~ Gullverian Airspace, nearing Kira University ~

"It's got its eyes on me!" Alcryst's voice projected in Grady's mind, "Move and prepare to attack!"

In compliance, Grady circled around to the serpent's right, preparing a Brave Bird attack. He coated himself in a bright yellow glow and charged towards it. However, just before his body could make contact, the area around him begun to distort. Feeling the airspace become uneasy, the Corviknight dispelled the energy and backed away.

What was that?! He internally exclaimed, I've felt nothing like that before!

"Are you okay!?" Alcryst's voice screeched in his mind, "I felt an energy spike from its back!"

The Corviknight's eyes narrowed in frustration. I'm fine, but that thing did something! It felt like the air was getting a bit heavier...

Grady felt a strong wind come from behind him. Following it, Fuego sped ahead of him, riding the Tailwind he summoned. "Boss! We gotta do something!" The Talonflame called out.

"I know, but what can we do!? We can't get in close!" The Corviknight called out.

"Use Air Slash! That usually works!"

Something tells me that won't work this time. Grady anxiously looked at the Gyarados as it gave chase to Fuego. The serpent spins its body in a helix shape, making an effort to speed towards Alcryst. But it's the only thing I have!

"Team! We give chase and launch a volley of Air Slashes! See if there's a weak point we can break through!"

Aile, nearing Grady's flank, linked up with him as they approached Fuego. "Ready?!" Grady shouted.

"Ready!" The other two responded in unison.

The Corviknight whipped his wings forwards and back, drafting up crescent-shaped gales and whirring them in the direction of the Gyarados. The other two followed suit, ultimately creating a typhoon of air slashes that would have crippled even the mightiest alpha. Unfortunately, Grady's premonitions were proven true when the Air Slashes made contact but dissipated on the mighty serpent's azure body.

"Impossible!" Fuego shouted, "That usually works!"

"And we can't get close!" Aile cried and turned to Grady, "What do we do! There has to be something!"

The Corviknight cringed as the Gyarados suddenly halted its pursuit of its previous victim. He then bore witness to the beast begin to turn around, causing his heart to lurch into his throat. Oh gods! Ranged doesn't work, Close quarters fails, and we're stocked low on items! How are we going to deal with this!?

"Heads up, I have an idea!"

Alcyst's voice drew the group's attention backwards. Seeing that he was, indeed, behind them.

"What are you doing!? You're luring it towards us!" Grady screeched in distress.

Alcryst materialized an orb from his looplet and deadpanned at Grady, "Distract it! I need about thirty seconds!"

"What is it!? An escape orb?! Is that even useful out of dungeons?!"

"Distract it and you'll find out!"

This guy's gonna get us killed. Grady thought as he began speeding towards the Gyarados. Aile and Fuego reluctantly followed from behind, both screaming inaudible objections.

"Team! We need to buy him time! Break away and get its attention with Air Slashes!"

Splitting formation, Team Ventus spread about the airspace. The Gyarados, looking about, eventually settled on pursuing the Staraptor. Aile dashed frantically about the airspace, but her agility began to fail her as the serpent's chase crept ever closer to her.

"Guys! Help!" Aile screamed.

"Fuego, we have to launch our Air Slashes! We have to stop it from attacking!" Grady shouted to the Talonflame adjacent.

"But those didn't do anything!" Fuego yelled back.

Shortly after Fuego shouted, the pair eyed a strange golden energy collecting at the mouth of the Gyarados. The figure of the Staraptor flew about the skies erratically, hoping to throw off the Gyarados's aim.

"Who cares?! Aile, I'm on my way!" Grady shouted to nobody, diving into the fray. He flailed his wings, whipping up as many gales as he could muster and launching them at the face of the Gyarados. Unfortunately, the concentration of the serpent was too great. It lurched its head backwards, the glow of its maw shining a brilliant golden sheen onto the face of the monster. What followed was a deafening beam of light being fired off from the Gyarados, straight in the direction of Aile. Luckily, the Staraptor managed to roll out of the way to dodge most of the attack. Though, the sheer force and heat exuded from the beam set Aile's left wing ablaze and sent her spiraling out of the sky.

As soon as the ringing in the ears of both Grady and Fuego wore off, they noticed their comrade rapidly losing altitude, a trail of smoke exuding off her body. "AILE!" Fuego cried as he summoned a tailwind to race to her aid, slipping somewhere beneath the serpent's view. Meanwhile, the Gyarados turned around, eyeing its next target, the Corviknight.

Seeing no opening to regroup with his allies, Grady fled back to Alcryst with the Gyarados in pursuit. Thankfully, he didn't have to travel far, as the Alakazam was speeding towards his direction. Though now the orb in his right hand was gleaming with a red and black glow, almost abyssal in its theming.

"Alcryst! My team's under fire! You have to launch that thing-"

"PULL DOWN! DOWN!"

Grady did as told and dove as quickly as he could. When he thought he was far enough away, he shot a glance at the scene. Alcryst was charging at the Gyarados, at eye level with it. With all his force, Alcryst slammed the orb into whatever it could connect with. When the orb shattered on the face of the beast, the red and black aura encompassed it, making it roar in pain. If the Hyper Beam didn't deafen him, then the pained cry that the Gyarados released made him wish he was deaf. The roar remained audible, even as it became fully encompassed by the aura. A few seconds passed by, and the silhouette of the Gyarados began to dissolve. Before long, the aura dissipated and the Gyarados disappeared.

"Grady! To me! I'll teleport you and your comrades to safety!" Alcryst's voice rang in the Corviknight's head.

Immediately after noticing him, Grady had to slow down enough so as to not hit the Alakazam speeding towards him. The next moment, a flash of light enveloped the both of them.


~ Crystal Cove, 3F ~

The Axew watched as dragon fire and jet streams of water fly all around her. Traximus sped about the battlefield, firing off the strongest dragon pulse he could muster. Meanwhile, Neltharios spewed an indigo-colored flame on the field at their enemies. On the other side of the field, a trio of Poliwag leapt from surface to surface, firing off several Water Guns at Team Nova.

"Palla, can you get Loudred awake?! We could use his help right now!" Traximus shouted, occupied by the Poliwag jumping about the hallway.

Palla shook her head, her heartrate jumping several beats, "I can't! No matter what I tried, he won't wake up!"

"He needs a Reviver Seed! Or at least a tiny one," Reiner barked, shooting mud shots at the water types, "It'll jump start his system!"

"None of us got any of those!" Neltharios cried, "In fact, none of us got anything since being here!"

While Team Nova was debating amongst themselves, one of the Poliwags took the opportunity to take a snipe at a distracted Reiner. A particularly concentrated water gun hit the Krokorok square in the chest, straining his breathing and knocking him back further into the room.

"Reiner!" Traximus shouted and looked at the now sprawled out Krokorok. In retaliation, Traximus launched another dragonbreath, crippling the three Poliwag. Neltharios followed up with a triple Shadow Claw on all three Poliwag, knocking them all out.

Team Nova then gathered around the downed Krokorok. Palla's look of worry grew tenfold when Reiner wheezed out a cough that sounded like he was short of breath. "Are you okay!? What can I do to help?!" She cried.

"I'll…Live," Reiner responded, his hand clasping the area where he was hit, "Ow. That hurts. Everything hurts…"

"You outta stop talking," Nelthatios said, his gaze fixated on the mark on Reiner's chest that the water gun left behind, "To save your breath and all…"

After the Krokorok got on his feet, a looming question looped in Palla's head.

"How are we going to get this Loudred out of here?"

All members of Team Nova locked up. Traximus and Neltharios shot glances at each other, hoping that the other would think of something. Reiner could only look down at the Loudred, a trembling silence overcoming him.

"U-uh… We could… uh," Neltharios started.

Reiner then dropped his hand from his chest. His expression darkened, "We have to leave him…"

"What!? No way!" Neltharios objected, snarling at the Krokorok.

"What else can we do?! I don't have the arm strength and none of you look large enough to hold a gutted Dratini, let alone a fat Loudred!"

"Hey! We're not weak! We made it this far, didn't we!?"

"And look where we are," Reiner snapped, "We're lost in the middle of somewhere, have no items, no backup, and no inkling of when this dungeon will end!"

"Well…Well, Traximus can probably think of something," Neltharios chided as he peered a look at his Bagon counterpart, "Right?"

Palla also turned her sights on Traximus, who merely looked down, defeated. The body language gave away the incoming response, causing Palla to instinctively put her hands to her mouth.

"He…He's right Nel. We have to leave him here." Traximus solemnly responded.

Neltharios went wide eyed and stepped towards the Bagon. "No… No, no, no. You can't possibly tell me we're just gonna dump him here and let him get eaten by ferals!" The golden Charmander stomped his foot on the crystalline floor, enraged, "Traxy, you told me we'd be the best rescue team someday! Rescue teams don't leave people behind!"

"And the rescue teams that we know of have rescue badges that can warp beings out of mystery dungeons! Does it LOOK like we have any of those?"

"We could at least try to carry him through the stairs!"

"With what strength?! And can we keep that up for the rest of the dungeon? Do you know how long it is because I'd love to know it!"

The Charmander fell silent, dropping his fight almost instantly after the Bagon snapped at him. The team, looking at the Loudred in between them, felt a wave of hopelessness begin to overtake them. Palla looked among her allies, eyeing them to see their reactions. Traximus looked as if he was holding back all his fear, his dilated pupils and sweat slipping off his mask of bravery. Neltharios crossed his arms and tapped his foot, yet his face betrayed his anger, a mortified look being plastered on it. Palla sat down briefly, fighting the urge to cry. Gods, Loudred, I'm so sorry… This is horrible… You didn't deserve this! You were just going to school like the rest of us! And that could have been any of us! What if there's more Pokémon in here?! I don't wanna be here anymore! I wanna go home!

Team Nova then silently carried the orb they collected to the stairs, which happened to reside in the next room over. Traximus insisted that Neltharios hold the orb, fearful of a repeat of what happened to Reiner. Neltharios quietly agreed and changed the orb's color to red, prompting the group to head up the stairs. Palla gave the Loudred one nearly tearful glance at the Loudred before heading up the stairs.

~ Crystal Cove 4F ~

After another flash of light, Team Nova found themselves in a room. They scoured the room for anything, be it orbs or gates. However, they found nothing. After about five minutes of searching, the team regrouped at the center of the room.

"Any luck finding anything?" Traximus asked, his voice shaking.

Palla, Neltharios and Reiner all shook their heads.

"That's not good. So are we trapped here?" That question sent chills down Palla's spine.

"Don't think that way," Neltharios retorted, trying to inspire his teammates, "W-We gotta get through it together!"

Nobody bought the gesture but continued looking for a way forward anyway. Eventually Palla made her way to the northern wall and began to feel across it for any clues. Suddenly she felt a part of the wall sink where she pushed in, immediately changing the color of the dungeon from red to blue. Accompanying it was the pinging sound from earlier, but loud enough that it felt extremely close to the team.

"What happened!?" Reiner screamed in distress, whirring around to sight the issue.

Palla slunk into herself, her gaze falling to the floor, "Sorry! I hit a part of the wall and it changed the color of the dungeon!"

"Then let me try it," Reiner responded, shoving Palla out of the way. Placing his hand on the same portion of the wall, another ping was heard when he shoved his hand into the wall. The dungeon color changed, once again, from blue to red.

"What is making that noise," Traximus wondered, "Is it some sort of Pokémon responding to the dungeon?"

As the Bagon finished his sentence, a flash of light beamed in the center of the room. As the light dimmed, the stairs became visible. The intricate stairs had a strange flame pattern about it, radiating the bright red and orange color into the nearby crystal floor.

"We'll worry about that in just a bit," Neltharios said, pointing at the stairs, "Come on guys, let's just get to the next floor."

"Do these stairs look a bit different to you," Palla noted, "Look, the color is spilling into the floor!"

Reiner sprinted past the Axew, bolting towards the stairs. "Who cares! The quicker I get outta here, the better!"

Please let this end soon. Palla thought as she followed the others up the staircase.


~ Duraludon Watchtower, Near Kira University ~

Grady observed that his Staraptor comrade had shaken off the fires that seared her wings. The Talonflame tried his best to comfort her, but her incomprehensible crying made it difficult for either of them to assess her situation. However, that had to wait. What was of more importance was the rift positioned right outside the opposite end of the tower that glowed with a magenta essence. Alcryst stared outside the tower, eyeing the rift suspiciously.

"What do we do now? We have no resources to manage this." Grady said, his voice growing slightly deeper with every word.

Alcryst clicked some of the vials in his looplet, the fluids inside of them sloshing around silently. "Give me a moment. This rift is going to be a pain."

"Wait. Exactly what are you planning on doing?"

"You'll see," The Alakazam responded, raising his hands up, a deep blue energy gathering in his hands.

Team Ventus looked on in suspense. Alcryst began waving his hands around in a strange motion that eluded the knowledge of the three birds. The Alakazam chanted, "Eterno' zi'hira! Hadashi Iybda!"

"What did he just say?" Fuego asked, wide eyed.

"No clue," Grady responded, still onlooking, "Keep watch."

The Alakazam continued to wave his arms around, soon turning the Eternarift a blue color. "What the hell," Fuego cried, "What's he doing?!"

"I hope it's something good," Aile said quietly.

The Alakazam's arms waved faster as the blue-colored rift shrank smaller and smaller. Team Ventus watched in a mixture of horror and awe as the rift's size decreased to the size of Alcryst's hands. The small blue light placed itself in the yellow palm of the Alakazam, who then presented it to the team.

"This. This is what remained of this side of the rift," Alcryst explained, making Fuego hop several steps backward.

"Wah! Keep that thing all the way away from me," The Talonflame demanded, making Grady roll his eyes.

The Corviknight turned his attention back to Alcryst, "You said this side. What does that mean? Is there another rift somewhere else?"

"Correct," Alcryst responded, "The blue colored hue of this rift makes it the alpha side of a two-way Eternarift. The red side, the omega side, resides elsewhere, likely Kira University. However, what is more concerning than the two-way rift is the Gyarados we just fought."

Grady tilted his head, "Why? Didn't you beat it?"

"Yes. The one-shot orb worked as intended. However, did you notice the features on the Gyarados?"

"Nothing in particular," The Corviknight pecked at his wing, "If it weren't for the eyes and the absurd length, he would have looked like a normal civilian Gyarados."

"That's exactly the problem," Alcryst placed the blue light in his looplet, causing the looplet to absorb it, "The Gyarados we just fought was not feral, but a parallel of a Gyarados civilian trapped inside of the omega side of the rift."

"What?!" Fuego and Grady both shouted at the same time.

"Are you saying we may have killed a civilian?!" Aile shouted.

Alcryst simply rolled his neck, "No. If this Gyarados was recently trapped, there's still a chance their real self may still be alive and have all their memories at least somewhat intact. However, if not…"

"W-What happens if he wasn't…?" Fuego nervously asked, his suspense getting the best of him.

"They could have turned feral and became the ruler of the Eternarift's dungeon, possibly becoming an alpha if they amassed enough power inside it."

At the thought of a civilian Gyarados returning to their feral roots, Grady lost his composure. His wings and feet began to tremble with an unknown sorrow.

"That's why we must hurry to the university! I don't care if you're not ready, I'm preparing a teleport!"

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Team Ventus raised no objection. Huddling around the Alakazam, the three birds silently braced themselves to be warped away.


~ Kira University, Commons Area ~

The warp was quick and painless, expected of an experienced psychic. Though what the Corviknight couldn't expect was being warped directly above a sea of civilians fleeing the area. Instinctively, all of Team Ventus flapped their wings, Aile having a difficult time steadying herself.

"Okay! We're here! Now what do we do!?" Fuego yelled to Alcryst, trying to raise his voice over the screeching mob.

"I'll take care of the Eternarift! The rest of you control the situation! I'll get back to you when I can!" The Alakazam then sped off in the direction the civilians were fleeing from, leaving Team Ventus to deal with the situation at hand.

"Boss? Your orders?"

Grady shakily held his position, his breathing beginning to stiffen, "We do as he says! We must minimize the number of civilians that are pulled in!"

The other two nodded in agreement and the team immediately got to work.


~ Crystal Cove Clearing ~

After having climbed the stairs, Team Nova reached the next floor. However, there were neither orbs nor gates to sight. What was odd was that there was a strange door on the southern edge of the room. Where the rest of the room was a reddish-orange color, the door was a deep blue color. Such a sight confused everybody.

"What's with this dungeon? Did it break its own rules?" Neltharios asked.

"I hope not," Palla said, "I don't want any more surprises…"

Traximus whirred his head around, seeing no other hallways or paths to take. "It doesn't look like there's anywhere else to go."

After the Bagon spoke, a painful roar was heard in the direction of the door that rang in everybody's ears causing the group to cringe. Following the roar, that pinging noise rang about, the loudest it's ever been.

"What was that?!" Reiner cried, clutching his head, "I think it gave me a concussion from its voice alone!"

Traximus, who stopped cringing first, trudged towards the door. "If we stand here waiting, then our problems will only get worse. Everybody ready?"

Everybody glanced at each other, silently agreeing on the approach of moving forward. Turning and staring at the door, Traximus took a deep breath. Shoving the door open with his head, he expected to be greeted with the sight of some legendary Pokémon. Instead, he was greeted with the scene of a Gyarados, lurching about in pain. Everybody froze upon seeing it.

"O-okay…" Neltharios gulped, "Don't move and it won't see you."

"I d-don't think… that's how that works…" Reiner muttered, his voice breaking.

The Gyarados's eyes then locked onto Team Nova as soon as they opened. A cold sweat trickled down Traximus's face as his bravery faltered to a halt.

"H-Hello? Who are you…?"

The soft and mellow voice that came from the Gyarados somehow put Team Nova even more on the defensive. Okay, I wasn't expecting that, Traximus pondered. Is this another puzzle? A trap? Maybe he's just a feral that managed to learn how to speak? Traximus subconsciously began to step backwards towards the door, his teammates following suit in no time after.

"W-Wait! Please don't go! I won't hurt you, promise!"

All of the smaller Pokémon stopped themselves from exiting the room. However, their guards were still raised.

"W-who are you," Palla shakily asked, "…and w-what are you doing here?"

"My name is Euno… I was going out to fetch something for my… er, mate. A Milotic. We both live in the seas near Treasure Town." The Gyarados's facial fins drooped, "But on my way back, I was attacked by somebody. I got mad and fought back, but I got hit with something and my vision went black. Then I ended up here."

"R-right…" Reiner said, on the verge of crying fearful tears, "And-And you're not still mad, are you?"

"NO! I'm NOT mad!" The Gyarados roared, ramming his head against the wall of the room, generating a deafening pinging sound.

"Okay, okay! You're not mad, you're not mad!"

After the ringing subsided, Traximus began formulating thoughts in his head. When Euno hit his head on the wall, it made the same pinging sound we've been hearing all throughout the dungeon. At the same time, when we changed the colors of the dungeon, we also heard that pinging sound. Could this mean that Euno has something to do with this dungeon? I have to at least ask…

"Hey Euno," Traximus said, attracting the attention of the Gyarados, "Were you slamming your head against the walls earlier?"

"Y-yes, I was…" Euno responded, guiltily, "I was in so much pain… One moment it feels like there was a rushing torrent of water flowing through me, and the next, a raging fire storm… I couldn't help it, so I lost control of myself and hit my head against the walls."

So that confirms it then. The color change in the dungeon has something to do with Euno. But how? Traximus studied Euno for a bit, trying to spot any anomalies. He looks like a perfectly normal Gyarados.

"Are you feeling okay now?" Palla asked Euno, who turned his attention to her.

"I-I don't know… My stomach's been aching ever since I've been here. I don't even know how long it's been. I miss Lo-Lo. I've probably worried her for too long. I wish I could get out and just be with her again…"

Traximus looked towards the rest of his team, and then back to Euno. The Gyarados looked somber, as if he was about to burst into tears. This isn't what I expected, but maybe it's better than having to fight. But how do we get out of here? There aren't exactly any stairs that lead downward.

"NO! Get OUT of my head!"

Everybody suddenly looked up at Euno, who looked even more pained than before. His body arched upward and his body was coated in a bright red sheen.

"What's happening to him!?" Palla screamed, mortified at the scene.

"STOP! PLEASE!" The roaring voice booming in the tiny room, forcing everybody to cringe once more.

"Please don't tell me we have to fight him," Reiner shouted, "I can't fight that!"

The Gyarados's tearful irises began to flash a purple-indigo color while his sclera turned a scarlet red color. "Make it STOP! Lo-Lo! Somebody! HELP!"

Another round of painful roars was followed up by a blinding flash of red light. What followed was the Gyarados being completely consumed by a large crystalline structure.

"Traxman! You know everything! What's happening here," Reiner commanded an answer.

"You think I know! I'm just as clueless as you are!" Traximus responded.

Suddenly, the crystals exploded, revealing Euno, but his sclera and irises was completely consumed by a scarlet red hue. What was most eluding to Team Nova was the strange crystalline candle-like structure that planted itself squarely in the cranium of the Gyarados. The team instinctively took fighting stances, although their fatigue was beginning to catch up with them. Traximus fought hard to keep himself completely upright.

We might actually die here. The Bagon thought to himself, doing nothing to ease his situation.


Modern Pokemon fans will know what's up with Euno.

Next: To defeat the enemy, you must defy what logic you know...