[Pokémon] Shattered Crests: Book #1 Lines Broken

"Zzzo, do you feel better?" Devon inquired as he wiggled a little in his seat.

"A little yes," Demetri admitted with a nod, taking a sip from his drink as the two looked at the ever growing line of construction mons invading for lunch. "I hope the line doesn't delay our orders too much."

"Zzzhouldn't be," Devon answered. "We got here early, zzzo I think our zzztuff is almozzzt ready." Despite giving a little optimism, he couldn't really shake a certain feeling. Something clearly was bothering this grumpig, but if he had learned anything about Demetri it was that he was stubborn. I wizzzh there wazzz a way to get him to talk about it, Devon muttered in his head. I mean, we're zzztrangerzzz to be fair but- His thoughts were interrupted by Demetri suddenly speaking.

"Devon…" Demetri said softly, watching his hand place his drink onto the wooden table. "Do you have family?"

The question was so abrupt and odd coming from Demetri that it took Devon a second to actually process it. "Oh," he finally said, "Uhm…well yezzz. I do."

"What were they like?" Demetri inquired, shifting in his seat to give Devon his full attention. He gave the bug a focused gaze that gave off a rather odd serious vibe.

"Well, nothing really zzzpecial."

Demetri's eyes lowered slightly as they drifted over to the side. "Oh," the grumpig muttered a little disappointed.

Devon tilted his head at this odd reaction. "I mean…izzz there a reazzzon you want to hear?"

Demetri gave out a sigh as he looked back at the bug. "Just…got a little bit of a whiplash in some things. And well I don't really know you too well. I appreciate what you've done and putting up with me and all, though I'd like to hear about you and your stuff."

"Ah," Devon answered, a little chipper at this admission. "Well, that zzzoundzzz fine. You zzzee, zzzir," Devon explained as Demetri went for another swig of his drink. "I have well…over four hundred zzziblingzzz an-" Devon eyes shot wide as Demetri spit his drink out to the side.

"Four hundred‽" he blurted out, forgetting they were in a public establishment.

Devon's face went red as he could just imagine all the eyes looking at them now. He curled back into his seat and simply nodded, too embarrassed to give an audible answer.

"Oh…" Demetri sat back down, wiping his mouth with his arm. "Sorry about that," he said with a chuckle to try and lighten the mood. "I wasn't expecting you to have that many."

"It'zzz a bug-type thing." Devon got out of his curl and tried to take another sip of his drink but once again was interrupted by Demetri asking another question.

"So, what made you join the planet nerves?" Demetri gave a little smile, trying to make up for the earlier incident by lightening the mood.

Devon paused, his eyes lowered a little. "Well…that'zzz kind of perzzzonal."

"Personal?" Demetri repeated, a little confused how a job like the Planet Nerves would fit that. "How so?" Demetri pushed, keeping his light tone.

Devon looked to the side for a second and then back to Demetri. "Promizzze not to laugh?" After a confirming nod from Demetri, Devon let out a sigh and elaborated. "I've alwayzzz wanted to zzztand out compared to my zzziblingzzz and do zzzomething meaningful. None of my family hazzz ever been a planet nerve or in any form of peacekeeping zzzo I zzzought to be the firzzzt. I juzzzt…wanted to be different from them."

"I see…" Demetri replied, sitting back into his seat. "That's understandable."

"But…" Devon started. He froze for a second on the pause and then retracted.

"Hrm? No go on, it's fine," Demetri encouraged.

"I'd rather not." Devon shriveled back into his seat more, as if retreating from the conversation.

"Oh come now, you don-…" Demetri sat back and looked to the side for a bit, as if thinking hard about something. "Sorry," he said, making Devon look at him with surprise. "Never mind." Demetri looked at him with a smile. "I'm sure whatever your reason is it's a good one."

The two sat in silence for a bit, waiting for their good to arrive. Devon leaned up on the table sipping a bit of his drink before asking, "Hey zzzo…what about your family?"

Demetri's ears stiffened as his focus immediately shot to Devon. "My family?" he repeated like he wasn't sure that was the question.

Devon nodded. "Yeah, I told you a little about mine zzzo what about your'zzz?" Devon started drinking some more a little pleased that he managed to get somewhere with Demetri's end of the conversation. Once done sipping, he set his drink down and looked at Demetri only to see the grumpig looking out the window with a little bit of a serious gaze. "Izzz zzzomething wrong?" Devon inquired, getting a little bit nervous at this sudden change.

Demetri remained silent. His eyes were narrow as if he was peering at something out the window. This leer of his was enough to send Devon into a bit of discomfort, enough so the bug had to look away for a bit.

I hope I didn't tread where I zzzhouldn't have, Devon thought, looking back at Demetri. It wasn't long after that the bug offered, "Hey uhm…if you don't want to anzzzwer you don't have to."

Demetri let out a sigh as he picked up his drink and swirled it in his hand, causing the liquid inside to spin in a circle. "It's not your fault. I just wouldn't know since I haven't seen them in a long time."

"I zzzee." Devon decided not to press any further. However, the awkward silence that followed didn't really help the mood. Damn it, here I go making him mad at me or bringing up zzzome trigger, zzztupid Devon. Devon had to put his ranting on pause as their lunch arrived.

Devon's was a nice little leafy salad with a selection of many berries, all cut in nice slices. The food was covered in a signature sweet sauce with a nice sugary cream poured all over as well that made Devon's insides just melt with anticipation. Devon immediately started on a blessing in his head, so anxious to start as his tummy grumbled.

Demetri, on the other hand, didn't even seem to notice their food was here. He was looking out the window again, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the folks outside going about their business. He sighed in his head as his gaze went down a little. I hope things improve. Just…be okay for me, alright Zak.

"You gonna eat?" Devon asked, snapping Demetri back to reality.

"Huh?" The grumpig said with a stutter. "Oh right sorry. Yes." Demetri levitated his utensils to start cutting away at his big sandwich looking rather bummed and bothered by something.

Devon was going to town on his dish, quickly finishing it up in a matter of minutes. Some satisfying noises came from the full bug as he laid back in his seat content. Though, his mood went down as he noticed Demetri's more poised eating, levitating the fork to pike the food and then put it into his mouth. Though it wasn't this method that sent a little bit of bother in Devon, but it was the fact that Demetri's face still looked like before. Devon let out a sigh as he promptly put his front legs on the table and spoke. "Demetri."

The grumpig gave a little grunt to inform Devon that he was listening.

"I'm zzzorry I brought it up. I didn't mean to zzzet you on-"

"You don't need to apologize," Demetri answered a little less kind this time, when compared to earlier in this conversation. "Please stop drawing attention to it."

Devon's head fell. I didn't mean for thizzz to happen. A sigh escaped the bug as he mentally kicked himself over and over about crossing the line till the sound of Demetri's fork hitting the plate ended.

"Alright, let's go." Demetri's words sounded like they were when they first met. So, work focused and rather distant or unapproachable. The grumpig got out of his booth seat and set the coins for his payment and turned to Devon. "We have a bit of ground to cover more than likely. Let's move."

Devon nodded and walked after Demetri. Don't think about it, Devon muttered in his mind, attempting to focus on the mission. We need to find them and keep them safe after all. Zyan and Garde are counting on us so don't mess this up.

This inwards pep talk pumped up Devon, enough so that he started flapping his wings, go sailing out the door, and even passing Demetri leaving him with a startled face. The bug glanced back to see Demetri following and then looked forwards. Don't worry about what he thinks or whatever you said. This is your time to shine and show him what you can do! A smile crossed his face as he sped faster on route to the outskirts of town.






Frantal Town was the hub for many routes coming from the mountains. Some went as far as Shimmer Hill up eastern while others headed southward to fogbound lake. Though, despite it being known as a mountain rest town, it wasn't that far from the plains to its east. In fact, it'd take less than three hours for a normal traveler to get through to the leveled land and continue the path that would lead to Plainier.

The flat grassy area was just the type of background for the group of eight, as they marched in their usual groups of two. This time though, things were a lot quieter. Dolly and Jasmine were busy in the front, their gaze straight and narrow on the path, not turning a blind eye to the left nor right. Jaron and Vragon were looking on opposite sides despite being next to each other. Ciecro and Garon seemed too busy mulling in their own heads to really interact. Bringing up the rear was Seliph and Swift, both quiet as well.

Seliph's froggy hands were in his light, traveling vest while he browsed the two foot tall grass covered landscape. He wasn't thinking about anything in particular, just enjoying the breeze and scenery as they all traveled on the dirt path.

Swift was taking a casual feel to their trip as well. Holding his arms behind his head as normal and slightly angling his eye-closed face up while doing a few hums to himself as they walked along.

As the two continued on, making sure not to get left behind in their pace compared to the others, Swift looked up at the nice sky. He gave a little smirk at the blue landscape above with a few little traces of white cotton clouds that had before been the entire skyline. "You know," he said aloud, prompting Seliph to look at him. "It's nice that we have such a pretty sky after all that rain."

"Indeed," Seliph agreed, taking his hands out and letting them sway in the nice walk. The greninja looked forwards at the others as his positivity was replaced with the reminder the others weren't really feeling as great about traveling. He let out a sigh.

"Something up?" the heliolisk inquired, leaning in a little with a curious gaze.

Seliph didn't answer. The greninja just kept his eyes on the silent, rather shallow forms of the others. He didn't like it. Not one bit. Absentmindedly, Seliph reached into one of his pockets and pulled something out.

Swift's eyes widened, expecting it to be the formula. "Hey, you sure you shoul-" he stopped dead in his sentence as Seliph opened his palm, revealing not the vial of the red liquid but a string with a couple of stones attached with some white solid material. Swift peered at it, gazing upon the interesting three stones that were in the middle. "What's that?" Swift inquired.

This question snapped Seliph out of his rumination. "Huh?" He looked at Swift confused for a second before remembering he was holding something. "Oh this." The words felt heavy and seemed only to add to the down mood Seliph had caught from the others. "Just a reminder of what could have been."

"'Could have been?'" Swift repeated, confused.

"Could have been with them." Seliph explained, "You see…a couple of days before the…incident, Ciecro and Jaron made me this. It was a pick-me-up present for doing badly in training and a way of saying sorry." Seliph's eyes narrowed as he let out a little moan inside, promptly shoving the old necklace back in his pocket.

Swift didn't ask to get a better view about it, but didn't feel quite right about Seliph just shoving something so personal away like it was some food bar's bill. "Sounds nice," he mentioned with a little grin, trying to cheer the mood up.

"The opposite really."

Swift let out a sigh. "I'm sorry," Swift apologized.

"You didn't do anything. I just sometimes wonder what could have been if I stayed, before having to snap myself back at the reality of the matter." Seliph raised his head and picked up his pace a little. "Besides, it's better to understand why things happen, right?"

"Well…" Swift didn't know how to respond. I don't want to fight about actions and all, and to be fair he was awfully young to make such a decision. But, I don't know, it just doesn't sit well with me. Swift let out an internal sigh as he started to trail Seliph, keeping his eye on the frog's vest as a focus point while he mulled. It's not like I don't understand it and all, but I don't think it was the right choice. Then again maybe that's just my emotions or personal wishes talking. Like, how can I really blame him for wanting to keep his brothers safe? I mean, what if I was in his footprints? Would I make the same choice? I don't know, I just hate that this all happened.

Swift looked up at the back of Seliph's head. He theorized Seliph was wearing his "business" face and whatever enjoyment of the path had long since been shoved to the side. His own head fell at the thought, being the only one that seemed to just take in the scenery with a smile, well former smile. Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind. He scurried up to Seliph's side again, threw his arms once more behind his head, leaned to the left a little, and whispered to Seliph, "So, what do you think we should do when we get to Plainier?"

"We probably won't stay long," Seliph answered, annoying Swift slightly at the shutdown.

"Well yes, but we've got a bit of a ways to get there, right? Not to mention they might have some neat stuff to-" Swift's words were cut off by a stare from Seliph.

"What are you on about? It's not like we're on a vacation," Seliph pointed out, shoving his serious gaze towards the path in front of them.

"No, but look Seliph." Swift jogged a little bit ahead, turned around, and started to walk backwards as he continued. "Just because we're traveling and all doesn't mean we can't have fun. Like our race was fun wasn't it?"

Seliph gave a little nod but his mulling eyes and stiffened walk conveyed the opposite.

The heliolisk, however, remained undeterred by this and instead brightened his smile, closed his eyes, and leaned a little as he continued to match Seliph's pace with his backwards own. "That's what I mean, everyone is too focused on the worry aspect and forgetting to well live and all. I'm not saying ignore the danger, but we can't just go around all paranoid."

"You say that like we weren't attacked before. Oh that's right, you weren't there then." Seliph crossed his arms as he let out a sigh. "Look, I don't know why you feel like you wronged me in some way that you have to get on my good side, but Swift I thought we agreed it was forgiven."

Swift's eyes open in a little confusion as his head tilt gave off a similar reaction. "Get one your good side? What makes you think that's what I'm doing this for?"

"Well…" Seliph looked to the side and his once firm arm cross was slowly migrating to a nervous arm rub. "I mean, with all this need to trying to, I dunno, just shrugging things off and trying to get me to-" His words were interrupted by a giggle from the reptile in front. This prompted Seliph to demand what was so funny.

"Is it really hard to just have someone be nice to you just to be nice to you? I mean, I get being a little skeptical, but you're talking to the guy that just last night told you about something I feel nowadays."

Seliph paused, his walking starting to slow a little as he recanted Swift and him talking in the rain.

"I went to you to apologize for what I said and all. I'm not the kind of guy that likes keeping barriers between his friends." Swift gave another big grin as he twisted around, and once more joined at Swift's side, the both of them once more looking at the group. "And I'm trying to cheer you up now because I can tell a lot is on your mind and something tells me it's about them and that in there." Swift pointed to Seliph's vest's full pocket for emphasis.

The greninja's palm went over the pocket and clenched it a little tight. The vial gave an atmosphere of heaviness as did looking at the little stones from the necklace.

"I can't imagine what it feels like to carry something like that…but if you ever need someone to take it for a few days. Hit me up."

Seliph raised a brow as he stared forwards, a strange confusion filled his head. As Swift was left to interpret this, Seliph mulled over the weirdness of how he didn't immediately jump to the defense at this offer. I mean, I just have known him for…well that's not entirely true but… He sighed internally. I'm letting my emotions get to me.

"You okay?" Swift inquired as Seliph let out a sigh.

"Sorry, you're just weird."

"Huh?" Swift replied quickly as Seliph facepalmed and grumbled.

"No, it's…it's weird. I feel a bit longing and all." Seliph shoved his hands in his pockets, cheeks starting to grow red from embarrassment, more so how he felt than the misunderstanding from earlier. "I feel uneasy, but I want to trust you. Like…think of it like this."

Seliph pointed his arm out as Swift watched intently. "You have this chest let's say." Seliph drew a chest like thing in the air as best he could without anything to mark it with. "And let's say there's a key to it that you never take out of your dresser drawer."

Swift finally broke his arm's behind head form to rub his head, unsure of what parallels Seliph was drawing.

"Now…let's say that this chest contains secrets, notes, studies, and philosophies from and by the owner."

"Okay," Swift slowly answered, the dragging out of the word emphasizing how this wasn't getting any clearer.

"Now…say this owner never lets anyone near that dresser with the key let alone telling anyone that the key is in it." Seliph gestured in a few directions as he continued. "And that's because this owner is very, very concerned of it leading to the chest's contents being stolen."

"Uh huh…"

"So, then he has a visitor an-"

Before Seliph could finish, Swift butted in with. "I'm sorry, but what does this have to do exactly with this longing bit?"

An aggravated groan came from Seliph as he plopped his right hand on his face and dragged it down, making Swift chuckle on the inside at the thought.

"Hey, if you're having trouble telling me you can just take a deep breath and either do or don't." Swift gave an assuring nod to Seliph as he stared straightforward once more and added, "I don't expect you to tell me everything now. I mean, if you aren't ready to that's fine."

"That's…fine?" Seliph asked, almost confused at this brushing off.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to do that." Swift placed his arms behind his back again as Seliph curved a skeptical brow at the heliolisk.

"Because?"

Swift kept looking forward, smile ever showing as he answered in a rather light but sincere tone. "Because I care and I now know pressing you isn't something I should be doing to you. I worry yeah, but I just want to look out for you and everyone in front of us, but I can't always expect to get all the answers and I went too far with you so I'm respecting your boundaries." Swift then looked at Seliph with a friendly smirk. "After all, to me, you're a friend and well…your parents were very important to me. Plus, I want you to think of me as your friend too."

While Seliph didn't outwardly say it but these word almost made him tear up. He looked downcast at the ground they were walking on, trying to keep all the teary feelings in.

"You okay?" Swift asked again, with a little concern in his tone as he leaned in to see if he could help.

"No," Seliph answered, wiping his eyes with his arm. "I'm fine. Just…haven't heard something like that for I don't care how long ago." He then looked at the heliolisk and returned a smile. "Thanks Swift, you're cool."

"Heh, thanks, glad you think so." The electric lizard seemed bounding with energy, happy he could have a positive effect for once. His gaze snapped to the road ahead he started to walk in a very stoic and masculine way.

"What are you doing?" Seliph joked, still rubbing his eyes a little.

"I dunno, just caught up in the moment." Swift raised a brow, however, as something caught his attention. While they had been talking, neither seemed to notice a growing forest on the path ahead. "Hmm, so this path goes through a forest?"

"Well, Plainier Town is in a forest clearing," Seliph informed as he joined up at Swift's side.

Swift's positive bounding was now a little concerned. "Means we should stick together. I mean, could be some potential trap in there." He looked at Seliph, his eyes scowling with a determined expression. "Just in case, you know, those guys you talked about show up again."

Seliph nodded. "Hopefully, they have tracked us down. But so far we haven't had any-" Seliph stopped in his sentence as he noticed Swift suddenly come to a halt. "Swift?"

The heliolisk had a scowl on his face, but it was oddly acting like it was mulling over something. As Seliph drew closer to Swift, asking what he was doing and all, Swift quickly hushed him. "Quiet." Seliph complied as Swift closed his eyes.

He turned his mind and focus to the world he felt. The world he could hear. Many sounds came to his head as his gift, Echo Visor, started to active and pick them up. He heard much rustling like wind blowing and other noises like the footsteps of the group ahead. He even could pick up on a little of Seliph's breathing since he was close. But one sound was catching his attention. He turned his eye-closed head towards the direction, slowly piecing together what it could be. Rustling…but it sounds similar to the breeze speed. But the length of it is…odd. Like the swaying is shorter and less. An idea crossed his mind.

He opened his eyes and started looking across a certain patch of the tall grass on the side of the path. Seliph walked over to him, as Swift peered at a certain spot.

"You see anything?" Seliph asked in a low battle-ready tone.

Swift gave a nod. "Yes…it's hard to see, but some rustling over there." Swift pointed to a specific direction.

Seliph peered over at the area, carefully browsing the entire section. And there it was, a small rustling of the grass swerving towards them like a snake. "That's not even waist size grass," Seliph stated aloud. "How can they be hiding there let alone know we're-"

"Not important." Swift answered, quickly putting an arm on Seliph's shoulder. "Warn the group, I've got your back."

Seliph nodded and was about to dash after them when suddenly he stopped.

"Seliph?" Swift looked at where Seliph was staring with what looked like a shocked gaze. The group had apparently already gone in the forest but at the edge stood a zoroark with a few white streaks in his fur looking at the two. Swift's eyes widened as he spied the mon's red eyes.

The dark type gave a grin as he walked to the forest, vanishing into the forest as he was starting to morph into something blue.

"Wait that's-…Huh Seliph!" Swift was left in surprise as Seliph suddenly dashed after this mon. "Hey, wait up!" Just as Swift was about to run after Seliph, he suddenly heard an odd noise. Without risking a look, Swift leaped off his currently grounded foot from where he felt the noise was coming from. Thankfully his hearing was on point; he managed to evade an incoming Shadow Ball and rolling for defense. "Seliph! Wait!" He shouted, but his words did nothing to slow Seliph down. Something's wrong up ahead, Swift thought as he got up to try and find his attacker. Realizing there wasn't much hope getting Seliph to come back and re-group, Swift decided to try and hear his attacker's movements again to get a good strike.

He closed his eyes and once more focused through his gift to listen to the noises around. As he did this, however, he heard something else that was strange. He quickly shoved his front leg forwards and leaped away from his spot just as a Psycho Cut struck it. The resulting impact gave him some extra momentum he used to do a recover roll and regain his balance on a one knee position.

Swift didn't have time to relax though since the launcher of the Psycho Cut leaped out from a patch to his right, bringing down a slice with a gallade elbow. Speedily, Swift pulled his body back and handsprung away from the attack before landing low, ready to defend. Damnit, guess I'm cut off. He gave a challenging grin to his attacker, who gave a grunt at this cocky look.

Swift took a look behind him real quick and noticed Seliph was no longer in sight. "Alright, he made it," Swift said, relieved at this revelation as he returned his focus back to his opponent.

"You should probably be more concerned about yourself," Siegfried pointed out as Vex shot out from the ground, doing a side flip in the air, and landing on the ground behind Swift, separating him from the forest.

"I don't mind a two on one," the pumped heliolisk jeered, rolling his arms as if he wasn't at all worried.

"Perhaps we should change that," Siegfried muttered, clearly not interested in the short mon's misplaced confidence.

Swift tensed up at this, forming a defiant scowl at the threat. He wanted to try and find a route to get to the others, but he couldn't take the risk of looking with two goons ready to attack should he drop his guard. They'll be fine, Swift assured himself in his mind. Garon is with them and al-

"Worried about your friends?" Vex slithered with a dark smile, as a predator would at their squirming prey.

"No," Swift exclaimed, shooting his gaze at the gengar. "They can handle themselves."

"Oh sure, sure." Vex floated a little in the air, meeting Swift's angry look with his gloating one. "Too bad you won't get to see the fun in there. I'm sure Seliph is just dying to fight the boss."

"What do you mean?" Swift pulled his arms up for a brawl while still listening for the gallade in case he tried strike.

"Heh, doesn't matter now least of all to you." Vex licked his chops, giving a dark, intimidating look at the smaller electric type. "You're our opponent or should I say prey."

"Or should you say, 'that guy going to beat your asses up'." Swift gave a condescending smirk, exuberating his confidence with a mocking swipe of his finger over the nostrils of his snout.

"Tck, tough words," Siegfried stated from behind Swift. "But before you back it up allow me to ask you something."

"What?" Swift inquired, turning his focus to the gallade.

"You're Norfairion." The gallade's eyes narrowed as he put a foot forwards and pointed his elbow to Swift as he extended it. "Are you true-blood?"

Swift cocked his head, rather surprised at the question. "You mean, were both my parents Norfairions?" The gallade nodded in confirmation as Swift shook his head afterwards. "Don't think you've earned my trust to get me to spout about that."

"Regardless…I think I'll be able to tell if you were raised in Norfair." Siegfried's eyes narrowed as Swift scowled at this. "Native born are raised to be strong, adaptable, warriors. Norfair brings the strongest of their youth into the military."

"Thank you Dr. Blatantly Obvious. I am one." Swift rudely interrupted with a condescending grin.

"Hmph, ones from other lands that come aren't trained to become the top. I wonder where you lie in this." Once he said this he slowly surged a Psycho Cut in his arms, keeping the elbow straight and pointing at Swift. "Are you a true-blood or a half-blood?"

"Are you going to keep on asking irrelevan-" Before he finished, Swift heard Vex move from behind him. Quickly, he rolled away from the gengar's swipe. Just as soon as he got up he was force to parry an upwards leg sweep from Siegfried. This unfortunately left Swift open for another swipe from Vex. Despite Swift's attempt at dodging he was nicked in the right arm near his wrist by the ghost's claws.

He did a recovery roll on his side as got back up in the grass, ready to confront the two now in front. Not good, he blurted in his head as he eyed his opponents. If these two are out here and a zoroark is going after them then…Damnit, I don't have time to waste with these two.

Swift was about to dart off but Siegfried threw an orb right where he was headed. The heliolisk gridded to a halt before the blast orb exploded. The force of the blast sent the small sized heliolisk sailing. He hit the ground on his right arm, skidded on it for a few feet before tumbling past the two in a couple of disoriented rolls before stopping about ten feet from them.

"Nice try," Siegfried stated as he clashed his Psycho Cut infused elbows together and got into an aggressive stance, facing his arm blade towards the downed heliolisk. "But you have enough on your plate as it is." He gave a nod to the floating Vex, who floated back a few feet behind Siegfried to give Swift another mon to get around.

Swift picked himself up, rubbing his arm that had been scrapped a bit by the rolling and was dripping a little blood. "So," Swift said as he took a deep breath. "Game of stalling eh…" He got on his feet, rolled both his arms before letting them rest at a boxing stance. Once his legs were spaced out enough, he put his weight on the back one. Once set to rumble, he looked at the two with a competitive grin and said. "Well, I hope you're ready to babysit a bad boy."

Siegfried gave an arrogant raise of his head as he gave a little smirk. "Still feeling the courage or idiocy to spout quips?"

"Are eyes meant to see?" Swift countered, as he gave Siegfried a middle finger. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Siegfried gave a slight chuckle at this mockery. "I've heard of Norfairions only growing in cockiness when backed into a corner. However, it's been a while since I've fought one of your kind so." Siegfried unbuttoned his collar letting his cloak fall to the ground, revealing his Phynecion crest."

"That's?" Swift's eyes narrowed with a scowl that looked angrier than the others. "So…you joined that group instead of your own kin? How's the free life, feeding your cousins to your new sicko friends?" Swift let go of his right arm as he got into a low, aggressive stance.

"I don't approve everything they do, but I have my own prerogatives."

Swift didn't seem interested in this attempt to come off in good faith. "Hmph, must be pretty good prerogatives if you're willing to hunt down a kid, and take him from his home and friends. Lemme guess, because he's Averion?"

Siegfried's eyes narrowed. "I'm not inclined to tell you the reason."

Swift brushed his snout once more with a fist as he said with a sassy reply, "And I'm not inclined to let you kidnap the kid."

"Hmph, well then 'half-breed' show me what you've got." Siegfried took a few steps forwards, extending his elbow blades from beneath his travel cape.

Swift gave a little heliolisk growl as he replied. "I don't recall answering your question or have we jumped into Dr. Presumptuousness now?" In a change of mood, Swift put his arms behind his head and bent over a little. "Where'd you learn to tell who's half-breeds and who's true-bloods, from your red eyes frat buddies?"

"I easily can gather you aren't one. Grew up in an orphanage after all. Likely a foreign mother for your bastard of a father."

Swift's eyes widened as he heard this. "What…What do yo-"

"It's funny what some mon's hear on the street and can put together from it. Perhaps you should try having frat buddies like the red eyes to get information," Vex shouted in a mocking tone.

Swift gave a sneer at the ghost at this counter with his own insult. "So?"

"Go on, half-breed show us why you're in the big leagues."

Swift returned his gaze at the gallade, standing in a firm stance that was ready to counter. How…How did they? Grrr, f**k! Swift arched his body low, placing his left hand upon the dirt and pulling up some as he planted it firmly for a push off. Well then, I'll show you what I can do, traitor! So what if my mom's Borhmian, I'm not an entitled f**k like you! Swift pushed off his legs, rushing towards the gallade with a zig-zag maneuver. He swapped his frown for a grin as he gave himself a boost in confidence, setting aside his concerns to focus on the stick-legged mon in front. Besides, working up to the big leagues means more experience. So let's rumble Dr. Galloser.

Siegfried kept a firm eye on his enemy as the lizard pushed off and leaped towards him, spinning his body as the light of an Iron Tail covered his tail. Siegfried raised his arm in response and the two moves clashed with a strong clank like iron against an energy shield.






Where did he go‽ Seliph exclaimed in his mind as he rushed between the trees.

The scenery was rather dark, thanks to the denseness of the woodwork along with most of the trees being abundant in both height and branch size. A few strips of light did gleam through cracks but even then it didn't help much for visibility for areas not for the cleared out path.

Seliph kept rushing as fast as he could. His eyes were narrow and curved in a fierce scowl. His breathing was fast and heavy, almost like he was panicking. His arms were pointed to the sides as he navigated his way around the various trees, trying to find Plageues. I know I saw him go this way! But damnit, it's so hard to follow him in this place.

However, he wouldn't quit or even slow down. One thought was firm on his mind. The look that evil creature had, running his dad through. That smile, that Devil smile that made Seliph want to run a Night Slash through it was all he needed to pick up the pace.

As he rushed through the forest he suddenly saw something coming from his left. Pushing off the ground away from this movement, Seliph landed on a tree's trunk, barely avoiding a sweeping large slice from something. He quickly pushed off the tree, as he twirled upside down as he drew a Night Slash mid-air and gracefully landing with his move pointed at his attacker.

Whatever it was, it was big. A bit of the light coming from up ahead that was covered by this attacker. He didn't have time to figure out what species this enemy was, before a ball of orange light appeared. The light from the move showed a snorlax's face. Hyper Beam! Seliph quickly rushed to the side as the beam tore through the land he stood at before, causing a powerful shockwave.

Seliph went splat on his back upon another tree before plopping onto the ground. He didn't stay down for long since he could hear his attacker heading his way. Quickly, he rushed away from it, taking advantage of his speed to put some distance for him to quickly leap his way up to the higher branches of some of the trees.

Once he found a branch he figured was high enough, he stood still, lowering his breath as he pressed his back against the tree. He didn't try to look down, the sound this snorlax was making was informing enough. He waited and waited as the movements from below slowly grew quieter and quieter.

Is he gone? Seliph grabbed the branch and swung himself upside down, holding onto the branch as he looked around. He then spied the snorlax about fifteen feet away, or at least it looked like it. He quietly let go and landed with very little noise, keeping his body low as he slowly crept to the tree to observe this mon.

He was about to get closer when suddenly he heard a noise behind him.

"Seliph?"

The greninja spun around to see Garon coming up. It was too dark to make Garon out perfectly, making Seliph nervous. "Garon, is that you?" Seliph stated as he readied to draw his move.

"Yeah, I heard an explosion so I came over." The big dragon went to the side of the tree as he looked over at the snorlax, who was apparently still looking for Seliph. "Who is that?" he asked in a low whisper.

Seliph stood up as he looked firmly at Garon. The thoughts of his enemy disguising as Garon were overwhelming strong, but despite this conflict he managed to keep himself from attacking and instead ask, "Garon…what is my last name?" Seliph stiffened as he readied a strike.

"Almkin of course. Seliph, we don't have time for games. Where's Swift?"

Seliph let out a sigh as he looked back at the snorlax. "Swift…I…don't know. I think he was fighting someone still in the plains."

"You left him?" Garon asked in a hasty tone, looking at him with a surprised stare. His white irises scowling with worry and fret.

"I…" Seliph rubbed the back of his head as he looked at Garon saying, "I saw someone come after you so I went after him. It was a zoroark."

"A zoroark huh," the big dragon repeated as he looked back at the direction he had come from. "If that's the case, then maybe we should get back to the group. If they're in danger-" he stopped as he noticed Seliph was taking a few steps away. "Seliph? Where are you going?"

Seliph stuttered for a second before saying, "Garon…it was a zoroark."

"Yeah? So let's go help the others."

Seliph let out a sigh as he returned his look at Garon, saying, "sorry, but I need to be sure." Seliph tensed his body as he bent his legs ready to pounce. "Garon, what is my mother's name before meeting my father?"

Garon paused. The eyes of the garchomp narrowed as he looked back to the spot with the snorlax. His eyes widened upon seeing something.

Seliph looked back at the snorlax's area too. To his surprise, the creature was gone. Seliph's eyes shot back at Garon. "Where did he-?"

Suddenly the feeling of sharp teeth dug into Seliph's left shoulder. He let out a cry in pain as he looked at what looked like a garchomp's forehead peering into view from the corner of his eye. Seliph formed a Night Slash dagger and swiped at the mon, who let go before it could get cut. Despite this freeing Seliph from the bite, it unintentionally left himself open to a following tail swipe from Garon. The thick garchomp tail firmly smacked into Seliph's stomach, sending him rolling for a few feet.

As he slowly got up, he looked up at two mons looking towards him. One had red eyes while the other seemed to not have any or at least the red was too small to make out clearly. The red eyes lit up in the dark as shape of this creature shifted.

"I'd love to play again with you, but I think I'll save the dessert for later." Plageues said with a dark smile, morphing to a thinner, furry creature. "Knock him out please, but don't kill him. I want to savor the moment."

Once done, Plageues rushed away, leaving the other garchomp to fight Seliph. "Yes sir," a lazy tone replied as the garchomp transformed, morphing into the image of a snorlax.

"W-what?" Seliph exclaimed as he got to his feet, holding his left shoulder.

"Heh, surprised to see a ditto transform." The creature gave a smirk, or at least one that a snorlax could muster.

Seliph formed a night slash blade in his left hand as he held it backhanded and ready to defend. Wait… a thought crossed Seliph's mind as the fake snorlax charged at him. He leaped away from each of the swipes, nimbly dodging each one, waiting to see if his guess was right.

After a few minutes of dodging, Seliph put some distance between him and the transformed ditto as he took a second to catch his breath and thoughts. It's not using moves now…that means either that was a real snorlax before or it transformed from a real one. I doubt he did it and then journeyed all the way over here. Seliph braced himself as the ditto rushed at him, morphing into a stantler, aiming its antlers at him. Meaning there's a snorlax somewhere and likely with Plageues.

Once the stantler was almost upon him, Seliph drew a Night Slash blade, rolled to the side, and swiped at the legs. Despite his quickness, Seliph failed to even hit for the ditto quickly shifted to a ninjask as it flew around in the tress, sending its buzzing noise echoing throughout the forest.

Seliph got to his feet once more, his left hand tightening over his move weapon, his right arm trying to cover the wound that was starting to bleed down his arm. His eyes darted around, trying to spot his enemy as his breathing sped up and the fake ninjask's flapping noise died down. Plageues was heading for the group, there is a snorlax somewhere, he left Swift alone, and now he was alone.

Seliph took a deep breath. Calm down, he urged himself as he flipped the move to backhand and lifted it up as he bent low. You can't afford to fail this time. You aren't a little boy anymore…you're a grown adult. And besides. Seliph spun around and sliced the paw of an ursaring trying to claw him from behind.

"Ouch!" the ditto shouted, holding his hand as he reverted from the ursaring form once more to a ninjask and flying around once more.

I'm fine with spilling the blood of the group that ruined my home. His eyes narrowed to an angry, determined look. Quickly, he rushed off in a direction, listening for the noises from the ditto. I'm not gonna play your game your way, you bi**h. I don't care if I have to dodge him all day, I won't let you hurt anyone of my family again!

Chapter 37

Their eyes feel upon Lesath, picking himself off the ground while rubbing his head.

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Fell, I think.

"That hurt," he stated, facing his attacker, that being a pissed off Rosa levitating from the branch they were on and softly landing about ten yards from him.

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I feel "pissed off" is too causal for the narration. Maybe "a furious Rosa" might sound better.

Skrelle took a sigh of relief but didn't remain relaxed for long. He stood up and looked at Rosa. "It's over."

She gave him a glare as she held another Shadow Ball in her hand. Her arm didn't seem to want to back down.

Skrelle gave a little snort as he took a firm step in her direction and with a low growl stated, "I order you to go cool off before you do something you will regret. Am…I…clear?"

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Quite a bit of passive voice there. Even though the confrontation is over, active voice would make these passages run smoother.

I take it the scene with Daemon is a flashback of Rosa's? If so, liked last chapter I got a bit confused there. Perhaps itcalizing that flashback could work there to make that clearer.

Hm, wonder what Demteri's dream means there.

I admit, feels kinda weird reading a chapter not featuring Jaron, Vragon, Ciecro, and the others, but it's by no means bad. Kinda amusing Lesath's Mirror Coat really got Rosa off guard there.

Chapter 38

Okay, before I get with the content, oh my gosh dude the passive voice "let out a sigh". Like, "sighed" isn't a bad word, use it. Okay, here's a solution. When you're editing, use the find and replace feature and search "let out a sigh" and similar phrases. Replace those with the active verb, and the writing should be more streamlined. Have this saved somewhere or else I'll keep harking you on passive voice. = P

Swift let out a sigh. "I'm sorry," Swift apologized.

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Two big editing notes with this. One, the "let out a sigh" passive voice I mentioned earlier. Second, you know that '"I'm sorry", he apologized' line from Eragon everyone made fun of? This is the same thing here. We already know "I'm sorry" is an apology and you're just repeating it. Have "Swift said" instead.

Actually, I noticed these last two chapters you seem to almost avoid "said." Always using "reply", "answer", and similar words instead. "Said" gets the job done much better. Okay okay okay, done with editing notes, onto the content!

Swift picked himself up, rubbing his arm that had been scrapped a bit by the rolling and was dripping a little blood. "So," Swift said as he took a deep breath. "Game of stalling eh…" He got on his feet, rolled both his arms before letting them rest at a boxing stance. Once his legs were spaced out enough, he put his weight on the back one. Once set to rumble, he looked at the two with a competitive grin and said. "Well, I hope you're ready to babysit a bad boy."

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Getting a bit ahead of yourself huh Swift, lol. Siegfried knowing about Swift's family history though pushed his buttons there.

I admit, I thought that Snorlax was Plagues, and then the Ditto. So yeah, what is up with that Snorlax hanging around?

Reviewing Chapter 5

I really liked that first snippet. It went a long way to showcase the immaturity of the younger siblings as well as how well Seliph knows them. I liked the Electivire fight for similar reasons. The fight choreography was also really well written and I enjoyed the little bits of information we got through it, like Gathor's gift which seems different to abilities.

Overall though I think that this chapter would have benefited from being split into two. The first focusing on Gathor and co. and the second on Seliph and his brothers with a time overlap across chapters. The impact of each event would have been stronger without perspective being yanked away.

The forest looked dark and creepy, not too different from the jungle he grew up in except for the trees. At least, it felt that way for Ciecro. Something about the darkness in there made him when he was younger. The charmeleon let out a sigh as the memories started their unwelcome return.

"Something wrong?" Garon's curious voice inquired, looking at Ciecro as they walked on the plain path in the forest.

"Huh?" Ciecro looked back, a little thrown off by Garon suddenly saying something.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The large garchomp scratched one of his hammerhead horns.

Tck. Ciecro rolled his eyes before shifting them to the path behind them, attempting to avoid looking at the forest or Garon. Instantly, Ciecro widened his eyes upon noticing something off. Seliph and Swift weren't behind them on the path. "Dey're not dere." Immediately Ciecro began browsing the area.

"Not there?" Garon repeated, looking first at Ciecro and then to the path. Sure enough, neither were there. Garon widened his eyes as he went on high alert, quickly spinning around as he called out to Vragon and Jaron, both of whom were a bit far away at this point in time. "Vray, Jaron! Hang on, something's wrong!"

Perplexed by the abrupt shout, the two turned around to see what the fuss was about.

"What‽" Vragon yelled back to the two, breaking slightly away from Jaron to backtrack to Garon and Ciecro, while looking a little irritated at the interruption.

"Seliph and Swift aren't here," Garon informed, before starting to browse the area again. Leaning his head closer to the charmeleon's head, Garon whispered while his eyes peered around in high alert, "Go stay with your brother and Vragon. I'll find Swift and Seliph."

Ciecro paused for a second, displeased with being sidelined, but complied with a nod and jogged over to the two posthaste. He gestured for Jaron to join him and Vragon, explaining the situation once Jaron arrived.

While Ciecro was getting the two up to speed, Garon returned his fierce gaze to the path behind them. The path to the plains was pretty far from where he stood, in fact, it was no bigger than Garon's talon. He squinted his eyes as he leaned forwards to get a better look. Slowly his eyes glowed a solidified purple color as he tapped into his gift, True Sight. The world around him went a dark purplish and red as the synergy in the area become visible as bright red and yellow. Their concentration of emissions became his line of sight for the area. Slowly and Carefully, Garon browsed from left to right finally stopping right at something weak synergy blob that seemed to move. As he focused more on it trying to figure out what he was seeing, Garon noticed it wasn't one but two synergy blobs moving around through the woods, making odd collisions and jumps like they were dancing as they ran parallel to the road. "Guys! We're not alone!" he roared to the three nearby, all of which shifted their gazes to him at his sudden yelling.

Ciecro snarled as he looked around. "Come on, let's get tah Dolly an' Jaz." The other two nodded as Ciecro called out to Garon, "I'll join yah lateh!"

Garon nodded, watching the three sprint away down the path. The garchomp then turned his purple glowing eyes towards the path, keeping watch over the three as they ran. He then spotted something coming from their left and immediately darted into action. His head went low, his body bent forwards so his fin was upright, and his arms spread like a bird's gliding. As his eyes switched out of True Sight, Garon spotted a little light coming from the same spot. "Guys get down!" he roared.

The three dropped, just as a focus blast was sent hurling through the air. To Garon and their surprise, it wasn't heading for them but instead struck a tree nearby. Its trunk snapped and it started to fall onto the path. Ciecro was getting up unaware he was in the way of the falling tree.

"Ciecro!" Jaron shouted, as he quickly grabbed his brother's arm and pulled with all his might.

Jaron's action on Ciecro alerted Vragon to the tree. Without getting up, Vragon rolled to the side as Jaron fell onto his back from his pull, Ciecro landing on top of him right as the tree hit the ground with a loud "thwomp".

Ciecro turned his head, gazing at the now grounded tree. It took him a second to notice Jaron wiggling underneath him. "Huh, oh," he rolled off so Jaron could get up. As Jaron sat up, taking slow long breaths after, Ciecro leaned in closer, putting a claw on his brother's shoulder asking, "Yah okay?"

Jaron just sat there staring at the tree, almost as if the image of something bad was filling his head.

"Hey, Jaron," Ciecro said again, shaking Jaron's left shoulder. "Snap out of it."

"Uh? Hey! Knock it off!" Jaron smacked away Ciecro's arm, resulting in a growling response from Ciecro. Jaron rubbed his shoulder a look of remorse covering his face. "Sorry, bro." Jaron looked forwards, towards the tree again, a bothered look on his face. It stays was short due to Jaron remembering Vragon was on the other side. "Hey, Vray you okay?" he said, standing up to look over.

A bit of indistinguishable grumbling came from the other side. "Just fine, Jaron." The fraxure stood up, dusting himself.

Jaron sighed in relief. "Good he's okay." The croconaw sighed in relief as he looked at Ciecro. "How about you Cie-? Ciecro?"

Ciecro was busy looking around, ready for a fight. "Did yah forge' abou' dat attack?"

Oh yeah, Jaron said in his head. Before he could reply, Garon had joined up with them, panting slightly as he put his talons on their shoulders.

"Are you two alright?"

They nodded in response.

After taking a sigh of relief, Garon turned around to try and find out where their attackers were. "You two watch over Vragon. Try to get to Jasmine and Dolly if you can."

Jaron nodded and rushed to the tree. "Vray, keep an eye out. We're coming." Jaron started to climb over while Vragon was busy keeping watch on the other side. "Come on bro."

Ciecro didn't answer. His eyes were glued to the tree as Jaron was working on climbing over. Why does it have a shadow on it? It didn't take long for it to click. "Jaron! Lookou'!" Ciecro shouted, rushing over to his brother and firmly wrapping his arms around Jaron's upper stomach.

"What are yo-" was all Jaron could say before Ciecro pushed off the tree just a second before something huge landed straight on it. The force of the impact sent Jaron and Ciecro flying right into the back-side of Garon's right shoulder. Garon stumbled a few steps forwards, trying to avoid from face-planting, while the brothers hit the ground. Since it was Jaron's face that planted into Garon's shoulder it was Ciecro's face that his the dirt first.

Vragon, on the other hand, didn't fly as far from the shockwave but wound up rolling on the ground to make up for it.

"Blegh." Ciecro spat the dirt out of his mouth as he pushed Jaron off of him. "Yuck," he stated, shaking his head and brushing his tongue with his claws. His clawing at the mouth stopped upon once more looking forwards. "Oh no." His eyes widened as his arms dropped from his open mouth. His arms started shaking a little from both anxiety and anticipation.

Meanwhile, Jaron was rolling off the ground with a bit of dirt stuck on his face from Ciecro's push. "Did you have to push me that hard?" Jaron grumbled, wiping the dry dirt off his face. The scowl on Jaron's face instantly changed to confusion once he noticed his brother was slowly standing up, wearing a scowl that looked defensive and cornered. "C-Ciecro?"

Jaron slowly looked in the direction Ciecro was facing, his jaw-dropping as he saw a towering snorlax getting up from the little mini-crater he had made. The tree he had landed on was nothing more than splinters harshly shoved into the dirt with no sign of any cuts on the large mon's stomach.

"Wh-What is that?" Jaron stated, still processing the behemoth in front of them.

Instead of answering Jaron's blunt question, Ciecro dashed towards it without a second thought.

"Ciecro wait!" Jaron shouted, but Ciecro didn't comply.

The charmeleon swiftly closed the distance between him and the giant mon. His tail started readying Dragon Tail as he did a little hop, landing on the ground and bending down to aim his jump where the mon's head was going to be. Right as he was about to jump, something flashed in the corner of his eye. He stopped, turning his attention to this new thing. His eyes widened upon seeing an orange Focus Blast fired at him. Ciecro tried to jump away, but the orb as too fast, grazing him on his side as it flew onwards to explode in the deep woods. He let out a painful shout as he landed on his side, grabbing his rib where his scales had been singed, stinging even more as he touched them. Angrily, he got on a knee, browsing the area for this new assailant.

The sight of his brother narrowly escaping a direct hit from the move was enough to spring Jaron into action. Quickly, he pulled out a blast orb and threw it where he guessed the stranger was.

A silhouette in the dark sprang away from the blast radius, rushing away from them while following alongside the path from the forest. Jaron quickly rushed over to cover his brother. Damnit, Jaron grumbled in his mind at this miss. Jaron didn't dwell on it and hurried over to Ciecro, who by now was on his feet.

"You okay?" Jaron asked, trying to get a peek at the wound.

"It's notin'" Ciecro replied with a determined grin. He took his hand off, showing that the burn cut on his scales was rather light. "Not deep."

"So you screamed like you were stabbed, over the pain of a cut," Jaron jeered with his own snarky grin.

"Shudup an' back me up," Ciecro replied, turning around to face the snorlax, who by now facing them standing up straight.

"You two alright?" They both didn't take their eyes off this new enemy as Garon joined them in the middle.

"Never better," Jaron optimistically said. "So, you have any ideas on how to handle this guy?"

Garon raised his talons as his eyes narrowed. His jaw gritted as his legs firmly pushed on the ground as if he was going to jump any second. "Keep an eye out for that mon in the woods," Garon whispered to the two. They nodded as the three readied for whatever the large snorlax to make his move.

As the snorlax took a rather slow step forwards a purple and yellow flame struck the snorlax's head from behind, causing him to wobble forwards a little. Vragon's voice from behind it yelled, "Guys! Follow up!"

Jaron was the first to act. With a determined growl, he quickly rushed towards the mon. He started to form a Slash in his arm, aiming to chop at the right let before the mon could get an attack off. "Bwa?" he uttered as his attention was shifted as his gift, wary sent an unsettling feeling throughout his nerve system.

Before he had a chance to confirm an attack heading his way, Jaron stopped committing to finding it and instead rolled to the side. Once he was right side up again, Jaron was distracted by the impact of a move on the ground nearby. The resulting dirt cloud blinded him, causing him to rub his eyes prone. Damnit no! He roared in his head as he struggled to get the tears flowing to get the dirt out of his eyes.

The snorlax raised its right arm, to do a sweeping strike upon the temporary blind Croconaw.

Without looking at Ciecro, Garon ordered, "Cover me!" Without wasting another second, Garon rushed forwards to help Jaron.

Thankfully, Ciecro got the message easily and jogged after him, keeping a watching eye and taking big breaths in case he needed to spout Flamethrower fast.

As Garon approached the large snorlax diverted its attention towards this new incoming foe. Its swing arced away from Jaron to strike Garon directly from above in a very choreographed attack.

This didn't deter Garon's incoming assault but merely provided him with ample confidence he was battling an idiot. As the arm was coming down, Garon pivoted lightly of the foot he had on the ground spun halfway so his back was to the mon, landing with good balance on his other leg. As the snorlax's attack struck the ground where Garon had been about a second prior, the dragon leaped onto the mon's arm and with his teeth infused with Crunch, bit as hard as he could into the mon's flesh.

The snorlax bellowed in a mix of pain and surprise, quickly leaning back while pulling Garon and his arm off the ground. Garon took advantage of this to run a little on the arm to leap and slice at the mon's head with his talon.

Suddenly, something caught Garon's eye for a split second before he was nailed in the chest by a smaller, faster made Focus Blast. The orb pushed onto his chest, making him grunt in pain as it pushed him back a little before blowing up, sending him to land a few steps in front of Ciecro.

Oh no! Ciecro immediately rushed over to Garon, trying to help him up.

"Help Jaron!" the dragon commanded, gritting his teeth a little as he rose to a knee and placing a talon on his chest. A small amount of smoke was coming off the area on his chest that was struck by the move, but thankfully, it was no deeper than a scale wound. "I'm alright. Now hurry!" Garon affirmed, standing up to bolster his claim to Ciecro.

Ciecro didn't hesitate any longer. Dashing towards the large mon, Ciecro took a deep breath as he hurried to defend his vulnerable brother from the brute. As the snorlax was readying a strike Ciecro got in front of Jaron and unleashed a Flamethrower at the mon's head.

"Hey," the snorlax bellowed, more out of how deep his voice was than actually aiming for an imposing tone. "Stop it." It moved its arms to shield his head from Ciecro's fire move.

"Don't stop it," Jaron ordered, blinking as his watery eyes started to get a clear picture again. "Whatever you're doing," he added, making Ciecro chuckle in his head as he turned up the pressure on the mon.

As that was going on Garon hadn't left his spot, panting a bit as he kept a firm gaze on the two. I think they're fine, he told himself in his head. His gaze turned to the left side of the path, focused on the dark woods. Let's see where you are.

Garon's eyes started glowing purple as his gift activated. He gasped as he spotted the mon, but it was behind the snorlax's position. Vragon! Garon quickly jogged forwards, ignoring the stinging from his chest as he darted into the outskirts of the forest to go around, moving in low and fast.



The searing flame hitting the snorlax's arm flew overhead. Below its fiery path was Vragon, merely watching it as he tried to see how he could help. Maybe…if I can strike it somewhere else. Yes, that's it. Vragon slammed a fist into his other one, happy with the idea. His eyes immediately focused on the snorlax's large feet. Bingo, he stated in his mind.

As he formed a Dragon Claw and took a step something tapped his right tusk, making his head wobble to that side a little. "Huh?" Vragon looked to the right to see a smiling Zoroark looking down at him with a malicious grin.

"Made you look." Before Vragon had time to grasp the situation Plageues swung his leg into a firm smack onto Vragon's chest.

The air inside the fraxure's lungs was forced out as Vragon tumbled a few feet before stopping on his belly. "Oww," he groaned, moving his left claw at the point of impact. He slowed his breathing down to try and lessen the pain.

"My, my, you're an interesting specimen."

Vragon shifted onto a knee as he looked upon his assailant. Plageues was slowly walking towards him, eyeing him like one would a juicy berry within reach. A feeling of dread filled Vragon as he started shifting back.

"Oh, don't go." Plageues grinned as he stopped, gazing down upon the shaky fraxure, no more than two feet away now. The zoroark did a squat as he leaned in closer, whispering in a low tone, "Aren't you the least bit curious about who you are?"

Vragon tilted his head, though didn't dare to reply or give this creep any sign of compliance.

"Of course you are, Vragon."

Vragon stayed quiet, his shaking slowing down. "Why are you hunting me?" he asked, his tone a bit high since he was still staring at a mon that could stab him at any moment.

"Hunting you say?" Plageues's grin grew as he leaned in closer. "I wouldn't call what we're doing, 'hunting'."

"Then…what would you call it?" Vragon's eyes turned to a scowl, not one out of anger or rage but defensive curiosity.

"I would call it-" Plageues swung around, surging a Night Slash over his arm like a thin gauntlet to block Garon's talon swipe for his head. "Excuse me sir, we're in the middle of a conversation. Couldn't you have taken the long way around the snorlax, Mr. impatient?" the zoroark dramatically said with a chuckle.

Garon growl in reply as he pressed harder with his talon, pushing Plageues's defense closer to the zoroark's face. The fierce gaze of Garon shifted its focus to Vragon, who was just sitting there mentally buffering. "Assist!" Garon ordered, snapping Vragon back to reality.

"Aww, no fair," Plageues answered, adding a little bit of exaggerated disappointment in his tone. He pushed up against Garon's talon with surprising strength that while wasn't enough to overpower the surprised Garon did give him the room to twist his arm so the talon would slide down the dark type move. Once free from the move lock, Plageues shoved his weight on his right leg and did a backwards leg swipe at Vragon's incoming Dragon Claw, knocking the fraxure off-balance. With Vragon taken care of, Plageues planted his other leg and rolled forwards to evade Garon's second talon swipe and spring forwards to land at a safe distance. He did a heel turn and crossed his arms as he smirked at the two. "Tsk, tsk," he mocked as he pressed a finger to his forehead. "If you must, I suppose I can play with you first."

The garchomp stepped in front of Vragon, keeping a firm gaze upon the zoroark.

"Well, then let's play tag." Plageues pushed off to the side and formed a Focus Blast in his outstretched hands.

Garon reacted immediately. Lunging towards the dark type, Garon's eyes changed to a glowing dark blue, as the manifestation of a dragon's head of the same color formed in front of his head. Its mouth was open, bearing its fangs like it was roaring, as waves of the same color began to split from this head around Garon.

That qui- Was all Plageues managed to think before his instincts cut the Focus Blast short to switch to a dual Night Slash block. Unfortunately for Plageues, he hadn't landed yet and Garon's strong legs gave him a strong push-off. The force of the Dragon Rush struck Plageues like an arrow to a head as the two went straight into the forest, the sound of wood and dirt ripping followed, with a few upset dust flinging itself out onto the path.

Vragon just sat there; his mouth agape in awe at so fast yet so strong clash that just happened. It took the large yell from behind him to wake him from his stupor.

"Vray!" Dolly's voice called out.

He turned around and there she was. "Dolly! Jasmine!" he shouted back but as he was about to run to them, he noticed something. The ground in front of him was starting to be covered in some kind of shadow creeping over the area. Oh no! Vragon spun around to see the snorlax's had turned its attention to him and was already halfway through an underhand swipe.

"Ah!" Was all he could say before being slammed in the chest by the mighty snorlax swipe. The move sent him twirling in the air before striking the ground on his side, just stacking on the pain in his chest. He cried in agony as he held his ribs, gritting his teeth. "Argh! My side."

"Vray!" he heard Dolly call behind him, but he didn't dare move again. He just sat there holding his ribs as the mon, slowly walked closer, undeterred by Ciecro's Flamethrower striking his back.

What did deter it, however, was a Focus Blast to the face, from a pissed off Dolly.

"I hope that hurt you fu**ing coward!" Dolly roared, as she stepped in front of Vragon, huffing and puffing from the rush over here.

When Jasmine got there she immediately stopped to check on Vragon, while a snarling Dolly was forming and throwing a new Focus Blast at the snorlax. "Are you okay?" She said, and after a mere second of seeing his condition felt stupid for saying that.

"How is he?" Dolly asked, with a little growl at the end of it.

"Not good," Jasmine replied, helping Vray sit up. "Dolly, I'll help Ciecro and Jaron keep him busy so you can treat him."

Dolly gave an angry sigh as she turned her head slightly and nodded in agreement. She then faced the large mon once again and shouted over to the boys on the other side. "Ciecro, Jaron! Vragon's hurt!"

On the other side of the behemoth mon, Jaron had finally gotten his eyes cleared, though this was dwarfed by news of Vragon being injured. "What?" he replied, getting on his feet as Ciecro stopped his flame after finally conceding he could do nothing to the back. "He's injured?" Jaron pressed further in worry, as he took a few steps forwards.

"We don't know yet!"

Jaron scowled as he gave a glance to Ciecro saying, "Let's mess him up."

Ciecro nodded in concurrence and the two started their attack.

Ciecro surged a Dragon Tail as Jaron formed a Slash. "Dolly!" Jaron shouted as he rushed to the right with Ciecro going left. Jaron got near the edge of the forest, where Dolly could see him and did a gesture of a fist hitting his vertical arm and letting it fall to the ground.

Good plan boys. Dolly nodded as she formed another Focus Blast. "Jasmine," she called back, getting Jasmine to look up at him. "I'll treat Vragon; you help the boys kick his ass." Jasmine gave an understanding nod as Dolly pointed her arm straight at the snorlax's head, who was busy trying to reach Ciecro and Jaron albeit in vain.

Jasmine, stepped away from Vragon after ensuring he wouldn't fall over and readied to pounce into action. "Ready," she whispered to Dolly.
Dolly's reply was firing her waiting Focus Blast straight at the snorlax. The impact of this one was stronger than the first, making the mon stumble and groan.

Ciecro spun around and sliced his left foot with his Dragon Tail as Jaron did likewise on the right with his Slash. This caused the creature to stumble back more from the pain in his feet, but the snorlax managed to avoid falling on his back by using the nearby trees as catchers of his fall.

"Damnit!" Jaron shouted in frustration, as he and Ciecro rushed past the mon and joined Dolly and Jasmine.

"Anyone gotta plan?" Ciecro asked as he focused on the snorlax, who was getting back upright. He suddenly felt a firm grip on his left shoulder. Twisting his head, Ciecro looked at Dolly firmly in her brown eyes.

Dolly looked at him and then Jaron, keeping her hands on their respective shoulders. She then looked at the snorlax, leering at it as it bluntly looked back while scratching its head. "Boys," she said, her tone a lot calmer but serious. "Keep him busy so I'll have something to clean up afterwards."

The two smirked aggressively as she pushed them forwards by their backs. They sprang into action, Jaron forming Slash in his right arm and firing an Ice Beam while Ciecro formed Thunderpunch in his right, Dragon Claw in his left, and activated Dragon Tail.

Dolly turned around and looked at Jasmine. "Try to keep them from getting too into it."

Jasmine smiled with a nod. "As always," she replied before leaping to join the two, who were already attacking the mon.

Dolly got on a knee as she propped Vragon up with her arm, asking with a soft tone, "sit still. Try and take deep breaths if you can."

Vragon obeyed but found it very hard to just breathe normally. "D-Dolly, I…I can't-" his breathing sped up again.

"Easy, I know it hurts something bad, but if I'm right on the money on your injury you need to keep your breathing spaced. Try breathing normally."

He nodded and attempted that, having better success on that front.

In the meantime, Dolly pulled her shoulder bag in front of her, opening it and rummaging through it before pulling out a little bottle. "Okay, Vray this should help with the pain." She took the cork off the top of the rather nice smelling liquid as she moved it towards his mouth. "Try and be still. This is my only Duller."

"Duller?" Vray stuttered as he looked at her with squinting eyes.

"Don't worry about it, just drink," she urged him as she propped him forwards with her strong, right arm and with the other tilted the cap to his opening mouth. She kept it very still, only tilting it slightly to avoid spilling, despite the noise and chaos of the fighting happening behind them. Once the bottle was empty, she set Vragon down on his back. "Just lie down for a second so it can work."

He nodded. "T-thanks D-D… Dolly?" He noticed she stood up and now had her back to him. His curiosity at what she was doing temporarily trumped his focus on the pain as he noticed her flipping the bottle in her hand.

"Hey! You!" She suddenly shouted, bringing a temporary halt to the fighting going on. Once the snorlax looked in her direction, she threw the bottle straight for its head.

The snorlax easily saw it coming so he merely tilted his head so it would fly by. What didn't fly by was the following Focus Blast, hitting him in the face like all the others.

Dolly gave a pleased nod at seeing the mon stumbled backwards a few steps. "Keep your focus up. Might save you from getting blasted." She gave herself a well-deserved laugh while Vragon slopped onto his back, groaning at the return of her puns.

"Oh come on, Vray," Dolly said with a satisfied smirk, walking over and helping him sit up. "How do you feel?"

"Huh?" He felt his body and even twisted himself a little to see if he could incite the pain again, but to his surprise, it had been dulled very quickly. "How?"

"Woah, hold it," Dolly put her left arm on his shoulder, trying to keep him from moving. "Whatever injury you have is still there, just dulled."

"Dulled? Already?"

"Yep," Dolly replied with a big grin. "You'd be surprised how useful a concentrated Stun Spore potion can be when it's added to a few components to sparse its effects to dulling the nervous system instead of you know…paralyzing you." Vragon just kept a perplexed look at her as she moved her left hand down to feel his gut and torso. "Well, I know a thing or two about medicine. Not too much, just what's been done to me and all."

"O-oh? Done to you?" Vragon said aloud, turning his focus to the trio and the snorlax's fight.

"Yep, I've been injured a few times and all in the battles I've fought and stuff…Well, more skirmishes but hey, the more you know." Dolly kept feeling around chest and stomach till she finally felt something off. "Yep, there it is." She said aloud, prompting Vragon to look at her. "Damn, it feels like a big bruise. Vragon." He looked at her as she took her hand-off. "Vray, before I gave the duller to you, what did breathing feel like?"

Vragon paused to think amid the rather ugly, recent memories of the experience and stated, "Well…it felt like breathing fast worked. I had to push to breath at a normal pace like you wanted."

The kangaskhan's eyes narrowed a little with concern as she asked. "Does it still feel like you need to push to breathe?"

Vragon attempted to take a big breathe but found himself coughing slightly. It didn't hurt, but his throat didn't feel clear. He answered her with a nod with his head, leading Dolly to respond with a worried sigh.

"Sit tight, bud." Dolly stood up and faced the three. "Jasmine!" she shouted, gaining the absol's attention. "Vray's condition is bad, I'm taking him to town. Help the boys and get to the town when you can."

Jasmine nodded, quickly swinging her head to fire another Psycho Cut straight at the snorlax.

"Stop it!" the snorlax yelled, rubbing the spot where the move struck. With an angry growl, he started to walk in Dolly's direction. "Wait!" He rushed on as fast as he could, even though it was about as fast as a normal jog.

"Oh no, you don't!" Jaron shouted as he ran at its side, firing an Ice Beam at its face. To his surprise, the mon just shrugged it off as he kept going. He growled as he formed Slash in his left, swiping at the fat flesh at his side, not even leaving a scraping mark. "Damnit, Jasmine!" he rushed a little ahead so he was viewable by the group, "Get ready. Go for the head and don't stop till I signal you!"

Jasmine nodded, leaping in front of Dolly and Vragon ready, to assist.

Meanwhile, Jaron quickly darted in front of the mon as he shouted to its right. "Ciecro! Try and trip him! I'll handle the rest!"

It wasn't long before a scaly energized tail struck the snorlax's left foot, stopping right over the foot as if he was trying to trip him.

This forced the snorlax to stop himself, turning his focus to Ciecro. Forgetting about the two in front, the snorlax was left open for a barrage of Psycho Cuts hitting his face. He thrust his arms in front to shield his head from the oncoming energy slices. "Can't lose the target," he muttered to himself. "Sylphiel said to….wait, did he say tha-" His words were cut off by an orb bursting open near his face, spawning an Electro Net that latched onto his head and started shocking him. He let out a mixed shriek of pain and surprise.

"Now! Topple him!" Jaron shouted to Dolly and Jasmine.

The three fired their respective ranged attacks straight into the stomach of the snorlax, who was busy trying to pull at the shocking net. Ciecro removed his tail from its spot, spinning around before he whacked the back of the same foot, attempting to get the snorlax to tumble.

The snorlax waved his arms frantically, but slowly as he tipped over and landed with a thud, shaking the ground upon impact. This grounded foe moaned in pain as the net continued to shock him.

"Good job kids," Dolly cheered with a big smile, prepping the trio with pleased smiles. The kangaskhan then turned around to Vragon and put a hand on his shoulder. Dolly's eyes shifted to serious. "We need to get you to the town." She started to try and pick him up.

"What? No, we can't just leave everyone else!" he protested, trying to escape her grip.

"Vray, don't squirm." She let out a sigh as she explained in an understanding tone. "I understand you want to help but we need to get you to town. I think that snorlax's hit may have fractured one of your ribs."

"My ribs?" Vragon repeated, almost as if this news was alien to him.

"Yep, that pain earlier was most likely from that. I'd go into detail about how it correlates, but it's gross stuff anyways and we should probably get you to a doctor before the duller wears off."

Vragon's eyes lowered, angry and upset.

Dolly's eyes narrowed and curved into a caring frown as she moved one of her hands to brush his cheek. "Hey, look at me," she asked in a gentle tone.
Vragon didn't comply.

She looked down at him. His right hand was clutching onto his ribs, near the spot he was doing when in pain only this time it was a clench out of frustration like one would do for a wound that hurt their pride more than their body. "Vray." She looked back at his downcast face and in turning her frown upside-down, said, "We all have limits, Vray. Not being able to help doesn't make you useless; it just means wherever you can help you'll do even better in."

Vragon sighed as he released the tension he was putting through his claw onto his side. "But what if they get hurt?" he inquired, still looking down.

"They know the plan Vray. Keep you out of harm's way since you're their target after all. I'm sure they can manage. But if you can't assist what good can we do then? The duller won't last forever and I doubt heading back to town when it's stopped will be a pleasant experience."

"I'm not fragile," Vragon answered, finally looking up at her brown eyes, this time with a look of reckless determination.

"No, but as you probably felt, that thing hits like a machamp after a bulk-up. And it's not a good idea for you to be running around with range attacks when your rib is cracked; it could make your situation even worse, Vray. You understand that right?"

Vragon slowly nodded, reluctantly accepting that her points made a stronger case than what he felt he should do. "I just…" he began but didn't continue, instead of looking to the side.

Dolly tilted her head at Vragon shaking his head a little. "You just?"

"It's okay, I understand." He returned his gaze to her, this time with a smile. He removed his hand from his side and instead let it prop his back up as his other one was. "I'll sit this one out."

Dolly rubbed his head, saying, "Thanks Vray. Don't worry they'll be alright." She stood up straight as she stood in front and bent down. "Now get on. I think it'd be faster if I let you tepigback ride me there." As Vragon started getting settled on her back, Dolly stood up and with a little jesting grin said, "be careful not to get too embored while you're up there."

Vragon looked at her with an annoyed glare, saying, "Ribs broken, remember?"

Dolly giggled as she started jogging off with him bobbing on her back. "Don't get pulverized you three!" She shouted back to the trio, who had their gazes firmly locked on the snorlax.

"Oh thaaaaaaaanks," Jaron replied with a hint of annoyance. "If you hadn't noticed we have the thing grounded."

"Uh, Jaron."

Jaron turned his head, asking "what‽" in a frustrated tone carried over from Dolly's sarcasm. His annoyed face shifted to surprise as he spied the snorlax getting up once more, reaching for the net that still shocked his face. "Are you kidding me‽" He roared, firing an Ice Beam straight at the mon.

The snorlax moved his free hand in the way of it so he could quickly work on tearing the net off of him. The shocks it unleashed on his temple were less effective now that he'd gotten used to them.

Jasmine growled, darting to the side shouting, "Ciecro, let's hit him from the back."

Ciecro nodded and, once joined by Jasmine, the two unleashed Flamethrower and Psycho Cut upon the creature's back. To their dismay, it hardly seemed to do much.

"Grrrrr….jus's go down yah big, fat freak!" Ciecro shouted. "Jaz!" He gave her a sharp look and ordered, "Keep its attention. Try tah keep it from tearin' dah net off till I'm ready."
She nodded and jumped in front as Ciecro ran into the woods. What's he up to now? She wondered, raising a brow as Ciecro started looking around for something among the trees. She redirected her focus back to the mon. Okay, so range moves aren't working on it, so let's try something that can hit harder. She took a breath as she pointed her head straight down. Her absol horn began to glow a green light as a transparent spiky horn grew from it. With her Megahorn ready, Jasmine charged headlong for the Snorlax's back.

The snorlax was still busy trying to tear the electro net orb off his head, while also fending off Jaron's Ice Beam with his other hand so he didn't notice her till he felt the sharp sting of the Mega Horn run into his back. "Owww!" He cried, swapping behind him in instinct as Jasmine leaped back before he could hit her. "Stop getting in the way," he said, almost like a kid would say to a group of bullies.

This tone of reproach left Jasmine confused. "Huh?"

"Stop attacking me so I can get this off." The mon started pulling at the net once blocking Jaron's Ice Beam again as he kept messing with the shocking net.

Gee, it's like he wants me to continue, she chuckled to herself, looking for a new spot to attack. One that would do the opposite of what the snorlax wanted. Her eyes focused on the hand pulling at the net. Her eyes widened at seeing the snorlax had made more progress in removing it then she thought, I've got to slow him down.

With a self-confirming nod, Jasmine surged a white aura around herself that disappeared after about a second. She rushed to the side of the snorlax, Quick Attack taking effect. With great speed, she leaped onto the trunk of a tree and shot like an arrow straight for the snorlax's hand that was trying to get the net off. With a swipe of her claw infused with her Quick Attack move, she succeeded in knocking it away, making the snorlax swing his body to the side from the force of the attack.

However, the snorlax had fiddled with the net enough so that this sudden pull from his hand was enough to tear the part of the net caught on his head, allowing him to pull it off.

As Jasmine landed on the ground, doing a roll to avoid hurting herself, she looked back and immediately was disappointed she had managed to assist. "Oh come on," she bluntly said, getting back into attack poise for another strike, but before she could something happened.

The snorlax suddenly began coughing, arching his back and puffing out his belly like he was leaning back to get his head wet from a waterfall. What the-? She began but didn't take long to spot two reddish-orange arms around the snorlax's neck.

"Jasmine!" Jaron's voice called out to her. She looked to see him waving for her to come.

"Ciecro's got him in a chokehold!" He added excitedly, almost as if it was all according to plan.

"Uh…wait so is that why he said 'till I'm ready'?" Jasmine asked, jogging over to Jaron with a perplexed look on her face.

"I guess so," Jaron said, looking back at the currently being choked snorlax. "Anyways, let's see if we can-" He stopped mid-sentence as he and Jasmine were forced to back up before they would be caught up in the snorlax's mad swinging spree.

"Ack, let go!" the mon bellowed, struggling to get air. Ciecro just tightened his chokehold on the mon, making it begin a phase of "attack everything". It's both opened wide as a ball of white energy formed. The snorlax then fire his Hyper Beam straight into the woods, dragging's its area of destruction with him as he swerved around like a chaotic giant in a small town.

The two observers fell to the ground, covering their heads as the damaging beam passed overhead, blasting up dirt down the path and shredding more of the trees.

Jaron uncovered his head and looked up at the pandemonium happening before him. "Of course it would have a strong beam to shoot too," Jaron complained in a sarcastic tone.

"I liked him better when he was more docile," Jasmine uttered, slowly and cautiously standing up. "So, Jaron, any ideas on how we take down Mr. Mountain or are we just going to let Ciecro do all the work?"

Jaron gave her a little snarky grin. "I wouldn't mind that."

"You sure we shouldn't assist? I mean, even if he has a chokehold on it, the thing is a forest cutter."

The two's conversation was interrupted by another the loud noise of the snorlax, still flailing around, smacking at the trees nearby.

"So anyways," Jasmine said, returning to the conversation.

"Like you said, it's a walking forest cutter." Jaron crossed his arms as he looked at the snorlax. "One swipe from that thing could do some hefty damage and right now Ciecro's in the safest spot. I doubt the brute is smart enough to simply fall backwa-"

Jasmine clamped his jaw shut with her paws, eyeing Jaron with a tense gaze. "What's the matter with you? Want to share anymore ideas with the walking canon?"

Jaron quickly tore off Jaron's paws from his snout and started rubbing it. "Jasmine, we've been over this. You don't clamp my snout; it's demeaning."

"Oh boo hoo," Jasmine replied, with a tone showing how little she'd cared about his snout ego at the moment. "If you hadn't noticed we're busy fighting a tanker. You can rub your chompers all you want when we aren't in a matter of life and death!"

Jaron growled, still rubbing his snout. Not because it was hurting, but because his pride was. "Okay, okay, I get it," Jaron hastily answered, taking his hands from his precious croconaw tool. He vented with a little exhale and some nasty words in his head as he watched the snorlax carefully, trying to come up with a plan of assistance.

"So any ideas?" Jasmine asked, her tone reflecting her shift back to the battle at hand than their squabbling.

"…Maybe, if we can get it to fall into the forest, you and Ciecro can cut some trees to fall on him so I can Ice Beam him and pin the guy."

"That…might actually work."

"Of course it will. I came up with it." Jaron gave her a cocky grin, indicating he hadn't fully moved past their squabble.

"Ha, ha," Jasmine lazily said. "Can we move on now?"

Jaron nodded as he pointed to the forest to their right. "Jaz, get in position. I'll see if I can help Ciecro get him down." Jasmine spurred to the right as Jaron headed forwards, towards the still raging snorlax.

The mon once more unleashed a powerful Hyper Beam, but thankfully this one went to the sky at an angle so Jaron didn't need to do any evading work.

Once Jaron felt he was close enough to help without endangering himself, he shouted, "hey Ciecro! We have a plan! Try and see if you can get him to turn to the side!"

Unfortunately for Ciecro, the firm grip he had on the snorlax's neck had been mostly undone by the constant Hyper Beam blasting, this last one causing his arm to slip from the mon's front neck and instead hold on the side to just stay on the upper back, pissing the charmeleon off.

"Hey, did you hear me‽" Jaron asked.

"Try an' do it yahself, puny arms!" Ciecro ranted, struggling to avoid slipping while also steering his swinging body from going into the mon's grabbing range.

I'm on your team, you retard. Jaron grumbled in his head, trying to spot his position for the frontal assault.
His thoughts were interrupted by a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye, prompting him to roll for safety. Once up, Jaron stopped to watch the large mon swinging around while Ciecro still held on like a cape flying from the back of an exaggerative dancer. Okay, so I need to shove that guy down. But I don't think direct attacking is smart with those arms of his and my range moves aren't strong enough to push him, he reasoned, rubbing his chin in contemplation. One hit from that guy could make me down for the count. Argh, there's got to be something I can do. He kept watching the scene, desperate for any means to land an attack or at least slow it down so they could carry out their plan.

As he watched, he spotted the snorlax do something strange. It aligned itself with the path, his back to one side of the forest and started swing his arms back and forth. Wait, is he going to fal-? It suddenly clicked for Jaron.

"Ciecro!" he shouted, "Get off him now! He's going to try and squash you!"

Ciecro's furious stare was substituted with a horrified look at the thought, although, this didn't deter him from reacting and quickly letting go as the snorlax fell backwards onto a tree. The sheer weight of this mon was not only enough to snap part of the tree after applying pressure for a couple of seconds, but it also provided him ample support to easily get back up.

Ciecro darted from the creature as it got back on its feet, now free from his Ciecro neckpiece.

"Damnit," Ciecro said with a growl, fists tightening. "How do we beat this guy‽" he shouted.

Jasmine leaped out of the woods, charging a Psycho Cut to launch. The snorlax looked at her while she shouted to the two, "It's no use. I don't think we can do that plan now, Jaron."

Jaron shook his head. "Our best bet is getting it down on its back. Let's tr-"

"Three mons?" the snorlax said in what felt like a curious tone. The three stayed silent and merely focused on him as the snorlax started tapping his head with his paw. "Wait, didn't Sylphiel say. Uhm…three mons. Three mons. Oh right." Without any warning, the mon gave a big clap right in front of him. Something akin to a red X marked the surface he stood on as a little ways down both sides of the path became fenced with large energy walls also possessing the same red X.

"Wha' de?" Ciecro said, getting a bad feeling from the obscuring walls.

Jaron looked at the transparent, red energy like walls behind him and his brother as well as the rows stretching down the path to cut off the forest access. "Is that…block?" Jaron inquired, putting his best idea of what was going on.

Ciecro grunted with a nod and a serious look. "It means we ain't gettin' outta here anytime soon."

Damnit. Jaron tightened his fists. So was this what fatty supposed to do? Just coup us up here? The angry croconaw grabbed his snout angrily at this idea.

"Jaz, yah okay‽" Ciecro shouted over, trying to think of a way to handle this new set in arena.

"Yeah!" she shouted back. "What are we going to do?"

Planning would have to wait though, because the snorlax broke his form for the move, walked to the center to cut Jasmine from Ciecro and Jaron, and turned to face the two brothers. "Alright, so you both are…" He started thinking again, almost as if he had forgotten what he was saying mid-sentence. "How did he say it? Oh, that's right. You both are 'wanted intact for boss Plegees'."

Ciecro and Jaron looked at each other, bewildered at this statement. Jaron was the first to look back at the large mon and said without thinking, "Thanks?"

He didn't stay that way for long, since the snorlax then turned around and bellowed like a child would when they had their eyes set on something.
Jasmine started backing away as the snorlax focused his seemingly closed gaze towards her. "W-what are you looking at?" she demanded, as the large mon scratched his head.

"Sylphiel didn't mention an absol as 'wanted intact for boss Plegees'. I think that means I'm clear for mushing you."

"Well…" Jasmine fiddled through her head for something to say till finally blurting out, "maybe Sylphiel just forgot." She gave a little weak laugh afterwards.

"'Forgot'?" the large mon repeated, scratching his head even more as he tried to recall his conversation with Sylphiel to double check. "Maybe, but I know he said was to keep a croconaw and charmeleon from being damaged and keep everyone away from the target."

"Yeah, great job in the 'from being damaged' part." Jaron crossed his arms and gave a harsh snort at the mon, who scratched the back of his head as he looked at Jaron.

"I'm sorry, I forgot Sylphiel said that about you."

"Well, maybe someone should try working harder to remember these things. You almost smushed my brother, who's the charmeleon, you smashed berry. What kind of idiot fails such a simple task of remembering the God damn assignment?" Jaron eyed him coldly, Ciecro just rubbed his arm at the image of him getting squashed by the snorlax coming back, and the snorlax made what sounded like sniffle noises.

Jasmine looked at Jaron with half-open eyes and said, "Really?"

"What? You think Ciecro wants to get squashed ei-"

"Okay, can it wit deh 'squashed' talk, already!" Ciecro crossed his arms and snarled.

"Anyways." Jasmine let her Psycho Cut's light fade from her horn. "'Away from the target'?" she repeated, walking over to one of the newly formed walls.
Jaron did the same on his side, gazing upon the red and slightly transparent walls that built their new battlefield. Clenching his fist, Jaron gave a firm jab right into the wall, leaving a thud sound and a little bruise on his hand. "No use," he uttered, his mood a mix of anger and despondent.

"Seems like it, damn." Ciecro surged a Thunder Punch in his hand as he planted his right foot forwards and looking up to the snorlax's head shouted, "Drop de barrier or I'll drop yah here and now!"

The snorlax turned his body enough so he could see Ciecro as he stopped rubbing his head. "Sorry, but Sylphiel said those were my orders and if I don't do them, he'll get mad."

"I don' care!" Ciecro roared, running towards the snorlax and thwomping its side with a firm jab.

"Ouch," the snorlax cried as his right paw started rubbing the hit spot.

"Just fu**ing get damaged already!" Ciecro ranted, getting fed up at this monster's apparently infinite endurance. He kept punching and punching at the snorlax in desperation. Finally after about fifty punches, Ciecro, with his head downcast and angry, took a few steps back and just sat down defeated.

"It's fine, I remember not to hurt you now. So we don't need to fight, just stay put till the Boss Plegees is done," the snorlax replied, still rubbing the spot. "Now can you please stop hitting me? I don't want to forget to not hurt you two again. As for the girl." He turned and looked towards her, causing her to grow alert and the two boys to watch. "I think hurting her is fine. So, I'll do that."

"What‽" Jaron shouted as he started rushing toward Jasmine, but the large snorlax cut him off. "You can't hurt her! She's my friend!"

"Sorry, but the orders were to just not hurt you two for Plageues. I think she's still on my attack list." The snorlax's tone didn't seem rude or hostile, but Jaron didn't care.

"How do you even know you're supposed to hurt anybody other than the target? You forgot to not hurt me and Ciecro!"

"Y-y-yeah." Jasmine backed him up with a rather weak add on. "I mean, did they really say, 'hurt the absol too'?"

The snorlax began scratching his head, trying to remember if that did happen. "Nope, didn't really say. Just mentioned to not hurt the two boys for Plegees and keep as many of the group here pinned while finishing the members….Oh, finishing the members."

"Oh come on!" Jasmine shouted defensively, backing up a little as the snorlax started stepping towards her. "Jaron, Ciecro, a little help please" she shouted over to the frustrated charmeleon and the angry croconaw.

Jaron's eyes narrowed as he charged an Ice Beam and fired it squarely at the snorlax, who blocked it with his arm. "I don't care what you say, nobody hurts my friends!" Jaron yelled in angry defiance. "You touch her and I'll make sure to tear your head off!"

Both Jasmine and Ciecro looked at him, slightly bewildered at his tone and honest aggression. Ciecro, however, could see something additional. Jaron was shaky, his eyes quivering slightly. Almost like he was scared.

Ciecro stepped in front of Jaron, surged a Thunderpunch in his left arm at his side and said. "Yeh, sorry, but you won' be hurtin' her. Not witout hurtin' us."

Jaron nodded and formed Slash on his arms like blades and the two readied to fight.

The snorlax just looked at them, staring with his blank face at their determined ones. He then let out a sigh. "Sorry, but orders are orders." With a massive swing of his arm, the snorlax brought down a Brick Break straight to the ground in front of them.

The suddenness and force of the move was enough to knock the two back a little, Jaron hitting the block wall upside down with his back and Ciecro managing to roll and push his right leg back to stop himself before planting into it as well.

With the brothers pushed back, the snorlax once more turned his attention to Jasmine, who resumed her backing up as he walked towards her.

"We need to get him to stop using block," she stated, a hint of intimated fear in her voice at the colossus targeting her.

"Any ideas, Jaz or is that blocked as well‽" Jaron said with angry sarcasm, as he rolled onto his side and started getting up.

"Save your fuming till after my life isn't in danger, jerk!" Jasmine shouted back. A little gasp came from her mouth as her backside pressed against the block, preventing her from backing up further. "L-Let's just try knocking this guy out!" She focused her energy into her head horn, causing it to grow and glow green, as well as forming a cone shaped force of energy over it. "I'll ram him; you two follow up." She pointed her head down so her Megahorn was aimed directly at the mon.

Oh yes, of course, follow up with what‽ Jaron grumbled in his head as he flicked his wrists, activating Slash once again but forming them this time as white lines of energy, flowing from his claw tips to the center of his palms both inside and out. Extension of my power. Jaron said in his mind, calming his rage and focusing it into determination. Jasmine won't die as long as I can fight. She's strong and I'm strong. This guy may be large, but when there's a will there's a way. Jaron opened his eyes and put on a very serious frown.

Ciecro got the message and formed Dragon Claw in his right hand and made a fist for Thunderpunch with his left. "Ready?" he said to Jaron, who replied with a nod. "Ready‽" he shouted to Jasmine, ready to charge at the back with Jaron.

"Ready!" she shouted, rushing towards the snorlax, who was swinging down his arms at her.

At Jasmine's confirming reply, the two rushed upon the snorlax from behind.

The snorlax formed two Brick Breaks from his hands, swinging them around, one hand to meet with Jasmine and the other for the boys.


Swift rolled on the ground a little before pushing up into the air using his feet, spinning horizontally, landing back onto his feet, and slowly sliding down to a defense knee pose.

The gallade held his right arm in front, covering his face before slowly lowering it to his side. "Hmph, I felt less force on that one." Siegfried dropped the Psycho Cut surge from his arms as he gave the heliolisk's struggle against him a rather bored look.

Seeing Siegfried wasn't going to follow through, Swift back on both his feet. "Am I boring you?" Swift jested, giving a smirk while he panted slightly.

Siegfried merely raised his head a little as replied with a disinterred and 'talking down to' tone, "I would expect someone claiming to be strong enough to 'own our asses' be able to at least get past my blocking."

Swift gave a little chuckle as he rolled his neck. "Well then, perhaps I should throw some moves into the mix."

"Perhaps you should," Siegfried stated, raising his arms to resume the fight. "Because yes, you were boring me."

This answer only made Swift enjoy the thought of pounding Siegfried's smug bland face in. He slowly lowered to a pushing position, placing his hands firmly on the ground as his eyes squinted. He pointed his ready gaze towards Siegfried's but kept a careful close look at the gallade's legs. After one more deep breath, Swift tensed up as he pushed off his back foot in a low charge. The grass served good cover as Swift weaved around in it as he sped onwards.

The gallade didn't seem concerned by this oncoming attacker, raising an arm forward and horizontally for a basic block as he turned his body to the side to brace for it.

As Swift approached, he quickly darted left, starting to form a little orange orb while he rushed to Siegfried's right, where he could get a shot at Siegfried's back.

With rivaling speed, Siegfried pivoted off his back foot as he shot his arm down, firing a Psycho Cut to slice lizard as a counter to the range attack.

Swift took this chance to leap forwards and roll underneath the incoming move. He quickly pointed both his arms in Siegfried's head's direction as he fired Focus Blast.

The orange sphere soared straight at the gallade, but Siegfried merely leaned to the side, avoiding the blast while giving Swift a mocking, bored looked. Siegfried straightened his body, staring at the lizard as the Focus Blast gravity brought it down and caused an explosion a ways away.

"You plan well, I'll give you that, sneak." Siegfried moved his right leg back as he bent his knee, like he would push off to run.

Swift got low too, waiting for Siegfried to move.

"Of course, that's all you have, isn't it?" Siegfried pushed forwards, closing the small distance between him and Swift only two seconds. Mid-lunge,
Siegfried surged Psycho Cut once more in his arms and began a horizontal slice aimed for Swift's head.

Swift pushed back, leaping out of range. However, he didn't have time to plant his feet before having to push off to a roll to the right to evade Siegfried's swiping down to catch him. Once clear, Swift tried to push off to back flip-twist into an axe kick. To his dismay, Siegfried blocked it early with his left and sliced with his free arm.

Swift twisted his body, managing to replace what would have been a deep cut with only a minor cut. He landed on his hands and pushed off forwards, landing on his legs and running to put some distance. Huh? He thought as he heard something behind him. He rolled to the side, narrowing avoiding a Psycho Cut that struck the ground where he was going. That wa- Was all he could think before he pushed off for another roll, escaping Siegfried's slice upon him.

I can't beat him like this, Swift reasoned in his head as he got up, only to start evading more of Siegfried's onslaught of attacks. He's too fast and has the height advantage. I'll have to play the range game. But first, I need to get some distance.

Siegfried didn't relent his strong yet speedy array of slices, each one being avoided by Swift. However, this was a set-up. After doing another slice at Swift's head, Siegfried spun and aimed a kick.

Bingo! Swift jumped back, forming a Focus Blast to fire, thus giving him some time to make distance. Despite this rather good situation, Siegfried was one step ahead of him, firing his Psycho Cut to meet the slightly earlier thrown Focus Blast. The moves canceled, allowing a second one to emerge from the smoke. Swift gasped. He was unable to evade due to being in the air and got sliced on his right shoulder, sending him further than his jump would have.

"Grrr…" Swift tensed as he grabbed his shoulder with his left hand. It's not too bad thank Arceus. Swift stood up, returning his focus to Siegfried. At least I have some distance now. I'll take what I can, but I need to get this guy off guard. His eyes narrowed as he pointed his right arm forwards, forming a Focus Blast.

Siegfried surged a Psycho Cut in one arm, ready to fire if Swift did.

Hmph, guess I'll just have to bore you a little longer, Swift thought, forming a smile as if he hadn't been injured at all. Underestimating me is something I love to take advantage of.

Siegfried stood, stoic and strong, thinking to himself as his eyes focused on his opponent as his arm waited for Swift to unleash his move. Hmph, false pride I guess or maybe he just smiles to help his mood. Doesn't matter, keep it clean and there's nothing he can do.

After about a minute of the stare-down with their moves at the read, Swift shot his Focus Blast.

Siegfried swung his Psycho Cut infused arm upwards, sending the pink crescent move to meet it.



Vex gave a big yawn as he watched the two moves strike before the two clashed again. Geez, does he really need me? Vex grumbled in his head. Like, it's almost like I want something to go wrong so I can at least stop standing here watching Siegfried and the halfpipe taking turns swatting at each other. I mean really it's so far pretty one-sided and I get Sieggy is being cautious, bu-

Vex's mental complaining was cut short as a little noise started to sound off from his shoulder bag. He set it on the ground and quickly took out the flashing com orb. A pleased smile crept on his bored face as he whispered to himself, "Finally."

He set the com orb back and started digging into the bag. I've been anxious to try out these things Sylphiel and Bruno brought when we met up. Boy am I glad I get to use it. With a joyful "Aha!" Vex pulled out a circular band with some empty slots aligning its exterior. He clipped it on his right arm, as far up it as he could, before pulling one more thing out of the bag. Without another word, Vex floated up and shouted to Siegfried, "Try not to let this end up like how it did with the Absol!"

Vex gave a satisfied, troll smirk as Siegfried looked at him with a very displeased look. "Get out of here," he ordered with a scowl as he sidestepped another Focus Blast from Swift.

Vex chuckled to himself as he flew towards the forest, leaving the two to their battle.

Swift watched the ghost go into the woods, but had to break off watching him to not get caught off guard by Siegfried's rushing toward him. He sped to the side, running away from Siegfried's charge till Siegfried stopped.

"Heh, did you go to a school of how to fight cowardly?" Siegfried mocked.

"Dunno, did you go to a school of attitude?" Swift smirked, rolling his right arm, which had a few streams of blood flowing down it from the wound.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Half-bloods like you would only be in a school of half-wits."

"What's your deal?" Swift stopped his arm spinning to look at Siegfried with a look that while serious indicated curiosity. "Do you really think that or are you just trying to touch my nerve?" Swift put his arms behind his head and leaned over. "Because if that's the best you've got, well let's just say I'll take a real 'Norfarion's' word over a turncoat."

Siegfried gave a little displeased grunt. "One would think you'd be less benevolent to Norfarions or are you suggesting that I'm the only one who has called you 'half-blood'?" Siegfried looked at him with a mild scowl, waiting for an answer.

Swift gave a smirk as he stared straight back. "One of my good friends called me that at the start." Swift lowered his arms and got low. "I don't know about you Phynecions, but Norfarions don't care about your origin just what you bring. I'll always be welcome there because I've proven myself moreover." Swift rushed towards Siegfried, forming a Focus Blast.

Siegfried tensed, ready to react.

Swift threw the sphere, but not to Siegfried, but instead in front of himself.

"What?" Siegfried managed to say before having to shield his eyes from the incoming dirt. It wasn't long before he felt a firm kick land right into his gut, making him spit. Next Swift pushed off of Siegfried, back-flipping once as he formed and shot an electrical ball towards the unbalanced gallade. It stopped midair and the Parabolic Charge let out a discharge of electricity, zapping Siegfried for some minor damage. "Ack, why you!"

"Why what? Power isn't always up-front." The dirt from the move cleared, revealing Swift. Swift kept his eyes closed as a little healing glow of light gleamed all over his body before fading in about two seconds. "Norfarions can respect tact too. So tell me again, turncoat." Swift stood up, opened his eyes, and rolled his neck. He paused for a bit before putting on a goofy grin and saying, "What school of attitude did you go to?"

Siegfried snarled as he lunged at Swift, who broke his mocking stance and met in kind. Their Psycho Cut and Iron Tail meeting with a powerful clash.

The charmeleon let out a sigh as the memories started their unwelcome return.

Click to expand...

You probably already know what I'm about to say, lol.

I'm on your team, you retard. Jaron grumbled in his head, trying to spot his position for the frontal assault.

Click to expand...

Hm, not sure on the use of the bolded word since I know several people don't like it and such. Maybe an alternative word instead?

That Snorlax is quite strong huh. And yet he's somewhat confused what his specific orders were? "Big dumb guy" isn't a favorite of my tropes, though everyone's frustration on that was kinda amusing.

Ouch over Vray getting badly injured. I understand he worries for his friends, but you can't do much when you're badly hurt.

I admit to chuckling over Swift's "what school of attitude did you go to?" line there, heh.

Leaping from branch to branch, Seliph desperately attempted to evade his attacker. The bite wound on his shoulder was causing irritating pain, not helped by having to cover it with his right hand to slow down the bleeding from the bite. I need to treat this. He looked behind him as he landed on another limb, listening carefully for the buzzing noises the ditto had been making during the chase.

Narrowing his eyes, Seliph peered around the area as he positioned himself adjacent to the trunk of the tree. Quietly taking off his vest, which had been ripped a little from the bite and stained from the bleeding, Seliph began searching the pockets. Thanks to his familiarity with what was in each pocket, it didn't take him much time to remove both the red eyes vial and a small bottle labeled 'Potion'.

Okay, now gently, nngh. The wound jumped up in stinging as he poured a little bit of the potion on his wound. Keeping his mouth firmly shut, Seliph carefully finished covering the entire wound before setting the bottle between his feet. Alright, so now I need something to bandage this. To his dismay, he remembered it was Dolly that was given most of the bandages. Damnit, what do I-…

Seliph held his old vest in front of him, looking at it with a little bit of disappointment. Guess you'll do. He set it down in front and began emptying its contents, placing them in his pouches on his belt. As he was doing this, he suddenly heard a small noise. He froze. His breathing halted as his eyes shot forward. Is he here? Slowly, he looked around as his nerves began to crawl with dread at the silence around him.

A slight noise like a slither reached his ears from above. Every nerve in his body screamed for him to jump, but he held fast since he hadn't finished moving his items to his belt. Just, quietly. Steadily, Seliph move his hand to one of the orbs, but sadly he was out of time. In an instant, the noise of harsh snap came from above, prompting his body to almost jump away for him in whatever direction that wasn't here. As he did, a large arbok's fangs sunk into the branch where he was. Despite this close call, Seliph wasn't safe due to essentially jumping off the branch in a random direction.

Doing a mid-air spin to look up, Seliph spotted a branch nearby he could aim for. He spun downwards into a dive, thrusting his arms forward as he ejected a stream of water beneath him. The powerful Hydro Pump sent him sailing, as he flipped forward to land on the branch safely.

Seliph then drew a Night Slash dagger as he flicked it towards the arbok, who was traveling down the branch in pursuit.

With an evil smirk, Sylphiel pushed off the branch and morphed during his fall into a scyther, flying fast around the many trees to keep safe from Seliph's attacks.

Seliph growled in his head, but his frustration was replaced by horror at remembering something. My Items! He looked forward at the branch where the attack started and thankfully it hadn't snapped. Without hesitation, Seliph rushed forward, forming two Water Shurikens just in case his attacker came back. As he neared the base of the limb where all his prone items and vest were, the branch snapped.

Sylphiel was clinging to the trunk of the tree in the form of a scizor and used his new claws to snap the branch to engage his trap.

Before Seliph could react, he was in the middle of a fall, his items scattering around as they made their descent together. Once he gained a grip of the situation, he quickly nabbed his vest and scooped up a handful of items before pointing his body in a direct and shooting out his tongue to a branch below. The wood tasted bad, but thankfully it was solid enough to not give splinters. Using his tongue like a rope, Seliph swung himself in an arc, using the momentum to sail upwards. Once complete, he retracted his tongue and began looking for a landing spot.

"No, you don't!" Sylphiel exclaimed, flying towards Seliph in the form of a beedrill.

Seliph twisted and drew a Night Slash to defend himself, however, Sylphiel remained out of reach and simply dove on him from above. Managing to block the airborne dive, Seliph pushed off Sylphiel as he dropped the Night Slash stick to reach for a nearby branch. To his dismay, he hadn't jumped far enough. If that wasn't bad enough, he didn't see any branches to grab on his way down. As a last resort, Seliph pointed his free hand down and fired a Hydro Pump, but sadly it was only useful for propelling his fall further from Sylphiel.

If I can just remain airborne just long eno- His thoughts were interrupted by a painful jab hitting his arm.

Sylphiel was once again upon him, jamming his needle into Seliph's Hydro Pump shooting wrist. "Not this time," Sylphiel said, gleefully looking at Seliph, who responded with a hard headbutt. "Ouch!" This caused Sylphiel to let go and rub his head, but his actions had worked.

With a firm thud, Seliph landed on the ground firmly on his back.

"Ack!" he groaned, rolling over onto his stomach which he held with his free hand. "Damnit." He got on a knee as he tried to assess if he had broken anything. I…I need to get moving. While he was trying to get back on his feet, Seliph took a look at his assailant.

Sylphiel had landed about ten feet from his location, walking towards him with those creepy black dotted dittos eyes focused on him. "Ouch, that was painful to watch," Sylphiel jested as his stinger shook a little with anticipation. "Look, make it easy on yourself. Just give up before I have to break your legs."

As Sylphiel drew nearer, Seliph stood up and formed a Night Slash dagger as he readied a defensive stance. "Go ahead and try, slime."

"Rude," Sylphiel rolled his eyes.

"I'm not keen to be mannerly to someone trying to kill me." Seliph flipped the Night Slash around in his hand to hold the blade part.

Sylphiel grinned as he eyed the move in Seliph's hand. "Heh, you think that will do much?" Sylphiel mocked.

"Every hit counts in my book. More damage than simply stinging me with your fake needles," Seliph replied, throwing the Night Slash dagger at Sylphiel, who sidestepped it. Of course, Seliph was ready with a Water Shuriken that Sylphiel attempted to evade but got nicked thanks to Seliph's good aiming.

Sylphiel angrily buzzed as he held his side, dripping a little bit of some purplish liquid.

"Even a fake like you still bleeds." Seliph formed a Night Slash sword as he pointed it at the creature. "Come at me. I'll enjoy cutting down my first ditto." Seliph gave a confident grin at the creature.

Dang, even in a tough spot this guy's a piece of work, huh, Sylphiel complimented in his head. Well, then I guess I should see what else this guy has in store.

With a smirk, Sylphiel said, "Well, then ready yourself, 'Slayer Seliph'." The fake beedrill blinked as his eyes started to glow a white color.

"Stop!" Seliph yelled, dropping his Night Slash sword in exchange for a Water Shuriken, which he promptly threw at Sylphiel as fast as he could.

As Sylphiel started to morph again, a strange light engulfed him, one akin to evolution. Steadily, the shuriken whizzed through the air to its target, it was smitten away by a quick swipe from the being engulfed in light. "Because this fight just got more personal, for you." A smile crossed the face of a red eyes Seliph, leering at the real one as the light from Transform faded away.

Scowling as he formed another Night Slash broadsword with both hands, Seliph pulled it back to the side in a defensive posture after cupping his vest to be a bag for the items he had managed to save. Great, now he has my moves and abilities. Seliph's grip tightened as he thought, meaning he's a healthier Seliph…If he figures out my gift I could be in trouble. I'll have to keep him occupied. Without any indication, Seliph charged at the copy, who was still marveling at himself in a little creepy way.

"Interesting physique," Sylphiel commented as he watched Seliph charging him without worry. "Should serve me fine. Especially since-" Sylphiel stopped midsentence to leap back and spray Hydro Pump from both hands straight at Seliph's chest.

Seliph, shifted the broadsword Night Slash from side to horizontal front to deflect them. Angling it enough to get both, Seliph struggled against their powerful impact on his move weapon. Despite the power striking from the front and the pain increasing from the strain from his shoulder, Seliph held it firm as he took a glance at the area to his right. Bingo, he said to himself as he spied a tree almost adjacent to the fake him.

"I'm not the one wounded right now." Sylphiel sprayed harder as he started advancing, but was caught off guard when Seliph used the broadsword to spin his body out of the Hydro Pump's way, letting it disintegrate as he swung his arm. Sylphiel immediately leaped from whatever Seliph had thrown, thinking it was aiming for him.

Seliph didn't wait to see the results of his work. Darting into the forest to the right, Seliph just kept running as the sound of a blast orb explosion happened followed by a tree crackling as it fell according to plan. What followed was the sound of a surprised Sylphiel and a tree plopping. Assessing he needed to hide now, Seliph quickly climbed another tree, sat on a limb that had many leaves to cover him, pressed his back against the trunk of it, and just panted.

"I…hate…fighting…dittos," he said amid his breaths. After ensuring he was safely hidden, Seliph quickly opened his vest, which he managed to hold onto in his left hand. Carefully, he removes the items from, putting them down on the branch at his feet. Once all the items had been moved, he started making an impromptu bandage for his shoulder. I hope the water didn't wash too much of the healing potion off, ngh. The shoulder wound stung harshly as he applied the slightly wet vest onto it, tying it around and knotting its ends to keep it in place. Despite being in a constant state of pain, Seliph focused on the items, cupping them in his hands to inspect them. Okay, so I used one of the blast orbs. All I have now are the four sitrus berries and com orb I put in my belt, and here I have one Luminous orb and one… he paused for a second as he looked at the last item in his possession, an escape orb. Slowly he put the other items away as he pulled out the red eye's vial and held it next to the escape orb in his hands. I can use it to escape…but. His head sank a little, trying to not look at the temptation he held directly in his face.

There Seliph was, sitting in silence and stuck in a heated debate between these decisions. I'm wounded and if that thing gets this vial all of my efforts will be wasted. I can't risk this…I can't…right? No, I can't. Seliph returned the red eyes vial to its spot on his belt and was about to start inputting coordinates for the escape orb till something crossed his mind. The conversation he had earlier sprang up, one part specifically.

"I can't imagine what it feels like to carry something like that…but if you ever need someone to take it for a few days. Hit me up."

Motionless, Seliph just stared at the orb, the feelings inside him fighting with the reasoning in his mind. Should he go? But if he did, he would be leaving all of them behind. All of them to danger. I… Seliph pulled the vial out once more as if to be some sort of debate settler. If I lose this, all of it won't matter. That guy is still after me and I can't hold out against him. None of them are nearby an-

Once more, Swift's voice crossed his mind, but this time it was a less kind memory.

"Eight fu**ing years, Seliph! You had eight years to return. Yet you claim you researched on that formula and here you are not even closer to solving it than your mother. You basically let them grow up without you and didn't even bring anything from it."

I just needed more time, okay! Seliph shot back to the memory in his head. I need more time to solve this! I… He froze. He looked down at the vial, staring at its still mixture in his hands. Something in there looked calming…understanding…agreeing. I need to preserve this. Else, how can I ever face myself? My mother and father died to keep this safe, so I need to…to… He sat down, cupping his legs and pulling his head in, a mix of uncertainty and anger. He couldn't care less if Sylphiel was still hunting him down. Nothing mattered right now. What would you do mother? He asked in his mind, lost and feeling alone. How can I make the hard choices if I let them in? Losing you both almost destroyed me! He slammed his fist down on the bark of the branch, only a few seconds later retracting it upon realizing he was making noise.

He pressed against the trunk and listened. Nothing but silence followed.

A light sigh escaped his mouth as he slid down the trunk slightly, slouching on the branch as the pain in his shoulder amped from his shift movement. Father…Mother…would you do it? Dad, would you?

Almost as if it was called, he thought about one memory that stayed with him. His conversation with his father that one day before the incident. When life was simpler and his father was alive. He recalled them sitting down, talking, confessing. Slowly Seliph started tearing up as he recalled him yelling at his dad, demanding an answer followed by his father calmly telling him a story. A story of his weakness and worry. How different it was from his story now.

Seliph looked up to the darkness above, teary and sad. He took a breath and in a little whisper said. "I'm not strong enough, am I dad? Swift was right about me." Seliph put the vial and orb back as he stood up and looked around. Okay, I'll wait. If I can't then…I'll just have to get out of here. Seliph started leaping from branch to branch, trying to see if he could find his way back to the path.

Slowly he made his way along, making sure to pause now and then to listen. After traveling some distance via the branches, Seliph started to question if he had lost Sylphiel. He stopped on a branch and looked around as he listened. I know that tree didn't kill him…even if he's transformed he could just revert back or evaded it. No, he must be either searching or tailing me. Lowering his head, Seliph focused on the sound of the leaves around him. Remember…just like hide and seek.

Keeping very still, Seliph waited. Thankfully, it wasn't long before Seliph had his answer. A slight noise of rustling leaves resounded from his right. The amount of shaking implied the ditto was still in the transformation. With a sharp twist, Seliph stood up and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Hey!" Instantly, rustling's noise amped up from the startled sneaker. In a split second, Seliph drew a Night Slash and threw it where he guessed Sylphiel was.

What followed was a surprise shriek as Sylphiel stumbled from his spot, ruffling the leaves as he did. He had no time to recover from his free fall before Seliph threw a duo of Water Shurikens. With a snarl Sylphiel twisted his fake greninja body to evade both, quickly grabbing a branch nearby to stop his fall. A little grunt came from Sylphiel at the repercussions from breaking his fall with his arm. "Argh…damn it. Huh?" Upon looking up, Sylphiel's face was met with a powerful Hydro Pump from Seliph, causing a large blast of water that left no trace of Sylphiel.

"Good riddance," Seliph grumbled as he started back on track. Suddenly something grabbed his shoulder. Seliph immediately spun, but not before he was stabbed in the side by a Night Slash. The seething dark energy from the dagger sent a surge of feeling in him more of dread than actual pain at least for now. His eyes went wide open as he looked up to the fake greninja staring back at him.

"You know," Sylphiel said, his a tone that was more boredom than arrogance. "I heard stories about you Seliph." The Night Slash dagger ran deep as Seliph was pushed against the tree, and Sylphiel got his head close to Seliph's scowling one that twitched from extra dark surge into him. "About how you managed to kill a council member by your lonesome and you know what? Maybe that guy was just plain dumb because I'm finding it hard to believe you managed to pull that off if you can't even handle me let alone utilizing your own move set to outwit you, specifically substitute."

"You mean y-" Seliph started but Sylphiel interrupted.

"Yep, substitute." Sylphiel cocked his head as he gave a rather proud smile, adding, "Wondering why he didn't dematerialize? Well I just added a bit of me to it. Although, I guess you could say you did give me some real damage since I had to hurt myself to make the dummy real enough to take a hit."

Seliph's right hand went to a fist and pressed against the trunk of the tree. "I hate dittos."

"Heh, I don't blame you." Sylphiel rubbed his head with his free, right hand. "I would too if someone could pull off my own move better than me."

A grimaced look of disgrace and fury crossed Seliph's face as he moved to strike. "You…you!"

Sylphiel raised his other hand as a "hold on" and shook his head. "You've got my dagger in you, bud. Move and the wound tears more."

This action confused Seliph, however, he didn't show it. "Why don't you just kill me now then?" Seliph demanded.

"Simple, it's not my call. Mister annoying Plageues gets the call."

"Plageues?" Seliph's eyes narrowed at hearing that name.

"Yeah, funny thing about that guy. He wants the honor of offing you himself and well, if you die by me I doubt he'd be pleased with it. If he didn't straight up punch me, he'd probably just soil my rep and all, but eh details, details." Sylphiel rubbed his nose and looked at the side.

Seliph's head fell, knowing he was essentially at Sylphiel's mercy. If he tried to escape, he'd tear a large wound and bleed to death before he could find help or die sit and wait for Plageues's in person execution. Though, there was a third option. Seliph raised his head to look at Sylphiel and asked, "Who are you?"

"Oh, nothing too special." The fake Seliph gave an eye-closed and shrugged with his right shoulder. "Just a red eyes doing his job."

"Nothing special, huh," Seliph repeated, almost as if he was mocking it.

"Not all of us get popular for murder you know." Sylphiel gave him a cold stare. "Some of us work hard and still get the short end for now and all."

"Then why not kill me and take the credit?" Seliph asked, slowly shifting his legs as he planned his options. However, the way he did it was enough to look like he was simply adjusting his position for comfort.

"Weren't you listening, wise guy?" Sylphiel gave him a sour look as he grumbled, "Plageues isn't the best guy to double-cross."

The two remained silent. Come on, think Seliph, think. If you don't get out of this you're gonna end up dying anyway. He slowly began to shift, only for the pain to jump up again from the Night Slash dagger still held in him. He grunted from the pain.

"I'd advise against trying to escape. Right now, I'm keeping you from bleeding, so please don't waste my efforts."

"From bleeding?" Seliph repeated aloud, turning his head downwards to finally look at the dagger wound with a more analytical gaze this time. Sure enough, no blood was dripping outside, thanks some minor dark energy emitted by the dagger. Like a mini energy wall covering the rest of the wound for the dagger. Seliph sighed. So he knows how to use my infusement then.

With a defeatist face and low sigh, Seliph leaned against the trunk and just stared upwards.

Noticing this change, Sylphiel took an inner sigh of relief. "No hard feelings you know."

"No hard feelings," Seliph repeated in a monotone, almost as if he was too depressed to be offended.

"Well, like I have nothing against you and all. Just doi-"

"Doing my job," Seliph impatiently finished for him, making Sylphiel pout a little.

Sylphiel moved his free hand towards Seliph's head and pointing outward for emphasis. "Well I am. You think I'm having fun hunting you down or whatever?"

"You seemed to be having fun a few minutes ago," Seliph continued, distrusting Sylphiel's words. "I bet biting my shoulder felt fun."

Sylphiel grumbled. "That's just blood rushing to my head and anticipation for a fight. More or less just that part of me." Oddly, Sylphiel paused, frozen.

"Part of you, huh." Seliph looked at him, with an expression that looked more bored than Sylphiel had a few minutes ago. Maybe there's a chance for me. Seliph started planning. Looking at the dagger for a second then recalled his torn vest bag for his items were still tied to the back of his belt. Okay, I think I have a chance. Seliph crossed his leg as he looked directly at Sylphiel, asking, "So how did you pull off that snorlax?"

"Huh? How do you think?" Sylphiel answered, a little annoyed at the stupid question. "I'm a ditto, of course I can mo-"

"You used moves in that morph." Seliph pointed towards Sylphiel with his right, and slowly moved his left behind his back hoping he wouldn't be noticed. "So there's a snorlax in your crew now, hmm?"

Sylphiel paused before give a little chuckle. "Fair enough, you got me. Yes, we have a snorlax here, though not like knowing about him is gonna help your situation."

"Who says it has to?" Seliph offered a challenging grin, making Sylphiel raise a brow. "After all, bringing a snorlax into a fight might be bad."

"I hope you're kidding." Sylphiel rolled his eyes. "You could hardly handle me when I was a snorlax."

"Well, you never really landed a hit with that big body. Plus look around us." Seliph gestured around with his right hand. "This place is covered in trees. More obstruction than beneficial. Mon, I'd like to meet the idiot that brought a snorlax to a fight like this."

Sylphiel's face started to heat up from anger. "Look, pal, just shut up, okay. Right now, Bruno is making splinters out of your friends so just sit tight and all. I don't wanna hear another word from you."

By now, Seliph's left hand had gotten the orb he was hoping for and he stared directly into Sylphiel's ditto eyes. "Very we-" Seliph shot his arm forward midsentence, pressing and activating his Luminous orb.

Blinded by the light, Sylphiel stepped backward, moving his free arm cover his eyes. It wasn't long before Seliph was upon him.

Seliph tackled him off of the branch, taking advantage of the mon's blinded state to wrench his grip from the knife and grabbed his arm. Quickly, the greninja turned Sylphiel around, pulling on his arm as he pushed the back of the fake greninja's head down to keep a lock.

Sylphiel tried to struggle but to no avail. Seliph's grip was too strong on him to break free and it wasn't long before his face hit the ground while Seliph jumped off and did a safe roll. In a dazed state, "Sylphiel tried to get up, his head all wobbly from the hard-hit of the ground.

Meanwhile, Seliph was back up and not ready to let Sylphiel get a second to himself. He rushed towards his Doppelganger, seizing the fake greninja's head with both hands and forcefully bringing it down into an upcoming knee thrust.

Sylphiel was knocked squarely onto his back, groaning in pain as he held his head.

Despite Sylphiel's weakened state, Seliph wasn't done. With wasting a second, Seliph cupped his arms, pulling them back over his head as he surged a Night Slash claymore. With a little grunt and stiffening from the damage, Seliph surged more synergy into the move via his gift. Dark Energy shot from the tip to halfway down the claymore, as a fan-like beams of the same color floated on both sides of the weapon. With a fierce shout, Seliph brought it down upon a still dazed Sylphiel's head.

The claymore struck squarely between the eyes, while the fans of dark energy on the sides crushed the rest of the face.

Panting, Seliph let go of the weapon, took a few steps back before stumbling onto his bum, winded. "P-please be d-dead," he said amid his breaths. Upon getting back some of his breath, Seliph turned his focus on treating his stab wound. After forming a small Night Slash knife, he cut a square patch from the bandage on his shoulder. Okay, Seliph prepared himself as he let his impromptu knife dematerialize and move his free hand to the one still in his side. You can do this. Just try not to think about it. He braced himself as he slowly began to pull out the knife.

I don't have a lot of time, so ngggh, don't mess this up. Squinting his eyes and holding his mouth firmly closed, Seliph pulled the Night Slash dagger out of him, letting it fall from the force of the pull. Next, he placed the patch directly on the wound, which was starting to. Quickly, he moved his packet's belt up and tightened it so it served kept the bandage patch on the wound, although feeling a bit award to wear.

"T-that…was too close." Seliph panted, rocking back and forth from fatigue and blood loss, sitting down so his body could rest for a minute. Unfortunately, his mind new he didn't have a minute. As he got up to regroup with the others, he stopped to stare at the body of Sylphiel, which was starting to melt. Oh no no no, Seliph whined in his head, getting to his feet but having a hard time steadying from his fatigue.

The fake greninja melted, collecting into a little puddle before starting to collect into a taller blob. An angry voice spoke out of it as a pissed of face emerged. "First you blind me, then you knee my face, and then you smash it with a club? What kind of a psycho are you‽"

Seliph scrambled backwards, quickly trying to make some ground. Despite how weak his legs were before, they were now brimming with energy or rather fear energy. Fleeing from the scene, Seliph pulled out his orb and tried to work on setting up some coordinates all while being chased by a raging ditto morphing into a charging stantler. He didn't pay attention to what he was setting, anywhere but near the ditto aiming to murder him.

"I hate dittos!" Seliph shouted as the chase began once more.





Come on, come on, where is he? Plageues complained in his head while trying to evade Garon's relentless attacks with his firm talons. After a couple of minutes of the thrashing from Garon, Plageues finally put up enough distance between them to make a snide remark. "My, my, aren't we in a destructive mood today?"

No reply came from Garon, just vicious lunging at the smirking zoroark, his fangs bearing as they were imbued with a dark aura from Crunch.

With a carefree smile, Plageues bent backwards to evade Garon's snapping jaw, forming a little bridge with his body. Quickly, he pulled his legs up and lightly bumped Garon's chin as he concluded the bridge kick over back in a standing up position. Once back on his feet, Plageues crossed his arms as if he had just finished doing a gymnastics act, staring at the angry garchomp with a smile that just oozed of 'yes, I just did that'.

Provoked by the taunting, Garon slammed his right talon into the ground channeling a faint tannish energy into the dirt, forming a small circle of the same color around himself.

Plageues cackled as he watched a similar tannish circle form around him. "Not too quick when grassroots are involved," Plageues mocked, pointing his finger to the small swirls of tannish energy struggling to push around the circle thanks to the grassy terrain. In broad steps, Plageues walked out of the circle slowly, just seconds before the Sand Tomb forced the ground to give way into a spiraling whirlpool of dirt and roots.

Garon didn't change his stance but gaped his mouth to fire Flamethrower.

With a cynical smile and a raise of a brow, Plageues shifted his right foot behind his left's ankle, twisted his head slightly while maintaining eye contact, and said with a little challenging tone, "You sure you want to start a forest fire?" Seeing Garon wasn't backing down his ready to fire Flamethrower, Plageues swung his arms in front. Daringly, Plageues puffed out his chest and dared, "Alright then, go ahead big boy. I'm fine with you trying to blast me, but I'm sure the poor mons in the town wouldn-" He stopped.

Subtly, Garon's talon was surging the same light tannish energy into the ground. Once Plageues stopped mid-sentence, Garon dropped his Flamethrower and forced his energy into Sand Tomb. A very vibrant tannish ring surged around him as Garon gritted his teeth, intensifying the strength of the new, larger circle appearing around Plageues.

"Such a snea-" was all he could state before the ground beneath him gave way to the dirt spiral. The whirlpool of dirt rolled up to his waist, inflicting damage with its snare.

Seeing Plageues was well contained, Garon stood up and walked over to the edge of the Sand Tomb's area of effect. Coldly, he eyed the zoroark in the middle, taking the damage as if it wasn't doing much.

Plageues simply stared back at Garon with a fiendish smile that occasionally twitched showing he was still feeling the damage. "Well, I guess I'm finished." Plageues raised his right claw over his forehead as he gestured the left outwards for a dramatic pose. With a mocking, wailing tone, Plageues called out, "Oh, if only I had been smart and noticed you were trying to distract me. Oh, woe is me."

"Are you done?" Garon grumbled, eyes narrowing with displeasure. "You are going to answer all the questions I ask an-"

"I'd love to sweety," Plageues jested, cutting Garon off with a snarky grin. "But what's the fun in that?"

Garon squinted as light blue energy began swirling around him. The dragon head of Dragon Rush formed over his unflinching face like a mask, as if it was ready to pounce from Garon's face onto its captured prey. "I'm not joking with you."

"I can see that," Plageues replied, unaffected by Garon's power display.

"Then ready yourself." Garon leaned forward, the energy of Dragon Rush angling with him as they both prepared to lunge straight at the zoroark.

As Garon readied, Plageues moved a finger to his chin in thought. "You know before we resume there was one thing I wanted to ask you."

Garon remained silent, not taking his focus off Plageues nor giving him the benefit of backing down his power.

Plageues sighed. "Oh well, guess since you won't talk with me like gentlemons I guess I'll just have to be nasty too. So here's my other question." Plageues moved his right hand under his left's elbow and positioned his left claw over his face. "How long before your friend gets impaled by his opponent?"

Garon remained firm, though his eyes widening slightly clearly showed Plageues's words had some effect.

"You know, the heliolisk you were with. Shame really, that he's all by his lonesome fighting. If I was a betting mon I'd put my money on him…for getting it between the eyes-"

"Enough!" Garon roared, the energy around him surging as he started to push off to do the ramming attack.

Just as Garon did this, Plageues flicked his right hand forward. A glowing orb flew straight to a surprised Garon, who couldn't avert his gaze before the Luminous orb triggered a bright flash of light.

"Gah!" Garon stumbled forward, the timing of the temporary blindness being perfect to messing Garon's aim and preventing him from pulling back on the attack. He stumbled towards Plageues.

Quickly, Plageues lined up his left arm, which had a Focus Blast forming and propped it with his right. "Aaaaaaaaaaand the dragonair," he muttered as he let it fly at the rim of the Sand Tomb. The force of the impact propelled the Dragon Rush slightly upwards, and with Garon currently unable to see properly the poor dragon hurled over his target's head and crashed into the ground on the other side, rolling from the momentum till a tree trunk stopped his tumbling.

Garon let out a painful moan, as he slowly tried to get back to his feet, while Plageues started stepping his way out of the now motionless Sand Tomb.

"Aw that's sweet," Plageues mocked as he stepped onto the solid grass of the forest, shaking his legs to get some of the soil off. "You got all angry for your friend. How very loyal." With a smirk of a jerk, Plageues walked closer to the struggling garchomp. "Let me give you some advice, all tall, dark, and stupid." With a firm swipe of his leg, Plageues kicked Garon in the chest, right on the spot his Focus Blast from earlier had hit.

Garon let out an angry cry as Plageues thrust his hand at the dragon's neck, clenching it with a firm grip. The garchomp opened his eyes, still blurred by the flash from earlier, his breathing speeding as his instincts started going crazy.

As Plageues started forming a Night Slash dagger, he whispered in a low tone, "You should focus on handling yourself before going to your friend's corpse."

This was enough to send Garon into a rage. Blindly, Garon lashed out at Plageues, who easily sidestepped every strike that was near its mark although it cost him his Night Slash dagger. Unfortunately, this angry attacking only allowed Plageues to sneak behind and kick him in the back. Garon hit the ground on his stomach, but quickly rolled halfway and pushed off his right leg to half twist back to land. Get a grip, Garon the garchomp urged himself, calming down. His words are just words. He's toying with you so just let him play his game.

Seeing his opponent was emotionally stable now, Plageues just let out a huff. "Well sorry for giving some constructive criticism. Perhaps I should have been more thoughtful for his majesty." Once done, the zoroark gave an arrogant bow.

By now Garon's sight was almost back to normal, but he let the zoroark continue his little antics without giving Plageues any kind of satisfaction.

"Done talking?" Plageues rhetorically asked as he straightened back up and eyed Garon with a mischievous stare. "Aww, and here I was hoping to have a nice chat."

Without a word, Garon bent low and horizontally flattened his arm fins. Narrowing his eyes, Garon slid his left good back and firmly planted it on the ground, ready to push off at any moment.

Plageues grinned darkly at the garchomp's aggressive stance. "Hope you can fight twice as hard for your friend."

"I won't have to." Garon shot forward and raced towards the waiting zoroark. Forming a Crunch in his teeth, Garon lunged at Plageues's neck.

Plageues in return cupped his hands together and swung them down with a firm force, emanating a dark energy around himself. The Night Daze surged like a repulse throughout the area, striking the nearby trees and Garon, although he managed to cancel it with his Crunch.

Once Garon had cleared the repulsing move, he looked back at the Zoroark, only to wince at seeing Plageues had vanished.

"Yoo hoooooo," Plageues called from a tree limb above.

"Huh?" Garon looked up to the zoroark, who was leaning against the tree on his elbow. "Perhaps you can start. Shame it's predictable."

"Are you going to keep dodging or fight?" Garon stated, forming a defiant grin of his own.

Plageues gave a little giggly grunt as he turned to lean his back against the tree. "You know it's cute that you're trying to act tough and all, just to impress me." Plageues laughed in his head as Garon's smile faded, clearly annoyed at the flirtatious mockery. "You know, Garchomps like you would probably make the best subs for certain alpha mon fantasies. All tall and strong, but has a nice tail with a nice a-"

"Enough already!" A blushing, fed up Garon shouted.

"My apologies." Plageues gestured his arms outwards as he got off his leaning spot. "I just enjoy playing around with sexy, down to planet dragons."

Garon looked to the side, nearing his tolerance limit. "What do you want with the fraxure?" he demanded, trying to look back at Plageues without backing down.

Plageues gave a little smirk as he noticed something. He stretched his back for a second as he held up a finger as a 'one moment please' gesture. "Well, tell you what scalester. If you want to know, catch me." He leaped away from the fight, going from branch to branch.

"Hey! Stop!" Garon shouted, rushing after Plageues. Unfortunately, Garon's rushing on the ground made it difficult to keep chase up with the branch leaping zoroark. Whenever he was starting to close the distance Plageues would just jump in an inconvenient direction for Garon to be forced to follow, while avoiding any surprise trees or rocks.

I'll never catch up with that guy this way, Garon ranted in his head as he kept up a pretty decent pursuit. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. Wait, is he… Garon stopped, quickly shifting on his gift to see the synergy around him. His eyes fell on the situation between three smaller synergy blobs and one big one. So they're still fighting…wait.

Garon quickly looked back at Plageues's direction, who had stopped. Narrowing his eyes, Garon quickly faced his enemy, deactivating his gift. "Is that your game then?"

Plageues gave a little huff, rolling his eyes like a toddler caught with some stolen candy. "Alright, fine, yes I'm leading you away. But it's for a good reason I swear."

"Shouldn't have confessed." Garon turned around and was about to start running off when some little shadow of purple in some bushes caught his eye. Diving forward, Garon barely evaded a Shadow Ball, quickly rolling up to raise his talons in defense.

"Finally," Plageues grumbled as Vex flew in and landed, putting Garon between himself and Plageues. With a bored look, Plageues made a brushing of his hand and said, "You two have fun now." Without another word, he started leaping to the left, heading in the direction to the town.

Garon tried to pursue him but was forced to block an incoming Shadow Ball.

"Sorry," Vex said with an evil grin. "But I can't let you do that."

"So he's going to get Vray then," Garon replied, leading Vex to raise a brow in surprise.

After a second of processing, Vex just shrugged with a grin, saying, "Dang, put that much together? Heh, too little too late."

"Not on your life." Garon quickly rushed off in the direction Plageues went.

Vex smiled, quickly levitating slightly off the ground and flying after him. "Sorry, but I've been antsy to try this out all day." Dark aura surrounded Vex as he formed twin Shadow Balls, one in each hand. He began to barrage Garon with ghost ball after ghost ball, trying to trip the dragon up.

Garon wouldn't get hit easily though. Weaving amid the trees while keeping his pace strong, Garon pretty much was untouchable for Vex. Unfortunately, this required him to focus on evading Vex, leaving him open to a Focus Blast from Plageues in the front. Thankfully, he caught eye of it and quickly rolled to the side, letting it explode with a thunderous force.

"I said keep him busy," Plageues commanded, this time with a firmer, serious tone. "I'd rather not have to pull more work for you than I already have to." With that said, Plageues resumed his path as Vex landed to keep Garon away.

Growling, Garon got back to his feet, baring his teeth. Dark energy began to surge in them as Crunch started to activate.

"Heh, nice teeth. Too bad though." Vex stretched out his left arm. "Time to give this a nice test run." Slowly, something began to emerge from Vex's arm, something like a bracelet.

Keeping a firm eye on this new object, Garon watched from a safe distance as Vex pulled something from his side and moved to put it on this bracelet. Briefly, the object in Vex's hand was visible to Garon. A rainbow-like pattern dotted its exterior, swirling down in a diagonal formation making this object instantly recognizable to the garchomp.

Without hesitation, Garon fired a flamethrower, unconcerned with where the flames would hit aside its target, knowing full well what would happen if he didn't act now. But sadly, he had no chance from the start.

Vex clicked the Awakening Emura into place, energy surging from the spot with a radiance of white light. Violently, Vex began shaking, power rushing throughout his body as he laughed uncontrollably. He was so caught up in his transformation he didn't even notice the fire about to strike him, not that it mattered due to the energy flux being more than enough to vaporize the flame like a wave upon rock.

Covering his eyes, Garon braced against the surge of energy. It felt warm, violently warm. Such things emuras were, especially the more unstable ones.

Finally, the light faded. The forest seemed to feel darker, the small pockets of light from the trees nearby looked thinner and hazier. The grass and trees looked like they were watching, spying. Every nerve on Garon's body was on edge, but even as his body demanded he move he couldn't.

All the noise in front of him was nothing more than surging crackling and unintelligible giggling, the kind one would hear from a madmon. Perhaps it was accurate, Garon had no idea of telling. He'd never gone mega or had the means to, but he understand the implications of becoming transformed by the enormous unstable synergy inside.

As the light faded the silhouette of a deformed Gengar showed barely in a dark, grey mist. It craned its body upwards before two, bloodshot, red eyes opened followed by an eerie white smile.

As the smile showed, a strange line of black light shot towards Garon. It struck Garon on the arm, startling him but not harming him. "What the?" he said, as the black line wrapped and orbiting around his arm, forming strange letters bearing resemblance of a dead, ancient language. Looking back at the gengar in the misty he noticed something like a thin black fire encircling their location, forming like a mini-forest arena.

With this new detail, Garon easily determined what was going on, and internally groaned at what this meant. "So…that's how you're keeping me here," Garon said in a monotone.

"Yes, with Shadow Tag," Vex elaborated, in almost a maniacal tone. He dragged his body towards Garon with his large arms. Keeping his mouth open and letting his tongue hang like a famished mon staring at some food through a window, Vex crawled closer and closer while Garon started defensively backing away.

Okay, you can handle this. You've got to. The garchomp's stayed in his boxing stance as he waited for the mega gengar to make the first move.

Vex firmly slammed his fists on the ground, stopping his approach and oozing shadows like liquid from his phasing palms. He opened his mouth to a rather frightening level as a chaotic Shadow Ball formed in his gaping mouth. With a dark laugh, Vex shot a larger, dark, and sparking Shadow Ball towards Garon.

The garchomp braced himself, waiting for the orb to draw closer as he spun off his foot, twirling to the side in evading. During his twist, he formed the dragon head of his Dragon Rush above his one. Once landing he planted his feet, aimed at the oozing gengar, and pushed off, spinning in the air as he rocketed towards the mega ghost with his move cutting through the air behind him.

Vex raised his arms, growing them as he clamped them above his head. He brought them down upon Garon's Dragon Rush, infused with a dark energy of two Shadow Claws.

The two moves locked, but the upwards angle of Vex's attack forced Garon to pull his feet out to prevent landing on his stomach when his move was grounded. Desperately, Garon pushed up against his powered up foes' fists. Snarling as he looked at his Dragon Rush struggling against the mighty dark blobs of his enemies fists.

"I hope it looks like it'll hurt," Vex said, drooling from his mouth. "Because that's only the beginning." He detached one of his fists and under slugged Garon, who was sent spinning in the air till hitting a nearby tree on his stomach.

Despite the damage accumulated, Garon pushed off the tree and landed on his feet, shaking his head to regain his focus.

"Ready for more huh‽" Vex laughed as his shadow started creeping around, moving up trees and flowing through the grass, leaving a toxic aura in the area. "Because Vex gonna give it to you." The gengar formed another Shadow Ball as Garon raised his defenses, bracing himself once more.

"Hitter up!" Vex laughed suddenly snatching the shadowy orb with his palm and spinning around to throw it at high speed.

Garon quickly leaned down to evade but was met by a frightening stare from Vex, phasing from his shadow spot. "Peekaboo," was all Garon heard before getting slammed in the chest with a Shadow Claw.

Garon tumbled a little ways before stopping himself with his talon, panting slightly. He moved his other talon to his chest and discovered a slice on his chest. Argh that last one might have been a critical. Ugh, it burns. Garon went on a knee as he looked down at the triple slice wound on his chest. It didn't look too deep but it had an odd purple substance on it. Poison? But he wasn't using a move nor an ability to-…maybe it's the slime off his body. Garon looked up to see Vex laughing, forming another Shadow Ball in his gaping mouth.

I can't believe this is happening. Garon said in his head, watching the move aiming for his body. Some good I've done. I'm trapped here with an opponent that will be a struggle and they're off on their own.

The gengar unleashed the black sphere in a swirling maneuver, however, Garon managed to track its movements and leap at a gap in its pattern to evade. He then fired a Flamethrower straight at the gengar, who responded with a Shadow Claw slicing down upon it.

Seeing his attack doing little to his enemy, Garon's heart started sinking even more. His mind started to be filled with the dread of an unwinnable battle. A battle he needed to win, but couldn't…A battle he would lose and as a result, those relying on him would fall. Being…unable to stop it. Powerless.

Garon firmly planted his back foot and slammed his talon into the ground, tannish synergy straight into the ground. I'll never let that happen! He roared in his mind as he engulfed the cackling specter in a Sand Tomb; the sand rose like a miniature tornado, striking Vex from all sides and getting into his eyes.

"What the fuc-" Vex started, his maniacal smile now replaced by confused bumbling. As Vex tried to wipe the sand out of his eyes he was firmly struck in the face with another Flamethrower. Vex screamed as the move scorched his head, shoving his hands in front, trying to shield his face.

Garon kept the fire squarely on the ghost, unconcerned if anything else was set aflame. Nothing like that mattered, not till they were safe. Not till they were all safe.





"Come on, 'full-blood', are you too slow because you're full of it," Swift mocked with a carefree smile as he light hopped away from Siegfried's Psycho Cut infused right arm.

The gallade snarled in anger, quickly swinging his left vertically upwards, hurling a ranged Pyscho Cut straight at Swift. To Siegfried's frustration, Swift met it with a quickly made Focus Blast with the resulting collision sending a minor shockwave. Siegfried blocked, grunting from the force exerted upon him, while Swift just did a slow backflip as he rode the shockwave, putting further distance between the two.

"Or maybe I'm wrong." Swift giggled as he stood up and brushed some of the blood of his right shoulder. "Maybe, you are going fast and I'm just faster, which is sad because you were doing so well before."

Siegfried didn't reply, just eyed Swift. "You're making it obvious."

Swift raised a brow, but didn't stay still for Siegfried was rushing towards him. Imbuing his arms with another round of Psycho Cuts. "Making what obvious?" Swift inquired as he activated Iron Tail and awaited Siegfried's onslaught.

"How true my words are." Siegfried slashed and slashed, as Swift either parried with his tail or evaded it. "You may like to pretend they mean nothing or are swinging in the dark."

Swift blew off this comment in his head. Once an opportunity showed itself, Swift quickly did a fast handspring backwards, firing a Focus Blast from both hands as he landed.

Siegfried leaned his body to evade, swinging the arm closest to Swift to fire his ranged attack. Like many times before, Swift leaped away from its path, but Siegfried quickly swung his other arm to meet the land where Swift was going to land.

The impact harshly pushed Swift to the ground early, rolling away from Siegfried. He groaned from his right shoulder's pain, irritated by the dirt it had touched along the way.

"Even if you managed to get a minute ahead of me, you won't stay for long. You're simply wasting my time while your allies fight for their lives."

Swift gave a defiant huff, almost like he was about to laugh. "Yeah sure, whatever. I get it."

"I'm not sure you do." Siegfried crossed his arms, eyeing the wary heliolisk with a stern but strangely without the hostility from before. "But then again, all you lot have is words."

"Really now?" Swift sarcastically asked, brushing his snout with moxie, "Was it words that helped me last long?"

Siegfried shook his head. "No, but while I admit you can fight, you're quite lacking in prowess."

Swift's eyes narrowed. Without a reply, he started brushing the dirt in his wound, while keeping a firm gaze on Siegfried as he winced slightly from the stinging.

"You're weak and all you have to fight me with is survival."

Swift gave a little grunt and a cocky smile followed. "Whatever you say, runaway."

Siegfried smirked, shifting his arms to his side thus putting Swift into alert mode. "You know, I'd consider a half-blood like you lucky."

"Pffft, I thought you said a 'half-blood' like me is physically inferior." Swift lowered his body, angling in an aggressive, quadruped stance.

"I did and it's true." Tensing his arms in case Swift tried something, Siegfried looked to the side of the path. "But, it's interesting. You, Half-bloods are lucky to not have a burden of a strong society thrust upon."

Disbelieving what he just heard all Swift could do was laugh. "Okay wow, you put the phrase 'pompous Phynecions' to a whole new stage, huh?" Pointing at the stern gallade with his right hand, Swift bluntly accused, "Look, I don't know what kind of mopey tale you have to say about how Phynecions treated you or whatever, but unlike an arrogant ass like yourself, I earned my place in society. And you know why? Because I learned from the Norfarions I was around and they got to know me. They judge me for what I can do, not where I'm from and most certainly not for what I desire. It's not all about me."

"So akin to Averia and Daemoria, then." Siegfried's arms slowly folded behind his back as he returned his gaze to Swift's, his eyes looking a bit more invested in the conversation. "Just focused on how to 'benefit everyone', huh? Pitching in to make things better? Utter nonsense."

"Nonsense?" Swift repeated, almost offended by the random claim.

Siegfried raised his head a little in a belittling fashion and said, "You seem surprised at me being a traitor yet haven't you ever wondered why someone would betray such a collected society like the clans?"

Swift mimicked Siegfried's arms and started pacing to the right.

Ensuring Swift wouldn't get an opening to dart for the forest, Siegfried matched his pace, mirroring Swift's movement.

"Explain," Swift inquired, trying to see if he could build his way to an opening.

Siegfried's eyes shut slightly. "Do I really need to? It's obvious your society is fixated on the needs of the many above an individual. It's all fine till someone is thrown under for the sake of the group." Siegfried's head leaned towards Swift while bearing a serious, honest gaze at Swift. "What is the purpose in a number?"

"Number…" Swift paused, stopping his pacing as he looked directly at the copying gallade. "Is that how you see yourself as a Phynecion?"

"Yes…do you disagree, half-blood?" Siegfried folded his arms once more, waiting for an answer.

Swift crossed his arms to think, making sure to glance at Siegfried a lot as he thought. The gallade gave him the time to think this over. If he's going to give me time, the least I can do is use it wisely. As he closed his eyes, Swift used his gift, listening around. "Yes, I do disagree," Swift said amid his pinging.

Siegfried grunted as he rolled his eyes. "I take it you have pride in joint cooperation and self-sacrifice, then?"

"No," Swift said, listening around. "It's-" Swift stuttered for a second as a noise returned to him. It sounded like some manner of talking or at least he guessed it was. "M-more than that. I don't expect to be in charge of everything or have everything go my way." Swift drew his attention to the strange conversation he was hearing, which, unfortunately, cut out Siegfried's reply. Not that Swift was honestly invested in debating with his attacker.

Some conversation? Let's see… "Here's"….uhm…"Devon. You go on ahead and ci-…"

His thoughts were interrupted by the screeching sound of an energy spike from his front. Swift flung open his eyes and quickly ducked, covering his head as a Psycho Cut sailed barely over him and sliced some blades of grass before it collided with the ground.

"Clever little half-blood. Perhaps I've been too kind to you. Sorry to cut your little searching short, but I believe that's enough for a break," Siegfried said, with a smirk that almost seemed amused at this sneaky play by Swift.

Swift got to his feet. Guess there goes that. Swift kept a sharp look at Siegfried, who was walking towards him ominously. I didn't recognize the voice and it was from behind me, I think. Is…is someone comi-?

Suddenly, Siegfried leaped into the air and started spinning, attacking with Vacuum Wave.

In response, Swift dove to the side. He spun around to defend himself, but to his surprise, Siegfried wasn't there. With a troubling revelation, Swift looked directly upwards just in time to see a grouping of rocks hurling upon him. He tried to evade the Rock Tomb but was nailed by two. One hitting his rib and another striking his right shoulder, both planting him into the dirt as they rolled a little ways after. He hissed in pain as he grabbed his hurting shoulder, the wound only starting to get worse.

"Let's see how far you go without speed."

Swift quickly spun around to see Siegfried getting up from what was most likely a landing. Running out of options, Swift formed a Focus Blast with his right hand and pointed it straight at Siegfried, who just eyed it without fear.

The gallade let out an annoyed grunt as he surged Psycho Cut once more in his extended elbows and awaited Swift to move, ready to meet the move and then land a decisive hit on his slower target.

Swift scowled as the sphere of fighting synergy started spinning as he readied to fire, while Siegfried's Psycho Cuts glowed from the more synergy Siegfried put into his.

This was it. Time to end this. As Swift was about to release the orb, he heard a noise coming from his left. Siegfried heard it as well. The two looked in the direction of the sound's origin, only for Siegfried to be struck by a powerful, green wave of force.

The sound of a high pitched buzzing filled Siegfried's ears as he locked his arms in front to shield his head as the sound wave of Bug Buzz, coming from Devon's flapping wings. The move struck Siegfried's newly made guard hard and traveled past the struggling gallade and tore into the grass and dirt path to Swift's right.

Looking at the scene in complete bewilderment, Swift just stood there with his mouth agape. He was startled as a voice called out to him. "Sir, are you alright?"

Swift spun around, only to look up at a grumpig standing on a pair of rocks, looking down at him with a serious look. Letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of the stranger's cerise eyes, Swift asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Demetri." The grumpig hopped down from his duo of stones but kept them afloat. "Where's your group?"

A reminder of his friends being in danger prompted Swift to look back at the forest. "They're-"

"I see, the forest," Demetri interrupted, leading Swift to look at him with a little bit of confusion. Demetri closed his eyes as he began to slow his breathing. "How many are in your group?"

Swift started counting on his fingers. "Uhm…including myself, eight."

"Alright, then we shouldn't waste time." Demetri opened his eyes and turned to Swift, examining the wound on the heliolisk's shoulder. "Can you still fight?"

Swift nodded. "Uhm mister uhm…" Swift started snapping his right hand as he tried to remember this stranger's name.

Demetri sighed. "Demetri."

"Demetri, that's it." Rolling his neck and then looked straight at Demetri. "Sir, I can find them in the woods. I have echo vizor."

"Echo what?" Demetri replied, his ears perking up with curiosity.

Swift mentally facepalmed. "My gift."

"Oh? And Echo Vizor does?"

Swift groaned as he blurted out. "It'll help me find the rest, but I need to get to the forest."

Demetri nodded. "Okay, I'll handle this mon and send Devon to assist."

"Sounds like a plan." Swift smiled as he cupped his arms behind his head. "Devon?"

With a little bit of annoyance in his eyes, Demetri pointed to the vikavolt that was still unleashing Bug Buzz at Siegfried. "Go around Devon's back." Demetri was about to rush off, but stopped mid-step saying, "Oh, I almost forgot."

"Forgot wha-?" Before Swift could finish, he was seized by Demetri and pulled in front, where the grumpig applied a finger to Swift's forehead and closing his owns eyes to focus.

There we go.

The grumpig smiled as Swift blinked in confusion. Demetri's voice now echoing in his mind like a thought. Wait…what di-

Set up a mental connection. Demetri hastily replied. Just so we can keep in sync. Now, I believe we have a group to save. Demetri grinned, releasing the startled mon.

After a few seconds to process what just happened, Swift finally gave an understanding nodded. "Thanks, but try not to be too rough next time," he said with a jesting smirk and without another word, Swift rushed towards the forest, running as if his own life was depending on it. He didn't avert his gaze at all, not even when the angry shout of Siegfried ordered him to halt. It wasn't till he was safely in the forest that he slowed to a standstill and listened to the sounds once more with Echo Vizor. Come on, Come on! He shouted in his head as he tried to identify anyone's direction.

As he listened, the sound of a grunting managed to reach him. That sounded li- Swift's eyes shot open as he stopped using Echo Vizor. "Seliph?"

Are you alright? Demetri inquired telepathically.

Uh…yeah, I found someone. I'm going to help him. Demetri just gave him telepathic grunt in reply. "Okay, hand in there Seliph, I'm coming." Rushing forward, Swift shot forward, following the sound and hoping his friends were still alright.





Meanwhile, Siegfried was still struggling against the powerful Bug Buzz from Devon. In a raging tone, Siegfried roared, "Enough!" Leaping to the side and swinging his arm, Siegfried sent a Psycho Cut straight for Devon's right-wing.

The bug easily saw the pink crescent coming and twisted his body enough for it to miss, dropping the barrage of Bug Buzz in the process. Immediately, Devon flew towards Siegfried at ramming speed.

Siegfried responded with bracing his arms for impact; however, Devon shot upwards, did half a twist, and flew straight for the woods. "What the‽ Hey!" Before Siegfried could give chase, he was promptly smacked on the back of the head with a rock. He fell flat onto his stomach, moving an arm to his hurting head.

"Argh, wha-?" He pulled his hand back and saw a little blood on it. Growling, he got back to his feet and with a scowl, faced his new opponent, Demetri.

Demetri slowly stretched his arm forward, causing the levitating rock behind him to start spinning while just floating in the air. Clearing his throat for a second, Demetri put his serious face on and ordered, "By order of the core, I hereby demand you cease hostility with the group you're targeting. They are now under planet nerve protection."

Siegfried didn't answer, just kept a scowl up and rubbing his head wound as he defiantly asked, "The heck is a planet nerve?" His tone was less than savory due to the added stinging from his head.

"Well," Demetri said with a following sigh. He closed his eyes and took a breath before opening them again, revealing a solid green color that glowed slightly. "This is what you'd call my badge of office."

Siegfried removed his hand from the back of his head, grunting a little from resulting pain and looked at Demetri. "Never heard of them." He surged a Psycho Cut in his arms and readied a battle stance. "And I don't listen to a group with a name as lame as 'Planet Nerves'."

"Not my naming choice, sadly," Demetri said with a little smirk, closing his eyes to return them to his normal cerise ones. "So I take it you won't be complying."

"Do you need to state the obvious, pig?"

Demetri snorted and his eyes narrowed. Hard way then. He turned to the side and focused his psychic energy on a few rocks in view, levitating them and pulling them to join with his one rock.

Siegfried just stood and watched as the grumpig starting letting them orbit himself, standing there with his arms crossed and a smug look. "Well, then I won't trouble you with talking about how outmatched you are let alone your current injury hindrance. So without further interruptions." The stones froze in midair. Demetri moved his arms to the side, aligning the rocks into a line before stretching out his right hand in temerity. "Catch!" Demetri said with a gleeful smile as he sent all the small rocks Siegfried's way.

The gallade jumped up in the air, flipping upside down to spin and surge Vacuum Wave to cut them up. However, he was struck by something from the side. The hit knocked him out of his move and to the ground, rolling a little. "Ugh, a…?" When looking for what hit him, he spotted a bigger stone like the one Demetri had earlier. "Typical psychic," Siegfried grumbled as he stood up. "Can't fight direct-" He stopped. To his surprise and dismay, Demetri was no longer in front. Siegfried spun around and sure enough, Demetri was running towards the forest. In fact, Demetri was so close to the thick forest that he vanished into the brush in only a second.

"Damn it. Get back here!" Siegfried yelled, chasing after the tricky grumpig as best he could.

The wound jumped up in stinging as he poured a little bit of the potion on his wound.

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This sentence sounds awkward when reading aloud. Maybe rewrite as: "The wound stung on his skin as he poured some of the potion there."

In an instant, the noise of harsh snap came from above, prompting his body to almost jump away for him in whatever direction that wasn't here.

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The bolded part I would rephrase it to "a harsh snapping sound" or maybe even just "a sharp hiss" since it came from Sylphiel being an arbok.

If I can just remain airborne just long eno- His thoughts were interrupted by a painful jab hitting his arm.

Sylphiel was once again upon him, jamming his needle into Seliph's Hydro Pump shooting wrist. "Not this time," Sylphiel said, gleefully looking at Seliph, who responded with a hard headbutt. "Ouch!" This caused Sylphiel to let go and rub his head, but his actions had worked.

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I feel the "His thougths were interrupted" was repetetive since you mentioned Sylphiel jabbing him in next sentence. Unless Sylphiel had jammmed him twice?

A little grunt came from Sylphiel at the repercussions from breaking his fall with his arm.

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Grunted. Grunted.

In a dazed state, "Sylphiel tried to get up, his head all wobbly from the hard-hit of the ground.

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Leftover quotation mark.

Swift gave a little grunt and a cocky smile followed. "Whatever you say, runaway."

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Again, grunted.

~

Seliph really got annoyed by Ditto huh. Sylphiel transforming into Seliph must've been a wild ride for the Greninja. And then Sylphiel chasing Seliph down like that lol.

Plageues gave a little giggly grunt as he turned to lean his back against the tree. "You know it's cute that you're trying to act tough and all, just to impress me." Plageues laughed in his head as Garon's smile faded, clearly annoyed at the flirtatious mockery. "You know, Garchomps like you would probably make the best subs for certain alpha mon fantasies. All tall and strong, but has a nice tail with a nice a-"

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Oh Plageues is being flirty all right.

Hm, so Vex can Mega Evolve huh. Looks like though Garon is able to handle him well enough there.

Swift is lucky (maybe? lol) that Demetri and Devon came to help him going against Siegfried. I do have to agree on the name Planet Nerves, though. Sounds more like something from a sci-fi story heh.

Panting madly, Seliph dashed amid the trees. He darted his gaze frantically left to right, paranoid of an attack from anywhere. Perhaps it was his wounds getting to his head, or maybe something more instinctive, he didn't know, but he couldn't fight Sylphiel directly. All he could do was dart forwards in desperation for finding the path, finding anyone.

Something moved up ahead. Sadly he was running too fast to dodge or stop and ran smack into a heavy amount of purple mass. Tumbling a ways, Seliph groaned as he worked on getting back up, only to be picked up by one of his head protrusions. Violently Seliph struggled against the firm grip holding tightly onto his ear.

With a valiant roar, Seliph tried to stab with a forming Night Slash dagger, only for his wrist to be caught and clenched by another arm. Then two more grabbed at his neck, pushing him downwards while the first arm still pulled on his head. Seliph attempted to pry Sylphiel's hands off with his free hand, but his attempts were in vain.

"I tried to f**king be nice, but I guess you'll just have to be delivered out of commission before I break those legs of yours."

Seliph looked up to Sylphiel's angry black dotted eyes, lodged in the sockets of a Machamp. They peered down at him with some semblance at glee at his suffering, probably still sore from getting his head plastered. Amid his coughs from the strangling, Seliph mocked, "So tell me how does it feel to have your head smashed in?"

"You freak!" Sylphiel shouted, pulling harder on both ends, making Seliph howl. "You feeling smart now, huh? Come on you bastard, give me some more lip. Will make tearing this off more satisfying."

Despite the pain, Seliph used the opportunity to divert his free hand over the arms and stab with a newly formed Night Slash dagger straight into one of the fake machamp's arms. Sylphiel roared in pain as Seliph wrenched his other hand free and stabbed into the mon's stomach, making purple goo leak from the hole made. Sylphiel snarled, seizing Seliph by the shoulders, lifting him overhead, and throwing him straight into a tree.

With a hard thud, Seliph's back struck the tree as he hit the ground on his stomach. Groaning, Seliph rolled on his back, his head spinning and his wounds hurting. He held his head in one hand as the other attempted to get something to grab for pulling up. He didn't get the chance.

Sylphiel walked over, grabbed Seliph's head and shoved him away from the tree. "I'm about ready to take whatever muk Plageues gives me just so I can tear off that annoying head." Sylphiel slammed his foot down on Seliph's arm, lifting his leg off as Seliph rolled onto his side. "Go on psycho, keep resisting. I'll just beat you back into the ground." Seeing Seliph was going for a horizontal swipe at the legs, Sylphiel stepped back and once clear of the move swung his leg straight into Seliph's wound.

The greninja rolled a few circles, beaten and groaning. All his strength felt gone, his body felt heavy, his mind felt hazy, and his eyes were barely open. Despite all this, Seliph struggled to get up, refusing to stay and be at the mercy of the Red Eye.

"You are the most annoying person I've ever had to fight." Sylphiel stomped on his way to Seliph, huffing as his fists tightened, ready to pound on Seliph some more. Once he was right over Seliph, who was currently on his hands and knees, he cupped his upper two hands together and raised the over his head. "So I hope this hurts more than I think it wi-" Suddenly his face was struck by a fast moving object. Since he was leaning back slightly, Sylphiel couldn't rebalance and started falling backwards in confusion.

Pushing off Sylphiel's face, Swift pointed his arms forwards, forming and firing a quick Focus Blast that struck squarely in the fake machamp's chest and sent him tumbling a few yards away, uprooting some plants and dirt along the way.

Swift hadn't landed for two seconds before he was at Seliph's side, checking him. "Damnit, you're pretty banged up," Swift stated, a little bit of guilt setting in though relieved to see Seliph wasn't dead.

"S-Swift?" Seliph blinked a few times as he held his head.

"Easy buddy." Swift repositioned him to sit down and moved his back to a rock. "You need to sit still until your brain stops wanting to spin itself out of your head."

"B-but the di-"

"I'll handle mister four arms." Swift moved his face in front of Seliph's and both sets of blue eyes met, Seliph's tired ones and Swift's focused and confident ones.

Reluctantly, Seliph nodded as he leaned back on the tree. Despite not wanting to put all the work on Swift, Seliph couldn't help sigh with content as his muscles just melted at the change to relax.

While Seliph was resting, Swift focused back on the machamp. Narrowing his eyes, the heliolisk noticed the ditto-like eyes his opponent had, grumbling to himself, "Great a ditto."

Sylphiel also studied Swift's appearance, albeit more out of surprise compared to simple annoyance like with Seliph. "Great, so Siegfried was a pushover after all." Rolling his arms, Sylphiel groaned from the added work load. "Guess I'll have to do his work for him."

Hey, so uhm…are either of you there? Swift thought, not exactly sure if they were still connected. His heart about fell with the silence that followed. Oh come on! Swift started to freak out as the machamp started getting up. For safety, Swift threw another Focus Blast at the mon, which slammed him into a tree. Come on, Come on, pick up! Am I doing this right? He rolled away from another one, then with as loud of a thought he could, shouted in his mind, HELLO‽ ANYBODY THERE IN MY…HEAD?

Dyaaa! Don't zzzhout in my head, Devon retorted. I about zzzpiraled downwardzzz from that.

Then why didn't you pick up? Swift demanded, scowling.

Devon paused for a little bit before saying. Pick up? You didn't zzzay anything.

What do you mean I didn't say anything? Swift shot his arms forwards in a frustratingly confused manner. Don't I have to like, think words and then it gets se-?

Sorry about that, I got scraped a little from the recoil but I'm fine now. Demetri interjected between the two voices suddenly, confusing Swift more and Devon too, wherever in the air he was.

Uh…Demetri? What do you mean 'scraped from the recoil'? Swift inquired.

Demetri gave a grumble and explained, I'm being chased by a gallade and one of his Psycho Cuts exploded close enough to disrupt our connection for a second.

Swift nodded understanding, before tilting his head after pondering it for a second. Oh…He can do that?

Anyone can do that with a strong enough psychic move and a good enough hit. I literally have Extrasensory, a move which is all about causing mental static! Demetri ranted, either anger from whatever wound he got or the running.

Oh I see. Despite this chaotic communication and getting rebuked by Demetri, Swift sighed in relief that he hadn't been cut off from his saviors. I didn't know that about psychic moves.

It'zzz lezzzzzz about the move and more about the pzzzychic interference one can make. Devon added, trying to explain it in a better detailed manner. You zzzee, pzzzychic movezzz are like how zzztuff affectzzz zzzound. Enough obzzztruction or interference would cauzzze a delay or even a mizzzzzz.

I think I follow what you're saying. Suddenly, he heard a crack and looked forwards to the trunk of the tree heading straight towards him. AHHHH! He screamed, diving to the side, just narrowly avoiding it.

While getting up, Swift was suddenly bombarded by Devon's berating.

Zzztop doing that!

I'm sorry, I was just caught of- YIKES! Swift rolled away from a downwards punch by Sylphiel, quickly handspringing back onto his feet. He didn't have time to reply to more Devon ranting, be it directly to Swift or just the bug's thoughts being sent without him knowing, before he was once more stuck evading.

Swift, are you engaged? Demetri's serious and thankfully less aggravated voice joined in.

Excuse me? Swift paused at the question only to snap back to the fight and duck beneath a sweep of Sylphiel's arms. He darted between the mon's legs as Demetri tried to correct himself.

Demetri growled over their link and tried to nicely clarify. I mean, are you fighting someone?

You mean you can't see it? Swift leaped away from another punch, opening his frills to firing a Thunderbolt.

Angrily, Sylphiel crossed his two upper arms to block the move as he slowly moved closer towards Swift.

You do understand telepathy is an exchange of thoughts over a psychic conne-

Yes! I'm fighting someone! Swift snapped, rudely cut Demetri off due to the building stress from so many things happening at once. Seliph is badly injured and this mon is a bit of a hassle. Can one of you guys assist?

I hear you, Demetri I'll help him, while you go after the zzznorlax on the main path. He'zzz got the other three monzzz caged in with him by Block. A telepathic grunt was Demetri's confirmation and Devon then asked. Zzzwift, can you fire off zzzome kind of zzzignal zzzo I can find you guyzzz. The forezzzt bruzzzh izzz pretty thick.

Okay, I'll work on that, just keep an eye out. Once Demetri and Devon had gone silent, Swift finally got a grip on things and after a calming breath, dropped his frills, thus ending the Thunderbolt barrage and stared at his larger opponent, who had lowered his defenses.

"Can't things just go smoothly," Sylphiel angrily muttered, charging towards Swift as he morphed into a tauros.

Swift waited patiently for the mon to get close although skeptical that the ditto would just do a simple charge on a small, agile opponent. His patience paid off as Sylphiel jumped forwards, spinning while morphing into a kommo-o.

Leaping above the tail swipe, Swift swung his own tail, slicing across Sylphiel's face where the eyes were. While Sylphiel was distracted by the pain from his cut and suffering temporary blindness, Swift wasted no time opening his frills and aiming through the branches with a Thunderbolt. Please see it. Swift thought as he kept the move going, although growing nervous as Sylphiel morphed into a Galvantula, and looked at Swift.

Although he was confused by why Swift was firing straight into the air, he didn't pay it any mind. Charging at the surging heliolisk as started rolling forwards while taking the form of a whirlipede.

I zzzee it, on my way.

That was all Swift needed to hear in his head. He shut off the move, closed his frills, activated Iron Tail, and swiped at the part of Sylphiel's spin almost at the ground. Right as he struck, Swift bent low as the strike from the Iron Tail knocked Syphiel wildly spinning overhead.

However, Sylphiel demorphed, spinning and becoming a lucario, gracefully landing on one paw as he eyed Swift menacingly.

The heliolisk, eyed him back, trying not to rush into their fight as he waited for Devon to assist. He about jumped in a start at Devon's voice suddenly asking, I have an idea. Try and get him in a prone zzztate if you can, I'm ready.

Meanwhile, Seliph had been watching this all transpire and was rather confused at Swift's odd actions. Thinking the heliolisk was in over his head, since Swift looked like he had hit a dead end on what to do, Seliph picked himself up, using the tree as balancer, and moved his hands together to start forming a Water Shuriken.

This got Sylphiel's attention, giving Swift an idea. The heliolisk rushed in low towards the distracted fake, instantly grabbing Sylphiel's awareness, however, Swift dashed to the left so Sylphiel's eyes would follow, putting his back towards Seliph.

Despite being caught in the middle, Sylphiel hadn't forgotten about Seliph's attack, and was ready when it was flung towards him. What he wasn't prepared for was the following leg swipe from Swift, making him leap away and attempting to backflip over the shuriken.

Gotcha. Swift smirked as he could hear Devon's rapid buzzing. In an instant, the airborne lucario showed a face of dread as he saw something racing towards him, lighting up like a fireball heading right for your face. Just a second later, Swift felt the force of Devon, whizzing through the air engulfed in Wild Charge as he flew overhead, ramming into Sylphiel and taking him away from the duo with great speed till the sparking lights from the move died off in the distance of the dark forest.

"Alright, it worked!" Swift cheered, thrusting his fist to the heavens while Seliph just stared in total shock where the ditto had been taken away by whatever that was. However, Seliph having to lean back on the tree for some balance snapped Swift back to the situation and he rushed over. "Hey easy there, let me help you," Swift directed, as he let the greninja rest on him to stand for a second. His eyes spotted several of Seliph's injuries and with a worried look stated, "we've got to get you out of here."

"Agreed," Seliph concurred with a grunt. As Swift started helping Seliph walk a little before letting go, Seliph asked, "So what was that all about?"

"What was about?" the heliolisk looked at Seliph who pointed in the direction of the bushes where the ditto was rammed away. "That. Who or what was that?"

"Well aheh," The heliolisk rubbed the back of his head as the two temporarily halted. Slightly embarrassed, Swift started explaining the situation as he helped Seliph sit down to recover a little of his stamina. "I'll be quick about it. So these two guys came by and helped me in my fight and right now we're trying to get everyone to town."

Crossing his legs, Seliph raised a brow as he skeptically inquired, "So these two are here to help us?"

"That's what they claim at least." Swift shrugged.

"I see." The two though in silence for a second, with Seliph being the first to break it. "So they know who we are then…" His eyes narrowed.

Swift crossed his arms and looked down, also a bit concerned about this conclusion. "Yeah, I would have waited if there was time, but in the mome-"

"You had every reason to." Seliph looked at Swift as he rubbed his side, where his belt covered his wound. "We are in a hole after all. Which is why when this is over we get answers about who they are and what they want with us."

Swift nodded in agreement. After that a thought struck his mind. Swift turned his head and spoke out, "Can you hear me?" confusing Seliph.

"Of course I can hea-"

"Shoosh," Swift quickly ordered, confusing Seliph even more as the heliolisk looked outwards to the forwards as if to spot something. To Swift's dismay, the sound of Demetri's thoughts answered his question as well.

Yes, I can hear you. You have to think what you're going to say to say it.

A face palm followed. "Great," Swift grumbled to himself, dragging his hand down his face.

No judgement here, but at least keep in mind the gravity of your situation. I'm not as antagonistic as the gallade who is chasing me right now was.

Swift scowled as he stared in front, not really paying attention to what he was staring at. Look, sorry but you did kind of just show up out of no-

Demetri interrupted with, Are you really wanting to talk about this while I'm running from a psychopathic gallade and Devon is…what is Devon doing?

Swift started to answer when. Oh he-

Currently giving thizzz ditto the ride of hizzz life. Devon's voice echoed in their thoughts. It sounded hasty, rough, and full of adrenaline.

The attacker? Demetri clarified.

Yeah, we coordinated a surprise strike. Right now Devon is slamming that ditto guy into whatever stuff they fly into.

The sound of Demetri's mulling resounded in Swift's head, like the type of buzzing in your head that doesn't make your ears hurt or your head spin. Devon, I have an idea. I'll fill you in.

Oh, wait, before you go. Swift shot his arms forwards, almost as if the grumpig was walking away right in front of him.

Telepathy remember. Demetri reminded him in a slightly 'tired of the laymon' way. I'm not going anywhere that you can't talk to me.

Swift face-palmed once more before mumbling in his mind, Can we add Seliph to this?

Sure, can you touch him?

Tensing at the abrupt question and the thought that followed, Swift demanded, 'Touch him‽'

Arceus help me, Demetri grumbled in his head, which sadly Swift could hear. Like what I did with you. I can use that to add him to our link; it's not that complex.

Swift was about to face palm but decided against doing it a third time.

"Swift…are you oka-"

"Seliph, I need to uhm…" An awkward red flooded his cheeks as he thought about a way to say it. As Seliph just watched completely lost, Swift managed to utter the phrase, "I need to touch your forehead so you can join in the telepathy."

Swift about died in his mind at Seliph's completely caught off guard look. After giving off a frustrated yell, Swift tried again to explain. "One of the guys that assisted is a psychic and he set up a telepathic link. So I need to touch you so he can add you too."

Seliph nodded and reached out his hand, Swift did as well and they shook. So…you in yet?

…Testing?

Alright, you're in. Swift gave a big smile of success as they let go.

So this is how it feels to do telepathy, Seliph marveled. I must say this is quite the experience.

I know right, it feels so weird not using your mouth to talk.

Agreed, it's almost li-

I'm sorry to interrupt this. Demetri's impatient voice chimed in.

Oh…are you the psychic Swift was talking about?

Yes, and my name is Demetri. But back on topic, me and Devon could use some help so if you guys can assist that'd be very helpful. That snorlax might prove to be an issue.

Wait. Swift jumped in, and stepped his foot forwards albeit unnecessarily. You said there were three with the snorlax. That means three others are missing.

Demetri gave a groan as the situation was just getting worse. Please find them then.

Swift nodded and without another word, he closed his eyes and let his gift, Echo Visor, take over. After a few seconds of silence, Swift looked in a certain direction. "I think I hear Garon over there," Swift informed, pointing to the brush behind Seliph.

"Alright, I'll handle that." Seliph started walking in that direction, but Swift quickly rushed in front.

"Wait, what are you doing? You're pretty badly hurt, you shouldn't get into another figh-"

Swift stopped at Seliph's hand resting gently on his head. Seliph then bent a knee so their eyes were level and said, "I have a plan…trust me, Uncle Swift." A smile crossed Seliph's face, a genuine one.

Pondering, Swift looked down but after a few seconds of mulling look back at Seliph with an understanding stare. "Okay, just…" Swift paused, as he looked to the side.

"Just?" Seliph repeated.

"Just…get yourself and Garon safely to the bridge." Swift's eyes stayed averted, but this time they seemed to reach somewhere deep inside him, somewhere Seliph figured wasn't something to pry.

"I'll hold myself to that." Seliph hugged Swift suddenly, surprising the smaller Pokémon. "That goes for you too." For a moment, there was just silence as the two just stayed in that position, processing the following feelings, information, and closeness. Once Seliph let go, he rushed past Swift, hurrying off to help Garon.

Swift watched him leave, still startled by the sudden hug but appreciating it all the same. He sighed a little, wiping his snout as he sniffled once and rushed off in the direction he had heard the loud snorlax.




A flying Psycho Cut struck a rock while another sliced part of a stump off. Both failed to hit their intended target, Demetri. However, the resulting explosions sent a minor shockwave strong enough to make Demetri stumble a little. Instead of fighting for his balance again, the grumpig fell with his momentum, rolled on his arm to protect his head, and ending on his knee. He twisted to face behind and shielded his head with his arms, slamming them together horizontally to form a blue wall with a spiral like pattern swirling inside it. The two Psycho Cuts slammed strongly into the newly formed Reflect, causing some minor damage, evidence by Demetri's grunt as if he cut his arm. The barrier faded into many little blue lights and flew swiftly back into him, making him glow a little light blue light as he got back on two feet.

He's persistent, I'll give him that, Demetri said to himself. The gallade was rushing towards him, his arms already set with two more Psycho Cuts. Snapping his right arm outwards, Demetri levitated a rock and flung it straight for the charger, who sliced the rock away with a swipe of his left arm. Demetri raised his left, lifting a dead log up and throwing it flatly at him.

Siegfried threw one of his Psycho Cuts, splitting it in half. As he did this, Siegfried spotted Demetri firing a Power Gem with his right straight for him, forcing him to swing down his other Psycho Cut, causing a minor explosion as the two moves collided.

Demetri's eyes narrowed as he stepped back a little, watching the gallade leap from the smoke of the two move's collision and firmly landing on one knee.

The gallade remained in his landing position for a few seconds, infusing his extended elbows with another round of pink energy. On after the other he swung his arms to fire two more Psycho Cuts at Demetri.

The grumpig retaliated by thrusting his right arm forwards and slightly upwards. A telekinetic force hit one of the Psycho Cuts off course so they formed enough of a gap for him to dive through the gap.

After rolling forwards once landing, Demetri extended his right arm outwards, immediately lifting a rock telekinetically and chucking it towards the charging Siegfried.

Siegfried just smacks the rock away with his arm, walking towards his opponent in an intimidating way.

Very persistent. Demetri started to back away, keeping his arms up and crossed in front of him as a defensive gesture. As his eyes locked with the gallade's, Demetri tried calling for help. Devon are you nearing the path?

Yeah. Had to make a zzzharp turn but I zzzhould be there in no time.

Good. Demetri darted to the left with the Siegfried following in pursuing parallel. During their rush through the forest, both exchanged their long ranged moves of Psycho Cut and Power Gem, although Demetri managed to avoid losing his lead. Finally, Demetri burst out of the brush and onto the path, the gallade leaping out as well. The two didn't attack at first since the brightness from the path took a second for both to adjust to.

Once the pain was bearable enough to keep his eyes open, Demetri immediately snapped his attention towards the gallade, who was throwing a Psycho Cut. Thankfully, it appeared the throw was before the gallade had his sight fully back, thus sending the move far off course. Demetri watched the move strike a tree to his left; looked back at the gallade, and smirked.

Siegfried growled and threw another, this time not obscured by the light adjustment.

Demetri stepped to the side and leaned far enough so it would cross over his back, while shoving his left arm forwards, knocking some dirt from the path all over Siegfried.

Siegfried angrily cursed, as he tried wiping his eyes, making it hard for Demetri to not at least smirk at the silly display from what once was his fearsome opponent.

With Siegfried busy and focusing back on the plan, Demetri turned around to and spotted a large red wall in the distance, one with a big red X in the middle and small transparent surges amid its solid, red coloring.

Demetri pressed a finger to the side of his head, mulling over what the wall was as he checked with Swift. Swift are you there? Have you arrived at the Block Wall yet?

Yeah, Swift's voice replied in Demetri's thoughts. Though I'm having trouble finding a branch high enough to reach the top.

Demetri was reminded of Siegfried's existence by the gallade's grunting getting louder. He spun around to see Siegfried starting to blink, as he formed his Psycho Cut arms again. Scowling, Demetri quickly ordered, Change of plans. I'm down on the path fighting their gallade. Back me up.

Uh…okay. He a handful or-?

Just get over here. Demetri interrupted, not really feeling patient. Siegfried threw two Psycho Cuts towards Demetri, who quickly responded with two Power Gems of his own. As the moves collided, Demetri remembered something. Oh, and watch out for Devon.

Swift replied with a quizzical tone. Why?

Demetri groaned at both the unneeded question and at seeing another attack from Siegfried heading his way. He rolled to the side, simultaneously responding with, Bec- Unfortunately, both his message and roll were cut short by a second Psycho Cut thrown right where he attempted to evade.

Siegfried scored a direct hit, knocking Demetri into a side wall as a light blue aura glowed for a second, absorbing some of the damage. Still active huh? Siegfried snickered, getting another duo ready to throw. He was about to fire them, when he noticed Demetri twist his right hand slightly. His eyes darted to the right, giving him enough time to see a rock heading for his face and leaning back enough for it to miss. Enough of this. Siegfried rushed towards Demetri, who by now was back on his feet.

Their confrontation shifted to close melee. Siegfried unleashing a barrage of slices and kicks, with Demetri doing his best to avoid and parry. The rapidness of this array of attacks was starting to out speed Demetri and it wasn't long before Siegfried went for the throat, surging Pyscho Cut into his elbow as he moved in.

Demetri managed to barely pull back enough to avoid the horizontal slice, but this just set him up for Siegfried to place his weight on the front foot, twist his body to the momentum, and deliver a strong side kick straight into Demetri's gut.

The impact was strong enough to force Demetri to exhale and the force sent him a few feet away onto his back. Groaning, he rolled on his stomach, planted his foot, and pushed into a forwards roll. Thankfully, his guess saved him from Demetri's leg coming down upon his back, striking the dirt of the path instead. Before Siegfried could pursue with another attack, Demetri shot his left arm at Siegfried, pushing Siegfried away with a telekinetic force, although the gallade managed to shield his head with his arms in time.

Catching his breath, Demetir raised his defenses once more and readied for another clash, when suddenly Devon's voice shouted in his head. Get out of the way! Demetri's ears perked up, hearing a crackling sound behind him. Wasting no more time, Demetri levitated a rock and threw it at Siegfried before diving to the side directly afterwards.

Siegfried of course, deflected this too, but was struck by a weak psychic force sent by Demetri, during his dive. "Stop playing ga-" His face froze in a mix of confusion and surprise as he spied a chaotic, yellow, electrical ball flying straight towards him.

"Ride izzz over!" Devon exclaimed, stopping his wings to an abrupt halt while what looked like a charred lucario kept flying onwards, straight into Siegfried. With a firm thud, Siegfried was knocked squarely onto his back with Sylphiel tumbling onwards from the momentum.

"Ugh, what in arceus's name was that?" Siegfried groaned, rubbing his chest as he sat up. He didn't stay surprised for long, shifting to a serious gaze upon seeing Devon in front with Demetri getting up this bug's side. Cautiously, Siegfried got back to his feet, not taking his eyes off the bug, who was flapping his wings and staring back anticipating a fight. "Sylphiel, assist." Siegfried commanded, as he watched Demetri started walking along the side while not giving Devon an opening.

"F**k that!" Sylphiel coarsely snapped before more groaning from his aching lucario form body. He rolled off his stomach, lying on his back with small traces of smoke coming off his chest. Most of the fur on the front side of his body was singed off and his back and sides had several cuts and wooden splinters all of which were dripping purple ooze.

Siegfried took a second to glance back at Sylphiel, before starting to back up as Devon and Demetri pressed forwards. "I can't take these two by myself," Siegfried pointed out. Unfortunately for him, Demetri and Devon were joined by Swift on their right flank. With a disgruntled breath Siegfried corrected himself, "Three…make that three."

"What part of 'f**k that' did you not hear?" Sylphiel fumed. By the time Sylphiel mustered the urge to at least sit up, Siegfried had backtracked to his side.

Since he was closer now, Siegfried was able to get a much better look at him, which he soon regretted once he got a glimpse of Sylphiel's current form. He closed his eyes and rasped before forcing himself to focus on the three in front, who were now spread out along the path in an opposing manner.

"Just transform. We need to work together," Siegfried stressed.

"So far I've had my head splattered and now I've been roasted alive while smashed into everything in this damn forest!" Sylphiel ranted, getting to his feet, though wobbling a little in the process. "I'm done with this mission!"

Siegfried paused, turned his gaze straight at Sylphiel, and with a straight, cold face said. "Tell that to enforcers."

Sylphiel paused, his face changing from extreme anger to sudden remembrance.

"Enforcers?" Swift asked, absent-mindedly.

Siegfried's eyes narrowed, focusing back on the enemies. "I don't care to tell, but Plageues will so if you don't want to make yourself a target you'll help me fight these punks."

After a few seconds, Sylphiel grumbled, looking at Siegfried with a scowl but not one out of raw rage this time. "Plageues better make up for this." With that said, his eyes began to glow as his body was engulfed in a white light.

"Zzztop!" Devon commanded, firing Bug Buzz straight at the prone Sylphiel. However, it was met by Siegfried stepping in the way, using his body as a shield for Sylphiel to finish. While strong, the Bug Buzz couldn't breach through Siegfried's Pyscho Cut elbows.

Demetri rushed to flank, levitating a rock and hurling it at Siegfried but to his dismay it was knocked away by Sylphiel's white light glowing arm, which had grown thinner and was extending its elbow. Deciding to fall back, Demetri backed up to Devon who also deduced that they missed their chance and ceased his Bug Buzz. The three stared into the twin gazes of two Siegfrieds, albeit one clearly the angrier version.

The fake Siegfried walks in front and surged Pyscho Cut into his elbows as he threatened, "I'm gonna make that bug squirm for that ride." Siegfried joined over with his and the two readied to engage.

"I look forward to you trying," Devon replied, as Demetri crossed his arms and Swift bent low onto all fours.

The twin Siegfried's unleashed their four Pyscho Cuts as Devon, Demetri and Swift all fired their own ranged moves in response, surging a powerful explosion at their collision.




"Not such a big dragon now, aren't you?" Vex laughed in glee as he latched his Shadow Claws violently onto Garon's blocking arms. It filled him with glee to see Garon struggle against his overbearing force, thrusting downwards while oozing purple liquid down Garon's arms. "Always bigger, tougher eh? Makes it fun to watch when it's the other way around!" Vex retracted one of his arms and swiped Garon's side, making him skid a little on the ground, although he stayed strong on his feet.

Garon, however, didn't let this strike ruin his defense and simply held it upwards, ready and waiting for the next one. Carefully, Garon backed up, keeping his talons raised defensively as he tried to put some space between them.

"What's wrong? Dragon wanting to run away?" Vex jibed, crawling towards Garon with creepy anticipation.

I'm guessing this is his first time mega evolving. The power is getting to his head. Garon stiffened as his back fin touched something. The hex-like writing was resonating with the black, hazy-flame wall like a signal to solidify the transparent barriers. Garon snapped his eyes back at the crawling gengar. Hopefully, I can get him to make a mistake and go in for a solid blow. Garon started walking along the wall, slowly and cautiously.

Vex laughed as he moved in kind, forcing Garon to keep scooting along the wall, like a cornered prey trying to get away from its playful predator. Vex licked his chops as he started pacing his words in a manner like chanting while keeping his voice low. "Poor little dragon whelp, fell in a hole…Tried to climb out…back to the cave…eyes watching him struggle."

Admittedly, Garon found Vex's repeating this child's story rather disturbing, mainly with Vex only repeating the scary part over and over. He didn't let it shake his resolve and simply waited for Vex to make his lunge. It was pretty much given the gengar would make an attack eventually.

Vex's line repeating stopped. His eyes widened and he gaped his mouth more, a Shadow Ball forming in it.

No more indication was needed. Garon shot straight towards the gengar, leaping onto the wall of the arena and using the Shadow Tag to propel off the solidified wall for a direct smack with Dragon Rush. Vex let out a chilling cry as Garon used the move to push off Vex's head and land further into their field of battle, twisting himself so he had Vex in his sights.

"I'm going to make you scream!" Vex roared, violently crawling towards Garon.

The grachomp readied his talons. "Bring it spooks."

The nickname just made Vex wanting Garon's painful cry more. He leaped up, and slashed from above.

Garon responded by simply hopping back so the move would strike the ground.

However, Vex simply phased into the ground and moved straight towards Garon's feet. Two hands phased from the shadow blob circle in the ground, trying to grab Garon's legs but the garchomp had already leaped over with an aerial cartwheel. Vex came up from the ground, pretty pissed. "Hold still you little-" suddenly he heard a little sound coming from near his feet. As he looked down to see what it was, a cyan light glowed. There, less than a foot away from his body was an escape orb. Before Vex could blink he and the orb were engulfed in a pillar of light and whisked away.

When the light disappeared Vex found himself on the plains, the forest not even on the horizon. He moved to pick up the orb, trembling with a mix of shock and rage. "Take me back," he demanded, but before he could pick it up something else flashed. He looked at the source to get an exploding Blast Orb hurling him a little ways. He scrambled back to his feet only to see that both orbs were in pieces, beyond repair or use. For an awkward minute, Vex remained silent, too shocked by what just happened to even make a sound. Finally, a furious scowl slowly formed on Vex's face before violently slamming his hands on the ground and roaring to the heavens, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!"



Garon just stared with his mouth hanging open at the spot where the mega gengar used to be. His blank staring was interrupted by someone coming out from some brush. "Hrm? Seliph?" A wave of relief washed over Garon, as he walked over to join the greninja. "Was that light show you?"

"Yep." Seliph nodded as he held his side. "Glad I still had my escape orb on me."

"Clever…but wait, won't he come back?"

Seliph shook his head as they met in the middle. "Nope, I had one last blast orb. Tossed them both and hoped for the best."

By the time Seliph had finished, Garon noticed the greninja's wounded side. "Are you okay?" Garon inquired, moving his talons on Seliph to inspect like a mother to her child with a bruise on the cheek.

While grateful for the concern, Seliph gently brushed the talons away affirming he was fine. "I should be okay if I don't do more fighting. Those last fights tired me out."

"You look more than a bit tired." Garon's eyes narrowed. "What happened to you and Swift?"

"We both got separated, but he found me not long ago." Seliph rubbed his head, slightly guilty about how they got separated. "We had some help from two mons that showed up. They're currently helping Swift assist the main group."

"That's good. Though," Garon looked at the side, a worried scowl on his face.

"What's up?" Seliph asked, leaning forwards, curiously.

"I think I fought their leader." Garon's eyes stared straight to Seliph. "He's going after Vray. I hope he's still with the group, but…"

"But?" Seliph leaned in closer, waiting for an answer.

Garon didn't reply, just stared forwards with a scowl in deep thought. Before Seliph could repeat his question, Garon stated, "We don't have time to go over it now. The others may need our help"

As Garon started to head off, Seliph raised his finger and stated, "Actually, I think we can let them handle it." Seliph tapped the side of his head, resulting in Garon giving him a confused look. "One of the mons that is helping us is a psychic type and I'm in his telepathic connection."

Garon nodded in understanding. "Alright. So what's the plan then?"




Siegfried blocked Swift's Iron Tail with one of his arms and threw another Psycho Cut at Demetri, who was attempting to rush him. After forcing Demetri to pivot to the side, Siegfried tried slicing at Swift, but the heliolisk was too fast, quickly breaking away before the lock left him vulnerable.

After landed, Swift opened his frills and fired Thunderbolt, forcing Siegfried back.

I'm getting tired of this. The Gallade took a second to see how Sylphiel was fairing. Great. Siegfried grumbled at seeing Devon and Sylphiel locked in a Wild Charge and Psycho Cut infused arms. As he tried to assist with a Psycho Cut of his own, Swift sliced at him with Iron Tail, forcing him to abandon the action.

"Don't even think about it." Swift bent down, allowing Demetri to telekinetically throw a few rocks at the Gallade, forcing him back further.

"Devon, do you need assistance?" Demetri called out to the buzzing vikavolt.

"Nope." Devon flapped his wings faster and pushed harder, making Sylphiel struggle to not slide from the force. "I'll handle thizzz guy."

"Will you now," the fake gallade scoffed, pushing harder onto Devon. Unfortunately, his extra effort didn't really aid him against the bug. Amid this tough struggle an idea crossed his mind. Pushing up on his legs, Sylphiel pulled his body atop Devon's move, although Devon was able to stop from flying forwards. Once on his arms, Sylphiel pushed off with a hand spring and started spinning while stretching out his arms, in order to fire a Vacuum Wave.

Devon quickly flew forwards, avoiding the move's radius and fired a Bug Buzz straight up at Devon, striking his stomach and pushing him higher into the air. With a careful aiming, Devon moved slight right on the ground, pushing Sylphiel higher and higher.

"Ack! Stop it," Sylphiel demanded, managing to finally push himself out of the move's path. While pleased with himself at first, his mood quickly changed as he noticed he was falling leg first into the forest below, far from the path.

Devon couldn't help but smile as he watched Sylphiel letting out a shriek before hitting the tree line, followed by cracking noises and loud sounds of pain. Giving himself a satisfied nod, Devon turned his attention to the other battle going on.

Swift went for a leg sweep with his Iron Tail, but Siegfried hopped away. Siegfried wasn't clear, however, for Demetri came in with a psychic push, causing Siegfried's landing to be on his back instead of his feet. Although landing in an awkward way, Siegfried used extra distance to his advantage and handsprung backwards, quickly spinning while positioned horizontal to fire a short lived Vacuum Wave at the two.

Swift evaded, while Demetri blocked with his arms. The move beat upon his arm and exposed body, not doing too much damage but decent blows to the grumpig.

Once done, Siegfried landed and fired a Psycho Cut at Demetri, but as a result he was exposed to Devon's Bug Buzz, pushing him further back. He grunted from the hit as he shielded with his arms and dug his legs in, doing his best to tank the continuous move. What made this situation worse was his Psycho Cut had missed.

"Good job, Devon," Demetri complimented, walking to the side to get a side view.

"Let's hurry up and end this so we can help the others." Swift followed Demetri and almost ran into him when the grumpig stopped suddenly. "What is it?"

Swift? Seliph's voice resounded in his head.

Seliph? Swift looked to the forest at their right. What is it? Did you get to Garon?

Yes, but we've got a problem.

Elaborate, Demetri requested, as he scowled. As he crossed his arms to his defensive position, Demetri couldn't help but sigh at more complications happening.

So Garon told me their leader is a zoroark and that he was after Vragon. He may be in your vicinity.

I see. We'll keep an eye out. You both head to the bridge; we'll join you when we can. Demetri was about to resume his side attack on Siegfried when Swift suddenly said something.

"Oh no."

"What is it?" Demetri faced Swift, who looked at him.

"When I was trying to get into the Block arena I only saw Jaron, Ciecro, and Jasmine inside. Vragon and Dolly must have gotten separated from them."

"What?" Demetri looked at the block walls down the path. "So where are they then?"

"I don't know. I'll have to hear for them." Swift was about to rush off till Demetri put his hand on Swift's shoulder.

"Hang on a minute."

"There isn't much ti-" he was cut off by Demetri tapping his shoulder wound, making the heliolisk hiss from the sting. "What was that for?" Swift demanded.

"You aren't in shape to handle their leader alone. Especially if whoever we're dealing with hasn't done much fighting." Demetri looked at Devon and telepathically ordered, Devon, go with him and secure the two mons in question. If you see this zoroark, don't hold back.

Noted, but are you zzzure you wanna take thizzz guy on alone?

Confirming with a nod, Demetri walked behind Devon. I'll be okay. I doubt this guy can scale the Block walls easily.

What do you mean? The vikavolt asked curiously.

Don't worry about it. You two should hurry; this leader of theirs may have already engaged those two. Demetri crossed his arms and waited for Devon to cease his attack.

Underzzztood, Devon replied starting to stop flapping his wings for Bug Buzz. Let'zzz find them Swift.

Swift immediately rushed off, not look back as Devon flew around and followed closely. Thanks Devon, Demetri, Swift said in their link as he and Devon disappeared in the forest to the right.

A grin crossed Demetri's face, quite pleased at the show of gratitude. He stared down the gallade, who clearly looked worn from the fighting.

Siegfried infusing his extended elbows with Psycho Cut again ready to clash once more. His opponent crossed his arms, a normal psychic's defense stance. I had better make sure. Siegfried's gift activated as his eyes started to glow a little. Let's see what you're up t-

Without any warning, Demetri thrust his arms forwards and hit Siegfried with a psychic force, pushing Siegfried back a few feet. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Demetri turned around and rushed towards the Block wall.

"Not this again!" Siegfried sprinted after him, but soon stopped to a jog as he watched Demetri levitate to rocks in front and jump on them. With a spiteful stare, he watched Demetri head for the top of the Block walls. Even if he tried throwing a Psycho Cut, it wouldn't make it before Demetri was on the other side and thus out of his ability to aim for. Rather than pursue, Siegfried let the Psycho Cut in his arms go out and took a moment to rest.



The three stood there, panting and worn as they held their ground against the large snorlax towering on the other side.

"Well I'm out of ideas," Jaron said, followed by few wheezes.

"This guy just eats up your moves with ease and my physicals aren't enough to do much either." Jasmine started shivering as the mon started walking towards them once more. She started backing up, the realization they might lose this mean taking a harsh grip over her heart.

Ciecro then stepped in the way. "Den we hit it harder!" He surged a Thunderpunch in his hand as rushed towards the mon. "Jaron! Jaz! Cover me!"

"Okay!" they both replied. Jaron rushed to the right while Jasmine went left, both firing at the snorlax's face with Scald and Psycho Cut.

With the snorlax having to block, Ciecro had a clear shot. Ciecro roared as he charged and with all his might, punched the snorlax's left foot.

A loud cry came from the snorlax as he backed up a little.

"Keep it up!" Ciecro ordered and the two obeyed, firing their moves continuously on the snorlax. With the moves' aid, Ciecro pushed against the snorlax's belly as best he could.

Sadly, Bruno recovered his bearings rather fast and thrust his right paw against the Scald and blocked any Psycho Cuts Jasmine sent with his left. Now that he could see, Bruno easily spotted Ciecro and pulled back slightly, before thrusting forwards and slamming his belly into Ciecro, who went tumbling over till hitting the wall.

"Ciecro!" Jaron yelled, stopping his Scald and rushing to his brother. He put his arms over Ciecro, trying to help the charmeleon get up. Ciecro was panting hard and holding his side, making Jaron feel a chill in his body. For a second, he spaced out, just looking at his brother with a bland stare.

Ciecro finally opened his eyes as he put an arm on the Block wall to lean on.

Jasmine leaned in. "Ciecro, are you-"

"I'm fine," Ciecro replied, working on standing up. Ciecro the noticed Jaron's blank stare and yelled, "Bro, get a grip."

Jaron blinked a few times, snapping back.

Ciecro gave him a determined look before walking in front of the two. "We ain't done yet." He wiped his snout with his right fist and readied for another attempt. "We need tah get 'im on 'is back. Try an' aim fo' more den one area. I'll charge in an-"

"No," Jaron walked in front, earning a startled look from Ciecro. "It won't do anything and you're not gonna take another hit well."

"Jaron, we have tah try somethin'." Ciecro walked in front, but Jaron grabbed his arm, pulling on it. "Stop it!" Ciecro yelled.

"Get it in your head you idiot!" Jaron shouted back. "Nothing we do hurts that guy. We can't even get him on his back!"

"I'm not givin' up Jaron! If we do den Jasmine's toast and we're as good as dead." Ciecro looked firmly into his eyes with his fiery, determined ones. "Now get it tahgether."

Jaron didn't reply, just look towards Bruno, was walking towards them. He looked like he had a thousand things to say but couldn't muster anything, just leering at Bruno. Slowly, his eyes focused on one thing. The red eyes on that snorlax.

Suddenly, a small blast struck the snorlax's head from behind, surprising the three about as much as Bruno.

"What deh?" Ciecro said as some grumpig flew over the snorlax's head, riding on two rocks. This mon then leaped off, twisting in the air as the rocks were telekinetically fired at Bruno, disorienting him further. Left awestruck, the three could just watch as the grumpig landed in front, his back towards them.

"Any of you injured?" the stranger asked, standing up and looking at them like he was in a hurry.

"Uhhh…" Jaron started till interrupted by Jasmine.

"No, but we could use some help against that."

Demetri nodded as he looked back at Bruno, who by now was almost able to see normally again. "Understood." Browsing the arena's walls Demetri added as he walked forwards, "I'll handle getting rid of these walls. Once they're down sprint for the bridge, I'll cover you."

"Uhm…who are you exactly?" Jaron inquired.

"When we're out of temporary confinement." Demetri gave the croconaw a cold glance as. Resuming his stand off against Bruno, Demetri stretched his arms out front and took a deep breath. I'd advise you all to stand back.

All three winced from the voice resounding in their heads.

Don't be alarmed. It's me; I just added you to my mental connection so we don't give away our strategy just in case.

"O-…kay?" Jaron mumbled as he looked to Ciecro, who shrugged. So it's telepathy? Jaron thought, attempting to communicate.

Woah, I heard yah say dat. Ciecro looked at Jaron, the two of them getting excited at this new experience.

Mind keeping the mental chatter down for a little bit. Demetri's eyes narrowed, getting fed up with the telepathic antics today. Just get ready to run for the bridge. He took their silence as understanding and stared at Bruno, his arms crossed and plans open like an X.

Bruno gazed back at Demetri, though more out of confusion at this new player. "Who are you?" He asked, just as surprised as the group was at first meeting.

Demetri closed his eyes as his black orbs on his head began to glow a tan light. Before Bruno could say anything, Demetri psychically spun himself, pulling his body inwards and low, while firing some small tannish orbs from the pearls on his head.

Small Power Gems, went flying around but shifted in their trajectory towards the snorlax by Demetri's psychic powers. With a powerful force, the barrage of Power Gems struck the snorlax all over, their impact causing small explosions and forcing the snorlax back. Demetri just kept spinning faster, firing more and more that flew like homing bugs before smacking into the snorlax.

Although Bruno tried to fend them off, there were too many for even his large arms to block. Bruno was pushed closer and closer to the barrier till finally he was inside the thing.

At this moment, Demetri did a little hop while still spinning. Cupping his hands together, Demetri formed two larger Power Gems at his side. Once landing and facing the snorlax, he swung his arms down, sending the two large orbs straight into Bruno's shoulders.

The large snorlax fell into his Block wall, causing it to experience a surge of static that rippled throughout the rest of the walls. The four observed the walls slowly begin to break apart as Bruno hit the ground, partially on the other side of the now non-existent barrier.

"It's gone, hurry!" Jaron shouted, gesturing them to follow as he darted forwards down the path. Ciecro and Jasmine chased after him as Demetri followed in the rear.

From behind them, the groans of Bruno could be heard, shifting in the ground, slightly dazed. He was about to get up, till Siegfried jumped onto his face and rushed over his stomach, leaping off, and giving chase to the four. "Oohhhh…Sylphiel's gonna yell at me now," Bruno moaned, working to sit up.

Seliph looked up to Sylphiel's angry black dotted eyes, lodged in the sockets of a Machamp.

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"angry black dotted eyes" feels a bit weak descripiton wise. Maybe just "looked up to Sylphiel's glaring eyes"?

Groaning, Seliph rolled on his back, his head spinning and his wounds hurting.

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Of course he's hurting because he has a wound lol. Maybe "his wounds opening more"?

Swift hadn't landed for two seconds before he was at Seliph's side, checking him. "Damnit, you're pretty banged up," Swift stated, a little bit of guilt setting in though relieved to see Seliph wasn't dead.

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I would've use a facial expression/reaction of Swift feeling guilt but relieved instead of outright stating it.

Currently giving thizzz ditto the ride of hizzz life. Devon's voice echoed in their thoughts. It sounded hasty, rough, and full of adrenaline.

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Okay, I chuckled at that line.

"I'll hold myself to that." Seliph hugged Swift suddenly, surprising the smaller Pokémon. "That goes for you too." For a moment, there was just silence as the two just stayed in that position, processing the following feelings, information, and closeness. Once Seliph let go, he rushed past Swift, hurrying off to help Garon.

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Also this part is cute.

The barrier faded into many little blue lights and flew swiftly back into him, making him glow a little light blue light as he got back on two feet.

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You used the phrase "little blue light" twice.

The grumpig retaliated by thrusting his right arm forwards and slightly upwards. A telekinetic force hit one of the Psycho Cuts off course so they formed enough of a gap for him to dive through the gap.

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"Gap" has been used twice here.

"F**k that!" Sylphiel coarsely snapped before more groaning from his aching lucario form body. He rolled off his stomach, lying on his back with small traces of smoke coming off his chest. Most of the fur on the front side of his body was singed off and his back and sides had several cuts and wooden splinters all of which were dripping purple ooze.

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Big mood. I don't blame Sylphiel for being so over with this assignment.

The fake Siegfried walks in front and surged Pyscho Cut into his elbows as he threatened, "I'm gonna make that bug squirm for that ride." Siegfried joined over with his and the two readied to engage.

"I look forward to you trying," Devon replied, as Demetri crossed his arms and Swift bent low onto all fours.

The twin Siegfried's unleashed their four Pyscho Cuts as Devon, Demetri and Swift all fired their own ranged moves in response, surging a powerful explosion at their collision.

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Hm, I feel it would be easier of you just mention One being Siegfried and another Sylphiel instead of being two Siegfried, but probably that's just me.

(As I read further though, you later pointed out both Siegfried and Sylphiel, so you fixed that already lol).

Vex laughed in glee as he latched his Shadow Claws violently onto Garon's blocking arms. It filled him with glee to see Garon struggle against his overbearing force, thrusting downwards while oozing purple liquid down Garon's arms.

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"Glee" in two successive sentences was repetitive. You can just have "Vex laughed" there.

Finally, a furious scowl slowly formed on Vex's face before violently slamming his hands on the ground and roaring to the heavens, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!"

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I'm gonna be honest, the cuss there is a bit too comedic and unprofessional to my tastes. Maybe just the normal f word and one exclamation point should do. On another note, kinda forgot Vex has Mega Evolved due to not refreshing myself what happened last chapter.

All right, so overall the fights on this chapter were solid, but I'm wondering when this huge clash will end since it felt like it keeps going and going and going. Hopefully this fight will come to a close fairly soon. I also thought everyone's reactions to Demetri able to have everyone communicate through telepathy was kinda funny. What held back the chapter for me was some of the awkward phrasing and repetition I pointed out earlier.

"Doing okay, Vray?" Dolly inquired, glancing slightly back as she walked at the edge of a cliff where a river ran far below.

"Yeah," he replied, before letting out a big yawn.

"Drowsy?"

"Sort of, but I can't feel any of the pain anymore."

Dolly sighed in her head, glad that it was still working. As she looked forwards, there it was. "Oh, thank Arceus, the bridge." They both looked at the wooden rope bridge, the only source of entry across the steep cliffs into the forests surrounding Plainier town. Dolly started rushing towards it, but suddenly noticed some rustling at her left. Quickly, she pushed backwards with her foot as a purplish claw stuck itself outwards, right where her head would have been.

"I must say that's quite good reflexes you got there," a devilish, charming voice complimented from the bushes.

Both stiffened, Dolly scowled, Vragon held onto Dolly's neck tighter as a zoroark stepped out of his hiding place, letting the dark move ripple away from his hand and instead offer it towards her in a gentlemonish gesture.

"From the look on your face, I probably should skip the threats and bargaining." Plageues licked his chops, walking towards the two.

Her muscles tensed as Plageues surged a Night Slash in his right arm and lunged towards her. Sadly, Dolly could only respond by jumping away. Dodging the move did little since Plageues suddenly planted the move into the ground. A powerful, dark, and purple chaotic energy erupted towards Dolly. Quickly, Dolly dug in her heels and took the hit, sliding backwards as the trees to her left were skinned of their bark from the impact.

Once she stopped, Dolly quickly asked with a small pant, "You okay?" The only reply she received as a painful groan. A horrible thought crossed her mind. "Vray, did the number wear off?" she hurriedly asked as she looked back at the zoroark in front.

"I don't…know…that last a-…attack," Vragon replied, amid strained breaths.

Dolly gritted her teeth. After taking a big breath, she eyed the zoroark and calmly said, "Listen, he needs a healer. His rib is cracked and he's on a number."

Plageues cocked a brow, muttering an "Oh?" as he looked down towards the river running down at the base of gorge. Pausing for a second, the zoroark kept his eyes on the stream, a little grin slowly appearing after an idea came on. With a confident smile, Plageues returned his attention to her and answered, "Well, that's not very good. Tell you what miss motherly mon." Plageues stretched out and open palm as if asking for her hand, offering, "Give him here and I'll make sure he's patched up."

"This is serious," Dolly said, slamming her right foot into the ground. "If he moves too much with a cracked rib it could bruise his lungs or Arceus forbid puncture them." Vragon after she said that. "So please, let me get him to Plainier fo-"

"I'm being serious." Plageues's smile dropped as he interrupted her, bluntly stating, "My patience is thin so I'll give you one more chance to make the right choice. We have no intention to harm him and will make sure his injury is treated."

"How can I trust that?" Dolly backed away a few steps. "All you guys have done is attack us, like your Haxorus friend."

"You don't have a choice miss motherly mon." Plageues withdrew his hand and started surging Night Slash in his claws. "Either you give him here so he can get the help he needs, or…"

Dolly snarled at that last part making Vragon feel a bit uneasy. He could feel Dolly's arms keeping him upright were tightening on where they clenched. Everything about her felt stiff, like a mother protecting her young. Despite this assuring feeling of protection, Vragon couldn't really forget about the obvious dilemma they were in. Cliff on the right, and forest on the left, both not the best options for him and his carrier.

Suddenly, Dolly spoke, making Vragon focus back on the exchange. "And why would Vray going with you be 'best for him'?"

Plageues raised a curious brow, surprised by the answer but not dismissive of her question. He knuckled his right claw, and peered at the sharp nails on it as he answered, "Well, I can't tell you everything, but I can say we aren't trying to hurt him."

"Your haxorus friend left a bad impression." Dolly took a step towards the forest, slowly and subtly.

"Yes well…" Plageues put two fingers to his forehead and sighed. "Trishula is a rather…unique and grouchy individual. He wasn't supposed to hurt him, just get the boy."

"And why is that?" Dolly asked, attempting another step to the forest. All she got for an answer from the Zoroark was a dark chuckle, the kind that would disturb all who heard it.

"Well I tried to be nice." Plageues put a hand to his head as he gracefully extended his right arm, tossing something.

A blue object landed in the bushes where Dolly was aiming for, causing her to quickly take an arm from holding Vragon to shield their heads. Her instinct paid off, since a Blast Orb erupted right at the spot, the explosion's repulse brushing against her arm and body.

"But if you're just talking to stall then I guess I'll be rude too." Plageues smirked and Dolly snarled.

The kangaskhan started backing away once again, moving her hand back under Vray till she suddenly felt him pat her shoulder. Before she had a chance to respond, Vragon whispered.

"Dolly, stop, there's a drop."

"Let me know if he moves," Dolly whispered, taking a quick glance at the drop. Damnit. She looked back at Plageues, who in the meantime had moved right a little to force her more into a corner.

Seeing the duo trapped brought something out in the zoroark. A dark smile crept his face as he licked his chops for a second, wiggling his claws at the side as they started glowing a purple from Night Slash.

Her breathing grew heavy, her eyes narrowed, everything around her seemed to blur as Dolly kept a firm gaze on the looming zoroark, ready to strike. Her body was pleading to find a way out, but each way either led to a steep drop or the claws of that creature ahead.

"Dolly…"

The Kangaskhan paused, feeling the slight trembling in her grip. Vray's claws wrapped around her neck, anxious. Taking a moment to gather herself, Dolly whispered with a smirk, "Vray, we'll make it worry just sit tight."

Encouraged by these words, Vragon pulled closer to Dolly's back as they both stared at their opponent.

Suddenly, Dolly challenged Plageues, "You look like you could use a breather; you seem to be dragon."

Vragon raised a brow confused, while Plageues dropped his aggressive stance to answer.

"Me? Breather? Where did this moxie come from all of a sudden, heh?" Plageues took a few steps forwards, but stopped once Dolly stepped back.

"Don't come any closer."

"What‽" Vragon shouted, looking at her like she was insane.

"Oh? Going to die and take him with you so I can't get him? How very un-motherly and selfish." Plageues's frowned as he shrugged. "Please, your acting was more convincing when you feigned interest for a deal."

"Then stay back and give us some space to breathe," Dolly stated, squeezing Vray's thighs right as she said the word 'breathe'.

His eyes widened for a second from the sudden surprise, before realizing she was signaling something. Breathe?...Ah I see. Sneakily, Vragon pushed his upper body against her thrice to signal he got the message, and moved his head directly behind Dolly's, slightly pressing his nose to her head's rear.

"And what? You're going to jum-?" Plageues stopped as Dolly suddenly charged at him. The zoroark hastily stepped to the right, ready to plunge his claws into Dolly's side but realized too late that Vragon was aiming at him with a Dragon Breath forming in his gaping mouth. A small, quick flare of purple and yellow cored fire shot and struck the zoroark's chest, blasting him back although not strong enough to topple him. Clasping his chest for a second as the mystical fire stung the area of impact, Plageues pushed through the pain, giving chase to the two, who were making a break for the bridge.

"Good plan," Vray complimented his carrier, with a gleeful smile on his face.

"Thanks, but focus Vray." Dolly reminded, glancing back at their pursuer. "Try and slow him down." She ordered, and Vragon nodded, leaning enough to the right so he could point he could see Plageues.

Taking a second to get a bigger breath, Vragon unleashed a stronger shot, though the newfound discomfort in his ribs started acting up once more. He powered through it and unleashed his Dragon Breath once more upon the dark type. Despite his flame engulfing their chaser, Vragon watched with surprise as Plageues leaped out of the flames, his body angled and right-hand housing a forming Focus Blast.

The Focus Blast smashed on the ground behind them, erupting an explosion that flung the two forwards. Dolly let go of Vray in an attempt to avoid crushing him and instead directed her arms to slow her own tumbles. Once she had managed to halt her rolling, Dolly activated Dizzy Punch in both her arms and crossed them in front of her body to defend. Her reaction paid off, as a hastily made Focus Blast struck her defenses, too weak to budge the bulky arms of the kangaskhan. From the gaps formed by her arms, Dolly spotted Plageues charging her and she quickly countered by dropping Dizzy Arm in her left and instead firing a weak Focus Blast of her own.

Plageues swatted the orange sphere like it was a pebble and came down on Dolly's hand with a claw coated in Night Slash. He was forced to pull back as Dolly tried to grab him.

Dolly used the momentum of her failed grab to twist into a ground slamming Dizzy Punch, angling in such a way so to fling dirt at Plageues from the impact.

Plageues covered his eyes in time to avoid eye sting, but soon felt the stinging pain of a quick Focus Blast to the chest again, carefully aimed for the singed mark from Vragon's earlier hit. A yell of pain and anger erupted as Plageues back stepped a little, clasping his chest once more.

Dolly took this chance to glance at Vragon and shout, "Vray, can you make it to the-?" She froze, her eyes fixated on the fraxure, lying still. "Vray!" She shouted, resisting the urge to rush to him with all her willpower. Instead, Dolly snapped back around, just in time to swat away an incoming Focus Blast with a quickly formed Dizzy Punch.

Plageues just stared at her, with a serious and unsettling glare. The two were silent as the Focus Blast exploded somewhere in the brush. Slowly, he retracted his hand, browsing her defensive posture and raised Dizzy Punch fists.

Dolly's eyes narrowed. Great, so he learns from his mistakes. "Vray!" she called back, moving her head slightly to the side but not enough to take her eyes off of Plageues. "Vray! Please ge-" She stopped mid-sentence, noticing Plageues extending his arm. Dolly readied to swat away another Focus Blast, but surprisingly, he just held it out there.

Without warning, Plageues's serious scowl slowly morphed to a sadistic smile, squinting his left eye and opening his right.

Dolly instantly felt a rush of disgust and dread fill her spine. It didn't stay for long, since Plageues's arm quickly grabbed her attention. Dark energy crept from his shoulder, flowing over the extended arm like it was a living black goop. The eerie energy solidified into what looked like a Night Slash in gauntlet form.

Wiggling his fingers in the sharp claws of the gauntlet, Plageues moved the gauntlet to the right and gave it a nice look, eyeing the engraving decorating its exterior as an artist would to his craft. "You've done it." Plageues looked straight at Dolly; his red irises glowing slightly as if responding to a feeling inside. "You've made me invested. Now this is a battle I want to enjoy." Slowly, he strode towards her, dropping his gauntlet covered arm to the side. "I can't wait to see what sounds the boy will hear as we clash, because I love to take my time when I'm having fun."

A low growl came from Dolly's throat as she scowled in revulsion. She didn't reply to the sadistic freak, instead once again calling out to the fraxure with, "Vray get up." All she heard in reply was small groans and no matter how much she wanted to check his condition, she couldn't afford taking her eyes off the cretin in front.

"Oh no, let him rest. I think you'd want him to experience the aftermath rather than him witnessing it." Plageues stated, his tone low and raspy. With a fiendish glimmer of anticipation in his eyes, Plageues picked up pace, moving his body low as he went for a swipe at Dolly's abdomen region.

Dolly blocked with her left, planning to retaliate with her right. However, her timing was off due to the odd painful feeling that echoed in her left arm's nerves. She winced from it as she finally committed to her right jab, but her chance was already wasted.

Plageues backed off, his smile still as wide as ever. As he stood up straight, he crossed his gauntlet right arm across his chest and tightened its fist, causing the gauntlet to flash slightly with a shade of purple light from its interior.

"Ack!" Dolly arced backed as her left arm suddenly began stinging from the inside. "What the-? What did you-?" she uttered, holding her bleeding left arm. To her horror, the bleeding oozed out what looked like blood with small traces of something purple inside.

"I told you, I want to enjoy this now." Plageues smiled as he gazed once more on his gauntlet. "Surprised?"

Dolly growled and started to back away, holding her left arm desperately. "No, I'd expect a coward like you to use injector tactics."

"It gets the job done and it's fun. So, let's play." Plageues grinned gleefully, charging towards Dolly as he surged Night Slash through the nails in his left claw. He thrust them forwards, but they were parried by a swipe of Dolly's right arm. This prompted Plageues to slash with his right, forcing Dolly to step back. All according to plan, since Plageues pushed off into a strong hook kick right onto Dolly's chest, forcing her back.

"Pacing won't save you my dear." Plageues landed, eyeing her left arm as one would a choice dessert.

Dolly glanced at her left arm, now starting to drop the infected blood as it kept stinging like a needle being moved inside it. Gritting her teeth, she eyed Plageues with a fierce scowl as the zoroark formed a Focus Blast in his left.

Narrowing her eyes, Dolly waited for him to move closer and closer, before charging straight at him. I can't let him near Vray so no more holding back! She roared in her mind, surging Dizzy Punch in both her arms with the most synergy cost so far.

Plageues shot his Focus Blast, but she merely pummeled it to the side with her right as she went for a jab with her left. Despite the pain, she carried true with hit, although it was parried resulting in a minor pain spike. She quickly went for a right, but it was cut off by Plageues thrusting his nails, coated in Night Slash, up into her arm from below. The nails weren't strong enough to pierce the move surrounding her arm, but it left her vulnerable to a kick from Plageues right onto her left arm.

"Argh!" Dolly yelped as started to fall back and for a split second she saw Plageues swing his right claw towards her head. Her eyes widened as she saw the incoming attack and proceeded to pull back, but her left shrieked its agony making her flinch. She yelled in pain as the claw swiped across her face, sending a small grouping of blood towards the forest. Clasping her face with her right, Dolly stumbled backwards, now affected by two areas of stinging pain.

Plageues went towards his prone enemy, but instantly regretted it when he saw Dolly slam a small Focus Blast in the ground to cover herself. Plageues was knocked a few feet on his back, spitting out dirt. As he started to get up, he couldn't help but laugh a little at Dolly's predicament.

The kangaskhan wiped some of the blood off with her right. Looking at him with a fierce stare amid the claw mark across her face dripping blood. She didn't say anything, just stare at him with heavy breaths, clenched fists.





Vray lay on his side, holding his ribs as he groaned a little. His head was still feeling fuzzy after the landing, but he hadn't forgotten the danger. He could hear noises and sounds, but they all felt a little muffled or at least hard to distinguish.

I've…gotta…get up and help, He urged himself as he rolled onto his stomach. As he opened his eyes, he got up on a knee and shook his head a little. Slowly, his hearing started to clear, hearing some kind of voice coming from his left.

He turned and what lay before him was Dolly about ten feet away. "Dolly!" Vragon shouted relieved, trying to stand up and go to her.

"Vray stop!" Dolly ordered without turning her head.

Vragon stopped, staring at her confused. It was then he noticed her left arm was bleeding a bit, but his focus was disrupted by a question from her.

"Vray…can you walk?"

"Yes…I think I can," He answered a little bothered by Dolly's tense tone.

"Get to the bridge."

Vragon's eyes widened. "But you're hur-"

"Get out of here and don't look back!" Dolly shouted, still keeping her back to him.

Vragon froze. Dolly's rasp tone sent a chill down his spine, only added by seeing a few streams of blood managing to flow down the side of her head. "O…Okay," he quavered, turning around and heading for the bridge. His heart was screaming to go back and help her, but he couldn't shake that tone she had. Perhaps it was scarier to see what she would say more than if she would lose.

He shook his head harshly to focus. The hurting in his side was becoming more noticeable, to the point he had to stop at a tree to take a break from the hurt spike caused by his staggering. With a hesitant gaze, Vragon saw bridge ahead. Don't…look back, he reminded himself as he pushed off the tree.

Suddenly, he noticed something move in the sky, coming into view from behind the tree line. It appeared to be some kind of bug maybe? Vragon squinted, managing to identify airborne mon as a vikavolt. Who is that? Wait, what's he- … Is he…nodding at something?

While Vragon stared at the bug, the sound of rustling came from his left. Quickly, he looked into the forest, just in time to see a something yellow leap out of the brushes. Vragon fell over in surprise, but as he kept his stare on the creature, he became exuberant. He shifted onto all fours as he exclaimed with a jaw dropped smile, "Swift!"

The heliolisk sped furiously towards the kangaskhan, peering to the cluster of trees on the edge of the forest as he did. As he neared collision with Dolly, Swift leaped to one of the trees that was almost aligned with Dolly and sprang towards Plageues, pulling his legs forwards into a hook kick.

Despite the surprise, Plageues was able to block the kick with his left arm and attempt a counter swipe with his right.

However, Swift pushed off, did a back full twist, and landed a little in front of Dolly's right. Swift thrust his arms forwards and fired a quickly made Focus Blast at Plageues.

Plageues easily sliced Swift's Focus Blast apart with his gauntlet, only to gasp as another, larger one came straight towards him. With a growl, Plageues blocked with his Night Slash gauntlet to avoid heavy damage, though the force of impact was strong enough to make him slide a little and breaking his guard. Plageues held his right arm, now becoming exposed as his damaged gauntlet slowly disintegrated away into purple particles mixed with the orange fire sparks from the Focus Blast.

"Great hit," Swift complimented Dolly, facing her. "Sorry it took us so lon- Dolly! Your fa-"

"It's just a flesh wound," Dolly calmly replied, rolling her left wrist slightly. Her right hand was covering the wound.

"Dolly, if you're-"

"I'll be fine." Dolly sighed as she took her hand away from her face. There were three parallel cuts across her face with two going over her left eye, which was currently squinting from the wounds bleeding into it. "I'm going to have trouble using my left for a little bit, so Swift can you handle the right." Dolly raised her hands, cupping them together and forming another Focus Blast.

Swift remained silent, unsettled by the sight. However, he shook his head and focused back on the task at hand and with a serious, ready tone replied, "Gotcha." He thrust his arms forwards, forming his own Focus Blast.

Plageues sneered as he awaited them to fire, cautiously walking towards them.

Dolly leaned over a little and whispered, "I'm going to fire first and get him to jump, try and hit him then."

"Alright," Swift replied with a nod.

"Oh, and Swift." The heliolisk glanced at her for a second as Dolly continued with a new formed smile. "Keep a sharp eye on him."

Swift smiled back, relieved that Dolly was confident enough to make a quip, as inappropriate as it was. His smile faded, focusing on his aiming as Dolly pushed forwards and her Focus Blast shot towards Plageues.

To their surprise, Plageues swung his arms upwards, coating them a mix of dark colored energy and slammed it to the ground, sending a Night Daze repulse to meet Dolly's Focus Blast. The resulting collision sent a lot of dirt in the air as the force of impact forced the two to look away and shield their heads.

In a split second, Swift heard activated Echo Vizor. As he dug his foot in as the force passed and started wiping the dirt off his face, Swift could hear footsteps. Using his gift to hear where Plageues was, Swift jumped onto Dolly's arm, grabbing on to pull himself on top of her.

"What are y-?" Dolly started.

"Trust me!" Swift shouted, leaping blindly into the thicker dust cloud and engulfing his tail in a white light that faded as a metal coating appeared on it. With a twist of his body, Swift swung his Iron Tail downwards, just in time to meet with Plageues's Night Slash claw. Swift pushed off the claw and formed a Focus Blast, firing it in the direction he guessed Plageues still was.

Plageues jumped back, quickly slamming down for another Night Daze. The dark energy shattered the Focus Blast, pushing away the dirt with such force that even Vragon had to quickly shield his head to avoid getting dirt in his eyes.

Despite the force, Plageues's Night Daze stopped as he looked up in surprise to see Dolly's firm Dizzy Punch right fist pressing hard against it, halting its progress.

Dolly opened her eyes finally, staring at Plageues, who was still surging synergy for his move. With a smirk Dolly nodded to Swift, who without hesitation surged Iron Tail and jumped up to slash down on the spot Dolly was pressing on.

Seeing they were going to break his move, Plageues stopped fueling it and instead thrust his arms forwards, shooting out a small Focus Blast at the heliolisk.

"Look out!" Dolly grabbed Swift mid jump by the arm and pulled him towards her, managing to save him from impact. "Vray! Incoming!" Dolly shouted.

"Huh?" Vragon looked ahead to see the dirt cloud was gone but an orange sphere spiraled towards his direction. With a squeal, Vragon dove to the side and covered his head, avoiding the move which struck the dirt close not too far from where he is. As he uncovered his head to look at the impact, Swift called out to him.

"Vray! Get to Devon! He's on our side."

"Devon?" Dolly said, perplexed.

"Who?" Vragon asked, equally confused.

"I'll introduce you to him later, but that Vikavolt is on our side." Swift pointed to the sky where Devon was buzzing near the bridge. Devon, cover Vray. Swift then formed a Focus Blast and threw it in retaliation at Plageues as Dolly joined him in keeping Plageues back.

With a nod, Vragon got back to his feet, holding his side as he turned around, and saw the bug Swift was talking about. The Vikavolt started buzzing towards him, as Vragon also headed towards the mon, having his free hand. As an answer to Vragon's wave, Devon did a few barrel rolls, making Vragon smile at the sight of a new ally. It was short lived, as a white flash slightly flashed from the tree line, at an angle that Vragon couldn't see what caused it.

Suddenly a surge of soundwaves with green particles sparkled around them, crashed straight into Devon, hurling him into the side of the cliff's side.

Vragon watched in horror as the Bug Buzz pelted on poor Devon as the attacker slowly appeared from behind the forest line. Blinking for a second, Vragon was dumbfounded at seeing a second Vikavolt, this one looking exactly like the other.

It wasn't till peering closer that Vragon noticed the difference between the two. "A ditto?" Vragon mumbled his thoughts quietly to himself. A scowl formed as he looked back at Devon's pinned position before deciding he had to do something. Vragon attempted a Dragon Breath attack, but the doppelganger spotted it and did an aerial loop to evade. With an angry buzz, the fake flew towards Vragon, so startled by the action he fell backwards. Vragon froze as the mon landed right in front of him, their gazes locked.

Its eyes glowed as it became engulfed in a white light before morphing into something that stood on two legs. Vragon eyed curiously as the light faded, revealing an almost exact look alike of him.

The fake Fraxure smirked at the sight of Vragon's reaction at seeing a ditto eyed version of himself. Without another word, he opened his mouth, the purplish flame of Dragon Breath surging inside his throat.

"Wait!" Vragon shouted, reaching his hand out, but it was too late.

Sylphiel twisted his head and fired a powerful blast of Dragon Breath straight to where Devon was currently picking himself up from the attack. A powerful explosion happened as rubble, dirt, and the Vikavolt all fell into the water below.

Vragon crawled to the cliff's edge, trying to see the bug. His breathing sped, his eyes widened, his heart raced. All he could see was the running water with no Vikavolt anywhere.

Suddenly, the fraxure arm was seized, by some kind of pincer. Vragon looked in horror as Sylphiel, now a drapion, pulled him into his arm before chucking him forwards. Letting out a cry as he hit the ground hard, Vragon rolled on his side and held his aching ribs. "Arck…" Vragon struggled to roll on his stomach and try to pick himself up, but instead of seeing forwards his face was shoved right onto the dirt.

"You're coming with us kid," a low, menacing voice threatened.

Vragon could feel a pincer pushing down on his tusks as another one grabbed his right arm. "Let me go!" Vragon shouted, struggling before he got into an arm lock, but sadly was too weak to stop.

"You're more trouble than you're worth," Sylphiel commented. "Quit making this difficult. I've already had enough today. A little more and I might take it out on you, so best lie still, welp."

"Vray!" Swift's voice called out in front. Vragon tried to look up, but his head as still promptly shoved down. "Let him go!"

From his position, Vragon couldn't see Swift but heard him coming. Taking that chance, Vragon struggled against the mon's grip and managed to loosen his head. However, he was blinded a second by a bright white light. Not again! Vragon blinked for a second to get back his vision, but could feel that he was freed. He rolled on his back, opening his mouth to build up Dragon Breath. Holding his breath, Vragon froze as he saw a Kangaskhan tower over him.

Sylphiel, now in the form of Dolly, surged a Focus Blast in his left as his right hand cupped around Vragon's neck although not tight enough to choke him. "Stay back!" he ordered the heliolisk, who instantly complied.

"I thought you wanted him alive!" Swift shouted in anger at the zoroark.

Plageues glanced at Swift with a scowl before ordering, "Sylphiel. Don't harm him."

"I've had it boss. I'm not gonna take any more of this stupid ring around game of capture the welp. Now you two," Sylphiel pointed to Swift and Dolly respectively. "Let Plageues through." With that, he formed a Focus Blast in his free hand and moved it so it was aiming at Vragon's left leg. "Or I'll have to make sure he can't make it to the bridge."

"No don't!" Dolly shouted.

"Sylphiel, we aren't supposed to harm-"

"Too late for that boss." Sylphiel snarled at the zoroark. "If you hadn't noticed, we're on our last wind. Besides he's already gotten rib damage, right, so it's too late not to hurt him! It's up to those two whether we add his leg to the collateral." Sylphiel pressed harder on Vragon's neck, making him whimper in fright.

Dolly snarled, looking back at Plageues. "If he hurts Vray, Arceus help me, I'll-"

Plageues calmly raised a finger, indicating he was going to speak. "Don't provoke him. I don't think he'll listen to reason. If you want to help your friend, don't prolong this anymore. I'll be sure he's properly cared for, but I can't assure that if his leg is gone."

Dolly's heart sank, while Swift snarled. With a heavy grumble, the heliolisk closed his eyes, vibrated his frills subtly, and pleaded, please hurry Garon or somebody.




"The bridge should be up ahead," Seliph informed, as he and Garon sped along the path after making the sharp right turn.

Garon replied with a grunt and picked up his pace. "You hanging in there?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"It's not exactly a smooth ride, but I'm hanging in there." Despite the upbeat reply, Seliph was finding it uncomfortable to hang onto Garon's dorsal fin while having to hold his wounded side.

As they neared the bridge, Garon suddenly skidded to a halt. The abrupt stop made Seliph fling forwards into the fin, making his wound sting from the impact. "Argh!" Seliph cried. "What was tha- Wah!" Seliph wasn't prepared for Garon to stand straight up and thus couldn't prevent himself from landing on the ground. A groan emerged from Seliph, even if the dragon's tail broke the fall a little, the wound didn't seem to care about that. "The hell, why did yo-"

Garon gave him a sharp, "Shush" and focused on the forest.

A grumpy Seliph, rubbed his back muttering to himself, "Next time warn me when you're going to stop." Seliph annoyed look shifted as he noticed Garon's eyes glowed the purple, solid light they would do when in True Sight. Garon's eyes widened as he muttered to himself, "What's going on over there? Wait…Vray's in trouble."

"Wait, he's captured?" Seliph walked in front, anxiously pressing for answers.

Garon nodded slightly. "He's pinned."

Seliph paused as Garon stood silent for half a minute.

Swift? Swift answer me! "Damnit," Garon snarled. "He isn't responding. He's only using Echo Vizor." Garon's eyes narrowed as he rushed off.

"Wait, where are you-?"

"Get to the bridge and stay safe," Garon commanded as he rushed into the forest, leaving Seliph to finish the trek on his own. Swiftly, Garon sped through the forest, using his gift to keep an eye on the scene happening. He finally stopped once he had the synergy image of larger mon pinning a smaller one down. With a low tone, Garon spoke aloud, "Swift, I'll be rushing and fire a flamethrower. Once I do, do what you need to save Vray."





Swift's eyes narrowed as he muttered in his head. Alright Garon. Swift stopped listening with Echo Vizor, quickly glancing to the forest's edge. His eyes trailed over to where the Focus Blast was being held midair. Okay, just a basic diversion tactic. Once his head is turned, hit the left shoulder, then run like mad.

Plageues gave Sylphiel a disapproving grunt, as walked closer to the hostage scene. "I'll have words with you later about obeying orders."

Sylphiel scoffed. Suddenly, a sound of cackling resounded as a surge of fire rushed between the space between Sylphiel and Plageues. Both pulled back in surprise and from the heat.

Without hesitation, Swift swung his left arm as fast as he could, forming a Focus Blast that he sent straight at the fake Dolly through the flames. The orb struck dead onto Sylphiel's chest, knocking him back.

"Strike!" Swift shouted to Dolly as he rushed past a still processing Plageues, leaped through what was left of the flames and smoke from the Focus Blast and hook kicked Sylphiel's chest. Quickly, Swift pushed off, making Sylphiel have to take more time to regain his balance.

"Why you!" Sylphiel was about to move his arm to blast Vray no matter where it would go, only to suddenly hear a roar from his right. As he looked in that direction, his face as met with a firm, tail swipe by Garon. The force of this hit sent him twirling over the cliff.

Plageues was dumbfounded. His eyes focused on Swift, who had just landed, and was about to pounce on him before a powerful grip clenched around his arm. Plageues was wrenched back and received a massive punch into his gut, making him spit out all the air he had.

"How's this for an injector?" Dolly trash talked. She shifted her left into an open palm and lifted him up, grabbing Plageues's leg with his right and quickly tossing him down the path away from her friends. "Courtesy of my left arm!" With that said, Dolly dropped to a knee, placing a hand gently on Vray's stomach. "Vray, are you alright?"

The fraxure didn't reply, though he clearly was happy to see her. His claw was firmly placed on his ribs. His firmly shut eyes and mouth indicated he was in a bit of pain, along with heavy breathing from his snout.

"Hang on just a little longer, Vray." Dolly wrapped her hands underneath, picking him up in her arms.

"Swift! Cover our rear!" Garon shouted, as Swift nodded and readied for Plageues's inevitable pursuit. With that, the two started their sprint for the bridge, only for Garon to suddenly halt, extending his arm in front of Dolly.

Getting the message, Dolly looked where Garon was. She gritted her teeth as Garon stepped in front of her, opposing a Pidgeot that just landed.

The bird's head angled upright and its black dots for eyes peered at them with a scowl that seemed just as intense as when he did his threat. "The fraxure now," Sylphiel commanded, spreading his wings outwards at an aggressive angle and standing at his fake form's full height.

"Dolly," Garon whispered as he shifted his head slightly so she could hear him better. "I'll make an opening so you two can get through. Go left, into the trees if you need to."

Dolly nodded and watched as Garon dug his feet into the ground, ready to spring off at the first move the foe made.

Sylphiel looked from one to the other, before scoffing and saying, "Just try me buddy." With that the feathery creature morphed into some purple sludge in a violent fashion, like the bird had been engulfed by something from inside.

Both watched as a second later, a massive Golurk that towered above the tree-line stood where the feathery Pokémon was before.

Sylphiel then extended his left arm, bringing it down towards them at an arching motion.

"Get back!" Garon shouted as the two hopped backwards, evading the reach unlike the trees in the motion's path.

Once they were at a safe distance, Dolly looked at the carnage covering the path she was going to take.

"Dolly?"

Dolly looked down to see Vray, looking up at her. "Vray, oh good." She smiled as she looked back at the large golurk and said, "Good, you're awake."

Vragon blinked a few times before following Dolly's eyes to see the massive foe in their way. "Dya‽" he squirmed a little from the scare, as Dolly kept from dropping him. "Wh-what is that?"

"It's that ditto from earlier." As she said this, Garon started firing Flamethrower to keep Sylphiel back, which worked albeit only for stalling. Taking a second to asses Vray, Dolly set him down and checking him. "Are you hurting bad? Can you stand?"

"Less bad and I think so." Vragon stood up, but was immediately wobbly, thankfully having Dolly steady him.

"Forget it, you're in no shape to walk." Despite saying this, Dolly couldn't escape the reality that they were pinned again, this time with a large opponent and an even smaller path to utilize. Her eyes trailed from the trees to the mon blocking the fire with his hands to the back of Garon's head. Pausing for a second as an idea formed in her mind, Dolly looked at Vray, whispering to him, "Vray, if can sit on Garon's fin, do you think you could hang onto him?"

Vragon looked at Garon, before giving Dolly a big nod. "I think so, what's your plan?"

"Ride Garon to safety." Dolly picked him up by his arms, almost like he was a baby and sat him on Garon's fin. "Garon, Vray can't walk so you'll need to get him across. I'll cover you both, so keep it up till I take over."

Garon winked with his eye as a sign he was on board.

"But what about you?" Vragon asked, giving her a worried look as he grabbed onto Garon's large shoulders. "And Swift?"

Dolly rubbed Vray's head, making him grumble a little. "We'll see you in town. I promise."

With that said, Dolly stepped forwards till she was past Garon and standing next to the stream of flames. Once she took a big breath, she formed two focus blasts in her palms and extended her arms fully. She brought her arms down and formed two as the first ones remained floating where she left them. She repeated this process till she had eight glowing orange spheres floating around her sides. The strain of keeping them up wasn't easy; she could feel her arms tense as if they were lifting something and her legs buckle a little under some form of weight.

But she held firm and once ready to aim, Dolly scowled and shouted, "Now!" Quickly, Dolly grabbed the two closest ones and hurled them right for the Golurk, who moved his other arm to cover his face.

Immediately, Garon dropped his flame and glancing back to Vray spoke, "Hang on." He shifted his body low quickly, almost causing Vragon to slide off. "Hang on tight."

Vragon's arms wrapped tightly around the larger dragon's next as he pulled himself closer, shaky as Garon pushed off into a sprint for the tree rubble.

While Garon was fast at maneuvering through the area, it was slower than either wanted. Vragon occasionally would glance right at the golurk currently blocking Dolly's Focus Blast barrage and hoping that he wouldn't spot them.

"Hang on, I think we're almost past." Garon hopped on a downed tree and rushed upwards, heading to the branches above. "Cover your face," he ordered and Vragon shut his eyes and pressed as close as he could to Garon's back.

Leaves and branches hit the two as Garon pushed his way through the thick brush. Both giving grunts as they neared the other side of the tree. Once they reached a spot where they could see the dirt of the path through holes in the leaves, Garon looked at Vragon.

Vragon gave a nod and the larger dragon hopped down, and quickly looking at the distraction still going on as he landed. Seeing Sylphiel was still shielding from Dolly's Focus Blast, Garon turned and jogged away, trying to be as quiet as he could. "Hey Vray, can you keep an eye out for him?"

"Sure." Vragon looked at the golurk and instantly gasped.

"What?"

Vragon didn't answer immediately, mainly due to the site of the golurk's head looking at them as they were fleeing. Once the initial shock wore off, Vragon quickly informed, "He sees us."

"Great. Hold tight." Garon's pace picked up as Vragon had to quickly grab on so he could stay balanced on top. Once he felt he had a good enough grip and was used to the new speed, Vragon resumed looking back, but sadly what met his eyes was a blinding white light. "Arck!" Vray squinted.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Vragon quickly looked back, and despite the flash earlier he was able to see the golurk was gone. Instead it was another Garchomp, chasing after them, jaw open as if he chasing to bite them.

As he watched Sylphiel behind them, Vragon spotted something in Sylphiel's mouth. "Garon! He's gonna fire something at us!"

"Okay, let me know when he does!"

"Here it comes!" Suddenly, Vragon felt Garon's arm fins press on the fraxure's back. "Huh? I tho-YAH!!!" Vragon wasn't prepared for the Dragon to press off his right and barrel roll to the left and landing in a continued sprint as the Flamethrower raced past them.

Garon watched the flame soar past, and strangely explode not too far up ahead. Garon halted, arcing upright so Vragon wound up sliding down on his back fin, pulling him back a little.

"Ow," Vragon grumbled as he shifted one of his hands to pull his squished tail out of its suffering. "Why are you sto-" Vragon stopped as he and Garon watched something head their way.

Garon didn't move since it wasn't aimed for them, simply watching an Ice Beam shoot past and forcing the fake Garchomp to hop back. Seeing the out of nowhere move missed, Garon readied for an airbornee attack from Sylphiel, only for the doppelganger to get struck by a fast-moving Power Gem, knocking him back.

"Guys! Over here!"

"Jasmine?" Vragon said aloud, recognizing the voice.

Garon and he looked back at the bridge, both pleased to see Demetri, Jasmine, Ciecro, and Jaron all at the start of the bridge.

"What are you guys waiting for? Come on!" Jasmine shouted again, at the pausing two.

Without a word, Garon started up again, though Vragon was ready this time to grab and hang on.

"Vray, Garon, glad you both are okay," Jasmine greeted as the two stopped right in front of the four.

"Likewise, but…" Vragon started, prompting the absol to cock her head.

Garon was about to explain the situation till Demetri stepped in, interrupting with. "No time for conversation. Jasmine." The grumpig snapped, getting Jasmine's attention. "Take Vray across an-" While in mid-sentence, Demetri thrusts his hands to the right, telekinetically pushing a charging Siegfried back a little-ways.

The gallade used his extended elbows to slow his momentum by dragging them on the dirt, snarling as he started surging Psycho Cuts while he slowed down.

Demetri quickly got in front, crossed his arms and emitted a large amount of little, blue lights that spiraled into something like a barrier. One of these started to form around everyone in the group, before the particles flew into their bodies, causing them to glow the light's color for a second.

After the light show concluded, Ciecro looked back at Siegfried, spotting the Psycho Cuts being flung their way. "Look out!" Ciecro shouted, rushing in front and punching at it with ThunderPunch.

"Look out!" He heard Jaron shouted, as another Psycho Cut flew straight for Ciecro.

"Ah!" Ciecro tried to guard it, but it hit his stomach before. "Huh?" he clasped the spot where the move had struck, confused at the lack of stinging or pain in general. "What dah?"

"Demetri!" Ciecro heard Garon state, turning his attention to the grumpig like everyone else.

Jaron tried to help him stabilize, as Demetri dismissed it saying, "I'm fine, it's just my Reflect's effects." He gently moved Jaron's hands away, indicating he was fine just a little worn. "Don't worry about that right now."

Just like the others, Siegfried was confused about the move that struck Ciecro, only affecting Demetri. Why didn't i-…wait, that blue light. That's Reflect…so does he have a skill to… His thoughts were cut short as he heard Demetri shout.

"Hit him with all you've got."

Siegfried's eyes widened as in no time at all, a bunch of moves headed straight for him. Sh*t! Despite his best attempts to avoid, it was only a matter of time before he was struck, the move being Jasmine's Psycho Cut. The direct hit right in the stomach sending him tumbling down the pathway a little, bruised and holding his stomach, while resting on his knees.

Seeing that they had some time, Demetri faced the group. "Everyone, I have a plan so listen closely." Demetri pointed to Jasmine first. "Jasmine, take your fraxure friend across."

Jasmine nodded, moving in front of Garon so he could lift Vragon onto her back. Jasmine's legs buckled as she stated in a struggling voice. "Ack! What did you eat to be this heavy?"

Vragon looked at her with an annoyed stare. "Funny…" he sarcastically said.

Jasmine giggled, standing up straight on all fours. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

While Jasmine was messing with Vray, Demetri turned to the brothers, saying. "Jaron, Ciecro." The two looked back at him as the grumpig commanded, "You both help Garon fight that ditto, and get Swift and Dolly to the bridge. I'll guard the bridge here from our gallade friend."

"Right." Jaron answered as Ciecro nodded, both rushing past Demetri to engage. Garon followed right behind them while Jasmine turned and dashed across the bridge. Giving a self-affirming nod, Demetri turned his back to the bridge and stared down at Siegfried, who was almost on his feet. Demetri tapped two fingers against the side of his head, telekinetically calling out to Devon. Damnit, Devon, where did you go? Demetri said in his head as he growled in real life.

Demetri had to stop though, seeing Siegfried was readying Psycho Cuts in his arms again. The grumpig smirked as he crossed his arms outwards and jestingly challenged, "Ready for round two?"

Siegfried responded by hurling Psycho Cuts straight for Demetri.

With a knowing smile, Demetri fired two quickly formed Power Gems in response, the moves canceling each other in a mild explosion.

Siegfried shielded his face as the smoke raced towards him, clearing in about the same amount of times the moves flew towards each other. Once Siegfried looked back, however, his jaw dropped. There was Demetri, racing across the bridge. "Coward!" Siegfried shouted, completely fed up with these tricks and angrily dashing after Demetri.

That's right, keep following, Demetri goaded in his mind as he crossed the bridged. Once Siegfried was finally on the bridge, Demetri shifted his attention forwards, watching the two ahead reach the other side. Demetri halted his dashing, shifting around and forming a Power Gem, quickly shooting it at the pursuing gallade.

Expecting a cheap trick like that, Siegfried stopped himself and shielded his face from the attack. Next, Siegfried formed Psycho Cut in his arms and was about to charge again, but stopped.

Demetri was standing on two planks from the bridge, moving them up as he looked over to Jasmine and Vragon, who were watching at the other side. "Stand Back!" He commanded, forming three Power Gems that orbited his upwards stretched arm.

"F**k you!" Siegfried tried to dash back, but Demetri threw the Power Gem, blasting Siegfried with the shockwave. Siegfried's tumble almost set him over, quickly grabbing the side of the bridge, grunting from the strain.

With that, Demetri strangely flung his arms in the other direction, hurling the orbs to strike the supports for the bridge at the end. It swung down towards the other side of the cliff, as Demetri simple stood on the levitating planks that he directed to where Jasmine and Vragon watched, mouths hanging open. While Demetri hopped onto the ground with ease, Siegfried was almost sent hurling down as the bridge slammed into the side of the cliff. "Arceus, damnit! Argh!" Siegfried ranted, swinging his body to try and get a second grip to try and pull himself onto the front to begin the long climbing process.

"That should handle him for a while." Demetri brushed his snout with a smug fist.

"Uhm…I'd hate to rain on your festival." Demetri turned to Jasmine as she strolled over to one of the now bridgeless stakes, pointing as she pointed out, "How are the others going to get across?"

Demetri rolled his eyes as he passed the two, informing as he gestured his right out for them to follow. "I'm not a buffoon; I have another way to get everyone across."

"Another bridge?" Jasmine asked.

Before Demetri could answer, the group were greeted by a not so pleased Seliph. Seliph pointed at Demetri and demanded, "Why did you three cut the bridge? How a-"

"If you three would stop talking for five seconds I'll tell you!" Demetri shouted loudly. After clearing his throat, Demetri formed a Power Gem and with a flick of his arm to the right, sent it hurling into the trunk of a tree, sending it crashing down. "Cut down a few trees and look for any large rocks."

Seliph raised a skeptical brow. "You're not serious, are you? Can you even hold that many objects up?"

Not pleased at Seliph's questioning, Demetri walked up to him, stared him directly in the eyes, and with a slightly cold tone stated, "Are you the psychic?"

Seliph paused till finally shaking his head.

"Then stop wasting time with doubtful questions and get me what I need to save your friends." Demetri turned to continue getting materials grumbling, "Amateurs." as he did.

Vragon and Jasmine stared at Demetri in awkward silence. Seliph did as well, but with an annoyed scowl. The two looked at Seliph, unsure of what to actually do till Seliph sighed, scratched the back of his head, and said, "You heard him."

Jasmine nodded, charging at a tree while starting her Psycho Cut and slicing at it.

Vragon was about to go as well, but dropped to a knee. Seliph immediately came to his aid and helped him sit down.

"What's wrong? Did you get hurt?"

With a melancholy sigh, Vragon nodded.

"I see. Then sit tight, we'll handle this."

After an encouraging pat on Vragon's shoulder, Seliph rushed off to assist. Vragon curled up and watched the fights across the cliff, worried. Please don't die, Vragon thought as he sniffled, his eyes glued on Dolly.





Grr! I can't win like this! I've got to do something else. Sylphiel ranted, at being stuck in the middle of the three's attack and retreat strategy. An idea came along, which prompted him to take a deep breath and attempt to spin around while firing Flamethrower. To his surprise, his left leg suddenly wouldn't budge as an icy chill filled his lower body. "What?" Sylphiel looked to see Jaron firing Ice Beam straight at his feet, distracting him long enough for Ciecro to slam him in the face with Thunderpunch.

The powerful his was enough to knock Sylphiel backwards, awkwardly having to twist around his caught left leg. As Sylphiel was about to regain his balance, his stomach was whacked by a swipe from Garon's tail swing. The force was so powerful, not only was Sylphiel knocked out of the ice, but he tumbled all the way down to the start of the now destroyed bridge's entrance.

"Alright! Hit it with all you've got!" Garon barked as the two fired Scald and Flamethrower simultaneously at the downed Sylphiel.

Sylphiel gasped in horror and quickly covered his heads, bracing for more pain. An explosion resounded, but to Sylphiel's confusion there was no impact, not even a force of a missed hit was felt. Slowly, Sylphiel uncovered his head and looked up, his eyes widening and a gleeful, mouth open smile showing at the site of a large, red wall in front. "About time Bruno," Sylphiel mumbled to himself, working on getting back to his feet.

The three on the other side of the wall were just as shocked as Sylphiel was.

Jaron gulped and look to the left, muttering with a quiver, "Don't tell me it's…" Ciecro and Garon joined him in a stare at the forest.

"Back up," Garon ordered, moving his arms in front of the two. The two complied, but not before all three could hear the loud thumping of something approaching.

"Yah gotta be sh*ttin' me," Ciecro growled as the large snorlax came out of the trees, cracking a few of them in the process.

"Thanks for the save." Sylphiel nodded at the big brute as Bruno dropped the Block wall without so much as twitching.

Bruno looked at the uneasy trio as Sylphiel joined his side. "Now they're in for it." Sylphiel, gave a wide grin, staring at Garon with ideas in his head of what to do to the Garchomp. His dreams for payback were interrupted by a loud, low question.

"Where's Siegfried?"

"How should I know?"

"I'm down here!" a voice shouted from below the cliff area.

Sylphiel quickly sprinted to the bridge's entrance, peering down. "Heh, how did you get there? Ran in headstrong like an idiot?" Sylphiel mocked.

"I'll break your head if you don't get down here and help me!" Siegfried yelled, slipping a little due to his aggressive push up. "Just help before this gives way!"

Despite enjoying the site of an asshole getting his dues, Sylphiel replied with, "Fine hang tight, I'll get yah." As Siegfried growled at Sylphiel's choice of words, the fake Garchomp looked at Bruno and ordered. "Beat their asses, but make sure I can a piece of that dragon."

Bruno nodded as Sylphiel started morphing into a pidgeot, flapping his newly formed wings and diving off the cliff.

Garon tried to strike him with a Flamethrower midflight, but the snorlax covered for his friend by sticking out his paw to take the hit. After Sylphiel was out of harm's way, Bruno turned back to the group and started walking towards them; no words; no moves; just silent, imposing steps.

"Ciecro, Jaron, cover me!" Garon shouted, charging at the imposing mon, as the two followed with their duo of Flamethrower and Ice Beam. With the time bought by the distraction, Garon slammed his talons into the ground, making a tannish energy ring form around the Snorlax's feet. The ground spiraled, pulling the snorlax down into a sinkhole.

"Hrm?" Bruno looked downwards, not really that concerned. Despite his large size and strength, he couldn't pull his legs out Garon's Sand Tomb. He apparently was stuck between his legs caught and having to keep his face shielded from the two's moves.

"Bruno, we're going after the rest!"

Bruno nodded to Sylphiel, currently carrying Siegfried with his large talons.




"Hrm? Incoming!" Vragon shouted, getting to his feet as everyone stopped what they were doing.

Seliph dematerializing a Night Slash axe he was using and instead focused on forming two Water Shurikens, quickly hurling them at the two as he joined Vragon's side. "Let's drive them back!"

Jasmine leaped into action, throwing a Psycho Cut as Vragon fired Dragon Breath as best he could.

"Keep them back, I'll keep working on our plan," Demetri ordered. To his relief, no one objected, but instead focused on keeping the Red Eyes back.

Despite Sylphiel's good dodging, they had very little openings to get close. "It's no use, we're not getting over there this way!" Sylphiel complained.

Siegfried, however, wasn't paying attention to Sylphiel's ranting nor the moves surging at them. Instead, Siegfried had his gaze focused on Demetri, watching the grumpig down a few trees and lift a couple of big rocks all to a pile. Suddenly, a theory crossed Siegfried's mind. Is he trying to build a bridge? Siegfried looked down at the deep drop, pondering the plausibility further. That would explain why he destroyed the bridge. Typical Psychic assho-

A quick barrel roll from Sylphiel disrupted Siegfried's thoughts. "Sylphiel, we've got to stop that grumpig!"

"Sure, and just how do you expect either of us to get close enough?"

Siegfried didn't answer, instead realizing they were in a bad spot. Amid his thinking and being jerked around by Sylphiel's evasion, Siegfried remembered something. That blue light from before…could- His eyes widened as he looked up at his carrier pidgeot, shouting "Sylphiel, drop me near Bruno!"

"What? Why? Bruno can handle those thre-"

"Just do it!" Siegfried barked, with a hasty expression on his face.

With a grumbling compliance, Sylphiel started flying back.

Siegfried ignited Psycho Cut in his arms, waiting to get close enough to be dropped. "Now! We're close enough." he ordered and Sylphiel let him go. Please still be active. As Siegfried fell towards the cliff, he spiraled swiftly and unleashed as many Psycho Cuts to the crew as he can.

Meanwhile, Jaron was in the middle of an Ice Beam to the snorlax's face. He stopped as he felt a dread feeling surge in his spine like his senses were pinching his back.

"Wha is it?" Ciecro asked, shifting from firing Flamethrower from his mouth to using his hands so he could talk.

Jaron also shifted to his hands, but didn't answer immediately. Instead, Jaron's eyes darted to the right, where he felt his wary pulling him towards and sure enough there was a barrage of pink Psycho Cuts flying towards them. Unfortunately, Jaron only had enough time to see them before all three were struck by them all over, sending all of them to the ground and uprooting a lot of the dirt in the process.

"Ugh, yuck," Ciecro grumbled, spitting out some of the dirt in his mouth. Shaking some of the dirt off, Ciecro started getting back up when he noticed a blue light coming from in front of him. "Huh?" He peered closer, seeing the blue aura slowly fade as the image of Jaron became more visible. "Jaron? Yah okay?" Ciecro asked in fear, hurrying over help his brother up.

"Urhm, yeah…I think so…wait." Jaron right back into Ciecro's eyes, his eyes wide with horror. "I'm fine, but that means-" They both froze and quickly looked across the cliff area. "Demetri!" Jaron shouted, as he saw the grumpig sprawled on the ground, holding his side like he was in massive pain.

"Ciecro, Jaron!" Garon called out, browsing the area for them.

"Over 'ere!" Ciecro shouted with a wave as Garon came out of the forest area, about as covered in dirt as the two were.

"Why didn't you answer me?" Garon inquired, hurrying over to the two.

"Huh? You didn't say anything."

Garon glanced back at them, answering. "What? I telepathically called out to-"

"Oh no." Jaron froze.

"What do you mean?" Garon asked, glancing at the dust cloud for a second that separated them from the snorlax.

"We were protected by Demetri's move." Ciecro joined Garon's side, explaining to the dragon's face, "So all dat damage went tah 'im." Suddenly, Ciecro was pushed aside by the large dragon.

A fast moving Psycho Cut, surged through the remnants of the dust cloud in front and struck Garon on the chest. He went tumbling back near Jaron, before twisting his body so he could land on his feet and raising his guard for an incoming hook kick from the aggressive gallade.

Siegfried pushed off with his leg, avoiding a Slash from Jaron, by doing a few backflips. Once landing, he instantly swiped his arms wide, sending two Psycho Cuts straight at the duo.

Jaron ducked while Garon simply blocked the other with his arms in front of his head. Slowly, he lowered his defense, eyeing the gallade. "Jaron, range support," he ordered as he angled his body for a charge.

The croconaw got up to a knee and gaped his mouth, firing an Ice Beam straight at Siegfried, who merely hopped to the side and threw another Psycho Cut in retaliation.

It was intercepted halfway on its course by a Thunderpunch swipe from Ciecro. Ciecro walked in between his allies and enemy, eyeing Siegfried with a determined look.

Siegfried's eyes narrowed, as his extended elbows glowed from another surge of Psycho Cut in them. "Hmph, how juvenile. You win one encounter against me when you had twice as many allies and now you think you're a match for me on your own? You haven't even done half of the fighting."

Ciecro rolled his eyes as he readied his fists. "Den get ready fo' me tah do a lot more fightin'."

Siegfried cocked his head for a second before narrowing his eyes and raising his own arms. Hearing Bruno's large steps behind him, Siegfried starting going left, walking down the cliff's edge.

Ciecro moved so that he remained between the other two and Siegfried, while keeping his eyes squarely set on Siegfried's returning gaze. Suddenly, Ciecro noticed his opponent's red eyes start to glow a little strangely. He readied his fists and tensed up, but to his surprise the gallade simply snickered with an eye closed smile.

"You really do think you can handle me. Such youthful overconfidence, but by all means. Indulge me, orphan." Siegfried looked up at Ciecro, keeping his arms to the side almost like he didn't even consider they were in a match.

Ciecro, on the other hand, was startled by what he just heard. The confident smiled shifted to a scowl as he raised his fists to confront once more. "How do yah know dat?" Ciecro demanded.

"Your eyes say it all and more." Siegfried smiled in a mocking manner, as he angled his head slightly back as if he was talking to someone lesser. His eyes glowed again.

Ciecro immediately shielded his face.

"Don't bother," Siegfried mocked with a calm tone and a confidence grin. "If I really cared to learn about the circumstances of your orphaning, I'd probably lose interest about three seconds in." Siegfried kept his guard down, arrogantly peering towards Ciecro, who by now moved his arms back to a sparring position. "Besides, it's not that hard to figure you out. You clearly want to be better than me no matter how cheap your wins were."

Ciecro growled as Siegfried gestured outwards, almost as if inviting Ciecro to try something.

"If there's anything more insulting, it's a Norfarion that takes advantage of weakness."

"Hey! Yah were deh one dat attacked us!" Ciecro reminded Siegfried.

"And? Didn't stop you from attacking that one time with the monferno."

Ciecro winced back.

The gallade raised a brow. "What's wrong? You think I was lying when I said it wouldn't be hard to read you? I was able to access such a focused memory of yours before you even knew what was going on."

Ciecro's teeth gritted as he surged a Thunderpunch in his hand. Just at that moment, a loud blast came from down the path. Both looked to see Garon, doing his best to halt Bruno's progress from escaping the now inactive Sand Tomb.

"Such a stronger, more controlled fire." Siegfried watched the line of fire striking Bruno as Ciecro focused back on the gallade. "A true Norfarion stands and protects what he values. So, what does that make you?" The gallade's red eyes looked directly to Ciecro's angry orange ones. "All you've done is fight with your friends and beat a kid's face into the dirt for making fun of you. Truly, you're a disgrace to that crest on your shoulder."

"How would yah know abou' bein' a Norfairion, traitor!" Ciecro shouted, putting slamming his foot forwards. "I have halfa mind tah punch yah lights out fo' yah kin in Phonecia."

Siegfried merely shrugged. "I guess you haven't grown at all. Willing to punch my lights out because I said something mean. Whatever." Siegfried raised his arms, crossing them in front of his chest as he bent his knees. "You're boring me anyways."

Ciecro didn't need any more incentive. He rushed towards Siegfried and the two began a close spar of attacks and deflects.

While Ciecro's aggressive strikes were well controlled and tactful, Siegfried bought his time, merely defending against the onslaught. Ciecro, fed up with the stalemate, went for a leg sweep. As Siegfried hopped above it, Ciecro went for an uppercut post spin finish, until he noticed Siegfried was leaping over him and bringing down a slice with his extended elbows.

Ciecro managed to swap to a cross block over his head, but sadly Siefried's elbow was Psycho Cut infused. The charmeleon grunted from the resulting cuts as Siegfried pressed harder.

Suddenly, Siegfried broke off his pressure, quickly hopping out of the way of Jaron's slash. He landed nearby, scoffing at Jaron's interruption.

"You okay bro?" Jaron asked, as he fired an Ice Beam afterwards.

Ciecro looked at his wounded arms, bleeding a little from the forceful tear and his fists tightened. Slowly, he moved to Jaron's side and with a thrust of his arms, fire Flamethrower from his hands. "Go help Garon," Ciecro said as his flame was parted by Siegfried's upward swing with his Psycho Cut infused arms.

"What? Are you kidding?" Jaron gave him a tense look. "Garon has that snorlax pinn-"

"Jus' do it!" Ciecro roared, thrusting his arms forwards as a larger Flamethrower soared from his claws towards Siegfried, who realized he couldn't repeat what he did on this one and thus had to roll out of the way.

It was then Jaron noticed blood dripping from Ciecro's arms. He gasped, as the image of Ciecro hitting the Block wall before entered his mind. "You're hurt," Jaron pointed out, quickly cupping his arms to his side, readying a Scald.

"I'm fine!" Ciecro fired once more, with Siegfried evading it and it almost hitting Bruno, who was almost out of the sand pit.

"This is serious!" Jaron yelled back, thrusting his arms forwards to fire. To his surprise, his right arm was seized and pulled backwards. Jaron found himself staring right into Ciecro's angry stare.

"I'm serious! Now stop bein' a brat an' help Garon!" Ciecro shoved his arm towards the startled Croconaw, giving him once last firm look before once more firing another Flamethrower at Siegfried with his claws.

Jaron just paused, mulling. Staring at his wrist where Ciecro grabbed him, Jaron's eyes narrowed and despite hating Ciecro's roughness and tone, Jaron figured fighting with Ciecro wasn't going to help anything. Reluctantly, Jaron softly answered, "Alright…" and proceeded to the left before dashing forwards to Garon.

He and Siegfried were running towards each other in parallel, till a Flamethrower forced Siegfried to dodge to the gallade's left. Jaron watched the horizontal pillar of fire and in his mind said, Doofus. Just…don't let your guard down, brother.

As he neared the garchomp's position, he stopped and assed the situation. If Garon's flame can't even get past, I don't think me aiding it would get us through. I've got to hit him somewhere else. Moving to the side a bit so he could see past the flames striking Bruno's blocking arm, he could see a small cap in the mon's arms. Gotcha, he grinned, positioning himself before unleashing a minor Ice Beam on the mon's face.

"Wha?" Bruno bellowed, as ice crept on his face. He started clawing at the ice with his free hand.

"Garon! Follow up!" Jaron shouted, quickly switching to fire a Scald from his hands right at the spot Garon was striking with his Flamethrower.

Understanding Jaron's plan, Garon dropped his flames and charged forwards, going for the mon's legs.

However, Bruno responded by doing a belly flop forwards.

Garon quickly stopped, but the resulting crash on the ground shook the cliff enough to cause Garon to lose his balance and have to catch himself.

Jaron about fell over too, but due to his size he managed to keep steady.

Bruno then lifted himself up slight with his right arm, giving him enough reach to go for a blind Brick Break swipe.

"Garon!" Jaron shouted as the move slammed straight into the garchomp's side. He watched as Garon hurled tumbled a little-ways down the path. Once stopped, the dragon growled as a talon held his side.

Jaron was about to rush to his aid, when the snorlax getting up grabbed his focus. Standing there in helpless fear, Jaron watched as Bruno hit the ice slightly with a Brick Break, cracking it enough to tear it off. Once again, Jaron's and Bruno's eyes met, well as one's eyes could stare into a snorlax's.

The big mon stared at him in silence, noticing Jaron's slight shakiness despite trying to hold some kind fighting stance. The snorlax then looked past him to where Garon was still trying to back on his feet. Without a word, Bruno started walking, intent on completing his orders.

"Stay back!" Jaron desperately yelled, forming Slash blades on his arms.

Bruno stopped to look at the small one daring to challenge him alone. It was sort of sad to look at, the croconaw's desperation and yet defeatist look on his face and by the shaking of his arms. With a low, yet strangely lenient tone, the snorlax stated, "Move little guy."

A surge of dread filled Jaron's spine. His breathing picked up, and his nerve was buckling. Calm down! He ordered himself, but his body wouldn't stop. It was like his shaking wasn't his to control anymore.

"Jaron."

Jaron looked behind in desperation.

Garon was there, holding his side on his feet. The large dragon was panting heavy as well as some new scrapes from the tumbles earlier. "Don't worry, just a bruise," Garon wheezed, with a confident grin.

A small feeling of relief filled Jaron's body almost like an antidote for poison. Garon was okay, or at least hadn't given up yet. Jaron started to calm down, taking a deep breath as his heart slowed and his arms fell to the side. He looked back at Garon, till he noticed something behind the dragon.

It was Ciecro and Siegfried, still going at it. For a few seconds, Jaron washed the two winded warriors violently clash, neither gaining any sort of decisive hit. The bleeding from Ciecro's earlier wounds seemed powerless to slow him down or at least weren't enough to damper his resolve.

Quickly Jaron faced Bruno once more. The towering snorlax sent a chill down his spine, but something else surged in it. Jaron, resurged his Slashs in his arms as he bent slightly low with a scowl. His brother and Garon hadn't given up despite their wounds, so why the hell should he? "Garon, back me up!" Jaron shouted, not taking his eyes off the mon as he charged forwards.

Garon took a deep breath before unleashing a Flamethrower straight towards Bruno's big head.





An explosion resounded as Swift leaped from the blast smoke, rolling before quickly thrusting his arms towards it with a Focus Blast, firing blindly into the cloud of dirt. As it pierced through the smoke's exterior, another shot out towards him. He dove to the right, quickly covering his head as it struck the ground nearby. He curled up as he endured the dirt shrapnel that grazed over his legs and back.

Arceus, this guy is tough. Swift shot up, just in time to see Plageues leap from the smoke, spotting him on the ground at about half a second after leaving. Without hesitation, the zoroark lunged for Swift, who quickly pushed up onto his hands and sprung forwards before leaping for a tree to avoid Plageues's slice.

"Hold still you little-!" Plageues cupped his hands, forming a Focus Blast in between them and threw it at the heliolisk climbing up the tree.

Desperately, Swift leaped from tree to another, but Plageues was one step ahead. Swift didn't have time leap from his new location till another Focus Blast struck close to his spot. He uttered a surprised and painful shout before hitting and tumbling to the center of the path.

His right shoulder wound spiked in pain as he clenched his mouth shut and moved his left hand over the spot. However, he couldn't rest for long since he spotted Plageues, relentlessly coming for him. All Swift could do was evade, run back, and wait for a chance. Finally, Plageues left himself open, allowing Swift to fire a small, quickly made Focus Blast right into Plageues's side.

The move sent the zoroark back a few steps, holding his new blast mark.

For a minute the two just stood there, panting and holding their respective wounds. Finally, Swift broke the silence. "Temporary break?" he jokingly stated, with a snarky grin.

Plageues growled as he moved his hand away from his fresh wound and scoffing at the heliolisk. "Very optimistic of you."

Swift brushed his snout with his left as he answered amid a few wheezes, "Just offering a chance for us to catch our breaths. You know, since we're both nearing our ends."

"Speak for yourself, Norfarion." Plageues surged a Night Slash in his right, slowing cultivating it outwards into a kunai and chain. "You're just an annoying little pr*ck I've yet to catch. But when I do, that overactive tongue of yours is first." Plageues swung formed Night Slash chain towards Swift, who easily rolled in evasion.

Swift readied for another attack, but to his surprise, Plageues was staring at something past Swift. The heliolisk quickly tried to capitalize with a Focus Blast, but it missed due to Plageues sidestepping it.

Damnit, and he complains about me stan- Suddenly, an orb of orange light shot past him, striking the ground near Plageues and forcing him back.

"Swift!"

The heliolisk turned around. "Dolly, I thought you were helpi-"

"Vray's fine." Dolly hurried to his side. "We need to get ready."

"Ready for what?" Swift cocked his head. To his surprise, rather than answer him, Dolly grabbed his head with one of her big hands and twisted it to look across a certain area of the cliff. His eyes widened as he saw a grouping of logs and rocks forming a path across the bridge, despite the massive drop beneath. Tracing its source, he spotted that grumpig focusing on the task while Seliph was helping him stay on his feet as Vragon and Jasmine were keeping Sylphiel back with their moves.

"For that." She shoved her fists together and cracked her knuckles with a smirk as she faced Plageues.

Dolly's confident smile was rather contagious, making Swift wear one himself before they engaged Plageues.

"So, what's the plan?" Swift inquired quietly, raising his fists.

"Blast him."

"With pleasure."

The two began firing Focus Blasts towards Plageues, who desperately tried to avoid them. Thanks to their range battle that didn't allow Plageues much room to fight back, Swift asked, "So, how's the eye?"

"I've gotten used to the pain." A smile formed on her face as she threw another Focus Blast in their game of 'hit the Plageues'. "But that may be me just looking on the bright side."

Swift awkwardly chuckled at her statement, glad she was still confident and all, but a little disturbed at how lightly she was taking her wound.

"Something wrong, Swift?" Dolly asked, her face becoming more mischievous by the second. "You act like you just got served a slice of something distasteful."

"Good one," Swift sarcastically stated. "Now let's focus on hitting this guy."

"Why?" Dolly suddenly said, after firing another.

"What do you mean why?" Swift looked at her with a confused look. "This was your idea and he's been trying to kill us."

Dolly stroked her chin as she gave a big and somewhat evil grin. "I see your point."

At the end of his patience, Swift was about to chastise her when suddenly, Dolly lunged and caught Plageues's arm before he could slice them both with Night Slash.

For a second, Plageues wore a dumbfounded look like Swift's current expressions as Dolly just looked at him with a big grin. "Nighty night." With that said, Dolly promptly swung him overhead with one arm, slamming him onto the ground behind the two.

Swift just watched stunned as Dolly slammed Plageues over and over till finally she surged a Dizzy Punch in her arm.

As she lifted him up, Dolly stated with a victorious smile, "I suggest you rest a spell, you look a little dizzy." With that, Dolly drove her Dizzy Punch right into Plageues, sending the zoroark tumbling down the path.

With their enemy down for now, Dolly looked at Swift and jokingly said, "You alright, you look like you've seen a spirit."

Swift blinked a few times before looking at her. "Remind me to never, ever get on your bad side."

Dolly chuckled a little, patting his back gently so to not upset his wound too much. "Let's hurry over there. I doubt he'll fall for that again."

"Right." Swift dashed ahead as Dolly followed with a jog, the two finally coming to a stop in front of the forming path. They watched Demetri slowly moved another large stone in front, only about thirteen feet away from them. "Okay, so we need to get the others here."

"That is the path to success."

"Huh?" Swift looked at her, confused. "Path to-…oh…" Swift crossed his arms. "The distraction thing was kinda cool, I admit, but can we focus now?"

"What? Can't a lady have a bit of fun?" She playfully asked, as she crossed her arms and tilted her head, inquisitively.

"Yes, but this is a matter of life and death."

"Hmm…" Dolly walked past him, eyeing the fighting going on ahead. "I suppose you have a point…given the grave circumstances of our deathly situation."

Swift moaned and put his hands on top of his head saying, "Alright, I surrender, now tell me what you're plan is please?"

Dolly nodded, as she explained. "If you can get Garon and Jaron over here, I'll get Ciecro."

"Yes ma'am," Swift replied with an affirming nod as they both headed to enact her plan.

During their haste, Swift looked up to her and complimented, "Hey Dolly, you know you're a pretty good battler."

"Thanks."

"You fight better than some soldiers I know."

"We'll I've had such experience." Noticing Swift's curiosity, Dolly quickly pointed forwards. "But we can talk about it later. Right now, focus."

Swift nodded, lower his body and picking up pace, leaving Dolly behind. He weaved around the Ciecro and Siegfried duel, keeping his eyes firm on the large snorlax, currently swiping at Garon while Jaron kept annoying him with Ice Beam.

"Garon!" He shouted, as the three looked towards him. "Lift!" Responding to the code word, Garon cupped his talons for Swift and threw him in the air. Once in the air, Swift pelted the surprised snorlax's face, shouting, "Topple!"

Right after hearing the word, Garon charged to the snorlax, currently feeling the Focus Blasts strike his face. Garon then leaped into a flying kick, landing right into the snorlax's belly with enough force to make the mon lose balance and topple over.

"Jaron, ice him!" Swift shouted.

Jaron immediately fired his Ice Beam on the flailing snorlax, freezing his left side to the ground slowly.

Meanwhile, Garon had gotten to his feet and caught Swift and set him down.

"Good throw," Swift complimented.

"Just like that one time in Mevirro?"

Swift moved his arms behind his head. "Nah, that one was your best." The two looked at the snorlax, struggling in vain to not be encased in the ice. "That's enough ice, Jaron. We need to go."

Despite not sure what Swift meant, Jaron did obey, jogging over once done. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me, we're getting outta here." Swift moved a hand on Jaron's shoulder as he looked at Garon. "Garon, can you cover the rear? I'll handle the front."

Garon nodded, focusing on the snorlax as Swift's hand swung down to Jaron's hand, quickly pulling him on.



Meanwhile, Ciecro was struggling to land a hit on the evasive gallade, his arms starting to tire from the mix of many attacks and the wounds they carried wearing him down.

Noticing this, Siegfried mocked. "Heh, typical of a feckless youth. Always 'attack attack' and never thinking. How similar to that incident with that monferno."

"Shut up!" Ciecro growled, doing a firm punch to Siegfried, who did a backwards handspring away. "You keep leaping away like a coward!"

"Tck, is it so hard for you to fight me that you need me to stand still for you?" Siegfried surged Psycho Cuts in his elbows. "Listen to yourself." He was about to send the moves Ciecro's way when he spotted a heliolisk run past. Wait that's-

"Ciecro!"

Dolly? Ciecro looked behind to see Dolly running his way. Despite his relief to see her, he faced Siegfried once more, charging again.

"Ciecro wait!" Dolly called out, but Ciecro ignored her.

The two began clashing once more, with Ciecro desperately trying to find that decisive blow on Siegfried. Come on, come on! He ranted in his mind as one by one his punches were either dodged, blocked, or parried. Fed up, he directed his Flamethrower to the ground between them, shooting a scorching flame that pushed Siegfried back.

Siegfried dropped to a knee for a second, the heat wave from the fire being enough of a surprise to catch him off guard.

Seeing his chance, Ciecro was about to charge till suddenly an arm moved in front. Startled by this, Ciecro could only just gasped as Dolly stretched her other arm out and fired a Focus Blast at the prone Siegfried.

Despite throwing up a guard, the combination of the strong move and the fact he had little time to brace was enough to send him on his back.

"Come on, Ciecro, we're getting out of here."

"B-Bu-" Ciecro started but stopped as Dolly gave him a serious scowl.

Dolly placed her arms on Ciecro's shoulders, leveling her head to his and saying, "Please."

He replied with a small growl, before looking at the spot where Siegfried was trying to get back up. Slowly he turned around and started jogging on, without another word.

"Good," Dolly substituted her scowl with an assuring smile. She waited for him to leave, seeing the visible frustration as he dashed onwards. "Now, just the oth-…nevermind," Dolly muttered to herself, seeing Swift run with Jaron past her as Garon followed. Seeing Siegfried getting back on his feet, Dolly threw another Focus Blast at him.

The gallade jumped to the side, right into Garon's trap. Siegfried found himself in a tannish lit circle as the sand spiraled, pulling him in just enough to keep his legs sealed. "Grr, damnit, let me go!" He shouted, pulling at his legs as Garon stopped giving the Sand Tomb power.

"Nice job," Dolly applauded, as Garon rubbed the back of his head.

"All in a day's work."

Dolly nodded and added with, "Here. Here." The two then dashed after the rest, confident the two were stuck enough so they would have all the time they'd need. As they neared the rest, congregated where the path was almost made.

"Dolly, you and the two head across first," Swift suggested. "Me and Garon will cover for you in case they come after us."

With an agreeing nod, Dolly nudged Ciecro towards the path. "Can you cover the front for us, Ciecro?"

Ciecro looked across, spotting Sylphiel in the distance, evading the attacks from his friends across the chasm. Looking back at Dolly, he gave a nod as his scowl shifted to one of serious rather than frustration.

"Good," Dolly praised, patting Ciecro on his shoulders. "Let's do this."

"Yeh." After that, Ciecro walked to the edge, staring down at the drop right in front of him till it was slowly covered up by two sets of logs. Taking a second to compose his nerves and after a long breath, Ciecro stepped onto the logs. It didn't shake much, but the experience sent a chill all over.

"Not trying to rush you, but try to hurry," Swift requested, seeing Plageues in the distance was picking himself up.

"Uh…sure." Ciecro carefully stepped further onto the logs and reached out his hand for Dolly. To his surprise, she was already on the logs with him.

"Thanks, but I'm fine," Dolly said with a smile as Ciecro looked to the side with a scowl of awkward blushing. "But I wouldn't mind when our lives aren't in danger." She gave him a wink as he grumbled, turning around to keep going. Dolly made some space for Jaron, who, like his brother, cautiously made his way onto the logs.

Steadily, the three trekked across the path, taking their time while occasionally glancing back to their friends back at the start. When they were about near the middle, Dolly glanced back and noticed the two forming moves. She then looked down both sides of the cliff, seeing Plageues and Siegfried were closing in, along with Bruno starting to get free from the ice.

"Boys, we need to move," Dolly calmly but seriously informed.

With that knowledge, Ciecro picked up pace. By now he was used to the levitating collection of objects and the feel you'd get when jumping on one. He was about two thirds of the way when suddenly, something caught his eye. Stopping, Ciecro looked to see Sylphiel in the air, out of range of his allies.

Sh*t, He cursed as the fake pidgeot flew into a speedy descent towards the trio. "Brace yahselves!" Ciecro shouted to the two behind as he quickly snapped back to fire a Flamethrower at Sylphiel. The bird easily maneuvered around it and instead flew in between the space where Dolly and Ciecro were, sending a ripple of wind due to his speed.

Ciecro wobbled on the log he was on, but he quickly leaned his weight forwards so he'd simply fall back onto the logs. He glanced back at the two. With a sigh of relief, Ciecro saw Dolly was alright.

"Ciecro!" She called out to him, "Keep moving, we're vulnerable here!"

Ciecro looked at Sylphiel, his eyes narrowing. "I'll cover yah!" He shouted before taking a deep breath and firing his Flamethrower at the bug.

"No, we need to keep moving!" After seeing Ciecro not slow down, she sighed and gestured for Jaron to hurry. "Let's move."

"But what about, Ciecro?" Jaron asked, hopping onto the next rock on the path.

"We don't have time. He'll come, he's not stupid."

Meanwhile, the ditto weaved through the sky as each blast of Flamethrower soared past him. Once he was at a relatively safe distance, he did a large one eighty before flying back to the group, this time targeting the duo behind.

Stay away from 'em! Ciecro shouted in his mind, firing a powerful Flamethrower to disrupt Sylphiel's path. Dolly halted to fire some Focus Blasts of her own, the moves all striking right where Sylphiel was and caused a minor explosion in their collision. Both Ciecro and Dolly looked over the edge to see where Sylphiel was, but strangely enough, he was nowhere to be seen. "Wha?" he absent-mindedly spoke.

Dolly was just as confused. "He can't hav-" Suddenly, something shot through the log Dolly was standing on, sending onto her side.

Jaron yelled in surprise as the broken log slammed onto the rock he was on. With the addition of the wind turbulence, Jaron fell onto his side, rolling over the edge, and barely managing to grab onto the rock.

"Dolly! Help!" He cried out in terror.

"Hang on Jaron!" Dolly rushed over, but to her surprise, a large creature landed on the log she was one, right behind her. She raised her fists, but Sylphiel morphed into a donphan on the logs, the added weight making them crack. She froze at the side of the log she was creaking.

With a fiendish scowl, Sylphiel hopped, intent on breaking the log, taking Dolly down with him. Dolly tried to whip out a Focus Blast to stop him, but she had no need to, for suddenly a yellow flash of electricity slammed into the airbornee donphan, taking the two down. Dolly just stared in awe before looking at where the two went.

A relieved breath escaped her lips at the sight of Devon confronting Sylphiel, who had morphed back into a pidgeot in response. She didn't let this distract her, however, quickly ordering Ciecro to help cover them and running to the edge of the log where she could see Jaron climbing up onto the rock.

"Jaron!" She called over to the rapid breathing croconaw, "Look at me! Don't focus on anything else but me!"

Her words fell on deaf ears, or rather overwhelmed ones. Despite Jaron staring directly down at the solid ground beneath his legs and claws he could see the river below. See himself falling down and the rush that came with it. His shaking had returned, stronger than ever and his pulse pumped fast enough that it felt like it was trying to escape his chest.

After a while, Jaron's nerve calmed down enough for him to notice Dolly's call. Hesitantly, he looked towards her, eyes wide and body tingling. Dolly offered a hand to him.

"That's right Jaron, now come over to me."

Jaron shook his head, seeing the three-foot gap between him and her. "Get him to fix the path," Jaron demanded, his voice high from fright.

"He can't, you need to jump over."

Jaron jerked back slightly, almost as if she said something that he couldn't believe. Jaron held his snout, a few tears forming as he shook his head.

"Jaron…" Dolly's voice softened as she wore a sympathetic frown on her face. "I know it's scary, and I hate to ask you to do this. But you know we need to hurry."

Jaron looked at her, still holding his snout like a five-year-old.

Dolly smiled as she said, "Trust me…I won't let you fall, but I can't catch you if you don't jump." Dolly moved her other hand outwards, facing them in an almost offering way. "Just, pretend like you're hopping into my arms."

Jaron's breathing slowed. Slowly and shakily, he stood up. His mind begged him to looked around and see reason but he fought it with all his nerve. He focused on Dolly's eyes as his feet started nudging forwards. As he reached the edge, his snout started to lower, giving into his fear of what was below him. Seeing he was losing this fight, Jaron forcefully jumped forwards, letting out a high-pitched squeal as he did.

Dolly caught the croconaw in her arms, pulling him into her chest. "It's okay, you're fine." Dolly said, brushing the back of the shivering corconaw as he slowly calmed down. "You did awesome, Jaron." She backed up, placed her arms on his shoulders, and smiled at the terrified boy that just did a brave thing.

After a few seconds of consoling him, Dolly stood up, grabbing his hand in the process. "Come on, let's go."

Jaron didn't reply, but followed her.

"Ciecro, hurry on over. Once you're across, cover us if you can."

Ciecro nodded and raced on ahead as Dolly led Jaron across.

After a little-ways, Dolly let go of Jaron's hand, letting him take the lead. "I've got your back," she said with an assuring smile.

Jaron gave a still shook version of his grin back for her sake at least. After taking a moment to calm down, Jaron carefully headed onwards, closely followed by Dolly.

As Jaron hopped from the last rock to the other side he was instantly grabbed and pulled into a tight hug squeeze by Ciecro. "Heh, sorry for making you worry," Jaron chuckled with a stutter.

"Shuddup yah shrimp," Ciecro answered, pulling back his embrace to show a relieved smile. "Jus'…shuddup."

Jaron paused, looking in awe at his brute of a brother looking like he was about to cry. However, he didn't mention it, for in all honesty, he felt immensely relieved to be on safe ground with his brother in front.

"Good to see you safe."

"Yeah, Jaz and I were nervous wrecks."

The two looked over at their friends, walking over. The group were about to converse before Dolly's voice got their attention.

"Alright, all that's left are Swift and Garon."

"How can we signal them?" Seliph inquired, adjusting his grip on Demetri.

"I'm…ugh…can use the…telepathic link." Demetri muttered, in a heavy and tired tone. "I may need to drop…some of the path…so I can."

"Any objections?" Seliph asked, looking at everyone.




Swift covered his face as his Focus Blast collided with Siegfried's Psycho Cut. With a smirk, Swift heard Siegfried coming for him and in response he quickly rushed forwards and swiped with Iron Tail. To his surprise, his move clashed with Siegfried's Psycho Cut infused elbow, extended down to deflect.

Siegfried went for a downwards slice with his free arm, but Swift managed to disengage and space himself once more. "Hey, Garon!" Swift shouted, backing up as Siegfried walked after him. "You hanging in there?"

"Yes!" Garon replied, parrying a Focus Blast from Plageues before firing a Flamethrower of his own.

Plageues evaded it, lunging towards him with Night Slash claws.

Garon quickly blocked with his arms, using his arm fins to shield his face. However, his block was broken as Plageues did a swing up with his leg. As Plageues flipped back onto his feet, he drew a Night Slash knife and threw it at the garchomp, grazing his side.

Garon winced as he held his side, quickly firing Flamethrower to force Plageues back. "Keep fighting!"

Suddenly, they heard a loud voice call out in their heads.

Cross now!

Demetri? The two muttered in their mind.

Doubting Demetri would reply, Garon quickly ordered, "Swift, move!"

Swift nodded and the two rushed towards the path,

"Stop them!" Plageues ordered, throwing a Focus Blast at Garon as Siegfried obeyed with a Psycho Cut of his own. Unfortunately for them, Swift and Garon reached the path and rushed onto it as the moves barely missed their backs. The two rushed as fast as they could in pursuit, but stopped as the two logs in the front were instantly dropped.

Plageues growled as Siegfried asked, demoralized, "What now?"

A loud crack resounded to their left, beckoning them to watch Bruno pull himself out of the now shattered ice and heavily walking over to the two. Plageues brushed past Siegfried and ordered, "Bruno, blast them."

Bruno tilted his head. "But you sai-"

"I'll take that chance. We need more time to capture that stupid child and vile!"

The large snorlax looked at the path, the two hurrying across, Garon in front and Swift directly behind. With a scowl, Bruno browsed the cliff before asking, "Stand back."

Unsure of what the big mon had in mind; Siegfried immediately complied. Plageues was slower in backing up as well as crossed his arms.

Bruno slammed his paws together, sending a surge of red energy from the ground that formed a line on their side of the cliff, save for the older opening for the path. From these lines, Block walls shot up from them and lining across the side of the cliff.

Aggravated, Plageues stomped the ground shouting, "I told you to stop them, not seal us on thi-"

Suddenly, Bruno gaped his mouth, forming a white sphere, the starting phase of Hyper Beam. Plageues quieted down as Bruno looked all the way to the left and fired his move directly into the furthest on and moved his head till all the left were touched by the beam.

Siegfried raised a brow as he noticed a white like energy surging chaotically inside them, collecting at the center of these vertical planks. What is he up to? Siegfried pondered, while Bruno did the same for the right.




"Huh?" Swift stopped, quickly looking behind before halting at what he saw. Almost the entire cliff they had left was covered with those red Block walls from earlier, except they had a much shinier core. "What the-? What are they thinking?" Swift mumbled aloud, nerves tense at how strange this tactic was. They weren't stupid, he knew that much, but what were they planning to do.

"Swift!"

The calling from Garon, snapped him out of his mulling. He looked back at the other side where everyone else was, including Garon, telling him to hurry over. "Hopefully, what they're planning doesn't matter." Swift broke into a low sprint, running across all the pathway objects with good speed as Demetri started to let the ones behind him fall into the river below.

As everyone was full of glee as Swift was joining them, Garon was focused squarely on the walls on the other side. "What's he doing?" Garon thought aloud, peering over at the surging walls.

"The snorlax?" Seliph asked, prompting a nod from Garon.

"I don't know," Demetri replied, able to converse better since most of the path had already been dropped. "Maybe it's a..." Demetri froze.

"A what?" Garon inquired, but the grumpig was too focused on the walls in front, looking at each wall individually. Squinting his eyes, Demetri peered at them before noticing a little oddity about them. Are they at an…angle? Indeed, some of the walls were turned slightly more or less than their neighbors.

When looking down the path the further out ones had the bigger turns while the ones closer to the center were only slightly twisted. In fact, in trying to look at them as a collective, all could be seen as looking at their position, emphasized by the white light in each.

Wait…why would he angle them with…Block doesn't have white light at its core.

He suddenly felt a nudge on his shoulder.

"Demetri, what's wrong? Do you see something?" Garon worriedly asked.

Demetri turned, looking up at the garchomp and opened his mouth to say his theory. When suddenly, a loud surging sound of energy resounded as powerful white beams shot from the center of each block, all headed right for their position.

Both of them immediately looked and for a split second a line of line light lit their horizons before colliding with the cliff they stood on. Dirt, rock, and plants were thrown high into the air as the cliff's surface was all but uprooted from the damaging impact of the powerful beams. Rocks and dirt slid downwards, descending to the river below.

Swift only got to see the carnage firsthand for a moment before the rest of the path dropped beneath his feet. Flailing about, Swift plummeted, trying to grab onto something out of the desperation of free fall.

"Grab on!"

Swift looked to the origin of the voice to see Devon, next to him in a diving position. He latched onto the bug like a mon that couldn't swim would to their savior.

"Hang on!" Devon pulled up his body as there was a brief jerking, that while scared Swift wasn't near enough to break his terrified grip onto Devon's back. Flying upwards, Devon gently tilted so Swift could crawl up onto his back better.

With a calmer but still frantic pant, Swift thanked Devon. "That was close," Swift wheezed, taking a moment to look at the watery grave below he had been spared from.

"Yeah…but the otherzzz."

The two looked upwards to the cliffside. The cracks on the side and large gashes in the cliff left the two unsettled and anxious. "Let's hurry, they might be in critical condition."

Devon ascended higher, giving Swift time to adjust to the new speed boost. Once the two surfaced over the cliffs, they looked in horror at the impact zone. Neither couldn't spy their friends from the still fresh dirt cloud. "No good, I can't zzzee any of them."

Swift looked back at the snorlax, who was currently resting from his attack. "If he fires again…" Swift leaned over and suggested, "Devon, we need to take out that snorlax."

Devon agreed albeit didn't have time to say so, due to needing to swirl into a barrel roll thus managing to avoid a ramming from Sylphiel.

"Wah!" Swift exclaimed, trying to hang on as Devon started trying to lose Sylphiel off his tail.

"Hang on tight; thizzz might be a bit rough." Devon spun around toward Sylphiel and fired Bug Buzz right at the mon.

In response, Sylphiel morphed to a heracross, flying up before the move could hit. Once free from the move, he immediately dove, attempting to ram them from above.

"Alrighty, thizzz endzzz now!" Devon angrily buzzed, quickly diving down, making Swift scream in fright as Sylphiel followed them.

"Are you sure about this?" Swift asked, clenching on for dear life.

"Truzzzt me!" Devon replied.

Swift's nerves weren't helped when Sylphiel started glowing a white light. "He's transforming into you!"

"I zzzaid, truzzzt me!"

Devon's speedy descent toward the water showed no sign of stopping. Swift hugged Devon's exoskeleton and closed his eyes, bracing for impact.

However, there was no massive splash, for Devon quickly pulled up and flew barely above the river's surface.

Sylphiel followed in suit, about read to fire a Bug Buzz at them once level. To his surprise, all he saw in front was a massive splash of water shot up by Devon's Bug Buzz. Sylphiel was sprayed in the face causing him to crash into the water.

Swift panted as Devon smirked. "Told you to tru-"

"We're f**king upside down!" Swift cried aloud, shakily clinging to Devon with all four of his limbs as they however right above the water. Swift's head was almost touching the water's surface, not that he'd know since he was too overwhelmed to look.

"Oh…right." Devon quickly flipped back upright and quickly started ascending.

"This is why I'm not a flier," Swift complained.

"Come on, flying izzz not that bad," Devon encouraged.

Swift grit his teeth as he elaborated. "No, I can take flying in the air or wind hitting my face, but your ride is so janky and freaky that I want off after one go!"

"Calm down. I'm zzzorry for zzzcaring you. But hopefully that'll keep him buzzzy zzzo I won't need to be zzzo extreme"

The two quickly faced the snorlax; Swift's eyes narrowed as he leaned over and whispered in Devon's ear. "Try and get close to the snorlax so I can jump on him. If you can keep those two busy, I'll get the snorlax to the edge. When I shout 'now' strike the ground where he is and his fat body will do the rest."

Bruno noticed the two coming, but was still recovering from the Hyper Beams, so there wasn't much he could do to stop them. Swift easily leaped down onto Bruno's head as the snorlax tried to grab him with awkwardly swinging swipes from his paw. If his fatigue wasn't an obstacle enough, Swift's small and fast body made it next to impossible for Bruno to catch or outwit Swift, who sliced at shoulders, neck, and head with Iron Tail. "Stop it! Get off of me!" Bruno shouted, but only kept getting more slices. "Guys! Help!" Bruno pleaded, blindly swatting around his head in vain.

"Can't right now," Plageues grumbled, trying to stay out of Bug Buzz's force of destruction. "Siegfried, give me a hand!"

Siegfried charged towards Devon, jumping onto a tree to go for a slice at Devon's back, only for the bug to do a somersault over him and pelt him in the back. Siegfried tumbled past Plageues, who scoffed at how unhelpful these allies were. "Bruno!" Plageues yelled, leaping away from another Bug Buzz. "Try swatting the bug; he's pinning us down!"

Taking the advice, Bruno turned his attention towards Sylphiel, but in doing so left himself open to a slice across his face from Swift. "Ouch!" Bruno cried, clasping at his nose

"No, you don't!" Swift challenged, quickly grabbing Bruno's small ears and pulling them so the snorlax would lean in whatever direction he was pulled in.

Plageues angrily watched the rather hilarious scene of Bruno whining while flailing for the heliolisk out of his reach that was slowly pulling him towards the ledge. "Damnit, Siegfried give me a hand, you useless scum!" Plageues yelled to Siegfried.

Siegfried stayed on all fours, panting heavily as blood dropped from all his wounds. He attempted to stand up but wound up falling to a knee, right when Plageues was knocked into a tree from a decisive hit by Bug Buzz.

Devon tittered as Plageues hit the ground, upside down. He glanced at Siegfried and was about to fire when he heard Swift shout the signal. He quickly buzzed up flying to get into position as Swift pulled with all his might on Bruno's ears and moved his body so that his tail, currently covered by Iron Tail, wrapped over Bruno's neck.

"Wha? Hey!" Bruno tried to reach Swift's tail, but it was too late.

Swift pulled with his tail and arms with all his might, almost causing Bruno to fall over the edge. Come on! Swift pleaded in his head.

On cue, an explosion sounded from below his position, weakening the cliff enough for Bruno to topple over as planned.

"Yes!" Swift exclaimed mid-fall as he hopped away from Bruno's head, twisted to catch onto Devon, and pulled himself up. The two watched Bruno fall down the cliffside, loudly shouting before crashing into the water with a back flop. "Awesome, perfect shot, Devon!" Swift exclaimed.

"Uhm…Zzzwift…that wazzzn't me."

"What? Then-" Swift noticed Devon looking back across the cliff and looked over as well. Gasping before a smile crossed his face. "Damn, I'll never complain about rangers again." Devon hurriedly flew over, where a squad of mons, with ranger bandannas were helping the others out of the upset ground.

After landing, Swift hopped off, rushing over to Garon, who was covered in dirt. "Garon!" Swift uttered as he hopped up and hugged Garon's neck, relieved he was okay.

"Swift," the larger dragon happily said back, pulling his friend close, before setting him down. "How? Where did-?" Swift stuttered asking half questions till one of the rangers walked over, tipping his hat towards the two.

"We could see the dust cloud from the watchtower so we hurried to investigate." The bisharp ranger offered his hand to the heliolisk. "Captain Orgul."

"Swift Rubris." Swift shook the mon's hand.

Orgul nodded as he walked to the edge, looking down at the snorlax standing up in the river below. "Good hit, Somwei."

An Inteleon, hopped from a branch and jogged over, saluting the commissioner upon arrival.

"Good, join the others and help them to town."

"Sir!" One of the rangers called out. "Foe incoming!"

The four looked up to see Sylphiel flying towards them and firing a Bug Buzz.

Swift was about to form a Focus Blast, till Orgul placed a hand on Swift's shoulder. "Easy son, we've got this." With a confident smile, the commissioner pointed right at the bug and the incoming move and shouted, "Squash the bug, boys!"

From the forest, a barrage of Razor Leaves soared through the air and collided with the Bug Buzz, before the rest headed straight for Sylphiel. In a panic, Sylphiel tried to avoid the sea of Razor Leaves, but several managed to slice his body and wings, sending him lower to the ground. "That's it!" Sylphiel flapped his wings viciously, sounding a massive Bug Buzz that blew the rest away. However, his anger was soon replaced with doomed despair as he watched a massive Rock Wrecker heading straight for him.

The giant boulder burst apart upon impact, sending rock shards and an unconscious Sylphiel falling towards the river. During his free fall, Sylphiel reverted from his vikavolt form back into his blobby ditto body.

"Sylphiel!" Bruno quickly stretched out his paw, catching Sylphiel goopy body before the ditto could hit the water and be broken apart by the water. "Sylphiel…" Bruno solemnly looked at his fainted friend with concern although glad he saved Sylphiel. Bruno sighed in relief, looking upwards to see the group above but both sides were too high up to see well.

Meanwhile at the top, Plageues angrily gazed across the river at the rangers the group.

The zoroark ground his teeth and clenched his fists.

Holding his side, Siegfried limped over to the 'too angry for words' Plageues and joined him in watching the last of their targets disappear into the forest with the rangers. "Tck, lucky bastards." He walked forwards to check on the two in the river below "So…what's the plan now, Plageues?"

Plageues didn't reply, merely keeping his gaze locked forwards.

"…Sir?... What do we do now? Try and find a way into Plainier?" Siegfried raised his brows, surprised at Plageues's lack of ranting or just responding in general.

Without a word, Plageues turned and walked around Siegfried, heading downstream.

Siegfried felt a rather cold chill down his spine when seeing that zoroark's face pass him. Slowly, he waved to Bruno below and signaled him to follow them downstream. Once that was done, he limped after Plageues dreading at the thought of whatever Plageues had in store for the failure.

Reviewing Chapter Six!

There were a few little typos here and there, but nothing major. Instead, I want to talk about two things that stuck out to me a lot more. Firstly, I feel like you didn't really pay enough attention to the emotional impact of Gathor's death. You went there a little with Seliph, but you never really went into the way his brothers responded overly much. I think that the story would have benefited a lot from you slowing the pace down to really let the emotional weight of everything sink in. The best way to do that would be split the chapter into the intensity of the escape and then in the next introduce Dresha and have the brothers decompress and unpack their emotions.

Similarly, I feel like the chapter jumped around too much between time and perspective. Narratives feel stronger when you don't bounce around between the perspectives of too many characters at a time - especially when this chapter contained a lot of moments where you should have gone all in on the emotional impact.

I do however want to praise you for some things too. Your characterisation is still very consistent and even after going so long before reading more, I was drawn right back into the world you created, which speaks volumes to your abilities.

Both stiffened, Dolly scowled, Vragon held onto Dolly's neck tighter as a zoroark stepped out of his hiding place, letting the dark move ripple away from his hand and instead offer it towards her in a gentlemonish gesture.

Click to expand...

This sentences sounds awkward when read aloud. Maybe something like, "Dolly scrowled and Vragon held onto her neck tighter as (etc)."

Plageues cocked a brow, muttering an "Oh?" as he looked down towards the river running down at the base of gorge. Pausing for a second, the zoroark kept his eyes on the stream, a little grin slowly appearing after an idea came on. With a confident smile, Plageues returned his attention to her and answered, "Well, that's not very good. Tell you what miss motherly mon." Plageues stretched out and open palm as if asking for her hand, offering, "Give him here and I'll make sure he's patched up."

Click to expand...

I feel both bolded parts are repetitive there. You can take out the "confident smile." part.

Suddenly, Dolly challenged Plageues, "You look like you could use a breather; you seem to be dragon."

Vragon raised a brow confused, while Plageues dropped his aggressive stance to answer.

Click to expand...

Dolly...

Also, the bolded parts I think should be "confused brow."

Without warning, Plageues's serious scowl slowly morphed to a sadistic smile, squinting his left eye and opening his right.

Click to expand...

I feel "serious scrowl" is a bit on the fluff side. You can just use "scrowl" there.

The powerful his was enough to knock Sylphiel backwards, awkwardly having to twist around his caught left leg.

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I'm confused with the bolded part. Powerful punch?


Dolly got quite hurt at the beginning of the chapter but is still her ol' pun self and having a bit too much fun with Plageues there lol.

Orgul nodded as he walked to the edge, looking down at the snorlax standing up in the river below. "Good hit, Somwei."

An Inteleon, hopped from a branch and jogged over, saluting the commissioner upon arrival.

Click to expand...

Adding a Gen 8 Pokemon already, hm? Wonder if Somwei will have more of a role or just an extra.

I know you told me this earlier, but geez this battle is still going huh, lol. I admit I got confused at mentions of "fake Pokemon", but realized Sylphiel is still here oops. The action is still fine as always, but there's so much to take in this chapter. I can't help but feel you could've broken it down into two chapters just to make it easier for the readers.

A vast dark abyss stretched as far as one could see. The gentle rhythm of content breath filling the ears with a sense of safety and comfort. Nothing felt needed and everything was far away. It was nice though, being in this endless void of bliss. Slowly, thoughts began to try and pry their way into Dolly's mind. She tried brushing them off, not wanting to be usurped from this state of being till one lingering thought refused to leave. What happened back there? This nagging question tugged on her heart and mind, bringing with it tiredness and concern that filled her body and soul.

With a weary stare, Dolly opened her eyes, whose gaze fell upon an orange emura lamp, the only source of light in the room. It sat finely on a wooden stand that looked sturdy and well kept. Lazily, her eyes traveled from the lampstand to the object adjacent to it.

A smile began to form on her tired face upon seeing Vragon lying in a straw-filled bed, sleeping soundly with a thin blanket over him. His arms rested on top of the blanket, exposing slightly his bandaged up chest, which presumably went all the way down to his stomach. Instead of feeling worried, Dolly felt more assured in seeing his injuries were taken care of.

Suddenly, Dolly began to yawn. She quickly moved her arm to her mouth to obscure the sound before standing up in her seat and walking over to the sleeping Fraxure's side. Her smile faded as she gently brushing his head with her hand. Get some rest, Vray. With that, she leaned down and gave a little peck on the tired Fraxure's forehead before shambling her way to the door.

After stepping outside the room and closing the door behind her, Dolly looked down both sides of the small hallway before checking the room number on the door. '12' huh. Dolly leaned back and tried reading the nearby door on her left. 13…so this way.

A yawn escaped her mouth as she began walking down the hallway, the wave of fatigue hitting her once again. "What time is it?" She mused to herself aloud as another yawn forced its way into the world. "I can't wait to just get off my feet. Boy, what a day it's been." Once she'd reached the room labeled "16", she quietly turned the nob and gently pushed it open. Peering inside, Dolly managed to see her empty bed, with Ciecro and Jasmine both sprawled on the floor on impromptu cushioning of straw.

Huh? Jaron isn't here? Dolly quietly shut the door and began to think. Her eyes looked back towards the hallway she had come from, propping her chin with a first as she pondered. If he isn't in Vragon's room then…? "Wait." She snapped her fingers with triumph and muttered, "The roof."

Making her way to the trap door to the roof, Dolly smirked at seeing the hatch was indeed unlocked. Bingo. She ascended the step ladder carefully and gently pushed the trap door open with one hand as she used the other to help pull her head above to look around.

Dolly sighed in relief at seeing Jaron, leaning on top of the parapet. "There you are." She exclaimed in a less than quiet voice, as she climbed the rest of the ladder.

Jaron jumped a little, spinning around in fright. However, his startled stare quickly faded away as he averted his gaze once seeing it was Dolly. "Oh…it's you."

"Huh?" Dolly stopped mid-lowering the trap door and looked at him. Sadly, she was too late to see what was on his face since he spun around and was back in the staring-off position she found him in. "Hmm…You had me a bit worried there," Dolly remarked, as she carefully set the door down and headed over. Play it calm. A lot has happened. She advised herself.

Casually, Dolly plopped down next to Jaron, resting her elbows onto the rock surface parapet as she let her arms lie on their sides. Instead of starting a conversation, Dolly just looked at the view, spotting a couple of late-night lights left in town as the gentle night breeze blew over their faces.

After about five minutes of silence, Dolly attempted to look at Jaron out of the corner of her eye. Her brow raised upon seeing a scowl on his face. She returned her gaze towards the town in front, hoping he didn't see her. Okay, so this isn't surprising. He's young and just went through an attack. Well, let's 'attack' this grumpy attitude head-on. She chuckled to herself a little, prompting a little grumble from Jaron.

Paying the hostility no mind, Dolly exclaimed as she leaned forwards a little, "I have to say, this town sure does look pretty at night. All the trees around, the moon up there, and this breeze just tops it off. Kinda makes me want to take a nap up here, right?"

Sighing out of frustration, Jaron faced her, and bluntly said, "Why are you still here?"

With a smile, Dolly kept her gaze ahead, while answering, "Well, like I said this view and breeze just feels too nice to leave so soon."

"Ugh." Jaron pushed himself from the railing to walk away.

"Jaron." She kept her tone soft, although it came out more of a commanding tone than a startled one.

"What?" Jaron replied, a bit ruder this time as he faced her.

Dolly turned around and looked into his ruby eyes. They looked angry, frustrated, maybe even stressed, to her. Placing her right arm back on the railing and leaning back on it a little, Dolly resumed, "I was worried about you."

Crossing his arms, Jaron looked to the side as his snout raised a little. "Hmph, fine, here I am. Perfectly safe, so can I be left alone now?"

"Why?"

Jaron glared. "Do I need to tell you why?"

"Jaron." Dolly paused to think of what to say. Before she could, however, Jaron spoke.

"Look, just leave me alone, alright."

Dolly removed her arm from its resting place and stepped towards him. "It's not a good idea to be out here alone. The rangers may be keeping watch for the red eyes, but it isn't safe to be on the roof alone this late at night."

"I'm not a kid," Jaron growled back.

Dolly's eyes narrowed as she replied with a slightly authoritative tone. "No you aren't one, but I'm not joking either."

"Tck, sure you aren't." Jaron crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Dolly inquired, leaning in with her eyes slanting more towards a scowl of her own.

"Nothing." Jaron turned to walk away but was stopped by Dolly grabbing him by the shoulder, with a grip that was gentle yet left an impression of firmness.

"Sassing me proves it's something, Jaron."

Jaron turned around and snarled at her. "So what? I don't have to tell you anything. It's not like you'd listen."

"When have I not listened?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jaron pointed off to the side, not really at something but more for emphasis. "Traveling to this dumb town was a bad idea. It was a bad idea from the start, and now look at us."

"Jaron." Her grip on Jaron's shoulder slipped down towards his upper arm. "You know why we need to get to a port town."

Pushing Dolly's hand away, Jaron snapped at her, "Why can't we find another way? We're not safe here. At least back home everyone was around to help protect us. We could have even done something about…about…" Jaron's head fell as his breathing went heavy and his fists tightened. His fierce eyes twitched slightly, as one would when trying not to cry.

Dolly placed her back on his shoulder, prompting him to push it off again, but this time she didn't let him. "Jaron, I-"

"I never wanted to go on this stupid journey! I didn't want Aunt Dresha to die to some red eyes bastard, and I didn't want Vray or anyone getting hurt!" He shot his gaze straight at her. "But look at it now! We're not safe, we're far from home, and I don't want to go to Norfair even if it is safer."

His arms had stopped trying to push off Dolly's grip now and instead were focused on wiping his eyes. "I don't want to lose you guys." A small sniffle escaped his snout as he moved his arm away from his face.

She moved her free hand over to Jaron's neck, massaging it gently. She lessened the grip of her other hand as she waited for Jaron to regain his composure.

"I hate this…" Jaron mumbled, almost involuntarily as Dolly shifted her hands onto his shoulders once more, only this time with a gentle touch.

"I know…" Dolly looked at him with a sympathetic smile. "I hate this too. Being honest, I wish we didn't have to go either," She said with a sigh.

"Then why do we have to leave? Can't we stay and fight?" he demanded, wiping his snout with his arm.

Dolly let out a deep sigh, as she closed her eyes. "Because we don't know who they are or what they can do. Norfair is by far a safer place than here, and as much as I want to believe we can handle whatever they try, I have to be real about this." Her eyes opened as her brown eyes peered down into Jaron's ruby ones. "I have to accept that reality for your sake and the others. I couldn't bear to think I led to you all getting harmed or worse because I was too afraid to let you all go to think about this clearly. I don't want you three to leave either, but bigger things are going on that sadly, we can't fight our way out of forever."

Jaron's eyes lowered, as another sniffle happened. "Damnit," Jaron uttered as he started rubbing his snout while sniffling roughly. "I hate it when my snout does this."

Dolly giggled. "Well, it makes sense for the nose to leak once it's more liquidy inside."

"I guess, heh."

Seeing Jaron's small attempt at a grin made her feel more at ease. Without warning him, she pulled Jaron in for a hug, and surprisingly, he didn't push her away per usual. "I'm sorry all this happened. We'll get through this, you'll see."

"How do you know?" Jaron managed to ask, despite his face being pressed in the hug's squeeze.

"How do I?" Dolly rhetorically muttered, as she freed him from the hug and held him outwards by his shoulders. Looking upwards as if trying to think of what to say, Dolly finally answered, "Hmmm…call it a female's intuition."

Jaron raised a brow, before rolling his eyes. The two chuckled a little before Jaron's smile faded again. "I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, hun," Dolly answered, letting go of Jaron's shoulders. "Just trust me and everybody. We're no slouches and while our luck has kinda sucked, I'm sure it's just croconawnpermanent."

Jaron didn't react to that, merely leaned back on the parapet.

"Oh, come on, that was a good one and you know it," Dolly playfully uttered as she leaned back next to him, just like they were before the talk.

After a few minutes of silence, Jaron suddenly spoke. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" She turned to look at him.

Jaron's head was resting on his left claw as his right dragged across the surface. "How are you so…sure things will work out? It's like, you always can handle it so easily. How do you do that?"

"Hmm," Dolly began before she was cut off.

"And don't give me that, 'female's intuition' crap." He gave her a serious look, making her laugh.

"You're a bit young for me to explain a 'female's intuition'."

Jaron grumbled as he plopped his chin down.

"But," Dolly leaned further, as Jaron perked up to hear, propping his head up with his arms. "There's more to it. The truth honestly is, I always worry about you guys."

Jaron remained silent, listening to her as she looked down at the ground below.

"I've just lived a lot. I've had combat stuff before and all, and the 'get mission done' thing has been drilled into my head by now, heh. So, for me, it's a matter of focusing on getting to success first and foremost. No matter what other anxieties and worries persist, I can't afford them any ground. And well," She brushed her nose and playfully grinned at Jaron, "I'd consider this more action than I've had for a long time."

They locked gazes for a second, making Dolly worry she had done ruined the moment before Jaron leaned forwards once again. "I wish I could do that."

Cocking a brow, Dolly shifted back to her spot and listened.

Jaron, stared down below and sighed. "But…I can't just stop thinking about all this going wrong somehow. No matter what, it's just there and always pressing no matter how much I try pushing it out." Jaron hesitated, glancing at Dolly for a second, who gave him an assuring nod to continue. Pulling his hands together, Jaron fiddled with his fingers and admitted, "I had a dream around the time we started on this trip. I remember looking for everybody, before realizing I was all alone in the town. I remember stopping near a fountain and well…" Jaron's hands tightened to fists. "I was attacked by that stupid black haxorus. The one that said all that weird stuff to Vray and well…he started choking me underwater so I couldn't see him well. Then I heard his voice in my head and…well…just woke up. Ever since then, I've had dreams of all of you gone and me being alone while trying to find you guys." Jaron chuckled a little at himself. "It's silly I kno-"

"No, it's not."

Jaron looked at her, surprised at the sudden response.

Dolly draped her arm over him, gently grabbing his left shoulder and pulling him in closer. "I completely understand and you know what?"

Jaron paused, not sure what to say before blinking in surprise at Dolly pressing a finger to his chest and saying, "You have every reason to feel that way."

Jaron grinned a little before lowering his head, making Dolly tilt hers.

"Maybe, but I don't like feeling like this. I've been so useless on this trip and it feels like whateve-"

"Hold that tauros charge," Dolly interrupted, pressing a finger onto Jaron's snout. Once she removed it, Dolly turned the croconaw towards her and got on a knee. Looking him straight in the eyes with a smiling but sincere look, she stated, "You haven't been useless, Jaron. The thing is, we've all kind of had trouble dealing with this. However, I can say that one of the strongest things a mon can do is self-reflecting and growing from that. So how about this." Dolly stood up to full height, moving a fist to her mouth as she cleared her throat.

"What are you? Ah!" Jaron winced at Dolly, swinging her arm at him, stopping right in front of his face in a pointing posture.

"I, Dolly Morteaih, enlist you to be my assistant in our travels. Your duty is to help out in any way you can for as much as you can without the detriment to your own health. And." She got back on a knee and with a little grin said, "I can use all the help I can get so pretty please?"

At a loss for words, Jaron just stood there frozen, before finally managing to say, "But…but what do I do? I'm ju-"

"Now, now." Dolly waved a finger. "If you aren't sure what to do, just ask me, I've got ideas. Plus, you're clever Jaron, you can spot stuff on your own. You think I don't see you being proactive on your little 'Mechanics 101' stuff." She patted him on the shoulder and brought it home with, "Just, try your best. Better than just worrying all the time, and if you do have those nightmares or anxious feelings just talk with me. I'm always open to fight those thoughts that give you dred and naw at your heart."

Jaron's head lowered as he tried hiding his smile, before looking back and nodding. "Yeah. Beats being a downer all the time."

Dolly's eyes narrowed as she put a fist on her hip. "Oh come on, couldn't you throw me a cubone for that one?" Seeing Jaron's lack of a reply, her expression shifted away from her teasing grin. "Too much?"

Jaron replied with his signature grin. "Yeah, I Khan't take anymore."

"Hah!" Dolly pulled him into a big hug as he started laughing. "You sneaky little, oooo, I'll get you for that one."

Once the laughter died down and the two moved back from each other, Jaron looked up at Dolly.

"Dolly," he said, reaching out his hand to her. "Thanks…for staying."

Dolly looked down at it before taking it her bigger hand and shaking. "If you need me, I'll be there."

The two let go and Jaron yawned. "I guess, we should go to bed now."

"Yes, let's." Dolly watched Jaron head over to the spot and start pulling the trap door up. Her smile, slowly lessened as her eyes lowered a little. 'If you need me' she covered her face to sniffle once as she shook her head and followed Jaron back inside.

< O >​

"Tck, watch it!" Siegfried snapped, as he swung at the bandage being placed on his arm, by an Ambipom Sylphiel.

"Stop being such a baby. You want it to get infected?" Sylphiel chastised, as he picked up the roll and began dusting it off. "We don't have a mile's worth of wrap, you know."

Siegfried grumbled as he darted his gaze frustrated. He focused his sight on the dark void of the forest in front while leaning against the tree to rest his back. His arm's stinging had died down and his eyes lowered slightly in an attempt to relax.

This whole mission has been a mess. He rolled his eyes as he scowled in front, not really at anything but just for the sake of it. 'It'll be a simple capture mission.' Tck, I'm starting to think that the punishment we'd get for failing would be better than taking all of this. Can't catch a break. Siegfried then focused on a small light patch in the far left part of his view. Slightly twisting his head, his eyes fell on their orange emura lamp, resting on a random stump in the clearing. Its luminous light shined faintly onto the darkened grass, however, not outshining the moon overheard.

Of course. His eyes shut halfway as he pulled back and closed his eyes as if trying to sleep. Does somebody up there think it's funny, constantly shoving it in my face? Just stop remindi-

"Ouch!" Siegfried yelped, as he swiped at the bandage once more.

Sylphiel quickly pulled back before Siegfried could ruin another bandage. "Stop it, you dolt! Male up, it's just a bandage for your arm wound."

"Give me a warning next time you shove it on me!" Siegfried snapped back.

Sylphiel rolled his eyes. "Alright, geez, would you like me to kiss it too so it can feel better."

Siegfried snarled. "Shut up! Not like you had to walk with this wound."

"Are you for real? I got my head splattered, body shocked, filled with splinters, and endured more pain than all of you guys had put together!"

"Hmph, sure." Siegfried dismissed, as he crossed his legs and rested his arms in the cup.

"I'd like to see you have all that muk happen to you, or are you just saying that because you think I have it easy because I can morph? Because guess what genius, I feel it just as much as you would! Magic morphing powers don't make the pain go away." Sylphiel aggressively stated.

Siegfried crossed his arms and stiffened at the sting that followed from this action. "Exactly, you heal just like that. Yet all you ever do is complain. Face it, you dittos have it easy since you don't have to log around wounds or have permanent damage. Maybe you should male up and be something more than a blob."

"Okay, that's it!" Sylphiel shouted, slamming the roll of bandages onto the ground in a fuss. "Bandage yourself up if you're such a tough guy!"

Suddenly the sound of a loud whistle blew, causing both mons to cover their ears and look towards the origin. Siegfried's eyes widened before lowering at the sight of an annoyed Plageues taking his fingers from his mouth and eyeing both of them with contempt.

With a low growl, Plageues shifted his fingers to his forehead, pressing them in a somewhat fatigued way. "Can you two stop your tantrums so I can think up how I'm going to report to the higher-ups?"

Siegfried looked at Sylphiel, who gave Plageues a leer before picking up the bandages once more and brushing the dirt and grass off. Siegfried looked back at the zoroark, when he heard the sound of footsteps, just in time to see Plageues roll his eyes.

Once standing a few feet from the two, Plageues did a deep sigh before glancing at Vex and Sylphiel and asking, "Has Bruno found Vex yet?"

Sylphiel shrugged. "How should I know?"

Plageues raised a brow before shifting to another growl as he snarkily answered, "Try contacting him."

Sylphiel cocked a brow before his eyes widened in horror.

With a frustrated grunt, Plageues planted his hand on his face and slowly dragged it down as he asked, "Are you trying to say you didn't give him one of our communication orbs before sending him out?"

"Well, I…uh."

"Idiots!" Plageues yelled as he stormed over to a tree nearby and slashed it with his right claw, sending bark flying off.

Sylphiel nervously watched as Plageues fumed, while Siegfried just gave it only a second of his time before leaning once more against the tree.

After about a minute of nervous staring, Sylphiel walked back over to Siegfried and hunched over, preparing to start bandaging again. However, before he moved to place the piece on, Sylphiel leaned back and looked at Siegfried, whispering, "You think he'll throw us under the stampede when he reports?"

Siegfried opened his eyes and looked up at the stars. "I don't know, but whatever he says, it's not going to end pretty."

Sylphiel sighed and leaned in with bandage in hand to start.

Raising his arm, Siegfried braced himself for the expectant sting till about twenty seconds of lack of contact. Curiously, Siegfried glanced down at Sylphiel, confused at the mon stopping. Suddenly, Sylphiel looked up with his small dots for eyes and with a big smile mockingly said, "May I?"

Instantly, Siegfried scowled as he contemplated smacking the smartass in the face, but instead just sighed and ordered, "Just do it." He once against braced for the sting to come, clenching his jaw once Sylphiel placed the wrap on his waist. Despite Sylphiel's attempts to be careful, there was little to be done about the pain, so Siegfried decided to look back at Plageues to get his mind off of it.

The zoroark was walking around in a circle, mumbling things and making some gestures to himself, whether or not they were griping or preparation, Siegfried couldn't tell. One thing he did know was that seeing Plageues in such a state was funny to look at. Siegfried couldn't help but smirk at their normally smug 'leader' in the dumps of having to report.

"Okay, I've done the wrapping," Sylphiel stated, snapping Siegfried out of his staring.

With a nod, Siegfried leaned back, taking a second to get comfortable as Sylphiel started trimming the ends of the bandage. The gallade brushed the cloth over the wound on his side, watching a few minor patches of red taint the white surface.

"Why is the world against us grabbing the kid and that formula?" Siegfried complained, as he leaned his head back on the tree and watched Sylphiel, who had morphed into a scizor, cut off the ends with his claws.

"Tell me about it." Sylphiel nodded, as he started skillfully tying the knot despite having claws for hands. "It seems like right when we've got them somebody comes out of the blue to pull some bullmuk and ruin our progress. I'd probably laugh if I heard about this happening to some other operatives, but mon does it suck experiencing it."

"Yeah…" Siegfried leaned a little closer as he gazed on a patch of dark grass in front, mumbling, "If I had known this was going to happen, I'd never have let Vex talk me into doing this."

Sylphiel nodded, not concerned if Siegfried was still talking to him. Once done tying, Sylphiel stared at the knot he made with pride. "Heh, let's see a real scizor do that heh."

Siegfried looked at the knot, then at Sylphiel, whose pleased expression slowly faded the more he stared at it. Presuming the discussion was done, Siegfried started leaning back but annoyingly halted at Sylphiel speaking up again.

"Your friend talked you into this?"

After a slight pause to set his frustration aside, Siegfried answered him with a nod. Once Sylphiel stood up, Siegfried explained, "Vex saw this as an opportunity for us to jump up in ranks fast. At most, we're just errand or chores boys and our teacher is more concerned about what kind of sweet tang he wants in his drink than actually teaching us anything."

"So, you got a 'blue ball teacher' then." Sylphiel cocked his head. "That…honestly sucks."

Lightly pushing his fist to the ground as if channeling old frustrations into it, Siegfried continued. "Vex and I aren't going to get anywhere with that lazy fart. We're hoping to get enough field experience to move on to the next level of training but at this rate…" He sighed, simply telling his situation just brought back the reality of how truly trapped he and Vex were.

"Well…uh…" Sylphiel rubbed the back of his head, with an unsure if not uncomfortable look on his face.

Siegfried's eyes narrowed. I just want to win for once.

Suddenly they both heard the sound of trees rustling and instantly looked around. Sylphiel jogged a little away as Siegfried picked himself up with the tree.

"Who is it?" the gallade inquired, as Sylphiel peered into the direction they believed the sound to be coming from. A lack of an answer prompted Siegfried to extend his right arm's elbow. He was about to infuse it with a Psycho Cut, before being startled by Sylphiel yelling "Finally!" and gesturing his arms outwards with impatience.

Huh? Siegfried took a few steps and peered towards the spot. "Oh…" his eyes half-closed at the sight of Bruno squeezing his way through the last few trees on the border of the clearing.

"So did you find him?" Sylphiel asked, crossing his arms annoyed.

"Yeah, I found him," Bruno exclaimed happily, shifting aside as Vex entered the clearing, his head slightly downcast and a minor scowl on his face.

Siegfried remained silent as Vex made his way over to the duo.

"Guess you were sent far away or did you go for a stroll on your way back?" Sylphiel taunted Vex while glaring at the ghost with frustration.

Vex scratched behind on of his ears and looked at Siegfried, ignoring Sylphiel's rude greeting. Looking up and down at the gallade, Vex formed a frown as he asked in a rather uncertain tone, "You okay?"

Siegfried's eyes narrowed as he bluntly replied, "What do you think?"

Surprised at the hostility, Vex didn't answer but instead turned to the side to look at Bruno, walking his way over to the lamp.

Sylphiel coughed as he excused himself with, "Well, have fun catching up. I have my own catching up to do." He turned and headed on towards Bruno, demorphing as he went.

"Snappy much," Vex sneered, as he eyed Sylphiel with his arms cross.

"Why wouldn't he be?"

"Huh?" Vex looked back at Siegfried, confused.

Siegfried stepped forwards and lectured, "Are you thick? We failed the mission. Why wouldn't everyone be in a bad mood?"

Lowering his gaze a little, Vex shifted to the side and looked into the forest, as he started rubbing his arm. "Guess you have a point."

A few minutes of silence passed till Vex let out a big sigh. "How long are we going to be on this stupid mission."

Oh, for the love of- Siegfried latched his hand onto Vex's shoulder and moved him so he had the ghost's surprised and undivided attention. "Would you shove it with your whining."

Vex blinked and was too startled to speak.

"Every day you have to complain about when this mission will end. Well, you can just keep your mouth shut for tonight, after all doing this 'mission' was your idea. And look how great it turned out." Siegfried gestured to his fresh set of bandages, wrapped neatly around his waist.

"Wha- Siegfried, how was I supposed to know things would sour this badly," Vex defended.

"Doesn't make this hurt any less." Siegfried brushed Vex to the side as he stormed off.

"Hey!" Vex started to say, starting to head after him.

"Shut it!" Siegfried snapped, turning towards the ghost with a glare. "I've had to put up with your constant whining about this mission ending when you were the one suggesting this in the first place. Well, if you want it done sooner, how about you put more effort into fighting and less into whining!"

"I've been trying!" Vex snapped back. "What, you think I'm making you do all the work?"

There was a brief moment of them just glaring at each other before Vex took a calming breath. "What's gotten into you?" He asked with a serious expression and uncertain tone.

Siegfried's angry stare now fixated to the right, as he just simply stood and breathed. He said nothing as Vex hovered on over to him and landed looking at him with a concerned stare.

"You didn't make a big deal about what I said before?"

"Well…I'm sick of it now." Siegfried crossed his arms and raised his head arrogantly.

Vex sighed as his head lowered. "Look," Vex spoke as he scratched behind his ear again with his eyes shifted to the side. "I'm sorry things haven't gone as well as we wanted."

Siegfried remained silent but turned his head to look at Vex's downwards pointing forehead.

Vex looked back up at the gallade, who merely peered down unsatisfied. The ghost's expression started to falter at Siegfried's refusal to back down from his scowl.

In a stuttering tone, as one would when being cornered, Vex said, "I said I'm sorry…What do you want me to say or do? I'm not lying about trying or wanting to do the mission…or do you think I am?" Vex's eyes showed anxiety, a look that seemed genuine enough to alleviate some of Siegfried's aggression.

"No…it's just." Siegfried rubbed his eyes with his hand, his fatigue setting in.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Vex floated up so their heads were level now. "Is your wound that bad?"

"No," Siegfried impatiently answered, before wrenching his hand to his side and giving Vex a rude look.

"I was just asking," Vex scowled, landing back on the ground. "No need to get all feisty about it."

Siegfried took a breath to relax, but the two didn't say anything else after that. Siegfried looked at his friend, who was rubbing his arm and looking in the direction of the emura lamp. The gallade could still see a hint of some melancholy in the gengar's eyes. Ugh…Maybe I was too rough. Siegfried rubbed his bandaged side, grunting from the small stings that failed to deter him from massaging the area. I mean…it's not his fault I keep seeing-

"So…what's the plan now?"

Siegfried blinked, caught off guard by the sudden question. However, he quickly pulled himself back to business and shrugged. "I'm guessing keep going after the target."

"No, we head to Crion City and prepare for them to come to us."

Both about jumped out of their skin at Plageues' intrusive voice. Siegfried spun around to see Plageues standing no more than two feet away from them.

"Wait? Why ar-" Vex began but was instantly shut down with an aggressive and dominant snarl from Plageues.

Once he had their silence, Plageues coughed once and elaborated. "Since they've made it to Plainiar town, they're pretty much out of our reach. The town is on alert for us, and tailing them without knowing when and where they are leaving could give us a meeting with some patrolling rangers. So, the plan is to simply head to Crion City and wait."

"But why Crion?" Siegfried asked, regaining enough nerve to ask.

Plageues reached into a packet on his travel belt and pulled out a communication orb. Holding it outwards for the two to see, Plageues shifted it onto two fingers and balanced the orb near the tips. "Crion City is Triacal's largest port city on its eastern side. It's also the closest one that has the best chance of offering passage. Plus, it's closer than the Norfarion provinces far on the North-Eastern part of the continent. If they're still under the impression we're hunting them, they'll have to go to Crion or risk being more vulnerable."

Plageues chucked the orb slightly into the air, before catching it between the two fingers and eyed it with a smug grin. "And it'll be Crion where we'll bag our prizes."

Vex pondered for a second before offering a thought. "Okay, but…what if they decide to take the risk and go Nor-"

"Please shut up, I know what I'm doing." Plageues gave a leer at Vex. "While you were busy heading back from your little excursion, I've had to plan our next move as well as figure out what to report; so I can assure you, I've weighed all the possibilities and I made my decision."

Annoyed at being cut off, Vex stepped forwards and stated formally but with a tone as someone nearing their limit. "Sir, we all just want to finish this mission. So, if we give them any chance to escape, then we're screwed."

Plageues eyed Vex fiercely as he clenched the orb into a fist. "I said, I've weighed that possibility and others, and reached a decision on our next move."

"I know sir, but what if they don't do what you're guessing they wi-"

Siegfried's eyes widened at the sight of Vex getting smacked across the face by Plageues.

"Ow!" Vex exclaimed, rubbing his cheek as he eyed Plageues with a pained glare.

Siegfried looked from Vex to Plageues and noticed the zoroark's expression. It looked calm and was barely even a scowl, but Plageues's eyes seemed to entrance feelings of dread in him. It was if staring into the eyes of something wanting to tear its prey apart, but being held back by some thread of composure or dignity.

"In my report, I will be requesting our leaders to contact our Triacalian Business partners in every port city on the Eastern Side, including the Norfarion controlled province. If they attempt to use another port, they will be recorded and their route to Norfair given to us. We can then use our leaving vessel to catch up to, trap them, and capture our targets." Plageues walked over to Vex, leering down at him and stating in a low, slow tone. "No…more…questions. Do as your told and don't fail me again like the forest earlier."

Vex scowled back, but his eyes lowered as he turned to walk away.

"Turn around."

Vex stopped but didn't obey.

Siegfried felt his spine freezing inside as he glanced at Plageues's face before having to look to the side. He could feel the tension around all of them, even more so when Vex reluctantly complied and faced their leader.

"Yes…sir?" Vex inquired, his face dead serious and perhaps even practicing restraint he had failed to utilize minutes ago.

"Tell me, that you won't fail me again," Plageues ordered, his eyes narrowed and his muscles stiffened.

The gengar moved his hand from rubbing his cheek, which had a small shape of magenta on the spot it was slapped, and took a defiant step forward. "I won't fail this mission because me and Siegfried are going to move up in the ranks." He blurted out.

Siegfried's jaw dropped at this outburst as he waited with nervous anticipation. Neither backed down nor flinched, yet seemed like one more thing would send them into a massive brawl.

Suddenly, Plageues broke off their staring contest, and instead look directly at Siegfried with a smirk gaze. "No wonder you're still stuck at the grunt level. Your friend here can't make a good decision to save his life. Move up my foot."

Vex's jaw dropped as Siegfried just stuttered. "Uhm…sir?"

He silenced himself at the motion of Plageues holding out the com orb to him. "Not like you. You didn't fail to keep the garchomp occupied and sending our operation downhill. No need to take the blame for someone else's mistake, no?"

"Uh…" Siegfried's looked upon the orb, unsure what to think let alone what to say or do. "What are you trying to say, sir?" He finally asked, unsure of Plageues's intentions, but not without his suspicions.

"Very well. Tell me, who else is at fault for our mission failing? I understand loyalty to your friend, but do you want to fall down with him for his own stupidity?"

"What?" Siegfried and Vex said in unison.

"Hold on! Are you saying I'm the reason this mission failed‽" Vex angrily exclaimed, fists shaking.

Siegfried glanced at his friend, who looked back at him with an angry stare, although Siegfried knew that it wasn't for him. The gallade nodded in agreement. "It's more complicated than just that sir."

Plageues cocked a brow. "Oh, so you don't know?" Retracting his hand, Plageues clenched the orb tightly as he glared at his fist, shaking from the sheer force he was exerting onto the object. "We had the fraxure in our clutches."

Their eyes widened. "What? Then wh-" Vex began but was cut off by Plageues pointing a finger at him and giving him a sneering scowl.

"Because the garchomp you were entrusted to keep busy was the mon that took the fraxure back." Plageues then looked at Siegfried with a pressuring gaze, "It's as simple as that, is it not, Siegfried?"

Siegfried's eyes narrowed as looked at Vex. "Is this true, Vex?"

Slowly, Vex nodded, leading to Siegfried scowling at him. Seeing Siegfried's reaction, Vex began to explain in a protesting yet stuttering tone. "Yes, he got away from me, b-b-but it wasn't like that! I had the guy on the ropes in our battle and the someone, out of the blue, threw an escape orb under me an-"

"So, you admit that it's your fault." Plageues bluntly pointed out, as he gave the ghost a dark smile.

"Hang on a minute! I didn't even see the orb till right when it sent me away. You would've been sent away too if you were there!" Vex shot back, pointing aggressively at Plageues, who just kept this smug grin. Growling, Vex looked at Siegfried with fiery eyes that held hints of desperation. "You've got to believe me, Siegfried. There wasn't much I could do about it."

"Sure there wasn't," Plageues sarcastically cackled as he looked at Siegfried as well.

Siegfried remained motionless. His breathing slowed as if the weight of the two's pressuring stares was pushing on his lungs. Amid this, his mind focused on the light coming from between them, the orange light from the emura lamp shining. The area around him began to darken as his head began to sweat.

"Come on, you know I wouldn't botch this unless something out of my control happened" Vex's voiced pointed out.

"Stop making excuses. It's clear to Siegfried and to me that you are just trying to share the blame. You should own up to your mistake. Right, Siegfried?" Plageues's voice chastised.

The two's vying for his support filled his head as the light from the emura lamp seemed to grow. The place around him looked as if it was changing. The grass near the lamp was slowly folding down into some flat surface as Siegfried started sharking. Suddenly, he covered his ears and yelled, "Stop it!"

The two pulled back, surprised at the sudden outburst and Siegfried's somewhat distraught state.

"Siegfried?" Vex raised a brow, as he stepped towards Siegfried.

"Just stop it!" He shouted once more, briskly pushing past the two.

"Siegfried? What are y-!"

"Leave me out of this! Both of you!" Siegfried shouted as he tuned out whatever words followed. He plumped himself in front of the emura lamp, eyes shutting so hard they shook. Slowly, he tried to slow his breathing down as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He could feel the pain in his wound return so he gently began to rub it. No, don't think about it. Just calm down. Arceus, please just, stop making me hear it again.

Dolly turned around and looked into his ruby eyes. They looked angry, frustrated, maybe even stressed, to her. Placing her right arm back on the railing and leaning back on it a little, Dolly resumed, "I was worried about you."

Click to expand...

Her eyes opened as her brown eyes peered down into Jaron's ruby ones.

Click to expand...

Your mileage may vary, but having the color be referred to jewels like ruby, emerald, and sapphire sounds weird. Me personally I would just use "red eyes" or "ruby-colored eyes."

Once he had their silence, Plageues coughed once and elaborated. "Since they've made it to Plainiar town, they're pretty much out of our reach. (etc)

Click to expand...

The t in "town" is supposed to be capitalized since Plainiar Town is a proper noun.

I enjoyed Dolly and Jaron's conversation there. Poor Jaron bottling up all those feelings there and heh him making a pun of his own. I agree Jaron is too young to understand a female's intuition. =P

I admit because it's been a while I kinda forgot what the Pokemon antagonists looks like saved for Plageues. Lots of tension between the group there, huh. I'm also worried about Siegfried's outburst there.

A gentle breeze tickled Trishula's snout as he stepped out of the doorway, leading to the lower deck, and gazed upon the vast lines of wooden docks, with large storage buildings stretched out in parallel. Slowly, he looked around to see if there was anyone to greet him.

Giving a little grunt, Trishula swung his bag over his shoulder and headed down the pier towards the nearest warehouse. He stepped into the space between the two warehouses, set his bag down, and looked at the wall in front with his arms crossed.

An annoyed sigh escaped Trishula as he waited for whoever was supposed to be here. Maybe Daemon wasn't supposed to come, He pondered, twitching his mouth at the discomforting thought. I don't think Master Azazel would come himself. It wouldn't be like him. Well, whoever it is, he better not take forever.

Trishula looked to his right, gazing upon the western sea, faintly lit up by the sunlight rising from the opposite cardinal. The wind was just faint enough to stir its foamy tops while keeping it relatively calm. Turning on his side and instead, leaning his right shoulder on the wall, Trishula watched in silence.

Daemon seemed worried when we last spoke. I don't know what Azazel would want with him anyway. The dragon's eyes lowered to the side, staring at the literal corner that made up the end of the wall in front. Maybe to get to me, I guess. But what's the point in that? I'm to defeat Aegis's vessel and take Aegis's remnant, right? What's Daemon have to do with that?

Shaking his head, Trishula decided to drop this troubling prospect and just looked outwards at the sea once more. After about fifteen minutes of watching the sea and the crew members do maintenance on their craft, another figure stepped into view or rather floated.

Trishula raised a brow. Daemon? He got off the wall and reached down to pick up his sack before stepping out into the open.

Daemon's back was faced to him, and he appeared to still think Trishula was on board.

Trishula eyed Daemon's travel cloak before giving out a minor snort. Well, guess I should punish him. He thought as a smirk started to form. Slowly, he moved towards Daemon, who was rubbing his arms together in the nippy morning weather. Once Trishula was directly behind, he tried being as silent as he could and simply watched the ghost, who was getting restless.

"Come on, please just get off. Don't tell me I missed him. Ugh!" Daemon shoved a hand to his face, before reaching into a pocket and pulling out an orb.

Trishula laughed in his head as he peered over the shoulder to see Daemon press the button and display a list of names. Once Daemon found Trishula's name, he moved to press it.

However, Trishula swiftly leaned past and covered the orb's top with his hand, causing the hologram to disappear. Simultaneously, he used his other hand to spin Daemon to the side to face him and gave the surprised Dusknoir a scowl.

"What the-…Trishula!" Daemon blurted out.

Trishula smiled, unable to keep a firm face at his friend's surprised expression. Without a word, he moved his hand from the orb and instead arced it behind Daemon's neck for a one-arm hug.

It wasn't long before Daemon got over his surprise and did a one-arm hug of his own. "Don't startle me like that."

"Well, you deserved it," Trishula jested. "You left me standing fifteen minutes without an escort."

Daemon's eye widened once more. "Fifteen minutes!" he exclaimed dumbfounded as Trishula just shrugged.

The dragon picked up his travel bag and informed the flustered ghost, "Well, we made good time. Arrived before seven this morning."

"Then why the scare if I wasn't late?" Daemon crossed his arms, his eye narrowing to a quizzical leer.

Trishula smirked as he raised a brow and sarcastically tilted his head. "I felt I'd get a good look at that timid side of yours. Been too long since I've seen 'flustered Daemon'."

Daemon rolled his eye. "Well, did it satisfy your childish humor?"

"Kind of."

"Fine, I admit it. You got me." Daemon stretched out his hand, and requested, "May I please have my com orb back?"

With a grunt, Trishula dropped the orb into Daemon's waiting hand and as Daemon put it away, answered, "Shame, you composed yourself so well. I was expecting more of a reaction from you?"

"Well, I'm sorry for not living up to your expectations, but I haven't had much practice."

The two chuckled for a second as they started making their way out of the port. As they went down the stone covered road up into the narrow alleys of the town, Trishula took a deep breath. "It's been too long."

"Too long since what?"

"Since we could just be around each other without business cluttering the mood." Trishula smiled, though to his surprise, Daemon tensed up slightly. "Hrm? Was it something I said?"

"Oh no, it's nothing," Daemon answered, perking up his tone. "Well, tell me, friend, are you famished?"

Trishula raised a brow. "Aren't we pressed for time?"

Daemon chuckled. "There's no need to be so mechanical about this, Trishula. You forget I was the one that notified a time for you to arrive."

"Meaning?" Trishula crossed his arms as his eyes narrowed.

"Meaning, I allowed about an hour time interval for us to spend before leaving."

"Oh?" Trishula's gaze lowered slightly as a little smirk crossed his face. "So, what did you have in mind?"

"I'm glad you asked." Daemon suddenly stopped, swinging his left arm in a gentle, showy fashion as he gestured toward a building they were in front of.

Trishula looked up at the large, wooden sign, hanging overhead the door and observation window. "'Harry's Place'?"

"Yes." Daemon straightened himself as he floated over to Trishula's side to eye the sign as well. "Whenever I'm in this town I make sure to visit this place for a meal."

Trishula looked at Daemon, curiously. However, he didn't raise a question as Daemon made his way towards the door and gestured him to follow.

"Come on, we only have an hour after all."

Grumbling at Daemon's hasty nature all of a sudden, Trishula followed the ghost inside. The place was darker inside than expected, so Trishula took a second to adjust, before taking a look around the room. The place looked about adequately filled, mostly with mons that seemed to be port workers having an early breakfast. There was an octillery at the main bar, mixing things while behind him was the obscured kitchen most likely.

As he took a few steps further inside, his eyes were pulled in by a certain colorful wall near the back of the seating area. He ventured closer till he was directly in front.

Woah, Trishula thought as he stared into a rather large mural. It was a picture of a vast city, highlighted by lights from various colors. Similarly, the sky had faint dottings of white for stars, which were still visible despite the depiction of it being the crack of dawn. There were various structures as well, some that towered above the rest, but all paled in height to the largest image in the picture.

Trishula stepped to the left to get a better look at the large depiction of this large building, a clock tower. Its décor was fitted with upwards spikes lined on its railings, roof, and other flat parts, which was a tradition in Sorphian architecture. Its clock glass was a gleaming light yellow with ancient Mextreinien numerals for numbers. The dark-colored hands of the clock pointed in an eight o'clock position.

"What are you doing over here?"

Trishula about jumped as he turned to see Daemon, who was caught off guard by the dragon's reaction.

"Oh sorry, didn't mean to startle you." Daemon floated next to him and noticed the picture in front. His eye widened for a second before giving an affirming nod. "Ah, I see. Were you admiring the mural here?"

"Uh…yes. It's very well crafted." Trishula looked back at the picture. "Especially that clock tower."

"Ah yes, I always enjoy this painting when I dine here." Daemon clasped his arms behind his back and the two just stared at the painting in silence for a few minutes before the ghost leaned over a little, saying, "It reminds you of West City's clock tower?"

Trishula raised a brow. "You mean the one we'd be able to see when watching some fights? Yeah…it looks exactly like it, but…" Trishula raised a talon to his chin as he quizzically looked at Daemon. "Aren't all the famous clock towers in Sorphia the same?"

Daemon nodded. "Indeed, so, how about a little game."

Trishula tilted his head, before shrugging slightly. "Uhm…okay?"

Daemon pointed towards the clock tower and with a challenging tone, asked. "So tell me, which of the five clock towers is it?"

Accepting the challenge with a nod, Trishula focused back on the clock tower and examined it thoroughly. The dragon lightly grumbled as his hand changed to a fist beneath his chin.

After about two minutes of careful contemplation, Trishula extended his claw from his chin and pointed to the tower. "Well…It can't be North Tower, since the city is too large. I…hmm…don't think it's West Tower either," Trishula reasoned.

"Unsure are we?" Daemon said with a slight bit of pompousness.

Trishula grumbled, eyeing the piece again attempting to ignore Daemon's distractions.

Daemon chuckled. "I mean, Brielle isn't too far from West City," Daemon pointed out, his mannerisms being his professional, but his tone sounding like a sneak struggling to contain their glee.

"Well, West City is a port city, is it not?" Trishula added, facing Daemon and eyeing his friend seriously.

"Are you sure?" Daemon slyly added, moving a finger to point at the clock, prompting Trishula to look at it once more. "It's eight and the sun is rising in the background, so that would imply we're facing eastward."

Trishula snorted and crossed his arms. "Don't try and trick me." His mouth formed a soft yet confident smile as he added, "You're well aware that West City has many wide canals running through it."

Daemon confidently laughed at this counterpoint. "True, but have you noticed the lighting as well? Tell me, could you even make out roads in the picture there?"

Trishula looked back at the city part of the painting and to his dismay, Daemon was right. Be it the lighting's fault or the elevation of the perspective of the painting's fault, he couldn't see any roads. In fact, not even the smaller buildings could be made out amid the sea of black color with dotting lights. He formed a small frown. Damnit, he's right.

A loud cough burst from Daemon, but in a way that sounded boastier than an actual throat clearing. Trishula looked at Daemon, who moved closer to the painting and gestured towards the valley of darkness and dots around the lower part of the painting. "Despite this oversight, you are indeed correct."

"Huh?" Trishula's mouth hung open a little and his arms remained still at his side, while Daemon folded his arms behind his back once more.

"This isn't West City."

"How come?" Trishula inquired, looking back at the tower. What am I missing here?

With a boasting look in his eye that curved upwards as one would when smiling, Daemon tapped his head and answered. "Because I asked the owner of this Bistro which one it was and he said it was South Tower in South City."

Trishula's scoffed. "Hmph, had your fill of gloating, faker?"

Daemon shifted his head tapping hand to obscure his eye as he started chuckling mildly at the sour dragon.

Trishula rolled his own. Should have seen this coming. The fat ghost likes making a show for himself. After a few annoying minutes of Daemon failing to slow down his victory laughter, Trishula growled and stated roughly, "Are you done, or are you going to cackle till your eye falls out?"

Daemon moved his hand to his gut as he cleared his throat, looking at Trishula with a friendly gaze. "I mean only fun, Trishula. I admit, I couldn't figure it out till the owner told me."

Sighing, Trishula let his arms hang to his sides. "Fine. So ho-?" Trishula stopped as Daemon suddenly floating past him over to the middle part of the large U bar. After a pause, Trishula followed the ghost, sitting on a stool next to him.

Ugh, Trishula grumbled as he shifted back and forth on the stool, trying to find a more comfortable position that didn't feel like sitting on a flat rock.

"Not the most comfortable stools, are they?" Daemon said, as he propped his head with his arm on the bar.

"I'll manage." Once Trishula gave up trying to make it better, he rest his arms on the bar and looked at his friend. "Anyway, so are you going to tell me why it's South Tower now?" Trishula asked impatiently, not helped by his hard seat.

"Yes, yes, but first let's have a drink." Daemon tapped his hand on the counter as he looked over to the octillery server. "Excuse me, Brenton!"

The octillery looked over, before giving an eye roll. The water type set aside the two cups he was mixing and crawled his way over.

"Yes?" Brenton asked with a mix of squeaks, which Trishula wasn't sure if they were the norm or just to be rude.

Either way, Daemon gave it no attention and instead looked at Trishula, expectantly.

"Huh? Oh!" Trishula shot his gaze to the board above, squinting his eyes as he tried to read anything that looked like a menu and come up with an order swiftly. "I…uhm…uh. I'll have the uh…uhm…"

Daemon leaned over. "This is an old-fashioned bistro. They don't have menus; you simply tell them what you want and how you want it."

"Oh…really? Okay then, uhm." Trying not to add more time on the already annoyed Brenton, which Trishula could see impatiently tapping his tentacle on the bar, the dragon just decided to say, "I'll just have a sandwich."

Brenton's expression didn't change. "What kind?" he asked.

"Uhm…" Trishula looked at Daemon with an 'on the spot' look before facing Brenton once more. "I…what would you recommend?"

Sighing deeply, Brenton squeaked, in a lazy tone, "Oran Berry Sauce on Lettuce Leaf and Tomatoes sound good enough?"

"Yes, thank you," Trishula answered quickly. "Sorry for taking so long."

Ignoring Trishula's apology, Brenton looked at Daemon. "And you?"

Daemon stroked his chin as he answered immediately. "I'll have the same sandwich. As for our beverages, Trishula can have some water and I'll have Harry's special."

"Alright," Brenton leaned back, opening a small vent to the kitchen inside, and abruptly yelled, "Harry! He wants your special!" Suddenly, he lurched his head back in a way that about grossed Trishula out and said, "You want him?"

"Yes, if that's not a problem."

Brenton grunted and said, "Nah, the bloke's been full of beans all day. He'll serve your orders in a jiffy." After saying that, he screamed into the vent, "He wants you to do it!" Slamming the vent shut, Brenton trudged on back to his spot and began doing his mixing task from before.

Trishula looked over at the annoyed octillery and began fiddling with his fingers, before leaning over to Daemon. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming open, the abruptness almost making the startled dragon fall off his stool.

"Daemon!" A green machamp exclaimed, stepping on over to their spot with the biggest smile on his face; a smile so bit it almost caused his pipe to fall out. "Well, I'll be chuffy, how've you been?"

"I've been well. How about you?" Daemon replied.

As the two started talking, Trishula focused on this mon he assumed was Harry. Harry looked like he was in his fifties, but still as fit as a machamp was expected to be. He wore a brown, rough-looking apron in the front and some kind of shorts, but a little longer than the usual. Even more unusual was the fact they had been knit to have several loops, which bottles of all kinds of colorful liquids were hung. Each bottle rest in some kind of holster that had a hook for a top, which nestled inside the hoops that swayed when Harry walked but not enough to fall out.

"So, who's your friend?"

Trishula snapped his gaze towards Harry and instantly leaned back at the curious and perhaps too close eyeing the machamp was giving him.

"Trishula."

Trishula looked at Daemon eyes wide open. "What? Daemon wh-"

"Relax, Trish. It's just a bistro." Daemon gestured his hand outward with a calming look.

Trishula exhaled, de-tensing slightly. "Oh."

"Hah! Awfully jittery, ain't yah? You famous or something, lad?

"N-no…" Trishula eyed Daemon with a frustrated scowl, as Daemon sighed.

"My apologies, Harry. My friend isn't trying to be rude, he is just more on the business side of things at the moment."

Harry raised his pipe as his two lower arms' wrists pressed on his sides and his last arm rested on the counter. "I figured." Harry then took out his pipe and directed the mouthpiece of it towards Trishula's face. "He got them pecks and all."

"What?" Trishula stated with a small growl, leaning slightly in his seat toward Harry with an aggressive scowl. To his surprise, Harry just burst out into a minor chuckle as if he was threatened by a baby shinx.

"Sorry for the rudeness. Normally, Daemon means Red Eyes blokes like yourself, when he says 'for business'. Isn't that right, Daemon?" the machamp thrust the bit of his pipe back into his mouth and puffed it for a second as Daemon confirmed this claim with a nod. Harry then added, "Besides, far be it from this old coke to poke about a fellah's frees knees."

Trishula raised a brow. "Uh…" He looked at Daemon, who was trying not to chuckle. Seeing Daemon's reaction made Trishula feel a little estranged. "I…well, sir." Trishula rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry, I thought you meant something else when you said that."

Harry shook his head and with a smile said, "Hey now, no need to apologize. A mate of Daemon is always welcome here."

Trishula's eyes shot wide upon. "What was that?" He demanded, standing up so fast that his stool toppled over. All eyes instantly looked at Trishula, who was eyeing Harry, who was giving a confused look back. Suddenly, Trishula heard the muffled laughter coming from Daemon, causing him to turn his leering gaze toward Daemon. Seeing the ghost burying his head into his arm while twitching like someone in uncontrolled laughter, Trishula snapped, "What's so funny?"

After taking a second to compose himself, Daemon leaned over and whispered, "Not that kind of mate. You see, here mate means 'friend' as well."

Trishula raised a brow before his cheeks flooded red. "…Arceus damnit." He mumbled as he slowly turned around to pick up the stool, noticing just how many faces were looking at him. He scowled harshly as the weight of embarrassment sank in as red blush formed on the cheeks around his tusks. He slammed the stool back into place, sat on top of it, crossed his arms, and just hunched over waiting for the staring to end.

Taking a second to look up at Harry, Trishula noticed the machamp focused on getting some ingredients off the shelves. "So, what was your orders again?" He asked with a friendly tone, almost as if the incident had never happened.

"Oran berry sauce sandwiches with Lettuce and Tomatoes. Also, water and your special for the drinks." Daemon repeated.

"Heh," Harry smirked as he turned a little and looked at Daemon. "You want the normal show, too?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Daemon answered with a grinning eye, making Harry smirk back.

Trishula grumbled as he rested his head on a claw. Ugh, well let's hope this show is enough to make me forget how much I want to strangle Daemon right now. Lazily staring at Harry, Trishula noticed the machamp take an empty bottle from the shelf and began flipping it over with enough to force to always be able to grab the nozzle end.

Not bad, but it isn't much of a sh- Trishula started before he paused and raised a brow at Harry filled the bottle about halfway with water from a large jug looking container. To his surprise, Harry then took a cork from the shelf and shoved it onto the bottle with a hard smack. Why is he sealing it? There's just water in there.

Before he could come up with a theory, Harry flipped the bottle over his head like a juggler as his lower right hand unhooked one of the bottles on his belt, one that had some red liquid. He caught the flying one with his upper right arm and bent over so his lower left caught the other one. Suddenly, he flipped both up and caught the red liquid one, turning it upside down. Less than a second later, he caught the original clear liquid one; and with his two free hands, he uncorked both bottles at an even faster speed. He let the red liquid pour perfectly into the bottlenose of the clear one for about three seconds before slamming both corks back in just as fast as he had taken them out.

Trishula's mouth hung open as he stared in awe, watching the machamp toss the original bottle back into the air while returning the other one to its loop. Harry then started twisting the bottle above in his palm like someone flatting circular dough, as he then unclipped two other bottles. Like the first one, Harry did all kinds of hand tricks and quick, precise timing to pour the liquids into the original bottle before eloquently return them; all while continuing to mix the liquid with his juggling.

"Amazing isn't it?" Daemon commented, but Trishula didn't reply. The dragon was too mesmerized at the show in front that he didn't snap out of this engrossment till the bottle with the finished concoction was slammed right between the two.

"'Ere you are, lads," Harry exclaimed with a smirk as he pulled the cork out. "Enjoy me special."

Trishula just sat in silence, while Daemon quickly grabbed the bottle and poured himself a glass. "Want some, Trish?"

The dragon blinked for a second, before he answered with a slight stutter, "Uh…s-sure, thank you. Wait, where did you get the gla-" Immediately after this, an empty glass slid right in front of him. Trishula looked up at Harry, who gave him a nod prompting Trishula to nod back. Taking the glass in his hand, Trishula moved it over so Daemon could pour him a drink.

"Mind if I join, fellas?" Harry inquired, sliding a third empty glass towards Daemon.

"If we're worthy to drink with the 'Brielle mixer' himself." Daemon raised his glass.

"Hah! Then bottoms up, lads." Harry exclaimed, pouring himself a glass and raising his cup.

They both looked to Trishula, who slowly raised his up to theirs. After they broke with a tap, both Daemon and Harry gulped down their drinks, whereas Trishula took a minor sip to taste.

"So, how's the special?" Harry asked, slamming his empty glass on the bar harshly but not hard enough to break it.

Trishula smacked his mouth for a second before looking down at the liquid. "It tastes…sweet, but also sour. It's really good actually." Trishula looked up at Harry, with a curious gaze. "What did you put in this?"

Harry chuckled, brushing a fist across his chin. "Sorry, but I can't be leakin' that out. Wouldn' be good for the whole 'special' part."

"I see…" Trishula nodded and presumed to gulp down the rest, licking his chops afterwards with a pleased smile.

"So, where are you from?" Harry asked, crossing his lower arms and leaned over to rest his burly chest on them.

Trishula paused, before looking to the side. "Well…uhm…"

Harry raised a brow. "Oh? You ain't from Averia?"

Surprise at that, Trishula looked up and was about to say something before a thought made him stop. "Oh…right. My crest."

Harry smirked. "Yep, not a hard guess." Shifting one of his free arms to press against his hip, Harry looked at Trishula directly, his smile subsiding a little. "I meant what I said though. 'A friend of Daemon's is always welcome here.' Even if you got that crest on your shouldeh."

Trishula looked back into Harry's eyes, relaxing his tension slightly, before giving a nod.

Harry, rubbed his head and chuckled. "No need to be meek about it, friend. So tell me Daemon, what business do you 'ave 'ere in Brielle?"

Daemon looked over at Trishula. "I came to town to pick him up and then return to our base."

"Oh? The one by that lake?"

Daemon nodded.

"Hmm…by transport oh foot?" Harry asked, stroking his chin.

"By foot."

"Oh? You'd be there in the howah with some transport. If you wait around town foh a bit, one should be moseying around."

Daemon raised his hand. "Thank you, but it's less about time and more about catching up."

"Ooooooooh, I see." Harry smirked as he put his pipe back into his mouth. "Well, then enjoy your journey there. Oh, and tell Plageues a good warnin' from me, alright?"

Daemon nodded. "I will be sure to tell him that, exactly." The two chuckled, while Trishula kept his eyes focused on the bar.

Plageues… He scowled slightly as a sigh escaped his mouth. Damnit, why did Azazel replace me with him? I don't like owing others, Plageues being on top of that list. Though… Trishula looked back at the mural musing to himself. I'll think of something to pay him back with. It'd be a good excuse to spend some 'free time' with him. His thoughts were interrupted by the sliding of two plates of food, stopping right in front of them.

"Heh, well I'll leave you two to stuff your faces," Harry stated, giving a two-finger, short salute to Daemon before starting to wipe down some glasses.

The aroma of the food filled Trishula's nostrils as his mouth began to water. His impatient stomach began to ache, not wanting to wait for him to pick up a utensil.

"Well, dig in," Daemon exclaimed cheerfully, pouring himself another glass.

Trishula nodded with a smile and was about to, till suddenly a thought came to mind. "Wait," he blurted out, shooting a look at Daemon. "You never told me why that clock tower is South Tower."

"Oh right," Daemon set his sandwich down and closed his mouth belly that grumbled at the tease of food. "Harry, mind telling him why it's South Tower?"

"Not at all." Harry exclaimed with a smile, resting two arms on the bar and pointing with a third at the painting, causing Trishula to look towards the mural. "You see, the five are all the same, save for one thin'."

Trishula leaned in closer and listened intently.

"Each one was built in a part of town that fits with its cardinal direction. South City's Clock Tower is on the Southside of its city, and if you be from the place like meself, then you'd know them mountains in the painting are the 'Sun Belt range' north of the city.

"I see." Trishula looked back at Harry. "So the giveaway is the mountains and how far away they are."

"Righto. Lot easieh when you know that little tidbit of knowledge, eh?"

Trishula nodded with a smile. "Indeed, thank you."

"No botheh. Now enjoy y'alls food before North City's winter sets in on it."

"Will do," Trishula gleefully replied as he picked up his sandwich. As he was about to bite, he noticed Daemon was already going to town on his with his stomach mouth. Heh, impatient specter. I'll get my revenge on you, just you wait. He thought to himself as he opened wide for a big bite.

< O >​

Trishula stood arms crossed, leaning his back against the end of the alley wall between two inbuilt stores on the main road in the city. With a hefty sigh, he glanced around the corner and mumbled, "How long is he going to take in there?" He kept his eyes on the entrance as best he could for a few seconds before snorting and looked out at the street. There weren't too many mons about, but clearly more than when they ate. His eyes watched them walk by, curious at how oblivious all of them seemed to be to his staring.

Uncrossing his arms, Trishula got off the wall and instead leaned on the wall outside the alley. He kept watching people walk by, including those on his side of the street. Folks either kept to their business or gave him a little nod or tip of their hat as they walked on. A few gave him glances and focused on their path, while some leered at him.

A little sigh escaped his mouth. Guess they're more mellow here than in larger cities. He inhaled for a few seconds, before letting it all out somewhat loudly. He quickly looked around for reactions before looking upwards, perplexed. Geez, either everyone here is deaf or just keeping to themselves. Probably the latter. Still… Nestling more on the wall, Trishula formed a small smile on his face. It feels nice here. Even the air feels so spacious despite being in a town. Slowly, his eyes began to close as his muscles relaxed until the sound of a hurriedly opening door, shot them open.

Trishula grumbled in his mind as he got off the wall. "That was a long minute."

"Sorry," Daemon replied, opening his travel shoulder bag. "The line was dreadfully long."

Trishula raised a brow, as he noticed the agitation in Daemon's one eye. "What happened?" The haxorus inquired, as he reached out.

"Oh nothing much, just some old lady happened," Daemon answered in a louder tone as he roughly slapped a Pecha Berry into Trishula's claw.

"Tck, poor, pitiful you." Trishula gave Daemon a mocking smirk as he bit into his Pecha Berry.

"Oh please, you don't understand." Daemon and Trishula started heading down the street, Trishula eating his berry while Daemon's stayed in his firm fist, moving along his frustrated gestures. "She was the kind of lady that paid things in cash. Not reasonable pounds mind you, pences! And that wasn't the worst part!"

"Mhm…" Trishula took another bite as he looked around, while Daemon ranted on. His eyes latched onto the row of buildings on the opposite side of the street. They looked old fashioned, at least compared to what he had seen elsewhere, but there was something about them that translated that aged look into something nice to look at. Perhaps it was also the mons near it, looking lively from various ages and species. It was contagious.

"Hey!"

Trishula felt a slight tap on his head. "What!" he snapped, as he snarled at Daemon, who was angrily staring back at him too.

"Are you listening?"

"No," Trishula said bluntly, making Daemon's eye widen for a second before clenching in frustration. Sighing, Trishula gestured outwards, saying, "Look, no mon wants to hear someone rant about how some old lady counted out her change."

Daemon puffed his chest out slightly, closed his eye, and crossed his arms, pouting. "Well, forgive me for venting about a trip meant for a minute taking twenty times as long."

"Ugh." Trishula's shoulders slagged as he looked up saying, "If you hated it so much, why didn't you just count her change for her."

Daemon glared at him, not budging from his pouting posture. "I hope you're jesting."

Trishula rolled his eyes, forming a slight smirk. "No, I'm serious."

Scoffing at this, Daemon pulled his arms in tighter and once more closed his eye. "I'm not in the mood for sarcasm."

Trishula took another bite out of his berry, before giving Daemon a look. A mischievous grin formed on his face as he leaned over. "I mean, I'd expect my smartest friend to be more than capable of smooth-talking such a slow female."

Daemon shot him a look of disgust as his arms slowly began to uncross.

"After all, I'm sure you'd do fine with such a demographic. You're so young and charismatic; in fact, I believe Plageues couldn't-"

"Trish…shut up." Daemon pressed a finger to his closed eye as Trishula chuckled.

Putting an arm around Daemon, Trishula pointed outwards with his right claw, still holding a half-eaten Pecha Berry. "You don't give yourself enough credit. I'm sure you're the object of every old widow's desire."

Daemon gave him a leer with his one eye and gave a quick jab to Trishula's side.

Trishula laughed, stepping away and rubbing his side.

"Alright, fun's over. Change topic else you pay for that berry," Daemon speedily said.

"Sorry, heheheh." Trishula nodded, still rubbing the spot. "Huh, that actually hurt a little. Since when do you start hitting like you mean it?"

Daemon leaned his head onto a newly formed fist and countered, "Since when do you enjoy teasing your friends at such levels?"

Trishula suddenly fell silent, his smile slowly shifting to a neutral expression. "Sorry," he answered, eyes focused forward, melancholy like.

Surprised, Daemon didn't reply for a second. "Oh, wait, I don't mean you did something bad. Plageues does far worse on a more normal basis…Is everything alright?"

Shrugging Trishula confessed, "Well…I just thought I'd do something to lighten the mood. I mean, you seemed fine when Plageues teases you and-"

"Did he tell you that?" Daemon said in a cheery tone and a minor chuckle.

"Heh, maybe." Trishula smiled a little and the two shared a laugh before looking forwards. As they neared the edge of town, where a road led to a large forest, Trishula crossed his arms and moved his gaze downwards slightly.

Noticing this, Daemon turned his head towards Trishula and asked, "Something on your mind?"

"Heh," Trishula looked back as the two neared the edge of town. "I don't know what came over me."

Daemon's brow raised. "Huh?"

Moving his left arm outwards, Trishula tried to explain. "I don't know, I just felt it was a good idea."

Daemon sighed. "I said it was fin-"

"No, it's not that. It's…" Trishula looked forwards. "It just feels so…nostalgic. Meeting you again, the bar, this…in general. I guess it was normal enough that I felt like teasing you."

"Oh? Well, to be frank, we haven't interacted in some time."

Trishula's gaze fell at hearing that. His fists clenched slightly as his eyes narrowed into a scowl. "Yes." Trishula felt his heart speed as he shot his gaze straight towards the forest. He could just imagine their destination; the base where Azazel was waiting for him.

"Hey, slow down."

Trishula looked back to see he was about six feet ahead of Daemon. "Huh…oh, sorry." Trishula halted as Daemon caught up. Once they were side by side, Daemon looked right at Trishula, making the dragon a little uneasy. "I said I was sorry," Trishula stated.

Daemon sighed. "No…it's not that." The ghost adjusted his should bag. There was nothing but an awkward silence between the two.

Finally, Trishula asked, "Then what?"

Daemon shook his head. "Never mind." The ghost looked up to him, his eye beaming with happiness, even if it seemed to mask some other emotion. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I'm just sorry it's while we're on a trip to see your master." Daemon put a hand on Trishula's shoulder and said, "But if you ever want to see me, you can. My door's always open, no permission needed."

"…Thank you." Trishula offered his right hand, to which Daemon removed his hand and they shook.

"No permission means no permission from anyone," Daemon elaborated with a pleased tone.

Trishula nodded and smiled, tossing his eaten berry into some of the grass. With a gleeful look, Trishula started onwards. "Let's hurry up and get this over with so you can show me around town some more."

The ghost hurriedly floated up and matched Trishula's speed. "Indeed, but first, I have some stories to tell you."

Smiling, Trishula listened to Daemon talked about various things, with a confident grin on his face.

A more calm and relaxed chapter where the focus is not on the protaginsts this time around. Heh over Trishula fumbling over his order and confused over "mate" meaning one thing. Trishula's teasing over Daemon's complaint with the lady seems to almost gone a bit far but forgiven quickly.
.

Not bad, but it isn't much of a sh- Trishula started before he paused and raised a brow at Harry filled the bottle about halfway with water from a large jug looking container. To his surprise, Harry then took a cork from the shelf and shoved it onto the bottle with a hard smack. Why is he sealing it? There's just water in there.

Before he could come up with a theory, Harry flipped the bottle over his head like a juggler as his lower right hand unhooked one of the bottles on his belt, one that had some red liquid. He caught the flying one with his upper right arm and bent over so his lower left caught the other one. Suddenly, he flipped both up and caught the red liquid one, turning it upside down. Less than a second later, he caught the original clear liquid one; and with his two free hands, he uncorked both bottles at an even faster speed. He let the red liquid pour perfectly into the bottlenose of the clear one for about three seconds before slamming both corks back in just as fast as he had taken them out.

Click to expand...

Look at Harry go.

"And that's all I have to report, sir," Chenoo said, with a slight bow.

"I see," Azazel mumbled, his eyes narrowing. Without another word, he turned around and looked around at the garden they stood in, till his eyes fell upon a small patch of flowers. He floated over to them, keeping his peering, narrow gaze on the precious, fragile plants as a warm smile formed. "This is a lovely garden." He complimented Chenoo, as he stopped floating and knelt on the ground, unconcerned with dirt getting on his garb.

"Thank you, sir. We felt it'd be a shame not to take care of the greenery here. Plus it helps support the mood of our guards and workers."

Slowly, Azazel reached out and began caressing the petals of the nearest, 'yet to bloom' flower with his head hand. It made a happy little cooing as it stroke the soft petals, remaining ever gentle like a careful child. Leaning closer, Azazel moved his head hand to push the petals just enough to observe the pre-bloom inside while not harming the plant. Forming a little grin as he pulled back and let the flower close itself, Azazel inquired, "Were these planted?"

Chenoo joined Azazel's side and after a second of inspection answered, "I don't think so sir. Some of them I've seen growing in the wild before, especially now that Kyon's almost over."

"Ah, that's right. It's the 18th day of Kyon," Azazel mumbled aloud. Without taking his eyes off the flower nor ceasing his caressing of the fragile plant, Azazel asked the captain, "Do you have a favorite?"

"Uh well," Chenoo scratched behind his ear as he looked to the side. "I haven't really given it much thought."

"I see, a shame." Azazel straightened up and looked at Chenoo, with a faint smile. "Perhaps when you're older, you'll have the time to choose one."

"Uh…yes sir," Chenoo answered, his voice dropping slightly as his beartic ears fell a little.

Grunting with a smile, Azazel folded his arms behind his back as his hydreigon wings spread a little. "But regardless, captain, I have a request."

Chenoo gave Azazel his undivided attention but was surprised when Azazel just started floating down the dirt pathway. "Sir?"

Azazel stopped, turned slightly towards Chenoo, and pointed with one of his arms in the direction of a dirty pathway leading under a rather uneven stone archway. "This leads to the battle arena, correct?"

"The dirt field in the garden? Yes, I believe so. Shall I guide you there, sir?"

"No, but," Azazel moved his pointing head hand under his chin and asked, "Has Lord Baphomet and his company arrived yet?"

Chenoo straightened up. "Yes sir, very early this morning. The amphoros with him is still resting in our treatment center. As for Lord Baphomet, I've not seen him since then, sir."

"Very well, then please bring that amphoros to the garden battlefield."

Chenoo raised a brow. "Uhm…Sir, he's not exactly in the best condition. He has received treatment, but I believe rest is what he-"

Azazel glanced back at Chenoo, his eyes gleaming a red aura as he grinned. "And once you have dropped him off with me, ensure we have some privacy."

Chenoo paused before doing a quick head bow and jogging out of the garden space to complete the task.

Once Chenoo was gone, Azazel headed down the pathway. The scenery wasn't too extravagant due to just being natural greenery with uneven rocks, some constructed decorations, or other small sentimentalities. Few of the garden's archways were symmetrical and every other patch was disproportioned or filled with different varieties of plants.

However, Azazel made sure to visit every patch where some mediocre attempt at a plant exhibit was. He would observe them, smell them, turn some soil over open roots, and even do a little bit of pruning.

As he exited the narrow pathway, he came upon a very open spot, surrounded by uneven bush hedges. In the middle was a rectangular dirt patch surrounded by grass. Across from his position, was a bench overlooking the center of this small arena.

He floated around the battlefield and placed a head hand on the bench. Slowly, he sat down and leaned back, letting out a little content sigh as he closed his eyes. He gave a small grin as he felt the wind blowing on his face, which caused some minor stinging on his burn marks.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and his small grin grew to a dark smile. "I don't like being spied on, especially on a walk." Despite this callout, he just stared upwards, even as he heard the sound of footsteps.

From the lower parts of his vision, Azazel saw something move in front, prompting him to tilt his head and gaze upon his disturber. The mon was garbed in a dark, leathery cloak. While the hood was off, the mon's face was obscured by a full head helm of dark, reflective metal that had some form of a fang design engraved into its surface. Three lines originated from this design and stretch across the helm, each about ninety degrees from the other geometrically.

"You said, you had something to tell me in person." The figure answered with a mechanical tone that was occasionally obscured by static.

Chuckling at this, Azazel got up from the bench. He was about to answer when something caught his eye. "Ah, some I've missed." Ignoring the mon, Azazel floated to a nearby look at a flower bed and began smelling some of them. "Yes, these are just as good as the others. Come, Baphomet, they smell wonderful."

"No, thank you," Baphomet answered, crossing his arms.

"Come now, must you lock yourself away in that headpiece whenever we are together?" Azazel sarcastically groaned.

Baphomet remained silent.

Azazel sighed and lifted one of the flowers in his hand, being careful not to snap it off the stem. "Look at this one. Its colors are so vibrant and full of life." Slowly, his head hand closed its mouth over the stem, holding the flower's stem in its mouth. "It's very beautiful, but sadly." His head hand twisted sharply, snapping the stem in half. Azazel lifted his arm up, looking at Baphomet before dropping the flower while saying, "Fragile."

He then floated on over to a rose bush nearby. Once more he found a particular flower and slowly moved it from the rest. "This one is also very beautiful." His head hand bit onto the spiky stem, wincing slightly at the pain. He looked at Baphomet with a dark grin as he twisted one more, before letting go. The flower remained connected to the steam, although a bit roughed up and with a little bit of blood on some of its spikes.

Baphomet walked over, focusing on the flower as well. He looked at Azazel, who looked down at the flower. Without so much as glancing at the flower, he swung his arm with incredible speed. An Air Slash resounded up in the air as the rose's top flew high above before teetering down into another section of the garden. "And it is still fragile."

Unflinching at Baphomet's display, Azazel merely floated towards the battlefield, moving his head hands behind his back.

Baphomet grumbled under his helm and walked towards Azazel, saying, "I'm going to be leaving soon, with or without hearing your message. I won't waste my time with your games."

"Heh, so straightforward." Azazel shifted to the side as Baphomet joined him at the edge of the rectangular, dirt court. "Don't worry, I will tell you, but first I want you to see something."

Azazel could see Baphomet tense up. However, Baphomet didn't answer, so Azazel cleared his throat and gestured towards the court. "I want your thoughts on that mon you rescued."

"The amphoros?" Baphomet looked at the battlefield.

"Yes, I believe we are in agreement that he isn't receiving proper training, no?"

Baphomet looked at Azazel before slowly returning his gaze to the field. "We are, but I doubt it's for the same reasons."

Azazel shrugged and without changing from his grin bluntly said, "Indeed."

Suddenly, Baphomet stepped in front of Azazel. "Then what is your reason for wanting to see him? You already have an apprentice, must you require another?"

Rolling his eyes, Azazel gestured outwards. "And if I was thinking of taking him as an apprentice, who are you to judge? You, who has two of your own."

"My issue isn't you taking another apprentice."

Azazel scoffed as he looked up at the sky. "You're bleeding heart is very touching. Then perhaps you can introduce him to me." Azazel looked past Baphomet, who turned around to see Chenoo gently pushing the amphoros forwards. The electric mon had a bandage around his right shoulder along with his arm in a bandaged cast.

Once the two stopped in front and gave a respectful bow, Azazel placed his head hands together and said, "My apologies for your injuries. Corivac's actions have greatly displeased me and show his failure at bringing out your potential."

The amphoros shakily gave a head nod. "It's alright…sir." He gulped as he scratched his neck with his free hand. "It wasn't your fault…I mean, sir! It wasn't your fault sir." He did his best to stand up straight, but Azazel merely chuckled at the awful attempt.

"Your formality honors me, but you need not worry. I personally requested to see you."

The amphoros raised a brow before pointing to himself. "Me?"

"Yes, you. I wished to evaluate you before Lord Baphomet would depart."

"Y-yes, sir! Anything you ask."

Azazel nodded and looked at Chenoo, who immediately started to leave. Once Chenoo was gone, Azazel floated towards the battlefield and gestured the amphoros to join him. "Now…I want to teach you something the likes of Corivac will never."

The amphoros nodded speedily, excitement in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Baphomet crossed his arms and sat on the bench, upright and alert.

Azazel put his hands behind his back and with a smile said. "Prepare your basic defense position."

Obeying, the amphoros raised a fist, though fidgeting a little at his cast adding some annoyance.

"Don't worry, we won't be doing any battling."

"Huh?" The amphoros tilted his head.

"I merely want to test something. Your reflexes." The amphoros gave him a confused but compliant look and promptly readied himself. Azazel looked at Baphomet, who looked at him from under his reflective visor.

However, Azazel didn't move. He just stood there, arms behind his back and a grin on his face.

The amphoros tilted his head, slowly lowering his left fist. "Uhm…sir? I don't understand."

"I'm aware. Just merely keep alert." With that said, Azazel floated towards the mon. "Close your eyes and think of a place you feel safe in."

The amphoros obeyed and Azazel began circling him.

"A place with happy memories. Think of the laughing, the enjoyment, the content. I want you to picture it all." Azazel stopped right behind the amphoros as he leaned closer and whispered in his ear. "I want you to see a fire begin. You're caught in the midst of it."

"Uhm…yes sir."

"Picture what it feels like to be close to death. To be on the edge of losing that happiness."

The amphoros's eyes tightened, doing his best to think of the thoughts as well as keep his guard up. However, Azazel didn't say anything else, just an eerier silence with a feeling of dread breathing down his neck. Starting to shake, the amphoros did his best to not say anything.

Meanwhile, Baphomet had risen from his seat, peering towards the two. Suddenly, raised his hand towards them exclaiming, "Wait!"

A loud cry came from the amphoros as he jumped forwards, landing firmly on the ground.

Baphomet's hand closed into a fist as he walked towards the boy, and moved him into an upright sitting position. Silenlty, Baphomet checked the mon's back, seeing a newly formed cut. Baphomet set the boy down, stood up, and marched up to Azazel till his metal mask was just inches from Azazel's smiling face. "Explain," Baphomet commanded in a low tone.

A dark chuckle came from Azazel. "Fear is a tool for you to master," Azazel stated to the amphoros, paying Baphomet's threatening display no heed. He pulled back his hand as a Dark Pulse spike sank back into his hand's throat. "You've done well, my friend," He congratulated, floating over to the shaken amphoros while taking a second to give Baphomet an arrogant glance.

He bent over and eyed the poor mon, speaking in a calm yet scary tone. "You listened to that fear inside and thus were able to escape. I am pleased."

"Uh…uh, thank you, sir." The boy tried getting back to his feet, but almost slipped if not for Baphomet quickly catching his arm. "Sorry, sir," he thanked Baphomet with a weak laugh as he stood up fully. "I'm okay, sir, thank you. Uhm…" There was an awkward silence, before the boy gave a respectful bow to the two.

"Very good. You may take your leave."

Baphomet let go of the amphoros, who after taking a few more respectful gestures, hurried off out of the clearing. He took a few steps towards the direction the amphoros left in, before grumbling. "If he had been a tad slower-"

"He would have been run through…yes." Azazel interrupted, with a pleased tone.

Baphomet turned around, but didn't say anything, or perhaps fighting the will to say something.

"I can see you wish to…process some things as you go, so I will make this quick." Azazel floated over to the bench, resting his head hand on it that promptly shut its eyes as if sleeping. He looked at the patch of grass and muttered, "Pathos Is currently preoccupied with some potential allies, so he won't be able to mediate this Iris Council meeting. Therefore, I ask you to be the mediator."

Baphomet remained silent. Slowly, he moved towards the rose bush from before, extending one of his armored claws to hold one of the blooming flowers. "Is no one else, available?"

"Well, probably some." Azazel moved his hands to his sides. "But you're highly respected in our ranks, perhaps even more than Pathos, himself."

Baphomet faced Azazel, seemingly offended by this compliment.

"Plus…with the news of the defectors, some of our Captains in training are becoming rowdy about our leadership and ambitions. I know you will offer fair treatment to these concerns. Plus, your mere presence would serve to dispel any notion of trying something at the meeting."

Letting go of the rose, Baphomet faced Azazel. Aggressively, he walked towards the mon till he was up in Azazel's smirking face. The two remained silent, seemingly staring into each other's eyes, although Azazel could only see his widened reflection off Baphomet's helm.

"Do you…object?"

Baphomet remained still, before suddenly stalking out of the garden.

There was no reaction from Azazel, just his normal dark grin. He moved his right hand over and opened its mouth. A dark smile formed, as he saw the cuts on the inside from the rose before. He squeezed his right head hand like a fist as hard as he could, before letting it sink to his side. "I wonder if I was the one that met you instead." After a shake of the head, Azazel floated off to continue his walk.






Azazel stared out the window, frowning, fixated upon the two mons entering the building below. Once they were out of sight, he sighed and walked over to the dresser in his room, and opened a certain compartment. He pulled out a red crystal and set it on the mantle. Just in case.

Just as he finished, he heard a knock on the door. "Yes?" He inquired, reaching for his black overcloak, identical to Baphomet's but made for his shape.

"Daemon is here with Trishula. Shall I send them up here?" Chenoo's voice informed from behind the door.

"Please do." As the sound of footsteps left his room, Azazel checked his drawer once more and took out a metal collar, its dark metallic surface gleamed faintly in the light from the window. Hmm…no, Daemon isn't a big enough hindrance. He placed it back in and slid the drawer shut.

He levitated his way to the window, folded his head hands behind his back, and merely peered outside. A dark smile formed as he looked upon the horizon, where a cloud formation was coming into view. He hummed to himself, reaching one of his head hands up to his cheek and touching one of his burn marks. Pressing harder on it, he winced a little from the stinging but didn't stop exerting force.

Suddenly, the door was slammed open. Azazel quickly withdrew his hand and turned around. "Ah, welcome back, Trishula."

Trishula stormed towards him, stopping at about six feet away. He hesitated for a second, eyes glaring at his master's gleeful ones before dropping to a knee and bowing his head.

Azazel looked up towards the door. "Come in as well, Daemon. I wish to speak with you as well."

Daemon floated in, his eye darting its gaze between Azazel and Trishula, as he stopped next to his friend and did a minor bow. "Lord Azazel."

"I'm pleased to see you both arrived here safe and in a timely manner. Though," Azazel paused as he looked down at Trishula. "By the nature of your entry, I assume the feeling isn't mutual."

Trishula raised his head slightly, just enough so he could look right below his master's face. "I thought my mission was to find and capture Aegis's vessel?"

"It was and still is," Azazel replied, calmly.

"Then why bring me back here‽" Trishula stood up, his sudden aggressive demeanor and abrupt shouting making Daemon flinch. "You ordered me on this mission, so why take me off of it and place Plageues on it instead?"

Azazel looked at Daemon for a second, his smile vanishing to a frown. "Because you failed to."

Trishula's eyes widened. "I…We had him, but they received aid out of nowhere."

Daemon nodded and floated a little forwards, gesturing outwards as he explained. "A certain mon we believe to be Seliph Almkin came and assisted them in their escape. Despite this, Trishula was not bested but rather them escaping by Escape Orb. If anything, it was an unfortunate string of coincidences your apprentice failed."

A smirk formed on Azazel as he floated closer to Trishula. He slowly turned his gaze towards Trishula, eyes narrowing as his iris's seemed to glow a little. "Do you agree with Daemon?"

Trishula hesitated, making Daemon look at him confused. However, he didn't have time to ponder, for in the blink of an eye Azazel slapped Trishula hard on the face.

The dragon covered his left eye, the area hit, and remained still and silent.

"Any coincidences doesn't undo a failed action. I called you back here because you failed to do so in one attempt."

Trishula looked at his master. His face showed a desire to say something or perhaps even strike back, but he restrained himself.

Azazel pointed towards the window, keeping his gaze firmly on Trishula. "Failure to capture him the first time implies you aren't fully ready to beat Aegis, himself." He folded his arms behind his back and glanced at Daemon, who looked back confused. "Aegis's vessel is merely an illusion of who your real enemy is. Even if you defeat the vessel and all his allies, Aegis is the one you should fear."

"He didn't awaken," Trishula shot back, making Azazel silence himself. "I fought the vessel, and he was just a scared, simple child. No reaction, no blanking out, no nothing. Perhaps Aegis hasn't healed himself yet, which means we need to capture him now."

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Azazel floated over to his dresser. "If simply capturing Aegis was what we were after, we would have sent an army of enforcers."

"What?" Daemon tilted his head curiously, "we aren't after him?"

"Capturing him is an ideal scenario, but not why we need Aegis." Azazel turned around, holding the red jewel in his hands. "We need to achieve what Mephiles failed to do eight years ago. As such, his capture is unimportant; what is important, is Aegis." With that said, Azazel tossed the red crystal to Trishula, who caught it and held it to the side. "And forcing him out into the open. If Aegis is not ready to awaken from his healing, then there is no need to rush. Better to let things develop naturally than try and force it like Mephiles."

Trishula's head lowered.

"Your narrow-minded naivety is disappointing." Azazel folded his arms behind his back. "And your failure to capture the child is a sign you aren't committed enough…or perhaps too distracted." He floated over to the window, staring once more at the horizon.

There was just a heavy silence for a few minutes, Trishula roughly clenching the crystal and eyeing the floor, while Daemon just remained still and unsure of what to say.

"You still need some preparation for Aegis, so I've decided to give you a new task for the time being." Both Trishula and Daemon looked at Azazel, who turned to face them, saying. "Trishula, take my crystal as proof that I sent you."

"Sent me?" Trishula repeated, looking at the gem in his hands.

"Yes, I want you to go with Daemon and attend the Iris Council meeting as my representative."

Trishula and Daemon were dumbfounded, simply staring eyes wide open at the hydreigon. However, Trishula managed to say. "But, why would you want me to go? We've never involved ourselves in the Captain's Branch affairs."

"While that is true, it is part of me preparing you for Aegis. You are to go there and once the meeting has concluded, come back here to me."

Trishula paused before looking at Daemon who gave a cough.

"It shouldn't be a problem. I doubt they will make a fuss over him attending, and if so I'll make sure to alleviate their concerns," Daemon informed, giving a little bow.

However, Trishula stepped forwards, leering at Azazel. "How will going to this council meeting prepare me?"

Slowly, Azazel's smile return. "It isn't. It's to see where you are."

"What? To test me?" Trishula cocked a brow as Daemon titled his head.

Azazel folded his head hands behind his back, turned around, and floated towards the window.

Trishula's glared at Azazel, before finally sighing. "I…understand, master."

"Now, if there isn't anything else, I wish to ask Daemon something."

Daemon floated forwards and did a head nod. "What is your request?"

Azazel began stroking his chin as he glanced towards the ghost. "I'm entrusting you to be very observant of the mons that attend. It is possible one of our defectors may be there."

Daemon nodded, but raised a finger. "If I may, I was wondering about that."

Azazel crossed his head hands. "Proceed."

After doing a cough, Daemon said, "I know you said our defector problem is bigger than what the reports say, but I was wonder why you wanted to target the Captain's Branch specifically? After all, the most recent defector was from the Enforcer's branch."

Trishula looked at Daemon. "There was?"

"Yes." Daemon looked at Azazel, who gave permission with a nod. The ghost then faced Trishula and explained, "There was a certain enforcer that killed one of our captains, took the red crystal assigned to said captain, and fled the base. As for additional details, you would have to ask the Enforcer branch." Daemon then looked at Azazel. "You didn't tell him about this?"

Trishula looked at Azazel, with a stern look.

"It wasn't important for Trishula to know." Floating forwards, Azazel looked from one to the other. "Trishual was and never will be a part of the Enforcers Branch. While it is true, I am the leader of that branch; I have other priorities as well."

Silently, Trishula walked past Azazel, before stopping in front of the window too. His eyes narrowed deep in thought, before suddenly saying, "Daemon, leave please."

"What?" Daemon floated towards Trishula, but stopped at Azazel's voice.

"I agree with my apprentice. Some time alone would be ideal."

Daemon looked at Azazel, his eye narrowing, before doing a head nod to his superior and floating out of the room, making sure to shut the door as he left.

Immediately, Azazel floated over to the room's cupboard and took out a pair of formal glasses. "Are you upset that I didn't tell you about this?" He said, as he took a complimentary bottle of fermented berry juice in his hands and opened it. "I was certain you were aware that what is between us has nothing to do with the other sects of the red eyes organization. My goals for enforcers aren't intertwined with my goals for you."

Trishula scowled out the window. "Aren't they?"

Azazel stopped for a second. Slowly, he began to cackle in a mild laugh, turning around saying, "And pray tell, what role do you think I have for you in Enforcers? I await your…insight."

Turning around, Trishula glared at Azazel and snapped, "I mean your preparations. Why are you letting me interact now?" Angrily, Trishula stomped his way over to Azazel, saying, "Ever since you made me your apprentice you've not once let me interact with anyone. I know why though, it's because it would undermine the trainer you had laid out for me."

He slammed his claw on the desk. "So why now? Why when I was so close to getting Aegis for us, do you stop me and tell me to leave your side? What are you plotting?"

Azazel's smile faded, Trishula's fierce glare meeting his calm, arrogant one. Setting the bottle on the dresser, Azazel looked past Trishula at the window, before beginning. "Do you remember, what I said it would take to defeat Aegis?" He folded his head hands behind his back and proceeded to float past Trishula, stopping after a little ways.

"You said it would take all of my strength, ability, and-"

"Focus." The two turned around and looked at each other. "Aegis is a mon that is naturally powerful, but like all mons, suffers from a natural weakness. One I have sought to deprive you of." He floated over to the bottle, pouring both of them drinks. "Only after the sting of the burn is the wound allowed to heal." He set the bottle down and took up one of the cups.

Trishula leered at the cup Azazel offered to him.

"Aegis won't pass over the slightest bit of hesitation from you. If you cannot reach your full potential, I will make you reach it. Consider this, as a gesture of goodwill from me."

Trishula looked at Azazel, with a scowl, though slightly lowered. He took the cup into his hands but just stared at the liquid inside.

"I saw that potential to defeat and dominate our ancestor, and I intend to draw it out. It must be drawn out. So, my apprentice." Azazel raised the other cup towards Trishula, and with a dark scowl said, "A toast to your growth. I have high hopes in you."

Without a sound, Trishula lightly tapped his cup on Azazel's before setting it down to the side. He, before snorting, turning around, and leaving.

Azazel set his cup to the side, not drinking either. A frown formed on his face as he looked towards the window. Perhaps he still refuses to accept that weakness. He floated over to the desk and picked up the red crystal. He closed his eyes and held it outwards.

It suddenly began shining a bright red light, bright enough that Azazel could somewhat see it through his closed eyes, before suddenly all went dark. He opened his eyes to find an empty void as the world around him. Unfazed, he merely waited still, scowling as a small distortion appeared in front.

A mon slowly came into focus. Before it finished forming, it greeted Azazel with an annoyed, "What is it, Azazel? If this is about how far I've deciphered-"

"It isn't about that." Azazel folded his arms behind his back. "I merely need you to do something."

"Do what?" the mon said, stepping towards Azazel, revealing himself as an alakazam.

"I need you to move Mors Xeimos to the base here in Brielle."

The alakazam crossed his arms and raised a brow with intrigue. "And why would you want him there?"

Azazel formed a dark grin as he looked upward to the darkness above. "Insurance."

Interesting so far. A grammar things that I noticed: first, the names of Pokemon are considered proper nouns and so they should be capitalized. Second, 'maw' is a word for mouth, while 'ma' is a word for mother. Third, Seliph says "I'm surprised your powers didn't act up?" which doesn't sound like it's a question, so you should use a different punctuation mark. Fourth "she asked in a challenge tone" would probably read better as something like "she asked challengingly" or "in a challenging tone". Finally, "Freya put on of her claws on his shoulder" was that supposed to be one of her claws? If not, then something like "Freya put her claws on his shoulder" would work better. Despite the few grammar errors I saw the story is still very interesting, and I definitely intend to read the rest of it.

The imagery of Azael, a Hydreigon, petting a rose is strangely cute? I imagine one of Azael's hands gently nibbling on the rose petals haha.

I can't remember if Aegis has been mentioned before. There seems to be so many figures that are considered powerful beings. Rereading the chapter's second scene it does mention Aegis being powerful but having a natural weakness. Either way though, Aegis seems to be a big goal for Azael.

With an irritated sigh, Jasmine leaned onto the wooden door with a soft thump and yelled, "Are you done yet?"

"Five minutes, and keep it down, Vragon's still sleeping." Dolly's answered from behind the door.

Groaning, Jasmine sprawled onto the floor in front, staring straight down the hallway with an unconvinced frown. Ugh, oh yeah, it'll be 'five minut-'

Suddenly, the door swung open and thwacked Jasmine hard on the snout. With a high-pitched yelp, she reeled back upright, as her paws covered her hurting nose.

"Huh? Jasmine?" Dolly's peaked from the other side of the door and gasped. "Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, Jasmine." She quickly maneuvered around the door and went to Jasmine's side. "I didn't see you."

Jasmine took a deep breath and grumbled something inaudible but clearly aggressive. A few breaths later, Jasmine removed her paws, shook her head a few times, and gave Dolly an unamused glare. "I wish you actually took five minutes."

Dolly gave a weak, little chuckle as she got back to her feet. "I starting to wish I did too."

"Wha' happened?"

With a growl, Jasmine stomped around Dolly and the door and bluntly answered, "Nothing, Ciecro."

The charmeleon raised a brow. "Wha's up wit'cha? Yah nose botherin' yah?"

Jasmine realized her nose was twitching from the stinging and quickly gave a brush. "Nothing." She looked back at Dolly and sighed. "Let's just go ahead and get the stupid supplies."

"Sure." Dolly looked at Ciecro and said, "Keep an eye on Vragon and Jaron, while we're gone."

He nodded in reply, his serious stare being extra convincing.

While the two were busy, Jasmine leaned over a little so she could see around Ciecro. She spotted the basic nightstand and wooden bed with Vragon sleeping soundly beneath the covers. "Hrm?" She pushed around Ciecro and started to browse the room.

"Hey! Wha's witcha?" Ciecro protested.

Ignoring him, Jasmine raised a brow and turned around. "Where's Jaron?"

Immediately, Dolly put a hand on Ciecro's shoulder and gently nudged him aside, though he appreciated that as much as Jasmine's push. "Oh, I sent him to get some food for them, while we're gone. I don't know how long it'll be and Vragon is still sleeping, after all."

"Huh? Wait." Jasmine looked at Ciecro and then at Dolly, repeating this action a couple of times before sitting down and tilting her head. "Why Jaron?"

"Why not?" Dolly asked, leaning on the doorframe.

Jasmine leaned back and gestured her front paws outwards, like a shrug. "I mean, I thought he'd want to be here with Vray. Especially since Ciecro could go get it."

"Well, that's a question for the road."

"Huh?"

"I mean, let's not meander any longer. We've got stuff to get and I'm hungry."

"Uhhhhhh," Jasmine looked at Ciecro, who gave her a shrug.

"I can handle watchin', Vray. Jus' don' take too long." He gave her a nod, prompting her to stop standing there confused.

"O-okay." She quietly left the room, as Dolly stepped in front and handed Ciecro something.

"Here's the key to this room and you know where the com orb is, right?"

"Yes," Ciecro grumbled. "Now yah two go on. I don' wanna wait too long fo' lunch."

Dolly chuckled and said, "We won't."

"Oh an' uh, Jaz."

Jasmine looked up at Ciecro, who was scratching his neck.

"No, Passho Berries on whateveh yah get me."

With a blank stare, Jasmine suddenly burst into a little chuckle.

"Wha's so funny?" Ciecro asked, a minor scowl forming.

"Nothing, just typical you."

"Wha's dat supposed tah mean?" Ciecro demanded, marching towards them, only to have the door shut in his face.

"Sorry, but we've got to get going," Dolly said, winking at Jasmine.

"Never mind, Ciecro. We'll make sure not to get anything for you that has Passhos," she informed, trying to keep her chuckling in check.

They heard a growl before Ciecro turning the deadbolt and walking from the door.

Straightening her travel belt, Dolly shifted to the right and pointed towards the stairs. "And we're off!" She immediately started marching down the hallway like a youthful adventurer.

Jasmine sighed. Shaking her head with a little grin, she followed on after Dolly, saying, "Thanks for the save."

"No problem." Dolly glanced back to the absol. "It was kind of funny."

"Yeah…" Jasmine's eyes lowered a little, her smiling shrinking. Once they arrived at the stairs, Jasmine asked, "So what do we have to get today?"

Dolly raised a finger to her chin as she made her way down the stairs. "Hmm, well for starters we need to replace the items we lost yesterday. So two escape orbs and maybe some travel medic supplies would be good. We also will need to get some food to bring back to the three here, but before that, we'll need to find this town's bank and make a money transfer."

"Money?" Jasmine repeated, following right behind Dolly.

"Correct," Dolly answered as she stepped onto the first floor. "Though, I do want to talk with the rangers before head back here."

"Yeah," Jasmine added as she stepped off the stairs. "Maybe they found som-" She stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes focused on one of the windows on the ground floor lobby. Her mouth slowly clenched shut as a scowl formed.

"Huh?" Dolly turned to look and instantly had her answer.

Demetri and Devon were both standing in the window seemingly talking. Something else that stood out was Demetri had a bandaged up torso, with his wrapped up right arm resting in a sling.

Dolly winced a little at the sight before looking at Jasmine. "Yeah, he does look pretty banged up."

Jasmine stepped closer to Dolly and whispered, "Let's just go." Upon seeing Dolly's confused expression Jasmine hastily explained, "I don't think we should get involved with them."

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"It's just…" Jasmine sighed as she leaned in very close to say, "I don't trust them."

Raising a brow, Dolly asked, lowering herself to a whisper too, "How so?"

"Well- Oh, here they come." Instantly the two girls snapped back to upright positions.

Jasmine's gaze locked onto Demetri's knowing, serious stare that border lined a scowl of his own.

"Good morning!" Devon exclaimed with a beaming smile.

"Morning," Dolly nodded. An awkward second passed before Dolly gave a little cough, prompting Jasmine to roll her eyes.

"Morning." She mumbled, coldly.

Devon raised a brow at this, while Demetri looked unfazed and merely turned his attention to Dolly. "Morning." He took a step forwards and gestured his left hand towards Devon. "I don't believe we've been introduced. This is Nerve Devon and I'm Nerve Demetri." He placed his hand on his chest and gave a little head nod, along with Devon.

Dolly did one as well. "Hello. I hope you two were able to rest well."

"Why yezzz." Devon answered, filled with energy. "It wazzz a very relaxing time. Went to zzzleep almozzzt immediately."

Chuckling at this, Dolly added. "I bet. Yesterday was pretty hectic."

Suddenly, Demetri turned towards Devon and gave him a look. Devon's happy face shifted to a nervous frown as he backed up a little.

Raising a brow, Dolly gave a big grin and said, "My, someone's awfully grumpig today."

Jasmine's eyes shot wide, gazing at Dolly as if she was staring at a disaster. Slowly, she looked at Demetri, who seemed unaffected.

"I know we just met, but I doubt I need to tell you how serious the situation is."

"Yes, you don't need to," Dolly replied, her smile shrinking to only a minor grin.

Demetri nodded. "I'm sure you have questions about our involvement with yesterday and I have some questions for you as well. I would like for the two of us to tal-" His eyes widened as Dolly suddenly shoved an outstretched palm towards him.

"I'm up for a discussion, but not right now." She patted her satchel and said with a smile. "We're in the middle of errands and we have some injured boys to get back to."

"Oh…" Demetri's ears lowered a little as he glanced to the side, his eyes trying to hide a little scowl. "Would we be able to accompany you?"

Dolly raised a brow. "Uhm…well. Having extra arms would be pretty handy, but I'm afraid I must decline."

Jasmine fought very hard to avoid facepalming. It's in her blood, I swear.

Demetri sighed. "Very well. When can we discuss this, then?"

Tapping her chin in thought, Dolly shook her head and answered, "Not sure yet. But I'll let you guys know when."

With a displeased sigh, Demetri looked at Dolly square in the eye and said. "I understand yesterday was much, but it's important we meet soon. Time isn't going to be lenient to either of us."

Son of a- Jasmine about went into a tirade but held back as Dolly was the first to speak.

"I understand. I'll be sure not to take too long. In the meantime, how would I contact you?"

Demetri looked at Devon and nodded.

The vikavolt did a little buzz hop next to Demetri. "Room 310 on floor 3!" He chirped. "Oh, and let us know if there's anything we can help you with."

"Duly noted," Dolly thanked, as she strode on past. "It was nice meeting you, Demetri, Devon."

"Have a good day." Devon hollered back, earning many stares in the process, much to Demetri's annoyance.

Once the duo were outside, Dolly gave stretched her arms and took a deep breath. "Mon it feels like a great day today.

Jasmine gazed up at the sky a firm scowl on her face. Tck, what a jerk. Why'd he have to be some kind of pushy-

"Well come on, Jasmine."

Jasmine sighed as she caught up to Dolly and strolled down the dirt road at the kangaskhan's side. The town looked much nicer at this time of day or at least compared to the night before. Then again, it all went by so fast. She could still remember how many rangers were there helping them to that lodge, especially for their more injured members.

"Something on your mind?"

Jasmine looked up at Dolly as they took a turn around a building's corner. "Well…" She took a second to think of how to put it nicely before saying, "Who do you think those two are?"

"Dunno, we'll find out later, though…"

"What?" Jasmine's eyes widened a little as Dolly set a fist under her chin.

"It's just the terminology he used. Nerve."

Jasmine went silent. Huh, I didn't notice, but yeah. That's a weird sort of title to have. Her curiosity about Dolly's thoughts pressed her to ask, "Do you have an idea?"

Dolly nodded, making Jasmine's heart beat faster. "They could be a group called 'the Planet Nerves'."

"Huh?" Jasmine said, with a tilt of the head and a clueless stare. "What's that?"

"Don't know too much about them. Just two things." Dolly shoved her palm forwards and raised a finger. "One, they work for legendary Pokémon called 'Zygarde' and two, them being interested in you means you're involved in something big."

"Oh…" Jasmine answered, slightly disappointed at the lack of juicy details. She didn't stay deterred for too long about it. "So, you're saying them being here means we're in over our heads?"

"If they're being honest about being Nerves, then yeah. Course, we already knew that."

"But it's another problem to add to the list."

"Yup."

Just what we need. Jasmine grumbled as she looked at the dirt. The repetitive swaying from her paws felt too slow for some reason. Blinking and looking forwards, she noticed mons in various locations, but what troubled her was where she was looking. It was like that one topic of ranger training, the 'keep an eye out for suspicious fellows', but right now it was on overwork and the stakes felt real.

Great, now I'm getting paranoid. Jasmine's eyelids lowered as an annoyed scowl crossed her face. Why is everyone and their grandmother after Vray? What did he do? Ugh…

"You know, with a face like that, you'll get wrinkles at my age."

Leering at Dolly, who smirked back, Jasmine raised her snout and 'hmphed'. Dolly's chuckles only seemed to make her internally groan more. "How can you be so calm about this?" Jasmine finally asked.

Dolly shrugged, "I wouldn't say calm. I just figure we're safe for now, so I'm lightening the mood for myself."

Jasmine snarled a little.

"Hey, a little smile could make it a bit easier. After all, you're stuck with me for a few hours, right?"

"You, I'm fine with. It's that Dumbitri and everybody else that irritate me."

Dolly abruptly halted, bursting out into a loud laugh. "Oh mon, Jasmine, that…oh that was a good one."

Rolling her eyes, Jasmine strode over to Dolly. "I'm being serious. First those red eyes goons chase us, we get two Norfarions that follow soon after, and now we've got a rude, pushy Grumpig and his bug sidekick. What's next? Giratina coming out of a mirror to say 'Hi'?"

"Well, to be fair, I might be a bit pushy if my arm got broke saving some random mons. Plus, we did kind of tell him to wait on his agenda."

"You mean, you did."

"Well, would you have handled it differently? Hmmmmmmm?" Dolly leaned in close, her hands resting on her travel belt.

"Yeah, I would have told him to fu-" Suddenly, Jasmine's felt her mouth being covered by a firm, large hand. She looked up at Dolly, whose expression had changed to a stern look.

"Jasmine, we're in the middle of the street," She whispered, withdrawing her hand.

Jasmine sighed. "Sorry, it's just. It just keeps escalating."

"I know, and I'm not trying to jump on you over it. But keep in mind," She placed a hand on the back of Jasmine's neck. "We're in the clear right now. The rangers are all gonna make sure we don't get any nasty surprises while here."

Jasmine looked down and was about to agree when a thought crossed her mind. "Wait!" Jasmine blurted out as she stared at a confused Dolly with eyes as wide as a wooper's gaping mouth. "They're still at the lodge with those two guys there!"

Dolly's head sank back as she groaned. "Look, Jasmine, there's at least four rangers at the building, and incase something does go down, I've got this." Dolly opened one of her pouches to show Jasmine a com orb and then immediately put it back. "It's synced up with Jaron's, Ciecro's, and Vragon's com orbs. Now, can we put this hysteria to rest? We're perfectly fine in this town."

Jasmine gave a twisted frown. "Okay, but what if they're just biding their time? The red eyes group could just be waiting for us to leave. Or what if those Nerve fellows are just trying to gain our trust? I mean, how do we know they won't want to capture Vray themsel-"

"Stop."

Jasmine obeyed but glared at the ground.

Taking a hefty sigh, Dolly walked into an alley, gesturing Jasmine to follow.

Reluctantly, Jasmine sat in front of Dolly, who rested her back against the cold alley wall and crossed her arms. "Alright, what's it gonna take to get you to relax?"

Jasmine just stared down the alleyway in silence.

"You don't normally act like this."

"Yes, well, this isn't a normal situation."

Dolly moved an arm up behind her head and looked upwards. "You're starting to sound like Jaron."

Jasmine raised a brow.

Dolly kept her gaze upwards, but slowly a smile formed on her face. "You're acting really over the top paranoid right now. And well, like him, I can't say you don't have a good reason to."

Jasmine glared at this. So why put me on blast for this?

"But, you both are gonna need to calm down." Dolly looked at Jasmine, her smile replaced with a neutral stare. "You know, I had a talk with him last night."

"You did?" Jasmine met Dolly's gaze, her scowl still out front but with a hint of interest attached.

"Yep, and he reacted just like how you're reacting. Well, no, his was way worse." She said with a following sigh.

"I bet."

The two chuckled for a second before Dolly continued. "But he got the message and I'm surprised at how quickly he picked it up."

"Picked what up?"

"That's between me and him." Dolly got off the wall and stopped directly in front of Jasmine. "What I want you to do, is trust me."

Jasmine's eyes shot open before a frown crossed her face. "What do you mean? Of course, I trust you." Jasmine answered, keeping her tone low, but making it clear how hurt she felt to hear that.

"I know you do, but the thing is we don't really have many options." Dolly gestured down the alleyway and said, "Think of it this way. I know you trust me, but there's always going to be uncertainty attached to this. I want you to trust my judgment in this."

"B-but…"

Dolly walked a little down the alleyway. "And well, I'm needing to trust you too." Dolly turned around and said, "I know it's a lot of stress, but take a second to think all that I have to deal with on this? I'm uncertain and worried too, after all."

Jasmine sighed. "I'm not a child." Her head drooped a little as her scowl slowly went into a bit of a remorseful frown. "It's just. What if there's something we're missing."

"Yep, I don't know everything. That's why I need you at you're A-game."

Jasmine looked at Dolly with a neutral expression as the kangaskhan walked up to her.

"You can't bring your A-game if you think there's an enemy lurking in every bush. You've got some good observation skills, but if we let paranoia go too far we could push away opportunities to better our situation. Like with Swift and Garon, and maybe even these nerve mons." Dolly walked past Jasmine and looked out at the street in front. "I know you're suspicious of them and well I am a bit too."

"You are?" Jasmine walked up to Dolly's side, as she replied with a nod of the head.

"But the thing is, we've got to play this carefully. Sound judgment, mind, and all. We've got backups in case they are after Vray, but even then, I don't think they intend to kidnap him. It's just a guess, but I have a hunch that grumpig has a different agenda than just Vray. I don't think it's wise to do anything major, till we hear it straight from the mudsdale's mouth, right? We should give them a chance to explain their involvement, then judge it by what we learn."

Jasmine's eyes lowered. With a low tone, she meekly muttered, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Dolly exclaimed, patting Jasmine on the back softly but heartily. "I Absolutely can't blame you for being a bit Grumpig today."

Jasmine closed her eyes tightly and refused to raise her head and answer. Don't give in. It's what she wants. She mumbled over and over, till a chuckle from Dolly made her cave in.

She gave Dolly a mean glare as the kangaskhan chuckled at how angry the absol's face was. "Yep, you're definitely getting wrinkles."

Jasmine opened her mouth to retort but stopped. She sat down, closed her eyes, and took a breath. "Heh, sure. Whatever you say, Dully."

"Dully?" Dolly repeated, with a mischievous smile.

"Yes, Dully," Jasmine repeated, getting on her feet and marching out into the street. "Like your jokes. Now let's stop playing around and go get that supplies."

Dolly put a hand on her hip as she countered, "Need I remind you why we took this stop in the fir-"

Jasmine started marching off and shouted, "What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of the wind. Better hurry up."

Shaking her head and sighing with a tired, sincere grin, Dolly stepped out into the street and jogged after Jasmine.






"Ugh, stupid wind," Seliph complained, as he caught a piece of paper from flying away. He shoved it back onto the ground and propped a knee down on it. "Okay, now, where was-" Instantly another surge of wind struck and was just strong enough of a nuisance to free the paper from his knee.

"Damnit!" He chased it a few feet before diving straight onto it. "Ugh! I can't work here!" he griped as he slid a hand under his belly that shielded the paper from the wind. Once he had a firm grip on it, he started to stand back up, but almost fell over as another gust of wind came whizzing by.

"Ack!" He winced as the wind blew past him roughly, irritating his wounded left shoulder and side. "Fuck this. Argh!..." He slammed his fist onto the wall and just stood there for a second, before taking a deep breath. He looked behind him and after thinking for a second, before deciding to head out. "Guess I'll work somewhere els-"

He stopped close to the corner and raised a brow. Slowly, he pressed his body against the wall and listened. His eyes scowled at the sounds of footsteps. Flicking his wrist, he formed a Night Slash kunai and held it close to his chest. Steady…

His eyes widened at the sound of a loud yawn.

"Relax, it's just me."

Seliph's mouth dropped open, as Swift walked around the corner shaking his head awake and scratching his arm.

Once he regained his composure, Seliph let his kunai evaporate and mumbled, "Hey…"

"Hey…" Swift cracked his back and made a nice "aaaah" sound afterwards, much to Seliph's annoyance. "Dang, that floor was kind of rough. At least." he was interrupted by another yawn. "I found you."

Seliph raised a brow as he looked at the heliolisk from the corner of his eye, scowling. "Why are you following me?"

Swift didn't reply, but instead scratched furiously on the bandage that looped over his right shoulder and tucked into ones that wrapped around his waist. "Stupid itch," he grumbled as he finally gave up and looked at Seliph. "Hrm? Oh, I wasn't. I just heard you yelling from here so I dropped by to say 'hi'."

"So you were just hanging around here, at the outskirts of town?" Seliph asked as he raised a skeptical brow.

Swift leaned on the wall with his left shoulder, shifted his left foot in front of his right, and crossed his arms. With a little grin and a brow raise of his own, Swift answered, "Do you think everyone has an ulterior motive when doing anything?"

Giving a cold glance as a reply, Seliph faced the wall and rubbed his left shoulder's bandage gently.

Swift's smirk shifted to a minor scowl. With a heavy sigh, his eyes stared at the wall right above them, following the lines in between the clay bricks. "I thought we had an understanding."

Seliph stopped rubbing his bandage and instead looked at his piece of paper. "We did and still do, but that doesn't mean I can't be careful."

Swift glanced at him. "Careful about what? That I'd betray you or something." He said bluntly.

Seliph glared back at him but didn't immediately reply. His fist tightened over the piece of paper for a second as his eyes lowered. He sighed. "Sorry."

Grinning at Seliph's remorse, Swift rested his back fully on the wall and stared off into the forest with a newly formed smile. "Don't worry about it, I getcha."

Turning around, Seliph shoved his fists into his vest, which was dirty and had some nasty tears, and leaned back on the wall as well. "I guess I just feel-" his eyes drooped as he stopped. He remained silent for an awkward ten seconds, before shaking his head.

"What's up?" Swift leaned off the wall a little.

"A few things. Still recovering from all that happened yesterday."

"Heh, yeah." Swift smiled as he raised his left hand to be a gentle cushion for his head. "I still can't look at that vikavolt guy without remembering that freakish ride." He gave a shiver as he muttered, "Never want to do that again."

Seliph's eyes narrowed. "I'd hate to think."

"Huh?" Swift looked at him as Seliph got off the wall and stared aimlessly at the forest.

"I'd hate to think what would happen...if those two didn't come when they did."

Swift didn't reply but instead joined Seliph's side as they both stared off into the forest, lost in their thoughts.

Seliph's shifted his left hand around his pocket, till it clasped on the vial. His hand tightened around it, gripping it as one would a weapon as his closed lips pressed pushed harder. They would have captured this.

Without a word, Seliph took a few steps forwards, almost startling Swift at how sudden it was. "We can't keep going like this."

Swift's eyebrows rose as his crossed arms lowered to his stomach level.

Seliph raised his right hand a little above his head and clenched his fist as he stared at it with an intense scowl. "They outmaneuvered us. Outsmarted us. Caught us off guard and used their environment so effectively." His fist dropped to his side as he stared at the ground. "They had us in their hands as we were lucky."

He kicked a little at the dirt as he went silent. After a few minutes, he turned to look at Swift, wondering why the Heliolisk hadn't said anything or followed up with a thought. "Swift?"

Swift was busy looking at Seliph, more specifically his shoulder, before glancing to his injured right one. "Heh, well that's neat."

"What?"

"We both got shoulder injuries. And opposite ones at that, heh." He brushed his snout as Seliph grumbled.

"Really…"

Swift chuckled, "Sorry, but don't worry I heard what you said and I agree." The heliolisk joined Seliph and stared towards the forest with his arms crossed. His beaming smile was quickly replaced by his business, neutral face. "Their plan worked too well. They probably planned for us to go that route, which means they were watching us somehow or had sufficient evidence to predict our route." He began stroking his neck as he looked upwards. "Not just that, but their plan took into consideration of our party group."

"Oh?" Seliph crossed his arms.

"Well, they did a very skillful divide and conquer strategy. Not to mention, the individual encounters seemed well thought out for who would fight who. I mean, that gallade was really good at keeping up with my speed, for example. It only was able to get past him, when those two showed up."

Seliph's eyes widened. "Huh?"

Swift glanced back, confused at the response.

Grunting, Seliph gave Swift a sarcastic smirk. "I'm surprised at how much you've reflected on it."

With a showy smile, Swift closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Heh, well I am part of a Norfarion elite team after all."

Seliph scratched his chin as he said, "Elite in observation I guess. But combat?"

"Hey! That guy was tough." Swift shouted, wearing a smile indicating he wasn't bitter at the combat. "Though, maybe I'm just out of practice. Been a while since I've been doing fieldwork."

"I suppose." Seliph's smile faded as he let go of the vial in his pocket and took his hand out, grunting a little at his arm's stinging. "Then again, I don't think any of them are pushovers. Either way," he looked at Swift, who met his gaze. "We shouldn't leave this town till we have better strategy and coordination."

"Agreed," Swift said with a nod.

There was a brief silence between the two, before Seliph asked, "Hey, Swift."

"Yeah?" Swift looked up at him.

Seliph shoved his hands into his vest's pockets. "While on my own, I've learned a few things about the red eyes and their group, but it's not much." He turned to Swift and asked, "Can you…tell me what you know about them?"

"Heh, gotcha." Swift walked in front and started stirring around the dirt with his foot. Once it was a nice clear patch of dry, brown dirt, Swift squatted and as he started drawing in it, started saying, "To be honest, I only know basic stuff, save for a few tidbits of information I heard here and there."

Seliph squatted down, watching him finish drawing the map, and listened intently as Swift began to explain.

"So, the Red Eyes is an underground network of mons that have their base of operations in Mextrein. They are probably allowed to run their operations there because they and the Collective see us as a mutual enemy."

"So, they're allies?" Seliph looked at Swift with a serious scowl.

Swift shook his head. "Not close allies, they just put up with each other since we're the common threat. But the Collective probably has a limit, so the Red Eyes can't go crazy with their involvement in other areas."

"Other areas?"

Swift pointed to a large island that resided in the middle of a landlocked sea. "You see, Mextrein is just their main base of operations. They've got plenty more." He waved his hand in a circular motion around the perimeters of the sea drawing, just shy from the far left end of it. "They're involved all over the Blood Sea. Lunis, Sol, even Bermuda. Chances are you'll see a Red Eye somewhere there if not a building or the like."

Seliph scowled as he stared at the shape that represented Mextrein.

"And while it's uncommon, there's been sitings of activity in other places too. Nowhere near as organized, but more like agents or teams, in this area." Swift pointed to the left side of the map. "We've seen their influence in this Falkania Ocean area, all the way up to Winthrobax." He pressed his finger on an island at the top left of the map.

Seliph stroked his chin as he studied the different landmarks Swift had pointed out and gave a nod. "Okay, so what's exactly the difference between these outer cells and ones in friendlier territory?"

Swift left hand reached up and stroked his frills as little as he answered, "That's sort of the issue. We don't really have a lot to go on."

"You don't?" Seliph tilted his head and rested it on his arm. "So how do you know they even have bases?"

Swift dropped on a knee and continued. "Most of the information we've acquired has been from interrogations."

Seliph raised a brow.

Scratching the back of his head and giving a bit of a hefty sigh, Swift elaborated. "Information is crucial in this time right now. I don't like it, but…"

"Oh…" Seliph's eyes dropped.

"B-but not ever red eye we get is captured," Swift stuttered. "Some seek protection or help in getting integrated back to clansmon lands in exchanged for some information they can offer."

"Just continue," Seliph asked, keeping his tone gently and giving Swift an assuring smile.

"Oh…uh, sure." Swift slowly looked back at the map. "Anyways, we haven't yet gotten a big lead on what their infrastructure is or even their organization's hierarchy, but some stuff we can just piece together by how they act or operate. For example." Swift pointed at Seliph, who looked at him perplexed.

"They're very protective of their 'Red Eyes' formula. I'm sure you've heard plenty of the lengths they went to get it."

"I've lived it." Seliph crossed his legs. "The lengths they're willing to go over this stuff must mean it's very incriminating."

"Yeah, why getting more samples is high on the priority list for our leaders." Swift sat down on his rear and leaned over the map. "Course, their agents or whatever, don't just carry out attacks. Sometimes they just do underground deals for their group."

Suddenly a thought entered Seliph's head. His eyes narrowed as he looked up at Swift, saying in a tone that lacked much emotion. "Like, 'Lifegathering'?"

Surprised, Swift stared at him with wide eyes before sighing and answering with a nod. "Yeah, that's something they do too. Though that one is a bit tricky, though."

Caught off guard by the end, Seliph shifted in his seat and said, "Explain."

Raising his fist, Swift gestured the number two and said, "They're strange for two reasons."

"Two?"

Swift lowered one of the fingers and explained, "Reason one. Life Gathering only happens in two regions. Triacal." He patted the ground for emphasis. "And Bermuda."

"Just Bermuda and Triacal? Why?"

Shrugging, Swift cupped his hands in his lap and weaved his hands together. "Nobody knows for sure. The best theory suggested is how Triacal and Bermuda don't really have a centralized government or a strong force that'd actively investigate this stuff."

Pressing a fist to his chin, Seliph nodded. "I suppose that makes sense." He took his fist away and looked at the map. "So what's the second reason?"

Swift held his palm out and pointed to its thumb with his other hand. "Life Gathering seems to be part of a larger goal. A goal that seems to be about gathering mons, legally or illegally."

"Huh? Wait a second, what do you mean, 'legally or illegally'?"

"Oh, well let me explain. So our best definition of what Life Gathering is, is that it's the red eyes attempt at acquiring mons forcefully via kidnappings. They normally will target rural areas or specifics mons, nobody would notice gone or care were gone. Criminals, Poor, the like. Bermuda and Triacal make good places for Life Gathering in that way because both places have a lot on their plate, what with the City Rangers having to deal with gangs and smugglers, while Bermuda is a war zone."

"Okay, so where does the 'legally' come in?"

Swift moved his hand over to a big landmass on the left side of the map. "So take Bohrmia for example. Here is a spot where they do another method of mon gathering we've dubbed 'Orphan Gathering'."

Seliph's mouth hung open as a chill filled his spine. "O-Orphan Gathering?"

"Yes."

Seliph suddenly noticed that Swift's face looked serious, but not in a way he had seen it before. He didn't mention it and just focused on listening.

"But the process is pretty much in the name. They go to orphanages and get orphans from there legally, and bring them over to wherever they end up here." Swift gestured to the right side of the map.

"Heck, sometimes they'll even get ones from actual families if they sweeten the deal enough."

"You're joking."

"I wish I was," Swift answered coldly with a leer as he stood up. "But some mons are just in that much of a pickle. Having the chance for their kids to have a better life beats the dubious credentials of their offeror. Hell, maybe it's not even for the kid's sake. Maybe it's just for money or-"

"I understand," Seliph interrupted gently.

Seeing Seliph's worried face, Swift took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

Roughly, Swift plopped back down on the grass and looked at the map. "Anyways, we don't know what happens to any of the mons acquired. We just know they're shipped over to this side of the Blood Sea for Arceus knows what." Swift sighed as he leaned back and looked upwards.

Seliph looked up as well and mumbled, "I just don't understand why no one would do anything about this."

"The Clans can't just go monitoring in other countries' lands outside of agreements. You know, diplomacy and stuff."

"Well, I get that. And I get Triacal and Bohrmia since they're already knee-deep in country issues, but why would anyone trust the red eyes like that?"

"It's simple, nobody cares enough to."

Seliph stared at Swift in confusion and shock. "Huh? Why wouldn't they-"

"Priorities," Swift pointed at Mextrein. "Take the Collective. Why ruin your alliance with the red eyes over a bunch of strangers. Whether they agree or not, it's not worth weakening their side against the Clans in their eyes. And they sure as hell aren't going to allow the Clans to investigate it on their territory, regardless if it's literal kidnapping." Swift pointed to a collection of islands. "I sure wish we'd put more resources into an investigation, but our leaders don't want to start a war, so we put up with this knowledge."

"But…" Seliph looked downwards. "The victims."

Swift's eyes lowered as well. "I know. I hate how nobody is doing anything about this, or at least trying to put some roadblocks against the red eyes. Our hands aren't tied, but everything is diverted into keeping even with the Collective." Swift stood up and scowled at the map. "But Borhmia isn't like us. They're not exactly a well-off country, so their leaders could care less. Hell, they probably enjoy whenever the red eyes come and visit their region's orphanages to do business with them." His fists tightened.

"Swift?" Seliph stood up as Swift rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes seeming to be a mix of weariness, anger, and sadness.

"I grew up in a Bohrmian orphanage. I know firsthand there's good kids there. So…" he sighed as he walked over to the map. "So it pisses me off to just see all this going on. Bohrmia's Government is fine lining its pockets, Triacal's all split up into weak cities without a defense outside of rangers, and Bermuda is too busy fighting itself and everyone that wants a piece of land there. And that's just those three."

Swift placed his foot on the right side of the map and slid it roughly, swiping off a good portion of the map. He looked upwards, his eyes very narrow, almost cynical like.

"Guess that's why the red eyes chose these places. They can get away with it without any worry about a backlash. After all, what's Bohrmia gonna do? Make it illegal? Why should they when there's no evidence of mistreatment? And even if there was they wouldn't." His left arm reached over and clenched his left. "After all, who cares about a couple of random kids if it's a good amount of money. Not like it's their kids…"

Seliph stood there in silence, almost in awe at what he had just seen. He slowly reached out his hand towards Swift's shoulder but stopped. He looked to the left, not sure what to do. Suddenly, Swift started chuckling softly, prompting him to ask, "Swift?"

"Sorry about that." Swift rubbed the back of his head and smiled at Seliph, "Guess I'm the bothered one now."

Seliph gave the heliolisk an encouraging smile. "Yeah…it's not a nice thing to think about. I'm sorry, Swift."

"Heh, thanks, but you've got nothing to apologize for." Swift brushed his eyes with his left arm, removing.

Seliph walked over. "Thanks for the talk."

"No problem," Swift beamed, though his tone seemed to indicate he was still going through the motions.

Seliph looked towards the town and mumbled, "I just hope when we get to Norfair, we'll get some answers and maybe some closure."

Swift nodded with an invigorated smile. "Yeah, I hope so too." He started brushing some of the dirt off his body, asking. "You wanna head back?"

"Sure," Seliph replied, taking a page out of Swift's book and brushing himself off too.

Once they both finished, Seliph suddenly realized something. "Wait. Where's Garon?"

"Heh." Swift crossed his arms and leaned towards Seliph, giving him a jesting stink eye. "Are you trying to say he's always tailing me or something?"

Rolling his eyes, Seliph crossed his arms. "I was just curious."

Chuckling to ease the tension in the air, Swift shrugged. "Last I saw him, he was still snoozing."

Seliph raised a brow. "This late?"

"'This late'," Swift repeated without any hesitation.

"Hmm." Scratching his neck awkwardly, Seliph commented, "Didn't think he was the kind of mon to sleep in."

Swift grinned and added, "Well we're going to be here for a while, and Garon isn't above taking advantage of that. Either that or his head is just refusing to let him wake up."

"And you didn't wake him up?"

"Nah, he could use the rest. Besides, when he does wake up," Swift leaned closer and whispered, "It'll be funny to see how he reacts at the time."

"Sure…" Seliph rolled his eyes as they both looked towards the town.






Dolly yawned loudly and rubbed her eye with her free hand. "That's about it I guess."

"Really?" Jasmine asked, looking into the travel sack containing items they had just finished buying. "Just the money transfer and these escape orbs?"

"We aren't going anywhere yet, so I'm just restocking the important stuff right now," Dolly answered, curling her wrist a little to relieve some tension in her gripping hand. "It'll be some time before Vray, Seliph, and the rest recover. Plus, we'll eventually have to get on the same page."

"You mean with those two 'Nerve' guys?" Jasmine mumbled, looking at the central street.

"Yes, but not just them."

"Oh?"

Instead of answering, Dolly took another deep yawn before shaking her head roughly. "I can't stop yawning."

Jasmine raised a brow. "Bad night?"

"Yep," Dolly bluntly answered, with a tone that seemed too tired to complain.

The two remained quiet for a little bit until Jasmine spoke up. "So, what are we going to do about the plan?"

"Wait till everybody's able to travel again."

"No, I meant with…"

"Hrm?" Dolly looked at Jasmine. "Come on, Jasmin-"

"No, not the 'Nerve' guys. Vray."

"Huh?" Dolly stopped as Jasmine circled in front of her. "What about Vray?"

"Well," Jasmine started clawing softly at the ground, as her eyes narrowed. "Don't you find it strange that he's their target? I just can't think up a reason why they would want him."

Dolly crossed her arms and shrugged. "I have a few theories, but they're probably way off. Guess we should ask the others about their thoughts."

"Like, Swift and Garon?"

"Yeah," Dolly said with a nod. "They are Norfarions soldiers, after all. Bet they know some details about who these 'red eyes' punks are. Maybe even why Vray is caught in the middle of this."

"Yeah." Jasmine's eyes narrowed as she bit her lip for a second. "What about Seliph?"

Dolly's eyes narrowed slightly as she scratched underneath her chin with her free hand. "To be honest, I'm guessing he knows something too and keeping it to himself."

"Yeah, I get that feeling from him too." Jasmine sat down and looked towards the street. "He can be pretty talkative and insistent. It kind of feels like he's just trying to get his way."

"True…He is a bit pushy."

Suddenly, Jasmine looked at Dolly with a worried look. "Do you think, he's after Vray too?"

Taking a second to look Jasmine in the eyes, Dolly crossed her arms and closed her eyes as if thinking. "I don't know, but I can't rule it out just yet. Though, what makes you think he is?"

"Well, remember back at town how he'd spend a lot of time with him." Dolly nodded and Jasmine scratched her nose. "You think he knows something about Vray?"

"It's a strong possibility. But one thing's for sure, I don't like how he's doing things."

Jasmine's head fell a little. "Yeah."

Opening her eyes, Dolly gave Jasmine a big grin. "But so far he doesn't seem keen on just taking Vray away, else he would have done so by now. So I think he's interested in something else."

Jasmine gave Dolly a skeptical look. "What makes you so sure?"

"Well, let's just say-"

"There you are!"

The two about jumped out of their skin from Garon's surprise shouting.

"Sorry, sorry," Garon quickly spoke amid his panting, while he ran towards them.

Dolly chuckled a little at the pathetic mon and waved, "Hello, Garon."

Garon abruptly stopped directly in front of the two and rested his talons on his knees as he took deep breaths. He tried to speak, but his words kept getting interrupted by his breathing.

Dolly gave a loud cough to get him to stop. With a smile, Dolly giggles and said, "Take a second to catch your breath, because Jasmine and I absolutely can't understand you."

All traces of shock on Jasmine's face disappeared as she started to grumble.

Meanwhile, Garon took her advice to heart and waited till his breathing slowed before speaking up again. He gave them both a respectful head nod and said, "Sorry about that. I overslept and needed to talk to you before you got the supplies." His face suddenly bore a guilty expression as he rubbed his forehead scales with his talons. "I don't know why Swift didn't wake me up unless he forgot. I'm so sorry I missed you."

Dolly shrugged, "It's fine. We weren't getting too much. Just some escape orbs and transferring some money for our trip."

"Oh?" Garon's eyes lit up as he breathed a sigh of relief. "So you haven't gotten anything big."

Dolly pushed her fists to her hips and leaned towards the garchomp. "What do you mean?"

"Well, me and Swift are going compensate you for all the money you had to spend for this journey."

Dolly smiled and softly chuckled. "Well that would be nice, but I wouldn't want to put you both into financial woes either."

"Who said it was going to be us?" Garon said with a grin. Dolly raised a brow as Garon crossed his arms, puffed out his chest, and exclaimed, "We spoke to a friend of ours in the Norfarion Generals corp. Our old team's leader and he will personally reimburse you."

Both Dolly and Jasmine's mouths dropped at that.

"Wait? Really?" Jasmine said excitedly, despite the fact she had no clue how much that meant.

Garon nodded and answered with a proud, "Yep."

Dolly took a deep breath. "Well, I'm very grateful for this. I'm surprised you two thought of it before I had to rob a bank."

"Huh?" Jasmine looked at Dolly, who smiled back.

"Jesting, dear, but you do realize that while we're not here, the diner isn't open."

Jasmine's eyes shot open. Oh shit! I didn't think of that. We've been at this for a week, that's a lot of missed money and… Suddenly, Jasmine felt a lurching in her stomach as she placed her paws over her mouth as if nauseous.

"Jasmine?" Dolly asked, dropping on a knee to check on the Absol.

"Sorry, just. Bad imagery."

"Huh?" Dolly said with a tilt of the head; Garon tilted his head too.

"Well," Jasmine explained, giving Dolly a weak smile and closing her eyes. "You see, remember when you told me to cancel that one order before we left."

Dolly's eyes widened with horror. "You didn't."

"I didn't."

"'You didn't' what?"

Dolly gulped before standing back up and giving a weak chuckle of her own. "Well, guess we shouldn't loaf around here anymore. We've got stuff to do, and kids to feed!" Immediately, she grabbed Jasmine's tail, pulling the startled absol to stand on all fours. "Ready? Move!" Dolly ordered as she briskly walked down the street, with Jasmine pausing at first before quickly pouncing after her, leaving Garon to stand alone in confusion.

"Uh…Hey! Wait!" Garon shouted as he jogged after them.

"Slow down!" Jasmine shouted to Dolly, prancing faster. Dang, she's surprisingly fast. Then again… her eyes lowered slightly, before widening immensely as she hit into somebody.

"Hey! Watch it!" A random rillaboom chastised as he resumed his way.

"Ugh, sorry." Jasmine picked herself up, but not before looking behind. Oh no. It appears the Rillaboom was just one of many mons with workers hats, attire, and belts leaving one of the many diners on the main street. Jasmine quickly pivoted onto her hind legs and tried to look over the group.

Oh dear, she mumbled in her mind at seeing Garon attempt to get through the horde of lunchtime workers, only to be swept away in their hurry to get back to work on time.

"Dolly! Wait, Gar-" To her dismay, Dolly had turned around the corner right as the absol looked in her direction. Damnit! Jasmine grumbled as she dashed after Dolly. He'll be fine. I'm sure.






Yawning as he stretched his arms up, Swift grunted a little as his right arm started stinging at being moved. With a sigh, he tried to stretch out by puffing his chest and rolling his neck, only for his right shoulder to start aching along with a small portion of his right rib. "Ugh, I hate being injured."

Seliph almost chuckled at Swift's random statement as they walked down a small dirt road that ran parallel to Main Street, though separated from it by a row of brick buildings. "I take it this isn't your first time?"

"Hrm? Ugh," Swift shut his eyes and twirled his left hand in a circular fashion. "A couple of times."

"Any specific cases stand out?"

Swift looked at him with a skeptical frown. "Why are you asking me?"

Seliph shrugged as his hands in his pocket's lifted his vestment a little. "Curious."

Swift's eyes narrowed. "About which was my favorite injury?"

Pulling out his right hand and pressing his outermost finger to his chin, Seliph glanced upwards in thought. "Hmm, when you say it like that, it does sound a bit weird."

"A bit?" Swift moved his left arm behind his head, while unfortunately having to leave his right hanging at his side. "Tell me, are you also curious what my favorite illness was? Or perhaps my favorite life-threatening disease is?" He gave Seliph a grin, leaned over, and whispered, "Maybe who my favorite nurse was."

Seliph chuckled as he countered with, "Now who's being creepy?"

"Hmph," Swift pulled back and looked forwards with a competitive smirk. "Nothing weird about that at all. Though, not to brag, but I've had a pretty nice selection in my day."

"Eh?" Seliph's smile faded as he raised a brow. "You've been hospitalized that much?"

Glancing at Seliph with eye's half-shut and an annoyed frown, Swift shook his head and muttered, "No. You don't always go to a hospital for injuries you know."

"Fair point."

The two focused back on the road ahead that ran by what looked like the construction of another Main Street building.

"So, who was your favorite?"

Swift stopped for a second, raising a fist to his chin.

Seliph went in front of the heliolisk and crossed his arms. "Heh, too many to choose from?" He joked.

Swift shook his head. "Not really."

"Huh?"

Shrugging, Swift elaborated, "They were nice and all, but there wasn't any of them I got to know or distinctly recall outside of the brief time I would be in recovery. Plus, there were times I would be at some medic camp or something waiting to get shipped back. I just never had the time nor interest to pursue one of them."

Seliph took a step closer and asked, "Wait. You've been in a war before?"

Swift gave him a confused stare, before rolling his eyes. "Has Norfair gone to war recently?"

"Don't get smart with me." Seliph countered, though kept his tone neutral, "I've been here in Triacal pretty much all of my life, so I'm not too familiar with what Norfair's military is doing."

"That's true. Sorry about that, but to answer your question, no I haven't." Swift turned and looked at the construction going on. Seliph joined by his side and stared off at the collection of metal poles towering over a foundation of bricks. "I've mostly just been with my Team."

"Team Alpha?"

"Yeah. We were a Special Forces unit that was deployed for a variety of things. We'd sometimes do recon, sometimes collect Intel, maybe a rescue mission or refugee assist now and then. Just wherever Norfair needed us, we went and did it."

Seliph nodded as his eyes fell upon an area where two mons were placing bricks upon some kind of aqueous surface while another was placing bricks over them, carefully spacing them apart with a ruler. "It must be tough to be a soldier."

Giving an affirming grunt, Swift said, "It can be and is, but I don't mind."

Glancing at Swift, Seliph crossed his arms. "I see."

Swift focused on the mon laying bricks, who was about five away from completing the line. "I've got a lot of great memories from that time. Stuff from the academy, Team Alpha, even on times of leave." He started rubbing the back of his head as his smile shrank to a less exaggerated, but very sincere one. His eyes narrowed into a solemn dream gaze like he was staring at the very memories he spoke of.

Seliph looked up towards the sky and remained silent.

"Sure, there were some not so nice ones, and like you said, it's a hard job. But, it was there that I got a chance to really be a part of something more."

Narrowing his eyes, Seliph asked softly, "How so?"

"Well," Swift brushed a finger to his snout as his cheeks went a little red. His eyes dropped towards the ground as he retracted his hand from his nose, revealing a rather wavy smile. "You remember when I told you, how I grew up in a Bohrmian orphanage? Well, at that place, it felt kinda like you were on your own. Not like anyone wasn't nice to each other or anything, but it was a more general feeling in the air. Nothing felt permanent." Swift looked over towards the bricklayer, flattening the last brick into the colorful, metallic liquid, before stepping away.

"You'd make friends there and then say goodbye to them. I saw a lot of kids leave and the sort of scenes of parting." He closed his eyes. "Guess that was one reason why I never bothered making friends with anyone back then. Course, it's not like things are any different now."

He opened his eyes and watched one of the mons signal two others, who walked up to and knelt on both ends of the line of bricks.

"Even in my team, there's be mons that have come and gone. That sort of lingering feeling when you temporarily part ways that you might never see them again. Be it career change or simply taking on different missions."

Swift's eyes narrowed as he watched the two press sparling stones up to the aqueous, colorful substance that the bricks sat on. "I bet Garon feels that way a lot."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he was always the more worry heart. He'd get picked on for it too, but I'm know everyone on the team appreciated that part of him. I know I did and still do." Swift's smiled as his eyes lightened up a little. "Guess, that's what made it worth it."

"Sounds rather burdensome." Seliph crossed his arms and peered over at the synergy crystals sucking up the color from the liquid, thus causing it to harden. "But you seem to have managed well."

"Kinda."

"Just, 'kinda'?" Seliph looked at Swift, who crossed his arms.

"Ever since me and Garon went to academia and later joined the team, I've sort of started seeing things a bit differently. I was put into a situation of having to commit to something bigger than me. The closest thing I ever had to that, was when me and Garon practiced running together at the orphanage."

Seliph's eyes narrowed as he looked back at the line of bricks, held perfectly still by the synergy drained substance. As the two workers moved away so the next line could be done, the greninja looked at Swift, carefully studying his face.

The heliolisk's head had dropped a little. His eyes were narrow, but staring with a look that seemed to be reminiscing on something nice.

"Being part of something bigger than yourself."

Swift looked up at Seliph in surprise, before smiling at him with an eye-closed smile. "Yeah, exactly that." He faced forwards, invigorated. "I was no longer just some boy that prided off how he could run away from the big kids. I was a valuable member of a team that needed me to bring all I had. I had mons to look after and to have looking after me. There's just something fulfilling in that."

He closed his eyes. "It makes you, not want it to ever end." His smile slowly faded.

Seliph's eyes dropped down, to stare at the ground in front. To ever say 'goodbye'. He once more shoved his fists into his pockets, as he sighed softly. There was nothing but silence between them, till Seliph broke it. "Swift?"

The heliolisk's eyes jerked open as he looked at Seliph, startled. He gave a little chuckled as he rubbed his head, "Sorry, kinda got carried away there."

The greninja didn't smile but gave him an encouraging nod. "I'd imagine. Memory lane can be long and very engrossing."

"Yeah," Swift looked over at the bricklayers starting on the next row before turning to face Seliph. "Well, I guessed we've dawdled enough."

"I guess." Seliph shrugged as they started walking away from the site.

"Swift!"

The two stopped and looked towards the construction site, the origin of the shout. As they peered over, their eyes widened at the sight of Garon, jogging over to them.

As Garon neared them, a mon carrying a beam noticed the Garchomp and instinctual looked towards him, causing his beam to swing in Garon's direction. "Eeep!" Garon leaned back onto one leg to avoid it, only to fall backward, over the small brick wall, and into the pit foundation.

Seliph sighed heavily as Swift cover his eyes, muttering, "Oh no." as the sound of several mons yelling followed.