A/N: This one's shorter because I have to plan out how to do the next ones.
~ Northrun, Gullveria – 36 hours later ~
The streets were lined with Pokémon of all kinds. The bustling trade city rang about the night, merchants and buyers swinging in and out of buildings. Sasha found it hard not to scout out her surroundings, as she feared peering eyes onto her person. Coming to a stop near an alleyway, the Tyranitar hopped off her caravan, thanked the driver, and moved further in. As she treaded deeper into darkness, a light further down caught her attention. Approaching it, she encountered a Machoke guard.
"You got ID?" The Machoke asked.
Sasha pulled the pendant out of her satchel and displayed it for the guard. The guard took a moment to inspect it thoroughly before leaning backward against the wall he was near.
"Good. You remember the password?"
"Ingasa Eta Sigma." Sasha replied.
The Machoke gave Sasha a nod. He looked about, and seeing nobody, he added, "The boss ain't here. But somebody was filling in for him tonight. Wouldn't keep the guy waiting."
The Machoke stepped out of the way enough to enable Sasha's burly frame to enter the building. Upon entering, she was met with a whole host of Pokémon who bore the same pendant that she wears. Breezing past them, she came to a staircase which led both upwards and downwards. Descending the stairs, she came to a set of doors on the lowest floor. Entering the door on her left, she found a Dragapult waiting in the corner, half invisible with a scowl on his face.
"You're just on time." The Dragapult snarled, "And good thing too. I was about to get bored."
"Who are you?" Sasha asked, "I've never seen you around here before."
The parts of the Dragapult that were invisible suddenly became visible as he floated towards the Tyranitar. Getting to eye level with her, he extended his tiny arm to her.
"Name's Fafnir. Yours?"
The Tyranitar slowly gripped and shook the hand of the Dragapult. "Sasha. Don't wear it out."
"Good." Fafnir floated back near the corner he was at initially, his body once again going half invisible. "Now we wait for the other one to arrive."
"Where's the boss?" Sasha asked, rolling her arm, "I was told he was gonna be here."
"Since Alcryst's been back on the map, the boss changed gears. He wants you and I to take a little trip west into Talgeria to meet up with him."
"And what of 'Derge?"
"What about Gunka? He hasn't arrived yet, has he?"
"Gunka? That's his name?"
Fafnir shook his head, disapprovingly, "He's your cohort and you didn't even bother to get his true name?"
"Some agents keep their operative names and their real names separate, apparently." Sasha grunted, rolling her eyes.
"That would be the smart thing to do, Sasha."
"If I was a high-profile criminal, then sure…"
Just then, the door behind Sasha swung open. Coming through the door, a short, quadruped crocodilian Pokémon lined with red and white and fires about its body made his appearance. The Pokémon abruptly shut the door behind him using his tail and heaved further into the room.
"My bad for being late! Got held up by something." Gunka turned to the Tyranitar and winked at her, "Hey Sashie, glad you could make it!"
The Tyranitar looked away and pretended to not notice him, "Right. Dingus is here now. So, let's get this over with. What does the boss want, and how does he want it done?"
Fafnir once again brought himself out of the corner he was sheltered in. "To be brief, the boss and I got wind of a particular treasure inside of the University you've made contact with. Said treasure mean a lot to our boss's plan and we intend to take it."
"Okay," Gunka started, "But what is this treasure and how do Eternarifts help us get it?"
Fafnir chuckled a bit before turning to the Skelederge and saying bluntly, "The treasure is the Spatial Key, housing the spirit of the god of Space, Palkia."
Gunka nearly doubled over in disbelief while Sasha blinked several times, needing to perform a double take.
"What!?" Sasha exclaimed, "Who!? How!?"
"The president of the university is a very powerful Pokémon." Fafnir exposited, "He fought in the war and with his riches, founded the university. Word has it that he obtained the key sometime after his time in service. As for 'How' and 'Why', we have no idea."
Fafnir lowered his head, "As it pertains to Eternarifts, if we can manage to create enough chaos, we may be able to separate the president from his treasure. And we now have the perfect means to do so."
Fafnir handed Gunka a satchel with a strange mark on it. "This package contains a certain Eterna orb, the first of its kind. It's so potent, that you must keep it sealed. There's a timer on the bag that you can set to any desired time you wish."
The Dragapult leaned back, giving Gunka space, "You, or one of your cohorts, are to set the bag to a time that will enable you to have enough time to escape the University."
Genka stared at the bag holstered on his side, eyeing it uneasily. "W-What's so different about this orb compared to the ones we're used to using?"
Fafnir glared into the Skelederge's eyes, intimidating him, "These orbs operate differently. You'll see when you use it."
~ Chapter 3: Return to Form? ~
~ Hall of Ordination – A week later ~
"Students," Dr. Mamado clamored, "Remember that alphas are Pokémon that assume control over their territory. Should an alpha ever be slain, the ferals that it assumed control over will begin warring amongst themselves for control."
As the lesson went on, Neltharios found it harder and harder to pay attention. He kept more to himself ever since his conversation with Alcryst, a fact that was beginning to become ever so apparent to others, as Traximus gave him glances of concern. Still, he welcomed any chance he got to put his attention elsewhere. The thought of turning feral and attacking anybody and everybody was one layer of complexity on top of potentially having to be put down. As he sat there pondering the possibilities, he failed to realize that the lesson had ended, and his classmates were getting up to leave. He only snapped back to reality when Traximus appeared before him and waved his nub in his face.
"Hey, buddy, you doing okay?" The Bagon asked.
Neltharios fumbled over himself, dropping some of his items in the process, "Uh, yeah! I'm good!"
"Really? I've never seen you lost in thought this much. Like… At all."
The Charmander began to pick up his things, droplets of sweat forming on his face, "Trust me, I'm fine."
Traximus merely lowered his head, "If you say so…" He then headed towards the door, "Come on, let's go find Kruler. Maybe she'll want to join us for lunch."
Neltharios watched as Traximus departed for the door. He gazed at the bandages lining his back and the stained blood on them. 'How can he act so normally after what we've just been through? Didn't the Eternarift infect us all with something? Why am I the one that's suffering the most out of this?!' After picking up his things, Neltharios followed in Traximus's footsteps, and eventually linked up with him. The duo walked in uneasy silence, a first for the both of them, as Traximus's growing look of concern eventually disgusted Neltharios enough to look away from him entirely. Their walk came to a halt somewhere in the commons area of the campus when Traximus couldn't handle the silence anymore.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Traximus asked, his face ripe with worry, "You've been this way for the past few days, and you won't tell me why."
Neltharios crossed his arms, still averting his friend's gaze, "Maybe I don't wanna tell you."
"Why not?" Traximus tapped his nubs together, "…Is it about our classmate…?"
"Well…" Neltharios muttered, "That's one of the things."
"Hey!" A voice called out from somewhere behind the pair. Both Traximus and Neltharios looked at the source and were stunned to see an unexpected face.
"Kroto!?" Traximus called back, "You're okay! And you brought Kruler?"
The Passimian approached with the Totodile following beside him. Both appeared to be in relatively high spirits, evident by the teethy smiles that they give Traximus. Neltharios couldn't help but smile a slight bit at the sight. However, his smile faltered when he saw a strange black instrument protruding out of Kroto's chest.
"What happened to you? You were gone for a while," Traximus asked.
"The Doc had to keep me a bit longer for operations sake." Kroto explained, "But now I got an implant that helps me breathe a bit better."
Neltharios gave Kroto a disapproving look, "An implant? That thing on your chest looks more like a prosthetic to me…"
"Yeah. He had some lung damage," Kruler interjected, "And now he looks like one of those superheroes in those stories that my uncle used to tell me!"
Kroto flustered slightly at the comment and put his hand behind his neck, "Eh, I wouldn't say I look like those guys…"
Neltharios shook his head, "When did you two get so close?"
At Neltharios's comment, the high spirits died off slightly. All eyes fell on Neltharios with Traximus giving him a scathing look. Neltharios merely crossed his arms, "It's a genuine question. You guys seemed like you hated each other just last week."
"Well, after our, uh, incident, we decided to start over," Kroto narrated, "We took some time off and talked things out. We then realized that we have a lot more in common than we thought."
Kruler messed a bit with her arms, "And… I was a bit of a hothead back there. We should have just ran…"
"It wasn't exactly your fault. I was a bit reckless too. And don't forget who encouraged you!"
"Who's the dummy who decided to act on that encouragement!"
The two fell into a fit of laughter, bringing back the high spirits the two brought earlier. Traximus too, couldn't hold back a chuckle. Neltharios just looked on, his boredom beginning to show.
"Come on guys," Kroto suggested, "Let's go get lunch. I fancy some stew!"
