Hey everyone! It's been quite a while, hasn't it? But I finally got a new chapter ready for you guys!
These things always seem to take longer than I expect, but I'm still determined to eventually complete this story. And at this point, I think we're not too far from it! Still not sure how many chapters remain, but at the very least, I think I've worked out a basic outline of sorts for the remainder of the story. And I guess I'll just figure out the rest as I go along.
Anyways, thank you for your patience, and I hope you'll all enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 64: This mystery dungeon isn't on the map.
It was another new day in Fenix Town. Blitz and Chiaki were still asleep in their house… or at least they were, until Chiaki felt a three-fingered hand grab and shake his shoulder, followed by a familiar voice:
"Wake up!"
Chiaki quickly opened his eyes to find Kala standing over him, with Blitz also having woken up when he heard Kala's voice.
"Kala…?" Blitz said, wiping his eyes. "Why are you here?"
"Sorry for teleporting in and waking you up like this, but it's an emergency!" Kala explained, her frantic tone quickly making Blitz and Chiaki realize the seriousness of the situation.
"What happened?" Blitz asked.
"It's your teammate, Sera," Kala responded, looking away. "She may wind up in danger if you don't hurry!"
"Hold on, what are you talking about?" Blitz inquired.
"Well, yesterday, she came into my office," Kala explained. "And then…"
"Unown?" Kala said, rubbing her eyes.
"Yes!" Sera responded, nodding her head. "Are there any Unown in this region?"
"Well… Yes, there are," Kala replied, sitting up.
"That's great!" Sera responded, wagging her tail. "Where can I find them?"
"Uh… Why are you asking me this?" Kala replied, tilting her head slightly. "You seem a little… stressed out."
"Just answer the question!" Sera insisted, stomping her paw.
"See, that's what I mean…" Kala responded, yawning. "The way you're acting right now… It's setting off some warning bells, you know? Like I shouldn't tell you this…"
"Kala, please!" Sera replied, stepping closer to the Abra. "This is really important! You have to tell me!"
"… Wait, is this about Chiaki?" Kala asked. "Are you… thinking of trying to use the power of the Unown to save him?"
"Yes!" Sera replied, nodding her head. "That's why I need to know where to find them!"
"Hold on… The power of the Unown shouldn't be taken lightly…" Kala responded, gently placing a hand on Sera's shoulder. "They can be rather unpredictable… In one case, they caused a localized time loop that lasted for about a week because a Nidoran wanted to do something nice for-"
"Kala, please! Sera interrupted her, moving even closer to the Abra. "I promise I'll be careful!"
"Sera…" Kala responded, shaking her head. "The area leading to the ruins where the Unown can be found is blocked off due to distortions, so I really can't help you."
Sera's eyes widened, and she took a step back.
"… Is that true?" Sera asked, glancing up at the map on the wall.
"Yes," Kala replied, nodding her head. "So, even if I agreed with this plan of yours, I wouldn't be able to help."
Sera studied the map for a moment.
"The Enigma Ruins…" Sera muttered, pointing to a spot on the map. "Is this the one?"
"Uh, yes," Kala replied, gesturing to the areas around the spot. "This entire area is blocked off due to strong distortion in the area."
"I see…" Sera responded, looking at the map with a thoughtful expression. "I'll… be going now. I need to think some things over."
"After she left, I had a bad feeling, so I asked Elina to keep an eye on her," Kala explained, yawning. "Last night, Elina slept in some bushes near Sera's house. When she woke up a little while ago, she saw Sera heading into town and followed her."
"And then what?" Chiaki asked.
"Sera headed right through town plaza, carrying a small bag of items," Kala continued explaining. "And then she left town… Considering our talk yesterday, I have a hunch about where she might be trying to go…"
"You mean she went off to try to get to the ruins alone!?" Blitz responded, his eyes widening.
"No way…" Chiaki said, glancing down at his bandaged arm. "If Sera ends up in danger because of me…"
"Thanks for letting us know, Kala," Blitz said. "We'll gather the rest of our team and head out to look for her immediately."
"Good," Kala replied, nodding slightly. "I'll head back to the HQ, then…"
Kala gave a quick wave good-bye as she teleported out of the room in a green flash of light.
"Let's go," Blitz said, looking over at Chiaki.
"Right!" Chiaki responded, nodding his head.
The two of them hurried outside and began making their way to the café so they could pick up Azure and Frederick.
At the town oracle's house, Malefica was humming to herself and stacking books on top of each other to see if she could make a tower that reached the ceiling. As she was hovering over to pick up more books to add to the tower, she noticed that Bow seemed to be trying to slice some berries with a spoon and hovered over to check on the Gothorita.
"What are you doing?" Malefica asked, giving Bow an odd look.
Bow groggily glanced up at Malefica, before glancing back down at the utensil in her hand and realizing what she was doing.
"Oh… Oops," Bow said, putting the spoon down. "That's not a knife."
"I can see that," Malefica responded, taking a closer look at Bow. "What's with you?"
"It's nothing," Bow replied, sighing. "I guess I just… didn't get enough sleep last night."
"Oh, right," Malefica responded. "You were watching those stars quite intently last night."
"Yeah…" Bow responded, nodding her head slightly. "But no answers on how to lure Erebos into the trap…"
"Guess it sort of slipped my mind that you need more sleep than I do," Malefica commented.
"Another advantage of being a ghost-type, huh?" Bow responded, chuckling a bit.
"Sure is," Malefica replied with a slight nod.
"Hah… I wonder if mom or Samara have had better luck coming up with something…" Bow said, rubbing her left eye.
"You just keep worrying," Malefica said, looking genuinely concerned. "Don't you think it's a bit much?"
"Maybe you're right," Bow responded, yawning. "I just want Erebos to be dealt with as soon as possible, so we don't have to be scared of him anymore…"
"Well, I'm not scared of him," Malefica replied.
"You haven't met him, Malefica," Bow responded, shuddering.
"Oh… Right," Malefica replied, shrinking back a bit. "That jerk kidnapped you that one time, didn't he?"
Bow nodded her head slightly, recalling how she found herself in that force field the evil spirit trapped her in.
"Hmm… All right, then! If I ever see him, I'll be sure to hit him with a Shadow Ball!" Malefica said, grinning mischievously. "And I'd make it a critical hit! Right in his stupid face!"
"Ah, I think facing him might be a little too dangerous," Bow responded, smiling at Bow. "I appreciate the thought, though."
"Eh, whatever," Malefica replied, looking at Bow. "Anyways, maybe you should go back to sleep for a bit. You won't get stuff done like this."
"Maybe you're right," Bow responded, yawning. "I shouldn't push myself too hard, or I won't be any help."
"Right, so quit worrying and get some rest," Malefica said, pouting. "Do it now."
"All right, all right," Bow responded, heading back to the bedroom.
Malefica followed Bow, watching her get back into her bed.
"I'm just going to rest for a bit," Bow said, looking up at Malefica. "Don't get into any trouble, okay?"
"I won't!" Malefica replied, grinning. "Promise!"
Bow nodded her head slightly, before closing her eyes and trying to get some sleep. Malefica quietly watched her for a while, until she was certain that Bow had fallen asleep.
"So… What now?" Malefica wondered out loud.
Malefica hovered around the different rooms of the house for a bit. She glanced over at her tower of books, but she didn't feel particularly interested in continuing with that.
"Just staying in here all day is boring," Malefica said, glancing around. "There's got to be something else I can do…"
Malefica thought it over for a bit as she continued to float around.
"Hmm… Something we could use to lure Erebos into the trap…" Malefica pondered for a moment. "… Nope, I can't think of anything either."
Malefica swayed back and forth in mid-air as she continued her train of thought.
"Bow was also concerned about that one Eevee," Malefica continued to think out loud. "I could probably track her down, check in on her…"
Malefica smiled.
"Yeah, I'll do that!" Malefica said, twirling around. "I'll find out what's going on with the Eevee, and then maybe Bow will have one less thing to worry about!"
Malefica giggled to herself as she headed outside, phasing through the wall next to the door leading outside and floating off towards the town plaza.
After stopping by the café to partially explain the situation to Azure and Frederick, Blitz and his teammates headed off to look for Sera. Leaving town, Frederick began sniffing around until he picked up Sera's scent.
"She went this way," Frederick said, nodding his head in the direction the scent was leading.
"Good job," Blitz responded. "Let's go."
Frederick led the group as they followed Sera's tracks.
"So, anyone wanna explain why Sera went off on her own like this in the first place?" Azure asked, giving Blitz and Chiaki a look. "I feel like you two were leaving out some pretty important details back there."
"Uh… We'll explain when we get back," Chiaki replied, looking away.
"… All right, then," Azure responded, sighing.
Sera had been walking for a little while when she reached a fork in the road. As she tried to recall the map and which way the Enigma Ruins would be, her ears perked up when she heard some rustling in some nearby bushes. Sera quickly turned around, looking around for the source of the noise.
"Okay, who's there?" Sera shouted, approaching the bushes. "You've been following me, haven't you? Show yourself!"
Slowly, Elina floated out from behind the bushes.
"You!" Sera exclaimed, taking a step back. "What are you doing here?"
"Kala asked me to keep an eye on you," Elina explained telepathically. "She was concerned you might try to get to the ruins on your own."
"Seriously?" Sera responded, sighing. "I mean, she wasn't wrong, but… whatever. If you're just here to try to talk me out of this, then don't bother."
"Sera, this isn't going to work," Elina said telepathically. "Let's just turn around, and head back to town."
"No," Sera responded, beginning to walk once more. "I have to at least try."
"Sera, please," Elina replied, following the Eevee. "Maybe there's something else we can try. Why not head to the café and discuss possible solutions over tea?"
"Don't try to lie to me!" Sera said, glaring at Elina. "You agreed with Blitz that it was pointless to try!"
"… Well, admittedly, I hadn't considered the possibility of there being another way until yesterday," Elina responded, looking away. "The crystal needs to be returned to the tower, so I had resigned myself to the fact that Chiaki would… you know."
Sera's expression softened, still keeping her eyes on Elina.
"Chiaki would return to his true form, and then I'd bring him and the rest of the crystals back to the tower," Elina continued. "And after that I would eventually undergo training to officially become one of the guards protecting the crystals."
"Is that your goal?" Sera asked. "Becoming a guard, I mean?"
"Naturally," Elina responded, nodding slightly. "Axis Tower is important to me, after all."
"I see," Sera replied, looking at the path to make sure she was still going the right way. "So, um… What's it like living there?"
"It was all right," Elina responded, thinking for a moment. "Not a lot of Pokémon around my age currently living there, though. Can get kind of boring at times."
"Oh, I know what that's like," Sera replied. "Before Blitz moved to Fenix Town, I didn't really have any friends my age either."
As the conversation went on, Sera and Elina felt like they were starting to understand each other a little better. Elina hoped to be able to convince Sera to turn around and start heading back to town once she was in a slightly better mood, but before she got the opportunity to do so, something unexpected happened.
"Huh? What?" Sera exclaimed as their surroundings suddenly changed, finding themselves in a labyrinth-like area.
"A mystery dungeon?" Elina looked around. "I didn't know there was one in this area."
"Neither did I!" Sera responded, nervously glancing around. "What is this place?"
"Okay… Calm down," Elina replied, moving closer to Sera. "I don't sense any wild Pokémon near us, so let's take a moment to consider our options."
"Mm-hm," Sera responded, nodding slightly as she looked over at Elina.
"All right…" Elina looked over at the bag Sera was carrying. "Do you happen to have an Escape Orb in there?"
"No…" Sera replied, shaking her head. "I wanted to bring one, but I just couldn't find one while I was gathering things yesterday… I was hoping I might find one while searching for the Unown."
"Ah, I see," Elina responded, holding a hand to her chin thoughtfully.
"What about you?" Sera asked. "You can teleport, right? Can you get us out of here?"
"Unfortunately, no," Elina responded. "I'm not that skilled with my teleportation power. I can move us short distances, but I won't be able to get us out of this dungeon."
"So… We should just try to find the way out, then?" Sera said, looking around once more. "Just like a regular exploration."
"I suppose so," Elina responded, looking over at one of the paths leading out of the room they were in. "Hmm… I sense something approaching from that direction, so let's try going the other way."
"O-Okay," Sera replied, nodding her head. "Let's go."
The two began their exploration of the dungeon, unsure of what to expect. Elina hoped that Blitz and Chiaki weren't too far behind.
Frederick continued leading the group as they tried to find Sera. As they continued along the path, Frederick eventually picked up Elina's scent as well.
"Kala did say she asked Elina to keep an eye on her," Blitz recalled. "I guess she must've gone after her."
"At least she's not alone, then!" Chiaki responded, smiling. "That's good."
"Yeah…" Blitz replied, nodding his head slightly.
They kept walking for a bit longer, when Frederick suddenly stopped. The others looked up in surprise when they realized what was in front of them.
"Hmm… Their trail stops here…" Frederick said, sniffing the air. "Huh?"
"Is that… the entrance to a mystery dungeon?" Azure asked.
"I think so," Blitz responded, squinting his eyes slightly.
"Then, did Sera and Elina go in there?" Chiaki asked.
"Yeah," Frederick replied, sniffing the area just before the entrance. "I'm sure of it."
"Was there always a mystery dungeon here?" Azure asked, looking over at Blitz.
"Hold on…" Blitz said, taking out the treasure map.
Rolling out the treasure map on the ground, Blitz carefully examined the area they were in.
"Just what I thought," Blitz said, frowning. "This mystery dungeon isn't on the map."
"What does that mean?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly. "It really wasn't here before?"
"I think that might be it," Blitz responded, nodding slightly. "The distortions throughout the region may have caused new mystery dungeons to form."
"Huh," Azure said, looking at the entrance to the dungeon. "If it weren't for the current circumstances, I'd probably be pretty hyped to explore a whole new mystery dungeon. Right now, though, I just want to go in there, find Sera and then get out of there."
"Yeah," Chiaki agreed.
"Right, let's go in," Blitz said, taking a deep breath. "Stay close to me, everyone. We don't know what to expect in there."
"Let's save Sera!" Chiaki said, raising a paw.
"I won't lose to whatever is in there," Azure said, punching the air. "I'll take them down quick!"
"I'll do my best too," Frederick added, nodding his head.
With everyone ready, Blitz led the group inside the mystery dungeon. Moving swiftly through the floor, they hoped to catch up to Sera as soon as possible.
Malefica was still searching for Sera, having spent some time hovering over town plaza to see if Sera would walk by. It didn't take long for Malefica to get bored just observing the Pokémon passing through the area, and she decided to check out any other locations the Eevee might've gone. She tried checking the café, listening in on a few conversations between some of the Pokémon eating there before losing interest and deciding to head back to the town plaza. With there still being no sign of Sera there, she decided to check the rescue team HQ.
She checked the hall where the bulletin boards were, noting that there weren't that many missions posted at this time. She also checked a few of the rooms, only seeing the staff doing their jobs. Malefica glanced over at Kala's room, and decided against going inside, remembering how Kala telekinetically threw her outside last time she snuck in there.
Besides, she figured Kala probably didn't know anything regarding Sera's current whereabouts anyways.
Malefica went back to the town plaza once more, wondering where else Sera might've gone as she observed some more.
"Hmm… Maybe her friends would know where she is," Malefica mused, swaying back and forth a bit in the air. "But I don't think I've seen any of them either…"
Malefica's eyes widened as realization hit her.
"Oh! Maybe they're out on a mission!" Malefica exclaimed, before pausing and tilting her head to the side. "But wait… There were barely any missions on those bulletin boards…"
Malefica closed her eyes and hummed to herself as she thought about what to do.
"Hm-hm-hm… Perhaps the Eevee's family knows something," Malefica said, smiling. "I think I'll pay them a visit!"
Malefica began floating towards the residential district, but after a few seconds, suddenly stopped as she realized something.
"Hmm… Where exactly is the Eevee family's house?" Malefica wondered out loud, before giggling and continuing moving forward. "Oh, well! Guess I'll just have to check every house I come across until I get to theirs!"
Sera and Elina continued making their way through the mystery dungeon, trying to avoid the wild Pokémon within it as much as possible as they tried to find a way out. Elina hoped they would find an Escape Orb laying around somewhere, but so far, no such luck. At least they had managed to pick up a few other things to add to the items Sera had managed to bring along, which could come in handy.
"Too bad we don't know how many floors this dungeon is," Sera commented, looking around. "We have no idea how far in we are…"
"Indeed," Elina replied, nodding slightly. "I wouldn't be surprised if new mystery dungeons have appeared in other locations due to the distortions as well."
"Hmm, if those dungeons stick around after the distortions has cleared up, then at least us rescue teams will have plenty of work to do," Sera said. "I bet Azure will be excited about having a bunch of new dungeons to explore."
"It's nice to have something to look forward to," Elina commented.
The two continued moving forward, making idle conversation along the way. As they entered another room, they saw a Mightyena sleeping right next to the stairs leading to the next floor.
"Hmm… Would rather not fight them," Elina noted, looking over the room's layout. "Can we sneak past it?"
"Let's give it a try," Sera responded, cautiously taking a step forward.
Elina followed closely behind Sera, moving close to the wall furthest away from the Mightyena in hopes of getting around it. Unfortunately, it would not be that simple.
"Ah!" Sera let out a startled yell as a cloud of pink smoke erupted from the trap she had just stepped on.
Once the smoke cleared, Sera realized that she and Elina were surrounded as the trap had summoned even more wild Pokémon into the room.
"This… might be bad," Elina commented as she looked around at the wild Pokémon. "Do we have any Petrify Orbs, or anything else that can affect multiple Pokémon at once?"
Sera swiftly stepped out of the way as a Primeape threw a punch at her. Elina fired a blast of energy at a nearby Venomoth, while Sera quickly looked through the items they had with them.
"Hm… Blowback Orb… Radar Orb… Pounce Orb… Oh!" Sera said, pulling out one of the blue orbs. "A Totter Orb!"
"Is that the only one?" Elina asked, glancing over at Sera.
"Yeah…" Sera replied, nodding slightly.
"Well, it's better than nothing," Elina responded, looking over at the sleeping Mightyena. "Activating it might wake up the one over there, though…"
"Well, if the effects last long enough…" Sera said, as she dodged another attack. "It might be worth it?"
The Venomoth began quickly flapping its purple wings, whipping up a powerful wind. Sera and Elina tried to shield themselves from the silvery dust being blown at them with the winds.
"L-Let's take out that Venomoth first," Elina suggested, wincing a bit. "If it keeps using Silver Wind, it'll likely get even stronger."
"Good idea," Sera replied, giving a quick nod.
Sera quickly activated the Totter Orb, which began glowing while emitting a strange sound, confusing the wild Pokémon in the room. Elina picked out an Oran berry from the bag Sera was carrying and quickly ate it to regain her strength before attacking once more, hitting the Venomoth with another blast of psychic energy. Sera considered her next move for a moment, before leaping up and tackling the large, purple moth.
Still under the effects of the Totter Orb, the wild Pokémon stumbled around a bit, trying to get their bearings. With one more psychic attack, Elina managed to take down the Venomoth, while Sera tried to figure out the best way to use the time it would take before the effects of the Totter Orb started to wear off.
"Since it's just Elina here, I don't think it's worth using Helping Hand," Sera thought to herself.
Sera took a deep breath, before letting out a loud growl to try to lower the attacking strength of her opponents. Elina looked over at the Mightyena moving closer to them, eyes glowing with an eerie light as her Miracle Eye move made the dark-type Pokémon susceptible to her psychic attacks.
However, the effects of the Totter Orb was starting to wear off, with the wild Pokémon one by one coming to their senses. A few of them began throwing punches or biting at Sera and Elina, who tried their best to avoid the attacks, which got increasingly difficult as the wild Pokémon cornered them.
"Um… This isn't looking too good," Sera said, eyes darting from one wild Pokémon to another as she tried to work out a plan for how to get out of this situation.
"Hold on…" Elina responded, pressing a hand to the side of her head.
"What is it?" Sera asked, glancing over at Elina. "Do you have a plan?"
Elina didn't respond, closing her eyes for a moment. However, it almost seemed like she was in telepathic contact with someone else. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes once more.
"Good, they're on their way," Elina said telepathically.
"Huh?" Sera replied.
Just a few moments later, something blue came rolling into the room at a high speed, hitting a wild Pinsir from behind.
"Azure?" Sera exclaimed, as the Marill stopped rolling and got onto her feet.
"Hey there," Azure responded, grinning. "Looks like we made it just in time."
Azure looked over in the direction she had entered the room from just as Blitz, Chiaki and Frederick walked in.
"Sera!" Blitz called out.
"Blitz!" Sera called back with a relieved smile.
Now that the rest of the team was there, it didn't take long for them to gain the upper hand. With the items Blitz had brought along and a little teamwork, they were able to take out all of the wild Pokémon in the room.
"All right," Blitz said, looking around to make sure there weren't any other wild Pokémon on their way in before turning his attention back to Sera and Elina. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Elina responded, dusting herself off. "It's a good thing you showed up when you did."
"That's good," Blitz replied, before looking over at Sera. "Sera?"
Sera had been staring into the ground, avoiding eye contact with Blitz. But once he addressed her, she glanced up at him.
"I'm sorry…" Sera said, ears drooping down. "I… I ended up causing trouble for you again… for everyone…"
"It's okay, Sera," Chiaki spoke up. "The important thing is that you're not hurt!"
"Chiaki…" Sera responded, sniffling. "I wanted to save you… I thought there had to be something we could do! That's why…"
"Sera, I'm sorry too," Blitz said, interrupting Sera.
"Huh?" Sera responded, her ears perking up just a little.
"I… didn't want to get our hopes up if… there really wasn't a way to save him," Blitz explained, sighing. "That it was better to just… accept it, so that way, it wouldn't hurt as much."
"Blitz…" Sera said, looking at Blitz.
"But maybe… I was a little too hasty in my judgement," Blitz admitted, rubbing the rings on his forelegs together. "You… know about my past. I guess it's not that easy to fully let go of certain things, even if it hurts you or holds you back."
Chiaki walked over to Sera and gently patted her back to comfort her while listening to Blitz.
"But you know what? I'm going to keep trying," Blitz said, determination gleaming in his eyes. "I want to become strong enough to face whatever the future holds. To gain that strength, I'll need your help."
"Huh?" Sera replied, her ears perking up slightly.
"I was only able to reach this point because of the Pokémon supporting me," Blitz said, smiling at Sera. "You, Hercules, Chiaki, my mom, Lita… I hope I can return the favor someday."
Blitz paused for a moment, before looking over at Chiaki.
"I guess a good place to start would be actually helping look into whether it truly is possible to save you," Blitz said.
"Sounds good to me!" Chiaki responded, smiling at Blitz.
"What do you say?" Blitz asked as he turned back to Sera. "Let's head home and try to think something out together."
Sera reached a paw to her eyes to wipe away some tears as she let out a relieved chuckle. She then quickly moved over to give Blitz and Chiaki a hug.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Blitz said, hugging back.
Chiaki gently pet Sera's back with his paw. He was relieved to see that Blitz and Sera were both feeling better. Now they just had to return home, and-
"A-hem!"
The three of them were reminded that Azure and Frederick were still there as Azure cleared her throat. The two had stayed quiet to let the three of them talk things out, but it seemed Azure's patience was running out as she tapped her foot.
"So, are you guys finally going to fill us in on what's going on?" Azure asked, pouting.
"Oh, right…" Blitz responded sheepishly.
Azure was about to say something else, but was interrupted as she picked up on the sounds of footsteps heading towards the section of the maze they were in. Elina seemed to have detected something as well, looking over in a different direction.
"All right. Let's get out of here first," Blitz said, reaching for the rescue team badge.
"Yeah, let's do that," Frederick agreed.
The six of them all quickly gathered close together, letting the light of the rescue team badge teleport them safely out of the dungeon.
Back in Fenix Town, Malefica was taking a break from her search for Sera. Some of the houses she'd looked through had been empty, and Malefica had quickly moved on after taking a quick peek through any mail that had been left lying out in the open. Other houses had its occupants inside, and she didn't get very far in searching those houses before one of the Pokémon within caught her and chased her out. Due to these various distractions, she hadn't been able to locate the Eevee family's house.
"Hmm… Where should I try looking next?" Malefica wondered out loud, looking around.
Suddenly, Malefica heard a familiar voice call out.
"There you are!"
Malefica looked down to see Bow running over.
"Oh, hey!" Malefica said, perking up as she floated down to the Gothorita. "How was your nap?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I feel better now," Bow responded. "But what are you doing out here?"
"I was looking for that one Eevee," Malefica replied, pouting. "But I can't find her anywhere."
"Eevee? Oh, you mean Sera?" Bow inquired.
"Yeah, her," Malefica responded, nodding. "Thought I'd check on her for you."
"Oh… Because I was worried about her?" Bow replied, blinking a few times.
"You were worrying too much, so I thought I'd help," Malefica explained.
"I see…" Bow replied, smiling at Malefica. "Thank you."
"Huh?" Malefica responded, tilting her head to the side. "What's with the 'thank you'? I haven't even found the Eevee yet."
"That's okay," Bow replied. "Sometimes it's the thought that counts, you know?"
"If you say so," Malefica responded, still looking a bit disappointed that she couldn't find Sera.
"Come on, let's head home and get started on dinner," Bow suggested, motioning for Malefica to follow her. "Mom and Samara might be back any minute now!"
The two of them began making their way back, but as they were making their way back through town, Malefica spotted a familiar group of Pokémon.
"Hey, is that…?" Malefica said, grinning as she spotted a certain Eevee among them. "It is! I found her!"
With a gleeful shout, Malefica floated off in the direction of Blitz and his teammates.
"Malefica! Wait for me!" Bow shouted, chasing after the Misdreavus.
Upon returning to Fenix Town, Blitz and his teammates made their way to the outskirts of town so they could talk privately.
"Okay, so what's going on?" Azure asked once more. "What's all this stuff about having to find a way to 'save' Chiaki?"
"And what are we saving him from?" Frederick added, tilting his head slightly.
"With the way you guys were talking about it, you'd think Chiaki was dying or something," Azure said.
Blitz, Sera, Chiaki and Elina exchanged glances as they tried to figure out how to respond.
"Wait…" Azure said, noting the reaction of the others. "Is he really…"
"Do you want to tell them yourself, Chiaki?" Elina asked telepathically, looking over at the Mienfoo.
"Okay, I'll explain," Chiaki said, touching his bandaged arm. "You see, I'm actually one of the Axis Tower crystals…"
"… What?" Azure responded, blinking a few times.
"What do you mean?" Frederick asked.
Chiaki and Elina began explaining the situation to Azure and Frederick, of how Chiaki was accidentally transformed into his current form when Elina tried to prevent Erebos from taking him and how he would have to return to his original form in order to restore the distorted areas of the region to normal. After finishing his explanation, Chiaki removed the bandages around his arm to show off the crystalized part to Azure and Frederick. Azure carefully pulled Chiaki's arm closer to get a better look.
"What the f…" Azure mumbled as she examined his arm. Chiaki couldn't quite make out the last word.
Once Azure was done looking, Chiaki held out his arm to Frederick, who touched his snout to the crystalized area.
"Whoa…" Frederick said, moving his face back from Chiaki's arm. "That's weird. Does it hurt?"
"Um, not really," Chiaki replied, touching the crystal layer. "Feels kind of… numb, I guess?"
"Okay, so, um…" Azure said, still processing the new information. "What do we do about this?"
"That's what we need to find out," Sera responded, ears drooping slightly.
"I said I'd help, but… not sure how to go about this," Blitz replied, tilting his head slightly. "We don't really have any leads…"
"Maybe we could try checking in with Stella again?" Chiaki suggested, looking over at Sera. "You weren't able to meet with her the other day, right?"
"That's true…" Sera responded. "I wonder if she is back yet."
"Should we head over there now?" Frederick asked.
"Hmm… Maybe we should save it for tomorrow," Blitz suggested. "We've already had kind of a long day, don't you think?"
"Right…" Sera replied, looking away. "I should probably go home and let my family know I'm okay, since I kind of left in a hurry this morning and they're probably wondering why."
"Yeah, I should be heading home too," Azure said. "Mom might be needing my help over at the café."
"Okay, then we'll go visit Stella in the morning!" Chiaki said, smiling.
"Seems we have a plan, then," Elina added, nodding. "I'll join you too, if you don't mind."
"Feel free to come along," Blitz responded, looking over at Elina. "Also, maybe you should go see Kala and let her know we found Sera and brought her back safely. I'm sure she's wondering how it went."
"Ah, right," Elina replied, giving a quick nod. "I'll do that."
Unbeknownst to the group, there were two Pokémon who had been observing them and who had been listening in on their conversation.
"Oh, wow, that one Mienfoo is the last Axis Tower crystal!" Malefica said excitedly. "Who would've thought?"
However, seeing Bow's grave expression she realized that maybe her flippant reaction wasn't quite the right response to this situation.
"… We have to tell mom," Bow said, looking over at Malefica.
"Think she and Samara can come up with a way to help the Mienfoo?" Malefica asked.
"I don't know," Bow responded, shaking her head. "But either way, we have to tell her as soon as possible."
"Right, right!" Malefica replied, nodding.
"If I remember correctly, they should be coming back in a few hours," Bow said, motioning for Malefica to follow her. "We should go back home and wait for them."
"You want to just sit around and wait?" Malefica asked, pouting. "Boring."
"Hey, there's stuff we can do at home while we wait," Bow responded, beginning to walk as Malefica floated after her. "You can help me make dinner again."
"Hmm, I suppose," Malefica replied thoughtfully. "… Come to think of it, my book tower didn't reach the ceiling yet. I guess I can finish that."
"You know you're going to have to put the books back on the shelf when you're done, right?" Bow asked.
The sun was starting to set as Sera headed home. Upon arriving, she noticed that Sirena and Svanhild were happily talking outside the house, and it didn't take long before Svanhild spotted her.
"Oh, look!" Svanhild said, pointing a wing towards Sera. "Your adorable little sister is back!"
"Ah, welcome back, Sera," Sirena greeted her with a smile. "Did the mission, or whatever it was you did today go well?"
"Uh, I think so," Sera replied, nodding.
"Well, I think I should be heading back to my sisters now," Svanhild said, looking back at Sirena. "I'll come see you again tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure!" Sirena responded, smiling. "Looking forward to it!"
"All right, then," Svanhild replied, flapping her wings and taking off. "Have a nice evening, darling!"
"See you!" Sirena responded, watching Svanhild flying away until she was no longer within sight.
Sera followed Sirena inside. As Sirena went on ahead to the kitchen to see if Amethyst and their parents needed help with anything, Sera was approached by Flare.
"Welcome back," Flare said, seeming relieved to see her.
"I'm home," Sera replied.
Flare walked over to Sera, lowering his voice slightly as he asked his next question.
"You seem to be in better spirits," Flare commented. "Did you and Blitz make up?"
"Yeah," Sera whispered back, nodding slightly. "Things are still a bit complicated, but at least we're all on the same page now."
"That's good to hear," Flare responded, smiling at Sera. "Come on, let's go wash up before dinner."
"Okay," Sera replied, following Flare.
At the rescue team HQ, Kala was woken up from her sleep as she sensed a familiar presence enter the room. She looked up to see Elina looking at her.
"I'm back," Elina said, waving at Kala.
"Glad to see you're okay," Kala replied with a small smile. "You and the others managed to get Sera back home safely?"
"Yeah," Elina responded, nodding. "The situation is under control now."
"Good to hear," Kala replied. "So… What now?"
"I don't know," Elina admitted, shrugging slightly. "We'll try talking to the town oracle soon. We don't really have any better ideas, so hopefully she'll be able to find an answer."
"Guess that's your best bet for now," Kala replied, yawning. "Well… I'm going back to sleep. You look tired, so you should probably get some rest too."
Kala shifted in her spot slightly to make space on the pillow for Elina to rest her head. As Elina laid down, she thought about everything that had happened. If Stella really could help them find a way to save Chiaki, then was Elina's earlier decision to keep the truth to herself a mistake? If she had trusted someone with it sooner, could they also have begun looking into a solution sooner?
… Well, what had happened had happened, and she couldn't go back and change that now. All she could do now was to try and figure out what to do next.
End of Chapter 64