Everyone in my group was on edge since the expedition. I could feel it off everyone. I mean I was too. Any moment all of us could just drop dead. From what sam was describing anyways. It was a lot. Especially since we had no leads yet, or anymore I should say. I still felt stupid.

"Your safe now! Go rest back at the guild, okay?"

With a flash they were gone. It was just me and Rin today. We would split up B and C tier missions based on dungeon's. Divide and conquer I guess. Rarely we would group up for a couple A tiers though. We could handle A tier but they just took way too long to complete.

"See you at the guild sky!"

She touched her badge and vanished. I followed suit, no longer flinching to the flash. I waved goodbye to Rin for now. I headed to our room splitting up. I scanned the room looking for fraya. As soon as I saw yellow I walked in.

"Don't forget about the thing I asked you for. Its been waiting all night!"

"Yea, yea. You never really say much about it, just that you need my electricity."

"Trust me, its worth it."

She followed me out and we started heading to the front door. Exiting, I led fraya over to grassy beach. After reaching the spot I grabbed two wires that were attached to my setup. There was a wood container holding seawater with a cover. Those crude tubes were fashioned as air tight as possible leading into the cooking pot. I had a platform suspending it above a very small pile of sticks. I passed the wires to fraya.

"Can you give this a constant supply of juice? Send it through the wires."

"Like this?"

She stuck the wires to her cheeks. The wires started glowing, charged with current strong enough to create plasma. I didn't think too deep about it, I was now on the clock. I used a force palm to light a fire. Pwoosh! The acid in the container started cooking. Perfect.

I had the crude silicone in there from the quartz. I had sulphuric acid in there. Boiling. This was actually super dangerous stuff, getting the acid was a chore too. There was a reservoir in the mountains somewhere, lucario grabbed it for me as I would've died. He's immune to poison types after all. Its crazy to think he might be able to swim in that deadly stuff without dissolving.

Anyways, the goal was to dissolve the silicone and recrystallize it for better efficiency. I could skip this step, but I wasn't going to half ass this. I fed the campfire more wood.

"What are we.. doing exactly? Ugh."

"Hydrogenating and recrystallizing into some crystalline silicon. Should be a huge disk when were done."

"Hydro? Like hydro pump?"

"What? No. Its more like setting up resources. This isnt for any moves or stuff like battles."

I watched the smog from all the evaporating gasses. Most of it was just hydrogen coming off the reaction. I kept babysitting the fire until eventually the fumes stopped. I stopped working with the fire. It needed to slowly die down now. I checked on fraya.

She was sweating, out of breath. She looked like she was about to cop out. I ran up to her, placing both of my palms on her shoulder. I started feeding her my aura.

"Ah, sky? What.. are you doing?"

"Energy. I cant have you quitting at the most important part."

I was nervous. There was a chance I would just get a bunch of powder rather than a solid crystal. I needed a flat disk to cut later. I don't understand too deep, but it was important for it to be flat and clear. Its to trap photons or whatever. And fraya was supplying the hydrogen. Wood campfires reach upwards of 230 centigrade, so the silicon should have melted after recrystallizing.

I felt my energy drain as I helped fraya keep up the voltage. I was hoping we could squeak out ten minutes at least, but fraya was running low. We were down to the wire here. I started giving fraya even more of my aura.

With a final crackle, the wire stopped glowing. Me and fraya collapsed on the ground, panting like crazy. I think that was about fifteen. I hoped. We laid there for a while, before Fraya finally broke the silence.

"So.. what.. ah.. whats with the crazy hard work? Its.. harder than training.. oww."

"Its.. huhh.. its for steady current. We can.. power stuff for the guild."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well, if we set up batteries.. we could power stoves, microwaves, tvs, computers, pokemon centers, and beyond."

"Whaa, umm. Can you start.. with the Pokémon center?"

"Yea, someone named nurse joy had invented a technology to heal pokemon using electricity. Its very innovative stuff. I wish I could remember how it works though. For now I just remember chemistry, and basic physics. Who knows how much ive lost though. Im still worried."

I trailed off, taken over by my thoughts. Everyone was dying, I should be out doing something to stop it. And who was that thing that attacked me on the expedition. Is there a person behind all of it? It seemed like they knew me.

"Who are you talking about?"

I was thinking out loud!

"Uhh, I don't know. Sam might know what they look like though. He saved me from being massacred then."

"What?! Isn't that something for us to talk about?!"

"Ehh, nobody's brought it up till now."

"We know you feel terrified. Quit putting up this tough act for us. You can talk to us about it. When we are all together, nothing can break us! So don't worry. We will catch this guy together!"

I didn't even realize that. She was right. I wasn't weak here. We shared strength. I wasn't alone here, of course friends are important. Why was I so dumb?

"Your right, we're going to take that guy down!"

"Right!"

We shared a moment nodding at each other. I then turned to my mess of an experiment. I stood up and walked up to the pot. I placed my hand on the rough metal. It was warm, but manageable. I grabbed the lid holding my breath. I pulled it open.

At the bottom was a smooth surface of gray silicon. Grey! Translucent! Crystalline! Solid! I started cheering. It was all in one piece.

"Letssss Gooooo!"

I grabbed the pot and turned it upside down against the ground, letting the crystal fall out. I picked it up feeling its smooth texture.

"Seriously? For a piece of glass?"

"Kind of. This is a special glass. Or it should be."

She groaned at me. I shrugged her off, stuffing my disk in my bag. Then I got to work dismantling the setup. I had to reclaim my cook set. It was expensive.

"Hey sky! How are you doing? Its been a while."

Lucario was behind us, I gave a wave still busy with my setup. I could feel his curiosity starting to pique.

"Whats this for?"

"Uhh, a power plant."

I carefully set the wood container aside. I would probably need this bleach later down the road.

"Well, besides what your doing right now.. are you interested In some special training?"

I had finished putting away all my new materials aside, I turned giving lucario my full attention. I nodded. Why would I say no? I still felt weak.

"Good, tell sam to cut your schedule loose for a week."

A week?! What kind of training did he have in mind?! I was hoping I could finish finding the last of the materials.. I ignored that thought.

"So why a week?"

"Oh its a hike. I don't wanna spoil too much but you'll see more of us. Im hoping you could teach some of them."

Didn't he say this was training?! I was more confused then before. Wasn't I going to learn something?

"Wait isn't this training? How can I learn from teaching? And who am I teaching?"

He started laughing at me. "You can learn a lot from teaching! It can be a trade of information sometimes when discussions arise. Improvement can come from anywhere!"

I nodded. That casted away any doubt shadowing my mind about this. I guess im going on a hike.

OooOooO

I had left everything behind me back at the guild. I was sure to eat dinner before meeting Lucario at the front. Sam was reluctant to let me go but I talked him into it. I was curious as to what lucario was planning, or if I would learn more about this aura stuff. We started walking out across the bridge, but he stopped me.

"Hey sky? Mind leaving the necklace?"

I was curious of his intentions. "Why though? It saved my life once."

"Uhhh, well. Thinking of it now It wouldn't be good to hide your aura on this trip."

I had forgotten about that feature of the necklace. For whatever reason it hid my aura from them. I could still lob aura spheres with it on, so it doesn't get rid of it. How did it do that? Either way I didn't want to take it off.

"Itl be fine, like wont it draw less attention?"

"Not where we are going."

I was pondering what he could be planning. We crossed the town as I thought. Maybe more of our kind as in kind of pokemon? Like more riolu and lucario? That still doesn't answer where we were going. Trees started wrapping around my vision as we left the town behind.

Seconds turned into Minutes, and that turned to hours. I was following closely behind lucario. We were jogging our way along. It was a different speed than I was used to but I could manage. Before long it started getting dark. I watched as the sun went down making sure to soak in the last of it. The purple pinks were out giving everything an enchanted glow. It was nice.

It was my favourite part of every day.

It got dark alot quicker than usual though, and the explanation for it intruded on us. I could hear a couple taps of water against the dirt path. It was gonna rain. Too bad we didn't have meteorologists.

"Should we build shelter for the night?"

"Yea, maybe. I was hoping to cut off some time walking in the dark though."

He stopped, I did too. We both scanned around for a solution. We couldn't make a fire easily. The rain started pouring in. We needed something quick or we would be drenched and cold. I noticed a circle of trees along the woods. Three of them were half grown. I ran up to the tree and started climbing.

"What are you doing?"

"Ill make shelter, ugh, get wood."

Climbing the tree took focus. It was slippery, I felt I could just slide off. I was sweating. After I reached the top, I grabbed on as tightly as possible. Then I swung my body swaying the tree. I missed the other tree a couple times before managing to latch onto two of them. They were perfect. I swung some more in a new direction, experiencing more resistance. My hand slipped a little but I still managed to keep it.

Reaching with my other, barely got the tip of the tree. I pulled them in twisting the tops towards eachother jumping on them to push them down. I pushed them around then under eachother, wrapping all the way around to each third tree. It was hard to describe with words. It made it look like a giant bush with three thin legs. After I was confident the trees were sturdy, I leaped down the shortened distance.

I tested the tree setup waiting for lucario. A few drops at the edges were making it through but nothing was hitting the center. It was still damp there though, but it felt nice there. Before long, I noticed Lucario. He was down the trail. I waved him over.

"Hi."

He set down all the wood down in the center and sat down. He looked winded. I started setting up the fire. All the wood was damp, I wasn't confident it would light. Fwoom! Nothing, didn't work like usual. I tried again. Fwoom!

I sighed, defeated. Lucario took over. I noticed he was smirking. He looked confident. He charged up an aura sphere and stuck it in the gap under the wood holding it down with his other hand. Skshhhh! It sounded like it was grinding against the wood. Like a belt sander. Fwoosh! The fire burst to life as lucario let his sphere dissipate. I was in awe.

"I wish I thought of that, that was cool!"

He laughed,"Just years of experience is all."

The fire started letting off a warm aura, brightening a circle around us. The rain was the only thing we could hear casting a visual fog of sorts into the dark. I laid on my back laughing to myself at the pretzel tree I made. I wonder if it'll keep growing like that? I had barely noticed that I had started dozing off.

\/

Everything was dark. I could barely see two feet in front of my face. I kept walking along the cold floor.

"Hello?!" I yelled.

My voice echoed back to me. No response. Was I.. dreaming again? I smacked myself on my face. I felt a sharp sting. Why did it feel real? I was next to lucario..

"HEHEHEHAHAAHAAHAAHHH!!"

A cold twisted echo of a laugh filled the room. I was struck with fear. I frantically looked around for the voice. It was too dark to see. I couldn't use aura either!

"What do you want?!"

"HEAHAHAHAHAHA! DIE!"

I felt a cold sting at my feet, slowly travelling up. I tried pulling my feet out but it was just this sticky black goop held on. It was burning. I started struggling harder.

"Ahhhhggn!" I fell backwards.

Plotp! It covered my back and I started sinking deeper into it. It stung badly. I tried desperately pulling away. It felt like I was being dissolved in acid. I screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"HEHEHE!"

Just laughing. Was I, really going to die? I was kicking but only my head was left now, but that wasn't long. I sank completely with my screams being muffled. I couldn't breathe. This was agony. I was struggling to breathe. It felt like my head was going to explode. It all started going fuzzy.

/\

With a flash of light everything came rushing back. I was wheezing and coughing. I was.. alive. I was shivering, despite the warm glow of the sun.

"IM SO SORRY, ITS MY FAULT IM SO STUPID! IM GLAD YOUR OKAY!"

Lucario was shouting apology at my. I was dazed and confused. Why was he sorry? Wasn't It just another bad dream?

"What are you sorry about? It was just a bad dream?"

He was crying above me knelt over. He shook his head at me.

"I.. Im sorry! I was curious about the necklace but.. you stopped breathing!"

"Can you elaborate? Im lost."

"Hnff. I. I took off your necklace this morning. I was curious about it, but while I was holding it you stirred up. You slowly got worse and worse, even stopped breathing! Im.. Im glad I got the necklace back on in time, I had no idea but.."

"Im fine, its okay." I cut him off.

This was good to know. I wondered if this was connected to my encounter on the expedition, or my previous dream. Yet some more damned questions. This meant that the dream guys were somewhat real. I don't like it. I sat up, narrowly missed bonking Lucario's head. At least one of the dream guys was apparently protecting me.

I stood up and turned facing Lucario. He still had a worried look painted on his face. He didn't move, staring at me deep in thought. He felt scared and ashamed. I decided to surprise him with a hug.

"Wha?!"

"Don't think about stuff to deeply. We all make mistakes. Hell, if you didn't take off the necklace I wouldn't have even known Id die without it. Thanks."

He smiled returning the hug. Thats all I wanted to see. The moment didn't last long and we both stood up.

"So, how long do we have left to walk?"

"Half a day. Should be the easy bit."

OooOooO

I was panting like a madman. We had hiked up a mountain trail. And before that we crossed a valley. That would've been easy enough, but I had to match Lucario's pace! How was he practically jogging up?! I didn't get how he could manage that. He wasn't even sweating either! It was certainly harder than last night. I was regretting my choices until I finally heard those words.

"Alright, we made it."

I sat down exhausted. I took a minute to recoup. I was thirsty as hell. I needed water.

"Where, a hahh. Can I get water?"

"Theres a river not too far. Thats where we are going."

I looked around. We were at a plateau on the mountain. There were these little huts everywhere made of stone and clay. Thatched roofs. They had a different colour than the ones back near the guild. I stood up hastily to follow Lucario.

Catching up I noticed the river cutting across the village. Riolu and Lucario were everywhere. Also there was one pink thing that didn't look like the rest though. It could use aura sphere though. It was sparring with a Lucario, I guess training. They were in a large rectangle that was matted into the dirt splitting the grass.

"Ryomu?! Its really you!? How have you been?!"

"Hi liko. Its been a while." Lucario greeted.

I had gotten his name. Ryomu? I wonder what that meant. And I wondered who this person was to him.

"Awwww! This ones cute! Where did you find em?!"

It took me a second, but I realized she was talking about me! Cute wouldn't slide thank you. It felt demeaning.

"Cute? Im not a child thank you! I demand you tre-" I was picked up by my armpits, almost poked by hand spikes. I was dazed by suddenly being picked up.

"Look at how cute he is! He even has green eyes! Ive never seen that before!"

I was being twirled around. She was spinning. It made me motion sick. I got annoyed. Wrewsh!

"Eeek!" She dropped me.

Bwoom! I was launched back a few feet. I rolled onto my back in a daze. I could hear muffled voices through my tinnitus.

"Oh no Im so sorry! Are they okay?! I shouldn't have picked them up!"

I felt my vision wavering. I was drifting off. Damn. I just got here. My body relaxed itself as everything went black.

All I gotta say… Is let me cook. El Dante style bolognese. Muah. Roux in the gravy. Crème in the béchamel. Yogurt in the tandoori sauce. Hehe.