The Kecleon struggled against his unknown assailant, twisting and turning, trying to break free from this Pokémon's iron grip, but to no avail. He started to consider biting this mysterious adversary when his captor suddenly said, "If you can't even get away from me, then how are you supposed to become an explorer, Leon?"

As soon as Leon heard him speak, he relaxed. "Okay, fine. You got me Neal. Now, can you please let go of me?"

The arms around him loosened, and Leon turned around to see a Sneasel with a yellow bandana around his head, the red feathers on his head poking out through a hole at the top. Neal smiled at the Kecleon, and they both embraced each other, displaying their years of friendship in one gesture.

As soon as they came apart, Neal gave Leon a look of concern. "So, is everything okay? Normally, you're able to notice me and shove me to the ground, but you seemed distracted today."

Leon shrugged, and was able to explain everything using one word. "Dad."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense." Neal said, realizing what Leon meant instantly. "I don't understand why he gives you a chance to do what you want to do. I mean, look what happened when you gave me a chance, right?"

Leon smiled faintly at his Dark type friend. He still remembered the day when he met Neal all those years ago. Because of Pokémon from recent memory such as Dusknoir or Darkrai, parents had warned their children to stay away from those nasty types of Pokémon. Unfortunately, unlike those evil Pokémon, Neal was a very kind and sensitive Pokémon, but when all of the other kids didn't want to play with him, even poking and teasing him, he ended up being miserable during a lot of his early childhood.

However, that changed when a young Leon approached him sitting alone on a stump away from all of the other children. Leon asked him why he was sad, and when Neal told Leon about why all of his friends don't want to play with him anymore, Leon told the Sneasel that he would be his friend, and no matter what, he would never leave him just because of some other stupid Pokémon. Soon, they became inseparable, and they were always there for each other in the hardest of times. When Leon's mother disappeared on that fateful expedition, it was Neal who Leon looked to for comfort in his darkest hour. And when Leon told Neal about his dream to follow in his mother's footsteps, Neal supported him all the way. However, without the blessing of Leon's father, they knew that there wasn't much either of them could do.

"Hey, maybe we could ask the guild to convince your dad to let you become an explorer. I've seen how hard you train every day, and if you show everyone just how good you are…"

Leon chuckled and shook his head. "It won't do any good. Unless Dad gives me his blessings himself, then I'm out of luck. Thanks anyway. It was a nice thought."

Neal gave out a groaning sigh. "Darn it. I really thought that could work. Now what do we do?"

Leon sighed and stared longingly at the tent for Wigglytuff's Guild, which hovered over the entirety of Treasure Town. The sight of it brought to mind many of the amazing characters and things that the guild had come to be known for. From Guildmaster Wigglytuff himself, to Team Impossible, the greatest team of explorers ever. Thinking about the guild suddenly made Leon think about his mother. He couldn't even remember what she sounded like anymore.

"I guess we should just hope for a miracle," Leon said finally, "At this point, that's all we can do."

Just as Leon said this, he was suddenly plowed down by a Pokémon. Grunting in pain, he looked up and saw a Natu laying on top of him. "Oh, I'm so sorry." The Natu said quickly, clearly a female. It then jumped off of Leon and took off down the road towards Sharpedo's Bluff.

Neal held out his claw to Leon, and helped the poor Normal type up. "Well, that was sudden," Neal stated, "Why do you think that Natu was in such a rush?"

His question was suddenly answered as two Pokémon, a Scraggy and a Lampent, came running from the same direction as the Natu had come. They began looking around the area. "I don't see her anywhere." The Scraggy said after about a minute of searching.

"You dolt!" the Lampent yelled at the Scraggy angrily, "You really think she'd just stick around here waiting for us? She's obviously nowhere around." The Lampent then eyed Leon and Neal staring at them. "Oi, you two!"

"H-Huh?" Neal responded hesitantly.

"You see a Natu around here recently? That girl has a bounty on her head, and as an exploration team, it's our job to round up that criminal."

"Th-That was a criminal?" Leon asked, surprised.

"Yeah, and a mean one, too," the Scraggy added, "She's wanted for multiple crimes, including-"

"Shut up!" the Lampent yelled, smacking the Scraggy in the back of his head with its arm. "Look, kids. This is official exploration business, so be good little Pokémon and tell us where the blighter went!"

"Kids?!" Leon yelled, "We are not-"

Neal covered Leon's mouth with his claws. "She went that way." Neal pointed in the direction that the Natu had ran to earlier.

The Lampent smiled. "Good lad. At least one of you has a smidge of respect for your elders." The Lampent turned to the Scraggy. "Let's go catch that brat." Then, the two Pokémon took off, continuing their hunt.

Leon dragged Neal's arm away from his face. "Are you kidding me? What was that, Neal?"

Neal sighed. "Look, Leon. They're right. If they're on a mission, then we have no right to get in their way."

"Yeah, but…" Leon looked to the ground, appearing distracted, "what if they're not? What if they're just criminals posing as an exploration team? I mean, that's what happened with Team Skull, wasn't it? And that Natu seemed scared, and definitely not mean." Leon's eyes moved up and he stared at Neal "All I'm saying is, at least we should go check it out, just in case."

Neal scratched the back of his head. "Well, I suppose you have a point. But, I still don't think we should interfere. We'll only go and look."

Leon nodded. "Okay, that's just fine with me." The two Pokémon then charged off in the direction of Sharpedo's Bluff.

"No, get away from me!" The Natu screamed, trying to back away from the villainous Pokémon who had her cornered. She turned back and saw the sea far below crashing against the cliff-face. She could try to jump and fly for it, but she wasn't really an expert flyer, and she would expect that the Lampent would easily be able to catch up to her.

The Lampent sneered at the Natu. "What's the matter, my dear? Afraid of heights? Surrender yourself to the relentless bounty hunter duo, Burn and Crash, and we might only slightly beat you to a pulp."

The Scraggy laughed haughtily. "You tell 'er, Crash."

"Idiot!" The Lampent smashed its arm straight into the Scraggy's face. "I'm Burn. You're Crash. I'm the mysterious shadow, and you're the hidden night. Get it together!"

Crash got up, rubbing his forehead where a bruise was already starting to form. "Alright, alright. Geez, sorry."

Burn cleared his throat, and turned back to the quivering Natu. "Sorry about that, he's more brawn than brain. Anyways, if you'll accompany us, stupid girl, we'll get a fine bounty on your head."

Natu tried to back away, and ended up kicking a couple of pebbles off the edge. "B-But, you're an exploration team. You're not supposed to do this kind of thing."

Burn chuckled. "You're right, an exploration team isn't supposed to do things like this. But," Burn's sneer turned extremely sinister. "I suppose it's a good thing we aren't an exploration team, right?"

"I knew it!"

Burn and Crash turned around to find Neal and Leon standing behind them. The Kecleon had a severe glare in his eyes, and the Sneasel appeared half-angry and half-frightened.

"What? You two?" Burn demanded from the pair of Pokémon. "Mind your own business, lads, before I have to hurt you, too."

But Leon remained unmoved. "You lied to us! You said you were an exploration team, but you two are just a couple of no-good bounty hunters!"

The bounty hunters sneered amongst themselves. "Sure, you got us," Crash stated, "We lied to you a little about our occupation. This little Natu isn't even wanted by the guild, but by another 'interested' party. What are you two gonna do about it?"

"Stupid!" Burn yelled, smacking Crash hard enough to send him flying a few feet. "Are you gonna tell everyone about our mission? Are you gonna tell them who sent us, now, or how about why he wants the Natu out of the way?"

Crash slowly got up, a scowl embedded deep in his face. "I'm not stupid. I was being vague."

Burn rapidly floated over and pressed his face against his partner's. "Well, here's an idea. If you think you should talk, don't!"

"Oh, yeah?" Crash yelled, pushing Burn back.

"Yeah!" Burn yelled back, trying to push Crash back

The two of them kept going back and forth like this, until they both heard a quiet, "Don't worry, you're safe now," from the other two Pokémon. They looked up and saw Leon and Neal with their target, the Natu slipping past them while the two of them were arguing.

The two Pokémon looked at each other, their faces still pressed up against each other. "To be continued," they both said simultaneously.

They got into battle stances and Burn yelled, "Hey, hand that Natu over, or suffer the wrath of the amazing bounty hunter team, Burn and Crash!"

"Huh? 'Burn and Crash?'" Neal asked, "Isn't the phrase supposed to be 'crash and burn?'"

"It is?" Crash asked, dumbfounded. He turned to Burn. "Hey, maybe he's right. It would definitely sound cooler if we-"

"Oi! No chance, Crash!" Burn interrupted the Fighting type. "Even if that's right, there's no way you're getting top billing on this. I'm obviously the cleverer of the two of us, so I am rightfully placed first."

"Hey, now, hold on a minute! We were never talking about who can cut better out of the two of us."

"That's cleaving, you nincompoop! I'm telling you that I'm wiser than you will ever be!"

"Oh, yeah? You wanna prove it?"

"I already have, you ninny."

While the two Pokémon were arguing, Neal leaned over to Leon. "Maybe we should let them settle things before we fight them," he whispered.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. We should give them some space." Leon, Neal and the Natu began to walk away, until they heard the two Pokémon behind them shout, "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Leon replied, "Well, obviously, you two have some stuff you need to work out amongst yourselves, so we'll just be going."

"Oh, okay," Crash said, nodding, "That makes sense. You can come back later, then."

"You idiot!" Burn yelled at Crash, shooting a fireball that exploded at his feet, sending him flying backwards and almost off the cliff. "They still have our target. We can't just let them walk away with her."

Crash, who was lying on his back after the small blast, slowly picked himself up. "Oh yeah. We should probably catch her first," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Burn turned to Neal and Leon. "You'd better be ready, because we are not going to hold anything back against a couple of kids, especially annoying ones like you."

"Bring it on!" Leon challenged back. He glanced over at Neal and he nodded back to Leon. Leon turned his attention back to the Lampent and Scraggy duo, ready for battle.

Well, that was pretty fun, right? After that first chapter, which might need a little editing, in my opinion, this must really have you guys on the edge of your seats. By the way, I figure that Burn has a bit of a British tongue, while Crash is a little more Bostonian, so try imagining that if you wanna think about how the two of them sound.

Anyway, if you really enjoyed this chapter, then I implore you to read and review, to express how you thought of my chapter. I noticed that this one is a bit more popular than Pursuit, and with the unique Pokémon I've chosen, I can't really blame anyone. Still, this story and that one are connected, so while you can just read this one, I ask that you take the time to check out the other one so you can get a more complete image of the events surrounding this story.

Oh, and speaking of that, I actually have a proposition for everyone. I'm actually considering taking some OCs that you guys think up, in a standard SYOC style. The reason that I'm saying this is because, as this takes place a few years after the events of PMD:EoS, there are obviously some things that had changed during that time span. And since I'm too lazy to think about every new Pokémon that would be introduced, I figured I'd give everyone a chance to try to wow me with their ideas. Now, I'll have a full list of what you can try for, as well as the rules and form, on my profile soon, but let me just say that brand new exploration teams are a must here.

And so, as always, make sure to stay tuned for the next chapter, which may or may not come real soon, depending on if I can get to a computer or not. (Aren't I reassuring? :-P )