Scout sat alone in a cell.
He didn't have the energy to pace around and scratch the walls in frustration anymore. He'd already tried that, it just blunted a claw.
The cell that Team Magnezone used was nice, as far as cells went. Thick stone walls. Metal bars he could see through. The stink of anger and hopelessness pervading through the entire cell-block.
Quite nice.
What wasn't nice, however, was ev̡erything.
"What is…? What is going on?" Scout thought as he lay huddled up into a ball. The day had started off rather poorly; having an argument with Rai terrible enough that he stormed off, and somehow that was the highlight of the day.
Now the only thing Scout wanted was to go back to the guild and apologise. Or just to see Rai again. He'd take Mane too. Anyone. And not be imprisoned and having his entire world-view shifted.
He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to look at his paws. These… white, fluffy, paws with pink paw̷ pads. For this entire time he thought they were his, now he wasn't so sure.
"I'm not Scout," he thought desperately. "My name is Sean. I'M the human."
But Dusknoir had said something else.
"Hę'͘s a filthy traitorous liar!"
Scout growled and shook his head. That didn't even sound like him. But… what did he even sound like in the first place. He desperately tried to remember his life as a human. His family. His friends. His own voice.
His mother, who's name he couldn't remember. Who's voice he couldn't recall. Even trying to think of her felt like he was watching an old-timey video.
"But how do I know what that IS?" he demanded to himself. But there was no answer to be recalled from the depths of his mind.
He couldn't remember his family. He couldn't remember his friends. The only thing he thought he could remember clearly where three things.
His namę.
His specięs.
And the gamę.
"My name is not Scout," he thought, for if he was wrong about his name, how could he be sure of anything? "I'm a human," he insisted, for what else could he be? "This didn't happen in the game." Or did it? Did it happen, Scout?
Scout groaned and tried to wake up. This was a nightmare. Darkrai was doing something, or he was just having a guilt-induced delirium. This couldn't be happening. It was happening.
The terrified meowth wasn't sure how long he huddled, curled up, in the holding cell. He ignored the magnemite that stood guard, the same ones that had taken him here in the first place, or the various buzzes he could hear from beyond the door.
He ignored them until there was no option to ignore them.
"Scout?" Dusknoir's voice was low and concerned, and Scout jumped. He uncurled and backed away, hitting his back against the hard, stone wall.
He stared up at the powerful Ghost-type, the pokémon that would end his life if he got a proper chance. The magnemite were gone, they were alone.
"Get away from me," he hissed,̧ but Dusknoir was unphased.
"I have secured some time for us to speak without interruption," Dusknoir said slowly, carefully,̧ but Scout remained attached to the wall. "We'll get five minutes to talk and I wanted to explain some things to do."
"I don't want to hear how you're going to kill me," Scout spat and Dusknoir recoiled.
"Kill? Scout, no." He shook his head firmly. "I would ne- you think I would…? No. Scout no, do not think of me this way. I would never hurt you."
This was not the expected discourse.
"Wha? Excuse me?" Scout was not understanding motives here, or words, or sense really. "You… you… You turned the entire town against me, telling them I was some rampaging monster trying to end the world. THAT hurts, Dusknoir."
Dusknoir sighed sadly and floated closer. Scout backed away, suddenly aware that Dusknoir was able to move through the bars and get to him if he wanted. They were alone, and the remaining four minutes of private time would be more than enough time for Dusknoir to kill him.
He tried to form a Night Slash,̧ but it slipped off. He pricked a paw and tried to create a Shadow Ball, but the same result. It simply melted off into nothingness.
"The room you are in bars the use of your abilities," Dusknoir said softly and winced when Scout whimpered. "Scout, please listen to me. I'm not your enemy, it was something I had to do to fool our real enemies."
Scout continued trying to make a Shadow Ball, not willing to listen,̧ digging claws further into his paws. Several drops of blood fell and Dusknoir snapped. "Stop hurting yourself!"
Scout recoiled, flattened himself against the wall, and stopped trying to squeeze more blood out.
"Our mission was different, yet the same goal," Dusknoir said lowly,̧ these words only for Scout. "You would infiltrate the Planetary Investigation Team and lead me to them. Only… only something has happened, and you've lost your memories."
Scout could not believe what he was hearing, but he listened regardless. "Please understand Scout. I did this only to keep up appearances so that Grovyle and the human would not suspect you. For they will come to rescue you. It has happened before, and I hope it will happen again. If I can trap them here, that will work. But if they do succeed in taking you, you must play along and slow them down, leave a trail, anything that won't put you in danger."
"I…" Scout blinked, unable to even think of words anymore. "What?"
Dusknoir nodded sadly, but surely. "In the future we are both from, they seek to change the future. Doing so will mean the end of me, and you. And countless pokémon still living. So we came together to stop them. I know Grovyle has spoken to you, but you mustn't believe his lies over my truths. You are my partner." A large finger touched the fabric tied on one of his arms, old and worn but always kept. "And we are trying to save the world."
"I don't believe you," Scout said softly, and Dusknoir flinched harder than if Scout had punched him in the stomach.
"Scout…"
"Don't CALL me that," he said angrily, pulling himself off the wall and pointing a ble̴eding paw at Dusknoir. "I know what you are doing. I know, I know. I KNOW!" he shouted and Dusknoir recoiled. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Scout glared at Dusknoir as the spectre began pulling back. "Think about it Scout, if they are to succeed we will disap̵p͏ear." He glanced to the door and sighed. "I'm out of time. I've told them I simply wished to see if I could convince you to tell me where the others are. Remember what I've said Scout. And please make the right decision."
The door opened and Magnezone called Dusknoir back. He gave one last searching look to Scout, meeting Scout's furious glare with a pleading expression, before following, leaving into a room filled with quite a lot of noise.
Scout thought he heard someone yell his name. Or, perhaps, his former name. The door closed and he was left alone again, even more conflicted.
He gripped his bleeding paw tightly, wincing from the pain but not stopping. The pain was something he could latch onto, even as his blood made his paws sticky and gross. He remained in the solitude of his own thoughts for a painfully long time before taking a soft breath and getting up.
Extending a claw on his left paw, Scout reached through the bars and began trying to jam it into the lock. He wasn't sure if he could do this, but his paws seemed to know what to do.
He grit his teeth as he felt pressure building on the root of his claw, but he pressed on, trying to find that right chink to unlock the cell.
Scout felt it begin to give and he nearly smiled, before the splintering feeling of a breaking claw shattered that smile.
He could barely hold in the gasp as pain exploded from his paw and Scout recoiled, breaking the claw even more. He shoved his right paw in his mouth to stifle his scream as the other one rang loud with pain.
He breathed several minutes of very hard breaths, not daring to look at his paw. He could feel the trickle of blǫod mix with the dirt and tears of pain.
Eventually, thankfully, the pain dulled to a throb and he released his paw, swallowing the blood and saliva that had accumulated in his mouth.
He reached up with his left paw to marvel at the damage, all the claws were extended besides one, instead of solid claw there was blood and a skin tear. Grimacing, Scout scurried to the corner of the cell and huddled up again.
He shook slightly as he tried to keep himself together, but he was alone. No one was there to watch him fall apart.
As Scout was dragged away, Mane fought every instinct he had to blast the magnemite and instead forced his knees to bend and move the other way.
He bit down hard on his lip, more than enough to draw blood, and bumped into someone. His eyes flicked to the offender, Bidoof, before flicking back to where Scout was disappearing.
Mane's muscles began to strain as he physically fought the need to run forward and eventually, Scout was gone.
The Fire-type took in a deep breath before looking to the rest of the guild. Most of the lemmings were just staring in a mixture of confusion and sadness, the flower was silent for once in her life, even the sound monster just stared, his wide mouth gaping noiselessly.
They weren't helpful, those that were helpful happened to be whispering to each other. Mane would have none of that.
Ignoring the town behind him, idiotic mareep that followed whoever was biggest, Mane strutted angrily to Chatot and Wigglytuff. His oh-so-powerful and wise leaders.
"What was that?" he hissed, the two cutting their conversation quiet. "You just let him take Sean? Scout. You let him take Scout. If that's even his name, actually. You know what? I'm going to keep calling him Sean until HE gives me word."
Chatot ruffled his feathers at the utterly banal method of addressing them but held his own sharp retort back. "Meowth will be cleared, this we can be certain of."
"The fucker clearly has it out for him," Mane growled and Chatot gave him another stern look for the language, "you really think Dusknoir is going to let him go? And for what? Ridiculous claims he's got no proof of."
He spun back on the town and roared. "THERE IS NO PROOF! YOU ARE TAKING DUSKNOIR'S WORD OVER MEOWTH'S."
A few mon's jumped at the near-loudred volume, but no one looked him in the eye. The crowd was already dispersing, and Mane's growls only hastened this.
Tossing his head and scoffing, Mane turned to begin his way back to the guild. "See you," he spat, before breaking out into a sprint.
Mane passed more than a few pokémon on the way back. Several were headed to Spinda's Café, others just home. He scowled at them all, even for just a fraction of a second. This was ridiculous, malarkey, stupidity, and he despised it.
However, someone else needed to hear what had happened. And Mane was banking on being joined in his contempt of everyone after this.
He squeezed through the grate of the guild, scoffing again at how easy it would be to break into this place, and immediately headed straight to the medical wing.
"So guess what?" Mane yelled, banging into Rai's quiet space of depression and making the shinx jump. "Your old buddy Dusknoir told us all something interesting."
Rai gave Mane a look of confusion before it morphed into worry. "He what?"
"He did indeed." Mane grinned. It was not a nice grin. "Let me recount." He held a paw and licked it between each point. "He told us about a little dance, then reminisced about making a little love, THEN HE ARRESTED SEAN!"
Rai's confused, apprehensive, frown melted into horror. "He what?"
Mane nodded, still grinning a grin better seen on a bruxish than a litleo. "He claimed that Sean is actually one of TWO of that bastard Grovyle's partners, the other is a human apparently, oh and he also claimed that Sean's name isn't even Sean. But Scout."
Rai's jaw began to drop as his pupils began to dilate. Mane noted that before continuing. "He also said that part of why he believed all this is because YOU told him something." Mane stepped forward, butting his head against Rai's. "Now talk."
Rai blinked, he took a breath, then blinked again. His eyes were dilating further, and he began to shake. "He… he told me Sean was HIS friend," Rai said between numb lips. There were crackles of electricity popping off him and Mane stepped back to await the explosion, closing his eyes.
Then.
Nothing.
Mane cracked one eye open before the other one and then straightened up. Rai had stopped moving completely with his eyes closed. Not a snap, crackle, or pop to be heard.
Rai took a deep breath, Mane tensed, then exhaled. Rai opened both his eyes and gave Mane a thin smile that unsettled him more than Rai literally exploding the room would have.
He hopped down from the bed, uncaring of his wound. It was mostly healed anyway, Chimecho was simply careful. "Let's go see Dusknoir then," Rai said pleasantly, and Mane turned his head slightly, almost cocking it.
"You sure?"
"Yes."
There was no question to Rai's tone. He would go see Dusknoir now, even if he had to walk straight through Mane.
Mane smiled. It was an even less nice smile than the previous one. "He took him to Team Magnezone's base. Let's go."
Rai followed Mane's lead, knowing the litleo was a bit more familiar with the way than he was. Mane trotted down the steps, eyes passing over the guild as they began to come back. Chimecho shrieked something upon seeing them, but Rai ignored her. Chatot squawked something, Mane ignored that.
"I'm going to see him," Rai said pleasantly, and the guild let them pass. Wigglytuff watched them go, sad frown marring his face. He gave a soft exhale and nodded to Chatot before following after them.
They turned left at the watering hole and continued on. Mane knew this path pretty well, although Rai wouldn't bring up why. It's not that he got into trouble badly enough to come here often, but occasionally Team Magnezone wanted to speak with him and he'd oblige.
"So how much of this stuff did you already know? Mane asked pleasantly, Rai didn't answer at first. "Heard anything about a 'Scout'?"
"Sean never really told me much," Rai admitted. Mane raised an eyebrow at him, but he had nothing more to say.
They took another left and began heading down a gently falling slope, almost gentle enough to be unnoticeable.
The building Team Magnezone run their operations from was not dissimilar to the Wigglytuff Guild. Except, rather than a creepy wigglytuff head, it was given the vague shape of a magnezone. Mane normally could appreciate the vanity. This time, however, not so much.
They butted their way through the door and into the building. Magnemite and magneton buzzed in the air in excitement, giving quick unpleasant screeches to each other.
All eyes fell on Rai and Mane as they entered, and a magneton floated in close to speak.
"ZZZT! All visitors are to be turned away unless there is an emergency," the robotic pokémon buzzed. "What is your business here? ZZZT!"
"The meowth you just arrested for no good reason," Mane snarled, coming up forward. He restrained the fire wanting to crackle out of his mouth. It would not be good to try and threaten them. No matter how much he wanted to.
"I am also going to speak to Dusknoir," Rai said pleasantly, the eyes of the magneton swivelling to him.
"ZZZT! I am afraid we cannot release the meowth. Furthermore, Dusknoir is assisting us with his account and is not able to speak to anyone else. ZZZT!"
"I don't think you-" Mane begun, but Rai spoke over him.
"I am going to speak with Dusknoir," he said and stepped forward. The magneton was stunned at the complete disregard of its word.
"ZZZT! Excuse me! ZZZT! You cannot enter these premises unescorted. ZZZT! Shinx stop or I will be forced to detain you. ZZZT!"
Rai did not stop and a few magnemite began to buzz. Mane licked his lips, tasting heat. If this was going to come to a battle, then he'd play ball.
"Excuse me?" a light and fluffy voice called, and everyone paused. Even Rai glanced behind to see Wigglytuff enter, apologetic smile on his face. "So sorry for the intrusion. Forgive us, forgive us."
"Guildmaster?" Rai asked and Wigglytuff gave him a smile.
"I'm sorry Shinx but you're going to have to come with me. We can all talk to Dusknoir later, but for now we really need you back at the guild." He sent a smile to Mane as well, and the litleo felt disarmed. "Litleo too. We dearly need you both right away."
Mane hesitated, suddenly unsure, and Rai swallowed. "But," he began but Wigglytuff's smile was stable and his eyes kind. "But… alright." He bowed his head and Mane frowned. Rai's tail drooped as he dragged himself back.
"So sorry to have intruded, have a good day. Have a good day. Treat everyone here well, alright?"
The magneton nodded and Wigglytuff shepherded his wayward apprentices out. "Phew." He breathed a sigh of relief before taking both felines in an arm each. "Let's get back quickly," he suggested, and they could only hang on as Wigglytuff sprinted off in a stunning burst of speed.
Wigglytuff kept the sprint up the entire trip and wasn't even winded a few minutes later as he carried them into the guild.
The gate clanged shut behind them and Wigglytuff finally released them. "I know this time is a tough one," Wigglytuff said warmly, giving the two members of Team Ion a smile. "But it'll end okay. It'll end okay."
"How can you be so sure?" Mane grumbled. He hated how Wigglytuff's arrival seemed to suck all the anger out of him. The damn Fairy-type did some trickery, Mane was sure.
"Because Meowth is strong and good!" Wigglytuff declared as they headed down. "He will be okay until we can solve this for him." They reached the bottom of the guild where everyone was assembled and Chatot breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the three.
"Welcome back Guildmaster," Chatot said primly as the apprentices stopped mulling about in awkward stilted silence.
"Thank you Chatot." Wigglytuff smiled to his second-in-command.
"Dusknoir told me that Sean was his friend from before he lost his memory," Rai said, cutting out any other angle of conversation. "I know I wasn't there to hear it, but Mane said Dusknoir claims that Sean is actually Grovyle's partner."
The apprentices were all silent, barring one.
"So, one way or the other," Sunflora begun, "he lied. Why would he lie? And which one did he lie about?"
Mane snorted. "Obviously the claim that Sean is some maniac trying to end the world."
There was silence. No one wanted to say what was there, but Mane could hear it anyway. His face screwed up until he couldn't take the silence anymore. "Yeah, I get that he has memory issues, but you can't actually believe this?"
"It…" Chatot begun, words sounding physically painful, "can't be considered off the table." He grimaced before flapping as Mane and Rai both delivered thunderous expressions to him. "Now-now! I do not believe he would do such a thing now. But it cannot be ignored that, uh… Meowth himself doesn't know. It is curious that Grovyle would wish to speak to him alone, is it not?"
"And did that actually happen?" Mane snapped.
"Yes," Rai said quietly, and Mane closed his mouth. All eyes fell on Rai and he cringed. "Yes it happened. But Dusknoir said that...! Argh!" Rai tossed his head. "He told me that Grovyle would try and manipulate him as they BOTH knew him and were trying to stop him. But now, why did he tell me that if it's not true?"
"We're not going to get any answers until Dusknoir can be asked the questions," Croagunk pointed out and Rai scowled.
"I tried."
"He'll be safe there," Sunflora said softly, giving Rai and Mane a comforting look. "No one can hurt him there. There aren't many safer places around then Team Magnezone's base."
Rai screwed his face into a frown or a snarl, but he couldn't quite decide on it and he fell into a cracked expression of misery. "I…" Rai didn't finish, simply began to walk. "I'm going to bed." He did not go towards the medical wing, but Chimecho didn't try and stop him.
Mane followed after a moment, making sure to give every member of the guild a scowl as he went.
"So when are we going to break him out?" Mane asked as Rai slumped into bed.
"Sometimes I worry that you can tell what's on my mind," Rai said, muffled by the straw. Mane smirked a nasty smirk.
"What can I say?" he asked as Rai sat up and they began to talk.
Striker breathed a sigh of relief as he approached the mouth of the cave. Even from this distance he could see the glimmering of blue crystals twinkling at him from the darkness.
Although from this distance they looked like teeth of a horrible mouth.
He remained in the overgrown thicket, eyes sliding back and forth carefully. He would not believe that there were no guards here. Visible guards, however, were a different story and he knew how well the sableye could hide.
That shadow there by the lip of the cave? Possibly a sableye. That grove in the rock? Could house a sableye waiting to send the alarm.
Striker smiled grimly. Even if they were visible, he doubted he'd be able to strike all of them down without Dusknoir getting word somehow.
It hurt to do, it left him feeling ill at the prospect of willingly walking into a trap. But there was no choice and calling Dusknoir to this place was Sean's only real chance to find the key that they needed to progress.
There were few other options.
Once his breath way caught, Striker jumped out of the bushes and sped to the entrance. He thought he caught a shadow twitching, but there was no chance to turn back now. He cracked a grin, he wouldn't turn back even if there was a choice.
Striker disappeared into the cave as the two sableye watching it poked their heads out and nodded. They sent Master Dusknoir the signal, a weak spiritual throb that would scarcely be noticed by any of the Ghost-types around, but one that Dusknoir was waiting for.
One sniggered and the other ground its claws down with its sharp teeth. There wasn't much else to do besides wait and hope that the master arrive in time.
The denizens of Crystal Cave posed little threat to Striker and he carved his way through without hesitation. A Leaf Blade to lay low a graveler, a quick Dig to smash a seviper out of the way. He even took out a trio of riolu with Bullet Seed, not pausing even as they rang a familiar vibe with him.
Enemies dropped before him or leapt out of his way. Nothing would slow Striker here, and nothing did.
He breezed up to the final room where three crystals shone blue. A terrible gouge in the dungeon made of crystals. The site of the entrance to the Crystal Crossing impressed Striker and he paused for a brief moment.
Not for long, however, as he knew there would be more sableye around. He hopped through the room and into the entrance, two more sableye watching him go.
Striker was confident that the enemies further in would be more powerful. Simply the visage of the entrance was testament to the power of a legendary pokémon, warping a dungeon in such a stable way.
But even the froslass and glalie were laughable and he slashed, dug, and shot his way through any enemy that dared approach.
One particularly swift absol managed to cut through his Treasure Bag and his arm in the process, sending orbs scattering everywhere. He cracked its head against the wall and quickly gathered his items, not letting a single orb loose.
Despite his diligence, however, one was snatched by a glameow and he growled and tried to chase it.
It was heading backwards, however, and Striker had to let it go. Turning back over an orb, even a beautiful Luminous Orb, was not worth it. He
Striker held a gru̴dge against glameow from then on.
He tied the cut band together and continued.
Crystal Lake was stunning.
It's majesty outweighed the allure of Fogbound Lake and the hidden paradise of the Underground Lake. Gemstones littered the land, and water, spreading blue, teal, and green light through the cavernous room.
Even then, however, Grovyle didn't slow.
He continued hopping as fast as he could, avoiding the water for now, until he found himself along a final stretch. A long path heading to an enormous flat crystal that was then crowned by a ring of spiky blue gems.
Only there were two things wrong.
The first, the Time Gear's light was consumed by even more crystals that had spiked up behind it, covering a large part of the lake in an incredibly hard substance.
The second, Azelf was ready for him.
"I presume you are Grovyle?" Azelf called as Striker began to slow. He was breathing heavily, but his heart pounded harder. "The thief."
"Yes," Striker answered as he came to a stop. There wasn't much ground between him and Azelf. "I'm assuming you too are beholden to Dusknoir's lies?"
Azelf's eyes narrowed and Striker knew there was no manner he could ever convince the Spirit of Willpower. The loss of Uxie and Mesprit surely nailed that.
"I know you won't take it," Azelf said as they floated up and bared their fists. "I know you don't deserve it after the fates you inflicted on my siblings. But I will offer it regardless. Give up and I will show mercy."
Striker gave a bitter smile and fell into a combat stance. "Can you sense my resolve?" he asked and Azelf nodded, a look of almost-respect in their eyes. "Then let's not bother with the dialogue."
With that, Striker attacked.
True to his namesake, he struck immediate and without any restraint. For a foe like Azelf, holding back at all would cost him a victory. While Azelf was likely not any more powerful than their brethren, their willpower was absolute.
And Striker knew himself that fighting beyond your limits could win fights you had no right of winning.
An Energy Ball was thrown first, tossed into the ground to blast up a cloud of crystals and green smoke, obscuring him as Striker zipped in with arms shining.
Azelf avoided the first Leaf Blade and parried the second one by jabbing right into Striker's arm joint. He hissed from the jolt of pain and skirted backwards, Azelf had already whipped up a storm of stars and flung them at him.
Striker eyed the Swift stars, each spinning deadly. Power generated in his mouth and he spat out pinpointed streams of seeds, destroying each Swift before it could strike him.
The time taken to do that, however, had given Azelf the time they needed to call on their own Power and Azelf blasted Striker with a blast of sound, knocking him off his feet.
The grovyle landed and bounced, grabbing a crystal poking out from the ground and used it to brace himself and stop bouncing. He sniped another Bullet Seed at Azelf and the Psychic-type avoided it but hitting them wasn't his goal.
With his feet stable again, Striker ran forward in a burst of speed, clearing the distance Azelf had formed in less than a second. Azelf's eyes widened before Striker's arms slashed their crest and stomach, drawing painful lines but thankfully no blood.
Yet.
Striker pushed forward and raised a foot, kicking Azelf with all the force he could muster, and the recoil of the kick caused him to tumble to the ground.
Azelf groaned as they hit the crown crystal and began sliding down it before catching themselves and floating back up. Azelf formed another Swift storm and began sending them at their attacker, trying to force space between them to summon their strength again.
Not willing to fall for the same move twice, Striker braced his muscles and jumped forward, spraying Bullet Seeds as wildly as he could. Many stars broke, several missed, and others crashed into his body. But he refused to let that slow him and Striker slashed an X in Azelf's chest.
Azelf cried out before Striker crashed into them, slamming both of them against the wall. They groaned, but pushed out, forcing Striker off of them. Eyes beginning to flash, Azelf commanded. "Enough."
Striker paused, but only for a moment.
He slashed out and Azelf caught the fist and then ducked under the slash Striker gave, slamming their own fist into the grovyle's chest.
Striker gasped as he felt something pop but didn't relent and slashed out with his free arm again. Azelf punched him again and then twisted, trying to break his arm.
Instead, Striker's arm was merely dislocated, and he screamed out, clutching the arm. With that distraction, Azelf slammed Striker with a burst of pure Psychic strength and sent him flying.
Clutching their chest, Azelf hissed in pain at the wounds Striker had inflicted on their body before girding themself. Striker was already getting up, having popped his arm back into place.
Striker flexed the digits on his right arm. It was somewhat numb after that dislocation, but he couldn't let that slow him. He was wearing Azelf down, he was sure.
Energy Ball forming, Striker also spat a stream of Bullet Seed's. Azelf blasted the ones that got close back, but Striker then sent the Energy Ball.
Blocking that as well took more effort and Azelf nearly sagged in mid-air. Azelf hadn't faced combat in a long time, and they had given up the bulk of their powers long ago to keep this world functional.
This grovyle was too powerful, and Azelf knew they wouldn't win this fight.
Thankfully, winning this fight was not necessary for winning this war.
Azelf took a deep, calming, breath and thought of Uxie and his love of trivia and Mesprit and her adoration for sharpedo. Grovyle the Thief had taken them from Azelf and would take the world from everyone else.
Azelf opened their eyes as Striker came forward and raised an arm, guiding their Power and grabbing the enemy in Psychic.
Immediately, Azelf nearly buckled from the strain. Holding Striker with Psychic was like holding a bibarel dam together with ones feet.
Azelf immediately fell out of the air, thumping onto their feet that could barely hold their weight. They raised their other arm and gasped out, directing everything they had to hold the Grass-type pokémon in place.
Even then, Striker was still walking forward. Every inch of his body straining against the psychic hold, eyes bulging from the strain, muscles tensed as far as they could go. Each step was fraught with unseen energy gripping the very tendons in his muscles, tugging them back, as he forced forward. He was sure something was tearing from the strain, but he could not stop. He would not stop.
Slowly, but surely, Striker began to pull his arms closer, tendrils of green energy begin to appear in wisps and Azelf realised what Striker was attempting. They directed more focus towards the arms rather than the legs and Striker nearly fell over when he made a few sudden steps forward.
Gasping from the pain now, Striker continued pulling his hands closer in the worlds slowest, most dramatic, clap.
Energy began to build, and he heard Azelf groan, more hold on his body began to loosen, as everything was being pushed into holding his arms apart.
Striker felt something tear then and his left arm also went numb, but the Energy Ball was forming steadily. It was ready.
He raised his eyes to Azelf's and met the Spirit of Willpower face on. He wanted to apologise, but there was no point in apologising.
Striker threw the Energy Ball as Azelf's grip slackened, blasting them off their feet and slamming them into the wall.
Knowing he couldn't give any quarter, Striker ran forward, tail shining in a Leaf Blade as both of his arms were not obeying. He spun and slashed a wet tear through Azelf and grabbed their head with his left arm, which was beginning to obey, and smashed Azelf's head into the crystal.
Azelf went limp and Striker allowed himself to collapse next to them.
He listened for Azelf's breathing over his own for a moment, relieved he hadn't killed the legendary, before forcing himself up.
The flat crystal battlefield was covered in broken crystals, gouges, even bits of blood and leafy powder.
With several grunts of pain and exertion, Striker forced himself to his feet. There was no time to be taking a nap, he had the worst game of treasure hunt to still go through.
He scampered over the spiky crystal crown and onto the spiky sea of crystals. Frowning in annoyance, Striker carefully toed his way towards a dull glow. One clump of crystals appeared more special than the others and Striker had seen them enough times to know the light of a Time Gear.
A stream of Bullet Seed's and Energy Ball's blasted the spiky parts off, but scarcely even touched the flatter crystal they rested on.
Striker walked up and onto the trimmed crystal and looked down. There it was, even through blue crystal, he could make out the foggy shape of a Time Gear.
He clenched both hands a few times, shrugged his shoulders. Both arms ached, and his hands didn't move as quickly as he could like. There was no other way, unfortunately.
Striker took a breath, raised both fists, and slammed them down together. A dull thwonk echoed out from the impact and Striker was sure he felt something crack.
Thankfully it was the crystal.
Gritting his teeth, he raised his hands again and felt for the Power. He channelled it into his favoured Dig and then slammed down again. And again. And again and again and again.
Slowly the crystal broke, his hands bled, and Striker continued striking the crystal. Both arms jarred by this point, and shards of crystal cutting into him.
Striker was accustomed to pain.
The pain of the stomach when one was starving. The pain of the throat, when all the water was frozen and not ice.
The pain of the heart as the day remained dark. The pain of the body as one fought to protect what little they had, sometimes only ones life. If that was even worth having in the dark future.
He was used to agony of many different kinds, and this was no different. Still, Striker couldn't hold every tear back or every spasm in his chest as he hit the crystal again and again and again.
He hit it until he couldn't hit it anymore.
Largely due to someone catching his hands as he raised them again.
Striker immediately swung forward, jumped, and kicked back, slamming his feet into Dusknoir's belly and diverting his centre of balance, allowing him to throw the weighty Ghost-type over himself and into the hole of shattered crystal. He still hadn't reached the Time Gear, hadn't even made that much progress, but there was no question now. It was time to go.
Striker ran. Fighting Dusknoir when he was healthy and uninjured was an unpleasant prospect. But when he was in this state? After fighting a legendary? No.
As he sprinted, Striker shoved a bloody hand into his Treasure Bag and siphoned through the orbs. He knew he had a Luminous Orb in here somewhere, perfect for both blinding Dusknoir and forcing sableye out of the shadows.
He could tell them apart by feel, size, and weight and each orb he rolled was not the one he needed.
A sableye leaped in his way and he cut it down. A shadowy tendril nipped at his ankle, and Striker cut that with his tail. Azelf got up and grabbed him in Psychic again. That problem had no easy answer, unfortunately.
Striker roared and struggled against the grip until Azelf just couldn't hold him anymore, but Dusknoir had caught up by that point.
Striker did the splits as he ducked below a Shadow Punch and threw his own normal, and bloody, fist into one of the eye-like markings on Dusknoir's chest. He knew those were sensitive.
Dusknoir gasped as Striker rolled to his feet, still rifling through his bag in a panic. He couldn't understand why he couldn't find it, he didn't have THAT many orbs. The Luminous Orb was always-
Striker realised three things.
The first, was that he really hated glameow.
The second, he didn't have a Luminous Orb.
The third, possibly the most pertinent, Dusknoir had extra company.
A ponyta reared up and kicked him with flaming hooves and he fell right into the spreading vines of a bellsprout. They couldn't hold him for long, but long enough for a camerupt to blast him point blank with an unnecessary amount of fire.
Everything went black and red and pain all over before it got worst. Something snatched him from behind, but with Striker's disorientation he could barely even swat at it.
He yelled out as Dusknoir lifted him over his head and blasted him in the back with a plume of ghostly flame. A sableye leaped up and cut through the Treasure Bag and it fell. Dusknoir continued to lift him over his head, falling back, to slam Striker face first into the same crystal he had slammed Azelf into.
He felt something unpleasantly close to his neck almost snapping before everything went dark.
Sean had spent the few days in misery.
Even though he wasn't the one locked in a cell somewhere, breaking his claws in locks. The riolu had been left anxious and jumpy.
The whole town was in a state of anticipation. He had gone through and listened in on a few conversations. Not everyone thought Scout was the demon centipede or bacon bird in disguise, but the general acceptance was that the Great Dusknoir was in the right.
More than once Sean had to sneak away from a conversation so he wouldn't fall to the temptation to try and correct the townsfolk.
Everyone was active. And every exploration team in the area, besides the apprentices at the guild, were looking for him.
Looking for a human at least, and Sean found it bitterly amusing to find a few pokémon trying to educate the explorer teams on what a human looked like.
There seemed to be huge disagreement over whether humans had tails or not.
He was fine with it, any distraction from actually finding him was valued. Not that anyone was looking for a riolu, allowing him in and out of town safely.
He had stopped coming in as often. The sableye could be anywhere. Dusknoir could be anywhere. And someone coming in and out all the time could attract unwanted attention.
So, Sean waited in silence, biting his tongue and forcing himself away. He had to be ready for Dusknoir's departure, he had to get all the time he could manage.
But loitering around the cottage Dusknoir was residing at wasn't wise. There were more sableye watching it, he was certain.
Was Sean paranoid? Yes. There was no question there.
Was Sean ready? No. There was no question there.
But he didn't get the choice to be ready or not, he simply had to be. And when he saw Dusknoir pause in his haste to keep away from a very determined shinx, Sean knew it was time.
Not minding the shinx, Dusknoir made impressive haste towards the town centre and called out. "Grovyle is at the location of the Time Gear!"
Immediately, Claydol floated forward. They were ready to transport Dusknoir to stop the thief.
A few exploration teams also came forward, but Dusknoir had no time to entertain them. Only a team boasting two Fire-type's were allowed to come, along with two sableye, before they disappeared.
Sean worried, he couldn't help himself, but he also couldn't waste time fluffing about. He had only found two sableye to still be in town, and both just left.
He would still be careful though, Dusknoir was tricky, but there was no better chance than this.
With the town distracted with anticipation and hearsay, Sean ran off. He had burned the path into his mind and didn't falter until he was right to the cottage. It took him a few minutes, it was quite out of the way.
Uninhabited, hopefully at least, but he didn't enter through the door. A small window, too small for his previous human body to squeeze through, was the choice of entry.
The cottage was quiet, dull, and filled with an odd smell. It was a small, one room, dwelling with a fireplace and a lump of straw, single table, and a few of Dusknoir's personal items placed around in specific spots.
Despite it all, a small smile graced his canine face. It was surprisingly easy to pinpoint the areas Dusknoir frequented. The fireplace was cold, but the ashy remains of wood still sat there. The small table had finger marks almost drilled into it, Dusknoir was almost compulsively a finger-tapper.
The place was clean and quiet, organised in that special way Dusknoir did. It was almost too easy for him to begin rifling through the area, replacing everything exactly as he found it. Leaving the crooked objects crooked and the jar twisted almost tight, but not quite.
He opened the chest Dusknoir stored his items in and found the secret compartment in a few seconds. He deduced this was the feint and continued searching through the orbs and seeds. He found a groove and had a lot of trouble getting into it.
"Damn stubs," he muttered, glaring angrily at his paws. Fingers would be so much better here. Sean dug out a stick from his own bag and used it for a few minutes until he got into the real secret compartment.
It'd leave behind a trace, but a stick should be too difficult to track. Dusknoir would likely suspect he was here, regardless.
With that sobering thought in mind, Sean sped up his search. There was no telling if he'd send someone back to check his dwelling.
The secret compartment was frustratingly bare. Simply a scrap of paper with symbols that reminded him of his own language. Unown symbols, the writing looked familiar too. With some focus he could make out most of the words.
"Because of you, Guardian is gone," he read, quietly. "And now you've lost Scout…" he trailed off, realising why this handwriting looked familiar.
Striker had written this. But when? And why for that matter?
He frowned and glanced back to it before carefully putting it back in. That was private, but also useless to him.
He continued to look as the minutes ticked away more and more, but there was nothing but dust to be found.
Dust and a single shard of a common rock that had been swept away. Highly dissatisfying.
Something thunked and he looked up. The distant sounds of cheering could be heard, and he felt dread settle in his soul.
Knowing this was pointless, Sean got out of the cottage and ran along the overgrown edges of Treasure Town.
Listening in closely, he could hear Dusknoir's deep rumble, but not the words, along with a cheer from the crowd every few moments.
"There is only ONE more threat to stop!" Dusknoir said, voice raising enough for Sean to make it out. "One more and the world is saved!"
"One more!" the crowd repeated, stamping, cheering, or hollering.
"No," Sean said quietly.
"Grovyle has been caught!" Dusknoir yelled and the crowd cheered again. "Now we search for the human."
"The human!" the crowd repeated.
"Save the world!"
"Save the world!"
Sean backed away as Dusknoir continued to whip the crowd into a frenzy. He didn't have the key to the Hidden Land.
And he didn't have Striker either. Sean didn't know what to do.
Dusknoir held every card.