Hello everyone, apologies in advance as I followed up my longest chapter yet with my shortest. I just didn't feel the need to stretch it out, I'm going to aim to get back on track with longer chapters next week! I hope everyone has had a safe and fun week, please enjoy the chapter and I will be back!

P.S.: I'm aware I might need to hire a spellchecker or something. XD

Chapter 6

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Liza sighed in contemplation as she sat in her cage, grooming a stray tuft of hair that jutted out from her face. The lead Passimian had just hit Erin with his Gunk Shot, causing her Teleport Stone to glow a bright blue before she disappeared from sight.

A good thing she brought that after all, she sheepishly thought. It's a shame, he really was hurt from his own berry attack. If Erin pressed, she might've actually won. That dummy is too thoughtful…that's going to be a problem in this type of guild.

Tapping at the cage she was in, Liza felt a little amused at how simple the design was. It was a plain steel bar cage with a basic lock at the top of it. With satisfaction, she discovered her tail was long enough to reach the lock that was on the outside.

Great. Now I'm assuming they didn't just pull those berries from a portal or something…

As if on cue, the Passiman started hopping down from their ledges with Liza realizing they all had little blue backpacks with them. The lead Passimian also grabbed his own backpack from behind a rock.

He bopped the Passimian that hit him in the face semi-angrily. "You fool, almost knocked me out with that throw." He grumbled.

The other Passimian rubbed the bump that was forming. "I'm sorry, man, I didn't think she'd see through our attack. Are you okay?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned. The lead Passimian grabbed an Oran Berry from his pouch, biting into it.

His grin returned. "Yeah, she packed a bigger punch than I thought. Too bad she zapped out of here." He complained. "Ah well, we got one of them at least. And such a pretty one, too."

Liza stuck her tongue out at him. "Drop dead." She muttered, her eyes glowing that bright light blue color again. "So much for fighting her yourself."

The leader Passimian smirked. "Technically, no one attacked her. They only assisted me." He said tauntingly.

Liza frowned as suddenly, everything became like an X-Ray for her. While she could still perfectly make out shapes, she now also saw through material, able to pinpoint specific spots she wanted to zoom in on if she focused.

Her focus switched from backpack to backpack, and as it did she was able to clearly make out all of the berries inside. Many were now mashed up from the team constantly reaching in and out. It wasn't long though before her eyes settled on a Passimian who sat to her left, alone in relation to the other Passimian. As she spied in his bag, her eyes focused on the key-shaped blob that was located in the side pockets.

"What are you going to do with her?" The same Passimian with the bump asked his leader, who currently had the eager eyes of his teammates on him.

The lead Passimian scratched his chin, eyeing her maliciously. "As pretty as she is….I think the Guildmaster would pay us a pretty penny to have one of his strongest guild members back. Actually…" He broke off momentarily as impressed "ah's" were rising from his team. He spoke up to be heard, although his voice was filled with more confidence. "We could use her to lure out their Deputy, capture him, and suddenly our blackmail price increases tenfold."

The eyes of his teammates bulged as they gave impressive hoots and shouts, even dancing with each other in victory. "Our leader is a genius!" Even the leader joined in the celebration, laughing heartily with his team.

Liza rolled her eyes at their stupidity before turning her attention back to the Passimian, who now had his backpack on, with the key. Flattening her ears in embarrassment as she realized what she was about to do, she winked at the Passimian, releasing several pink hearts that surrounded him. They circled him before shrinking into his body, causing his attention to snap towards her. He instantly looked at her in pure infatuation, hearts in his eyes and his tongue hanging out as he bounded towards her.

"O' Blessed Arceus!" He sang, jumping to a kneel before her. "Thank you for bringing me my soul mate. Oh, true love. Let us run off together and forget these idiots. Let's not worry about any obstacles."

Liza calmly sat up. "Oh, you mean like you trying to kidnap me?" She asked, venom drenched behind her happy tone. She twanged the bars of the cage with the tail one more time. "Say, what's this cage made of anyway? It seems super solid."

The Passimian grabbed onto the cage, his heart swooning. "Pure silver, we are the richest team of thieves in the world after all. And it is certainly a cage suitable for my queen." He sang.

"Aw…that was actually a little sweet." Liza frowned, before a mischievous grin popped on her face. As the team danced, each Passimian one by one was hit with a pink heart, infatuating them and bringing them over to Liza. The lead Passimian didn't even realize his crew was gone until the last one had just started walking away.

He blinked his eyes open in surprise as he discovered he was celebrating alone currently. His eyes popped comically open as now his team was holding up Liza's cage and throwing her a celebration. Liza, for her part, was also starting to enjoy the attention.

"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?" He yelled, comically.

Liza's eyes darkened, although the smile didn't leave her face. Her cheeks sparked and suddenly a single crack echoed into the mine, the vibrations lasting several seconds. Everything paused for a moment, before the Passimian holding the cage fell to the ground, twitching and groaning as they were fried.

The lead Passimian's eyes widened in shock as he felt the static shock, albeit not nearly as powerfully as his team, coursed through his body, paralyzing him temporarily. Liza nonchalantly reached her tail in the pocket of one of his team members, pulled out a key and unlocked her door.

"Phew, I thought I was a goner there for a second." She said, stepping out and over the charred Pokemon. She clicked her tongue scoldingly at the leader. "You realize silver is the most conductive metal in the world, right? Bet this mine has some buried as well, imagine if I actually put some effort in that attack?" She puffed her cheeks as though to

The leader, mind blown, could only stand and stare in fear, between the vibrations from the shock still paralyzing his legs and the sheer reputation of the Luxray in front of him. She had taken all of his team out in a single hit, solidifying the fact the leader Passimian had no chance at winning.

Biting his quivering lip, he fell to his knees and bent his shaking body. "Please…I surrender, I don't care if I'm arrested. Just please don't hurt me." He whimpered. He looked up as a paw placed itself on top of his hand. He looked up and his body clenched in fright as a ferocious snarl was plastered on the usual goodhearted Liza's face. The pupils of her red and yellow eyes were down to pinpoints while her nose was crinkled to reveal multiple razor-sharp teeth. The hair on her hackles rose as she towered over him.

"Do I look like a cop to you?" Her growl was ice cold. The leader Passimian could only let out a desperate shriek as the cavern flashed a bright yellow color….

The leader Passimian was crisped on the ground, tears still running down his face as his legs twitched.

Liza was keeled over on her back, laughing as her paws were held to her stomach. "Hee hee, did you see his face, Erin? His life LITERALLY flashed before his eyes…Erin?" She stopped and peeked around trying to find her. Her ears pulled back in embarrassment as she remembered the Snivy's condition. "Ah beans, that's right. I should probably go make sure she's okay."

Hauling the leader over her back in a show of strength, Liza jumped from ledge to ledge, making the difficult looking jump with ease as she headed towards the second entrance…

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"HELP ME!"

Erin looked around, her vision completely black. The voice sounded terrified yet familiar.

"HELP ME!"

"Hello?" Erin called to the voice, running in blindness as she tried frantically to find the Pokémon screaming for help. She knew the voice; she just couldn't place the face. "Where are you?"

"HELP ME!"

The air left Erin's lungs as a weight suddenly crashed down on her stomach. Her eyes popping open from the surprise, she saw the Pawmi from earlier with a look of sheer terror on his face as his wild looking eyes stared back behind him, stepping on Erin in his blind fear. Liza had a murderous look on her face as she chased the small rodent around the campsite.

"YOU MORON, WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US OF HOW ANY THERE WERE?" Liza screamed comically. The Pawmi had climbed on a small ledge of the mine, just big enough to support him.

He crouched backwards on the ledge, shaking. "Ain't' nothing in my contract says anything about this "counting"! He shouted back, peeking carefully over the ledge at the lion.

"WHAT ABOUT THE SECOND ENTRANCE. I NEARLY BROKE MY NECK IN THERE!" She pounced, causing the Pawmi to scramble in fright as she made it up the slate of stone he was on. With a terrified squeak, he fell down past Liza and back on the ground, turning tail and heading towards his crew who anxiously backed away from the fracas. He hid behind one of the Dugtrio's who looked incredibly annoyed.

"Um-" Erin spoke up, causing Liza to halt her chase with a sudden screech. She immediately bounded up to her.

"Erin, are you okay?" Erin felt bad, she sounded genuinely concerned.

Erin nodded. "Yeah…I'm sorry about that Liza…I really screwed up at the end there." She said, depressed. However, she suddenly perked as if remembering something. "Wait, are you okay? What happened to the Passimian?"

Liza gave her a smug look. "Taken care of." She turned her shoulders to let Erin see past her. As she did, Erin's jaw dropped as multiple Diglett and Dugtrio were carrying the unconscious Passimian out one by one to a pile where a few already were tied up. "They really weren't that much of a hassle, even with the handicap."

Erin looked at Liza in wonderment.

I couldn't even beat one of them…

Liza picked up on the lachrymose look that was beginning to form on Erin's face once more. Feeling embarrassed, she held up her paws to soothe her.

"But, hey. You didn't do bad." She said, giving her a sheepish smile. "I think with plenty of training, you're going to be able to be really strong. You probably would have beat him one on one!" She pointed out.

Erin, unconvinced, sighed. "I'm just happy they're caught. That's all that matters, right?" She asked, wincing in pain as she tried to stand up.

Liza shook her head. "You got to rest up for a second there, bucko. That was a hard attack you took, like I said, I can't have you die on me. We can try again tomorrow!" She gave Erin a cheeky grin, which caused the ends of Erin's mouth to be pulled into a small smile. Feeling more like herself from the Luxray's contagious optimism, she let her depression melt away.

Sitting back, Erin clenched her fists. "Tomorrow's another day…" She repeated softly.

There was pause. "Yeah, but it might be worse." The Pawmi suddenly spoke up very stupidly, earning a scary glance from Liza. He shrank behind the Dugtrio once more, who was slowly lowering himself into the ground with half closed annoyed eyes. Erin sweat dropped but determined to not let her failure get to her. Liza made a point; she did handle herself well for an unfair advantage. Besides, she might have stood a better chance if not for her falling for such an easy dupe.

Erin bit her lip as she realized how glaring of a weakness that might be for her. If she really wanted to be a great guild member one day…would she have to completely sacrifice her empathy?