was approaching them. Craw realized that it was the very same Sneasel they already knew from their training.
"Kathrin, Ariela and Fletcher you go with Team Lightning Strike."
A Heliolisk and an Electabuzz came to them. "Hello."
Fletcher nearly flinched a bit as he saw the Electabuzz but then he nodded. "Hello..."
The Electabuzz grinned. "I already heard of you. You are the feral that joined the team at their first dungeon training right? Fletcher was your name?"
Fletcher nodded. "Yes."
The Electabuzz smiled. "I am Gino. I am really interested into feral Pokémon and their behavior. Maybe we can talk a bit later. I would like to ask you the one or other question if you are OK with it."
Fletcher nodded. "Yes. Sorry that I flinched. I am still afraid of huge Pokémon sometimes. Especially if they are carnivore."
Gino grinned widely showing his sharp teeth. "That's no problem at all. I mean you lived the feral life till some days ago. It is pretty impressive that you have most of your instincts under control already."
Fletcher nodded and ruffled his feathers proudly.
The Heliolisk grinned. "I am Helios by the way. Yeah, I know Helios the Heliolisk. My parents weren't very creative with our names."
Kathrin giggled but Ariela gave her a glace making her stop immediately. "That's fine I think. Every name is special in their own way."
He smiled and nodded.
Anubis looked to his list. "Craw, Brighton and Damion you go with Team Brand."
Craw looked to the two Pokémon that approached them. It was a Camerupt and an Arcanine. Craw nodded to them.
The Arcanine nodded back while the Camerupt smiled. "I am Cornelia and this is my partner Clayton. We wish you good luck."
Brighton smiled. "Thank you."
Kathrin looked at the Pikachu and sighed. Somehow she was jealous of the Camerupt to go with him.
Ariela smiled. "You OK?"
Kathrin nodded.
It went on for nearly an half hour till Anubis told everyone who they will go into the tower with. He sighed. "I know you will hate this now but for safety reasons we decided that only one team will enter at the same time. We don't want that the incident from last time happens again. Your goal is to reach the save point on the 42st floor. The floors above this floor is off limits. If you go further you will be expelled from the guild." He looked to the teams with a serious face. "I am serious. We can't need a team that doesn't listen to our orders."
The teams nodded nervously and looked to the guild leader.
Anubis sighed. "OK. Viola and Blake. You are first."
The two and their observers went into the tower.
Anubis sat down on a rock and took some papers out of his bag starting to read through them.
The other teams started to talk with each other while Craw and his team exchanged some strategies.
Craw grinned. "OK. Knowing Anubis we will have to solve riddles that we aren't prepared for. Probably they will have exactly those topics we aren't familiar with. The good thing is that we have Kathrin and myself for the teams so math and physic related things shouldn't be that hard. Math and physics aren't that different. Ariela, you can do some politic things too I guess since you know a bit of it. That you don't have someone for ancient languages worries me a bit... But on the other side you have Fletcher and he is a very fast learner with languages. Damion I would like you to teach him the most important basics about the most common ancient languages."
Damion nodded. "I will. Luckily I know one or two things about herbs and medical science but only some basics."
Craw nodded. " Good when you thought Fletcher what he needs to know I want you to learn some more things with Ariela. Is that OK Ariela?"
She nodded.
Craw sighed. "Brighton can you sing?"
Brighton nodded. "A bit."
Craw nodded. "Then practice your vocal cords."
Brighton nodded. "OK." He went a bit away starting to sing a bit.
Craw grinned a bit amused. "Kathrin do you have any idea what kind of riddles and traps he would have set?"
Kathrin sighed and thought about it for a moment. "Hmm... The most are pretty easy to solve. They just need logic thinking. The more complex ones will need knowledge about math, chemistry, physics or languages. Some riddles require to think about actual riddles and some need a bit of all..."
Craw nodded. "OK..." He grabbed into his bag and pulled out a coat. "Here. Take this. It is a coat that has the same effect as a mobile scarf. Maybe it will be of help."
She looked to him surprised. "But what if you need it?"
Craw grinned. "Then you just give it to me after you finished the dungeon."
Kathrin nodded.
Craw grinned. "You have to make sure that you three get through the dungeon without problems. We have to get the highest points possible."
Kathrin nodded. "This time I will beat you."
Craw chuckled. "Good luck with that."

Craw sighed as he saw Ariela, Kathrin and Fletcher went inside.
Blake and Viola barely made it in time.
Craw was a bit worried. He knew that Blake was a good fighter and knew pretty much about exploring while Viola knew many tricks. If these two who just aimed for the bronze rank barely made it then his team would have a rough time. He sighed and looked to Brighton and Damion. "Are you two ready for it?"
Brighton and Damion just nodded.
Craw shook his head. "No we are not. I am sure that Anubis was serious as he said that we have to prepared for more than just a simple exploration... We will for sure have to think outside the box..." He looked to Anubis. "If we don't watch out we will end up like Tira and will have to start all over again..."
Damion paled.
Brighton on his side grinned. "Then we just don't do any mistakes."
Craw nodded.
Damion looked to them. "You really think it will be that hard?"
Craw chuckled. "Oh for sure it will be harder. But if we make this then we will be stronger than ever."
Damion nodded nervously.
Craw smiled. "And even if we don't we will try again next month."
Damion looked to him.
Craw grinned. "Did you think that we would give up if we wouldn't make it?"
Damion smiled weakly.
Together they sat down and discussed what else they would probably have to expect. They planned different scenarios and double checked their equipment. As they were sure they had prepared as much as they could they ate a little snack and relaxed. Craw sat on a small rock meditating trying to get more control over his aura abilities.
This went on for nearly an hour as suddenly a white light signed the arrival of someone who teleported out of the dungeon. Craw stood up and gasped shocked. He ran to the two Pokémon that just arrived. "What the hell happened!?"
The Electabuzz and the Heliolisk were lying on the ground badly beaten up.
Craw looked to them with horror in his eyes. "What happened?!" He grabbed the Electabuzz and yelled at him. "WHAT IS WITH ARIELA?!"
Anubis took Craw's paw. "He won't be able to tell you anything." He took out an oran berry and carefully pushed it into the Electabuzz mouth. "C'mon... Eat it."
The Electabuzz ate the berry and slowly opened his eyes seemingly still very weak.
Craw wanted to grab him again but Anubis stopped him.
Anubis looked to the Electabuzz. "What happened."
Gino looked to him close to fall unconscious again. "A... Aura... Aura-less..."
Craw paled but didn't waste any time. Without hesitation he ran into the dungeon.
Brighton quickly followed him together with Damion. "Wait Craw!"
Anubis wanted to stop them but was too slow. "DAMN IT! CRAW, BRIGHTON, DAMION! COME BACK!"

Craw hissed and punched the Rattata that hard that it crashed into the wall some meters away. He didn't care what happened to them. He didn't care about anything else than finding Ariela, Kathrin and Fletcher.
Brighton hit a Pidgey with Electro Ball before he followed the Riolu. He didn't say anything.
Damion on his side was very nervous. "Are you sure we shouldn't wait for Anubis?"
Craw growled. "We don't have time for that!" He ran ahead followed by the other two. He quickly found the stairs and ran them up. As he found himself in a small room without any exit he growled. "Damn it... Another riddle." He looked around.
Damion sighed. "Seems like we have to make one every five floors."
Craw looked at the wall. "Here is the riddle." He looked at some runes. "Damion. I need you here."
Damion nodded and looked at the runes. "They don't make any sense..."
Craw growled. "What do you mean?!"
Damion flinched.
Brighton put his hand on Craw's shoulder. "Calm down. Damion is doing his best. I know you are nervous but if you rush we could run into a trap."
Craw sighed. "Damn... I know... I am sorry." He looked to Damion. "What is written there?"
Damion looked to him. "Like I said it doesn't make any sense. The runes are an ancient version of footprint runes but they don't show any words. It's like a jumbled mess of letters. They don't make any words."
Craw sighed. "Damn... A riddle in a riddle. What is written there?"
Damion took out a paper and wrote everything down. "Here... That is what it means."
Craw looked at the written things. "Hmm... Damion? Could it mean something else? I mean like some numbers or something like that?"
Damion looked at the runes for a moment. "Wait a second... Do you think he thought that far?" He started writing something down. "If I remember right there was an ancient writing that could also be read as some kind of numbers or something..."
Craw looked at the paper. "I know that..."
Damion finished writing down. "Does that tell you something? It is called Unown because there is a Pokémon that has so many shapes that it was used as letters for some time... Back "
Craw nodded and took the paper writing down human letters. "Humans use them till today even though they changed them a bit..." He wrote everything down. "That is german... Why do I know how to read german?" He shook his head. "Hinter der Wand wirst du finden was du suchst doch versteckt ist der Zugang durch eine Illusion. Du musst einen Schritt zurück gehen um vorwärts zu kommen." He looked to it for a moment. "It means: Behind the wall is what you are searching for but the entrance is hidden by an illusion. You have to go a step back to get forward."
Brighton looked at the wall. "Is it really that simple?" He turned around and went to the opposite wall. As he touched it his hand disappeared. "It's really that simple." He went through the wall. "Come here!"
Craw and Damion quickly followed.

Anubis sighed. He had sent one of the teams with the trainees to send them back to the guild while the other teams should spread at the edge of the city to make sure that there weren't any other Aura-less.
As the other guild leaders finally arrived he looked to them. "We have screwed up. How didn't we notice that there are Aura-less in the dungeon?"
Siver sighed. "They have no aura so it isn't your fault... Still I am worried to see one here... I thought they were still far behind the Fire Planes..."
Serene looked at him. "Maybe it's a scout?"
Silver sighed. "However... We will have to make sure to send out some teams to check for the northern area for more. Also we should send a message to the Ashen Kingdom... They have to know about it..."
Anubis nodded. "Serene you send a message please."
The Gothitelle nodded.
He looked to Silver. "You send your strongest teams to check for the borders. We have to make sure there aren't more."
The Aggron nodded and left immediately.
Anubis sighed looking to the tower. "Siver you will stay here with me. I hope Craw and the other's will get kicked out at some point so we can go in... Then we two go in and make sure that thing won't come out again."
The Tyranitar nodded and looked to the tower. "Do you think Craw will be alright?"
Anubis sighed. "I hope so... He is not ready to fight an Aura-less yet..."

Craw sighed. This was really time consuming. They just had reached the 30th floor and this one was full of riddles where you had to think outside the box. Craw looked at the nine dots that were ordered in a quadrat with each 3 dots in top line, middle line and bottom line. "Connect the nine dots with four straight lines without relocating the pen..." He read the sign under the riddle again. He took his paw and placed one of his paw pads on one of the dots drawing a line. On the wall appeared a line as if he had drawn with a pen and as he took his paw away again the line disappeared. He looked at it. "Does one of you know the answer?" It was the fourth door that was closed by one of these kind of riddles and probably there were more.
Brighton tilted his head reading the second phrase under the riddle. "We have to think outside the box... Maybe it is literally meant? I have an idea." He went to the wall and drew a line from the upper right corner over the top middle dot to the upper left one but then continued drawing the line past the dots. Then he went diagonal over the middle right and middle bottom dot till he was under the right dots. He then drew upwards over the bottom right and middle right dot to the top right dot again. From there he drew over the middle dot to the bottom left one. As he took his hand away the lines started glowing and the door opened. He grinned. "YES!"
Craw nodded. "Let's hurry."
The other two nodded and they continued. Luckily there wasn't another door and they quickly found the stairs running up.
Craw growled angrily at a group of Rattata that quickly scurried away and he closed his eyes. "The stairs are close. Next room to the right. There are five Pokémon... Two Geodudes and three Pidgeys. Brighton you take care of the Pidgeys and Damion and I take the Geodudes."
The other two nodded and they ran to the next room.
Craw didn't waste any time and knocked out the Geodude with one Ice Punch. As he looked around he saw that Brighton didn't waste any time neither.
The Pikachu was wearing the bow that boosted his speed. He also seemed to have used Agility because he moved in an unnatural speed knocking out all three birds nearly at the same time.
Damion on his side didn't had problems with the rock and ground type. His Aqua Tail sent it flying and as it landed again it didn't move anymore.
They quickly ran to the stairs and continued their travel to the peak.

Anubis growled running in circles. He looked at the tower again and again. They should have destroyed it long ago. First the sudden appearance of the dungeon, then the war and Craw's death not far from it... Now the Rhydon and an Aura-less...
Siver took him out of his thoughts. "Silver just sent me a message. The northern areas are clear. He sent teams to the borders and now will send teams to check the east and west too. After that he will send them to check the south but if there are no signs till now he probably won't find any trace of them..."
Anubis nodded and looked to the Tyranitar. "Siver? What if I made a grave mistake again? I can't stand it again... If Craw dies again I can't continue..."
Siver looked to him and sighed. "I know you don't want to hear this but he will be fine. It is Craw we are speaking about. Also Brighton and Damion are with him. They are strong."
Anubis growled. "Yes but we are speaking about an Aura-less that beat Gino and Helios and probably also Ariela, Kathrin and Fletcher."
Siver nodded. "Yes but we are speaking about Craw. We are speaking about the one who ended the war and stopped an atomic explosion... He defeated the most dangerous Pokémon single handed."
Anubis sighed and looked up to the top of the tower. "But he doesn't remember how to fight like he knew back then."
Siver looked to him. "Then you have to train him harder when he is back."

Craw growled. He looked at the riddle. "Damn... One more... Behind this fucking door are the stairs."
Brighton looked around. "No signs and no hints..."
Damion was stroking the wall with his paw. "Also no inscriptions... What kind of riddle is this?"
Craw stared at the door. "This is not a riddle..."
Brighton looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
He focused his energy. "I think this isn't a riddle at all... I think this is a test... A strength test." He released as much energy as he could into his Focus Punch. As he hit the door it swung open. Craw looked ahead and grabbed into his bag throwing berries to Brighton and Damion. "We are there... Don't risk anything. If you can grab one of them and teleport out then you do."
Brighton nodded eating the berry.
Damion bite down on the oran berry and seemed to be fitter already.
Craw ate an oran berry himself before handing them a max elixir each and drinking one himself. "Here is the plan. I will distract that Aura-less. Brighton you take care of possible feral Pokémon. Damion you will take the three and teleport out with them. When they are gone Brighton and I will follow you."
Damion and Brighton nodded.
Craw took a deep breath. "OK. Let's do this."
They went to the stairs.
The common void surrounded them but even before he could see something he heard something. It was Kathrin's voice or better her screams. He could hear the crackling sound of electricity next to him and knew it was Brighton. As their vision came back Craw saw something horrible. Kathrin was lying on the ground crying and screaming. On her was a Raticate and according to the movements it was clear what was happening right before his eyes. Just as he wanted to run to her he saw something yellow. First he thought that Brighton had thrown an electric type attack at the Raticate but then he realized it was Brighton himself who threw himself against the feral.
A loud cracking sound was heard as Brighton's Iron Tail hit the Raticate. Then again as Brighton attacked the Raticate and then again and again and again.
Craw ran to him as he saw that there wasn't any other feral and put a paw on his shoulder. "It is dead."
Brighton stopped and turned to him. His face and front was covered in blood. Then he turned to Kathrin.
Kathrin was still crying and whimpered.
Brighton took a coat out of Craw's bag and put it over her.
Kathrin flinched and whimpered loudly but as she realized that it was over she slowly looked to Brighton. "B-Brighton..."
Brighton carefully pulled her up wrapping the coat around her. "Everything will be good again... We will bring you out of here."
She looked to Craw. "I-It has Ariela..."
Craw nearly froze. "Where?"
She pointed to the stairs.
Damion who went around in the room suddenly yelled to them. "Here is Fletcher! He is alive but he needs to get back to the guild or he won't survive!"
Craw growled. "Take them and leave... I will search for Ariela!" He ran to the stairs.

Anubis looked to the entrance as four Pokémon appeared out of the nothing.
Damion was carrying Fletcher and ran to Serene. "Miss Serene! Fletcher needs a medic!"
She looked to the Fletchling. "That is bad." She took out a seed and ate it. "Give him to me. I will hurry."
Damion nodded and gave Fletcher to the Gothitelle. As she ran away Damion looked to Brighton. "Come. We should bring Kathrin to the guild too."
Brighton looked to him. "Take her. I will stay and wait for Craw and Ariela."
Damion nodded and as he wanted to take Kathrin she whimpered and struggled. "N-No! I-I want to stay with Brighton.
Brighton looked to her surprised. "You should really go with him."
Kathrin shook her head. "N-No... I don't want you to leave me..." She was crying again.
Brighton looked to Anubis but he just nodded. Brighton sighed and nodded. "OK..." He took out an oran berry. "Here... Eat this."
She nodded and ate it still shaking.
Brighton looked to Damion. "You go back to the guild. Check if Fletcher is OK..."
Damion nodded.
Kathrin looked to him. "He saved me... He flew right into an attack of that thing that would have killed me..."
Damion nodded and ran away.
Anubis came to them. "What was it? What Pokémon was the Aura-less?"
Kathrin looked to him. "It was a Rhyperior."

Craw looked around nervously. He saw Ariela lying on the ground on the other side of the room. He wanted to run to her but he held himself back. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. The room was empty. Even the statue was gone. It was destroyed and lay on the ground only rubbles left of it. "Where is that damn Aura-less?" He closed his eyes and concentrated trying to sense it through his aura ability. He sighed as he saw nothing and opened his eyes again. "Of course... Aura-less... There must be a reason why they are called that way..." Slowly very slowly he made his way towards Ariela watching every of his steps. He looked around nervously. The fur in his back perked up telling him that there was something that he didn't see. Then just as he passed the broken statue the earth started to rumble. He just barely made it to jump to the side before a huge gray arm broke out of the ground where he stood just a second ago. He growled and got ready to fight while a Rhyperior climbed out of the earth.
The Rhyperioe looked to him emotionless. "A mere Riolu... That will be easy."
Craw stared at the Rhyperior nervously. It was completely gray unlike the others of it's species and damn was it huge. It was at least three times as big as himself. "I wouldn't be that sure of it."
The Rhyperior looked at him. Then he charged.
Craw swiftly dodged punching the Rhyperior's side with Ice Punch but the Rhyperior didn't seem to care.
He swung around and hit Craw with his tail flinging him against a wall.
Craw screamed in pain and as he finally was able to stand up again the Rhyperior was charging at him again. Craw barely managed to dodge and tried to attack him again with Ice Punch but the Rhyperior just grabbed him and threw him away. Craw used this to charge a Focus Punch and as the Aura-less charged at him again with a green glowing horn he released the attack. As the two attacks clashed Craw only felt massive pain and heard his bones breaking. He was flung at a wall again from the impact and screamed in pain. This was bad. He was so massively underleveled that he won't be able to do this. His vision slowly got blurry and he saw a bone coming out of his arm. He had to hurry. He didn't know how bad Ariela was hurt and he didn't know how long he could last against the Rhyperior. He growled.
The Rhyperior just looked at him calmly. "You are weak for a human. The master will be pleased that I killed you."
Craw growled and looked to him. "You won't be able to get back to your master." He grabbed his power enhancer and concentrated onto it.
The Aura-less looked at him. "What is this?"
Craw grinned. "Your downfall." He felt the energy rush through his body. His vision got clear again and even his arm stopped hurting. He knew that the effect wouldn't last for long so he had to attack as hard as possible. He couldn't use his right arm so he had to try it with his left arm. He grinned as everything started to slow down. He took some deep breaths and ran towards the Aura-less attacking him with Ice Punch several times.
The Rhyperior seemed to be surprised and tried to hit him but Craw dodged easily since the tail moved much too slow.
Craw tapped into his energy even using some of the second energy source punching him with a Focus Punch. Again he noticed the blue layer around his paw as he hit the Rhyperior. He blinked for a moment as he realized what it meant.
Then the Rhyperior started a Sandstorm.
Craw growled and had to close his eyes as the sand started to fill the air. Then he noticed it. The spot he had hit the Rhyperior before was glowing faintly. He had marked him with his aura somehow. He grinned. Now he could try it. He jumped high over the Aura-less boosted by the power enhancer he nearly reached the cieling. He concentrated on his energy and the aura around him. He concentrated all his energy into his paw and tried to collect the energy from around him trying to concentrate it into his paw as well but he felt how it couldn't go into his paw. Instead it collected around his paw. Craw tried to remember how Anubis showed him the Aura Sphere the first time and remembered that it didn't come out of his paw but formed outside of it. He was slowly coming closer to the Rhyperior. Even falling down happened in slow motion to him. He concentrated all energy he could bring up at his paw, tried to release it through his paw but before the energy could disappear into the nothing he concentrated the aura around him trying to cover it around all the energy collected. He saw it. The massive energy that collected into the blue sphere. He grinned. It was even bigger than he thought. It started to grow bigger and bigger and as he felt that it was near to explode he released it at the Rhyperior. Craw gasped as the Aura Sphere grew to an enormous size and smashed the Aura-less into the ground. Craw made a somersault landing next to the sphere taking some steps back as the sphere didn't stop moving down. It pressed the Rhyperior further and further down crashing through the ground and even didn't stop there. It crashed through the ground and even further down disappearing into the ground. Craw could hear that it crashed into the floor under them and even then it didn't seem to stop. The ground began shaking waking him from his shock like state. He quickly ran to Ariela. Luckily she was still alive even though she was unconscious. He sighed and took out his badge and quickly teleported out. It felt as if the tower was about to collapse and didn't want to wait till that happened.

Everyone looked with horror at the tower that started crumbling. It was like a nightmare. The building started collapsing and Craw was still inside as well as the missed Ariela. Brighton already wanted to run inside but Anubis stopped him shaking his head slowly. "It's too late..."
Even Anubis seemed to be shocked.
Brighton tried to resist but then the tower collapsed completely .A huge dust cloud spread and took their sight. Brighton felt tears running down his face and Kathrin hugging him from the side. He finally had found a friend and now he is gone... He knew he shouldn't have separated from Craw but the Riolu insisted him to take Kathrin and Fletcher and leave. He mourned in sorrow and fell onto his knees. He felt horrible. Then he heard the others gasp in surprise. As Brighton looked up to see what was going on he nearly fell over. Stumbling he stood up and started walking towards the figure that slowly dissolves from the dust cloud. Right there in front of him was a Riolu carrying an unconscious Kirlia in his arms. "Hey. I hope you didn't worry too... much..." Then Craw fell over and became unconscious.

Author's note: Another chapter done. I won't say much about it this time.