The eight ex-humans still had plenty of daylight left, which proved to be pretty helpful after the revelation at Fanita's hideout. They were making their way back to Tenea City, but no one was in much of a rush, wanting to discuss this now rather in the center of a bustling city where they could be overheard.

"…I'm sorry, I'm just…" Mira was struggling to find the right words. "I had a feeling there was something up with you guys, but all four of you is… I just didn't expect it."

"Don't forget Fanita," Blizz reminded them. "Nine of us so far."

"The places of origin seem to be somewhat odd as well," the Prince added. "Previously I assumed all ex-humans came from regions of the Anglosphere, however between the Duke's German, Angel's Mexican, and Fanita's Brazilian heritage, this theory must be cast aside."

Angel looked between them. "Where are the rest of you guys from again?"

Kibo gave Angel a smirk. "Texas, only the best state."

"Western US," Blizz answered. "Don't know exactly where, but I know it's gotta be somewhere with like, mountains and stuff."

"Canada…" Rune admitted. "I don't really know what part though..."

"And if somehow it was not apparent already," The Prince looked towards Angel. "I originate from London."

Before the discussion could continue, the Duke stepped in. "While I am certain that we could go into great detail as to where everyone originates from, I am more concerned with the chronological relation. As I understand it, the rest of my teammates come from a time period approximately a century after that of my own, does that hold true for any of you?"

Blizz nodded. "Yea, actually, we figured this out a while ago, let me see if I remember…"

"Because we don't have any memory of current events before we were sent here, we try to share the most recent historical event we remember," Rune explained.

"Exactly, so like, Prince is the oldest since he doesn't know about World War One… wait a minute." Blizz began looking between the Duke and the Prince.

The Duke sighed. "I have already heard the details of such a conflict from my teammates. I assure you, any hypothetical war that neither of us recall between our home nations in another universe will have no impact on our willingness to cooperate under the circumstances we presently find ourselves in."

The Prince nodded in agreement.

Blizz looked a little uncomfortable, but continued. "If you say so… Uh, I'm next, because apparently the Soviet Union just, stopped being a thing right around when I was pulled."

"So mid-nineties," Mira summarized.

"I'm next!" Kibo volunteered. "Sometime after 2012, I remember the Aztec calendar scare!"

The Duke and Angel looked at him with a blank expression.

"The Prince and I don't really get it either," Blizz offered.

Rune looked up at the rest of them. "I'm pretty sure I'm the most recent, unless anyone else remembers the virus…"

Ride perked up slightly. "I'm the only one who does."

Rune nodded. "So we have around 1900 for the Prince and the Duke, to the 2020's with the two of us. That's... a really big range."

"Can't be that bad," Blizz argued. "We all get along well enough, time difference be damned."

"Be that as it may, it still leads to yet more questions about how we arrived here in the first place," the Duke pointed out. "I for one, would much rather return to my native time period than spend any more time in this inane world. I would assume my colleague feels the same?" He looked at the Prince, expectantly.

"...I suppose."

Blizz glanced between Rune and Kibo, silently confirming that they all heard the hesitation in the Prince's voice.

"We'll tell you later, Prince has been acting weird since last night," Kibo whispered.

"Have you guys figured anything out about why we're here?" Mira asked. "We've been looking, but haven't found much out..."

"Sorta?" Blizz shrugged. "There's one guy who knows we're human, been talking to him. Apparently when humans are sent here, it's to solve some big disaster. We think it's the husk thing, but that hasn't really spread to the point of being a 'disaster' yet. Plus, it started a bit after we arrived, which is not how it's supposed to work. Supposedly."

Mira nodded. "That's what I guessed... who did you tell? We haven't shared this with anyone else yet."

"Absol, don't think you've seen him before."

The Duke, Mira, and Ride froze up. Angel did too, albeit a couple seconds later as the dots took a bit longer for her brain to connect.

The Duke peered into Blizz. "Would this Absol individual happen to be well-acquainted with your guildmaster?"

Blizz nodded, not quite sure why Team Terrae looked so much more intense. "Uhh, yea, apparently Lucario, Absol, and Scizor got a history. Not super sure what it is."

"...Team Breaker," Ride mumbled.

"...Hydreigon likes to overshare things," Mira explained. "One of the things he complains about a lot is how Team Breaker betrayed him."

"What's Team Breaker?" Kibo asked.

"Team Breaker was the highest-ranked exploration team in Varin," Mira answered. "It was led by your guys' guildmaster, but the three other members were Scizor, Absol, and our guildmaster, Hydreigon."

"...They were on the same fucking team?" Blizz couldn't keep the doubt out of his voice.

"Until Lucario apparently betrayed him," Angel added.

"I highly doubt our guildmaster is capable of betraying someone," the Prince argued. "He possesses a number of negative attributes, however at no point have I questioned his intentions— he is a simple man."

"No one at the guild believes his story either," Mira explained. "Supposedly they were about to go on a huge exploration, but Lucario pulled out at the last second. Hydreigon keeps saying it was because it was perfect for him, and Lucario was afraid he'd become more famous than him, so he canceled it."

"That seems really weird," Kibo commented. "All that over a mission that never happened?"

"…Why are you guys even working for him?" Blizz asked. "Everything I've seen and heard about this dude makes me think he's an asshole."

"…You're probably right," Mira admitted. "But it was the only place we could go when we first woke up as Pokemon. You guys are lucky, Lucario seems a lot more relaxed…"

Kibo stopped walking for a minute, a thought popping into his head. "Well, no reason y'all need to stay there with Hydreigon, why don't you come with us to Nova Town and join Lucario's guild?"

Mira sighed. "I don't think we can… Not because Hydreigon would force us or anything, just Tenea City's our home now. I… don't think any of us want to leave it behind just so we get a slightly easier boss."

"I feel no attraction to the city," the Duke added. "However, to learn the inner workings of a new settlement when we already have established a stable routine here would be illogical. In addition, being geographically spread apart will better help us search for whatever this 'crisis' is we are intended to solve."

"Fair enough," Blizz conceded. "Let us know if you change your mind though, we'd be happy to help you out there."

They continued the walk, discussing much less serious topics, such as how apples and berries taste so much better as Pokemon, or the role the consent of the governed should play in the selection of a nation's ruler.

Normal conversational subjects.

As the buildings of Tenea City appeared beyond the treeline, their discussion slowed down, not wanting to talk about human stuff now that there were other Pokemon around. Before long, they reached Hydreigon's guild, and got ready to part ways.

"So we'll stay in touch, let you know if we figure anything out," Blizz confirmed as the two groups began to separate.

"Right, same here," Mira agreed. "...It's still hard to believe we're not alone here."

"I ain't gonna complain about it." Kibo turned around to face Angel. "Send a letter when you want to try that dungeon run I was telling you about, we can try to do it when we both got a day off."

"Hell yea dragon dude!" Angel and Kibo shared a headbutt before the two broke off as well.

"Lead your underlings well," the Duke encouraged.

"You need not have any concern," the Prince assured. "Our previous failures will not be repeated."

The Duke gave him a silent nod.

Rune and Ride simply gazed at each other, neither confident enough to say anything significant but both acknowledging that they were pretty similar within their teams.

"Take care guys, we'll be back eventually!" Blizz called, leading Team Apex away.

"...Right." There was a smile on Mira's face as she watched the other ex-humans walk away.

After a third night in Raichu's inn, the team was ready to start the trek back to Nova Town. The sun was shining down on them, which was great for Blizz, nice for Kibo, slightly uncomfortable for Rune, and really annoying to the Prince.

"So Fanita didn't hurt you at all?" Rune asked, wanting to make sure.

Blizz nodded. "I mean she did during the battle, but once I was tied down not really. Honestly she was super polite through the whole thing, definitely one of the better outcomes me getting kidnapped could've had.

"We should endeavor to determine why someone would want to detain you, though," the Prince commented. "The possibility exists that they will come for you again."

Blizz waved off his concerns. "Eh, we'll just stay on-guard then. Definitely could've beaten Fanita if we knew what she was gonna do... and it wasn't in that bullshit dungeon…"

While Blizz and the Prince were talking, Kibo pulled out his map, curious how far they were from the entrance to Scourfloor Cavern.

"Do you not have any concern for your own well-being?" The Prince asked Blizz, somewhat annoyed. "They failed to detain you, what do you believe the next escalation would-"

"Hey, y'all might wanna take a look at this." Kibo held out the map for the rest of the team to look at. They stopped walking and gathered around the map.

Kibo's claw was pointing towards Hollowturn Temple, the dungeon they rescued Blizz from the previous day. Over its position were two bright red X's. While quite a few dungeons had single X's scattered across the map, only a few of them had two.

"...What does that mean?" Rune asked.

"One X means it's a dungeon that they found husks in," Kibo explained. "Never seen two X's before though... look at this." He shifted his claw over to Quickmaw Cavern. "This was where we found that Claydol that became a husk, remember?"

"...Were I to make a guess, I would assume it denotes a higher risk of husks," the Prince commented.

Blizz looked over the map, giving it some thought. "Did you guys see any husks while you were coming to rescue me?"

The Prince shook his head. "Not as far as I am aware, though we already have confirmed that sentient beings will become husks before feral Pokemon do, so that would be a poor benchmark for the nature of the dungeon."

"Huh..." Blizz shifted his attention back to the dirt road they were traveling down."Guess we'll just have to ask Scizor once we get back."

"...He's probably gonna be mad at us," Rune noted. "Four days on what was supposed to be a one day trip."

"Come on, I was literally kidnapped," Blizz argued. "How mad could he possibly be?"

"What the hell happened that made you take four entire days?"

Within his office, Scizor was staring down the four members of Team Apex, eyeing each of them.

Kibo raised a paw. "You got my letter, right?"

"...Yes, and it was barely legible. I suppose given the context that the rest of you are incapable of reading or writing footprint runes, I shouldn't be surprised. But all I could gleam from this-" He held up Kibo's letter. "Was that you encountered an outlaw."

"Yea, we ran into Fan-err, Misdreavus," Blizz explained. "She kidnapped me on the last floor of Scourfloor Cavern and took me to her hideout in Hollowturn Temple, so these guys had to go rescue me. Mostly my fault, but uh, hey." He pulled out the four silver badges. "Got these still."

Scizor stopped, looking between the badges and Blizz. He let out a sigh before opening his cabinet and pulled out a vial of pink liquid, popping off the cap and downing it in one sip. "That should hopefully lessen the headache by the time I have to press you for details."

"...So do we still get silver rank?"

Scizor just stared at Blizz for a few seconds. "...Persim juice isn't going to be enough to handle this. Dealing with you one at a time, Treecko last. Jangmo-o, you first, the rest stand outside."

Blizz, Rune, and the Prince filed out of the office, leaving Kibo to his interrogation.

"...He seemed more irritated than normal," Rune noticed.

The Prince nodded. "While he normally exhibits this behavior in most affairs we are involved in, I agree that it seemed to be abnormally intense today."

Rune paused, thinking it over. "…Do you think he was worried about us?"

"I can guarantee that, however I am not certain if his concern lies in our safety or the guild's reputation."

After 10 minutes of waiting and idly checking the outlaw board for any missions they could take on once they were back to normal dungeon exploration, Kibo emerged.

"Gave him most the details he needed, but apparently he needs to hear from the rest of y'all too," he reported. "Wanted Prince up next."

The Prince only took 5 minutes, and Rune another 5. When Blizz finally entered, Scizor seemed to be completely exhausted, with a few sheets of paper filled with writing that definitely weren't there 20 minutes ago littering his desk.

"From what I understand your story is most detached from the others, given that you were the only Pokemon present within the dungeon throughout the entire ambush."

"Yea, Misdreavus used Perish Song to pick off each of us one by one, then we had a fight on the last floor."

"And why didn't you just retreat?"

"Bro have you fucking seen that dungeon? Holy fuck the darkness is terrible, there wasn't a chance in hell I was dealing with that again."

Scizor bashed his head against the desk. "I almost managed to forget that your team neglected to use luminous orbs... how foolish of me..."

"Anyways, so yea, was fighting Misdreavus, hit a sleep trap, then I was out cold. Woke up in a whole different dungeon, tied down to a chair in the middle of her hideout. Apparently she had this like, contract where she needed to keep me kidnapped for a couple weeks."

Scizor's gaze sharpened. "She had a contract to detain you?"

"Yea, at least that's what she told me. Could've been lying, but I dunno, seemed like the type of thing she wouldn't cover up."

"...Detainment requests are not wholly uncommon for outlaws belonging to more organized crime regions. But... you?"

"Yep. Asked why, apparently the contracts are anonymous though, so I got no idea who. Oh, uh, what are the odds it's Hydreigon? Dunno if he like, got really salty after the Guilded Games or something."

Scizor looked over Blizz, the exhaustion in his voice giving way to a more serious tone. "...While we currently do not know who would wish to see you specifically detained, I fully believe it's not Hydreigon. He is a harsh leader and guildmaster, one whom I doubt took the defeat you dealt him lying down, however he is not a criminal- for him to hire someone to take out a potential guild competitor over a victory obtained through pure luck would be absurd."

"Then you have any other idea who it could be?"

"...Not who, but I have suspicions that this is not the first time they have attempted to interfere with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Much earlier, your mission to Shining Peaks. It was labeled as a D-Rank mission, despite Beartic single-handedly justifying a minimum of a B-rank. I would assume the individual who tampered with your previous mission is the same as the one who hired Misdreavus."

"Right… but like, that was only a few days after I first ended up here, who would've had something against me then?"

"…I will talk with the guildmaster about this. I have some theories, and if they hold true it could signify something more important."

Thoughts of Absol's warning about why humans get summoned to Varin flashed through Blizz's mind. "Right… uh, anything else you need to know from me? Kibo asked you about the whole double-X thing on the map?"

"Two X-marks denote locations where non-feral Pokemon have been observed to convert to husks," Scizor explained. "We had known Misdreavus made her residence there for some time, but the risk of an explorer obtaining the condition meant we could not justify an expedition to detain her."

"...Then how come Team Terrae took a rescue mission to help me out? If the dungeon's supposed to be like, off-limits."

Scizor gave Blizz a confused look, before flipping through various stacks of paper scattered throughout his office. Eventually, he found the one he wanted, a letter stamped with the logo of the Exploration Federation.

"...The dungeon was locked off a week ago. For a mission to be approved yesterday is either a grave oversight or..." He gave another look at Blizz, before letting out a sympathetic sigh.

"I would like to formally apologize. Though you and your team have been nothing but a perpetual headache to me, it appears that someone or something is out to get you, and that's not a responsibility you should have to deal with. While we do not yet know what or why, the possibility of you having been targeted is too great to ignore. As a guild, we have an obligation to protect our apprentices, and as of the moment we have failed to do so."

Blizz could have carefully considered Scizor's words, letting the notion of someone with a personal vendetta against him settle in, or consider how this factors into his supposed larger role of saving Varin from a potential catastrophe. Instead, he just shrugged. "Eh, I'll probably be fine."

Scizor stared at Treecko with equal parts concern and disappointment. "...Go get dinner. And to answer your previous question, your team is now silver rank. Congratulations."

"Oh yea, uh one other thing, lost my explorer badge in the fight, was wondering if I could get a new one."

Having been effectively desensitized to Blizz's demeanor by this point, he slid a crate of crystals towards Blizz. "Put one of those into the badges you got from the dungeon."

"Hell yea." He grabbed one and exited the office, meeting up with the rest of Apex.

Given the circumstances of Blizz being kidnapped and the potential that someone's still trying to go after him, Team Apex was allowed to take the next day off from missions. While Blizz was more than willing to jump right back into it anyways, the rest of the team was not, so he was forced to take it easy.

He walked south into Nova Town, through town center and up to the more wealthy neighborhood of the city.

"So which one's Absol's..." He walked down the street, looking for any indication of a building that belonged to the dark type. All he knew was that Absol's house was in the southern part of the city, which really didn't narrow it down now that he was actually here looking for it.

Thankfully, he didn't need to search much harder, as the Absol in question stepped outside of the building on the edge of the block. Blizz picked up the pace, waving to his sorta-friend. It was hard to tell from this far away, but Blizz could swear he looked really uncomfortable for a moment.

The moment passed though, as he gave Blizz a polite smile when he drew closer. "Ah, Treecko, hello. I could sense your presence. Would you care to come inside?"

Blizz nodded. "Yea, that'd be rad."

The two stepped inside the building, the interior having a distinctly-apple scent. The house itself seemed somewhat simple, though Blizz has kinda been spoiled by Lucario's guild and the pseudo-skyscrapers at Tenea City. Still, if Absol was supposedly a member of the best exploration team in Varin, this seemed a bit... modest.

Absol gestured towards his table, inviting Blizz to take a seat. While his guest was sitting down, he stepped to his oven and removed an apple pie, setting it on the table. "Please, feel free to take some. What brings you here today?"

"So I talked to Scizor a bit ago, so I wanted to come pick your brain about more of the human stuff."

Absol nodded. "Of course."

"So like, you said when there's a crisis they'll usually be a human or two. Hypothetically speaking, what does it mean if there's 10 humans?"

Absol froze in place. "...10 humans?"

"Hypothetically. Or, nine actually, but I'm pretty sure there's gotta be at least one more out there."

"...10 humans..."

Blizz gave Absol a few seconds, but the time was not enough to pull the dark type from his stupor. "…You good there?"

Absol shook his head, finally regaining his composure. "My apologies. To answer your question, I... really do not know. As far as I'm aware there has never been a moment where more than two humans are present at the same time... it's really 10?"

Blizz nodded. "Hypothetically."

"...I...I legitimately have no clue. Previous disasters that humans prevented are events like a complete collapse of space-time, or the entire planet being covered in a permanent winter. I quite literally cannot imagine how severe the situation must be to warrant 10 of your kind."

"…Damn, thanks though," Blizz took a slice of pie for himself.

"R…Right. Any time."

"Oh, and uh, had one other thing I kinda wanted to ask about."

Absol looked at Blizz, expectantly.

"So I heard from some other guys that you used to be in a team with Lucario, Scizor, and Hydreigon, that true?"

Absol locked up at the question, before nervously eying the dish on the table.

"...I suppose you can be trusted to know the full truth. Yes, I used to be a member of Team Breaker."

"So what happened then? Cause it seems like you don't get along super well with Lucario and Scizor, and Hydreigon is just a prick all around."

"Yes... We had our reasons for disbanding. Hydreigon always held his current demeanor, though back then it was apparent he did care, very deep down. His behavior was not entirely dissimilar to the Umbreon in your team."

Blizz nodded, the analogy to the Prince causing Absol's explanation to make much more sense. "Do you know what changed then? Cause like, Scizor's pretty sure someone is out to get me and the only Pokemon who I think would have a grudge against me is Hydreigon, but Scizor swears that Hydreigon wouldn't do that."

"The old Hydreigon would not, and I fear that is all that Scizor is capable of seeing."

"...So you think there's a chance it is him?"

"...I wouldn't rule out the possibility... though if it is him, I must apologize. The chain of events that set him down this course was partly my fault."

Blizz just gave Absol a confused stare as he took another slice of pie.

"During the course of Team Breaker's travels, my capacity to sense disasters was... desensitized. Much like yourself, Ri-err, Lucario was effectively a disaster magnet. The constant proximity greatly skewed my sense of caution, to a point where I found myself looking forward to the next disaster for... I guess the best way to describe it would be a rush of sorts."

Blizz idly ate his second slice of pie, letting Absol continue his story.

"I managed to detect this shift, thank Arceus, however to remove this feeling I needed to isolate myself from the constant danger we found ourselves in. So I inadvertently gave the rest of Team Breaker an ultimatum: either we abandon our grandiose expeditions altogether and fade into obscurity as a basic exploration team, or I was to leave."

"Was that how things broke apart?"

Absol nodded. "Correct. Scizor prioritized remaining a coherent team and was willing to take on less challenging missions, Hydreigon decided it would be best to leave me behind, and Lucario wished to keep me on while continuing to perform the same types of explorations we always had. Personally, I had no preference between staying or leaving and did not want to influence their decision, the only unacceptable option was Lucario's."

"So what did you guys go with?"

"...When Lucario eventually suggested that any outcome where I leave the team was unacceptable, Hydreigon stormed off, claiming, and I quote 'you fuckers are more dense than a Volcanion, I'll carry the team's legacy on my own.' After that, the team was effectively disbanded. Lucario and Scizor took me on a few smaller missions, however simply being in their presence was difficult for me, and these stopped as well. Eventually Lucario took over the guild in Nova Town, while Hydreigon met Lycanroc and formed a new team, coming to dominate Tenea City's guild."

"Damn... So that was when Hydreigon became a prick? On the inside, I mean, not just the outside."

"...I believe so. You have experience with these types of Pokemon, you should understand how difficult it can be to understand their psyche."

Blizz thought back to the Prince and how often he uses the 'I don't care about any of you' act. "Yea, I get it."

"Now, you are now one of 6 Pokemon who are aware of the true history of Team Breaker. I would appreciate it if you did not spread this to anyone who you do not believe is capable of keeping it to themselves."

Blizz went through all the humans he's met, thinking of which ones would not be able to. "So just don't tell Angel... Maybe Ride..."

Absol gave Blizz a confused stare, before shaking his head. "In any case, feel free to come back to me if you have any other questions, my door is always open to you or your allies."

"Yea, thanks a bunch." Blizz held out his hand for a handshake, but Absol was already up, placing the uneaten sections of pie into an icebox. Awkwardly, he retracted his hand and went out the door.

A/N: Hiatus over hopefully. Still gonna stick to updating once every two weeks for a little while, but with Camp Nano on the horizon I may be able to upload faster.

Now this is an extremely important question: Of the main 4 cast members, who is your favorite? Currently we're looking at a tie between Blizz and Kibo, and the more data points the better.

Ch 14: Hit Me With Your Best Shot - 4/2/22