Cream POV

Me, Marshadow, and Serket walked out into the rising sunlight and away from the Hypno's cave, exhausted.

"It's been a while since I've been outside, feels nice." Serket muttered as we stopped to catch our breath.

"Now that you are free Serket, what will you do now?" Marshadow asked as he gave his bag to me. I took it and put it on.

"Dunno, didn't really have anything going on before getting nabbed." He replied, sitting against a tree. Marshadow tilted his head.

"You don't have any family?" His response was a shrug.

"Not that I know of." He said blankly. We sat in silence for a minute... until I got on idea.

"Why don't you come with us?"

———————————————————

Third Person POV

As the group of three moved away from the cave. The Hypno slowly rose to its feet, a large frown on its face. It grabbed its pendulum and walked down into the maze of rock, lighting the way with Fire Punch. It held its arm out to prevent running into any walls and began searching. After a few minutes, it found what it was looking for, or they found it. The cluster of Joltik sparked as it approached quickly, though the Hypno was prepared for this. It swung its pendulum back and forth, putting the Joltik into a trance, hypnotizing them. It turned, left, and the Joltik followed.

———————————————————

Marshadow POV

After a short break, we began moving with Serket joining us, who agreed to come with us.

"You both saved my ass, guess I've gotta repay it huh?" He had replied to Cream, earning a smile and nod from her. We stopped next to a river to collect water for our journey with Cream going to find more Pecha berries to replace the ones we used earlier.

"So, what's up with the patch over her eye?" Serket asked, waving his claw through the water.

"She lost her left eye less then a week ago, the town we lived in was attacked by villains with a horde of wild regenerating Pokémon. There were many deaths, and most rescue teams were hurt to some degree." I answered, telling of the incident only four days ago. He blinked and looked to the side.

"That sounds... eventful." He muttered.

"It was." I replied with a small frown. We sat in silence for a few moments, then we heard what sounded like thunder crackling.

"You hear that, right?" He asked. I nodded as the bushes began rustling violently. We stood up and a horde of Joltik jumped out, sending Thunderbolts in every direction.

"What the-?! Aren't they from back in that maze?!" Serket yelled as he took to to skies, weaving through Thunderbolts and Electrowebs.

"It seems so!" I shouted back, Protecting myself against the relentless barrage.

"I see the Hypno! Bastard's hiding behind them!" He yelled with a scowl, diving in to attack, but was forced back by several Thunders.

"We will not be able to get close!" I stated, to which he landed beside me and asked.

"So what do we do huh?" He bared a Fire Fang, causing the Joltik to step back, the Hypno glaring from behind them. I waved a Fire Punch in front of them, making them back up further.

"I have an idea." I said aloud after a second of thinking.

"Then spit it out." He replied. I nodded and continued.

"Of course. I think we can-" I stopped as we saw the Hypno snapped up by a large set of jaws, and the Joltik were warded off by Will-O-Wisp.

"Who...?" Serket asked with a dumbfounded face. I let a small smile form on my face as I recognized who it was.

"Stel." I muttered as her and Clover walked into view.

"H-Hey... I'm here too..." Clover mumbled while looking off to the side. I apologized before Stel spoke.

"It's nice to see you again Marshadow." She softly bowed, to which I did the same. Serket nudged me and gestured to them with a confused look on his face.

"Oh, yes. Serket, these two are Stel and Clover. Stel, this is Serket. I found him in the Hypno's cave." I explained with Stel shaking her head.

"Caught by a Hypno? Looks like you've been getting rusty." She sighed.

"You have heard of what happened in Eterna City, right? I would say I did pretty well." I stated with a small smirk.

"About that. I know all that's happened, and I must say I'm sorry for not being there, I was preoccupied with something else." She apologized. I shook my head.

"It was not your fault." Serket pushed past me afterwards and walked up to Stel.

"Alright, alright, that's enough of that. Why do you still have the Hypno in your... second mouth..?" He asked. Stel's response being to spit out the Hypno and having it fly back into the forest.

"What Hypno?" She asked with a smile. He deadpanned and turned back to the water as Cream walked into the area. She noticed Stel and Clover, as well as marks on the ground left by the Joltik's Thunderbolts. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"So... what happened?"

—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—~—

Frost POV (the previous day, about an hour after Marshadow and Cream left)

I lied on a small bed as an IV bag was hooked up to my arm with whatever was in there going into my arm.

"Remind me again, what the fuck are you putting into me?" I asked Grimmsnarl, who sighed.

"It's supposed to be something to rid you of that strange virus, but it doesn't seem to be working." He said in a frustrated voice.

"Then why is this stuff still going into me?!" I yelled before yanking the cord out, causing a bit of bleeding, but that would be solved in a minute anyway.

"I'm lucky that it gives you regenerative properties, then I won't have to nag you for things like that. Though I still have to clean the blood..." He mumbled and turned to the monitor showing the virus thing really close up. I sat up and hopped off the bed.

"I'm taking a break to stretch, I'll be back in a bit." I said before leaving the room, bumping into Doll on the way out.

"Oh, Doll. What're you doing here?" I asked, stretching my arms a bit. She held out a piece of paper.

"Marshadow and Cream left to go to the Crown Tundra."

"Eh..?"