A/N: sorry for taking so long! My limited writing energy was occupied elsewhere. But it's good to be back. Onwards!

Pokemon on a Mission

H… help…

Shimmer stirred, still half-asleep, and blearily opened her eyes. Pale dawn light filtered through her window, painting patches of sunlight on the wooden floor and casting the rest of the room in a blue hue.

Something poked her in the back, rousing her further and making her aware of the warm, furry thing under her head. She rolled onto her side, catching a glimpse of Muse's face. A small part of her wanted to giggle as the absol twitched in her sleep, but sense overruled it as she caught a glimpse of her contorted face and remembered the night before. Muse's feeling of foreboding hadn't gotten any better. Shimmer had insisted on Muse sleeping here, hoping company might soothe her. Poor thing.

Rolling back over to face the window, Shimmer couldn't help but wonder what had woken her; usually, she didn't wake until the sun had risen fully. Had it been Muse's fidgeting? She couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting something.

Help!

A sudden burst of psychic energy, distant and weak, struck her mind. She gasped, bringing a hand up to her right horn. That must be what had roused her. Someone was trying to contact her. Someone who knew where to find her. And she had a sneaking suspicion she knew who.

And if he was contacting her, then…

She sprung to her feet, then leaned over to shake Muse awake. Before she could speak a word, the absol jerked awake and scrambled to her paws, eyes wild and hackles raised.

Muse took two gasping breaths before addressing the kirlia. "Shimmer? What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," Shimmer replied, uncharacteristically serious. "I think Tempest is trying to contact me. I don't know why. But I think something is really, really wrong." She threw her arms wide to emphasize her point.

Muse took another breath, this time deep and steadying. "Okay. Focus. We'll go down to the square to see what's going on. Grab my bags, please."

"Right." Pink psychic energy gathered around Shimmer's hand, her eyes glowing the same hue. A set of pink bags flew across the room, straps landing in her waiting palm. She secured one bag around her waist, then attached the other to a harness before strapping the whole setup around Muse's torso. She stuck one hand in the bag, feeling around to verify she had the basic supplies she might need, then raced out the door with Muse on her heels.

The villa sat on high ground, compared to the village square, at the top of a rise that offered a view of the rest of Theran. On a lazy day, Shimmer could sit outside beneath a sturdy magnolia tree, watching the villagers mill about without a care in the world.

But today, she had a clear view of a dark plume of smoke and licking flames billowing out of the jail, and of several pokemon racing toward it.

For a moment, Shimmer stared in wide-eyed shock, jaw hanging open. What could have caused this? Did her father know? She hesitated, knowing her father would be upset if she spied on him like a child, before letting her emotion sense spread out. As usual, Muse was a black hole. She could pick up a single, faint trace of someone in the villa, though it was hard to interpret their emotional signature from this far away.

A nudge from behind grounded her back in reality. Muse gave her a light headbutt. "We should get down there. Climb on my back. It'll be faster."

"O-oh. Right." Shimmer couldn't keep the tremble out of her voice, her usual cheery front shattered. She put her hands on Muse's side and vaulted up to straddle her back, clinging tightly to the absol's mane. "As quickly as you can."

Muse lurched forward, racing down the hill at full sprint. Wind whipped around Shimmer's face, her thick hair streaming behind. A moment later, they leveled out at the bottom of the hill, the panicked cries of villagers starting to reach Shimmer's ears. She squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on reigning in her emotion sense. Her grip on Muse's fur tightened, heart racing as she silently urged the absol to run faster.

Oh no oh no, please let everyone be okay!

By the time they reached the square, other pokemon were already fighting the flames. Saku and Chip spat streams of water from their reserves while Toshi flung globs of water from his tail. Nearby, she spotted the cubone from the meat shop slinging globs of dirt and mud at the base of the fire.

Shimmer sprang from Muse's back and took a few running steps forward, only to stop and turn back to the absol. She didn't have any water or ground moves. What was she supposed to do for help?

But before she could say anything, the sound of coughing made her whip back around toward the building.

Two figures emerged from the entryway, supporting each other. The first was Whisper, her feathers singed and sooty. One wing held a damp cloth to her beak. Leaning against her was Tempest, who looked even worse. The fur on parts of his flank had burned away, leaving exposed, blistered skin in an angry red hue. His eyes were dull, and his tails drooped as he limped forward.

The pair made it only a few steps further before Tempest shuddered and collapsed, taking deep, heaving breaths.

"Lecha!" Whisper croaked, her voice hampered by the smoke. "Lecha, quickly!"

"Coming!"

Shimmer turned just in time to see the aromatisse scurry away from an injured Vale, leaving him in the hands of her illumise assistant, Twi.

The stench of burnt fur wafted towards Shimmer; patches of Vale's fur had burned away, but his injuries were hardly worse than Whisper's. Next to him, Anu paced restlessly, his aura sensors quivering.

Lecha paused as she passed Shimmer. "You know how to use heal pulse. Right, Dear? Come, help me."

"R-right." Finally, something she could do. Something other than standing around uselessly. Shimmer stumbled after Lecha, rushing towards the fallen ninetales. By the time she reached him, healing energy danced at her fingertips. She focused, pushing the healing energy forward, aiming for the areas that looked the worst while Lecha elevated Tempest's head. With her free paw, she reached into a satchel, pulling out a couple rawst berries.

"I need you to try to eat these," she said to Tempest. "Do you think you're able to?"

Gingerly, Tempest took one of the berries between his teeth, biting into it, only to drop it as a coughing fit wracked his body.

Lecha let out a sigh, reaching into her bag again for a mortar and pestle. "Very well. I don't like using a topical treatment on burns, but it looks like the best choice here." She turned her head towards Whisper. "If you have any burns, you can get a berry from Twi. I'll be with you once I've finished treating him."

Whisper held up a wing. "Not yet. I have a situation I need to deal with." She looked back towards the guards' hut. Flames still licked at the timbers but were dying quickly under the onslaught of water. "I just woke up to my workplace on fire, one guard injured — not the one who, mind you, was supposed to be there — one prisoner trapped and critically injured, and one prisoner missing." She took a stumbling step towards Anu and Vale. "What in Regi's name happened here?"

One prisoner missing? Shimmer whipped her head about, scanning the small crowd for the oddly colored sneasel. Without thinking, she let loose her emotion sense, as if it might help her pinpoint him. But he was a dark type. Even if he were here, she wouldn't have sensed him. She did, however, pick up the general anxiety of the gathered pokemon, and a surprisingly strong spike of the same from Vale.

"It was one of those explorers," Vale grunted, teeth bared. "I don't know if she acted alone, but I suspect not. Anu left to deal with another one at the temple. Then the charizard attacked while he was gone. She knocked me out. When I came to, the whole place was on fire and she was making her escape with Nip."

"What?"Whisper puffed out her feathers, hitting Shimmer with a sharp pang of shock.

Anu hung his head. "I knew there was something wrong with those explorers. Something about their aura was just… wrong. And the fact that the zoroark was parading around as a charmander… But for them to attack a guard… I should have paid closer attention to their credentials. I'm sorry, Whisper."

The hawlucha's expression softened. "Dear, this isn't your fault—"

"And Nip!" Anu flattened his ears against his skull, tail tucked between his legs. "I really thought I was getting through to him… Please don't sugarcoat this, Whisper. I could have prevented this. I've failed this community."

Shimmer frowned, bracing herself against the waves of disappointment and regret that rolled off Anu. She didn't expect a sudden flash of anger from nearby.

He's lying.

She knew that psychic signature. She snapped her head to stare intently at Tempest. The ninetales struggled, trying to stand, only to slump back to the ground, panting.

"Stop that!" Lecha chided. "You're in no condition to move."

He's lying, Tempest repeated in her mind. Umbra was here. Umbra brought the charizard. He was in on it.

What? Shimmer sent the word back without meaning to. She could believe that Umbra was somehow involved. But… but Tempest's story couldn't be right. Vale was a good mon. He was always hanging around the villa, helping her dad out with odd jobs. He could be gruff, but he only had the village's best interests at heart.

Right?

But if Umbra was involved, why didn't Vale say so? How could he miss her involvement? And what would Tempest have to gain by lying? It was possible he was covering for Nip. But if Nip had abandoned him to die in a fire, why would he still be loyal?

Her mind raced through the possibilities, trying to decide what to do. Who to believe. Should she try to read their thoughts? Her dad always told her not to, and they would definitely notice an inexperienced mind reader like her, but maybe…

Please. Tone was difficult to discern through a psychic voice, but she could feel the desperation emanating from the ninetales. I can't lose him again.

"What do you mean the explorers were involved?"

Toshi's panicked voice cut through the haze. Shimmer's gaze followed the bidoof as he scrambled to a stop in front of Whisper, his eyes wide and fur ruffled.

"Haru said she's supposed to be with them. What if they tricked her? What if they hurt her? We have to do something!"

Sudden clarity hit Shimmer as she took a deep breath. Something didn't add up here. And she would be the one to get to the bottom of it.

Giving Muse a quick pat on the shoulder to get her attention, Shimmer sauntered over to the group surrounding Vale.

"They didn't say anything about where they were headed, did they?" Whisper asked.

Vale hesitated. Shimmer felt more waves of anxiety. "No, I'm afraid not. Not while I was alert, at least."

"Haru said she was helping them set up a base…" Toshi mumbled. "Maybe they're in the forest. Maybe we could catch up to them?"

"We have reason to doubt their character," Anu pointed out. "There's no reason to believe that story is true."

"Maybe we can track them?" Whisper suggested. "Only one of them could fly, so they couldn't have all escaped by air. There should be some scent trail to pick up on."

She needed to speak up. She needed to speak up now before everyone ran off without the full story. "Heyyy, Valey," Shimmer chimed in with a sing-song tone. "You didn't happen to see anyone else in the attack, did you?"

Was that fear she sensed? "No, just the charizard."

Shimmer giggled. "That's funny." She let the statement hang in the air for a few heartbeats while she played with her hair. "Because Tempest said Umbra was there, too. And that would change the situation significantly, don't you think?"

Vale glared at her. This time, she was certain she felt a spike of fear. "Quit joking around, Shimmer. This is serious! Haru could be in danger. And that ninetales cannot talk."

She giggled again. "Silly Vale, of course he can. He just doesn't have any interest in talking to you."

All eyes were on her, now. Perfect. Just how she liked it. Whisper's gaze was fiercest of all.

"Shimmer, if you know something, then just say it. We don't have time for cryptic statements."

Holding in a sigh, Shimmer waved one hand in a circle. "You know how psychics can communicate with others if they know roughly where the other is? Or how they can project thoughts into someone else's mind? Turns out ninetales have some innate psychic ability. So I've been teaching Tempest how to speak with his mind!"

"You've been—" Whisper cut herself off, ruffling her feathers. She turned to the ninetales. "Is this true?"

While Shimmer couldn't hear anything — she doubted Tempest could project into multiple minds at his skill level — the way Whisper's eyes widened and her beak hung open told her everything she needed to know.

Small sparks danced across Vale's pelt. "Are you seriously going to believe that? Even if he can talk, we know he's loyal to Nip! He's probably just trying to buy time to let the bastard escape. I bet Umbra is still up at the villa."

Was she? Shimmer tried to think back. Had she picked up on Umbra's emotions? She didn't think so. She only remembered picking up one emotional signature. But she had to be certain. Turning to Muse, she asked, "Could you run check, please? Get Dad as well, if you see him. He needs to know about… all this." She waved her hand in the direction of the smoldering hut.

The absol dipped her head. "Anything for you." Then she turned and sprinted back up the road.

"I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove," Vale growled. "Even if Umbra wasn't there, that doesn't mean she's here."

"That's true," Whisper admitted. "But you were supposed to keep an eye on her."

Shimmer turned back to Vale, changing the subject. "Now, now, you heard what Toshi said. Haru is supposed to be with those explorers that took Nip. I know Haruru, and she would never help Nip escape." She took a step closer. "And while she doesn't like him, I highly doubt she would help Umbra with anything, either. Not after she threatened to kill Toshi."

Vale gritted his teeth. "Maybe you don't know her as well as you think you do. You don't exactly endear yourself to her, princess."

Shimmer's eyelid twitched. Seriously? Vale was usually rude, but not this rude!

Before she could come up with a witty reply, Toshi butted in.

"Excuse me?" he squeaked, marching towards the manectric. "That is my sister you're talking about. How dare you suggest she's in cahoots with these… these… pretenders! I don't care if they were helping Nip or helping Umbra. Either way, she could be in danger and you're here arguing trivialities instead of trying to help!"

Toshi drew back his lips to fully bare his incisors. "Are you going to help us find my sister? Or are you just going to waste our time?"

Vale sparked, ears flat against his skull as static rippled across his flanks. But his expression betrayed unease. After a moment, he looked away. "I'm telling you. Umbra was not here. The charizard was helping Nip escape. But… I did hear the word 'mountain' when they fled."

"That makes a degree of sense," Anu said, pawing at his nose. "They've been trying to get me to take them up to the old shrine for days. Though it still doesn't explain Nip. As far as I know, they never interacted with him… But they did definitely try to lure me away from my post."

"It's a lead," Whisper concluded with a wave of one wing. "I'll gather up some supplies and leave immediately. Lecha, could you part with some oran berries? Possibly some aspear and rawst, as well. I suspect most of my supply was ruined."

The aromatisse looked up from her work on Tempest. "Of course, dear. Twi, could you please fetch some?"

You got it!" The illumise gave a messy salute, then buzzed off back towards the medic hut.

"I'm coming with you!" Toshi announced, taking a step towards Whisper.

The hawlucha tilted her head. "That's kind of you to offer, but—"

"My sister could be in danger! I'd never forgive myself if something happened to her while I stayed back here and did nothing."

"We'll come too," Shimmer chimed in. "Musey and me."

Now Whisper's attention was on her. "This isn't a game. These pokemon are dangerous, and we don't know how powerful they are."

"You allowed Muse and me to help watch Nip and Tempest. And you're going to need all the help you can get, right?"

"This is different! Your volunteer guard duty was in a controlled environment. There's more at stake here."

Shimmer crossed her arms and stuck out her lip, glaring. "Well, who can you trust to bring instead? Vale?"

Whisper returned the glare for a moment longer, then sighed and turned away, flapping her wings. "You three are going to follow along if I don't let you come anyways, aren't you? Fine. But you have to listen to everything I say."

"I… I will come as well," Anu said. "It is my duty. Romi and the others can cover things here until we return. And if they hear any additional information that suggests we need to look elsewhere, Romi is the best mon to catch up to us."

I want to come as well. Tempest's voice entered Shimmer's head. He must have contacted Whisper just after, as they both turned towards him.

"Absolutely not," Whisper said. "Your condition is too bad for you to travel, as I'm sure Lecha will agree. And I still cannot guarantee you are telling the truth. If the explorers helped Nip escape, I don't trust you to help stop him. You will stay here."

She tilted her head in Vale's direction. "And that goes for you, too. Until we get to the bottom of this, you are to stay in Lecha's hut. Do. Not. Leave."

Sparks danced on Vale's back as he let out a growl, but he lowered his head submissively.

"Good. I'll see what I can scrounge up from the ashes. We should still have a nullify looplet. I hope it survived the flames. Anu, get rations from Meaad. Tell him it's an emergency and we'll pay it back after we return."

Toshi scurried off to speak with his parents as Whisper approached the burnt building. At the same time, racing pawsteps alerted Shimmer to Muse's return. The absol collapsed on the ground in front of her, panting. "She's… she's not there… Jhorlo… coming…"

Shimmer shot Vale an accusatory glance. This whole situation reeked.

"That doesn't prove anything!" the manectric growled. But he didn't look at Shimmer as he shuffled off to the medic hut.

Suppressing a sigh, Shimmer turned to fill Muse in on the plan. The absol shot her a distressed glance. But she didn't try to argue. She didn't have a chance to, as Whisper returned with a few items in wing. She handed a few berries, an orb that Shimmer thought might be a petrify orb, and a heal seed. Anu returned a moment later, bag laden with food.

"We'll properly sort things out as we go," Whisper said, standing a bit straighter. "Lecha can explain the situation to Jhorlo whenever he gets here. Let's move out."

She took the lead, marching out of the square at a brisk pace with Anu just behind, stopping only to collect more berries from Twi. Toshi dashed over to meet them, ignoring a call from his mother. Shimmer took just a heartbeat to lift Toshi onto Muse's back. The bidoof clung tight to her fur, shooting a grateful glance. He'd struggle to keep pace with everyone else on foot, she suspected. But she could manage.

Oh, Haru, Shimmer thought as they raced out of the square. Now look what you've gotten yourself into.

The palest beginnings of dawn light crept above dark treetops, casting the surrounding forest in a dark, blue hue. Haru yawned as she padded down the path toward the mountain trail, feeling the brush of her bags against her back. This was early, even for her. But the sooner she took the explorers up the mountain, the sooner she could get back.

Up ahead, she caught sight of Susana — currently in her charmander disguise — and the girafarig conversing. But where were the other two?

Susana looked up, caught her eye, and waved a hand. "Over here!"

Waddling down the path as quick as she could, Haru dipped her head in greeting. "Good morning. I… thought we were in a hurry. Where are the others?"

"Topaz forgot some of our supplies and had to run back for them," the girafarig answered. "And Skorch is feeling under the weather. Probably ate something that didn't agree with her. She'll catch up later if she starts feeling better. She can fly, and she has a rough idea of where we're heading."

"O-oh, okay," Haru answered. Then a thought occurred to her. If Skorch could just fly up to the shrine, why do you need me to guide you?

Then she remembered that the path was no longer well-traveled, and was likely obscured by bushes and wild grass. It would be difficult to guide someone if you weren't familiar.

And, fortunately, she was familiar enough. Even if it had been many, many seasons since she'd been to the old shrine.

"Would it be better if we waited until she feels better?" she asked. "Having eyes in the sky could be useful if we run into trouble."

Susana shook her head quickly. It took Haru a few heartbeats to figure out the meaning of the unfamiliar gesture. "No, no, I understand your concerns. But we're on a strict timeline. We can't afford to spend any more time waiting around."

Haru supposed she couldn't argue with that. While things weren't so strict here, she imagined schedules in bigger towns, and for organizations as huge as the expedition society, were different.

She was spared from continuing the conversation by the sound of racing pawsteps.

"Ah, there he is." Susana waved a claw, then pointed in the direction of the pawsteps. Haru turned to see the raichu racing up the path. He skidded to a stop, panting.

"Sorry I'm late. But I got the goods." He held up a cloth bag.

"Thank you, Topaz," Susana replied. She took the bag and tied it to a large pack on Remer's back before turning her attention to Haru. "Well then, we should be off."

"R-right." Haru sucked in a deep breath, stealing one last glance down the path. Her heart thudded hard against her chest, pounding fast with anticipation. She could still back out of this, right now. No, remember why you're doing this, she thought to herself.

She turned to point a paw at a fork in the path that led into thicker vegetation. "We'll need to head this way."

The group set off, Haru in the lead. As the ground sloped up, it didn't take long for the route's disuse to show itself; the undergrowth here was less tended-to, overgrown bushes taking up half the path in parts, grass springing up between dirt and stone. Early in the journey, before the sun had risen fully, they came across a fallen tree blocking the path, its trunk covered in spongy moss. While the three explorers leaped or clamored over it without issue, Haru was forced to push through a thick bush and weave between the chaotic tangle of roots to get around.

While the journey was silent for a time, it wasn't long before Susana started trying to make conversation.

"So, Haru, what's this shrine like?" she asked. "I mean, we've heard a few descriptions, but we've never seen it for ourselves."

"Prepare yourselves for disappointment," Haru answered. "It was already falling into disrepair before the village quit visiting about fifteen cycles ago. I imagine it's even worse now. What could be moved was already taken down to the village a while ago."

"Really? I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose." Susana scratched at her cheek. "Still, I'm sure there's things there that couldn't be brought down that we may find useful. Carvings, paintings, and statues. Information. Speaking of which… you don't happen to know any strange or unusual stories. You know, legends that wouldn't be well known outside of your village?"

Haru sighed, her head drooping before she paid attention to her surroundings again, stumbling around a crumbling hole in the middle of the path. "Nothing that Anu couldn't tell you."

"Sure, sure," Susana said, waving one hand, "but I want to know your version. What were you told? How do you remember it? You seem to have a different perspective on things than someone like Anu would."

Her version? Haru didn't want to talk about her version. But Susana wasn't going to shut up unless she did. She grumbled, then began. "Well, there's plenty of stories about how Regigigas formed our continent, moved the pieces together to create mountains, and pulled them apart to create rivers and valleys. There's stories about his three sentries, spread out across the land to protect other followers, and garnering followers of their own. And there's stories of the Banished Ones, the two failed creations lost somewhere beyond the sea."

Another grumble escaped her as she ducked to squeeze under an overgrown holly. "Some pokemon think his resting place is deep within the heart of Mount Domo, but I think that's stupid. Even if he is there, for a mon that's supposed to be protecting his followers, he sure did a lousy job. I have my doubts he ever even existed. Or cared, if he did exist."

The girafarig, Remer, sped up to walk beside Haru. "I can't help but notice something troubling you, Haru. Do you want to talk about it?"

Haru felt a headache coming on. She sped up. "My reasons for distrusting gods are, frankly, none of your business."

"My apologies." Susana hurried to catch up and stand at Haru's other side. "Please excuse Remer. He means well."

Haru shot the girafarig a glare. "Anyway, my point is that there's no way for us to know how true any of these stories are. Even if the gods are real, the stories have probably been distorted after hundreds upon hundreds of cycles being retold."

"There is… one way you could find out," Topaz interjected.

Pausing mid-step to glance back at the Raichu, Haru tilted her head. "What are you talking about?"

"I get what he's saying." Susana reached for her Expedition Society badge. She ran her claws across the metallic surface. "Think about it like this. If we could just… find one of these gods. Talk to them. They'd know the truth about what happened all those years — I mean cycles — ago. And imagine what we could do if we just… could get them to do our bidding. We could reshape the world. Make it fairer. Imagine reaching out to the mother of all life, Mew, and having her change the way pokemon work so that no pokemon is obligated to eat meat to survive. Or if she created some lower life form so that we didn't have to hunt other sapient creatures."

She spun to face Haru, her eyes gleaming. "Wouldn't that be great?"

Haru shifted uncomfortably, off-put by her sudden excitement, before starting to walk again. "Well… yeah, it could be great." Then she thought of the encounter with Celebi, and she couldn't help but let out a snort. "But good luck convincing them to do anything. I bet a bunch of them have gone mad, given how old they'd be."

Susana didn't try to argue further, and the group lapsed into silence again. The sun slowly climbed high into the sky as they worked their way through the undergrowth, stopping only once for a brief break before continuing their marathon. Occasionally, the monotony of the trip was broken by quiet conversations between the explorers, but Haru kept out of it.

The sun had nearly reached its zenith by the time Susana called for a second break, this time for lunch, in a small, grassy clearing along the path. To their left, the ground sloped upwards, a tree line a short distance up the hill. To the right, a rocky lip protected them from falling down a short, but steep, incline, scraggy bushes clinging between cracks in the stone.

Haru sank gratefully to the ground as Susana began passing out rations: dried meat sticks for herself, and apples and carrots for the rest of the group. As everyone settled down to eat, she pulled a ceramic dish and a waterskin from the supplies on Remer's back, filled the dish with water, and set it in the middle for everyone to share.

Taking a bite from an apple, Haru closed her eyes, enjoying the weak warmth of the autumn sun. Her family would need to start preparing winter rations soon. They still had half a season, but the weather could change fast. A healthy stock of wood and dried fruit would do them well.

Susana tore a bite from her own meal, jaws snapping as she did her best to chew and break it down. Haru couldn't help but cringe and hastily looked away. At least the meat was so processed that it didn't look like anyone anymore.

Just a moment later, the disguised zoroark addressed Haru.

"So, Haru, how much longer do you think it'll be before we reach the shrine?"

Glancing up at the sky, Haru squinted. It wasn't sun-high quite yet. She looked at her surroundings, trying to pick out anything familiar. Her attention turned towards the downward slope. She approached, climbing up on the stone so she could look over. A good ways below, she could make out a patch of blurry colors that she thought was Theran Village.

"We're definitely over halfway there. It shouldn't be too much longer…"

Susanna bobbed her head and opened her mouth to say something more, only to suddenly snap it shut and stare intently at Remer. The girafarig was stiff, eyes wide and boring into the tree line. Haru's heart raced as she stood, following his gaze. She could hear the sound of rustling bushes, now, coming closer fast.

"What's going on?"

Before any of the explorers could answer, the nearest bushes rustled, then a figure burst free and stumbled down the slope towards them.

They'd clearly seen better times; their fur was bushed up, eyes wide and wild, and breathing ragged. Dried blood coated their cheek, and the scent of charred flesh and fur wafted from them. Their claws were bound together in thick rope. A second length of rope twisted around their ankles, tight enough to restrict movement but loose enough that they could still run — if barely.

More importantly, though, Haru recognized the pokemon. And she couldn't fathom any reason he would be here.

"Nip?!"