PMD: R&D

by Jusmove

The Absol guild isn't known for amazing expeditions, ace bounty hunters, or even adequate rescue operations. No, Absol's is known for the loud explosions and mad laughter echoing from behind closed doors.

19. Cage Days

Chapter 17: Cage Days

The back of her head met smooth stone, and Mauve stared at the ceiling.

There was nothing else to look at in the small, concrete cell. Grey walls enveloped the Weavile on all sides but the front, where a door with a slit towards the bottom interrupted the monotonous wall. Her claws idly carved the wall she sat up against, bound behind her back with energy dampening cuffs. Around her leg, a chain rattled with every movement, its length only providing a few feet of movement from its socket in the wall it was chained to.

She glanced at the side and frowned at her amenities; a light heap of hay tossed onto the concrete as a bed, and a small toilet in the corner. Aside from those two things, the cell was barren.

That was it. There was nothing else. Nobody else.

She kicked her leg out without looking and allowed the sharp rattle of chains to resound inside of the cell. The way the sound echoed unnerved her, but was preferable to the crushing silence that filled this place otherwise.

When she first awoke in here to the same silence, Mauve called out, first to see if anyone would interrogate her, and then to make noise lest she go mad from hearing her own heartbeat for hours on end. The threat of boredom, and worse, being alone with her thoughts, made her heart leap in anticipation when she heard voices for the first time. Surely, another pokemon would be a welcome distraction from the silence, even if they were enemies?

She was...mostly wrong.

Her first visitor was the Whimsicott. She wasn't pleasant. A look to the side, where deep cracks spiderwebbed out of a deep impact in the wall, could attest to that.

She closed her eyes and puffed out a breath. A frustrated growl left her mouth at the memory.

---

"Well, look who we have here," started the Whimsicott as she kicked the metal door shut behind her, and walked forward. The sound jolted Mauve to alertness from the short rest she had decided to take. She pushed up against the wall on instinct from the approaching fairy.

Mauve's face was scrunched in a wince, but she steeled herself soon enough and glared back at the other. Whimsicott stopped in the center of the room with her arms crossed, and tilted her head.

"Still have that look on your face, do you? Good. You wouldn't be fun to break otherwise."

"Uncuff me and we'll really see how hard I am to break." Mauve bit back with as much confidence as she could muster once she found her voice. The Power of the Whimsicott was still tangible, and she knew what the outcome would be if they were to clash again, but she would be damned if she would just roll over and take it.

Whimsicott raised an eyebrow and stalked forward until she was right in front of Mauve, then crouched down to grab her by the chin and yank her face until it was right in front of hers. Mauve's breath was steady as she let herself be studied for a few moments before Whimsicott spoke again.

"...What were you doing at Moonlit Manor?" she started, voice even. Mauve kept her mouth shut, and Whimsicott blinked before asking another question.

"Those pearls you carried around. What were they? How did you get them?" she tried again. Mauve gave her the same response.

"Who do you work for?"

No response.

"What reason do you have to destabilize the Dungeons? What's your goal?"

Silence.

Mauve saw the fairy's eye twitch imperceptibly. Her interrogator sucked in a deep breath, and then exhaled a slow, steady breath.

"...How long have you been-"

"When you perform an interrogation, you're not supposed to let the other person know you're getting frustrated. It's one of the basics." Perhaps it was her Master's bad influence on her, but right now, she had no desire other than to piss off the one who caused her so much grief.

"…Cute." Ground out the Whimsicott through clenched teeth, who released her chin. Mauve watched as she walked backwards toward the room, the placid smile on her face now much more strained. She turned her back to the Weavile, and Mauve thought she heard counting as she grabbed hold of some of the fluff on her back.

The sight of her ruffled and patchy cotton, cut and wreathed into an uneven mess from her own claws, gave her a spiteful satisfaction.

"…don't touch her…you said you wouldn't…Arceus give me strength..." Mauve caught hints of her verbal frustration while her back was turned. When the fairy faced her again, her eyes were filled with a murderous intent only reflected by the way her hands shook imperceptibly, clenching and unclenching into fists. Her body gave off clear signs of aggression, but what made Mauve press her back against the wall in alarm was the way her smile drew wide across her face.

"Child. Need I remind you who put you in the position you are currently in? Test me again, and I can put you down just as I did before."

"Do it then."

Whimsicott jerked, and then SLAMMED her fist into the wall, an inch from Mauve's head. She screamed at the sudden move, and only had enough time to register how the wall caved and cracked from the sudden impact before her face was once again filled with the blazing inferno of the fairy's orange eyes.

"You are hanging by a thread. I am this close to ending this farce of a questioning and sticking your own claws so far down your throat you'll be sucking breakfast through a straw for the rest of your life, do you hear me!? Answer my SODDING questions!" she screamed, previous composure evaporated. Mauve's eyes were wide as her chest beat in her heart, and she gulped before she could respond in her scratchy, rough voice.

"...All you need to know is that you're getting in the way. There's nothing you can do to me that will make me give up what we're trying to accomplish." she averted her eyes and ground her claws in the ground. "It's...bigger than-"

"Oh, I can think of a few things I could do to you. How about I start by giving you my name? I'll make sure you never forget it, when it's etched into your back, you insolent little-"

The fairy proceeded to spend the next ten minutes going off on her, assaulting her ears with threats that were so colorful, they impressed her with how they genuinely made her stomach churn. She didn't get another chance to speak as the fairy ranted, pulverised the wall, and kicked up her meager hay bed while spewing violence against her.

Her yelling almost drowned out the bangs on the metal door that resounded throughout the cell. As the banging continued, Whimsicott's fervor died down, until she stood once more in the middle of the room again. She gave a glance back at the door, let out a long suffering sigh, and attempted to pat down her fluff from the frazzled mess it had become. She looked at Mauve with clear disdain.

"Whatever reasons you might have for bringing disaster to our world, the point remains that you've harmed the ones I care for. If you don't begin cooperating soon, I'll make you realize just how merciful I was today."

And with that, she opened the door and exited the room. Mauve caught a glimpse of white fur on the other side before the door slammed shut.

---

That was...some time ago.

Mauve had no idea how long it had really been, but based on the amount of meals that were brought to her, and the fact she felt somewhat rested after closing her eyes a bit ago, probably a day. She had hoped to gain something from the interaction, but all she learned was that the Absol guild might be even more unstable than she thought.

It was also much more dangerous than she originally gave it credit for. The thought of how the Whimsicott talked down to her, as if she were barely worth her time, caused a tight ball of anger and irritation to clot in her chest when she considered how easily she was tossed around. Whatever she thought of the Whimsicott, she was stronger than her. She beat her.

She fought, and she failed, and now she didn't know where she was.

That was the rub. She leaned forward and pressed her knees to her chest.

Where the hell was she?

They had a procedure for prisons, if any of them were detained. The locations of any hunter centers, along with the major prisons in the region, were memorized. Boon had promised each of them that if they got into any trouble during their mission, he would bail them out. All that was needed was either to have seen the location, or to know generally where it was, and he would be there. The claim would have sounded insane from anyone else, but she trusted him.

Over a year ago, in an almost identical cell, she was in the same position: chained, head down, and resigned. The clack of talons on the ground, a claw that lifted her chin, and her world became just her, and two uncontrollable, violet eyes that poured Power. The pokemon she met in that room promised her things she could never believe about herself, and asked for so little.

Her Master won her allegiance when he whisked them away from the cell. He won her trust when he smiled at her afterward. He would be here if he could, she trusted that fiercely.

But where did that leave her?

They had set things in motion, the plan was only barely beginning. She shouldn't be here, she couldn't be! She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be the one member that he could count on! She had spent the past year training with the others, honing her body and soul to make use of the gifts Boon had given them in the form of the spatial pearls.

All the work, all the preparation, all the times her Master said he believed in her wholeheartedly. All that she had been provided with...

Just to rot in a damn box?

"You can be a hero, too." His words echoed in her head, and guilt draped over her back like a cold, wet blanket. Her breath hitched and she stifled a sob, the reality of failure tingeing all of her thoughts.

As if she could be a hero, anything more than what she was. She couldn't blame her Master for making her think she could reach the stars, only feel ashamed she managed to prove him wrong.

What is born in the borderlands stays in the borderlands. The saying had been pressed into her since she was young, perhaps it was pointless to try and prove it wrong. Maybe they could accomplish their task without her, go on to prove the world wrong about those who were raised on the fringe of society, labelled as outcasts and outlaws. The thought that she proved unfit to be among them stung, but it was the best hope she had. The best she could do.

Well, maybe not the best.

Although her failure made her heart ache in her chest, the rational side of her reminded her she could still be of use. The guild was interrogating her, possibly in an attempt to wrench information out of her regarding her team's next steps. Assuming the others were successful on their missions, the Keystone to Hollow Garden should have appeared, and they would have a shot at drastically altering the world's Aether balance with its destruction.

She knew this, but Absol's didn't. They clearly had the power, the resources, and the ability to be a serious thorn in their side, but it wouldn't matter if they didn't know where to go. She already had nothing to lose, so they could threaten her all they wanted, and wouldn't get a damn thing. Perhaps she could even glean some information about them, so if by some miracle she did escape, they would know how to evade them in the future.

It wasn't much of a plan, but the idea that she could still be useful somewhat assuaged the guilt that had formed. Her raspy and quick breaths calmed in the wake of her anxiety. She sucked in a deep breath, and forced all of her doubts to breathe out, as much as she could.

It left her with a razor sharp focus, stress and self-loathing abandoned in favor of duty. She forced her mouth into a neutral line, and strove to keep her mind off of the negatives. Filling her head with worries and thoughts of failure, while tempting, would not serve her here.

It was best to be mentally prepared for whatever tactics they would use to extract information out of her. She considered resting her eyes to perhaps make the time go by quicker, but thought better of it. The Whimsicott had snuck up on her while she was asleep, and her vulnerability had cost her precious dignity she knew she didn't have here.

Besides, only a dreamless sleep awaited her. There was nothing for her when she closed her eyes besides the memory of a shapeless void. This cell was more interesting than that.

That was what she told herself as the hours passed. Other than occasionally shifting her position so nothing chafed, Mauve spent the time in her head analysing the fight in Moonlit Manor.

As much as it frustrated her, she had to admit that she had never had to fight that hard in a while. By how easily the Meowstic and Scrafty were neutralized earlier, she got the impression that this guild dedicated to research was run by passive, untrained Pokemon. The way the Whimsicott moved, however, told a different story.

She thought about who else here might be a worthy adversary, and her eyes widened when she recalled the other two Absol apprentices that had presumably fought Nook. Did they succeed? Were they able to escape, or were they also here, hidden somewhere?

The sound of steps beyond the door drew her attention away from those questions, and she leaned forward, senses heightened for any information.

The steps stopped in front of the door, and it was silent for a bit before a muffled exchange could be heard. Mauve tilted her head to listen, but could only pick up the hurried, rushed sounds of what seemed to be an argument. It died down, but the sound of a heavy groan could be heard through the metal door. She heard the click of the lock, and braced herself for whoever was coming. The door opened just a tad.

And a small, white toe snuck out from it. Then, the face of a Pachirisu leaned out from it, grinning ear to ear. He had a small, admittedly charming bowler hat on. Mauve raised her eyes at the absolutely hungry look on his face.

"Perfect!" he stated in a voice with a natural projection, like that of a sports announcer. He stepped out fully, and called back out into the hallway. "I just need five minutes, that's it."

A low, monotone voice answered back. Mauve couldn't hear all of it, but she managed to pick out, "hurry up." at the tail end. Pachirisu nodded and let the door slam shut.

"Alright, I promise not to take up too much of your time." He hurried over to her and whipped out a pen and notepad from his thick tail. He made himself comfortable and fixed her with an amicable smile.

"I just have a couple questions for you and I'll leave you alone. I'm on a strict time limit, so I hope we can make this count!"

She furrowed her brows at him, and flitted her eyes between him and the door. He seemed to notice her hesitation, and bonked his forehead with a paw with an annoyed sigh.

"Oh, of course! My apologies, introductions are in order. Ahem, you may call me Pachirisu, freelance journalist and seeker of truth!" he exclaimed, proud. "And you might be?"

"...You're a...journalist?" His answer just confused her more. Was this some sort of advanced interrogation technique?

"Yes! I am currently doing a deep dive into the story behind the mysterious spread of Dungeons, and that has led me to partnering with the Absol guild. With tensions so high and the situation as it is, I've had to get creative in how I chase the story, but I have a feeling you can shed some light on things."

"So you work for them?"

"Work for, partnered with, contractually obligated to, indentured servant, my relationship with this guild is complicated, yet it serves my purposes. But!" His voice made her jolt. "That's beside the point. I'm here to talk about you."

He said he was only here for five minutes, so that meant she just had to stall for five minutes. Shouldn't be hard, with any luck the little spaz would get bored and leave.

"So, in the interest of time, and because we both know you're heavily involved in the current situation, I'll skip the boring stuff and get right to the good part."

He stole a quick glance at the door, and then leaned forward with his paw cupped around his mouth. His words came out in a half-whisper.

"I'll cut you a deal. We'll do it fair, question for a question. You tell me what I want to know, and I'll see if I can match it. Sound good?"

That gave her pause. He was willing to divulge information to her? She was about to demand the current location, but stopped herself right as she opened her mouth and thought.

The power dynamic was strange here. They both had information the other wanted, but neither could really trust the other's word. He could throw out any old place and she'd have no way of knowing if it was true. She could possibly frustrate Absol's plans with false information, but the clever glint in Pachirisu's eye told her that he was prepared to sift through lies.

She schooled her features into a derisive frown. If she was careful, perhaps something could be gained.

She nodded.

"Great. We'll start simple. Where are you from?"

"...Nowhere."

"Ah. I'm afraid with an answer like that, I won't be able to provide you with specifics." He tutted and tapped his pen on his chin in faux thought. Mauve glared at him.

"I am from nowhere. I was born in the Borderlands, up north in the broader continent, past the crags."

"Borderlands? Oh, of course! Where a lot of the outl-"

"The Thievul. They accompanied me on my mission. Are they being held here?" She asked, quick to cut him off. Pachirisu paused for a moment, then shook his head.

"As far as I can tell, you were the only one they brought in. I was thorough in my questioning when they brought you in a couple days ago."

So Nook managed to make it out, and she had been here for at least two or so days. So far, a definite setback, but the fact they managed to escape and presumably meet up with Boon meant things could still go smoothly.

Pachirisu interrupted her musings with his question.

"Next. I want to get your opinion. My sources tell me that Keystones are crucial to maintaining Aether balance across Dungeons, and the current crisis is related to their destruction. Do you believe what you are doing is good?"

He asked that with a surprising amount of objectivity, face all business as he had a pen ready on his notepad. She wasn't sure what he gained from asking the question, but the answer came easy to her.

"Of course. Our mission is necessary for this world to have a chance at survival."

"And what is your mission?" He barreled forward, upper body leaned towards her in interest.

He would have to earn the answer to that question first.

"How did Absol know where and when we would strike?" That had been bothering her as well. The only ones who saw them enter the dungeon were the guards they rode with, and they were swiftly knocked out.

More than that, how did they even know which Dungeon to go to in the first place? Her team hadn't left a single trace or clue as to where they were going.

It was beyond frustrating.

At Pachirisu's shrug, an audible growl left her throat.

"You'd have to ask the big guy that yourself. From what I gather...hmm..." he flipped back in his notes for a while, and she was briefly taken aback by the amount of writing in them. She'd have thought he painted the pages blue if not for the imperceptible patterns of letters. He landed on a page and studied it for a second.

"...Oh yes. It seems like when a Dungeon is unstable, nearby Dungeons begin to leak as well. Something to do with weak links and proximity, or something. Based on a hunch, but a really good hunch."

Damn it. They were caught off of a guess? Either Absol had ridiculous intuition, or he was lucky. Both were dangerous.

"Now, your mission?" continued Pachirisu. Mauve fixed him with a cold stare and took a moment to formulate her answer.

"Our mission is to save the world." she started. Pachirisu motioned for her to keep going, and she sucked in a breath to explain.

"We didn't cause the Aether to spread. It's being hastened by the destruction of Keystones, but we didn't cause it. The world is...bleeding. What's happening now is what would have happened in the next ten years or so."

She stopped there intentionally, to leave him hanging. She could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to hear more, but he remembered their agreement and kept his question from spilling. A knock on the door made him wince, and he tapped his pen on the floor consciously.

"Alright. We have time for one more set of questions. Go ahead." He urged.

The situation was perfect. She got him desperate to know more, and pressured by time to take whatever he gave her. Now would be the perfect time to ask the one thing she needed to know.

"Where are we?" she inquired, in a way as if it were an afterthought. Pachirisu blinked at the simple question, and his face scrunched up in thought.

"Where are we...that's...huh,"

"Well?"

"So, currently we're inside of a Detainer Container, and-"

"A...what?" she asked. He groaned and shrugged helpless.

"A Detainer Container. I know, not my first name choice either. Basically they shoved you inside of a box. With all of these cells inside. I think for holding outlaws?"

"Okay but, where on the continent are we?"

"That's two questions by the way," he said with a wink.

"Whatever."

"From what I gathered, the guild is inside of a warehouse, somewhere in Verdant port. Don't know much more than that. Now, your mission. Tell me exactly what you me-"

He was interrupted by a series of bangs on the door, louder this time. He groaned, but began to put his writing supplies away.

"Well, these weren't the best conditions but, thank you for agreeing to an interview."

He nodded at her, but she just observed him with analytical eyes. He walked over to the door, but halfway through paused and glanced back.

"Oh, and for what it's worth, good luck." he said, with a grin. The sincerity of it threw Mauve for a loop, and she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. He laughed at her expression and shrugged.

"What can I say, I know an underdog story when I see one! Seems like I'm surrounded by 'em lately..."

With that, the strange Pachirisu opened the door, and walked through.

Mauve ruminated on his words, and wondered what his angle could be. But, the line of thought was swiftly discarded in favor of the true prize from that interaction. She was somewhere in Verdant Port, specifically inside of a warehouse, and apparently inside of a box? However that worked, it significantly narrowed down her possible location from the rest of the world, which is what she hoped for. As a bonus, she had only paid a negligible amount of information to learn it.

That was the location down. Now the hard part. Somehow notifying her Master of where she was. The sudden reality of the seeming impossibility of the task slammed into her full force, and she stifled a sigh as she slouched against the wall.

Perhaps they would let her write a letter? Allow her a brief walk outside? They seemed naive enough, if the random reporter they let interview her was any clue. But, Absol's cleverness in finding a pattern in the Dungeon made her question that assessment. For as strange as this guild seemed to be, something was clearly working. She just couldn't figure it out.

Why did the Pachirisu compliment her?

She wanted to ignore it, but the words felt more and more strange the more she played them back in her head. She wanted to focus on possible strategy on the off chance she escaped, but her mind was stuck on the word 'underdog.' Master had used it a few times, and she was inclined to agree, given the terrible scope of the problem they faced and how they only had their small group to rely on.

She asked him once why he chose mon from the Borderlands to be his team, what they could possibly offer that a well equipped and supported explorer or hunter team couldn't do.

He laughed and told her that diamonds shine in the rough. That Pokemon existed in the worst of places that were willing to do the hard thing if it meant others could be better off.

She didn't know if she believed him, but if nothing else, she knew he believed in her. It helped that his other reason was more sound.

Their plan to save the world would not be accepted by the Guilds. By the end of this, by Arceus, there would be no more Dungeons. If things went according to Boon's vision, there would be no more sources of Aether to spread and ruin the world, but the current guild system relied on them to continue.

Perhaps there were some who were willing to sacrifice their fame and glory for the greater good by eradicating the source of what made them great, but Mauve knew that selfishness and pride rested on both sides of the line.

The Guilds couldn't be trusted. Even if they considered Dungeons otherworldly and taboo, they would sooner let them spread along the earth before getting rid of them entirely. The temptation of treasure and glory was too much. In her opinion, all that separated a normal citizen from a guildie was that the latter just saw more worth taking from the world; from the treasures that lie in Dungeons, or the freedoms of those who refused to buy into that system.

Although, she supposed that view didn't account for all of the four main guilds, only the two most popular ones. She had plenty of experience dealing with prideful hunter teams looking to score a quick mark to advance up the rankings, and explorer teams from the Mienshao guild had a tendency to be obnoxious. The heroes of their own story, who saw themselves as noble adventurers off to chart new lands.

Perhaps they were influenced by the reputations of their guildmasters, although from what she had heard, that had been the way things were for even in prior iterations of those guilds.

From what she understood, those who flunked the entrance process for those two, or decided to leave, either became citizens or, less often, joined the Rescue and Establishment Guild.

Even the name sounded a little boring, but in her opinion, the guild currently run by Beheyem was the most worth keeping around. Glory and wealth didn't motivate them, rather it was making sure things stayed stable as the first two guilds blazed a path forward, which she had much more respect for.

Besides rescuing errant pokemon in Dungeons, the guild was also responsible for ensuring Rescue Bases were running and available within high populous areas, available to treat wounds or provide short term shelter for those who needed it. Historically, they had apparently even been involved in the infrastructure for towns and cities throughout the world, given the need to organize and house pokemon once they began to clump together in little societies.

Needless to say, they hardly made headlines. Most Pokemon preferred the more exciting lifestyles of exploring and fighting, rather than the less exciting but necessary work of making sure nothing slipped out from under them.

Then there was the Absol Guild of Dungeon Research and Exploration. She openly scoffed in her silent cell, the very thought of the guild made her incensed; not at recent events, but rather at the irony of it all.

It was a perfect testament to Pokemon's selfish nature that, although everyone benefited in some way from Dungeons, almost nobody wanted to put in the work of actually learning more about them, whether out of fear, or just plain apathy.

Instead, they'd rather hoist that responsibility onto the tiny fraction of mon insane enough to play with the energies present inside, and the result was a small guild that didn't even have a worldwide presence, only relegated to the Bright Continent, and from what she recalled from her own research, only fifty-ish mon strong.

And then they point the blame instantly on them! Her Master was clever, it was an excellent move to shift attention onto the easiest scapegoat, but a part of her still questioned the sheer bullheadedness on display to come to the decision to brand them as criminals.

She wasn't sorry, but also not proud of needing to have them take the fall. For as frustrating as they had been to their plans, she had a begrudging respect for the guild's utter disregard of their wanted status. Of all the Guilds, Absol's was the most independent, and least trusted. Perhaps it would have been only a matter of time until they came under harsher scrutiny.

Maybe if their Guildmaster had any care in regards to public perception of himself, they wouldn't be as suspected as they are now. Maybe the large Absol would even pay her a visit?

She doubted it.

Guildmasters tended to have subordinates do most of the dirty work. And from what she heard of Absol, he was cold, distant, and esoteric. The exact worst type of leader to have in any capacity.

Surely, she wouldn't be seeing him any time soon.

---

He walked right through her door about thirty minutes later.

The sound of footsteps on the other side of the door barely gave her any time to prepare before he pushed it open and strolled in.

She saw he clutched a tray of food in his mouth with a water cup on it, which he promptly set in front of her, close enough to allow her enough movement from her chains to eat. He reached around to his back and brought out an identical tray, which he set in front of himself.

He sat back on his haunches and stared down at her. The stories were right, he was huge.

Even sitting on his bottom, he still towered over her form, large enough to impede the only light fixture in the room, which cast a gloomy shadow over his front. The white fur around his neck was grown out, thick and unkempt, and the rest of the fur on his body stuck out the same way. She would almost call him scruffy, if not for the steel grey eyes that bore down on her. That, combined with the curved horn that cut like a scythe in the dim light over his head, had her rooted in place.

Power emanated off of him; not like her Master, or even the Whimsicott, but there was something unnerving from the way his eyes peered down at her. They were unwavering, and rested half-lidded on his face.

And she couldn't read a damn thing from them.

Whatever thoughts he had, he was a master at keeping to himself, the expression on his face and the position of his eyes didn't change at all as he stared at her. She reasoned he must be furious, or plotting some sort of revenge against her. After knocking out two of his apprentices in front of him and causing his guild to be wrongly accused, they could only be enemies, nothing more, nothing le-

"Are you gonna eat that, or..." he started, gesturing to the tray of fruits and nuts in front of her. She blinked. She didn't expect that to start off with, but she shook it off. Looking down, she sneered at the food. If he personally brought it to her, it was probably spiked with something. She returned his questioning gaze with a glare of her own.

After a few more seconds of nothing, Absol shrugged and settled down to eat his food. Light chewing interrupted the silence of the cell, and soon, by the flip of pages as he idly pursued something in a notebook. Now that he was on his front, she could make out heavy bags under his eyes, and upon closer inspection his eyes were more bloodshot than they initially appeared.

Mauve watched him eat with growing confusion in her chest.

What was this?

After a swallow, his eyes met hers again, and he continued.

"If you think it's poisoned or anything, you should know that I'm the only reason why Whimsicott didn't break every bone in your body. If I wanted you hurt or worse, you would be."

Her eyes flicked to the cracked wall next to her, evidence of the blatant capability of that fairy to really break something. She kept her silence, not sure how much of this was an act of some sort.

"I'm not sure what to make of you, Weavile. When you attacked my apprentices at Match Quarry I was pissed, and when we had to go into hiding because of your actions, I was ready to write you off as some insane terrorists. But now I wonder." He settled fully on his forelegs and made himself comfortable.

"There was a Noivern at Windy Spire," he stated. In an instant, her head jerked up, eyes sharply focused on his. He matched hers with an even stare.

"The Meowsitc you harmed spoke with him, and he said something interesting. "This is bigger than us," was what he heard. You said something similar when speaking to Whimsicott, right? And expressed that you genuinely believed you're doing the right thing by destroying the Keystones?"

"...What do you want?" she asked, hesitant. He shrugged.

"I only came down here to confirm something." He raised his head and scanned his eyes over her form. In the first sign of emotion she received from him, he sighed and furrowed his brows.

"You really are just a kid..." he said, low enough that she almost didn't hear. "What are you, nineteen? Twenty?"

"What does that even matter?"

"It matters because kits like you are willing to bleed for ideals, even if we'd have beaten the information out of you. And I don't like hurting kids. Especially for nothing."

"Who are you to call me a child!?" she demanded, leaned forward with her fangs barred.

"If you're not a child, you would be able to articulate what the hell it is you think you're doing, putting the rest of the world in danger like this, for some scheme to 'save the world.' If you're not a child, you would realize you've been withholding information from the only ones who would care to hear you out. You and your group are trespassing into my area of expertise."

"If you were an expert, you would already know why Aether was spilling in the first place!"

"By all means, enlighten me," he stated. His voice never wavered from a low monotone. She grit her teeth and huffed.

"You wouldn't believe me. You probably wouldn't even want to."

"Try me."

Mauve fixed him with a level glare, and seethed on the inside. Who the hell did this Guildmaster think he was, calling her a child? Her and her team were doing more for the world than he even realized!

...Than he even realized...

Her glare lessened when she considered how, technically, Boon had never given them orders to stay silent about what their plans were. It was just assumed that, if they ever were in a situation to tell them, it would be dismissed as insanity. She was well aware how they looked to everyone else, what dangers they were advancing onto the earth. Only the Absol guild had a concept of the danger that unchecked Aether posed; the exact outcome their actions resulted in.

She was the villain in this scenario. With all the information at his disposal, that was all Absol could see her as.

...God, that was frustrating.

"...We didn't cause the Dungeons to spread," she found herself saying, before properly thinking it through. He tilted his head at her.

"Say I believe that. Keep going."

"It's true," she asserted. "The world is...losing its grip on itself. It's been that way for a while now. Destroying the Keystones causes Aether to spread widely, yes, but the cracks started to form long before now. If you don't believe me, take a second and just think about Fall Rend."

As soon as the words left her mouth, heavy scrutiny fell upon her from Absol's gaze. Before he looked at her as if she was a lost cause, but with a smug satisfaction she noted how his eyes widened, fully opened.

Good. Now maybe he would actually take her seriously.

"You know about Fall Rend. That's a little before your time." It wasn't a question. She glowered at him.

"What? Didn't expect a criminal to know what the Guilds didn't want them to know? Your cover up may have worked for the basic Pokemon, but there are still those who remember. Dungeons have been problematic for a while now, you just don't want to admit it. Or did you hope the issue would just magically go away?"

"Watch it, kid…" he warned, a hint of growl in his throat. "Why do you think that would be related to the current problem?"

"You're the Guildmaster in charge of everything we know about Dungeons, but you can't make the obvious con-"

"Answer the question," he stated. If he was getting any more agitated, it was a bit difficult to tell, aside from his voice being more clipped.

"Just think about it!" she said. "Dungeons imploding on themselves, mass earthquakes and natural disasters popping up randomly. Those weren't just freak accidents like everyone was told, that was just the first signs of whatever balance this world has starting to slip, and now we're in for a slow end."

"And speeding up this 'slow end' is supposed to help, how?"

"Breaking the Keystones doesn't just make Aether spread on the surface, it impacts the balance of Aether in the planet as well. Our goal is to cause a specific reaction by influencing the energies within to get rid of the Dungeons, and perhaps Aether, once and for all."

"A specific reaction…you're turning the planet into an experiment? What the hell kind of reaction do you think can just erase Aether like that? It runs throughout the entire world."

"Which means manipulating it on a worldwide scale can perhaps result in something helpful. You work with the stuff all day, right? Surely you understand that it's possible?" She wouldn't call the tone in her voice hopeful, but she would be lying if she said there wasn't at least some expectation of understanding.

Absol stared at her, opened his mouth, and shook his head before closing it. He huffed out a deep sigh and closed his eyes, and spoke with clenched teeth.

"And...can you tell me what the...god damn it..." He shook his head at the floor, before looking at her again. "Please tell me you have a plan? To execute a formula on that big of a scale?"

He had a hesitant, wary expression in his eyes, as if he feared what she would say next. Against her will, her ears flattened just a bit, and she averted her eyes to the side as a strange feeling overcame her.

Right. The plan.

"...The plan is in the...early stages. I don't know everything...at this time." she stated, with not nearly as much confidence as she truly felt.

She trusted her Master's words, and the theory seemed plausible in her head, so she was willing to see it through. But, by Arceus...

It didn't sound good when she said it out loud. Judging by the look on Absol's face, he didn't think so either.

He gave her a blank look, before he sat right back on his haunches and raised a paw to grind into his forehead. A low, pained groan sounded from his mouth, and she stared at the ground.

"...Holy shit..." he muttered. A mixture of embarrassment and indignation sparked Mauve to say something.

"L-look! I know it sounds ridiculous, but-"

"That actually gave me a migraine..."

"-there aren't many options, and this is the best chance we have-"

"A damn...kid and her squad of goons are gonna destroy the world..."

"-you should at least consider that it's possible with Aether-"

One moment, she was leaning forward as far as her chains would let her, all but standing tall as she argued fervently for herself. Then next, she was flat on her back, a heavy paw pushed against her stomach, and ice cold eyes boring a hole through her own.

"Don't tell me what's possible. I've spent my whole life studying Dungeons, and the only thing I know for sure is that nobody knows what's possible."

His heavy, sharp claws dug just enough into her chest to make her wince, but the expression on his face never changed. He leaned down, and despite his voice not changing in pitch, the harshness still came through.

"So when I hear some misinformed, lost kid try to preach to me that manipulating very dangerous and temperamental energies in a bid to maybe fix everything, is a good idea, I get angry. All you've done so far is hurt my apprentices and put the rest of the world on a crash course to doom. And you don't even have a plan to get there."

The heavy pressure on her chest made it difficult to breathe, but she forced out a response.

"You don't think I...know that? If there was another way, we would do it, but you're not...listening." On instinct, she tried to wrench her claws up towards her chest to push his claw off of her, but only succeeded in painfully pulling her wrists against the chains. He squinted down at her and she groaned in frustration.

"There is no other way! No matter what happens, Dungeons will keep breaking down. The world is already doomed, so shouldn't we take whatever chance we have!?"

She hated to plead like this. Shame crawled up her back at the sound of her scratchy voice cracking even further, but there was nothing for it, not now. The thought of making someone believe her, making someone realize how few options they truly had, overrode her normal recalcitrance.

She matched the intensity of his stone grey eyes with her fiery orange ones.

"Shouldn't we!?" she cried.

The pressure on her chest threatened to become more painful, and she squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of pierced skin, but then it retracted.

The weight slowly lifted off of her form, and she cracked an eye open to look up at Absol, who took a step back from her. She noted how his gaze was not on her, but instead on the claw that restrained her. He held it up and gave it a conflicted look

She didn't miss how towering body trembled slightly.

He set his paw down, and she took the lull in conversation to right herself, back up against the wall in a crouched position. Eventually, his eyes lifted from his paw to regard her with a neutral frown, and she wondered what was going through his mind, as he sat back down again.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have touched you, not when you're already harmless." He stated. She did not expect an apology to ever enter the conversation.

She had experienced worse. As far as she was concerned, he was being too lenient.

"Look. Everything you just said is ridiculous, and borderline stupid, but I need to know. Why would you believe any of that? How do you know about what happened thirty years ago, or why the signs apparently point towards the world ending?"

He tilted his head, and furrowed his eyes in thoughtfulness.

"What do you know that I don't?" he questioned.

"I only know as much as my Master tells me. But...he knows Pokemon. Strong Pokemon, I think." she explained. "I don't know the details...but I think he has a way of communicating with someone who knows more about the world than we do."

"Alright...and you just take your Master's word for everything?" he asked. She nodded without hesitation.

"Yes. I trust him. He's strong, very strong. He can do things I've never seen anyone else do. But more than that, he's a good Pokemon. If he knew of a different way to fix things, he'd have done so."

"Your master seems hasty to me. It's not wise to jump in head first without a plan, especially with the stakes so high," he responded. She thought about that for a moment, and though it was technically a slight against Boon, she found no fault in it. She nodded.

"That's the way he is. But, we can't afford to sit and wait. We need to act now, so we need someone like him."

He 'hmmd' in consideration of her answer, but then spoke again.

"I'm assuming you aren't going to tell me who this master of yours is? Or how many of you there actually are?"

"I wouldn't, unless you promise to let me go free right now," she responded, matching his tone. He sighed.

"Well, I'd love to do that, if you told me where your next move is."

"Unfortunately, I can't do that. Unless you give me your word you won't follow us."

"Better idea. You stop this whole idiotic crusade right now, and turn yourselves in. Then I get my guild back, and everyone else gets time to think and actually make a plan. It's a win-win."

The way he so seemed to flippantly disregard what she said caused her ear to flick in annoyance, but she couldn't find it within her to bite back. This conversation had taken more energy from her than she anticipated.

"You could call it that, but then where would we all be? You can try for yourself, but there is no other way, no matter how long we sit around and think."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out," he said. He pawed at his notebook, then snatched it up to deposit in his bag. He stood up to his full height, and regarded her once more.

"It should go without saying, but you're not leaving, not while you're still a danger to everyone else. But, if I can think of any more questions, I'll be back to ask."

"If you still think I'm a danger, we won't have much to say to each other. Do all the research you want, you'll come to the same conclusion we did."

He grunted at that, and then turned to make his way to the door. He opened it, but right before he stepped through, he tilted his head back at her.

"Oh yeah. You might have another visitor today. Or a couple. I'll tell you right now, if you do anything to them while they visit you, we'll make sure Arceus won't be able to save you."

He said it almost casually, but she didn't have to hear it a second time to know he meant every word. She flattened her ears fully against her head and glowered at his back as he walked out.

After a moment of silence, she huffed, and rested her head up against the wall. She wasn't sure if Absol was exactly what she expected, or something completely different, but she supposed it didn't matter. Upon reflection, she hadn't given away anything that could seriously hamper her plans, just given the overarching goal. Perhaps he would come to understand her words, in time. Then he and his guild would see how bad of a situation they were in.

And then what? Why had she been so insistent he see things her way? Why did she care? Maybe she hated the thought of yet another person thinking she was some kind of villain, or just another selfish outlaw.

If only.

With a sharp shake of her head, she banished these thoughts. They were pointless now, and more than anything, exhausting. She hadn't done much more than sit on her bottom and talk, and yet her heart had been racing as if she ran a marathon. Against her better judgment, she let herself tilt sideways and fall to lay on her side.

Even if it left her vulnerable to her next visitor, and even if all that awaited her was a dreamless sleep, she didn't really care.

She just didn't want to be awake right now.

---

Consciousness trickled in her mind like a small stream. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to cling to slumber, but acquiesced with a sigh.

She wrenched her eyes open and blinked the sleep out, then pushed herself up from the floor to sit back against the wall. As she adjusted her arms behind her back, she noticed a fresh tray of food across from her, and determined that at least another few hours had passed.

Another few hours trapped in this cell, and no plan to get out. All she could do was sit here and think.

She supposed there was plenty to think about: the conversation with Absol, her team's next moves for the future, perhaps even formulating some kind of escape plan.

But instead, all she could think about was how tired she still felt. Exhaustion wormed its way back into her skull, and she frowned as she rested her head against the wall.

From her perspective, she had closed her eyes, and then a second later woke up again, barely any better than before.

She had always had trouble sleeping, for as long as she remembered. Dreams rarely came easy, but it had been a long time now since she had ever enjoyed the world that lived behind one's eyelids. Normally she would always try to sleep earlier to make sure she felt at least a little rested, eight hours was normally enough to make even light sleep effective, but trapped in this cell with no concept of time, she could tell that it was throwing her off.

Her eyes felt heavy, she could hardly tongue bathe as well in this position, and she knew the feathered crest on her head was ruffled and unkempt. She hoped nobody came to question her soon.

Partly because being interrogated was agitating, but mostly because the thought of anyone seeing her like this was just sad.

She sat against the wall with a small frown on her face for she didn't know how long, fully aware she wasn't being particularly useful in any regard, before a memory from a little while ago entered her mind unprompted.

A few months ago, after a busy day of training, Boon had taken them all to a party in some city or another. There was a dance floor, drinks, an open mic that anyone could jam on, and as usual she had been roped in to singing with her just-drunk-enough Master while the others watched with grins from within the crowd. Boon had an arm around her shoulder, and belted out a song that commanded the attention of everyone inside, amplified by his own ears.

She remembered the lyrics, and how absolutely horrible his singing voice was, and it brought a smile to her face.

Tepidly, as a whisper, she began to sing the lyrics.

"...I've been a fool, and you've been childish." she sang under her breath, giggling to herself.

"You fell down, you got hurt chasing sweeter dreams~"

"Never could...hide the truth in your eyes."

"That's how I knew, that smile was a lie."

She took a second to clear her throat, and closed her eyes to focus. Her voice was naturally rough, but nobody was around to hear her sing.

Just how she liked it.

She let her voice resound in the cell as she sang the rest of the song, a smile on her face as she imagined what her teammates would say if they heard her. She gradually became more confident, and let her voice ring fully during the chorus.

"I'm such a mess! I'm lost, I'm no good at this,"

"I'm in love, still in love, still in love with you~"

"Hard as I try, I can't even drink this pain away."

"Hard as I try! I can't even drink this pain away!"

"Memories of you, twisting my view~ I've been a fool..."

"Memories of you, twisting my view! I've been a foooooooooool."

Weird, she didn't think she could pull off a dual-tone...

She cracked an eye open, and instantly went cold at the sight of a Meowstic in front of the door, eyes closed as he swayed side to side with his paws up. She watched as he hummed a bit more of the song to himself, before he opened his eyes and laughed openly.

"Hey, that was pretty good! If you know that song, there's no way you can be all bad. Little shaky on that last part but besides that, golden."

She sat ramrod straight as the Meowstic approached her with a leisurely gait. His twin tails swished behind him as he walked, and his golden eyes were locked on her.

He stepped right up and plopped down, and she stared down at his form, smaller than her own. He was taller than Pachirisu, but not by much, and his blue fur was thick and fluffy. Tied around his neck on a black cord, a white pearl rested on his chest fur that briefly transfixed her with its cloudy surface, but she wrenched her gaze from it to meet his eyes.

He had a round, young face, with softer features. If she had to guess, around her age. Like other Meowstic, his ears were folded on top of his head, although they looked to be on the bigger side compared to his head and body. A tiny fang peaked out from his mouth, and the light smile on his face matched his mirthful, yellow eyes. They shone with a boldness and intelligence that she rarely saw.

He unnerved her. Everything about him seemed kind. Too kind, considering the last time she saw this Meowstic, she had kicked him so hard in the head, he fell unconscious.

Maybe the blow jarred his memory?

"I don't blame you though. If I were locked up down here, I think I'd go crazy. I mean, not like you didn't earn it." He shrugged. "But anyway, what's up? You can call me Meowstic. The guy you knocked out. Not cool by the way. That hurt."

"...Are you expecting some kind of apology?" she muttered. "I had a goal, you were in the way, and so I responded accordingly. Pokemon get hurt in fights, that's life."

"Brutal. Geez..." he rubbed the back of his head and looked down, tails curling around him. "You say that, but knocking someone out in one hit is a serious blow to their pride," he said, with a small, embarrassed grin on his face. The bound Weavile quirked a brow, unsure where this conversation was going.

"Are you whining to me about it? If you didn't want to get hit, you could have moved out of the way. You spotted me while I was still in the air, you just chose to stand there and let my foot hit your face."

"So it's my fault for not reacting in a quarter of a second?"

"Yes. If it's any consolation, I didn't expect you to fall that easily. It wasn't a particularly powerful kick, just meant to knock you off balance."

"That's...really not any kind of consolation. Thanks." He sighed and crossed his arms. His tails idly flicked as he looked at her expectantly, as if she wanted any part of this conversation. She huffed in annoyance.

"What do you want? I've already said all I'm going to say to your guildmaster, so go ask him why I did what I did, or whatever. I don't feel like repeating myself."

"Yeah I figured. To be honest I didn't really have a plan for when I came down here," he mused, putting his arms behind his head. "I guess I just wanted to see what kind of Pokemon you are. Among other things."

"Why the hell would that matter to you?" she asked.

"Because Noivern was weird as hell," he stated. "That guy helped me not get caught by bounty hunters, only to show up later and go 'surprise! I was screwing with you the whole time!' and tried to break the Keystone. But right before that, he offered to take us out to eat."

He shrugged and shook his head, a confused laugh escaping his lips.

"I just don't know what to think. He doesn't seem like a legitimate criminal, but his actions say otherwise, at least that's what it seems like. It's got me wondering if the rest of you out there are just as strange."

"And what would you know about legitimate criminals?" she sneered. "You're just a scientist, you spend all day safe behind closed doors, studying."

"Alright, first off, if you think all we do is sit and read, then you clearly have no idea what it is we actually do here. Do you really think all Whimsicott does is read books if she was able to knock your ass out?" he jeered. She clenched her teeth at his smug, fanged grin.

"That's what I thought. And for the record, my parents were bounty hunters, they taught me a little about how outlaws operate, from their stories."

He was a hunter's kid. Great. the expression on his face just became ten times more annoying. She scowled, bound claws scraping the floor in agitation. Her tone became more mocking.

"Raised by Haxorus guildies. Must have been nice, being coddled by the ones meant to 'protect and serve.' And just what did they tell you about outlaws, huh?" she sneered.

"That they do their best to never interact with hunters beyond fighting them, and they can't really afford to play games when it comes to getting what they need," he responded, not reacting to her mocking tone. "Mom told me the Borderlands weren't an easy place to live in, because they don't have the support of the guilds out there. It's really every mon for themself, give or take a few rules."

Oh. She was expecting something along the lines of "that outlaws are all evil," or "that they're all bloodthirsty and vicious." He continued while she was briefly taken aback.

"From what I've been told, outlaws do things like rob and steal from pokemon both to get things like food and stuff to live, and also to stick it to the guild system. But, I don't think I've ever heard of criminals doing something on this scale and claiming that it was to do something heroic. And, you all seem to actually believe it," he finished, bewildered.

"So, I guess I'm just trying to figure out if you guys are crazy, stupid, misguided, or maybe...something else," he finished. She gave an unamused huff.

"You know, they could say the same thing about you and your guild. It's rich hearing an Absol's apprentice call me crazy," she retorted. He blinked, and rubbed his chin.

"Oh yeah...you're not wrong. Well, we haven't tried to destroy the world by rupturing the foundations of Aether as we know it. That might be a little beyond our comfort zone."

"I've been saying all this time, we are not trying to destroy the world, we're going to save it!" she shouted, fur along her body raised in agitation. The Meowstic leaned back and put his paws up in submission.

"Yeah, yeah I heard that. Look, think about it like this. From our perspective, we're trying to save the world too, but it's clear we have super different definitions of what that means. Aether spreading in the world equals a really bad time, so we're trying to avoid that."

"Your time would be better spent trying to prepare for that outcome, instead of making things more difficult for us."

"Hey, you know what, great idea!" he stood up and swaggered towards the door. "Lemme just go outside and tell the other-oh wait." he stopped, tails rigid, and turned with his head lolled to the side. "I can't do that, because someone made us actual criminals, and we can't use what we learn to help anyone! You know, the whole point of this guild in the first place?" he sassed.

"I...well that's-"

He cut her off, whipping around and pointing a paw at her.

"You wanna know something? When you fucked me up and got us wanted, that was my second day at the guild. My second. Day, " he emphasized, paw to his chest. "I love this place, and now I have to hide, and that's not even talking about the other ones here that you've screwed over. There are pokemon here who really, really love what they do, and never get a damn ounce of credit for it. And now, they have to suffer more because you think you're in the right? Have you even stopped to think about that? Or are you too busy projecting your problems with guilds onto us?"

"You say you want to save the world, but from what I've heard, you don't even seem to give a damn about the people in it," he finished. His breathing had gotten more intense as he ranted, previous easygoing tone much more serious.

Her breath hitched as she glared at him, desperately wanting anger to override the cold sensation in her chest. A low sigh escaped her, and she found it difficult to meet his eyes.

She could yell that he was wrong, that of course she cared about others, otherwise she wouldn't be doing all of this. But, as much as she tried to push it to the back of her mind, she couldn't deny how right the Meowstic was to feel this way.

The goal was never to hurt anyone, but it wasn't something they could control.

"...I wish things could be different," she started. "But we can't stop now, not when we've set everything in motion. If I apologize, it wouldn't mean anything, even if I was sincere."

"And? Are you?"

"What?"

"Sincere."

"...Yes."

"Alright...I'll believe you, if you promise to do something to make it up to me."

Her ears flicked at the request, and she brought her eyes up again. That small grin was back on his face.

"What?"

"Easy. I want a run-back."

"A run- you want to fight me?" she asked, bewildered. He nodded.

"If you're being serious, then let's do something nice for each other. I can get you out of this boring cell for a bit, and you can help me test something I've been working on. I even got things set up." His grin widened. "All you have to do is play along and not kill me."

"And what's stopping me from trying to escape as soon as we exit the cell?"

"You'll see."

What a strange offer, and an even stranger cat. He had openly admitted that she had ruined his guild, and yet he was smiling at her as if they were on their way to being friends.

Was she really going to go through with this just to show him that she was serious about an apology?

It would get her out of this cell at least, and he had intrigued her. She gave a hesitant nod, and he pumped a fist.

"Yes! Okay, be cool and don't try anything yet. Trust me, you'd regret it."

He stepped closer to her and bent down to fiddle with her bindings. His smooth blue fur brushed against her, and she was caught off guard by how soft it was against her rougher fur. She felt the release of chains on her wrists, and immediately wrenched her claws towards her chest, a low moan of comfort escaping her as she rubbed her raw, freed wrists.

Meowstic stepped back and observed her, one foot wisley anchored towards the door in case she tried something. She eyed him with a neutral frown, but ignored him for now. Instead she spent some time raking her claws against the feathered crest on her head for some much needed maintenance, and licked the uneven fur along her body down until it was smooth again.

When she deemed herself somewhat presentable, she put a claw to the ground and stood up fully, arms to her side, for the first time in days. She looked down at Meowstic, who looked even smaller now, only up to her chest. He stared at her with large, yellow eyes, bushy tails raised just a bit.

They did look quite fluffy, as did the rest of his body. That errant observation caused a hint of shame to creep up on her, knowing that she had caused harm to such a small, preciou-

Problematic. She shook her head and huffed internally. Meowstic was problematic, not precious. She crossed her arms to focus her thoughts.

"Well, I'm not attacking. Now what?"

"Just follow me," he said, turning to the door. She followed.

"You know it's foolish to not keep me chained right now, right?"

"Don't need em."

He opened the door, and she followed him into a grey hallway with smooth stone floors that lead to the right. Her eyes snapped to the form of a Scrafty, who paced side to side with his hands in his baggy skin. He stopped as soon as he saw her, and his eyes squinted in immediate suspicion.

From memory, this was the other apprentice who she briefly fought earlier, and she remembered he lasted slightly longer than the Meowstic.

Before she could think further, a smooth voice came from the right that made her blood run cold.

"Oh, so she actually agreed? Marvellous." Mauve whipped her head to the right, where Whimsicott was also casually leaning against the wall, right next to the door. The fairy leered at her with one eye, and she gave an evil grin towards the Weavile. She kicked off the wall and walked right up to her.

To her credit, Mauve only took two steps back before she attempted to stand her ground. She scowled at the look Whimsicott gave her.

"You're afraid. Good. Keep on your best behavior, would you? My darling apprentice wants you in one piece, you know." She giggled, and clapped her paws together. "This is going to be fun!"

"You sure about this mon?" piped Scrafty to the Meowstic. He had a deep, husky voice, with a street twang to it. "How you know she'll play nice and won't go berserk, or something?"

"Do you really need to ask that question, dear?" questioned Whimsicott with a laugh. "Honestly, I admire his boldness, you could do with a little of that yourself, you know." she jeered lightly. Scrafty rolled his eyes, but kept his glare on her.

"Va-uh, Scrafty, it's fine. I talked with her and she's been cool so far. Well, mostly."

"Yeah, sure," muttered Scrafty, clearly not buying it. Whimsicott clapped her paws again and led the way forward, Scrafty opting to follow behind. Mauve continued as Meowstic walked next to her, towards an opening down the short hall. At a glance around, the walls were barren, and it seemed this hall only led to her cell.

So far, this looked somewhat similar to a jail. That Pachirisu said she was in some kind of container? It certainly didn't look like one.

They walked out into a more open area, an octagonal shaped space with other openings that seemed to lead to other hallways. The walls were a deep blue here, with simple star motifs that ran along the top corners, and in the center, a white star emblazoned in the center of the octagon. Benches were spread along the wall, and her pace slowed as she witnessed two more Pokemon who made themselves comfortable on one to the side; a Dragonite and a Spinda.

Dragonite took one look at her and gave a derisive snort, while Spinda put a paw to her mouth and tittered. Meowstic hopped forward and called out.

"I didn't think you two were coming. I thought I only told Va...damn it, Scrafty and Whimsicott."

"As if I would miss out on the chance to see murder mom tear someone apart," responded Dragonite. She looked her in the eyes from across the room and continued. "I got the next fight."

"Not so fast dear, this is between Meowstic and Weavile. It wouldn't be right to get in the way of another's pride, after all. Now, let's get this started."

Whimsicot gestured for Meowstic to walk to the other side of the octagon, while she remained where she was. Despite the odd environment, she supposed the space made for an adequate arena, there was enough space to move around at least.

Idly, she flexed her claws, exercising the latent type energy that was subdued due to her chains. Familiar Ice Type energy gathered in frost at the tips of her claws, but given her opponent, she dispelled it in favor of darkness.

A glance across the makeshift arena showed Meowstic digging inside his bag, before pulling out three small, clear orbs. His ears opened a tad, and the orbs floated together in front of him, bathed in light pink from telekinesis. They floated steadily in front of him, and he put his arms out to keep focused. She squinted at his battle stance.

"Whimsicott," she said to the fairy next to her. "I'm not planning on pulling my punches. Should I expect to be punished for agreeing to this?" she asked.

Whimsicott gave her a steady look, before slowly shaking her head.

"Meowstic is the one who wanted this fight, so I suggest you give him what he wants. If you're worried I won't judge fairly, don't be. Just use your best judgment for what's too far."

"...This is a strange duel," she responded. Whimsicott clicked her tongue, and then moved to stand in the center of the ring. The other apprentices watched from the benches, Scrafty closest to Meowstic's side.

As in official battles, Whimsicott stood perfectly in between both combatants and raised an arm. She began the standard statements before most official matches.

"I, Co-Guildmaster Whimsicott of the Absol Guild, will be the officiant for today's match. The purpose for this battle is reclamation of honor and practise for Meowstic, and by duty of obligation for Weavile. The battle ends when I decide which opponent is unable to battle first."

"Opponents, ready yourselves."

Meowstic raised the orbs above and around himself, and they settled into a shaky orbit around his frame. He bounced on the tip of his feet and bent his knees, feet spaced equally apart and body faced squarely towards her. Interesting. His stance suggested he didn't plan on moving, instead ready to take whatever she had. She wouldn't expect a tactic from such a small, physically weak Pokemon.

That was fine. If he thought he could take her, she would overwhelm him.

With a breath, she leaned forward, claws spread out to her sides, and head low to the ground. The muscles in her legs tightened to spring forward at a moment's notice.

"Three." stated Whimsicott.

"Two."

The small crowd of three lent their voices in as loud of a whoop as they could, staunchly cheering for the Meowstic across from her, with Dragonite even giving a short roar to hype up the fight. Although everyone here was against her, Mauve let herself forget about the circumstances and focus on the battle. It had been a while since she had sparred anyone outside of her team, and based on the strange orbs floating around her opponent's head, she was sure it would at least be interesting.

Although the orbs were small and clear, she had learned to not underestimate items. The memory of Whimsicott's wands tearing apart a feral in seconds kept her senses sharp.

"One."

She breathed in deep. Whimsicott cut her arm down a second later.

"Begin!"

And let it out, pushing off her feet in a dead run towards Meowstic. Her feet pattered on the ground as she let her claws scrape across the stone floor to kick up sparks, revelling in the feeling of being free again. As she approached, she coated her claws in darkness in preparation for a Night Slash.

Meowstic tensed up as she got closer and his ears unfurled, but didn't move. She brought her right claw up for a downward swipe just as she was within striking distance, only to juke to the left and come across with a leftward swing. Darkness followed the Night Slash as she made contact.

Her claws bounced off from a Protect field.

She staggered back from the hit, wondering when he had time to prepare it. As she shook her arm, she saw that the green energy of the Protect field was projected from the three orbs in front of Meowstic. The energy emerged from the three, forming a green triangle between the rigid orbs in front of him.

His ears unfurled a bit more, glowing with energy, and he stared at her with a wide, manic smile.

"O-oh, that worked! That actually-"

Mauve darted forward and twisted her body to deliver a roundhouse kick with a shout. Meowstic yelped and jumped backward, and the orb-generated Protect field followed where he went, a barrier between him and her.

She smacked against the shield and bounced back. She didn't get time to consider how that was possible before she had to roll to the side to avoid the pink waves from his Disarming Voice, just out of range of the purple hearts that emanated off of it.

In the back of her head, she admitted that his voice was actually quite pleasing to listen to, his soft and warm tone only made more pleasant by the lingering sound of the move.

She hopped up half a second later and crossed her claws in front of her protectively, stalking around him as she observed his item. Normally, once a pokemon used Protect, it would dissipate once it was hit, and needed to be reapplied again, but these orbs seemed to be able to keep a consistent field up. Meowstic seemed to be able to levitate the makeshift shield in front of him, moving it in line with her movements, a determined look on his face behind the triangular shield.

She ran through several tactics in her head, senses sharp, but he made another move. With a step forward, he lifted a paw, raising the shield, and tilted it so it floated on its side horizontally, rather than facing her vertically.

With a shout, he whipped an arm and ear forward, launching the orb shield to slice toward her. She had to duck to the ground a second later, and her fur flattened from the force of the item as it flew just above her body, but she was able to dodge and recovered quick enough.

She stood tall and scoffed. He had just thrown away his defense. He still hadn't moved, and stood with his arms wide, ears unfurled enough to let light psychic energy pour out.

She bent her legs and dashed forward, straight at him. Halfway through, she focused her Energy and willed herself to burst to the side with a Quick Attack. She chained the move together a few times, bolting left and right on the way to him, hoping to throw off his concentration so he couldn't bring up a shield in time.

He tensed as she approached, and made a strange gesture with his paws, but she paid it no mind. Even though she saw him breath in for another Disarming Voice, she was confident that she was close enough to strike.

She juked one more time so she appeared in his blind spot, and raised a claw right as he turned to try and attack. He wouldn't make it in time, her claw was already on the way down when-

Slam!

The sound of charming catboys, a resonance so pleasant and warm, made her chest physically ache and burn. She rolled over and took a bit longer to right herself, shaking her head to clear it.

"First hit goes to Meowstic!" cheered the Whimsicott. The other apprentices hollered in applause.

Meowstic himself kept his wide eyes on her with a determined look on his face. She looked at him, trying to figure out how the hell he hit her with Disarming Voice when his mouth didn't even face her, but movement above brought her eyes to the trio of orbs he had thrown earlier.

Rather than maintaining a Protect field, the three orbs had formed a triangle that had pink hearts and notes dissipating from within. Meowstic wrenched his paws towards himself, and the orbs flew over to float above him, slowly rotating in the air.

He gasped heavily, but a wide smile bloomed on his face, and he jumped up with a fist in the air to strike a dorky pose.

"Hell yeah! How do you like my ultimate weapon!? Feast your eyes on my Amplify Orbs! I mean...Amp Orbs...Resonance Orbs?" He tapped his chin in thought, but then shook his head.

"Name in progress, but that doesn't matter. With these, I can load up a move into their network, and let it rip through them to make it even more powerful! And because they're aerodynamic orbs, I can attack from basically anywhere."

He put his paws on his hips, eyes closed with a pleased expression. Mauve blinked, and lowered her claws in confusion.

"But...why would you say that out loud? Explicitly, to your opponent?"

"Because that's what all the heroes do in the comics, and I worked two days straight on these things. I want to feel cool, damn it."

He hopped back into a fighting stance, one leg back and arms raised in front of him. His twin tails flared behind him as his ears glowed pink with energy, fully opened. A laugh escaped him as energy began to form between the trio of orbs that circled above his head.

"This is for knocking me out," he called. She heard a hum of energy build from his orbs as a pink glow built in his throat.

With a cry, Meowstic belted out more pink rings of hostile harmonics. Much larger rings emanated from the orbs, and both hurtled straight forward. She focused up in an instant, and ran alongside the perimeter of the space to avoid them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him switch up his stance, and he began to run counter clockwise, opposite her. An ear flicked to the side, and true to his word, the trio of rings flew to follow her.

They swished up right alongside her, slowly rotating with pink energy built between them. As she ran, she counted how long it took for the move to come out. Once it reached a fever pitch, she skidded and ran the other way, just as the rings of fairy energy belted out from the orbs. She had enough time to see Meowstic let loose his Disarming Voice to roll out of the way, and jogged off to the side.

She felt her breath increase slightly, and realized that she was putting in a bit more effort than she expected.

This fight really was turning out to be interesting, and it was clear that Meowstic was enjoying his little revenge by making her scamper around. She smirked as she slunk out of the way of another salvo of attacks.

Poor guy, he didn't know she'd already won.

Hurtful, malicious emotions freely ran through her to generate Dark Type energy, but those were discarded in favor of crystal clear, ice cold certainty. She stopped on a dime and turned to face Meowstic, and allowed a cool sensation to shoot along her arms and coat her claws in thick frost.

With a jump and a flourish, Mauve scraped her claws forward and shot out Ice shards towards Meowstic, who's eyes widened in surprise as he struggled to hop out of the way. She kept up the ranged pressure, coating the ground in ice as she made him dance to avoid the shards.

Some of the smaller ones scored hits, but her goal wasn't to lame him out in this way, the sight of the trio of orbs coming closer spoke to her true intentions.

Meowstic ran, ears unfurled as he tried to summon the orbs back over to him, presumably for protection in the form of a Protect field. If that happened, they would be back at square one. She'd need to hamper his concentration.

With a cry, she jumped high into the air, and let the ice energy gather towards her feet instead. Her soles felt the chill of ice form underneath her, and a thick icicle strong enough to stand on formed underneath her. She balanced on top of the Ice Crash and leaned back to aim it, then pushed off with her legs, doing a backflip as she launched it right Meowstic. She heard him yowl to avoid the move, and as she turned in the air to face the orbs, she saw the psychic glow that denoted his hold over them die down, enough for them to fall to the ground.

Coating her claws once more in frost, she aimed and shot out another shard directly at an orb, scoring a hit and watching cracks form on its surface. Another shot, and it broke completely.

Groans and boos from the other three apprentices sounded out. They were clearly unimpressed that she had the upper hand, but she had no reason to hand him the win. She heard a curse behind her, and turned to see a bruised and slightly frosty Meowstic extend his ears and reach out with a paw, psychic energy coating the remaining two orbs. She watched as they got up and hurried towards him, so she sprinted in a dead run to try and beat them.

She shouted, and launched into the air. She twirled to build up momentum, and arched her foot down as she fell to deliver a brutal axe kick to his head. Right before she connected, his orbs returned to him, and he hastily made them erect a Protect field just before impact. She winced as her leg met the solid surface, but didn't miss how the same expression was on Meowstic's face from the blow.

As she looked him over, she noticed that the orbs were much more shaky in his grasp, and he seemed to need to put more effort into maintaining Protect between them.

With a second to ready herself, she launched forward with claws outstretched, and began to wail on the shield with her claws, the Fury Swipes slowly building in power. Her eyes shone with determination to get through, and Meowstic buckled on the other side and fell to a knee, arms outstretched as he struggled to keep up against her onslaught.

"Come on mon! You got this Lumi! Don't give up!" yelled someone from the side. Similar exclamations were heard as she wailed on the field, but she could tell that her opponent's energy was failing.

With a decisive strike, she finally broke through the barrier, and a sound like glass shattering came from it.

Meowstic fell backwards and landed right on his back with a grunt, and she stepped up to level her claws at his throat. She frowned, and glared down at him.

"Yield," she stated. He breathed heavily as he looked up at her. Her eyes caught the pink glow of another Disarming Voice beginning to build in his mouth, but she silenced it with a casual flick of her claws, coating them in darkness.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Meowstic finally threw his paws up in submission, dispelling the move. Whimsicott called out right after.

"Meowstic has submitted the battle, Weavile is the winner." Although her voice was mostly objective, Mauve heard the slight annoyance when she stated her species. More boos sounded out from the crowd, but it didn't really matter to her.

A win was a win, and she played fair.

She removed her claw from Meowstic's throat, and waited as he pushed himself up and wiped the lingering frost off of his fur. He turned to face her, and the expression on his face was surprising; rather than anger or resentment for having lost, he still looked as friendly as before, albeit much more worn out. He had a tired smile as he rubbed an arm.

"You really are brutal," he huffed. "But damn, did you really have to break that orb? I went through like forty before I settled on a design I liked..."

Mauve considered the strange item he used. Weapons were not common, and although the fight had not been particularly difficult, she had to admit that the idea of an amplification item sounded promising. She crossed her arm and regarded him critically.

Did he fight well? Not particularly. But she supposed it was good exercise.

"You were still standing by the end." She found herself saying, catching his attention. He chuckled and put his paws on his hips.

"Damn right, not as easy as last ti-"

"But that was too easy," she continued. "Your stance was off, you spent too long defending when you had openings to attack. You relied too much on your items to make up for your weakness in the fight. Also, learn more moves than just Disarming Voice and Protect. Don't you at least know Psybeam?"

His ears fell against his head, and she tskked. She really didn't know why she was giving feedback to the enemy, but she couldn't not comment on everything she saw wrong. He grasped a tail and pulled on it.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Sheesh. But, thanks for the field test, I needed to see how these bad boys held up in a real fight," he said, levitating the remaining orbs. She heard a group of footsteps from the side, and backed a few steps away as his fellow apprentices came to attend to him. She caught the glare Dragonite sent her way, but she barely paid it any mind. With nothing else to do, she walked over to Whimsicott, who was busy writing something in her notebook.

"I'm going to go back to my cell," she stated, having accepted that as long as Whimsicott was within a mile of her, she could kiss an escape goodbye.

"You said you wouldn't pull any punches," remarked the fairy, without glancing up. Mauve didn't respond, and walked back into the hallway. She stole a quick look back at Meowstic, who was being lifted into the air by the cheering Scrafty, while the Spinda chattered animatedly next to him. Dragonite looked down at him with a warm smile, and he laughed during the whole thing.

Normally the sight of happy guild members would cause a mixture of resentment and anger to well up inside of her, but those familiar feelings were absent as she looked at the scene. Perhaps it was the way he spoke to her, or his general demeanor, but she found no good reason to try her absolute hardest against him in this particular fight.

In the future, perhaps, but not right now.

She walked back into her cell, not responding when Whimsicott came by and wordlessly chained her up again. The door closed once more, and she pushed out a breath as she tried to process the incredibly strange way the day turned out.

She closed her eyes to take a nap, wondering what else would happen. Before she felt the pull of sleep, a thought entered her mind, from the battle.

That Scrafty had called out Lumi. His name was Lumi.

The name bounced in her head as she leaned against the wall.

Sleep came easier today.

---

A/N - The song they sang was the english version of "Baka Mitai" from Yakuza. Highly suggest you look it up.

Also, sorry for this taking longer again. I started grad school, and a new internship recently, so I have even less time to write. Still doing my best to write every day though, it'll just take a little longer for the foreseeable future. Thank you all again for continuing to read this far btw, I really appreciate it.

And, if you ever want to hang out and talk about the story, come join my friend Aden (Author of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Stargazer Chronicles) and I's Discord Server here: /sSYNHtCAkD

We play games sometimes.