So. Like a dummy, I forgot to update the character tags. I decided on the pairing back when I posted Chapter 10, wtf is wrong with me?

Anyhow, if you're not interested in the accidental sudden development, I won't judge ya. Dip if you want. If you're unphased or come along after the tag update, cool. Hope you enjoy the chapter lol

The clinic's lobby was infected by a cacophony of noise.

Duskull floated by Leon and Raihan's sides as they watched Blissey bark orders, Snowcap racing around with berries for the Mightyena as his boss checked Piers' unconscious form. At some point, the blood flow had become too much for Ninetales to even give them false hope, the old fox having soon left with Flaaffy to report the attack with his silver fur dyed red in places.

"I'm really sorry about this," the child whispered, sniffing despite her lack of a nose. "I shouldn't have run off on my own, or this never would have happened!"

"Don't blame yourself, even if you weren't there, I think that bastard would have tortured those Mightyena regardless," Leon murmured as he watched the weak hyena Pokemon feebly nibble their oran berries, glancing at Raihan to see him silently staring. Blissey was in the process of moving their friend to another room. "All those types of wankers want is to hurt people. Who it is, I don't think it matters."

Raihan dragged himself over to the doctor as she rested Piers on the hay bed, his heart leaping into his throat as he caught sight of the wound. With the blood cleaned away from his eye as much as possible, he could see just how damaged it was. Even his eyelid was mangled, some remnants of fluid discolouring the fur. "Is- Is he going to be okay?"

"Does it look like it," Blissey deadpanned, exhaling as she picked up a cloth on her side table and dipped it in some form of liquid. He assumed it was whatever Pokemon used as disinfectant. "He lost a lot of blood, even after I give him the full treatment he's going to need to rest." She glanced at the Linoone and her brow furrowed. "With the pure trauma that eye of his has suffered, I believe there's a good chance he'll never be able to see out of it again."

Just the words made him dizzy, as he tried to shake his head back into sense. How he hated how one of the thoughts struck out - how would they get home like this? "No… Is there nothing you can do about it?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to regenerate eyeballs." Regardless of Blissey's callous words, he could see how her expression was one of melancholy. "I'll try my best but I need you to leave. I can't let you stay while I'm delivering surgery."

His legs almost buckled under him as he yelped, "Wait, do you mean leave the room or-"

"Eevee will be busy attending to patients and I will be in here for quite a while," she grumbled, sighing. "You, your friend and the child shouldn't loiter. Take her home and I'll send Eevee to fetch you when I'm done."

"But- But-"

She couldn't cross her stubby arms, but her tired glare was enough to get the point across. "You'll just be in the way, I'm sorry. Being here worrying isn't going to help him or anyone else. Unless you happen to have any authority on making medical decisions for him?" Feeling his head heavier than usual, he glanced down at the floor. "I thought so. Take a walk, your mate's going to be fine."

The Trapinch dragged himself out, looking at Leon and Duskull. Leon's expression was very much worried whilst Duskull was unable to emote, but the iciness she was radiating suggested the same. "We're going. Is it okay if we take you back to your brother, Duskull?"

She stared at him for a moment then tilted up and down, signifying a nod. "That's fine… You want to interrogate him, don't you?"

"I wasn't thinking about it, but now you brought it up, I do," he deadpanned, prompting Leon to snort despite the crashing tension.

"Same… Actually, do you mind if I talk to Rai alone real quick before we go?" She motioned again and Leon gestured for him to follow him to the open doors, glancing back at her before mumbling. "Arceus knows if this is far enough… But I don't really want to leave her alone completely."

Raihan gave a quiet chuckle, though he could guess what was on his mind before he voiced it. "You don't trust Haunter, do you? I don't think you like the idea of bringing her back home."

Leon's expression turned sheepish as he murmured. "Read me like a book, huh? I can't gauge how she feels… But he rubs me the wrong way. Maybe we should take a long route and ask her about him before we get there."

He tilted his head. "Is there a long route? The bank's like up the road."

"Right, so let's take her for a walk before we head there. He won't know." He stuck his hand outside to gesture to the right. "If I remember right, the beach is that way and a tiny bit down. I just want to make sure she's happy."

Peeking at the clueless girl, Raihan gave a quiet chuckle. "I get ya. You barely know her but you've already switched to Big Brother mode." He laughed harder as Leon nudged him with his foot, drawing some puzzled looks from the child and Snowcap as he stopped mid-task. "Come on then, let's take the kid and go for a walk."

Raihan started looking for shells in the sand, leaving Leon and Duskull to their own devices as they peered out at the sea.

"It's so pretty today!" Duskull did a little flip in the air, chirping, "Look at all the sparklies!"

The longer they spent with Duskull, the more Leon wondered just how old this child was. How Pokemon aged was a mystery but there was surely a difference between Eevee, Vulpix and Duskull, even if they were all apparently children. … Even by Pokemon standards, was she too young to be running off by herself?

At the very least, she was rather articulate for a kid.

"Do you go to this place often?"

She shook from side to side, gesturing to the stairs leading up to the town. "Nah, if I'm not working with my big brother, I'm usually going to the forest. There's more to do there, the beach is pretty lonely!"

"Why don't you ask some of the other kids to play with you here then?" At his words, the light of her eye dimmed and she looked away. "You don't hang out with them, do you?"

"They find my brother scary, they probably think I'm scary too. The Pokemon outside town aren't usually scared of me though. Do you find my brother scary?"

"Honestly, I find him more obnoxious than scary," Leon muttered under his breath, feigning a smile as she stared at him, the orb behind her mask flickering to represent blinking. "It just kinda surprised me that he lets a kid like you run off by yourself when anything could happen. Do you do that often?"

She stared at him a little louder before turning her attention back to the sea. "He doesn't stop me so I don't see anything wrong with it. If I went to Labyrinth Forest, it would be terrible, but Nightmare Forest doesn't change like the other places. So I'm never scared of going there because I know my way home."

Well, that was something else he had to question about this world. Why did some places become Mystery Dungeons but not others? Those dungeons must be terrible homes. No wonder the residents were always pissy. He glanced down at his clasped claws. Home. That was far away and after today, who knew when he'd finally see Hop again? "See, I'm a big brother too. So it kind of scares me to see a little kid going into dangerous places, you know? Your brother should be keeping more of an eye on you. How long were you stuck in that forest before we came for you?"

Duskull trembled, the sight making his stomach churn. He shouldn't have said anything. However the little thing had more strength than him as she continued talking. "I was playing with the Poochyena yesterday and forgot what time it was. It was so dark that the Mightyena wanted me to stay with them until the morning. Then Everade came around. I don't know if he knew I was there or if he was just walking through, but then he started throwing around his vines… He's such a bully!"

"I don't think 'bully' is a strong enough word for him," he whispered, feeling himself shake. Slowly, things were starting to piece together. "You said he knew you and your brother, right? How does he?"

She gave another little sobbing sound, as heart wrenching as it was confusing. His claw instinctively moved to comfort but fell through her. "I'm not completely sure… But our sister told Haunter to stay away from him."

His brow shot up as he gawked at her, stumbling over his words as he yelped, "Your what- Sister? What- This feels like there's a lot more to this story than I thought," he finished with an awkward mumble, prompting her to quietly wheeze. At the very least, it was preferable to those other noises.

"I don't really get it… But Banette was the only one Haunter listened to. They were… I don't know if he loved her, he never loved me…" His stomach sank as he continued to watch the child, unable to read an expression but just feeling some strange emotions radiating from her. It was as though it was ebbing between nostalgia and pain. "She would always protect us, though. Then when she died… Our brother started working more. He used to teach me how to play pranks on the other kids but then he stopped and started doing it by himself." That felt less like pranking, more like bullying, Leon couldn't help but note. "And I ended up playing by myself. I think Haunter's sad, even if he doesn't say it."

"Even if he's sad, he shouldn't be taking out on others," he murmured, but he noted as his claw reflexively tried to pat, it landed this time. "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it feels like Haunter got himself into a mess with this Roserade. And I'm not sure if it's safe for you two to be together." She gazed up at him, blinking. "Roserade got away, he's hurt but who knows when he'll come back? He might try to go for you again to get back at him."

"But…" Her voice was barely a whisper as she shook herself from side to side again. "I don't want to be away from my brother, he's the only person I have! Even if he doesn't like me and got stuck with me.." His blood was threatening to freeze within him, yet he couldn't help but give this terrible situation his full attention, seeing how her eye-orb glowed brighter as she found words. "I still love him. Is being alone the only way?"

He struggled for a response but found Raihan coming to his rescue as he returned to them, dropping some particularly shiny shells before them. "I'm not so sure about that. Right now, both of you are in danger. So I think we should be hiding the both of you. Haunter's not going to be any safer at the bank by himself." He glanced up at the rest of the village above them. "What we should do is tell Haunter what happened. If he and Roserade really do know each other, we might be able to find out what's going on and find a solution."

Raihan was right. Taking a deep breath, Leon rested a claw behind his back and tightened it. He couldn't deny, he was really worried about Duskull's relationship with her brother right now. But that wasn't the only problem here. He had to think about the bigger picture.

Then maybe he could knock some 'brothering' lessons into Haunter's non-existent skull.

"Okay. Then let's go find him. … He owes us a reward anyway, especially after we got the shit smacked out of us like that."

Raihan gave a quiet chuckle and led the way. However, Leon could tell exactly what was on his mind.

They arrived at the bank just as Haunter was done serving a customer.

"Arceus, that Houndoom needs a calculator," the ghost grumbled as he watched the canine disappear down the street, "If he wanted to round up to 1500, he should have asked what 1500 - 600 was, not take 800 and bitch about not having enough! Are all the guild guards that dumb?!"

"I don't think bitching about your customers is very professional," Leon deadpanned, stopping in front of the counter to watch Duskull haul herself over it and send her brother crashing into the chests inside the hut with a tackle.

"What- What the-"

"Haunterrrrrrrr! It was so scary, there was a big bully in the forest! It- He-"

The child started sobbing and he stared down at her, awkwardly patting her before grumbling. "What the fuck happened?"

"We should be asking you that," Raihan found himself growling, a pathetic attempt of jumping onto the counter foiled by both his weight and Leon's arm blocking his path. "You sent us on a fucking suicide mission!"

Haunter stared at them then placed Duskull on the ground next to a few bags, returning to his usual position. "What are you on about? Were the Mightyena that bad? I already got an earful from the mayor, I really don't need a lecture from you guys as well."

"It's not about the Mightyena!" Leon crossed his arms, scowling. "Those Mightyena are currently in the clinic because of what we ended up in. Because some bastard Roserade attacked them and your sister!"

For a moment, he was silent, statue-still in his spot as his gaze remained fixated. Then his rough voice turned into what felt like an uncharacteristic whisper, glancing back at his trembling sibling. "You got into a scrap with a Roserade? Did he happen to have black and purple flowers?"

"That's right, and because of him, our friend is in surgery!" Raihan snapped, digging his feet into the ground as he glared up at him. "We would have died if it wasn't for the mayor! So why don't you explain what the fuck-"

The Trapinch felt a light swat to his side, the sheer surprise making him roll onto his shell. As he struggled to get back to his feet, Leon gave him an apologetic frown then leaned on the counter, glaring at their client. "We need answers. That bastard held your sister hostage because if she left, he would find and kill the both of you. What on Earth did you do to get yourself involved with a serial killer, Haunter?"

He turned away, returning to the chests to take what looked like a scrap of paper off the top of one. He passed it to Duskull. "Run to the Kecleon Market for me. They should have our order of berries in by now."

She was clearly confused but nodded, taking the slip and waving to Leon and Raihan, who was still struggling, before disappearing down the street. The child now out of hearing range, Haunter returned to the conversation, with an expression that seemed tired more than anything. "We met when I was a teenager. It was stupid, but I was bored and trying to piss my father off. That Roserade was one of his rivals." He lowered his voice as he glanced at the Pokemon standing around outside the nearby cafe. "I used to do little favours for him. Like source certain kinds of goods for him."

Leon tilted his head as he tried to decipher the words before frowning. "You mean… Like drugs? You weren't running a black market, were you?"

"Nothing that glamorous, I just swiped them and he'd swing by to pick it up," he responded with a snort. How he did that without a nose, that was an enigma in itself. "We worked together for a few years. Then my older sister found out what was happening." One of his detached hands rubbed his side as though he was feeling a phantom pain. "She wasn't pleased. She knocked the both of us around then told Everade never to come near me again. Never saw him after that but I heard he went over the deep end. Or maybe he already was, who knows?" He shrugged as best as one could without shoulders. "I imagine he's still pissed off at me for dropping out of the business."

So Everade was pissed at losing his dealer. No matter how Leon tried to spin it, he couldn't rationally understand it. He took a shaky breath, trying to piece it together with what Duskull had told him. "Your older sister was a Banette right?" Haunter stared at him. "Duskull mentioned her. I don't know for sure, but it kind of feels like now she's out of the way, Roserade's using it as an opportunity to get back at you. Of course I don't know for sure but… You and Duskull are in danger either way. Until he's caught, I don't think it's safe for you to stay here."

As Haunter's eyes narrowed, Raihan finally found his footing as he added, "Maybe Mayor Ninetales can arrange somewhere else for you two to stay until this blows over."

"Are you suggesting I abandon my work?" the ghost growled, the air growing icy. Raihan slowly backed away as Leon shook his tail to counter the sudden breeze with his flame. "This is my way of living, I can't just leave it!"

"And if you don't leave, you won't be living anyway!" Leon snarled, his claws digging into the counter. Instead of chastising, Haunter's eyes grew wide as he floated back a few inches. "I know you're a fucking workaholic but swallow your pride for once and think! You and your sister could literally die! And even if you don't care, Duskull does! She doesn't want to leave without you!"

He went quiet again for a moment. In that brief silence, Leon got the strangest impression. When was the last time someone had stood up to Haunter like this? Then he heard a barely audible murmur as he seemed to search for something in the back. "I don't know why, I've barely been family to her. She's only with me because she has nobody else left." He exhaled, dropping a bag in front of them before crossing his hands. "Fine, I'll talk to Mayor Ninetales. But Everade won't stop at us. I doubt that sadist ended up the way he is just from chasing grudges. If he comes back, how will the rest of the village survive?"

"The guild won't let him wreck havoc without a fight, I know that. Mayor Ninetales and Flaaffy are putting out an alert for him being detected in the area, I think… I think we'll all be fine in the end," Raihan murmured, staring at the bag feeling a wave of tiredness wash over him. After today, he really had to rest. "Is this our reward?"

"What do you think?" Haunter turned away, grumbling. "Hopefully that's enough to get more than just healing supplies after that fight. There's also a few seeds in there. I know I own a bank but if I cut into the storage, the mayor will kick me out faster than you can say 'Spite'."

Right. Raihan had no idea how banks earned money but at least they weren't being stiffed. "Thanks. We have a lot of reviver seeds to buy."

At the break of night time, as the duo watched the village square start to shut down, Snowcap came to fetch them. The lad was no less out of breath as he guided them back, crashing behind the clinic desk with his mission complete.

Blissey barely stuck her leg out in time to topple Raihan as he went straight to the surgery room, the clinic walls shaking from the impact. "Slow down, don't go jumping on your friend just yet. He'll be staying overnight so I can keep an eye on him but you have five minutes before I shut the clinic, alright?"

He gave a dumb nod before calmly entering the room, Leon letting out an awkward laugh as he murmured, "So… Uh… How did it go exactly?" Blissey stared at him. "You know, is he going to make a full recovery?"

"He's not going to die any time soon, that's the only good thing I can say right now," she grumbled, patting her egg. With how tired she looked, he assumed she had spammed Soft-Boiled during surgery. "I did all I could, but his eye couldn't be salvaged."

Leon's legs almost gave out as he processed those words, mouth growing uncomfortably dry even for a fire type. Then he turned from the doctor as he dragged himself into the room, tail flame flickering weakly.

He could barely see Piers with how Raihan was flailing over him, just narrowly aware enough not to drop the whole of his body weight on the struggling badger. Even in this state, fur still mangled in places and ears bandaged up, Piers seemed adamant in refusing to swallow his pride for a moment as his tail whacked the frenzied Trapinch.

"Rai, I told you I'm fine, get off me!"

"How can I?! If you could see what that bastard did to you, you'd understand why I can't!"

"I can't see, that's the problem, you moron!" The way his strangled yelp turned into a whimper invalidated that previous statement completely. But Leon couldn't voice that as he pushed Raihan back onto his shell, looking Piers in the face.

His stomach felt ready to erupt as he took in the gauze obscuring what he knew was an empty socket, exposed patches of pink skin below it scarred over as a permanent display of the trajectory of that whip. "I'm going to kill that Roserade the next time we see him." His shins started shaking, the sudden explosion of his flame prompting Raihan to yelp.

"Hey, careful!"

He swiftly extinguished his tail with a flurry of sand before Leon could react, the Charmeleon swiftly igniting it again with a much more cautious flicker as he snapped, "What the fuck was that for?!"

"What do you mean, 'what was that for'? You could have set the whole place on fire, you idiot!"

Piers could barely focus on the two as they started shouting at each other, Raihan more clear on the right side of his vision but Leon blurring the further out of range his body jutted. He rubbed at his ears, claws slipping under the bandages in a feeble attempt to spread them over his ear canals.

"I really don't care right now! We all almost died less than 12 hours ago! And that bastard's roaming around free!"

"I know, but if you're not careful, you could kill us!" Piers watched the two tremble, the liquid building up in Raihan's eyes threatening to spill over with each retort. "I'm upset too but- We barely made it out! We can't go looking for revenge against someone who can knock us around even when it's not super effective, can we?!"

Covering his face, Piers quietly groaned, grimacing as his stitched eyelid under the dressing throbbed. "You two… Can you not do this right now?"

However, his pleas went unheard as his friends continued arguing. His senses started to dim, angry words becoming incoherent. All he could pick up was the occasional insult, cursing their escaped attacker and each other.

Fur bristling, his own attempts at self-restraint failed as he slammed the two of them with a Headbutt, pain shooting through him. "That's enough, damn it!"

Raihan buckled on the spot and Leon was sent back a few paces, staring wide-eyed at Piers and watching him stumble, twitching. "Piers- You shouldn't be doing that!" Raihan squawked only to clamp his mouth shut again as Piers snapped back at them.

"And you two shouldn't be at each other's throats!" The way his temple screamed was trying to rob the sight in his remaining eye with black splotches in his blurring vision. "Just stop! I really don't care where the fuck this Roserade is right now, what I care about is-" His screeching stopped with an abrupt whimper, curling back into the hay. "We're alive. That's all that should matter… But I can't… Even if we find him again, I don't think I can fight like this." He muffled another whine, the images of his friends distorting. "We have four days left starting tomorrow. It's not enough. How are we going to get home at this rate? And even if we do…" He weakly touched the bandages protecting his empty socket. "Will I even be able to see Marnie anymore?"

They went quiet, glancing at each other then at their exhausted friend before them. "I'm sorry," Leon murmured, crouching down to lightly pat the side of his face, "I thought I was, but I really didn't think about your feelings at all, did I? I'm just so angry…" He exhaled, forcing down bile as he rested his gaze on that covered wound again. "I suppose if we're lucky, we won't have to deal with Everade again before we go home. If we do though, I'll protect that other eye of yours. That bastard isn't getting away with hurting anyone again."

Raihan joined him, nesting down next to them as he mumbled, "It's a long shot… But maybe the injury won't remain when we get home? Lee's injuries didn't carry over…" He sensed the Charmeleon tense, whispering. "Lee?"

"It's not that simple." Leon's legs trembled underneath him, his claw lightly pressing on the hip. "When I woke up, it was like my leg was lead. I had it back, but I couldn't move it. It was like learning to use a prosthetic again. Even now, I still get pains in it though I know there's nothing wrong with it. Even if this doesn't carry over, Piers might have to learn to use it again."

"The way you put it, it sounds like my brain might ignore it like a lazy eye," he murmured, nose wrinkling. "I hope that isn't the case, but I suppose there's also the fact we don't know what happened to our old bodies. Did they physically warp? Or did we get completely new bodies so they're lying in a coma somewhere?"

Raihan gawked at them then shuddered. "Arceus, I never even thought that… Did our bodies physically change, or were our brains and souls carried into new ones?"

"Guess that's for us to find out." Piers yawned, vision just about giving up on him completely. "I need to rest. Turns out losing an eye takes a lot out of you."

They exchanged sheepish glances. "Right… We should let you sleep then," Raihan grumbled awkwardly as Leon gave a crooked grin.

"We should. Night Piers, we'll pop back down in the morning."

As they left the room, Blissey cleared her throat, prompting the duo to jump. "You lot really need to be careful what you're talking about in public."

They looked at each other again with panicked glances before Leon weakly murmured, "How much did you hear?"

"Enough." She sighed. "Now I understand why Mayor Ninetales brought him to me instead of letting Pawmot do the job. She would have spread this around the whole guild by now. You two are very fortunate that my apprentice went to sleep."

"Surprised we didn't wake him up with all the yelling." Raihan averted his eyes, glancing at the closed clinic doors. "Does it not bother you that you're tending to a human?"

Blissey yawned. "It wouldn't be the first time. Hopefully you three learn to be more secretive like our resident Blaziken. Now hurry off to the guild, I'm about to lock the clinic."

They scurried out. Leon looked at the starry night sky as Raihan wheezed, the two set back on their path. "That was close."

"We're very lucky Blissey just doesn't give a shit. I'm sorry, Rai." He stared at him. "I'm just so boiled up by what happened, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"And I shouldn't have extinguished your tail for you." Raihan exhaled. "Just our luck though. I thought Eternatus was our only problem, guess not."

"Now we got into trouble with that Roserade too…" Leon's tail flame lit up the darkness as they made their way back to their guild rooms. "I won't let him get away next time. If he comes for Duskull again, I'm going to take care of it. I can't let her and Piers down."

"Then I'll focus on getting stronger to take down Eternatus. I know Piers is going to want to fight, but I need to make sure I can take it on for the two of you." He managed a lopsided smile as he plodded along. "Then you'll be able to see Hop and Marnie again."

Leon lightly nudged Raihan with his foot again, careful not to topple him over. "Don't work yourself too hard, alright? No matter what, we're going home together."

Day 1 was over.

And it would take all their strength to gain that power they needed to pave their way home.