"Okay! I think you can see me. Hi, Lyra."

Lyra wasn't sure how she got here, but she was sure of what she was seeing. She was looking at a man. A human man. He was wearing a white t-shirt and had a mop of brown hair. They were in a house - a modern house , with lighting and air conditioning. There was even a laptop on a shelf back there! The man looked at Lyra with a calm smile.

He continued to talk. "I just wanted to tell you that you've been doing great. We're all so proud of you, Lyra. If you just… just keep going on the path you're on, I know you're going to be amazing. You know I don't like telling you what to do, but… If there's one thing I never want you to do, it's to change who you are to please other people. Remember that, okay? Just keep doing what you're doing."

That man was so familiar to Lyra. She's seen him before, she was sure of it. She felt comfortable being here with him. Like he was a lifelong friend.

"Alright, I'm signing off for now. Take care, Lyra."

Wait, no. Don't go yet. Lyra still had no idea what was happening. She at least wanted to know who this person's name was. Please. Please, give her something . Anything. A name. A location. A relationship. Lyra just needed something concrete. Something she could finally latch onto in this whirlwind of insanity.

The man turned his back on Lyra and began to walk away. He was heading towards an open door. Then he would be gone. He would vanish out of sight.

Lyra tried to shout at him. She tried to scream, to make her presence known, to beg this person to tell her what the fuck is happening to her.

She could not make a sound.

Lyra began to panic. She needed to stop that man from leaving. She needed to. She tried to move, to reach out to him, to touch him.

She could not move.

There was nothing she could do.

Lyra watched in agony as the man left the room. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving her all alone.

She had been abandoned.

Then, she woke up.

It was a quiet morning in Zoroark's Guild. It was still early: Squawkabilly had yet to wake the guild up. Lyra laid atop her hay bed. She was sweating. Her mind was still reeling from her dream. Who was that person? Now that she was in the waking world, Lyra was absolutely confident she had seen that man before. What was his name? What could she remember?

Lyra forced herself to dig through her own mind. There had to be something there, something this dream had uncovered.

Mentally, Lyra was back in her memory house. That old, abandoned place, devoid of knowledge. It still felt the same - empty boxes with not a single item of consequence inside. Nothing left but her name.

That couldn't be it.

Think. Think about anything. Anything from her life. The name of that man. Her last name. Something. It had to be buried there.

Suddenly, it was like a trap door had opened in her mental home. Something new had presented itself to her. She had something.

Lyra shot up in her bed and shouted.

"BLADE RUNNER!"

Well, that's something.

Lyra's bizarre outburst had woken up Seph. He sleepily wiped his face with a hand.

"What was that?" he lazily asked, still half asleep.

"Blade Runner!" Lyra repeated. "It's a movie. My… My favorite movie. Starring Harrison Ford, and… and, God, what's his name… Rutger Hauer!"

Seph tried his best to be supportive but it was very early and he was very confused.

"Lyra, what does that mean?" He asked.

"It means I remember something about myself! Something I didn't know before! Something in my memory just… unlocked. Let's see, what else… Oh, music! I love music! ABBA! And, uh… The Who! Those are older bands, but I'm really fond of-"

"Lyra. Lyra. What are you talking about?" Seph tried his best to calm Lyra down. He was still not following.

"Those are things from my world! Things that I remember. I'm remembering things, Seph!"

Seph sat up in his bed. He realized how important this must be for Lyra.

"Oh, shit. That's great! What happened? What do you remember?"

Lyra did her best to recount her strange dream to Seph, and the flood of memories that ensued. There was still so much she couldn't remember about herself, but at least she remembered specifics now. Specifics like names and locations. Granted, they weren't the names or locations she desperately wanted, but it was reassuring nonetheless.

The duo were still discussing Lyra's memories while they headed towards the daily roll call.

"So, where you come from, there's these plays that you can watch at any time? Like, a record of the play you can look at whenever you want?"

"Yep. They're called movies. And also television shows."

"Movies. Cool! You gotta tell me more about them later!"

Team Pelagic lined up with the rest of the guild in front of Zoroark. Noibat from yesterday's fight stood next to the guildmaster.

"Good morning explorers!" Zoroark shouted.

Then came the response. "GOOD MORNING GUILDMASTER!" Lyra and Seph shouted with the guild this time.

"Firstly, I've got a question for everyone. This is Noibat. I'm sure you've seen him around the guild before. He's a great fighter and an expert flier. Mr. Noibat's looking for an Exploration Team he can join. Now, who here would be willing to invite Mr. Noibat onto their team?"

Lyra looked out over the crowd. Not one Pokémon raised their hand. A few people shook their heads, or started whispering to each other. She looked back at Noibat: he could feel the reluctance in the room. He tried to make himself as small as possible, squeezing his wings into his sides and looking down at the floor.

Lyra couldn't help but feel bad for the guy.

But, she looked around the room again. None of these explorers - Pokémon whose job is to quite literally help people - were willing to help Noibat. if none of these sixty-odd people would offer a spot to him, there must have been a reason for it.

Lyra figured it was best to not say anything.

The silence was dragging on for too long now. The hesitation was palpable. Noibat tried to move as little as possible.

Seph also recognized the reluctance in the room. However, his response was slightly different.

"We'll take him!" Seph's hand shot upward, raised as high as it could be.

Everyone reacted to Seph's declaration with confusion, especially Noibat. He held an expression of shock and horror when he saw that Seph was all the way on the right side of the roll call, identifying his team as the newest in the guild.

Zoroark tried speaking to stave off the awkward energy created in the room. It was difficult: She had just watched all but one of her guildlings leave one of their own out to dry.

"Ha! I appreciate your enthusiasm, Mr. Buizel! Mr. Noibat, get your arse over there. You've got yourself a team."

Noibat slowly hopped over to Team Pelagic. Every eye in the guild was on him as he walked. He did his best to keep looking at the ground.

As Noibat approached Seph, Seph raised his hand for a high-five. Noibat walked right past his outstretched hand. He silently stood behind Seph, still looking anywhere other than at his fellow guildmates.

Zoroark coughed loudly, trying to get the attention of the guild back on her.

"As for other announcements," she continued, "a big thanks to Team Rupture for agreeing to investigate the new Marton Dungeon today. It's about time somebody took care of it."

Nidorina and Wooper coyly nodded and waved as a few people clapped for them.

"Also, we'll be announcing something big next week. Stay tuned for that, because I promise you won't want to miss it."

Several Pokémon jokingly oohed and awed at the announcement. They poked and prodded each other with faux excitement.

"Yeah, yeah. Get it out of your system. That's all for announcements. Now, folks, let me hear you!"

"One for all, all for one…"


After roll call Team Pelagic was left standing around, awkwardly trying to greet their new member.

Seph extended a hand to Noibat. "It's great to have you join our team, Noibat! I'm Buizel, or Seph - whichever you prefer! I'm looking forward to getting to know you better!"

Noibat looked at Seph's hand. He didn't shake it, he merely acknowledged its presence. Then, he looked up to make eye contact with Seph.

"I'm sure you are." He said.

Seph awkwardly retracted his arm as Noibat ignored it and walked in front of Lyra. He was sizing her up, looking her up and down, trying to parse what use she could possibly have.

Lyra was already sure of it: she fucking hated this guy.

Still, she tried to not let her animosity seep through her words as she spoke.

"I'm Mareep. It's a pleasure." She didn't bother to offer a handshake to this jerk.

"Mmm." Noibat didn't waste energy on a longer response.

He addressed both of them now, like speaking to a rowdy mob.

"So, team… What's your team name again? It was some made up word."

"Pelagic. Team Pelagic." Lyra interjected.

"Yes, that was it. Pelagic. What a strange word. Alright, listen up, Team Pelagic."

Noibat hopped up on a wooden post to loom over Seph and Lyra as he spoke.

"Let me make something clear: I don't want to be on your team. You're inexperienced and weak. You'll hold me back. And I'll bet that you don't want me on your team, either. But I do need to be on a team, so I have a compromise."

Noibat gestured to the notice board with his wing.

"You let me pick a mission and I'll take care of it by myself. You two don't even have to step foot in the Dungeon. I'll share all the rewards with you, too. You just have to sit pretty and nod your head if Zoroark asks if we worked together. That's it. Deal?"

Who the hell does this kid think he is?

Not only does he think he's better than them, he thinks he can clear entire Dungeons by himself? What a large ego for such a small bat.

Lyra was ready to tear into this guy: she was going to hurl insults the likes of which have never been seen on this planet before.

Thankfully, Seph intervened before that happened.

"I don't think that's a great idea, Noibat. You are stronger than us, I agree. But, if we all work together, Lyra and I will get better and better! Then, we'll be strong enough to help you! And what if you get hurt? You need somebody watching your back! We'll give you some space, if that's what you want, but we're coming into the Dungeons with you. And that's final!"

Noibat sighed.

"Fine. But you two have to listen to me, okay? I don't want you screwing everything up."

Seph responded with a salute. "Fine by me!"

Lyra shrugged, and mumbled a "sure".

Noibat hopped off the post and began walking towards the notice board, facing away from Seph and Lyra. "I'll pick out a request. You two go get a boat ready."

The duo silently watched Noibat walk away, until he was out of earshot.

"He's a real piece of work." Lyra said.

Seph nodded. "That's a good way to put it. I… I dunno, I don't think he's too bad. He's a little spicy, but that's fine! He seems kinda young- younger than me, at least. He's got time to change."

Lyra turned to face Seph. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Eighteen! What about you?"

"No idea."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that."

Lyra tried to get the conversation back on target.

"I wonder why no other team was willing to take him in. He's a bit rude, but surely that's not a deal breaker for every team here?"

Suddenly, a new voice spoke directly into Lyra's ear. It was incredibly close and incredibly off-putting.

"I know why."

"GRAH!"

Lyra wheeled around in shock to find Grafaiai standing uncomfortably close to her. Lyra wondered how he was able to get so close without her noticing. Without waiting to be prompted, Grafaiai continued to talk.

"Noibat's cursed, man. No luck Noibat, people call him. He's been on three other Exploration Teams. Every single person on those teams gave up exploring for good. He's made six Pokémon leave the guild, permanently. Early retirement. And now he's on your team. It's bad news, man. I'd request a transfer or something, if I were you."

Grafaiai absent-mindedly painted something on a piece of cloth as he spoke.

Lyra scoffed. "Pfft. There's no way he's cursed. He's just an asshole that no one wants to work with. It's not luck, it's just personality. Curses aren't even real."

Lyra paused for a moment before quickly asking a follow up question.

"Curses aren't real here, right?"

Seph shrugged. "I mean, anything's possible."

"There's a move named Curse, so technically I think they are." Grafaiai said.

Lyra shook her head. "Look, it doesn't matter. Noibat's not going to be on our team for long, anyways. He just wants to get strong enough to go out by himself. Then he'll leave the team and we'll all be good. Let's just make sure he doesn't rip us apart in the meantime, okay?"

Seph nodded. It seemed like he had more he wanted to say, but he kept quiet.

Grafaiai whistled. "Good luck with that, man. Hope he leaves your team before the curse strikes. It'd suck if you guys left the guild, too. It's been a long time since we got new recruits."

"We'll be fine, Grafaiai." Lyra said. "Now, let's go get a boat. We don't want to keep the big shot waiting." She tried to flash a reassuring smile at Seph as they took off.


"Creeping Cove? That's at Shelmet's Fort. Isn't that at least a day-long trip?"

Seph sat on the deck of the small sloop Team Pelagic would be using for the day. He was the only one using oars to row the sloop out of the cove - Lyra physically couldn't, and Noibat refused to help.

Noibat, perched on the far end of the sloop, let out a condescending laugh.

"Not when you're a guild member. This is your first time sailing with the guild, isn't it? Alright newbies, check this out."

Noibat procured his exploration badge and held it aloft so that everyone could see it. Then, once Seph had rowed them out of the cove and onto the open sea, he pressed the badge against the ship's mast. To Seph and Lyra's surprise, the badge stayed there when Noibat let go, and it began to softly glow.

"Go ahead and hoist up the sail, Mareep. Put the oars away, Buizel. You don't want to get caught in the water when this happens."

Although she hated that she was taking orders from Noibat, Lyra did as she was told and loosened a rope, unfurling the white sailcloth.

As soon as the sail was open, a powerful breeze rushed into it. So much wind was pouring into the sail that it was straining against the ropes that held it in place. Seph quickly helped Lyra tie the ropes down before the tension became too much for her to bear. The duo sat down on the deck and stared up at the sail as it continued to bellow with wind.

They were moving so fast.

The ocean below them turned into a blur. The sparkling sunlight reflecting off the water's surface turned into white speed lines with their velocity. Lyra looked behind them to see a long line of seafoam left in their wake. The seafoam would slowly morph back into that calm, unbothered blue water, pretending as if a sailboat didn't blow through it at ungodly speeds. The guild already looked so far away.

The whole thing reminded Lyra very much of a motorboat. But it was powered only by wind. Even stranger, Lyra couldn't feel any wind blowing on her. She could see the wind pouring into the sail, but she couldn't feel anything herself. Neither Seph or Noibat seemed to be blown around either.

Seph was smiling from ear to ear as they zoomed across the water. He stood up on the bow and held his arms out to the side, letting water splash all over him.

"WOOHOO! YEAH! Noibat, can all of Zoroark's ships do this? This is amazing!"

Noibat, who had been watching their reactions, was caught off guard by the question.

"Oh, uh… yeah! Er- yes. Yes. You just need to push your badge against the mast and the boat will pick up speed like crazy. Make sure you take down the sail before you remove the badge, though. All that speed stopping all at once is a great way to fuck yourself up."

Lyra wondered if he was speaking from experience.

The rest of the trip was fairly straight forward. Every few minutes, Noibat would bark out a new heading for the rudder, or ask to rotate the sails. There were several times where Lyra saw Seph move the rudder without any directions from Noibat. She had a feeling the 'experienced' Noibat wasn't actually as experienced with sailing as Seph was.

Other than that, Lyra passed the time by talking about various things from the human world that she remembered:

"So Romeo dies before Juliet reveals that she wasn't actually dead?" Seph asked.

"Yeah. Then Juliet wakes up, sees that he's dead, and kills herself for real this time. Then the capulets and the montagues grieve together and don't hate each other any more. I… realize it's not very compelling when it's spoken out loud like this. The play is phenomenal though. You just have to take my word for it, I guess."

"I don't really see the appeal… Maybe I'm just not a fan of sad stories." Seph scratched his chin.

Lyra made sure to not say the word 'human', just in case Noibat would care. It didn't seem like he was listening, though. He was facing straight ahead, looking toward their destination even though he couldn't see it yet.

After only an hour or so of sailing, they closed in on Shelmet's Fort.

Lyra lowered the sail as they approached. Noibat retrieved his badge from the mast and took to the skies, hovering above the sloop.

"Creeping Cove is just ahead." He said. "The mission is for some goggle specs that should be on floor 5. You two go tie up the ship then come in after me. Go through the floors I already cleared out to make sure it's not somewhere else in the Dungeon. If you see a husk, run away from it and head back to the entrance: I'll take care of it later. Don't try to catch up with me. You'll just be dead weight."

Lyra realized too late what Noibat was about to do.

"Hey, wait!" she shouted. "We're not gonna pick up your scraps! Don't you dare try going in without us!

With a grin and a sweep of his wings, Noibat turned around and flew towards the Mystery Dungeon. Lyra and Seph were alone on the boat, still a hundred feet out from shore.

"What a jackass. Seph, a guy as pathetic as him better not be the reason why we leave the guild." Lyra said, in a huff.

Seph laughed. "Aw, c'mon Lyra, it's just a little competition! We'll prove to Noibat we're everything he thinks we're not. Then, he'll have no choice but to work with us!"

Seph tried to stand up and strike a heroic pose, but the waves quickly knocked him back onto the deck. He rubbed the back of his neck, laughing at his clumsiness.

Lyra was laughing too, now. "You know what? You're right. Noibat only cares about power, so we'll prove we're stronger than he thinks! We're not the dead weight newbies he assumes we are."

"Yeah! That's the spirit!"

Seph rowed the boat to shore, before tying the boat to a nearby rock.

Lyra continued to speak as they walked towards the cavernous entrance of the Mystery Dungeon. "That actually reminds me of something - a saying from my world. 'When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me'. Let's go prove how much of an ass Noibat is."

Lyra held a vindictive grin as they entered Creeping Cove. It was time to prove their worth.

Creeping Cove - 1F

From their very first husk encounter, Lyra realized this Mystery Dungeon was going to be more difficult than the last one. The first floor was mostly empty (likely due to Noibat already clearing out most of it), but the one husk they did find proved to be a challenge. It was a Golett that actually seemed to have a semblance of strategy. The husk focused exclusively on attacking Lyra, using Mud Slap to try to disorient her and prevent her from using Thunderwave. It was fairly effective: Lyra struggled to keep her aim on target and almost got caught by a powerful Shadow Punch.

Thankfully, Seph was able to attack the Golett while it was distracted, and managed to K.O. the husk with a well placed Surf. It wasn't a clean victory: both of them had taken more hits in that one fight than in the entirety of Sunlit Forest. Still, there was no doubt in their minds that they would keep pressing forward. Lyra would rather bleed out in this dungeon than concede to Noibat.

Team Pelagic pressed forward.

They were grateful for the lack of husks as they continued to ascend the nonsensical staircases. The few fights they did have were hard fought. After their third battle, Lyra realized that she didn't really have any idea how to fight. She would just hit their opponent and pray that Seph would finish the job before the husk retaliated. It wasn't much of a strategy. Seph didn't seem to be very experienced either - his moves were slightly stronger than Lyra's, but he too didn't really know what to do when the husks fought back.

The raw strength of their moves was enough to pull them through this dungeon, but they would probably need to refine their skill if they hoped to stay ahead of future opponents.

Lyra wondered if there was anybody at the guild who could teach them combat skills.

By the time they made it to floor 5, there was still no sight of Noibat or the goggle specs they were after.

"Noibat might've already made it back outside." Seph mused. "Or maybe he hasn't found the goggles yet. Maybe we can still find it before him!"

Lyra smiled. "Well, we have to try! We'd have to be fast, though. Are you ready?"

Seph gave a thumbs up. "Ready!"

Lyra and Seph took off in a random direction. They blitzed through the twisting cave walls, bouncing off of corners and quickly pivoting around when they hit a dead end. They saw a lone husk asleep in one of the side rooms and ignored it, focusing solely on moving as fast as possible.

Eventually, they rushed around a corner to find a very complicated situation in the room they now found themselves in.

In front of them stood a Boldore husk. To the side of the husk rested the goggle specs, their objective, haphazardly strewn across the floor.

Underneath the Boldore's legs lay Noibat. He was unmoving underneath the husk, as the Boldore repeatedly crushed its heavy stone feet into his body.

Noibat looked bad. Really bad. There were bruises and cuts all over his body from where the Boldore struck.

The Boldore stopped attacking Noibat as it realized more explorers had entered the room. Its gaze shifted up to meet Seph and Lyra, and it stepped forward off of Noibat. Noibat wheezed as the pressure on his chest was removed. Lyra could also see him twitching slightly. He was alive.

The Boldore continued to march towards Seph and Lyra. They needed to make a move.

Lyra came up with a plan. "This is a rock type, right? So you'll be more effective than me. Keep it distracted for a bit. Lead it away from Noibat. I'm going to check on him, then we'll take it down together. Hand me one of those oran berries."

Seph nodded. "Right!" He quickly pulled an oran from their Treasure Bag and handed it to Lyra. Then, he prepared himself for a fight.

Lyra dashed off to the left of the Boldore, trying to get around it to Noibat. The husk wasn't going to let her get past so easily. It prepared a move to fire at Lyra, a sphere of earthen energy forming in front of it. Thankfully, a Surf from Seph drew the ire of the husk, despite the attack doing little damage. It turned to give the Buizel its full attention. Their distraction was working.

Lyra ran up to Noibat. However, before she could get close enough to apply the oran berry, Noibat spoke to her.

"No! Stop… Trap…" His voice was quiet and strained. Every word took considerable effort to form.

"Use the goggles…" he sputtered.

Lyra wasn't quite sure what Noibat meant, but she would rather be safe than sorry. She quickly dropped the oran berry and moved towards where the goggles were. She struggled to fit the goggles on her head, but eventually managed to equip them. She looked around the room with the goggles, trying to see what Noibat could have possibly meant.

Lyra saw several metallic squares scattered around the floor of the room that she swore weren't there before. Each of the squares had a green pattern on them that slightly glowed. Noibat was lying directly on top of one of the squares. Three green strands of energy were wrapped around Noibat, binding him to the spot.

These must be the traps he warned about. Lyra hurried back to Noibat, taking care to not step on the trap. She bit onto the scruff of his neck and tried to pull him out of the trap. It was difficult: Those bindings were tight, and the trap did not want to surrender its prize.
Still, Lyra persisted. She grunted as she slowly pulled Noibat off of the trap. Her entire body tensed up as she pulled him forward. He was clear of the first binding. Then the second binding. Then, once he was clear of the final binding, Noibat tumbled forward and collided into Lyra.

"Eat this." Lyra said, pushing the oran berry near Noibat's mouth. "Heal up, and stay away from the fight. We'll take care of it." Lyra ran off to join Seph against the Boldore. Noibat glared at her as she left. Regardless of his defiance, he still began chewing on the berry.

Seph and Lyra were not, in fact, taking care of Boldore. Seph was already battered with rubble by the time Lyra joined him.

While still in the heat of combat, Seph noticed the goggles that Lyra was now wearing.

"Ha! Lyra, those goggles look a little goofy on- OOF!"

Halfway through his sentence, Seph was pummeled by a Power Gem to the chest. The strength of the move knocked him off his feet.

"I'm okay!" The Buizel quickly leaped back onto his feet.

Despite what he said, Lyra could tell that the fight was starting to take its toll on Seph. His fur was matted and dirty, and his movements were ever so slightly slower. Lyra needed to give him some breathing room.

She tried to divert the husk's attention by hitting it with a Tackle. As soon as she collided with the Boldore, it dawned on her that this Pokémon's skin was made of rock. Bashing into it face-first wasn't the best idea.

Bouncing off of the husk, Lyra succeeded in acquiring its attention. Unfortunately, she was dazed from her attempt to ram into solid rock and didn't see the husk's attack coming her way. Lyra was hit by another Power Gem, the projectile clunking into her forehead.

At this rate, they wouldn't win.

They were taking too many hits and the blows they did manage to land weren't very effective.

Lyra needed a plan. A pretty good plan.

She scanned around the room, looking for what she needed.

"Seph!" she shouted. "Lead it over there!" She pointed at what Seph thought to be an arbitrary spot on the ground.

Still, he wasn't going to question Lyra.

The two of them moved near the spot Lyra was looking at, goading the husk into following them. They abandoned any attempt of offense and instead tried to just dodge the husk's ranged attacks, forcing it to enter melee. Their plan worked.

After its third unsuccessful Power Gem in a row, the Boldore did as predicted and resorted to melee. It charged toward Lyra. The Mareep took two steps to the left, looked at the husk, and held her ground. Lyra did not move as the Boldore approached.

It was almost in melee range now. The Boldore took one more step forward. As it did, the Boldore suddenly went stiff and unmoving. It had become held in place.

Using the goggle specs, Lyra had successfully led the husk into the trap that caught Noibat. Before it could escape, Lyra used Thunderwave on the immobile husk. The move easily landed, rendering the Boldore helpless against the invisible bindings surrounding it.

"Now!" Lyra shouted. "Finish it off!"

Seph didn't need to be told twice. He unleashed wave after wave of Surf, catching the husk in a perpetual torrent of water. Lyra kept using Thundershock to prevent it from escaping the trap.

Suddenly, Seph stopped using Surf.

"Uh.. I think I'm out." Seph examined his hands. He flipped them over for good measure, to make sure he hadn't missed something.

"What do you mean you're out? Out of Surf?" Lyra used another Thunderwave on the Boldore. Even as she did so, she could feel her energy waning. She intrinsically understood that she only had a few more uses of Thunderwave left in her.

"Yeah. We.. hah.. We can only use a move so many times before a rest. And I'm out."

"Well, what do we do now?" Lyra asked.

She was trying to space out her Thunderwaves more, optimizing the amount of time the husk was paralyzed for. In between its paralysis the husk fought more and more against its bindings. It was going to break free soon.

"Use Tackle?" Seph proposed.

"That didn't go well last time."

"I don't have any other moves, Lyra."

"Yeah… me neither." As she spoke, Lyra released her last Thunderwave. The husk wouldn't be paralyzed for much longer. She and Seph reluctantly moved closer to the husk, ready to throw themselves against its stone body until one of the two parties involved was KO'd.

Just then, a figure flew in between the duo. It blitzed across the room and, clad in glowing white energy, bashed itself against the Boldore at full speed. The Boldore was released from its bindings and was sent flying across the room. A deep gash was embedded in its core from where the attack struck. Then, as it struggled to stand back on its feet, the Boldore fell to the ground. It was finally defeated.

Lyra looked at the figure after its hail mary attack to confirm that it was indeed Noibat who delivered the final blow. He was breathing hard. Some of his bruises were still visible.

Noibat watched the body of the husk. He waited until the husk had completely disappeared, reduced to nothing. Then, he turned to Lyra and Seph.

"Let's… Let's get out of here."

They didn't need more convincing.

The three explorers activated their badges. That reassuring light once again enveloped them whole, returning them to the outside world.


The ride back was much quieter than the trip there. Lyra and Seph occasionally whispered among themselves, but Noibat was dead silent. He stared off into the distance, not a word passing through his lips. Only the billowing of the sail and the crashing of the waves could be heard. Then, finally, in the middle of the open sea, Noibat broke his silence.

"I… I wanted to say…"

Seph and Lyra looked at him expectantly.

"I'm… I'm Indigo. By the way."

Seph smiled.

"It's great to finally meet you, Indigo. Welcome to Team Pelagic."