The heavy pitter patter of rain and rolling of gentle thunder is what greeted me when my consciousness came to. I groaned when I felt the lingering signs of a headache swimming in my mind.

I shifted around on what appeared to be a makeshift bed, only to be startled by something yanking on my clothes.

A whine of disgruntlement followed by some worried yips kicked my mind into overdrive.

I quickly opened my eyes from the sudden assault on my senses to find an anxiously concerned hyena and bunny staring back at me. I realized, with renewed clarity, I had been lying down in a tent. I scrambled around for my Pokédex to see that the time was now half past three. I recalled we had stopped around two to three, so I must have been out for around half an hour.

The hell had put me in this state? One second, my mind is focused and jumped up on adrenaline. The next, the lines between reality and hallucination blurred my vision and shut down my body.

"W-wruff!"

"Pun-Pun!"

I heard the two Pokémon shout in front of me. Dusk's worried gaze was constantly looking between me and the entrance of the tent. While Lyra stared at me as she rubbed her wrists together nervously, reminiscent to what Jenna had done when I first met her.

I could tell by their body language they were ready to take off in a sprint at a moment's notice.

I groggily stood up, making my way towards the front of the tent and unzipped the entrance. A flood of cold damp air invaded the tent with little hesitation. Looking around the area that had been our campsite, I found it to be worse for wear. Telltale signs made it evident that a battle had taken place not too long ago. A few newly formed grooves were marked upon the rock Jenna had been sitting on with fresh scars, along with a few patches of dirt that were coated in rime.

"Where's Jenna?" I questioned with a look behind me at the only two creatures capable of giving me a response.

Though I already knew the answer.

Dusk's deflated ears and tail was all I needed to confirm that she had been taken. Based off of the scene outside, I found it very alarming that a 2v1 had resulted in that outcome, even if Lyra wasn't all that experienced in battle.

"Pun-Pun!" Lyra spoke up to get my attention and began pantomiming by pointing between her and Dusk. Once she saw I was watching, she then lifted up two claw-like appendages. Then pointed at me and gave the same gesture.

I looked confused for a moment, and it took another repeat of her impromptu charades for me to finally understand.

My eyes widened as I realized that Lyra was trying to tell me there had been two opposing Pokémon and Trainers.

Harry was not alone.

"Regulated fights and street fights are two completely different ballparks, Aster." Amber spoke quietly. "If he had another Pokémon in hiding, I would have been completely disadvantaged. People definitely don't fight fair when there's something they want."

I had been struck from behind by an unknown enemy with a sneak attack…

I paled at the revelation that I could have easily died.

I imagined Harry had learned his lesson in Jubilife and decided to hire another willing trainer for a sinister request. It was probably only thanks to Lyra's unanticipated intervention that I had gotten out of that situation relatively unscathed.

Well, this scenario has suddenly become far too dangerous for my blood.

It was best to just leave and contact law enforcement more equipped to handle a situation like this.

"We're leaving…" My tone was solemn, remorseless, as I began to search around for my stuff, only to realize that I was in Jenna's tent.

I guess it made sense. A bed had already been made for Lyra.

I felt a tug on my pants and looked down to see a confused Dusk staring up at me.

"R-Ruff!" Dusk gave a determined bark, gesturing her paw at the entrance of the tent.

Even my lack luster eyes could see that Dusk wanted to save Jenna.

That's right… Pokémon were just as sentient as any human being.

"You're not serious!" I incredulously exclaimed, a hint of anger lining the edges of my tone.

We had no obligation to see this through.

I didn't care if Jenna was from some other region, or that I could be held accountable for leaving her.

She had withheld vital information from me to trick me into escorting her.

I wasn't an Interpol Agent, Ranger, or officer of the law. This unknown person assisting Harry would be far more experienced in these kinds of situations. There was no telling to what lengths they would go to get rid of me.

I realize it was my fault that I wasn't suspicious enough. I knew that my flaw of being swayed with cuteness was stupid.

But I was still not duty bound to save her. I didn't make any careless promises to keep her safe, no matter the cost.

I felt a little bad when I saw Dusk take a step away from me at my shout, shrinking in on herself slightly.

But I was rotten enough to push past the guilt and take advantage of this.

"Jenna… and that Lopunny-" I pointed at Lyra accusingly, a slight murmur of their name coming from their mouth in response. "-Knew all this time that Harry guy was going to do something like this. Yet, they did nothing to tell us. Had they done so, we could have at least reported him to some Rangers, or created some counter measures."

I saw her gaze over at Lyra, the bunny's expression having turned downtrodden at my accusation. With renewed vigor, Dusk recomposed herself, a confident aura radiating off of her.

She let loose a great howl to confirm that she didn't care. The sound echoed in the tent, her intentions bleeding through the guttural noise.

So we gazed into each other's eyes to see that neither of us was willing to budge on our stances.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before we had a disagreement.

No partnership is truly perfect, after all.

Damn it…

"I could have been killed, Dusk."

Dusk couldn't stay composed and faltered at my chilly words. She unconsciously took a step back, her tail between her legs as another whine escaped her jaw.

I was such a rotten guy…

When you failed to change a person's stance with logic, the next step was to appeal to their emotions.

A person's thoughts, feelings, and connections with others could be used like the strings on a violin to make someone dance to the tune that you desired. With enough justification, they would find it hard to argue with you.

I stared coldly into Dusk's eyes, a part of myself breaking at having to use this rotten tactic on her.

This whole mess was ridiculous, and I wanted to wash my hands of it all.

I wanted to go back to traveling the road alone with my adorable hyena, a perpetual goofy smile plastered on her mangy face.

Dusk had her head bowed low to the ground, her eyes looking back and forth, searching for an answer she wasn't sure she wanted.

I expected her to agree to my reasoning.

Because of our prior connection, she would inevitably favor me over Jenna. It was the only natural conclusion.

I should hold greater value over Jenna in Dusk's eyes, since I had saved her from some thugs in an alley.

At least, that's what I thought.

It was my turn to take a step back in fear, an unpleasant guttural growl coming from Dusk's throat. Her eyes flicked back up to meet my own, her fangs bared at me. I could see the colors of anger, disappointment, and betrayal swim in her eyes in a myriad display that left me in horror.

I suddenly realized that, if Dusk wanted to, she could easily rip out my throat.

But why?

I swallowed the spittle that had unknowingly formed in my mouth due to my fear.

"Why?" I repeated aloud in a whisper, my voice cracking.

I could hear her snarl something back, but I couldn't possibly understand her.

We hadn't known each other for nearly long enough.

I don't even know why I bothered asking.

I already knew the reason why.

I was a rotten person undeserving of such a brave and loyal Pokémon. This was a world where I didn't belong, a world that should have no need of me.

However, I was forced here for some unknown reason.

Sure, I knew I could return her to her ball and leave this place.

But that would only hurt us in the long run. It would cause a fracture I wasn't sure I could mend. For whatever reason, Dusk felt that we should save Jenna.

Dusk kept barking and growling words at me I couldn't possibly conceive.

Perhaps, I didn't really have a choice…

With a shaky hand, I slowly reached into my coat pocket to retrieve Dusk's ba—

A sharp cry rang out through the tent as Lyra jumped in-between the two of us, tears streaming down her face.

"PUN! PUN-PUN!" Lyra's cries sounded desperate and pleading as she glanced between the two of us, her body shaking so much it looked like she would collapse at any moment.

I stared eyes wide at her sudden outburst, my hand frozen in my coat pocket.

When she saw she wasn't getting much of a reaction from me, she practically threw herself in front of Dusk, her cries mellowing out into whimpers as she spoke a few more times.

"Lo-punny…"

Dusk's ears flattened to her skull at that, looking down for a moment in melancholy.

I could feel the genuine desolation rolling off of Lyra as her sniffling whines echoed inside the tent.

I let go of the ball I had grasped inside my jacket, my eyes softening.

I wasn't really sure what Jenna and Lyra's story was.

The scars, the awkwardness, the anxiety, and the comfortableness with which they carried those burdens was… unnerving. But I could tell that what Lyra was showing me right now was the painful truth she kept buried inside of her.

The ways in which she insincerely and cheerfully jumped around Jenna reminded me of an over concerned mother that didn't know how to make all her child's nightmares go away.

Lyra would even go as far as to remind that awkward girl about proper etiquette.

Jenna and Lyra's partnership was definitely strange.

But I didn't dislike it.

Perhaps… perhaps there was a reason they couldn't simply get proper help for their situation…

I looked at Dusk to find that she wasn't sure how to process all of this, clearly out of her element. This didn't surprise me considering how young she probably was.

I turned away from the scene of it all to stare outside, pulling my Pokédex out as I did so.

The dark clouds and the inevitable rain that it brought appeared to be nowhere close to ceasing. And to top it all off, I still didn't have any service to contact anyone.

I had no doubt that Harry and his partner had pounced on this opportunity because of this.

"Not like I can do much about it. Trainers going missing in any part of the world are the norm. It's hard being everywhere at once." Rachel looked towards her Delphox with furrowed brows. "Even if you have a Pokémon who can teleport you around..."

Yes, this was the norm here in this world.

Even with teleportation existing, if they didn't know the crime was being committed, there was no way for them to make it in time.

With the many different types of Pokémon probably being countless, I was sure there were innumerable ways for people to hide their tracks.

By the time we got somewhere we could report to the Rangers, it might already be too late.

Now that I thought about it, Dusk hadn't been saved by some Ranger or law enforcement.

It had been me, some random nobody that happened to witness that momentary cruelty of the world.

But I wasn't just some nobody to Dusk.

To her, I had looked like a hero.

The betrayal and disappointment in her eyes made sense now.

I sighed at this revelation.

She simply had a mistaken impression about my moral integrity, and that was ultimately what had caused the misunderstanding.

I felt movement beside me and looked down to see Dusk step out of the tent, her fur becoming completely soaked the moment she exited the comforting abode.

I could tell she had every intention to go after Jenna's kidnappers when I saw her try and sniff at the ground to track Jenna's scent.

Not that I'm sure such an action would do any good considering the weather, but I could hazard a guess they hadn't gone too far.

The weather had gotten pretty heavy, and it would be difficult trying to drag an unwilling person through it.

They would be just as hindered as any other traveler, if not more so.

And with it, came the possibility that they would be forced to find a place to camp out and wait for the conditions to lessen.

Already I could see Dusk about to go off on her own after her fruitless endeavor, clearly not deterred by such a setback.

"Dusk, wait!" I called out to her in a neutral voice, neither happy nor angry at her actions.

She turned back to me with annoyance, and barked a few more words at me that I might never understand.

"We'll go together." I simply said, turning back towards the now surprised bunny. "But you're going to be helping us, Lyra. Whatever preconceived notions about fighting you have, I suggest you throw them away. I don't have the confidence that Dusk and I could win against two opponents on our own." I explained unflinchingly as I stared into Lyra's beady brown eyes.

Lyra gave a small, unsure nod at my words.

"That'll mean you'll follow my orders just as you would Jenna's." I turned back around to observe Dusk. I could tell she wasn't entirely convinced of my sudden change in motivation. "And then, when this is all over, you and Jenna can explain why the hell you decided to rope the two of us into this."

"Punny…"

That was the only response I heard as I took a step outside of Jenna's tent and made to collect my bag from my own. For now, we'd leave the tents and Jenna's own supplies back at the camp.

"Now show me what moves you know, Lyra."

If we were really doing this… then we didn't have any time to lose.


Despite the heavy rain, we traversed the woods off the beaten path, my theory that they would have to stop to wait out the storm seeming more and more likely.

The weather had gotten far worse after leaving the camp. The flash of lightning becoming more and more frequent as the sky roared with thunder.

I was just thankful the wind wasn't vicious enough to get water in my eyes.

While there weren't any thick foliage around, the amount of trees that were scattered were enough to make a person lost, especially since I couldn't identify any landmarks to use.

There was even a time I had gotten stuck in the mud because of the heavy torrent of rain. Thankfully, Lyra and Dusk managed to pull me out with little issue.

It was also thanks to this same mud we had found three separate tracks that had been left by the people we were pursuing.

Following the tracks for around half an hour, I spotted what looked like a large manor off in a clearing in the distance. I began to slow my pace, the Pokémon following me mimicking my actions.

The manor itself looked decrepit and abandoned. I could see that some of the windows had even been boarded up, obvious signs of forced entry apparent when I could see that some of the boards were broken. Some were even straight up almost peeled off the nails that kept them in place.

I could tell by the arrangement of the windows that it lacked a second story.

It was the perfect location to wait out a storm.

I wasn't sure if they had pre-planned this whole operation, or if it was good fortune that they had found such a convenient location.

I crouched low to the ground and used the trees for cover, stealthily making my way towards the manor. I prayed my efforts were skilled enough to make a certain augmented human proud.

My careful approach was rewarded when I spotted a guy around my age taking what appeared to be a smoke break on the porch of the manor. He had his back lying against one of the beams near a small staircase.

The guy had short, messy, pale mauve colored hair. He wore a button-up black shirt with a matching pair of black pants. A pair of square-framed glasses adorned his face as he sat in a relaxed manner with a half-lidded gaze, a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth. He was sitting in such a position that he wasn't looking in my direction from where I was peering at him from behind a tree.

He looked somehow familiar to me, and that was when I spotted a Pokémon hanging upside down above him under the roof of the patio.

The indigo colored Pokémon with purple wings and a gigantic gaping maw that took up its whole body, held its wings tight around its body like a cocoon. The Pokémon appeared to be asleep as its eyes were closed.

I immediately recognized it as a Golbat.

This was the quiet boy that had been with Leon and the Knife Guy in Jubilife City, and my assumedly unknown assailant that had struck me from behind…

What in the world had he used on me?

"Stop him with Supersonic, Zubat."

The sensation I had felt before I had passed out…

It must have been confusion.

That status condition was definitely one I didn't want to ever experience again.

But I don't remember hearing a sound when I was hit with the attack. The sonic shockwaves would have been loud enough for either me or Dusk to hear coming…

And then I remembered that Golbat learned the far more accurate, and reliable, Ghost-type move Confuse Ray.

That was the only answer I could come up with.

Somehow, that move could be used in such a way that the target wouldn't even know it was coming, unlike Supersonic.

I feel like the phrase "The quiet ones are the most dangerous" probably applied here.

I clicked my tongue in frustration and walked back a farther distance away, not wanting to get spotted and lose the advantage of surprise. My mind raced with ideas as I tried to piece together a plan that would hopefully work out in the end.

If we ran up and immediately tried to take on… we'll just call him Quiet for now… then he would simply call for Harry. Then we would be faced with a double battle where I was commanding two Pokémon at once.

After the doubles tournament in Jubilife, I knew how difficult a task this would be, especially when the two opposing Pokémon would be taking orders from their respective trainers. It was just far too dangerous of a proposition, and left way too many things to chance.

I might be able to have Dusk use the lone player strategy here. But because I wasn't giving her any orders, I couldn't always predict what she was going to do and follow up with a command to Lyra.

I was sure Harry and Quiet hadn't fought together all that much either, but they could still strategize with each other during the fight since there wasn't a language barrier.

Not to mention that Dusk and Lyra themselves hadn't really fought together, and thus had little in the way of comboing together on the fly.

While I wasn't sure about Harry's Mimikyu, Lyra herself wasn't even the most battle-hardened Pokémon.

Considering that Confuse Ray stunt they pulled, Quiet and his Golbat were the strongest threats here. They obviously had ideas and strategies I might not be able to foresee or counter, which would most likely leave our team at a terrible juncture.

After walking a fair distance away, while still keeping eyesight of the manor, I began to circle around the compound, remaining hidden in the trees.

It was with great pleasure that I noted a back door into the building.

With that knowledge in mind, we now had options…

If fighting them both at once was too dangerous, then the best way to approach this problem was to simply separate them…

I crouched down in eyesight of the backdoor, gesturing for my two companions to come closer to hear me better through the rain.

Lyra was rubbing her wrists together again, her eyes wandering around and unable to focus. She was clearly nervous about this situation, but I knew she had no intention of abandoning Jenna.

"Focus on me, Lyra, or you won't hear my plan." I gently chastised the long-eared bunny.

She jumped a bit, not expecting me to address her, but nodded her head with a soft murmur.

I assessed Dusk to see that she was far calmer than our Lopunny companion, ready to hear what my plan was.

"We're going to have to divide and conquer on this one." I began as if it were simple. They both gave me a look of confusion. "I don't have the confidence needed to command you both at the same time in a double battle… So, one Pokémon is going to have to go with me inside the manor, while the remaining Pokémon stays behind and distracts the trainer with the Golbat at the front." I explained my reasoning to the two.

I roamed my eyes between the two of them to see that they were waiting for my decision on the matter.

Even if we had a disagreement, it seemed Dusk still had some respect for my tactical ideas.

This is also why she was the obvious choice to take the front. Quiet was the most dangerous threat here, and would easily be able to overwhelm Lyra and take her down without much effort, especially if she wasn't taking orders from anyone.

I also had to keep type match-ups in mind. Even with Lyra's inexperience, she still would not be affected by Ghost-type attacks that Mimikyu sent out, reducing the options Harry would have in combat by at least half.

"Dusk, I want you to listen very carefully to me." I stared into the hyena's cherry red eyes unflinchingly. She simply gave a soft growl in response, but otherwise didn't tilt her head like I was used to seeing her doing. "You've become a lot stronger since I've been training you, but the goal of distracting Golbat's trainer isn't to win."

She gave me another rumble of her throat, clearly displeased with what I was suggesting.

"I'm not going to be there to readjust your approach should he throw out something unexpected. I need you to respect his strategies just as much as mine." When she still didn't look entirely convinced I decided to throw in one final line. "He's just as willing to fight dirty as I am."

She looked down at the ground, considering my words, before looking back up at me with a nod of her head.

She knew just as well as me that I would have used Confuse Ray in the same way he did. It was far easier to win a fight before it even properly started.

"Okay… I want you to use Snarl and Dig to avoid his moves and stall for time. If it starts to get dicey, then just go ahead and meet back up with us." I commanded to the hyena.

"Wruff."

"Now, make your way to the front and then count down from 300. As soon as you count zero, begin your attack. We'll infiltrate as soon as we hear your first Snarl, so make it a big one."

I watched as she crouched low to the ground and began to trot away from us.

With that out of the way, it was time to focus on Lyra.

I could worry about Dusk riding solo with my supervision all day, but it wouldn't do me any good because of these dire circumstances.

I had no choice but to trust her intuition.

I began to walk carefully towards the back entrance, gesturing for the chocolate and cream bunny to follow me.

"Follow every command I give you to the best of your abilities. Do. Not. Hesitate." I talked lowly to Lyra as we made our approach. "Hesitation could cost us everything."

I looked beside me to see Lyra give a small nod of understanding, her eyes wandering to the door we would have to bust through, nervousness swimming in her eyes.

I sighed at this.

It was time I refocus her…

"Though we're here to help Jenna, you shouldn't just leave everything up to us." I spoke up, stopping at the door. I fiddled around with the door knob to see that the door was locked. Giving it a shove I found that the door itself was sturdy enough that trying to break it down with my strength would take too much time. "The only one you can expect to care about what you want is you. Don't leave it up to others." I finished giving my opinion, turning to look down at the Lopunny.

Her eyes were widened, probably not expecting me to try and console her addled nerves.

It took a moment but, as soon as she finally registered my words, she gave me a more confident nod.

"Punny!"

That was all I could ask for and concentrated once again on the door.

"When you hear Dusk's Snarl, Headbutt the door down." I gave a simple command, receiving the typical Pokémon response back.

This would be the easiest part of the operation by far.

So when I could hear Dusk's guttural growling from the front yard of the manor, followed by booming thunder from the sky above, I was once again reminded why I never wanted to be on the receiving end of any Pokémon attack.

Lyra shot forward like a bullet, the top of her head shining a brilliant white. It was almost like the door was merely a stack of wooden letter blocks as it crumbled under the force and weight of the attack.

The door was nothing but splinters now.

I immediately followed the bunny inside.

I didn't even spare what was obviously a worn down kitchen a second thought as I opened another door on the far end, wiping my wet hair out of my eyes now that we were out of the storm.

A dimly lit foyer was what awaited me when I emerged from the kitchen. While there was no second floor as expected, there was still a few ways to go.

A pair of double doors right next to the kitchen most likely denoted a dining room of sorts.

Looking to my right and left I could see two hallways on the east and west wings of the building that stretched far too long for me to see the full distance in these dim conditions.

As for the foyer itself, it had seen better days. The curtains were ripped and torn, and dust practically coated every inch of every surface I could see. The carpet itself looked absolutely vile when I could see it was completely covered in mold.

I filed my opinion on the foyer for later when I noticed where the light source for the room was coming from.

It was a simple lit candle.

The candle itself was placed on top of a dirty metallic tray on a wooden stand that was located on the farther side of the room where I could see the eastside hallway. Further down its length I noticed a few lights swaying in the distance.

Quiet or Harry must have decided to give some lighting to this place, due to how dark the storm was making this whole manor appear.

It was quite eerie how the faint glow of the candle lit up the room, shadows dancing as the flame did its best to stay bright. I heard the dripping of water on padding and looked in the middle of the foyer to find a growing splotch of water growing on the moldy carpet due to a leak in the roof.

The faint patter of the rain and the rumbling of thunder did not help the haunted mood that had suddenly struck me.

The heck is wrong with me?

I shook my head of those dumb thoughts.

I usually was not a superstitious person, and chalked it up to this screwed up situation making everything seem tenser than it was.

Lyra and I jumped when we heard a couple of loud bangs come from the north side of the room.

Lyra immediately took up a position behind me, obviously thinking the same uncanny thoughts as me.

I looked to where I thought the noise had come from and found it had come from another pair of double doors.

Thinking about our positions relative to where we had come in, I realized it was the front door.

I calmed my beating heart and quickly strutted towards the door, swiftly locking it before I let those earlier thoughts creep back to haunt me.

That should buy us a minute or two when Quiet tried to get back inside the manor…

Lyra, thankfully, calmed down once I had done that, now knowing that her fears were just as unfounded as mine.

I put a finger on my lips and pointed towards where the candle was leading,

The chocolate and cream bunny put her paws over her mouth to show that she understood.

I made my way over towards the entrance of the hallway and peered down it to count around three candles on those same metal platters interspersed down the right side of the hall, each of them next to a door.

The last lit candle appeared to be at the end of the hallway.

I could tell there were more candles, but they were unlit, most likely not seen as necessary to see down the hall.

I took my first step down the hall, one of the floorboards squeaking loudly in protest.

I cursed under my breath as a meep escaped Lyra's mouth at the sudden noise. I hadn't noticed that the carpet ended here.

I quickly scooped up Lyra and put my back against the wall, out of sight of the hall, and waited for any movement or sound to show that Harry or his Mimikyu had heard us.

When the only sound that greeted us was the boom of thunder, I knew we were fine.

I quickly sat Lyra back down and carefully sidestepped that particular floor board, carefully making my way down the hall.

The tenseness from earlier came back for reasons unknown to me.

I changed my steps to be long and with purpose, not wanting to waste the time that Dusk was buying for us. The uneasy feeling of being watched creeping back into my mind and raising the hair on my skin.

As I tried to focus in on this sensation to figure out where it was coming from, I heard the sound of a door creak open at the end of the hall.

In panic, I grabbed the handle of a nearby door and made to open it to hide.

It refused to budge.

I clicked my tongue and put my entire weight into the door in a last ditch effort, hoping the sound might be drowned out by a stray bout of thunder.

My prayers were unanswered and I was forced to stare down at the hallway to see the unsettling sleep deprived eyes of Harry staring back at me.

I was even unfortunate enough that he had stepped out of the room right when I had come up to the second candle that was to help guide one out of the hallway. It was as good as putting a spotlight on me.

I noticed Lyra and I were much too far away for me to have her Quick Attack up to him and knock him out with a Headbutt.

So I did the next best thing.

"Shoot an Ice Beam at Harry." I commanded with little hesitation.

I wasn't going to pull my punches in this kind of scenario.

Doing so could result in a forfeit of my life.

For the first time I had seen him, Harry's eyes brightened in panic as a torrent of icy energy surged down the hallway with unerring accuracy, bits of frost flaking off of the energy and sticking to the sides on the walls.

I was sure the attack was going to hit, until I saw a figure dart out of the room Harry had exited from and came between him and the ray of frost.

The sound of crackling ice and a soft pop echoed through the hallway as a faint white mist surrounded Harry.

Once cleared, it revealed Mimikyu, its Pikachu face dangling to the side like a stringless puppet, leaving me surprised.

Good, that means Mimikyu's stupid Disguise ability was out of the way…

But what truly astonished me was how responsive Lyra had been to my command to attack another trainer. I glanced at the bunny out of the corner of my eye to see that she had a look of rage on her face.

It appeared she had no qualms with aggression when it came to this particular sleepless individual.

"You…" I heard the unsteady voice of Harry speak up, his eyes staring blankly at us.

His voice carried down the hallway like the mutterings of a ghost.

"Lyra, Ast—" I heard Jenna begin to cry out something in a trembling, panicked voice, before it was drowned out as Harry violently slammed the door.

I tensed up when Harry refocused his attention on us, his desire to see us disappear apparent on his face.

His obsession with Jenna was something else…

"Go away… She. Belongs. To. Me." Harry spoke in a voice that brokered no argument, that creepy undertone ever present in his voice.

"Kyu…"

It was clear to me that reasoning with him was paramount to talking to a madman. It would be best to agitate him into making a mistake to gain the upper hand in our inevitable battle.

"As cliché as this might sound… People aren't objects you can own." I gave him the smarmiest smirk I could foster. "You do realize that, right?"

As expected, he narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth at my words.

What followed next wasn't something I hadn't anticipated.

"You don't seem to understand… She owes me everything…" Harry began with an agitated tone. "I saved her life."

I knew based on both of their ages it would be highly unlikely that Harry would have been responsible for the scars on her back. They appeared to be gotten from when she was at a very young age. Logically, if she was traveling around outside of her own region, then it was safe to say that she had somehow been taken away from a hostile environment that would have gave her those marks in the first place.

I suppose in a world like this, where kids can own creatures of magnificent power at the age of 10, such a thing might be possible.

But I still couldn't be sure his claims were true.

I looked over at Lyra briefly to see her staring at the insomniac with narrowed eyes. She must have felt his words had little meaning to her.

I knew my next words would fall on deaf ears, left to drift endlessly through the air around us as their meaning became lost, but I still felt the need to speak up.

"So, because you did something nice for someone, you think that entitles you to some kind of reward?"

"Shouldn't it!? I gave up so much to save her!" He stomped the ground with one of his feet. "The least she could do is remain by my side!" Harry furiously yelled out to me in anger.

It would seem he felt justified in his fury, but I knew that Jenna clearly hadn't been happy with whatever arrangement they had if she, the nervous quiet girl, had the courage to break up with him.

She had called him an 'ex-boyfriend'.

"That was your choice to make. Don't blame Jenna for your poor decision making because of something that was out of her control."

I was making a lot of assumptions here, but the point wasn't to be right.

It was just to make him angrier and angrier.

"What… What the hell would you know!" His Mimikyu's swaying became more and more agitated as Harry's temper flared.

"You're right. I wouldn't know."

Harry looked confused at me, his Mimikyu's swaying stopping at my words. I could even see Lyra looking at me out of the corner of my eye as I stared at Harry unwaveringly.

"Then… Then why are you here?" Harry asked me a simple question.

I smirked to myself.

A straightforward question deserved a straightforward answer.

"It's simple. I don't like you."

Harry's anger returned full force, his Mimikyu practically screeching its name at my words. For reasons unknown to me, I could tell those words were like thorns to him.

Whatever the case, I had gotten what I wanted.

"Mimikyu, Shadow Ball…" Harry gave his command with icy words.

For him to give a command like that could only mean...

This guy had no idea what he was doing.

We had a chance.

A dark shadowy mass began to be molded in front of Mimikyu's mask.

"Go through Shadow Ball with Quick Attack, then fire off an Ice Beam point-blank." I commanded Lyra.

"Shadow Claw when she gets close…" I heard Harry mutter just loud enough for me to hear.

Mimikyu fired off the orb it had been building up, a sharp muffled noise ringing out in the hall as it flew towards us.

Lyra only hesitated a second at my words before a determined glint came into her eyes. She rocketed down the hallway like a bullet, a trail of translucent white following her path.

It was with no surprise that the Shadow Ball dissipated into nothingness when Lyra barreled through it with ease.

There wasn't even a single scratch on her.

I was ever thankful that Ghost-type moves couldn't hit Normal-types.

I could see Harry's eyes widen when he finally realized his blunder, his mouth opening to shout a different command.

It was already too late when Lyra stopped in front of Mimikyu, her jaw opened as she let loose a ray of torrential frost. The Mimikyu, to its credit, managed to sling out ethereal claws to slice at Lyra's midsection. But, like Shadow Ball, the ghostly energy merely faded away into nothingness when it made contact with Lyra's fur.

I heard a squeal of pain as the faux-Pikachu was coated in rime and pushed backwards towards Harry, the force of the beam proving too great for it to keep its footing.

I silently cursed when Mimikyu recovered quickly and took a stance in front of Harry, its swaying erratic and anxious.

You know, I was a huge fan of Mimikyu normally…

Seeing it in person changed my opinion.

These things were downright unsettling.

"Dazzling Gleam!" Harry ordered after seeing Mimikyu recover.

A blinding flash, like pink lightning, lit up the hallway in the blink of an eye, energy exuding outward from Mimikyu's body.

Due to her close proximity, Lyra stood no chance in dodging the Fairy-type move, and was tossed backwards towards me with a yell of pain.

Probably because she wasn't used to battling, I noticed that she was taking a long time to stand back up on her feet.

"Play Rough." Harry noticed Lyra's weakness and made it apparent he wasn't going to give up the opportunity for a proper counter-attack.

I widened my eyes in panic as Mimikyu's body became surrounded in a pink aura.

"You have to recover now, Lyra!" I called out desperately, unsure if such a move would be enough to take her out.

Right when I could see Mimikyu about to pounce forward, its body coiled up and ready to inflict harm, the sound of shattering glass came from Harry's side of the hall.

Harry himself looked towards the door next to him in panic, Mimikyu's attack quickly fading at the sudden interruption that happened near its trainer.

Thinking about how far away that sounded, and where Harry was looking…

I realized with clarity that Jenna had broken a window to escape the manor.

I saw Harry make a move towards the door.

If he and Mimikyu got in there, that could potentially complicate things if he decided to use her as a hostage.

I didn't think it was likely for him to do that considering his obsession.

But I didn't want to take any chances…

Plus, if I failed here, then maybe Jenna would be able to get to a Ranger.

Adrenaline coursing through my veins, I knew I had to make a choice right here and now.

I noticed Lyra was on her feet thanks to Jenna's sudden disruption.

"Lyra, Ice Beam the door!" I shouted the command in a troubled tone, hoping Lyra would be able to discern the importance of it.

Harry was forced to scramble away from the door as a ray of frost completely coated the door in thick ice. We were even lucky enough that the knob itself had become completely covered.

I remembered how hard it had been to force open one of the doors in this very hallway.

Harry had no choice but to take us out if he wanted to get to her safely.

I couldn't help but smile at our fortune.

I made to say something to Harry, but was interrupted when I saw an unbelievable sight before me.

A dark purple humanoid creature with small spiky hair-like protrusions began to rise from the floor, its features were plain and without much detail as it gazed between Harry and I with red eyes, a row of teeth set in a frown.

I felt myself become confused as another intrusion introduced itself to the equation. I looked at Harry to see he was just as befuddled.

I focused back on the creature to find that its eyes were trying to bore a hole through me.

"Gengar…" The creature spoke in a malefic tone.

Obviously, it was a Gengar.

And it didn't look pleased in the slightest.

Judging from Harry's reaction, this wasn't his Pokémon.

Was it a wild Pokémon?

Whatever the reason for it being here, the ghostly blob refused to move their eyes away from my own.

That's when I noticed it had opened its mouth, a shadowy orb forming into existence.

I openly gaped at the sudden hostility from this random Pokémon.

"Shadow Claw the door, Mimikyu!" I heard Harry shout from the down the hall.

A loud crunch noise echoed through the hall as Mimikyu cleaved through the ice, another slice and the door was absolutely obliterated.

I tried to scour my brain for a reason why Gengar was so pissed off at me.

I could only imagine that this manor was Gengar's territory, and he had decided to take his vengeance upon me instead of Harry on a whim.

I had lost a 50/50.

I suppose the phrase 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' applies here.

Lyra reacted faster than me and body blocked the ghostly sphere with ease, preventing any harm from befalling me. Her form looking worried from the introduction of another enemy.

I clicked my tongue in frustration as I watched Harry scurry into the room that Jenna had been in…

There was no way I could have accounted for this.

"Gen-gar…" The ghostly Pokémon spoke in a threatening tone.

I doubted I could talk my way out of this one either.

I could complain all day, but the situation would remain unaffected.

"We're gonna have to take this down if we want to get to Harry." I told Lyra our change in plans.

I could tell Lyra was becoming more anxious after seeing Harry and Mimikyu run off, but she stayed in her fighting stance regardless.

I cursed my luck as I appraised the Gengar.

This would be a far tougher fight then anything Harry's Mimikyu was capable of.