"There. This cloak should hide your presence. Thankfully, it can't catch fire easily either, so your tail should also be safe."

Alcryst stepped back as the brown-cloaked Charmeleon looked up at him, disdainfully. The ambient glow of Neltharios's tail was dimmed by the cloak's cover, leaving the room in darker hues.

"Are you so sure this will work?" Neltharios asked, "And how long will I have to wear this?"

Alcryst sighed, "If things work out, then you won't have to wear it long. As for whether it will work, I believe that you will have to travel at night, keeping eyes off yourself and all that."

"Aww man," The Charmeleon drooped, "Is a normal life even possible anymore?"

"Well, I imagine if word got out that you're nobility, your life would change forever. You'd basically be a celebrity, if it wasn't for the government."

Neltharios looked upwards and rubbed his chin. 'A celebrity, huh? I bet I could get all the riches and women if this information got out. But then again…' He looked towards Alcryst, squinting his eyes. 'I wouldn't like to be a slave to the government. Hmm… decisions, decisions.'

"Now, let's get you out of here." Alcryst put on a second looplet and invoked it, sending a purple-blue portal out of it and into the space in front of him. Neltharios couldn't help but stare in awe.

"What?! H-How?!" The Charmeleon screeched, "You could do that all this time and didn't?!"

"Just a little bit of showboating," The Alakazam smiled, "Now this should take us back to Gullveria. Yashibura Town, if I'm correct. From there, you head northeast to Nordiveer Village. I think I can find somebody who can assist you more there."

"O-okay! Not going to explain the whole portal thing? We're just going to…" Neltharios wanted to say more, but he stopped himself when Alcryst floated through the portal, "Yep, okay we're just going to ignore that, I guess!" The Charmeleon found himself rushing after him, jumping through the portal.

~ Yashibura Town, Gullveria ~

Neltharios felt weightless for about a split second before he landed in an alleyway somewhere he recognised as Gullveria. He shook his head and peeked around a bit, finding that there were pokemon everywhere. Thankfully under the cover of the night sky, he felt safer with his cloak on.

"Now where do we go?" Neltharios asked, "How are we getting to this Nordiveer Village?"

"We?" Alcryst looked at him, "You're going to have to get there by yourself. I'll get you on a caravan, but from there you'll have to look for a Walrein who lives in the center of the village. He shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Wait! Why aren't you using another one of your magic portals to get me there?" Neltharios retorted, "Isn't that faster? Why did you bring me here?"

"Because I think alerting an entire village of pokemon by warping in the center of the village would be irrational. This town is large enough to where I can portal into an alleyway and still remain quite stealthy."

"Fine, fine…" Neltharios rolled his eyes, "So how do I get into a caravan again?"

"Follow me."

Alcryst and Neltharios walked out of the alleyway and into the town's street. The Charmeleon felt the gaze of many fall upon him as he walked through the town, causing a slight bit of euphoria to wash over him. 'Wait. This doesn't feel right.' Neltharios pondered. 'My body… It's like it enjoys the attention I'm getting from the gazes. Is this what nobles are like?'

A turn around the block revealed several Mudsdale and Mudbray next to some carts. The duo stopped in front of the window of the building adjacent to the carts. Near the window was a bell, in which Alcryst rang.

"Okay, let me do the talking," Alcryst ordered, "Make sure to hide your face for me."

'Not like I have a choice…' Neltharios did as instructed and turned away from the window and crouched down. As Alcryst began talking to the pokemon managing the caravan, Neltharios took the time to ponder to himself. 'It's been a while. I wonder how Traximus and the others are doing…'

The Charmeleon then sat down, still keeping his head low. 'I mean, I didn't really get a chance to catch any girls at the university… Dang. Should have shot for Kruler at this point. At least the rejection would have been funny.'

"Hey, I got you all set up." The Alakazam alerted, "Hop in the caravan and get comfortable. You're in for a long ride."

Hopping into the cart, Neltharios laid himself down and rolled over on his side. He could hear Alcryst say, "Stay safe, friend."

As the caravan departed, Neltharios couldn't help but wonder. 'I hope this guy knows what he's getting me into.'

~ Yashibura Forest - 2F ~

Team Nova found themselves surrounded completely by ghost type pokemon. Shuppet to their left and Duskull to their right, the team had no choice but to huddle together in a tight group, closely watching each other's backs.

"Ghosts… Why'd it have to be ghosts?!" Kroto snarled, pulling Palla closer to him, "I feel practically useless!"

Kruler turned around as soon as she finished off a Shuppet with a waterfall attack, "You could use that acrobatics attack I saw you use a while ago!"

"And when I run out of that?"

Kruler fell silent. She had no response to that, so she turned her attention back to watching the team's left side.

"Hey guys! Look!" Palla shouted, pointing at a staircase in the center of an inconspicuous room, "It's the stairs!"

"One step closer to the end of this! Come on, guys!" Rico rushed over to the stairs, but he suddenly found himself stopping short of them.

'Huh. Something feels different about these stairs compared to the last ones.' Rico lowered his head and inspected the staircase thoroughly, taking in all the details. After an examination, he couldn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary. 'Am I being paranoid? Am I still in shock?'

Kruler, being the next to approach, moved to the staircase and asked, "What's wrong? Can't move past a staircase?"

When Kruler stepped onto the stairs, a rune appeared under the staircase, which Rico saw instantaneously. The Froakie opened his mouth to warn her, but all that came out was a gasp when Kruler fell straight through the stairs and into the center of the rune. In a bright flash, the runes created a cage around Kruler. The other members of Team Nova rushed over immediately following the light.

"Gah! You can't be serious!" The Croconaw shouted, "Somebody, do something!"

"Kruler!" Traximus shouted, "Hang on, I'll get you outta there!"

The Bagon reached into the bag to pull out an orb of some sort when he was interrupted by a cackle of laughter coming from somewhere within the dungeon.

"Show yourself!" Kruler roared, "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Oh, but you will be after I'm done with you!" The voice shouted back.

Kruler suddenly felt a wave of psionic energy enter her mind. She tried to fight back, banging her head against the cage, but it was no use. She eventually fell to her knees, and curled on the forest's grassy scape, falling asleep.

"No!" Kroto shouted, "Not Kruler!"

Therian appeared from the shadows, once more. This time, with a host of other pokemon with him. Some of which included all of Team Pixie. All their eyes appear sunken and devoid of any color.

"Impossible! Hypnosis doesn't induce… that!" Traximus looked at Kroto, "Right?!"

"Don't look at me, I'm no psychic type!" Kroto snapped back.

"Oh but your friend is right. Hypnosis doesn't induce mind control…" Therian pointed behind him, directly at a Hypno, "But he does!"

Team Nova directed their attention to the Hypno, and immediately Rico had a plan in mind. 'Wait! We might be able to break the mind control if we can defeat that pokemon! So let's do it!'

Rico tapped Kroto and Traximus, both of which shifted their attention back to him. Palla merely listened in to the conversation. "Okay guys, we need to defeat that yellow pokemon first! That might break the mind control." Rico stated. The others merely nodded in agreement.

However, just when Kroto and Traximus were about to rush the Hypno, a wall of light blocked the path between the sets of pokemon.

"Gyahahahaha! Oh ho ho ho!" Therian nearly fell over laughing, "You lot are so easy to fool! Did you not think I came prepared for something like this?! Oh my stars! And to think I almost let you all out of the dungeon for free!"

"Damn it!" Kroto screamed, punching the wall, "Drop this wall now!"

"Now Hypno…" Therian tilted his head, grinning widely with glowing red eyes, "Do your thing!"

The Hypno's looplet gave a brief shine, and eventually sprouted tendrils of black energy towards Kruler. The energy wrapped around the head of the Croconaw and eventually sank in. Rico and the others could do nothing but watch as when Kruler eventually opened her eyes, they were devoid of color. She then, against her will, began to approach Therian.

"NO!" Traximus shouted, "Change her back! NOW!"

"Sorry. No can do." Therian wagged his finger, "That would be too generous of me! Let's get out of here now."

The Hypno teleported, taking Team Pixie, Therian, Kruler, and the other Pokemon with him. Kroto and Traximus both fell to the ground, the former slamming his fists repeatedly into the ground. Palla rushed to Kroto's side, placing her hand on him to try to comfort him.

Traximus stood up, leering his eyes at nobody in particular. "Now this went from bad to worse! We're down Kruler, and they have all of Team Pixie!" He then felt a sudden spurt of energy overcome him, possibly out of rage. "Why?! Why is everything going so wrong?!"

"And that's not all," Kroto snarled, still punching the ground,"That Gengar said he was part of Team Blackhand. What asinine things they could do to Kruler is beyond me to even think about!"

Rico looked around to his teammates. Kroto's rage exploding, Traximus breaking down, and Palla trying and failing to comfort her friends. 'And all this…' Rico thought, 'I...'

"You know… Being the best isn't just about strength. It's about the bonds that are made and what you achieve."

Those words, Kroto's words, seemed to ring in his head. 'Bonds… Achievements… They all have to do with…' He took another look at his team. 'My comrades…! Right now, they need more than just raw strength. They need… Need…'

'...Guidance!'

Rico put his head up, and stood up straight. He then moved over towards his teammates. Traximus turned around and gave him a stare. Similarly, Kroto looked up from the ground, glaring daggers into Rico.

"Guys… I might have not been here as long," Rico started, ignoring the swelling anxiety inside him, "But I know from experience that we can't function in the state we're in. What we need now more than ever is a plan!" He looked towards Traximus, and then Kroto and Palla, "Okay, huddle together, team!"

Kroto, initially annoyed, gripped the ground and dug up some dirt before joining the huddle with Traximus and Palla. From there, Rico continued, quivering slightly, "O-Okay. We need to formulate a plan. Without one, we can't do anything." He tapped the Bagon on the back, "I know you're the leader, but will you let me make the plan, just this once?"

Traximus nodded, "S-sure…?"

"Right. I noticed something…" Rico pointed to his temple, "That shadowy pokemon, Gengar you called it. He has one crippling weakness that people- er- pokemon have!"

"Oooh! What is it?" Palla gasped.

"His type of being likes one thing more than anything. To play games with their food. They're never direct and always stop to gloat!" Rico closed his eyes, somewhat mitigating his anxiety as he waited for a response.

"And what does that have to do with fighting pokemon?" Kroto asked.

"Simple, if we can simply get him distracted in his own personality, it could unintentionally buy us time."

"How will we do that? And are you sure it will work?"

'Well I'm not sure it'll work, but…' Rico shook his head. "We need to get him to play along with our charade. It's a start! Now what items do we have?"

"Um…" Traximus dug into the bag, "We have four reviver seeds, six blast seeds, some oran berries, an escape orb, a luminous orb, and some apples."

"I assume the blast seeds cause explosions?" The Froakie asked, being responded to with a nod from everybody else. Upon seeing the reactions, a grin appeared on his face, "Okay I have an actual plan. And it's so stupid it just might work."

The Froakie leaned in and whispered something to Traximus, who then went wide-eyed and immediately staggered back.

"No way! Are you insane?! That'll get you killed!" The Bagon screamed, "We're not doing that!"

"Huh? What does he want to do?" Kroto inquired.

Rico dug into the bag and pulled out a reviver seed, "I'm planning on boring a hole into the ground and trapping the hypnotized pokemon in. Using myself as bait."

Team Nova rushed through the dungeon as quickly as they could. They needed the time to set up their plan. If they could get to the next floor of the dungeon with little distraction, then this just might work.

'This plan isn't perfect.' Rico cited to himself, 'What if that Pokemon is not on the next floor? What if they don't take the bait? What if…'

"Hey!"

Kroto's voice dragged Rico back to reality. "We can't have you getting cold feet now," The Passimian warned, "This is your plan, and we have one shot at it!"

"I'm worried," Palla meeped, "What if you get seriously hurt by this? What will we do if you die? What would we tell Agent Wayne?"

Traximus spoke, "We can't worry about any of that right now. We have teammates and other Pokemon in distress! It's our only plan at the moment, as much as I hate to say it." He then turned to Rico, "You're risking your life for us, who you've barely met. If anybody had any doubts that you were human, they're squashed now."

"Well… Eh heh…" The Froakie fought off embarrassment, "I try my best, that's all. Anyway, are the blast seeds prepared?"

"I have 'em right here!" Kroto displayed the blast seeds to Rico. The seeds were crimson red and ripe for detonation.

"Right! What's the trigger for blowing these things up?"

"Breaking into the shell of the seed is enough to get a spark going." Kroto responded, "We need to make sure that we plant these carefully!"

"Okay! Look, there's the stairs!" Rico then grimaced, "Let's make sure these are the real ones first!"

"Yeah," Kroto picked up a pebble off the ground with his free hand and chucked it at the stairs. When the pebble bounced off the stairs, Kroto yelled, "Good to go! Let's move!"

~ Yashibura Forest, 3F ~

The forest grew darker from the last floor. The hues of purple and blue began to overtake the scenery. However, that did not weaken the resolve of Team Nova. They had a plan, and they were willing to see it through.

Coming to a stop near an open room, the team scouted around. There were no items scattered about the floor, so it was a perfect choice to carry out their operation. "Kroto, set those seeds down and help me dig a hole! Traximus, Palla, watch our backs. Make sure that no ferals or whoever gets in!" Rico demanded.

"Understood! Come on Palla!" Traximus ushered.

"I hope you know what you're doing…" Kroto mumbled, sweating bullets.

"I don't," Rico stated, immediately causing Kroto to look up in horror, "But you told me that I can't just be muscle. I want to help this team, and damn it I'm going to!"

"And if your plan fails, what then?!"

"Then you guys go on without me."

Kroto's horror turned to bewilderment. Rico could have sworn for a second that he saw the Passimian awestruck. "You… You're really prepared to sacrifice yourself for the mission?" He asked, voice sunken.

"Yeah. I'd rather do things my own way and get killed doing it. I might like working by myself in the background, but I understand that this is one battle that we can't afford to lose. So I'm thankful that you guys are letting me take the reins on this one."

Kroto resumed digging, "...No. Thank you, Rico."

Once a hole was sufficiently dug, Kroto and Rico carefully placed the seeds into the hole, and placed the dirt back on. It formed a slight mound, but none that was large enough to stand out to any being that wasn't aware of its presence.

"Alright guys, it's my time to shine." Rico beamed, "You guys take cover in the bushes and wait until I start screaming bloody murder to come out, okay?"

"O-Okay…" Palla begrudgingly uttered, "Please be okay."

"I will."

The other three Pokemon took their hiding places in the surrounding bushes. Rico took a deep breath, 'Okay, no backing down now… No matter how painful this might be. Here goes…!'

"Hey! Whatever your name is! Come and fight us like real Pokemon! I know you won't, cause you got other Pokemon behind you fighting for you!"

Traximus, watching from the bushes, muttered to Kroto, "Is this his plan?"

Kroto responded, "Let's just wait and see…"

"Hey! Jolly purple jackass! I'm talking to you! Come out, I'm waiting for you!"

"That's not very kind… Even if he's trying to get him to come out," Palla remarked.

'Okay, this is starting to get cringe…' Rico thought, as his face began to fluster. 'One more time! Here we go!'

"Hey! You-"

This time, the Gengar materialized in front of the Froakie, causing Rico to briefly stagger. The others watched on from the bushes, briefly stunned, but shook it off for the sake of the mission.

"So. You wanted me, well here I am!" Therian giggled, "So whaddya want?"

"I want to join you, but first, I want to ask you a few things." Rico stated. "First, can you bring the other Pokemon here? I want to see what I'll look like when I'm zombified."

"Kweh?" The Gengar gave a confused laugh, "Okay, if it'll make you happy."

Therian snapped his fingers, leading to the Hypno appearing with all the hypnotized Pokemon. Rico locked eyes with a Scyther in the crowd. 'Yes! There's my trigger! Now all he has to do is take the bait!'

"Now, next question? Or can I hypnotize-"

"Okay next question!" Rico interjected, pointing his finger in the air, "I want a demonstration, can all the hypnotized pokemon huddle around me?"

"Kid, I don't know what you're getting at." The Gengar leered, frowning. "But if you want to."

The Gengar pointed at where Rico was standing. The hypnotized Pokemon all crowded where Rico was standing, causing the Froakie to get nervous. 'Okay, we're almost there…!'

"Now, the final request…" Rico grabbed the Scyther's left scythe.

"Oh goodness me! Not another one! Kid you're wearing on my-"

"...Is to keel over and DO ONE!" Rico jabbed the Scyther's scyther directly into where the blast seeds were planted. Rico then jumped on the shoulder of the Scyther and into the air as high as he could. A bright light enveloped the ground beneath him, and for a split second time seemed to be moving slower. Then…

DOOOOOOM!

"AHHHHHH!" Rico screamed as loud as he could, being launched into the air at an indescribable speed, and into the thickness of the trees above. He endured scratches and bruises from the branches, and combined with the explosion, he felt his consciousness rapidly escaping him. With the remaining bit of strength, he bit into the reviver seed, drinking the juices inside. As his vision was fading, the shock of landing on the ground gave him a sudden jolt that snapped him back awake.

"Time to kick some tail!" Kroto yelled, emerging from the bushes and immediately attacking the Hypno in front of him with an acrobatics attack.

"Therian!" Traximus yelled, spewing dragon fire at the Gengar.

"Rico! Are you okay?!" Palla shouted out.

"I'm fine! Just gotta stretch a bit! Check on the other Pokemon for me, will you?" Rico called back, voice clearly strained.

Therian turned around to get a face full of dragon fire. Rico witnessed as the expression on Therian's face turned from confusion to rage.

"You brats! You tricked me!" The Gengar growled, "No matter! Hypno, control these Pokemon! Direct them to-"

"Not likely," Kroto raged as he continued to barrage the Hypno with his attacks.

"Gweh! I still have more aces up my sleeve!" He turned to Kruler, who was crawling her way out of the hole that was made, "Croconaw! Attack these fools!"

"As you wish, master." Kruler responded.

The Croconaw raced towards Palla, who was distracted by treating the Pokemon who were closest to the blast. Traximus rushed to intercept her, only to be met by Therian, who wagged his finger at him.

"Ah, Ah! No interfering with their battle. Perhaps take me on, perchance?" Therian giggled.

"Fine, I'll just have to… Luminous Orb!" Traximus pulled out and immediately shone a luminous orb directly in the face of the Gengar. The shadowy Pokemon couldn't help but be stunned by the flash of light, giving Traximus the chance to rush Kruler. Unfortunately, he was too slow, as Kruler already had an ice punch at the ready and was just a second from reaching Palla.

"Palla, MOVE!" The Bagon shouted.

"...No." Palla's face radiated confidence, "This is my friend! I can't back down now!"

Palla jumped backwards, dodging the ice punch. The punch hit the ground, spreading an icy surface across the dirt. Palla responded by charging up an attack in her hand that outstretched her claws as she swiped right, slashing Kruler's already damaged figure.

"Listen to me, Kruler!" The Axew shouted, "You're being mind controlled, and that Hypno is the source of it! You just need to fight the control!"

"Fight…Control? I… Augh!" Kruler held her head tightly.

"Heads up guys!" Traximus shouted, pointing into the hole, "Looks like some stragglers are crawling out of the hole! We gotta take care of these guys, and fast!"

"I'm working on it!" Kroto yelled, "This guy is slippery!"

Rico finally stood up, but when he did, he was greeted with a scene. Traximus and Palla against Kruler, Kroto fighting the Hypno, Therian lying on the ground dazed, and Team Pixie crawling out of the hole. 'Okay, that's my phase of the plan done,' He thought, 'Time for the phase where we beat the snot out of things!'