Craw smiled as he looked around. "You were right Damion. This may work really great as secret base."
Hoshi shook herself. "Why it had to be underwater?"
Craw smiled. Of course she didn't like it. She was a fire type after all. "You won't have to worry much about the diving. Ariela can teleport us here from now on."
The Fennekin looked to the little pond like entrance to the underwater cave. "Still don't like it."
Brighton looked around a bit more curious. "I think someone used this cave before. Maybe some smugglers at the war or some exploration team that is dissolved by now..."
Kathrin looked to him. "Yeah my guess is a smuggler gang. These holes there are made to hide stuff in them and put rocks and mud over them to hide something in there."
Craw looked to the holes. "Really? That could be a problem..."
Rex shook his head. "No. The way this cave looks like the place wasn't used in ages. I would guess like 20 years or something... That would also fit to the smugglers in the war theory."
Craw looked to him confused. "How do you know that?"
The Deino looked to him with his common calm face. "It is something that you learn pretty fast as a dragon. We normally live in caves like these and to know if a cave is already occupied or if it is unused for years is basic knowledge." He looked around. "You just evolve some kind of sense for it. Like with your aura sense. It is important to not accidentally get into some other dragon's lair or you will provoke a fight."
Fletcher hopped out of a smaller tunnel. "There are no ferals around and I only sense a small breeze coming out of this direction." He looked towards the hole he just hopped out of. "The hole is to small for anyone to get through so I would say it is safe. We maybe should make some kind of grit out of metal in front of it tho."
Damion nodded. "And the actual entrance is good hidden from outside. I just accidentally found it so it should be no problem as long as nobody sees us enter through there.
Ariela looked to Craw confused. "Why do we need a secret base anyway?"
Craw shrugged. "I have no idea. But it can be a hideout if something goes wrong. Also we could use it as base if we want to set out to the Twilight Empire or the Ashen Empire sometime. Teleporting yo many Pokémon at once is surely exhausting for you so it would be a good point to stock up and rest before continuing."
Ariela tilted her head. "That is true... But I kinda feel like a bandit in this cave..."
Kathrin chuckled.
Ricky shrugged. "Some decorations and everything will look like a real base. If we put some work into it we will have that in no time."
Craw looked to him with curiosity. "You seem to know a thing or two about this."
He scratched his head a bit embarrassed. "Well... As kid I often made little hideouts that I used for secret bases... And later it came in pretty handy to have them to hide from some angry Pokémon..."
Craw sighed. "Yeah sounds like you. However since you have some experience in these things you and Damion will have the mission to make this to our first secret base. Ariela will set a limit to the money but beside that I let you free hand to get this place to something where we can spend some time without freaking out and get a stock of food, berries and other items in here that we would need. Try to keep in mind that we will be rarely here so get us dried food or something like that that won't rot so fast."
Damion grinned and nodded. "Got it."
Ricky looked to Craw with a mixed grimace of excitement and annoyance. He seemed to be happy to make a new hideout but he also seemed to be annoyed to be commanded around.
Craw grinned. "Well then. Let's get back to Grace before she starts searching for us."

Craw let himself fall onto the bed. "Finally home..."
Ariela smiled as she let herself fall next to him. "Yeah. I mean I am happy we made that expedition... Especially because of my mom... But I missed this... Being alone with you."
Craw grinned. "I hope you don't expect anything today... I am just too tired."
Ariela giggled and nuzzled him. "Nah. I am just happy to finally be able to be alone with you again. I mean sure we had the room in the inn together but the walls there were thin... and in Seth's castle... well it was just not our room."
Craw smiled and nuzzled her back. "I know what you mean." He sighed and looked to the ceiling. "This is our home..."
Ariela smiled and looked to him. "Yeah." She softly hugged him. "But one day we will probably have to move into a different base... Then we will have to say goodbye to our room."
Craw just nodded.
Ariela smiled. "Also it is not a safe day for me so sex is a no go today."
Craw looked to her confused. "Hm? I thought that wouldn't matter... I am a Riolu after all..."
Ariela looked to him evenly confused. "What do you mean by that?"
Craw tilted his head. "Uhm... Well I always thought that Riolu are infertile till they evolve into Lucario... At least that's what I remember..."
Ariela looked to him blankly for some seconds before starting to laugh uncontrolled.
"W-What?" Craw was even more confused now.
After some more seconds of laughing Ariela looked to him. "Where did you get that information from?"
The Riolu looked to her a bit embarrassed. "Well... That is what I remember... I think it is something I knew as human... or thought to know..."
Ariela giggled. "Riolu are as fertile as any other Pokémon. As soon as they get old enough they can mate."
Craw looked to her even more embarrassed. "Really? Wow... That is strange..."
Ariela giggled. "How was it in the human world?"
He sighed and shrugged. "I don't really know... As far as I know Riolu shouldn't be able to breed... But maybe it was different in the human world... Or maybe Riolu there normally evolved before they got mature enough for breeding... I have no idea really..."
Ariela giggled. "Well then it is good that you now know that here it is different."
Craw sighed and shrugged. "Well I never intended to have any other mate than you so it wouldn't matter anyway..."
Ariela smiled and kissed him softly. "That is very sweet. But that doesn't mean I don't want to have kids one day."
Craw looked to her surprised.
Ariela looked to him. "One day. One day I will want to have your kids. That I am sure of." She softly put one hand on his paw and one of her belly. "I can just imagine how wonderful it would be. We would be a wonderful family. Just remember how happy Sam and Orenjii were... I want the same."
Craw looked to her. He smiled. "Yeah... That would be just wonderful."

"C'mon! This has to work somehow!" Kathrin gritted her teeth.
Craw chuckled. "Well it is easy to learn but hard to master." He kicked the ball into the goal.
"Another point for Craw's team!" Fletcher announced.
Ariela giggled. "You know? I think you have some others that would like to try out this game as well." She nodded to a little crowd of Pokémon that were watching them.
Craw chuckled. "Oh that's perfect!" He took the ball into his paws. "OK. Who wanna try this out? The real thing is better with two teams of eleven anyways!"
There was some hesitation but quickly two teams of eleven Pokémon were formed and they started playing under the instructions of Craw.
Ariela giggled watching them from the side as she noticed someone coming to her. As she turned around to see who it was she saw a familiar face.
"Hey there. Long not seen." Tira grinned.
Ariela smiled. "Tira. You look good. How is the training going."
The Alolan Vulpix sighed. "Not that good..." She looked up to the sky. "I am one of the three only ones who are left from our training team that are still in the training... All others passed already..."
Ariela looked to her nervously. She could feel the pain the Vulpix was feeling. "You know that you can try it as often as you want. There is no rule that tells you that you can't try it over and over again..."
Tira sighed and nodded. "That is true but I can't even get the bronze rank... How pathetic... I think I should give up."
"No you shouldn't." Craw grinned.
Tira looked to him surprised. She didn't notice him coming closer. "You surprised me..."
Craw grinned. "Thank you. I am training on my sneaking skills for some time now. But really. You should never give up. I saw you in action. You were really good as we trained together. I was shocked that you didn't make it."
Tira sighed. "Yeah..." She looked to the Riolu. "I think I am just not fit for it..."
Craw shook his head. "You are trust me. If you would have done the training I would have wanted you in our team to be honest. You would fit in very well."
She looked to him surprised. "W-What? Really?"
He nodded. "How about we make a deal? If you make it through the next exams you will join our team. I mean I have to discuss it with the rest of the team but I am sure they will be in on it."
The Alolan Vulpix looked at him speechless.
Craw grinned. "There is only one condition. You have to make the silver rank exam."
Tira seemed to be heartbroken. "I will never be able to-"
"Stop it right there. I think you will be able to do that." Brighton grinned.
Tira blushed and looked to the Pikachu. "P-Prince Brighton!"
Brighton grinned. "How many times do I have to repeat myself. I don't like being called a prince so just call me Brighton."
Tira blushed and nodded.
The Pikachu grinned. "I think Craw is right. You can make it. You just have to aim for a goal and give it all."
Craw nodded. "Also I can talk with Anubis to give you some extra training."
Tira looked down embarrassed. "I don't want to be treated preferentially..."
Craw grinned evil. "Oh believe me if I say that it doesn't mean he will take it easy on you. He trained me extra too. It was the hardest training I got yet."
Tira looked to him. "Was that why he treated you so harsh?"
Craw nodded. "I asked him for that. I also asked him to train us from tomorrow on in the hardest way possible. This is how we get stronger. It is nothing bad to get some extra training. It just helps you to get stronger. Everyone can ask for it. You just need to want it."
Tira looked to the three. She seemed near to cry. "Thank you so much... Not only for all the things you would do for me but also for cheering me up. I really needed that."
Craw grinned. "Just one warning. If you really want to join our team you will go through hell the next weeks."
Tira nodded. "OK. I will do my best."

Craw sighed as he and Ariela went through the alley. "We weren't here in like months..."
Ariela nodded. Yeah. How about we go to our little cafe?"
Craw grinned. "Oh! That is a great idea! I really missed that place!"
They giggled as they made their way to their favorite cafe. As they finally reached it nearly nobody was there. It was like always a little secret place where they could be sitting in peace and enjoy the moment.
The waitress came to them. It was a female shiny Furret that they never saw before. "Hello! What can I do for you?"
Craw looked to her surprised. "Oh. Uhm what is the daily special?"
The Furret smiled. "Today we have something the chef calls schwartzwälder kirschtorte. It is a cherry gateau with chocolate flan case and alcohol. It needs a bit to getting used to it but it tastes delicious."
Craw nearly fell out of his chair. "M-May I speak with the chef?"
The Furret looked to him surprised. "Uhm... You want to speak with the chef? Well I can ask him..."
Craw nodded. "Please do so..."
The Sentret nodded and turned to go.
Ariela looked to him nervous. "What is it? I never felt this strange emotions from you..."
Craw gulped. "This gateau... I know it... From the human world..."
Ariela looked to him shocked.
Some seconds later a male Lucario came to them smiling calmly. "You wanted to speak with me?"
Craw looked to him for a moment.
The other Lucario smiled calmly. "What is it that I can help you with?"
Craw sighed. "I... I would like to know where you got to learn this gateau..."
The Lucario looked to him a bit nervous. "Uhm... I just stumbled over the recipe somewhere... I tried it out and it was nice so I wanted to use it."
Ariela looked to him with a serious face. "You are lying."
The Lucario looked to her even more nervous.
Craw closed his eyes and concentrated. He used his aura sense to check this Lucario. There it was. Just like Anubis told him. He opened his eyes and looked to the Lucario in surprise. "Can we speak somewhere alone? I know exactly where you got this recipe."
The Lucario looked to him now in horror.
Craw grinned. "You don't need to worry. I only know this recipe because I come from there too.
Now the Lucario was shocked. He looked at Craw in disbelieve. "W-What?"
Craw grinned even wider. "Is there a place we can talk in private?"
The Lucario nodded. "Please follow me..." He went ahead but turned his head to look at the Riolu from time to time.

"Let's get straight to the point. I am human just like you." Craw looked to him.
The Lucario was baffled. "W-What... How do you know..."
Craw grinned. "First of all this recipe. I doubt that something like this exists in the Pokémon world. Even if a recipe from the human world would have made it into this world it would have been altered over time. Only a human would know how to make this recipe in the original way. But what really gave it away was your aura. I only know it because someone told it to me but there are tiny hints on an aura that only humans have. I have them too so I could learn how to see them but you have them as well."
The Lucario looked to him speechless. He sighed and took a deep breath. "I live in this world for so long and I didn't know this..."
Craw grinned. "So I was right!"
The Lucario nodded. "My name is Christopher... but in this world I just go by the name Chris."
Craw smiled. "I am Craw. May I ask how long you are in this world?"
Chris nodded. "I am here for nearly 30 years now. I was sent here to end the war I think but I never succeeded... Luckily the Pokémon were able to stop it themselves..." He looked to the Riolu. "But your name... That is really a coincident... A human in the body of a Riolu that is named Craw... Just like-"
"That is no coincident. I am Craw. The one Craw." He looked to the Lucario.
Chris jumped from his chair and got ready to fight. Hatred was burning in his eyes.
Craw waved his paw. "Please listen till the end before attacking me. But I am surprised that neither Anubis nor Serene were able to find you..."
Chris growled. "You better give me a good reason why I don't kill you right here and now."
Craw smiled. "Well first of all a fight between us would ruin my favorite cafe. And second you don't seem to know about the truth about the war."
Chris growled again. "What do you mean."
Craw smiled calmly. "I didn't really start the war. I just took the blame to end it."
The Lucario looked at him for a moment. "Tell me more."
Craw sighed. "Someone I was very close to made a mistake what started the war. But to be honest the war would have happened anyways. The situation between the kingdoms was tensed back then already and it was just the trigger that started it. I decided to take the blame on me. I acted like if I wanted to take over the world so that the kingdoms would bound together against me. I knew that this would cause peace even if it was an unstable one. It would at least give the leaders of the guild some time to create a permanent peace..."
The Lucario seemed to relax but still was weary. "If that is the truth then why the guild leaders never tried to tell the truth? Ten years is a lot of time and you could have used the situation with the aura-less to get the kingdoms work together while rebuilding your reputation..."
Craw shook his head. "Because I couldn't. I was not there after all..."
The Lucario looked to him confused for a moment. "But I thought... I know it was told you died but since you are here now I thought you survived somehow..."
Craw simply shook his head.
Chris looked to him in disbelieve. "B-But that means-"
"Yes. I died and came back." Craw grinned grimly. "Arceus gave me a third chance."
Chris looked to him with his mouth agape. "Y-You reincarnated? W-Wait... third?"
Craw chuckled. "Yeah. I already died in the human world before Arceus sent me to this one."
Chris looked to him. "I can't believe it..."
Craw grinned. "Believe it or not. It is the truth. If you want to you can ask Anubis. Speaking of which... How comes he doesn't know of you?"
Chris looked to him still in disbelieve. Then he shook his head. "Oh... Uhm... Actually he knows about me. He came to me as I moved into this city. He actually helped me a lot."
Craw looked to him a bit surprised. "Hmm... He never told me. Well maybe it is one of these things he doesn't want to talk about. However... If you live in this world for so long... Then you surely already got over some problems that I am still struggling with..."
Chris looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Craw sighed. "Well... I lost my memory this time. I can't remember anything of my life before and I only have a few memories of my life as human. I know nearly everything knowledge wise that I had as human but I remember nearly nothing from my life and I don't remember anything from my last life. So you can imagine that I have some things I am struggling with..."
Chris sighed. "Yeah I can imagine that. Pokémon and humans are so different... The inter-species Problems are pretty hard to get over."
Craw nodded. "That I finally found another human is a blessing for me... If you are fine with it I would love to visit from time to time and talk with you about some things..."
Chris sighed. "Well I will have to talk with Anubis first to get your story confirmed but I think nothing speaks against it."
Craw grinned. "Do that. I am really looking forward to it."

Craw grinned and his tail was wagging. He looked to Ariela happily. "This feels so good."
Ariela giggled. "I know. This seems to be one of your favorite spots so far." She continued scratching him behind his ears.
He moaned lowly from the pleasure. "Really... I have to learn more about this body... I am living in it for all this time now and I am still so unfamiliar with it..."
Ariela giggled. "That is true. I am still sometimes amused about how surprised you were at our first time."
Craw rolled his eyes. "Well how could I know that I would get stuck..." He sighed. "But that is more or less a minor thing to be honest... I want to know what this body is capable of... I need to learn much more about it... and about the little good things too."
Ariela giggled. "Let me teach you about the little pleasant things. The others can Anubis teach you better I think."
Craw sighed and shook his head. "No, I don't think so... There are things that he just can't explain me... Things that Pokémon know out of instinct... I have to learn it all and I partially have to concentrate on them... It is not as easy for me as for you to use a move for example. That is also why I wanted this hard training... I need to get so far that I use my moves out of instinct..."
Ariela tilted her head scratching Craw's neck now. "Hmm... I think I understand what you mean... At least till a certain point... We are born with these powers after all and just have to learn how to control them... but you have to learn how to use them from the scratch..."
Craw nodded. "Yeah." He sighed and enjoyed the caressing Ariela did.
Ariela smiled and stroked through his fur softly. "I love how soft your fur is. It is so fluffy."
Craw chuckled. "I wonder how much you will like my winter fur then."
Ariela's eyes lit up. "Oh! I never thought about that! You will look so fluffy and you will be so soft for sure!"
Craw giggled. "Well it is a bit annoying to dry all of it now already... My winter fur will be much harder to dry probably..." He sighed. "Well... there is nothing I can do about it."
Ariela smiled and nuzzled him softly. "I could help you with the drying if you want."
Craw looked to her. "Trying to mock me again?" He chuckled. "If you want you are welcome. Believe me... It is just annoying to get it all dry."
Ariela giggled. "You are really strange. What do you think how annoying it is for Kathrin. Her neck fur is even thicker than your fur."
Craw blinked. "Hmm... You are right... I never thought about that... I should ask her sometime about how she dries it fast..."
Ariela smiled and lay down next to him. "My turn."
Craw smiled and stretched himself before sitting up. He learned from grace that the Kirlia line had a very similar anatomy to humans and only a few things are different. He softly went with his paws near her red fin like bulges on her head. He learned that they were very sensitive and could easily cause pain if Kirlia are attacked there. But he wanted to make her enjoy this so he was very careful not to touch them and only massage her head softly. "You know? I am happy the way it is now... Even this feeling of dread is gone... I have no idea why tho."
Ariela sighed relaxed. "I know... It was somewhere on the expedition that it disappeared..."
Craw nodded. He went over to massage her neck. "I think maybe I just overreacted... I just needed something to distract myself..."
Ariela smiled. "Yeah..."
Craw smiled. "You are not really listening right?"
Ariela sighed. "It is just so comfortable right now... Please don't be mad at me for just trying to enjoy the moment..."
Craw chuckled and softly massaged her shoulders. "You are right. I should stop talking about something that doesn't matter anymore. But what I wanted to say was that I was able to think about some things now." He carefully stroked her armpit.
She giggled. "Hey that tickles!"
He grinned and kissed her softly. "Ariela? What do you want to do in the future?"
She looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Craw smiled and looked to her stopping for a moment. "You are always doing what others want. You don't hesitate when it comes to what I want and quickly accept it... But what do you want? What do you want from the future?"
She tilted her head. "Hmm... I never thought about it... I just want to be together with you and be happy with you... That is all I want..."
Craw sighed. "I want the same but don't you want more? I mean something that you wish yourself? What do you want to do in the future?"
She looked to him for a second like thinking about it. "Hmm... I don't really know... I never thought about things like this... As long as I am happy there is no reason to change it don't you think?"
Craw looked to her. "You are not wrong but I think it is wonderful to think about a possible future. Just think about it. Will we live in the guild forever or will we buy or even build our own home? What about children? will we have children? and if yes, then how many will we have? Will we always be explorers? Do you maybe want to become a doctor later like your mother and what about me? I mean Brighton will be king one day so what will happen with the team then?"
Ariela widely blushed and hugged him. "So you are thinking about us having kids?"
He blushed a bit. "Of course. That and much more. There are so many things that could happen in the future and thinking about them can be fun."
Ariela sighed and punched him playfully. "First you say something romantic and then you ruin it by talking about so uninteresting things..."
Craw chuckled. "But just think a bit further. If Brighton becomes the kind in the Volt Kingdom then Kathrin will go with him. What then? Will we stay here or will we go with him? They are our friends after all... Don't you think that we could go with him then too? There are so many things we could think about..."
Ariela giggled. "Still... I would prefer hearing what you imagined about us having children and living together. That was romantic."
Craw smiled and kissed her. "So that are things you would like to think about huh?"
She blushed a bit and pouted. "It just sounded so wonderful hearing you say that..."
He smiled and nuzzled her softly. "Yeah... It sounded wonderful. But for that future to become true we will have to work hard."
She blushed and looked to him confused.
He sighed and looked out of the window with a serious face. "We will have to beat the aura-less first and find out why they are here and how to get rid of them..."
Ariela sighed still looking to him. "At moments like these you seem so far away from me... Like if you would be at a place that I can#t reach even if I tried to teleport there..."
Craw chuckled still looking out of the window. "Maybe you are right... Maybe it is this thinking about the future what seperates me from the rest of the world..."
Ariela hugged him. She was nervous. "It is just that this is the difference between humans and Pokémon..."
Craw softly stroked her cheek still not able to look at something different than the night sky. "Yeah..."

The next morning was rather uneventful. The team had breakfast and discussed what jobs they would take the next days. After some other discussions to prepare for the next days they went to separate for their own tasks. Craw wrote reports about the expedition together with Brighton and Kathrin. Ariela checked their money and discussed together with Damion and Hoshi about what they would need. Fletcher and Rex went to chose jobs before Fletcher flew off to explore the paths to the dungeons they chose. Ariela and Hoshi checked extra for herbs and medicine that they would need. Damion and Ricky went on a shopping tour for the new hidden base as well as their team's storage and Rex took his time to make some researches about the dungeons that they would go to the next few days. They all were sure that if Anubis kept his promise to make the training they would have in the afternoon living hell to them then they would need to prepare as much as they could for the following days. Craw decided that beside the training they would at least finish jobs on three of four days to get some more money and prepare for their travel across the continent.
Craw sighed as he was half through his pile. "Damn... That he wants so detailed reports... Does he really expect us to finish them till tomorrow?"
Brighton shrugged. "You are the one who wanted the hardest training ever..."
Kathrin nodded finishing another sheet. "Yeah, Now stop complaining and go on already. We are nearly finished with our parts and we had nearly one third more than you."
Craw sighed. "I am just not good with paperwork..."
Brighton chuckled. "Well I was trained to do a lot of paperwork back in the palace but even Kathrin is not as slow as you are." He finished his last sheet and put his stamps aside before standing up and stretching himself.
Craw sighed again and looked to Brighton. "Brighton could you please take some more of mine?"
Brighton grinned and shook his head. "Nope. See this as a kind of training for you. You need to be better at this kind of things too. After all you want to be a good team leader."
Craw sighed and nodded. "If I just could use... Wait a second... I mean... I surely taught Anubis to read them back then..."
Kathrin looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Craw grinned. "Human letters of course! Or how you call them: Unown signs."

He knocked at the door.
"Come in please." It was the voice of Anubis.
As Craw entered Anubis was alone in his office like normally. "This is so huge... I still wonder how you can sit here alone all the time..."
Anubis looked to him for a moment. "I thought there are still three hours till the training begins."
Craw nodded. "Yeah. I just wanted to ask you something."
Anubis grinned. "If it is about the training then I won't answer. It will be a secret who will train your team and I don't know all of their methods."
Craw shrugged. "I don't care less. As I said I want to get stronger. If I would be prepared for the training it would just have half of the effect. After all we can't always know what happens in a dungeon or what aura-less we might fight sometime so we need to adjust to them. A training that takes us by surprise will also train us in that part."
Anubis grinned. "You are really like back then... What is it then what you wanted to ask me?"
Craw grinned. "I just want to know if I taught you human letters. Not the specific Unown signs but actual human letters."
Anubis tilted his head. "Yes. Why do you ask?"
Craw sighed. "Well that makes a lot of things much much easier for me. I just had an idea and as I tried writing in human letters I noticed that I am much faster with writing in those. I would like to teach them to Brighton and Kathrin as well and maybe to the whole team later so we can write our reports in human letters. Nobody here really knows them and even if someone knows how to read Unown then it will be hard to decipher them because they are still very different from Unown. This way our reports are much more secret and nobody could steal them and get information from them and I have one problem less by using human letters I am not that bad with reports anymore."
Anubis scratched his chin a bit seemingly thinking about it. "Hmm... You are right... But if someone would be able to decipher them then they will for sure know that you are human."
Craw grinned and nodded. "That is right. But at the same time we can use a different language of the humans."
Anubis glanced at him. "What do you mean?"
Craw chuckled. "I am pretty sure that I didn't use the Pokémon language in the human world. I mean yeah I can understand you and read your writings but it is still somehow different. It is like if something translates all this for me in my head. I can understand and speak it like if it is my native language but at the same time it isn't. But I am sure I already told you this at some point."
Anubis just nodded. "That is true."
Craw looked to him with a wide grin. "Then I for sure taught you my language as well didn't I?"
Anubis looked to him surprised. "Yes... Do you mean..."
Craw grinned and nodded. "Yes. I will teach my team my language and then we all will write our reports in that language. As long as they don't have someone who can translate that specific human language they will never be able to decipher our reports. And if they are... Then there is probably a human among them. That would maybe bring us a step closer to the master of the aura-less. Or do you want to tell me that you don't believe too that it must be a human?"
Anubis looked to him for a moment before laughing. "Oh Craw... You are really a great mind. I would have never thought of a strategy like this... You are right. This could be a really good idea."
Craw nodded. "Also just to be sure we could make some false reports from time to time with false information just to lure out those who would be able to read the reports and catch them."
Anubis nodded. "I love this idea. I will speak with the others about this and we will think of a plan. How long do you think you will need to teach Brighton and Kathrin?"
Craw grinned. "Well if it would be Damion or Fletcher it would be much faster because they seem to have talents for learning languages... But if I tease them a bit that they would be worse than Damion, Fletcher or me in that they will for sure do their best to learn it fast. Maybe a half year for the basics..."
Anubis nodded. "The basics should be enough. I don't know much more either. But just to be sure I will get to learn a bit more as well."
Craw grinned. "Well in that case... Never hesitate to ask for help with that."
Anubis chuckled. "You couldn't resist to say that huh?"
Craw chuckled. "How could I? After all you are still my little brother."

Craw stretched himself as he finished his reports. "This was easier now..."
Brighton and Kathrin looked to him with open mouths.
Brighton sighed. "I didn't expect you to be much faster anyways but... That you would be twice as fast as with footprint runes..."
Kathrin looked to Brighton. "That is all that you can say? It is unbelievable that he is so much faster with his reports than we are!"
Craw chuckled. "Well footprint runes always seemed slow to me... I think it is because human letters are natural to me since I learned them in young years..."
Brighton sighed and nodded. "Yeah maybe..."
Craw sighed and looked to the clock. "We still have an half hour. I think a last bit of relaxing before Anubis comes to get us would be good."
Kathrin grinned. "OK. Come Brighton." She just grabbed him by his neck scruff and dragged him out."
"HEY! You could let me walk myself!" He flailed a bit but had no chance against her strength.
Craw chuckled and watched them go. He took the papers and put them into a bag so Anubis could take them later. He smiled as he heard someone enter. "What's up Damion?"
Damion grinned. "Already finished? I heard you will use human letters in future. I would like to ask you to teach me too..."
Craw chuckled. "I already thought you would ask that. You are our specialist in runes and ancient languages after all."
Damion nodded. "Yeah... But that is not the only reason... I want to be more of use too..."
Craw laughed. "Damion. You are already one of the most stressed out members of the team. The management of our storage, the building of the secret base and the translation of ancient texts are all part of your tasks in the team. We would be in a fix without you."
He sighed and nodded. "Yeah you say that this easy..."
Craw chuckled. "Maybe you should wait till some days of the training passed. Then you will see that you have more than enough work." He looked to the papers he still held in his paws. "I think that the training will be much harder than even I imagine. That alone should be enough to keep you busy."
Damion grit his teeth. "But I don't just want to be busy! I want to be of real use to the team!"
Craw grinned. "If that is so then do your best at the training. I want that everyone gets as strong as possible from it. I want nothing less than that you all aim for the top."
Damion looked to him a bit nervous and confused. "What do you mean?"
Craw chuckled. "I want to reach the gold rank within the training."
Damion paled. "T-The gold rank?"
Craw grinned and nodded. "Nothing less."
Damion gulped. "B-But the gold rank is something that only a few teams ever reach..."
Craw grinned. "Well then you better train hard because after reaching the gold rank our next goal is the platinum rank."
Now Damion was shocked. "R-Rally?"
Craw just grinned and nodded as he put the papers away. "And our main goal will be after getting diamond rank. The master rank."
Damion looked to him in disbelieve. "A-Are you serious? Besides the guild leaders of every guild there are only ten other teams that ever reached the master ranks!"
Craw grinned. "I know. Do you still believe that your roles would be unimportant when we reach master rank?"
Damion gulped.
Craw looked to him. "After all... the management of the storage and the translations of ancient texts are two of the most important things in such teams. The reports are nothing against your tasks. Believe me."
Damion was speechless.
Craw went past him about to leave. "Do you still think that you have no important task?"
Damion gulped. "B-But... Don't you think that there will be better candidates like Ariela or Kathrin who would fit better as storage manager?"
Craw chuckled. "Sure Kathrin is good in knowing what items we need but she is not really good in managing them. Ariela might be good in getting items and managing them but you are far better in knowing what items we need except if it is about medicines. You are the best for this task and I gave it to you for a reason. Do your best in it. I trust it only to you." He then just left Damion in his office.
Damion gulped. "Master rank... Either he is crazy or he really think that I can be that good..."

Anubis knocked on the door.
Craw sighed. "OK everyone. It is time." He went to open the door.
Everyone of the team seemed to be nervous except for Fletcher, Rex and Ricky.
Fletcher was as excited as normally when it was about learning new things, Rex was as hard to read as always and Ricky was very confident that he would ace the training. Ricky had even bragged about how easy it would be since the training in the Twilight Empire guild was like hell and he was used to it.
Anubis looked at everyone. "You look confident. Good. Time to break that confidence." He turned around and went ahead.
Craw sighed. "Let's go."
The others nodded.
They followed Anubis up to the higher floors of the tower. In the end they came to the highest floors. Anubis grinned. "Here are the training rooms of the guild leader teams. Your training will happen in these rooms." He went to one of the doors. "Ricky. This will be your training room. Your trainer..." He chuckled. "Let's say she has some experience with trouble makers." He grinned as he glanced to the Zorua.
Craw gulped. "Don't tell me-"
Anubis chuckled. "Oh yes. She will be his trainer. Believe me if I say that she was really excited as I asked her to train him."
Craw chuckled. "I can believe that."
Ricky looked to him confused. "Uhm... Who are you talking about?"
Anubis just grinned. "Go on ahead and enter. But be warned. She will not tolerate any nonsense."
Ricky chuckled. "Oh. One of these. I had several of these kind of trainers already. I broke them all." He then entered. He looked around as the door closed behind him. The room was completely dark. He chuckled. "Well anyone else would maybe be afraid of the dark but I was born in it." He looked straight to the Smeargle that was standing ahead of him.
Lillith grinned. "I never intended to scare you. I just thought this dim light would ease you up a bit and you would feel more comfortable in it." She slowly stepped closer to him. "I heard a lot about you from Anubis. I have to admit if you wouldn't be part of Craw's team I would have loved to have you in my little project team. They are all little trouble makers like you."
He chuckled. "And just because you can keep some trouble makers like you call them under control you think you can do the same with me?" His appearance changed as he used his illusion ability turning into a nightmare of a creature. He looked like if someone had taken the most ugly and scary parts of the strongest Pokémon and built a new out of it. "I am a bit different than the most."
She chuckled. "Oh! How cute. I love when they try to scare me." Suddenly she disappeared like if she was sucked into the ground.
Ricky looked around a bit nervous. Then he felt it. Something sharp was touching his throat just a minimal movement away from cutting his head of.
Lillith smiled. It was no amused smile. It was one out of a nightmare. One that only a crazy one that is possessed by demons would have. "If you like playing so much... Then let's play..."

Craw sighed. "I really hope she gets him a bit straight.
Anubis chuckled. "Oh I would more fear about his well being than hers. Lillith is a sadist." He went to the next door. "You should also not forget that your entire team will have really interesting trainers." He opened the second door. In it was a beautiful garden. "Hoshi. This is your trainer."
Hoshi entered and gulped. She didn't see anyone. As the door was shut behind her something in the middle of the room moved. She first didn't notice her because the leaves around her had the same shade of red like her dress.
The Delphox smiled calmly. "Hello. You must be Hoshi."
Hoshi quickly bowed down. "Y-Yes. I am Hoshi..."
The Delphox giggled. "You don't need to be so formal. My name is Purity. Maybe you don't know this but I am Ariela's step mother."
Hoshi looked to her amazed. "Really? She never told me..."
Purity smiled. "That is no surprise. She doesn't like talking about her stepfather or me. After all her stepfather is not really nice."
Hoshi looked to her. She was so beautiful How could someone like her be her trainer? She seemed so soft. Would the training under her really be that hard?
Purity giggled. "But unlike her stepfather I am a really horrible Pokémon. You may not believe me yet. But your training will be horrible. And like the wonderful and much too nice Ariela you will learn to hare me out of the purest of your heart." She said that with such a gentle voice and such a wonderful smile that Hoshi didn't realize for some seconds what the Delphox just said. "So. Shall we begin?"

Ariela gulped. "Did you really... Do you think it would be a good idea to let her train Hoshi?"
Anubis sighed. "I am sorry but she is the best for this job. Hoshi is too naive and she needs someone who teaches her how harsh the world can be..."
Ariela nodded nervously.
Anubis smiled. "However. Rex. This will be your room."
Rex nodded. His face was unreadable like normally as he entered. The room was empty. As the door shut behind him he looked up. There his trainer was.
It was a Flygon. "Oh. You noticed me right away. That is good. You have good instincts."
Rex calmly waited till the Flygon landed. "It was just the logic thing. You were not standing around here so you had to either use an invisible cloak or you had to fly. I didn't expect my trainer to use an invisible cloak just to impress me so I guessed you would be above me."
The Flygon grinned. "Well well. You are smart." He bowed down. "I am Dyno. I am your trainer for the next time. I hope you have a good portion of respect in your smart brain because if not then your training will be harder than it would need to be." He grinned.
Rex nodded. "I am Rex. I will try my best to be a good student."
Dyno chuckled. "Oh I hope so. Because what you will learn here will save your life in the real world out there. You may think because you are a dragon type that you already know how hard it can be. After all it is normal for dragon types to raise their kids in harsh environments. But you will see that that was nothing against the pain that you can feel in the true world."

Anubis grinned. "I hope he will be fine. Dyno is a master rank solo explorer..." He sighed. "However. Fletcher. You already know your teacher." He opened the door for the Fletchling.
As Fletcher entered the room he saw the well known face of Peggy. "I am pleased to see that you are my trainer. I can for sure still learn a lot from you."
Peggy nodded. As the door was shut behind Fletcher she looked to him with something similar to an amused grin. "You learned a lot since the days back then as you were still not able to speak clearly. That makes me a little proud. But don't think I will make it easy for you because you are a feral like me. I will show you how hard this world can be. There are a lot of things your friends are hiding from you in fear they would scare you. I will show them to you. I will teach you everything I know. And I will make sure you will learn them all."
He ruffled his feathers as he heard her talk that stern to him. He felt like a scolded little hatchling that didn't stop pecking his mother and was now on the verge of getting kicked out of the nest.

Anubis went to the next door. "Damion. This is your trainer."
Damion gulped and entered the room. This one looked like a swamp and in the middle was standing a Swampert.
As Anubis closed the door the Swampert opened his eyes staring at Damion. "So you want to become strong?"
Damion gulped again. "Y-Yes..."
The Swampert growled. "I didn't hear an answer! I asked you if you want to become strong!"
Damion nodded. "Y-YES!"
The Swampert chuckled. "Good. I hope you won't give up. My name is Ray. Maybe you already heard of me."
Damion nodded. "Y-Yes you are the strongest-"
"I didn't ask you something nor I gave you permission to speak! Time to learn some respect first! Run 50 rounds around the edge of the room!" Ray boomed at him.
Damion was like frozen. "W-What?"
Ray growled. "Are you deaf or something?! MAKE IT 100 JUST FOR YOUR LAZYNESS!"
Damion looked at the Swampert in disbelieve but quickly shook his head and started running. The most of team Second Chance were so nice. He never expected Ray to be so harsh.

Craw looked to Anubis. "Was that Ray?"
Anubis chuckled. "Yes. Just to clarify. If he would be a solo explorer he would have platinum rank by now or maybe even diamond." He went to the next door. "Kathrin. This one is for you. I had to search a bit but I think I have the right one for you."
Kathrin gulped. She knew that her trainer would probably be harsh.
Anubis chuckled. "Don't worry. He isn't as strong as the others but... Let's say you will still be able to learn the one or other thing from him..." He opened the door.
As Kathrin entered she was greeted by an exact copy of herself. "What the-"
Anubis chuckled. "Have fun." He closed the door again.
Kathrin gritted his teeth. "What the hell is this? Some kind of joke?"
The other Eevee chuckled answering in the exact same voice like hers. "Oh don't worry. I just try to feel into you. I've read every little report about you. You are really one interesting." Then the Eevee lost her form till only a blob of pinkish goo was left. "May I introduce myself? I am called Morph. I know. Not very creative. But it brings it to the point."
Kathrin gulped. "So a Ditto..."
Morph grinned. "Yes. You are very smart and strong. I am looking forward to break you. But don't worry. I won't use something illegal or dirty to break you. But maybe you will need some psychological help after the training. Who knows. I hope you are adaptive enough."

Anubis smiled calmly. "Ariela. Your trainer will be special. She asked me to be your trainer to be honest. And how could I say no to the mother of my daughter?" He opened the door and behind it was already Grace waiting for Ariela.
She smiled calmly.
Ariela had mixed feelings about this. She slowly entered. "I am not sure that I should be happy or worried to have you as my trainer..."
Grace giggled. "Maybe both." She waited till the door behind Ariela was closed. "I am looking forward to it. I can learn more about my daughter that grew up to such a wonderful young lady without me and maybe we can get as close again as we were before I was sealed... But at the same time I can teach you things that you were too young and inexperienced back then. Don't get me wrong. I won't hold back at any point. But you probably remember how hard learning from me can be right?"
Ariela nodded. She smiled. "I am looking forward to it. Don't hold anything back."
Grace giggled. "That is my daughter. Well then. Let's crush your hopes with every bit of love I have for you sweetie."

Craw gulped. "I don't know why but I have the feeling that Grace won't treat her as nice as someone would expect."
Anubis grinned. "You seem to not have forgotten everything about her. At least some emotions about here seem to be left." He went to the next door. "Brighton. Your trainer will be not only one Pokémon." He opened the door and inside was just a Minun.
Brighton grinned. "Oh. Hello Sam. Didn't expect to see you here."
Sam chuckled. "Oh don't worry. I am more than capable to teach you some things."
Brighton closed the door behind himself. "So. Anubis said something about more than one Pokémon. Will your sister join you later?"
Sam shook his head. "No. She is too close to lay her eggs. But I have some other Pokémon who will help me out."
Suddenly Brighton felt how he was crushed to the ground. "ARGH!"
Sam chuckled. "You maybe remember Jake? Kiiro is staying with Sammy for a while till she laid the eggs and Sarah is shopping with Orenjii right now. Dyle will join us in a week since he has something else to do. But in the end we will be five trainers. You will have a lot of work in your future." It looked like if Sam disappeared but Brighton already knew what would happen next since he heard it from Craw. He jumped back just barely dodging Sam's Trump card attack. Then he was hit from the side by Jake's Iron Tail.
Jake chuckled. "I've expected more from someone who is said to be on par with Sam's speed. After all he was the only one in our training team who was able to beat me."
Brighton gritted his teeth holding his side. "As far as I know Sam is much faster than me..."
Sam grinned. "Then how about we train that first?" He dashed forward followed by Jake.

Craw looked to the final door. "So you tried to get everyone a trainer based on their weaknesses and strengths? Someone who could show them how to overcome their weaknesses and raise their strengths?"
Anubis smiled proudly. "So you noticed? I am very proud that I was able to do that."
Craw sighed. "I already fear the worst for my trainer..."
Anubis chuckled as he opened the final door and just entered himself. He went to the center to the other three Pokémon standing there. "Trainers not trainer."
Craw sighed. "I should have expected that..."
In the middle of the room were standing Siver, Silver, Serene and Anubis.
Craw shook his head slowly. "OK. Let's get started." He entered and closed the door behind himself.

Author's note: Heyo! I hope you like this chapter! I kinda like the outcome. And you know what? The first arc is over now! Yes! This is the end of Arc 1. I will take a little break from this story now but don't fret. I am working on another little project and once I have the first three chapters done I will continue with Aura Guardians. I hope you will look into my other story as well because I am looking forward to it.

Till later! Your Lord-Siver!