It took longer than he was willing to admit, but Fabian managed to find his way back to the rebellion headquarters all on his own. He was pretty darn impressed with himself for that, considering how dark and convoluted the path there was. When he finally stepped back inside, everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

"A-Are you okay?" Duff asked, rushing to Fabian's side. "I swear, the cardboard cutout–"

"Stop talking about the damned cutout!" the Roserade shouted. "He's stupid, just let him forget about it!"

"You were the first one to bring it up!" Duff shouted back. "And he's not stupid, he's just nice! Unlike any of you people!"

Fabian sighed. He wasn't even that much older than any of these people, but he was so exhausted by them. "Stop being mean to him, Roserade lady! I mean, you're right about the first thing, but–"

"It's Lara," she interjected. "Sorry, forgot to introduce myself sooner."

"Right, and I'm Fabian!"

Lara chuckled. "Yeah, I've heard."

"Might as well introduce everyone, yeah?" Dillon asked. "The Lombre's called Theresa, I'm Dillon, and this cutie right here's named Dale!" The Golett sitting next to Dillon hugged him tightly.

Fabian nodded. "I'm probably gonna forget all of your names, but it's cool to hear 'em!"

Dillon chuckled. "Sorry everyone, guess we aren't big enough names for Mr. Front Page News over here."

"W-Wait, it's not like that!" Fabian protested. "I'm just not really good with people!" Everyone laughed at him, and Fabian felt his cheeks burning up.

Duff leaned over. "They're joking, don't worry," he whispered.

"I don't think it's funny," Fabian whispered back.

Scrub cleared his throat, and the room quieted down. "Where's your team?" he asked Fabian.

"Oh, they're–" just before Fabian answered the question, he remembered Nero's order to keep their location a secret from everyone but Scrub. "They're just… y'know, around. Hanging out." He winked at Scrub.

"You wanna talk about where they are alone?" Scrub asked, unfazed.

Fabian nodded, glad that Scrub was able to interpret the signal. "Yeah, they didn't wanna let anyone but you know about it. I dunno why, Nero's weird."

"Eh, whatever." Scrub shrugged and slowly rose up to his feet. "Kids, I'm gonna ask that you guys don't eavesdrop. You'll break this little guy's heart."

"I'm not little," Fabian asserted. "But yeah, I'd be really bummed out and I don't know if I'd ever be happy again."

For some reason, that got even more laughs from the rebels. If nothing else, they did all nod at him, and Fabian hoped that meant they were going to respect his wishes. He really didn't want to mess this up and prove to Nero that he was stupid.

Scrub led Fabian into a cramped room at the end of the hall. There wasn't much in the way of decoration, save for a group photo and some weird papers shoved under a pile of hay. "This here's my place," he said, sitting down on said pile. "If those kids know what's good for 'em, they'll steer clear. Nobody's ever allowed in here, usually, so it's nice and private."

Fabian nodded gratefully. "Nice, thanks a lot! But, uh…" He motioned towards Scrub's hay bed. "You guys don't have mattresses?"

"Nah, we've got one," Scrub said. "Whoever does the mining work to make it look like we're doing something gets to use it, and this week, that's Dale, and by extension, Dillon." He noted Fabian's confused expression. "The Golett."

"Oh, right, that guy!" Fabian said. "He's kinda mean."

Scrub laughed. "Yep, you know it. His older brother ditched him or something, it was a whole thing, and I wasn't there for it, so don't ask. Anyways, you needed to talk about stuff in private?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that Nero and Zach are headed for a weird cave that's usually always guarded by someone," Fabian reported. "Nero found a way past the guard, but I don't really wanna talk about it."

"Scrap Cave?" Scrub asked.

Fabian shrugged. "If you say so."

Scrub stroked his cheek. "That's a pretty special place. We here have been guarding it with our lives for two thousand years, from what I've heard. Far as I'm aware, keeping it hidden is just about the only thing our ancestors ever agreed on. To this day, we always make sure someone's watching it. Usually whenever a kid's got some free time."

"Oh," Fabian said. "Does that mean we shouldn't be digging through it? I can run after them and drag 'em back if you want."

"It's probably fine," Scrub said. "Nobody even knows why we're guarding it anymore. Keep this between you and me, but I've actually snuck down there once or twice, and far as I can tell, there's nothing too interesting. Just some weird writings and a bunch of piles of junk. Guess it's some kind of weird cultural thing."

Fabian sighed in relief. "Good, I was a little worried that they were messing something big up."

"Nope, just a glorified garbage can. That all you needed from me?"

Fabian nodded. "Pretty much! But… Well, I guess I'm a little curious about something else. How come you're able to walk out and about when every other adult who lives here has to spend their whole life mining?"

"Far as Scotcher's men know, I died some decades ago," Scrub said. The Seismitoad cracked a smile. "I've been stuck in this cave for about that long, so I guess I'm just excited to get some sunlight again. Then again, it's been so long that my skin'll probably dry up and peel away the second I'm out in the open."

"Actually, Seismitoad skin automatically forms a layer of moistness around your whole body, so you'd be safe in the sun for a pretty long time," Fabian explained, always eager whenever the knowledge he had from studying biology came in handy.

Scrub nodded, his forehead bumps vibrating slightly. "Yeah, s'pose that's true. And here I was, worried I'd have to leave the kids to fight on their own."

"I wonder, are there any other adults who are hiding out like you are?" Fabian asked. "I mean, there's technically Nero, since he's a couple months older than me, but I don't think he really counts."

Scrub looked away from Fabian for a second. "Nah, I doubt it. At least, I'd be pretty surprised if there still were. Back in the early days of his reign, Scotcher's army used to turn up stragglers by the dozen every day, but by now, I don't think there's been a new one in months. They're thorough, I'll give 'em that."

It made Fabian a little sick to think of how these innocent people were being trapped here. "That's why you started this whole rebellion though, right? To help these people go free!"

Scrub smiled halfheartedly. "Actually, I didn't start it. The original leader was some Shinx kid called Chase, but he died pretty soon after I joined, so I didn't get to know him too well. Only Uxie knows why, but he nominated me as the new leader in his will. Probably 'cause I'm old and wise, but like I said, I didn't know the kid well enough to figure out how his brain works. His grave's out back, if you wanna see it. We couldn't do the fancy-schmancy Tullabar funeral since he wasn't a Grass-type, so we just buried him."

Fabian really, really did not want to see it. "He had a will?" Fabian asked. "But, you just said he was a kid."

"People've always died young down here," Scrub explained. "It's pretty normal for folks to start drafting up their will right after they learn to write, if they get that far. Another old tradition that doesn't make too much sense nowadays."

That made Fabian start to squirm. He was really starting to think that this old era wasn't much better than the current system. "Hey, Scrub?" he asked. "Which do you think is better? How things used to be, or how they are now?"

Judging by Scrub's deep sigh, he probably didn't want to answer that question. "Honestly? No clue. Wish I had a real answer for you, but to be frank, Ottalon Canyon's never been a nice place to be."

"Then it's a good thing we're gonna change that!" Fabian said, cracking his knuckles. "Like I said before, we're gonna make things down here better than ever! I'm starting to feel glad we fell down here!"

Scrub stood back up and opened the door. "Damn straight. I've got some last minute business to take care of, myself. We leave in one hour, got it?"

Fabian saluted. "You know it!"

Not wanting to hang around in Scrub's room alone like a weirdo, Fabian made his way back to the lounge space, waving goodbye to Scrub one last time as the latter departed. With only an hour until it was time for some very strenuous physical activity, Fabian started doing some stretches. He normally skipped them because he found them boring, but with how tight his schedule was nowadays, he couldn't really afford to lose a day to aching muscles. As usual, everyone was staring at him like he was insane. "What?" Fabian asked.

Lara stifled a laugh. "What do you mean 'what?' You just walked into the room and started stretching at us."

"Hey, he's onto something," Dillon said. "Not a bad idea to limber up before the big day. Are you the fighter of your group, Fabian?"

Fabian nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Sofia's really good too, even if she doesn't think so, but she's not here so that's not really important. How are you guys at fighting?"

"Dillon and Scrub carry us," Dale said. "I've never been in a fight in my life, and Duff and Tara aren't much better."

"You're forgetting Theresa," Dillon pointed out, nodding towards the limp Lombre, who was still sprawled out on the ground in the exact spot she was a few hours ago.

"I'm decent," she said.

"H-Hey, I'm not that useless!" Duff protested. "My poison's not half bad, especially with all the Grass-types running around down here! Same with Tara!"

Tara laughed. "Duff, you look way lamer when you can't accept that you're terrible in a fight."

"There's no shame in it," Dillon offered. "This Golett right next to me would lose in a fight against a wet paper bag, but he's still the cutest guy in the entire world."

Dale folded his arms. "Not as cute as that Zigzagoon, apparently."

"C'mon, I swear it's not like that!" Dillon said. "The only reason I blushed at him was because he was coming on way too strong! I'm really sorry, alright?"

Dale lightly punched him on the shoulder. "I know, I'm just messing with you."

Dillon's face turned bright red. "You're such an asshole," he muttered.

"You guys are weird," Fabian said. Either way, he still definitely wanted to help them, so he was going to go back to stretching. If all went according to plan, it would be a four-against-one fight, but just to be safe, Fabian still wanted to be in his best possible condition.

Nero was eternally grateful that his Luminous Orb hadn't been smashed during their crash landing into the canyon. Given his powers, he would've gotten on just fine without it, but leading Zach around would've been a nightmare. Sure, everything else had gone horribly wrong, but at least the world had granted him one small mercy.

The cave entrance led into a single continuous tunnel that stretched on for what had to be at least a couple kilometers. His bad paw still wasn't feeling flawless, but he had managed with it for his whole life, so he was going to manage here.

Zach tilted his head upward, allowing the orb tied to his neck to shine more brightly on his surroundings. "I wasn't expecting such an arduous walk," he remarked. "A-Apologies, I don't mean to bother you with my complaining."

If Zach apologized for something one more time, Nero was going to rip the twig off of his head and swallow it whole. He grunted in agreement to Zach and kept on walking, leading the way.

After much more walking, they finally arrived at a point where the cave opened up dramatically. The blank stone walls of the tunnel were replaced with various collapsed buildings and strange monuments, all bathed in complete and utter darkness.

"Wow, this place is fascinating!" Zach said, stumbling past Nero and shining a light on some rubble. "Are these genuine ancient ruins? The way these pillars are engraved reminds me of some drawings I've seen of Old Ferrumark! Perhaps they were built by the same nomadic community?"

"That's certainly a possibility," Nero said. "The two sites are relatively nearby, after all. Then again, it could also just be indicative of an architectural trend of the time period. I haven't had the fortune to visit the Old Ferrumark ruins myself, so you'd likely be the expert here."

After a sweep through the area using his powers, Nero discovered a tall obelisk in the exact center of these ruins. Though it was technically possible for him to read the etchings using his power, it would require a level of precision with his ability that was far too strenuous to maintain, so he decided it would be best to read the good old fashioned way.

"Follow me, Zach," Nero said, crawling over toppled pillars and unusual hunks of metal in order to reach the center.

Once Zach's light allowed Nero to view the obelisk in more detail, he was taken aback by how well preserved it was, compared to everything else in the ruins. It was a sleek, black, rectangular block of something that looked similar to obsidian, but it was far too durable to be that.

Unfortunately, the inscription was completely illegible. The letters themselves were perfectly preserved somehow, but whatever language they used during this time period was completely forgotten. These were far from the only ruins in the world with text written in this language, so Nero should've given up after a single glance, and he almost did.

However, something stuck out to him. By chance, he spotted the word 'canon' amongst the incomprehensible mass of letters.

But the thing was, it didn't say 'canon.'

It said, 'cañón.'

'El cañón.'

Just a week ago, Nero would've disregarded this as a random chip on the obelisk. However, he recognized that Ñ now, and he knew how to pronounce it. "Cañon…" he murmured to himself absentmindedly. He wasn't sure how the Ó was meant to be pronounced, so he just said it as he would if he were speaking his mother tongue.

"Canyon?" Zach asked. "I mean, yeah, that's where we are. What do you mean?"

"I think I'm going to write all of this down," Nero said. "As luck would have it, I believe I might just be in contact with a translator."

"Really?" Zach asked incredulously. "You know someone who could read all this? That's crazy! If we're lucky, this could be one of the only historical documents from the Pre-Guild era left in the world! It would be revolutionary!"

Lacking a notepad, Nero used the newspaper he accidentally smuggled into the canyon as a substitute. He was careful to transcribe every single letter perfectly, including the weird lines above some of them. The handwriting on the obelisk made it very difficult to tell the difference between "i" and "í," but he tried his best and assumed that Toño would be able to intuit the difference from context clues.

By the time he was finished, Zach had made a cursory check around the entire cavern. "Are you finished?"

"Just about," Nero said. "I mustn't lie, I'm quite overjoyed. Even if none of this turns out to be useful, it does confirm one incredibly intriguing detail about the past."

"And what's that?"

"I believe that this text is written in a language that wasn't created in this world," Nero said. "I'm afraid I'd be revealing some inconvenient secrets if I were to say more. But of course, you of all people understand that feeling better than anyone, don't you?"

Zach gulped. "R-Right, I won't pry."

"Regardless," Nero said, neatly folding up his paper and placing it back in his satchel, "how did your search go? Did you turn up anything of note?"

Zach shook his head. "For the life of me, I can't figure out what this place was used for. These piles of metal absolutely aren't natural, which leads me to believe that these people were capable of metalworking, but all of the contraptions themselves are rusted beyond recognition. I found shreds of something that felt like rubber, but don't take my word for that."

"Rubber doesn't shred itself," Nero noted. "Did the slicing look fresh, by any chance?"

"No, the dust coated all sides of it pretty evenly."

"Well then, perhaps this was a junkyard? That'd explain why it's so far out of the way, and why everything here is so decrepit."

Zach nodded along. "So then, the real place of manufacturing would've been the central canyon? Considering this place's war-torn past, I don't think it's unreasonable that all the traces of this advanced civilization would've been destroyed. Looks like this place was just lucky enough to be forgotten to time."

"I don't think it was a coincidence at all," Nero stated, getting another look at the obelisk. Although seeing this particular script in ancient ruins wasn't unheard of, it was still highly unusual. To Nero's knowledge, there were only three discovered instances of its use in the world, and that was including this one. And given that he now knew where it came from, he no longer believed that it was just some simple religious incantations or archaic poetry. No, it was a message of some kind, and one that wasn't meant to be interpreted by anyone in the world except its recipient.

"Maybe we should ask why this place is being guarded?" Zach asked.

"I wonder if even they know?" Nero said. "My leading theory is that Scotcher ordered them because he wants to keep everything down here undiscovered forever, but if that were the case, I imagine he'd just destroy it all himself."

Zach turned around, facing the exit to the cave. "It didn't look like there were any secret passages, or anything else of that nature. Are you ready to leave?"

"Not yet," Nero said, expanding his range of perception. "We still have to be ambushed."

"What?" Zach asked, staring at Nero like he was crazy.

Just as Nero expected, there were six men marching down the tunnel, all equipped with golden badges bearing a flowering azalea. It was the design of the Tullabarian royal crest. "We're going to be attacked by royal soldiers soon," Nero declared. "Worry not, I'm already prepared."

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Zach demanded. "I don't understand!"

"Fools rarely do," Nero replied, slipping a bundle of eight Stun Seeds out of his satchel. "My aim isn't half bad, but in the event that I fail, you should hide yourself." Zach kept on looking at him blankly. "Now," Nero stated, calm but forcefully.

Zach scrambled under a heap of rusty metal, as fast as a Turtwig could reasonably go. In the meantime, Nero set his bundle of Stun Seeds on the base of a broken pillar and shut his eyes. He found that it was easier to concentrate on his perception when he removed his other senses from the equation.

"Fifty meters from the entrance…"

"Thirty…"

"Ten…"

"Three… Two… One…"

At the exact moment the closest soldier crossed the boundary between the tunnel and the cavern, Nero launched the bundle forward so forcefully that he knocked himself backward. He heard the seeds shatter, and not a single soldier cried out, or gasped, or made any noise at all. That made sense, since that dosage of Stun Seed would be more than enough to paralyze one's entire body, head to toe.

With his perception, Nero was able to confirm that each and every one of the soldiers were collapsed on the ground, not even able to struggle. "The deed is done," Nero said, nodding towards Zach.

Zach slowly emerged from the rubble. "What's going on?" he asked.

Ignoring Zach, Nero walked towards the soldiers confidently, and the Turtwig hesitantly followed. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," Nero said, casually stepping over their bodies to enter the tunnel leading back to the canyon proper.

"Nero, please, you can't just refuse to explain any of this!" Zach shouted, ambling after him.

Nero rolled his eyes. "You should be able to work it out on your own. You did see those crests on those soldiers, yes?"

"Well, yes, they were Tullabarian royal crests, but that only raises more questions!" Zach retorted. "How did they know that there were people down here, and what made them think they'd need a squad of six soldiers to handle us?"

"Another question I shouldn't have to explain. As you should be aware, there are only so many people in the canyon who know of our current location. Logically, it follows that one of them informed Scotcher of our identities and location, and in turn, Scotcher sent his men after us."

Zach frowned. "It should just be you, Fabian, and myself. W-Wait, you aren't saying I did this, are you? I swear, I had–"

"Relax, you haven't left my sight long enough to have had the chance," Nero said. "Not by accident, I'll note. We can rule out myself for countless obvious reasons, and while Fabian could've betrayed us, if our whole week together has been an elaborate act to gain our trust and submit us to Tullabarian authorities, I'd be so impressed that I'd allow him to kill me."

"But, that rules out everyone," Zach said. "Did you not just say that someone would've had to report us to Scotcher?"

Nero smirked. "Not everyone. Do you not remember the instructions I gave Fabian?"

Zach thought about that for a moment. "You just told him to let Scrub know… Wait a minute."

"Scrub, and only Scrub, knows where we are. Just hours after he learned this, soldiers managed to find and attempt to attack us. Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that he sold us out."

"No, Scrub's their leader!" Zach shouted. "This is ridiculous! But… Is this why you had Fabian tell Scrub where we went? Just to bait out an ambush?"

Nero nodded. "I thought some direct proof would help confirm my doubts and convince you of them."

Zach's jaw was still hanging open, as if this all wasn't pretty obvious from the start. "How did you know to be suspicious of him? He seemed perfectly friendly to me."

"It's simple: people are inherently selfish. Scrub would gain far more political and financial power by currying favor from Scotcher than he would by allowing a group of overidealistic children to take over the canyon and install their own regime. I saw no reason that he'd ever want to support their insurrection, so he couldn't have been acting in good faith."

"That's absurd," Zach said. "He very easily could've had idealistic motivations. Your entire reasoning is flawed from the start if you think that people can only ever act in their own self-interest."

"And yet, not a single thing I've predicted has turned out to be incorrect. Perhaps your reasoning is the flawed one."

Zach opened his mouth to reply, but closed it without saying a word. "What do we do now?" he asked.

"Why do you always ask such simple questions?" Nero asked. "We're going to rescue them."