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Exclusive: HAPPI moves to instate new Guildmaster, help bring Air Continent back on its feet

"The Rescuer's Guild is vital to the functioning of the Air Continent, and we must do everything in our power to return this pillar of our society to its former greatness," said Sylveon Sparkleglimmer, director of HAPPI. "Cloud Nine will convene in the coming weeks to decide upon a new Guildmaster."

This story was first published on the Cloud Nine News Network.

~\({O})/~

25.

What Came After

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Outskirts

Espurr was rudely deposited into the thick mud of the island the Ancient Barrow sat on. A thin veil of fog coated the lake around them. Despite the sun being directly overhead, everything felt cold, off. She didn't care. She felt like she could nuzzle the land that was wet, gross mud but it was land, actual land, and not the grimy insides of the Barrow's dungeon. Tricky quickly followed, then Deerling, then Pancham, and all of the others. Riolu was nowhere to be found.

Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness of the Barrow's hallways, all squinted when met with broad afternoon daylight again. But slowly, the surroundings became more and more bearable to look at, and everymon on the island was met with the familiar sight of Serenity Village in the distance, behind a veil of fog. All of the village children cheered—Tricky loudest of all. Espurr didn't cheer, but she couldn't help but grin with infectious delight too. She had never appreciated being able to see the daylight so much.

A loud sputter suddenly came from next to them, sending all the celebrating children into a panicked silence. Watchog—laying flat on the mud nearby—coughed once, then twice, then sputtered himself awake. He looked one way, then the other. He saw the morning sun. He saw the Ancient Barrow. He saw that he was positively filthy. And most importantly, he saw all six of the village children sitting next to him, suddenly fearful looks on their faces. They were right to be scared.

Watchog suddenly jumped up, pointing an accusing finger in alarm. "You—You—" he sputtered. "What are you kids doing here?!"

No-mon answered him. Several of them just looked down at the mud. What could they all say? You had to be there to believe it.

"All of you go home!" Watchog cried. "Every single one of you. Go home! And—" he cleared his throat, lowering his voice and trying to look dignified at the last second. "If anymon asks, none of this ever happened. Kapeesh?"

"Kapeesh." The answer was unanimous; everymon could agree with that.

"Now scat!" Watchog cried, shooing them all with his arms. All six of them were back on the path to the village faster than Watchog could say 'troublemaker'.

~\({O})/~

Carracosta's House

~Tricky~

"YOU FOOL!"

Carracosta punctuated his outburst with a stomp of his feet against the floor. Tricky cowered in front of him, looking suitably ashamed.

"I have two rules," he boomed. "One. Don't go out after dark. Two. Stay out of mystery dungeons. Last night you broke both."

"Actually, you have three rules—" Tricky piped up, but she was quickly cut off again.

"SILENCE!" Carracosta yelled. "I'm disappointed in you, Tricky. Since you can't seem to follow the rules correctly, you don't need special privileges either. You're grounded for a week."

"Grounded?!" Tricky exclaimed in horror.

~\({O})/~

Pancham's House

~Pancham and Shelmet~

"I swear we can't keep you two in the same room together and expect you to behave," Pancham's mother sighed, scrubbing Shelmet down. He and Pancham were in opposite tubs, facing away from one another as they washed off all the muck that had stuck to them.

"I wish your dad wasn't off on his trips all the time," Pancham heard her mutter as she cleaned off Shelmet's shell. "He'd know how to keep you two in line."

~\({O})/~

Sliggoo's House

~Sliggoo~

"Son, we…" Sliggoo's father, a gallade, said. He sat on a stool in front of Sliggoo, who was silent. Sliggoo's mother, a goodra, sat on another, undersized stool next to him, wringing out her paws. "We think it's great that you managed to evolve, we do," he continued, then trailed off. Clearly the subject made him uncomfortable.

"—We just wish you'd done it while we were there," Sliggoo's mother finished for him.

Awkward silence ensued.

~\({O})/~

Deerling's House

~Deerling~

"Mooooom," Deerling pleaded, all sprawled out on the floor. "Just punish me."

"Why would I?" Deerling's mother asked cheerfully. "You've made such a large step forward into becoming independent!"

"I went out of the house after bedtime," Deerling said. "I broke a rule! You're supposed to punish me!"

Sawsbuck deliberately ignored her, humming as she went back to whatever she was doing.

"At least do something!" Deerling cried out. "Put me in my room for the day. Take away my dessert rights. Send me to bed without dinner. Anything works. Just don't tell me you think this is okay. Please."

"Hmm," Deerling's mother hummed. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen a child beg for punishment."

"…That means you're going to punish me?" Deerling asked hopefully.

"Nope," Sawsbuck said, not even looking at Deerling. Deerling blinked once, then twice. She opened her mouth, but then realized arguing was useless. Instead, she stormed off in annoyance.

"Don't headbutt the walls, please!" Sawsbuck yelled after her.

~\({O})/~

Village Square

Espurr walked into the village square, her fur still soggy and drooping from the dip in the lake she'd taken. It wasn't fun, but it beat being covered in the Crooked House's grime. She knew she was getting a few looks from some of the passerby pokemon in the square, but she was too tired to care.

She trudged up to the front door of Audino's house, which she had left unlocked for herself the night before. She pushed down on the knob. It gave. Still unlocked. Espurr pushed it open with a loud creak, and wearily trudged in.

"Where were you?!"

Espurr looked up in shock—Audino stood right before her, looking at Espurr. "And how did you get so dirty?" she questioned. "What were you doing all night? Explain. Now."

Espurr didn't have an excuse for Audino, and she was too tired to make one. She went with the truth instead.

"We—I was searching for Watchog last night. He hasn't been seen since Thursday."

Audino leaned back against the wall of the house, covering her face with her hands out of frustration.

"Watchog was out of town. He just said so, when he passed by in the square."

Espurr blinked in shock. On second thought, she shouldn't have been surprised. Of course he'd have spent the walk back to town thinking up a cover story for himself.

"If you thought he was missing, why didn't you tell an adult?" Audino questioned. "You put yourself in danger!"

"The adults won't understand." Espurr looked up at Audino with a tired face.

"We won't understand if you never tell us anything," Audino began angrily. She sighed. "Just—just go to your room until supper." She was at a loss for anything else to say.

Espurr wasn't complaining. She felt tired enough to collapse where she stood. She trudged off to her room, where the bed of straw was still unmade from where she had left it last night. Not even bothering to finish drying herself off or remove her bad, she yawned, shuffled over to the bed, and collapsed face-down in it.

She was asleep within minutes.

~\({O})/~

In the village square, a lone riolu dashed out into the sunlight. He looked around, taking in the sky that was bright blue with fluffy clouds, and not red and empty; the houses that stood tall and proud, instead of being desolate ruins; how the place was lively and clean and crowded with other pokemon all around him, instead of bleak and sandy and deserted as far as the eye could see. His eyes and smile widened. To the befuddlement of everymon around him, he let out a loud cheer, jumping up and down for joy.

Then, like a switch had been flipped, his legs shook, his eyes fluttered, and then he slumped over in exhaustion. He hadn't slept for days. Several pokemon gasped, and a crowd gathered around him in worry.

"Nurse!" somemon cried out.

~\({O})/~

Expedition Society Headquarters ~ Lively Town

~Mawile~

It was business as usual at the Expedition Society. After the morning briefing, everymon had gone their separate ways. The building was left deserted, all except for Swirlix, Nickit, and Team Limestone – who had taken an off-day and were instead sparring in the training hall. Mawile could hear the sounds of their battle from one floor above.

(This meant they'd carelessly left the door open, but it wasn't worth anything more than an admonishing later.)

Content that things would stay peaceful at least for a little while, Mawile let the door of her office slide to a shut behind her. She had more important things to do right now.

A second sighting of the entities that had caused devastation in Pokemon Plaza meant more than ever that action was required as soon as possible. Mawile wasn't confident in HAPPI's ability to act in time. No, scratch that, she wasn't confident in their ability to act at all. They had double agents in their ranks… who knew how far up it went?

But it didn't change that she needed a lead. She'd been pouring over and re-reading dozens of old texts in her miniature library, hoping to find something that she had missed. Something had to rear its head eventually. It wasn't possible that there were no accounts of these beings or anything like them throughout history.

However, days after days of examining every text she could find had run her down—Mawile was relishing the idea of finally moving on from this project. Or at least, getting herself some new material to read over. She walked around the gigantic pile of books and scrolls that lay on the desk. Her eyes settled on an old book that lay on the bottom shelf next to the desk, bound and latched shut with stripes of gold—it hadn't been visible for a while because an errant pile of books had blocked it. The sight of the book jogged Mawile's memory: Ampharos had given it to her years ago, claiming he got it from Rayquaza, who collected Human texts and scrolls. With all the work she had piling up on her, she'd never gotten around to reading it.

"I couldn't hope to find a use for this," Ampharos had said the day that he'd given it to her. "But when Rayquaza insisted that I take something, I grabbed the first thing within reach. Maybe you'll find it useful where I could not."

Mawile doubted the answer lay with the Humans of old, as fascinated as she was with them. But at this rate… she reached for the book, and grabbed it from its perch on the shelf. It couldn't hurt.

The text was the unpublished ramblings of a porygon, who had lived long ago at the very start of Pokemon Civilization. Mawile made a note to visit Rayquaza at a later date and gain his opinions on some of the book's topics.

But the opening of the chapter on the next page made all thoughts of leisurely philosophical debates fly from Mawile's mind:

Humans.

9,000 years dead; 9,000 years our ancestors. 9,000 years a myth. No-mon has ever seen a human, yet the grounds of this world are replete with the ruins they leave behind: The crumbling remains of their cities and technology, soon to be overgrown for all time. Years upon years of obsessive studying has granted me perhaps the best recollection of what happened to their kind.

The Humans were a powerful, ambitious species. Their technology built them towers that scraped the sky. Their wars shook the world and made all others cower in fear. And when the Human leaders spoke, everyone listened.

But too much power is never a good thing. Slowly, the Humans destroyed their planet. Pollution blotted out the sun, and toxins seeped down into the very ley lines of their Earth. Soon they knew they would all die if nothing was done.

On every continent Humans convened to search for the only answer the Human Leaders could provide: A new world. A new place to colonize and corrupt and build their metal cities over. They soon discovered the stars held no secrets for them, so they began to burrow into the ley lines of Planet Earth. And soon, they drilled a hole straight into their doom.

By the time the Humans realized what they had done it was too late. They were destroyed by the foul creatures that emerged from this hell realm they had breached. In a bid for survival, the final remains of their species constructed three seals to cover up their mistake. One on the Water Continent. One on the Sand Continent. One lost to the tides of the sea. If any of these were to break, surely the wrath of this realm would be inflicted upon the world again.

I have determined the best we can do is to leave these seals to lie in peace. If, for any reason one should shatter, the signs will make themselves clear. And it will fall to the pokemon of this world to unite and take action, before they are destroyed like the Humans of old.

Mawile could barely sit still. Thoughts flew through her head at the speed of light – nothing was proven, she'd have to do a lot of cross-referencing, but if this wasn't her answer, it was a step in the right direction. Even though nightmare realms and ancient seals felt a bit fantastical. Mawile pulled out a map of the Sand Continent—the continent most mapped by other cartographers—to investigate. If one of the researcher's fabled seals was there, then she should be able to find something like it on the map.

And immediately, she found what she was looking for. The Sands of Time, an important historical dungeon further inland on the Sand Continent, had boggled explorers for decades. The dungeon had eclipsed the remains of the last standing Human City, and everymon who had entered noted one detail in common: a large, arcane room with what looked like a massive set of stairs in the middle. If anything on Sand would match the description of Porygon's seal, this was it.

Brimming with excitement, Mawile checked Porygon's text again just to make sure, and then immediately got to work, ignoring the dulled sounds of the battle taking place a floor below. To quote an old Human idiom: she had struck gold.

~\({O})/~

Audino's House

~Espurr~

Espurr slept through the day, and then the night. It was a dreamless sleep; she was too tired to dream. Or to remember them. But eventually she sat up in her bed of straw, glancing at the sunlight pouring in through the window. It didn't feel like she'd slept enough.

A loud snoring sound came from beside her, causing her to gasp in fright. She looked to her right, realizing that she now shared the bed with a noisily snoring Riolu. Espurr let out a sigh of relief. There was some good news: he'd made it back out safe.

There would be no more sleeping with Riolu's noisy snoring, so Espurr yawned, stretched, and pulled herself off the bed. Her stomach growled and she felt a bit dizzy, so she devoured an apple in the kitchen ravenously. Audino wasn't there. Espurr assumed she was out tending to a doctor's appointment.

For the next ten minutes, she sat around the empty, quiet house. Her thoughts came to her. This was her home. She was safe here, right? All the bad memories of the last few weeks reeled through her head – the Beheeyem, the gabite, the strange dreams, the Voice, the Crooked House, Nyarlathotep. Would any of the adults understand, if she told them? Would any of them even believe her? Watchog was the only one who had any reason to, and he was far too stuck-up to do anything about it. But above all, Espurr knew that she couldn't sit around the house doing nothing all day. She had to take a hike.

So she grabbed her mud-caked exploration bag, donned the dirty scarf, and slipped out through the door. She needed to find the others, the only ones who would understand.

~\({O})/~

"Some congratulations we got," Pancham grumbled, his arms folded. He leaned against his house in the Village Square, glowering at the ground. "Went and saved the Watchdog's tail, and all we get is yelled at." The other five of them lounged around glumly, all of them in a shady part of the Square no-mon would listen to them in.

There was no reason for the six of them to be in one place normally. They disliked each other too much for that. But after last night, there was an unspoken truce between all of them: they needed to put their baggage aside for now.

"Yeah…" Tricky grumbled. "Pops made me take a bath! And then made me give the house a bath! My paws still hurt from all the scrubbing…"

"I'll bet your paws don't hurt as much as my shell," Shelmet groaned. "I have to do all the busywork at Kecleon's for a month."

"I'm n-not allowed to leave the house for the next w-week for sneaking out," Goomy, now Sliggoo, stuttered.

"So why're you here then?" Tricky asked, swiveling her ears quizzically.

Sliggoo didn't answer that. He looked bashful.

"You snuck out?" Deerling asked him. She sounded impressed. "Nice move."

Everymon gaped at her in shock. Deerling just shook her head. "Look, we didn't deserve the punishment this time. None of us did. So it's fine."

"But what do we do now?"

All eyes wandered to the only one who hadn't spoken yet. Espurr sat across from Pancham, her back against the side of Pancham's house.

"I don't know," Deerling admitted. It sounded less like annoyance, more genuine. Then, more snippy: "Aren't you supposed to be the one with all the plans and answers?"

It was snippiness from stress, and they all knew it. Espurr just looked down at the ground.

"I don't know anymore," she said. "All I know is the adult aren't going to listen to us."

"Why do we need to figure out what now?" Tricky's voice cut through the silence. "Didn't we beat the monster already?"

"We beat one," Espurr said grimly. "Riolu told me there are more. An army of them. He called them Void Shadows. They're from a place called the Voidlands, and the Crooked House leads right down into it."

She looked up, taking in the darkening looks on everymon's faces. "And if we could get in and out…"

"Other things can get out too," Deerling finished, coming to the realization.

"Wait wait wait." Pancham's voice broke up the silence. "You're tellin' me that there's more where those came from? And we can't take it to any adult?"

"No adults will listen until it's too late," Espurr said.

"Welp," Pancham sighed. "We're doomed."

"You're so great at boosting team morale," Deerling grumbled.

"W-what if we could p-prove it?" Goomy asked. "

There was a couple seconds of silence, as everymon considered that.

"Well…" Tricky trailed off. "If we could, all the adults would have to believe us, right? Then we could all be ready."

Uneasy agreement. Tricky's statement was met with nods from the other five, with varying enthusiasm. Shelmet just rocked back and forth on his shell.

"What could we find for proof?" Deerling asked.

"Riolu," Espurr said. She looked to the side. "He was asleep in my room when I woke up today. But he'd back us up. And he could tell us more about how to prove it's true."

~\({O})/~

After the talk, Espurr felt a little better about everything. If nothing else… six other pokemon knew. But she needed to process all of it, and for that she needed to go somewhere quiet. She walked south, until she had outwalked the town. The dark silhouette of the Crooked House demanded her attention, shrouded within grasping tendrils of fog. Espurr refused.

She continued to walk south, past the tree where Ampharos had gifted her and Tricky the expedition gadget. She walked past the forest path that led to the treehouse they had all made, and walked until Serenity Village could fit into the palm of her paw. Up ahead, the path led through the forest and split west towards the sea, but that wasn't where Espurr was going.

Espurr rooted around in the bushes until she found the fake ones Nuzleaf had set aside that one day. She walked around them, leaving them undisturbed. She didn't know why she went this way. It was like something compelled her to come here.

Watchog was at the guard post for Revelation Mountain that day. Espurr momentarily halted in surprise – she hadn't thought about the guards – but then she noticed that he was fast asleep. That simplified things. She crept past him, leaving a trail of muddy pawprints behind her as she scampered up the mountain. She'd clean it up later.

Espurr stopped at a cliff near the base of the mountain, and sat on a ledge overlooking the land below. She could see the village from here, as well as all its forested surroundings, the river that lead into the sea further off, and the vast mountain valleys in the distance. It took her back to a time when her largest worry was what place Tricky would drag her off to today… had that really only been a few weeks ago? Espurr let her bag drop next to her, and eventually she propped her chin up against it, lying on her belly, kicking her legs behind her, and staring out at the scenery lazily.

"I wasn't aware this was where all the kids went when school was out," Principal Simipour said.

Espurr jumped and scrambled upright– she hadn't even seen him! She hadn't felt him either. She quickly collected her bag, looking at him. Simipour just took a seat next to her, staring at her with that ever-weary gaze. Espurr cleared her throat.

"What are you… doing here, Principal?" she asked.

"I come here sometimes for an afternoon stroll when Vice Principal Watchog's on duty," Simipour answered. "Adult's privilege. Hmm, now that I think of it, should you be here?"

Espurr blinked, then glanced to the left, trying to come up with a good counter for that. She opened her mouth a couple of times, but couldn't come up with anything clever enough to say otherwise.

"I'll allow it," Simipour cheerfully shrugged it off. "Why deprive a pokemon of this beautiful view, after all? Just don't make a habit of it."

Espurr nodded, and then made herself more comfortable in her seat. Something bugged her about all this. She couldn't feel him. With her sixth sense, she couldn't feel a single thing from him, which was strange. She knew from Watchog's type matchup class that psychics couldn't perceive the minds of dark-type pokemon, but Simipour was supposed to be a water type… right?

Slowly, things began to come back to her. She remembered the paper she had snitched from Simipour's office just last night. It was still in her bag, wasn't it? Disguising it as a causal rummaging through her bag, Espurr zipped it open and sifted through the items until she found what she was looking for. The paper still read, in large words:

MISSING: Beheeyem x3

If found, please contact the Merchants' Guild on the Grass Continent.

Espurr remembered her first night at the school—

~\({O})/~

Simipour opened a drawer below his desk and put the stack of papers in front of them into it.

"The pokemon who chased you last night are known as Beheeyem, and they've been sighted several times in the past few days searching for you." Simipour's voice lost its airy quality for a more sincere tone. "That is why, for the time being, I strongly implore you to stay within the bounds of this village. I say this out of concern for your own safety, not to put a shackle on your freedom. We don't need another disappearance on our hands."

~\({O})/~

That stack of paper had been missing posters. And Simipour had been collecting all of them. For what?

Something touched Espurr's back.

She gasped and looked over, and immediately jumped further away. She could see Simipour's front paw discreetly reaching for her from behind, as if to grab her. Those fingers… she could still feel the imprints in her back. He'd touched her!

"Is something the matter?" Simipour asked Espurr, but it didn't sound right. His eyes were shut tight. The smile on his face was unnatural. It looked like somemon was puppeteering him. Espurr quickly closed her bag, and shuffled back a little more. Simipour effortlessly closed the distance between them. And there wasn't enough cliff to go much further.

"I think I'll go now," Espurr said firmly, gathering her bag. Maybe a little too firmly.

In an instant, Simipour's posture seemed to change. He slumped over, and his expression became much less cheery. A grin was replaced with an unpleasant sneer, as his face fell into shadows. And his eyes didn't once open.

"So that's how it is…" she heard him mutter. Espurr mentally prepared herself to be on her defense. This didn't look like it was going good places.

"Peer into my mind." Simipour's voice didn't sound anything like Simipour. He had lost his airy voice for a growl. The sudden change sent chills through Espurr.

It was at this point that she realized he had moved to block the way off the cliff. When he'd made her shuffle in that direction… he was setting a trap! And she couldn't get to the other side without risking falling off as well, a long way down. The safest option was to comply. And be ready for whatever was next.

Espurr took a deep breath, and reached out with her sixth sense. Some of the fog over Simipour's mind had lifted, allowing just enough for a clear path through – had he controlled what she could and couldn't see? What was this? For a moment, their heads merged, and Espurr saw what 'Simipour' had seen.

~\({O})/~

Village Square

Three beheeyem were travelling through town that day, seven weeks ago. They brought wares from the Grass Continent – dried berries, roasted insects, the works. It was enough to put Kecleon out of business for the day, but he was an honorable shopkeeper and an even better businesspokemon. He bought a cut from them and sold the wares for more later on.

Simipour didn't remember much of what happened that day. But something else did. Something else, as it had before once, when he let me in, took complete control. Something else used Simipour's charisma to lead them up to the school and then into the School Forest.

"I…" one of the beheeyem glanced around in confusion. "So what was that thing you wanted to discuss? And why lead us into a mystery dungeon? Are you a robber?"

All three of them took a battle stance, preparing for the worst.

Simipour opened his mouth, and a harsh, snarl transcended sound and branded itself upon their minds.

Robber? No. I have a different purpose in mind for you three.

He raised his arms, which then crackled with energy the color of a Void Shadow. The beheeyem panicked, abandoning fighting and trying to get a safe distance away. But there were only so many places to go in a mystery dungeon.

Cease.

The energy hit all three beheeyem, and they convulsed violently. It was pain, terrible pain, pain meant to torture the three of them. And during that pain, as whatever controlled Simipour stood and watched them wail, something came to the beheeyem. Something offered an out, if only they would open the door, if only they would surrender their minds let me in let me make you better.

And under such lasting and terrible pain, how could they continue to fight?

Simipour never felt his best after that. He did what he could to hide it – the school principal had to be at his best, after all – but his endeavors to hide his sudden weariness failed often. When Audino offered, then insisted that he receive a checkup, something in his brain told him it was a bad idea. The same thing in his brain that told him to collect missing posters up around the town. The same thing that told him to keep an eye upon any new arrivals to the village. The same thing that had told him to be here now. Now Simipour had a mission. To Kill—

~\({O})/~

Espurr forcefully separated her mind from Simipour's, terrified. She saw Simipour's arms, which crackled with the same black energy they had in the memory, and they were closing in around her in a deadly embrace—

Espurr ducked at the last second, rolling out from under Simipour and grabbing her bag. Simipour – or what was controlling him – let out a feral screech and lunged for Espurr, but she pulled herself out of the way at the last minute. Dashing further in towards the mountain and spinning on her feet, Espurr prepared to blast Simipour off the side of the mountain with her mental powers. Then, she faltered – wait, what was she doing? She didn't want to kill him!

But right now, he wanted to kill her. And he didn't hesitate. A concentrated ball of dark energy blasted against the cliff, and Espurr dodged it just in time. The best option here was to run. So, she did.

She ran down the trail, and Simipour leapt after her as fast as his body would take him. He was faster than her – Espurr wasn't even going to make it to the base of the cliff!

Simipour charged another shadow attack, jumping up into the air. And that was when Espurr made her move. She spun around and directed an unfettered mental blast into the air. Simipour was hit midair by the blast, and landed a ways up the cliff on his back. Espurr didn't stay to see what he did after that. By the time 'Simipour' crawled back down to the base of the mountain, there was no sign of her anywhere around. There was only Watchog, snoozing.

The being controlling Simipour sensed leaving the Vice Principal alone would be best for maintaining its cover.

~\({O})/~

Espurr didn't even bother following the correct path back; she cut straight through the woods and didn't stop until she'd run back into town. She was in such a frenzy that she didn't realize Audino had been walking towards the front door of the house until she bumped right into her.

"Espurr!" Audino turned around, looking at Espurr. "What are you doing?"

"I…" Espurr panted. "I… I need to go…"

"No, you don't!" Audino grabbed Espurr's bag just as she was about to run off, tugging Espurr back at the last minute. "What you need to do is sit down and tell me what's going on."

Despite everything in her brain telling her that nothing was okay right now, that she needed to get somewhere safe before Simipour or something else came after her, the clear authority of Audino's voice penetrated Espurr's panic for a minute. Just enough to make her see reason. She stopped struggling against Audino, letting the straps of the bag relax. Audino was right. If there was anything she needed right now, it was help.

"…Alright." Espurr walked back towards Audino, finally regaining some of her earlier composure. "But I want to do it inside." She cast a suspicious glance around at all the other pokemon in the square, all of whom were giving them a wide berth by now.

How many of them? How many others were waiting out there, controlled by this… thing?

Could she ever be safe again?

~\({O})/~

The door closed behind them, and Audino directed Espurr towards one of the stools at the table before sitting down at the other end. Neither of them removed their bags.

"Now tell me what's going on."

It was a moment before Espurr had gathered the nerves to say anything, but eventually she took a deep breath, and switched into autopilot. In as plain a voice as possible, she said: "I think something's trying to kill me."

Espurr told Audino everything. From waking up in the woods all alone, to the strange dreams, to Ampharos, to Tricky and the beheeyem and what had happened in the Crooked House. By the time she was done, a good portion of the day was already gone.

Audino sat at the table, looking skeptical. It was so fantastical. Monsters from another dimension? Strange dreams? The Expedition Society? Humans? And yet… it all explained enough. Audino's memory flashed back to the Open Pass – Beheeyem. They'd been hunting her, hadn't they?

"…Alright. I believe you."

Espurr's eyes lightened up, as if a large burden had been removed from here.

"You do?"

Audino nodded. For a moment, Espurr felt a sense of elation – finally, somemon understood! She was going to get help and answers—

"But I'm not allowing you to leave the house anymore."

Espurr's hopes crumbled before her eyes in an instant. A shocked "…What?" was all she could produce.

"You're hallucinating," she said with conviction. "I did some looking into things. Just three weeks ago, there was a kidnapping in another town near here by some Beheeyem. They caused the kid to hallucinate until he ran away and went with them. They must have plugged something into you that's making you see these things! Of course you'd think everything's out to get you; that's what they want you to see. It's a perfectly rational explanation."

"But—" Espurr began, flabberghasted.

"No buts. You're in danger, and you'll be safe in the house. And we're going to have a talk later with the other kids in case they've been seeing things too."

And with that, Audino got up from her stool, and set her bag on the floor. Completely misunderstood, Espurr sullenly hopped off from her stool, trudging away with her exploration bag on her shoulder—

"I'll be taking that bag too. "

Espurr stopped in her tracks. Audino walked over, and scooped the bag up off Espurr's shoulder. Espurr let her. She looked over her shoulder to see where Audino had stashed it – right next to her own bag – and then trudged off to her room.

~\({O})/~

Expedition Society Headquarters ~ Lively Town

~Ampharos~

Clack.

It was nighttime, but the shutters were rolled over the windows of the Expedition Society's second floor chamber. Ampharos placed a connection orb in the indent at the center of the room, and stood back as the Pokemon Nexus rose up out of the floor. He approached the hexagonal console, and tapped a few buttons into it. A display of a large map shot out of the connection orb and illuminated the wall. This was the Pokemon Nexus' true purpose: to help log a comprehensive, electronic map of the world. Ampharos leaned over the console, and pressed a few more buttons. A red dot appeared upon the map. He had made a habit of checking every night, once he was sure everymon else was asleep.

But something was different tonight. The dot – which had been situated directly in Serenity Village every time Ampharos had checked – was now someplace in the Lively Mountain Range. Ampharos tilted his head at it in confusion. Surely that didn't mean what he thought it did.

A door opened to his side, startling Ampharos out of his thoughts. He looked to his left, seeing Mawile swiftly close the door to her office behind her. She looked sleep-worn.

"You didn't sleep."

"I had more pressing matters to take care of."

Mawile joined Ampharos at the Pokemon Nexus.

"Another night mission?" she asked after a minute. Ampharos seemed lost in thought, yet she knew him well enough to tell what he was thinking just from his face.

"A very critical one, yes." Ampharos' answer was short and to the point. "I'll have to leave before the break of dawn; I trust you to hold things down until I return?"

Mawile had been hoping to discuss something with him. She prepared to broach the subject, but another glance at Ampharos' face told her that he wasn't open to discussion.

"There's an important matter I must discuss with you upon your return," she said instead. "It's concerning recent events."

Ampharos nodded silently, too deep in his musing for a proper response. He pressed a final button on the console, and the Pokemon Nexus lowered into slumber once more.

Ampharos donned his cloak, his bag, and his walking stick, striding out the large doors of the Expedition Society and into the night. His destination: The Lively Mountain Range.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village ~ Nighttime

~Espurr~

Kill.

That night, the large welcome archway that lay above the eastward entrance to Serenity Village went up in flames. It attracted the attention of many of a pokemon, who then went to call for Carracosta – the only water-type in the village formidable enough to put it out.

No-mon noticed the trio of beheeyem that entered from the south. That was how they liked it. They continued through the houses, looking for the one that lay to the west of the town square.

Slowly coming to. Espurr blinked herself awake, smelling smoke. She sat up in confusion. Riolu was still sleeping, like he had been all day, but even he smelled it. Espurr watched him wrinkle his nose up in disgust.

Only then did she notice that there was light coming from the window, and it was a flickering, soft orange. Espurr quickly scurried to the window to see what was happening. Approaching the window, she saw the fire, and the large amount of pokemon grouping around it from outside. And from the south side of town, she saw… flickering lights. Red, green, and yellow.

Espurr quickly dashed back from the window. No. No. This wasn't happening. This was a dream. It had to be. It had to be—

She quickly pressed herself up against the wall next to the window as flickering lights illuminated the room. For a moment, there was silence. Espurr held her breath.

The wooden bars of the window were suddenly blasted off by a psychic force, and Espurr barely resisted the urge to scream as she cowered. Wood chips landed all over Riolu, though somehow he remained unharmed. Trying to breath as quietly as possible with a paw over her mouth, Espurr edged over to the end of the room, eyeing the entrance to the hallway. Could she reach it without revealing herself?

A ghostly wind made the already-tattered curtains flutter in the air. A cone-like head emerged through the window, and began to look around. Espurr was caught like a sitting ducklet. There was no escape. It was going to see her and then Riolu, and…

Wait. Maybe this could play to her advantage. She couldn't reach Riolu from here, couldn't rescue him without being seen, but she could distract them.

Abandoning stealth, Espurr dashed for the entrance, running into the hallway before the beheeyem could even react. Her bag was at the other end! If she could just—

Something heavy collided with the wall, making a sizeable dent with cracks in it. They were trying to break in! Espurr ran down the hall as fast as she could. The wall couldn't take another hit – it burst into pieces, and the second of the three beheeyem floated into the house.

Espurr finally reached her bag, and picked it up. But the door was suddenly blasted off its hinges, and it caught Espurr on its trip towards the wall.

The door slammed into the table, which slammed into the cupboards with enough force to leave a large dent in all three objects. Espurr was small enough to fit under the table and only got a small knock from the cupboard's handle. And before she knew it, the third beheeyem entered the house.

Espurr frantically searched for any way out. The door? Too risky. Back through the bedroom? Definitely not. Make a hole? Where?

Then she saw the window above the kitchen stove. She was small enough to slink out through the window if she wanted. And those bars looked like they would give really easily. That was her escape route. Now if only she could create enough confusion to make her escape…

The table was suddenly thrown off of her by a beheeyem. Espurr whacked it in the face with her bag. Hard. The beheeyem was sent stumbling back.

She didn't waste time. She crawled up to the window, trying to fit herself through. She fit through, but the bag didn't. She just needed to pull hard enough…

The window-bars finally broke, sending both Espurr and the bag tumbling to the ground. Espurr wasted no time picking herself up and dashing behind a nearby house to catch her breath in peace. She slowly peeked out from behind the wall, looking at the fire in the distance that was being doused. She could see the Beheeyems' flickering lights illuminating the house from the inside. She had to lead them away from Riolu and the others… Espurr shouldered her bag, and finally came to a decision.

She threw a rock against the wall closest to her, loud enough to make a sound the beheeyem would hear. Once she was sure they saw, she ran away through the alley as fast as her legs would take her.

~\({O})/~

Carracosta's House

~Tricky~

Knock~Knock~Knock

There was a rapping upon the wall of Tricky's bedroom. Tricky stirred in her bed, groaning. She had cleaned the entire house from top to bottom as punishment for sneaking out after dark, and she was exhausted.

Knock~Knock~Knock

The rapping came again, and this time Tricky woke up.

"Huh?" she murmured sleepily, then shook herself awake. She smelled the scent of smoke on the air. What was happening?

The knocking on the wall turned out to be Espurr. Tricky looked one way, then the other, then slipped out the window to join Espurr.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, suddenly wrinkling her nose. "And what's that smell?"

"Fire," Espurr answered hurriedly. "Those beheeyem set the village sign on fire."

"What?" It took Tricky a moment to take that all in.

"The ones from that night at the treehouse," Espurr continued. "They were on those missing posters. Remember? The ones Principal Simipour was keeping?"

Tricky still wasn't fully awake. She nodded the best she could, yawning. "Yeah, I remember."

"He's responsible," Espurr said. Tricky's eyes widened, and Espurr heard her mutter something to the effect of 'holy mystery dungeon' under her breath.

The beheeyem came after me tonight," Espurr continued, in a hurry to say everything. "The house I'm staying in is in shambles. This place isn't safe anymore."

"…Wanna stay at my place?" Tricky offered. "I'm sure Pops will understand—"

"Your place isn't safe," Espurr stressed. "Nowhere is. This entire village… none of it is safe anymore. Not if I'm here." She took a deep breath before saying the rest of what she had to say.

"If I'm here, everymon in this village is in danger. So…" another deep breath. "…I'm leaving. I've still got that map in my bag; I'm heading to Lively Town. Maybe somemon there can help."

That woke Tricky up completely.

"Lively Town…" she muttered, then gasped. "That's where the Expedition Society is! We can get help from them! Just wait—"

Tricky suddenly hopped back into the window of her house before Espurr could say anything to stop her. A moment later, she hopped back out. Espurr quickly checked to make sure that the beheeyem hadn't caught up yet.

"I'm coming too," Tricky stated firmly. "You don't get to be the first one to go the Expedition Society, no-siree!"

Espurr opened her mouth to object, but then thought about it for a minute. If the beheeyem went after her, who else would they go after? And if there was any company she wanted along the way… Tricky was her first pick.

"When do we leave?" Tricky asked, beginning to bounce in excitement.

"As soon as possible," Espurr said.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Outskirts

They looped around the south side of the village, until the sign of the now-doused sign was only a small figure in the distance. Espurr checked behind them at every corner, in case the beheeyem had caught on again. But never once did she see the flickering of lights, or hear the faint beeping that suggested they were near.

Soon, they reached the eastward trail into the mountains, shrouded by mist. Espurr took one last look at the dark outline of Serenity Village, which had been her home and her sanctuary for the last three weeks. It had felt like three months. And it had felt like home. For a moment, all Espurr wanted to do was go back to her house and lay in her bed, and talk to all her friends the next day.

But her bed was destroyed, and her house lay in shambles. And all her friends were in danger the longer she stayed. The only thing to do was press forward.

Espurr clutched the strap of her bag, feeling the familiar weight on her shoulders. And then, she turned her gaze away from the village behind them, and continued along with Tricky into the craggy mountain trail ahead.

It was a good night for exploring, anyway.

~\({O})/~

Music of the week!

Obliviate - Alexandre Desplat