BOO! Did I scare you with a new chapter? Idk I felt bad leaving the story on a cliffhanger so here u go, new chap within a couple days like when I did the first 4. Dat rapid fire chap bananza. K have fun ig.

I was watching adamantly on the surface of the water, waiting for sky to resurface. Behind me Terra and Fraya bagged the new suspect to bring them to justice for what they just did. I couldn't hold back my tears.

Its been a few minutes since he was gone. I sank to the ground and started crying. It was now that I realized he wouldn't be coming back home.

I was sobbing off the edge of that cliff, the tears going down the same way he did.

"We… we gotta go back now."

I didn't move or respond. I kept crying over the edge. Then I was wrapped in a white light.

ooOoo

I woke up thrashing. I was still drowning right? The water was impeding my movement, but I was.. alive? I calmed down and looked around. I was breathing like normal, at the bottom of this lake. The vine was still attached to my leg.

I noticed that my chest was glowing. My necklace. It now donned a blue glowing stripe. It was pretty. But.. I realized I had left It at the beach. How was it on me again? I touched my badge.

Nothing.

Can abra teleport me from here? I charged a force palm to break from this grass vine thing around my leg. Swoosh! I swam up to the surface. I started coughing out water and tried touching the badge again.

"YOUR ALIVE?!"

With a flash of light I was brought back to the guild, still coughing up water. I was laying on chancys med bed.

"Sky, are you alright?"

"Irr Gluglr." Water was dripping out of my mouth. I coughed the rest of it out and repeated myself,"Im good."

Her eyes were as wide as the dollar menu on a Friday, "What do you mean by your fine?! You drown and your just fine?!"

"I guess im just protected. I dont know, but It was like magic or something. I could breathe underwater."

"Im starting to believe you we're actually a human."

I shrugged and got up. "Thanks, I am totally fine so ima head out."

"Okay, take care! Um…"

I made my way down the hallway to the door of my room. Going straight for it I pulled it open then stepped in.

Rin was curled up in a ball crying softly in the corner. Except not in her corner. She was in my bed.

"I didn't think you cared that much about me."

She perked up. She darted at me catching me in a hug. I was surprised. I didn't expect it.

"Don't ever die on me! I can't lose you this soon!"

She was bawling harder. It was this moment that hammered in the gravity of what just happened on my shoulders. I returned the hug.

"Yea, I wont. Sorry for scaring you like that."

Honestly, this moment shouldn't be happening right now. I should be dead yet, here I am. Saved by some weird voodoo mumbo jumbo.

The door creaked open,"Hey, rin. Dinners… YOUR ALIVE!" Fraya sprinted towards us joining the hug.

"Where's terra?" I asked.

"Oh, in the other room. You definitely need to go see her. She was taking it as hard as Rin. Shes so shaken up she wont even talk to me!"

I felt like an idiot for letting this happen. They genuinely thought I died. This clearly affected them way more than it did me.

We all disbanded the group hug. I immediately started for terra. I went into the hall passing a couple people on the way. I paused at her door. I hope she hasn't gotten too bad. I opened the door.

She was standing in the corner with her face pressed into the wedge of the wall. Fraya wasn't wrong.

"Hey, Im back. Thank god I didn't die because this isn't how Id want you to cope with it."

She spun around. She was staring at me for a moment. She had tears streaming down her face. Then she started slowly walking towards me.

"Are you okay?"

She stopped in front of me, placing a hand on my forehead.

"So your alive, thank goodness."

Her legs gave out and she collapsed into me. I was holding her up.

"Hey what's gotten into you!?"

No response. She was out cold. How much was she worried? It's probably from stress. I looked around for her bed but there were no longer any beds. I had forgotten. We combined teams.

I carried her out of the room on my back. She was wrapped around my neck, I assumed she was comfortable enough bending like that. Being a ferret an all.

I made it back to the room surprising both Rin and Fraya with the unconscious Terra. I passed by them noticing the now four beds, laying terra down on the closest one. Then I sat down on my bed.

"Terra will be fine right?" Rin had a face painted with concern.

"I honestly dont know, she was like that for days since we got back."

"Wait, hold on sorry. DAYS?! How long was I gone for?!" I interrupted.

"You were gone for two days. Since monday. Its wednesday. Tomorrow is the expedition. We we're actually about to cancel our spots." Fraya explained.

I looked over at terra with worry. She was still sleeping. Was she really standing in that corner for two days?

"How did you survive by the way? Like, normal pokemon dont come back from something like that unless they are a water type." Fraya asked, her and Rin were staring adamantly for the answer.

"Uh, your asking the wrong person. All I recall is passing out, then waking up underwater. And weirdly I could breathe."

"You can breathe under water?"

"I guess so."

"How.. does that.. work exactly?"

"I mean, I was taking breaths like normal. Just underwater."

"Well, then you might have a new ability or something similar. Maybe color change?"

"Sounds like that. But normally a riolu couldn't do that, so was there something weird sky?" Rin interjected.

"Uhh… Oh! This necklace. It was glowing, and I could've sworn I had left it on the beach. Maybe It saved me."

"Hmm?" "What?"

They both interrupted each other.

"I mean it doesn't seem crazy, considering it came from a dream."

"Heh? Has he lost it Rin?"

"No, im thinking everyone has it the wrong way. Hes not crazy, just crazy stuff is happening to him."

"Id say."

It had been a crazy week for me. I literally died this week. It couldn't get any crazier, right?

"Hey, since I was gone… has word gotten to lucario?"

I was staring expectantly.

"No, as far as anyone else knows we all got sick on the mission. A funeral would be planned before a death would be announced."

I sighed in relief. "Thank god, this could've gotten out of hand."

"So, sky. Are you still going on the expedition?"

"If I can, I will."

"Ok well… im super worried about terra. You and rin can still go but I gotta stay back if terra wakes up."

"Then I cant."

!!!

"Why not? We should go sky!"

"Just think about it for a second. The reason she collapsed was my fault, so think about what might happen if she wakes up and im not here. Im staying."

She huffed, but caved. "Fine. You drive a good point, but all of this was meinshaos fault not yours."

I felt dumb. I was blaming myself again. It was hard to think rationally through this mess. Yea, of course it was meinshaos whatever faces fault.

I grabbed onto my necklace as if to weigh in on its significance. It helped me, right? There has to be something going on with it.

ooOoo

Each breath was being carefully controlled as I ran down these dark corridors. I was in an ancient temple, it was dark. I didn't need it though, I could see a good 20 paces. I had to be quiet and careful though.

A couple more bends I might have to walk. Though it opened up. There was a stone tablet sitting on a podium. There was a stone bridge, and it was a good drop in any direction. I didn't dwell though.

I picked up the stone tablet, and smashed it on the ground. Thatl do it.

ooOoo

I woke up slowly this morning. As the sunlight stormed in through the window my eyes stayed sealed, until I felt my face getting poked. I looked up to see Terra towering over me, Rin not too far behind her. They both were smiling ear to ear. Terrifying.

"Whats with the smiles? It looks like your about to tell me you murdered fraya."

"What? No, were going on the expedition! Terras ok!"

"Oh, word up."

After hearing this I got to packing. I made sure I had my knife, any food. You know the camping essentials. There was something in my bag though that I had missed. There was a leather wallet.

I pulled it out and opened it up. There was a drivers license and different cards. Also a lab id. I chose to pull out the lab Id because the picture was in colour. I looked around. Terra and fraya were at the door already to leave.

"Hey terra and fraya, I found some evidence about the thing."

They both ran up to me. I passed them the id.

"Wow! So thats what a human looks like? Where is your fur?"

"Humans never had fur fraya, didn't you ever actually listen to the legend?"

"No.. cuz I thought it was all made up."

Terra facepalmed at Fraya. "I've actually seen a legendary pokemon, so I know for a fact most of them are real."

"Youve seen a legendary?!?" Rin shouted.

"Yea, Ive told fraya but she thinks it was my imagination."

"Well, I didn't see it. So how would I know?"

"Well, your right. I don't expect you to believe it. But im just recalling what I saw."

I could sense turbulence filling the room. It felt like the room could sheer in half if we even just breathed wrong. I stood up grabbing my bag.

"Just throw the card on my bed, so.. we get going?"

Rin stood up throwing on her bag. Terra and Fraya nodded at me and we all went to the cafeteria.

ooOooOoo

It had been an entire day of walking. This backpack was killing me. I was jealous of my teammates bags because It didn't have two straps to dig into your shoulders. But thats the cost of extra storage right?

"The first stop should be right ahead!" Sam shouted.

"Thank god" "My legs are about to fall off!" "Finally food!" "I think ima do pushups." "Ugh uhhhh." "You ok?"

Everyone erupted in chatter. The original chatter died down after an hour of walking but it seemed to kick right back up after stopping. I didn't hesitate in dropping my bag. We had all stopped at a clearing.

I spotted a dead tree in the corner of the feild. It immediately perked my interest. That would make good firewood. I walked over to it, thinking about how I would split it. I tried out a force palm. Crack! It lit up a blue crack that snapped apart the tree. That was too easy.

I made a huge bundle off wood. I destroyed the entire tree. I could carry it all, just that the pile was like ten of me. It almost toppled as soon as I picked it up. I set it down in the middle of everyone.

"Whaaaatt??!" Alot of them shouted in unison.

I was confused. This is what theyd want, right?

"Howd you do that all by yourself? We all just got here?! Yea, and whats your name btw? A mon name or birth name? Little mans got sone spirit."

Like four people were trying to talk to me at once. I was getting sensory overload. I just responded, "yes."

"Oh comon, yain't going to introduce yourself?"

The others were more quiet now, I think they all worked out what happened there. The person asking was a orange weasel thing.

"Uhh, yea. Im sky. Nice to meet you."

"Ayy there he is. No longer a stranger. Im ed. nice to meecha."

He had a southern accent to him. I dont know how that would work geographically but thats how he sounded. Must be areas where people speak different dialects.

I started piling up the wood, making the fire big enough for everyone to sit around. Then to light it I used some aura. It burns whatever it touches, and after five seconds orange flames licked up. Just in time. I could see the pink sky in the corner of my eye.

"Your handy too ayy. Betcha millins that youd be a farmr in a previos life."

"Ehh, you'd be wrong."

"Ya got experience somehow somewhere? Because you talk of that as if its the case."

He didn't know. And honestly I didn't feel like opening a can of worms with this guy.

"No, but Im saying I wouldn't have the patience to watch plants."

"Ah. I reckon youd have the skill. But you can only lead mareep to water. Cant make em drink."

"Mareep? Whats that?"

There was a silence between us for a moment. Other people were at the fire but I could tell I did something to surprise or piss him off.

"Kid.. Howd you be a explorer?"

I almost didn't understand him through the accent but It got me to think.

"Well.. I.. ive been one for as long as I can remember."

His eyes widened.

"You.. what?! As long as you can recall?! Where you born into the gig or something?!"

"In a sense, yea kinda. You could say I was born into it. I mean, I got a bad case of amnesia. So I only remember back to when I woke up in the guilds hospital bed."

"Dang, thats crazy to think. Your old timers must be worried sick."

Yea. I didn't even realize. I don't remember anything. I could've been an orphan or a rich asshole. Either way I wouldn't know. I dont know who I knew. Thats the twisted part.

"Maybe. At least Im fitting in here. For the most part."

"ATTENTION! Food." Shouted sam.

A giant orange lizzard was next to him. Never seen them before. They were carrying a huge bag, but they themselves were more huge. Idk I was like half the size of like ninety percent of the people here. Except for that weevil thing. I mean there were two but the small one was black and had a red hat thing. Though everyone was crowding around there I wanted to go last.

Eventually when it got to my turn, I was passed an oran berry. I didn't mind, they were pretty good. And they sufficed as a meal. They were big. They almost needed two hands.

I sat back down at the fire next to Rin and started munching. The berry had a slightly sour aftertaste but it reminded me of a blueberry more than anything. Is this a gmo predecessor? That would be dope if we hacked genetics before dying out.

I looked at Rin. She was on her back looking up at the sky. I looked around to my right for fraya and terra. They were chatting with one other person. They were like a floating spiky ghost thing. I finished my oran berry with a final bite.

This time I looked for wigglytuff. He was secluded, standing against a lone tree in the middle of this clearing. I didn't even notice that tree before. I got up and approached.

"Hey, mind if I ask you something?" I sat down on the opposite side of the tree.

He looked at me. "Sure, go for it."

"Where are we going? Is this important?"

"Heh, yea. It's important. We are going through some ruins to look for clues on the decay."

What could that possibly mean?

"Decay?"

"Oops. Forget I said that. I don't want you to worry over something as little as that." He was scratching his head. I was a little suspicious now.

"Soo, how difficult is the road ahead?"

"Good question. We have two reported dungeons to cross, who knows if we will find a new one. But thats why these are S rank missions. It requires all of us as a team."

"S rank? Then why am I here? Im at rank D correct?"

"Your team was at D. I made some changes. Mainly because you obliterated my expectations, uhh in a good way."

"So, then whats my rank?"

"Your team is B, however… I think of you as an S."

"WHAT?!" I accidentally alerted some of them by the campfire. They looked this way for a couple seconds.

I made sure to lower my voice, "How do you think im an S?! I just got here didn't I?"

He chuckled. "Ah, yea. I figured as much. Id say ten percent of it would be using aura sphere."

I paused. This got me thinking. According to lucario it's pretty much impossible for a riolu to use aura sphere. But It seems so easy? I don't know. I guess I didn't have their experience. And thats only ten percent?

"Whats the ninety percent left? Why think so big of me? Rin is way stronger than me, and I didn't even mention fraya or terra!"

"Your wrong. And to answer, you came back from the dead. Like how wasn't it obvious to you? So I put you in special class."

That does make sense. Nobody would've come back from that except me. But why? That was the question. Why me and no-one else?

"That still doesn't explain why you chose to bring me here. Because I can recall you announcing it before this all even happened."

"Ah, yea. You got me there. Well, the ruins originated from humans. So, why not bring the only human I know?"

Ah. Puzzle solved. Things made more sense now. But I gained a new question though. Decay? What could that mean? Like is something causing plants or the bees to die again?

"Ok, thanks for answering. Ill be sure to try and help out the best I can."

He nodded. I stood up and headed back to the campfire. S rank huh? As if that'll last long. I took my spot back next to Rin and lied down. Honestly I could see why Rin was always looking up. You could see the nebula in between the stars glowing pink purple and green. This is something you dont see because of streetlights. They make starting at the ground more interesting because the sky gets painted black by humanity. I was interrupted from my thoughts.

"Hey sky? What did you and wigglytuff talk about?" Fraya asked towering next to me.

"Oh, you know. Just wanted to know why he wants us here."

"Oh come on. I know you talked about more than that. You even shouted earlier. I wanna know."

"Oh, that. Yea.. apparently Im an S rank."

"Sorry? What?! Say that again?"

"An S rank?"

Everyone at the fire that was still awake was staring at me. I could see them eyeballing me in my peripherals.

"Your joking right? No way your an S rank. The guild hasn't seen a new S rank for years! On top of that, S ranks always have at least five years at the guild!"

"It makes sense to me."

All eyes immediately fell onto terra. I sat up. I could tell she immediately regretted saying anything.

"Uhh well. Yea you see, it makes sense cuz umm.." I interrupted her. It hurt to watch.

"Ask sam to see for yourselves. Im not lying. Or.. Ill just show you one of the reasons."

I charged up an aura sphere in my hand and presented it to the fire circle. Their faces melted from skepticism to awe. They erupted into chatter. I threw it up to the sky. Bwoom!

"Thats so cool! I never thought in a million years that I would be on a team with an S rank."

It was Rin. She was looking at me from where she lay.

"Ehh, I don't see how it changes things."

"Oh come on sky! It changes everything! You can literally solo A rank missions if you want now! Its great. You should celebrate it!"

"You can celebrate if you want to. But celebrations just aren't my thing."

"Your such a downer on yourself sky. Why lift others up if you won't lift yourself up?"

She had a point, but I just didn't think it was a big deal.

"Its not a big thing. Yea its cool but It only means people expect alot more from me. And as if I could pull off an A rank mission by myself. Id need you in order to accomplish that."

Her eyes lit up when she heard me but didn't say anything, just looked back up at the sky. My eyes drifted back towards the fire. I was enjoying the glow and watching it reach up into the air, as if trying to find more food to keep burning.

"Hey, if yer really an S ranker, mindin a little bout?"

I turned to my right to see Ed posing to me. His hand was extended to me pointed. He was waiting expectantly for an answer.

"Uhh, are we allowed to?"

"As long as we don't kill each other, wiggles don't give a penny of a thought."

"Yea sure, Ive got nothing else to do."

"Ayo, this'll be fun."

"Can I watch?" "Mee too!" "Do we have to even ask?"

I ignored Rin and them and got up to start following following Ed. I noticed five people were following us, those extra two must be part of Eds squad I guess. One if them was a red monkey about my size. The other one looked kinda like a mini fraya if she were a squirrel. A flying squirrel that is. Dope.

Away from the fire it was considerably darker, If It weren't for aura I probably would only be able to see twenty feet away. We made it a good distance in the tree line before we stopped.

"Thisn feels about good. Ready to put on a show?!" He shouted.

I could feel the excitement from his aura. He was about ready to go.

"Yea, Im ready." I shifted stances, now ready to take him on.

I could hear our group chattering on the side, but my eyes remained locked on target. This was a battle right? That meant he was my prey and I was his. For now anyway.

"Ok, then let's rumble."

He almost disappeared from my vision but I caught wind of him sprinting from my right. I ducked backward as a ice coated fist flew past my face. I retaliated by throwing back a force palm. Bwoom. Just barely missed.

I jumped backwards trying to catch my bearings. Landing, I started sprinting around him trying to make myself harder to target. I charged up an aura sphere.

I threw it and it connected. Bwoom! There was some smoke but I saw him lying unconscious. I cautiously approached. He was lying there, not moving. Did I win?

"Hey, you ok? I wasn't exp-" It dissipated into smoke. It wasn't Ed. Before I could react a fist connected to my face. Creesh! It sounded like glass breaking.

I was launched a bit away scraping against the ground. Before I could get up again I was blasted with water, swept away by a huge wave. It threw me hard against a tree. I had the wind knocked out of me. I mustered enough strength to stand back up, I was wobbly but standing.

I didn't have time to think. He was strong. I rolled forward dodging a third punch, and I tucked in spinning into gear. I launched my foot into his stomach. Bwoom! He was launched back. I charged up an aura sphere, then launched at where he landed.

Bwoom! Then there was silence. I was watching the smoke carefully for him, waiting for them to get back up. I couldn't see aura through smoke, so I had to be careful. When it settled there was no sign of him.

I looked around. I could see my teammates aura, but no sighn of him. He dissa- Smack!

I was thrown back towards where Rin was. He had dug through the ground, it was unexpected. Though I landed on my feet sliding back. It seemed this attack was weaker somehow.

I ran back towards him without hesitation. Charging an aura sphere in my right hand I threw my left fist at him, he blocked with both of his arms. Checkmate. I launched the sphere at him point blank, sticking it to his stomach. Bwoom! We were both launched back.

I landed with a thud onto my back. Everything hurt, but I got back up. I walked over to Ed. He was out. I was on edge because of what happened last time. I waited. But he didn't stir an inch.

I walked over to them and flipped them onto their back. Out cold. I scooped him onto my shoulder. He was twice my size but at least I could carry him. Though his head and feet were very close to touching the ground. I walked back to the group and they greeted me.

"That was soo cool, I cant believe you won sky!" Rin exclaimed.

"Yea, I thought It was over when he hit you with crashing wave!" Fraya chimed.

"How did Ed lose! I guess Sky really is S rank huh?" The squirrel was disappointed.

"Yea, he was tough to beat. Though I did it." I said passing them walking back to the fire.

"Your ok carrying him?!" Rin asked concerned.

"Yea Im fine, be more worried about Ed here."

We made it back to the fire. I didn't see sam near the tree. I didn't think much and set Ed down in a clear spot near the fire, putting him into the recovery position. I remember first aid at least. I made sure to give him a good look over in the light of the fire, making absolutely sure he would be fine.

After checking his vitals, I sighed and sat down at my spot again. If I wasn't tired from the walk, I was for sure tired from that fight. I smiled. That was a good fight.

I saw Rin pass by at the top of my vision, returning to her spot to the left of me.

"Goodnight everyone." I said.

"Goodnight." Everyone that was still awake replied in unison.

I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off, with the soft crackles of the fire in the background.