Fledglings

by Fobbie

A young Nidoran unearths the ancient guardian of her home, one of a kind lost to the world. Will her home, and the world at large, cope with his return?

117. Chapter 102a: No Stone Unturned, Part 1

Chapter 102a: No Stone Unturned, Part 1

Much to Guardia's astonishment, the Marked that lived in these maze-like tunnels seemed to pass word onto each other almost as quickly as the Pokémon back in her colony did. Not even two hours later, she and Trizano were at the square Pleo and the others had first entered after coming through Starbreak Square's gates. The shops had been thoroughly ransacked and charred by the pirates, but even so, it was still crowded with Pokémon. They were all in lines to receive items being handed out by Marked, with theirs headed by a yellow Florges who stood in front of a small batch of chests—preparations for their counterattack on Starpeak Square later that night.

Guardia followed along after Trizano, and when their turn came, the Florges passed them a few berries, a Slumber Orb, a Petrify Wand, and a Sleep Seed, before ushering them out of the way of the next Pokémon in line. The Cubone and Skarmory moved on and stopped after finding a relatively quiet corner. Guardia slipped her items into a bag Trizano had been assigned, and drifted off in her thoughts amidst the flurry of activity in the background.

"Are you ready, Guardia?"

Guardia turned her head up and saw Trizano looking down at her. She hesitated and tightened her grip on her club, pawing at her shoulder as she averted her gaze.

"Not really, honestly. Even if I'm not usually one to slink away from a battle, I'll admit that part of me is worried that we're rushing into this since just fighting some of the pirates earlier was really hard," the Cubone admitted. "At least going and fighting the rest of them with a whole colony's worth of Pokémon helping us can't possibly be worse than having to fight them alone with just Dimitri…"

Guardia trailed off a moment when she realized that something about Trizano's demeanor felt… off. Usually he was eager and bombastic about getting a chance to be 'Trizano the Immortal', but he had been oddly quiet this whole time.

She turned her attention back up to him and noticed that he seemed tense and guarded. Was there something going on that she didn't know about?

"What about you, Trizano?"

The Skarmory paused, before turning his head away and visibly drooping.

"… I'm not sure myself, actually."

Guardia tilted her head and motioned up at the Skamory's head with her bone.

"Is it your eyes?" Guardia asked. "They're not still hurt are they?"

"No, no, they're fine," Trizano insisted. "Sharp as they were before Aldrich burned them…"

And now it was Trizano's turn to trail off and look visibly uneasy. Guardia blinked and walked up to the bird, tugging at his metallic feathers for attention.

"Trizano, is something wrong?" she asked. "You're acting differently from how you normally do."

The Skarmory remained silent for a moment, before shaking his head with a low sigh.

"It's just that… back on Vollezee, Kiran told me that I tend to take needless risks by charging off on my own during battle," he said. "And when I think about it… maybe he had a point. After all, if I hadn't stayed to fight Aldrich when we initially ran into him on Vollezee, then I'd never have gotten my eyes burned in the first place."

Trizano trailed off for a moment, before bringing a set of wingtips to his beak with a quiet murmur.

"I don't know, it just makes me wonder if I'm being too reckless and causing more problems than I'm solving…"

Guardia blinked and stared back at the Skarmory. She just expected Trizano to say something like that he was worried about the battle, but she certainly hadn't been expecting this sort of lack of confidence from him.

The Cubone shook her head. She didn't know whether or not she could really get to the root of his problems, but maybe there was something that she could do to knock some sense into him…

"I suppose Kiran wasn't wrong if he really told you that. But I think you're taking things a bit far, Trizano," Guardia insisted.

Trizano blinked and stared down at her incredulously, before he too, held his head at a puzzled tilt.

"What do you mean by that?"

"In order to get Pleo home, we all have to take risks from time to time," she explained. "Including ones that seem scary and daunting… like when I jumped from you to club that big Bossgodora back on Pioppo."

The Cubone trailed off and looked aside, pawing at her shoulder with her free hand.

"I didn't want to do it at first, and it was honestly pretty terrifying falling like that… but it helped us win, didn't it? And I wouldn't have been able to do that without you telling me that it'd be possible."

There was a brief moment of silence as the two each waited for the other to say something. Guardia fidgeted briefly, and seemed to audibly weigh the words in her mouth before she continued on.

"When I was living in my colony, the Pokémon we celebrated as heroes the most were the ones who were there for others when they were needed," the Cubone said. "Like in fights with fiends and invaders, or when someone was hurt or sick… kinda like how you were for me back on Pioppo."

She turned her head up, meeting Trizano's eyes as their cross-shaped pupils reflected in hers.

"Maybe Kiran's onto something about going and doing things off on your own, but you don't have to. By taking those risks together, we'll be able to better judge how we should handle things as they come, and help each other whenever things aren't going well," she said. "I don't know what it was you were taught being a hero was like, but sometimes, being one is just being there for others when they need you."

The Skarmory hesitated and drifted in his thoughts briefly. He supposed that Guardia's words had a certain logic to them. Their own friends were still being held captive by the pirates, and their hope of Pleo being able to live at peace back on his home island hinged on the parts of the Knights' Ledger that'd been stolen from them. Risky or not, it was hard to argue that they had a choice over whether or not to face down the pirates back in Starpeak Square…

He shook his head, before giving a faint smile back in reply.

"No, that's about the same as what I was taught, too."

A sharp cry snapped the pair to attention, as they saw Robbie standing in the center of the square. They noticed Pleo and Crom hurry over as Pokémon from the lines began to gather together in groups. A Raichu floating on his tail suddenly blipped in in a flash of light just afterwards: a sign that it was already time to set out for Starpeak Square.

"Right, we should get going ourselves," the Skarmory said. "Though, thanks for the talk, Guardia. It helped a bit."

She nodded back, before slinging her club across her shoulder with a small smile.

"Glad to hear. Let's just keep an eye out for each other out there."

---

Pleo looked up at the night sky just in time to spot a Traveller going behind the moon, as the gentle sound of wind gusting and nearby buildings settling made him stiffen up. A quick glance left and right reminded him that he was presently in a back alleyway close to the center of Starpeak Square, the product of a few hours spent creeping along from the forests. They'd split up into smaller groups as they neared the village, with Trizano having taken the lead of his group, who inched up to the mouth of their alleyway before motioning for a stop.

"Aspetta," the Skarmory said. "Up here should be good."

Pleo looked back at Crom and Guardia as they all gathered near Trizano's position. The young Lugia snuck a peek around the corner, where he saw a group of four pirates making their way down in a patrol: a Morgrem and a Tangela, along with a Drilbur and a Koffing.

Crom tugged at Pleo, prompting him to fall back behind a large wooden bin with his teammates. It didn't look like any of the four pirates had suspected anything, but even so, things had been eerily silent.

"Remind me, what's our sign to go again, Trizano?" Pleo asked.

Trizano peeked his head back around the corner, prompting Pleo to look after him, just in time to see a shadow emerge from an alley further down the street and drag the Tangela from the rear of the group into the dark. Pleo's heart skipped a beat, expecting the pirates to whirl around and notice their missing teammate, only for them to continue on unaware as Ander quietly darted across the street. The Lugia felt a prod at his wing and turned his head, where Trizano was motioning at him to stay low.

"That was it," Trizano whispered. "Just keep quiet while the pirates come by."

Pleo and the others nodded and followed suit, as Ander crept down the street after the pirates with his scythes tensed. The four held their breaths as the pirates trudged along past their alleyway's mouth. First the Koffing passed, then the Drilbur, but when the Morgrem tried to do the same Ander lunged out from behind him and threw the flat of one of his scythes over the Morgrem's mouth and the blade of the other under his throat.

"Nrk!"

The Mogrem thrashed as Ander pulled the pirate into their alley, before shoving the Fairy-Type to the ground on his stomach and pinning him down with a foot. Guardia rushed in and smashed her club down on the Mogrem's head, while Crom raked his claws against his upper back. Pleo readied yellowish rings in front of his beak, only to swiftly dispel them as Dimitri finished the pirate off with a hacking blow across the back of his head. There was a sharp yelp as the pirate went limp and Ander pulled his foot back. Everyone's breaths collectively stopped, prompting them to steal a glance beyond the corner, where the Koffing and Drilbur had paused and whirled around with a start.

"… Hey what the-? Where are the others?!" the Drilbur exclaimed. "They were right behind us a second ago!"

Pleo watched quietly as the Koffing looked around warily for a moment, when his breath froze. The Koffing bobbled forward, pointing straight at their alley's entrance.

"They must've noticed something in one of the alleyways," the Koffing answered. "Come on."

Guardia motioned at the others to hide as everyone dove behind whatever cover they could, the Cubone helping Crom drag the unconscious Morgrem along behind the dumpster. She brushed up against the side of the trash bin and froze as it made a soft thump. At once, the Drilbur and Koffing stood up at attention. The Drillbur sniffed at the air, only to narrow his eyes and flash his claws.

"Wait a minute! Someone's here!" the Drillbur growled. "I smell them-!"

A sudden shock of black feathers dove in with a fiery pulse of blue light, sending the Koffing crumpling to the ground. The Drilbur sprang back with a startled yelp and turned to flee, right as a flash of red and white scales cut him off. The Drilbur looked up just in time to see a Krookodile's jaws close in on his head and then snap shut. They lifted the pirate from the ground, the Drilbur thrashing and letting out muffled cries in the crocodile's grasp before fading and going limp. There was a moment of silence, before Robbie threw the Drilbur aside in a groaning heap, and entered the alleyway with an unamused frown.

"Tch, you and your friends should be more careful, Tragosso," the Krookodile harrumphed. "They could've alerted their buddies if we weren't there to deal with them."

The black figure got up from the fainted Koffing and revealed herself to be Margi, right as a Heliolisk and a Cetoddle popped around the corner, hurriedly dragging the Drilbur into the alleyway as the three set about binding and gagging the pirates they'd overpower by a dumpster. Pleo couldn't help but be morbidly impressed at how fast the others were able to defeat the pirates and then tie them up afterwards. Pleo turned his attention back towards Robbie after hearing approaching footsteps, where the Krookodile had his arms folded with his face still set into an impatient frown.

"Remember that the plan is to pick off the pirates we come across quietly," Robbie chided. "Just because we're not far from the garrison right now doesn't mean that I want to fight the rest of the way over to it."

Guardia blinked and briefly hemmed and hawed, before giving a sheepish tug at her helmet.

"Right, sorry about that."

Pleo's ears pricked at the sound of a quiet thud, where the Cetoddle from Robbie's group was shoving the Koffing down into the dumpster, while Crom propped up the Mogrem along the edge before unceremoniously pushing the Fairy-Type over the edge. A little ways over, the Heliolisk was busy with the Tangela and drug him along, when the Grass-Type's eyes flickered and opened. At once, the Tangela thrashed, pulling the Heliolisk to the ground as the Tangela struggled to get up, only to be swiftly cut off by Margi swooping in and clamping down on the Grass-Type just below his eyes.

"Mrrk!"

Margi lifted the Tangela from the ground, making him freeze up as the Hydreigon leaned in and bared her fangs in his face.

"You either shut up, or I make you," Margi snarled. "Pick your poison, pirate."

The Tangela flinched and screwed his eyes shut, trembling in Margi's grasp with low whimpers. Margi shook her head with a low scoff, carrying the Grass-Type over to the dumpster before shoving him down on top of the other fainted pirates and looking down with a piercing glare.

"You chose wisely," the Hydreigon harrumphed. "Now, stay put."

Margi slammed the lid down on the dumpster before tipping it up against the wall. The Hydreigon dusted herself off as Crom heard muffled cries and pounding from inside.

He almost felt sorry for those pirates who were trapped inside. Almost.

"Come on, we should get going."

Crom turned and saw Ander motioning for him and the others to follow. Robbie and his group quickly headed off, leaving him and the rest of his teammates to follow after them in the street for a couple blocks, before reaching the shelter of a nearby alleyway. Crom leaned up against a wall and breathed in and out, when the sound of pattering footsteps rang out. The Druddigon froze briefly and looked further down the alleyway, where he saw other Pokémon sneaking past. Friendlies from their scarf patterns, thankfully.

"Things are going smoothly, at least," Crom murmured.

"Don't jinx it, Shardrago."

Crom blinked and looked up, where there was Robbie looking down at him sternly.

"Things won't stay this easy for long," the Sheriff said. "Remember that we're here to lure those pirates out of the garrison so that way you can get in. We're almost certainly going to wind up fighting them pretty soon."

A wave of quiet gulps went around Team Traveller's members, as Crom nervously pawed at the back of his neck. He knew that this moment was coming and that it was needed to free their friends, but even so, it was a bit hard to keep his nerves under control. What if their plans had gotten things wrong? What if the pirates were expecting them to sneak into the garrison? They'd beaten the pirates once, but that was against fewer of them and in a place where they had the advantage as defenders. Would the same really hold true now?

A sharp grunt snapped him back to attention as Robbie hurriedly went down to the other end of the alley and motioned for them to come near. Crom and his teammates hurried over as the Krookodile poked his head around the corner, before pulling it back and speaking up in a low voice.

"We should split up here to reduce our odds of getting spotted in a large group. Just stay on alert and try to get as close to the garrison as possible," Robbie insisted. "The more we catch the pirates that are holed up in there off-guard, the better our shot is at getting our friends out."
With that, the Krookodile and his underlings headed off out into the street while Margi and the others retraced their steps and went down the same direction from the other end. Team Traveller lingered in the alley briefly and glanced at both sides, Pleo and Dimitri traded uneasy looks with one another, as the little Lugia gave a worried tilt of his head.

"… Where are we supposed to go right now?" he asked.

"I think we should still be in the clear to head down this street a little further," Dimitri replied. "It's not well-lit and it looks like there's plenty of places to hide around it. We can move to the next street over on the right to try and spread ourselves out a bit more."

Pleo nodded back and set off along with his teammates as they took Robbie's exit out into the street, before ducking down another alley and heading further right. Their trek ahead went by smoothly, as the six crept along quietly under the glow of night sky.

… Too quietly.

The whole time, they hadn't overheard any other pirates patrolling. Or any dozing off, or drinking and gambling with one another for that matter. Pleo supposed that Robbie had said that this was the time when most of them were most likely to be asleep, but with so many pirates that had come to Starpeak Square, shouldn't they be seeing more of a sign of their presence still?

Pleo felt the flat of Dimitri's scythe press up against his chest as they rounded the corner and looked up. There was the garrison, just a couple blocks up ahead, with figures distantly visible moving around its base and lights winking in and out of its windows. Was that where all the pirates were…?

BOOM!

The entire group jolted up with a start at a deafening blast as shutters from nearby windows rattled. Pleo's eyes shrank to pins, as he sprang back and looked off towards where the noise had come from.

"A-Ah!"

There was a brief flash of fire, followed by a plume of smoke from the direction of the sea, which curled up into the night sky against the moon and stars. The Lugia breathed in and out tensely when he realized that something was wrong.

The blast had come from the harbor. Before any of them had managed to make it to the garrison.

"Wait! Th-That wasn't supposed to-!"

Crom swiftly threw a hand over Pleo's mouth and held it shut, and the reason why immediately became apparent. All along the street, voices crying out and footsteps hurrying onto the street filled the air, as figures came from the direction of the garrison and others roused themselves from nearby buildings such as a tavern down the street. After hearing voices directly behind them, Crom and his teammates quickly ducked back into the alleyway they'd come.

"Travellers above, what on earth was that?!"

"Someone must be attacking the ships!"

Pleo grimaced and turned back just in time to spot a Diggersby and Purugly hurrying down the street, who came to a skidding stop when their eyes met. There was a moment of brief confusion as the pirates looked them over, when the Purugly's eyes widened at the sight of Pleo, and she flashed her fangs with a low snarl.

"That damn bird is right here!" the Purugly shouted. "Get 'em!"

The Purugly fell back as the Diggersby jumped up and stomped on the ground, sending a shockwave crackling along through the earth that Pleo hopped over just as it reached them. He heard his teammates yelp and tried to stabilize himself as he landed back on his feet, only to let out a sharp squawk as he saw the Purugly diving at him. He hurriedly rolled out of the way along with his teammates as the girthy cat just barely missed him with a Body Slam. Crom and Guardia ran in to try and bog the Normal-Type down, as a glance back at the Diggersby revealed the pirate grasping a glinting bauble on his scarf with an ear and raising it to his mouth.

"Everyone, they're out here just west of the garrison!" the Diggersby barked into his badge. "You can't miss-!"

Ander cut the Diggersby off with a sudden, whitish shockwave that knocked the badge out of the Ground-Type's grasp, with Trizano following up with a glinting, spread-wing tackle. The pirate tumbled back and tried to prop himself up with his ears, prompting Pleo to hastily ready an Extrasensory, when Dimitri spat up a scalding jet of water that struck the pirate in the face and sprawled him out. The Lugia sighed in relief and turned back for Crom and Guardia as the sounds of them still scuffling with the Purugly rang out.

"They're over there!"

Pleo froze after looking up and seeing a white Squawkabilly point them out from a rooftop over to their right. All the while, various Pokémon, some drowsy and others questionably sober, began to stumble out of doorways and alleyways everywhere he looked.

"Gyaah!"

He glanced over towards the Purugly as she toppled over from a Power-Up Punch from Crom, when Guardia suddenly tugged at his arm and motioned off at the encroaching pirates. Much to their alarm, their shock and disorientation were now starting to give way to snarls as a few began to visibly ready attacks with their limbs and mouths.

"Dai, andiamo! We need to get out of here!" Trizano cried.

Pleo yelped and took off running as Crom hurriedly threw Guardia onto his shoulders, charging ahead for dear life as he saw Dimitri clear a path ahead with a Surf. Ander and Trizano flung cutting gusts behind them that drew cries from Pokémon they couldn't see, when the rest of the alley suddenly lit up behind them. Pleo briefly saw a flash of panic come over his teammates eyes as they rounded a corner. He fought with his clipped wings to leap after them, right as a Hyper Beam just missed him and tore down the length of the alley they were in.

"This way, hurry!"

A sharp crash turned their attention over to Dimitri pulling his leg back from kicking in a door to a nearby building and hurrying in. Crom all but pulled Pleo and Guardia in, as Ander and Trizano swiftly followed after them. They ducked past the doorway right before Dimitri slammed the door shut and shoved a chest in the way, just in time from the way the door behind them suddenly jostled from pounding on the other end. Pleo and his teammates backed away uneasily, as they looked around and saw they were in a backroom with lengths of cloth hung up all around. They fell back for a door on the other side that took them behind the counter of what they quickly gathered to be a tailor's shop.

"How long do you think that door will hold them?" Pleo asked.

"Not very, so we shouldn't hang around here for long," Dimitri said. "Let's try going out from the-"

As Dimitri started making his way to the front of the store, he abruptly froze. At once, Pleo noticed the shouts and sounds of Pokémon were coming very loudly from the front of the shop as well.

How on earth did they catch up so quickly?! Pleo and his companions took up fighting positions, as the little Lugia built up glowing rings of light around his beak when Crom's eyes suddenly went wide.

"Pleo! Get down!"

The Druddigon yanked him down to the floor as something sailed overhead. Just then a flash of heat and a deafening blast came from behind and flung him forward against the counter. Pleo's ears rang and his vision wobbled as smoke filled the air around him. He coughed and poked his head up in a daze when he saw a black-and-white Linoone enter the shop and charge forward with dark flecks gathering around his claws.

Pleo froze in a panic as the pirate ran at him, frantically readying a Whirlwind as the Linoone bore down.

"Oh no you don't!"

A cutting gust of wind suddenly sailed in and flung the pirate aside, followed by green blur running in and pouncing on him with a loud thwack. There was a sharp yelp as the Linoone went limp, with the sound of bellows mixed with pained cries rang out along the street. Pleo and the others peeked past the counter and saw a Marked Kecleon shoving the Linoone aside before looking up at them with a nod.

"Come and help us out here, there's more where they came from out on the street."

The Kecleon ducked out the front of the shop, where a Marked Golbat joined her before hurrying off. Pleo blinked in surprise, when he felt Crom pull him onto his feet and saw Guardia motioning out with her club.

"Look!"

The street was now full of Pokémon facing each other down from a pair of defensive lines formed of Protects and makeshift heaps of rubble. Off towards the right were the pirates from earlier, while towards the left were Pokémon they'd seen from Margi's group. The space in between them was hotly contested in battles that seemed to blur in with one another, as attacks overlapped with each other and Pokémon in pirate and friendly colors alike were tossed aside or crumpled to the ground by incoming blows.

Team Traveller hastily slunk out the front of the shop and tried to avoid going out into the open as much as they could, when Crom looked off in the direction of the garrison. It was only separated by a few streets, but in between them was a wall of Protects and snarling fangs and claws that were being joined by reinforcements coming from deeper in the rear.

"So much for sneaking into the garrison!" Guardia shouted.

A pained scream suddenly rang out as a white blur hit the ground in front of them with a flinchworthy thud. Guardia jumped back with a start, when she saw that it was the pirate Squawkabilly from earlier laying in a groaning heap. Heavy wingbeats followed, turning her attention upwards to see it was Margi flying in visibly panting, with visible scrapes and damaged scales.

"Don't be so sure about that!" the Marked Hydreigon exclaimed.

Margi raised her right head and craned it off at the roof of the garrison. Guardia stared ahead at it with a confused blink, before turning to Margi with a puzzled frown.

"Huh?" the Cubone asked. "What do you mean-?"

Guardia felt a nip at her back and yelped as Margi lifted her into the air and threw her onto her back. Pleo, Crom, and Dimitri quickly followed suit and clambered aboard as the Hydreigon beat her wings and took off from the ground, with Trizano and Ander following in her wake.

Guardia clung tight as a rainbow-colored beam that left a tangible chill in the air zipped by, forcing Margi to hurriedly swerve out of the way. For a brief moment, the Cubone peeked down and felt lightheaded from fright as she saw the streets below, with attacks and thrown objects sailing back and forth between the shattered entrances of buildings and hastily-created barricades and walls of Protects. Guardia quickly turned her attention back to Margi's central head to calm her nerves and breathed in and out sharply.

Her calm proved short-lived as a brilliant beam of light hit Margi from below and made her stagger in the air. After a brief, yelping moment to tighten their grip on Margi's back, Pleo and Dimitri hurriedly spewed an Extrasensory and Scald back down to try and provide cover, while Crom turned back with a startled pant.

"Margi! How are we supposed to get into the garrison like this?!" the Druddigon cried.

"From above!" she answered. "I'm just trying to get you to a place where you can get in easily!"

'Get in easily'…? Crom wasn't sure what that was going to look like. All of a sudden, the Hydreigon banked, prompting him and his teammates to cling tight as Margi dove down, pulling up just above the roof's shingles. She abruptly braked and came to an unsteady stop, letting her passengers all but tumble off of her as she flapped her wings in place. The Hydreigon scanned the roof around her briefly, only to stop after her eyes fell on a small patch of torn-up shingles.

"Here!" Margi shouted. "This should be a good place!"

Margi spat up a Dragon Pulse, which shot forward and punched through the damaged patch of shingles with an audible crunch. As the smoke cleared, Team Traveller noticed that there was a smoldering hole left behind where damaged wooden beams could be seen blocking the way.

"Widen that hole and get in there!" the Hydreigon cried.

Nobody on Team Traveller needed further convincing. At once, Guardia brought her club down on the damaged wood and shingles, with Crom throwing in a Dragon Rage after her. The wooden beams creaked and groaned as Dimitri lunged forward with a hacking strike that found its mark a loud crack. One of the wooden beams fell away along with a patch of shingles, leaving a hole just big enough for Guardia and Pleo to drop down into as Margi flew over and peered down after them.

"The armory should be the next floor down and on the center of the floor!" the Hydreigon reminded them. "We'll try and get more teams in to help, but you're going to need to hang in there for a while!"

"Keep dreaming!"

Margi whirled around, her eyes widening just as a Moonblast sailed in and struck her in her flank. She tumbled back from the blow, and rolled off the roof with a startled bellow. Crom hurriedly went after her, when he was forced back by a hail of falling rocks. He briefly caught a glimpse of Margi pulling up a little above the ground, as she hastily flew off pursued by a group of fliers led by a Noctowl, with a Toucannon and Bombirdier turning back and locking eyes with him and his teammates.

Travellers above, did they really have to fight those two right now?! Crom grimaced and darted back for the hole to try and widen it with another Dragon Rage. He made it only a few paces forward, when he was knocked off his feet by a spinning peck from the Toucannon. He tumbled against the roof's shingles, coming to an unsteady stop right as the two pirates swooped down with a pair of low snarls.
"You're mine!" the Bombirdier cried.

The Bombirdier dove at Crom, prompting the Druddigon to lunge out of the way as he felt air woosh past him. The Bombirdier glanced back after overshooting and began to wheel around when Trizano cut in with a Steel Wing that slashed the pirate's right wing. The Bombirdier stalled in the air, when a hail of stones from Dimitri abruptly sailed in and sent her plummeting off the roof and into the chaotic battle in the street. That'd probably keep her busy for a while. Trizano turned his attention back to Crom and Dimitri, while a quick glance at Ander looked like he was succeeding at keeping the Toucannon distracted.

"Let's hurry up and widen that hole!" Trizano cried.

Crom and Dimitri hurried back and began hacking away at the fringes of the damaged roof, while Guardia and Pleo did the same from below. Little by little, the shingles and wooden beams around the hole began to crack and fall away, when up above, the Toucannon noticed the hole growing wider with a sharp squawk.

"Gah! So you're trying to stall me, huh?!"

The Toucannon dove past Ander, swooping down at the hole while his beak started to glow red and the air visibly sizzled around it. Halfway down, the Toucannon felt a slicing pain across his back and looked over to see Ander pulling a scythe back, prompting the pirate to pull up into the air with a frustrated snarl.

"Get off of me, you lousy bug!"

In the flash of an eye, the Toucannon disgorged blast of burning air square onto Ander, sending the Marked Scyther tumbling back screeching in pain along towards the edge of the roof. Ander briefly saw open air and the street below, when he felt claws latching onto him and looked up to see Trizano holding him back with his talons.

"I've got you! That hole should be just about done!"

The Skarmory pulled up as Ander beat his wings and scrabbled up over the eave and back onto his feet just as a loud crash rang out. Everyone's eyes turned back to the hole in the roof, which was now visibly large enough for Dimitri and Crom to drop down into it. Trizano and Ander took off for the hole as their teammates already made it in, with the pair all but diving in as a squawking voice cried out from above.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

It was the Toucannon, who was diving down and readying a second Beak Blast. Ander hurriedly threw Vacuum Wave forward, prompting Pleo and Crom to do the same with a Thunderbolt, and Dragon Rage respectively. The Toucannon reeled and staggered under each blow, when Dimitri suddenly flung a hail of rocks up from below, launching the pirate out of the hole and out of view with a loud crash. The six looked on panting, bracing themselves for the pirate's return, only to fail to make out his voice amidst the sound of ongoing battle further outside.

They took that as a sign that the pirate was down for the count and slunk away into the shadows. Dimitri steadied his breaths, briefly noticing Crom dressing a burn on Ander with a Rawst Berry, before clearing his head and going further down the attic with a wave of a scythe.
"We shouldn't assume they were the only ones who saw us make that hole," Dimitri insisted. "Let's get a bit further away."

Nobody needed further encouragement and followed after Dimitri as the sounds of raging battle rang out through the roof's shingles in seemingly all directions. The six hurried along, weaving around boxes and crates that had been piled up when Pleo spotted a trapdoor with a protruding latch just off to their right. At once, the Lugia darted over and crouched down to grab at the latch, only for Trizano to suddenly bat out a wing and reach for him.

"Pleo, wait."

Pleo hesitated and turned towards the Skarmory as he set his bag down and pulled out a Slumber Orb. Trizano hurriedly passed it along to his teammates, before turning his eyes back towards the trapdoor.

"Be sure to give that Orb a good rub," he said. "We'll likely have company waiting for us on the other end."

As if on cue, muffled voices and the sound of running footfalls passed from the other side of the trapdoor. Right. This garrison was a place that had been fortified to hold off outside attackers, and the pirates were surely putting it to use themselves. Pleo waited for the Orb to go around his friends as each one took a moment to give it a vigorous rub. It eventually came his way, and he passed it back to Trizano, who in turn gave it to Guardia to hold onto. Pleo stepped forward, putting his wings back on the latch, as Trizano sucked in a sharp breath before speaking up in a hushed tone.

"We'll go on the count of three."

Pleo held his breath as Trizano counted upwards, just in for the voices from below to return. The Lugia felt his heart flutter in his chest, when Trizano's voice pricked his ears.

"Three!"

Pleo yanked the trapdoor open as Guardia tossed the Slumber Orb through the opening. In a flash, the sound of shattering glass rang out and the hallway filled with peach-colored mist. He heard coughing and shouting ring out below, making him hastily slam the trapdoor shut.

"Ack! Someone's here!"

"Call in… backup…"

Pleo and his teammates reflexively moved back from the trapdoor, bracing themselves for snarling pirates to come storming up through it. Except, much to the Lugia's relief, the voices on the other end died down and were followed by faint thuds. Silence came afterwards as Trizano motioned to the trapdoor with a hushed cry.

"Go! Go! Go!"

Pleo all but dove down the trapdoor and onto a stone hallway, where all around were pirates slumped over asleep. The Lugia took off running as fast as he could, with his teammates following suit as they reached an intersection of corridors. He briefly checked each one, before swinging left along a set of windows facing out of the garrison.

"Margi said the cell block was at the center of the floor below us!" Pleo insisted. "So it has to be somewhere over this way!"

His teammates nodded and grunted back as they flew around the corner, with Crom tearing along as shouts and cries rang out in the distance along with the booms of attacks and buildings shuddering under their blows.

Except… for all of the chaos that they could hear outside, the corridor had been eerily empty aside from the place where they'd broken in.

"Are there supposed to be this few pirates to deal with right now?" the Druddigon asked. "Where are they, anyways?"

A crash suddenly rang out as a window just a few paces ahead suddenly exploded after a shadowy ball struck the window frame. The Druddigon stumbled back as splinters and rubble flew about and a cloud of dust filled the hallway. Crom and his companions coughed and peeked ahead out of the window's frame, where figures could be seen scurrying to and from the street as a group of indigo-scarved Pokémon led by Robbie charged a hastily formed barricade of Protects held by massed pirates. The wall of light barriers abruptly gave way as the two sides intermingled with one another in battle, the colliding masses quickly devolving into a confusing melee where it became hard to distinguish friend from foe from each other.

"Looks like they're a bit busy right now!" Trizano exclaimed. "Come on, before they get wise to us being here!"

The others murmured their agreements, before taking a moment to study their surroundings. After realizing the hallway ahead was headed towards the middle of the garrison like they needed, Trizano flew ahead while his teammates stepped around the glass shards by the window and took off running. All the while, the roar of raging battle outside leaked in through the windows. While it perhaps wasn't accurate to say that it wasn't worrisome for the Skarmory, the sounds that kept him on edge the most were the voices and footfalls coming from elsewhere within the building.

Trizano suddenly heard pattering footsteps from up ahead, many more than he was expecting. He quickly landed as his teammates caught up, and he motioned for quiet. The sound's culprit came darting up a set of stairs just ahead, as figures followed by a trailing Falinks ran past. Everyone held their breaths as the running footsteps faded off, when Guardia went up and peeked around the corner, before motioning to the others to follow.

"Looks like the coast is clear," Guardia said. "Robbie said that those 'solitary cells' in the armory would be near the center of the garrison, so we should be just above them."

Nobody raised any objections as they hurried along and made their way down the stairs and out onto the floor below. Guardia peered up at the surrounding walls as they moved in towards the center and swore she saw metal reinforcements on the walls. She heard murmuring coming from down the hall, and saw shadows moving around just past an oncoming corner. The Cubone tightened her grip on her club, creeping forward to steal a glance.

There was a large, heavy door right around the bend, just as Robbie had said. Surprisingly, all the pirates had for defenders in front of it were a tense-looking Meowstic and Cacturne who stood guard at opposite sides of its threshold.

"Hmph, those pirates must be putting a lot of faith in that door to leave it guarded by just those two," she said. "This will be quick."

She pulled her club back for an arcing throw, when all of a sudden, she felt something tug on it and yank it back.

"Guardia, wait."

Guardia turned her attention back to Ander, who'd blocked the free end of her club with a scythe. She yanked it away and shot an annoyed scowl back.

"What? There's only two of them!"

"Yes, but we don't know how many of their friends are nearby," the Scyther explained. "We should take them out as quietly as we can."

… Right. She supposed that that made sense, and they had been in a similar situation when they'd freed Pleo back on Giotto. Everyone's attention drifted over to Crom as the Druddigon fished through his satchel only to suddenly freeze. The Dragon-Type's eyes widened briefly as he looked down into his satchel, before looking back at his teammates with a quiet grimace.

"… Right, I used that One-Shot Orb while sneaking in from the fringes earlier," Crom said. "I don't suppose anyone else brought a second one?"

"No, but we do have these," Guardia said.

The Cubone ran her free paw into a small satchel on Trizano's shoulder, before pulling out a pink seed and a branch with glassy nubs at its tips that seemed to have electricity crackling inside them—a Sleep Seed and a Petrify Wand. Trizano briefly traded glances between them and the pirates, before giving a quiet nod.

"That'll do," Trizano said. "Just wait for my signal. We'll only have one shot at surprising those guards."

Crom took the Sleep Seed while Guardia held onto the Petrify Wand, as Trizano crept forward and snuck a glance around the corner before raising a wing. He scraped his wingtips against the wall, which pricked the Meowstic's ears and prompted the pirate to start pacing over.

"Huh? What the-?"

Trizano dropped his wing, prompting Crom to hurl the Sleep Seed at the Meowstic. The Meowstic had all but a brief moment for his eyes to widen as the seed popped and peach mist overtook him, making the pirate stagger and cough. The Cacturne suddenly shot to attention, bracing himself with a sharp growl

"Hey! Who's-?!"

Guardia didn't wait for the pirate to finish, and flicked the Petrify Wand, sending an orb of light that struck the Cacturne and locked his limbs up with crackling static. Pleo dove ahead, hurriedly pulling the pirate's scarf over his mouth, before Dimitri ran in and struck the Cacturne's stomach with a Brick Break as Ander followed up with a cross-shaped slash.

There was a quiet yelp as the Cacturne went limp and Pleo caught the pirate's body and quietly set it on the ground with his wings. A little ways over, the Meowstic was sprawled over on the floor asleep as the rest of Team Traveller stepped around the dozing pirate and made their way up to the entrance to the armory.

"That solves the guards," Guardia murmured. "But how do we get in there?"

"These ought to help," Crom said.

Guardia looked up after the sound of metallic jingling and saw Crom pulling a keyring from the Meowstic and raising it up. That was simple enough… except, there was only one lock on the door and there had to be at least a dozen keys on that ring. The Cubone looked at the keyhole, and then at keys in Crom's hand, before giving a worried tilt of her head.

"… How do we know which one will open the door?" she asked.

"Trial and error," Crom replied. "There's not that many of them here."

Crom went up and began to try and fit the keys into the hole. Most of them didn't even make it in all the way and could be quickly moved on from, but much to the Druddigon's annoyance, the first key that fit into the lock didn't budge when he twisted it. Neither did the second or third. Crom moved onto the fourth key he found and began to slide it in, when a stranger's voice suddenly rang out and the sound of nearby footsteps pricked his ears.

"Whiskers? What on earth are you doing out there?"

Crom and his teammates all but leapt away from the door as they looked around to try and see from what direction they were being approached. There wasn't any sign of another Pokémon coming towards them, and if there were footsteps going around, Pleo couldn't hear them over the battle outside. But he could clearly hear someone moving around, and quite close, too. But how was that possible when there was no other place where the pirates could be this close to them?!

Pleo paused as he heard footsteps again and looked back at the armory's door. The Lugia's eyes widened, as he suddenly realized there was a place that pirates could be nearby that they'd overlooked this entire time…

"Why are there pirates inside?!" Pleo whispered.

"Ya ne znayu," Dimitri hushed back. "Maybe the pirates were worried about something like this happening."

Pleo and Dimitri stiffened up after a series of sharp taps rang out through the metal. They traded glances, when the earlier voice spoke up again.

"Whiskers, you said that there was fighting outside," the voice said. "Have things settled down out there or what?"

Crom went back to the key in the keyhole and wiggled it, noticing that unlike the last ones, this one seemed to move around with the lock. The Druddigon hesitated and tightened his claws on the key, before looking back at his teammates.

"On the count of three, I open the door and we rush it," Crom whispered. "Get ready to attack whoever's inside."

The others nodded back and braced themselves as the Druddigon silently counted down with his free hand.

"Two… One…"

Crom wrenched the key right with an audible click, and at once Ander charged the door and rammed it with shoulder. The door swung wide and a sharp yelp followed, as there on the other end, was a Shiinotic who'd jumped just out of the path of the door's edge. The Shiinotic pirate looked up at them, his eyes shooting wide with alarm

"Ack! Who are-?!"

Ander swiftly cut the pirate off with a spread-wing tackle, knocking him out of the way. Pleo charged ahead after the Scyther, briefly seeing a Raticate and a Galvantula whirling around as he flung a Whirlwind ahead that knocked the former into the wall. The lantern from the ceiling fell from the impact and hit the ground, spreading glowmoss onto the floor as the chamber dimmed and things quickly devolved into chaos.

The Galvantula hurriedly balled up electricity between his pedipalps and flung them forward in a web, only for its charges to sputter out and arc towards Guardia. The Cubone shrugged the electricity off and lunged ahead for the spider along with Crom, while Dimitri ran in to join them. As his eyes adjusted Pleo briefly saw Trizano heading towards Ander, when a glint from the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Much to his horror, the Raticate had gotten back up and was grabbing at a badge on her scarf.

"Uri! Come and-!"

The Raticate's voice suddenly caught in her throat as she felt something sharp poke at the base of her neck. The Raticate looked down and at once flushed pale after seeing a light gray scythe at her throat, with Dimitri glaring daggers down its length as a loud yelp came from the background. A glance over revealed the Galvantula keeling over from a smash from Guardia's club, while the Shiinotic was lying facedown closer to the door.

"Tell them it's a false alarm," Dimitri hissed.

The Kabutops dug the tip of his blade into the Raticate's throat as the pirate stared up wide-eyed. The Raticate reached for the badge shakily, before bringing it up to her mouth and stammering into it.

"N-Nevermind, I was just hearing things."

Dimitri suddenly brought the flat of his other scythe against the Raticate's hand and knocked the badge up into the air, before it clattered to the floor. The pirate recoiled and cringed, when Dimitri struck the top of her head with a Brick Break using the edge of his scythe, sending her crumpling to the floor.

Pleo couldn't help but flinch a bit from the attack. While he wasn't sorry that Dimitri had stopped that pirate from calling for help, that Brick Break looked a lot more painful than he'd expected.

"Pleo?"

Pleo turned his head and looked further down into the chamber from the light of the shattered glowmoss lantern. Off at the far end, there were three figures stuck up against the wall—Nida, Elty, and Pladur. The three all stared incredulously, when the young Lugia noticed that they were all tied up with silken webbing.

"A-Ah!"

Pleo hurried over and went up to the three. He couldn't tell whether or not they were hurt or not with all the silk webbing in the way. He frantically looked around and tried to see where the bindings began and ended, as his voice came out in startled squawks.

"Are you okay?!" he cried. "I heard you through that mean pirate's badge and I was so scared, and-"

"W-We're fine!" Pladur insisted. "Just a bit stiff from being tied up all day!"

The rest of Team Traveller made their way over as they gathered in front of the three to try and make sense of the mass of silk themselves. Pleo watched as the others tested parts of the webbing or went to check the hallway outside, as Crom tugged at the webbing around Nida and managed to get one of her forepaws free.

Pleo looked away and hung his head. His friends had almost died, all because he wasn't there for them when they needed him to escape. Was there something wrong with him as a Protector? It'd taken him two days just to make it back to them…

"I'm sorry I took so long," he murmured.

The Lugia was answered by a warm nuzzle, as he looked down and saw Nida's head looking up at his, as she ran her free paw along his cheek.
"It's alright, Pleo" the Nidorina replied. "I knew that you'd come for us."

Pleo blinked and in that moment, all his worries ebbed away. He brought his beak up to Nida and nuzzled back at her, happy that at least when it counted, he was still able to be there for-

"Hey!"

He suddenly stopped and turned over to his right where Elty was still there flailing against his bindings, his ears pinned back with an impatient scowl

"Just saying, untying us any day now would be nice!" Elty snapped.

There was a moment of blinking silence, before Guardia glimpsed back at the hallway just in time to see the Meowstic faintly stirring past the door.

"Right," the Cubone said. "We should probably also do something about those pirates outside before they wake up or else someone finds them."

"Let's try and speed this up, then," Ander said. "Everyone, tell us exactly where your limbs are under that silk, since we're going to need to cut to the chase here."

One after the other, Nida, Elty, and Pladur answered Ander's question as best as they could, before he, Trizano, and Dimitri hacked through the silk. Nida, Elty, and Pladur fell to the floor as their teammates hurriedly undid any lingering knots. The three shambled to their feet, all while Dimitri and Ander went out into the hallway and pulled the Meowstic and Cacturne inside. Nida's limbs were still stiff as she stumbled past the door with the last of her teammates, when Crom pulled it shut and hurriedly locked it up. Just in time, judging from the groggy moaning coming from the other end.

Crom turned over to Pladur and pulled him into a tight embrace. Crom stayed there briefly, as a worrisome thought crossed his mind, prompting him to look down into the father's eyes

"Did the pirates separate anyone else like this?" Crom asked.

"I don't think so?" Pladur replied. "Before the pirates took us here, we were all in that same cellblock that the guards dumped us in."

"Guess that's where we're going next, then," Elty said, as he picked up the keyring from the floor with an audible jangle. "Wiff diff many keyth, oneth gotta open it."

Nobody contested the Growlithe's idea and nodded back, as Crom took the keys for himself. One after the other, the group hurriedly went down the hallway with their newly freed companions. Ander studied his surroundings as they carried on, as his thoughts turned back to Robbie's instructions and relayed them turn by turn to his teammates. All the while, the racket from the fighting from outside seemed to have only grown louder and louder. All of a sudden, a dull boom rang out and the entire hallway briefly shook. Ander and his companions froze, trading worried stares as they glanced up at the ceiling.

"… What on earth was that?" the marked Scyther gulped. "Did someone use Earthquake?"

"It wouldn't have made a loud boom like that if someone had," Trizano murmured. "But whatever that was, it felt close."

Indistinct shouts suddenly rang out from outside, prompting Pleo to hurry over towards a window and peer out. While small, the window was still big enough to see embers swirling about in the air and various rooftops across the street on fire. More worrisome still, the cries were growing more frantic as pirates and defenders alike were hurriedly bolting away in all directions.

"Incoming!"

A sharp cry came, followed by a whistling noise, when Pladur noticed that it was growing louder and louder. Pladur hurriedly pulled the Lugia away from the window when a deafening blast and a flash of heat suddenly knocked them to the ground. The sound of splintering wood and crumbling stone rang out, while the air filled with smoke and dust. Pladur woozily stumbled back up as the haze settled and he saw Nida, Pleo, Elty, and Guardia had all been flung about and were struggling to get back onto their feet.

There was a hole where the window and surrounding walls had once been, and through the gap left behind, they could now see the rest of the wall was now lying shattered in the street. When they turned their heads back for their other companions, they froze, seeing that there was a mound of rubble where the rest of the hallway had been.

"A-Aah! Crom!"

Pladur ran up to the pile of rubble in a panic, desperately digging his ruddy claws against the stone and dust. They turned up nothing but more rubble, as his breath began to hitch and his voice started to crack.

"No. No. No-!"

A faint cough rang out as some of the debris shifted. Pladur couldn't see any sign of movement from the rubble, but he could tell it was definitely Crom's voice.

"W-We're alright!" the Druddigon cried out. "Some of us are a bit scuffed up, but we're mostly fine! What about you?"

Thank the gods. Beyond sounding a bit shaken up, his child at least didn't sound hurt. Pladur quickly looked over the others in their midst. Nida, Pleo, Elty, Guardia… none of them looked seriously injured, which was all they could really ask for at this point, really.

"We're also okay!" the Fraxure answered. "But what on earth just happened?!"

"The pirates must be bombarding the garrison from their ships!" Dimitri's voice replied.

Pleo quietly set his teeth on edge at Dimitri's explanation. 'Bombarding'? Like what Kiran said Hatteras had planned to do with that fireworks shell when Lyn first sailed off with him?

Except, he didn't see any pretty colors when whatever just exploded destroyed the wall. Looking at the mess around them, he could already tell they didn't want to get hit by whatever shells those pirates were shooting towards them.

"Hang on, we'll get this rubble out of the way!"

Pleo darted up to the rubble pile and pressed up against a wooden beam, only for it to remain wedged in place. The Lugia stepped back and tried to tug at it instead, but no matter what he tried, the beam just simply wouldn't budge. He moved on to trying to brush aside some of the stones, but only a few were small enough to move.

"Agh! I can't get through!"

There was a moment of uneasy silence, before another whistling noise rang out along with a loud blast that made Pleo and his teammates flinch. The Lugia looked about worriedly, when Trizano's voice called out from beyond the pile of rubble.

"We'll go on ahead," the Skarmory's voice called out. "We've got the keys to the cellblock. You get out of here and regroup outside with our allies. We'll need to get going and get the Ledger as soon as we're done here."

Pleo grimaced and glanced back at the pile of rubble blocking off the hallway. He didn't know anything about how strong shells used by ships were, but they were probably fortunate that the shell had blown up while there was a wall between them. If one had landed on them while they were still on the roof earlier…

The Lugia shook his head. It wouldn't do any good dwelling on that, especially while they were just sitting Ducklett here in this blocked-off hallway.

"Right, we'll try and find a way out!"

Pleo and the others turned and made their way down the hallway as they tried to think back to the diagram of the garrison Robbie showed them during their planning. The main entrance to the building had been on the east side of the building, so then that meant that their current course ought to take them-

BOOM!

The Lugia stumbled and flinched as a deafening blast rang out and the building shook. After a brief moment to regain their bearings, he and his teammates realized that they were hearing the sounds of shouting and fighting coming from downstairs. A quick glimpse out a nearby window confirmed their fears, as the entire space in front of the main entrance was taken up by lines of Protect barriers flickering in and out, with smoldering wreckage and hazy figures darting about.

The five paused and traded uneasy looks with one another, when Pleo nervously ruffled his feathers.

"I don't suppose that you noticed a side exit while the pirates were moving you around, did you?" Pleo asked. "Since I don't think we're getting out the front door right now."

"I was kinda hoping that you saw one, actually." Elty replied.

Pleo's mind went blank. What on earth were they supposed to do right now when the one exit they knew about would take them straight into the middle of the battle outside?! Could they still catch up with the others? But he didn't have the faintest idea how Crom and the others would find their way back from here, and-

"… What about that hole over there?"

Pleo looked up to see Guardia had snuck off to an intersecting hallway and was pointing off around the corner with her club. He followed her over, where he saw part of the floor above had collapsed down into the hallway, with a hole partly blocked by wooden timbers punched into the outer wall.

Pladur went up and tugged at the timbers, discovering that they could be moved out of the way enough to form a hole just big enough to pass through. The Fraxure hesitated, before pointing off ahead of him.

"I think Guardia's onto something," he said. "Mira allí."

Pleo made his way over and looked down, where all below, shattered stone and wood had heaped up into a crude ramp that made its way down to the ground, still shrouded with smoke and dust.

"Looks like we can climb down from here," Pladur said. "Just watch your step, since it sounds like there's fighting going on nearby."
Pleo and the others nodded to one another, before making their way down the ramp one by one. All the while, they looked out at the burning buildings across the street as the roar of battle continued to ring out nearby, thankfully from one of the other sides of the building.

And then they reached the bottom and froze. In what looked almost like a ring around a shallow crater, there were Pokémon wearing various colors strewn about limply. Some were hanging slumped over broken-down windows and walls, while others had burns that covered large parts of their bodies. Nida came across a Slurpuff with an indigo scarf whose only sign of life was a weakly rising and falling chest, and stepped around the Fairy-Type with a quiet shudder.

"Gods, the local Medic's Hut is going to be busy after this," Nida murmured. "Some of those Pokémon look really hurt."

"Where do we go now, though?" Elty asked.

Guardia briefly scanned the ruined surroundings, before turning off towards the south.

"Crom and the others would've had to go southwards to leave the cell block," she said. "Maybe there's another way into the garrison there."

It would have to do, and it wasn't wise to assume that they'd be left alone in this place for long. The five hurried along down the street, rounding the corner when they realized that the sounds of fighting were growing louder. An icy beam zipped by, as a Rufflet in pirate colors fell out of the air and slumped over just before them. A quick glance from right to left revealed village guards and Marked hurriedly fleeing from a barricade that had just been overrun by what seemed like an entire horde of Pokémon swarming over it.

Team Traveller began to backpedal, as a little further down, a Houndstone jumped over a tail swipe trailing dragonfire from an all too familiar Tyrantrum. The Houndstone came to a crouching stop, giving a ghostly-sounding snarl back at the hulking dinosaur.
"Hah, is that the worst you can do, you overgrown Salandit?!" the Houndstone jeered. "I'm quaking in my tracks right no-!"

The Houndstone was abruptly cut off by Tarquin lunging forward and biting down on her from above. Agonized screams rang out as the Tyrantrum lifted the Houndstone into the air and shook her between his jaws in front of her companions, who stood frozen in place from fright.

Their shock did not last for long. With a piercing hiss, a Seviper lunged forward and struck an Arboliva with a poison-slicked slash that sent the Grass-Type falling to the ground. A Tranquill slammed to the ground just afterwards while a Medicham drug him out of the air with an unseen force, and a Spinda fell to the ground from a glob of mud shot out by a Toedscruel. The Spinda hastily got up and fled, the remaining defenders at the barricade mounting a disorganized retreat as beams and missiles picked off stragglers.

Tarquin flung the now-limp and silent Houndstone to the ground as Crom and his teammates looked on in shock, inching back as their hearts pounded in their chest. The Druddigon felt a frantic tug at his arm, and looked over to see his father's face screwed up into a frightened grimace.

"M-Mijo let's find a different way out of-"

"Captain Tarquin! Over there by the garrison's wall!"

The Tyrantrum reared and turned his head as Pladur's mind went blank in a panic. The Fraxure reflexively grabbed Crom and took off running for the right after where the other defenders had been fleeing, when a violet glob suddenly sailed in.

"A-Aaah!"

Pladur jumped back as the Sludge Bomb splattered over the ground where he'd just been standing, when Akane suddenly lunged in. The Seviper raised her head as she blocked the way with her body, with other pirates quickly closing in in every direction. The Fraxure felt faint tremors from behind, as he turned around with his teammates and gulped to see it was from Tarquin approaching them.

"Oh, there you are," he said. "For a moment, I thought we were going to have to flush your sorry tail out of the Mystery Dungeon."
Team Traveller froze, their blood turning to ice in their veins as the Tyrantrum drew near, baring his fangs with a toothy, predatory sneer.
"You didn't think you were just going to walk out of town, did you? Though glad to see that your bird friend managed to stop by after all."

Elty felt his heart pound in his chest as Tarquin's teeth gleamed amid the glow of fires in the background. A sharp hiss along with a startled squeal from Pladur turned his attention leftwards, where Akane slithering ahead with her bladed tail swishing back and forth.

The Growlithe grimaced as his ears and tail pinned firmly against his body, backpedaling as it seemed increasingly clear to him that this was a fight that they weren't going to win.

"L-Looks like we made a wrong turn!" the Fire-Type squeaked. "We'll just get out of your fur right now-!"

Elty turned to run back for the garrison with Pleo, only for Akane to abruptly spit up a Flamethrower to cut them off. The Lugia jumped back as Elty rolled out of the way and then sprang back onto his feet, when the Growlithe abruptly froze.

Pleo quickly saw why after turning around: the side of the street that the defenders had fled down was now blocked off by other pirates encroaching on them, and there weren't any other obvious routes for escape. None of them knew quite what to do just then, as the sound of mocking laughter hung in the air while pirates mostly clad in orange scarves seemed to press in on them from all directions.

Akane seemed to take particular satisfaction in their predicament, and flicked her tongue with a taunting sneer.

"What's the rush?" the Seviper asked. "We have some catching up to do…"

Akane curled her body around, leveling her tail at Nida as a malicious smirk came over her face.

"After all, I've got a score to settle with you and your family, Nidorina."

"As if we're just going to just sit back and let you do that!"

Akane turned and hurriedly slithered out of the way of a Marked Stonjourner's attempt to pen her in with a barrage of large stones, the snake letting out an angry hiss as she spat back a Sludge Bomb. Everyone collectively looked behind Tarquin, where a number of Marked and Pokémon clad in indigo scarves came charging from a street near the western end of the square. The group that retreated earlier must've come back for a second assault!

Before anyone knew it, the western side of the garrison once again broke out into a confused mass of skirmishes, with Nida briefly catching Tarquin briefly stumbling from a hail of flechette-like leaves from an Ivysaur. The Tyrantrum struck back with a swipe of his tail trailing dragonfire that launched the Ivysaur back with a yelp, before he threw his head up and bellowed out to the other pirates in the square.

"Get these pests out of our way!" he shouted. "Akane and I will handle the bird and his friends!"

Pleo and his companions collectively flinched as a Surf swept across the plaza in the background and shoved their allies further away. There was a brief moment of stunned shock, as Tarquin whirled around towards Team Traveller and a dangerous smirk spread over his maw.

"Now, where were we…?" the Tyrantrum began. "Oh yeah, this part."

Rocks tore out of the ground as Tarquin swiped a claw through the air, sending the stones flying up in an arc ahead of him. Nida's eyes widened as she frantically bolted, only for one of the stones to catch her from behind and knock her to the ground. The others fared little better as Elty and Pladur were hit hard and fought to keep their balance. She struggled to get back onto her feet herself, just as a sharp hiss cut through the air.

"Kurae!"

Nida turned her head and screamed as she saw Akane lunging for her, jaws opened wide. The Nidorina threw herself aside, the Seviper's fangs just missing her face. She felt the pirate's scales brush up against her body, and promptly dashed away. Akane turned and coiled around, slithering ahead to give chase when a sharp squawk rang out.

"Nida!"

Nida looked over just in time to see blue sparks pass between Elty and Pleo as they ran over. The little Lugia gave a flapping jump into the air as much as his clipped wings would let him, spitting up a ray of golden rings that sailed in and knocked Akane onto her side. Nida turned back to see the Seviper tumbling away as her teammates caught up with her, with Pleo looking over at Nida with wide, frightened eyes.

"A-Are you okay?!"

Nida tripped over her words and tried to steady her breathing,when a low wince reached their ears. They saw Elty briefly flinch and nose at his shoulder, before shaking his head.

"It's alright, it's probably just a bruise," the Growlithe insisted. "I'll patch myself the next time I get a chance-"

"Elty! Look out!"

Elty barely had time after Pleo's cry to turn and see the Blast Seed sailing in the air towards them. The Growlithe sprang back as the Seed blew up and bolted as a Sludge Bomb flew in shortly afterwards. He ran ahead with his head held low, hurriedly diving behind the remains of a shattered wooden stand where Pladur and Guardia were already hiding. He panted and stole a peek back, where Akane was harrying Nida and Pleo with a Flamethrower. He would've hoped that Pleo's Extrasensory would've worn her down after boosting it with Helping Hand, but she didn't look anywhere near as worse for wear as he was expecting.

"A-Aaaaaah!"

A bloodcurdling scream came from the other end of the rubble pile as Guardia and Pladur visibly tensed up. The Growlithe looked over alongside them and promptly blanched:

The scream had come from an orb-headed Eiscue in Tarquin's jaws, who the Tyrantrum promptly threw aside. The guard crashed limply into a shattered storefront, before the pirate captain turned his head towards their general direction.

"I know you're out there!" he snarled. "Show your faces so we can get this over with!"

Elty pinned his ears back as his breaths grew quick and shallow. Tarquin was barely worn down from their efforts just like his first mate. The Growlithe knew that they were fighting an uphill battle, but they weren't going to make it if Tarquin kept hitting this hard over and over again!

"Gah! We need to turn this around, fast!"

"B-But that's Commander Tarquin!" Pladur exclaimed. "It took an entire revolt to deal with him back on Tromba! W-What are we supposed to do?!"

Guardia panted, before tightening her club in her grasp. She briefly glanced past their cover, before turning back to her teammates with a determined nod.

"The same thing we did to that Gyarados on the last island!" she exclaimed. "We'll pull through this by fighting together! We just need to throw some more strength behind our attacks!"

Pladur peeked past the wreckage and visibly faltered, before looking back at his companions and nodding back.

"R-Right! Elty, cover us!"

Guardia entered into a thrashing set of movements, with Pladur doing much the same as flecks of dragonfire began to dance on his hide. Elty darted ahead and tried to hug the remains of the ruined stand as he saw Tarquin's eyes shift past the wreckage, only for them to suddenly narrow as he saw Guardia and Pladur from behind their cover.

"Nice try, little runts!" the Tyrantrum snarled. "Don't think I can't see your little tricks there!"

He lunged ahead with his jaws opened wide, when Elty suddenly popped out from behind cover. The Growlithe barked at Tarquin to draw his attention, briefly stopping the Tyrantrum's pace as the pirate turned and Elty spat up a cone of bluish embers in his face. The Tyrantrum bellowed and cradled a fresh burn along his snout, before setting his teeth on edge and catching a glimpse of the Growlithe trying to duck back behind the stand.

"Why you-!"

Tarquin swiped his tail through the corner of the stand, knocking Elty away from it with a small spray of splintered wood. The Growlithe tumbled to a stop on the ground, when he looked up and saw the Tyrantrum descending on him from above. The pirate bit down with an audible crunch, pained screams filling the air as Tarquin buried his fangs into Elty's flanks and lifted him off the ground. Tarquin pulled his head back to shake the Growlithe's body in his grasp, when a silvery-white blur wreathed in dragonfire sailed in. It caught him in his stomach, making him crack his jaws open by reflex.

"Ack!"

It was Pleo, plowing headfirst into the Tyrantrum with a Dragon Rush. The force of the blow sent Tarquin staggering and fighting to keep his balance as the young Lugia frantically ran off, leaving Elty to flop limply to the ground. The Growlithe weakly stumbled up, before pulling his tail and ears in tight against his body and limping for the storefronts on the edge of the square. At the other end of the square, Nida gathered that Elty must've been doing worse than she initially thought from the attack, and changed her direction mid-stride to try to come to his aid.

"Pay attention, Nidorina!"

Except, she never made it past the first few steps before her back erupted into fiery agony. Nida shrieked and rolled wildly, seeing a blur of black-and-yellow that she panickedly spat an Ice Beam at, but missed entirely. By the time she rolled back onto her feet, Akane was no longer there. A taunting hiss made her look behind, where she saw that the Seviper was circling around her.

"So you did learn a move or two from your mother," the Poison-Type scoffed. "Shame she didn't teach you how to use them properly!"

Nida set her teeth on edge and let out a seething huff. She planted her feet, and lunged ahead with a set of furious swipes, prompting Akane to hastily slither out of the way. Further off in the background, Elty limped off behind a storefront's doorway and flopped down as bodies and attacks flew around near the western end of the square. He took a moment to steady himself, turning his head back to see ruddy marks all along both of his flanks. The Growlithe shakily nosed at his bag and gobbled up an Oran Berry, breathing heavily as he chewed when he suddenly heard battle cries from off in the square.

He looked around, just in time to see Pladur raking Tarquin's leg with a claw swipe trailing dragonfire. The Tyrantrum winced and stumbled back briefly, dropping a Lum Berry from his claws that Pladur hurriedly kicked away. Tarquin's gait evened out, as the pirate corrected his balance and dug his claws in with a menacing snarl.

"Let's see you try that again, Fraxure!"

Tarquin at Pladur with a Dragon Claw, which just barely missed his head. The Fraxure yelped, before running away with his head held low. Off with Nida and Pleo, poison began to slick Akane's bladed tail, when a whirling white missile suddenly sailed in. It struck the side of her head and made her seize up with a pained hiss, before the Bonemerang came back around and knocked her to the ground as Guarda hurried in and her club whirled back into her grasp. The Seviper raised her head in a daze as Guardia swung her club wide, and looked back at Nida and Pleo as they joined her side.

"Everyone!" the Cubone cried. "While she's stunned!"

Pleo focused as his eyes flashed yellow and he spewed a ray of golden rings at Akane. They struck her head-on, leaving her writhing as Nida lunged ahead and raked her flank with a Fury Swipe. It landed and drew a pained hiss, prompting Nida to bring her other paw down with another slash against the pirate's hide, before readying a third.

Swish!

Nida yelped as Akane's tail suddenly swung at her head, making her hastily spring back as it carried on and the tail's bladed edge grazed the side of her head. The Nidorina landed on the ground and panted, pawing a fresh scrape dribbling blood on the side of her cheek as she looked back at Akane. The Seviper was slithering away, panting from exertion herself. Akane seemed to sway slightly while staying upright, but she didn't look unnerved at all, and more worrying still, the Seviper flicked her tongue out with a knowing smirk.

"Hah, you think that's all it takes to get the best of me?"

Akane turned her head down to the satchel tied along the nape of her neck. The Seviper pulled the bag open and with a swift flick, sent a yellow, speckled fruit spilling out.

Pleo eyes widened as he realized it was a Sitrus Berry. He hopped forward at once, hurriedly batting his wings out to try and blow the berry away.

"Ah! No!"

Akane threw her head forward as Pleo flung his Whirlwind forward and swept her up in it. The Seviper tumbled back clumsily to a stop, only for her to loudly gulp and a lump to go down her throat.

In spite of everything, she'd managed to eat her berry. Pleo and his companions watched blankly as the Sitrus Berry's effects seemed to settle over her in a flash. The Seviper's movements grew more and more lively, as she swished her tail back and forth with a mocking sneer.

"Seriously, if that's all it takes to throw you off balance, I'd like to see you deal with this!"

Pleo watched as Akane lunged ahead and tried to hop out of the way. Except, halfway over, there was a deafening belch along with a blast of air smelling of Sitrus Berries that swept him up. He lost his footing, sailing into the air and plummeting to the ground as he skidded along the ground. He weakly twitched as his ears rang and his vision spun in his head, stars dancing in his eyes.

"N-Ngah…"

Pleo rolled onto his stomach and tried to push himself off the ground. Off to his side, Akane gave a satisfied smirk and began to slither forward, when a piercing cry cut through the air.

"Pleo!"

A whirling bone suddenly sailed in and struck Akane's neck as it carried on into the air. Nida didn't wait for the Seviper to recover from the blow and ran ahead, shooting an icy ray forward from her mouth that struck the snake head-on.

"Little brat!" Akane hissed. "Let me show you how it's done!"

The Seviper suddenly shot forward and sank her fangs into Nida with an audible crunch. The Nidorina cried in pain and reeled as the Seviper pulled her head back, coiling for another strike. Nida hurriedly fell back, while further behind her, Guardia caught her club from the air and ran in as Akane chased after her teammate. The Cubone pulled her club back, only for a piercing cry to split the air.

"Eyaaah!"

Guardia whirled around to see Pladur flying back from a swipe from Tarquin's tail wreathed with dragonfire, watching as the Fraxure crashed into a nearby wall with a sharp thud. She wavered and looked between Pladur and Nida, when she saw Pleo running in for the Nidorina.

She supposed that made the decision easier for her. At once, Guardia changed course and darted over to Pladur, going over and tugging at him as the Dragon-Type let out woozy groans, when she noticed a cone of cinders flying out from a pile of rubble out in the street to cover them.

It was Elty. The Growlithe stumbled out, gait still shaky, when Tarquin's eyes turned towards him. The Tyrantrum briefly winced from the burns on his snout before his eyes narrowed, and a low growl filled the air over the sounds of battle in the background.

"Oh, it's you again," Tarquin spat. "Let me finish paying you back for that burn you gave me!"

The Tyrantrum lowered his head and charged as blue sparks began to gather around the top of his head, prompting Elty to yelp and bolt. The Growlithe scarcely made it a few paces before an errant series of bullet-like seeds zipped in from pirates and defenders fighting in the background, grazing his right foreleg with a set of sharp stings. He lost his footing and tumbled forward to the ground, laying there in a daze until he realized the ground was shaking. He turned back, looking on in frozen terror as Tarquin bore down on him with his Head Smash.

"Eltenios!"

Elty briefly heard Guardia's voice cry out as scaly hands shoved him out of the way. Everything seemed to go by in a crawl afterwards as he heard a pained cry and then looked up to see Guardia sailing in the air, her bone flying from her grasp. She hit the ground in a limp heap and tumbled to a stop, laying motionless with a visible crack running the length of her helmet. The Growlithe stared blankly, as his voice came out in a frantic cry.

"G-Guardia!"

Elty heard a low snarl and saw Tarquin turning and looking down at him. He started to back away in petrified fright, fire hastily gathering in his mouth when suddenly blinding light came from Guardia's direction.

They both stopped and looked over and saw Guardia starting to stagger up, her body glowing with white light as it began to lose its form. It took all of a moment for things to register for Tarquin, as the Tyrantrum grit his teeth and called out towards Akane in the background.

"Akane! Leave that bird alone for a second and don't let that Cubone-!"

Tarquin briefly trailed off after seeing Elty duck behind him with blue sparks building on his paws. The Tyrantrum whirled around, just in time to see Pladur lunging at him and suddenly raking his flank with a Dragon Claw. Tarquin bellowed in pain, as off at Guardia's end, her still-glowing body started to grow visibly larger, with prominent horns and an elongated tail taking shape, prompting Akane to build up sludge in her mouth.

"Get away from her!"

A swirling Whirlwind struck the Seviper and forced her back with a startled hiss as the light cleared and Guardia stumbled forward, now a Marowak. She panted for air as she briefly looked up and saw Tarquin still fighting with Pladur and Elty, when her eyes fell on her bone lying on the ground just off to her right.

She ran over and scooped it up, turning her attention back to Akane with a sharp growl.

"Nameru na!"

Guardia tightened her grasp around her club, briefly realizing that it felt strangely small in her hand, only for her to grit her teeth and charge forward. The Marowak swung at Akane's throat, only for her club to fall short from where she expected it to go. The Seviper jerked back as Guardia swung again, leaving the Marowak to just barely miss her head. Akane opened her jaws and lunged forward, only this time, Guardia swung her club downwards and struck the top of the snake's head from above with a satisfying thwack.

"Gah!"

Akane crumpled to the ground and sharply slunk back as Guardia panted to catch her breath, partly from her fatigue from Tarquin's earlier blow, partly from her fraying nerves. It suddenly dawned on her that the Seviper was visibly lurching in a daze. Guardia looked over and saw Nida staring at her in awe, before motioning ahead with a sharp cry.

"Quick, finish her off before she can heal up again!"

Nida dashed forward as the Seviper's body swayed in a weary daze. The Nidorina hopped up, pulling a paw back for a furious swipe when Akane suddenly cut it off with the flat of her tail-blade and knocked Nida's blow aside.

The Nidorina's eyes widened, when she suddenly saw Akane bringing her fangs in for a strike. She barely had a moment to react before Akane's teeth sank deep into her shoulder, leaving her to cry out as she desperately struck blindly with her paw and thrashed to break free. A Bonemerang sailed in and forced Akane to duck back, loosening her grip as Nida slipped away and slumped to her knees. Her paws wavered as her breaths came in and out raggedly, all while an awful hiss lingered in the air.

"Hah, look at you. Trying so hard to be like your mother," Akane sneered. "Pathetic."

Nida breathed in and out as her blood started to boil. All this time, this Seviper kept putting her down over and over as someone who'd never match up to her mother, as if she'd gotten this far because of some fluke.

She grit her teeth and tensed her paws. No, it was her who'd come all this way with her friends. And she'd either make this Seviper see it or go down swinging.

"I don't need to be my mother!" Nida shouted.

She lunged forward and flung a paw forward with a heavy swipe, Akane's eyes briefly widening in alarm as the Nidorina brought her Fury Swipe down across her face.

"I'm Nida! I'm myself!"

Akane jolted back and moved her tail to try and counter with a jab. Nida ducked, just missing the blade as she swiped again and struck the Seviper in the side of her neck. The snake stumbled back that time, as Nida flared her ears and grit her teeth with a seething bellow.

"And I can beat you just fine!"

She threw her paw forward again, catching Akane in the throat. The Seviper seized up with a choking noise, before her eyes fluttered and she slumped to the ground. A few cries rang out as about the square, various pirates turned from their battles and looked on in shock, along with even Tarquin, who reared up from pursuing Elty and Pleo with an alarmed shout.

"Akane!"

Pleo and Elty briefly looked back as Tarquin started to head over. The Lugia reflexively went after the pirate, only to feel his wing getting tugged back and saw blue sparks settling around Elty's fur.

"Hit him with everything you've got, Pleo!

The Growlithe hurriedly tapped the Lugia's wing as Pleo felt a surge of energy run through his body. He took off afterwards, lunging ahead as best as his clipped wings would let him while fiery blue light sprouted along his body.

"Nida!"

Pleo barreled ahead, striking Tarquin in his back hard enough to make the pirate stumble and struggle to keep his footing. The Tyrantrum panted hot, frustrated breaths, when all of a sudden, a whirling sound reached his ears and something hard struck the back of his head.

"Gack!"

He staggered forward and reflexively reached his claws to try to cradle his head, when he saw Pladur running up as dragonfire danced on his tusks. The Fraxure threw his tusks forward with a pair of sharp chops, the first hitting Tarquin's shin and drawing a roaring bellow as he stumbled forward onto his knee, before Pladur flanked around him and another sharp hack landed in his gut. The Tyrantrum struggled up with labored breaths as he heard the same whirling noise and looked up…

… just in time to see Guardia's Bonemerang sailing directly for his face.

THWACK!

"H-Hrnk!"

Tarquin seized up and tottered in place briefly, before slumping over and hitting the ground with a loud crash. The fighting about the square died down as everyone, pirate and defender alike, looked on in shock. The local Pokémon stared in stunned awe, while the pirates in the square began to visibly lose their nerves.

"Th-They got Captain Tarquin!" a Honedge cried.

"Oh screw this," a Grimer whined. "I'm outta here!"

"Over there!"

Just then, a Furfrou approached from another alley, one who wasn't wearing an indigo scarf or had a Mark on his forehead. Was that one of the villagers? There was a crowd of Pokémon all behind the Furfrou, as others emerged from damaged buildings and started to press in on the pirates. A wave of panic seemed to settle in over the pirates, as an orange-clad Golem with black outgrowths turned around and cried out to the others.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

The other pirates briefly looked back at the Golem as he hurriedly fled, before general disorder broke out among the rest of their ranks. The pirates took off running one after the other, most not even bothering to carry along fallen comrades from the square, or even attempt to make parting attacks as they fled from battle. One of the exceptions was a Zangoose in a red scarf, who lingered behind to briefly pull an eyelid down and stick a tongue out off in Akane's direction.

"Feel free to send a letter sometime, péist! I'll be sure not to read it!"

A Flareon and Banette hastily yanked him along right as a bolt of electricity hit the place where the Zangoose was standing and the defenders gave chase after the fleeing pirates. Team Traveller looked on in disbelief as the pirates fled further and further away, and the din of battle settled down into the sound of crackling fires and pained groans. They briefly tensed up after hearing movement coming from the garrison, only to turn and see Robbie rounding the corner alongside an Empoleon, a Quaquaval, and a number of guards. A few of the villagers noticed and looked over, before they began to make their way up to greet them.

There was a moment's hesitation, as a dawning realization came over them:

"W-We won?" Pladur murmured. "I-I mean, we won! We sent those stinking pirates running!"

Elty and his companions breathed in and out tiredly as somehow, against all odds, they'd actually pulled through in their battle with Tarquin and his underlings. Robbie's plan to rally the villagers to them even seemed to be panning out, too. Elty wobbled on his feet briefly and winced from his wounded flanks, before turning his attention over to Guardia, who was squatting on the remains of the stand and looking down blankly at her arms. He went over, and worriedly prodded at her side with a forepaw.

"Feels weird suddenly being so much taller, doesn't it?" he asked. "Though are you alright? That Head Smash back there looked like it really hurt."

"I'm fine," the Marowak said, before pausing and catching herself.

"Well, mostly."

Guardia idly swung her club in front of her, and at once, Elty saw the problem. In the past, Guardia's club would reach out a full additional arm's length for her. Now, it barely went half the length of her present arm's length. She pulled it back to her side, and shook her head with a low sigh.

"I think that I'm going to need a new club after this," she said. "I'm not a stranger to fighting in close quarters, but I can't get used to the way mine feels now."

… Right, Guardia's club didn't exactly grow alongside her, and it looked downright small in her grasp now. Even if the Marowak's general bodyplan didn't seem all that different from what it was like as a Cubone, things must've changed more for her than he realized.

But they could sort that all out later. He was just happy that she was still alright.

"Hey! Everyone still alright out there?!"

Elty and his teammates turned to see Crom hurrying over along with the rest of their teammates. The Druddigon's eyes lit up after seeing them, as he all but pounced on Nida and he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Oh Travellers Above, you're alright!" the Druddigon cried. "You really scared me there!"

Nida raised her paws and cradled Crom back, nosing at him with a tired smile.

"Yeah. You did, too."

Nida and Crom let each other go as they saw their teammates starting to crowd around Guardia and Elty. The Druddigon looked over and blinked and rubbed at his eyes briefly, only for it to sink in that his little Cubone teammate was now no longer little and just as big as he was.

"Oh! Guardia! You evolved!"

They made their way over to congratulate her, as other Pokémon went about tending to the wounded Pokémon in the square or capturing pirates who'd been left behind. All of a sudden, Nida's ears pricked at the sound of footsteps approaching. She turned and saw Robbie leading Franz and Augusta over to them. She heard wingbeats joining in and looked upwards, where there, much to her surprise was Margi tiredly flying in—what on earth was she doing here? Nida supposed that there was quite a story behind Margi being here that she'd need to ask about once things were calmer, only for Robbie to stop in front of them, a self-satisfied smirk spread over his jaws.

"Hah, I told you that we Gestirners don't give up easily in a fight!" the Krookodile said. "One stronghold down, two to go!"

Robbie let out a satisfied huff, before Franz shot a sidelong glance at him.

"Didn't you mention that things were going awry in the harbor right now, Sheriff?" the Empoleon said.

"I mean, the pirates stopped shelling us, so it can't be going that badly," he said. "Though we might as well check and see how the other front's holding before heading over."

The Krookodile reached for the badge pinned on his scarf and moved his head to speak into it.

"Karl, how's the castle looking right now?"

"The lines didn't hold! The pirates mounted a breakout after that blast from the harbor and a bunch of them got away from us!"

The celebratory atmosphere abruptly evaporated as one after the other, Team Traveller's eyes widened and their faces screwed up into grimaces. Even Robbie was taken aback, as he tightened his grip on his badge and raised it back to his mouth.

"Give me details, Karl," he insisted. "Who got past you and how many pirates are still in there?"

"Their captains broke out in the earlier group!" the voice cried. "At least half of them are still inside from how fast these attacks are coming, so-!"

The sound of a loud blast came through the badge and then nothing. Pleo and his teammates grimaced, as Robbie looked down at his badge, and clamped down on it.

"Karl? Karl, are you still there?"

The Krookodile shook the badge in his grasp, but no response came as a sinking feeling came over Pleo and his companions. Their plan had been to pin the pirates' captains down in the castle so that way they wouldn't be able to escape or direct their underlings in town, but…

"Wait, but if those pirate captains aren't in the castle, then where are they now?" Crom asked.

"Sheriff!"

Everyone turned as a Heliolisk and Mabosstiff ran over from Tarquin as he was getting tied up and dragged off, with the Heliolisk clinging tight to a badge glinting in his grasp.

"We pulled this off that Tyrantrum," the Heliolisk said. "You're gonna want to hear this."

The Electric-Type clenched the badge as a voice came crackling through. Pleo flinched for a moment at the sound, realizing that it belonged to…

"A-Ah! That's Captain Dirk!"

"Everyone, we're pulling out! I'm about twenty minutes out from the ships with Captain Ingela! Get aboard before then or it's your funeral!"

The audio from the badge abruptly cut off, leaving the Heliolisk to fidget with the bauble as Franz and Robbie traded looks with one another.

"It doesn't sound like things are going well there either, Sheriff."

Pleo sucked in a tense breath. Did Dirk still have the chest with the Ledger inside of it? Where was he right now? And how were they supposed to get it back?

"W-What do we do?" Pleo asked.

Nida grimaced and set her teeth on edge. What on earth had happened for Dirk to have their part of the Knights' Ledger? Did he understand how important it was? If he did, then they had to go after him! They couldn't afford to let Dirk get away with the only part of the Ledger they still had, but just how were they supposed to explain this?! She looked over at Franz and Augusta, and paused in indecision before shaking her head.

"Franz, Augusta, that 'mon might have something really important of ours," the Nidorina said. "I know that there's still a battle to be fought here, but we really can't risk him just sailing off with it!"

"Then go."

Everyone's attention turned to Augusta, as the Duchess kept her eyes trained on them with a grateful nod.

"You all have already done more than we could've ever asked for after the way we first greeted you," the Quaquaval said. "It sounds like we'll need to focus on the harbor anyways to keep those pirates from escaping, so we'll be there to give whatever help you need."

Franz raised a flipper to his beak in thought, before turning off the center of the square where Tarquin and Akane's unconscious bodies were being dragged along. The Empoleon let out a quiet harrumph, before glancing back at Nida and her companions.

"Just tell us what you need."

Nida hesitated a moment. Once they got their part of the Knights' Ledger back, they'd need to sail off with the Siglo Swellow as soon as they could. That meant there was a good chance this would be the last time they'd see Franz and Augusta, or at least until they got the other two ledgers to force the Company and the Empire into letting Pleo go.

If they got them successfully.

No, they couldn't start doubting themselves now. They would pull through. They had to. But just what did it make sense to ask for when the entire town was busy with these pirates?

She thought it over, when her eyes turned over to Margi, and then off to the Pokémon heading off from the square in groups.

"I… might have a few ideas, but I need to talk it over with my teammates first."

---

Author's Notes:

- Dai, andiamo! - Italian: "Come on, let's go!"
- Mira allí - Spanish: "Look (over) there"
- Kurae! (食らえ!) - Japanese: lit. "Eat (this)!" Comparable undertones when used as an interjection to "Behold!" or "Take this!" (Hepburn Romanization)
- Nameru na! (なめるな!) - Japanese: "Don't underestimate me!" (Hepburn Romanization)