Laughter erupted near the fire. There, Eb the old Scrafty snickered, patting his Raichu friend on the arm at the story that'd just been told.

"Ey, that's a good one!" Eb, the Scrafty, laughed. He leaned back, taking a drag of his pipe, still giggling. Kazinan the Raichu pinched between his eyes in frustration at the outburst. "Though I might've spaced out 'round the middle!"

"It was a fine story." Molo, the Goodra, assured. "Pay Eb no mind, he means well."

"Well...if we're trading tales, what say y'all to a story of the early days o' mystery dungeons?" Eb offered.

Eb, Molo and Kazinan's Tale: The Salty Waters Rescue

Eb paused impressively, puffing his pipe and eying over the group with an air of mystique. For a long moment, the only sound was the rolling wind and the crackling fire, shadows distantly dancing on the foliage away from the group.

Then, that silence was broken by a light laugh.

Eb cocked an eyebrow, looking up at his Goodra companion. The larger Poke'mon's laugh was airy and quiet, a small smile spread over his face.

"Really now? You want to tell that old story?" Molo the Goodra mused once his laughter died down. "I think the young Poke'mon here have experience enough with Mystery Dungeons...they'd hardly be enticed by a story about something so common."

"Ohh, aye, perhaps. Mystery Dungeons are a common sight these days!" Eb huffed with a grin. "Any rescue team worth their salt's well acquainted with the things...heck, I hear tell that even children play in their strange, angular halls and rooms...and are the ones most often getting into trouble."

"So, then, the story is hardly anything worth mentioning." Molo said, almost firmly, though his smile remained. "Why not tell a different story this time?"

"Well, now, slow up, there, Molo. What we experienced that day..." The Scrafty smirked, leg propped upon his knee. "...that t'weren't a Mystery Dungeon. You know as well as I do. No, no...t'was a Root Mystery Dungeon. Not many of those left."

Molo was silent, only staring at Eb. For his part, Eb only looked as though he'd won the disagreement.

The fire crackled, ash swirling betwixt the three. The Raichu among them furrowed his brow, leaning over.

"...I see no harm in it." Kazinan the Raichu said. "It's not a bad story."

Though the Goodra still smiled, the glance he cast the Raichu with the scarf held something else. Something secret. Still, Molo offered no protest...he gave a small sigh and nodded.

"Fair enough, I suppose. Suicune did say 'no more secrets'."

"Oh now, this is hardly a secret." Eb said. "I sees me a few old-timers in the group 'round this fire. I reckon they'll have heard of this one!"

The Scrafty shifted closer to the fire, the shadows of the flame bouncing upon his face, the smoke from his pipe swirling around his head. His eyes scanned the Poke'mon present at the camp, a smile on his face.

"Now then...who here remembers the Salty Waters Rescue? Speak up!"

There was a chorus of voices from the group, speaking up, raising their hands, waving. The younger Poke'mon in the group looked confused at the senior Poke'mon that sounded off. Eb nodded, eyes sparkling as he heard the loud reaction.

"Aye, now who here was at Salty Water when the Rescue went underway?" He asked. Again, many voices called out, some cheering, some merely lifting a hand. "Alright, alright! Looks like we got some! Some heroes out here t'night, aren'tye, and-! Oh wait, you!"

The Scrafty pointed to someone out in the crowd, the Poke'mon in the back shouting a greeting.

"I remember you! Good t'see you still abouts! Wife okay?" Eb called, nodding at the reply that came. "Arceus alive, must've been some thirty or fourty-odd years ago since Salty Waters, ey?"

"Fourty-five." The Raichu called over the shouting and clapping of the excited senior Poke'mon. Molo looked out among the Rescue Team Veterans that had been at this 'Salty Waters Rescue', watching them as they talked amongst themselves, trading stories, handshakes with one another. It took Eb a moment to make his voice heard again over the rumble of the chattering.

"Aye, aye! Let me tell it fer you younger folk with us t'night that might not know y'history." Eb continued. "Way back when, back when Poke'mon didn't know naught fer nothin' about Mystery Dungeons, a disaster of unprecedented proportions took place at a little lakeside town called Salty Waters. Not only was it unprecedented, but the specifics of it were unknown, the procedure was new, the actions to take could only be guessed upon."

He paused, watching the reactions of the younger Poke'mon. Even the Raichu was listening with rapt interest as the Scrafty continued.

"I think I was...oh what was it..." Eb mused, tapping his cheek with his pipe. "I was runnin' contractor work for the Sand Guild on account-a they'd had a team quit. That's when the news came to us: A whole Mystery Dungeon had appeared right on top of a town! Plum swallowed it right up! With all citizens and members of the Salty Waters River Guild gone missing! Poof! Vanished all at once!"

Molo nodded at that, recalling the event as well.

"Yes...it was very shocking indeed. A worst-case scenario, and so soon after Mystery Dungeons had first been discovered." The Goodra mused, looking up. "When the Homebase Guild got word that one of its branches had up and vanished...it was all hands on deck. All other work canceled and every supervisor to be on-site immediately and without delay."

"...didn't you say you arrived late?" Kazinan asked, folding his arms.

"I did. I was out on other business when the word came to the guild and didn't learn what happened until I returned. Thus...I didn't arrive on the scene until a day after the rescue operations started." Molo's smile held still as he recounted the events. "I remember first getting there. There were already a few dozen triage tents set up and Audinos from four different guild medical wards running back and forth to tend to the first wave of rescued Poke'mon."

"Oh it was much worse by th' time the word got out to the other branches." Eb put in. "By the time the Sand Guild sent me out it was up to...twenty r' thirty tents, about, you remember that?"

Molo and Kazinan nodded. Another affirming murmur came from the many seniors around the fire, with comments and chattering, recalling the sight of the medical tents, the on-site bedding, the long tent with the mess hall and food supply, the water purifier drawing from the lake, and all the survivors milling among rescue teams on crates and barrels. Eb smiled, giving another puff of his pipe.

"Aye, a harrowing scene, but by Arceus that's what bein' a rescue team was all about! We were doing good in the world, I tell you what! And this kind of job, mark me, separated the wheat from the chaff, the cowardly from the brave, the yellow-belly do-nothings from the real rescue team heroes! Tell me I'm wrong, for looking out at all you...I know I'm right!"

Another cheer from the seniors erupted.

"For today, a Mystery Dungeon ain't no thing for even the most greenhorn of rescue upstarts. But back then? Oho, back then...we had no idea what we were facin'!" Eb laughed, gesturing to the others who laughed with him. "There'd been no research, no briefing, no! We were only told 'a town's been destroyed by we-don't-know-what! Get going!'"

Another laugh rolled over the camp.

"Just imagine! Telling a few thousand rescue teams from all over the continent to plunge into a terrifying unknown! A few thousand became only a few hundred overnight, I'd reckon!"

Among the laughter the Scrafty's guffaw was the loudest of all. Molo sat politely, waiting for the laughter to die down, that same smile still spread over his face.

"Everyone who participated showed a lot of bravery, yes." The Goodra said warmly. "I quite remember a few of the faces I came to supervise. Kazinan had come first...where was it you said you were from?"

"...a transfer." The Raichu gruffly said. "...I'd been moved from the Rocky Path Guild to the Trileaf Guild to finish my apprenticeship and graduate."

"TRILEAF ALLUMNI!" a voice in the back shouted excitedly, a few more laughs rolling around the campfire. Kazinan huffed...yet the ghost of a smile crossed his face all the same as Eb elbowed him playfully.

"Why, we're tripping over old fogies that were there that month o' the Rescue!" Eb called, rolling the pipe in his mouth, raising his voice. "Say! Who here remembers that old Luxray...Farna or Fargus, something like that-"

"Fargold" Kazinan reminded.

"Aye, Fargold! Old Fargold! That ol' graduate that was over by the..." Eb snapped his fingers a few times. "...the blue and red tent! Giving out that introduction seminar to all the new teams as they arrived?"

"Oh Arceus..." Kazinan chuckled, looking over at the Goodra who only silently smiled. "Don't know how he did it...day in, day out, saying the same stuff. Had a voice so loud that you could hear it from across the triage camp...over and over and over."

"Say it with me, everybody!" Eb goaded the crowd, to which many of the seniors chimed:

"One-third rations, one-third medical, one-third tools.

Don't enter alone, don't explore together!

Follow the rope, mark your path!

NEVER stay in the Dungeon Past Sunset!"

Eb leaned back, grinning as he watched the rest of the Poke'mon chatter and talk. A few of the younger Poke'mon only looked bored or just confused.

"Now, then..." The Scrafty continued on. "...if'n I recall, Kazinan, you and I got paired up 'bout round the same time we got in, aye?"

"...yyyes...no, I had one team before. But I was only a slot-filler while they waited for another member to arrive. Molo paired me with you after that. I think you had gotten in trouble for going into the M.D solo already, aye?"

"Oh, go an' bring that up, why don't you! They call it recklessness, but I says t'was only gumption!" Eb defended with a smile. Molo sighed, smiling as the Scrafty talked, gaze transfixed on him. "But, aye. Came back into camp a bit woozy and got a finger-waggling, then paired with a supervisor and two others. I remember you came first then...who was it, Kazinan?"

"Ionix came after."

"Ionix! That was his name." Eb looked back out toward the crowd curiously. "Right then! Is there a Zangoose named Ionix with us?"

There was silence among the crowd, naught but a few whispers. Eb snickered with a shrug, blowing a cloud of smoke.

"Well, what a shame. A shame indeed, but not a surprise." The Scrafty said with a cheeky grin. "Seems the wheat did get separated from the chaff! Though I reckon he'd hate hearing this story since he-"

"Eb..." The Goodra beside the Scrafty nudged his shoulder, a patient...but firm smile on his face. "Perhaps it would be best if you just continued the story, hm?"

"Eh? Right, fine...well!" Eb shifted his sitting position, blowing smoke into the crackling fire. "This story takes place about...2 weeks after Kazinan and I got to Salty Waters. We'd been in the mystery dungeon a few times by then and were well-acquainted. Though, we'd usually go in during the morning or afternoon. This was our first evening run, starting in late noon, which meant we had to be much more mindful of the time of day."

There was an affirming nod among the crowd. This time by Poke'mon young and old.

"So, that day, we had our supplies stocked, VTOs on hand...that's 'Voice Throw Orbs' if you don't know. Y'don't see 'em much nowadays, but, anywho...after that, we synced our watches to about...5 hours to sundown. That's all the time we had to work.

"Let me tell you what it was like goin' down into this dungeon: The triage camp was about...a quarter mile from Salty Waters, since we didn't know if the M.D could expand, right? When you looked at it from the outside it looked normal, some sleepy port town by the lake...but then you'd get to the perimeter.

"They'd roped off the boundaries of the Mystery Dungeon, about 15 miles worth of rope 'round the edge, with signs in multiple languages sayin' that only guild members were advised to enter...on account of 'extreme danger of unknown variety.

"I remember the day well...cloudy. A cold autumn breeze chilled the three of us to the bone...scent of wet leaves was thick in the air. As we trekked down the path we passed by other rescue teams carrying out survivors."

"Ah, yes..." Molo chimed in. "That was when we started to make headway into the rescue effort. We had pushed down into the deeper floors, 4, 5, and 6. The Rescue Operators wanted a forward base set down on Floor 7, which researchers determined to be the final floor."

"Ugh...hated how it felt when you crossed the rope..." The Raichu shivered, brow furrowed. "The whole world would fold in on itself. Buildings just a few meters away would...twist and bend as if they were alive. You'd be surrounded on all sides by the flattened visage of shopfronts, homes, as if it were just paint on a flat wall...but run your hand on it and it'd still feel like wood and stone."

"And it was silent." Molo added. "The sounds of the lake...the wind from the mountain. Gone. Nothing but the ring of your own ears and the huff of your own breath."

"Aye, t'weren't no regular Mystery Dungeon. It was a rare breed...A Root Mystery Dungeon." The Scrafty continued. "My friend once called Mystery Dungeons an illness, like unnatural boils upon the surface of reality. Well, if Mystery Dungeons are the boils, a Root Mystery Dungeon is the infection sprouting them. They're a nexus point, moving materials, making more Mystery Dungeons, spreading them out...and it's in Root Mystery Dungeons where the creatures spawn."

"...terrifying things, when you'd see them first." Kazinan piped up again. "We'd make our way down these angular hallways, shining torchlight down darkened corners where the sun didn't reach..."

Kazinan bunched up, burying his mouth into his scarf.

"You'd see the reflection of their eyes first." The Raichu said. "Vacant...feral. Only for a moment before they'd dart away. They'd always only be watching from afar...maybe waiting for something."

"The first few weeks were spent clearing away those creatures." Eb explained. "Though they took on the appearance of Poke'mon, they only looked like Poke'mon."

"Only looked..." Molo said, staring at Eb with a small smile. "...yes."

There was a pause among the three.

"So, as anyone who actually went into the Salty Waters M.D might remember...there was a long, thick red rope laid out on the ground, marking a path between each base within." Molo continued the story while Eb took a moment to puff his pipe. "We had a few three-member teams from the Ocean and Fire guilds running rotating guard duty on the rope."

"Away from the rope? 'Twas madness." Eb cut in. "Twisting hallways, buildings that seemed grow out of one another unnaturally, bridges crossing nothing and leading to nowhere, windows with naught but brick on the other side. It was as though the city were a great photo that the Mystery Dungeon cut up and made into a messy scrapbook. No rhyme r' reason or purpose to any of it...the way foliage grows haphazardly."

"I remember seeing a Meowth statue..." Kazinan recalled. "It was a famous landmark of the town...I saw it eight times, sometimes next to one another, sometimes with one halfway inside of another. The features were always so distorted...the face would be almost right...but take a close look and something would be missing...or just wrong. Like it was all constructed from hazy memory."

An agreeing murmur came from around the campfire.

"So, it was me..." Eb pointed to himself. "Eh...Kazinan, Molo and...what was it again?"

"Ionix. Zangoose."

"Aye, right. Me, Kazinan, Molo and Ionix all following the rope, passing by the guards. We were going to the Floor 3 Rescue Coordination to lay down more rope in floors 4, 5, 6 and set up a Forward Base on Floor 7. Took us 'bout til...3 hours 25 to sunset to get to Floor 3, aye? But, ah, the stairs between the floors...the strangest thing were the stairs."

"The stairs went upwards, toward nothing, just like in any Mystery Dungeon." Kazinan shrugged. "You reach the top and the world re-folds and you're on the next floor...but in Salty Waters it was so...odd, seeing the stairs just...made of whatever they seemed to land upon."

"One floor, the stairs were made of a tree, gnarled wood and leaves and all." Eb nodded. "Next floor, it was brick and wood and a cafe' sign that looked stretched n' twisted up the steps, as though it t'were smeared across it to construct them. Another, stairs made from a window shop with the one step made entirely of smooth glass."

The Scrafty paused, chewing his pipe.

"I remember all the little details of the day. 3 hours 01 to sunset there were a whole group of...some creature down a dark hallway thundering by while we were getting' briefed at Floor 3 Rescue Coordination. Then at around 2 hours 55 to sunset..."

"Oh...don't remind me of this part..." The Raichu grimaced, his voice pleading as he looked away. The Goodra was silent yet still only held his smile, motioning for Eb to continue.

After all..no more secrets.

The Scrafty paused another moment, as though he were trying to decide if he wanted to keep going.

"...the creatures of a Mystery Dungeon are no mere random facsimiles...they're brought from a Root Mystery Dungeon...they're..."

Eb paused again, searching for the words.

"...copies."

Molo nodded, satisfied, taking it from there.

"Root Mystery Dungeons...seem to be, in some capacity, alive." Molo said plainly. "They even bleed. And the creatures are a part of that organism...it seems any Poke'mon killed in a Root Mystery Dungeon...vanishes."

"But you see them again." Eb said. Kazinan squirmed silently. "Again...and again...and again. I remember the image clearly, as we passed a dark hallway...looking down the hall into the room a few meters away and just...watching one of them...a deerling, squirming and clawing its way out of a bleeding wall...then another right behind it. Then..."

Eb's voice died off, the Scrafty shuddering. To see the jovial Scrafty so shaken, even for a moment, gave many around the campfire pause.

"...a mother Nidorina was sat in the Floor 3 Base..." Eb said, voice low. "...rambling that she'd been attacked by no less than four copies of her own child."

The Scrafty was respectfully silent, a silence that was mirrored by the Raichu. Only Molo seemed to remain unfazed, his small smile more and more like a poker face as the story turned so grim.

"Go on, Eb." Molo urged, the Goodra looking down at the Scrafty. Eb lifted his head to look up at him. "...you should finish your story."

"...Right, aye, got sidetracked again." Eb said, shaking his head. "There's not much that happened on floors 4, 5 and 6 I s'pose...the rope was heavy to carry as we laid it down, going toward the stairs. We passed by a scant few teams who were doin' sweeps of the floors but...actually, did any one of you lot go down that far in?"

The crowd was silent.

"Hah...s'pose not..." Eb sighed with a shrug. The silence was...strange. No more murmurs, no chattering. Only the three Poke'mon.

"Right...is this about where my end of the tale stops." Eb said. "Since we were pushing to a new floor, I was left t'babysit the stairs and run backup if anything happened to the others."

"...rrright...the only ones who went down to floor 7 were myself..." Kazinan nodded. "...Molo and Ionix. At about 1 hour 30."

"You didn't talk much about Ionix, Eb." Molo reminded.

"Well...I didn't hardly know the guy and never really cared to." Eb shrugged. "He never seemed to like me much, especially later after this story happened. Dunno what his deal was."

"Well, I sure remember the guy..." Kazinaan grunted, folding his arms. "...absolute blowhard. Ionix might've not talked much to you, Eb...but he wouldn't shut up around me. Maybe I intimidated him, I don't know...but that Zangoose wouldn't quit mouthing off. Especially that day, Arceus above..."

"I believe..." The Goodra began, almost firmly. "...Ionix was just nervous. New territory for us all...and we had only an hour and a half left to work."

"Right...I remember that." The Raichu sighed, his folded arms wrapping tighter around his body. "So there, 1 hour 30 to sunset, we three make our base. Takes about 15 minutes to get all the tents and beds set up. Ionix was being difficult which made it take longer-"

"Focus, Kazinan. We don't wish to take all night."

"Ah, of course...so by 1 hour 15 left Ionix and I began our sweep together. Molo talked to us on our Voice-Throw orbs...the voice was crackly and hard to make out on those things."

The Raichu paused, biting his lip. Eb leaned in, now not saying a word, only listening with the rest of the Poke'mon around the fire.

"Floor 7...looked, on the surface, normal to Ionix and I. All twisted buildings and repeated architecture of course. Ionix held the rope coil, laying it down behind us to make sure we didn't get lost...and complained how heavy it was the whole way. The creatures down there...just kept staring at us. They didn't dart away...hardly even moved, just rigidly stiff in the dark shadows as the light in the sky above turned orange..."

He sighed, gritting his teeth.

"...practically as dead as they Poke'mon they copied."

"What happened at 1 hour 05, Kazinan?" Molo asked knowingly. Eb cocked an eyebrow at the Goodra.

"Rather eager to tell the story now, aren't you? To think you scoffed at the idea of telling it!" The Scrafty laughed. Molo side-eyed Eb, making him squirm.

"If Suicune wishes for no more secrets...then no more secrets."

Eb didn't reply to that, just staring uncomfortably as the Goodra turned back to Kazinan.

"Go on."

The Raichu nodded.

"Right...Ionix and I didn't find anyone down in Floor 7. Just those...things milling about...but at 1 hour 05 to sunset we found...well...we found another set of stairs."

Eb hummed.

"It confused the both of us because we'd been assured this was a 7 floor M.D." Kazinan said. "In fact...later on, come to find out, the spot we found the staircase was reported as nonexistent by other teams that swept in. They couldn't find it again. They followed the rope we had laid and it just ended against a brick wall."

"Imagine my own shock..." Molo said, folding his hands together. "...when my VTO crackles on and Kazinan's voice comes on, telling me that they've found another staircase, entirely made out of brick. I get worried the Mystery Dungeon could be, perhaps, expanding...so I make a risky call. Kazinan was to stay by the stairs for backup while Ionix goes deeper in."

"VTO orbs are two-way only..." Kazinan added. "So I have no idea what happened after Ionix went down. I just stood behind and then at around 0 hour 25, Ionix comes back up. Hardly spoke a word, barely looked at me. Most expression I saw out of him was an...annoyed look at Eb as we came back up."

"I remember that. I tells one joke an' the sourpuss looks at me like I were a diseased lowlife!"

"So...that's all I know from the story, honestly. I never got to see the floors beyond. Just a strange little oddity of a tale." Kazinan sighed. "Mystery Dungeons can be such odd things, but suddenly growing new floors was and still is a new one..."

"Well...that's not the whole story, of course." Molo's voice cut through the Raichu's conclusion.

Eb and Kazinan looked up at the Goodra. Molo returned their glances, his gaze...lingering on Eb.

"Well, aye, I remember what you told us." Eb laughed with a puff. "Sounded as though Zangoose got well spooked down there by himself! Perhaps that wisened him up to mouthing off so!"

Molo only stared.

"I remember every word of it."

The Goodra's voice cut through Eb's joke like a knife. He was devoid of mirth, tone completely flat and distant, even as he kept a demure smile.

The Scrafty looked as though he wanted to say something...but it seemed to die in his throat.

Molo's eyes lifted up, looking toward the crackling fire. Its smoke whipped around like a ghost, embers circling the air.

"No more secrets."

Molo sighed, closing his eyes.

"1 hour 05 to sunset. I hear the crunching sound of his footsteps as Ionix goes up the stairs. His breathing was heavy, he kept his VTO on so I could hear if anything happened.

"The first thing he tells me is that the 8th Floor looks like the rest...but it's pitch black dark. He can't see the sky, it's become a black void. He fumbles to turn on his lantern. Already his breathing was quickened, footsteps slowed and uncertain. I tell him to go on and not stop until he runs out of rope.

"He says he can't hear anything on floor 8. Not the sound of footsteps from the creatures, not the sound of more being spawned...it's devoid of anything but himself. For a long while...all I hear on the VTO is heavy breathing and crunching footsteps...

"Then I hear: 'There's another staircase'. A floor 9. We're at 0 hour 48 to sunset. We need a clearance of at least 15 minutes to exit the dungeon, so we've time, especially with no creatures here. I tell him to go up and sweep...he sounded unsure, thinking he wouldn't be able to get back in time. I tell him the time, he confirms on his watch, and goes up. It sounds like...crunching grass as he ascends the steps."

The camp was silent. Even the wind seemed to hold still as Molo talked.

"I hear his breath hitch. Floor 9 is still dark...but now there's a fog. Ionix notes, panting, that it feels much hotter and more humid. He describes a wet, metallic scent, like sewage...

"There's a period of silence. Just breathing coming from my VTO...

"Then Ionix says the buildings look stretched across the walls beyond anything on the other floors, skewed and distorted...he thinks they're moving but I assure him that's just his nerves...and tell him to go on."

Eb and Kazinan squirmed. Molo side-eyed the Scrafty a moment before continuing.

"At the 0 hour 40 to sunset mark...Ionix found another staircase. He's panicking now, worried about going in too deep, but still ascends the stairs. On Floor 10 he says the creatures are sticking out of the ground, like they didn't finish spawning. They just lie limp and lifeless. He wants to leave."

Molo rest his hands in his lap, his small smile not budging an inch.

"I tell him to go on. If there's a chance of even one survivor this deep in then they have to be rescued."

He paused, eyes flicking to the Poke'mon surrounding the fire.

"At 0 hour 38 to Sunset I finally get him to go on, giving him a hard cut-off of 0 hour 30, which I presume enough time to run back. He's angry at me, belligerent...yet chooses still to go on. Either Ionix was very heroically brave or else very obedient. Soon enough...he found another set of stairs...

"Floor 11..."

Molo's voice died off.

For the first time...

...his smile fell. Vanished into a full frown. His brow knitted. His eyes seemed to glaze over.

"...I don't know what was on floor 11. All I heard over the VTO was a crackling static...and Ionix's voice, quietly repeating 'OhArceus...Arceus...'...again and again...he sounded as though he were wading through water, then pushing stones out of the way. I goaded him to tell me what he saw...but he was unresponsive, refused to listen to a word I said.

"Soon...he went silent...his breathing was slowed, shaking. I heard splashing...then what I heard next perplexes me:

"All he said was...'The stairs...there's stairs...oh Arceus they're...thestairs...'

"A floor 12...I checked the watch. 0 hour 32 to sunset. I asked if he could peek ahead at floor 12 before coming back...

"...silence. Not a word. Just panicked breathing. Some strange noise."

Kazinan sighed, leaning back, scratching the back of his head. Molo was silent again for a moment longer.

"...then a scream. After that, it was just the muffled, thumping noises of Ionix running nonstop back the way he came. I remember hearing Kazinan's voice, asking what was wrong, when he finally got back to Floor 7 at 0 hour 25 to sunset."

"Bah...strange tale..." Eb huffed. "I remember when you three came back up. You'd hardly speak a word of it t'me until a week or so after! Ionix abandoned the Salty Waters rescue soon after, didn't he?"

"He resigned from guild work, Eb." The Goodra clarified. "Funny...he seemed the type who'd desperately want to be in the guild...but then he quits without a second thought."

"Well...must not have been guild material, considering he screamed like a patsy." Eb joked. Molo's patient smile returned as he stared at Eb dead on. "We've all seen plenty odd and curious things during our guild work, especially with how common Mystery Dungeons are now...aye?"

Kazinan said nothing. The Raichu only looked up at the Goodra who continued to eye Eb up and down.

The Scrafty squirmed.

"...Molo, what're you looking at me like that for? I say you've been staring at me rather oddly since we began this tale."

Molo was quiet, his face carrying a look of consideration. The Goodra silently glanced towards Suicune before looking back at the Scrafty.

"Eb...I've never told you nor Kazinan this final part of the story" The Goodra said.

The Scrafty perked up, curiosity crossing his face.

"But...as promised..." Molo said firmly. "...no more secrets."

"How you mean, Molo...?" Eb muttered, shifting under the Goodra's gaze. "You're...making me a mite uncomfortable."

Molo was silent a moment, his face like that of an executioner about to bring down an axe. Solemnly, he spoke:

"It wasn't Ionix's voice that screamed." The Goodra said coldly. "It sounded...like your voice."