When he closes his eyes or crumbles into bed, he always comes back here. He will never rest; the day he escapes this horrible Sea is when he'll close his eyes for good.

But tonight was different. It was quiet.

Like being miles away or fathoms beneath the Sea, the wind's screams and the waves' rumblings are faraway whispers. He cannot hear his breath, nor the flapping of ragged clothes. Everything is silent. The storm has become a place of rest.

He floats motionlessly, his insides churning. A sound tries to break the silence, a familiar voice. Foreign words and ideas gurgle from the annals of his mind.

B….

It sounds like nonsense, too quiet, too muffled. It is drowning in the depths by a Sea of Braviary's making - a Sea of wine. What was once a poison now protects him.

B-B…r…k….

It's angry.

Click…cl…

Not a voice this time, a mimicry of an eternal sounds of ticking time fade further and further, deeper into the waters than this voice has ever been before.

B…u...r...k…

Ar…l…a

His whole world starts to shake, something powerful - a second voice, calls to him..

"Br..avi…Braviary!"

"Get up!"

His eyelids pry open to see a Smeargle standing over him, his hands on his poncho, stirring up Braviary's insides with every shake. There is a desperation in Leon's voice, and the way gets up into his beaky face reflects this.

"We don't have time." Leon commands him. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, but plans have changed, Braviary. You can get your sleep after we're out of here. Minstrel's footing the bill of any pick-me-ups we might need to get you going."

"What?" Braviary gurgles, confused.

There's a mix of fear, tiredness and bewilderment spinning in his head. Though more stronger than any of those feelings is a sense of - well - comfort he'd say. The concern he hears in Leon's otherwise monotone voice makes him feel ever warmer.

"You heard me." The Smeargle gives him a parting pat on the shoulder, then backs away. "Do you need help getting up? We're in a hurry."

"You can start by explaining' what's gotten you all worked up." Braviary reaches for his badge and breathes a sigh of relief. "Y'all seem spooked."

"Downstairs."

Leon flicks open the door with his tail and vanishes into the tavern. Braviary is alone once more. That warmth is now gone. As much as he wants to stew here forever, Leon is not going to wait for him.

So he kicks his legs out of bed, and gets u-

Turns out, moving so quickly out of bed was the worst thing he could've done. All of the poison flows up to his head, drudging up his lunch along with it. He looks around the room, finds the oversized bucket, and throws himself over to it as his insides burst.

Awful. It takes a minute of gagging for it to leave him, and when Braviary's done he feels all the worst for it. He sees what's left of his enigma wine sitting next to the window and he lets its caramelly taste wash out everything else. With nothing in here but his dinner in a pail, he leaves through the door, tucking the empty bottle under his poncho.

The tavern's bright gold light did not help his throbbing headache. Joining his friends at the bar is the bard from earlier. Prinn stuffs a map away as Braviary comes close.

"Minstrel, I reckon?" Braviary points with his beak.

"That's indeed who I am." The Chatot smirks. "I'm officially part of your problem now."

Braviary scoots up to the bar - hatted fellows on stools, bald ones behind it.. Prinn looks pleased to see him, albeit he looks like he's had a rough day. There's also tons of oran wine just sitting around everywhere, half of them covered in green paint. What happened?

He's about to learn.

"There's two reasons why we're leaving." Leon clears his throat. "One is good, the other is unforeseen and unprecedented. I'll start with the bottles."

There's two groups, all of them Oran Wine. The ones with the green splotches on them have no label with the exception of one.

"Vileplume isn't here. Since they're a person who thrives off neutrality, I'm going to assume they're not laundering stolen wine. I have it on Minstrel's word the Flower is a law-abiding type."

Leon nods at Minstrel. It's the specific nod he gives when he's putting his faith in someone.

"Enigma Wine is unique, as far as I'm aware we're the only people around who can brew it to have the reading effects. Unless you have an already established network of criminals and compliant traders - something I know would be a nightmare to have set up - then distributing stolen Enigma Wine would be incredibly difficult on this continent."

"If you were already in control of a brewery you could make it work." Leon suggests. "You'll be able to sell the product right under everyone's noses."

Saying this, Leon takes a deep breath and the colour in his already dour face fades into monochrome.

"When I was a caravan runner, I would go pick up shipments from a place not far out of Calico. The winery was ransacked after I left, and these bottles…"

Leon takes one, showing Braviary the bottom. There are three letters on its base - OOD. Braviary is too tired to take a stab.

"Oran Orchard Distillery. It's our best lead so far." Another sigh, the worst has yet to come. "I was going to have us head out in the morning, but Prinn can tell the rest.

Scrapes along his front, patches of feathers missing and bruising along his side - Prinn's been through the ringer. Whatever's put him into this state, it sure wasn't the army of bottles they've got him used to gunning down. He looks like a wreck, yet he smiles through it all.

"I uhm, left when - erm…"

When he glances at Leon, the smile fades. Prinn takes a deep breath.

"I took your badge when you were sleeping."

"You what!?"

Braviary leaps over the bar - only for his scrambled insides to sit him right back down. He knew Prinn was bound to swipe this thing, he'd ought to be more angry at himself for thinking it wouldn't have happened.

Leon seems equally perturbed, did he not know?

"Look, um. I took it because I wanted to figure out what it did - okay?" Trepidation replaces Prinn's confidence. "I brought it to the Haxorus lady because she's from a guild and I figured she'd know a th-"

"You took it to another guild?" Braviary hollers.

"I didn't! She's my friend, listen for a sec okay? With her help I think I figured out how badges are made. I took yours to her because me and Leon were thinking yours acted as a compass or something - we weren't the only ones."

"Over there, remember the guy sitting with a Sneasel?" Prinn points to an empty booth. "The tall one was named Lousia, he's an Intelleon who I think is big in the Anomalous Society"

Society? Sounds odd. The confusion must be apparent because Leon instantly steps in.

"Think of a guild with an informal structure. They usually have a common goal." Leon explains. "The Anomalous Society is the third group on the Dusk Continent."

Braviary nods.

"Louisa wanted your badge." Prinn points at it. "He was trying to look for something and he said your badge could lead him to it. Me and Hal did what we could to keep it away from him, but everytime we threw stuff at him they'd freeze."

"He's an ice type?" Braviary recalls the beanpole in the corner, a bright blue and pink fellow who's a foot above his height. "He didn't look so icy to me."

"We shot your badge into the river, and if he had ice powers he probably would've frozen me down there. So it wasn't ice, It was like…"

Prinn holds both flippers, mimicking the action of a projectile flying towards the other and stopping.

"It was like that. He had this thing which let him-"

"That doesn't make a lick of sense, Prinn."

There's a reason for it - a trick. If it wasn't a badge or an orb, what could possibly fit into the palm of a lizard's hand which could cause something only reasonably explained as magic? Maybe this Louisa is secretly psychic, holding things with his mind before they hit them.

Braviary sighs.

"Okay, so he's a magician and he wants my badge." The old man gives in. "What are we going to do, report him?"

"Well, what you people need to do is to get out of here."

It's Minstrel who speaks up. It is unlike a jovial bard to sound so worried for a group of strangers.

"I have a good idea what Louisa is after. I've been acquainted with a friend from the Grass Continent who's personally familiar with these sorts of things, and if I can't mail him, then I'm catching Lapras out across the Sea." Minstrel pulls a pouch of coins from under his funny looking hat. He looks ready to go. "I ain't gonna say what it is because it's never done anyone good to leap to conclusions, but plenty of blood's been spilled over treasures like these, and I'd advise you to run back to your guild for all your sakes."

The look hidden by Minstrel's hat is intense, and makes Braviary shiver when he sees it.

"You especially, Bird."

Minstrel slides out of the stool, and before he could make for the doorway, an awkward squeak stops him in his tracks.

"Thanks!" Prinn cries out. "T-Thanks for helping us!"

A chuckle comes from the staircase.

"You're not the ones I'm helping."

When she was told to bring the wine elsewhere she expected to deliver it to a bunch of burnout adventurers up near Halfway Rock. But the directions handed to her by a Riolu from Calico's Guild leads her off the beaten path. It wasn't to a camp near a dungeon, or to an unmarked settlement deep within the mossy sprawl of the Dusk Continent. Waiting at this unmarked fork in the road is a farmstead encircled by hills of dead berry trees.

The stench of decaying oran could make a Grimer wretch. Patches of weeds infest the path through the trees, and she barely makes out a blue figure waiting on the steps to once beautiful manor. It's the Lucario to the Riolu from earlier.

Whoever this guildie is they couldn't have picked a more unusual place to meet. Were there ghost-types out here they were pals with? This place reeks of haunting - it also reeks in general. But she's an Aromatisse; her sense of smell may as well be kaput.

Now's the time to get rid of these. There is no way she's going to be making it to Lapis with four barrels in her cart.

Wheeling the cart to the steps with Psychic, she immediately goes to grab the goods as Lucario steps down to greet her.

He stops just shy of casting her in his shadow. Aromatisse looks up at the nuisance.

"Took you a while!"

She can tell by the tone of his voice he is a thorn in everyone's side. He wears the torn cap of a Murkrow on his head, and the caped mantle he wears is so scruffy it looks like he's got a coat of feathers. His aura spikes - bones, have a brass-like layer to them. This includes his yellow teeth, which he's carved with the words "EAT IT!" on the top row.

He knows she can see his horrendous teeth, and he's proud. So much he offers her a better look by pulling at the corners of his smile, hooking his grotesque maw agape. She can clearly see where the brass ends near the base, and that the letters cut deep enough to reveal his whites. It's a marvel of self-mutilation.

"I'm Lucario." His smirk remains, the hands drop. "I don't think you need a name, but you think you'll need to see this."

Lucario reveals something from his cape: a five-point badge from the Sundown Guild. He's legit. Way too high rank to be out waiting for deliveries.

"So they sent a Five to do a Two's job? Is wine seriously that important?"

"I asked myself, they said it's precious cargo so who am I to judge?" Lucario shrugs dramatically. "You need help getting back there?"

She opens a latch on her hooded cart, revealing a cluttered interior. There are four barrels shoved into the back, a bedspace, and two dangling burners running constantly.

This is her home, she didn't like Lucario wanting in. She can always throw the barrels out with psychic, but that is no way to handle supposedly precious cargo.

"No."

She takes a big step inside, hunching herself over and walking through dangling chains and tapestries. When Aromatisse puts her hands on the closest barrel she smothers her beak against it and takes a sniff. Still good, still enigma wine.

"What's with the order of Enigma Wine? If your friends are worried about aura readings, the guild has you, don't they?"

Cargo in hand, she turns around. Lucario isn't there. She takes a confused moment to listen and hears the patter of wings overhead. Murkrow mail. Probably the guild being pedantic.

Aromatisse steps out into the midafternoon sun, looking skywards for any sign of a fluttering mailman. She makes a mistake.

A powerful strike beats into her gut. Again, and again, steel-powered punches rip into her. Her assailant, Lucario, beats the air out of her with Bullet Punches from a single hand. She gasps.

Second mistake. Lucario crushes a Seed in his other hand, throwing a plume of dust into her face as she inhales. The Sleep Seed's effects kick in, her legs turn to paste, and she crumbles to the ground.

In her last glimpses of consciousness she sees those awful teeth grinning like a fiend. She hears the wings again, and his voice.

"Go ask 'em what to do with the lady."

"So they were yellow?"

"Yeah, Louisa had yellow eyes." Prinn answers Braviary. "He was tall, and wore a cravat like mine.."

A hazy memory of the day before plays in his mind. What he remembers from the Emporium is waking up, seeing someone behind the curtain with bright yellow eyes clutch something and dart away. There was nothing else to it.

But who else could match what he saw? Was it even real?

"Look, chew me out for not having told you two sooner - but when I woke up after having Judeau pick through my head I saw someone out the door."

Leon, as the one leading them through the night with his tail glow, glances back. There's a frustrated, albeit understanding look on his face.

"I honestly thought I was seeing nonsense." Braviary continues. "But gaunt, yellow-eyed, and clutching their chest matches no one else we know of."

"Well…" Prinn pulls on his cravat. "I did see uh, Mienshao grab the badge on her chest once in a while. She's tall, but I think her eyes were more red than yellow? I wasn't looking."

Braviary takes a swig from a bottle of chesto, feeling the wine run throughout his body - shaking bones and muscles awake. It won't do forever, but it's the one thing keeping him from falling over at three past midnight.

"Now what's his deal, exactly? I'm not gonna give him his badge, so does this mean we got two pokemon who are out for our hides?" Braviary looks up the line. "Leon?"

"I'm keeping my eyes peeled, Braviary, give me a second to think."

The line slows a tad, a moment or two passes with the Smeargle staring skywards.

"Mienshao isn't one to attack us directly, this guy is. Mienshao is more of a…tactful issue than trying to fend off a thief. That's if he hasn't found a route to what he wants which doesn't involve going through you. We should be fortunate that the badge isn't his real target, and just keep an eye out until we're back to the guild."

Leon points to Braviary with his tail.

"If you want to, you ca-"

"No." Braviary says. "The badge stays with me."

"Okay." Leon's Tail Glow flickers when he shrugs. "And isn't he supposed to be big in another Guild, Prinn?"

"Yeah, Vileplume let me have a look at his tab and it mentioned a Chief Investigator for the Society up near Lapis who happens to be an Inteleon, and who has a Lou- name. Unless he's got a twin I think that's the guy…"

Since when did Vileplume let Prinn dig through papers?

"Whoever Louisa is, I don't think he's bright." Braviary shrugs in the smaller bird's direction. "Me and you are part of the guild, right? He'd gotta be stupid to attack you."

"Is isn't stupid."

Leon shoots their hopes down with one word.

"You're independent. But for the sake of this investigation and matters related to it you're considered members of the Scholar's. I can pull this card on a tavern owner; it'd never work on an experienced explorer. He did not attack a member of another guild."

A member of another guild attacked another. Louisa attacked his friend and is getting away with it through a stupid loophole.

Braviary's feathers bristle out, and he takes a-

"I'd like to pose a question, Braviary." A glance from Leon pats his feathers back down. "Taking into account the abilities Prinn mentioned, do you think we could take down this man? Why hunt him in the first place? All you have to do is protect your badge until we get back."

He's old, Prinn got lucky in a fight, and Leon seems to be the only one with training. They're not exactly the A-team here, they're somewhere in the C to D division. Not unless the three of them get a month's worth of fighting under their belts there's no way they'll ever hunt down someone like Lousia.

Both birds keep quiet. Muttering a "good", Leon keeps marching them down these open roads.

Truly the Dusk Continent is a vast place, much of which is covered in these wide fields of mossy rocks. The winter winds scraping through the land did not make the damp pastures any more bearable. He's actually come to almost miss the sheer claustrophobia of the forests near Scoria Town. At least then he'd be spending more of his time thinking about the possibilities of ghosts hiding in the underbrush than realizing just how little his poncho protects against cold.

They would see patches of forests in the distance; evergreens herding together like gatherings of greenish wingull. The road passes by forests like these from time to time. And according to their watchman, the dozens of smaller paths splintering off from this road all lead to those nearby groves, rivers, and landmarks. Were they to keep going this way they'd reach a popular place called Halfway Rock, even further is the frigid paradise of Lapis Town. The place where Prinn is from, and where this Lousia's Society Is.

Leon takes one of these unremarkable forks, leading them into a forest path is brief as the trees funnel them into a grim clearing..

Dead oran trees span as far as the eyes can see. The forest is no more than a curtain hiding this pitiful pasture. A fetid field being left rot in the elements. The archway which once greeted so many lies at their feet a wrought iron rust. Leon's stupefied look says it all.

"A real wreck." Braviary scowls the sight. "How long ago were you here?"

Leon's attention looks to be at the house in the middle of it. Windows shattered, wood splintered, it would seem abandoned were it not for the roofed cart shy of its porch. Perhaps Leon just sees the cart, but Braviary can tell by its bright pink roof that it has merchant written all over.

The end of their investigation was within sight. If their Aromatisse is here, then her status, the most recent shipment and what the Oran oddities will be wrapped up in a single bow.

"There's…" Prinn chuckles nervously, "seriously no way this place is empty. But I don't think we can get up with whoever's here seeing us. You uh, don't think it's…"

"Probably." Leon answers.

Bandits, those rumoured fellows Prinn has been anxious about since the second the boy discovered him on the beach. If not them, then it's a petty thief of some sort or a vagrant calling this hobble their home. This place screams criminal hideaway.

"If it is, then you can consider your tango with Lousia a warm up." Braviary gives them a stern glance. "Can we all agree we aren't gonna do something drastic and stupid?"

His party nods. Braviary walks first without a fuss, Leon is the light behind him, and Prinn watches their backs.

Whilst crossing the field Braviary makes note of what he has: a nearly empty bottle of Enigma Wine, an Orb, and the Elixir on the Boy's person. Leon brought a bottle of Oran as evidence. They have something for their wounds in case things get nasty.

There's no one peeping from the windows, there's no shadow of a pokemon behind the cart and the porch is empty save for a pyramid of bottles made by a bored pokemon. There's no reins on the carriage, nothing to really pull it along, and it seems pristine. Where is everyone?

The head of a pokemon peers at them through a crack in the door, looking at them with curiosity - like seeing a peculiar looking stranger out in the streets. Upon realizing they're not alone, Braviary digs for the Orb under his poncho, and passes it to Leon.

"Tell Prinn to use this if anyone gets too close." he whispers.

The sound of a door opening hides anything Leon may have told the Boy. A blue hound steps out, a pokemon Braviary easily recognizes as one of those Lucario. This one has brass bones, a Murkrow hat which has had a slice taken out of it, and had a ragged dark cape. A guildie? Criminal? How does the latter dress anyways?

As they approach the cart with caution, Lucario steps down from the porch. His sharp brass teeth poke through his grin.

"Well!" Lucario chuckles. "I don't expect you guys to be out this far, don't you Scholars stick around the Peninsula?"

They stop, a cart's length or two separating them from this grinning Lucario.

"Ordinarily, yes, but these aren't ordinary circumstances." Leon's voice is drab. "I'm concerned about one of my guild's caravaners - an Aromatisse. Given we were the victim of a break-in targeting our wine, my guild has reason to suspect she may be in danger."

"Huh, odd." Lucario blinks. "I thought you guys just handed out the wine, since when were you doing caravan guard gigs?"

"We don't. Missing pokemon are an imperative for every guild." Leon doesn't flinch. "I'm sure you can understand."

Lucario leans against the cart, his weight causing it to wobble and creak. His cordial demeanor begins to fade.

"I understand plenty, but do you have any idea how big the Aromatisse are?" He raps the cart with his fist. "Sure I've met one. What makes you think it's yours?"

"The Aromatisse we're looking for was the last one to leave with wine." Prinn speaks up. "She was heading this way."

"And?" Lucario scoffs. "You clearly didn't listen to what I said."

Lucario's hiding something. With Leon here, it's only a matter of time he cracks this dog open like he did to Braviary.

He sees Leon smirk just a little.. Right after Prinn chimes in Leon reaches into the duffle bag he's been lugging around since Scoria Town and out pops a bottle of Oran. He holds it bottom facing the hound.

"Despite this Orchard being ransacked and burned, it's surprisingly operational. This brewery has decided to make a comeback with a new flavor - half Oran, and half Enigma Wine."

Leon looks at Braviary, he's left Lucario open for him.

"The barrels from the Break-in were taken here, bottled up, then sold as ordinary Oran stuff that happens to be more expensive than the other." Braviary points his beak to the bright pink cart. "It doesn't matter if who the Scholars are looking for is here - something's up with this place. You're the only pokemon who can answer for this orchard so I'd start being more forthcoming if I were you."

The four feelers on Lucario's head rattle all at once. He reaches into the cloak whilst staring Braviary dead into his eyes, and brandishes a badge for all to see. Five Points, Sundown Guild.

"Your old hag's waiting to be put into the bastille, she's in the house sleeping. I couldn't believe a merchant could be a criminal, but me and my boys are waiting for the magnets to come along and lock her up."

A grotesque grin peels its way across Lucario's snout, revealing a set of brass fangs carved with a lovely message: EAT IT. Because with this badge in his hand it makes him one for the most important members of the biggest guild on this rock. So much as a slap on his face could ripple out into a full blown disaster.

Braviary's talons are begging for him to rip the smile off of his face when something occurs to him. One little thing to turn his anger into laughter.

"Oh, silly me." Braviary smiles, his eyes bright and falsely endearing. "I just uh, got something to ask before we part…"

The untouchable jackal leans in, offering his ear.

"Why would uh…the Sundown Guild order aura-reading wine when they've got a Lucario with them?"

A good question, the answer to which is cut off by a bottle of Enigma Wine smashing into Lucario's snout. The explosion of glass and spirits sends Lucario stumbling back, shielding his eyes and shouting.

"Get these fools!"

Chaos breaks loose. Leon fires a Shadow Ball at something in the sky; Prinn casts a bubble. Both connect with whatever is up there, but accomplish little.

Braviary's quarrel wasn't with the flying things - probably murkrow, or the Pawniard rushing out the main door, it's Lucario who's the main threat here. Braviary charges him.

A bottle bought him time, but Lucario is still faster. Meeting Braviary's charge is a swift barrage of Bullet Punches as Lucario strikes through the blindness. Fists batter him like stones, pushing him backwards till he collides with the wooden cart. His old bones scream, his body lurches..

Through the Pain, Braviary reaches for Lucario, throwing his drunkard weight into the fighting-type's shoulder. The shift throws him off balance in time for Braviary to chop his back with a Wing Attack. Lucario's face dents into the cart..

Braviary stomps his talons, missing Lucario's head by inches. The younger pokemon rolls away out of his rampage, avoiding stomp after stomp until there's nowhere to go other than the cart's wheel. Braviary grips onto the wheel's spokes, ready to bring it-

"Braviary, down!"

The bird throws himself to the ground as two Silver Spikes rip straight through the cloth roof. A third spike floats harmlessly inside one of Prinn's bubbles, and behind it is the culprit: the Pawniard. Prinn's screaming saved his hide.

Braviary scampers behind the car for cover. Now with this mass separating him from Lucario, both have the second to breathe.

"You're pretty tough! Your lady went down after a single one of those." The fighting type chuckles from the other side. "What's your guild, oldie?"

The time for conversation was before he smashed a bottle against his stupid face. Why now? Leon's back there tossing Shadow Balls at these two murkrow who keep battering against his Protect shields, sneaking in attacks with wings and beaks, slowly whittling his defenses. Prinn's bubbles, while useless offensively, is the one thing keeping the duo from getting flanked. They're holding out.

"I'd like to know the answer myself." Braviary tries to focus. "Have you seen it before? It's never too late for us to throw our hatchets away."

A spike is caught in a bubble, and floats harmless towards Leon. He pops it, taking the spike in his hand, and nailing the first murkrow to come too close to his Protect shield. The last thing Braviary sees before turning his attention back is Leon popping the cork on the oran brew.

"Maybe, and no." Lucario laughs. "My problem's with your girl, no one else. But you smashed any chance of diplomacy alongside a bottle to my face - now I've got you three to put to sleep before I can be on my way."

A murkrow, forced to the ground by the spike, squawks in defeat. Prinn is spitting out Dark feathers; did he just peck the thing to sleep? Leon has his hands on another spike.

"Sounds like your friends are doing a bang-up job over yonder. Got more clowns at your beckon call?"

Lucario growls; Braviary's back tenses. Breaktime is over.

"Nevermind them!" The smugness returns in the aura-mutt. "This is between us, and you've already lost, old man!"

A blue light shines through the canopy, and Braviary ducks just in time for a sphere to shoot through it, barreling through the rotten tree till it becomes wedged in a sturdy chunk. Braviary hears Lucario running around the cart, and he prepares another Wing Attack.

Lucario's bands are flowing as he rounds the corner. A soft glow clings to the palm he points in his direction. Braviary brings his chop down.

Suddenly, the sphere return s right into Braviary's, drilling into him before it ignites into a shower of aural sparks. The force knocks him through the cart, high and far.

He hits the earth, scraping across the gravel. Censers, fabrics, bits of the cart all rain down around him. His body is on fire. When he draws breath it feels like daggers are stabbing into his chest. Through it all, an overwhelming urge to smack the smugness of the guildie's face gets Braviary on his feet.

And the second he stands, a spike pierces his leg.

He screams. Pain shoots through - followed by horrifying nothingness. His leg is frozen. No wings, nothing to run on; he stares down the approaching Lucario.

"You really shouldn't have said a thing."

Lucario squats at a distance. His smile, and the stupid lettering etched onto his teeth drive him mad/

"Provided you have a good read on a person's aura, Aura Sphere never misses its target. I'm not skilled in the aura department, but you gave me the time to grab a spike and read you. This is why you're done and I'm standing."

There is nothing he can do now. He's not smart enough to think his way out of here. Braviary is not Leon, nor is he Prinn.

Prinn. Braviary sees the boy look his way. Two Murkrow lie defeated at Leon's feet.

"What are you gonna do then?" Braviary croaks.

Lucario looks at the Silver Spike with a ghoulish frown. Don't even look at it.

"You got a minute maybe."

Prinn breaks away, Pawnward attempts to stop the boy but a Shadow Ball keeps them occupied. Something glows in Prinn's hand.

"I'll fix up the leg when you're out." Lucario stands up. "There's Oran for days h-"

He quickly swings around, swatting Prinn's projectile away with his fist. Instead of a harmless bubble hisfist collides with the orb, shattering it into a cloud of dust which becomes an all-powerful gale, throwing Lucario straight into a very angry Braviary.

Something takes control. As Lucario flies into him, Braviary's talons are there to greet him. His one good leg cracks into the Fighting-type's back with a powerful kick, then another, then another - his razor sharp claws pulling him back for more each time. He tears everything, sending blue hair flying with lightning quick Close Combat strikes. A final surge of adrenaline travels through his wing as he grabs the battered Lucario by his shoulder, and slams him into the dirt.

Nausea and searing pain flood through him. Two voices call for Braviary; they're impossible to hear.

The sounds of the Sea take hold, then darkness follows.

Part 1 END