Arc One: Mystery

Chapter Twenty: Way Back Home


I feel myself floating through the air. It's almost like I'm flying, but it's more like somemon is pulling me around.

As I move through the air, I try to think about what had just happened with me and Xatu.

It's a lot to take in, as he told me that the core was breaking apart, that we had to go find something called the Flute of Aura, bring it to the core, and then play it.

But even then I still have questions. Why is the core breaking? Where is the core? What song do we play on the flute?

...WAIT, he never told me where the flute even was?! Dang it!

I sigh. I guess I shouldn't be that mad at him. I may still have questions, but at least the question that we came here for got answered, so that's a good thing. We now, at long last, know how we can stop these Mystery Dungeons, so all we have to do is listen to all of the steps Xatu gave me before things can get worse.

I look down, or at least I think I do (I'm still a ball of yellow light, after all). I wasn't able to ask who I was. That was half of the reason why I came in here for the first place. It hurts to know that I couldn't find out anything about myself.

Well, technically Xatu did tell me that I couldn't tell anymon that I was a human, or else everything would go downhill from there, but does that even count? It's not like I knew that when I still was a human...

But would that really happen? After everything we've gone through now, could telling them who I really am make everything go up in flames?

Well, now that I think about it more. Zygarde believed that I am somehow involved in causing the core to go out of control, and I was the only one who talked to Xatu, so no mon, but me knows what happened on the cliffside. So, for all I know, they might think I'm lying just so that I can save myself.

Yikes...not even Lucas can defend me with that.

So basically, if this doesn't work, then I'm completely screwed. And humans were created by Darkrai, so yeah, they'd probably give me to Zygarde right away if Xatu's plan fails.

I shiver as a cold feeling goes down my spine. Wow, I guess the pressure has only increased now that we do have a plan. I just hope that Xatu was telling the truth, because this plan seems to be the one thing that will decide my fate. This is all getting really stressful, but asking about the Mystery Dungeons instead of asking about my past was the right thing to do.

I mean, I think my whole trust problem would be doubled if I asked for my past. And besides, I've already had some glimpses of my past on my own, so I'll just have to wait for another dream to find out more about myself. Just no more nightmares please.

...

...

Hmm, by just floating in what feels like space, this place is reminding me about that black void. Oh well, at least the light is comfortable to be in. It has a nice warm feeling to it that makes it welcoming, so while I like this better than empty space, I'd still rather be on the ground with my friends. Whenever it decides to take me back that is.

I then feel myself stop and slowly descend downwards. Well, that's perfect timing.

"Once again, I thank you for visiting me." I hear Xatu say to me. "It was fun to answer somemon's question. You'll do just fine, you don't have to worry about a thing."

I go to thank him, but then the light gets super bright. Thankfully, I know the drill by now and close my eyes before they start burning. I'll be back with everymon soon enough.


"Hey, you're back." I hear Lucas say.

I open my eyes and see that the light around me are like fireflies, leaving me as they go up into the night sky, while I am left on the ground. I am immediately hugged by Lucas, who says, "Nice to see in one piece. Guess that Xatu was the real one after all, wasn't he?" Before he let goes.

I smile at him as I feel Sparks hop onto my head. "How's it going, Red? What did you ask him? What'd he say? How cool was his ledge?!"

"Hold on, Sparks. One question at a time." I say.

Once I feel him settled down, Lucas asks me, "Soooo, how did it go?"

I take a deep breath. "Well, to answer Sparks' last question, that cliff was incredible. Probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. There were a whole lot of Pokemon that were flying around, along with the all flowers and plants, and the sunset was beautiful. Really wish that you guys were there."

"It's ok, Red." Sparks says. "At least you can tell us what it was like."

I smile, but then it fads away. Lucas notices it and asks, "Is something wrong?"

I then say, "Another reason that I wish you could have gone was that he said I could only ask him one question before I had to go."

"What?! Really?" Sparks says panicked. "Why would he do that?"

"Plot armor." I say under my breath.

"What?" They both ask.

"I-I was just thinking about what he said and it was that he didn't want to say too much. Something about not wanting to change the future, and trying to stay hidden from anymon with bad ideas."

I can see that Lucas starts to get nervous. "So, if that's the case, what question did you ask him then?"

I put my head up and see Lucas's concerned face. I take in a breath. "I asked him how the Mystery Dungeons were appearing and how we can stop them." I answer.

Lucas then loses all of his fear, and even lets out a small chuckle as he starts to wag his tail. "Really?!" He breathes a sigh of relief and says, "That's great news. Why was that so hard tell us..."

I see him connect the dots in his head, but Sparks beats him to the punch. "So, if that was the question you asked him, and you could only ask one, does that mean that you weren't able to remember anything?"

I look down again and nod. "It was tough, but I had to do the right thing."

"I'm sorry that we couldn't help you out, buddy." Lucas says as he puts his paw on my shoulder. "I know how bad you wanted to remember, but it looks like we'll have to find another way."

"I know." I say. I then lift my head up and see Lucas' face again, although instead of fear in his face, it's the look of determination, which makes me smile. "But this island's my home, and I've been having a blast here." I say as I put out my hands and look at them.

In my head, I see them as my old, human hands instead of my rabbit paws. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I really wanted to find out more about myself too, but I guess I can wait. It's fun going on adventure with all of you guys, and this is something I don't ever want to forget."

Sparks blushes and says, "Heh heh. Glad you like exploring the world with us, Red. It is fun to see the world with you guys too."

"Besides." I say. "You guys gave me a place to stay, so I guess I have to do my part to help everymon here."

I then feel Lucas give me a light punch on the shoulder. "So, does that mean you aren't going to have anymore mood swings?"

I laugh. "I...can't promise that I won't get one again, but I'll try not to."

"That's the spirit." Lucas says with a smile. "Catch." He says as he tosses an apple at me, to which I almost drop it.

"Thanks, I was starting to get hungry." I say. I take a bite and look around.

"Wait a minute." I say with my mouth full of apple. I swallow the rest of my food and say, "What are we doing outside the mountain?"

"Ohh! Xatu teleport us out of there almost as soon as you went through those big doors." Sparks says. "And looklooklook!" He then jumps off of my head and dashes towards two bags that are full of all kinds of berries, apples, and seeds. "Xatu felt bad for us not being able to ask him anything despite our long journey, so he gave us all this stuff, along with helping Eve wake up."

My eyes widen as I hear the word 'Eve'. I look around and ask. "Eve! I-I can't believe I forgot about her. W-where is she?!"

Lucas chuckles. "Relax, Red. You didn't let Sparks finish." I then feel something electric go through me, although it's like my body is covered by it, slowing me down. "Yeah, you better be careful now, Red. I know a new move now. Ohh! It feels good to know something new. I feel so strong. Ha, ha ha!" Sparks says as he smiles.

He tosses me a Cheri Berry and lands back on my head. "Alright, jokes aside, when he teleported us here, he told us to go somewhere to rest for the night, which makes sense, because we aren't going to be able to use our badges until tomorrow morning, and we'd be crazy to travel by foot at night."

I tap my foot on the ground impatiently as I wait for him to mention Eve. "He also said that you'd teleport here after you were done talking to him, so Lucas helped Eve all the way to a small place where we'll stay while I stayed here and waited for you, just in-."

"But Eve. Is she alright?" I rudely interrupt.

I then see Lucas smirking. "Wow, you can wait to find out about your past, yet you're a nervous wreak when it comes to Eve." The Rilo's joke makes the Pichu laugh while I only blush.

Lucas then says, "If you need to know that bad, she's fine. The only thing to worry about is that she has a big mark on her chest, but she's getting treated for that right now, so it's no big deal."

I sigh and say, "Alright, thanks. That's all I wanted to hear."

I feel myself get zapped again by Sparks, who says, "Can you just be patient next time?"

"Sorry. I can't help it." I say. "So can we go see her now?"

"Sure thing, Red." Lucas says. "Follow me." The Rilo then walks down the path and I follow him with a Pichu on my head. With it being night, a group of Charizard go to light up the night, but in a way I've never seen before.

You see, there's a ditch on the right side of the path. I thought it was just something for any water to go through, but it turns out that it's for lighting up some wood, leaves, and other flammable things. The end result is a trail of fire that does more than enough to light the night up.

I get worried and say, "The way they light up their town seems a little..."

"Extreme?" Sparks says.

I nod and add. "Well, it would only take a little wind for it to get out of control and possibly cause the whole town to go up in smoke."

He looks over to the burning ditch and says, "While that can happen, those Charizards will make sure that the fire doesn't get too crazy. Plus, the homes here aren't flammable, so it's fine. That's what the sign says, see?" He points to a sign that, in short, just sums up to say, "This is fine."

I can't help but just stare at it, and I say, "Yeah, but..." But I then stop myself. This is probably how they've done it for who knows how long, so I guess I shouldn't worry. I'm just surprised about how long the ditch goes. It goes outside, and into the town. They treat it like it's some kind of river, and they don't fear it at all.

"So, where are we staying for the night?" I ask Lucas.

He smiles and says, "At an underground hotel called Dugtrio's, and it's right over there." He points over to a rather large red tent that's in the shape of a Diglet. Why am I not surprised?

"Come on, let's head in. I'm beat after everything that's happened today." Lucas says tired.

"Well, we still have to do one more thing." Sparks says. "We have to let everymon know back at-"

"Hey, Sparks! You there?" We hear somemon yell from Sparks' badge, and if I had to guess who that was, it sounded the most like Bolt.

Sparks goes to answer when Melody says, "Bolt, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to contact Sparks." He answers.

"Wigglytuff said to wait until they called us. They might be busy right now." She says.

Bolt panics and says, "I know, but-"

"Bolt, you're not worried about your little brother, are you?" Melody says, teasing the Luxray.

Bolt begins to have trouble speaking as he tries to think of something to say back to his teammate. Me and Sparks then start to chuckle, which then turns into laughter. Sparks then hits his badge and says, "Guess you got caught red-pawed, big bro."

The audio goes quiet for a moment, probably because they weren't expecting to hear from any of us.

"...uhhh, how much did you hear?" Bolt asks.

Sparks laughs, "You're lucky I cut you off right there, otherwise you would have gotten really embarrassed."

I decide to join in on the fun and say, "Yeah Bolt, did you think that we wouldn't be able to take care of ourselves?" I then laugh and imagine how red Bolt is right now.

"Alright, alright. Let's change the subject." Bolt says. "So, you guys are ok?"

Lucas then chimes in with his badge and says, "Yeah, you won't believe what happened today. We're about to stay at a hotel for the night. Get everymon together and wait for us, it shouldn't take long for us to get settled in."

Melody then says, "Wait, but can't you just use your badges to teleport here? Dinner's all set for you."

"Yeahhhhhhhhh, it's been a long day. And..." Lucas says. "We'll explain everything later, bye guys."

Lucas then puts his badge in his bag and says, "Alright, now that that's done, let's check back in."

We then enter the red tent, and in front of us is a gate over the ground, acting like a lid.

"Wait, doesn't the Guild have this as well?" I ask.

"Yeah." Sparks says, "Cool, isn't it?"

I continue to walk over it and add, "Yeah, but I don't get-"

"HEY, HEY, HEY, STOP!" I hear under myself.

I get frighten and jump in the air, away from the grate. As I land, I feel Sparks fall off of my head.

"OOF!" He says. "You ok, Red?"

"Only a little scared." I answer. "Who was that?"

I then hear Lucas say, "Right, you don't know what those are. There're what Pokemon use to make sure no mon sneaks in. We also use them to look at their feet to tell what kind of Pokemon they are."

"If that's the case, then why doesn't ours do the same?" I ask.

"I can answer that one." Sparks says. "Wiggletuff said that Chatot used to stay under there to see what Pokemon it was, but no mon else that we didn't know really went up over the gate, so she decide to let it go, but she still thinks it looks nice, so she hasn't removed it. Besides, no mon in the right mind would ever try to invade the Guild. They'd have to mess with Wiggletuff, and she's a tough cookie."

"Wait, back up. Somemon has to be down there all day and wait until he sees a Pokemon?" I ask. "That sounds really boring."

The ground then bursts in front of me, and soon a Dugtrio appears. All three Pokemon then say something, but each one says something different. "HOW DARE YOU MOCK US!" "Well, I guess it DOES get boring." "I like it, it's nice and quiet."

"Wait, YOU THINK WHAT?!" "Hey, it does get lonely down there after a while." "Uh, guys."

"You have two other mons to talk to." "It gets old talking to somemon who's always with you." "GUYS!"

Two of the worms look over to the third one and say, "What?"

Lucas clears his throat and the formers look over at the Rilo. They both go, "Ohhh, right, customers."

All three of them move over to the Rilo. The one in the center whispers, "On three. One, two, three!"

They then go, "Welcome back, Riolu. I see that you have returned with your two friends." In perfect sync.

The one on the right goes into the ground, only to come back up with a key on it's head. "Now that you're all here, you can take your key while the other two get their paws printed."

Both me and Sparks get confused and ask, "Our paws what?"

The Mole Pokemon then turns toward a small ditch right next to a long sheet of paper on the ground. They then say, "In order to make sure we know who's been here, we have any visiting Pokemon get their paw dipped in paint and then stomp on the large sheet of paper. It'll help us remember who's here, and we also like to hang it up around the tent as you can see above you."

I then look above me and indeed see banners that have many different pawprints from a multitude of Pokemon.

"Wow, that's really cool." Sparks says, "I wanna try it!" He them leaps off my head and dips his right paw into the ditch of paint and stamps it onto the paper.

"There's a towel over to the side if you want to take the paint off yourself." They say.

I walk over to the ditch and look at the paw-filled banner. I notice that next to Sparks' print is Lucas'. Guess he must have already done his when he first came here.

"What do you think, Red?" The Pichu asks me as I put my foot into the red paint. "You think this is a cool idea?"

After I take my feet out, I hop over to the banner and place my foot down. I then say, "Yeah, it's nice. I just hope that the paint will come off alright."

"Don't worry about that." The Dugtrio reassures. "That towel is made from the finest material on the island. It cleans anything...although that does make it almost impossible to wash all the gunk out."

After I dry off my foot, they then add, "Your room is number 17. Just go down the ladder and head to the left when you reach the bottom."

"Thanks, you three." Lucas says as we walk over to the ladder.

"Anytime!" "Thanks!" "You're welcome!" They all say as their go back underground...but they come back up in a hurry. "Wait, before you go, make sure that you knock on the door first. Lilac is still there watching over your other friend."

"Ok." Lucas says. "Thanks again." He then goes down the ladder first. Once Sparks gets on my head, I follow the Emanation Pokemon.

"Uh, who's Lilac?" I ask Lucas.

"She's a Leavanny that works here. She's the one that helped me get Eve inside, and said that she'd keep an eye on her when I went back to get you guys."

He then reaches the bottom, and steps out of the way so that I can put my feet on the ground. Looking around, I see that it's like the Guild, except there isn't as much room down here. Only enough for three normal sized Pokemon to get through without touching the other's shoulder.

The banners that have the pawprints on them are placed along the edge of the ceiling, and I do admit, it does make the tunnel better looking.

"Red, you coming to our room?" Lucas asks.

"Yeah, just got a little lost in my thoughts, that's all." I respond.

I then follow behind him as he says, "13, 14, 15, 16, and 17!" He then turns toward the door and knocks on it. "Hello, I'm back." He says.

"Alright, just a minute." I hear somemon on the other side. We then wait for a short while before the door is opened by a shiny Leavanny. "Nice to see that you're back." She says as she steps outside. "Everything's just fine. I expect that her mark should be gone soon, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Is she awake?" I ask her worried.

She nods and says, "Yep." As she hangs a bag over her shoulder. "Though she's still in her nest. She also seems to be thinking about something. What happened to her?"

I scratch the back of my head, "We got into a fight while we were in Central Mountain."

"Well, I hope that you two can work it out. Have a good day." She says as she walks over to the ladder.

I turn white as she passes me. She...she didn't think Eve and I were a... I then yell, "Wait, that's not what I meant by..!" But it's too late, as she's already up the ladder and it doesn't look like she heard me.

The only mons that are here with me are Sparks and Lucas...and they're laughing. I can feel Sparks on my head as he says, "I can't believe she just said that-ha, ha, ha!"

Lucas is the same. "First, it was you eating your pebble, and now she thought you have a crush on Eve! Today isn't your day, Red."

"Yeah, it sure isn't." I say. "Let's just head inside and forget what just happened."

I open the door and walk inside our room. From what I can tell, I just entered the center room with two doorways, one on the left, and another on the right.

"The Dugtrio said that there's two bedrooms with two nests in each one." Lucas says. "But before we hit the hay, we should contact Wigglytuff and everymon else before it gets late."

"I agree. Dibs on the couch!" Sparks says as he gets off my head. He then lands on a couch and lies down. "Ahhhh, this feels so soft." He says with a smile.

I smile and ask, "Do you think we should wake up Eve? It doesn't look like she's up."

Before Lucas can say anything, a cover to my left moves, and out from it comes Eve. "Don't worry, I'm fine." She says as she exits her room, "So, what did I miss?"

Lucas holds up his badge and says, "We were about to call Wigglytuff, so we'll caught all of you guys up now."

"That...sounds nice." She says. She then looks at me, and I smile back, but she turns before she could see me.

My ears drop lower than they already are. Hurting her twice all in one day does not help me in the slightest.

She avoids looking at me as she sits down by Sparks. I sigh as I go to sit down by Lucas, who's sitting on the left side as Eve and Sparks sit on the right. It's best to give her some space for now.

"Alright, you guys are all set?" Lucas asks.

Eve nods, Sparks gives a thumbs up, and I say, "Go for it." He then taps the magic button and says, "Hey Wigglytuff, are you there?"

"..." "..." "..." "..."

"Lucas, is that you?" We hear a jolly, female voice from the badge.

Immediately, we hear our other guildmates.

"Hey, they're calling us!"

"There they are!"

"See, you didn't have to worry that much longer."

"Nice to hear from them again." Lucas chuckles and says, "Well, it's nice to hear you guys as well. Today has been quite the adventure."

"I bet it was." The Guildmaster says. "Now then, how did your trip go?"

"It was so wild!" Sparks says. He then inhales and continues to speak without periods. "We went inside the mountain to look for Xatu, and Red found a secret passage that lead to Xatu, and we had to use our badges to get to him because we couldn't enter the same way he did. When we finally got there then we ran into a river, and that's when Red realized that he left his badge on the ground, so he ran to go get it, but when he came back, he was with Xatu, and-"

"Wait, so you did find Xatu?" Crush says.

"Not right then." Sparks answers.

Chatot then says, "But you just said he was with Red after...all of the things you went through."

"Well, it turned out that after he helped us through the river, he tried to take the Lucky Pebble from us, but when we said didn't have it, he turned into a Dusknoir by using the same red ring as Fang and Shard used."

"Sparks, can you please slow down." Daisy asks. "I can barely make out what you're saying, but you said that Dusknoir was wearing a red ring, correct?"

Sparks nods..."Oh right. Uhh, yeah, he did."

"Then he belongs to Scar. Did you capture him?"

"No, but Red sent him down into the river. I don't know if he made it out though." Lucas says.

Daisy then sighs as Zack speaks, "So you didn't find Xatu?"

Lucas smiles and says, "After Red knocked him down, the real Xatu then spoke to us, and he allowed Red to ask him a question."

I then hear some cheering from the other side. Wiggytuff then says, "That's terrific! I knew you guys would be able to find him, but why was Red the only one that could ask him something?"

"Because-heh, heh." Lucas starts laughing, which just confuses Chatot, who says, "What's so funny?"

Lucas takes a breath, he's not going to say it, is he.

He then starts answering. "Because Red had a Lucky Pebble, but-heh!"

Wait, no! Don't say it!

"...he ate it." Lucas says with his laughs starting to escape his mouth.

I inhale. WHY!?

I close my eyes in embarrassment. They may not be here, but it still feels like they're right in front of me. Thankfully, they only chuckle at it, and I find myself letting out a small laugh and adding to the joke. "I hope I have a good reason on why I ate it." I say.

"But the only thing that matters is that you asked Xatu how to stop the Mystery Dungeons, right?" I hear Crush say.

"Yeah." Lucas says. "Red, can you tell everymon what he said?"

"Uhh, me?" I say nervously.

"Well, yeah. You're the only one who knows what he said." Sparks says.

I scratch the back of my head and take deep breathes. "Well, *gulp* he said that we need to find something called the Flute of Aura, and then take it to the core of the earth and play it, but I don't have a clue on how we can get to either one."

"Well, then let's think about it." Wigglytuff says. "Where do you think something called the Flute of Aura would be kept at?"

"My first guess would be that it would be at a Element temple." Daisy says, "But pretty much all of them have already been found and are being used as museums, so that means that it can't in there."

I shake my head and think. I found Xatu's room because of a room that had always been there. It's not like no mon could go in there. Sure, it was under construction, but before that, somemon could have tried to find it before then.

"That stone is the key to your adventure." I hear Xatu's words in my head. "Don't lose your pebble. That stone will be of excellent use on your adventure. I don't think you will be able to do your quest if you don't have it with you."

"Actually, I think it could be in one of those temples." I say. "Xatu told me that my Lucky Pebble is the key to solving this crisis, and the room where I entered Xatu's room was just a regular room that anymon could have tried to find before. My pebble teleported me a different room, and when Sparks tried to do the same thing, it didn't work, even though he did it correctly."

"So what you're saying is that it doesn't matter whether the temple has been explored or not, no mon can find this flute unless they have a Lucky Pebble?" Chatot asks.

"Right." I say. "I guess he wasn't joking when he said the key part, ha ha!"

I hear a pause. Everymon probably thinking about what I said, but I think it makes sense.

Wigglytuff then says, "Ok, so if that's true, it could be in a temple."

"So that means we have to go through every single temple to look for it?" The Chatot asks. "That sounds rather challenging for us to take on."

"Says the bird who didn't believe we'd come back with an answer from Xatu!" I yell, getting back at Ray.

We hear nothing for a while, but then he finally says, "Alright, I guess you do have a point. as much as I don't like being wrong, I'm still glad that all of you have succeeded."

"And we don't have to check every temple." Daisy says, "Just the ones that make the most sense to go to, unless Xatu told you which one it was in, that is."

I blink twice, "I don't know. Xatu didn't tell me that part. Maybe it'll be at some place that has something involving plants, because that's like the earth?"

Bolt then joins in. "Well, what type of Pokemon is Zygarde? That'll probably give us a hint. Sparks, do you know?"

Sparks answers with, "Well, if I remember correctly, he's a Dragon and Ground-Type. So my guess would be to head over to the Ground-Type Temple first." Wigglytuff then thinks, "Hmm, ok. I think I know what we're going to do. Daisy, I'd like for your team to head over to the temple. You'll have to use your badges to teleport near Clear Lake. We can't use Green Forest because you-know-what."

Zack then says, "Wigglytuff, I don't want to sound rude, but our team isn't a good matchup type wise."

Wigglytuff sighs and says, "We are at type disadvantage with all of our teams, Zack. There isn't much we can do."

Crush then says, "Well, I can use an Ice Beam TM band. That might help us out."

Wigglytuff agrees, "Great, I think we need all the help we can get for this trip. As for Team Adventure and Sparks, I'd like for Sparks to return back here, but the rest to teleport to Forever's location."

"M-Mom?" I hear Eve ask. I look over at her and see that she has a worried say, as if she's afraid about what she's going to say. I gulp.

"What is it, sweetie?" The Guildmaster asks.

"Ummm, I-...could I maybe...stay home instead?" Eve says scared.

"Well, I was thinking with you being Ice-Type, it would be useful if you helped them out." Wigglytuff says puzzled.

Eve doesn't let up, though, and says, "B-but I think that Team Current m-may need some help around Treasure Town, a-and-"

"Eve." Wigglytuff says, "If I was worried about them, then-"

Eve then snaps and yells, "BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO!" Into her badge. Everymon is silent as Eve heavily breathes in. I see that her eyes start to flicker from normal to pure white like when she went all crazy. Her face slowly turns more panicked as she starts to shake.

I then take this chance to talk to her. "Eve?" I ask.

But that's all I can say as she yells, "Don't hurt me!" At me with white eyes. I sink farther into the couch as she angrily stares at me. Her eyes return to normal as she dashes off into her room, with tears in her eyes.

Salt is then added to the wound when I hear Wigglytuff ask, "Red, did something happen to her?"

I then freeze up. I'm scared about what Wigglytuff might say to me. I can't say anything.

Lucas sees my trouble, and puts his paw on my shoulder again. "It's okay, Red. I'll say it."

I then sigh and say, "Thanks."

He gives me a small smile and answers, "Well, when we fought the Dusknoir, he used his ring to mess up Red's vision, and he ended up knocking out Eve and giving her a mark on her stomach."

I get even more terrified when the Rilo finishes and I don't hear anything back. Tears roll down my checks as I quietly say, "...I'm so sorry..." I pull my ears over my eyes to hide them as I shake.

"So that's why she doesn't want to go, huh?" I hear Chatot say. "What do you think, Guildmaster?"

I hold my breath as she speaks. "Well, I don't really think I can do anything about that. It's not like I was there. Red, you didn't mean to hurt her, did you?"

I jump at the moment and say, "Of course not! I wouldn't-"

"Alright, that's all I needed to hear." She interrupts me. "You sound very sorry for hurting her. While I'm sad that she isn't one hundred percent, I trust that you're sorry and won't do that again. I'll talk to her when she gets back if that makes you feel better."

I force myself to smile as I say, "T-thanks Wigglytuff."

"It's alright." She says. "Now then, tell Eve that she can come home tomorrow morning along with Sparks, but I still want you and Lucas to go with Team Forever. Do you three understand?"

"Yes Ma'am!" We all say, although mines the most quiet.

"Alright, you guys have a good night's rest." She says. "Tomorrow is a big day. Night!"

"Night!"

All the noise from our badges then disappears as I stretch out and yawn. "Alright, now we can finally hit the hay." I say.

I then look over at Eve's room and add, "But I don't know how well I'm going to sleep tonight."

I then feel Lucas pat me on the back as he says, "You'll be fine. She'll be fine. It'll all work out soon. Look at the bright side, Wigglytuff wasn't too mad at you, so I'm sure that she'll work it out with Eve."

I sigh and say, "I hope so." As I head inside our room.

I really hope I don't get any nightmares tonight, because I'm already going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.