Alpha cocked his head to the side as he stared at the pair down, first Aiden, then Trevor, with eyes filled with wild malice. Rows of jagged, pointy teeth gnashed together as the imposing Gabite stormed towards the pair, his coarse skin bathed in a blanket of darkening orange light.

Before long, two other Pokemon stepped up by Alpha's sides. To his left stood a Gliscor covered in scars, her mouth stretched into a wide grin as her yellow, ringed eyes periodically flickered between the pair. To Alpha's right stood a stern looking Dewott, arms crossed with deadpan eyes, a singular green band tightly constricting his left arm and two golden scallops hanging from his waist. Disheveled, blue tufts of hair atop his head were bound together by a ribbon, forming a messy ponytail which flowed in the wind. All three Pokémon wore crimson red scarves around their necks.

"What're you doing here?" Aiden demanded, her eyes narrowing in contempt. "Wasn't this mission too important for you?"

Alpha's smirk only grew wider as his eyes narrowed as well. "I've had a change of heart. Being the more experienced team, it's only natural that we come to retrieve the child.

Both Aiden and Trevor quickly moved in front of Sunny, shielding him with their arms. "You think we trust you with the way you treated Cody?! For all we know, you could be trying to hold him for a ransom! We'll take him back ourselves!"

Alpha laughed condescendingly. "Do you really think you can stop me? Hilarious. Bronze ranks really are as stupid as they are weak."

"Why'd you bring your buddies along then, huh?" Aiden retorted, "You too scared to take on a couple of weak bronze ranks on your own? So much for being the son of a legend."

Alpha's eyes widened in fury, his bulky arms becoming lined with visible black veins. "Don't think for a damn second that I'm even remotely scared of you nobodies. They're just here to witness what happens to low-rank nobodies who try crossing me."

"Kehehe! That's right, don't mess with the boss!" the Gliscor chanted gleefully. The Dewott, by contrast, only offered a slight shrug.

"I'd love to see you try. If we took down that Skarmory, then we can definetely take you on, right Treph?"

"Uh...Yeah! W-we're not scared of you!" Trevor responded shakily. His strained attempts to remain confident were hampered by the sagging weight of his battered limbs. He also took note of Aiden's heavy, staggered breaths despite her attempts at appearing tough.

Alpha's manic grin widened as his body became enveloped in a pale, purple glow. Both Trevor and Aiden felt their hairs stand up on end.

"You have no idea who you're messing with."

With blinding speed, Alpha hunched down before propelling himself forwards with enough force to crack the ground beneath him. Before the pair could react, Alpha's arm collided onto Aiden's chest with enough force to send her careening into the air. By the time Trevor managed to register Alpha's movement, Aiden was already crumpled on the ground, unconscious and coughing up blood.

Trevor could barely shout Aiden's name before Alpha twisted his murderous eyes towards his direction, shutting him up instantly. Despite being significantly smaller than the Skarmory from before, looking into his proud, hate-filled eyes was enough to freeze up in absolute terror. By the time he broke out of his daze and tried reaching into his bag, Alpha had already rammed him and sent him hurtling upwards, causing a searing pain to coarse through Trevor's entire body for an instant before everything went black.

"What idiots!" the Gliscor cackled delightfully as she gleefully stared at Aiden and Trevor's lifeless bodies, "Thinking that they could contest your dragon rush!"

With bated breath and muscles dense with adrenaline, Alpha slowly lumbered towards the battered pair with a clear intent to continue his assault. Razor-sharp teeth grinding relentlessly, the Gabite raised one of its scythe-like arms above Aiden's lifeless body, then brought it down with enough force to shatter several bones in her body with ease.

Only for it to clash with a turquoise-colored blade protruding from one of the Dewott's scallops.

"Rin, what're you doing?!" the Gliscor screamed, beads of sweat traveling down her face as she eyed Alpha worriedly.

"Let's just it go already," the Dewott named Rin coolly declared towards Alpha's furious visage, "You've already proven that you're better than them. Pretty sure there's a group of crawlers headed our way, so sticking around could mean trouble."

Alpha glared at Rin in silence for a few seconds before finally turning away with an indignant scoff. "Fine. The crawlers'll finish the job anyways." Alpha shoved his head mere inches from Rin's, "And for the final time, don't tell me how to lead my own team! In case you've forgotten, you've only been in the Supernovas for a few weeks - I only added you because of your fancy swordplay. Removing you would be a very simple affair."

Rin gave another nonchalant shrug as Alpha lunged forwards to snatch Sunny from his feet. Carrying the thrashing Mime Jr. in his arms, Alpha motioned towards the narrow corridor from where he came. "We're leaving," he grunted angrily, "Don't slow me down, either of you!"

-

Team Spirit remained unconscious and immobile on the floor for so long to the point that by the time they awoke, the pale, white rays of the moon cracked through the openings in the cave's surface.

"Treph...you okay?"

Trevor nodded, then looked around frantically. "Aiden, the kid's gone!"

"No!" Aiden gasped, "Alpha must have taken him! We have to...ngh!"

Aiden strained to move, yet her limbs felt as if they were pinned to the ground.

"Treph, you've got some Oran Berries in your bag, right? We need that energy right now!"

Trevor shuffled his bag to find that it was nearly empty. "They took our items! All our money, seeds, food - they're are gone! The only things they left are our badges and map."

Aiden slammed her fist onto the ground in frustration. "Those bastards! I'll never forgive them for this! How're we gonna get outta here now?!"

As Trevor scanned the area for any nearby crawlers, he managed to catch sight of a single, plump Sitrus berry laying by his feet. Without hesitation, the pair limped towards the berry, split it in two, then hungrily devoured the pieces in their entirety. A tiny burst of energy coursed through their damaged, exhausted bodies.

"Where do you think the berry came from?" Trevor groaned as he strained to get back on his feet.

"We don't have time for that! We gotta save Sunny from those fools!" Aiden flipped forwards with a single flashy movement, her yellow eyes blazing with intensity. Without hesitation, the pair began sprinting back through the narrow corridor from which they came and out of Skybreak Cave.

-

The normally busy streets of Sunrise Town were submerged under the lonely cover of nightfall; shops which usually contained droves of bustling Pokémon were now empty and plastered with closed signs. Trevor couldn't help but find the unfamiliar sight to be slightly jarring as the pair scoured the town for any sign of Sunny's whereabouts.

After a long period of unsuccessful searching, the pair managed to come across a lone Noctowl taking a leisurely stroll. "Hey you!" Aiden screamed, "You got a minute?!"

"Well, I never," the Noctowl answered exasperatedly, shaking his head in annoyance, "Is that any way to greet an old Pokémon minding his own business, hmm?"

Trevor responded swiftly. "I'm sorry for the outburst, sir. This just so happens to be an urgent matter; have you seen a Mime Jr. named Sunny recently? I believe he may be with a Gabite by the name of Alpha."

"Well said!" The Noctowl's eyes lit up in admiration, then creased in bewilderment. "You really don't know? Alpha and his team emerged from Skybreak Cave with the child hours ago. The little tyke was thrashing around and screaming in his arms, for whatever reason, but he managed to return the child back to his parent safely. It was quite a scene - the Supernovas were given their reward and the townsfolk threw a great party to celebrate their success. Such heroes... I'm surprised you folks haven't heard about it." The Noctowl took note of Aiden and Trevor's injuries even amidst the darkness, "Guess you were fooling around in some other dungeon from the looks of it."

Aiden heaved a sigh of relief as the Noctowl began walking away. "So, Sunny's safe. Thank goodness... Hey, wait!" Her relief swiftly turned to anger. "Alpha took the credit after he threatened Cody! That's not fair!"

Aiden's body tensed up as she began fuming silently. Trevor wondered whether her body would spontaneously burst into flames.

"I'm gonna fix this," Aiden declared, looking towards the direction where the Noctowl went, "I'm gonna tell everybody what really happened! That jerk doesn't deserve anything!"

Trevor placed a hand on her shoulder somberly. "I...don't think that's a good idea. Not only is he the famous son of a Legend rank to boot, but he's also a hero in everybody's eyes. If we try discrediting him, we'll just be attracting bad attention on ourselves. I don't think anyone's going to believe us." His voice softened. "I know it hurts, but let's just be content with saving Sunny."

Aiden trembled violently, visibly straining to contain her frustration. "The next time I see any of those good-for-nothing bastards, I'm gonna... I swear, I'm gonna..." Upon seeing Trevor's downcast eyes, however, she swiftly put on a bright smile. "You're right, Treph, there's nothing we can do for now. Let's just...head on home and patch ourselves up." With that, both members of Team Spirit dragged their exhausted bodies all the way back home.

-

Trevor's bandaged stomach growled as he eyed the barren, empty wasteland that was the surface of Aiden's table. "Do we really have nothing to eat?" he muttered weakly as he rubbed his stitched ear, "I'm starving."

Aiden joined Trevor at staring longingly at her table. "Sorry, Treph, but we're broke. All our stuff got nicked, remember? We may have to go without food for a couple days."

The pair gave a deep sigh in unison before hearing the sound of their door being tapped.

"What is it?" Aiden complained, "We're kinda tired at the-"

Aiden swung the door open to find Cody and Sunny standing in front of her, looking upwards with sparkling, gratuitous eyes. Hung on Cody's shoulder was a small knapsack which dragged on the dirt below.

"We snuck out," Sunny proclaimed happily as Aiden dazedly ushered them inside, "Nobody believed me when I tried telling them who really saved me, so we decided to just thank you ourselves!"

Cody laid the sack down and unfurled the top, revealing a pair of apples amidst a small pile of yellow and silver coins. "Thank you," he said with a bright smile.

Aiden's eyes welled up with tears as she lunged forwards to embrace the two children, nearly knocking them off their feet in the process. Trevor let out an understanding grin from a distance at seeing the kids' surprised expressions. Although the members of Team Spirits' limbs and hearts still sagged from their crushing defeat at the hands of Alpha, the satisfaction of having helped others was enough to raise their spirits and keep them excited for the next adventure to come.

END OF CHAPTER 2