Pokémon Fledglings

[Virgil134]

From the moment that a Veluza hailed them out on the Star Stream with a distress message from Gestirn, Nagant just knew that something had gone wrong with Pleo. When she started steering Valan further west into Imperial waters, there had always been a risk that Pleo's attempts to do whatever he was planning with the Company would fall apart, but she hadn't been expecting them to fall apart like this.

As soon as Starpeak Square's battered port and buildings came over the horizon, the Clawitzer had been in a state of disbelief—one that lingered well after she and Valan had disembarked and made their way inland. Even well into the center of the town, the surroundings were heavily battle-scarred, with the embers of charred husks of nearby buildings still smoldering. Valan's mood was little better as the Salamence Commodore glanced around tense and on edge, before shaking his head with a frustrated grumble.

"If we were just a bit closer, we could have done something."

Nagant quietly set her mouthparts on edge as the Salamence beside her suddenly craned his head towards her with a sour frown.

"I don't know who gave you that intelligence about Lugia's whereabouts, Captain Nugget, but I think it's time you found a different source."

There was a wordless stare between the two of them before Valan turned back and carried on with a low huff. Nagant uneasily hopped along, unable to work up the annoyance she'd normally have whenever that scaly windbag mangled her name, her gaze drifting to the scarred buildings along the route.

None of this was supposed to happen. She'd let Pleo go under the assumption that he'd be able to stay a step ahead of the rest of the Empire while trying to force the Company to leave him be. If she knew that things would come to this, perhaps it would've been better to have stood her ground and fought things out to the end on Haipheh.

… She would need to have a word with him the next time they met, assuming that she ever had a chance to do so again without Valan breathing down her neck. Even if she and the other Imperials were still piecing together what on earth had happened to this place, one thing had become clear early on:

"At least we know that Lugia came through here," the Clawitzer sighed. "It shouldn't be that hard to find out where he went-"

"Get moving, you!"

Nagant and Valan turned as they entered a courtyard next to the village garrison, where a silk-bound Emboar was being shoved along by a Heliolisk and a Makuhita. They stopped for a moment, watching as the pair pushed the Fire-Type towards a group of other Pokémon in similar condition, all under the watch of indigo-clad guards. Those must have been Pokémon caught from the raid, since numbers aside, the group had all the hallmarks of a band of captured pirates:

Scruffy, beaten-down, obviously unwashed, and with moods that ranged from sullen defiance to openly cowering in fright. She briefly noticed a Seviper in orange garb among the lot struggling and thrashing against her bindings, while beside her was a glowering Tyrantrum in similar attire…

Was that Captain Tarquin from the Strongjaw Gang? She supposed that things hadn't been a total debacle for the local defenders if they'd managed to capture a member of Orleigh's Pirate Council, even if it was cold comfort for their present problems with Pleo and his whereabouts.

She heard chatter further down the square and spotted a Krookodile and Empoleon talking and occasionally looking over the group of captives. Judging from the number of white leaves on the former's scarf and the latter's species and quality of attire, likely the local Sheriff and Duke.

"Commodore Valan," Nagant began. "I believe that's-"

"I see them. Come along, Captain Nugget."

Nagant's features fell into a sour frown as she grumbled and followed after the Salamence. As they neared, they began to make out snippets of a conversation about so many 'mons all together "being a safety risk", only for the Krookodile to notice them. Robbie trailed off and nudged the Empoleon's shoulder, prompting him to turn just as she and Valan arrived, the Salamence bowing as the Duke turned towards him.

"Good morning, Your Grace," the Dragon-Type said. "I'm Commodore Valan from the Royal Navy, and this is Captain Nugget, my subordinate."

Nagant quietly grumbled under her breath but otherwise fought back the seething thoughts in her mind. There was a time and a place to push back on the whelp's lack of respect, but this wasn't one of them. Valan idly turned his head towards the pirates as a Farigiraf was dragged into the ranks by a group of Marked as the guards took her into custody and barked angry-sounding orders— probably in Gestirner from their throaty cadence. A glance from the direction the Marked came from revealed that they weren't alone, and their compatriots all seemed just as preoccupied with the pirates. The Salamence slowly blinked at the sight, before turning his attention back to the Duke and his sheriff.

"I can already tell that there's quite a story behind all these scoundrels you've rounded up," he scoffed. "We received word at sea that there was a large raid, but what exactly happened here? And why are all these Marked here?"

Franz and Robbie traded glances with one another, before the Krookodile Sheriff of the pair uneasily pawed at his shoulder.

"The Marked are locals from Starbreak Square who helped us fight off those pirates last night," the Krookodile replied. "As for what happened… we're still in the process of figuring that out, really."

"Hrmph, I should be asking the same question, since there seems to be some miscommunication going about," Duke Franz snapped. "But the long and short of it is that Lugia came here and we detained him under erroneous information that he was held by pirates. Not long after, these actual pirates hired by the Company came through and ransacked the town."

Nagant blanched and visibly stiffened up. The Duke had come into contact with the Protector himself? From the response he gave, it had clearly gone well beyond following the instructions provided by the crown. Just how much had Franz found out about the crown's efforts to secure Lugia?

Nagant twitched her barbels and wrestled with how to proceed, only for Valan to let out a snort and brush the Empoleon's remarks aside with an idle bat of his wings.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure that there will be plenty of time for us to get to the bottom of that later, Your Grace," the Salamence insisted. "But, do you still have Lugia with you?"

"I'm afraid that I don't have any good news for you there, Commodore," Franz replied. "Lugia was helping us attempt to clear the pirates out of the harbor, when their captains overpowered him. They captured him and managed to successfully flee with what we estimate to be between half and two-thirds of the pirates who initially came here."

Nagant's barbels went tense as she found herself reflexively clenching her firing claw in shock. To her side, Valan's jaw hung open as a flash of what she swore was fear came over his face. The Salamence whirled around, motioning with his head back towards the sea with an impatient grunt.

"We need to return to Giotto. Immediately," Valan insisted. "Her Majesty will need all the time she can in order to organize a fleet and mount a preemptive raid on Vollezee."

Now it was Franz and Robbie's turn to recoil in alarm, and judging from the heads turning among the guards, Valan hadn't made his remark as quietly as Nagant would've hoped. The Krookodile of the pair spluttered briefly as Valan already took a few steps away to leave, before cutting them off and waving his claws frantically.

"N-Now wait just a minute there!" Robbie stammered. "You're talking about attacking the Company's capital! Once they retaliate, Gestirn would be right on the front lines for any invasion their fleets would mount and-!"

Franz sharply shushed the Krookodile, who reflexively bit his tongue and swallowed his words. Even so, the Empoleon didn't seem any less disturbed himself, as he turned to Valan with an incredulous squawk.

"Forgive my Sheriff's outspokenness, but you two are talking about waging open war with the Company!" Franz said. "I'll admit that my concerns are mostly related to Gestirn and its own welfare, but that isn't the sort of action to be talking about so lightly."

"We're well aware, Your Grace, but we might not have a choice at this point."

The pair turned and stared at Nagant as soon as the words left her mouth. Valan let out a low grunt and waited for the Clawitzer to continue as she shook her head with a low, chittering sigh.

"If the Company truly has Lugia in their grasp already, it will be a matter of time before they find a way to make him comply with them, and then use his power to try and conquer our islands," she explained. "Our best hope at this point is to attempt to stop them before things get to that, even if it means drastic measures."

Franz and Robbie visibly grimaced in response, and it was hard for Nagant to blame them. It hadn't even been two weeks since she'd parted ways with Pleo and his companions, and here they were forced to contemplate an action which would inevitably return Anyilla to open war.

Perhaps her experiment with trusting Pleo's agency to keep the Company from using him as a weapon had run its course, and it was time to bring him under the Imperial banner—willingly or not.

"Er… Captain, do you have a moment?"

Nagant pivoted on her tail and saw Cabot walking up to her from behind along with Berecien and Niilo. She blinked for a moment, as Valan's face sagged and he narrowed his eyes into an unamused scowl.

"No, we don't, actually," the Salamence harrumphed. "Care to explain why you three are here, Rampardos?"

The three visibly hesitated and traded glances with one another, as Cabot seemed to fumble with his words, before pawing at the back of his neck with a faltering hem and haw.

"Er, it's just… well… we came across some Pokémon down at the harbor who said that they wanted to speak with you."

Valan turned his head as Nagant tilted on her tail to peek past the Rampardos and his companions. There in the background, she could see a party consisting of a Gliscor, a Talonflame, a Sneasel, and a strange green Dunsparce-like creature in yellow and black scarves coming along with a Marked Hydreigon that followed after at a noticeable berth… along with a Growlithe wearing a matching scarf that was clearly too big for him. The thought crossed Nagant's mind that the Puppy Pokémon looked strangely familiar, when she noticed he was looking at her and forcing a visibly sheepish smile over his muzzle. She saw Berecien leveling a long, unamused stare at the Growlithe, before turning back to her.

"I myself am not sure why we're humoring them when they clearly shouldn't be here," the Ponyta harrumphed. "But since they're already present, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to hear whatever they have to say at least."

Valan cocked a brow at the remark as it suddenly dawned on Nagant why the Growlithe looked so familiar—he was that same one who kept hanging around Lugia!

She tightened her firing claw and had to fight back the urge to Water Pulse that foolish dog right here and now. What on earth was he doing here?! Why would he think it'd be a good idea to come straight to her with friends of his when he was a wanted 'mon at the moment?!

Nagant shot a harsh glare over that made the smile slide off Elty's face and prompted him to pin his ears back. She would have to have some words with that furry imbecile, but not right now with the fate of the Empire hanging in the balance, and especially not in front of Commodore Valan.

"We don't have time for chatter with random civilians right now," she snapped, before pointing back down the path past the newcomers. "Cabot, send them aw-"

"No, you do have time for us," Kline said. "And if you value the fate of your 'Empire', you'll hear us out."

Valan looked down at the green serpent balancing on his tail, before frowning and shooting a sidelong glance over at Cabot and his companions.

"I'm sorry, but who is this impudent green Dunsparce again?" Valan demanded.

There was a brief moment of hesitation as Team Zephyr's members traded uneasy looks with one another. Kline visibly faltered, then shook his head and hopped forward.

"… Perhaps it would be faster for me to just show you," he said, before looking back at Margi. "Just… try not to panic too much, please."

Margi tilted her head puzzledly as Kline turned back and closed his eye in focus. Green lights abruptly twinkled in the sky, before arcing and converging on him. All around, the square grew awash in a green glow, as nearby Pokémon jumped back with startled cries and Robbie hurriedly lunged over to shield his Empoleon superior.

"Ack! Duke Franz! Zurück!"

Nagant leveled her firing claw as the lights gathered, while Margi reflexively flew back and stared up wide-eyed as the gathering mass of lights began to take shape.

"Y-You're-!"

"A-Ah! Demon! R-Run away!"

A Marked Dugtrio from the guards ducked back into the ground and burrowed away, while others hurriedly dove for shelter. The few Marked among the pirates were similarly beside themselves with terror, as glimpses of recognition came over their faces. The lights pooled in front of Nagant's eyes, gathering into a green, serpentine body that filled her vision.

The lights abruptly faded as the glow enveloping the square gave way back to daylight. The Clawitzer lifted her eyes up to the towering figure's face, when her jaw flopped open and her firing claw drooped out of stunned realization that she knew who this 'impudent green Dunsparce' was.

"Z-Zygarde?!"

Kline craned his head down, staring as the Clawitzer's dumbstruck expression reflected in his eyes.

"I suppose I am more typically called that, yes. Though, there is much for us to discuss, and not much time to do it."

---

Crom had never thought about what it'd be like to be a crate sitting in the cargo hold of a ship, but evidently it was quite uncomfortable: constantly laying against hard wood and stuck in one place in a cramped environment.

Perhaps it wasn't the best of comparisons since surely it wouldn't be this miserable. Here in the hold of this prisoner ship, instead of crates, they were crammed up against so many others amidst stifling heat, and an overwhelming odor of unwashed bodies and sea salt. The only source of light came from the blue light of glowmoss lanterns, with the only real hint of how much time had passed being the occasional change of one set of guards for another.

His father was next to him right now and squirming in discomfort, the Fraxure's arms tied behind him in metal chains much as his own were. His other teammates nearby weren't any better off, and there had been little conversation between them since they'd been brought down here. Aside from a panicked outburst from Pyry, the whole journey had gone by mostly in silence, punctuated by the sounds of the ship creaking, or the groans and frightened murmurs of the pirates who'd been crammed up against each other around them.

It was hard to think of anything they could talk about. They'd lost, Pleo had been taken by Lyn, and now they were all going to some island that was mostly known for the awful prison that was built on it. What were they supposed to even do right now? Could they even do anything?

A glance over at his teammates and their defeated expressions told him all he needed to know. The Druddigon hung his head, moisture beading along his eyes when he felt a nudge at his shoulder. It was his dad, nosing at him with a weak smile over his face.

"Look on the bright side, mijo. At least we'll be out of these chains soon enough."

Crom looked around the hull amid the dim lighting and noticed that it wasn't just them who were chained up. Everywhere he looked, roughly every other Pokémon had been bound up in much the same fashion as them, even ones that didn't seem like they weren't strong enough to break out of simpler restraints like silk or ropes.

All those chains couldn't possibly have been cheap with all that metal they used. Were all of them really that important to the Company? Or was this some sort of deliberate decision Lyn had made? The Druddigon opted not to dwell on the matter, since the more he did, the worse the sinking feeling in his stomach got.

"I'm… not sure if that really makes me feel much better right now, dad."

Pladur paused and blinked, before looking away with a flustered stammer.

"I-I mean, at least it's not making you feel worse, right?" the Fraxure insisted. "I don't really know what's ahead of us right now, but at least Lyn didn't get all of us. There's a chance we'll meet some of the others like Kiran who were caught on Vollezee. A-And maybe the others we left behind on Gestirn will figure out a way to help us!"

There was a long silence as Crom finally noticed how wide his father's eyes were, and how he looked every bit as scared as he was. It dawned on him that his dad had been trying to lift his mood, but after Pladur saw how his efforts weren't going anywhere, the weak smile on the Fraxure's face vanished. Pladur himself hung his head, trailing off with a downcast murmur.

"I just thought that having something to hold onto for hope would mean a lot for you… and everybody here, for that matter."

None of his teammates spoke up in reply, as everyone seemed to be in the same downcast mood that everyone else in the ship's cargo hold shared. With how defeated and demoralized the pirates closest to him looked, Crom supposed they also weren't interested in talking much.

A part of him felt sorry for them, as incredible as it sounded to him. They were still a bunch of thieves who pillaged without regard for other Pokémon or their livelihoods, but it was like something about them had just broken after being dragged into the cargo hold. In particular Hess, who from the few times he'd seen him, seemed to have his head hanging and staring blankly at the floor.

Crom snapped to attention after hearing heavy footsteps tap against wood from further down the cargo hold. He turned his head as much as he could and spotted a Kangaskhan in Company lavenders coming down a set of steps for the guards who had been posted to watch over them. The Kangaskhan briefly glanced out over them, before turning her attention back to a Darmanitan by the stairs.

"Nagrobek's coming up pretty fast," the Kangaskhan said. "I don't want to spend all day just dragging these 'mons out, so tell everyone to take care of anything they need to before we hit the docks. The moment the prisoners above deck get cleared out, I want these 'mons on their feet."

Crom noticed the pirates near them visibly tense up as scattered cries broke out around him. The Druddigon heard panicked breathing over the surrounding noise, when he noticed that it was coming from not too far away from him.

He looked over and saw Pyry, eyes widened as the Gabite was visibly hyperventilating. Crom hesitated and set his teeth on edge, just what had come over him?

"Pyry?" the Druddigon asked. "Are you alright?"

"N-No I'm not okay!" the Gabite cried. "I can't go back there! I can't! I can't-!"

"For gods' sake, shut up, you useless worm!"

Loud stomps rang out as the lot turned and saw a Carracosta in Company lavenders lumbering over. The Water-Type loomed over the Gabite with a seething snarl, pulling a flipper back into the air.

"I swear, if I have to hear your annoying little voice whimper and cry about your fate again, I'll grant you your wish and throw you overboard!"

Pyry flinched and cringed from the Carracosta's threat, as angry buzzes filled the air. Crom looked over and saw Pekka fighting against his bindings, before seeing his father hurriedly dart over to try and clamp Pyry's mouth shut. Ander pinned Pekka with his foot and gently tried to hush him, as Pladur focused his attention and desperately pleaded with the still quailing Gabite.

"Easy! Easy! Pyry, just focus on keeping your head down for now!"

The Gabite shuddered a moment, before curling up with a low whine as all the vigor seemed to drain from his body, the encounter having silenced the general outcry in the cargo hold. The Carracosta leveled a piercing glare and lingered briefly, before huffing and carrying on. As the Carracosta headed further out of earshot, Pladur let go of the Gabite, hushedly insisting for him to breathe in. At the same time, Ander noticed Pekka also stopped struggling and let go as the Vibrava tensely fidgeted his wings. There was a brief silence, when the Marked Scyther worriedly traded glances between the two former pirates.

"… Pekka, what was that about?"

The Vibrava didn't meet his eyes and turned away as much as his bindings allowed him. He seemed to be wrestling with something inside of him, before he finally spoke up just loud enough for Team Traveller to hear over the lingering murmurs of the unfortunates gathered around them.

"This… isn't the first time Pyry and I were sent here like this," the Vibrava explained. "Almost nobody ever comes back from Nagrobek, and we were the only Pokémon from our old crew who made it out last time."

"Th-They killed my mom in the place they're sending us to!"

Everyone fell silent at Pyry's outburst, worriedly glancing off just in case the Carracosta came back, before trading uneasy looks with each other The Gabite pulled his legs in and stared at the floor as his voice came out in a choked whine.

"Sh-She was so much smarter and stronger than I've ever been, and even she couldn't make it," he whimpered. "N-None of our old friends who were sent to that place ever got away, so what hope do any of us have?"

Crom fell silent and stared back in wordless shock as his wings drooped. Just what was he supposed to say back to that? They were stuck on a ship headed for a horrible place and an uncertain future. They couldn't even move their limbs properly right now. All they had was each other.

… Though then again, at a time like this… maybe that was the most important thing they could have. The Druddigon scooted over and tried to put on a brave face, giving a reassuring nudge with his snout.

"I don't know. But whatever's waiting for us out there. We'll face it together," Crom said. "I promise."

Pyry shifted and looked up at the Druddigon. Crom wasn't sure whether or not the Gabite really believed his promise, but it at least seemed to lift his mood… somewhat.

He just hoped that they'd actually be able to keep it in the place they were going to.

The ship suddenly jolted as it abruptly lost forward momentum, sending Trizano and the others lurching forward while a few pirates fell over from the change in speed. Trizano could see the floor of the ship tilt slightly from it turning and the waves were getting less noticeable. A sign that they weren't sailing in open waters anymore.

"We're starting to dock," the Skarmory murmured. "It won't be much longer now."

The expected sounds and sensations of the ship docking came not long afterwards: the ship stalling in the water, the slow drifting as it was towed and pushed into place along the dock, and the cry of sailors barking out orders to each other. Guardia breathed in and lowered her head when she heard a scream coming from above. A chill seemed to sweep over the cargo hold as the sound of jostling and some sort of disturbance came from above deck.

"What on earth is going on up there?" the Marowak gulped.

Shouts punctuated with other frightened cries rang out from above them, as Guardia set her teeth on edge and looked up. What on earth was going on up there? And of all the times to be completely without a bone to defend herself…

The racket from above began to dwindle down steadily, as Guardia noticed Pyry was hyperventilating from panic again, and a number of other pirates seemed to be in similar straits. Just what were these Pokémon going to do to them? Were they even going to leave this ship alive?

Guardia snapped to attention after hearing stomping noises against the wood at the far end of the cargo hold, which grew louder and louder with each step. A Scovillain came down the stairs with a number of other Pokémon in lavender scarves, who fanned out after entering. The Scovillain briefly looked them over, before turning back to his underlings with an impatient grunt.

"Start clearing them out from front to back," the Scovillain grunted. "It took long enough to deal with their buddies above-deck."

The guards began moving forward at the Scovillain's instruction, and started dragging the pirates off up the stairs as shouts and cries of protest rang out, a few like an unfortunate Liepard being carried off literally kicking and screaming. Guardia shrank back as the awful sounds kept coming from closer and closer by, until she saw the nearby pirates abruptly get taken, and then felt a claws digging into her shoulder. Guardia gasped and looked up, where there was a Midnight Lycanroc glaring down at her.

"Get up, you."

Guardia barely got a word out of her mouth before the Lycanroc abruptly jerked her up by her shoulder and shoved her along. Her heart raced as everything went by in darkened blur: the rest of the cargo hold, the stairs, the ship's corridors, until she saw sunlight coming up ahead through a rectangular aperture. The Lycanroc dragged her forward into it as light blinded her vision and she recoiled. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was back on the ship's deck. She briefly saw a line of unfortunates being marched down a gangplank when she felt a shove from behind, and saw the Lycanroc lean his head in with his fangs bared.

"I didn't say you could stop and rest!" he snarled. "Keep moving!"

The Lycanroc pushed Guardia along and down the gangplank for the docks. There was a net filled with haggard-looking and flailing Pokémon that mostly had fins who were being untangled next to a heap of empty nets, while the entire dock ahead was crowded with Pokémon being marched along in single file under the glare of watchful guards. On the nearby piers, other ships were offloading Pokémon in similar states, as it didn't occur to Guardia until just then how many pirates had been captured in the battle at sea with Lyn.

Somehow, in spite of being twice her height just a day ago, Guardia felt smaller and more helpless than she had when she lost her first club in the Subway. What were these Pokémon going to do with them? Had they brought them to this place to die?

Guardia turned her head up along the dock and saw that they were being brought into a town, if it could be called that. The place didn't look that much bigger than Bluewhorl Town, but the cobbles and dirt that formed the lanes looked visibly worn and trampled down in a way she hadn't seen in prior 'civilized' colonies. Barring an exception here or there like a Kecleon Shop painted in faded paint, many of the shops or houses in this place were visibly shabby or shuttered. The locals seemed every bit as worn-down as well, as the Pokémon they passed would largely ignore them while others would grumble or give snide-sounding remarks.

Guardia wasn't sure what to make of the other Pokémon's reaction, other than that they obviously weren't going to be much help. As the guards continued shoving them forward, Guardia noticed that the ramshackle houses and shops were thinning out before the Lycanroc suddenly sent her pitching forward onto her belly. Guardia laid there for a moment and heard her teammates yelp as she saw that they were all in a square in front of a wooden platform set up in its center. As she got back onto her feet, she saw there were bound-up pirates all around them, while Pokémon in lavender scarves ringed them, visibly sneering from the edges.

A sharp tap filled the air, as an umber-colored reptile in dark blue armor plates stepped forward. Guardia looked on as a faint rattle accompanied the stranger's steps. She sized up the Pokémon as it dawned on her that in spite of his scales' color, his longer arms and his thinner body, that the stranger was another Marowak. He let out a low grunt, before looking out over the crowd of unfortunates with a stern glare.

"Hrmph, about time we got to the last batch," he growled. "Repeating myself over and over for these maggots is getting really old."

The Marowak stepped onto the platform, giving him a view of the square. He took a moment to size up the captives gathered around him, before tapping his bone against the platform and giving a toothy sneer.

"The name's Junius. I'm the prison's Associate Warden and the one who will be keeping an eye on you for the rest of your sentences here," the Second-Rank said. "In case you're wondering, but nobody here is interested in hearing whatever sob stories you unwashed scum might have. I already know what I need to: you all struck a deal with Commissioner Lyn to cause trouble on some backwater island, and you didn't pay attention to the fine print."

The Marowak hopped off his platform, pacing about the front row of the gathered prisoners as he held his bone in one hand, letting its other end drag along the ground with an audible scrape. He turned a piercing gaze out over them as he continued on, many of the pirates at the front visibly cringing in fright as he passed or else averting their gaze when his eyes met theirs.

Guardia quickly gathered that they didn't want to get on the 'mon's bad side. Up ahead, she saw Pladur and Trizano attempting to scoot over to try and block her and her younger teammates from Junius' gaze as they looked on visibly stiff and wide-eyed. A small, eerie grin spread over the corners of Junius' mouth as it suddenly dawned on Guardia that the 'mon was not only toying with them, but enjoying it.

"Clearly he doesn't have a use for you anymore, but we certainly do," Junius sneered. "It'd be in your best interests to stay useful to us, or else you're not going to last long around here."

"Are you done? Since all I hear is some twiggy lizard yapping and trying to sound tough."

Guardia blinked as everyone seemed to grow deathly silent and their attention drifted away from the Marowak. Up at the front of the crowd, there was a Zangoose with his arms tied behind his back standing next to a visibly alarmed Flareon and Banette. Unlike his companions, the Zangoose had visibly puffed out his chest and curled his face into a defiant smirk.

Junius' gaze fell on him as the guard's eyes visibly narrowed. He began to pace over, ghostfire starting to form at the tips of his club as the Flareon and Banette nervously inched away, the other Pokémon around the Zangoose doing much the same. In spite of it all, the pirate seemed wholly unfazed, as he briefly glanced at the ghostfire on the Marowak's club, before pulling his head back with an unimpressed frown.

"Oh, so you're one of those Ghost Marowak," the Zangoose scoffed. "I'm quaking in my tracks right here! Like you could really do anything to a Normal-Type like-"

All of a sudden, a sickening thud rang out as Junius drove his club into the Zangoose's stomach. Deep. The Normal-Type yowled in pain and slumped forward onto the ground, wheezing for air as the Marowak swung his bone down as an overwhelming stream of fire shot out from its tip and enveloped the pirate's upper body.

The Zangoose screamed, before going still beyond a faint twitch. Junius pulled his club back and twirled it in his grasp, leveling an icy glare at the crowd in front of him.

"Anyone else want to get in a brave and defiant moment right now?" the Ghost-Type asked. "Anyone? There's always a few idiots in groups like yours who think that they're the heroes of some swashbuckling story."

A long silence followed as everywhere Guardia looked around, all the Pokémon she could see were visibly squirming or trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Even Trizano, who for a moment seemed to be ready to try and charge ahead, ultimately kept quiet and averted his gaze. Junius brought his bone back to his side, and turned away with an unimpressed harrumph.

"I thought so," he said. "Good to see that you all learn quickly."

The umber Marowak thumped his club against the ground for attention, making the gathered guards in the square straighten up. Junius looked them over, before motioning up a path that snaked out of town and up a set of rolling hills.

"Throw that yappy furball onto someone's back and get these 'mons up to the prison," he snapped. "We've spent enough time loafing around town today, and the sooner we finish processing them, the better."

Guardia looked around as the guards made their way forward, cries of protest ringing out while the gathered pirates started to be dragged off by their lavender-scarved captors and the guards shoved the Zangoose onto the back of an unfortunate black Tauros. Guardia felt herself get jerked up as the Lycanroc came back to her and shoved her onto her feet, leaving her staring blankly at the path up the hills as she marched along into the unknown.

---

Ketu made his way through the Wyrmwind's passages towards the ironclad's brig, carrying a tray with a cup of water, a few gummis, some stale bread, and a Nomel Berry. He mentally went over the day's events in his mind as he couldn't help but frown at having to jump through yet more hoops for his mission to keep Lyn off the Board.

He supposed that this was the reason why he'd made a point of trying to draw up different contingencies for how to deal with Pleo before Lyn left Vollezee. Things would've been so much simpler if he had been able to snatch the Protector away in an Apricorn away from prying eyes as he'd planned, and it likely wouldn't have taken much to convince Lyn that one of the pirates' teleporters had gotten away with Pleo. Knowing Lyn, the Samurott would've gone and wasted time and 'monpower attempting to mount an abortive raid of Orleigh, while Pleo could've been sent off to trusted paws with the otter none the wiser.

That obviously wasn't going to happen now. At least Lyn still believed that Darzin was behind everything that happened on Buyeom, meaning the Samurott hadn't taken more drastic measures to secure Pleo… like keeping him inside an Apricorn on his person. Instead, Lyn had opted to imprison Pleo inside the brig, which was nothing that Ketu couldn't work around.

There was still one other hurdle that needed to be settled: namely what exactly had happened to the Knight's Ledger. The book was still missing, yet he couldn't help but get the feeling that Lyn was lying to him earlier about not finding it. He vaguely recalled Lyn mentioning that he'd been 'thinking about the future' after he captured Lugia… could it somehow be related to that? At the same time, if the Samurott really had found the Ledger, what would he even do with it?

… What if Lyn had learned about his true allegiances after all? Did Lyn somehow know that Elilan wanted to get his claws on the Ledger and was lying about it to keep it away from him? Or was he just being paranoid?

The Weavile paused and shook his head. Whatever the truth of the matter was, it didn't change the present state of affairs. For now, he was better off focusing on this current backup plan. He'd already set up what he needed by convincing Lyn to send the rest of Team Traveller to Nagrobek. Now it was just time to execute the hard part.

Ketu made his way down the brig's hallway, tray in his claws, as he studied his surroundings. Even if he hadn't already known where it was, it wasn't exactly hard to find the cell where Pleo was being kept. There was one cell in particular where an Electabuzz and an orange Lycanroc—Tarmo and Rudolf—were standing watch with a pair of glowmoss lanterns hanging on opposite sides of the door, while all the others were unattended.

Ketu walked up, the pair noticing him as he approached with a pair of quiet blinks. Tarmo was the first to budge as he cocked a brow, before calling out to the nearing Weavile.

"Ketu?" the Electabuzz asked. "Since when were you on feeding duty for the prisoner?"

"Since the Captain needed someone to question Lugia. He's got his paws full right now, so I was the obvious 'mon to fill in for him," Ketu replied. "It's like they say: 'the best way to a 'mon's heart is through his stomach'. Having something to eat should make Lugia more talkative."

"Hm, makes sense I suppose," Rudolf remarked. "We'll open the door for you."

Ketu let his eyes linger on the Lycanroc as a small frown came over his face. Right, it wasn't like Aldrich was standing guard right now, but Lycanroc were still Pokémon with more sensitive hearing. Just how much sound got through these new cells? Would Rudolf be able to hear anything he said from the other end?

… Maybe it was just paranoia, but perhaps it was best to get rid of him. He wouldn't be salvaging much of any mission if the Lycanroc somehow overheard him inside.

"Actually, that reminds me… go get Klaas to take over the rest of your shift, Rudolf," Ketu said. "Given everything that's at stake, we should not be taking any chances, and I think he'd pair better with Tarmo if the bird tried escaping again."

Rudolf stiffened up briefly and backpedaled, before the Lycanroc narrowed his eyes with a defensive frown.

"Wait, why would Klaas need to take over right now?" Rudolf questioned. "It's just watching over a door, which is nothing I can't handle."

"Because Klaas is able to reliably put 'mons to sleep, and it's a bit hard for 'mons to escape when they're snoozing on the floor," the Weavile insisted. "This bird's been nothing but full of surprises for the past month and the Captain's got a lot riding on getting him back to Vollezee safely. He's not going to be particularly impressed if your personal pride helps Lugia get away again."

The Lycanroc hesitated briefly, before begrudgingly backing down. The wolf started to head off as Tarmo stepped in afterwards, giving a nudge at the Rock-Type's shoulder.

"Come on, Rudolf, it's not like that bird's going anywhere," the Electabuzz said. "Even if that power of his comes back, he's chained down and everything. Go squeeze in a card game or something before you get another task."

That one seemed to put the Lycanroc's concerns to rest, as Rudolf headed off for the brig's exit without complaint afterwards. Ketu and the remaining guard waited for him to slip past the doorway, before Tarmo turned his attention back to the cell door.

"Alright, let me get this door open for you…"

---

Pleo stirred in his sleep, letting out troubled murmurs as in his head, those awful scenes on the Argent Aviso's deck kept playing over and over again in his mind. The screams and attacks flying all around, Ingela's body lying on the timbers as blood pooled out from under her, Lyn's grip on his body as the Samurott marched him away…

He never even got to see what happened to his friends. Were they still okay right now? He remembered what Nida told him of what dying was like back on Mengir, and what happened to that Primarina was just like that. Had… Lyn done the same to his friends?

What bothered him most was that the entire time, his powers were nowhere close to returning to him. His friends had needed him as a Protector then and he just wasn't able to do anything for them. He cried bitterly after being brought to this cell and chained to the floor. After feeling the ship sail away, at some point he was just too tired to keep going on and fell asleep.

A sharp thump woke him as a glimmer of lantern light got into his eyes. Pleo roused and turned his head up, only for his eyes to abruptly widen as he saw the lantern's holder:

It was Ketu, standing in front of his cell's door with a lantern in one claw and a wooden tray in the other. The Lugia's heart began to race, as his voice came out in a panicked squawk.

"A-Aah!"

"Well now, looks like you're in a bit of a bind, aren't you?" Ketu asked.

Pleo squirmed and tried to pull himself away, jerking at his chains with an audible rattle. Ketu walked up, before giving a dismissive tilt of his head as a small smirk formed on his face.

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you," the Weavile said, putting down the food tray. "You're fine… you know, aside from the part where Lyn and the Board are going to turn you into their weapon and your friends are busy getting sent to a hell prison on Nagrobek… So maybe 'fine' is not the right word there."

Pleo suddenly froze up. H-His friends were sent to Nagrobek of all places?! That island everyone kept saying how awful it was?! His voice began to faintly hitch and moisture started to bead up at the corner of his eyes, as Ketu's expression briefly faltered.

"… Unless I help free you from Lyn and send word to save your friends, of course."

The Lugia jolted back again and looked up wide-eyed, this time not from fright, but from startled surprise.

"H-Huh?!"

"It's simple, really: you join me and become one of Administrator Elilan's agents, and I'll help you and your friends out."

Pleo's mouth hung open in shock, as the Lugia sputtered with an incredulous squawk.

"Wait, what?!"

Ketu leaned back a bit against the wall, and began to idly pick at his claws with a small smile.

"I'm being serious," the Weavile replied. "You have enemies that Administrator Elilan and my colleagues share, and the enemy of our enemy is our friend. Since we both have similar problems at the moment… why not help each other out?"

The Lugia's beak remained open for a moment before he shook his head. His eyes hardened and he rattled his chains again, before he spluttered out an angry squawk.

"No! I'd never join up with you! You're the bad guys and tried to hurt me and my friends!" he exclaimed. "Kline and Nerea told me all about how evil you are! Why would you think that I'd ever agree to this?!"

Ketu went up and grabbed one of Pleo's chains, sharply tugging it with a stern frown.

"Keep it down. I can't exactly make an offer if others are going to overhear it," the Weavile said. "And in spite of what you might think, we're not evil. We just want a better world for the Pokémon that live in the Cradle."

He let the chain go as Pleo reflexively inched away, shooting back a piercing scowl at the Weavile.

"Sure you aren't," the Lugia huffed. "Is that why you keep hurting other Pokémon? Because you want 'a better world'."

"Yes, actually," Ketu said. "Because whenever you want something that's good for others badly enough, you'll do whatever it takes to get it."

The Dark-Type took a step back and paced about briefly, only passingly acknowledging the fierce glare from the Lugia. Even if the kid was a bit weepier than he'd have liked, he had a fire in him, and Ketu was sure that he could come around with just a little nudge.

"You and your friends would know a thing or two about that yourselves, wouldn't you?" the Weavile asked. "Trashing Lyn's ship and three different ports, and anyone else you might have hurt along the way. Beating up the guards at the Vault and stealing gods-knows-what on top of that Ledger you took from there… and that's just the stuff I know of. Really, sounds like the only thing you'd need to fit right in with us is a change of scarves!"

The Lugia's scowl visibly deepened, as he tried to pull away with a testy harrumph.

"We're not like you, and nothing you say will change that," Pleo spat. "With everything that we've seen you and your friends do and everything that Kline's told us about how you're planning on taking over the Company, I don't believe you genuinely care about making a better world. Why shouldn't I just tell Lyn that you're really working with Elilan right now?"

"You're welcome to try," Ketu said, shrugging back. "Though, how about I spare you the effort and tell you exactly how that'd wind up going?"

The Weavile walked up alongside the little Protector, turning his head down with a small frown.

"I'd talk my way out of things since I'm the one who has been around his ship for four years, and you're not," he said. "Nothing would change about the current trajectory of your life or your friends spending the rest of the foreseeable future doing penal labor. But hey, if you're so sure, go ahead and call out for the guards in the hallway."

There was a lingering pause between the two as Pleo stared back blankly. Was this some sort of a trick? Ketu hadn't been fazed at all by his threat. He knew that Ketu wasn't above lying, but what if what he was saying was true? Then would anything he told Lyn about the Weavile matter at all?

Pleo shifted in his chains and lowered his head as Ketu crossed his arms, giving an impatient tap of his foot.

"… Well?" the Weavile asked. "Are you gonna call those guards or what?"

Pleo fell quiet and hesitated. He scowled up at the Weavile, but even amid the dim light, it was clear that the Lugia's expression wasn't as firm as it was just moments ago.

"I still don't trust you," he murmured. "And there's no way I'd ever work with you."

Ketu stared at Pleo for a moment, before the ends of his mouth curled up into a small smile. Maybe it wasn't a lot of progress, but at least it showed the kid could be reasoned with. The Weavile shrugged his shoulders again in reply, before he spoke again.

"Well, you'd be surprised at how fast Pokémon can change their minds sometimes. I don't expect you to trust me, but you clearly know a thing or two about thinking rationally. You wouldn't have been this hard to catch if you weren't," Ketu said, idly brushing his claws together.

"Besides, you seem like the sort of 'mon that wants to help others. If we succeed, the whole Cradle will be a much better place because of it."

Pleo tilted his head and shot a long, wary glance at the Weavile as he continued to idly flex his claws.

"… Just what do you mean by that?"

"We'll get to that, but let's start with the 'you' angle first," Ketu said. "I'm sure you've figured out by now that if nothing changes, Lyn and the Board are gonna use you and your power as a weapon. The first place they'll try and do that would obviously be Tromba, since that's the only Company island without an Administrator at the moment. The locals there are also less likely to offer resistance to you."

Ketu's face took on a more serious expression, as the Dark-Type narrowed his eyes back in reply.

"You remember what those tribute payments your island goes through are like, right? You know, the whole 'lackeys strolling through town and taking whatever they want like they own the place' that happens whenever Lyn comes around?" he asked. "Now imagine him and a couple hundred goons just being on your island all the time and that happening day, after day, after day…"

Pleo flinched and set his beak on edge as memories of Bunsen and his crew doing much the same crossed his mind. The Pokémon the Company sent had been nothing but a bunch of petty bullies that pushed around the villagers and took from them as they pleased. On top of that, he remembered Bunsen's crew almost forced a bunch of villagers, including Nida's family, off the island. And if Lyn had been the Pokémon there to do that…

His mind then turned back to the deck of the Argent Aviso as the moment Lyn charged Ingela lingered in his head, along with every moment afterwards. The deafening bellow, the way the Samurott's seamitar plunged into the Primarina's stomach, and those awful choking noises as she died. He started to see different villagers from Bluewhorl Town in the Primarina's place… Marley… Osmund… Hatteras…

He couldn't bear to think of how everyone on the island would suffer from Lyn coming to take Tromba over. Maybe Kline or Nerea would be able to stop Lyn, but after everything that had happened on Vollezee and Gestirn… would they? Or would they just go back to hiding?

Ketu studied Pleo's reaction, and after a moment's pause, he shook his head and continued on.

"And then there's of course your friends, who are stuck inside the worst prison in the Cradle right now," the Weavile continued. "That place is meant to break even the hardest of pirates, so how well do you think a bunch of kids and civilians are going to hold up?"

More silence, as this time Pleo seemed to uneasily squirm and fidget. Ketu's mouth tightened into a small frown as he folded his arms.

"Work with us and you can change all of that," the Weavile insisted. "Why let all of that happen when you don't have to? You are a Protector, aren't you?"

Pleo hesitated, before his expression hardened. He jostled against his chains, turning his head up at the Weavile with a piercing glare.

"You're trying to trick me, just like you did to Albert, Charlie, and Marilyn!" the Lugia shot back. "Knowing you, you'll probably just leave Nida and the others in that prison even if I help you!"

"Oh yeah, like the world's really suffering from a group who had nothing better to do than pretend to be human not being able to go straight back to swindling others," Ketu scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Yes, it totally makes sense for us to treat an amateur Rescue Team the exact same way. Because we're a bunch of self-destructive idiots like that."

Pleo blinked and furrowed his brow. Ketu's answer wasn't particularly impressive, but something about it was strange…

Why was it such a big deal if some of them had pretended to be human? It wasn't right of them, but the way that the Weavile had said it, he sounded particularly disgusted and offended.

A sharp tsk snapped him to attention. Ketu was pacing about him now, his arms folded behind his head.

"Look, the fact that I haven't turned and walked out of the door right now is because I want you to work with us. Willingly," Ketu insisted. "There'd be little for us to gain from leaving your friends locked up, and a lot for us to lose if we want to keep working with you in the long term."

The Weavile stepped around the Lugia, before stopping and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Why would we ruin our relationship with you and force ourselves to drag you into things kicking and screaming when we don't have to?" he asked. "Especially when it wouldn't cost anything to get your friends out of those cells… assuming they stop fighting us, anyways."

Pleo hesitated and hung his head. He really didn't want to help Ketu with anything involving Elilan, and he knew that all of his friends wouldn't want him to either. But at the same time, what was he supposed to do? He really couldn't see any other way of helping his friends right now…

The Lugia looked up at the Weavile when it dawned on him: Ketu didn't say anything about how long he needed to help him, did he? What if he helped him, but then stopped once he knew his friends were safe? Wouldn't that be a way of making sure Ketu didn't get a chance to use him for whatever awful scheme Elilan had in mind?

"… So if I agree to help you, you'll let my friends go right now?"

"I said 'get your friends out of those cells'. Actually letting them go right here and now while Lyn and the Board are still around would be way too risky."

Pleo sharply frowned in reply. Ketu said nothing back right away as the Lugia continued scowling at him silently, before the Weavile threw up his arms with a sigh.

"Look, you want me to be honest? It'd be easier for me to just lie to you and tell you what you want to hear, but I know you're smarter than that," Ketu said. "Think about it: both Lyn and the Board know exactly who your friends are, and they expect them to be imprisoned on Nagrobek. Letting them go about as they please in the prison or making sure they never set foot inside another cell is easy to get past them, but outright letting them leave it is a whole different story."

"It sounds more like you're making excuses to not help them," Pleo harrumphed, turning his beak up. "Nagrobek is the island that Elilan runs so letting them leave would be the easiest thing in the world! He'd just have to tell his underlings to let them go!"

"And if the Board came around and asked for your friends to be turned over to them afterwards? What do you think would happen after that?"

Pleo caught himself as the Weavile pinned his ears back and folded his arms with a serious frown.

"At that point, our only option would be to try and fake their deaths, which would get more than a little awkward if they got spotted wandering around some random island or Subway tunnel afterwards," Ketu explained. "Do you really think you'll be able to save them a second time afterwards if they get in trouble again? Or that it wouldn't blow up any plans we had to take down the rest of the Company and leave you completely at Lyn's mercy?"

Pleo didn't have an answer to that. Maybe his friends would have something if they were there with him, but as much as he hated to admit it, Ketu's argument wasn't wrong. He looked back after hearing footsteps, only to see Ketu sit down beside him, his features having visibly eased.

"It sucks, I know, but part of a secret mission involves knowing how to play the long game," the Weavile said, before looking off into space with a low mutter under his breath.

"Even if it's not what you want right here and now… Even if it might get frustrating sometimes."

That… seemed to make sense. Travellers above, why on earth was something Ketu saying making sense?! This had to be some sort of trick on his part… right?

The young Lugia hesitated and drifted in his thoughts as Ketu leaned back slightly and studied his reaction. After a brief pause, the Weavile shook his head, before giving a reassuring pat.

"For what it's worth, there are places in that complex that can get pretty comfortable. I've stayed in some of them," Ketu insisted. "Obviously, they're not normally meant for prisoners, but… well, no reason why anyone aside from us would need to know that your friends stopped being treated as ones. They'd be closer to 'guests with limited travel options' until Inler's no longer a thing we have to worry about."

Pleo turned his head away, dutifully avoiding looking up at the Dark-Type beside him.

"I… I don't know. Even if I help you beat Inler and Lyn, what would happen afterwards?" the Lugia asked. "Wouldn't the Company still keep me away from Tromba while still bullying everyone there?"

"Well, the Company would be under new management, obviously. And we've got bigger things to worry about than how much tribute every island has been coughing up, so we're not going to be running it like Darzin if that's what you're getting at—never really did like getting involved in that stuff," the Weavile said. "Though to answer your question, while there would be missions outside of Tromba we'd need you for, you can go back to your home whenever you want in between them. If anything, you'd likely make our lives easier by being on Tromba since the Pokémon there look up to you."

Pleo let his eyes drift towards the floor. Could he even trust whatever Ketu was telling him? He didn't sound obviously evasive, but he didn't like how he couldn't pick up anything about how the Weavile was really feeling. He'd sometimes noticed when his friends felt certain ways when he was near them, and there were times like when his powers came out when he swore he could even hear their thoughts… but there was nothing like any of that from Ketu right now.

… As much as he couldn't believe he was thinking this, but even if he wasn't sure if he could trust Ketu, was it such a bad thing to help Ketu if the alternative was just Lyn forcing him to do what he wanted? Wouldn't he be able to just break free of Ketu once he got strong enough? And if they really were somehow trying to make the world a better place, wouldn't he be able to influence the way they did it if they trusted him and he stayed around them?

… No, something was wrong about this. These Pokémon had chased Kline around the Cradle for years! Half of him was literally trapped in some sort of prison because of them! And it wasn't as if Nerea didn't have anything good to say about them either. He paused briefly, before shooting the Dark-Type a skeptical frown.

"And what about Kline and Nerea?" Pleo asked. "Both of them insist that Elilan is a bad Pokémon. Are you going to force them to work with you, too?"

"I'm sure they'll come around in time," Ketu replied. "After all, Kline did join us willingly once already."

Pleo jolted up as his chains audibly rattled. His eyes went wide as he looked up at the Weavile, his beak flopping open from shock.

"Wh-What?!"

"Well, I suppose it's technically Micky who joined us, but for a Zygarde, that's like your left wing joining us while your right one didn't," Ketu said. "So same difference, really."

Pleo blankly stared ahead as the Weavile tilted his head, quirking a brow in confusion.

"Wait, he never told you?" Ketu asked. "… Huh. I mean, I suppose I should be more shocked right now, but at the same time Kline never seemed like someone who was above keeping secrets from others."

No, no, that couldn't be right! Kline was insistent that Team Sentinel and Elilan were up to no good, that they were plotting terrible things with the powers of Protectors like them! Why on earth would Kline have ever joined them?!

… It wasn't right. Why would Micky need to be kept in a prison if Kline once worked with Elilan willingly?

"But Kline said that you imprisoned Micky," Pleo insisted.

"It was hardly our first choice, but Kline forced our hand after he convinced Micky to turn against us. As I'm sure you saw on Vollezee, Zygarde aren't exactly weak and powerless Pokémon, and we weren't just going to let ourselves get run over by his powers over a disagreement," Ketu said. "We've been trying to talk some sense into him since then, but as I'm sure you've noticed with Kline, he's a bit of a stubborn Pokémon once he sets his mind on something. Whether it's coming from one half or the other."

That couldn't possibly be what happened… could it? Pleo knew that Team Sentinel wasn't exactly trustworthy, but everything about the way the Weavile had said things sounded so… genuine.

No, this was ridiculous. Kline was the 'Keeper of Balance'. Surely he would've told him if he really did something like this. And it wasn't as if Kline would ever have had a reason to help Elilan and Team Sentinel… right?

Pleo wavered, when he saw Ketu staring at the door before turning back to face him.

"Anyway, it's up to you if you believe me about Kline or not," Ketu said. "That said, we are running out of time right now. Others are going to notice that I'm taking my sweet time in your cell and start asking questions."

The Weavile waited briefly, before he stood up and held a claw out.

"So… are you in?"

… He didn't like this. Even if Ketu was telling the truth, what if something went wrong with agreeing to help him? At the same time, his friends were going to be cooped up in an awful prison! If Ketu was serious about being able to convince Elilan to leave his friends alone, wasn't it his duty as a Protector to try and help them?

Pleo's gaze drifted off as conflicting thoughts swirled in his mind like a churning sea when Ketu pulled his claw back to his side and cocked his head slightly.

"Look, I realize that you're taking a lot in right now, but you don't exactly have a lot of options right now and nobody's going to come to rescue you," Ketu said. "If you really want to get back at Lyn and everything he's put you and your friends through, this is the only way you can make it happen."

Pleo hesitated and averted his gaze. H-How could he make a decision just like this?! But if his friends really were in that much danger, th-then-

"I… I really don't know… I'm not sure if I can decide…"

Ketu impatiently looked back at the cell door, before bringing his attention back to Pleo. He hesitated and gave a click of his tongue, before raising his voice to speak up again.

"… How about I let you think things over?" the Weavile offered. "I can't really do anything with you right now anyway, and there's still a bit of time before your window to make a decision closes. Just don't forget that there's a lot riding on whatever you decide here."

Ketu waited expectantly for Pleo, only for the young Protector to remain silent and visibly struggle with his words. The Weavile sighed and began to make his way for the door, raising a claw as he neared to rap at the wood to be let out…

"Wait!"

Ketu flicked his ears and pulled his claw back, casting a glance over his shoulder. Pleo was there, still wrestling with his thoughts but clearly not as resistant as earlier.

"If I did want to team up with you, how would I tell you after we get to Vollezee?"

"We talk whenever I'm able to get into your cell. It should be a few days from now, but I can't make any firm promises about timing," Ketu said. "That's why I was hoping you'd make up your mind now, since getting to you once we reach Vollezee isn't exactly going to be as simple as heading below deck."

"And what are you going to do about my friends?" Pleo asked.

The Weavile raised a brow in reply, then folded his arms.

"What about your friends?"

"Well, can't you move them out of those cells right now?" he asked. "If it's really so easy for you to get them out of there, why can't you move them out while I think about whether or not to join you?"

Ketu cocked his head, before replying with a scoffing laugh.

"Yeah, that's not how any of this works," Ketu retorted. "We'll move your friends out of those cells once you agree to join—and not before."

"I thought you said you wanted me to join Elilan willingly."

Ketu paused as—much to his surprise—he noticed that Pleo's expression suddenly looked a lot more firm. There was a determined fire behind the Lugia's eyes, as if the two of them were facing each other down on a battlefield.

"This isn't any different from what you did to Charlie, Marilyn, and Albert: making promises and then holding them back until you've gotten what you wanted," Pleo said. "If you really want me to work with you and trust Elilan, then show me that you're serious about not letting my friends suffer when they don't have to. Especially after everything you and your friends have put us through."

There was a long pause between the two, as Pleo's scowl remained unyielding. The Lugia noticed a small smile creeping over Ketu's face, with an expression that looked almost like… respect?

"For a 'mon that's only been alive for a few months, you sure don't back down quickly," the Weavile remarked. "But fine, I'll see what I can do about your friends. Though, you're going to have to wait a while before you get to see anything of them. If you need something to help trust me until then…"

Ketu went over and fidgeted with Pleo's chains briefly. The Lugia heard a metallic clunk and then another, before it suddenly dawned on him that he could move around easier underneath them. Pleo looked down and saw that the chains had been loosened by a few lengths, before turning up and seeing Ketu waiting on him expectantly.

"Let's talk about things that I do have control over right now," the Weavile said. "I can't exactly do anything that would make it look like you're not Lyn's prisoner, but I can change your experience along the way. Do you have any requests?"

Pleo looked down at the food tray set out in front of him, when he noticed the Nomel Berry on it. He winced at the sight as memories of sour juices filling his mouth came back to his mind that he quickly pushed aside.

"Maybe you could get me some better food?" the Lugia said. "Something sweet instead of these yucky Nomel Berries would be nice."

Ketu looked down at the berries, before turning up with a small smile. They were still little steps for now, but this backup plan was coming together pretty well…

And despite Pleo's resistance, he had a good feeling about where things stood between them.

"Yeah, I can make that happen."

---

The first thing Nida saw of the prison was the towering, gray walls that cut across the rolling grasslands almost like sheer cliffs. She marched along after the other unfortunates ahead of her, through a thick gate flanked by watchtowers into a courtyard hemmed in by buildings. Squat ones on either side, with a taller one just ahead that looked almost like some sort of castle, punctuated by a central tower.

… Maybe it had been some sort of castle once. When the guards led Nida up through an entranceway into the central structure, she arrived in a sprawling hall that was taller than any of the buildings in Bluewhorl Town, with stonework that looked strangely decorative for a prison, and space visibly left over as the last few pirates continued trickling in afterwards. There were catwalks running around the walls of the chamber made of wood and stone, teemed with lavender-scarved Pokémon who glared down at them—with what seemed like half their ranks clad in dark blue armor segments.

A sharp thump filled the air as Nida turned her attention back over the doorway, where she saw that 'Junius' Marowak making his way up a set of steps to the topmost catwalk behind him. He raised his bone into the air as ghostfire lit up its ends and twirled it around, before slowly sweeping it over the room with a predatory sneer.

"Everyone, rise and greet our guests properly."

At once, the room reverberated with snarls and growls intermixing with one another from the surrounding guards, a few of them even winding up attacks. Nida and her companions flinched, as they noticed that even some of the pirates around them were visibly unnerved.

She supposed that was one way to 'greet' others. Even if she couldn't get it out of her mind as to how many of the things about this place just seemed strange for a supposed prison. She cast a glance over at Trizano and Pladur, and piped up in a hushed whisper.

"What on earth is this place?" Nida asked. "Why are so many of these guards wearing armor? And why does a prison need a room this big?"

Trizano and Pladur both struggled to give an answer, as they seemed to be as taken aback as she was. The Nidorina's attention moved back to Junius as she noticed movement from one of the balconies above. She saw a Scizor in dark blue armor plates flying down, before coming to a crouching landing on the ground. Nida tensed up and watched as Junius idly pointed out the Scizor with his club to the prisoners below.

"Entella here will handle processing, so you scum all end up where you belong," Junius said. "If you don't want to have a bad time, I'd strongly suggest not getting on her nerves."

The Scizor idly straightened the armor plates on her carapace before bringing her claws behind her back. It made a slight rattle as she moved around, which Nida noticed came from small metal hoops visible in between its gaps. Entella made her way up to the front of the gathering with a steely gaze, as many of the pirates she passed seemed to visibly flinch and shrink away. She scanned the crowd briefly before turning her head up at the wall, before bringing her gaze back down with a piercing frown.

"Hrmph, it's not every day that a group of prisoners manages to make the warden interested enough to come and see things in person."

Nida looked up at the wood-and-stone catwalks and saw a Trevenant peering down at them with a red, narrowed eye. The Nidorina briefly shrunk back under the Ghost-Type's gaze, when a sharp buzz turned her attention back to the Scizor in front of them.

"But he's not a patient 'mon, and neither am I, so let's hurry this up and make you someone else's problem."

A tense silence followed as the Scizor started to go about the room, with the only noises being a couple worried murmurs and whines, as Nida swore she could hear some of the other Pokémon around them audibly gulping. The Nidorina watched as the guards began to gather around them with a few reporting to the Scizor and pointing out different Pokémon in the crowd. The entire time, she noticed that aside from Junius, nobody's armor looked as intricate as Entalla's did—clearly a sign that the Marowak and the Scizor were important here.

Nida looked around at the fringes of the crowd and saw that the guards were spreading out, with the same surly and menacing air that all the others had on the way over. From her side, she could hear quick, shallow breaths. She turned and saw that Pyry and Pekka both looked utterly terrified and were frozen in place.

"Pyry? Pekka?" Nida whispered. "Are you two doing okay?"

"W-We're never gonna get out of this place alive," the Gabite whined. "It's even worse than last time. All the guards are armored up this time and-"

A pointed stone suddenly flew in and caught Pyry in his side. The Gabite got knocked to the ground and laid there gasping for breath as Nida whirled around towards the culprit: a Golem shooting a piercing glare down at them.

"Nobody said you could talk!" the Golem snarled. "Keep this up and you'll whimper and whine yourself into the Pit. Got it?"

Pyry and Pekka's eyes both shrank to pins as Nida swore she could see the color drain out of their faces. The pair frantically nodded back, but otherwise remained silent, saying nothing remotely 'whining' or much of anything at all.

The Golem lingered briefly, before drifting off, leaving the Vibrava and Gabite to visibly tremble as Nida and her teammates traded worried stares between them.

She wasn't sure what on earth just happened, other than that whatever that 'Pit' was that the Golem threatened them with was a place that they really, really did not want to go to. Much to her surprise, most of the pirates were also suspiciously quiet… Had other guards made similar threats to them?

Perhaps they wouldn't have had to based off the expressions she was seeing on some of their faces. Most of the Pokémon didn't look particularly ready to resist their fate—not the small ones, nor even the stronger ones, like Hess a few rows down. Over there, the Aggron was alongside that Ledian underling of his, just staring vacantly down at the ground.

Was that really the same Aggron who raided their island, huffing and puffing about how strong he and his crew were…? Nida caught Crom staring off himself, as the Druddigon looked away with a quiet shake of his head.

"It's weird, seeing Hess captured and miserable like that," the Druddigon said. "Somehow I thought that it'd be more satisfying than this."

Perhaps that had something to do with how they were both tied up and captured together, but she really wouldn't have ever believed that she'd feel bad for him up until now. She couldn't put her paw on it, but there was something genuinely uncomfortable about seeing him in such a pitiful state. Even if the Company hadn't taken Pleo or roped them up into things like this, was this really justice?

"N-No, please! Mercy!"

Nida turned her head and saw a wide-eyed Venomoth getting dragged off desperately by a pair of guards over to a corner where a number of pirates had been gathered, including some that were still visibly injured from their earlier battle at sea. A sinking feeling came over Nida's stomach as the Venomoth was shoved into a corner of the chamber, when it suddenly dawned on her:

Those pirates were acting like they were about to die.

Nida looked on uncomfortably with her ears pinned back, before turning back to her teammates around her.

"Why are those pirates reacting like that?" she whispered. "What's going to happen to them?"

Nobody answered her, as everyone seemed similarly uneasy at the sight. She turned her attention to Pyry and Pekka as they watched the still-begging Venomoth getting dragged off.

"… They're being sent to the Pit," Pekka explained. "It's the place where Pokémon get sent to mine tin."

Nida stiffened up and hesitated as Pyry and Pekka's moods both visibly darkened, before Pekka continued.

"I don't know how they choose Pokémon to go there," the Vibrava murmured. "Some get sent there without making it past the initial sorting, while others get sent there afterwards as punishment."

"Others supposedly get sent there when they're too hurt to work in the prison," Pyry added. "We weren't exactly here for long the last time to find out for ourselves, but every story we heard while we were pirates said that Pokémon don't come back from that place. Word is that they usually don't last long there either."

Travellers above, just what on earth was this place? Nida knew that prisons were supposed to be harsh places, but they weren't normally run like this, were they?

And why would the Company want injured prisoners to mine tin in the first place? Wouldn't those be some of the Pokémon who'd be the least able to-?

"Raise your heads, you worms."

Nida looked up as sharp footsteps pricked her ears and saw a small group of guards approaching her group, with a Passimian beelining straight for her. The Passimian threw out arm and reached for her throat. The Nidorina flinched, trying to pull away the Passimian's hand latched onto her scarf, and…

Riiiiiiip!

Nida felt a sharp tug at her neck as the fabric pulled away and she realized that she didn't feel anything around her neck. She looked down and saw her blue scarf with its star laying in a torn heap as she heard her teammates shouting around her. The Passimian shoved her to the ground before grabbing the chains around her arms, which jerked back, before suddenly loosening up.

Nida laid there with ragged, startled breaths, as it dawned on her that while they were stiff and aching, she could move her arms again. She stayed there in a confused daze amid the continued shouting in the background, when a white scarf with black stripes suddenly landed in front of her. She looked up, where the Passimian was hovering over her with a stern glare

"Put this on," the Fighting-Type barked. "Your group's up next for cell assignments."

Nida faltered and saw her teammates similarly hesitating when she noticed a Lycanroc smacking a nearby Hoppip who was lagging at putting on a similar scarf. The Nidorina hurriedly stooped down and began to put it on, as she saw Pladur helping their other less dextrous companions while the guards moved along. She shakily slipped her scarf on, glancing down at the ugly striped pattern on it. Just after she tightened the knot, Nida looked up and saw a Lycanroc and some other guards near Hess similarly stripping his colors away, pulling away a wad of gold-and-silver fabric along with a silvery stone attached to a cord.

There was a moment of mutual surprise, as the Lycanroc lifted up the cord and moved the circular stone back and forth between his claws.

"What the-?"

Hess' eyes visibly widened at the sight of his lucky charm dangling in the guard's claws, as the Aggron suddenly thrashed against a Mr. Mime undoing his chains.

"A-Ah, my lucky charm! Give that back right now!"

Hess bucked the Mr. Mime and lunged forward as he jerked himself free of his chains, plowing into the Lycanroc with a headbutt that made the guard drop his scarf and necklace. The Aggron snatched it up as the Lycanroc hit the ground on his back, prompting the Mr. Mime and some nearby guards to pile on him. They immediately attempt to wrestle Hess to the ground, sending the nearby pirates diving out of the way.

From the ground, the Lycanroc stumbled back up and started to head over when Kichiro flew forward in the background. The Ledian shot forward with half his arms still bound, with a punch that zipped ahead faster than Nida's eyes could follow. It caught the Lycanroc in the back of his head, sending him stumbling forward with a low snarl.

"Oh, you're gonna regret tha-"

All of a sudden, a silvery blur struck the Lycanroc and knocked him out cold. A moment of stunned shock hung in the chamber as Crom's eyes widened and he realized that the attacker was none other than…

"T-Trizano!" Crom cried. "What are you-?!"

Hess briefly noticed Trizano blowing away a Houndoom who was coming at him as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Wha-? Why on earth are you helping m-"

THWACK!

The Aggron suddenly felt pain shoot through his ribs and pitched to the floor. He bellowed, blinking back agonized tears as he watched Kichiro get pinned to the ground and heard squawking protests beside him as Trizano met much the same fate. All of a sudden, he saw a long, bony club in front of his eye and looked up to see Junius looming over him.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

Hess shrilled and curled up on himself, bracing for the end as shudders ran down his body and low whimpers came from his throat. Junius moved his club aside, before giving a sharp smack at Hess' back that drew a pained yelp.

"Pathetic," the Marowak snarled.

Crom looked on blankly, as a few guards helped the Lycanroc stumble up while the Mr. Mime brushed himself off. Entella flew over, her metallic claws pulled back and ready for a Bullet Punch.

"What is going on here?" the Scizor demanded.

"It's that Aggron!" the Mr. Mime insisted. "That fat scalebag was picking a fight over some stupid rock under his scarf!"

Entella stepped forward with a sharp frown, before noticing a glint from the ground and spotting Hess' lucky charm. She stooped down and picked it up, Hess reflexively reaching after it again, only to freeze after seeing Junius level his club at him with ghostfire smoldering at its tips, leaving the Scizor to raise it into the air and into the light.

She looked into the stone and its silver-and-gray swirls for a moment, before a flash of realization came over her eyes and a knowing smile crossed her mouth.

"… Oh, this is so much more than just a rock," Entella said. "Doctor Nyxem's going to want to see this."

Crom blinked as a dumbfounded reaction came over both him and his teammates, along with the fellow onlookers—guard and pirate alike. What on earth did that Scizor mean by 'more than just a rock'?

Before anyone could raise the question, Entella's expression hardened, as she turned to the nearby guards, pointing a claw down at Hess as he panted in wide-eyed confusion.

"Send him to the Pit alongside this 'lucky charm' of his."

Hess' jaw dropped in frightened shock. Just to his side, a furious squawk rang out as Trizano continued to struggle against his guards, until a Houndoom finally pinned him down. Entella went up and peered over at the Skarmory as the bird glared back up at her, when she saw his eyes' cross-shaped pupils.

She paused and tilted her head slightly in surprise, before clamping the Skarmory's beak shut with a claw and taking a closer look. Trizano fought against her grip as she inspected his irises.

"Why do your eyes look so strange, prisoner? Speak."

Entella let Trizano's beak go and stepped back, leaving the Skarmory to shake his head before looking up at her with a defiant glare.

"We Immortals don't answer to the likes of your kind," he spat.

Entella raised a brow, as a bemused smiled came over her face.

"… How curious. I've always wondered whether there was actually something to you Immortals ever since rumors about you lot started going around. It seems like we'll find out soon," the Scizor said, before turning her attention back to the Houndoom and the other guards. "Send the Skarmory, too."

Nida's breaths quickened as the Houndoom and other guards dragged Trizano up and began to lead him off, while Junius and the others forced Hess onto his feet. Nida watched as the Marowak gave a passing jab at Hess and the guards herded Trizano away from the gathering. She felt tears well up in her eyes, when something snapped in her and she took off running after the Skarmory.

"Trizano! No!"

A green blur suddenly sailed in and smashed across the side of Nida's head, sending her falling to the ground. The Nidorina lay there as her vision wobbled and she heard her teammates' voices blur calling out for her. Then, a green trunk grabbed her, and she looked up to see a Copperajah dragging her up, fanning his ears out with a piercing glare.

"Quit your whining, pincushion!" the Copperajah snarled. "Keep this up, and you'll be joining him!"

Nida raised her barbs and struggled against the elephant's grip, but to no avail. Nida's mind went blank as Entella went around and pointed out different Pokémon all around her and mentioned "wings" and numbers that didn't mean anything to her. Other guards went about in the background and started grabbing nearby Pokémon as the air grew thick with yelps and cries of duress. She hung her head, her eyes drifting off to Hess as his guards began to put the Aggron's restraints back on.

The sound of frantic buzzing made the nearby guards shift into fighting stances. A little ways away, Kichiro was furiously buzzing and thrashing against his bindings as the Mr. Mime from earlier shoved him to the ground with an unseen force. Hess faltered at the sight, as his guards tightened their grip on him and the chains about his arms. He looked back at his second mate, his voice came out in a shaken stammer.

"K-Kichiro, it's fine," the Aggron said. "Worry about yourself."

"No, it's not fine, you stupid idiot!" the Ledian cried, tears beginning to form in the corner of his eyes. "First Rodion and now you?! We need you! I need you!"

There was a moment's silence as the Aggron seemed to try and force a determined glint over his face, only for him to fail to muster more than a tired, forlorn expression before looking away.

"Just hold things together for the crew while I'm gone," he said. "Someone's going to need to look after them."

Nida looked on as Junius and the other guards shoved the Aggron off after Trizano. The Marowak started heading off when he noticed that things had ground to a halt among the prisoners and guards alike. He gave a sharp thump with his bone against the ground, before stomping a foot for attention and splitting the air with an impatient shout.

"All of you, stop stalling!"

The Copperajah carried the Nidorina forward as other guards began to shove and drag along her other teammates. They made their way forward down cleared walkways, joining a growing procession of captured unfortunates. They soon got to a dim corridor with a noticeably lower ceiling, where the elephant shoved her to the ground and into the care of other guards. Her surroundings all blurred together as they marched her off in a group of other prisoners, where she quickly lost sight of everyone aside from Crom, Dimitri, Ander, and Pladur.

It grew harder and harder to keep track of them amidst the strangers all around her with each turn in the hallways. She'd lost track of Crom by the time she'd been taken to the entrance of a tall, featureless chamber made of brick and mortar, and then Dimitri and Ander as they started getting herded down different hallways.

She could only still see Pladur by the tips of his tusks when a Electivire took her along a hallway running along a tall shaft lit up by skylights on the ceiling, flanked by two stories of wood-and-stone balconies that cantilevered out from the sides. Both to her left and right as she marched along, there was cell after cell with metal bars, every one full of scraggly or unhealthy-looking Pokémon who briefly acknowledged them but otherwise looked away. Up and down the hall, loud rackets rang out as guards stopped in front of various cells and shoved whatever captives were with them in.

She turned her attention back down the hallway, when she suddenly froze out of realization: she couldn't see Pladur's tusks anymore.

"Pladur? Wh-Where are-?!"

"Get moving!"

The Electivire pushed her towards a stairwell heading up as the Nidorina's mind went blank. She felt the floor under her feet change as the cold stone underfoot gave way to coarse, rough wood—all as an awful, sinking realization came over her.

She was all alone now, and she had no idea where her teammates were or how to even begin to try and find them again.

Nida finally snapped to attention after hearing a sharp yowl just ahead, where she saw that pirate Zangoose that Junius had beaten into submission at the town square being shoved into an open cell. She briefly saw him hit the ground on his paws and look up, before scurrying off deeper within with his ears and tail pinned tight against his body. The Electivire changed course as they approached the cell, when the Electric-Type tightened his grip and Nida was suddenly lifted off the ground.

Air rushed past her as she fell toward the stony floor, landing hard on her side. She rolled to a stop and laid there panting, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked back towards the entrance, where the Electivire was there, one hand on the cell door, and giving a malicious sneer down.

"Look on the bright side, you won't exactly be lonely here," the Electivire taunted. "And I'm sure your new cellmates won't bite… often."

The Electivire slammed the door shut with a heavy slam before moving along as the sounds of cries and struggles rang out elsewhere in the corridor. When she was certain the guards had drifted off, Nida went up to the bars and blankly pawed at the cold, unyielding iron.

"Nida, is that you?"

Nida gasped as she heard a chirping voice from deeper within the cell, and looked behind her to see a Luxio and an Amoonguss, who parted ways for a Swellow in a scarf with white-and-black stripes. His wings were clipped and his plumage looked unkempt, but there was a look of startled disbelief on his face.

The Nidorina's eyes widened and her jaw dropped in realization that this was…

"K-Kiran?"

The other Pokémon in the cell briefly murmured among each other as the Swellow hurried over and threw his wings over her. She wrapped her paws around him in turn, pulling him close as her voice wavered and cracked.

"A-Ay, menos mal, you're alright!" she exclaimed. "What about everyone else?"

"Everyone's alright. Natrix and Philips are even in the next wing over," the Swellow explained. "But what are you doing here? What happened?"

Nida paused and hung her head. She felt a lump grow in her throat and her eyes start to grow bleary as everything she'd gone through in the past few days all came flooding back to her.

"W-We went to Gestirn to try and patch the ship up! Except Lyn hired a bunch of pirates who ruined everything, and-"

"Nida, slow down," Kiran insisted, motioning with a wing for a stop. "You've clearly been through a lot. Just take things one at a time."

Moisture began to bead in Nida's eyes as the sinking realization came over her. Everything they'd done, that they'd fought for, it'd all accomplished nothing other than to get them stuck here. In this place where nobody had any idea of how to get away, much less to get back to Pleo.

"L-Lyn was playing everyone all along!" she cried. "Everyone on the team aside from Elty got captured and everyone else is still stuck on Gestirn, and-!"

Nida's voice hitched as she no longer could hold back her tears. She buried her face into Kiran's plumage, as bitter sobs came from her throat.

"I-I just don't know what we're supposed to do! Everything's awful right now! How are we even supposed to get out of this?!"

Kiran set his beak on edge and fell silent. He seemed to be struggling to say something, but managed nothing beyond brushing a few tears away from his pupil's eyes before he shook his head with a defeated expression.

"Pray and hope that something works out," he said. "It's all we can do right now."

---

Author's Notes:

- Zurück! - German: "Get back!"

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Hess hadn't seen the sun since being brought indoors, as the guards herded him and the other prisoners down corridors and flights of stairs that went ever-deeper into the earth. The surroundings grew increasingly dark beyond the occasional torch, while the barks of the guards and the groans and frightened murmurs of the other unfortunates being marched along reverberated off the walls. After the third flight down, they entered a tunnel that opened out into a large shaft with a staircase that spiraled downwards.

The Aggron felt a shove to his right and continued on, noticing irregular walls that had been cut from the rock. Off to his left, there was tall metal scaffolding in the middle of a deep shaft. He looked down to try and see where the bottom was, but while he could see the head of the procession about a level below him, the shaft just seemed to keep going and going without an apparent end. Even more strangely, while the shaft topped out not far overhead, the scaffolding in the center kept going up past it through a square-shaped hole hewn from the surrounding rock.

"Just where does that thing go-?"

Hess suddenly yelped as a sharp, searing jab caught him in his back. He stumbled and looked past his shoulder, where there was Junius behind him, brandishing his club with ghostfire dancing on its tips.

"Stop staring at the elevator. Scum like you take the stairs," the Marowak snarled. "Get moving!"

"Okay! Okay!" Hess squeaked.

The Aggron frantically stumbled forward down the steps, eager to put distance between himself and that horrid lizard. He saw Junius lingering and heard him shouting at Pokémon behind him in the procession, prompting him to let out a small sigh of relief. As Hess walked ahead, he looked past the Flareon and the Banette just ahead of him and tried to look for anyone familiar, but he didn't recognize any of the Pokémon in the procession—the only exceptions being a Drapion and a Garbodor from his crew's newer recruits. It was then that the enormity of his situation crashed down on him like a Hammer Arm.

He wasn't going to escape this time. Especially not without the lucky charm that had always been there for him in the past. Given all the stories he'd heard whispered in Orleigh about this 'Pit', these walls and stairs would likely be the last things he ever saw.

And of course, of all the Pokémon that could've been there to put him through all of this, it just had to be a Marowak… and one with that creepy ghostfire at that.

He lumbered along as every so often there'd be a tunnel branching off that had parallel, straight grooves cut into the ground—almost as if they were meant to guide carts or wagons. Or at least like they had at one point, since all of the tunnels were devoid of Pokémon working in them. Curiously, one of the tunnels that he passed didn't seem to go far from the shaft at all. When he glimpsed it, much to his surprise, the passage was blocked not even ten paces down by a set of heavy-looking doors which were made of solid steel, with armored guards headed up by a white Ninetales standing at attention in front of it.

"… Why on earth would a mineshaft need doors like that?"

He did a double take at the sight, as he couldn't make sense of why a mine of all places would need something that expensive, much less why it'd need to be guarded so heavily. He tried to stop to get a better look, when he heard an angry shout from further up the stairs that made him think twice of the idea. The Aggron hurriedly moved along, letting the steps pass by underfoot, when he heard clacking footsteps joining him from behind. He turned and saw they were coming from Trizano, who drew near but averted his gaze the entire time.

He let his attention linger on the bird for a bit. It was hard to think that this was that same Skarmory that kept butting heads with him. He just looked so defeated right now as he trudged forward, a far cry from all times they had fought each other…

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you out of this one, Hess," Trizano murmured.

Hess blinked, before turning to the Skarmory in surprise.

"Get me out of this one?" the Aggron asked. "What do you mean by-?"

Hess was cut off by the sound of a loud clunk, and looked down to see the stairs came to a stop on flat ground. Off to the right, the source of the sound was there: a Klefki pulling a key out of another set of metal doors and returning it to his ring. Hess gave a puzzled tilt of his head at the sight, when Junius brushed past him and made him jump back with a startled yelp. The Marowak let out a scoff and made his way up to the door. He raised his club, and rapped the tip of his bone against the door's surface a few times, before drawing it back and waiting. There was a pause afterwards, before a second lock clicked from the other end. The doors suddenly creaked open, and the guards began to march them through a darkened passage, with light at the end of a short tunnel.

When Hess and Trizano emerged from the tunnel's end, they found themselves in a roughly circular chamber that had been hewn from the surrounding rocks, with bricked-off tunnels that branched off in multiple directions, barring one that, after a closer look, seemed to have several cells lined with metal bars.

The only other feature was a doorway and window hewn into the rock. The door had been fashioned from solid iron, while the window was blocked by metal bars that let out a cool blue glow from a lantern somewhere deeper inside. In front of it was a small group of mostly Psychic-Types led by an Alakazam, with some that looked like they'd be more at home sitting behind a desk writing runes than handling prisoners. The Alakazam and the others regarded the prisoners with disinterested scowls, as Junius went up and began to talk with them just out of earshot.

Confused murmurs went about the prisoners as Hess and Trizano looked around worriedly. Something wasn't adding up, since there wasn't anything around them that looked like it was obviously meant for mining. Or any sign of a place they were meant to go.

A sharp thump rang out against the ground as Junius pounded his bone for attention, before he glanced over the other guards and gestured towards the prisoners.

"Get them into position and clear out anyone who's already in those holding cells," the Marowak ordered. "It's about time these 'mons made themselves useful."

Before either Hess or Trizano could say anything, the guards began to shove them and the other prisoners towards the center of the room. A few yelped as they were pushed along, including Hess, whose voice struck Trizano as sounding almost like an Aron's as Junius came over and herded him forward. Off at the tunnel with the cells inside, other guards filed down it and shouts came from deeper within.

"A-Aah! Let go of me!"

They watched as a dirty and haggard-looking Pangoro was marched out, along with other Pokémon that looked like they'd been kept down here a while. Hess was at a loss as the new batch of unfortunates joined them, as his eyes drifted back closer to the rest of the group. The Drapion and Garbodor from his crew were now visibly stiff and pallid, as the Drapion turned back towards Hess with a worried murmur.

"Captain, what are they going to do to us?"

The Aggron had no response to that, and from their surroundings, Trizano wasn't sure if he could really piece together an answer himself. The Skarmory still couldn't make heads or tails about why this room looked so empty, and scowled back at Junius, fighting against his bindings.

"Just what sort of mining operation is this?" Trizano demanded.

"A remote one," Junius answered, as his expression tightened up into a malicious sneer. "Though don't worry, you'll all get to see it in person really soon."

Junius drifted off over to the Alakazam and his colleagues off at the far end of the room. They were talking about something in hushed tones that neither Hess nor Trizano could make out. Hess noticed a few of the prisoners like an Audino visibly cringe in fright, before giving a puzzled whisper over to the Skarmory beside him.

"Wait, what on earth are they talking abou-?"

Before he could finish his words, he saw a glint as the Alakazam pulled out a green, glowing gem from a satchel. The Aggron's maw hung open from fright, as the color began to visibly flush from his face.

"That's- That's a Teleport Gem…"

Everyone else in the room all but recoiled from shock, as a few startled cries rang out. Even Trizano's eyes visibly shrank, and Hess couldn't remember the last time he'd ever seen him fazed in their past run-ins.

There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as it dawned on him what those Pokémon were likely planning for them. Teleport Gems didn't exactly just wash up on the beach since they required skilled Psychics to both make and use. He could only think of one reason why these 'mons would want to use something so valuable on a bunch of pirates like them right now:

They were going to send them all to the Wastes.

Junius tapped his bone against the ground as he made his way forward, leveling a malicious smirk at the gathered prisoners.

"I do hope you've all had a terrible time here during your brief stay on Nagrobek, but it's time for you to go," the Marowak said. "While most Pokémon would be happy to leave this island, I have a feeling you'll all feel different soon enough."

Junius walked past the group and made his way for the door back to the staircase. About halfway there, he stopped, and turned his head back with a predatory smirk.

"Give my regards to the 'mons on the other side," he said. "They'll introduce you to your new home once you're there… assuming they feel it's worth the effort. Your kind tends to not last long there."

Hess lost his nerves as a few of the pirates broke out into desperate pleas for mercy. The Aggron turned for the door and frantically tried to run, only for Junius to smash his bone deep into his gut. He pitched forward and laid on the ground when he felt his tail get yanked by an unseen force. He looked back, seeing the Alakazam's eyes aglow as the Psychic-Type dragged him toward a circle of Pokémon being herded into place. The other teleporters' eyes lit up in turn, bluish auras settling over the Pokémon in the room. Hess tried to move his limbs, but he was too weak and dazed to fight back, much less as the Alakazam in the circle reached out and hoisted him from the ground with Psychic. He watched in horror as the Psychic-type raised the Teleport Gem with a hand up in the air, as a blinding light overtook them all.

Hess' vision went white and the next thing he knew, he fell and hit the ground with a loud yelp. He lay there for a moment breathing in and out tensely as the air suddenly felt colder with a perceptible breeze, and noticed the dim lighting around them was now more evenly spread out. As the vision returned to his eyes, he woozily stumbled up and saw that there wasn't a tunnel ceiling anymore, but instead a sky filled with ash-colored haze where he couldn't see the sun beyond a muddy light.

Hess noticed there was dust coating his underbelly's scales, and all along the ground under his feet. He dusted himself off and started looking around, seeing other prisoners slowly getting up in a daze. They were in some sort of courtyard: brick buildings with catwalks adorned with Company banners on every side, built in a style unlike any warehouse he'd seen in all his years sailing the Cradle—simple, featureless, and lined with corroded metal bracing. Strangest of all, off in the background of the buildings to the right, there was a giant chimney that loomed over the entire space, alongside one that looked like it was either unfinished or broken halfway up. They looked like the ones that a 'mon would expect attached to a blacksmith's or a foundry, except much, much larger…

"Wh-Where are we?"

Hess gaped around incredulously, only to do a double take as he noticed a few of the Teleporters from earlier were walking past him. Had they seriously come with them all the way out to this place? They were in the Wastes right now, weren't they?

The Teleporters made their way towards a set of steps leading up to the building straight ahead, as a group of surly looking guards came down them. As they traded places, a Clefable from among the Teleporters stopped and talked with a few of the guards, while Hess could've sworn their attention drifted over to him.

All of a sudden, a number of the Company Pokémon in the courtyard turned towards the steps. There at their top, there was some sort of strange creature that looked like some sort of Porygon with a slim, upright body, and a tail that twitched erratically as he floated along, with a Dragapult that followed close behind. As they neared, Hess noticed that the body of the Porygon-looking Pokémon was more rounded than that of a normal Porygon, and his head was disembodied. It took a little bit for Hess to make it out, but there was a Third-Rank Company scarf that had been tied into an armband on his right arm—not that Hess could really see a way for the Pokémon to wear it normally without a neck. The accompanying Dragapult wore his scarf normally, which sported a Second-Rank's pattern, a clear sign that the two were important around here.

The Dragapult had a guarded expression but still blinked and floated back slightly in surprise. He studied the prisoners for a moment, before casting an askew glance at his companion.

"Well that's certainly a larger batch of prisoners than usual," the Dragapult remarked. "Do you think something happened on the island?"

"Oh, I'm sure things are fine, Winslow," the strange Porygon answered. "After all, they wouldn't have sent us such a promising pool of subjects if things weren't under control…"

Hess' attention shifted as a Clefable went up to the pair and handed them a sheet of paper, before producing a silvery, round stone with swirled bands on it. The Aggron's eyes immediately widened. That was none other than his lucky charm!

"Hey! Give that back!" he shouted as he began to make his way forward. "That's my-!"

"Hess, calm down!"

Trizano hurriedly cut in and blocked his path, only for Hess to fume and try to shove the Skarmory aside.

"Get out of my way, you stupid bird! They-!"

Hess trailed off after he noticed the Clefable pointing him out, when the strange Porygon turned to look at him. The Aggron froze as his fighting spirit abruptly dissipated, and began to nervously pace back.

"… Why is he pointing at us like that?"

The strange Pokémon stared at them wordlessly for a moment, before looking at the gathering and floating up into the air over the courtyard. He raised his arms, clapping them together with a droning chirp.

"Welcome, everyone! I am Porygon-Z instance N9Y2XF8DD4E5M, though you may call me Doctor Nyxem—the Pokémon who runs this facility."

There was a brief moment of confusion among the prisoners, as even Hess and Trizano couldn't help but look on with blank puzzlement as the Porygon-Z bobbled about in the air.

"I know this place is different from what you were all expecting, but I can assure you that what we do here is far more important than simply mining tin underneath Nagrobek Island."

Other Pokémon in the gathering started trading worried looks with each other as well, before a Venomoth uneasily fidgeted his wings and broke the quiet with a hesitant mutter.

"More important…?"

"Of course! This is a place where Administrator Elilan has made sure that even Pokémon like you are able to contribute to the good of society!" the Porygon-Z chirped. "Whether that's through keeping the Company's economy up and running, or working more directly with me to help make new scientific discoveries!"

Nyxem's expression didn't change much like it often didn't with Porygon in general, but when he spoke up again, his voice seemingly lowered in its pitch and took on a strangely unsettling chime.

"I know most of you are afraid, but there is no need," the Normal-Type said. "Progress and its needs have a way of being bewildering at first, but you'll learn to adapt… or at least most of you will."

There was a moment of stunned silence, as the air seemed to grow palpable with dread. Worried murmurs floated about when Nyxem turned his head towards his Dragapult colleague and motioned out at the gathering.

"Winslow, separate out the prisoners for their appropriate purposes," he instructed. "I'd like to spend some time with the ones that are more relevant to my research."

"You heard him!" the Dragapult snapped, waving a claw at the gathered guards. "Get these 'mons out of the courtyard and put them to work!"

Several guards made their way over, roughly shoving Hess and Trizano along as the rest herded the remaining pirates off. The Aggron and Skarmory looked on blankly as the guards dragged their captives away over their cries of protest, the Drapion and the Garbodor briefly glancing back at Hess. All the while, a sinking feeling came over their stomachs as dark thoughts filled their minds about what would happen to those Pokémon.

All the while, Nyxem floated in place as the guards brought Hess and Trizano up to him. Much to their surprise, the strange bird barely acknowledged them and seemed to be focused on Hess' lucky charm, as the Porygon-Z telekinetically levitated it in the air.

"Hm, yes. This is most interesting," Nyxem mused. "It's not every day that a Pokémon arrives here along with a corresponding Mega Stone, let alone alongside an Immortal…"

Hess quietly inched away as the Porygon-Z inspected his lucky charm with rapt attention. Why was this bird so fixated on his lucky charm? And why was he so insistent that it was a…

"Mega-what now?" Hess gulped.

Nyxem turned to them as he moved the gray stone into a pouch on the side of his body. It was admittedly a bit hard to tell with how different the Porygon-Z's expressions seemed to be, but Hess swore there was a self-satisfied expression over the strange bird's eyes. The Porygon-Z briefly scanned the Clefable's paper for a moment, before looking back at them.

"You must be Captain Hess," the Normal-Type said. "And this is one of your pirates, I presume?"

"Pirate? Perish the thought!" the Skarmory squawked. "I'm Trizano the Immortal, and I would never stoop to such misdeeds!"

Hess couldn't help but turn and frown at Trizano's outburst, while Nyxem bobbled slightly with a quiet droning chuckle.

"My, my, apologies for being presumptuous, Trizano. Allow me to properly introduce myself," the Porygon-Z replied. "Like I said before, my name is Doctor Nyxem. Beyond my duties running this facility, I also specialize in researching the life energies of humans and Pokémon."

Hess and Trizano both traded confused looks as a wave of sinking dread came over them. Hess tried to shrink back further, only for a Blaziken among the guards to hold him in place.

"I'll admit that your arrival is a surprise to me," Nyxem continued "But I've never been the type to question receiving a rare opportunity like this."

"Wait, but I thought we were mining," Hess said. "Wh-What are you going to do to us? Are we really in the Wastes right now?"

Nyxem let out a small chirp in reply and swiveled his head to look at the Blaziken. He pointed an arm out at Hess and Trizano, before speaking up in that droning voice of his.

"Bring them out to the overlook," the Porygon-Z said. "Let them see for themselves."

The Blaziken and the other guards shoved them along and brought them up the stairs as Nyxem floated ahead of them. After a brief walk through a brick tunnel, they emerged out into an open space with an outer gate up ahead, along with a wall that looked like it'd been made from a combination of piled-up stones intermingling with truly ancient-looking concrete slabs. The guards led them up another set of stairs, as Hess noticed on the wall of the building they came from, that there was a curious circle with a design enclosing a set of stars inside it. Three… four… five of them, with tails that looked elongated upwards, almost as if they were falling. Something about the shape of the logo looked familiar to Hess, but he couldn't put his claw on what or why. He heard a startled squawk from beside him and looked off to his right past Trizano, as his breath caught in his throat:

Beyond the wall, there was a giant, crater-like pit with a path that wound its way up in a spiral, with shapes moving around in it. At the far ends, Hess saw what looked like collections of tents set up. Down just below them at the wall's base, he saw a train of Pokémon lugging along sacks and carts weighed down with rocks—visibly thin, haggard, and caked with dust.

The wall took a turn away from the pit but Hess couldn't get the image out of his mind. Was that what 'The Pit' was? And was that where that Drapion and Garbodor from his crew were going to wind up?

"Ah yes, here we are."

Nyxem abruptly spun around in place, before pointing dramatically out past the edge of the wall, as Hess and Trizano's eyes followed and abruptly widened:

There in front of them, was a plain that stretched on in every direction, with mountains visible in the distant haze that ran from left to right without an obvious stop in either direction. It was a sight that should've been breathtaking, except for the fact that everything was all wrong with it.

The plains were gray and ash-colored, without any signs of trees or even grass growing on them. Dark chasms cut through it in parts, like cracks left behind in shattered stone. The only obvious sign that there had been any water at all here before was a dried channel that resembled a riverbed, which exited out into a depression that looked like it used to be a lake, except it was filled with fog where they'd have expected to see water.

The two of them looked out with blank stares, their mouths fixed into tense grimaces, when Nyxem floated in front of them and raised his arms with a cheery chime.

"Welcome to Torn Outpost! Our research facility for delving into the mysteries of the world, and our little island of civilization on this side of the Veil."

Hess and Trizano stared out at the dead landscape in blank shock. There was an electronic-sounding chirp, when all of a sudden, Nyxem clapped his arms together.

"I'm sure you have plenty of questions, but don't worry," the Porygon-Z said. "Unlike the others in your group, you'll be helping me with my research as test subjects."

He tilted his strange beak downwards as a vaguely malicious glint came over his eyes. Hess fought to suppress a nervous whine, as the strange, unsettling tone came back into the Porygon-Z's droning voice.

"I just know we'll achieve great things together."

---

When Kline insisted on having a meeting somewhere he'd 'feel natural,' Elty hadn't expected it to be the throne room of Duke Franz's castle. The actual environment was certainly… less regal than he initially assumed it'd be. Between being picked clean after the pirates took it over and it being pockmarked with battle damage from being besieged, Elty wondered if they'd have been better off meeting on one of the ships in the harbor.

Still, it was hard to argue that there wasn't ample space here. He, Team Zephyr, Nagant, Cabot and his friends, and that 'Commodore Valan' Salamence had all come for the occasion and gathered around a table set up with a map of Anyilla and its islands. Kline was certainly putting the chamber's size to use with that massive, serpentine Forme of his, peering down alongside the others as Niilo shot a frowning glance out the corner of his vision.

"… Just saying, was it really necessary for you to come like this?" Niilo asked. "We could've had this meeting nearly an hour ago back in the harbor if you'd just stuck to that smaller form you approached us in."

"If you expect me to be comfortable during this meeting, then yes, it is necessary," Kline replied.

Niilo shrugged in response but otherwise didn't press things further, while over at Valan's end of the room, the Salamence had a deep scowl etched over his face. The entire time, his attention was directed at the Sandslash and his teammates, along with the Growlithe standing beside them.

"On that note, are those four really necessary?" Valan asked. "Not that I'm complaining about how Duke Franz generously provided these accommodations for us, but-"

"Yes."

Kline leveled a piercing scowl of his own back in reply, one that made Valan and Nagant both visibly tense up.

"I'm still not sure if I trust you two, but I do trust them," Kline said. "As such, I'd like them to be present for this meeting, and to hold it in the Forme I'm most comfortable in."

Nagant briefly opened her mouth to protest, only to pause and look aside with a quiet sigh.

"I… understand, Protector," the Clawitzer said. "Though what is it that you wish to discuss with us?"

"I'd like to offer an alliance… assuming you're willing to lend me the strength that I need."

Elty briefly sucked in a tense breath and noticed that the rest of Kline's teammates were reacting similarly. An alliance… with the Empire? The same Empire that had been trying to snatch Pleo away to use him as their Protector to fight for them? How was that not defeating everything that Kline had been trying to accomplish by running around the Cradle with his teammates all these years?

The Growlithe kept the questions to himself, but even so, he seemed to notice a flash of unease come over the Zygarde. It passed almost as soon as it came, as the serpent reared up amidst the tall chamber, and loomed over the gathered Pokémom.

"I won't mince words: things are extremely precarious for your Empire now that the Company has captured Pleo," Kline said. "Thanks to past events that have given me reason to doubt both your and their motivations, I'd normally be content to stay out of things and let you and the Company have at each other."

The Imperials around the table all visibly stiffened up at the Zygarde's remark. Elty saw Berecien's flame flare up as the Ponyta was about to speak up, when Cabot suddenly cut in with a loud protest:

"W-What do you mean 'let us and the Company have at each other'?! We're nothing like the Company!" the Rampardos cried. "They're a bunch of greedy traitors who make all the Pokémon on their islands miserable! If they went and started a war, then-!"

"Enough."

Kline gave a sharp hiss and flared his tendrils, as everyone around the table suddenly quieted down. Kline briefly scowled down at Cabot, before turning to the rest of the group and continuing on.

"Regardless of my normal opinions, these aren't normal circumstances, as should be obvious from the very fact that we're having this meeting," he said. "Were open warfare to break out again, it could spiral out of control and devastate all of Anyilla."

The room fell dead silent afterwards, with Nagant and Valan remaining visibly on edge as Cabot and his teammates traded worried stares with one another. The Zygarde paused, before quietly shaking his head.

"As the Keeper of Balance, that's too much for me to tolerate," he continued. "As such, I'm forced to entertain the lesser of two evils in order to stop this disaster, which in this case means helping you fight the Company through this crisis."

Elty shot a worried glance over to Percy, who seemed visibly apprehensive as Calidus and Alice looked much about the same. Kline had to have had some sort of plan to get out of this later on, didn't he?

From his end of the table, Valan scrutinized them all the while. There was a lingering quiet, before the Salamence broke it with a rumbling harrumph.

"Hrmph, I suppose that is good enough for now," Valan said. "I brought along maps of Vollezee, so we can-"

"I would strongly advise against mounting an attack on Vollezee at this point, actually."

Blinking stares went around the gathered Imperials, while Kline's own teammates seemed to quietly tense up and steel themselves. Elty furrowed his brow and pinned his ears back, staring up at the Zygarde with a puzzled tilt of his head.

"Wait, but wouldn't the Company have logically taken Pleo to Vollezee?" Elty asked. "Why wouldn't we go there first?"

"Because the Company is expecting that they will be attacked there," Kline explained.

A few whispers went about the Imperials' side of the table. The entire time, Kline's expression remained unmoving, as he motioned down at the map with his tail.

"As I explained to everybody on the way over, I'm able to see through extensions of my body called 'Cells', it's how I knew how to find you," the Zygarde explained. "From what I've been able to see through them, the Company's already in the process of moving ships and troops to Vollezee to reinforce it. If your attempt to attack there failed, the losses that would entail would be severe enough to potentially be an existential threat to your Empire on its own."

Valan and Nagant visibly grimaced in response, which Elty supposed was as good a sign as any that Kline's remarks weren't just idle theorizing on his part. The Zygarde turned his attention back to the map, moving his tailtip down along its currents and sea lanes.

"As such, it makes more sense to strike someplace where they're not expecting to be attacked."

He moved them along the map until he reached an island near the edge of the Cradle and the storms of the Veil. Percy and the others on Team Zephyr shot Kline hesitant looks, and when Berecien and Elty looked, they both let out a shared cry after reading the runes labeling its name. The others just stared with dumbfounded, disbelieving frowns, as Cabot turned his head up towards Kline and spoke up with a puzzled murmur.

"Wait, but that's…"

"Nagrobek? Why on earth would we want to go after some barren rock that's closer to the edge of the Cradle than to Vollezee?" Niilo asked.

"Because it's arguably the second-most important island to the Company after Vollezee," Kline answered. "All the tin the Company produces originates from that island. If it ever fell out of their control for more than a couple of months, it'd cripple their economy."

The Zygarde brought his tailtip back from the map, and looked around the table with his gaze held straight and his voice coming out in a serious tone.

"Normally, it's defended accordingly, too. In more typical circumstances, it's a more difficult target to take than Kenobi Island in spite of being less populated," he explained. "With its ranks thinned to secure Vollezee, Nagrobek is less defended and its fortifications are leaning more heavily than normal on a mercenary outfit that Administrator Elilan likes contracting. You'll never get a better opportunity to attack it than now."

Kline waited expectantly for a response, only to notice that all the Imperials around the table seemed unenthused about the idea and were saying about as much in hushed chatter with each other. From the side, Elty looked down at the map and ran a paw along Nagrobek's place, before he shot Kline a sideways glance.

"Not… that I'm really opposed to the idea of trying to go after the Company on Nagrobek," the Growlithe said. "But how's this supposed to get us any closer to freeing Pleo?"

"Because sometimes the best strategies aren't the most direct ones," Kline replied. "Capturing Nagrobek would break up one of the Company's strongest garrisons and force it to divert attention and resources to trying to take it back. By doing so, you would buy precious time to prepare to assault Vollezee more frontally."

The Zygarde briefly looked over the map, before turning his head up slightly to let his gaze settle on Nagant and Valan's end of the table.

"On top of that, from what I've been able to see, the rest of Pleo's friends are being held prisoner on Nagrobek," he said. "If the Company does manage to put Pleo under their sway, having his friends present when we go to confront them would be the best chance of being able to snap him to his senses."

Elty's fur briefly bristled. Travellers Above, he knew that his friends weren't in a good spot after Hess sailed away from them, but to wind up in Nagrobek in all places? He let his attention drift across the table as Nagant twitched her barbels and seemed to be deep in thought. She hesitated for a moment, before her posture eased and she nodded to herself. She looked back up at Kline and opened her mouth to speak.

"Zygarde, I think that that should-"

A loud thump filled the air as everyone stiffened up from a jolt that shook the table.

"I'm sorry, but this strategy of yours is simply not workable."

Everyone's attention turned to Valan's end of the table, where the Salamence had flared out his wings and craned his head up with an impatient scowl.

"We simply don't have time for a long campaign if the Company is really on the verge of fielding Lugia against us," Valan insisted. "Almost all of your arguments for attacking Nagrobek are arguments for attacking Kenobi instead. If we were going to spend time and resources on an island other than Vollezee, at least Kenobi's location would allow us to disrupt Company shipping routes and use it as a springboard for campaigns on other islands."

A few uneasy hems and haws came from Cabot and his companions, while even Nagant seemed hesitant. The Salamence briefly noted his subordinates' reactions, before shaking his head with a sharp frown.

"And that doesn't solve the issue that this additional campaign would divert resources that we should use to attack Vollezee instead," Valan continued. "The Royal Navy needs to be able to deal a definitive blow to the Company whenever we confront them at Vollezee, so why should we risk weakening or overextending ourselves beforehand?"

Kline uneasily wavered his tail back and forth, before turning to his teammates with a wordless stare. They all seemed visibly hesitant, before Percy gave back a wordless nod. The Zygarde turned back to the others around the table, as he spoke up with a quiet rumble.

"… And would your calculus change at all if I told you that the Company is holding a second Protector captive on Nagrobek?"

At once, confused, overlapping outcries broke out from around the table. From the ground, Elty shot a wide-eyed stare up at Kline and opened his mouth to interject, only for Nagant to hop over towards the Zygarde and raise her voice over the surrounding chatter.

"Zygarde, please elaborate," the Clawitzer said. "This is the first that any of us have heard of this!"

Kline visibly paused for a moment, weighing his next words. After a short hesitation, he began to slowly speak up.

"As Zygarde, I am a being composed of two halves," he replied. "My other half has been held deep within the bowels of Nagrobek's prison for close to a decade now, awaiting the day that his captors can turn us against the world."

Nagant's mouth flopped open from shock, as Cabot and his friends' eyes visibly widened in alarm. Even Valan looked taken aback for a moment, only for the Salamence to pause and shoot a dubious frown back across the table.

"I'm sorry, but a decade?" Valan asked. "If you're as strong as you claim, then why has the Company simply not fielded this 'other half' into battle?"

Nagant pivoted on her tail and stared fixedly at Kline, quietly wondering to herself what his answer would be. The Zygarde once again hesitated, before he looked down and shook his head.

"Because my other half and I are capable of fusing together into a stronger Forme. The Company had hoped to quietly capture me first so they would have our full power at their disposal," Kline explained. "If the Company found out that I was helping you fight against them, they would attempt to press ahead and field my other half as their secret weapon alongside Lugia against your islands. Regardless of the consequences."

Everyone in the room traded worried stares with one another as a tense silence lingered in the air. From his end of the table, Kline straightened up again, and shifted his tail as he settled into place.

"I don't share this matter with you lightly, and truth be told, I don't fully trust you not to misuse our powers," the Zygarde said. "But I know what the Company will do with the two Protectors they have in their grasp. As such, it makes sense to start by fighting the battle they're not expecting, so that way you won't need to fight two Protectors at once."

A pause followed, as all the Imperials at the table seemed to be at a loss for words. Nagant was the first to break the silence, as she looked up with a wary, uneasy expression—one that Elty could've sworn looked almost like she'd been hurt somehow…

"I just don't understand, Protector," she muttered. "Why now? Why did you wait all these years to come back?"

Kline stared back for a moment, before turning his gaze aside with a low murmur.

"With everything that's going on right now, I just couldn't afford to hide away for any longer," he explained. "I admit that there's more to the story, but I don't think I'm ready to share it just now."

The Zygarde turned his head back. It was hard for Elty to make out much of the way of emotions from his face, given that his eyes weren't as expressive as they were while in his Core Forme, but his pose looked heavy… deflated, almost.

"I promise that sometime when things are calmer, that I'll give you a fuller explanation," he said. "But at the very least, do you agree with me now that we should attack Nagrobek first?"

There was a lingering pause at the table, before Valan frowned and spoke up with a low grumble.

"… Fine, I'll admit I can see the argument behind your proposal."

The other Imperials followed along one after the other, with Berecien strangely enough giving his agreement with particular vigor. After waiting briefly for any objections, Kline himself joined in and nodded back.

"Good," he replied. "Since we will need to mount our attack on Nagrobek within a week."

Valan abruptly batted his wings out and jerked his head back with a startled cry.

"I'm sorry, a week?!" the Salamence demanded.

"Yes. Nagrobek's defenses are unlikely to stay weakened past then," Kline replied. "I'm sure that the Company is already looking into levying reserves and newly-pressed recruits to fill the ranks they're thinning outside of Vollezee. They will naturally shore up their more strategic islands first while doing so."

"Zygarde, that's just not possible," Valan shot back, shaking his head.

"Why? Don't you have a big, fancy base on Haipheh?" Alice asked, tilting her head. "Can't you just send some Pokémon from there?"

"No, because even after accounting for the Company pulling ships away and Zygarde lending his strength, we'd be lucky to mobilize even a third of the forces needed to mount a proper landing on Nagrobek in a week. We have other threats that need to be defended against, and there simply aren't enough standing Pokémon ready and fully provisioned to sail out so quickly," he explained. "My original estimate for how long it'd have taken just to mobilize for a full invasion of Vollezee was nearly four weeks. Nagrobek may be less challenging to invade, but it'd still take between two and three weeks just to be in a position to begin sending troops onshore!"

Kline and Valan stared each other down, as the Salamence's face visibly fell. Elty and Team Zephyr stiffened up and grimaced, while Cabot and his friends shuffled about awkwardly. What were they supposed to do here when the first step of Kline's plan already wasn't workable?

There was a moment of silence, before Nagant hopped up between Valan and Kline, her lesser claw raised.

"… Are you certain that we could mobilize a third of the forces we'd need for that campaign within a week, Commodore Valan?" the Clawitzer asked.

"Yes? Though I fail to see how that would change anything, Captain Nugget," Valan replied. "Such 'monpower would be inadequate for taking Kenobi, much less Nagrobek."

"I'm aware of that," the Clawitzer insisted. "I'm not contesting your point."

Nagant let out an exasperated sigh, before she hopped up to the window and pointed a claw out of it. Everyone else made their way up as they saw her claw pointing off at Starpeak Square below, seemingly in the direction of the village's garrison.

"It's just that I think I know how we can get the remaining forces that we'd need in Zygarde's timeframe."

---

Pleo blearily cracked his eyes open and saw that he was in a dark, formless void. He at first thought he was still in his cell, only to realize that he couldn't feel the metal chains holding his limbs in place or the ship's wood under his feet.

The Lugia jolted upright and moved around as his memories slowly filled in what had happened: he woke up after Lyn opened the door to his cell and the Samurott revealed a red Apricorn that he had brought along with him. Not long after, Lyn ordered a Crobat that'd come along to sedate him, and the last thing Pleo remembered after that point was struggling against his chains as the Crobat flew up to him and cast rings of light from his eyes and suddenly feeling very sleepy afterwards.

He supposed that this place must've been the inside of that red Apricorn from earlier, and he was starting to understand why Pokémon were afraid of these things. Pleo looked around frantically and beat his wings in a panic.

"H-Hey! Let me out of here!"

He flung a cutting gust of air out forwards… although he wasn't sure where it was going, since there wasn't any obvious change to his surroundings. He hurriedly went around to try and find some sort of end to the space he was in, but no matter how long he carried on, he couldn't find one. After a while, there was suddenly a sharp crack as a vein of light opened from above and the world around Pleo lurched, when the Lugia was washed in blinding light. He briefly felt air under his feet and landed on something cold and stone-like, before stumbling forward as he almost tripped.

"A-Ah!"

Pleo squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light, when he heard flowing water in the background. As he looked around, he saw he was in a tall room flanked by water from three ends, with seats set up on a stony section in the middle. He looked up and froze as he saw Inler at the far end staring him down, with Farn and Zorn on opposite sides of the table looking at him in surprise. A little further back was also a Zoroark that he didn't recognize, who was watching him keenly.

It dawned on him that he was in front of the Company's Board, meaning the Zoroark had to be Elilan. He hurriedly tried to scrabble away, only to suddenly feel weight pressing down on him from above. There was a sudden swish of air as he saw Lyn behind him, holding a seamitar up to the side of his throat.

"Don't try anything funny, Guardian," the Samurott growled. "Your friends may not be here at the moment, but that doesn't mean there won't be consequences for them if you cause problems."

Pleo dug his heels in and glared back, only to remember his conversation with Ketu back on Lyn's ship. Ketu knew Lyn a lot better than he did, and the Weavile had been adamant that he needed to at least make Lyn think he was succeeding at pushing him around in order to do anything to help his friends.

He grudgingly stopped struggling as he saw a Graveler and an Electabuzz come up and felt his wings get yanked forward in front of his body. Cold metal dug into his plumage around his wings' wrists, all as Lyn kept his paw firmly clamped onto his left wing's shoulder. After a brief moment, the Graveler and the Electabuzz stepped back and Pleo saw that his wings were tied up with chains again, while Lyn held his grip on him, before pushing him forward in front of the table.

The Pokémon gathered around the table gazed intently. Zorn and Farn had an almost disbelieving air about them, while Inler seemed to have a quiet awe on his face. Curiously enough, Elilan didn't seem impressed, as he propped his head up on a claw and narrowed his eyes with an unamused frown.

"Let me guess, Lyn: another Ditto? Or were you desperate enough to drag some Illusionist off the street this time?"

"I'm sure you would be quite pleased if that was the case," Lyn scoffed. "But unfortunately for you, this is Lugia in the flesh."

The Samurott ran a paw down Pleo's back and grabbed one of his feathers. He pulled his paw back with a sharp pluck, making Pleo squawk in pain and flail as Lyn held up a silvery-white feather in his grasp that sparkled as the sunlight coming through the windows fell on it. Lyn watched as a captivated silence settled on most of the Pokémon around the stone table, as his muzzle curled up into a satisfied smirk.

"Your eyes don't deceive you," the Commissioner said. "Even if his size may not match the legends, this is indeed Lugia, the Guardian of the Seas. Come and see him for yourself."

One by one, most members of the Board began to make their way over and crowd around him. Zorn brought his head down to size Pleo up, while Farn walked up to him. She gave a disbelieving prod at the Lugia, as she turned to Lyn with her muzzle curled up into a knowing smirk.

"He certainly looks better without all that paint covering those feathers," Farn said. "I knew that you had it in you to get things done. See what happens when you handle your tasks with the appropriate degree of firmness, Lyn?"

The Samurott stiffened upright and briefly grew flustered at the Luxray's remark. Pleo wasn't sure what to make of the comment, other than that Lyn clearly hadn't expected to hear it. The sound of slow claps rang out as Pleo looked further down the table to see Inler making his way over to him, all while Elilan still glowered from his seat. Inler either didn't seem to notice or didn't care as he approached, stepping up to Lyn and his captive's side.

"After so many years, we finally have a Protector of our own," Inler murmured. "I was starting to think that I'd never see the day when one was there to help fight under our banners."

Pleo fought against his chains to try and lean away from the Nidoking, leveling a piercing scowl back at the Poison-Type.

"I don't want to fight," he said. "I won't help you and you can't make me."

The Lugia suddenly felt a sharp yank at his chains and looked up to see Lyn had pulled him back into line. From his place in the surrounding pool, Zorn craned his head down again, looming over the young Protector with a sharp frown.

"Read the room, kid," the Gyarados scoffed. "We wouldn't have brought you here if we didn't have ways of making you play along."

"Not if those ways stink as much as your breath," Pleo retorted. "You couldn't even catch me when I was right in front of you last time!"

Zorn's eyes widened briefly, before he grit his teeth and leaned in further towards Pleo, close enough for his barbels to brush him. Much to the Gyarados' frustration, the Lugia remained defiant and blew a raspberry back, prompting Zorn to let a furious growl from his throat.

"Listen up, pipsqueak," the Gyarados snarled. "We've come too far to just let this moment slip between our fangs from some little-"

"Enough, Zorn."

Inler paced forward, motioning for the Gyarados to back off. Zorn grudgingly slunk back as Inler came to take his place, who shot Pleo a piercing glare as electricity danced around his horn.

"I understand that there are some things that might seem confusing to you as a child; being a god of storms with Anyilla's Pokémon counting on you is a heavy burden," the Nidoking began. "A burden that we were willing to help ease you into."

Inler's expression visibly hardened as the Poison-Type angled his horn down towards Pleo. The Nidoking kept his glaring eyes fixed with Pleo's as the Lugia couldn't help but freeze up as the Director's voice took on a menacing tone.

"But we ultimately don't have the luxury of waiting for you to come around. If making you adjust to your new role requires sacrificing your comfort in the process, I'm more than willing to arrange for that to happen," Inler said. "I'm certain that Commissioner Lyn has informed you of some of the ways we have for doing so."

Pleo wavered after seeing the Nidoking's mood turn and static build up along his horn. Was he making it too obvious that he wasn't afraid of them right now? While he doubted that Inler would really hurt him if the Company needed him so badly… what about his friends? Ketu said that he and Elilan would protect them, but if Inler saw that he didn't seem worried about them, would he start asking questions about why he was acting like this when his friends were supposed to be in danger? And if so, could that ruin the deal Ketu wanted to make with him before he even got a chance to make a decision about it?

"Are we clear?"

Pleo jolted up as Inler's growl lingered in his ears, before the Lugia decided not to push his luck. He craned his head down and shrank back, raising his voice in a stammer that he hoped didn't seem too forced.

"Y-Yes."

Pleo's heart skipped a beat in his chest as Inler scrutinized him for a moment. After a noticeable pause, the Nidoking lifted head and looked off towards the door, where a Magnezone and a Honchkrow were waiting.

"Send word to have the Executive Suite below my office prepared for his arrival. We'll keep him there for the time being," the Director instructed. "If those accommodations prove unworkable, we'll naturally have to consider more… secure alternatives."

The honor guards saluted in response, before they opened the doors and left the room. As they closed the doors behind them, Pleo looked back to Inler with a puzzled tilt of his head.

"… What kind of prison is an 'Executive Suite'?"

"It's a place I sometimes retire to for breaks from my work," the Nidoking explained. "One that's more fitting for a Pokémon of your nature to spread your wings… if you can remain cooperative."

… Had Ketu expected that he'd be moved to a place like that? A resting place did sound easier to meet him in than in some sort of prison… Pleo's mind drifted from his train of thought as he heard footsteps and saw Inler making his way back to the head of the stone table.

"Though if I may ask you all to return to your seats: I believe that there is one last order of business we need to account for before we get to the topic of Commissioner Lyn's promotion to the Board," the Nidoking said, before shooting a glance at the Samurott. "Did you find the missing article from the Vault?"

Lyn hesitated for a moment, as Pleo could have sworn he saw his whiskers twitch nervously, before the otter finally spoke up.

"I found some human artifacts among the pirates' loot, but nothing that was reported as missing from the Vault turned up," the Samurott answered. "We're not really sure what became of the Ledger, but since the thieves are presently in detention on Nagrobek, it shouldn't be hard to get to the bottom of things by interrogating them."

Pleo blinked at Lyn's response. He had remembered seeing that Ledian take the Ledger away back on the Starfall Shogun. Although he didn't know what the Iron Fleet did with it while he was asleep, he supposed there was nothing that would've kept one of the other pirate captains from taking it.

Even so, wasn't Lyn being a bit too tense for just saying that he didn't find it? There was a long pause as Inler shot an askew glance at Elilan, before turning his attention back to Lyn.

"See to it that Lugia is questioned first about what he knows about the Ledger in a more appropriate setting," the Nidoking said. "Though I'm not sure if we have the time to wait for results from an interrogation. I will have Olivia dispatch agents to mount an investigation before our enemies realize what's going on. In the meantime, we should focus our attention on something that's been long overdue: namely Lyn's promotion."

Pleo noticed Lyn straightening up as Farn, Zorn, and Inler turned their attention towards the Samurott, Elilan giving a visibly unenthusiastic frown the entire time. After a brief, tentative silence, Inler glanced them over, before bringing his paws together on the table with a stern, serious frown.

"This isn't a trivial decision to make for the Company's future," he said. "While I myself have already made up my mind, it is customary to hear out each member of the Board before making promotions of this nature…"

The Nidoking trailed off briefly, before letting his eyes drift over towards Farn, who was batting her tail back and forth.

"Given that you're the Pokémon who is the closest to Lyn out of anyone on the Board… Administrator Farn, would you care to start things off?"

Lyn waited for a moment as Farn glanced at the Samurott and lingered in her thoughts. From beside him, Pleo briefly noticed that Lyn looked a bit on edge. A small smile settled over Farn's mouth, before she turned back to the head of the table and spoke up.

"I'll admit, things were a bit rockier than I was expecting, but Lyn stuck through his mission and turned things around even when things seemed to be in doubt," the Luxray said. "We're all aware of Lyn's track record and accomplishments prior to this mission, so there's no need for me to repeat them. Given that he delivered Lugia to us in the end, I'd say that he's built upon them well enough to earn this promotion."

Pleo briefly caught Lyn quietly sucking in a breath as Inler's attention turned over to Zorn next, the Nidoking giving an expectant glance.

"And you, Zorn? What is your opinion on promoting Lyn to fill our vacancy on the Board?"

The Gyarados shifted in the water and churned the surface of the pool as he looked over at Lyn with noticeably long face. There was a moment's pause, before Zorn sighed and shook his head with a low murmur.

"I'm not really impressed with how he handled some of the parts of his mission earlier, but he did pull this off through a plan of his own design and execution," the Gyarados remarked. "I'd recommend starting him off slow, but I'll admit he has potential as an Administrator."

Pleo saw the tension leave Lyn's body as an ever-growing smile crossed his muzzle and the Samurott visibly puffed his chest out. He supposed that was one way to tell that Lyn had gotten the promotion he'd wanted. All the while, Elilan remained silent beyond quietly tapping his claws against the table. The Zoroark's reaction didn't escape Inler's notice, as the Nidoking finally turned his attention over to him with his mouth curled into a serious frown.

"Administrator Elilan, do you have anything to add?"

Elilan didn't say anything even as the others around the table turned to face him. Pleo gave a wary glance around as the silence dragged on for a moment, when he noticed that there was a palpable tension in the air between Inler and Elilan. All along his pelt, Pleo noticed the Nidoking had raised barbs much like Nida would when she was upset or startled, while Elilan's eyes were sharply narrowed.

The Zoroark looked at Pleo briefly, before his expression softened slightly. He closed his eyes and turned to face the rest of the Board, shaking his head with a sullen huff.

"I already gave my opinions during that whole incident with the Ditto," Elilan scoffed. "But since everyone here seems to have particularly short memories, I'd like a moment to explain where my opinions are coming from."

The Zoroark opened his eyes again and turned his gaze towards Inler, with a look so fierce that for a moment Pleo thought he was somehow trying to use Glare on the Nidoking.

"Ten years ago, I was the only one on the Board who voted against Darzin's promotion to Administrator of Tromba Island," Elilan said. "Everyone insisted that he'd be a good fit, yet look at what became of that."

Elilan straightened up in his seat, turning his glance towards Zorn and Farn with a withering glare.

"And here we are, finding ourselves at the precipice of confirming another would-be peer that's doomed for failure. Despite the last several years, this Board is about to make the same mistakes again, having learned absolutely nothing," the Dark-Type spat. "Lyn simply is not a good fit for running an island. Not now or ever. Capturing Lugia doesn't change that. It's taken Lyn a month and a half to complete what was supposed to be a three-day mission at most, and in the end he ultimately needed to outsource the actual process of capturing Lugia to pirates of all Pokémon."

"And yet, despite that, he adapted and overcame difficulties in the face of one unexpected development after the other," Inler said. "Qualities I seem to recall you particularly valuing from your subordinates as an Administrator."

The Nidoking and the Zoroark stared each other down, as Pleo noticed everyone else in the room was watching the pair uneasily. There was a tension that hung thick in the air, almost as if the two were both ready to come to blows with each other.

"Your skepticism has been noted," Inler growled. "However, it hasn't changed anything about my own decision, and I think I've heard enough to make it and begin the formal vote on Commissioner Lyn's promotion."

Elilan held his glare for a moment, before sinking back into his seat with a sullen scowl. Pleo couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably against his chains, when a loud harrumph cut through the air. He saw Inler shifting in his seat, before the Nidoking turned his attention around the table.

"All in favor of promoting Lyn to fill former Administrator Darzin's position?"

Farn and Inler himself each raised a paw in assent, Zorn mimicking them as best he could with his tail. The Nidoking brought his paw down and brought them together along the table, before speaking up again, his eyes turning over towards Elilan.

"And everyone opposed to promoting Lyn to fill said position?"

The Zoroark all but rolled his eyes in response, as he raised a paw and let out a disgusted sigh, when there was a sudden rattle from Lyn's end of the table.

The Board looked over and saw Pleo had raised his still-chained wings. Lyn shoved his wings down with a sharp frown, while the young Lugia saw Inler mirroring the Samurott's expression. Curiously enough, Elilan seemed to be surprised, and for a fleeting moment, Pleo swore he could see a faint, amused smile on the Zoroark's muzzle.

Inler thumped his tail against the floor for attention. After he received it from his audience, he shook his head, turning his attention over to Lyn.

"That makes things official. Welcome to the Board, Administrator Lyn."

Over by the doors to the meeting room, a blue-and-white Vivillion fluttered over and came up to the Samurott's side, presenting a lavender cloth with a pattern of purple squares on it. A flash of disbelieving awe came over his eyes as Lyn took the cloth and unfurled it, revealing it to be a scarf with the same pattern as the other Administrators present.

He took a moment to undo his scarf and put on his new one, before tucking his old one into a satchel. He made his way forward along with Pleo, passing the young Lugia over to Inler, before claiming the empty seat across from Farn's. Lyn sat down and adjusted himself, as a widening grin came over his muzzle. From the side, Inler briefly glanced down at Pleo, before turning his attention to the newly-promoted Administrator with a stern gaze.

"Your first order of business as an Administrator is to show the world our newfound Protector's power and fealty to our cause," the Nidoking said. "I believe that Tromba Island ought to be quite familiar to the both of you. Putting it back under direct rule of an Administrator seems like an effective demonstration, no?"

Pleo felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized that they were talking about Lyn taking over Tromba, with him taking part in it. Lyn idly dusted his chest off with a paw, as the Samurott gave a knowing smirk in reply.

"Quite. I've been able to keep that island in line for years. I'm sure it will be no different whenever I arrive there again," the Samurott said. "Using the Protector's power to take back an island that the Company has lost control of for years seems as solid an idea as any. With the appropriate conditions, I'm sure it would send quite the message to Anyilla and the Cradle's waters beyond."

Pleo's breath picked up as he felt his heart starting to race. Those were all just words, right? He remembered Ketu had mentioned that the Board was planning to use him as a weapon, but they didn't actually have a way of making him fight the rest of Bluewhorl Town for them without threatening his friends… did they?

Whatever the truth of the matter was, he didn't want to find out for sure. He just hoped that Ketu really would be able to see him again before Lyn started his mission. Especially if Bluewhorl Town was really in this much danger.

Was it best to just agree to help him with whatever Elilan was planning? It was harder and harder for him to see ways of avoiding it, but at the same time he just couldn't shake this feeling that helping Ketu and Elilan would end horribly. Kline had insisted over and over again that it would be bad if Elilan's plans, whatever they really were, succeeded. But if he did nothing, both his friends and everyone on Tromba would just suffer and he'd have nothing to show for it.

The Lugia's mind went blank as his gaze drifted to the floor. He wished that someone was there with him. Nida… Crom… Elty… Guardia… or any of the others.

Surely they'd know what to do right now…

He heard a soft thump and saw Inler pulling his leg back from stomping the floor, much as Nida might've thumped her foot for attention. He turned his head up, as the Nidoking looked down at him with a small, knowing smile.

"May this be the start of a fruitful partnership," Inler said. "I do hope that you find the Executive Suite pleasing. It's among the finest accommodations that can be offered for visitors to our offices here… especially cooperative ones."

Pleo tried to scoot away only for the Nidoking's grip on his bindings to stop him. No, he didn't want any of this. He just wanted to be back with his friends and not have to be someone's weapon or agent or anything at all.

Inler had grandchildren of his own, didn't he? Maybe there was a part of him that could still be reasoned with.

"Why can't you just leave me and my home alone?" Pleo demanded. "Can't you just be happy with everything you already have right now?"

Once again, Inler's expression curled into a small frown. He said nothing, before turning his head over to the Samurott beside him.

"Administrator Lyn, kindly bring Lugia to the Executive Suite on your way out," the Nidoking instructed. "Due to the needs of your mission, access to him outside of you shall be restricted to me, my direct subordinates, and a list of whatever Pokémon you submit to me that you feel are necessary for your mission's success. After all, in light of the recent spy ring we discovered, it only makes sense to exercise some caution."

"Quite," the Samurott replied, nodding back. "I will see him there immediately after we are done here."

"Good, I believe that this is a suitable note to leave things off on," Inler remarked. "This meeting is adjourned."

Lyn rose from his seat and went over to reclaim the young Protector as the other Administrators made their way out. Farn and Elilan left the room through the doorway, while Zorn went through the aqueduct that fed into the pool surrounding the meeting table. Much to Pleo's surprise, Lyn didn't leave yet, and only budged once Inler began to make his way for the door. The Samurott followed after him, before raising his voice to speak.

"Actually… there was one last thing I wanted to ask of you, Director," Lyn said. "As an Administrator, I assume I'm entitled to request any Company records that are on file?"

The Nidoking Director paused and turned his head back, quirking a brow with a slight tilt of his head.

"You are, yes," Inler replied. "Just submit a request to the records department. As long as it's not anything unreasonable large in volume, your request should be granted."

"Perfect."

The Nidoking turned and carried on as Lyn tugged Pleo along by his chains. As the Lugia lurched forward, he noticed that Lyn's expression was strangely satisfied. He supposed that was one way to tell that Lyn was happy about things… except there was one thing that didn't quite make sense to him.

Shouldn't Lyn have been asking for things that would help him with his mission to Tromba? Where did these records fit into all of that?

---

Rodion didn't know what he was expecting after his Marked captors told him and the others that they were going to be leaving the Mystery Dungeon, but it wasn't that they'd take them back to Starpeak Square, nor that he'd just be sitting around in some burnt-out square for hours afterwards. The local Imps had apparently run out of cells in town to keep the pirates they'd captured, probably well before the Marked had brought them here from the way that even Tarquin and that Seviper first mate of his were still stuck waiting here in the open.

So that left him here sitting on the ground with his wrists chafing from the ropes holding them in place and his legs stiff from staying in one place the entire time as the Imps assigned to them did the rounds. The guards were every bit as crabby as the Marked had been and not remotely talkative—not even after that strange Pokémon gathered all those green lights and turned into that towering serpent—and were content to leave him and the others around him wondering aloud about what on earth had happened. He hadn't seen any sign of Hess or Kichiro since arriving, and had only found out through that Haxorus from the new recruits that the two at least managed to make it to the ship.

It was cold comfort considering that he didn't know what had become of them. Had they even made it to Lyn? And if they did, who was to say that Samurott hadn't just stabbed them in the back?

Just having some idea whether they were okay would've made the situation he was in a little more tolerable.

He looked to his left, where Kenny sat, seeing the Quilava nervously stealing glances around him. The Floatzel looked on for a moment before quietly hanging his head. Even when that Imperial crab had caught him back in Orleigh, he'd been able to force a grin over his own face and raise the spirits of the others, knowing that she'd left some of her peons behind and wouldn't want to sail off without them, but now…

Well, he just wasn't sure what he could even say or do to lift his crewmates' spirits. What on earth was there even to hold onto right now for hope?

"… Rodion? What's going to happen to us?"

Rodion looked over and saw Kenny tense and wound up, his ears pinned back. Much of their crewmates nearby seemed like they were in similar straits, and many of them were looking over waiting for some sort of response or reassurance.

He hesitated for a moment, before looking back at the Quilava and forcing a small smile over his face.

"I… honestly don't know," the Floatzel admitted. "But whatever happens, I'll be there to face it with the rest of you."

Kenny weakly tried to give a smile of his own in reply, but his heart didn't seem to be in it. Rodion honestly couldn't fault him. Even in the dicey situations he'd been in the past, things didn't ever look this bleak—not even when that Samurott had boarded their ship.

Perhaps this really was the end of the line for them.

All of a sudden, he heard murmurs start to go around the Pokémon in the crowd, including from some of his crewmates next to him. Rodion tried to make sense of what was going on, when Kenny suddenly gave an insistent nose at his shoulder.

"Rodion, something's going on."

Rodion looked away from Kenny and saw a Salamence in Imperial colors coming to a stop in the square just a few paces away. A Gliscor and Talonflame joined him shortly afterwards, along with a group that followed them from further behind on foot:

There was a Sneasel he didn't recognize towards the front. A few Marked from that village in the Mystery Dungeon were there too, but they all looked strangely wound up. But much to his astonishment, that old crab from Orleigh was also there… along with Elty.

The Floatzel narrowed his eyes into a sharp scowl at the sight of the Growlithe. He could've done without seeing him again, but who were the others-?

"H-Huh?! Alice made it out after all?!"

Rodion glanced back and saw that Kenny's vents were pouring fire, while the Quilava looked much like he'd seen a ghost. The Quilava stared wide-eyed at the Sneasel, his mouth hanging open as his voice came out in a squeaking stammer.

"B-But I saw her get left behind on Vollezee! I-I thought-!"

So she was that same Sneasel Kenny had mentioned being with that other Protector, huh? The former pirate? Rodion supposed that it cleared up the question of who those strangers were a little, but why were they there together with that Clawitz-?

"EYAAAAAAH!"

"N-No! Mercy!"

Rodion flinched after hearing a few screams and cries coming from around him, and saw the Marked pirates were visibly cringing and shuddering, while a Marked Kingler was even desperately fighting with his bindings to try and flee. The general mood around them had turned tense, as even Kenny was looking up, his pupils visibly shrunken.

Then he turned to see himself, and his own eyes widened, as there, at the very back of the group, passing a few Marked that were hastily shrinking out of its way, was that towering black-and-green serpent from earlier slithering up and looming over them. The Floatzel stared as the strange Pokémon settled in, his own mouth hanging open as he blinked in disbelief at the sight.

"Well, this one's going to be interesting," he murmured.

The thump of chitin against the ground rang out, as Nagant made her way forward along the group of pirates. Her eyes met Rodion's as she passed, as the Clawitzer stopped and whirled on her tail. She paused and tilted her head incredulously for a moment, before narrowing her eyes back with an unamused scowl.

"Hrmph, I see you didn't learn anything from last time, Floatzel," Nagant huffed. "You're a real glutton for punishment, aren't you?"

"I prefer to think of myself as being determined," Rodion retorted.

Nagant stared back with a long, sour frown, before letting out an annoyed scoff and turning away. All among the captured pirates, puzzled and confused chatter rang out amongst their ranks, as they traded dumbfounded looks among themselves and at the strange serpent looming over them. Even Tarquin was at a loss as to what to make of the newly arrived strangers, as he shifted against his bindings and raised his head with a low growl.

"What on earth do you want?" the Tyrantrum spat. "Shouldn't you be chasing after that bird right about now?"

"Normally, yes," Nagant replied. "Though these aren't normal circumstances right now, so I'm here to make an offer that I think will be worth your while."

Valan shot a sidelong glare at the Clawitzer captain from the corner of his eyes, as his mouth cracked open with an incredulous growl.

"Captain Nugget, you can't seriously be-"

"Commodore, do recall that Zygarde told us we may only have a week to work with," Nagant insisted. "You yourself acknowledged that we can't source the 'monpower we need through normal methods on such short notice."

She trailed off briefly, before looking over the gathered pirates in front of them.

"As such, we can't afford to be too picky about how we get it."

Valan opened his mouth to reply, only for the words to never come out of his mouth. He turned aside with a disapproving growl, as the captured pirates tried to make sense of the Clawitzer's words. Some were clearly puzzled, while others like the Strongjaw Gang's first mate were visibly glowering out of impatience.

"Are you just going to stand there and ignore us, or are you going to explain what's going on right now?" the Seviper spat.

"I will. Once," Nagant harrumphed. "So pay attention."

The Clawitzer hopped over and clambered onto a nearby crate to get a better view of her audience. She took a brief moment to better study a few of the pirates in the crowd, before straightening up on her tail with a withering glare.

"Effective immediately, you're all enlisted sailors of the Royal Navy, under the command of Commodore Valan and myself as part of a mission we will be carrying out alongside Zygarde, the Keeper of Balance," Nagant explained. "Some of you may be brevetted to perform duties beyond what such a rank would normally entail, but your pay and benefits will be the same as any such sailor who has entered the service as part of a penal sentence."

The chatter began to kick up in waves amongst the pirates, as some simply shot their captors dumbfounded looks, while others in the crowd spoke up with skeptical tones, like a Haxorus with a gold-and-silver scarf who huffed back with a sullen growl.

"I'm sorry, but are we supposed to be excited about this?" the Haxrorus demanded. "Who is this overgrown Serperior even supposed to be? Some sort of Protector?"

"Yes, and if it were possible I'd be the first to insist that we do everything to avoid getting a bunch of thugs like you involved in this," Kline hissed back, flaring his tendrils. "Unfortunately for us, our options are limited at the moment."

The gathering remained silent afterwards, as suddenly most of the pirates sat up sharply at attention. There was a lingering tension in the air, as some of the pirates grew uneasy, while others like a Conkeldurr shot back dubious frowns.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" the Fighting-type pressed.

"Commodore Valan and I will be leading an expedition to liberate Nagrobek Island from the Company," Nagant answered. "It's an island that a lot of you have history with and I'm sure plenty of you have had daydreams and idle plans of storming, so doing that under Her Majesty's sails and the cover of Imperial artillery shouldn't be an excessive ask."

At once, dozens of eyes in the gathering visibly widened and the silence gave way to overlapping cries of protest.

"Storming Nagrobek?!" a Pawniard exclaimed.

"Y-You're sending us off to be cannon fodder!" a Litten stammered.

"Yes? And?" Valan retorted. "I'm failing to see the problem he-"

"Commodore Valan, please let me finish my offer."

Nagant motioned for silence with a claw, as the Salamence glowered back, but otherwise kept his mouth shut after seeing Kline continuing to look on without objection. The Clawitzer at first tried to speak up over the ongoing protests from the pirates, only to fire a Water Pulse into the air. It burst overhead, raining water down on the crowd and after a few scattered yelps, threw the proceedings back into an uneasy silence.

"If you and whatever salvageable ships you have are all the extra strength we can muster for this campaign, your fates will most likely be to become cannon fodder," she explained. "That was why I wanted to give you a chance to improve your odds of self-preservation, and better help our odds of success in the process…"

The Clawitzer pivoted on her tail, before turning her gaze towards Tarquin.

"We'll head to Orleigh first. If you manage to talk your peers there into assisting us with our mission and improving your overall odds of success, we'll naturally be motivated to ensure that you're better equipped for it," she continued. "After Nagrobek is captured and our present campaign concludes, the lot of you will be given suspended sentences for any crimes you committed prior to this point and honorably discharged… once you return any equipment lent to you by the Navy as part of this mission, of course."

Valan cocked his head with a dubious frown, and even Team Zephyr outside of Alice traded uneasy glances with one another. Nagant's appeal didn't seem to be going particularly well, either, as the Water-Type's words were met with glares and snarls from more defiant Pokémon in the group, including none other than the Strongjaw Gang's captain, who let out a scoff in reply.

"Gods, you all must be desperate right now," Tarquin spat. "What sort of motivation is that supposed to be? Let's say we accept your offer, why on earth should we not just mutiny the first chance we can get?"

Nagant narrowed her eyes and abruptly leveled her claw, aiming it at the Tyrantrum's head, prompting a few of the nearby pirates to hurriedly try to scoot out of the way as Kline slithered forward with a sharp hiss.

"For one, I'm more than capable of using my powers to rip your hulls out from under you if you try that," Kline said. "Furthermore-"

"Wait, you two. Give me a moment here."

Just as the water gathering at the tip of Nagant's claw started to form into an orb, a set of white claws pushed them down. Kline and Nagant shifted their glances, seeing Alice looking over at them with a determined look.

"Let me have a chance to talk to them," the Sneasel said. "I can speak your new recruits' language so to speak. They'll probably be more motivated to work for you if you don't start things off by smacking them into line."

The Clawitzer jerked her claw free and scowled at Alice. The pair stared each other down for a moment, before Nagant turned aside with a sigh.

"Fine," the Water-Type said. "But don't drag this out."

Kline and Nagant backed away as Alice paced forward along the crowd, scanning the faces. Most were visibly wary, others were hostile, and a few that she recognized from the Siglo Swellow—like Kenny—visibly cringed as her eyes fell on them. She pinned her ears back with a disheartened frown after seeing the Quilava. She looked away after a moment's hesitation, and turned her gaze towards the center of the group.

"Look, all of you are here right now since you've made some bad choices and they caught up with you," Alice began. "Some of you probably deserve to be in this situation right now, some of you might not since you were pressured or forced into being here. Either way, after what happened here, this would normally be the end of the line for you, but nobody says that things have to end badly here today…"

She continued walking in front of the crowd, opting to focus specifically on the faces in it that were familiar. Her eyes moved from one face that she recognized to another: an Ekans, a Zebstrika, a Sableye… It was hard for her to hide her disappointment, as she shook her head and pawed at her shoulder.

"You're clearly got some skill at raising some hell while coming ashore, and we need 'mons capable of doing that right now," she said. "And I know that deep down, Nagrobek would likely be up there on the list of islands you'd want to raid if you thought you had a chance of succeeding. I'm sure that some of you have friends there you'd want to free, or at the very least avenge them… and now you can do that."

She paused and trailed off, before shooting a pleading gaze out to the crowd with her eyes.

"I've been in your place before, and it's not every day that 'mons like us get a second chance, Much less with a Protector at their backs," she insisted. "You've got a chance to genuinely do good with those skills of yours and chase after something bigger than the next batch of loot. Maybe saying you're you'll rewarded for it is a stretch, but at least you won't be punished for it. So please, won't you help us here?"

There was a moment of blinking silence afterwards. Much to Rodion's surprise, all the Pokémon he'd recruited back into the Iron Fleet from the local garrison seemed to be visibly wavering. He turned his head over to Kenny and saw that the Quilava himself looked like he was seriously considering taking the Sneasel up on her offer.

"Kenny, do you really trust this 'mon?" Rodion whispered.

"I do," the Quilava replied, nodding. "She's one of the few 'mons who stood up for us back on Tromba, and without her we'd still be stuck there."

Kenny fell silent for a moment, before shooting Rodion a pleading look.

"… Maybe we should hear her out?" he suggested. "She didn't steer me wrong in the past, and I don't know if we have any better options right now."

Rodion turned his head to face Alice as she made her way over. He eyed her keenly, his muzzle curling into a small smile as she approached.

"I'll admit, you've got a way with words, Sneasel," he said. "What crew are you from, anyway?"

"The Boltstrike Bandits. We didn't sail into Anyilla all that often back when I was on it, but I'd like to think I can speak your proverbial language well enough," the Sneasel replied. "Also, just call me Alice."

The Boltstrike Bandits, huh? Rodion remembered running into them at sea once, but for whatever reason he couldn't remember that Sneasel being with them at the time. Shame, since he felt that he and Hess would've gotten along well with her.

Maybe it really was for the best to just take up Alice's offer. They were at the mercy of these Imps right now, who sentenced 'mons to death for far less than what had happened here on Gestirn. He knew the alternative wasn't great when the last time they'd gone to Nagrobek seven years ago had already been a close call even when they largely hadn't been on the front lines with the Council's crews.

… He didn't exactly trust that Salamence or Clawitzer to really care about their fates in a dangerous situation all that much… but they clearly respected this 'Zygarde' well enough to let his judgement influence them. As his friend, surely Alice could influence him in turn, meaning they'd have an advocate for them if they went along…

Rodion looked down and closed his eyes for a moment, before shaking his head with a quiet sigh. He opened his eyes again and looked back at Alice, as the ends of his muzzle curled up into a faint smile,

"Alright then, Alice, I'm in. And I'm sure that the rest of my crew-"

"Hey kedama, go walk a plank. Nobody aside from those bottom-feeders is going to go along with this."

Alice paused after a sharp hiss rang out through the air and turned her attention over to Akane, who was leveling a piercing glare alongside her captain.

"Real rich of you to be talking about friendship while we're all tied up like this," the Seviper hissed. "How about we flip this situation around and we can show just how friendly we're feeling at the moment?"

Alice flattened her ears as the mood started to spread from Akane. Other nearby pirates started grumbling and growling their displeasure, prompting the Sneasel to fold her arms back with a small frown.

"Look, I don't expect you all to be friendly right now, just to be rational about your interests here," she insisted. "If you can set aside your feuds and differences to raid a village with this many crews, surely you can do the same with-"

"Take your offer and shove it up your ass, Sneasel," Tarquin growled.

"Seriously, where on earth did you get that speech from?" a red-garbed Conkeldurr scoffed. "Your Guildmaster?"

The mood quickly grew contagious as one pirate after the other joined in scowling and baring their teeth at the Sneasel, their snarls drowning out the few who stared silent and wide-eyed at their peers. From her place in front of the crowd, Alice looked on as her face fell at the pirates' reactions. She sighed and gave an unamused shrug of her shoulders, before she turned and began to walk away.

"Whelp, I tried," the Sneasel said, waving her claw. "Have fun with the crab and flying alligator, since I'm pretty sure they're going to get right to the point with you."

"Very much so," Nagant harrumphed. "Though for reference, I'm a shrimp."

Nagant hopped up and took Alice's place with a steely glare, which much to Elty 's surprise, didn't seem to move more than a handful of pirates' reactions. Valan was similarly unamused, as the Salamence flared his wings and bared his fangs out at the gathered pirates.

"I don't believe the lot of you understand just how precarious your situations are at the moment," Valan growled. "You are facing charges of piracy, mass arson, insurrection, and high treason, all of which would incur harsh sentences were the local Court in a position to try you normally."

"Obviously, that won't be possible with how many of you there are right now," Nagant added. "Which would mean your sentencing would need to be expedited and forgo much of the formal trial process along with your opportunity to plead your cases. Accepting the terms that I offered you earlier will by far be a more pleasant experience for all of us."

"Yeah? Or else what?" an Emboar demanded.

Nagant narrowed her eyes back at the group and turned her head over to a Bewear standing near the edge of the square and motioned over with her claw.

"Bommel, come and show these scoundrels what the rightful reward for their actions would be."

The Bewear lumbered over, and halfway through, Rodion noticed that he was lugging along a hefty sack over his shoulder. The Normal-Type came to the front and set it down with a sharp thump, as the mouth spilled open and a few colored Apricorns spilled out, with one sending the Emboar all but jumping back with a yelp as it almost touched him. Nagant looked back at the gathering, her eyes locked into an icy scowl.

"We begin sentencing tonight for those of you who don't feel like accepting our terms," the Clawitzer snapped. "Whoever chooses this route will get exactly what they deserve under Her Majesty's law to the fullest extent: namely to be put into an Apricorn and sent to their fate in the Wastes."

The gathering went audibly silent, as tense stares and grimaces went about the group. From his place, Rodion stared at the sack himself before setting his teeth on edge.

"… Yeah, that sounds like the Empire I know," he murmured to himself. "Alice really wasn't kidding about them getting right to the point."

A quick uproar broke out, as a few of the more defiant pirates were suddenly cut off by stammering appeals to "hold on a minute here"—including from a few of the stronger-looking pirates like the earlier Haxorus. Nagant rolled her eyes briefly as the Bewear gathered up the stray Apricorns with a heavy cloth, before turning her attention over towards Tarquin's end of the group. The Tyrantrum stared at the Apricorns long and hard and traded a look with his Seviper first mate, when he shook his head with a low growl.

"… Tch, I can see where the Company got its internal culture from," he spat.

Tarquin lowered his head and averted his gaze. His glare looked every bit as fixed and immovable as ever, except the tension in his body had visibly dissipated, as he let out a reluctant grumble.

"I can't make any promises for how the others on Orleigh will take things, but I know when to fold them," the Tyrantrum said. "I'm in."

One after the other, the other pirates joined in, some grudgingly like the Conkeldurr, while others like a Bombirdier joined in with an eagerness that would embarrass even a literal tail-kisser. The sole exceptions were the Marked in the crowd, who visibly squirmed and quailed as their peers yielded, their eyes remaining fixed on Kline.

"N-No, you can't expect us to work for this demon!" a Drizzile stammered.

"Why don't you just kill us and get things over with already?!" a Kingler near the front cried.

Nagant looked over at Kline for a moment, before hopping out of the way. The Zygarde came and slithered forward, coming to a stop in front of the Kingler as he let out a frightened squeal. The other Marked looked on in petrified terror, while the Kingler flinched and curled up, bracing for the end.

Kline let his gaze linger on the quivering pirate, before shaking his head with a low harrumph.

"We already had a feeling that your kind wouldn't be interested in our offer," the Zygarde said. "Fortunately for your sake, you had advocates who arranged for you to receive alternative sentences. They should be coming forward to gather you right now."

Kline briefly looked behind him towards the edge of the square, before slithering out of the way. The Kingler looked back to his fellow pirates and quickly tried to scuttle away, when a furred hand suddenly shot out and dragged him back by his claws' bindings, revealing a Marked Typhlosion giving a withering glare down.

"And where do you think you're going? Just because our village is a haven for those who know the truth doesn't mean that we have to like everyone who takes shelter there," Nina growled. "The lot of you can start by fixing the damage your friends left to our village!"

Nina grabbed the Kingler hind legs and lifted him off the ground, before dragging him off flailing and protesting. A few Marked from Starbreak Square who'd come with Nina stared at Kline wide-eyed for a long moment and visibly squirmed, before the Zygarde sighed and slithered back further. One by one, the other Marked made their way forward with a wide berth and began grabbing the small number of Marked from the captured pirates, leading them off with similar yelps and protests under Nagant's watchful eye in a procession that visibly picked up pace while passing the "demon" in the square.

The Clawitzer began to turn away when she noticed three figures trailing after, and spotted a Marked Combusken, a Grotle, and a Scraggy from her crew attempting to sneak along…

… which summarily came to a stop as she launched a Water Pulse at their feet and threw them off-balance. Nagant hopped over towards the three, throwing her large claw out and dragging the Combusken of the group up by her scarf with a seething hiss.

"That offer didn't extend to you three," she hissed. "Get back to your posts or I'll have you tried for desertion!"

The Combusken let out a startled squawk as Nagant let her go, prompting the three to hurriedly scurry back to the local guards. The shrimp retraced her hops over as Kline slithered back into position, and as she neared the pirates once again, she caught Rodion shooting an askew frown back at her.

"So now what?" the Floatzel asked. "Are you just going to keep us tied up like this?"

"Most of you, yes," she said. "Just because we're running short on places to hold you all doesn't mean that we don't have enough to keep those of you who don't have anything productive to do. As for the rest of you…"

The Clawitzer went up and snapped the ropes holding Rodion's paws in place. The Floatzel shifted his arms, and shook feeling into them as he looked up, and saw the wizened shrimp giving a sharp frown at him.

"Get up and start getting those ships of yours in the harbor that you can salvage sailworthy," she said. "We leave for Orleigh as soon as possible."

The guards began to make their way around and started untying a few of the pirates more obviously suited to ship repairs, while a few others who were passed over at first suddenly loudly and eagerly found a desire to offer their services. As Rodion watched the guards come and start to lead some of the pirates nearby him along, he stood up and shot a sideways glance at Nagant.

"If you're really planning on setting sail 'as soon as possible', I'm going to need a few more friendly paws to help me as the acting captain of my crew," the Floatzel said. "The Quilava with me would be a good place to start."

Nagant rolled her eyes in response, before hopping over and summarily undoing the ropes pinning Kenny's forepaws behind his back. The Quilava uneasily shook feeling into his limbs as Nagant shot Rodion an icy stare.

"Be mindful that we're not going to let you go about as you please just because you're untied, Floatzel," the Clawitzer said. "Don't make us regret this."

Rodion looked over his shoulder towards Kenny just as Elty and Alice walked up to the Quilava, the stoat giving a sheepish grimace as Alice ruffled the fur on his head. The Floatzel let his gaze linger on them, before looking back with a small smirk.

"Heh. Not making any promises there, babushka."

---

Author's Notes:

- kedama (毛玉) - Japanese: "hairball", "furball" (Hepburn Romanization)
- babushka (бабушка) - Russian: Term for an old lady or a grandmother akin to "granny". (BGN/PCGN Romanization.)

 

[Virgil134]

Elty sat down and ran his paw along the wooden surface of the tavern table that he and his newfound allies were sitting around. Percy and Caldius were on one end, while Berecien and Niilo were on the other. He idly poked and prodded at a tankard filled with beer while his current teammates chatted in the background, as a part of him wondered just how on earth he'd wound up in this situation.

Somehow, in spite of not being among the Pokémon press-ganged into the Royal Navy yesterday, most of today had gone by in a hectic blur. He'd started by helping out the Siglo Swellow by tracking down and haggling for supplies they needed to repair the ship, except that was easier said than done when seemingly the entire waterfront of Starpeak Square was competing for them. It didn't take him long to gather that the Siglo Swellow wasn't going to make it to Orleigh and would have to stay here on Gestirn until it was time for the raid on Nagrobek later in the week.

Percy and Calidus happened to pass by the ship around the time—fresh from coming back from talking Nerea and the Khranitel Rod into going along with Kline's plan, even if from what he'd heard, they'd insisted on supporting everyone else at paw's length and not making themselves known until the actual raid. After realizing that he wasn't ready to leave Team Traveller's fate entirely in others' paws, Elty talked it over with Captain Beatrix and decided to join Team Zephyr until the Siglo Swellow could catch up for the raid. Before he knew it, he was going around with them across Starpeak Square until it was late in the afternoon and they'd decided to take a short break for drinks and wait on Alice to catch up with them, where they ran into Berecien and his friends.

He supposed that things could at least be worse right now. Even if Kline himself didn't seem to know what to do about Pleo just yet, they at least had an idea of how to rescue the rest of Team Traveller, and they weren't short on allies either. Although he wasn't sure how they were exactly going to convince the other pirates on Orleigh to join them into raiding Nagrobek, he figured they'd sort it out during the strategy meeting this evening.

… And yet, why did he still feel like he was staring down storm clouds over the horizon right now?

Maybe it was because despite that Kline had seen them, he didn't know how his teammates were doing at all. Was Pleo alright? And what about everyone else? He'd heard no shortage of stories of how awful the prison on Nagrobek was. What shape would they even be in if they managed to get to them?

"Easy for you to say! You're not the one who got repeatedly humiliated in front of all your friends!"

"Well, no, but you're still alive to try again in the future. That counts for something, doesn't it?"

Elty flicked his ears as he heard voices coming from somewhere past his shoulder. He turned his head, where there, a short way back and across the aisle, he saw Cabot lingering at a table… along with that Hakamo-o guard who'd been his cellmate back in the garrison. Elty hadn't noticed the bandages on guard's body the last time he spotted him, but from the dragon's deflated aura, his pride had clearly been badly wounded over the course of the past few days.

He watched as Cabot gave a pat at the Dragon-Type's shoulder, before giving a small, reassuring smile.

"Don't beat yourself up too hard, alright? Everyone has a bad day, and you're clearly trying, at least," the Rampardos insisted. "Don't worry so much about looking tough to others and just spend some time training yourself up. I'm sure you'll get them next time."

The Hakomo-o's tail wagged slightly and his mood seemed to lift as he turned to his mug. Cabot got up and made his way back to his companions' table. As he settled in, Calidus gave a puzzled tilt of his head.

"Was that Hakomo-o back there a friend of yours?"

"Oh, no, it was just one of the local guards who was a bit upset over some stuff that happened to him during the raid," Cabot explained. "I figured I'd give him some encouragement, since we're on the same side after all."

Cabot raised a tankard from the table—the sweet, burning scent telling Elty that it was rum instead of beer, which the Rampardos had apparently found too bitter. After taking a sip, Cabot paused and turned his head, before shooting Calidus a curious glance.

"On that topic, there's something I don't understand about you and your teammates," he said. "If you've had so much trouble with a team from the Company all this time, why didn't you just join up with the Empire earlier? We would have helped you guys out, for sure!"

Calidus fell silent and set his beak ajar, and looked over at Percy for a moment. The Talonflame was clearly ready to say something, but seemingly thought twice of it. He hesitated briefly, before ruffling his feathers and speaking up.

"Let's just say that Kline values his independence," the Talonflame said. "We've had bad experiences being hunted by that particular team of Company agents, and he didn't want to be in a situation where he was just trading one problem for another."

From beside the Talonflame, Elty raised his cup to his mouth and took a sharp swig, setting it back down on the table by the twine grips on its side. He felt a sharp prod at his shoulder and saw Berecien pulling back a hoof from beside him, with the Ponyta's face screwed into a disapproving scowl.

"… Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?" Berecien asked.

Elty pinned back his ears with a sour frown. He admitted that he wasn't an expert in telling how old Ponyta were, but he couldn't possibly be that much older than him, could he?

"Hrmph, if I'm old enough that I could be press-ganged into your navy, I'm old enough to drink," the Growlithe scoffed.

Berecien shot back an askew glance, before turning his snout back to his own drink and nudging at it with a dismissive huff.

"I was under the impression that you volunteered for this mission in order to get your friends back," the Ponyta retorted. "Just be aware that I'm not going to drag you aboard our ship if you can't hold your liquor."

Elty rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to his own drink. He slipped his paw in between the band and raised the tankard back up to his muzzle, gulping down another mouthful of his beer. He heard the clatter of wood and looked up as the Machop server from the tavern passed by with an almost pyramidal stack of tankards in her grasp. He blinked at the sight briefly, and looked after her when he noticed that off towards the counter, one of the kegs behind it had the triple teardrop emblem of the Iron Fleet etched into it.

As the familiar sigil reminded him, it seemed like he wasn't really able to get away from his old crew. Why, this very tavern had supposedly been their hangout during the pirate takeover, and from the damage and the graffiti left scrawled and carved about, Elty had no reason to doubt what he'd been told.

He stared ahead vacantly and hung his head with a deflated murmur. It had been almost two weeks since that confrontation with Hess and his old shipmates back on Pioppo, but it still felt unreal. Being here, just a few streets away from his old buddies who'd helped pull him out of struggling in the wilds as a pup without his mother, except they now they surely wanted nothing to do with him.

He should've been less fazed by everything, but knowing that the same Pokémon who helped him at his lowest point just hated him now didn't help that pit in his stomach that'd lingered with him since washing up on the beach yesterday…

The thought crossed his mind that maybe it would be worth it to ask Alice to help put in a word for him. She was supposed to have been kept busy since yesterday as a go-between of sorts with the different pirate crews that had been captured, so perhaps she'd be able to see how his old crewmates were doing for him. Surely if she talked to the Iron Fleet, it couldn't go any worse than if he tried it…

Elty brought his gaze up and looked around the tavern, when he noticed that Alice still wasn't there. He turned towards Percy and Calidus, giving a puzzled blink.

"Alice still isn't here yet?" he asked. "I thought she was going to catch up with us at this tavern."

"Things must've been running a bit late dealing with those pirates," Calidus mused.

"She could have just lost track of time while shooting the breeze with that old crew of yours," Percy added. "They did seem like they were the crew that was the friendliest with her, and I saw them doing just as much yesterday."

Elty tilted his head for a moment, before he turned back to the last of his beer. He reached out to slip his paw in through the band, but just left things there for a moment with a tired sigh. From past his shoulder, Niilo turned his head and hesitated for a moment, before gently poking at Elty's shoulder for attention.

"You don't seem to be doing too great yourself," the Sandslash said. "Is something the matter?"

Elty paused for a moment and looked down at his drink. Yes, he supposed he really wasn't doing great right now in between his old friends hating his guts and his new ones being captured by the Company. He finally picked his cup back up, giving the last little bit of beer at the bottom an idle swirl.

"I'm just… worried about things," he replied.

Niilo and his buddies audibly paused afterwards, before Cabot broke the silence with a sighing shake of his head.

"I mean, I can't really blame you there," the Rampardos said. "Knowing that your friends are stuck on Nagrobek of all places-?"

"It's more than that."

Elty finished up his drink before pushing the cup away. He hemmed and hawed briefly as he wondered to himself just how much a bunch of Imps could sympathize with a bunch of pirate problems.

Though if they were so judgemental, would they really be drinking with him right now? Maybe it was worth at least testing the water with them…

"Up until a couple weeks ago, I would've been there alongside the rest of those golden-scarved pirates you press-ganged," Elty explained. "I didn't exactly leave them on the best of terms, and I don't know how they'll feel about seeing me again."

Berecien let out a scoffing "Oh no. Anyway…" under his breath before he turned back to his drink. Elty sharply frowned, quietly wishing that Berecien could've at least tried to hide his disdain towards his old crew. Thankfully, his teammates seemed to be a bit less judgemental, or at least less openly so. Cabot shot the Ponyta a lingering, sidelong glance for a moment, before turning back towards Elty.

"Why don't you just go and talk to someone you know from your old crew?" the Rampardos suggested. "Even if they're still mad at you, they're on a tight leash now, so their reaction can't possibly be worse than whatever it was when you got into that fight."

Elty raised a paw to his chin and thought to himself. No, he supposed that getting mobbed and attacked by his former crewmates probably wouldn't happen again. If for no other reason than that there were guards who were surely keeping them and the other captured pirates in line. At the same time, there was nothing preventing them from loudly voicing their displeasure with him, assuming they even bothered to acknowledge him at all…

Though they liked Alice at least, and if she was really around, surely they'd reel things in a bit. Or at least, enough that it'd be fine to just go up and try to talk with them.

But who he was supposed to talk to was another matter. Even if only some of the Pokémon from the Iron Fleet who'd gotten caught on Gestirn were Pokémon he actually knew, there were certainly quite a few choices to pick from just from what he'd seen from the gathering in the square earlier.

… Maybe it'd make sense to try talking with someone he had a particularly long history with. Someone who was good at smoothing things out and who others would listen to. And he knew just the 'mon to start out with…

"I… need to take care of something in the harbor right now," Elty began. "I'll catch up with you all a little later."

He shuffled out of his seat and landed on the ground on his paws, as the others at the table briefly looked at him in surprise. Calidus tilted his head, before giving a small nod back at the Growlithe.

"Alright, if you don't find us here when you're done, we'll be at the Vasilek," the Talonflame said. "Kline should be waiting for us there along with Nagant and Valan."

Elty gave a nod of his own back before making his way for the tavern's door. Midday sunlight greeted him once he stepped outside, and while he supposed the buildings along the way back to the harbor weren't as bad as the day before now that there were Pokémon pulling down wrecked timbers and clearing away rubble, the place clearly was going to be rough around the edges for a while.

The harbor itself was in a similar state when he reached it, but in spite of the surrounding buildings being gutted and scarred, the docks hummed with activity that almost rivaled the harbor they'd docked in back in Vollezee. There were the swimmers breaking down a wreck near the harbor's entrance with a slow and steady cadence of attacks, the group of pirates on the next dock over inspecting a ship that was streaming seawater down its hull which seemed to be held together by little more than an ice plug and the blind faith of its creators. He eventually found the Mistral Marauder towards the edge, where fresh sails were being hoisted along its mast… in a manner of sorts. Here and there, there were obvious miscolored patches that had been sewn over blackened or torn sailcloth, while a Charmeleon and a Haxorus were loudly going at it on the deck over who between them was at fault for the main topsail getting hoisted upside down…

His attention drifted down towards the pier alongside the ship's hull, when he froze. There, towards the Mistral Marauder's stern, Rodion and Alice were talking to each other in front of one of the gangplanks. The Sneasel was perched on a barrel on the pier, while Kenny was at the Floatzel's side. Elty stiffened up, as over the background clatter of voices and ship repairs, his ears began to make out the Sneasel and Floatzel's voices in the air.

"It's been fun, but I probably should get going now," Alice said. "My friends are probably starting to get a bit worried about why I'm taking so long to come back."

"I suppose it can't be helped… even if we could always fix that later tonight," Rodion offered. "Those Imps never found the rum stash aboard our ship. Perhaps we could have a few drinks later—if you want to, of course."

"Heh, I think I'd like that. Go ahead and save me some," the Sneasel replied, smirking. "I'm sure that Kline will give me an earful about it in the morning, but I'd like to think I've earned myself some fun after the sun sets."

Elty looked on and subconsciously shrank back as he felt his belly churn and a thousand doubts suddenly came to his mind about whether or not this was really a good idea. He wavered briefly when he saw Alice getting up and starting to turn around.

… He'd taken bigger and dumber risks than this in the past, hadn't he? Maybe the thing to do right here and now was just to stop thinking and just speak up.

"Hey! Rodion!"

Kenny turned around and noticed the Growlithe, tugging at Rodion's arm and pointing off towards him. The Floatzel's brow briefly raised as he turned around, when his eyes met Elty's.

Almost immediately, Rodion's face fell, his eyes narrowing into an unamused scowl.

"Oh, it's you again," the Floatzel harrumphed. "Why are you here right now? I thought you said you were happier on that new crew of yours."

… Gods, this was a great start already. Elty uneasily sucked in a breath, awkwardly running a forepaw along the wood of the docks as he met Rodion's and sheepishly spoke up.

"In my defense, I didn't think we were going to run into each other again," the Growlithe said. "Especially not like this."

Kenny reached a paw out and opened his mouth to speak, only to notice Rodion's scowl hadn't budged. Whatever the Quilava was going to say, he quickly thought better of it and bit his tongue and pinned his ears back. From the side, Alice shot an askew glance, looking between Elty and his former first mate, before giving a gentle nudge at the Floatzel's arm.

"I know that you two have history with each other, but I think you should hear him out, Rodion," she insisted. "We'll be entering a dangerous battle in a few days. Whatever's going on between you two, I don't think you should leave it up to fate that you'll get a chance later to sort it out. I've seen no shortage of 'mons who thought the same way and wound up regretting it."

The Floatzel glanced at Alice and visibly hesitated for a moment, before seemingly looking off past a gap in the ships along the dock and out at the harbor's water. He kept his gaze averted for a while, when he let out a grudging sigh.

"… Otlichno. I won't pretend that we don't have scores to settle, but there's no point in me stewing on them until I can slip out of this indigo noose around my neck," he explained. "For now, it's in our interest to work together, even if I'm not happy about it."

"I mean, at least we can still have fun during downtime, right?" Kenny chipped in. "Just like old times!"

Both Rodion and Elty turned after hearing the Quilava chime in and saw him sporting a grin that seemed a bit too eager. Kenny held his smile for a brief moment before noticing that both the Floatzel and Growlithe's moods hadn't changed, as it slid off his face and hung his head in disappointment.

Elty set his teeth on edge and dug his paw into the pier. Gah, why was this so difficult? He'd come here precisely because Rodion seemed like maybe he'd remember all the times that they'd spent together, but it just felt like he was stumbling over his words for what to say!

A flash of realization suddenly crossed his mind. Maybe there was one more thing that he could try…

"I'm still thankful that you took me aboard the crew when I was younger, you know," Elty said. "And for all the time that we spent together afterwards."

Rodion paused briefly, his face briefly easing into a more neutral expression. Kenny looked between Rodion and Elty, giving a puzzled tilt of his head. The Growlithe of the pair pinned his ears back and averted his gaze, fumbling around with his words in his mouth.

"I… don't know if I'd have done everything all the same again, but I know that if it wasn't for you and the rest of the Iron Fleet, that I wouldn't be alive today," he said. "Really, the only reason why we're even on different sides from each other right now is because of Pleo."

He shuffled his paws briefly, before looking up at Rodion's eyes with a pleading gaze.

"But if you're not hunting him anymore, do we really still have to be on opposite sides?" Elty asked. "Maybe it's also a chance to try something different… I mean, I haven't been doing terrible since I left your crew, and Kenny wasn't doing bad on Tromba either."

Kenny reflexively stiffened up and flattened his ears at the Growlithe's comment, as his face suddenly looked as if he'd just been pushed off the dock and into the water.

"Er… just saying, I was a lot happier with the part where we were sailing with the Siglo Swellow than when I was stuck babysitting those Nidoran."

Elty set his teeth on edge and quietly hemmed and hawed in reply. Right, he supposed that didn't quite work like it did with most of his former crewmates, since Kenny's Community Service was supposed to have been particularly unpleasant. He opened his mouth to correct himself, only for Rodion to give a quiet harrumph, his muzzle having curled down into a small frown.

"You're free to do whatever you want, Eltenios, but I wasn't exactly planning on leaving piracy once this is over."

The Floatzel folded his arms, before shaking his head in reply.

"I never was a 'mon that just took orders from anyone with a banner who made up a story about why they deserved to be in charge," he said. "Besides, someone's gotta be out there for 'mons that other pirate crews would look down on or push around. I may always be successful at doing so, but I'd rather go down with my ship free and knowing that I did my best than to live a life tail-kissing some nobles."

Elty quietly set his teeth on edge before turning his attention over at Kenny. The Quilava averted his gaze and pawed at his shoulder, before speaking up hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'd… like to stick with my friends, really," Kenny said. "And aside from you, Pyry, and Pekka, everyone else went back to the Iron Fleet, so…"

Elty's ears and tail drooped. A part of him knew that that was what the two were probably going to say back, but it didn't make it any less disappointing that he hadn't gotten through to them.

"I… see," he murmured. "Thanks for hearing me out, I guess."

He turned to leave, as Rodion looked after him. The Floatzel felt a paw at his shoulder and saw Kenny looking at him with a pleading gaze. Rodion hesitated for a moment, before shaking his head and calling out after the departing Growlithe.

"There's others on the crew that miss you, you know."

Elty turned his head back, where much to his surprise, the Floatzel was walking up to him, the frown on his face having eased ever so slightly.

"I'll admit, Hess was probably too hasty to attack you on Pioppo, but it still hurt when you turned your back on us out there after we looked out for you since you were a young pup. Just about any other crew would've brought out the plank for something like that," Rodion began, before shaking his head. "But that's not what I'd want to do. Even now when most of the others we lost on Tromba are back on the crew again, things just haven't been the same since you've been gone. I get that you care about keeping Lugia and the rest of your new friends safe, but we wouldn't mind if you came back to us afterwards."

Elty looked back at Rodion, and much to his surprise, even if it was muted, there seemed to be an almost wistful look in his own eyes, too. The Growlithe hesitated for a moment, before shaking his head back in reply.

"… I think we both know that's not going to happen, Rodion," he said, trailing off with an awkward shuffle of his paws.

"But, for now, at least… if you need help, I wouldn't mind giving it to you. Or to help fight at your side."

Rodion said nothing for a moment, before looking down with a small smile.

"I wouldn't mind that, either. Besides, even if you don't wind up coming back, nobody said we had to part ways as enemies…" the Floatzel said, as his mouth curled up into a mischievous smirk.

"Well, until we wind up having something to fight over, anyways."

He ran his paw over Elty's head fur with a tentative pet, before giving him an affectionate scratch under his chin. Elty found himself wagging his tail as he just stood there and basked in the Floatzel's affection. He didn't know whether or not things would really work out with Rodion the way Alice had apparently managed with her old crew… but he figured he could live for this for now.

"Hey! Both of you, get back to work!"

Kenny suddenly flared up with a start as the four turned and saw a scowling indigo-clad Tentacruel in the water, prompting the Quilava to hurriedly turn and dart back off for the Mistral Marauder. Rodion shot a sharp frown back at the Tentacruel, before getting up and making his way for the caravel himself.

"I should get back to keeping an eye on things," he said. "We'll all be leaving for Orleigh tomorrow morning and that crab will get on my tails if I don't look like I'm being useful."

He saw Alice shoot a frown of her own at the Tentacruel, before folding her arms with a sour pout. Elty supposed that was a sign that it was time to leave things off here. He nodded back and turned for the shoreline, as the Floatzel called out after him.

"We'll have your back out there. Even if you decide to still go your own way afterwards."

The Growlithe turned his head back, as a smile came over his muzzle.

"We will, too," he replied. "Good luck out there."

The Floatzel gave a parting wave as Elty left alongside Alice and made his way off the dock. Unlike his journey over, this time he held his head up high as he made his way deeper into the battered town around him.

All that was left now was to just get to Orleigh. He wasn't fully sure how they were going to make things work, but he supposed Kline and Nagant would explain whatever plan they came up with today during the meeting tonight.

And whatever happened after leaving Gestirn, Elty was confident that he'd had more friends to face it at his side than he'd assumed just a little earlier.

---

Even a full two days after testifying before the Board, Salvini just couldn't shake the persistent feeling every time she went down the hallways of the Academy that the walls and ceiling were about to collapse on her. She kept whirling her head around after every unexpected footfall or bump in the hallway, as a part of her mind kept expecting it to be a group of snarling guards—or worse still, Zelle and her friends arriving to drag her away.

She stopped after her most recent glance over her shoulder and pinched her brow, looking up to see that she was in front of the Academy's library. It was just a few more days until she was back on Mengir. Until everything that had happened between her and that Sylveon would be a bad memory—

"Salvini?"

"A-Aah!"

Salvini jumped and whirled around, her arm leaves folding up against each other into blades. There was a flash of lavender fur as she saw Hertsog behind her, the Mienshao all but jumping back with a start himself. There was a moment's pause as Salvini tried to steady her breath, as Hertsog shot a wary, askew glance at her.

"… Salvini?" the Mienshao asked. "Are you alright?"

The Grovyle unfurled her leaves and pawed at her chest. She felt her still-pounding heart race underneath her claws, before shaking her head back with a tired sigh.

"Yeah, I've just been a little on-edge from having to testify before the Board," she said. "After Darzin rushed me like that, it's sometimes hard to really believe that everything's actually over."

"It's alright, I understand," Hertsog said. "There were a fair share of loose ends left after Darzin's arrest, and it's only natural to feel anxious about them."

In spite of the Mienshao's reassurances, his own posture still looked noticeably tense and guarded. It crossed Salvini's mind that something was wrong, when Hertsog suddenly checked his surroundings, before turning and giving a small tug at her arm.

"Though do you have a moment?" he asked. "Something urgent's come up that I think we should talk about."

Salvini faltered, wondering just what could've happened such that Hertsog couldn't just talk about things openly in the hallway. Had something happened to their positions back on Mengir? Had Hertsog found out about the way that Zelle and her teammates had coerced her into giving a false testimony to the Board?

She hesitated, before giving an uneasy paw at her shoulder.

"I… suppose that I can take a little break from keeping an eye on things, yes."

"Good," the Mienshao said. "The others should already be waiting for us."

"… 'The others'?"

Hertsog didn't reply as he began to make his way towards a quieter stretch of hallways. Salvini followed after him and could overhear lectures in some of the rooms that they passed. She supposed it wouldn't be long before it came time for them to let out for their next period. Curiously enough, Hertsog had walked over to a small study room, and propped open the door for her. She stepped through its threshold, where much to her surprise, Phyllis and Payak were already inside, waiting for her.

"Phyllis? Payak?" Salvini asked. "What's going on here?"

The pair traded blinking glances with one another, before turning back to her.

"We were hoping that Hertsog told you already," Payak said. "Since we're all a bit out of the loop at the moment."

"I was just about to get to that, Payak," the Mienshao insisted. "But it's something that we need to discuss in private."

Hertsog stepped into the room and pulled the door shut behind him, before walking over to the windows and drawing a set of blinds closed. Phyllis and Payak both seemed to sense that something was amiss, as they turned worried stares over at their Mienshao captain.

"Hertsog, what's going on?" Phyllis asked.

"Yeah, it's not like you to pull us all aside in the middle of the day like this," Payak added.

The Fighting-Type draped his satchel onto a nearby desk and opened his mouth to speak only to falter, as if he was just about to say something but was struggling with his words. He clicked his tongue and shook his head, before finally speaking up.

"Earlier today, I picked up a Second-Rank scarf from headquarters in advance of our journey back to Mengir. While I was there, I learned that the Executive Suites in the Company Headquarters have been sealed off to all employees" Hertsog explained. "On top of that, there's a surprising amount of activity going on in the harbor. A large fleet pulled into port from some mission near Imperial waters yesterday, and word has it that a bunch of ships from off-island are suddenly due to come into port in the coming days."

Salvini tensed up. The military harbor was that active now? When it had barely been cleared up from the fighting there just last week? What would prompt the Company to bring in so many ships and Pokémon on such short notice? Payak and Phyllis both hesitated, as the two shot puzzled glances over at Hertsog.

"Does it have something to do with what happened with Administrator Darzin?" Phyllis asked. "Did the Intelligence Division get wind of a coming raid?"

"I don't know. That's why I pulled you all aside," Hertsog answered. "I wanted to know if any of you had heard anything through the grapevine, since I'm not sure what's going on right now. Other than that it doesn't seem to be good."

The Ariados and Leafeon shook their heads back in reply as Salvini tried to think of what all that strange activity could mean, only for her eyes to suddenly widen in realization:

"It's because of Pleo."

Hertsog and the others' own eyes widened in reply, as both Payak and Phyllis gave incredulous gapes back at her.

"Pleo? As in Lugia?" Phyllis asked.

"Salvini, what makes you so sure?" Payak demanded.

"It's because of the way they made me testify before the Board," the Grovyle explained, shaking her head. "That Sylveon knew everything about what happened on Mengir and blackmailed me into giving me false testimony."

There was a blank look over Payak's face as the Ariados looked like he was in shock, while Phyllis' fur was standing on end. Hertsog himself was tense and visibly alarmed as he traded glances between his companions in confusion.

"But what does any of that have to do with-?"

"She and her friends were after him. She told me to my face right afterwards," Salvini insisted. "The sudden weird behavior, all those ships suddenly sailing here without an explanation being given… it all only makes sense if they captured Pleo and brought him back here."

A stunned silence lingered in the room as one by one, Salvini's teammates grimaced, realizing that the Grovyle's explanation seemed to add up. All of a sudden, Payak jolted up with an impatient chitter, as he already began scurrying for the door and motioned for the others to follow.

"Hayde, we know exactly where to find him," the Ariados said. "The Headquarters isn't that far from here, and-"

"Payak, slow down there."

Hertsog stepped out into Payak's way, prompting him to scuttle back and raise his forelegs with an agitated hiss.

"Hertsog, what on earth are you going about?!" the Ariados demanded. "He's right there, and if we just explain-!"

"They would almost certainly deny his presence, given that they haven't made any public announcements about him so far," the Mienshao reminded. "And if things came down to it, it's not as if we could free him by force. He's in the middle of the Company headquarters and surrounded by guards that are much more experienced than the four of us and who vastly outnumber us."

Payak's enthusiasm quickly dissipated and he visibly drooped afterwards. From what Salvini could gather, Phyllis looked visibly on-edge and alert. What on earth could they even do? Marching in and fighting whatever guards had been posted at the Executive Suites certainly wasn't an option, and if these orders really came from the Board, she doubted she could convince anyone to let Pleo go.

Salvini turned her attention back to Hertsog, who gave an uneasy twitch of his whiskers, before lowering his head with a sigh.

"If there is a way of freeing Pleo, we're not the Pokémon who are in a position to do anything about it right now," Hertsog said. "At the very least, I'm sure that whatever place they're keeping him in the Executive Suites isn't physically uncomfortable."

The Mienshao's mood visibly darkened, as he shook his head and looked away.

"It's his friends that I'm more worried about."

"His friends? Hertsog, what do you mean?" Phyllis asked, tilting her head.

"Remember how Administrator Zorn was ready to deal with them back on Mengir when he had Commander Briggs tell us that they were pirates?" the Mienshao replied. "Who's to say they haven't already been sent back there to meet a fate like that? Or to someplace worse like Nagrobek?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as Salvini and her companions balked from a sinking realization: Team Traveller were almost certainly in deep trouble right now. They wouldn't have let Pleo go without a fight, and if Pleo was here in Vollezee right now, his friends had almost certainly been overpowered and captured.

Salvini paused. Even if it was definitely wishful thinking to some extent, the Grovyle admitted there was some logic to Hertsog's theory. But that meant that Team Traveller were being held prisoner somewhere in Company waters with them having nothing more than hunches as to where they could've been sent to. Phyllis looked down at the ground for a moment, before turning back to the Mienshao with a grimacing stare.

"… What are we supposed to do, then?" the Leafeon asked.

"Try and get them released. I can show that things aren't adding up with the way they're being sentenced and maybe try to work something out," Hertsog mused. "I don't know what the odds of me succeeding are, but I have to try."

The Mienshao got up and slung his bag back onto his shoulder, before turning and making his way for the door. He raised a paw and placed it on its push pad, pausing to glance back over his shoulder at his companions.

"There's a couple days left before we are due to return to Mengir. We have until then to try and find out what happened to them and do something," Hertsog said. "If they weren't sent to Mengir, then I'll be taking a different ship to wherever Pleo's friends might be. That way, I could try to secure their release before finally heading back to Mengir…"

He trailed off briefly, before looking over at his teammates and pawing hesitantly at his shoulder.

"That said, I was wondering whether you three wanted to join me, perhaps."

Much to Salvini's surprise, before she could open her mouth, Phyllis and Payak were already jolting up and halfway over to Hertsog at the door.

"Of course we do, Hertsog!" Phyllis insisted.

"Yeah! Why on earth is this even a question?!" Payak added.

It was honestly a little surprising to see the two so eager to try and get Pleo's friends back. Especially Phyllis, but as Salvini echoed their feelings, she couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. Strangely, Hertsog's face remained unmoved, as the Meinshao kept his features locked up into a stern, insistent frown.

"Are you all sure?" he pressed. "There's nothing at all that you have reservations about?"

The three hesitated, as Hertsog stepped towards them and narrowed his eyes with a scrutinizing gaze.

"This isn't exactly a trivial decision I'm asking you to make. If we do wind up having to pay for a second fare, it would have to come out of our own pocket. And if we don't make it back to Mengir on time, we'll be recorded as being absent without leave," the Mienshao insisted. "I'm fully prepared to deal with the consequences if things come to that, but I want to make sure that you three are as well before I get you involved in this."

Both Payak and Phyllis shrank back, as Salvini couldn't help but look down and paw at her lavender scarf. Even if she doubted she'd feel safe until being back on Mengir, it just felt wrong somehow to just go back as if nothing ever happened. At the same time, they'd gone through so much just to have this chance to go back to the island, and for everyone else on her team, it was a chance to finally go back home. If they didn't report back for duty in time to Zorn, they would likely be kicked from the ranks and blacklisted from future employment.

Salvini's gaze drifted over towards the lavender scarf around her neck and paused. Her own parents had worn ones like the one around her neck right now, and the more she thought about it, the more she knew what her parents would've done in her place:

"I am. When my mom and dad were in the Company when I was young, I looked up to them because of the way that they helped other Pokémon while they were on the job," the Grovyle said. "It's why my brother joined, it's why I joined… even if it feels like I haven't been able to do a lot of 'helping' lately."

She stepped ahead, looking up at Hertsog as a determined glint came over her eyes.

"I'm tired of being used, Hertsog," Salvini said. "If it's something that's possible at all, I want to do what I know is right. Even if it's not easy."

Phyllis and Payak joined in themselves just afterwards and echoed Salvini's reply. Hertsog said nothing for a brief moment, as his features eased, and a small smile came over his muzzle.

"Then learn what you can about whatever happened with Pleo and his friends from whatever chatter's going around the ranks right now," he said. "I'll set some time aside for us to check in again tomorrow."

Salvini and her teammates nodded back their affirmations, as the Mienshao pushed the door open and stepped out into the hallway. He waited for the others to follow him out, and after checking his surroundings, leaned in with a hushed whisper.

"Let each other know if you find anything."

"We will," Salvini said. "Just let us know whenever you want to meet."

"I'll hold you to that," Hertsog replied, smiling back. "Though good luck, I'm counting on all of you."

---

"What, me? Scared? Nah."

Nida flicked her ears and blinked her eyes open with a groan that was equal measures weary and annoyed. As her senses returned to her, they reminded her that she wasn't in a nightmare. She was still lying on the same stale straw that had been dumped in her cell, still surrounded by the same floor and walls made of the same cold stone, and the exit was still blocked off by the same metal bars…

And that blasted Zangoose was up and leaning against them, puffing his chest out and flexing his claws in front of their cellmates. Again.

"You clearly heard wrong. I had skull-for-brains quivering in his tracks back there!" the Zangoose insisted. "As he should've, since nobody messes with me and gets away with it!"

And now, as they had every time the Zangoose had done likewise since coming here, they were staring at him with tired, unamused frowns. Kiran buried his face into a wing with a grumbling sigh, while the others looked even less enthused. The scraggly Luxio from their cellmates was the standout of the group, as he narrowed his eyes with a sour frown.

"And that's why you're in here with the rest of us, huh?" he scoffed.

The Zangoose raised a claw and started to speak, only to pause and pin his ears back. The pirate's loss of composure faded almost as quickly as it started, as he folded his arms back with an insistent huff.

"That was a lucky fluke!" the Zangoose protested. "Put me and that Marowak back together and you'll see how I'd really stack up against him!"

Nida screwed her eyes shut and pawed at her face. Travellers above, here she thought that that Hakamo-o back on Gestirn was an aggravating cellmate. It'd only been two days, and she already found herself wishing she was stuck with that dragon over this loudmouth.

She let her eyes drift towards the ground and idly kicked at the stone flooring underneath. It was hard to believe that it'd really only been two days since they came here. Things had somehow felt much longer than that already…

"Alright, get up you lazy parasites!"

Nida jolted back after hearing a deafening voice and sharp yelp come from the entrance of her cell, when she whirled her head and saw the Zangoose cringing from an Obstagoon walking past the bars. She made her way over with her cellmates to steal a peek of what was going on in the cellblock. All along the different levels, there were other guards making the rounds, including further down the balcony their cell was attached to. She shuffled back as a Slowbro lumbered over with a sharp growl, as the Psychic-Type fetched out a set of keys on a ring and undid the door before propping it open.

The sign that it was time to begin another long and terrible day in this place.

"Oh boy, this again…" Nida muttered.

The Slowbro gave an impatient huff as one by one, Nida's cellmates filed out. She followed after them, pinning her ears and briefly flinching under that Slowbro's gaze as she made her way out onto the wooden walkway. All around the cellblock, other prisoners were filing out… along with some laggards who were drug out into their ranks by the guards with yelps and shouts that punctuated the air.

She shook her head and tried not to listen to their cries, as she shuffled along and made her way through the same routine she'd gone through yesterday: down the length of the balcony to the stairs, where after going down their flights to the ground floor, she and Kiran joined the stream of prisoners being marched out. The guards took them through the same bleak, claustrophobic-feeling halls, and to the same turn to the right into the shower room—if it could even be called that. The place was more or less a hall where prisoners were constantly being herded forward, which began with Pokémon unceremoniously dumping cold water on them from above. After getting soaked, their shower would end with being given a few scant moments to dry off under the ambient warmth of a Sunny Day before getting all but pushed back out into the prison's hallways.

And like those prior days, it was just a short walk afterwards to the prison's cafeteria. The place had been laid out not wholly unlike the chamber they'd first entered the prison in. It looked like it had once been some sort of large room with a tall ceiling, with a balcony running around the length of a large room with slit-like windows. Back on the ground, there were crude tables and seats set out in rows in the middle that were already crowded with tired and sullen-looking faces. Off at the very back, rations were being given out along with trays to carry them, which from the glimpses of some of the other returning prisoners Nida passed on the way over, looked like they were getting stale gummis and a couple of small berries to eat again.

"Next!"

When she and Kiran finally made it up to the counter, the cook behind it unceremoniously dumped their rations onto their trays and shuffled them along. Nida and Kiran grabbed them and made their way through the mess hall. They passed several tables where all manner of weary-looking Pokémon were crowded together, except none of the faces that she saw were ones that she recognized. Not even their other teammates that she and Kiran had discovered were being kept in their same cellblock…

"Kiran, I don't see Pladur and Pyry today," she said. "Did something happen to them?"

"No, they seem to be fine," he replied. "That's them over there."

Kiran raised a wing and pointed off towards the far end of the hall on the left. The tables were emptier there, where under the light of a barred window, she saw Pladur and Pyry were seated at an otherwise-empty table and already picking at their daily rations. Nida shook her head and made her way over alongside Kiran, the two of them sitting down in front of their dragon teammates as their trays clattered against the table's wood.

The pair briefly looked at her, and for a moment Nida opened her mouth to say 'good morning' only to think better of it after seeing their conditions. The two both looked visibly tired with dark circles under their eyes, and both had patches of missing scales here and there on their bodies. Side effects from the past two days of work, she gathered—much like the scrapes under her pelt she'd picked up herself. Kiran visibly looked at a loss for words himself when he sized the two up. He idly pecked at his food for a moment, before finally breaking the silence:

"Did you two sleep well?" the Swellow asked. "You looked exhausted coming back to the cellblock yesterday."

Pyry didn't raise his head to acknowledge them, and idly poked and prodded at his gummis with a claw.

"We're still alive, so it could've been worse, I suppose…"

Nida flicked her ears and shot an askew glance over at Pyry. She knew that things weren't exactly going well, but did the Gabite really need to be so negative on top of everything?

… Maybe that wasn't fair of her. It wasn't as if she'd been able to stay fully positive herself over the last couple days, when she'd been separated from most of her friends and hadn't seen anything of them. Especially Crom. It must've been getting to Pladur too, since he looked visibly uneasy and wound up picking at his food, before glancing across the table.

"Did you two hear anything at all about where Crom was sent to?" the Fraxure asked. "I haven't found any leads at all since we got assigned to our cells two days ago…"

Nida flicked her ears uncomfortably as she stopped her paw in the middle of bringing a gummi to her mouth.

… Was Crom okay? He was apart from his dad all this time. Apart from Kiran. Apart from her. Even if dragons had a reputation for being tough and stubborn types, she could already see day by day how the prison was grinding down Pyry and Pladur, and they were both older than him. Could he really be doing any better than them right now…?

The rustling of feathers snapped her to attention, as she saw Kiran raise a wing and shake his head in reply.

"No, but I managed to talk to Dimitri, and he said that Crom was fine the last time he saw him. Or at least as fine as a Pokémon can be in a place like this," the Swellow replied. "Apparently the two of them are in the same cellblock. Crom's also sharing a cell with Natrix and Philips, so he's in good wings right now, at least. Or at least until we can get back together and get out of here."

Nida saw the faintest outlines of a smile on Pladur's tired face. Even if it was something small, the news had clearly lifted his spirits a bit. The Nidorina turned her attention back to her food as Kiran pecked at his tray. As she finished some off her gummis, it dawned on her that whenever she raised her head, Pyry's tray looked like he'd barely eaten anything from it.

"… What about you, Pyry?" Nida asked. "Have you heard from anyone else? You're supposed to be pretty close to Pekka's cell, is he doing alright right now?"

"I saw him once yesterday, but he seemed to be doing okay, at least…" Pyry murmured. "I- I just…"

He trailed off and looked away, as Nida's thought back to the way Pyry had been in the ship's cargo hold on the way over. The Gabite had spent the entire trip drifting in and out of panic attacks about being sent to Nagrobek. He'd said that he'd somehow found out that his mother had died here. Just what could they even say back to that? He knew this place better than any of them did, and every time the topic came up, he'd grow noticeably hopeless and anxious.

"Are we gonna die in here?"

… Just like he was doing right now. Nida fell silent and glanced towards Kiran, hoping he'd have something to say, but the Swellow seemed at a loss for words himself. There was movement from across the table as she saw Pladur shuffling over and patting Pyry's shoulder, the Fraxure sporting a weak smile.

"Don't give up so quickly, chaval," he insisted, pumping a fist for emphasis. "We're dragons after all. It's in our nature to dig in and face down danger instead of just rolling over."

The more Nida looked at the two of them, the more it struck her that Pladur's smile looked a little forced and his eyes' expression didn't fully line up with his smile. Pyry didn't seem to notice it, since the Gabite seemed to grow visibly less tense after Pladur's reassurance. Even so, a part of Nida wondered whether or not Pladur really meant the words he was saying, since it almost felt like something he'd say to cheer himself up. Or something he'd say to cheer Crom up, since it didn't sound all that different from the sorts of things he'd told the Druddigon to try and lift his spirits while they were being transported over here.

… Could that be why he was doing this? Because he was separated from Crom and needed someone to look after since he wasn't there to do the same for him?

Nida looked about the dining hall as she drifted in her thoughts, and how lonely the table felt even though she was sitting with friends right now. She missed Crom. If only he was here right now, it'd make everything about this prison just a little more bearable…

"Wait, Nida? Is that you…?"

Nida flicked her ears as everyone else's attention turned behind her. Pladur and Pyry both blinked in surprise, while Kiran craned his head back and visibly did a double-take. When she went and followed their gaze, she saw a tired-looking Nuzleaf trudging forward. One who she immediately recognized as being from those con artists from Buyeom that had gone missing when fleeing Canalhouse City…

"Albert?" the Nidorina said. "You're here, too?"

"Yeah, we got ambushed by that Weavile and his teammates after we left the ship to go into Canalhouse last week," the Nuzleaf explained. "I don't know what happened to the rest of you, but I guess you must've gotten caught yourselves."

"… Something like that," Nida sighed, pawing at the back of her head. "It's a long story. But how did they wind up sending you here of all places?"

"I wouldn't know, since we were in Apricorns for most of it," Albert answered. "Once we got let out, we saw that we were in the prison courtyard and got separated afterwards."

The Nuzleaf looked tired. His leaf sported damage along its edge and he had quite a few scrapes on his body. Even so, Albert couldn't help but steal glances around as if he was searching for something, before looking at them with a strangely intent look.

"I was hoping to find the others," he murmured. "Especially since I'd heard that a Ditto was sent here about two weeks ago. I even managed to get myself transferred to a different cell by baiting a couple fights to try and follow a lead, but I haven't found any sign of Charlie, Marilyn, or David at all."

There was an awkward silence around the table, as Kiran shuffled his wings and spoke up.

"Sorry, we haven't seen any sign of them ourselves," the Swellow said.

Albert drooped at the Swellow's response. He averted his gaze briefly and for a moment, Nida thought that he was about to leave, only for the Nuzleaf to look back with a pleading stare.

"Could you… keep an eye out for them, at least?" he asked. "Marilyn and Charlie are just kids, so I can't imagine this place has been easy on them. I can do what I can to look out for any of your friends in return."

Nida couldn't help but blink in reply. It was so strange to think that here they were, actually working with a Pokémon that had lured them into a trap for Team Sentinel just barely over two weeks ago. Though she supposed that they were all in the same boat right now, and beggars couldn't be choosers about the help they received.

"Yeah, we'll do what we can," Kiran said, before gesturing with his wing to the empty seat besides him. "Though why don't you join us? With everything that's been going on right now, it's better to have more friends to try and get through things than less."

The Nuzleaf paused briefly, before stepping up and joining them at the table. Nida turned her attention back to her bowl and began to nibble away at a green gummi, when she heard footsteps passing just behind them.

"Tch, those new 'mons look downright pathetic," a growling voice scoffed. "I swear some of them are still kids."

She turned from her food and froze alongside her teammates after seeing a Slowbro and an Obstagoon looking at them as they walked by. The Obstagoon sized them up briefly, before turning back to the Slowbro with a toothy sneer.

"How long do you think they'll last on ore duty?" the Obstagoon snickered. "100 Thalers says half of them will keel over and need to get drug off the line."

"Meh, we'll find out soon enough," the Slowbro scoffed.

The guards drifted off, as the Nida and the rest of her teammates uneasily returned to what remained of her food. She looked down into her bowl at the remainder of her food, and tried to focus on it, only for the guards' conversation to linger with her.

She decided that she wasn't hungry anymore after that.

---

Work in the prison was done in a series of chambers just below the different cellblocks. They consisted of open rooms and halls which had in parts been cut from the surrounding stone and in others been formed from poured concrete with straight, flat walls. Nida's work today was the same as yesterday's: going back and forth ferrying crushed-up ore that others called "concentrate". Her journey each time began in a chamber where Pokémon broke up the ore and gathered the concentrate they made into a pile, where Nida and others like her would come and scoop up their contents in bags.

The Nidorina made her way forward, passing exhausted-looking Pokémon like her who were coming and going from the pile of concentrate cradling cloth sacks. She fought against her aching limbs as she shuffled her way to the heap and filled up her bag before hoisting it in onto her back—another load for her journey back to the smelters.

The route back took her past a stretch where Pokémon were hard at work crushing rocks, all under the glare of Pokémon clad in lavender who kept a sharp watch on them amid harsh barks to keep working. She glanced over the unfortunates, where she saw Pladur standing off to the side of a small pile of rocks, as the Dragon-Type stared down at the ground with his mouth flopped open and panting. Nida made her way over to the Fraxure, before setting her bag down beside Pladur and raising a paw out towards him.

"… Pladur? Estás bien?"

The Fraxure looked over at her for a moment, but he wasn't able to form words with his mouth. After a few shaky breaths, he finally managed to find his voice, and spoke up in a shaky stammer.

"I-I'll be fine. Just needed to catch my breath a bit."

Nida shot a sidelong glance at Pladur as he continued to gasp for air. Could he really be telling the truth? He sure didn't look like he'd be fine…

Nida suddenly felt a jolt from behind as she turned and saw Pyry lumbering along, fighting to balance a bag full of crushed ore as the Gabite staggered and wheezed. Pladur visibly stiffened up as he watched Pyry trudge off. The Fraxure began to follow after him only to hesitate after seeing one of the prison guards pass, before turning back to Nida with a worried grimace.

"… Keep an eye on him for me, will you?"

Nida looked after the Gabite herself. She opened her mouth to reflexively tell Pladur that she would, only to catch herself. Her own body was sore from being overworked since arriving here, and if Pyry did get into serious trouble… just what could she do that Pladur or any of her other teammates couldn't…?

She tried to dispel those thoughts from her mind, before wearily nodding back at him.

"I'll do what I can, Pladur."

Nida picked up her bag of ore again and began to follow after Pyry and the small line of beaten-down Pokémon ahead of them. They made their way through a hallway with straight walls that opened up into a tall chamber at its end. The further she and Pyry made their way along it, the more the smell of acrid smoke hung in the air. The air around also grew perceptibly hotter, as Nida looked up after they reached the end of the hallway to see a line of towering brick-and-concrete structures with fiery orange glows at their bases up ahead—the smelters which were kept stoked to help refine the crushed-up ore they'd been gathering into finished tin.

Even two days later, she hadn't quite gotten used to how big these things were. Nida let her eyes linger on the furnaces for a moment, as she noticed Pyry stumble just up ahead. The Gabite was visibly tottering under the weight of the bag as he shakily put one foot out after the other. As Nida caught up with him, she set her bag down and hurried over, helping to support the bag in Pyry's grasp while giving an uneasy paw at the Gabite's arm.

"Pyry, are you alright? Why don't you take a moment to catch your breath?"

Nida grabbed the bag of ore from Pyry's shoulders and helped guide it to the ground. The Dragon-Type all but slumped over afterwards, as he sat against the ground, his breaths coming out harsh and labored. As Nida got a closer look at him, she noticed that all over Pyry's body, there were scuffs and patches and missing scales that she hadn't seen on him earlier in the cafeteria.

She pinned her ears back and grimaced. She knew that Pyry hadn't been taking things well since coming to this prison, but she didn't realize that he'd already been getting so worn down…

"You look a little roughed up," she murmured. "What happened to you?"

"I was breaking rocks earlier. The guards made me keep doing that until I couldn't attack anymore."

Pyry visibly trembled, and hung his head, staring vacantly down at the ground.

"H-How do they expect us to just go on like this?!" he cried. "Can't we rest for even just a little bit?!"

The Gabite's tone of voice felt uncomfortably familiar to Nida. She couldn't put her paw on it at first, when it suddenly dawned on her that he sounded just like he did whenever he complained about working at Crom's bakery back home.

Nida had always dismissed it back then as just Pyry whining about his Community Service, but maybe she had been too harsh on him, since she could certainly understand what he was going through now. They'd both been struggling day in and day out with this work, and from the way his eyes were visibly shrunken, Pyry looked like he was just about the end of his rope. She patted the Gabite, and spoke up in what she hoped sounded like a soothing tone.

"Pyry, it's okay. Just try to pace yourself and take things one step at a time," the Nidorina said. "Kiran said that things are supposed to get easier after the first couple days as we get more used to things."

Or at least, she hoped that they would with how tiring just the past two had been.

Nida suddenly heard voices and saw movement from the corner of her eye, as she spotted two guards eyeing them and starting to approach. She hastily helped Pyry raise his bag back onto his shoulders, before whispering into his ear.

"That's our sign to get going. Come on."

Nida hurried back and grabbed her own bag before the guards could catch up, as she and Pyry made their way towards the smelters. At this point, the heat in the air was downright sweltering, and the smoke was now thick enough that it made her feel light-headed as she breathed. As they walked up the final stretch, they began to make out conveyer belts with Pokémon dumping out the contents of sacks onto them that carried over to the tall furnaces. Weary-looking Pokémon ran along nearby wheels that kept the belts moving, while others who mostly had wings stood near glowing slits at their bases, regularly stoking the furnaces with gusts of wind.

Nida shuffled up to one of the conveyer belts and dumped her bag's contents out. She briefly watched it get carried away with the rest of the concentrate on it, when she heard a familiar, chirping voice, and looked over to see a Swellow stoking the furnace closest to her.

"Kiran?"

The Swellow briefly turned from his furnace and stepped over. He shook his feathers out, before raising a wing with a tired sigh.

"Oh, you're back already, Nida," Kiran said. "You were about 10% faster than most Pokémon I've seen make it here, so you might even have some time to rest a bit."

Nida noted that Kiran's feathers looked mussed and frayed, with a layer of dust and soot settled on them. Had those really all come so quickly just from stoking these furnaces for a few hours…?

She briefly glanced over to see Pyry similarly emptying his sack onto a conveyer belt in the background. She hesitated and pawed at her shoulder, casting a sideways glance back at the Swellow.

"You still haven't seen any of the others today?" she asked.

"I thought that I did a couple times, but I couldn't get away from the smelters long enough to get a better look," Kiran answered, shaking his head glumly. "I've heard that everyone else is still doing okay, but I haven't been able to see for myself yet."

Nida flattened her ears and looked away as she heard approaching footsteps and saw Pyry nearing them, when a sharp shout split the air.

"Hey, you useless leech! Nobody said you could rest!"

Nida jolted up after a loud buzz came from further down the chamber. She raised her barbs by reflex and whirled around, just in time to catch a glimpse of a Vikavolt knocking a Cubchoo to the ground. The Vikavolt descended on Ice-Type, shocking the poor Cubchoo and drawing a sharp, pained cry. There was a moment's stunned gape from the prisoners nearby, when a Beartic from their number suddenly came lumbering over, snarling and flashing her claws at the Vikavolt.

"Hey! You get away from him, you dirty square-ne-!"

The Beartic was suddenly cut off by a whitish vortex that left crystals caking her fur, as a Garganacl stomped forward. The Beartic spewed out an icy blast that threw the Garganacl off-balance as other guards rushed in, with the Vikavolt leaving the Cubchoo alone to hurriedly scurry off. By the time the Garganacl had turned to face the Beartic, the Ice-Type had been wrestled to the ground and was thrashing about to break free, just as the Vikavolt came over and flung a crackling stream of electricity forward at her.

Nida, Kiran, and Pyry flinched at the sound of the blow and the sharp yelp that followed. When the dust cleared, the Beartic was lying slumped over on the ground, unmoving as the entire line of ore-carriers came to a stop. The Vikavolt whirled towards them with a sharp glare and loud hiss, his jaws open wide and crackling with electricity.

"All of you, get back to work!"

Everything seemed to pick up afterwards, as the prisoners were all too eager to move along, including Pyry who uncomfortably turned and hurried off carrying his now-emptied sack with his head held low. Nida quickly slung her own over her shoulder to leave, as her eyes happened to drift back to where the Beartic had been. She caught sight of the Garganacl and the other guards dragging the Beartic off into a shaft in the wall, when the Vikavolt at the end grabbed at something along the wall and a stone cap slid shut after him.

She hesitated for a moment, before shooting an incredulous blink back at her Swellow teammate.

"Kiran, they had a door back there all this time?" she asked. "What's it even used for?"

"There's apparently some sort of network of passages the guards use to get around more quickly between parts of this prison," Kiran explained. "I'd guess that that door is probably a part of it."

Nida blinked and gaped off at the stone patch where the hidden entrance had been. She supposed Kiran's explanation made sense since the guards who'd come from it really did seem like they just suddenly came out of nowhere but just how far did it go? And had she overlooked other hidden entrances like that elsewhere in this prison all this time?

She felt feathers brush against her shoulder, and looked back to see Kiran sighing and shaking his head.

"I don't know why they'd need such a thing, but it's probably for the best not to worry about it right here and now," the Swellow insisted. "You should get moving before the guards notice you lingering around."

Nida's thoughts turned back to the whole incident with the Cubchoo and Beartic, before she shook her head and moved along. She supposed it really didn't make sense risking getting caught up in a situation like that. The Nidorina hurried along down the path away from the smelters until she caught up with Pyry and noticed the stream of Pokémon trudging their way up in the opposite direction with filled-up sacks. Most of them were faces she didn't recognize, others were ones she'd remembered snarling and ready for battle from various skirmishes around Gestirn.

And yet they all looked about the same as each other: Tired. Defeated. Beaten down.

Nida wondered if her own face looked like that right now. The past two days had felt like an eternity here, and her own limbs had been sore and stiff even when waking up today. To say nothing about how they felt at the moment after lugging around one bag after another of this crushed-up ore…

She noticed her legs were having trouble moving, and hunched down on all fours to catch her breath. She turned her eyes down at the ground as Pyry abruptly stopped and looked back at her, a worried grimace settling over his toothy maw.

"Nida…? Are you-?"

"I-It's okay, I just need a moment to breathe myself…"

She panted and hung her head as thoughts of her teammates came to mind. Everyone except Elty and Pleo were going through the same thing she was right now. She wondered how Elty was even doing. The last they'd seen of the Growlithe before blacking out was him getting thrown from Hess' ship.

Surely Elty had been pulled out of the water given how close he was to shore when he fell overboard, so he was probably being cared for right now by their friends. Was he working with them on some sort of plan to get them out of this prison? Or had he just given up since there was no more Team Traveller for him to be part of?

Nida could at least take some solace that whatever he was going through, that he wasn't suffering through all of this with them… but what about Pleo?

She remembered how scared and lonely he'd been when she and Elty first found him on Lyn's ship. And he likely had been forced to go through that all over again a second time. Was he being kept in some sort of dark dungeon? Was he still expecting that they'd see each other again somehow, or had he lost hope?

The Nidorina stared at the floor and let her ears droop, when from the corner of her eye, she saw blue scales off to her right. She looked over towards an intersecting hallway, where down its end, there was another line of prisoners that looked like they were laden down with concentrate and headed off for smelters. All of a sudden, she saw a ruddy head at about her height and a pair of jagged-looking wings, when a flash of realization hit her:

"… Crom?"

Nida suddenly sprang to her feet, grabbing her empty sack and bounding along after the figure as she heard Pyry's spluttering protests behind her.

"Hey! N-Nida! Where are you-?!"

She ran after the figure hunched over with his bag, and saw that it really was Crom. Nida darted up, all but throwing her paws around the Druddigon as he stumbled forward with a sharp yelp. Crom briefly fought to keep his grasp onto the bag in front of him, before whirling around as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Ah! N-Nida?!"

Both of them stared for a long moment at each other. Crom's face looked weary and he was visibly covered in scuffs, but even now, Nida could see a faint smile work its way over his face as moisture beaded up in the corners of his eyes. She blinked and felt her own eyes grow bleary, as for the first time since getting marched to her cell, she finally was able to see-

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

Nida whirled her head and saw the Pokémon behind Crom stepping aside to move past him. Further along, Pyry was there, making his way up with his eyes narrowed and an exasperated frown as he caught up and tucked his claw into the Druddigon's bag.

"At least make it look like you two aren't just standing around!"

The Gabite jerked his claw and tipped Crom's bag to the side as some of the tin concentrate inside spilled out onto the ground. Nida and Crom opened their mouths to protest, only to trail off as they saw Pyry crouching down in front of them. He shot his claws out, and clumsily grabbed some of the concentrate, before reaching back for the bag.

"There, now it looks like you're actually doing something," he said. "Just don't drag this out for too long, since you know how those guards are."

Yes, Nida supposed that Pyry's idea would do a better job making it look like they were busy. She nudged Crom and helped him set his sack down to the side, before stooping down herself over the pile of spilled concentrate. The other prisoners behind them briefly glanced and moved along, as the Nidorina and Druddigon continued shoveling crushed-up ore back into the bags, dragging the process out as much as they could.

Nida let her paw linger for a moment, as she turned to Crom and gave a worried tilt of her head.

"Are you okay, Crom?" she asked. "Where are the others?"

"I'm managing, I guess," the Druddigon said. "Natrix and Philips have been looking out for me since I came here. Dimitri and Ander aren't far from me either since their cell's on the other side of my cellblock, and I always meet up with them during mealtimes at the cafeteria. I also know that I've seen Guardia and Pekka once while working the past couple days…"

Crom trailed off and drooped his wings, hanging his head as he gave an uneasy paw at his shoulder.

"It just hasn't been the same without everyone else," he murmured. "Without dad… Without you…"

Nida hesitated as she felt her eyes grow bleary again, before leaning in and nudging at the Druddigon's scales.

"I know. It's hard being apart after we finally got to be together again," she whispered. "But we're managing, too. I'm doing alright, and your papi is as well."

Crom smiled slightly after the mention of his father as Nida flicked her ears. She quickly glanced around for any sign of guards, and after seeing nobody but other prisoners, leaned in towards the Druddigon with a hushed voice.

"We haven't given up trying to find a way out, either," she said. "I'm sure we'll find something… we just need to keep looking for things we could use."

"Don't get the kid's hopes up like that, Nidorina," a growling voice said. "If you're thinking of trying to escape, save yourself the effort. It'll just end up with you being sent to the Pit."

Nida and her companions froze and turned over their shoulder as they saw an Arctibax grasping a large sack staring at them with a weary frown. The Nidorina tensed up and traded a worried glance with Crom. Who was this Pokémon? Would he get them in trouble? Strangely enough, Pyry seemed particularly fixed, as the Gabite sized the Arctibax up for a moment, before his eyes shrank with a sudden flash of realization.

"Ernst? Is that you?"

The Arctibax mirrored Pyry's own reaction, before setting down his sack and approaching, the icy dragon's jaw hanging open out of stunned surprise.

"Wait, Pyry?" the Arctibax answered. "You're still alive?!"

"Yeah, it's me. Even if I guess I'm a bit bigger than how you last saw me," the Gabite said, averting his gaze. "Pekka and I got away back during that raid on Nagrobek… even if I didn't think we'd ever wind up here again."

Nida and Crom traded confused looks with one another, before the Nidorina of the pair turned to Pyry with a puzzled blink.

"Pyry, who is this?"

"This is Ernst. He's an old friend of mine from the Devastating Drakes, the crew I was on before the Iron Fleet," the Gabite explained, before letting out a faint, wistful chuckle. "I even had my first drink with him and Pekka…"

Ernst looked aside, as Pyry briefly looked away and shifted uncomfortably for a moment, before turning back to the other dragon.

"… Are the others still around?"

"Some of them are," Ernst said. "A lot of us got sent to the Pit over the years since you escaped. Never heard anything of them since then, but those of us who are still around are doing what we can to get by."

Pyry visibly stiffened up before hanging his head, and for a moment Nida could've sworn she saw him fighting back tears. When Nida looked back at the Arctibax, she noticed that the Arctibax's claws were missing their talons and the remaining digits had ugly-looking wounds on them, as Crom stiffened up and squirmed at the sight.

"What… happened to your claws?" the Druddigon asked.

Ernst turned away for a moment and seemed to grow self-conscious, before speaking up in a deflated murmur.

"I picked a fight with the guards one too many times. They decided to make an example out of me and remind everyone that there is always more that you can lose," the Arctibax said with a mirthless chuckle. "But hey, at least I still have my fangs and fin. It's more than what some of the others they've punished over the years can say."

Nida's barbs rose as a chill ran down her pelt. This place did stuff like that to the Pokémon here? Crom and especially Pyry were visibly on-edge and squirming, as Nida moved her eyes moved along the rest of Ernst's body. His fin had cuts in it and his hide was visibly scarred. On top of it all, there was a visible, defeated weariness that seemed to linger around the Arctibax like a cloud, in a way that Nida would've never expected from a Pokémon that was supposed to be fierce and strong like how an Arctibax was supposed to be.

Ernst shook his head and looked away, grabbing his sack from the ground. He hesitated for a moment, before turning back and glancing over his shoulder.

"Sorry to see that you wound up back here again, Pyry. Just… do yourself a favor and don't get your hopes up," Ernst said. "I've seen so many Pokémon thought they were going to be the one to finally beat the odds and escape this place, but it always ends badly."

Nida looked on blankly with her companions as the Arctibax began to walk away from them. All this time, she and the others she'd been able to keep in touch with had at least been starting to look for a way out, and they'd even tried to stash a few berries from yesterday's dinner in case they found an escape soon. But if what the Arctibax had said was right, he had been here for years without seeing anyone succeed at escaping…

Could that really have been right? Was everything they were doing to find a way out all for nothing…?

… No, they'd only been here for two days. They'd barely had any time to look around yet. There had to be some way to—

A large jet of water suddenly flew in, sending her, Crom, and Pyry diving for cover with a yelp. They whirled around, where there was a Slowbro with a lavender scarf standing nearby, leveling a bared-fang snarl at them.

"You three! Stop slacking off!"

Nida hurriedly helped shovel the rest of the tin concentrate back into Crom's bag, and helped him pick it back up off the ground. Nida lingered as the Druddigon lumbered along as best as he could, when she suddenly heard a shout and saw Pyry turn and scurry off.

She lost her nerve and darted off herself, hurriedly grabbing her empty sack off the ground and darting back for Pladur's chamber. She kept going until the soreness in her legs caught up with her and she slowed down.

Nida braced herself, only for her ears to twitch as she didn't hear the shouts or footsteps, and instead heard rapid, haggard pants. Her own, along with someone else's. She briefly looked up and saw Pyry ahead of her, the Gabite trudging along and looking about him wide-eyed as if he expected the ceiling to cave in on them at any moment.

The whole time, there was a sinking feeling that settled over her stomach. Somewhere out there, Pleo and Elty were far away from this horrid prison. Except for the first time, she genuinely didn't know how they would ever see each other again.

---

Author's Notes:

- Hayde (Хайде) - Bulgarian: "Come on" (BGN/PCGN 2013 Romanization)
- chaval - Spanish: "kid", "lad", "boy"