(AN: Sorry there's been a lack of chapters recently! I've been sick recently and have mostly been staying in bed, but hopefully we'll be back to regular chapters now!)

You'd think something that only comes up to your calf wouldn't be that scary, and usually you'd be right. Typically that's something you could easily punt or step on or crush with a rock, but when hundreds of them suddenly crawl at you with gleaming red eyes and the most terrifying smiles you've ever seen, that's a different story. Despite having Excalibur and Blitzkrieg already out, I was no match for the massive numbers and horrifying speed of the swarm of Sableye that poured out of the holes in the cave wall as though we had slapped a hive full of Beedrill. Blitzkrieg protected himself as best he could using Ember and barking loudly at the approaching Sableye, and even though I couldn't see them I could tell that Percius and Justice were doing just fine by the way Percius was still shouting orders, though every time he did the entire cave system would shake and more Sableye would fall out of the holes like adventurous toddlers falling out of their crib.

"Stop doing that!" I heard Allison shout at him, and for a moment I caught a glimpse of her and Ballet. Ballet had her arms in the air, bracing her Protect around them as though it was the only thing keeping both of them alive, and the way the Sableye has been trying to grab and rip at the psychic bubble, she might have been very right. Periodically I would hear one of the Sableye climbing on the bubble give out a pain scream or a snarl of rage as they flew across the cavern, struck by one of the crossbow bolts that Allison was loading into her glove-crossbow-thing.

Beside me Donald still refused to send out his Pokemon, driving his daggers into the faces and tiny bodies of the Sableye that were climbing on him and trying to bite through his leather armor. Horrible black smoke was escaping from the Sableye where blood should have been and their sharp teeth left deep marks in his armor.

"Send out Crybaby! We need crowd control!" Percius ordered loudly as he swung his lance to keep Donald in his view.

Donald grabbed one of the Sableye by the face and threw it over his shoulder where Allison pinned it to the ceiling with a crossbow bolt. "Uproar won't do anything to them! They're Ghost type Pokemon!"

"Maybe you should catch another Pokemon before our next mission." Allison was sassy as ever, even as Sableye piled on Ballet's protective energy. "Why are they freaking out so much? Usually Sableye are only after shiny objects."

"Lucky us we brought a Story Weaver into a- urk- cave full of Pokemon who want shiny objects." Percius slammed himself against Justice, the collision of their armored bodies turning several of the Sableye climbing on them into dust and smoke. "Jackson, focus up!"

Suddenly my attention was back on myself, and I took inventory as fast as I could. Blitzkrieg was keeping the place lit up with periodic Embers that were also being used to defend himself. Excalibur was doing its best, but it had also fully extended my arm which was allowing the Sableye to climb on it and towards Excalibur. As Excalibur sliced through the air the Sableye followed it with their eyes. It was gleaming in the light of the Ember. I swung Excalibur up high into the air. "Blitzkrieg! On me!" I shouted and Blitzkrieg turned with such force that several Sableye toppled over. I put down one arm and Blitzkrieg jump up onto my shoulders. He was heavy but I didn't have time to focus on that right now. "Use Ember into the air!"

"Jackson, if they're spooked by a Poison type Pokemon, this place could explode!" Allison called too late as Blitzkrieg let a torrent of flame into the air, and luckily we didn't all immediately explode. The gleam off of Excalibur shone across the entire cavern and every Sableye turned to look at me, a tsunami of noise rippling and echoing into the cavern as they lept from my teammates at me.

I, in all honesty, had only thought the plan through about that far, and in reply started to run and scream.

"Good job, Jackson! Now we just need to-" Allison started as Ballet let go of her Protect, and suddenly Allison collapsed to the ground, a dark form about the size of a small child standing over her trying to tear at the sparkling gems inlaid into her outfit. Donald ran over and kicked the form as hard as he could, sending it sprawling across the ground with a startled "Morg!"

"Over here!" Percius called to me. "Line 'em up, I'll knock 'em down! Justice, use Dragon Pulse!" Percius commanded, pointing his lance at me. Justice didn't start charging his Dragon Pulse though. Instead, Justice stepped forward, and Percius looked up in confusion as his lance faltered for a moment. "Justice, what are you-" Percius stopped as he and I both saw in the light of Excalibur's gleaming that Justice had taken far more damage than either of us originally thought, golden blood streaming from deep bites on his face, arms, and legs, and Percius stepped back, his lance collapsing back into a flat stick that he quickly stowed as he turned to run. "Outrage!" Percius called in warning.

"Outrage?!" Allison screamed in reply moments before Justice started to grab Sableye and tear them to pieces, oftentimes shoving them down his throat or slicing them in two against his own axe-like mandibles. Allison and Donald dove for safety and I quickly followed, Blitzkrieg having stopped using Ember by that point to draw less attention to us. "Donald, can't Crybaby use Sing or something?!"

"No, Crybaby can only make loud noises, not soft ones! We're just gonna have to wait this out!" Donald called back over the noise. "Agh! What in the-" Donald turned to swat what we all assumed was a Sableye off of him, but as he did he came face to face with a little goblin of a Pokemon. "Ah! Morgrem!" Donald screamed as he put a hand on the Pokemon's face, and it immediately started to resist his force, grabbing at his leather armor and trying to rip it off. It had already gotten some of his brass buckles broken off and was holding one of the straps in its hand.

"Ballet, Psybeam!" Allison screamed in a panic and Ballet responded immediately, a flash of psychic energy tearing across the Morgrem and causing it to let go of Donald's armor and instead grab its own head, letting out a pained "Grem..." before Donald repositioned himself and struck the Morgrem in the chest with his boot, sending it toppling across the room. Moments later, the rumbling of Justice's Outrage calmed to a stop and Percius returned him to his apricorn. Several Sableye in various states of damaged laid on the floor, though most of them had retreated to their holes in the wall when Justice had started freaking out. Allison kicked one across the floor, its body like a smoke bomb as it burst from the force of her kick. "They must have been freaking out so much because the Morgrem was stealing their gemstones." She theorized.

"Where is it? The Morgrem?" I clarified, looking around. I had assumed it have been caught up in the Outrage when Donald kicked it away.

"If we're lucky, it's dead." Percius replied a moment too soon as Allison screamed when the Morgrem tackled her, latching onto her shoulders and waist as it once again tried to rip the gems from her outfit. Allison grabbed it by its spindly waist and lifted it over her head before slamming it against the ground and kicking it, it's glittering silver blood splattering across the cave walls. Percius shook his head as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "It's a Fairy type? What's it doing in here?"

"If it's a Fairy type then you should catch it, Allison." I suggested without really thinking.

"No, thanks. That thing is so ugly I would rather eat my own shoe than have to see it ever again." Allison scoffed, turning and stooping down next to one of the fainted Sableye, tapping it with an apricorn and watching it turn into red light. The apricorn popped softly to tell her that she had caught the Pokemon successfully.

"Uh... isn't that-" Allison cut me off.

"You're a Ghost Hunter. Ghost Hunters use Ghost type Pokemon. Here's a Ghost type Pokemon. It's yours now." Allison plopped the apricorn into my hand and I looked at it for a moment. If that was true... would it really be all that bad if I told them Excalibur was a Pokemon? I'd have to think about that later, we were doing something at the moment. I watched as Percius walked over and slung the Morgrem over his shoulder and we started to head for home.

As we arrived back at the church, Allison put a hand on my chest and pointed towards the admissions office. "You need to register your new Pokemon." She informed me before walking off on her own towards the dorms. I sighed. After all of that walking and getting back well after Prophet Kelsie said we would, I was ready to fall into bed. Nonetheless, I trudged towards the admissions office where I was met with the face of Arnold Bailsworth. Their round face looked up at me as I entered and their lips puckered.

"Not soulless yet, I hope. You've only been on one mission." They spoke flatly, as though it really wouldn't be that surprising if I had had my soul sucked out after one mission.

"Not yet." I pulled out the apricorn that Allison had given me, and thought for a moment about how I should phrase my next sentence. "I caught a Pokemon."

"Oh did you?" Arnold leaned down and sorted through a drawer full of papers before pulling out a mostly empty file and looking at me. "And what Pokemon might that be?"

"A Sableye." I informed, and Arnold went white and quickly stood to snatch the apricorn from me.

"You caught a Ghost type Pokemon? Not only that, you brought a Ghost type Pokemon into the Church Of Arceus?" Arnold snapped at me. "This is a serious offense."

"But I'm a Ghost Hunter, I thought-"

"Yes you are! That means you hunt the ghosts. You don't bring them back here." Arnold snarled. "I don't have the authority to strip you of your position, but I do have the authority to send you to someone who can, and I think I will!" The door opened behind me, but I was too busy looking at my shoes with a mixture of self-pity and rage at Allison to acknowledge whoever came in. "Percius, good. You can leave that Morgrem in here, we'll look it over. If you would be so kind, could you lead your teammate to the Mouth Of Arceus?"