Blizz's return to consciousness was a gradual process, somewhat similar to how he woke up when he first turned into a Pokémon— It started with a pounding headache that gradually receded, letting him take in his surroundings one thing at a time.

The first thing he noticed was the room he was in. While his memories of immediately before passing out were fuzzy at best, he was pretty confident that the room he was in didn't have walls made out of dark blue bricks, or featured piles several times his size of gold coins.

As more situational awareness returned to him, he realized he was sitting down in a chair. He also realized he couldn't move as his arms and legs were tied down. This didn't stop him from struggling anyways, creating a really uncomfortable sound of wood creaking against the stone floor.

"I don't think you'll get anywhere like that."

Blizz tried to turn his head around to the source of the noise behind him, but couldn't quite pivot the full 180 degrees. After a moment of silence, Blizz realized that the speaker wasn't interested in wandering into his field of view, so he bounced up and down, slowly rotating the chair to the point where he could see the mystery voice, a remarkably familiar Misdreavus.

"Uh, hey there."

"Olá." Misdreavus' expression didn't change from a mischievous grin, nor did she seem particularly keen on starting any form of conversation.

"So… Any reason you have me tied down here?"

"Yes."

"…Can you tell me?"

"Nope."

"Awesome."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, the mutual lack of conversational skills making this much more awkward than it needed to be.

"So this is your hideout, right?" Blizz looked around at the various piles of stuff he could see from his current position. Aside from stacks of Poké, there were also pieces of art, piles of rare items, and stacks of paper haphazardly thrown around. In the corner of the room was a desk with some sheets of paper and a pen.

"Of course, it would hardly fit a thief to constantly be on the run."

"Isn't it a not good idea to bring an exploration team guy in here though? Unless like, you wanna kill me, which I would really prefer to not be the case."

Misdreavus shook her head. "No, the contract was pretty specific. I just need to keep you out of commission for a few weeks. I also don't really like to kill."

"Contract? Someone hired you for this?"

"Yep. Paid good Poké too. No clue why he had a grudge with you though."

Blizz thought for a moment on who he could have pissed off. "…Was it Hydreigon?"

"Don't know, these contracts are all anonymous."

While Blizz knew he should be more focused on his current situation and how to get out of it, his sense of curiosity was too strong. "So like, do you guys get missions like we do? Like, go into thief town or wherever and pick up a contract off the board."

"…Something like that. It really is remarkable how similar we operate to guilds."

"Damn…" Blizz looked around again. "So uh, two to three weeks like this?"

"According to the contract."

"Awesome… This is gonna be awesome…" In all of 10 minutes Blizz was already bored.

"So this is Hollowturn Temple…" Rune looked ahead of her at the pyramid made of dark blue stone. The outside looked big, but definitely not the size of a full mystery dungeon.

"If the map is to be trusted," the Prince confirmed. "This is where Misdreavus' hideout is believed to be."

Rune looked conflicted. "…She's an S-Rank outlaw…"

"She possessed precisely one trick which was how she managed to best us. We will not allow this to repeat."

Kibo nodded. "We know we gotta be on the lookout for Perish Song, we just gotta plug our ears when we think she's around."

"Are there any other concerns?" The Prince looked between Rune and Kibo, neither of whom said anything. "Then we shall depart."

With a deep breath, the Prince led the way into the darkness of the temple entrance, beginning the dungeon.

10 minutes after the three of them vanished, another group of explorers arrived at the same location.

"Hollowturn Temple," Zorua confirmed. "This is where Treecko went missing."

"It leads one to wonder what kind of threat it could pose to a team as competent as Apex," Flareon mused. "Or at least their Umbreon."

"We just have to be careful…" Taillow agreed.

"Wonder where the rest of their team is right now too," Bagon added. "No chance dragon dude would just be sitting by during all of this."

Flareon looked at Bagon, letting out a sigh. "If this dungeon proved to be enough of a challenge that they lost a member even with a four-person squad, it would make sense that they not challenge it again now that they are reduced to three members."

"Let's hope we can do better…" Zorua led the way into the temple, the rest of Team Terrae close behind.

"So do your guys' missions have ranks too? Like, B, A, S, stuff like that."

Misdreavus sighed, before turning to answer yet another one of Blizz's questions. "Somewhat. Contracts have a number of stars, the more stars there are the more prestige you need to have to take the mission."

Blizz nodded. "You see this is good information to know. What was the ranking for kidnapping me?"

"6 stars out of 10, though honestly I think it should've been bumped up to 7. You definitely seemed competent during our battle."

"Hell yea." Blizz tried to make the action of a fist pump, though his hands were too tied down for it to be anything more than flicking his wrist up with his hand balled up. "Though uh, would've been a lot faster if you just Perish Song'd me."

"You can Perish Song any old rescuer, it's no fun— I only like to use it if I'm outnumbered or pressed for time."

"Like when all of us were together?"

"Exactly."

"This looks like a dark-ghost dungeon," Zorua reported, as she finished off a Poocheyena with a Fury Swipes. "With the occasional steel and dragon type."

"Hell yea!" Bagon cheered. "That means I can one-shot some of these guys!"

"Calm yourself, it is equally likely you will sustain super-effective damage," Flareon countered.

Taillow began gliding in place above Bagon. "I'll make sure she doesn't hurt herself too much…"

"Let's-"

Before Bagon could finish her sentence, a loud explosion shook the walls of the dungeon, causing small chunks of stone to fall from the roof.

"What was that?" Flareon asked, immediately studying the roof to make sure there's no risk of it collapsing.

"That impact was strong…" Zorua mused. "Could it have been a feral?"

It was a feral. More specifically, it was 400 kilograms of feral Steelix being launched into a stone wall one floor above Team Terrae at a velocity that really shouldn't be manageable by a single swipe of the tail.

Despite this physical impossibility, Kibo's Dragon Tail still managed to embed the steel-type into the wall. The Prince followed up on this opening with Bite, before Rune froze the feral into the wall with Powder Snow.

Kibo studied the Steelix's impromptu ice prison. "I don't know if that counts as a knockout but I really don't wanna stick around and find out."

"Need I remind you our only goal is to find and recover Blizz," the Prince stated, walking past the frozen Steelix without sparing it a glance. "We are not here to train or practice our skills."

"That still was a really good combo though…" Rune took one last look at Steelix before following the Prince.

"I know right! That Dragon Tail hit way harder than I expected! Then Prince softened him up enough for you to get the freeze! We're really fighting like a team now."

Rune sighed. "How would we fit Blizz into that though…"

"Well he could probably lead with a Leafage to make it easier for me to land the Dragon Tail, or maybe use Absorb at the-"

"You would launch him into the opposing feral with Dragon Tail," the Prince answered without looking back. "If my understanding of his preferred combat methods are accurate."

Kibo considered that. "…Yea, turning Blizz into a missile sounds about right."

Unable to stop herself, Rune let out a quiet giggle. "…I love you guys."

Kibo leaned in towards Rune. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"Oh, uh… it was nothing."

"No fucking way you make that much Poké per mission." Blizz stared at Misdreavus with a look containing equal parts doubt and curiosity. "50,000 for just kidnapping me?"

Misdreavus was filling out papers on her desk, using Psychic to lift the pen. "This may come as a surprise to you, but a life of crime is significantly more lucrative than working for a guild with an 80% tax rate. Plus, it is only 15,000 flat, plus another 15,000 for every week I keep you here."

"Okay but what do you even spend all this on? Like, is there an outlaw market square you can go be like 'hmm yes can I get one outlaw yacht and an outlaw mansion to go with that?'"

Misdreavus looked back to Blizz, smirking. "The only thing the money is good for is making sure the next heist is even more grandiose."

"…So like, am I a grandiose heist or something?"

"No, you're more of a filler mission so I can build up my reputation… No offense though, I'm sure you're a skilled rescuer and your departure is devastating to Varin's justice system."

Blizz let himself smile a bit. "None taken, I simply wondered why such a legendary thief took interest in someone like me."

"Oh you flatter me." The two laughed for a moment, before Misdreavus returned to filling out papers and Blizz returned to being a hostage.

Blizz let the silence linger for a moment before asking his next question. "Hey, uh, you got a name? Err, a real one, not just Misdreavus."

"Trying to flirt with me? I don't think you're being a good captive right now."

"Yea yea I just hate having to call everyone by their species. Plus like, it's cool to share it to people you're close to, right? Wouldn't you say we've really bonded here?"

Misdreavus chuckled, floating from her desk to in front of Blizz. "Alright, but only if you tell me yours."

"Sure, name's Blizz." On instinct he tried to extend a hand for a handshake, but this was complicated by the fact that his hands were still tied down and that Misdreavus doesn't actually have hands.

Still, Misdreavus accepted it anyways, using Psychic to move Blizz's hand up in a crude approximation of a shake. "Fanita, best thief in all of Varin."

Zorua stopped in front of the sight of what was obviously a battle. "…This Steelix is completely frozen solid."

"Is he a feral?" Taillow asked, hopping alongside Zorua.

"Most definitely," Flareon confirmed. "Look at the emptiness behind its eyes."

"Can we fight it?" Bagon asked, staring down the feral Pokémon. "Looks like it'll be a good fight!"

"We will not be fighting it," Flareon declared, letting a tint of annoyance into his voice.

"But someone did battle it," Zorua reasoned. "Ferals don't fight other ferals, that means we're not the only ones here."

"…Who could it be?" Taillow asked. "We're the only ones who took the mission."

Flareon studied the ice, before smiling slightly. "I suppose my initial assumption was wrong. Come, we must hurry forward." Without waiting for the rest of his team's approval, he went ahead, leaving the others to lag behind.

"That Misdreavus sure picked a hard dungeon to make her hideout!" Kibo used Headbutt on a feral Dratini, launching it far but not quite as far as if he used Dragon Tail.

"It would be a poor hideout if this were not the case." The Prince fired off a series of Shadow Balls at two incoming Gastlys, knocking them both out.

"This is still better than Scourfloor… that darkness was…" Rune couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, instead channeling her hatred of the dungeon into her next Powder Snow and single-handedly dropping the ambient temperature of the room by 10 degrees.

With his designated feral unconscious, Kibo pulled out his badge as Rune and the Prince finished up. "At least we're almost there! Should only be one more floor."

The Prince leaned in to look at Kibo's display. "Doubtless it will prove to be the hardest."

"Aww I think you're just being pessimistic, what could possibly go wrong?"

"So yea, just fucking slammed that Pidgeotto into the ground. Then got hit by a lightning bolt, fell unconscious, and woke up with a first place medal."

Fanita idly listened in on Blizz's story. "I knew you won the games, I didn't know that was how you managed it… though that conclusion seems to be in-character for you."

"Hell yea it is. So uh, your turn now. Any cool thief stories? The guys we usually bring in tend to be like, mass-murder-psychopath-borderline-ferals. Don't remember the last time I talked to a regular outlaw."

"Hmm… How about my theft of the central bank in Tenea City? I can assure you it is more interesting than it sounds."

"Dope, hit me with it."

"So first off, did you know that the vaults don't actually have entrances? The only Pokémon that goes in and out of them are the Duskulls that work there, so they're designed for ghost types only. Of course…" She gestured to herself.

"So you just walked- err, floated in?"

Fanita smiled. "Of course not. That would be fine if I wanted to get just a bag or two of Poké out, but that's hardly enough for someone like me."

"Please tell me you blew it up."

"I blew it up."

"Hell yea."

Fanita took out what looked like a tin can with paper wrapped around it. "I'll let you in on a tool of the trade. This is a bomb made out of ground up fire and thunder stones. Just light the fuse up and it makes an incendiary explosion that can punch a hole through 40 centimeters of steel."

Blizz looked at the explosive, not the slightest bit perturbed by how close Fanita was holding it to his face. "Honestly you didn't really strike me as the pyrotechnic type."

"I use whatever tools are most applicable. It just so happened that I needed a tool capable of blasting a hole through a steel vault."

"When did you learn to do all this anyways? Feels like you just came out of nowhere a couple weeks ago and managed to steal all sorts of shit."

"I… have been doing this for a while, I just have only come to Varin recently."

Blizz's mind immediately jumped to a possibility that would explain a lot about her, though it also wasn't something he felt like asking directly. So he decided to be slightly more subtle about it.

"So where are you from then?"

"Oh, it's quite far off, I doubt you would've heard of it."

Blizz didn't break eye contact with Fanita. "I've heard of a place called Earth, if that helps at all."

Fanita froze, before turning towards Blizz, much more interested than she was moments ago. "Now that makes things a bit more interesting."

"At last…" Flareon was mostly speaking to himself as he saw six snow white tails round the corner at the end of the hallway.

"Why did you keep pushing ahead so hard…" Zorua finally caught up, stopping at his side to catch her breath. "Never seen you do that before…"

"The fact remains that it is not often I get to deal with others who share my intellectual capacity." Before Zorua could say anything, Flareon walked around the bend where he saw the tails, the rest of Team Apex coming into sight. "Umbreon! It has been far too long since I have last had the pleasure of interacting with you."

The Prince turned around to see Flareon and the rest of Team Terrae approaching them. After getting over the initial shock of running into them again, he began walking over to meet Flareon in the center of the room between the two teams. "Likewise, I should have known a man of such honor would opt to come to us in a moment of need."

"Certainly, our teams are allies of some capacity, after all."

Zorua looked at the room Flareon and the Prince were talking in, before coming to a realization "Duke wait! Get out of there!"

Flareon turned around. "Pardon?"

That was all the time he got to react before dozens of ferals descend upon the two eeveelutions. Dratinis, Ghastlys, Arons, and Poocheyena warped in, seemingly out of nowhere.

"A monster house. Wonderful." Flareon and the Prince pressed their backs to each other as the swarm of ferals set their sights on them.

"I hope your skills have not deteriorated since our previous skirmish," the Prince commented, staring down the horde of feral Pokémon separating himself and the rest of his team.

"I could say the same," Flareon responded, his fur beginning to heat up.

Zorua used Fury Swipes on the closest feral to her, a Dratini. "Hang tight guys, we'll get you out!"

"We're on it too!" Kibo called, using Dragon Tail to send a Poocheyena flying into a Ghastly. He didn't know why it actually hurt the Ghastly as opposed to just phasing through it, but he wasn't gonna complain.

"Right!" Rune fired off a light Powder Snow blanketing the entire room, doing slight damage to all Pokémon present.

All Pokémon happened to include the Prince. "Restrain yourself, I do not desire to be hit by such an attack again."

Rune lowered her head slightly. "Sorry about that…"

With the explorer's opening salvo coming to a close, the ferals began counterattacking. Several Poocheyenas lunged for the two Eeveeloutions, trying to force as much power as they could into their Tackles. Unfortunately for them both Flareon and the Prince were far more agile, jumping around their attacks. More than a few ended up hitting each other, with one friendly-fire knockout.

Poocheyenas were not their only concern though. Torrents of wind augmented by dragon type energy, tendrils of shadow, and high-velocity stones followed. The Umbreon and Flareon got down, knowing that they weren't in a position where they could dodge all of them.

"Coming though!"

The Prince opened an eye as a Twister descended onto him. He saw Bagon rushing towards them using Headbutt, opting to just plow through the ferals in the way. Zorua was right behind her while Taillow was flying above, trying to dodge the stray Twister or Rock Slide sent her way.

Not about to let Terrae one up them, Kibo rushed forward with a Headbutt of his own, while Rune remained at the room entrance using Aurora Beam on anything that moves.

The end result was a dizzying flurry of attacks as the explorers fought to clear a pathway through the room. As the dust began to settle, they realized all of them with the exception of Rune were in the center of the room.

There was a brief pause as each side took some time to recover from their last volley of attacks. For a precious moment, the only sounds were heavy breathing and the howling of Twisters that missed their target.

Bagon opted to break this silence. "I think this is an even fight now!" She ran forward again with Headbutt, but was stopped by stepping on a blast trap.

Blizz looked at Fanita, who pulled up a seat in front of him after the revelation that they were both human. "So like, I get the whole 'waking up in a weird new body and having no idea what to do' thing, I felt the same way, I just don't get why you instantly jumped to stealing anything you could."

"I am certain it was something I did in my previous life. I still remembered the skills I used, and combining that with this new form, it was a very appealing option."

"I mean… alright, look, got an offer for you."

Fanita gave Blizz yet another crooked smile, although this one looked more forced than the others. "And what would that possibly be?"

"… Would you be interested in joining Team Apex?"

Fanita didn't even bother putting on a smug look, simply staring at Blizz with a blank expression. "You're… you're serious?"

"Hell yea." Blizz nodded with a slight grin on his face. "Basic idea behind Apex is trying to figure out why we're here and what's going on. Oh, uh, forgot to mention, everyone on Apex also used to be human. So you're in the same situation we are."

"…You are aware I am an S-Rank outlaw, correct?"

"Yea we can figure out that shit later, I'm sure Lucario or someone can help pull some strings."

She shook her head, still dumbfounded by Blizz's offer. "…Even if I cared to join an exploration team, which I should emphasize I absolutely do not want to do, I am expected to rely on your word alone that I will not be arrested the moment I am seen."

"Like I said we'll work out the logistics later, I just wanna know if you're interested so I can get the ball rolling there."

Fanita finally got enough shock out of her system to return to her smug expression.

"While I appreciate the relationship we've established here, and that you would be so understanding to someone who knocked out your teammates and abducted you, I must unfortunately decline on the basis that I have no interest working in a guild structure."

"Alright, kinda what I thought you'd say. But we should definitely stay in touch after I get rescued, we're sorta in the same situation here."

"When you get rescued?" Fanita grinned. "I'm sorry to inform you, you probably won't be getting rescued any time soon. This hideout is well hidden— they've known that I live here for weeks, yet no one has managed to find this location."

"Why's that?"

"…I suppose I can let you in on a secret, this is three meters below the last floor of the dungeon with no visible entrances or exits. To find this place would take nothing but extraordinary luck-"

Fanita was cut off mid-sentence, as a massive explosion rocked the hideout. A segment of the roof completely gave way, causing an Umbreon, Flareon, Zorua, Bagon, Jangmo-o, 12 Poocheyena, 7 Arons, and 3 Dratinis to flood in.

Luckily for Fanita, all of them were stunned from the blast and not ready to react to the new room. Not-quite-so-luckily, a Taillow and Vulpix who completely avoided the explosion jumped down after them.

Rune's eyes immediately gravitated towards the Treecko who was still tied down. "Blizz!"

"What's up?"

Fanita immediately faded into the ground to escape the clusterfuck this was about to devolve into, as all the Pokémon caught in the explosion began to recover.

"Watch yourself in the future," Flareon warned. "That could have ended far worse for us."

"But we found Treecko, didn't we?" Bagon gestured towards Blizz, who Rune was in the process of untying.

The Prince got to his feet and fired off a round of Shadow Balls at the ferals. "I do not wish to repeat that experience…"

With his body finally freed, Blizz jumped forwards to join the fight, before immediately realizing that not standing at all for three days did not treat his legs kindly. They immediately gave out on him, causing him to face plant.

Zorua looked at Blizz, before shifting her focus back to the ferals. "Just stay there, we'll get you out!"

Blizz gave a thumbs up from his face down position. "Don't think I can really do much more, but thanks."

While the sounds of a battle occurred in the background, Blizz was stuck staring at the same spot of the ground, physically incapable of moving.

"…Psst. Fanita. You still there?"

A voice came out from the stone, barely audible over the fight. "There isn't really anywhere else I can go right now."

"Okay so like, here's my plan. I'm gonna leave my badge here and say it got lost, and I want you to hold onto it. If you feel like maybe not doing the whole thief thing, you can use that to get into our guild at Nova Town and talk to me."

"…You do remember that I said I wasn't interested?"

"Yea but like, what if you change your mind? If nothing else you can use it to get in touch with me while we're working through the whole human-into-Pokemon thing."

"…Fine. But do not expect to see it returned to you."

"Yea I can just get a replacement, don't worry about that."

Blizz tried to unpin his badge, which was an awkward process given that he was still face down and couldn't roll his body over. He did finally manage to remove the badge though, placing it a short distance away from him.

"…I look forward to seeing you again." A small black tendril emerged from the ground, taking the badge and sucking it into the ground.

"Yea same here, just maybe with less kidnapping."

If Fanita heard Blizz's remark she didn't say anything.

Eventually the sounds of shouting and moves blowing up began to slow down as the battle drew to a close. Blizz finally managed the strength to flip onto his back, and was rewarded for this effort by watching Kibo finish off the last Gastly with a Dragon Tail.

After making sure the ferals were unconscious, all seven combatants let themselves collapse to the floor.

Kibo looked particularly more beat up than the rest of them. "That… was a gosh… darn good… fight…"

"You guys… are fucking awesome…" Bagon was better off, but not by much.

"This was a team effort," Flareon commented. "All of us participated in some capacity."

Blizz slowly moved up to a sitting position, which he found much more manageable. "Yea thanks for coming to help me out. Apparently Fanita was gonna keep me down here for a week or two…"

The Prince looked at Blizz. "…Fanita?"

"Yea, the Misdreavus. Traded names while she had me tied up."

The Prince's gaze sharpened. "Then may I assume that she is…?" He let the question hang, not wanting to ask explicitly while Team Terrae was nearby.

Blizz nodded. "She is. Brazil, apparently. Kinda breaks up your English-speaking country theory."

"Wait a minute," Zorua interrupted. "…Where did you guys learn those words?"

Blizz locked eyes with Zorua, gears turning in his head. "Don't fucking tell me…"

Flareon turned to face the Prince. "If I may be somewhat assertive, could I inquire about your place of origin?"

"…London. And I believe it is safe to assume you are of German descent?"

"That would be correct." Both Flareon and the Prince had a smile on their faces. "Refer to me as the Duke, heir to the German Empire."

"I am the Prince, heir to the British Empire."

Bagon looked between the two, confused. "…Wait what's going on here?"

"…Team Apex is also ex-humans," Taillow summarized. "…Right?"

"Yea, all four of us," Blizz answered. "Same for you?"

Zorua could only nod.

There was a visible lag time between Bagon hearing the words and realizing what the words meant. "…NO FUCKING WAY! ALL OF YOU?"

Kibo smiled. "Yes m'am. Real name's Kibo… Well, guess it's a nickname, but that's what we're going by out here."

Bagon ran towards Kibo, the exhaustion from the battle fading in an instant. "I'm Angel!"

"Perhaps it may be beneficial to organize a proper order of introductions?" the Prince suggested.

"Right, I'm Mira," Zorua introduced. "The Taillow is Ride, Bagon is Angel, and Flareon is the Duke."

"I'm Blizz, we got Kibo, the Prince who already sorta introduced himself, and Rune."

Rune nervously waved, still not sure how to feel about this revelation.

Mira looked at Team Apex. "It's nice to meet you all… for real, this time."

Blizz nodded. "Hell yea, more humans here than I thought… But uh, you guys ready to get out of here? Been stuck underground for a while, and I would kill for some photosynthesis right now."

"Oh, right…" Mira turned back to her team. "Is anyone not ready to leave?" When nobody responded, she took out her badge, warping all eight of them out.

Once she was certain the room was clear, Fanita re-emerged, assessing the damages in her hideout.

"…Looks like I'll have to move again." She placed Blizz's explorer badge on her surprisingly still-standing desk, admiring it for a moment. Before long though she got to work, packing up the things she wanted to bring with her to wherever her next hideout would be.

A/N: Important chapter here, full of surprising twists I'm sure absolutely no one saw coming.

So unfortunately, I'm gonna be taking a short break from uploads. I've gotten some pretty bad writer's block working on the next chapter, and university is starting to pick up pretty hard. This is the first time I've uploaded a chapter without having at least a rough draft of the next one, so I'm gonna take some time to rebuild my buffer. Rough estimate is that Chapter 13 will come in 3 weeks (3/19/22) but it could be sooner or later.

Sorry about that.