Pokémon Legends Legacy: A Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Adventure

[BlackHairedPsycho]

18. A Crystal Catastrophe

Blue ran. There wasn't much else he could do.

He barely acknowledged the torn-up forest he trundled along. The broken branches and twigs snapped under his weight. The forest around them was destroyed. The trees, some splintered from the trunk upwards, some with large holes inside but miraculously still standing, and some that had been uprooted and thrown onto their side, scattered the area. He ran past a deep trench, one of the many newly made.

He could hear him now. The stomps of his opponent were getting louder. Had it already been five minutes?

Thinking fast he shot a Grass Knot in the direction of the noise as he ran, feeling the energy travel towards its target. The Bidoof knew from experience it wouldn't slow him down much, but every little bit helped.

He looked around. His target should have been close by. Where had he hidden it this time? Could it have been in the trees? No, Blue had to be able to reach it. That was one of the rules.

The loud snaps of his opponents restraints breaking motivated Blue to speed up. He kept looking as he went, until he saw it. His bandana tied around a light blue bone. The flag. It was in an obvious place this time, sticking out of the ground, standing in front of one of the few unharmed trees that still remained.

Blue didn't hesitate, running straight at his prize. The blue blur could be on him in seconds. He was almost there, almost-

The blur blew past him, knocking the Bidoof on his side. When he looked up he saw Rio with the makeshift flag, twirling it. Great. Just perfect.

"Better," Rio said. "Your Grass Knot's really-"

Blue didn't wait for him to finish. He spat a Water Gun at the talkative dog, who simply sidestepped it. It splattered against the tree, some spare drops sprinkling on Rio's back. He turned to the attack, nodding.

"That's gotten better too," he said.

Blue just charged at Rio, aiming a Headbutt right at Rio's gut. In response, Rio simply stuck the flag into the ground and extended it, shooting into the sky and letting Blue crash into the bone shaft. It wobbled a bit, but still stood.

"Your reactions are better too!" Rio shouted from above. "You do learn fast!"

His frustration gave Blue a new idea. He focused on his stomach for a bit, and focused the energy there into his teeth. They suddenly got longer, harder, sharper, and the black sheen that coated them stood out against the green and brown of the destroyed forest.

He chomped the Bone Rush in half with his Bite, snapping the shaft in two. It felt like chewing wood, but tasted like dirt. He would have spat it out, but there were more pressing issues. The tall part of the bone started to fall to the left, and Rio with it.

The rest of the bone retracted as Rio fell. Blue kept his eyes on the Riolu, who dashed away as soon as his paws touched dirt. He sent another Grass Knot his way, but he jumped out of the way just as it reached him. The grass had no target to trip.
"You're getting faster!" Rio said, standing just out of reach. "Just not fast enough. Wanna prove me wrong?"

Blue knew what the Riolu wanted him to do. They'd been trying for a week now, all that was left to do was to use it on a moving target. Still, Blue hesitated. He'd seen the move used and the results weren't pretty. Especially on someone so light. What if he seriously hurt him?

"You won't hit me!" Rio promised, grinning wildly. "Come on!"

That wasn't unfounded. The most he could do to Rio was a Grass Knot, but after the first time he always seemed to see it coming. It was infuriating! So that Super Tackle, as Rio called it, was worth a shot.

Blue stood on his back legs, and crossed his front. The stone and bracelet flashed brightly as the Bidoof did the dance before he lost what little balance he now had. Blue landed back on all fours as he felt the energy of the stone flow into his body. Rays of light sprouted from Blue's body as he stared ahead at his opponent. Rio hadn't moved yet. He just stood there. Grinning. Was he planning on taking this? He couldn't! No one could!

But he already started the move. Blue couldn't stop now, and he so badly wanted to. The Bidoof charged, the energy flowing through him feeling amazing, but the guilt of what was about to happen balanced the ecstasy.

Finally, Rio started to move, jumping to one side. Blue wasn't sure he'd make it, but he didn't have too.

The pink crystal that popped out of the ground took care of that.

Blue crashed into the large piece of rock that sprouted out of nowhere, cracking its surface. The Bidoof bounced off the hard rock and flew back into the small rut he made while charging. He groaned in pain, reaching for his head. Unfortunately his stubby legs were too short to actually cradle his head effectively, so it was closer to an agony inflicted flailing.

"Holy shit!" he heard Rio say. "Are you alright?"

Blue couldn't respond. He was too busy writing in agony. The crunch of his broken snout was still ringing in his ears. The Bidoof had squeezed his eyes shut out of reflex, so he couldn't see Rio run up and pop an extra sitrus berry in his mouth. It helped with the pain, and he opened his eyes to see the Riolu crouched over him. He looked worried for once. Or maybe that was the concussion.

"Hey!" he continued. "Blue? Speak to me!"

'What happened?' was what the Bidoof tried to say, but all that came out was "Whah happun?"

"...Let's get you to a healer…"

Blue didn't try to fight as Rio picked him up and carried him to town. It gave him time to take in the now familiar sights of the base. The thick trees that hadn't been blown off their roots yet, the treehouse itself, the clearing, the other massive pink crystals, the fire pit where they cooked dinner...

Wait what?

Rio slowed down at the sight. More of the crystals littered the area. Some were as small as Blue's foot, and some were bigger than Scales, who towered over the rest of the team. What was going on? Where had these things come from?

And why did Blue feel like he'd seen them before?

It was no use, his head was still ringing too loudly to remember. Rio didn't slow down for long as they walked towards town. All Blue could really do was watch these new additions to the area, and contemplate how that move went wrong. When Rio did it he punched through metal and stone like it was nothing, without a scratch! He cracked a crystal and almost broke his face. For the millionth time he asked why he was so worthless.

"Blue," Rio said, bringing him out of his slump. "what the hell is going on?"

They were in town now, and so were the crystals. The paved stone path was torn apart by the jutting rocks. Pokemon gathered around the large ones, just staring at the new decorations that littered the town. They walked past one with blood dripping down from the top. A bleeding Vulpix cub cried as its Ninetails mother did her best to comfort her.

They eventually reached the tower, which had not escaped the rest of the town's sudden skewering. When Blue's eyes wandered to look up, he noted that two crystals even went up to the second floor. The murmurs of the explorers were murder on his head, but they didn't stay there for too long. Rio carried Blue up to the third floor, the medical bay. Luckily, it was empty except for the Audino healer at the top.

"Hey Trucy," Blue heard Rio say. "How are you at broken snouts?"

…

Rio watched the Heal Pulse carefully. He saw the light pink energy gather around the Audino's paw and wash over Blue's entire body, surrounding him in a glowing oval ring. He watched his friend's snout realign. It was quite interesting to see, if not a little unsettling.

"How did you say he broke his snout again?" Trucy asked.

"Ran into one of those crystals," Rio responded, still entranced with the process. "Came out of nowhere."

"Hard enough to break bone? Did you have something to do with it?"

"Course not! The thing grew out right in front of me. Honestly it was almost funny."

"And why was he running at you?"

"Practice."

"What kind of practice?"

"The very fast kind."

The glowing ring faded as Blue's snout went back to its normal, non-crumpled state. Blue groaned and rolled off the comfy bed and onto his feet, obviously sore, but with nothing broken. Except the little pride he had left. Rio felt that shatter on the way over. Problems for later.

"Thank you," Blue said, looking at the healer.

"It was no problem," Trucy said. "Is your friend telling the truth? He didn't break your snout yourself, did he?"

"Hey!" Rio shouted. "I take pride in what I break!"

"Yeah," Blue groaned. "I did it to myself."

The Audino's ears flicked, apparently satisfied with the answer. "Alright… but be more careful."

Blue nodded with a grimace and walked towards the door. Rio followed close behind.

"Oh yeah," the Riolu said before leaving. "I haven't sneezed in a day. Cold's gone."

"I noticed," the Audino said. "Your body does sound better. I'll clear you for jobs."

"Great! Thanks!" With that, Rio closed the door behind him and walked with Blue back down. They were silent, and Rio could feel the shame washing over Blue. Maybe it was because he was so close to him, but it was a lot clearer than the confusion and suffering in the tower.

"Here," Rio said after a bit, holding out Blue's bandana. "Game's over, so…"

Blue sighed. "Do you mind tying it for me? I can't really do it myself."

Rio did so without complaint, tying the knot tight. Blue shook it around to test the Riolu's work, and nodded.

"I can't even do that alone," Blue continued. "How pathetic is that?"

"I mean you can't really help the lack of dexterity, can you?"

"Tell me the truth. Why did you really invite me on?"

"I told you already."

"Did you really? Because I'm-"

"OK let me stop you there," Rio held out one paw, stopping both Pokemon in their tracks. "Even if you were worthless, which you're not, we really didn't care."

"But-"

"You're trying to improve, and you have. A lot. Two moves in two weeks is honestly impressive. Plus, you can read human."

"I guess I can do that..."

"What did those books end up saying anyway?" he asked, trying to change the subject for his friends sake.

"Oh, well," Blue was silent for a bit before continuing. "We haven't been able to make out much honestly. In addition to being written in Unovan, there seems to be some sort of code, and we have no idea what the keyword is."

"So?"

"So it's much harder to read than plain Unovan. All we could get was that they were making something."

"Like?"

"No idea. It could have been anything…" Rio was relieved when his Aura shifted to curiosity, thinking about this newest mystery. Still, there was one more immediate mystery they should have been focusing on at the moment, as the scene downstairs reminded them both.

"No," they heard Guildmaster Jain say. "We don't know what made these crystals appear. We're looking into it now."

They walked out to see a crowd filling the hall. Pokemon of all shapes and sizes looked at the Medicham, some as big as an Aggron to as small as a Joltik. He could feel their Auras. Scared, confused, angry, and there was something else. He could feel something wrapping around the crowd, dampening the negative emotions. He recognized it as an Aura. Jain's Aura. Was it calming them? Could Aura do that? Could he do that?

"This is the second time my wares have been destroyed!" a very angry, and somehow familiar, Alakazam shouted. "And you never found the culprits the first time! How can I trust that!"

"You must have faith," Jain said. The field of Aura around the crowd became more obvious to Rio as she spoke. He could feel the effect get stronger. "I assure you, we will get to the bottom of this."

Jain's spreading Aura seemed to swallow the others completely now. The smoldering negative emotions felt weaker, farther away. It was as if she smothered the emotions, not gotten rid of them, just pushed them down.

The crowd dispersed after that, the effects of whatever the Guildmaster had just done still fresh. The Riolu wasn't sure whether to be impressed, or disgusted. Manipulation was manipulation, and something like that rubbed him the wrong way. It was %*&^# all over again.

He scratched at his neck as the thought popped in, and faded away just as quickly.

"Rio?"

Blue's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at his newly healed friend.

"What's up?"

"Are you alright?"

"Fine. Just... felt something."

Blue didn't have time to further press the Riolu, as their boss had just arrived. He watched Blue straighten as Jain walked over to them, arms behind her back.

"Ah, half of Team Disaster." she greeted. "Are you feeling better, Rio?"

"Cold's gone, if that's what you mean," Rio said. "We're going into the Dungeon soon."

"...You felt my little trick, didn't you?"

"I did."

"I could teach it to you, if you can manage a little more control." She squinted, looking down at the fluffy Riolu. "Actually, a lot more control. We don't need more damage to the town..."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"Not a big fan, I see. I could teach you some other things. Well, if you can get your Aura-"

"I'll think about it." Rio said, cutting her off. "Come on Blue." He walked past her, and towards the door.

"Huh?" he heard Blue said, surprised. "Oh, ok. Goodbye Guildmaster!" He slowed down a bit to let the Bidoof catch up. Rio sighed as they got farther away from the building, making his relief known.

"What was that about?" Blue asked. "What did you feel? Why were you so snippy with the Guildmaster?"

"I could explain, but I want to talk about these," Rio said, pointing at one of the crystals sticking out of a cart that sold orbs. The shattered remains of the merchandise littered the cracked and crumbling ground, along with some newly made apples from an apple orb. Rio picked one up and took a bite. "Recognize em?" he mumbled through his chewing.

"The Sableye, right?"

They had both realized it. The pink of the gems were the same as his eyes, and they both remembered how that Pokemon got away. A hole opened up underneath him. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn't. But there was somewhere else Rio had seen something like this.

"That Dungeon I found too," Rio continued, taking another bite. "There were a bunch of small ones in the wall."

Blue nodded, and Rio could feel his curious Aura flare up. It wasn't hard to tell what exactly he was thinking about.

"Could this be the message?" he said after a long pause. "The one Mr. Thesus told us about?"

"Didn't even think of that," Rio said, now eating the apple core. "Little rude, don't you think?"

"Mr. Thesus even said a Carbink came through the Dungeon! They're connected somehow!" Blue's excitement flared, only to be swallowed up by guilt. "Do you think we caused this somehow?"

"Maybe," Rio said, finishing his snack. He felt Blue's mood worsen, and scrambled to salvage it. "But that just means we gotta fix it."

"How?"

"As soon as Pana and Scales get back, we go and get our grades."

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

19. The Crystal Woods

"Ow, ow, ow."

Scales's cries of pain took away the suffocating quiet the library held. More so than usual. While rough, the newly developed gem encrusted floor didn't feel that bad. It seemed the library got the brunt of the forced crystal remodeling. The floor was littered with the pink gems, reminding Rio of the Dungeon walls.

"Would you shut up?" Pana asked, reaching the bottom of the stairs right behind Thesus, who guided them down the stairs once again. "I've seen a house fall on you, how does this hurt?"

"It just does!" Scales shouted back.

Rio noticed the Noctowl's Aura shift from somber to a little smug as he flapped down with them.

"There something you're not telling us, Thesus?" Rio asked, right behind Blue and Pana.

"A suspicion has been strengthened," Thesus said. "Nothing more."

"Mr. Thesus," Blue jumped in. "Could you at least give us a hint?"

They arrived at the door. It hadn't changed since the last time. Rio could feel his Aura sense cut off behind it, the sign of a Dungeon, and one he'd only briefly seen before.

"Scales, was it?" Thesus asked. "I would not recommend touching these crystals, especially yourself. They seem to be a dragon's natural enemy. The same goes for the rest of you fighting-types."

"These have fairy properties?" Blue asked.

"It seems that way, based on your friend's reaction. That is your hint. I fear I cannot say more."

"Fine!" Scales jumped in. "Can we go in now? I think I'm close to bleeding!"

The giant bird stepped to the side and let the team approach the door. "If you are not back in three days, I will contact the guild for a rescue."

"Sure, sure," Rio said, opening the door. It hadn't changed, so the floor was as smooth as ever. Scales was the first inside and relief washed over his face as he stepped on the cold stone floor. He sighed as he waited for the rest. Pana was right behind him.

Rio turned to Blue. He could feel his nerves like spikes stabbing into his side. The Bidoof did his best to hide it, but the Riolu could see him shaking. Curiosity and fear pulsed off of Blue in equal measure, and he wasn't sure which would win.

Rio tapped Blue on the back, snapping him out of whatever trance he put himself in.

"We got this," Rio said. He could feel the Bidoof's fear fade a little, and that was all it took for curiosity to smother the fear with a wet towel and shove it in a box for now. Blue nodded, and went ahead.

"Good luck," Thesus said. "Try not to destroy anything important."

Rio waved, and walked inside. The doors slammed shut behind him.

…​

"Well, that's a bad sign."

Rio watched as Blue ran back up to the door, pushing at it. It wouldn't budge, and they both knew that. They were in the Dungeon now, and the only way out was forward. Blue groaned at the Riolu's comment.

"A really bad one…" the Bidoof whispered.

"Oh well," Scales said, yawning. "Let's get this over with. I want a nap."

"We just started," Pana said. "How are you already tired?"

"I'm not. I just want to take a nap."

Rio could feel Pana's annoyance, but to her credit, she didn't hit Scales that time. How long that would last, Rio didn't know. He took the lead of the group, and walked into the Dungeon proper.

He pointed out the wood and crystal embedded walls from the other entrance, and immediately walked past it. The stone led downwards, so that's where they went. The glow of the pink crystals illuminated their way as they walked further into the strange Dungeon. Rio sensed no enemies, not until they reached the next proper section of the Dungeon.

And what a sight it was.

The massive cavern glittered with crystals of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The walls were littered with the things, as was the incredibly high roof. What really stood out to Rio though was what seemed to be supporting the roof. Crystal pillars, thicker than Griza, rose into the ceiling, seemingly growing into the roof. He could see branches spreading through the ceiling, along with other gems.

"Woah..." Scales said, as amazed as Rio.

"This is incredible!" Blue exclaimed.

Pana was silent as she walked further in, but Rio could feel her Aura. It gave off a strong want, the pretty, colorful, and probably valuable crystals.

"STOP!" Blue suddenly yelled at her. Rio was about to ask why when he heard the click of a trap. Pana was a black blur as she jumped back, narrowly avoiding being skewered by newly sprouted crystal spikes. They all started at the spikes, and back to Pana. Her eyes were wide at the near death experience.

"How did you know?" Pana asked.

"I just noticed the markings on the ground," Blue answered, gesturing at the newly made crystal tree. Now that he mentioned it, Rio could see what he was talking about. It sat in a square, a faint groove in the ground making the shape. It blended in perfectly. If Blue hadn't pointed it out he wouldn't have noticed. "Those always signify a trap."

"Nice!" Scales said, slapping him on the back. Blue stumbled at the contact, a slight grin sprouting on his face.

"I just had a lot of time to study the signs, you know?" Blue said, sheepish. "If I couldn't go inside, I might as well know what I'm missing, right?"

"Thanks," Pana said, walking over. Her surprise changed to a slight grin. "If you know what they look like, you should probably be out front."

Rio felt the inkling of pride sprouting in Blue's Aura be swallowed by fear. The Bidoof's eyes widened as he stared at the Pancham.

"What?"

"Come on, it makes sense," Pana explained. "You know where not to step, so tell us where. It'll be easier at the front."

"That makes sense, but-"

"We got you," Rio said, trying to reassure his friend. "And some more practice won't hurt."

"...Yeah, you're right," Blue took a deep breath, and Rio could feel him calm down. "I won't let you down."

"Great!" Rio said, feeling another Aura approaching and pointing at it. "Here's your chance!"

A Graveler barreled towards the group, rolling quickly. On reflex Rio summoned a Bone Rush and pointed it at the living rock, but there was no need. A blast of water shot from behind him and hit the rolling Graveler, stopping it in its tracks. He glanced back at Blue, water still dripping from his mouth. The Bidoof's eyes were narrowed, focused on his target. He did learn fast.

Rio only looked away for a second, turning back to see the feral Pokemon picking itself up. The Water Gun seemed to do some damage, but Rio could feel it was more angry than hurt. The attack just didn't have enough power.

Before it could Rollout again, Rio extended his Bone Rush, shooting it at the attacker. It slammed into what Rio guessed was its stomach, stopping its roar and sending it flying into one of the crystal pillars. It slumped over, unmoving.

"And we got your back," Rio said, retracting his staff. "Lead on."

Blue, eyes still narrowed, took the lead, guiding his team through.

…​

"Crystal Woods," Blue heard Scales say, as he punched a flying rock out of Blue's way.

"What?" Pana asked, just before punching the offending Dwebble out.

"The name of this place." Scales clarified. "Looks like one, if it was made or rocks."

"I was thinking the same thing," Rio said, driving a Force Palm into a Boldore. The explosion that erupted from the Riolu's palm sent the feral soaring over Blue and into another crystal pillar. "Blue, you might want to jump back."

Blue stumbled back, just managing to avoid a tunneling Drilbur's upward slash. The feral was so quiet! Blue only hesitated for a second, firing a quick Water Gun off. The supereffective move pushed the Drilbur back, and Rio followed up by shooting another Bone Rush at it. It crumpled to the ground.

The Bidoof huffed, wondering where his teammates' energy came from, and where they found enough to fight and just chat. That was the third time they'd been attacked on this floor alone, and the Dungeon seemed to go on forever!

"Your moves are getting better," Scales said, handing him an elixir. Blue grabbed it in his mouth and chugged, feeling some of his energy return. His exhaustion faded a bit.

"Still can't take one down on my own…" the Bidoof noted. Water Gun should have been working wonders on these enemies, and he still only managed to hurt, not knock out! His team didn't seem to be having any trouble, so what was wrong with him?

"You just learned them," Scales said. "Gotta start somewhere."

Before Blue could berate himself further, Rio seemed to light up.

"I can feel outside. We're almost there."

Blue was excited once again. What would be waiting at the end? Treasures? Another Dungeon? Another strange Pokemon that will almost kill them? Some sick combination of all three? Even the terrifying thought of that last one wasn't enough to dissuade him, walking towards what looked like a door.

This one looked exactly like the library one, only completely covered in gems and crystals. He noticed Pana grab some, stashing them in the bag Scales wore. She just couldn't resist, apparently. They all looked at her.

"What?" she asked. "Can't hurt, right?"

Rio walked forward, and pushed the doors open. What laid on the other side, not one of them expected.

The door opened into an enormous cavern, large enough to fit Wonder City three times over, if it wasn't already occupied. Buildings, wrought from rock and pink crystal littered the place. More crystal trees kept the place from collapsing in on itself, branches spreading through the roof in large veins. The walls were pure pink crystal too, but that wasn't what drew the most attention.

Blue couldn't stop staring at the palace.

The enormous structure sat opposite their entrance. Actual stone pillars stood up the crystal entrance, and the bottom floor of the place seemed to take up an entire wall of the enormous cavern. What Blue assumed was the second floor sat on top of the first's foundation, the gaps on each floor forming windows. The very top of the place went to the ceiling just missing the stone roof. A bright pink light could be seen, pulsing.

They all stared at the sight before them for a solid few minutes. Who could blame them?

"Huh," Rio said after a while, breaking the silence. "Just...wow."

"How long has this been here?" Blue asked. "Who lives here? How do they live here? Are they still living here?" The questions just spilled out of the Bidoof's mouth, in awe of the hidden city.

He was interrupted as the ground shook, almost knocking him over. He seized up, half expecting a cave in, but the tremors soon faded.

"That didn't sound good," Scales said.

Rio walked past them all, and started down the path leading towards the city., He looked back towards the rest of the team, grinning.

"Come on! Let's see what we found!"

Blue, his curiosity exploding now, was right behind him.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

20. Geode Crossing: New Gem

Rio jiggled the ruby doorknob, feeling resistance. Locked, of course. He couldn't feel anyone inside, either. In fact, Rio was pretty sure most of this place was unpopulated, at least for now. Would it really be so bad to slightly break down the door?

Not taking that thought any further, Rio focused some of his Aura into his foot, and kicked the door. The force of the explosion blew the door off its hinges, sending it crashing into something inside.

"What did you just do?" Blue asked, hearing the explosion. Rio didn't answer as he walked into the empty house. Stone and gems, like everything else. When you lived underground you worked with what you had, apparently.

The door had crashed into a jewel encrusted stone table inside. It was a simple home, one floor, the remains of the table laid in front of the door, and a bedroom to the side. Everything inside was made of some kind of rock. The crushed table was made of a light, white material, the door Rio crushed the table with was a heavy black, the walls were a carved granite, the furniture was a smooth sort of rock, hell even the bed was just a bunch of pebbles. Pebbles with an indent. That looked like something was sleeping here until recently. Rio had just realized he broke into a still lived in house.

"This city isn't abandoned?" Blue said, walking in himself. "And if it was, it was recent. Did you have to break the door down?"

"I got excited," Rio explained. "Gimme a break."

"Maybe when you stop breaking every discovery we find…"

"...That's fair." Rio turned to face his teammate. "Speaking of, did you see where Scales and Pana went?"

"...I got excited…"

Rio laughed at that. "Now you know how I feel."

"Please don't break more of the city."

"I only promise to try."

They walked out together, looking around for both the rest of their team and any sign of life. Upon closer inspection they found some doors thrown open, houses left unguarded. Anything that may have been considered valuable was left behind. This was where they found Pana and Scales, the dragon watching his sister loot an abandoned house. Scales, for his part, looked to be eating some kind of rock.

"Really?" Rio said, walking over. "You do realize there were Pokemon living here, right?"

"'Were' is the key word," Pana retorted, finding a rather nice gold chain.

"I'm not gonna let this go to waste," Scales said, holding out the apparently edible rock. "Tastes like Farfetch'd."

"They left recently," Blue said out loud, not even acknowledging what the rest of his team had done. "The question is why…"

As those words left his mouth the cavern started shaking. Rio summoned a Bone Rush and stabbed it into the ground as the rumbling of the earth intensified. Pana grabbed the bone, just in time for the shaking to intensify. The earth rattled under them, dirt and rock cracking, and more pink crystals growing under their feet. It stopped after a little while, the tremors wrecking the thankfully empty houses.

Rio dissipated his Bone Rush after the tremors stopped, looking around at his other teammates. Scales managed to stay on his feet, still casually eating what Rio was gonna call a rock leg, as did Blue. Having four legs really helped with balance. The Bidoof looked around, eyes wide. Rio could feel his panicked Aura, like a campfire giving off heat.

"What was that?!" Blue asked, the panic in his voice making it crack.

"Probably what made them leave," Rio guessed, looking over to the palace, and noticing something. "Does that look taller to you guys?"

The rest of Team Disaster followed the Riolu's gaze. Sure enough, the palace taking up the other wall of the cavern had elevated itself, the shining top now piercing the ceiling. Newly sprouted pink crystals, much larger than what was there originally, sprouted out of the walls. Rio followed them all the way back to where they came, the Dungeon exit.

"Well," Rio said. "I think I know where to go next."

They all turned to the pink palace, now shining even brighter.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Blue asked as the team walked. "Shouldn't we be getting out of here? In case this entire place comes down?"

"Don't you want to see the inside?" Rio responded. He could feel Blue's fear and curiosity warring again, seeing the opportunity for a huge discovery held back by the threat of being crushed.

"Well yes," the Bidoof started. "But-"

"The palace is intact," Pana noted. He could feel his sisters' greed light up at the thought of going inside, trying to rationalize in her own way. "It might be safer there."

"I'm good either way," Scales said, mouth full of rock meat. That was completely honest, the dragon was perfectly content either way.

As for Rio, he just thought it looked cool.

"Let's get going then," Rio said, walking towards the crystal building. Pana and Scales weren't far behind, and neither was Blue.

…​

The first thing Rio noticed was the Auras. So many Auras. Too many Auras at once.

"GAH!" Rio fell to his knees, head throbbing with the new emotions. He felt fear, uncertainty, anger, all surging in that building. It was overwhelming, like water was filling his head to bursting.

"Rio?!" he heard his team say. Something touched his shoulder. Scales. He was very familiar with his brother's Aura. He latched onto it, dragging his mind from the sea of emotion he felt. The Riolu looked up at the Hakamo-o, who was chewing another rock leg as he frowned.

"What happened?" Blue asked, walking up with Pana. "Are you ok?"

"Auras," Rio groaned, standing up again. "Lotsa Auras."

"What?" Pana asked. "Where?"

Rio simply pointed to the palace doors they were walking towards. The sea of Aura pressing into his mind faded into the background as he shifted his focus away from it. The doors were, of course, pink crystal. A lighter shade than the others, but still there. Two large, gold rings sat on the entrance.

Pana walked over, putting an ear to the door. After a short pause she backed away.

"There are voices," she said. "The money must be muffling the sound."

"Don't you mean crystals?" Blue asked, walking up next to Rio. Rio groaned, knowing what was about to happen.

"What? Oh yeah. Crystals. That's what I said."

"No, you said-"

"Alright!" Pana said, turning back and cutting Blue off. "Here's the plan. I'm gonna find another way in. See what I can find. You three stay here."

"Pana-" Rio started, but she had already disappeared. If he focused, the Riolu could hear her slight footsteps echoing down somewhere, and that wasn't even mentioning the greed her Aura gave off. He sighed, expecting this to happen eventually.

"And she calls me an idiot," Scales said.

"You both are," Rio shot back. "She just hides it better."

"What is she gonna do, exactly?" Blue asked.

"Take everything," Rio said, grabbing a door handle. "Scales, a little help?"

"Wait!" Blue said as Scales went to grad the other handle. "Pana just told us to wait for her!"

"If we did that we'd be here for hours," Rio said, now pulling the doors open. "She's gonna loot the place. Might as well see what the hell is going on."

Before Blue could protest further the doors were thrown open. The incomplete team stared at the hoard of Pokemon in the crystal reception hall.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of Pokemon were crammed inside the enormous hall. Geodude, Drilbur, Diglett, There was even an Onix towards the back. The ones that really stood out, however, were the absolutely ridiculous amount of Carbink that floated around. By Rio's count a solid half of the Pokemon gathered were Carbink. And they were all looking at them, conversations dying with the door opening.

The trio stared at the hoard, who stared back at them. No one moved, no one could even speak. All they did was stare.

Then the crowd parted.

The sea of Pokemon split, making way for the group of three. Their gaze did not leave the three, as Rio led them inside. It was impossible for an entire room of Pokemon to settle on a singular emotion, but there was one Rio was feeling above all the others.

Anticipation.

The only sound was their footsteps, and Scales finishing off that rock leg. It helped the Riolu keep the Aura from flooding in again. They reached the end of the hall, the crowd's eyes still on them. A smaller crystal door led further inside, and Rio wasted no time in throwing it open. They all rushed inside, sighing as the door closed

"What was that about?" Blue asked. "Why are they all… here…"

The Bidoof's question died on his lips as he took in the throne room. A massive throne of pink crystal sat against the wall, towering over the three. Other gems were sprinkled throughout. Crimson rubies, sky-blue sapphires, bright topaz, even some pitch black onyx, among others. Gems of every color imaginable seemed to be in there.

But it was the pinkish Sableye that drew Rio's attention. His Aura was as unreadable and overwhelming as ever. Still, it was better to focus on one big Aura than the mass outside.

The Sableye sat in front of the throne, eyes closed and hand-claws to the stone floor. A faint pink light shone off his body, and flowed into the ground.

Before the three could get his attention the ground rumbled again. Rio could feel the stone underneath them rise as it shook, slowly. He was behind the tremors, and the crystals around town too!

"Hey!" Rio said, summoning and shooting a Bone Rush at the quaking Sableye. It smacked him on the forehead, but he only slid back a little. The tremors stopped, and the mover of palaces looked up, pink eyes glaring at the team before him.

"I'm almost out of time," he said, standing up. "I need to finish this. Your test will conclude then."

"You're doing the crystal thing, right?" Rio continued, taking a step forward. "You're destroying the town up above."

"I'm aware. A necessary sacrifice. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to-"

"Necessary sacrifice?" Blue asked, cutting him off. "You're destroying a city! Hurting Pokemon! What's so necessary about that!"

Rio and Scales both looked at their teammate, not expecting that outburst. Or the Sableyes reaction.

Rio noticed crystals start to sprout from underneath his friend. He pushed the Bidoof aside before the large, flat stone slammed into his stomach. Rio retracted his Bone Rush, glancing at Blue, who was picking himself up. Scales rushed to his side, arms up for battle.

"Protecting my queen," the Sableye answered, starting to glow again. A pinkish-red washed over the team, and wrapped around the Sableye. The Aura Rio felt intensified, becoming even more monstrous. The Riolu had to shield his eyes from the light, but it died after a few seconds. The Sableye had changed.

It stood a little taller, and it's eyes now had a reddish tint. In one hand he held an enormous gemstone as massive as his entire body, pointing it at the team. Rio could see the rocky straps growing out of it. A shield. Reddish-pink crystals sprouted from the Sableye's feet. They were pointy, and all faced the group. The Pokemon glared at the trio, before thrusting his shield.

The crystals blitzed the team, ready to skewer them.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

21. Royal Rumble

This looks important.

Pana stood in front of a large, pink crystalline door, studded with more gems. Like every other door in this place. Seriously, the amount of precious rocks in here was ridiculous. It didn't stop the Pancham from taking as many as she pleased, but still.

The only reason she thought this one was important was because it had an actual lock.

Seriously, the security on this place was a shit show. Easiest looting ever. No guards patrolling, the Pokemon that were around seemed to be cowering in random corners, and Pana had been walking around unopposed, keeping out of sight less for necessity and more out of habit. And again, most of these doors didn't even have locks on them! Who does that?
Pana got a better look at the metal padlock. It was the first thing in here besides the floor not made of crystal. A little rusty, and it seemed to be glowing pink, but it looked normal despite that.

The Pancham held out one finger, sticking out the thin short claw on the end. She stuck it inside the lock, testing if she could reach the mechanism. She could, unlike that box. With some jiggling the lock came off and fell to the ground. Too easy. Way too easy.

Pana quickly opened the door and darted inside, hiding behind what looked like a statue in the well lit room. The door slammed closed on her and Pana bit back a curse. Well, most of the place was empty maybe no one-

"Hello?" A sleepy, soft voice rang out. "Rhodes?"

...Or she could have chosen the one room with someone inside. Great. Just… great.

"What did you… oh you little-!" the feminine voice shouted. "Put me to sleep to move the palace… he cares too much."

Pana poked her head out to see who exactly was talking. She floated in the air, kinda like a Carbink, but pink. And taller. Was she wearing a dress? And that massive pink diamond on her forehead! That had to be worth a fortune! Pana hid before the strange Pokemon saw her. The description was familiar now. Mom and dad may have told her about something similar?

The door burst open before she could remember, and a Carbink floated in. The floating rocks eyes were wide, panicked as he called out.

"My lady!" he said in a musical voice. "You have awoken!"

"Yes, good morning Geode," she huffed. "I trust you haven't been overworking yourself?"

"Well I-"

"Haven't taken my warnings, I take it."

"My lady, I-"

"You and Rhodes both work too hard and worry too much!" she exclaimed. "I told you to rest!"

"But the Labyrinth is approaching my lady! We need to flee!"

"It has been getting faster, hasn't it?"

"Much faster! It's encroaching on the city above as well!"

"...and you didn't tell me because?"

"Um…. well…"

"And has Team Disaster arrived yet?"

Pana's grip on the pillar tightened at that. Was this the proctor? The one behind this convoluted test? She glanced at her own empty Z-Ring before returning her attention to the conversation.

"Yes, my lady. The Knight is fighting them as we speak."

"He didn't wait?"

Pana had to hold in her sigh of disappointment. Of course they didn't wait. Why would they? How hard was it to stay in one place?

"He planned to after moving the palace, but they arrived before he could do so."

"Of course he did. Wait, did you wake me then?"

"I would not dare to interrupt your beauty sleep my lady! Also I do not relish being trapped inside one of the Knight's crystals afterwards."

"Then who did?"

The room went quiet, and that's when Pana decided to take her leave. The door was still open, thank Arceus. All she had to to was-

"Pana, correct?"

She punched the Carbink out of reflex. The poor mon was sent flying across the room and into one of the crystal walls.

"Well that was rude," the other voice said as she floated into view. Now the Pancham could recognize her. Mom and dad's stories about the Jewel Maiden fell short. Her eyes, made of pink tinted rubies, bore into Pana's soul. The diamond crown-veil that sat on her head sparkled in the light coming from every surface of the room. The large diamond on her chest seemed to pulse, like a heartbeat.

"Good to meet you," Diancie said, smiling. "Now, how about we see if your team is ready for what's coming?"

…

Rio sidestepped the crystal barrage, shooting a Bone Rush right back. The large crystal shield stopped the extension dead in its tracks. The Riolu barely acknowledged Scales's groans of pain, a bad sign considering he'd seen a house fall on the dragon and shake it off, as he detonated the long staff.

The explosion blew the Sableye back, but not far. The shield took the brunt of the attack, not even cracking. An even worse sign.

A stream of water shot right by Rio's head and splattered against the Sableye's shield. Their enemy glared at the source, Blue, and turned the shield towards the Bidoof. The sound of cracking stone came from behind, along with his teammate's yelp.

Rio took a quick glance, and saw Blue behind a wall of crystal. Rio didn't wait to see the cage complete itself, swinging another newly created long staff at the Sableye. He couldn't turn his crystal in time, so it cracked him across the face.

The bone snapped on impact.

Rio didn't waste any time, detonating what was left of the stick in his opponents face. He was only pushed back a little.

How heavy was he?

The Sableye rubbed his cheek, where Rio has struck, seemingly more annoyed than anything, and turned the crystal shield to face him. The Riolu jumped in the air, just missing the crystal spikes that shot out of the ground where he was just standing. Rio shot another Bone Rush at him, still in midair, but the shield blocked it this time.

He watched as Scales, finally ripping the crystals from his forearms, took a swing at the Sableye, his claws burning purple with Dragon Claw.

It faded on contact, and his claws just bounced off the jewel imp's neck.

"He's a fairy-type!" Blue shouted, just a little late. The Sableye spun his crystal shield and smashed it into Scales's snout, sending the large dragon flying back. He crashed into a pink wall and laid unmoving.

Rio's vision went red, and his body pulsed with his light-blue Aura. As soon as he landed the Riolu charged at his brother's attacker. His footsteps cracked the ground in his wake. The Sableye couldn't swing his shield around in time to block him.

"BURST," he shouted, and his Aura exploded off his body. The Sableye's eyes widened as the Riolu-bomb went off in his face, shattering the ground below them, cracking the walls around them, and sending the Sableye flying into the throne at the back, the shield going in the opposite direction. The crystals shattered as the Sableye crashed into the fancy chair, shards and gems coming loose.

The Sableye was already picking himself up, but a still seething Rio didn't wait. He charged forward, slamming a fist burning black into the Sableye's face. A Sucker Punch. He didn't even budge.

Rio ignored the sudden sharp pain in his wrist and focused some Aura into his throbbing fist. It blew up in the Sableye's face, causing him to stumble. Rio drew more Aura into all four of his paws and slammed another exploding punch home, followed by an explosive axe kick, then a rupturing chop. He just kept going after that, each strike exploding on contact. The fluid combo would have made his Masters proud.

The Sableye was less than impressed as Rio went for yet another punch, a large, thick crystal sprouted in between the two. A snap followed the explosion this time, and Rio fell to his knees, clutching his broken wrist. The pain screamed up his arm.

"Done yet?" the Sableye asked. Rio growled in response, standing and kicking shards of broken crystal into the Sableye's face. They simply bounced off the cracked wall. The Sableye grinned, even his teeth were a reddish-pink.

"Defiant, are you? Good. You will do well. Now if you'll excuse me…"

"RHODES!"

The Sableye turned to the new voice, and Rio could see unease cross his face. Still couldn't read his Aura though. Still too much to process, now it was coming from two different places, both equally overwhelming. His rage was swallowed by the sensation, and he turned to the new overwhelming Aura.

The floating pink jewel Pokemon floated in the room, glowering. A Carbink, a normal floating rock, flew in behind her. It was the one he met in the Dungeon a few weeks ago!

"My lady!" he said, sputtering. "You cannot-"

"You started without me!" the queen said, now pointing her rocky finger at the Sableye, Rhodes. "You put me to sleep!"

"I-I cannot risk your safety, lady Diancie!" Rhodes rationalized. Rio might have chuckled if not for the burning in his wrist and his unmoving brother. "The Labyrinth approaches!"

"I know, Geode told me."

The Sableye shot the Carbink a look before turning back to the apparent Mythical Pokemon. The Masters really undersold the sheer amount of gems growing out of her. If Pana was here she'd probably be all over her. Where the hell was she?

"Please, my lady, you can't get caught!"

"It's your job to get me out when it comes to that, remember?"

"Yes, but-"

Then Rio felt it. A flash of familiar anger rocketing down from the ceiling. He watched as Pana's dark kick knocked his face into the stone floor, denting the ground. She landed softly next to Rio.

"That's for my brothers," she said, now turning to the Riolu. "You couldn't wait?"

"Excuse me, little miss thief," Rio shot back. "Scales-"

She pointed back at where their brother fell. Blue was next to him, forcing an oran berry down his throat. The dragon stirred. Rio looked back to where his cage was. Cracks ran across a front side, and a Bidoof-sized hole laid at the center.

"I checked on him first, then got Blue out." she explained. "Then I got the drop on this asshole!" She kicked still floored Sableye on the side of the head.

"He deserved that," Diancie said, staring at her groaning knight. "Didn't you?"

The Sableye picked himself up, groaning. There wasn't even a mark on his body, after all of that. "I did not-"

A glare from his queen shut him up.

"You even evoked our power."

"I needed to end things quickly! We must get-"

"And what about the town above?"

He didn't answer. He couldn't. The sudden shaking of the palace wouldn't let him. The now loose crystals clattered against each other and the stone floor. The rumbling didn't help the break in Rio's wrist, which sent a fresh wave of agony down his arm.

Of course, even that was drowned out by the sudden emptiness that had just grown under their feet.

The Riolu looked down, feeling the void rising towards them. What was this sudden lack of Aura? A wave of death? No. It almost felt like a Dungeon…

The ground beneath Diancie split open, like the jaws of a Mawlies hair. She glanced down at the pit of doom below her, and shrugged.

"Well, that simplifies things. Please don't leave me for too long Rhodes."

With that, a purple void tendril shot out of the hole, wrapped itself around the Jewel Maiden, and pulled her into the depths.

"LADY DIANCIE!"

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

22. To The Dungeons We Fall

Blue could only stare as the Diancie, an actual Mythical Pokemon, was dragged into a newly formed hole by a purple tentacle. The Bidoof felt like he should have been more surprised than he felt. But then again they were in a city of crystals, a fairy-type Sableye had just knocked his friend out, who he now had to force feed an oran berry. At least he was stirring.

To make a long story short, it's been a day.

"LADY DIANCIE!" the Sableye, Rhodes if he heard the Jewel Maiden right, shouted. The Knight jumped in right after her, shield-gem first. The crystals shrunk back into the ground as he surfed down the hole.

Silence filled the throne room, but it didn't last long.

"MY LADY!" the Carbink shouted. "Arceus, why? This damnable Dungeon!"

If the Carbink had legs, Blue was sure he would be kicking the crack in the ground. He was even glowing with frustration. No, no that looked like a move. Light pink light shone off the crystals growing out of his body, and soon pulsed.

Blue closed his eyes, preparing for more pain, but felt the opposite. He felt...better. His knicks and bruises from the crystal pen closed. It felt like what that Audino did to fix his snout. A Heal Pulse. The jingle of Scales's namesake made him turn around. The dragon had stood up, stretching.

"That actually hurt!" he said grimacing.

"Hey you didn't break your wrist," Rio said, standing back up. Blue watched as he rolled the offending joint. He turned to the Carbink, who was now bobbing up and down. "Still stiff… but thanks."

"You must help my queen!" he shouted. "Hurry and catch up to the Knight!"

"Sure," Rio agreed immediately.

"HOLD ON!"
Blue had walked over with Scales right behind him. "What the hell is going on? Who are you people? Why is there an entire underground kingdom here? Was that Diancie? What was with that Sableye? Wh-"

"There is no time!" The Caarbink got right in Blue's face, somehow shouting without a mouth. "If Lady Diancie gets too far in it may be months, possibly years, before the Knight is able to retrieve her! You all must go in NOW!"

"But-" Blue looked down into the dark hole, deep into its depths. It was pitch black down there, he couldn't make anything out. Blue could only imagine what terrors were down there. Whatever that tendril was, it didn't look good. And Diancie was a Mythical, she could take care of herself. Curiosity be damned, going down there was probably suicide.

So why was he drawn to it?

The longer he stared down into the crack in the ground, the more he felt like he had to go down there. He couldn't explain it. It was like something was...calling to him?

Without a word they all took a step closer. Then another. And another.

"You really all are-" was the last thing Blue heard from the Carbink as they all fell into the depths.

…​

The Bidoof regained his awareness about halfway down. It didn't take long for him to start screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Who could blame him? It's a pitch black hole, and the only light was coming from the throne room above. Which had just faded into a twinkle. Amazing.

Blue thrashed around in freefall, too panicked to think. And what was he supposed to do anyway? He couldn't fly, float, or even jump all that well. He knew that if physics still applied wherever they were going, every bone in the Bidoof's body would shatter on impact.

He felt a furry paw grab him, pull him closer. From the fluff he guessed it was Rio. The Riolu wrapped his arm around Blue and created another Bone Rush, stabbing it into the wall. Rio grimaced in pain as the bone slowed the two down, eventually coming to a stop.

Blue could see now, at least a little. Pana clung to the walls below them, presumably with her claws, and the loud thud that came from below told him where Scales was. He hoped the large Hakamo-o was alright...

"OW!" the dragon shouted. "My tail!" He was. Of course he was.

"You good?" Rio whispered to Blue. No, not a whisper… it was a strained question. As if he was in pain. Blue looked at the hand Rio was grasping their lifeline with, the one with the recently broken wrist.

"Are you?" Blue exclaimed. "Your wrist-"

"Is fixed," Rio cut him off. "Mostly."

"What do you mean mostly?"

"Let's just get down there," Pana said before the Bidoof could freak out any further. "We can talk when we're not hanging for our lives." With that, Pana began the climb down. Rio turned his Bone Rush limp, and slowly extended it to follow, Bidoof in tow.

Eventually, a new light came into view. Fire by the looks of it. He could see Scales standing on the cracked stone floor, rubbing the bottom of his tail. Rio touched down first and let Blue go. Pana wasn't far behind.

"You guys alright?" Scales asked, walking over.

"Fine," Rio said, rubbing his wrist. Both Scales and Pana glowered at the sight.

"Show us," Pana said. Scales nodded in agreement.

"I'm-"

Pana grabbed his arm and yanked it away. Blue couldn't hold in his gasp. The joint had obviously swollen, and he bet if he could see under the fluff he'd see bruising too. The throbbing It looked like it hurt. A lot.

"Fine, huh?" Pana said, letting go. "And I bet Blue here enjoys a nice Tauros steak with your bullshit smoothies."

"Dude," Scales said, grimacing. "That doesn't look good…"

"I'm fine!" Rio said, pulling his arm back. Blue saw the flinch of pain that crossed his face as he did so. Blue was no healer, but he was most certainly not fine.

"No, you're not," Pana shot back. "We're gonna have to climb back out. Scales, carry him."

Blue sighed in relief. Though this place was fascinating, he really didn't want to run into whatever that tendril belonged to.

"Yeah, that's probably not happening…"

Oh Arceus no.

"And why not?" Scales asked, prepping to dig his claws into the black stone cliff. Pana looked even more annoyed than usual.

"Cuz I think we're in a Dungeon."

It was then that Blue decided to look around. Two torches burned with orange fire, fastened to the crumbling gate they stood in front of. The gray stone bricks were crumbling, and the rusted metal gate looked heavy. Blue noticed a few small pink crystals recede into the ground, probably a sign of that Sableye.

"I felt us fall in," Rio continued, summoning a Bone Rush with his good paw. He created two smaller ones, no thicker than the base of his paws, and lined them up with his broken wrist. "We're cut off, gotta find the exit."

Rio wrapped the bones together, creating a makeshift splint. Blue hoped it would help, but the Bidoof had other pressing concerns at the moment. Mainly the fact that they were trapped in an unknown Dungeon with something that could kidnap a Mythical Pokemon.

He didn't know whether to be excited, or terrified. The terror was currently winning.

"Plus," Rio said, tightening his splint. "We should help the queen while we're done here. It was Diancie, right?"

"You want to go after her?" Blue asked, incredulous. "That means going after that tentacle!"

"Probably. Your point?"

"You-you can't fight like that! It's too dangerous! And what about that Sableye, he seemed pretty capable!"

"We're probably gonna run into em, anyway. Might as well help out. Any other questions?"

"...Why did we even come down here?"

"The crystals, remember?" Pana asked, now looking at him.

"No, down here specifically." Blue said, pondering. "We all fell down that hole, right?"

Team Disaster nodded.

"Why? I'm clumsy, but you all..."

They all opened their mouths to answer, and didn't. Both Pana and Scales's eyes widened in surprise, but Rio didn't, adjusting his makeshift splint.

"...Weird," Scales said after a while. "I don't know."

"I just looked down the hole," Pana continued. "And went with it. It was almost like-"

"Like something was guiding you?" Blue finished the sentence.

"Yeah," she said. "You guys too?"

They all nodded. Blue's mind worked rapidly, trying to make sense of the new information. They were lured down here, based on what the rest of his team said. But by what? That tendril? No, it probably would have grabbed them the second they poked their heads in the hole. A psychic-type? No, that wouldn't have worked on Pana.

"Wanna find it?" Rio said, cutting off the Bidoof's thoughts.

"Wha-No!" Blue answered. "No, I don't want to find it!"

"I don't think we have much of a choice," Pana shot back.

Blue hated that she was right. If they were in a Dungeon their only choice was to find where it led and get out from there. They had to go deeper. His excitement at new discoveries was crushed by the fear for his life.

"Alright!" Rio said, suddenly chipper. "Scales? You mind?"

"Don't sound too sad…" Pana said under her breath. Blue couldn't help but to agree with her as Scales easily lifted the iron gate up, and they all made their way inside.

...

The hallway Team Disaster found themselves in was falling apart. The bricks crumbled with age, the chains fixed to the wall were severely rusted, and the bars of the cages lining the walls were much the same. What really bothered Blue were the holes inside every last one.

Without fail, there was a large hole in the floor of every single cage. Blue couldn't see how deep they went due to the fact there was a lot of metal in the way. Normally he would have asked one of the three Pokemon with him to break it down, Arceus knows at least one of them would enjoy it, and the others wouldn't mind.

Then again, it might get that tentacle's attention, so he put that thought on hold for now.

"A jail?" he said instead.

"Pretty crappy one," Rio said, flicking one of the rusted bars with his uncompromised arm. The loose stone around it crumbled a bit. "Looks like the prisoners just dug out."

"Yeah, getting close to it is a really good idea," Pana growled, grabbing her brother and pulling him away from the wall.

"What? It's an empty cage! Nothing's he-"

The ground below them suddenly opened up, and a rocky blue hand rose out of the newly sprouted hole. The Golett sat straight up, its blocky, glowing yellow eyes peered into Blue's soul. It raised a hand, pointing a stone finger at the group.

"INTRUDERS," It said in a scratchy, monotone voice. "DESTROY."

Before it could take a single step towards them a glowing blue bone shot out from behind Blue and smashed into the golem's face. Its head clattered to the ground as Rio retracted his bone. He was glad ghosts didn't bleed; that would have been just a little too much for him.

"I stand corrected," Rio said. When Blue turned back to face him, he noticed the Riolu was clutching his wrist.

"Knock it off, would ya?" Scales said, looking down at his brother. "We can handle this."

"I'm fine!"

"No," Pana said. "You're not!"

As the siblings bickered Blue looked back at the Golett's body, when he noticed something. It didn't slump over, as most things would when decapitated. It had taken another step forward. And another. And another.

"Uh, guys?" Blue said, taking a step back.

"I just won't use this arm, alright?"

"Like you just did? Why the hell would you even do that?"

"Force of habit!"

"Make sure to watch him Scales. Don't let him fight."

"Guys…" Blue repeated with urgency, glancing around at the cages. More blue, rocky hands rose from the holes in the cells. The Golett they belonged to climbed out of the tears in the ground, their dead eyes taking in the intruders. The headless Golett still stomped closer.

"Seriously? You think a little boo-boo like this is gonna stop me?"

"No, that's why I'm telling Scales to do it."

"Seriously, chill out dude."

"Listen to-"

"GUYS!"

"WHAT?" they all shouted back, and noticed the small army approaching.

The headless Golett was right on top of Blue now, fist raised to bash his skull in. Without even thinking the Bidoof filled his cheeks with water and shot a Water Gun at its chest. It shuttered but didn't stop.

Just before Blue got the second worst concussion of his life, Scales caught the fist and threw a punch of his own. It didn't even flinch.

"Golett are part ghost!" Blue shouted, backing up. He could hear the golems in the cages bang against the rusted bars keeping the rest of the army at bay.

Scales heeded the warning, and his claws started to glow purple. His Dragon Claw pierced the golem's chest. As the dragon pulled his arm back Blue noticed the black mass where the Golett's core was. It beat like a heart, but it didn't look quite right. It just seemed to clash with the glowing yellow energy that came front the rest of its body. There was also the fact the thing was still moving, so that might have contributed to that thought.

The Golett reared back and slammed another fist into Scales's arm. The dragon winced as his tail flowed purple and smashed into the living rock's legs. The Dragon Tail sent the limbs flying and the Golett finally fell to the stone floor. It still moved, trying to stand without legs.

Blue's mind raced at the sight. That shouldn't have been possible, ghost or not. They can still be knocked out after all, and as far as the Bidoof knew heads were still important for most of them!

"Come on!" Pana said, rushing past him, Rio in tow. The Riolu looked more annoyed than anything as she dragged him by the good arm. The golems had broken through the bars and were slowly stomping after them.

The Bidoof shoved his questions aside for now as he and Scales followed. The dark, damp Dungeon suddenly got a little colder as the group ran.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

23. Hard Rock Life

"Ok," Rio heard Blue say after taking a long gasp of air. "I'm just gonna ask what we're all thinking."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "WHAT IN ARCEUS'S NAME WAS THAT?"

The four sat in a large, crumbing room with cells still lining the corridor. Two cages took up the walls and stretched all the way to the ceiling, maybe fifteen feet up. The holes in these ones were much, much bigger too.

Rio glanced back the way they came. They left the rock army behind ages ago, and he couldn't even sense them if they were close, but he guessed the Golett were still coming. That was fine. He wanted a shot at them, broken wrist or not.

"Where did those Golett come from?" The Bidoof panically babbled. "Why didn't Rio sense them? What the hell was that tentacle? Why did it kidnap a mythical Pokemon? And the most important question, WHY THE HELL DID WE COME DOWN HERE?!"

His panic roared in Rio's mind, overpowering even the searing pain of his broken wrist. It was like having a rubber ball thump behind your ear a thousand times a minute, and the longer it went on the faster it seemed to go.

"Weird, right?" Rio responded, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling.

"How are you so calm about this?" Blue yelled. "Do you have ANY idea what's going on?"

"Nope," Rio said, lightly stretching.

"Then how-"

"Let's just focus on finding our way out, and getting Rio back to the healer." Pana said, cutting him off. "We can talk more about this after."

"...Fine," Blue said. Rio felt him calm down, just a bit.

"And what about Diancie?" Rio asked.

"What about her?" Pana responded without looking.

"What, we're just gonna leave her?"

"She's the reason we're in this mess! Plus you're not in any condition to rescue anything, are you?"

Rio brushed her concern off. He was fine! What was a broken wrist next to a place like this? To a life? To that wall over there he couldn't help but walk to. Looking at it kinda made him… hungry.

"Plus there's that stupid Sableye," Pana continued ranting. "Who broke your wrist in the first place! Why would you help that asshole!"

She hadn't turned around yet, still angrily ranting about their situation. He didn't know if Scales or Blue were watching, all he cared about was that wall. Nothing else mattered. He put his unbroken paw to the cracked surface, just feeling for something.

"Rio?" Scales asked. "Whatcha doing?"

Rio ignored his brother's question, patting down the cracked wall. The hunger was building, he needed what was his, and his alone.

"Rio?" Blue asked. His panic had all but turned to confusion at this point. In fact, he could feel all their confusion at his actions. It still didn't matter. This was too important.

"What are you-" Pana started. The Riolu didn't care. All he cared about was right behind some rocks.

Without a word he channeled some of his Aura into his unscathed arm and buried it inside. The explosion shook the entire room as Rio fished for his prize. He felt it after a few seconds of shifting and pulled it from the piling debris.

This new stone was just a bit darker than Blue's. The symbol, what was clearly a giant rock, drew him in. The light that shone off of its surface was among the most beautiful things Rio had ever seen.

Then Pana's fist slammed into the back of his head. The sudden pain snapped him out of his trance and he fell to his knees, head throbbing.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" she shouted over the crumbling room. It was then that Rio realized exactly what he did. The cracks spread throughout the large room, chunks of rock fell all around them. And they were underground.

"RUN!" Blue shouted, running towards them. Scales lumbered right behind him a, frown on his face.

Pana grabbed the slightly dazed Rio by the good arm, the one that clenched his new toy, and dragged him along, further into the depths. They just managed to get out when the entire roof of the room caved in.

Blue huffed heavily, on his back. He could feel his panic was back in full force, but his utter exhaustion muted it just a bit. Scales seemed a little annoyed, but not too angry.

Pana was another story.

"When we get out of here," she said calmly, in utter contrast to the most pure fury Rio had ever felt emanating from another living being. "I am gonna find Griza, and I am going to tell her where we live."

That thought sobered Rio up real fast.

"Do you want me to die!?"

"DO YOU WANT US TO!?" See, that reaction was much closer to the deep anger she felt at the moment. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?"

Rio opened his mouth to explain, but found that he couldn't. He felt saying 'I wanted the fancy glowing rock,' would have gotten him punched again. All he could do was hold his prize out for the rest of his team to see. Eventually, they all noticed the stone and walked over to see.

"Another one?" Scales said. "Damn dude, you're a magnet for these things!"

"You really are…" Blue said, curiosity sharply peaked. He glanced at his own stone and back to the new one. It's similar, but not the same…"
"Who cares?" Pana growled. "Why didn't you just dig it out if it was so important? Why did you destroy the damn room? Why are these things so important? Did this happen back at the waterfall too?"

"I...don't know…" Rio answered. That was all he could say. He just wanted it. Why?

"What do you mean you-"

"I SAID I DON'T KNOW!" Rio shouted at his sister, pulling his paw rest of his team were surprised at the sudden outburst. The Riolu huffed at his sister, who had fallen flat on her ass in shock. He was suddenly all too aware of their worry. Stupid Aura Sense.

"I don't know," he softly repeated. "I just don't know."

The silence was suffocating, and Rio had never been more grateful for Pana to cut it.

"You can be an idiot sometimes," she said more calmly. "but I know you're not dumb enough to blow up a room underground. Did this happen back at the waterfall?"

"...I think so," Rio said after a bit of hesitation.

"You think so?" Blue asked, jumping in. "What, did you forget?"

"It's… kinda fuzzy. One minute I'm walking by, the next I smashed a door down, and this was inside." He held up the Z-Ring to show the black stone embedded inside. It glowed with a dark light.

"Was it like something was… calling to you? Like what got us in this mess?"

"Kinda? It was more, I really wanted it. I guess you could say I was hungry for it?"

"You want to eat rocks?" Scales asked. "They taste any good?"

"No! Maybe? I don't know..."

This entire conversation was starting to make Rio's head hurt. Why had he never thought about this? The ways he found the stones were weird enough, but there was something else too. Something he should have questioned from the start.

"The dance you taught us," Pana continued. "How'd you pick it up?"

Rio clutched his head. "I...just knew it…"

"...Something's been fucking with your head for this long, and you didn't think to mention it?"

It honestly never crossed Rio's mind. He was just doing what felt… right. What the hell was going on?

Then a new, yet familiar voice shouted down the hall, interrupting his thoughts.
"Hold on my lady! I've almost reached you!"

"Rhodes! Behind you!"

An enormous crash shook the floor, followed by the sound of something shooting out of the earth. Rio shot up, grateful for the distraction.

"Come on!" he shouted.

"But we-" Blue started.

"They're in trouble!" Rio shouted back. "We can finish this later, come on!"

He didn't wait for a reply as he pushed further into the depths. It was so very easy to shove those important questions to the back of his head and focus on whatever exciting threat was ahead.

Maybe too easy.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

24. Reverse Regicide

As Team Disaster stumbled through the new, still shaking hallway, they noticed the newly sprouted crystals.

Massive pillars of crystalline minerals pinned any opposition to the wall and floor. The strange Golett struggled against their bonds. Some were simply pinned down by large chunks of the rock, some were missing limbs, dragging themselves forward with little care for their bodies, and some were quite literally impaled. Jagged ends of the rock skewered a few unfortunate souls clean through their chest and stuck them to the walls,leaving them dangling on the spires. Still, they struggled.

The sight made Blue sick. It would be one thing if they were just torn apart, but the fact they still struggled… It just wasn't right. Still, it got his mind off of Rio, and what his actions implied. What was happening?

No, he had to focus on the threat ahead. Rio's questionable mental health could wait. At least the sight of the moving corpses caused Rio to stop and look. It gave Blue some time to catch up. Pana already had, standing by Rio, and he could hear the loud jangle of Scales's scales not far behind.

"Getting closer," Rio said. "I can feel their Aura now."

Rio looked to have brushed off what had just happened. He stretched as he looked further down the crumbling hall, and Blue wondered for the millionth time how he managed to keep going with physical injuries and the horrifying revelation that his mind may have been compromised. In fact, Blue was pretty sure all of theirs were, considering how they fell in.

He shook the troubling thoughts from his head once again, just as Scales's clanging footsteps caught up.

"Do we really have to?" The dragon said, rubbing at his snout. "Still stings…"

"What we really need is to get the hell out of here!" Pana said once again. She really was the voice of reason.

"It's on the way!" Rio said yet again. "Plus-"

The Dungeon shook yet again. Small loose stone fell from the ceiling. The loud yells of the Sableye, and the piercing of stone, echoed from further down.

"-whatever's going down over there sounds like fun," the Riolu finished.

Blue disagreed with that assessment. In fact, he couldn't have disagreed more if he tried. That Sableye destroyed all of them in their last fight, and he barely seemed like he was trying. Even Pana's sneak attack looked like it did almost nothing! How were they supposed to help against something that was giving the apparent knight trouble?

"It's the only way to go," Pana conceded. "Fine, but the second I see an exit-"

"Fine, whatever, lets go!" Rio rushed forward, towards what Blue thought was his impending death.

"You're not fighting!" Pana shouted after him. Blue didn't hear his response but he imagined it went a little something like 'And you're not stopping me!'

Blue found himself rooted to the ground. This wasn't just stupid, it was insane. The tremors that came from up ahead told him that, clear as day! Anything could be waiting ahead. More unstoppable golems, terrifying death traps, anything! What was he doing here? He was way out of his league! He had to go. Discoveries or not, this was-

The sharp poke of Scales's claws kept him from sinking any further into his thoughts. The dragon simply waved him along, with a slight smile as he went after his siblings. The loud jingle that followed his stomps hung around in the Bidoofs mind, clearing the self-depressive gunk from his head, at least for a little bit.

It was the only way forward, and even if they all wanted to turn back, there was no way he was getting through that wall, or the undying Golett. Plus, what kind of teammate would he be if he just ditched them?

He took another deep breath, and trundled after his team.

…

When Rio finally got to the end of the hall, the first thing he noticed was the enormous door on the other side of the entrance. Unlike the rusting bars and chains scattered around the dungeon, this was pristine, new metal. Still, it was splattered with blotches of black, shifting goop. A small cage made with what looked to be black metal dangled from the ceiling, and Diancie sat inside.

The room itself was also massive, making the last room Rio destroyed look like a supply closet. The bricks that made this one up were in notably better condition as well. Nary a crack in any of the walls. Of course, he couldn't judge the quality of the floor.

He had a feeling it was compromised by the seat of jagged crystals that littered it.

Oh, and the five ten-foot tall Golurk peering down at the crystal's creator.

Rhodes was still Awakened, holding his large crystal shield in defiance of his enemies. Aura as overwhelming as ever. The Golurk themselves looked rough, crystals of all shapes and sizes jutting out of their bodies. Two even had enormous rods of the mineral shoved through their chests, yellow light seeping out. Still the golems moved as if nothing was wrong.

They all raised their fists in unison, and went to smash the small Sableye into a fine pink and purple paste. Rhodes slammed his crystal into the ground below him, and more thick pillars of pink rock rose from the ground, surrounding the goblin.

The room shook with the force of each of the giants' blows, but his pillars stood. The crystal shield flashed a bright pink, and suddenly grew, skewering the Golurk's fists even further. The titans tore their rocky hands away, but had no reaction other than that.

Ignoring his throbbing wrist Rio took a step forward. He didn't even notice he was glowing with blue light. The Riolu was grinning, looking forward to the fight ahead.

Then the voice of reason came back, literally smacking him on the head. Pana was suddenly next to him, glaring.

"I told you," Pana growled. "You can't fight like that."

"I can," Rio growled back. The light was shining brighter. "I'll-"

"You'll what? 'Be careful?' We both know that's bull!"

"And what, you think they'll just let us out if we ask? You think you can handle this on your own?"

"I'll get Scales to-"

The dragon had excellent timing. The large Hakamo-o just managed to noisily shove his bickering siblings out of the way of a large rock thrown their way. The boulder, larger than the two arguing Pokemon combined, cracked apart on impact. Two of the Golurk were stomping over to them now.

"Please tell me you found a-" Blue said, catching up, but his words died at the sight of the behemoths. Fear and awe pulsed form the Bidoof's Aura as the titans slowly stomped closer and closer.

"Not much of a choice now," Rio said, getting up. The Bone Rush he summoned was a little brighter than usual.

"I'm gonna skin you alive when we get out of here," Pana shot back. Her arms and legs were coated in a black energy.

Scales yawned. "I want a nap after this." His entire body was now glowing purple.

"You're not seriously gonna-" Blue started. He was cut off as Rio took a step forward. Cracks sprouted from his paws as he leapt at their enemies, Bone Rush raised high. He reached the large golem's head in seconds, and brought the staff down on its rocky head. Cracks sprung from the blow, and yellow light leaked out, but the Golurk didn't even flinch.

The golem's massive hand reached for Rio, but at the last second the Riolu let his Aura erupt around him, blowing the fingers away. Unfortunately the cast went with it. The pain shot through his arm as he landed, but it was still workable.

So was the Golurk, raising a foot to stomp the blue dog flat. He jumped out of the way of the stomp, and summoned up some dark energy in his good paw. The Sucker Punch tore through the golems leg, yellow light seeping from the wound, but again it didn't flinch.

Rio channeled some Aura into his arm, still inside the thing's leg, and let it burst. The rocky skin cracked further, did not completely break. His Aura didn't work well on ghost rocks, it seemed. Or ghost ground?

Before he could ponder that any further the golem had raised its fist to strike again. That's when a black blur shot out of nowhere, blowing a hole as big as a certain Pancham into the arm. The bolt landed next to Rio, revealing an annoyed Pana.

Before she could further barate her brother, the Golurk resumed its attack. The two jumped back at the attack, easily seeing it coming. These things were big, but not too smart apparently.

Rio spared a quick glance around the room, taking note of everything. Three of the Golurk were still focused on the Sableye, who was still trying to skewer them to little effect. Scales had caught the other's fist, holding it in place. Blue remained rooted where he was, and Rio could feel his raging emotions. Fear, disbelief, awe.

It was then Rio remembered he couldn't sense the Golurk for whatever reason and snapped back to the fight ahead. The golem hadn't stopped attacking, raising the other, crystal skewered foot to stop on them this time.

Rio summoned another Bone Rush and shot the extension at the falling foot. It skewered the golem's earthen foot and kept traveling until it pierced the other side. The foot still fell towards them.

Rio let his bone burst, this time blowing the rocky leg away. So he could destroy it, just not the way he usually did. Bones would have to work here.

The titan toppled, literally losing a leg to stand on. The crash shook the room. Still, it struggled to reach them, shouting 'INTRUDERS' all the way.

"Excellent!" he heard another voice say. They both turned to see the Sableye, Rhodes, still holding up his crystal dome as the three Golurk pounded against it. "I need time! Destroy the other three!"

"Why should we help you?" Pana shouted. "You're the reason we're stuck in this mess! And you did this!" She pointed at Rio's swelling wrist. It was starting to hurt more.

"I can get us out of it if you help me!" Another pillar shot up from behind him, skewering a Golurk further. "I only need to free lady Diancie!"

"Hello!" the lady in waiting said, waving down at the group. "So nice of you to join us!"

Rio waved back, taking a glance at how Scales was doing. He had ripped one of the thing's arms off, and had thrown it back at the Golurk. The expected crash of the guard falling to the ground came soon after, but it was already picking itself back up with one arm.

"Fine!" Pana shouted, her annoyance very obvious. She turned to Rio, her glare boring into his soul. "If you overdo it I will-"

"Let's just go!" Rio said, cutting her off and rushing towards the attacking Golurk. Pana growled, but disappeared in a flash of black light, waiting for her chance to strike.

…

This was insane.

Blue watched the scene before him in awe. Rio was swinging from golem to golem, bashing their limbs with his staff. Scales wrestled one of them, slowly tearing it apart limb by limb. And he didn't even know where Pana was!

How was he supposed to keep up with this? He'd be crushed! They'd be crushed! How could he be an asset? He was worse than useless in this place, a liability!

In this burst of self-depressive commentary, he noticed something with the Golurk Rio had taken down. Black tendrils, ones that looked similar to what had dragged the Jewel Maiden down into this place, had sprouted from where its leg had been. They snaked out, wrapping around the pieces of the pulverized limb, and started dragging it back towards the main body. It was reforming.

Blue gaped at the sight. Had they noticed? No, Pana and Scales didn't have Rio's sensory abilities, and even those didn't seem to work on these dungeonmon. They couldn't keep them down. He couldn't keep them down.

Or could he?

No, no. He'd just learned the move, and it wasn't even that strong. Besides, if these guys, who had destroyed everything in their way so far, couldn't keep them down, what could he do? No, the best bet would be to stay put and watch them work.

And do nothing.

While they fought for their lives.

After they invited him along.

And be useless. Just like always.

Deciding to at least try, Blue focused on the sea of energy in his stomach and let it flow out of his front paws and towards his target. Long, thin blades of grass sprouted from underneath the golem, wrapping around its damaged body, and keeping it pinned to the ground. It worked!

For about five seconds, before it easily snapped through the bindings. Its leg was about halfway repaired now.

Blue tried again, this time constantly feeding the move energy. The grass was glowing green now as it wrapped around the golem yet again. It struggled, but the grass stayed whole.

The new problem was that this was exhausting. His sea of energy was drying up fast. The Bidoof started to breathe heavily, but he had to keep this up. He had to help, at least in this way!

Then he heard more stomps, coming from behind him.

…

Rio was having fun.

This was much better than those squatters, and he had room to move unlike in the lab! These giant rocks were like the trees back on the isles, tall, thick, and perfect to climb and swing around on.

Only this time they were trying to squash you!

It really got the blood pumping! It was too bad his wrist felt like it was on fire though. Otherwise this was the most fun he'd had since that one time the Masters started hucking rocks at him and he had to dodge or block. That was a pretty big crater…

He threw another Sucker Punch at the Golurk's emotionless face, smashing right through the crumbling rock. Again, it did not even flinch as it raised another crystal-skewered hand to grab him. Rio let his Aura explode around him, blowing the fingers away once again.

Another Golurk took a swing at him, it's fist glowing a purplish-black, and Rio simply jumped out of the way. The Shadow Punch bashed the Golurk he was standing on in the face, and what was left of said face fell to the ground. It was still standing, of course.

Rio landed on the cage hanging above them. It started to rock from the impact. At least Diancie seemed to enjoy it.

"Wheeee!" she said as they swung. "Hello little Legacy! I see you found another crystal. Excellent!"

That got his attention. He peeked into the still swinging cage to see the smirking Legendary Pokemon.

"What are-" he started.

"Behind you!" she shouted, pointing. Rio turned to see both of the Golurk, one headless, punching at the cage. Rio, freshly reminded that he couldn't sense any Aura from the golems, leapt off the cage right before impact. He saw the queen get knocked around, but she seemed to enjoy it.

"WHEEEEEE"

Another Aura, something he could actually feel, was rapidly rising up to his level. The overwhelming one. He looked below him to see Rhodes riding a pink crystal pillar right up towards him. Rio landed on it, the force of the impact jarring his injury. He couldn't hide the gasp of pain it caused him.

"Careful with the queen, dog," The Sableye growled. His reddish-pink eyes were narrowed, concentrating on taking them higher.

"Don't mind him," the Queen shouted down, still spinning. "He's always a grump!"

"Don't break my wrist and I'll think about it," Rio shot back, summoning a Bone Rush and extending it at the Golurk that still had a head. It logged itself in its shoulder, and Rio detonated the bone. The rock was blown away, and the arm fell to the ground. He quickly repeated the process with its other arm, disarming it for a time.

"You did that to yourself. Now, could you please stop the cage so I may free her?"

The cage was swinging all around the pillar and Diancie didn't seem too bothered by it.

"Take your time!" she shouted back. "This is fun!"

While Rio respected that, it was probably a good idea to get her out of there. He extended another Bone Rush at the swinging cage. He made it thicker and sturdier than usual, more like a steel bar than a wooden staff, and slammed it against the pillar. The shock of the blow ripped through his body. The fire in his wrist suddenly felt like it was stabbing him too. Diancie shot forward, hitting the black bars. The metal itself wasn't even dented, as if it wasn't just punched by two rock giants and then slammed into

"Owwwww," she groaned as the cage stopped.

"I told you to be careful!" Rhodes shouted at the Riolu. Rio shrugged in response, screaming internally. He told himself it was nothing. Nothing compared to the beach.

They soon reached Diancie's level. She groaned against the cage, dazed, but looked to be fine otherwise. Rio retracted his Bone Rush, sharpening one side to a razors edge with a thought, and slashed at the cage. The bone blade just bounced off. His eyes widened.

"I must free her," Rhodes said, pushing the Riolu aside. Rio watched as the gem goblin raised his shield gem to the cage, and tapped it. The black bars turned pink, and unceremoniously shattered. Diancie picked herself up, and floated over to them, onto the crystal ride.

"Thank you both," she said, smiling. "Now, let's get down from here so I can get us all out. Behind you again."

The Golurk has raised its other, still attached fist to the group. Before Rio could even react another pointed crystal pillar quickly shot from below it, skewering and stopping the offending hand.

"Nice one my knight," Diancie said, nodding. "Now lower us down please."

Rhodes did so without question. Rio took this time to look around the battlefield. A Golurk was swatting at a zipping black blur, jumping all around it. It was riddled with small holes, crumbling. Pana had been doing her job well.

He noticed that one of the golems was being held down by what looked like green glowing thread. Blue's Grass Knot. It was impressive how long he must have been keeping the attack up.

Scales has completely dismembered his Golurk, and was now sitting on its discarded hand. He was the first to see them and waved at them with a smile. He got up and started towards the trio. The black blur landed beside them, revealing an annoyed Pana.

"Happy?" she asked.

"I did have fun," Rio shot back. "Plus, I'm pretty sure we're friends of royalty now."

"Oh you are," Diancie said, smiling. "There will be rewards for this, I promise you. And good job on your end."

Before Pana could respond, and Rio could already see Poke in her eyes, they heard the snapping of grass. They all turned to see the Golurk Rio delimbed, now relimbed, and slowly getting back up. The rumbling followed soon after.

"HELP!" Rio turned to see Blue, running faster than he'd ever seen him. For good reason. The army of unkillable Golett running after him would motivate any Pokemon to move fast. It was obvious to Rio that he wouldn't escape. He could feel Blue's exhaustion from holding the Golurk down, and they were gaining fast, at least compared to the Bidoof.

Before anyone could stop him Rio rushed forward, summoning a Bone Rush in his good paw and swinging it at the first few golems in his way. He knocked them back, but the recoil shot through his body and jostled his broken wrist. He felt something else come loose and the fire traveled further up his arm. The Riolu couldn't stifle his cry of pain as he landed behind Blue.

"Rio!" The Bidoof shouted, stopping.

"I'll catch up!" Rio shouted back, shooting his staff at another approaching Golurk. It rolled into some others, toppeling them like bowling pins. "Go!"

"But-"

"I SAID GO!" Rio couldn't help but flare his Aura. What looked like blue fire flowed off him, and he couldn't get it to stop. What little control he had over his raw Aura was gone. He could feel it about to explode, but he held on long enough for his friend to get the message. He zoomed off to join the rest of the group.

Diancie had closed her eyes now, focusing. Pink light shone from the ground around them, and Rio could see the start of a massive crystal forming from under them.

A Golett had grabbed at his bad wrist, and Rio roared in pain. The resulting explosion blew away it and the three closest to it. He hadn't even meant to do that. The control he had left was slipping.

As the golems, small and large, got closer Rio could feel his Aura building. He couldn't focus it anymore, all he could do was let it storm around him. Explosion after explosion rocked the room, blue rocks flew everywhere, but all they did was put themselves back together.

One of the gigantic Golurk reached for him yet again. They were all stomping towards them now. Another uncontrollable explosion scattered its fingers away. This was it. More than his wrist was broken now, the indestructible army was closing in, and he had lost control over his power. What else was there to do?

Then it hit him. It was all so stupidly clear! Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? All Rio had to do was cross his arms, think about the stone he wanted, the black one, and do the simple dance that came with it.

Power erupted from his body, yellow light radiating off with his explosive blue, but it didn't stay that way. The Riolu cupped his hands, the pain a dull throb compared to the pure euphoria that came with the light. He didn't even notice his fur recede, becoming much shorter and sleeker. It turned pitch black, and yellow rings from around his wrists, ears, forehead and tail. The nasty scar on his neck was now visible as his neck fluff receded.

The light pouring from his body soon turned pitch black and gathered in his cupped paws. More and more mass seemed to gather in that one point, growing bigger and bigger. Rio pressed down on it, shrinking the ball of immense energy, packing all that power into a smaller and smaller package. Soon, it was the size of a pin in his palms. He grinned at the attack, Aura now black as night.

The golems stopped at the sight. All of them. From the smallest Golett to the Golurk who still had heads. Their faces still gave nothing away, and they still had no Aura to sense, but somehow Rio could tell they were scared of it. Of him.

His grin widened, and he chucked the ball with his good arm.

The golems scattered as if flew, but it was already too late. After a few feet the ball stopped, floating above the army. Then it started to grow, and Rio felt a slight tug at his body. That sight tug soon turned into a yank, then a massive pull towards the black mass. For some reason, Rio remained where he was, physically unaffected but feeling what he had wrought.

The golems weren't so lucky. Some were plucked away whole, sucked into the black sun that hovered in the air, and were completely pulverized by the immense gravity. Some were ripped apart chunk by chunk, grabbing to the ground to survive just that little bit longer. The Golurk, who had done their best to stomp away, couldn't resist the pull of the black hole. They crumbled like their brethren, and the singularity expanded with each bit of mass it ate. The ground and ceiling were not spared. The entire room crumbled, being sucked into the enormous force.

Rio's grin never faded as he basked in the dark light. The ground in front of him crumbled, but he remained standing, rooted to his place in the destruction. It was wonderful. Beautiful eve-

"RIO!" he heard Pana shout. "COME ON!"

The black and yellow Riolu snapped out of his most recent trance and turned to see everyone inside a diamond structure, slowly rising. Pana and Scales were waving him inside, hanging on for dear life as the black hole pulled them in too.

Rio wasted no more time, leaping towards his siblings' outstretched hands and grabbing them both. The euphoria was leaving, and the wave of agony that shot through his arm as it grabbed Scales's hand almost made him let go. They pulled him inside, where Diancie greeted him with a smile. Rhodes blocked the entrance with his shield. The force stopped acting on all inside. Blue ran up to him, eyes wide as the Riolu's fur turned back to normal.

"Excellent," Diancie said. "I'll take it from here!"

The Jewel Maiden raised her arms, and they shot up into the crumbing ceiling. The jolt sent new pain into Rio's arm, forcing him to finally sit down and clutch his arm. They bombarded him with questions, but he couldn't hear them. All he heard was a faint buzzing, drilling into his ears. Strange, it almost sounded like a scream…

Then he finally passed out from the pain.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

25. Legendary Reveals

The first thing Rio saw when he opened his eyes was the Guildmaster. Jain smirked down at the bedridden Riolu, a newspaper in her hands.

"Nice of you to join us," she said. "How are you feeling?"

The Riolu tried to sit up, but found he couldn't. It was then he felt something was keeping him strapped to the bed. Something was covering his arm too. He tried to move it, and felt a dull pain shoot through it. The thing that was really bothering him was the fact he felt so sluggish. His tongue felt swollen too.

"Your teammate told us you might not want to stay in bed," the Medicham said, taking a seat next to Rio's bed. "So she suggested tying you down. And drugging you."

With some effort Rio turned his head to face his right. His arm, not just his wrist, was bound in a tight cast. He tried to move it, but only got a dull throb for his trouble.

"Don't move young mon," Jain said. "Healer's orders. The only reason I'm allowed to be in here is because I needed to give you these."

She puts the newspaper down on the stand closest to his broken arm, along with a new explorer's badge. This one had a gold center. They sat next to his Z-Ring, the stones still faintly glowing. The Riolu didn't realize he let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his accessory.

"Your expedition was very successful. Finding an entire underground society, ruled by a Pokemon not seen in at least a century, and that strange Dungeon. I only wish you would have picked a better place to come out. Right in the middle of the merchant's circle…"

She shook her head while holding her face. "Your ride skewered an orb stand. The Alakazam running it wasn't very happy. Not to mention the damage to the streets from the other crystals…"

'Where's my team?' Rio tried to ask, but it came out as "wha my tum?"

"Your 'tum' as you put it, is in the next room over, with Diancie and that Sableye. They wanted to be here when you woke up, but Trucy kicked them out. Too loud and too crowded, especially with that dragon of yours. I'll tell them you're up."

She paused as she reached for the door. "One more thing. Team Disaster is ordered to take a long vacation. No jobs. Your stay here does not count."

"WHA?" Rio tried to force himself up, but his bindings kept him down. He could feel his Aura start to flare, but it suddenly calmed down. Rest wasn't that bad, right. He should just sit down and-

Rio suddenly recognized what the guildmaster was doing. He could feel her Aura wrap around his, trying to force calmness on him. He flared his Aura again, it was easy to shrug off now that he was aware of it. His entire body was glowing blue, but he held off on exploding. For now. Jain's eyes widened at the display.

"That's some power you've got," she said, nodding. "And awareness too! I even got some Lucario with that trick. Too bad about your control."

"Don do tha!" Rio slurred. It flared stronger, brighter. Soon he felt the foreign Aura retreat.

"Ok, ok," Jain threw her hands in the air in surrender. "Calm down."

Rio took a deep breath, and felt his Aura recede. The risk of explosion was still there, but less likely.

"I could teach you a few things, you know. After your vacation."

Rio growled at that, making his frustration obvious.

"Little workaholic, huh?" she sighed, mumbling something under her breath. "Look, like it or not you need rest. And you're gonna get rest. The Pancham has your rewards, she was quite insistent she was the one to hold onto them. I'll tell them you're up. Enjoy your vacation."

With that, the Medicham shut the door. Rio groaned again, resigning himself to a few weeks of absolute boredom. He guessed he could train? Would that break the 'rest' rules? Would it matter if he got caught?

Before he could think about it any further, he felt more visitors coming. Three were worried, and he couldn't even get a read on the other two. It was just… overwhelming… The approaching clanging further gave them away.

The door flew open, and the rest of Team Disaster piled in. Pana burst in, followed by Blue and Scales. He felt his teammates' relief wash over him.

"You're awake!" Blue said. "Thank Arceus!"

"You wouldn't wake up no matter how many times I shook ya!" Scales said. Rio could see tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm glad you're alright," Pana said, glaring. She put on an angry face, but her relief was obvious through her Aura. He could still feel a burning rage, but it was being smothered. For now.

"Hoi," Rio said, trying to sit up again.

"Would you knock it off?" Pana yelled, anger flaring. "Stay down!"

Deciding to not test his luck with the raging kleptomaniac any further, Rio laid down. She took a deep breath but still glared at her brother.

"You need to stop doing this. Seriously."

"We survived, righ?"

Pana's anger flared once again. "Listen to-"

"I hate to interrupt," Diancie said from the doorway. "But we'd like to thank you, and apologize properly." When she said apologize, she bumped Rhodes, who was back to his normal, pink eyed appearance. He grumbled in agreement.

They made their way inside. The Jewel Maiden floated inside with a smile on her face, while Rhodes stood in the doorway, looking around for threats. He didn't seem like one for conversation.

"Wonder City is a very nice place," she said, now floating in front of Rio's bed. "Not as good as Gemstone, but still quite nice! I've...forgotten how the sun feels."

She looked sad for a second. It was weird, not being able to fully perceive her Aura. Or his, for that matter. In fact, they were nearly identical. Almost like it was the same, which should have been impossible as far as he knew.

She clapped, her smile coming back full force. "Anyway, I wanted to wait until you were all conscious before I explained. You may now ask-"

Rio could feel Blue's curiosity bubble over. He didn't even wait for the queen to finish her sentence.

"What was that Dungeon? What was with those crystals around town? What's with that test? What's with his eyes? His typing?" He gestured at Rhodes, who looked away. "Is he a hybrid? It looks identical to yours! And the-"

"A curious Legacy, aren't you?" she giggled. "I can't answer all your questions. The Dungeon won't like that."

"Annoying," Pana grumbled, taking a seat by Scales.

"Be grateful my lady even deems your-" Rhodes started.

"Enough, my knight," Diancie shot him a look, and the Sableye looked away. "Ok, let's start off with something easier."

"Gemstone, my city and queendom, is capable of moving when needed. The unfortunate side-effect is whatever is over the city at the time gets...skewered."

"You were gonna turn this place into a spit roast?" Scales roared.

"That was not the plan," Diancie said. "That was to be an absolute last resort, but Rhodes here decided to go ahead without my knowing."

"I must protect you!" Rhodes shot back.

"You drugged me!" she shouted.

"You wouldn't listen!"

"Well, we appreciate you not destroying the town," Pana interrupted, glaring at the Sableye. "How generous."

"Hey-"

"OK!" Blue exclaimed. The Bidoof obviously didn't need Aura sense to see where that was going. "Then, why were you moving?"

"The Dungeon," she continued. "The Labyrinth. A special Dungeon, whose purpose is to capture and imprison Pokemon like me."

"You mean… Legendary?"

She nodded. "I'm not sure when exactly it started. First it was Darkrai, then Kyruem, and then it started getting bad. Legendary and Mythical Pokemon started disappearing, and that's when I found out why."

"So that's why they haven't been seen in a century? This 'Labyrinth' has been catching them?"

"It has been trying. The ones still free are hiding. I'm not sure who, however."

And suddenly, Rio was worried for his Masters.

"Why didn't we see any while we were down there?"

"You managed to catch up to me before we got in too deep. The Labyrinth is enormous, little Legacy, spanning across the entire globe. What you saw was only the top layer. Most of them are further inside."

"How have we not heard about this?" Blue said.

"The Labyrinth doesn't let any intruders out easily. Any Pokemon who wanders inside will most likely die to its guards. And even if they did, they would not be able to break our cages."

"Why not?" Pana asked, looking up again.

"They're built to restrain our power, and as an extra security measure, they can only be opened by it from the outside."

"So, how did Rhodes do it?" Blue asked, tilting his head.

"Simple. He was the key."

They all paused at that. Their Auras suddenly made a lot more sense.

"So… the crystal generation…"

"Catching on, little Legacy? Good. Because that's all I'll say on it for now."

"What!?" Pana shouted, shooting up from her seat once again. "You can't just drop something like that on us and just stop!"

"I can't hold your hand through this. It won't work if I do. You can figure it out from here. Rhodes did, and in case you haven't noticed, he's kind of dense."

"Hey!" the bonded Sableye shouted.

"Anyway," she turned to face Rio. "It looks like your Z-Move bought me some time. It weakened it. For now."

"Gla I cou hel," Rio mumbled.

"That reminds me," Pana said. "What's the deal with those rocks? Why is Rio suddenly obsessed with them? Was that you?"

"Nope! As for the obsession, someone's getting a little ahead of itself."

"Wha tha possa mean?" Rio asked.

"It'll be more fun if you find out. Don't worry, the Z-Crystals are a good thing. Keep an eye out. Speaking of, he should be here..."

Another Aura suddenly entered Rio's range, and soon enough that Carbink he met in the dungeon before floated in, four pink crystal boxes orbiting around his body.

"My lady! You're alright!" Geode quickly floated over to Diancie, tears forming in her eyes. "When you told me to meet you in a healers wing I was-"

"Yes yes. Calm down Geode." Diancie grabbed the boxes from his orbit. "Thank you for bringing these."

"Of course!" He turned to face Team Disaster. "I thank you all for rescuing my queen. This is the least I can do."

"No problm," Rio got out. "Wuzzat?"

"More rewards!" Diancie said, handing each of them a box. Rio's was placed between his legs, because he was still strapped down. "Open them!"

Scales tore the lid off of his, revealing more of that rock chicken he found in Gemstone. The Hakamo-o wasted no time digging in, mumbling his thanks through his full mouth.

"Thought you might like that one!" Diancie exclaimed. Fried Archen meat is a delicacy down under. A good travel food."

"That's not gonna last," Pana said, opening her chest. The Pancham's eyes lit up as the gemstones inside were revealed. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires, pink crystals sat inside the box, glittering in the rays of sunlight. "These on the other hand…" "Thought you might like that. Maybe you could use it on your vacation. Travel a little."

Blue opened his box next to reveal a few crystal game pieces, along with a board. Two sets of identical pieces sat inside, one side made of pink crystal, the other made of blue. A chess set.

"You seemed like the type to play," Diancie explained. "You could teach your companions, maybe while traveling?"

"Rea subtl," Rio said, flicking his own box open with his foot. When the Riolu saw what was inside, feeling came back in his limbs, and his tongue felt less heavy. He easily snapped out of his bindings and lunged for the pink rhombus sitting inside. The fairy bending over on its front seemed to burn itself into his mind, as the glowing rock shimmered. It was beautiful. Breathtaking. His.

The sudden burst of pain in his right arm brought him back to reality, but he still tightly clutched his new Z-Crystal.

"Stay in bed!" Pana shouted, before Rio could jump out of it. He complied with some light grumbling.

"Great," Diancie said, smiling. "You'll all do great. Maybe practice those on the road. I don't know. Just a suggestion."

She floated to the door, her two attendants sticking very close behind her. She gave the team one last smile. "You know where to find us. Enjoy the trip!"

Rhodes took the liberty of slamming the door shut behind them. Rio sat back in his bed, now free to reach for the newspaper the Guildmaster left by his bed, and slotting his new stone with the rest. Pana broke the silence first, closing her chest and walking over to Rio's bedside.

"Think she wants us to travel?" Rio asked casually, thankful that his tongue felt better.

"I'm down," Scales said, belching. The sound shook the room. "A break sounds great."

"I-if you don't mind," Blue started. "I have a place in mind. My hometown. Redwood."

"Oh yeah!" Scales said, finishing off the last of his fried Archen. "You told me about that place. Wanna see your family?"

"I-if you don't mind…"

"Why would we?" Rio chuckled. "Sounds like a good time."

"Small town too?" Pana asked, now reading that newspaper Jain had left. "Out of the way?"

"Yeah. Why?"

She slammed the paper down on Rio's bed. "Cuz we might want to lay low for a bit…"

When Rio and Scales saw what was on the front page, they knew she was right. They had to go.

Fast.

…

BREAKING NEWS: ROOKIE TEAM DISCOVERS CRYSTAL QUEEN!

Prince had read the article over, and over again. The team's description matched those bastards he gave a ride a few months ago. Rio, that fluffy Riolu that convinced the Dewott-Wartotle to let him on in the first place, Pana, that cute Pancham, half the reason he let them on if the first place, and Scales, that Hakamo-o, the reason his boat was in such disrepair. The Bidoof was new though.

The hybrid looked up from the paper, and at the large crown shuffling past his pride and joy. The sun shone down on Port Topaz, the sun-bleached wood of the docked ships and deck were littered with Pokemon of all types. All walks of life. He even saw a Drampa walking around earlier. That wasn't something you saw every day.

He got up stretching. The shell fused to his back was as stiff as ever, but it's been a constant companion. His scalchops rested niceley in their little slots on either side of the top, and his fluffy, curly tail shook in the seas breeze along with his whiskers. His thin, light blue fur had dried off in the bright sun.

"Blimey," he whispered. "The bastards are doing well. Maybe their new friend be willin' to pay for repairs…"

He walked back into the small ship to finish his patchwork repair job. That damn dragon. Even ate all the dried fish, the dickhead.

The creak of a squeaky floorboard drew his attention. This was Prince's boat, and he knew what it sounded like when someone stepped on. The hybrid drew his scalchops in one swift motion, focusing his energy into them. Blades of sea-blue energy sprouted from the shells as he spun to point it at the corner of the room. Nothing was there.

"Must be hearin things…" the hybrid let his Razor Shells fade, and put them back on his back. He gave the squeaky corner one last look, before turning back around.

And ran right into a furry wall of muscle.

The two Pokemon towered over the hybrid, arms crossed and large cloaks covering their white and black bodies. Their heads were almost scraping the roof! All he could make out were their piercing eyes and yellow muzzles. How had he not noticed them earlier? How were they so quiet? Why were they here?

"Hello," one of them said in a gruff voice. "We didn't meet on your last trip across the Bears Maw."

Prince froze. Had one of his crewmates blabbed? The residents were clear, no one was supposed to know what was on the other side of that scratch of sea!

"We didn't tell anyone!" Prince spat out, now backing away. "Sailors honor!"

"We believe you," the other one said. That one had a softer voice. Female? Did that matter if it looked like either one of them could pick him up and crack his shell open with no trouble? "But you did take something from us."

"We-we didn't!"

"Yes, you did." The softer spoken one closed the distance he made with a single step. Her weight should have made the boat creak, but it didn't. How? She snatched the newspaper out of the half-otter's paw, and read over it. "So, they've gotten themselves involved with Diancie?"

"Have they?" the gruff one seemed to lighten up as he joined his companion. "'Team Disaster?' Well, it sounds about right. Oh, they made a new friend too."

"Well that's nice. Probably a Legacy as well. He'd benefit from some training."

"So, to Wonder City?"

"Let's stay here for a bit. See the sights."

"Honey, the Labyrinth…"

"We won't stay long! Besides, if Diancie's surfaced it means its presence's probably diminished around her. Worst comes to worst we'll run there."

"...Fine. Two days."

Prince had almost reached the door before they were on him again. One blocked his exit, while the other loomed behind him.

"What's your name, young mon?" the gruff one asked.

"P-Prince," he got out.

"Mind if we sleep here? It's the least you could do after you took our children…"

"Of course!" he agreed, hearing the growl building in the tall Pokemon's throat. "Stay as long as you'd like!"

The other one patted him on his head, a gesture of affection. "Great. And we'll need a ride home, you understand. Stay here, don't try and ditch us or anything."

"She's not seaworthy at the mo," Prince shot back. "Specially not for the Bears Maw."

"Then find some shipwrights," the gruff one said. "We'll pay if we have to."

They both made for the door, ducking out, and giving him a wave before gently closing it. Prince fell to his knees, relieved his shell was still on his back.

Those three had some crazy parents.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

26. Road Trip!

"Check."

This was too easy for Blue. Then again, Rio was just learning. Still, he was way too hasty for this. He was more focused on taking pieces than actually completing the objective of the game. For every Carbink pawn the Riolu took, Blue took a Mudsdale knight, a Bisharp bishop, a Golurk rook. That last piece brought back bad memories, so it was cathartic to take it with his queen, a Sableye in this case.

"Damn," Rio cursed, glowering down at the crystal pieces. "You're good at this."

It had been a day since Diancie left, and Rio was still confined to the hospital wing. A few Heal Pulses a day made steady progress on his arm, and the Riolu should be released very soon. Maybe even that day!

Blue took a look at his teammate's still bound arm. He knew that was his fault, at least in part. Rio saved his life twice in there, and this was how he ended up. That was unacceptable.

"Rio-" he started.

"If it's about the arm don't worry about it," the Riolu interrupted, still focused on the already lost game. "Not the first time."

"Still, it's partly my fault-"

"It was my choice, and I'd say it was a good one."

"But-"

"You're alive. I'm alive. That's all that matters." the Riolu moved his king, Diancie in this case, out of the check. That's all Blue needed.

"...Thanks. And checkmate," he said, moving his own queen in to close the net he laid around his king, who was technically the queen. This chess set was weird the more you thought about its pieces…

"Gah!" Rio shouted. A flicker of light blue energy came off of him, but faded after a second. "Dammit."

"For someone who can read my mind, you suck at this," Blue teased as he swept the set back in the box.

"Yeah well this isn't a very emotional game. I can't get actual thoughts."

That reminded Blue of a question he had held off for a few days now.

"Speaking of your abilities," he started, testing the waters. "Can you tell me what happened to you in the Labyrinth? With your fur?"

"Whatcha talking about?" he asked, stretching.

"You-you didn't notice?"

"Didn't notice what?"

"Y-your fur!" the Bidoof continued to stammer. "It changed! How did you not notice that?"

"Well, what didn't I notice?" Rio repeated. He saw the blue flicker around his form, this time lasting a little longer.

"It-"

The door creaked open, cutting Blue off. Trucy, the healer, stepped into the room. A wide smile spread across her lips.

"Well," she said, stretching. "I've just properly met you two, and you're already some of my most frequent visitors. Don't make it too much of a habit, alright?"

"Yes ma'am," Blue said, pushing the question back for now.

"I only promise to try," Rio shot back.

"Try hard then. Hold out the arm, this should be the last session you need."

Rio did so gladly, tail wagging. The Audio put her hands on his cast, and let the Heal Pulse wash over it. He couldn't see it working, the cast wasn't see-through after all, but he watched the Riolu grin as he tested his paw. It clenched, and he saw no hint of a wince.

"I have to say," Trucy continued, putting her hands down. "I've never seen such a fast recovery, even with a few Heal Pulses a day. It's weird…"

"Yeah," Rio responded. "the Masters said the same thing every time I broke something."

"Are you ever gonna tell me who these mysterious masters of yours are?"

"Something tells me you're gonna find out soon enough…" Rio shivered at that. The team hadn't told Blue much about the Masters, their parents, even after the slight panic that newspaper caused. He'd never seen any of them that nervous, even facing down five massive Golurk. Pana dragged him and Scales out to secure a ride to Redwood right after. No matter how many questions he asked, how much he pried, all he got was, "We just need to get away for a bit… You'll be fine. Probably…"

Something that scared three fearless Pokemon. How bad could it be?

Blue tried to push down the building terror as Rio leapt out of bed. The Riolu stretched, arm still in cast.

"Let me take that off," Trucy said, taking a step towards the energetic punch dog.

"Nah," Rio said, holding his newly healed arm out in front of him. "I got this." Without any further warning the cast exploded, bits of plaster shooting everywhere. Blue managed to turn in time, and he felt a few chunks hit his body. When he turned back around his friend's arm looked as good as new.

The room wasn't so lucky.

His small explosion shot bits of cast all around the room. Holes littered the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and even broke some glass vials. Thankfully, they were empty but still. Trucy also managed to recognize what the Riolu was doing and managed to throw up a Protect around herself. She didn't look too happy as the forcefield fell.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, incredulous.

"It's faster," the Riolu responded. "No one's hurt. Thanks!" He walked out of the room without another word. The two normal types just stood there for a bit, looking around at the thankfully small amount of destruction he wrought.

"I-" Blue started.

"I'll get Jain to pay for it," Trucy said, shrugging. "She's got in interest in him. In both of you."

"I'm sorry?"

She waved him off. "Might want to catch up to him. He sounded a little impatient."

With something else to think about, Blue went after his teammate. Rio he could understand, but why would the guildmaster be interested in someone like him? He was so weak, so unimportant.

That reminded him, Diancie called him a Legacy too. He had suspicions on what exactly that meant, but she had to have been mistaken. There was no way he had a connection to a Legendary Pokemon! Him? The screw-up Bidoof? Hilarious.

Rio was tapping his foot right outside the door, waiting. Ms. Trucy was right, he was more jittery than usual. It was unsettling, seeing him so nervous.

"We have a ride yet?" he asked, almost bouncing as they walked.

"Y-yeah. Caravan headed north today. Pana was talking about breaking you out if they didn't release you today."

"Yeah, I was going stir crazy in there."

"Could you please tell me what exactly has you guys so nervous? What do I watch out for?"

The Riolu was silent for a time as they walked. That just made the Bidoof more nervous. What had he gotten himself into? Rio didn't speak again until they were out of the guild tower, and walking into the town proper.

"If we do see our Masters," he started. "run. Just run. Hopefully they ignore you."

It was his turn to be quiet for a while. He really didn't like what that implied. "Did they… hurt you?" Blue prodded.

"Oh plenty. Training always gets rough, especially with them."

"Not what I meant. Outside of training?"

"Huh?" Blue watched realization wash over his friend. "Oh! Oh no, nothing like that."

Blue sighed in relief. That made him feel a little better at least. Not by much, of course, but it was something.

It was weird seeing so many Sableye around. At least these ones looked normal. The gem goblins swarmed all the crystals they could find, shredding each one in minutes. Diancie's way of saying sorry, and feeding some of her people. It was efficient, and they seemed to be enjoying it. A Vulpix with a bandage on her paw and her Ninetails mother smiled as one tipped with dried blood was consumed.

"Wow," Rio said, looking around. "They're almost all gone."

"Yeah," Blue said, used to the sight now. "So, are you gonna tell me what happened?"

He was silent for a bit again, then shrugged.

"I honestly don't know. Your guess is as good as mine."

Blue did have a guess, but he wanted to confirm it first. It would be embarrassing to be wrong about something that crazy. A temporary hybrid evolution? Insane. But considering everything he's learned, about the Labyrinth, what he suspects about Legacies, anything was possible. He just needed confirmation, and he could get that back home.

Normally he'd visit the library, but the crystal cleanup extended there too. Mr. Thesus was more of a grump than usual while he carefully oversaw the operation, and Blue knew better to bother him right now. He left the Noctowl a note to say goodbye for a while, Arceus writing without thumbs was infuriating, and that was that.

"Alright then," Blue responded. "I'm surprised Pana agreed to a caravan. I thought she'd save money by walking there."

"The Masters probably won't expect her to spend any money, so she is," Rio continued. "Plus, Scales would stand out more if we walked."

"I see," It made sense to the Bidoof, do what your pursuers aren't expecting, lay low. But considering his explosive company, he wondered how long that would last.

Soon they reached the north exit of the city. Eight covered carts were lined up near the city, all hooked up to Mudsdale. While most looked normal, brown and black hair, coated in mud, one, the largest looked a little different. What looked like a horn poked out of his dark red and yellow mane that flowed in the wind. It almost looked like it was made of magma. The same went for his legs. The hybrid towered over his companions, watching the two walk up to him. Blue had met him yesterday, but that still didn't take away any of the intimidation.

"Well hey there little guys!" the leader of the caravan boomed cheerfully. "The name's Artei!"

"Yo," Rio said, not even flinching at the horse's appearance. "Rio. Nice to meet ya."

"Oh yeah! Team Disaster right?" He lowered his head to get a better look at the smaller Pokemon. Blue took a step back, but Rio didn't move, still smiling. "I met your Bidoof friend yesterday, but he didn't talk much. I tend to have that effect on Pokemon."

The Mudsdale-Rapidash huffed, literally blowing steam into their faces. Blue coughed at the sudden temperature change and the smell of week old apples. Again, Rio didn't even flinch.

"B-blue," he stammered to introduce himself.

The massive horse nodded. "I gotta say, you guys aren't what I expected from a team that saved a queen. I guess big things come in small packages!"

The hybrid let out a booming laugh, shaking his head.

"I told that to your Pancham friend earlier, and she looked like she wanted to kill me."

"Makes sense," Rio said. "Watch your back." Blue got the feeling the Riolu wasn't kidding.

Artei laughed at the warning. "I like you, kid! Well, your friends are in that cart over there," he gestured to a cart past a little bit away. "And it'll be a few days til your stop."

"Thanks for this!" Rio said, before going to the cart in question. Blue hid his sigh of relief and followed his friend to the cart in question. The horse seemed nice enough, but dammit if he wasn't intimidating. Seriously, all the Pokemon in his life seemed to be some level of terrifying. Size, ability, reputation, pure glare, it was weird.

"I think there's someone here to see us off," Rio said, before opening the curtain of their ride. There was one Pokemon in there that the Bidoof wasn't expecting, but the graying wings and steely glare were too familiar as he poked his head through the curtains.

"Hello young mon," Thesus said, climbing out of the cart. "It is...good...to see you up again."

Blue backed up in shock. He wasn't at the library, watching over the books?

"The name's Rio, Mr. Thesus," the Riolu answered back. "What's up?"

"I came to see my protege off. If you wouldn't mind, I would like to speak to him in private."

"Sure, sure." Rio started to climb in himself. "Damn, you pissed off Pana…"

"She does not like me, and I can say the same is true concerning my feeling for her."

"YOU JIPPED US!" Pana shouted from behind the curtain. The loud clanging of scales followed. Blue was honestly surprised she hadn't burst from out of the cart to start trying to throttle the Noctowl.

"I am not having this conversation again. Come along." Thesus walked away from the cart with a raging bear inside, and after some hesitation Blue followed. He only spoke when they were out of earshot.

"You should really say goodbye face to face," the Noctowl advised. "It could be considered rude not to."

"Sorry," Blue said, looking away in guilt "You just looked so annoyed and busy-"

"It is fine. I just wanted to inform you I have made considerable progress in deciphering the text you obtained."

"You did?" Blue's eyes shot back to his mentor, alight with curiosity. He bounced in place, asking questions. "What does it say? Does it have anything to do with that Pokemon? Is it historical? Scientific?" What-"

"Calm yourself," the Noctowl chided. "While I have not deciphered everything, I can safely say that tome was an instruction manual of sorts."

"For what?"

"Creating a Pokemon."

Blue was speechless at that, as he put the pieces together. "So, what attacked us-"

"An artificial human creation, it was called Mewtwo."

Blue had to sit down. This was...insane. Years of research, of searching for some new, or old in this context, remnant of humanity, and one tries to kill him. A living, breathing remnant of humanity probably wanted him and the rest of his team dead. It was simultaneously amazing, and utterly horrifying.

"Mewtwo?" Blue asked, pulling himself out of his thoughts for the moment. "That name implies a connection to-"

"Yes, it seems to be a modified recreation of the mythical Mew."

"That… is that blasphemy?"

"I recommend asking Mew herself. It is her likeness…"

That comment sent the Bidoof reeling. Was...was that a joke?

"What?" Thesus asked, his characteristic scowl still on his face. "You should if given the chance."

"But the legendaries…"

"You have met one already, why not another?"

It was then that Blue realized he didn't tell him about the Labyrinth. Should he? It wouldn't hurt… and why wouldn't he? The Noctowl had taught him so much, helped him follow his dream, even assigned him his first real job! Why would he hesitate?

"Because according to Lady Diancie," Blue started. "we might never see another again."

Blue told Thesus everything. What happened in the Labyrinth, about the Labyrinth, how exactly Diancie was freed, everything except about Rio's color change. The Bidoof still wanted to confirm his suspicions, and he wasn't sure Rio wanted him spreading the word about that. A thoughtful expression sprouted on the bird's face.

"I see," Thesus said after Blue finished, now looking forward. "That would certainly explain their absences in the world… and these Legacies…"

The Noctowl suddenly snapped his head back to look at Blue, a full one hundred and eighty degrees. The Bidoof hated it when he did that.

"I shall see what I can find here," he said, looking directly into his eyes. "I shall try and gain an audience with Diancie. While the stories say she is playful to the point of initiation, she may tell me more if she does not know of our relationship. If not…"

He looked away again, spreading his wings and crouching. He was getting ready to fly. He turned again to give Blue one last glance. The constant glare softened.

"Enjoy your trip, and be safe."

Thesus flapped his wings, the strong gust of wind that followed blinded Blue. When he could open his eyes again his mentor was soaring back to his library, a dot in the sky. The Bidoof could only stare at his teacher for a bit, still trying to put his thoughts together. He didn't have much time to do that before the call to get in came.

"We're shoving off!" the large hybrid whined. "Get in or tough luck!"

At that, Blue rushed off to join his companions. He'd try and take his mentor's advice. At least for now. It would be nice to see his family again.

He just hoped they would be happy to see him.

…

When Rio walked in, Scales was sitting on Pana, tail wrapped around her outstretched arms. Her constant rocking was shaking the dragon's scales like mad. She was really, really angry to say the least.

"GET OFFA ME!" she shouted at her brother.

"We're supposed to be relaxing," Scales shot back. "Not maiming."

"You think I can't do both?"

"We know you can do both," Rio finally said, crouching down to look her in the eye. "But you know we gotta stay low for a while, and a maining ain't gonna help. Plus he's close to Blue. So chill."

The raging Pancham closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, and Rio could feel her Aura calm. After a few minutes of this, she opened them once again. Her glare was still there, but it was her normal one, not the murder one.

"I won't kill him," she said. "Now get your fat ass offa me!"

Scales did so, and Pana spring up from the wood floor, snarling at her brother. He threw his claws in the air, punching a few holes in the ceiling as a result.

"Whoops!" the dragon quickly pulled his claws from the ceiling, taking a chunk of wood with it. He shrugged and sat down, picking splinters from in between his claws. The sun shone through the cart, and Rio sat down next to his brother. At least they'd have some sun as they went.

Pana just started at the hole, shrugged and sat down herself. It looked like she burned through all her anger. For now at least.

"How long do you think we have before they find us?" Scales asked, still picking at the splinters.

"If this goes well they won't," Pana answered. "If no one blabs, we'll be good for a while."

"Maybe that Labyrinth thing'll keep them on the island?" Scales asked, hopeful.

"Doubt it," Rio said. "Griza said they weren't happy, right?"

"Speaking of," Pana said, focusing on her brother. "You think she'll come after us too? It did mention how fucked up you were…"

The Riolu's blood ran cold. He didn't think of that. Arceus almighty why didn't he think of that? A broken arm wouldn't be anything if his spine went next!

Before he could further panic about his impending death-by-hug, a voice boomed from outside.

"We're shoving off!" Artei warned. "Get in or tough luck!"

The cart started to move, and Scales's scales clanged together from the sudden force. Rio hoped the ride wouldn't be too bumpy, he wasn't sure his ears could take again it might distract from an impending terrifying bear attack, so tradeoffs?

"Wait! Wait!" Rio felt Blue's Aura enter his range once again, and he got up to open the curtain. He kept pace with the slow moving cart, but his short stature and lack of climbing ability kinda left him stuck walking. It was hard to hear him between the clanging dragon scales, the movement of the carts, and the stomping of hooves.

Rio reached down and grabbed Blue's front leg, quickly pulling him inside. Their trip had truly begun.

Each of them wondered how long it would really last.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

27. Bouncing Bandits

Blue realized something while the wagon rolled on. Snoring was one thing, but snoring from a Hakamo-o was something else entirely.

Scales fell asleep an hour into the trip, right after the Bidoof told them about the Mewtwo. They took it well enough, like he expected. Blue still wasn’t sure how they could be so relaxed about a mutated recreation of a legendary hunting them down, but considering everything that happened maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised by that.

But still, the dragon's snores were loud and grating! The worst part was that he moved in his sleep! The bumpy ride that was the cart definitely wasn’t helping. The clanging scales, shifting on wood, and his incessant snores were maddening. He could barely hear himself think! The Bidoof had his face down, paws over his ears, and yet it just kept digging in!

He looked up to see Rio and Pana playing with his chess set, badly, paws also covering their ears. They seemed to be much less bothered by their brother's incessant noise. Hell, they were even talking over it.

“Check?” Rio asked.

“WHAT?” Pana asked, uncovering one ear, wincing at the sound.

“I ASKED IF THAT WAS CHECK!”

“...I HATE THIS GAME.”

It made sense. They probably grew up with this.

Still, how could ANY ONE POKEMON BE THIS LOUD?

He had to wake him. There was no other choice! He’d go mad if he didn’t! Scales seemed pretty chill, maybe he wouldn’t mind?

Blue lifted his paws from his ears, and almost immediately put them back. Arceus almighty, it felt like his head was gonna explode from the sound! Taking a deep breath, he uncovered his ears again and started moving towards the dragon. He heard Rio say something but the constant noise tuned him out.

Soon he reached Scales’s head, rocking against the cart floor. His breath smelled like day old meat, revolting to his vegetarian palette, and berries. His snoring shook Blue’s body along with the raddling cart, and the jangling scales were even worse close to the source. The Bidoof tapped one of his arms. No change. Of course. He’d seen him take a giant stone fist and not even flinch! He’d have to put more effort into waking him.

“Blue-” he heard Rio say, but the noise was still too loud. He tried tapping him harder, but still nothing. The Bidoof doubted he could impart enough force to seriously hurt him, he could barely push a large log on a good day, maybe a quick bite?

“Wait!” he heard Pana yell, but it was too late. Blue just bit the dragon on the shoulder with enough force to cut into a log. It didn’t pierce Scales’s thick hide of course, and he made sure to keep his tongue far away from the flesh. Blue saw his other arm rise up in response. That was a good sign.

Then his claws started flaring with purple energy.

That was the day Blue learned that Scales knew Sleep Talk.

The Bidoof just managed to release his bite when the Dragon Claw started to fall. He closed his eyes, ready for the agony that would have followed, but instead he felt himself being pushed out of the way. The violent sound of wood crunching followed.

When Blue opened his eyes, he found Pana next to him, her paws pushing into his side. For looking so soft they were very firm on touch. He looked back to where he was standing on the other side of the cart, and found that Scales had buried his claws into the floor. The wood splintered where his fist landed, now seemingly stuck. He still snored, but at least his scales were a little muffled.

“Yeah,” Pana said, now audible. “Don’t do that.”

“...Noted…”

…​

“By Entei’s mane, there’s a reason you’re called Team Disaster!”

Artei seemed to take the slight damage to one of his carts well. His mane and tail burned with warm light in the night air. They had stopped in a clearing, the forest that surrounded them was quiet. The mountains were far behind them now, along with Wonder City. The rest of the Mudsdale had fallen asleep for the night, carts to the side and unattached. The hellhorse himself had laid down, magma hooves tucked under his large body. He was on Scales’s level now, who sheepishly looked away.

“Sorry about that,” Rio said. “He can’t really help it.”

“It's fine! Hell if I had a coin for every time I set something on fire when I was a tyke I’d be a rich mon! Just try not to let it happen again.”

“Got it.”

He turned to Scales, who was still looking away. “Now, I can’t really force ya to do this, but could ya avoid sleeping in the cart? Be a real help on our ears.”

“I’ll try…” the dragon said, turning back to the caravan leader.

“All I ask. Now, go get yourselves something to eat. We’ve got another long day a travel ahead of us.”

There was a decent spread out for the passengers a ways away from the carts. Rio guessed the horse Pokemon liked to keep to themselves at night. Or maybe just get away from the walking sound hazard that was Scales. Could have even been both. Scales was already drifting towards the barrels of fruit. No meat as far as Rio could tell, this service was run by horse Pokemon after all, so none of his favorite food. Still, the dragon wasn’t known to be picky.

Pana stepped in front of him before he could inhale one of the barrels, glaring at the dragon.

“I already got us food,” she said. “Don’t you dare.”

“But-” Scales tried to argue.

“I don’t want you to eat everything. There are others here too, and we have to make this shit last. Now shut up and come on.”

“Oh come-”

Pana gave Scales one of her death glares, shutting him up immediately. He followed her without another word. Rio stifled a snigger as he followed.

Blue was already sitting by, eating his own dinner. He looked glum, didn’t need Aura sense to tell that much. Then again, he almost got his head bashed open by a sleeping dragon, so at least it wasn’t worse. The three plates of food by him, one triple the size of the others, sat very appealing. It was pretty clear which was for Scales.

The dragon didn’t hesitate, snatching his large plate of food and just shoveling food down his gullet. Rio took that time to grab his own plate and sit down.

“Thanks,” he said to his sister, who nodded.

“Uh,” Blue said, taking a breath. “Sorry about earlier. That was… a surprise.”


“Shoulda warned ya sooner,” Rio said, tossing a leppa berry into the air and catching it with his mouth. “Sorry about that.”

“I probably shouldn’t have tried to bite you in the first place,” Blue said to Scales, who had already gotten through half his plate. “That was rude.”

The dragon gulped down his mouthful before answering. “I’ve taken a lot worse.”

“Kinda like how you were about to,” Pana said under her breath. Blue shuttered a bit, but went back to eating.

They are in silence for a bit, Scales finishing off his food first. He tried to reach for one of his siblings stray berries, but they both slapped his claws away. Rio could feel Blue’s apprehension, so he tried to distract him from it.

“What’s Redwood like?” he asked. Blue seemed startled by the question.

“What?”

“You know, the town, what it looks like, anything interesting around it?”

“O-oh,” he looked down for a bit, but he could feel his Aura light up with excitement and nostalgia.

“It’s named after the Redwood trees that surround the place. Massive trees that shoot far into the sky. The forest is full of them, and there are plenty of small Dungeons hidden away. And then there's the town square-”

As Blue talked, he got more excited, more animated. Rio enjoyed feeling such an Aura come from the normally nervous Bidoof. Soon, the Riolu found himself closing his eyes, just listening to the Bidoof talk. At first, all he could really feel was his team's Auras and some of the other passengers a little ways away. They seemed annoyed by the chatter coming from the group, especially a kind of familiar Aura. An Alakazam maybe?

Then he could feel the Mudsdale, sleeping and at peace. Artei himself had just dozed off, and it was then that he noticed the hybrid had something weird about his Aura. It kind of felt like there were two of him.

He didn’t have much time to ponder that though. That’s when he felt two new Auras approach the carts. He could feel their intentions too. They were… less than noble. They were also an excuse to...stretch a little.

Rio finished his food, much to Scales’s sadness. Blue was just finishing his thoughts on one of the more notable landmarks.

“And the evolution spring-” Rio felt Pana’s Aura perk up, but he had already decided on what he was doing tonight. He stood up facing the carts.

“Sounds awesome,” he said, absently tossing his plate in the air. As he lost focus, his Aura sense lost the range it gained, and it retreated to its pitiful few yards. Still, he knew they were there. “I’m gonna put this back. Don’t wait up.”

He walked off before anyone could stop him, putting his plate back near the barrels as he went. No one challenged him, and as he got closer he could feel the Auras once again. They were inside one of the carts, the Mudsdale attached to it sound asleep. Before Rio could get any closer two smallish figures darted out of the cart, carrying something. Thieves. Fun.
Rio made to quietly follow, not even bothering to summon a Bone Rush. It glowed, and he wanted to reveal himself on his own terms.

They walked for a while. Rio kept out of sight, easily keeping pace with the thieves’ clumsy movements. They scrambled away from the camp for a time, and soon enough Rio could make out a small campfire. A little closer and he could feel more Auras. Then laughs.
The Riolu quickly jumped into a tree. He was nowhere near as quiet as Pana, but the sound coming from the party below muffled any noise he made.

The two thieves, a Morgrem and a Midnight Lycanroc, rocked up to the five sitting and eating by the fire. A Houndoom stoked the flames, and a plucked bird Pokemon sat on a spit roast. It smelled great. Rio could only hope it was feral.

“Anything good?” another one of the Pokemon, a Weavile, said, sitting a little farther away.
“Those carts are loaded!” The Morgrem said, dumping the bag of loot. Orbs, gold, dungeon items. There was even a gold sash in there! Rio whistled, but no one heard him.

“This is only some of that shit!” The Lycanroc said. “Pushers are out, riders didn’t see us, we could clean them out easy!”

The bandits all cheered, and Rio made a note of the rest of the species sat by the fire. A Toxitricity with blue electricity strummed at his chest, a Marowak twirled his bone club, and the Rhydon that sat above them all let out a hardy laugh.

“Nice find!” the Rhydon said. “The boss will be pleased. After we eat, let's clean 'em out, shall we?”

Rio smiled. They looked like fun. Maybe he could have some too. Deciding to find out he jumped down right behind the two thieves with a thump. They all turned to look down at the Riolu, who simply stood there, smiling.

“That smells good,” he said, pointing at the bird. “Mind if I have a piece?”

“Hows about you get the hell outta here? The Morgrem said, leering down at his shorter visitor. His tongue was out, flicking some spit in the Riolu’s face. Now he was gonna enjoy what was about to happen even more.

“Hmmmm…” Rio said, pretending to consider, drinking in their emotions. Not a single piece of caution in there. A little disappointing, but whatever. It was their funerals.
“Nah. Tell you what though. I’ll take these back, and you can keep the food.” He thought he’d give them a chance. It was only fair.

They all laughed, and Rio shrugged. He did warn them. What happened next was on them.

“You’re funny, kid,” the Lycanroc said, reaching for his neck. The side where his scar was. That one lost him his staying awake privileges as Rio ducked under him and slammed a Force Palm into his stomach. The werewolf flew back, crashing, into a tree, breaking through it, and slamming into another. He slid to the ground, gasping for breath as he fell into unconsciousness.

He waited for the surprise to die down, flexing his healed arm. Yep, back to normal. He then raised it to catch the Morgrem’s Slash. He felt terror sprout from his opponent’s Aura, only now realizing how screwed he was.

Rio let his Aura burst around him, blowing the imp, the valuables, and the ground beneath him away. He quickly made his way out of the crater, where the rest of the bandits still sat, surprised. The Riolu simply stretched as he looked at them.

“You know,” he said, another grin sprouting on his face. “If you leave, what is that, Farfetch’d? If you leave it there too long you’ll ruin it. It burns real easy, you know.”

“Kill him,” the Rhydon said, standing. They all did. They were finally ready to take him seriously.

Good.

Rio jumped back, just avoiding the Weavile’s Night Slash. With a foot pointing at her, the Riolu let another Burst loose. The dark-type was out before she even hit the tree, then the ground.

He sidestepped the Bonearang that came flying at him, along with a jet of fire. Deciding to fight bone with bone, he made another Bone Rush and shot it at the Houndoom. He heard a crunch, and the flames stopped as the hellhound crumpled.


The Bonearang almost hit him when it came back. Almost. He actually managed to snatch it out of the air, right before a bolt of lightning flew at him. He raised his own bone to block, the ground type move nullifying it.

Rio chucked his borrowed bone at the Toxitricity, who to his credit actually managed to dodge it. Unfortunately he didn’t see the other bone shooting at him until it was far too late. It struck him in the chest. A loud, low strum filled the area as he too was sent flying back.

The Marowak picked up his bone, turned to glance at Rio, who was now sporting a toothy grin, eyes alight with blue energy, and promptly ran off into the woods. Honestly, the smartest move he’d seen out of these guys.

“Get back here Mac!” the Rhydon shouted after his ally. “I’ll make sure the boss squashes you if you don’t-” The towering Pokemon sighed, turning back to stare down the comparatively tiny dog.

“Well, ain’t you hot shit?” the rhinoceros said, grabbing the roast bird’s spit, pulling it off of the fire. “Well, you don’t know who you’re-”

“Is that feral?” Rio asked, pointing at the bird and cutting him off. It was really bothering him.

“...Yeah. Is that seriously the only thing you’re worried about?”

“Well, if you’re anything like your friends,” Rio gestured around at the floored and groaning bandits. “Then yeah, it is. Wanna know if I have to make a grave, or if I can eat it after we’re done here.”

The Rhydon just stared at the much smaller Pokemon, before sticking the spit in the ground, grumbling. He glowered at the Riolu, his annoyed Aura burning against his mind. He was riled up, ready to stomp him flat.

Well, try and stomp him flat. The Riolu already knew how it would go. Despite how annoyed he made the Rhydon, despite the evidence that littered the forest floor, the relative giant still looked down on him. Figuratively and literally. Underestimated him. He could feel it.

And that really got under Rio’s skin.

The Rhydon stomped towards him, stamping out the fire as he stomped over. The light from the campfire faded, but Rio’s Aura still burned around him. He couldn’t help it, and right now he didn’t want to
.
Soon they were glaring each other down, the larger rhinoceros looming over the two foot dog. Rio was not phased.

“You don’t know who you just pissed off,” the Rhydon said, raising a fist. “But the boss dosen’t have to find out. Cuz you’ll die right-”

Rio didn’t even let him finish, blowing up point blank. The small but violent explosion ripped through the air, the ground, the treasures scattered near him, and most importantly, the Rhydon. The ground type knew what it was like to fly for a few seconds, crashing into the treeline soon after. Rio took a deep breath, and his writhing Aura faded. That was disappointing to say the least. Still, he got some free food after it, so not a total waste of time.

Rio tore a leg off the bird and took a bite. Yup. Farfetch’d. Scales would love it. As he took another bite, nudging the Morgrem out of the way with his foot, he grabbed all that he could salvage, it wasn’t much, and the rest of the bird, and went back to the caravan.

Somehow, the myriad of explosions didn’t wake the cart pushers, and Rio just sort of gently laid the stolen slag inside. It was almost like no one would know! And if they did they couldn’t track it back to him! Probably.

Finishing off the duck leg, and cracking the bone, he walked back to his team. Blue was still talking when he got back, right up until he noticed what Rio was carrying.

“Where did you get that?” he asked, nervous.

Rio tossed the rest of the bird to Scales, who immediately started tearing into it. The jangling that followed only muffled his groans of bliss.

“Farfetch’d!” he said between gulps. “My favorite!”

“Found some guys in the woods,” Rio explained, sitting back down. “Took it off their hands.”

“Did they deserve it?” Pana asked, watching as Scales inhaled his new snack.

“Yup.”

“...Do I want to ask?” Blue said out loud, more talking to himself than anything.

“Eh, it’ll probably be fine.” Rio waved it off, sitting down next to him.

And it was.

For a little, at least.

…
​

Psych was cautious of the strange Sableye that had popped out of the pink crystal that just sprouted from the ground. Who could blame it? Four of the five Pokemon that it had encountered had tried to kill it, as far as it could tell, and the Mewtwo would not be caught off guard by another. At least its ribs had healed at this point.

Griza seemed to be less concerned, walking up to the cave entrance calmly, only lightly shaking the cave around them. They were just about to set off, too…

“Hello!” its companion said in a sweet tone. “What do you want?”

“Yes, yes,” the pink-eyed Sableye said, coughing. “Just a message for you two, Ms. Legacy.”

“How do you know about that?” Griza’s cheerful tone immediately turned to a growl. That got Psych’s attention. What was a Legacy? Why did bringing it up anger Griza?

“Calm down bear,” the Sableye said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m one too, and my Legend has a message for both of you.”

“Go on,” Psych spoke out, now very curious.

“Go north. You’ll find some clues there.”

“I already know where I need to go,” Griza said, still glowering at the smaller Pokemon. “Why should I listen to you?”

Psych nodded. The Bewear’s logic was sound. She was dead set on leaving the continent, for whatever reason, and going with her was the best way to get away from his pursuers. Why would she change her course on the word of a strange Pokemon coming from nowhere?

“Three reasons,” the Sableye said. “One, my queen has a plan, and this will be the best way to accomplish it. Two, it will help the mutant behind you on his own journey,” he pointed at Psych, but before it could ask what it meant by that the Legacy continued.

“And three, that’s where your ‘honeypot’ is going.” He handed her a bundle of paper with words on it, a newspaper. It was still annoying that it knew what these objects were, but not how. As Griza finished reading, she turned to her companion, a smile sprouting on her face.

“Psych,” Griza said, the sweetness coming back into her voice and turning slowly. “Slight change of plans.”

The Mewtwo knew better than to argue.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

28. A Grove of Graves

"And checkmate."

Blue couldn't help but smirk at the chessboard. He didn't get a lot of chances to win at, well, anything. Chess was one of the few things he knew he was good at. He had enough practice after all.

He then decided to look at his opponent, and his smirk turned into fear as the Pancham glared back at the board. Pana's arms were outstretched, just in awe at how fast the game had gone south. He swore he could see an actual vein bulging on her forehead. It was honestly amazing how she could switch from being cute to utterly terrifying on the dot. He was then glad she couldn't read minds. He hoped. The more he thought about it the safer that bet sounded, considering the fact that she was the worst chess player he'd ever seen.

And considering Scales was also really bad, that was saying something.

She took a deep breath before she responded. "I hate this game."

"It's not that bad," Rio said, playing with a Bone Rush, gently tapping Scales every time he looked like he was gonna doze off. If he wasn't asleep before being attacked, there was no danger of Sleep Talk. "You just suck at it."

"Oh like you're any better!"

"I am. I beat you."

"That was a fluke!"

"So were the other fifty-four games."

Blue was sure Pana was gonna try and tear his throat out at that jab, and he honestly wasn't sure who'd win in that exchange. All he did know was that he didn't want to see it. Luckily, neither did Scales. Now fully awake, he wriggled between the two, his scales suddenly taking a metallic sheen.

"Let's not," the dragon said. "Please."

Pana gave Rio one last death glare, and the Riolu gave her one more smirk, before they both backed off. Blue sighed in relief, and then smelled something familiar. It was faint, and he never would have smelled it over everything else if it wasn't so familiar. It was sweet and nutty smell. Suddenly he was back in his mothers kitchen, watching her get dinner ready for the rush of customers.

Mom's stew.

They were here.

…​

"Here we are little Disasters," Artei said, smiling. "Welcome to Redwood!"

Blue just gazed around at the town square. It hadn't changed in the past two years. The cobbled street clattered under the Mudsdale's hoofs, the only sound in the early morning. Sunlight shone between the tree branches that both surrounded and made up the town. The massive, wide tree trunks that made up the houses were as rooted in as ever.

The fountain at the center was as well-maintained as ever. The statue of Keldeo, as majestic in its form, smoothly shot water out of its reared up hooves. The Sword of Justice's horn shone brilliantly in the sun's rays. The founder really knew how to pose. Blue wondered if he was trapped in the Labyrinth too. He hoped not, that legendary was one of his heroes!

Rio's whistle snapped him out of his thoughts.

"You weren't kidding about the tree thing," he said. "Why's it so empty?"

"It's still early," Blue explained. "Most are still asleep."

"Well," Pana said, walking over. "Where are we staying then? Where's a good place to drop our shit off?"

She gestured to Scales, who was carrying all their stuff. Some of the gummies Rio got from the guildmaster, camping equipment, and most of all Pana's small fortune of crystals and gold. Just in case according to her. Besides a yawn, he didn't seem too bothered by it.

"Well," Artei said, considering. "We're gonna stick around for a while. You could-"

"No," Blue interrupted, catching a whiff of the stew once again. "We have a place. Thank you for the ride, Mr. Artei."

Before the horse, or anyone could stop him, he started to follow the scent. The restaurant wasn't far away, just a little west of the fountain, built into the biggest tree on that side of town. It was hard to miss. It hadn't changed much.

The two tables that sat outside the tree restaurant were as well maintained as ever, the large tooth-carved door sat shut, two panes of glass built in the top, bottom, and middle for customers of all sizes. A wooden open sign hung on the doorknob. A sign sat right over the door.

The Cheeky Chipmunk.

Home.

He couldn't do this. How would mom react if he just walked in, no warning? The restaurant kept her busy all day, for Arceus's sake! How would the triplets? Sure, he missed them but if they got too excited nothing would get done!

How would Red?

The Bidoof shook his head. No. This could wait till closing time, at least. Maybe even until tomorrow. They could camp in the woods for now. That would work! Maybe even by dad…

"This the place?" Rio asked, sending a shock through Blue. "It's nice!"

"Yeah," Blue said, failing to keep the dejection out of his voice. "It really is. It's probably really busy right now, we'll have to-"

"There's four Pokemon in there, and they all seem nice enough." Rio interrupted. "They're even open."

Stupid Aura sense.

"Well yeah, but-"

"Why are you nervous?"

"It's… just been a while."

"Want me to walk in with you? Just me?"

"...Please."

Pana and Scales weren't here yet, she was probably carefully watching the dragon to make sure he didn't drop any of her stash. It would be best to introduce them slowly. Yeah, slowly.

The two walked up to the door. Blue could hear his heart beating in his ears. What would they think? What would they say? Would they be mad? Glad? Why didn't he think this through, for Arceus's sake?

He felt Rio put a paw on him, bringing him back to reality. The Bidoof took a deep breath, got on his hind legs, and pushed the door open. A small bell chimed. He and the Riolu stepped inside.

It looked just like he remembered. The tables for smaller Pokemon were clustered around the center of the restaurant, carved into the floor. Higher tables were to the side, some even carved out of the wall. The counter on the other side of the room blocked a, take a guess, wooden door. Blue was really glad his parents decided to make the kitchen out of less flammable material. Another door, right next to it, led upstairs, where his family actually lived. It looked like they weren't in the shop itself, but the footsteps coming told the two that was about to change.

"Coming!" A light, squeaky voice said. Blue took another deep breath, waiting. In seconds, a plump Greedent with a flowery apron walked through the door, stretching and eyes closed.

"Welcome to The Cheeky Chipmunk," she said, opening her eyes. "What can I-"

She paused when she got a good look at the duo, and tears started welling in her eyes. She put her paws to her mouth, trying to process. Blue felt really bad now. He made his mother cry, for Arceus's sake.

"Hi mom," Blue said. "Sorry for-"

"BLUE!" the Greedent leaped over the counter, rushing up to her son, picking him up, and wrapping him in a tight hug. Blue could feel himself turning the color of his namesake as she squeezed.

"You're back! How was the big city? You feel thin, have you been eating? Are you hurt? When did you get here? Why don't you write more?"

Blue would have loved to answer, but the lack of air in his lungs was getting in the way of that. Eventually she loosened her grip, and Blue could breathe once again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rio picking lost strands of fur out of his mouth, probably from her tail.

"I'm ok mom," Blue said, now hugging her back. "I missed you. Where are-"

"They're still asleep. They'll be so happy to see you!"

It took a while for her to let go. When she did, the large squirrel finally noticed Rio.

"And who is this?" she said, looking down at the slightly shorter fighting type.

"The name's Rio," he said, waving. "Nice to meet you ma'am."

"Please, my name is Nutmeg. Now, how do you know my son?"

"Well, we invited him to join our team."

"Oh! Well, thank you for having my son! I know he can be a bit of a handful."

"Mom," Blue groaned.

"Nah," Rio said. "He's been great actually."

Blue couldn't help but disagree, but he kept his mouth shut. Mom didn't need to know just how bad he could mess up. She had enough to worry about.

"Are there more of you?" she asked, now done patting herself down. "Do you have a place to stay?"

"Nah," Rio answered before Blue could stop him. "We just got here."

"Well you do now. You're all welcome under this roof. You can all sleep in Blue's old room, there should be plenty of room."

Remembering Scales, Blue seriously doubted that. Maybe if he crouched? Either way it was worth a shot. Then he remembered something that definitely wouldn't let that work.

"What about Red?" Blue asked. "Where's he gonna sleep?"

"Oh! Honey, Red moved out a while ago. Struck out on his own! I should go over, tell him you're back!"

Blue's blood ran cold. Mom he could talk to, the triplets he could deal with, but not Red. Not yet. He wasn't ready. He had no idea what he was gonna say! He needed time, he needed a way out, at least for now.

He needed to see dad.

"Actually," Blue said, looking away. "I wanna visit dad before I see him…"

"Oh," her eyes fell. "Of course. Take your time."

"Want me to come with?" Rio asked, probably picking up on the shift in emotion.

"No." Blue answered immediately. "I'm good. Thanks."

Before Rio could ask, Blue was out the door, his own bag in his teeth.

…​

The north end of town had the tallest trees, stretching higher and wider than any by far. The novelty had worn off long before this visit. Blue slipped through the largest trees and into the massive grove ahead.

None of the trees were as big as the two at the unofficial entrance, but in a few decades they might be. They were reminders. Food, drink, hand-drawn pictures, even some weapons were at the base of each tree. Blue was careful to give each one a wide berth. It wouldn't be right to step too close. Very rude.

Besides, he only had eyes for one. The one towards the end of the grove.

It was one of the smaller trees, being here for much less time than the others, only about six feet tall. Its branches were filled with little arts and crafts, and a cold bowl of stew sat next to its base. Blue added his own offering, the bowl of gummi's Rio gave him so many weeks ago. It was still full. Blue sat down, staring at the trunk, and taking a deep breath.

"Hi dad," Blue said after a while. "I'm back."

The wind blew through the trees, shaking the triplets art. Drawings, little wooden sculptures, even some of the pencils used to make them.

"I'm doing ok," the Bidoof continued. "Made it to the big city, helped the guild out, I even managed to join an exploration team. Just… a lot later than I wanted."

The tree didn't respond. Blue honestly wasn't sure how he'd react if it did. Happy? Horrified? Some mix of both?

"They're good Pokemon," he went on. "Maybe a little crazy, but what isn't nowadays? They helped me so much…"

Blue reached into his bag, pulling out his old silver one. He asked the guildmaster if he could keep it for this visit, as something he could leave him. She agreed, taking the psychic tracking function out. He laid it next to the pot.

"I'm gold-ranked now," he went on. "All thanks to them. I'll…"

He took another deep breath, forcing the tears down. He sniffled, and continued.

"I'll make you proud. I swear."

He sniffled again, just sitting in the Grove of Graves. Kind of a morbid name, the more he thought about it. These graves would endure, would live, for hundreds of years. Blue couldn't help but wonder if the owners did too.

"Blue?"

The Bidoof froze at the familiar voice. He really didn't want to talk to him yet, but there was no avoiding it now. He took a deep breath, and turned to face his older brother.

The Bibarel was wearing his red bandana around his neck, standing on two legs. His tail waved as he walked, eyes shining with joy and tears. He could see the glint of his one stone, his blue Z-Crystal, peeking out from under the bandana. He really was the spitting image of dad. He was carrying his own offering, a small log of birch wood. Red ran up to his little brother, giving him a tight hug.

"You're back! You're back!"

Blue could only hug his brother back, not realizing how much he actually missed him.

He wondered how long that would last.

 

[WildBoots]

Hi hi! I'm here because @Navarchu has decided to generously pass along his Review Blitz prize!

I read Chapter 1 for now! I've got some overall thoughts and some more specific line-by-line feedback.

It's unusual to see a PMD fic open with such a mundane problem! That first sentence is a pretty effective opener, though the scene does raise some questions for me. I'm sure you'll eventually get into the hows and whys of Team Disaster needing a new place to stay, but I wanted at least a little hint here. They definitely seem like they're in a hurry, despite having camping gear and presumably being used to roughing it. Even if the persian realtor had unsavory intentions, she's right that homebuyers usually take some time to consider their options.

I think the character that made the strongest impression is Pana. She seems headstrong, short-tempered, and maybe a little snarky. The others I haven't completely gotten a sense of yet. I appreciate that we get their names right away instead of making it a guessing game, and I also like that each of them is distinguished by some unique features. That helps bring them to life. I do think you can trim some fat from those descriptions, and I also wish we'd gotten some of that information about them in that first scene with the realtor. As it was, that first scene was a soup of names that didn't mean anything to me yet.

I've got lots of notes and suggestions for you about the fight, but overall I do think you hit that cinematic vibe you were going for. Clearly, Team Disaster is pretty formidable and good at working together, despite their name. I wonder how they earned that name and what kinds of problems would actually thwart them.

Not hint yet of the vanishing legendaries mentioned in the summary! Again, I know you're getting to it eventually, but it might've been nice to get one or two small hints in this opening chapter about what's to come. Even if they're new in town, surely folks are talking about it, or maybe there are other indications that something is off? Seeing them react (or blow it off) is an opportunity to show us who these characters are.

Grammar-wise, one thing I noticed pretty consistently were missing commas. I find it helpful with my own writing to run the text through Grammarly (in addition to eyeballing it myself). It doesn't catch everything, but it does catch a lot, and it's free to use in-browser.

That said, let's get into some more specific stuff.

Spoiler: Line Reactions:

Summary: The Legendary Pokemon are disappearing, but that's not a problem for our main characters! (yet)Team Disaster is new in town, and as the name may apply, things have started to get out of hand. Join Rio, Scales, Pana, and Blue as they try to uncover the secrets of the world, try not to break what they find, fail miserably at that second part, and get into all kinds of trouble.

I know this isn't technically part of the story itself, but I've got some thoughts on the summary. First, I wanted to make sure you knew that the wording here and in your threadmarks index is a little different. I like that your summary hints at the larger scale of what the heroes are going to be facing and also shows something about their personality. However, I think this summary could be stronger with some tweaking.

Suggestion:
The Legendary Pokemon might be disappearing, but Rio, Scales, Pana, and Blue are more concerned with [earning enough cash to __? getting settled in their new base? Idk, you tell me]. As they uncover the secrets of [location name], try and fail not to break what they find, and [a more specific kind of trouble they get into] ... they certainly earn the name Team Disaster.

This isn't the only correct option, but my point is that specificity is your friend here.

Regardless of whether you take my suggestion, I've bolded sections of your original summary that are either incorrect or really awkwardly worded, and you should definitely address those.

Rio thought buying his first real home would be fun.

Nice. This establishes his age (recognized as an adult, but still young and naive) and also sets up a world in which wealth and mundane concerns matter.

What we don't know is his species. My first though was this guy. Then I've got a heracross named Ryoga (Rio for short). Then I wondered if he was a water-type, since rio means river in Spanish. So ... Rio wasn't enough to make me assume riolu, even with the riolu on your fic's cover. (I read because I want to be told a story--I don't want to have to assume or guess basic facts.)

Moving in with the only family he knew sounded great on paper. Free from their masters, free to live however they wished with the slight threat of a possible surprise attack. After their first real great paying job, he was under the impression that it would be smooth sailing from here.

Lots of this needed to be teased out more.

Without context, I was confused what you meant by "moving in with the only family he knew." Moving in implies there's already a house established that he's moving to rather than buying a new one. And if they're actually more like roommates ... the finances get weird and immediately do not make sense to me. Is he the actual owner but they're all going to live in it? (This is what I understand from the text, I guess. Odd setup, though.) Are they somehow buying it together? (If so, yikes. What happens if one of them is no longer happy with the arrangement and wants out?)

"sounded great on paper"
Would this be an idiom in a world without humans? Do pokemon use paper??

"Free from their masters"
Wait, *are* there humans? Are they formerly trained pokemon that escaped their trainers, or does this mean something different? Either way, ominous AF.

"with the slight threat of a possible surprise attack."
This needed to be explained more because I don't know what this means. Do towns in this PMD setting have high rates of violent crime? Do they have enemies that are following and targeting them specifically? Unclear.

"After their first real great paying job"
Well-paying sounds a little more natural to me. Either way, you need a hyphen if you're trying to say that the job pays great and not that the job is great.

"he was under the impression that it would be smooth sailing from here."
*he had been
I wish we had a little more about what gave him this impression. Buying a house is a pretty big deal in our world, and it sounds like this setting has a lot of the same hurdles associated with it. If he has literally no idea how hard this is, it makes him seem really, really foolish to me and a bit arrogant, too.

When they walked into the property owner’s office

Who is they?

When they walked into the property owner’s office and requested the place they wanted, the conniving Persian insisted--no, demanded--they go search for another, more expensive piece of land.

This sentence was hard to follow because of the missing comma. (Inserted above, bolded.) The emphasis on "piece of land" was also confusing to me because I wasn't sure if they were buying an actual house or just a piece of land.

Their salesmon’s Aura was the closest thing he’d ever seen to pure greed, and the houses they were being shown didn’t would’ve been impossible to defend.

Another missing comma. (You have two separate sentences [Aura was + houses would've been], so a contraction isn't enough to join them.) You've also got an extra word.

Still, the Persian persisted. Rio tried to keep a lid on his annoyance, but he could feel his friends were close to snapping too. He was honestly amazed Scales hadn’t stormed off yet.

We don't know anything about his friends yet, so I have no idea what to picture--which is a shame, because clearly each of these characters tends to respond a little differently. Some visual cues of their anger (body language, dialogue) would be nice here. Not to mention just knowing who the friends are, which we don't know at this point.

“This granite home was made to have a great amount of airflow, so the walls are understandably thin.” Rio counted that as the twenty-fifth lie that came out of the Persian’s mouth. The Aura never lied.

I'm confused by the juxtaposition of "granite" and "thin" walls. 🤔 Also, if you're going to specify that the persian is lying and that Rio knows it's a lie because he's reading her aura, it needs to be clearer what the lie is.

Twenty-five also feels like ... A LOT to be sitting through this to "be polite." I had trouble suspending my disbelief.

hoping to sell a cheap house at a stupidly high interest to trick a gullible new homeowner.

Interest is the wrong word. They might have to take out a loan to pay for it, in which case the bank would charge them an interest rate on the loan, but that wouldn't affect the realtor. I think you want "a stupidly high rate" or "a stupidly high price."

Pana cut her off this time. “That’s none of your business. Sell us the treehouse. Now.” The menace in her voice could have made even a Tauros think twice about charging.

The Persian had considerably less nerve than a Tauros; within seconds, they started back toward her office to officially buy their base.

The original paragraph spacing is wrong--I thought at first that Persian was speaking with menace in her voice. My changes in bold. I also tweaked a little for flow and to keep from having a bunch of sentences with the exact same structure all in a row.

“Arceus almighty, that took forever.”

Missing comma.

If they worship at least one of the legendaries, it's a little weird to me that they would consider it "not their problem" when legendaries start to go missing.

The Riolu, Rio, had his face buried in his paws as they walked. He had quite a lot of fur for a Riolu. The blue and black fur was thick, and the silver mane of fluff covering his neck stood out quite a bit. His black-tipped tail waved as he walked with his friends.

I appreciate how each of them is an individual! We love to see it. You can definitely trim this down, though. Like, the second and third sentences here are basically saying the same thing twice. And then the fourth sentence tells me nothing I don't already know. Descriptions in fiction should help us imagine what we don't know to imagine without being told, so the explanations of Rio being ... the normal colors of a normal riolu ... were tiresome. It seems like the most important idea here is that he's got very thick, unruly fur and that he's exhausted and frustrated. Those bits are good! I'd lean into that more and get rid of the clutter.

he massive scale embedded in his forehead was cracked towards the top, the result of a training accident.

Nice! This is a great detail. Clearly, their trainings have been really intense.

“I just didn’t want to be rude,” Pana excused herslef.

"Excused herself" implies she has left, so this doesn't really work as a dialogue tag. (Also, typo.)

Suggestion: “I just didn’t want to be rude,” Pana said with a shrug.

The Pancham was probably the most normal looking out of the three. Her species' natural smile was replaced by a frown she had had since Rio had met her.

Suggestion: Pana was probably the most average-looking out of the three except for her scowl, unusual for a pancham.

The Pancham was probably the most normal looking out of the three. Her species' natural smile was replaced by a frown she had had since Rio had met her. She was also a little shorter than what was normal for a Pancham, but he had learned to never bring up her height. Not that it was very noticeable.

You start out by talking about how normal she is ... and then go on for several sentences about little, barely noticeable differences. If they're barely noticeable, why does it matter?

Suggestion: Pana was probably the most average-looking out of the three except for her scowl, unusual for a pancham. Even if she was a little on the short side, no pokemon who liked having all their teeth would say so.

“She was full of shit,” Rio said. “Trying to put us in deep debt. Her Aura was really obvious about it.”

Again, I don't think the realtor cares about putting them into debt.

Suggestion: “Trying to clean us out.
Suggestion: “Trying to rob us blind.
Suggestion: “Trying to pull one over on us.

She was about to respond when Rio felt the hostile Auras.

“Hostiles ahead,” Rio said. “Don’t be obvious about fighting.”

Suggestion: Before she could respond, Rio cut in, "Hostiles ahead." He felt their auras, [more detail about them: does he see them as a color/temperature? Number?]

I also didn't get why he wanted them to avoid "being obvious about fighting." And then they didn't seem like they were being very subtle about it once the fighting started, so it didn't seem to matter.

Rio’s Aura sense wasn’t very precise,

Then how was he so sure about those 25 lies earlier?

He hoped it was a tree and not their-

Their new base had squatters. Because of course it did. No wonder it was so cheap.

*No wonder it had been so cheap.

I like the rhythm here, but I don't get a very clear image of what this means til much later. (And, actually, you take a detour to describe the tree first, which feels like ... not the right priority if they're facing a fight.) I'd slow this down a little, let us see the tree first and interrupt that with a description of the bandits perched in the branches, etc.

The largest and thickest tree stood in the center, with a door built-in.

The tallest and thickest tree stood in the center, a door built into its trunk.

The place was also crawling with bandits.

(Bold assumption, TBH.)

The trio watched as he slowly approached. His Aura was completely calm. No, that wasn’t quite right. He was just underestimating them. He was a smug prick of a bandit. Probably had a bounty on his head too.

Wow, making some assumptions again.

I know this character isn't likely a recurring one, but everything about him was so over-the-top, on-the-nose cartoon villain that I had trouble suspending my disbelief. I think I'd have an easier time accepting him if there was some kind of attempt at sympathy or acknowledgement of a bigger problem. Like, what the hell is going on in this town that folks can't afford places of their own, you know? And I don't think that means the team has to go any easier on them--they can still decide this isn't their problem or that the supposed bandits response to the problem is wrong--but it would make them feel more like real people and less like plot devices for me.

At this, the Zangoose laughed. His followers joined him. It was a deep laugh, the mocking undertones obvious. He was even close to tears. Rio was gonna enjoy what he was about to do.

I wasn't sure which one of them was near tears, Rio or the zangoose. Making the line beginning with Rio into its own paragraph would help. The near tears statement also felt a little head-hoppy, since you didn't specify that Rio felt it with his aura senses. Either he's wiping away tears or he's not, so I don't know how else you could detect near tears when someone's face is already contorted with laughter unless you are specifically using psychic powers.

“Small fry explorers like you won’t be taking me in.”

Taking me on, maybe?

“We just want our house,” Scales had jumped in now.

Wow, are they new at this? We just want the thing that you clearly also want. How many times has that worked?

The last two Auras left the treehouse then. It wasn’t their choice, of course, but they flew out anyways. The two Aipom were unconscious before they hit the ground. Pana did her job well. The signal was loud and clear.

This is a nice visual, but I have to wonder ... do they still have visible auras when they're unconscious??

Staff, Rio thought. A glowing blue bone as tall as him flashed into existence. He caught it in his left paw as Scales punched the Zangoose in the stomach. To his credit, the winded Pokemon didn’t go down.

This is a cool idea, but it felt a little out of order. Because we start with "staff," it felt confusingly like a reaction to the fight rather than a way he was calling his weapon.

Suggestion: Well, Rio had just the thing for them. Staff, he thought, and then glowing blue bone as tall as him flashed into existence.
Suggestion: If they wanted a fight, Rio would give them one. Staff, he thought, and then glowing blue bone as tall as him flashed into existence.

Then, in the second half of the sentence, your pronouns are muddy and confusing.

"He caught it in his left paw.

To Rio's left [or something to help establish sense of space], Scales punched the zangoose in the stomach. The zangoose wheezed but, to his credit, managed to stay on his feet.

Rio walked past the two. This was routine for Team Disaster at this point. They didn’t even have to discuss their roles. Pana took out any fringe combatants, Scales took the biggest mon, and Rio cleared out the rest.

Suggestion: Rio left Scales to sort that one out. They each knew their roles: Pana took out any fringe combatants, Scales took the biggest mon, and Rio cleared out the rest.

He blocked it with his staff, batted his paw out of the way and drove a Force Palm into his stomach.

Pronoun confusion again.

They all decided to take Rio up on his offer.

I wasn't sure if this was the offer to leave (and avoid trouble) or to come at him. Unclear.

The Zigzagoon reached him first, and Rio didn’t even give him time to attack. With a quick flick of his staff, he tripped the Zigzagoon.

I like this beat a lot! The cause and effect is much clearer here than in other parts of the fight, and it's nice and snappy. A small adjustment for sense of space (since he has to trip the zigzagoon before it reaches him, right?):

The Zigzagoon lunged first, but Rio didn’t even give him time to attack. With a quick flick of his staff, he tripped the Zigzagoon.

The now recovered Zigzagoon had gotten up at this point and leaped at Rio’s back.

The past perfect here really saps the momentum from this sentence and actually makes the beat-by-beat chronology unclear for me. You could rework this in one of two ways:

1) Watch the zigzagoon recover and jump at Rio:
Rio turned just in time to see the zigzagoon throw itself at him, and then its claws were digging into his back.

2) Since it jumps on his back, maybe he's turned away and doesn't realize it's pouncing until it's already on his back.
Suddenly, something tore at Rio's back. He swatted it away easily with his bone staff--the zigzagoon. Well, it was down and out for real this time, its tongue lolling from its mouth.

The Glameow and Patrat had the best idea out of all the bandits. They decided to come up with a plan of attack while Rio slaughtered their group.

Head-hopping. Why does Rio know this, and how does he have time to pay attention? The parts where you stay rooted in the physical action moment by moment are much more effective and keep the fight flowing smoothly! This took me out of it.

He looked away from his victims to see if Scales needed any help, but the Hakamo-o seemed to be having even less fun than Rio did.

He looked away from his victims to see if Scales needed any help, but the Hakamo-o looked even more bored than Rio.

“Who the hell are you?” he yelled in frustration, never letting up his useless assault. “Are you really Bronze?”

It's odd to me that rescue team ranking is taken so seriously in this context. Like, they have a dragon and all of them have the type advantage. (Does he not understand how type match-ups work??) For all he knows, maybe they're only bronze because they have a record for showing up late or breaking things or taking only easy, low-value mission. Maybe you only get the silver if you've been operating for x many months. What I'm trying to say is I was not ready to equate badge rank with physical strength.

“Going easy on him?” Pana asked, landing next to Rio. He didn’t even sense her that time. That thought scared him for a split second, but he was glad for her.

Oh this is ominous. Is something here weakening his aura senses???

Hope these thoughts were helpful! Good luck with your next chapter.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

29. Family Matters (are messy)

Rio slurped the rest of his berry stew up. It was one of the best things he'd ever tasted! Sweet, warm, and filling as all hell! The berry chunks were just firm enough to chew comfortably, and it was a surprise on which one you'd get. Might feel the refreshing juices of a rawst berry, the sudden alertness of a chesto, or the sugary sweetness of a pecha. And it all somehow worked! This was the Riolu's third bowl!

He looked towards the dragon and panda that sat opposite of him. Seven, much larger wooden bowls sat to the side while he slurped down his eighth. Pana sighed in contentment, having finished her own regular-sized bowl. As the Hakamo-o loudly belched his complements to the chef, shaking the entire tree as he did so, the Pancham sighed in disgust.

"Had enough?" she sarcastically asked the dragon, already knowing the answer.

"Nope!" Scales said, laying another bowl down, licked clean like the others.

"Let's not bankrupt Blue's mom, huh?" Rio said, stacking his own bowls. He could feel the Greedent's Aura as she worked in the kitchen. Happy, pure joy radiated from her. She must have really missed Blue.

Nutmeg soon burst from the kitchen again, smiling at her new guests.

"It's no problem at all," she said, smiling. "Any friend of my son eats here for free! I won't hear anything else."

Rio wasn't sure how long it would be before she regretted those words, but he'd do his best to make sure it wouldn't happen for a while. It was a good thing Pana brought so much money… The only problem was convincing her to part with some of it.

Then he felt those other three Auras coming down. He turned to where they would come out, that other door, and sure enough, three Skwovet popped out, one after another. The first had a yellow bandana, the second a green, and the last a silver. They all turned to stare at the three sitting casually at one of the tables.

"Mom?" the one with the yellow scarf asked, turning towards Nutmeg. "Did that dragon guy just eat our breakfast?"

"More than our breakfast…" the one with green said, looking at Scales's tower. "Never seen anyone eat that much of mom's stew…"

"Don't be rude," the silver one said, chiding the green. "They're customers."

"Don't worry Yellow," Nutmeg said. "I made sure to set apart your share. Listen to your brother, Green. And Silver, they're actually our guests. Blue's teammates!"

Each of the squirrel's eyes widened at that.

"Blue's back?!" Yellow said, her eyes and Aura alight with joy.

"They're explorers!?" Silver asked, curiosity shining through more than joy.

"Is the dragon guy even gonna fit upstairs?" Green said, her eyes still fixed on Scales. "The other two should be fine, but…"

"Now now," their mother said, patting each on their heads. "Go ahead and get your food."

"But," Yellow asked, looking around. "Where's Blue?"

"Visiting your father. He'll be back soon. Now, go along!"

The triplets filed into the kitchen, not taking their eyes off of the siblings as they went. Yellow and Silver were still very happy, but Green's Aura showed more confusion than anything, probably still trying to figure out how they were gonna fit Scales upstairs.

"My other children," Nutmeg explained. "Blue's siblings."

"They're nice…" Pana grumbled.

"Yeah," Scales said, licking his bowl clean. "Seems to be worried about me…"

"Oh don't worry," Nutmeg said. "We'll find a way for you to be comfortable. I promise!"

Her cheery Aura wavered a bit at that, but she kept her smile on her face. Rio would be willing to try at least…

"Wait," Rio asked, remembering the earlier conversation, right before Blue left. "Didn't you two mention a Red?"

"Ah yes, my eldest. Shouldn't have to wait long to meet him. He usually stops by with…" her Aura turned sour as she finished the sentence. "...someone."

Rio cocked his eyes at that one, but before he could ask Scales finished his eighth bowl of the filling stew.

"Can I have another one?"

"Of course dear!"

…

It took a while, But Red finally let go of Blue. His smile was wide as he looked his brother up and down, obviously happy to see him again. It had been two years after all. Blue returned his smile, of course pleased to see his brother, but still nervous. At least he couldn't sense his emotions. It was very, very clear Red couldn't do that.

"So," Red said, walking towards the tree and placing his offering down and looking at the badge he left. "You made it to silver before deciding to move back home? I'm proud! Unpacked yet? I'll help you move your stuff."

Wow, that was fast. Even for him.

"Actually-" Blue started, but Red just kept talking.

"Probably hard and dangerous, right? No shame in giving up. You did good!"

"Red-" he said, digging in his bag for his new badge. He'd want to see proof.

"The timing couldn't be better! I-"

"Red!"

The Bibarel turned back to him, finally listening. The Bidoof knew this wouldn't be easy, he sounded so excited! What he was about to say would hurt.

"I'm just visiting," he said, showing his brother the gold ranked badge. "We had a big success recently and the guildmaster insisted. So I suggested… here."

Red's smile quickly turned into a frown. Blue took in a deep breath, preparing for what was about to happen.

"So you're not staying?" he asked. Blue could already hear the panic rising in his voice. "What's stopping you? Exploring? Well-"

"Not in front of dad," Blue said, stopping his brother with those simple words. They both looked back to the tree. "Please."

"...Fine."

Without another word the two beavers walked away from their father's grave, being very careful of the others. At least it gave Blue more time to think. How could he reassure his brother? Have him meet the team? No, if anything that'd make him worry more. Tell him about what he's accomplished? Same problem. Maybe don't bring it up? He might just drop it…

"How long are you staying?" Red asked.

"We...don't know," Blue answered. "The guildmaster never specified…"

"Well," the Bibarel's smile came back stronger. "That means you can stay as long as you want, right?"

"I guess…"

"Great! Now, let's head back to the restaurant. There's something I have to tell everyone. Someone for you to meet. It'll be perfect now that you're here!" He started on all fours, heading back to The Cheeky Chipmunk. Suddenly a little more nervous, Blue followed.

…

"Do a circle!"

Rio complied with Yellow's request, grabbing one end of his Bone Rush and pulling. The bone obeyed, bending backwards until he had a perfect hoop spinning around his arm. Two of the triplets seem to be mesmerized by the display, but one of them was definitely more inquisitive than the others.

"How does this move work?" Green asked. "And isn't it supposed to be a Lucario thing? How are you able to use it?"

Rio could wholeheartedly believe this was Blue's family. He gave the triplets a big grin.

"Lotsa practice," Rio answered. "As for how it works, you got me there. I just think about it, and the Aura-"

A spike sprouts from the ring, stabbing the table. The triplets jump back in shock.

"-can do that." the bone faded, leaving a noticeable puncture in the wood. At least Nutmeg didn't see it. She was in the back, making another batch of stew for actual customers. "Also sorry about the table."

The triplets stared in awe, all of them now focused on Rio.

"Teach me how to do that!" Yellow shouted.

"What are its other uses?" Silver asked, eyes shining.

"Do you have limits?" Green questioned. "Shapes you can't do? How big can it get? How long can they last?"

"Well-"

"Thanks for the help," Pana said, slamming the door to upstairs behind her. She had just finished putting their stuff up, mainly the cash and some random bits and bobs, while Scales finished his twentieth bowl of stew. Even Green had grown used to the sheer amount of food that guy could pack away.

"What?" Rio said, shrugging and letting the bone fade. "They asked to see something cool."

Rio sensed her intentions before he could react. She gave him a quick, stinging knock on his head, glaring.

"And I asked for help," she hissed. "Now-"

"How did you move that fast?" Silver asked, wide eyed. "I didn't even see you move!"

"Trade secret," she said casually before continuing. "Help me clean up in there or I'm gonna-"

Then the door opened, and an unfamiliar Aura stepped inside. A Zangoose entered, a pleasant smile on her face. Her reddish eyes shined with excitement and joy, along with her Aura. A long, faded scar ran all the way up her belly and chest, splitting the red streak of fur in the way. Her necklace, a thick thread with a clear stone with a bright yellow center hanging from it. She waved at the triplets.

"Hey Rose!" Yellow said, turning to her. "Where's Red?"

"Visiting your dad," she said, taking a seat near the group. "Agreed to meet up here. Got something important to say!" She looked at the new faces in the restaurant, a Riolu rubbing his head, the Pancham that obviously punched him, and the giant Hakamo-o who was currently licking a large bowl clean. Her grin never faded.

"You're new around here," Rose said to the three. "What brings you all the way out to this sleepy berg?"

"Vacation," Rio said, rubbing his head. "Our friend's from here. Their brother."

"Oh you mean Blue?" she seemed to light up at that. "Red talks about him all the time! Great timing too! He was talking about going down there to pick him up."

"What for?" Scales asked, now finally finished with his meal.

"I should wait for them to get back," Rose said, smiling. "This is for the whole family to hear."

It was then that Nutmeg decided to reappear, clapping her paws, looking a little more haggard than usual.

"The new batch is on," she said. "I'm glad you all enjoy my-"

As soon as she saw Rose, the second she laid her eyes on her, her Aura went from the cheeriest and brightest in the room to cold and dark. Not even Pana could flip a switch like that. She patted her apron aggressively before continuing.

"Hello Rose," the mother said, barely containing her disdain. "How are you today?"

"Hi Nutmeg," she said, not even phased by the tone of voice. "I'm great, better than ever."

"Wonderful," she ground out. "And why is that?"

"Well-"

The door opened again, and in stepped the brothers in question. Rio was so startled by the sudden change in their mothers Aura he hadn't even noticed them coming.

"Hey mom!" Red said, cheerily. "Guess who I-"

"Blue!" the triplets said, tackling their brother off his feet. He never stood a chance, lying on his back as his three smaller siblings crawled all over him.

"We missed you!" Yellow said.

"What's guild life like?" Silver followed up, bouncing excitedly on his stomach. "What have you found?"

"Your friends eat a lot," Green commented, pointing to Scales's tower of bowls.

"Yeah, holy…" Red said, following his little sister's gesture. When the Bibarel saw Rose, his Aura did the exact opposite of his mother, lighting up as soon as he laid eyes on her. Hers did the same. Rio swore he could see hearts in both of their eyes. The Zangoose walked over, nuzzling Red gently.

"Hey guy," she said.

"Hey yourself," the Bibarel said back, hugging the taller Pokemon, not even minding the long claws that came with her. "You got here fast."

"I was excited!" And she was, practically bouncing in place. "So, this is the famous Blue?" She said, crouching down and holding a clawed paw out.

"F-famous?" he said, carefully taking a claw. The Zangoose pulled him off his back as the triplets cleared away.

"Of course! This guy won't shut up about you!" she chuckled, pointing at the Bibarel behind her.

"Hey!" Red said. "It's not all I talk about!"

"You're right. Sometimes it's about how he-"

"Not in front of my mom…" Red said, now blushing.

"Ok, ok, but you're doing it later!"

He blushed even harder, but Rio could sense excitement between the embarrassment. His eyes were alight with it too. Something told him he was glad he couldn't read minds.

"So," Nutmeg said, her Aura softening at the sight of all her children in one place again. "What did you two want to tell us?"

The obvious lovebirds locked eyes with each other, before turning to the Greedent.

"We're engaged!" they said at the same time, Rose holding out her necklace.

Rio struggled to find words that would describe the shock coming from the Bidoof, or the utter despair coming from the Greedent.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

30. A Toast to Love!

If there was one thing Psych learned about his new protector, it was that she was, to put it lightly, stubborn. In fact, that might have been too light. When she decided on something, she would do it.

No matter who told her otherwise.

And she had just decided Psych was not well enough to float.

"My ribs are healed," the Mewtwo said, for what was exactly the sixty-third time. "I can move with merely a thought. Literally. Let me go."

She had him to her back, one arm pinning it to the bear as she stopped down the road, leaving her large footprints for anyone to follow. Firm enough to not be able to push it away with its own strength, but not enough to re-break its ribs. Yet. The more it squirmed, the tighter she squeezed. Its Psychic seemed to have no effect on her arm, her sheer physical strength overpowering even that. The supposed impossibility of that statement did not escape the mutant, and it was afraid to know the answer…

"Don't want you to push it," Griza said, turning to glance back at her new traveling companion and ward. "Plus, a floating white cat would look weird, right?"

"I appreciate the thought Griza," Psych said. "but you do not exactly 'blend in' yourself."

"What do you mean?" she asked, still looking behind her, not noticing she had walked off the path, and was about to walk into a tree.

"Well," Psych went on, not worrying about it just yet. It could always point her back to the road later. "You are massive, your fur is not exactly optimized for stealth, and your very footsteps shake the earth around you."

"Aren't you exaggerating a little?" Griza said, walking into the tree. Instead of being stopped by the large piece of wood, Griza simply walks through it, pushing it out of the way with her large body, roots and all. She didn't even seem to notice. Psych didn't bother catching them.

"No," the psychic said. "I do not think I am exaggerating."

"Oh what do you know?" Griza said, toppling another tree as she went.

"A great many things."

"Like what?"

"Well…" Psych racked his brain for facts, letting some spill out. "Castelia city is the largest city in Unova. You can get anything there. The time it would take a fully equipped battalion of my lord's soldiers to conquer and bring the citizen's soldiers is a only seventy-"

"What are you talking about?"

"I…" That was a good question. What was it talking about? Castelia city? Where was it? Who lived there? Why did he know that, and not other things? Why would he be talking about conquering it? These questions were...uncomfortable.

"I do not know…" it said after a little pause.

"So you don't know a lot?" Griza shot back, now smirking.

"That was a bad example."

She lightly chuckled. "Alright, gimme a good one."

"Let us see… you are going the wrong way."

"What? All I have to do is-"

Another tree was shoved to the side before she finally noticed she walked off the path. It landed with a loud crash.

"...Oh."

She stepped into another clearing, and Psych decided to take a look ahead for once. Trees seemed to grow in a wall around the dirt, the middle being completely void of said tall oaks. There was something in the middle, however. A bundle of nine large barrels sat at the center, a strange smell wafting off of them, sharply sweet to the point of disgust. Psych didn't think he liked it all that much, but Griza seemed positively ecstatic.

"Is that…" she started, actually letting the psychic go. It managed to catch himself with Psychic before it could hit the ground. Now floating by Griza, Psych more closely examined the barrel. Wood, nondescript other than that strange smell. Griza took a huge sniff, before picking up one of the containers with one arm, grinning widely.

"Who leaves perfectly good booze alone in the woods?" she asked, still grinning.

"Booze?" Psych asked, digging through his mind for the term, but finding nothing. "What is booze?"

"Really?" she asked, not even looking at him. "You know, alcohol!"

"Ah!" That one was in its knowledge bank. "Of course. I did not know that name for it."

"Well you do now!" She ripped off the top of the barrel, flinging it into the distance. In seconds it was a twinkle in the sky. The rich, dark blue liquid contained inside rippled as a result of the Bewear's excitement.

"Try some!" she ordered, pushing it under his nose. "This one's made from oran berries!"

"Will this not impair our abilities? I do not think this is-"

"Try it."

"I would rather-"

"Try." She pushed it closer, an edge creeping into her voice. "It."

Psych wisely decided to try some, lest it incur the wrath of his protector. With its mind, it lifted a small part of the liquid out of the barrel. The sphere of fermented berry juice rippled in its psychic grip. It took one last look at Griza, who nodded at him to continue. It sighed, and took a sip.

It was as it expected. Sickeningly sweet and bitter all at the same time. Still, it would be a waste to not finish what he picked out, so Psych drained his liquid quickly, gagging at the taste, and the buzzing feeling that came with it. It suddenly found it hard to float, so it disengaged Psychic, actually using its legs for the first time since it got out of the tube. It collapsed immediately, not used to the feeling of actually using legs.

"Are you ok?" Grisa asked, picking him back up, and sitting him down.

"I was not expecting the sensation," Psych responded, trying to stand. It was odd to actually use the appendages, but they were there for a reason. It would be prudent to use them for their intended purpose. It had to use Griza as a support, but the psychic did eventually get on its feet. The buzzing feeling in its head made it hard to find his balance, but he eventually managed it, standing on his own two legs.

"Oh!" Griza clapped in understanding. "You're a lightweight!"

"I weigh exactly one hundred and twenty two kilograms. I am quite heavy."

"Not what I meant, but whatever." Without another word, Griza lifted the entire barrel to her mouth, and just started pouring it down her throat. Psych could only stare in shock as she downed the barrel half her size in a few gulps. She sighed in contentment, casually crushing the barrel in her arms and throwing the splintered remains to the side.

"That hit the spot!" she said, eyeing the other barrels. "Alright, let's take a break here. Wanna try some more?"

Psych had to think about that. It tried to lift himself up again, but it was harder, much harder than it was previously. The tingling throughout its body, the buzzing in its head, it was too much. No, it would be idiotic to drink any more of this substance. Then again, judging by Griza's elation, and how quickly she had managed to drain one barrel, she might not stop. How much could she drink?

"No," it answered, before sitting down. "I do not think that would be a good idea."

"Suit yourself," the Bewear shrugged before picking up another barrel and ripping off its lid. The smell coming off that one was even stronger, and she started chugging it immediately, tossing it away after a bit. She burped softly, a dopey grin sprouting on her face.

Psych could guess they'd be here for a while.

…

"So…" Blue asked, looking at his old room. "What do you two think?"

The room was simple, two mattresses sat on opposite ends, one red and one blue. Dad did like his color coordination if the names were to be believed. While Red's side had been completely cleaned up, he moved out a while ago after all, Blue's was untouched. A small bookcase about his height sat next to the mattress, filled with books he read to death. 'The Collapse of Time', 'YOOM-TAH! The Story of Wigglytuff the Great', 'Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Pokemon', among other things. Stacks of Blue's own notes, scrawled in his messy paw and mouth, were lined up and organized all around. All old news. Pana had piled their luggage in the relatively empty red corner. A window let the still rising light illuminate the room, and a luminous orb lamp sat on the windowsill.

"Bigger than I thought," Pana admitted, nodding. "Gotta find Scales a place though. Won't even fit through the door."

"Yeah," Rio said, laying down on Red's old bed. "Better than camping, that's for sure. Your family's great by the way."

"They are," Blue said, thinking about how it was apparently about to get just a little bigger. How had he not known? Red's girlfriend wasn't mentioned in any of mom's letters, and judging by her face as soon as they announced it, he could guess why. She seemed nice though. Fortunately the first customers of the day started coming in, and they'd talk more at dinner.

"A wedding," Rio continued, now sitting up. "We got great timing, huh?"

"Are we even invited?" Pana asked, sitting on top of the bookcase, looking through 'Tales from Paradise'. That was a good one, very underrated.

"I'll ask tonight," Blue said, laying on his own bed. They were gonna talk more after the restaurant closed. Mom said she'd make a big dinner to celebrate him coming home. Tell stories about her son's adventures and discoveries. They were to rest from the trip 'til then.

He actually had discoveries! The Z-Ring, the crystals! It was too bad demonstrating was out of the question. They were far too destructive to casually use, and Rio hadn't even tried the new ones yet. He liked Redwood when it wasn't completely annihilated by a reckless probable hybrid.

Speaking of, he needed to look into that later. It was a good thing the encyclopedia wasn't touched.

"By the way," Rio said, sitting back up. "Your mom doesn't seem to like Rose much."

"Don't need Aura to tell that," Pana added. "What's the problem?"

"I honestly don't know," Blue answered, shaking his head. "My mother is literally the nicest person on the planet. A thief broke in here once, and she made him some stew. They had a talk, and he's a family friend now!"

That reminded Blue, he had to at least say hi to the old Thievul while he was in town.

"She sure felt like it," Rio said, now standing back up and grabbing some of the bigger pieces of gear from the pile. "I'm gonna go help Scales find a spot to sleep. See ya later!"

With that, the Riolu walked out of the room, leaving Blue alone with Pana. She was still flipping through the well preserved book, not looking up. She looked like she found a story she liked, and was currently browsing.

"So," Blue said, trying to cut the awkward silence. "Do you want to-"

"You mentioned an evolution spring, right?" she asked, now looking up with raised eyes.

"Uh, yeah," Blue was surprised with the sudden interjection. Sure, the springs were uncommon, but there were a few all across the continent. He mentioned it in passing. Why so fixated on this one?

"Do you mind taking me?" she closed the book with a snap, her full attention on Blue, not glaring, just staring at the Bidoof. "In a few days? I wanna… try something…"

"S-sure! Just tell me when!"

She smiled at him, before putting the book down, and walking over. It really was a nice smile. Gentle, warm, the exact opposite of her usual scowl. It looked like she was about to break into a laughing fit even. He liked looking at it.

"Thanks," she said, before leaving the room, leaving Blue alone.

He sighed, not tired either. Still, he had one thing he had to look into. The Bidoof grabbed the encyclopedia, flipping to the 'E' section, and then the 'U'. The book supported his theory, all he could do now is try something.

He had to talk about this with Rio later. This would require testing.

…

"And then- hic- he blows a hole in the middle of town! The Masters were so-burp- pissed!"

Psych had been listening to Griza's drunken ramblings for half a day now. And the more it heard the less it fancied meeting this boyfriend of hers. It sounded like he was even more dangerous than Griza herself, and that was a feat.

Griza had just polished off the last barrel of alcohol, crushing it in her massive arms. The sun had just started to dip down, so they could still travel in the comfort of the sun.

Assuming Griza was sober enough to continue walking. Which she was not.

The once nice, grassy clearing was now full of her stomps, obliterating the grass that had made its home there. She had ripped at least one tree from ground, roots and all, and had thrown it into the sky. The mutant didn't hear a crash. And of course, the remains of her binge drinking. Crushed wood littered the place. Whoever this belonged to would not be happy.

"I see," Psych said, eating a fresh, not at all fermented oran berry. It had developed a fondness for the fruit, due to its role in his recovery. "Well, it sounds like you both have a very nice, and horrifically destructive, relationship."

The bear hummed in agreement, before yawning. The squeak that resulted was in complete contrast to the large fangs she kept in her mouth. Psych would have found it cute if her previous display wasn't so terrifying.

"...Thanks." The Bewear hiccupped.

"Oh?" Psych raised an eye at that. "What for?"

"For coming. I...don't have many friends. Sorry we're not gone yet..."

Friends? A relationship in which two individuals liked and trusted each other? The artificial legendary was well aware she was just dragging it along, there was no telling what she would do if it just flew off. Actually, it could probably escape if he got high enough. Then again, that risked tree artillery fire.

But she had also helped nurse the psychic back to health, and she seemed to genuinely care about its well being, in her own terrifying way. Psych could not overlook that care.

Yes, she was the closest thing to a friend it had as well.

"Of course," Psych said, looking away. "But after this detour please lead me off the continent as you promised."

"You- hic- know it!" She rolled her large body over to face Psych, eyelids fluttering. "We'll, uh-"

That's when Psych felt the other mind approaching. He was not pleased about something. A reprimand, based on his fuming thoughts. And he was coming right for them. Perhaps he was the owner of the alcohol cache? If so, his day was about to get a bit worse. Soon the duo could hear the as of yet unknown Pokemon's grumbles.

"Wasn't my fault, Ryca got us wiped out. I just saved my own ass, warned the boss about what might be a problem, and what does he do? Tells me to get some stupid barrels of beer days away! With no help! I swear he just wants to-"

The Marowak soon burst from the clearing, narrowly avoiding stepping on a random splinter. He gazed around at the destruction of the clearing before turning to the culprits sitting on the opposite side of the field.

"Who the hell are you two?" he asked, raising his bone club threateningly. "You drank the boss's booze!"

Psych knew this might happen.

"My apologies-" the mutant said. "I-"

The Marowak chucked the bone straight at the psychic. He quickly erected a Barrier around himself, letting it bounce harmlessly off the mental shield.

"I understand you're frustrated," Psych continued, now slightly annoyed. "However, a battle will not solve this problem."

"Oh yeah you freaky cat?" the ground type replied, crouching down. "Maybe I just need to blow off some steam, and I see two assholes who deserve it!"

His entire body glowed with white energy as he charged forward with Double Edge. Psych wasn't sure how he recognized the move, like many things he knew, but it prepared to neutralize the threat anyway, focusing his full attention on the Marowak.

That was unneeded, as Griza caught the charging Pokemon in one massive paw. She stood up, still wobbly, glaring at the Marowak. Psych could both see and feel his bravado fade as she turned his skull-clad head to face her.

"WE'RE HAVING A MOMENT!" she roared, blowing her rancid breath into the Marowak's face, before winding up and throwing him back to where he came, skull helmet first. Psych watched him punch through one tree easily, basically splitting the thing in half, and watched as the improvised ball did the same to every tree that was unfortunate enough to be in the way of Griza's pitch. It didn't see where the poor guy landed, but Psych was nice enough to flick the bone club in the direction of the unwilling ball. It too soared through the air, along with a few of their extra oran berries. Something told the psychic he'd need it.

"Anyway-" Griza slurred. "We'll…"

And that's all she managed to get out before falling flat on her back, asleep before she hit the ground. The impact shook the clearing, as did the snores that followed.

Psych could only start at the only Pokemon he could call a friend for a bit, before sighing and curling up a safe distance from her. It could move her with his Psychic to keep moving, but she might retaliate if she suddenly found herself suspended in the air. And based on her most recent victim, that would not be fun, type advantage be damned.

At least she slept relatively peacefully.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

31. Tone Down the Terror

"So," Blue asked. "Married?"

He sat across from his older brother and his finance, his own birch log half eaten. Everyone sat close to each other, although the Bidoof couldn't help but notice his mother sitting as far away from Rose as possible. Scales, of course, had just polished off his sixth bowl of stew for the night, and if this morning was any indication he wouldn't be done anytime soon. Rio was playing with the triplets, making more and more complex shapes out of his Bone Rush. Pana sat quietly beside him, eating her soup and trying to ignore her brothers' stupid antics.

"Yup!" Rose said, pulling Red closer. "Honestly I thought he'd never ask!"

"Oh come on," Red said. "A little more faith would be nice."

"You're right! I'll make it up to you later…"

Red's cheeks turned his namesake, and his tail started wagging. Blue could only blink in surprise. A lot changed in two years, apparently.

"When?" his mother asked in a neutral voice. "Where? Who's invited? Do you already have it planned out?"

"We're working on it," Rose said coolly.

"We're gonna try for about a month from now," Red elaborated. "Give her family enough-"

"Her family!?" the Greedent shot up at that, eyes wide. All eyes turned to the short squirrel. Even Scales stopped eating, and the small Bone Rush Rio was shaping into a squirrel shape popped in his paws. "They're coming here?"

"Nutmeg," Rose said, her smile finally fading. "I promise they'll be on their best behavior. I'll make sure of it."

The Greedent stared at her future daughter-in-law, not quite glaring, but with hard eyes. What was wrong with this family? Blue had never seen her so bothered by anything, except for the last time she saw dad…

No. He couldn't relive that. Not that memory. Never that memory.

After a while, the Greedent sighed, sitting back down.

"Please do," she said, before forcing a smile. "Sorry. Just surprise after surprise. I'm not good with meat dishes though, so I hope they won't mind…"

"Oh don't worry about that," Rose said, perking up once again. "Finn already agreed to help there."

The smile suddenly came less forced at those words.

"Really? Good! I'll have to talk with him on what would pair well… Later. We have another thing to celebrate tonight!" His mother turned to face the Bidoof, who couldn't help but sweat a bit. Red and Rose followed suit.

"You're an explorer right?" Rose said, looking down at the Bidoof. "Want to tell us a story about what you've seen?"

"Yeah Blue!" Silver had darted away from Rio at those words, followed by his two siblings. "Tell us!"

"Yeah," Red added, leaning in closer, looking Blue in the eyes. "What have you been up to?"

"Well," Blue said looking away, trying to figure out what exactly he should say. Too boring and the triplets would be disappointed. The truth might scare Red to death, and then he'd spend the entire time they were here trying to convince him to quit! And he didn't want mom to worry more than she already did. "I-"

"Just tell em about the crystals," Pana said, elbowing him without looking up, really into her bamboo shoots. "You know, the cavern? Who we met?"

"Oh yeah!" Blue lit up at the memory, an exciting one, and decided right there to leave out the… more dangerous parts. What Red didn't know would probably save him from a heart attack.

"So… theres a huge crystal cavern under Wonder City…"

…

"You met a Mythical Pokemon?!"

Silver's eyes were wide at Blue's story, along with Yellow and Green. No Legendaries or Mythicals had been seen in over a century after all. It was a good thing he'd just finished the log, or his brother would have knocked it over.

"What's she like?" Silver continued. "Is she really made of pink gemstones? Did she make that entire place? How did no one notice an entire society under there for so long? How-"

"Silver!" Nutmeg said, standing and also in awe. "Off the table!"

"Sorry mom…" the Skwovet said, following his mothers orders.

"That's incredible!" Rose said, taking a sip of water and turning to her future husband. "See, he was fine!"

"Yeah…" Red said, looking his brother up and down. "I guess he was…"

Shit, did he know he was hiding something?

"Diancie is kinda crazy," Pana said, looking back up. "Said the dungeon was some kinda test."

"Test?" Red asked, looking at the shorter bear. "What kind of test? Was it dangerous?"

"It was-"

"Nothing too bad!" Blue cut Pana off, to her slight annoyance by the looks of her glare. "We all came out fine. Nothing to worry about."

"Really?" Red asked. "That's not the tone of something fine…"

He did his best to hide his nerves, but Red was always good at picking up on that.

"We lived," Rio said, playing with his Z-Stones. "Got this out of it!" he was tapping on the most recent addition to his collection, the pink crystal. His entire family's eyes widened in recognition at the shape. He hoped to broach that subject later…

"They look like dad's!" Yellow pointed out, looking back at Blue's wrist, and back at the other two members of the team. "Did she give you the bracelets too?"

"Yup!" Scales said, now eating his eight big apple. "Now we can use em. Well, Rio and Blue can."

"Rio won't let me try the black one…" Pana grumbled.

"I found it, it's mine!" Rio shot back. "When you find one, you can keep it."

"Use?" Green asked. "But dad said they didn't do anything."

"Couldn't be more wrong!" Rio continued. "Just needed the right moves."

"And what are those?" Red asked, incredulous.

"Actually Rio," Blue said before he could demonstrate and possibly destroy half the town by accident. "Do you mind if we try those new ones tomorrow? In a...safer environment?"

"Oh yeah," Rio said, sitting back down. "Of course."

"Safer environment?" Nutmeg asked, looking at her eldest sons. "What exactly did your father give you two?"

Red paused to yank at his own necklace, kept under his bandana. The light blue Z-Crystal looked just like Blue remembered, a diamond shape, with a black droplet on its center. He suddenly seemed scared of it as he looked at the Riolu. Blue saw his friend's eyes light up at the crystal, and he wondered if that one glowed for him too...

"Don't worry," Blue reassured his brother. "They won't do anything on their own. There are specific instructions."

Red seemed to calm down at those words, putting the necklace back under his bandana. Rio let his eyes linger a little while longer, before turning away.

"Mind if I tag along?" Red asked, looking between the two. "I wanna see what exactly he left us…" He knew that was at least part of it.
"Depends," Rio asked before Blue could answer. "Are we invited to the wedding?"

"That depends," Rose shot back before Red could respond. "You guys willing to help prep?"

"Sure!" Rio answered.

"Why not?" Scales said, finishing the apple core.

"At least we're getting compensated…" Pana said, nodding. "Sounds fair."

"Great!" Rose said, clapping.

"Can we come too?" Silver asked, eyes pleading.

"Yeah!" Yellow added.

"No!" Blue said immediately. Red was one thing, but endangering his younger siblings? Off the table. "...I'll tell you all about it."

"Awwwww…" they groaned in unison.

"I'll teach you a move after?" Rio said, shrugging.

"Yaaay!" the triplets shouted, crowding Rio.

"What kind of move?" Blue asked, fearing for their safety for a second.

"Something they're suited for, don't worry. Nothing dangerous."

Blue already knew Rio's sense of danger was heavily skewed in one direction, but he also knew the Riolu wouldn't put the triplets in danger on purpose, so he decided to let it go. Besides, they were excited, and Red was already suspicious. He had to let it happen. They'd probably be fine.

"Alright then," Red said, standing up. "Blue, wanna go for a walk? Catch up?"

Oh no.

"S-sure!"

"Don't stay out too late you two!" Nutmeg said as they walked for the door.

"Hey Blue!" Rose said, just as his older brother opened the door. "Red's bedtime is when the moon's at its peak. I want him back by then. We've got a...busy night…"

Red blushed, and he saw Rio stifling a laugh. His mother looked horrified, and the implications thankfully flew over the triplets' heads. Except Green probably. She was shaking her head.

A LOT changed in two years, apparently.

…

"Was that the whole story?"

The two beavers aimlessly wandered their hometown on all fours. Red hadn't looked away from Blue ever since they left.

"...No," Blue said. He couldn't lie to his brother. Dance around the truth maybe, but straight up lie? It wouldn't feel right.

"Are you gonna tell me the whole story?" The pair had just come up to the founder's statue, Keldeo's horn spraying water and catching the moonlight. He wished he could enjoy the walk, but he knew why Red had asked him to walk with him.

"...No," if he told his brother the entire thing, the conversation they were about to have would get so much worse. He couldn't tell him about the Labyrinth. About what really happened with Diancie and Rhodes, about Legacies, and especially not the lab.

"Was it dangerous?"

"I mean, dungeon diving always had an inherent risk, so…"

"You know what I mean."

He did. He always did.

"Yeah," Blue answered, looking away. "Very."

"Why do you insist on doing this to yourself!" Red suddenly started shouting. "You could just stay here, make a life as a carpenter, or something safe!"

"I-" the smaller beaver tried to cut it, but Red was in full rant mode.

"I get that you want something more, but is that really worth your life?" He was in his face now, his worry and anger contorting his face. Blue turned away once again, but Red wouldn't be ignored, padding and now standing over his brother.

"I-"

"You're not strong enough."

He was probably right about that, one of the last things he said to the Bidoof after all. Mostly from Red, but he'd felt the truth behind those words many, many times over in the past two years.

It still hurt.

Still, there were three reasons that's become less of a problem, but that wouldn't matter to his brother. Hell, he'd doubt he'd listen, so he stayed silent.

"You're not suited for this life!"

"Dad did it," he mumbled.

"And look what that got him!" Red shouted. "A tree in the grove!"

And suddenly he could see his father, the shape he was in right before he died. Missing his tail, one eye missing, the socket freely bleeding, stomach filled with stab wounds…

Blue blinked the memory away, shaking. That memory was off limits. It was too much to remember his father's last moments…

He felt Red's paw on his back, and he couldn't tell if his brother was shaking too.

"That was too far," Red apologized. "I shouldn't have brought that up."

Blue could only stare back at his brother, still shaking, trying to get his mind off that damn memory…

"I just don't want the same thing to happen to you."

Blue couldn't respond, as he trudged back to the restaurant. Trying desperately to focus on something, anything else. The tests, yeah. What would he and Rio try first? The limits of his transformation first, and work up from there. Yeah, that sounded reasonable.

"Blue?"

He didn't respond to his brother, or anyone for that matter, as he wandered back up to his room, and fell asleep, thoughts full of possibilities, and nothing else.

Of course the nightmare still came for him. For the first time in two years.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

32. Dragon Meets Dragon

Scales didn't mind sleeping outside.

He really didn't. Preferred it depending on the climate. A good, sunny day back on the Isles was a great nap, if the Masters let it happen. They usually didn't. A bad day and the northernmost island would blow in a blizzard. He hated blizzards; most dragons did, apparently.

Still, he could deal with the cooling night air as he leaned against the back of the restaurant. Too big to fit in Blue's old bedroom. He'd gotten stares from the other residents, sure, but that wasn't so different from home. An old Theivul nodded to the large Hakamo-o as he walked towards the front entrance. Scales waved back, as he pulled up the blanket Blue's mother had found for him, and shuffled in his straw mat. It didn't do much, he was cold blooded after all, but it was better than nothing.

His newest friend's family was nice. Blue's mom was a great cook, and honestly that was enough for him. Really nice too, let him have more than usual. No meat though, but apparently someone could fix that. He had to meet this Finn guy.

Tomorrow though. His belly was full enough, and he could feel sleep approaching. He never fought it. Why would he? It was his second favorite thing to do after all. Hell, even the cold seemed to be helping along…

…

Blue didn't sleep well. The reemergence of the nightmare kept jolting him awake. It was a good thing Rio and Pana seemed to be heavy sleepers, they didn't need to deal with another one of his problems on top of everything else.

He looked at his two roommates. Pana claimed Red's old bed, and was still snoozing away. She even slept quietly. Rio didn't seem to mind using his own straw mat, curled up in a ball. He slept like a quadruped? Another support to his theory, one they'd be testing when he woke up. Hopefully it'd get his mind off of dad's fate…

Determined not to think about it, he took a peek outside. Snow blanketed the ground. A surprise shower then? It was still mid autumn. Someone probably used a strong Blizzard and it blew upwind. Oh well, snow was nice. His fur kept him warm enough, and it shouldn't be a problem for most-

It was then Blue remembered where Scales was sleeping, and his blood ran cold. Like Scales probably was.

"Oh shit."

He scrambled for the door, knocking it open and blowing past his siblings' own room. He didn't stop when Yellow poked her tired head out, he didn't stop when his mother stuck her one head out of the kitchen, the restaurant warm because of her preparations for the day.

"Blue?" She asked. "What's-"

That's all he heard, quickly jumping up and opening the door. The snow wasn't deep, only coming up to his feet, but he had no idea how much cold Scales could take. And at an extended period of time!

The Bidoof quickly dashed through the snow, and then he saw his friend covered in a wet blanket, ice covering his forearms and creeping up his chest. Oh Arceus, this was bad. Blue knew he had to get him inside, and fast!

The Bidoof started pushing against his currently freezing friend, but he wouldn't budge! He was too weak, and Scales was too heavy! Damn! Why couldn't he have woken Rio, or Pana? He butted again, and again, and again, but still nothing! At least he wasn't Sleep Talking… all he had to do was move the heavy-

The large dragon suddenly shifted! But, in the wrong way? Blue didn't notice the taller figure pulling Scales from his slumped position, but the grunt gave him away. Blue turned to the figure, who was wearing a red-orange cloak. When they moved it looked like flickering flames. A fire cloak! The Bidoof thought he could see the bulges of fire stones sewn in. A blue fin stuck out of his back, and his claws grabbed at Scales's forearm.

"Heavy, aren't ya?" the figure grunted, getting an icy arm over his own neck. He could now see the rough blue scales and piercing yellow eyes of a Gabite staring down at the Bidoof. A bag hung from the bag at his side, covering his red belly, but a long, faint scar still stuck out.

"Still breathing," the Gabite noted, dragging Scales through the snow. "That's good. Let's get him inside, probably gonna need you to open the door."

With that, the Gabite continued to drag him through the snow, and up to the restaurant's entrance. Blue wasn't far behind, jumping up and pushing the door open for the Gabite who was currently saving his friend.

"Blue?" his mother asked, before seeing the shape Scales was in. "What- Oh dear!"

"Hi Nutmeg," the Gabite said, sitting the dragon down. "He was just sleeping outside your shop, in the snow."

The Gabite took off his cloak, draping it over the now thawing punch dragon. Blue watched as the ice continued to melt, now faster thanks to the cloak.

"Oh I should have never let him sleep outside…" Nutmeg said, coming to look at Scales. "It shouldn't have gotten this cold for another few months!"

"Bastards…" the Gabite said, looking from Scales towards the kitchen. "May I borrow your kitchen? I wanted to discuss catering plans, and now I have a taste tester that may need it."

"Of course, Finn!"

…

The smell woke Scales as the cloak fell off him. The cold was pushed to the side as he looked towards where the smell was coming from.

The big, steaming bowl of stew sitting in front of him was the best thing he smelled in a while, bits of meat and vegetables bobbin in the-

Wait, meat?

He didn't even notice the spoon to the side, just picking up the bowl and starting to drink. The potatoes and carrots mixed well with the meat, not too tough, not too chewy. The flavors exploded as he guzzled. Savory, not too salty, little spicy, and most of all, filling! Even mom's cooking couldn't compare to this!

"Well, I'm glad you like it!"

The new voice snapped Scales out of his meal, and he put down his bowl to look at the Pokemon sat opposite him. A Gabite, he thought. He'd never seen another dragon! And he could cook! This trip was already worth it!

"Yeah!" Scales said, putting down his bowl for a bit. "It's amazing!"

"I'm glad!" the Gabite said with a grin. "It's a new recipe I cooked up, but not a lot of Pokémon in this town eat meat, so I haven't had a way to get a second opinion. The key is-"

As the Gabite talked, Scales slurped up the rest of the bowl, quickly devouring the meal. The last thing of meat he had was Rio's skewers, and this was so much better! On his mind was the retreating cold as he finished the meal, burping in satisfaction, shaking the ground. The surprised Gabite blinked.

"...and a little Tamato juice for an extra kick. Do you...want some more?"

"Please!" Scales pushed the wooden bowl towards the chef, who took it with a hooked claw.

"My name's Finn by the way," the Gabite said, smiling at Scales. "I'm glad you like my stuff."

"Scales," the large Hakamo-o said, licking his maw in anticipation. "And yeah, who wouldn't?"

"The boss, for one…" was all Finn said before darting behind the counter and ducking into the kitchen. Scales stared at the door for a while, waiting for his next serving. That warm feeling in his stomach spread around his body, but it seemed to linger in his chest.

"You alright?" Scales looked down to see Blue who stood right next to his leg. He looked really tired, ragged even. The Bidoof couldn't hold back a yawn before replying.

"Yeah," he said, shaking himself. "Just got up early. Ran out as soon as I saw the snow. Are you ok?"

"Uh, yeah. Why did you-"

"You were literally freezing over!"

Oh, that's why he was cold earlier! That… could've been bad...

"Sorry," Blue said. "Snowfall should be months away, and we didn't have space for you. I thought-"

"It worked out," Scales yawned. "Don't worry about it."

"Still-"

At that, the door burst open, and Finn walked out, balancing another bowl of stew on his claws and putting it in front of Scales. Nutmeg was right behind him, relief washing over her face at the sight of the now conscious dragon.

"There you go!" the Gabite said, a smile growing on his face. "Eat up!"

Scales did just that, slurping up the best soup he'd ever had with no offense to Nutmeg's own. He just liked meat more.

"Oh honey you're alright!" the Greedent said, walking up to Scales. "I'm so sorry about the snowfall. We'll have to find you somewhere else to sleep, outside won't work obviously. I don't want to risk another freak blizzard. You could sleep in here once I close up shop for the night."

Scales caught Blue's wince as he finished off his second serving… The Bidoof obviously didn't want that to happen. The Hakamo-o had been told he moves in his sleep, and that has caused… problems.

"You could come with me," Finn said. Scales blinked, looking at the chef, along with the squirrel and her beaver son. "I've got a place a little ways from here. Should have enough space for both of us."

"Are you sure?" Blue asked, looking the Gabite dead in the eyes. "He can be… loud."

"I'm a heavy sleeper," Finn replied. "Course it won't be for free. I need a taste tester for all the dishes I have planned for the wedding…"

"I'll do it!" Scales said, shooting up from his seat. The crack of wood made him look down, only to notice he had stabbed his own claws into the carved wood table and his knees snapped the shaft that held the thing up. The dragon raised his hands, and the table came with it.

"...Sorry," Scales said. "I'll… fix that before I go."

"Well," Blue sighed. "I'll help you out. We've got all day…"

…

The Abomasnow looked over her demonstration, the forest blanketed with her Blizzard. That should have been more than enough to prove she was serious.

"That good enough for ya?" she asked, before transforming once again. It felt weird at first, but eighteen years of practice let her do with just a thought. Still, tripling in size and becoming bipedal was just a little disorienting. Her normal body was much more pleasant.

The Espeon stretched in front of the assembled group of bandits. All but the leader looked particularly beat up. Especially the Marowak. Skull helmet cracked, bandaged arms and legs, leaning on a splint. She kinda felt bad for him.

Becoming something so big and then shrinking back down was a bit of a strain on the back. She waved her two-tipped tail playfully, completely relaxed, before laying on her stomach.

"So?" Selena asked, smiling at the leader, bright blue eyes shining. "Believe me?"

Veles simply stared at the shapeshifting Espeon, before his eyes turned back to the ruby stone he held in his large claws. The halved orb was warm to the touch, half a yellow arc on its front. The Tyranitar got up, towering over his minions, and looked at his own body. The strange black markings that started to spread as soon as he touched the thing seemed to have stopped. His right arm has lines sprouting from the black circle that formed around his elbow snaking all the way up his claws. The scar that slashed across his hard belly seemed to burn, but it didn't hurt. It felt kinda… nice.

"Let's say I do believe you," the Tyranitar said. "and this isn't some kinda crazy illusion put on by a Zoroark. What now?"

"You go in the Labyrinth and find the next pieces," Selena yawned. "Free your Legendary, and we can move on with our lives."

With a thought, the Espeon made a psychic bubble under her, and let it lift her to the much bigger Pokemon, looking him in the eyes.

"If you don't believe me," she continued. "That's fine. Just know that we're all in deep shit if you don't."

Veles glared at the blue-eyed Espeon. This sounded mad, but considering what she just did, there was at least some truth to it.

Besides, having a Legendary Pokemon's power would be quite useful. Not much would be able to stop him. It was worth pursuing, at least for now.

"Alright. Where do we-"

"Boss!"

Everyone turned up to see a Murkrow flapping through the harsh winds, carrying a small bag. Edgar, their scout. He did good work, unlike the rest of his main crew. He really needed to vet his inner circle better.

"We'll continue this later," he said to the completely relaxed Espeon. "What do you have for me Edgar?" Veles asked the bird.

"No sign of the Riolu," the scout answered, landing on the Tyranitar's shoulder. "The Bewear and that freak are heading toward Redwood though. It's… not hard to keep track of em…" The Murkrow shuttered after saying that, and Veles knew it wasn't because of the cold. Based on what she did to Mac, he couldn't blame him.

"Alright," Veles said, after a little while. "We'll pay em a visit. Payback for Mac and my booze. Anything else?"

"Yeah actually!" the Murkrow flipped his bag open, pulled a neat letter from his bag. "It's from-"

"Rosie!" Veles said, the edge in his voice melting away as he snatched the letter from the Murkrow's beak. "How did she look? That Bibarel treating her right? What was his name… Rojo?"

"Red, boss. He's treating her like a queen, don't worry about that."

"Damn right! Only the best for my girl. And how's... Finn?"

"Also good."

"Of course he is…"

At that, Veles tore open the letter, reading what was the latest with his daughter. What was in there… didn't inspire confidence.

"...If he makes you happy, sweetheart…" he said after reading. "Well, we were heading there anyway."

The Tyranitar turned to his still healing crew, who all straightened as he glared at all of them. That was better. His people needed to listen to him first after all.

"Listen up!" he barked, stomping his large foot. The ground around them shook briefly, snow falling from the trees surrounding their base. "Send out a call for the best gift you can find for my little girl's big day, and once you're done with that, get all the crews in the area surrounding that Bewear."

"B-boss?" the heavily injured Marowak asked. "The freak's probably a problem too. I'm not sure-"

"I'm going too," Veles said, silencing the Marowak with a glare. "Apparently I need to, if you all can't handle a single Riolu."

The bandaged Rhydon that stood next to Mac, looked like he wanted to speak but knew better than to do so. Selena chuckled lightly, eyes shining and still calmly floating.

"What's so funny?" the bandit king asked, turning to the Espeon.

"Nothing," she said, turning back to the Tyranitar. "Life is just funny. Mind if I come with? I just love weddings."

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

“Alright,” Rio said, stretching. “What do you wanna do first?”

The test was put off thanks to the freak storm, but Blue was lucky enough to know a place they could test his theory and not destroy anything important. It was the entrance to a small Dungeon far north of town, where the forest started to end. A small grassy clearing, leading to a field that seemed to go on forever. It was a trick of the eye, once you entered, a ways away anyone watching would see you vanish into thin air, now at the mercy of the pocket dimension. Dad called it Rolling Meadow. They wouldn’t be going inside, Blue knew Red would hate that. Ever since dad…

No. Focus on the now.

“Why did we have to go so far anyway?” Red asked, eyeing the Dungeon entrance warily as the Bibarel stepped in front of his brother, blocking the Bidoof’s view of his friend and the Dungeon.

“Just so I don’t break anything important,” Rio said absently, looking at the three Z-Crystals on his wrist. Before Red could ask what exactly that meant, and Blue knew he would, the Bidoof jumped in before the Bibarel could freak out.

“Y-You wouldn’t want a move to hit someone’s home, right?” Blue asked, unable to keep the stammer out of his voice. He hadn’t told Red what to do except because he knew the Bibarel wouldn’t approve. And if he didn’t approve he’d do his damndest to keep him from trying. Still, since he was here he couldn’t just keep it a secret. He’d see what the stones could do, there was no way around it.

There was also the surprise of Pana and Scales not coming along. The dragon seemed reluctant to leave Finn’s side after he kept pulling out apparently amazing dishes, seriously he followed him everywhere. Pana got the job of teaching the triplets a move. She didn’t say which, so Blue could only hope it was appropriate. It would have been reassuring to have them along, but this was just a test. How bad could it really go?

“Yeah,” Red said after a while. “That makes sense. Unnecessary damage, but how much could a little guy like you do?”

“Why don’t we find out?” Rio said, grinning. “I’m thinking the black one-”

“A-actually,” Blue said, stopping Rio in his tracks. “Could you maybe… avoid the black one?”

“Why?”

The fact that it’s one of the most terrifying things Blue has ever seen probably contributed to that, but Red didn’t need to know that.

“Just to change it up,” he lied. A control would actually be amazing, but Red not freaking out was more important.

“Actually, I wanted to try something with this thing,” Rio mumbled, looking at the stone. Before Blue could even begin to stop him, it started glowing with a black light. Blue started backpedaling, waiting for the next sign of the move, eyes wide. Red’s eyes widened at his brother’s reaction, and he followed suit. But the move never came.

Instead, Rio started to change. His blue fur turned black with strips of yellow forming around his waist, ears, Aura receivers, and a circle of yellow fur sprouted on his forehead. His tail straightened out, fluffed up, and also grew a ring of yellow. When it was all said and done the now black and yellow Riolu turned to the brothers. The nasty scar usually hidden by his neck fluff was on full display thanks to the fur in question's sudden absence. Blue stared up at his eyes, one like a normal Riolu’s, but the whites of the other gone blood red with a pitch black pupil. Blue calmly stood, taking Rio’s new features in. Red, to his credit, could only gawk at the sight.

The Riolu stopped after a few steps, glancing at his body. First he looked at his paws, bent down to look at his legs and torso, and wagged his tail as he got a look at his behind. A grin sprouted soon after.

“Cool!” Rio said, tail wagging even faster.

“W-what?” Red said, eyes bulging out of his head. “He’s a-”

“A Riolu-Eevee hybrid,” Blue said, his suspicion finally confirmed. “He seems to be able to shift between at least this evolution…”

“Really?” Rio said, hopping in place. Blue couldn’t help but notice the ground crack under the force, a crater now forming. Was… was he that much heavier? “I never knew.”

“How could you not know?” Red asked. “Wouldn’t you have noticed with two parents that different?”

“Never knew em, so…”

The Bidoof wasn’t sure how Rio managed to say something like that so casually. It kind of bothered him, but now wasn’t the time for that. They had to test this ability. Yeah, focus on something new.

“Try something,” Blue asked, waving Red back. “A move.”

“Sure.”

“Wait what-” but it was too late. Dark energy, dark Aura, suddenly pulsed from Rio, washing over the area. Blue flinched as the wave of cold hit him, and passed quickly. Weird. No explosion. That was a positive at least, and Red wouldn’t question something so harmless. He tried walking closer to his brother, but found it hard to.

Was… was he heavier? Why was it so hard to move all of a sudden? Blue tried to lift a leg, but it felt like there was a boulder strapped to his back. And it was getting heavier? When the ground beneath him started to crack, Blue knew something was wrong. The Bidoof turned his head with some effort, to see Red struggling with the same invisible burden. The Bibarel was on all fours, gasping for breath.

Blue looked around them, to see even the grass and trees bending. The sound of snapping branches popped up all around them. When the Bidoof looked back to Rolling Meadow’s entrance, he saw the air rippling like water, as if reality was being pulled towards the ground, like it was raining reality. He’d never seen anything like this. What was-

Rio.

“Rio stop!” Blue said, unable to even stand anymore. He fell to the ground, legs splayed as he looked back at his friend. That dark energy was still visible around him, but he was looking down too, just stomping his feet. Each stomp made another crack in the dirt, sending blades of grass up, and then immediately back down. It looked like he hadn’t even really noticed what he was doing!

“RIO!” Blue shouted again. That seemed to get the Riolu’s attention. He looked down at the Bidoof, eyes wide, and suddenly the weight went away, as if it was never there. The Bidoof dragged himself to his feet, and climbed out of the indent he was forced to make.

“Are you guys alright?” Rio said, stomping over. Why was he still heavy?

“What the hell was that?” Red asked, shooting up from his own indent. “What move was that? Why did you do it?”

“I just tried to flare my Aura,” Rio explained. “Usually it just explodes.”

“It explodes?” Red wheeled on his brother. “Your friend explodes?”

“W-well,” Blue stammered. “Not exactly…”

“Oh don’t worry,” the Riolu-Umbreon said. “I haven’t blown up anything too important in a year! Well, unless you count that Dungeon…”

Red was speechless, mouth agape. Blue could only guess what was going on inside his head, but he knew it’d involve his safety. A sudden increase in what Blue assumed was gravity would do that. He had to move this along, maybe disorient the beaver so he couldn’t try and stop the test.

“What else changed?” Blue asked. “Can you try all your moves?”

“Oh sure-”

“And please try not to break anything.”

“I’ll try. First-”

Rio’s body suddenly bulged, arm muscles, leg muscles, and pecs suddenly doubled in size, abs becoming visible through the black fur. Blue had never seen that move.

“Bulk Up’s normal,” Rio said, breathing out. His body went back to its usual slim self, minus the Umbreon features of course. “How about-”

The Riolu suddenly kicked behind him. Blue barely saw saw the move before it was over, Rio just standing there, shrugging at his outstretched leg.

“Quick Attack’s a little slow,” he mumbled. “Maybe it’s the weight?”

He followed with a Force Palm in the air, a black eruption of energy shooting out instead of the normal light blue. The Bidoof already knew he didn’t want to end up on the bad end of these attacks, but that last one just looked more sinister.

“Off-color,” Rio said out loud. “but I guess that makes sense. Heatbutt’s pretty simple, so no need for that.”

A swift jab in the air coated in dark energy followed. Rio nodded.

“Sucker Punch is definitely stronger. Hi-Jump-Kick definitely won't work right, too heavy. One more.”

Rio held out a paw, and the black energy formed, shaping itself into a stick, and extending in Rio’s paw. He’d seen Rio use Bone Rush many times at this point, it was probably his favorite move, but it didn’t stop when it got to Rio’s normal length. Instead the top of the staff stretched to the side, sharpening into a long blade. The sharp end of the newly formed scythe was yellow, like Rio’s new markings. The Riolu-Umbreon twirled the scythe casually, as if he’d practiced with it for years.

“I wasn’t going for this shape,” Rio said, still twirling. “Why a scythe? Why’s it so heavy?”

Before Blue could answer, Red stepped in-between the two. It looked like he was over the shock of Rio’s display, and was now glaring daggers at the half-Riolu.

“Careful with that thing!” the Bibarel said. “You could cut him!”

“Calm down big guy,” Rio said, still twirling. “Bone Rush is my best- whoops!”

The scythe slipped from Rio’s grasp, luckily away from the two brothers. It didn’t stop Red from pushing him further away, but Blue didn’t resist. It just made the arguments worse in his opinion.

The scythe flew towards the Dungeon entrance, the sharp end burying itself in the ground right in front of the Dungeon. The entrance started to ripple again, as if being pulled towards the weapon.

“Bad example,” Rio said. “But it’s-”
And then the scythe exploded.

With no warning whatsoever, the scythe just spontaneously combusted in a black explosion, sending dirt and grass flying a few feet, only to have it slam back into the ground. Blue jumped back in shock with his brother, while Rio just looked towards the remains of his new weapon. The Riolu hybrid’s polychromatic eyes were drawn to the hole in reality it caused.

The Dungeon entrance was… damaged somehow. Cracks interrupted the peaceful scene, as if they were staring into a cracked mirror. That wasn’t the strangest sight though. That honor went to the hole at the bottom, the white void that seemed to drill through the meadow. The void shifted and sloshed about, like water. All the three could do for a while was stare at it, as the cracks faded, and the meadow grew over to patch the hole. The silence continued for a bit.

“What-” Red began after a while.

“Was that?” Blue finished.

“I don’t know…” Rio said. “Should I try it again?”

“NO!” Both siblings shouted.

“Are you crazy?” Red asked.

“We have to figure out what that was!” Blue added. “It was like you… you-“

“Broke the Dungeon?” Rio suggested.

“Well, yeah!” Blue exclaimed. Not entirely accurate of course, damaged was closer. And it looked like the Dungeon had already repaired itself. The problem was he’d never even HEARD of this happening. It’s completely unprecedented! Was this a new phenomenon? What exactly did Rio do? This had to be studied, he had to think!

“Well, I guess I broke the Dungeon a little,” Rio said, the black light shining from his bracelet finally fading. As the dark light died, his fur went back to normal, yellow and black turning back to blue, and puffing out. Once again the scar was hidden under his neck fluff.

“Alright,” he continued. “Let’s try the pink one next!”

“How about,” Red said, again stepping between the two friends. “We stop for today? You know, so we can figure out what the hell that was all about?”

Red sounded… uncharacteristically calm, considering what just happened. Maybe the intrigue awakened some lingering curiosity in him? Maybe that display brought some of his curiosity back? The part of him that died with dad?

“Oh come on!” Rio complained. “I’ve been holding out for weeks now!”

“He’s right Rio,” Blue said, backing up his brother. “We need to discuss, come up with a theory, record this for the guild! Hell, we might have an entire new subspecies with you, and that’s not even accounting for you being able to seemingly damage a Dungeon! This could be huge!”

“Alright, fine!” Rio said, shrugging. “We can stop for now. I’m trying the other two tomorrow, with or without you two.”

With that, Rio started off back to town, kicking some stray branches out of the way. Blue went to follow, but was stopped by Red’s tail.

“Your friend explodes?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. “And what was he talking about, destroying a Dungeon? What aren’t you telling me?”

Oh joy. This would be a fun conversation.

…​

Nutmeg’s kitchen was well equipped, with a large stove to make her signature stew, cutting boards to prep ingredients, and racks of spices that lined the wall. Her ingredients were getting a little sparse, but a new shipment was due any day now. Finn came just in time to take Scales away, and while she liked big eaters she wasn’t sure she could keep feeding the dragon! He ate like a Snoralx… maybe two!

With the stew cooking and no other pending orders, all she had to do was look around at her kitchen, the Greedent’s eyes wandering to the locked cabinet facing the stove. She looked around, her children were gone for the day, and the customers wouldn’t dare come in here. It wouldn’t hurt to be reminded, would it?

Taking the key from her apron pocket, Nutmeg opened the cabinet, revealing the single, old, large book that it housed. Gold had made it himself, the cover made from dried lily pads, and pages made from the trees he cut down himself. Instead of twine, he made a three-ringed wood clamp to hold all his pages. Made it easier to add too as well. Her husband was nothing if not efficient.

Taking his old explorers journal, she looked at the first page for the millionth time. Of course, she couldn’t read it. It was in his home language after all, and she never bothered to learn it. He did talk about teaching their kids, but only Blue seemed perceptive enough when they started, and then his death cut that short.

She just wanted to look at his handwriting, his sketches. They were pretty rough, but he was an artist back home. He adapted pretty quickly, as seen by the next page. The sketch of the sleeping Eevee was quite nice, if not a little rough. This was a few weeks after arriving, according to Gold. His old partner looked peaceful in the picture, the Eevee curled up in the straw bed. She hadn’t seen Serena since the funeral, and even then her appearances had been very sporadic, only staying a few hours. She never wanted to meet the kids either, but Nutmeg didn’t complain. Both her and her husband knew she wasn’t the most responsible role model.

She continued flipping, her husband’s sketches becoming more and more elaborate. The guildtower in all its glory, the riverside he washed up on, each of their children. Nutmeg herself. He took extra care with those sketches, and it showed. He even colored their bandanas when he got his hands on some more vibrant shades.

That reminded Nutmeg, she needed to give this to Blue. Since he became the explorer, that's what Gold would have wanted. Just… after a few more days of reminders. That was all she asked.

She finally snapped out of it when the stew started to burn, putting the book back under lock and key.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

34. Evolution Envy

"And how exactly did you use the crystal without using the move?" Blue asked, scribbling in his own journal. For someone who didn't exactly have thumbs, he was a fast writer. "When I did it, my body flooded with energy and I had no choice but to use it immediately."

"You've used it before?" Red asked, some chewed up wood spilling from his mouth. "Are you ok? Any side effects? What about-"

"He was fine," Rio explained, sipping his own stew. It really was stupid good. "He just ran into a big rock."

As the sun started to set, the Cheeky Chipmunk filled with customers, drowning out the three's conversation. Half the town was sitting inside, eating the best food for miles. A Minchino and Pikachu were feeding each other a huge berry salad, A Simisage was chatting with a Roserade, and the Tropius outside was peeking his head in to chat with a Chickorita. Blue didn't know how much he missed this atmosphere. Still, even that was about to be ruined.

"A rock?!" Red almost shouted. "What have you been doing with my brother?"

He mentally begged Rio to not make it worse as he scribbled down his notes.

"He wanted to learn how to use it, so I taught him."

Oh good, he just made it worse.

"And he had to run into a rock to do it?!"

"No, the rock just kinda got in the way."

"Why-"

"It's a long story," Blue snapped, trying to finish this sentence. The subject was able to access the crystals in a less… destructive wa-

And then his pencil was gone.

Blue blinked, looking at his empty paw. He knew there was a pencil there, and now there wasn't. He hadn't dropped it, had he? Maybe the hubbub of the dinner crowd muffled the noise? But then how did Blue not notice it fell?

"Sorry," Blue said, looking around. "I guess I dropped my pencil…"

"Under the table," Rio said, slightly smiling and taking a sip of juice. Huh. Guess he did drop it.

"I got it," Blue said, taking a peak below. "Thanks-"

"BOO!"

The Bidoof jumped out of his seat, eyes wide and heart pounding. He fell on his back, quickly rolling to see his younger siblings hiding beneath the table, all laughing. Yellow had his pencil. He took a few seconds to calm himself. The customers were all staring at the table, the regulars laughing a bit before returning to their meals and own conversations. Blue groaned at his siblings, standing back up.

"Really you guys?" Blue asked. "Was that really necessary?"

"That was for yesterday!" Yellow said, still laughing.

"It was her idea…" Silver said, looking away. He still had a bit of a smile on his toothy face.

"I just wanted to test our new move," Green said. She had killed her own smile completely. "Ms. Pana said we were naturals."

"Thief, huh?" Rio said, plucking the pencil from the Skwovet's paw and handing it back to Blue. "Yeah, she would teach that."

"Wait, Thief?" Red asked, eyeing his siblings. "You shouldn't be learning how to steal! Where's that Pancham, I need to have a talk with her…"

It was then that the Pancham in question decided to step out from behind the Bibarel, as silent as ever. Blue barely flinched when he saw her, getting used to how quiet she could be when she wanted to be. Red hadn't noticed her and she made no move to make herself known. She put a finger to her lips, a gesture to not give her away quite yet.

"Well?" Red continued. "Where is she?"

"Right here," Pana said, poking the Bibarel in the side with a claw. He jumped to the side, crashing into the table. Rio managed to catch his soup and Blue's journal, but what was left of Red's log clattered to the ground. More laughs rang out from the patrons, the hijinks of the siblings were well known after all. The triplets were a rambunctious bunch, so they all assumed it was them. Red picked himself up, glaring at the Pancham.

"Why?" he asked.

"They told me it'd be funny," Pana shot back, pointing at the triplets. "It was."

"Really?" Red asked his youngest siblings, who were trying hard to hide their sniggers.

"It was pretty funny," Rio said, standing the table back up. "Nice job."

"Oh don't you start. Now-" Red turned to Pana. "Where do you get off, teaching my family how to steal?"

"They wanted to learn," Pana shrugged. "It's an easy enough move."

"But-"

"Now what did I say about using it?" Pana asked, turning to the triplets.

"Use it responsibly," Silver answered first.

"Use it if it's funny!" Yellow said right after.

"Use it if you know you won't get caught," Green added last, looking away.

"Right," Pana said, nodding. "Now Blue, come with me."

"Huh?" Blue asked. "Why?"

"You promised," Pana said, appearing next to him. "It's been a few days. I've waited long enough."

"Hold on!" Red said, just below shouting. "We're not done here!"

"Yeah we are," Pana shot back. "It'll be fine. Come on Blue."

Blue knew what she wanted, and he did remember that promise. Still, impatience wasn't something he'd used to describe Pana. And why wasn't she bringing Rio or Scales? Wouldn't they want to see the spring too?

"Don't want me tagging along?" Rio asked, keeping pace with the power walking panda.

"If you do, I'll rip your tail off and feed it to you," she said, calmly.

"It's a bit of a walk…" Blue said, used to the casual threats his friend threw at her siblings.

"That's fine. Come on."

Before anyone could ask any more questions, the two were out the door, walking into the forest.

…​

The last time Blue visited the evolution spring was two years ago. Red had just turned old enough to go through the process. He didn't train to be able to do it early, that was a rarity in any village. Speaking of, he was getting there himself. Half a year from now, he'd be sixteen, and he should be able to do it no problem. Hell, maybe the training he'd been doing would let him do it now!

But he could sense that wouldn't be appropriate tonight.

Pana easily kept pace with him as they walked deeper into the forest. The sun had set a while ago, and the way she walked seemed to let the darkness of the forest wrap around her. Blue didn't doubt that if she didn't want to be seen right now, she wouldn't. Her footsteps were completely silent, like always, she didn't even leave footprints.

"Are we almost there? Pana said. She wasn't calm or angry like normal. Nervous?

"Y-yeah," Blue stammered. "Why didn't you invite Rio or Scales? Wouldn't they want to-"

"Scales and his new friend are having a good time," Pana said. "Checked in on them while you were out of town. Didn't want to interrupt. Finn asked us to go hunting, because Scales is-"

"- eating him out of house and home?"

"I was gonna say 'being Scales' but that works too."

"...I don't think I'm comfortable hunting…"

"Neither am I. It's messy. I'll get Rio to do it."

"...Not Scales?"

"He wanted Scales to stay with him. Said he wanted to keep his taste tester around."

"...I think it goes deeper than that."

At that, Pana turned to Blue, her expression the most overblown, sarcastic shock she could have possibly mustered. Eyes wide, mouth wide open and paw moving to cover it.

"Really?" she said completely deadpan. "I never noticed!"

That got a laugh out of Blue, and Pana returned it. He really, really liked her laugh. It seemed to cut through the dark, irony be damned. Before he could go any further, they had arrived. The curtain of leaves and vines that blocked their path was a common phenomenon around these areas. The nexus of life stimulated such rapid plant growth. Xerneas's Blessing, the phenomenon was called.

"Here we are!" Blue said, nodding to Pana. "Do you want to-"

He didn't even see her move, as she was already at the foliage curtain, pulling it to the side and walking inside. Blue blinked, and followed.

The evolution spring was the most beautiful spot in the entire forest. The vibrant green path was flanked by, you guessed it, trees. These were greener, thicker, healthier than the normal ones, but not as tall. Bushes grew wildly around the spring, cut off only by the rocky edges of the pool in question. The beam of bright light that shot out of the crystal clear water lit up the night air, little spots of light hovering over the water, like mini stars floating into the night sky.

"It's beautiful, right?" He turned to look at Pana, but she was already at the pool's edge, looking into the light, unmoving. Blue scrambled to follow.

"Wait!" Blue said, soon standing by her side. "A-are you going in?"

"Why else would I have asked for you to show me?" Pana said, voice even.

"But without Rio? Or Scales? This is supposed to be a special moment!" You can't just-"

"They would have tried to stop me."

"...Why?"

She was silent, and took a step closer to the pool. Suddenly, Blue was reminded of a little exchange they had in the lab. She got really angry when he mentioned evolution...

"Pana, why?"

Another step. She was clenching her paws.

"Pana!"

She leapt into the pool before Blue could even try to stop her, quickly swimming to the center of the pool. Her dark form was easily visible in the bright, clear water. She wasn't moving with her normal grace, splashing desperately towards the middle. It seemed to brighten even further as she swam closer to the pillar of light. When she finally reached the center, she calmed, closing her eyes.

Blue didn't know if he should intervene. Interrupting an evolution could result in serious side effects for the one trying it in the first place. But if the Bidoof was right about what the problem was in the first place that wasn't the real issue.

That would be the backlash of trying to force an evolution.

He could only watch as light started shining off her body. Soon her entire form was glowing. So far so good… maybe he was just overthinking? Yeah that had to be it, even her form was changing… and pulsing erratically instead of what was supposed to be a smooth transformation.

Oh Arceus no.

As soon as she started shrieking in pain, Blue jumped into the spring. No time to waste. He swam faster than he ever had before, bolting towards his friend. He had to hurry, before the backlash killed her!

It only took him a few seconds to reach Pana, adrenaline boosting his meager swimming speed. The glowing white mass that was the Pancham shrieked in agony as her body pulsed bigger and smaller. Arms expanded and shrunk, legs lengthened and collapsed on themselves, her torso tripled in size, only to shrink back in on itself, as if in tune with her heartbeat. Blue didn't gawk, only focused on pushing her outside of the light. The pulsing mass made it weird to swim against, but he couldn't stop. Even when her flailing hit him, shrieks of agony drilling into his ears.

He would not let her die. He couldn't go through that again.

She struggled all the way, but her attacks were wild and unfocused instead of her usual precise strikes. It still hurt, but Blue could power through. After a bit of trouble, and some minor bruising, Blue pulled her out of the light. As soon as she was clear, her body stopped glowing and pulsing erratically. The screaming stopped as well, silence once again covering the normally tranquill spring. Blue didn't stop, swimming the Pancham back to the bank and onto shore. As soon as they were, he put an ear to her chest, relieved when he heard a slow, yet steady heartbeat.

"Oh thank Arceus…"

Blue bit her by the scruff of the neck, and started pulling her towards the entrance. She was… really light, actually. She started to stir as they got closer to the entrance, and Blue stopped to make sure nothing was wrong. Her eyes fluttered open, and she sat up, wincing with the effort.

"What happened?" she asked. "Did I-"

She looked herself over, groaning, and buried her face in her paws. "Dammit."

"Pana!" Blue said, crouching down. "How do you feel? Are you alright?"

"Peachy," she groaned. "I didn't evolve, did I?"

"N-no! No you didn't! You knew that might happen, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"What were you thinking?" Blue asked. He couldn't keep it in anymore. At that moment he didn't care if she maimed him, he had to say it."You could have died! Why would you try to force an evolution if you knew it wouldn't work?"

"I-"

"That's a good, stupid way to die, did you know that? This isn't the first time you've tried something like this, isn't it?"

"I-"

"Why would you do it again? If your body's not ready-"

"IT'LL NEVER BE READY!"

Blue flinched, taking several steps backwards. She was shaking now, turning to look at Blue. It was then that the Bidoof realized what he had just done, and while she probably wouldn't kill him for it, she might break something.

"W-wait, Pana," Blue started, unable to tear his eyes away from the turning Pancham. "I-"

And then he noticed the tears streaming down her face. The angry glare he was expecting was missing, replaced by a wet grimace.

"I was born with the Dark type," she sobbed.

"I…" Blue started, still startled at seeing Pana, of all Pokemon, crying. "That's a rare phenomenon-"

"It's a curse," she hissed. "My body already thinks it's perfect, so I can't evolve."

"I… see," Blue had walked back towards Pana, lying down next to his crying friend. "You're technically already a Pangoro, so your body can't progress further than that."

"Yeah," she huffed. "That's about it."

"So why would you try it if you knew it wouldn't work?"

"Because I had to try!" She smashed her fist into the dirt, sending water drops flying. "I just… don't want to be stuck like this forever. Scales already took the first step, and I know Rio could if he really wanted to. I'm already holding them back."

She turned to really look at Blue, eyes red and puffy with her tears, and fur damp with her recent swim. Blue returned the gaze.

"Do you know what it's like, to know you'll never grow into what you're supposed to be? That you'll hold the people important to you back because of it? Cuz that's my entire life."

There was silence for a while. Somehow, nothing stirred in this place of life and growth. After a few seconds, Blue spoke.

"Yeah," he answered. "I do."

Her eyes widened as he continued.

"My dad was an amazing explorer, and I want to be just as great. But… you've seen how bad I am. I can't fight all that well, I'm not strong. No one wanted to pair up with me until I met you three, and… I know I've been nothing but dead weight."

"Blue-"

"Why you put up with me, I have no idea. You're strong, smart, fast, utterly terrifying when you need to be, bea-"

He stopped himself from saying the word beautiful, and continued.

"You're not holding anyone back. If anything, I'm the-"

"You are, by far, the smartest person I've ever met."

Pana's interruption stopped him in his tracks. She had stopped crying now, just looking at Blue. "What?"

"You know how to read five different ancient languages, you saved my life by seeing those traps, and you're always asking questions, trying to understand whatever situation you're in. You think you're dead weight?"

"I'm not that smart," Blue said, turning away.

"All those chess games make me think you're full of shit." Pana's normal tone was coming back now. "Plus, you've gotten a lot better at taking care of yourself. You're better than you think you are."

"And you're even better than me," Blue shot back. "Much better in fact. You're not holding anyone back."

"Not yet. And you're not useless. You saved my life! You saved Rio's life! All we need is for Scales to get into some shit and you'll have completed the set!"

He chuckled at that. "I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Don't call yourself useless." Pana went on. "Lying is my thing."

"I'll… try. But only if you promise me something."

"Oh?"

Blue turned back to look her in the eyes. "You are the most capable Pokemon I've ever met. Please don't forget that."

She was silent for a while, but nodded.

"Deal."

She tried to stand, but sat back down almost immediately, groaning.

"Looks like I can't move yet," Pana said.

"And this is why you don't try to force evolutions." Blue pointed out.

"Shut up."

"Want me to drag you back to town?"

"No! Rio'll never let us hear the end of it."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

"We could just stay out here for a bit," Pana said, after another slight pause. "It's a nice night."

"Yeah, I guess it-"

Without warning, Pana laid her head against the loafing Bidoof, using him as a pillow. Blue tensed up at the contact, and his cheeks went red.

"Um-"

"Oh shit," Pana said, her cheeks also turning red. "Sorry, I'll-"

"No no!" Blue reassured her. "It's ok. Just wasn't expecting it is all."

"If you're sure…" she laid back down on the beaver pillow. Despite her still being wet, Pana felt warm. Soon enough, both panda and beaver had dozed off under the stars, the light of the spring washing over them.

…​

As the night was winding down, Rio and Red found themselves still sitting at their table, sans Blue. Nutmeg had already sent the triplets to bed, with a stern warning not to use their new technique to swipe anything else. Rio found himself flipping through Blue's notes on him, finding more than he thought he would. Pages on pages of theories, possible explanations, and his own random thoughts in unorganized scrawls. He could barely read most of it!

"Damn," Rio said, still flipping. "Blue's handwriting is bad…"

"That's what no thumbs will do," Red said, just watching the hybrid. Rio could sense that the Bibarel didn't like him much, but he couldn't please everyone. Something hitting the wooden surface of the table drew Rio's attention from the atrocious handwriting, and he looked up at it.

As soon as he saw it, all Rio could focus on was the light blue crystal. The drop symbol seemed to burn its way into his brain as he stared at it glowing faintly. It was as beautiful as the rest. He reached for it, but was stopped as Red's own paw reached it first. Rio blinked himself out of the trance as he looked back at the Bibarel, who stared back at him.

"You really want this?" he asked, looking Rio in the eyes.

"Yes," he answered, not even thinking about the answer. Of course he wanted it! Why wouldn't he?

"Then you have to do something for me," Red went on.

"Name it." Rio's eyes were wide in anticipation.

"Kick Blue off your team, take the other two, and leave."

Rio went from wide-eyed to glaring in less than a second. He pulled his own paw back from the Z-Crystal and stood up.

"No deal," he growled, walking towards the restaurant's exit. Red stood to follow.

"What do you want with my brother?" the Bibarel asked. "Why take in a normal Bidoof when you can break a dungeon? What are you using him for?"

He turned back to face Red, paw grabbing the doorknob. The Bibarel took a step back when he could suddenly see Rio's Aura, the blue fire coating his entire body. He glared at his friend's brother before answering.

"He's our friend," he growled. "That's it. If he wants to leave, that's his choice. Not yours."

At that Rio threw the door open, only to reveal Rose, her usual playful smile across her face.

"Hey guys!" she said, eyes lighting up at the sight of Red. "How's-"

"Scuse me," Rio said, pushing past her and walking out of sight. She watched him go, before looking down at her future husband.

"What did you say to him?" she asked, one eye raised.

"...A mistake," Red admitted.

The explosion that ripped through the air a few seconds later punctuated that sentiment.


Art by Domingize(#8125) on Discord

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

"There's this Dungeon with a lot of feral Spoink," Finn explained. "Rolling Meadow. It's-"

"Oh yeah I've been there," Rio yawned. The dragon's cave was nice. A wooden table and three chairs sat at the center, while a huge stone stove heated the entire place up. The stew simmering on top gave off a savory aroma, which was probably why Scales decided to nap in front of the stove. The curled up dragon's snores were as loud as ever, but neither of the other two occupants seemed to mind. At the mouth of the cave sat a wooden coat rack that held the Gabite's fire cloak.

"Well that simplifies things," the Gabite went on. "Honey roast Spoink is the favorite of Rose's family, so I'd like to make a bunch for the wedding. Do you mind hunting some down? As much as you can. You can keep the pearls, they're pretty valuable. I heard some special orbs could be made from them."

"Sure," Rio said. "Wanted to test something anyway, but I wanna take Scales. He can carry more than I-"

"H-He's sleeping!" the Gabite stammered, interrupting Rio. "You can just leave him here, right?"

"You really don't want to lose your taste tester, huh?" Rio asked, grinning. Finn's Aura was really obvious. Rio knew the feeling well, he felt it every time Griza laid eyes on him after all. Still, at least this one wasn't as smothering…

"He… has useful insights!" Finn insisted. "I changed up the recipe of the stew and I want his thoughts."

"Sure, just save me some, alright?" Rio said, standing up. "All he wants to talk about is your cooking, so I wanna try it."

"R-really?"

"I'll figure something out. See ya Finn." Without another word, Rio walked out of the cave and into the forest. Finn's place was just outside of town, and walking north for a bit would take him right to the Dungeon. Still, it gave him time to think. About what happened last night. That asshole of a Bibarel. Where does he get off, trying to bribe Blue off the team? Who does that? Why would he do that? Didn't he like his brother?

As Rio stewed, his Aura started to flare. Light blue flames could be seen coating his body as he walked through the woods, walking past the huge crater he made last night. Rio kicked a stray piece of wood back into the hole as he went, not even looking at the destruction. Stupid older sibling…

"Rio, what the hell?"

Rio looked up to see Pana and Blue walking his way. Normally the Riolu hybrid wouldn't have blinked at the glare she was giving him, but the fact that she was using Blue as a support to walk is what really got his attention. She was leaning heavily on the Bidoof as they walked back to town.

"Are you two ok?" Rio asked, eyes raised. The blue flames started to die down. "What happened last night?"

"None of your business," Pana growled, as Blue blushed beside her.

"Really?" Rio asked, raising an eye at Blue's Aura. "Cuz you've looked better."

"None," Pana repeated, glaring. "Of your business."

"Fine, fine," Rio snickered. "Then I won't tell you about the crater."

"It was an accident, right?" Blue asked, nervously eyeing the thing. "Please tell me you didn't blow up the town…"

"Nope," Rio reassured. "Made it here just in time, don't worry. In fact, you can blame your brother. He's the reason…"

"Red? What did he do?"

Rio clenched and unclenched his fists. He should tell Blue what his brother tried to pull, but he knew if he did he might explode again. He needed to get his mind off it, at least for now.

I'll tell you later," the Riolu sighed. "Might want to get back soon though. Your mom was kinda freaking out when you didn't come back last night. I told her you were with Pana, but that only did so much."

The Bidoof winced. "Alright. And Red?"

"...Him too…" Rio growled. "I'll see you two later, alright?"

"Don't blow anything else up," Pana grumbled.

"Please," Blue added, continuing to walk.

"I promise nothing," Rio said, speeding up as his sister glared at his retreating form. Stiff or not, he didn't trust that to stop her if she really wanted to give him another bruise. Why she was stiff in the first place could wait.

…

It wasn't long before Rio found himself in front of the dungeon entrance once again. The results of his previous test still littered the area. Grass was still flattened, the trees were slanted from the increase in gravity, but the meadow in front of him looked as if nothing happened. It looked as peaceful as ever.

Rio looked at his bracelet. He had only tried the dark one so far, so why not the other two? The dances had implemented themselves in his mind already, and he was gonna put off acknowledging how for as long as possible. Still, he wanted to try another form… maybe the brown one with the rock symbol? He had it the second longest after all…

And so he tried to do what he did yesterday, close his eyes and focus on the crystal. He could still feel them, feel their light. As he focused on one, his own Aura started to encroach, seeping into the crystal in question. The light spread to his Aura, mixing with it, changing it, becoming stiff and sturdy like rock, and he waited for his body to follow suit.

But it… didn't. Rio didn't feel anything at first, but kept his focus on the stone. Weird, it only took a few seconds the first time. And then he felt something. His chest felt funny. Hard? Why was it suddenly so hard to breathe?

When he started coughing up blood, the Riolu decided to cut the connection.

Rio fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Fuck, his heart… his lungs… the change in his Aura didn't last, fading almost immediately. The hybrid needed a few minutes to recover. It gave him some time to think.

Why didn't that trigger a change? What was different? The type maybe? The black one was clearly dark, the one he tried to use was probably rock or something, and then he realized Eevee didn't have rock evolutions. So by that logic, it'd probably be impossible for him to partially turn into something that didn't exist.

Probably.

Then what about the pink one? Rio looked a the symbol on its surface, a dying butterfly or something? But it was pink… Eh, he could just shut it off if he started coughing up blood again. He closed his eyes, and let the light change his Aura.

It came easily this time, just like the Umbreon the other day. Instead of feeling heavier, he felt light. Airy. Floaty. Something was sprouting out of his neck and wrists too. He looked at his fur, which had turned white and pink. If he had a mirror to look into, he'd see one of his eyes had turned blue, while the other remained red. His tail also felt fluffier, maybe a little easier?

The ribbons were the weirdest part. Two were growing out of his wrist, and two out of his neck, tied in what looked like a bow tie. They fell limp at his side, but he could feel them. They were like his Aura sensors, another part of his body. If he thought about moving them...

All six ribbons wiggled. It was like flexing a muscle. Did these count as muscles? What could they lift?

Screw it, may as well try it out fighting. Trial by fire, and all that. Pink stone still glowing brightly on his wrist, the Riolu-Sylveon hybrid made his way inside. He had something new to try now!

…

"Where have you two been?"

Blue's mother had slid them both soup as they sat down. It was too early for a rush, so the place was basically empty. Pana still moved stiffly, but picked up a spoon and proceeded to drink. Blue watched her with concern before turning to his glowering mother. For the hundredth time, he was glad Rose came to drag Red to their own bed. That would have been worse.

"I-" Blue started, glancing at Pana.

"Sorry ma'am," Pana cut him off, still looking at her soup. "I asked Blue to show me the spring, and we sort of lost track of time. It was just so nice there, and we fell asleep. Sorry."

She said it so smoothly, leaving out the more… dangerous part of the story. It couldn't even be considered a lie, just leaving parts out. Based on the Greedent's softening expression, she seemed to accept it.

"It is a beautiful place…" she said, turning back to the kitchen. "Try not to let it happen again young lady."

"You got it." Pana turned to the Bidoof, giving him a slight grin. He returned it, blushing a bit, before going back to his own soup, not bothering with a spoon. Despite the scary circumstances that led to it, Blue really enjoyed spending time with Pana, even if it was mostly a nap. No dungeons with undying enemies, no vague as hell legendaries, no pushy sibling, it was the most relaxed he'd been on this vacation.

"Thanks," Pana said after a while. "For last night."

"W-well," Blue stammered. "I would think you'd do the same for me, right?"

"Not just that. What you said, and for staying with me."

"Well, it's the truth."

She didn't respond for a while, just finishing her soup. The smile didn't go away though, and Blue noticed. It really was a great smile. When she finished, she stood up. Blue went to support her, but she held a paw up to stop him.

"I can walk," she said. "Still a little stiff, but I can get back to the room. I'm gonna lie down for a bit, feel free to come in."

With that, she gave the Bidoof a stiff wave and started up the stairs. Blue watched her go, still tensed to help her, bye she made it out of sigh. Probably nothing to worry about. Blue went back to his soup. What to do with the rest of his day… Finish those notes on Rio? He should probably tell Pana about that. Wait, how would she react? Considering her thing about evolution, would that make her feel worse?

Before Blue could further ponder that problem, his mother came out of the kitchen, carrying something under her arm. A book. She sat next to him, and put the book down, smiling.

"You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend," were the first words out of her mouth.

In response, Blue spat out his stew, letting it spill onto the floor. She didn't flinch at the sudden deluge of berries, herbs and broth.

"I-it's not like that!" Blue stammered, shaking his head. She's just a good friend!"

"That you spent the entire night with, alone, in the most beautiful place for miles."

"S-she asked to see it!" his cheeks were crimson now.

"Alone?" Nutmeg was grinning now. "With you?"

"Mom!"

"Alright, alright." the Greedent laughed. "It's just… that was where I met your father, so-"

"Wait, really?" Blue asked, his curiosity overwriting his embarrassment. "Then you were both gonna evolve at the same time?"

"Not necessarily. You see, his partner was an Eevee, and they came to town to check out the spring, among other things. I just liked to spend my time there."

"Dad had a partner? He never told me…"

Nutmeg was silent for a moment, before he continued. "She was… aloof, and when Red was born they went their separate ways. Popped in every so often but never stayed too long. Didn't want to get tied down, in her words."

"Oh," Blue looked down at the now empty bowl in front of him. "I would've loved to meet her."

"She comes and goes, but that's not important right now." She took one last look at the book she held, sighed, and slid it over to her son. "Your father would have wanted you to have this, now that you've become an actual explorer."

Blue pushed the bowl aside, and slid the book in front of him. Homemade, more like a binder than a book. It looked… familiar.

"Is this…" Blue asked, eyes widening in recognition. He was never allowed to read it!

"Your fathers journal," Nutmeg confirmed. "All of his notes, his research, his personal journal, all in one. Now that you've grown up and are following in his footsteps, he'd want you to have it."

He'd seen his father write in the thing every so often, but he was never allowed to look inside. He never got a good explanation as to why, and after he died…

Blue shook his head as he cracked the book open to read the first page. It was his dad's writing alright, although it was even messier than it usually was. Weird. Did he write this one in a hurry? Oh well, he could make it-

"Wait Blue!" his mother tried to stop him. "I need to explain some things-"

It was in an ancient human language. One of the first he was taught. Sinnohian.

I've been turned into a Bidoof.

No, this isn't a dream, I checked. Many times. Hell, I'm writing this with my mouth, for Arceus's sake! I just went to sleep last night, and now I'm an actual Pokemon. I'm currently writing this in a city run by Pokemon! It's… nicer than I expected. I was lucky enough to run into Selena, an Eevee, and she-

That's all Blue could read before he turned back to his mother. He simply stared at her, blankly, uncomprehendingly.

"Dad was… human?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," Nutmeg said softly. "That's what he said."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he said in his quiet voice.

"Your father didn't want you to know, because he knew the conclusion you'd jump to. All the stories about humans and-"

"The catastrophes…" Blue whispered. "The world…"

"Is fine." his mother reassured. "No world ending threat for a century! It was probably a happy accident that he came here."

Blue was silent as he thought. No. That wasn't true. It couldn't be. The disappearance of the Legendary Pokemon, the spike in Dungeon appearances, the supposed spread of that Dungeon, Diancie's warnings about that thing… were they connected? Was the Labyrinth the catastrophe?

He had to read more, find out exactly what dad was looking into. Why he was brought here.

Why dad didn't tell him.

"Who else knows?" Blue asked, voice weak.

"Just you, me, and his partner, Selena. I was going to tell Red, but the wedding…"

"Ok…" Blue grabbed the book, stashed it in his bag, and started for the door upstairs.

"Honey?" Nutmeg called to him.

"I just need to process." Blue said quickly. A little too quickly. "Sorry about the mess. I'll get it later."

"Wait, Blue!"

But he was already gone, up the stairs and in his room. He didn't respond to Pana as he started reading. The only thing that still made sense right now.

…

An incredibly buff Rio grabbed the feral Spoink out of the air with one ribbon, and slammed it into the ground. The feral squeaked once before its neck was broken, pearl clattering to the ground. The Masters taught him to be fast with his kills. The prey didn't deserve to suffer, so it was good to make it quick. He felt the Aura leave the feral's body, dead.

The Dungeon was just what the entrance promised, mostly plains, some hills, the occasional tree growing at the top of some of said hills, and a whole bunch of feral Spoink. Maybe the occasional Wooloo.

He was getting better with the ribbons. An entire day of hunting with just them turned out to be great practice. He could flick them forward, wrap his enemies in em, and that was all he'd been using them for. Not much else to be used for either.

That would be the twenty-eighth Spoink. He wrapped it up in his pink tendril and threw it onto the pile. The pile of feral corpses was tied up in a nice bow with his neck ribbons that extended behind him. Those could really stretch, the pile was bigger than him after all! Still, even with a max Bulk Up active it was getting hard to lug that much meat around, and that's not considering the pearls. Sure he broke most of em, but there were still a solid six too big for the bag he brought, and he couldn't just keep kicking them around. What to do… and that's when he felt the new Aura. An overwhelming one.

"Need some help?"

Rio turned to see an Espeon walking up the hill he was on. Her eyes were as blue as the morning sky, red gem on her forehead glittering. Her two tipped tail swayed in the wind, not a care in the world. A slight, playful smile was on her face as she fixed the bag on her back.

"That'd be nice," Rio admitted. She was like Rhodes, he could tell. A Legacy. So… why did he feel there was something other than that? Had… he felt her before?

"As for my payment…" the Espeon crouched down to examine the pearls in front of the Riolu, then raised her eyes to look him in the eye. "One of these should do. They're pretty."

"Sure," Rio said, shrugging. "I got five more, one won't hurt."

"Thanks kid. Now get those ribbons off. It'll pinch if you don't."

Rio obliged, retracting the fairy tendrils and cutting off his connection to the crystal. Soon he was back to his black and blue self, scratching at the scar under his fluff. The Espeon raised an eye at that.

"What?" Rio asked. "My body's weird."

"I didn't say anything," the Espeon leapt atop the pile of corpses, and pink light sprouted from her paws. Soon, a pink bubble surrounded the results of the hunting trip, and floated off the ground. The Espeon laid down on her bubble, floating her payment over to her. The biggest pearl he had managed not to break.

"Well that's handy," Rio smirked, taking the rest of the large orbs in his hands.

"Yup!" the Espeon said cheerfully. "This Dungeon goes out near Redwood, where do you want em?"

"Cave just out of town. I'll let Finn deal with em then."

"Cool. Well, let's get going. The exit should be right around here."

The bubble started to float, and Rio walked next to it, glancing at the strange Espeon. A few questions wouldn't hurt, right?

"You a Legacy?" Rio asked.

"Yup."

"...You gonna tell me exactly what that means?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"You'll figure it out. Don't need my help."

Rio shrugged. No skin off his back. Probably. Maybe. Still, it would be nice to hurry that along.

"You got a name?" Rio asked.

She was silent for a bit, looking over the Hybrid. Rio met her gaze, her sky blue eyes meeting his light crimson. She sighed before answering.

"Selena. What's yours?"

"Rio."

She snorted at that. "Sure it is."

"Hey! I'll have you know my name is very original. Drugged-up me is very proud of it."

"There's a story behind that, isn't there?" Selena said, not even acknowledging the charging Wooloo that just came up behind her.

"Heads up," Rio pointed out, but the Espeon did nothing. She just watched atop her bubble, waiting for Rio's response.

"You're really not gonna do anything?" Rio asked, as the sheep drew ever closer.

"You've been handling yourself fine," she yawned. "Why should I step in? Now, you gonna tell me that story or not?"

As the sheep came closer, Rio drove a Force Palm into its face, the explosion ripping from it sending the feral flying across the Dungeon. Rio turned back to the apathetic Espeon, who waved at him to continue.

"No," Rio shrugged, scratching at his scar. That was not a fun memory. Or lack of them.

"Shame," Selena shrugged. "Oh well, I have no right to ask."

"Worth a shot," Rio shrugged.

"Yes, yes it was."

The rest of the Dungeon was uneventful, the occasional feral attack but nothing either of them couldn't handle. Well, nothing Rio couldn't handle. Selena just… floated, watching the Riolu defend them. True to her word, Selena and Rio walked out between two trees near town. When Rio looked back, the Dungeon was already gone. It was really weird how Dungeon exits vanished when you left. The sun was going down as they walked away.

"Alright," the Espeon yawned. "Where did you want these?"

"Follow me," Rio took the lead, reaching the cave in no time. The clanging of scales against dishes told him his brother was awake, and Finn was having fun feeding him. He better have saved some of that stew.

The pink bubble popped, letting the Spoink fall to the ground. Selena jumped off, orb still floating behind her as she licked her paw.

"That's that," she said, turning to walk away. "Thanks for the pearl."

"Thanks for the help," Rio said, putting his own pearls down for a bit.

"Oh, one more thing!" Before Rio could ask what, the Espeon's eyes started to glow purple. All six pearls were suddenly enveloped in the light of the psychic's mind, before fading. Her eyes went back to normal, and she started licking her front paw. "Go ahead. Take a look."

Rio did so, picking up one of the pearls. It was still pink, but he could make out an orb of purple light at the things center. It was faint.

"Give it a few days," the Espeon said. "Give those others to your friends, it'll be useful."

"What's it?" Rio asked, gazing at the purple center. Was the light spreading?

"That'll ruin the surprise!" the Espeon giggled. "I'll be in touch. Bye!"

With that, she flashed purple, and disappeared with her own pearl. Rio looked at where she just was, shrugging. Least he got something cool out of it. Was whatever she did what Finn was talking about? And knowing her was probably just in his head...

"Rio?" Scales said, poking his head out of the cave. His face was covered in stew. "Hey, you brought supper!"

His brother's presence wiped those concerning thoughts from his mind. They weren't important, that wasn't important. The past wasn't important. Now was. He couldn't forget that, or he'd go mad.

"Most of it is for the wedding," Rio said, walking inside with his pearls. "You better have saved me some stew!"

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

"Hey who wants a special orb- what happened?"

Rio had just walked into their guest room, arms filled with four pearls. He left one with Scales as the Espeon had instructed. Pana was just staring at Blue, worry clear in her eyes and Aura. She wasn't even bothering to mask her Aura! Blue's was coming in loud and clear as he sat on his own bed, reading a book. Confusion, fear, worry, anger? Rio put the large pink and purple orbs down as he looked at Pana.

"He just came in with that book and started reading," Pana explained, not taking her eyes off the Bidoof. "He hasn't looked up in hours."

"You haven't hit him yet?" Rio asked. Weird, that was usually her go to, worry or not.

"He's not you!"

"And when has that stopped you before?"

That earned Rio a punch, and he was rubbing at his now sore arm when he walked up to Blue. He didn't even look up as Rio stood over him, trying to get a peek at what exactly held his attention. All he could make out were some nice sketches and gibberish language. He couldn't read whatever was in there.

"Blue?" Rio said, leaning in closer. No response. Rio waved a paw over him, and still nothing.

"Careful." Pana ordered. Rio gave her a curious look. That really wasn't like her, and now she was hiding her Aura again. She glared back, holding her fist out in warning. The Riolu hybrid shrugged, and tapped Blue on the head. No reaction, just a page turn.

"Blue?" Rio asked, tapping again. "You there buddy?" The Bidoof squirmed but didn't respond. Rio sighed, and pulled the book away before the Bidoof even realized what was happening.

"Hey!" Blue said, finally looking up, actually glaring before seeing who did it. The glare fell when he saw the two mon who were looking back. "Oh. Hey guys."

"You doing alright?" Rio asked, giving the now closed book back to him. He left a thumb to mark his page.

"Fine," Blue grabbed for the book, trying to pull it back to him, but Rio didn't budge. "Please let go."

"Are you sure everything's alright?" Pana asked, stepping closer. "You haven't talked to me in hours."

"It's just really important that I read this, alright?" Annoyance was creeping into the Bidoof's voice. "Please, just let me get back to it."

"Blue, you can talk to us," Rio said.

"It won't leave this room," Pana added.

"I just-" Blue let out a long sigh. "I will. I just need to process. Please."

Rio could feel he wouldn't budge, so he let go. Blue's eyes drifted back to the unreadable language, but stopped when he saw the glint of pearls on the floor. Rio could once again feel his curiosity peak from the maelstrom of worry and confusion.

"Are those… Spoink pearls?" Blue said, taking note of the still spreading purple light in each of them. That got Pana's attention, as she picked one up and peered into it. Rio could practically see the gold in her eyes.

"Do you know how much these are worth?" Pana said, picking one up, not even acknowledging the glow coming from the center.

"Nope!" Rio said, picking up his own. "Finn mentioned they were worth a lot though. Someone did something to them though."

"They're turning into orbs," Blue said, peering into one himself, curiosity now at full blast.

"I've heard of this. Spoink pearls are great conductors of psychic energy, so when a powerful psychic infuses them with their own power special orbs can be made. They're useful, and it looks like someone already did the job! I've never actually seen one! Spoink tend to like their pearls, and the feral ones are usually fragile…"

He mumbled like that, his curious nature shining through his worries. Rio couldn't help but grin as he went on and on and on…

"I even heard about one that lets you see into other worlds! Where did you get these? Who powered them up?"

"Met an Espeon on my trip today. Helped me haul the Spoink back and did something to the pearls. Didn't tell me what, she wanted to keep it a surprise, I guess. She felt like Rhodes."

"You mean, a Legacy?" Pana asked, looking up from the orb.

"Probably. Even admitted it to me. Didn't say anything else though."

Blue froze at the mention of an Espeon. The curiosity was gone once again, replaced by anxiety. Rio turned to the Bidoof, eyes wide.

"W-what was her name?" Blue asked. Weird, he didn't ask what it looked like, or anything about the process.

"Selena," Rio answered, now carefully watching Blue's reaction, with his eyes and sensors. Sure enough his nerves seemed to intensify, now excitement mixed in as he stumbled in place.

"Where is she?" Blue asked almost immediately. "Is she still in town?"

"She teleported or something. No idea where."

The Bidoof cursed to himself, to Rio and Pana's surprise.

"You know her?" Rio asked.

"No," Blue said, "but I want to meet her. I have questions, and she can answer them."

"You gonna elaborate?"

He hesitated a bit, before deciding to grace the two with this information.

"She was apparently my dad's old partner," the Bidoof explained. "I never met her, but if she's a Legacy maybe she'd be willing to talk to me? Explain what the hell's going on? Some… other things…"

"Worth a shot," Rio shrugged. "Didn't seem too interested in talking about it to me though."

"You're not her old partner's son," Pana pointed out. That… bothered Rio. A twinge of anger that faded almost immediately. Weird. Who that Espeon had world shaking conversations with wasn't his business.

"Maybe she's still around town," Blue suggested. "And whatever those orbs will do may help when they're complete. Too valuable to pawn off anyway."

"Seriously?" Pana couldn't keep the disappointment out of her voice. "Not even the extra?"

"Pana you still have most of the gems from Diancie," Rio pointed out. "We're good on cash. Can we please keep the special orbs?"

Pana glared at him, and then at Blue. The glare softened when she turned to Bidoof, and she sighed.

"Fine, but whatever they end up doing better be good."

"They should be!" Blue said, with much more cheer in his voice. "Now if there's nothing else…" he nodded back at his book.

"Uh, there's one thing…" Rio added. He still hadn't told Blue about his little talk with Red, and with the Bidoof like this he wasn't sure he'd get another chance anytime soon with him like this. Probably best to just rip off the bandage, even if it would hurt.

"Yeah?" Blue asked, looking up at his friend.

"Red tried to… bribe me to kick you off the team."

"He did WHAT?" Pana yelled. Her Aura exploded, unable to hide her rage.

"I said no, obviously, but you should probably know."

"I'm gonna-" Pana started, quickly limping for the door.

"Don't," Blue sighed. "Please. You'll just make him more nervous."

"Blue, this isn't cool!" Pana said back, stopping just at the door. "He can't just go behind your back like this!"

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," Blue reassured her. "I… need to talk to him about a few things anyway."

"We'll come with-" Rio started.

"Alone," Blue cut him off. "I'll tell you later. He just needs to know first."

"You sure?" Rio asked. He could already feel the Bidoof's resolve hardening. He was sure.

"I'll be ok," Blue said, forcing a smile. "I promise."

There was a long pause, as Rio and Pana looked at eachother. Pana didn't like it, he could tell even without feeling her Aura, it was all over her face.

"Fine," Pana said. "I'll stay out of it."

"If you're sure…" Rio said, going to pick up an orb for himself, staring into the purple core once again.

"I am," Blue repeated. "Thanks for… not taking the bribe."

"You're our friend," Rio said. "No bribe's gonna change that."

"...Thank you." was all Blue said, before going back to reading. Rio turned to look at his sister, who looked between the two, and shrugged.

"If that bastard tries anything-" Pana started.

"I'll hold him down." Rio cut her off, knowing Blue wasn't listening anymore. Still, talking about how they might beat up his older brother right before the guy's wedding could be considered a dick move.

…

Blue was up all night reading that journal, even resorting to using the orb's light to keep reading. He had to, he had to know just why his father was here. Maybe… maybe mom was right, and his becoming a Bidoof was a happy accident.

The fact that half the damn thing was in a code was wearing on that hope.

Why would he write that he was human in regular, albeit ancient, language, only to encode what Blue could only assume was the important stuff? It already had a layer of protection, why make it harder? The worst part was that as far as he could tell it was similar to the one in the books they found, minus the language, so he might have to go back to Mr. Thesus. And that would raise more questions that he didn't have the answers to yet. Did that make Blue half human? Did it work like that? And that wasn't even considering the other reason he was here…

The cup of tea Rose put in front of him snapped him from his drifting thoughts. She smiled at him, and laid out two more cups of tea.

"Chesto berry tea," Rose said. "Not as good as your mom's cooking, or Red's, but it was my turn."

"Thanks sweetie," Red said, taking his own sip. The Bibarel looked much better than his little brother, and they both knew it.

"Thank you," Blue said, sipping his own tea and looking around his brother's place. It was small, but cozy. The table was lovingly carved, probably by Red himself, along with the three chairs the group sat on. The stone stove next to it still hissed with tea, and the door to outside sat next to that. There were stairs leading up to what Blue assumed was their bedroom, and considering what Rose was like, Blue wanted to go nowhere near it. She made good tea though. He could already feel the cobwebs of sleep clearing in his head.

"So," Rose said, sitting down and taking a sip of her own tea in her claws. "What's so important that you had to come so early?"

"Everything alright Blue?" Red asked, looking worried at his tired face.

"I'm not sure…" Blue said, pulling out their father's journal. The Bibarel's eyes widened at the sight. Rose raised an eye at it, not understanding the significance. Why would she?

"A book?" she said.

"Dad's journal…" Red whispered. "How did you-"

"Mom gave it to me yesterday," Blue explained. "I was up all night reading it, and there's something you should know, Red."

"Let's hear it," Rose said, her full attention on Blue.

"Uhhhhh…" Blue wasn't sure if that was ok. Red needed to know before anyone, yes, but would it be a good idea to just tell her? It might sound crazy… and he had a plan for that, but still…

"If it's really important," Red said, scooting closer to his fiance. "We can hear it together. Go ahead Blue."

Rose smiled at him, scooching closer. Red really trusted her, huh?

If only he did the same with Blue.

"Ok…" Blue said, pushing that thought down for later. "This might sound crazy, but it's the truth."

"Go on," Red said, taking a sip.

"Dad was human."

At that, Red spit his tea right out. Blue managed to grab their fathers journal right before the steaming tea splashed all over it. Rose looked to be holding in a laugh at her fiance's display. Or at what she probably thought was Blue's joke.

"You didn't strike me as a joker!" the Zangoose laughed, as the Bibarel coughed.

"Not funny Blue," Red coughed, as the Bidoof in question cracked open the journal, and started to read an entry. He had it picked out from last night.

"Day 4213

"It's been almost ten years since I arrived in this world, and I have a son! Meg and I named him Red, after that famous hero in Kanto. Took her some convincing, but she ended up liking it! He chews on everything too… today he almost ate half a table I was working on!

Meg even got him a little bandana to wear! She said the next one's gonna be named Blue, and when I told her that was the name of another hero, she just started laughing!

"More kids huh… I… think I'm ok with that. I helped Selena find what she was looking for, and she sure as hell doesn't need a partner anymore. Guess this is the end of Team Mountaintop! I think I'll keep an eye out for more Legacy stuff, but I'm settling here. I have a family now, and I'm not just gonna leave them! Unlike Selena…"

Blue stopped to look up at his brother, who's eyes were wide, and jaw slack. Rose was looking at her finance, worry in her eyes, as Blue flipped the book to show the two the ancient language.

"It's in Sinnoian," Blue explained. "I learned to read it in the city, it's an ancient human language, and the entire journal is like this. You recognize that, right Red?"

The Bibarel was speechless, just staring at the book, then at his brother, and back and forth.

"Why didn't mom…" he started.

"The wedding came up," Blue explained. "But you deserved to know first. Well, both of you, I guess..."

Silence invaded the room. No one spoke for a good, long while, as Blue finished off the slightly sour Chesto tea. He still needed to talk about the other thing too. Crap, was this a good time? Maybe he should wait…

He was suddenly reminded of what he tried to do. Bribe him off the team… going behind his back, not listening to him, going so far as to try and bribe him off the path he chose for himself.

"...Why don't you trust me?" Blue said, unable to meet his brother's eyes. Red immediately turned back to him.

"Of course I trust you!" the Bibarel exclaimed. "Why would you lie about this, and this is way too elaborate for a prank-"

"Not about that," Blue said, voice now trembling. "I meant-"

A loud knock interrupted Blue's attempt as a tirade. The raps were loud and fast, demanding their immediate attention.

"I got it!" Rose said, quickly standing up and throwing the door open. The huge Pokemon that stood outside took up the entire doorframe. His thick, rocky skin was all that could be seen, as the mon himself towered over the doorway. His green and black stomach had a faint scar running across it. His right arm had strange, faint, black markings running along it. A tattoo? And why did they look vaguely familiar…

"Daddy!" Rose said, immediately wrapping her arms around the Tyranitar.

"Rosie!" he replied, returning the hug. "You never visit! How's it been?"

Blue blinked, turning to his brother, who suddenly looked very nervous. Her dad was a Tyranitar?

"You keep moving!" Rose accused, breaking their embrace. "Come on in!"

"It's a little small," the father of the bride noted, crouching down. His yellow eyes scanned the room, before falling onto the brothers sitting at the table. Red straightened out a bit as the large Pokemon made his way into the room, grinning. It was then that Blue noticed the black hat on his head, a fedora? Those were expensive...

"Hey there, son-in-law!" The Tyranitar boomed, taking his hat from his head. "Haven't seen you in a while either! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to steal my little girl! Well, I guess you already did…"

"H-hi, Mr. Veles," Red stammered. "We weren't expecting you for another few days…"

"Oh come on Rojo," Veles laughed. "Just call me dad!"

A pause.

"No, no that's too weird," the Tyranitar said. "Keep it as Veles."

"S-sure…" Red agreed, not even bothering to correct his own name in the eyes of his future father in law.

"Now who's this?" Veles said, turning to the Bidoof in the process of trying to shrink himself. This was not how he thought today would go…

"One of my little brothers," Red stammered, patting Blue's back. "Blue."

"N-nice to meet you," Blue said a little more calmly, but couldn't keep the stammer out of his voice. Red was probably just nervous, and Veles was pretty big. How did a Tyranitar end up with a Zangoose daughter anyway? The more he thought about it, the less nervous he was, and the more curious. Would it be appropriate to ask?

"Little nervous, ain't ya?" Veles chuckled. "We're gonna be family, calm dow-"

Veles's eyes were drawn to the book on the table, and they narrowed. He peered at the strange text, a claw to his muzzle.

"This is human, right?" he asked, the joy in his voice replaced with… something else. "Doesn't look old, so it was written recently. Rosie, where'd you get this?"

"Oh!" Rose said, stepping inside. "That's Blue's actually. He can read it too."

"That right?" he turned to the Bidoof. Instead of the joyful, casual look in his eyes just a minute ago, what stared at him now looked… hungry. "Not many bother to learn how to do that. You've got skills kid."

"T-thanks," Blue got out, closing the book and standing up. This suddenly got uncomfortable, and he should really let the bride and groom talk to their father. It would just be weird to be here too. He'd have to talk to Red later. "I'll get out of your hair. Scales? Whatever…"

He started to make his way to the door, before the big Pokemon's foot suddenly stood in his way. When Blue looked up, the Tyranitar was grinning at him. That hungry look was still in his eyes, still piercing right through him.

"Don't go…" Veles said, not taking his eyes off Blue. "Might have an offer-"

"Daddy!" Rouse shouted, suddenly stepping between them. "No recruiting before my wedding!"

"But Rosie…" Veles said, face falling.

"No buts!" she spun, and turned to Blue. "Sorry about my dad, he can be a bit of a workaholic. He's always looking for new talent. You didn't take any work with you, right?"

"Course not!" Veles exclaimed. "All on pause for your big day!"

Blue wasn't sure how to feel about that, but when he looked over at Red, he knew he should probably watch himself. He'd never seen his brother look so scared. That was saying something. The only time he came close was when Blue left the first time. The difference was this time Blue agreed…

"No problem…" Blue said, speedwalking to the door. "I'll see you all later, alright?"

Without waiting for a response, Blue booked it out of there. The Tyranitar's eyes followed him as he sped off, watching him go. Veles had one thought as the Bidoof left.

He might be useful...

…

Edgar could only watch as the bandit team got decimated. Perched from a tree, thankfully hidden by the thick foliage of the leaves, the Murkrow could do nothing as the twenty strong strike force fell. They started out well enough, all dark types to get the jump on the psychic, but the cat thing didn't even try to attack.

The Bewear had less qualms.

With one punch, she sent their biggest bruiser, Tommy the Hydreigon, flying. Everyone could hear his poor bones breaking on contact as he crashed into, and broke, a tree, ice creeping over the dragon's chest. The strike force paused, looking at what just happened to their strongest, who was now a quivering mess on the floor, and the bear that did it to him.

"You're in the way," she growled, stomping forward. The ground shook with every step. "Move."

They all just looked at her, in growing horror. While she physically loomed over every single one of them, the terror she made them feel felt like she was a lot bigger than she actually was. They were frozen to the spot on the ground, as she took a step closer to them. And another, and another…

Psych did nothing to stop Griza's rampage. Even if it wanted to, it couldn't. They did attack first after all. Reap what you sow, and all that.

The Murkrow forced himself to watch the slaughter. He had to report back to Veles after all, but he decided he'd seen all there was to see when she grabbed the Morgrem by the head and started folding him in half.

The boss might need some help. They were gonna need more mon…