One last thing — thank you for taking an interest in the story. I like to maintain a standard when I write something, and I'll do my best not to disappoint.

Enjoy.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds

Chapter 3 — Chilly Mistakes

Sparks flew from Lucario's Metal Claw as it struck the white energy surrounding the Weavile's Slash. "You have nerve," the aura-commanding Pokemon barked, sweat forming on his brows.

"Blame the kid for attacking me," Weavile retorted, his statement coming off as funny to Lucario. Really? Vulpix, hurting someone to draw their ire?

Never mind that. Disengaging, Lucario brought out his palm, wisps of blue aura gathering around it. The wisps swirled into a spherical, translucent mass of energy, the Aura Sphere crackling with power.

The projectile fired with a hiss, and only Weavile's incredible speed allowed him to roll away from the attack, his neck-pouch flying about in a frenzy. A sneer crossed the weasel face as he prepared to strike back.

Lucario just scoffed as Aura Sphere made a u-turn, following Weavile's movements, and smashed against the back of his head with a bang.

The blow threw Weavile to the floor, Lucario quickly propping a leg over Weavile's prone body to keep him down. "It homes in on your aura, dummy," he said, "it's not just some super-effective attack. Never seen an Aura Sphere before? They may as well be the bane of your species."

The weasel could only rasp and cough in response. Lucario looked over his shoulder to where Vulpix lied, the girl trembling but putting on a calm face. Weavile hadn't harmed her much, meaning he woke up just in time. Who was this guy, anyway?

And what was this thing in his claw, some flower? It was large and pink in color, with a sweet scent emanating from it. "What's this about?" he asked the Weavile, pointing to the flower.

Weavile bared his teeth. "Look here, I was just passing through when your little friend spat snow in my eyes, okay? Just let me go, and I'll pretend this never happened."

So he was avoiding the question. Suspicious about the Weavile's intents, he let his eyes glow up as he peered into his aura.

Weavile's thoughts of escape and panic flowed into his mind, along with a powerful will not to let anyone take the flower. Lucario stopped the feedback before he brushed against more sensitive thoughts, having heard enough. This flower didn't really belong to this Weavile.

He had himself a thief. Whatever the big deal was with the flower, he hadn't looked into it, and he didn't care. What should he do with this low-life? Find the Pokemon he stole from and return the item?

Weavile suddenly struck at his leg, throwing Lucario off-balance. "Stinking mind-reader," he heaved, rolling to his feet and about to make a run from it.

Lucario was quicker on the draw, however. He lunged at his shoulder, tackling the Weavile to the ground. The two grappled with each other, wrestling for control.

"Get off me, you hooligan!" Weavile hollered, at a disadvantage as he struggled to keep the stolen flower in his claw.

"Not a chance," Lucario responded, pressing his paw against the Weavile's head.

Aura flowed out of the paw in a flare of sizzling energy, shocking the thief as he screamed. His claw went limp from the paralysis caused by the Force Palm, and the flower fell out of his grasp, its petals still whole.

Lucario snatched the flower out of curiosity. Was this thing magical or what? What a resilient-looking plant, able to withstand a fight and all. It must be precious for a thief to steal it.

"I'll be taking this," he told the fallen Weavile.

It was at this moment that something blasted him from behind, making him stumble. Vulpix cried out and curled herself up, and Lucario was barely quick enough to duck, the shadow of an attacker swooping past and scraping the fur on his ears.

His aurasense flickered to life, making his four teardrop appendages tingle like mad. Two new hostile auras, and one of them felt much more menacing than the other. Lucario looked to the air for their owners.

Immediately he took cover behind a tree, a trio of beams colored red, yellow, and blue razing his former spot. The Pokemon responsible for the Tri-Attack flew overhead, a petite, white figure with angel wings on her back and red and blue triangle patterns all over her body. A Togetic. And riding on top of her—

Lucario moved out of the way, a green ball of energy shooting past, and blanched at the little grassy hedgehog mounting the Togetic. "Drop it!" she demanded in her tart voice.

Okay, what kind of Pokemon was that? Who were these two anyway?

The Togetic was diving in for another attack. Fairy type, weak to Steel moves, he thought, forming a Metal Claw. Togetic attempted to ram him, but he dove under and struck her belly, forcing the Pokemon to fall back with her rider. A swift glance at the hedgehog Pokemon made Lucario bat an eye — she was primarily white, just like Togetic, but with grass and greenery covering her back. Flowers grew on the side of her head, pink in color.

The hedgehog began spitting Energy Ball after Energy Ball at him, Lucario hard-pressed to dodge them all. His eyes darted from the flower in his hands to the ones worn by the hedgehog firing at him. Say, they looked quite similar.

Because the flower's hers, silly, Lucario admonished himself.

It was at this moment that an Energy Ball clipped his leg, almost tripping him. "Hold on!" he said, throwing away the special flower. "The Weavile, he's the thief—"

The hedgehog didn't listen for a moment, instantly pouncing on the flower. Before Lucario's eyes, her form lit up and changed.

A reindeer-like creature emerged from the transformation, shaking her white wing-like ears and grassy mohawk. "Oh, now you're in trouble," she said, a flower-like scarf wavering from her chest. Her Pokemon-speak betrayed her species name, telling Lucario this was a… Shaymin?

Wait, shoot. He heard of that name from folktales in Sinnoh. Please tell me I'm not fighting some powerful—

Lucario broke into a sweat when Shaymin grabbed her flower and straight up flew toward the treeline in her reindeer form, air swirling around her green forepaw. A blade of wind appeared, and with a flick she sent it at him, the Air Slash spinning end over end. It pierced his gut, the sheer knockback sending him flying into the air.

Yep, his luck was on point today. Shaymin was one of the terrifying Legendary Pokemon — more specifically, a Mythical. And the flower could give her a flying form, great. This was going to hurt a lot.

Even as he fell to the ground, he managed to conjure an Aura Sphere in his palm, throwing it for cover. For some reason this surprised Shaymin, but at the last moment she crossed her arms in front of her. A green barrier poofed into existence, the Aura Sphere crashing harmlessly against it. Because of course, the Mythical had to know Protect!

"Togetic!" Shaymin hollered. "Back me up against this other thief!"

"Other thief?" Lucario said as the Togetic came beside Shaymin, charging up a Tri-Attack from her stubby arms. "I wasn't stealing—"

The beam fired, and Lucario dove out of the way. Another Air Slash grazed his back, but he gritted his teeth and maintained a distance from the duo. "Dude, he doesn't even flinch!" complained the Shaymin.

"I think it's his Ability, Shaymin," came Togetic's soft voice, sweeping her arm forward. A gust of pink Fairy Wind flew from her in response, buffeting Lucario. "Inner Focus keeps him clear-minded — your Air Slash trick won't work on him."

"Well, doesn't that dry up all the fun," Shaymin muttered. Her body glowed with the white energy of a Quick Attack.

In a flash she was right beside Lucario, slamming him into the ground with strength well beyond someone of her size. The side of his skull throbbed, and Lucario found himself eyeing the Mythical Pokemon hovering above him, then to the flower in her left paw and the blade of wind forming in her right paw. A blustering noise came from it, like the winds of a mini-hurricane on a crash course with him.

Togetic frowned. "A little much?" she said.

"Relax, it's not gonna kill the jerk," said Shaymin, looking away for a moment. "But hey, talk about thief-ception. Some Weavile steals from me, then this jerk beats him up and nabs it for himself."

If not for his situation, Lucario would've facepalmed. Seriously? That's what they thought had happened?

Dang it, he was getting out of this stupid situation right now, and he was going to knock some sense into these two.

Charging up spheres of aura in each palm, he shot them at Shaymin's Air Slash as it came down. They collided, the swirling wind-blade breaking apart and sending gusts of air in all directions.

While Shaymin was busy being caught off-guard, Lucario took the moment to get up and charge his aura into his palm. He needed a move that would keep her too stunned to fight back, and the paralysis caused by Force Palm could do just that — it was just a matter of hitting a sweet spot.

Sadly, it was a pointless endeavor. Shaymin put up another shield to block the Force Palm, the electrifying flare of aura spilling to the sides. A worried-looking Togetic swept her arm out to summon a strong gust of Fairy Wind, and Lucario found himself backing away again. He couldn't deal with two opponents at once, not especially when one was a Mythical of all things and knew Protect! This was like Ariados and Kecleon all over again.

She's not the only one who can play dirty, a voice reminded him. A plan of action slipped into his head.

Togetic fired a sweeping beam of Tri-Attack, while Shaymin distanced herself and threw yet another Air Slash in a wide arc. Scary as the sight was, Lucario planted his feet and waited for the moves to come, his four aura feelers rising. Any moment now.

It was like something had hit a pressure point in his feelers — there. Lucario's eyes glowed with blue light as his body moved without his command, time appearing to all but halt for him. The attacks came, but he slipped past with such unnatural reflexes that one would have thought he phased through them.

Detect was such a good move for dodging attacks, and his aura abilities augmented it. Why didn't he use this earlier?

In a moment he found himself barely a foot away from a startled Shaymin. "Wha—"

Lucario pressed his palm upon her snout. "Boop," he said, aura spilling out and sending her to the nearest tree.

In a second Togetic had clutched Shaymin, who was shuddering like her muscles had been jolted into locking up. Thank goodness, Force Palm also did its job! Maybe now he could reason with these two.

"Okay, that was kinda cute," Shaymin interrupted his thoughts. Lucario backed up with alarm as her body glowed a cleansing green, losing all the stiffness in her muscles. In a moment she was back in the air. "What was that supposed to do, paralyze me? Cause status effects like paralysis mean nothing to a Pokemon that can heal those off, you shaggy loon."

Now this was plain unfair. Shaymin knew a move for healing bad effects from her body. Of course she knew a move for healing bad effects from her body!

"Honestly, I'm impressed," Togetic said as the twosome split up, hovering to either side of Lucario and circling him. "Not many Pokemon can stand an onslaught from Shaymin."

"If you two could just—" Lucario tried to say.

Nope, Shaymin had to interrupt him again. "What Togetic said! You're actually making this a challenge," the smug-faced Pokemon stated. "I don't get enough opponents like you, everyone else is just easy pickings. Really shouldn't have underestimated you, huh? Too bad you're just some low-life after my Gracidea Flower."

And here we go again, wonderful. Lucario steadied himself, trying to find another way to get these two to listen when Vulpix's cry stole his focus.

The dark side of him laughed when Togetic and Shaymin turned their heads too, dropping the battle entirely to see an icy vixen hunkered down next to a trunk and staring at something. "Wait, he had a kid with him?" Togetic said with her hands cupped over her mouth, and Shaymin blinked as she realized something was off.

Lucario didn't pay much attention to how Vulpix accidentally solved his problem, however. What Vulpix was staring at was the empty spot where a certain Weavile was supposed to be.

Shaymin caught on too, head swiveling around. "Wait, where'd that—"

Ice Shards impaled her and Togetic, making them drop. Lucario had a double-take when Shaymin's flower left her grasp, disappearing into literal nothingness. In its place a beam of frost fired, encasing Togetic and Shaymin in solid ice.

He reacted faster, however, and dodged the Ice Beam when it came his way. Shaymin lit up before him as she morphed back into her grounded hedgehog form for some reason, but ignoring it for the time being, he shrouded his eyes in a blaze of blue aura, revealing the outline of a certain Weavile. How'd he turn invisible?

Weavile spat out a curse, seeing Lucario had foiled his trick with aurasense and preparing to use Quick Attack. That was bad — Weavile would be too fast for him to catch if he did that. Lucario fired an Aura Sphere immediately, not caring about how small it was so long as it slowed down the thief.

Unfortunately, Weavile seemed to be counting on this and zipped behind Lucario, shoving him right into the sphere before he could yelp. The attack stung, moreso because of how the Fighting-type energy clashed with his Steel-typing.

Adding insult to injury, Weavile then shoved him to the ground. "You had to make this personal, kid, didn't ya?" he spat in his ear. His clawed feet padded over his back, thrusting Lucario's snout into the dirt as the good-for-nothing thief stepped over his body and began to run off.

Only for him to make a pained noise and hit the ground as a violent roar of flames sounded. Lucario pushed himself up to see a beam of purplish fire fading into flickers as it rolled over the thief, stripping him of his invisibility. The flower in his claw fluttered to the ground.

A green glow pulsed, ice shattering beside an amused Lucario as a landbound Shaymin thawed out of her icy prison. Her Quick Attack launched her at the Weavile, throwing him to the side before he could reclaim the flower. "You frosty little—" she began.

Weavile pulled something tiny from his pouch and ate it. And he vanished.

No, not vanished, he was literally gone. Lucario could sense his aura shift, as if he had teleported away. There's a thing you can eat that does that? he wondered, rubbing his forehead. Must've had something for invisibility in that pouch too. Maybe a nut or, I don't know, a magic seed?

Yeah, why not, magic seeds. That made perfect sense.

Shaymin whipped her head around in livid disgust as she looked for Weavile and, failing to do so, yelled something about stupid Ice-types and how irriating their freezing attacks were. Her anger subsided, she then brought herself to her flower and grabbed it, transforming into her flying reindeer self again, and then hurried over to a frozen Togetic. One cleansing green aura later and she was thawed out too.

Lucario got a whiff of a numbing aroma from the green glow, making his muscles relax on their own accord. Aromatherapy, that's what the status-healing move was. Shaymin had quite a list of moves on her.

"You okay?"

Something cold brushed Lucario's fur, Vulpix coming beside him with a shaken expression. Lucario couldn't help but chuckle at her sudden concern for him. "You okay?" he repeated, using the same inflection.

And Vulpix caught on. "Y-you okay?" she said, switching to her Vulpix tongue. Her expression softened when he nodded, reverting back to a passive, calm state.

"Well, what a mess we've got here."

And then a male voice made her scamper behind Lucario, discomfort in her eyes. Lucario rose to meet a Pokemon who looked like a bipedal dragon with shark fins on his arms, back, and tail. A bag dangled from one said arm. His scales were blue, but his chest and stomach regions were red, with a light blue underside. Ears shaped like jet engines hung at the sides of his skull, and a frown adorned his face.

A Gabite. So this was the Pokemon who fired off those purplish flames — that attack must've been Dragon Breath.

Shaymin and Togetic were quick to float in front of the dragon-shark Pokemon, both wearing awkward expressions. "Saw Weavile go invisible while you and Togetic were busy attacking someone else," Gabite said in a disappointed tone. "Ate an Eyedrop Seed so I could see him. Why did you target the Lucario and not the actual thief?"

Togetic stared at her feet, and Shaymin's face went red. "Uh, well, thing was, Weavile looked like he was down and Lucario had my Gracidea Flower—"

Gabite's eyes became razor-sharp, digging into Shaymin's skull. "Look here, I didn't see how it started, but it seems like Lucario tried to leave Weavile unconscious and even returned your Gracidea Flower to you. Yet you still attacked him on a whim?"

"I-" Shaymin huffed, stealing a glance at Lucario. "Crud, we messed up."

Lucario narrowed his eyes for only a short moment. Although quite miffed at the unwarranted attack, there was no need to rub it in that Togetic and Shaymin had done something wrong.

This Gabite who was in charge of them already was doing that on his behalf. "Between all this and the fact that neither of you saw there was a young Vulpix just standing there, I don't know what to say. Weavile's long gone now, it seems, probably ate a Warp Seed or something."

Magic seeds confirmed. The weirdness thickens, Lucario mused, eyeballing Vulpix's strange wristband.

Soon Gabite turned to him. "Sorry for that inconvenience, and thank you for intercepting the Weavile. That speed demon swiped Shaymin's flower out of our Treasure Bag before we even saw him. Say, would you happen to know where he disappeared to with those aura powers of yours?"

"Aura powers?" Shaymin asked. Togetic brought her aside, whispering into her ear.

Lucario shook his head, checking himself. Fighting Weavile, Shaymin, and Togetic had left him battered and bruised, a few cuts running deep into his skin, but not a problem. Noting the slash in Vulpix's fur, the one hit Weavile landed on her, he readied a Life Dew.

Togetic raised her head with a gasp, noticing the blue glow around him and the mystical water pellets. "Your kind can learn that move too?" she said, before shaking herself. "Hold on, we're the ones who attacked you by mistake and it's only right for me to make amends. Here."

Before he could turn her down she glowed a soft blue as well, conjuring her own healing droplets of water. Well, if she insisted, so be it.

He stepped back, allowing Togetic to seize control of his Life Dew pellets and add them to her own. They fell upon her, Shaymin, and Lucario, the moisture soothing the ache in his body and patching up his injuries. Vulpix tensed when the droplets came to her as well, only letting out a quiet sigh when they healed her too.

Togetic observed her, grimacing when the false vixen hid behind Lucario. "She's with you, isn't she?" she said. "On my behalf and Shaymin's, I am very sorry for causing you all this hassle. I didn't realize you were just a passerby with a little one to protect."

Her eyes glowed a soft pink, making Lucario raise a brow. "I should've done this earlier too," she added, hanging her head. "I can sense kindness in both your hearts — there was no reason for us to attack you. Is Vulpix alright, by the way?"

Huh. He knew Togetic were able to sense kindness and purity in others, but not that it could be used like that. It was similar to his preferred way of detecting aura.

He could think about it later. Lucario took a moment to examine Vulpix's emotions. Though she no longer looked afraid, his aurasense picked up on a chill that ignored her resistance to the cold. Fear? She was afraid of the Pokemon who were now before them, wasn't she? Poor kid kept facing too many encounters with aggressive Pokemon.

Lucario put his paw in front, sending calming messages through his command of aura. These three weren't enemies, and through his messages, Vulpix managed to understand this, accepting the foreign feelings as the chill went away. Something else took its place, however, something jittery and itchy to the touch. Nervousness, he guessed?

Looks like we're going to test how her disguise holds, he remarked, returning to the trio of Pokemon in front of him. "Don't worry, Vulpix is shy. It doesn't help that this wasn't the first time either of us got attacked."

Shaymin and Togetic reeled, while Gabite's face turned dour. "Abhorrents?" he snarled.

Lucario shook his head — were most Abhorrents as bad as Aerodactyl? "No, just two everyday Pokemon who weren't very friendly to her."

The trio didn't take long to see what his words implied. "Double crud," spat Shaymin. "Now I feel really, really bad about all this. Super sorry about refusing to believe you weren't after my flower, I get real antsy about others handling it."

Gabite shook his head. "You two must be travelers. I take it you're from Peakcrag Island? You're not avoiding the dirt roads out of fear of being picked on by other nasty fellows, are you?"

Well, now he knew another island beside Grassbranch Island that made up this archipelago, and it sounded like a mountainous area fit for a Lucario and Alolan Vulpix. Interesting. Lucario shrugged, deciding to play along with whatever Gabite thought of them.

"Then again, the roads did turn to mush from the storm yesterday," the dragon-shark went on. "You must have been out in that miserable downpour, weren't you now? Why, if it was night-time right now, I'd have you come to my place to rest and get that wet smell out of your furs."

He gave a chuckle, putting on a more pleasant mood. "But where are my manners? I'm Gabite, leader of Team Heavendust, which is one of the local explorer teams you'll find around here. You're already acquainted with my teammates Shaymin and Togetic, I see."

Explorer teams? Kecleon had called him an explorer earlier, must be related. He would have to ask Eevee about them.

Or at least, that's what he planned on doing, until Gabite's gaze suddenly turned several degrees sharper. "You haven't come across us explorers, have you?" he asked, a gleam in his eyes. It was like how he had glared at Shaymin and Togetic, but with none of the malice.

"Er-"

"Nothing to be ashamed about, Shaymin didn't know much either." Gabite shook his head when the Mythical huffed at him. "We're a lot of things, but basically we deal with work related to Mystery Dungeons and peacekeeping."

"We're adventurers," said Shaymin, her voice strained.

"Rangers might be a more accurate term?" said Togetic.

"Both work," finished Gabite. "Depends on the tasks we're doing. There's a lot of exploring and Pokemon-helping to be done, especially with dungeons. Our group's the sort to do local errands, but there's a Braixen I'm friends with whose team loves to go traveling abroad."

That all sounded interesting, and it shed a little light on dungeons. Combined with what Kecleon told him, Lucario got the impression that Pokemon got stuck in them and needed help, and these guys were battle-ready professionals who saved them. The exploration part also caught his fancy, that sounded a little like the sort of journeys he went on with his Pokemon Trainer. Might be a good way to make money on this archipelago, he thought, noting it all down for later.

"Lucario and Vulpix," he said to the trio. "Been a bit of a hectic journey for us."

"Hm. I must say, it's noteworthy that you can hold yourself against these two." Gabite pointed to Shaymin with a spike at the end of his arm that counted as his hand. "Especially her, the Mythical."

"Hey, you can't just point that—" Shaymin protested.

"Yeah, uh, her," said Lucario, arms crossed. He always dreamed of challenging a Legendary or Mythical Pokemon one day, but darn, this wasn't how he wanted to encounter one. "I do suppose I have some skill in battling. Surely Pokemon like Shaymin don't just live here, do they?"

Shaymin shook her head, raising her voice over Gabite's and cutting him off. "Let's just say I'm one of the few Pokemon of legend that decided to move her backside and do something other than being idle, okay? I kinda have a tribe I belong to, but I couldn't stay cooped up with them and ended up traveling on my own. Just curious, by the way, but Togetic mentioned you had an Inner Focus?"

Ah, yes, his Ability. "I'm tight-focused during battle. Can't flinch or get intimidated."

Togetic nodded. "We have Serene Grace."

"Only when I'm flying, otherwise it's Natural Cure," Shaymin added with a pout.

Lucario held back the laugh trying to jump out his throat. Serene Grace, huh? That one absurd Ability that aided the user to hit their attacks in sweet spots and cause side-effects, like paralysis or burns or flinching? That explained why Shaymin was upset that her Air Slashes couldn't make him flinch — that attack was already really good at doing that to foes, and Serene Grace made it doubly worse. Shaymin would've steamrolled him if not for his Ability.

A nudge at his ankle reminded him of the Vulpix standing close to him, her discomfort growing by the second. Right, he should end this conversation or it would drag on. He excused himself, saying he should get going.

But not before Togetic stopped them, having Gabite pull out two red objects from his bag — apples. "You two look famished," she said, offering Lucario the apples herself. "Consider it our way of saying sorry for what happened earlier. Perhaps we could escort you to the road too if that's all right, it's not as muddy as it was yesterday."

"I'm good with that," said Gabite. "Shall we?"

Lucario didn't object, and so Gabite led the way to the dirt path crossing through the forest. He followed along, Vulpix sticking close to his side with her eyes on the ground. Togetic and Shaymin floated at the back, engaged in a hushed conversation that sounded like it involved the snowy vixen.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the road, a soggy mess of a trail with nary a Pokemon walking upon it. It was a little surprising, but perhaps not many Pokemon were up at this time in the morning. "We could accompany you to Berrypark Town too," Gabite said, "the one down south. That's where you'll find explorer teams around here going, and it's a pretty area. One of the more populated places in Grassbranch Island."

Lucario eyed Vulpix once before responding. "If you're suggesting you'll take us there, it's fine. We can manage on our own, and I have a few things to take care of first." He waved the apples in his palms, making Gabite and Shaymin snort.

Togetic, meanwhile, was busy giving Vulpix a sad look, further addled by how the vixen backed away from her approach. "Poor thing, she's uncomfortable with us around," she whispered, sounding every bit like a doting mother. "Vulpix, sweetie? I'm really sorry if we scared you by attacking your companion, it was an honest mistake. I get it if you don't want to say anything, but I hope you understand."

Vulpix's ears twitched, recognizing her Pokemon name, but otherwise she looked deaf to Togetic's words. Understand, thought Lucario, scoffing at the word — that was the one thing Vulpix wasn't able to do right now.

"Don't worry about it, she does this with most Pokemon," he said, covering her. "I'm one of the few she's fine with. It's not your fault anyway, we haven't had the best of days recently and both of us are on edge."

Togetic kind of just hovered there, trying to swallow what he said. Only when Gabite called her did she stir.

"Well then." Togetic nodded to Lucario with a strained smile. "So sorry again for bothering you both, we'll be off now. I hope you two see better days in the future."

"Same," Shaymin said, putting on a shamefaced grin. "Thanks for keeping Weavile busy, too, I might not have gotten my flower back otherwise. See you in town, maybe?"

Gabite gave his own goodbye. Lucario returned it, and the trio departed at a brisk pace down the road. Gabite turned back once, his eyes appearing to lock onto and linger upon Vulpix, before Shaymin hollered at him to stop holding them up.

And yet again, it was just the two of them, a Lucario and human-turned-Vulpix in a world they weren't from. Lucario raised his head upward, the sun in its rightful place as it ascended to the cloudless sky. Not a trace of last night, nor its stormy weather, could be found.

A reincarnated day, thought Lucario. Reborn to a new chapter of life.

Vulpix raised her head to meet his eyes, and he returned the look. "You okay? Weavile didn't hurt you much, did he?" he asked, fully aware that she could only recognize the first two words. Now that he thought of it, the thief did mention getting snow in his eyes, so she must've gotten up and played with her moves, and in the process she hit him by accident.

It took a few thoughtful seconds before Vulpix spoke back. "Hurts."

"Hurts?"

She picked the word up fast. "H-hurts."

Togetic must have missed a spot with Life Dew. Lucario began to examine her body for other wounds when Vulpix shook her head. Her paw drifted to the left side of her chest, her gaze faraway and mournful.

"Hurts," she said, her tone strangely calm as she felt her heart. "In here."

Right, the shipwreck. Was it just yesterday that it happened? It was clear he wasn't the only one who lost someone dear to their heart in that disaster. "Mother?" he asked, recalling what she said back then.

It took a few repetitions for Vulpix to get this one. "Mother," she confirmed. "You?"

Dropping to the side of the road, Lucario painstakingly went through the names, and she managed to pick them up one by one. "We're in the same boat here," he went on, using aura to accompany his words with relevant feelings and emotions. "Two strangers. Lost, lonely, and with no home to go back to."

Vulpix felt more than she heard the words, giving a slow nod. Only then did Lucario recall that there were apples in his palms, ripe and ready to be eaten. "Here," he said, offering her one.

She awkwardly grabbed it with both her paws. For a good moment she stared at the fruit, perhaps intimidated by its size, before taking a small bite while on all fours and chewing. Lucario sensed her silent struggle in doing an otherwise ordinary task in her Pokemon form — the out-of-body experience had to be messing with her.

She sat down on her hind legs, continuing to eat. At some point she brought her front paws over to grab her apple before blushing as Lucario watched, becoming self-conscious of how human-like her action was. "No, it's fine," he comforted her. "I've seen Pokemon of your build eat like that, you're not doing anything wrong."

Though she had no idea what he had said, the tone was enough to put her at ease. Lucario munched on his own apple, Vulpix's adventure in eating as a Pokemon making his lips curl up. Oh, the things I'll have to teach her, he thought.

Vulpix swallowed a portion of her apple, setting the half-eaten fruit aside for a moment. "T-thank you," she said, her tails fidgeting when Lucario glanced at her. "For, um, you know."

Lucario's curled lips turned into a full smile, which she returned with a tiny one. I just met the kid yesterday, he thought to himself. And yet I feel like I'd burn down a forest if anything happened to her.

And that was probably what he'd do too. They both survived a freak shipwreck, and they were going to stay alive — no human-fearing archipelago was going to tell him otherwise.

That meant teaching Vulpix her Pokemon tongue and her moves, which would ensure she blended in. He couldn't talk for her at all times, nor defend her, and better safe than sorry.

Lucario nearly choked on his apple as bushes rustled, then burst open as a rabbit hopped out, pausing in front of him and a goggle-eyed Vulpix. Yes, a rabbit. The animal kind, not a Pokemon. How common were animals in this archipelago?

The rabbit turned to hop away when a flash of blue-gray feathers swooped in. The next moment Lucario was gawking at a Corvisquire landing upon a tree branch, talons deeply embedded into the struggling rabbit.

The Corvisquire plucked at some loose feathers, a talon moving to the rabbit's throat before she eyed him and Vulpix. "What?" the crow-like Pokemon squawked.

Lucario moved close to the vixen and covered her eyes with a paw. Sadly, it was an ineffective strategy to protect her, foiled by a simple loophole. Vulpix just scooted out of reach and frowned.

"Civilized sissys." Corvisquire flew off with her meal, intent on feeding elsewhere.

Well, didn't that say something? Even in Haven Archipelago, some Pokemon preferred the rough, wild life. And that is not the lifestyle Vulpix and I are going to have, Lucario decided. In this world, where Pokemon lived in towns and had jobs like being a merchant or whatever, money was a thing.

And as crazy as the idea of him earning money for their needs was — what was he, a human? — it was better than foraging all day and working to get everything they would need to survive. That explorer team thing? It looked like a decent fit for him, and Kecleon did say he was capable of handling dungeons, which was something explorers seemed to deal with constantly.

And maybe it'd give him a better idea of what was up with this weird archipelago, and even some potential way to get around the human-warding towers and leave. If Vulpix wants to go back, Lucario contemplated, scarfing down the last bits of his apple. This is no place for a human, but she doesn't seem like someone who has anywhere to return to. I know I've nowhere better to be, but what of her?

A question for later. So far as he was concerned, they were stuck here, and there was no telling if there would ever be a way out. Best to make for themselves a home here in the meanwhile.

Rising to his feet, Lucario allowed himself a confident smirk. He knew his goals then: help Vulpix blend in as a Pokemon, get a grip on the strange world that was this archipelago, and find a place to stay without people suspecting a thing about the icy vixen. After all, Vulpix's safety comes first.

The kid had finished up her apple too, rising to her feet with the barren core tucked within her tails. Lucario snatched it, leaving the remains of their breakfast behind a tree to decompose. Now that he thought of it, maybe he should first wait for the Abhorrent Eevee who gave them the special wristband to show up as promised. He did agree to help them out.

Until then, it was high time that Vulpix got some actual practice with the language. "Vulpix, come," he told her, strolling down the path.

"Huh?" Vulpix perked her ears, not having heard.

Lucario gestured for clarity, pointing at her before waving with his hand. "You. Come." He repeated it, watching as Vulpix's lips went to work.

"You… come?" Seeing Lucario nod, she ran up to him, understanding what was happening. "I."

I, as in the word — Vulpix was asking her how to say I. Lucario said the simple word in his own Lucario-speak, and she repeated using her Vulpix-speak, a tiny smile on her face. She then asked what the words were for 'me,' 'good,' 'bad,' 'help,' and so on, and Lucario offered them as they walked down the quiet forest path.

With a few repetitions, she could understand certain words as a Pokemon. Forming sentences by herself tripped her up, however. When Lucario told her to put the words 'you help me' together, for example, she stumbled multiple times before she could string the words together.

Probably the result of her human mind clashing with the complexity of a Pokemon's speech. What counted as a long sentence in the human tongue, made of multiple distinct words, could be shortened to saying one's own species name once or twice, or even just a grunting noise. She'd get used to it.

Right now she was trying to form sentences using one word at a time. "Gabite, Togetic, S-Shaymin," she said in choppy Vulpix-speak, having asked him how to say their names in the Pokemon language. "Good? Bad?"

"Good," said Lucario. They definitely didn't seem like a nasty group, but that being said, neither did Kecleon. It just boiled down to the fact that Pokemon assumed humans to be bad, and that was what really put Vulpix at unease around them. Ariados and others had left a bad impression, and it could be a struggle for her to get over that.

Lucario went to check on her aura to gauge her emotions, only for his aura feelers to twitch with worry as they directed him to a faint red aura on the left side of the path, lurking within the forest. Speak of the devil — was that Ariados?

Although Vulpix wasn't a human right now, she might put two and two together once she spotted him with the girl. He tried to discern the shape, hoping it wasn't her.

His muscles immediately relaxed, then tensed back up. Waves of pained fatigue came from this Pokemon, fresh and unlike the burning sensations he would sense from Ariados and her fiery injuries from yesterday. It was hard to make out from here, but that wasn't the shape of a vengeful spider.

It was the Weavile.

Vulpix flicked her head over as Lucario paused. "Bad?" she asked, tails raised and alert.

"Yes, bad," he responded, the aura around his eyes hissing and wavering. His fist clenched up as an urge welled up in his soul. "Weavile."

Vulpix took a moment before repeating the word to herself, eyes widening once the name clicked. Judging from the aura, Weavile seemed to be leaning on something, a claw fingering what was probably a sore spot on his leg.

His injuries must've added up, keeping him from running off with the blistering speed Weavile were known for, and thus he ran here to hide and recover in the forest shade. The thief wasn't aware of their presence either. Should he knock him out and turn him in at the nearest town?

His natural inclinations toward justice asked as much, pulling him toward the thief, but Vulpix's presence made him hesitate. Risking her safety to take down this criminal didn't seem right, but still, Weavile was pretty weak. What were the chances that he could threaten her at his current state?

So long as he was careful. Lucario gave Vulpix a solemn look before rushing headlong into the trees, leaves shuddering in his wake. The thief had it coming for the trouble he put him into with Gabite's teammates, and for trampling his pride.

Weavile barely whipped his head at the noise, his legs already on the move and his aura retreating. He wasn't making any ground, however, too hurt to go at full speed. He'd be caught within a moment, and then even a Metal Claw would take him down.

At least, Lucario was sure until his foe's aura blinked out of existence. One moment he was just ten or so feet away, able to catch a silhouette of his arm, the next he had disappeared in his entirety. Not a trace.

It was understandable not to see the Weavile himself, what with all this greenery in the way, but for his aura to disappear too? How?

Lucario slowed down, examining the spot where he last saw him. No matter where he looked, he was gone, aura and all. This wasn't like how he teleported away earlier. Weavile had somehow erased himself from this place.

Vulpix caught up to Lucario with a pant, positioned as if wary of her surroundings. "Weavile?" she asked him with a timid voice.

This was a head-scratcher. "He was just here," he replied, walking forward. There had to be something responsible for Weavile's silent exit, there was no way he could just vanish from his aurasense like that. Maybe there was some magic or supernatural force at work here?

Lucario bit his tongue when a tingle jolted his body, leaving him numb for a moment. His vision clouded at the same time, and something about the atmosphere suddenly felt different. He rubbed his eyes, taking a look around before twitching.

This wasn't the spot he was at a moment ago.

He could tell because of multiple reasons. For one, the trees were more shaded and dead-looking, their foliage extending to all but blot out the sky. The density of trees was also greater, grouped in such a way as if to block anyone from passing. A path that shouldn't be here snaked in front of Lucario, the barricade of trees suggesting that he take it to the small glade it led to.

Most importantly, Vulpix was not here for some reason, both her and her distinct aura. Instead there was a different, more hostile aura up ahead — Weavile.

He was standing at the glade, eyes trained on Lucario with something in his hand. As much as Lucario wanted to approach him, the bizarreness of what just happened kept him rooted. Where was he? What happened to the forest, and why was Vulpix not at his side?

A gasp made him jump, Lucario resting a paw on his heart once he saw where it came from. Never mind, Vulpix was here now.

And she was just as bewildered, eyes darting at her new surroundings before falling on him. "Y-you wer- you were g-gone for—" she blurted before steadying herself, lying down on the ground. "Where?"

"Where." Lucario paid no mind to Vulpix repeating the word in Vulpix-speak, still watching Weavile. Apparently he had disappeared for Vulpix too, just as she did for him when he entered this place. Then she followed, and here she was with him. Maybe they got teleported somewhere without realizing, or was this another kind of anomaly?

Vulpix cringed once she finally noticed Weavile, yet kept herself from stepping back. Lucario could've sworn the thief had been smirking at them this entire time. "What, too shocked to finish the job?" he yelled out, arms spread out.

Lucario's growl only made him laugh. "Stupid aura-sensing Lucario and their unholy love for so-called justice. Betcha didn't expect to walk into a Mystery Dungeon in the middle of nowhere, huh?"

Mystery Dungeon. Oh shoot, he walked right into one of the labyrinths Kecleon mentioned!

"Shame you don't have any items to help you get out," said Weavile, shifting his claw and letting Lucario see he was holding an orb. "That's what you get for making me lose that sweet Gracidea Flower. Consider this a warning to stay out of my way next time, will you?"

Before Lucario could do anything, Weavile's orb shattered, converting into a light that engulfed the thief. In a moment the light shot into the sky like a bolt of brilliant lightning, and the thief was gone, leaving behind a thunderous cackle.

Vulpix turned to the jackal, mimicking the frown he wore. This could be a problem.

Quite a lot to take in, I know.

Rabbits exist in this universe.