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.

15. Chapter 11 - Strength

Oh. Oh shit. Oh what year is it? Oh fuck oh shit oh fuck, oh no how long have I slept? How long has it been since the last chapter?! I was so caught up in school stuff and exams that I lost track of time! Is there anyone still there? I hope so… please, someone, show signs of life! *looks outside, sees that everyone and everything is gone*

NOOO, I SLEPT TOO LONG!

---

Chapter 11

Strength

An unstoppable force meets an immovable object

Zed and Lucy would come back to Treasure Town later that day, arriving at home near the afternoon. The Shinx was greeted with hugs and shows of affection from her friends, which she greatly appreciated, and even though Zed proposed he cook something for her, she said she wasn't really hungry that night either. They all tried to convince her to eat, and eventually she conceded to have some soup, much like Eric had earlier that day, then promptly headed to bed with her mate following her. There was no special dinner that night, and they resorted to just going to grab some food from Spinda's.

"Kinda bullshit if you ask me…"

"Kiddo, I don't exactly like the idea, since I'd already thought that we were dining like kings tonight, but I'm not being insensitive. Lucy's father died tonight, she is definitely not in the mood for anything, from what I've heard, and consequently neither is Zed. And Zed, if you remember, is the one who was going to cook that meal. Besides, he said he'd do it some other time."

"Yeah, I know, I know." He sighed. "It's not like I wanted to sound insensitive, as much of an asshole as Lucy can be, seeing her devastated like that was shocking."

"I would think, for the better of your health, that that pun wasn't intended." Jake chimed in from behind them, the trio having been chosen to go get the food while Elly watched over everyone back home.

"Yeah, of course it was. He's not THAT good with language."

"Oi."

"Indeed. Regardless, yes it was a surprising turn of events. If my understanding of the situation is correct, his passing came at the worst possible time for her. A shame."

"Surprising to hear you say that, of all pokémon." Serge's went ignored by Jake, who simply rolled his eyes and kept walking in silence. They picked up the food, some stuffed eggplants, and not much else, since they were only four people eating a strong dinner that night. Once everyone was done and everything was cleaned up, Elly sat down on the couch and sighed, thinking about going to sleep soon. Her chess game with Jake had remained unfinished, since the Sneasel had retired to continue with some kind of private project, which he'd been hard at work on for the last few weeks. It seemed that he was ready to show it too, since he came down the stairs with a large paper, which he spread in the middle of the room, calling everyone over.

"What's going on?"

"Is this what you've been working on these past few weeks?" Elly asked as he unfolded the first paper: a highly detailed, schematic drawing of the first Rebscura they'd fought, the one up in the mountains, would look back at them. Everyone had unpleasant memories, most of all Jake, who seemed… quite driven, eyes wide open.

"I have been trying to exorcise my demons by drawing this shape. I can remember with fidelity every detail of its structure, and what it did." There were notes and arrows pointing and defining certain areas of the creature, covered and uncovered in ice, the storm that preceded it and it used to kill targets. This, added upon its ability to mimic and return many kinds of energy back or store them, as well as high learning capability had earned it the name "Hunter", which loomed above the creature like an omen. It was quite unsettling.

"How… Dude, are you still having nightmares?" He didn't answer Serge's question, and instead kept guiding them through what were the abilities of the monster.

"I have also begun working on the next…" He brought out a second paper: on it, they could see the last Rebscura they'd fought. The thing that drew the most attention was the name: Parasite. Moreover, while the first version, with the bud closed, and the second, with the bud open, were mostly finished and drafted, there seemed to be other versions. "I am still working on remembering the mutations it underwent during the fight… I have been thinking of grabbing the notes we obtained from the other world and from the human Eric to redact information about other Rebscura, the ones they'd referred to as 'lesser'."

They all observed his work. "It's… really impressive. These are very well made, and I'm sure they'd be useful. But… Why are you making them?" Elly inquired, worried about the Sneasel's mental state. "Have you been staying up late again?"

"...Yes. It is difficult to sleep, as I simply have so much to read…"

"Or rather you don't want to sleep." She sighed. "Jake, I already told you: if you want to talk about it, I'm here for you." The Sneasel bit his lower lip, looking at Serge and Nox. The Pidgeot rose his wings.

"I'm fine with going to bed, I'm dead tired, and apparently I have the first town shift tomorrow, so I'm getting to bed." Serge went upstairs to his room, and soon after Nox did too, claiming he was tired and not in a great mood. With Elly and Jake gone, she told him to lay down on the couch, which he did, and she sat besides him on the armchair.

"Well, do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Your nightmares, Jake. I know you love staying up late and reading, but you haven't drawn something like that ever before, and you seem to be obsessed with it."

"It is merely for research. I do not feel tired."

"Jake, don't lie to me, or to anyone." She responded sternly. "I want to help you. This is not healthy, and you know it." He didn't answer immediately. "Just, talk with me, tell me what it is that is keeping you up at night."

He closed his eyes, and breathed calmly. "Very well… Though I have my doubts that you will be able to aid me. For starters, the issue I have is, in part, the terrible nightmares that I have been experiencing, no doubt the aftermath of the near-death experience at the hands of the Hunter."

Elly nodded. "Yes, Zed told me Lucy couldn't sleep either after what happened to her, and I think she's still shaken. There's no shame in feeling like that Jake, those kinds of experiences are always traumatic, and I don't think we've ever been so close to dying before."

"This is true, but I have no qualms in telling you this… what has really kept me up at night is my lack of opinion towards it." She looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean 'lack of opinion'?"

"I look back and picture these creatures, and those moments, but I do not feel fear or terror. The visions keep up at night, but not because I am afraid, but rather that they are purely unpleasant, as I wake up in a cold sweat. Signs of fear… and yet I feel nothing."

"How can you be afraid, and at the same time, feel nothing?"

"I don't know… This has been happening ever since the Hunter was slain. Certain things and pleasures are not as enjoyable as they used to be before: reading, drawing, investigating, and many other activities used to be a great way to pass the time, but now I feel, and excuse me for the lack of repetition: empty."

Elly was puzzled at what the Sneasel was saying, but listened to his words nonetheless. "Could it be that the traumatic experience has altered your view of certain things that you previously enjoyed, but upon realizing how frail you are, you no longer find enjoyment from them? If so, Jake, that's not the way you should be looking at things. We're all frail and mortal, but just because of it doesn't stop Lucy from going on a run, playing sports or sleeping with her mate."

"And yet given what has happened today, she has had a terrible reaction."

"Well, that's because one of her parents died today, Jake. I don't know if it's something you've ever felt Jake, but it is quite difficult to overcome in such a short time. Even if her relationship with her parents was damaged in more ways than we can imagine, he was still her father." She shook her head. "I know that first paw."

"...I see, my apologies then if I have hurt you. Regardless, I do not know if what you have just said, about having such an experience, is really at fault behind all of this. The place I came from made sure that I became desensitized from all of that."

"The future… Yeah, it was not a kind place, and I can understand that. You have told me the story many times, Jake."

"About how I was abandoned due to my frail constitution, survived purely on my wits, and was eventually found and put into Dusknoir's servitude, yes. It is something that I do not enjoy reminiscing on. Back then, I was forced to slay purely for my own wellbeing, balancing the act of murder with keeping my sanity. It wasn't until I was put under Dusknoir's charge that I began to learn and function as a normal pokémon. Beforehand, one may have found me and easily confused me for a high-functioning primal."

"Is that perhaps why you are feeling like this?" She suddenly asked. "I think I can draw a comparison between then and now, again, with the idea of the close death experience. If it's really been that long since then, maybe the experience triggered some unwanted memories from those times, and you are subconsciously punishing yourself for having been like that in the past, or being so positive in the present when before everything was so much worse."

He looked at her, turning to look upward. Was he doing that? Did that truly make sense? "Consider it like this: it's been almost six years since the last time you almost died, the feeling has reminded you of those situations, and are reminding you of the things you had to do in order to survive, hence why you feel as if you don't deserve what you have right now." What she was saying made him shudder, it made sense, but there was something else, as he ruminated he wondered exactly what it was. Elly gave him the time he needed, staying silent and watching him, sometimes turning to look to the fire as it flickered beside them.

"I… did some terrible things back then. I tend to avoid thinking about it, lest it distracts me of more important topics. That being said… I feel as if we are getting closer to the source of what ails me, as I feel uncomfortable when speaking about this time of my life."

"I don't blame you, neither for thinking like that or for what you did back then. We were also forced to do some things we regret, but at the time it was difficult for us to do something that wasn't that, or we would've been killed. Look Jake, the point I'm trying to make is that it's all in the past, and a time frame when many, if not everyone were struggling and fighting to survive no matter what. The fact that you have managed to escape that and have grown enough self-awareness to realize what you did and identify it as wrong is commendable, and not something that everyone has been able to achieve."

He didn't respond, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. "Have I told you about the stockades? Cold, small, cramped shacks around small crop fields, barred in, "protected" from the outside. If you weren't fit enough to do work, it was difficult to survive. I scarcely remember my first years in that world, but I remember enough to know that back then what was inside me was sheer, utter destructive cold. The kind that blows over fields and turns the grass and life to mere shrivels and lays frost over all. And I fear that this part of me, the part that I had to create when I was left to my survival in the wild, has not left me yet."

"So you are afraid of the kind of person you were back then, and are afraid that you may turn back into them?"

"I know it is difficult for me to express… but I truly, truly am grateful for everyone in this team." She felt just the slightest hint of sobbing in his voice. "Dusknoir, while a great tutor, taught me how to restrain and hold my emotions, to never let my foes or himself know… Only to realize the terrible mistake he had made when he finally grew a conscience. I love him as much as I hate him for what he did and offered me. And yet I was once again, alone when he was taken away, and I know not what would've happened to me if you hadn't offered me a place in this team… and I am thankful, because deep down, I know that I would not be here if it weren't for you…" He seemed to be on the verge on breaking down into tears, and Elly did what she thought best and leaned in to hug him.

The Sneasel's fur and body were colder than she had imagined, but she held the comforting hug, her warmth seeping into his body. Even the calculative and calm ice type needed some comfort every now and then. "It if it weren't for you, some of us wouldn't be here either. You're part of the team now, don't let anything or anyone tell you otherwise, ok Jake? You're part of our "family", as we like to call it sometimes."

"I know. Deep down, even if I feel that I do not belong, that I am looking at all of you from the outside, as if looking through a glass window, I know I belong. I just wish I could tear said glass down, but… I simply cannot."

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Jake. We won't force you to do something you don't feel like doing. Just know that we're all here to support and help you if you really need it. And please, Jake… don't be afraid to speak your heart out and how you feel, ok? I get that enough when dealing with Eric, the last thing I need is to get it from you!" She chuckled, ending the hug. "Got it?"

"Yes." He had managed to hold back tears, but he was still very emotional about the whole thing. They spoke for a bit more about how Elly thought he could relax, and told him to get some actual sleep that night.

"It will do you a world of good, ok?" He nodded. "Alright then… I think I'll be heading to bed myself as well, since tomorrow it's back to our regular schedule, and we'll have to wake up early tomorrow to get the best missions." Again, he nodded, and headed up the stairs first, wishing her a good night. She heard the door to his room closing, and hoped that he'd finally get a good night's rest. She put out the fire, and headed upstairs herself, the hallway dark and rather cold, due to the plummeting temperatures of the winter. So much had happened in just a few weeks, and they were still supposed to be looking forward to the end of the year… one thing was for certain, she couldn't wait for spring to arrive, since she couldn't stand the cold any longer.

As she walked by Lucy and Zed's room, she overheard soft voices talking inside, the Zorua most likely trying to help his mate deal with her loss. She considered knocking to check on how they were doing, but decided against it, thinking they were better left alone, and went for her own room. Eric was asleep inside, once again, and she simply slipped into bed quietly and nuzzled up against him, hugging him and sharing some of his warmth, laying her face on the back of his neck, drifting off to sleep quietly.

---

"Is everything ready then?" The room was dimly lit, only the fragment in the center of the room allowed one to see exactly what was going on, night having recently fallen outside.

"Yes, I think it should be, sir… but it has been less than a month since we last used the fragment for the Doll's creation. Do you think it wise to use it so soon?"

"Perhaps not, but we must find more of these fragments. Time is of the essence if we wish to meet our enemies in battle and win." The leader, a tall figure, was overlooking the process: the altar in the middle, the runes all around. The chamber had been uncovered many years ago, considered a sacred place, and it still was… but the latest developments had forced them to use it.

"I see… very well, sir. May the lord guide us in our path." And with that, the ritual would begin, the floor glowing as the fragment was fully inserted. The altar began to glow, illuminating the room, as the ground shook and trembled.

"The aura… it is blinding!" The leader covered their eyes as the light became blinding as well, and the energy swelled and gathered around them. They'd all feel warmth and power surging through their bodies, coiling and converging, a thick layer of a glowing mist like substance that eventually gathered in the middle… before a great spear of light shot up and through the open roof of the chamber, piercing through the ground and towards the sky.

---

In another region, across the ocean, a lone watchman, looking over the marsh would look up at the sight of the great beacon of light piercing the persimmon sky, seemingly disappearing beyond the clouds. Had he blinked, he would've missed it, and he doubted his vision... before a far more intense light appeared. His eyes widened as he saw the light become more and more intense, and a ball of white and golden flames hurled down towards the earth at incredible speeds, flying over the hills and crashing beyond them, a noise that from where he stood sounded like a small explosion, the ground shaking slightly. He quickly got up and left to notify his master of what had happened.

---

Elly yawned and stretched as she woke up, groggily trying to get out of bed, being shaken out bed due to the constant pinging and noise in her head: someone was trying to talk to her, but because she was sleeping it all sounded like absolute gibberish. "Ugh… hold on hold on…" She climbed out of bed, or rather, fell out of it as she missed the night table besides it and face planted onto the floor, letting out a loud yelp that was interrupted, leaving her rear facing up. Eric was awakened by the noise and turned to look around, finding her in the rather compromising position.

"Elly, what the hell are you…"

"Someone's calling me, hang on… aaah, damn it…" Her rear and tail fell out of view and she got up, shaking her fur. Her face was a mess of dried up drool and messed up fur, puffing out in all directions, so she was thankful that it was just a psychic conversation. "Here Elly, leader of Team Star, who is it?"

"Elly? Finally you picked up! We need someone from your team at the guild ASAP, something happened last night, and we need someone to go check it out! We think it might be something big!" She recognized the voice as Chimecho's, but she needed a few minutes to process what she was saying.

"Ok ok, hold on slow down… why do you want us to go look at it? Can't you just send someone else?"

"It's an order straight from Ferrus! Come over, and we'll give you the details, the guild's in an uproar!" There was a short silence from the other side. "No, it's not a meteor, I'm telling it's something else, Xatu would've… Alright, Elly I need to hang up, Loudred's saying he wants to go around town proclaiming it's the end of the god damn world again. Just get over here as quickly as you can and bring whoever you can, ok? Also, how is Eric?"

"Alright alright, I will… and he's doing just fine, thanks… Say hi Eric."

"Hi…" He responded groggily. "Chimecho?"

"Yep. Alright, I'll go there in a bit with someone." She closed the link and huffed. "Well that's one way to start the day." She walked up to the bed, jumped up and went over to kiss her mate. "Morning."

"Morning… I think today I'm going to try and move a bit more."

"No, no you're not. I'll go to the guild, and I'll have someone else accompany me. You're staying in bed and resting, Chimecho said at least a few days, and you've only been two."

"But I'm feeling fine. Look." He lifted his arms and moved them around, pushing him back down onto the bed. "Alright alright fine…"

"You're such a baby sometimes." She rolled her eyes and kissed him on the lips. "I'm going to go get ready and see who's up, ok?" He nodded, stretching as he crossed his arms behind his head, resigning himself to stay in bed… for the time being. Elly left the room and went to fix her fur in the bathroom, then walked out and looked around: she was alone, at least inside the building she was. Peering outside through the kitchen window as she drank some water she spotted Nox, focusing fire into his paws and then blasting off into the air, landing back on the grass and leaving some burnt patches where he'd stood. She walked outside and walked around the porch to where he was, looking at him from the little tea table and chairs under the porch.

"What are you doing, Nox?"

"What… does it look like?!" He shouted as he blasted off again, getting more height, almost enough to clear the second floor at this point. "Trying to control this stuff. I did it accidentally when we were fighting the Parasite thing, like Jake called it, and I thought it was pretty cool, so I wanted to do it again!" He began to focus his flames, flowing out of his mouth freely and focusing under his paws.

"I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I! And I think I did it first when Ayame got attacked and I saved her… she never thanked me for that."

"Don't think she would've done it anyways. A bit of an odd character." She commented, watching him gathering the fire, and readying it. "Isn't that dangerous if you fall back down?"

"If it's not too high, it doesn't hurt too much… and I'm trying to do something as well… since I noticed that… You wanna come over so I can show you?" She obliged and got down from the chair and walked up to him, the Houndour raising a paw, and showing her what he was doing: underneath his paw, she could see what looked like a glowing paw pad, but it was… really big, and covered his entire paw, entirely made out of fire. He then pressed it against the ground, and the grass bent and burnt slightly from contact, but his paw itself never touched the ground.

"It's… cushioning it?"

"Yeah, it's very soft too, like a pillow. And warm." He hopped in place, and readied himself, almost as if he was about to pounce. Elly stepped out of the way… and he'd suddenly jump and then the pads underneath his feet would blast, flames washing over the grass, dissipating quickly as he was hurled up… and against the wall, hitting it with his back and then falling back down to the ground. The smack of his back hitting the wall made her wince, and it would definitely scare the others inside, while the Houndour fell back down. "Oooooowwww…"

"Are you alright?" She approached him slowly, skirting the remains of the grass he'd blasted from while he rolled onto his stomach.

"Yeah yeah… I've actually gotten hurt worse. I want to at least see if I can land without hurting himself every time. Anyways, why are you up so early?" She briefly gave Nox a rundown of what Chimecho had told her.

"Wanna tag along? I'll let you as long as you don't stay behind me." The Houndour groaned.

"You know, that was only ONE time, and I didn't see anything, or at least, didn't get to see anything before you just smacked me halfway across the street with a giant fist."

"Yes, I know, and I aim to do the same if I catch you sticking your nose in places where it doesn't belong!" She threatened. "We barely talk, so it'd be good if we can have an interaction where you aren't trying to stick your nose under my tail, Nox."

"Alright alright, I won't do it… besides, I've been trying to cut down on all stuff." She glanced to him, raising an eyebrow.

"Has hell frozen over, or are you actually trying to stop being such a pervert?" He rolled his eyes, making her chuckle. "We barely get to speak, so I didn't know you were seriously considering something like that. What was it that made you change your mind? Outside of the constant berating that we give you." He seemed to drift off a bit as she thought of something, then shook his head.

"Honestly, it wasn't even that. Sure, you've told me time and time again, but I always just ignored, and it worked out… but lately I've been feeling like I wanna improve, and be a bit more graceful about the whole thing. Serge's always telling me that I need to cut down on being so forward and try to take this slower, be more 'suave' as he puts it."

"I don't think being 'suave' has anything to do with it Nox. You don't need a girlfriend or to prove anything to anyone… Look at Jake, he's doing just fine."

"Yeah, and he somehow got to have sex before I did!" He complained, remembering the argument they'd had back in the northern regions of Kanto.

"Another thing that I don't think is good, is that you focus a bit too much on the physical part, something that I just… don't understand. There's more to a relationship than making out and mating Nox, a lot more."

He groaned, rolling his eyes as if he'd been told this millions of times already… which he had. "I know about that, but I don't look at those kinds of things or want to do something like that."

"Then what do you want out of a relationship then? Just sex?"

"I… No? I mean… Look, I just want to like, be able to say I'm no longer a virgin, and maybe then things will happen and work out from there."

"I don't get why you are so obsessed with trying to find an end to your virginity, like you have to prove something to someone!" She shook her head. "Honestly Nox, I don't think anyone, unless they're a moron, is going to make fun of you for being a virgin when you're still sixteen. Sounds to me like you're either forcing yourself to do this, or you don't know what you want to do. Has Serge been putting weird ideas into your head? Or trying to convince you that settling down with someone is a bad idea?" That was something she could see the flying type doing.

To her shock however, Nox shook his head, and in fact got angry with her, growling. "You don't have to say that kind of stuff about him. Sure he's always teasing me about being a virgin, saying how he was getting double the tail Eric's getting with you when he was my age… But he's never told me how I should do that stuff. It's more so because I want to be able to talk to my bro about it, when I find him. I want him to be able to look at me and go: yeah, you've grown into a great pokémon, like I have, and stuff." He always seemed to get starry-eyed when his brother came up.

"Did he encourage you to chase after females incessantly?"

"Not really, they always all just… kinda came to him." She rose an eyebrow, and the Houndour shrugged. "I guess he was popular and sexy."

"I don't think a girl would just throw themselves to someone with no good reason. Even Serge doesn't get that, at least from what he claims, he just talks with girls, has fun with them prior, and then just does what he wants. Has he never told you any of that?" Nox stayed silent, looking away. "Or have you just never asked him?"

"A mixture of both I guess?" She sighed.

"Nox, having a relationship and getting someone to have sex with you is not easy, and it's not something that you can take shortcuts with. It's something serious. When mating, both partners are at their weakest, and trust each other completely if they want to actually… do it. If there's no trust, no confidence, and it's not enjoyable for one side, then it's not enjoyable for the other either. There needs to be something between the participants, there needs to be some emotion, or meaning behind the act. It's the reason why I criticize Serge's constant wooing and the "fanclub" he has in town."

"I know about that, and I've seen him get into trouble: he gets slapped across the face by a girl, or shouted at by someone, like their father, while she's sitting back… He just apologizes, then when they are gone laughs it off and keeps going. In his defense, he does tell girls what the deal is."

"What do you mean "what the deal is"? How can you even defend him?" She was surprised, hearing all of this from the Houndour, having no idea that Serge was this… disrespectful towards the opposite gender.

"Ok no, hold on let me explain… I've only overheard him say it, he didn't actually say it when he was in front of him, but I distinctly remember one time, we were in Voltaire, he was talking with a girl, and it was going really well. Then she whispered something, he laughed and agreed, but said that he didn't want anything serious. It was just for fun, and she agreed. I'd assume that most other girls that get laid with him know that as well."

"So who's at fault at that point then? Again, I don't get the whole 'just for fun' thing that you're so vehemently defending, and that he practices. Sex for me, and for a lot of people, is a far more important thing than you're making it out to be, and I don't think making it into such a frivolous thing is normal or healthy." The Houndour was stumped, unsure of what to say, huffing and looking away.

"Whatever, just let me do my thing, ok? Every time I bring this kinda stuff with everyone I get grilled about it. Point is, I'm going to try and start cutting down on it even harder than before." Elly sighed.

"Wouldn't it be better if you did with someone with whom you feel some kind of bond? Or do you just not care about that sort of stuff, and what happens after?" The Houndour just shifted around uncomfortably, but didn't say anything. She could tell it wasn't because he didn't have an opinion, but rather that it seemed he didn't trust her enough to truly speak his mind… perhaps because he really had no one to speak to then, because she doubted Serge could give him accurate advice on relationships. "Well, just know that if you need someone to talk with, you don't have only Serge you can approach, because I can tell you're conflicted."

"I'm not."

"You are. You clearly are, I don't even have to look at your mind to tell you're biting your tongue instead of saying what you really want."

"I'm not! Seriously, it's that simple, I just want to get it on with a girl!"

"And then what? What happens afterwards? Not being a virgin doesn't land you a spot in a privileged society or gets you a prize." He kept ignoring her, pushing her to just groan and drop the subject entirely. Besides, they had just reached the guild, which had quite a lot of activity, explorers going in and out, a cauldron of voices, shouting and murmuring that made it impossible to even communicate through psychic, just because of how overwhelming it all was. Elly tapped Nox's shoulder and told him to stick behind her, partly to make sure he didn't get lost, and partly that she trusted he wouldn't take advantage of the situation, and they began making their way to the front reception, where Chatot, Chimecho and some other temporary helpers, some of which were other guild members, ran back and forth and tried to keep up with everyone that was coming in all at once.

Spotting Elly's face among the crowd, however, brought visible relief to the bell pokémon's face, who floated over the counter and greeted them, then immediately excused herself from Chatot as she took them through the left, and to an area that Nox hadn't been to before. It was similar to the original guild's stairs, but unlike then they didn't have ladders, they were spiralling staircases. She took them up, walking past some more bounty boards, on the second floor they'd find more explorers, though fewer, many of them sitting around and quietly speaking, looking at Elly and Nox as they came in. They recognized a lot of them, most prestigious teams and explorers with whom they'd either worked in the past or interacted with.

They weren't there for the same reasons that they were though, as they'd soon find out, walking into Wigglytuff's new room, covered wall in wall in bookcases and cabinets with several papers and books, arranged by dates: contracts, compiled information on missions, reports of said missions, paychecks, and many, many more pieces of data that made Nox's head spin. In the middle of the room, a large desk, on the left, papers and ink, on the right, a mound of apples separated in two types: one, those eaten and nibble down to the bone, the other and smaller one, had the still perfectly intact apples, ever shrinking as he chewed through another right before them. He glanced up from his papers, his fur slowly fading of color as his age grew, but his signature smile and erratic behaviour seemed to be there to stay, as he got up and bound over, smiling and shaking their paws frantically. "My friends! So good to see you again! How's everything Elly? Nox?"

"Everything's been great, nice to see you again, Wigglytuff." She hugged him, and the Houndour just smiled, his relation with the guildmaster wasn't that close. "Chimecho called me over this morning, said something had happened and that you guys needed our help."

"Yes indeed… sit down please, it won't take long, but I can't have my super good friends standing around while I blabber about stuff can I?" He offered them some cushions, some conformity while he sat back down on his chair and looked at them. "So, I don't know if any of you were awake last night, but at 4:12 am a beam of light pierced the sky and clouds, lighting up the sky briefly like a firework. Nobody knows where it originated from, that is still being investigated." He handed them some reports on the shape and brevity of the beam. "More alarmingly however, was a subsequent report from Unova: apparently, a meteor was seen hurling down to the earth shortly after the beam vanished, at 4:14 am in our time, but over there it was around 8 pm."

"Arceus time zones are such a pain in the ass…"

"If this thing was so massive, how come no one saw where it came from?" Elly inquired right after Nox's observation, the guildmaster shaking his head.

"We don't know, as I said, it's being worked on, but it definitely didn't come from Sinnoh, if that's what you're worried about. Right now, our top priority would be to investigate what that meteor is, and whether or not it's dangerous."

"Why would a meteor be dangerous? I mean, it's just a big old rock, so if it had done any serious damage we'd already know, right?"

"That would be the case… if the thing hadn't just up and vanished. Check page six." He quickly pointed them to the next piece of information they needed. "A small team was gathered to investigate the crash landing, but once there they found nothing but strange markings and the crater itself." The report said just that, but also made note of something that Elly found curious.

"Apparently they say that the crash site and the hole was strangely… geometrical?" Wigglytuff shrugged. Not even he knew the answer to that question, the whole case being surrounded in a shroud of mystery that made the Eevee uneasy. Nox kept on skimming through the report and finally putting it down.

"You can keep that copy, so you can show it to the others. You can probably already tell that something about this is extremely fishy, so that's why we decided to send your team in, since it is sadly your field of expertise."

"I won't deny that…" She sighed. "But we're still recovering from the fight with the Parasite." The pink pokémon tilted his head. "The huge Rebscura. That's the name Jake decided to give it."

"Oooh, I see, that's a pretty nice name! Regardless, I know that you are all recovering still, and that you wanted to return to normality after those events, but I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to investigate this. We don't want to move more forces than we want to, since we're still dealing with the refugees from Evergreen, and we are short of staff, as always… Perhaps you can divide the team, since it will most likely be a simple recon mission?"

"Perhaps. We'll consider the team structure and will come around as late as mid day to confirm who will be going."

"Brilliant, then!" He stood up and clapped his paws together. "I will be waiting for you right here then, my friends! And, please, give Eric my best wishes for a swift recovery." They shook paws again, and said goodbye to the guildmaster before leaving his room, and making their way out of the guild.

"This place is still packed… these are all survivors from Evergreen, right?"

"I think so… I hope that they eventually manage to rebuild their village. The damage that thing caused was massive." This was definitely true, something that she deeply regretted, and had been eating away at her ever since they managed to defeat it and saw the lives it had claimed. If they'd all gone to the forest that day, like they said they would originally, could they have taken care of it then and there? Could they have saved a few more lives?

"I'm sure they will, I mean, there were a lot of dead, but it wasn't an outright extermination, and there were plenty of trees and wood to use to rebuild. It'll be a friggin' shit show, since many of them are just gone, and… honestly, that thing was just so fucked up it's probably screwed with some of their heads like that Hunter thing did Jake." That was another issue that the Eevee hadn't considered: the subsequent psychological trauma. Looking around them, they saw many different kinds of pokémon: tall and short, some of them scared and unnerved, crying or extremely sombre and quiet, and some that were simply happy to be alive and clutching their remaining family members, along with the lucky few whose loses only covered their houses.

"...This is just awful." She suddenly, quite a ways away from the mob of refugees. "Is this really the world that we fought for and that we killed Blake over, and that so many people sacrificed themselves for? More monsters, crazed criminals, unjust trials, and less and less pokémon that are both willing and able to help those in need." Nox was not ready to answer that question, and he had a slight sensation that it was more of a rhetorical question, so he opted to stay quiet, and head back home.

---

"So our objective for the next few days will be to travel to Unova and investigate the area where a meteorite crashed?"

"It's our objective, Eric, not yours. Your objective today will be staying at home and recover." Elly was immovable towards the Riolu's health, so deeply concerned for him that ever since she'd gotten out of bed she knew that whatever was ahead he wouldn't be tagging along.

"Elly, I'm f-"

"You could prove to be a liability if we encounter heavy resistance and your strength leaves you."

"In other words, you'd be dead weight, so just stay home!" Nox said with a confident smile, which just made the Riolu annoyed.

"Don't have to rub it in like that Nox…"

"Didn't you recently call me dead weight? Well there ya go." Their bickering stopped there, mainly because the Riolu didn't was too tired to argue, and also because the Houndour was right. "Still, we can't all go, someone needs to stay and help out in town."

"With all of the survivors here, they're going to need some help, and there might be a necessity for quick transport…" Jake glanced between Serge and Lucy, both of which shrugged, though the Shinx did so less enthusiastically.

"I mean, I guess I can go run back and forth, and stay in town." Her tone wasn't overlooked by the Eevee, who opened her mouth to try and speak, but ended up falling silent.

"Well, I can do that too, AND carry stuff and pokémon, so really, I can do everything you can… but better."

"Meh." Normally she'd debated or even shouted at him for suggesting something like that… now she was very much accepting of anything, shrugging it off and laying down on the armchair. Zed nuzzled her, trying to get her to cheer up, but the electric type was pretty much unresponsive. "Just tell me where I have to go, and I'll go there."

"Lucy are you sure you a-"

"Yes, I am. I'm not wounded, or hurt or anything like that, unlike Eric there. His dumbass has to stay home, and if you're also missing me then you'll be down two, plus whoever the hell has to stay, so I'm willing to go and do something." She sounded mostly annoyed, but seeing the bags under Zed's eyes, and how red Lucy's own were, Elly sighed and gave in.

"Alright then, you can tag along if you want. Zed, will you come along too?"

"Yes, I don't want to let Lucy out of my sight… Sorry honey."

"Eh, don't worry about it." She forced a smile and hit him on the shoulder in a friendly way, though it was easy to tell she was trying her hardest to look at least somewhat cheery.

"Then those will be the teams? Jake and I stay home to deal with town stuffs and make sure Eric doesn't do some crazy shit…" The Riolu rolled his eyes and got up from his chair, annoyed. "And you guys go check out this meteor?"

"Wait, when'd I say I wanted to join in with them?" Nox actually wanted to stay in town with Serge, the others looking at him confused.

"Oh, wait you didn't mean to come? Then why the whole "deadweight" thing for Eric?"

"I dunno, I was just pulling his leg? But if you guys want me to tag along, I guess I will."

"Just behave yourself, horndog." Lucy expressed her single requirement as she got down from her chair and towards the entrance, ready to leave the house already it seemed.

"No promises!" He got down as well, walking past Serge and stopping by the flying type, smiling.

"You watch yourself out there kiddo, won't have me to be your conscience, so all the decisions you make are all gonna be on you." He rubbed the Houndour's head with a wing, whilst Zed and Elly got everything ready and Jake helped a rather annoyed and slightly devastated Eric walk over and lay down on the couch.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry. I used to survive all on my own before I met you guys, remember?" He smiled, fist bumping his wing. He stood there for a second, his smile slipping from his muzzle slightly, looking up at Serge. "Hey Serge."

"Wassup kiddo?" He glanced at him, and noticing the rather somber look on his face and walking over to his favorite armchair, much to Jake's dismay. "Oh put a lid on it! Just wanna talk with Noxie here for a bit's all!"

"If you honestly think that these refugees will care much about you talking with Nox about his lack of control over his hormones, you are sorely mistaken."

"Holy shit what's up your ass today, Jake…" He sighed, but shrugged off any further attacks. "Anyways, what's on your mind?"

"Well, I was talking with Elly earlier, about what I told you about a few days ago…"

"About trying to avoid being such a horndog? Yeah, and you didn't tell me what exactly made you do that."

"Well, because… it wasn't getting me anywhere, I guess? I'm thinking that taking a different approach could yield more results."

"I mean…" He leaned forward and scratched his beak. "I think there's no issue in that, but I don't know if the issue is how you're handling it. I think it's more so that you're not forward enough actually, if you come forward and look in the right places, I'm pretty sure you can find some girls." He was obviously talking from his experience… an experience that Nox didn't have, and wasn't too keen on.

"Well, I can see that but I don't… know?" The awkward silence that followed tipped off Serge to something.

"Nox, are you falling for someone in particular?" The Houndour looked up at Serge, staring at him, and was about to answer, before Elly screamed from the other corner of the house.

"Nox! Come on, you guys can talk about it later!" The Houndour had completely forgotten about what they were supposed to be doing, so quickly rushed over to the entrance, saying bye to Serge and grabbing his things. "Remember to bring your scarf, it might be cold." He followed Elly's advice and grabbed it too, then headed out of the house and saying bye to Serge again. The Pidgeot sighed and rested on his armchair, pondering what they'd just been talking about… he was almost sure he was falling for someone, that was the easy part. Hard part was figuring out exactly who it was.

That was something only Nox knew however, and unfortunately he wouldn't be able to tell him anytime soon. Elly rushed them through town, the Houndour hopping behind them as he tried to fit his neck warmer around his head, going blind for just a second and bumping into old Kangashkhan, forcing him to apologize. "Come on, we'll miss the ship! Lucy, go ahead and tell them to wait up!"

"I mean, do I really have to…"

"Just do it!" Elly sounded like she didn't want to discuss it too much, and the Shinx agreed with a shrug, blitzing ahead to the docks. They still ran as fast as they could, and eventually reached the ship, quickly getting on almost as they lifted the plank and set out. Once on board, they all could finally relax and catch their breaths. "Alright… We made it just in time…" She sat down, huffing. "Hope you guys didn't forget anything, there's no going back now."

"Nope."

"Nah, and honestly it doesn't matter."

"Well, I…" Nox looked through his bag. "No, I got everything. Was kinda worried, but I'm a-ok."

"Good! We don't know how long this mission will last, but we don't have much money on us, so we're hoping that the guild's food is enough to help us pull through."

"Great… Knowing our luck we'll probably get food poisoning and spend the rest of the mission just suffering through stomach aches."

"Wow, you are just a bundle of joy today, aren't you?" Nox's observation was answered with yet another shrug, which at this point was starting to become almost as annoying as her usual snarky comments. He rolled his eyes and walked away and looking at Treasure Town as it slowly began to disappear from view. This time around, watching their house disappear in the distance felt somewhat foreboding. Zed approached him after checking on Lucy and telling her to get some rest if she could, sighing as he threw his forearms over the railing, much like Nox was. The fire type glanced at the shorter dark type. "Driving you crazy, eh?"

"She's not feeling ok, not after what happened with her family… I don't blame her, but I've tried to convince her that she didn't have to tag along, but…"

"She's stubborn like a Rapidash ain't she?" Zed nodded. "Honestly, I don't know how you keep up with her, she'd be too much, even for me."

"You say that as if you knew how to handle females." The Zorua couldn't help but feel slightly offended, which the Houndour quickly corrected.

"No no, I didn't mean as a partner… well technically yeah, but what I'm saying is, I can barely keep up and try to deal with her on a daily basis, and she's just my workmate. Can't imagine what it's like to deal with her moods… well, up close." Zed just remained quiet as he spoke… then sighed, and quietly pulled away from the railing and turned around. "Hey! Wh-"

"I'm not going to sit here and let you bad mouth my mate like that Nox. I already know she's not an easy person to be with, ok?" He got extremely defensive, glaring at the Houndour. "She's rude, loud mouthed, swears a lot… but I can look past that, and I can see that there's someone underneath that needs help and support."

"Well, I'm not telling you to leave her or anything like that b-"

"And then you come along, someone's who's never been in a relationship and I honestly can't picture being on a relationship because of how superficial you are! I have never, ever, heard you speak about a female that wasn't on the terms of how nice their rear looked or how cute they were."

"Hey that's not t-"

"I don't care if you're a teenager or not. I was a teenager too, and I had a bit of respect for females, and I can at least find the time to be compassionate and loving to the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with, so if you speak up again and say those things about her behind her back I'm going t-"

"Dude, chill, chill!" Nox rose his paws, the Zorua panting and visibly angry, something that the fire type had never seen in the Zorua before, and thus was utterly shocked. If anything though, Zed was even more flabbergasted than he was. "Well, I wouldn't talk behind her back if I knew she doesn't do the same behind mine… but whatever, I'm not going to get into that argument."

"R-right. Nox I…"

"Save it." He turned to face away, and just fell silent, the Zorua wanting to say something to apologize, but ended up walking away. "I know you're right anyways…" Nox muttered once he knew he was far away enough that nobody would hear him.

---

The sun above moved further and further away as the ship traversed in the opposite direction. They trailed the coast of North Sinnoh, and came out to the wide ocean, sailing smoothly, helped greatly by the ship's large sails and the water types that manned and helped the ship travel much faster than a simple sailboat would've. They'd been told to get there immediately, and from what Elly was told, Ferrus paid the expenses of the trip, so it had to be a great boat. Unova was to the south-east, not too far away from Sinnoh, but it would've normally taken a week or two to sail there. Due to the express ship they took, the trip took barely less than three days, arriving soon to the coast of the second richest continent in the world, and its capital: Pontavicel.

(City of Commerce - Nier)

Pontavicel was an aweinspiring coastal town, only beat out in sheer size and beauty by Flumerc Ars, but the sheer power present just in the shoreline was Unova's prize jewel: their navy, a vast fleet of merchant ships, rows of them extending as far as the eye could see: some small, and some impossible big, several sails, most representing the wealthier families and businesses that thrived there. Compared to this, Treasure Town's dock was a measly thing, tiny as it was. Several ships were sailing back and forth near the coast, looking or waiting for their chance to dock and unload their goods, several flying types having been hired to start the process or outright complete it.

"We are now arriving at Pontavicel. Please, make sure your belongings are with you, as we will reach land in the next hour or so. We hope you had a pleasant trip with us. I repeat, we are now…" One of the sailors was pacing around the boat repeating the message over and over, but the four Team Star members were all already up and ready. Though perhaps they were a bit too eager, as the sail was unable to find a spot in the bustling docks to sail to and finally let them off to land. Almost fifteen minutes after this initial call, most of the travellers on the ship were already up, but no one could get on land. A couple of flying types approached the ship and proposed taking some to land… at exorbitant prices, of course.

"Two thousand poké?! Just to take us a few hundred meters to land?!"

"Hey, it's either that, or you guys wait around here for a good three or four hours, your call!" Elly was tempted to deck him in the face with her dark matter, but instead just turned away and proposed he goes with his ridiculous offer to somewhere else. She neither had the patience or the money. Not even two minutes later that same flying type took off with five pokémon on his back.

"I guess this is what Serge called "The Pontavicel Treatment"... I hope there's food still left on the ship." Nox groaned, feeling rather hungry, since they hadn't had breakfast that morning. In fact, nobody had, and not even Lucy, whose behaviour and attitude had worsened during the trip, could avoid groaning.

"I'm about to drop dead here… About time."

"Will you please stop being such a depressed b-" The slap to the back of his head from Elly was visceral, and quite deserved, as he didn't pursue the matter, instead just growling. The Eevee looked at her friend, and at Zed: he looked even worse than she did, stressed out and eyes drooping. It reminded her a lot of the first time she'd ever seen him, so insecure and scared of everything and everyone.

Thankfully for all them, a spot opened up, and thanks to a skillful, albeit risky maneuver, the ship managed to squeeze into the new gap before another did. The screams and complaints from the merchant ship accompanied the group as they dismounted and got off onto the bustling streets. They covered and protected their bags, thieves being fairly common, and preying on innocent tourists, and began moving and squeezing their way through. Barrels and boxes of goods rolled, drove and flew above their heads, the sun mercilessly shining down. Despite the clear skies, the air was cold, no doubt due to the time of year. Shouting, proclaiming, whispering and talking went off all around them all at once, a melting pot of species, accents and cultures that seemed hellbent on making it impossible to hear oneself think.

It was so bad actually, that Elly's psychic link was barely perceptible, but she tried to steer and lead everyone, make sure they were all in the same place and didn't get lost in the asphyxiating mob as they finally got to the main avenue, which paradoxically had less people walking up and down than the docks. "Is everyone here?"

"That was horrible…" Zed seemed the most shaken out of them all, disliking physical contact… and they'd have to push and shove their way through all of that.

"Well, at least we're in the clear… So where to now?" Nox asked, stretching his neck upward and looking around, being the tallest in the group, trying to see if he could see any buildings that may count as a guild.

"Honestly? I don't know. We're just going to have to find our way to the guild by asking for directions…" She asked some friendly looking pokémon, and they kindly gave her some directions: to keep going down the avenue, then take a left on the third intersection, and there'd be no missing the guild by that point. Whatever that meant, she didn't know, but thanked him anyways, and lead the others.

The buildings were taller than those in Treasure Town, and comparable to those in Cunabula, some almost three floors high! Jake would've been going insane appreciating the architecture and structure of the buildings, and could've probably acted as a pseudo guide of information they absolutely didn't need, such as telling the age by the shape of the roof, or whether or not a coat of paint was new or old. The sidewalks were at least very marked, so as to avoid anyone from crossing through the padded road and in the way of some speeding carriage. "This is so confusing…" Nox observed. "All the buildings, and the people, and the carriages… it's like, an information overload! Cunabula's got nothing on this."

"Pretty sure we didn't go to Cunabula at the right time… today it seems to be a very commerce intensive."

"Probably buying food and gifts before winter kicks in, and the prices go through the roof." They all looked to Zed, who shrugged. "It's true, the only person I haven't seen taking an arm and a leg for a bag of berries during the winter is old Keck, but even he increases the prices."

"I can only imagine they are more expensive here… but they probably have better livelihoods…"

"Could use some of that, we are always short on money…" While it wasn't necessarily false, the way Lucy said it rubbed them the wrong way, expecting some sort of insult to herself to follow up, though she spared them that, and just kept walking along silently.

(Stop the music)

As they reached the intersection, however, they came across a massive roadblock. "The hell?" Nox voiced everyone's thoughts, and as they approached, they noticed what was going on: five carriages were thrown about the floor, pokémon were screaming and roaring at each other: a large group of Zebstrikas, Rapidashes and Mudsdales were roaring and railing against eachother.

"If you weren't trying to outspeed everyone we wouldn't be waiting here for this mess to be cleaned up! You Unovian breeds…"

"You're all so fucking clumsy anyways, can't pass through without strutting and trying to charge people for your shit services! Even my calves could carry two of those carriages you need four for!"

"You certainly don't mean that, with those weak legs of yours."

It was a constant back and forth that, from the sound of it, involved racism, and on top of that, the people trying to walk by were being stopped by members of the local guild, claiming it wasn't safe to pass through while they were trying to break the bickering factions apart. "Oh come on, of all times, it has to be when we come by?!" Once again, Nox seemed to be ahead of everyone when it came to complaining, whilst Lucy began muttering about how nothing was going their way.

"Well… what are we going to do now, Elly?"

"I mean, I could help, I'm sure with my psychic powers I can move some of those carriages out of the way… just wait for me here, ok?" They all agreed and found a nearby park to sit and watch as Elly approached the guild members, and a Simipour holding the line noticed her.

"Sorry, miss, but this area is off-limits, there's been an accident and…" He noticed her black scarf and badge almost immediately, his eyes widening when they met her sky blue eyes and saluted her. "Miss Elly!" Him calling out her name like that scared her, and looked around, having garnered some attention. "We were expecting you and your team! Did you just arrive this morning?"

"Umm… yes? Are you with the guild?"

"Yes, my name is Philo, and I am part of the Pontavicel's Guard… consider it the law enforcement body in our great city. I apologize that there was nobody at port today to welcome you all but as you can see…" He glanced to the bickering horses. "We were caught in an altercation."

"Yeah, I can see that… And that there's a lot of pedestrians trying to get through. We were told the guild is this way, and thought to come by immediately to receive further information."

"The meteor, right?" She nodded, and he glanced upward nervously. "I wasn't the guy that saw it crashing, but I know 'em. Sadly, I think you will have to take an alternate route to the guild, we can't have anyone pass through, lest they get hurt."

"Well, about that. I didn't notice any psychics here, so I was thinking I could help out and move some of the carriages out of the way."

"Oh! Yes, I forgot, you are a powerful psychic, right miss Elly? Then please, we have tried to get someone to help us, but all of our psychics seem to be occupied with other matters. If it isn't too much to ask…" She walked by him and shook her head, smiling.

"Of course not! Now…" She looked at the carriages. There were a total of five, and all of them were on their sides: two seemed to be for passengers, though were now empty, with shards of broken glass scattered everywhere, a pretty dangerous hazard, and the rest had been carrying goods: two of them barrels and boxes of food, a mess of squashed berries and vegetables tainting the padded road, and the last one, and the one covering their sidewalk, several furniture items tied together into one big block, which all around looked insanely heavy. "Here goes…" She focused on the carriage, enveloping it in her powers, briefly silencing the bickering as the Mudsdale's merchandise began twitching and lifting… and only when she got a few inches off the ground did she realize how much of a mistake this was.

"Guh! That's… so… heavy…" The Mudsdale weren't kidding, this thing was insanely heavy, trying to lift it up and heaving visually, resisting and straining herself to the point where she almost got a headache, breathing out as she had to let go, though she did so gently, so as to avoid any further damage.

"Miss, are you…"

"I'm fine, it's just… It's way too heavy." She shook her head. "I don't think I can lift something like that easily. Let's try the other c-"

"You give up so easily?" A voice called from behind her, turning on a dime to notice that the mob had given way to a massive pokémon. Towering above her, the Simipour, and even the Mudsdale walking from the sidelines with interest was a gargantuan Garchomp, looking down at the Eevee, who returned the look with just as much decisiveness.

"Excuse me?"

"Sir, please, back away from this area, it is currently too dangerous for civilians to come through. There's glass and…" Halfway through his sentence Philo noticed his words were falling on deaf ears and his voice faded out, intimidated by the massive pokémon.

"I asked if you were going to give up so easily. The hardest of the job was done, having lifted it off the ground, all that is needed is one more push, and a stronger will." He continued, his grave voice was enough to make most shudder in place.

"You're telling me I'm not strong enough to lift it up then?"

"You are. But you lack the conviction, and a clear motivation. I ask you, to attempt again." He was a strange individual, talking like that to Elly… but she wasn't about to just stand there and let him win by saying she was weak. Turning around to face the carriage again, she focused and used her psychic powers to begin lifting it. Again, after a couple of inches, it was already insanely heavy…. but she pressed on, now getting that headache, and kept pushing, closing her eyes… she was lifting it up higher and higher, cracking an eye open, and keeping her focus, she brought forth her dark matter to make a large hand and push it upward as well, giving it another push and surface for her to lean it on, and after less than a minute, the carriage slammed down on all its four wheels, upright, and was followed by a cheer from the crowd behind her, her ears ringing, and head pounding.

She turned to the Garchomp, smirking. "Well, there you go. Not so weak, am I?" She was met with a smile of his own, and a chuckle.

"Clearly. Must say, I am impressed… but I digress, I shall lift the others myself." He walked into the area where the carriages were, and at this point more guild members, including Philo, walked after him to stop him from doing anything stupid… but what he did shocked everyone, including Elly, as he non-chalantly crouched and stuck his left claw under one of the carriages… and casually pulled it up, putting it back in its place with a thundering racket, leaving everyone speechless as he did the same motions with the other three, until the roadblocks were pretty much gone, bar the area covered in food and glass shards. Even Elly's companions saw him do this, and stared in awe as he just… walked away, though not before glancing at the Eevee one last time with a knowing smile, before continuing down the road. After a few more minutes of clean up, the side of the road she'd cleared was traversable again.

"Thank you so much for your help, Miss Elly. The guild is a few more streets down the road, it is a large building with the oddly shaped roof, there is no way you can miss it." Philo gave her some more directions and she thanked him again, before he walked off to start cleaning up the mess and convince the horses to start moving the carriages so that others may pass. Nox, Zed and Lucy approached from the park, still shaken. Whoever that was… they'd made a very good first impression.

---

"After that, we headed to the guild, this tall building with something called "elevators", small wooden cabins that they lift up with ropes. Apparently the Guildmaster, a Serperior was at the top, so we had to get on those…"

"Must've been fun to heave Nox right next to you then."

Eric's tease made Elly roll her eyes.

"If you knew what he was rubbing against me you'd have killed him."

"I've still got time to do it. Just tell Serge and I'll fly over to bitch slap him." Elly chuckled at his reaction.

"Don't worry, it's ok… I guess. And you better stay over there mister! If Jake tells me you did so much as slip out of bed to go for a run you're going to get an earful when I get back!"

"If you don't already give me one over these crystals… anyways, you guys finally eating now?"

"Yeah…" She looked at her empty plate, and looked at the others: Lucy had barely touched her plate, Zed was slowly eating and glancing at her, and Nox was just devouring his plate, enjoying the delicious food.

"She's still being moody isn't she?"

"Mhm. Honestly, I expected her to take it a lot better, since her relationship with him wasn't great."

"I don't think that's the way she's handling it… he might've not been a good parent to her, but she's still sad that he's gone away. Just… remember how I was after mine did…" She stayed quiet, just looking at Lucy, fixing her eyes on her plate, the shinx still looking miserable. She suddenly glanced up at her, and held line of sight with her for a bit before she broke it, returning to looking at her somewhat touched plate. "I think I'm going to have a talk with her later."

"Alright. I'm sure she'll cheer up if you both talk about it… I think I'm going to go take a nap."

"Alright, bye bye honey." She smiled, speaking herself before she ended the connection, making a kissing motion with her lips and smiling, hearing Eric doing the same on the other side. She then returned to her companions, her mood having improved just a bit more, and feeling a lot more confident in talking to her friend. But they were out in the open, smiling at her and putting a paw forward, both of the males looking at her in confusion, her friend returning the gaze… and eventually, the motion, clenching her friend's paw. There was no need for words or psychic links, their eyes said as much as was needed…

"HEY!" All four of them were startled by the hand that came down on the table, soon after, a drunken Swampert was on them, looking at the girls holding hands, though quickly pulling away. "When are ya two gonna kiss, hm~?"

"Excuse me?!" Lucy stood up, riled up and fur sparking, the Swampert backing off with a stupid grin on his face, his friends behind him, a Dewott and a Bayleef, as some of the other patrons turned to look at the commotion, some of them explorers, if their badges weren't any indication.

"'s jus' a joke, girl, no need to be so uptight… then again if you swing that way…" He and his friends burst into laughter, backing away from their table as the Team Star members were about to start ignoring them… when they heard a groan.

"Oi, asshole, mind where you're fuckin' goin', or I'll knock your bloody teeth out in one punch." The pokémon they'd bumped into was a massive Krokorok, hunched over the bar, and glaring at them. His size ecliped even that of the Swampert's, and he was already huge. "All 32 of them, jus'" He made a jerk with his head, though the water and ground type just glared back, and puffed his chest out.

"Oh yeah, you gonna do that in here, around all these explorers, ya jerk wad? What, you wanna get instantly thrown into a cell? The guild's right around the corner, ya know? It wouldn't take more than three minutes."

"It'd take more than the whelps in this bar to throw me into jail… and you definitely ain't far off, wiseass."

"Fuckin' insult one more fuckin' time ya lil' bitch, and I'll be the one knockin' your teeth out ya hear me?" The Krokorok seemed to tense up at the insult, and the tension in the air was palpable… but he seemed to relax at the last moment, and calmly grabbed the Swampert's hand, and pushed it away.

"Get lost."

"Oh, what, trying to speak your way out of it like a scared little girl eh~?" The teasing continued, though it seemed like it was the last of them. "Ah, whatever, let's split dudes, booze here sucks an-"

"Hey. Asshole."

Everyone's heart's sank at the murderous tone that oozed out of the Krokorok's maw, as the confrontation finally caught the eye of Team Star… and everyone but Nox recognized him: the same Krokorok they'd met in Crimsand, and that had almost snapped Eric's staff. "The fuck'd you just call me?"

"And what the fuck did you just call m-" It happened, in an instant, the Krokorok's right arm gave off a sheen, shooting upward like a rocket and smashing his face in, yellowed teeth flying off as he spun on his heel and slumped down, groaning and coughing up blood. By this point, everyone was up and either walking out the bar or towards the Krokorok, who grabbed his face, and lifted it up, and began counting every tooth. "Yeah, let's see here: one two three four five…"

"You're dead meat!" The Dewott grabbed a hold of his shell in drunken hatred and came down on it on his neck, attempting to cut it off it seemed. It all happened so fast, Elly's dark matter was halfway to his arm when the shell hit the neck… and again, that same sheen, and the shell smashed into millions of tiny shards. There was yet another moment of silence as the Krokorok rose up to full height, and grabbed the Dewott by the scruff of his neck. By this point he was surrounded, and it wasn't just the local explorers: Everyone but Zed had gotten up from the table and was facing the Krokorok too.

"Let him go." Was the single order someone from the group barked, they all seemed quite ready to fight. The Krokorok looked over his shoulder and glared at him. "Eh? Oh… well, if ya insist…" He lowered the terrified Dewott, who let out a sigh of relief… before he roared and was suddenly lifted and thrown towards the window, smashing right through, across the street, and against the opposite building. The reaction was immediate, Elly charging forward with a dark fist to return the blows to the Krokorok… and hitting what felt like the hardest thing she'd ever punched, her dark matter bursting outward and away, quickly backing away as the ground type reached for the dark matter to continue his assault, groaning in exasperation.

"Aaaagh! You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me I just wanted to have a fuckin' nice drink and this sorta shit has to happen every single fuckin' day!" He stomped on the ground and grabbed a chair, swinging it around and hitting a poor unprepared Pikachu in the face, sending him flying and against the mob, who caught the instantly knocked out explorer. "Oh fock me, shit mate I'm s-"

"He's resisting arrest! Get him!"

"No wait, shit man I'm sorry I fuckin' don't none of th- Oi!" He had Nox, a Midnight Lycanroc and a Fraxure try to hold him down. "I said, I don't want none of this fuckin' shit! Get off!" He struggled violently, but they held on. "Fuckin' get off… Get off!" His reaction became even more violent, tossing and throwing out punches, sending Nox hurling to the bar and knocking bottles of alcohol down, sending him groaning, whilst the Midnight Lycanroc was grabbed and spiked against the floor and the Fraxure held on as he charged towards the exit, where he was met with Lucy, sparking up, and shooting a well aimed bolt at his face.

Even so, he had his arms crossed, and he got a single groan from him as he almost bulldozed the Shinx, quickly running out of the way as he smashed his way out, splinters and wood chunks flying off as he looked for the quickest route to escape, whilst grabbing the Fraxure's arms, pulling him off and still holding his arm, smashed him against the ground repeatedly, until he let got, leaving the tough looking pokémon whining on the ground. "Fuck you!" He attempted to get away again… but he found the street to be completely full of explorers, all of them ready to throw themselves at him and stop him from moving. Not only that, but Elly came out of the bar as well, along with many other explorers, leaving him surrounded from all directions.

"Give it up! You're completely surrounded!" At the sound of her voice, he turned to face her, snarling.

"Oi, shut the fuck up, ya cunt! I ain't surr- Wait a sec…" He focused on her completely, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head. "Oh, you're that Eevee b-" Before he could even finish that train of thought a massive Serperior tail crashed against the back of his head, in a very precise spot, meant to knock him out, as the guildmaster had quickly snuck up behind him. To everyone's shock however, he only recoiled and stood up, looking at the grass type, furious, and raising his fist against the guildmaster… and then slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief as he finally went down, the guildmaster complaining about the joints of his body as he slithered back into the building, whilst the Krokorok was handcuffed and sported back to the guild by nearly twenty pokémon.

"Hey, Nox, come on, snap out of it." Zed's voice called out to the Houndour, the fire type standing up… then stuttering in his step and burying his face into the growing puddle of alcohol, coughing up as he almost drowned himself in the booze… but with a clear drunken blush on his face. "Oh come on…"

---

The Krokorok snapped awake a few minutes later, tossing and looking around. He was in a temporary cell, bound to a chair, with his arms tied behind his back with a tough looking vine. Outside of the cell he saw some pokémon, whose tossing alerted to his awakening, among them were Elly and Lucy, the others being the cellmaster, an Unfezant by the name of Freud, and Servine, Alex, son of the Guildmaster. "Finally woke up. Kept us waiting."

"Ugh… What… happened…"

"Got knocked out, then we took you here, and cuffed you to that chair, so you don't do any more damage. You're under arrest for civil assault and resisting the authorities." The Krokorok just looked at him, in a mixture of bafflement and confusion. "How do you plead?"

"The fuck?!"

"That's not a plead."

"Fuck it ain't! I ain't done shit those assholes didn't deserve, jumping me like that and callin' me names! Woulda just waited for you lot to get him the hell out, but you didn't do shit. So I took out the trash."

"If by taking out the trash you mean having to pay for a full jaw reconstruction and physiotherapy for those drunkards you tossed around, then I suppose you did a bang up job of it, dickhead." Lucy chimed in, and earning herself a scowl from Alex and the Krokorok.

"Right… Well, back to the topic at hand: you're in some deep trouble mister. And not just for your performance here today…" Alex walked closer and slammed a folder on the table in front of him, rough sketches of his face and descriptions of his crimes laid out in front of him.

"I ain't done nuthin'." Was his only response after just skimming over them. The skim was so quick in fact, Elly had her doubts whether or not he'd read them.

"Oh, so every single one of these bounties were completely made up? Let's see here." He picked up several papers. "Assault, assault, public indecency, assault, assault, robbery, assault… Pretty violent aren't we?"

"Hey keep your fuckin' snout in your coffee and outta my problems pal!" He shook in his chair, the stool creaking as he tossed around.

"Keep struggling, your hands are bound, not like you're going to be able to get up." He was about to keep reading more of those papers… but when he saw the Krokorok get a foot up, he quickly jumped, vaulting and backflipping over the table that shot against the opposite wall, though thankfully Elly caught it with her dark matter, and laid it down, exactly when Alex landed, and snatched another paper out of the air. "Oh, here's a good one: property damage, or as the writer defined it…" He cleared his throat. "Damn bastard kicked down my door, came in to shout at me over some taurosshit, grabbed the door, placed it against another wall, and kicked the wall and the door down, then walked out." Just the mental image was enough to make Nox chuckle, and Alex smile. "What, never learnt how to open doors or something?"

"Asshole deserved it, served shit booze at exorbitant prices and was forcing kids to go through the woods, with primals, to fetch it from his stash."

"Yes, this is true, and the matter was looked into and those infants are now in better hands, we assure you… We've kept a close eye on you, mister. Enough felonies to call you a dangerous individual, specially when taking into consideration the state you leave your victims in." At this, the Krokorok shrugged.

"It ain't my fault, I don't punch none who don't deserve it."

"And who are you to decide that?!" He shouted. "What, you think you're some hero, acting outside of the law and beating the shit out of anyone that pisses you off or does something wrong?! Some of these people you never even knew, yet their first and only interaction with you has been them receiving a punch square in the face!"

"If ya did yer fuckin' job properly…" He bit his lower lip, and scoffed. "Fuck this, man, I ain't got nothing to explain to you."

"That's right, you don't, because I know full well what I want to do with you…" He stepped back… but Elly stepped forward. "But you've got stuff to explain to her."

"Her? You?" He looked at her straight in the face, the Eevee infinitesimally smaller than he was. "The fuck cha want? Where's ya Riolu boyfriend?! He and I got a score to settle!"

"I'll be asking the questions here, mister… I don't think Alex asked you your name. Got a bit carried away didn't we?" The Servine's eyes widened, and he rubbed the back of his head, becoming incredibly lax when he wasn't face to face with the Krokorok.

"Ah nuts… Well, it was pretty good for a first time interrogation, wasn't it?" Lucy rolled her eyes, and Elly couldn't help but smile whilst Sam just looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, don't worry, we all have our first time… anyways." She turned to the Krokorok, and looked at him expectantly. He waited for a bit, just looking at her in silence, before he remembered.

"Oh, right. Me name. Name's Sam, short for Samuel, got it?" He seemed hell bent on getting his name across, because he looked at them sternly, almost as if it were a matter of life and death.

"Sure, sure, Samuel, Sam, Sammy, whatever, it's the same sh-"

"I said I'm fuckin' Sam!" He stood up and slammed his feet, the vines holding his hands behind him snapping cleanly, growling menacingly, which scared Lucy, and got Elly to stand up, but visibly calmed down when she noticed he wouldn't attack. Alex meanwhile, was too distraught and surprised to see that his super resistant vines had been snapped with such ease...

"...short for Samuel. We got it." Elly repeated, and Sam seemed to relax and sit back down, looking at her straight, putting his arms on the table between them.

"Much better… Didn't wanna break them too early, he looked like he was way into it." What he meant wasn't lost on the group, the Servine blushing, but also slightly frustrated. "Anyways, what do you wanna ask me about, eh?"

Elly was straight to the point: leaning over the table, she'd place her paw on her left claw, specifically on the back of it, where the emblem was: different, like a row of serrated teeth, surrounded by a brownish circle. "This. Where'd you get it?" His eyes went wide open and pulled away from her, covering his left claw, looking quite alarmed. "I'm going to be dead serious with you: if you don't tell me exactly where you got it, or who gave it to you, you will not be leaving this building."

"Wot. You think you're gonna be able to hold me here? For real?"

"The guildmaster managed to knock you out while you weren't looking, and didn't notice you. I don't know how you managed to get out of the first hit unscathed, but you didn't the second."

"Because the old geezer got the jump on me. Had I been aware I would've turned around a-"

"Would've what?!" Alex stepped forward, looking irate, but he backed down when Elly waved a paw at him to pipe down.

"That's not really important. Now answer." Something in her gaze told Sam she wasn't kidding when she said she was going to keep him there if he didn't answer, but… He wasn't straight with his answer.

"Well… I dunno? Woke up one day, it was there, and I was a Krokorok. Look, what's the deal about it? It's just a dumb tattoo."

"Just a dumb tattoo?" She put her left paw on the table, and show her own mark to him. "Does something like this ring familiar?" Sam stared at it for a long time, but ended up shaking his head. "You are not lying to me, are you?"

"Why would I? Lady, I don't fuckin' care for your weird sense of fashion or whatever the fuck. Besides, it looks fuckin' awful on you, hidden under all that fur. Mine's kinda obnoxious too, no matter how much I scrub at it, it never fuckin' goes off." He scratched at it with his claws, lifting some scales up and tossing them on the table. The mark was there, but she noticed something else: his scales glittered on the table, and as he brought his hand back on the table and made it shake, they looked quite rigid. "What's to ya anyways?"

"It's merely an inquiry, concerning the fact that certain… individuals with strange powers or strength have been sighted before, and they usually weren't up to anything good. You have unnatural strength and your scales look very suspicious, and unnatural… And your violent behaviour is enough to make you a danger, as mister Alex stated before."

"Oi, I said I didn't wanna do it, but that a-hole came up to me and just started being an a-hole all over me, so I decided to make his mouth into a new a-hole, because all he was saying is shit, and I ain't a smart guy, but I know shit's supposed to come out the other end." The mental image Sam provided for the group wasn't exactly nice, making Lucy gag, and Elly cough to compose herself. She was actively struggling to keep a straight face… this was the reason why she usually left interrogations to others, but this time around it was either a semi-drunk Nox, a depressed Lucy or Zed… and given the fact Zed was being himself and he was probably the worst choice was a testament to the hunk of scales in front of her.

"Nevermind that, you also appeared in front of our team a week or so ago, in the town of Crimsand, in Sinnoh… Now, one would normally leave that encounter as just a mere coincidence… but I don't precisely believe in those, not with how well organized these individuals are."

"So you're sayin' I'm stuffed, hm? Well, you can grab that and shove it right up your a-" He didn't get to lift his hands before they were suddenly tied together by her dark matter scarf, which shot from her neck and to his hands, binding them together, and as he tried to pull on them, he'd feel the wetness and elasticity of the water that now put them together. He could stretch them as much as he wanted, but they remained around his wrists like cuffs, and the more he stretched them, the harder they pulled together, slapping his hands and making the air ripple. "Oi! What the fuck?!"

"Just a safety measure before I leave the room, because I'm pretty much done here."

"The fuck we are! C'mere, and Imma show you just how strong I am! Here, I'll break yer stupid cuffs while I'm at it too!" He tried over and over, but it was basically useless, eventually falling on his side and on the floor, toiling and tossing around as he pulled and pulled, as Elly walked out of the cell just as Lucy stuck her tongue out at Sam.

"Deserved. Can't believe this asshole says he's strong and can't break those things. Pretty sure the Garchomp from this morning would've done it in the blink of an eye."

"The one that told me to lift that carriage? I'm not sure, the water strings are very stretchy and…"

"Wait! Wait!" Sam rushed to the bars and slammed against them, hearing the iron creaking under his body as he slammed and looked through them at the group as they walked upstairs, his cell now locked. "Who are ya fuckin' talking about?! Some crazy strong Garchomp dude?!"

"Yes, we are, someone who would actually give you a run for your money, I'm pretty sure. Now sit tight mister asshole, while we go check out some meteor. After that, we'll be comin' back to check on your sorry ass." Lucy waved dismissively at him as he kept on calling them to come back down… but eventually just fell quiet and the door locked behind them, plunging him into the dim light cast from the candles. A crazy strong Garchomp… in Unova…

"Well… this might just get interesting then."

---

"Chariot." A voice rang in their head. They sighed, this being the very reason for their late night excursion to the outskirts. "Report."

"Yes, sir. The members of Team Star seemed to have arrived just this morning, just as you had predicted. However, it seems like they haven't sent their full force, only four of their members: the Houndour, the Zorua, the Shinx, and just as you had foreseen, the Eevee. Elly."

"Yes, it was obvious that at least her or Eric would show up… Do not underestimate them just because they aren't all there. Remember what happened in the Crimsand ruins."

"With all due respect sir, that battle was likely lost because I could not make it. If I had been provided with a bit more time perhaps…"

"Do not dwell in the past. What we sought was not there. Only a remnant of the past… it could've been a valuable ally, but alas, now we must reconvene, and win this next battle. However, I did not call you just to ask for an update." A pregnant pause followed this statement, a stern tone coming from the other side.

"Sir?"

"Oh don't cha Sir me. Don't have to talk so formally, it's weird to hear you in this awful accent. What's happened to your informal speech, eh?" The voice on the other side was different, and far less… formal. But the same air of intimidation and dread remained. "Oh, whatever, don't even bother answering that, here's the gist of it: Tharmius has landed in Unova just this afternoon. Not in Pontavicel through, somewhere else."

"...Tharmius. I see. I suppose then, that the rendezvous will come sooner than we had anticipated."

"Now now, just hold your Zebstrikas there partner, before you bite off more than you can chew. Remember what we told ya your mission was?"

"Learn of the location of the artifact, retrieve said artifact at any cost."

"Yes yes, very, very good! Now, where in the FUCK does it say there that you should go out of your way and meet up with Tharmius?"

"Sir, he could be looking for t-"

"Not in here, ya don't speak about that!" The voice on the other side cut their statement short, another pause, as the more calm voice returned. "This line may have been compromised with the defeat of Taikok, we cannot take our chances. Your mission was clearly stated, and you were encouraged to avoid any additional side confrontations that may delay or impede you from carrying out this mission."

"...Understood sir. Retrieve the object at any cost."

"Good. Your chance will come in due time, my friend. For now, I suggest you start moving: use whatever strategy you deem necessary to retrieve the fragment, but know this…" The figure stood up, and began walking. "Should you return empty handed, it shall be your powers that are used for our goals."

"Do not disappoint us." "Do not disappoint us, chump!"

---

Alright then, now I am BACK. For realsies this time. This last term was complete and utter CHAOS, so I had to really dig in and try to get through. I got it, but I didn't complete some of the goals I had to, so it's just going to make things a bit rougher in the long run… but it'll be fine, I'm sure of it. Now, in celebration, let's do something I haven't done in a while: respond to reviews!

Off of chapter 12, since otherwise I wouldn't have much to cover:

WesternFail: Too long my friend. You should do it more often (I know you're there), seriously, your input is ALWAYS appreciated. But yes, Ayame was a fun character to write, and be assured, you shall be seeing more of her in the future!

Hjof257: Yo, thanks for reviewing in literally every chapter, love your input as well. And yes, I was trying to catch everyone up, since it seemed like it had been a long time since last chapter (ironic, I know).

Nox and Serge have a bit of a special relationship, that much is obvious, but how will Ayame play into it? Who knows…

And thank you for the input on the fight, it was something that I had spent a loong time thinking about and perfecting. I'm trying to make the fights in this part a lot more sparce, but make those fights into spectacles and memorable ordeals, so happy that I'm keeping it up.

And funnily enough, KH3 didn't keep me down for very long, had to do other stuffs and I had to drop it in and out, ended up waiting for Critical to play it again and finish it… and now I'm waiting for the DLC for that… *le sigh*

#don'tworryyou'llseehermore

Snowwolf65: Someone else praising the fight scene? Aw geez, thanks man, seriously, it means a lot. I put a lot of effort into them.

Also maybe, maybe not ;)

Guest: Whoever you are, my dude, you get a cookie for reviewing and showing your input. That's kind of the idea: even if you don't like his humour, you can still find some amusement in it. And Lucy's family is… yeaaaah.

And no, you didn't miss anything, and all will be revealed in due time about the other world. Needless to say, I wanted to show this symbol to stablish a connection between the ongoing main story and this one, since people were awfully confused about it alst chapter.

Hjof: And we're back to you my man! And you can start throwing speculations around, but lemme tell ya, you're missing quite a few letters still hehehe~ And yeah, I'll try to arrange it for the next chapter, which will come out in a not preposterous amount of time! Hooray!

Anyways, wanted to stick it here so that it didn't interrupt the beginning of the chapter (which I did anyways with that skit. Btw whoever gets the reference of the last line gets 20 internet cookies.) Nevertheless, I thank you for sticking around for so long, and reading this chapter. Things are back to normal now, and they will STAY that way!