Ryan did not sleep well that night. His disjointed visions hitting hard and fast.

Betrayal. Why was it always betrayal? How did he even know it was always betrayal when he couldn't recognize the people he was seeing in these dreams? That wasn't entirely true, the memories attached to them, if the memories existed at all, were on the tip of his now tiny Pokémon tongue.

He was in the human body once more. His body. He was in a room, similar cleanliness to the corridor from the last dream. Indeedee was there. He gave the Pokémon a quick smile, strained and hidden as someone walked into the room and barked orders at Indeedee and they hurried off.

"You aren't meant to be in here," said the man in the lab coat that had just entered the room. Ryan was wearing an identical lab coat. Even though he knew this man was his equal in standing, he struggled to keep his knees from buckling under the stress of talking to him. Was this human Ryan terrified of this man. Or was he simply scared of the consequences of being found?

Ryan's eyes flickered awake. Frustrated and wanting to know more, he scrunched his eyes shut once again, but he heard Treecko calling from just past the entrance to the room. It was time to face the new day. Still as a Pokémon.

The following days became a blur for both Ryan and Treecko. Whilst reprimanded for their recklessness in rescuing Scizor and Combusken, Pangoro also took into account the saved Pokémon's glowing thanks that they delivered face to face, at the Guild. Treecko was mortified by the increase in attention, but appreciative of their gratitude. It always seemed like whenever Ryan was around, all the other Pokémon thanked Treecko for things more than usual.

As Ryan and Treecko both became more used to the atmosphere of the Guild, even if they still only kept to themselves primarily, the workload increased also. The earthquakes had been a signifier of a significant uptick in both natural disasters and missing Pokémon reports. As a result, Ryan and Treecko became the de facto team to patrol the woods for disasters difficult to spot from the air.

Other teams were assigned locations close by or far out to protect, whilst other teams were more focused on figuring out the cause of the tears, as they appeared to be the only connecting factor between any of the natural disasters besides the sorrow and loss of the Pokémon involved.

All the while, the dreams continued.

Indeedee. The fear-inducing lab partner. The sterile room. The reeking, overwhelming betrayal, although he had yet to know who was betraying who about what. His dreams always seemed to cut off before any useful information was given to him, as if someone was playing with his mind.

After approximately one week after the fiery forest incident, both Treecko and Ryan were sitting in the mess hall, eating breakfast and preparing themselves for another busy day. They had noticed at least three separate jobs they could pick up within the woods for that day alone.

With how hectic everything had been recently, it was usually quite loud, especially in the mess hall with everyone shouting over each other as they ate. The uptick in dangers and missing Pokémon had led to just as big an increase in applications to join the Guild. It was swarming with all sorts of Pokémon; all willing to do their part to help with the disasters.

Naturally, the Guild was a loud place due to it having more Pokémon within its walls at any one time, but as Ryan and Treecko ate, the volume rapidly shot up. Shouting and laughing and planning became traded with cries of shock, fear and anger. These were then shortly followed by noises of explosions and vicious impacts.

Ryan and Treecko looked at each other and ran to where the noises were breaking out, as did everyone else in the mess hall.

There was a huge tear in the center of the entrance hall and Pokémon were filing out of it, attacking anyone in sight.

These Pokémon reminded Ryan of those that had stood unmoving in the flames. They attacked without mercy and without fear for their own safety, as the members of the Guild united to fend them off.

Ryan and Treecko were cornered by an Arbok. Thankfully, both being fast on their feet, they whittled it down with a series of precise leaf attacks until it fainted, too large to be able to effectively attack back in the crowded area.

All around, Ryan could see that the Guild had the upper hand in the fighting. They were well-trained, for the most part, and whilst the aggressors moved as one, they did not attack as if they had been in fights before. They were brutal, but sluggish.

Eventually, the tear closed once again, but not before a tendril of black smoke whipped out and carved a cut down Pangoro's front as he fended everyone else back from it.

Pangoro tensed up, the pain making him seize up in a way Ryan and Treecko hadn't thought possible for a Pokémon as powerful as he. After he had finished tensing up, he crashed to the floor, knocked out cold.

The members of the Guild, now led by Machamp, moved the attacking Pokémon into blocked off quarters that had been recommissioned as jail cells, containment cells, until they knew what to do with them.

Pangoro woke up in his bed, Ryan, Treecko and other members of the Guild watching over him as he did. Ryan could tell something was off immediately. His eyes were glassed over, black and emotionless. He began attacking before he had even risen from his bed.

With Machamp helping restrain Pangoro, the Guild members moved Pangoro to a containment cell of his own, unwilling to harm their leader.

"What do we do now?" Espeon asked Machamp once they thought they were out of earshot of the others, having sent the Pokémon out on their missions to keep the cause going. Ryan and Treecko, concerned about the situation, had lingered long enough to hear this conversation.

"I don't know," Machamp said, "it's clear that whatever that rift is, it's infecting Pokémon. I think these could be some of the Pokémon that have gone missing."

"So how do we protect ourselves, or uninfect them, if we can be attacked within our own walls?"

"That is a very good question," Machamp said slowly. The tone of the conversation, whilst still serious, flipped as Treecko and Ryan listened. "And your thoughts on The Woodland Wanderers?"

"Still looking into it, but I think I'm getting close."

Treecko and Ryan saw this as their moment to leave, before they got caught by whatever these two were planning.

As they marched up the hill towards the forest to begin their actual day's work, Treecko turned to Ryan.

"What do you think Espeon means when she says she is close?"

Ryan was very concerned if his suspicions were correct, but he couldn't tell Treecko. He couldn't tell anybody. Having lived with Pokémon for over a week at this point, he knew that whilst humans didn't exist in their world, there were rumors and myths about them. He had yet to find a Pokémon that did not resent or fear humans. If they were to find out he was one too, it would be his turn to fear.

"I'm not sure, Treecko," Ryan said, "but it can't be good."