The awards ceremony was a bit awkward for everyone involved. Theoretically, every Pokémon who won an event was supposed to be honored individually, followed by the entirety of the guild who won the games as a whole.

Said award ceremony was set for 15 minutes after the final Pokémon made it down Breach Mountain, which happened when Magikarp flopped across the finish line.

Unfortunately, Blizz was still unconscious by this point. He had one broken arm, one leg, and somewhat severe burns from the lightning strike. As a result, Chansey ordered that he not be woken up, which would give his body more time to heal.

Loudred had to weigh this against the dozens of spectators who really wanted to see the awards ceremony but still needed to make it back to their homes before sundown.

Ultimately, they decided to compromise.

"AND THE WINNER OF THE FINAL DAY OF THE GUILDED GAMES, MASTER OF THE SLOPES, IS TREECKO OF TEAM APEX, HAILING FROM LUCARIO'S GUILD!"

Kibo and the Prince walked up to the stand where the other round victors were standing, carrying a stretcher with Blizz in it. He was tied down to the stretcher at his hands, legs, and head.

No one on Apex wanted to comment on how it looked like they were crucifying him. They all thought it though.

"I cannot stress how much you are in my debt for this…" the Prince muttered to the unconscious Blizz.

The two Pokémon set down the stretcher, planting one end on the ground and lifting up the other, angling Blizz enough that the crowds can see him.

Noctowl approached Blizz, carrying a medal in the shape of the treasure badge from the competition a few days ago. He awkwardly tilted up Blizz's head to wrap the medal around it, then shook his limp hand.

"NOW LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR GUILDED GAMES CHAMPIONS!"

At this point no one was surprised by the crowd's cheering.

"AND LASTLY, THE WINNERS! HAVING SCORED A VICTORY IN BOTH THE BATTLE TOURNAMENT AND THE RACE DOWN BREACH MOUNTAIN, IS LUCARIO'S GUILD!"

Zorua, Raboot, Shedninja, Zangoose, and Kirlia cleared out from the stage as Lucario jumped up.

"HELL YEA! WE DID IT!"

The rest of the guild followed behind him, positioning themselves alongside their guildmaster.

Dragapult approached Lucario, carrying a golden trophy. Lucario took it and held it up to the sky, as the flash of cameras lit up the guild member's faces.

Not content with just the trophy, Lucario casually tossed it aside to Scizor, who struggled to catch it without damaging it. He grabbed Hawlutcha by his arm and Blizz by the handle of his stretcher, lifting them up before everyone watching in.

"THIS IS WHAT MY GUILD IS ALL ABOUT!" Lucario yelled. "THESE TWO? THEY'RE BADASS AS HELL, THIS WAS THEIR VICTORY!"

"I would appreciate it if you let me down now," Hawlutcha asked. "Also, Tyrogue was instrumental in our win as well."

Lucario obliged, dropping both Pokémon down to the ground. Hawlutcha landed gracefully, while Kibo and Rune scrambled to stop Blizz from slamming his head against the ground.

"THANK YOU GUILDMASTER," Loudred commented, gesturing for them to clear off the stage. "AND THIS IS THE END OF THE 32ND GUILDED GAMES! JOIN US NEXT YEAR FOR 33, LOCATED IN THE CASCIAN ARCHIPELAGO!"

The announcement of next year's location seemed to excite Golisopod's guild, who managed to match the volume of everyone else in the arena.

"THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT HERE! THIS IS TEAM BROADCAST, SIGNING OFF!"

After the awards ceremony, Lucario's guild gathered around to prepare for the trek back to Nova Town.

"Alright, what's the deal with Treecko?" He asked Kibo, who was currently carrying his stretcher.

"No idea, still asleep though."

"Hmm… Scizor, how long until sundown?"

"Approximately 8 hours. Before you ask, even if we were to take an aggressive pace we would still have to walk in the dark for one hour. I would strongly advise we spend a night here, and return to Nova Town tomorrow morning."

Lucario grinned. "Only one hour?"

Scizor paused, realizing his mistake. "… You brought luminous orbs."

"I brought 15 fucking luminous orbs!" He opened up his bag, revealing 15 blue orbs. "5 minutes a piece, we can make it back just fine. Everyone get ready to book it, we're gonna be back in Nova Town tonight!"

"And what of our teammate?" The Prince asked. "We cannot be expected to maintain a faster pace than our walk in while carrying him."

Lucario stopped to consider that. "… Alright, who here thinks they're capable of carrying him?"

Hawlucha, Tyrogue, Chimchar, Sneasel, Rockruff, and Kibo raised their hands.

"Then you guys are gonna be switching out. Now let's get going!"

Lucario took off, not exactly running but going way faster than anyone else was comfortable walking. Kibo and Chimchar scrambled to lift up Blizz and follow Lucario, with the rest of the guild behind them.

Almost everyone was exhausted when the lights of Nova Town finally appeared over the horizon.

The Pokémon who volunteered to carry Blizz were in particularly bad shape, most of them having to sprint to keep up with Lucario. Blizz was dropped on more than one occasion, which made it really unlikely he'd wake up before they arrived.

Still, seeing the guild's tent sitting on the canyon's ridge was enough to give them the last bit of energy they needed. The group practically threw themselves down the ladder, scampering off to their rooms as soon as possible.

They probably should've brought Blizz to the clinic that night, but everyone was too tired to care. He was tossed onto his bed, and that was as much effort as anyone was willing to put in.

The combination of expecting that they would take one more day to get back to Nova Town, their victory at the Guilded Games, and the sheer exhaustion everyone felt last night meant Lucario decided to give his apprentices the day off.

For the first time in a long while, everyone in Team Apex was able to wake up on their own.

Kibo was up first, wandering around the guild for a little while before heading into town. The photos from the games were supposed to be in the newspaper, and he decided it would probably be helpful in explaining to Blizz what happened.

Rune and the Prince got up around the same time, enacting an unspoken truce guaranteeing that they not bother each other as they lounged in their beds for another 30 minutes.

Like all good things, it came to an end as their team leader finally woke up.

Blizz blinked a couple times beneath his goggles. "…What the hell happened…"

"You were unconscious for the past 21 hours," the Prince began, annoyed that his moment of peace had been interrupted.

"Chansey said your left arm and right leg are broken," Rune explained, before Blizz could do anything to make his condition worse.

"Damn… that shit sucks… What happened though? I remember hitting that Pidgeotto, then it was kinda fuzzy. Also uh, aren't we supposed to be at Breach Mountain?"

The Prince sighed. "As I said, you were unconscious for the past 21 hours. We carried you back to Nova Town."

"…Oh. How did the games go then?"

Rune stared at him. "…Have you looked down?"

Blizz struggled to lift his head, managing just enough to see the golden medal wrapped around his neck.

"…Nice." He let his head fall back to the ground. "So we won, right?"

Before the Prince could give another snarky response, Kibo walked in, carrying a newspaper. He looked over at Blizz, who was stirring as much as partially broken body would allow. "Hey, good to see you up."

Blizz waved with his non-injured arm. "Yea, haven't died yet."

Kibo nodded. "Take a look at this." He opened up the newspaper above Blizz so he didn't have to get up. The front page contained a picture of Lucario's guild, the shot where Lucario was holding up Hawlucha and the unconscious Blizz. "After you took that lightning bolt, you just slid across the finish line."

"Fucking rad."

The Prince let out a groan. "If we're done catching Blizz up, could I return to my rest?"

Kibo looked apologetic. "Right. Blizz, you think you can walk? We should probably take you outside."

"Let's see…" Blizz used the wall to support himself, taking care to avoid putting any weight on either of his broken limbs. He had to lean on Kibo, but he managed to hobble out of the guild, before falling over on a patch of grass overlooking the canyon.

"Need anything else?" Kibo asked.

"Nah, this isn't the first time I've dealt with this. Thanks though."

"Anytime." Kibo walked away towards town, probably not wanting to bother the rest of his teammates.

Blizz just rested, letting his body take in the sunlight. Probably the biggest benefit of becoming a grass type was being able to photosynthesize.

…God it felt good.

His thoughts of comfort didn't last long though. This was the first chance he had to really dwell on everything that happened before the race.

Most important thing: the memory. It confirmed that he was a human, but he quickly realized something kinda off about it: memories aren't supposed to happen in third person.

It wasn't like this was from another human's point of view, he was looking down on everyone. It was almost as if he was watching a movie. Which means someone had to have shown him that.

That was a good start, but it led to more questions. Namely, who did it and why did it only happen when he put on the goggles.

Blizz decided that it might help to consult the others about this. For all the Prince complains about being the only intelligent one here, he probably has some insight he'd be willing to hand over— It wouldn't have occurred to Blizz that his name was short for blizzard before the Prince pointed it out, after all.

Then onto the next issue which wasn't really the next issue since it's sorta related to the last: the goggles. They sat comfortably on his face, and he couldn't really be bothered to take them off.

Most important point is that he saw human-Blizz wear a very similar pair in the memory. It couldn't have been the exact same given the size difference between Treecko-Blizz and Human-Blizz, but the similarity couldn't have just been a coincidence.

…Now that he was thinking about it, he was probably considering it the wrong way. He managed to find a pair of goggles that looked like what he wore as a human, so that was what triggered the memory.

That was the easiest explanation.

He had his doubts the universe would be satisfied with the easiest explanation.

Still, without any other information he didn't really have much options, so that was the answer he's going with for now.

"If it's not an overstep of my bounds, may I ask why you are laying here?"

Blizz flipped his body over to look at the newcomer.

"Yo, hey Absol. And uh, not really. Sunlight helps me heal faster."

Absol nodded. "That would make sense… I saw the photograph in the newspaper. Congratulations on your finish at the games."

"Thanks, was kinda unconscious at the end though."

"I noticed that as well. I assume you are healing from those injuries?"

"Yea, couple broken limbs. Nothing too serious."

A look of concern flashed across Absol's face. "…Right… In any case, I no longer sense the imminent disaster I felt when we last talked."

"So that means it passed then?"

"Well I would advise you to be on-guard regardless… but yes, most likely. Did you not notice anything while you were there?"

"Not really. I mean, there was that blizzard-thunderstorm thing on the last day, but I was the only one who got hurt by that."

"Sorry… there was a blizzard atop Breach Mountain?"

"Yea, with lightning and stuff."

"…Was anyone else in a position of harm?"

"I mean Rhydon caused an avalanche but he made it out alright, only Pokémon that didn't have some resistance to the storm was Pidgeotto, and I know that bitch made it to the end."

"…A Pidgeotto was flying through a thunderstorm down the mountain?"

"Yea, didn't think that was a good idea but I wasn't gonna go up to Hydreigon and ask what he was thinking there."

"Hydreigon… I wish I could say I am surprised. But what came of the Pidgeotto?"

"Well she was attacking me as I was coming down the mountain, so I jumped up off a ledge and slammed her to the ground with Pound. Cool moment, slightly ruined by getting struck by a bolt of lightning immediately after."

"…Are you aware you saved Pidgeotto?"

Blizz gave Absol a blank stare. Or what would be a blank stare if the goggles didn't completely cover his eyes.

Absol sighed. "You are a grass type, which resists electricity, correct?"

"Yea."

"Pidgeotto is a flying type, who is weak to electricity."

"Following you so far."

"What would have happened if you had not positioned yourself above her?"

"I mean… she probably- Ohhh…" Absol could see the wires connect in Blizz's brain.

"Unintentional as it may be, your actions directly led to Pidgeotto not getting at least seriously injured… Although…"

"What's up?"

"…My apologies, just considering your situation. I've never had the feeling of a disaster triggered by a mere injury. I mean you no offense, but some broken limbs certainly wouldn't constitute a disaster."

"I mean this isn't the first time it's happened."

"Hmm… I believe the death of Pidgeotto was what I sensed coming from you."

"But uh, she's alive. I mean maybe Hydreigon will kill her once they're back at Tenea, but she was definitely alive last I saw her."

"That is what I mean. I do not recall the last time a disaster I sensed was outright avoided…" He looked over Blizz with an intense emotion in his eyes, though Blizz couldn't quite put a finger on what it was. "Again, I apologize if this would be overstepping my bounds, but might there be something… abnormal about yourself?"

Blizz was immediately put on guard by the question. Absol had been nothing but friendly to him, but that cut a little deep.

"What do you mean?"

"Well there are… legends, I think would be the best way to put it, that on occasion Pokémon come here from an entirely different world. Usually, this coincides with a cataclysmic event, one which the Pokémon in question is intended to resolve."

"…Not really sure I'm following here."

Blizz was definitely following.

"Then excuse me if I must be more blunt." Absol took a deep breath. "Were you, at one point, a human?"

A million thoughts started rushing through Blizz's head, juxtaposed to the mere seconds he had to come up with an answer.

A pretty big part of him wanted to say yes. Absol was a friend, he came to Blizz with the question, and from the way he phrased the explanation it didn't sound like there was some universal hatred of humans, which was a concern he had.

On the other hand, the half-lie about being from Earth already encompassed his teammates. If he admitted to this now, then it wouldn't be hard to figure out that the Prince, Rune, and Kibo are also humans.

He was more than willing to put his own well-being on the line, but his teammates are a different story.

He gave an answer that would buy him more time to think.

"What's a human?"

Absol gave him a look that clearly denoted doubt, but answered none the less.

"Humans are a species entirely separate from Pokémon. There has never been a human directly sighted in Varin, but the legends refer to a land inhabited entirely by humans. Does any of this sound familiar?"

Absol already knew, Blizz was sure of it. This was his attempt to give him one more opportunity to out himself before he… well, Blizz doubted Absol would do anything, but still. If he came clean now he could have an ally from this world who could explain things to an outsider.

"…Yea, just a bit. Used to be human, had my memories wiped and woke up as a Treecko."

Absol took in the confession. "…Thank you for confiding in me. I promise, I will not tell a soul without your permission."

"Thanks for that."

Absol looked over Blizz in a new light. "In any case, you've adapted remarkably well. How long have you been in this world."

"Like, a week or two before the games. So guess I've been a Pokémon for a little under 3 weeks."

"Truth be told, I would not have been able to tell had it not been for my disaster sense."

"Yea, we're sorta trying to keep that under wraps."

"We're?"

Fuck.

Absol shook his head. "I have suspicions on who you are referring to, but out of respect I will not confirm them. As far as I am concerned, you are the only former human in Varin right now. If you feel that revealing any others would be beneficial, I shall listen to you."

"…Thanks."

"Of course. I do regret to inform you though, humans rarely come to Varin for no reason. You are not the first."

"So what does it mean then?"

"Approximately once a century, there will be a near-apocalyptic event in which a human comes to assist in its resolution. I could not tell you precisely why humans are selected, but it does mean you will have a job set out for you."

"So you're saying I'm here because I have to solve that husk shit that's been going on?"

"Right, the husk situation… It is possible, but as of the moment its influence is confined to feral or feral-adjacent Pokémon. More often than not the issue has already set in before the human arrives. If you were here for three weeks…" Absol did some mental math. "The husks would have first begun showing up two days after you woke up."

"So is it something else then? Do I like, gotta deal with one thing and another human will come in to deal with the husk shit? Because that seems like a really stupid system."

"I wish I could understand the whims of the legendaries, but unfortunately I do not have all the answers."

"Damn… Still, thanks."

"Certainly. Please do not hesitate to call on me for any help you may need— if your purpose here is to save this world, it is definitely within my interests to support you however I can."

"Might take you up on that, if I have any stupid questions about Varin."

"Absolutely. My home is on the outer edge of Nova Town, opposite from the guild. Do not hesitate to stop by."

"Yea, will do."

"Then I shall be off." Absol turned around and left, leaving the partially crippled gecko on his own.

"So I kinda had to tell him I was human."

With the doors to their room shut, Blizz was giving off his story to the rest of the team on what happened with Absol earlier.

Rune looked somewhat nervous. "…Did you mention us at all?"

"No, but I accidentally said 'we' once, so he knows there's more. Probably wouldn't be too hard for him to figure it out if he wanted, but he said he wouldn't pry into it if I didn't want him too."

"Your luck comes through once again," the Prince commented. "You outed us to one of the more understanding Pokémon we could have met."

"So he said we can ask him for help when we need," Blizz finished. "His place is on the far side of town."

"Wish we could've had someone like that when we were just starting out," Kibo said. "Made a lot of mistakes at the station before I started figuring out how things work around here."

The Prince shook his head. "We have come this far with all of our information pertaining to Varin stemming from context clues picked up in idle conversation. I believe it would be more productive to use him as a source of information that may not be publicly available."

Rune looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"He was the one providing Lucario and Scizor with information, was he not?"

Blizz nodded.

"Then he has intelligence gathering capabilities that trump those of Scizor. I believe that would be a more valuable asset than inane questions about this world's social customs."

"What questions would we even want to ask him?" Kibo asked. "He already said he don't know that much about that apocalypse stuff."

"For the record, I have no sympathy for that affair," the Prince casually explained. "My concern is centered around who it was that relegated us to this world. If this is a recurring issue as he mentioned, he may possess information about what factors lead to one being selected, and who does the selection. I cannot imagine what the four of us have in common aside from originating from English-speaking countries."

Rune looked uncomfortable. "That's kinda harsh."

"Nah, he's right," Blizz interjected. "Well, if I can, I don't mind saving this place, just like, why us? Don't see why they couldn't have just picked out a Pokémon or two from here. Anything we can do that Lucario or Hawlucha can't?"

"Do not equate yourself to these beasts," the Prince reprimanded. "We all come from a higher status, even if yours' is less so than mine."

"…Dealing with that later," Rune mumbled.

Kibo looked at Blizz. "He said something about whims of legendaries, right?"

Blizz nodded.

"Heard a couple things about those guys. Apparently they're super strong, basically this world's gods."

The Prince looked content. "Then we have a goal. We simply need to identify which one of these is our target."

The statement was fairly concerning to Kibo. "I did mention them being gods, right?"

In response, the Prince simply rolled his eyes. "I am aware, however, if they cannot resolve a crisis without enlisting the aid of humans I would hesitate to put them on such a pedestal."

"…Maybe you're right…" Rune was hesitant to admit this, but the discussion was more important than her rivalry with the Prince.

"Naturally. Now, if we are done for tonight, I would like to rest in preparation for tomorrow. I assume we will be taking on the final mission before we progress to silver rank?"

"Yea, that's the plan," Blizz confirmed.

"Then do not bother me until tomorrow morning." The Prince curled up on his bed, facing away from the rest of the team.

The following day brought with it the return of Lucario's normal wake-up call, Blizz's limbs returning to full functionality, a C-Rank outlaw mission, and an annoyingly long walk out to Quickmaw Cavern.

By this point, Apex was capable of dealing with B-rank missions comfortably (as long as they're not rescue requests). As a result, they swept through the dungeon, most of their enemies going down in one hit.

When they stepped onto floor 8, their badge gave them a pleasant vibration informing them that they had reached their destination.

"How many Poké you wanna bet that Claydol's in the next room?" Blizz asked, making sure the entryway down the stairs was clear.

"100," Rune offered. "With your luck, he's gonna come up from behind us."

"Come on, I'm not that bad," Blizz argued, turning back to face Rune. "I'm just easily distracted-"

Blizz was cut off by a Mud-Slap, as the Claydol tried to float past him.

"You'll never take me alive!"

Blizz wiped the mud off his goggles. "Fuck off dude. Kibo, could you stop him?"

Rune and the Prince stood idly by as Kibo lazily readied a Dragon Tail. They almost felt bad for the Claydol, thinking it had slipped past all of them before getting slammed against the wall from the way he came.

Apex filed into the room, crowding around the Claydol-sized dent in the stone wall. The question on everyone's minds was clear: how much energy do we really have to put into this fight?

That answer appeared to be more than a single move, as Claydol recovered.

"Damn you teams…" He tried to use Confusion on Kibo, which did connect but also opened him up for the direct application of a Leafage, Powder Snow, and Shadow Ball.

Probably not the best idea for him to focus on the one Pokémon present who didn't have a type advantage over him.

Somehow, Claydol managed to stay upright after that onslaught. "I'm gonna get you for that!"

He descended to the ground and began using Earthquake.

Not really having the means to avoid the attack in the confined space of the dungeon, all four team members braced for impact. As soon as it was over, Blizz and the Prince closed in on their foe with Quick Attack.

"You'll all pay!" Claydol yelled out, preparing another attack.

"Bro, chill out." Blizz weaved through the various Ancient Power rocks flying towards him, before managing to make contact with the Quick Attack. The Prince arrived a moment after that, delivering a more forceful blow given that he didn't have to dodge anything.

In the backline, Rune charged up a Powder Snow, waiting for her teammates to get far enough out of the way to unleash the move. This opportunity wouldn't come, as Blizz decided to cling onto the ground type and use Absorb for as long as possible.

"Fire it anyways," the Prince commented, noting her hesitation. "He should be able to heal off the damage."

"…Alright." She unleashes the attack, Claydol absorbing most of the hit. The small amount that missed Claydol found a target in Blizz, who didn't seem to acknowledge the hit as he was more preoccupied by his foe's attempt to violently shake him off.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

"It just me, or does he seem to be a bit unhinged?" Kibo asked, readying another Dragon Tail.

"No, I definitely see that," Rune confirmed, watching the Claydol crash into Kibo's tail. She added on another Powder Snow for good measure. "Aren't most outlaws like this though?"

"Typically not to such an extent," the Prince added, firing off a Shadow Ball to assist the Powder Snow.

"YOU'LL ALL FUCKING DIE!"

"Yea, that's really weird, especially since he tried to run away first," Kibo commented. "But now he's really into this fight."

Claydol made another attempt at an Earthquake, which finally managed to shake off Blizz, already battered by his teammate's attacks.

"Fuck guys… you're a hell of a lot stronger than before the games…"

The Prince scoffed. "Perhaps if you could enact a more coherent strategy with the rest of us, friendly fire wouldn't be such an issue."

Blizz got back to his feet in time to see an expanding orb of yellow energy directly in front of Claydol.

"AGHHHHH!" Claydol charged up the Hyper Beam, aiming it at Blizz.

In response, Blizz crouched down, waiting to see when the attack would fire. The rest of the team moved away, not wanting to be caught in the attack's blast radius.

"Here it comes…" Rune warned as the orb seemed to reach critical mass.

It didn't come. The orb of energy completely fizzled away, as Claydol fell limp to the ground.

Once he was confident the Hyper Beam was never going to arrive, Blizz lowered his goggles and looked over their opponent.

He was still conscious, but apparently decided this would be the perfect place to lie down and do nothing else.

The rest of Apex gathered around, examining their foe.

Just to make sure, Blizz fired a half-hearted Leafage at Claydol. None of his eyes even seemed to blink as it made contact.

"…Huh."

At last, the realization dawned on Kibo. "Guys… you know what this is?"

Blizz, the Prince, and Rune stared at him, silently asking to continue.

"Claydol just became a husk."

Blizz wasn't sure if it was easier or harder to carry a husk back opposed to an unconscious Pokémon.

On one hand, he usually didn't have much sympathy for outlaws, and would just drag them along the ground by a leg or whatever else he could grab. However, if they managed to wake up during the walk back, they'd start struggling against the bindings and that just made it an awkward experience for everyone involved.

Here, Claydol wasn't reacting to anything. No risk of him squirming out of nowhere, but it felt wrong to drag someone who's still awake along the dirt path back to Nova Town.

So that led to their current arrangement, with Blizz and Rune carrying the head while the Prince and Kibo managed his body.

No one was very fond of this.

"I will refuse to take on another mission until we can simply warp outlaws into town," the Prince declared. "This type of walk is agonizing each and every time we attempt it."

"Yes we all hate it," Rune agreed, still annoyed at the complaining. "But the faster we go the sooner we get there."

"Hmph." To his credit, the Prince did pick up the pace slightly.

Being able to leave Claydol at the station was a relief to everyone, as they walked inside to collect their rewards.

"C-Rank outlaw… that will be 600 Poké for you." Magnemite set down the coins, as all four of Team Apex's badges vibrated.

The progress bar showing how close they were to silver rank was finally filled up. Rather than the digital confetti accompanying a congratulations, it instead showed a single message.

Team Apex is eligible for silver rank! Talk to your guildmaster about a rank-up exam.

The Prince looked at the holographic display. "I was aware this would be the case, yet it is still disappointing."

Blizz turned back to the Magnemite working at the counter. "Hey, uh, while we were fighting Claydol, he kinda turned into a husk. Don't know if you guys have, like, a special procedure for dealing with that."

The Magnemite's single eye bore into Blizz. "…That's not good. I'll bring it up to the chief, you should inform Scizor. Most of this stuff is above my pay grade, but I know he's been organizing the husk response."

"Will do." Blizz scooped the mission reward into his bag. "Don't need anything else from us though?"

"Look I'm bottom of the barrel here, I'm the worst Pokémon you could ask."

"No worries then, see ya."

Team Apex left the police station, now 600 Poké richer. After a brief stop at Kecleon's shop to resupply the single apple they ate when they went through the dungeon, they returned to the guild.

As soon as they climbed down the ladder, Scizor was waiting for them.

"…I have received word from the police station about something happening during your latest mission."

"Yea, dude we were fighting turned into a husk right in the middle of the battle," Blizz explained.

Scizor just stared at Blizz for a few moments. "…Do you have any idea how crucial this information is?"

Blizz shook his head. "Not really."

"Just… please come into my office. All of you."

Scizor held the door open as the four shuffled in. Once they were all in, he locked the door and walked behind his desk. He took out a pencil and a notebook before starting his questioning.

"…I would just like to confirm, you witnessed a Pokémon become a husk first hand, correct?"

Blizz nodded. "Yea, or uh, we think so."

"It was definitely a husk," Kibo added. "I saw a couple that went through the station first-hand. No mistaking it."

"What dungeon was this in?"

"We were in Quickmaw Cavern," Rune answered.

"Hmm…" Scizor flipped through his notebook. "There has not been any reported sightings of husks there so far. Did you encounter any other husks in this dungeon, feral or otherwise?"

"Don't think so, though we usually attack everything on sight," Blizz admitted. "The Pokémon in the dungeon weren't that strong, we ended up one-shotting most of them so we wouldn't know if there was something wrong with them."

The Prince decided to step in. "I did not notice any feral Pokémon acting beyond their expected behavioral range."

"Thank you. Now, the most important concern here, what happened when Claydol became a husk? Did it seem that he was gradually losing his energy?"

"It was the opposite," Kibo provided. "He started off afraid of us, tried running away at first. Then he got more heated, by the end he was screaming how he'd kill us all. Then in the middle of charging a Hyper Beam he just went limp."

Scizor looked at the rest of the team. "Is this accurate?"

"Yea, he was just screaming at the end, I couldn't make out anything," Rune confirmed.

"The escalation was jarring, even for an outlaw," the Prince agreed.

Blizz rubbed the back of his neck. "I uhh, I was a little busy during most of that. Couldn't really tell you."

Scizor jotted down a few more notes. "…Thank you. This information completely reframes everything we know about the issue so far. Needless to say, Quickmaw Cavern will be declared a no-entry zone for the immediate future. Now please, if you have no further business, I would like some time to ponder this. And I get a headache every time I deal with this team…"

No one on Apex could tell if he meant for them to hear the last comment or not.

"Uh, actually we do have one more thing," Blizz said, pulling out his badge and opening the display. "Says here we gotta talk to the guildmaster about a rank-up exam? Figured Lucario doesn't really give a shit about this stuff."

"…Yes, that would be correct. There are four candidate dungeons that you can hold a silver rank exam in. I will select one, and you will have a mission to this location ready by tomorrow morning."

"Rad, thanks."

In an admirable show of self-restraint, Scizor didn't say anything else until Apex let themselves out of the office.

"…They're just like we used to be… This is going to be terrible…"

A/N: Hopefully plants can't sustain brain trauma.

Gonna be another two week gap before the next upload. I wish I could say there was a good reason for it, but it's solely because of Legends Arceus dropping. I plan on having a string of one week uploads after that though, for what it's worth.

Also, I'm going through the process of touching up the earlier chapters, so far on Ch1 has gotten it's update published though. Nothing important will change, just some stylistic shifts.

Ch 10: Dancing in the Dark - 2/12/22