"Have I already mentioned how much I hate sand?" Dawn huffs out as we step into the Desert Resort.

"Yup," I respond. "One time yesterday, another this morning and two more on our way here."

"Well, can you blame me?" she protests while also giving the sand a light kick. "It's just so…so…"

"Coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

Oh, buddy, you don't wanna know.

"So…" Nate nervously says, fidgeting with his hands as he does so. "How do we proceed from here?"

"It's simple," I respond. "We head to the Relic Castle, and on the way we check what Pokémon live in this place. If you find one you like, you can catch it."

I don't remember coming across others besides Annette when I first ended up here, though. I wonder if the local mons are actually that hard to find or if it was just my luck.

"The Pokédex has information on what species live here," Dawn adds as she pulls out her own red device. "Want me to have a look?"

"Uh…" the boy responds. "How many non-native species have settled here?"

Dawn instantly loads up her Pokédex and then proceeds to fidget with its commands. When she's done with that, she narrows her eyes on its screen and lets some time pass before talking again. "Three confirmed, but potentially a couple more. One of the confirmed ones is the S-"

"Thank you," Nate interrupts her. "But I want to find out on my own which they are."

"Oh, alright," Dawn responds as she puts her Pokédex away. "In that case, do we have a plan to find the castle, besides just going north?"

"I, uh…" Nate hesitates. "I don't know."

"We do have a guide of sorts," I interject, before calling out Annette.

"Ra," she says as she waves at Dawn and Nate.

"Uhm, no offense," Nate intervenes. "But are you sure she's-?"

"She's a native of this place and was able to lead me from where she found me to here." I point at the structure behind us. "I'm confident she's perfectly capable of being our guide."

"Ra!"

Right after saying that, Annette looks over our surroundings, her head turning left and right as she studies the sand and Rocky formations.

After a bit of that, she raises one of her arms and points at… some random direction.

"Ra!"

"The castle is that way?" She nods. "Good." I turn to my two travelling companions. "Ready to go?"

"Ready," they both reply, Dawn with far less enthusiasm than Nate.

We proceed into the desert from there without too much trouble. The sun still hits hard, but thankfully, unlike last time, we have the water to stay hydrated.

Although the fact that we don't seem to come across any Pokémon worries me.

"It's true," Nate instantly intervenes after I voice my worries. "Shouldn't they be easier to find than this?"

"I'm not sure," Dawn mutters. "Annette, is it normal we haven't come across any Pokémon yet?"

The little cactus nods.

I shrug. "Well, that answers that."

"But, how are we going to find other Pokémon this way?" Nate insists.

"Ra ractus ma. Mara," Annette responds as she points to the sand under her and then to the surrounding area.

"I...didn't quite catch that."

"I think she's trying to say either that the local Pokémon are hiding beneath the sand or that they usually stay close to more hospitable corners of the desert." Dawn arches an eyebrow after saying that. "Did I get it right?"

Annette nods. "Ra."

"Which of the two?" I intervene. "The sand or the more hospitable corners?"

"Ra."

I let out a sigh.

"But if that's the case, how are we going to find Pokémon to catch?" Nate asks.

"We stay patient, Nate," Dawn responds. "Sigilyphs are unlikely to be the only Pokémon around Relic Castle. And that's without considering the possibility of others challenging us on the way there."

I look at her puzzled. "They do that?"

The bluenette nods. "Most Pokémon don't normally attack humans, unless they're protecting their territory, are hungry or have been mistreated by humans beforehand," she explains. "However, some - when they come across trainers - challenge them to battle. The reasons may vary, but these Pokémon are very likely to follow you if beaten in battle."

"So it's not just like you can go for the capture of the first specimen you come across?"

"I mean...you can. But before catching a Pokémon, there has to be an element of consent on both sides. If you take one with you against their will, it's unlikely they'll ever listen to you." She frowns before continuing. "Not to mention-"

"That it's shitty behaviour," I finish for her. "Yeah, I get-"

I don't get to finish my statement. All of a sudden, some sort of clasp closes around my ankle. And I cry out in pain as the pain spreading all across my leg makes me fall to the side.

"WHAT THE FUCK-?"

As I look down at my feet, it turns out it wasn't a clasp. It was an orange pincer, with black and white eyes on its sides and a smaller body with four wobbling legs underneath. A fucking Trapinch.

"Ra!"

About as soon as I notice it, Annette rushes to the Trapinch and grabs it by its legs.

"Wait, don't-!" I shout out when I see she's about to pull the Trapinch, but thankfully the little Ground-type bugger lets my foot go as it lets out a pained 'Tra!'

"Hang in there!" Dawn exclaims as she and Nate rush to my side. As I look down at my leg, the pants' fabric has been partially shredded, but it seems the bite didn't cut into my flesh, as I see no sign of blood. Although I can still feel the soreness around my ankle.

"How bad is it?" Dawn asks as she examines my leg as well. "Can you feel your foot?"

I try to move the toes within my boot. Thankfully, it works. "Yeah."

"Good, then hang in there."

No sooner does she say that, Dawn reaches into her bag and, after some rummaging, pulls out a blue spray that she uses on my leg. It's cold upon touch, but at least it makes the pain ebb away after that.

But while that happens, I see Annette trying to hold the Trapinch's jaw away from herself as it tries to take a bite at her.

"Hey can someone help-?"

Before I can finish the question, Annette uppercuts the Trapinch with a Sucker Punch, causing it to flip over. And despite its worried "Tra" and its constant fidgeting, it's unable to flip back on its paws.

"...never mind."

Dawn and Nate help me back to my feet after the former is done with the spray bottle and Annette takes the chance to come hug my uninjured leg.

"Thanks little gal."

"Ra!"

"Trapinch!"

We all turn to the small Ground-type after it lets out that whine. It fidgets more and more as its attempts to get back on its paws prove fruitless.

"Shouldn't we turn him over?" Nate asks. "It looks like he's stuck if we don't do anything.

"And you're right," Dawn replies. "Trapinchs that get flipped over have a hard time getting upright again. A malnourished one is unlikely to manage it."

I turn to her. "Malnourished?" I question. "What makes you think it's malnourished?"

"Look at its lower body," she answers as she points at the Trapinch. "There's supposed to be more meat on it than this."

...it doesn't look skinny to me. Although this is the first live Trapinch I've ever seen.

"Plus—as I was saying earlier—hunger is one of the things that can make Pokémon attack humans. I don't think it would have bit you otherwise."

I narrow my eyes at her. "You don't think?"

She narrows hers back.

"Ahem," Nate intervenes. "What do we do about him? We are not just going to leave him here like this, are we?

I'm about to tell him there isn't much we can do besides flipping it back, but Dawn responds before I can. "We can get it back on its feet, but I doubt it will last long if its conditions are as bad as they seem."

Unfortunate for it. But we can't exactly spend the rest of our days looking after-

"But what if I catch him?"

Wait, what?

Dawn smiles at him, "I was hoping you'd say that. Just make sure it's interested in it first, alright?"

What?

Without any further preamble, Nate grabs an oran berry, crouches by the Trapinch's side, flips it back upright and places the berry in its mouth. Thankfully, the larva doesn't try to bite his hand off, and while it's munching Nate starts explaining his offer.

"Ra!"

And as all of that happens, Annette protests to Dawn.

"Come on, Annette," she responds. "Don't tell me you would rather see it starve to death?"

Even though she still pouts, Dawn's question manages to quiet Annette down. The same can not be said for me.

"You do realize this isn't the only Pokémon suffering from hunger out there, right?" I tell Dawn, which causes her to frown at me. "We won't always be there for them if they need help."

"I know," she sighs. "But that doesn't mean we should just ignore the one we've come across. And please don't bring that kind of speech up with Nate. Let him have this."

I shurgh. "Fair enough."

"Alright, then welcome to the team!"

The boy's exclamation draws our attention back to him. "Now we need to give you a name." He starts rubbing his chin, before turning to Dawn and me. "Is there a way to tell whether a...Trapinch, was it?" We both nod. "Is there a way to tell whether a Trapinch is male or female?"

Dawn shakes her head. "Sadly the gender differences are visible only when they evolve. At this stage, they're identical."

Pretty sure Vibrava and Flygon also looked the same between males and females, but whatever.

"There's a simpler solution to find out." I turn to the little bugger. "Hey you! Are you male?"

"T-tra," the little bugger replies as it shakes its head up and down.

"There you go."

"Thank you," Nate hesitantly replies while Dawn gives me an unimpressed look. "So then...how would you like to be called Mister Jaw?"

It takes all of my self-control not to burst out laughing at the silly name. As it is, I simply let out a snort.

"Sorry," I say as everyone turns to me. "But that name may not be so fitting. When Trapinchs evolve, they don't have jaws that big."

"Well, I think it can still fit," Dawn interjects. "It's true that his evolutions' jaws are less impressive, but they are nothing to scoff at."

Really, Dawn?

"What do you say?" Nate asks the Trapinch, who has slightly tilted his head. "Do you like it?"

The larva gives Dawn a quick glance before it lets out an hesitant "Tra."

"Mister Jaw it is, then!"

Wow. I went from hating this Trapinch to pitying him in less than five minutes.

After deciding the Trapinch's nickname, Nate pulls out a Poké Ball and catches him. And then we're back to following Annette. Hopefully we won't have any more surprises before we reach the castle.

Most of the following hours are filled with little more beyond just walking through sand, much to Dawn's discomfort if her groans are anything to go by. We only stop every now and again to rehydrate ourselves. And good thing all the other Pokémon that are not Annette don't have to worry about dehydration while they're data inside the Poké Balls.

As for other Pokémon, most of what we see consists of mostly sand shifting as something moves beneath it, but every now and again we come across actual cacti with some smaller ones that vaguely resemble Annette around them. If they are other Maracti camouflaged or else, Annette gives no indication.

There is one noteworthy event during our trek. At one point, we come across another Trapinch that has been flipped over. But before anything can be done this time around, a Krokorok emerges from the sand and drags the Trapinch back into it.

And if the bipedal crocodile is going to do what I think it is, God have mercy on that larva.

But thankfully we eventually find something other than sand. Although it isn't quite the castle yet.

"This is supposed to be a Darmanitan?" Dawn asks as she crouches down to examine the sitting monkey statue that stares blankly back at her. "I don't know the species that well, but I remember they looked more...energetic than this. Less meditative."

"That's their regular form," Nate responds. "Some have the ability to enter what is called 'the Zen Mode'. Basically, if they're wounded they enter this meditative stance that turns their fur blue and their skin as hard as rock. They unlock psychic abilities in this state and-"

"Hold it, boy," I interrupt. "If they turn hard as stone and blue, how do you know this statue isn't an actual Darmanitan?"

I ask that half to stop his tirade, half out of genuine concern since I remember some of these statues were actual Darmanitans in the game.

The fact Nate hesitates at my question doesn't exactly bode well either. "I...I…"

"Well, if it isn't just a statue, it isn't attacking us," Dawn intervenes as she stands up again. "I assume that means it doesn't think we're a threat. And we're not here to vandalize statues, so I think we can let it be, can't we?"

"Yes, of course Miss Hikari!" Nate readily replies. I opt to just nod to her.

Following Annette further, we come across more and more Darmanitan statues scattered around. They mostly stay still, but there are a couple of times that I think I notice one of those statues moving at the corner of my vision. But whenever I turn in their directions, they are once more still.

"Hey, I think we've found it!"

Good, good. Let's find a Sigilyph and leave.

Nate and I catch up to Dawn, who is standing on the edges of a tile base, looking at the start of a stairway going underground.

"What did you say the place was also called, Nate?" Dawn asks. "The 'Buried Castle'?"

The boy nods. "Yes. Buried after centuries of sand slowly covering it. All that remains of the ancient civilization are the worn down walls of the ruin, the Darmanitan statues, and the death masks carried by the Yamasks."

Dawn jerks her head in Nate's direction. "Death masks?!"

"Yeah," Nate lightly replies, oblivious to Dawn's shock. "Do you know what a Yamask is, Miss Hikari?"

"Pure Ghost-types that were once humans. Are you saying that's what the masks they carry are?"

"Yes. Apparently, each mask a Yamask carries is supposed to look like their human face and-"

"Holy…" Dawn interrupts. "That's a horrible existence."

You haven't even gotten to the part where those poor buggers cry while watching their masks as they remember their lives as humans.

But anyway, that's enough with the sad stuff.

"We are not here to catch Yamasks," I say as I turn my back to the castle's entrance and observe our surroundings. Unfortunately, all I can see are more statues and more sand. "Boy, since you're our expert on the local Pokémon, how do we find a Sigilyph?"

"That's...going to be the tricky part," he responds. "Sigilyphs always follow the same route constantly, but the fact they leave no tracks as they float makes identifying them difficult."

"Float?" Dawn intervenes. "Don't you mean 'fly'?"

"I'm afraid what they do can hardly be called 'flying'. They use their psychic powers to keep themselves in the air, and their…'wings', if we can call them that, only serve to control their Flying moves. They are not actually able to use them to fly."

"So they don't need to land and rest?" I ask.

"There is no evidence they do. Although, it could be that they just hide it."

"And how long are these routes they cover?"

"It varies from Sigilyph to Sigilyph. The longest that's ever been recorded was a thirteen days long perimeter around the castle."

Great. Now what? Splitting up to cover more ground seems like a good way to get lost. But how are we going to find that floating needle in this sandy haystack?

"Ra!"

"What is it, A...nnie…?"

As I turn to look at the little cactus that has been quiet ever since we got to the castle, I find her pointing back to the stairway. And as I look in that direction, I find a floating black and green ball with cyan eyes, two yellow wings and a tail, two talons on its sides and a black appendage with its own eye on its head.

A floating ball that is staring at our group.

"I'm...not imagining it, right?" I ask the others. It can't possibly be this easy.

"I'm...not sure," Dawn replies. "Is it black, green and yellow?"

"Yes, it's a Sigilyph!" Nate intervenes.

I don't believe this…

The floating ball doesn't say or do anything after our statements. It just stands perfectly still in front of us and stares at us.

"What are we supposed to do now?" I ask Dawn.

"Well, it's not attacking, so it's not hostile. Maybe try to approach it and see what happens?"

"And if it attacks then?"

"Get back and we'll worry about it then."

A plus plan there, Dawn. Although that's more than what I have.

Carefully, I take a few small steps toward the Sigilyph. Annette hops forward by my side and I see no reason to tell her not to. As we get closer, the flying mon narrows its focus on us but doesn't seem to be getting hostile.

"Hello there," I say to it. "How's...how's life in this place?"

'How's life in this place'? The fuck am I even saying?

The Sigilyph seems to be of the same mind, as it gives me a half-lidded look. With all three of its eyes. Weird.

"Yeah, sorry," I reply, rubbing my head in the process. "I was trying to be friendly. Anyway, I'm a Pokémon trainer. Would you be interested in coming along?"

"Mara!"

As Annette says her own part, the Sigilyph gives her a quick glance. Then it floats backwards a little, without letting its eyes off of me, and a pink aura surrounds it. As it does so, some sand is lifted from the ground and comes between us. Slowly, the sand shifts in a way that forms words. And those words form a question.

Are you with them?

I blink at seeing the question. "'Them'? Are you talking about them?" I ask, pointing back to Dawn and Nate. "Well, yes I'm with them, but why is that-?"

Before I can finish, the sand starts shifting again and the words give way to a logo. A P-shaped logo that causes me to freeze in place as soon as I see it.

"Team Plasma?!" I ask aghast.

"Team Plasma?!" Dawn shouts out before rushing past me and coming in front of the Sigilyph. "They are here?!"

"Sig," the Pokémon responds as all its eyes blink, the sand it controlled now dropping back on the ground.

"Alright change of plans," Dawn instantly commands as she turns back. "Mister Beccaria, Nate, you two stay up here and call the police." She pulls out two of her Poké Balls and calls out Tog and Drif. "I'm going down there and cutting off their escape." She turns back to the Sigilyph. "Lead the way!"

"Sig," is all the Psychic-type responds before rushing for the entrance of the Relic Castle, Dawn and her Pokémon hot on its tail while I just blink as I watch it all happen.

Team Plasma...at Relic Castle? Before the plot of White two starts? How…? Why…? What…?

"Wh-what's going on here?" Nate agitadly asks as he comes by my side. "What did that Sigilyph mean about Team Plasma being here? They're gone, aren't they?"

Aw, shoot. I don't want to lie to the kid. But I don't want to go behind Dawn's back like this either.

Well, I did say there is a time and place for orders too.

"Not entirely," I tell him, which causes him to wince. "There are remnants of it that are still at large, causing more problems. I suspect this is one of those remnants."

With his widened eyes, Nate turns his gaze away from me and just stares at the entrance of the castle.

"I'm going after Miss Hikari!"

I grab him by the shoulder and hold him before he can run off. "You are not."

"But it's Team Plasma! And Miss Hikari-!"

"Boy!" I cut him off. "She herself told us to wait out here and call the police. She is a former Champion and a member of the International Police. We are two rookie trainers with a half-starved Trapinch, an untrained Rufflet and a barely trained Maractus."

"Ra!" Annette protests by my feet. I ignore her for now.

"Don't you think we'll be more of a detriment down there?"

"But she's alone down there!" Nate retorts. "How many are down there?"

"We don't know. And she won't be alone. Not if we call the police like she told us."

Through my grab on his shoulder, I'm able to feel the boy relax at the mention of the police.

"Now, what's the number to call the police?"

"Nine one one."

You've gotta be kidding me.

"Good."

I let him go after that and reach for the watch on my wrist. I haven't had the chance to properly use it yet, but I hope the controls are easy enough to figure out. Let's see...keypad. Nine, one, one. Call. Ah, there we go.

Before long, the screen on the watch shows the face of a guy in a blue uniform that asks what the emergency is. I give him a quick rundown of the situation, where we are, the fact that there is a group suspected to be tied to Team Plasma in the castle and that a member of the International Police is engaging them as we speak.

"Ra!"

Unfortunately, just as I'm wrapping up the call, Annette's noise makes me notice Nate running down the stairs.

"Boy, stop!" I shout out, to no avail.

I pray Annette can't understand italian, because otherwise the amount of swear words I let out afterward is going to scar her for life.

"Ra?" Annette asks when I'm done, all while glancing between me and the entrance. "Ractus ma?"

I massage the bridge of my nose and let out a groan. "What do you think?"

Jesus fucking Christ, that stairway had better not been the main entrance to this place back in its days. How were large groups of people supposed to enter otherwise with such a tight space?

In any case, if the outside was nothing but a wasteland of sand, the interior of the castle isn't that much better, with a thick layer of sand covering the entirety of the floor. So thick, that I think some of it gets in my boots as I take my first steps inside.

I'm starting to agree with Dawn's views of sand, truth to be told.

Still, there is some good news thanks to this sand. The footsteps left by who passed by this room recently, which make for a nice trail.

The bad news, though, is that there are two trails of footsteps that go in different directions. Did the boy really not think about that?

"Ra?"

"Yeah, I don't know either," I huff out. Had he followed Dawn, he would have been in the middle of whatever fights Dawn picked, but at least Dawn could have kept an eye on him. But this way there's no one looking after him if he runs into Plasma grunts.

And I have no clue which of the two trails is his.

"Ractus," Annette states as she hops over to the trail going right. I watch with some surprise as she leans over the footsteps and looks over them. Then, she hops over to the other one and does the same. Then, she looks back at me and points in the first one's direction.

"Mara."

I blink as she says that. "Nate went that way?" I ask as I point in the same direction she is. "Are you sure?"

Annette readily nods.

"Alright, then. Let's go."

We follow the trail, which goes from the entrance through a corridor of the castle, down another stairway and into more rooms of the floor below the first one. And I think I see Nate's footsteps crossing over each other a couple of times.

"He had no idea where he was going, did he?"

"Ra."

As we keep following the trails, we do walk past some Pokémon inhabiting this ruin. Mostly Sandshrews and Sandiles. Most ignore us and we return the courtesy. And we walk past the few that try to stop us. No time to be picking fights.

Eventually, the trail leads us to another stairway leading further down than we are right now. But when we are near the end of it, I feel something grab my feet, causing me to lose my balance and fall down the last few steps, landing unceremoniously on my chest.

"Argh," I wheeze out upon landing. "What the-?"

"Mara!"

Turning back to the stairs, I see Annette being held from behind by a giggling gray doll with a golden zipper keeping its mouth shut, its skinny arms wrapped between her neck and her shoulders.

A Banette. Of all the Ghost-types that could start shit with us, it had to be the one that is used to sticking needles in its body.

"Let her go, you stupid imp!" I shout at it. "We don't have time for this!"

"Bi."

"Sharp."

I turn back and find two humanoid figures looking down at me. They are black-skinned with some yellow parts, red armor protecting their legs, shoulders and heads. Sharp-looking metal gloves and hooves make for their hands and feet, blades sticking out of their wrists. But their most tell-tale quality is the pair of blades sticking out of their chests, in a manner that resembles a ribcage.

"Since when do Bisharps inhabit this place?" I don't remember them or their pre evolution being available in this place in the games.

"They do not," a new voice quietly states, right before a man drops down from the ceiling and lands between the two Steel-types. He's dressed entirely in black, from his boots to his trousers to the sleeveless shirt that reveals his toned arms. A black scarf keeps his mouth and nose covered, while a black bandana keeps an exaggeratedly long white wig attached to his head.

And unfortunately, as he stands crouched forward to look at me, I can tell exactly who he is.

"Who are you?" the Shadow Triad member asks.

Hope you guys like cliffhangers! goes hiding in the nearest bunker

As always, thank you to Softandhappy and Geolight164 for betareading. You can find us at the Fanfiction Treehouse discord server at: 9XG3U7a

See you next time!