Naru

After searching through alleys, back roads, as well as a number of small, suspicious-looking abandoned buildings, I was pleased to realize that no Void hideouts whatsoever were evident in the town of Myriad. I got through the majority of the town a lot faster than I initially thought I would, as nothing really slowed me down. I did follow a few groups of pokemon that gave me a rather uncomfortable vibe, but none of them turned out to be anyone dangerous, just me overthinking what someone may have been doing. All I found through the rounds I made around the town was two or three more groups of pokemon 'enjoying themselves,' and pedestrians just going about their day, minding their own business.

While I was happy that the town I originally lived in wasn't swarming with criminals, it did make the rest of the day feel rather uneventful. When it came down to it, I really did just walk around the entire town, nothing more. Now that I was finally coming around to the spot in which I started, I took a look up at the night sky, observing the waxing gibbous moon trying its best to light up the black sky. I never really had a preference of night or day, but night was quickly becoming something I appreciated more as days passed. I was always more relaxed at night, and after a day spent training or moving all over the place to complete a task, I welcomed the calmness that came when the sun went away. I imagined that Kuro, being an Umbreon, felt the same way about night, but we've never really had a conversation about it. We talked about a lot of random things, but that's one that we never crossed for some reason. It felt odd that we'd skip over something like that after we've spent multiple hours talking about biology.

After a few more minutes of walking, I checked up on another alleyway that I ended up passing, one that I wasn't really familiar with. I thought I knew every aspect of this town, every little spot that could be used to avoid attention from the rest of the world, but I guess that I ended up forgetting one.

Regardless of me forgetting about it, or never knowing about it in the first place, it was yet another empty alley. Nothing of note was located within it, just a small area that the residents of the surrounding blue and green buildings dropped their trash. This created a somewhat unpleasant smell, but it wasn't anything unbearable, just a minor annoyance. I walked all the way down the alleyway, still finding nothing of note. I looked at the dead end I was presented with, nothing but a solid beige wall that connected to a house on that side. I let out a small yawn, the constant walking around finally eating away at by energy. I turned around and prepared to walk out of the alley, ready to finally go back to my old home and rest for the night. I was able to head back happily, knowing that I accomplished a lot of tedious surveying of the town in one night. There were still a few places I needed to check, but my body was telling me that it was time to go back.

Just as I was getting to the end of the alleyway, something I wasn't expecting happened. I was being approached by a large Linoone, coming from the streets I had just entered the alley from. They were twitching rather uncomfortably, and had a sickening smile on their face. The pokemon creeped me out so much that I immediately searched their body with my eyes to find any sign of the Void's symbol. Luckily, after scanning them a few times, I came to the conclusion that they were not a Void member, although, they did have a large black bag resting on their back, and I was a bit curious as to what was inside, but the part of me feeling discomfort in the face of this pokemon won over by curiosity. Why exactly was this Linoone blocking me from leaving?

I decided to test the waters a bit and took a step forward, then taking another step to the side as if I wanted to walk around them, which I most certainly did. Once I got closer to the exit however, the Linoone stepped in front of me again, blocking by way out. I thought of it as a fluke and tried walking around them the other way, but I was blocked off yet again. My slight fear was beginning to quickly morph into annoyance. I let out a small sigh and looked at the Linoone's crazed eyes. Their eyes were dilated, which most likely didn't mean good things.

"May I please walk past you?" I asked with a polite smile, trying my best to hide my annoyance. "I've had a very long day and need to get going." The Linoone just kept their disturbing expression and gave a small chuckle that admittedly creeped me even more.

"First, give me whatever's in that beautiful bag of yours, and also the scarf around your neck." He said in a shaky voice. I couldn't tell what exactly was wrong with him, but he didn't seem mentally stable. However, considering that his intent was to rob me, I could guess what was in the bag he had balanced on his back. It was most likely money and possessions of other pokemon that he has done the same thing to.

Honestly, while this guy creeped me out beyond belief, I wasn't really scared of him, just… Disturbed. Had this happened before I left for the Nest, I would be terrified. I would have coughed up whatever I had and then begged for them not to do anything to me. I hate to look back on how I used to act when I felt threatened, but it was the truth. I used to be a massive coward, not able to face anything that scared me in the slightest bit.

But that was then and this is now.

"Have you robbed anyone else today?" I asked him in a calm voice. He just changed his expression from that of a crazed lunatic to one of a very confused psychopath.

"What? Why does that matter?" He asked, almost sounding panicked. Maybe he was caught off-guard from my lack of fear. "You don't need to know about what I've done today, so just give me all that you have and then you can leave without issue." He started to talk faster, as if he was legitimately getting worried about the situation. I wasn't sure if he wasn't used to being questioned, or if he was on a clock, or whatever was going through his head.

Frankly, I didn't care.

I rose one of by paws and pressed it to the Linoone's forehead. He flinched at my touch, as if not being ready for it. "Will you do me a favor and tell me who exactly you stole from?" I asked him, lowering by voice. It no longer sounded calm, it sounded more threatening.

"W-Why would I tell you anything!?" He shouted, but I kept my paw set on his head. "If you don't give me everything you have, then I'll take it by force!" He may have threatened me, but he didn't do anything to remedy the situation. Because of his lack of action, I decided to do something.

My paw began to lightly glow, and I made by body temperature drop to half of what it was before. I focused on that feeling, and spread it towards my paw. I then released the feeling from by paw, and disabled the Linoone in front of me. Ice quickly spread over the entirety of his body, the only parts not being covered were his eyes and mouth, giving him the ability to breath, and the ability to see what exactly just happened to him. Even know his mouth wasn't frozen, he didn't make a sound, presumably out of shock of someone resisting his robbery. I'd imagine it didn't happen often, as he did look kind of threatening when considering his size, which was much larger than average. Regardless of how he looked though, he clearly didn't know how to handle the situation if he was resisted against. I walked to the side of his body and hooked one of my claws under the strap of the black bag he had resting on his back and tore the bag away from the ice, breaking some of it in the process, but not enough of it for the Linoone to be able to move.

Without waiting for a response from the Linoone, I walked out of the alley, and continued on the path I started on. I quickly slung the other bag around my neck, creating a bit of an uncomfortable weight for it to support, but it was manageable. I would have to find the owners of whatever he stole, but that had to wait until the next day. As of now, whoever he stole from is most likely in their home and asleep, so trying to find them would be harder than actually finding a Void hideout in this town. I hoped that I would at least find an easy way to figure out who had an unfortunate encounter with that Linoone earlier today, but even if I did, that would have to wait until tomorrow.

I hope I can finally go home and rest… I thought to myself with another yawn. I made my way through the twisting streets of Myriad, taking the shortest route possible to make it to my old house. Hopefully Kuro is there already, if not, then I'll have to go back out and find him. I'll admit, I didn't have the most confidence in Kuro's navigational abilities. He had a bit of trouble finding his way through the Nest, regardless of us being there for nearly two months at this point. I didn't totally blame him, considering the size of the Nest, but I didn't think Myriad was that much smaller, so it was unpredictable how easily Kuro would find his way around.

In order to confirm whether Kuro was successful in his navigation or not, I cut through the last alleyway I needed to in order to get to my old home. I arrived at a somewhat confined area with a stone path leading to a familiar wooden-crafted house, one that I haven't seen in awhile. In front of this old house, I saw a familiar Umbreon, sitting near the front door. He was sitting up straight with his eyes closed. At first, I thought he was just taking in the moonlight, something he liked to do, but upon closer inspection, it looked like he was falling asleep while sitting up. His figure was occasionally swaying to the side, looking like he was about to fall over, but every time he was about to fall lopsided onto the ground, he would straighten himself last second, back to sitting up straight. I found myself just watching him repeat this for a few minutes. It was kind of amusing to see him try his best to stay awake. After I realized how long I had been just kind of… Staring at Kuro, I decided I should actually approach.

I walked up to him until I was about a foot away, right in front of him. He still had his eyes closed and was occasionally swaying back and forth. I waved one of by forepaws in front of his face, not getting a reaction of any kind. I blew some cold air at him, and I saw his face twitch a bit, but other than that, he was still in the same sleepy state. I found his reaction just as amusing as I found his motions from earlier, so I did it a few more times, gaining the same twitch every time. I soon realized that I had been observing and messing with Kuro for the past ten minutes, so I decided it was time to actually wake him up. I wanted to whisper something in his ear in order to wake him, so I leaned my head forward to do so. However, as soon as I started, I accidentally placed a forepaw over his, and then came to the realization that I still didn't have full control over my body temperature. Kuro's paw was almost instantly wrapped in a thin layer of ice, to which his eyes shot open and he instinctively jumped back a few feet, before falling to the ground.

He rolled onto his side and stood up on all fours again, frantically looking around to see the source of what just cut his body temperature far below what it was supposed to be. Soon after that, his eyes met mine. I was standing a few feet away from him now, not really reacting to the situation I had just caused. He looked back and forth between me and his frozen paw a few times, before letting out a small sigh.

"Any reason in particular that by paw is frozen?" He said while raising his frozen paw in the air. I could hear the tiredness in his voice, making me feel a bit guilty over the mistake I just made.

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to do that." I told him quickly. "I had to lower my body temperature a little while ago, and I kind of forgot about it, so I accidentally froze your paw." I said in an awkward tone. I almost sounded panicked when I said it, worried that Kuro would be mad that I just did that. Right after I finished talking, Kuro straightened his muscles and smashed his frozen paw on the stone ground below him, shattering the ice and sending small shards along the short grass that surrounded us.

"No need to sound so afraid." Kuro told me before placing his previously frozen paw on the ground. "That just kind of… Caught me off-guard is all. I didn't mean to sound angry." Kuro let out a small sigh. I felt a bit of relief as well, happy that Kuro wasn't angry. Then again, have I ever seen Kuro get angry in the first place? "On another note, what exactly made you have to lower your body temperature enough to freeze me on contact?" He curiously asked.

"I'll explain when we go inside." I told him, before walking up to the door. I pushed the door open with by head, and entered the small structure. I immediately walked to the kitchen that I haven't seen in a decent bit of time and set down both my bag, and the bag I took away from the Linoone. The lack of weight on my neck felt refreshing, relaxing the muscles located within it. I watched as Kuro walked in behind me and followed me into the kitchen. Once he entered, he stared at the table in the middle of the room, looking as if he was lost in thought for a few seconds. I then watched him tilt his head downwards and close his eyes. At first, I thought he was falling asleep on his paws again, but he almost looked like he was focusing on something, or like he had something on his mind. I watched as he kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, almost standing completely still. After a minute or so passed, he opened his eyes and resumed his normal posture.

"Are you okay Kuro?" I felt a bit concerned. He always had a similar look when he was lost in thought about something that was bothering him, so I hoped he wasn't in the middle of overthinking something.

"I'm fine, I was just paying by respects." He said, not taking his eyes off of the table in front of him.

Right… He didn't know about my family the last time he was here… I thought to myself. Last time he was here was… The day I met him. That was quite a while ago, before he knew about what happened to me, and I knew what happened to him. I never really thought about that when I suggested that we both come back here after we were done with our tasks for the night. Subjects like that don't really get brought up too much when talking to Kuro, so I guess I just never thought about how he would act here with that knowledge now in his head. However, I was happy that the first thing he decided to do when he entered the house was pay his respects to those that were not with us anymore.

"I appreciate it." I told him with a smile, which he returned to me after. "While we're here, are you going to visit your old home as well? It's close to here isn't it?" I didn't know exactly where Kuro used to live, so I didn't know whether it was a reasonable distance away, or if it was too far out.

"I… Haven't really thought about it." He looked up for a second, but soon reverted to his original position. "Maybe when we go over the task where we have to search the area surrounding Myriad. It's not too far away, maybe a few miles out, nothing more than that. It… Would be nice to visit." He said, his smile dropping very slightly, but still evident on his face.

"If it's close enough, I think it's a good idea! Mind if I come with you?" I didn't want to intrude if Kuro wanted to visit by himself.

"Of course. That might make things easier." He responded, keeping his smile.

"Sounds good!" I felt energized. "So how did your tasks go today? Did you find the orphanage okay?" Kuro's ears slightly shifted right when I asked him.

"Well, some difficulties, but it all ended well." He further explained exactly what he found at the place. He explained that, at that orphanage, there were some familiar pokemon to us, namely the children that used to belong to the camp Kuro and I went to for our first mission. Well, less than half of them, the other portion's location is unknown. Other than that, he told me that the one who owns the place was more than qualified to look after the children there, and will be receiving support from the Nest in the future, which was a good turnout. Right before Kuro mentioned the orphanage, it looked like he was contemplating something in his mind, as if thinking about what he was going to say. Kuro always made a certain 'thinking' expression when he did this, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't aware of it, but I certainly was. Usually, I don't pry, as he could just be thinking about one of the many questions we have yet to answer since we broke out of our old lives. Plus, I know he wouldn't hold information back from me unless he had a good reason.

After Kuro was done telling me about how accomplishing his tasks went, he asked me about mine, to which I proceeded to explain everything that happened, which wasn't much. I left out me walking in on a few pokemon performing certain actions, but I didn't think that was necessary information for Kuro to have. I also had to explain the bag that was the same size as half of my body that I ended up bringing back with me.

"I didn't think that Myriad would have a robbery problem…" Kuro said with a small sigh.

"I don't think this has always been an issue, I don't remember anyone getting robbed at all when I used to traverse the town on a regular basis." I looked up at the wooden ceiling that belonged to by old house, searching my memories a little more. "Then again, my family wasn't too keen on letting me know about all the awful pokemon roaming the town, so for all I know, Myriad isn't as peaceful as it looks."

"Regardless, I'm glad you made it out okay. With all of the training we've sustained at the Nest, I guess we're above most common thugs in terms of combative ability." He let out a small chuckle. "We might be able to turn that bag into the building where we need to get the new Raven applications. I would think, of all places, that would have the most connections around the town." I nodded in response.

"Probably. So, tomorrow, so you want to go there in the morning and then head out to patrol the outskirts? That way we can get two more tasks done in a day and then go visit your old home!" I suggested. I still wasn't absolutely sure if Kuro really wanted to go back to where he used to live or not. Because of this, I didn't want to make it seem like I was forcing him to do it or anything, it was just a suggestion I was giving in case he wanted to.

"Sounds good to me." He smiled. "We should leave early then, it took me a while to walk here the first time, so a round trip will certainly take up a good portion of the day."

"Alright! It's settled!" I exclaimed, before letting out a large yawn. "I'm exhausted, so I'm going to go collapse on my bed." Kuro chuckled in response. "You can use the same room you used the first time you were here. See you tomorrow!" I began to walk to the room I hadn't set a paw into for a decent bit of time. I heard Kuro give his nightly farewells behind me and walked off, doing exactly what I said I was going to do. I collapsed on by bed and relaxed my body.

I felt a few emotions creep up on me, but they weren't prominent enough for me to really do anything in response. I thought I would feel a lot more sad looking at this place that I used to live, but I took it better than I expected. Not once did I feel the urge to tear up or anything, although I may have felt a bit sad at the sight of this old place, it wasn't anything I couldn't control. If anything, I was happy to see that home that I spent most of my life in again, despite the negative memories that came with it. I've always tried my best to be optimistic, so even when I had to think about what happened to my family or sleep in the same room that I slept in so many times while they were alive, I still felt happy. They would have wanted me to be happy, so I'll try my best to live up to that.

I took in another large yawn and felt the tug of sleep pulling me in. I properly curled up in my bed and relaxed myself before entering a deep slumber.

Grace

You wouldn't think that walking around a random town you don't know at all would be so entertaining. I walked down the many streets of a town called… I forgot, but I've been messing with almost everyone that I walk by, and I'm having a blast doing it. I kept following a bunch of different pokemon around and tapping them repeatedly before taking a few steps back, waiting a few seconds, and tapping them again. I don't know why such a simple thing entertained me to no end, but it gave me something to do before I moved in to accomplish by mission here.

I stopped on the side of the road to think about why exactly I was traversing this town in the first place. I was supposed to hunt down and kill an… Umbreon I think… HIs name was… No idea. Whenever Luna gives me something to do, it tends to slip my mind not too long later. I usually get distracted by something, and that completely directs me away from whatever I was doing in the first place. I always end up remembering what I need to do after some time passes, but until then, I just want to mess around with the general public some more.

I observed all of the pokemon passing by me, until I located a Bastiodon, walking casually along while carrying some kind of wrapped object on their back. It looked expensive, which is exactly what I wanted. I slightly tensed my muscles, lining up a shot. Once I had the proper aim, I shot off a small leaf directly towards the object at a blinding speed. As soon as the leaf made contact with the wrapping, it took the object right off of the Bastiodon's back, to which it flew at the nearest building and shattered. Apparently, whatever it was, it had the construction of glass, made evident by the loud crack that echoed through the air once it made contact.

I saw the Bastiodon look around frantically with a very angry gaze, and it was extremely difficult to not burst out laughing. Before the crowding group of pokemon in the streets could investigate and find out I caused this, I decided to dip into an alleyway close by, and then jumped from one wall of it to the other until I landed on the rooftop of one of the buildings the alley connected to. Once I knew I was safely out of sight, I ended up bursting into laughter. I was beyond resisting it at this point, I just let my joy pour out until I found it hard to breath.

Once I let out all of my joyous laughter, I walked to the edge of the building I was standing on and looked down at the streets below. I saw nothing but a crowd of pokemon frantically searching the surrounding area, wanting to find whoever was responsible for the event that had just occurred. I felt another laughing fit start to build up inside of me, but I resisted it and walked towards the middle of the roof I was standing on. Although, halfway there, I noticed that I wasn't alone on the rooftop. A colleague of mine was also here with me, and apparently he had been observing by actions.

"I can't fathom how Luna still uses you for anything…" He stated with a sigh. I just smiled in response, not offended at all by his comment. To be perfectly honest, I didn't understand why Luna sent me to do anything either, but I had fun doing whatever I wanted, so I was okay with it.

"What do you mean?" I asked him in a flabbergasted voice. "I clearly work the most efficiently out of any other of the Void's admins, even you, Assasin." I cartoonishly looked offended by his comment, but he just sighed again.

"Sometimes I wonder if you really are the one right under me in terms of combat." He deadpanned. I smirked at him in response.

"Oh please. You know that I can handle myself better than most." I lost my fake tone. I may have been just a liiiitle bit crazy, but I knew how to fight if I needed to. "After all, I am number four in the Void, only behind you," I paused for a second. "Behind you… And…" The Assassin gave a sigh.

"Above me is Aven, and at the top of the spectrum is Luna." He held a monotone voice. I slammed by paw to the ground and smiled.

"That's right! I knew Luna was number one, but I couldn't put my paw on who number two was…" The assassin sighed yet again. "You know, you should stop doing that, it's rather rude."

"And you're the one talking to me about manners?" I stuck my tongue out at him exaggeratedly.

"I don't care if I'm not polite, I just need to do what I need to do and then leave, simple as that!"

"And what is it you're supposed to be doing?" He asked with skepticism.

"Ummm…" I took a long pause and searched by memories. Specifically the one where Luna told me why I was here in the first place. Soon after, my eyes lit up. "Right! I'm here to find and kill or capture an Umbreon named… Named…" I took another long pause. "You know what, he's an Umbreon, so I'm just going to call him Blacky." I bluntly stated.

"You don't even know the name of your target…" The Assassin's voice held a lot of conviction before he put one of his hands to his forehead.

"Hey, you don't know the name of yours!" I shouted in response.

"That's because I was assigned a large group, not an individual." He slightly raised his voice. "Even so, they're already dead anyway, so their names are irrelevant."

"Welp, you still didn't know, so I win!" I exclaimed happily, getting yet another sigh from the Assassin.

"Usually I wouldn't try to stop your antics, but Luna sees your target as a threat you know. Maybe you should have done your research on someone you may have trouble with."

"You really think whoever I'm hunting down can hold a candle to Luna? That's ridiculous. They'd already be dead if that were the case." I looked up at the moon. "I'm sure I'll find by target and finish him without issue. Hell, maybe I can even hold back enough to spare him so I can take him back to the Void for some good ol fashioned torture!" The thought made me grow a large smile as I started up at the moon.

"Whatever pleases you is of no concern of me." The Assassin turned around to leave. "Just keep in mind, Luna doesn't ask us to do this stuff for no reason, if you don't take it seriously and fail, there will most likely be repercussions." I was about to give the Assassin another witty reply, but he had already jumped to another building and was out of earshot.

I just turned back to the streets below and stared blankly before growing a devious smile.

Can't wait to find you prey. It's been awhile since I captured someone.

Kuro

I woke up this morning with more energy than usual. It's been a little bit since I woke up feeling revitalized, and I wasn't sure why I did, but I wasn't about to complain about feeling energetic. Maybe I absorbed more moonlight than usual…

Naru and I had just finished receiving applications for new medical staff to be employed at the Nest. After looking through the applications for a few seconds, and after realizing I am nowhere near qualified to study anything medicine-related, we continued to walk through Myriad until we found our way to its outskirts. The outskirts of Myriad almost reminded me of the outside of the Nest, mostly consisting of endless plains of grass. The difference between the two laid in the many trees and bushes that were located around the town. I didn't know if I necessarily preferred one over the other, but the difference in environment was refreshing.

Searching for possible Void members or hideouts ended up being less tedious than I thought. There really weren't any places for pokemon to hide, so most of the search ended up morphing into looking at all of the different pokemon around and determining if they had a possibility of being a part of the Void. Luckily, through the many pokemon we observed, not a single one was determined to be a Void member. This was a rather pleasant surprise, as I didn't want to have to run into Void members and sufficiently ruin my mood.

The two of us were rounding back around to where we started, having made a full circle around the town. We didn't feel the need to stop any of the pokemon we observed, so our walk around the outskirts of the town ended up being rather peaceful. I welcomed the peace, and considering that we were on the verge of accomplishing two of our necessary tasks in one day, we were working at a good rate. Because of this, neither of us felt the need to rush anything, and we also had extra time to do other things while we were here that didn't involve one of our tasks, such as going to my old home. Whenever the thought of visiting that place again made its way into my head, I had a few uneasy feelings, but I just kept pushing them away. I would deal with whatever was flooding my head when we got there.

"It seems like any criminals around here limit themselves to the town." I turned my head to the voice of the Glaceon walking next to me.

"It seems that way, we haven't seen anyone who may be a criminal since we left." I looked at the path ahead of us, made up of small pebbles and surrounded by a surreal view of grass, as well as some small trees located not too far off from the edge of the collection of stones. I hoped that we weren't overlooking any areas outside of Myriad that we were walking by. I never really saw a Void hideout other than their main ship, so I wouldn't know what a hideout looked like of I did happen to stumble across one. I did notice our surrounding start to look familiar though, so it seemed like we made a full circle around Myriad.

"Wow, we got this done a lot faster than I thought." I said while looking around at the familiar trees.

"I guess we had a good pace!" Naru tilted her head. "But it's a bit strange that they sent us to do this in the first place."

"How so?"

"Well, considering we haven't found anything in Myriad or around it, I think it's safe to assume that they aren't any Void hideouts within a close vicinity to Myriad." She looked at all of the pokemon walking by us. "I mean, wouldn't the boss only tell us to search if she was suspicious of there being Void hideouts here? And if she is, then why not mention it to us?" I had to admit, that confused me a bit as well. I hadn't really thought about it much until Naru mentioned it though.

"I guess that is a little weird…" I looked up to the blue sky, seeing a few clouds begin to collect in the distance. "When you really think about it, this mission is a bit… Unconventional, seeing as we're doing a bunch of them while staying in this town. You'd think that one of us would have some knowledge of this happening in the past, but as far as I know, this is the first time such fresh Ravens were sent out like this. Perhaps there's some other reason we were sent here."

"But, what would that be?"

"You got me there." As much as I didn't feel the most comfortable with the information that Naru and I had just inferred, I decided to dismiss it as us overthinking the situation. I let out a small sigh. I guess Myra did give us a decent explanation as to why we were sent here, but is that really all there is to it?"

"Maybe we should just accept it for what it is for now." Naru broke me out of my thoughts. "I'm sure what our boss told us is-"

Hello? Can anyone hear me?

Naru and I both jumped at a voice that played from inside of our heads. Both of our eyes darted around the area surrounding us quickly, getting a few uncomfortable stares from the pokemon around us. After a few seconds of panic, we both calmed down, realizing where the familiar voice we just heard came from. It was Core talking to us through our communicators.

Not wanting to think make Core think his device wasn't working, I focused my thoughts, and tried to respond.

Core? I can hear you, can you hear me? Asking someone a question mentally felt… Odd, but I waited for a response nonetheless.

"Wait, Kuro, how did I just hear you do that?" I looked at Naru, who gave me a questioning gaze.

"You heard me respond to Core?" I thought about it for a second longer. "Wait, you heard Core too?" Naru nodded her head.

"Not only did I hear him, but I heard your response as well. Maybe you accidentally responded to me instead of-"

Great! You can hear me! Now I have some information for you two. Core's voice rang through our heads and made us jump again. I was nowhere used to being communicated to through my head, and I don't think I was going to be anytime soon. I assumed that Core somehow called out to us at the same time, and created a link of sorts between the three of us for our current conversation. I was about to further consider who exactly came up with this invention, but I decided to not hurt myself over the topic, just accept that its construction was beyond my comprehension.

What kind of information do you have for us? I heard Naru's voice ring through my head.

Core somehow mentally cleared his throat. Well, today the Nest had a bit of an unexpected visitor. Because of said visitor, lives were put in danger, particularly the ones of Kage, Vero, and Shiro. My eyes slightly widened at Core's transmitted thoughts, and I began to feel anxious.

What happened!? Are they okay!? Naru's voice played in my head next, sounding panicked.

Stay calm, everyone is fine, Kage ended up getting beat up quite a bit, but nothing is fatal or permanent. The other two didn't seem to sustain any injuries, and the pokemon who invaded the Nest seems to be gone without a trace, so as long as everyone stays careful, we'll be safe. Naru and I gave a sigh of relief simultaneously.

Who infiltrated the Nest? I transmitted back.

According to Vero, it was a Gallade. For some reason, he wanted to take Shiro from the Nest, and since Kage happened to be with her at the time, he ended up getting caught in the crossfire. I'll have more details of the encounter once Kage is in a decent condition to talk. The Nest being attacked by someone was intriguing enough, but the species that attacked the Nest rose an ever-so present question in my mind.

By any chance, did this Gallade have a scar over one of his eyes? It seemed like the thoughts you send through these devices correspond to your emotions, because you could hear the unease in the thoughts transmitted.

He did… How did you know? Do you have previous experience with this pokemon? Naru and I shared a quick glance, both of us having the same disturbed look in our eyes.

We've both had an experience with him before. The two of us had an encounter with him the day before we decided to apply for the Nest. He… Actually tried to kill me. Naru transmitted with a worried voice.

I see. Well he has a way of getting around that ignores the Nest's defensive protocol, so he does pose a threat to us. If the Void has a way to get into the Nest, that can only mean trouble. Core paused for a few seconds. Anyway, I just wanted to inform you two of the events that took place earlier today, but rest assured, everyone is safe, and we're working on a way to keep away the possibility of him ever coming back, so try not to worry about it. See you two when you get back. With that, it sounded like Core was done transmitting to us. I took a second to recollect exactly what I just listened to.

So someone wanted to take Shiro… But for what reason? Why would he need her? I know that she escaped him when she ran away from the Void, but what was he doing there in the first place? I was happy to hear that she, along with Kage and Vero were okay, but it still confused me beyond belief. Just what I needed… More questions…

At this point, I really shouldn't have expected anything other than more confusion, but I hoped for some kind of break. Sadly, it didn't look like the world was going to give me the break that I wanted so badly. In the future, I need to learn how to look at these things from a more general angle, and not focus on all of the things I don't know. If I keep on doing this, I'm going to have an overload of questions that will haunt me to by grave.

"I'm glad everyone's okay." I heard Naru say from beside me. "But seriously, what does that guy want? First trying to kill the two of us, now wanting to take Shiro…" I heard her voice grow more and more concerned with each word. I couldn't blame her, as I didn't have the most positive thoughts either.

"Best not to be too worried about it right now. We have other missions to take care of, and Shiro will be safe as long as she's in the Nest with everyone else." I tried to assure her, as well as assure myself. "I say we focus on taking care of everything we need to here before we go and worry about things we can't get answers to."

"You're right. Let's just do what we need to here, then we'll start on solving mysteries!" Naru put energy into her voice, replacing the uneasiness, which made me smile. "Now that we've rounded Myriad, why don't we go visit your old home?" I nodded in response and I began to lead us down the path that I originally came to Myriad down. We ended up pretty close to it right after our round of Myriad was over and done with, so it didn't take much time at all for me to get by bearings again and begin to walk down the long stone path.

As soon as we stepped onto the path, I recognized the area completely. It was a bit odd, considering I've only been down it once, but I suppose this was the first place I saw outside of my old home and the forest behind it, so it had a place in my memory. As for the path itself, none of its aesthetics changed since I traversed down it the first time, same stone path, same green grass, same small bushes. It made it easier for me to remember exactly where I was going, so I was content with the familiar scenery.

Every step we took, we were getting closer to my old home, the place I hadn't seen in nearly two months after living there for the first sixteen years of my life. It definitely felt… Odd. I never thought I would leave in the first place, so returning there after I did end up leaving felt strange to me. Besides this strangeness, I also felt kind of nervous. Although, I had no idea why I did, but the feeling was ever-so prevalent in by mind regardless. I tried to take my mind off of it by observing the groups of pokemon that occasionally passed us, but whether it was a Weavile calmly walking down the same path or a child Pidgey ravenously biting into an apple, I couldn't distract myself. So instead, I just kept walking in silence, trying my best to not acknowledge my thoughts. I'll deal with it when I get there… I'm sure it's just me overthinking things.

Hello Readers!

Sorry for the somewhat-late update, I seem to have times where I can get a chapter done in three or four days, and then times where life decides that it wants me elsewhere, so by updates slow down. I swear, I had this thing sitting on six-thousand words for the past week, and I just never had extra time to sort out my ideas and finish it. But in the end, I got it done, so positive vibes!

Also, for some reason, my computer decides to now always autocorrect "My" to "By" without me doing anything. I have to say, it's really beginning to annoy me, and the amount of 'By's I've had to change in proofreading is kind of baffling. I want to apologize in advance if I miss any, but if you see that word somewhere and It doesn't look right, then now you know why.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for the positive/constructive reviews, PMs, etc. Special thanks to Rekad, Crystal Glaceon, and FaotheUmbreon, for a combination of encouragement and criticism that motivates me and improves by writing, as well as sticking with this story regardless of by less than perfect planning, I really appreciate it! (Also, Rekad is a fellow author, so check out their stuff!)

See You Next Chapter!