Having Zar around made the dungeon go by much quicker, but also made the entire experience a lot more awkward as she proceeded to utterly demolish any feral that crossed their path.

Still, they made it to the final floor where another Mankey was waiting for his rescue. Not really in the mood for any discussion Zar could conceivably force herself into, Fanita warped him out immediately. The three explorers went soon after, and began the walk back to their hideout.

"Man it's been so long since I've done a dungeon run like that! That was fun!" Zar exclaimed, her enthusiasm continuing to make Fanita more suspicious. It didn't help that now she had to figure out an excuse so that Zar wouldn't follow them back to her hideout.

"Dungeon exploration definitely has its-"

Leaf jumped up. "With the three of us together we're unstoppable!"

Fanita nodded. "Of course… though I wanted to ask you something Zar."

"What's up?"

"You see, I was thinking about what we should do to try and get the others back, and I had an idea. You still live at the guild, right?"

Zar nodded.

"So you see, what we really need here is information. And if all three of us are in the same place, we're not going to get as much."

"Okay..."

"But if you stay at the guild, you can keep an eye out for any intel from there."

It took Zar a moment to process that. "Right! Yea! Like a secret agent!"

Fanita had to stop her eye from twitching. "Exactly."

"Okay! I can do that!" Zar stormed forward, leaving her two teammates in the dust.

Leaf looked disappointed as their new friend disappeared over the horizon. "...Did she really have to go?"

With Zar gone, Fanita could finally drop the act. "Leaf, what do you think about her?"

The Piplup stumbled over his answer at first. "Huh? Well… she seems really friendly. And super strong too!"

"And she's supposed to be another human like us, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"How strong do you think the two of us are?"

"...Well, you're around level 40, right?"

"And where is Zar?"

"Level 73, I think."

"Do you see how there could be something Zar might not be telling us?"

Leaf considered the possibility for a moment. "Wait, you think... You think she's lying to us?"

"I think everything about her story is extremely suspicious, and a week after she joined Team Apex, everyone but her went missing."

Leaf's eyes widened

"Then everything she's done is-"

"Do not trust her," Fanita interrupted. "But we need to act like we do. Do you think you can manage that?"

Leaf slowly nodded. "O...Okay. I can do that."

Fanita accepted that answer. "Thank you."

Fanita didn't bother with any theatrics this time around. It was more or less the same as last time anyways— middle of the night, secluded environment, comfortable sitting log a short distance away. The only difference was that this time there were two steel types waiting for her.

She felt a pang of nervousness, but this was hardly a situation where she could show it. She swallowed her doubt and put on her signature grin.

Before the past few days, she never thought she'd get so close to these two. Scizor on his own was one thing, but Lucario was a legend across Varin. Every other outlaw she's ever met would be trembling right now.

Of course, she's the best of them all. Her confident grin never faltered as she cleared her throat behind the two.

The duo rotated around slowly, both their faces annoyingly blank. She came to expect that from Scizor, but according to the rumors Lucario was supposed to be full of fire. She wondered what could be going on that would cause him to look like this.

"Olá."

"Misdreavus." Scizor gave her a faint acknowledgement while Lucario continued to stare. "We heard that Team Vindicate rescued a Mankey today."

"Of course, his friend seemed so sad when he was walking out of the post office today, I just had to help out."

"We haven't come to a full decision regarding your offer," Scizor continued. "We need to know the extent of information you have before Lucario can make his decision."

"Oh, I suppose I could part with a few things. You see, my confidant and I recently discovered something very interesting in a dungeon not very long ago. And... well, it's mostly a hunch, but we think we found out what causes husks."

Scizor's eyes widened, whereas Lucario's gaze only narrowed. The assistant guildmaster leaned in, much more invested now. "What was it? Where did you find it?"

"Ah ah, that's a lot to share right now. I need to know if I'm going to be a free Pokémon first."

Both their gazes shifted to Lucario, who steadily approached Fanita.

"Why the hell do you want a pardon?"

"Like I told Scizor, I turned-"

"If I hear another word of bullshit come out of your mouth I'm going to Meteor Mash you to the fucking Distortion World. You don't have any regrets about what you've done, and you're the type of Pokémon who loves the infamy. Why do you care about getting a pardon?"

Fanita had a feeling Lucario would press that. If she was being honest, she barely knew the answer herself.

"Well I can promise you that I'm done with crime."

"That doesn't answer my fucking question."

It was rare for her to be on the back foot in any conversation, though Fanita supposed there were firsts for everything.

"...There are a couple of reasons. I will say that you're absolutely correct. I don't have any regrets, and I loved the fame." Fanita paused to accentuate her point. "But it isn't the same any more. I've been rescuing Pokémon and hunting down outlaws for the past week, and that's been giving a much better rush."

Lucario formed a Bone Rush in his paws. "I'm not gonna fucking let you off because you decided that you're bored of being a thief."

"Like I said, that was only the first. My confidant, the one I mentioned earlier, has quite a bit of potential, and he wanted to throw it all away to work with me. But I can't exactly let him grow up to be a criminal, so if I'm pardoned he won't be made guilty by association."

Lucario seemed to loosen up just slightly— that reasoning was a lot more agreeable to him. "And what will you do once you're done? You're gonna return all the shit you stole."

Fanita wasn't too worried about that; most of the wealth she'd acquired wasn't exactly obtained legally by its original owner in the first place. "Well, I heard the local guild had an exploration team that recruits humans, I was wondering if they'd be willing to take me."

The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. Scizor jumped back, getting out of the way as Lucario rushed forward, bringing a Bone Rush right up to Fanita's neck.

"After all of the bullshit you've done, including attacking my own apprentices, apprentices that you would be seeing every single day, you have the fucking audacity to ask to join my guild?"

Fanita simply smiled, looking down at the glowing bone being pressed into her. "Yes."

No one moved for a minute. Suspense filled the air, and even the ferals in the dungeon seemed to quiet down. Lucario's eyes were locked with Fanita's, neither of them letting up.

At last, the Bone Rush dissipated as Lucario's expression seemed to relax. "You've got fucking guts. That's the shit I wanna see in my apprentices."

"Then-"

"You're going on probation. You apologize to my apprentices, return the shit you've stolen, and don't cause any problems for a month, you're free."

Fanita's smile widened, but for the first time in a while it wasn't for an intimidation tactic. "I can work with that."

"We'll sort out what you'll do with the guild later. Right now, you need to tell us exactly what the hell is going on with the husk shit."

"Oh, I'm glad you asked." Fanita's eyes glowed blue as a nearby bush rustled. From it, a circular bundle wrapped in cloth emerged. "This is your culprit. We don't understand everything, but we found it in Dryvale Tundra. When we went in, the Pokémon there were turning into husks."

Scizor took the bundle in his arms and undid the cloth, looking at the components of the antennae underneath it. "This is... A significant discovery."

"I thought you would like that. We know it uses Psychic Gems to broadcast something into other Pokémon's heads, but we weren't able to find out exactly what."

Scizor nodded, continuing to prod at the device's components. "…This yields many questions. Once I am in a place where I can properly examine it, I would like you to walk me through what you've found so far."

"While I would love to, I believe my confidant would be better suited for this. After all, he is the one that first dissected it."

"Very well." Scizor began to wrap the components back up. "Guildmaster, what are we to do now?"

"Alright, first, you." Lucario pointed at Fanita. "I'll write up your pardon, but it'll take a little while for that to get around. Until tomorrow morning, you should avoid the city. After that, come to the guild and I'll figure out what the hell to do then."

Fanita floated down slightly. "Obrigada."

"With the bullshit metal thing, Scizor will look into it. I'll see about getting Leavanny or Beheeyem to crawl out of their stupid basements and actually go outside to help with this too."

"That would work," Scizor agreed.

"Then everyone go home. I still have to wake up my apprentices tomorrow morning." Lucario walked back down the road, Scizor following behind with the antennae.

Fanita lingered a bit longer, waiting for the two to be comfortably beyond their range. "You're good to come out now, Leaf."

From the same bush where Fanita had hidden the antennae, Leaf popped his head up.

"That went great! ...But you really want to join the guild?"

"You've been a very bad influence on me."

"...Right..." Despite how well the meeting went, Leaf still seemed disappointed.

"I'm guessing you tried to join the guild and they refused you?"

Leaf nodded. "Everyone always says I'm too young... screw them..."

"And do you know when your birthday is?"

Leaf shook his head, slightly confused.

"Well then happy belated birthday, because I think your 13th would have been yesterday, and that would make you old enough to join the guild now, wouldn't it?"

Leaf just looked at Fanita, barely understanding what she was getting at. "...Didn't you say we would stop the lying?"

"We're simply amnesiacs," Fanita reasoned. "There's no way for us to know when your birthday is, who's to say it wasn't sometime in the last week?"

Leaf nodded, coming to terms with that. "Okay... yea... Yea! I'm pretty sure I'm old enough now!"

"Exactly. Now, let's head back for now, I get the feeling we'll need to be ready for tomorrow."

Something changed in Fanita that she could barely understand. The next morning seemed to be so much brighter— the pardon lifted a weight off her shoulders she didn't know she was carrying. She was close enough to free for the first time since she became a Misdreavus, and she still didn't know how to feel about it. Some combination of excitement, relief, and nervousness that was impossible for her to describe.

She never even knew she was missing this.

As a result, Fanita and Leaf were making their way into town, taking their time to enjoy the sights.

No one recognized them on the outskirts of Nova Town, but as they approached the town center it became obvious a few spectators had heard of Misdreavus the thief.

Despite their whispering, she was able to simply float past a Magnemite without so much as being stopped.

By the time they actually made it to the guild, Fanita was certain she was already the talk of the town, but that's not really the thing she cares much about any more. Right now, she and Leaf were about to step into Lucario's Guild.

She almost laughed at the irony as she phased through the front tent. The guild made famous for its ability to catch outlaws was about to accept one of Varin's most wanted criminals into their ranks.

The two of them climbed down the ladder and entered the guild main hall. Immediately a Fire Spin flew towards Fanita. She dodged it easily, leaving a scorch mark on the wall behind her.

"My my, quite the reception." She looked to the attack's source, a Combusken. A Hawlucha was standing next to him, holding out his arm to stop the attacker.

"Remember what the guildmaster said," he said.

Despite Hawlucha's words, Combusken still seemed mad. He relented though, walking away with a "hmph."

Leaf leaned into Fanita. "Is everyone gonna be like that?"

She shrugged. "There may be one or two others."

Leaf gulped, but kept moving as they stepped up to the door of Scizor's office. He had to knock for both of them since Fanita didn't have the physical ability to do so.

Scizor opened the door, wordlessly inviting the two inside. It slammed shut behind them as Leaf took a seat in front of Scizor's desk.

Scizor sighed, sitting down across from Leaf. His desk was covered with the various components of the antennae, though it didn't look like he actually tore into any of it.

After a wait, Scizor finally broke the silence. "...Would you like to start with your guild status or the device?"

"I would like to get our guild badges first," Fanita answered.

Scizor nodded, placing two bronze guild badges in front of the duo. "Congratulations, welcome to Lucario's Guild." He sounded dead inside as he spoke. "I don't even know why we bothered setting up the entrance exam if we're gonna let every new team just skip it..."

Fanita examined the badge, comparing it to the one she got from Blizz. It looked almost identical, though the crystal in the center was a green color compared to the red of Team Apex's.

"As we discussed last night, you're on probation for one month. Any mission you take has to be cleared by me first. Though given the circumstances, I don't think you're going to be doing many normal dungeon missions."

Fanita nodded. "Maybe once things settle down."

"...In any case, I will need your proper names before you can be officially added to the guild registry."

"Fanita."

"I'm Leaf!"

"And you will be retaining the name Team Vindicate?"

Both the to-be explorers nodded.

Scizor wrote all the names into one of his notebooks, before stuffing it back into a cabinet behind him. "The two of you are now members of the guild, though you still need to make a formal apology to Rockruff and Gible. We mentioned that you would be coming at morning announcements, so you shouldn't be surprising anyone."

Having to apologize when they were the ones that came to arrest her did moderately annoy Fanita, but it was the price she'd have to pay. "Understood."

"Now that we are done with that, we have to discuss the device." Scizor gestured towards the components on his desk. "I assume Piplup is familiar with its design?"

Leaf nodded, before launching into an explanation of what he found. Scizor paid close attention, nodding along as Leaf walked through the antennae's design and functionality.

Fanita didn't pay much attention to the description. She already got an explanation from Leaf, and this one was even more technical, so it ended up going in one ear and out the other.

After a while, Leaf finally went through everything he knew. Scizor seemed to have listened to all of it as he examined the components. "This is concerning, but your insight is immensely helpful."

Leaf smiled, excited that someone aside from Fanita was actually acknowledging his work. "Thanks! Like I said, there's some stuff I don't know. The water pools are the big one."

"Yes, the water pools…" There was a brief light of recognition in his eyes, as he reached for a nearby book. He began flipping through the pages, looking for something.

Fanita was impressed how he managed to do it with his claws.

"Three bodies of water... husk victims show no reaction to any stimuli... they have no detectable emotion..." He stopped navigating through the book, settling on a page containing drawings of three Pokémon.

Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit

Scizor continued reading the description of the Pokémon. "This is finally starting to make sense…"

"I don't suppose you could tell us what you found?"

Scizor took another few moments to collect himself, remembering that there were in fact others around him. "…Right… Are you familiar with the Lake Trio?"

It sounded familiar to Fanita, but she didn't know anything about it, so she shook her head.

"The Lake Trio are three legendary Pokémon: Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit. They are said to have granted Pokémon memory, willpower, and emotion respectively. And though reports are scarce, it is believed they have the ability to take these aspects away from a Pokémon."

"And husks don't have any of these."

"Yes... Which leads me to believe this device channels their power somehow to deprive a Pokémon of these abilities."

Leaf's eyes widened. "That's incredible! Someone can just set one up and cause every Pokémon nearby to become a husk!"

"I would hesitate to call it incredible, but yes… This is the single greatest breakthrough we've had since the crisis first began."

Fanita smiled just a little bit wider. "It looks like we're a valuable asset to the guild."

The fact that Fanita was correct was very annoying to Scizor, but he had to admit this wouldn't have happened without her. "…Yes. I'll confer with the guildmaster and try to determine the finer details. Once that is done however, I believe I will need to make a visit to Tenea City."

Leaf's eyes began sparkling. "You guys are gonna go after Hydreigon?"

"...I doubt it would be so simple. But we will begin the process of pursuing him."

"Can we come?" Leaf asked.

Scizor sighed, having a feeling about where this conversation would go. "Hydreigon is an extremely powerful-"

Fanita cut him off. "We are going to Tenea City no matter what, and I think it'd help everyone out if we stayed together rather than the two of us trying to avoid being caught. Plus, what happens if you need to get into a husk dungeon? We're the only ones that can help you out there."

Scizor brought a claw to his head. He decided there was just something about humans that gave him non-stop headaches.

"If you did, you would be traveling with myself and the guildmaster. Do you think you can keep up?"

Fanita gave him a grin. "Oh I think we'll be fine."

Scizor grumbled, but relented. "...Fine. The guildmaster can still veto this, but... Team Vindicate will be accompanying us to Tenea City."

Leaf jumped up in excitement.

"Be sure that you are ready by tomorrow morning. As I said, Hydreigon is immensely strong. Even with your... other teammate, taking him on in combat will likely be lethal for you."

The discussion reminded her that she still didn't have a proper plan for how to deal with Zar. Should they bring her? If she's working for Hydreigon, that would be a very terrible idea. But Lucario and Scizor would be accompanying them, so this could be the only chance she'll get to actually take her on in a fight.

Still, Fanita nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Then you are dismissed."

At last, the moment of truth had arrived. Fanita was waiting in the guild hall when she saw her targets climb down the ladder: Gible and Rockruff.

Team Drill was the only team from Lucario's Guild that she actually fought— Team Apex didn't count. Rockruff and Gible were just normal explorers doing their job, who happened to have the unfortunate task of being sent to arrest her. It didn't go well for them, but now she had to apologize.

As Rockruff locked eyes with her, she began having second thoughts about the guild. The remnants of her outlaw pride were screaming, giving her a detailed plan on how she could knock out everyone in this room and escape right now.

But that would screw over Leaf, so she forced herself to take a deep breath and swallow her pride. Here she went...

"Olá." She floated up to the explorers, trying to look vaguely friendly.

Rockruff's gaze hardened, while Gible's eyes widened.

"Former outlaw Misdreavus."

"Oh my gosh, it really is her!"

"The one and only." Fanita tried to put on a grin that was not intimidating. It didn't really work, but the effort was there. "I wanted to... apologize, for our encounter a few months ago."

Rockruff let out a low growl. "You attacked an exploration team and resisted arrest, and now you are walking free among our guild. Did you experience any consequences for your actions?"

"...You see, I joined the guild as a part of my atonement." She racked her brain, trying to remember what she could about Rockruff's personality. It took a little bit for something to click. "After seeing several exploration teams, yours included, I was... moved."

Rockruff loosened up just slightly. "What do you mean?"

"What the average exploration team goes through, it's not something that a civilian can really understand." The look of sympathy in Rockruff's eyes informed her she was on the right track. "The sacrifices you put in for the safety of Pokémon everywhere, I realized I couldn't just sit back. So I decided to help Scizor with his investigation so I could join the ranks of Pokémon like yourself."

Rockruff slowly nodded. "It's rare for another Pokémon to truly appreciate the sacrifices we make and give us the respect we deserve... Very well. I accept your apology."

"Thank you, I'll be sure to honor the tradition of exploration teams." She shifted her gaze over to Gible.

"...Yea, I accept it too! We have a real former outlaw in the guild now, there's so much you have to tell me-"

"Sorry, but I need to go help my team prepare for our mission tomorrow."

Rockruff lifted a paw in salute before his teammate could protest. "Understood. Godspeed, Misdreavus."

Fanita, neither wanting to or being physically capable of saluting back, simply left as quickly as she could. She's pretty sure having to say those words caused her physical pain, but the experience was finally over.

"Listen up fuckers!" Lucario's shout was intense, enough to draw the attention of all the guild's teams lined up. "Scizor and I have a really fucking important mission right now, and we're gonna be in Tenea City for a few days. Until we get back, Hawlucha is in charge."

Hawlucha gasped slightly. "I'm honored you respect me as much, but am I-"

"Shut the fuck up Hawlucha, your the highest ranked in the guild and you're coming up on your graduation exam. And Magnezone's coming as well to help out, so listen to him too."

Hawlucha nodded. "I will do my best then."

"Any other questions?"

Chimchar raised his hand. "This has to do with Team Apex, right?"

Scizor stepped in to answer it before Lucario could overshare their mission. "Partly, yes. We have reason to believe they're being held in Tenea City, which is why we're bringing Team Vindicate."

Immediately the guild shifted their focus to Fanita, who simply smiled back.

"Their… connections will prove useful in information gathering. This does not reflect on the quality of their team, and under other circumstances they would be the last team I select to accompany myself and the guildmaster."

A round of grumbling went through the guild.

"The fucking outlaw team!"

"Did they bribe Scizor?"

"They're so lucky…"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Lucario's shout once again immediately silenced the crowd. "They're a member of this guild now. If you have a problem with them, say it to their goddamned face or shut up."

The mumbling came to a stop, though Fanita could still feel the stares. There was a mixture of jealousy and irritation in the air.

Not that she cared.

"Now if I hear anyone fucking up the shout I'm putting their team on logistics duty. IT WAS TWELVE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN!"

Leaf didn't want to admit it, but he was getting sorta tired of having to walk back and forth between Nova Town and Tenea City. He went to Tenea after he got fired from Leavanny's, then went back to Nova with Fanita to join the guild, and now he was going back to Tenea for the third time in a week.

It wasn't fun, but this time he had so many new friends. Unfortunately they were going too fast for him to keep a conversation up, he had to practically sprint to keep up with everyone.

But all the Pokémon around him were super tough, which was cool! Some Pokemon would say that Lucario's the strongest Pokémon in Varin, and Leaf could see why. The guildmaster wasn't even breaking a sweat right now.

Scizor wasn't that far behind, though he could also fly, so him being able to go fast wasn't as impressive.

Fanita kept up, though he didn't fully understand how. She just seemed to be really good at floating. Every once in a while when he fell really far behind she would pick him up with Psychic.

Then there was Zar. Every time the Piplup looked at her, he couldn't help but remember Fanita's warning. And sure, Zar definitely seemed suspicious, but that didn't mean she was a bad person. She probably just had a secret or two she didn't want to share.

Then again, Fanita is really smart at stuff like this, so he'd need to listen to her… At least until they can prove Zar was innocent.

But this was his chance to do that. They were gonna go find Hydreigon and stop all of this! If they could arrest him, then they'll have to say Zar is innocent.

With renewed determination, he charged forwards, only stumbling a little bit as he tried to keep pace with the others.

Outside of Hydreigon's Guild, the group was waiting for Scizor to come out. They managed to make it to the city in a few hours and gathered up in front of the guild. While they were all eager to see what was going on, Scizor was the only one who could've gone in— Leaf and Zar would get laughed out, Lucario hated everything about the guild, and Fanita would've been attacked on sight.

So that left Scizor.

"The fucking coward probably isn't even in there." Lucario was staring at the metal building, very obviously pissed off.

"He would be a pretty poor criminal mastermind if he stayed here," Fanita commented.

"Like hell, that asshole's one of the strongest Pokémon in this continent. BUT HE'S STILL A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" Lucario shouted the last part, drawing more than a few confused stares from passersby.

On instinct, Fanita dipped down into the floor to hide. "You know, I get the feeling you don't like stealth."

"Stealth is what you do if you can't beat the shit out of anyone in your way. Not a problem for me."

"Exactly!" Zar agreed. "Why bother when fighting is so much cooler?"

Without looking back, Lucario reached out to fist-bump Zar.

At last, Scizor emerged from the building, Lycanroc following behind him.

"What an interesting crew," Lycanroc commented as he approached. "The leadership of Nova Town's guild, the famous thief Misdreavus, and a very unique Treecko and Piplup."

Lucario wasted no time. "Where the fuck is Hydreigon?"

"Gone. He said he was going to go look into the husk crisis and told me to oversee the guild. That was about six days ago."

Scizor evaluated that timeline. "...That would coincide with Team Apex's disappearance."

"Why the curiosity?" Lycanroc asked. "I'm guessing this is more important than your rivalry?"

"That bastard is behind all of this," Lucario grumbled. "Fucker paid to have Blizz abducted and knows all sorts of shit he shouldn't." He held out the documents Fanita stole to Lycanroc as proof.

Much like Fanita, Lycanroc prefers to wear a smug grin as often as possible. So managing to knock that expression off his face takes a great deal of effort.

Lucario managed to do it.

"...The guildmaster really did this? I… Suppose I did notice some missing funds, but this is…"

"He's our prime suspect," Scizor explained, taking a more conservative stance than his partner. "We don't have much direct evidence connecting him to the husk crisis, however it at least warrants questioning. And the fact that he has vanished only adds suspicion."

"…I see." Lycanroc took a deep breath. "I'll help in any way that I can. I… I find it hard to believe he would do something like this, but he's still been missing for a while now. If finding him can prove his innocence, then I'll do whatever I can."

Scizor nodded. "Thank you Lycanroc. I felt the same way. Did he tell you where he was going?"

"I'm not sure. He said he would be staking out some dungeons he thought could have a husk issue, but didn't mention where."

"Knowing that asshole, he probably wouldn't raise a fucking finger to help out anything outside of Tenea City," Lucario commented. "Scizor, what's the closest dungeon to here that doesn't have a husk issue yet?"

Scizor took out his map, looking for any dungeons that didn't have a red 'X' over them. "...Mistglass Stream would be the closest."

Fanita cleared her throat. "Aren't we forgetting about something else?"

Scizor looked at Fanita with only mild irritation. "...Right. Lycanroc, have you heard anything about Team Apex or Team Terrae?"

He shook his head. "Not since Terrae resigned. Why do you ask?"

"They were ambushed following a mission to Roguepoint Mesa. Treecko, would you care to provide the details?"

Zar nodded. "Yea! So we thought Hydreigon would be coming down there, so we went through the dungeon and waited for him to come, but then a bunch of Pokémon came up and used orbs to freeze us, then hit us with a really strong move!"

Lycanroc brought a claw to his chin. "What Pokémon were they?"

"Uhh... There was a Flygon and a Kingler, I think."

"...They used Fissure and Guillotine to knock you and your friend out, right?" Lycanroc suddenly seemed much more invested.

"Yea! I think."

"...Those Pokémon belong to the Tenea Police department," Lycanroc explained. "They're not the most upstanding officers."

Leaf raised a flipper. "You guys have police officers who aren't Magnemite?"

Fanita gave him a glare that clearly denoted "this is not the time." Leaf, of course, didn't notice it.

"Yes. I think you will want to make a visit to Tenea's police department. Although..." Lycanroc's gaze shifted to Fanita. "That's probably not a good idea for you."

The Misdreavus rotated slightly, putting her smug grin on display for everyone. "Oh, I'll find a way, don't worry about me."

"...No, it may be to our advantage that they don't know about you," Scizor commented. "Lycanroc, the guildmaster, and I can try to ask about what's going on and leverage our connections. However, that is not guaranteed to work." He suddenly looked very uncomfortable, but pressed on. "If... conventional means of determining what happened to Apex and Terrae don't work, we may need to resort to... something that falls within your skillset."

Fanita's grin widened. "Oh, is my own assistant guildmaster telling me to return to a life of crime? I thought-"

"Shut the fuck up Misdreavus," Lucario interrupted. "Do whatever you can to figure out what the hell's going on, just don't get caught."

Fanita nodded. "Understood. Come on Leaf, we have planning to do."

The Piplup followed Fanita as she floated into town. She gets to break into a police headquarters, she's never done that before. And this time the guild is actually telling her to do it! So exciting.

"THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN CRIMES AGAINST TENEA!" Lucario pounded his fist on the Flygon's desk.

The Flygon was obviously very intimidated, but held his ground. "Well... you see, when they-"

"YOU USED ILLEGAL MOVES TO ARREST THEM ON BULLSHIT CHARGES! GIVE ME A GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T CLOSE COMBAT YOU RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"

"Sir, I assure you we wouldn't have done any such... thing..."

If Flygon was intimidated before, he was completely terrified now. Zar walked up alongside Lucario, giving the dragon type a friendly wave.

"Ohgodpleasedon'thurtme-"

Lucario leaned in further while Zar jumped up onto the desk. "You're gonna tell me where the hell they're being held and let them go. Got it?"

Despite Lucario's threat, he was more focused on Zar, shaking in his seat. "Y-y-y-y-yes, uh... right this way."

He stood up and opened a door behind him, gesturing for the two to follow him. They walked downstairs, past rows of jail cells, and up to a sealed metal door at the edge of the room.

"They're in this section..." He took out a row of keys and slowly unlocked it. The door creaked open, revealing a dark, damp block of 10 individual jail cells in a rectangle shape.

Every cell was empty, though there was a familiar Pokémon in the center of the cell block.

Fanita turned to face the three newcomers. "Olá."

"Wh- How'd you get in here? Where are the prisoners?" Flygon was approaching new levels of terror that shouldn't be attainable by a normal Pokémon.

"They were gone before I arrived," she explained. "I get the feeling your prison isn't particularly secure."

Lucario laughed, imagining how his apprentices managed to escape. "I fucking love those bastards."

"You shouldn't be in here, I have to arrest-"

Zar, Lucario, and Fanita all gave the Flygon a very intense glare.

"...I guess I can overlook it, just this once- pleasedontkillme."

Fanita floated to a series of scorch marks in the wall of one of the cells. "I found this as well, and I think you may want to see it."

Lucario and Zar walked over. Burned into the wall with Unown Script was two words:

Rusthill Cavern

"Well, I think we know where we need to go," Fanita commented.

"That's a location, right? Let's go see what those fuckers are up to now," Lucario agreed.

A/N: And with this, the Fanita arc is done. At least for now. Next time we finally get to see what has happened to the aforementioned fuckers.

Ch 24: Folsom Prison Blues - 7/2/22