December 3rd, 2025

Floor 16

The glittering diamonds chased me through the dungeon. I ran to the next floor and dodged a Shadow Ball, an ominous orb of ghostly purple energy, coming straight for me. I couldn't use Force Palm on it; the Ghost-typing made my best move ineffective. I dodged another one but was slammed with a Night Shade. The sandy exterior dungeon was covered in pitch-black coloration, like the black sand beaches in Hawaii. I was surrounded in darkness. I couldn't turn anywhere. I glanced back behind me, where the Sableye was, and can only see three objects—two blue diamonds and the most crooked, evil smile I could have ever imagined. I screamed, fell back into the dark sand, and let it engulf my body as I struggled to free myself from the grip of the Night Shade's clutches. The diamonds bounced back and forth as the mouth opened with laughter.

I woke up from my nightmare with a beach ball to the face. I fell out of my beach chair and into the hot, grainy sand. I let the sand run through my paws. I was still on the fourteenth floor, though the raid team cleared both this and the next floor bosses. Everyone was on the sixteenth floor, Anthill Peak—everyone that cared about advancement. I remained here with my partying friends. I smiled and threw the beach ball back toward those swimming in the lake. Having fun wasn't a crime, so why should I feel guilty about doing it? I needed some relaxing. Gothita would want it.

I closed my eyes and let the sunlight radiate on my blue skin. Yeah, it was already December in the real world, but it was nice and hot today. This would start my third week lying in the heat and enjoying every ray that couldn't burn my unchangeable avatar. Laogai Lake was a special place.

I suddenly felt a shadow cover the sun's comfort from my body. I figured it was just a few people talking, but when I felt several nudges to my face, I knew who it was. I peeked at my friend and smiled, but turned in my chair to get more comfortable.

"Get up, Riolu," Buneary said impatiently.

I stretched my arms and scratched my lower back. Why would I have to get up if I wasn't going to do anything? Black Ice has left me alone since I quit trying; all was good when I stayed on this floor.

"Get up!" she screeched and pushed me into the sand once more. I spit a mouthful out and kept flicking my tongue to get the specks out. I ended up having to drink the rest of my water just so I didn't crunch the little grains. I remained seated in the steaming-hot sand.

"What?" I barked. "I told you, Buneary, I'm not helping you with the boss battles and all that junk."

Buneary squatted beside me but kept her body out of the dirt. She looked me dead in the eyes, a new ferocity shining through her previously appreciable qualities. "Listen up, you stupid idiot: I need your help."

"Pff, that's a first!" I laughed and put my hands behind my head in the sand.

Buneary flinched from the harshness of my words and kicked sand back on my face again. "Stop acting like some sort of…hippie…and listen to what I have to say! As second in command of the Golden Warriors forces, I demand you to get up like a normal human being."

I rolled my eyes. Buneary had joined Scyther's guild after I told her to stop playing solo. I guessed my own suggestion bit me in the butt because I hated her position and reputation. She was the top-ranked guild member in all guilds and was the most sought-after battler, even ahead of me—but only because I quit, I imagined. The only thing Buneary lacked was the happiness to evolve. I wasn't sure why she hadn't already; she had everything. Wealth, power, reputation. I mean, I definitely had a reputation, but not like that. The Speeding Bullet was rumored to be the strongest player, but also a mysterious murderer.

"Ooh, demanding! Does that come with the job or did you learn that yourself?" I jested.

Buneary remained emotionless. She appeared to be ashamed with how I'd ended up, and the look she gave me did hurt deeply. I knew I was a fighter, but after what had happened…maybe I knew wrong.

"Cut the crap, Rio, and just listen to me. Please? Then I'll let you cut up with the bums."

I smiled. "Sounds fair. What's up?"

Buneary sighed. "We found this in one of the floors of the sixteenth dungeon, known as the 'Ant Labyrinth.'"

She clicked her menu and brought up a screenshot of the game. She turned so I could look behind her and we both viewed the same black letters that I had seen earlier—BI. She closed her menu and I stood up accordingly.

"We blocked off the exits and he's still in there somewhere, whoever he is. That means that someone from the guild, whatever he was planning, is trapped. Are you up to catch him?"

I thought for a second, but, in honor of Gothita, I shrugged.

Buneary's mouth fell open. She reared her hand back and slapped me hard in the cheek. I stumbled from the blow and rubbed my sore cheek. She looked at me sternly and shook her head.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. "What happened to the Riolu I fel—" Buneary stopped speaking and regretted going so far into the sentence. I didn't know what she was going to say, so I dumbly asked her.

"You what?"

"The Riolu I felt was strong enough to do anything," she quickly said.

Saying that seemed weird, but I let the sentence go. I told her more about Gothita and she only acted angry that I cared for the girl. Gothita was such a laid back, carefree person. I was envious of how much fun she had. As such, I danced in her honor for two whole weeks.

"Gothita died because of these people, you idiot! Why do you even care for her? She knew you for a day," Buneary said.

"We kissed, Buneary!" I screamed.

Tears were almost visible in her eyes. "Kissing on the first day? Classy," she countered. "Why don't you just soak up the rays, then, and I'll handle this mission on my own. I don't need some stupid boy anyway. You'd just slow me down with your dumb attitude."

As she stomped away in anger, I felt terrible after a few seconds of satisfying fulfillment. I didn't want to help mostly because I didn't want to endanger anyone else. Black Ice made that clear. If I didn't give into their demands, then everyone would be in danger all over again.

Besides, being carefree had its perks. The beach partiers loved me. I even learned Bulk Up to impress the ladies, though none of them were the least bit interested in me.

. . .

"Did you set the trap?" a mysterious Pokémon messaged to his colleague. He waited a few minutes to get a reply, but each minute seemed dangerous to him. He couldn't be seen by anyone, let alone his worst enemy.

"Trap's set," he read from his screen.

He smiled. He remained in the shadows of a floor 16 building. The sunlight above glinted off his halo and made a crescent-shaped shadow on the ground. The crescent disappeared as he vanished into the shadows once the trap was set.

. . .

Three Days Later

The Pizza Pier was a favorite restaurant of the lakeside partiers. I myself enjoyed going there every few nights; eating a lot of pizza was always fun when it didn't go to your thighs. Tonight, I figured I'd join the boys and relax some more. I walked into the building, which was shaped like a triangular piece of pizza, and felt at home in the overall dark rooms with lights flashing everywhere.

I sat down at a table full of people and ordered a pizza nearby a Munchlax. He had just ordered his pizza, too. I looked away from him and thought about the case Buneary was trying to solve. Who gave the tip? Did she ask about that? I imagined how possible it was that everything was a trap—it was too obvious. Perhaps that was the point. I looked toward the dance floor. Gothita probably loved dancing on the multi-colored tiled stage area where Pokémon danced and drank Moomoo Milk. I chuckled as a Psyduck attempted to swerve its hips.

My pizza arrived at the same time as Munchlax's. We both grabbed a slice and stuck it in our mouths whole. I finished swallowing and went for the next slice as Munchlax did the same.

"What's the deal, buddy?" I asked while chewing.

"Are you trying to compete with me?" he asked, pizza flying everywhere.

I felt a surge of adrenaline go through my body. "You aren't competition, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, ho, ho!" Munchlax smiled. He looked back at some friends and called them over. "Boys, it looks like we have an eat-off!"

I smirked as everyone rooted for Munchlax. I moved over opposite of him and we ordered more pizzas than I would have liked to pay for. We quickly began shoving them in our mouths. After several minutes, Munchlax stopped and watch me basically toss slices into my mouth. I chomped down on my last piece and saw he still had a pizza left. I raised a fist in victory as the Pokémon, a natural eater, fell to the ground. I then ran to the bathroom to vomit.

I tripped over the tiles and just barely missed splashing my face in the toilet. I put my mouth above the hole and let all the pizza I wasted away come out into the toilet. It was weird; I didn't know getting sick like this was possible—I knew vomiting was a sign of emotional grief that was programmed in the game, but from eating too much? As I kept puking, I heard the bathroom door open. I turned around and wiped the puke from my mouth as a familiar person came up to me.

Bastiodon and Lairon entered the room and kept a small distance between them. Bastiodon greeted me awkwardly and I turned back toward the toilet to let more pizza flow freely. This partying thing was hard.

Another figure emerged from the hallway. The Golden Warriors' leader, Lord Scyther himself, walked in between the defensive Pokémon and raised his eyebrows at my vomiting. He cleared his throat and I turned back around and slouched against the bathroom wall.

"Good to see you're your usual self," he noted without a sense of amusement in his joke.

"Hey, tightwad," I said back.

He ignored my insult. "I require your cooperation," he asked informally.

This time, I raised my eyebrows. "Or what?"

Scyther rolled his eyes at the attitude I answered back with. "Or Buneary will die at the hands of the Black Ice guild. She told you about the dungeon, yes?"

My heart stopped for a moment. "Yes," I said solemnly.

"She hasn't returned," Scyther said, admiring his scythes as he spoke. "She's my finest member, as you know, and I'd love to have her back."

I felt a surge of annoyance flow through my body. "You have a whole guild. Why didn't you go?"

Scyther looked at me, his eyes half-open, as if I was but a nuisance to his existence. "Because they want you. For whatever reason, those fiends requested your presence in the dungeon."

A cold shiver ran up my spine. I sent Buneary into trouble and now they wanted me to come see her die. I wouldn't be able to handle the guilt of her death. Sableye was going to pay for even attempting such a threat. I agreed to go with him and a few others. I swallowed the remaining vomit and went to get ready for the dungeon I had to visit.

. . .

Anthill Peak was hot and sandy, but not like Laogai Lake was—it was scalding hot to my feet and completely boring. All the buildings were made of compacted sand. Everything was so desert-based and boring. The dungeon entrance was in the middle of town—a very, very large hole leading into the Ant Labyrinth. Everyone was panicking and scrambling around the city; the dungeon was too dangerous to explore and rumors of fake Black Ice members were spreading like wildfire. I even heard someone suggest that I was a member myself, but that was too obvious a lie in my eyes to even sound legitimate.

Scyther wanted me to accompany him in about one hour. Before I go into the dungeon, I knew I needed to buy some materials. This journey wouldn't be easy; I heard the previous dungeon had 43 floors, and they have been gradually increasing in difficulty by random increments. I walked by a Gabite standing on a stage above a crowd of Pokémon. I decided to listen to his speech, but I caught the latter half.

"You must be aware of the evil guild! The Speeding Bullet has claimed for months that there is an evil in this game, but we ignored his warnings! Now we must pay the price! I don't want to get stuck in some dungeon with murderers!"

I couldn't help but raise my voice in the crowd and throw up ideas for Gabite to speak about. "Sableye is evil!" I shouted in a random voice.

"Death to Sableye!" I squealed in a more feminine one.

"I heard Sableye is a thief and murderer!"

After making my own impression on the gathered meeting, I ran out before anyone connected me to the voices. It was my duty to make sure everyone knew the real killer. I eventually made it to one of the many TM markets and decided to take a look around.

Inside, the building was actually air-conditioned. A red rug covered most of the sandy floor. I went to one of the item shelves and click its button on the menu. A list of items came up for me to purchase, all of them as inexpensive as a soda with the amount of money I had saved up. I bought the TMs for Brick Break, Payback, and Bulldoze for some more variety in my learnset. This was one of the first floors that actually had good TMs, too.

However, the only move that was ranked decently was Brick Break; the other two moves weren't used to their potential. Pokémon were disappointed by Payback's inability to be powerful if used first. They couldn't wait a turn because of mere impatience when the payoff was usually decent. Bulldoze was weak, yes, but it offered a speed boost against Pokémon like Sableye that would run away from you. It wasn't only about a move's power, but its abilities outside the norm.

Anyway, I completed my learnset after keeping Bulk Up. I was becoming a formidable threat, however I couldn't wait to get moves like Aura Sphere or Close Combat. Those are the really powerful attacks.

After finishing my purchases with berries and orbs, I returned to the Ant Labyrinth entrance and saw Scyther, Houndoom, and Grovyle standing ahead. I joined them and we jumped down into the hole, which led to the teleporter below.

. . .

I fought on my own in the dungeon. I went ahead of the trio and never requested for their help. Scyther detested this independence, but I knew he had to ignore it and let me play my own role in saving my friend. The only Pokémon in this dungeon were Trapinch and Durant, the former being infamous for its trapping abilities and the latter for its surprising speed and strength.

I ran through the ant tunnel and dodged a Crunch attack from Trapinch. I used Brick Break, which obliterated the Pokémon into shards with little effort. I was impressed by Brick Break's ability. After a Durant nearly depleted my HP with Metal Claw, I used Bulk Up to take a Bug Bite and knocked the ant back with a STAB Brick Break once again. This baby was my new favorite weapon.

On floor ten, the sandy stairs became harder to find. Scyther kept his people close to me since I was doing most of the attacking, but Grovyle's Leaf Blade and Houndoom's Fire Fang were both doing very well against the Pokémon. Scyther, however, barely lifted a scythe; he mainly watched as his lower-leveled guild members did most of the work. I frowned at his leadership skills—I thought he was better than that. I knocked a Durant back with a Payback after being bitten and quickly ran up the stairs. The others accompanied and I exhaled in relief. This was getting hard fast.

"If you accepted my guild's invitation, perhaps you would be better protected," Scyther said rather lazily.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not joining a guild ever again."

"Suit yourself."

I kept moving and found an orange gummi on the sixteenth floor. After struggling to find the stairs each time for the past six or seven floors, I was relieved to learn my newest Team Skill, my third one out of five, was Stair Seeking. Every floor now, I could see the blue square that signaled the stairs. The only issue was finding it on the map. After facing several dead ends, I finally helped Scyther's group make it to the twentieth floor. However, we still hadn't seen Buneary. I'd been calling out for a very long time and we haven't missed a single room in the dungeon so far, but I was devastated to find her not here. She wasn't answering her messages, either.

The twentieth floor was a rest area. Houndoom and Grovyle fell to the floor in exhaustion as Scyther walked in behind them. I brought up the rear and laid by them in the hot sand. Scyther stood over me with a smirk on his face.

"What's wrong? Not as active as you were before?" he chuckled. "We all can't keep up, I suppose. You were a good starter, I will say."

I got up from the dirt and grabbed Scyther's arms. I looked him straight in the eyes and started spitting out insults. Grovyle and Houndoom looked over in concern, but neither of them dared to move my direction. Scyther was stuck facing me on his own.

"You dare act like it was easy to get here when you made your slaves do it for you?" I questioned.

"They are guild members, not slaves. They are only trying to keep me protected."

I shook my head at him. "That's stupid. You treat them as friends, not body guards."

"How would you know?" he asked. "You let your friends die."

I dropped the conversation, held my temper in, and moved toward the portal. I told the others that Buneary had to be just ahead, but none of them moved. I groaned and realized they all wanted to turn back.

"We went twenty floors in and she's not here. Tragic, isn't it?"

"Buneary's in here, Scyther. I know she is. I'm going after her," I snarled. I went into the portal and left the guild party alone in the resting room. I trudged on, shocked, and muttered insults about the Golden Warriors to myself. I knew Buneary was in trouble. I could see the glint of something every now and then, whether it be an orb or a TM disc, and every time I swore it was the glint of those large blue diamonds.

Buneary was the best thing that happened to the guild. Flying Fighters started off weaker, but they grew in power. Many Flying-type Pokémon evolve in the early-to-late twenties, yet Scyther's guild still has many Pokémon who lack the levels to evolve, and some are still in their basic forms. Nevertheless, Buneary was the strongest out of all of them. She battled nearly every Pokémon in his guild and defeated them. The only one she didn't fight was Scyther himself, and it was because he did not wish to fight.

I knew all of this because despite my laziness, I kept up with the times. I read the papers, heard the announcements, and gave Combusken large sums of cash to give me secrets about everybody. Mostly, I used the last source on my list, but still.

By floor 30, Scyther had caught up to me alone. Houndoom and Grovyle had to retreat due to their injuries, so he had to resort to me doing most of the work. Sadly, we both knew I would. I couldn't let Scyther die during the mission or I'd be assassinated whenever I would be in a dungeon. Scyther very rarely had to use his Slash attack on a Trapinch or an Aerial Ace on a Durant. I did most of the work and used most of my Max Elixirs in the process. We kept battling, kept going up stairs. Eventually, he spoke up.

"Buneary talks about you," he eventually said.

"Why?" I asked dumbly.

He sighed. "That is what I ask her, but she only says that we should recruit you somehow. There's something about you, Riolu, that threatens everyone else. You're the target of this guild. You're the boss killer, well, you were. Whatever is the reason, you are very popular among the gossipers."

I knew what he meant. Everyone was talking about the legendary Speeding Bullet. Someone mentioned writing comics about him. He was a mythological hero. I was a rejected soloist.

"I think we should head back," he said aloud, though his HP bar was completely full.

"We're on the fortieth floor. There has to be an end somewhere. We'll make it to the end and find her, I just know it. Come on, the stairs are this way."

Suddenly, my Monster House signal went off. I warned Scyther and he nodded. He had the same Team Skill, but he didn't tell me about his warning. Something about that made me feel uneasy.

Sadly, the Monster House was in the room where the stairs were. We entered the room and a bunch of Durant spawned right in front of us. Usually, the Durant wouldn't post much of a problem. However, the game is much more dangerous when one Pokémon uses a certain move: Agility.

When a Pokémon used Agility and it was a spawned monster, then all the spawned monsters in that room got the speed boost. It's a notoriously dangerous mechanic in the PMD universe. With a computer-controlled ally doing it, the move would be annoying and a waste of time, but enemies using the move drastically decreased survivability rates.

A Durant used Agility and increased the speed of the other Durant in the room, and then one of the other Durant increased speed again by using the same move during its own turn. I quickly got overwhelmed when trying to kill Durant with Payback and Brick Break. I killed two, had to re-heal, got a critical hit Brick Break on one, and got slammed with a crit right back. In that moment, I remembered the TM Bulldoze. With Durant surrounding me and Scyther standing around watching, I used the TM Bulldoze to knock all the ants back and lower their speed a stage as an added bonus. By now, they were only at one speed boost, so they returned to normal speed and two from the impact of the attack. I killed the second to last one with a Brick Break and Scyther picked the last one, and coincidentally the weakest, with a not-very-effective Slash attack.

I sarcastically clapped as we went up the stairs and to the next floor. I usually preferred to work on my own, but Monster Houses were a different thing. No one can survive every single of those alone every time. It was terrifying. However, the rest of the dungeon was easy enough because we made it to floor 45 with few encounters and met the giant double doors of the boss room.

Coincidentally, leaning against those two doors was none other than Buneary. I ran to the bunny and checked her HP bar: it was actually in the yellow. I gave her some berries to heal up and she hugged my neck with sincere gratitude.

"I'm so glad you're here," she whispered, but she quickly raised her voice. "But this wouldn't have happened if you had went with me!"

I was pushed into the sand, but I knew I deserved it. I acted like a jerk before. A lazy, bulky jerk. She was honestly glad that I came, though, because she had quite the story to tell.

"I was robbed on floor 28. I was afraid to go back down to the rest area to leave because the thief went that way, and I didn't have any more Escape Orbs. I was forced to find the stairs. I quickly lose PP, too, so I had to avoid battles and hope not to run into any Monster Houses. I was lucky to make it here in one piece. I was afraid it'd come back."

I looked at her, my pupils trembling from guilt, and hugged her again. "I'm so sorry I didn't come with you. I knew it was a trap and shouldn't have made you face it alone. Who was 'it,' by the way?"

Buneary gulped and covered her eyes with an arm. "'It' was, uh," she said nervously. "Sableye."

I gasped, though it probably sounded overly-dramatic. I had expected Sableye the whole time, but I didn't expect to get proof of it.

"But Riolu, listen," she said quickly.

I ignored her, though, because on my menu, the red dot of a distress signal was coming from the first floor.

"Something was off about it," she explained.

"What do you mean?" I asked hurriedly.

"It just didn't fit what I expected. I can't explain the feeling…"

Scyther coughed and took the spotlight. "There is a distress signal on the first floor. I'm guess that means someone is in trouble. We all know who is causing that trouble now, so why don't we exit the dungeon and come back through the town's portal?"

We both nodded and got out of the sand. The three of us ran to the green portal and quickly made our way back into Anthill Peak. Buneary and I talked along the way in hushed whispers; we didn't want Scyther hearing us.

"I knew I wasn't crazy," I smiled.

"I wouldn't say that," Buneary joked. She pushed back her ears as she ran and smiled back.

"Look who's being the mean one now!"

Buneary changed the subject. "What do you think of Scyther?"

I paused and frowned. "He's a little mean," I said.

She nodded. "That's why he put me in charge of the guild members. He's just in charge of the guild's funds and reputation. I do the training, the questing, etc. He's a decent friend, though."

I felt some sort of newfound respect for her. She had the leadership skills both Scyther and I lacked. She was able to communicate perfectly with those Pokémon. She was the real leader of the Golden Warriors. I didn't have the heart to tell her Scyther would have left her dead.

We jumped down the Anthill Peak hole and ended up right back on floor one. It was weird—Scyther said they had surveillance on all exits, yet there wasn't one up top. It was almost like he was lying, but what for?

"Aaah!" a scream could be heard from one of the rooms of the sandy dungeon. Buneary and I ran toward the scream and defeated the lower-level Trapinch that roamed the beginning floor.

We both came across a Ghost-type Pokémon that perfectly fit my nightmarish descriptions—the purple skin, the red gem on the chest, and the two diamond eyes that fit above a toothy smile. The humanoid Pokémon was dangerously unpredictable, but he seemed completely harmless when he came running to us.

"Please, save me!" he squealed as a Trapinch came this way.

The Trapinch couldn't have been higher than level 23, which was a full ten levels under my own. Almost every Pokémon, at least those that participated in the dungeon battles, was above level twenty-five.

Sableye ran into Buneary and tackled her to the ground. I punched Sableye with a Payback and knocked his HP bar into the red—I did over 80% of his health with just that move. He hadn't even attacked me, either. I was surprised at how frail he was. Buneary got up and used Jump Kick on the Trapinch, knocking it into glass shards. Meanwhile, I pinned Sableye on the ground and stared deep in his lifeless eyes.

"Why are you tormenting me?" I screamed.

"I'm not!" he screamed back.

"You robbed Buneary!"

"I didn't!"

I pulled Sableye up and threw him against the wall. A smidge of his HP bar fell from the mere pressure, but I didn't mind it. I loved seeing this Pokémon in pain. Killing him would be effortless if Buneary wasn't present.

"Tell the truth," I said through gritted teeth.

Sableye pulled out his menu and showed me. He was at level thirteen. He had 40 HP, which was barely anything at this point in the game. It was pathetic. He was pathetic. How could he steal from Buneary, a level thirty-two?

"You're the beta tester," I said with less enthusiasm. I almost said it in a question and cursed myself for my weariness.

"I'm not," he insisted. "I'm not a beta tester—I don't even know how to really play this game! I was abducted!"

"Save it," I yelled.

"Riolu," Buneary interrupted. I looked at her and knew she was about to speak again. "He's not in the guild."

"I'm not in any guild!" he cried.

"How do you know?" I asked.

She pointed in the top left of the menu. It said "GUILD: NONE" under his name, money, and player information. I suggested the possibility that it was an unregistered guild, but she shook her head.

"He's level thirteen, he's not a beta tester, and he isn't a guild member. He's innocent," Scyther butted in.

"Shut up," I told him.

"I'm just saying—"

"Shut up," I repeated.

"Riolu, there's a problem," Buneary said.

"It's him," I told her.

"It's not!" Sableye muttered.

"It's not," Buneary assured. "His voice is male. The voice of the Sableye that attacked me—it sounded like a girl's."

I was shocked. Since there was a one-of-each-Pokémon rule to this particular game now, there couldn't be another Sableye in the game. He didn't have alternate forms and didn't have branch evolutions. It was impossible. Not even True Reality would let the one beta tester I hated have another Sableye to make excuses for.

"What does that mean," I said in confusion.

"It means he's innocent. Someone's tricking us," she said, but she soon looked around. "And that someone is in here with us."

We all looked at the hallway, where I simultaneously spotted the blue glittering diamonds and the curled smile. Another Sableye walked out and into the room we were in. It stepped beside us, looked at the innocent Sableye, and smiled. It then focused and used Night Slash to cause a black force to slice away at the level 13 Sableye and make it fly into the disappearing shards of death.

Buneary, Scyther, and I were all shocked by the attack and I used Bulldoze on the nearby Sableye to lower its speed. The attack caused it to make a weird face. The blue diamond eyes and disgusting smile disappeared. The figure itself grew taller and hairier. Its arms extended. Its fur grew long in the back. Its eyes grew darker. Zoroark's illusion quickly faded after it suffered the blow of my attack. It stumbled to catch its balance and looked at me with an impressed smile.

"Very good," she smiled. "You caught me off guard."

My mouth fell open. "So you're the one? You're the beta Sableye?"

Zoroark laughed. "That's sweet of you, but no, I'm not. The real one you want is still hidden away; I am but a distraction. Sableye is no more. But be warned: now that you are back in the running, you'll never escape the endless paranoia. I'm always around, Riolu. Black Ice has been watching you since floor one. We know your true intentions and you know ours."

I was confused. "What do you mean by that?"

She shook her head as if I were a little boy. "Oh, Riolu, you really are dull. Phase one is now complete. I hope you're ready for floor thirty-eight. For your sake, that is. I'll be seeing you, Riolu. I'll be seeing you."

Zoroark grabbed an Escape Orb from her bag and ran out before I could grab onto her. She was gone. Sableye was gone. My whole idea that Sableye was the beta tester from before was gone. Zoroark said she was just a distraction. Who was the beta tester that haunted my every thought? And what "true intentions" did I know about?

Buneary put a hand on my shoulder. "What did she mean by that? 'Back in the running.' Back in the running for what?"

I shrugged. At this point, I didn't know anything. And now I'm starting to wonder if I ever will.