As the lights of towering buildings appeared over the horizon, it became apparent to the three remaining members of Apex that Tenea City is nothing like Nova Town.

The size was the first thing they noticed. Whereas Nova Town almost felt like a village with how you could cross the city in half an hour, Tenea was sprawling. Fully paved roads seemed to extend on for miles, all leading inwards towards the city center.

While they wouldn't necessarily be called skyscrapers, this was the first time any of them have seen buildings over three stories tall. In the heart of Tenea were a few giant towers made of steel and concrete, visible over the rest of the city despite the three of them still being two hours of walking away.

As the city drew closer, they did begin to see some of the similarities to Nova Town, most notably the gradient of housing structural integrities. Even here, the outskirts of the city seemed to be lined with tents or huts, with solid buildings becoming more frequent the closer they drew to the city's center.

There was one exception to this trend: a giant three story building made of solid steel, easily towering above any other shack in the area. The side facing the road had giant footprint runes engraved into it.

Kibo looked them over, eager for a chance to practice his skills. "Let me see… Dragon…no, Hydra?… That's not it either… Hydreigon! This is Hydreigon's Guild."

A Pelipper flew out from the top floor of the guild, as the three explorers paused to study the building.

"…Should we make a rescue request for Blizz here?" Rune asked.

"We are an exploration team ourselves," the Prince reminded her. "As it stands we have no reason to assume Blizz's situation is beyond our capacity to solve on our own."

"But… alright, if you say so…" Rune began walking away, her tails drooping downwards.

The Prince hesitated a moment, studying Rune's actions. It wasn't normal for her to just let him shoot down one of her ideas, at least not without Blizz or Kibo also weighing in.

"If the current situation changes, we can revisit the idea," he added, walking after her. "I simply feel that we lack the information to submit a proper rescue request."

Rune didn't look back as she responded. "Right, that makes sense…"

They continued onwards in an awkward silence, keeping their eyes open for an inn or shop to pick up the Luminous Orbs they'd need for tomorrow. Pedestrians steadily grew more common, forcing the uncomfortable mood over the three of them to temporarily dissipate as their focus shifted to navigating through the crowd without losing sight of each other.

"Hey, I think that's a Kecleon shop over there!" Kibo called, jumping up with his tail raised to get the rest of his team's attention. Rune weaved around the various Pokémon trying to reach her teammate, while the Prince simply walked through anyone who was in his way.

Thankfully for everyone, the Prince's actions only resulted in some irritated glares.

The three of them approached the Kecleon-shaped shop. While the one in Nova Town was more of an open air shop-stall thing, this looked to be a permanent building. A bell chimed as the three of them entered the store.

The green Kecleon was the first to greet them. "Hello there, what can I do for you today?"

Kibo stared at the two Kecleons in front of him. "Do y'all have twins or something?"

"Quite a few," the purple one answered. "Our family is well established across Varin."

"So are you guys always one purple and one green then?" Rune asked.

"Not necessarily," the green one responded. "Every city shop needs to have one green and one purple, but we always have more greens than purples. The extra greens usually set up shops in long dungeons, or go off traveling."

"As fascinated as I am in this history, we did come here looking for certain goods," the Prince reminded them.

Purple laughed off the Prince's snark. "Of course, of course. What can we get you?"

"We wanted to pick up some Luminous Orbs," Kibo answered. "Around ten, if you have them."

Purple nodded. "Oh, so you three are taking on the rank-up mission in Scourfloor Cavern, huh?"

"Is it that common?" Rune asked.

"Most explorers don't care much for luminous orbs," Green explained as Purple went into the shop's back to get the supplies. "So when a team comes in asking for ten at once, it's almost always to get through that one dungeon. Good on you guys for scouting out the dungeon and realizing you'd need luminous orbs though before diving in though. Don't remember the last time a team from Lucario's figured it out before getting wiped out…"

"We already completed the dungeon," the Prince explained. "However there were some complications on the final floor. Hence why we need to go back."

Green had a blank stare as he re-examined the three Pokémon in front of him. "…I'm uh, pretty sure it's supposed to be impossible to clear without luminous orbs." The doubt was apparent in his voice.

"But we did!" Kibo yelled back. "Just… well…"

Purple interrupted the conversation, carrying a sack of blue orbs. "Got your luminous orbs right here. That'll be 100 Poké each, so 1000 in total."

The Prince nodded, placing the money on the counter and grabbing the bag without saying a word. Kibo's accidental reminder that they didn't all make it back was not particularly conducive to the Prince's already grating attitude.

"Thank you," Rune whispered as they left the store.

After a half hour of wandering through Tenea City without saying a word between them, the remnants of Team Apex found an inn where they could spend the night.

Kibo was the first to try to break the silence that set over them. "This one's gonna be 300 a night… that's kinda pricey…"

"We're staying here," the Prince decided for the three of them. "I'm growing tired of this city, and the sooner I'm asleep the less time I have to deal with it."

"Right…" Rune led the way inside, with Kibo and the Prince following behind.

"Welcome to- oh my gosh another southern!" The odd-looking Raichu behind the front desk started soaring towards Rune in an attempt to hug her.

This would remain an attempt, as Rune suddenly discovered a new move. She fired off a rainbow-colored beam at the incoming Raichu, causing the surfer-rodent to fall to the ground.

"Oww…"

Rune examined herself, not really sure how the rainbow beam came out. "That wasn't Powder Snow…"

Kibo ran up to the Raichu. "Hey, you alright there?"

Raichu jumped up from her position on the floor, climbing right back onto its tail and floating on the ground. "Never better! And sorry to startle you, it's so rare I get to see another southern form out here."

"Umm… It's fine. Sorry for… that…"

"Well I'm Raichu, welcome to my inn!" She gestured behind her. "I'm filling in for my brother, Raichu, who's out of town. So did you three come all the way up from Cascia? Didn't know there were Umbreons down there… But wait, those badges are Lucario's… so you must be from Nova Town!"

The Prince looked at the Southern Raichu, irritated. "Very observant, now if we could please have a room-"

"Were you guys at the Guilded Games! I heard the finale was amazing this year!"

"If you do not cease your incessant-"

Before the Prince could get them kicked out, Kibo stepped in. "I'm real sorry, we've had an awful long day, could we just get a three Pokémon room for the night?"

"Of course, but you guys gotta tell me how the Games went tomorrow morning." She looked at Rune. "And I'll give you half off as an apology for startling your friend there."

Kibo forced out a smile. "Thank you kindly."

After handing off the 150 Poké, the three of them found themselves in a room where they could finally rest.

"Everyone in this world is terrible," the Prince muttered from his bed. "Everything in this world is terrible. How are we not any closer to figuring out why we're even here?"

"Well, I don't think this place is that bad," Kibo countered. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to know who I used to be or why we ended up here, but everyone here has been so nice, and exploring all these cool places is a ton of fun."

"Why is it we have to put ourselves in such danger in the first place? Because there is some theoretical catastrophe we are expected to solve? This is absurd."

Rune chimed in from her position on the pull-out couch bed. "I just want us all to be safe…"

The Prince nodded. "Precisely. Why are we expected to put even the slightest effort into protecting this world when it cannot even grantee the well-being of its supposed saviors."

"But it's a great world, full of people-"

"They are not people," the Prince sneered. "They are Pokémon, effectively monsters. We are not the same."

Kibo jumped up. "But we're Pokémon right now! Even without that, they're just like us."

"I have no desire to risk any of our own lives for the sake of these creatures," the Prince summarized. "Up until now, there was never a serious risk of explorations harming us. Now we are missing a member because said member was too enthusiastic about the adventure-" The word was laced with venom. "That this world presents."

"Since when have you cared about how any of us are doing?" Rune snapped. "All I ever hear from you is complaining about how we're all commoners who are beneath you, or not worthy of your time."

The Prince stared at Rune, neither of them saying anything while Kibo stood off to the side, realizing that this was not going to be a pretty discussion.

"As it stands I am in a particularly difficult situation. There are precisely three individuals on this planet who are in the same position. Working with them to see to a solution is the natural course of action."

"The natural course of action," Rune echoed. "So that's all we are, just a way for you to get back to your throne…."

"I would not expect any of you to feel differently-"

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Tears began forming in Rune's eyes. "After everything we've dealt with we're still just a tool for you?

The Prince said nothing, prompting Rune to continue.

"If we could find someone to replace Blizz, would you be fine with just letting him die? Wouldn't rescuing him be too much effort for you?"

"…" The Prince surprised himself by not outright saying yes. "…Blizz has some value that cannot be replicated."

Rune decided to press him. "And what exactly is that value?"

"… I find it to be rather difficult to explain…"

"That 'value' is the fact he's our friend! How can you not see that?"

"…Hmph…" The Prince stood up. "I shall take a moment of leave. I will return by morning." Before waiting for anyone to voice their approval he left the room, out into the inn's lobby.

"…I think he'll figure it out," Kibo encouraged, seeing teardrops still falling down Rune's face. "I think even back when he was a human he never had people like us around him."

"…I'm going to sleep." She crawled onto her bed. "Goodnight."

"Uh, well, goodnight."

"So where are you headed at this hour?"

The Prince looked over in irritation at the Raichu who was acting far too friendly for his liking.

"Outside. I needed some fresh air."

"Well I don't know how much of that you'll be getting in the city, but you're welcome to try. There's a great park a kilometer or two away from the guild."

"…I shall keep this in mind-"

"Or if you want there's also a nice group of trees on the city's west side or there's a really easy mystery dungeon nearby or-"

"Why do you care so much about this city?"

"…Sorry?"

"You stated previously that you are from Cascia, however you appear to understand the inner-workings of this city with the knowledge of a native. Why do you seem so fond of it?"

"Well…" Raichu paused. "That's a good question. Definitely all the Pokémon here."

"…Would you care to elaborate?"

Raichu was smiling. "Don't know how much I really need to say. Everyone that lives here makes this place just so… vibrant. Going through their lives, the ways they interact with others, it… that's what makes the city. Honestly, that's the same answer I'd give for Casica, Nova, or Gremis."

"I highly doubt you've familiarized yourself with every individual who resides here, let alone the other three settlements."

"Of course, but you don't need to meet everyone to see how they're a part of this place."

"…I suppose… In any case, thank you for the perspective." The Prince turned around and began walking towards the door.

"Sure, any time. But you never did tell me, were you guys at the Games?"

The Prince froze mid-step, one paw already outside. He was conflicted; a large part of him wanted to act like he didn't hear her question and run off into the night, where no one could bother him. But another part was considering a response he would have thought completely ridiculous an hour ago.

The mental debate came to an end, as he turned around with the slightest trace of a grin on his face.

"Standing before you is the only Pokémon capable of competing with Beheeyem's Guild in a game of mental acuity."

Raichu's eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh, really?"

Kibo did legitimately believe both Rune and the Prince would come around, but that didn't stop it from being a major relief when he woke up and saw both of them asleep in their beds.

"Whew…"

While this was a decent sign that the team wouldn't be fracturing any time soon, he didn't want to take the chance that the mood from last night would be brought back by waking up the others prematurely. So he lied in bed, one that was way more comfortable than anything he had back at the guild, thinking about what could have happened to Blizz.

As daylight slowly creeped its way into their room, the rest of the team began waking up. No one really wanted to comment about last night.

"We still got all the luminous orbs, right?" Kibo asked.

The Prince wrapped the bag around his neck. "Correct. All ten."

"Then let's go save Blizz!" Kibo led the way out, with Rune and the Prince awkwardly trailing behind.

"You guys are off to go look for your friend, right?" Raichu asked as they walked through the front lobby. "Good luck! I believe in you!"

Rune looked at her for a moment. "Wait, how did you know-"

"We have a finite amount of time, and I would suggest we keep moving." The Prince practically forced the two of them through the door. Neither Rune or Kibo was able to figure out why Raichu was laughing as they left.

After 20 minutes of navigating the city streets, they ended up walking past Hydreigon's guild once again, which also served as an indication that they were on the border of Tenea City. A few Pokémon seemed to be coming in and out of the building, which made sense given that it was about time for explorers to take on missions for the day. They recognized a few of the Pokémon from the Guilded Games, though they didn't see anyone from Team Terrae around.

Another 40 minutes of walking led them to the same cave entrance they found themselves at yesterday. The three of them took a small break to mentally prepare for the dungeon.

"As acting tactical leader, I shall take the front position during today's dungeon navigation," the Prince declared.

Kibo looked at him with an expression filled more with disbelief than doubt. "You sure? I thought you didn't much like-"

"Aside from my status, I am also the only one capable of seeing should our luminous orbs fail. Our order shall be myself, Rune, and Kibo at the rear."

Rune slowly nodded, equally surprised as Kibo that the Prince would volunteer to be in the front. "If you say so…"

With their party logistics dealt with, the three began the descent back into Scourfloor Cavern. As all mystery dungeons do, it changed shape overnight, meaning their maps of the floors also got reset.

This would prove to be less of an issue as the Prince prepared to unleash the unadulterated power of the sun on the dungeon's unsuspecting inhabitants.

The first of their luminous orbs was in his hand as the familiar atmosphere returned. Once again it felt as if their movements were being slowed down, though it didn't last for very long.

The Prince set the orb on the floor and stomped on it, unleashing a blinding light to fight back against the darkness. This proved to be less of a fight and more of a massacre, as the atmosphere faded away entirely. A few feral ghost types minding their own business suddenly found themselves much more exposed than they would like to be, and turned around to maim their attackers.

Much like the darkness, the ferals were also massacred. The Prince's Shadow Ball's and Bite's were super effective against the majority of them, to say nothing of the fact that Rune could actually aim now. The occasional feral that did make it past the barrage of Aurora Beams and Shadow Balls would suddenly find a Dragon Tail applied directly to their face.

This was going a lot better than last time.

As they approached the staircase to floor two, they saw the base of the stairwell covered in the same darkness they dispelled from floor one. Without a word, the Prince tossed a luminous orb to Kibo, who spiked it down the staircase with a Headbutt. The orb shattered at the base of the stairwell, dispelling the darkness on the next floor.

Following this pattern, they breezed their way through nine floors of mystical darkness being purged by 100 Poké orbs and ghost types who don't know how to fight without the element of surprise.

When they did reach the stairwell to floor 10, they noticed that it didn't have the same atmosphere the others did.

The Prince grumbled as he came to this realization. "Hmph… A waste of 100 Poké…"

The final floor of the dungeon was still in the same shape Blizz and Misdreavus' fight left it in. Silver badges and wood debris littered the ground, while the sleep and trip traps extruded out of the ground right in front of the exit tile. The Treecko-shaped dent in the wall still remained as well.

Rune examined the wall first. "…There definitely was a fight here."

"How did Blizz deal with that song attack though?" Kibo asked. "If that took him out it wouldn't have gone on this long."

"I was able to contact him before I collapsed," the Prince reported. "I instructed him to cover his ears. Given the state of this floor, I believe it is safe to assume he did so."

Rune looked over the scattered piles of badges. "But how are we gonna figure out where they are now?"

"Firstly, we should confirm the outcome of the battle," the Prince advised. "It would be safe to assume that had Blizz won, he would have returned to us, or otherwise made his presence known. He is not particularly… subtle."

"So he lost then?" Kibo asked.

The Prince shook his head. "Not necessarily, the battle could have also been a draw, in such a case both of them would have been unable to escape the dungeon, and may be on another floor."

"But wouldn't the wind thing have kicked him out then?" Kibo argued.

"We used a luminous orb on every floor too," Rune pointed out. "If either of them were still here wouldn't we have noticed them?"

The Prince considered the information. "…Correct. Which means we can be fairly certain that Blizz lost the battle."

There was a silence as the three of them let the conclusion sink in.

"…Was he kidnapped then?" Rune asked.

Kibo looked over at her. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, Blizz managed to get his bag back to us, that means it would've been outside while the three of us were unconscious, right?"

"There was a two minute window between me returning to consciousness and the bag appearing at my side," the Prince reported. "However I doubt I was in any condition to battle at that point."

"…So she would have had to make the choice between getting the stuff or knocking out Blizz," Rune concluded. "She went for Blizz."

"…That argument holds merit," the Prince admitted.

"But why would she go after us?" Kibo asked. "It's not like we've ever got in her way. Wouldn't it make more sense for her to go after a team that actually tried to arrest her?"

Rune looked shocked. "Wait, this is that Misdreavus?"

Kibo nodded. "Sorry, thought you guys already put it together."

"Rest assured, I did," the Prince snarked. Rune shot him a glare in response.

"In any case, to discern the motives of such a criminal is a fool's errand. I can think of many reasons one would want to target Blizz, and as it stands the only way we can verify any of them is to ask her directly."

Rune nodded. "That makes sense."

"Of course it does. Now as it stands I do not feel there is much more reason to remain here." As if to emphasize his point, the wind on the dungeon floor began to pick up.

"Yea, let's get out of here. We gotta track down Misdreavus and save Blizz!" Before the Prince could dampen Kibo's enthusiasm, he jumped onto the warp tile.

"…Typical." The Prince followed behind Kibo, with Rune being the last one out.

"He…was…kidnapped…looking…for….Misdreavus…signed…Apex… done!" Kibo lifted his ink-covered paw from the paper, and gently folded it into an envelope. "If you could deliver this to Lucario's Guild please."

The Pelipper nodded, taking the letter Kibo just finished in their beak before flying off.

The Prince stood up from the bench he was waiting on. "At last, that wait was far too long."

"Sorry about that, I never was all that great at writing-"

"Don't apologize to him," Rune interjected, turning to the Prince. "You definitely can't do any better."

"…In any case, have you submitted the rescue mission request?"

Kibo nodded. "Sure did, handed that off to the other Pelipper. Tenea's police station thinks Misdreavus is hiding away at Hollowturn Temple, so that's where the mission to rescue him is gonna be."

"But no one will see it until tomorrow," Rune sighed. "That's at least another day with Blizz gone…"

The Prince looked at Rune and let out a sigh. "…I believe Blizz is best compared to a weed. Despite lacking any sense of self-preservation, he cannot be disposed of. I am confident he is fine."

"Right…" There was precisely zero conviction behind the word, being more an attempt for Rune to convince herself than anything else.

"We're gonna head for the dungeon tomorrow anyways, it's just one more night," Kibo encouraged. "Then we're back to Nova Town and we never have to walk an outlaw back to town again."

The last part caused Rune to perk up. "…I almost forgot about that… We have to go get him!"

Neither Kibo or the Prince knew how to react as Rune practically sprinted out of the post office. After a brief period of shock, Kibo ran out after her, trying to calm her down with reminders that they would not be starting the rescue until tomorrow.

The Prince opted to sit back and watch these antics, a small smirk on his face.

The sun slowly rose over the horizon, casting light on the metal building resting on the outskirts of Tenea City. Glimmering in the sunlight, a few of it's lucky inhabitants peacefully woke up as the light gently reached their faces.

Most of the building's residents were not quite as lucky.

"WAKE THE HELL UP YOU BASTARDS!"

The shout reverberated through the guild, echoing off of the solid steel walls. The very building shook slightly as the rest of its residents jumped awake.

"Gah… Morning everyone…" A Zorua lazily flipped back onto her feet, looking on at her team slowly coming to terms with the start of a new day.

The Flareon sneered. "Perhaps one day we may be able to put the barbarian in his rightful place."

"Please don't say that so loud," Taillow asked quietly. "What would happen if Hydreigon or Lycanroc heard it…"

"Just means we get an even cooler mission!" Bagon shouted.

"I don't think getting the guildmaster mad at us is gonna mean we get harder missions," Zorua stepped in. "We'll probably just get logistics duty again."

Flareon shuddered slightly. "I will not tolerate that. Is everyone ready for announcements?"

"Let's get down there before all the good missions get taken!" Before anyone could stop her, Bagon went flying out of their room and down the stairs to the guild's main hall.

Taillow looked around nervously. "…We should probably stop her before-"

She was cut off by the bang of an explosion, followed by the thud of something crashing into the wall.

"That happens…" Taillow finished. She slowly hopped down the stairs, hoping to salvage the situation between Bagon and whoever she annoyed this time.

"It would hardly be fitting for our leader to be the last one down," Flareon commented.

"Right, let's go." Zorua walked ahead as the two of them went downstairs, entering the guild's main hall and lining up next to Shedinja and Vibrava.

They didn't have to wait long for their guildmaster to make his entrance— A door made of solid steel slamming open. From the room, Hydreigon emerged, floating in front of his apprentices. A midnight Lycanroc followed behind, much more relaxed than anyone else in the building.

He briefly looked over the explorers to make sure everyone was present before starting into announcements. "Alright assholes, here's the news for today! First, more husk shit. Because all of you have been slacking, Lucario's Guild has taken the lead in husk research, and now the Federation is making me read their bullshit advice to you… Lycanroc, read off the Federation bullshit."

Lycanroc sighed, before taking out a sheet of paper. "This comes from Scizor of Lucario's guild, one of their teams saw an outlaw become a husk first hand. Basically, if you or any of your teammates suddenly start getting really irritable, there's a chance you can become a husk-"

"Becoming irritable?" Hydreigon interrupted. "What the hell is that supposed to mean! If one of us were the ones writing this it wouldn't be filled with this vague bullshit, obviously just Lucario-"

"Thank you guildmaster," Lycanroc counter-interrupted. "I'm sure the Federation is highly interested in your commentary on this. Anyways, if you find yourself getting irritable or otherwise emotional, get out of the dungeon immediately. That's apparently a sign someone's gonna become a husk, and I'm pretty sure we're trying to avoid that here."

"If ANY of my explorers become husks the federation WILL have hell to pay!"

"Of course," Lycanroc agreed. "Now, I think that's it for today. Everyone's gonna be doing missions, so get on those."

The apprentices let out a "YEA!" before scattering to the various boards looking for missions to take on. Team Terrae instinctively gathered around the rescue board, searching for a B or A-Rank mission.

Not too far away from them, Rhyhorn, Mienfoo, and Zangoose were laughing hysterically as they passed around a sheet of paper. Mienfoo noticed Zorua, and walked over to her with the poster.

"Hey Zorua, you gotta check this out, it's great." He held up the paper to full view of Team Terrae, all of them immediately recognizing the face on it: A Treecko with a pair of reflective red goggles.

"That's… That's Treecko…" Ride commented.

"I know!" Zangoose could barely keep the excitement out of his voice. "After all the shit with the games, he ended up getting himself lost in some random dungeon, and now he has to rely on us to rescue him, can't wait to see-"

Before Zangoose could finish his statement, Bagon jumped up and snatched the mission poster out of their hands. "Hey guys, think I found our mission for today!"

"But isn't that an S-Rank?" Taillow pointed out.

"So are you just going to act like we're not here?" Mienfoo asked.

"Yes," Flareon confirmed, not taking his eyes off the poster. "I believe this mission is acceptable, if a bit challenging. However I feel the circumstances warrant the difficulty."

Zorua nodded. "If everyone's okay with it then, we'll head for Hollowturn Temple."

"Let's go save Treecko!" Before anyone could stop her, Bagon ran out of the guild, leaving her teammates to follow behind.

A/N: The Prince has officially appeared in more chapters than Blizz. Make of this what you will.

Also, we now have official cover art! Higher quality version can be found in chapter 1 on the AO3 version. Huge thanks to Time_locke for drawing it.

Ch12: Joker and the Thief - 2/26/22