Arc One: Mystery

Chapter Twenty-Nine: In and Out


Both Eve and I stepped on the warp tile as soon as we could. After one very, very, long day (or night, I don't care at this point), we finally got the Flute of Aura, and oh boy, did it not go as planned.

The first thing that went wrong was that everyone, including myself, thought for sure that the flute would be at the Ground Temple. It was the same type as Zygarde, and it made enough sense to us that Arceus would put it there. Unfortunately, he didn't think that way, and after narrowly getting out of there, and me having a mental breakdown, we had to take a long detour all the way to the Ghost Temple.

And the way there came with its fair share of battles, and while I was asleep for a chunk of that time, some of those battles were unnecessarily difficult due to the lack of anything to heal us. Now, throw in Scar suddenly showing up during our trip, causing me to get separated from everymon, fighting a crazy Ghost Temple watcher while helping Eve (who wasn't even supposed to be there) get a better grip with herself, and it was all in one day, and that makes me feel like a beat up rug.

Seriously, the only things I want right now is to get medical attention and to fall on my face fast asleep in my nest back at the guild.

My nest...it still feels weird to say something like that...

But first thing's first, we have to group up with Team Forever before going home.

The light from teleporting finally gives away, and the two of us are standing in the center of the garden inside the Ghost Temple.

Eve looks a little worried, probably scared of where she is, but I'm not. This is near the spot where the secret entrance is.

"Red?" Eve asks, with the flute still in her jaw. "Are we still in the temple?"

I answer her with, "Well yes, we are in the temple, but no, we're out of the secret chamber."

We both take a look around us, and to be fair, the temple does look better than any spot here so far. As the temple is a nice break from the dead...everything that's outside. It has its charm and structures, but compared to the Ground Temple, this feels old, lifeless, ...and forgotten.

"Does that mean we're done with the mazes and fights?"

"There was a spot like this in the Ground Temple, and it was very peaceful." I say as I look at the dead flowers. "The spot like this wasn't used for any traps or battles, so I'd say we're in the clear."

She sighs, "Oh, thank Arceus."

I look at her and smile. "Hey, the only bad thing that could happen to us is if some random Dark-Type comes in here and battles us, but hey, we took on that crazy Zoroark, wouldn't be that hard."

Eve doesn't laugh, but I see the flute shake in her loosed mouth, and that's enough to tell me that she let out a chuckle.

I then start to feel the ground shake. Not enough that it's from an earthquake, but enough that I can tell it's getting closer and closer. I see Eve looking at something behind me, and before I can even get ready, a familiar feeling wraps around me as I'm lifted off the ground. I look down to see bright yellow fins around my chest.

I let out small grunt. Even though I know it's just Zack, who's probably thrilled that he found me, I still can't help but feel crushed, especially with all the injuries I have.

"Ha ha haaaaa! You made it out. Way to go you two!" He says cheerfully.

...

"Wait, two?!" He says confused. He let goes of me, and sees that he also picked up Eve from the ground. You know, the Pokemon who shouldn't be anywhere near here.

But before the Ampharos can speak, I hear Crush yell, "Eve! So you really are here?!" As she runs over to us. She comes to a screeching halt and covers her mouth when she sees all the bloody marks over our bodies. "And what happened to you two?!

"Long story." Eve and I say at the same time, completely winded. Crush walks up to me first to examine me, while Zack starts to notice the blood on his body and tries to wipe it of. The Mawile lifts my arms up, then puts her hand lightly over my wound from the arrow, and asks me to close my eyes to check my eyelids.

"Man, that must have been one tough mon' you two had to deal with." She says as she moves on to Eve. "You're lucky that those claws didn't cut any further than they did. They still did a number on you, but I'm make sure they don't get infected once I grab my stuff."

"I'll say," I start. "I've never felt so worn out in my life. We ran into a Hisuian Zoroark, and she wasn't playing around."

"A Hisuian Zoroark, huh?" Crush says as she looks at Eve's legs one by one. "Guess that would explain it."

"So did you beat her?" Zack asks as he stands in front of us, still wiping some blood with his fins.

Unable to hide my pride, I crack a smile. "Barely, but in the end, we managed to beat her and get the Flute of Aura."

Zack brightens up. "You did!?...oh, that's what came out of Eve's mouth. I still can't believe she's here..." I look over to the side and see the flute on the temple ground as Zack walks over to pick it up, but Daisy kneels down and picks it up.

I can't help but let out a "Woah." Somehow, the Gardevoir looks just as bad as we do, but it's not because she has blood and bruises left and right, but because of her energy she's giving out, or in this case, the lack of it. She looks like she could fall down dead if she wasn't careful, and I can even hear her walking towards Zack, and she barely does that. Normally she just floats everywhere from what I can tell. But now? Even her colors seem a bit grey.

When she lifts her arm to give the flute to Zack, she can barely lift it up all the way, so Zack just meets her in the middle. "Hey, take it easy. You're still tired out." Zack says.

"I...know..." She says as she gasps for air after saying one word. "I...just...need...food..."

After Zack grabs the flute, Daisy goes onto her knees. Guess walking to a bench would be too much for her right now. Something then comes to my mind. "Wait, why aren't you guys so freaked out by Eve being here?"

Zack pulls out his badge. "Well, Lucas and Bolt contacted us about it."

"Lucas. Yikes, he must've freaked out when that happened."

Zack nods. "Yeah, Lucas was especially worried about it. We would have told you, but Scar separated us from you, so we couldn't ask you if you had seen her."

I look down at my badge. "So, you didn't try to-"

"Of course we tried to talk to you through your badge. That's the whole point why we have them." Crush says. "Though we never got an answer from you. I'm guessing that whatever secret room you were in was very deep underground."

"Ahh!" I panic as I hear Eve grunt. Thankfully, it's only because of Crush, who's taking a look at the back of her head.

"Sorry, Eve. It's alright." She says as I notice her making a 'not alright' face towards the mark. "I'm surprized how you're able to still be standing up." Crush says as she gets back up. "You have some really bad gashes on your back, around a few of your legs, even the back of your head wasn't safe."

"She is a one of a kind Vulpix." I state, which earns a smile from Eve.

"The fact that you are here still baffles me. I knew you could teleport, but, here to the Guild is half a day's journey!"

"Something like that would have been handy going to the Ground Temple." I can't help but think to myself.

Eve chuckles, but it slowly turns into pain. "Yeah, I don't want to do anything like that again in a long time." She says as her pain starts to soak in.

Crush walks over to the rest of her team and says, "We better get back to the Guild. Back there, I'll actually have supplies to work with instead of all of these dead plants."

Oh, the Guild, I can not WAIT to get there and feel better. Just reaching for my badge is painful for me to do.

But then I then feel something soft, yet cool brush on my legs. I look down and see Eve, who sits right next to me. Of course, I can't help but get embarrassed by how close she is to me in front of everymon.

She looks at me and says, "Are you ready to hit the badge? I don't want to teleport myself back to the Guild again."

"Oh!" I say realizing why she's next to me. "S-s-sure, you guys ready?"

Zack beams brightly. "Sure are, our badges should be all set now...right Daisy?"

Daisy can only nod as she reaches for her badge. Hopefully that meant yes.

"All right then. Let's go!"

With a press of a button, the scenery changes from a dark, destroyed temple, to a calm, starry night in front of the Guild. I let out a big smile towards the familer sight. I knew I missed this place, but now that I'm here, I'm finding out that I really, REALLY missed this place. I'm not the only one who shares the same feeling, as Eve let's out a big sigh of relief.

"Home! Oh, how I missed this place." I smile from her as I look up into the air and see the moon in the sky, I also look down towards the town and don't see one home that has a light on inside. In fact, the only lights on near by are the two torches in front of the guild's entrance. Just from that, I can tell that it's very late at night, maybe close or after midnight, no wonder I'm so tried.

Crush and Zack walk past Eve and I, with the Ampharos carrying the Gardevoir with the help of his shoulder. He lets out a yawn. "I really wish I could call it a day right here. But now I'm headed to the kitchen. Got to get Daisy a midnight snack."

Crush chuckles, "Yeah, except it'll be more like a feast from the way she looks."

"You need any help with those two?"

"No, don't worry about me. Just focus on Daisy. I can handle Red and Eve."

"Thanks." Zack says as we enter the doorway. But standing in between us and the ladders is Bolt, who is looking like he's on the verge of falling asleep, and Lucas, who is too much of a wreck to look sleepy.

"You two are finally back!" My partner exclaims. In a moment he goes from the end of the room to run up to me, however, he stops himself when he can get a better look at myself. I for one can't really see what I look like thanks to a lack of mirrors in this world, but Lucas' face says it all.

He struggles to find the right words. "Yikes! You look completely...broken! What happened?"

I go to answer, but Crush answers first. "They got badly bruised while they were in the Ghost Temple. I wouldn't recommend they do much for a while."

I see Lucas' tail goes down, and now that I get a closer look at his face. I realize how stressed and worried he looks. With fur out of place, and just the look in his eyes shows me that he had a huge sense of panic.

"You look stressed." I point out. Lucas looks at me.

"Well, ya! Right before Eve disappeared, she seemed really worried after she grabbed your bandana, and then she teleported. Of course I knew where she was going, and that just made it worse for me. It was my job Wigglytuff gave me to keep her safe and I couldn't imagine what-"

"Lucas." Eve interrupts the Rilo. She walks over and looks him in the eyes. Lucas' face is blown away from how Eve looks even worse than me. "I'm sorry for leaving like that, but I had to go. Red needed help, and I had-"

She grunts as the pain goes through her body. "We'll tell you the whole story downstairs." I say to my partner. "You probably didn't expect us to arrive looking like this."

"Well I'll say. You two look worse than Team Forever." Lucas exclaims.

A load snore is heard. I'm caught off guard and try to see who it is.

"Don't worry, Red. It's just Bolt." Lucas says, pointing to the sleeping lion. "He decided to stay up with me, in case something happened, though, he never looked like he was going to stay up very long."

I let out a small chuckle, then another grunt. I slowly make my way to the ladder.

The sooner I get healed, the sooner I can SLEEP.

...

The ladder. This might hurt a little.


"Alright, hold still. I'd still like to put on some more bandages on you."

"That's fine, but you don't need to put on much more." I say. "I can tell I'm already feeling bet-Gah!" I moved my arm up to give out a thumbs up, but my lungs start to hurt.

Guess I still have some more healing to do before I can start to move again without feeling in pain.

"Can't say I didn't see that coming." Crush says as she walks over to grab more stuff. "I won't take long, but you still need more bandages."

I grunt again as I stay seated on the bushy nest. Man, being in a life and death situation makes me forget how bad of a shape I was in. Rune took everything Eve and I had to beat, and even then we still had to leave the Ghost Temple with the flute, meet up with Team Forever, and then head home.

Home...no, the guild! It's not my real home, my real home is...

...

...I wonder where my real home is? I try to think back to anything home related for a moment, just anything. Family, my house, any spot that could be close to my home. But I get nothing.

The sting from the bandage brings me back to Earth as I let out a sizzling noise. Well, even if this isn't my true home, I'm glad I can call this one. I missed this place so much either way. In fact, I never knew how much I missed it.

Normally, Lucas and I would spend the morning getting ready, figuring out what tasks we should do, or some other third thing. After that, it was off doing those tasks. That would last until a little after noon, where we'd see if there was any jobs listed for Apple Woods or just go someplace else to have lunch. Then we'd see if we could squeeze one or two more requests before heading back to the Guild for dinner, and then hit the hay.

...*sigh* Those days feel so far now. Back when things were normal. Well, okay, not normal normal, sometimes things might pop up that we didn't count on, but it never had this kind of pressure I'm dealing with now. I want things to go back to normal more than ever. Not just for me, but for everymon else. It's barely been a week since we first ran into Zygarde and yet, it's feels like it's been years, and that's not a stretch. I'm just that exhausted, and we had to deal with the Mystery Dungeons before him.

I look over at Lucas, who's just sitting down at the edge of the room. Crush decided that the best spot to go was our room, since it was originally a medical room before Lucas and I joined.

By the looks of it, he's still processing our story. We didn't say every detail, just the basic crash course version of it: Scar attacked us, I went ahead and got separated, I then found the entrance, wrapped to the room, ran into Eve and then fought Rune, grabbed the flute, and now here.

The only thing that we've left out is Eve going out of control and nearly killing me. If I mentioned that, then that would be like opening up a can of Diglett, and at a time where I'm sure the both of us just want to rest, that can wait.

Still, it's not like anymon would even be able to hear what we said, would they? Eve said that there's somethings that, no matter what, are hidden away from most Pokemon, though I'm not one of them. I still don't know how something like that would work, but Eve said that she was on an island with legendaries. So I'm sure the answer is something beyond what I could imagine.

The only thing I think they would be able to hear is Eve losing it. But even if we mention that, then they're going to ask why, and I'm not sure if...Ash was it?..well, I just don't think they'll hear the full story.

Lucas then moves his palm to make a fist. "I can't believe how heartless Ghost-Types can be. Makes me feel even worse that I was doing nothing here and wasn't there with you to help out."

I want to tell him not to feel bad, as he wouldn't have the best type match up against her, but that wouldn't change anything the more I think about it.

"Ok Red." Crush says. "Your left eye is ok, but your right one needs to be healed, so I'm going to wrap this cloth around it, and in the morning, you can take that off."

I simply say alright as she puts it over my right eye. It stings, sure, but everything else does, and it's starting to feel like my wounds are going away. It does feel weird though. It's as if I have an eyepatch over me.

She then lets out a yawn as she steps back. "I think that's it. You two should be ready to have some shut eye. You'll be feeling much better after a few hours rest."

I let out a large yawn. Finally, the magic word. I can't wait to sleep. Crush then heads to the doorway and says, "I'm going to get some sleep as well. I'll see you three in the morning."

"Night." We all say, some weaker than others as the Mawile leaves the room. Now, all who's left in here is me, Eve, and Lucas.

Lucas is the first to speak. "So, how do you two feel?"

I let out a laugh, and then grunt as I put my hand to my chest. Both Pokemon look at me funny. I sweat. "Sorry, it's just that everything I've been through today, or yesterday that is, it just sounded like a joke to me."

I then fall back on my nest, and close the one eye that was left alone from the bandages. I just start to get more conferrable in my bed. I think I'm even starting to tear up a little.

"I'm just so glad that this is almost over. Finally got the flute with us. It's in the bag...literally."

Eve then says, "Well yeah, but now we need to play it, and where do we even do that?"

"Could that just wait a few hours, I don't want to think about right now." I say, too tired to sound annoyed. "I'm just so tired, I'm probably going to sleep until noon. Not even Louderd will be able to wake me up."

"We'll see about that." Lucas says as he yawns. "But ya, it's getting really late. I wonder when Wigglytuff is going to come back."

He then stops as he realizes one thing. "Oh no. How are we going to tell Wigglytuff about all of this? Does she even know what happened?"

I start to think about that too, and I'm sure Eve is as well. Yikes, I didn't think about that. All I can say is that I'm glad she wasn't here when Eve teleported across the whole island to the Ghost Temple.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it when she gets back. But I'd imagine that she'd be back within the next hour or so, so that way have to wait until the morning."

She then looks down at her marks. "I just hope she can remain calm after seeing what's happened to us."

Both my eyes are closed, but I still answer her. "Where did she go again?"

"They want to make sure that we aren't going to get cut off from the rest of the island because of the Mystery Dungeons, and if that'll be the case, then she'll be the first to close it off."

We all don't say anything after that. I'm left to twiddle with my fingers. I may want to sleep so badly, but there's just a feeling I have that's just keeping me from passing out.

...

...

...

"What do you guys want to do?" I ask.

"Huh." They say at once.

Eve then says, "Well, I'm feeling more beat than tired, but I don't feel like doing anything. Not even an apple sounds good right now."

Lucas then snickers, "And that's if Daisy hasn't eaten everything in the kitchen. I never thought a Pokemon like her could eat so much."

"Well, using Psychic-Type moves is very taxing on the body." Eve says. "It's often restored with food and resting. Believe me, I've had my fair share of late night snacks."

"So is that why you spend so much time sleeping?" I ask. "To regain energy?"

Eve takes a moment. "Well, when you put it like that. I guess that would be a good reason to do that, it's just one that I never realized. But yes, sleeping can help restore energy, though, not as much as food would. Besides, I mainly sleep a lot because it makes me feel...safe."

I open my left eye and look at her. Boy, I can't begin to imagine what's going through her mind. This entire night she had to pretty much go against her past mistakes. Though she looks better, I'm sure she still needs a little more help fighting it off. I let out a louder than normal yawn.

"I'm willing to help you tomorrow if you want." I think. "I'd like to get used with my power as well."

She doesn't answer, but I can tell from her suddenly glancing at me that she did hear me. I then ask again. "Well, I wasn't referring to just tonight, I was talking about after this whole thing blows over us. When the Mystery Dungeons are a thing of the past, what do you guys want to do then?"

The room is once again filled with silence as the Rilo and Vulpix think.

"Hmm. That's a good question." My partner says. "I mean, we all know what you want to do after this, and I guess as long as I'm with you, that's what I want to do too: Help you remember your past."

"Thanks Lucas, but is there something you want to do besides that? Some place you want to see, somemon you want to meet? You both know this world better than I do, so I'm open for suggestions."

Again, more silence. I could expect this from Eve, but the fact that Lucas looks stumped on what to do is odd to me. He was the one that wanted to make a rescue team in the first place. So the fact that he doesn't have a specific spot he'd like to visit is weird.

"I...I just want to help Pokemon, Red." Lucas answers. "I don't have a certain spot I want to see, I just want to help and become stronger along the way."

I tilt my head at him. Really? That's one of the most basic goals in life ever! But then again, his goal was to join this guild, and because now he's done that, maybe he doesn't know where to go from here.

He looks at his paw and says, "Pokemon like Zygarde say that I'm weak until I evolve, but...I don't have to do that, right? I'm a strong Riolu and you both know that. I just wished more Pokemon knew that. Instead, every time somemon says I'm weak, I always...am...it's like fate hates me around public."

Lucas then looks defeated as he says, "I guess that's why I don't know what to do from here. Helping you is what I want to do the most, but that just means we have to stick with doing simple missions. At least I can actually do them without fainting."

That's not the direction that I wanted Lucas to go. I gulp. How am I going to rebound him off of this.

"Well, if it ends up happening this year, you and Red could try out in the tournament." Eve says.

Lucas and I look at her and say, "The what?" At the same time.

Eve clears her throat. "Well, every year, my mom holds a tournament for anymon who wants to join." She then looks at the Rilo and says. "Maybe you just need to spice things up. Though of course, now that the Mystery Dungeons are around, that might not happen anytime soon."

"Well, we have the flute." I say. "I'd say it won't be long now. Besides, maybe they can just have it later in the year?"

"Well, it sounds like you like the idea, Red." Eve says.

I chuckle as I go along with Eve's idea. "Well, it sounds a lot more fun than what we're doing right now. What do you think, Lucas?"

The Rilo has his hand under his chin, but a smile shortly appears. "I think that's a great idea. Though, what kind of Pokemon fights are you talking about?"

"Well, I've never really seen any fights because I don't really care about them, but I think it's just Pokemon around your skill level, a little more, and a little less." Eve answers.

Lucas then says, "Well then, I guess we know what we're doing after this then. If Wigglytuff let's it happen, that is."

"I'm sure she'll do it." Eve says. "Everymon on this island has grown accustom to it."

"Well then, once we fix the core, we'll start training for the tournament right away Red." Lucas says with determination in his eyes. "I want to get stronger. I WILL get stronger...We'll get stronger."

I let out a chuckle. "Glad you like the idea. It would be nice to understand my power better." I look at Eve for a split-second, and she's looking at me too.

"Would you want to train with us, Eve?" Lucas asks, catching her and me off guard.

Eve studders as she tries to think of something to say. All eyes are on her. I mean, I think it would be the best if she did train with us. We have good chemistry together, and it would help both of us to get a hang of Arceus' power.

Geez, I still can't believe that's a thing.

"Well, I'm always so used to staying here. I've always tried to not use my powers too much, and like I said, I don't even like fighting..."

She pauses again as we both wait for her to continue. "But, if there's...something tonight taught me...it's that...what is that?"

"Uhh, it's what you are going to tell us?" Lucas says confused.

"No, it's not that?" She says. "Do you hear that, Red?"

"Hear?" I mumble before I try and listen to whatever she's hearing. It's nothing special to me. Just sounds like a normal night outside. Sure, there seems to be some sound in the background, but again, nothing that sounds...screeching?

I put on hand on the edge of my ear to lift it up. Ok, now that I really trying to listen, there's definitely something, but what is it?

Screeching...What kind of thing can make a screeching noise that I know?

"Hey, I can hear it too." Lucas says. "It sounds like scratching across a chalkboard, and not in a good way."

Immediately, Eve stands up and says, "Ray!", before going back down as her legs go in pain.

"Eve!" Lucas and I call out as Lucas runs over to see if she needs help.

"I'm fine." She says. "But I've heard that noise before, it's what Ray does when he wants to wake up everyone here at the guild."

"Do you mean to tell us that this is an emergency?!" Lucas panics.

To confirm my worst fears, she nods. I begin to take deep breathes as I wonder what this could be all about. Ray was with Wigglytuff and a couple other Pokemon, right? Did something happened with them?! I don't think any ideas I come up with are going to be better than the last.

I then begin to hear movement outside our room. As much as my legs don't want to, I stand up. Sure, they're a little sore, but something's up and I have to find out what.

"Red, where are you going?" Lucas asks.

I turn my head slightly and say, "Well, I can't be the only one who wants to find out what's going on."

"You look terrible, I can just tell you what's going on. It may not even be that big of a deal if you stay here." Lucas says.

"Lucas, I'm fine." I lie. "I made it here, didn't I? A walk outside isn't going to kill me."

With that I make my way over, but Lucas soon catches up with me. "Well, someone needs to make sure you don't die getting up there."

I let out a chuckle. As we walk forward, I look at Eve one last time. It doesn't look like she wants to come, but she also seems to be thinking about it either way.

"Why do you keep looking at Eve like that? You said you didn't have a crush on her." Lucas says a little louder than he needed to.

I blush and say, "Well, Ray's involved with her mom, so I was just wondering if she wanted to come too."

"Yeah, but that wasn't the first time you gave her that look when you were in there."

"We fought together. I just want to make sure she's ok."

"Did you two make a good fighting pair?"

"...Just help me get to the opening doorway, okay?"

"I just want an answer, Red." He says with a smile. "You keep saying you just care about her, yet I feel like the past few days, you've been thinking about her a lot. And I don't need to be a Lucario to see that."

"That's because I want to make sure she's O.K. No romantic feelings, just friends, like you and me."

Lucas hops on the ladder and continues, "Look, you two really seem to care for each other. I mean, she teleported all the way from here to the Ghost Temple just for you without a second thought. I'm sure that's a little more than just caring."

I just say nothing and continue climbing the ladders. I need to get to the top as soon as I can, or at least run into somemon so Lucas doesn't keep talking about my feelings for Eve.

No! As a friend. Caring! Gahhh! Now I'm getting confused in my head.

Anyways, the two of us make it to the top of the guild, where I see Team Forever (with Daisy looking better, but still not perfect) and the Chatot talking with each other. And it may be dark, but the faces that I can see aren't making me feel very comfortable. The lack of Wigglytuff doesn't help things either.

"Ray, what's going on?" Lucas asks as we walk over to him and the others. Team Forever, however, goes down the stairs as they make their way through Treasure Town.

"And where are they going?" I ask.

The bird looks at us and says, "I just finished telling Team Forever what's going on. As for you two, we ran into a problem with the Mystery Dungeons."

I get nervous as I ask, "And what do you mean by that?"

"Well, when the Guildmaster and I, along with some other officers, exited the Mystery Dungeon at Apple Woods, there were...some Pokemon exiting it as well. All of them were wild, and none of them let up."

"WHAT?!" I go to say, but somemon else says it first, and it's the Pokemon that just appeared in between us all, Eve. "Where's Mom? What happened to her?!" She asks with tears starting to form.

Ray puts his wings up and says, "You don't have to worry, Eve. She's fine. She, along with others are fighting off the wild Pokemon as they're...invading here."

We'll all shocked, but the Music Note Pokemon continues, "It appears that the Mystery Dungeons are getting bigger by the moment, and slowly our town is getting surrounded by them as the Pokemon trapped inside are finally finding ways to get out. Fortunately, from what we've seen, it's mostly small fries, like Caterpies. Unfortunately, they all are coming over here. It doesn't matter if they're small and weak, numbers can do a lot for you. I tried to use my badge to call you all sooner here, but they don't seem to work anymore."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Lucas asks. "Do we have to fight them off?"

Ray nods. "For the moment, yes. But we do have the Flute of Aura here with us, correct?"

"Yeah, it's down stairs where we were resting." I say. But when I turn to look at the doorway, I spy Eve with a bag around her, and it's the one that has the flute. "Oh! Uhh, nevermind." I say.

"Oww! Hey, ok, ok. I'm up! I'm up!" I hear Bolt yell from the doorway. The Luxray starts to strech as his little brother hops on top of him.

Ray looks at us again and says, "Seems like I'll have to explain everything again. For now, I want Lucas to try and find a member Team Forever while you two stay back to heal."

"O-ok." Lucas says.

I nod. "Right, we'll go- Wait, hold on, what!?" I end as I realize what he said.

"Team Forever gave me a quick rundown of your adventure at Shifting Caves." He says. "They said that you two did get the flute, but you were also badly hurt, which I can clearly see that now. I don't want you two to push yourselves again when you're bodies can't take it."

"Can someone actually believe me when I say that I don't feel that bad." I say to the bird. "Besides, if there's trouble going on, I want to make sure everymon's is safe. Everymon's got to do their part right?"

Ray sighs. "While I do respect your courage to protect your teammates, you and Eve's condition is not good. You may be able to take down a Wild Pokemon, but if you get outnumbered, that could end badly for you. You two have given us the flute, you've done your part."

I look up towards the dark sky as I try to think of something to say, when I finally get an idea. "If all of the Mystery Dungeons are my mistake, I'm not going to sit on the sidelines while everymon else fights and gets hurt. I'm going to fix this!" I yell.

He looks at me dead in the eye. "We all know you want to fix this, that's why you need to stay safe. If you're the only one that can find the secret rooms in the temples, it may also mean you're the only one that can use the flute. What you need to do is to find out how to get to the core or wherever you need to go to play it and to fix everything. Am I clear?"

I want to tell him that he's wrong, but that's not a bad idea. It's just not the one I want to do. I want to help everymon stay safe, but I don't have any idea how to get to the core of the earth. The only Pokemon that might have an idea is also the last Pokemon I want to see, and with how things are going, he might not be in a good mood.

I look towards to town as I just see Lucas as he disappears behind a tent. I want to be by his side. He already made a small fuss about being weak, so I don't want to see him lose to a Caterpie.

I then look at Eve, and see that she's kneeling on the ground. We aren't in good shape, that's for sure, but that didn't stop us from fighting against Rune, and we won against her. I'm too stubborn to quit now. I want to fight with-

"AHHHH!" I can barely make it out, but it sounds like a kid crying out for help. That's it. That's my excuse to fight, and I'm not going to stop until I know whoever made that shout is safe.

Everymon would rather have me stay put, so of course they freak out when I limp away towards the town. Yeah, I do have to worry about the stairs before anything else, but I'm not in that bad in shape.

Though as I go down the stairs, Ray flies in front of me crossed. "Red, it's for your own good if you stay here!"

"Ray, I got to help whoever that was."

"We will help whoever that was, but 'we' does not included you."

"I can help."

"Yes you can, but not like this."

We stare each other down. Wow, I knew that Ray was somemon who went by the books, but it hadn't hit me this hard until now. He's dead serious about me staying behind, but I'm also-

I feel something sticky by my toes. I look down and see a String Shot attack that was a little bit too far to the right.

That could only mean one thing.

I look and see a Squirtle with a Caterpie on top of it's head. Yeah, that's the last thing I would expect to see tonight. I think of ways to take down the two Pokemon when Ray flies out there to take them down himself. That means that I can make my way to find out who made that scream.

As I finishing going down the stairs, I hear Eve's voice go through my head. "Red, are you really sure about this?"

"I'll be fine, Eve." I answer. But then I add in, "I'll keep in touch with you, though."

I do hear Ray's voice, along with Sparks, but I continue going forward, limping along the way. After running down the street, I come across another Squirtle along with a Shellos, both of them don't look friendly.

The Squirtle goes into his shell and charges at me. I jump in the air to use Double Kick on his shell. While his attack felt like sandpaper against my feet, I still send him flying the other way as he is sent into a small ditch. I ended up falling on my back because of the lack of something to push on, and it hurts.

I then hear the scream once again, and this time I have a better idea where it's coming from. That gives me just enough energy to get up on my feet.

Once I do, I use Ember against the Shellos. To my surprise, it faints. Well, that's good.

I grab my knee as I limp over to the noise a little slower than before. I continue moving forward until I see a box fall over by Kecleon's Shop. I then look and see what's making all the noise: A gang of Caterpies seems to be raiding the shop, probably because of all the things the two brothers keep in the back of their shop.

"Gahh!" I hear as I see an Eevee get hit by one of the Caterpies. Come to think of it, that one is looking particularly familiar to me.

...If it's that same darn Caterpillar from all the way back in Green Forest, so help me.

As I hear the grunts from the Eevee, I decide my first course of action is to use Ember. None of them have payed any attention to me, so I can use this to my advantage. I built up energy. I'm ready to roast some-

Wait! I can't just use it without a care. If I'm going to fight, I can at least make sure I destroy as little stuff as possible, or don't light anything up for that matter. Most certainly don't want to start another problem.

So, I aim my breath in a position where it's close to the Caterpies, but still out of reach of boxes, fabric, and the Eevee.

A few of the Worm Pokemons get burned as the rest turn their attention to me. I look at the Eevee for a second and see that he looks beaten up as well. Maybe not as bad as me, but still not good. So I taunt them.

"Hey Caterpies! Any of you remember me?"

At first, none of them seem to care, until one of them, the one that I swear I've seen before, charges at me, and then jumps head first. I roll out of the way, but I soon find out that he was leading the charge as a wave of them start coming at me.

I use a little bit of Ember before dodging them again. I will admit, after what feels like none-stop fighting, it's really starting to catch up to me. Still, I'm in too deep to stop now.

I then see some stars fly after the Caterpies. All of which hit their target. One look at the Eevee and I notice his tail is beaming. However, it's shot at by a String Shot attack, pinning it to the ground. More shots are fired to keep him out of the picture as more Caterpie arrive at the scene.

Shot! This is not good. I roll out of the way again. Then again. And again. And then once more.

"Eve, please tell me you're there!" I ask.

"Yeah, just give me a second." I hear her respond.

Oh no, don't tell me she's fighting somemon too.

Another Caterpie lunges at me. I sigh as I dodge again. But I land funny on my left foot, causing the pain that was already there to shot up my leg. It catches me off guard and I grab it as I fall over.

I...can't lose. Not yet.

I hear String Shots being fired at me, as some of them miss, but most are started to hit me. I got to find a way out of this.

Suddenly, I hear even more projectiles being launched. I open my eyes to see bright wind blades come down from the sky. I close my eyes as they get closer, but they all seem to just miss me. Though on the other hand, I hear a lot of noises coming from the Caterpies.

Then I feel the weight of all the String Shots on me release. I open my eyes in shock as Ray's wings stop glowing. I then look to where all the Caterpie were. The key word being 'were' as if they aren't knocked out, then they're running away.

"Well, you got the courage of our strongest team in the guild. I'll give you that." He says. "But perhaps not enough sense."

I grunt as I get on my knees. "Yeah, yeah, I know..." I then look at where some of my bandages were. Some of it has been torn off because of all the rolling, and I can see that my wounds are getting bad again. I even feel my bad eye beating like a drum a bit.

Something else then catches my eyes as I spy one single Caterpie on top of the Kecleon's Shop. They seem to be looking at something, and are about to jump on-

The Eevee! I manage to make one last fireball, before launching it right at the Caterpie. A small target from a large distance made it all the more satisficing as I hit him, sending him into the ground, a couple yards from the Eevee.

I force myself onto my feet. Man, this hurts a lot more than it did when I was first patched up, but I got to see if the Evolution Pokemon is alright. Now that I've gotten a better look at the tail, he does look shaken up, but he seems to only be stuck from the String Shot.

He's in much better shape than me. It also seems that he tried to bite his way out of it, but his mouth is stuck on the silk. I go on my knee, as it feels better for me than to stand up. "Hey, you ok?" I ask.

He nods. Ray's right wing then glows as he says, "Hold still!". He cuts though it like butter as the Eevee lifts his mouth and tail away from the sticky Bug-Type move.

He spits out a bit more of it onto the ground before saying, "Thanks. Things got out of hand really quick for me."

"Well, I'd say the same about this one here too." Ray says. "You're lucky that you weren't the only one who heard him yell."

I want to chuckle. I really do, but I feel like that would be more painful then cheerful for me. "What were you doing out here?"

"Well, we were told to head into our tents when Wild Pokemon started to show up, but when I was making my way back to my home, I saw that all the Caterpies were coming to attack Kecleon's Shop, so I tried to do something. It...didn't really work out for me."

"Hey." I add as I smile. "It's good to hear that you wanted to help. Pokemon like that is the reason I'm still on two feet." I say as I look at Ray. "I'm sure if you continue to work hard, you'll be able to fight off those Caterpies next time."

His tail starts wagging. "Y-you really think so?"

I smile at the fox. "As long as you have the will to help others, I'm sure you can."

The Eevee gets a look of power. "I like to help Pokemon, I just...well..."

"Well, then I'd recommend asking around, and trying to find some other Pokemon to make a team with you." I say. "You can train with them, get stronger, and, who knows, maybe we'll be guildmates down the road. I know I'm going to be doing the same thing later too."

His eyes sparkle. The only time I've seen something like that shin so bright is when I first met Lucas. No doubt about it, he looks like he packs the same amount of energy as the Rilo.

"Y-yeah! I'll do that." He says a little nervous. "I-I have some friends. I'm sure they'll want to form a rescue team with me. A-and we'll train. We'll help out with whatever we can! I want to try! Thanks!"

Hearing those words makes me forget about all the bad things that are going on right now. I...I think I just helped this Eevee more than I thought at first. Makes me feel all warm inside.

I then hear Ray 'cough' and say, "Well, now that the Caterpies are gone, I think it's time that we all return to our homes. I'm glad to see you trying to help, but I'm sure your parents are worried."

He chuckles as he gets up on all of his feet. "Yeah, probably worried sick about me. I'll be fine. I don't live too far from here."

"Well then, I wish you safe travels then." Ray says. He then looks at me and says, "And I think it's time you regroup with Crush at the Guild. I'll let her know you're going to need a few more bandages before going to bed."

"Fair." I say. "I just hope I don't turn into a mummy after Crush is done with me."

"Take this." Ray says, as he pulls out a Oran Berry from under his wing. I am more than happy to take it and eat it as I watch the Eevee hurry home.

"That Eevee has a good heart. Even when there's danger and he's at a disadvantage, he still wants to help out." Ray says. "Does that sound familiar?"

"Okay, point made. I should get some rest at the Guild. You happy now?" I say, a little annoyed.

"I am." He says. "But I will say this: You did better than I thought you would out here. You have a very stubborn spirit in you that does not quit. You did spot that Caterpie, and while I'm sure it would not have be that big of a hit, it still was good you manage to take him down. From a long distance no less."

I laugh, but then my chest hurts. I stop as I take another bite from the berry. "Thanks. How's everymon doing? Doesn't seem like there too much going on."

"Most of the Guild, police, and the Guildmaster herself were out here as well fighting the creatures off, at least that's what I've been told by the Guildmaster." He says, holding a badge. "My guess is that they finally decided that it would be better to stay in the woods than to come out here. A few of us will keep watch, but for Pokemon like you, you can rest easy."

"Not yet you won't."

I stop dead in my tracks. "D-did you hear that?" I asked worried.

Ray answers with a question. "Hear what?"

I take a big gulp. That was Eve, right? It had to be her, just talking funny to me. Like a joke. Sure, she may not joke a lot, but the only mon's who've talked to me like this are...

I get so worried that I don't have time to do anything as a large vine with the strength of a train hits me in the chest. And everything seems so slow as I'm sent flying away, and I crash into the crates I was trying so hard not to break. The wood from them do not do my back any favors.

I can feel something going on in my throat as Ray turns towards me. "Red, are you-"

Another green vine appears out of the ground, and sends Ray flying in the other direction.

"Ray!" I yell, but the pain from my chest cuts me off. Oh Arceus, it hurts. The ground bursts open as two more vines appear. On instinct, I try to use Ember, but I spit out more blood than fire. Even my legs and arms aren't able to move to try and stop them from grabbing me. The only thing I can really do is wiggle, but that does nothing.

I'm then lifted into the air as my mind freaks out. I want to scream my lungs out, but it's too painful for me to do.

Suddenly, the vines stop raising me up. For a second, my mind thinks that things are going to get a little better.

Stupid brain. Couldn't be more wrong.

As if I was a cannonball on a catapult, I'm launched high into the sky. I can't hold it in as I let out a terrified scream that would probably wake up everymon on the planet. I know it hurts, but this is way too freaky for me to handle, and when I start falling, I scream even louder.

I don't ever see where I'm landing as tree branches start to rip me up. I'm tossed around like a rag doll before falling onto the ground on my head. It's there where I lay there on my face, crying, and my lungs can't take the screaming anymore as I stop.

I can feel my blood flowing out from me from so many spots on my body. I might be lying in a puddle of my own blood. All I know is that everything hurts so bad, I'm paralyzed.

"I must say. It feels so good to put a monster like you in your place." I hear something in my head. "I'd kick myself for not doing this sooner right now if I had a leg, but better late than never."

I can't bring myself to feel anything anymore. I already could use some rest, so I really just don't care what's going on with me. Though, with what little senses I have, I can just tell that I'm being raised again, and I'm also turned upright as well, but like I said, I couldn't care less.

That is until I feel a light shine on me. Something buried within me is triggered by it, and I manage to barely open my eyes. It's then when I see what I didn't not want to see: Zygarde in his 50% percent form, and if he had a mouth, I'd bet you all my money that he'd have some kind of wicked smile on his face.

"I don't want you dead just yet. I'd like to finish you at the core chamber, to make sure your soul doesn't somehow slip away from me like all those other times you've managed to do so."

I then hear him laugh in my head. "This could have been a short and simple deal, yet you put yourself in front of others, endangering them because you didn't want to die." He takes a deep breath in. "Well, death comes for mortals like you. It's just that your fate is crueler than most."

I then pick up another feeling: A cold, dark, lost feeling that's making me feel like I'm back in the void. I hate it so much. My eyes shut as my energy is getting lower and lower. I want to tell him, heck, just think about the Flute of Aura, and how Eve and I managed to get that. All he has to do is let me play it at the core, and then I can get patched up as the world gets saved.

But my mind can't put two and two together. I can't even think about anything that isn't related to how I feel.

I then feel myself being spun around as Zygarde says one last thing to me. "Take one more look at your friends while you still can, Raboot. It's the last time you'll see them."

That comment gives me one final push to open my eyes again, though only the one without the bandage is of use to me right now. I can barely make out anything, but I can just get a hint of a blueish color that's standing up next to something white.

"...Lu...cas..."

Those are my last words as I finally pass out.