Hannah's mother led them through the woods for a few minutes. Hannah hadn't had a Cinccino's long fur for very long, but the natural oil she had made sticks and branches slide off it as if her fur was a solid object. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness from the night and trees blocking out the sky's light.

Hannah was surprised when they arrived so suddenly. They came to a flat area at the base of the mountain. The close trees formed a bit of a maze when combined with the variously sized brown tents. Light and sounds were coming out of them as if it were a nest of fireflies.

Hannah followed Rhydon through the maze. There was activity, but most of it was quiet and happening inside of tents. Rhydon seemed to know exactly where she was going, so she guessed that it was her second time being here. Battles were typically shorter events, so it made sense she had spent some of that time here.

One tent loomed the others. Hannah's mother led her to it. Rhydon stepped forward first and pushed the brown cloth gently aside to enter.

Inside, lamp flames lit the surface of a small, fold-able table. A Girafarig: Martha Verity, and a Chespin, faced it on opposite sides,. They turned their heads when they entered.

"Welcome back, Selina," said Martha, "and Melody. It's nice to meet you, officially."

"Oh, she prefers Hannah," Rhydon said in a low voice.

"Oh, yes. Forgive my memory. There's a lot on my mind."

Rhydon approached and stood in front of the table. Hannah shrunk under her and gave her the lead.

"To keep it brief, this group is riling things up in these unsteady times," Martha explained. "We don't want any attacks anywhere, especially this soon after a revenge-made war."

"We got back results from interrogation," Chespin said, "so we know where the enemy is. Their encampment is a few mountains away down this range, and their size is about double of ours."

"Which isn't much of a problem," Girafarig said, "but we're still concerned about the ones who showed strange abilities. I could feel the ones we captured didn't know much about it."

"Their squealing was so shrill!" Girafarig's tail said. "Like, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Girafarig Martha slapped her tail against the corner of the table. Cinccino Hannah reeled from her first experience of telepathy being so loud. She held her head a bit from the shock.

Martha turned her head towards Rhydon. "Selina," she said, "you're well versed. What did you think?"

"I do believe we share the viewpoint," Rhydon said, "I've never seen attacks like it before."

"Unfortunate."

Hannah felt a little put off by Martha. When she was younger, her mother told her that there were extremely different ways people with a royal blessing went about containing it. Martha's expression was plain and monotonous. She seemed roughly about Hannah's age.

Her voice during the telepathy sounded gravely and wild; what Hannah would expect from a charging bandit. It was a perfect opposite to Martha's voice.

"Whatever the case," Chespin said, "we need to be able to take them down next time. They gave us too many bruises."

"I dislike needing to ask for your help," Girafarig said towards Rhydon. "These people are quite malevolent."

"I understand," Rhydon said.

"Thank you. We have set up a tent for you to rest while we plan our route. Kurt, if you could show them to it."

"Right, your majesty," Chespin said. "Alright, follow me."

Chespin Kurt led Rhydon and Cinccino Hannah out of the tent. Being the last one out, Hannah had to focus ahead to keep herself from glancing back at Martha. The possibility of her eyes on her back chilled her on the way out.

Chespin led them to a much cozier tent and gave them a quick goodbye. While Hannah watched him walk off back where they came from, her mother went inside. Hannah followed Rhydon inside a moment later.

Their tent was small, and barely tall enough so Rhydon didn't have to duck. Cinccino Hannah set down her bag opposite of her mother's things and then sat on one of the two brown cushions on the grass inside.

Hannah's mother sat down across from her. She seemed to be thinking to herself. Through the darkness, Hannah could still see her dreary eyes.

"What kind of abilities were you talking about?" Hannah asked.

"Not sure," her mother said in a low voice. "Well, I suppose you mean what I saw. It was some kind of purple energy, but it was more violent than a body's natural energy. I nearly avoided a shock-wave of it that seared a whole side of a tree. The energy of our bodies usually isn't so... toxic to nature so easily."

"What did they look like? Was it visible on their bodies?"

"We didn't even manage to find out the species of anyone with that power. It could be one, or dozens. It was too dark to see them. We have to be very careful."

"Also, uhm..."

Hannah's mother seemed to be able to tell what she wanted to ask.

"Martha's tail?" Rhydon asked. Hannah gave a little nod. "The Veritan blessing is especially strong in her. I personally suspect it is some sort of coping mechanism misfiring, but it would be best to ignore it."

"Alright," Hannah agreed.

"I want you to stay close to me. Battles are chaotic experiences, so it's time to go to sleep."

"Okay."


As expected, Hannah didn't sleep as comfortably as she would in the forests, or even the cave. The cushion's surface felt unfamiliar against Hannah's fur and skin. She didn't know if she ever fell wholly asleep that night.

When her mother prodded her awake, she at least felt like she slept the whole night.

A layer of darkness still bogged down the inside of the tent, but dawn leaked through. Cinccino Hannah grabbed her bag and went out the door when they were both ready.

Tents had come down already. The other people walking around were older and scruffier than her mother. They didn't pay them much attention, but Hannah thought their extreme similarities were creepy.

A Watchog and Granbull came and started to take down their tent.

When the time came for them to march, Hannah and her mother stayed at the end of the long line in the back. Hannah relaxed with the help of more room and no eyes on them. The dirt path they took arced up and down as they crossed the mountains. It was a boring walk, but a shorter one according to Rhydon.

Hannnah recognized Chespin Kurt from earlier come down in the line as they marched. He looked at both of them, changing his pace to walk next to them.

"You two doing fine?" Kurt asked.

"Yes," Hannah answered.

Kurt seemed a bit surprised that Hannah spoke up, but he didn't show it very much on his face.

"Good," Chespin said, "I am curious, though. What were you two doing around Counselor Mountain?"

"Well, we're going to make a Guild," Rhydon said. "We were practicing there."

"That makes sense," he said. "There aren't too many Guilds anymore. But I would like to join when you start recruiting."

"Oh?" Rhydon questioned. "What brought this on? You seem to enjoy working with Martha."

"I do, but it's time to broaden my horizons a bit. I won't bother you any more, but I've got your back."

Kurt broke out into a jog and disappeared in the marching line. Hannah looked up to her mother to ask about him.

"Do you know him from somewhere?" she asked.

"From a few bounty hunts," Rhydon said. "He's fairly trustworthy."

"Fairly?"

"If I had to bet my life on him, the chances wouldn't be worth giving up on."

"Oh. Is that good?"

"For me, yes."


As the midday sun seared the edge of Hannah's fur and drew sweat, they trekked up a longer incline. The march stopped and separated into small, close groups. standing in a small clearing surrounded by trees and bushes.

Through the trees at the bottom of a hill, a small, stone building stood idle. To Hannah, it seemed to be thrown together in a hurry. It had two floors, but nothing to make it look better; only stacks of gray blocks.

Girafarig Martha stalked forward in front of the groups to address them. Cinccino Hannah and Rhydon were on the outskirts of the small circle when she faced them. When they were all gathered together, Hannah realized there were fewer of them than she thought. It at least meant fewer enemies.

"This is our objective," Martha announced in a quiet voice. "This is going to be a fast battle. Don't annoy me by making them squeal too loud, got it?"

The sudden increase in volume from the telepathy made everyone jump. When Hannah's heartbeat started to fall back down, she looked at her mother. She didn't seem to react.

It was weird she didn't if Martha's own soldiers did. Her mother must've known Martha long enough to not be surprised by it.

"Let's head down and charge from the treeline," Martha said. "This should be simple."

Girafarig Martha led the group down the hill. The crunching of foliage grew gentler as they went down and the soldiers moved at a slower pace.

The group set themselves up as a line along in the undergrowth. Cinccino Hannah and Rhydon ended up being on the opposite side of it as Martha.

A few enemies spoke with each other in the open grass around the building. Hannah tensed and readied herself.

Her mother leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Let them do their work," she ordered. "We're backup in case there are strong enemies."

"Okay," she whispered back.

A few moments passed.

A volley of attacks shot out from the line. Hannah glanced left and right as the pokemon around her charged in.

From what Hannah could tell so far, their opponents weren't great fighters. They all ran either directly towards the soldiers or back inside the building. As they were overrun with moves, Hannah followed Rhydon behind the wave. At the rate they were going, Hannah grew concerned they were attacking normal civilians. Her concern vanished when she realized how little violence it took to bring them down.

A large wave of surrendering pokemon came out of the building not long after the attack started. When Hannah and her mother came up to the building, the enemies formed a line and expressed their surrender. Most of them were sweaty or hyperventilating.

There were about ten of them at most; less than the twenty or so soldiers that were with them. Girafarig Martha walked down the line. She eyed each one until she picked out a Drowzee and stepped in front of him.

"Where and what?" Martha asked.

"On the second floor," Drowzee explained, "there's something we were paid to protect, but don't know what it is. I swear."

Martha nodded with satisfaction. She turned her gaze away from him.

"Selina, Kurt!" Martha called, "with me. Come."

Hannah followed her mother out of instinct. Martha didn't comment. Hannah followed behind them as they went inside.

Light streaming in from outside revealed dust floating in the air. Bags and straw beds sat in the corners. The rest of the first floor belonged to open space and dirt. None of it drew interest.

A stone ramp wound around twice to the second floor. Hannah followed them up.

Just like the first, the second floor was a single room. Unlike the first, there were no bags or beds to be found.

Alone in the room, a large, golden ring floated in the air. Girafarig Martha, Chespin Kurt, Cinccino Hannah, and Rhydon formed a semi-circle around it. Dark, magenta colors swirled inside like a whirlpool. It filled the room with a sinking feeling.

"Some kind of teleportation," Martha observed. "Perhaps some new device. I'm detecting all sorts of strange feelings from inside. Selina, bring some soldiers and come with me. You two stand guard up here."

"I'm not leaving her," Hannah said.

Martha didn't react to her casual tone at all. Hannah's mother turned and bent down to meet her at eye level.

"It won't be long," Rhydon said. "We're going in to see where it takes us, then coming back."

"Mom, it's dangerous," Hannah argued.

"I've done dangerous things and never told you," she smiled. "I'll be right back, Hannah. Alright?"

Hannah didn't like it. She looked between her mother and the ring.

Martha staring back at her with a serious, intimidating frown.

"Alright," Hannah said.

"Good."

Rhydon patted her shoulder and walked back down the ramp.

A minute later, her mother came back with six or seven soldiers. Martha faced the group standing in front of the ring and addressed them with perfect posture.

"This is a very brief scouting mission," Martha said. "Let's be careful, and get this done."

Girafarig Martha stuck a hoof into the purple wisps before diving through with eerie confidence. Hannah watched them enter one by one, feeling like jelly from how uncertain everything was.

Rhydon hopped inside last. She glanced back with a smile.


On the other side of the ring, Rhydon came onto a pathway. Uncut rock greeted her feet.

It floated over an abyss. Looking over the sides of the path, stars greeted her from above and below as if they were in the night sky.

"An illusion," Martha said. "Let's head towards the source."

Girafarig Martha led them down the pathway. Rhydon sniffed the air, but got nothing. It was hard to tell what environment they were in past the illusion.

Martha's pace grew a little faster. She took a strong lead ahead of the group. Rhydon looked around the sky, trying to see some sort of pattern or hole in it.

There was a sudden, quieted twinge in her mind. It was hushed telepathy.

Rhydon was confused. Martha usually didn't silence her tail outright. Something was amiss.

A shadow passed over the group.

Martha's tail burst out laughing.