PMD: Warped Skies

by Team Ion

Playing the part of the hero sounded fun at first, until he took a meaty punch to the face. Stranded in a world reminiscent of a game he once knew, a human-turned-Meowth struggles to retain his humanity while filling the shoes of the game's protagonists. However, this is not a game. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, SI-OC/Isekai. Cover by Bograbbit!

19. An Underground Secret

Oh-hohohoho. It's beginning now.

---

"Success!" Chimecho whooped, doing a loop-de-loop in celebration. "Xatu. You still there?"

"Hmm." The mystical bird huffed cross the mental link. "Yes. Who is this?"

"Chimecho of the Wigglytuff Guild," Chimecho answered, pursing her lips as she maintained the connection. "A situation of grave importance has occurred on the Grass Continent and the Wigglytuff Guild is taking action. However, we are assembling as many allies as we can, and both you and the residents of Pokémon Square could be of great assistance here. The world is likely at stake here."

"By 'residents of Pokémon Square' you intend on recruiting Team Go-Getters?"

"Yes, them. Team A.C.T, Whiscash, and anyone who may be able to help." A note of pleading entered her voice. "The Time Gears are being stolen, three have already gone missing, and we are scouting potential Time Gear locations to look for the remaining ones to guard, but the guild is only so big, and many places may be greatly difficult to work through."

"I understand," Xatu replied. "The winds have stopped blowing at my home, despite the storms that assail this place. The sun feels fixated in place yet moving rapidly. I have noticed these things."

Chimecho waited patiently, but Xatu seemed finished. "Uh… can you go to Pokémon Square to ask for help?"

"Very well," Xatu answered. "I will make haste, I can see it. I will commune back to you once I have arrived."

Chimecho breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you Xatu." She felt the connection end and then the headache replace it. "Oh dear," she groaned and sagged in air, nearly falling down. "No. No. I must give this news." She continued talking to herself, keeping the overpowering headache from sending her to the floor, floating out of the medical wing and onto the main floor.

---

"Moving on everyone," Chatot said primly, fluttering a bit in place to regain the attention that had wandered, "to the most important topic of the day."

Days had passed since the leads to the Time Gears were found and nothing had been said since then. Loudred had been grumpier than usual, manning the gate with particular ferocity. Dugtrio was so anxious that even staring out at the sea didn't alleviate his concerns completely.

Even Croagunk was showing the tightly wounded tenseness of the guild. The amphibian pokémon didn't talk much in general, but he had said almost nothing for the last few days, he only stood by his Swap Cauldron, gripping its rim tightly with both hands.

Or he lurked around Sean, leaving the meowth feeling curiously safe and in danger at the same time. He hadn't found even a single hour for the last few days where he wasn't in someone's presence or felt eyes trailing his actions.

Knowing he had Rai and Mane, and Croagunk too he supposed, was comforting, but the ever-present feeling of being watched left him tense and irritable.

Crushed deep within his Treasure Bag laid a letter he dearly wanted to hide in Sharpedo Bluff, but absolutely no one was giving him a chance to sneak out. It didn't help that the thought of going out alone for even a few minutes left him feeling ill.

So here they were. The guild and allies assembled and ready as Chatot waffled on half-heartedly. Electrike of Team Gazer yawned loudly. Even Guildmaster Wigglytuff seemed tired, although in comparison to the rest of the guild he had a sparkle in his eye and a determined tilt to his head.

It was odd how different it made him seem. From the cheerful goofiness he always presented, this Wigglytuff seemed more of the same. He danced even more, he spoke with all the apprentices at times one-on-one to take on some of their burdens, he felt livelier. It was all the same as he was before, but the guild was finding it reassuring rather than annoying.

Wigglytuff's cheer and determination kept spirits high. He had brought in a duo of extra helpers during the time spent researching, a familiar alakazam and the many new faces of a claydol. They were standing with Wigglytuff and Dusknoir as Chatot spoke.

Chatot was finally ready to explain the goal of the day. "The trio of Bidoof, Diglett, and Croagunk unearthed something of particular use on their assignment to Fogbound Lake," Chatot said, the three pokémon in question straightened up. "Three glyphs. With conference with Dusknoir, many books of legend, and the items discovered on the excursions to Boulder Quarry and Treeshroud Forest, we believe we have pinpointed four key locations where the remaining Time Gears may be found."

"Oh my gosh spit it out!" Sunflora demanded when Chatot paused for breath.

"Hush," he snapped, and she crossed her leafy arms. "Be patient, Sunflora, or leave the room." She sighed and sagged, letting Chatot take the time needed to compose the next part in his head.

"It is believed that if Uxie, the Being of Knowledge, protected one Time Gear, then it is likely that there may be two others. Three pokémon make up this 'spiritual' balance of the world. And so, Mesprit, the Being of Emotion and Azelf, the Being of Willpower, also may protect Time Gears," Chatot explained and gestured for Dusknoir to speak up.

"Indeed," the imposing Ghost-type rumbled. "In my travels I have heard small myths of these ancient pokémon. One thing of note is that all three are thought to be tied to lakes of some sort. Fogbound Lake is one, adding credibility to such a theory."

"Furthermore." Wigglytuff stepped forward himself to speak. "After observing the pictures at Fogbound Lake for ourselves we can determine that one is likely found in a cave of sorts. The other appears to be underwater, judging by the apparent whirlpool held above them."

Chatot nodded his thanks to the two. "But such markers are insignificant considering how many caves there are and the amount of water that exists." The rest of the guild nodded, some looking a little discouraged. "However, with the tome that Corphish and Team Gazer brought back, we were able to learn a little more."

Beheeyem gave a smile to Corphish who nodded back. Electrike wanted to speak up, but Beldum nudged him; nearly knocking him into Beheeyem in the process.

"From Ditto's tome," Chatot said, ignoring the small domestic spat brewing in Team Gazer, "we were able to learn a small part of the role of the Time Gears, however most of the book was too old and decrepit to make sense of. From that, however, we were able to garner a small 'scope' of sorts of the Time Gears. Each was placed in a strategic location on the continent itself, ruling out the sea it seems."

"So what are the locations you have decided upon?" Beheeyem asked, voice strained from the effort of holding Electrike and Beldum apart with Psychic.

"We have decided to search two locations in the Northern Desert," Chatot answered, giving a mildly disapproving look for two of Team Gazer's behaviour. "Solemn Cave and Crystal Cave."

"The first two locations chosen," Dusknoir said as Beheeyem succeeded in quelling the mutiny occurring between his teammates. "Will be the Northern Desert and Crystal Cave. Half the guild will explore Crystal Cave and the other half will be split again to look through the desert."

"Bidoof, Sunflora, and Dugtrio are assigned to Crystal Cave," Wigglytuff said, speaking up again. "You'll be going with Alakazam, he will be teleporting you straight there, so it won't take you weeks to arrive." Calling attention to the two new pokémon brought everyone's eyes to them.

Alakazam stroked his moustache and nodded. "For this case of the Time Gears, it is my solemn duty to assist however I can. A teleport that far in two days will take time, however, and leave me very drained. Therefore I'll be waiting outside the dungeon for your return."

"Thank you Alakazam!" Sunflora said, bowing gratefully.

"Yup-yup, I reckon this is going to make the exploration much easier!"

"Our thanks to you in this most noble cause."

"Claydol is going to be teleporting the rest to the outskirts of the Northern Desert," Claydol said, voice shivering in the air. "Claydol shall await outside, yes, Claydol shall. Dungeons are dangerous, Claydol cannot risk entering."

After that curious manner of acting, Chatot flapped and moved the conversation along. "Team Gazer, we request you search Solemn Cave. As it is the closest dungeon to Treasure Town, we were hoping the lack of a teleport would not be an offence."

"No, no." Beheeyem waved his hand. "Not at all. We can make the trip."

"I'd like a teleport," Electrike muttered but quietened when Beheeyem bumped him.

"Statement: It is no problem."

"From there we will have Croagunk, Diglett, Corphish, and Loudred make their way to the Trickling Sand Dungeon while Team Ion shall," Chatot's voice turned somewhat bitter, but he did his best not to let his disapproval show, "search the actual Northern Desert dungeon."

Sean nodded while a few apprentices exchanged looks.

"Is that…?" Sunflora began. "Wise? I mean, two of their members are weak to Ground-type pokémon."

"It is the decision made," Chatot said sharply.

Croagunk was dissatisfied with that answer. "Why is Team Ion being sent there so soon after their recovery?"

Rai frowned and glanced to Mane who wore a combative expression, he didn't say anything yet though.

"This is the decision made in conference with the Guildmaster and the Great Dusknoir. Do you doubt their wisdom?" Chatot demanded.

"Do you?" Croagunk jabbed back and Chatot stuttered.

"N-not at all!" He flapped angrily while Wigglytuff stared ahead, Dusknoir's eye was on Team Ion. "Drop the matter. The decision has been made. No matter how… it has been made so stop."

Croagunk shrugged and Chatot shook it off again. "Chimecho will remain here as will the Guildmaster and I. Dusknoir will be heading to Crystal Cave with the others."

Chatot gave a sharp look to Croagunk who looked ready to ask why Dusknoir wasn't going with Team Ion. They glared at each other for a moment before Croagunk looked away.

Ignoring the dissent, Wigglytuff bounced on his feet. "This is our quest," Wigglytuff said brightly spreading his arms as if to hug the whole guild. "Prepare, gather your items, get your maps, and get along. We are saving the world!"

"Hear-hear," Chatot said, and most of the guild quickly gave their own in kind.

"But I do wish to say something more," Wigglytuff said with uncharacteristic seriousness. The various looks and stretches from the guild paused to look up to their Guildmaster. "There has never been a group of apprentices I have been prouder of. The way you have all adapted to this terrible situation and stand ready to fix it shows you are all heroes. I am honoured to have brought you into the guild. Each and every one of you is a pokémon ready to save the world. You have all been chosen for a reason. Thank you for being here."

"G-Guildmaster," Chatot whispered before bobbing his head and covering his face with a wing. He composed himself quickly and turned to the misty-eyed guild. "You've heard the Guildmaster," he said sharply. "There are great expectations here. Do not disappoint."

"You won't," Wigglytuff said brightly.

"Are you all ready?" Chatot asked. "Wigglytuff Guild, get ready to depart."

"HOORAY!" The cheer shook the windows of the guild, causing tiny pebbles to crumble off the cliff and into the ocean.

From there the guild surged out in a passionate burst of activity. Sean found himself running to keep up with Rai, who was sparking with energy, and Mane who held the most interestingly amused smile on his face.

"Quite the speech, eh?" he laughed as they both had to run to keep pace with Rai and all the supplies he was chattering. "It's even got me pumped."

"Heh." Sean grinned back. "The Guildmaster is good at what he does."

Mane kept a mental list of all the items Rai was repeating as they got into line. Several other apprentices had got there before them and the Kecleon Brothers looked almost overwhelmed. Pokémon were running this way and that, several early risers were staring at the guild members in surprise while others ran up or away to find out what was going on.

Sean found himself energised and unable to stand still after a few moments. "Looks like this is going to take a bit," he said, looking to Rai and Mane. "I think I'll go for a run and I'll meet you at the crossroads?"

"Sounds good," Rai said distractedly, Mane gave him a salute.

With his heart pumping fast and paws tingling, Sean pointed his face left and began to run. A minute later Mane looked to Rai. "You realise he left with the Treasure Bag?" he asked, and Rai cursed.

"He'll figure it out," Rai said, looking warily to where the meowth had sprinted off to. "I think."

"I hope."

Sean ran along, mind whirring and mouth very dry. He knew this was his chance, he felt energised, the whole town was distracted, and he was recognised to be running laps around the town anyway so there would be no suspicion.

The sound of crashing waves reminded him of the guild, or his first night in this world, as Sean ran up to the cliff. Thankfully Dugtrio wasn't there whispering sweet nothings to the sea, instead an overgrown entrance to a home left behind.

Sean moved the thatched, mossy, covering and dipped his head into Rai's home. He slowed slightly, going down the steps, just out of a lingering wariness. Stepping into Rai's home was curious, he found, and left him feeling just a mite nostalgic.

The waterhole remained untouched to the left while the mouth of Sharpedo Bluff opened out to witness a glorious view of the sea. The straw was long eroded and scattered about the room, likely due to the wind. A small bundle of berries had rotted away into blackened mush and spread around a little.

There was a clear lack of anyone there. A very distant part of Sean's mind was grateful that the spiders of this world could talk, and didn't infest little places, so he didn't have to keep his eyes on the ceiling. He did anyway.

He dug into the Treasure Bag, sifting through it, until he found the crumpled note. He smoothed it out, checking for any serious damage, before trotting to Rai's waterhole.

The waterhole was waterproof, thankfully, and wasn't pressed completely into the wall. He stuffed the letter into a crack and stepped back, checking to make sure it wasn't immediately visible nor would fly out if the wind got in again.

He adjusted it twice before deciding it had to be enough and he had to leave, or else things would look odd. While passing back through Treasure Town he handed the Treasure Bag to an amused Mane and continued running.

He nearly tripped over a yellow canine pokémon he didn't recognise, and he chased him for a moment, nipping at his tail.

After leaving Treasure Town he continued to run, anxiously burning off the energy, until the guild began to assemble again.

A few townsfolk came to see them off, Spinda included being that they were all amassed near his café, and Sean continued to step in place.

His mind went over everything he could think of for the following event. "Quicksand. Jump in. Mesprit. Will she listen? Grovyle. Grovyle. Oh boy this is NOT going to be fun."

He jogged in place, not stopping even when Mane asked if he was alright. "Too excited," he said, hoping he'd buy it. The litleo nodded and looked away, satisfying Sean.

The nerves having their sordid way with him was almost enough for a Night Slash to begin forming. His paws tingled, tiny motes of utter blackness he could be seen building where his claws extended from. Sean continued to fidget.

Team Gazer left first. Without a teleporter, they had to make the footslog. One of them at least, Beheeyem and Beldum both floated.

Alakazam took Dusknoir, Sunflora, Bidoof, and Dugtrio next, after a few minutes of meditation and moustache stroking.

Claydol took much longer, having a similar distance to teleport with more to do so. It continued to chatter in third person as it focused, however. "Speech is to Claydol a method of focus," it explained part way into its soliloquy.

Soon enough, however, the world melted out from under them and eight pokémon disappeared from the crossroads, Chatot, Chimecho, and Wigglytuff looking on proudly.

A riolu watched them disappear, chewing his lip in nerves. He had a friend who had set off to the Northern Desert some time ago and had heard nothing since.

A sableye watched them disappear, staring through diamond incrusted eyes. It had a master who had set off to save countless pokémon by damning countless others.

A yamper watched them disappear, panting for breath. It had tried to nip a tail, but its owner was too swift.

A skorupi watched them disappear, watching keenly as a drop of venom dripped from its tail. It had news to share.

A pokémon watched them disappear, focus falling on those who remained. She hummed a soothing song to herself before turning and leaving.

---

"This. Place. Is. HORRIBLE!" Mane cried, dragging his paws along the hot sands. It wasn't the heat that irked him, although his companions were worse for wear because it is.

"I know," Rai agreed, his tone filled with equal amounts of sympathy and impatience. "Now please stop complaining about it."

"I don't know what's got you two in a tizzy," Sean laughed, running forward up some hot stones and swiping out with a paw, Night Slash striking a baltoy down and out. "This place is nice and warm. Sand gets into everything though."

The Electric-type shinx and Fire-type litleo glared at him as the Normal-type meowth trotted back to them, smile oozing self-satisfied smugness.

"You wouldn't be so smug if there were Fighting-types all around," Mane sniffed, glaring at small rocks and mounds of sand as if they personally offended him.

"You're a Normal-type too," Sean pointed out as his teammates slowly plodded along behind him.

"Shush."

They walked on. Sean taking the front role for the first time. Being that he stood the best chance of not taking severe damage from a surprise attack, Sean led the way. He didn't mind at all, it felt nice to be useful even if it meant he had sand thrown in his eyes a substantial amount more than he was used to.

Rai carried a near permanent grimace through the dungeon. Nearly every pokémon they encountered was a Ground-type, something he couldn't shock. Mane could at least still blast them, but his own electrical abilities were near useless. The most prominent second type was Grass-type, something Rai felt was offensive to him personally.

He could at least attack those.

He was getting irritated enough to use Bite but using such a move required the closest of quarters and putting his mouth of a Ground-type seemed unwise.

Mane limped along. He had taken a nasty blow to the leg not far into the dungeon. The proud litleo insisted he was fine, but he limped slightly anyway with an imperiously blank expression. Sean forced their Sitrus Berry down his throat, knowing it was a natural painkiller and Mane clearly needed it. Regardless of what he tried to say.

Sean prinked his paw and tried to form a Shadow Ball numerous times, but nothing came. This was a different situation without question, he did not have the time to slowly build and focus. The most he managed was hurting paws.

"If you need blood, you can always use mine," Rai had said brightly upon Sean explaining how he used Shadow Ball. Mane, even Sean, gave him a mildly disturbed look for saying something like that.

This dungeon was almost enjoyable for Sean. With his period of training helping build some stamina and his lack of a weakness to the bulk of pokémon here, Sean was left taking a much larger share of the work then he normally did.

It eased some concerns.

Sean ducked as Mane sent a Fire Blast at a sandshrew while Rai shocked a carnivine that had floated in too close. The sandshrew went down, but the carnivine required more convincing to leave them alone.

Rai continued to be surly until they stumbled across a Yellow Gummi. The shinx gobbled it up without question and buzzed with delight.

"You feel better?" Sean asked, half joking.

"It's a start," Rai said brightly, his tone was chipper, and his tail was waving again.

Sean smiled and led on. His smile dropped when a ninjask attacked them and he clutched the Treasure Bag jealously as Rai dispatched it.

With the Bug-type a twitching heap, they moved on further. The sun continued to beat down on their backs, Mane at least enjoying that, the Ground-types kept coming, which Sean didn't completely mind, and the dungeon stretched on further and further.

Still, Sean kept finding himself glancing over his shoulder. Keeping an eye on Rai and Mane, making sure they were following alright. Checking to ensure that they were there and not attacked and taken away. Checking to make sure they weren't being followed.

He couldn't convince himself of that third one, however.

The feeling of being watched was ever-present even in this dungeon, and no matter how Sean tried to convince himself he was simply being paranoid, or he was just feeling Rai and Mane's eyes, the tenseness in his shoulders wouldn't relieve.

He found himself growing twitchier, his nervous energy from earlier returning and nearly leaving behind his companions.

It took a heavy smack to the face from a pupitar to help him realise he was getting a bit too ahead of himself and Mane took heady delight in smushing an oran berry into his mouth.

Sean grimaced and wiped the blood off his face, going to wipe it onto his fur before pausing. He was already bleeding, and he hadn't tried a Shadow Ball in a while.

"Mind if one of you takes the lead for a bit?" he asked, voice a little wobbly from the recent trauma it suffered. "I just need a few moments to sort myself out, but we can't stop."

"I'll do it!" Mane said immediately and jutted his chest out proudly, his mohawk erupted into flames and he led them out, head up and ready to spew flames at whatever foolish enemy attempted to stop them.

As they walked, Sean tried to put the paranoia out of his mind and began trying to focus on making a Shadow Ball. He and Dusknoir had practised moving and forming the move more than just standing still but try as he might, a small part of his mind kept recoiling at the thought of using his own blood.

"This has to be some sort of sacrilege," the more hysterical part of his mind screamed. "You are using your own blood as taught by someone you KNOW is your enemy. In what universe is that a good idea? Doesn't help that someone is definitely following you and stop pretending like that isn't the case."

Somewhat amused at his own thoughts, Sean smiled. "I wouldn't have thought I was THIS paranoid. Calm down, me." He couldn't help but worry he was being too confident, however.

"No. Freak out! Run across the sands. Dance in the moonlight. TWIST THE POWERS THAT-"

Sean was interrupted from talking to himself when a tyranitar appeared with a roar.

"Oh…" Mane said before swearing harshly enough to make a non-feral tyranitar blush. He stepped back as the tyranitar stepped forward, growling low enough to rumble the sands around them. One of its beady red eyes rolled in place while the other focused keenly on the three. It opened its maw and groaned at them, thick globules of spittle dripping out and splattering on the ground beneath.

"What do we do?" Mane hissed, all three of them had gone stock still. The tyranitar continued to stare and groan, one eye still rolling as the other one's pupil expanded and shrunk. It didn't act towards them, just continued to groan.

Sean was staring at the monster in unveiled disgust, raking his eyes over its emancipated form. Cracks ran through its whole body, a few leaking a ruddy red blood, the blue diamond shape on its torso had purple welts, several fingers were missing on one hand and its tail was missing a chunk.

Despite that, this was still a tyranitar. It breathed heavily, almost gasping for breath, still staring hungrily at them.

"We're going to need to knock it down," Sean said, voice so even and steady that he himself was surprised. "I've got a Sleep Seed, if I can get access to its mouth, preferably on the ground, I can put it to sleep and we can run."

"And how do you plan on knocking it down?" Mane demanded, voice so sharp that the tyranitar's stationary eye narrowed in on him.

It groaned again. A long keening sound that grated on the ears and caused all three felines to take an involuntary step back. It rumbled and voice built to a crescendo before roaring a monstrous howl, rattling the dungeon around them.

"Go for its legs!" Sean screamed, skittering back to dig a paw into the Treasure Bag desperately. He had memorised the pouches he placed their items into long ago, but panic stalled that experience.

Right as Sean dug out a Blast Seed, Mane's Fire Blast impacted with the tyranitar's chest. He was not the best aim under duress and the tyranitar didn't even grunt from the explosive impact. Its tail lashed and it fell onto all four, roaring out again as its maddened eyes glowed white.

Energy built and coalesced around the tyranitar before it howled again, rocks emerging from nowhere to crash down at Team Ion.

All three were forced to scatter in different direction; Sean ran back further, Rai darted to the left, and Mane staggered to the right. His injured leg slowing him down and allowing a large rock to slam into his side and knock him back.

"MANE!" Sean yelled as the litleo crashed down, unmoving.

His eyes flicked between his fallen teammate and the approaching tyranitar, stalled in what to do. His mind raced a thousand miles a minute, but all he could think of was. "DANGER!"

He scrambled back as the tyranitar took a swipe at him, dodging the claws of the whole hand without much trouble. Its eyes flashed again, and more rocks were generated. It sent them crashing down all at Sean as he stopped thinking.

Dropping the Treasure Bag, Sean ducked, jumped, and weaved around the rocks. A few pebbles pounded his belly and his tail was jarred by a fairly large rock slamming into it, but he avoided the hail of rocks without injury.

The tyranitar's hand shot out and grabbed his arm.

In dodging the Rock Slide, Sean had stopped thinking and had gotten closer to the tyranitar rather than further away. He shrieked and slashed out with his claws, but neither Scratch nor Night Slash had much effect on the tyranitar.

It groaned and snared him with both hands, both holding his shoulder and squeezing down with crushing strength. Sean shrieked as his bones creaked and the tyranitar opened its mouth wide. His back arched and his face froze in a silent scream before he dropped completely limp, tail dangling uselessly.

There was a moment of brief hesitation from the feral tyranitar, confused about why its prey stopped moving. This moment was enough for Rai to regain his baring and unleash electrical hell upon the tyranitar.

It howled, the electricity arcing right through its stony shell and burning various injuries on its body, dropping Sean into the ground. The tyranitar roared and lifted its foot to stomp the only threat it could fathom to have done this into paste.

Rai burst through the gap in its legs, pounced on Sean, and rolled him out of the way as the heavy foot smashed down, shaking the battlefield.

The experience of a shinx tackling him was familiarly safe enough that Sean blinked and returned to the present moment. Rai rolled off him and blasted the tyranitar again, yelling some indecipherable to Sean's ears. It stumbled briefly but then snarled, moving forward no matter how much electricity Rai put into it.

With his ears ringing and heart beat audible through it, Sean's eyes fell a few feet before the tyranitar's spiked foot.

There among the fallen stones and sand rested an innocent reddish seed. The Blast Seed Sean had dropped after the first volley of stones.

"Rai!" he yelled, perhaps louder then he needed but his ears were still ringing. "Let it come forward."

Rai didn't turn to him upon his first word but gave him an incredulous look after he had finished. "Are you mad?" he demanded but Sean pointed wordlessly.

Rai's eyed did not catch the Blast Seed at first, but Sean explained. "Hit the Blast Seed when it stands on it!"

The unthinking feral had no comprehension of their words, only that the small fluffy electrical monster had stopped zapping it. It growled hungrily and began to charge forward.

"NOW!"

Rai gave a battle cry and put all his effort into the tyranitar's left foot, right as it crunched the Blast Seed.

Its leg jerked upon the electricity before being sharply spasmed by the explosion below it, twisting the tyranitar's leg and causing it to collapse with a bellowing cry.

Sean raced forward and snatched the Treasure Bag before the tyranitar fell on it and dug his paw right into the seed pouch, grabbing two Sleep Seeds just to be sure. The tyranitar was already glowing again, ready to send another rocky rain down on them, by the time Sean reached its face.

Its mouth was parted in a growing roar and he cut his paw on a tooth in his haste to force the seeds into its mouth.

"Get back!" Rai yelled and Sean didn't waste any time, the seeds wouldn't have an immediate effect and they needed to get clear before the Rock Slide came.

Rai grabbed the groaning Mane and Sean leaped on them both, covering the trio with the Treasure Bag as one last volley of stones fell.

One particularly rude stone hit the Treasure Bag, but its impact was softened by all the items inside, items now crushed and mushed together.

The stones finished crashing and the tyranitar made one last pitiful moan before it slumped and began to snore.

Sean warily lifted the bag and stared out at the battlefield. Stones were everywhere, scorch marks littered several surfaces, the sand had been kicked up and was still falling to the ground, and a behemoth slumbered.

"Let's go," Sean said, and Rai agreed, he helped Rai carry mane out of that terrible area as quickly as possible. Once they were clear he scooped out some of the now-mashed oran berries and smoothed some over Mane's injured side before helping him eat the remainder.

"That was awful," Mane sighed once he could feel his paws again. "Let's never do THAT again."

"Agreed," Rai and Sean said in chorus before smiling at each other.

"You two are so adorable it sickens me," Mane commented before stretching with a sharp intake of breath. "Oww."

"That's your leg and your side now," Rai pointed out worriedly. "Are you sure you can go on?"

"I'll be fine," Mane said, feeling out all four paws and his tail. He gave a puff of flame and grinned. "They haven't put me out yet."

"Are you sure?" Sean asked seriously. He examined Mane's side. He had brushed as much of the sand off him as he could before spreading the mashed berries against his side, but the gash still left him uncomfortable. "You took a nasty hit."

"Thanks for your concern," Mane said dryly and shrugged out of his grip. "I don't need you too. I am fine. There's the small matter of world saving that needs to be done, little injuries aren't going to be stopping me here! I'd need to be dying." After a moment he added. "Eh, nah. Not even that."

"Let's not talk about that," Rai said, stepping up by Mane's side.

"What part?" Mane grinned as Sean stepped out in front to begin leading again. "World or me?"

"Just… all of it."

"You got it."

From there Mane began to talk about all the feet they had been seeing during their interim in acting as sentries of the guild. Sean didn't mind, now that the tyranitar was dealt with he was feeling the eyes again. But no matter where he looked, across the sand dunes and in the hungry eyes of the feral pokémon, he found no sign.

"First rule of 'it's nothing' is that it's never nothing," Sean thought, dearly hoping it was just sandshrew and not more tyranitar.

He let Mane's chatter lull those thoughts away as they trekked through the rest of the dungeon.

---

"What the hell is this shit?" Mane demanded, glaring at the quicksand with utter loathing. "Ground AND water? No."

Rai stared at the quicksand for a bit before taking a few steps back. "Yeah this is… weird," Rai agreed, looking to Mane. "This is the end of the dungeon, I think? The air isn't as stifled."

Sean gazed at the falling sand in silence, he distantly felt Rai and Mane's eyes on him, but he couldn't really hear what they were saying. "This is the entrance," he thought, barely blinking. "And I still have no idea how to convince them to jump in."

It was an unsettling though, really, staring at the deserts answer to a whirlpool. The idea of willingly jumping into that, even with the knowledge he was certain of, was unnerving. "This IS the entrance. It is. I know it is. I know. I know it is. I just… I know. So stop thinking of drowning, that can't even happen. This whole thing isn't even quicksand."

Sean's eyes cleared, that was an idea. Another set of eyes narrowed in closer.

"Hey, I don't think this is all there is to see," Sean said lightly, tearing his eyes from the swirling sands to meet his companions' eyes. "There's more. I know it."

Mane wet his lips and looked to Rai before asking. "…How?"

Sean smiled confidently and jabbed a paw at the sand. "That's not quicksand," he said proudly. His pride was somewhat deflated by the blank, yet disbelieving, expressions his two companions wore.

"It's moving," Rai said, not wanting to outright disagree with Sean. "Sand doesn't really do that on its own."

"Neither does quicksand," Sean countered, causing Rai to adopt a small thoughtful frown. He waved at the sand again. "Quicksand just sits there, plus you can't even sink in quicksand, but that sand is sinking. There's something down there, something big. Like a cave. I don't think this is the end."

Rai cast a furtive look at the sand while Mane still wore a combative expression. "And… what?" he asked, trotting forward to Sean. "What are you suggesting? We just jump into it?"

"Yep." Sean beamed, hoping the positivity would throw Mane off.

It did.

"Wha? I…? What?"

Sean swept an arm at it again and stepped forward gingerly. "You can't sink in quicksand," he repeated. "So even if I'm wrong, this isn't dangerous. If you'd like, you both stay there for the moment." His feet met some harder stones and he grimaced. "The real danger is just getting stuck so if I'm wrong, I might need some help getting out. But if I'm right." He cast a confident grin back at them, not completely feeling it. "Then remember the 'whirlpool' that was found at Fogbound Lake?"

Rai brightened and even Mane appeared more receptive to the idea. "You're right! Where else would you find a whirlpool on land?"

Sean didn't roll his eyes, but he still waved him off. "Whatever this is, it's-" Whatever genius Sean thought he was going to impart would be unheard as his footing suddenly changed and Sean lost his balance completely. "WOAH!"

He swung his arms rapidly trying to get balance, but his paws had touched the sand and all rigidity of footing had abandoned him and he fell face first into the sand.

He had intended to go feet first, so this was unwelcome.

"Sean!" Rai gasped as Sean staggered and jumped forward instinctively when the meowth fell. He also fell in the sand. Mane gasped and had lashed out, grabbing Rai's tail with his mouth, but the sudden movement combined with Rai's momentum pulled him in as well.

Yellow eyes brightened when the three pokémon disappeared. "That's the trick."

Rai and Mane yelled at in shock as the sand turned to air and they fell. "Watch OUT!" They heard as Sean heard them falling, still brushing sand out of his eyes. He wasn't fast enough, however, and the two larger pokémon landed on him.

There was plenty of thick sand to fall in, but instead they fell on him.

"Ugh, what happened?" Mane groaned, pulling himself off Rai's back. "Not that I'm complaining a whole lot…"

"Get off me," Rai grunted, and Mane acquiesced, letting him free. "Where's Sean?" he asked, looking around. "I could have sworn I heard him."

The mound below him shifted and Rai squeaked, startling back and into a different mount of sand. Sean arose from the sand dune like a sandy beast, shifting it all around him before it cascaded off his fur him steams of brown and gold.

"Bleh!" Sean coughed, spitting and cursing. "Did you HAVE to land on me?" he demanded, rubbing his sandy paws into his sandy eyes while his sandy tongue dried his sandy mouth. "And in sand too. This is the worst, it's coarse and rough and gets EVERWHERE!"

"Shake it off, sunshine," Mane said, trotting over to thump him on the back, sand flying off him with each blow. "You literally asked for this."

"I asked for the sand," Sean grumbled, rubbing enough sand off him to see. "Not two pokémon falling from the sky and landing on me."

"Come on," Mane laughed. "That's like… two of my fantasies at once."

"There's a cave here," Rai said, bringing their attention to the yawning chasm before them.

"Three fantasies."

"And I think we're trapped." Rai pointed up and they looked, motes of light trickled through parts of the sand, but most of it was a moving ceiling hundreds of meters up. "How are we going to get out?"

"Trapped underground with no way out?" Mane muttered before brightening. "Four fantasies then."

Sean groaned but pushed himself forward and out of the sand dune, more sand was sprinkling him anyway. "We better go. There will probably be hordes of pokémon ahead."

They gave Mane a pointed look and he hastened to catch up. "Don't need to tell me twice!" He grinned, trotting up by Sean's side. "Five fantasies."

Sean rolled his eyes while Rai gave Mane a perplexed frown as the three journeyed forward. Sean wouldn't say it, but he knew they had entered the Quicksand Cave. Something was niggling at his mind though, some tiny fact he felt he was missing.

It reminded him uncomfortably of forgetting the Drought Stone at Fogbound Lake, but he was almost certain there was no such object here. It was the sand whirlpools that was the secret here, that he was certain of.

So what? What was it?

Something heavy thumped into the sand behind them and all three cast a curious look back, seeing a rock crest before being buried in sand.

"I hope the others are going well," Rai said pleasantly as they walked further into the dungeon. Light coming from somewhere unviewable. "Solemn Cave sounds a bit… well. But Crystal Cave sounds pretty? And Tricking Sand Dungeon, wonder what that's about?"

The feeling hit Sean harder, but no matter how he tried to obtain it, the more the information slipped away. Yellow eyes tracked the three as they began down a randomly chosen pathway.

The Quicksand Cave was more or less the same as the basic Northern Desert dungeon had been. There weren't as many Grass-type pokémon, but Rai still had targets to zap. He teamed with Mane to knock a mawile out and dropped a skorupi without much effort.

One plus was the coolness of the dungeon, compared to the ever-present heat and sunlight of the above-ground dungeon, the Quicksand Cave was cool on their paws, if a lot mustier on their noses.

The sounds of trickling water began to reach their ears as they journeyed deeper and deeper. Distant booms sent all three of them on edge as the number of feral pokémon dropped to zero.

There was not an enemy soul to be seen as they trekked onwards, only the remains of destroyed stone, scraps of shells, one gruesome find they stumbled onto was the horn-jaws of a mawile, and nothing else.

Many uneasy looks were exchanged, and Sean sent more and more looks behind him. To make matters worse on his nerves, Rai and Mane also began to glance behind them.

"We're not being followed, are we?" Rai whispered, finally saying it.

"We'll be ready if anything is," Mane growled, pawing at the dirt.

They went further, the gruesome objects disappeared as destruction took precedence. Walls were broken, sand was turned into glass, the dungeon itself seemed to be scarred, the wreckage being clearly old and yet still it remained.

"This isn't supposed to happen," Rai stated, admiring a broken wall as Sean picked up a smoothed piece of glass. He stashed it in the Treasure Bag as Mane urged them onwards.

The dungeon began to widen and the three picked up speed, happily leaving behind the chaos in the passageways. Only when they entered a wide room did it occur to them that they may have moving closer to whatever had done this, rather than away from it.

The Underground Lake was wide and beautiful. Stalagmites and stalactites rose up and down in the massive room, some meeting to become thick columns in the room. Or, at least, had once.

A soft cerulean light emanated from well into the lake, casting the room into view. The light permeated everything, setting everything with a bluish tint. Sand drifted in the air, clouding the soft light and causing the air itself to appear turquoise.

A thin, pink, pokémon laid sprawled by the lakes edge, unmoving.

It was that which caught their eyes first.

"Oh no!" Rai gasped, running forward. "We're too late! That pokémon looks like Uxie and-"

The day seemed to be one of interruptions as Mesprit's eyes snapped open and she floated up. Her head was bowed, and her red appendages drooped lifelessly by her side.

Mesprit's twin tails acted differently, one was bent and clearly broken, twitching, the other was painfully straight and hung out like a needle.

"Uh-um. Hello," Rai said, stopping in his tracks when Mesprit floated up. Mesprit's head cocked and he lifted it, twisting it further as she did so.

The red gem on her forehead glimmered bright but flashed and stuttered, going from crimson to a more pinkish hue at times. One of her yellow eyes was squeezed shut, the other one was cloudy yet as it fell on Rai, her pupil contracted and her other eye opened, both gleaming a malevolent yellow.

"What are you?" Mesprit asked, voice coming from everywhere besides Mesprit herself. It was pained, it was feverish, it was furious. "You are. You. You. You. YOU!"

Mesprit wailed an unearthly sound of pure despair, causing all three members of Team Ion to clamp their ears shut. Even then it went straight through and rocked their minds. Mane burst into tears in sudden grief while Sean felt the desire to hurt things. Rai felt nothing at all and just stood there, eyes going blank under Mesprit's agonised assault.

Her screams faded and the three blinked, emotions returning. The disorientation was extreme, however, and none of them reacted in time when Mesprit sent a visible wave of pure Psychic energy at them.

They were blasted off their feet and landed in a heap, Mane gasping out in pain when Sean landed on his injured side.

All the while Mesprit screamed. "KILL. MAIM. BURN. KILL. MAIM. BURN."

The pressure of her Psychic powers crushed the sand floating in the air into glass and Mesprit howled and threw her power at the roof. A booming crash echoed out through the Underground Lake and more sand fell from the room as Mesprit cracked a bigger hole in it.

Large rocks fell into the lake, splashing out waves of water that enveloped Mesprit for a moment.

Rai, always the quickest to react, shot a Thunderbolt at the doused Mesprit and she wailed in agony, the sheer pain of her voice stopped Rai. His mercy was not accepted and Mesprit sent a flurry of rotating stars at him.

Multiple eruptions of the Swift pushed Rai into the wall, and he groaned.

"Got any bright ideas?" Mane hissed through the throbbing pain, Sean had dragged him behind one of the only remaining rocks that wasn't rubble.

"This is insanity," Sean babbled. "Malarkey. What is going on? Why is she so violent?"

"Great he's gone too." Mane pulled himself up and ran out in Mesprit's view. "HEY PINK AND STUPID!"

Mesprit's maddened eyes fell on him and Mane unleashed a Fire Blast. The kanji was swept aside with a wave of Mesprit's arm before she grabbed him in a Psychic grip. Mane choked as every bit of air was forced out of his lungs.

Sean poked his head out from behind the rock and tried to take stock of the situation. Mane, levitating in the air and choking. That was a priority. Rai, rubbing his head and trying to remember how to blink with both eyes, not good but Mane was now not breathing.

Sean took a deep breath and jabbed his paw with a claw, he lifted it up and tried to aim at Mesprit. "Come on, come on," he muttered continuously under his breath, willing the Shadow Ball. It felt like the first time he had gotten it was due to all of Dusknoir's help, possibly leaving some residual power.

He hoped that wasn't the case. Both for his own sake in using the move, and also not wanting any residual Dusknoir on him.

His blood began to smoke as Mane's thrashing became weaker. "You have to. NOW!"

He fired the Shadow Ball straight at Mesprit. It was too small by far and bounced off her. "Shit."

Mesprit's eyes fell on him and Sean repeated that thought. "SHIT!"

She tossed Mane aside, the litleo nearly falling into the water, and flew at him with a banshee shriek. "SHIIIT!"

He tried to run from the rock, but she blew it apart and knocked him into the air. Before he could even begin to fall, she had grabbed him and was subjecting him to Mane's treatment. Mesprit squeezed before grimacing in pain and dropping him. She tore at her scalp and writhed in mid-air, Sean looked to Rai, but he was only now stumbling forward.

Whatever pain Mesprit was in, was unrelated to them.

Mane dunked his head in the water and pulled it out with a gasp. He turned blazing eyes on Mesprit and breathed in deep, he didn't bother with a Fire Blast, but an Ember was scattered and harder to avoid.

Mesprit shrieked when the fire struck her and gasped lowly when Rai blasted her with Thunderbolt. Sean crawled to his feet, one paw pressed against his chest as he gasped for breath and stumbled away before turning and pointing his bloodied claw. Another Shadow Ball formed and through the haze he determined it to be the right size and lobbed it as the writing Mesprit.

It bounced off her. Again.

Sean growled at himself and tried to go again, but Mesprit had decided she was done with this.

She swiped out and threw Mane at Rai, bowling him over, before generating a storm of Swift. She began chanting and screaming words again before sending a shooting star shower at them.

Sean tried to slash out at the Swift stars, but for the few he broke more bombarded him. Rai and Mane didn't have time to do more then brace before rippling explosions of energy crashed through the whole team.

"You know?" Sean said once the storm was over and Mesprit began doing pained flips in the air. "I'm glad we didn't actually fight Uxie."

"I'd take another three Groudon to this," Rai groaned.

"I'd even settle for a damn mega tyranitar," Mane coughed.

"Okay." Sean began the arduous task of rolling to his feet. "I'm sick of this."

"Yeah," Rai agreed, pulling himself up. "I'm in agreement."

"Now who's talking all fancy," Mane coughed and was helped up by both his teammates. "Let's get this bitch."

Mesprit stopped twirling to glare at them. Her head twitched back and forth. "HAAATE," she groaned. "HAAATE."

"Agree."

Rai used Thunderbolt. Mesprit was stunned.

Mane used Fire Blast. Mesprit was staggered.

Sean used Night Slash. Mesprit's Psychic flight failed, and she hit the ground.

Rai and Mane sprinted up and Sean landed on Mesprit, pinning her to the ground with claws still dripping with Dark Energy. She groaned and her eyes stopped rolling, slowly focusing on Sean and the claws pressed against her. "W-what?"

Sean stopped hissing as Rai and Mane reached him. Mesprit struggled against him but was still disorientated. Not so much she couldn't dislodge him, however, and Sean was punted off.

Mane went to breathe fire on her but Mesprit held a hand up. "Wait." And he did so, pausing with fire crackling in his mouth.

Mesprit took a few deep breaths before cracking her eyes open, yellow now clear and without fog. "Who are you?"

"Who are we?" Mane demanded, fire spilling out a bit. He spat the fire out and went again. "Who are YOU?"

"I'm Mesprit," she snapped back, headache pounding. "I am the Guardian of the Deep Underground Lake and-" She paused suddenly and turned swiftly to where the Time Gear laid. Mesprit breathed a sigh of relief, the gear yet remained in place.

"Why did you attack us?" Rai asked, voice somewhat gentle but still coloured with anger. "And why were you in such a state? You were mad!"

"I was?" Mesprit asked before groaning and rubbing her head. "The last I remember… what was it?" She straightened up sharply. "Uxie. He was telling us of the loss of his Time Gear. But before I could end our connection he was frozen in time. My mind, being connected to… that." Mesprit shuddered. "I don't even know what that would have done to me."

"Well I can tell you," Mane cut in snottily. "You were, let's see, completely insane, wrecked everything, scared the damn feral pokémon away, and tried to kill us while chanting kill, death, destroy!"

"Oh." Mesprit's expression turned incredibly guilty. "I… I apologise greatly." She looked around, taking in the destroyed pillars, wrecked stalactites, broken stalagmites, and crushed glass. Some more of the room fell in and splashed into the lake while Mane held a very superior look. "There is no amount of regret I can express, but I implore your forgiveness. I have lost my brother and… and."

Mesprit covered her face, but only for a moment. She dropped her hands with a fierce look. "And I must protect the Time Gear. That is my purpose. That is what Uxie would have wanted me to do. The thief will come here regardless, I can get my revenge on him then."

She did a twirl before sagging. "Oof, my head. I don't know how long I've been in that state."

"A couple months," Sean said and Mesprit gasped.

"That long? My word." She held her head for a moment longer. "I need rest, a lot of it, to recover from this."

She looked to Team Ion and Rai's ears perked up. "Wait?" he asked as Sean's tail twitched. He felt eyes on him. "You said Uxie told you his Time Gear was lost?"

"Yes." Mesprit nodded.

"So do you know who the thief is?" Rai asked excitedly. "We are members of the Wigglytuff Guild, we are trying to find and stop this thief. But if we know who it is then the job will be so much easier!"

"You did succeed in snapping me out of my enraged state," Mesprit said approvingly, she looked to Sean. "Thank you for that Night Slash. The Dark Energy must have been enough to fully cancel my connection to Uxie's blankness." She smiled and Sean tried to give one back, he looked behind him eyes widening. "To answer your question Shinx, yes. I do know. The thief is-"

"Me," Grovyle said, stepping into the room.

"Gr-ah?" Mesprit paused as Rai and Mane turned curiously. Rai's expression brightened upon seeing Grovyle while Mane's eyes narrowed.

"Grovyle!" Rai beamed as Grovyle stepped forward. "It feels like it's been so long! How did you…?" he trailed off, what Mesprit was saying and Grovyle's first word dawning on him. "Get here?"

"You," Mesprit's voice shivered, dipping back into her earlier madness and a distant droning sound began to fill everyone's ears. "Y͉̞Ò̞̥͚͈͉ͫͫU̜̤͖ͣ͒̑ͬ̆!"

Mesprit lunged forward, arms outstretched as her expression turned to a murderous rage. Grovyle's arms shone green and right as Mesprit reached him with an agonised screech, Grovyle slashed.

Mesprit was sent flying back, green line being replaced with red on her chest. Her exhaustion from months of madness mixed with the exhaustion of the battle was finally too much and with that one Leaf Blade, Mesprit fell.

Grovyle's head was bowed and both Sean and Rai froze up. Rai stared forward, eyes unseeing, while Sean began to shake with indecision.

The one who wasn't so paralysed, however?

Mane roared out, fire streaming from his mouth in three Fire Blasts, all sent flying into Grovyle. Grovyle opened his mouth and lifted his hands, an Energy Ball formed, and he lobbed it. The first Fire Blast exploded. Two more Energy Ball's settled the next two and smoke plumed out from the explosions.

Mane formed an Ember attack and sent it into the cloud, hitting nothing. The smoke cleared and Grovyle was gone. Mane blinked. "Did I scare him off?" he asked before Sean's eyes fell on the small hole.

"Mane!" he gasped, turning to the baffled Mane. "He's-"

The interruptions continued as Grovyle burst from below Mane, driving a harsh uppercut into the litleo's chin and knocking him into the air. A regular punch shoved Mane up and over and he splashed into the lake.

That made up Sean's mind. Eyes falling from Grovyle and unheeding Rai's shattering heart, he leaped in after Mane. The litleo couldn't swim.

Eyes cracked open he spotted the thrashing litleo quickly and paddled as fast as he could. Mane saw him coming and tried to say something, only losing a mouthful of air in the process.

Sean's claws dug into Mane's fur and he began yanking him up as the distant sounds of crackling electricity bounced through the water in deep rumbled.

Sean's head broke water and he gasped before hoisting Mane up and out of the water, splatting the waterlogged Fire-type cat on solid ground. Mane gasped for breath and began to cough violently, and Sean dragged himself out.

"I TRUSTED YOU!" Rai was screaming, voice cracking and electricity crackling. He fired Thunderbolt's too fast for Sean to keep track of, but Grovyle could. Not a single arc of electricity touched his scales and not a single word left his mouth.

The agile Grass-type threw an Energy Ball at the ground and knocked up a plume of sand, obscuring him long enough to go underground again.

"Rai, he's-"

Grovyle burst from underground and delivered the same uppercut to Rai as he had Mane, but Rai fell back and landed near the entrance to the lake.

Mane was still coughing. Mesprit was down. Rai's head was ringing almost as bad as his heart was squeezing. Sean was the only one left to stand in front of Grovyle.

There was no time left to think. Grovyle paused briefly, meeting Sean's eyes and only his eyes. There was a kindness there, also a regret, and lastly a steely resolution.

Sean's claws extended. "Don't take another step."

Sean's eyes flicked to movement behind Grovyle and Grovyle saw it. Sean didn't have time to even begin to speak, and he would have been interrupted by action regardless.

Rai, with tears in his eyes, had leaped for Grovyle, mouth completely saturated in Dark Energy. His Bite attack was going for the neck, to knock Grovyle out without any chance for recovery.

Grovyle had lived in the Dark Future. A world where one had to be on ones' toes at all times, as at any moment an attacker could go for your back and it was rare for an enemy to ever go for your front.

Grovyle's senses were honed and his body trained. There was no need for thought, when instincts allowed one to survive such a realm.

Grovyle twisted on his foot and slashed out, arm shining green. Rai fell, a bloody streak cut into his chest.

The Wood Gecko pokémon gasped lightly, face twisting into a moment of shame. He had only reacted on reflex. But his senses had honed his skills well and he weaved back as Sean's Night Slash came to skewer him, only slicing off a few scales.

Grovyle's widened eyes met Sean's pinpricked ones for the briefest of moments before Sean landed, left paw landing in Rai's blood.

With his balance slightly off and mind still shocked at his own actions, as well as Sean's, Grovyle had no way of avoiding the flurry of Shadow Ball's Sean manifested from Rai's blood.

"If you need blood, you can always use mine." Rai had said earlier.

The explosive impact from multiple Shadow Ball's blasted Grovyle off his feet and he landed in the lake.

Sean's pupils had almost disappeared as his whole body shook, drops of inky blackness fell from his bared teeth and mixed with the blood on the ground. There was no reason left in Sean's mind. He lifted his paw to form more Shadow Ball's and bombard the entire lake until his enemy either fled or drowned.

"Sean."

Only to blink. There were few things that could snap through this state, but a pained whimper from Rai was one of them.

Sean's paws fell down as his eyes cleared and he turned to find Rai whimpering softly, blood dripping from a long gash moving from his belly to his sternum.

Sean felt his legs go weak and he fell to his knees by Rai. Without speaking he put trembling paws on Rai's wound, but paws could not do anything. Not his at least.

Rai's Defence Scarf had been cut in two and he took that off, paws falling into a routine he only distantly remembered learning from Chimecho. He tied it around Rai's wound as best he could before he took his Joy Ribbon off and tying it on a differing part.

He looked back to his Treasure Bag, before his eyes fell on Mane. The litleo had mostly finished coughing, but more importantly he had the Silver Bow, which had a ribbon as part of it.

Mane didn't argue when Sean stripped him of it and was by Rai side with him as he tied it on. It wasn't perfect, but at the very least most of the bleeding had stopped.

"The Time Gear," Mesprit spoke weakly, barely able to pull herself into a floating position. The cerulean light went out and the area darkened a little more even after its removal.

Grovyle emerged from the water. "You had all best run," he said, not looking at anymore before racing off into the dungeon.

"N-no." Mesprit tried to reach out a hand, or Psychic, to stop him, but she didn't. "It's gone. And we will all be trapped if we don't move now!"

They looked back to where the Time Gear had been, and Sean felt his heart skip a beat. What he was seeing wasn't something his eyes could perceive, but he knew it was happening anyway. Atoms and molecules stopping but not going cold. Simply stopping.

The void began to stretch and Mesprit burst forward in a show of power. "Staring will get you lost to time!" she said sharply and all three gasped as the ground beneath them disappeared.

Mesprit raced forward as quick as she could, carrying all three injured pokémon with her in her Psychic grip. Rai moaned and whimpered as his wound was pressed down, but it was better than being frozen in the ever-growing void.

The final room exited right at the beginning as all dungeons did and the four of them found themselves looking up at the falling sand, sand that would be frozen very quickly. Mesprit began to lift them all up but her hold began to stutter, and she gasped in pain, nearly dropping them.

"What are we going to do?" Mane yelled but there were no answers, only the approaching nothingness.

"You are going to escape," Mesprit declared, eyes narrowing. "I may not be as smart as Uxie or as determined as Azelf, but I will not let us all be lost."

"What are you-" Sean began, and one final time he was interrupted.

"Stop Grovyle," she said before throwing them with every ounce of power she could muster, rocketing them up out through the sand.

All three had looked back to Mesprit, yelling her name. All three saw Mesprit smile as the emptiness reached her, locking her in place with arms outstretched. Mesprit's determined eyes grew locked in place, yet blank.

She was gone.

Mane and Sean coughed for breath, having inhaled some sand on the trip out, but they were safe. They were outside. The whirlpool began to slow, and Sean grabbed Rai and hoisted him on his back before grabbing Mane by the scruff.

"MOVE!" he yelled and dragged Mane along until the litleo's feet caught up with them. They ran as more of the desert began to freeze, staying ahead of the nothingness as it finally began to slow down.

They continued running until they were out of the dungeon and gasping for breath with Claydol and the others staring at them in horror.

Even faceless Claydol wore an expression of horror.

"Help," Sean coughed, slumping to the ground. Rai rolled off him, presenting his injuries to the five. There was a moment where nothing happened before everything happened. Sean wasn't really there to see it, deciding now was a good time to fall into a daze.

There was movement. Loud sounds. The curious feeling of teleportation, more movement, and then a lot more shouting.

The voice that all three members of Team Ion knew intimately as Chimecho forced everyone to stop being so chaotic and she had them in the medical wing, also unfortunately familiar, to rest up.

None of the three were unconscious, however, just exhausted and injured.

Rai's injuries were treated first, Chimecho pulling out the sterile water and oran berries again. She muttered deadly things under her breath, but none of them were directed completely at them.

Rai gave her a bitter smile as she tended to him. He had just grown all his fur back, and now he was sliced up. Chimecho didn't ask how or what just yet, for that they were grateful.

Once she had some time, she splashed the sand off Sean and gave him an oran and sitrus berry. Mane needed a bit more tending to, but once Sean's head had stopped ringing, she let him go.

He was sturdy. Such a fact Chimecho knew well, and truly wished she didn't.

The guild needed some explanations.

Not everyone was back yet. Team Gazer was certainly not back, and neither were Dusknoir's group. The desert teams, however, plus the leaders were here and eager to know what had befallen Team Ion again.

Sean exited the medical wing to hear some curious sounds.

"I KNEW it was a mistake sending them there." Chatot's voice was easily heard even through walls. "I told you and you disagreed. They didn't need to be tested or challenged or whatever was going through your mind." There was a bit of silence as someone else spoke and Sean realised Chatot was yelling at none of than Wigglytuff.

"Feathers to a skarmory to whatever Dusknoir thinks! This was the wrong place to send them when there were much better options!"

Wigglytuff doors slammed open and Chatot strutted his way out in clear frustrated anger. He spotted a great deal of pokémon staring at him in shock and froze up. Wigglytuff poked his head out with an apologetic look. "Oh, don't mind us," he said airily. "Sometimes opinions have to be shared."

Chatot visibly swallowed and, after another look at the guild, turned his head to Wigglytuff and bowed. "My most… humble apologies Guildmaster," he said softly, but still loud enough for his voice to carry. "I see now I was mistaken. I won't question your judgement again."

Wigglytuff stared at Chatot with a perplexed look. "…No. Don't say that. I don't care if you disagree with me, if no one ever did then I'd be a tyrant."

Chatot shook his head. "N-no. I see now that Team Ion is fine. Whatever your judgement…"

"Chatot," Wigglytuff said seriously. "You are allowed to disagree with me in front of the guild."

The Flying-type gave a frustrated sigh. "A united front is imperative Guildmaster," Chatot said tensely before straightening up and turning around, he wouldn't tolerate this conversation anymore.

"Now. Meowth. What news do you have to share?" He hopped forward, the guilds eyes all on him. "Perhaps start with however you injured yourselves again."

"We found a Time Gear," Sean said, not finding any point to beat around the bush. Chatot froze in the middle of a hop and landed on his beak as everyone gasped.

"WHAT?" Loudred roared above everyone else. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING BEFORE?"

"Because it's been stolen," Sean snapped, feeling the sudden weight of countless lives. He rubbed his face and sat down. The guild had gone completely silent.

"We went below the Northern Desert through this sand whirlpool not-quicksand things and landed in this 'Quicksand Cave'. From there we found our way to find Mesprit had gone insane because she was mentally connected with the frozen-in-time Uxie and had to snap her out of it."

Sean took another breath, just wanting to sleep. "We asked her who the thief was. A-and-" A hundred thoughts flew through his mind, lies, deceits, ways he could spin this so that Grovyle wasn't the bad guy, blame someone else and explain everything to Rai and Mane, tell them Dusknoir was the real threat and the Time Gears were dearly needed.

However, he was a coward. Telling a lie would not end well and telling the truth, the whole truth, would possibly be just as bad.

"Who was it?" Croagunk asked, closest to Sean.

"Your pal Grovyle," a different voice snarled, and the attention moved to behind Sean where Mane was limping forward. "The grassy scum attacked us after the battle, stole the Time Gear, and Mesprit carried us out. She sacrificed herself to the freezing time to get us out."

Pure disbelief radiated and Mane smirked, he knew they wouldn't believe him. "Ask Sean," he said and looked straight to the meowth.

Sean met his eyes and wasn't sure what he saw in it. "He's right," he said softly, and a ripple of shock caused the guild to shiver. "Grovyle admitted it, having followed us there. He's the one who slashed Rai and he took off with the Time Gear."

Everyone was silent. Loudred's mouth gaped in shock. Croagunk's hands dripped venom. Corphish turned around and walked out of the room. Diglett just stared at Sean in confusion.

The guild began to tremble.

"Th-this cannot be," Chatot muttered. "No. No-no-no."

A few stones fell from the cliff.

"Grovyle was the thief?" Loudred muttered, voice lower then anyone had ever heard it. "He used us?"

A high whine began to fill the air.

"He knew so much," Croagunk hummed and shuddering as his eyes fell on his Swap Cauldron. "Meh… heh."

The whole cliff shook and that was enough for Chatot to squawk in shock. He flapped into the air as everyone shook, Chimecho gave a yell from where she was working on Rai, as eyes fell on Wigglytuff and the blankest expression on the Fairy-type's face.

"Eeeeeh."

The high whine began to grow audible as Wigglytuff began to shake the entire guild.

"Gahhhhh."

Stones began to fall faster and faster as the window shook in their frames, several pieces of glass popped out and fell to the water.

"G-Guildmaster!" Chatot squawked again, flying to Wigglytuff and flapping panickedly in front of him. "Guildmaster! Guildmaster! Guil-Wigglytuff! Wigglytuff listen to me! Stop! STOP!"

Wigglytuff was not listening, the crescendo was building and a YOOM-TAH capable of breaking the entire cliff was yawning close to being unleashed.

Chatot's eyes fell on the window as Corphish fell down from the higher floor. He aimed an Air Slash and shattered it as the shaking grew more intense. With a focused swoop, Chatot slammed into Wigglytuff and drove him out of the broken window and into the sea.

He flapped up desperately, catching one last look at Wigglytuff's frighteningly blank face, before Wigglytuff was dropped in the ocean.

There was a moment of silence. The guild stopped shaking. Chatot arced backwards and flipped and flapped desperately to be clear of the ocean.

A thunderous boom shook the entirety of Treasure Town and sent up a burst of water so great that the cliff was drained clear of water for several seconds, the sea itself seeming to hesitate to move back in.

The water fell in a heavy rain, Chatot reached the cliff just in time before the water knocked him out of the sky and slammed him into the ground. Seawater fell over Treasure Town in blankets, dousing the surprised residents in a sudden shower.

The water returned and all was silent.

Chatot shrugged off the impact and leaned over the cliff nervously. Wigglytuff was highly buoyant he had found so there was no concern for him.

There the Balloon Pokémon was, floating serenely and getting smacked repeatedly into the cliff. He was on his back, that at least relieved Chatot.

He flew down quickly and fluttered in place above Wigglytuff who opened his eyes. "Are you well, Guildmaster?"

"Yes," Wigglytuff answered. "Thank you for getting me out of there Chatot. I would hate to have hurt someone."

"Let me get you back in," Chatot said and grabbed Wigglytuff's squishy belly in his talons. Wigglytuff giggled softly and Chatot begun the arduous task of flying them both back up the cliff. It took many wingbeats, but it was nothing the guild number two couldn't handle. He decided not to go back through the broken window and instead deposited Wigglytuff by the grate.

Wigglytuff took a moment to breathe before standing up. "Chatot," he said, pausing the bird before they went in. "I want you to know you are my most trusted partner. Thank you for always standing by my side."

Chatot had to turn away lest he show inappropriate emotions, which was any emotion at all. "It… honours me to hear that."

Wigglytuff smiled as they entered the guild, hefting the gate open to let Chatot through first.

---

Mane was allowed to continue roaming free without much disgruntlement on Chimecho's side, and Sean was allowed out of course, she ordered Rai to remain in care for at least a day though.

The wound wasn't serious, but it wasn't pleasant by any means.

Everyone else besides Team Gazer eventually returned, Dusknoir seemed in a filthy mood which only grew worse upon the news being shared. His fingers twitched a great deal but was unnoticed amidst Sunflora's dramatics and Dugtrio's sudden depressing haiku's.

Sean went for a walk to clear his head; his claws were tingling, and he couldn't stop thinking of the encounter with Grovyle at the lake. To be honest he had half expected the gear to already be gone, he vaguely remembered Grovyle mentioning something about Mesprit. Azelf too. It made his head spin to try and think of it.

Part of him hoped Grovyle understood that he had to fight him to maintain cover. Part of him hated that. A bigger part of him was incredibly angry with the Grass-type. Injuring Rai so severely was close to unforgiveable.

Sean rubbed his face, hoping to rub the anxiety off. And the feeling of being watched was still present. Even here, at the beach he was supposed to have woken up on.

Sean stared into the waters and wondered how things had gone like this.

While Sean was off brooding, Mane had stumbled his way to the shared room. No one offered to help of course. He slumped down on his sheet-less bed and groaned into the straw

He fell asleep quickly.

The guild conferred to discuss what had been learned. The bad was extreme, but Grovyle had been identified. No one mentioned Wigglytuff's episode. The good was nice to hear, however. Dusknoir had solved a puzzle in Crystal Cave and they had discovered Azelf and the location of the fifth Time Gear. There was no question brought up of Dusknoir's mood before learning Mesprit had been defeated and that gear lost.

While the guild spoke, Dusknoir visited Rai.

"Are you okay, young Shinx?" Dusknoir asked gently, settling down next to the sheet-covered pokémon.

"I'm in a bit of pain," Rai admitted, face screwed up. "But only a little is my cut."

"Yes," Dusknoir said heavily. "I heard you were close to Grovyle."

Rai frowned and looked away from Dusknoir. "It's just…" he whispered. "It's just… why? Why is he doing this?"

"It is best not to ponder minds such as theirs," Dusknoir said, giving Rai a gentle stroke of the head. "Just focus on turning your pain into determination to stop them."

Rai nodded, leaning into the cool touch for a moment. "It still hurts," he muttered. "I looked up to him. Just like I look up to you. He was so friendly, so helpful. He taught Night Slash to Meowth and saved us in Mount Horn."

Dusknoir gave a brief laugh, something he passed off as a cough. "There are many pokémon that can act so well. Convince you they are your friend, your mentor, your partner even. Never telling you the truth, or at least not the full truth. They leave out enough to pass an inspection, confide in you enough so that you feel like they trust you. When in actuality, they see you as nothing more than a means to an end."

"You're very wise," Rai said quietly, looking up to him. "Has something like this happened to you before Dusknoir?"

Dusknoir was quiet for a moment, he stopped petting Rai. "Yes," he said, after that moment. He resumed petting Rai, hand cooling the headache he had. "It is a terrible thing to suffer, I would not wish it on anyone."

Rai nodded and Dusknoir sat in a solemn peace. "Tell me about your partners," Dusknoir said. "To move our minds from such a bleak topic. What is this litleo on your team? I've heard rumours that the two of you did not always get along… so well."

Rai cracked a smile, he had a feeling Dusknoir was thinking of their argument he broke up. "Litleo is difficult at times," he said, still smiling. "Well, all the time really. We haven't had an easy time, but I think he's really changed so I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and go easier on him."

Dusknoir nodded. "And what of your meowth partner? Similar whispers say he's a newcomer to this area?"

Rai brightened considerably. "Meowth is my best friend and… uh." He looked away with an embarrassed look. "He makes me braver," Rai explained. "I wouldn't have joined the guild if it wasn't for him!"

"Is that so?" Dusknoir hummed, petting Rai and making him sigh. "Where did you meet? No one seems to know, and I must say I do love to learn about my friends."

"Friends?" Rai's ears flicked and he swallowed, heart thumping. He smiled involuntarily but didn't press it, just hearing Dusknoir say that removed the pain for a moment. "I met him at my other home, Sharpedo Bluff."

"Ah yes, I know the place." Dusknoir nodded wisely. "How did you meet? Did you get along immediately or was there some time to get to know each other?"

Rai giggled softly. "He was a bit out of it when I first met him. He was unconscious! And he also, uh." Rai cut himself off there and his ears flicked back. "Well he nearly fell off after I spooked him. I caught him though!" he added as Dusknoir looked a little alarmed. "And later on... ugh, I lost my treasure to some thugs out at the beach." His ears flicked further, and he sighed, leaning out of Dusknoir's petting. "I haven't seen it since. Litleo had it, but it got stolen by someone. Probably Grovyle, he was trying to make me go away that time I know it for sure."

Dusknoir didn't try and pat Rai again, there was no hollow pang in his empty chest on Rai's words, but the shinx did seem liable to spark at any moment.

"So why was Meowth unconscious?" Dusknoir asked, concern filtering into his voice. "That seems rather odd."

Rai hesitated. "He, uh… was just having a nap. You know us felines and sun, cliffs are good for sun…"

Dusknoir pressed further. "I believe I heard Meowth speaking ill of sand earlier this day," he pointed out and Rai cringed.

"W-well. He. Uh… he. He didn't tell me. I don't know why he was there." Rai's eyes were darting, refused to look at him, tense shoulders. Dusknoir could see a lie very easily.

"And you have no idea?" Dusknoir asked curiously, not risking alienating Rai and pointing out the lie. "You've known him for months now!"

"I… don't think he remembers," Rai admitted, speaking softly.

"No?"

"No."

"Hmm." Dusknoir rubbed the area below his eye. "It sounds like amnesia to me. Unconscious and doesn't remember why."

Rai breathed out a little easier, it was okay if Dusknoir guessed it right?

"And he doesn't remember anything?" Dusknoir asked and Rai tensed again. "Not a dream? Scrap of memory? Not his name?"

"His name," Rai blurted out.

Dusknoir paused. "He remembers his name?"

"Y-yes."

Dusknoir paused and let Rai take a few breaths. There was something interesting here, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. "I know it isn't my place, but would you tell me his name?"

Rai stilled and looked up to him with a warring expression. "Why would you want to know Dusknoir?"

Dusknoir knew he had to play this hand very carefully. "I do not wish to confuse or alarm anyone," he began with, alarming Rai. "But I believe I know Meowth."

Rai's eyes widened. "You… do?"

"Perhaps. He was a fierce friend, quick and proud. We may have been a team together, but he was always too quick for me." Dusknoir gave a chuckle and looked warmly at Rai. "It seems you are more than able to keep up with him though."

Rai smiled lightly as Dusknoir continued. "I haven't seen him in some time, however. Not since we both decided to look into the issues with time, separately unfortunately. I have been hoping to find him and request his assistance, but there hasn't been no hide or hair of him."

Dusknoir sighed, shoulders slumping. "I can't help but worry for him, it's in my nature. He's very much the kind to get himself into a sticky situation and almost always winds up injured afterwards."

Rai laughed at the pointed comment. "That's… yeah."

Dusknoir waited but Rai gave nothing more, so he spoke again. "There was one thing we both knew before splitting apart, however." Dusknoir adopted a guilty look to Rai's confusion. "For a long time there has been an enemy of ours. One who will go to any length to get what he wants. I feared to believe it, but from today there is no doubt in my mind. Grovyle."

Rai gasped and jolted up in bed. "You know him?"

Dusknoir nodded sadly. "Once he was a noble pokémon," he mourned, staring out into space. "Now he is corrupted by madness. I never thought he'd truly go to these lengths, but to take the Time Gears…"

He trailed off and Rai swallowed. "Grovyle knew you both?

Dusknoir nodded sadly. "Indeed. When I had heard a Grovyle accompanied you to Fogbound Lake I was fearful, but your meowth partner seemed unharmed so I thought that perhaps the sense of familiarity I was detecting was mistaken and I was merely feeling hopeful."

The Ghost-type gave a bitter laugh. "But if he truly has amnesia, then it is possibly Grovyle may have used that against him. Those with amnesia often cling to any hope of recovering their past, something Grovyle would eagerly use. To turn him against me, that would be a blow like none other."

Rai swallowed and nodded, shaking slightly. "He told m-me that G-Grovyle said that he might k-know him."

Dusknoir looked as grave as death. "Then Grovyle thought he recognised him as I have. Though Grovyle has made an error." Rai's ears perked at that. "The Underground Lake. He would have damaged the sense of trust there, but it is not likely completely broken. Grovyle is wily and manipulative and if he gets the chance, he may try to turn Meowth still. That is, unless, he believes this is not the same meowth anymore."

Rai swallowed and Dusknoir went for the finisher. "Please Shinx. I must know if this is truly my friend. I am almost sure, but I cannot act unless I am certain. What is his name?"

"I…" Rai hesitated, eyes stormy. "I promised I wouldn't say anything," he thought to himself, as he stared into Dusknoir single eye. "But this might be what Sean's been waiting for. If Grovyle really does know him, he knows he's his enemy. That's why he looked at him at the lake, that's why he wanted to talk to him alone. He wanted to turn him to his side."

Despite it all, Rai still hesitated. "C-can't you ask him yourself?" he stuttered and Dusknoir's eyes flickered. One finger twitched and he took a longer moment to reply.

"I'm afraid we… we did not part on the best terms," Dusknoir admitted guiltily. "We had a tremendous argument the last time we were together, a difference of opinions I assure you, and he stormed off. I." Dusknoir turned away, voice growing just the slightest choked. "I said things I shouldn't have. I've seen the way your partner looks at me, I fear his perception of me is warped by our last meeting, the last emotions he had of me."

Dusknoir covered his face with both hands. "I feared I had lost him. That he was gone forever. My S…" Dusknoir stopped and composed himself. "My grandest of apologies," he said quietly and floated up. "I have wasted enough of your time. Recover well Shinx."

Rai spluttered and tried to stand. "Dusknoir?" he called and Dusknoir stopped, one hand clenching hard. "I… I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I… you could have… but, no." He shook his head. "I'm sorry for bringing those memories up. I didn't know, but that's no excuse."

Dusknoir turned back. "I should have told you everything from the start," he said, and Rai wilted under the guilt.

"NO. It's your bad memories, you didn't have to share them and I'm so sorry I've hurt you."

"It is more than alright, Shinx," Dusknoir said warmly and Rai smiled slightly.

"I think you nearly said it earlier," Rai said and Dusknoir nodded, going to say it in full. "He's Sean."

Dusknoir paused. Rai stared up at him, he pushed the guilt of a promise broken away. If needed he would apologise to Sean, but hopefully he'd understand. Dusknoir remained silent. "Dusknoir?" he asked, suddenly less confident. "I-is that?"

"Yes," Dusknoir said and bowed gratefully. "Merely the shock and relief of it being confirmed." Dusknoir half turned, looking back to the door. "Sean," he said again, tasting the name. "How… pleasing. Thank you Shinx, you have done more for me today then you could ever know. You may have saved the world even. Rest well."

"Oh, uh, bye." Dusknoir was already gone.

Dusknoir didn't bother taking the ramps, he simply floated right through the building and onto the outside.

"Good evening," he said to the startled meowth he had risen out of the ground in front of. "Beautiful sunset."

"Sure is," Sean agreed, pasting a smile on his face. Dusknoir floated on by and he shivered. "That was the creepiest thing I've ever seen," he muttered, entering the guild.

Dusknoir floated on by, plans building and hatching in his mind. "Sean," he crooned, whispering the name to himself. "Sean. How interesting."

---

Heh.

Do I end my chapters on moments like that too much? They aren't quite cliff-hangers I think, and I don't end all the chapters on things like that, but sometimes I wonder… eh, I enjoy them.

Also my university work is about to start up again. This many updates has been truly fun! But things might slow down a bit again for the next few months. I'll do my best to update regularly though, I enjoy writing this a bit too much to stop completely!

And I thought I'd be saving this for the next chapter, but this story has officially passed 10,000 views! If you combine both sites, which you should! Woo!

Lastly, if you're interested, I've been reading a fun PMD story by the name of Places We Call Home by Windskull. It's not too far in yet but very enjoyable.