I initially planned to make this chapter a bit longer, but I realized that I had a great stopping point for it. Besides, 6K is a pretty good length, I should think. The next chapter could be quite a bit longer.

I have an announcement to make at the bottom of this chapter. You'll see it when you get there. Enjoy!

BRADLEY CLARION

Mercifully, I didn't have any dreams. If demons, either real or metaphorical, had been haunting me the last few days, they had decided to leave me alone for the duration of a one-hour nap.

By the time I woke up to a knock on the door, I felt rested and rejuvenated. I felt ready to take on the world...and then I sat up too quickly and nearly crushed my new tail.

Ow! When you're a Braixen, crushing your tail is one of the most painful things you can experience. It took me only a few seconds for everything to come rushing back, and once that happened, I wasn't feeling rejuvenated anymore.

I fell down the Shaft and ended up here. No wonder they call it the Shaft. Some people get the gold mine, and I got the Shaft.

"Bradley! You awake?" I heard a female voice from the other side of the door.

I recalled that this was Jenna Izola, the female Zoroark who had found me in the clock tower and led me here. Her mother was providing room and board for me until the carnival next week.

"I'm coming, Jenna" I said, trying not to grimace. I made a mental note to myself that, at least during the time I was a Braixen, however long that might be, I would sleep on my side. That was the only way to do it without crushing my tail.

My eyes were watering from pain, but I managed to get off the bed without hitting my head against the sloped ceiling. I'd already hurt one part of my body in the last minute; I didn't need to hurt another.

Jenna was on the other side of the door. "Lunch is ready," she told me. "And Nick came back from hanging out with his friend".

I looked at her with a puzzled expression, and she clarified that Nick was her younger brother. He'd been exploring the town with one of his many friends, a fellow Zoroark named Christian, since breakfast.

I hadn't realized it at first, but I was extremely hungry. My stomach was growling almost as loud as Matamoros' laugh. That was a disturbing mental image; I apologize.

"Mom told him that he had to be back for lunch or else be grounded," Jenna said. "That's the punishment he's most afraid of, so it was quite the motivator for him to follow her rules".

I chuckled. When I'd lived in suburban Pastoria City, I hadn't had much of a social life with my classmates, so I couldn't relate to Nick very much. That said, I knew where she was coming from; I'd be pretty determined not to get grounded if I were in his shoes. (Of course, Pokemon don't wear shoes, so maybe that's not the best analogy).

In any case, we headed down the stairs, where a young male Zoroark, maybe 14 or 15 years old, was sitting at the kitchen table, licking his lips as though he couldn't wait to dig in. I inferred that this was Jenna's brother, as I could certainly see the family resemblance.

Mrs. Izola was carrying a large rectangular dish over to the table. It was still steaming; it had evidently just come out of the oven.

"That looks and smells delicious, Mrs. Izola" I told Jenna's mother. "What is it?"

"It's lasagna, and you can call me Zora," she replied. "That's my real name; there's really no need to be so formal around me".

Okay, so her name is Zora. Zora Izola. Try saying that ten times fast.

Jenna and I sat down at the table, me being careful not to sit on my tail again. Zora then placed the lasagna on the table. "Careful, it's still really hot," she told us.

No shit, Sherlock. It was still steaming like crazy; you could feel the heat radiating from the lasagna, and there was little doubt in my mind that touching the dish would be painful.

After we sat at the table for another minute or two, Zora said that it had cooled down enough to eat, and we began serving ourselves. I'd never eaten lasagna before, but I'd heard that it was really delicious, and I couldn't wait to dig in.

When I'd put my portion onto my plate, I saw that there were layers of pasta, sauce, sausage, and melting cheese. It all looked pretty awesome, and I realized that whatever else you could say about Zora, she was a great cook.

It's a shame that I'll only get to enjoy her cooking for a week. And then I'll be out of here.

The thought of leaving this place behind saddened me more than I would have liked to admit. I'd only been here for an hour or two, and yet I still felt a strong connection to it.

As I dug into the lasagna, my taste buds were assaulted by so many delicious flavors. It was pretty amazing, and I could barely help but nearly inhale my first helping and go back for a second.

Given the sheer speed at which I was eating, my hosts were looking at me with weird expressions. As a result, I did my best to slow down, but I was still eating much faster than Zora, Nick, or Jenna.

Of course. I had just realized another reason why I shouldn't eat too quickly.

If they know that I'm this hungry, they'll be suspicious. And then I might have to explain to Jenna and her family how I got here.

Fortunately, other than presumably thinking I was rude, the others didn't pay me any more attention; they went back to their own servings of lasagna (which they were all on their first of). I felt as though I could have eaten twice as much as I did, but I didn't do that, for reasons stated above.

Once everyone had finished eating, Jenna and I helped to do the dishes as Nick went up to his room, presumably to do some reading or gaming. I wasn't sure which it was, and I didn't ask him.

As we were doing the dishes, Jenna asked me, "Do you want to see more of the town? Or do you want to stay here for the rest of the day?"

This wasn't a hard choice for me. This was a small house, and I presumed that there wouldn't be much to do other than read. On the other hand, it would serve me well to know more about the city that would become my new home.

"Let's go out. You can show me whatever you think I should see" I told her. "But we just won't draw too much attention to ourselves".

Jenna nodded. "You know the drill by now. The less they think about how you're new here, the better".

Jenna's mother seemed to have a laissez-faire attitude towards us going out. That is to say, she didn't seem to mind, and believed we could take care of ourselves. She did tell us to make sure we were back by seven in the evening, because that's when dinner would be.

"We will be," her daughter promised. Turning to me, she said, "Okay, Bradley. Let's go".

After bidding Zora good-bye, we left through the front door and began walking back down the boardwalk, in the opposite direction than we had come from.

"I'll show you the harbor" Jenna told me. "Oh, look, the sun is coming out!"

I saw that she was right. The rain had stopped while I'd been asleep, but it was still just as windy as it had been earlier, and the waves still had white caps. The sky was still gray, but it was now a lighter gray, and the sun was making a weak attempt to break through the clouds.

During the spring and summer months, one of my favorite pastimes was to lie on my stomach or side on the front porch and allow my body to be warmed by the sun. This wasn't going to happen here, not least because it was still rather chilly out and the ground was wet.

Along the way to the harbor Jenna had mentioned, we passed several other piers much like the ones we'd seen on the way to her house. Just like those, these piers had plenty of fishing vessels tied in so that they didn't drift away.

This part of town was even more crowded than the other side had been. It was virtually impossible to find a vantage point from which you could only see a few people. And of course, just because you can't see someone doesn't mean they can't see you.

I'm starting to feel rather exposed, just like a Pokemon in a zoo.

I was right to feel that way. The more people I saw around us, the more uncomfortable I got. There were a number of awkward glances at the newcomer, from Zoroarks, Zoruas, Lucarios, Blazikens, Eeveelutions, and plenty of other Pokemon species, not to mention humans.

I'm getting hate from across the spectrum.

To Jenna's credit, she seemed to be taking me through mostly back alleyways. It was a testament to how many people were out and about this afternoon that there were so many people even on the streets that should be less crowded than average.

Just act natural. Don't draw any more attention to yourself than there has to be. From here on out, let me do most of the talking. That was the advice Jenna had given me earlier that day, and I was determined to stick to it like glue.

We passed several storefronts selling masks for the upcoming carnival. At most of these, there were a couple of patrons trying one on, oftentimes making silly faces in order to get the others to laugh.

It was all fun and games. That is, until we passed a black-haired human woman, possibly in her mid-twenties, who looked at us disapprovingly from behind a simple mask that was painted a loud orange color.

She giggled as we passed her, but not in a benevolent fashion, and she continued to have her nose wrinkled as though she were smelling something highly unpleasant. I had a very strong urge not to do the same to her, but Jenna took my arm and led me away before I could do so.

She whispered loudly in my eardrum, "Whatever happened to acting natural? Don't let it get to you, please!"

Well, so much for my determination.

Jenna led me into a nearby alley that was virtually devoid of humans or Pokemon, apart from ourselves. She clearly no longer trusted me to follow her advice, and who could blame her? I hadn't exactly been great at following it myself.

"It'll take us a little longer to get to the harbor this way", she told me. "But it's worth it. If too many people notice that I'm with you…". She trailed off, and I wanted to ask her what might happen, but I feared that this conversation was going to enter waters rougher than the current ocean.

So she showed me the way to the harbor. It was probably about half a mile from the point where she gave me the warning about not letting the townspeoples' stares get to me, and we had to walk slowly. This was because the streets were still slick, and the last thing I wanted was to fall and land painfully on my tail once again.

"Here we are," she said after a while. "This is Skylock Harbor, the busiest port on the continent of Ilion".

It might not have been a very colorful sight, but it was still a pretty interesting one. There were docks leading out into the ocean, but the boats here were much bigger; they clearly wouldn't have much trouble going over the waves.

A network of conveyor belts, catwalks, and cranes, all colored various shades of gray that included black and white, transferred crates onto some of the cargo ships in the harbor.

"One of those boats is leaving Skylock in a few days," Jenna informed me. "They always leave early in the morning; it takes a lot of work to prepare for a long voyage. See that big building along the harbor?"

I looked to my right and saw the building that most of the conveyor belts were coming out of. A fair amount of smoke was rising from the stacks on top of said building, so I had to make the assumption that this was a factory warehouse.

I nodded. "That's the factory warehouse, isn't it?"

"Yes," Jenna replied. "I was thinking about getting a job there to support my family, but they...only hire men".

"That really sucks," I told her. And I meant it; judging by the relatively small size and overall shabby look of their house, I had a feeling that the Izola family was lower middle class at best, and that Jenna really wanted to help with their financial situation.

Skylock doesn't treat their people that well, I realized. Not only do they hate outsiders, the harbor seems to hate women as well.

"We should probably get out of here, Bradley," Jenna said eventually. "You see those two over there?"

She pointed at the edge of the dock, and I saw the duo whom she was referring to.

There was a Lucario, standing tall against the railing next to the dock, and a Blaziken right next to him. Both were clearly male and looked very imposing.

Both the Blaziken and the Lucario had severely dangerous facial expressions trained directly on me. They clearly meant me harm, and that made me worry.

It was then that I knew that if we ever crossed paths again, it wouldn't end well for at least one of us.

I didn't need any coaxing to follow Jenna away from the harbor and back into the main part of town. She didn't say a word, and that gave me ample time to wonder what was going on.

Why do they resent me so much? Is it because I'm new?

That in itself didn't make too much sense, though. The Lucario-Blaziken duo had looked at me with far more malice than the townspeople had. If the townspeople were skeptical of me, these two Pokemon were definitely out for blood.

"Bradley, do you know what's going on?" Jenna asked me as soon as we were a safe distance away from the harbor.

"No," I replied. "In fact, that's what I was going to ask you".

For a moment, I was excited to hear what she had to say. After a couple hours of nothing but questions, I was finally going to get some answers.

But then the Zoroark girl shook her head. "I don't know either. All I know is that those two Pokemon really seem to have it in for you".

"Not sure why they hate me so much more than the others".

"I'm not sure either, but you need to tell me everything you do know. Because you could very well be a dangerous person to be around".

JENNA IZOLA

I hadn't been kidding when I said that.

Bradley Clarion, although I had only just met him, was already raising a lot of question marks for me. Even though my mother and I had agreed to temporarily take him in, I was still going to be wary of him.

As I led the Braixen boy back to Central Square, I barely had to think about the route at all. I knew the city of Skylock like I knew the backs of my claws, having spent my whole life here.

To this day, I'm not sure if I had ever truly believed he was drunk. Perhaps I'd only been trying to make a joke in order to defuse the tension, but the whole situation confused me so much that I didn't even know what I myself had been thinking.

I looked back at Bradley as we made our way through the alleyways. "Spill" I told him, a simple one-word command that basically meant, "Tell me everything that happened".

And he told me a pretty outlandish tale. Under normal circumstances I would not have believed him, but by the end of it, I had begun to see it as credible.

Bradley Clarion was eighteen years old and had been living in a land called Sinnoh, near Pastoria City. He was the son of a renowned archaeologist, who was also a member of an organization called the IRAA that went on expeditions to study ancient artifacts. For years, he had dreamed of joining his father on one of these trips.

"Sinnoh?" I asked him.

"Uh, yeah, Sinnoh" he replied. "Why is that so crazy?"

"There's no land called Sinnoh. Not in this world. Maybe there are other worlds, but certainly not this one".

Bradley looked at me as though I were from another planet. Which, I suppose, I was.

The Braixen boy then continued. "By the way, I was a human once. I decided that, while I can't trust everybody, I have to trust somebody, and I trust you".

He was a human once! So that means he turned into a Braixen...that's not possible. That should not be possible, because that would violate the natural order of things.

"So how did you turn into a Pokemon, then? That should not be possible! At least, I've never heard of such a thing happening!"

"Keep it quieter!" Bradley hissed in my ear. "Aren't you the one who said we need to be quieter?"

He was right, and I had to resist the urge to face-claw when I realized just how wrong I had been, and how I'd forgotten to practice what I preached.

I shrugged. "I suppose so, sorry about that. In any case, how did you become a Braixen? You do realize that if such a thing had ever happened, it would've been headline news everywhere. It would've been a totally earth-shattering revelation".

"Well, it happened".

"That doesn't help at all. Anyway, how did you get here?"

Bradley explained that, upon arriving in a land called Alola, he and his father had begun the trek through thick jungle with six other explorers, and that he'd seen an Alolan Vulpix by the trail who was lost and in need of help.

"So you helped him?"

Bradley looked at me with a longing expression. "I did; I couldn't just leave him to die in the middle of the jungle like that. But I sincerely wish that…" he trailed off and did not clarify what he meant to say.

He went on to tell me that when he had rescued the Alolan Vulpix, whose name was Jacob, he got into a fight with a Rowlet and ended up with a laceration on his arm that would later get badly infected. He then described the fever and how miserable he had been in the aftermath of rescuing Jacob.

That sure sounds horrible, I thought.'

At first, I'd been highly skeptical of his story; it sounded pretty outlandish. In a way, however, the fact that it was so crazy made it seem more believable to me. If Bradley had wanted to lie, he could have come up with a more convincing one.

Every so often, when we passed a group of people or Pokemon, I'd lead Bradley into a different street or alley. This happened at least five or six times during the course of our walk across town, and the effect was that the trip took a good deal longer than it otherwise might have.

"And then", Bradley told me, "we reached the Temple of the Fox, for that's what it's called in Alola".

He described how grand the temple was. Even though the material used to build it wasn't fancy in the least, the sheer size of the temple, which was really more like a small village, had been overwhelming and amazing to explore. That is, until he got lost inside.

And then Jacob had turned up again, and explained that the only way for Bradley to survive was to throw himself down a massive hole called the Shaft. Apparently the Shaft led to the bottom of the Skylock clock tower, and then the rest was history.

"Wow, that's quite a tale" I told Bradley once he was finished explaining what had happened. "It's crazy that everything happened to you like that. And I'm really sorry that you had to go through all of that; what an ordeal that sounds like".

The Braixen boy nodded, with what looked to be the beginnings of tears in his eyes. "I'm not happy about never seeing my father again. He'll never know where I went, and he'll go to his grave thinking that he could have prevented my death, and didn't".

I couldn't help it; I felt tears welling up in my eyes as well. I didn't know what to say; anything that I did say would sound fake, or at least not as genuine as I meant it.

After all, what was I supposed to say? I'm sorry? That would just sound insensitive and parroted, and Bradley deserved better than that.

After a while, as we were nearing Central Square again, Bradley asked me another question.

"Jenna, do you believe me?"

I didn't know what to say in response to that. On one hand, the story was so crazy that it couldn't possibly be true. On the other hand, the tugging sensation I'd felt that morning, coupled with the feeling that this story was too weird to be made up, told me that my inclination should be to believe Bradley.

I nodded slowly. "I think I do. It's a pretty outlandish tale, but if you were going to come up with a false story, you could have at least made it more believable".

Bradley laughed, the first time I'd heard him do so since lunch. "Yeah, I thought you might say that. In any case, how much further until we're at Central Square?"

"Not much longer" I replied. "Probably only a few more minutes".

Sure enough, three or four minutes later, we entered Central Square. This time, there were people and Pokemon milling around outside the townhouses, enjoying the (relatively) good weather. Sunny days were hard to come by during Ilion winter, and most people wanted to take full advantage of them when they could.

I looked over at Bradley, who seemed very focused on something. I was about to ask him why he seemed so deep in thought, but something happened that took my attention off of the Braixen boy and onto the statue of the Lucario and Riolu in the middle of the square.

With a noise that can only be described as being similar to the sheathing of a sword, the fountain glowed a bright orange color and began slowly shifting away from its usual spot. It only shifted about three feet, but it was still very noticeable.

Oh shit. This boy has superpowers.

BRADLEY CLARION

I wasn't sure why I felt the overwhelming urge to move the fountain in the middle of the square.

I mean, it shouldn't have even been possible for a Braixen to do that. After all, the statue clearly weighed a literal ton, probably several. For it to be moved out of its current position would seem to require divine intervention.

And yet it happened, all the same. The all-consuming urge hit me, and I focused on moving that statue. It glowed orange and inched away from its usual spot.

It seemed as though all of the fifty or so individuals in the square, both humans and Pokemon of various other species, were called to attention immediately once the weird noise sounded. As though a bomb had gone off, most of them scattered away.

Calm down! It's not like I'm a terrorist or something!

But then I remembered what Jenna had said about me potentially being a very dangerous person to be around. While I certainly didn't mean anyone harm, the people of this city, naturally suspicious of outsiders, would tend to be scared of a Braixen, particularly one who could move a fountain.

While I might not be a terrorist myself, perception to these people very often was reality, so I had to be cautious.

The few that remained in the square were staring at me intently, with a combination of fear and anger...or was it hatred? Sometimes it was hard to tell which one it was.

"What did you just do?" Jenna hissed, right in my ear. It was loud enough that my ears were ringing for several seconds afterwards, and I waited for them to stop ringing before I answered her question.

"I don't know" I whispered. "I just felt the need to move the statue, somehow".

"Quick! We need a place to hide!"

Although I was worried by what Jenna was saying, I was even more anxious due to the way she said it. She sounded frantic, desperate, and I had begun to share some of her panic.

Jenna ran over to the area where the fountain had once been, and I saw that there was a hole in the ground three feet square. I quickly followed her, seeing that there was no time to waste.

Was it a bit reckless to do so? Sure. But, more than anything else, I wanted to avoid being seen by other people as much as possible. First I'd come to this town where nobody wanted me, and now I'd made a statue move.

So that's great. Just great. Now how am I supposed to act natural?

I saw Jenna sit down next to the hole and then climb down a ladder that led into the unknown. I waited until she had reached the bottom, and then I did the same, careful not to sit on my tail again.

It was a long way down; if I had to guess, maybe about fifty feet below the Central Square. Rather than getting darker and darker as I climbed down the ladder, it got lighter, as though there were light from some other source down here.

Once I reached the bottom, Jenna looked at me with a severe expression on her face. It was clear that she was not happy.

"What have you done? Now we have to hide here!" she hissed. "Your little stunt with the fountain isn't going to be forgotten easily!"

Never piss off a female Zoroark. You will live to regret it. That was another lesson that I'd have to learn fast.

"So where are we now?" I asked her. "How are we going to get out?"

"Not the way we came. Central Square is too obvious; they'll be looking for us there".

"Who's they?"

Jenna shrugged. "The authorities won't be too happy with you. They probably won't lock you up, but they might. They want to have a tight control over anyone they see as a threat, and you are definitely a threat".

"What do you mean? I'm not the villain, I'm the victim!"

Really, I felt it quite unfair that Jenna seemed to be blaming me for the situation. Yeah, I had moved the fountain, but in my defense, I didn't know my own strength. That wasn't a mistake that I would let myself make again.

"Be quiet!" she whispered. "We're close to the dark market!"

Wait...dark market?

I listened and heard plenty of footsteps, as well as the sounds of what might have been a Ponyta-drawn carriage making its way down a stone street.

But we're underground...how could that possibly be?

"Follow me" Jenna said.

I saw that the bottom of the ladder was at the start of a narrow tunnel. Fortunately, it was just wide enough for us to pass through without touching the walls. The walls looked very grimy, as though they hadn't been washed in some time.

The ground itself was rather slippery as well, partly covered in moss. I wasn't entirely sure how moss grew in such an urban environment, but it was probably the first natural green that I'd seen since I had arrived in Skylock.

She led me down the tunnel and to another, perpendicular tunnel that had what appeared to be a viewing window along the wall.

"That's the dark market down there" Jenna told me. "All sorts of illegal goods are sold, and it's the area with the highest level of crime in all of Ilion".

"If we go to the window, can they see us?" I asked her. Even though I'd probably be pushing my luck by having us do so, I was very curious.

"Probably not" the Zoroark girl replied. "The windows are a good fifty feet above the market, so we should be safe. I just really hope that we aren't seen, because the types that congregate in the dark market are even more hostile towards those like you.

"By all means, though...let's go the window and see".

We inched up to the viewing window. From this vantage point, I could see quite a lot. Unlike the Temple of the Fox, however, it wasn't a pleasant view.

Far below us, there were dozens of kiosks selling things like erotic magazines, Lucario blood, exotic Pokemon furs, and more. I won't go into detail, because it was all highly disturbing.

People and even a few Pokemon were walking around, talking about things that I couldn't make out, but they were probably discussing illegal activities.

The whole area was lit by makeshift streetlamps that glowed a ghostly white color, which added to the ominous scene. The lamps almost seemed to be taunting you, they were so creepy.

I backed away from the window, wishing I could burn the scene out of my eyes.

"Yeah, it's really sick and twisted" Jenna told me. "Sorry I didn't warn you beforehand".

I shook my head. "It's quite all right. I should have figured that any place called the dark market would be disturbing".

I wonder if any of the people in the market are minions of Matamoros.

It was only a passing thought, and I didn't act on it. Even if those shopping at the dark market were clearly not good people, I didn't want to fire off an Ember or a Flame Charge at them and kill the whole crowd.

Does that make me a pacifist? Yes, I suppose it does. Not only did I not want to kill unnecessarily, but I also remembered Jenna's advice. Never draw any more attention to myself than I absolutely had to.

Wait a minute...can I even use Ember or Flame Charge?

I tried to remember the entirety of a Braixen's learnset, but after what I had just seen, this wasn't an easy task. I was reasonably certain they could use those two moves, as well as Scratch, Tail Whip, and Howl. But, for obvious reasons, I didn't use any of these moves.

I should probably try that out sometime. See if I have the full learnset of a regular Braixen, or if I'm somehow different.

"We should get out of here" Jenna said. "If they notice you…", she didn't need to finish that sentence.

"I know" I replied. "Can we head back up the ladder?"

She shook her head. "There will probably be a huge crowd there, and we want as few people to see you as possible. Fortunately, there's another way back to the surface".

I allowed Jenna to lead me into another dark, dank underground corridor. This one had a few torches lighting the walls, which made me more than a little nervous. If one of those small fires got out of hand, the whole tunnel could burn down.

We walked for what felt like a very long time, but was probably not a very long time in actuality. It just felt that way due to how scared I was of all those torches.

But I'm a Fire type now, I thought. I shouldn't be afraid of fire.

And yet, the fear remained. I tried not to think about it too much, but I'm pretty claustrophobic in general; I hate tight spaces that I might get stuck in. My biggest fear, right now, was that the ceiling would cave in and crush us.

At a certain point, we reached a lighter part of the tunnel, where the torches were greater in number. At the end of the tunnel, there was a spiral staircase leading upwards; it looked rather slippery, and, what was more, there was no railing.

"This looks really sketchy!" I exclaimed aloud. "I can't believe I'm about to climb a staircase with no railing".

Jenna turned to face me. "The options are either this or stay underground and eventually get seen by a shopper at the dark market. By the way, that's a matter of when, not if".

I sighed. When Jenna Izola had made up her mind, there was no arguing with her. "I'll do it".

As soon as I stepped onto the first stair, I slipped on some of the water that had seeped in from above. I flailed my arms around like windmills, trying to avoid falling; luckily, I was able to do so, but I accidentally hit Jenna's large crimson ponytail.

"Ow!" she exclaimed. "That really hurt!"

"Yes, sorry about that. Just trying to keep my balance is all".

"Hmmph".

The spiral staircase led up five stories. At each level, there was a doorway leading to another corridor. Thankfully, we didn't pass anyone on the way up, nor did anyone else seem to see us.

After five rotations, I could see a small light in the distance that looked like sunlight. I asked Jenna if that was it.

"Yes" she replied. "That's one of the small, rocky beaches near here. But watch your step, because this is even more slippery than a bar of soap".

Sure enough, every several steps, I slid, either forwards or backwards. As we got closer to the end of this tunnel (which wasn't lit by any torches), more and more junk became visible. Abandoned Pokeballs, abandoned books...what looked like several decades' worth of abandoned items littered the floor and walls. It was pretty gross.

Once we reached the end of the tunnel, I had to close my eyes; it was very bright.

"Here we are" Jenna told me. "Welcome back to the surface".

I looked around and saw that we had arrived on a small, narrow, sandy beach. However, this wasn't exactly an ideal place to hang out, because there were rocks covered in seaweed all over said beach. We were also right next to the shadow of a dock that was ten feet above us.

"Thanks for getting me back here" I replied. "Really; sorry I complained earlier, and sorry for hitting your ponytail".

Jenna shook her head. "It's really no problem. Just be more careful in the future".

It was then that I remembered something else. It hadn't seemed important at first, but it sure seemed important to me now, and I figured that I might as well tell the Zoroark girl while I still remembered it.

"Jenna", I said, "there's something I have to tell you".

Here's my announcement: Immediately after publishing this chapter, I will put a poll on my profile. If you'd like me to make a Discord server for Temple of the Fox, please vote yes. If I get ten votes for "Yes", I will create the server. As always, my contact info is in my profile page as well if you'd like an invite.

Stay safe out there, and I'll see you guys next time.