Craw grinned as he stood before the Darkrai.
"Are you sure about that? He is not really someone I would see fitting in such a role..." Seth seemed to be worried.
Craw smiled. "He will fit in perfect. It would be better for us anyways if we could train him the way we see fit."
Seth sighed and nodded. "Well he went through the basic training and aced it. At least he is capable... It is just... He is a trouble maker... Especially around females..."
Craw grinned widely. "Oh, don't worry. We will make sure he will learn to behave. Especially Kathrin will know how to handle him."
Seth sighed. "I hope so."
Craw nodded.
Seth looked to the door. "Come in now!"
The door flung open and a Zorua entered with his head hanging.
Seth sighed. "I have no idea how to handle you anymore. Normally I would kick you out of the guild..."
The Zorua looked to him in shock. "P-Please sir-"
He was cut off by Seth who just lifted his hand. "But you are in luck. I want to introduce you to Craw. He will take care of you from now on. You will join his team in Crystal City. I just hope you don't bring shame on the Twilight Empire guild."
The Zorua looked to the Riolu with big eyes. "Wait... Craw? Like the human?"
Seth grinned. "Not like the human. Craw the human."
The Zorua was speechless.
Craw just grinned.

The Zorua was still rubbing his head. "I never felt so horrible."
Craw chuckled. "C'mon. You are a dark type. You should take it pretty easy. Even I didn't cry around so much and I am a fighting type."
"I normally don't get hurt by psychic type moves OK? So it is something I never felt before!" The Zorua growled at him.
Craw chuckled. "Calm down already. You will have a tough training ahead of you so get used to pain."
The Zorua just stared at him shocked. "You are joking right?"
Craw looks back calmly. "You hear me laughing?"
The Zorua sighed.
Craw stopped in front of the door. "There we are. Oh and I warn you. You should stop your nasty hobby. There is someone on this team who will beat it right out of you. I won't tell you who. You will find out yourself soon enough I guess. Just a little warning." Then he just entered the room. "OK, everyone. Team meeting."
The Zorua looked at him a bit nervous but entered anyway.
Craw on his side sat down on a chair waiting for everyone to come to the meeting.
As Kathrin came closer the Zorua whistles loudly. "Oh! An Eevee! Never saw one. Only some Umbreons. You are kinda cute. How about us two having some fun later?" He even had the audacity to slap her butt.
Kathrin was close to explode.
Craw grinned. "Kathrin just that you know. Seth put him into my care what means-"
"Yeah, yeah... No harming him..." Kathrin rolled her eyes.
Craw chuckled. "Let me finish please. You are wrong. It means he is now part of the team and as such you may treat him like you would treat any of us."
Kathrin blinked. "Oh is that so?"
Craw just nodded.
The Zorua grinned and winked to Kathrin. "So how about us two?"
Brighton already stepped aside knowing what would come next.
Kathrin punched him right into his maw without a warning sending him rolling over the floor. "OK, listen you little punk. If I ever feel your paw on my butt, hips or anywhere near my rear I will give you the beating up of your life. Got it?"
The Zorua was holding his snout that was bleeding. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Craw grinned. "I warned you to don't do shit at the females of the team because it could give you some beat ups. Now to the first point." He looked to his team. "Team please welcome Ricky to the team."
Everyone grinned and welcomed him. Even Kathrin welcomed him even if it was just halfhearted.
Craw nodded. "Ricky may I introduce to you the team? The Eevee you just got to know a bit better is Kathrin. She is third in charge and will take care that you won't do shit to other females in Crystal City. Kathrin I trust that you can keep him under control."
Kathrin grinned evil. "Oh don't worry. He knows that if I hear anything bad about him that he will for sure get the beating of his life."
Craw nodded. "That is Brighton. He is second in charge and also Kathrin's mate."
Brighton grinned and waved him. "Hey there. Oh, before I forget it. If you ever touch Kathrin like this again. I will give you a visit after Kathrin is done with you."
Craw pointed to Ariela. "That is Ariela. She is my mate and our healer. If you try something on her you will wish that it would be Kathrin who beats you up."
Ariela smiled calmly. "And with that he means that not he will be the one punishing you but I. I have much more interesting methods of punishing someone."
Craw sighed. "Believe me when I say this to you. Don't mess with her." He then pointed to Damion. "That is Damion. He is responsible for the storage and our treasure room. I bet you two will become good friends."
Damion smiled and waved him. "Hey there. You really know how to make an interesting first impression."
He pointed to Hoshi. "That is Hoshi. She is our cook and herbs specialist."
Hoshi smiled friendly and nodded.
Just as Ricky wanted to say something he saw Kathrin giving him a death glare and seemingly decided to not say something.
Craw grinned. "That is Fletcher. He is our scout and messenger. He was a feral once but he sparked. Don't underestimate him neither. He is highly intelligent and a fast learner."
Fletcher just nodded.
"And last but not least we have Rex. He doesn't have a specific role yet but he can think outside the box better than the most and is able to analyze situations within milliseconds." He pointed to the Deino.
Rex grinned his creepy grin. "Nice to meet you."
The Zorua sighed. "Hello everyone. I am Ricky..." He looked to Craw. "Why did you want to have explicit me?"
Craw grinned. "Well... I just saw you were fitting into the team very well. As long as you don't do too much shit you will be very welcomed and could even find very good friends in our team."
Ricky looked to the others. "I am not so sure about that." He looked to Kathrin more nervous than happy now.

Craw stretched himself as he entered the room.
Anubis was already waiting for him. "You are sure about this troublemaker?"
Craw grinned. "Yes, I am. We will set him straight don't worry. Also Kathrin will keep an eye on him."
Anubis sighed. "You know that Zorua have the Illusion ability right?"
Craw nodded. "Yeah, that won't be much of a problem. Since I will keep an eye out too. My aura sense is not affected by the illusions and I told Damion to try to become his friend. As I know Damion he will see that as some kind of mission and will stick at his side as well."
Anubis shook his head. "I think you are not taking it serious enough..."
Craw smiled. "Well. Ricky might be a troublemaker but Seth and I made it clear that this is his last chance. He desperately wants to become an explorer and seeing this as his last chance will keep him straight for the most part. The rest is us keeping an eye on him. Over time he will hopefully change. And if not I still can change my mind."
Anubis nodded. "OK. I will trust you in that. Still don't trust him too much for the beginning."
Craw grinned. "I never planned to. Actually I wanted to ask you for something. I am planning on visiting all other kingdoms. But the accident with the aura-less made it clear to me that we are hopelessly inexperienced. We need more training and we need a lot more experience before we continue. I want that the whole team gets training. And I mean the kind of training that makes us feel weak. I want that you choose trainers for each of us. It must be a training that is so hard that the way you trained and treated me in the rookie days are like walking over meadows against it."
Anubis twitched his ears and looked to him with a serious face. "Do you have any idea what you are asking me for there?"
Craw grinned grimly. "Yes I do. The situation we were in made it clear to me. I mean just look at the team. We had our heads in the clouds and still have... Three aura-less would have been the end of us if Seth wouldn't have appeared. Even the situation with that Machamp would have gone bad if Sam wouldn't have been there and he is just a silver rank like us. Even he is far out of our reach. I hate to admit it but I failed as leader. I should have seen this earlier. We basically made no progress at all since we became a silver rank team and even back then it was just because of the enhancer I had... I want to become strong even without it. And I need the whole team to be that strong if we are going to fight aura-less one day. We can't just sit around and let others do the work. We have to be able to fight at the front..."
Anubis looked at him for some seconds before he nodded. "You have grown quiet a lot since you came back to us. OK. I will prepare your training. But let me warn you. I will decide when your team is ready and it will probably not be as early as you think it will be. Your trainers will be merciless. And the most important about it all, you will probably rise in rank long before the training is over. You will probably be gold rank or higher before we are finished with your team.
Craw grinned from ear to ear like if he was just challenged. "That is exactly what I want."
Anubis nodded. "And of course you will still have to do your daily guild work beside the training. The first days will be pure terror for you so be prepared."
Craw nodded still grinning. "I guessed nothing less than that.
Anubis grinned. "I am proud of you. Not many would be able to admit that they are weak." He stood up. "Now you should go and prepare your team for this. The day after we get back to the guild the training will start. Tell them to use their free time till then. It will probably be the last free and relaxing days they will have for a very long time."

"Are you kidding me?!" Kathrin was extremely angry. "First that perv and now this? I wanted to have some free time with... Well I wanted to have some free time!"
Craw rubbed his ears. "No need to scream at me... Also you have enough time on the way home and the day after we got home."
Kathrin growled at him. "I hoped to have at least a week time..."
He sighed. "We are still an exploration team. We would still have to work. Also we will have one day per week without training to get some rest."
She glared at him. "And the way you described the training we will be so busted at that day that we will need it for resting! Why the fuck were you doing this?"
Craw glared at her now. "Because we are weak. Don't you remember? If Seth wouldn't have appeared we would be probably dead by now. The aura-less are too strong for us and the only one who has a small chance against them is me because I have the enhancer."
Ariela looked at Kathrin. "I can fully understand you. But you will have to also have to look at it from Craw's side. He is doing what is best for the world. If we are not strong enough we would be a burden to him."
Craw shook his head. "This is not only about you. I myself have to get much stronger as well... The enhancer might be extremely powerful but I am useless if there are two or more aura-less. I can maybe fight two but only if they are weak. I have to train too and you too. You can't always rely on me and that's why you have to be stronger too."
Kathrin gritted her teeth. "That sucks."
Brighton softly stroked her head. "I know. But we decided ourselves to follow him and we were the ones who decided that he would be the leader. In the end he is the one making the decision."
Damion nodded. "He is right. Craw is the leader. I will follow him where ever he leads us to."
Rex just nodded.
Hoshi smiled. "Kathrin you always said you wanted to become the best. This training will be a huge step to your goal."
She sighed. "OK, OK..."
Fletcher looked to Craw. "Who will be our trainers?"
Craw shrugged. "I have no idea. I just know that Anubis will probably choose the hardest trainers possible for us. I wouldn't be surprised if they will be from the leaders' teams..."
Ricky sighed. "What did I get into?"
Craw grinned. "Already regretting it?"
Ricky shrugged. "A bit."
Craw chuckled. "Good. You will regret it even more once the training started. Believe me. This will be the roughest training you ever went through."
Ricky sighed.
Kathrin mumbled. "I hate this."
Craw smiled. "Well we will still stay here for three days since Grace is still to weak to travel yet. So use that time."
Kathrin looked to Brighton and then nodded.
Brighton just smiled and scratched her behind her ear making her purr.
Craw chuckled. "Fletcher I would like you to bring this letter to Seth and this to Anubis. That's all team."
The others nodded and quickly went to do their own things.
Craw gave the two letters to Fletcher and then walked with Ariela.
Brighton smiled as he was left alone with Kathrin. "Really. You should not overreact so much about it."
She rolled her eyes. "I just hoped I could spend some more time the next weeks alone with you..."
Brighton nuzzled her softly. "That is very sweet but sometimes we will have to be prepared to be separated for a longer time. Also we will still have the nights for us."
Kathrin rolled her eyes. "Yeah but knowing you you will probably be so tired that you sleep in right after coming back."
Brighton scratched the back of his head a bit embarrassed. "I will try to stay awake for longer so we can talk a bit and cuddle before we go to bed. If I need to I will eat some chesto berries."
Kathrin cuddled onto his side. "That would be nice..."
He smiled and softly stroked her head. "I will always be there for you my love."
She blushed a bit. "Thank you..."

Craw sighed and stretched himself as he relaxed in the water. "This is so great..."
Ariela giggled as she entered the water of the hot spring. "You really enjoy bathing huh?"
Craw chuckled. "Sometimes I think that I should have been a water type instead."
Ariela giggled.
Damion was popping out of the surface. "Maybe we should visit the Takagiri Dynasty first then. They are a nation of water types that have a lot of hot springs and other interesting sightseeing spots with water."
Brighton who was leaning at the edge of the hot spring looked to them. "The Volt Kingdom would be a better idea. My father will get furious if we don't go there first and I don't want that he might change his mind about the deal..."
Craw nodded. "That's true. It is the neighbor country of the Twilight Empire so we could start from there and go from country to country then..."
Brighton nodded. "That sounds reasonable. Also I would like to get some things from there. As I left I barely had time to get my stuff together and some things were too hard to transport. I had to be quick and quiet after all and most of my stuff would have slowed me down or could have made noise while I fled."
Kathrin entered the water. "I just hope that that fuck of your father won't bother me. I don't like him."
Brighton chuckled. "I don't like him neither." He stretched himself.
Hoshi, who was lying on a hot stone at the edge of the water smiled. "Well I would love to see the Forest of life. There are herbs that only grows there and I would like to see them and maybe buy some."
Ariela nodded. "It is right between the Volt Kingdom and the Takagiri Dynasty so it should be good to go there right after going to the Volt Kingdom."
Craw glanced behind Hoshi. "You remember that Kathrin is allowed to beat you up if you do that right Ricky?"
The Zorua squeaked and quickly transformed from a female servant of the Twilight Empire back into himself standing right behind Hoshi.
Hoshi nearly jumped and threw a Flamethrower at him.
"OUCH!" He jumped aside into the water.
Craw sighed. "You really should be more mature boy..."
Ricky sighed. "C'mon... Let me have some fun at least... I am risking my life only by traveling with you guys... All these dangerous kingdoms we gonna go to... I just want to have some fun..."
Craw twitched his ears. "Why did you want to become an explorer Ricky?"
Ricky looked at him confused. "Why you asking me that now?"
Craw sighed. "Just answer my question. Did you only want to become explorer for the females?"
Ricky shook his head. "Sure it was a nice side effect of this but no... I wanted to become an explorer to do something important... Something that is bigger than myself."
Craw nodded. "I thought so. I knew that you aren't that bad of a Pokémon but you are making yourself look bad. Ricky, what do you think is the most important as explorer? Is it fame? Is it money? Is it females?"
Ricky looked at him for a moment. "No. I think the most important is the will to archive something great. Something that saves many lives or something that keeps balance in this world..."
Craw grinned. "This answer is pretty mature for you... You are always acting so foolish and immature... Why you always stalk and creep an females if you have so high goals?"
Ricky sighed. "Because I am not really important... What can I do? Compared to the heroes in myths or legends I am nothing... I would rather do something that I think is fun than trying something that I would fail for sure."
Craw chuckled. "So you just didn't realize it yet huh?"
Ricky looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Brighton grinned. "Ricky... You are in the team of a human."
Damion nodded. "Not only a human. You are in the team of the very same human that saved the world by sacrificing himself."
Kathrin shrugged. "I hate your guts but you have to understand that you are already part of a legend. We will probably be the ones who will save the world from the aura-less. If that is not being part of something great then what is?"
Ricky looked to them and shook his head. "Nah... You are part of this. I am just some helper... I am more or less dragged into this."
Craw chuckled. "Why do you think I wanted you in my team?"
Ricky shrugged. "Because you had to take one of the Twilight Empire with you and the others were not fitting."
Craw grinned. "That is right. This team is like a family to me. Everyone in this team is my friend. Everyone in this team is important and I would never invite someone into this team as some kind of helper. I only invite those into this team that I think are fitting into it. That can be part of this team. I wouldn't have invited you into the team if I would just have seen you as some kind of helper. I see you as my team member and I hope that you can even become our friend. But if you don't stop with this behavior then we have a problem here. I know you are actually a good Pokémon and I would really like to learn more about you but you have to stop with your behavior there. I would like to see the Zorua behind the mask of the troublemaker."
Ricky looked at him for a moment before turning away and leaving the water again. "Well I am soaked... I gonna go dry myself..."
Craw grinned. He was sure that he saw something... a glance in the Zorua's eyes, that made him believe that Ricky finally understood.

Craw sighed and enjoyed the cold air one more time before he entered the cave.
Seth looked to him. "I will bring you through the dungeon and leave you then."
Craw nodded. He was glad that Seth went with them. Grace still seemed to be a bit weak due to the long time she had to suffer before she got sealed. She must really have been at the brink of death and barely able to move. Even now she was only able to travel short distances and in the dungeon it would be good to have Seth with them to protect her. Also Anubis had left the day before with team Second Chance to prepare things for the team's upcoming training as well as to talk with the other leaders and prepare them for the shock of seeing a previously dead Pokémon again. That left them with less Pokémon to protect Grace so Seth wanted to make sure that his daughter was safe this time by going with them himself.
Ariela smiled and looked to her grandfather. "We will visit you sometime."
Seth seemed to be happy about it since a rare smile appeared on his face. "That would be great. You all are always welcome to visit. There are some places in the empire that you couldn't see in your short visit and I would like to show them to you."
Craw nodded. "It will need a while but maybe if we have traveled to the other kingdoms we have some time to come back here."
Seth nodded. "It has time and isn't as urgent as your mission."
Craw smiled. "We will try our best to get back here as soon as possible. Family is something important too. Only a few of us still have family outside of the team. We should make sure that these bounds don't break."
Seth looked to him for a moment. "You are the same and yet you aren't..."
Craw looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Seth shook his head. "Nothing of importance."
Craw still looked to him for some seconds but then decided to let it slide.
Ariela looked ahead. "There is the entrance."
At the entrance of the dungeon that would lead them back to the borders of Crystal City area were standing several strong Pokémon. They bowed down towards the group and even though Craw knew that the gesture was meant to Seth he felt a bit uncomfortable. "Sir, There are no signs of aura-less."
Seth nodded. "In about two hours someone will take over the shift."
The group of guards bowed down. "Yes, sir."
Seth looked to the team and Grace. "Are you ready?"

The dungeon had been pretty easy. They had to take a few breaks within because of Grace but they were short because they didn't want to risk getting kicked out. Thanks to Craw's aura sensing and Seth's pure strength they could avoid most of the fights with the ferals. Even Ricky behaved even though Craw wasn't sure if it was because Seth was with them or because he actually concentrated on the dungeon. Maybe it was the words of the day before that finally worked. Wither way, Craw was happy that the Zorua seemed to be able to keep himself together when it was important.
As they finally reached the cave that was the exit of the dungeon Seth stopped. "I will have to separate from you at this point but I am looking forward to the day we meet again." He looked to Grace. "You are welcome to visit me any day my dear." Then he looked to the team. "And you all too of course. Till then I wish you success with whatever you are doing." He grabbed into his bag and handed Craw something. "It is not much but I hope it shows that I am grateful that you came back to keep your promise."
Craw looked to Seth. "You don't need to. I promised it after all."
Seth tilted his head for a moment. "Then see it as my part for supporting you on your mission to safe this world."
Craw looked down to his paws to see a strange stone in it. It looked like some sort of stone that held many different crystalline shards in it. "What is this?"
Seth grinned a bit. "It is a shard stone. It contains shards of every evolution stone in it. It is pretty rare and makes it able for any Pokémon that is able to evolve through a stone to do so. You can sell it for a little fortune or you can use it. That is up to you." He then looked to Kathrin. "But I heard that an Eevee could evolve in any form it wants if it uses it."
Craw was baffled. "Sou really want to give us something this valuable?"
Seth smiled. "In the mountains we find many evolution stones so nobody would need this. I am sure one of you can use it better than me and if not you can still sell it to get some equipment."
Craw looked at the stone and shook his head. "This will be one of our treasures. If we use it then we use it the way it is intended to." He smiled.
Seth nodded. "This is a goodbye then. But not forever I think." He turned to go. "I await great things of all of you."
Craw grinned. "We won't let you down."
Seth nodded again and then disappeared back into the cave.
Grace and Ariela waited for some seconds before turning to Craw.
Ariela smiled. "I could teleport us right back so we could get some early sleep."
Craw grinned and shook his head. "Not right now. I wanna check something out." He looked to Grace. "But I would prefer if it would be only the team..."
Grace grinned and waved her hand like shooing away a bug that was annoying her. "Nah, that's fine. Exploration teams normally have their secrets. I can wait nearby."
Craw grinned and nodded. "There is a town in the east. We will meet there at sundown."
Grace nodded and wandered off.
The entire team looked to him confused. "Where do you want to go?"
Craw just grinned.

Author's note:
Hey there! Another chapter in such short time! I know incredible right? XD Well I was already finished some days ago but I wanted to post it now because the next chapter will probably need some time till it is finished. Why today? Well today is my birthday and what is a better birthday present to myself than getting out another chapter? XD