With Zar actually working alongside them, the rest of Amber Canyon was a breeze. Not even Blizz was fast enough to get an attack in before Zar already KO'd the offending feral, despite her being at the back of their lineup.

The outlaw they were sent to arrest, a Ludicolo, couldn't get a word in before Zar rushed in with Leaf Blade, taking it down in one hit.

"I see why you guys love doing this so much, exploring dungeons is awesome!" Zar stood triumphantly in front of the defeated outlaw.

"Dungeon expeditions should not go this swiftly," the Prince muttered.

"So what do we do now?"

Blizz took out his explorer badge. "This'll take Ludicolo to the jail in Nova Town, then the rest of us warp back out to the dungeon entrance. We walk back to town, then get our reward from the police."

"Awesome!"

After collecting their reward, Blizz honored the first of his promises. He and the Prince set off to Leavanny's shop to see if she knew anything about the new necklace dangling around the Prince's neck.

"Treecko, good to see you. Oh, and your teammate, it's rare to see you two shopping together like this."

"Not here for shopping, actually... I mean, if you got something, I'll check it out, but like we were wondering if you could tell us something about a necklace Umbreon found."

"Hmm... I don't see why not. I'm guessing your badge didn't have any info on it?"

"Sort of. Said it's called a Midnight Gem, but doesn't know what it does. And there's this weird list of Pokémon who can use it.."

Leavanny froze at her counter. "...You said a Midnight Gem?"

"Yea. Prince, can I see it?"

The Prince reluctantly unclipped his necklace, handing it to Blizz, who proceeded to show it to Leavanny.

"This is..." Her gaze sharpened on the two explorers. "Where did you find it?"

"Burning Rapids, there was this like, oasis thing-"

"You fought the Regis at Burning Rapids?"

Blizz stared at her, not understanding what she was talking about.

The Prince, however, managed to pick up some context clues. "It was the same as our mission to Shining Peaks. Someone opted to set us up in a way that we would have to fight an opponent beyond what we could reasonably expect to defeat."

"Wait, really?"

Before Blizz and the Prince could discuss more details about the mission, Leavanny cut them off, taking out a magnifying glass and examining the necklace.

"This is a real Midnight Gem... I don't think the two of you know what you just found."

"Yea, that's why we wanted to stop by here and ask."

"This is... Hmm…" Leavanny paused to consider something. It didn't take long though, as she came to a decision. "Please, come with me." She unlatched the gate on her counter, revealing a trap door to the two explorers. She lifted it up to expose a staircase leading into a basement.

Curiosity taking over, Blizz followed behind immediately, while the Prince mostly did so because he didn't want to lose sight of his necklace.

The basement proved to be much more advanced than either of them expected. The floor was made of concrete, with some short rectangular windows at the top letting in a bit of natural light. Wooden desks were lying around, pressed against the wall. Each desk had a holographic display like their explorer's badge, showing various tables, graphs, and maps.

At a desk in the corner, a Piplup wearing a pair of green, triangular glasses tinkered on a pair of yellow goggles. He waved to the newcomers before going back to his tinkering.

"This is where I do my research on the accessories I find," Leavanny explained. "Not many Pokémon know about this place, but if your team managed to find an actual Midnight Gem, you more than deserve to see it."

"Whoah..."

The Prince was slightly less impressed. "Why would a tailor need a laboratory under her shop?"

"That's… complicated. And I'll get to it, but first we should start with your gem." Leavanny sat down at one of the desks and began navigating through its display. "Piplup, can you take over the store for a moment while I talk to these two?"

The Piplup nodded, climbing out the basement ladder. As he passed by, his goggles seemed to light up just slightly.

"So, what you have there is an extremely rare artifact. According to... this," She stepped to the side, revealing a page covered in paragraphs of footprint runes. "It's believed to have once belonged to a legendary ghost type. The two most likely candidates are Marshadow or Lunala, though this is all based on theory crafting. The last time a Midnight Gem was recorded was hundreds of years ago, before Nova Town even existed."

Blizz and the Prince looked at the display out of politeness, but couldn't understand a word of what it said.

"Right, I forgot the two of you probably don't understand footprint runes."

Blizz paused for a moment. "Wait, how'd you know that?"

"The two of you radiate extra-dimensional energy," Leavanny explained casually, taking out an orb from her desk. When she held it closer to the two explorers, the color shifted from blue to green.

"Pardon me for asking, how do you know any of this?" Despite the politeness of the question, the Prince was ready to attack. For someone to have figured out a piece of their origin like this was concerning.

"Almost all the rare accessories I sell come from other worlds," she explained. "Hence why I need this lab; if I'm going to sell items like this, I need to know what they do. And when you've been working things from other worlds for as long as I have, you can pick up a few tricks."

The two explorers just stood there, shocked.

"If it's any consolation, your team isn't the only ones from another world in town."

The Prince blinked a few times. The possibility of there being more ex-humans in town occurred to both him and Blizz. "Who are the others?"

"Sorry, confidential, but they're not from your world anyways. The ones I know give the orb a red glow. Your home world is green. Funny enough, Treecko, your goggles are also from the red world."

Blizz was a little disappointed that his goggles weren't actually an artifact from the human world, but got over it fast enough. He kinda suspected they weren't the exact pair anyways.

"Hey, could we buy one of those fancy orb things then?" Blizz asked. "We think there's more people from our home, that'd probably help to find them."

"Sorry, this is the only one I have." She set it down on the edge of her desk. "Wouldn't even trade it for that gem of yours."

Blizz's expression dropped for a moment, but he understood. "Yea, fair enough."

"If this tangent is finished, I would like to return the subject matter to the Midnight Gem. We still do not know of its effects."

"Right, where were we... Oh, hasn't been seen before." Leavanny pressed a button at the top left corner of her display, changing the language from footprint runes to Unown Script. "So the reason no one knows if it's Marshadow's or Lunala's is because of the criteria and its effects. Theoretically, it should allow someone to travel between shadows, which is believed to be Marshadow's unique ability as a Pokémon. But it only works on Pokémon that have evolved at night. Like Umbreon, for example." She looked at the Prince.

"Are you suggesting that this allows me to traverse between shadows?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but yes. According to this account…" She pulled up a new page of information on the display. "When you go into a shadow, it feels like you enter a room where every door out is a nearby shadow."

The Prince admired the necklace resting on the desk, a new appreciation setting in. "This is... fascinating."

"Dude that's fucking awesome, imagine how well you can battle now."

"Hmph..." He reached out, and clipped the necklace back on. "At last this world has opted to give me the blessing I deserve."

"Thanks for the help with it," Blizz said, turning back to Leavanny. "This lab stuff is like, really out there."

Leavanny smiled. "It's just a part of being a tailor. But since I've shown you this, I have a request for you."

"What's up?"

"If you find any other abnormal objects, please come show me. The purpose of this lab is examining technology from other worlds and seeing how we can use it here; your badge's crystal display was one of my first success stories. We can really change this world for the better with the right objects."

"Think that's fair," Blizz agreed. "The badges are pretty cool, after all."

Leavanny smiled. "Thank you. Oh, and tell Piplup he can come back down on your way out."

Blizz gave her a thumbs up as they ascended the ladder.

"EVERYONE OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!"

The atmosphere at Hydreigon's guild was particularly tense today. No one dared contest the guildmaster as he stormed through the crowd of recruits, gathered around a single Pokémon.

Pidgeotto was lying on the floor, breathing in and out, but nothing more.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?" All three of Hydreigon's heads locked eyes with Pidgeotto's partner, Raboot.

Raboot's voice was shaky. "We were doing a normal mission at Amber Canyon, when she just suddenly started going crazy. I… Wasn't feeling right either, but she was much further gone. I tried getting her close enough to use an Escape Orb, but she wouldn't listen to anything. Then she just... stopped."

"...YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT ONE OF OUR EXPLORERS HAS BECOME A HUSK! WHAT THE HELL DID I SAY ABOUT EXPLORING THOSE DUNGEONS?!"

Raboot nodded nervously, tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at his partner. "…It wasn't listed as a husk dungeon though..."

In the back of the crowd, Team Terrae was whispering among themselves.

"Oh god..." Ride was completely horrified by her fellow flying type having become a husk.

"What should we do?" Angel said, devoid of her usual enthusiasm.

"...I feel our allies in Nova Town may benefit from knowing this information," the Duke pointed out. "A letter may be in order."

Mira nodded in agreement. "Yea, we should let them know."

Ride looked at the rest of her teammates, then back at her wings. "...I'll go there myself..."

The Duke raised an eyebrow at her proposition. "What benefit is there to sending you in person as opposed to a letter through the postal service?"

"I'll be faster than the post office, and... they need to know. Amber Canyon is close to Nova Town." Ride's eyes were filled with determination.

"If you're sure... I'll still write a letter though," Mira decided. "Just so you don't have to remember everything."

"That would probably help..."

Within 20 minutes, Ride set off, trying to cover the fairly large distance between Tenea City and Nova Town as quickly as possible. For a normal Pokémon, it would've been a two day trip, but having wings helps a lot in getting somewhere as fast as possible.

Not having to take detours to avoid mystery dungeons or hike across switchbacks up and down hills, she was able to cover the distance in under an hour and a half.

Ride had never actually seen Nova Town before, and she just now realized she didn't know where Lucario's guild was. Or, what if they knew she was with Hydreigon and they kicked her out so she wouldn't be able to deliver the message-

Her fears were slightly assured as she caught sight of a Treecko and a shiny Umbreon walking down the street. She dived down to intercept them, thanking god that she didn't have to ask anyone for directions.

She came to a landing right behind the two.

Unlike Ride, they seemed to be in high spirits. "Still can't fucking believe that we managed to find something that rare in some random dungeon."

"...Uh... guys?"

Ride's call was too quiet for the other explorers to make out.

"As I said, it is not surprising that this world would finally see fit to honor my royal status in a suitable manner. It took long enough as is."

"Guys?"

At last, that caught Blizz's attention, who turned around to see the Taillow. "...Ride? What're you doing out here? The rest of you guys here?"

"No... it's just... Please read this." Using her beak, she took out the letter her team wrote.

Blizz took it and read it out loud.

"Apex, bad news came out from Hydreigon's guild today. One of our explorers, Pidgeotto- Hey wait, is this the same Pidgeotto that I-"

"Focus on the reading," the Prince reprimanded.

"Fine... Pidgeotto became a... husk... in Amber canyon..." Blizz's reading slowed down as the meaning set in. "An explorer became a husk?"

Ride could only nod.

The Prince stared at the letter intensely. "We were at Amber Canyon less than four hours ago."

"Oh shit we were."

"You were..? Did you guys... did you feel anything?"

"I... don't think so?" Blizz answered. "I could ask the others, it felt mostly fine."

"The same goes for myself," the Prince agreed.

"This might be important, we gotta get everyone else here," Blizz decided. "Are you fine with staying for a little bit?"

Ride nodded. "Y-Yea, I think that's fine..."

Because Ride was with them, their usual meeting spot of their room in the guild wasn't an option. As a result, they gathered around the clearing next to the guild.

They quickly realized that Terrae hasn't met Zar before, and went through a quick and very awkward introduction.

"Amber Canyon turned an explorer into a husk..." Kibo shook his head. "But we all felt just fine!"

Zar nodded. "Yea, I felt great!"

"That is the mystery we wish to uncover," the Prince stated. "Did the Pidgeotto have any allies in the dungeon?"

Ride nodded. "Yea... Raboot. They went in together..."

The Prince kept going. "And did Raboot feel anything?"

"Yea, he said... it was like he was going crazy… I think…"

"Then... I hesitate to make this judgment, given the potential risks involved in being incorrect, however the facts cannot be ignored."

Blizz finished the Prince's thought. "Whatever's creating the husks doesn't affect us, right?"

"I believe that may be the case. However, as I said, this is not something we can safely verify."

Rune looked around the six of them. "But why would we not...?"

The question only earned an annoyed eye roll from the Prince. "Do I truly need to explain this?"

"...Is it because we're human?" Rune's voice was barely above a whisper.

"That is the commonality. Recall when we underwent Hollowturn Temple to liberate Blizz from Fanita— that dungeon was marked as a high risk of husk conversion as well, yet neither us, nor Team Terrae, nor Fanita seemed to be affected in any way."

"But that was before we knew explorers could become husks," Kibo pointed out. "We don't know for sure."

"True, this is only a working theory, ideally one we will not have to test. However, this does corroborate with the theory that as humans, we were sent here to resolve a crisis. Whatever causes this condition, it would make sense to grant those destined to stop it immunity."

The Prince's words made sense. The risk was there, but if there was a chance they were fully immune...

"If that's true, we can actually investigate the dungeons where shit is happening," Blizz pointed out. "Scizor could definitely get some info out of that."

"So we're gonna be saving the world now?" Zar's eyes were sparkling. "Let's go!"

The Prince looked conflicted. "...We should discuss with Scizor, first of all. However, any such discussion with him will inevitably come to the topic of why we are unaffected… Are we prepared to disclose our status with him?"

Zar deflated. "Ohhh, good point..."

"...I think it's been long enough," Kibo declared. "Absol already knows, and Lucario and Scizor are really nice."

"But what if we get kicked out for not being actual Pokémon?" Rune looked uncomfortable.

Ride sighed. "...I don't know much about your guys' guildmaster, but... he doesn't seem like the type to do that."

"...I will defer to Blizz's judgment on this," the Prince decided. "He has had the most experience with both Scizor and conversing with Pokémon who are aware of our past."

Blizz closed his eyes, not that it was visible behind his goggles. This could be a major moment for all of them. Absol was one thing, but their bosses knowing they were human could completely change things for them.

Or it could also change absolutely nothing. They made it this far, and for all of Scizor's irritation with them, Ride was right. Kicking them out because they're human would be really out of character for them.

He nodded, coming to a decision. "Alright, I've decided. We're gonna tell Lucario and Scizor we're human."

"...Good for you guys," Ride congratulated. "I don't think we're going to tell Hydreigon about us for a while..."

"Yea fair enough. Thanks for coming by though, if we didn't hear about Amber Canyon today we wouldn't have figured this stuff out." Blizz held out a fist to Ride, who awkwardly bumped it with her wing.

The Taillow set off back to Tenea City as the five members of Apex descended the ladder into the guild.

They marched to Scizor's office in silence— even Zar was respecting the moment. With the rest of his team behind him, Blizz knocked on the door.

Scizor stepped out and stared at his newest recruits, all of whom had an extremely serious look.

"What in Arceus' name did you do?"

"Got something we needed to talk to you about, but was wondering if Lucario could be there too."

Scizor took a second to recover from the shock, but trusted his apprentices enough to believe that this was important. "...Very well."

Before long, Team Apex was sitting in Lucario's office.

The fighting-type kept an even face, making it hard to read his emotions. "Alright fuckers, guessing you got a bombshell to drop here?"

Blizz nodded. "Yea, two things that we're pretty sure are connected. So uh, first thing. We're all humans. Or used to be humans."

Silence filled the room. Scizor's eyes shot open, while Lucario just nodded.

"Kinda knew something like that was up with you guys. Bunch of random badass Pokémon pop in out of nowhere and I've never heard of them before? Gotta be from somewhere else. So what, you guys need help dealing with some fucking disaster?"

While that was more or less the same reaction they got from Absol, Lucario's casualness about it still took all of them back a bit.

Sensing their confusion, Scizor elaborated. "The two of us met a former human once. It was in the early days of our exploring, and he was elderly back then…" Scizor gave a sigh. "In any case, it is an oversight on the two of us that we failed to consider this possibility."

"We have heard about the role humans tend to play in this world," the Prince explained. "We believe that our purpose here involves curing the husk crisis. Have you received the news stemming from Hydreigon's guild?"

Lucario's expression soured slightly. "No, what'd the bastard do now?"

"One of his explorers became a husk," Blizz answered. "Pidgeotto."

Scizor sighed. "...This is a tragedy, but it was only a matter of time before the crisis escalated to that point."

"But there's something else about it!" Kibo pointed out. "The Pidgeotto became one in Amber Canyon."

Lucario closed his eyes and held up a paw. "Let me guess. You fucks were in Amber Canyon earlier today and didn't feel anything."

Blizz nodded. "Yep."

"Fucking awesome." Lucario smiled as he pulled out a map from his desk. The entire document was covered in X's and footprint runes, listing off nearly every mystery dungeon in Varin. "So here's the deal. There's a damn good chance that something can change and the five of you suddenly can become husks. So we're gonna be sending you places, but only if there's a good reason."

Scizor looked surprised at how cautious his partner was being.

"You guys apparently came here to save our asses, and I sure as hell trust you. Scizor, you're gonna pick out husk zones to send them into, try to figure out what the hell is causing all of this."

"And what of the risks?" Scizor's voice was cool and level— it was less of an accusation and more of a question. "Hydreigon losing a single Pokémon is terrible. If they are wrong and everyone on Apex were to become a husk, what would happen then?"

"One, there's no way in hell that's gonna happen, the legends got a stick way too far up their asses to make a fuck up like that. Two, I'm also gonna make sure every single one of you has an escape orb on hand. Moment you feel like something's off, I want you to bail."

"...So we're gonna be going into the middle of the shitshow, trying to figure out what the hell's going on, and hopefully not get turned into husks," Blizz summarized. "Fuck yea."

Scizor sighed. "...If this is the course of action we have set upon, I will abide by it. Beginning tomorrow, your team will report directly to me. Unless I say otherwise, you don't need to take normal missions for a while. I will... try to direct you towards the best course of action. Just to verify, all five of you are former humans?"

He locked eyes with each of them, his gaze centered on Zar for just a bit longer than the rest.

"That's right!" Kibo confirmed.

"...Wonderful. Naturally, this will remain confidential. I do not fault you for keeping this information a secret this long, and we will withhold this from the rest of the guild unless you say otherwise."

Blizz tightened the strap on his goggles. "Uh, yea, thanks a bunch."

"Now unless the guildmaster has anything else to say, the five of you are dismissed."

The two steel types watched as Apex filed out of their office, chatting among themselves about what the next day's mission could entail.

"Five humans..." Scizor mused to himself. "Does this not concern you in the slightest? The crisis we combatted only warranted one."

Lucario shook his head. "Nah, those fucks got this."

"You have a remarkably high amount of faith for a team that cannot even complete a rescue mission without at least one member ending up in the hospital."

"Yea, because they're meant to lead the charge against whatever the hell is coming after us." Lucario locked eyes with Scizor. "Trust me, there is no fucking way they don't got this."

Scizor had his doubts, but the guildmaster sounded confident. "...Very well. I shall work with them to see this through."

When Ride returned to Hydreigon's Guild, it was almost sundown. She definitely could've made it faster, but without the risk of her friends becoming a husk there was no rush or strain her wings.

She flew in through the entrance for flying types, gliding straight from the hatch on the second floor into Team Terrae's room, where her teammates were examining a map.

"Ride, welcome back," the Duke greeted. "I assume you delivered the news to our comrades?"

She nodded, taking off her bag and setting it next to her bed. "They uh... they went to Amber Canyon today, actually."

That caused all the present Pokémon to freeze.

Angel was the first to speak up. "Is dragon dude okay?"

Ride quickly nodded, trying to clear the tension. "No yea, they're all okay... they... think they found out something though..."

Mira cocked her head, looking up from the map. "What did they find?"

"...They think that ex-humans are immune to the effects of being a husk... Because they didn't feel anything when they went through that dungeon."

"So we may be immune to the husk effect as well," the Duke mused. "This does corroborate with their theory about being sent here to stop said crisis."

"Well, we gotta tell Lycanroc about it!" Angel shouted. "We can actually go into the places where things are bad, we might be able to figure something out!"

"That's probably the best idea..." Before making a final decision, she turned to the Taillow. "Ride, did they say anything else?"

"Well... they said they were going to tell their guildmaster they were human, but... I don't think that's a good idea for us..."

"Hmm… That does yield the question of how we should broach this subject to Lycanroc," the Duke pointed out. "Short of describing our shared past, we have no way of justifying our immunity to the guild leadership."

Angel understood, but was still pretty annoyed. "But we just can't do nothing! What if someone else converts?"

Mira sighed. "...We'll talk to Lycanroc tomorrow morning and ask if we can try to investigate the husk dungeons. We really don't have any proof that we're immune, we're just taking Apex's word for it."

"...They did say that the mission where we saved Blizz from Fanita was a husk dungeon," Ride pointed out. "It was a while ago, but... it's probably the best excuse we have."

The Duke nodded. "That will have to do."

The next morning, Team Terrae lined up for announcements. The atmosphere was still tense after what happened to Pidgeotto, and with Raboot missing, the guild's mood was even lower than normal.

None of this was helped by Hydreigon's entrance, slamming open the door to his office with a loud thud.

"ALRIGHT YOU FUCKING DUMBASSES, WE HAVE SOME NEW RULES!"

While Hydreigon shouting and swearing out his apprentices wasn't new, his voice contained an extra hint of malice today.

"UNDER EXACTLY NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE ANY OF YOU GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR A HUSK DUNGEON! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT OUTLAW RAN AWAY IN ONE OR WHO NEEDS TO BE RESCUED, I AM OFFICIALLY BANNING ALL OF YOU FROM ENTRY."

While most Pokémon would be relieved that they wouldn't be forced to go into a dungeon that could subject them to a fate worse than death, this did kinda get in the way of Team Terrae's plans.

As soon as the rest of announcements ended, Mira approached her guildmaster. She would've preferred to deal with Lycanroc, but if Hydreigon made the decision, he was the only one who could give them the okay.

She steeled her nerves as she approached her fellow dark type.

"Guildmaster, I have a... request."

Hydregion didn't seem excessively annoyed by Mira's presence, which was a great start. "Zorua... What do you want?"

"Well..." She shook her head, trying to get herself together. "...My team believes we may have a resistance to becoming a husk. We were wondering if... we would be allowed to investigate husk zones so we can try to figure out what's happening in them."

Hydreigon's eyes narrowed in fury.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST ASK ME? DID YOU NOT PAY ATTENTION TO MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS?"

"We did sir, which is why I came to ask you. You see-"

"JUST BECAUSE YOU WENT INTO SOME DUNGEON WITH HUSKS DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE IMMUNE, I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT! I'M PUTTING YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE TEAM ON LOGISTICS DUTY UNTIL I KNOW YOU WON'T RUN OFF AND GET YOURSELF KILLED!"

Before Mira could get another word in, Hydreigon stormed off.

She sighed, watching her guildmaster leave. "…I'm really sorry guys..."

As she walked back to her team to break the bad news, something clicked in her mind, causing her to freeze.

"...I never told him that we went to Hollowturn Temple though..."

A/N: Well this was a wacky little chapter. I did hit my Camp Nano goal, so the weekly update chain is continuing.

Ch 18: Run Runaway - 5/7/22