"Let's go over this one more time," barked the orange canine, sitting in front of the three of us with a leer in his eyes.

"Tenth time's the charm?" I retorted pleasantly. The Growlithe's expression didn't change. If anything, he became even more stoic and business-like. Brio nudged me in the back pointedly and I went silent. Fact was, I didn't think there was anything I could add to the interview at this point.

Barely five minutes had passed after the Servine left when a pair of humans in uniforms, accompanied by this Growlithe, had come into the library. According to Brio, the librarian was required by city law to alert the authorities should any security or safety threat occur on the premises. Being the only Pokémon in the library, the Growlithe had quickly focused upon us to explain our side of the story. Unfortunately, he was also prone to forcing us to retell the story several times, as if our very limited number of facts would be amiss with each recantation.

Near the back of the room, the two policemen were talking to the librarian, at a far enough distance where all I could hear was dim chatter. I would have expected a building as silent as death would let sounds carry farther, but I'm no expert, and while Brio would probably know, it wasn't exactly a relevant topic.

Aeris was sulking, for lack of a better term. When she was questioned directly, she replied in a dull voice and kept quiet the rest of the time. Brio was quickly growing impatient with the repetitive questioning, and I... was perfectly fine. Sure, it was annoying to repeat myself every five minutes for the sake of the Growlithe's limited memory span, but the only real change was thinking of a more creative way of telling the exact same story.

The problem then was the story wasn't interesting without adding any embellishments that, as Brio hissed to me the first time I started to do so, wouldn't help us. I was now at a loss of what could help us, since the Growlithe's skepticism was overwhelming.

"We were here-" I began, but the Growlithe cut in.

"Where?"

"Uh...couple miles away, at a bagel shop," I replied. Where else could we be if I say 'here'?

"On the couch," Brio answered weakly, slapping his tail against my back as subtly as possible. Oh right, the whole 'not helping' thing.

"Go on, Miss Buizel," the Growlithe stated, giving me a stern look.

"Syren," I corrected. I've said that every time he called me by my species, but so far he hadn't acknowledged that I even had a name. Is it any wonder I'm going out of my way to be contrary? "Anyway, so we're at the bagel shop, and this Servine comes up behind us and lassoes Aeris' little tablet thing-"

"What tablet thing?" the Growlithe interrupted. Okay, now I wanted to roll my eyes. We still hadn't managed to label it in an acceptable fashion since we didn't know what it was, and we could hardly produce the object in question when reporting it stolen.

"Some purple stone with writing on it," I responded, waving a paw dismissively. Aeris made an angry sound under her breath, which was promptly ignored by the questioning canine. "So it gets lassoed and pulled away, and Aeris demands it back, and is ignored-"

"How did she get this...tablet thing?" the Growlithe asked, suddenly narrowing his eyes at Aeris suspiciously. She mumbles something. "Speak up, Miss Gligar!" the canine snaps. Aeris jerks her head up, wiping her eyes with a claw.

"Found it," she said quietly, looking down again.

"Where?"

"At the end of a rainbow," I interjected. "Now, as I was saying, the Servine snatches it up and Aeris rushes her, but gets caught by a vine and thrown across the room into that shelf."

I pointed my paw at the aforementioned shelf, where a visible indentation could be seen in the wood, and several books were still scattered on the ground. The Growlithe cast that direction a single glance and nodded.

I took a breath before continuing, "And that's when what's-her-name-"

"Alyssa," Brio supplied.

"Thank you, Brio. That's when Alyssa come over and told her she'd have to leave, only to get a Leaf Blade shoved in her face," I finished.

"Before, you said the Servine just waved it around," the Growlithe growled.

"She did, I wasn't being literal," I answered with a sweet smile. The Growlithe sighed and shook his head.

"This...Servine," he said slowly, his gaze resting on each of us, but lingering the longest upon me. I returned the stare without fear. He had been trying to intimidate me the most so far, probably because I was the most talkative member while Aeris was out of it. "Any particular details you can give me about it?"

I considered for a moment. "Female? I don't know, I've never seen the species before today. It was only because Alice-"

"Alyssa," Brio corrected.

"Whatever. She mentioned her species," I said, pointing my paw back towards the librarian.

"There are no wanted Servine in the area," the canine growled. "So she's not a serial criminal that we know of. What would the motive be? Libraries aren't exactly prime looting spots, so does she know any of you personally, perhaps? Revenge or something of that nature?"

Brio shook his head. "The only thing she took was Aeris' stone."

"And you don't even know what that was?" the Growlithe asked, a definite sneer in his tone. Why are we putting up with questions like these? He's asked them several times already, and gotten the same answers. It's not as if inspiration was going to suddenly smash us over the head and let us tap the hidden mysteries of the universe.

"Still no."

And then we were finally free. The human policemen had gotten all the information they had come for, and had taken the Growlithe with them. Brio had suggested we all go out and get some air, and if it weren't for the severe awkwardness that would have ensued, I'd have kissed him for saying that. Seriously, there was nothing better than the bliss of fresh air and sunlight after being cooped up for significantly more time than I liked.

The Glaceon had gone quiet once we were outside, even as he led us down the street towards the city entrance. Aeris wandered at my side, just as quiet, and while silence is golden, this was just too uncomfortable to put up with for long.

"So now what?" I ventured. If I had to guess, Brio was going to escort us home, or at least outside the city, but I wasn't sure how long he was going to stick with us after that.

"I want my treasure back," Aeris answered promptly, as if she had been waiting for the question. "I'm going to get it back!" she said, with far more emotion in her voice. My ears perked up a little. She was starting to sound like her old self again, and that could only be a good sign. We had gotten out of the conflict intact, and if only she could perk up the rest of the way, we'd be back to normal.

Brio stopped and Aeris nearly collided with him, saving herself the tumble by vaulting herself onto the Glaceon's back and placing her pinchers around his neck to hold herself in place. Brio glanced back at her, while I grinned. This was just too cute for words.

"Aeris," Brio began, hesitating to glance at me. I subtly shook my head. Nothing he could say would convince Aeris she'd be better off without that strange tablet. Something about it intrigued her, and after Brio had read the engraving, she had been excited to have such a thing, and devastated that it had been taken from her. She wanted it back, and if she had any idea how to do so, she would try it. This was the same Gligar who deliberately taunted Beedrill. Brio blinked, but continued walking without another word on the subject.

Leaving the city was a much simpler task than going to the city. For one, avoiding humans was less of a priority because we weren't approaching a known habitat of them, and have a much better chance of seeing trainers from afar. Brio and Aeris led the way, which left me to reflect on the situation some more, without answering repetitive questions.

The Servine couldn't have just been at the library by coincidence. The Growlithe had brought up at least one interesting point: why had the Servine come in? If she was looking for something specific, she had to have known she could find it there. It wasn't until she attacked that we had even been aware of her presence, and considering we were the first ones in, that left two options in my eyes. Either she had come in with the singular human, or she had followed us somehow.

But how could she have followed us? Sure, my home wasn't exactly hidden, but I had never seen the grass type hanging around, so maybe...maybe she had been following Aeris. That made a great deal of sense, considering that Aeris had stolen something from the Beedrill nest she mentioned. Maybe the Servine was an ally to the hive and was asked to retrieve their property. If Aeris wanted her treasure back, there was the chance it had been returned to the Beedrill.

I looked up at the sky. "When's your date, Aeris?" I wondered. "Didn't you say around noon?" I vaguely recall her wanting to be back home by noon so she could get ready or whatever her reasoning was, but I was sure the thought had been purged from her mind after the library fiasco.

"She has a date?" Brio asked, sounding surprised. "With who?"

"No idea," I admitted with a chuckle. "Probably someone she met after mugging the Beedrill."

"Guess!" Aeris prompted. Brio and I exchanged looks.

"After you," I offered, but the Glaceon shook his head adamantly. I chuckled at his reaction before guessing. "One of the Beedrill you taunted?"

Aeris giggled and looked at Brio expectantly. He sighed, "I'm going to go with..." he paused. "How on earth would I know? I don't know any of your friends, and I can't possibly guess someone that you don't know."

"I'm not telling until you guess!" Aeris insisted, and then playfully tugged on the Glaceon's right ear flap. "Now mush!" she ordered. Brio winced, but picked up his pace. "Wheee!" the Gligar cheered.

Good, just another sign she was recovering. Poor Brio.