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Pokémon Fledglings

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
And now, chapter 83! Same deal as above, and very happy to reach such a quick end to this particular episode. The pacing was very good!

Oof, well of course there would be some infighting after the battle and victory.

One thing that I notice with some of these scenes is that the main characters have epithets now and then, but species references for other side characters are not as frequent, when I think that would be more useful. In particular, it might be good to open with Kline going back to being just a bean again after his recent form shift, since I wasn't totally sure what he looked like until a little deeper into the scene.

Lots of "for a moment" in this chapter. Might want to check that filter phrase for overuse.

Pleo does another demonstration of himself as a natural mediator, it seems, even among older and more experienced Protectors. He's even won over Ander in some small way, which is no easy feat. Certainly fits his lore, but the actual swiftness of the resolution makes me wonder why or how Kline never knew about the losses, even in passing. Wouldn't he have overheard after all this time something as big as that?

Ah, so the Dead Zone is... just Yveltal. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that it'd be something like that, but with how centralized it all seemed I thought it'd be something more nefarious. Haaah...

Wow. You actually did a Shadow Lugia reference in the form of a disguise. Bravo, genuinely.

And so with a rallying force behind them, the team leaves their home on their own terms this time, and now I'm the offensive. It certainly feels like the final act is upon us, as I had guessed before. Perhaps some room for a True Last Boss sort of deal as well? I don't really think that this story will properly end once all the Ledgers are gathered. I feel like it's going to reveal one final secret, which will lead to some true final confrontation--either that, or the final confrontation will be over that last ledger, and then a whole arc of revelations and cooldown. Those are my guesses on what'd be a satisfying way to wrap things, at least. We shall see~
 

Virgil134

PMD Writer
Partners
  1. sylveon
  2. weavile
  3. kommo-o
  4. noivern
  5. mothim
@Namohysip
I read this one a bit ago, but couldn't find the chance to look it over again to properly review. Here it is now, kicking myself into gear for Blacklight rewards as well as the current event today~

Hey there! Glad to see our Blacklight prizes are here.

I wonder what significance that Dubwool's unexpected sturdiness will mean later since so much attention seemed to have been drawn to it.

Oh, that was just a depiction of Dubwool’s ability: Fluffy.

Ahh, and now we can see what's going on with Ander all this time... Looks like Ander made his choice one way or another. That's quite a turn for him, but at least all of that time he spent with the team wasn't all for nothing. I really do like his character arc in particular--he might be one of my favorites.

I’m glad to hear you’re liking what we’re doing with Ander. He’s a fun and interesting character to write for sure.

It also occurs to me that we've yet to see the old Company trick of pulling out a ton of apricorn cannons like before. Wouldn't that be the clear-cut easy way to finish things? Happened pretty easily last time, so I wonder why that wasn't so much as mentioned this time.

Well, it takes a bit of time to get the ships into position and have all the cannons loaded and ready to be used. Lyn went into Tromba expecting full resistance, whereas Bunsen was caught off guard here. They probably still tried it, but were simply stopped by the locals. This probably should have been addressed in the chapter though, and we’re currently planning on making some revisions once it’s time to post this chapter on Thousand Roads,

Side note, "shot wide" is a term that was overused in this chapter.

Ah, thanks for pointing it out, since we hadn’t noticed that. We went back and changed some of these.

And now, chapter 83! Same deal as above, and very happy to reach such a quick end to this particular episode. The pacing was very good!

I’m glad you liked the pacing! I’m pretty satisfied with how we managed to include Team Traveller’s return to Tromba, the uprising, and the aftermath into this compact little arc. Next episode will be notably longer though, but I think it’s justified since there’s also a lot more stuff that needs to happen there.

Lots of "for a moment" in this chapter. Might want to check that filter phrase for overuse.

We edited some of these as well.

Ah, so the Dead Zone is... just Yveltal. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that it'd be something like that, but with how centralized it all seemed I thought it'd be something more nefarious. Haaah…

To be fair, a lot would say that the circumstances how Yveltal came to be is pretty nefarious, but I can’t say too much about that without spoiling stuff.

Wow. You actually did a Shadow Lugia reference in the form of a disguise. Bravo, genuinely.

Heh, yeah we’d been planning this one for a while :p

And so with a rallying force behind them, the team leaves their home on their own terms this time, and now I'm the offensive. It certainly feels like the final act is upon us, as I had guessed before. Perhaps some room for a True Last Boss sort of deal as well? I don't really think that this story will properly end once all the Ledgers are gathered. I feel like it's going to reveal one final secret, which will lead to some true final confrontation--either that, or the final confrontation will be over that last ledger, and then a whole arc of revelations and cooldown. Those are my guesses on what'd be a satisfying way to wrap things, at least. We shall see~

Yup, all in due time. Seeing your theories is pretty fun though! Either way, thanks for the reviews.

And while it took a bit longer than expected, me and Spiteful Murkrow are back with the final chapter of this episode:
 
Chapter 49: Side Effects

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
Yu8kCFK.png


"Well, I didn't think we'd make it at first… but what do you think, Hertsog?"

The Mienshao took a step back and followed Pladur's claw along in the air, scanning over the newly-finished shrine. A small smirk crossed his face, growing into a wider and wider grin as he took the scene in. The more he looked about the pavilions and the righted standing stones, the more details he recalled from the stories of the past.

"It looks just like the stories that my grandparents used to tell me," Hertsog said to the group.

"To be fair, we can't take all the credit," Kiran admitted. "If it weren't for your friends' extra help, we'd have never managed to close the gap before you sailed off."

Salvini, Phyllis, and Payak traded smiles and shifted bashfully at the stranger's compliment. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it?

"It was just a matter of helping out a friend, that's all," Payak insisted.

Before Kiran had the chance to reaffirm his compliment, a rustling in the bushes drew everyone's attention, halting the conversation at once. The group fell silent and eased into battle-ready stances, all eyes locked on the shaking shrubs.

"Brace yourselves," Ander whispered.

As they feared, out from the shrubbery came the same seething trio of Beautifly and Dustox that had ambushed the team just the other day. The Dustox in the group scowled and opened her mouth to speak, but a half-formed threat died in her throat as she caught sight of the refinished shrine. She and her swarmmates exchanged suspicious glances amongst themselves, prompting the quartet's Beautifly leader to flit forward to question the workers.

"… What sort of game are you all trying to play here?" the Bug-Type demanded.

"Yeah," the Dustox added. "Why would you fix up our god's shrine after everything that's happened?"

"Because not everyone thinks what happened back then was a good thing," Hertsog answered. "And I wanted to do something to give back to this island’s Pokémon before I had to leave."

A lull fell over the angry Bug-Types, and each of them took the time to flit up to the shrine and eye its details closely. They murmured amongst themselves for a moment before a Beautifly with tattered wings broke away from the pack to address the other Pokemon.

"Well, it's certainly more than we expected," the butterfly grunted. "... You can count on others hearing about this soon enough."

The Beautifly leader evidently had nothing to add to his companion's assessment, instead giving a terse nod and leading his group back into the depths of the greenery. The Dustox lingered for just a moment, glancing back at the shrine before being called back by an annoyed buzz from her leader. The stragglers too disappeared into the trees, and then the shrine was quiet once more.

"… What did they mean by that?" Crom murmured.

"I think it was a thanks," Kiran answered. "Even if they're not fully ready to let all of the past go just yet, they seemed happy to see this place in proper shape again."

Clink clink clink

The four Pokémon from the Siglo Swellow turned and saw their Mienshao client approach them, playfully tossing a small bag up and down: the unmistakable chime of jostling coins coming from within. For a second, the group stared and blinked uneasily at the Fighting-Type, unsure what he was up to.

"Huh?" Pladur asked.

"Well, it would be wrong of me not to pay you," Hertsog chuckled. "I'm a bit short on time, so I figured now is as good as any."

Pladur and his teammates each offered a modest shrug and an appreciative bow of their head at the weasel, before recoiling slightly one after the other as direct sunlight hit their eyes. A moment of dazzled silence later, their vision adjusted, and the group noted the sun's burnt orange color, and the way it moved toward the horizon... Eh?! It was almost sundown already! Most shops on the island would be closing around now, and the Siglo Swellow was still missing critical supplies for its repair!

"Ack!" Pladur cried. "And we have to get that pitch still!"

"Come on, if we hurry, we can still make it to the shops!" Ander buzzed.

Kiran, Pladur, and Ander hustled towards the market district, hoping that they'd make it there before closing time. Crom himself lingered a moment, before turning back to Salvini and her friends, bowing his head low in gratitude.

"Thanks again for this job," the Druddigon said. "You have no idea how badly we needed this to fix up our ship."

"Nyama zashto, young one," Hertsog said. "Really, we should be thanking you for all the good your repairs have done on our end."

"Huh?" Thanking him? But wasn't it a bit too soon to tell if the shrine's repairs would do any good? The Druddigon gave a puzzled tilt of his head at the Fighting-Type, before murmuring back an answer.

"If you say so..."

The Dragon-Type glanced behind him, noticing that the forms of his companions were rapidly fading into the distance; his cue to hurry along and catch up with them.

"Uh, anyway… I should probably get going too," Crom said, before giving a cheery wave to the four Pokémon and turning for the path. "Goodbye, everyone!"

Hertsog and the others watched as Crom stumbled after his teammates in a hurry. Once he had left, they simply stood around, an idle silence coming over the group as they pondered their next move. Payak was the first to speak up, taking the opportunity to break the ice with Salvini.

"Hey, Salvini?" he asked.

"Hrm?"

"Thanks for the help today," the Ariados said.

"Yeah," Phyllis added. "It was just like old times…"

"Well, it wasn't completely like old times," Salvini chuckled. "I never knew you were that good with roofing, Payak."

Hertsog beamed at the sight of his former subordinates smoothing things over at long last, and looked ahead to the path down the hill. The Mienshao happened to catch glimpses of Crom and his teammates making their way down the path. He smiled down on the four strangers, hoping on a slim chance that one of them might look back to him and see his expression.

"And thanks to you all as well," the Fighting-Type murmured. "May your travels take you safely to where you need to be."



Unbeknownst to Crom and his companions, Team Traveller had a fitful day some hours ago when the sun still stood high in the sky. Back on Orleigh, the three stormed through a narrow alleyway, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake as they scrambled out of the path of various beam attacks directed their way from behind. The group rounded one corner after the other and pushed their legs to go as fast as they could carry themselves, the attacks finally seemed to dwindle in frequency, and fall further off their mark as they zipped by. Although they certainly couldn't afford to stop moving, this slight reprieve at least inspired a bit of hope despite their bleak circumstances.

"I think we're losing them!" Nida panted. "Quick, over-!"

The Nidoran's words were cut off with a yelp as a jet of water zipped overhead. The three youngsters looked back, where much to their horror, they saw a Floatzel in a golden scarf charging ahead, leading a large pack of peers from the Iron Fleet.

"There they are!" Rodion shouted.

The three Pokémon turned and bolted as beams, projectiles, and the occasional seed sailed past, a sharp gust of wind brushing Pleo with a yelp. Nida attempted to shift her bag forward to fish out an orb, only to fumble over and over again to retrieve anything from it as their pursuers closed in.

"Gah! They just keep coming!" Nida squeaked.

"We need to shake them for a bit!" Guardia cried. "Look for cover! Someplace like-"

A short way into the distance, Guardia spotted a storefront which currently sat vacant, save for some small, worthless-looking trinkets on display at the front of it. With its decently tall wooden walls, it would have to suffice for a hiding spot.

"Like right there!" the Cubone exclaimed, pointing at the stall. "That way!"

Although he was a little slow on his feet, Pleo had a head-start and so wound up being the first to reach the group's designated hiding spot. With a little difficulty, he pulled himself over the wooden wall of the stall, and leaned back over it to offer a helping wing to the others. Without a word, the three hunkered down with bated breaths as the sounds of the pursuing pirates came closer and closer.

As they grew nearer, the sound of the pirates' footsteps added to the chaotic uproar, but their hiding spot was left miraculously undisturbed. After what felt like an eternity, the footsteps and the shouting once again faded into the distance, and each of the young Pokémon let out a relieved sigh.

"We can't rest here too long," Nida urged. "We've got to get out of here, and fast. On the count of three, we'll make a break for it. Ready?"

"Ready," her companions agreed.

"Alright. One, two... THREE!"

Nida led the charge this time, shoving open the back door of the stall and breaking into a sprint away from where they'd heard the pirates storm off to. Pleo and Guardia followed close behind her, into a disorganized mess of alleyways between some nearby buildings. The trio looked up, following the direction of the island's inland mountains as a compass through narrow and winding alleyways, not daring a moment to slacken their pace.

"Gah!"

Pleo squawked in pain as a searing sensation struck his breast, making him beat his wings out as he lost his balance and stumbled forward. He hit the ground and felt his wings strike Nida and Guardia, causing them to similarly tumble to the ground. The bird writhed against the embers singing his plumes, as a jeering voice reached his ears.

"Hah! Nice shot, Kai!"

As Pleo struggled up to his feet, the young Lugia looked up to see the Zangoose from the day before. The white cat began to extend his claws for battle, a smug sneer forming on his face.

"Hey, you twerps didn't think that I just forgot about yesterday, did you?" Scian sneered. "And here I thought that everyone was just getting worked up over some random stranger!"

The Normal-Type crouched low as a wicked grin spread over his face, one claw reeled back ready to strike with a lunging slash.

"Nowhere to run now, dailtíní-"

Nida hastily threw her paws into the satchel over her shoulder and after feeling them connect with a glassy surface, she instinctively latched onto it and flung it. For a fleeting moment, she watched as the glassy, silk-filled sphere sailed on, striking her Zangoose attacker on his shoulder.

Crack

The orb shattered, disgorging a flurry of silvery strands that enveloped Scian and his teammates with startled cries. The silken explosion simmered down, revealing the three pirates to be covered in a layer of sticky, cumbersome threads.

"Agh! Why do they have a Slow Orb here?!" the Banette screeched, struggling at a layer of silk gumming up his arms.

"Gah! It got in my fur!" the Flareon whined.

The three quickly turned and ran as their attackers struggled with their silken bindings, flying down the alleyway and upending a few errant barrels along the way. Nida beckoned for the team to turn right up ahead at a narrow crossroads, leading them around a blind corner-

"A-Aah!"

And directly into a waiting group of black-scarved Pokémon consisting of a Mareanie, a Furfrou, and a Marked Quilladin.

"Well, well, well… What do we have here?" the Mareanie sneered.

"Hey!" the Furfrou chided. "Get 'em, and then taunt them-"

"A-Ah- AAAAAAAAH!"

The two Pokémon whirled and turned just in time to see their Marked Quilladin partner run off in a blind panic. The pair's jaws dropped as they ran after, attempting to talk some sense into the Grass-Type.

"Oi! Chuck!" the Mareanie shouted. "Get back here!"

"Yeah!" the Furfrou barked. "You're our point 'mon!"

In the pirates' confusion, Team Traveller found an opening to slip away and took it without hesitation. The small crowds of passersby and the line of shops around the street proved an enticing option to bog down their pursuers, and so Nida led the way once again, ducking her head low as she and her companions charged across the street. She was interrupted, however, by a stabbing pain as a spray of greenish needles sank into her flank, forcing the Poison-Type to sluggishly pull herself up with a pained groan.

"I got her! They're over here by the crossroads!" a Cacturne shouted, before being joined by its Meowstic counterpart .

"Get them!"

The pair shot out a hail of leafy needles and a glowing ray, the latter striking Guardia with a yelp. Pleo and Nida hastily retaliated with a glowing orb and a poisonous spike, catching their ambushers and forcing them back. The three hastily turned and bolted, just in time as more orange-scarved Pokémon poured out chasing them shouting and snarling. Pleo quickly dragged his friends along, hastily throwing them one by one onto his back and flapping his wings as he desperately tried to get airborne.

"Stop right there!"

Pleo looked up and went wide-eyed just in time to see a shadowy, violet orb careening for his face. The blob struck him, launching him backwards and sending him and his passengers tumbling on the ground. The bird sprawled out stunned and dazed for a moment, looking up to see that he had been ringed by a large group of pirates. The brigands came in every conceivable shape and form, sporting a mix of blue, orange, and black scarves. There were old faces such as Scian and his buddies who had caught up - giving sneering laughs at the group - along with others that were completely new to the team. As the Lugia and his companions looked around for an escape, their attention was captured by the ghostly voice speaking up once again.

"You should quit while you're ahead, Protector."

"Hu-Huh?!" Pleo squawked.

Pleo, Nida, and Guardia looked up just in time to see the crowd of pirates part as the ghostly voice rang out. There, floating up to them was the form of a Cofagrigus with his four arms extended, a toothy smile spreading under the Ghost-Type's headdress.

"You're weakened and surrounded," the Cofagrigus glowered. "If I felt like it, I alone could make short work of you right here and now."

A sudden chill came over Pleo and his companions, the three Pokémon shrinking away from the intimidating Ghost-type with shivers down their spines. It was true they'd dealt with seemingly hopeless odds before... but every time, their odds seemed to plummet lower and lower. This was one bad situation they'd gotten into, and their chances of escape now seemed slim-to-none.

"But I, Captain Sibich of the Shadow Brigade, am a reasonable Pokémon. Everyone here understands just what an asset you'd be to our little haven after you've learned how to use your power," the Ghost-Type offered. "So come along now, and don't make a fuss."

The Cofagrigus bobbed slowly through the air towards the three Pokémon, one spectral hand extended towards each and the fourth crossed over his lower body as if preparing to bow. The context of their situation aside, his demeanor was further betrayed by the unblinking glare of his bright, crimson eyes, along with the way each of his arms swayed and twisted erratically, as if he would reach out and snatch one of them at any moment.

Pleo blanched and started to feel wobbly, unsure what to do. He heard a voice wishing that something could be done about "that Sibich" and "those pirates", and another, and another. The Protector couldn't see them... but if he didn't know better, he'd have thought these were watching townsfolk. Then perhaps it was best to stand up, and not go easily along with whatever this ghoul had in mind for him...

"... No."

"What?" Sibich stopped his approach, and his expression faltered somewhat, his sawtoothed grin upturned into something more resembling an incredulous smirk.

"Are you blind?" the Ghost-Type demanded. "You're not in any position to be refusing me- Huh?"

The Cofagrigus' expression slipped into one of pure shock as a searingly bright ball of light suddenly came into being where his target had stood moments before. The markings on Pleo's back shone a brilliant silver, and the young Protector glowered up at the pirate captain, all his previous fright now boiled away by the radiant light and energy coursing through him.

The voices were now a loud chorus, of unspoken wants, curses, and resentments at the occupying brigands. Each further outcry melting away more of the young Lugia's fear, and further emboldening him to do something, anything in defiance to protect his friends.

"Nida!"

"Shield your eyes!"

As Pleo drew in a sharp breath and began to beat his wings, Nida's eyes widened at the sound of the familiar chittering voice and the sight of two figures peering over the edge of a nearby roof. The unmistakable kite-shaped wings and minty green color of the Pokémon along with an accompanying small, white-winged partner told Nida that they were none other than Rasp and... Bech?! What were they doing here?! With Pleo right here, the two were just in time to get caught in his attack!

"Pleo," she began. "Wai-"

"NO!"

The Lugia brought his wings together, whipping up a roaring gale that pinned Nida and Guardia back into a wall. As the two Pokémon struggled to keep their eyes open, the crash of crumbling buildings, the dull thuds of bodies striking hard surfaces, and the screams of Pokémon filled the air. As the winds died down, the sounds of shouts and panicked retreats reached the pair's ears as they took in their surroundings, pallid and breathing shallowly.

The two saw Pleo looking around blankly as if he had seen a ghost. The square and the surrounding blocks had been completely obliterated, the shops reduced to little more than heaps of stone and broken wood. The duo saw one of Sibich's arms slowly pull itself under a pile of rubble; Scian and his buddies lying in an unconscious heap a short distance away. All around the square, the unmoving, weakly breathing forms of Pokémon were strewn about like discarded dolls, as the smell of dust lingered in the air.

And, in the midst of it all, weakly rising up over a layer of stone and tile was the battered form of Rasp, limping along in a daze.

"Nrgh... Dad…? Are you alright?"

The Flygon was covered in scrapes, with his right wing bent at a strange angle. The Dragon-Type bent down and scooped up the weakly moving form of his Ribombee father in his claws, before chancing to spot Pleo standing ahead of him. Rasp's eyes widened, and he began to backpedal with a nervous stammer.

"N-No, back! S-Stay back!"

The stricken Flygon continued a few paces before he turned and bolted. Rasp charged down the shattered lane as fast as his legs would allow, cradling the injured Ribombee in his arms and leaving Pleo behind with the destruction he had wrought.

The raucous square had quieted dramatically, the only company for the young Lugia as he stared ahead being a chorus of faint breathing and groans of pain from scattered Pokémon he could barely distinguish from the rubble. His beak tightened into a grimace, and his heart sank as Rasp's reaction kept persisting in his mind. He… He was scared of him…

The young Lugia stared ahead in shock until he felt a tug against his wing feathers. There, behind him were Nida and Guardia, the pair both tired-looking from their ordeal and with worry etched deeply into their faces.

"Pleo, it's alright," Nida murmured. "We're alright now."

"Yeah, you did what you had to," Guardia offered.

Nida and Guardia froze as the ghastly sound of shrieking Pokemon reached them, accompanied by a chorus of thundering explosions. Turning towards the harbor, they saw its source: a massive ship with indigo sails had pulled in and was being pursued by a sea of furious-looking blue and pink jellyfish Pokemon. They bombarded the harbor with frightening efficiency, casting spectral blobs of deep violet energy into the town's mass of buildings and leaving destruction in their wake. Worse still, the jelliyfish seemed to be working their way inland, on track to level the entire town!

"We need to get out of here," Nida gulped.

The Nidoran and Cubone started to head off, only to see that Pleo was unmoved, still staring blankly off into space. The two went over and tugged at the Lugia's wings, anxiously trying to snap him back to his present reality.

"Isogu, kamome!" Guardia yelled. "We need to get out of here!"

Pleo looked up as the ghostly jellyfish started to approach and took off running. His passengers hastily clambered aboard as the bird began to beat his wings to try to take flight, only for his beats to come absent-mindedly and burdened as he continued to be haunted by the events in the square.

Rasp and Bech were two Pokémon that had helped him the most on this horrid island. But in his eagerness to protect his teammates, he'd hurt them and driven them away… with the powers that were supposed to protect others.

Wasn't what had happened there exactly what Ander and Margi were afraid of? Could they really have been right about what it meant to be a Protector…?

A jet of briny water sailed ahead, slicking some stones sticking out of the path, which made the young Protector slip and pitch forward with a squawk, sending his teammates tumbling along the ground.

The white bird hastily tried to right himself, only to feel a painful sting on his tail and shriek in pain. Pleo looked back and saw a blue Jellicent grabbing onto his tail and struggled against the slimy presence. Nida and Guardia ran in and threw a pair of blows that landed with audible splats. The Jellicent let out a pained hiss as Pleo felt the feral’s grip loosen, prompting him to tear ahead alongside his teammates.

He blindly charged forward down an alleyway littered with rubble, the running footsteps of his two partners reaching his ears from behind. Their breaths came short and ragged, as the sound of ghostly wails and shouts rang out at their backs.

"Spike ball, they're still coming!" Guardia cried.

"I know that!" Nida squeaked. "Just keep running!"

The Nidoran led her teammates down a cross-exit and charged past a pile of disturbed barrels before glimpsing a pair of pink and blue shapes floating into the lane ahead. Nida dug her feet in, sending the Poison-Type into a skidding stop with her teammates. The three looked up, where they saw that the pursuing Jellicent had cut them off, with the female preparing a foamy burst from her bell.

"Time to pay for disturbing our waters!" the blue Jellicent hissed.

"Eat Brin-!" the pink Jellicent shouted.

Before the female Jellicent could attack, a spray of black orbs zipped through the air and struck the jellyfish in her bell, sending her flying into a wall with an unceremonious splat. The other Jellicent whirled around, only to be similarly picked off. After a stunned moment on the ground, the pair hastily phased through a wall, eager to escape as Team Traveller turned and looked in the direction of the Dark Pulses.

"Huh?!"

The three saw a Clawitzer perched on a battered eave, staring them down with a piercing glare. Nagant pulled her claw back, still dripping water from her most recent salvo. The shrimp shook her head and trained her gaze, before starting to speak in a low voice.

"Forty years. Forty years I've been waiting for this moment. Through the end of Conntow, through the Company's sedition and treason, through watching everything I grew up in burn to the ground," she murmured. "All of that ends now through you, Lugia, the catalyst who will undo all of this. But first I shall tell you the tragic tale of my family's fate after the Great Collapse. It all started ages ago… No, you know what, screw it!"

The Clawitzer gave an impatient hiss and brought her big claw down, training it on the white bird in front of her. Pleo and his friends yelped, realizing that the shrimp bore a scarf pattern like the Sharpedo and Tentacruel who ambushed them at Spirit Trench and was preparing to attack them.

"I've waited long enough dealing with those ferals and those kocevniki offshore," she hissed. "There will be plenty of time to tell you after I've captured you!"

Scowling, Nagant readied her shot as Team Traveller turned and attempted to flee, steadying her aim further with her smaller claw. The orb of water building within Nagant's open pincer was all the encouragement Team Traveller needed to get somewhere- anywhere but here.

"Out of my way, you overgrown crab!"

Nagant whirled towards the sound, just in time to be caught up by a spray of flying rocks. The Clawitzer went sailing and tumbled back in the dirt, righting herself with an angry hiss and coming face to face with an Aggron at the head of a large gang of golden-scarved Pokémon.

"That's my prize," Hess growled. "And there's no way I'm letting some hag who couldn't stand and fight me last time take him away!"

"Grr! We'll see how tough you talk when you don't have the advantage of numbers!" Nagant snapped. "Sailors!"

At the Water-Type's prompting, a large cohort of Pokémon in indigo scarves emerged from the other end of the lane. The air filled with growls between the two sides, and both parties hastily braced themselves for battle when a chittering cry went forth.

"Attack!" Nagant shouted.

The shrimp shot forth a pressurized pulse of water as her Aggron foe sent forth a barrage of rocks, leading their respective underlings into opposing charges. Nida, Pleo, and Guardia ran ahead as their surroundings devolved into an indigo and golden-scarfed melee, ducking as a hail of needle-like spikes zipped overhead, drawing a startled squawk from the young Protector.

"A-Ack!"

"Come on, this way!" Nida cried.

Nida bounded ahead, leading her teammates for an uphill alleyway, only to hear the sound of rending earth. The Nidoran yelped and hopped back as the form of an Aggron recoiling from a Water Pulse slid past the group, kicking up a spray of dirt and pebbles. The Steel-Type panted, and hastily threw himself onto his feet, trading glares with his Clawitzer opponent a short ways away flicking away some water off her large claw.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" the shrimp seethed.

"Heh… you hit harder than I gave you credit for, bug. You're just forgetting one thing," the Steel-Type growled. "Land is my domai- Huh?"

Hess paused as he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. The Aggron turned his head, prompting the Clawitzer to follow suit where they saw Pleo and his friends slowly inching away towards an alley in an attempt to slip away from their battle.

"Uh-oh," Pleo gulped.

"Hah!" Hess sneered. "Just where I needed you- Agh!"

The pirate captain was cut off by a forceful, chitinous blow across his face, sending the Steel-Type stumbling back. Hess desperately tried to run to maintain his footing, only to charge headlong into a window, bringing the wall and a good portion of a slate roof down on his head. Back out in the lane, Nagant shook her big claw as she watched Hess uselessly try to squirm free from under the rubble, turning her attention back to Pleo and his increasingly pallid-looking friends.

"Time to call it quits, kid- Ah!"

Nagant hopped up with a start as she felt a burning pain on her shoulder, prompting her to look side to side for the attack's culprit.

"Hey, brzydula," a yipping voice jeered. "You're not getting out of this fight so easily!"

The Water-Type whirled around to see a Growlithe sticking his tongue out at her. The shrimp readied her claw to attack, only to hear wingbeats and see that Team Traveller was taking advantage of her distraction to escape.

"Gah!" Nagant hissed. "Get back here you little brats-!"

The Clawitzer's shout was interrupted by the return of the burning pain, this time at the back of her head. She seethed, as Elty's voice quickly reached her ears once more.

"Come on," the Fire-Type demanded. "Hit me with your best shot, Imp!"

Team Traveller ran ahead, the sound of a shout and a splash reaching their ears, and then another. Against all odds, Elty's jeers continued on, evidence of his so far successful dodges of Nagant's Water Pulses.

"Hah! You're gonna have to try a little harder than tha-AAAGH!"

A loud, yelping shriek filled the air, followed by the sound of a body sailing along and hitting the ground with a wet thud. Pleo and his companions froze in their tracks, the long-necked bird looking back to discover that much to his horror, Elty was lying drenched in the square, limp and unmoving.

"Elty!"

The three turned wide-eyed, staring at Nagant as she perched on her tail, huffing out of exasperation with the Fire-Type, his swift defeat doing nothing to mollify her sour mood.

"Ngah… Grr…"

The shrimp turned to try and find Team Traveller, worn down by her distraction from the Growlithe and the chaos of battle, only to cry out as a wave of rocks flung her into a side street. Their owner, an Aggron with a windowframe stuck around his neck stomped back out, giving an irate roar to announce his presence.

"I'm not done yet, you old crone!"

Pleo and his companions watched as Hess stormed on after the Clawitzer, though unbeknownst to the Steel-Type, his underlings were retreating further and further away, leaving the square filled with groaning and fainted Pokémon. Much to their astonishment, they saw a Drifblim float out of the sky and scoop up a fainted Floatzel, the same fate befalling a Hoppip, and then a Pawniard. The three grimaced, realizing that the Imperials must have decided to carry off the pirates to take them prisoner. Thankfully the indigo scarved Pokémon hadn't noticed them, but in Guardia's mind it was not something to be taken for granted, prompting her to try and hurry Pleo along to safety.

"Pleo, come on," she grunted. "We need to go before those two focus on us again!"

Team Traveller looked back, seeing a Pidgeotto swooping out of the sky towards Elty. Much to Pleo's alarm, the bird latched onto the Growlithe with his talons, making a few awkward attempts to carry his weighty capture off. Nida shook her head, beginning to turn away, only for Pleo to bolt for the scene running as fast as his legs allowed.

"Pleo?!" Nida squeaked. "What are you-?!"

The Lugia ran along, flapping his wings to build up momentum. As a surge of determination came across the Protector, he vaulted up and a fiery blue light began to cloak his plumes as he charged towards the bird ahead of him.

"Hah," the Pidgeotto sneered. "Your bounty will be a nice bonus for me, mutt-"

"Let him go!"

Pleo slammed into the osprey, sending him plummeting back to earth. The bird and his captive tumbled along the ground, the Imperial giving a startled squawk as he began to rise to his feet. Before the Normal-Type could react, a spike caught his neck and a heavy blow broke over his head, sending him flopping to the ground out cold.

"What are you thinking?!" Nida exclaimed.

"I'm not leaving him like that!" Pleo squawked.

"Nrgh…"

Team Traveller looked down at Elty, just in time to see the stricken Growlithe groan and twitch his legs feebly. For a moment, neither Nida nor Guardia were sure what to feel about the Fire-Type's plight. As soon as it came, the feelings of uncertainty subsided, and Guardia hardened her eyes into a scowl back at the young Protector.

"Why shouldn't we?!" the Cubone demanded. Nida for her part looked similarly unmoved, giving an impatient huff before launching into a tirade.

"Pleo, he betrayed us to his old buddies!"

"But they'll send him to the Wastes if we don't help him!" the young Protector insisted. "Elty is still our friend... right?"

Pleo gave a pleasing look at his teammates, only to be met with firm glares. Neither of the two seemed willing to budge, until the sound of a crash in the background prompted Nida to growl and fold her ears back.

"Do whatever you want," Nida huffed. "I'm not stopping you."

"Let's just hurry up and get out of here!" Guardia cried.

The team scrambled forward, Pleo scooping up Elty and hastily nestling him up on his back as the others hopped on in turn. With a running start, Pleo was able to take flight at last, Nida and Guardia clinging to his plumage for dear life. Guardia whimpered in fear as they gained height, Rosequartz Town slowly growing farther and farther away. The two other members of Team Traveller who remained conscious merely thanked their lucky stars that they were finally able to leave this nightmare behind them...



About half an hour after their hurried departure from the shrine, Pladur, Crom, Kiran, and Ander waved farewell to a delighted Whimsicott shopkeeper as he closed up his store for the night, the proud owner of a newly-refilled lockbox and the Siglo Swellow's batch of bounty notices for their stop. For their part, too, the Siglo Swellow's sailors were just as happy with their end of the bargain as they lugged barrels of hull-sealing pitch down the seaside hills and towards the green-sanded beach where the damaged vessel had been pulled ashore.

"Do you think that we bought too much pitch for the ship?" Crom wondered

"Nah, if we have any left over, we'll just keep it below deck," Pladur reassured. "You can never go wrong with some extra supplies."

"Let's take things one step at a time," Kiran chided. "We still need to get this pitch back to the ship first- Huh?"

Kiran paused as the sound of movement from behind reached his ears, motioning for his teammates to stop. The four Pokemon glanced over and realized that they had attracted company. Behind them were a raggedy Turtonator and Charjabug, looking exhausted but in a strangely pleasant mood.

"Er… can we help you?" Ander asked.

"Oh, we weren't here to ask for anything," the Charjabug said. "We just wanted to say thanks."

"You wanted to thank us...?" Crom questioned.

"Yeah, for the work you've been doing on that place up the hill," the Turtonator added. "It means a lot to us 'mons in the fields to have something other than that broken-down ruin looming down on us all the time."

Puzzled glances floated around the four sailors, gradually giving way to smiles that began to creep over their faces. So their work hadn't gone unnoticed after all...

"Oh. Well, you're quite welcome!" Kiran chirped, puffing out his chest proudly. "Having the watchful presence of a local shrine's always handy for a good 50% boost to morale!"

The pair looked around and shuffled their feet awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. After deciding that they had nothing else to say, the pair turned and began to pace off before bidding farewell.

"Well, that's all," the Turtonator grunted. "I'm sure you've got plenty to do, so we won't keep you any longer. Safe travels out there."

He and his Charjabug companion took their leave, wandering back off into the distance as Crom paused in thought, watching after the two strangers.

"Maybe that shrine will do some good around these parts after all," the Druddigon murmured.

"Hrm..."

Although they'd done good work on the shrine, every fiber of Ander's being had at first revolted against its restoration. Working to restore an altar to those demons just felt... wrong. On the other scythe, it had made a good deal of Pokémon quite happy. Misguided souls, surely, but didn't they too need a reprieve from the world's troubles sometime?

"I suppose if it really lifts Pokémon's spirits around here that much…" Ander mulled.

"I told you, it was the fourth dock that we needed to be at."

"Oh come on, you were confused too! That sloppy 'five' totally looked like a 'four'!"

The group's attention was drawn by the sounds of chatter nearby. In their direction came Salvini, Payak and Phyllis, chatting with one another in obviously high spirits. In addition, at the front of their formation walked the familiar, long-sleeved figure of...

"Hertsog!"

"Eh?" the Fighting-Type murmured. "What are you all doing here?"

"Yeah, we thought that you all got out of dodge already," Payak added.

"Getting those supplies took a bit longer than we thought we would," Kiran explained, giving a tired ruffle of his feathers. "But what are you all doing here?"

"Our reassignments," Salvini said. "I'm getting posted to Canalhouse City with Hertsog."

Phyllis and Payak jumped up with a start at the gecko's words. Salvini trailed off, wondering just what had she said that was so surprising, before her Leafeon partner answered the matter with a question:

"Huh? Salvini, why didn't you tell me that you were also working there?" Phyllis protested. "You grew up there! I'd have spent a lot less time worrying about how I'd ever find anything if I'd known."

"Huh?!" Payak exclaimed. "But Canalhouse City is my posting!"

Confused, the three Pokemon glanced at one another, finding on each other's faces only a befuddled expression matching their own. After a moment, something clicked to Salvini, and she looked over to Hertsog incredulously as a smile began to spread over his muzzle.

"... I might have pulled a few strings on the way out of my position as Captain of the Guard," the Mienshao chuckled. "After all, you all do seem to perform best together, so…"

The Mienshao's explanation drew cheery exclamations, as the four Company Pokémon continued on in warm and congenial tones with one another. Crom and his companions traded satisfied glances, happy to see that in spite of all their troubles, that even Salvini and her friends would be left in higher spirits from their shared work.

"So wait, were you the one who sent those letters too, Hertsog?" Phyllis asked. "I mean, I didn't think it was you at first from the writing, but..."

Hertsog twitched his whiskers and tilted his head puzzledly at the Leafeon's question. The Fighting-Type blinked a bit, before giving a thorough shake of his head.

"No, I haven't the faintest clue," the weasel said, shaking his head. "All I had to work with were the footprints and scratches in front of my abode. From their appearance, it looked like the Pokémon had sharp talons, probably some manner of courier or mail carrier."

Ding ding

"Anyhow, that's our cue to take our leave," Hertsog murmured. "Thanks again, all of you. You've helped me to leave this town in better shape."

One by one - with a nod and a mumbled farewell - each Pokemon filed away. Hertsog led the way, followed closely by Payak, and then Phyllis. However, as Salvini turned to leave, Crom stopped her, checking his surroundings to ensure the others were out of earshot before addressing her.

"Salvini. About that… 'Bird'," Crom began. "You wouldn't happen to-?"

"I'm not telling you where he went if that's what you're asking," she interrupted.

Crom grimaced; although he'd somewhat expected an answer like that, it didn't make Salvini's words any easier to hear. He nodded slowly, leaving his gaze firmly affixed on the ground before her voice called his attention again.

"... He left town with a wounded wing," the Grovyle explained. "Whether or not you truly do have his and his friends' best interests at heart, if you've got a decent map, you should already know where he's gone based off that."

A further chime from the ship's bell rang out, and some calls went up from the dock. It was evidently already time to start boarding, and with not a moment to lose.

"Anyhow, I should get going myself," Salvini said. "May our paths cross again."

The Grass-Type carried on, leaving behind the Pokémon of the Siglo Swellow to scratch their heads over her words. Crom's jaw clenched tightly in annoyance, the young dragon shaking his head as he tried to decipher Salvini's somewhat cryptic hint.

"What did she mean by all of that?" Crom murmured.

"Yeah, we just know that Pleo flew off," Pladur mulled. "But how's that supposed to help us know what island he flew off to?"

"Eh? But didn't she say he was hurt when he left?" Ander asked. "How could he have made it all the way to another island?"

The group mulled in puzzlement over Salvini's words. If Pleo left with a hurt wing, just where could he have gone? Why, he wouldn't have been able to get off the island at all without a ship or another Pokémon to help! A silence followed, only to be broken by a startled chirp as sudden realization dawned on Kiran.

"Ah! I think I know where he went!" Kiran exclaimed. "Come on!"

In a flash of bluster and flapping wings, the Swellow soared ahead, leaving his teammates to hurry after him and wonder just what Kiran had so emphatically figured out.



With their hefty load of pitch delivered, the crew of the Siglo Swellow was free to finally complete the ship's repairs. As the call of "all hands on deck" was sounded, some crewmembers were relieved the repairs was finally over with, while others dreaded the workload ahead of them. Nonetheless, sooner or later even the most reluctant Pokemon had gotten to work, and by nightfall the Siglo Swellow was sea-worthy once again.

After a quick double-checking of the ship's hull, the crew gathered to shove the ship out onto the water, just in time for Pat to return from Tromba. While they pushed the mighty vessel into the sea, the Unfezant offered the workers a recap on the recent goings-on of their home island, to the delight of some and the ire of others who wondered aloud what had taken him so long. Once the ship was finally out and bobbing in the waves, Beatrix called everyone back aboard, brandishing a map which she spread on the deck of the ship for all to see.

"Eh? Captain Beatrix?" Philips asked. "Why'd you get us all together for charting a course?"

"Yeah," Natrix murmured. "You usually come up with these just fine on your own."

"It's because I felt that this was important enough for all of us to hear," the Illumise captain answered, before turning to Kiran and his peers with a buzz. "Kiran? Why don't you and your team walk us through your rationale?"

"Well… when we were doing our job in town, we met a Grovyle from the guards named Salvini who helped us out," the Swellow began. "While we were working she let it slip that she helped Pleo and the kids get away after they got caught here."

Some startled cries broke out at the mention of the Grovyle. Why hadn't Kiran told them of her earlier? And why wasn't she here with them?

"En serio?!" a Golduck exclaimed. "Then we should talk with her right away!"

"It's not so simple," Ander buzzed. "She's currently on a ship for Vollezee, and she wouldn't tell us anything more even if she were still here."

"That said, she said that Pleo left with a hurt wing and that if we took a look at a map, things would become clear," Kiran murmured. "And I think I know what she meant."

He stuck out a wing and gestured at a small island to the far east labeled 'Mengir' on it. The Swellow then moved his wingtip along with drawings of currents and winds to the northwest, up to a picture of an atoll with bubbles in the water.

"Otvaga's the closest island to here that isn't run by the Company," the Flying-Type explained. "So for a place to run away to, it's perfect."

"On top of that, the main place he would turn to if he couldn't fly all the way to the next island would be the Subway," Pladur added. "And Otvaga is the nearest hub they would have reached through it."

Amongst the crew an unusually optimistic murmur broke out, flecked here and there with whisperings of "hey, that makes sense!" and "are we finally gonna catch up with them?" abounded as a small wave of excitement washed over the ship.

"So if we got to Otvaga, we'd be able to find them," the Hitmontop First Mate mulled. "Or at worst figure out where they went next."

"Right. In that case, I think that we're ready," Beatrix grunted. "Tell the swimmers to keep a team of divers posted. We'll follow the Subway route up there."

Beatrix turned back to her crew, her eyes glimmering with fierce determination. The Bug-Type flitted up and gave an impatient beat of her wings before barking out to the gathered Pokémon.

"You heard me!" the Illumise buzzed. "Let's get this ship moving already!"

At their captain's order, a chorus of ayes floated around the gathered Pokémon who set off preparing the sails and raising the anchor. The ship lurched forward and began to turn for a northwesterly course. As the waves passed by and the Siglo Swellow began to pick up speed, the crew began settling into a routine, including a young Druddigon who had clambered up the rigging. There, as Crom watched the waves pass by at sea, his thoughts turned to his teammates and finally being able to reunite with them again.

"Nida, Pleo, Elty... hang in for us a little longer," the young Druddigon pleaded. "We're almost there."



Author's Notes:

- Nyama zashto (Няма защо) - Bulgarian: "You're Welcome" (BGN/PCGN 2013 Romanization)
- dailtíní - Irish: "brats"
- Isogu (急ぐ) - Japanese: "Hurry up" (Hepburn Romanization)
- brzydula - Polish: "ugly woman", "hag"
 
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Trivia #7 (Swinging the Lamp + Episode 9)

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
Author’s Note: This trivia section was originally posted alongside Chapter 50 on Serebii after its thread received 25,000 views. Annotations and revised commentary not originally in this trivia section are noted in bolded text.

How did you come up with Orleigh?


From the story's very early days, Orleigh was intended to be a town that served as a pirate haunt. The logistics of the island needing to be located in a place where it could still prey on shipping while being unfeasible to root out wound up informing its location within a buffer zone between the Company and the Empire.

The island's features owe a good deal of their existence to Macalania Woods from Final Fantasy X, which informed both the structure of the crystal-studded forest, and helped to more quickly narrow down the island into having a disproportionate amount of Fairy-Types to play into the more mystical atmosphere, including its implied protector, Diancie. The name owes its origins to a corruption of "Orre", which in turn influenced the choice of local tongue to be a Gaelic language, Irish eventually being settled on as the tongue of choice thanks to Irish mythology being particularly steeped in fairies and Ireland having a history of piracy in medieval times.

How did you come up with Rosequartz Town?

Rosequartz Town is a town that was envisioned as a formerly sleepy and parochial town that had transformed into a Port Royal-esque haunt through becoming a hub for piracy. The local architecture is strongly influenced by the gray, stone architecture associated with Ireland and Scotland, if adapted to non-human sensibilities and transplanted into a more densely wooded setting.

Rosequartz Town ultimately owes its origins as a nod to Agate Town, with the two being named after separate varieties of quartz, and Rose Quartz having a similar appearance to Diancie, who was chosen to be the island's protector. Another name that was floated but ultimately left on the cutting room floor for the town was the unimaginative working name of "Fairy Town."

How did you come up with the concept of the Pirate Council?

The Pirate Council was envisioned as a leadership structure where the strongest and most imposing captains of Orleigh's pirates dominated the overall workings of the town via a mix of consensus and brute force, rotating out through retirement and succumbing to the dangers of pirate life. During the planning stages, the Pirate Council's size fluctuated between three and five members, before ultimately settling on the current band of four.

Dirk and Ingela both owe their names to historical pirates, the former being designed as a leader figure for the Council, while Ingela was conceived as an "ice maiden" archetype out for revenge in the vein of Jeanne de Clisson. Tarquin as a returning figure was envisioned as a former subordinate to Darzin and a foil to Hess, owing his name to King Tarquin of Rome, a name that has become a byname for tyranny thanks to cultural osmosis from the Roman Republic. Sibich owes his name to a treacherous advisor from Germanic mythology, which was chosen to accentuate his intended role as a "manipulator" character.

How did you come up with Hess?

Hess owes his origins to a composite of a minor seafaring Aggron character from Tangent's past writing, along with a recurring truck nemesis to a recurring Skarmory show-within-a-show character. Those influences served to provide a suitable basis for making a villain who could be both bumblingly incompetent as well as a credible danger as the situation dictated, which also influenced some character details for Hess such as his past hostile encounters with Trizano and with Marowak. As for the name, in keeping in line with half of his composite, it owes its origins to the name of a manufacturer of toy trucks.

How did you come up with the Iron Fleet?

The Iron Fleet from its outset was envisioned as a bottom-feeding crew of flunkies, which was intended as a warm-up hostile encounter for Pleo that grew in plot prominence as the process of writing went on and we took a bit of a shine to the characters and wanted to see more of them. The Iron Fleet fundamentally reflects the outsized aspirations and ambitions of its captain, coloring its characteristics such as the use of flashy gold-and-silver colors, as well as the steely iron-themed title.

A few of the more prominent faces from the crew had their own histories behind how they were developed. Kichiro, or as he insists, 'Keiichiro', was developed as a character from his initial throwaway appearance as the Iron Fleet's signaler in Episode 3 into a snarker who got his deal of misfortune from his crew. That in turn influenced his choice of name, a Japanese name meaning "good luck" that was chosen primarily for irony value.

Rodion as a character similarly was expanded from a throwaway appearance in Episode 3, and was developed into Hess' First Mate. As Rodion took shape, he was developed to be a "straight man" character who would help keep his boss in line and his plans from blowing up too disastrously, coming into his own in Auld Lang Syne. Rodion's name as well as a rejected beta name of 'Rodya' owes its origin as a nod to Crime and Punishment's protagonist, Rodion Raskolinov, though his choice of crime is a bit different from the novel character's and as of yet he has not received his punishment.

How did you come up with Pyry and Pekka?

Pyry and Pekka owe their origins to an antagonistic Garchomp and Flygon duo that appears in Umbramatic's writings from time to time, if brought down the threat level a few notches and played more for laughs than their original incarnations. Pyry's name was chosen as a mix of irony and "things a Gible and its evolutions would fear", leading to the choice to pick a Finnish name meaning "snowstorm". Pekka's name is a Finnish version for "Peter", which was chosen due to its meaning of "rock", a nod to some meta surrounding his inspiration character.

How did you come up with Rasp and Bech?

Rasp and Bech were designed to fill the role of a pair of good samaritans from Orleigh whose lives could be upended through Team Traveller's arrival, being designed to be the catalyst to help send the team into a crisis of cohesiveness and confidence.

Bech owes his origins due to being a convenient means to depict a Secret Bazaar in-story, being designed as a direct analogue of Shedinja from PMD: Explorers of Sky. His Flygon progeny, Rasp, was chosen for deliberate irony as the dramatically larger Dragon-Type son to a Fairy-Type while still being theoretically viable thanks to sharing an egg group, and serving as the in-town presence for the duo. Bech's name was one of those uncommon instances where the name clicked at first sight, whereas Rasp went through a number of beta names including Flann and Odhrán.

How did you come up with the Merchantry?

The Merchantry owes its origins to being an expression of the constant of Kecleon-staffed shops in PMD's games, which in turn served as a vehicle for providing a justification for the existence of Poké as a trader's currency backed up by the outfit in question by giving the Merchantry strong, transnational influence and reach. From early on, it was decided that the Merchantry would be less Kecleon-centric than in-game, with the core of the company controlled by a dynasty of our favorite chameleons, but their local presences being reliant on partners of other species (ergo the presence of Pokémon such as Alphonse in Boisocéan).

If the Merchantry Logo as depicted in Swinging the Lamp's header reminded you of anything, there's a good reason for that. It's the same sigil found on the rugs of Kecleon shops in in-game dungeons.

How did you come up with Calino?

Calino was developed as an aloof and somewhat insensitive shopkeep who could fill the role of a local vendor in a sleepy town like Bluewhorl Town. From early on, his personality was envisioned to be such that could plausibly self-inflict getting stuck in a dead-end position as a demotion, the circumstances around which were finally realized in Swinging the Lamp. Calino's name owes its origins to an offhand suggestion by Venia Silente during the drafting phases of the first chapter from a chance encounter with a store sign he had during a commute.

Were There Any Story Changes That Happened While Writing Fledglings?

Quite a bit, actually, as Fledglings' plot has wound up undergoing some substantial shifts from initial plans since the day the first chapter was published. Some of the more significant changes that have occurred from the plot planning up to this point in the story since that day have included:

- Crom originally was not going to leave Bluewhorl and would have effectively been absent from plot after Episode 4 until the very end of the story
- Lyn was originally going to storm Seahive Square and cause a minor case of massive property damage
- Trizano was originally not going to enter the plot until the second half of the story
- In early drafts, there was going to be a feral Flechinder that aided the team on Mengir
- Nagant originally was not going to be introduced until the Orleigh episode
- Hess originally would not have reappeared in the plot until the Orleigh episode
- Otvaga was initially intended to be visited two episodes after the team arrived at Sormus
- Berecien was originally envisioned as an Iron Fleet member, and was slated to appear in place of Kichiro in Chapter 26
While the core of the plot of Fledglings has by and large remained constant, those changes do add up, and have since helped to season the story with some of its more memorable moments so far. A testament to the importance of being flexible with planning as a writer.
 

sanderidge

Youngster
Pronouns
it or they
hello i am here from reading rookidee! i've only read up to chapter 2, but i'm excited to keep going!!! (the ending of chapter 2 has a very motivating "keep reading" cliffhanger hehehe. gotta know what happens with that dungeon trap...)

i have a soft spot for learning worldbuilding/important lore pieces from bedtime stories, so i really liked the prologue! i thought the detail of nida's mom drawing pictures to go with the story was really interesting - i guess that's what you'd have to do instead of picture books? - and i'm intrigued by the Travelers. the spirits of departed gods as wandering stars... even if it's just a one-off detail, i love the sound of that, hehe.

i thought it was interesting that the feral pokemon that live in dungeons talk! well, in retrospect it makes sense for the pokemon protagonists to be able to understand them, but in the few other pmd fics i've read (mostly offsite, and a while ago) the ferals didn't talk, so i was kind of surprised! it was nice getting to hear the other side of things. it's probably awful having strangers stomp around your home all the time.

(i also keep thinking poor nida - having that many younger siblings must be exhausting, i cannot imagine it - and the busywork of collecting apples sounds so boring despite being in a dungeon. especially knowing that it isn't even to collect food, it's just a training exercise that another team set up for you... f.)

oh also, a question! in the little bit that i've read so far, it seems like the older pokemon are using the spanish words more compared to crom and nida, especially kiran. is that actually the case / was that on purpose / if so, does it serve a specific one, or is that just how the writing shook out?

anyway, i'm glad i started on this, and glad there's a lot more for me to read and catch up on!
 

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
0: a bedtime story
hi, here for catnip. sorry for the delay. i decided to check out fledglings over your other fics because lugia and nidoran are based and also i've been in the mood for pirate stuff over the last couple weeks, lol.

zooming out a bit on this prologue, i have mixed feelings. i do think the elements of the worldbuilding you introduce here, both ancient and contemporary, are really cool. i'm a fan of the PMD world as post-human and post-apocalyptic, and the "protectors" and "Marked" give the world a unique flavor and a sense of real continuity. playing the PMD games, i've always sort of felt that the world you're thrust into exists outside of time, like it has always existed more or less in the state it's in and will continue to exist that way for a long time after the story. (somewhat ironic, considering the thematic emphasis on time in certain games.) through your myth, however, you establish a feeling that the world has deep ties to its past, and in doing this you also begin to set the stage for where the story is going. i thought that as well done. i also enjoyed the delivery of the myth, which was interesting content-wise as well as believable and fun to read structurally. i especially liked the listing of the "gifts," that kind of pattern feels like a very real component of legend to me.

the nidos are also just so cute. i loved imagining them all sleepy and snuggled up, it's unreasonably precious. underrated mon for sure.

my quibbles are mostly with the framing. firstly i found the very beginning a bit confusing. the fairly extensive descriptions of the surroundings conveyed to me that the environment was new to the perspective character, and there isn't really any sense of familiarity with the surroundings established to suggest otherwise. my expectation was that she was emerging from a cave into a new village or something, so i was pretty surprised when it turned out it was actually her den. i might remedy this by cutting down on the description/leaning more into describing the environment in terms of nida's memories or associations? that way it's clear that this is a location the character is familiar with, and it could tell us a bit about the character as well. maybe starting off the story with nida's plotting to sneak out to see the traveler could help to, in order to immediately establish context.

i was also somewhat confused by the fact that nida is initially described to be very familiar with the story, apparently having heard it numerous times at the day care as well as at least once from her mother, even going so far as to interrupt at one point to tell the story herself. but then just a few sentences later she doesn't seem to know what's going on with the story anymore, and starts asking a bunch of questions. i think one or the other works fine, but it felt weird for her to go from being overly familiar with the story to seemingly being clueless.

all things together, it's a nice prologue. the main character is likeable and cute, and the worldbuilding you set up is interesting and leaves me wanting to see more of this world, which i have little doubt we will in short order!

i was going to post a review for chapter one in addition to this one, but this catnip is so late, i'm just going to post this for now. i will be back for chapter one at minimum as soon as i can, and i'm sure i'll return for even more after that, although after a certain point i may end up binging it quietly and just sharing my highlights, depending on how pulled in i am. :p
These things that guided the little blue lump of spikes attempting to press forward from the depths of the burrow.
this is a sentence fragment. did you mean to write "These things guided..."?

Somewhere in that beautiful, glittering mess- around the moon, between the stars, and the twists and bends of the Rainbow Road- were the drifting ones- little stars that moved slowly and without tails.
lot of hyphens here!

a handful of her fellow blue and purple spike balls
hahaha aww

She flicked her ears, and narrowed her eyes to continue her quiet admonishment.
you can cut this comma

"The Pokémon that lived without humans, the 'ferals' as you've probably heard them called, were free to continue to live on as they did in the past. Growing, breeding, and dying with the course of nature. They were to be left to live without interference from outsiders, but at the expense of giving up the right to interfere in the lives of those outsiders. It is why the predators among the ferals do not dare to consider you or your brothers and sisters as meals…

Or at least not ones that don't have a death wish."
this is a neat explanation for the difference between feral and civilized pokémon, that's always struck me as a bit of a tricky thing to worldbuild around. btw i think you want an opening quotation mark at the start of the second paragraph here.

"Well… It's a bit more mundane than that. Our island's protector is somewhere in there, but so are a lot of the things that our town uses to get by. And it's not a safe place, so there need to be Pokémon to help protect those that go in doing imprudent things… Like little kits going out without their scarves."

"Mami, I get it," Nida groaned in annoyance, as her eyelids began to fall.

"But all in all, they're there to give help to Pokémon when they need it most."

"I wish that I could be a Pokémon like that…" said Nida, as her red eyes finally drooped shut and she drifted off to sleep.
i liked this ending. it ties back into the beginning nicely, grounding the exposition, and gives a hint of what's to come.
 

SparklingEspeon

Back on Her Bullshit
Staff
Location
a Terrace of Indeterminate Location in Snowbelle
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. fennekin
  3. zoroark
Hello! As per our exchange I’m here to review the next ten chapters of this, plus the Special Episode that bookends these two arcs. Obligatory "It's been several months since I read this so there may be things I missed or just plain don't remember"

So in general, I had an okay time with these two arcs. I think the “island to island” phase is running its course now, and even though they’ll be headed off to an imperial island for the next arc, I do hope there’s some kind of reversal due to happen there. Though given we’re very close to the halfway point of the current publishings, I assume there’s some kind of shakeup coming…

I do have to commend you once again for your worldbuilding—regardless of the actual story, the world you’ve set it in feels diverse and alive. The islands feel culturally distinct and affected by their landscapes, the different languages and the way you gradually integrate them as more and more characters get involved authentic the idea of a cultural melting pot several disconnected islands would provide, and ideas such as the Subway feel like territory I don’t see broached anywhere else in PMD. Really liked.

Cabot :D

I was also interested by the fact that there seemed to just causally be a Voice of Life in the Mengir arc? I’m not sure if this guy has any connection to Hydreigon from gates, how important he is in the story, what implications his presence holds for the story, etc. but I’m immediately interested. Especially since I think the Company’s aware of this. It seems to be a not-important piece for now, but I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for that making a surface later on.

Liked that we got to see a bit more of the Company, especially the rest of the administrators. There’s Farn, Zoro-whats-his-name (something with E.. ?), Zorn, and Darzin, with potential for Lyn to join their ranks pretty soon. I’m a bit surprised that’s the entire board tbh, at least assuming Director Inler is the head Honchkrow. You’d think a company with control over all the Cradle would have a larger directorial board. (In general I also feel like we need to see more of the Company—a lot of the scenes like to cut away from Company Higherups as soon as possible, which disappoints me, they can’t be menacing villains if they don’t get enough screentime!)

But then? There’s the lore-drop that they don’t have Cradle domination?? Not sure if this was dropped at some point and I was just too smooth brain to pick it up/forgot, but I think the idea that the Company is at war with another nation puts the context of why they want Pleo into a much more urgent and understandable light. Separation between Grawr Rawr Power and “we want a weapon”, and the latter makes for a much better motivation IMO. I am a bit surprised that with all the globe-trotting that’s been happening, this hasn’t been majorly mentioned yet. I can understand being on Tromba and not knowing about it, but I am a bit surprised that it never came up between any Company talks or from the locals.

I was interested in particular that we got to see a better look at Administrator Darzin, the Tromba admin who’s in the Company’s bad graces for being as lenient on the island as he is. I was a bit surprised by how he came off—initially I thought he might have been sympathetic to the Bluewhorl townies’ plight and earned his bad standing by protecting them in ways the Company couldn’t prove, but nope, he’s 100% asshole. I guess Hatteras really does earn his stripes as a politician…

Doubly interesting to me that Darzin seems to be the most active threat to the Company currently. He’s evil just like the rest of them, but what sets him apart is that he’s got nothing to lose at this point. He’ll take more risks than Lyn or Farn or Zorn will, and it seems like it’s going to blow up in the Company’s faces hard if he gets away with it.

I wrote a larger criticism section this time, and I think a lot of it stems from the fact that I didn’t really consider these arcs much of an advancement of… anything in this story. Things happened, but it’s kind of just going through motions—Team Traveller arrives at a new island, explores the locale, and runs into trouble. Company higherups scheme, then let their greed and foul tempers bungle their jobs for them. Hatteras’ stealth team spends their screentime trying to make up a head start they’ll never recover. Elty runs his mouth, Nida acts bossy, Pleo is too innocent for the world, Scout cameos, and they all make it off the island just in time. It’s a fun setup to run through once or twice, but on the third and fourth times I’m going to expect some things to change, and things only changed in menial, mostly plot-based ways. In particular the Subway arc was the more egregious of the two for me, because even on a plot level very little happened. Some pieces moved—Team Traveller’s feeling the weight of all that running they’ve been doing, Darzin’s out here making some shady deals, and the Company’s finally getting its shit together and constructing a proper plan. But like… nothing happened. It’s basically an interlude I’m not convinced needed to be more than two chapters at most. I ended up writing several more paragraphs of crit, but I don't know how useful you'll find it when you're already way ahead of this. It's in the spoiler box for your preferred viewing:

In general I think this story has a problem with character conflict and plot allocation. We have four factions that should be well-rounded and should be tied together enough to keep the story lively. There’s Team Traveller, floating between islands without respite; the Company forces intent on catching them; the Siglo Swellow team also intent on catching them; and the Iron Fleet, whose captain has a vendetta against one party, is enemies with another, and has familiar ties to the third (Elty). Provided they interact constantly, this story should have no trouble keeping my interest with the various conflicts playing. The problem is, they… don’t.

All four parties are isolated entirely, and meetings between them are either rare and don’t last long, or are meetings between the wrong factions. If any of these parties met in-depth, the status quo risks disruption, and by implication the function of the island-to-island plot setup. To which I ask, is disruption of the status quo a bad thing? None of these groups will progress in natural, interconnected ways unless they’re meeting. They’re four stories in isolation, and so far they’ve been stagnant. For some ideas for how things could have ticked smoother this arc… The Iron Fleet had so much focus in these arcs; instead of siccing them on the Siglo Swellow, why not use them to pressure Elty in the Subway? Then he has to choose between protecting Pleo and betraying his crew, or returning to his crew with a valuable prisoner and betraying Nida. Siglo Swellow doesn’t need to be drifting aimlessly if they’re an island behind, why aren’t they the ones infiltrating that Company board meeting? It’s literally the most relevant to them out of all the characters. And perhaps Team Traveller’s plight of “what do we do if we have to keep running forever” could have held more weight to me if instead of making some vague declaration of fighting the Company and then continuing to run, they made a decision that actually changed what their next move looked like. I don’t expect that over a million words in you’d want to do extreme structural changes, though, so I guess it’s something to think on for future writing.

My criticism applied to the current version of the story is that we don’t need to be following the Iron Fleet or Siglo Swellow right now. Nothing they do in these arcs directly affects the central plotline of Team Traveller running, the only one that does is The Company’s movements. Focusing so heavily on things outside of that bogs down pacing extremely hard. If you wanted a fix that entailed minimal edits and some cutting, I think you could just take some choice scenes from Team Crom’s plot (the chat with the company worker, distributing the bounties, Ander’s book), and place them in their own chapter or something between the Menjir arc and the Subway arc. Like an interlude of sorts. The Iron Fleet stuff doesn’t need to exist currently IMO, so you could probably just truncate all that.

Now, finally, the special episode. I think it also suffered from being a bit long, but I won’t harp on the negatives for this one—I think while I probably could have skipped it and lost very little from the narrative, it was nice seeing the younger versions of the characters in this story, along with the background details we get for some of them. The Siglo Swellow feels like a more significant ship now, knowing that it came back with Calino all the way to Tromba years ago, and I think it was interesting that Lyn and Zorn seemed to have some kind of history together. I know they were there by formality, but it certainly seemed to me like Lyn was a favorite of Zorn. Might be part of how he’s managed to get himself lined up for Administrator… despite completely lacking leadership qualities outside of inspiring fear.

I also appreciated being able to get a vague idea of what gives the Kecleon Foundation an up in this universe. Too often they’re just around as the established monopoly for shopkeeping, but without much of an explanation as to what gave them that edge. Knowing they have trade and supply routes outside the cradle that they’re keeping hush-hush… interesting. (I also assume those pirates that got ahold of the notebook scraps were what would become the Iron Fleet later on? I’m guessing their captain was too quick to anger to actually read what was on the note paper before trashing it, but if he’d stopped to read for just a minute…) I will admit I’m kind of surprised how eager the other kecleon were to de-facto sack Calino. For him to be the one that designed, wrote down, and kept the notes that made it possible for them to do their trade… He had to be a very valuable member to them, and not just because he created the list. He made a mistake, yes, but surely he’d have more clout than to be dismissed so brashly?

So, overall, there was some good, some bad. The main plot hope I have for the story beyond this is for things to finally speed up. We’re fast approaching the halfway point, and yet I feel like I don’t really know more about these characters than I do when they first got carried away from their home island. It’s good writing, it just needs to quicken up some!

~SparklingEspeon
 
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Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
@sanderidge
i have a soft spot for learning worldbuilding/important lore pieces from bedtime stories, so i really liked the prologue! i thought the detail of nida's mom drawing pictures to go with the story was really interesting - i guess that's what you'd have to do instead of picture books? - and i'm intrigued by the Travelers. the spirits of departed gods as wandering stars... even if it's just a one-off detail, i love the sound of that, hehe.

Yeah, the Travelers in this setting aren’t quite just a one-off detail. They don’t impact the plot that directly, but they definitely keep showing up and make their influence felt on the plot throughout it.

i thought it was interesting that the feral pokemon that live in dungeons talk! well, in retrospect it makes sense for the pokemon protagonists to be able to understand them, but in the few other pmd fics i've read (mostly offsite, and a while ago) the ferals didn't talk, so i was kind of surprised! it was nice getting to hear the other side of things. it's probably awful having strangers stomp around your home all the time.

Yeah, Fledglings just doesn’t have non-sapient ferals. The story attempted to preserve the recruitment mechanics of the canon games, and that’s a bit hard to do if the Pokémon you run into are effectively animals that just happen to share a biological wrapper.

(i also keep thinking poor nida - having that many younger siblings must be exhausting, i cannot imagine it - and the busywork of collecting apples sounds so boring despite being in a dungeon. especially knowing that it isn't even to collect food, it's just a training exercise that another team set up for you... f.)

Such is life when you’re still a fledgling (har har) rescue team member.

oh also, a question! in the little bit that i've read so far, it seems like the older pokemon are using the spanish words more compared to crom and nida, especially kiran. is that actually the case / was that on purpose / if so, does it serve a specific one, or is that just how the writing shook out?

It’s admittedly been a while since that part of the story was being planned out, but I’m fairly certain that the relative usage of Spanish is just ultimately just how it shook out.

anyway, i'm glad i started on this, and glad there's a lot more for me to read and catch up on!

And we’ll be looking forward to your feedback! You’ve got a wild ride ahead of you. ^^

@kyeugh
out a bit on this prologue, i have mixed feelings. i do think the elements of the worldbuilding you introduce here, both ancient and contemporary, are really cool. i'm a fan of the PMD world as post-human and post-apocalyptic, and the "protectors" and "Marked" give the world a unique flavor and a sense of real continuity. playing the PMD games, i've always sort of felt that the world you're thrust into exists outside of time, like it has always existed more or less in the state it's in and will continue to exist that way for a long time after the story. (somewhat ironic, considering the thematic emphasis on time in certain games.) through your myth, however, you establish a feeling that the world has deep ties to its past, and in doing this you also begin to set the stage for where the story is going. i thought that as well done. i also enjoyed the delivery of the myth, which was interesting content-wise as well as believable and fun to read structurally. i especially liked the listing of the "gifts," that kind of pattern feels like a very real component of legend to me.

Well, we’re glad to hear that the worldbuilding left such an impression on you. It’s arguably this story’s raison d’etre, so it’s heartening to hear that you enjoyed it.

the nidos are also just so cute. i loved imagining them all sleepy and snuggled up, it's unreasonably precious. underrated mon for sure.

I mean, we wouldn’t have one as a protag if they weren’t. :V

my quibbles are mostly with the framing. firstly i found the very beginning a bit confusing. the fairly extensive descriptions of the surroundings conveyed to me that the environment was new to the perspective character, and there isn't really any sense of familiarity with the surroundings established to suggest otherwise. my expectation was that she was emerging from a cave into a new village or something, so i was pretty surprised when it turned out it was actually her den. i might remedy this by cutting down on the description/leaning more into describing the environment in terms of nida's memories or associations? that way it's clear that this is a location the character is familiar with, and it could tell us a bit about the character as well. maybe starting off the story with nida's plotting to sneak out to see the traveler could help to, in order to immediately establish context.

We went and added a few more explicit internal thoughts from Nida’s end about what she was up to. Dunno if it resolved all of your issues with it, but hopefully that helped a bit.

i was also somewhat confused by the fact that nida is initially described to be very familiar with the story, apparently having heard it numerous times at the day care as well as at least once from her mother, even going so far as to interrupt at one point to tell the story herself. but then just a few sentences later she doesn't seem to know what's going on with the story anymore, and starts asking a bunch of questions. i think one or the other works fine, but it felt weird for her to go from being overly familiar with the story to seemingly being clueless.

We might look at this a bit later, but kids can be a bit inconsistent about their bedtime stories in reality. The intent was that Nida would know some parts of the story better than others, and it’d reflect accordingly in her reactions.

i was going to post a review for chapter one in addition to this one, but this catnip is so late, i'm just going to post this for now. i will be back for chapter one at minimum as soon as i can, and i'm sure i'll return for even more after that, although after a certain point i may end up binging it quietly and just sharing my highlights, depending on how pulled in i am. :p

Well, we’ll be looking forward to it. Fingers crossed, since your feedback here was really enjoyable and helpful. ^^
this is a sentence fragment. did you mean to write "These things guided..."?

We went back to expand that a bit. But yeah, that was the intent.

lot of hyphens here!

We made the first one an ellipses. Thanks for pointing that out.

you can cut this comma

Done.

this is a neat explanation for the difference between feral and civilized pokémon, that's always struck me as a bit of a tricky thing to worldbuild around. btw i think you want an opening quotation mark at the start of the second paragraph here.

Yeah it’s not a particularly common take in the PMD fandom, but it’s the one we went with and we happen to like it more anyways. Also added the quotation mark.

i liked this ending. it ties back into the beginning nicely, grounding the exposition, and gives a hint of what's to come.[/QUOTE]

Glad to hear, since you’ll be seeing plenty of Nida living her dream there. Or at least trying to anyways.

@SparklingEspeon
So in general, I had an okay time with these two arcs. I think the “island to island” phase is running its course now, and even though they’ll be headed off to an imperial island for the next arc, I do hope there’s some kind of reversal due to happen there. Though given we’re very close to the halfway point of the current publishings, I assume there’s some kind of shakeup coming…

I mean, “island to island” is just the fundamental framing of the story. As for that shakeup, you can argue about whether or not things are a process, but the gang enters a whole new paradigm from the one you’re in after 2 arcs from where you’re currently at.

I do have to commend you once again for your worldbuilding—regardless of the actual story, the world you’ve set it in feels diverse and alive. The islands feel culturally distinct and affected by their landscapes, the different languages and the way you gradually integrate them as more and more characters get involved authentic the idea of a cultural melting pot several disconnected islands would provide, and ideas such as the Subway feel like territory I don’t see broached anywhere else in PMD. Really liked.

Well, we’re glad to hear that you enjoyed it, since worldbuilding is what we honestly consider to be this story’s strongest suit. ^^
I was also interested by the fact that there seemed to just causally be a Voice of Life in the Mengir arc? I’m not sure if this guy has any connection to Hydreigon from gates, how important he is in the story, what implications his presence holds for the story, etc. but I’m immediately interested. Especially since I think the Company’s aware of this. It seems to be a not-important piece for now, but I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for that making a surface later on.

Nah, no connection there beyond a mythology gag. Least of all because PSMD’s plot basically made it impossible to tie the Cradle into Canonworld. The ‘Voice of Life’ in this story as understood by most Pokémon in this story is simply just an epithet for Xerneas. It means something different for a few others, but that’s something to keep an eye out for.

But then? There’s the lore-drop that they don’t have Cradle domination?? Not sure if this was dropped at some point and I was just too smooth brain to pick it up/forgot, but I think the idea that the Company is at war with another nation puts the context of why they want Pleo into a much more urgent and understandable light. Separation between Grawr Rawr Power and “we want a weapon”, and the latter makes for a much better motivation IMO. I am a bit surprised that with all the globe-trotting that’s been happening, this hasn’t been majorly mentioned yet. I can understand being on Tromba and not knowing about it, but I am a bit surprised that it never came up between any Company talks or from the locals.

Yeah, that’s a pretty old bit of info, going as far back as the Boisocéan arc. I’m not sure what we could’ve done to remind the reader, since I’d like to think that Anyilla’s political situation had been mentioned quite a bit, but that is why the Company wants a lil’ living weapon, yes.

I was interested in particular that we got to see a better look at Administrator Darzin, the Tromba admin who’s in the Company’s bad graces for being as lenient on the island as he is. I was a bit surprised by how he came off—initially I thought he might have been sympathetic to the Bluewhorl townies’ plight and earned his bad standing by protecting them in ways the Company couldn’t prove, but nope, he’s 100% asshole. I guess Hatteras really does earn his stripes as a politician…

I’m pretty sure that it was all but confirmed that Darzin was hostile in the prose of the text as far back as at least Episode 4, and Marley hinted at it as far back as the Prologue. Though yeah, Hatteras earns his keep as Bluewhorl's mayor.

I wrote a larger criticism section this time, and I think a lot of it stems from the fact that I didn’t really consider these arcs much of an advancement of… anything in this story. Things happened, but it’s kind of just going through motions—Team Traveller arrives at a new island, explores the locale, and runs into trouble. Company higherups scheme, then let their greed and foul tempers bungle their jobs for them. Hatteras’ stealth team spends their screentime trying to make up a head start they’ll never recover. Elty runs his mouth, Nida acts bossy, Pleo is too innocent for the world, Scout cameos, and they all make it off the island just in time. It’s a fun setup to run through once or twice, but on the third and fourth times I’m going to expect some things to change, and things only changed in menial, mostly plot-based ways. In particular the Subway arc was the more egregious of the two for me, because even on a plot level very little happened. Some pieces moved—Team Traveller’s feeling the weight of all that running they’ve been doing, Darzin’s out here making some shady deals, and the Company’s finally getting its shit together and constructing a proper plan. But like… nothing happened. It’s basically an interlude I’m not convinced needed to be more than two chapters at most. I ended up writing several more paragraphs of crit, but I don't know how useful you'll find it when you're already way ahead of this. It's in the spoiler box for your preferred viewing:

Yeeeeaaaah, the pacing of the second quarter of the story is definitely one of its bigger flaws, and where most people who wind up dropping this story bow out. Unfortunately it’s one of those things that we’re probably just going to have to take on the chin since those issues aren’t something that realistically can be easily fixed with a couple simple edits, and sometimes you just have to learn from things for the future and take the piss out of past mistakes.

I suppose that some of those pacing issues might have muddled the waters a bit for what the meta purpose of the episodes you read were, since they’re not actually all that complex:

- Mengir is the point where the gang gets cold water thrown in their faces over their status quo being unsustainable (in this case, the third time is not the charm) and meets some parties that you’ll be seeing again much later on in the story in the process.
- Otvaga is where Team Traveller gets a lead as to how to break out of that aforementioned status quo, and how to get the tools they need to resolve their fundamental story problem.

Something I will say is that very little in this story is truly superfluous. While it could’ve probably been presented better, most of the things that you saw go down in the past two arcs have implications that reverberate well past them. I’d like to think that the remaining episodes up to the midpoint do a significantly better job at getting their point across and feeling different from prior arcs, and also address some of your concerns about some story factions feeling disconnected from each other (especially since the scenario you proposed regarding Elty and the Iron Fleet is literally a major part of the Episode right after the one where you left off), but I suppose that’s something for you as a reviewer to decide how well we pulled that off if and when you get there.

Now, finally, the special episode. I think it also suffered from being a bit long, but I won’t harp on the negatives for this one—I think while I probably could have skipped it and lost very little from the narrative, it was nice seeing the younger versions of the characters in this story, along with the background details we get for some of them. The Siglo Swellow feels like a more significant ship now, knowing that it came back with Calino all the way to Tromba years ago, and I think it was interesting that Lyn and Zorn seemed to have some kind of history together. I know they were there by formality, but it certainly seemed to me like Lyn was a favorite of Zorn. Might be part of how he’s managed to get himself lined up for Administrator… despite completely lacking leadership qualities outside of inspiring fear.

Yeah, Lyn has a bit of a history with multiple Administrators. He wouldn’t be where he is today if he hadn’t caught their eyes. Though it’s actually not Zorn who he was the favorite to, Zorn was just sizing him up on that occasion.

I also appreciated being able to get a vague idea of what gives the Kecleon Foundation an up in this universe. Too often they’re just around as the established monopoly for shopkeeping, but without much of an explanation as to what gave them that edge. Knowing they have trade and supply routes outside the cradle that they’re keeping hush-hush… interesting. (I also assume those pirates that got ahold of the notebook scraps were what would become the Iron Fleet later on? I’m guessing their captain was too quick to anger to actually read what was on the note paper before trashing it, but if he’d stopped to read for just a minute…) I will admit I’m kind of surprised how eager the other kecleon were to de-facto sack Calino. For him to be the one that designed, wrote down, and kept the notes that made it possible for them to do their trade… He had to be a very valuable member to them, and not just because he created the list. He made a mistake, yes, but surely he’d have more clout than to be dismissed so brashly?

Nah, Calino was just doing a translation job, which a number of others in the Merchantry could’ve done fine. As such, when he threw a couple years of hard work down the drain, Walpole was less-than-enthused about it, and promptly gave his task to someone else.

So, overall, there was some good, some bad. The main plot hope I have for the story beyond this is for things to finally speed up. We’re fast approaching the halfway point, and yet I feel like I don’t really know more about these characters than I do when they first got carried away from their home island. It’s good writing, it just needs to quicken up some!

Well, we’re glad to hear that even with the warts, that you had a good time with the story. Things speeding up is kinda in the eye of the beholder. I suppose how you feel about the pacing is one of those things that we’ll find out when you get there, but things wind up on a fairly different note by the time Episode 11 rolls along. And hey, I’d like to think that we built up to where things landed pretty well.

And we’re back with another proper chapter today. This time, we’ll be focusing on the aftereffects of Team Traveller’s tumultuous exit from Orleigh Island, both in and around Rosequartz Town and for them as teammates. Though I suppose that it’s best to just let things play out instead of telling you about it, hm?
 
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Chapter 50: Downward Spiral

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
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A few hours after Pleo's fateful escape, things had uneasily settled down in Orleigh and its surrounding waters. Nagant had withdrawn with her frigate - minus a small number of sailors who were unaccounted for - and the last few Jellicent were driven back into the sea from whence they came. The town was left battered by the storm of jellyfish and enemy fire, a few stray plumes of smoke curling up visible from the far side of the island. There, the groaning members of the Khranitel Rod surfaced, battered and covered in welts from their hostile encounter with Spirit Trench's residents.

"Argh… no one mentioned there'd be a swarm of meduzy!" a Whiscash whined.

"I think that my welts have welts…" a Dewgong groaned, rubbing a flipper at his side.

A nearby Lumineon looked around at her compatriots, and after sensing that there were too few faces, turned nervously to Viktor.

"Ataman, is everyone here?" she asked.

The Dragalge looked back as a Golisopod leading a Luvdisc and a Shellder swam up, the Poison-Type counting with his fins before giving a satisfied shake of his head.

"They are now," Viktor grunted.

"Urgh… how did this happen?" Dimitri sighed. "We didn't even make it to shore, let alone find the kids."

"That frigate that pulled into port must have baited those ferals into following after them to attack the town," a Relicanth murmured.

"Grr… we should have stuck it out and gone in," Kuda growled.

"For what? To get overrun by jellyfish and captured by pirates? Get real, Kuda," Viktor snapped. "Besides, the deti might not even be on the island right now."

"Huh?!" the Whiscash exclaimed, the catfish's protestations joined in by a similarly incredulous outcry from the Dewgong.

"Ataman, what do you mean?!"

"Don't you think the timing of that frigate was just a little too coincidental?" Viktor asked. "We already know that the Empire is aware of this Protector. Why would one of their frigates show up on the island where we knew he was if not to try and spirit him away?"

A pause hung over the gathered Pokémon, as reluctant voices began to murmur. They were swimming themselves ragged as is, and it was hard to argue the Dragalge's point… but where was Viktor going with this?

"If we want to find those deti, our best bet is to track down that frigate," Viktor explained. "We split up into groups of four and search the currents around Orleigh the ship might have taken."

The gathered sea nomads floated and bobbed in stunned silence for a moment, as a grudging realization came about that they didn't have many other options for getting Team Traveller back. One after the other, Pokémon began to affirm their Ataman's orders, some enthusiastically, others with audible hesitance.

"Nikolai, Sergei," Viktor instructed. "You two take some teams and stay here to watch the island in case something happens."

"Understood Ataman," the Whiscash grunted back, the Golisopod in their midst respectively also giving a nod. Some scattered well-wishes and impatient calls for actions floated around in an ever-growing din, only to be silenced by the Dragalge leader batting a fin against the water's surface.

"Alright, let's get moving then," Viktor said. "We don't have much time."

The gathered sea Pokémon quickly went their separate ways, hastily splitting into teams of four per their Ataman's command. Viktor led the bulk of his underlings off into the deep blue, hoping that they would be able to find Team Traveller before their ever-increasing foes did.



"A-Are we there yet...?"

Nida flicked her ears, unable to shake the sense that she'd been in this situation before. She was once again on Pleo's back, high above the sea and headed off for an island she knew only from the map she glimpsed at in snatches inside her bag. Like last time, Guardia was cowering at the rear, poking at her with her bone. That said, there were also things that were noticeably different. Elty was sprawled out unconscious on Pleo's back, held in place by the Nidoran. On top of it all, there would surely still be many more hours of travel left to go before they saw land again.

"Guardia, does it look like we're anywhere near land right now?" Nida snapped.

"But-But I can't take this anymore!" the Ground-Type whimpered. "Cubone aren't supposed to be a step away from falling and getting dashed to pieces like this!"

"Ugh... I told you not to look down," the Nidoran sighed.

"H-How am I supposed to do that when Pleo's constantly lurching and falling?!" Guardia demanded.

"But that's how flying works..." Pleo murmured.

The Lugia lurched again after catching some turbulence, drawing a frightened squeal from the Cubone as she clung to Pleo's back wide-eyed and white-knuckled. As Pleo straightened out, the Ground-Type caught a glimpse of waves breaking against an object in the distance, her eyes lighting up as she realized it was a stony outcropping.

"Look!" Guardia cried. "There's land there! Let's stop there for a bit!"

"We're in the middle of the ocean," Nida protested. "It's safer to keep going until-"

Pleo abruptly jolted again, drawing a shriek from his Cubone passenger as she screwed her eyes shut and dug her claws in for dear life.

"A-Aaah!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" the Lugia squawked. "It's just that my wings are getting tired faster than I thought they would!"

"Nrgh…"

Nida felt the presence under her forepaws budge, prompting her to look down and see that Elty was starting to stir. The Nidoran looked off at the rocks below, and back down to the re-awakening Growlithe, before sighing exasperatedly.

"Ugh... fine. Take us down, Pleo," Nida muttered. "We could use a chance to patch ourselves up anyways."

Pleo nodded uneasily and began a slow, spiraling descent down to the rocks, coming to a running stop on the surface. Guardia toppled off, gagging as she climbed back up to her feet. Her Lugia and Nidoran teammates noticed that the bone lizard looked an unhealthy greenish color, and vomited over the side, prompting the two to recoil from disgust.

How had they ever gotten to this point? They were supposed to be looking for the Knights' Ledger, but here they'd gotten sidetracked with one misfortune after another. The pair heard shifting and moaning, and looked back in time to see Elty begin to stir and open his eyes.

"Agh…" the Growlithe groaned. "I feel like I just got hit by a-"

The little dog paused and jumped in a start as he noticed his surroundings were completely different from what he had expected. Instead of waking in the Iron Fleet's familiar hideout or even one of Rosequartz's streets, he found himself laying on a bunch of rocks with water all around him. As the sound of the sea's waves filled the air, the Fire-Type looked around in a panic, hoping to see some sight of Rosequartz Town. But alas, no matter where he looked, Elty saw nothing but the vast ocean and his former teammates.

"H-Huh?! Where am I?!" he yelped. "Spike ball?! Why are you still-?!"

The Growlithe caught himself. The spike ball, the mewa, they were all supposed to have fled! So then... they dragged him along?! Why?!

"What did you do?!" Elty cried. "Why am I in the middle of the sea right now?!"

"This wasn't my idea," Nida hissed. "Ask Pleo if you want an explanation so badly."

The Growlithe scowled and whirled his head to face the young Lugia to his left. The young Legendary hopped back, startled at the Fire-Type's venomous demeanor and fumbled with his words before starting to explain to Elty his recollection of their escape.

"You got hurt back in that big fight with that mean crab," the young Lugia explained. "So we helped you get away-"

"You call dragging me out into the middle of the sea help?!" Elty fumed. "What is wrong with you?!"

A woozy moan filled the air as Guardia lurched back from the rocks' edge, rubbing away some spittle from the edge of her mouth. The bone lizard shook her head and gave an exhausted look at her Fire-Type teammate.

"Ungh… can you save your earful for another time, Gardie? I'm not feeling so good-" the Cubone groaned, only to be cut off by a fiery growl.

"I save your hides from those Imps, and you stupid clods repay me by kidnapping me?!"

Nida and Guardia's expressions quickly hardened into angry glares. After leading them straight into a pirate ambush, this mutt had the gall to insinuate they were the bad 'mons for saving him from certain doom?

"Saving? That's what you're calling trying to get us captured by your thug buddies?" Nida scoffed.

"Gardie, you're really not in any position to complain here," Guardia snapped, shooting a piercing glare at the visibly irate dog.

"Those Imp Pokémon were going to capture you!" Pleo cried. "And if they had gotten you, who know what would've-"

"Then you should have let me take my chances!" Elty shouted. "I don't need you to help me!"

The young Lugia froze, stunned and shaken by the Fire-Type's rant as his eyes started to mist up. Nida similarly failed to anticipate Elty's outburst, stirring up a much angrier response from her end as she fanned her barbs out and narrowed her red eyes into a deep glare.

"You ungrateful canalla!" Nida seethed. "We ought to have just left you and flown off earlier!"

"Yeah, well whose fault is it that didn't happen, huh?!"

A loud smack rang out followed by a yelp, making Pleo and Guardia flinch. The two looked, just in time to see a visibly seething Nida pull a leg back to her side. Elty was a little ways away, pawing at his jaw as he got up growling ugly-sounding words under his breath.

"Fine, have it your way!" Elty spat. "See if I help you the next time that shrimp takes a shot at you! Or when that Samurott comes to cut you down to size!"

Pleo's eyes began to water as each word from Elty and Nida's feud cut deeper and deeper at him. They- They really hated each other that much? After everything that they'd gone through together?

"S-Stop… please…" Pleo begged.

A loud thump rang out against the stone, piercing the air as an exasperated, raspy cry rang out:

"All of you, just quiet down!"

One by one, Pleo, Nida, and Elty turned to see a visibly frustrated Cubone staring at them, pulling the knob of her club up from the stone she slammed it down against. Guardia gave a stern glare, before shaking her head and sighing.

"Look, back home, when the bones of a colony found themselves unable to work together, they'd split up into two colonies and each went their separate way," she sighed. "If Gardie here really wants to be a thieving thug so badly, then we're all better off just letting it happen."

"Hrmph, someone's finally talking sense-" the Growlithe huffed, only to be interrupted by a silencing swat from the Cubone before she continued.

"As I was saying... Right now, we're in the middle of the ocean and are in no position to do that," Guardia said. "So let's get to Sormus first, and then we'll part ways."

Pleo looked back and forth at Nida and Elty, as the two scowled, before giving grudging nods of agreement. The young Lugia jerked his head up out of alarm, could they really have thought that Guardia's suggestion was the right thing to do?

"Nida?" Pleo asked. "We're not really gonna-?"

Nida harrumphed and shook her head, motioning with her paw for silence. The Nidoran sprouted a frown for a moment, before clearing her throat to speak.

"Let's just get to Sormus already," the Poison-Type said. "All I want to do is get back home, and if Elty doesn't want to come, I'm not forcing him."

"Hrmph," Elty grunted. "Fine by me."

One by one, Nida, Elty, and Guardia clambered aboard Pleo, their mount standing silent and adrift. Everything felt like it was falling apart… He couldn't bring forth his powers when they were needed or keep them from hurting other Pokémon like Bech and Rasp, and even his friends were coming apart at the seams... Why was everything going wrong? Was he that bad of a Protector?

"Pleo? Aren't you going to fly?"

The Lugia heard Nida's words brush past his ears, prompting him to ruffle his feathers uncomfortably. He set off, reluctantly beating his wings as he leapt up, and continued his course for Sormus with joyless and heavy wingbeats.



Out on the high seas northwest of Mengir, the Siglo Swellow carried on in its journey for Otvaga. The crew was kept particularly busy, both by keeping the ship moving at a healthy pace, and from preparing the ship's colors for Otvaga's waters to draw less attention.

Back in Mengir, the crew had purchased spare sails to replace those stolen by the Iron Fleet, a suitable canvas for the ship's normal colors to accommodate ports that would surely be unwelcoming to Company sails. The swap had built up quite an appetite among the sailors, which kept Crom and Pladur's claws full with cooking. After going through a flurry of orders during the meal rush, the two finally were able to emerge onto the deck to share some of the fruits of their labor together, perching on a small stack of crates shaded by the ship's rear mast.

"How far are we from this 'Otvaga' place anyways?" Crom asked.

"Not far, I think," his father reassured. "I'm pretty sure that after this next buoy, there's only two more left before we reach the place."

"Eh?" the Druddigon wondered. "But when would that be?"

"Oi! Captain!" a squawking voice cried. "The next buoy's up ahead!"

Crom blinked incredulously, as a smile began to spread over Pladur's face. The axe-headed dragon gave a bemused shake of his head, chuckling at their coincidental timing.

"Sounds like right now-" the Fraxure began, only to be cut off by a further cry from the Doduo lookout.

"And there's a bunch of 'mons on it!"

The pair looked up with a start at the bird's squawk, just in time to see their crewmates gathering around the railing. The dragon father and son set aside their gummis and made their way over to peer out at the sea. There off in the distance, a large group of Pokémon clustered themselves at the base of a whitish-gray buoy.

The thought flickered over Crom's mind that perhaps they might be ferals, or even pirates. A closer examination however, revealed that the creatures seemed too tired and disorganized to be preparing an ambush. On top of that, their scarves were not matching; hardly an intimidating appearance for would-be brigands.

"Take us over there and ready the anchor!" Beatrix ordered.

The ship’s Hitmontop First Mate threw his weight against the tiller and at once the Siglo Swellow steered towards the buoy, a splash following as the anchor was dropped to slow the ship. The schooner coasted along, and came to a stop beside the buoy, a haggard group consisting of a pink Gastrodon, a Stufful, and a Ferroseed coming into view. The motley cohort looked up at the twin-masted ship, trading apprehensive, unsettled looks with one another.

"Er… hello?" the pink Gastrodon gulped.

"Hoy!" the Hitmontop called. "Aren't you taking on a bit many passengers for a swimmer?"

"Uh... well we were just passing through you see…" the Stufful began.

"Oh, to where?" Beatrix asked. "If it's anywhere near Otvaga we could give you a ride."

The three Pokémon inched back, bracing themselves as if expecting an impending attack. The three strangers traded furtive glances with each other, before uneasily turning their attention back to the ship's deck.

"I'm not sure if that’s a good idea…" the Gastrodon stammered.

"Yeah," the Ferroseed added. "We really should ge-"

"Oh for crying out loud, stop being so nervous already!" a squeaking voice snapped. "These bumpkins couldn't push you around even if they wanted to!"

The crew collectively blinked and did a double take at the voice, turning their attention to the Gastrodon where a small, furry creature with a ringed tail and annoyed scowl emerged from behind. Hold on a minute! The voice, the scarf, the ever-present dripping sarcasm...

"Scout?!"

"Eh?!" the Ferroseed cried. "You know each other?"

"We know each other, yes," Kiran sighed, tucking his head under a wing. Scout frowned upon seeing the crew's reaction, giving an impatient stamp of his feet and swish of his tail before scoffing and continuing on.

"Oh so now you decided to play the cavalry," the Sentret fumed. "You could have done it before we had to swim out of Orleigh!"

"Wait, Orleigh?" Natrix demanded. "What were you doing there of all places?"

"I went to drop off one of Hariti's letters there," Scout explained. "In retrospect, I should have just hired a courier."

"Because you were tired after such a long journey?" Crom asked.

"No, you clod!" the brown-furred rodent snapped. "Because I spent half a week tied up in a basement by pirates!"

The gathered crew of the Siglo Swellow blinked and an awkward silence filled the air, before the Stufful from the other group cleared his throat to add his own commentary.

"Er… yeah," the little bear said. "That's kinda why we're all here."

"Come on aboard," Beatrix offered. "We can talk this over while we patch you all up."

The three strangers paused and mulled the matter over, before turning back and each shaking their heads at the offer.

"Thanks but no thanks," the Ferroseed answered. "We've already tested our luck enough as-is."

"Yeah, based off these buoys, it looks like we drifted off course," the Gastrodon grunted. "And the sooner we get to Otvaga, the better."

"I think I'll stick here. I need a new ship anyways," Scout said. "Besides… I think that the others might wanna hear more about what went down."

The Gastrodon gave a short thanks before gathering up the other two Pokémon, the mollusk slowly swimming off ahead of the bow. The crew threw a rope over the side, allowing Scout to clamber up to the deck, where a quickly-growing crowd gathered around plying the Sentret with questions.

"So what happened out there?" Philips asked.

"Yeah," Natrix added. "I doubt that those pirates just let you walk out of Rosequartz, so how'd you do it?"

"Like I said, I went to Orleigh to deliver a letter. But I got mistaken by some pirate courier and got thrown in a basement," Scout answered. "About a day afterwards, Kiran's twerps came by and tried to break me out."

A startled Swellow's squawk filled the air. Scout turned his attention to Kiran to see that the bird had puffed out his feathers from surprise.

"They what?!" the Flying-Type exclaimed.

"Eh? What's with that reaction?" the Sentret demanded. "They've been island-hopping for almost two weeks by now."

"But then where are they?!" Crom cried. "They helped you get away, didn't they?"

"I said that they tried to break me out. They got chased off by the guards!" the Sentret huffed. "I got away the day after, after the guards went off chasing some 'god' and the town got trashed by a swarm of ferals. The kids were too busy flying off the other way for me to try and escape with them."

A series of puzzled grunts and exclamations filled the air, the gathered Pokémon being collectively taken aback by the Sentret's testimony. Pladur shook his head and darted up to Scout, half-disbelieving the rodent's words.

"Wait, you saw them again after you escaped?" the Fraxure asked.

"Yeah, I saw them flying away from town as I escaped," Scout responded.

"Eh? But, do you know where they flew off to?" Ander pressed, only to be met with a shrug from the ferret.

"Beats me, I just saw them flying out of town. I don't even know if they made it off the island," he replied. "For all I know, they hid in the wilderness on the other side."

"But what are we supposed to do if he's around a place like that?" Crom murmured, only to be answered with a firm, buzzing voice.

"We go there and evaluate our options," Beatrix said.

A chorus of startled outcries followed the Illumise's words. Beatrix wanted them to go to Orleigh?

"Eh?!" Philips squeaked. "Captain Beatrix?!"

"You can't seriously be suggesting that we sail up to una cueva de ladrones!" Pat exclaimed.

"I'm suggesting that we don't have any leads as to where the kids went right now," Beatrix remarked. "And the sooner we get more information, the sooner we can figure out how to act on it."

"But we wouldn't last in a fight against that many pirates!" Natrix protested. "For crying out loud, the only thing we have to work with other than our own fighting skills is a Lyle Gun!"

"Like I said, we're going there to get more information," the captain insisted. "We'll stay a healthy distance from the island and try to pick up what we can from there."

Some uneasy "erm"s and "ah"s floated around the gathered sailors, along with a scattered protest here or there about a sudden stomachache. The Illumise flitted up and motioned for silence, before continuing to speak.

"If anyone else has an idea of where they'd be, now's the time to raise it," she said. "Otherwise we'll be making a choice right here and now whether to turn tail or keep going after our Protector."

An uneasy pause settled over the gathered Pokémon. None of them wanted to get anywhere near Orleigh, but even so, there really wasn't any lead that was better than the one that Scout gave them.

"… Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let's move on," the Hitmontop First Mate ordered. "Though I want you lookouts to remain vigilant for any potential blind spots!"

There was a brief pause before 'ayes' began to circulate among the crew, as one by one the Pokémon returned to their stations. A few were enthusiastic, while others betrayed obvious hesitance and nervousness. Orleigh was undoubtedly treacherous waters to deal with, and the less said about their odds in a direct fight with pirates there, the better. Even so, fortune favored the bold, and with their Protector likely holed up in that den of thieves, they'd surely never get him back by timidly avoiding the place.

And so it was that the Siglo Swellow changed its course and set off, sailing for murky waters with an ever-thickening cloud of tension filling the air.



Back in Rosequartz, the Iron Fleet's base had come off relatively lightly from the calamity that befell the town. Yes, there were a few fresh holes punched into the wall, and the rear scaffolding had collapsed, but the half-finished structure was largely intact…

"Argh… my… everything."

Though the same could not be said for its occupants. In a corner, a wounded Noibat and Staravia staggered over to a table where Kichiro sat grumbling under his breath - their other comrades being in similarly haggard shape. Even the crew's Aggron captain wasn't exempt, as Hess lumbered in panting, staring ahead in a catatonic silence as water dripped off fresh scrapes and cuts on his hide.

"How on earth did this happen?"

"Could be worse," the Staravia said. "We could've gotten captured like Rodion and those other guys did."

Hess went silent at the fliers' chatter and trudged over to his stool by the indoor rock garden. The Aggron plopped down onto the seat and buried his face in his claws.

The encounter with the Clawitzer had been a total debacle. Her underlings had carried off a number of pirates from town, for what everyone presumed to be bounty money or simply to make an example of some of their ranks. The losses included a good chunk of his crew, the most painful of which was Rodion. He himself had only been saved by virtue of his sheer weight, though with his first mate gone, he'd be hard-pressed to keep the crew in line without Rodion's knack for heading off brewing troubles.

The Steel-Type hung his head and groaned, trying to think of some way that his crew could bounce back from this calamity. He didn't get a chance to think for long, as he heard a loud buzz and felt a weight on the back of his head. The Aggron pirate blinked and looked up just in time to see a Yanmega perched on his metal head, the Bug-Type speaking up full of vigor and cheer.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Valatos reassured. "We made it to raid another day. All the time you need to get some fresh blood, plot your revenge, and-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT RIGHT NOW!" Hess bellowed.

Valatos hastily flitted away and retreated to a different table occupied by his companions, where they traded uneasy glances with one another. Hess sighed and buried his face in his arms on the table, prompting the fliers to give unamused stares at him and murmur in the background.

"This wouldn't have happened if Rodion planned the ambush," the Noibat muttered.

"Nor would any number of past screw-ups," Kichiro hissed.

"Yeah, well, it's kinda late for that now," the Staravia growled.

Hess drooped and looked away to try and ignore his lackeys' stares, only to stop and realize that looking weak in a time of crisis surely wouldn't make anything better. The Aggron shook his head, gritted his teeth and steeled his eyes into a serious scowl, readying himself to face his underlings once more. The Steel-Type turned back, full of forced enthusiasm... only for a loud bang to ring out from the doorway.

"Hess!"

The Aggron jumped at the sound of a harsh, familiar voice from the door. Hess turned around reluctantly, where he saw the Conkeldurr messenger from earlier at the door, sporting fresh welts and a glaring scowl over his face.

“Oh, drown me…” the Aggron gulped.


"Hrmph, seems like you're quite popular these days," the Conkeldurr said. "The Council sent for you again."

Hess blanched at the mention of the Council and buried his head in his claws. There was no way that they could be pleased with the state of the town right now, but surely they'd understand and not turn him into ship cladding... right?

... oh who was he kidding?



Pleo's journey continued on as the sun made its course across the sky. Every now and then he'd spot a group of Pokémon passing below him, or a ship off in the distance; but even so, the journey felt far quieter than he had expected. His friends hadn't talked to each other since they left the rocks, or said much of anything for that matter… Maybe it would be best to try and break the ice to get them talking with each other again?

"The sky's really pretty today, don't you think?" Pleo chirped. "What do you think those clouds on the horizon look like?"

"Like clouds?" Nida grunted.

"Hrmph," Elty huffed. "How should I know?"

"I-I'm not opening my eyes right now," Guardia whimpered.

The Lugia blinked and fumbled with his words a little. That topic hadn't gone as planned… Perhaps he should try striking up a conversation with Elty? Nida did say he was 'lippy', so he'd want to talk more, wouldn't he…?

"Uh… Elty! You've been to Sormus before, right?" Pleo asked. "Did they have 'mah-lah-sah-dah' there too?"

"Does it look like I'd have gone there to find malasada?" the dog snapped.

Pleo looked back in time to see Nida glaring at Elty, the Fire-Type reciprocating in kind as Guardia continued to latch onto his back cowering. The young Lugia faltered and turned back ahead drooping, his spirits lowered by even his attempts to stir up small talk failing on the team.

"I guess not…" he admitted. "It's just… I thought there would be something to talk about…"

A sudden gust of wind rocked the Lugia, prompting his passengers to latch onto him for safety, and Guardia to open her eyes in a panic.

"A-AAH!"

For a brief moment, the Cubone looked down, and began to feel faint, prompting her to jerk her head back up to try and stave off vertigo. Off in the distance, she saw the clouds part, revealing a cluster of dunes punctuated by stony hills on the horizon, and a white-sailed ship carrying along in the water a little ways in front of it..

"Ah! There's land!" Guardia exclaimed. "Just past that white ship there!"

"Hrmph," Elty snorted. "About time."

"Come on Pleo," Nida sighed. "Let's just get there and get this over with."

The young Legendary carried on with a sigh, flapping his wings and driving forward towards the land. Pleo charted a course to keep his distance from the ship, only for an easterly crosswind to blow him closer towards it. As the seabird struggled to right his course, he was able to better notice the ship's details. It was a large, two-masted craft, with white sails sporting blue sun designs. Most curiously, there were a large number of Pokémon on the deck, who suddenly seemed to burst into activity.

"Huh?" Pleo murmured. "What are all those Pokémon doing down-"

Fwish!

A large, pressurized jet of water sailed overhead, prompting Pleo to drop in the air, and the four members of Team Traveller to cry out in a startled panic.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

"Wh-What was that?!" Guardia squealed.

"The ship just attacked us, bonehead!" Elty yipped.

"But why would it do tha-?!" Pleo squawked.

The four looked down at the deck of the ship, where amidst the sea of activity, one figure in particular stood out. To their horror, next to the railing was none other than the form of a Samurott with blade in paw, his neck bedecked in a lavender scarf.

"Lyn!"



THWAM!

Lyn pounded a paw against the Nektar Weide's railing, growling irritatedly at his missed shot, panting from exertion from having just spat up a Hydro Cannon into the air. As the Samurott seethed with a free paw tightly wrapped around a seamitar, Ketu looked on from a small distance, turning his head up with a sigh from picking at his claws.

"I told you that that that bird was slippery-" the Weavile began, only to be cut off with a bellowing roar.

"Enough! All of you, I want your fire on that bird now!"

The deck hands gave a hasty salute and one after the other began disgorging attacks up into the sky. Lyn watched as the young Protector turned tail and weaved around the flurry of beams and projectiles. A cry went up from the Crobat captain of the fliers as they attempted to give chase, only to be thwarted by a strong crosswind from the east blowing them back towards the ship. Unamused, the Samurott twitched his whiskers and sheathed his blade with a growl, dropping to all fours in order to give pursuit.

"Ugh. Do I have to do everything myself?" Lyn fumed.

The otter clambered up onto the railing, readying himself to vault over into the water. As he planted his hind legs, a startled buzz and the sound of flustered wingbeats approached from behind as Ellsberg rushed over waving for attention.

"Lyn?!" the Mothim exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

"I'll pursue them from the water!" the Water-Type barked. "You just keep the ship moving as fast as you can and keep firing!"

Ellsberg tried to reach out to Lyn in protest, only for the Samurott captain to leap off the railing and dive into the sea before he could get even close. The otter straightened out in the water into a torpedo-like shape, tearing through the water and returning to the surface. There, directly ahead of him, was his prize's flailing form. All that was left was to pitch him out of the sky, and scoop him up. A task he was all-too-ready for.

"This ends here," Lyn growled.

The Samurott's mouth began to grow frigid as cold air built up within the back of his throat. He spat up the contents, coming out as an icy beam that sailed high up into the sky, directly at the white bird's body.



"Look out!"

Just after the sound of Nida's petrified squeak, Pleo felt a freezing burst zip by his wingtips. The young Lugia jerked up in a panic, drawing cries from his passengers as they clung to their startled mount during his erratic flight.

"H-how did Lyn find us?!" Pleo squawked. "I thought the Company didn't we know we were in these waters!"

"I don't know Pleo, but just keep flying!" Nida pleaded. "We'll worry about that once we've landed!"

On cue, a gout of fire sailed past, prompting the Lugia to move to the left. As soon as Pleo backed away, a crackling bolt of electricity shot by his wings on the right, prompting him to lurch back. As Guardia clung to Pleo for dear life, the world underneath flew by in incoherent glimpses. In the midst of her frightened vertigo, the Cubone could clearly see the world below changing from the deep blue of the sea's water to the friendlier appearance of golden sand, a sign that they'd crossed over land.

"Yatta! Yat-!" the Ground-Type cried, only to be cut off by a startled whine from Elty.

"Agh! Incoming!"

Nida and Guardia whirled in the direction of their Growlithe teammate as a torrential jet of water surged up from underneath. The Fire-Type spat up a column of embers at the water in a panic, followed by a barb flicked from his Nidoran companion. The attacks sailed on into the Hydro Cannon, only for the torrent to sweep them away and slam into Pleo from below.

For a fleeting moment, the three felt Pleo rise in the air - the water rolling off his plumes like droplets off of wax paper - only for him to go limp and dive into an uncontrolled spiral.

"AAAAAAAAH!"

The Lugia fell further and further, the sandy ground beneath growing visibly closer by the second. All the while, his passengers desperately tugged at his feathers and body with their paws and mouths, pleading with their mount to come back to his senses.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Guardia squealed. The Ground-Type tugged desperately at the falling Protector, the bird weakly stirring to her claw pinches.

"Ngah…"

The young Protector cracked his eyes open, where he fuzzily saw shapes on the ground fast approaching. He weakly fought against the air with his wings, trying to level his body out only to feel a heavy blow and sand scraping against his stomach. Pleo pitched forward, before tumbling head over heels, the world going black as his teammates' screams faded into the darkness.



"Pleo?"

"Come on, get up."

Pleo felt the sun beating down on him along with a repeated prodding along his side… was that Guardia? He began to move his wings weakly, feeling sand in his feathers, and a throbbing pain from his belly. The Lugia raised his head, his vision running muddy as he cracked his eyes open to the harsh glare of a desert in the late afternoon.

"Nrgh…"

"Oi, he's moving!" a yipping, canine voice cried.

"Don't just stand there!" a squeaking voice exclaimed. "Help him up!"

The young Protector felt his body get lifted up, and tottered as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. He began to see that he was at the foot of a large, sandy mound. Behind him, a trail of disturbed sand and feathers marking where he had crashed and tumbled along. Pleo looked seeing similar dunes around him, a few stony hills in the distance, and his three teammates looking battered and waiting anxiously ahead of him.

"Are you alright, Pleo?" Nida asked. The bird blinked a few times, before staggering up woozily to face his teammate.

"I… I think so," he answered weakly.

Guardia went over to her teammate and examined his body, brushing her claws over the Lugia's plumes. An explorative pat and a subsequent wince from Pleo quickly revealed a deepening bruise under his belly's feathers, prompting her to cast a glance at a satchel that had been set aside on a rock.

"Hang on," the Cubone reassured. "I'll see if we have something to heal him with."

"Ugh… well this was a great way to arrive in Sormus," Elty groaned.

Nida lowered her ears and shook out her spines, shooting an annoyed glare at the Growlithe. They'd just crashed into the middle of some gods-forsaken sand pit and his first instinct was to complain about them?

"Really, Elty?" the Nidoran hissed. "Can't you wait until after we're out of the woods before whining about being around us?"

The dog's mood quickly soured at the allegation, prompting him to growl and bare his teeth at his rabbit accuser. Was she seriously assuming the worst of him now when they'd just tumbled into the middle of a desert?

"Well excuse me if 'crashing into a sand dune' isn't my idea of a good time!" the Fire-Type snapped. "I didn't ask for you to make me cross paths with that Samurott again!"

The pair's bickering went on a ways, before Guardia threw down the remains of the Oran Berry she was pressing against Pleo's stomach and stamped the sandy ground irkedly.

"Both of you, shut up!" she growled. "I'm in the middle of something here!"

The Cubone's interruption did little to settle the mood, as the three broke out into a heated argument. Pleo drooped and looked away, when he chanced to spot a moving shape slip in the air past the crest of the sand dune. The young Lugia warily trudged up and squinted, where off in the distance was the white-sailed ship they'd encountered at sea with what seemed to be large groups leaving it from sea and air...

And much to his horror, coming through the surf and onto Sormus' desert beaches was none other than its Samurott captain, blade drawn and ready for battle.

"A-Aah! Lyn's already coming for us!" he cried.

Nida, Elty, and Guardia went silent and scampered up the dune to see for themselves. One after the other, the three went wide-eyed and flushed pale. There wouldn't be much time before Lyn made his way inland, but just what could they do in a situation like this?!

"We need to get out of here," Nida said.

"How?" Guardia demanded. "We don't know this island at all, and there's no visible cover we can hide under!"

"Actually…" Elty murmured. "Don't be so sure about that."

The Growlithe raised a paw, gesturing off inland into the distance. There, looming high into the sky was a tall column of fog, a surefire marker of a Mystery Dungeon. Even so, the Fire-Type's discovery failed to bring any ease to Nida or Guardia's eyes, the pair shooting suspicious glares at their teammate.

"Why on earth should we trust you now?" the Nidoran huffed.

"Yeah, where does this Mystery Dungeon lead to?" the Cubone growled.

"But we need somewhere to hide!" Pleo exclaimed. "There's nothing here for us!"

"Look, I'm going there if you're coming or not," Elty huffed. "If you want to chance it with Lyn and his cronies, be my guest!"

The Growlithe took off, running as fast for the fog in the distance as his pudgy frame would allow. Pleo beat his wings out with a start, and began to run after the dog, calling out after him.

"Elty! Wait!" Pleo squawked. "Hold on for us!"

Nida and Guardia blinked incredulously at the entire episode, watching their teammates' forms grow increasingly distant before they grudgingly turned to face one another.

"This was not the sort of lore I wanted to gather from here," Guardia groaned. "But it doesn't look like we've got much of a choice."

"… Bueno," Nida grumbled. "Let's just get out of here."

The two ran after the white bird slipping off in the distance, hobbling a bit from their rough landing. This… wasn't how things were supposed to go. With how much more chaotic their arrival was, could they even assume Dimitri would've made it to Sormus to show them to their next destination? Either way, it was a priority that would have to wait, as they wouldn't be going anywhere fast if Lyn caught up to them.



Author's Notes:

- meduzy (мeду́зы) - Russian: "jellyfish" (BGN/PCGN Romanization)
- una cueva de ladrones - Spanish: "a den of thieves", lit. "a cave of thieves"
- Yatta! (やった!) - Japanese: "I/We did it!" (Hepburn Romanization)
- Bueno - Spanish: "Good", used in this context as "Fine"
 
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Partners
  1. skiddo-steplively
  2. skiddo-px2
  3. skiddo-px3
  4. skiddo-iametrine
  5. skiddo-coolshades
  6. skiddo-rudolph
  7. skiddo-sleepytime
  8. snowskiddo
  9. skiddotina
  10. skiddengo
  11. skiddoyena
aaaaaaaa i'm so slooooow

A bit shorter and simpler today, since I'm short on time, but:

At long last, the protagonists finally get that juicy lore drop about why the Marked fear the Protectors! I do kind of wonder why Nida doesn't seem to be fully aware of that reason already, curious as she is, although I'd certainly buy the Marked not wanting to associate with non-Marked too often, or being bustled away by some other adult who doesn't want the Marked "filling her head with nonsense" or some such.

Regardless, I'm definitely curious to see what the actual truth of the world's and the legendaries' creation is. I'd expect it's somewhere between the stories Nida's been told and the ones Margi and the other Marked know...

Silly minor thing, but I was a little bit thrown by Pleo's misunderstanding of the Substitute Battle rules; I got the impression that he was listening and heard that the goal was the substitutes, so it seems a smidge weird that he'd just forget about that entirely? Could absolutely just be me, and feel free to disregard (especially since I know you and Virgil aren't bothering with significant edits at this point), but maybe it'd be a bit more believable if he'd, say, gone straight for the sub and been startled when Nida and Elty attacked him directly to defend it?

Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Company infiltration/embarrassment goes. I mean, I'm sure the answer will be "flawlessly for approximately five seconds followed by a glorious trainwreck"—possibly negative five seconds given Lyn has already figured out what Pladur's mistake with the sail test meant—but hey, I love glorious trainwrecks. (And international incidents, whoops! It was fun to see Margi helping them escape, though. I was expecting her to still be nervous and justify her help with "Demon = bad enough, Company + demon = much worse" logic, but the change of heart starting to stick was sweet.)

I liked the ant complaining about leafcutting duty, lol.

Plus, we get to meet some new characters! Nice (or "nice") to properly meet Alvise and Keiichiro after having heard about them for so long. Less nice to see Elty tempted to sell out his companions, of course...

Oooh, and a special episode! That's fun. Worldbuilding around holidays is one of my favorite things, tbh. (Man, I wish I had a combination of Halloween, New Year's and Christmas all in one to celebrate.) And getting a nice helping of general storytelling about the Protectors is always a good deal; I liked Hatteras's little speech. A very solid story for a festival of lights on the solstice!

Even the pirates want a night off to enjoy a bit of relaxation and a show. Which they get! Perhaps more of one than they bargained for, heh. That's definitely a fun little Saturday morning cartoon-style twist; very cute.

Ruh-roh, Hess has a mega stone... I'm sure that's not a cause for concern, though, right? No humans, no sign of emeras in this world so far... it's fine, it's just a (actually kinda sweet) keepsake.

Unrelated general question, purely out of curiosity: I've noticed by now that pokémon like Lyn and Ellsberg don't seem to use any phrases borrowed from other languages like Spanish or Polish or French. (Unless they have at some point and my foot-dragging means I've completely forgotten those instances, lol.) Does that mean their dialect/language is functionally just straight English?

Like I said, super brief, but it's good to get another chance to catch up on this! I noticed that cubone chapter banner; definitely eager for the next member of Team Traveller to enter the stage...

Also:

Poulet the Adventurer

...is that a chocobo
 
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Virgil134

PMD Writer
Partners
  1. sylveon
  2. weavile
  3. kommo-o
  4. noivern
  5. mothim
aaaaaaaa i'm so slooooow

A bit shorter and simpler today, since I'm short on time, but:

Slow and steady wins the race! And hey, you got another sprite companion out of it, so congrats! ^^

At long last, the protagonists finally get that juicy lore drop about why the Marked fear the Protectors! I do kind of wonder why Nida doesn't seem to be fully aware of that reason already, curious as she is, although I'd certainly buy the Marked not wanting to associate with non-Marked too often, or being bustled away by some other adult who doesn't want the Marked "filling her head with nonsense" or some such.

It’s because the Marked tend to keep to themselves and don’t really share any details about their beliefs to outsiders. Doesn’t really help that non-Marked don’t care about what the Marked have the say anyway even if they were open about their beliefs. Most 'mons just think that the Marked spout blasphemous nonsense, which of course influenced the environment Nida grew up in.

Silly minor thing, but I was a little bit thrown by Pleo's misunderstanding of the Substitute Battle rules; I got the impression that he was listening and heard that the goal was the substitutes, so it seems a smidge weird that he'd just forget about that entirely? Could absolutely just be me, and feel free to disregard (especially since I know you and Virgil aren't bothering with significant edits at this point), but maybe it'd be a bit more believable if he'd, say, gone straight for the sub and been startled when Nida and Elty attacked him directly to defend it

In Pleo’s defense, Daraen said they’d battle until the head of one of the substitutes fell off. He didn’t say anything about actively trying to destroy the other team’s substitute. :V (I know, a little silly, but Pleo is still very young. And yeah, it’s a bit late to make significant edits like that, so we’d rather just leave this part be.)

Plus, we get to meet some new characters! Nice (or "nice") to properly meet Alvise and Keiichiro after having heard about them for so long. Less nice to see Elty tempted to sell out his companions, of course…

Well, sounds like I did a good job hyping those two up if you were looking forward to seeing them! You’ll be seeing plenty of them (and Cabot) in the near future.

As for Elty… hold onto that thought.

Oooh, and a special episode! That's fun. Worldbuilding around holidays is one of my favorite things, tbh. (Man, I wish I had a combination of Halloween, New Year's and Christmas all in one to celebrate.) And getting a nice helping of general storytelling about the Protectors is always a good deal; I liked Hatteras's little speech. A very solid story for a festival of lights on the solstice!

Actually the Tromban New Year is partially based on St. Martin's Day, as opposed to Halloween, which is a holiday here in the Netherlands where kids make their own lanterns and go door to door to sing songs in exchange for candy. But I’m glad you enjoyed it! Me and Spiteful Murkrow had a lot of fun putting this holiday together.

Unrelated general question, purely out of curiosity: I've noticed by now that pokémon like Lyn and Ellsberg don't seem to use any phrases borrowed from other languages like Spanish or Polish or French. (Unless they have at some point and my foot-dragging means I've completely forgotten those instances, lol.) Does that mean their dialect/language is functionally just straight English?

Putting this in a spoiler tag, since while this isn’t really a spoiler, it is technically something that hasn’t really been addressed yet where you currently are in the story:

It’s a combination of two things:

1. The island they’re from, the one where the Company capital is located, has had a large increase in population over the last few decades, with a good portion of those Pokémon having moved over from other islands. Because of that, usage of the local tongue has become more uncommon among the Pokémon that live there, as a decent amount of the population on that island mostly, or sometimes only, speaks “common”, the Cradle’s pidgin language (and the one that’s rendered as English for readers). The Empire has a similar thing going on on the island where its capital is, which is why in Blacklight you’ve never heard Cabot speak any foreign words.
2. Company members tend to deal with Pokémon from lots of different islands, so they’ve kinda learned to just stick to common instead of regularly slipping into a language that most others in the room wouldn’t understand.

Which of these two has been more of an influence on Lyn and Ellsberg is left ambiguous at this point.

Like I said, super brief, but it's good to get another chance to catch up on this! I noticed that cubone chapter banner; definitely eager for the next member of Team Traveller to enter the stage…

You shall indeed meet her very soon! I’m not entirely sure where you currently are in Episode 6, I’m guessing you’re at chapter 27? Either way, her introduction is only a couple of chapters away.

...is that a chocobo

Nah, just a fun little reference and mythology gag, specifically to the default name of the Chocobo from the very first Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon game. :p

And with that that, let’s get right into today’s chapter:
 
Chapter 51: Hope on the Horizon

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
C1nROUp.png


The sun beat down over Sormus' desert as a Grumpig in a white scarf with a blue sun pattern hopped along on the sea of sand dunes. He went along the ridge of a dune, scanning his surroundings near the fog of the local Mystery Dungeon in the distance. As the pig carried on, he put more and more distance between himself and the forms of a Hitmonchan and Nuzleaf at the base of the dune, carrying on alone in his search. The Psychic-Type panted, finding himself wishing for a nice cool mud puddle or even just a plain old pool of tidewater to plop into and stave off the sweltering heat.

"Grah… how's anyone supposed to search in this weather?" the Grumpig whined.

The pig's ears twitched at the sound of rustling sand nearby. He looked around uneasily, only to be startled by a cloud of sand being thrown up. The Grumpig jumped back with a start as the upper half of a Krokorok donning a scarf of the Psychic-Type's same color and design poked out of the ground.

"Eh? What are you talking about, Hooke?" the Krokorok asked. "This weather's fine!"

"Well of course you find this okay, Ken!" the Grumpig huffed. "You're like a fish in the water right now!"

Ken pulled himself out of the sand and dusted himself off. The Ground-Type sneered at his Grumpig companion and snorted in response.

"I'm not sure if I see your poi- Huh?"

The Krokorok trailed off as he noticed a small depression in the next dune over. The Desert Croc squinted, and noticed that the small crater continued into a trail, dotted with little silver objects that swirled here and there with the wind

"There's something up ahead over there," the Krokorok murmured.

The pair made their way over to the disturbed sand, the mysterious objects revealed to be dropped feathers as they neared. Could it be...? Hooke hopped over to the edge of the trail, where some hasty footprints had crowded around. Bending over to investigate, he sniffed out the familiar musk of a Nidoran, joined by the distinct sooty scent of Growlithe fur.

"That's them alright," the Grumpig murmured. "But just where would those brats run off to in a place like this?"

Humming in thought, Hooke followed the footprints along with his eyes, scanning the horizon for any little crevices the brats could've hidden themselves in. He spotted a rocky outcropping in the distance that seemed like a likely spot, or perhaps they went to that valley between some of the larger dunes... or, he realized, perhaps they went within the foggy veil of the Mystery Dungeon which loomed in the distance. Wait a minute... if he had to shake off some pursuers in a hurry, what better way was there to do so than to go there? If they went for the Dungeon, they'd be cutting through a place where the ground would shift away any tracks that would be left behind. The Grumpig opened his mouth to speak, only for his watching Krokorok companion to complete his thought.

"I think that we've got our answer with that Dungeon," Ken said, before turning off and calling at a pair of figures in the distance. "Oi, Jan! Locke! Get over here! We've found a lead!"

In the distance, the fuzzy forms of a Hitmonchan and a Nuzleaf glanced over as the Ground-Type summoned them and they hurried to regroup, walking over as briskly as the loose desert sands would allow. The pair crested the ridge of the sand dune and clambered down, impatiently pressing the two for details.

"Eh?" the Hitmonchan asked. "What did you find?"

"Yeah, let's hurry it up!" the Nuzleaf fumed. "I think my leaf's starting to wilt!"

"We found the twerps' tracks!" the Grumpig exclaimed. "If we follow them, it'll take us straight to-!"

"Hey!"

A call rang out from above, interrupting Hooke's briefing. The four Pokemon turned their eyes skyward, where a familiar Fearow looked down at them as he circled around to land. Settling awkwardly in the unsteady sand, he beat his wings impatiently, kicking up a light cloud of dust from the ground.

"Eh?! Maurier?!" Ken cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Captain Lyn wants all of us at the beach!" the Fearow squawked. "He says he found out where those kids went to."

His message delivered, the bird flapped his wings for takeoff before the others could begin to respond, and hurried away back towards the coast. As Maurier disappeared into the heat-hazed horizon, Jan traded glances with his Nuzleaf partner, before shooting an unamused scowl at the Grumpig.

"You called us all the way out here for something the Captain already figured out?" the Hitmonchan fumed, only to be answered with a disgusted snort from Hooke.

"Oh shut up. Let's just get back to the beach."

The Grumpig set off, hopping across the dunes as the other three Company Pokémon followed along. The group carefully went forth, retracing their footsteps through a circuitous set of dunes and over to a ruddy-sanded beach where a number of Pokémon in Lyn's adopted Blue Sun pattern had gathered. The four crept along, hoping to slip into the back of the crowd, only for a loud Samurott's growl to reach their ears.

"Hmrph, about time you four got back."

The four laggards shifted uncomfortably, giving sheepish smiles at their counterparts that quickly dissipated under a harsh glare from Lyn. The Samurott twitched his whiskers and cleared his throat to speak, still in a surly mood from the whole episode.

"Now that everyone's here, I'll start my debriefing," Lyn said. "Listen up, because I'm not going to repeat myself."

Lyn's glare lingered on the four a moment longer before he broke away, taking a deep breath and straightening his posture as he prepared to more formally address his crew.

"While we were searching for the Sea Guardian's crash site earlier, I found his and his friends' tracks heading for the Mystery Dungeon," the Samurott explained. "Needless to say, it's a safe assumption that they've moved in there to try and elude us."

An uneasy pause flecked with awkward 'uhm's and 'er's followed the Samurott's words. The crew hadn't been expecting to go into a Mystery Dungeon en masse, and they didn't have a friendly port to give them support like they had in Kenobi… Just how were they supposed to square this circle?

"The Board and I anticipated something like this might happen after our meeting on Mengir," the Samurott continued. "So we prepared a contingency plan."

Lyn motioned with his seamitar to a Xatu to the side of him, who opened a container filled with glinting metal badges. The Samurott pulled his blade back and sheathed it, giving a stern scowl at the gathered Pokémon.

"Everyone who isn't here watching the ship or physically unable to move inland is heading in. I want all of you in groups of two so we'll cover more ground," the Samurott captain barked. "The sooner we get those Pokémon, the sooner you'll all be rewarded for this mission."

The crew's murmuring rose to an excited chatter as they dreamt up the size of the bounty on the Protector's head. Lyn motioned for silence, and harrumphed with a satisfied nod as the commotion died down.

"Glad to hear we're all on the same page, then," he grumbled. "Come and get your equipment and get out there."

Lyn eyed his grunts closely, making sure each of them grabbed a badge for him or herself before leaving. His attention was drawn away by the approach of Ketu and Ellsberg, the two shooting each other a brief glare as they came closer. The Samurott shrugged the matter off as the duo came to a stop before him, Ellsberg turning his attention back to Lyn and clearing his throat to speak.

"I presume you needed me to stay aboard, Lyn?" Ellsberg asked.

"No, Ketu can handle that," the Samurott answered. "I need a flier who can cover my bases in the dungeon, and I want you for that."

"Eh?!" the Bug-Type exclaimed. "But-!"

"You heard him, Elmer," Ketu sneered. "Leave the ship-watching to an actual first mate."

Ellsberg balled up his tarsi and beat his wings forcefully, shooting a burning glare at the flippant Dark-Type.

"Why you-"

The Mothim flinched as a low growl rumbled through the air. Lyn peered down and glared at them, wordlessly demanding silence, and brought the dispute to an abrupt halt.

"Now that you two are done, is there anything left to be said before Ellsberg and I take our leave?" the Samurott demanded.

"Good luck out there," Ketu cheered. "I'll be looking forward to you bringing back that bird."

"... Save the well-wishing for after that bird's bound and below deck," the Water-Type snorted.

Ketu scoffed dismissively and responded only with a casual shrug of his shoulders, more than accustomed to dealing with his captain's overbearing adamance. The Dark-Type brushed away some sand out of his head feathers, before giving a languid glance up at his superior.

"Well, when he is, he'll be in good claws," the Weavile replied.

Lyn and Ellsberg turned around and started their trek towards the Mystery Dungeon, leaving Ketu behind alone on the beach. As the two drifted away and comfortably out of earshot, a small smirk began to creep over the Weavile's face.

"Just not necessarily in the ones you want him to be."



Team Traveller tore along into the dungeon for cover and, after double-checking everyone was present, began the long and arduous process of climbing up its floors. The lower levels were covered in a thick layer of sand just like the desert terrain outside, while further up the sandy floors grew riddled with stones that forced a slower pace to avoid injuries. They found themselves now on a floor which impressively managed to feel intensely claustrophobic despite its tall walls. Even though gargantuan pillars of orange-red stone arced out from the massive walls, the passages of this floor proved rather a tight fit even for the quartet of diminutively-sized adventurers.

On top of the gloomy cloud which hung over the group, the small solace in being able to explore a dungeon together again was stifled by a palpable tension between the four. Their moods were far from bright, but each of them trudged on without complaint, dutifully checking each branching path they encountered for any lurking ferals. However, their measured procedure was suddenly interrupted as they reached a spacious chamber, with three paths stemming from the room and carrying on beyond their line of sight. Pleo's pace slowed and he paused in the middle of the room, unsure of which path to take first. He glanced behind him, looking back to his friends for guidance, only for his heart to sink as he realized they all seemed more focused on glaring at one another than solving their conundrum. After one moment of tense silence too many, the young Lugia couldn't help but to break it by piping up with a question.

"Uh… where do we go next?" Pleo asked. His teammates paused and looked at him, before offering up their suggested routes.

"Left," Nida said.

"Right," Guardia insisted.

"Straight ahead," Elty yipped.

A tense, angry silence fell over the room as the three blurted out their preferred paths in unison. Nidoran, Cubone and Growlithe alike once more glared at one another, each of them sure that their way was the best and having little patience to humor alternatives.

"Spike ball, you don't have to be contrarian just because you're mad at me," Elty huffed. "Checking what's ahead of us is the easiest place to start and you know it!"

"Go ahead and look for yourself then," Nida hissed. "The left is opposite of the side where the stairs took us and that's where I'm going."

"Ugh… you know what? Let's just split up," Guardia muttered. "We'll go down our respective paths just far enough to see if they lead anywhere, and then come back. Nothing can go too wrong in that little bit of time, right?"

"Eh? But-" Pleo began, only to be cut off by a simultaneous answer from his other teammates.

"Fine."

The three Pokémon each harrumphed and turned their backs on one another to leave down their chosen paths. Pleo stammered for a moment as they each walked away, threatening even to leave him behind completely. With no time to think, he simply stumbled after Nida, rushing to catch up to her as she stormed towards her path.

Click

Nida froze as she felt a pressure plate give way under her feet, and a sharp hiss rang in her ears as a sweet-smelling cloud of pink mist billowed out around her. Coughing, Pleo began to beat his wings in an attempt to disperse the fog, but it seemed it had already done its work; Nida's ears twitched and she felt her heart rate pick up as she looked around for any sign of trouble approaching.

"Spike ball, what did you do?!" Elty snapped.

"I stepped on a trap, alright ?" Nida huffed. "Just brace yourself!"

Wrapped up in a heated squabble regarding the trap Nida had sprung, the trio didn't seem to notice that the strange pink mist had already cleared up. Pleo blinked a couple times, peering around the room for any sign of a change... He hadn't felt any weaker, and Nida didn't look hurt, so why were they still so worried about the trap?

"Huh?" the young Lugia murmured. "But nothing happened."

Guardia turned up her nose and took a deep whiff of the area. Then she seemed to catch scent of something, her eyes snapping open as she tightened her grip on her club and took a fighting stance.

"Don't be so sure about that, Guardian."

Nida and Elty seemed to smell whatever it was too, but all Pleo could smell was the faint sweetness that lingered from the mist. However, whatever they smelled that he didn't, it put them on edge just as much, each of them similarly bracing themselves for battle and glancing around the room warily.

"Why?" Pleo stammered. "Wh-What's happening-?"

Rumble Rumble

Team Traveller looked around uneasily as the ground's shaking continued, before being interrupted by a trio of plumes of sand and dirt. The four shielded their eyes and coughed up some sand, seeing the forms of a lost-looking Drilbur, Diglett, and Bunnelby before them.

"Aha! That's where that smell is coming from!" the Drilbur cried.

"Eh?! What are these hut-dwellers doing here?!" the Diglett yelped.

"What they're doing here is unimportant," the Bunnelby growled. "Let's get them out!"

The three ferals assumed tense and combative stances, Team Traveller hastily bracing themselves for battle. Before any of the four could move, the Drilbur flashed his claws and lunged for Pleo for a series of furious swipes as his Digglet partner began building up a glob of mud in his mouth and zipped behind Nida.

"Take this!" the Drilbur snarled.

"Yeah, eat mud!" the Diglett spat.

Pleo hastily flew up with a startled squawk, shedding feathers as he darted out of the way of the Drilbur's swipes. Nida rolled as the glob of mud sailed towards her, ducking just in time for it to pass overhead, only to feel a crushing blow on the side of her head.

"AAAAAGH!"

From above, Pleo heard Nida's shrieks, seeing her flop forward stunned with Guardia's bone lying beside her. A startled whine from behind prompted Pleo to crane his neck around, just in time to see Elty hastily turning tail from the Bunnelby after a kick in his gut and Diglett harrying a now-defenseless Guardia. The young Protector stopped in the air, struggling to determine who to aid, only to feel a sharp pain shoot through his wing.

"A-Aah!"

Pleo yanked his wing back, knocking a blue and black blur down to the ground. The Lugia watched as the Drilbur righted himself and reared up for another slash, prompting Pleo to dive down, bluish light gathering on his feathers as he struck the Ground-Type. The mole yelped and went sliding back, panting from the sudden blow as he tried to regain his bearings.

"Argh!"

The Drilbur dug his claws into the sand and staggered up as the cry of a startled Diglett rang out. He looked over, and saw both the Nidoran was pinning him down with blows, the Cubone making a swift dash for her club before joining in. The mole panted and struggled to maintain his footing, his presumptions of an easy fight thoroughly dashed and filled with a strong desire to be anywhere but there at that moment.

"Gah! Vetäytykää! Vetäytykää!"

Unnerved, the Drilbur hastily dove under the sand and burrowed away, followed closely by the Diglett. Back above the surface, Elty yelped and tripped after being knocked over by the Bunnelby, blowing embers at the rabbit's face to buy precious seconds to slip away yet again, much to the Normal-Type's frustration.

"Why won't you go down-?! Huh?"

The Bunnelby paused and looked over his shoulder, hopping up with a start after discovering his teammates were missing. The Normal-Type bolted along for the hole, calling out after his unseen companions.

"Hey! Wait up! Don't run off without me!"

The rabbit bolted off in a hasty exit, leaving behind Team Traveller to flop down and lick their wounds from the surprise encounter. Disquieted grumbles filtered through the air, Nida in particular giving a scowl at her Cubone teammate in between runs at her throbbing head.

"Argh…" the Nidoran groaned. "Thanks a lot for hitting my head with that bone, Guardia."

"Why are you complaining? Accidents happen," Guardia fumed. "And you're the one who tripped the trap in the first place!"

Nida and Guardia scowled at one another, seething wordlessly, their furious silence broken only by an equally-irate yip from Elty.

"Way to abandon me, you jerks!" Elty growled.

"Oh, you're one to whine about abandonment!" Nida hissed.

Pleo looked on disheartened as his friends sank back into their infighting, further complicated now with the latest dispute between Nida and Guardia. The young legendary began to droop as a sense of crushing failure set in. How could it be that he'd failed so much at being a Protector? He'd hurt others with his powers, and he was unable to keep even the Pokémon he cherished the most from going at each other's throats. The Lugia began to sulk, only to flinch at the sound of approaching footsteps and jolt up with a start.

"Wait!" Pleo squawked. "Someone's coming!"

The others abruptly silenced themselves and turned their ears to the corridors beyond. Sure enough, each of them was able to clearly hear footsteps echoing from down the hall to the left, coupled with distant conversation about the sounds of a scuffle and that syrupy-sweet smell that the wind carried through the dungeon.

"Let's get out of here before they find this place," Guardia whispered.

The team obliged Guardia, quickly shuffling off into the winding maze ahead of them on Elty's chosen path. Although their temperaments were hardly calmed, their arguments would mean precious little if they were overpowered in the dungeon. For now, the best plan of action would simply be to focus on getting through this maze.



Back on Tromba, Osmund's condition had improved to the point where he was ready to resume his duties as the captain of the guard. The only sign of his encounter with Lyn's blade two weeks prior being a faint scar on his stomach that had yet to fade away.

The Sceptile made his way down the paths of Bluewhorl's southern end, meandering past domiciles and shops, and the sounds of sparring emanating of a freshly-busy Dojo for the familiar earthen lodge that served as the guards' headquarters. There at the front were a group of Pokémon in lavender headbands; a Mawile, a Granbull, and a purple Nidoran parted ways, the littlest of the bunch staying behind to slick his whiskers. The gecko gave a bemused shake of his head and walked up, eager to strike a conversation

"Heh, been learning those ropes well while I was out, Orino?" the Sceptile cheered.

"Eh? Captain Osmund?" the Nidoran asked. "I thought you were still recovering."

"Nah, we Sceptile bounce back from a little cut faster than your average tree in the forest," Osmund chuckled. "I was actually just on my way to pass your mom the news."

"Ah, she's been looking forward to getting back to the field," Orino murmured. "But did everything go alright while you were out? Dealing with mamí on the force was… well, it wasn't nearly as easy as with you."

"Meh, it was a chance to take things a little slower," the gecko insisted. "Spent some time brushing up on my card skills, spent a few nights helping Hatteras out with his lighthouse duties, and I spent some time catching up with my sister."

The Nidoran blinked, taken somewhat aback by his captain's casual mention of a new family member.

"Wait, you have a sister?" the Poison-Type asked.

"Younger, yeah," Osmund replied. "We got assignments to different islands a few years back from the capital, though it sounds like she's going through some sort of shake-up on her end."

The Grass-Type trailed off, his gaze drifting to nothing in particular as he stared off into space for a moment. He brought a claw to his chin as his mind turned to his days watching over his sister back at the Academy. She'd been rather vague in her last letter, was she still doing alright? The Sceptile caught himself and shook his head as he brought his thoughts back to the Nidoran before him.

"But that can wait," he insisted. "What did I miss on the job?"

"Oh not much. There were a couple bar fights when the pirates got too much to drink, a Meowth got stuck in a tree the other day, Mildrew asked a few of us to help stake out whatever feral's been stealing his apples..." Orino answered. "Also, mamí got a bounty issued on her."

Osmund's eyes widened, and his jaw fell slack in shock at his subordinate's offhanded remark. Marley had a bounty issued against her?!

"Wait, what?!"

"Yeah, take a look," the Nidoran prodded. The purple spike lump dug into his bag and fished out a stack of papers, unfurling them to reveal a collection of bounty posters with crude depictions of Pokémon. Osmund saw that one of the bounties was for a Hydreigon, thinking nothing of it until he noticed the other posters. There was Marley in her swirl-patterned scarf, and a Growlithe and a Nidoran in blue scarves with star patterns.

"Guess that's one way of telling that chiquita is still kicking around out there," he murmured.

"… Aren't you more worried about your mother and this bounty?" Osmund asked. "She's leaving the force, and there's no shortage of hunters out there who'd take a shot at this bounty."

Crash!

Osmund and Orino turned as a Donphan sailed through a shuttered window on the guard hut's first floor, faceplanting on the ground with splintered pieces of wood. A distressed Honchkrow quickly flew out and took off in a hurry, prompting the elephant to hastily right himself and roll off away from the guards' hut. Osmund stared, flummoxed at what had just happened, only for a Nidorina's head to poke out of the now-destroyed frame.

"… Shoot. Lost them," Marley grumbled.

After turning her head, the forms of a slack-jawed Osmund and an unfazed Orino came into the Nidorina's view. She pawed at an ear, before giving a cheerful afternoon wave as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, buenas tardes, Osmund," Marley cheered. "Here to take your old job back?"

Osmund blinked and stared ahead speechless at the Nidorina's nonchalance. Bemused at his superior's flummoxed demeanor, Orino shook his head and gave a dismissive wave of his paw.

"Nah, she'll be fine," the Nidoran insisted.



"Er… I can explain?"

Once again, Hess' words echoed about the darkened chamber that the Council gathered to meet in, fidgeting anxiously before an audience of four sour-faced observers. A quick glance evidenced that even the Council's members had not eluded the chaos surrounding Team Traveller's exit. Ingela was covered in welts from Jellicent stings, while Dirk and Tarquin were sporting fresh scrapes on their body. Of course, there was Sibich, who was battered and bruised from his impact, and all the more agitated for it.

"Explain? Explain? What is there to explain?!" the Cofagrigus spluttered. "You destroyed half the town chasing after that bird!"

"B-But it was that Imp and those jellyfish that did most of the damage!" Hess whined. "And I didn't know that that Lugia would be in town!"

"Then why didn't you come to us?!" Ingela demanded.

"I… er… uh…" the Steel-Type stammered. "I didn't think you'd believe me?"

"Well, that wouldn't have been an issue for me," Sibich sighed. "My suspicions were confirmed with this little episode."

"Ugh… I suppose miracles do happen after all. Of a sort," Dirk growled. The Bisharp sprang up and thrust the tip of his blade at Hess' neck, stopping a hair's breadth from the hide as the Aggron squeaked and his eyes dilated.

"E-Eek!"

"Unfortunately for you, that doesn't get you off the hook," Dirk snarled, moving his blade-tip up against the throat of his petrified audience. "And there will be consequences for this debacle."

Hess quailed, tucking his tail in as he felt his blood turn to ice. He desperately tried to raise a protest, only for his words to come out as a panicked stammer.

"I- I- N-Noooo…"

Dirk pulled his arm back, raising it in the air for a downward blow. Hess froze, whimpering as light glinted off the edge of the Bisharp's blade.

"On account of your complete and utter incompetence , we sentence you to…"

The Aggron screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for a piercing stab into his neck. In its place, he felt a stiff slap on the side of his maw, sending him falling down onto his rump with a yelp. Hess moved a claw up to paw at his now-numbed cheek, opening his eyes uneasily to see Dirk walking back for his seat.

"Forced labor," the Bisharp growled. "Namely, you'll be hunting down and bringing that bird back here."

Jaws dropped around the rest of the table, all eyes trained incredulously on Dirk at the leniency of his punishment. Most expected Hess to be lying stone dead on the floor by now, or at least thrown to the Imps or Square-necks for them to have their way with him. Yet here he was, let off with a slap and reassigned to the job they all coveted?! What sort of madness was this?

"Wh-Wha?" the Aggron stammered. Before Hess could receive his answer, Ingela gave the floor a stiff slap with her tail, shooting a hardened scowl at her Bisharp compatriot as he retook his seat.

"Um… Dirk, could we have a word together?" the Primarina demanded.

"H-Huh?" Hess asked. "What are you going to talk abou-?"

"Not you!" Tarquin snarled. "Get out and wait outside the room!"

"Meep!"

Hess hastily stumbled back to his feet and bolted past the doors at the front. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the lizard loudly slammed the doors shut, leaving Ingela, Sibich, and Tarquin to trade furious scowls with their first among equals.

"Dirk, what sort of punishment is that?!" Ingela exclaimed.

"Yeah, hunting down that bird's something that we should be doing!" Sibich huffed. "Not that metal-jacketed buffoon!"

"Because, whenever crews from this town do something to majorly disturb order in Anyilla, it always draws the full attention of the Company and the Empire," Dirk explained.

"Tch, so we'd have to deal with some more heat than normal," Tarquin scoffed. "Nothing that wouldn't blow over eventually."

"Just like it did for Beatrice?" Dirk countered.

The Tyrantrum paused and shifted uneasily before giving a dismissive harrumph and attempting to wave the matter off.

"Okay, that Garchomp wasn't a normal case and you know it-"

"Or like it did for Amaro after that raid on Nagrobek?” the Dark-Type interrupted, shooting a piercing glare up at Tarquin. “Or what happened to the town after Charles kidnapped an Imperial Governor's kid? Or how about when Kavafian stole sea fire recipes from the Company and got his crew and half the harbor burned up after the Square-necks tracked him back here? And do I even need to get into how Jack got his ship dragged to the bottom of the sea?"

The others paused and traded glances with each other. Each of the Pokémon the Bisharp mentioned had met… inglorious ends, to say the least, but all of them had taken needless risks. How was that related to the topic at hand?

"… What are you getting at, Dirk?" Tarquin pressed.

"Tch… I shouldn't have to explain this to you, Tarquin. You used to be part of the Company for crying out loud!" the Bisharp spat. "This mission is bound to rile up the Company and the Empire, and it's in our interest that whoever brings that Protector back takes a quick bow off the stage afterwards to keep our base of operations from being razed to the ground."

Tarquin and Ingela paused, mulling over Dirk's plan. The two entertained thoughts of scenarios where they, or perhaps some other agent would chase around the Protector, only to begrudgingly realize that the Bisharp was onto something.

"… I'll admit, I think I can see your point there," Ingela sighed.

"But you're trusting the Iron Fleet to bring the Protector back?!" Sibich exclaimed. "Surely you of all 'mons must realize that-"

"That even though they're clearly bottom percentage material, the Iron Fleet is also the only crew in port that has any idea of what to expect from that Protector," Dirk countered. "Or do you know of any others, Sibich?"

The Cofagrigus gritted his teeth as smoky shadows billowed around him. That was his bird for the taking and here Dirk was just giving him away? Even so, he knew better than to challenge a peer with an advantage, and there were surely other ways to get what he wanted. So for now, at least, the best option seemed to be to relent.

"Urgh… fine," Sibich sulked.

"C-Can I come back in yet?"

The Council members looked back at the doors, which had opened conspicuously wide to allow Hess to poke his huge head back inside. Dirk groaned with a shake of his head and beckoned the Steel-Type over.

"Yeah, yeah," Dirk growled. "Hurry up already."

Hesitantly, Hess pushed the doors open the rest of the way and paced back into the room. He glanced this way and that, staying wary that perhaps Dirk had been joking when he spared his life, but thankfully that didn't seem to be the case. The Bisharp eyed him amusedly before clearing his throat to speak again.

"As I was saying, it will be on you to bring that Protector back," Dirk barked. "And starting after sundown tomorrow, you will be persona non grata in port until you come back with him."

"E-Eh?!" Hess whined. "But-!"

"Besides, you have the most experience out of all of us with regard to that bird," the Bisharp pressed. "So you would be best-suited to track it down."

The Aggron blanched as Dirk's words echoed in the room, realizing that the Dark-Type had left him with two deeply unpalatable decisions. On the one claw, if he accepted - with Rodion and a chunk of the crew gone - it would be next to impossible just to get out of port, much less keep the remaining Pokémon from mutinying. On the other, if he refused... it would be hard to see any outcome where he didn't leave the room in pieces.

"I- I mean, I don't have much of a choice-"

"Hoy!"

The gathered Pokémon looked back at the doors as a black-and-white figure with a large bill pushed them open and flitted over to the Council members' table. As the bird slowed and settled to a stop, he took the clearer shape of a Toucannon wearing Tarquin's colors. The Council members narrowed their eyes and scowled, none the more pleased by the Flying-Type's interruption.

Do you mind?" Ingela snarled. "We're in the middle of something here!"

"Er… apologies, but it's urgent!" the Toucannon insisted. "It's from the Imp who trashed the port! She wants to do a prisoner exchange!"

A chorus of disdainful groans followed the bird's words. That Imperial lackey had the temerity to assume that she could get her lost underlings back so easily?

"A prisoner exchange? Pah!" Tarquin spat. "I wouldn't give them so much as a scale unless I got those Imp sods' weight in alumi-"

"We'll do it!" Hess cried. The Aggron paused, realizing that he had spoken out of turn and growing acutely aware of the harsh glares boring through his hide from the Council members. Even so, this was his opportunity to patch up his crippled crew… perhaps he should just be candid about it?

"Uh… er… I… would kinda need the members of my crew who were captured back to have the best odds at getting that Lugia?" Hess offered, forcing a smile over his metal maw. Dirk glared harshly, only to see that the Armor Pokémon, while visibly unnerved, wasn't budging on his demand. It would be easy enough to kill him here on the spot… but then again, how else would the Council get another patsy this well-suited to the job?

"Ugh… fine," the Dark-Type sighed. "Where and when does she want the exchange?"



An hour's journey to the west of Orleigh, the Vasilek had laid down anchor at sea, far from unscathed from her daring entrance into Rosequartz. The sails had been shot through full of holes and the hull was being kept seaworthy through copious amounts of ice plugging breaks in the wood. The bow was blackened from fire damage, and a long and hostile pursuit from Spirit Trench's ferals had broken off parts of the stern. On top of it all, the ship had left port 13 claws short, and without the Protector that the whole mission had sought out.

Indeed, the only sign that the mission had been anything other than a complete debacle were the forms of a motley selection of hogtied pirates thrown together on the ship's deck. For some, the shock of capture and the stench of seawater and sweat had done much to instill a submissive stupor. A few like the Hoppip in the group had been busy being simpering and sniffling wrecks, some like the Floatzel had put on a brave face to try and tamp down the palpable dread and unease by trading supportive words and glances.

As for the others, including a certain Zangoose and his companions, the ordeal had done little to take off their edge...

"This is so demeaning…" Scian groaned. "Would it kill you guys to give us some more water?"

"Yeah, the sun's baking us alive here!" Cerny whined.

"Oh for crying out loud, we're captured and about to be shipped off to gods knows where!" Kai fumed. "And you choose to whine about us being thirsty?!"

Cerny cocked his head before turning back to the Flareon. Much to Kai's exasperation, the Banette did nothing but raise an eyebrow indignantly at his outburst.

"Yeah?" he asked. "What's your point? Just because I'm tied up doesn't mean I'm not thirsty."

Scian rolled his eyes at his teammates' argument, before his mind drifting back to his present indignities of being tied up and ignored. He scowled and furrowed his brow, fidgeting against his bindings before he turned back to Nagant, growling after her.

"I know you can hear me, portán!" the Zangoose yelled. "Give me some wate-!"

The Normal-Type was abruptly cut off by a stream of water striking his face, prompting a startled blurble as Scian toppled backwards and coughed up the unwelcome "drink". Scian rolled over onto his stomach before feeling his upper body lifted by the scruff of his neck, coming face-to-face with a glaring shrimp looking down at him.

"There. You've asked for a drink ten times now in the last fifteen minutes," Nagant hissed. "Now shut up about wanting water."

Jun watched as the sopping Zangoose spluttered and coughed water onto the deck, and gave a sigh as he shook his head. The Vasilek had made a daring raid and paid a considerable price for it, with only that hacking furball and the rest of the pirate scum they'd drug aboard were all they had to show for it.

"Well, this could have gone better," Jun muttered.

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Cyanea bubbled. "I nabbed five pirates during that raid!"

The Tentacruel happily prattled along as Nagant pivoted on her tail, shooting a deepening glare at the jellyfish. Noticing her captain's increasingly stormy mood, Katyusha prodded her partner with a fin, speaking out of the side of her mouth.

"Er... probably shouldn't ring your bell too much when some of us didn't make it off the island. Or when we didn't get that bird," her Sharpedo partner whispered. "Besides, you only got three of those without my help."

"But I managed to capture more pirates than any-"

"Molchi!" Nagant hissed. "That furball's whining is already enough of a headache and I don't need you making it worse by your constant bragging, Cyanea!"

"Hey!" Scian spat. "I can still hear you, you old-"

The Zangoose once again was silenced with a Water Gun to his face, drawing eye rolls from the nearby captives. Among those was a more experienced-looking Floatzel, who gave a shake of his head and called out to the incensed crustacean.

"Not to tell you how to run your own ship, shrimp, but what are you up to?" Rodion demanded. "You've been anchored here for almost an hour and haven't moved us into the brig yet. I would think that even in hard times, the Empire would still build them into their ships."

The Clawitzer frowned and narrowed her eyes, shooting a disdainful scowl at the otter from the corner of her vision as she perched herself against the railing.

"That's because I'm planning on making you someone else's problem," the shrimp answered.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" the Floatzel scoffed.

"Captain Nugget, there's a ship coming!" a Drifblim's voice cried.

The gathered Pokémon turned their attention to the form of an approaching ship with lightly-colored sails in the distance. Nagant's indigo-scarved crew crowded around the railing to make out the ship, squinting as a few of the more high-strung creatures braced themselves for battle.

The craft had a pair of masts decked with golden sails, groans breaking out as the brigands realized whose ship was approaching. The grumbling intensified as the caravel neared, the silver spiked teardrop designs only serving to add insult to injury for much of the group.

"Seriously?" a black-scarved Furfrou groaned. "The Iron Fleet?"

"That bunch is gonna try and rescue us?" Kai scoffed.

"Well I guess we'll have more company here on deck really soon," an orange-scarved Cacturne grumbled.

"Tch. Hardly," Jun chided.

As the golden-sailed ship neared, its occupants came into clearer view. An Aggron leered over the railing, watching over a group of hogtied Pokemon in indigo scarves which lay on the deck behind him.

"Her majesty's forces don't just leave their own behind." the Beedrill explained. "And like the Captain said, we're aiming to make you someone else's problem. Specifically the problem of these gold-scarved louts."

The Mistral Marauder pulled up beside the Vasilek, and at Hess's cry, a pair of gangplanks were lowered across the space between the two ships. At each end, the ships' captains made their way to their respective ends, glaring at each other from across the gap.

"Was there really no one else from Orleigh to negotiate?" Nagant growled.

"Hrmph, I don't want to deal with you again either, but I don't have much of a choice right now," Hess harrumphed. "Do you have the 30 prisoners? You're not getting so much as a scale without them!"

"Do you have all of my subordinates?" the Clawitzer retorted. "I counted 13 missing, and you'll be lucky to swim home if you stand me up here."

"Ugh... yes."

"Then let's get this over with already," the shrimp snapped.

At their respective captains' calls, the crews of each ship roughly escorted their captives across the two gangplanks. The indigo-scarved captives were returned to the Vasilek, while Hess welcomed the captured pirates back aboard his own Mistral Marauder. On each ship's deck, some happy reunions took place as crewmembers were reunited with their friends.

"K-Kichiro!"

Wilhelm made a beeline for Kichiro and blubbered happily for his consternated Ledian friend, prompting the beetle to give an annoyed buzz and shake the living hayseed off.

"Give it a rest, you big baby!"

Further towards the stern, Scian and his partners tried their best to make a show of looking at home even on this foreign ship. Hess' attention was captured by Rodion, who approached his home ship while futilely tugging at the ropes which bound his wrists together.

"Rodion!"

The Aggron stomped over as quickly as his massive body would allow, the ship's deck creaking under his heavy footfalls, and scooped the Floatzel up into an embrace tight enough to make a Pinsir cringe. The otter flailed against the sudden, crushing hug, pushing against the Steel-type's bulky frame in a vain attempt to escape the brazen show of affection.

"Gack! Hess, do that after I've been unbound!" Rodion protested. "You're strangling me!"

Hess cracked his eyes open and noticed that the gathering was silent other than the sound of waves and breaking wood. The Aggron looked around and saw that the other Pokémon, even the Clawitzer captain, were staring and blinking at his overly enthusiastic affection. He hastily set his first mate down, batted his tail against the deck, and hardened his face into a scowl before gruffly turning back to his Indigo-scarved foe.

"Well, that's it," Hess muttered. "I don't have any more business here with you-"

The Aggron trailed off and looked about the freshly-boarded pirates, quickly doing a headcount. There were definitely 30 present… but where was Eltenios? He’d vanished in the chaos surrounding his battle with the old sea bug, so where was he now?

“Oi. Your letter said there were 30 prisoners,” the Steel-Type grunted. “There’s supposed to be a Growlithe with them.”

Nagant looked at Jun before looking back, rolling her eyes in aggravation at the pirate taking up her time. The yappy mutt she soaked? He hadn’t turned up when the riff-raff had been dragged in, so how would she know?

“What you see is what you get,” she snapped. “No one who made it back to my ship brought a Growlithe with them, and I’d suggest that you don’t try to do anything cute with our deal right now.”

Hess glared back across the gangplank at the Clawitzer. He knew that Eltenios was still missing, so what’d the shrimp do to him? Was she pulling a fast one? Did one of her cronies drop him while carrying him off?

… Though either way, with her crew visibly raring and ready for battle, the shrimp in her native element, and his ship visibly more pockmarked with holes than hers… With such long odds, writing a mon he’d lost once already off as ‘missing in action’ seemed to be the smarter move than getting sunk over a fight.

“... Fine,” Hess growled. “I had stuff to do in port anyways.”

"You and me both. I've got places to be, pirate," Nagant snapped. "If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your thieving face far, far away from me."

"Grr... the same to you. And have fun dealing with the Company."

Nagant's blanched, taken aback at the implications of Hess' threat. Her shocked expression faded to a sharp glare, and she pounded her firing claw on the deck angrily.

"Just what are you implying there?" the Clawitzer demanded.

"You trashed our hangout to get at a Protector," Hess chided. "Do you think word won't get out and the Company isn't going to find out about this?"

Nagant clenched her mandibles and tensed her claws, coming to the begrudging conclusion that the metal-hided buffoon had a point. The shrimp began to mull over the potential consequences the whole debacle might mean for her mission, only to be brought back to reality by feeling her ship abruptly lurch. Hess gave a belligerent snort, before turning back to his crew and stomping the deck for attention.

"Come on, we're getting out of here!" the Aggron bellowed "And you other dweebs better pull your weight, or I'll have you swim back to Orleigh!"

The gangplanks were pulled up and the Mistral Marauder's escorts whipped up currents in the sea and air which pushed the caravel forward and the frigate back. The Vasilek's crew fought to steady their ship as Hess' ship slipped over the horizon. All the while, Nagant remained silent, grimly staring off into the distance, drawing a concerned buzz from her first mate.

"Captain," Jun asked. "Is something wrong?"

The Clawitzer remained pensive, the pirate captain's words sticking with her. As much as she hated to admit it, the Aggron had a point. It really would be just a matter of time before the Company learned she and the Empire were also searching for the Lugia... but would she be able to still get the Protector in the face of their escalation?

Nagant scowled and shook her head. It was too late to turn back now. The die had already been cast and she was still going to fight to restore those days gone by even if it was the end of her. All that was left to do was to keep pressing on and let the future bring what it may.

"... Nothing that we can't prepare for," she sighed. "Just get those 'mons untied and let's get moving."



Team Traveller carried on climbing up the Mystery Dungeon, trudging through floor after floor and run-in after run-in with the Dungeon's hazards up to their current floor. The place was a space covered in sand and stony fragments, hemmed in by a maze of sandstone bluffs. Above, inverted arches hung from a suspended slab of ground high above, as the group followed the contours of the walls to a straight, unusually tall bluff, most likely a barrier the Distortion generated to enclose the floor's boundaries.

All the while, the darkness outside grew darker and darker, with only Elty's embers and the muddled light of stars and what the four presumed to be the moon giving any illumination at all. From the increasing fatigue the four felt, it was obvious that the night was not getting any younger, though even so, the team had a strangely hard time finding a stable zone to spend the night in.

"Nida?" Pleo yawned. "When are we going to sleep?"

"… I dunno, Pleo," the Nidoran admitted. "We haven't found a suitable place in any of the last floors we checked. Just keep looking a little longer."

The Lugia slowly dropped his head in disappointment, at a loss for what the team could do now. The bird shuffled uneasily and blinked, before a dawning realization lifted his spirits. Elty literally had a nose for finding islands of calm amidst the tumult of the Distortion, which had helped the team before on islands like Boisocéan. He gave the Growlithe a pleading look, who upon noticing gave Pleo an unamused stare.

"What's with that look?" Elty snapped. "I can't magically do anything that you can't to find a stable zone! This dungeon keeps blowing away the sand that would carry scents!"

Much to Pleo's dismay, the two quickly fell into a heated argument, first talking and then shouting over one another back and forth and all but drowning out any other attempts at conversation. As Nida and Elty continued bickering in the background, Guardia looked over at the floor's sandstone wall, where she noticed some cracks in the stone. She backed away from her bickering teammates and noticed the sound of moving air coming through, glancing down at her bone as a sudden realization dawned on her.

"Wait," Guardia interrupted. "Maybe there is something we haven’t tried yet to find that stable zone, Gardie."

"Eh? And just what would that be?" the Growlithe demanded.

The Cubone walked over to the sandstone wall, and gave a forceful tap against it with her club. She heard a hollow tap, prompting her to strike the stone harder, and harder...

Crack!

With one final strike, the wall gave way and fell to pieces, a cloud of dust billowing out from the debris as it settled. The Pokémon coughed as the dust blew into their faces, backing away to allow the area to clear. Once everything had settled, they peered ahead into the newly-opened passage. There they saw that the stone had been hiding a tunnel, and not far inside they could see the fog of the Distortion swirling around.

"Ah! That's it!" Pleo chirped .

"Hrmph," Elty grumbled. "You just got lucky."

"Enough," Nida sighed. "Let's just head in and get some rest."

The group filed into the passage, by now more than used to the process of safely navigating the Distortion and dealing with the tricks it played on their senses. As they emerged from the foggy tunnel, they were met with a gentle, whispering breeze and the dusty scent of swirling sands it carried. After regathering their composure, they pressed on, noting the ground changed underneath them from loose sand to a ruddy-red sandstone. The stable zone they came to after the fog cleared away took the shape of a sandy clearing ringed by ledges of sandstone, and a ruined arch in the center, seemingly once hewn from a single, impossibly long and thin chunk of stone with rusted bits of metal wire poking out of the edges.

"… I guess it's as much as we can hope for right now," Nida sighed. "Let's make camp here for the night and carry on in the morning."

"Right. I guess we should start picking out our spots," Guardia murmured. "I'll take the other side of this ruin."

Elty shot a sour frown at the Cubone, taking a bit of offense to her apparent enthusiasm to be rid of the others. Even if they hadn't been getting along so well, was it really necessary to split the team up like that? He puffed out his chest angrily, and decided that two could play at that game.

"Alright then," he huffed. "Since we're playing that game."

The Growlithe dragged a forepaw along through the sand, drawing an uneven line that marked off a berth around his resting place.

"This is my spot," he snapped. "So butt out of it."

"Fine, I'll sleep in front of the entrance then," Nida retorted. "You're coming, right, Pleo?"

"I… er… um…"

Caught in the middle of the little territorial dispute, Pleo found himself unsure of how to answer. He glanced around the room uneasily and the crude lines drawn in the sand. He didn't really want to have to pick sides with his friends, but was there even anywhere to pick that everyone would be okay with? The young Protector glanced at the lines and noticed that they met just in front of the sizable arch in the middle of the room, noting that no one had claimed that spot yet, and it was plenty big for him to curl up in comfortably enough. Maybe that would be worth a shot?

"Actually, why don't I take the middle?" Pleo offered. "There's enough space around for you to come over and rest there…"

The Lugia attempted a small smile as he made his suggestion, but it quickly deflated as the others frowned at him, seeming to already be set in their selected alcoves.

"Hrmph, you do that then," Elty harrumphed .

"I'm not changing my spot," Guardia insisted. "Not tonight."

"… I would rather keep my own myself, Pleo," Nida sighed.

"But…"

Pleo's whole body sagged, the young Protector seemingly running out of energy to protest his teammates' negatory responses. He raised one wing in an attempt to get them to reconsider, but he had little faith that his friends would listen at this point; his fears being realized as Elty waved a paw back dismissively

"Look, just get some rest," Elty interrupted. "The sooner dawn breaks, the sooner we can get going, get out of here, and get on with our lives."

Pleo watched as each of his teammates curled themselves up and screwed their eyes shut to sleep, equal parts irritated to have their rest delayed and thankful to finally be able to indulge in it. The young Protector fidgeted in place, his mind racing as he tried desperately to think of some way to help his friends become... friendly again. Try as he might, though, after a short time spent wracking his brain, the realization came over him that he simply couldn't think of anything.

With that, the dejected Lugia tucked his head under his wing, drifting off unhappily into the realm of dreams.



Out on the sea, the Vasilek had carried on in its westward course, prowling the waters as the sun gave way to the moon and stars. Even the dark of night was not enough to deter the searching crew, prompting them to break out candles and lanterns of glowing algae in a so-far fruitless bid to find the Protector.

On the deck, Nagant shook her head, eying her cabin and having half a mind to bury her gills and her frustration in a nice, stiff bowl of vodka. The Clawitzer suppressed her urges and hopped over to her first mate who looked out at sea and was in a similarly deflated mood.

"Nothing at all?" the Clawitzer sighed. A few reluctant looks went around the nearby crewmates, before Jun gave an exasperated shake of his head.

"Nothing," the Beedrill buzzed. "If the Protector did make his way for the Subway, we've seen no trace of him or his companions."

"Pah… I should have known this would've been a moon shot in the first place," Nagant grumbled. "But how are we supposed to narrow things down at all when all we have to work with is him being sighted flying westward?"

"Gwark! Bogey inbound from port!" a Pidgeotto's voice squawked. "It's huge and closing in fast!"

"What the-?"

A fiery flash of dragonfire tore through the air, followed by a loud thump as the deck rocked beneath Nagant’s tail. A chorus of yelps and cries filled the air as crew members reacted to the sudden vibrations and others turned towards the site of the impact and grimaced with a start. There, in front of them was a glaring Dragonite crouching against a ring of scorch marks as a few stray flecks of dragonfire danced on the deck, with a quick glance revealing a lavender scarf with an intricate pattern of violet squares on his neck.

"I-It's a Square-neck!" a Vespiquen buzzed.

"Quick!" a Salandit shouted. "Get hi-!"

"Hold your fire!"

The gathered crew paused, passing uneasy murmurs to one another as they watched the Dragonite tensely. Nagant twitched her barbels, none too terribly eager to deal with Administrator Darzin on such short notice, and hopped over, scowling.

"What are you doing here, Administrator Darzin?"

"You were fairly hard to miss with all the light," the Dragonite snorted. "And we need to have a talk."

"Talk about what?" the Clawitzer demanded.

"You can start by telling me why a report reached my desk of an Imperial frigate leading a swarm of ferals from Spirit Trench to raid Orleigh, and why you specifically were there for it!" the Dragon-Type snarled. "I didn't make our little arrangement just so you could sail around chasing whatever adventure struck your fancy!"

"If you must know, we tracked the Protector there," the Water-Type hissed back. "I saw him with my own eyes on that miserable rock and were it not for some bumbling pirate's interference, he'd be in my brig right now!"

"Tch, a likely story," Darzin harrumphed. "That's why Commissioner Lyn was conspicuously absent from Orleigh, right?"

Nagant caught herself and twitched her barbels uneasily. She hadn't the foggiest clue where Commissioner Lyn was right now, but she at least knew he wasn't there with her.

"… Ya ne znayu. I can't speak for why he's not present," the Clawitzer murmured. "Perhaps he received poor intel."

"Well then, where does your 'intel' suggest he'd head to next, hrm?" Darzin demanded.

"We saw him flying westward," the Water-Type explained. "There's only so many places he could have gone to from there, and the first island en route is Sormus."

"So in other words, you're sailing blind and entirely based off a hunch right now."

"Well, is it any worse than whatever Lyn has right now?" the shrimp demanded.

The Dragonite paused and glared at the Clawitzer, before relenting with a snort. Much to Nagant's relief, that seemed to be enough to convince him, evidently Lyn really hadn't had a breakthrough as she had feared… or at least not one that either of them knew of. Darzin turned and paced over to the railing, giving a sharp scowl over his shoulder.

"… So be it. I'll let you get back to your search, though do be aware that our arrangement will stop being valuable as soon your options for capturing the Protector are exhausted," the dragon growled. "Don't screw this opportunity up."

Darzin leapt off the deck, whipping up a gale-like wind with his wings that made the sails billow out the sea dragon vaulted into the air and flew off into the deep night. On the deck of the Vasilek, the crew watched as the orange blur melted into the blackened sky, uneasy whispers filtering through the air as Jun shook his head over the whole episode.

"How on earth did you ever get yourself into this situation, Captain?" the Beedrill sighed.

"… I did what I had to to get off Mengir," Nagant muttered. "But we have bigger worries right now."

The Clawitzer looked at the deck and shook her head, before turning to her first mate with a hardened gaze.

"Let's get going for Sormus and renew our search from there," she chittered. "We need to get a more solid lead for the Sea Guardian's whereabouts, and fast."

Nagant raised a cry, drawing the attention of the escorts in the sea and air. The shrimp hopped overboard, and swam ahead of the Vasilek as the air and water began to churn, pushing the frigate on westward in its search. All the while, the crustacean couldn't help but shake the nagging sensation as if she was just a small hurdle away from a breakthrough...

But just what could that hurdle be? And did she have what was needed to surmount it?



A distant, moaning cry roused Elty from his sleep. Grumbling as he blinked the sleep from his eyes, he rose to his feet and looked around blearily, spotting Neo and Pleo stir awake as well. A sense of dread fell over the sleepy trio as they realized it was the same crying that had kept them awake in Rasp's hostel.

"Nrgh… No…"

"Eh?!" Nida cried. "That crying's going on even here?!"

"Wha- How?" Pleo squawked. "We left Rosequartz, and we didn't take any Pokémon with us!"

How could this blasted crying have followed them here? Whoever had been crying at Rasp's place had surely been left behind... right? Elty mulled it over for a moment, before an interesting thought occurred to him... He remembered Guardia being suspiciously quiet during those sleepless nights. Could it be that it was her making that racket all along?

"Eh?" the little Protector asked. "What's with that look, Elty?"

"It's nothing," the Growlithe insisted. "Let's just find whoever's making this racket, shut them up, and go back to bed."

"Something we can finally agree on," Nida scoffed. "I'll take the left with Pleo, you take the right."

The Pokémon went their separate ways; Elty heading off to the right and passing the edge of the ruined wall as he clambered up the dune and back down again. The Growlithe sniffed around for a trail, turning his nose skyward now and again until he came to a small alcove dug into ledges of sandstone. The Fire-Type frowned, giving a frustrated growl at his lead taking him to a dead end. Every sense in his body told him that crying had to be coming from around here, but all he'd found were some stupid rocks!

… Right?

"Wait a minute," he murmured. "That crying's coming from..."

Elty looked up and noticed that the ledge seemed just high enough to jump onto. He took a few paces back and planted his feet into the sand before launching himself skyward with all his might, just barely catching the edge of the stony plateau with his front paws. With some effort, he dragged himself up onto the ledge and looked around once more, the ruined wall at the center poking out from behind an obscuring dune. As he caught his breath from the exertion of the jump, he scanned the area, and spotted a lone, broken pillar nearby.

"Uwaaa-"

Elty made his way around the ruin and came face to face with a sniffling Guardia. The Cubone jumped up with a start at the Growlithe's presence and scooped her club up, stopping her crying with a hitched breath.

"A-Ah!" the Ground-Type yelped. "What are you doing here?!"

"So it was you keeping us up all those nights!" the Growlithe exclaimed.

As Guardia began to realize her intruder was merely her yappy Gardie teammate, she eased her grip on her bones, and pointed it at Elty accusingly.

"W-Why would you care?!" the lizard fumed in between sniffles. "B-Butt out and go back to your own end of the zone!"

"Well excuse me for worrying, księżniczko!" Elty spat. "It's not as if there's a giant sign that lets me know what's going on with you-"

The Growlithe looked up and noticed that through the misty haze above, the familiar shape of the moon was shining down on them. The Fire-Type paused, and remembered a few passing yarns he had heard filter around on such nights of Cubone crying at the full moon… Gah, he should have realized this sooner! Why, the reason the bonehead was so upset had to be because...

"… Oh," he murmured. "It's because of your mother, isn't it?"

"Nice stereotyping there," Guardia growled. "She was already gone before I even hatched, but…"

The Cubone's voice trailed off, prompting her to wipe away some fresh tears from her eyes. She looked up blearily into the sky, where through the fog, a full moon just entering its waning phase hung in the sky.

"She's not the only departed staring down from me up there…"

"Eh? So you are crying over someone?" Elty asked. "But… who?"

"… It was my father. He was the one who watched over me when I was growing up ," she explained, prodding weakly at the sand with her bone. "Up until the big accident."

The Growlithe uneasily looked at the ground and shifted his paws at Guardia's words. He knew from the Ground-Type's bereavement that the story surely had an unhappy ending, but even so...

"Er… what happened?" Elty asked.

"He was out with a scavenging party from our colony in the mountains," Guardia said. "They were going along a high ridge when the earth woke up…"

The Cubone prodded at a pebble with her foot before kicking it away. The pair watched as the stone fell upon some jagged crags, an audible crack ringing out as it landed split into two. Elty looked looked down at the fragments of the rock, and his eyes widened as the implications of Guardia's display flashed through his mind. For once in his life, he seemed lost for words, despite his best efforts to splutter something out. He took a moment to compose himself as he struggled to come up with the right words to respond with.

"… So he went out like that?" the Growlithe muttered. "Is that why you react like a stuck Spoink every time we get up high?"

"If you're trying to be comforting, you're not doing it right," Guardia huffed. "But yes… And it's why when I see him looking down to me from the moon like this, I just- wish he could be-"

Guardia's voice hitched, as she began to dissolve back into tears. Elty's tail and ears drooped, as the Fire-Type couldn't help but empathize with the bone lizard. He would have thought it improbable at first, but he shared a good in common with the Ground-Type. They both were fish out of water making their way through a strange world of scarves and badges and overpowered abstractions like the Company, and they'd both entered it with a loss that cut close to their hearts…

It sounded daft, but… maybe if he shared his story, it would help the bonehead out? She'd at least feel less alone, right?

"Hey… I get it, alright?" Elty murmured. "I've gone through something like that myself…"

"What- What's that supposed to mean?" Guardia demanded.

Elty froze and his gaze drifted back downward as Guardia continued to sniffle. For a long moment, the Growlithe avoided eye contact, appearing to struggle against some unseen weight over whether or not to speak up.

"Er… well…"

"Guardia?!"

Elty and Guardia jolted and looked behind them just as the forms of a Nidoran and a young Lugia rounded the ruin's corner. The two froze at the sight of Guardia sniffling, a deepening concern etching itself onto their faces.

"You're crying!" Pleo squawked. "What's wrong?"

"What's going on here?" Nida asked, folding her ears back worriedly.

The Cubone hitched and stumbled for her words, drawing a silence from her teammates. Pleo and Nida shifted uncomfortably, realizing that it had been Guardia crying in the dark at Orleigh all that time. Pleo wondered to himself, was she crying because she felt alone? Just as he had in that dark room aboard Lyn's ship. But... then why...?

"... How come you didn't let us know you were feeling like this?" Pleo prodded.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you're obviously not doing well right now," Nida added. "But we can't exactly help you if you hide stuff from us."

Guardia sniffled a little, before hardening her eyes into a scowl and turning away. It was bad enough that Elty had to intrude on her in the middle of her pining, but now the others too?

"H-Hrmph," the lizard retorted. "I don't need help with this."

"Oh... but was there really nothing at all that you needed?" Pleo murmured. "I mean, we're a team and supposed to look out for each other, right?"

"... I guess it's been a little cold out at my spot…" Guardia admitted. "And since you know now..."

"I can do that!" the young Lugia chirped. "It would be just like the nights we spent the guild!"

Pleo craned his head down and gave a reassuring nudge at Guardia's belly. The bone lizard hesitated a moment, before heading off with the young Protector, becalmed as the late hour took its toll on her. As Nida and Elty were left behind, a question lingered on the Nidoran´s mind, prompting her to give a curious look at her teammate.

"What was it that you were going to say back there?" Nida asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about spike ball," Elty harrumphed. "We should get back to sleep along with those two."

Nida blinked and stared blankly at the Growlithe. What was with the sudden change in attitude? The Poison-Type looked after the fire dog as he began to pace off, expecting an explanation, only to be answered with a pause followed by a gruff grunt.

"Don't get any ideas here. It's just because it's colder than I expected tonight," Elty murmured. "When we get out of here, I'm still going my own way."

"Whatever," Nida grunted. "Let's just get some sleep."

The pair made their way back across the sand for the ruin in the clearing. There, waiting for them were Pleo and Guardia, the pair already starting to drift off to sleep. The Nidoran and Growlithe stood there for a moment, before sighing and curling up alongside their teammates.

There would be time to try and sort things out tomorrow. And who knew, perhaps things would work out for the better with a little rest. Until then, they'd be better off sleeping, reunited under the foggy skies for the first time in what had felt like ages.



Author's Notes:

- Vetäytykää! - Finnish: "Retreat!" / "Pull back!" (given as a command in 2nd person plural)
- chiquita - Spanish: Term of endearment meaning "little girl" / "little child", used here in context roughly equivalent to "sissy"
- buenas tardes - Spanish: "good afternoon"
- portán - Irish: "crab"
- Molchi! (Молчи!) - Russian: "Silence!" (BGN/PCGN Romanization)
- Ya ne znayu (Я нe знаю) - Russian: "I don't know" (BGN/PCGN Romanization)
- księżniczko - Polish: "princess"
 
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Chapter 52: Mending Fences

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
GCHfQ2V.png


Through the foggy sky above, the sun's rays poked through in muted and soft hues. Late in the morning, they grew bright enough to rouse Team Traveller, the four stirring and rising to their feet beside the ruined arch with yawns and stretches. After a brief moment to check their surroundings, the group retraced their steps back through the fog of the Distortion, making their way for a hazy exit back out into the dungeon.

Upon exiting the fog, the group looked around and saw the floor transformed into a maze of stony ledges and cactus thickets filled with darkened sand. The four looked about, trying to make sense of where to best start amidst the narrow passages, the thorny plants, and similarly unwelcome-looking stone bluffs.

"… Where do we start here?" Pleo asked.

"Well, I guess the way to start would be to figure out how the Distortion's shifted the floor," Nida answered. "Let's start by checking out what's around here?"

"And just how are we supposed to decide that?" Guardia demanded.

Elty looked ahead and saw that the path split into two forks around a stony formation. On the left was a narrow path that carried along into a deepening gully, to the right was another path that ran through a cactus thicket. The Growlithe peered down each path, and saw that neither of the two had an easily visible end… Two shots in the dark, with no scents or tracks to help determine which was the better option. In moments like these, perhaps it was best to let fate have its say in the matter.

"Let's flip a coin," he offered. "Heads we go left, tails we go right."

Elty nosed into the bag over Nida's shoulder and dug out a coin with his muzzle. Merchantry coins didn't have the heads of kings on their fronts like Imperial Bezants did per se, but the mint marker and value inscription did a good enough job indicating the tail. The Growlithe sat down and took the metal disc awkwardly in between his paws before setting it on his snout. As he struggled to keep the coin in place long enough to flip it, Guardia looked on, amused.

"You know Gardie, I could probably-"

"Quiet, bonehead," Elty snapped. "I've got this."

Finally, he positioned the Poké to rest steadily on his snout, and he flicked his nose skyward, sending the coin spinning upward through the air. The coin landed neatly in the sand and the sun glinted off of its surface, the number denoting its value and the stamped Merchantry design indicating its originating mint highlighted that the flip had come up 'tails.'

"Guess that means we'll start with the right," Elty said.

The four went down the right corridor, and cautiously inched along through halls and chambers crowded by dense clumps of spiky plants. The group carried along through the cactus thicket, stumbling across a Totter Seed, some stray coins, and a chipped Gravelerock during their journeys, passing into a shaded corridor when a faint melody carried along the air.

"Bum bah de dum bum bum bah de dum~"

The team paused, their ears perking up as they glanced around for the source of the mysterious melody. Nida tapped her foot thoughtfully at the sound of the tune, which upon closer listening sounded somewhat familiar... but who could be making all that noise in a place like this?

"Eh?" Pleo murmured. "Is that someone humming?"

"Should we assume that it's hostile?" Guardia whispered.

"I'm not sure, but…" Nida muttered. "I could've sworn that I heard Calino hum something just like that at his shop back home..."

The Nidoran carried on as she and her teammates entered the chamber ahead. There, the entire clearing had been covered in red carpeting with golden designs of swirls circumscribed by overlapping squares. All around, items of every conceivable shape and color were carefully laid out. On it, a Kecleon cheerily idled with a hum as a bulkier counterpart and a grizzled-looking Kecleon with a stomach scar sat in the background playing cards, occasionally looking up and eying the rest of the carpet.

"Welcome! Welcome! ♪" the shopkeeper Kecleon cheered.

"Eh?! What's a Kecleon doing down here?" Pleo asked. "Is he lost?"

"Nope! I'm here for business!" the chameleon insisted. "Selling to explorers like you in towns might be our bread and butter now, but we still ply our wares where they're most needed, just like in the days of Taloon the Great!"

"Egh…" Guardia muttered. "How do we know that we're really getting a good price here?"

"I mean, it can't hurt to look around at least," her Nidoran teammate offered.

The four youngsters stepped onto the ruddy carpet, sniffing and prodding at the Kecleon's wares. There was a plump Sitrus Berry, its overripe scent and faint glimmer indicating it had been touched by a dungeon's distortion. A little further away was a wand with an orb of light inside that moved to track some unseen point when the wand was shifted…

"Oh!"

And there, beside Pleo's wing was the black, glassy form of an Escape Orb. The Protector craned his neck down and nosed at the orb, its bright light evidencing that it was primed and ready for use. The seabird's thoughts turned back to their last excursion with an Escape Orb, remembering how it instantly pulled the team out of the Distortion on Mengir. As long as the Kecleon came in through the right place, if they got this orb, they'd be able to get out of the dungeon! The rest of the merchant's wares could always be bought in town, and wouldn't it leave money over for a proper room at a hostel?

"We'll take that one," Pleo chirped, pointing proudly at the Escape Orb with his wing.

"That will be 300 Poké," the shopkeeper Kecleon said.

Team Traveller blanched and felt their jaws drop at the chameleon's words. 3- 300 Poké?! That was more than quarter of the money that they had with them right now!

"E-Eh?!" Nida exclaimed. "But we'd be able to get it for half of that back in town!"

"Yes, and we need to bump the prices up in here to cover a little service fee," the bulkier Kecleon explained, getting up from his game of cards. "We don't exactly have any town guards to cover our security here!"

"I mean, if you're startling the spike ball here, it has to be an unfair price," Guardia insisted. "Can't you lower it at all?"

"No," the scarred Kecleon snapped.

"But you hiked it for no reason!" the Cubone fumed.

The Cubone's argument with the shopkeeper carried on, the Ground-Type fruitlessly attempting to haggle the chameleon down to a fair price. The bodyguards traded exasperated looks with one another as the bulky Kecleon's eye caught movement from its corner. The lizard turned and saw that at the edge of the mat, while his superior had been distracted with his unruly customer, the Growlithe in their group was nosing at a Perfect Apple and eyeing it hungrily…

Too hungrily.

"Oi, mutt!" the bulky Kecleon shouted. "Get your mouth away from that!"

"Eh?!"

Elty clamped down on the apple reflexively and jumped back in a panic off the mat. After looking down and seeing that he was no longer on the red-and-gold carpet, he went wide-eyed, and spat out the apple, pulling his ears and tail back with an apologetic whine.

"Er… sorry about the misunderstanding?" the Growlithe gulped.

"You bit it, you bought it," the scarred Kecleon seethed. "So cough up the money."

"Uh… how much will that be?" Pleo stammered.

"1200 Poké."

"Wh-What?!" Nida cried. "Eso es una locura! We don't even have that kind of money!"

The three Kecleon's moods visibly darkened and the shopkeeper among them let out a growl. His bulky and scarred companions began drawing forward, their claws flashing out for swipes as Team Traveller backpedaled more and more from the mat.

"Er… what she meant to say was… uh…" Elty stammered. The Growlithe hastily fished around in his mind for a suitable excuse, but with the lizards visibly honing their claws to slash them, the Fire-Type's instincts to flee swiftly overwhelmed his more sober thoughts.

"Run!"

The dog spat up a column of cinders at the bulky Kecleon, prompting the group to break in a blind panic as the three chameleons hastily stamped out fires on the carpet.

"Don't let them get away!" the shopkeep shouted. Team Traveller tore along through the passages in the cacti thicket, the sound of the bodyguards' pursuit nipping at their heels. Guardia made it to an intersection, where a sudden claw swipe prompted her to veer leftward and charge on blindly. Much to her horror, the Cubone quickly discovered that she'd separated from the group, and tried to double back, only to see an orange Kecleon charging her. The bone lizard turned to bolt, only for her foot to get caught on a loose pebble and send her falling face-first onto the ground.

"A-Aagh!"

"Gotcha!" the bulky Kecleon shouted.

The fiery-orange Kecleon lunged for Guardia with a claw swipe, prompting the Cubone to throw her club at her pursuer's face in a blind panic. A loud smack rang out and the chameleon bowled back with a pained yelp as he stumbled back into a prickly pear plant. As the lizard winced and inched away from the thorny bush, the Cubone hastily drug herself up to her feet, running past the Kecleon and after her team as they charged blindly down the corridor.

"Gah!" Nida cried. "We can't shake 'em!"

Elty charged on ahead, when he chanced to notice a small spray of sand in the air being carried down to the ground at an unnaturally fast pace. For it to do that, it had to be blown down from above…

And for that to happen, the odds were as good as any that it was coming from the floor above them.

"Ah! That way!" the Growlithe yipped. "That's our exit!"

As the group followed Elty's direction, they spotted a set of stony steps in a chamber at the end of the hallway. One by one, they bolted for the exit as fast as they could, bursting into the chamber when a sharp shout rang out.

"Going somewhere?!"

Team Traveller looked up in time to see a pair of scaly presences blocking their way and skidded to a stop. There in front of them were the bodyguards from the dungeon shop, the scarred Kecleon to the left, and the bulk Kecleon, now a tawny brown, to the right. The pair glared and hissed at the four youngsters, readying their claws for a strike as Pleo shrank back uneasily.

"Uh… Wh-What do we do now?" the young Legendary stammered.

As the two lizards slowly closed in on the team, a sudden realization came to Guardia. She noticed that the Kecleon she struck earlier had turned into an earthy brown color. In addition, the other lizard had turned orange after Elty had breathed fire on it, and had seemed to be particularly hurt by her subsequent bone throw…

Who was to say that they couldn't do the same again?

"Wait! They become like whatever attack hit them last!" Guardia cried. "Gardie, light that one on the right up!"

"Coming up!" Elty cried.

The Growlithe spat up a gout of fire onto the bulkier of the two chameleons, the lizard's scales melting from their tawny color into a vivid orange as he recoiled from the fire. The bodyguard dug his feet in and growled, regaining his balance to charge ahead and tackle the Fire-Type back with a yelp. Seeing that Guardia was keenly eying his partner and sweeping her bone out for a running smash, the scarred Kecleon quickly put two and two together, and dashed over to try and intercept her attack.

"Oh no you don- Ack!" the scarred Kecleon began, only to abruptly cry out in pain. A forceful kick caught him in the stomach, followed by a second that swept him off his feet and knocked him over with a yelp. The culprit, a blue-furred Nidoran panted, and turned to her other teammates, crying out as loud as she could manage.

"Pleo! Guardia!" Nida shouted. "Now!"

Not letting a moment go to waste, Pleo hastily brought his wings together and sent a cutting gust of wind at the reddening Kecleon that Nida attacked. Guardia followed suit and bolted for the bulky, orange Kecleon, springing up and bringing an overhead smash with her bone onto the current Fire-Type's head. The two chameleons bowled over in pain, and groped about in a stunned stupor, slow to rise back to their feet. Sensing that they'd been given precious moments to get a head start over their pursuers, Guardia whirled to her teammates and motioned to them with her club.

"Hurry!" Guardia exclaimed. "Before they get back up!"

The group bolted up the stairs in a multicolored blur, Elty limping along afterwards gasping for air. The group staggered up and flopped down, the stairs pulling itself into the floor just in time to thwart the shouting approach of the Kecleon bodyguards, filling the air with the sound of stone grinding against stone. Together in a tired heap, Team Traveller laid in the sand panting as the grinding noise ceased and they were left listening to the quiet shifting of sands in the dungeon as they caught their breath and nosed at a set of fresh wounds. After they had a moment to recuperate, they separated from their pile, and Nida wasted no time in pointing blame for their unfortunate encounter.

"Nice going there, Elty," Nida huffed.

"Yeah, way to almost get us knocked into next week thanks to stealing," Guardia glowered.

"Oi, I didn't do it on purpose this time!" Elty snapped. "And if you had covered for me half as well as you fought back there, we might have been able to get away without being chased by a bunch of angry lizards!"

Pleo balked somewhat at Elty's unintentional, backhanded compliment. Although his sour attitude didn't help things now any more than it had been recently, Pleo thought that perhaps he was onto something after all. Maybe if they had been working together a little better from the start, those Kecleon wouldn't have taken them to be such a rough crowd so quickly...?

"… Actually, I think he's right," Pleo murmured.

"Eh? What are you going on about?" Guardia demanded.

"Well, we did get through that fight because we worked together," he explained. "If we had also done the same back at the Kecleon shop, then…"

Nida flicked her ears back and shook her head begrudgingly. Her dour mood made her want to disagree, but she couldn't in good conscience say that Pleo was wrong. Throughout their history as a team, they had definitely been at their strongest while working more closely together.

"Let's not read too much into a fluke Pleo. What's done is done," Nida sighed. "Let's just keep a sharper eye out this time and stick closer together."

Guardia gave a small, tired nod in agreement, while Elty shot a sour frown at the spike ball before opting to let the matter be. The team hastily divided up an Oran Berry and devoured it before gathering up their belongings and starting to set off. First Nida, followed closely behind by Guardia. Pleo paused a moment before ruffling his feathers and starting off, only to feel a presence nose him from behind.

"Hey, Pleo."

The young Lugia turned around, and saw Elty looking at him, giving a grateful nod and wag of his tail. He was… happy? It had felt so long since the last time he'd seen him like this.

"Thanks for backing me up back there."

The Fire-Type carried on, leaving Pleo to blink and stare after before following after himself. In spite of his wounds and his tired gait, he'd felt in higher spirits than any time since the day on the beach in Mengir. Maybe… Just maybe, they'd get through this.



Out on the sea, the Vasilek continued on its course for Sormus, the island announcing its presence as the air grew hotter knot after knot as they drew nearer. The heat began to take its toll on the laboring crew, as the Pokémon were driven towards exhaustion by the sweltering heat, and Nagant's trips into the sea to stay hydrated grew ever more frequent. At the bow, the form of sand dunes and stony hills surrounding a column of fog poked over the horizon, prompting the lookout to announce the sight of the land. The lookout's cry drew the attention of the crew, who gathered on the railing to stare off at the approaching island in the distance.

"… Where do we even start?" Berecien murmured.

"Yeah, would those kersat have gone in town?" Niilo mulled. "Or in the Mystery Dungeon?"

"Let's start by looking for anything that seems out of place," Nagant grunted. "We know that that Protector brings trouble wherever he goes, so if he's here, we'll surely see some sort of sign."

"Uh…" Cabot murmured. "Would that count as something out of the ordinary?"

The Cranidos gestured with his claw off at a white object in the distance. Nagant - failing to make out the object with a squint - fished out a scope from her bag and peered through it to see that the white belonged to the sails of a small Brigantine. The vessel had an unusually skeletal crew, and seemed to be anchored out at sea on the far side of Sormus for no particular reason: both matters which dredged up a sense of suspicion from the wizened shrimp.

"… It does, actually. If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn I saw a ship like that that in port at Mengir," she chittered. "Take us in a bit closer."

The frigate changed its heading and the escorts in the air whipped up a headwind to slow the craft down to a crawl as it drifted along past the waiting twin-master. It was a craft with a blue sun design on it, the meager white-scarved crew having become suspiciously tense at the sight of their craft. Among them, there was one, very visible exception, consisting of a Weavile perched on a small mound of large ice blocks lying down basking in the sun's rays as his throne slowly melted away at the bottom.

"Hoy!" Jun buzzed. "Whose ship is this!"

"Ketu, acting captain of the Nektar… Whatever here," the Weavile lazily answered from his icy perch. The Dark-Type shuffled off his icy perch and dropped down to the deck, making his way over to the railing with a stretch before coming to a stop in front of the Clawitzer captain resting his chin on his claws.

"Are you Imps all this nosy? I was just catching some rays here."

The demeanor aboard the Vasilek quickly darkened at the mention of 'Imps', a few growls and glares breaking out at the smaller ship and its crew. Nagant was similarly displeased by the Weavile's flippant attitude, giving a dismissive twitch of her mandibles.

"Uh… huh…" the shrimp scoffed, shifting her big claw towards the Dark-Type with a fierce scowl. "And just what are you doing here anchored in the middle of nowhere like this?"

"We're a ship full of Company spies performing surveillance," Ketu snarked back. "Can't you tell?"

A wave of shock crested over both crews, stunned surprise from the Vasilek's, and nervous, startled expressions from the white-scarved crew. Even Nagant and Jun weren't immune to the surprise: the Clawitzer captain dropped her firing claw to the deck out of astonishment and her Beedrill first mate flitted up with a start and buzzed out of shock.

"WHAT?!"

The Weavile shifted a claw over his mouth, trying and largely failing to stifle a snickering laugh at the expense of his interrogators. Nagant, sensing that she was being mocked, clicked her mandibles and aimed her firing claw back at Ketu with an irate hiss.

"Take this seriously and give us a straight answer, Weavile!" the Clawitzer snapped.

"Tch. I'm sunbathing on an anchored ship here!" Ketu retorted. "What do you think I'm up to?"

A wave of exasperated sighs and scowls settled over the watching crew at the furball's response. Chief among them was Nagant, who grudgingly lowered her claw. She peered off into the sky with an audibly irked grunt, before directing her attention back to the apparent captain of the white sailed ship.

"Hrmph. Did you happen to see any Pokémon fly by at least?" the shrimp demanded. "A bird with white plumes and a long neck?"

"Nope."

A skeptical frown began to spread over Nagant's face, the Clawitzer none too pleased with the short and dismissive answer the Weavile gave her.

"Are you sure?" she pressed.

"Yup."

The Clawitzer gave the Weavile a sour look, only for him to lean on the railing and pick his claws, completely indifferent to the Imperial Captain's displeasure. Nagant chittered under her breath and rolled her eyes, before pivoting on her tail and turning back to her crew, eager to leave behind the furry slacker and his ship.

"Let's get moving!"

At their captain's command, the crew of the Vasilek set into a hurried daze; the escorts whipping up wind and sea currents to move the frigate along on its route for land. As Nagant's ship departed, the Clawitzer looked back in time to see the Weavile from the white ship give a mocking wave, prompting her to turn away with a frustrated chitter.

The ship carried on, the sand dunes and bluffs of Sormus growing larger and more visible, along with glimpses of the gaping pit mines in the distance, and the dusty adobe huts of a small-ish village by the seaside. All the while, Nagant still seethed from her prior encounter, and how the run-in with the ship and its furball captain had done little but waste her time and raise the pressure of her blue blood from his obnoxious demeanor. Sensing that it would be best for everyone involved if Nagant wasn't in one of her tempestuous moods before higher nobles, her first mate settled down beside his superior, and gave a buzzing beat of his wings for attention.

"Talk about making much ado about nothing…" Jun sighed. "But I'm honestly at a bit of a loss of where we can go from here. After all, we just know that the Guardian headed west… but there's precious little else we know that isn't conjecture."

The Clawitzer paused and thought the matter over. They truly were short on leads, but they were already here at Sormus, and they knew that the Protector had flown off in a course headed for it… Perhaps this was the right time to get a feel for what the Pokémon on the ground had been hearing lately.

"… Have word sent to the Duke in Copperband Village" Nagant ordered. "We might not be able to narrow things down on our own, but he can certainly help."

"Right," the Beedrill buzzed. "I'll see to it that it's done once we-"

"Now, Jun."

"Ex-Excuse me?" the Bug-Type stammered.

A tense silence hung in the air as the detailing on Copperband's buildings started coming into view, Jun uneasily shifted his drills waiting for further explanation from his superior. He was met with a firm glare from the Clawitzer, the old shrimp's patience clearly thinner than normal.

"The fate of the Empire rests in that bird's wings," she said. "If the Duke has any idea at all of where we could look for him, I want to hit the water swimming."



"Eh? What is this place?"

Nida's words floated through the air as Team Traveller made their way up the steps to a small, open chamber consisting of a long, spindly crevasse ringed by sandstone walls. The four carried on, passing sand mounds and stones, but not a single passage or turn, a night-and-day difference from the maze-like levels that they had encountered before.

"It's nothing like the last floors we've been on!" she exclaimed. "Are we even still in the dungeon right now?"

"Not exactly, we're at the midpoint right now," Elty scoffed.

"Midpoint?" Pleo murmured.

"It's a stable zone that occurs in a lot of dungeons," the Growlithe explained. "If a dungeon branches into multiple ones, it usually happens in places like these."

"But how can you tell this is a midpoint, Elty?" the young Protector insisted.

"That's how I can tell."

The Fire-Type pointed off ahead at a stony lump with his claw. The stone clump looked vaguely familiar to the young Lugia… Two legs, two arms, a strong tail, and a pouch up at the front. Why, that looked just like a Pokémon he had seen back on Tromba!

"… Why is there a statue here of that one juice shop owner from back in Bluewhorl Town?" Pleo asked.

"Because it's not a statue," Elty insisted. "Look."

The Growlithe noticed a small pebble by his paws and bent down to pick it up with his mouth. He stretched up, and dropped the pebble down the pouch with a hollow-sounding clunk as it struck the inside of the rock, immediately making Guardia's eyes light up in realization.

"Ah! It's a hut-dweller's Storage Rock!" she exclaimed. "Though this is the first I've seen in this shape…"

"I've heard that they tend to be made in the shape of the Pokémon who hold onto your items," Elty explained. "So I guess the Storage Shop that handles this rock must be run by a Kangaskhan."

"Oh? But what's in here?" Pleo wondered. Curious at the mention of the stone being a Storage Rock, the young Lugia craned his head in and began to poke around with his beak in the darkness.

"Ugh, how much further do we need to go in this sandbox anyway?" a snorting voice added.

"Come on, Hooke. It ain't that bad, and we're almost at the midpoint anyway," a low, raspy voice murmured.

"Huh?"

Pleo looked around inside the rock for a moment, before realizing that the voices were coming from outside. He pulled his head back out, and saw his teammates staring at a Krokorok and a Grumpig in white scarves further down the room, sniffing at the ground.

"Hey!" the Lugia chirped. "Are you another rescue team?"

The white-scarved duo jolted upright in a startled shock. The Krokorok bared his teeth and gave a belligerent, throaty hiss, only for some chatter from his companion to seemingly put the creature at ease as the two began to make their way over.

"Do you know how we can get out of here?" Pleo asked. "We're kinda lost."

"Er… well, we've got a teleporter if that's what you're talking about," the Grumpig answered, drawing a skeptical head tilt from Nida. Something about these two felt familiar to her, as if she had seen them somewhere before… but where?

The Psychic-Type began to make his way over, his Krokorok companion pausing to press his badge and speak into it, appearing as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders.

"Hey, Kachina," the reptile said into his badge. "I think we just got our lucky break."

The pair walked up, revealing their white scarves to be sporting blue sun-like designs that caught Elty's eye. The Growlithe shifted uncomfortably, starting to look unnerved, and leaned in to Pleo's side to gain his attention.

"Uhm… mewa, not that I'm one to look a gift horse in the mouth," Elty whispered uneasily. "But doesn't that design look familiar at all to you?"

"Eh? Where's it from?" Pleo asked.

"I haven't seen anything like it since I joined you," Guardia scoffed. "Between all the patterns you hut-dwellers put around your neck, it's no surprise everything would start looking the same to you."

"… It's probably just the desert sun playing tricks on you," the Grumpig reassured. "Come on, we'll get you taken care of once we're out."

"Yeah. Just come along and we'll get you out of this dive," the Krokorok added. "Sure beats crate work any day."

Nida's barbs stood on end at the mention of "crate work", prompting her to tense up and go wide-eyed. This was that same Krokorok and Grumpig that had discovered Crom from his crate aboard Lyn's ship! The same ones that had helped those horrid cretins beat him and throw him off that lousy boat in the first place!

"A-Aah! You!" she squeaked. "Don't touch him!"

The Nidoran fanned her barbs out and flicked one at the Krokorok, catching him in his wrist and drawing a pained bellow from the Desert Croc Pokémon.

"ARGH!"

"Spike ball, what are you doing?!" Guardia exclaimed.

"These guys were some of the Pokémon who beat up Crom when we entered Lyn´s ship!" Nida cried.

Team Traveller went rigid and felt the blood in their veins run cold at the realization that their company's mood had decisively soured. Both Ken and Hooke were now sporting glares, and pawing at the ground ready to lunge.

"Grr… so you figured us out after all, Nidoran," Ken spat.

"Not that it’s gonna make a difference!" Hooke snorted. "Get 'em!"

The Grumpig sent a ray of light sparkling like a column of gems from the pearls on his head towards Elty, only for Guardia to shove him out of the way and be sent flopping back along the floor with a yelp. At the same time, Pleo flapped up and began to form a Weather Ball in his mouth, disgorging the glowing orb at his Krokorok assailant, only for him to drop to the ground and vanish in a plume of sand and dirt.

"E-Eh?! Where'd he go?!" Pleo squawked.

Nida looked around frantically, as all signs of Ken's presence had vanished barring a hole in the ground that he'd left behind. The Poison-Type's ears pricked up at the sound of rumbling, which drew her attention to a snaking streak of disturbed sand beelining straight for her. She hastily tried to hop away in a panic, only to hear the crash of dirt flying up from the ground, and a sharp shout.

"Gotcha!"

The Nidoran shrieked as she felt a heavy blow on her belly from below, sending her flopping back on the ground. Nida woozily stumbled back up to her feet, just in time to see Pleo disgorge another Weather Ball at the Krokorok, who much to his horror, largely shrugged the blow off and proceeded to chase after the bird with snapping jaws.

"A-Aah! H-How are we supposed to fight these guys?!" Pleo exclaimed.

As Nida paused to catch her breath, she saw Guardia and Elty being herded by the Grumpig towards the Krokorok with a series of beams. Grah! How were they supposed to beat these two when they were so much stronger?! It wasn't as if they could just make them beat each other up!

… Wait a minute, maybe they could! They'd picked up a Totter Seed just a few floors ago, and now was the time to use it!

"Pleo!" Nida cried. "Come this way!"

The Lugia flew along the ground in a panicked hurry, followed closely by Ken, who snapped at the seabird with his jaws, ruffling Pleo’s feathers with a series of near-missed bites as the bird stubbornly remained just out of his reach. Nida waited for the pair to come by as she readied a swirl-patterned seed in her paws for a throw.

"Take this!"

Nida hurled the Totter Seed with all her might, the projectile sailing along into the Krokorok's mouth. The crocodile gulped the seed down with a choking gag, and for a second, Nida grimaced, thinking the Totter Seed had failed to do anything other than fatten her attacker up… only to notice that the Krokorok's gait had grown dazed and erratic.

"Nrgh…" Ken groaned. "Room spinning… Oi! Stop right there, bird!"

The Desert Croc dug his heels into the earth and launched himself with his jaws opened… at none other than his Grumpig partner. The crocodile knocked the Psychic-Type down with a startled yelp, followed by a pained squeal as he bit down onto the pig's rump.

"AUGH! What is wrong with you, you stupid clod?!" Hooke shouted. "Do I look like a bird here?!"

The Krokorok blinked in confusion before his partner hastily shoved him off to the ground, visibly wobbling and struggling to keep his balance as he nursed his injured rump. Guardia's eyes lit up at the sight of her tottering foe, this could be just the break that they all needed!

"Get the pig!" she cried. "If we can defeat him, we can narrow things down to that Waruvile!"

The Cubone charged the Psychic-Type, only to lose her footing and tumble after being struck by a glowing beam of light. Before Hooke could follow up with a further blow, he felt a burning pain on his back, followed by a sharp jab on his flank. In a wide-eyed panic, the pig sprang off his tail just as a glowing orb narrowly missed his head, prompting him to reach for his badge after losing his nerve.

"Hey! A little help he- AUGH!"

A heavy blow abruptly struck the Psychic-Type’s head and his vision began to run muddy. The Grumpig's grip on his badge slackened and he tottered forward and backward a moment, attempting to spring away off his tail only to faceplant and lose consciousness. Unbeknownst to the Company underling, the culprit of the blow planted her foot on the Psychic-Type's groaning head, giving a triumphant bat of her club against her free claw.

"Hah, they really do fall harder when they're bigger," she jeered. "I'd have expected more of a fight out of him!"

"Grah… Stop multiplying, you lousy brats!" Ken fumed.

The four youngsters' attention quickly turned to the Krokorok as he stomped the ground, setting the area around him shaking with enough force to flatten the surrounding sandy terrain. Ultimately though, the attack hit far off from its intended target, the Krokorok accomplishing little more than to kick up a cloud of dust from the stamped sand. Team Traveller looked on nervously as the Krokorok stomped the ground flat around him, whirling around in a desperate attempt to land a hit. Although he wasn't accomplishing much at present, it was clear to them that they were on borrowed time against the disoriented Desert Croc. If they were to have any chance of coming out on top here, they'd need to act quickly and decisively to overpower him.

"Quick! Take him out too before he snaps out of it!" Elty yipped.

"Right behind you!" Guardia cried.

Elty landed the first blow by somersaulting into the reptile as flames danced on his pelt, followed by Guardia lobbing her bone at the Ground-Type and striking him in his stomach. As the Desert Croc reached around for the Cubone's club, he felt a spike lodge in his flank and bellowed out in pain after being knocked back by a forceful, burning tackle.

Ken looked up, his vision starting to sharpen and settle as he saw that the tackle had come from none other than Pleo, filaments of fiery blue light still dancing on his plumes. The Krokorok lunged ahead at the Lugia, the seabird noticing his attacker at the last moment with a terrified squawk.

"A-AAH!"

Pleo desperately tried to fly off, only to flop forward as a heavy weight pinned him against the ground. He felt a crushing bite along his back and shrieked in pain, desperately beating his wings and kicking until a loud blow rang out and knocked the weight off his back, allowing him to break free. His rescuer was none other than Guardia, the Cubone staring down the Company Krokorok as he rose back to his feet, seething.

"Oi, you overgrown mogura!" Guardia spat. "You've got the rest of us to deal with!"

"Grr! Let's see how tough you're talking after I've got my jaws around you!" Ken bellowed.

The Krokorok ran for the Cubone with his jaws opened, biting down as he got near. Instead of feeling his jaws clamp down on something, he felt a weight latch onto his upper snout. Ken tried to open his mouth to throw the unwelcome weight up and into his maw, only to find that his jaws refused to budge at all.

"Mrrph?!"

There, directly in front of his eyes, was the form of the Cubone, clinging onto his snout and holding his mouth shut by pulling her bone against his lower jaw! The Krokorok thrashed his head this way and that, trying to throw the lizard off of him. After a few fruitless thrashes, Guardia's left grip slipped, prompting Ken to wrench his head right and finally shake his unwelcome passenger loose. The crocodile turned to pounce on his attacker, only for his victory to be short-lived as a burning pain erupted on his flank. Ken whirled in time to see embers dance on his hide, and yelp as he felt a pair of forceful kicks hit his stomach.

The Krokorok gagged and clutched at his stomach, as the world started to grow fuzzy and faint as he struggled to stay on his feet. The sound of a harsh wind kicked up, and Ken felt himself lifted off the ground and sailing just above it, the form of the Storage Rock fast approaching.

SMACK!

Pleo brought his wings back to his sides after his Whirlwind, watching Ken strike the Storage Rock headfirst. The crocodile bounced off of the Pokémon-shaped stone, and flopped sprawled-out against the ground, groaning incoherently out of pain.

"Ur-Urgh…"

Team Traveller stared and winced against their wounds, their breaths coming ragged and short. The four braced themselves for further blows, only for none to come. A quick check of their surroundings revealed Hooke and Ken slumped over in the sand, both unresponsive and with nary a sign of life other than the quiet rise and fall of their chests. Still half-disbelieving the turn of events, Nida walked up and prodded at Ken's leg, giving a forceful kick after she was satisfied the crocodile wouldn't be getting up soon.

"That- That was for Crom!" Nida panted. "And don't you forget it, you Company scum!"

"Save the theatrics for later," Guardia grunted. "They almost certainly weren't alone, and their friends can't be far behind."

"Then let's get ourselves a little apology from them before we have to leave," Elty said. The Fire-Type made his way over to the unconscious form of Hooke, pulling the Grumpig's bag off of his shoulders as Nida gave a disgusted shake of her head.

"Elty, are we seriously getting into banditry here?" the Nidoran sighed.

"Eh?" Guardia protested. "But you didn't have any problem when my Colony did it to that giant tonbo and his buddies."

"Besides, when they get back up, who would you prefer to have this stuff?" Elty countered. "Them or us?"

"Uh... that's a pretty good point, actually," Pleo replied.

The Growlithe stuck his head in the bag and began throwing out its contents. A few berries, a few Heal Seeds and a Reviver Seed, some orbs and wands that he couldn't make out yet...

The team quickly divided up the healing items among them and set to work patching up their bruises and scrapes and began to dump the pilfered items into the ratty bag on Nida's shoulder. The group quickly discovered that there was too much to take, and the Grumpig's bag was too bulky for any of them to carry off. Not knowing what to do with the remainder, but deciding that it was best to not let Ken and Hooke easily recover it, Nida opted to dump the bag and its contents down the Kangaskhan-shaped rock. As the Poison-Type handled the rest of the bag's contents, Elty and Guardia traded quiet glances with each other, each waiting for the other to speak first.

"Hey... about that fight there…" Guardia murmured. "Thanks for pulling in for me."

"Well, it's just what was needed then," Elty said. "It's no big deal-"

"Hey Ken, you there? You and Hooke went dark all of a sudden.

The four froze at the sound of the voice filling the room, and they turned to see that Ken had shifted onto his badge, unwittingly calling out to the teleporter on the other end. The Krokorok was dazed and far from ready for another battle, but even so, he was starting to stir, and his lucidity was clearly starting to return to him.

"Grnk... Wha...?" Ken groaned. "Who is this?"

"That's our cue to get out of here," Nida said. "Come on, let's go!"

The group hastily fled, continuing off into the distance where a fresh set of stairs awaited them at the end of the chamber. All the while, their hearts pounded and their breaths grew light from knowing that Lyn and his underlings were catching up with them. And yet, in spite of it all, they knew that they were nearing the end. Just a little further, they'd finally have a safe harbor to pull into.



As with the more seaside portions of Rosequartz Town, the local market had been similarly damaged by the arrival of Nagant and her pursuing horde of ferals. Roofs were caved in, walls toppled, but in spite of it all, the entrepreneurial spirit carried. Merchants shifted the undamaged remnants of their stock out for sale in their shop, or in the case of some such as Laurens and his amulets, in the midst of battered shops. Other shopkeepers such as his immediate neighbors were less fortunate, and carried on their trade on hastily spread mats in front of obliterated storefronts.

There amid the chaotic hubub, Kichiro sized up a trio of hastily-patched buckets filled with blackish pitch set out by a Mr. Mime. The Psychic-Type did his best to study the reactions of his customer, the Bug-Type evidently noticing the sorry state of his wares a bit more than he would have liked. Even so, this was what he had to work with right now, and the shopkeep crossed his fingers that his Ledian customer would need the pitch more than he needed the money to rebuild his store.

"Sorry about the condition," Mr. Mime said. "But it's the best we've got considering the circumstances."

"Guess I can't complain too much there…" Kichiro sighed. "This is actually the third place we've had to pick up stray supplies from like this."

The Ledian picked up two of the pitch buckets and began to hand off the last to Wilhelm, only for the Hoppip to never take it. Kichiro looked behind him, where there on the other side of the street was his partner loitering at a battered shop managed by a Feraligatr, mesmerized with his reflection in the pink baubles hanging from the eaves of his battered shop.

"Oi, hayseed!" the Ledian snapped. "Get your leaves in gear and help me carry these buckets of pitch!"

"Oh! Er.. coming!"

The Hoppip flitted over and grabbed onto the handle of his bucket and flew up after his Ledian teammate, struggling under the weight of the pitch-laden container. The pair flew along in a course tracing the docks of Rosequartz Town, passing a Gurdurr overseeing a repair on a trashed pier. Further out in the harbor, a large group of harbor Pokémon directed by a Starmie helped to raise a freshly-sunken hulk off the harbor floor, the ship leaking water out of its port holes. Kichiro's attention was drawn to the sound of a nearby yelp, as a Zangoose, a Banette, and a Flareon were chased off from the Torrent Tsars' dock with a loud, contemptuous "and don't come back!" from Ingela's underlings. The beetle turned his attention to follow Scian and his partners' flight, only to be distracted by Wilhelm suddenly piping up from behind.

"Heh! A 'mon sure learns a lot hanging around the likes of you!" the Hoppip cheered.

Wilhelm's enthusiasm was not shared with his partner, who stared ahead with a sour look on his face. The Ledian grumbled loudly under his breath, fighting with his buckets of pitch to stay balanced and airborne.

"I'm starting to think that Hess stuck you with me on purpose because of that bone lizard," Kichiro growled.

"Huh?" Wilhelm asked. "What do you mean by tha-?"

"W-Wait! What do you mean we're going after that demon?!"

Kichiro flitted to a stop, almost dropping his buckets out of surprise at the sudden voices. The Ledian hastily scanned his surroundings, where on the docks down by the sea nestled among a small stack of crates he spotted a Combusken, a Grotle, and a Scraggy in the black scarves of the Shadow Brigade.

"… Hey wait a moment, that's our job they're talking about," Kichiro murmured.

He looked around and spotted a flat roof nearby, flitting down and coming to a stop atop it. The Bug-Type set down his pitch buckets and lined them up to provide cover before peering over at the group of Shadow Brigade Pokémon. The Ledian turned to motion for his partner to follow, only to see Wilhelm flit past… and keep going. The beetle hastily dragged the Grass-Type into his perch before he could get spotted, stifling the pink Pokémon's yelp as he shushed and motioned for silence.

"Ugh… this again?" the Combusken grumbled. "I thought we concluded that it was just hearsay!"

"I dunno, Sela. I've been hearing it too," Hanuna murmured. "And Sibich did try to go after the demon while he was in town…"

"All the more reason why he wouldn't!" Sela insisted. "He's seen how dangerous that thing is for himself, there's no way he'd risk scaring us and a third of his crew off with some goose chase!"

"Oh come on, you can't admit that something doesn't smell about this," Eric countered. "Going off to do an operation on Giotto with all three of his ships? Just a day after the port got trashed?"

Back from their place behind the pitch buckets, Kichiro shifted uneasily. Sibich had stopped going out with his full force a few years ago after a failed raid on an Imperial copper shipment that cost him a ship that he'd only recently replaced. So just what would motivate him to be so bold again?

"We're just like spies right now! Like the Company and Empire and their cloak and dag-" Wilhelm whispered, only to be cut off with a shushing hiss from his Ledian teammate.

"Can you can it right now?!"

"Oi! I'm not giving you a cut of my take to loaf around!"

The trio of Marked pirates below them gulped and turned around reluctantly to see a red-eyed Cofagrigus looming over them. The Ghost-Type was in a visibly foul mood, which served to quickly quell the disagreement among the three and draw a more apologetic tone.

"Er… sorry, Captain Sibich," Eric said. "It's just that we were a little worn down and thought a break might help us work better."

"Yes, and there will be plenty of time to do that on the water," the Cofagrigus insisted. "With everything that I've done for you, I'd have thought that you'd return the favor with your work!"

Kichiro and Wilhelm blinked at the Ghost-Type's words, the pair casting blank glances at each other. Just what could Captain Sibich have meant by...

"'Everything he's done for them'?" Wilhelm asked.

"Don't ask me," Kichiro answered. "Maybe they're some of those Marked his crew apprentices."

"Right, we'll get back to work," Hanuna replied. "The sooner these crates get onboard, the sooner we can get moving."

"But… why are we heading out so soon? What exactly are we chasing after?" Eric prodded.

"My source from within the Imperial Admiralty told me to expect the haul of a lifetime out there," Sibich explained. "Setback or none, it's not a matter to dismiss lightly."

The three Marked traded uneasy looks with each other, turning their attention back to their captain hoping for reassurance. The Ghost-Type, sensing that the conversation wasn't going where he wanted it to, narrowed his eyes and gave a dissuading wave of his hands.

"It's nothing that you all need to worry about," the Cofagrigus huffed. "Just do your part aboard this crew, and the job will go smoothly."

"… If you say so," Sela murmured.

The three Pokémon paused and uneasily turned to their work, shuffling off and leaving Sibich behind among the crates. After a quick glance about his surroundings, the Ghost-Type lazily floated above the ground and brought a left hand up to his face, where a silvery feather emerged from his palm. The Cofagrigus cradled it with a knowing sneer, before tightening his hand around it and drawing it back into his wraith-like body, leaving Kichiro and Wilhelm staring stunned and slack-jawed.

"… We need to tell the captain about this," Kichiro muttered.

"Yeah! Captain Sibich can hide stuff in his body!" Wilhelm exclaimed. "Who knows what else he's keeping in there-"

"No, you dunce!" the Ledian hissed. "About Sibich going to Giotto!"

"Er… right. That too."

The pair cast some glances about their surroundings, and after being suitably satisfied they weren't being watched, they scooped up their buckets and leapt off the far side of the roof. The two Pokémon took wing, zipping along as quickly as their wings and burdens would allow as they wondered just who Sibich's lead could've been… and what else did he know that they didn't?



After the ambush and a hasty healing, Team Traveller hurried on lower and lower into the shifting floors of the Mystery Dungeon. Their travails took them past one floor to the next, brushing up with feral and trap alike. The scenery in the dungeon's second half had similarly changed, as was the case of their current floor riddled with stony spires, and curiously enough, an admixture of smooth ruined walls and pillars. The search for the stairs had gone slowly, with the four making their way through the labyrinth, searching here and there for the exit only to continuously come up short of leads.

"See anything, Guardia?" Nida asked.

"... Nothing," the Cubone said. "Just the normal sand and rocks."

"That's strange… floors aren't normally this empty right?" Pleo wondered. "We haven't seen any ferals or items down here yet."

Elty blinked and flicked his ears uneasily. Now that the mewa had mentioned it, they really hadn't seen any other Pokémon down here. It couldn't have been that late into the day, could it? But even if it were, that wouldn't explain the lack of items...

"... You're right," Elty murmured. "Somethings up."

"Eh?" Pleo asked. "What do you-?"

"Hey, Locke. Did you hear that?" a gruff voice murmured.

"Yeah, sounded like it was coming from over there ," a small, nasally voice added. "You think it's our targets?"

Team Traveller froze at the sound of the familiar-sounding voices, as they saw the shadows of a short, pointy-snouted nymph, and a tall, gangly humanoid with prominent fists spread on the walls ahead. Nida's fur stood on end at the mention of "targets", realizing that they belonged to none other than…

"Ah! It's more of Lyn's lackeys!" Nida yelped.

"Wh-What do we do?!" Pleo exclaimed.

The four watched as the forms of a Nuzleaf and Hitmonchan passed the end of the hallway, prompting the two dart ahead into a large chamber riddled with large stone clumps and a broken pillar. Guardia wheeled her club back, ready to strike at any pursuers coming into the room... but nobody came. She carefully peeked around the corner and down the hallway, discovering that it was empty and their pursuers not visible beyond the faint sound of distant footsteps.

"I don't think they saw us," Guardia whispered.

"... They're close," the Hitmonchan murmured. "These tracks are fresh."

"You take the far corridor, Jan. I'll take this one," the Nuzleaf grunted. Team Traveller froze as approaching footfalls rang down the corridors ahead, the movement periodically paused to give way to loud thumps against the walls as the distant Pokemon checked for stable zones. Elty pulled his tail in between his legs, whining anxiously to his teammates as he glanced back and forth at his surroundings.

"If we stay here, they'll find us!" Elty whispered.

"I know that!" Guardia hissed. "But what are we supposed to do?"

Scanning across the room, Nida's thoughts turned to the pillar in the center of the chamber. It would hardly make a reliable hiding place in the long-term, but it would at least provide cover to block the sight from wherever the Pokemon in the corridors emerged.

"There!" the Nidoran said. "We'll go behind that pillar, and we'll move on when they're not looking."

The four bunched up behind the pillar, scooting along to the other side as they heard their pursuers approach from behind it. They carefully inched along the pillar as the Company Pokémon passed by, and began retracing the tracks the pair had followed into the chamber. Nida and the others managed to slip along the length of the long chamber as Jan and Locke searched the rear, the form of a rock cluster coming into view, with a corridor behind that provided a glimpse of stairs to the next floor.

"Alright, we're clear," Nida murmured. "Let's go to those rocks next."

Team Traveller crept along, making it to the rock cluster just in time as the Company Pokémon turned around and tried to puzzle out where their targets had gone off to. The four waited for the voices to grow distant, evidently trying out the other corridors before setting off. Pleo took the lead, the young Protector waddling on into the corridor ahead... and directly onto a small tile with a swirly design set in the stony floor underfoot.

Click!

The Lugia squawked as the ground under his feet abruptly spun around, sending the bird whirling in place and stumbling forward. Pleo lurched forward, groaning in a daze and the shapes of the surrounding stones running muddy as the racket drew the attention of the Company Pokémon from further down the chamber.

"Hey! Someone's here!" Locke exclaimed.

The team froze and blanched as the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps sounded out, putting Nida, Elty, and Guardia into a blind panic. Nida and Guardia hastily latched onto Pleo's wings, guiding the dazed seabird along as Elty hung back, much to their consternation.

"Gardie, hurry up!" Guardia snapped. "They're coming!"

"I know that! Just go on ahead for a moment!" the Growlithe insisted.

The three others hurried along as Elty walked in front of the trap, and waited patiently. The Fire-Type didn't brace himself, or do anything that seemed to indicate he was preparing for a battle at all. He watched as the Hitmonchan and the Nuzleaf rounded the corner, and then bellowed out to draw their attention.

"Oi, you Company clods!"

The pair of Company Pokémon looked ahead just in time to see the dog waiting for them, giving a taunting shake of his rump in their direction.

"Want a piece of this, come and get it!" he jeered.

The Hitmonchan and Nuzleaf blinked a moment, and then glowered at the portly mutt, neither particularly amused with his taunting first impression.

"Grr… Aren't you a pleasant one," Locke growled.

"Oi, just hurry up and tan his hide already!" Jan shouted. The Hitmonchan hurried along, dashing straight for the waiting Fire-Type. As the pair neared, he suddenly leapt behind, leaving Jan to run off into a patch of disturbed sand where a loud click rang out in the chamber.

"Hey, what the- ARGH!"

The floor underneath abruptly spun the Fighting-Type around with a yelp. The Hitmonchan reached out to try and grab onto his taunter, only to latch onto his partner and drag him onto the trap. Elty snickered as the two staggered off the trap trading loud recriminations, bolting off, but not without calling back to his would-be attackers.

"Have fun seeing things!" he barked. The Fire-Type ran ahead, following the tracks of his teammates around the bend, and towards a set of stairs, where the three waited uneasily at the lip of the steps.

"What's the deal with that?!" Nida cried. "You could've gotten yourself hurt!"

"Yeah, yeah, chew me out later," the Growlithe yipped. "Let's just get out of here before they get back to their senses!"

The group darted up the stairs, coming to a stop on a sandy floor. The familiar sounds of the staircase grinding back into the floor rang out, the racket of stone on stone filling the air before fading away and finally stopping. The four Pokémon breathed sighs of relief before settling down into the sand, grateful for their reprieve.

"Elty, what you did back there was reckless, childish, and stupid..." Nida growled. The Nidoran scowled a moment at the Growlithe, before easing up and giving a small smile.

"And it saved our hides," the Poison-Type said. "So thanks for that."

"Heh… well, I might have had an idea it would work from past experience," Elty answered. "But hey, what works, works, right?"

The three quickly turned to amicable smalltalk, trading exhortations and cheers with one another. From his place to the side of his teammates, Pleo watched as the mood took on a happier and more upbeat atmosphere for what felt like the first time in an eternity, prompting a small, relieved smile to settle onto his face.

"Pleo?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you just standing there?" Guardia asked. "We should get going before a new set of stairs opens up on the floor below and those Company Pokémon can get up here."

"Ah, right!" the bird chirped.

The four hastily staggered to their feet, gathering up their items before they hurried off into the twisting corridors of the floor. In the midst of it all, the group's spirits were lifted as a strange feeling of reassurance came over them, the four finally feeling like a team once more.



While Team Traveller carried on in their search for the next floor, the crew of the Siglo Swellow was hard at work at sea. Captain Beatrix had called for the sails to be switched back to Company colors en route to Orleigh, which prompted the crew to set about switching out the current white sails they'd prepared in anticipation of Otvaga.

The air and rigging hummed with activity as Pokémon detached and pulled down the white sails and pulled up lavender ones to take their place. Down on the deck, the Pokémon in charge of packing away the spare sails were similarly kept busy. Among them were the familiar forms of Crom, Pladur, and their acquaintances from Bluewhorl who seemed at a loss over their task.

"Er… why are we doing this again?" Ander asked.

"Well, we don't have much in the way of defenses beyond our own strength," Pladur said. "So we'll need anything that can help us keep as many pirates as possible second-guessing how strong we are."

"That's… 50% less assuring than I was hoping for from your explanation, Pladur," Kiran sighed.

Pladur's misgivings settled down on Crom and the others, the lingering worries about being in proximity to Orleigh of all places weighing down their work stashing away the sail in their claws. Seeing their unease, Beatrix flitted over and settled on the deck, hoping to reassure them.

"Well, we're not exactly planning on storming the beaches," their captain replied. "I think that it should be more than enough for our needs."

"Are we sure that this is a good idea, Beatrix?" Pladur asked. "I mean, it is a pirate hangout…"

The Fraxure waited expectantly for an answer from the Illumise captain, only to be met with silence. Evidently, the gravity of the matter hadn't escaped her, and even she seemed to hesitate over what the best course of action was.

"… We don't have much other choice, I'm afraid."

"But what will we do if we get to Orleigh and find out they're there?" Crom asked, only to be answered by a snarling, burbling voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that."

The Dragon-Type and his companions froze and jolted upright at the sound of the voice, whirling around in an attempt to see just who the surprise speaker was.

"H-Huh?!" the Druddigon cried.

All around the ship, the sea escorts had flown into frenzy looking around for the culprit. Off on the starboard side, a Mantine on the team went wide-eyed after seeing a horde of approaching shapes, turning back to the ship in a panic.

"Agh!" the Mantine lookout yelped. "Bogeys surfacing under u-"

The ray was cut off by a sudden jet of water, knocking the Water-Type back against the hull. A wave flecked by the bodies of sea Pokémon crested and broke over the deck of the railing, sending Crom and his partners tumbling back with the rest of the crew coughing and gagging up water. The wave had knocked out a few sea escorts who were unceremoniously strewn groaning on the deck, their counterparts being driven back against the ship by a hail of attacks from darting Pokémon further out in the water.

"Protivnik sleva!" a Kingdra cried. "Keep your eyes on those Company rats!"

"Someone jam their rudder!" a Relicanth shouted.

The crew of the Siglo Swellow looked around and saw that the seafaring marauders had hemmed in their escorts, the lot shrinking back out of intimidated pallor. There, directly behind Crom and his companions, the brown and violet form of a Dragalge sliced through the water, coming to a growling stop next to the hull.

"You're not going anywhere fast," Viktor snarled.



Team Traveller's search on the floors above their run-in with the Nuzleaf and Hitmonchan proved to be profitable for the quartet, with the four discovering a foggy shortcut hidden in a wall during their search for the stairs. Nida led the group along, pacing through the foggy passage as the feelings of desert heat and the smell of swirling sand wafted through the air. The four emerged into a chamber filled with sand dunes hemmed between tall stone ledges, looking at their surroundings and rocky pillars hanging like stalactites from an inverted floor overhead.

"Hm, looks like it's another sandy floor…" the Nidoran murmured.

"Well at least it sounds quiet enough," Elty remarked. "Nothing we can't handle."

Team Traveller carried down a series of corridors, stopping and inspecting their surroundings at each chamber. The group would hurry along after hearing a grunt or footsteps of an approaching feral, repeating the process a few times until...

"Eh? Aren't those the stairs?" Pleo chirped.

Sure enough, directly ahead of them was a flight of stony stairs heading up from the sandy floor. Guardia blinked, prodding incredulously at the steps before giving a shake of her head.

"Huh. Seems like the dead's fortune is smiling down on us," Guardia said.

"Fortune, schmortune," Elty scoffed. "I'm not celebrating until we're out of this place.

One by one, Team Traveller filed up the stairs, the creaking and groaning of the floor behind them sealing off the stairs rang out, as they took in their new surroundings. They had come to a wide-open grassy expanse nestled among unusually tall dunes. At its center was a sandy patch bordering a pool of water, with tall and leafy palms towering overhead of them.

"Eh? I've never seen a floor this open before…" Nida murmured.

"If it wasn't for the stairs, I'd think we went into another stable zone!" Pleo chirped.

"That's because we are in one!" Guardia exclaimed "Look!"

The Cubone pointed off ahead of the group beyond the oasis in front of them. There in the distance, there was a craggy, stony tunnel with the haze of the Distortion visibly filling up its mouth.

"This place must be one of the exits to the dungeon," the Ground-Type explained. "If we go through there, we should be in the clear here."

"Heh, about time we got a lucky break," Elty sighed.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Elty trotted along towards the exit, counting his lucky stars that the worst this accursed leg of their journey had to offer was finally over with.

"Who dares tread on our territory?!"

As if on cue to disprove the Growlithe, a cry rang out and a torrent of grit exploded from the ground, obscuring the vision for each member of Team Traveller as they screwed their eyes shut against the stream of sand. After the initial plume of dust, the quartet of youngsters were able to crack open their eyes, now able to see the source of the disruption: a massive, tawny Hippowdon leered them down through the sandstorm, flanked by three equally irritable-looking Hippopotas.

"A-Aah!" Guardia cried.

"N-Nida?!" Pleo squawked. "What do we do?"

"I- I-" the Nidoran began, only to be interrupted by a low, rumbling growl from the Hippowdon.

"Yes, you'd better be scared, kakarat!" the hulking hippo snarled. "This is our space, and by time we're through with you, you won't forget it for the rest of your lives!"



Author's Notes:

- Eso es una locura! - Spanish: "That's crazy!", lit: "That's (a) madness!"
- kersat - Finnish: "kids", "children"
- Waruvile (ワルビル) - Japanese: "Krokorok" (Official Romanization)
- mogura (土竜 / 鼹鼠 / 鼴 / モグラ) - Japanese: "mole" (Hepburn Romanization)
- tonbo (蜻蛉 / とんぼ / トンボ) - Japanese: "dragonfly" (Hepburn Romanization)
- Protivnik sleva! (Противник слeва!) - Russian: "Hostiles on left!" (BGN/PCGN Romanization)
- kakarat - Finnish: "brats"
 
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Chapter 53: Working Together

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
62inAjP.png


Lyn and Ellsberg's search through the Mystery Dungeon had proven to be a long, largely uneventful affair… or at least as much as a draining trek through a desert could be. Most of the local ferals shrunk back at the sight of the large, imposing Samurott, with the more strong-headed easily routed with a seamitar slash or a jet of water to cut them off. All the while, the pair had come up with no meaningful lead on the Protector's whereabouts beyond some Merchantry lackey claiming his dungeon mat had almost been robbed by them earlier in the morning… Far too long in the past to help get a good bead on where the youngsters were now as they exited a foggy passage into a smaller chamber lacking interior walls and corridors.

"Urgh... all this sand and ferals but still no sign of the Protector or his friends…" Ellsberg buzzed.

"Pipe down, Ellsberg," Lyn snapped. "We don't have much time before word of our presence filters out to Copperband Village, and the last thing we need is to lose the Protector because we failed to check some irrelevant corner."

"I know that, Lyn!" the Mothim insisted. "But aren't I allowed to make some commen-"

"Oh come on, it's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Gah, who knew those lousy half-pints would hit so hard."

Lyn paused and sniffed at the air, catching the scent of Pokémon ahead in the haze. The Samurott looked around, sensing that the voices were familiar from his crew but unable to put a bead on whose they were.

"Huh?"

Lyn twitched his whiskers at the sound of movement down the chamber and paced ahead, where before him he saw the forms of a Grumpig and a Krokorok kneeling and pawing at a Kangaskhan-shaped storage rock. There was a small pile of objects, evidently fished from inside, though the two's attention had been turned outside of it.

"Oh come on," Hooke whined. "My badge was just right here-"

"What are you two doing?" the Samurott demanded.

The duo jolted upright and turned around, flushing pale at the sight of their captain scowling behind them. In spite of their obvious unease, the two feebly tried to force a pair of smiles, hoping to put the mercurial Water-Type back at ease.

"Uh… j-just dropped my badge, that's all!" the Grumpig insisted.

"Y-Yeah, everything else is going great, Captain!" the Krokorok added.

Ka-chick!

The forced smiles abruptly melted into terrified grimaces as the pair watched as Lyn pulled his left blade slightly from its keratinous sheath. The Samurott lowered his head and shot a piercing glare, clearly finding the explanations the pair had offered to be woefully inadequate.

"I know when I'm being lied to," Lyn growled. "Spit out what really happened, or I'll beat it out of you."

Ulp

"Uh… well, you see, the matter is…" Ken stammered. "We kinda ran into the Guardian and his buddies earlier."

"And, uh… they overpowered us," Hooke added sheepishly, anxiously squirming while looking up at his superior's eyes. The Grumpig's remark visibly darkened his captain's mood, the Samurott glaring daggers at his subordinates as a low, seething growl rumbled out of his throat with each heavy breath he took.

"You what?" the Samurott seethed.

"Ugh… of course," Ellsberg sighed.

"N-Now hold on here! It wasn't our fault!" Ken insisted. "That bird- uh… He used his powers! Yeah, blew us clear across the room without brea-AAAAAGH!"

A sudden scream of pain filled the air as the Krokorok was cut off by a sharp slash at his belly. The creature whimpered in pain and bowled over weakly only for a paw to grab the back of his head and stomp it into the sand, the Ground-Type going limp and groaning muffledly.

"There's no sign of wind damage to any of the walls or the Storage Rock!" Lyn bellowed. "Do you expect me to believe that crap?!"

Hooke went wide-eyed and whirled away in a panic. The Psychic-Type sprang onto his tail, ready to bounce away, only to feel a heavy stomp on its end. He squealed and jerked up, his newfound tether sending him crashing down to earth facefirst. The pig coughed and spat up a mouthful of sand, just in time to see a keratinous blade come to a stop between his eyes

"A-AAH!"

"So, are you going to give me a straight answer?" Lyn snarled. "Or do I need to pull it out of you the hard way?"

The Grumpig quailed and clutched his stomach, his innards in obvious disagreement with himself over his terrifying circumstances. All the while, Ellsberg fluttered along, basking in his much despised seat thief's plight, before coming to a stop in front of the Psychic-Type as tauntingly blew wind with his wings in the pig's face.

"You know Hooker, none of this would have happened if you learned to respect your superiors," the Mothim sneered. "Alas, I suppose that some lessons in life just aren't learned until you have the scars to show it."

"Oh no no no- Please! They threw a Totter Seed at Ken and mobbed us!" the Grumpig squealed. "That's what's really happened, I swear!"

Hooke felt a weight lift off his tail, prompting him to reflexively nurse his tail and hastily curl up, expecting the piercing pain of a seamitar slash only to be left waiting. Shivering, the Psychic-Type warily cracked an eye open, looking up just in time to see Lyn pull his blade back to his side before giving a disgusted shake of his head.

"Well, I suppose that clears that mystery up-" Ellsberg began, only to be cut off by an incensed bellow.

"Enough!"

Lyn swung his seamitar and brought it to a stop in front of the Grumpig's throat. The Psychic-Type froze and paled with widened eyes, as a low growl from his superior filled the air.

"You, use your partner's badge and go back to base camp," the captain demanded. "Get your wounds treated, and when you're both able to move, I want the two of you scrubbing decks until further notice."

"B-But-" Hooke began.

"No buts!" the otter barked. "I've tolerated enough failure on this mission already! If I hear of you shirking work, I'll throw you from the ship so you two can swim back to port!"

"Y-Yes Captain!"

The still-quailing Grumpig set off to grab and drag his downed Krokorok teammate away. Lyn watched as the Psychic-Type made a grab for his partner's badge, and began to speak into it, leaving the Samurott to turn away in disgust. He began to trod off, only to come face-to-face with a contented-looking moth fluttering before him.

"Well that went well, didn't it?" Ellsberg buzzed. The chipper smile slid off his face the moment he noticed Lyn glaring right at him, obviously displeased with his unusually bright demeanor.

"Er… aside from losing the Protector, of course," the Bug-Type hastily added.

"Shut up, Ellsberg," Lyn spat. "The Protector and his friends had to have made their way into the second half of the dungeon by now. At this rate, we'll have to wind up searching Copperband itself for him."

"Eh?" Ellsberg asked. "But surely your subordinates would be able to handle the matter with just a little regrouping to prevent embarrassments like that back there."

Lyn gave a dissatisfied grunt before sheathing his blade and began to walk off ahead. The Water-Type paused, and gave an exasperated scowl back at the Bug-Type, clearly eager to move on.

"… We'll see," the Samurott sighed. "Though I'm starting to suspect from this mission that if I want anything done, I'm going to need to do it myself."



"This is our space, and by time we're through with you, you won't forget it for the rest of your lives!"

Back in the exit chamber to Sormus' Mystery Dungeon, Team Traveller backpedaled further and further back from the center of the room as the snarling Hippowdon and his three Hippopotas underlings kept advancing. The three watched as the Hippowdon expelled sand from the pores of his body, whipping up a sandstorm in the room that forced the quartet to struggle to keep their eyes open. Sensing that things were going nowhere good, Elty hastily cried out, hoping to try and get a reprieve from the Ground-Types.

"Z-Zaczekaj chwilę!" he protested. "We don't need to fight, we just want t-"

"Eat sand!"

The Growlithe pitched back with a yelp as the Hippowdon expelled a clod of sand into the dog's face, making him grope around blindly. Seeing the other Hippopotas coming to pounce, Nida, Guardia, and Pleo hastily eased into battle stances, darting ahead to intercept Elty's attackers.

"Hang on, Elty! We're coming!" Pleo cried. The Lugia and his companions charged forth, grabbing the Growlithe and turning to retreat. Before the group could make any progress, the Hippopotas charged into Team Traveller's path.

"Oh no you don't!" a dark-nosed Hippopotas shouted.

The Hippopotas lunged forward, gnashing her teeth and scattering the team as she snapped fiercely at the empty air. Pleo made to take flight to avoid their aggressors, only to be forced into a hasty retreat back to his friends as a clump of sand struck him from behind. A sense of dread fell over them as they realized that their foes had shepherded them with their backs against the wall, hemmed in in a semicircle by the angry ferals. The Hippowdon at the front took a menacing step forward, wearing a fierce, cocky smirk.

"Now!" the Hippowdon exclaimed. "Our scouring sandstorm combo!"

The hippo sent a whirling vortex of sand forward, scattering the team as it sucked up Guardia with a yelp. Not to be outdone, one of the Hippopotas flung a clod of sand into the vortex while the others skirted the edges to throw some of their own at the other members of Team Traveller. Nida and Elty were swiftly struck, being knocked to the ground by the sandy projectiles, staggering up just in time to see Pleo gusting away the vortex and Guardia stumbling out…

"Get them!"

Followed by the sight of the four hippos charging ahead, gnashing their teeth and kicking up clouds of sand to herald their thundering approach.

"Agh!" Nida squeaked. "Fall back! Fall back!"

Team Traveller hastily fled back, avoiding clods of sand and dirt all the while. Every now and then, one of the four would attempt to throw a counterattack back, only to be driven backward by another Sand Attack or a lunging bite.

"Gah! There's too many heavy hitters on their side!" Elty cried. "We'll never be able to make it past them with them hogging the ground like this!"

Guardia blinked, and a proud grin spread across her face as a solution occurred to her. She made a mental note to thank the Fire-Type for his inspiration when they found themselves in less dire straits.

"Then let's get off it!" Guardia exclaimed.

Guardia hastily clambered onto Pleo's back, much to the surprise of the wide-eyed seabird. The young Protector craned his head back, eyeing his passenger with a confused look.

"Huh?!"

"If we ride you, we can get out of their reach!" Guardia explained. "Come on, everybody!"

Nida and Elty followed suit, vaulting atop Pleo just as he took off for a flapping run at the sight of the Hippopotas burrowing under the ground. The Lugia took off just in time to dodge a series of sand plumes as the smaller hippos burst from the ground, taking to the air above the chamber.

"It- It worked!" Pleo chirped. "They can't reach us!"

"Gah!"

Nida spotted a milky-white bubble floating for Pleo, spewed out by one of the Hippopotas with a loud yawn. The Nidoran flicked a spike at the bubble, lancing it and sending the fluid of its membrane dripping into the sand, hastily turning her attention back to the young Legendary.

"Pay attention!" she cried. "They can do things other than fling dirt around!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll- GWARK!"

Pleo jerked back, jostling his passengers unexpectedly, and let out a startled squawk as a Hippopotas sailed by, mouth open and snapping for any bit of him on which he would find purchase. Having missed his initial attack, the hippo kicked his feet to stall in the air and angled himself towards Pleo's tail as he began to fall. On reflex, Guardia swatted the Hippopotas away as it passed her, clocking the feral across the side of his head and sending it tumbling in freefall towards the ground.

"Gack!"

Before the recoiling hippo could hit the ground, Pleo sent a glowing orb of light at the feral, striking him and sending him pinwheeling into the oasis with a loud splash. The water churned and oscillated until it settled around the dazed form of the Ground-Type weakly staggering up, only to squeal out of pain as a spiky barb and a gout of fire struck him, sending him slumping over in the shallow water.

"We got one!" Elty cried. As her teammate barked excitedly, Nida peered down at the felled Hippopotas below, and then at his very much lucid teammates. All this time, the Ground-Types had proven to be particularly ineffective at hitting Pleo when he was high off the ground like this… So then all they had to do was just to keep it up and potshot the lot from above!

"Wait, if they're this bad at attacking Pleo from here," she murmured. "Then we can-"

"ENOUGH!"

Pleo squawked out of terror as he saw a gaping Hippowdon maw come at him from underneath. He lurched up and pulled up, just as Nida was rooting through the bag. The Nidoran lost her grip, fell backwards into her Growlithe teammate and tumbled off their Lugia mount with a frightened cry before hitting the sand with dull thuds. Nida weakly twitched and stumbled to her feet, seeing Elty lying on his back stunned and the contents of the bag strewn about a trail behind her.

"N-Nrgh…" she groaned. "Talk about your hard landings…"

"Grr…"

The pair blanched as they heard the sounds of the approaching growls and stamping feet, turning around to see two Hippopotas running for them. The youngsters went wide-eyed, and hastily dragged themselves up into a limping run, desperately trying to stay ahead of their pursuers.

"A-Agh! Seriously, can't we catch a break here?!" Elty whined.

Nida bounced back after the Hippopotas lobbed another clod of sand at her, prompting her to. whirl and see the slender shape of a seed lying in the sand. The Nidoran hastily scooped it up and whigged it at the closer of the two Hippopotas, causing a faint crack to ring out, followed by the sound of bodies tripping over one another and startled yelps.

"Hey!" the dark-nosed Hippopotas cried. "Herätä! You can't just fall asleep on me like that!"

The female Hippopotas nosed and pawed at her partner, trying to shake him awake only to catch an orange glare from the corner of her eye. The Ground-Type whirled around just in time to see Elty somersaulting towards her with fire dancing on his pelt, and striking her with a burning blow. The hippo recoiled, and struggled against the burning pain to open her mouth and clamp down on his hindquarters to intercept.

The Growlithe howled out of pain, and thrashed around in an attempt to desperately pull away. The Fire-Type wildly tried to spit up embers and bite back, only to be dragged along in the sand by his attacker, unable to get a clear shot at her.

"Hey, tubby! Over here!"

The Hippopotas' ears perked up before feeling a stiff kick at her rump. The Ground-Type yelped and let go of the fire dog in her jaws to whirl around, only to see a spinning kick come at her from below. The second kick caught the hippo in her chin, sending her flying back facefirst into the sand, out cold as Elty panted and licked at some ruddy streaks in his leg's fur.

"N-Nice save there!" the Growlithe panted, only for his words to be joined by a dazed-sounding yawn.

"Ngh… Wha?"

The pair looked over to see the last Hippopotas stirring and rising to his feet. Nida's barbs stood on end and she dug her feet into the sand, bracing herself for a hasty rush of attacks.

"We're not out of the woods just yet, Elty," she grunted. "Come on!"

On cue, the Growlithe spat up a clump of cinders at the dozing hippo, prompting Nida to follow up with a pair of spinning kicks at the Ground-Type's heavy head. The second kick knocked the Hippopotas back and stirred it awake, tottering and dazed from his blows. The Ground-Type went wide-eyed out of abrupt realization of his predicament, and dug his feet in, opening his jaws for a sharp, crushing bite. The hippo lunged forward, only for Elty to barrel into him with a flaming somersault. A pained yelp rang out, followed by a dull thud against the sand as the hippo tumbled to a groaning stop, unconscious and weakly twitching. The dog looked on, panting, and upon the realization of his victory sinking in, he began to puff his chest out in satisfaction.

"Heh," Elty chuckled . "I'm on fire today-"

"GYAAAAH!"

Nida and Elty's blood curdled at the sound of Pleo's screams, prompting them to look behind just as the Hippowdon pulled the bird out of the air with an electrified bite to his wing. Guardia lost her balance and fell from her place on Pleo's back, the Cubone dropping down to the ground with a thud and a plume of sand. The sand swirled in the air for a moment, only for Guardia to burst out of the sand plume in a panic, the Hippowdon pinning Pleo down against the ground and biting at his back with an audible crunch.

"PLEO! Hang in there!" Nida cried. "We're coming!"

Nida and Elty flung forward a venomous spike and a cone of embers respectively at the Hippowdon's rump, prompting him to open his mouth to growl out of pain and whirl around. The Ground-Type stormed along at the two backbiting pests, leaving Pleo to flop forward feebly in the sand, panting and shaken from his ordeal.

"N-Nrgh…"

Pleo shifted, twitching his wings when he felt a small hand tugging at it. The Lugia craned his head, turning to see Guardia pawing at his wing, pulling at the little Protector with wide, anxious eyes

"Kamome, can you stand?" she asked. Pleo stumbled up, tottering and struggling to stay on his feet.

"Everything hurts…"

"I know that," Guardia insisted. "But if you can fight at all, we really need you-"

The Cubone was cut off by the sound of a rabbit's squeal and a frightened yelp coming from the distance. Guardia turned and much to her shock, saw Nida swept up in a sandy vortex, with Elty being chased off in a panicked haste by the Hippowdon stomping along after him.

"Gah! Look, find a safe place to hide if you can't fight!" she exclaimed. "It’s not safe to just stand here like this!"

Guardia bolted after the Hippowdon that hounded Elty, feet pounding on the ground carrying her as fast as they could manage. She tightened her grip on her club, winding one arm back for a crushing blow, only to realize that Elty was losing ground fast and that the Hippowdon would soon be upon him. Try as she might, there was just no way she could make that distance in time. Finding little other option in her situation, Guardia lifted the club above her head and - against her better judgment - took aim to throw the bone instead.

"Hey, yajū! Heads up!"

Guardia sent her bone into a flying spin, the club twirling along until it struck the side of the Hippowdon's head. The feral gave a loud bellow out of pain, and much to the Cubone's astonishment, her projectile bounced off of his head and remained airborne, starting to follow an arc coming back to her...

"Ah! It's coming back!" she cried. "It's-!"

Only to plant into the sand a little ways away. The Cubone, jolting up out of alarm, took off in a mad dash for her club, only to feel heavy vibrations in the ground. Guardia turned to her right, and much to her horror, spotted the Hippowdon lumbering for her, the hulking Ground-Type knocking her back into a rolling tumble on the ground. The lizard staggered up panting, pawing at deepening bruises and trying to regain her bearings. Just then, the earth rocked under her feet a second time, making her freeze out of terror. There, charging directly for her was the Hippowdon once again, his cavernous maw swung open wide and ready for a crushing bite.

"Leave her alone!"

A blur of vibrant blue in the vague shape of a dragon tore through the air towards the Hippowdon, slamming into him with a massive impact and sending the beast tumbling back with a pained roar. Guardia panted, wide-eyed and white-knuckled, scanning the room frantically for a place to hide away.

"Tutaj!" a yipping voice cried.

The Cubone turned to see Elty standing beside her, the team's tattered bag on his shoulder and her bone in his mouth. She spluttered a moment, torn between surprised relief and an overwhelming urge to yank her bone out of the Fire-Type's maw.

"E-Eh?! Gardie?!" Guardia exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

"Giving you a Helping Hand!" the dog barked back, muffled somewhat by the bone locked between his teeth. "My paws are gonna be full with the spike ball, so make the most of it!"

Elty sidled up against Guardia with her club firmly locked in his maw, a charge of blue sparks building on his pelt as he ran. He dropped the bone into her waiting hand and tagged her on the back with one paw, sending the sparks of energy flowing into her in turn, and bounded back to pull Nida from her sandy vortex. The Cubone jolted upright as she felt the invigorating current of energy course through her and gripped her club tight, grimacing somewhat at the feeling of dog slobber on her precious club, but shook the worry out of her head for now. Instead, she focused on the battle at hand. Glowering at the Hippowdon rising back to his feet, she pulled her helmet snugly against her snout and lowered her head to charge like a raging Tauros.

"Right!" she grunted. "Come on Pleo! Let's make this count!"

Guardia darted for the Hippowdon as Pleo arced around above the ground, the Cubone jumping down with a lunging overhead smash against the hippo's rear leg. She felt her club land with a thud and brought it up for another blow, and another. The Hippowdon snarled and reared up to counter the little pest, only to be sent tumbling back by a stiff whirling wind from Pleo's wings.

"Grnk?!"

For a fleeting moment, the Hippowdon flailed as he felt his body leave the ground and sail through the air, followed by a headfirst splash into the water. The Ground-Type tumbled under the surface before finding his footing and staggering up. The hippo panted from exhaustion, coughing up water and blowing out globs of wet sand from his pores disgustedly. The feral paced back to shore seething when he felt a sharp kick on his chin, seeing a blue blur weave back by his feet. Instinctively, the hippo lifted his legs and stomped down, feeling spikes lodge into his feet amidst the wet sand and hearing a loud, terrified squeal of pain. There, underfoot was the culprit of the blow, a wide-eyed and thrashing Nidoran desperately trying to pull herself free.

"You!" the Hippowdon snarled. "You're going to pay for thi-"

The Hippowdon was cut off by a burning kick across his face, crying out with a pained shout. The Ground-Type tottered back into the oasis, his strength rapidly leaving him as his vision ran muddy and black, collapsing into the water. Back onshore, Elty pulled himself and Nida out of the oasis, shaking off some water off his pelt as Pleo and Guardia rushed over, the Nidoran shifting weakly before looking up at her teammates.

"U-Urgh…" she groaned. "Did… Did we make it?"

"Yeah… we won," Guardia panted. A tired smile crept over the Cubone's muzzle as she slung her club over her shoulder, her face marked with the satisfaction that followed a hard-won battle.

"Heh… looks like it's finally over."

"Not just yet," Elty grunted.

"Huh?!" Pleo squawked. "What do you mean-?"

The Lugia opened his beak to protest, only to see Elty point off tiredly with his paw. The little Protector turned and followed it and saw that it was pointing at the foggy passage from earlier, the paw's owner giving an impatient snort and shake of his head.

"We weren't just planning on staying down in this dungeon, were we?"

"… No, come on," Nida sighed. "Let's hurry up and get out of here."

The four Pokémon set off, trudging tiredly against their fresh wounds for the exit ahead of them. One by one, the youngsters slipped off into the fog, leaving behind the grueling gauntlet of the dungeon behind, and off to unknown environs outside.



Back on the waters south of Orleigh, the Siglo Swellow remained under an oppressive atmosphere of shock from the Khranitel Rod's sudden invasion. The sea nomads held the ship hostage under threat of a volley of powerful Water attacks, the captors glaring out at the crew as they waited for the command to open fire. With every movement one of their would-be assailants made, the ship's crew squeaked and whispered amongst themselves, a few braver or perhaps more desperate types trying their luck at pleading their case with their accosters.

"H-Hold on here," Philips stammered. "You've got the wrong idea-!"

"Shut up, Company scum!" a Kingdra from the water snarled. "You're gonna do exactly what we say, and you're gonna like it!"

The crew aboard the Siglo Swellow shrank back and traded nervous glances with each other at the sea Pokémon's snarls. A few crewmembers here and there attempted to maintain a battle stance, but there was no disguising the predicament the ship was in, which didn't elude Crom. They were all surrounded and at the mercy of hostile faces, ones which were undoubtedly up to no good.

"D-Dad?" the Druddigon stuttered. "What do we do now?"

"Maybe- Maybe we could calm them down?" Pladur gulped.

The Fraxure inched along waving his claws to try and motion for calm, but all the while betraying a deep anxiety over his current predicament.

"Lo siento! Lo siento! We really don't mean any harm or want to start a fight!"

In the midst of the sea of glares, a slight change stirred. It was only a few faces here and there, whose hardened scowls began to show signs of unease. The most obvious of them was a Kabutops towards the front, who blinked at the foreign tongue, and swam up warily to press for more information.

"Huh? What's with that accent?" Dimitri murmured. "Why you're talking just like that Nidoran did when she passed through with her friends-"

"Dimitri!"

The Kabutops flinched and sheepishly turned back to his Dragalge superior, sinking a little at the sight of the seahorse's scowl. All the while, the crew of the Siglo Swellow had been listening and growing increasingly wide-eyed at the realization that this Nidoran was...

"Eh?! You saw Nida?!" Crom exclaimed. "Was Pleo with her?!"

"And how would you know about them?" Viktor demanded. "You're with the Company!"

"They probably just overheard their names, this means nothing," a Relicanth close to him spat.

"You're wrong!" the Druddigon exclaimed. "We're their teammates!"

Crom's protests elicited nothing but a dismissive scoff from the bulk of the gathered crowd of nomads. The Kingdra in front seemed particularly unimpressed, as he rolled his eyes and glared back at the Druddigon before growling out a response.

"Sure you are," Kuda snorted. "And I fly around in the sky in my spare time."

"I'm serious!" the young dragon insisted.

Hurriedly, Crom dug through his father's bag until he felt his claws make contact with soft cloth. He tugged out a corner to check and, upon catching sight of the familiar blue and white-starred scarf, he pulled the cloth out of the bag and presented it for everyone to see.

"Look, was this the scarf she and her friends were wearing?"

A dead silence fell over the gathered sea Pokémon, as uneasy murmurs and puzzled glances flittered here and there among their number. Their Dragalge leader seemed less persuaded, though still was unable to find a convincing way to reconcile why the Druddigon ought to have one of Team Traveller's scarves, prompting him to slap the water for attention.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Viktor demanded.

"Like we said, we're their teammates," Kiran answered.

"We're from Tromba looking for our Protector after the Company took him away," Beatrix said.

As soon as the Illumise's words left her mouth, the demeanor of the nomads took a skeptical turn. The story seemed far too implausible, especially to the Kingdra bobbing impatiently in the churning waves. After all, if they really weren't with the Company...

"Then why on earth are you sailing around in Company sails, huh?!" Kuda prodded.

"We did it so we could sail into Company ports and ask questions without attracting too much attention," the Hitmontop first mate explained. "How else were we supposed to find leads on where they might have taken our Protector?"

"And the Company told you to go here...?" a Dewgong pressed.

"Er… I know it sounds fantastical," Ander murmured. "But we ran into some escapees from Orleigh earlier, and they said that they saw him on that island."

"Hrmph," Scout harrumphed. "You could have just said it was me, you know."

Some blinks and idle splashes filled the air, as the Siglo Swellow's crew watched the surrounding nomads eased their expressions. Even so, there was still not the expected sheepish hospitality that comes from discovering a friend in strange places, but rather some sort of solemn and overpowering somberness, which a Relicanth towards the front put into words:

"Well you're a bit late," the fish sighed. "Our own scouts couldn't find any sign of them on that rock when we looked for them."

Crom's heart sank, and his wings drooped as the sea Pokemon's explanation sunk in. He'd hoped perhaps these nomads could finally point them towards a reunion with Nida, Pleo and Elty, and yet... they hardly had any better leads than he did regarding their whereabouts.

"Do… Do we really have no other idea of where they could have gone?" Crom asked.

"Well… I don't know for certain," Dimitri murmured. "But I think I might have an idea of where they tried to go."

"Eh?" Kiran chirped. "Where would that be?"

"Before we got separated, the kids and I were making our way to Sormus to try and get to some island they were after," the Kabutops explained. "It's close enough to Orleigh to make it there if they knew which way to go."

"But what would keep them from just going back into the Subway?" Kuda countered.

Dimitri opened his mouth to retort, raising one scythe in protest, but his words failed him as he realized that Kuda had a point. Pleo did seem to take naturally to the water, so it wasn't unreasonable that he could get down there on his own once his wing had healed...

"Er… I hadn't thought about that," the Kabutops admitted.

"It's nothing that our rod can't handle," Viktor grunted. "We'll take the Subway tunnels around here, and the ship can handle going to Sormus. We can always meet up there later on to regroup."

"Er… right," Dimitri answered. "So then we should get-"

"You're staying with the ship," the Dragalge ordered.

"H-Huh?!"

"Someone's gotta keep an eye on that crew and keep them focused on their task," the Poison-Type insisted. "And you're the one who's the most chatty with airbreathers anyways."

Viktor sighed and shook his head, sinking lower into the water before rising up. Much to his puzzlement, Dimitri noticed that the Dragalge's expression had softened, with the faintest outlines of a smile visible on his snout.

"Besides," the seahorse continued. "I thought you were the one who always wanted to see more of what was up here on the surface."

Dimitri floated stunned for a moment, his eyes lighting up and his mouth forming an ever-widening smile at the Dragalge's words. The Kabutops gave a salute with his scythe, and cheerfully bubbled back a thankful answer to his superior.

"Right!" Dimitri replied. "I won't let you down Ataman."

The nomads ducked under the waves and began to swim off into the deep, leaving Dimitri behind in the care of the Siglo Swellow's crew. A rope ladder was thrown over, prompting the Fossil Pokémon to clamber up it and onto the deck where a crowd of curious sailors had gathered.

"Er… thanks for sticking up for us back there," Crom said.

"Yeah, if you didn't, who knows where we'd be right now," Pladur murmured.

"What name do you go by?" Ander asked.

"It's Dimitri, and I was just pointing out an observation," the Kabutops insisted. "You guys handled the rest fine on your own."

"Well, handling it or not, we're going to need all the help here we can get," Beatrix buzzed. "So let's get going, and we'll talk the details over as we sail."

The Kabutops gave a small wag of his tail and a smiling nod back to the Illumise. Perhaps he could've had it in better circumstances, but this felt like the sort of mission on the surface he'd been looking for for years, and a ray of enthusiasm cracked through his face's exoskeleton.

"Heh, sounds good to me."

The escorts stirred up a moving current in the sky and sea, pushing the Siglo Swellow westward. All the while, the crew's spirits lifted again, having gotten a bead on their Protector's whereabouts, and gotten the aid of some new friends.



Copperband Village was a sleepy village of adobe buildings, characterized by a mix of flat and gabled roofs. Every so often, a building here or there made entirely of timbers would stand out, including a shrine that glistened with the shine of metal rings. At the seaside, the port was busy much as it always was, if packed with carts and crates laden down ores and a few with glinting bars of tawny metal; the normal rhythm carrying on as Nagant and her Vasilek neared the piers.

The frigate slowed and began to pull to the dock, prompting the shrimp to hop from the deck into the water and swimming the distance over to the pier, pulling herself out in front of a waiting Mudsdale with a white scarf with six orange crystals radiating outwards. Bobbing along in the air to the horse's side was Faraday, the Drifblim messenger who'd notified the official of the ship's approach.

"Welcome to Sormus, Captain Nagant," the Mudsdale said. "I trust your journey went well?"

"My journey isn't done just yet," Nagant grunted. "I believe you two had somewhere to be taking me?"

"… Right, the Duke and Duchess have been waiting for you," the Drifblim murmured. "Clyde here will show you the way."

The Mudsdale gave a swish of his tail and set off down the narrow and dusty streets, leading the visiting captain along. The village was a meager settlement, lacking the flash of the capital and as meager as the desert itself. Even so, there were signs of life to be had: there were the Gible and Numel youngsters playing cards with each other, shifting pebbles onto their cards as imaginary volleys of attacks rang out between the Pokémon depicted on them. Further ahead, there was a lively bar, with a Camerupt regaling listeners with obviously exaggerated tales of his time as a "soldier of fortune".

As the journey wore on, scenery began thinning out after Clyde led Nagant towards an oasis on the southern outskirts, where a stone bridge snaked over the water towards the local bastion, a simple fortification made of adobe that ringed the manor of the Duke of Sormus. The pair were waved through the spartan front, and whisked along a series of courtyards to the fortified entrance to the manor where a Nosepass clad in cerulean armor with the telltale rattle of a mail layer let them in. Inside, the dusty and simple exterior melted away and was replaced with sumptuous corridors lined with red carpeting and portraits of nobles from bygone ages.

Clyde's guidance ultimately led Nagant to a rock garden with a few fire pits for warmth at night. At the center, a male and female duo of Volcarona waited along with an attending Blaziken: Duke Atlas, Duchess Agila, and Governor Orloff respectively if her memory served her right. The Mudsdale stopped at the door and bade Nagant to go ahead of him, the male Volcarona giving a buzz and flitting his wings at the sight of the shrimp as she drew near.

"Ah, Captain Nugget!" the Bug-Type greeted. "We've been expecting you!"

Atlas' cheery buzzing carried on as the Blaziken beside him quietly noted the barely stifled agitation on the Clawitzer's face. Sensing it would be better to start the meeting with their guest on a less grating note, the Fire-Type cleared his throat and hastily corrected his superior.

"Eh... your Grace," the Blaziken whispered. "I believe it was 'Nagant'."

"Ah right… Nagant," the Duke slowly corrected himself. "So, what brings you to our fair island?"

"Some recent developments," she answered. "During my assignment to Boisocéan, I discovered that Tromba Island's Protector has awakened."

"Eh? But Tromba's halfway across Anyilla from here!" the Duchess exclaimed. "How does that involve us?"

"Because the Company's pursued it into our waters, and my tracking has led me to conclude that he's come here for shelter," Nagant insisted.

The gathered Pokémon traded dubious looks with one another. Were they truly to believe that an esteemed Protector had come to their island, with them none the wiser of his presence? The four simply found that too hard to believe, as evidenced by the Blaziken Governor who stepped forth with a skeptical look etched on his face.

"… I believe some validation is in order, Captain," Orloff scoffed.

"We already do have quite a bit on our plates keeping the town and the mines humming as they should," the female Volcarona insisted. "We can't tend to every little matter on a whim."

"Tell me," Nagant demanded. "What do you know of Lugia, the Guardian of the Seas?"

Atlas, Agila, Orloff, and Clyde glanced to one another once again, Orloff and Clyde seeming to have racked their brains in thought while the Duke and Duchess had already come up blank. Nevertheless, no one seemed really knowledgeable about this 'Lugia'. Even the ones who didn't seem totally lost looked as if they could hazard a guess at best. A few uncertain murmurs floated throughout the gathering before Atlas fluttered his wings uneasily.

"Er… admittedly I haven't really done much research into the Protectors of foreign islands," the Duke said. "But I do remember it is supposed to be some manner of bird with silver feathers."

"You mean like one of these?" Nagant asked.

She fished out a silver feather from underneath her scarf and held it up high for her audience to see. The sight was met with audible gasps, the small audience stammering and tripping over their words in stunned surprise as they attempted to press the Clawitzer for more details.

"Uskomatonta!" Atlas exclaimed.

"Where did you find that?" Orloff questioned.

"I encountered the Protector back on Orleigh yesterday," Nagant explained. "While there, I learned a bit about his habits and tendencies, which may be valuable in capturing him."

"… What do you have in mind and what do you need from us?" Atlas asked.

"I propose that we post the guards at places the Protector and his entourage are likely to pass through if they're here. The entrances to the town, the guild, and the local hostels," the Clawitzer said. "My crew will be ready to assist the local guards. From there, just pen them up and my crew will handle the rest."

"… I think that that can be arranged," the Duke mulled, before turning to the Blaziken beside him. "Governor Orloff, send word to the Sheriff to meet Captain Nu- Ah… Nagant on her ship for further debriefing."

"So be it," Orloff grunted. "I think that this meeting can be adjourned."

Nagant gave a respectful bow and made her way hopping for the door. All the while, thoughts and fantasies of finally restoring her house swirled in her mind... along with a nagging exasperation over how much longer she'd have to put up with hearing others butcher her name on the job. Whenever this settled down, she'd have to find some land to retire and unwind. Someplace along a coast with plenty of stones for target practice, perhaps…

But those plans could wait for later. For now, the fate of the Empire was still undecided, and in the wings of the Protector lurking somewhere out there under the big blue sky.



"Oi! Be careful with those!"

At the seaside, the Mistral Marauder had been pulled into a drydock for repairs, so much so that the space behind the iced wall had yet to be fully drained. In spite of that, the caravel and its surroundings were aflutter with activity, with Pokémon darting between repairs and loading cargo. Hess didn't know if it was the haste, or else just the crew being... the crew more than usual, but the process of overseeing his ship's preparations had been one headache after another for himself and his first mate. The latest of such headaches were a Kricketot and a Pawniard he'd caught dragging barrels aboard by their flats.

"Well, I suppose you can't fault them for keeping busy..." Rodion sighed.

Hess, wholly unpleased with how the state of affairs were going, turned and barked at the two deckhands.

"If I see another broken barrel, I'm taking it out of your share of the loot!"

"Oi, Captain!"

"Hrm?"

Hess lifted his head up at the sound of the buzzing voice and turned around as the noise of whooshing air caught his ears. There, behind him were Kichiro and Wilhelm, coming to a rest on the dock with the buckets of pitch he'd sent for, visibly tired from having flown over in a hurry.

"Eh, Kichiro?" the Aggron asked. "What are you doing here? I thought you were back and tarring the hull already!"

"It's Keiichiro..." the Ledian corrected irkedly, before shaking his head and shifting the conversation. "Anyway, while we were gathering supplies, we overheard some goons from the Shadow Brigade talk about that Lugia, so we followed them and found something big."

"Yeah, Captain Sibich can hide stuff in his body!" Wilhelm chimed in, much to Kichiro's exasperation.

"Anta baka?!" the Bug-Type snapped. "What did I say about that?!"

Hess and Rodion gave skeptical tilts of their head at the pair, watching as Wilhelm flitted back with a start. Kichiro gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head before continuing on with his explanation.

"Captain Sibich is looking for that bird too, and he was talking about 'the haul of a lifetime' on Giotto," the Ledian explained. "My guess is that that's where that Lugia must have gone off to, he even hold out one of his feathers!"

"Huh?" Hess murmured. "But Eltenios said that they were originally headed for Sormus and then Pioppo."

Kichiro gave an irritated buzz and glared up at the Aggron, grumbling under his breath. Hess could remember the name of some tubby mutt who fell off the face of the planet, but not his?

"Oh, so you get his name right…"

"Hrm… that means that the Imps must have already brought him back?" Wilhelm suggested.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Rodion asked. "We were both tied up on the deck of that crab's ship, and hers was the only one with Imp colors that came into port. Who else would’ve captured that Protector other than her?"

Hess blinked as a dawning realization came over him. If the Empire really had another crew capture the Lugia and the brats, it would've logically been to cover the shrimp's bases. For the bird to be found so soon, the ship couldn't have possibly been apart from that Clawitzer, and would have accompanied her into port during the raid. On top of that, the very fact that the Empire sent only one ship to Orleigh would mean that someone wanted to keep the matter under wraps, even among other Imps. Based off that, there was only one possible conclusion to make about the report of Lugia being on Giotto right now...

"… No one," Hess muttered, "Meaning he's not there."

"What- What do you mean he's not there!" Kichiro spluttered. "It's Sibich! He must have some intel we don't have! Since when has he ever gotten anything wrong?"

"I don't know, but it just doesn't match up, alright?" the Aggron insisted. "And as long as I'm captain, I say we stick to my original plan!"

A long, tense silence followed Hess' words. In spite of his advantage in strength and size, his' scolding had failed to erase the scowl on Kichiro's face, who still glared up at his superior.

"… Just be careful," the Ledian murmured. "Keep pushing like that, and you won't be captain for very long."

Kichiro's words drew a low, deep growl, prompting the Bug-Type to dig his feet into the dock. There in front of him, Hess was glaring, the Aggron captain lowering his head and flashing his horns threateningly. Rodion seemed little better, with a fierce scowl entrenched on his face.

"What was that, Kichiro?" Rodion growled.

"He was saying that you wouldn't be captain for-" Wilhelm started, only for Kichiro to clamp his mouth shut and hiss at him under his breath.

"Shut up, you stupid hayseed!"

Rodion glowered at the exchange, only to pause as he noticed a shift in the demeanor of the neighboring crew members. A number of them had begun to glare during the whole exchange, and not at Kichiro as the Floatzel would have hoped. Instead, their frustration was trained firmly on the hulking captain of the ship, prompting the Water-Type to clear his throat and make an attempt at de-escalating the matter.

"Look, we've all obviously been through a lot," he offered. "But at least make yourself useful around here so we can get out of port already."

"Alright, alright!" Kichiro snapped.

The beetle hurried off with his pitch buckets, dragging the Hoppip with him by his leafy wings, leaving the dock and waters to return to their normal business as the crew's expressions grudgingly softened. After seeing the two get a suitable distance out of earshot, Rodion sighed and shook his head, before turning to his superior.

"Are you sure about this, Hess?" the Floatzel asked. "I mean, you saw how all those Pokémon reacted at first, and it's not any less common behind your back…"

Hess faltered a moment at his first mate's question and racked his brain. It was true that Sibich was part of the Council and privy to things that he wouldn't know… but he'd heard Eltenios' words come from his own mouth before anyone else knew the importance of that mutant Wingull being on the island. It sounded implausible, yes… but Sibich had to be in the wrong here, and checking Sormus was still their best bet. It just didn't add up otherwise!

"… I'm sure, Rodion," Hess insisted. "You heard Eltenios too that night, they didn't have any plans of going to Giotto."

"… Then let's stick with it then, and hope for the best," the Floatzel muttered. "We've only got until sundown to get everything together anyways."

The two carried on chattering as the work preparing the ship carried on. Meanwhile, at the base of the drydock, Wilhelm and Kichiro set their pitch buckets down on a floating raft, sizing up the work to be done caulking the hull.

"Hey Keiichiro...?" Wilhelm piped.

"For the thousandth time, it's Keiichi-!" the Ledian snapped, only to catch himself as his eyes adopted a surprised sheen.

"Oh wait, that's what you said."

The Hoppip had shrunk back and uneasily fluttered in place, waiting expectantly on the beetle. Kichiro huffed and his expression gradually melted into a grumbling, unamused stare. He'd probably regret asking, but...

"Hrmph, what is it?" Kichiro grunted.

"Uhm… I was going to say, maybe it doesn't really matter where that Protector is…" the Grass-Type said. "Won't we have a great adventure no matter where we go?"

The Ledian stared blankly as the Hoppip flitted expectantly in place, prompting him to bury his head in a hand and pinch his brow.

"… What did I ever do to deserve this?" the Bug-Type groaned.



Team Traveller followed the path through the dungeon fog, eventually exiting out the other end in a burnt-orange desert filled with rolling dunes. The four limped along the sandy waste, passing the occasional large stone and clump of cacti as they tried to make sense of where they were.

"We- We made it," Nida panted.

"Yeah," Elty huffed. "But to where?"

"I'm not sure… but I see lights," Guardia said. "Here, mite!"

The Cubone bade the three to follow with a wave of her club, leading them along to a tall ledge over a large, expansive pit. There in the distance was a smattering of lights, in the mix of warm oranges of fires and cool blues of glow-moss against the twilight hues of the setting sun, sure signs of a nearby town.

"So then we must be getting close to a tow-"

The Ground-Type's breath hitched as the earth heaved underneath her and the ledge crumbled away, sending the whole of Team Traveller into freefall down towards the inky blackness. Pleo beat his wings furiously as the screams of his teammates rang out, only to connect with a gravelly surface on his side and fall into a roll, tumbling down a slope before finally coming to a rest flat on his back in a pile of loose, rough earth. Dazed, the young Protector laid there with his eyes screwed shut in pain. The sound of his friends groaning and staggering to their feet nearby hit his ears, and Pleo shifted his body as he weakly followed suit.

"Eh?! What was that?!" a startled-sounding exclaimed .

"Another debris slide?" a deep voice fumed. "What on earth are those Water-Types doing with stabilizing those slopes?"

"No it sounded too small for that," a feline voice countered. "Like it was someone falling."

Pleo opened his eyes and craned his neck up to discover a trio of watching eyes. The young Lugia flapped back with a start, seeing that the Pokémon were a dusty-looking Golem, Meowstic, and Excadrill, the lot sporting hardened scowls.

"Oi, these aren't work scarves!" the Golem exclaimed.

"They must be some kids from town trespassing," the Meowstic growled.

"T-Trespassing?!" Nida cried.

"But that's not what we were-" Elty began, only to be cut off with a snap from the Excadrill.

"Hope your trip taught you a nice lesson about sticking your craw where it don't belong-"

"Hey! No one said that you could take a break, you lazy bums!"

The gathered Pokémon staggered and struggled to keep their balance as the ground shook underfoot, prompting them to look back and see a towering green lizard with a stony hide and a mouth full of sharp fangs. Team Traveller watched as the three strangers visibly flushed pale, prompting them to shrink back at the sight of the visibly irate Tyranitar.

"Just because it's half an hour until closing hour doesn't mean that you're allowed to slack off on the job!" the Armor Pokémon snarled.

"A-Aah! Anteeksi! Anteeksi!" the Excadrill squealed. "We didn't plan this, boss!"

"Yeah, we caught some trespassers here!" the Golem insisted.

"Eh?"

Team Traveller paled as the hulking lizard made his way to the front and stopped before them. The Tyranitar growled irkedly, peering down at the little intruders with a harsh glare.

"… Who are you, and what do you think you're doing in my dig site?" the Rock-Type demanded.

The four gulped in sequence, keenly aware of the towering, stony-faced lizard's presence as he hovered over them threateningly. As if that weren't enough, would he really take their word for the situation even if they explained everything? One after the other, the young Pokemon blurted out a hasty explanation, each of their attempts delivered in a stammered, squeaky tone.

"Ah… we're… we're Team Traveller," Nida stuttered. "And we just got out of a Mystery Dungeon up this ledge."

"C-Chotto matte! We weren't trying to trespass here!" Guardia protested. "Our ledge gave way underfoot!"

"Yeah," Pleo added. "We were just look for a place to- Nrgh!"

The Tyranitar scowled down at the strange white bird and noticed that he was holding his foot up awkwardly, as if he'd sprained it. On further examination, the other youngsters seemed similarly bruised and battered, far more than should have been the case from their fall Although the rocky reptile's stony-faced demeanor didn't budge an inch, Team Traveller noted his silence as he almost seemed to be mulling the situation over in their favor.

"I take it that's where all those scuffs of yours came from?" the Tyranitar asked. "You do look a little more beat up than I'd expect from rolling down the hill here."

"Uh… yes?" Elty answered.

"… Then let’s get you patched up."

The Tyranitar shook his head and turned to the other Pokémon, giving an impatient stomp of the ground. The earth shook and the three miners jolted upright and wide-eyed, grimacing as the Rock-Type shot them an impatient glare.

"Get back to work," he barked. "I'll handle the rest from here."

The trio each shot their boss a hasty affirmative before bolting away as instructed. As the Tyranitar turned his attention to Team Traveller, the four froze in place and grimaced up at him, bracing themselves for the heavy blows the Rock-Type was certainly capable of. Team Traveller watched and waited uneasily as the lizard glowering down at them as his tail swaying to and fro dangerously, waiting and waiting for the first strike to try and bolt away.

"Are you just going to sit there?" the Tyranitar demanded. "I'll let your trespassing slide this time. Joutukaa, you're going to need a guide anyways. I'll take you into town to get patched up."

"Oh!" Pleo exclaimed. "Er, thanks… Uh…"

"It's Aulis," the Rock-Type answered. "But let's worry about life stories after you're patched up."

The Tyranitar motioned for Team Traveller to follow and set off, making his way for a winding path up the pit overlooked by scattered adobe buildings. The four looked at each other warily before following along. They were on a strange island, following a strange Pokémon to a strange adobe town... but in the midst of it all, a reassuring sense of calm asserted itself. For now, they were safe... hopefully.

"Welcome to Copperband, kids."



Author's Notes:

- Herätä! - Finnish: "Wake up!"
- Tutaj! - Polish: "Here!"
- Lo siento! Lo siento! - Spanish: "Sorry! Sorry!"
- Uskomatonta! - Finnish: "Incredible!" / "Unbelieveable!" (interjection)
- Anta baka?! (あんたバカ?! / あんた馬鹿?! ) - Japanese: "Are you stupid?!" / "Are you an idiot?!" (Hepburn romanization)
- mite! - Japanese: "Look!" (Hepburn romanization)
- Anteeksi! Anteeksi! - Finnish: "Sorry! Sorry!"
- Joutukaa - Finnish: "(You all) Hurry up"
 
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Chapter 54: Run to Ground

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
j6NRsRo.png


By the time Aulis led Team Traveller to the top of the winding path up the slopes of the mine, the sun had begun to retreat beyond the horizon, coloring the sky with the day's final rays before slipping over the edge of the Cradle entirely. The group made their way through Copperband Village, a sleepy abode of simple adobe buildings flecked with the occasional well-built wooden stalwart. The town had begun winding down for the night, with shopkeepers starting to shutter shops, and a few taverns catering to night owls lighting their lanterns to tempt Pokémon with the smell of fresh food as they drifted home. All the while, the four shivered slightly, finding that the sweltering heat had given way to an unexpected chilliness as the skies darkened.

"Blergh… I'll never understand how the days here can be so hot and the nights freezing like this," Guardia groaned.

"That's the way life is in a desert," Aulis grunted. "Hot days, cold nights, and dry enough for most plants to struggle just to sprout on their own."

"Huh? Was that why we didn't see that many fields coming here?" Pleo wondered. "Then where does all the food come from? And where do all the Pokémon who live in the outskirts work?"

"We're a bit more dependent on Gummi Fabs to get our grub around here," the Tyranitar explained. "As for work, they work under the likes of yours truly, digging up copper and whatever else we can get for the Empire's treasury."

Nida blinked and twitched her whiskers at the Rock-Type's explanation. For such a sleepy and dusty-looking town, it sounded as if the place was rather important to this Empire. But even so, how could everyone here make their living from this mine?

"Eh? But what about the Pokémon that don't dig so well?" Nida asked.

"Well, there's always selling to the miners in town, and some of them take up work as mercenaries," Aulis responded. "Usually on behalf of the Empire, though there always seems to be some body of idiots that drifts into a pirate crew in search of fast riches."

Elty blinked at the mention of "body of idiots", his mind turning back to the crew of the Mistral Marauder. After taking Aulis' explanation into mind, a realization suddenly began to dawn on him about who some Pokémon from said body might be...

"Oh, so that's how Pyry and Pekka got into the business…" the Growlithe muttered under his breath.

"… It sounds like a bit of a harsh town," Pleo murmured.

"Well it is at times, but we do our best to make the most of it," Aulis replied. "And that includes paying our dues to the Pokémon watching over us."

The Tyranitar gestured off with a claw off at a glint on a hill in the distance. Guardia squinted through the dimming light and saw that the glint came from a pink-and-black pavilion with shining metallic rings threaded through spires. At the front was a gleaming copper statue of a small horned figure holding a ring in front of a taller six-limbed being with a hollow chest… Was the smaller of the two a hero associated with the Protector? Whatever the case was, the sight seemed to impart a degree of pride to Aulis, the rock lizard giving a satisfied grunt at his guests' reactions.

"When our Protector comes, he will be able to help smooth things over," the Rock-Type explained. "But until then, we've gotta start by helping ourselves."

Each member of Team Traveller silently admired the Tyranitar's steadfast determination... but at the same time, they wondered whether the Protector of this island would manage to live up to his expectations. After all, for all the lore surrounding Pleo back home, he hadn't turned out to be quite as big and powerful as expected, at least not yet. Could the same kind of thing wind up holding true for the Protector of Sormus?

They had little time to mull over the situation in detail, as the team were snapped out of their reverie by the sound of chatter echoing from around a nearby corner.

"A white bird with a long neck…" a squeaky voice murmured. "What sort of a description is that to work with?"

"I dunno, isn't that basically a Swanna?" a high, ghostly voice asked. "Shouldn't be too hard to spot, right?"

"So why would the Sheriff be so obtuse about it and not just tell us that the 'mon Duke Atlas wanted brought in was a Swanna!" the first voice exclaimed. "What's with all the cloak and dagger all of a sudden? Do you think it has something to do with that fregatti that pulled in?"

The four slowed and grimaced at the sound of the voices, watching as a Maractus and Sandygast in Imperial scarves rounded the corner. Nida froze as Aulis carried on ahead, looking around in a panic for someplace to hide or slip off to.

"Ah... oh, look over there!" she squeaked.

The spike ball hastily tugged at Pleo's wing, bidding him to waddle off after her, Guardia and Elty following close behind at a brisk pace. Aulis paused and looked back confusedly just as the four slipped down an alleyway before breaking into a sprint, bounding down the narrow corridor until they reached another lane, panting and glancing around their surroundings nervously to see if there was any sign of the guards.

"Do- Do you think they saw us?" Pleo stammered.

"I… I dunno," Nida panted. "But whatever happened, they're not chasing after us-"

"What are you doing?"

Team Traveller froze and blanched at the harsh voice, looking up uneasily to see Aulis staring down at them. The Tyranitar's face was hardened into an unamused scowl, clearly not enthusiastic over having to abruptly chase after the group.

"What's the big idea of running off on me, huh?" the Rock-Type growled.

"Uh… er…" Guardia stammered.

"We were just…" Nida began.

The Nidoran faltered, glancing around the adobe-paved street grasping for any excuse she could find to satisfy Aulis' questioning. After a half-moment too long, her eyes settled on a long, low-slung building nestled against a hillside, a lantern-shaped sign hanging welcomingly above the entrance. 'Lamplight Inn,' read the sign...

It would have to do. Nida turned back to Aulis, straightening up and forcing her mouth into the biggest smile she could muster to reassure him.

"We spotted a hostel!" the Poison-Type exclaimed. "It seemed like someplace we could get some rest."

Aulis frowned and raised a brow skeptically at the youngster's word. The kids had obviously been through a lot, but even so the Tyranitar seemed visibly unsatisfied with their explanation.

"… Eh? But why wouldn't you go to a medic's hut first?" Aulis demanded. "You're rather scuffed up."

"Well… I don't think that our condition is anything we can't handle with the stuff in our bag," Elty insisted. "And we need to get going bright and early in the morning anyways."

The Tyranitar furrowed his brow, clearly not buying the Growlithe's explanation. His gaze lingered on the group a bit longer as he observed their wounds again, and noted their poorly-forced smiles despite their obvious beaten-up state, and a low hum rumbled from his throat. Finally, after another moment's scrutiny, he relented and shrugged off his misgivings. These kids had clearly been through a lot; could be they were still a bit cagey from being thrown around the dungeon. Nothing to worry about after all, he decided.

"Suit yourself, then," their guide grunted.

Aulis pressed on ahead, pushing the door open to the inn. A mass of warm air filtered out, beckoning the youngsters in, where they discovered a simple room with low tables bearing candles and ringed by cushioned seats. At the end was a flight of stairs up, and to the left, a rudimentary counter with a bucket of water on it with a finned tail poking out. After feeling the ground thump from Aulis' approach, the tail shifted, as the flattened, tawny form of a Stunfisk poked his head out of his container to greet his customers.

"Hyvää iltaa, and welcome to Lamplight Inn," the Stunfisk greeted. "How many places can we put you down for today?"

"A room for four," Aulis answered.

The Electric-Type's brow raised skeptically, the mudfish taken aback by a party of five asking for only four beds.

"Eh? You're not with them?" the fish asked. The Stunfisk fidgeted his fins impatiently, only to be answered by a shake of the Tyranitar's head.

"Nah, I'm just lending a helping claw for tonight," the Rock-Type explained. "They should be out of your fins by tomorrow."

"Whelp, whatever floats your boat," the Stunfisk replied.

Aulis fished through a small pouch slung across his waist, fishing out a few copper coins and sliding it across the table. Team Traveller watched as the flounder moved his tail over and pushed the coins into a drawer with an audible clink, breathing sighs of relief that they'd found a place to spend the night. Even so, a nagging sense of unease lingered in the air, Pleo shifting his wings uncomfortably before craning his head down to his Nidoran teammate.

"Nida?" Pleo whispered. "How are we supposed to get out of here when the guards are looking for us?"

"… We'll think about it in the morning," the Nidoran replied. "Let's just take things easy for now."

"Whelp, that's it. The room's yours," Aulis said as he turned around and approached the team to give them their key. "I'll stop by in the morning to check up on you in the morning."

"Um… dōmo," Guardia replied.

"Yeah, you wound up being more of a help than I'd have thought at first," Elty added.

"Hmph. Well, you're welcome. Though I need to go and take care of my own problems now," the Tyranitar grumbled. "Good night, and hope you rest well."

Aulis turned and left, shuffling out the door into the night. Back on the counter, the Stunfisk sloshed in his bucket, pointing with his tail up a flight of stairs opening out into a hallway that branched left and right.

"Sixth door to the right," the Electric-Type said. "It's yours for the night."

"Right," Nida answered. "Gracías."

The Nidoran bowed and climbed a crude stairwell up to an adobe hallway with her friends, coming to a stop in front of a solid-looking wooden door that had been left open a crack. The Poison-Type nudged it open, revealing a spartan room with the window facing a westward alleyway, thankfully away from the moon's rising spot. The abode was largely barren, barring a few piles of bedding spread out neatly along the right wall and a stump-table at the center. Not the finest accommodation they could have hoped for, but the air had been recently freshened with some herbs hung over the window, and it was certainly more than an empty visitor's mat on the fringes that they'd have to claim were it not for Aulis' help.

"Was wondering when we were ever going to see one of these again," Elty muttered.

"Come on," Nida sighed. "Let's patch ourselves up and call it a night."

Exhausted, the four flopped down onto the straw bedding around the room, each taking a turn to dig through the team's satchel for berries to treat each others' wounds. One after the other they took a turn applying the berry ointments to each other, until only Pleo was left. The Lugia winced and bobbed his head on reflex as Nida shifted his feathers aside to inspect his wounds. Drawing in a sharp breath as her paw brushed against a particularly harsh scrape, he averted his eyes from Nida's work and reached out with conversation to distract himself from the procedure.

"Nida?" Pleo chirped. "Where do we go from here now?"

"Eh? Why do you ask?" Nida wondered.

"Well, even after we get past the guards…" Pleo murmured. "How do we know if Dimitri made it here? And if so, how would we find him?"

Nida paused, staring into space blankly before shaking her head. The team had somehow managed to endure the entirety of that Mystery Dungeon, staying a step ahead of Lyn and his lackies in the process. But what would they do now? They now found themselves stuck with no guide to Sormus and the surrounding area, and although they'd given Lyn the slip for now, there was no doubt he remained as hot on their trail as he could manage. And how would they handle things when it came time to leave Sormus?

It would only be a matter of time before Lyn caught up, but as exhausted as they were by the escape, they would need every second of rest they could afford. Perhaps the best course of action would be to take things slowly for now, and save their energy for the morning when their assailants would surely be after them in full force once more.

"Let's take things one at a time, Pleo," Nida answered. "For now, let's just enjoy our peace and quiet."

The young Lugia blinked, before obliging the Nidoran's request and nestling himself into his bedding. The sky had grown completely dark, prompting Elty to similarly flip down, and after poking her head out the window and seeing that the moon wasn't visible from the room, Guardia followed suit after a moment of lingering deliberation. Something still didn't feel right about tonight, but even so, it was hard to argue with rest right now…

Another day, another battle. So perhaps it really was best to make the most of their current breather.



As Team Traveller settled into their lodging for the evening, the final rays of daylight started slipping over the horizon for the dark of night. Unbeknownst to Copperband Village and its shuttering shops, offshore on the far side of Sormus, a small flotilla of sea Pokémon and their passengers were making their way back to a white-sailed ship, carrying tired and discouraged-looking creatures off the foreign desert island.

At the head of the group was the sour-looking Samurott captain of the ship, cutting through the water as a Mothim flitted tiredly after him from behind. The otter made his way to a rope ladder that had been unfurled over the edge of the brigantine and grabbed it with his forepaws, pulling himself up to the main deck, where he shook away the seawater which clung to his pelt and irkedly twitched his whiskers.

"I don't believe this," Lyn growled. "The crew spends well over a day searching inside some blasted Dungeon and we still haven't found the Protector yet."

"Well, we know he made it past the midpoint from reported sightings," Ellsberg sighed, brushing some sand loose from his wings. "At this rate he might have managed to make it through the dungeon."

"Then we can't rest here for long!" the Samurott fumed. "The longer we wait the more likely he'll slip away!"

"Hey there! Welcome back, Captain."

Lyn turned to see that much to his surprise, a chair had been left on the deck amid small piles of partly-melted ice lumps. There on top of it was Ketu getting up from reclining, leaving his captain to splutter out of frustration.

"Ketu?! What do you think you're doing?!" the Water-Type yelled. "You were supposed to be watching the ship!"

"Well, what's it look like I'm doing?" the Weavile answered.

"Like you're being a lazy furball and shirking your duty," Ellsberg harrumphed, only to be answered with a dismissive shrug.

"Eh, better a furball than a sand flea," the Dark-Type retorted.

"I don't care about your quips right now, Ketu!" Lyn shouted. "What I want is a good reason why I shouldn't demote you on the spot here and now!"

Lyn's temper quickly erased Ketu's relaxed smile. The Dark-Type tensed up, his demeanor taking a huffy and defensive turn.

"Because I actually did my job?" Ketu scoffed.

"If you did, then how about you start telling what you did besides sunbathing," Lyn demanded.

"I gave the remaining crew some R&R and did the standard checkups," the Weavile replied, his explanation doing little to improve his superior's mood. "Oh, and I kept our cover with some Imp crew who was looking around for the Protector."

Lyn's jaw dropped at Ketu's answer. The Samurott spluttered incredulously, finally forcing out a single roaring word in reply.

"What?!"

"Hm? Oh yeah, some Clawitzer who seemed dead set on capturing him," the Dark-Type continued. "Quite the determined type."

Lyn blanched, raising a shaking paw to his brow and pinching. Two weeks… Two weeks since what was supposed to be a simple capture and transport, and here the matter had blown up to the point where the Empire was now privy of his pursuit.

"This can't be happening..."

Lyn buried his head in his paw, despairing at the situation and at a loss of what to do next. He had lost track of the Protector once again, and no idea where on the island he was exactly... Wait a minute. If that Imperial Captain was also looking for that bird, then why hadn't they run into any of her underlings while searching the Mystery Dungeon? Even after crossing the midpoint, if the Imperial Captain had thought the Protector was in the Dungeon, she'd have sent Pokémon to search there. Between that and their discovery that the bird and his little friends crossed the midpoint earlier today, there was only one logical conclusion...

The lot of them had made it out, and were en route to Copperband if they hadn't already reached it.

"Gather the crew," Lyn growled. "I'm going to need a team to head into Copperband with me."

"Hrmph," Ketu answered. "On it."

Ellsberg fluttered and spluttered incredulously as the Weavile shuffled off. Lyn wanted to go into an Imperial town himself?! How could that possibly end well?

"Wait, wait. Why?!" Ellsberg exclaimed. "Lyn, the Protector is-"

"Not in the dungeon anymore, or else we'd have run into Imps down there," Lyn snorted. "So it's safe to assume that he's gotten out."

Ellsberg blanched and flitted back uneasily. Lyn did have a point, and with how mercurial he was, did he really want to contest the matter if he and Ketu still got the Protector in the end?

"I mean, if you're certain," the Mothim murmured. "But I'm sure that we could spare a small team to check for you."

The Samurott gave a glowering scowl back at the moth's suggestion. What mission given to a "small team" had gone right in this entire chase after the Protector? Lyn remembered how the infiltration team got exposed by a bunch of common peasants on Tromba, and how the team of infiltrators he dispatched to Boisocéan had failed their task so badly that two had to be left behind for the paper pushers in Canalhouse to work out an extradition. The otter chanced to see the pig and sand lizard from earlier, sitting tiredly on some crates, only to jump back to their feet after realizing their captain was watching them. Yes, he certainly didn't need any reminders of that debacle either. No, trying the same thing over and over again while expecting different results was the definition of insanity. With that in mind, perhaps it was best to shake things up and take a different tack.

"... No. I'm going in person this time," he growled. "I'm done playing games and am going to get that Protector back, no matter what it takes."



In spite of its positioning, the entrance and the lobby to the Lamplight Inn had the benefit of facing east, allowing it to catch the morning sun as it rose over the horizon. The oil lamps on the table were cold and unlit, with the sun's first rays carrying the burden of illuminating the worn and low-slung wooden desk where a bucket of water with an idling Stunfisk sat. It was in this sleepy environment that a Heatmor and Graveler in white scarves with blue sun patterns made their way in from outside, keenly eying their surroundings as they walked up to the receptionist.

"Excuse me," the Graveler said. "But I was wondering if you could answer a question for us."

From his bucket, the receptionist poked his head above the water and looked out, eying the strangers in white scarves before him. The Stunfisk shifted in the water and raised his head up to talk to the new visitors.

"Hrm?" he asked. "Looking for a room?"

"Not quite. We were looking for some friends of ours who are spending the night here in town," the Heatmor explained. "Did a group with a white, long necked bird check in here lately?"

"One who looks kinda like an overgrown Wingull?" receptionist mulled. "Yeah, they checked in just last night."

The Heatmor and Graveler glanced at each other at the Stunfisk's answer and traded small nods, prompting the Fire-Type to make his way for the exit. The receptionist fidgeted against his bucket, sloshing some water around uncomfortably as he looked puzzledly at the remaining Graveler.

"Eh?" the Stunfisk murmured. "Your buddy was in an awful rush."

"He went off to give a heads-up to some company," the Graveler explained. "We've been looking for our friends for a while now."

"Even so, I wouldn’t have expected him to duck out so quickly," the Electric-Type said. “This friend of yours mean a lot to you or something?”

The Graveler paused in obvious thought, before shaking his head and answering.

"You could say that," he grunted. "So... would you happen to know what room they booked with-"

"Hey you!"

The Graveler froze after feeling a prickling brush on his lower shoulder. The Rock-Type grudgingly turned around, where waiting for him were a Maractus and Sandygast in Imperial scarves, scowling impatiently.

"We couldn't help but overhear about your friend," the Maractus growled. "Would you be able to answer a few questions for us?"

"Uh... questions?" the Graveler stammered.

"Yeah, how do you know about this 'mon," the Sandygast demanded. "And what's your relation to him?"

The Graveler stiffened up at the Ghost-Type's questioning, shifting his arms uneasily. After thinking of a suitable sounding excuse, the Rock-Type answered, his voice carrying an audible uncertainty to it.

"Er… you could say that we're associates. We wound up getting separated a few ports back and this is where he finally pointed us to go," he offered. "Why, what are you up to with him?"

"… That's none of your concern," Maractus snorted.

"But it is if there's guards after him" the Graveler insisted. "I wouldn't be a good friend if I just stood by if they were falsely accused, would I?"

"That'll be for us to decide," the Grass-Type scoffed.

"Hey, Stunfisk," the Sandygast asked. "What room did you say that 'mon was in?"

"Sixth door to the right."

The Sandygast nodded and turned to his fellow guard, sending a small wave of sand rippling over his body as he moved one of his nub-like arms. The Ghost-Type motioned forward, and off at the stairwell at the back of the lobby.

"Come on, let's go check it out."

The Maractus and Sandygast began to make their way for the stairwell, only for the sound of heavy footsteps to ring out. There, in front of them, stood the Graveler who had spread his arms, blocking the whole of the route up to the floor above.

"I can't let you do that," the Rock-Type said.

The guards' mood visibly darkened as their faces hardened into scowls and their bodies tensed for action. The Maractus in particular grew agitated, giving a prod with his spiky arm at the Graveler's stomach.

"Get out of my way, or I'll have you arrested for annoying a guard!" the Grass-Type growled.

The Maractus' outburst drew a blinking pause from his Sandygast partner, the sandy wraith shifting to give the Grass-Type a puzzled look.

"Wait, that's a bookable crime?" the Ghost-Type whispered.

"Shh! We'll sweat the details later!"

"Hrmph," the Graveler spat. "Like I said, you're not going any- AGH!"

The Graveler was knocked back into the wall by a heavy, thorny blow, making him stagger and topple over. The Maractus drew his arm back, green flecks of light dancing along his arm as the Stunfisk receptionist slunk into his bucket unnervedly, the Grass-Type giving an irritated grunt.

"And stay out of our wa-"

SLAM!

The guards looked back across the lobby to see the door was thrown open by a glaring party of five Pokémon in blue sun scarves. At the front was a hulking Samurott, flanked by a Xatu, Heatmor, Heracross and a Dusclops. At once, the tension in the air thickened, the otter giving a low growl as his eyes pierced into the two guards.

"I heard that there was a white, long necked bird here at this hostel," Lyn glowered. "I'm going to need to leave with it. Now."

The Maractus and Sandygast shrank back at the sight of the hostile party. Dealing with the Samurott and his companions would be a tall order, but they had the high ground to fall back on and these strangers didn't. Besides, perhaps there wasn't a need to come to blows after all...

"Er… who are you and what business do you have here?"



Up above on the second floor, Team Traveller started to stir under the dim morning light as the sounds of an argument below rang out. Nida was the first to notice the noise, pricking up uneasily, Guardia and Pleo following after after being awoken by her movements, leaving Elty to futilely paw at his teammates to attempt to return to sleep.

"Nrgh…" Elty groaned, lethargically swatting his forepaw. "Keep it down."

"It's not me," Guardia insisted. "There's something going on downstairs."

"Hey buddy," a ghostly voice snapped. "I don't know what game you all are trying to pull but- AGH!"

The four heard thumps and blows coming from below, followed by the sound of wood splintering and a loud, ghostly shriek. The group tensed up, warily making their way to the door as a bellowing cry rang out from below.

"Gah!"

The youngsters' blood ran cold at the sound of the shout, prompting Nida to crack the door open. The downstairs had been trashed, with the Sandygast slumped over in a sandy pile in front of the desk and a petrified-looking receptionist. At the bottom of the stairwell at the end of the hallway was Lyn, cradling a shoulder freshly-flecked with green spikes, snarling at a Maractus at the top who gave a jeering wave

"Hah!" the Maractus sneered. "Not so tough, are ya- Agh!"

Before the Grass-Type could react, a freezing beam struck his foot and froze it against the floor. The Cactus Pokémon cried out and desperately tried to free himself, only for the splutch of a blade embedding itself in his torso rang out, followed by a pained squeal. Lyn wrenched the blade out as the cactus rabbit staggering forward, and grabbed the Maractus by the back of his head and threw him down the stairs with a clatter, the unconscious guard falling into the receptionist desk and knocking over the Stunfisk's bucket over with a yelp. At this, Nida hastily slammed the door, wide-eyed and panting.

"We need to get out of here."

Guardia motioned for Elty to help her move the stump-table, the two shoving it up against the door as footsteps rang down the hallway outside. From downstairs, they overheard a pained, rumbling voice conversing with the intruders.

"Nrgh… They're in the sixth room to the right," a Graveler's voice groaned.

"Right," a Xatu's voice answered. "Remember to check your surroundings on the way up. We don't need more surprises here."

"Just where are we supposed to go?" Pleo whispered. "Lyn's out there in the hallway!"

Glancing around for an answer, Elty's eyes fell on the shuttered window, beams of sunlight breaking through cracks in the shutters and a sliver of the clear blue sky visible beyond. He looked out the window a moment, then to Pleo, and shook his head.

"The only place we can go," Elty insisted. "Come on, help me with those shutters!"

The Growlithe blew out a column of cinders, his desperately forceful Ember setting the wood of the shutters alight. Pleo followed by spitting up a glowing orb, smashing the shutter into a collection of charred splinters that fell out into the alleyway. Nida, Elty, and Guardia hastily vaulted onto Pleo's back as the bird clambered up the windowsill, the sound of shouts and footsteps ringing out from the hallway.

"They're trying to get away!" Lyn shouted. "I can hear them!"

"Now or never, Pleo!" Elty yipped.

The Lugia heard a smash and the splintering of wood as Lyn stabbed a seamitar through the door, prompting him to leap from the window and take wing… only to abruptly feel his leg yanked back. Pleo squawked, realizing that he'd caught his foot on a line of sheets hung out to dry and pitched forward with his passengers, crashing to the ground along with the laundry with a loud yelp just as the door was broken down. Back in the room, Lyn burst in, the first thing coming to his and his subordinates' attention being the charred and splintered shutters along with the visibly open window to the room.

"They've made a break for it!" a Heracross cried.

"They flew off again?!" Lyn bellowed. Scowling, the Samurott whirled around and turned to the door to storm outside, only to pause at the sound of a few groaning Pokémon coming from outside, just under the room's window.

"Oww…"

"Gah, talk about your false starts."

Lyn ran over and poked his head out the window, noticing a snapped clothesline dangling from the building across the lane. The Samurott followed the cord down with his eyes, to the sight of a young Lugia, Nidoran, Growlithe, and Cubone staggering up. The four hastily untangled themselves from the cord only to peer up with a startled grimace and see Lyn staring down. The youngsters turned to run, prompting the otter to spit out a pressurized orb of water at the four. The sound of a yelp and loud splash rang out, making Lyn pause tensely as he watched the dust settle… only to see that he had missed and the group were rapidly approaching the corner to a blind alley. Determined not to lose his targets yet again, the Samurott pulled his head back in, turning to his underlings with a fierce bellow.

"Take out the wall!"

Lyn grasped his blades and sliced through the wooden frame of the window with a cross-slash, making the wall above visibly sink downwards. The Samurott sidestepped, prompting his underlings to strike the wall with a mass of attacks, collapsing it outwards into the lane in a rain of adobe fragments. The otter leapt forward and came to a crouching landing on the ground, charging ahead to the corner just in time to see a Growlithe's tail slip around the corner up ahead.

"This way!"



As Team Traveller desperately ran through the narrow alleyways of Sormus, a Samurott's roar echoed behind them. The four whirled down one blind corner after the other, but all the while were unable to shake the sound of Lyn and his underlings chasing after them. Throughout the ordeal, Pleo was wide-eyed, batting his wings for takeoff only to find his path blocked time and time again by an ill-placed curve or pole above.

"How did Lyn find us again?!" Pleo squawked.

"I don't know," Nida panted. "Just keep running for now!"

The four skidded around a corner and ran down an alley lined with discarded crates. As Team Traveller charged on ahead, they heard Lyn and his lackies' shouts and footsteps grow less and less distinct. Nida and her friends popped out ahead into a small clearing in a cross-roads, looking around uneasily at the paths branching out in the small square to try and tease out which way to go next… Only to look up and see the wide, blue sky overhead, and realize that the clearing was surely big enough for Pleo to run fast enough to take wing.

"This place looks more open than I was expecting," Nida said. "Pleo, let's all get on top of you and then we can fly-"

"Nie ruszaj się!" a whinnying voice cried.

The four whirled to the left, where they saw the forms of a Ponyta, a Sandslash, and a Cranidos in indigo scarves dart in and block their way. The three hardened their glares and hastily assumed battle positions, the Ponyta at the head snorting out a challenging jeer.

"You're not going anywhere, pirate scum!"

"Eh?!" Pleo exclaimed. "But I'm not a pirate!"

"Yeah!" Elty snapped. "I'm the pirate here!"

Elty's outburst hung in the air, giving way to an awkward silence as the three indigo-scarved Pokemon blinked and exchanged skeptical glances with one another. This scruffy lot with the Protector really was a team of pirates…?

"Psst, Niilo," Cabot whispered. "I thought those wanted posters were just something the Company was using as a cover to snatch these 'mons."

"Maybe they were more accurate than we gave them credit for?" the Sandslash mused.

"There's clearly a long, interesting story behind this…" Berecien snorted. "But that can wait. En garde!"

The Ponyta lowered his head and charged forward as flames flared out from his hide. Thinking quickly, Elty leapt to the side and swiftly ran at Berecien with his fangs bared and ready for a Bite.

"Not so fast, hothead!" the Growlithe barked.

"Hrmph!" the Ponyta fumed. "You're one to talk, pirat- GAH!"

Pleo watched as Elty clamped down on the Ponyta's rump with his jaws, the horse kicking wildly to try and shake his attacker loose. The young Protector darted in a flapping run to try and come to Elty's aid, only to feel a heavy ramming blow from underneath just as he left the ground, sending him pitching back to earth with a shriek.

"I got him! I got- OW!"

Cabot's cheers were cut off with a sharp clubbing to his side, sending him staggering back as Guardia came to a panting stop in his place. Pleo looked up as he wearily picked himself off the ground, seeing the Cubone's eyes wide with alarm, frantically motioning backwards with her free claw.

"Pleo!" Guardia cried. "Fall back!"

"R-Right!"

"Oh, no you don't!" a Sandslash's voice shouted.

Pleo turned and saw Niilo charging him, prompting him to bolt in a panic. The Sandslash neared the Lugia with his claws ready to swipe, only to hop back as a needle-like spike sailed through the air and landed in front of him with a thwip. Niilo looked up just in time to spot and deflect another poisonous missile with his claws, before noticing the spike's owner: a blue Nidoran with her barbs fanned out, and her red eyes hardened into a glare.

"Pleo!" Nida cried. "When you've got a good shot, hit him with an- AGH!"

Nida's instructions were interrupted by Niilo's claws raking down her side. The Nidoran tottered, clutching at her side, before being flung aside by a back-handed blow from those same huge claws. Pleo yelped as the Nidoran was casually sent sailing through the air with such ease.

"Nida!"

Pleo flinched back, coming forward again while sending a glowing ball of energy from his mouth in the general direction of the Sandslash. Without checking to see if his attack had hit home, he took the chance to bolt. As he turned to fall back, he spotted Guardia groaning on the ground, knocked back by a stiff headbutt from Cabot. Further ahead, Elty let out a pained yelp as Berecien reared up and brought his hooves down on the dog's flank with a forceful stomp.

Taking in the battle with an ever-worsening expression of horror etched on his face, Pleo froze. His friends were in danger! For all the hoping and dreaming he and the villagers back home had done about finally returning home... he couldn't possibly think of accomplishing any of that if he couldn't even get his friends out of here with him. The young Lugia skidded to a stop and gathered his wings to try and bring the wind between them. All the while, Pleo wished with all his might that he could just call on that latent, explosive power of his, just long enough to turn the tides of this battle...!

PLOOOSH!

"GWARK!"

Pleo was sent tumbling back along the sand by a high-pressured ring of water. Groaning, he picked himself up and stumbled forward, trying desperately to maintain his balance by holding his wings out to each side. In the end, in spite of his efforts, he couldn't manage more than a few tottering steps before pitching forward face-first into the sandy ground, knocked out cold. Nida, Elty and Guardia all looked on from their respective predicaments, mouths agape, the whole brawl grinding to a halt out of shock as the seabird crashed to the ground.

"Pleo!"

The three heard the crunching of sand coming from the path on the right side, turning to see a Clawitzer in an indigo scarf with a triple leaf pattern draw her claw back to her side and hop over. The trio hastily circled tight against each other, expecting her to ambush them along with the three indigo-scarved strangers, only to see her sidle up against Pleo's unconscious body and brush his drenched plumes.

"I'll admit, you kept me waiting longer than I'd like," Nagant said to herself. "But your flight ends here, Lugia."

"You're that Clawitzer from Orleigh!" Nida squeaked. "Wh-What do you want? What are you going to do with him?"

"That's none of your concern, Nidoran," the shrimp chittered. "As for the rest of you, I suggest you surrender and come along peacefully!"

"C-Come along?" Elty stammered. "Nie ma mowy!"

"Yeah!" Guardia spat. "We're not going to let you just get away with this!"

Team Traveller hastily dug in for a fierce fight, trying to prepare themselves in spite of their shock. All the while, Nagant stood unmoved, doing little more to acknowledge the threat than to give a flat, unimpressed stare and an idle twitch of her big claw's barbels.

"… Well do go on," the Clawitzer snorted. "Do your worst."

Guardia grit her teeth and charged with her club ready at her side. The Cubone gave a shouting battle cry and jumped up to give an overhead smash to the shrimp, only for Nagant to slightly raise her claw and disgorge a watery pulse square into Guardia's body.

"A-AAH!"

Nida and Elty watched in shock as Guardia sailed back through the air, falling against the sandy ground with a wet thud. Barring a weak twitch of her leg, the drenched Cubone showed no signs of consciousness, prompting Elty to pull his tail between his legs at a sinking realization of how far over their heads they were.

"Spike ball," Elty whined. "I think that we need to fold 'em-"

"Here!" a whinnying voice cried. "Have some thanks for that bite you left on me!"

The canine snapped to attention, whirling around in the direction of the cry just in time to catch a hoofed kick to the side of the head, sending him sailing into the air with a shriek. The Growlithe landed squarely on his chin, skidding to a stop in a full-on faceplant, totally unconscious but for some weak twitching of his legs. Nida froze, mouth agape from witnessing the powerful blow, and although she felt the urgent need to act she was paralyzed by indecision. The frantic workings of her mind, desperate to find a solution to her team's predicament, distracted her enough that she didn't notice the presence behind her until it was already slashing at her back.

"Ngah!"

Nida flopped to the ground from Niilo's attack, and weakly started to pick herself up. As the Nidoran staggered to her feet and looked up, she went wide eyed at the sight of a charging Cranidos. One that was far too close to avoid.

SMACK!

Nida pinwheeled along the ground, coming to an unconscious, thudding stop after striking a wall headfirst. The courtyard quickly simmered down, the only sounds being panting from Team Traveller's attackers and the chatter of an unimpressed Clawitzer.

"I've always hated dealing with theatrical types," Nagant grunted. "Come on, let's hurry up and get them to the ship. We can't assume safe harbor until the Protector is in trusted claws."

The shrimp gave a whistling chitter and motioned behind her, prompting a Pidgeotto and a Bewear to come forward. At once the four Pokémon were hastily scooped up and divided amongst the gathered crew. Berecien dimmed his mane to a dull, cool red as Cabot slung Nida over his back. Niilo scooped up the Cubone along with her club, passing it off to his Cranidos counterpart, as the Pidgeotto scooped up Elty in his talons, giving a sour glare at his passenger. Last but not least, the Bewear picked up Pleo, carrying him along in his strong arms as the party marched on for the sea… unaware that from a street on an overlooking slope, a Samurott was watching their progress, looking ahead to follow the strangers' course to the harbor.

"They're headed for the docks," Lyn grunted. "We'll cut them off there and teleport out with the bird."

"… Are we sure, Captain?" a Graveler asked. "We don't exactly have the advantage of numbers here."

"I didn't ask you for your opinion," the otter growled. "Now get movi-"

Before the Samurott could finish, he was cut off by the sight of a torrent of mud sailing through the air. Lyn sprang back, leaving the Graveler to look up just in time to be struck in the face by the incoming attack.

"Agh!"

The Rock-Type staggered and slumped over limply, throwing his teammates into a panic as they looked around wildly for the attacker, only to hear a sharp call from the lanes below.

"There they are!"

Lyn whirled and watched as a Camerupt in an indigo scarf charged ahead, leading a group of fellow underlings for the steps up to their street. The Samurott spat out a Water Pulse, prompting his subordinates to attack likewise, drawing yelps from ahead as a cloud of dust and sand was kicked up. Satisfied, the mustelid slid his blades from their sheaths, ready to pounce, only for a torrent of beams and projectiles to come flying out of the cloud and forcing Lyn and his co-intruders to hit the ground to duck the hail of attacks.

"AAAAAH!"

The Company team's discipline frayed after the Heatmor was struck by a jet of water sending him pinwheeling back. As the anteater tottered back up, the lackeys' morale sank under the hail of fire, the Xatu teleporter turning to Lyn wide-eyed and in increasing panic.

"Captain, we need to retreat!" Psychic-Type squawked

Lyn seethed and spat out another torrent into the body of guards, felling a Rhyhorn with a pained bellow. Much to his dismay, the defeated guard was quickly replaced with more compatriots. Even if he and his underlings were able to overcome them, just what sorry state would they be in by the time they finally caught up with the Clawitzer? The Samurott grimaced and glowered at his derailed revenge against the Imp interloper, grudgingly coming to the realization that there was simply no positive endgame to be had by standing his ground here.

"Rrgh... fine!" he fumed. "Get us out of here!"

The Company underlings abandoned their positions guarding the alleyway into their vantage point, hastily coming together to interlock their limbs around their felled Graveler teammate. With the way now clear, the Camerupt and the fellow guards stormed ahead, the camel instantly noticing the Xatu deep in focus.

"Ack! They're trying to telepor-"

Before the Fire-Type could finish, the lane was filled with a bright light that stunned the gathered guards. As their eyes adjusted back to normal lighting, they saw the place where the Samurott and his underlings were was now empty, the lot of them having vanished into the aether.

"Split up and find them!" the Camerupt spat. "They couldn't have gotten that far!"



Offshore and due south of Copperband Village, the Nektar Weide lurked in the distance, the crew keeping a keen eye out for any approaching hostiles who might interrupt their captain's infiltration. Others gathered around to watch a slapdash teleportation platform on the ship's deck thrown together from crates and spare sail at the request of the Xatu in charge of teleportation. Suddenly, a bright flash of light shone in the middle of the platform, and some surprised yelps rang out from the unexpecting crew. As crew members' eyes adjusted from the bright light, they turned to see Lyn and his underlings in a sloppy pile on the deck, having tumbled unceremoniously onto the canvas padding of the platform. Seething with barely-contained rage, Lyn pulled himself to his feet and stomped down to the deck, positively radiating an aura of unbridled fury.

"Rrgh..."

Ellsberg flitted over to his superior cautiously, eyeing the visible, seething rage reflected in the Samurott's eyes. Obviously Lyn's excursion had not gone to plan, but... perhaps there was some sort of silver lining to be reported?

"So... how did it g-"

THUNK!

The Mothim flinched and staggered backwards reflexively, cracking open one eye to see Lyn leaning on a seamitar he'd driven through the boards of the ship's deck... and glaring icy daggers right at him. He gulped as Lyn took a deep, rage-shaken breath in a futile attempt to put a leash on his anger long enough to deliver a coherent sentence.

"How does it look like it went, Ellsberg?!" the Samurott fumed.

Lyn watched as crewmembers gathered around cautiously watching the gathered returnees to see what was going on... and precious little else. Irked at the lack of action, the Samurott gave a stomp against the deck, followed by a loud, berating bellow.

"Don't just stand there!" he yelled. "Call the medics!"

The crew flinched and Ellsberg's former Gligar first mate quickly raised the alarm, prompting a small team of a Wigglytuff leading a pair of Chansey to hurry over to the platform. As the medics busied themselves with treating the wounded, Ketu sidled up against his Samurott superior, shrugging and shaking his head.

"I told you she was determined," he chided. "Still, that's gotta be embarrassing getting turfed out after all this time by some shrim-"

The Weavile heard a swish, prompting him to tilt his gaze down and still his words. There, at the base of his throat, was the pointed tip of one of Lyn's seamitars, its owner maintaining a tight grip on the hilt and glaring daggers into the Dark-Type.

"Shut up, Ketu," he growled. "I don't want to hear it!"

Ketu looked up as his expression curled into a dissatisfied frown, but even so, the Dark-Type refused to budge. Beyond moving a claw to straighten a disturbed head feather, the Weavile had given no acknowledgement of his circumstances beyond an hardened, unblinking stare.

"Fine," the Weavile harrumphed. "What do we do next then?"

Lyn lowered his seamitar and buried his head in his free paw, grumbling and growling audibly all the while. The Samurott raised his head, sighing as his mind still struggled to make sense in the huge changes to his mission that had unfolded.

"I... I just need some time to collect my thoughts," he muttered. "To figure out where that Clawitzer-"

Lyn trailed off as he noticed movement in the seas ahead from what appeared to be a vessel. The Samurott squinted, and after failing to make out the craft's sail markings from the distance, fished out his scope and raised it to his eye. There, visible now through the spyglass, was an Imperial frigate carried swiftly across the water by unfurled sails and a team of hurried-looking escorts. Clambering up a rope from the side of the ship was none other than the Clawitzer whose salty claws had pinched away his prize.

"Hrmph. Well that certainly makes things easier..."

Lyn whirled around, brandishing a seamitar and slamming the flat of its blade against the deck in one swift motion. He held it aloft, the keratinous blade cleaving sunlight from shadow along its edge, thus drawing the attention of even the most easily-distracted of his crew.

"Follow that frigate!" the Samurott barked. "Wherever it's going, I want it in my sight until it's either docked or at the bottom of the sea!"

The crew hurriedly took their places, lowering the sails and hoisting the anchor for the escorts to lurch the ship forward thanks to their efforts. The Nektar Weide began to pick up speed, tearing through the waves after the frigate in the distance. All the while, Lyn glowered after his target, his left paw still tightly clutching his seamitar as he stared after his prize's thief. He'd come this far to finally clearing his mission and ascending to the Board, and it'd be a snowy day in midsummer if he let some drowned sea bug steal it all from under his nose!



As Lyn and his ship stalked the Vasilek over the open waves, the humble Siglo Swellow quietly pulled into Copperband's port. The schooner pulled up to the dock, and the ship's Hitmontop first mate oversaw the escorts and some dutiful deckhands as they set about the process of lowering the anchor and tying down the moorings. Satisfied that everything was proceeding properly, he turned to Natrix and Philips as they spirited a wooden board over to the side.

"Lower the gangplank!"

At the Hitmontop’s command, the worn, wooden gangplank was lowered to the waiting dock as Pokémon clambered down, working with sea escorts to moor the ship along the pier. After the ship was fastened, Pokémon from the crew began to disembark with emptied crates and rubbish, among them Crom, his father, and their companions.

"Gah… how can Pokémon work in this weather?" Crom whined. "It's baking hot right now!"

"Heh, much like they do at home," Pladur chuckled. "Work in the shade, and take a nice long siesta during the midday."

"Well, there's no shade anywhere on these docks," Ander sighed. "So let's hurry up and get rid of these crates."

"Agreed," Dimitri added. "Some of us need to worry about staying hydrated here!"

One by one, the group picked up damaged and worn-out crates to be disposed of, Crom following dutifully after his father and team captain onto the crowded docks. Along the way, snippets of conversations filtered around, about journeys and faraway sweethearts, pay and customs, but it was the words of the chittering voice of a Crabrawler in particular that most caught the young dragon's attention.

"What was with that scuffle that happened earlier?" the Crabrawler asked.

"Some pirate scouts got caught while that Navy captain was in town," a Muk answered. "She took off with the ones that got caught not too long ago."

"Eh? Sure seemed like an awfully big fuss over a few scouts..." the crab answered.

"Nah, the Empire doing too much is a nice change from them normally doing too little," the Poison-Type scoffed. "Besides, those bandit thugs had something coming if they thought they could just waltz around town like it's Orleigh!"

Crom and his team exchanged hesitant glances at the mention of "pirate scouts". Every town had a few bad eggs, but the presence of scouts wasn't a harbinger of something worse coming along, was it? Security didn't seem that weak when they came in… but even so, just how well would this dusty town fend off a large assault?

"Pirate scouts?" Crom murmured. "Navy captain?"

The Druddigon and his companions paused and glanced around the harbor before their eyes settled off in the distance. There beyond the harbor's entrance was a three-masted frigate with indigo sails sailing off for the horizon… Was that the naval ship?

"Must've been whoever's on that ship right now," Kiran replied. "But I suppose you can't really argue with keeping some pirates in line."

Dimitri shifted uneasily a bit at the explanation, before peering out at the horizon. Even for an island relatively close to Orleigh, the timing for catching pirates here in town seemed suspiciously convenient, and the ship's shape looked vaguely familiar... had he and the rod swum past it before during one of their migrations?

"I dunno, something about all of this doesn't add up for some reason..." the Kabutops muttered.

Dimitri returned to his work with his teammates, setting his crates down on a cleared space at the edge of the docks. Crom, Pladur, Kiran, and Ander quickly followed suit, the Fraxure among them dusting his claws off and looking satisfied at their work.

"Alright, that should be it for now," Pladur said. "Let's head into town so we can find some leads about the Protector… and maybe a cold drink."

The five made their way inland under the sweltering heat, passing through narrow, winding alleyways between adobe huts. Life in the town seemed quiet, if with a lingering sense of unsettledness. Crom noticed a Camerupt in guard attire who seemed particularly cantankerous, looking here and there for someone or something; and further along, a Bibarel selling casks of water chattered uneasily about a disturbance at a local inn with a Bayleef customer. As they carried on, the group quickly learned to walk under awnings and tarps that had been hung up to provide shade, though they were harder pressed to find relief from the dust and hot sand underfoot which began to cake on their toes.

"There sure is a lot of sand around here…" Crom complained.

"Well, those are deserts alright," Dimitri explained. "Sand, dryness, and very hot temperatures during the day."

Dimitri trailed off, feeling the strangest sensation of deja vu. After thinking back to the fateful journey across Spirit Trench that started this whole chase, he suddenly remembered why his words felt so familiar.

"It's funny…" the Kabutops murmured. "It's actually what I explained to your other teammates as well."

"Eh? You did? Did they also ask about what the Pokémon here do?" Crom asked. "How are any plants supposed to grow like this?"

"Well, a lot of the Pokémon here, both in town and in the wilderness are adapted to living life without a lot of food and water," the Kabutops explained. "To make ends meet, they dig out copper and other metals-"

WHUMP!

The five of them stumbled, jolting upright as a small, nearby tremor shook the earth under their feet. The group steadied themselves as best they could and searched frantically around for the cause of the shaking.

"Answer me!" a booming voice roared. "Why were those kids taken away?!"

Kiran ruffled his feathers and turned to see a Sandygast with a much-thinned sand layer towing a slouching Maractus with a bandaged stomach in a simple pull cart. The pair peered up unnervedly and when following their gazes it was hard to fault them. Directly in front and looming over the two was a glaring Tyranitar, with fangs bared and a visibly impatient demeanor.

"R-Rauhoitu, Aulis!" the Maractus stammered. "They were reported as Pokémon of interest to the crown!"

"Yeah, they might not have looked the part, but the piracy charges had to have come for a reason!" the Sandygast insisted.

"What reason?!" Aulis snapped. "Just how much trouble can a Nidoran, a Growlithe, a Cubone, and a fat Wingull cause?"

The group's jaws dropped at the Tyranitar's words. A Nidoran? A Growlithe? A 'Wingull'? They didn't know anything about a Cubone, but that description could only be...

"Gark!" Kiran squawked. "That's the kids!"

"Wait," Pladur murmured. "You guys never mentioned anything about a Cub-"

"Excuse me!"

Kiran and the others watched as Crom made a beeline for the three strangers, waving his arms frantically to gain their attention. Aulis paused mid-sentence with a surprised grunt before glancing backward to see the energetic young dragon.

"Eh? Who are-?"

Crom's teammates hastily hurried after the young dragon, hoping that he hadn't run headfirst into a local mess. The two battered guards also turned their attention to their newfound interlopers. Sensing an opportunity to give their cantankerous interrogator the slip, the Maractus spoke up while his supporting Sandygast partner quietly inched away.

"Whelp, looks like you're busy now," the Grass-Type said, hastily clearing his throat.

"Yeah, we got more stuff to take care off anyway," the Sandygast added. "See ya!"

The Sandygast hastily slunk away with his Maractus counterpart, leaving the towering Rock-Type to glare after them. Aulis gave an annoyed bat of his tail, before whirling around and training his attention onto the white-scarved sailors, much to their gulping unease.

"What do you want?" the Tyranitar growled.

Crom hopped back and folded his wings against his body, shrinking back from the cantankerous giant of a Rock-Type. The Dragon-Type struggled with his words, trying to work up the courage to ask the stranger the question he needed answered.

"Well... uhm…" Crom stammered. "I heard you talking about a Nidoran, a Growlithe and a Wingull and I was just wondering how you knew them…"

"They fell down a ledge at the mining pits yesterday," Aulis explained. "They said they'd come from the dungeon and they certainly had the scuffs to prove it, so I took them here to town to try and rest. Next thing I know, they're gone under charges of 'piracy'."

"Did you see who took them?" Dimitri prodded.

With a curt grunt, the Tyranitar shook his head, wearing a grimace that clearly displayed his contention towards the situation.

"I wasn't there when they were taken," he sighed. "Trust me, if I was, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"I see…" Crom murmured.

"But, those guards did tell me a Clawitzer Navy Captain took them with her while I was still helping to open the mine."

Crom and the others froze at the mention of the Clawitzer. It could very well be a different one, but the strange Clawitzer they encountered on Boisocéan and Kenobi did seem unusually interested in Pleo... The group - save for Dimitri - stood silent and shocked, Aulis carrying on without noticing their change in demeanor.

"I would have pressed for more details and found out why she took them," the Rock-Type answered. "But you guys..."

The Armor Pokémon trailed off, noticing that his audience had grown wide-eyed and pallid at his words. The Tyranitar blinked, wondering if he had said something amiss.

"Eh? What's gotten into you? You look like you've seen a dead 'mon walking!"

"That ship," Ander demanded. "Where's it going?"

"I was told it was going to Giotto- Huh?!"

Without waiting to hear the rest of Aulis' explanation, Crom turned and bolted in the direction of the docks as fast as his limbs would carry him. The Tyranitar blinked before spluttering in annoyance.

"Hey!" Aulis growled. "I was in the middle of explaining something here!"

Much to the stone lizard's irritation, the Druddigon completely ignored his scolding. On top of that, the Fraxure of the group stared blankly and did a double-take towards the retreating Druddigon, alarm flashing across his face

"Crom!" Pladur cried. "Wait! Don't run off like that!"

The Dragon-Type took off running after his son, leaving behind their three companions and a befuddled and increasingly annoyed Tyranitar. Aulis' remaining audience turned to the Rock-Type to offer a sheepish explanation for their teammates' hurried exit.

"Eh... don't mind him," Ander said. "It's just that that Nidoran, Growlithe and 'Wingull' you mentioned are his teammates."

"Who are you all?" Aulis demanded.

"Some friends of those children," Kiran explained. "We've been looking for them for a while now."

"We should probably get going as well now," Dimitri murmured. "If the kids are in trouble, then time is of the essence to help them."

Kiran, Ander and Dimitri each gave a small wave before turning to rush after Pladur, leaving Aulis to stare off puzzledly and give a hesitant wave to their backs as they darted off. The three wove their way through the streets of Copperband in the direction of the docks, just in time to catch Pladur in a full sprint after his son as the Druddigon darted up the gangplank back onto the deck of the Siglo Swellow.

"Hah… Hah..." Pladur panted. "Don't run off like-!"

"Captain Beatrix! Captain Beatrix!" Crom cried. "We need to leave right now!"

The Illumise looked up from a small stack of paperwork on stationery with leaf designs, twitching her antennae out of surprise.

"Eh?" the captain asked. "What are you going on about?"

"Pleo's on that ship over there on the horizon!" the Druddigon exclaimed.

"Huh?!"

At once, an outcry broke out among the gathered sailors at the mention of Pleo being on the ship in the distance. Just then, Beatrix saw Kiran, Ander, and Dimitri ran up, and immediately turned to them for an explanation.

"Kiran, Pladur," Beatrix demanded. "What is he going on about?"

"A local tipped us off that an Imperial nabbed Pleo and sailed off just before we got here," Kiran explained.

"It's the frigate off in the distance," Dimitri said, gesturing to the distant ship with a scythe. "If we hurry, we can keep it in sighting distance!"

Captain Beatrix looked off at the ship in the distance. She thought long and hard about what pursuing after the Imperial ship would entail… and what she risked by letting it sail off. After a long pause, the firefly shook her head, before turning to her Hitmontop first mate.

"… Vicente, give the order to pull the moorings up."

The Hitmontop straightened up with a start, giving an incredulous stare at the Illumise captain. Beatrix wanted them to leave already without bothering to restock?

"Eh?! Captain?!" Vicente exclaimed. "We just arrived-!"

"Ya lo sé!" the Illumise insisted. "Just do it!"

The Fighting-Type raised the cry to lift the anchor and set sail, throwing the Siglo Swellow into a flurry of activity. The deckhands on the dock hastily clambered back onto the schooner, the moorings were undone, and the stone anchor brought back on deck. With a whip of the air and water by the escorts, the ship lurched away from the dock, tearing away at an increasingly quick clip away from the adobe town for the deep blue of the open sea.

"Follow that frigate!" Beatrix buzzed. "Don't let it out of your sight! Our Protector is aboard it!"

And so the Siglo Swellow carried on, slicing through the waves after the indigo-sailed ship in the distance. Their task of retrieving had undoubtedly grown far more complicated, but this was the closest they had ever gotten to finally bringing their Protector and Team Traveller's missing members back home. A wave of determined vigor washed over the tired crew, one shared thought settling over the gathered faces in spite of their anxiety and fatigue...

They were not going to let those kids go without a fight.



At that moment, further south a two-masted ship with white sails bearing blue waterspout patterns bobbed along the waves. The crew was kept busy both on deck and off it, the deckhands manipulating the Mistral Marauder's purloined sails to best catch the tailwind whipped up by the aerial escorts as Hess kept a firm claw on the tiller to steer the ship along in the current the sea escorts had stirred up. All the while, the Steel-Type perched himself on the bow and kept focusing intently off in the distance, waiting for the impending arrival of Sormus over the horizon. His eagerness was lost on a good deal of his crew however, including a puzzled-looking Wimpod who scuttled up near his feet.

"Remind me why we're flying these sails we stole from those hicks again?" the Bug-Type asked.

"The mission the Council gave us could take a bit longer than one of our normal smash and grabs," Rodion explained. "We'd be better off flying colors that won't get us attacked whenever we pass some random island before finding the bird."

The Floatzel's explanation drew sour frowns from the nearby crewmembers. After everything they'd gone through in the past couple of weeks, now they couldn't even fly their own colors?

"Egh… we'd better get a big reward for giving up our pride like this," a Litten grumbled.

"Hey! Enough bellyaching!" the Aggron captain shouted. "Sormus is just coming over the horizon!"

Hess pointed to the horizon, where sure enough the sun-bleached sandy dunes of Sormus poked into view. The response among the crew was mixed, some breathing sighs of relief to have finally arrived at their destination while others grumbled bitterly amongst themselves, questioning the worth of this detour in the first place.

"So what are we doing once we hit land again?" Kichiro demanded.

"Uh… well…" Hess began. The Steel-Type fumbled with words for a moment, before starting to think through the matter. The first thing to be done would be to find out where the Protector was, and that couldn't be too much different from prepping ahead for a raid, right?

"We're going to need to send out some scouts, and- Huh?"

Hess trailed off as he caught movement on the horizon out of the corner of his eye. Grumbling, he reached for the scope nestled in a holster on his hip to get a better view of the unidentified vessel. Through the spyglass he was able to make out the craft's white sails printed with a waterspout pattern akin to that of the Mistral Marauder. There on the deck were some aggravatingly familiar faces, including the Illumise and Hitmontop manning the tiller, and the duo of Raichu and Servine slacking off under the crow's nest. To top it off, much to the detriment of his blood pressure, he spotted a group consisting of a young Druddigon, a Fraxure, a Swellow, and a Marked Scyther looking out along the railing.

"Grr…"

Rodion grimaced as he watched Hess' expression sour in response to whatever he'd seen through the scope. After a moment's pause, the Floatzel cleared his throat and set out to figure out the problem... carefully.

"Something the matter, Captain?" the Water-Type asked.

"Yeah, there's been change of plans," Hess growled. "That 'Sickly Swellow' we ambushed east of Kenobi's here, and it's sailing off."

"… So? We already robbed them once already!" an Octillery protested.

"Yeah, why are we supposed to pass up the Protector for them again?" a Pawniard demanded. "Sounds like some mixed-up priorities."

"Because if that bird was on Sormus, those dweebs wouldn't be sailing away from the island!" the Aggron exclaimed. "So they must have found a lead to where he is right now!"

The Steel-Type's words drew skeptical mutters and traded glances among the gathered crew. Few seemed pleased about the captain's abrupt change of mind, least of all a visibly irritated Ledian flitting his wings near the rigging.

"Oh, so now you don't want to go to Sormus?" Kichiro scoffed.

"Yeah, what's in it for us?" a Staravia protested.

Hess stomped the deck and scowled at the gathered Pokémon, hoping a show of force would bring them in line. The ship rocked a bit, only for the crew's skepticism to remain unmoved, prompting the Aggron to roll his eyes and attempt an appeal to their baser instincts.

"There's a case of rum under in the steerage," the Steel-Type sighed. "I'll break it out if we change course."

At once the crew's demeanor became visibly more energized. From the top of the masts to the surrounding seas, the mention of rum made the brigands' eyes light up with newfound enthusiasm.

"Works for me!" a Seadra from the water exclaimed.

"Yeah!" the Litten added. "Let's change course!"

Hess threw a palm over his face with an exasperated sigh. It was certainly one way of motivating the crew, but even so… did it have to work this often?

"… Really?"

"Well, on a positive note, it shouldn't be that hard to snatch a replacement case in the next port," Rodion offered.

"Yeah, yeah…" Hess muttered. "But let's get this show on the road already."

The Aggron waited a moment, only for the gathered Pokémon to remain in place watching him. Hess scowled and shook his head with a grumble before turning to the Mistral Marauder's crew, giving an impatient slap of his tail against the deck's timbers.

"Oi! Hurry up! Take us hard to port!" he bellowed. "I want that schooner in my scope until we hit the next port!"

The ship lurched as the air escorts whipped up a tailwind, prompting Rodion to take the tiller and turn hard to port and after the Siglo Swellow. All the while, Hess made his way to the bow and watched intently after the schooner, trying to tease out why they'd come to Sormus only to leave again. Had they both already been beaten to the punch? Well, no matter, it wasn't as if he couldn't just nab the Protector from whoever had him...

Hopefully.



Author's Notes:

- fregatti - Finnish: "frigate"
- Hyvää iltaa - Finnish: "Good evening"
- dōmo (どうも) - Japanese: Multipurpose Japanese interjection, meaning informal "thanks" in this context. (Hepburn Romanization)
- Gracías - Spanish: "Thank you"
- Nie ruszaj się! - Polish: "Hold it!" / "Don't move!" / "Stop right there!"
- Nie ma mowy! - Polish: "No way!"
- Rauhoitu - Finnish: "Calm down!" / "Settle down!"
- Ya lo sé! - Spanish: "I know that!"
 
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Trivia #8 (Episode 10)

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
Author’s Note: This trivia section was originally posted alongside Chapter 53 on Serebii after its thread received 30,000 views. Annotations and revised commentary not originally in this trivia section are noted in bolded text.

How did you come up with Sormus?


From its initial conception, Sormus was envisioned as a desert-like island with the oh-so-creative working name of “Desert Island”, primarily in order to add climate and topographical variety to the Cradle. When mulling over potential reasons why the island would still be valued enough to settle on, one possibility that Virgil134 and Spiteful Murkrow quickly took a liking to was to make the island valuable for mining, which would give it strategic importance in-setting.

The character of the island gradually evolved in the background as the series progressed. From Pyry and Pekka’s introduction on, it was decided that the island would have Finnish as its local tongue as a dash of cosmic irony. The desert environment led to the eventual decision to make the local Protector Hoopa, who was thematically appropriate both for a desert and a location with the materials to make shiny rings, which in turn informed the name Sormus, which carries the literal meaning of “Ring” in Finnish. There was some uncertainty originally as to whether to depict Sormus as a rockier or sandier desert, though in light of craggier islands earlier in the story such as Mengir and Kenobi, the decision was made to tilt the general topography to something dune-filled, with relatively small stony areas. Names that ultimately didn’t make the cut for Sormus included "Kierre", "Kierukka", and "Vanne".

How did you come up with Copperband Village?

Copperband Village was envisioned as a relatively sleepy mining town, reflecting the realities of life in a desert with a few occasional flourishes of more Nordic architecture, hence the occasional expensive wooden structure admixed into the sea of adobe. The town by design was intended to also carry the attendant strains of mining life that pushed more adventurous types out into high-risk/high-reward jobs, which although somewhat compressed in depiction, would be relevant in any depictions later down the road.

The town’s name owes its origin primarily to the metal that is primarily mined on the island, the copper that the Empire uses for its coinage, with ‘band’ being added in reference to the banded appearance of rock layers. Names that were considered but left on the cutting board included “Coppertop”, “Copperpit”, and “Copperloop”.

How did you come up with Aulis?

Aulis mechanically was intended to fill two roles in-story. The first was to help guide the team into Copperband for a short stint, and the other was to help act as a miner viewpoint character for better gauging the character of the town and its residents. That of a gruff, no-nonsense, and somewhat belligerent character with good intentions. The choice of Tyranitar of a species primarily revolves around being an homage to Pokédex entries dealing with Tyranitar destroying mountains, which mining is capable of given sufficient time and energy. Aulis’ name was chosen primarily to echo his role, being a Finnish name meaning “helpful” or “willing” . Names that were considered but ultimately not selected included “Jyri”, “Markus”, “Otto”, “Urho”, and “Vieno”.

How did you come up with Sormus' nobility?

Sormus’ nobility is the local branch of the Empire’s ruling crown, and hereditary rulers of the island, a premise which was developed after a few back and forth conversations with Virgil134. Atlas and Agila in particular were developed primarily to help show off a baseline setup for nobles within the Empire, consisting of a family administering a “fief” along with a Governor operating alongside of them to act as an intermediary (and enforcer of loyalty) on behalf of the central crown, as represented by Orloff. Atlas and Agila in particular were chosen due to Volcarona’s association with deserts in the mainline game series, with their names being drawn from moth species. As for their confidants, Orloff was chosen to be a Blaziken partly as a throwaway reference to a minor internet meme, and in order to match the Duke and Dutchess type-wise and owes his name to a Russian chicken breed, with working name of “Proofster”. On the other hand, Clyde owes his name to Mudsdale’s inspiring horse breed, the Clydesdale. Originally Clyde’s role was going to be filled entirely by Orloff, until it was decided to have a distinct messenger play a role in-story.

What motivated you to depict Mystery Dungeons the way you do in-story?

The Mystery Dungeons in Fledglings basically are built around a structure of being as faithful as reasonably possible to the games’ mechanics while still coming off as a believable place. For that reason, the field tilted heavily early on to depicting Dungeons as regions of distorted dimensional activity, or as is sometimes referred to in-setting, a place where worlds meet. The formal explanation will be due for sometime down the road in-story, though the fundamental premise is of Dungeons being a space where Fledglings’ world intermixes with that of other dimensions.

Eh? But the games' Mystery Dungeons didn't have fog surrounding them or stable zones. Why did you add them?

Again, the Mystery Dungeons were built to be as faithful as reasonably possible, and as such, there are a few additions added in order to keep things believable and consistent with the setting’s logic outside of Mystery Dungeons. The fog was added primarily as a means of keeping Mystery Dungeons from being reliably predictable from outside, as well as to act as a distinct ‘separator’ from the more normal world. The notion of “shortcuts” and “stable zones” was a much-expanded depiction of non-randomly generated areas in Mystery Dungeons such as final floors or floors with save points. This particular expansion owes its existence to the nature of “feral” Pokémon in Fledglings fundamentally being the same as their “civilized” counterparts beyond culture. As such, that required the setting to give Pokémon that lived in Mystery Dungeons a means for them to navigate and live around a place that occasionally clears floors with strong winds, while preserving the volatile “cartographer’s nightmare” aspect of dungeons.

Why is law enforcement so different from the canon games?

To be fair, the title for the heads of Imperial law enforcement was retconned into the canonical 'Sheriff', but this has to do primarily with a combination of canon PMD being extremely vague about the civilian/military divide in its law enforcement, and tweaking things to suit a setting where the fundamental level of social organization extends higher than what is explicitly shown in the games. As such, the primary reason why things are different is because things have been defined in a much more definitive direction, with the overall function of a guard trending closer to that of a gendarme in real life, hence accompanying changes from in the local lingo in Anyilla from the canonical “Sheriff” among Company islands, which would have their own reasons not to reuse titles from their Imperial counterparts.

Why do characters in Fledglings never seem to have issues moving around buildings and ships in-story? Wouldn’t some be too small or too big?

This is in part plot-related necessity to not slow things down, as well as buildings and structures being structured around their users. As such, a place that has to accommodate a wide variety of Pokémon will be built to be accessible to both large and small Pokémon with adaptations in favor of different body styles, implying ceilings and doors that are proportioned relative to roughly 2 meter tall entities, which is sufficient to accommodate the vast majority of Pokémon species barring the occasional outlier such as Wailord. The trend is not necessarily true of more private spaces such as residences (such as Nida’s burrow back on Tromba).

As for the aforementioned adaptations, you’ve seen a number in-story already. The most omnipresent of these adaptations consists of chair designs that are designed to accommodate tails and non-bipedal bodystyles, which makes stools particularly common form factors. Door handles are also a commonly divergent architectural feature, with the default form factor being a push pad to allow quadrupeds and armless Pokémon to open doors along with more bipedal counterparts.

What’s with the escorts for ships in setting?

They are there for more or less the same purpose as the Protect users around battlefields in-story, to help keep rickety wooden ships from getting their hulls shot full of holes and sinking. Sea escorts in particular focus on defending against threats from the sea and the waves, whereas their counterparts in the air focus more on engaging flying threats. Beyond passive defense, escorts are valuable for engaging attackers that are beyond the reach of Pokémon on the hull, and play an important role in helping to boost ships along to reach top speeds and change directions faster.

What’s with the alcohol that shows up in-story?

Because what’s a sea yarn without some bottles of rum to go around? More seriously, it’s there because it’s a particularly ingrained meme from the human cultures that the Cradle’s cultures attempt to emulate, as well as to play into the setting’s atmosphere. Thanks to being made for a non-human audience, alcohol in the Cradle differs primarily through strength to accommodate for lower alcohol tolerances (namely by being watered down) and in the ingredients it is made off of (with berries playing a larger role than more common real-life ingredients such as hops and barley).
 

windskull

Bidoof Fan
Staff
Partners
  1. sneasel-nip
  2. bidoof
  3. absol
  4. kirlia
  5. windskull-bidoof
  6. little-guy-windskull
  7. purugly
  8. mawile
Hi Fobbie and Virgil, it’s about time I get to my side of our review exchange. For reference, I’ll be using Ao3 numbering when referring to chapters.

35
Funny how Lynn could have got a head start on the chase if he’d just bothered investigating his underlings claims. Buuut the explanation was reasonable. Ah well, that’s just how these things tend to go.

"A-are we there yet?" Guardia weakly asked. The pitiful show made Elty fold his ears back aggravatedly.
100% a nitpick, but I feel like you could cut the “aggravatedly” here. The body language combined with the interall thoughts get the idea across without the adverb.

Ah yes, the scene that gives the characters the idea that Pleo gets his boosts from storms. And, to be fair, it’s not totally wrong. It’s just that, if I remember correctly, there’s more to it than just that.

I do like the note that most pokemon don’t like storms. It makes me curious what pokemon *would* like them. Obviously some water types would, but not necessarily all of them.

Ah yes, the good old sneak in with a box over the head bit.

Oh yeah, we get some foreshadowing about the current state of the relationship between the ferals and townies here. It also seems like there’s some implications that some of the younger pokemon have fallen out of attachment to some traditions and places as a result of that tension.

Guardia’s feral mindset shows up here. And it reveals a lot about how ferals and townies interact in practice, rather than how they’re theoretically *supposed* to interact. It also touches just a tiny bit on the predator-prey mindset, which I don’t think comes up much throughout fledglings, IIRC. Perhaps in part due to tone and scope, and perhaps in part because we don’t get deep into Guardia’s mind very often. That could be interesting to see touched on, sometime.

This is where Trizano get introduced. And where we see Nidia’s fear of skarmory in full swing. I can’t remember when we get the full story on that (If we did already, oops, it’s been a while 8P)

Oh yeah, this is one of the chapters that touches on Hatteras’ missing family. I know they show up later, but I find myself wondering when we’re going to get the payoff for that one.

OK, overall thoughts for this chapter 0 it’s a lot of setup, primarily focused on getting set up for the plot of the episode. That said, as I was looking back over it to read this review, I started realizing how long it was, and kind of wonder if it would have been better to cut it into two parts, because a *lot* happens in this chapter. In total, there’s seven scenes, and I know it’s about 10-12k words or so.

But I feel like a good dividing place would have been the end of scene 3. As it is, that would have had the scene still establish Lyn’s failure to follow, the team’s arrival, the introduction of Trizano, and the reveal that Elsburg is there and knows the kids are there. And that would leave the introduction of Salvini, the scene back home, Chrome’s scene, and the introduction of Zorn and Darzin for the second chapter.

Obviously this is all moot at this point and I wouldn’t expect things to be changed now, but I figure the critique could be useful for future chapters/works. It’s also kind of a matter of opinion, and as is it feels more like an “episode” of a show rather than a chapter, which might be the vibe you were going for, so feel free to take it with a grain of salt.

36
Man, the secrecy here makes Briggs come off as prejudiced against the marked (an issue that’s not uncommon), which kind of makes me wonder if there *are* certain company islands where that is an issue, where marked struggle to get guard jobs. I don’t *think* I remember anything like that coming up, but it’s not outlandish.

This is less of a critique and more of a thought, but I wonder how the tension of this chapter would have played out if scene two had ended with Salvini and her team agreeing to the plan to catch the “pirates” but before the plan was laid out. In theory, it could have led to increased tension, due knowing that they had a plan, but not knowing how it would play out.

Ah yes, the first hint that Ander is hiding something.

As they fished out their Cleanse Orb and the paltry few Poké left in Valatos' assortment of coins, they traded them over the counter for a dark, black orb with a light faintly glowing at its center.
I’m kind of curious, was the description something that was in the initial version fo the story, or something added in edits? I believe the escape orb is one of the few orbs that had existing art pre-RTDX.

This chapter was more background setup, for the most part. But the moment at the end was cute. It was nice to get to see the kids get a chance to relax for a bit. Generally, I think it worked as it is.


37
Ah, here we are, the token Scout appearance. Glad to see him offering to be of help and letting them know things aren’t as good here as they appear. I wonder if he would have offered the same if he had met them in different circumstances on the previous island, consider the whole pirate hot-spot issue.

Not much to say on this one. A lot of this chapter is more character introductions and set up, as the team finally goes into the dungeon. I think one of the strengths of it, though, is it starts getting into the kinder side of company underlings, and gives a vague idea that they’re not all bad, they’re just doing a job. Something that gets expanded upon throughout the episode.

38
As the sound of a scuffle rang out, Nida, Pleo, and Elty likewise rushed ahead. Blindly sending spikes, gusts of wind, and cones of cinders at their assailants as they charged on.
Nitpick. As far as I can tell, the second sentence here is valid as a complete sentence, but it doesn’t *feel* like one, and that kind of tripped me up.

Elty ran in between them, and spat out a cone of embers
Also a nitpick here, but I don’t think you need a comma in this case. Using commas for emphasis or to slow the reader can be useful. But for fights in particular, extra commas can make the reader slow down in what’s meant to be a pretty fast-moving, snappy situation, which can lead to the battles feeling sluggish. The increased use of epithets can also lead to the fights feeling slow, though I think you’re using them here to help make clear who’s doing what?

I’m not going to harp any more on the subject after this, but this was another chapter that I think could have benefitted from being split. There’s a lot going on between various groups, with a few of them coming together. And I feel like rearranging scenes a little and splitting into two chapters - with the first one ending after the narrow escape from the dungeon - might have benefitted the pacing.

39
"Pin them down, now!" Briggs bellowed. The Armaldo's right claw began trailing flickers of whitish light as he readied a slash at the white bird. However, as soon as Briggs raised his claw, his Mienshao subordinate pre-empted him by fishing out a Petrify Orb from a bag around his shoulder, and hurling it at the wall above the broken window.
As I was going back through the chapter to write up this review, this line happened to catch my eye. Perhaps I’m overanalyzing things, but I feel like it’s a line that says a lot about Briggs and Hertzog. Briggs immediately goes for violence, despite the fact (or maybe because) he knows more about the situation. And despite the fact that they’re children. But Hertsog goes instead for a less violent approach to subdue them. Of course, it *could* just be that Briggs didn’t have any items on him 8P. But I feel like petrify wands/orbs would be standard issue for anyone working this kind of job, where they might have to subdue criminals. Hm… This is giving me ideas…

Pirate fight! Pirate fight! Most of this chapter bounces between the absolute chaos of a run-in with Hess’ crew and Trizano working out his plan to rescue the kids. I’ve already said some stuff about the episode’s themes, and I’ll revisit them at the end of the next chapter.

40
The hapless Grass-Type fell against the ground, and slumped over
Another instance with a unnecessary comma.

So here we are at the end of another episode. I think one of the main strengths of this episode was introducing the idea that not all Company Pokemon are mean-spirited or corrupt. Sure, you see that a little on Tromba, but it's treated more like the exception than the rule. And that’s still true to a degree, but it makes it more clear that it’s not just a “Tromba” thing. And it, to a degree, helps humanize pokemon of the company. It makes it clear that, even if the upper levels hare not great by any means, the Company isn’t just some monolithic evil entity.

And to that degree I think that this a pretty good episode overall. Most of my critique has been subjective feelings on structure, rather than glaring objective issues or anything of that sort.

So I think I’ll be ending the review here. Looking forward to the next one!
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
@windskull
Funny how Lynn could have got a head start on the chase if he’d just bothered investigating his underlings claims. Buuut the explanation was reasonable. Ah well, that’s just how these things tend to go.

Such is life when you’re not cognizant that you live in a story. :V

100% a nitpick, but I feel like you could cut the “aggravatedly” here. The body language combined with the interall thoughts get the idea across without the adverb.

Done.

Ah yes, the scene that gives the characters the idea that Pleo gets his boosts from storms. And, to be fair, it’s not totally wrong. It’s just that, if I remember correctly, there’s more to it than just that.

I do like the note that most pokemon don’t like storms. It makes me curious what pokemon *would* like them. Obviously some water types would, but not necessarily all of them.

Aside from the obvious of Kyogre and Tornadus, I would assume that most fishmons and underwater types would be pretty “Oh no! Anyway…” about storms. Gyarados and Dratini line ‘mons strike me as decent candidates for being at least neutral towards storms, since they’re depicted putting storms to good use in at least some branches of canon.

Oh yeah, we get some foreshadowing about the current state of the relationship between the ferals and townies here. It also seems like there’s some implications that some of the younger pokemon have fallen out of attachment to some traditions and places as a result of that tension.

Yeah. Kinda hard to put stock in tradition when it results in you getting jumped in the boonies.

Guardia’s feral mindset shows up here. And it reveals a lot about how ferals and townies interact in practice, rather than how they’re theoretically *supposed* to interact. It also touches just a tiny bit on the predator-prey mindset, which I don’t think comes up much throughout fledglings, IIRC. Perhaps in part due to tone and scope, and perhaps in part because we don’t get deep into Guardia’s mind very often. That could be interesting to see touched on, sometime.

Admittedly balancing tone has been a bit of a constraint on that front. There is one arc still waiting down the pipe where dealing with ferals’ perspectives will most likely be significant enough to affect that arc’s plot, but that one won’t come for a while here on TR.

This is where Trizano get introduced. And where we see Nidia’s fear of skarmory in full swing. I can’t remember when we get the full story on that (If we did already, oops, it’s been a while 8P)

That would be that nasty run-in with a feral Skarmory she mentioned way back in Episode 3 that Alto wouldn’t shut up about. The specifics of what went down are left to the reader’s imagination.

Oh yeah, this is one of the chapters that touches on Hatteras’ missing family. I know they show up later, but I find myself wondering when we’re going to get the payoff for that one.

Much, much later in the game. We haven’t exactly forgotten about them, though we’re still threading the needle with the best way to bring them back.

OK, overall thoughts for this chapter 0 it’s a lot of setup, primarily focused on getting set up for the plot of the episode. That said, as I was looking back over it to read this review, I started realizing how long it was, and kind of wonder if it would have been better to cut it into two parts, because a *lot* happens in this chapter. In total, there’s seven scenes, and I know it’s about 10-12k words or so.

But I feel like a good dividing place would have been the end of scene 3. As it is, that would have had the scene still establish Lyn’s failure to follow, the team’s arrival, the introduction of Trizano, and the reveal that Elsburg is there and knows the kids are there. And that would leave the introduction of Salvini, the scene back home, Chrome’s scene, and the introduction of Zorn and Darzin for the second chapter.

Obviously this is all moot at this point and I wouldn’t expect things to be changed now, but I figure the critique could be useful for future chapters/works. It’s also kind of a matter of opinion, and as is it feels more like an “episode” of a show rather than a chapter, which might be the vibe you were going for, so feel free to take it with a grain of salt.

Yeah, we get the argument, though at the same time, we generally like pushing out chapters where it feels like there’s definitive story progression by the end of things. That’s not to say there won’t be some chapters slated for the chop-chop treatment for meta ease-of-reading reasons, today’s is actually one of them and the pilot for how that process will be applied to some of the story’s more infamously marathon chapters later in its run.

Perhaps we’ll change our mind about it at some point in the future, though as of present, we feel that the chapters presently up on TR and others that are in their rough neighborhood length-wise are best left as-is.

Man, the secrecy here makes Briggs come off as prejudiced against the marked (an issue that’s not uncommon), which kind of makes me wonder if there *are* certain company islands where that is an issue, where marked struggle to get guard jobs. I don’t *think* I remember anything like that coming up, but it’s not outlandish.

Job discrimination is an issue that Marked likely have problems with throughout the Cradle, hence why the story’s made a point of showing them with “outcast” professions here and there. Of Company islands in particular, tMarked would likely have the most trouble getting Company jobs on Nagrobek, but that’s not exactly a place with a normal state of affairs.

I’m kind of curious, was the description something that was in the initial version fo the story, or something added in edits? I believe the escape orb is one of the few orbs that had existing art pre-RTDX.

That description was always there. All the item descriptions are based off of what was there to work with canonically as of Super. There was a brief period where we considered retconning things to make it match up with RTDX, but we ultimately decided against it since: A: It’d be a ton of work, B: It’d mean throwing out a lot of designs we had fun coming up with to fill in the gaps prior to RBDX’s release.

Ah, here we are, the token Scout appearance. Glad to see him offering to be of help and letting them know things aren’t as good here as they appear. I wonder if he would have offered the same if he had met them in different circumstances on the previous island, consider the whole pirate hot-spot issue.

Yeah, had the gang not run up a massive tab, Scout probably would’ve been a bit more caring about their plight back there. He may be a grouchy pill, but he’s got standards.

Nitpick. As far as I can tell, the second sentence here is valid as a complete sentence, but it doesn’t *feel* like one, and that kind of tripped me up.

We went back and changed this.

Also a nitpick here, but I don’t think you need a comma in this case. Using commas for emphasis or to slow the reader can be useful. But for fights in particular, extra commas can make the reader slow down in what’s meant to be a pretty fast-moving, snappy situation, which can lead to the battles feeling sluggish. The increased use of epithets can also lead to the fights feeling slow, though I think you’re using them here to help make clear who’s doing what?

We also went back and changed this.

As I was going back through the chapter to write up this review, this line happened to catch my eye. Perhaps I’m overanalyzing things, but I feel like it’s a line that says a lot about Briggs and Hertzog. Briggs immediately goes for violence, despite the fact (or maybe because) he knows more about the situation. And despite the fact that they’re children. But Hertsog goes instead for a less violent approach to subdue them. Of course, it *could* just be that Briggs didn’t have any items on him 8P. But I feel like petrify wands/orbs would be standard issue for anyone working this kind of job, where they might have to subdue criminals. Hm… This is giving me ideas…

Nah, you’re not overreading things. The contrast between Briggs and Hertsog is very much deliberate. For obvious reasons, one of them plays much better among the audience than the other.

Another instance with a unnecessary comma.

Fixed.

So here we are at the end of another episode. I think one of the main strengths of this episode was introducing the idea that not all Company Pokemon are mean-spirited or corrupt. Sure, you see that a little on Tromba, but it's treated more like the exception than the rule. And that’s still true to a degree, but it makes it more clear that it’s not just a “Tromba” thing. And it, to a degree, helps humanize pokemon of the company. It makes it clear that, even if the upper levels hare not great by any means, the Company isn’t just some monolithic evil entity.

And to that degree I think that this a pretty good episode overall. Most of my critique has been subjective feelings on structure, rather than glaring objective issues or anything of that sort.

So I think I’ll be ending the review here. Looking forward to the next one!

And we’ll be looking forward to it! It’s always a pleasure to get your feedback, and we’ll be looking forward to hearing what you have to say about the other Episodes you get to with their fresh coat of paint. ^^

Alright, so it should go without saying, but as of today’s update, you’ll notice that a few big shake-ups are being rolled out. First and foremost is that @Virgil134 will be taking a more hands-on role in publishing and uploading chapters in alternating order with me on forum versions, both here, and on Serebii. Whenever one of us handles chapter publishing, the other will be handling writing up the accompanying review responses.

The other big change that we’ll be rolling out is that this will be the part where we introduce multiparters to this story, which will be used for events that are thematically one chapter, but long enough to be divided up for ease of consumption and updated weekly until the multiparter is fully hosted. This particular chapter was as good as any to roll it out on since in its original form, it was around 25,000 words published in a single update. For obvious reasons, we felt that was a bit much to ask readers to get through when a number of current chapters were already striking people as long, so we’ll be publishing this current multiparter in three of them.

But that’s enough boilerplate for now, it’s time to get into the actual meat of the story, the first Bonus Chapter of Fledglings in which little hurdles such as story canon are ignored and Team Traveller taken to places far, far away from their home sea. In today’s case, they’ll be setting their sights on new horizons, an entire continent that’s lush and alive. A sight that Pokémon in the Cradle haven’t seen in ages… In an Aeon, even.

So without further ado, we’re happy to present the first part of three of…
 
Bonus Chapter: Turbulent Roadtrip, Part 1

Virgil134

PMD Writer
Partners
  1. sylveon
  2. weavile
  3. kommo-o
  4. noivern
  5. mothim
This chapter was originally posted on April Fools 2018 as a crossover with @Ambyssin 's Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light. Unfortunately the story hasn't been posted here on Thousand Roads, but nevertheless, you can read the other half of the crossover, Transdimensional Tourism, by clicking here.



Bonus Chapter: Turbulent Roadtrip, Part 1

The hours after Team Traveller's defeat at Sormus went by in a darkened, unconscious blur, bereft of even the light of dreams. When Pleo finally stirred, he awoke to a dim glow shining through his heavy eyelids, the feeling of leaves underwing evidencing that he'd been brought into someplace with tree cover. He stirred against the ground, gritting his beak as a renewed pain wracked his whole body from his toes out to the tips of his wings.

"Nnrgh…"

The Lugia sat up with a start, still bleary-eyed from his slumber, as he realized that his aches had come about because of that battle that they'd lost earlier. So... just where had he and his friends wound up this time?

Pleo's vision began to clear and he noticed in the dim light that he was sprawled out on moss-covered dirt… much like the Mystery Dungeon back in Boisocéan. The Lugia looked ahead uneasily, and to his alarm, he was in a shaded place full of trees towering higher than any he'd seen before in his travel. Pleo stood up at once, seeing that he was in a clearing, a quick glance revealing his still unconscious friends scattered all around him.

"Ah! Nida! Elty! Guardia!" he squawked. "Wake up!"

The young Protector darted over and nudged at his Nidoran teammate with his beak, pleading her to get up. The nudging and ruckus drew stirs from the three Pokémon, who tiredly shifted their bodies.

"Ungh…" Nida moaned. "What's going on?"

The three woozily rose to their feet, only to jolt back with a start at the sight of the towering forest. In all their travels, they'd never come across a forest that was anything like this one. Which beggared the question of what happened, and equally important...

"Wha-?! How did we get here?!" Nida exclaimed.

"Gah… we were at Sormus running from Lyn and his lackeys… Then… we got ambushed by those Imps while we were about to fly off," Elty murmured. "The last thing I remember was us getting soaked by that Clawitzer and everything just went kinda black there."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why we're in the middle of a forest!" Guardia piped. "I'd expect us to be in a ship, or a cave, or… someplace without trees!"

Nida paused, twitching her nose anxiously as the gnawing realization that the Cubone was onto something sank in. But even if the place was strange, just who but Nagant could have done it? The Clawitzer was the one who knocked them out, but on the other paw, a step back and the feeling of cloth underfoot revealed that even the team's bag had made the trip! What could have possibly motivated her to just let them keep that?

"Well, however she dumped us here, we at least got our items out of it," the Nidoran sighed. "So we aren't totally helpless right now."

"But where do we go now?" Pleo said, eyeing his surroundings anxiously. "We've never seen a forest like this before, so how can we find out where we are?"

Nida paused, staring off blankly at the trees around her. No matter where she looked, all she could see was the same dimly lit scattering of gigantic trees, with nary a hint to something as simple as what direction was north or south. Just how was anyone supposed to tell where they were based off of that little information?

"… Er…"

"I mean, if there were more solid walls around, I'd say we were in a Mystery Dungeon," Elty offered. "But… I dunno..."

"Perhaps we could start by scouting around a bit?" Guardia suggested. "The more familiar we are with the territory, the better we'd be able to find a way out afterwards."

The team murmured among themselves and quickly concurred with the Cubone, following after her among the trunks of the forest. All the while, the four wondered just what on earth could have enabled the trees to grow so tall… why they were even taller than the ones back in Mengir! Guardia spotted a clump of bushes blocking the path up ahead, prompting her to pause and search for a way around, only for the sound of voices to reach her ears.

"Gah… what are we supposed to do now?" a scratchy voice whined.

"Yeah, Lycanroc! We've got no food or money!" a high, nasally voice added. "We need that to get anywhere!"

The sound of Pokémon up ahead made Team Traveller stop and look around their surroundings. All around them, they saw nothing but the same trees and bushes they'd seen all this while, but when Nida raised her nose and sniffed, she caught the scent of fur… and a smell that reminded her of a less smoky and more dusty version of Elty coming past the bushes.

"Huh?"

The team crept along, poking their way through a gap in the shrub ahead. The four saw a group consisting of a ruddy Lycanroc standing on his hindlegs, a Sneasel, and a Jangmo-o gathered around. None of them had scarves on them… so were these local ferals? But if so, why would they worry about money?

"Pipe down, mates. We just got out of prison, not a bloody Kecleon shop! We'll just need to take things step by step and worry about getting some supplies first!" the Lycanroc snapped. "Once we get that figured out, we can focus on settling the score with Snowy and the rest of that stupid guild."

… No, they surely were not ferals. Given the mention of ‘prison’, it seemed far more likely that the three were merely some pirates who in a fit of blunderful thinking opted to shed their scarves to lay low even if it meant winding up on the wrong side of the Pact.

"These guys seem like obvious criminals," Nida whispered. "Let's get out of here before they know we're here."

"To be fair, we're obvious criminals right about now," Elty admonished. "Why the Company went to all the trouble of-"

"But how do we even start?" the Jangmo-o asked. "We tried foraging, and all we managed to pick up were some pine cones!"

"Simple. There's bound to be some inexperienced dweebs crawling around these parts," the Sneasel insisted. "We just give them a hard knock and walk off with their stuff!"

"… Okay never mind," the Growlithe said. "Let's go."

Team Traveller turned and began to slink off past the bush, first Guardia, then Nida, then Elty, and finally Pleo. As the white bird made his way back onto the path, he felt a branch snag on the spikes on his tail, prompting him to turn back and tug. A simple pull failed to dislodge himself, prompting his eyes to widen with worry as he tugged harder, and harder until...

Crack

The branch suddenly gave way with a loud snap, prompting gulps from the young Lugia and his teammates as the sound of movement at once came from beyond the bush.

"Oi!" the Lycanroc snapped. "Who's there?!"

With the brigands now aware of their presence, the team's hearts began to pound and hasten. From her spot at the front of the team, Guardia shook her head, whirling and darting forward with a loud shout to her teammates.

"Run!"

The four took off, running, darting down the path for a sunlit clearing up ahead. As the team was almost upon the opened space, a white wind shot out, encrusting the ground underfoot with ice, and pitching Guardia forward onto her belly. Her teammates, unable to stop in time, collided with her, sending the whole of Team Traveller tumbling forward into the clearing in a groaning heap.

"Speaking of inexperienced dweebs, looks like we've got some right here!" the Sneasel jeered.

"Yeah, thanks for stopping by," the Jangmo-o snarled. "Now fork over the goods-!"

Pleo and his companions uneasily rose to their feet, looking around them to see that the path was blocked by the growling form of a Midnight Lycanroc. Flanking him from both sides were the snarling forms of the Jangmo-o and the Sneasel. The pair approached, glaring and growling, only for a sudden wide-eyed moment of surprise to set upon the Jangmo-o, followed by an intimidated cringe.

"E-Eh?! Sneasel!" the Dragon-Type whined. "These dweebs have Lugia with them!"

The Sneasel blinked and noted that the seabird with the group did seem unusually silvery under the light. The Dark-Type grimaced, and backpedaled uneasily at the sight of the Legendary, waving his claws frantically as he stammered back.

"Er… we were just going someplace! Hah hah..." he offered. "Uh… really, really far away!"

"Huh? Where?" Pleo asked. "Is it someplace brighter than here?"

Pleo's reaction at once made the Sneasel and Jangmo-o tilt their heads in surprise. Far from the regal, authoritative voice of a living god, the Lugia had spoke back to them much as a lost whelp would to a passing stranger!

"Uh, boss?" the Jangmo-o murmured. "Are Lugia supposed to sound that squeaky?"

"How am I supposed to know that, mate?" the Lycanroc huffed in response. "That said, I ain't no Legendaryologist, but he sounds like a runt. A hatchling, even."

"Lugia's a bird, right? So don't you mean a fledgling?" the Sneasel countered. "Kweh heh heh!"

The Dark-Type was cut off by a smack to the back of his head, pitching him forward onto the ground. The Sneasel groaned and picked himself up, his Lycanroc teammate having no stomach for his puns at this time.

"I don't care, alright? Point is, he and his friends are just some pikers like Snowy and that shelia that's always with him," the Lycanroc growled. "Legendary or not, we're Team Fang! We can take him!"

The Lycanroc's declaration seemed to raise his teammates' confidence, prompting them to snicker and jeer at Team Traveller as they crept along. Hastily, the four youngsters tensed up, bracing themselves for battle with this team of unscarved brigands.

"Remind me to never listen to you for direction again, bonehead," Elty grumbled.

"Elty, focus on important things here!" Nida snapped.

"Right, like knocking a few numbskulls around!" Guardia exclaimed. "Yah!"

The Cubone tore along the ground, vaulting with her club to spring up as she neared the Midnight Lycanroc. The wolf grimaced and backpedaled as the bone lizard flew into the air, bringing her club down onto the Rock-Type's head with a heavy blow.

"Grah!"

"Hah! Your bark's worse than your bite!" Guardia jeered, coming to a stop on the ground. The Ground-Type looked up, only to notice light shrouding her foe's paws and his pained grimace to turn into a devious smile.

"Oh really, runt? Try this on for size!"

The Lycanroc swung a claw low, catching the young Cubone in her chest with crushing force. Guardia yelped from the stunning blow and was sent flying, sailing headlong for a tree trunk.

"Woooooah!"

The lizard hit the tree and slid down with a dazed groan, which served to brighten the eyes of the Jangmo-o and Sneasel, now filled with newfound enthusiasm.

"Hah! This'll be easy!" the Jangmo-o exclaimed.

"Yeah," the Sneasel added. "I dunno what rock you all crawled out from under, but we on Team Fang have actual experience ripping off dorks like you!"

The pair charged ahead, the Sneasel lunging forward at blistering speed as his Jangmo-o teammate charged after with his tail readied for a swinging blow that forced Nida and Elty to dive out of the way. From his place at the rear of the group, Pleo's nerve failed him as he watched the Lycanroc charge him, prompting him to squawk out of fright.

"A-Aah!"

Reflexively, the young Lugia spat up a glowing ball of light at the Lycanroc, making the wolf stumble back. Sensing that time was of the essence, Nida and Elty rushed forward, shooting glares at their Sneasel and Jangmo-o foes.

"Grr! If you think we're just going to roll over for you, you've got another thing coming!" the Nidoran hissed. "We've come too far to get pushed around by a bunch of scum-sucking canallas like you!"

Nida darted for the Sneasel, prompting him to swing at her with open claws. With a hasty sidestep, the Poison-Type weaved around the swing, before retaliating with a pair of spinning blows. The Sneasel buckled under the first kick, the second sending him skidding back with a yelp along the ground, much to his teammate's alarm.

"Sneasel!" the Jangmo-o cried. "Come on! Keep it tog- Ouchies!"

The Jangmo-o felt a weight and piercing pain pulling down on his flank, prompting him to look up and see Elty's jaws wrapped around them, attempting to drag him around much like an awkwardly-shaped toy.

"Hey, lunhkfed!" Elty jeered. "Whorry more about yourshelf!"

"Gah! Get off of me already!"

The Dragon-Type spat up a gout of fiery blue light, forcing Elty off with a yelp. The Growlithe tottered a bit, his gaze turning to the corner of his eye where Pleo had spat up another ball of light at the Lycanroc, only for this one to be batted away by a barrage of rocks torn up from the ground.

"Hah!" the Lycanroc snarled. "Was that really the best you could do, you overgrown feather duster?!"

The young Lugia took off running in a panic, the Lycanroc charging after him until he heard Guardia groan, and saw the Cubone right herself from her tree trunk. The Rock-Type slowed to a stop and trained his attention to the bone lizard, a low growl rising in his throat.

"I'll deal with you later," he snapped. "For now, let's put that little bone in my craw down for the count!"

The Midnight Lycanroc, eager to further repay his head blow, took off running for Guardia. From her place against the tree trunk, the Cubone watched paralyzed with fear as the much bigger, furry yajū lunged for her, only for a sudden squawk to ring out.

"Guardia, quick!"

Before she could react, Guardia felt a presence swoop down and pluck her up. The Cubone screwed her eyes shut, feeling her body get dumped on something warm and feathery that she dug her claws into for dear life.

A sudden realization dawned on her, as she remembered that there was only one Pokémon with feathers around here big enough to carry her like this. Guardia cracked her eyes open, seeing the ground zip by underneath and white-and-blue head of none other than...

"Huh?! Pleo!"

"Just hang on!" the Lugia insisted. "We'll work it out!"

Back on the ground, the Sneasel and the Jangmo-o had grown weary of being harried by these surprisingly strong rookies. Panting and weakened from battle, the Sneasel flicked a claw irritatedly and turned to his Dragon-Type teammate.

"Gah! New strategy, Jangmo-o," he said. "Let's stick together and pool our attacks!"

"Er… but haven't we been doing that all this ti-"

"Stick closer scales-for-brains!" the Dark-Type hissed. "Just follow my lead!"

The two withdrew, inching up back to back with each other as Nida and Elty flanked them. The two sent forth an icy wind quickly followed by a swing of the Jangmo-o's tail that struck Elty with a yelp, before whirling and doing the same to Nida right as she ran up readying a Poison Sting.

"AGH!"

The Nidoran tottered back with an agonized cry, leaving the two partners in crime to take in the handiwork of their cooperation, the Jangmo-o being particularly surprised with the results.

"Hey, Sneasel! It actually worked!" the Dragon-Type cried.

"Of course it did! I came up with it!" the Sneasel insisted. "Now let's rip off these chumps!"

The pair turned their attention to a dazed Elty, who struggled to keep his balance. Sensing that the tide of battle had turned, the Sneasel charged ahead, slipping into a shadow on the ground before popping up in front of the Puppy Pokémon with his claws bared.

"Lights out, dweebs!" the Sneasel jeered. "And thanks for the free gear!"

The Dark-Type's taunt at once snapped Elty into attention, the dog yelping as he saw the Sneasel bring his claws down into a swipe. The Growlithe weaved his head so the Sneasel's attack grazed him, and jumped back before somersaulting forward in a hasty, fiery wheel, which struck the Dark-Type bandit square in the face.

"AAAAAGH!"

The Sneasel sailed back singed and trailing curls of smoke, coming to a tumbling, unconscious stop at his Jangmo-o's teammate feet. The Dragon-Type went wide-eyed and quailed, shaken by how suddenly his friend had been defeated.

"A-Aah! Sneasel- Nrk!"

The Dragon-Type whined in pain, glancing up at his rump to see a needle dribbling venom lodged in it, along with its owner hopping away a little further ahead. The dragon felt a chill come over his body, though not enough to quench a fire of irritation stoked by the indignity of his surprise attack.

"Hey! What's the big idea?! I was busy reacting to somethi-!"

"Eyaaaaaah!"

A sharp cry rang out, prompting the Jangmo-o to look up and go wide-eyed at the sight of a Cubone falling from the sky. The Ground-Type brought her club down with an overhead smash right onto the Jangmo-o's head.

The impact was followed by the sound of a loud crash, and afterwards Guardia stepped away from a weakly twitching Jangmo-o. A low growl drew everyone's attention behind them, where the Lycanroc glared, spitting contemptuously to the side.

"Hrmph, so you got through them already," the Lycanroc snarled. "Well, it'll take more than that to beat me! I'm the one who carried those two dorks!"

The wolf howled and charged ahead readying a Rock Tomb. As soon as the Rock-Type had darted forward, he was hit by a shining burst on his shoulder, followed by a heavy, clubbing blow that caught him in the stomach. The Lycanroc bowled over and looked up just in time to see Elty roll at him with a Flame Wheel that struck him and knocked him onto his knees, followed by a pair of swift kicks that sent him rolling into a tree trunk. The Rock-Type lay there groaning, weakly cracking his eyes open when he saw all four members of Team Traveller rushing him, prompting the frazzled Lycanroc to let out a yelp, his nerves having deserted him.

"A-Ack! Keep your lousy gear! I didn't sign up for this!"

The Lycanroc got up and bolted off in a panic, only to catch himself pause, and turn back running for the forms of the fainted Jangmo-o and Sneasel.

"And you two are coming along!" the Lycanroc shouted. "No way am I letting you two dweebs squeal on me!"

The Rock-Type ran up, and much to Team Traveller's confoundment, quickly slipped his two teammates under his arms. The four watched with puzzled expressions as the Midnight Lycanroc disappeared off into the undergrowth with his fellow brigands. With the forest returning to its prior silence, the team blinked, panting uneasily as they turned to nurse their wounds.

"Well, that was certainly a warm welcome," Elty harrumphed.

"They were certainly… a different team," Pleo muttered.

"What... was that all about?" Nida asked. "And how did they know Pleo was a Lugia?"

"Could… there be more than one of me?" Pleo murmured. The seabird's question drew some baffled glances from his teammates, much as if he'd asked them if the sun ever rose in the west.

"But that's preposterous!" Nida squeaked. "There's only one Lugia, and that's you!"

"Meh, they probably just read a story about you or something," Elty retorted. "I'd be more worried about where we are right now."

The Growlithe's comment made Pleo blink and tilt his head puzzledly. Weren't they just in some sort of forest? What else would there be to be worried about beyond ferals or more bandits like Team Fang?

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Those three mentioned something about breaking out of a prison. But what if they're wrong?" Elty said. "I admit there's less cells than I'd expect, but that Clawitzer did knock us out after saying she'd capture the mewa… and doesn't this place seem like the right sort of spot to banish a 'mon you don't want to deal with?"

An uneasy pause hung in the air, Nida, Pleo, and Guardia grudgingly realizing that so far that beyond Team Fang, the forest had been quiet and desolate enough to be a place where a Pokémon could be easily forgotten. The three lingered a moment on the thought, before Guardia dispelled it with a shake of her head and a rap of her club against the ground.

"Well, I don't know what's going here, Gardie," she harrumphed. "But we've got better things to do than worrying what this weird forest is."

"Oh? What do we do now?" Pleo asked.

"I say we move on, and keep an eye out for anyone else here," the Cubone offered. "If there's one team of thieves prowling around, there's most likely others."

"Sounds good enough to me," Nida grunted. "Come on, let's patch ourselves up and get going."

With that, the Nidoran dug into the team's satchel, hastily pulling out an Oran Berry and dividing it among the four of them. After applying its juices to their wounds and wolfing down its pulp, the group pressed on, setting off deeper into the darkened forest warily eyeing their surroundings.



After their hostile encounter with Team Fang underneath the treetops of the towering forest, Team Traveller continued tiredly in their search for a way out, keeping an eye out for any further brigands lying in wait in the shadows. All the while, as the four made their way past one giant tree trunk or set of wall-like ridges after the other, they couldn't help but sense the place they'd woken up in was peculiar… and seemingly doing its best to hide wherever its exit was.

"Anything at all?" Nida asked.

"Nothing," Elty sighed. "No exits, no stairs, nothing at all that would suggest that this isn't some normal patch of land if it weren't for the freaky trees."

"What about that?" Guardia asked.

The Cubone raised her bone and pointed off in the distance up ahead. Nida and Elty squinted, taking a few step forward for the image to take shape in their eyes, where they saw a mass of tightly-spaced trees. The Growlithe paced forward, sniffing the ground as he neared a set of roots and looked up to discover that much to his shock, the trees had been fused into a solid, impenetrable wall of wood.

"Gah!" Elty whined. "This place really is some sort of freaky prison!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Gardie," Guardia rebutted. "There weren't exactly any trees, but the Mystery Dungeon back home also sometimes made giant walls. Perhaps we're just in a stable zone right now…"

The Cubone trailed off before noticing her teammates staring skeptically at her. Wagging her tail awkwardly from the attention, Guardia cleared her throat, opting to perhaps amend her earlier statement.

"… A very big stable zone," she insisted.

"But don't those have ways to get out?" Pleo asked. "How are we supposed to find our way out here?"

"Er… we could try walking along this wall and see where it goes?" Nida suggested.

"But it took ages just to get here!" Elty exclaimed. "And we don't know this place is even safe to be poking around like this."

"So what do you suggest then?" the Nidoran insisted, drawing a blank hem and haw back from her Growlithe teammate.

"Uh… maybe we could try signaling other Pokémon outside?"

"Huh?" Pleo asked. "But wouldn't our badges need to have been touched by a teleporter for that to work?"

The young Protector gestured at the metal bauble pinned on his scarf, moving his beak against it for a nudge. He spoke an inquisitive 'Hello' into the badge and waited, only to be answered by a long silence affirming his suspicions.

"… Er… right. Maybe there's a path somewhere that leads outside...?" Elty began, only to be answered by a shake from Guardia's head.

"Then we'd be better off following Nida's idea. We'd still need to find this path first..." she finished. "Assuming that it'd even be someplace near this wall."

"Hmm… let's just keep track of where we've been and look around for some clues," Nida said.

The Nidoran's suggestion drew murmurs of agreement, prompting Elty to inhale and blow out a column of cinders onto the tree-wall. The embers danced against the wood for a moment, leaving a blackened mark against their bark, which Team Traveller used as their guidestone.

The youngsters set off, each fanning out in a separate direction along the wall, with Nida opting to follow it lengthwise to the north, or at least what she presumed to be the north. Along the way, the Nidoran crept forward carefully, dutifully nosing around for traps and looking back over her shoulder towards her other teammates, until she chanced to notice some trampled bushes up ahead.

"Eh?"

The Poison-Type carried along, following the damaged bush and noticing a trail of crushed and mangled foliage that carried on to a tree's trunk. The Nidoran blinked and sniffed the air uneasily, before opting to move along along the path, unable to shake a sensation all the while that she was being watched.

"… Hello?" she asked. "Is anyone there-?"

Nida's question was abruptly cut off by a rain of warm, sticky fluid that splattered over her head. The Poison-Type jumped back with a start, fanning her barbs out and running a paw up to her ears… and pulling it back completely red.

"H-Huh?! Th-That's-!"

The Nidoran flushed pale and went woozy, her pupils dilating as she realized that the red substance looked like none other than blood. She backpedaled in a panic, only to slip and feel the same warm, sticky feeling against her legs, prompting her to lose her nerve and squeal out of fright, stumbling in a flailing panic to get back to her feet and away from this death-cursed place.

"Mwee hee hee! I knew that Tamato juice would come in handy!"

Nida blinked and paused at the disembodied mention of 'Tamato juice', prompting her to uneasily raise her paw before licking it, and feel the hot rush of spice confirm that it was indeed made of Tamato berries. She whirled around, eying her surroundings defensively in search of the prankster, only for her teammates to rush in from the path's entrance.

"W-What's going on?!" Pleo cried.

"Yeah!" Elty yipped. "We heard you scream-!"

Before anyone could react, the tree ahead was consumed with billowy shadows, eyes and mouths appearing in the mist as all of a sudden, the forms of a Haunter, Drifloon, and Misdreavus popped out with a singular, unifying cry…

"Boo!"

"AGH!"

Team Traveller's members yelped and leapt back as the three Ghost-Types settled towards the ground, giggling with glee over the strangers' visible alarm. The four youngsters gasped for breath, as the initial shock of their surprise began to fade.

"Looks like you got them good, Haunter," the Drifloon said, much to his partner's snickering delight.

"I'll say! Looks like they're in… a sticky situation!"

As the Haunter chortled, Team Traveller instantly assumed defensive positions with Guardia shooting back a fierce glare. These ghosts must be none other than another band of thieves, and for her part, she would make sure that they'd regret trying to prey on them.

"Grr… if you think that you're going to rob us, you've got another thing coming!" the Cubone snarled, only to be met with a trio of blinking stares back.

"'Robbery'?" the Drifloon scoffed. "Since when did we ever get mistaken for thieves?"

"I suppose the Tamato juice might have been a little overkill…" the Misdreavus murmured.

"Mwee hee hee! You've got it all wrong, kiddos!" the Haunter insisted. "Team Specter doesn't take things from other Pokémon, we give them things! Like the fright of their lives!"

"You dumped this icky Tamato juice all over me you lousy jerk!" Nida snapped. "How is that giving me anything?!"

"Well, you got Tamato juice," the Drifloon said.

"We do also give lifts out of Mystery Dungeons like this one to lost Pokémon," the Misdreavus added.

The Misdreavus' words at once perked up the team of youngsters. If this was a Mystery Dungeon, then it would be a simple matter of having a team hail a teleporter to fish them out! And with any luck it sounded like they'd just run into one!

"But, since you all sound kinda mad about the prank…" the Haunter began. "I guess we're just better off leaving you alo-"

"Wait!" Pleo cried. "We need to leave this dungeon too!"

The Lugia looked to his teammates, hoping to have them vouch for their circumstances… only to notice that the lot of them sported skeptical expressions, evidently unenthused by the idea of doing much of anything at all with this team of pranksters.

"Eh… I dunno about this one, Pleo," Elty murmured.

"Yeah, color me not impressed with this offer," Nida grumbled.

"We are an Exploration Team," the Drifloon insisted. "Even if you're not the type to take a joke, if you're in trouble here, you shouldn't be too choosy about your help."

The balloon-like Pokémon reached for a metallic band looped over his arm and showed off a shining bauble shaped like a crescent moon with rainbow wings on it. At once, Pleo's eyes lit up, finding the badge to be proof enough that these Ghost-Types held their best hope of leaving this strange Mystery Dungeon.

"See! We can trust them, right?" he insisted, drawing reluctant sighs back from his fellow teammates.

"Egh… I suppose," Guardia said. "But their colony's practices are even more backwards than normal."

"Ugh… fine," Nida groaned "Just hurry up and get us out of here."

"Mwee hee hee! On it!"

The Haunter rifled through the satchel on his body, before taking out a rainbow-colored sphere. Nida traded puzzled looks with her teammates, wondering just what the wraith hoped to accomplish by pulling out this orb on such short notice.

"One trip out coming right up!" the Haunter insisted, prompting Elty to tilt his head and perk his left ear up.

"Hey, wait a minute!" he cried. "Why aren't you grabbing your badg-"

Before Elty could finish, the Haunter threw the orb against the ground and shattered it, swallowing up the gathered Pokémon in a flash of light. For a fleeting moment, quiet returned to the strange forest, only for the silence to be broken in by running footfalls.

"Grah! We missed our chance!"

The crunch of trodden sticks and leaves rang out as an Absol with a serrated forehead scythe and a harness around his chest stepped out into the clearing. Behind him, the form of a blue Houndoom in a white, tightly-fitted suit and helmet followed, scanning the surroundings warily. A woosh of disturbed air rang out, as the pair were joined by a purple creature with small, nubby arms and legs and a round head topped with three needles zipped into the freshly-vacated clearing. The Absol swiped a paw against the ground irritatedly, prompting the blue Houndoom in the suit to sigh and shake her head.

"To be fair, if it wasn't for the Nidoran, we wouldn't have been able to find them in the first place," the Houndoom said.

"That was an Exploration Team that they departed with, correct? If that is the case, it is reasonable to assume that they are proceeding to Aeon Town," the purple creature added.

"Grr… we don't have time to chase those four around!" the Absol snapped. "There was an Ultra Wormhole torn open earlier and we need to figure out what they know. Otherwise, we're looking at a potential disaster here!"

The Absol's declaration drew puzzled glances from his teammates, who looked at each other before looking back at the Dark-Type.

"… Aside from the shrunken Lugia, they looked more like clueless and lost children to me," the Houndoom replied.

"I hypothesize those terrestrials pose a minimal threat level, Gallian," the purple Pokémon insisted.

"Well, we're not here to judge by looks. Weren't you the ones harping on about how your Ultra Recon Squad unit is here to investigate how Ultra Space is affecting my world?" the Absol growled. "In my book, that means checking any potential threats by any means necessary."

The Dark-Type shook his head, before setting off deeper into the forest, followed along closely by his teammates. Along the way, they traded curious looks with one another, wondering just what had brought these fallers from afar to this world.
 
Bonus Chapter: Turbulent Roadtrip, Part 2

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
Bonus Chapter: Turbulent Roadtrip, Part 2

Team Specter's orb quickly brought them and their newfound charges to a dirt path at the fringe of a towering forest. When Team Traveller looked behind them, they discovered that much to their astonishment, the trees seemed to be far less impressive in height from the outside. After a moment trying to puzzle out the discrepancy, their Ghost-Type guides motioned off into the distance ahead where the sight of a settlement at the base of a wooded hill came into view, and prompted the lot to set off for it.

The journey took the group along a gravelly road down the hill from the great trees and into a rambunctious town filled with colorful gravel-roofed shacks and buildings styled in the fashion of Pokémon heads. They passed what appeared to be a Post Office, a well-trafficked line of businesses anchored by the familiar outline of a Kecleon shop, and a fountain styled after a Gorebyss. All the while, Pleo fidgeted uncomfortably, seemingly spotting something amiss with the town.

"… None of these Pokémon are wearing any scarves," he murmured. "Are they ferals?"

Nida, Elty, and Guardia blinked before looking around. Barring an exception here or there, such as a young-looking Electrike with an ascot or a Hawlucha with a bandanna, the Pokémon in-town truly weren't wearing scarves! For that matter, none of the Pokémon without some form of scarf seemed to be wearing anything at all that would make them stand out from a common feral in the hinterlands!

"Eh?! You're right!" Nida exclaimed. "But… these Pokémon aren't acting like ferals, so what's going on here…?

"Maybe it's some sort of weird local tradition?" Elty wondered. "Though it makes me wonder how they tell each other apart out in the field..."

"Hrmph," Guardia grumbled. "Maybe they just rely on physical features and scents like normal Pokémon...?"

The Cubone trailed off, noticing a Noivern staring at the team as they walked by on the street. She noticed the process repeat again with a Ribombee, then a Hariyama. The Ground-Type blinked, looking around to notice that all of the Pokémon around them were staring at them as they walked by, as if they'd strutted around after spending a few weeks gorging on Pinkan berries.

"Wait, why's everyone watching us?" she asked.

Nida and Elty tilted their heads curiously, and slowed their pace, allowing Pleo to go ahead along with Team Specter a ways. As the space between them and Pleo widened a few paces, the three noticed that the passerbys' gazes had remained focused on Team Specter, with their focus on none other than their Lugia teammate.

"I… think they're looking at Pleo," Nida said. The Nidoran's comment prompted Pleo to look back puzzledly, just in time to see his teammates walking up next to him as he noticed the strangers staring at him and wondered aloud what was happening.

"Huh?" Pleo questioned. "But why me in particular?"

Nida and her teammates shifted uncomfortably a moment, wondering if the locals would somehow know about Pleo's true identity as a Protector. The four lingered a moment, only for the sound of an impatient grumble to draw their attention back up to their Haunter guide. Opting to not make a bad impression on their rescuers, the three carried along and followed behind the Ghost-Types until they reached a sundial-shaped building. The structure was fashioned from golden stones and draped with violet tapestries with white emblems depicting an overlapping sun and moon. The four marvelled a moment at how richly decorated the building seemed to be, only to notice that in front of it was a stone pedestal positioned directly in front of a heavy-looking metal door.

"Go on ahead," the Misdreavus instructed. "The guild just needs to check your footprints before you head on in."

"For what?" Elty asked. "And how'd they be able to do that on a stone block anyways?"

"Security," the Drifloon answered. "Don't ask me how that block works, it just does. Everyone going into the guild here at Aeon Observatory gets checked. No exceptions."

"Mwee hee hee! That's right!" the Haunter added. "The guild needs to make sure that the only troublemakers going in are its own members!"

Haunter's explanation prompted Nida to fold her ears back skeptically. If the guild needed defenses from outside trouble, wouldn't it be a little late for them to do anything if it could come right up to its doorstep? And more importantly...

"Wait, but why wouldn't you do a check like this on the outskirts of town?" Nida pressed. "Wouldn't anyone who would be kept out from the guild here just be able to cause trouble right outside of it?"

The Nidoran's question prompted their Ghost-Type guides to trade puzzled looks with one another, before shrugging the matter off and turning back to their charges.

"Eh, this is usually sufficient. Just go on ahead," the Haunter insisted. "The pedestal can only take five Pokémon at a time anyways."

Nida blinked for a puzzled moment, muttering to herself under her breath how this town hadn't gotten plundered by pirates yet with such slapdash defenses. After deciding that such worries weren't terribly relevant right here and now, she proceeded onto the pedestal along with her team, placing their feet on the stony surface when all of a sudden a chittering crackled to life.

"Four non-registered Pokémon identified!" a Trapinch's voice piped up. "The Pokémon are... Nidoran-F! Cubone! Growlithe! And... uh... wait, why isn't the last one coming up?"

The disembodied voice made Pleo jump back with a start, looking around wildly for its owner. After failing to spot any other Pokémon nearby, he craned his head down, coming to the conclusion that the voice must've been...

"H-Huh?! The stone just spoke!" he squawked. "How'd it do that?! You said that it just checked footprints!"

"You'll have to ask Magearna about that one," the Drifloon answered. "Never fully understood her 'technology' that she dabbles with."

"What's important is that it works," the Haunter added.

"Wait, Haunter? Is that you? Are you with these Pokémon?" the Trapinch asked. "And what on earth is that weird thing with the three-toed feet we're seeing down here?"

"We pulled a team out of Dewdrop Woods," the Haunter explained. "Service with a scare, as I always say!"

The Haunter's chortling drew audible groans and eye rolls from their rescued charges, prompting his Misdreavus teammate to shake her head and speak back into the stone.

"They're with us, they've got some… different members than normal," she said. "We figured that Guildmaster Metagross would want to take a look."

The voice from the stone went silent for a long moment, before the sound of a creak and heavy grinding rang out, prompting Team Traveller to look ahead and see the metal door slide open in front of them and lead into the sundial-shaped building.

"Right," the voice replied. "Come on in."

At the voice's beckoning, the teams stepped forward, heading down a carpeted hallway decorated with tapestries. Above them, the ceiling had been lined with painted constellations like the entrance hall where at the end they entered a central room with hallways radiating out on several levels. Curiously, the night sky motif of this room seemed to progressively melt away into a dawnlike orange the further one went down the room, before merging into a mural depicting the sun rising. There, the hubbub of the main hall ground to a halt, as Team Traveller watched the gathered Pokémon one-by-one stop in the middle of their routines and stare silently at the four of them.

"Uh… hi?" Pleo offered. He walked up warily as the crowd's attention remained trained on him and his teammates, who traded uneasy looks with each other behind their Lugia companion.

"Okay, these 'mons are doing it too," Nida whispered. "Is there something we're missing as to why we keep getting stared at?"

"Eeeh?!"

The quiet was broken by a startled cry and a red-and-white blur zipping in, the form of a feathery dragon coming to a wooshing stop in the air before Team Traveller. She craned her head down wide-eyed, pointing and stuttering at the sight of Pleo in the group's midst.

"Lugia ?! Is that you?! What are you doing here?!" the Latias exclaimed. "And why have you shrunk?! This isn't the doing of that weird virus going around, is it?!"

"Uh… hello, red… birdie thing," Pleo stammered. "Who- Who exactly are you again?"

The Latias’ mouth hung open for a moment as she hemmed and hawed awkwardly for a moment. The dragon began to realize that she'd fallen for a case of mistaken identity and started to flush an embarrassed red, backpedaling away from the young Lugia.

"Er… never mind that, I had you confused for… someone else," the Latias said.

"What's going on here?"

The sound of a squawking voice rang out along with the sound of dull, heavy footsteps. Team Traveller looked over towards their left where the forms of a Braviary and a stern-faced Metagross made their way over, sizing up the white bird among the group.

"Fact: this is an infant Lugia in our presence," the Metagross announced.

"H-Huh?! How did you know that?!" Pleo cried. "And why do you talk so weird?"

"Well, you've got yer long neck, yer silver feathers, and those blue plates on yer back," the Braviary answered. "It's pretty obvious enough that you'd be Lugia, or at least a shrunken version of him." He turned to the Metagross next to him. "Wait, did ya just call him a baby?"

"Wait… how would you know that Lugia would look like that?" Nida demanded. "You're off in the middle of nowhere, and no offense, but neither of you look like the sort of 'mon who'd spend all day studying other islands' Protectors!"

"'Island?' Gracious... there aren't any islands reasonably close to here. What continent did they say they're from, again?" a Comfey asked.

"No idea, but it can't be here. Anyone around these parts would know this is the Horizon Continent!" a Togedemaru exclaimed. "It's literally plastered on every map of the world!"

Nida tilted her head puzzledly at the Pokémon's explanations. She'd heard of distant lands in passing before: Garanza, Linglan… But what on earth was the...

"Horizon… Continent?"

The Nidoran's question drew murmuring from the gathered crowd as some of the bystanders began to wonder where the four strangers had come from. From his place ahead of them, the Metagross Guildmaster's eyes flashed blue, before his visage turned into a hardened glare.

"Fact: these Pokémon are from another world entirely."

The Metagross stepped back as his declaration drew a chorus of surprised cries from the gathered Pokémon, which even the nearby Braviary found strange enough to raise a brow at.

"So, are ya saying they're like Vulpix, then?"

"Negative. Fact: their world is populated entirely by Pokémon. Fact: they have access to engineering and equipment beyond our capabilities," the Psychic-Type replied. "Fact: their world houses Mystery Dungeons that operate under different mechanics."

"This has gotta be some kind of joke, right? We're in Anyilla!" Elty answered. "You know, tons of water, islands… the Company and Empire at each other's throats all the time?"

"And mean pirates making everyone miserable trying to steal their stuff!" Pleo added, only to be met by a harsh scowl from the Metagross Guildmaster. The young Protector squeaked and hastily retreated behind his teammates, warily glancing at the displeased steely creature.

"Silence. I already addressed your quandary. Fact: this is not your world. Fact: you have no memory of your arrival here," the Metagross droned. "Conclusion: the means of your arrival are a mystery. Order: no one is to disturb me while I investigate this matter."

"Eh? But how do you know that?" Pleo asked.

"Fact: I read your minds," the Metagross replied. At once, the air around Team Traveller's heads seemed to be sucked out of the room, as pallid grimaces began to settle over their faces. One after the other, Nida, Elty, and Guardia tried to stammer out an explanation, only for the Guildmaster to pre-empt them with an irritated stop of one of his forelegs against the ground.

"And you are wasting my time," he harrumphed, before turning to the Braviary next to him. "Order: keep them occupied while I investigate this matter."

The eagle straightened up and saluted the Metagross, who quickly stomped off behind the room's solitary metallic door to the left. Back from behind his companions, Pleo continued to shiver, still shaken from the Psychic-Type's hostile demeanor, pulling his head in tight against his chest.

"I… I don't like that guy. He's mean… like Lyn," he muttered.

"Nah, that ain't it. Guildmaster's just a mighty terse fellow," the Braviary explained. "He's not one fer appreciating things that mess up his daily routine. And that's been happening a lot around here, lately. So, don't go taking it personally now."

The Flying-Type looked up at the gathered Pokémon in the room, giving a wave of his wings for attention and motioning for the lot to come closer.

"Well, come on now, y'all. Don't be shy!" he insisted. "You heard the Guildmaster… make with the friendly greetings."

The Pokémon in the room began to draw near around the new team of strangers, trading animated chatter with one another. A new team in the guild was always an exciting occasion, but for one to come from such an exotic place...

"So, they're from an alien world?" a Trapinch murmured. "But they look just like normal Pokémon!"

"Well, they're friendlier-looking than Vulpix and Silvally," a Togedemaru piped. "They're already winners in my book!"

"Psst. Nidoran," Guardia whispered. "Do we really stand out that much?"

Nida raised her head and looked around the room. While the atmosphere had certainly taken a more congenial turn than when they came into town, everyone present seemed every bit as fixed on them as the passerbys outside…

"… Yeah, it looks like we do," Nida sighed.

"Youse guys heard Braviary," a Yungoos said. "Come on, Growlithe, let's break da ice!"

Elty's ears perked up at the mention of 'Growlithe', surmising that the raspy speaker wanted to trade introductions. The Fire-Type looked ahead, spotting the form of an approaching Yungoos and began to sidle over...

"Eh?" he murmured. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt-"

… only to stop and catch himself after he noticed that the mongoose was accompanied by a Growlithe companion of his own, prompting him to stop and tilt his head puzzledly at whether he'd misunderstood the Normal-Type's exhortation.

"How ya doing, stranger?" the mongoose greeted. "I'm Yungoos, and dis is Growlithe, a teammate of mine who's a representative of your kind 'round dese parts."

Elty raised a brow and folded his ears back with a baffled scowl. Did… he just introduce himself and his teammate by what species they were? What sort of introduction was that?!

"I know what a Growlithe is, alright? But what sort of team are you running here?" Elty demanded. "You addressed him like a total stranger!"

"Eh? Dunno what you're batting at here, Growlithe. He just called me what everyone else does," Growlithe insisted. "He's Yungoos, and I'm Growlithe."

Elty raised a paw and spluttered incredulously at the pair. Travellers above, these two were a strange lot! Was this some sort of custom here in the Horizon Continent?

"But you just used the same-! Look, surely you have to have something to tell yourself from other Growlithe in conversation," Elty insisted. "Didn't you get a name for something you did at least? Like 'Digger-of-Holes', or 'Starter-of-Weird-Conversations'?"

Yungoos and his partner blink and traded blank stares with one another, before the other Growlithe shook his head and moved in to whisper to his teammate.

"This alien pup's weirding me out a bit, Yungoos," he murmured. "Do you think we ought to play along with him?"

"Alright, hrm… How about we call ya 'Tubby Growlithe', and my teammate 'Skinny Growlithe'?" Yungoos offered. The mongoose waited expectantly for a response, only for Elty to sourly frown back and turn away with a harrumph.

"… I'll take a pass on that, thanks."

Yungoos' explanation was met by puzzled stares back from Nida, Guardia, and Pleo. As different as the three Pokémon's backgrounds were, they were united by their shared sense that something about the mongoose's introduction felt deeply amiss… could it be that…?

"Wait, so then you're all called by the type of Pokémon you are?" Nida asked.

"Correct. I seem to recall Vulpix having a similar disconnect when he first showed up, but quickly gave up correcting us. It certainly is a fascintillating difference in universal culture."

Team Traveller turned their attention over to their right, where they saw a strange, metallic creature seeming to be made of gears with a Liligant-like dress approach. The steely Pokémon raised a hand, only to shake her head out of realization that she hadn't introduced herself yet.

"Oh, drat. It would appear my polite manners algorithm failed to boot. Give it a moment."

She pawed at the dress on her body, prompting Pleo to tilt his head in confusion as the Steel-Type robotically nodded forward with a curt bow before returning to her upright position.

"There we go. I am Magearna, the guild's primary technical specialist. I manage the equipment that keeps this place operating at one-hundred percent efficacy," she explained. "It's my job to manage the technology that keeps this place running!"

"Uh… huh," Elty grumbled under his breath. "I'm sure that that's totally doable when she's got a few screws loose."

"Now, now, keep up. My introductions programming is only at fifty-seven percent and I have several folks to get to. But first, why don't you tell us a bit about yourselves?" the Steel-Type asked, extending a hand over to a flustered-looking Pleo.

"Uh… Well, I'm 'Pleo'," he answered. "And these are my teammates Nida, Elty, and Guardia from Team Traveller."

"Ah… So you carry names in the style of Team Radiance's members… fascinating. As for here in the guild, we have a number of colorfoliated characters I'm sure you'll come to enjoy being around. First off, Primarina here is a ranking veteran and the most famous musician in all Horizon!" Magearna cheered, prompting a Primarina at the front of the group to grin and burst into song.

"♫ What is this my eyes see?
Could it be travelers from afar?
You seem a touch homesick.
Have you tried wishing upon a staaaar? ♫
"

The seal flopped onto the ground, blowing out a looming bubble of water that floated over Team Traveller's heads, only to strike the tip of Pleo's head and deluge him and his teammates with a torrent of water. Primarina bowed as the surrounding Pokémon applauded and cheered his performance. Pleo joined in as well as beads of water continued to roll off his plumes, his teammates being the sopping, seething exceptions to the rule as Magearna moved on.

"Espeon and Umbreon are two researchers from the Mist Continent," she said. "They are… here under very specific circumstances."

The Steel-Type motioned over to a vaguely feline pair of pink and black-furred of Pokémon, who seemed to shift uncomfortably under their newfound attention. The duo fidgeted awkwardly, before they offered up half-hearted greetings back at the group.

"Er… hello," Espeon greeted.

"Pleased to meet you, I guess," Umbreon added.

"Lastly, Milotic and Serperior are members of Team Captivate!"

Magearna raised her hand up to introduce a Milotic and Serperior settled over in a corner, the pair looking completely devoid of enthusiasm or vitality.

"… Meh," Milotic answered. Her partner similarly looked over, before also giving a half-hearted greeting.

"Hey… I guess…" Serperior said, drooping forward much like a wilted sprout.

"Yeesh, that enthusiasm certainly took a dive," Guardia murmured. "Do you suppose we're not welcome here?"

"Don't be ridiculous!," Braviary explained. "Guildmaster expects anyone who shows up 'round these parts to get treated with respect… unless they're outlaws, of course. But y'all look like upstanding folks to me. . And ain't no one gonna cross Metagross."

The eagle's wings visibly sagged and the Flying-Type shook his head glumly, as if dealing with a great weight on his shoulders. The bird visibly paused and mulled a moment, tripping over his words over how to explain the matter back to these strangers.

"It's just that the guild's been through a lot as of late," Braviary sighed. "So it's been weighing upon some of the 'mons here."

"… Oh. Well I'm sorry to hear that things haven't been going well," Pleo muttered. "Are we really not causing any trouble at all?"

"Hardly," Braviary insisted, before casting a glance back over at the morose members of Team Captivate.

"In fact, yer arrival might be just what some of our teams need," he insisted. "Milotic! Serperior!"

The serpent duo craned their heads up sluggishly, the Milotic among them giving a puzzled tilt of her head back at her Braviary superior.

"Huh?"

"Please take the time to show Team Traveller around Aeon Town," Braviary instructed. "If'n they're going to be staying a while, they'd best know their surroundings!"

Braviary held out a wing expectantly with a cheerful grin spreading over the ends of his beak, only for it to abruptly fade when he saw Team Captivate's members lower their heads and curl in on themselves.

"… Hoo boy. Guess I need to be a bit more firm with 'em," he murmured. Braviary strutted over to the pair, giving an awkward ruffle of his feathers before lowering his head down to meet the depressed duo.

"Hey, I know that what's been going on's obviously been eating at you two. But yer never gonna get out of this slump just sitting here and dwelling on it all the time!" he insisted. "Why not show these rookies the ropes a bit. If nothing else, the fresh air oughta help a bit."

"… I suppose we can give it a shot," Serperior said. Her Milotic teammate echoed the grass snake's reluctant agreement, turning her head to face Team Traveller before craning down with a sigh.

"Go on ahead," Milotic said. "We'll catch up with you at the gate."

"Alright," Nida answered, nodding her head back. "See you there!"

The four youngsters darted off, prompting the gathered guild members to drift off and return to their daily routines. As the main hall thinned out, Milotic slunk off down a hallway over to the guild's lodging, rooting through a chest her team set aside with a stash of supplies when she heard a presence slither up behind her.

"Millie, do you think that we should be worried at all about that team that came in?" Serperior asked.

"Hm?" Milotic replied. "Why would that be?"

"Well… the Guildmaster said they're from another world right? Look at all the trouble Vulpix brought with him from the human world," the Grass-Type began. "Who's to say that they aren't actually involved with Zero in some way?"

"Serpy, come on," Milotic said. "They're just a bunch of kids."

"Kids with Lugia with them. I mean, he's obviously a little… small. But what if the Lugia of their world isn't like ours? You saw those portals Zero used. What if… what if this Lugia found out about her plans and is here to strike some sort of deal to save his own hide?" Serperior insisted.

"… We were instructed to do this by Braviary and the Guildmaster," Milotic rebutted. "I'd think it'd be wise to not challenge them right now. Especially after everything we heard about the Glyphic Falls expedition."

"Then why don't you sound that convinced right now?"

Milotic shifted uneasily at her partner's question, lowering her head before giving a sighing shake and looking back.

"… I guess I wish I had someone else who could pick my brain to weigh in right now," Milotic admitted. "To tell me whether my instincts are right or not. Gods knows it would've come in handy back in Dewdrop Woods…"

"So you mean someone like Airy," Serperior said.

"… It would be nice, yeah. But I don't know what's gotten into her," the Water-Type despaired. "I know it's only been a day. But surely she'd have sent us something saying that she's safe. She was always super-responsible like that."

"Well, you're the captain here," the grass serpent murmured. "So whatever you decide, I'll back you up on it."

Milotic slithered up to the doorway and turned her head out into the hall, looking back down at the main chamber towards the hallway going to the gate. She lingered a moment, before pulling her head back in and slinging her satchel around her body with a shake of her head.

"Let's go ahead and keep an eye on those kids," Milotic said. "If anything weird comes up with them, we're giving them a hard conk on the head and taking them back to Metagross to deal with."

The sea serpent slithered off, prompting Serperior to follow after her. The pair left their place in the guild, making their way up to the front where Team Traveller's members were there waiting for them, the lot carrying on under the watchful gaze of their none-too-trusting guides.



Little by little, the members of Team Captivate wound up taking to their newfound role as guides more eagerly than they expected. One of the first places they visited were the local docks, which were curiously bereft of ships and teeming with Sharpedo that had plastic seats on them. The group was also brought to the local Kecleon shop, a quick visit revealing that even in this world their goods were heavily overpriced. Eventually, Team Traveller found themselves in front of the town's Gorebyss fountain, the journey filling the four youngsters with a sense of wonder as townsfolk stopped to gawp at the silver-feathered stranger in their midst and provide a much-needed respite to Team Captivate from their earlier mood.

At about noon, an audible grumble of Pleo's stomach prompted the pair to search out food, leading them to drift into the Crabrawler's café. There, the club-clawed crab that ran the establishment was beside himself with the idea that his humble establishment would be visited by none other than a Legendary, sending him into a frenzy preparing a fresh malasada to gift to the young seabird in front of a crowd of gawking customers.

"So… how is it, Lugia?" a Turtonator asked.

"It's really sweet!" Pleo chirped. "I've never had a malasada this good before!"

At the Lugia's praise, Crabrawler beamed with pride, raising his claws up and clicking them triumphantly for attention before the gathered onlookers.

"Well, you heard it straight from his own mouth! The Guardian of the Seas says that none other than yours truly makes the best malasadas out there!" the Fighting-Type proclaimed. "Good luck finding another place in Horizon- no, the world that can top that!"

Crabrawler's pronouncement drew chortles and cheers, a few Pokémon who were more quickly to be parted with their money ordering a Sweet Malasada of their own on the spot. From a table to the side, Team Traveller watched as Pleo continued taking hearty bites out of his snack. The three took somewhat off-put swigs from an order of juice Team Captivate had purchased, looking up occasionally to see the café customers continue to shower the young Protector with attention.

"Pah, it's only the second time he's ever had a malasada," Elty harrumphed. "And how come we didn't get anything?"

"I guess even over here, Legendaries are still a big deal…" Nida murmured. "Was this how things were in the Old World, too?"

"Perhaps we should stay awhile and find out," Guardia said.

The Cubone's suggestion drew incredulous gapes from her teammates across the table. Stay here? In a mysterious world they'd been in for all of three hours?

"Eh? What are you talking about, bonehead?" Elty demanded.

"However we got here, it's obvious that your Company and your Empire don't know about it. So wouldn't this be an opportune place to learn the lore of your sea guardian in peace for a while before going back?" Guardia explained. "Who knows, humans aside, if this world really is like how the Old World was, maybe we'd find some secret techniques to use to retake your home island!"

Nida went silent, peering down uneasily at her drink as she ran a paw around its rim. They'd been struggling so hard to get Pleo back home to Tromba all this time… but it was hard to argue that this Aeon Town was a quieter place. And judging from everyone's reactions about the Company and the Empire, they could rest easy without worrying about anyone chasing after them…

Would it really be for the best if they waited a while to go home and just stayed here for a while?

"Heh, I didn't know that Lugia came that small," a Trumbeak said. "He's quite the cutie."

"He must still be pretty young," a black-furred Raticate murmured. "I just hope for his sake he's actually safe here with the likes of Espeon and Umbreon joining the guild…"

The sound of the conversing voices made Nida and her companions blink a moment. The Nidoran flicked her ears uneasily, before turning to her right towards the sound of the conversation.

"Huh?"

Nida and her companions saw the Trumbeak and the Raticate, alongside a Furfrou, seated at the table beside them, seemingly unaware of their presence. The three leaned in and listened as the group carried on in between sips of juice, the Furfrou giving an exasperated shake of her head.

"Yeah, what on earth was Guildmaster Metagross thinking letting those two in with all the stories going around about them?" the dog exclaimed. "I heard they were the ones who froze over Aurora Vale and turned Pokémon into monsters!"

"I heard that one, too. Word has it they were brainwashed or something to work for some character... Zero, I think her name was. As if the whole thing wasn't weird enough, I heard she's been skulking around trying to do something with Legendary Pokémon she comes across," the Trumbeak sighed. "But I dunno, if they really had been doing stuff like that for so long, could they really have just left it all behind like that?"

Nida, Elty, and Guardia felt their faces contort into tense grimaces, the three setting aside their drinks and sliding off their seats. The group made their way uneasily over to the edge of the gathering around Pleo, spotting Team Captivate lounging near the café's counter. After faltering and shying back a moment, Nida shook her head, walking up to Team Captivate's members to uneasily paw at them.

"Milotic, Serperior…" she murmured. "Er… could we have a moment to talk?"

The two Pokémon traded blank looks with each other, before turning back to the Nidoran. There surely wasn't any harm in striking a conversation, but something about this felt suspiciously sudden...

"Uh… sure?" Milotic answered.

The two drifted off, following the youngsters along to a vacated back corner of the café as Pleo continued to bathe in the café patrons' affection as he ate. Milotic and Serperior looked back a moment, before turning their attention back to the youngsters in front of them, giving puzzled tilts of their heads.

"Did something come up?" Serperior asked. "Are you not feeling well?"

"Who exactly is this 'Zero' that some of the Pokémon around here have been talking about?" Elty asked. "And what exactly has been going on around here lately?"

The pair immediately blanched and traded reluctant gazes with one another, before turning back silently. Their earlier misgivings about the group now seemed to be silly in retrospect, but did they really have to get worked now after they'd all just started having a good time…? Milotic cleared her throat, making a few fumbling attempts at giving an explanation before she finally was able to marshal her words into a response.

"Zero is a… well, we don't exactly know what she is," the sea serpent admitted. "But she's a creature who's been using twisted magic that she calls the Prism Virus to cause trouble here in Horizon lately."

"'Turning Pokémon into monsters' and 'freezing over Aurora Vale' sounds like a bit more than 'trouble'!" Guardia exclaimed. "And what do Espeon and Umbreon have to do with this? Aren't they with your own guild?"

Serperior raised her tail and motioned for a stop, her expression having turned serious. The grass snake shook her head, before hesitantly speaking up in reply.

"This really isn't something we'd be able to explain that well," Serperior said. "We don't really know the full story of what's been happening either."

"Then who would?" Nida demanded.

"Team Radiance might know since Zero is gunning for them, but they're not here right now," Milotic answered. "I suppose you could ask Espeon and Umbreon themselves… but…"

"It really would be helpful if we knew about what was going on, Milotic," Nida insisted. "We've already had our share of nasty surprises traveling from not knowing the full story of the places we visited."

The two serpents paused and looked back at the happy scene around Pleo's table, before letting out a deflated sigh. A palpable trepidation hung in the air, as if the two knew that the scene before them would soon end and be lost forever.

"I suppose I can't fault you there…" Serperior sighed. "Come on, let's get going."

At once, Nida and her companions started ahead to retrieve Pleo, only to be stopped by Milotic's voice hastily calling out.

"Wait!"

The three blinked and looked back, seeing the sea serpent had slithered up, her eyes pleading with the team to not take a further step. Milotic trained her gaze down quietly for a moment, before speaking up in a low, mumbling tone.

"We'll get him," she offered. "It wouldn't do any good to cause a scene with everyone in such high spirits right now."

Team Traveller watched as Milotic and Serperior went to fetch Pleo, their minds weighed down all the while by uneasy feelings and a faint sense of dread. They had hoped that the hearsay they overheard about this 'Zero' would've been just dismissed as some crazy story, but as soon as they'd brought it up, they'd all but sucked the life out of those two!
Could Espeon and Umbreon really have been up to something after all? If they were, just what were they going to discover about this place after talking to them?



When Team Captivate and their charges returned to the Aeon Observatory, they found that the main hall had largely cleared out for the day as the guild's members dispersed among the various Mystery Dungeons to tackle requests for the town's denizens. The group ducked down a hallway leading to a batch of more secluded rooms, where they found none other than Espeon and Umbreon in a dusty, windowless room to the side where they fiddled with some books and murmured some things about Espeon's 'jewel' and 'healing'. The pair were engrossed in their research, so much so that they failed to notice the sound of Team Captivate and Team Traveller approaching.

"Espeon, Umbreon, you two have a second?" Milotic murmured.

The duo looked up from their books, and sized the newcomers up. The new team of youngsters appeared to have a deep-seated sense of unease etched on their faces. For their part, Team Captivate's demeanors similarly seemed off-kilter, their faces sterner than Espeon and Umbreon recalled them being at any time in the past few days.

"The new team was looking around for you," Milotic explained. "They wanted to ask a few questions."

The two researchers stiffened up and scooted back at the mention of 'questions'. Her fur tense, Espeon put a paw forward, clearing her throat and warily speaking up in reply.

"… What sort of questions are we talking about here?" the Psychic-Type asked, only to be cut off by Nida stepping forward with an overhasty response.

"What is this 'Prism Virus' that's going around?" the Nidoran piped. "And what do you two have to do with it?"

The Poison-Type's words visibly sent a chill over the atmosphere in the room, the researcher duo casting uneasy glances to the side. After a moment fumbling, Umbreon began to speak up, his words coming out dripping with reluctance.

"… That's…" he stammered. "Er… well…"

"Something we don't have any interest talking about so publicly right now," Espeon snapped. "We've already done it more times than we care to."

"Eh?! What are you going on about that?" Elty demanded. "We heard a bunch of Pokémon who weren't even in the guild talking about you!"

"… You were fairly open about what happened when you first came," Serperior murmured. "Can't you two just do it one more time-?"

"Oh, good. Y'all are back. Perfect timing!"

Team Captivate's members craned their heads back to see Braviary coming to a fluttering stop at the room's entrance. The Flying-Type ruffled his feathers, before looking over expectantly at the pair.

"I need a wing to help with a shipment of supplies that just came in," he said. "Would y'all be able to spend a minute with that?"

"Er… neither of us have wings, Braviary," Milotic replied. "So…"

The bird rolled his eyes, unimpressed with Team Captivate's semantics game. Undeterred, Braviary beat a wing out and gave it a friendly shake for attention.

"Ya know what I meant. Come on, it'll just be two minutes," the Flying-Type insisted. "Do it, and I'll see that you get a second helping of supper tonight."

The pair looked over at Espeon and Umbreon's uneasy forms, and then back at Braviary. Espeon and Umbreon did seem to be having trouble speaking up about their experiences with the Prism Virus… Perhaps if they felt they were more alone, they'd be able to better open up about it?

"Give us a moment," Serperior said. "We'll be right back."

Team Captivate slithered off with Braviary, leaving the researchers behind with the batch of youngsters before them. Noticing that the room was now barren, Guardia shot an impatient glare back at the two, giving a rap of her bone against the ground.

"Look, no one is going to overhear you now," she harrumphed. "So come on, spill your guts already!"

The Cubone's exhortations did little but make the duo shift their gaze downwards and away from their questioner. Sensing something was amiss, Pleo waddled over, and with wide, pleading eyes, craned his head down to meet the pair.

"Can't you just tell us?" Pleo insisted. "You don't seem like bad Pokémon… we just wanted to know what's going on."

A tense silence hung in the air, before Espeon broke the quiet with a reluctant sigh. The pair twitched their tails, bringing their gaze back up to the team of youngsters, with Espeon muttering out at quiet demand.

"Where do you want us to start?"

"Maybe start by explaining what this 'Prism Virus' is?" Nida asked. "And does it really turn Pokémon into monsters?"

"We don't fully know what it is, but that's what we were told it was. It targets a Pokémon's life energy and corrupts it… permanently transforming the Pokémon. Or so we thought, anyway," Umbreon answered. "As for 'monsters'… I suppose the more accurate term would be 'infectees', but that's really just splitting hairs. The point is, any Pokémon affected turns violently destructive. It's a lot like the plagues of fear and hate that swept through the lands in the past."

Team Traveller's words widened out of alarm at the mention of 'plagues'. There'd been talk in the past within the Cradle of grave illnesses that spread like wildfire thanks to ill Pokémon tainting the air and water around them with miasmas. And it was the reason why every settlement in the Cradle maintained a quarantine routine to keep sickened sailors out of port, since such diseases often proved unstoppable once they spread among the townsfolk. And here this Prism Virus… it made Pokémon into monsters when their victims caught it?

"So what, someone can just sneeze on you and turn you into some monster just like that?!" Elty yipped.

"… Eh? I don't know what 'virus' means to you in your own world, but here it's spread by having an infected Pokémon hit you with a beam of light," Espeon explained. "The virus causes this red crescent moon to grow on your body that you can channel the infectious energy through."

"The infected are filled with a consuming urge to spread their corrupted energy onto other Pokémon within Mystery Dungeons…" Umbreon added. "As I'm sure you've already gathered, it tends to overrun those dungeons fairly quickly."

The four flushed pale a moment at Espeon and Umbreon's explanation, with Guardia reflexively grabbing her club. Nightmarish images swirled in their mind of bloated, deformed monstrosities prowling Mystery Dungeons and hunting down Pokémon with beams of red light amidst their claustrophobic corridors. Worse, if the virus were to not stay in the dungeons, it would find an island with few places to hide, and a whole host of victims who had no hope of swimming or flying away.

It was a recipe for disaster in the Cradle, one that would strangle its life out before its new gods even had the chance to be born. Amidst it all, one gnawing, uncomfortable question kept playing over and over again in the group's minds:

"And… you… you spread this?" Nida asked. The spike ball was answered with silence from the two researchers, before Umbreon finally spoke up in response.

"… We did."

"H-Huh?! B-But why?!" Pleo squawked. "You didn't seem mean! Why would you have any part in such an awful thing like that?!"

"Were you brainwashed?" Elty pressed. "Tricked into helping it along?"

Espeon glumly shook her head back in response, her words coming out with visible hesitance, as if she had been brushing up against freshly-reopened wounds.

"We were infected of our own free will," the Psychic-Type admitted. "Afterwards… the thought just didn’t occur to us to stop spreading it."

"You- You chose to be infected? But why?" Guardia demanded. "And what do you mean it 'didn't occur to you'? Couldn't you see that you were obviously turning Pokémon into hideous abominations?"

"We were approached by Zero weeks ago. She taunted us about how we let Dark Matter wreak havoc on our world-" Umbreon began, only to notice his audience shooting puzzled looks back at him.

"Dark… Matter?" Pleo asked.

The Dark-Type blinked before shaking his head. It certainly was presumptuous of him to expect aliens from another world to know his world's history, prompting him to speak and answer back.

"Pardon me. A time when the world almost ended thanks to a malevolent monstrosity that tried to hurl our world into the sun," Umbreon explained. "It… seems that events like those are depressingly common around here."

"Brr, I'll say! The things that we went through in that time, it was just so frightening and made us feel so small and helpless…" Espeon shuddered. "Knowing that the Legendaries here either couldn't help us, or worse, didn't want to help us while all of that was going on…"

Pleo felt a chill go down his back at the researchers' words. This world was supposed to be filled with Protectors, ones who were strong and grown to boot! Did… did bad things really happen so often that not even they could stop them?

It was something specific to this world, was it? Did they really not care about the other Pokémon that lived here? Would he and his fellow Protectors really stop caring about other Pokémon as they got older? Or had they been led all along to think they had much more power than they truly had?

All of these possibilities were… disturbing, to say the least. As the young Lugia heard Umbreon continue on, he gulped in apprehension of just what the pair could possibly have to additionally say.

"Those sorts of feelings made us upset," Umbreon muttered. "We grew resentful of the Legendaries, for how they could just leave us behind like that, and started thinking that maybe we could do things better without them..."

"That's when Zero came, and laid that all before us. Making the fears and resentments we'd felt all that time suddenly seem to make sense," Espeon continued. "She promised us that she had a way of bringing it all to an end… if we would just let ourselves get infected and help her."

Nida, Guardia, and Elty bristled uncomfortably at the Psychic-Type's explanation. They hadn't said anything about 'humans' or an 'Abyss', but this whole conversation felt uncomfortably like what Margi had told them of how she understood the Cradle's past back in Boisocéan. Could… could this feeling of abandonment and hopelessness have been what turned their predecessors against the Old Gods? Could the Old World have ended thanks to something like this?

"B-But you must have seen that you were being used!" Guardia cried. "This Zero exploited your fear and doubts to get you involved in all of this! How could you not feel anything at all about all the horrible things that were happening?!"

"It just didn't occur to us. While we were infected, we just kept thinking over and over again about how frightened and upset we were," Umbreon answered quietly. "How anything that happened was better than going back to that."

"… Perhaps it simply wouldn't have occurred to us as long as we were like that," Espeon added. "No matter how much it ought to have."

"But I don't understand, what exactly was this Zero trying to do with that virus?" Nida demanded. "Why would she be willing to cause so much suffering?"

"Because she wants to create a world of eternal night," Espeon said. "Where all the Legendaries are dead and all that remains are Pokémon like you and me."

The four went slack-jawed in shock at Espeon's explanation. This- This Zero was going to kill all of this world's Legendaries? But that would ruin it in the same way it ruined their own! And if Pleo were to be caught up in that…

How would the Cradle be able to go on without a Lugia watching over it…? The four backpedaled uneasily, their minds quickly coming to a shared answer, with an overpowering urge to be away from this horrid world and back in the familiar comforts of their own. Elty led the way, the Growlithe turning his head back towards the entrance of the room.

"I uh... think we've heard enough," he muttered. "This simply isn't a good place for us and we should get going… someplace really, really far away from here."

The Fire-Type turned and darted off, followed closely by his teammates only to feel the ground rock underneath. The four looked up, and skidded to a stop at the sight of the Metagross Guildmaster lumbering into their path with his ruddy eyes narrowed to slits.

"You have learned of the Prism Virus"

Team Traveler gulped as they realized Metagross hadn't phrased that as a question.

"Yeah. And… uh… we remembered that there were some important things waiting for us back at home, and needed a way to get back," Nida replied. "As soon as possible."

The Psychic-Type blinked, before casting his gaze over to a visibly nonplussed Espeon and Umbreon who quietly slunk back into the room, and realized that what the pair shared of the recent happenings in the Horizon Continent must've spooked the youngsters. Metagross thought for a moment, as Team Traveller watched anxiously, trying to tease out his thought process from behind his glaring red eyes…

"Fact: my knowledge of such mannerisms is nonexistent," Metagross declared,watching irritatedly as his words drew visible grimaces from the members of Team Traveller.

"B-But-" Pleo began.

"Fact: you did not let me finish," he growled. "Fact: there exists a party that should have knowledge that could assist you."

"Who is it?" Guardia demanded.

"Fact: they are Team Paradox," the steel crab answered. "Fact: they have been interfering with my guild's attempts to combat the Prism Virus. Approach them at your own discretion."

Team Traveller cringed and went wide-eyed in panic. If Team Paradox was opposing the guild's attempts to stop the Prism Virus, then did that mean that they had something to do with spreading it? It seemed like such a counter-intuitive group to ask for help from, but with Zero out to kill any Legendaries she could… did it really make sense not to take the risk if Guildmaster Metagross thought it was their only way home?

"I think we'll take our chances," Nida said.

"Very well," the Psychic-Type answered. "I calculate that they are still in Glyphic Falls following our confrontation yesterday."

"Huh?" Pleo asked. "Where's that?"

Metagross' eyes glowed a brilliant blue as a rolled up piece of paper floated out of an adjacent room. The Psychic-Type set it on the ground with his telekinesis, and unfurled it, revealing it to be a map of a land dotted with paths and targets of various colors.

"It's the purple target here on this map," Metagross explained. "I'll let you have this copy."

Metagross left the paper to settle on the ground, prompting Nida to snatch it up and stuff it into the satchel on her shoulder. She breathed a sigh of relief, heartened that at the very least, the group wouldn't be flying blind on their search for a way back home.

"Thank you for that, Guildmaster," she murmured. "And we should really get going now."

The four took off for the guild's entrance, starting to pick up speed as they left the hall, when the sound of a yelp rang out from behind them.

"H-Huh?!" Milotic's voice cried out. "Where are you going?!"

Team Traveller slowed and looked back uneasily, turning to see Milotic and Serperior slithering up with wide-eyed shock. Undeterred by their sudden appearance, Elty stamped the ground impatiently, shooting a scowl up at the pair.

"Home," he snapped. "We found a lead, and the sooner we get to it the better!"

"B-But you just got here!" Serperior protested. "And what about that 'Company' and 'Empire' you said was chasing you around in your home?!"

The four Pokémon of Team Traveller paused and noticed that Team Captivate's duo seemed to be visibly unsettled by their departure. They thought back to when they'd first met the guild and remembered that Braviary mentioned that they'd been going through a hard time just before they came, which they'd forgotten about after how much the pair's mood had improved showing them around the town… and with the way they were reacting, it wasn't hard to guess that that had been the happiest the two had been in some time.

Their thoughts turned to Espeon and Umbreon, and how the two had mentioned that their fear was ultimately what put them down their path to working with Zero. It seemed like a silly, nonsensical comparison with how grimly they'd described the ravages of the Prism Virus, but… were they too about to hurt other Pokémon by letting their fear get the better of them?

No, the two would understand. They had to! Pleo meant a whole lot to Tromba and the Cradle back home, so they couldn't just risk him staying here if they knew there was such danger prowling around in the background! But even so… was there a way they could get their point across softly?

"It's just that, there's really important things for us at home. And the longer Pleo is away from it, the more likely it is that something will go terribly wrong," Nida explained. "… You understand, right?"

The Nidoran's words seemed to suck the air out of the room as Serperior and Milotic drooped their heads. The pair faltered a moment, fighting against freshly-lowered spirits to try and speak back. Much to Team Traveller's surprise, rather than the protest they expected, the pair seemed to agree with them… in the most technical sense of the word.

"I… I mean, I guess that I do," Milotic muttered.

"Yeah," Serperior murmured. "You've got your own troubles without us…"

Nida shifted uncomfortably at the pair's reaction, with Guardia and Elty tugging at her barbs and motion with their paws to leave while they could. From his place, Pleo fidgeted around, wondering if there was anything at all that they could do to not leave Team Captivate in such sorry spirits after the congeniality they'd shown them…

Wait a minute. Espeon and Umbreon had mentioned feeling abandoned by the Legendaries in this world, hadn't they? If so, then as scary as it was, there was a reason beyond the Prism Virus why they had to go back! Maybe… if he put things that way...

"I'm sorry that things had to happen like this. It's just that… we heard that some Pokémon here are feeling abandoned by their Protectors, and it made me worry…" Pleo began. "Not just about what they've been doing here, but that by being out here and focusing on keeping myself safe, that I'd be making the Pokémon counting on me feel abandoned as well."

At once, Milotic and Serperior jolted their heads up, looking back wide-eyed in surprise. The pair coiled and shifted uneasily, hastily raising their voices up in protest.

"H-Huh?!" Milotic exclaimed. "Abandoned?!"

"Is that what Espeon and Umbreon told you?" Serperior pressed. "Lugia, you shouldn't take that to-"

"I don't think your Legendaries abandoned you," Pleo insisted. "But… I don't think that Espeon and Umbreon are the only Pokémon that feel that way, and maybe they're not the only ones taking things into their own hands."

Pleo trailed off and shook his head before craning his head back up to the two serpents. It wasn't the thing that had first prompted him to want to leave, but the more he thought about it… about Espeon and Umbreon and what their hopelessness had driven them to do… the more he knew that he couldn't leave the Pokémon back in Tromba to go through something like that.

"And I don't want the Pokémon back home to get worried like that, especially when there's so much less world to go around for them."

Milotic and Serperior relaxed their bodies and let out reluctant sighs. For all his naiveté, they had to admit that he'd raised a very fair point.

"… I suppose that I can't argue with that," Serperior admitted. "I just wish that things didn't have to be this way…"

"Well," Pleo mulled. "Maybe there's something I can change…"

The young Lugia batted out a wing and gave it a stiff shake, letting a silvery feather flit to the ground. The seabird picked it up with his beak and set it in front of Team Captivate, before looking up at the two.

"Maybe I can leave a reminder that I'll be thinking about you," he said. "If I can do it, then I'm sure your own Protectors will be doing it as well!"

The pair stood looking down for a moment, prompting Milotic to crane down to take up the feather. The two Pokémon looked at it for a moment, before putting the feather away and looking back with a small smile.

"… Thank you, Pleo," Milotic answered. "And good luck getting home."

"If you run into trouble at all, just… don't be afraid to come back and stay a while?" Serperior offered. "It is better sometimes to know when to fold them and try again later."

"Right… we'll remember that," Nida replied. "Thanks again for taking us around you two. And I hope that everything that's been going on works out for you."

The four turned and began to carry off, waving back at Team Captivate's members. Nida and her companions watched as Milotic and Serperior waved back at them, before pressing onwards, no longer in their earlier agitated unease, but now with a quiet confidence as the group left the observatory for what they hoped would be a way back to their own world.
 
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