The air between us is really tense right now. We're walking back to the guild, and I'm just looking down while Ren keeps mumbling something in front of me. He's so mad at me, and I just want to talk things out, but there's so many other pokémon around in the city streets and I don't wanna draw any attention.
I wait until we're about to enter the guild, in the area that's a bit secluded from the rest of the city, to actually speak up.
"Ren… I'm sorry-"
He suddenly turns around and snaps. "You are? Then why didn't you even try to fight? What's your problem?"
I flinch hard. He's so scary like that, and he doesn't usually raise his voice so much. He must be really tired of me… already. That was fast. I can't blame him, though.
"I… I just couldn't. That Swadloon was going through such hard times, I couldn't bring myself to treat him like a heartless criminal. He did all that because he couldn't afford-"
"Yeah, I know that, you've explained three times already!" He pinched his nose and closed his eyes, collecting himself. Once he had calmed down, he looked back at me and spoke a bit quieter. "We've been a team for two weeks now, but you keep refusing to fight. Why are you even an explorer?"
Why? I ask myself the same many times. Because I wanna be a brave warrior, like my parents! That's what I want, isn't it?
Because I wanna be someone. Because I wanna be useful.
̶B̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶n̶a̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶d̶.̶
"That's… I don't know, but that's not important now!" I say, and Ren does change his expression at that for a moment, but his frown returns soon. "The thing is, um, I'm not fighting because you keep picking just outlaw missions…"
He scowls. "So what? You wanna get me stuck in basic item fetch quests?" He suddenly stops, his claws digging into his satchel and touching the broken item we just retrieved from the outlaw, and his eyes widen slowly as something clicks on him. "You're trying to sabotage me… You want me to fail!"
"What? N-no, that's not it at all!"
"Why should I trust you?" He says dryly, stepping closer to me, which makes me feel smaller. "You've done nothing but make everything harder! You're obviously not weak but you refuse to fight."
I rub my arm nervously, trying to suppress the urge to cry. "I'm sorry, I swear I'm not trying to sabotage anything… I really want us to succeed."
Ren stares at me with a scowl for a long moment until he sets down the item in his satchel and turns around, going inside the guild. He doesn't even say anything, which leaves me worse than before. I just wanna fix this…
I'm just a liability to him, as I feared. As he feared. And nothing I do is enough to change that. Why am I like this? If only I could at least compensate somehow… It's my responsibility to do so.
We're now inside the guild, in the Guildmaster's chamber, meeting with both him, Kaden and our client. She's clearly not happy about our result. We were supposed to defeat the thief, bring him with us, and bring the stolen item as well. And not only we didn't catch the criminal (my fault), but the item is…
"Broken?" The Altaria looks at the remains of the brooch we were unable to save from the mission. She looks at both of us with a scowl that looks like she's about to implode. "Who did this?"
I guess we could pretend it was the outlaw who broke it, after all, there was a battle and there could be collateral damage. But still…
"I broke it!" All eyes turn to me, and I can feel both the angry scowl of the Altaria and the confused look of the Sneasel. "I just… I'm sorry, it was hard to keep it safe in the middle of the battle. B-but I assume all the responsibility."
And that's how it goes. Altaria keeps yelling at me while the guildmaster and his second-in-command watch, the latter looking a bit concerned about me. It's fine, I'm used to this, to failing and then dealing with the consequences.
I'm exhausted after this. Ren and I return to our room, well, his room, and I just stay quiet and still while I wait for him to start scolding me again. I can sense he was waiting for us to be alone before doing so. After all, I gave him many reasons.
"What was that?" He finally asks, surprisingly calm.
"I… What of all that?"
Ren rolls his eyes and crosses his arms, impatient. "Don't pretend. We both know it was me who broke the brooch. Why did you say it was you?"
Right. It was he who broke it, but it was because of me. I made him mad because I was so useless, and he broke it in an angry fit. I couldn't blame him.
"Because I didn't want her to get mad at you… You didn't deserve that. It was my fault that you broke it, so this is what I had to do. I deserve it."
"... What?" He simply says. I thought he wanted to yell at me, but he just looks confused. "Why would you…?"
I shake my head. "You said it, I've only made it harder for you, so it's only fair that I take the punishment instead." However, the Sneasel looks as if he's frowning now. Oh no, I think he didn't like that… "O-or I can stop doing that, sorry, I should have asked you first…"
Ren is still as confused as before. I don't know if he wants to snap at me or if he's seeing aipoms on my face. Eventually, he just sighs. "I don't understand. Really, what are you even doing?"
What am I even doing…?
%$·&$/%&)?"!*"$¡%
Ren is no longer in front of me. Instead, there's a blue figure, smaller than me but similar in a way, standing with their back turned. Who is this? This isn't part of my memories.
"Hey, who are you?"
The figure perks up and slowly turns around. I flinch as I see a Riolu kid that I can recognize pretty well. It's me, from when I was a little kid. But there's something really wrong with it.
… Where the hell are my eyes?
I step back, scared of it. I don't know what's going on, but something about this makes me feel… wrong. Did I do something bad? What's this feeling?
"You…" The little Ari says. Why so cryptic?
"I'm sorry…" I say, now with tears in my eyes, for some reason.
Why did I say that?
It's been a few days since Ari managed to hear the message from the voice in his mind, asking him to go to Misty Valley. It took the team a lot of convincing to be allowed to visit that place since they weren't precisely the highest-rank investigators out there, but now that things had calmed down a little since the feral incident they were finally given the chance.
Brynel had tagged along, as he promised, and that was basically the only reason why they were allowed to go officially. Ari would have proposed to go unofficially in case they weren't given permission either way, but they wouldn't have Brynel with them if they did, so this was the best outcome.
Misty Valley was a few hours away from Bismuth Town, so they arrived almost at noon. The place was what they imagined by the name: a valley with a dense fog. It wasn't the usual bluish fog from every mystery dungeon, since this one wasn't a dungeon anymore, so at least they didn't have to worry about getting lost or disorientated.
Small mountain formations surrounded the area, which had a bit of a gloomy feeling due to the fog, even if there weren't that many trees blocking the sunlight. Well, it's not like there was much sunlight that day, since the sky was covered in dark clouds. The vegetation had a bit of a muted color and the general vibe was quite tense. There was a weird silence that felt like something could jump at them from behind the bushes at any time.
"Remember, the ferals aren't trapped here anymore, but that doesn't mean they're not around;" the Zeraora explained. "Many of them didn't leave once the blue fog was lifted, since this is still their home after all. So be careful."
"Well, that's just g-great…" Nimb complained, staying closer to Ari. "I don't like this."
Ari couldn't pretend as he also leaned closer to Nimb, "Me neither…"
"Come on, just because it's a bit dark doesn't mean it's that dangerous," Sanah said, but she didn't look that sure of herself. "It's just… some harmless fog."
"It's not that I'm scared of danger, I just don't like jumpscares, that's all," Ari explained but was quickly gripped tighter by Nimb, who had just heard a feral screeching in the distance. "Like that one."
"You don't have to worry, I'm here this time," Brynel said with a nod. "And the most dangerous ferals are the ones who left and ended up in Bismuth Town, so this shouldn't be too dangerous."
"I hope you're right…" Nimb said, loosening his grip on Ari a little.
The trip was calm so far, but they did run into a few ferals. Some were just minding their own business and didn't even bother attacking them, but some others were as vicious as usual. However, Brynel proved to be a great ally, knocking out foes so fast that no one else had time to even try to help.
One of the ferals they encountered, a swadloon, managed to dodge Brynel and went straight for Ari, as expected, but he quickly formed a protect barrier in front of him, stopping it just in time. He then punched it with a rock smash and sent it flying right towards the Zeraora, who also responded with a thunder punch of his own.
The swadloon was sent towards a nearby tree and impacted it, making it shake and drop several leaves that ended up covering its unconscious body. Ari sighed and spoke.
"That was close… Hey, how come you are so strong?"
"Oh, you mean me?" Brynel asked, and he got a nod. "Well, I had to train a lot to join the police. You need to be strong if you want to catch criminals and stuff!"
Mylo crossed his arms and hummed in thought. Maybe he could take advantage of that somehow… "Hey Brynel, you think you could train me someday?" Everyone turned to him.
"Wait, weren't you already training with Reko?" Ari asked.
"Yes, but Brynel is clearly stronger, and he's an electric type like me."
"Hmmm, I'm not sure," Brynel said, tilting his head as he thought about it. "I'm already quite busy most of the time. I don't know if-"
"I'll pay you if necessary. I'm willing to do whatever it takes," Mylo said, determined.
Brynel looked a bit surprised by that but recomposed quickly. "I… guess I could try. I'll let you know whenever I'm free."
Mylo relaxed and a subtle grin formed on his face. He didn't care if it was too much for him, he was willing to have double training from two different teachers.
"Are you… sure you want to do this? You're taking it too seriously," Ari said. He knew why he wanted this so bad, and he didn't like it.
Mylo cast him a glance, his determination morphing into a subtle frown. "... I'm sorry, but I'm sure you can understand my reasons. Remember, this isn't anything personal, okay?"
The Riolu looked away, unable to hide his disappointment, but he nodded in the end. Sanah wanted to know so badly what was happening, but she didn't want to have an awkward interaction with Mylo, so she kept her mouth shut.
Nimb looked like he was about to ask, but something caught his eye first. "W-wait guys, didn't you hear that?"
He got some confused looks, but he pointed towards a clearing not far from there, and everyone stood silent, listening to any sounds. After a tense moment, they perked up as they heard some steps.
"You're right, I think there's someone there," Sanah said. "Should we go check?"
Ari shrugged. "I mean, that's what we came to do, so…"
Brynel made the first move by standing in front of the group. "Be careful in case it's a feral, we might have to fight." Everyone nodded, to Nimb's discomfort.
Team Silver plus Brynel approached the small clearing, taking careful steps to not draw attention, while the sounds they heard before weren't there anymore. They found the place empty, and some confused glances were exchanged.
Ari frowned. "I guess there's no one he-"
He stopped right when he heard the rustling of the bushes near him, and he quickly took a step back and adopted a defensive stance, the rest tensing as well.
From behind the bushes, a new figure emerged; one that no one had ever seen before. It was a quadrupedal canine with a mostly black body, a green collar, and a leash-like extension on its neck. It had some other green markings, a few of those being hexagon-shaped, on his eyebrows and on top of each leg. One of the hexagons, the one on his neck, was red instead.
"... Who are you all?" The canine finally said in an ethereal male voice.
Everyone gasped, not expecting to find a non-feral around. He looked completely out of place compared to the rest of the ferals they saw in the valley, which meant he was probably not from around there.
Brynel was the first to speak. "Hello there. I'm Brynel, and these four are Team Silver, investigators. We were inspecting the place."
"Investigators, huh?" The canine said, and his eyes scanned the five pokémon one by one until his eyes stopped in the Riolu. Ari stiffened, feeling like he was being studied. "What are your names?"
"Why should we say anything to you?" Sanah said, suspicious. "Tell us your name first."
The quadrupedal grunted, but he soon recomposed and raised his head. "You may call me Zion. Does that satisfy you?"
"Uhh y-yes, it's fine," Ari said trying to ease the tension. "I'm Ari."
"Mylo."
"I'm… Sanah."
Ari cast a glance at the Archen, who was still wary of the newcomer, and nudged him to say his part.
"M-my name is Nimb…"
Zion nodded and then turned to walk a few steps away from them. "So what are you exactly inspecting here? There is nothing left in this dead valley."
Ari stepped forward. "We were kinda hoping to find… Uh…" He turned to his companions as if to ask for permission, and they nodded. Once he was facing Zion again, he took a deep breath. "Are you the one who kept speaking to me with telepathy?"
Zion stood silent for a long moment, staring at him until he looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"What? B-but someone told me to come here, and you're the only one we could find and…"
"Keep your voice down. Do you want to attract ferals?" Ari cringed and clenched his mouth shut. "If you really want to investigate this place, try to follow me."
And with that, he ran ahead through a narrow path between a bunch of big rocks. Ari tried to call out for him before he remembered he wasn't supposed to yell.
"Should we go after him?" Nimb asked.
"Well, he's the only lead we had right now, so I say yes," Mylo said, stroking the feathers in Nimb's head.
Brynel went ahead of them. "Alright… Let's go."
The group ran as quickly and quietly as possible, cutting through the fog in their voyage while they counted on Ari's aura powers to know where Zion had gone. He was quite fast and it was impossible to see where he was from their perspective anymore, so the aura was the best option. Ari imagined Zion already knew he could use his aura to find him, otherwise it would be stupid to run ahead and expect to be followed.
A pair of feral mankey attacked them on their way, but luckily Mylo was quick enough to react by stroking the organs on his chest and wiping them out with electric waves. He didn't notice a third one coming from behind and attacking Sanah though, something she thought he did on purpose.
Sanah winced from the scratch, being defenseless for the next attack, but Nimb threw a dragon breath that knocked it unconscious before it could go for more. Sanah gave him a thumbs up and he smiled proudly. He felt stronger since he learned that move.
Mylo only kept walking without even looking back, having ignored the feral that attacked Sanah. Ohhh, that made her mad.
"Did you miss that feral on purpose?" She asked, glaring daggers at the Toxtricity.
Mylo stopped but didn't turn around. "I don't have eyes in the back of my head."
"Well I can see that, you're not even bothering to turn around while you're talking!"
This time, Mylo did turn around and looked at her with an angry scowl. "That's because I don't even want to look at you."
Sanah growled. "You're a fucking jerk, you know?"
"GUUUUUYS," Ari intervened, standing between the two with his arms extended to both sides. "Not now, please!"
"Ari is right, we're in the middle of an investigation, please behave," Brynel said, disapprovingly.
Mylo turned around and kept walking without a word, but Sanah almost jumped at him with fury but contained herself. "... Okay."
The air was tense now, but nothing else was spoken about it. Ari stole concerned glances at Sanah every now and then, but she was always looking down with a frown. Was it going to be like that forever? They were already stressed enough to have to worry about that as well…
They didn't take much longer before they reached a secluded area with dense vegetation that made it look even darker than the rest of the valley. Zion was waiting there, not moving an inch when he saw them approach.
"Took your time. Have you been followed?"
Brynel crossed his arms. "Ehm… Besides a few ferals that we had to fight on our way here, no. But what's with all this secrecy?"
"That doesn't concern you," Zion simply said, and he turned to the dense foliage that covered a rocky wall, going through. "Come here."
They exchanged confused looks, but complied, following the quadrupedal while pushing a few leaves and branches aside. Everyone was surprised to discover that right behind the foliage there was something else beyond the wall: a hidden cave entrance that was blocked by a gate.
The gate had a small machine on top of it, and beside the structure, there was a small pillar with a small machine on the side and a round plate in the center with a handle on it.
"What the… No other team has found this place before!" Brynel said, his eyes widened in surprise. "What is this?"
Zion stood beside the gate and cleared his throat. "This gate has been here for a long time. If you find a way to open it, I'll show you something interesting."
"Something interesting, huh?" Sanah said, not entirely sure he was someone to be trusted. "This better not be a trap." As she said that, she approached the pillar and held the handle, moving it to rotate the plate.
However, as much as she kept rotating it, the gate didn't move an inch. "Hmmm… Maybe you're doing it in the opposite direction?" Brynel proposed.
"Uh, let's see." Sanah rotated the plate counterclockwise, but nothing happened either.
"It's not going to be that easy, otherwise I would have opened it myself already," Zion said, rolling his head since it was harder to notice if he just rolled his eyes, having no pupils.
"Maybe… You have to press that thing inside the pillar?" Nimb said, getting closer to Sanah, and both of them pushed with all their strength. "Urghhh… It's not moving…!"
"Damn it, what are we supposed to do here?" Sanah complained. She gave up and took a step back, glancing at Ari and Brynel as if asking for help.
"Hmmm… I doubt this has anything to do with sheer strength," Brynel said, bringing a paw to his chin. "Those machines might have something to do."
Mylo leaned to inspect the machine that protruded from the pillar. "There's something here… it's like a hole with some pointy things in it."
Ari perked up. "Oh, let me see that!" He pushed them aside gently and checked the machine, slowly realizing something. "Wait, we've seen this before! This is being used for some new inventions in the past few years… There used to be a cable plugged here!"
Brynel gasped. "Oh, a cable! That makes sense… But wait, we can't make this work without the cable then!"
With their only option gone, everyone frowned. Surely there should be some other way to make it work without a cable, right? It didn't help that Zion was just observing them as if he were judging, but they tried to ignore it.
However, Ari recalled something he learned in school about technology stuff, and he hummed in thought. "Hmmm… Cables work with electricity, right? So maybe…"
"You want me to do something?" Brynel asked.
Ari nodded. "Actually, Mylo as well. You two could touch each machine and then hold hands, and maybe that way you might be able to act as a conductor, without the need for a cable. I don't know if it's going to work, but… it's worth a shot."
"Heh, I see where you're getting with this… I say we try," Mylo said, and he climbed a bit on the wall, trying to reach the machine on top of the gate. He touched the hole where the cable used to be and extended his other hand towards Brynel. "Let's go."
Brynel grasped Mylo's hand with his own paw and touched the other machine, generating a bit of electricity at the same time. "Okay, now what?"
"We… try again?" Nimb asked, pointing at the same plate Sanah was trying to rotate before.
"Oh, okay, here goes nothing, then…" Sanah grabbed the handle and tried rotating the plate in the same way as before. She pulled for a few seconds until…
To everyone's surprise, the door actually started opening. Ari and Nimb gasped, exchanging excited smiles, while Mylo and Brynel kept holding on and Sanah continued opening it.
Soon, the door was fully open.
"We did it!" Sanah beamed. "Take that, it wasn't that hard," she told Zion, who just watched in silence and looked unamused.
"Don't celebrate too much, you didn't have the idea," Zion said.
Sanah scowled and crossed her arms, holding back an offensive response, while Mylo stepped down from the wall and stared expectantly at the mysterious quadrupedal.
"So… What was it that you wanted to show us?" Mylo said.
Zion nodded and went inside of the door. "Follow me."
Team Silver and Brynel exchanged some curious glances before walking inside, following Zion through the tunnel, the little light that filtered through the fog now being replaced with complete darkness.
As they walked, the tunnel eventually turned into what seemed to be some kind of abandoned bunker. Concrete walls and a tiled floor decorated the place, but it was getting hard to see in the dark, so they took their Gholdevices and turned on the flashlight mode.
"What… is this place?" Ari asked in awe.
"I don't know… B-but it's even scarier than the valley itself," Nimb commented, already gripping Ari's arm for comfort. He tried to be brave and keep walking forward with his flashlight on, even if he still needed a bit of support.
"Someone built this at some point, but it must have been years ago," Brynel said. "It's like nature has claimed this place, look at those roots protruding from the walls."
"I guess that makes sense, we're inside the hill," Mylo said, looking around as he inspected the place.
Zion interrupted the conversation as he sprinted onwards. "I'll be waiting for you at the end, you explore this place and reach your own conclusions."
As Zion ran, Brynel didn't stop either. "Wait! Why so much mystery? Oh, come on…" And just like that, he ran after him as well, leaving Team Silver behind eating dust.
"Damn, let's go before we lose them!" Sanah said, already picking up the pace.
"Y-yeah, I don't wanna be left behind…" Nimb said.
Mylo clicked his tongue. "I don't know what kind of escort mission is this, but-"
A sudden tremor interrupted him, and everyone looked around trying to find the source of it. Suddenly, a chunk of concrete from the ceiling cracked and fell off.
Ari gasped, but then suddenly felt a painful headache that stopped him from moving. "Ugh, Mylo, watch out!"
Mylo didn't have time to look up before a flash of light blinded him and something crashed right beside him, on the floor. Everyone looked down to see the rubble that somehow didn't harm anybody, and they sighed in relief.
Ari, however, didn't understand what just happened. "B-but… I swear that was falling right on top of you…"
Sanah ignored that as her eyes focused on something else. "Ari… Why are your paws glowing?"
"Wha?" Ari looked down and found his paws enveloped in reddish energy. "It's happening again…"
"What do you mean again?" Sanah asked, dumbfounded.
Nimb leaned closer and observed without touching him, just in case. "I remember you mentioned it the other day…"
"Yeah, it just happened out of nowhere, right after I had a strong headache…" Ari said, shaking his paws to try and turn the glow off. "Why is this still on?"
"That's concerning, for sure," Mylo added, and he grasped Ari's arm to inspect it closer. "Could this be a new move?"
Ari arched an eyebrow. "A new move just like that? But I'm not doing anything right now and this is still glowing! I don't know what's happening to me…"
Sanah rested a paw on his shoulder and spoke soothingly. "Hey, it's okay, we'll figure this out. I'm sure you'll be fine."
"I hope you're right…" Ari sighed. "Let's just keep moving, we already lost Brynel and Zion with all this."
Everyone nodded and decided to resume their exploration, but Mylo did cast one more glance at the ceiling, right where the debris fell. There was a hole from where a bit of light from the exterior was leaking. That place was old enough for it to be falling apart at random moments, so they'd have to be quick to find whatever Zion wanted to show them.
Team Silver walked in silence for a bit more, seeing nothing but a long dark corridor on their path. The glow in Ari's paws eventually faded, to everyone's relief, but it left him confused. Why did that activate out of nowhere?
His thoughts stopped as they found a door on the left side. The corridor went on even further, but that door caught their attention, so they agreed to take a look inside.
The room looked like… a laboratory. It had some workbenches and empty glass capsules, alongside some empty shelves and drawers. Mylo opened some of them but didn't find anything.
"This is like… super creepy," Sanah said but regretted it once she saw the uneasiness in Nimb's expression. He probably needed reassuring words instead.
"So this place is a lab… I wonder what kind of stuff they did here if it was so well hidden," the Riolu said and tapped Nimb's back to call for his attention. He almost jumped. "Hey, Nimb, there's no one here, relax."
"I k-know, but it still makes me so nervous…"
"I can tell, judging by how strongly you're gripping my arm."
"... Ah, sorry." He loosened his grip a little but didn't let go. "Like this?"
"Yeah, thanks bud."
Mylo popped up from behind one of the capsules, holding his GD with the scanner mode activated. "There's not a single fingerprint around here…"
Sanah rolled her eyes. "This place has been abandoned for who knows how long, and you expect to find anything with all that dust? Geez, what a greeeat investigator."
Mylo turned his GD off and walked closer to Sanah with a scowl. "At least I'm trying to do something useful. I don't see you doing your job."
"Wha- our job was to find whoever the hell told Ari to come to Misty Valley, and we already did that!" Sanah said, her angry scowl increasing.
Ari raised his paw. "I, uhhh, I'm not too sure, his voice wasn't like the one in my mind-"
"Even if we came here for that, we just found an abandoned laboratory, of course I'd want to investigate!" Mylo said, leaning closer as if to intimidate the Zangoose.
Sanah didn't move. "Then you do that, but don't tell me what I have to do!"
"And you stop criticizing me for doing my job!"
"Guys, not again…" Ari said, but it went unheard, and they kept arguing. They looked like they were going to fight at any time now, but neither Ari nor Nimb had the energy to stop them.
Ari sighed, the conversation becoming white noise in the back of his head as he turned around and went for the door, exhausted from all the drama. Nimb followed him with concern.
"Ari? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just need some air."
"There's not much air in this corridor."
Ari stopped. "Huh. Right, I forgot. Then I just want to get back to finding Brynel and Zion."
"Right… Should we tell Mylo and Sanah?" Nimb asked.
"I guess… whenever they're finished with their argument."
Mylo and Sanah didn't start an actual fight, so at least there was that, but they lost some time which made it even harder for Team Silver to find wherever Brynel and Zion had gone. They passed some more rooms with similar stuff as before, and that only raised more questions.
"G-guys… What do you think they did here?" Nimb asked, growing more uneasy the deeper they went.
Ari's steps became more unsteady. "Whatever it was, I have the feeling it was pretty messed up…"
"I mean, did you see those capsules? They were pretty big. They could fit a pokémon inside…" Sanah said and then cursed herself for saying that out loud. She inched closer to Ari and Nimb, almost debating on whether to grip Ari's other arm like Nimb or not.
"We're going to have so much to tell in our report once we're back," Mylo said, being the most collected of them.
They reached the end of a corridor and turned a corner, only to find it led to one last door. This one was open, as well, and Team Silver could hear a voice from inside. It was Brynel's!
Everyone went inside and found Brynel searching through some drawers while Zion just watched them enter through the door, already expecting them.
"Again, what took you so long? This Zeraora here was already talking too much," Zion complained, his voice level.
Brynel frowned. "Hey, you could have asked nicely and I would have stopped."
"What is going on?" Ari asked. "Zion, you wanted to show us something, right? What was it, and what's with this place?"
Zion hummed and turned to Brynel. "I think he's about to find out."
Out of one of the drawers, Brynel took a folder that contained a few detailed papers with complex numbers and formulas, as well as some descriptions. He frowned as he tried to decipher what it said, using his own electricity to generate enough light.
"I don't understand… This looks so complex. It mentions some 'Project Azure'," Brynel eventually said, and Team Silver inched closer with curiosity.
Zion looked at all of them, once again stopping on Ari for longer than usual, and then spoke. "This is what I wanted to confirm. It's a miracle these papers are still here."
Mylo glanced at him. "What are they exactly?"
"They are…" Zion continued. "The formula to create the blue fog. The one that gave rise to every mystery dungeon."
"WHAT?" Everyone yelled at the same time.
The quadrupedal nodded. "Mystery dungeons don't show up out of nowhere; they are made. This laboratory was one of the many places where they tested to create the fog, the same one that makes everyone who breathes it feel disoriented and that turns pokémon who breathe it for too long into ferals."
"That's… That's awful!" Nimb said. "Who could do something like that?"
"And most importantly… How do you know all this?" Sanah asked.
Everyone looked at Zion with questioning looks, but he looked away. "That I cannot tell. But I can tell you one more thing. 'Project Azure', as mentioned in that document, gets its name from a substance called 'Azure'. That substance is the very source of both the fog and the feral pokémon."
"So what you're trying to say…" Mylo said as his frown kept growing. "... is that someone is turning pokémon into ferals on purpose?"
"Indeed."
The air felt heavy as an unnerving silence fell in the room, with everyone trying to process what they just learned. Nimb inched closer to Ari while he exchanged a concerned glance with Sanah. Brynel just kept reading the document from top to bottom, still unable to understand its contents.
"This… changes everything," Brynel said. "This poses a huge threat to the whole world!"
Ari wrapped an arm around Nimb and pressed him closer. He couldn't hide his fear even if he wanted to reassure him. "Whoever did this surely doesn't have good intentions…"
"They don't," Zion said.
Sanah was done with all that. She turned to Zion and pointed an accusing finger. "Hey, how are we supposed to believe all this out of nowhere if we don't even know who you are? You refuse to say who did this, so how do we know you're not involved?"
"Because no matter if you know who's responsible for this, right now you can't do anything, not even find them."
"How could you know?" Sanah scowled. She felt Ari's paw on her shoulder and turned to find him giving her a sad look and shaking his head. Sanah sighed. "... Whatever."
"What are we supposed to do about it? What can we even do, Zion?" Brynel asked.
The mysterious quadrupedal turned around and went for the door, stopping to speak one more time. "Do whatever you consider necessary. Investigate by yourselves, and tell other pokémon. Maybe one day you'll be prepared to actually face the enemy."
"And what about you?" Mylo asked, crossing his arms with clear suspicion.
"You think I'm not doing all that I can already? It's obvious that you don't know who you're talking to."
Brynel frowned. "Well, you didn't tell us."
Zion ignored that. "Ah, one more thing before I go." He turned his gaze to the Riolu. "You."
Ari tensed. "Huh? W-what is it?"
Another awkward silence followed until Zion had a complete change in his attitude. "Stay out of all this. Do not try to investigate or get involved in any way. If I ever find out you did…"
His eyes turned fierce.
"I'll make you regret it."
Ari flinched hard. "What?"
Everyone tensed, and Brynel quickly moved in front of Ari with a defensive stance. "Hey, stay away from him, you hear me?"
Zion was unmoved. However, something made him react, as he suddenly turned to look at the door and stared at it for a long moment. "I already made myself clear. Don't waste any more time here, just leave immediately. Goodbye."
And just like that, Zion quickly went for the door, leaving them standing there still processing everything that just happened. Brynel eventually relaxed but was still looking at the door, until he turned around to check on everyone else and found them with equally perplexed looks.
"Did he just… threaten me and leave?" Ari asked, and he blinked twice.
"That he did," Sanah said. "What was all that about?"
Brynel shrugged. "I have no idea, but he said we should leave immediately. I don't know what's gotten into him, but he's already suspicious enough. Threatening Ari and telling us to leave isn't helping his case."
"I don't know… he seemed to be telling the truth," Nimb said. He had been quiet during the whole thing, fearing he might just start crying if he did, but the situation seemed to be serious and that couldn't be ignored. "Maybe he had his reasons to act like that."
"That might be true, but he clearly knows something we don't, yet he's not telling us," Mylo said. He crossed his arms as he thought about different options. "Zion could be a great ally in all this mess if he was telling the truth, but judging by the way he wanted Ari to stay out of all this, I don't think we might run into him again."
Ari sighed in defeat. "That's a shame… I really wanted to ask him so many questions. If he wasn't the voice in my mind, then why did he know me? And why make me come here and tell us all that only to force me to stay away?"
"Hmmm… We might not know as of now, but at least we did learn something. And quite important, I'd say," the Zeraora said, rolling up the document on his paws. "But for now, we should leave. There's not much more we can do here."
Everyone nodded. Team Silver plus Brynel exited the room and walked through the dark corridors with a collective feeling of dread. They kept learning about current world threats one day after the other and they knew nothing about any solutions.
This time, however, they might have something to start with. With the document they've found, they could at least convince the police to investigate it further and somehow find a way to stop the culprit.
Brynel's fur stood on end and he looked around, bothered. "Did you guys hear something?"
"Huh? I… don't know," Ari said. "Wait, let me use my aura for a sec."
Ari closed his eyes, but before he could do anything, something came out of the shadows and snatched the document from Brynel's paws.
"Hey, what the-!"
Right in front of them, a Weavile landed with the document in one claw, supporting himself with his other claw on the floor.
Ari opened his eyes and gasped. "Ren!"
He noticed Ren was wearing the yellow scarf around his neck now. That made him blush a little, even if it wasn't the right moment. Ren also saw the same scarf tied around the Riolu's arm, and he perked up a bit.
"Huh? What is he doing here?" Sanah asked, already falling into a battle stance. "Give that back!"
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid we can't do that."
Inteleon came out from behind the corner and stood beside Ren with a cocky grin. A moment later, Obstagoon did the same, and now three criminals were blocking their way out, with their recently stolen discovery.
"Fuh, how is it that we always run into you four?" Inteleon asked. "Don't you guys have anything better to do?"
"We should be the ones asking that," Mylo responded, clenching his fists as they crackled with electricity.
Ren took a step back while his eyes locked on the Riolu. "Ari, I'm going to ask again. Will you join us?"
There was that question again, as the Weavile promised. It's not like Ari had much time to think about it since it had been just a few days since the last encounter, but his answer was clear from the very first day.
"I'm sorry, I can't…"
Ren sighed. "Well then. Sorry, but we have to do this."
And just like that, he turned around and ran away, carrying the document (or blueprint) with him. But Ari wasn't going to stand still, and reacted with a quick attack enveloped in the light from his pearls, immediately following behind. Neither Inteleon nor Obstagoon could stop him in time.
Brynel, being a fast mon as well, tried to follow too, but this time Obstagoon stopped him with a headbutt. He was sent back against the wall, groaning in pain.
"Where are you going? The fun has only just started," Obstagoon said with a smirk, and then he turned to Inteleon. "Or you think we should stop that Riolu first?"
"Nah, even if Ren does something stupid, Arabella can handle it."
With the help of his pearls, Ari reached a high speed and managed to follow Ren to the exterior of the hidden lab, the fog immediately blinding him. He jumped in front of Ren, blocking the path.
"Ren, I can't let you take that document! Do you have any idea of what's in there?"
Ren winced. "Of course I do, that's why I know it's important that I take it with me."
Ari clenched his fist. "I can't believe you were the ones responsible for the mystery dungeons and pokémon turning feral…"
Without wasting any time, Ari ran towards the Weavile as he extended his arm in a blind attempt to grab the blueprint. However, he felt something sticky wrapping him, and he was pulled hard against the ground. In a mere second, he was completely wrapped in silk, unable to move.
"Ugh! What the…"
Arabella the Spidops appeared beside Ren, chuckling. "That was sooo easy, you know?"
Ren turned to her with a scowl. "Hey! Was that really necessary? I had it under control already."
"Yeah, well, allow me to doubt that," she responded. "So, are you taking him with you or what? Isn't that what you wanted, to keep him safe?"
Ren's scowl morphed into a frown, and he turned back to look at the Riolu, who stared back in distress. He knew what that look meant.
"I… can't do that, he doesn't want to…"
Arabella rolled her eyes. "Who cares about what he wants? Don't you want him to stay safe? Well, that's the only way, kiddo."
Ren growled, unpleased with that response. "I really don't know if he would be happy like that."
"Whatever, your loss," Arabella said before she walked away, leaving Ren standing alone in front of Ari, who still writhed in a futile attempt to free himself from the silk.
"Ari… I'm so sorry for this," Ren said.
The Riolu stopped moving, exhausted after he attempted releasing himself, and just looked at Ren with pleading eyes.
"Please, Ren… This isn't like you. We were supposed to help pokémon, not put them in danger…"
Ren shook his head. "This world failed me, I have no sympathy for other pokémon anymore. Everyone is the same."
"Are you listening to yourself? You keep saying everyone's the same, but you barely know a small amount of pokémon! How can you be so sure?"
Ren winced at his tone but didn't relent. "I've known enough to be sure that no one deserves a chance."
Ari gritted his teeth. "Not even you? … Not even me?"
"I'm just trying to bring justice… And I already said this before, Ari, you're the only good pokémon I know."
Ari kept his frown for a little longer until he deflated. "Ren… I'm not unique. There are so many pokémon like me out there, even if you don't know them."
Ari thought about his friends. The ones who were different but still were amazing friends to have, always caring for others, and even the ones who were pretty similar to him, like Asher. It just wasn't fair…
"I… I can't say I believe that," Ren said.
Ari's expression slowly turned into a pained one, and he let the side of his head rest on the dirt. "Are you really willing to let other pokémon turn into ferals? Families being broken, lives being lost to insanity… just because you don't think other pokémon like me exist?"
Ren thought about that, clearly affected by his friend's pained look. He eventually looked away. "And even if there were others like you… They would be such a minority. Is it worth it to protect this world then?"
"Ren."
The Weavile looked back at him.
"What if someone like that turned into a feral?" He raised his head again, his eyes turning soft. "What if I turned into a feral?"
Ren did stop at that. His eyes widened at the thought, for the first time actually thrown back by Ari's arguments. In fact, he didn't look concerned or annoyed, but rather… conflicted.
Ari and Ren stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, neither of them saying anything, until something interrupted the moment. A dragon breath passed right by Ren, barely missing him, and he jumped, turning to the source.
Nimb had just gotten out of the lab and saw them nearby, deciding to step in before something bad happened. He flinched at the killer stare of the Weavile.
"Uh… S-sorry, I was just… I…" He stuttered, but quickly shook his head and ran towards the Riolu, who was still enveloped in the spider web. "Ari, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just a bit tied up… Did they hurt you?"
"No, the rest are taking care of the situation, so I tried to pass by them…"
Ren just watched the conversation without moving an inch, like something in his mind had broken. He was staring at the duo, thinking about Ari's words and the brotherly moment he and the Archen were having, while Nimb just hugged Ari and tried to make sure everything was right.
"Why are you doing this?" Nimb eventually said, and Ren perked up.
"What…?"
Nimb didn't let him finish. "Ari is your friend, right? Friends are supposed to be there for each other, not fight…"
Ren scratched his cheek anxiously, thinking about what to say. Nothing came out.
"Ren…" Ari said, and the Weavile stopped scratching his cheek. "... I refuse to take off my scarf."
Ren gasped. His eyes darted between the two, taking a step back. Before he could say anything, however, Inteleon and Obstagoon appeared from the cave entrance, running away.
"Ren, we're leaving! Turns out that Zeraora is stronger than he seems," Inteleon said.
The Weavile was snapped out of his thoughts and he nodded, casting one last glance at Ari. He looked back with a meaningful frown, and Ren could only squeeze his eyes shut with remorse. He turned around, gripping his scarf tight as he followed Inteleon and Obstagoon and left for good.
Ari and Nimb were left watching as the bandits escaped, feeling a sense of defeat as the rest of the team emerged from the lab cave. Sanah and Mylo noticed Ari lying on the ground wrapped in silk and quickly approached him.
"Hey, you okay?" Sanah asked. He leaned down next to Ari and extended her claws, carefully cutting the silk on his body. "That stupid spider…"
"Yeah, don't worry," he said before he felt the sweet release once the thick layer of silk was ripped. "Just laying here, you know."
Sanah arched an eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak before Brynel did it first.
"Those bandits, they're escaping with the document! I have to go after them!" He said and didn't waste any time. He was surprisingly fast, his body coated in electricity as he ran forward in the direction the Rising Bandits went in the first place.
No one had time to stop him, but they didn't plan on doing so. Mylo did hesitate, taking some steps before stopping to look at Ari, who was still standing up after the whole incident. "Are you okay to go?"
Ari sighed. "I think so, but-"
Suddenly, a huge wave of fire surged from beneath the trees, burning the area in a matter of seconds and startling the team, who miraculously went unharmed. Nimb, Sanah and Mylo gasped as they saw the world burn around them, realizing the reason they were okay was Ari, who had jumped just in time to form a protect barrier.
No one registered what had just happened, it just happened so fast. Ari panted for breath as he dropped the barrier and saw the valley being consumed by the flames. His face was painted red by the light of the fire, and it was easy to notice his sheer horror at the sight of the monster who had just done that.
Armarouge.
Nimb froze. "N-no, it can't be…"
"What is it doing here?" Sanah said as she extended her claws anxiously.
Ari took a step back and bared his teeth, showing more fear than anger. "It's fucking chasing me again! Please, just leave me alone!"
The fire type didn't agree. It slowly walked closer until it raised its arm, trapping the four of them in a psychic grip. No one had time to react, and they were thrown away like ragdolls. The wind was knocked out of their lungs as they hit the ground hard, with everyone except Ari landing far away.
"Urgh, I can't let you hurt my friends, it's me who you want!"
He formed an aura sphere on his paws and threw it at the Armarouge, but it didn't even try to dodge it. It received the hit but was barely damaged, and Ari facepalmed as he remembered it was a psychic type.
Armarouge held Ari in a psychic grip once more, and he gasped for breath. He was completely frozen and could only watch as he was pulled closer.
"P-please, stop…!"
But it was no use. Once Ari was close enough to the monster, it launched another incinerate attack, but this was worse than ever. He was too close, too exposed. He used his pearls and hoped it would be enough to lessen the damage, but he couldn't do much more. The fire approached him in a blinding speed and his eyes widened.
Everything went red. Then black.
Nimb, Sanah and Mylo were back on their feet and running as much as they could to get back to Ari, but they were late. All they saw was Ari being engulfed by flames and launched backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
"ARI!"
They all ran to his side and Mylo kneeled right next to him and held him in his arms. Ari was unconscious, covered in injuries, and with a specific nasty burn on his chest that was covered in blood. He had missing fur on some parts as well, which made him look really bad.
"Is he okay?" Nimb asked with a tremor in his voice.
Mylo leaned in, pressing his head against Ari's chest just enough to hear his breathing. "He's just unconscious, but he doesn't look good. We need to treat him."
From behind them, Armarouge was getting closer, but he stopped when a barrage of rock shards crashed into him. Nimb had reacted just in time with a rock throw.
"H-how can we treat him if we have to deal with that?"
Sanah growled, baring her fangs at Armarouge. "That fucking monster…!"
"Nimb, take him somewhere safe, Sanah and I will take care of Armarouge," Mylo said in an assertive tone.
Nimb couldn't even think, his vision was getting blurry with anxiety. "B-but that guy is going to hurt you a-and-"
Mylo grabbed his shoulders. "Please. Do it for him."
Nimb cast a glance at the Riolu, feeling a lump in his throat. He couldn't believe everything went so bad that quickly, and he couldn't do anything. Everything around them was on fire, and things weren't looking good for Ari either. He needed to act, no matter how anxious he was.
"O-okay…"
Mylo nodded and passed the unconscious 'mon to the Archen, who carried him with his arm around his neck, grabbing Ari's back tight. Before he could leave, Armarouge tried to attack with fire once again, but Mylo used his organs to generate an electric sound wave that dispelled the fire just in time.
Nimb took that as his cue to leave with Ari's unconscious form, carrying him as far away as possible. It was hard to move faster than the fire around him, much more if he had to carry his brother, but he couldn't stop to think. He had to keep going.
The Archen could hear the battle cries of his teammates, and the sounds of fire crackling and electricity darting around, but he refused to look back. He kept running, going wherever his feet took him, and he didn't stop until he was safe from the fire. The light of the fire was replaced by the darkness of the thick fog, and the battle cries were replaced with occasional growls from feral pokémon around. No one came close to them, luckily.
Nimb set the Riolu down and inspected him, alarmed. The wound on his chest looked bad, so he had to treat that first, but he didn't know what to do. He recalled Ari treating him back when they met, and he searched in Ari's bag until he pulled a rawst berry and tried to squeeze it on top of the wound.
He took an oran berry as well, trying to mix both juices to heal faster, but he didn't know what else to do. The last thing he could do was untie Ari's scarves from his arms and tie them together before wrapping them around his chest as a bandage. He could only hope he was following the steps correctly…
"Ari… Please, wake up… I don't know what to do now, you're the one who always comes up with some plan!"
But Ari wasn't waking up. His breathing was stable, at least, but that didn't make Nimb feel much better. He still needed to do something about the fire, which was slowly consuming the valley and, possibly, both Sanah and Mylo. He really didn't want to think about that possibility…
"Come on… There has to be something I could do… What would Ari do in this situation?" He asked himself.
Nimb looked at his unconscious friend for a long moment, as if he expected him to wake up and tell him what he wanted to hear, but nothing happened.
"This is just great! I don't know what to do on my own… I just wish I could call for help…" Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. "Call for help…?"
He quickly searched in his bag until he pulled out what he was expecting to find.
His Gholdevice.
Was he really going to do this? Well… One last look at Ari gave him the courage he needed. He still couldn't believe he was actually doing it on his own.
Sanah's claws clashed against the hard armor of the Armarouge, who just pushed her away with a psychic wave, making her fall a few meters back. She tried to stand back up, only to immediately roll to the side to dodge a falling chunk of burning wood from a tree. It was getting hard to fight with all the fire around, and breathing wasn't easy either.
Sanah coughed twice. "We're going to die here at this rate!" She complained, slowly getting back up while she covered her mouth with her arm.
"Not if we get rid of it quickly," Mylo said, and he ran forward with a fist covered in electricity. Sanah ran ahead as well, preparing to swipe once again.
However, when both of them were close to Armarouge, it caught them in its psychic grip again and launched them towards each other. They collided, receiving a hit on the head and falling loudly.
Mylo growled. "Don't get in the way while I'm attacking!"
"Ugh, I was doing the same as you, shut up!" Sanah responded with a scowl.
Armarouge extended its arm and produced a fireball, but the duo dodged it in time by jumping in opposite directions. Mylo then brushed his organs to generate an overdrive that made the enemy stagger, but Sanah wasn't too far and she got hit as well. She covered her ears and fell as she felt her body numb.
"Dude, you fucking hit me!"
"That was an accident," Mylo said plainly. He closed the distance with Armarouge, now that it was a bit dazed by the attack, and punched it with a poison jab, which pushed it away, but it didn't fall.
Sanah stood up and growled. "At least you could say sorry!"
"Stop complaining so much and fight."
Sanah threw her arms upwards in annoyance but quickly had to move to avoid the fire that was getting closer to her from the bushes nearby. The battlefield kept shrinking as the fire grew. She tried to ignore that and went to aim a fury cutter at the Armarouge.
Mylo was fighting it already, and the heat of the moment made him move without thinking, standing in the way of the Zangoose, who swiped at him on accident. Mylo grunted and reacted by turning around and punching her in the guts. She fell on her rear and yelped.
"What the fuck, I didn't do that on purpose, you sick!"
Mylo was pushed away by the monster's psychic, crashing against a tree that was on fire and being damaged by it. He quickly rolled away and stood, panting.
"You expect me to believe that? You love beating up others, don't you?" Mylo spat.
"I don't, that's in the fucking past!" Sanah said, but she was the next to receive a fireball to her face, sending her backwards. "Urgh, you bastard…!"
Mylo took advantage of the Armarouge being distracted with Sanah, and punched it from behind with a fist covered in electricity. Luckily, that served to make it stagger again.
"In the past, you say? You might have fooled the rest, but I'm not that stupid," Mylo said, and he started connecting more punches with the armored pokémon. "You'll… never… CHANGE!"
Armarouge stopped the last punch with a psychic grip, and Mylo struggled to move it, eventually being sent back again. It was impossible to even come close to it, due to that psychic attack, which was starting to get annoying.
"DROP IT ALREADY!" Sanah yelled, and her scowl slowly morphed into a pained frown. "I know, I know I messed up bad! I'm the one who keeps reminding myself about it, I don't need anyone else doing it…"
"If you know that, why do you expect me to treat you well?"
Armarouge approached Sanah and produced another plume of fire that almost burnt her alive if it wasn't because she dodged just in time and hid behind a burning tree.
"Because Ari already forgave me… And if I ever knew about all that he was going through, I would never have done all those mean things to him!"
"Well, it's too late for that!"
Armarouge kicked the tree that stood in its way, and it cracked and fell on the side, revealing the Zangoose that was hiding there. However, Mylo came from behind and punched it on its back. It didn't make it flinch this time, like it was growing stronger with the fire around it.
Sanah took her chance and ran away from the monster's path, kneeling down a fair distance away from it to rest for a moment. The lack of breathable air was starting to affect her, and the fight wasn't looking good so far.
"I… Arf… Don't even know what else to say, I can't change the past, but… I'm trying my best…" She stopped to cough for a moment. "... to change how I treat others now!"
Mylo dodged a fireball and then had to jump back to avoid a falling tree that stood between him and Armarouge. He cast a cursory glance at Sanah, who kept panting on the ground not too far from there.
"There's nothing you can do, I won't change my mind," he said.
Nothing…?
Sanah gripped her legs hard and squinted her eyes as she thought about everything that had happened so far. The times she hurt Ari, the constant arguments, the fatal fight they were having against Armarouge, and the lack of air… It was hard to think about everything that was happening. She recalled the investigations, the time she hurt-
"I'M SORRY!" She suddenly yelled.
Mylo frowned. "You already said that-"
"This isn't about Ari, damn it! I'm talking about you!"
That made him stop. "... What?"
Sanah took a shuddering breath. "You're always making Ari's problems your own, but what about you? You're your own pokémon, for Arceus' sake!"
Mylo had to cough a bit as well. "I… don't understand what you mean."
"You're mad because of what I did to Ari… But aren't you mad for what I did to you?"
"I… That's…"
"I'm sorry… for everything," Sanah finally said, breaking down. "For attacking you in the clinic that one time, for the times I've insulted you… for this. I'm so sorry…"
Mylo only watched as the Zangoose teared up and the fire around her became unbearable. His own thoughts were drowned by the sound of crackling fire, and he fell into a coughing fit.
"You just… expect me to believe that? You're really regretting… that now?"
Armarouge was preparing another attack, but Sanah couldn't think about that now. Her mind was too clouded.
"I guess… You'd rather kill me, and I wouldn't blame you for wanting that."
…Kill her?
Something about that thought made Mylo's blood run cold. He wouldn't do something like that… He refused to believe that. And yet, something in his mind made him feel guilty about the whole thing.
Suddenly, the fallen tree from before exploded with a psychic wave that tore it apart, thanks to its wood being already pretty damaged by the fire, and many burning branches and splinters were thrown at both Sanah and Mylo, who were severely damaged.
Sanah coughed many times as her whole body ached from the fight and the contaminated air. Once she could finally look up, she found that Armarouge was right upon her. She was suddenly lifted in the air by its psychic grip, but this time she wasn't being thrown away.
Armarouge pulled her closer until she was at an arm's distance. It grabbed her by her neck and squeezed it. In a moment, the remaining air she had was all gone, and she panicked as her vision started to blur.
She couldn't see. She couldn't breathe. Was it what Ari felt in his first encounter with Armarouge?
It was over for her, all her efforts were completely wasted by that monster, and she couldn't do anything about it.
Right then, through the tears in her eyes, she could almost see a blue energy emanating from the Armarouge's eyes, slowly reaching for her. She couldn't feel fear anymore, she was just waiting for her pain to end, alive or dead.
Luckily, that blue energy faded as Armarouge was hit on the side of its head by a poison jab, the attack now being stronger than ever. Armarouge flew a few meters away and was left dazed. Sanah dropped to the ground in front of Mylo, who had just saved her in time.
Sanah coughed many times as she recovered, still feeling weak from the amount of smoke she had breathed so far. She looked up and saw Mylo standing there, looking at her with different eyes. He didn't look angry anymore.
Armarouge stood up and walked towards the duo, making Mylo tense. However, it suddenly stopped. Mylo narrowed his eyes, suspicious about the monster's next move, but this time it didn't attack.
Instead, Armarouge suddenly turned around and ran away from the battlefield, leaving Mylo and Sanah there, surrounded by the fire. Both of them looked at the scene in confusion, but neither could find an explanation for that. Did it just… get tired of fighting?
Whatever it was, they weren't going to learn the answer by just staring, and they didn't have time for that. Mylo looked back at Sanah and tried to collect his thoughts before speaking.
"I don't know if I can…" He stopped to cough. "... Forget all that happened so far just like that, but…"
Sanah frowned, still gasping for breath after the ordeal, lying on the ground. Her eyes focused on him. "But…?"
Mylo sighed. "You… did save Ari in the dream. I must admit I completely ignored that fact and focused on the bad stuff all this time. And… both Ari and Nimb forgave you, so…"
He offered his hand, and Sanah's eyes widened at that.
"I guess… I might as well try."
It felt good to say that. Mylo had never thought about himself all that time, and instead focused on being mad because of what she did to Ari, but… He had reasons to be mad as well. For himself. He didn't realize that until now, but he was resented because of it. But once she acknowledged that… he felt his chest lighter, even despite all the smoke around them.
Sanah stared at him for a long moment, then at the hand. She didn't know if that was real, but she wanted to take that chance so badly. She just wanted that to end. Eventually, she reached weakly and took his hand. Mylo helped her up and they looked away from each other, a bit awkwardly.
Sanah rubbed her arm. "So, does that mean…?"
Mylo sighed, before coughing some more. "This doesn't mean we're friends. At least… not now. But at the very least, we could try to be a team."
He looked back at her.
"For real, this time."
Sanah looked at him in disbelief at first. Then a bit of anger surged in her throat. But then came the sorrow, and the pain. She was so tired of everything that she didn't even want to think about how he had treated her all this time.
"Honestly… That's fine by me."
Mylo nodded. After a moment of silence, he said one more thing. "And… I'm sorry too."
Sanah was surprised by that. "Uh… I… I guess it's fine."
For the first time, Mylo emoted a subtle smile at her. Sanah did the same, but her body couldn't take it anymore, and she collapsed, being caught by Mylo just in time.
"What's wrong?"
"I… I need air… I can't…"
Mylo frowned and looked around, searching for an exit. There was no way out, everything was covered in fire and the paths were blocked by burning fallen trees. There was no way they could escape that. Mylo was taking it better because he was a poison-type and his lungs weren't that easy to pollute, but Sanah…
Was there really no escape? Were they going to die there?
…
Just when everything seemed lost, a few figures could be seen in the sky, through the dense layer of smoke. From there, something fell, and… Loads of water coated the area. They were allies.
"Don't worry, you two! We got you!" One of them said.
A couple of Pelippers shot their hydro pumps at the fire, and from the back of other flying-type pokémon like Fearow and Braviary jumped down various water-type pokémon. A Simipour, a Quaquaval and a Quagsire were some of the pokémon who came to the rescue, pouring all the water-type moves they had on the burning valley.
Mylo and Sanah brightened in relief as everyone worked together to put down the fire, saving their lives just in time. It took a while, but the area where they were was finally safe again, at least once the flying types dispersed the smoke with their wings. The job was far from done, however, and the firefighters moved to the other areas that were still burning.
The Quagsire approached Mylo and Sanah. "Aag you okay? The fige was stgong and the aig quaglity was geally bad!"
Sanah grimaced at the accent but didn't comment on it. "We're… alive at least. Thank you."
Mylo nodded. "We owe you our lives."
"No pgoblem!" Quagsire said with a smile.
"Guuuuyyys!"
Everyone turned around and saw Nimb approaching, and walking alongside him was… Ari.
Sanah and Mylo perked up, and the former spoke. "Ari, you woke up!"
"Hehe, yeah… Sorry for worrying you guys," he said.
"I'm just glad you're okay, you looked really bad," Mylo said.
Once Ari was close enough, he inspected Mylo and Sanah and saw all the burns and wounds from the battle, and his smile turned into a deep frown.
"Guys, you're… I-I'm so sorry, all of this happened because Armarouge was going for-"
He was interrupted when Sanah jumped into him and hugged him tight. "Shut up! Arceus, I'm so glad you're okay… You had me really worried there!"
Ari blushed, ignoring the pain he was getting from the squeeze. "U-uh, well, I'm fine now, t-thanks for worrying…"
Sanah released him and noticed Ari had his chest covered with both of his scarves tied as a bandage. "How is your burn?"
"Oh, I'll live. Nimb treated it and bandaged me while I was still unconscious. But hey, you seem like you got also burned but you're taking it much better than me, Sanah!"
She smiled. "Aahh no no! I am deeply traumatized, in fact."
Ari smiled sheepishly and decided to change the topic. "Ummmm oh! And Nimb even called the police to ask for help. He's a quick thinker while under pressure, apparently."
Mylo perked up. "Wait, you're the one who called for reinforcements?"
Nimb chuckled awkwardly. "Yes, I just asked for someone to put out the fire and they called Dragonite's Guild and Houndoom's Guild… It wasn't easy, though! I hate talking to strangers through the gholdevice…"
Ari opened his mouth to retort but quickly changed his mind. "Actually, I can understand that."
Mylo stroked Nimb's head and smiled at him. "You saved our lives by doing that. Thanks, Nimb."
Nimb couldn't help but chuckle a bit more, blushing from all that praise.
"So… How did the fight go? Did you beat Armarouge?" Ari asked.
"Oh… no, it just left," Mylo explained, and he shrugged. "We just managed to survive. Still, we didn't do too bad."
Sanah turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "You did most of the work, though."
"You did what you could with low air quality, I can't blame you for not having poison-type lungs like me," he responded.
She looked away, a bit ashamed. "I guess, heh. Still, thank you for carrying the fight there."
"What can I say? Fear makes me stronger."
Ari blinked. Nimb blinked. Were they… talking to each other? Nicely? The brothers looked at each other with surprised looks, but neither of them seemed to understand what was happening. Still, their confused glances turned into smiles. Maybe that was the beginning of something new.
Maybe Team Silver had just been born for real this time.
Quagsire didn't stay to listen to the whole conversation and decided to join the other pokémon fighting against the fire in the other areas. Team Silver was complete again, and they were safe. But there was one more pokémon they were missing.
"Hey!"
Everyone turned to the Zeraora approaching, who looked really concerned. They all noticed he wasn't carrying any paper with him.
"Brynel! Any luck with the bandits?" Mylo asked.
He stopped in front of them, looking at each member of Team Silver up and down, especially at the Riolu.
"No, they escaped but… Forget that, what happened here?"
Team Silver exchanged troubled looks. Ari sighed and spoke first. "Armarouge attacked us."
Brynel gasped. Everything started falling into place, and he realized he had left them there while they were attacked by the very thing he was supposed to defend them from. He looked at Ari as his expression turned into a pained one.
"I... I was supposed to protect you…"
Ari winced. "Brynel, it's fine, really! You couldn't know and-"
"I WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT YOU!"
He suddenly turned around and punched a tree with all the strength he could muster, tearing a hole through the wood and making it split into two. Even if the tree was already burnt, it was clear that Brynel had used an immense amount of power in that hit.
Everyone yelped as the remains of the tree fell down with a loud rumble, and no one dared to say anything. Not even Mylo. They just stared in silence as Brynel collected himself, taking deep breaths while avoiding everyone's looks.
Ari could only think of one thing. 'Why did this affect him so much…?'
Not a single answer came to that. Eventually, he took one last breath before he turned to the team. "And we don't even have that document with us. We wasted our time and effort here."
Nimb frowned. "But… We learned something! Isn't that a good thing?"
Brynel only looked at him with his brow furrowed, still being pessimistic, until Sanah spoke.
"Actually, I don't know if this serves, but…" She searched on her bag and pulled her GD, pressing some buttons until a certain image popped up. "I took a picture of the document when we were still inside. It's only the first page, though."
Everyone perked up, and Brynel quickly approached to check the image. And… there it was, the basic information. Not all of it, but just enough to have some evidence.
"Sanah, this is… This is fantastic! We have something to prove the origin of the fog!" Brynel beamed. His mood sure changed fast…
"You're a genius, Sanah! I didn't think of that," Ari praised. Sanah could only blush and scratch the back of her head awkwardly.
"Well, at least we have something… You could say this was a success in the end, right?" Mylo said.
Brynel thought about it, looking at each member of Team Silver while he decided if he was a total failure or not. However, before he could respond, his device (the one that looked similar to the GD) started ringing, and Brynel took another deep breath before taking it and answering.
"Yes? What is it?"
Ari and Nimb waited while resting against each other's sides, the latter wrapping a wing around the Riolu. He was exhausted from everything, but he didn't want to support himself on Ari knowing he got the worst part.
Eventually, Brynel gasped. "What? … Okay okay, we're going. Bye."
*Click*
"What's wrong?" Sanah asked with concern.
Brynel looked at his device for a moment until he sighed, turning to the team.
"We… We have to get back to Bismuth Town. It happened again."
Ari grimaced at the sight. Some windows were broken, there was minor damage to some houses and there were a few fainted ferals lying around, with other pokémon watching them, while others were being carried away.
"Another feral outburst…" Ari said, frowning. It didn't look too bad this time, but it was still concerning that this kept happening. "And you say they're from Reverb Grove this time?"
Brynel nodded. "Yes. That one isn't too far from here, so there wasn't enough time to see them coming and evacuate. Luckily, that dungeon had mostly weak ferals, so we didn't miss much. Well… Uh, you get what I mean."
'But what if next time it were Gemstone Mine?' Ari thought but chose to not bring that up. "Mhm… I guess."
Nimb, however, was trembling slightly, even if it wasn't the first time and the ferals were mostly controlled by now. He had bad memories from the last time that happened, so at least he didn't have to experience it again. Except because… He had another experience to give him nightmares for a few days.
Now, they were in front of Maia's cottage. It looked like the house was pretty much intact, so they were lucky. Maia was quite strong, so they weren't too worried about her, but it was still quite alarming at first to receive a call saying that the town is under attack.
Before they could enter, the door opened on its own, and they were met with a concerned owl. Maia perked up at them, her face showing relief, then shock, and lastly, horror.
"Ari, what happened to you?"
She quickly reached for him and pulled him into a hug, being careful not to hurt him further.
"I uhhh sorry, we ran into some trouble in the end."
Maia didn't release him just yet and instead looked up to meet her eyes with Brynel's. He looked pained.
"I'm so sorry, Maia… I couldn't keep my promise." He bowed, squeezing his eyes shut.
Ari pulled away from the hug and looked at Maia. "It's not his fault, he tried to chase the bandits and then we were ambushed by Armarouge and-"
"WHAT?" Ari and Nimb winced from the tone. "Uh… N-never mind that now! I'm taking you to see the doctor."
Just like that, she waved her goodbyes at Brynel, took Ari's paw, and walked away. Nimb looked at both sides, until he reacted and ran after them. The Zeraora was left there staring, still processing everything. It was easy to see the failure reflected in his eyes.
He wasn't going to forgive himself.
"What do you mean you sent Neo there?"
Ren was angrier than ever, and Keene the Inteleon almost had to stop him from attacking their boss. The quadrupedal, still enveloped in the darkness of that room, shook his head.
"I expected them to run into you four, it's a shame. They were supposed to be an extra reinforcement for you to succeed in your mission."
"We appreciate it, Zed, but we didn't need it in the end, even if we ran into those investigators again," Keene explained. "We got the blueprints without the help of Neo."
"And you did a great job, I must thank you," Zed responded. "Maybe we'll have to do something about those investigators, though."
Ren quickly jumped. "They're not important!"
Zed thought for a tense moment, in silence. He then nodded. "Alright, I suppose they haven't been a threat to your team so far, since you succeeded every time."
Once that was cleared, Ren relaxed a bit, but he was still fuming. "I swear to Arceus, if something happened to him…" They sent Neo without telling them first, and Ari was there as well. What if he had run into him? He didn't want to think of that possibility…
"We can't do anything about it now, Ren. Let's just head back," Keene said.
"Urgh…" Ren looked at Zed once more, suppressing the urge to yell at him, and eventually turned around and followed Keene outside.
From another door, a tall figure emerged, and Zed perked up. "Ah, Astra, you're back. I take you heard our conversation?"
Astra nodded. "Yes, I see Ren has some concerns."
Zed hummed in thought. "It seems he really cares for that friend of his. I sure hope it's not a problem later."
"We'll have to keep watch over him. But leaving that aside, I just got news from Riska."
"Oh? What is it?" Zed asked.
"Apparently, Neo was acting strange once they got to their destination. They were supposed to follow a preestablished route, but they didn't even get inside the lab. It seems like something attracted them."
Zed looked at her with surprise. "Oh? So something is interfering with the mind control?"
"Indeed. Riska had to send another signal to make Neo come back since they were likely bringing unwanted attention."
"Interesting… " Zed said. "I have the feeling this isn't a coincidence. The Rising Bandits keep running into that team of investigators, they found Neo twice in the same place as them, and now this happens…"
"You think all of that is connected somehow?" Astra asked.
"I don't know, but I feel like we're going to find out very soon."
Revelation chapter! I wasn't sure if the fight scene with the whole conversation would feel rushed, but either way I like how it turned out. Nothing like a life or death situation to waste your time talking :D
This chapter had a song and an image (though the image is just the cover art without the logo, since that was a scene from this chapter), and since you can't see those in FFN, I recommend you go check them out in AO3 and PMDFF!
By the way... Did you catch that reference to Kiba's fic, Fogcut Voyage? I was planning on calling this chapter "Fog Voyage" but even if that was a direct reference it still didn't sound that good to me, so I stick with "Under the Fog". I take chapter titles very seriously. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one!
Next time: We finally learn about Nimb's family.