Chapter 31: Gate Crashers

Back out in the maze, the Distortion spawned a level with a tightly-knit web of passages, the lot of them possessing ground that was composed of ceiling tiles broken by occasional arches. Up above, the ceiling consisted of the cave earth that formed the ground on most of the prior floors that Nida and her teammates encountered, complete with faint light coming from blinking wisps of earth-fire. Team Traveller's members, now four heads strong, made their way down the narrow and winding passages, searching for a suitably spacious chamber to call the teleporter in…

"… and there's places like Crom's bakery where they sell yummy bread made from these seeds called 'grain'!"

...all while indulging Guardia's curiosity of the world outside. Pleo's response to Guardia's question about how Pokémon got food in Bluewhorl Town rambled on much like the paths they travelled, with descriptions of great dining huts where seeds were ground into dust to make 'bread'. The bird's chatter provided a strange and incongruous picture to the Cubone, filling her mind with visions of a colony where Pokémon of every stripe worked together to make strange-sounding food out of equally strange-sounding ingredients.

"Wait, wait, wait," she interrupted, giving a puzzled tilt of her head. "Who's this 'Crom'? Some sort of seed-eater, I presume?"

"Hrm?" Nida murmured, flicking her ears curiously. "He's a Druddigon and a good friend of ours."

"Yeah! He's our teammate!" Pleo chirped.

"Er… what do you mean by 'Druddigon'?" Guardia wondered. "And if he's your teammate, where's he now?"

"Well…" Pleo began. "He's big like me, and has wings, but also arms like Nida… and-"

Pleo continued on with the description of this 'Druddigon', evidently a thorny blue and red yajū which sounded a lot like one of those 'Crimgan' creatures that Tetsuzui spoke of in a lore session some moons ago. The conversation continued to branch from there, swinging wildly from subject to subject. Except… the team noticed that something seemed to be missing from all these exchanges.

Or more accurately, someone.

"Elty?" Pleo asked as he turned his head towards the Growlithe at the back of the group. "Why have you been so quiet all this time?"

"Actually, now that you mention it..." Nida said. "You've been going on and on about wanting to get out since we set foot in here last night, Elty. What gives?"

Elty flattened out his ears and looked down at the ground for a brief moment. Then, with a shake of his head, the little Fire-Type snorted and turned his attention back to Nida with a grunt.

"I just don't have much to say right now," the Growlithe huffed.

It was hardly a truthful answer, and the skeptical looks that Nida and Elty traded each other before shrugging the matter off seemed to indicate the spike ball was aware of it. The Fire-Type could have talked about plenty, such as how Hess and the Iron Fleet were surely waiting for him back in Andaku right now, where he should be reclaiming his bag and heading back off to the sea where he belonged. But as pointless beatings were not his idea of a good time, there was no point in bringing that up right now.

Nevermind the topics that even the Growlithe himself was loath to dwell on. Like how the spike ball and the mewa had needed his help to get by in the past, or how there were even times when he had needed their help in return too…

They'd be able to get back to their island without him, right? After all, they had that bonehead to take his place now. And if they wanted to stick around him, they could always learn how to hold their own as fellow pirates... Why was he so concerned about them anyways? It was their fault he was in this mess to begin with!

"Oh! I see a chamber!" Pleo chirped.

Thankfully, those nagging, strange thoughts wouldn't need to be dealt with for too much longer. A cavernous chamber with a second exit along one of its sides came into view up ahead, past a three-way intersection. All that was left now was to step in, call the teleporter back at Andaku's guild, return to the company of his old peers, and let the cards fall where they may. Co ma być, to będzie.

"I'll do the honors," he grunted. The Growlithe nipped at the side of his scarf and pulled the glinting, dented egg of a badge pinned on it towards his shoulder. After moving it into place, he nuzzled it with his chin...

And began to speak.

"Oi, anyone on the other end?" he barked. "Hurry up and get me out of here!"


"Hurry up and get me out of here!"

The Teleport Pad at Andaku's guild was nestled in a stilted, low-roofed warehouse next to the canvas roof over the central courtyard. Inside the half-rotted wood structure, crates blocked dingy windows and ringed a cleared circle painted onto the floor, while meager spots of light from the late afternoon sun filtered through a few skylights that had been cut into the ceiling above.

There, the disembodied voice of an impatient Growlithe floated around the mind of a Drowzee known to his peers as 'Eeden'. The voice distracted him from the conversation about some "idiot cheapskates" that needed to be bailed earlier after trying to substitute Apples for Golone Rocks between his Exeggutor and Clefable colleagues on the other side of the teleportation circle, leaving the Psychic to shake his head, and grunt to himself.

"You really do know how to put your foot in it, Zamora," he sighed. Yes, it was time to carry out the 'favor' that the Beeheyem owed to Valatos and his friends, lest they run their mouths off. The Psychic-Type focused, and let the sounds of his Exeggutor and Clefable colleagues fade out as he extended his mind towards his partner in Mossaisle Town's higher districts.

"I've got them, Zamora. Now hurry it up on your end and get to that atoll," Eeden said telepathically, his words drawing a swift and flustered response from his distant counterpart.

"Ack! Right!"

"Hey, Eeden," the Exeggutor prodded. "What was that you were going on about?"

Ah, yes. Such was the cost of being in the same room as a bunch of other telepaths. Even if they weren't paying attention, they were bound to pick up parts of one's unguarded thoughts. The Drowzee shifted his mind to some other skeleton in the closet his colleagues already knew about and offered an explanation.

"Just need to run a little errand," the Drowzee answered. "I'll be back on the beat in a couple minutes."

The Clefable and Exeggutor looked at each other and shrugged as Eeden made his way onto the teleporting platform. As their tapir counterpart began to focus in preparation of a Teleport, the Clefable chimed in with an impatient grunt.

"Whatever, just don't leave us hanging to go and check up on your Sang shipments again," the Fairy-Type snapped. The Hypnosis Pokémon abruptly stopped, distracted from his Teleport, and shot an irked scowl back at the Clefable.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be in a hurry to get through with this one," the Drowzee snorted. "I'm not getting paid for it!"

Eeden refocused his thoughts and his body, and before his colleagues could get in a final word of protest, left the warehouse in a blipping flash of light.


In Kenobi's shipyard, the form of a Drowzee materialized with a flash of light among barrels and wooden crates. As the Psychic-Type looked about, he could see a Yanmega, a Manectric, and a Marowak setting up several Substitutes similarly shaped to themselves to throw off cursory examiners. A little ways off was a floating Beheeyem who absentmindedly stared to the ground, grumbling to himself.

"Heh, heh, the substitutes are great!" Nori exclaimed.

"Thanks Zamora! We really owe you one," Alvise snickered.

The Beheeyem buried his face in one of his hands as his grumbling intensified. Eeden sighed after taking in the scene and his partner's visible frustration, but approached the group to finish things up as soon as possible.

"Ahem," the Drowzee coughed. "I assume everyone is rea-"

"There you are!" a voice suddenly bellowed.

Valatos, Alvise, and Nori froze as they looked around in panic, expecting their angry Rhydon overseer to pounce on them at any moment. The two Psychic-Types seemed similarly distressed, and braced themselves for Company guards to swarm them for trespassing into the compound.

"You were assigned to one of the search groups in the interior!"

The gathered Pokémon stopped and blinked as they realized the shouting was coming past the crates. Valatos, Alvise, and Nori snuck over and peeked through gaps between the stacks of crates to see a Krokorok trembling in front of a livid Samurott.

"B-But Captain Lyn, I r-really do have a stomachache!" the Dark-Type squeaked. "I-I'm not trying to-"

THWACK

The hapless Krokorok was cut off by a smack across the face with the flat of one of Lyn's seamitars, sending him flying back along the path with a yelp.

"I don't want to hear it!" the Water-Type roared. "Get moving!"

The crocodile hastily righted himself and bolted up the path, the sound of the Water-Type stomping off following shortly after. As Lyn's presence slipped from the group's sensory range, Valatos, Alvise, and Nori traded looks with each other as they realized...

"Wasn't that that 'Commissioner Lyn' Farn was talking to yesterday?" Nori asked. "What a total grouch!"

"Yeah, glad he's not our supervisor!" Alvise exclaimed. The three pondered among each other what the point of joining a Commissioner's crew was when they'd get pushed around even worse than under their Rhydon supervisor, leaving Eeden and Zamora to grumble to themselves.

"What a bunch of overgrown whelps," the Beheeyem grunted.

"And yet, you managed to get blackmailed by them," Eeden shot back, giving an unimpressed glare. Before Zamora could protest, the two Psychic's minds were filled with a barking voice.

"Hello! Hurry up over there!"

The Beheeyem jolted and turned to the still-arguing Company grunts, waving his hands.

"Oi! Shut it already!" he hissed. "Eeden needs to speak back to your 'friends' without you giving us away!"

The three grunts quickly simmered down as the Drowzee rolled his eyes, paused, and focused on the little team far away in the dungeon.

"We'll be right in, just stay where you are."

With a shake of his head, the Psychic-Type shifted his focus back to his surroundings. After scanning the environment and double-checking for eavesdroppers, he gave a wary scowl at the lavender-scarved Pokémon with them.

"Are you sure that there's nothing that you're overlooking here?" Eeden demanded. "Be aware that we're not sticking around for your battle, and we're not coming back until you tell us to."

"Nope, it's showtime!" Valatos grinned.

The five Pokémon interlocked their limbs with each other in a rough circle, as Eeden began to regulate his breathing and focus. In the blink of an eye, the five Pokémon vanished with a flash of light, with Eeden, Zamora, and the square-necks departing for the shifting maze beyond the fog.


From behind a small pile of rocks next to the chamber's other exit, four Cubone watched silently as their companion and her new Nidoran, Growlithe, and Lugia allies waited expectantly in the cave-like room. The Fire-Type seemed particularly agitated, pacing around restlessly after nosing the metal bauble on his scarf, before flattening out his ears and pressing it once more.

"Hello! Hurry up over there!" Elty barked, prompting the spying Cubone to murmur among themselves.

"Huh? It hasn't been that long though... has it, Machitabi?" the runty Cubone of the group asked.

"Nah, somebody's just impatient," the reed-chewing Cubone muttered.

"We'll be right in, just stay where you are," a brusque-sounding voice finally answered, reverberating in the minds of the room's Pokémon. Much like her hiding counterparts, Guardia was puzzled by this 'teleporter'. She looked around and sniffed at the air, before turning warily to the Nidoran beside her.

"So, I presume that's your 'teleporter'?" she prodded, tilting her head curiously at Nida. "Tetsuzui-sama and the others always said that your type usually doesn't try to leave the dungeon through exits like we do."

"That's right, it's the Pokémon that'll get us out of here thanks to these badges," the spike ball replied. "They let them know where to find us in Mystery Dungeons like these."

Guardia paused, and tilted her helmeted head curiously. It was an explanation that matched the rumors she had heard, but something was amiss about what the voice had said.

"Wait, 'we'll be right in'?" the Ground-Type asked. "But from what I've heard from the colony's scouts, they normally send one without escorts."

Nida blinked and twitched her whiskers uneasily. Now that Guardia mentioned it, why did the teleporter say that? Pataki and her companions never seemed to have trouble handling parties of four on their own back at home...

"Well… I mean… there are times where more than one teleporter comes in," she answered, flicking her ears uneasily. "It does feel a little late in the day. Maybe the teleporters are starting to get tired?"

A flash of light suddenly filled the room ahead of the team. As they blinked away the effects of the light, they saw that instead of just the two teleporters they were expecting, there were three others present as well...

"Naw, they just needed some extra help today!" a canid voice sneered.

"Yeah," a rough, reptilian voice added. "For taking care of you!"

…with clearly malevolent intentions.

From their vantage point, the colony's scouting party flinched and ducked further back against their stony cover at the sight of the large strangers. After peeking back over their rocks, they saw that the group that arrived included a large flying bug, a wolf with blue and yellow fur that stood on end, and… a Marowak with a burlap satchel? Something wasn't adding up... Marowak certainly didn't teleport, and judging from the increasingly pallid appearance of Team Traveller's members, they clearly knew that.

Guardia tensely jolted upright with her claws wrapped tightly around her club. "Wait a minute, since when do Marowak teleport?!" she cried. The party of Cubone in the shadows looked up and saw that a Drowzee and a Beheeyem accompanied the three lavender-scarved Pokémon, who mercifully overlooked the four sentries' presence.

"Since never," Alvise sneered. "Congratulations for putting it together, kids! We're not here to teleport you!"

"Yeah, we're what you'd call a 'welcoming committee'!" Nori snickered.

"I don't like where this is going," Guardia growled as she raised her bone defensively. "Do your badges also attract majū like this?"

"E-Eh?!" Pleo squawked. "Y-You're those mean Pokémon who took our berries earlier!"

"Well, you obviously all know each other," Zamora murmured. "So we'll just let you get reacquainted a bit."

"Give us a call when you three are done with them," Eeden added. The Drowzee and his partner vanished with a blipping flash, leaving Team Traveller behind with the three Company grunts.

"Er… s-so you came to us for more berries?" Nida stammered.

"Pfft, please," Valatos spat as he pointed one of his legs at Pleo. "We're here for your friend with the ugly mug there."

"Yeah, a little bird told us that you and your not-so-little bird friend there are wanted by the Board," Alvise grinned. "And we're going to cash in your bounties!"

Machitabi and her fellow sentries traded uneasy looks with each other as they sized up the fierce, lavender-scarved strangers in the room. The purple knot-necked Pokémon clearly weren't who this Nida, Pleo, or Elty were expecting, and the predatory gazes they sported were similarly unreassuring.

"This isn't looking good at all," the reed-chewer muttered.

"Psst! Keikaiashi!" the round-eyed Cubone whispered. "You've got the fastest legs out of us, right? Tell the colony about this! Machitabi, Kamekurai, and I will get some help from the other majū here for Shugodeshi!"

"Right! I'll be right back, Mojisenshi!" the runty Cubone piped back. The four creatures quietly crept from their hiding places towards the exit of the room, as Team Traveller continued to backpedal away from the encroaching Company grunts towards a rapidly approaching wall.

"N-Nida?" Pleo stammered. "What do we do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Valatos buzzed as he homed in on Pleo, darting in erratic starts that frustrated the bird Protector's attempts to track him.

The Yanmega then turned his attention over to Nida and flew forward as his teammates seized the chance to move in tighter around Team Traveller. "Geef op. You're way out of your league here!" The dragonfly hovered menacingly above Nida for a moment and turned to Guardia to approach her. "How long do the likes of you expect to hold out aga-"

Before Valatos could finish his gloating, he was cut off by a stiff smack from underneath that sent him flopping back onto the ground. The dragonfly shook his head and dusted himself off, coming face to face with a scowling Cubone.

"Shut your yap, bug!"

"Grr! I'll make you eat those words, brat!" Valatos hissed. Guardia hastily fell back in anticipation of the Bug-Type's retaliation, and bolted only to feel a cutting gust of wind glance her flank and send her tumbling forward.

"Gah!"

It was only a glance, but still strong enough to stun her for a moment as the room spun. Guardia felt one of Nida's paws yank her up and drag her along running for the corridor they came from, only for a Marowak and Manectric to block the way.

"This has gone on long enough," Nori growled. "Light them up, Alvise!"

"On it!" the Manectric barked. Static began to dance on the Electric-Type's blue and yellow pelt, before thick, cracking bolts shot out in all directions. Pleo flinched as he waited for the hot current to flow through his body, only for the noise to die down and to see their ambushers staring with their mouths hanging limply open.

"I-It didn't affect them at all!" Alvise exclaimed.

On closer inspection, none of Pleo's feathers had been so much as ruffled by the Manetric's Discharge. On top of that, Nida and Elty also looked completely untouched by the attack! Except, for some reason, there seemed to be static crackling on Guardia's scales.

"What's the matter?" Guardia taunted back. "You don't sound so confident anymore!"

"She must be of Hiraishin stock!" Nori cried, as he dug in his feet and prepared to charge the electrically-attractive pest. "Stay on your toes, I'll take care of her-!"

Valatos and Alvise fumed and growled and hastily began to assume battle stances as Nori charged ahead, only for a sudden cry to catch them off-guard.

"Leave us alone!"

As Nida's squeak filled the air, she yanked the Confuse Wand from the satchel on her shoulder, and swung it at the Manectric and Marowak before her. A torrent of yellow, glowing spheres came flying out and enveloped Nori mid-lunge, leaving him to stumble and teeter dizzily. Alvise came running for her, but as Nida raised the wand to try and swing it at the Manectric, she saw that much to her horror, the wand's last orb was already shattered along with a now-mangled knot of wood at the end.

Nida's eyes went wide and she hastily rolled out of the way of a lunge as the Electric-Type carried on past her with a maw filled with sharp teeth shrouded with flickering embers. She flicked a barb at the Manectric and took off running for the opposite side of the room after hearing his yelp, expecting to be run down in a matter of moments.

"Hey, hothead!" a smaller dog's voice spat. "Don't think we'll be going down so fast!"

"Gah!"

Nida looked back and saw the Manectric roll along the ground, desperately trying to smother smoldering patches of fur. Between her and the Electric-Type was now a Growlithe, smoke still curling from his muzzle.

"I'll take this one, spike ball!" Elty cried. "Just make sure that Marowak's down for the count before he gets his senses back! We're finished if he gets a chance to smack us around!"

Nida looked around and saw that Pleo and Guardia were preoccupied with trying to keep Valatos at bay, trading potshots as the Yanmega zipped from one end to the other. Splitting up like this was dangerous, but with Elty's warning in mind...

"Right!" she grunted back. The Nidoran bolted for the dazed Marowak still blocking the exit, and charged him with her spikes raised. She slammed into Nori's side, feeling a couple barbs tear off from her pelt as she pulled back and heard the lizard cry out.

"Yeow!"

Nida ducked a clumsy swat from the Marowak and saw that her barbs had sunk deep into Nori's flank. From the fluid dribbling out the end, she guessed that it had to be enough to have poisoned her attacker.

"Gwuh? Stay still, Nidoran! All of you!"

Not that the dazed creature had really begun to register it. Nida ducked around the lumbering Ground-Type, and darted in to deliver a pair of spinning kicks at the Marowak's stomach.

"Maybe next time, you should pick on- Agh!"

Before Nida could slip away, she was caught by a swat from Nori's bone. She felt a heavy, crushing blow shoot through her hindquarters and went tumbling along the floor into a heap.
As Nida tottered up, she heard Elty yelp and roll to a stop not too far from her after being thrown aside by a Bite at his shoulder. A distressed squawk filled the air, and Nida turned just in time to see Pleo tumble to the ground after being struck out of the sky by a flying rock.

The young Protector hastily picked himself back up, dashed off with flapping hops in a blind panic, a winded and scuffed Guardia following closely behind.

The three were now in just about the same situation they had been at the start of the battle, and even if they had managed to get out of worse before…

"Grr… those little punks hit harder than they look," Alvise glowered.

"They won't be for long," Nori panted, as he woozily dug a Pecha Berry from a bag slung over his shoulder and gobbled it up. "Not when I'm seeing straight again!"

…this time Nida and the other three were flanked on all sides by stronger foes. Worse, they were tired out by the ambush and their new teammate was still unused to fighting as part of their team. To top it all off, there was no sign of a sudden glow from Pleo's plumes to come to their rescue. The pressure heaped upon Team Traveller etched itself into their worn, tired faces, which was not lost to Valatos.

"See, little twerps?" the Yanmega boasted as he hovered a bit closer. "You'll make a nice ticket for us out of this dump!"

Pleo stepped a bit closer to his teammates, suddenly weighed down by the tiredness and a memory.

"I'm not... not a ticket..." the young Lugia ventured between gasps for air.

"You're nothing," Valatos angrily chittered. "This is the end of the line for you!"

Just then, a sprinting body rammed into the Bug-Type from below, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him out of the air like a stone. Valatos tumbled onto his back against the tiled floor, the Yanmega hastily righting himself with some agitated beating from his wings.

"Ow!" Valatos hissed. "Who was-?!"

"Shut your yap, bug!"

All eyes in the room turned to see another Cubone with rounded eye-holes on his helmet glaring and standing with a drawn club in front of Team Traveller's incredulous members. Back at the passage at the far end of the room, there were four Cubone, three Unown, a Geodude, a Machop, and a Roggenrola at the exit. The reed-chewing Cubone stood at the head of the motley assortment of ferals, glaring defiantly at the three lavender-scarved Pokémon.

"Nobody pushes around one of our own like that!" Mojisenshi growled. "Not without answering to the rest of us!"

"Yeah, we dungeon majū protect our own!" Kuraikamen added. "Go push others around on your own territory!"

The Manectric and Marowak traded nervous looks with each other. Each of the ferals on their own would be no problem, but… there were so many of them.

"Er, Valatos?" Nori gulped.

"Just saying, but we might want to speed up that whole 'collecting the bounty' thing," Alvise whispered. The three Pokémon fell close to each other and brace themselves, growling and attempting to intimidate their unwelcome interlopers.

"Grr… you- you'll regret this!" Valatos hissed.

But in spite of their best efforts, the Pokémon of the Monster House could not be swayed, and dug their feet in to prepare for battle.

"No, it's you who will regret this!" Machitabi added. "Charge!"

Valatos watched as the massed ferals charged ahead at him and his companions, his attempts to counterattack thwarted by a burning clump of cinders that flew at his face and sent him shooting up into the air a start. When the Bug-Type cleared his vision, he saw that Pleo, Nida, and Elty had fallen back towards the entrance while the ferals had surged on ahead.

The dragonfly hissed and flitted back, sending a sharp gust which caught the Machop at the front with a loud yelp. The Fighting-Type slumped over into an unconscious heap, but the Monster House's momentum was unbroken as the three Unown pressed on towards their Bug-Type target. Nori blanched as he saw the reed-chewer and the dark-skulled Cubone leading the Rock-Types in a hurry for his position. The Marowak swung and slammed his club against the Roggenrola, sending it flying into a wall out cold and prompting the Geodude to hastily roll out of the way of another swat.

Alvise was less fortunate, as the wolf lunged to clamp down on a charging Cubone with a pointed-snouted helmet, only for the lizard to duck out of the way. The Electric-Type went wide-eyed and hastily tried to correct course, only for another Cubone with a crack over its left eyehole to join in along with Mojisenshi and Guardia, surrounding the hapless Manectric. The wolf nervously looked around and tried to keep his assailants at bay with his jaws, but with attacks coming from four directions, it was to no avail.

"You're too slow!" the pointed-snouted Cubone jeered, before broadsiding Alvise with her club along his back. The Manectric whirled around with bared fangs to try and retaliate, only for a blow against one of his forelegs to cut him off.

"Take that, knot-neck!" the cracked-helmeted Cubone added. The wolf started to grow unnerved and hunched back, only to yelp upon feeling a sharp, jabbing pain in his hindquarters, the culprit being none other than Mojisenshi yanking back the pointed end of his club.

"You should bone up on your strategies!" he snorted. At this point, Alvise had begun to panic, and charged blindly to try and break free of the ring of Cubone...

THWACK

"AAAAGH!"

...straight into a swat from Guardia's bone club that caught the Electric-Type caught across the head. The Manectric tottered briefly, before his legs gave way and he collapsed onto the ground.

"U-Urgh…"

Guardia hoisted her club over her shoulder and gave a soft, probing kick at the groaning Manectric as the other Cubone crowded around, taking no small satisfaction in his fate.

"Not so tough now, are ya-?"

"Shugodeshi, look out!" Mojisenshi shouted. The round-eyed Cubone shoved Guardia out of the way as a slashing gust of air struck him and the cracked-helmeted Cubone dead on, and sent them flopping to the ground out cold with ruddy scrapes on their hide.

"A-Aah!" Guardia cried. "Moji-!"

Guardia then felt a woosh overhead, and dove out of the way as a chitinous tail knocked against her. For a fleeting second, she noticed that the Unown who accompanied Mojisenshi were all lying uselessly on the ground, only to whirl around after a loud shriek rang out. Behind her was Valatos, the pointed-snouted Cubone going limp in his jaws. The Yanmega threw the Ground-Type aside and whirled to Guardia, hate burning in his eyes.

"Grr, you should've stayed out of our business, lousy lizard!" he spat. "It's time that I taught you and your miserable friends a lesson-!"

"Guardia! Duck!" Pleo's voice suddenly squawked.

"Eh-?!"

Without thinking, Guardia dropped to the ground as a cutting gust of wind sailed overhead and drew a sharp hiss from the Bug-Type ahead. Soon, a fiery gout of cinders followed that sent the bug tumbling with a pained screech, and finally…

Thwip!

… a Nidoran's barb, which caught the dragonfly in-between the segments of his exoskeleton on his head, sending him plummeting out of the air with a crash.

"A-Argh…"

Valatos didn't get up that time, and from the other side of the room, a Marowak's yelp and the sound of a jeering "got your bone!" rang out. Back at Nori's end of the battlefield, Machitabi managed to knock the lizard's club out of the air mid-Bonemerang before tossing it away over to Kamenkurai. A wave of panic washed over Nori's face, and after seeing his unconscious companions and most of the Monster House still standing...

"F-Forget this!" he squeaked. "You two can keep the bounties!"

The Marowak leapfrogged the Geodude charging towards him, and ran for the exit as fast as his legs could carry him. Being without a bone for defense was a frightening and disorienting experience, but that could be replaced as long as he got out of this job gone bad. The corridor was just ahead now, just a few more steps, and-

"Going somewhere?!" a voice barked from up ahead. Nori froze and looked ahead to see an elderly Marowak blocking his path, her metallic club raised for the attack.

"Oh cr-"

The bone caught the disarmed Marowak in his stomach, bowling him over. Another blow to the back of his head soon followed, sending him slumping over onto the ground, groaning.

"Gurgh…"

"Zokuchō!" Guardia cried. "What are you doing here?!"

"Keikaiashi here told me there was trouble," Tetsuzui answered. The elder shook her head with a displeased grunt, before trodding over the fallen Marowak to make her way further into the chamber. "I see he understated things."

Even with the strength of numbers, the battle had taken its toll on Team Traveller and their Monster House allies. The only Pokémon who still were well enough to stand consisting of Nida, her companions, Machitabi, Kamenkurai, and a lone Geodude. Between them and the sprawled and groaning Pokémon about the room, there were ugly bites, fresh lacerations, and darkening bruises from the Company Pokémon's furious blows.

The elderly Marowak shook her head before she noticed a burlap satchel on Nori's shoulder, and pointed it out with her club.

"Go through their stuff and take what you need to heal," she said to the gathered Pokémon. "Let the majū outside our colony have priority for healing, they don't have grounds on this floor to retreat to."

As the reed-chewer, the dark-skull, and the Geodude began picking through the satchel, some of the Cubone accompanying Tetsuzui went over and helped to pull the wounded Pokémon up and haul their fallen colony-mates back to the grounds. Guardia shrank away as her brethren were dragged by, weakly breathing from their ordeal.

"I- I shouldn't have let my guard down to gloat like tha-" she muttered to herself, only to be cut off by Mojisenshi's unexpected, if weak voice.

"Enough, Shugodeshi. We've both been through worse," he grunted as Keikaiashi helped him limp along, having returned to some semblance of lucidity. "I was actually worried that it would be me having to drag you off. Looks like your new teammates aren't half bad at protecting you."

The two Cubone continued down along the path and vanished, leaving Guardia to turn as Team Traveller drew near to her.

"Should we have given them some of our items?" Pleo asked.

"They'll be fine, the colony has more between its members than that bag of yours could ever hold," Guardia answered, involuntarily glancing back at the passage her colony peers had disappeared down. "You… all fight a lot better than I thought you would."

"Er… gracías?" Nida replied.

"Hm? But I didn't think we were all that tough," Pleo said. "We just worked together!"

The four flinched as the sound of Valatos getting up groggily reverberated in the chamber. Sure enough, over by the wall, the Yanmega was getting back up, tired, but still hostile.

"Hey! This- This isn't ove-!"

Thwack

Only to be cut off with a cry as Tetsuzui bopped him over his head with her club, sending the dragonfly back into an unconscious stupor.

"Uhm… what do we do with those guys anyways?" Nida asked.

"Maybe you're best off trying to find out what it is they wanted from you," the elder Marowak suggested. "You did seem to be caught off guard by them coming here…"

"Well, they got our teleporter on our side," Elty growled. "So we're not going anywhere fast…"

"I suppose that it couldn't hurt," Pleo murmured. "But what exactly would they tell us?"

"Oh don't worry about that, we'll just take them back towards our grounds," Tetsuzui responded. "Our Colony has ways of making such majū talk."

"Uhm… wait," Nida replied, flattening out her ears. "You're going to take them back to your home?"

"But what about when they leave the dungeon later?" Pleo wondered.

"And you will have to let them go unless if you want to stir up trouble with the town," Elty added. "You know how the Pact works."

"Oh, we weren't going to keep them here," Guardia began to explain. "It's just that we have a place near our grounds specifically for interrogations such as these."


When the sun finally began to set over the waters of Seahive's harbor, the docks were a bit less busy than they had been earlier in the day. Some of the shops nearby had begun to close for the evening, and the last few ships of daylight pulled in as others left for parts elsewhere in the Cradle.

Still, flecks of activity could be spotted here and there, including on and around a two-masted schooner flying lavender sails with purple squares on them. As a team of Pokémon headed by Philips was checking the ship's rigging, the Illumise captain slipped a letter to a waiting Unfezant on the deck. The Flying-Type twittered an affirmation, and flew toward for the horizon as a young Druddigon and his Fraxure father lugged a wooden barrel filled with fresh water up the dock towards the gangplank.

"Looks like Beatrix picked the right 'mon to deliver those updates," the Fraxure chuckled. Thankfully, Calino's provisions had been enough to cover more than just the hop over to Boisocéan. After parting with a couple cases of health drinks from the trade fodder packed back at home, the cost of fresh food and water for an extra leg of the Siglo Swellow's search was swiftly covered…

All that was left now was to bring the fresh food and water aboard the ship, and then afterwards they could set off for this 'Kenobi Island'. Margi said it was the place where Pleo had sought refuge, but… something about it gnawed at Crom's mind.

"Dad?" he asked. "What's Kenobi like?"

Pladur shifted uneasily after his son's question, his gait and eyes betraying a lingering unease. After inhaling, the Dragon-Type shook his head and began to answer.

"Er, well… it's an island with an atoll around it," the Fraxure began hesitantly. "If you know where to go it's not so bad, but…"

"But what?" Crom wondered.

"Well, as that 'Margi' Pokémon said, there's a lot of Company Pokémon around, and… there's some really rough places there, including a district where the local Pokémon turn a blind eye to pirates," Pladur reluctantly explained. "To top it off, the Siglo Swellow's never docked at the yards on the atoll before. And considering the local Company types there... I'm not sure if we would've even if we had the chance."

Crom's eyes widened and his wings beat reflexively with a start. Pleo had been chased to an island where pirates skulked about? An island where the local Company Pokémon were known for being unfriendly?

Pladur faltered a moment while watching his child's react to his words. It was far from a promising development, yes, but even so… it was probably best to try and put a brave face on, or at least as much of one Pladur could muster.

"But- But don't worry about that for now!" he insisted. "If the Protector had someplace to lay low in that hive, I'm sure that we can pull through!"

"I... guess that's true-" Crom murmured, only to be cut off by a cry from further up the dock.

"Attendez!"

"H-Huh?!"

As the sound of footsteps reverberated on the timbers of the rough dock, Crom and Pladur whirled around, and saw the Venipede, Tepig, and Purrloin from earlier that day darting up to them.

"Thank goodness we caught up with you!" Venner sighed. "We were worried you'd sail out of port before we found you again!"

"Oh! You're that team we met earlier!" Crom exclaimed. "'Cafteur,' right?"

The team of black-scarved Pokémon paused before collectively rolling their eyes at the Druddigon's mangling of their team name. The Purrloin among them shook his head, and swiftly corrected the little Dragon-Type's mistake with a huff.

"Chasseur," Actor said. "It may be a lame name but there is a difference!"

"Oh! Er... right..." Crom answered, moving a claw against the back of his head crest sheepishly. Before the Druddigon could amend his words, he was interrupted by the sound of his Fraxure father clearing his throat.

"Hrm? What are you all doing?" Pladur asked, tilting his tusked head curiously. "I didn't think that Beatrix hired any hunters to help us out…"

"Well, we just got back from taking Daraen and Margi over to Maranda's for a pre-departure checkup," Venner said. "And, we figured that since you also know Team Traveller…"

"If you ever caught up..." Francoeur said. "Perhaps you could pass this along to them?"

The Tepig shuffled through a bag slung over Venner's carapace, and pulled a slip of paper out with his mouth. After passing it along to Crom, the Druddigon unfolded it and discovered that much to his surprise...

"Oh! It's a mission receipt!" he cried. After looking a bit closer at the writing on the paper, the Druddigon's excited expression fell and flattened out into an unamused look as he buried his face into one of his claws.

"Uhm… this is for five points," he groaned.

"Well, it wasn't a big mission that they did, but every little bit counts, non?" the Tepig offered. "But good luck out there, we'll be rooting for you!"

"Yeah, your friends promised us a tour of your 'Tromba' next time we'd meet!" Venner chittered happily.

"A tour of Tromba-?" Pladur began.

"Aherm, not to be the one to rain on your parade," Actor interrupted, clearing his throat. "But if you're in a hurry after Pleo and the others, shouldn't you be loading your ship?"

The two Dragon-Types cast a glance at the water barrels still waiting along the docks, and over at the gangplank ahead, before both trading sheepish looks.

"Ahehe, right," the Fraxure replied. "Come on Crom, let's finish up with loading in the rest of this water here."

The five Pokémon traded goodbyes and waved each other off, as Pladur and Crom returned to chattering about how it was that the 'coopers' that made the barrels they were using to lug the ship's water aboard. Had they been more attentive, they might have noticed the blue shell of a shrimp lazily bobbing under the docks and shifting between the pilings. There, wound around a belt just behind the crustacean's head carapace, was a white scarf with a red saltire.

"I knew they were hiding something from me back at the bar…" she harrumphed.

As the sun slowly set below the horizon, the Clawitzer ducked down under the water and slipped off into the deeper waters of the sea. For a fleeting moment, the shrimp's trail was visible before the lolling waves obscured it, bearing towards the hazy sight of a ship with indigo sails on the horizon.


As the sensations of the world slowly returned to Valatos, the Yanmega groaned and weakly buzzed. His joints ached and felt as if they were about to fall apart, his wings felt scuffed and moist from hemolymph oozing from scrapes, and the smell of singed chitin hung in the air as his sight foggily returned to him.

"Grah… lousy ferals," he grunted. The bug chittered and pawed at a sloping rock wall behind him, when he noticed something amiss. His vision wasn't getting any less foggy, even though the rest of his senses had definitely returned.

"Um… V-Valatos?" Nori's voice nervously stammered. "We're kinda in trouble right now."

The Yanmega looked around and saw his Marowak and Manectric teammates beside him, defeat etched into their tired faces. Just ahead of them, he could see the form of a scowling Marowak with a metallic club, who was beating it against her free claw.

"Oh good, you've finally woken up," she said. "We need to have a talk."


Author's Notes:

- Crimgan (クリムガン) - Japanese: "Druddigon" (Official Romanization)
- Co ma być, to będzie - Polish: "Whatever will be, will be"
- Golone (no ishi) (ゴローンのいし) - Japanese: lit. "Graveler('s Rock)", referring to what we would know as a "Gravelerock". (Official Romanization)
- Geef op - Dutch: "Give up"
- Hiraishin (ひらいしん) - Japanese: "Lightning Rod", referring to ability we would call "Lightningrod". (Official Romanization)
- Attendez! - French: "Wait!"
- non? - French: "no?", used in context as akin to "right?"