~ Chapter 8: To What End ~

~ Abandoned Laboratory, Talgeria ~

Neltharios glared daggers at Alcryst. 'This guy's boss is the leader of this Team Blackhand? And what? He's responsible for the Eternarifts? You've gotta be kidding me! And how does this link to Alcryst?!' The Charmeleon fought off the urge to lunge at the Alakazam, reasoning that he did save his life.

"You're likely confused, but I need you to understand," Alcryst opened a door on his left, "This lab is my workspace after separating from him. Here, we might find something that could help us understand your situation a bit better."

"Hmph," The Charmeleon huffed, keeping up his tough facade, "What could this lab have that could help me? Have you encountered one like me before?"

"No, but I have a feeling I know what your condition is," The Alakazam floated into the room, "Follow me."

Neltharios did as instructed, following Alcryst into his old laboratory. There were scattered notes, tables flipped over, and broken capsules that lined the walls. The lab was devoid of most light, save for Neltharios's tail flame and the dim flicker of the ceiling lights.

"What's in here?" The Charmeleon asked, picking up some notes on the ground. The notes had a lot of technical jargon that Neltharios couldn't understand.

"Let me find something…" Alcryst moved towards a shelf on the rightmost side of the room, picking up a journal that lay between several books, "Ah, here we are!"

"What are those?"

"My old research notes. I've been researching all the effects of Eternarifts on civilians and the native ferals. I've also developed a fascination with the old legends and lore."

Neltharios tilted his head, 'What does a scientist need with legends and lore?' He looked around the room some more, discovering various looplets, emeras, and more filing cabinets. Said cabinets were filled with more notes and documents. 'Good grief. Did one pokemon really work here?'

"Oh! Here it is!" Alcryst cheered, turning several pages in his journal, "Okay, let's see… The ability to control ferals was a technique that can typically only be performed by alphas, dominating those beneath them."

"That much I know already, but I'm not an alpha, am I?"

Alcryst leered at Neltharios, "Hold on, I'm getting there." He then continued reading, "The progenitor pokemon, dubbed Nobles, are said to be the origin point for all sentient, and therefore civilized pokemon. Not much more is known about them, though they are considered to be the sister to all alpha pokemon."

"The… progenitor to all civilized pokemon?" Neltharios questioned, "The sister of alpha pokemon?"

"It's just a theory of mine, but if what that Nidoqueen says is true, then you might have the blood of nobility in your veins. Somehow the Eternarift you went into awakened at least some of the power within you."

"How do you deduce that?!" Neltharios went wide eyed, "You told me I would become feral if I evolved under the influence!"

"That was before I had a thought," Alcryst stroked his mustache, "There are no records of alpha pokemon existing in society, and the most powerful pokemon in society are the Four Heavenly Kings."

"So am I the only one…?"

"Possibly, but based on your phenotypic features, I'd say that you're between fifty-five to eighty percent nobility. You would be the closest thing to a pureblood noble this world has in recent times, but I'd have to run some tests to be certain."

"Right," Neltharios rubbed his arm, "I keep hearing this voice in my head telling me to release my latent power. Is that related to this…?"

"Maybe, but I have no other specimen to cross-reference." Alcryst tapped his chin, "We would need another noble-born pokemon to be sure. And I'd have no idea where to begin looking for one."

"Alright," Neltharios dropped his head, "What do I do now?"

"You're going to have to keep your nobility status on the low," Alcryst warned, "You don't want the military getting ahold of you for your power."

~ Wayne Explorer's Guild - Residence Hall ~

"Dear Mom,

I joined an exploration guild recently, so I likely won't return home anytime soon. So I'd like to update you on what's happened as of late. I met my best friends on the first few days of school, and also met some… less than stellar people there. I then got warped into a weird cavern made of entirely crystal! It was scary, but thanks to my friends, I managed to survive. Then the school got absorbed into an Eternarift.

If you're wondering, I'm okay now. Our team is called Team Nova! Pretty cool, right? Anyway, Gullveria is pretty cool! I think Aredar and Zephyr would like it! You should visit sometime!

Love Palla."

Palla sat by the desk, scanning over her paper with Kroto holding the feather and ink.

"That good enough?" Kroto asked.

"I think it's good," Palla responded.

It had been a few days since the team officially got recognised as an exploration team, and yet they only truly completed one job together as a full team. Palla's bandages extended from her arm to her lower ribcage, but overall her sense of accomplishment managed to shove her pain into the back of her head.

"Hey," Kruler waved to the duo, getting their attention, "I think that it needs a bit more flare! Wow your family and make them think you're the hottest thing since Tomato berries!"

"Nah," Rico disagreed, "I think that it needs to be more low-key."

"Why," Kruler turned her attention to Rico, "It's just a letter to her family. Not like it's a-"

The conversation was interrupted when Sceptile, the leader of Team Blade, opened the door and entered the room, uninvited. Kroto leered at the grass pokemon with ire in his eyes.

"Excuse you," Kroto chided, "You're just going to barge in and intrude on our conversation?"

"Agent Wayne has a new task for you. It is a personal quest that he wishes for you all to take," Sceptile responded, "Your friend is already with Wayne. Don't keep him waiting."

The Sceptile left the room almost immediately after entering. Palla looked between her allies, and said, "Might as well go, right guys?" The rest of the team nodded and moved to Wayne's office. On the way there, Palla decided to stop the team right before they got into the office.

"What do you guys think Agent Wayne has in store for us today?" Palla asked.

"Clueless here," Kroto responded, "But it's rather strange that he would ask something of us right after our first job. It's been only a day."

"I doubt it's good news Tusks." Kruler stretched, "He's inconsiderate of you guys' injuries, and I hate his attitude."

"No," Rico replied, "It's not good news, but we can't exactly afford to go against him. Let's just see what potential suicidal mission he wants us to go on now."

Entering the room, they found Traximus standing next to Wayne, holding a concerned expression on his face. Taking notice of his team, Traximus's face immediately lifted. Agent Wayne then turned around and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"Ah, Team Nova. I have a request for you. And it's quite a big one, so make yourself comfortable and listen up."

Filing into the room and standing side by side, Team Nova fell silent and lended a listening ear. After Wayne cleared his throat, he turned to the map behind him. "Now, I understand you all are quite new to this guild, but there's something I want to explore, and I believe that the power of a human at your side will guide you to accomplishing this goal."

Wayne pinned a section of the map titled 'The Crescent Lake.' "This is the Crescent lake. Supposedly there's rumors of a key that resides there. If Team Blackhand gets to this key first, we fear that they could be on the path to becoming unstoppable."

"A key?" Rico asked, "What's so special about it?"

"The keys are links to the Gods of our world. Such keys can be used to summon their power. Although some are stronger than others, we cannot let any of them fall into their hands."

The Froakie hung his mouth open, "So Team Blackhand is after gods?! What could they possibly do with them?"

"My personal hypothesis is that they're using these legends to instigate fear and terror across the land. We cannot allow this to happen. Therefore…"

"...You want teams like us to intercept them before it happens?" Kruler finished, "But what can we do?" She pointed towards Rico, "He's human, but we aren't."

"You are to support him in his journey to become stronger," Wayne ordered, "And his objective is to get to Crescent Lake. On the way there, you will travel through Tardis Swamp, a mystery dungeon. It's full of ground and water types, so you should have little trouble. This time, you travel as a team. Got it?"

Palla looked between her allies. Rico squinted at Agent Wayne, clearly suspicious of him. Kroto and Kruler both gave disapproving looks and Traximus looked back at his team, equally as concerned as Palla herself.

"Erm. Excuse me Agent Wayne, sir?" Palla garnered the attention of Wayne, "Will we not have assistance from other teams on this matter?"

"No. You will be traveling as a solo unit. If things get rough, you have an emergency channel that you can use on your connection orb." Wayne turned to the rest of the team, "Any more questions?"

After a brief bit of silence, the Armarouge turned back to his map, "Seeing none, you are all dismissed to prepare for your journey as it will begin today. Stock up well."

Team Nova was filed out of the room, unease washing over their weary bodies. 'A mission given by Agent Wayne personally, again?' Palla gulped, 'My head is spinning with all these tasks we have to do…'

Descending from the offices and towards the lower floor, the team found themselves ripe with worry. Kroto rubbed his arm apprehensively, "So guys, what do you think is in the swamp? And what do you think we'll really find at Crescent Lake?"

"A whole lotta trouble," The Croconaw crossed her arms, "If I remember correctly, those idiots that blew up the school were also looking after some key."

"Wait, really?" Traximus asked, "I thought that it was just some random terrorist attack. If that's true, then Team Blackhand already has at least one of the keys."

"Then we can't stall!" Rico declared, "This Team Blackhand… We'll beat them to the punch and take them out!"

"Hah! Like you losers could do anything!"

Team Nova directed their attention left. Their gazes were drawn to Team Pixie, the Kirlia of which was holding a sheet of paper in her hand. The rest of Team Pixie held smug faces.

"Oh great, not these girls again…" Kroto snarled, "What do you want this time?"

"Boss lady has something she wants to tell you, so you'd better listen up well!" Pico beamed, puffing out his chest.

Ivy put her hands on her hips. "Actually, no. I'll let Lena explain! She's more than willing to explain, right Lena?"

"Yeah, sure. Our second job takes us to Tardis Swamp. It pays 3000 coins, plenty more than what your jobs could pay for your level." The Hattrem eyed the Croconaw, "Well, except you. You look like you could take on an Obstagoon by yourself."

"Lena!" Ivy shouted, "You're not supposed to compliment them!"

"Whatever Ivy," Lena rolled her eyes. The Hattrem moved back towards her party, "So what are you guys going to do? Mope around here?"

"Well…" Kroto growled, "If you must know, we're going to Tardis Swamp as well. We need to fetch something that's beyond there."

Team Pixie's heads immediately beamed upwards at the revelation. Ivy and Pico whispered something between them for a spell before returning to their conversation with Team Nova.

"You're going to Tardis Swamp as well?" Ivy tapped her finger to her chin, "Perhaps we could be of use to each other…"

"No way!" Kruler crossed her arms, "After what happened at the university, I'd sooner go alone!"

"Yeah, what she said!" Kroto agreed.

Palla and Rico turned to Traximus. The Bagon closed his eyes in deliberation. "Traximus," Palla called for his attention, "Is there something wrong?"

"If we don't get their help, we, ourselves, could be in danger," Traximus opened his eyes, turning to Palla, "But if we get their help, we could be in trouble with Wayne. I'm not sure about you, but with my injuries, I'd say we take their help under the guise of coincidence."

"What?! You can't be serious," Kroto snapped, "You're actually considering their offer?!"

"Face it, despite the help from the medical bay, three of us are fatigued from yesterday's mission. We're gonna need some help if we're to succeed here. At least we can ditch them when we get to where we're going."

"Hmph," Kruler huffed, "I hope you know what you're doing." She then turned to Team Pixie, "But no funny crap. If I get even a whiff of something fishy, you can kiss your hides goodbye."

"Whatever, jaw face." Ivy sneered.

"What did you just call me you little piece of-"

"Kruler! Come on!" Traximus interrupted, standing in between Ivy and her, "We can't go picking fights. Not now, at least." He then turned around to the Kirlia, "Do we have a deal?"

"Deal." The two pokemon tapped their appendages together, signifying the solidification of their agreement.

"Okay good. We'll meet up outside the gates of the guild. Let's get out of here, I don't want people eavesdropping…"

"And yes, I would like some reviver seeds," Traximus ordered, "On top of some oran berries, could always use some more medical supplies."

The Keckleon vendor turned around, pulled some supplies out of a crate and handed a pouch of items over towards the team. "Here you are! Good luck on your mission!"

Taking the items, Traximus then handed them over to Kruler to hold. He then signaled the team to move over towards the gates of the guild, where they began to wait.

"So let's open the map and see where Tardis Swamp actually is…" Kroto opened up the map, "Okay, so it's west of here, and it's quite far. I think we'll have to make a pitstop somewhere."

"It's that far?" Palla inquired, "Will Wayne be expecting us to return so quickly?"

"More walking is all I hear," Kruler moaned, "The worst part is there's probably going to be less action than the alpha."

"Whatever." Traximus turned to his left, "So we wait for Team Pixie to get here. What should we do to pass the time?"

"Does anybody have a good story?" Palla asked the group. Traximus shook his head, Kruler shrugged, and Rico looked at Kroto, expectantly.

"Well I've heard some things through word of mouth," The Passimian pondered, "Ever heard of a place called Neverwinter?"

"I've heard something about that place from history class," Traximus chimed in, "It used to be the site of a large kingdom long ago, but nobody knew what happened to it when it one day disappeared. What makes that place interesting, Kroto?"

"Supposedly, some silver-ranked explorers are being sent there to find any signs of life there, they say that the place is fully frozen over. What could Wayne possibly want with that block of ice?"

"Maybe he wants to find a key there," Kruler added, "It's a possibility."

Palla shuddered, "Neverwinter. Sounds cold…"

'Neverwinter?' Rico tapped his chin. 'For some reason, that name sounds both familiar and foreign at the same time…'

"Rico?"

"Huh?" The Froakie turned towards Kroto, who had tapped him, "What's up?"

"You've been awfully quiet. What are you thinking about?"

"Just thinking about what you said about Neverwinter. It would sound like a neat place to live if it were still around. Also, I'm still kind of apprehensive about the whole mission."

Kruler looked over her shoulder, eyeing a Kirlia in her sights. "Looks like our company is finally arriving," she said, crossing her arms.

Team Pixie approached Team Nova in stride. Ivy put her hands on her hips and leered at Traximus, "Ready to go?"

"Always, now let's move. Come on."