Pokémon Chronicles - Web of Lies

by Eric566

Three years after the disbandment and defeat of Team Uncario, the members of Team Star find themselves thrust back into stardom after a succesful mission in dealing with an unexpected menace. However, the fall of the last of the Dark Eons and this new achievement has stirred new enemies from the ends of the world, and re-ignited the fires of an empire best forgotten. Sequel to AHR.

11. Chapter 8 - The Grave

Hey guys!

So I wanted to upload this chapter on the anniversary of this fic, already a full year, and while in chapters it's not as long as the first part, in terms of actual length, it is comparable by what it was back then! Sadly, it's not at the same pace, but at the very least you guys are getting more content… though that is something I wanted to ask: would you guys prefer shorter, more frequent chapter uploads, or these massive chapters that come out a month or so?

Then again, I've barely seen anyone reviewing, sometimes I get extremely unmotivated and I find it hard to write… But oh well, I suppose the show must go on for the people who read but don't review.

As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys later!

PS: Re-uploaded several times to fix stupid FFN formatting issues. Thanks for making this easier, FFN -.-

---

Chapter 8

The Grave

Deep inside the forgotten city, find the coffin of steel

Eric sighed as they waited around the porch of Slew's house. The four remaining team members had been waiting there for about fifteen minutes for Slew to gather his things, Elly having gone inside to help him out with this task, leaving her mate, Zed and Lucy outside to entertain themselves by silently staring off into the horizon, most likely rethinking their decisions that morning, Eric sighing as he leant back of the steps that lead up to the porch, twirling around his scarf in his paw. "Well, there's a chance that whoever we find over there isn't that crazy bastard…"

"Or maybe it could be him and his entire team, and we get gutted." Lucy as usual, could not see either the funny or optimistic side of this mission, on her four legs, poking around the ground and sticking her claws between the floorboards, whilst Zed laid on the railing, simply being quiet, bags under his eyes. Neither of them had said a word the entire morning, and the air around them was a pretty good indicator that last night had been rough for them. Eric considered getting up to pet and cheer up his friend, but decided to not do so, remembering the position he'd fallen asleep before.

"Yeah, maybe. So we'll just have to stay on our toes, and if things go south, we'll have to escape. I've been down there before, and so has Elly: the whole place is like a maze of roads, wreckage and ruined buildings, the landscape can work to our advantage and…"

"That's if we even get to use them! If you don't remember, this guy can just teleport right in our faces and cut us down to size! Hell, almost did it to you one time, remember?!" She looked at Zed. "And you almost lost your forelegs, and now you want to go up against him again?!" As she reminded him of this, the Zorua clenched his paws around the areas that had been wounded in the past, leaving him essentially crippled and unable to walk. That had been one of the most terrifying moments in his life… and it was obvious he was shaking in his boots with the prospect of facing off against the Pursuer again.

"Ye-yeah, I remember all that, but I need t-to be strong this time. Last time, others were hurt when I couldn't stand up and I c-can't do that now!" His speech came out rushed and contradicting his body language, which just made Eric feel even worse about dragging his best friend and the unamused Shinx into this. However, he kept reminding himself, and them sometimes, that this was their profession, this was their job, and it had its risks.

"Can't always be rainbows and sunshine…" He muttered to himself, remaining quiet after that little confrontation before Elly walked out, and behind her, the Slowking was following her… with a bag that nearly tripled his height. "Ummm… are ready then?"

"Yeah, yeah…" She sighed, fixing her fur collar. "We just had to pack about fifty different books and some other non-descript artifact and tool that Slew deemed 'indispensable' for his work in the ruins."

"Well, I do believe a few dictionaries are necessary! And worry not, I am using my psychic to keep this backpack from crushing me!" He chuckled as he walked forward and somehow made it down the steps, Eric rising up as Elly walked past him, the two sharing a brief glance and then looked at the other two, who moved in an almost lethargic manner.

"While we walk… you guys wouldn't mind if we do some experimenting, right?" Elly suddenly spoke up, surprising almost everyone, and even Eric, as her proposal came out of nowhere.

"What kind?" Lucy's tone was almost aggressive and antagonistic towards Elly, perhaps because she'd sided with her mate… which was understandable. Either way, the Eevee didn't take kindly to it, but opted to avoid further confrontation.

"Our powers. Yesterday we were inspecting that fragment and… we got knocked out, and when we woke up it was gone, and it feels like our powers have changed."

"Oh, your powers changed when playing with a fragment? Of what?"

Elly looked at Eric, and then looked at the others. "Ummm… it's a long story, we'll sum it up on our way there… and we'll do all the experimenting we want too." With this, the group set out, leaving town and walking a few feet, where they'd find a carriage that would take them further up north, trailing along the river, crossing over and travelling across the landscape. Not far to their left the ocean spread out, the entire Treasure Town area being a cape, which had recently been named Shark Cape, named after the almost world famous Sharpedo Bluff.

"It is always such a strange sight, to look at Treasure Town from this angle." The town was barely visible, overlooking the cliffside that descended to a much more rocky and untouched beach below, that spread out across the coastline, and either receded into the hard rock of the cliffs. A drop from such heights could potentially be fatal, but it all smoothed out as one approached the midsection of the region. There were no towns built along the road yet, but there were plans to do so. The "new continent" as it was called, had plenty of space for many villages and spreading civilization… though first society had to recover from the millions upon millions of dead from the previous great catastrophe.

Another common sight were abandoned villages, and just now, they were coming up to what seemed like an abandoned settlement, the carriage avoiding the road that leads to it, Elly shooting a furtive glance at it. "It's an area of Sinnoh we don't usually come to…"

"And for good reason." Lucy sentenced, getting real nervous and fidgety, most likely because not too far up north was the Savannah and the amp plains, where she came from, and if her surprise visit from her mother the day prior was anything to go by, she didn't want to come even close to her family.

The hours passed, and the carriage moved at quite a brisk pace, the landscape changing, from grassy hills and cloudy skies, to a more dry landscape, with grass slowly fading away, revealing the dirt and rocks underneath, bushes spread out across the landscape, and the sun shining down on them. It wasn't long before the carriage stopped, and the group stepped out.

They'd reached the desert's border, sand already making the trip further inland extremely difficult, so from there on out, they'd have to walk. They thanked the Zebstrikas with the carriage and they left to head towards Voltaire, where their next clients awaited. After eating lunch and drinking some water, the group felt prepared enough to head into the desert. As they walked, there wasn't much conversation, even as Slew tried to start something up, still unaware of the conflict and discussions that had taken place the previous day. Eric and Elly fell back as they slowed down to make progress with their experimenting.

"Ok, so…" As he began to speak, he noticed that Elly's gaze was lost on Zed and Lucy, and his mate tapped her side to ask her what was wrong.

"I'm just worried about them, and whether or not this was the right thing to do, pulling them along for this, splitting up the team…"

"Elly, not you too." He sighed, and he looked away, stopping and rubbing his nuzzle. "I don't need to be reminded time and time again that I'm not making the right decisions when I know that myself, but what the hell do you want me to do. I can't turn down Slew, because this is already pretty critical, and what happened in Evergreen was a last minute announcement, and we can't afford to let the Judges get away with that." He got defensive and sprung up against her.

"Hey, I'm not blaming you for anything Eric, but I don't think forcing everyone and telling them 'You are part of the team, this is our job' is a good way to get people to comply with what you're saying."

"Then what do you suggest I did? Give me one option that doesn't make me look like the bad guy." His arms slumped to his sides, frowning. "Come on!"

"Eric, calm down, I don't think of you as the bad guy or the villain here. Nobody is, it's just something that happens. But what you are is partially responsible for how you handle the team and the missions we take, and as your mate and co-leader, I don't think what you did either yesterday or today was a good way to handle it."

"Yeah, right… You say that because you don't have everyone looking at you." He outright glared daggers, which made her eyes widen. Realizing what was happening, he closed his eyes, sighed and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle again. "Alright, let's… drop this. This conversation ends now, we just do some training, understand how our powers work now, and get ready for whatever may happen." Elly opened her mouth to counter, but opted to stay quiet and not drag out the issue any longer. Sighing, she offered herself up to be the first to try out their powers.

And so they began to experiment. Their "base" spells, those beings that manifested themselves from simply thinking of their concept, or using those spells, were seemingly gone, albeit those that combined with aura in Eric's case, and psychic in Elly's case, were still there, and felt less straining on their bodies than before. In fact, Eric had a new one, as he'd figure out when he combined it with their new element. He thought back to the freezing chill and cold calculations that they'd undergone during their trial, focusing on that cold… and the aura sphere changed shapes and forms, becoming a sort of trapezohedron, with multiple faces that kept spinning.

"Woah… This is a new one." He called Elly's attention to it as he held out the attack. "Ok, I'm going to release it, so step back." The Eevee did as she was told as he aimed away from the group ahead, then let go of the sphere, which shot forward at a moderate speed, hitting the sand. As is did, there was a shattering noise, and shards of what looked like glass shot out, but the sphere itself rebound upward and towards the sky, before it simply burst into larger and more dangerous shards, raining down like teardrops.

"It… bounced?" Elly commented, then came up with another idea to test how far it would go: She used her dark matter to create a series of walls. "Alright, aim it properly, and get it to bounce, and we'll see how far it goes." He nodded, and readied another sphere. On the count of three, he released it as both he and Elly took cover, it bounced once, losing what seemed like a side, then another, and on the third, it shattered completely. "Three bounces… did you see that? It had six faces with five sides each, then went to a cube, then a pyramid, then broke."

"Ummm… no, not really, I was too busy shielding my eyes in case it went wrong… But I'll take your word for it. I'll call it Glass Sphere then, for obvious reasons."

She narrowed her eyes, looking at him smugly. "You're so bad at naming things, it's almost hilarious."

"Hush you. Now, what about your powers?" She nodded, and focused her thoughts on the same thing Eric did, following his instructions… and apparently, nothing noticeable happened, or at the very least, not until she put her paw on the path of sand that she'd focused on, at which point she noticed that it was really cold. In fact, for a second she didn't realize that she'd lowered the temperature by quite a lot, as it burnt her paw quite bad.

"Ouch! It's… cold?" Her brain was having trouble catching up with the confusing signals that her senses were sending it. Eric walked over and did the same, pulling his hand back and nodding, confirming what they'd just felt.

"It's like you've frozen it over, like the opposite of your pyrokinesis."

"There's a name for that then: Cryokinesis." She made it sound really smart, feeling kind of proud of it, making Eric roll his eyes. "What?"

"You complain I'm horrible at making names, but you don't even bother to try and come up with something interesting, and instead go with the boring, normal term for the thing. How's that any better than what I do?" He shrugged as he started walking, having to pick up the pace after having messed around with their powers for so long.

"Oh shush, it sounds much better than an orb that's made out of glass, and if there's a proper term for the ability, why would I not use that name."

"Because it's your technique, and you have to make it your own! But whatever, it's your call what you want to name your powers." He was straight up teasing her with his sarcastic tone and words, but nevertheless she stood her ground, and decided to dismiss his words, thinking that his annoyance from the previous conversation was dripping down into this one. Eventually, the others reappeared in view, having taken a pit stop to wait for the duo to catch.

"Had your fun back there?" Lucy's sardonic tone went ignored by them, as Elly walked up to her friend and ushered her to walk forward with her, whilst Eric stayed back with Zed and tapped his shoulder, asking his dark type pal how he was doing.

"You had a bit of a strong moment yesterday. Had a rough night?" The Zorua looked up at him, nodding slowly and sighing, kicking the shifting sand underneath their paws.

"I can barely get through to Lucy anymore… as if yesterday wasn't enough, what with what happened with her mother and all, being taken on a mission that none of us want to do, and strung along like this… Well you already know what she's like Eric. And if you think she's being unbearable right now…" He fell silent, not wanting to talk behind his mate's back, but the Riolu could already imagine how exhausting and stressful discussing with Lucy behind closed doors was.

"Hey, come on. It's just a rough patch is all, I'm sure that when she calms down and inevitably forgets about her mother she'll be more willing and open to speak. I'd recommend you try and steer clear, because we both know how abrasive she can be when she's angry but…" He looked at her, grabbing and readjusting his bag, sighing. "She's your mate, and I'm pretty sure you know her better than Elly or I do."

"You say that but… She's just been acting in a really weird way as of late, you know?" He fell silent, as if waiting for Eric to ask what was wrong, which he did, but blushed and looked around, making sure that nobody could hear them. "W-well… Can you stay quiet about this? Not even Elly can know this." Eric nodded, holding his paw forward and putting it over his chest.

"Not a soul."

"Alright…" He bit his lower lip, blushing even more and stuttering out some words. "W-well, um y-you see she and I we h-have been m-m-mating a lot. L-like… a lot." Eric rose an eyebrow.

"Ummm… and? Don't get me wrong, but that's exactly what Elly and I do, much to everyone's dismay apparently, and we don't do it every day, even if what Serge claims he 'hears' makes you think otherwise."

"W-well, the thing is, it's d-different now." His stuttering was very prominent now. "L-l-li-like, she just does it because she h-h-h-h-has to."

"Because she has to?" His eyebrow rose even higher. "Now that's just confusing, especially considering who it is we're talking about here. You guys took forever to actually turn the tie and make it official, and as far as I know it wasn't just you who wasn't too keen on going the whole way with her. What makes you think that she feels obligated to do this kind of stuff?"

"I don't know! That's the thing, at first it felt nice, but as time went on there's…. ugh, it feels like there's no love in it y'know? We get together in bed, and… Ummm…" He blushed again. "Sorry but do you mind if I describe it? Like, everything we do, so you can get a better idea of what I m-m-m-mean." Eric had to hold back a big grin, as he did find the situation kind of funny, instead nodding and patting him with a more sincere smile. "Alright well, I may try to kiss her, try to get her into the mood, to start something… Just like you told me back in the day."

"Oh yeah yeah, I…" He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling. "I did tell you to do that… man, how long has it been? 3 years almost?"

"Don't know, but even then I don't do what you told me exactly... anyways, that's not the point! Point is, I'm not trying to mate with her, I'm trying t-to… t-t-t-t-to…" He swallowed. "M-make l-l-l-l-l-l-love to her…" It seemed that Zed's temperature was surpassing that of the sand below him. "But every time I try to be tender she just… pushes me away, gets me on my back, and does it. And once it's over, she lays down, and very rarely returns my kisses. I just… don't know what it is, if I'm doing something wrong, if she's bored with me, if I don't satisfy her, I…" He was getting very heated, and Eric quickly reached into his bag and handed him a bottle of water, letting the Zorua sit down and drink until thirst was sated, and his worries were slightly washed away. "Thanks."

"Saw you were getting heated, thought it would help. Regardless, this kinda… leaves my field of expertise." He rubbed his chin as he thought. "Knowing you, I doubt you've done anything to upset Lucy so much to the point of… well, her doing all this. And whenever Elly's gotten upset the last thing she wanted to do was mate, so… I haven't got a clue how to help out, man." Zed looked down at the ground, Eric trying to comfort him with his paw, patting his back. "Why didn't you tell me all of this last night?"

"Well, I kind of did… just not the specifics of it I guess. I just… wish I knew what was going on in her head, so I could understand and help her is all." Eric patted his back, feeling frustrated that the only thing he could help his friend with was just some generic advice.

"Is… something the matter?" They both turned to face to the right of Eric as Slew slowly approached them. "The girls simply didn't want me around them it seemed, and you boys seem to be locked in an intense discussion. Is something the matter?"

"Oh, nothing important Slew, just… a bunch of things is all, and us going on this mission's made things even harder."

"Aaah, yes, the whole splitting up the team thing you told me about this morning… Once again, I am terribly sorry, had I known all of this in advance I would've asked for help somewhere else." Him saying that just drove the point that Elly, Lucy, Nox… just outright almost everyone in the team had driven forth earlier that morning.

"No, absolutely not. We are interested in this mission personally, and you're an old friend. The last thing we should do is turn you away in your time of need."

"Yes, I do see that, but there would've been no harm done had you said no, I would've understood, given the circumstances. I would've had to discuss and pull on Ferrus' leg, but I'm sure he would've allowed some other explorers to help, even with his extremely pressing matters…"

"Wait, how do you know about that?" Eric suddenly asked, the archeologist chuckling.

"Well, I have kept in touch with him, he has been a great friend ever since the invasion in Treasure Town, and he has provided with resources and men, just some to get by is all…"

"In exchange for what?"

"Hm?" The Riolu's follow-up question caught him off-guard. "Oh, just a favor from a friend is all, nothing else." The way he quickly answered the question, even after that initial reaction was definitely suspicious, but Eric opted not to press the issue further… for the time being. "Well, still, what it is that has you two so caught up? I could not help but overhear some of the conversation, my apologies Zed." He only got a blush and a nod as a response. "And I hear that this all has to do with female woes?"

"Sort of? It's a bit of a confusing case, but we're trying to figure it out."

"Aaah, I see… well, I was married for about twenty years before my love was roughly taken away. A shame, but I conserve those memories of happier times, and I shall live with them by my side. Regardless, I was with my mate for far longer than you two combined, so I might be able to help with these matters." Eric turned to look at Zed, who just stared at his friend, still embarrassed beyond belief, but… Slew was a very good friend of his and Lucy's, and they'd helped save town so… He reluctantly sighed, and trusting his friend, he confided everything he'd just said to him, starting a debate between the three males as to where the root of the problem was.

Meanwhile, Elly had already stepped way ahead of them and was talking with Lucy, in fact had started the instant she'd caught up with her, a few minutes ago before Eric and Zed began their discussion. "So, mind telling me what your whole deal is? You've been nothing but a jerk, for lack of a better word, ever since your mother came around, and you keep berating Eric and I as if it were our fault." She was direct and to the point, because she knew that Lucy hated beating around the bush about these types of arguments.

"Well, let me sum up exactly all that's happened, so you can get a good understanding of why I'm this pissed off with the world." She looked at her, coughed and then began counting off everything, but not before glaring at Slew as he slowed down, trying to join the conversation, traded a look with both females… and then kept slowing down, past them with just a nod of his head in the form of greeting. "Well, let's see: I almost fucking died two weeks ago, and mind I am still getting nightmares about that, Zed has been acting extra weird and on the defensive with me, my absolute whore of a mother just had to come by and rub salt in the wound and remind me of why I hate her, and now not only are we going on what's essentially a suicide mission, but we're also going there without the others! So all in all, it's been a pretty shit month so far!"

Elly just listened to her list off stuff, and when she was done she rolled her eyes. "That all? Thought you'd add that you were in heat or something."

"Oh fuck you, I thought you were supposed to be my friend, not here to be a bitch to me!"

"Look who's talking! You're the one who's been bitching ever since yesterday, and you're making us, your friends, pay it for some reason! Two weeks ago all of us almost died, Jake was actually dead for about five seconds before Zed and Vincent resuscitated him, and needless to say, I don't think either Zed or Jake have had peaceful sleep involving that. In fact, I don't think Jake's been sleeping every day since, I've caught him taking sleep preventing medication." The Sneasel's weird sleeping schedules and mannerisms were known by all in the house… but Lucy wasn't so easily convinced.

"Y-you can't prove anything! Zed had some problems, for sure, but he's improved, and I doubt someone like Jake would be shaken just like that. And what are you trying to get at? Make me feel worse than I already do, try to use them as an example of how I should behave? That's not gonna work, because I ain't them, and I'm pretty sure that they don't have to deal with the same issues I have to!"

Elly groaned. "Would you just let me finish? I'm trying to make you empathize with us, so you don't jump the gun and blame us for things that we aren't responsible of… like yesterday, with your mother. Zed told Eric that you two had a strong discussion yesterday after he tried to help you." The frown on her friend's face made Lucy look away. "He's only trying to help you Lucy, he's worried for you. He's your mate for crying out loud, so why did you snap so violently at him?"

"Because… Ugh!" She was growing tired, facing her and snarling. "Why do you care?! You have Eric, you two can stay in your lovey dovey dream realm, and be an insufferable pairing… But I see it! I see through all of it!" With that last sentence, she rushed ahead.

"Hey! Lucy! Lucy!" She tried to catch up, but the electric type was just faster, eventually becoming a dot in the horizon as she walked alone, separated from the others, but remaining in sight. She wasn't so stupid as to completely disappear, but even as Elly tried to talk with her through telepathy, she wouldn't respond. "Idiot…" She muttered under her breath, the other guys catching up, probably to ask what had happened. "I see through all of it… through what?" Lucy had most likely intentionally run away after that, and looked incredibly distressed.

As Eric, Zed and Slew caught up, she went over what happened, though skipped most of the more intimate details, not wanting to out her friend in front of the males, including that last line. "Honestly, I don't blame her for being so stressed out, with all that's happened… and we all know just how much trouble she has admitting she's at fault." They all just looked ahead at her, and Elly sighed, calling everyone off and saying that they'd be fine when they got to Crimsand.

The grains of sand underneath them, crimson like rose petals, shifted and washed over them like a dry blanket, getting into their furs or clothing articles, having put away everything that wasn't glued to their skin, and now their bags felt heavier and more obnoxious than before. Elly offered them some shade with her dark matter, and carried the bags with her psychic powers. "Oh, I am more than happy that you're willing to help me carry all this Elly, but I hope I am not intruding or burdening you too much with all these bags."

"Well, it's not like they're all incredibly heavy, just about a ton weighing down on my mind, and I know for sure they're gonna give me a bigger migraine than dealing with all this drama's given me…" She felt the weight of the bags on her mind being lifted as Slew joined in to help her, something she deeply appreciated as she mostly kept them all hidden from the merciless light of the sun. The Shinx ahead of them slowed down as well, and after what felt like an eternity she fell back with the group, hiding under the shade, where Zed gave her some water, which Elly cooled with her brand new powers.

"So that's what you got? The power to freeze things and the power to throw spheres made out of glass?" Lucy asked, then let out a sarcastic laugh. "Oh yeah, that's totally gonna keep us alive against whoever this guy is."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully it does help keep ourselves alive… asides from that, not much has changed."

"So you've basically lost some of your powers and only gained one? Yeah, we're totally fucked…" She was being obnoxiously negative now, to the point where it was getting under Eric's skin again, though he opted to stay quiet to avoid further confrontation, and weight what she was saying: had they really only lost, or had they gained abilities in an area they hadn't yet thought of?

Elly too, was thinking about this, and tried to recall her shadow clone, which was still what she got when she combined her shadow ability and her psychic… but with the unseen effect that the dark matter above them suddenly changed color. Everyone looked up, confused, and saw that the dark matter had seemingly… gone see through? They could see the sky above them, but the light of the merciless sun wasn't getting through. "Ummm… Elly what are you doing?" The question got the Eevee confused, and as Zed motioned upwards with his head and she looked up, she was further puzzled by what was happening to her dark matter.

"What the…" She lowered it, and as it moved, it changed colors, now perfectly replicating the sand and horizon in front of them. It was barely visible, save for a few imperfections, which she quickly cleared out as she focused further. The result was impossible to tell apart by the naked eye, save for Elly, who could tell where it was, and Zed, whose eyes were adapted to distinguish illusions from reality. "Ok, that is definitely new. Eric never told us we could do this with our powers."

"To be perfectly honest, we did get these powers after he died, but…" He tried to do the same with his light staff… but it simply didn't work. "Huh? Nothing' happening on my end."

"Whatever they are, that's definitely handy… it'll help us hide when the bad guys appear." Lucy was impressed, but she wasn't about to show it, and didn't think that some blanket to hide themselves would do much in the way of combat. Eric, annoyed, rolled his eyes and tried his next essence, which would be fire… the moment he did, his staff would go from bright white to flaming red, as it would lose its rigidness and go limp in his grasp. "Woah… Yeah I'm not even gonna make a joke about that one, though if Serge was here he'd definitely said something."

"Oh shut up, Lucy." He retorted, swinging it around, watching the limp staff extend and retract with each movement. It was really flexible too, and with a flick of the wrist is smacked against the sand, flames, sparks and what looked like small grains of sand flying up before he flung it back, coiling it around his paw. "It's a whip completely wrapped in flames… a fire whip."

"I swear if you name it just Fire Whip I'm going to lose it." Elly said, his mate turning to face her as he stopped the flow of fire energy and the staff reverted to its original form.

"I'll name it whatever I want, it's my power for Arceus' sake! And what are you going to call your new power, eh?" The others just exchanged looks of confusion, unaware of the couple's inside jokes.

"Well, I'm going to call mine Mirage Matter. Much more refined and interesting than fire whip, and it also describes exactly what it does." The two of them went back and forth, arguing that their names were better, until they finally turned to their companions. "Who's got the better names?"

"H-huh?!" Lucy didn't know what to answer, the situation catching her completely off guard, whilst Zed and Slew pronounced themselves in favour of the Riolu and the Eevee respectively. "I… Ok this isn't the time to be discussing this stuff, we're headed towards our doom!"

"W-well Lucy, if they have new powers, i-it could mean the edge we need to s-survive! Besides it's just for the h-heck of it." His stuttering had definitely gotten much worse than before, and she turned to look at their leaders, and looked between the two…

"Yeah sorry, but 'fire whip' is kinda shit."

"Yeah!" Elly smiled and rose her paw to high five her friend… but she wasn't exactly in the mood for celebrations either, and so she was left hanging there. "Regardless, I can't do anything with fire either, so… next one is… water?" The dark matter changed, this time become see through, but was easily visible, as it was gelatinous and trembled with the wind, as if it were a mass of water suspended in the air. They all looked at it as it moved about, placing it on the ground as it slowly became more and more compressed, stretching outward, but the moment she let go at least a bit it would spring back to its normal shape.

"It's very elastic it seems…" Eric poked it, as it bent, and kept pushing further and further against it, kicking it… and the moment he'd lift even his paw or a larger part of his weight, it would sling backwards into its normal shape, and launch him backward across the sand, landing on his back a foot away from him. "Very elastic yeah… Ow." His fur was covered in sand, dusting himself off as he approached the group again. "Got a name for it?"

"Well, if I did, I certainly wouldn't share it for you, you'd just trash on it."

"Oh come on, don't be like that. I won't be too angry if you call it Water Wall or something like that." She reached for him and hit his side with her paw, making him chuckle and snicker.

"Whatever. Hmmm… I think I'll take a pass on naming it for now. All that comes to mind are things like Aqua Wall and Elastic Barrier, and I'd rather just not call it that." Eric's gaze on the back of her neck narrowed, and she could tell he was glaring dagger at her. She didn't care, instead waiting for him to try the same element. To their dismay, it didn't work, and neither did wind, which in contrast, worked with Elly, the dark matter disappearing almost completely again, replaced by a roaring gust of wind that she could move at a whim. Once again, no name outside of wind wall, so she opted to leave it nameless for the time being, to further Eric's annoyance.

"Right, all that's left is the new element, Ice… You think it'll work for both of us?" He inquired, holding out his staff.

"Only one way to find out…" They reached for their powers, the group having taken a brief stop to rest and hydrate whilst Eric and Elly discovered their new powers… and this time, it was Eric's staff that changed, glowing a soft cyan blue as it changed shapes into a single edged blade, the other being rather blunt, about the same length as the normal staff, and slightly curved outwards with the edge. "Damn it. Please don't call it Ice Blade…"

"Ice Blade." He did it just to spite her, making her groan and ending their little break. "Alright so, I think we ended up losing more powers than we gained, but these new powers seem to be a lot more flexible than the old ones… also, why did you get more powers than I did?"

Elly shrugged, trying to think about it. "I mean… I got shadows, water and wind. Don't really see a relation there between them, but fire and ice are opposites..." She racked her brains for a while, but eventually gave up.

"We'll think about it when we have the time, right now, we need to get a grasp of all these things, specially if we're to use them coming up…" His statement didn't receive any answers or responses: just the unsettling silence that had accompanied them through those arid hills.

"Slew, how far away are we from Crimsand?" Eric asked, voicing everyone's questions, since they were running out of water and all of them felt slightly winded from the trip.

"Should be just ahead, and from there it'll be a short walk to the archeological site." The Slowking had pulled out a map, and noted that they were leaving the more sand filled region of the desert and entering the badlands. Shortly after, they would find that old road that Eric recognized well, and the signposts that lead one to Crimsand.

"Elly, it's your first time coming here, right?" Eric asked, the Eevee nodding in response.

"Well, technically I've been here before, when I came with Grovyle and the human Eric, though we never stopped in town, we kept going straight into the desert's depths."

"Lucy and I came with the human Eric to try and find Nymphe, back when we needed help for that army."

"Ooooh, yeah, that whole bar fight… I remember that. Wait, it's the same town?!" Just now, she seemed to have realized where they were going exactly.

Slew chuckled at her response. "Not exactly. It has changed over the years, become more oriented to providing services and help to weary travellers venturing the desert, mostly us archeologists. Here we'll meet up with my colleagues and we'll head straight for the ruins. Trust me, we won't have to walk through some sandstorm or valley. There's no way you can miss them now as they are." He remained cryptic, chuckling to himself as the others simply exchanged looks of confusion, walking down that road. The sun was now past it's highest point, and as Crimsand Town appeared on the horizon, the group realized just for how long they'd been walking and running.

Slew didn't lie when he mentioned that the town had noticeably changed: from being a breeding hole for criminals, as Eric had known it at first, it had been transformed into a much more respectable town, carriages, caravans and piles of rocks, metal chests and cases that were filled with documents and papers in varying states of decay, and most of all, bent rods and pieces of iron, rusted with time and mangled into almost unrecognizable shapes. One of these in particular brought with it broken glass shards, rotting matter, some kind of black velvet, torn to shreds.

"Goodness gracious! How did they get this one out?!" Slew inquired, utterly shocked at the monstrosity of metal before him.

"Well, it did take us about three days after you left!" A shape walked out from behind the mangled metal, a Sigilyph, who Slew recognized as a smile crept up to his face. "Two whole days to take this junk outta the pit, and then another to take it here! Just got here this morning, had to check if the boys had damaged the goods… But everything's in order!" The two of them smiled and embraced each other in an almost brotherly hug.

"Aaah, it may have been just five days, but I have missed you my friend." Slew said, turning to the others. "My friends, this is Professor Rubert, renowned Archeologist from Johto, pokémon explorer that has discovered a great deal of ruins all around our world, and a good friend of mine."

"Oh, such a long conversation… might as well say that I'm a father to four and consider myself the only "cool" archeologist in the world!" He hit his friend's back. "Seriously, while all these guys have their noses buried in books I'm out here unburrowing treasures! No wonder, I discovered a lot of ruins, I'm the only one who goes out to find them!"

"Yes, but you're also the only one who doesn't understand half of the human scripts we find. Not everything is in our language, Rubert." Slew chastised him, inspecting the metal structure, though the Sigilyph dismissed his words, shaking his head and as his pink friend looked away, he edged closer to the team.

"In reality he's just mad that I'm more popular with the workers… but hey, that's what happens when you aren't as appealing as cardboard!" He got a chuckle from Slew. "Regardless, you must be Team Star, correct? He mentions you guys every so often, saying one of you was the first to discover these ruins, thus taking away the glory and fame of uncovering them! So… whodunit?!" He crossed his wings in a rather comical fashion, obviously joking.

Eric rose his paw, chuckling. "That would be me. Had to come here to find one of the time gears. I'm Eric, co-founder and leader of Team Star." He extended his paw in formal greeting, and the Sigilyph shook it. "Those are Elly, the other co-founder, second in command and my mate." She nodded and shook paws with Rubert. "Zed, a good friend of ours, and Lucy, his mate." Both of them nodded and shook paws with him in that order.

"Wow, I feel like I'm in the presence of celebrities! Oh, also, thanks for saving our world. Do people do that often?" The perplexed look on their faces answered his question, laughing. "I'm guessing they don't do it as often as they should!"

"Damn right! Nobody gives a crap that we risked our lives to do it!" Lucy bumped her way forward, finally feeling vindicated and recognized. "It might've been our job, sure, but it still feels nice to feel like people care every once in a while!"

"Aaaah, but you see my friend, we all have our own worries in our daily lives, so it's not exactly on everyone's minds when they meet you lot. Still, I can imagine it'd be frustrating to not be recognized as the saviors you are… but I'm afraid the general public has grown ungrateful. Even if it is your profession and what you're supposed to be doing, receiving some thanks every so often goes a long way. Sadly I don't get to experience that, because who in the world thanks an archeologist for doing their job. Not the carcasses we find, that's for sure!"

That brand of dark humor didn't really resonate with anyone, so the group just chuckled out of respect. "Right… Anyways, so you're one of the archeologists in the human city site?"

"Yep, though we've been looking through the ruins and found what we think may have been the city's original name: Gerotha, so it's called the Gerothal Site amongst us now, and I'll be referring to it as such from now on, ok?" The others nodded. "Good, now the site itself isn't far away from Crimsand. Although the original entrance you found, which was at the bottom of a pit of quicksand, which I have to say… What the fuck were you thinking, jumping into a pit of quicksand like that, you nutjob."

"I… well I was chasing after the love of my life?" His response was less than satisfactory as Zed facepalmed, remembering the circumstances around him just leaving to the desert like that… so did Lucy apparently, as the Riolu would feel a jolt of electricity straight into his bottom half, making him yowl. "Oi!"

"You deserve it for that shitshow of a reaction you had when you found out Elly was alive and you wanted to go alone… Why did you even want to go alone in the first place?"

"I don't know! I was a kid, and in love! Can't really blame me for that."

He'd feel a wing being put on his shoulder, and he'd look at Rubert, whose eyes were somewhat teary. "Aaah, young love… I can already imagine, you looking at that pit, exclaiming her name, and diving in for no real good reason…" He faked a sniff. "Truly inspiring." An awkward silence followed, and he patted his shoulder. "Whelp, whatever, you contributed a great deal to the discovery of one of the most well preserved and important archeological sites in history, and your name will probably be in the history books before mine. Not that I am… jealous or anything like that." He tightened his wing around his shoulder as he said this, then smiled and broke away. "I jest."

"Alright, this guy keeps bouncing back and forth between weird, funny and creepy." Lucy's comment would resonate in their heads, the four pokémon unanimously agreeing with her. Either way, it didn't take long for Slew to come back, a carriage following right behind him.

"Alright, everything's ready. You guys need something to do here before we leave?" He inquired, and they were all about to say no, when Elly gasped.

"Wait, actually we need to get more water! If we'd forgotten we would've been in trouble."

"Yeah, but… we're in the middle of the desert. Where are we going to get any water?" Zed's question was swiftly answered by Rubert, who pointed at a bar. "Oh…"

"I'll go." Lucy offered, wanting to split off from the group, something that Eric didn't particularly find good, so he decided to tag along. "I said I'd go."

"Well you'll need help bringing back the bottles." Elly handed him theirs and the duo headed into the bar. "Well this brings back memories…" He opened the double swinging door to the saloon and walked inside. It had been remodelled and rebuilt, but it was essentially the same Saloon that he'd trashed.

"Really, you've been here too?" She asked, walking around the place. "We came here with the other Eric and he fuckin' just… trashed the place, fought a large Tyranitar and suplexed him in the middle of the road."

"Oh yeah, I heard him retell that story. I can't believe it was the same place too, they must've needed a fortune to rebuild everything after we were both done." The two of them delved deeper into the bar, and got to the bartender himself, sitting on four legged stools.

"Speaking of fortunes, have you seen what these guys are charging for water?!" Lucy's exclamation made him inch closer and looked at said prices, which made him sigh.

"Well it does make sense, since they are the only place in miles that sells it…" He rose his paw, and handed him their bottles, telling him to refill them if he would. They were moderately sized stainless steel bottles, capable of holding about 5 liters each. "Anyways… Lucy the other day and just now I was talking with Zed, and I have to ask… is something the m-"

"Please stick to your own problems, Eric." She immediately cut him. "The way Zed and I handle our relationship is our own private problem, and I already had a conversation with Elly earlier, and I really, really am not in the mood to deal with any of your guys' bullcrap right now."

"Oh? Then when will that be?"

"After we survive this mission, if we survive it." Eric leant away from her and looked around, thinking her words over. Besides them was a large Krokorok, absorbed in their drink, shooting glances at the two pokémon besides them, whilst there were noises and shouts coming from further beyond.

"What's this now, fuckin' drinking some juice?! Can't hold yer liquor ya wuss!?" Whoever those pokémon were they had a problem with the fact he wasn't drinking alcohol, something Eric found was frivolous. The verbose continued as he looked away and at the other side of the bar, where a Rhydon and a Nidoking were sitting side by side, discussing whether or not they should move out of Crimsand and go somewhere else. It was then that the sound of glass shattering would come from behind him, and both he and Lucy would turn to face the opposite direction: the Krokorok was standing up, and at his feet an unconscious Mankey, knocked out by a bottle of whiskey that had been smashed over their head.

"Hey!" Eric quickly called out, the Krokorok turning on a dime to face him, looking rather pissed off.

"Wot? The asshole was askin' fer it, can't just let him running lip and callin' people shit ya kno-" A howl echoed from behind them and a Hitmonlee rushed at her with a wooden stool, and smashed it down on their head… Only for the splinters and the wood to bounce off and splatter everywhere. The Krokorok barely even flinched, or recoiled in pain from a hit that with that much viscerality and aimed like that would've probably hurt or knocked them out. Instead, he turned around, and with a claw, gripped the seam of the Hitmonlee's bag, smiling.

"My turn." The Krokorok, whose grave voice gave the image that he was male, lifted them up from the ground with incredible ease, as if he weighed as much as a feather, walked to the middle of the bar, took a running start… and swung him under his arm as if he were a bowling ball and launched them out through the swinging doors and outside, cleaning their claws after they were done. "Oughta fuckin' stay outta here, ye basterd." At this point, the Riolu had had enough, getting up from his stool.

"Alright, sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop all this tomfoolery." He didn't even reach his waist, but Eric wasn't about to be intimidated by the massive pokémon with that cream colored belly and brown scales with black stripes.

"Oh yea? Watcha gonna do 'bout it then, ya midget? You oughta go back to yer gerlfriend there, lest I fix ya face up until ya nanny can't even tell your face apart from yer arse." Well, he certainly had some colorful vocabulary, and the fact that he'd interpreted Lucy as his girlfriend just made the whole thing even more insulting.

"...excuse me? Are you threatening me?"

"Maybe, if ya don't fuckin' leave me alone then I might."

"Alright, that's en-" He grabbed his wrist, and everything happened so quickly. He was lifted up by that massive Krokorok with insane ease, flung over his head. Reacting quickly enough, Eric pulled out his light staff and jabbed it into his face to vault over him, making him growl as he jabbed his nose.

"Ya fuckin'... Raaargh!" He lunged at Eric, who swung with his staff at his side… only for his weapon to strike against something so solid that it made him shake, the energy from his strike going to waste as the Krokorok attempted to grapple him. In reaction, Eric quickly swung upward with the other end of his staff, and the Krokorok grabbed it, struggling against the fighting type. "Noice stick! Wonder what'll happen if I…" He could feel his grip tightening around the length of his weapon, and to Eric's utter disbelief, he felt it budge and even shift under that grasp, as if he was cracking it!

Before anything else could happen though, another shout interrupted them, this time from the entrance of the saloon. "Eric! What the hell are you doing?!" Elly was standing there, looking beyond angry, especially when she found him fighting against someone they didn't even know, both him and the Krokorok looking at the normal type. "Come on, we don't have any time to waste, let's go!" Suddenly reminded of what they were supposed to be doing there, Eric dismissed his staff, and went to the stand to help Lucy grab their bottles, much to the Krokorok's disbelief as they walked past him. Outside, the Hitmonlee was still dazed, trying to find his bearings all the way on the other side of the road.

He found Zed was already on a carriage, looking at his three friends finally exiting the saloon. "There you guys are! What took you so long?!" Slew and Rubert poked out from the front of the carriage to look at the rest of the team members. Just as Elly was about to explain however, the Krokorok burst out, looking round and spotting the group getting up on the carriage.

"Oi! Oi! I ain't done with ya yet, get back here! Oi! Riolu!" He kept calling for Eric, unaware of who he was talking to in the first place.

"You may not, but I am done with you!" The Riolu shouted back, earning himself a punch to the side by Elly.

"Don't taunt him!" Her reprimand was drowned out by the shouts and exclamations from the Krokorok, who stomped the ground and called him back, challenging him to a proper fight, insulting him, his companions, and even the carriage they were in, calling it "a turd on wheels".

"Goodness gracious, what did the poor carriage do to him anyways?! Doesn't he know carriages have feelings?" Rubert's comment earned him some chuckles as the last words of the Krokorok echoed before his voice was drowned out by the growing distance and the turning wheels of the carriage.

"I'll fuckin' find ya, ya hear me! And I'll beat yer arse so bad ye'll be shittin' outta yer mouth!" And with that, they were either too far away to make out anything coherent from his shouting, or the wheels drowned out the noise

"Alright… That just happened, I guess." Lucy was the first to break the silence, calm returning to the group as they looked at Eric accusingly, the Riolu raising his arms.

"What? He was beating up people in that bar, I didn't want him to hurt someone too badly."

"And in the process let him beat you up?" Elly inquired, the Riolu raising a finger to try and defend himself… but his words died in his throat, simply groaning and falling back on his seat, crossing his arms and looking away.

"I had it under control, promise… He just surprised me, he was very tough, like he was made out of iron." He remembered the point where he'd struck his side, and how the vibrations had returned to him. He definitely hadn't struck that guy's flesh.

Not that it mattered at that point, they probably wouldn't run into him ever again, so the group relaxed and tried to keep their heads in the game, and remember why they were there in the first place. Of course, this only made Lucy nervous once more as she fidgeted around, looking outside as the desert shifted before their eyes, groaning and grumbling again. Since they had nothing to do, Eric and Elly opted to call the other group, who were all the way across the region. "You guys wanna tell Serge and the others something?"

"Yes, that we wish they could've come along and that before I die I want to reiterate how much of an asshole Jake is." Eric rolled his eyes, done trying to talk and listen to her rumblings and grumblings as he waved a dismissive paw at her, then looked at Zed.

"I umm… don't have anything to say." His response made Eric sigh as Elly focused to contact them, only to find that Serge was also trying to contact them too.

"We were just about to call you guys." Elly commented as the communication was established, though she noticed she was having some issues keeping it clear. "Huh… weird. It feels harder to talk with them now."

"Probably because we're nearing the buried city!" Slew chimed in from the front, sounding rather excited.

"Oh really? What, missed these voluptuous curves and soft feathers to carry your big furry ass, Elly?" He wasted no time getting under Eric's skin.

"I don't know if she's missed any of those, but I can tell you've been missing the feeling of a foot in your ass, Serge." Elly chuckled at this.

"Ah, Eric, as eloquent as ever! Tell me, have you tried carrying her around on your back? Or are you too accustomed to letting her ride you in bed? I'll warn you that the cowgirl position, while highly pleasurable and enjoyable for males, denotes only weakness in the face of the opposite sex."

"Alright, please shut up before I show you your weakness, Serge." The Eevee definitely wanted to kick his ass for that one. "Anyways, what's going on over there?"

"Any time Elly. And as for what's going on, we travelled for a few hours, arrived at the forest, had a lovely picnic with Tharmius and…" The Eevee's face paled when he said this.

"Oh Arceus, he's there?!" She ended up saying that both in the psychic link and out loud, which caught her companions off-guard. Eric quickly calmed them down, and summed up what Serge had just told them.

"They just ran into Tharmius when they got to the forest."

"Shit… What's that fucker doing there?!" Lucy's inquiry would go unanswered, since no one knew exactly what was going through the Kommo-O's mind.

Regardless, Eric sighed. "Of course he would… Please tell me you didn't argue too much with him. Or anyone there for that matter." There was a short awkward silence, in which Eric and Elly looked at each other, concerned.

"Well, referring to that I have some bad news and some terrible news." Eric sighed and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. It di

"...Arceus, if you're there, grant us strength. Alright, what the hell did you do Serge?" The fact that he could tell he smirking from just the smugness in his voice only helped Eric clench his fist and wish he were there in front of him so he could flatten that beak.

"Why, I asked Tharmius what he thought of the weather, and he decided to laugh evilly, like he does, and said he likes it more when the blood of the innocents is raining down on our heads." Eric and Elly rolled their eyes, clearly not amused."He also totally asked where you were, interested, and I do mean, very interested to know of your whereabouts." Elly shivered when she heard this, clearly uncomfortable to hear that Tharmius was still actively chasing them, or more specifically, her.

"And what did you tell him?" Elly quickly cut in.

"I told him that if he wanted to, he could go ask his mother about it. He must've loved his mummy a lot because he broke down crying and he took off running. After that we found the village and found out that they were just having a massive orgy, which we all joined in because that's what you do. Also, Nox lost his virginity." He didn't even get a single chuckle or smirk from either of the pokémon. Given what they knew, neither was in the mood for jokes.

"...You had us fooled until you said Nox lost his virginity. Now out with it, Serge." It seemed that the Pidgeot had caught on due to their deadpan tone.

"We exchanged a few words and death threats, told me he liked me, and I asked him for a fancy dinner. Not kidding that actually happened."

"Right… I think we got lucky that we didn't go there, things might've gone south if we did." She was still very much worried about their forced extended stay in Cunabula. "What else?"

"Well, after that, we went into the forest, got lost for a bit, then found a clearing, and we had a run in with my secret admirer." It was when he said this that his voice suddenly cut off, Eric and Elly looking at each other in confusion.

"What just happened? Did the link die?" Elly looked around, flabbergasted, as the others did the same, with Zed and Lucy quickly catching on that something was off. The carriage stopped just a few seconds later, and Rubert hit the top. "We're here, you lot!" They heard the sound of feet landing on the sand, and Slew opened the carriage curtains to let them out.

"Come on, we need to continue on foot. You'll see why."

"Can we um… take a few steps back, we were talking with a friend just now." Elly's request was granted, as Slew let them outside, she took a few steps, and sure enough, she managed to re-establish the communication. "Hey, we're back." She called once she knew that the Pidgeot was back in the line."We just got to the buried city and figured out why we can't communicate normally inside of it: it acts like a bubble that keeps psychic waves and probably any other sort of energy based wave within its confines, probably by disrupting it. A side effect of the Miasma I'm pretty sure… Serge?" It took her a few minutes to realize that the communication was dead again.

"Oh for the love of-" Eric took her and walked further away, and once they felt it worked, though once again, barely, he spoke. "Alright, we've moved further away. What was that about your fan?"

"Remember that pokémon that beat my face in back in Cunabula?" The Riolu's face visibly soured when he said this, already getting a slight idea of where this was going. "Turns out that they're Ayame Shimizu, and they're a mercenary out for my head for some reason. Apparently we're talking about sextuple digits… Heh, I said sex." His jokes came out more as obnoxious than anything else for the Riolu, who simply rolled his eyes.

"I thought you said that you had cut off and tied up all loose ends from back then."

"I did." Eric glared at Elly, a look that said that he didn't believe the Pidgeot now.

"So why is she after you?"

"I don't know." The Riolu rolled his eyes, about to cut him off then and there."I legitimately don't know why. I'm pretty sure she's found an old offer and hasn't caught up to speed. I managed to shake her off by telling her she could have part of the money from the expedition… if they even give us money. Either way, it's fixed now, so no worries for a while."

Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose, his mate looking at him with worry. There were definitely a lot of things to worry about now, most prominently the fact that there was someone completely unrelated hunting one of their companions down. "Right, nothing to worry about, whatever he says…" He sighed and returned to the psychic conversation. "We're gonna have to talk with her, we can't just pay her to leave us alone for a short while, we won't be able to sustain paying her with all of the expenses that team already takes care of… It cut off again didn't it?" He had felt something in the back of his head, and Elly nodded, closing her eyes as he threw his paws up. "Wonderful."

"It didn't cut because we got too close. Apparently someone else got into the channel. Must be something important… we ought to get going as well." Elly wasn't wrong, and Serge already told them everything that they needed to know. "Still, Tharmius being down there… what does that man want?"

"He's probably trying to find some dirt on us to complicate our lives further, and with Serge having a mercenary after his head it's going to be real easy."

"Eric, he said he doesn't know where she came from, and it could be that she found an outdated offer."

"That's very, very unlikely Elly, and you know it." He rubbed his face as they walked towards the group, sighing. "Brilliant. Just peachy, just what we needed, even more pressure from other areas. I swear, it's like everything that can go wrong is going wrong." He kept walking with his eyes closed and rubbing them whilst Elly alternated between looking at him and at the ground below her. It really did seem that the happy, relaxing times were over, and everything was back to the way it'd been prior to her father's death. They both knew this, and the others knew it too, but no one wanted to admit it.

Regardless, as it stood they had more pressing and immediate matters to worry about, such as the massive, gaping hole in the desert before them. Neither of them had gone back to the desert ruins after what had happened down in the lake, and Zed and Lucy had never been there to begin with. So the sight of that massive black hole in what was an otherwise even stretch of crimson sand was quite striking. It was so big, dented with what seemed like the tips of the skyscrapers, covered in sand. Peering down was ill-advised, the sand could give way at any point and drag them down. Instead Rubert and Slew directed them to what seemed like a small, temporary settlement. Tents, carriages, pokémon bustling back and forth: archeologists, workers, transporters, everyone collaborated to make the process as smooth and quick as possible under the harsh conditions the desert provided: the harsh sun, the bitter after taste of the dust, lungs full of sand.

"Wow… this place has definitely changed ever since I was last here." Not far away, Eric pointed at the badlands as he said this. "That's where the entrance was too."

"You mean to tell me that…" Zed looked all the way from the badlands and to where they were standing. Given the contrast it was really hard to see anything that wasn't directly underneath the open hole. "This whole place, underneath our paws, is this entire city?"

"We don't know exactly how big it is." Rubert pointed out as he and Slew led them to the camp, greeting and waving some of their companions as they did. "But just what we've discovered covers what you just pointed out little guy, and then some." He was obviously referring to Zed, who was still in awe.

"How could humans build such a massive city?"

"Their technology was much more advanced than ours." Slew began explaining as they pushed through the heart of the camp. The relics piled up and were separated in piles, with a large amount of iron rods and other indistinguishable machines making up the largest piles, with a smaller, and certainly the most morbid of all, faded pictures and photographs, showing humans smiling at the viewer. The sight thoroughly chilled them, something that Rubert noticed.

"Creepy, eh? Almost like they're taunting us from the grave… but honestly, if that's making ya shake in your boots, just wait until we go down there. You'll be wettin' the bed tonight kiddos." His words weren't comforting, but at the very least he was warning them. Slew had covered the most common effects of the Miasma already, but the Sigilyph's words only made the anticipation worse.

"Right… Anyways, this isn't exactly what we were expecting when you took us here… We were expecting to see something strange too, like those cloaked figures that you mentioned, but so far nothing like that has happened." Lucy's wishful thinking was paying off in a way. Nobody had suddenly appeared and teleported in front of them to slit their throats, so things were already looking up, a sentiment that the others shared.

They didn't keep them waiting for too long.

Among the workers, a certain bunch, spread out around them, were eyeing them suspiciously, carrying pickaxes, hammers or some other tool. The team was already on high alert when they got there, and thankfully, didn't miss these details. "Eric, have you noticed…" Elly quickly motioned her head in the direction of one of them, and the Riolu nodded, quickly pointing it out to Rubert and Slew as well.

"I don't know what they're doing… Hey!" Rubert's voice changed from his amicable self to stern and chastising. "What are you doing, carrying those tools like that you fools! You break 'em doing stupid shit and it comes out of your cut, you hear!" The workers he pointed at returned to their work, dropping those potential weapons and alleviating the tension in the air… though it would take just a fleeting shadow behind them for Elly to quickly turn around and blast away a Fraxure with her powers.

After this, everything went by in the blink of an eye, as the other pokémon pounced the group, a Heliolisk coming swinging from the side with a pickaxe, Zed ducking under and then transforming into a Cranidos to bash his steel head into his stomach, blowing the air and probably the day's lunch out of him as he kneeled down in great pain. A drillbur, bearing no weapon, burst out from the sand underneath Lucy, attempting to tear her to shreds, only for the sand particles that he'd shot out to come crashing right back into him and solidifying, both Rubert and Slew's eyes glowing as the duo held out a wing and a hand respectively, and slammed him around before flinging him upward and letting gravity do the rest, using their psychic powers in unison.

The last two pokémon, a Diggersby and a Baltoy, were quickly dispatched soon after the confrontation started, the Baltoy bringing down a pickaxe on Eric's head, who reached up to catch it on its way down, then slung forward and kicked off the Baltoy, hurling the tool away and blasting him with an aura sphere, the Diggersby readying a hammer, and when he swung it down, he'd find it was levitating above him, thanks to Elly's psychic as she let it fall on his head, dying him enough for Eric to deliver a series of furious blows to his stomach, Lucy blitzing around him and getting enough speed to then bounce off of the pile of metal and the two of them to impact the Diggersby at the same time, toppling the large pokémon and possibly dissuading any further attack.

"Alright then, next time I'll just stay quiet." Lucy said this in a mixture of annoyance, whilst Rubert, who looked beyond angered, grabbed the Baltoy and held him aloft in front of him.

"Alright, what's the big idea?! Attacking guests and your bosses?!" He shook him. "Answer! Answer or we'll turn you in this instant!"

"Screw you… Rich assholes…"

"What was that you s-""Rubert, let him down, you're choking him." The Sigilyph hadn't actually noticed it yet, but he was holding him up by the neck, promptly releasing him and letting him land on the sand roughly, rolling onto his back and trying to cower away.

"They were right, you only care about this trash… Who cares about the past? The now is what matters, and what's happening now is that you're paying us all little to nothing!" He stood up, panting. "You constantly berate us for taking whatever we find to send back to our families."

"I get berated as well for doing the same thing. Archeology isn't exactly a lucrative business, not all the time anyways."

"But we need the money now! We don't need it in a few months, we need it now!" The Baltoy's frustration was bubbling. "And I don't see why you'd need to get things for yourself, you've got 'nough fame and money to last ya a lifetime, you privileged asshole! You and your entourage do!" He couldn't be further from the truth, but at this point he'd probably been convinced by those cloaked figures of the opposite. "Doesn't matter to me, either way. I've done my part, those I care about will be better off now. Do your worst."

They all stared at him in silence, and out of everyone in the group, it was Elly who took a step forward. "If you think you'll go down as a martyr of sorts, you're wrong. We don't do that here. Tell us, why did you help them?"

"Why? Simple: they're the only ones who care about us. While the rest of the world keeps on building heaps of money at our expense, Hoenn is constantly attacked and stripped bare of its population, sent over to Unova for forced works, and even Kanto and Johto, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same way here. The slave trade is just one of many issues, but you lot just keep living your lives, thinking that everything's fine and dandy… specially you assholes, you "rescuers" and "explorers". You call yourselves heroes, but this whole time you've barely cared about what is happening outside of your bubble."

The team members wanted to explain all that happened and why things weren't so simple as he thought… but at the end of the day, none of that mattered, the crushing feeling that he was right sneaking up on them. Explaining it further would just mean they were wasting their breath with the pokémon, and they had more pressing matters. This thought hit Elly the most specially, they always had more important things to do than helping those in need it seemed.

"Guys let's get going. If these guys are here to try and stop us then that means that they've already gone down into the city. If we ask around we may be able to gauge where they went."

The group split up, keeping an eye out for more rebels, though thankfully no one else wanted to fight. Whether they had actually been convinced by the cloaked pokémon and were afraid to attack the explorers, or simply didn't want any part in what was happening they didn't know. Eventually however, when they compiled the information, they found it all matched up: the figures had come, walked past the group with nobody stopping them, took the lift down, and then descended further down into a crevice.

"Right, we have no time to waste." Eric took the lead, looking at Slew and Rubert. "You guys stay up here, we'll take care of this."

"You lot sure you want to go down there without any help? We don't know how many of their goons they've got with them." Eric looked at Rubert and Slew, then looked at the others. Elly gave him a blank look that basically said to do what he thought best, Zed was looking nervously at Lucy, whilst the Shinx simply glared at the Riolu, her opinion obvious. Regardless, he was the one that would make the last call… and so he did.

"We'll be fine. We've dealt with these bastards before." Once again, it seemed like he'd gone for the most unpopular opinion, as Lucy's huff would show. Either way, Slew and Rubert did as they were told, and the team silently boarded the wooden elevator. It was held aloft by ropes and pulleys, which slowly began to lower them down into the city.

"Well, at least we won't have to waste too much money on the burial." Lucy commented as they descended. Eric turned around to face them.

"Listen up. We don't need this. Not now." He was obviously referring to Lucy, but his words would apply to the others too. "We don't know if we're going to pull through unscratched, but with that attitude and acting so negatively, we won't." Lucy was glaring daggers at him as he spoke. "If we work together, and with some luck, we can get through… that's my promise, and I'll put my life on the line if I have to."

"Heh… I'll hold you to that then." Lucy spouted out, neither convinced or moved by his words. He simply stared back, his shoulders straightening as he looked forward. Elly reached his arm, but he only seemed to be focused on what was ahead of them, the Eevee giving Lucy a deadly glare, which made her feel ever so slightly guilty. Even though the Riolu's shoulders couldn't be any higher, he was carrying an extremely heavy burden. The didn't speak a word as the elevator touched the ground, its racketing finally falling silent as the deadly silence of the buried city enveloped them.

(Land of Morytha - Xenoblade Chronicles 2)

Halfway down there they'd felt it: the change in the air, becoming viced, harder to breathe, a certain density and aftertaste that brought uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, accentuating the dread that coursed through their bodies as they walked through the remains of a once great civilization. The main road had mostly been cleared out, but still debris of various sizes, rocks, cars and the sort sprawled all over the place. They began walking, eyes glued to what lay before them, trying to focus on their goal, even if their curiosity and the shadows tempted them to look to the sides. The sun was still above them, illuminating all of the buildings, casting long shadows over the roads, hiding all sorts of insidious monsters and deformities that dwelled in their imaginations in the looming darkness.

If anything, the light made things far more unsettling, the empty windows staring at them like empty sockets, turning to face them as they moved. The worst however, would be those glazed over eyes, reflecting the light of the sun, and yet behind them they could see them, those ghastly shapes. Slow, creeping, tall shades of various sizes. Some amorphous, some plain, some creatures they didn't even recognize. The Miasma was affecting them much faster than they'd been told, that much was clear. It was unbelievably terrifying, seeing nothing but those shades, not a single ounce of life around them. At times, they even forgot they had their companions with them too, an unsettling loneliness crushing them.

Lucy would step on something wet and sticky, dragging her out of her trance into a hurried panic as she gasped and looked down, expecting a horrific crimson mess, but instead was looking at papers and folders, strewn about. Above them, what looked like an office building had been toppled, windows cracked or broken, a myriad of glass shards laid around the ground in haphazardous patterns, forcing them to trudge through one by one. Black tendrils and wires hung from the hollowed out buildings, chairs, desks, mangled metal contraptions and most disturbingly of all, skeletons, clad in drapes that once had been clothes. The structures had been deemed too unsafe to salvage and thus had been left the way they were, the strange, disturbing sights forever frozen in time. Bodies bent out of shape, crushed against the glass, dark grime pooled around them… they shuddered to imagine the human's last moments.

Death and destruction were all that surrounded them, and it helped put things into perspective for them: their struggles, their problems, their fights and their constant berating of one another… it was a drop in an endless sea compared to all that surrounded them. It was awesome, in an archaic sense of the word, further cementing the idea that they were amongst the dead, right then and there. And whatever had happened to them wasn't pretty. Not one bit. They forced themselves to continue, and found another ridge, which Eric recognized: back when he'd been fighting alone he'd crossed this chasm to reach the lake further beyond, though it seemed that a few meters on the other side darkness once again swallowed up everything, the light of sun not reaching that area. They didn't have to go there however, instead peering down into the black abyss that stretched down. Buildings, iron rods with signs on them, debris, glass, machines, all of it had fallen into the abyss, littering the fall with many dangers and impediments.

"We're… going down there? Arceus…" It was simply breathtaking, but in a negative sense, as Elly's words would barely slither out of her mouth. Zed stood besides his mate, clutching her paw, and she returned the affection. They were scared: of what could potentially happen, that this could be their grave, scared of the spirits, of that dark chasm, of everything around them. Eric and Elly had seen sights like these in that future that never was, sights the thought they'd forgotten and left behind… and yet here it was, the mark of destruction and despair, repeated once more.

"We just go in circles." Eric said as he looked into the abyss. "These humans suffered a fate like the one we went through with the time freeze, the complete destruction and annihilation of their species." He closed his eyes. The aura levels in this place were simply insane, like the placed pulsed with a sort of ghostly, invisible life, enveloping them in a thick mist that made their bones shudder and freeze. "But we won't end up like them, not while we live." He looked at his companions. "Let's continue." At this point, it was clear what was happening: he was really just putting on a brave face, but he was just as unsettled and distraught as the others.

"Fuck this. No." Lucy broke down, unable to hold it back, stopping where she stood and looking at the pokémon in front of her. "We're all scared shitless, and we know what's going to fucking happen, so let's just go back! We still have time!" Her proposition was tempting, extremely so. This place was messing with their minds and their courage. Already, they felt the effects of the Miasma weighting on them, wondering just much decaying matter they'd breathed in thus far, a thought that utterly disgusted the group.

"We're already too far in, Lucy. We were the moment we became what we are now. You're free to turn around and leave this place if you're willing to look at those traitors up there and convince them that you aren't the coward they think you are, someone who'd rather stay hidden and wait for everything to blow over." He looked at his companions. "We all became explorers for one reason: to find those that would upset and destroy peace, and bring them to justice. And if you joined for any other reason then… I'm sad to say, this isn't the place for you."

"I…" Lucy's mind wandered briefly to what had happened yesterday, staying silent for a few minutes, and remaining still. Eric began walking again, turning to face the elevator. Elly stuck right besides him, trying to stay as strong as he was, whilst Zed showed just a small hint of weakness and looked at his mate, doubt in his eyes, before turning to chase after their friends. She weighed her options, and Eric's words.

But… what I've got nowhere to go?

"Wait!" Lucy shouted, and chased after them. "You guys'll get torn to shreds if I don't tag along." She too tried to put on a brave face, failing miserably however. She didn't want to discuss how she'd reached the conclusion of going down into that pit with them, and she would probably start regretting it soon… but she tried to grip onto that courageous spur as she got on that wooden, creaking platform, the others looking at her and nodding, even Eric letting a brief smirk slip through as he pulled the lever, and the platform began slowly descending.

(Stop the music)

The darkness would swallow them quickly, descending as everything went dark. Eric used his aura sphere to make a small white light, deforming the colors around them, showing the rock behind them as a pale amalgamation of ridges and iron rods that seemed to burst out to try and stab at them. At once point, the light would be reflected at them, a window shining back at them as the elevator went straight through a mangle building, the atmosphere within much more different, much more viced, and the scent of putrefaction would sneak around them. No one wanted to explore further, the icy grip of fear tightening around their hearts and lengthening the trip.

The sound of something snapping, steps scurrying away, and heavy breathing around them as they kept going down, the ricketing of the rope and the boards underneath them giving way to such terrifying sounds… or perhaps, there truly was something or someone lurking in the shadows. Whatever it was, it disappeared as swiftly as it appeared once they left that building, and only then did they all realize just how close they were sticking together, and how tense they were, the hairs of their furs on end.

An oppressive silence would be waiting for them at the bottom of the chasm, were to their surprise, they'd see some lights. As the elevator touched the bottom, they'd feel the cold, hard asphalt and cement under their paws, and they began moving as a unit once more. A few feet into that abyss, they cross under a bent street lamp, which was somehow still working. In front of them, the ruins of an office building had cables sprawled around the area, broken as sparks would fly off every so often, lights flickering on and off and illuminating a path into the building. Seemingly the only way forward through the debris, they continued, and soon, they'd hear noises and voices coming from deeper inside.

"We must hurry… we know not when they could arrive. Have you managed to figure out the mechanism?"

"Yes, but the process will take some time sadly. The human language is much, much more different than ours, and I fear that a miscalculated input could irremediably damage what lies within."

"Well, whatever the case, we mustn't take long. If the entire team were to come here, I doubt we'd be able to take them all on without suffering heavy losses."

There were three different voices speaking. The first sounded impatient, fidgeting about, the closest of the three, the second Elly immediately recognized as the voice that had responded during that psychic conversation up on the howling spire: the Pursuer. And as for the third voice… nobody recognized it. The voices would keep on discussing the arrival of a team, which they guessed was them, and for a second… they all looked at each other, confused. Were they truly afraid of them?

By now, they'd spread out around the area, and looked around: there were more pokémon there, probably henchmen standing guard in case of a surprise attack. "Right… Zed, you think you can transform into one of these guys to get a better idea of the situation?" Eric's request was met with a shrug from the Zorua, who looked around for a pokémon he thought might work best. He spotted a Tyrogue, and with his stature being somewhat similar to a Riolu's, he went for it, Eric following after him as the Riolu snuck up behind and dragged him into the shadows, out of sight, whilst Zed quickly touched and transformed into him. He was a perfect copy, except for his eye color: the Tyrogue's were green, Zed's were purple. Such a minimal detail would probably go unnoticed in the dim light, and leaving his crystal behind, he'd assume his position and stand guard. The others would wait behind the debris, watching him move around and taking note of their patterns themselves.

As Zed neared where the three figures were standing, he peered inside the building. They were all wearing the same black cloaks, but none of them were wearing their hoods, and he could see that while two of them stood on two legs, the third one was a quadruped. However, the darkness and the angle of the light coming from the strange coffin of glass and iron in front of them made it hard to tell what they were, even as one of the bipedal ones turned to look at the entrance and saw the Zorua transformed Tyrogue. They exchanged a look, and the Zorua quickly reacted and stood straight, saluting the trio before walking away, the image of that sarcophagus burned into his mind. An eerie silence followed his escape behind him as he walked away, before the voices resumed, making him sigh in relief.

There were only three more guards, so they'd have no issues taking care of them if they took advantage of the darkness. They moved in, taking care of the pokémon one by one… though on the second one, a loud crack would echo in the cavern, lights flaring to life as they blinded them all, surprising even the trio within. Their two remaining targets would react immediately, one of them being smashed into the floor by Eric's aura charged fist, whilst the other guard and Zed, who was still in his transformed state, backed up, trying to fake the fact that he wasn't that guard.

The three cloaked figures came out of the crumbled building shortly after, the machinery behind them wiring to life as it started vibrating slightly as they glared at Team Star. "Well well well… And here we were wondering how long it'd take for you to show up, Team Star… I must say, I'm surprised to see that there's only four you here." The mention of a fourth member alerted Zed, who barely avoided the swipe from the figure closest to him, shadowy claws lashing out as he managed to transform into an Ekans to slither away, then Pidgey to fly and retreat, and finally back to his Zorua form.

"How'd they…" The figure that had attacked him stood straight, twisting those claws of theirs as they smirked, falling back in line with the other two.

"Don't think you're the only one with power over shadows, Zorua. Even those that don't belong to your kin can have powers that rival, or even surpass your own."

"Such is the power of the fragments… but let us not digress any further: We'd been expecting our agents up on the surface to warn us of your impending arrival, but it seems like you lost the element of surprise in a chance accident. A shame, though it shall make your demise ever so brief and simple." He stretched a hand out towards them, and the team moved quickly to avoid the following rush of rocks that fell on their heads.

"We have no intentions of dying here! Besides, last time we heard, you were pretty scared of us and when we'd show up!" Lucy exclaimed, trying to make it seem as if they weren't scared of that trio of fighters.

"Oh please, I think you didn't understand what we meant, little kitty." The rightmost figure spoke, waving an arm back and forth. "We were only worried all seven of you might show up here, but seeing as there's only four of you then… this makes things much easier. Such a shame we have to get rid of most of you." They were looking right at Eric and Zed, whilst Elly and Lucy only got brief glances, confusing the females greatly.

"You'll take them over our cold dead bodies, you filthy bastards." Eric threatened, pulling out his light staff, already getting a good idea of what they wanted. To his surprise however, the figures shook their heads.

"Idiot… We care not for those primal needs or physical pleasures." The Pursuer sounded offended, given how irritated he sounded.

"Yeah, and even if you tried I doubt you'd be able to g-" Grown tired of this constant berating, the Pursuer disappeared, and Eric successfully predicted he'd appear behind them. He did, just above their heads, coming down with his blades on Eric and Zed, the Riolu effectively blocking the attacks on the two of them. However, before he had a chance to counter, a sharp pain in his side distracted him, seeing something blinking past him, the other figure suddenly being in front of, him chuckling and then kicking him away into the center of the arena whilst that creature and Lucy clashed together, both of their speeds giving out sparks as they began to blitz around.

"The hell?! He's going so fast!" Elly's exclamation would go unnoticed by the others, as they had to focus on the figures starting their attack on them, whilst the remaining guard just ran away, clearly outmatched by both sides. Elly focused on the Pursuer, trying to draw his attention to her as she rushed in and sliced at him with her psychic blades, the bipedal creature vaulting over her as their blades crossed and slashed, his momentum changing in midair as he slung back over to her back, landed on his feet and attempted to cleave her in half, putting her blades in place to block… only to see him disappear, immediately bringing up a psychic barrier to block, only for the blades to crash in from behind her, breaking her barrier but breaking those blades too, both parties sliding backwards.

Elly brought forward her dark matter as a hail of rocks flew at her, the rocks crashing against the barrier, and then shooting back at the Pursuer just as fast, surprising him as he was hit by some and teleported higher up, away from the hail. The last figure however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Elly behind you!" Zed's screech would make her turn around to receive a kick to the face from the seemingly invisible creature, mimetized with the environment to the point where he was barely visible, save from the shadow they casted on the ground. Eric came in quickly to protect her, but he'd find he was overwhelmed by the sudden reappearance of the Pursuer, whose psychic blades spiraled and forced him to cross his staff as he moved, cutting his arm right below his shoulder several times, howling in pain as he'd swing at him, only harming his arm further, only to receive a vicious blow from the one rushing around, being chased by Lucy, who was actually attempting to catch up, bouncing off of walls, only for them to outpace her and taunt her as she rushed by.

She blitzed at him to try and crash into him, only for the creature to jump over and kick her into the ground, and with all her momentum sliding and slightly burning her fur and chest, screaming in pain as she felt the burn from the friction. "What? Can't even protect yourself from the friction? How long have you been running, kitty cat?"

"You… shut up you mother fucker!" She'd strike him with one of her bolts… and he'd just take it with no issues.

"Hmmm… thanks!" He'd then return the bolt at her, but unlike him, she couldn't even attempt to absorb it, her body taking the voltage and, though she survived with ease, it shocked her, giving her a taste of her own medicine as Zed moved in to try and help her, only to be forced to back away as the Pursuer lunged in. It was nearly impossible to do anything without them teleporting in the way, and his two followers only made matters worse. Elly was being distracted by the pokémon blitzing around her, trying to get through her defenses as he struck at her barriers and her dark matter, keeping up a constant pressure whilst she looked for some way to defend herself.

She saw him charge at her straight on, and she used her water barrier… but at the last second, he'd be replaced by the Pursuer, who slashed at the barrier and buried his heel into her face, throwing her away. This enraged Eric, who got up and rushed him, swinging wildly as his strikes would just go right through what he soon figured out was an illusion, claws shooting straight to the back of his head and scratching one of his aura feelers, which would blind his aura vision for a few seconds, making him howl in pain as blood seeped and tainted his fur, then managed to barely block an upward slice of the Pursuer's blade, throwing him to the air where he'd continue blocking strikes from his blades as he hovered down after him… and as he countered he'd teleport away only for the extremely quick one to smash into him and crash into the ground, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

Before he could even get up a foot stomped down on his chest, pinning him to the floor under the weight of what he assumed was the Pursuer. He grabbed his foot, trying to get it off of him, but it proved useless, since it felt like it was as heavy as a tauros, crushing him, making him roar out in pain.

"Let him go!" Elly screamed, unable to move either because of the wounds her body had sustained. Lucy was still writhing on the ground, groaning from the pain and Zed was busy trying to tell apart the real attackers from fake clones, his own native ability making him able to easily distinguish.

"Not bad… but…" The cloaked creature rushed at Zed directly, who transformed into a Cranidos to take him head on, but instead they jumped above him and stomped his head, distracting him briefly before the speedster blitzed past Zed, kicking his legs and down into the ground, and then the illusionist would pounce the Zorua again, and begin choking him with a hand, pinning him to the ground and cutting off his air ducts. "How does it feel, hmm? On the brink of death while someone else looks down on you, staring death in the face… Do you like it, Zed?"

The Zorua might've been choking and unable to focus enough to transform, but he wasn't too far gone to ignore the fact that he'd just called him by name. Either way, he didn't give up on fighting, even as the others were unable to move because of their wounds: Lucy's chest and legs were burnt, with the fur somewhat gone and blood from the exposed skin, Elly was coughing up and trying to get up from the intense pain in her face and stomach from the kicks the Speedster had dealt to her, and Eric was pinned down by the Pursuer's foot, which felt heavier and heavier every time. Lucy's words and worries echoed in his head as tears of frustration and fear swelled up. Could this really be it? "B-bastard…"

"You know, all things considered you're lucky you got here before we opened this coffin…" The Pursuer looked at the steel chest with the glass cover, which was stained and didn't allow anyone to look within.

"W-why? What's inside that… coffin." Eric could barely breathe, he could feel the gravity crushing him against the floor, seeing just the slightest hint of glee in the Pursuer's eyes as his head twitched slightly.

"Aaaah, so you're interested then, ya little fucker?" His voice and mannerisms changed immediately, walking away, though the gravity on his body didn't change. "Well, we sensed some sort of gravitational distortion around this area, not unlike what you're feeling right now, Riolu… and obviously, we were interested in finding the source and using it to our advantage. So imagine our surprise… when we found it wasn't a something, but someone~" They approached the cover and caressed the glass in an overly dramatic way, laughing. "A new member to add to our ranks with such a terrifying power!"

Eric would groan and howl as the gravity increased, his paws opening as he was being pressed harder and harder against the pavement… anymore, and his bones would start to break and bend. The Pursuer was still very much gleeful and stepped outside. "They should be coming out, any second now… Actually, I'll have them finish you off, bloodthirsty one, they are." They chuckled, the machine shaking and vibrating, having bought enough time during the fight to get it to open.

With a loud "snap", the lights would die, and the only visible light would be that of the coffin as the lid slowly hissed and opened, a cold mist flowing out as it slowly lifted, the pursuer taking a few steps back to avoid any repercussions from touching that mist… and as he did, he'd see it first, followed shortly by the others. Slowly, a pink paw would grab the edge of the coffin and an Espurr would sit up slowly, stretching and yawning softly, looking around. "Hmmmm… what? Morning already? The whole place is dark…" The light would return almost right after, and her eyes would land on the group of pokémon standing outside. She looked at the Pursuer and his followers, then at Eric, and when she looked at Elly…

"Oh! Hey guys! Been a long time since I last saw you!" The silence that followed her words utterly shocked and confused the group as the Espurr slowly climbed out of the coffin, stretching. "Ugh, my back is killing me, along with the rest of my body, including my gnoggin!" She sounded awfully cheerful as she just casually brushed by the Pursuer, who couldn't even begin to understand what was going on. The Espurr just casually walked up to Eric, her pace relaxed and even slightly playful, humming to herself, and tapping his body. The instant she did the weight on the Riolu's body would be lifted, flabbergasting the Pursuer as she proceeded to help Eric up and dust him off, patting his belly, his legs and his tail. "There! Now you at least look presentable!"

"I… W-who are you?" His body was still aching from the crushing, though he could properly stand now, summon his staff with his moving arm, their foes tensing up again for a fight.

"Boss, what's going on?! Why does she know them!?" The Speedster quickly called out, voicing their leader's worries, as their silence spoke volumes of their confusion and rage.

"Why, silly don't you remember me? It's me, Cherry!" The Espurr simply introduced herself right then and there. The Pursuer didn't wait any longer, summoning its own blades silently.

"Damn you… I was expecting to gain an ally, but if you are acquainted with Team Star." He suddenly disappeared, and reappeared on top of Eric and Cherry, coming down with his swords to impale them. "You're also our enem-"

"You know, it's very rude to interrupt two people when they're talking." She was staring right at him, way before he'd appeared out of his rift.

"What?" He had just a split second to panic before his body was thrown away by the weight of the steel coffin and the glass lid that had been keeping Cherry asleep for however long she'd been there, the psychic type grabbing on to it, winking at Eric and then being flung away too. They twisted and spun in the air as the lid was ripped off and flew in a seemingly random direction… catching the Pursuer as he teleported once more.

"What?!" Was the only exclamation he could let out as his teleportation was read and predicted accurately once again, throwing him to the floor twirling and crashing whilst Cherry stood on the mangled remains of the upside down hovering coffin, stomping and posing with her hands on her hips. The once darkened lights lighting up once more, coincidentally point at Cherry from underneath, casting a large shadow on the wall as she posed.

(Fly me to the Moon - Bayonetta)

"As I said: It's so very, very rude to interrupt people when they're speaking!" She sighed, the wreckage crashing down as gravity affected it again. She walked away from the wreckage as she dusted herself, huffing, kicking an iron bolt at the wall, for simply no reason. "Talk about a rude awakening… Hey, wasn't that the name of the first chapter of the first book?" The confusion she caused allowed Team Star to quickly recover: Eric flung a sphere at the Illusionist, who had to back off from Zed, allowing him to breathe whilst Lucy managed to stand up and run and crash into the Speedster, who afterwards received a brutal blow from Elly's dark matter fist, throwing him further away. "Let's dance, people!" She posed once more with a smile.

"Kill them all!" The Pursuer called out, standing up and throwing his blades at the group whilst they got to fight again.

"Elly above you!" Cherry's voice called out quickly, the Eevee looking up seconds before the Pursuer would appear there, already noticing his mistake and glaring at Cherry as he did so, before being clobbered by Elly's dark fist. The normal type quickly looked at Eric, who nodded, grabbed onto the dark matter and was flung at the Pursuer, who he kept attacking and swinging at with his staff. Even with his cut up arm, Eric growled and attacked with fervor. "Eric behind you!" He looked behind himself. "No, to your right!" He quickly twisted when she called out the new location, just in time to see the Pursuer's left arm slithering out of thin air, grabbing his staff and slamming its end into his face as it peeked.

"Gah!" He was launched backwards and away, teleporting once more to a safe distance away from the group, holding his face, spitting out bloody. "How… how can you tell where I'm going to appear?! This is..."

"Silly, you're leaving holes!" Cherry herself suddenly vanished, much to his surprise, and he'd feel something tapping the back of his head. He swung behind him, but found she was long gone, sensing some sort of growing pressure as he had to focus to counter whatever her powers were. This was completely unexpected, and it was clear that none of them knew how to react. As she returned to her original position, she'd start prancing about, tapping rocks and iron beams, singing and whistling to herself happily, seemingly disconnected from everything else that was going on.

While this exchange was going down, Lucy had returned to blitzing around with the Speedster, but this time she had a better plan and coordination with Elly, who was standing right next to Zed. The Illusionist approached from their left, using a sea of clones to try and confuse themselves among the crowd, but Zed could tell him apart, and at the very last moment he told Elly exactly who it was through the crystals, the Eevee retaliating with her blades as she blocked the upper swipe, using his body as leverage as she blasted him with psychic energy straight at Zed, who slammed into his back as a Cranidos, making him howl out in pain. The Pursuer reacted quickly and teleported to him, the two Team Star members getting a heads up from Cherry shortly before he teleported, backing away as he got his team mate out from between them, Cherry doing the same as the Speedster rushed at Zed's head, making him miss and lose his balance enough for Lucy to knock him off balance completely, crashing and slowing down enough for him to be pummeled by Elly's dark matter fist.

They rolled and backed off, jumping backwards and returning to his ally's side, either having gotten away with little to no wounds or faking his pain quite well. Either way, he surprised Elly, who could've sworn she'd hit him with every single blow. Cherry reappeared on her head.

"Hey Elly! Wanna do the thing?" She suddenly asked, debris floating up around them, pieces of rock and metal she'd touched with her hands, floating ominously around the cloaked pokémon.

"The thing?" The Eevee inquired, looking at the debris as they began moving in closer… "Oh! I see!" She caught on quickly, and added her psychic powers on top of whatever Cherry was using. The result was the mass of rocks and metals closing in even faster, crashing into the trio and threatening to crush them if it wasn't for the Pursuer's own psychic barrier, but there was no stopping whatever Cherry was doing, making him struggle and wince.

"Damn you! Who are you?!"

"Silly, weren't you listening earlier?" Cherry smiled and stood right on Elly's head, spinning and giving them one last pose. "I am Cherry, back from my nap, and ready to kick butt!" She blew them a kiss, making the Pursuer become angered, blasting both psychic and gravitational waves from himself, and this time the rocks did fly away, prompting Elly to protect herself, Zed, Lucy and Cherry whilst Eric used his staff to block and deflect all the debris.

(Stop the music)

"You… you little…!" The Pursuer seemed about ready to charge at the group again, but the Illusionist would grab a hold of their arm, stopping them there.

"That's enough. We can't wind this right now, we need to regroup and rethink our strategy!"

"And let them regroup?! This is our chance, we had the upper hand! We can st-" He felt the weight of his other companion's hand on his shoulder, allowing him to briefly reconsider and rethink the situation they were in. It was truly disadvantageous, though purely because of Cherry's surprise appearance, which had thrown a wrench into their plans to take care of Team Star, or at least, half of it, right then and there.

"Damn you all…" He simply muttered as he grasped his companions. Cherry's eyes and ears perked up again as he seemed to prepare for something… and a visible tear in space appeared in front of them, something that the others could see.

"Oooooh… shiny~" She cooed in a strange manner, trying to grab the light pouring out, slipping through her paws like silk, while the trio of enemies slipped into it. Realizing they were just running away, Eric lunged forward and hurled his staff, but the weapon was too late, as it exploded as soon as they teleported, leaving just a blast of white light that blinded them briefly, and the once cleared they were gone, without so much as a trace. They looked around frantically, whilst Cherry groaned and seemed upset, walking up to Eric and looking up at him, poking his chest. "You ruined it! The light's gone!"

"Wh- What are you talking about?" He looked down, she was smaller than he was, even if she stood on two legs.

"The light! It looked cool, it covered everything and there were a lot of colors, like a rainbow but multiplied by fifty! But now it's not there anymore, and they aren't either! They're far, far away now." The others slowly walked over and grouped up.

"So… they ran away?" She hissed, stumbling in her step. "Aaah fuck… That's great, I guess. Who the hell are you though?"

"I already told ya… I'm Cherry, Cherry the Espurr, and I'm here to chew bubblegum!" She smiled.

"That still doesn't tell us m- Ow!" Eric hissed and looked at Elly. "Stop, don't touch it!"

"Don't touch it?! Eric, one of your feelers looks like it's about to fall off!" Truth be told, it did hurt like hell, but the cut wasn't that deep… regardless, she was willing to make a huge deal about it, and making him groan.

"Yeah? Well, stop touching it then!" Whilst the two argued and ignored Cherry, Zed walked over to his mate to check on her.

"Yeah yeah, I'm alright… just a bit beat up is all. You?"

"Almost had my neck pierced, but asides from probably a few bruises, nothing much." He nuzzled her, and… she took a few seconds, but she returned the affection. "Told ya we'd pull through."

"Yeah yeah yeah… well, if we did, it was because of this crazy ball of fur there. Still don't…" She looked at Cherry, only to find her… crying? She looked teary eyed, and before she could ask what was wrong she wailed.

"Why's everyone ignoring me?! I thought I was cool but now you're just not paying any attention to me… you're just a bunch of meanies! All of you!" They all looked at each other as she complained and sobbed, calling them names and saying they were a bunch of bad friends. All they could do was just try to appease her, Elly in particular approaching her and smiling.

"Hey hey, don't worry. You did a great job, ummm… Cherry. We were just really scared by these people and we're still a bit… shaken up. But you did a great job helping us, and you might've even saved our lives!"

"Might've? She definitely did." Lucy said. "Pretty sure we would've gotten destroyed if ya hadn't popped out of that coffin over there. What the heck were you doing there anyways?"

"Sleeping! I was tired, and I was told to go to sleep in this.. and now I'm here! Don't you guys remember?" They all looked at her, utterly puzzled, and Eric decided to be the first to break it to her.

"Umm… Cherry, I'm sorry but… We don't know you, as far as I know, not a single one of us has ever seen you before."

"Whaaaaaaaaat? Watcha talkin' about?! We're totally pals! The team you guys had were you, then there was Elly, then… ummm…" She was looking at Zed. "Uuuuuuuuh… What was your name again?" The Zorua was slightly distraught she didn't remember him… even though they didn't know if she even 'remembered' something like that in the first place.

"How did we meet? If you tell us that, we might remember you." Elly's suggestion was met with a nod, a smile, and then… silence. She hummed, and hummed, and tapped her finger against her head… and didn't do anything but that for about fifteen minutes, during the which the other four sat down, rested and Eric even almost fell asleep, utterly exhausted and his body numb from the pain and adrenaline. They really needed to get to the surface and see a doctor.

"Nope, don't remember!"

"Really?! You've made us wait for fifteen minutes and then it turns out you were just lying!"

"I'm not lying! I know you guys, I swear, I just… can't remember who you guys are or where we met! I can't remember anything about me either, I just… know that I know you guys is all." They all just looked at her silently, unsure of how to take her words or what to answer, her peppy attitude being replaced by a sad outlook as her constant movement came to an end.

"Well… Ummm… maybe it'll come back to you eventually?" Elly suggested, her words making her pep up again, and nod enthusiastically. "First order of business is… well…" She looked up into the dark chasm they were stuck in. "Getting out of here."

They'd surface thirty minutes later, having spent quite a long time walking through the ruins… and already, Cherry had effectively gotten under everyone's skins, at the very least slightly. She simply wouldn't stay put, and when she did she was staring off into the distance in awe, clapping with glee before she was called over, snapping out of her trance and kept prancing about around them. "Don't you guys see all of the colors and the shapes! They're all so pretty!"

"The only colors and shapes we see are the less than appealing gray buildings around us, Cherry… Seriously, what is wrong with this kid?" Lucy asked, quite annoyed by this point, her best friend looking at her and shrugging in confusion. Their mates reached the elevator first, with the girls climbing on after and the Espurr following close. They pulled the lever, and the elevator began ascending as the counterweight was slowly lowered. As they ascended, they'd feel their minds clearing up, their fears disipating, and their worries lessening, the realization that they'd come close to death, but once again survived giving them a slight high as they took in breaths of what tasted like fresh air to them, even if it was full of little sand particles.

Opposite to them however, Cherry would feel more and more tired the higher they ascended, her hyper personality fading away as she became grumpier and sleepier. "What's wrong... I feel… sleepy again…" She almost stumbled onto the sand as she got off the elevator, Eric catching her at the last second.

"Hey, hey Cherry!" He put a paw on her head, but she didn't have a fever. In fact, her pulse was alright, his aura vision, as flawed as it may be due to his wounds, showed she didn't have that much aura in her, meaning she must've exhausted herself doing… whatever it was she'd done down in that chasm.

"Guess she has to recover from earlier… Alright, let's split up a bit, find Slew and Rubert and tell them what happened… I'm going to go call Serge and the others." Elly explained as Eric and the others were taken away to be treated by the on-site doctor. As soon as she felt she was at a reasonable distance, she attempted to contact Serge. And the first thing he told her as soon as she could establish contact sent shivers down her spine.

"Elly, we have a problem: there's a huge Rebscura in the Giant's Forest."