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Headline Today: Police identify perpetrators of Spinda Café explosion

The storefront of Spinda Café was blown apart on Monday, injuring three. The explosion was caused by blast seeds that had been planted deliberately in one of the crates, and set off when it was being carried through the entrance. Police have identified the perpetrators of the attack through eyewitness reports to be three beheeyem, whose descriptions match those on a similar missing poster issued by the GoM.

"We don't currently have evidence linking the beheeyem behind this attack to the beheeyem in the poster," Mankey commented for the press. "We will, however, be working closely with the Expedition Society and related forces to help patrol Lively Town streets and keep our public hotspots safe."

~ The Lively Town Times

~\({O})/~

40.

Home Sweet Home

~\({O})/~

Outside Port Archaios ~ Sand Continent

~Latias~

Framed against the silhouette of black, monolithic walls that shrouded the Sand Continent, the yellow lights of Port Archaios glimmered in the distance. A red blur shot towards the coast, sloppily evading ships that floated in her path. Did she accidentally cut a sail rope there? She knew she'd hit something with her wing but she was too tired to care.

She needed to get to land. Tell somemon, anymon who would listen. Not those on Mist and Air, whose political sphere would blind them to reason. Not those on Grass, who believed in the legends of old but were too powerless to do anything. Not those on Water, who had become little more than farmers and pawns. But the Sand Continent held no allegiances. Everymon was its ally, and it made no enemies. When she talked to them, she knew they would listen. And through them, the rest of the world would hear.

Smash—

The mast of a ship splintered apart, sending Latias tumbling through the air. She'd smashed into it before she could stop herself—she was too tired to keep going properly. Her wing was torn, destabilizing her in the air and sending her hurtling down towards the coast.

She crashed and skidded to a stop at the brink of a sandy beach, one of the few beaches the walls didn't obscure. She groaned in pain and looked at her injured wing. It was torn nearly halfway through, a reddish magic energy leaking out instead of blood and flesh. It would heal with time… but she couldn't fly on it. Or locomote herself for the time being.

The beach was large, wide, and seemed to have been left that way for tourists. With the black walls that loomed over them even from here Latias didn't think it was a very glamorous tourist spot. But who was she to judge? What was important was somehow getting to the city. She was still in no condition to be traveling any further, she hadn't been for over a day, but she couldn't stop here. Until she got to the city, she couldn't rest. She began to drag herself through the sand with her stubby arms and uninjured wing, one inch at a time. Only when she looked up did she realize she wasn't alone.

A couple of figures were on the beach, the only ones there. Latias couldn't tell from this distance, but they seemed to be coming towards her. Maybe the beach had guards, or janitors. Latias tried to float again, but her wing threw her off. That wasn't going to work.

All the while, the two pokemon were getting closer. They were silhouettes just like the walls were, and as they came within clear vision distance, Latias noticed how they were floating instead of walking. Then, at some point, when they were only yards away from her, they stopped. Their cones were by far the most notable thing about them, towering up into the night like black spires.

Latias wasn't sure what to make of it, especially when they just seemed to stand there silently. She figured she could try at some form of communication.

"Hello?" she called out. "You must be… shocked right now. But I need your help. I have something important to tell the Archeology Foundation in Port Archaios. It concerns the fate of the world. But I can't get there on my own. Can you…" a hoarse cough. "Call somemon to help me the rest of the way?"

No answer. The two pokemon just stood there.

"Can you hear me?" Latias asked again, breathing heavily from her injury.

There was still no speech; the two pokemon were silent. But suddenly, lights began to flicker from bulbs on their arms. First, yellow, then green, then red. Latias watched as the cycle of lights grew faster and faster. Yellow, green, red, yellow, green, red, yellow green red yellow green red yellowgreenred—

The lights were suddenly raised and they blinked her in the face. Latias scrambled back, twisting her neck away. She heard the sound of something barreling towards her—an attack! This was an ambush! No wonder she'd gotten here so easi—

That was the last thought Latias had before the shadowy ball hit her. Her body was pain, and her vision went white, then black.

~\({O})/~

Bunnelby's Ship ~ Late Morning

~Espurr~

Slowly coming to. Espurr stirred from her sleep, trying to blink her eyes open. Her body ached all over, a dull pounding rolled through her head, and her vision still too foggy to see what she was looking up at. It looked… brownish.

What had happened? The last thing she remembered was the maze. Being stuck in the dungeon as the Void Shadow tried to strangle Bunnelby, and then exploding… everything after that was blank. She couldn't even remember her dreams.

The… the Void Shadow. What happened to it? Espurr blinked the fogginess from her eyes, trying to raise herself from the cot—

The dull thumping in her head transformed into a sharp headache, bringing her head right back down to the pillow. She groaned lazily and jammed her eyes shut, trying to ease the pain.

"Espurr!"

The scampering of paws on a wooden floor caught Espurr's attention next, and all of the sudden Tricky was standing right over her. She leaned in way too close for Espurr's comfort. "You're awake!"

Espurr just jammed her eyes shut again and groaned wordlessly a second time. The light from the window was invading her eyelids, and staring at anything brought her headache back with a vengeance.

"Huh?" Espurr heard Tricky sit back. "What's wrong?"

"Headache," she mumbled.

"Oh…" Tricky's tail lashed back and forth, creating brushing noises against the floor. "Right. Bunnelby told me you did the explosion thingy back in the dungeon. That must have been so cool! I wish I was there to see it. A—and you should have seen me take down a whole Void Shadow by myself! I saved all of you guys from getting eaten back there! You were sleeping though."

"Wait…" That intrigued Espurr enough that she ignored the pain enough to hear more. "You took down the Void Shadow?"

"Yup!" Tricky nodded so fast Espurr could barely follow her head. But then again, her vision was bleary and her own head was hurting. "I shot fire at it and it just blew up! If I knew they didn't like fire, I'd have done that a lot sooner. But now we know, which means I get to be the Void Shadow Destroyer."

"Where are we now?" Espurr asked, through Tricky's jabbering.

"On the ship," came a voice that wasn't Tricky's. Espurr looked over to see that Bunnelby had entered the cavern. He hopped over and sat himself on the other stool, letting out a yawn. Espurr noticed his left arm had been thoroughly bandaged. It didn't look very delicate—it must have been only a temporary fix. "We're headed back home, dock in a couple of hours. How're you doing?"

"Headache," Espurr mumbled a second time, staring back up at the ceiling. The light sensitivity was fading.

"The doctor said you would feel like that for a half hour or so after waking up," Bunnelby said. "Give it a bit, it'll wear off."

Bunnelby adjusted his bandages with an ear, which had been jostled out of place by his movements.

"I have to say, I've got to give it to you two," he said. "I didn't know why Chief Ampharos decided to recruit two children to the Society, but I do know he doesn't make decisions like that without a reason. If he brought you on, he must have seen something in you. I think I see it too now."

Espurr found the compliment endearing, but Tricky appreciated it a lot more. Her eyes were just short of sparkling, and her tail wagged so fast it was basically dusting the backside of the stool.

"Hungry?" Bunnelby asked. It took Espurr a moment to realize he was talking to her. Opening her eyes again and looking over, Espurr saw he was holding out a piece of bread in her direction with an ear. "You were asleep when we ate."

Espurr was hungry, but she was more tired. She couldn't even bring herself to get up off the cot.

"I'll eat it later…" she mumbled. At some point after that, she passed out again.

~\({O})/~

The ship travelled for hours, crossing the ocean and cresting through the waves elegantly. But soon, the journey was over, and the many-colored roofs of Lively Town could be seen through the cabin's windows. Espurr had risen not too long before, feeling much better after a second nap. She took the opportunity to eat the bread Bunnelby had left for her, plus drink some water on the side. It helped her fatigue and headache immensely.

As the ship drew within view of the town, Espurr entered onto the front deck with Tricky. They both bounded over to the bow of the ship, climbing up towards the highest railing where the lavender sails and the splashing of the waves below wouldn't get in the way. The salty sea breeze blew heavily in Espurr's face, and she could hear the chattering and shrieks of seagulls in the air above.

It was high noon and the light of the sun made it hard to see, but Espurr could spy the many vibrant colors of the rooftops that crested the town, as well as an ant-sized version of the Lively Town Harbor. And in the middle of it all, the purple and yellow towers of the Expedition Society building stretched above the houses, sitting up on its hill surrounded by the town. In the distance behind the town, large stone mountains stood tall, the beginning of the Sheer Mountain Range. A continent-wide mountain pass that stood between them and home.

But even if Lively Town wasn't home, Espurr couldn't deny the smile on her face, or that she was happy to see it again. It was more familiar than the Sand Continent, and without the shadow of the Beheeyem looming over it, the town looked just a little brighter now.

Five minutes later, the ship docked at the harbor. Bunnelby finished steering it into position and then saw to getting a harbor team to fold up the sails and tether the ship. Per Bunnelby's instructions, Espurr and Tricky undid the ramp that led off the ship's hull and down onto the stone of the harbor.

"Hey!" a shrill voice from the hustle and bustle of the harbor called out. "Over here! Expedition Society business, make way!"

The sparse crowd easily parted to let through a creature who was way too small to have made such a loud noise. Espurr and Tricky watched as Dedenne scurried up onto the ramp, a clipboard larger than she was attached to her back.

"You two!" she shrieked at them, pointing a paw out at them accusatorily. "Do you know how much chaos you caused when you snuck off with Bunnelby on this mission? And you didn't even answer your expedition gadget! I tried to contact you the whole day, and nothing!"

Espurr and Tricky didn't have a good retort. They both looked glum, taken aback by Dedenne's scolding.

Dedenne shook her head. "This is what the Chief gets for bringing on children… That age restriction exists for a reason!

"Did the three of you make it back safe?" she asked loudly, scurrying around Espurr and Tricky, checking them over. "No scuffs, no bangs, nothing's broken?" Espurr shook her head no.

"My tail hurts…" Tricky said. "But I think that's because I slept on it weird."

Dedenne's face wilted when she saw Bunnelby tromping down the ramp with his bandaged arm.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"That's a long story," Bunnelby yawned wearily. "And I'd rather explain it at the Society."

"Well, come on," Dedenne said. She unhooked the clipboard on her back, unhooked a pen attached to it with her tail, and then marked down something with incredible speed. A couple seconds, and the clipboard was on her back again. "I want to see the three of you get checkups and meals, posthaste! Especially that arm. Nickit's already waiting for you."

She beckoned them onwards, scurrying back down the ramp.

Bunnelby straightened his bag, tried not to move his left arm too much, and walked past them down the ramp. Espurr and Tricky picked themselves up and followed after him. Espurr for sure wasn't going to say no to some more food.

The towers of the Society weren't that far away now.

~\({O})/~

Expedition Society Lobby

Dedenne led them through the large purple walls that surrounded the Society Grounds, and then into the double doors that decorated the front of the building. The inside of the building was a lot cooler than the outside, a whoosh of cold air meeting Espurr as she stepped through the doors. She looked around as they went. The grand lobby of the building, with its bright lavender walls and golden fixings, still seemed unfamiliar to her.

"Nickit!" yelled Dedenne into the halls. "They're here!"

"No need to yell so loud," said Nickit, stepping out from the hallway to the left. She looked nonplussed. "I didn't go anywhere."

"These three just came back from the Sand Continent," Dedenne said. "They need assistance and checkups."

"Why's the place so quiet?" Tricky asked, looking around the halls. They were abandoned, Espurr noticed—aside from the five of them, the building was as silent as a dungeon.

"That, dear Tricky, would be because everymon is out doing missions right now," said a jubilant voice from above. Espurr and Tricky looked up to see Ampharos at the top of the lobby's grand stairway. He slid on the rail towards the bottom of the stairs, hopping off and landing right in front of Dedenne.

"How was your endeavor to the Sand Continent?" he asked, letting his earth-green cloak drape behind him. "All three of you, that is."

The pit in Espurr's stomach grew.

"Before you say anything," she said, but Ampharos suddenly cut her off.

"We'll discuss it later," he said, briefly staring down at her. There was a twinkle in his eye that told her he wasn't just brushing her off. "Now, Bunnelby, would you mind me borrowing you for a second? I'm sure there's a lot to discuss."

Nickit cleared her throat loudly, gaining the attention of the room.

"After Nickit has finished, of course," Ampharos added, bowing respectfully.

"Come on," Nickit said, waving her tail towards the hall in gesture. "The sooner this is done, the sooner you all get to run free."

~\({O})/~

Expedition Society Observatory

~Bunnelby~

"And how did the mission go?" asked Mawile, who stood next to one of the many cluttered objects in the observatory with her arms folded. The observatory was the most secluded room in the Society right now, aside from the cramped shelves of Mawile's office. It would not fit three pokemon neatly. Somewhere near the back, Jirachi was still dozing off—Either Nickit hadn't given him a new batch of remedies yet, or he hadn't remembered to take his today.

"It went poorly," said Bunnelby. That really was the only way to describe it. "There were a lot of complications on this mission; I didn't get to the anchorstone. And I should say… none of those complications were ordinary."

"Out of the ordinary?" asked Ampharos, who had his back against an old desk sitting around the place. He must have been wearing his green cloak for the sake of wearing it. "How would you say?"

"Well…" Bunnelby began, with a weary sigh that sounded 30 years older than he was. "How much stock do you put in stories of the dungeon wraith?"

Mawile took a second to consider it.

"I would say there are grains of truth to everything," she said. "Even folk legends."

"Inside the Sands of Time…" Bunnelby began. "To cut straight to the chase, we saw it. In the fog, it was there. It commanded one of those things you showed in your briefing. It tried to get rid of us."

"And you said this anomaly was inside the dungeon?" Mawile asked with vested interest. Bunnelby thought she sounded way too excited for something that held as much weight as it did. "And that the wraith interacted with it?"

"Yes," Bunnelby. "Exactly like that. And that's not all. Back in the city, there were these beheeyem. Three of them, going by what those kids said. They caused a lot of messes around town. Blew up the police station. They were coming after those two kids out there; they said that's why they stowed away on the boat."

"There were similar sightings a few days ago at Spinda's Café downtown…" Ampharos mused.

"You saw this?" asked Mawile. Bunnelby shook his head.

"Not directly. But I saw the evidence. It's like they—and that anomaly in the dungeon—were… waiting for us. They knew we were coming, and they set a trap. And somehow, all of it was connected to those two kids."

Ampharos held his paw to his chin, silently musing over it all.

"Thank you for your briefing," he said. "You're dismissed."

Bunnelby nodded and began to trudge towards the stairs with a certain weariness. After three days of travelling and near-death encounters, he was happy just to be back home.

Once he was gone, Mawile and Ampharos were suddenly a lot less relaxed.

"More complications to a sticky situation," Ampharos sighed.

"I advise you talk to them," Mawile said. "Tonight."

"The children?" asked Ampharos.

"Of course not," Mawile replied wryly. "The dungeon wraith."

"Point taken," Ampharos said, pushing himself off the desk. "If everything is as Bunnelby said, we cannot afford to wait much longer."

Mawile walked forward, setting the dusty old book she'd been combing lately on the desk Ampharos leaned against.

"The Dungeon Wraith…" she trailed off. "There's nothing about it in any book except old legends and folklore. To see it now… this could mean a major advancement in the way we see dungeons. I'll have to ask for sketches of how it looked."

"And yet it commands the creatures we're fighting," said Ampharos. "This is more sinister than a mere discovery."

"Your meaning?" asked Mawile.

"It means…" he said, beginning to leave for the observatory stairs. "That we are in need of a Human Savior more than ever."

~\({O})/~

Expedition Society Grounds

~Espurr and Tricky~

Espurr and Tricky weren't injured like Bunnelby was, so Nickit had let them off first. That left the two of them to wander throughout the building, which was eerily quiet. The tall halls seemed to stretch onwards and onwards, continuing in a curve that took forever to go through at the pace they were walking. Every wall was purple, with yellow sills on the lofty rounded windows, and decorative furniture that was a similar shade of lavender—just with gold knobs and trimmings. The floor was made of smooth, hard flooring that was a golden brown and a lighter cream, stretching the length of the hall in stripes. All of it seemed too clean to be properly lived in, too orderly. But then, this wasn't a house to be lived in. It was a guild, open for business. Everything had to look picture perfect.

They passed the kitchen at some point. The entrance was open but completely obscured by steam, making it impossible to tell what was going on within. Espurr and Tricky both cringed slightly, listening to the sounds that were coming from inside the room. Lots of pots and pans were crashing, accompanied by feral growls and hisses, running water, and the sound of something sizzling.

"What's… going on in there?" Tricky questioned, her ears flopped down.

"I think that's somemon cooking," Espurr said, just as taken aback.

"Pops never sounds like that when he cooks…" replied Tricky.

Something in there squawked and flapped. It sounded alive, and also like it wasn't going to be alive much longer. When a maniacal laugh belted out from inside the room, Espurr and Tricky both booked it.

By way of luck, after the kitchen came the entrance lobby again. Espurr and Tricky decided not to take any more random detours around the building anymore, instead taking a moment to lounge around in the building's serene emptiness.

"Do you think we could go?" asked Espurr, as they sat on the steps of the stairway. The afternoon light cast the lobby into a golden glow, coming in through vast windows and large double doors open for business. A cool breeze blew through the room, smelling of sea and softly ruffling Espurr and Tricky's fur.

"Go?" Tricky asked.

"Leave," Espurr said. "The doors are right over there. Now that the Beheeyem are locked up, there's no reason to run, right? We could go back to the village."

"And get grounded by Pops?" Tricky blurted out. "No way!"

"Didn't you say you missed home a couple of days ago?" Espurr asked.

"I do miss it," said Tricky. She stood up straighter, and Espurr felt an amber glow from her. "I wish Pops could see me. And Deerling. And then I'd get to laugh at Pancham, because he said I'd never make it."

"Then why don't we go back?"

"Well…" Tricky began, pawing the stairway. "If we went back, we'd have to tell everymon we gave up. And we'd never get to do this again. Pops wouldn't let me out of his sight, and Audino would kill you! And then… we'd have to deal with Watchog."

"Good point," Espurr said. "I could deal with anything but Watchog."

Watchog wasn't around to tell them it was Vice Principal Watchog. They could call him whatever they wanted. That felt good.

"See?" Tricky said. "I knew you'd get it."

"This place just feels strange," said Espurr. "Everything is so weird here."

"You're right," said Tricky. "The purple is yucky. But…"

She trailed off.

"I'm thinking of it as an adventure. We're explorers. We can't just stay holed up in a house our whole lives—discovering weird things is what we do! And as long as we have each other, then… maybe we can brave the weird. We can make this place home."

Espurr just folded her arms and leaned back against the step above them. Tricky had an optimism it was hard for her to feel, no matter how she wanted to feel it.

Maybe she could, if she knew this place was as it seemed.

"You know they aren't being honest with us," she said. "Do you think we're safe here?"

"I think if they wanted to hurt us, they would've done it already," said Tricky. "If Ampharos wanted us out of the way, then why didn't he just let the Beheeyem do it?"

"Because he has other plans for us," Espurr replied. "I heard him say it."

"Then why don't you just ask him?"

"What?"

"I said…" Tricky began. "Why don't you just ask him?"

"Because he might lie," said Espurr. "Or he might be evil."

"But he might tell you the truth," Tricky stressed. "You never asked."

They sat there a minute longer, letting a gust of the outside breeze blow over them. Espurr didn't say it, but Tricky had a point. What was there to lose by talking to Ampharos?

"I'll ask him tonight," said Espurr. "But if he lies, or turns out to be evil, we go back to the village. Does that sound okay?"

"If he's evil, I guess…" Tricky said.

The silence afterwards was punctuated only by the distant sounds of the town and the blowing of the wind.

Swirlix served cooked meat sandwiches and a large salad that night. Everymon at the Expedition Society's large table ate heartily, but after what had happened in the kitchen earlier, Espurr and Tricky suddenly found they had lost their appetite for meat.

"You two okay?" Buizel asked, cocking an eyebrow in confusion at Espurr and Tricky gingerly picking the meat out of their sandwiches.

"We're okay," Espurr answered. Tricky beside her nodded quick as a blur. "We're just… not big meat eaters."

The look on Tricky's face said she didn't agree with that, but at the same time she wasn't going to touch the meat either.

Buizel shrugged. "Eh. Well pass it here if you don't want it. "

Espurr and Tricky gingerly slid the meat over, letting Buizel lop it all onto his plate. He took Bunnelby's unwanted lettuce too.

"You two were near the kitchen, huh."

The two of them looked over to see Nickit, who was sitting next to them. She was idly munching on something from her plate, though she didn't seem to like the vegetables much.

"You know what's going on in there?" Espurr asked.

"I've stopped questioning it," Nickit said. "Swirlix is…"

They both looked at Swirlix on the far side of the table, who no-mon wanted to sit next to. She was a very messy eater.

"Swirlix," Nickit finished. "But hey, slip me your meat next if you don't want it. It's the only good thing in this sandwich."

~\({O})/~

After dinner had concluded, Espurr and Tricky slunk away from the lit dining room and back into the much darker, quieter halls. Before they could slip away completely, though, a tall shadow filled their vision, blocking out the yellow-orange light. Looking behind them, Espurr and Tricky saw that Ampharos was standing in the dining room entrance.

"If you could be so kind as to lend me a moment of your time," Ampharos began, walking the rest of the way forward. He addressed Espurr specifically. "We have much to discuss up in my office."

Espurr and Tricky traded uneasy looks.

"Me… and not Tricky?" Espurr asked.

"You alone, I'm afraid," said Ampharos. "But not to worry. This should be no more than ten minutes. I couldn't bear to keep the two of you separated much longer."

Espurr didn't like the idea. But if it came to it… she could hold her own. She stepped forward.

"Alright," she said. "If it's only ten minutes."

"Excellent!" exclaimed Ampharos. He began to walk for the lobby, where the doors were now closed and the grand staircase sat. "Follow me."

The second floor of the Expedition Society was a place that Espurr had seldom been before. It was a lot darker than the first, and smaller too. Unlike the massive lobby and halls at the bottom of the first floor, the second seemed to branch off into several rooms and narrow hallways that she could see the ends of. It felt smaller, quieter, darker. Ampharos led Espurr through the large, weirdly empty chamber—hadn't this place had some sort of camera projector?—and towards a door on the right-hand side of the room. He opened it wide, standing aside to allow Espurr to pass. Espurr quietly walked in.

One way or another, she figured, she'd find out what the Expedition Society was all about here.

The office was smaller, and well-lit compared to the outside. Ampharos walked in behind her. The door shut. Her line of potential escape narrowed.

"Sit," he said, gesturing towards a reddish-brown cushion that lay on the floor. Espurr took a seat. Ampharos leaned against his desk, letting his lantern tail curl in front of him. His green cape furled behind him and nearly touched the ground.

"Allow me to cut to the chase," Ampharos said. "It has come to my attention that you and your fennekin friend chose to stowaway to the Sand Continent…"

Here it came. Espurr tried to keep a straight face. She wasn't going to enjoy explaining this.

"…Because you were being pursued."

That caught Espurr off-guard. Ampharos grabbed a newspaper off the desk, and held it out. "The headline of this newspaper might interest you. Take a read."

Espurr got up from her seat, slowly walked over, and took it out of Ampharos' paw. The article detailed an incident at Spinda's, in which the entire storefront had been destroyed due to three…

"Beheeyem," she found herself muttering aloud.

"Indeed," said Ampharos. "The same beheeyem that, as you might recall, attacked you two on that mountain pass all those days ago. In fact…"

He paused, waiting for Espurr to finish with the newspaper.

"Something tells me that you two were running here from the beheeyem," he finished. There was that glint in his eye again, the one that told Espurr he knew more than he let on, and was only now letting it show. "Tell me, am I on the right track?"

"What makes you think that?" Espurr asked. "That's a lot of conjecture."

"Educated conjecture," said Ampharos, "Two and two come together naturally when you look at the behavior patterns of the past few days! You did, however," he gave her a look that said he hadn't skipped the beat she'd hoped for one second, "dodge the question."

Espurr sighed through gritted teeth.

"Fine," she said. "You're on the right track."

"How much, would you say?"

"Completely."

"Then that clears up a lot!" said Ampharos cheerily. "My only question is why you didn't come to me before acting on your own." His tone lost that airiness, drifting off to something more down-to-earth. "We could have prevented a lot of damage and debacle if you'd just asked for help."

His words were disarming, but Espurr knew better. Why hadn't she come to him for help? Because he wasn't being honest with her. Because he knew more than he was letting on, and she didn't know his intentions.

"Because I can't trust you," said Espurr.

"Hmm," hmmed Ampharos. "Why would that be?"

"Because it's too convenient," Espurr replied. "Every time we meet you, you're always in the right place to prevent something or make something happen. You always know more than you should. That means you know what's happening, and you want a specific outcome."

"Correctamundo," said Ampharos. Espurr's eyes widened in surprised, then imperceptibly narrowed. So he admitted it. Now what?

"What does that mean?" she asked, tensing to spring where she was sure he couldn't see. If she had to run, she might have to blow the door off its hinges. She was prepared to do it.

"It means you are absolutely right," Ampharos clarified. His cheeriness was back. It confused Espurr.

"So explain," she replied, trying to keep her voice stable and calm. She couldn't let her inner jitters betray her confidence, not here.

"Do you know why I took my trip to Serenity Village?" Ampharos asked.

"You were looking for something," was the conclusion Espurr immediately came to.

"Indeed. I was looking for somemon very important. Somemon not from this world, but brought here to save it. I was looking for a Human." Ampharos swished his cape back, and leaned against the desk once again. "And I believe that I found one."

Only then did Espurr connect the two dots. This explained… everything about him.

"So you think I'm the human," she said.

"Correctamundo once more," said Ampharos.

"That still doesn't explain why you were looking for me."

"Ah, but that should be the clear part," Ampharos sang. "You are aware of the significance of the term?"

Espurr did. Ampharos was dancing rings around her, she knew, and it was all she could do to stay standing.

"I am," she said.

Ampharos pulled out the chair from behind his desk, and sat on it. A dead serious expression sat on his face, and everything airy or joyous about him had fallen away.

"I know you've seen by now the dark forces that are creeping in from the corners," he said. "I think you know a lot more about those forces than one might tell at first glance. And I need you to know that while you are under this roof, no harm shall come to either you or Tricky."

He scooted the chair a bit closer, until there was only a little space between himself and Espurr.

"Those dark forces out there have fixated on you," he continued, "and that is because you and your partner are very important pokemon. The beheeyem and the anomalies will keep coming, perhaps for us all in the end. It is the hope of myself and the Expedition Society that when they come, you are ready for them. We can help you. We can train you to fight, teach you what we know, offer you protection from pokemon like the Beheeyem. But only if you can confide in us."

He leaned forward.

"I won't ask for your trust in a night, but I will ask for your honesty. Can you give me that?"

Espurr thought for a moment.

"If you want my honesty, then you'll have to be honest with me," she said.

"Then I think we have a deal!" said Ampharos, and suddenly it was like he was back to his normal cheery self again. Espurr truly didn't understand him.

~\({O})/~

Ampharos was true to his word. Not even ten minutes later, Espurr exited the office, walking out into the halls on her own. The light of Ampharos' office disappeared as the door shut behind her, leaving her in a moonlit chamber that led to darkened stairs and hallways.

She still wasn't sure what to think of it all, as she hopped down the stairs into the lobby and took the hallway to her right that led into the residential dorms. The halls still felt unfamiliar to walk in, too large and clean and silent. But Serenity Village had felt like that once too, and she had made that place her home. Why couldn't this become familiar as well?

The door to the room Espurr and Tricky shared was six rooms over from the hall's entrance to the lobby, with another five to go after that. Espurr pushed aside the curtains that hang over the room's entrance, trotting over to the nest that was her bed and flopping down on it. It hadn't been used in a while and she could tell; it smelled like it had been recently cleaned too.

Espurr just laid down on her side, and stared up at the moon through the window. She'd spent a lot of the morning resting, and she felt awake now. Too awake to sleep, and too muddled to think properly on everything she'd been given to think about today.

"Espurr?"

Tricky's voice from the other side of the room made Espurr look up. She saw the fennekin nestled within her own nest bed, in a similar state of awakeness.

"Right here," Espurr said.

"What did he say?" Tricky asked.

"He knew," Espurr said. "He knew everything the whole time. He was just waiting for us to notice."

"Everything everything?" Tricky asked. Espurr nodded.

"Well then, what does he want with us?"

"He said he knew there was a Human out there and that he was looking for one." The explanation came suddenly, more coherent than Espurr expected. She was still analyzing everything he'd said, looking for any possible flaws or double meanings. "He knows about the monsters. He wants to train us to fight them."

She was surprised when instead of being in a similar state of confusion as herself, Tricky's eyes suddenly bulged wide.

"Holy mystery dungeon!" she exclaimed aloud. "Do you know what this means?!"

"What?" Espurr asked.

"We're the next famous team!" she squealed with delight. "Those ones in the history books I showed you! We're gonna… we're gonna save the world and then everymon is going to know our names and write about us!"

Espurr didn't seem nearly as excited. Tricky noticed after a minute, quitting her outburst and calming down to look at Espurr.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"If we're going to be the next world-famous team," Espurr began, "then that means the world needs saving."

"It's nothing we can't handle," said Tricky. "We came this far, right?"

It was true. They had come this far, despite all the pokemon and obstacles and monsters that stood in their way. And if the monsters were going to come for them anyway, then maybe it was time to stop running and face them head-on. Ampharos had made them a promise, and if he could make good on it, then she could at least hold up her end of the bargain. With all the risks she'd been taking lately, what was another?

"Right," Espurr said. It sounded more confident than she had felt in a week.

~\({O})/~

HAPPI Barracks ~ Pokemon Paradise

~Zoroark-as-Braixen~

It had been a few days since Zoroark's theft from the archive, and so far it looked like he could hope against hope. A search had been conducted of the building, and the pokemon in charge hadn't found anything. He was currently laying low, making sure there was no reason to suspect the lilac-furred braixen who had applied just a week ago. It was extra lucky that Amadeus hadn't asked him to get anything in that time.

Things between him and his partner were still icy. Zoroark wasn't sure how to bridge the gap there, so he'd mostly been sticking at arm's length. He stayed in the background for the missions they took, making sure not to get in the way too much and stay out of the spotlight. It worked towards his agenda—the less notable he looked, the better. But it made the nights uncomfortable and uncertain, and he was feeling less and less like this was somewhere he could stay. He'd come here to be happy and find a home, so… why was he here instead, fearing for his life? Wasn't this supposed to be the greatest pokemon-built city of all time?

The sun had already set, leaving only the moon to light thousands of purple roofs; some on stilts, some on the ground, some attached to towers that looked like they might fall at any moment. Zoroark often slept near the window in their room just to get a good view of the moon as he drifted off. That, and if he had to get away in a hurry and the door wasn't an option, the window was his next best bet. He didn't like thinking like that, but in a city like this it had become second nature after a few weeks.

But as he walked in, he noticed that Alice was sitting there this time. She didn't move or make any notion to acknowledge that he'd walked in; she was just perched near the window and looking up at the moonlight. Not sure what else to make of it, Zoroark-as-Braixen walked over and sat down next to her.

She didn't acknowledge him that time either. They both just sat there, staring up at the large moon.

"Do you like living here?" Zoroark-as-Braixen broke the silence.

"Do I what?"

It was curt. She didn't even look over at him.

"Do you like living here?" Zoroark-as-Braixen asked again. "Working for HAPPI, all the cafeteria food, the teammates…"

Alice scoffed.

"Of course not. Do you know anymon who likes working for HAPPI?"

Zoroark-as-Braixen shook his head. "No. But if you don't like working for them, why not leave?"

"Let me ask you a question," said Alice. "Why did you sign up for HAPPI?"

"…To get a warm bed," Zoroark-as-Braixen admitted.

"Well there you go," Alice said. "The winter is cold here. Housing's expensive. HAPPI offers board and lodging; it's the only job in this city that does. It's a no brainer."

They sat in silence for a moment longer; Zoroark didn't know where to continue. But Alice continued in his wake.

"Eventually, if you make enough money, you can quit this job and set yourself up with a bakery or something. But when HAPPI taxes everything you earn and the payouts aren't enough anyway, you won't get anywhere. You're just stuck. Living in these barracks and eating the stale cafeteria food and working too hard to even think about quitting and finding something else. It's a trap."

She sighed and let her fish tail flop back down.

"I miss when I got to be on one of the exchange teams."

Zoroark hadn't heard of that.

"You were on an exchange team?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Alice, and all of the sudden she was intently not staring at him. "Team Cobalt. We were freelancing investigators; we assisted with cleanups after other teams did their thing, hunted down wandering outlaws, took notes whenever somemon went missing, that kind of thing. We got to travel everywhere."

"Sounds nice," Zoroark said. It did, better than the frosty wind and rickety buildings here.

"It was," Vaporeon said.

"So why did you stop?" he asked.

"Because…"

There was a long pause.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," Zoroark said, filling the silence.

"I had a partner," Alice said. "He's not… around anymore. This city reminds me of him the least."

And you remind me of him the most.

"Oh…" said Zoroark-as-Braixen.

"So that's why I came back here," Alice said, with a pointed look towards Zoroark-as-Braixen. "Despite the leaning towers and the cold winters and the cafeteria food and how much of a nightmare this place is."

Silence stood between them again. This time, the divide felt as large as the moon.

"So what about you?" Alice asked. The break in silence was sudden; Zoroark hadn't been expecting that. "What are you doing here?"

Instantly, Zoroark was deliberating how much he wanted to tell. But then, she'd been honest with him, so…

"I lived on a boat out at sea," he said, repeating the bare essentials. "Me and my b… the pokemon I lived with drifted between continents a lot. Then it sank. He went down with it. I didn't. I washed up in Noe Town and couldn't pay the boat fare off the continent, so I wandered up here and joined HAPPI for a bed and lodging."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't be." The words tumbled out of Zoroark's mouth before he fully knew what he was saying. "I didn't like him much."

More silence. The air felt awkward.

"You should go somewhere else." Zoroark-as-Braixen looked up at Alice's words. She was staring up at the moonlight once more, her face somber.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"If you're looking for a home, you don't come to Paradise to find it," Alice said. "HAPPI will become your life if you let it, but any home you make is going to be in spite of all this," she said, gesturing up at the buildings outside the window with her ear fins. "I say save up your spare change, turn in your scarf and badge, and leave while you still can. Go somewhere else, pay that boat fare, go do something fulfilling with your life. Just don't stay here. That's my advice to you, 'partner'."

She stood up, stretched, yawned, and began to pad over to the pile of crumpled cloth that was her bed on the other side of the room. Zoroark-as-Braixen watched walk over, then pulled over his own pile of cloth from next to where Alice had been sitting and laid down on his side.

Find a new home… that stuck with him, even after he'd drifted off to sleep watching the leaning towers creak in the wind. Because more and more, this place was feeling less and less to him like home.

~\({O})/~

Music of the Week!

Rebuilding the Fleet/Roslin Confesses – Bear McCreary