The next morning all three of them slept in until the brightness of the sky was too much. With not a bang but a groan, the three pulled themselves up.

Everyone was still sore from the slog to get here. Sean cracked his neck and both Rai and Litleo cracked their backs with big stretches.

It wasn't long before they were standing in front of the mouth of the dungeon, each one doing nothing more than staring in. Sean and Litleo standing back, looking to Rai as he extended and retracted his claws in nervous silence.

"Last chance to turn back," Rai said, not sure himself just who he was saying it to. "Th-this is it."

"I'm staying with you," Sean said, stepping forward and rested a paw on Rai's shoulder. He could feel the tenseness in Rai's muscles, it was like touching stone. He focused and even brought his tail around to link with Rai's, that seemed to help more, and Rai smiled gratefully.

Litleo snorted. "As if I'd have come this far just to turn around now." He stepped forward as well and grinned. "Come on then, Shinx. Show me what you're made of."

Rai set his jaw and breathed out hard through his nose, closing his eyes as he did so. He nodded slightly and rolled his head, unclenched his muscles. "Let's go."

They left the dead grass and broken trees behind and entered the dungeon. They didn't enter with a bang or a storm, simply walked in stiff silence as the floor changed, the sky began to blur out, and the cliffs became walls.

Team Ion plus Litleo had entered Amp Plains.

"You're really brave you know," Sean said as the entrance faded, and they were truly in the depths of the dungeon now. Rai gave him a pained look but managed a smile through it.

"Save the heart-warming crap til later," Litleo said, peering around as his ears flicked back. "I've been in this dungeon only once and I can tell you right now that this won't be easy."

The sounds of the dungeon began to reach them, skittering of distant feet, the rumble of falling stones. Sean jumped when a piercing shriek reached them, rising into a crescendo of terrified agony before petering out into nothingness.

"Ah… the sound of forgiveness," Litleo said wisely before pointing forward. "Well chop-chop, or else we'll be getting the chop-chop."

Rai stepped forward boldly and began leading them from the room they were in, aiming in a direction that didn't lead towards the lingering echo.

Something growled from inside the wall and all three of them hurried forwards. Neither of them wanted to be here. The kaleidoscope of a sky was melding reds and greys as the sound of thunder began to boom from above them.

"Can lightning strike in a dungeon?" Sean asked shakily as they entered the room. A doduo screeched as they entered, one head hanging limply as the other swung around wildly. It began charging them and Rai blasted it with Thunderbolt.

"Yes it can," Litleo said as they edged by the smoking form of the twitching bird.

Sean picked a few berries from where the doduo had been hording. Having followed the sound of electricity and screams, a feral shinx charged them from another exit.

Immediately Sean and Rai froze up, leaving Litleo to pounce forward and take its hungry gaze on them. Rai turned away with a distasteful grimace, but Sean wasn't able to.

Even without looking at Rai and this shinx side-to-side he could spot glaring differences. Waking up next to Rai and seeing him every single day certainly helped.

This creature was scruffy, patches of fur torn out, chunks of both ears taken out, only three prongs on its star-shaped tail. The yellow eyes of the feral shinx were faded and unfocused, hazily flicking from Litleo to the pile where Sean had left some berries.

It yowled and lit up with electricity, aiming to tackle Litleo with Spark. Litleo hit it with Fire Blast.

Rai flinched as the shinx shrieked and Sean cringed, seeing the explosion fling it into the wall, colliding with a dull smack and slumping to the ground silently.

"Okay," Litleo said brightly, turning back to his companions. "Solved that one for you!"

He pranced ahead, pleased with himself, looking back when Sean didn't move. "Stay here too long and more will come? You don't want me to blast MORE shinx, do you?"

Sean tore his eyes from the smoking heap that was near the other twitching pile and quickly caught up without a word. The three entered a corridor in silence, Litleo leading now, Rai trotting up behind him, and Sean following at an uncomfortable pace.

This was not going to be fun.

Chatot's day had been going quite well. Quite well indeed.

The guilds expedition had been a rousing success, even if they couldn't tell anyone that. Rather than treasure though, something far more valuable had been found. And with the increasing troubles with time that the continent was facing, things as valuable as Time Gears needed to be protected.

Not only that, but a new business had also opened. He hadn't known much of Spinda beforehand, but the dizzy ditz could mix a drink like no one else could. It was something that could never be revealed to the apprentices just how intoxicated the Guildmaster had become once he learned of cider.

Something to be concealed with even more fervency was his own slip of composure. It was because of the Guildmaster, as wise and intelligent that he was, that such an embarrassing incident even occurred.

One does not turn down the Guildmaster's offering after all. What sort of example would he be setting then?

That is what Trill the chatot told himself at least. Rhythm had only to ask, and he barely even tutted before agreeing.

Even then, the next morning had made such a lapse of control hardly worth it. He could barely croak out the Guildmaster's wake-up song. Rhythm himself had still bounced up and been full of beans, as if he hadn't nearly stumbled into the sea on their way back.

Yet despite the less-than-ideal morning, the day had shaped up to be an excellent one. The Great Dusknoir came by each day and offered his wisdom and assistance in anything the guild wished. They wouldn't abuse such generosity, of course. That would be most unbecoming of the first-rate guild of the Grass Continent.

It was still comforting to have such a wise pokémon by their side.

Yes, the day had been good.

Until it wasn't.

Team Ion disappeared. Without informing the guild of any jobs chosen that would take them so far from Treasure Town. Instead all the locals had to say was Meowth spending some time with the ruffian Litleo and a new, friendly, face known as Riolu before Shinx came to him in a panic and they ran off, with Litleo following them.

It was worrying, and Chatot did not enjoy more stress on top of his already-stressful life.

They did not show up for dinner, despite how loudly Loudred had yelled to the sky for them to return and ultimately the guild had to have a subdued and unpleasant dinner before setting off to fitful rest.

It was not like either of them to be so rash, Chatot was certain. Rai had lived in Treasure Town for over five years and was a well-known face. Always careful, always measured, he was never known to do things without thinking.

And Meowth. Chatot hadn't known the odd human-turned-meowth for very long, but he could see Sean was a bit of the same. Careful, not the kind to take risks. And clearly liked to think everything through, including what he told to others.

For them to run off so suddenly, without even alerting the guild as to why or where, was most unusual and unusual was distressing.

And looking for them would be pointless. Dungeons were all over the land and they could have gone to any one of them. All they could do for the time being was to wait and hope.

Such feeble ideals made Chatot uncomfortable. He liked dealing in facts and figures, not hopes and legends. Facts were straightforward, feelings were not.

Chatot's day was not going well. But there was one potential silver lining. Chatot disliked hoping, but he could not always help himself. The Great Dusknoir was seen going in the same direction shortly after Team Ion had run off and hadn't returned either.

If the Great Dusknoir was going after them the situation didn't bode well, but if he reached them then they would be fine. That, Chatot could be certain of.

For the time being, all he could do was wait.

"Okay." Sean grunted, claws shining white and yellow as electricity danced against him. "This. Is. No longer… FUN!" He pushed against the near-weightless energy like he was going for a hug, separating the stream of electricity. Before the flaaffy could charge up another, Sean pelted it with a sleep seed, and it crumpled.

"I don't think that should have worked," Sean commented, marvelling at his apparently magical paws. "But I am a pokémon now, so perhaps it is time I give up on the lofty ideals of logic."

"Stop mumbling a monologue and HELP!" Litleo yelled from the corner he was pinned into.

Sean pulled a pile of seeds from the bag and tossed them wildly at the three mareep and the plusle and minun that were all shocking Litleo with their electrical attacks. Something exploded but unfortunately it was the ground, but the shockwave knocked the x-eye seeds into powder that quickly impaired the five pokémon.

Also Litleo.

Wincing, Sean couldn't help but watch as electricity went everywhere, along with sparks of flame. Sean dug a heal seed out and tried to aim for Litleo, but he knew his throw was dangerously inaccurate.

"Now Goldeen, Fire Thrower!" Litleo yelled and burped a Fire Blast at the wall as Sean creeped around to him. Once he was close enough, and Litleo spotted him and called him Duskull, Sean ran forward and rammed the seed down his throat.

Immediately the bad effect wore off and he shook his head to clear it, fluffing up in the process. "Thank you, Goldeen," he snarked and pounced forward, clearing Sean, and landing wreathed in fire among the pokémon. Something, possibly Litleo, exploded and pokémon were all sent flying.

"Oh thank the legends," Rai said, entering the room and spotting Sean. "You're okay!"

"Yes, yes," Litleo said, butting Sean out of the way to receive the joy-tackle himself. "Your love and adoration are acce-ow!"

Rai jumped off of Litleo without a word and tackle-hugged Sean as planned.

"He didn't give you any trouble, did he?" Rai whispered loudly, causing the grooming Fire-type to scoff.

"He got ME with one of the weird seeds, you should be asking ME if I'M alright." He finished grooming and sent Sean a beaming smile. "You will be forgiven in due time, however. Such things come sooner if someone can get that powder off my tail…?"

"Good job." Rai nodded to Sean and began leading them out of the room, one of the mareep began to get up and Rai sent it back down with an immediate Thunderbolt. Litleo pouted at being ignored and immediately ran to Rai's other side and bumped against him.

"Pay attention to meee," he whined, getting a sigh and Rai's soft paw pushing his face away.

"Are you alright?" Rai gave in and asked, unleashing the floodgates.

"NO! You cannot imagine how terrible it was, we lost you, and then Sean wouldn't stop crying, then I got attacked by ALL the Water-types, and then the ground swallowed me up, and then…."

"Uh… Rai?" Sean asked further in. "Are you alright?" In cases like this, he was a little more concerned for everything else, but he felt it was prudent to address the source.

"Hmm?" Rai blinked, turning to Sean. Away from the girafarig he had rendered unconscious with a single Thunderbolt. "Oh yes, I'm fine. Just fine. Perfectly fine."

"I think he's fine," Litleo said, nodding. When Rai turned to glare at whatever else entered the room, Litleo leaned in and stage-whispered. "He's not fine."

"I heard that." Rai's eyes narrowed, an electrike had entered the room and his jaw clenched at the sight of it.

"Good." Litleo spotted the approaching electric sponge and moved forward. "I've got this." He began to form an Ember to show it what for when Rai ran forward in a burst of speed. "Or… you've got this."

Rai was not shining with the tell-tale glint of a Quick Attack, he was just running startlingly quickly. Sean and Litleo watched as Rai's mouth suddenly melted into darkness and he pounced through the electrical blast given off by the snarling electrike, tackling it onto its back and suddenly clamping his jaws down.

The Bite attack, thankfully, didn't draw blood but inflicted more than enough pressure damage to knock the electrike out.

Rai growled and slowly lifted himself off it, shaking his fur and prowling away.

Litleo sighed and followed after him as Sean stared at the electrike in shock. He moved slowly, not wanting to lose them, but couldn't quite take his eyes off the electrike.

Once they entered a corridor he snapped back to focus and hurried up, pushing past Litleo to get right next to Rai. They walked together in silence for nearly three entire seconds before Sean ruined it. "Mind telling me what that was?"

"A Bite attack," Rai grumbled.

"I gathered that," Sean said, moving to continue but Rai interrupted.

"Why ask then? If you knew so much."

Sean raised his head back slightly, not expecting that kind of response from the mild-mannered Rai. Rai came to a stop. "Sorry." His ears flattened. "I didn't mean that."

"It's fine." Sean waved him off as Litleo also stopped. "But seriously, what? How long have you been able to use Bite?"

"A few years."

Sean was aghast. "Years?" he spluttered and then shook his head. "Okay, fine. Doesn't matter. Why didn't that come up when Grovyle was showing me Night Slash?"

Rai was silent for a moment, Sean glanced to Litleo who seemed ready to say something.

"Remember what Grovyle said?" Rai asked, taking their attention back. "About what is needed to use a Dark-type attack for a non-dark-type pokémon?"

"Negative emotion," Sean muttered.

"Yeah. I don't like to be negative, but this place just… it just… it's bad for me."

Sean hesitated, glanced to Litleo who now seemed content to be quiet for once, then back to Rai. "We can go," he said. "If this is too much, we can find our way back I'm sure."

Rai was silent for a moment, Sean honestly wondered if he'd take the out he was given. That was dashed by him shaking his head. "No. We've come THIS far. It's just cowardly to turn around now. Right, Litleo?"

Litleo, surprised he was being addressed in the middle of the emotional moment, blinked. "Yeah probably," he said easily, getting a glare from Sean and a sardonic smile from Rai.

"See? He knows."

Rai turned forward and continued walking, Sean giving Litleo a filthy look. "You could be a little easier on him," he snapped quietly as they continued.

"And how is avoiding his problems going to help him?" Litleo shot back. "He needs to do this."

"You know as well as I do that his Relic Fragment isn't going to be here."

"And you should know as well as I do that it doesn't matter how stupid this is. He needs to do this, face his darkest memories and come out stronger for it."

"Rai is plenty strong! Not every problem has to be challenged and destroyed, some things are not worth doing when the emotional cost is so bad."

"And letting it boil under his skin is any better? This is stuff that I've watched haunt him for five years. You don't understand."

"At least I've actually helped him. What have you done to help him in those five years? You've been an asshole and a bully to him."

"I," Litleo snarled softly, bringing his head in very close as the two of them came to a stop. "Have been someone for him to take his frustration out on, someone to push him when he's being a coward or sulking in misery. I've kept him going, even if I've had to be an asshole to do it."

"And you really think that's the best way?" Sean said equally as softly. "To torment and belittle him for years? He didn't have any self-esteem when I first met him. How long has he wanted to join the guild? And how long have you been making him feel like he never could?"

Litleo opened his mouth to retort, but Rai finally noticed them not following. "What are the two of you chattering about?" he called, getting a simultaneous cheerful response.

"Food."

"Good idea, I'm really hungry." He licked his chops, tasting electrike fur and pulling a face.

Sean put on a smile and pulled open the Treasure Bag to feed the three of them before they continued onwards.

Amp Plains was a dungeon of pain and horror and all three sane pokémon were getting tired of the constant bombardment.

Rai was mostly alright, being fuelled with rage and absorbing so much electricity that his own attacks were scarcely draining him. His attacks were largely ineffective, however.

Sean was having the least good time, at least on the physical front. Being the one with the bag, and therefor food, most pokémon targeted him first and he was growing rather singed. Several tufts of fur were also sticking up and were adamantly refusing to be smoothed down.

Litleo was simply in a bad mood. Sean and his hushed argument had left him with a sour taste in his mouth and doubts in his head. He was confident he was in the right, but the niggling feeling of doubt wouldn't leave him and was grinding his nerves to a fraying edge.

Didn't help that Amp Plains was equally as terrible as he had remembered it to be. He wasn't sure how Rai was holding up, he was relieved the sane shinx hadn't fallen into a despair-induced catatonia or something similarly disruptive to the quest, but the line of pokémon just salivating for some Fire Blast in their faces wouldn't stop.

Sean had used up a great deal of their supply of seeds and was trying to keep stock a little better. Unfortunately this meant his assistance in battle was limited. He had Night Slash down fairly well, but to use it he'd have to get up close and personal and that was a bad day waiting to happen.

He had his eyes out for any giant flyers seeking to carry him away and a Sleep Seed ready just in case.

"Okay, okay, ow, okay. ENOUGH!" Litleo yelled, the volume of his yell causing an actual shockwave and knocking some of the horde back. He took this moment to take in a breath, ready to unleash the burn on these who dared clamber over him.

Then a phanpy kicked him in the chest, an elekid punched him in the back of the head, and an electrike bit his back-left foot.

"BITCH!" Litleo roared, huge verbal shockwave blasting everyone back from him. He aimed his furious eyes forward and yelled again. "BIIITCH!" And used Echoed Voice.

The clambering horde were all sent flying and Litleo strongly considering torching them, but Rai's voice of sanity and reason caught his attention. "Come on, run!"

Snarling at the horde, and using another Echoed Voice to be certain, Litleo turned and ran after the bruised pair.

Panting, the three of them left the madness behind and just hoped it wouldn't pursue.

It did.

"Is it just me?" Rai asked, panting. "Or is this like Boulder Quarry just with the numbers of Mount Horn?"

"I don't know either of those places," Litleo replied, running side-by-side to Rai.

"I wasn't asking you."

"Why did you just put it out there then?"

"Why did you feel the need to answer then?"

"YES," Sean cut across the building argument. "This is just like both. Including the monster bugs. We even had someone with us in both cases."

"Corphish and Grovyle were much preferred to this," Rai muttered, getting a scowl from Litleo that was quickly covered up with a cool expression.

"An experienced explorer or two WOULD be great," Litleo said as loudly and obnoxiously as he could. Rai growled, and they entered a new room.

Sean could hear the old music. The sounds of terror and despair as endless waves of enemies crashed upon them.

He wasn't sure if it was an exact concept in this place, but he could see clear as the horrifying sky that this was a monster house.

All three skidded to a stop, but they had already entered and been spotted by the hordes of feral pokémon. They weren't attacked immediately, however. The several dozen pokémon just stared, no one moved a muscle.

A drop of Sean's blood hit the floor.

The horde descended upon them.

Sean received the delightful image of a horde of zombies clambering for his flesh and froze up as Rai said a few rather un-Rai things and lit up with electricity.

Over the sounds of lightning strikes, Sean made out a few sounds. "Y…u… …c… …ng… m… … nst… …s."

Rai overexerted himself greatly, but the display of electrical might warded the horde off and stunned them long enough for Sean and Litleo to run through the room with Rai and escape into a corridor.

"Please don't blow yourself up," Sean begged as they let Rai down to let him run along with them.

"Yeah, that'd be uncool," Litleo added.

"Eat this." Sean offered one of the dwindling oran berry's they had remaining, and Rai inhaled it. Sean hesitated, but then gave him another one. Litleo didn't say anything.

"I'm good," Rai reassured, still gasping for breath. "Promise. Just… a small rest?"

They found an alcove and pressed into it to wait.

"This dungeon," Sean said. It was all he had to say.

Their rest didn't provide much opportunity to recover, as something found them soon enough.

Stronger than the others, a luxio charged their alcove. Rai was able to charge some electricity, but Litleo stepped in the way.

"Go for it," he said, sending a warning Ember to the luxio.

"What?" Sean asked, not quite realising what Litleo was asking.

"I know you're slow, but not this time. Take Shinx and run for it. I'll cover you."

The two members of Team Ion stared at Litleo for a moment, but he was done with the talk and began sending Fire Blast's at the luxio, it responded with a Thunderbolt.

"Come on," Sean said, pulling Rai along and making a break for it.

"I'm ready," Litleo called, grinning as fire poured from his jaw. "How 'bout you?"

He leaped forward with an improvised Fire Fang, giving an exploding bite on the luxio's shoulder. He was sent flying up, but the luxio was thrown into a wall. Litleo landed on his stomach and felt the wind be knocked from his lung. He grunted and got back to his feet, pulling at his reserves. He chuckled as he could barely form another Ember. He hadn't had any of the oran berry's and was really feeling it now.

The luxio recovered and was coming for him again. In a less terrible condition as that first shinx he knocked out, this one had a gleam of intelligence to its madness and Litleo realised it knew he was exhausted and was going to wear him down.

He spluttered an Ember, trying to appear heartier than he was. But the sparks died quickly, and he coughed up smoke. The luxio's jaws crackled with electricity as it went for his neck.

Litleo dodged back but stumbled as everything seemed to hit him at once and his legs quivered. The luxio immediately came back for another shot and received a paw in its mouth instead of a neck.

Litleo grunted in pain as his paw was bitten, electricity coursing through his body and causing him to spasm. He would not go down easy and pushed his paw forward, jamming it down the luxio's throat and causing it to gag.

"I taste good, don't I?" Litleo taunted, gingerly putting his paw down. "Only the best I am."

The luxio snarled and eyed him cautiously as it backed off, missing the meowth that had come running back. A Night Slash took several whiskers off as Sean slashed it across the face.

Litleo stumbled in shock at Sean's reappearance, but before he could say anything an oran was jammed into his mouth. Sean blocked a Thunderbolt aimed for the recovering Litleo and crumpled but bought just enough time for Litleo to find the energy to call a point-blank Fire Blast.

The luxio went down and, this time, didn't get back up.

"My world is pain," Sean groaned as he forced himself up on quivering limbs.

"Took you long enough," Litleo scoffed, looking to where Rai should still be. He spotted the shinx quickly, running back their way himself and wearing a most adorable expression of concern. For Sean, no doubt.

"You're welcome," Sean muttered bitterly, but brightened when Rai reached them.

"I thought I told you to run," Litleo said, looking most disapprovingly. "I can assure you, I had it handled."

"Handled down its throat," Sean said, and Litleo gave him an appraising look.

"Heh, you're not too bad," he said, closest thing to a pure, non-egotistical, compliment thus far. Then he gave a hair flip. "But of course you had to have something to you if you're keeping up with Shinx." He flashed an exhausted grin at Rai, but Rai was only fussing over Sean.

"Whatever," Sean said, rolling his eyes. "Let's just keep going, this can't be much farther. We've been in here for hours."

Litleo led the line this time, tail pointing upwards in pride at his victory. Sean and Rai simply shared a vaguely annoyed, and amused, glance before following.

They were nearing the end of the dungeon now. Sean could just feel it. He was normally so great nowadays about taking things as they came, preparing carefully for what he knew to happen, keeping things ready for the moment.

Team Ion, plus Litleo, finished clearing out a stubborn room and shared a nod.

"This place can't go much longer," Sean groaned. He sort of felt like he was floating, he wasn't sure if that was a side-effect of the quick seeds he'd eaten or if his body was pulling blood from his limbs to preserve his torso.

Then, as if his words were all the dungeon was waiting for, the path began to change. All three of them perked up and walked faster, following as things continued to change after hours of the same over and over and over and over again.

Before they went too far, however, Sean decided to stop them.

"Hang on a moment guys," he said, coming to a stop. Both feline pokémon stopped with him and gave him a curious, then delighted, look like Sean was pulling food out of the bag. It was running rather low, but thankfully the dungeon had provided items as well. "Who knows what's up ahead, but we really should be as ready as we can be."

There was no argument and Sean watched fondly as Rai devoured his meal like a feral pokémon tearing through a carcass of apples. They had one elixir they shared between the three.

Litleo gave them both a curious look as they each drank a third before offering it to him, but he didn't argue and finished it.

"Uh, Rai?" Sean cleared his throat as well, thankfully politeness won out over attention and Rai looked to him. "So you've been a bit… wild today."

Rai swallowed heavily and shrugged. "It's this place. All the electricity in the air. All the memories it brings back. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Sean asked, just for his own peace of mind. "I mean… never knew you even knew how to use Bite. The move," he clarified when Litleo took on a cheeky expression.

Litleo pouted as Rai smiled. "I'm sure. We've not got long to go before we can leave, and I never have to come back to this place! I've already conquered my fear here, now…." He glanced off to the side in thought. "Now I just want to move on. This has been good for me I think."

"Ha!" Litleo crowed, startling Rai. Jeering, he said. "Told ya."

Sean pinched his lips together in a not-frown as Rai looked between them curiously. "Told him what?"

"Just that I was right that it was good for you to come here!" he laughed and pranced over to Rai and gave him a pat on the back. "He thinks I've been too tough on you, but clearly it was for the best."

"Too tough…?" Rai frowned, and his eyes slid to Sean before going back to Litleo and jerking back. "Hey don't touch me."

Litleo paused, paw still held up from where it was resting on Rai. "…Okay, jeez, sorry. No touchy, I getchy."

Still frowning, Rai eased away from Mane and joined Sean. The three fell into silence. Sean fiddled with the apple core he had, seriously tempted to eat it all and be happy about it.

"I didn't think that putting yourself through all this emotional trauma was necessarily going to be worth the emotional outcome in the end," Sean said, feeling the need to explain himself to the silence. Rai gave him a confused look but didn't cock his head.

"And I knew that you'd be fine," Litleo said. "Always knew you needed a push or twenty. Now look at you! Fancy apprentice to Wigglytuff, finally," he added softly.

"What?" Rai said, before his tone turned reproachful. "What? YOU didn't do anything to help. I only joined because of Sean, you just belittled and mocked me. All the time. For years."

Litleo flinched with each accusation thrown his way. The words had an effect, however, and he frowned and snapped back, "Hey! Everyone else was coddling you. I get what you've gone through is horrible, but you wouldn't have gotten anywhere if I didn't push you."

"Push me?" Rai demanded, now sparking with anger. "Push me where? Off a cliff? Because sometimes I-" Rai cut himself off and shook his head, eyes red and almost tearing up. "You did nothing but torment me. I don't owe you anything. I don't even know why you're here. Why did you come? What did you want out of this? TELL ME!"

"I don't have to tell you anything," Litleo growled back.

"WHY DID YOU TREAT ME LIKE YOU HAVE FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS?"

"Rai," Sean said, trying to calm his friend down.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I'D JUST FORGET ABOUT IT AND MOVE ON?"

"Rai please calm down."

"WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO? YOU SAID THIS WAS A TRAP BUT YOU CAME ANYWAY, IS IT YOUR TRAP? TELL ME! NOW!"

"I'm sorry," Litleo yelled back, silencing Rai better than anything Sean was trying.

"W-what?" Rai whispered.

"I'm… I'm sorry for the way I've treated you." Litleo's expression was moving up and down like a boat in a storm. Turning away, he glared at a wall before forcing himself back to face Rai. Gritting his teeth, he had his eyes closed rather than look at him. "Look. I don't hate you. I've never hated you. I just thought… everyone else they just were too easy… I mean, I just."

He continued to babble as Rai, and Sean, stared at him unblinkingly. Eventually, Litleo got control of himself and took a needed breath. "I thought I'd done the right thing. That's what Sean and I were arguing about. I thought I was right… I still think I'm not wrong." Rai lifted a paw up as Litleo scrambled for words. "But… maybe… did I go too far?"

"Yes," Rai replied without thinking, then he blinked and shook his head. "What? What? What are you talking about?"

"I've just been trying to push you to be better, since no one else would. But…." He cringed and scrubbed his face furiously. "Heh, wow. I really have been a… heh. Oh well, sorry doesn't fix things." With a crooked smile that really didn't look right, he pointed forwards. "Action does. Let's find your treasure."

Rai flicked his eyes from Litleo and onwards for a few long moments before eventually giving a nod. "Fine. I'm watching you. But… fine."

Litleo let them both pass him before he took up the rear guard silently.

Sean glanced back once, but Litleo's expression was like a mask, and he didn't say anything. Rai wasn't talking either.

The dungeon began to open up, the sky began to darken into pure darkness, and Team Ion plus Litleo entered the lightning fields.

"This place," Rai muttered, wonder and terror filling his voice. "This is right… this is right where I found my Relic Fragment!" He ran forward in jittery excitement, Sean keeping pace as he was quickly reminding himself what was going to bother them here. He kept a close eye on the cliffs surrounding them.

Forwards, and above a steep but scalable hill, lied the lightning fields. A seemingly endless expanse of constant lightning strikes. An eternal thunderstorm remained above it, providing Amp Plains with endless electricity.

"Over that hill, there's a small alcove," Rai explained as they ran forward, right into the middle of the clearing. "And that is where I found my Relic Fragment."

"Would it be there again?" Sean asked.

"I've always known it was special," he explained. "I could believe it has powers like that."

That didn't help his confidence. Nor did the constant rumble of thunder and the feeling of anticipation in the air. He figured it was the lightning but knew it could be something else.

"Okay let's just check it and get out of here," Sean said, growing more uncomfortable by the moment. Rai nodded, understanding.

"I've missed being here," he said wistfully. "It's always a storm, always." his expression shifted, and Sean cursed opening his mouth. "It was thundering then too." Rai came to a stop. "The place I heard my parents last."

As much as Sean wanted to support Rai in this emotional moment, he really wanted to get out of here. There was something else. Something that was making his claws itch, that put pressure behind his eyes, he was sure he could taste misery, and he knew he didn't like it here.

"Rai."

Black lightning struck.

Litleo tackled them both out of the way from the devastating blast, the shock-wave caused by its impact still sending them flying further. They flew past the rock jutting from the ground and rolled to a stop near the hill's beginning.

"Well/It/Well," a voice, rampant and unhinged called from above. All three looked up to see a manectric staring down from above. From behind it, a horde of electrike began closing in from all directions.

Rai and Litleo untangled from the pile of pokémon and bared teeth and claws at the approaching electrike, leaving Sean to stare up at the manectric in horror.

It was wrong.

Where the manectric's normally vibrant yellow fur shone, this one's fur was sickly and matted. The cerulean blue that matched it, was instead a washed-out mess. Corruption had long since set in and each strand of fur shimmered in its ugly depravity. Something dark like rotten purple crystals glittered amid it at times.

Shadow Manectric leaped down, landing in front of Sean and barely missing him, only due to Sean scrambling back. Rai and Litleo bumped backs with Sean as he backed to them, the three pokémon staring down the Shadow Pokémon.

The electrike were the same, matted and wrong. They were Hungry. Rai and Litleo quivered, and their palpable terror did not make Sean feel any better.

"You. Trespassers." Manectric spoke, stilted and laboured despite an edge of mocking remaining in its tone. "You. Fall. You. Descend. Come here. You. Submit. Die. Feed. HUNGRY!"

The aura was shifting over the electrike, and Sean hissed, "It's doing something." Both of his allies glanced back to see The Shadow roiling around the manectric.

"D-D-Die."

"To you? Never," Litleo whispered. Rai had stopped completely, simply staring at manectric.

"That voice," he whispered, coarse with emotion. "I heard it when my parents…."

He was too paralysed to even tear up as Sean and Litleo realised what Rai was saying.

"You." Sean turned back to the manectric. "You." He was almost beginning to sound like it now, quivering with fury. "You invaded this place. Didn't you?"

"All. Gone. All. Resisted. All. Perished."

Rai drew blood as he bit down hard on his mouth. He had known for years, there was no way his family wouldn't have come for him otherwise. To hear it confirmed, however.

"Submit?"

"NEVER!"

Rai screamed and erupted into electricity, being subsumed by the crackling voltage as he tore towards the shadow manectric.

The electrike all attacked at once, but the manectric was slower on the uptake and Rai lightning crashed into it with all the force of Rai's grief.

To Rai's credit, the manectric was thrown back from the veritable storm.

Sean met electrike tooth with each claw on all four paws forming a Night Slash. Being covered in blazing darkness that cut through the foul Shadow, he managed nearly a full thirty seconds before he was pushed back.

Litleo unleashed the inferno within him on the other half, bathing them in purifying flame. He succeeded in holding out another few seconds longer.

There were too many of them. They were too exhausted from reaching the area. And these Shadow-corrupted pokémon were too powerful.

Something churned in Sean's gut, he felt sick and starving and terrified as the blank eyes darker than anything feral, were closing in on them.

"STOP!" Sean screamed. To his credit, the electrike all did hesitate.

Shadow Manectric burst out of the hill it had been buried with, black lightning crackling around it. Its face had twisted into something indescribable, there was nothing that remained of what it once was besides the feeble frame.

With Manectric attacking again, the electrike swarmed forward, overwhelming Sean and Litleo with sheer numbers.

The corrupted creature unleashed the black lightning crackling around it upon Rai and he screamed before matching it with yellow lightning, fighting the tendrils of death off with everything he had.

The twin bolts were matched in the sky for a moment, creating a corona of light that sent the fur of every creature present straight up. Lightning burned the air, and the stench of ozone began to hang thickly.

Rai was shuddering, being pressed back as he overexerted himself. Through his tears, however, he gave a wild cry, a bestial shout native to his wild family.

With a final cry like thunder, Rai blasted right through the black lightning and his show of power called down the power of the skies as natural lightning forked down and struck manectric multiple times, each bolt attracting more until the thunderstorm was unleashing its wrath upon the scourge of Amp Plains.

It was not enough.

Rai couldn't make a sound as his vision swam. His electricity completely sapped and willpower fading. He staggered before slumping onto his side. He could hardly hear Sean and Litleo yelling out for him, but he couldn't get up. Something strong cradled him.

The world went black.

"Rai!" Sean screamed when Rai collapsed. The brave shinx didn't respond and he struggled to get free of the electrike pile that was biting and shocking him. His limbs were failing, his eyes couldn't stay open. He managed to pull himself free after pushing all his anger through one limb and into his claws. He heard an electrike yelp and the grip eased enough for him to tear himself free.

He staggered and collapsed, he tried to crawl but something shocked him, preventing him from getting to Rai. Something safe cradled him.

The world went black.

Litleo yelled and roared, but he was choking under the weight of the electrike, the weight of the Shadow poking and prodding against him. They were smothering him, he would die, they were going to kill him.

Let it in.

He thought. His vision was fading, his lungs were being compressed.

Salvation, if you let it in.

Sean and Rai fell silent and Litleo couldn't tell what had happened to them. He was beset from all sides and his head felt as heavy as stone.

Let it in. Do as your mother prepared you for-

"NO!"

Litleo coughed smoke, he couldn't breathe a spark to save his life. A fact he found irrationally funny at the moment. Something cool cradled him.

The world went black.

Dusknoir arrived on scene, witnessed Rai destroy the black lightning, and then collapse. He went for the meowth first and stored him safely in his belly mouth, grabbing the unconscious shinx next. Very brave, Dusknoir decided. He took him into the safety of his torso next. They were not lost souls, but they would survive this.

The dogpile of electrike continued swarming over one more area and Dusknoir considered leaving it be, but a yell of defiance and puff of smoke made his mind up for him. This Litleo was a known bully and troublemaker in Treasure Town. It wouldn't be so amiss as to leave him.

And yet….

Dusknoir removed the corrupted pokémon and took the third pokémon in his hand before opening his belly mouth one more time and gently settling him next to the members of Team Ion. He could have left him, but he respected the defiance the litleo showed.

With them safe, Dusknoir turned to Shadow Manectric. He sent the electrike who dared to attempt to attack him away with shadows of his own. Pure shadows, those untainted by this force.

"Foul. Die. Die. Again. Die. Die. Die. Die." The manectric chanted and Dusknoir shook his head.

Not even a manectric, Dusknoir decided. Nothing as noble as a pokémon. Not even a monster. Not even a demon. Just a shell.

He reached forward as it unleashed the black lightning upon him, but to Dusknoir it was nothing. He deflected it with his own shadow and continued advancing as the shell grew more desperate.

"Be at peace," Dusknoir said, grabbing it by the throat and beginning to relieve it of what little vitality that remained. "Give up. Rest now. Go."

The electrike had long fled by the time Dusknoir left Amp Plains, three terribly injured pokémon within his form. He hurried for Treasure Town, he would not take rest this night. Not for this.

Those at Treasure Town, especially the guild, would be most pleased upon his return with their apprentices, and one saved troublemaker. Enough to listen to him perhaps. If nothing else, the companions of Grovyle would be more likely to listen to him now.

"Yes," Dusknoir thought as he flew as quickly as he could. "This whole endeavour will be worth it."

Dusknoir to the rescue?

So, in the original version of Warped Skies this was my least favourite chapter. Of all of them. This was mostly because it was way too heavy on the battles. Which was a pity as otherwise, the talks between Litleo and Sean, and then Litleo's apology to Rai were great moments! But it was weighed down by the chapter.

So, I cut them down a chunk and might post them in the side story along with other stuff I take out but still happens!