When he closes his eyes or crumbles into bed, he always comes back here. There's never a minute where he once curls into a ball and calls it a good night's rest. He will never rest; the day he escapes this horrible Sea is when he'll close his eyes for good.

But tonight was different. It was quiet.

Like being miles away or fathoms beneath the Sea, the wind's screams and the waves' rumblings are faraway whispers. He cannot hear his breath, nor the flapping of ragged clothes. Everything is silent. The storm has become a place of rest.

So he floats motionlessly, his insides churning with the perpetual rise of building-sized waves. Bile whisks deep inside his abused insides but seasickness is the last of his worries. He's used to this feeling. It's a comfort to him.

An interloping sound shatters the chains of silence. A familiar voice, far far off. Intrusive thoughts begin stepping all over his alcohol-induced slumber. Foriegn words and ideas gurgle from the annals of his mind.

B….

It sounds like nonsense, too quiet, too muffled. It's being drowned in the depths by a Sea of Braviary's making - a Sea of wine. What was once a poison now protects him.

B-B…r…k….

It's angry, whatever these thoughts are. It's getting more intense from within its cage, doing everything it can with its shrinking voice.

Click…cl…

Not a voice this time, a mimicry of an eternal sounds of ticking time fade further and further, deeper into the waters than this voice has ever been before.

B…u...r...k…

Ar…l…

His entire world begins to quake, the waves intensifying, the bird's form being thrown among the chaos. This force is stronger than any repressed memory. It makes his whole universe tremble - a second voice.

"Br..avi…Braviary!"

"Get up!"

Reality flashes back to him. The shield around his mind becomes nausea as his eyelids pry open to see a Smeargle standing over him, his hands on his poncho, stirring up Braviary's insides with every shake. There's a desperation in Leon's voice, and the way gets up into his beaky face reflects this.

"We don't have time." Leon commands him. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, but plans have changed, Braviary. You can get your sleep after we're out of here. Minstrel's footing the bill of any pick-me-ups we might need to get you going."

"What?" Braviary gurgles, confused.

There's a mix of fear, tiredness and bewilderment spinning in his head. Though more stronger than any of those feelings is a sense of - well - comfort he'd say. The sea was cold, but in the presence of his friends he's warm. The concern he hears in Leon's otherwise monotone voice makes it feel even warmer.

"You heard me." The Smeargle gives him a parting pat on the shoulder, then backs away. "Do you need help getting up? We're in a hurry."

"You can start by explaining' what's gotten you all worked up." Braviary reaches for his badge and breathes a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he didn't lose it in a drunken stupor. "Y'all seem spooked."

"Downstairs."

Just after saying this, he flicks open the door with his tail and vanishes into the tavern. Braviary is alone once more. That warmth is now gone. As much as he wants to stew here forever, Leon was not going to wait for him.

So he kicks his legs out of bed, and gets u-

His body lying flat was the one thing keeping all this alcohol in balance, moving so quickly out of bed was the worst thing he could've done. All of the poison flows up to his head, drudging up his lunch along with it. He looks around the room, finds the oversized bucket, and throws himself over to it as his insides burst.

Awful. It takes a minute for it all to leave him, and when Braviary's done he's all the worst for it. He sees what's left of his enigma wine sitting next to the window and he lets its caramelly taste wash out everything else. With nothing in here but his dinner in a pail, he leaves through the door, tucking the empty bottle under his poncho.

The tavern's bright gold light did not help the throbbing headache, but his friends were at least here. Joining them at the bar is the bard from earlier. Prinn stuffs a map away as Braviary comes close.

"Minstrel, I reckon?" Braviary points with his beak.

"That's indeed who I am." The Chatot smirks. "I'm officially part of your problem now."

Leon did say he was covering them and as much as wine sounds nice for the road, looking at the colourful wall makes his head spin. He scoots up to the bar - hatted birds on the stools, the others behind it. Prinn looks pleased to see him, albeit he looks like he's had a rough day. Some of his feathers look ruffled and there's a small scrape on his belly. There's also tons of oran wine just sitting around everywhere, half of them covered in green paint. What happened when he was out cold?

He's about to learn.

"There's two reasons why we're leaving." Leon clears his throat. "One is good, the other is unforeseen and unprecedented. I'll start with the bottles."

There's two groups, all of them Oran Wine. The ones with the green splotches on them have no label with the exception of one, while the others are a mix of different breweries both abroad and local. It's these labeless bottles Leon takes umbrage with.

"Vileplume isn't here. Since they're a person who thrives off neutrality, I'm going to assume they're not laundering stolen wine. I have it on Minstrel's word the Flower is a law-abiding type."

Leon nods at Minstrel. It's the specific nod he gives when he's putting his faith in someone. They must've gotten cosy when Braviary was out.

"Enigma Wine is unique, as far as I'm aware we're the only people around who can brew news with reading effects. Unless you have an already established network of criminals and compliant traders - something I know would be a nightmare to have set up - then distributing stolen Enigma Wine would be incredibly difficult on this continent."

"You could cut out a lot of the hassle if you were already in control of a brewery. You'll be able to sell the product right under everyone's noses."

It's upon reaching his hypothesis Leon takes a deep breath, and the colour in his already dour face fades into monochrome.

"When I was a caravan runner, I would go pick up shipments from a place not far out of Calico. The winery was ransacked after I left, and these bottles…"

Leon takes one, showing Braviary the bottom. There are three letters on its base - OOD. Oran Distillery and something else. Braviary is too tired to take a stab.

"Oran Orchard Distillery. It's our best lead so far." Another sigh, the worst has yet to come. "I was going to have us head out in the morning, but Prinn can tell the rest.

Scrapes along his front, patches of feathers missing and bruising along his side - Prinn's been through the ringer. Whatever's put him into this state, it sure wasn't the army of bottles they've got him used to gunning down. He looks like a wreck, yet he smiles through it all.

"I uhm, left when - erm…"

When he glances at Leon, the smile fades. Prinn snaps at Braviary.

"I took your badge when you were sleeping."

"You what!?"

The bottles are strewn aside as Braviary leaps over the bar - only to be put back into place by his grumbling insides. He forces himself back into his chair, clutching the brass thing like the pathetic drunk he is. Prinn was absolutely going to swipe this thing. He'd ought to be more angry at himself for thinking it wouldn't have happened, but it still leaves him sour.

Leon seems equally perturbed, the Smeargle's got this look of surprise on his face too genuine to be a show. Prinn blinded them both.

"Look, um. I took it because I wanted to figure out what it did - okay?" Trepidation replaces Prinn's confidence. "I brought it to the Haxorus lady because she's from a guild and I figured she'd know a th-"

"You took it to another guild?" Braviary hollers.

"No-no! She's my friend, listen for a sec okay?"

Prinn doesn't give Braviary a chance to bemoan his decisions, the boy's in full explanation mode. Braviary surrenders into his seat.

"With her help, I think I figured out how badges are made. I took yours to her because me and Leon were thinking yours acted as a compass or something - we weren't the only ones."

"Over there, remember the guy sitting with a Sneasel?" Prinn points to an empty booth. "The tall one was named Lousia, he's an intelleon who I think is big in the Anomalous Society"

Society? Sounds odd. The confusion must've been apparent on Braviary's face because Leon instantly steps in.

"Think of a guild with an informal structure. They usually have a common goal." Leon explains. "The Anomalous Society is the third group on the Dusk Continent."

Braviary nods.

"Louisa wanted your badge." Prinn points towards the thing on Braviary's chest. "He was trying to look for something and he said your badge could lead him to it. Me and Hal did what we could to keep it away from him, but everytime we threw stuff at him they'd freeze."

"He's an ice type?" Braviary recalls the beanpole in the corner, a bright blue and pink fellow who's a foot above his height. "He didn't look so icy to me."

"We fought in the river when he shot your badge into it, and if he had ice powers he probably would've frozen me down there. So it wasn't ice, It was like…"

Prinn holds both flippers, mimicking the action of a projectile flying towards the other and stopping.

"It was like that. He had this thing which let him-"

"That doesn't make a lick of sense, Prinn."

There's a reason for it - a trick. If it wasn't a badge or an orb, what could possibly fit into the palm of a lizard's hand which could cause something only reasonably explained as magic? Maybe this Louisa is secretly psychic, holding things with his mind before they hit them.

Braviary sighs.

"Okay, so he's a magician and he wants my badge." The old man gives in. "What are we going to do, report him?"

"Well, what you people need to do is to get out of here."

It's Minstrel who speaks up. It's not like this jovial bard to sound so worried for a group of strangers.

"I have a good idea what Louisa is after. I've been acquainted with a friend from the Grass Continent who's personally familiar with these sorts of things, and if I can't mail him, then I'm catching Lapras out across the Sea." Minstrel pulls a pouch of coins from under his funny looking hat. He looks ready to go. "I ain't gonna say what it is because it's never done anyone good to leap to conclusions, but plenty of blood's been spilled over treasures like these, and I'd advise you to run back to your guild for all your sakes."

The look hidden by Minstrel's hat is intense, and makes Braviary shiver when he sees it.

"You especially, Bird."

Minstrel slides out of the stool, and before he could make for the doorway, an awkward squeak stops him in his tracks.

"Thanks!" Prinn cries out. "T-Thanks for helping us!"

A chuckle comes from the staircase.

"You're not the only ones I'm helping."

When she was told to bring the wine elsewhere she expected to deliver it to a bunch of burnout adventurers up near Halfway Rock. But the directions handed to her by a Riolu from Calico's Guild swayed her off the beaten path. It wasn't to a camp near a dungeon, or to an unmarked settlement deep within the mossy sprawl of the Dusk Continent. Waiting at this unmarked fork in the road is a farmstead surrounded by rolling hills of dead berry trees.

The stench of decaying oran could make a grimer belch, but the incense burning from her cart overwhelms the defilement. Patches of weeds infest the path through the trees, and she barely makes out a blue figure waiting on the steps to once beautiful manor. It's the Lucario to the Riolu she met.

Whoever this guildie was they couldn't have picked a more unusual place to meet. Were there ghost-types out here they were pals with? This place reeks of haunting - it also reeks in general. But she's an Aromatisse; her sense of smell may as well be kaput.

Well, now was the time she'd gotten rid of her load. There was no way she's going to be making it to Lapis with four barrels in her cart.

When she walks she pulls the cart along with Psychic, wheeling it to the frost steps. She immediately goes to grab the goods as Lucario steps down to greet her.

He stops just shy of casting her in his shadow. The Aromatisse looks up in nuisance.

"Took you a while!"

She can tell it by the tone in his voice: this is a Lucario who absolutely betrays the righteous image of his ilk. He wears the torn cap of a Murkrow on his head, and the caped mantle he wears is so scruffy it looks like he's got a coat of feathers. His aura spikes - bones, have a brass-like layer to them. This includes his yellow teeth, which he's carved with the words "EAT IT!" on the top row.

He knows she can see his horrendous teeth, and he's proud of them. So proud he offers her a better look by pulling at the corners of his smile, hooking his mouth agape. She can clearly see where the brass ends near the base, and that the letters cut deep enough to reveal his whites. It's a marvel of self-mutilation.

"I'm Lucario." His smirk remains, the hands prying his mouth open don't. "I don't think you need a name, but you think you'll need to see this."

Lucario reveals something from his cape: a five-point badge from the Sundown Guild. He's legit. Way too high rank to be out waiting for deliveries.

"So they sent a Five to do a Two's job? Is wine seriously that important?"

"I asked myself; it's precious cargo I guess." The fighting-type doesn't seem to care. "You need help getting back there?"

She opens a latch on her hooded cart, revealing a cluttered interior. There are four barrels shoved into the back, a bedspace, and two dangling burners running constantly.

This was her home, she didn't like Lucario wanting in. She can always throw the barrels out with psychic, but that is no way to handle supposedly precious cargo. Why was Enigma Wine suddenly so important - are they worried about not drinking themselves to bed? Is it for the wine trick?

"No."

She takes a big step inside, hunching herself over and walking through dangling chains and tapestries. When Aromatisse puts her hands on the closest barrel she smothers her beak against it and takes a sniff. Still good, still enigma wine.

"What's with the order of Enigma Wine? If your friends are worried about aura readings, the guild has you, don't they?"

The cargo in hand, she turns around and Lucario isn't there. The man vanished into thin air, for what she can only assume is getting his guildmates in on the drinking. She takes a confused moment to listen and hears the patter of wings overhead. Murkrow mail. Probably the guild being pedantic.

Aromatisse steps out into the midafternoon sun, looking skywards for any sign of a fluttering mailman. She's made a mistake.

A sudden, powerful strike beats into her gut. Again, and again, steel-powered punches rip into her flank. Her assailant, Lucario, beats the air out of her lungs with Bullet Punches from a single hand. She gasps.

Second mistake. Lucario crushes a Seed in his other hand, throwing a plume of dust into her face as she inhales. Her mask-like beak does nothing this close. The Sleep Seed's effects kick in, her legs turn to paste, and she crumbles to the ground.

In her last glimpses of consciousness she sees those awful teeth grinning like a fiend. She hears the wings again, and his voice.

"Go ask 'em what to do with the lady."

"So they were yellow?"

"Yeah, he had yellow eyes." Prinn answers Braviary. "He was tall, tugged at this thing under his cravat - right where I have mine. Like really tall."

A hazy memory of the day before has been playing inside Braviary's head since the moment they made it out of Calico. Was it an afterimage of a dream - a repressed memory struggling to surface? All Braviary remembers is waking up inside the Emporium, seeing someone behind the curtain with bright yellow eyes clutch something and dart away. There was nothing else to it.

But who else could match what he saw? Was it even real? He'll go with yes - because doubting his perception of reality was terrifying.

"Look, chew me out for not having told you two sooner - but when I woke up after having Judeau pick through my head I saw someone out the door."

Leon, as the one leading them through the night with his tail glow, glances back. There's a frustrated, albeit understanding look on his face. Braviary nods back.

"I honestly thought I was seeing nonsense." Braviary continues. "But gaunt, yellow-eyed, and clutching their chest matches no one else we know of."

"Well…" Prinn pulls on his cravat. "I did see uh, Mienshao grab the badge on her chest once in a while. She's tall, but I think her eyes were more red than yellow? I wasn't looking."

Braviary takes a swig from a bottle of chesto, feeling the wine run throughout his body - shaking bones and muscles awake. It won't do forever, but it's the one thing keeping him from falling over at three past midnight.

"Now what's his deal, exactly? I'm not gonna give him his badge, so does this mean we got two pokemon who are out for our hides?" Braviary looks up the line. "Leon?"

"I'm keeping my eyes peeled, Braviary, give me a second to think."

The line slows a tad, a moment or two passes with the Smeargle staring skywards. Then, he resumes his march.

"Mienshao isn't one to attack us directly, this guy is. Mienshao is more of a…tactile issue than trying to fend off a thief. That's if he hasn't found a route to what he wants which doesn't involve going through you. We should be fortunate that the badge isn't his real target, and just keep an eye out until we're back to the guild."

Leon points to Braviary with his tail.

"If you want to, you ca-"

No, whatever he's about to say is not going to happen. Braviary is not even gonna let him finish.

"The badge stays with me."

"Okay." Leon's Tail Glow flickers when he shrugs. "And isn't he supposed to be big in another Guild, Prinn?"

"Yeah, Vileplume let me have a look at his tab and it mentioned a Chief Investigator for the Society up near Lapis who happens to be an Inteleon, and who has a Lou- name. Unless he's got a twin I think that's the guy…"

Since when did Vileplume let Prinn dig through the papers?

"Whoever Louisa is, I don't think he's bright." Braviary shrugs in the smaller bird's direction. "Me and you are part of the guild, right? He'd gotta be stupid to attack you."

"No."

Leon shoots their hopes down with one word.

"You're independent. But for the sake of this investigation and matters related to it you're considered members of the Scholar's. I can pull this card on a tavern owner; it'd never work on an experienced explorer. He did not attack a member of another guild."

This was the type of thing which kept him awake at night, and made all those indignant, childish thoughts about guilds justified. A member of another guild attacked another. They attacked his friend, and Lousia's getting away with it.

Braviary's feathers bristle out, and he takes a-

"I'd like to pose a question, Braviary." A glance from Leon is enough to shrink Braviary down a size. "Taking into account the abilities Prinn mentioned, do you think we could take down this man? Why hunt him in the first place? All you have to do is protect your badge until we get back."

He's old, Prinn got lucky in a fight, and Leon seems to be the only one with training. They're not exactly the A-team here, they're somewhere in the C to D division. Not unless the three of them get a month's worth of fighting under their belts there's no way they'll ever hunt down someone like Lousia. The priority is getting back to the guild - nothing else.

Braviary's feathers fall back into place, Prinn keeps his beak shut. Muttering a "good", Leon keeps marching them down these open roads.

Truly the Dusk Continent was a vast place, much of which was covered in these wide fields of mossy rocks. The winter winds scraping through the land did not make the damp pastures any more bearable. He's actually come to almost miss the sheer claustrophobia of the forests near Scoria Town. At least then he'd be spending more of his time thinking about the possibilities of ghosts hiding in the underbrush than realizing just how little his poncho protects against cold.

They would see patches of forests in the distance; evergreens herding together like gatherings of greenish wingull. The road would even pass through the forests from time to time, but this one wasn't an express road into a dungeon. No, this dirt path is uneventful. It was much more traveled, and they were following in the footsteps blazed by hundreds of caravans before them.

According to their handy watchman, the dozens of smaller paths splintering off from this road all lead to those nearby groves, rivers, and landmarks. From above it would look like a river - spreading the life of trade throughout the many unmarked communities in the Dusk Continent. Were they to keep going this way they'd reach a popular place called Halfway Rock, even further is the frigid paradise of Lapis Town. The place where Prinn is from, and where this Lousia's Society Is.

But they weren't going there.

Leon takes one of these unremarkable forks, leading them into a forest road with his tail as their guide. The path is brief, surrounded by trees which tunnel them into a grim clearing.

Dead oran trees span as far as the eyes can see. The forest is no more than a curtain hiding this pitiful pasture. A fetid field which has been left to rot in the elements and all matter of bug types or greedy creatures. The archway which once greeted so many lies at their feet a wrought iron rust. Leon's stupefied look says it all.

"A real wreck." Braviary scowls the sight. "How long ago were you here?"

Leon's attention looks to be at the house in the middle of it. Windows shattered, wood starting to decay, it would seem abandoned were it not for the roofed cart shy of its porch. Perhaps Leon just sees the cart, but Braviary can tell by its bright pink roof and the silvery chains dangling off one side has merchant written all over.

The end of tonight's road has ended, and the end of their investigation was within sight. If their Aromatisse is here, then her status, the most recent shipment and what the Oran oddities will be wrapped up in a single bow.

"There's…" Prinn chuckles nervously, "seriously no way this place is empty. But I don't think we can get up with whoever's here seeing us. You uh, don't think it's…"

"Probably." Leon answers.

Bandits, those rumoured fellows Prinn has been anxious about since the second the boy discovered him on the beach. If not them, then it's a petty thief of some sort or a vagrant calling this hobble their home. This place screams criminal hideaway.

"If it is, then you can consider your tango with Lousia a warm up." Braviary gives them a stern glance. "Can we all agree we aren't gonna do something drastic and stupid?"

His party nods. Braviary walks first without a fuss, Leon is the light behind him, and Prinn watches their backs. The same order as last time.

Whilst crossing the field Braviary makes note of what he has: a nearly empty bottle of Enigma Wine, an Orb, and the Elixir on the Boy's person. Leon brought a bottle of Oran as evidence, so they'll have something for their wounds in case things get nasty.

There's no one peeping from the windows, there's no shadow of a pokemon behind the cart and the porch is empty. There's a rickety on the porch, a pyramid of bottles at its feet. There's no reins on the carriage, nothing to really pull it along, and it seems pristine. But where is everyone? Asleep?

No, they're not asleep. The head of a pokemon peers at them through a crack in the door. They don't look hostile. Their ruby-colored eyes aren't furious, they're just looking at them with a curious tilt - like seeing a peculiar looking stranger out in the streets. Upon realizing they're not alone, Braviary digs for the Orb under his poncho, and passes it to Leon.

"Tell Prinn to use this if anyone gets too close." he whispers.

The sound of a door opening hides anything Leon may have told the Boy. A blue jackal steps out, a pokemon Braviary easily recognizes as one of those Lucario. This one's got brass bones, a Murkrow hat which has had a slice taken out of it, and had a ragged dark cape. A guildie? Criminal? How does the latter dress anyways?

As they approach the cart with caution, Lucario steps down from the porch to greet them. His sharp brass teeth poke through his grin.

"Well!" Lucario chuckles. "I don't expect you guys to be out this far, don't you Scholars stick around the Peninsula?"

They stop, a cart's length or two separating them from this grinning Lucario. Braviary keeps his beak shut, and Leon takes the stage.

"Ordinarily, yes, but these aren't ordinary circumstances." Leon's voice is more drab than it's ever been. "I'm concerned about one of my guild's caravaners - an Aromatisse. Given we were the victim of a break-in targeting our wine, my guild has reason to suspect she may be in danger."

"Huh, odd." Lucario blinks. "I thought you guys just handed out the wine, since when were you doing caravan guard gigs?"

"We don't. Missing pokemon are an imperative for every guild." Leon doesn't flinch. "I'm sure you can understand."

Lucario leans against the cart, his weight causing it to wobble and creak. His cordial demeanor begins to fade.

"I understand plenty, but do you have any idea how big the Aromatisse are?" He raps the cart with his fist. "Sure I've met one. What makes you think it's yours?"

"The Aromatisse we're looking for was the last one to leave with wine." Prinn speaks up. "She was heading this way."

"And?" Lucario scoffs, "You clearly didn't listen to what I said."

There it is, frustration rearing its ugly head. Braviary can hear it in his voice, see it in the way he's not looking at them anymore. Lucario's hiding something. With Leon here, it's only a matter of time he cracks this dog open like he did to Braviary.

He sees Leon smirk. Just a little, of course - don't want to hide the fact he's got Lucario right where he wants. Right after Prinn chimes in, Leon reaches into the duffle bag he's been lugging around since Scoria Town and out pops a bottle of Oran. He holds it bottom facing the hound.

"Despite this Orchard being ransacked and burned, it's surprisingly operational. This brewery has decided to make a comeback with a new flavor - half Oran, and half Enigma Wine."

Leon looks at Braviary, he's left Lucario open for him.

"The barrels from the Break-in were taken here, bottled up, then sold as ordinary Oran stuff that happens to be more expensive than the other." Braviary points his beak to the bright pink cart. "It doesn't matter if who the Scholars are looking for is here - something's up with this place. You're the only pokemon who can answer for this orchard so I'd start being more forthcoming if I were you."

The four feelers on Lucario's head rattle all at once. He reaches into the cloak whilst staring Braviary dead into his eyes, and brandishes a badge for all to see. Five Points, Sundown Guild.

"Your old hag's waiting to be put into the bastille, she's in the house sleeping. I couldn't believe a merchant could be a criminal, but me and my boys are waiting for good old magnezone to come along and lock her up."

A grotesque grin peels its way across Lucario's snout, revealing a set of brass fangs which he has carved a very personal message into: "EAT IT!" - eat his dirt. Because with this badge in his hand it makes him one for the most important members of the biggest guild on this rock, and so much as a slap on his face could ripple out into a full blown disaster.

Lucario is untouchable, he's admitted to having friends in the house behind him, and he's just soaking in Braviary's fuming anger. His talons are begging for him to rip the smile off of his face when something occurs to him. One little thing to turn his anger into laughter.

"Oh, silly me." Braviary smiles, his eyes bright and falsely endearing. "I just uh, got something to ask before we part…"

The untouchable jackal offers an ear.

"Why would uh…the Sundown Guild order aura-reading wine when they've got a Lucario with them?"

A good question, the answer to which is cut off by a bottle of Enigma Wine smashing into Lucario's snout. The explosion of glass and spirits sends Lucario stumbling back, shielding his eyes and shouting for his friends.

"Get these fools!"

Chaos breaks loose. Tail Glow is sparked as Leon makes a wide berth, Prinn bravely following in his stead. Leon fires a Shadow Ball at something in the sky; Prinn casts a bubble. Both connect at the thing, accomplishing little.

Braviary's quarrel wasn't with the flying things - probably murkrow, or the thing rushing out the main door, it's Lucario who's the main threat here. Braviary charges him.

A bottle may have bought him a second, but Lucario was faster. Meeting Braviary's charge is a swift barrage of Bullet Punches as Lucario strikes through the blindness. Fists batter him like stones, wearing his chest down till his back collides with the wooden cart. His old bones scream, his body lurches. He didn't want to know how many he had just taken, but it was too many.

Through the Pain, Braviary charges again, throwing his drunkard weight into the fighting-type's shoulder. The shift throws him off balance in time for Braviary to chop his back with a Wing Attack. Lucario's face dents the cart, and he slides onto the gravel.

Braviary stomps his talons into the ground, and misses Lucario's head. The younger pokemon rolls away out of his rampage, avoiding stomp after stomp until there's nowhere to go other than the cart's wheel. Braviary grips onto one of the spokes, then-

"Braviary, down!"

The bird throws himself to the ground as two Silver Spikes rip straight through the cloth roof. A third spike floats harmlessly inside one of Prinn's bubbles, and behind it is the culprit: a Pawniard with many more of these held in its hands. Prinn's screaming saved his hide.

A fourth spike hits where he was as he scampers around the cart, using it as cover. With it separating him from Lucario, both pokemon are given a second to breathe.

"You're pretty tough! Your lady went down after a single one of those." The fighting type chuckles from the other side. "What's your guild, oldie?"

The time for conversation was before he smashed a bottle against his stupid face. Why now? Leon's back there tossing Shadow Balls at these two murkrow who keep battering against his Protect shields, sneaking in attacks with wings and beaks, slowly whittling his defenses. Prinn's bubbles useless offensively, is the one thing keeping the duo from getting flanked. They'll hold for a minute.

"I'd like to know the answer myself." Braviary tries to focus. "Have you seen it before? It's never too late for us to throw our hatchets away."

A spike is caught in a bubble, and floats harmless towards Leon. He pops it, taking the spike in his hand, and nailing the first murkrow to come too close to his Protect shield. The last thing Braviary sees before turning his attention to Lucario is Leon popping the wine.

"Maybe, and no." Lucario's laugh conceals his growl. "My problem's with your girl, no one else. But you smashed any chance of diplomacy alongside a bottle to my face - now I've got you three to put to sleep before I can be on my way."

A murkrow, forced to the ground by the spike, squawks in defeat. Prinn is spitting out Dark feathers; did he just peck the thing to sleep? Leon has his hands on another spike.

"Sounds like your friends are doing a bang-up job over yonder. Got more clowns at your beckon call?"

Lucario growls; Braviary's back tenses. Breaktime is about over.

"Bah, nevermind them!" The smugness returns in the aura-mutt. "It's between us, and you've already lost, old man!"

Braviary ducks away in time for a fist-sized sphere to rip through the cart. It shoots past him, barreling through the rotten trees till one of the trunks is sturdy enough to stop it. Neither pokemon deterred by the miss in the slightest, he hears Lucario running around the cart to his left, and he prepares another Wing chop-

When Lucario passes, his bands are flowing. A soft glow clings to the palm he points in his direction. As Braviary goes for the wing attack but something gets him first.

A blue flare shoots into his peripheral. He leaps, but no matter how high he would've jumped the sphere would've hit him all the same. It collides with his chest, drilling into him before it ignites into a shower of aural sparks. The force knocks him through the cart, high and far.

He lands into the earth, scraping across the gravel as he comes to a rolling stop. Censers, fabrics, bits of the cart all rain down around him. The concoction of a hundred incense smells worse than the trees, but it gives him something to focus on other than the fact his body is absolutely on fire.

When he draws breath it feels like daggers are stabbing into his chest. Through it all, an overwhelming urge to smack the smugness of the guildie's face gets Braviary on his feet.

But the second he stands, a Silver Spike pierces his leg.

Braviary yells in agony, bellowing from the depths of his rasping lungs. Pain shoots through - followed by horrifying nothingness. His leg is frozen. No wings, nothing to run on; he stares down Lucario.

"You really shouldn't have said a thing."

Lucario squats at a distance. His smile, and the stupid lettering etched onto his teeth drive him mad, but the look in his red eyes aren't what Braviary expected.

"Provided you have a good read on a person's aura, Arua Sphere never misses its target. I'm not skilled in the aura department, but you gave me the time to grab a spike and read you. That's why you're on the floor and I'm standing."

A Cheri Wine could bring his leg back; any old drink could do. But there's nothing of this sort strewn along the merchandise. No matter how many plans he drafts in his head, they all end in his immediate defeat. There is nothing Braviary can do. He's not smart enough to think his way out of here. He's not Leon, nor is he even Prinn.

Prinn. Braviary sees the boy look his way, the second Murkrow is down at Leon's feet.

"What are you gonna do then?" Braviary croaks.

Lucario looks at the Silver Spike with a ghoulish frown. Don't even look at it.

"You got a minute maybe."

Prinn breaks away, Pawnward attempts to intercept but a Shadow Ball keeps them occupied. Something is in Prinn's flipper..

"I'll fix up the leg when you're out." Lucario stands up. "There's Oran for days h-"

He quickly swings around, swatting Prinn's projectile away with his fist. Only this time, it wasn't a harmless bubble. His fist collides with the orb, shattering it into a cloud of dust which becomes an all-powerful gale, throwing Lucario straight into a very angry Braviary.

Something takes control. As Lucario flies into him, Braviary's talons are there to greet him. His one good leg cracks into the Fighting-type's back with a powerful kick, then another, then another - his razor sharp claws pulling him back for more each time. He goes for anything, sending blue hair flying with lightning quick, Close Combat strikes. A final surge of adrenaline travels through his wing as he grabs the battered Lucario by his shoulder, and slams him into the dirt.

Nausea, searing pain in his leg, and a hundred questions all flood him at once as his strength fades. Two voices call for him; they're impossible to hear over the droning of waves.

His breath is heavy. The sounds of the Sea take hold, then darkness follows.

/ End of part 1, we hit the plot break. Gonna be editing earlier chapters a bit. SE 1 is next.