Chapter 8 – A Warning

Four days had passed since the first investigation. The whole class had been paid for their job, but due to the mansion not being sold in the end, the payment was just enough to eat in a restaurant twice. Still, nobody complained, with the true reward being their first experience as investigators and the friends they made along the way yadda yadda.

Classes went on and everyone learnt more about being generic detectives, alongside many tips on how to properly use the Gholdevice, or GD, as they started calling it. Kind of a shame that they weren’t allowed to keep them after the investigation, as they were just borrowed for now.

Everything was slowly becoming more bearable for Ari and Nimb. Social anxiety was not that much of a problem for the bird, now that he got to know some of his teammates a little and everyone seemed nice. He couldn’t complain; his friend had been working so hard for him to enjoy his new life. That thought always made him smile.

Ari, on the other hand, wasn’t being harassed by Sanah anymore. There were a few offensive comments every now and then, but they were almost the same as with everyone else, and they sounded… different now.

And yet… Ari wasn’t happy. There was something telling him that he deserved all of that, and that things shouldn’t be going so well that easily. Why? He wasn’t sure, and for some reason he chose not to tell Maia about what happened in the mansion between them. But for now, he was at least relieved that classes were peaceful now, and most importantly, he was glad he could make Nimb happy.

“I don’t care what you say, I still think this game is too unfair! Why would you put so many toxic squares in a row?” Nimb complained. The tabletop game Maia suggested was driving him nuts, with all those inconveniently placed hazards and eight-sided dies having a clearly higher chance to give the lowest numbers, somehow.

Ari, on the other hand, was having fun watching his friend go crazy about his awful luck. Playing games after dinner was something he could never enjoy before, so he accepted Maia’s suggestion without hesitation.

“It’s just a game, Nimb, don’t think about it too much.” Ari smirked, but the moment the Riolu threw his dice and got another 1, he wheezed. “Are you kidding? HAHAHAHA!”

He fell in The Pit Of No Return, which meant he had to start all over again, losing all progress. Ari shifted in his cushion, choking in laughter even if he was going to lose. Nimb felt a little better now, but that only proved his point.

“See? This game makes no sense!”

“Okay, Nimb, next time I’ll pick a different game,” Maia said, throwing her dice without looking. “But you don’t have to take this seriously, we’re supposed to have fun!”

“I’m having fun! I’m just… a-angrily entertained.” His voice was suddenly softer, like he remembered he was afraid to show that side of himself to others, and that made the Decidueye chuckle a little. He had a weird way of expressing himself, seemingly obsessed with everything being perfectly crafted and prepared, but he actually enjoyed talking about it and sharing his point of view, even if he looked angry.

“Maybe you could try designing your own tabletop game, I bet you’d make it really fun!” Maia said, a big smile in her face as she won another round.

“Who knows… Some day,” Nimb said.

“Hey Maia, how come you have so many games if you lived here alone?” Ari asked, out of nowhere.

Suddenly, there was silence. Ari and Nimb stared, expecting her answer, but she was caught off guard by that question. She blinked a few times, and then slowly spoke. “I… Really like those games, so I bought them to play with… some friends every now and then.”

Ari wasn’t too convinced, but decided not to press further. Instead he added his own story. “Cool! I rarely got the chance to play these kind of games, and it was hard to find others who wanted to play with us, they were always busy.”

“With us? You mean your family?” Maia asked.

“Uh, n-no… I mean my best friend, Ren. He and I were a team in Pachirisu’s Guild, in Iris City.”

“Ohh, your teammate! I see… Do you miss him?”

Ari rubbed his arm uncomfortably, and lowered his head a bit. “I… Yes, I do miss him a lot…”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll have the chance to meet with him again some day.” Maia noticed the sad expression in the Riolu’s face, so she decided to change the topic. “… Anyway, what about you, Nimb? I don’t know anything about your life before you met Ari.”

Nimb tensed. “I… I used to live in a small community really far from here, to the north. Nothing out of the ordinay, but… I couldn’t stand being around my family anymore, so I left…”

“Wait, you left your family?” Maia’s tone got angry all of a sudden, and both Ari and Nimb flinched. “Did you tell them first, at least?”

“I… I didn’t…”

“Are you serious? They must be worried sick, thinking you might be dead! Or worse!”

Nimb cringed hard. He started feeling bad about it, even if he wasn’t sure that was the case, but Maia’s tone was enough to scare him, and he leaned into Ari for support. The Riolu stroke his shoulder and turned to the Decidueye.

“Maybe… He had a good reason to do it, you know?” He didn’t sound angry, just sad.

Maia thought about it, the sad expression both Ari and Nimb wore finally calming her down. She softened her glare and sighed. “I’m sorry, you’re right… I was just worried, but it’s still none of my business I guess. Anyway, I hope you’re happy with your current life here.”

“So far, it’s been way better than ever before, so… yes, I’m happy,” Nimb said, releasing Ari and slowly recovering his smile.

“I’m glad!”

Once the game had finished and every piece was collected and stored it in the box, it was time to sleep, but Maia stopped them before they went to their room.

“Wait, you two.”

They turned to her, Ari being the one to speak. “Yes? Oh, did we have some homework to do?”

“No, that’s not it. Just… If there’s aything you want to talk about, or there’s something troubling you, you can tell me, I’ll be happy to listen. Just keep that in mind, okay?”

Ari and Nimb looked at each other in confusion, but then both smiled at her.

“Thank you…” Nimb said, rubbing his wing.

“Yeah, we appreciate it,” Ari added.

“Goodnight.”

With that settled, the two friends were left alone in their room, but not without one last conversation. As they were preparing whatever they needed for tomorrow, Ari decided to check on Nimb one last time.

“Hey Nimb, you doing okay?”

“Huh? Why do you ask?”

“Well, you know.” Ari fidgeted with the bed sheets, not looking directly at him. “All that stuff about your family made me worry, I thought you have some regrets over your past choices or something…”

“Oh… No, that’s not the case. The only thing I regret is not having done it earlier.”

Ari looked at the bird’s eyes, shining with a blue hue that felt brighter than the first days. “I see… And, uhm, are you feeling good lately? With our new life, our classmates, you know. Everything.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling good, I already told you the other day.” Nimb shook his head. “Why are you so worried about me? You care so much?”

“Of course I care about you! We’ve been through a lot together, and seeing you happy makes me so glad… I was worried because I feared that all that happiness could go away just like that if something bad happens.”

Nimb titled his head, softening his expression. “Aw, thank you, Ari…” He embraced the Riolu, smiling fondly, and Ari did the same. “But I thought you of all pokémon would know that worrying about things that didn’t happen is a waste of time. Even I wasn’t thinking about that now…”

“Oh… Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up then.”

“No, really, I’m not worried about it now. I guess I’m in a good mood today,” Nimb said and hugged him tighter. “And knowing you care so much about me makes me so happy. I’ve never felt so… safe.”

Ari leaned back a bit to look at him. “You do?”

Nimb broke the embrace and looked away in a bit of embarrassment. “Yeah… In a way, I think I get what Kyle said the other day. I guess I… uh… I s-see you as a brother to me.”

Ari blushed, his smile growing bigger as he put his paws on his cheeks. “Awwww, that’s so… CUTE!” He chuckled a little, and Nimb crossed his wings, his face red as a tamato berry. “But I feel the same… It’s just that the way you said it was so… AWWWWW!”

Nimb glared. “R-really, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Who’s a cute little bird? You are!” Ari joked, doing an exaggerated motherly voice.

“Hey! I’m gonna tear off your aura tassels if you keep doing that!”

“I wanna see you try.”

And try he did. Nimb jumped towards Ari, but he evaded it and a chase scene happened in that room. Ari kept making remarks about how cute he looked when he was angry, and Nimb insisted that he was the cute one here, but the Riolu was immune to that.

They laughed throughout all of it, even when they crashed loudly onto the closet and Maia came to scold them and tell them to sleep already. It was a good night.

 

---

 

“Come on, give it your all! Focus on your foe and forget everything else!”

Battle class was being louder than ever, with every single student attacking at the same time, each to a different training dummy. Reko was ordering everyone to use their strongest move, especially focusing on ranged attacks (for those who had ones).

Ari was using aura sphere, but that move was almost a guaranteed hit, so he focused on trying to make the sphere bigger without it exploding on him. He was having a bad time with it. Nimb, on the other hand, was using rock throw, but he was starting to feel tired of it.

Reko noticed it and saw that as an opportunity. “Okay, everyone change tactics! You’ll be using a different move now.”

Nimb tensed. He had to use it now? That wasn’t going to end well…

“Hey Nimb, what’s with the long face?” Ari said and then snorted at his own unintended pun. “I mean, you did know wing attack too, right? But I’ve never seen you using it…”

“Y-yeah, the thing is… Uh…”

“Quit talking and get moving!” Reko interrupted. Ari stiffened and continued his attacks, now using quick attack. Nimb went back to staring at the training dummy, uneasy.

‘Okay, relax… You can do this,’ he thought. Right as he spread his wings on both sides, a sudden fear reminded him that this wasn’t a good idea. He cringed hard, finally lowering his wings in defeat. ‘No, I can’t.’

“What’s wrong?” Reko said. “Are you hurt or something?”

Nimb turned to him with a panicked expression, he really didn’t want to have this conversation, it was too much.

“I… I j-just… I can’t d-do it…”

“Why not? Just attack and hit the dummy with your move, it’s that simple! Trying won’t hurt you.”

“B-but… I r-really don’t wanna…”

At this point, some of his classmates were watching, trying to listen to the gossip. The Grapploct groaned and approached the Archen, suddenly pushing him forward.

“Just get a little closer and problem solved. Go ahead and try now!”

Nimb couldn’t escape now. He was surrounded. He took a shuddering breath and extended his wings again. Everyone was looking now.

E v e r y o n e .

“HAIIYAAAAA!”

He started running ahead, his weirdly extended wings enveloped in light. He closed his eyes and expected it to be finished.

As he approached the dummy, he felt a familiar weight in his head, and the small bit of confidence he had finally vanished. His wings did an awkward twist and he lost balance, which resulted in him tripping badly and crashing onto the dummy face-first.

He fell on the floor with a loud groan, and the room went silent. As he opened his eyes, he looked around only to find everyone staring at him with a surprised expression, not a single word being said.

He trembled hard, watching as he expected something more to happen. Then, he heard a chuckle. Nimb turned around, only to find that the source of it was… Ari.

The Riolu looked amused, putting a paw on his mouth, but his smile vanished as soon as he noticed the look on his friend. He was having another panic attack.

Tears began falling from his eyes as he put his wings up to cover his head. Maybe that way they wouldn’t be able to see him. They’d laugh at him, as it was expected, after all, he was such a weird pokémon.

He didn’t react to the touch of a familiar Riolu embracing him and telling him that everything was okay and that he was there.

He didn’t react to the concerned voices of his classmates and teacher.

His mind kept returning to the same moment on loop, and he reminded himself that every moment in those recent days that he felt safe, it was all fake. Nothing would ever change for him.

The rest of that class was a blur in Nimb’s memory. He just calmed down after going somewhere private with Ari to talk for a while, but he wasn’t giving straight answers about what happened in his mind to be like that. He wasn’t quite listening to the Riolu either, who got tired of asking and just waited for him to feel better.

Eventually, Nimb said he didn’t want to talk about it now, and they just went to their usual classroom, where Maia was already teaching. No one commented on that, but there were a few concerned looks, which Nimb tried to ignore.

Ari was a mess right then. He knew it wasn’t normal for Nimb to not tell him what was wrong. He didn’t want to press him further, but he felt bad for not being able to help. It was just a failed move, yet he took it like the biggest humiliation of his life. That wasn’t normal.

“So,” Maia said, as she dropped a box on top of her desk for everyone to see. “It’s about time we discuss official team business.” Then she took a few accessories from the box and started giving them to every student.

It was some sort of dark blue bracelet with a golden coin that had the academy’s logo on it, an arrow with a circle in its tip. On top of the golden coin, there were two brown feathers that gave the bracelet a fancy look.

“Huh? What are those?” Cora asked, tilting her head.

“Consider these as your identification as an investigation team. They’re the Golden Bracelets, even if the only golden thing is the badge with the logo… Anyway, you’ll have to carry these when you’re on any mission, so the police will know you’re on their side.”

“The police? Are we working with them?” Kyle asked.

“Of course! Investigations are crucial to the work of the police. After all, if you unmask a criminal, they’re the ones who will be catching them and taking them into custody, so you’ll be in contact with them alongside Saga, Louis, and I.”

As everyone put their bracelet on, Maia kept explaining. “I know the feathers are a bit too much, but Gholdengo wanted every bracelet to have at least something resembling the team’s teacher. So, yes… Those feathers are a reference to myself, as much as it embarrasses me.” She sighed.

“Well, I think they’re cute!” Asher said.

Maia smiled and waved him off. “Aw, you don’t have say that just to make me feel better…” She then cleared her throat and continued. “So, about your teams… Have you thought about a name yet?”

Right. Team names. Everybody started making a fuss and discossing out loud about possible names for each team, never quite reaching an agreement.

“What about Team Future? Sounds interesting, right?” Ari suggested.

“Ugh, that sounds cliché and somehow overrated,” Sanah retorted. “Do we really have to go over this?”

“I suggest Team Skull,” Mylo said.

“That’s, uh… For some unknown reason I don’t want to be associated to that name,” Ari said, narrowing his eyes.

“Team… Slash?” Sanah suggested.

“In what way does that represent us as a team?” Mylo asked, glaring at her.

“I don’t know, shut up! Your idea wasn’t any better, you know?”

Sanah and Mylo kept grunting at each other until Ari decided to intervene before it got worse. “Sooo, what about you, Nimb? Any idea?”

They turned to the Archen, expectantly. Nimb looked between the three sets of eyes looking at him, visibly nervous.

“I… I don’t know…” He turned around and avoided any more eye contact.

“Geez, how useful, thanks,” Sanah growled, crossing her arms. Ari grimaced, worried about his friend’s behavior. He didn’t look any better than before, but there was nothing he could do about it right now.

“Okay, no need to discuss it right now.” Maia interrupted the ruckus, and everyone stopped to listen. “You can decide it later, but for now let’s continue with our lesson.”

After some more legal stuff about working as an official team, Maia proceeded to explain more complex concepts about the deductive method and criminal behavior. Everyone took notes, but this was harder than usual.

Paying attention to details and detecting lies was key to succeed as an investigator, because a big part of it involved questioning suspects and analyzing their testimonies. And that meant… talking to people.

Nimb wasn’t too good at that, but he wasn’t the only one with that issue. Sanah was struggling to understand much of it, and complicated words didn’t help at all.

‘So… Logical consequences must be formal, knowable “a priori”, and… Wait, what the hell is “a priori”?’

Sanah groaned. It was already getting complicated and things were just getting started. Maia was right, she was going to have a bad time if she kept going like this. She feared for her future.

As soon as class ended, Maia approached her. “Hey, Sanah, everything alright? I’ve seen you making faces before.”

Sanah winced. “What? No! I have everything under control…”

“Are you sure?” Maia asked, frowning. The body language of the Zangoose was pretty self-explanatory.

“Well I… Uhm… Ugh, I don’t know, this is too hard for me to understand.”

Maia put a wing on her chin, thinking of a possible solution, and then noticed Ari, who was right beside her, from the corner of her eye and brightened in realisation.

“I know!” Maia then rested her wings on both Ari and Sanah, pulling them closer. “You two are studying togheter after class!”

“What?” Ari and Sanah exclaimed at the same time.

“Of course! Both of you would benefit from this! And you will go with them too, Nimb,” she said, turning to the smaller bird, who didn’t understand what was happening.

“No! No way I’m doing this, I don’t need his help!” Sanah retorted.

“You seem like you do.”

“But… Ugh! Why does it have to be him?” Ari winced from that last sentence, offended, and Sanah seemed to have noticed as she bowed her head upon looking at him, but didn’t say anything.

“Because you’re teammates. Also, you’ve already proven before that you work surprisingly well together, right?”

Sanah recalled the mansion incident, but didn’t look too convinced. “… Do we have to?”

“Please, Sanah… I’m doing this because I know what’s best for you.”

Before she could say anything, Ari smiled and spoke. “… I accept.”

Sanah turned to him in disbelief. After all that happened, he didn’t even complain? Talk about commitment…

“Great!” Maia said. “You can meet in Sanah’s house later. How does that sound?”

In her own house, of all places? With the dumbass Riolu and his non-relevant Archen friend? She wanted to complain, but at this point she had lost all energy to do so.

“… Fine, I guess,” Sanah said, letting out a deep sigh. More social interactions, just what she wanted. Hooray.

Nimb didn’t say a thing throughout all of it, and of course, Ari had noticed.

 

---

 

Right after classes ended for the day, Ari, Nimb and Sanah walked in an awkward silence, passing by the main plaza and through the residential area without looking at each other a single time. They were glad there was at least enough people talking around to fill the silence, otherwise they would likely tear their skin off.

Eventually, they reached a familiar house, on the farthest part of town. Old bricks, broken window and patched door; it was Sanah’s home. She approached the door and stopped, turning around to glare at his guests.

“Okay. No touching anything, no comments of ANY kind about my house, and no weird looks. Got it?”

Ari and Nimb nodded rapidly, not looking for any problem. Satisfied, Sanah turned and opened the door, waiting for them to follow her. The place looked old, with some furniture having cracks on it and tape to fix it, but overall, it looked… Clean. Everything was taken care of, tidy and decorated with many vases with flowers in different places.

The inside of the house was pretty well illuminated, and looked way better than the exterior, which was surprising. The few doors that could be seen were pretty big, and the ceiling was taller than usual. The main room they were in had light yellow walls and was connected to the living room on one side and the kitchen to the other, without any walls dividing it.

While Ari and Nimb took on everything they saw, Sanah moved a bit further.

“Dad, I’m home! I… brought guests,” she said, clearly uncomfortable.

Right when she was about to turn around, from a room on the bottom emerged a big figure. A Pangoro slowly stomped his way towards them, with his seemingly angry face, a staple for his species. It was pretty imposing, and both Nimb and Ari flinched at the sight. He looked like he could break their bones at any moment now, and knowing it was Sanah’s father made it more scary.

Then, just when the Pangoro was about to speak, he fell in a coughing fit, and Sanah quickly approached and supported him.

“Dad, I told you not to leave your bed! You need to rest…” Sanah said, in a surprisingly soft voice.

“Ugh… Hehe, sorry sweetie, I was curious about those guests you mentioned,” he said, his voice deep but weak. “So, who are they?” He glanced at the two pokémon waiting in front of them.

“They are my… teammates. We came to study.”

“Oh, is that so?” He coughed a couple of times before continuing, drawing a concerned look from Sanah. “So my little girl finally has teammates, huh? Glad to meet you!”

Ari, who wasn’t expecting the Pangoro to address them in such nice manners, took a moment to recompose. “Oh! Uh… Hi! I’m Ari, and…” He glanced at Nimb, who had was looking away and didn’t seem like he was going to say anything. “… And this is Nimb. It’s… Nice to meet you too!”

Pangoro nodded. “You can call me Griff. Anyway, I should head back inside now, good luck with whatever you’re doing.” He then turned one last time to Ari and Nimb and spoke in a joking tone. “Treat her well, okay?”

“Dad!” Sanah groaned, and tried to push him inside gently. “Come on, I don’t want you to hurt yourself anymore.”

“I know, Sanah, but there’s a lot to do…”

“I’ll cook something later, okay? Please, let me handle it.”

“… Alright. Love you, sweetie,” Griff said, and he went back into his room.

“Love you too, dad…” She sighed, and closed the door. As she turned around, Ari and Nimb were looking at her with their eyes widened in surprise. Seeing Sanah like this was something they weren’t expecting today.

“… What?”

“Huh? Uh, n-nothing,” Ari said, and Nimb shook his head at the same time. “Just… We’re not used to this, that’s all.”

“You never been like that with your parents or what?” Sanah growled. She then noticed she touched a sensitive topic, as both Ari and Nimb frowned and looked away. She thought about taking advantage of it, but something in her mind stopped her from doing so.

Instead, she sighed and moved towards the living room, siting on a chair on front of a large table. Ari and Nimb watched in confusion, until Sanah complained.

“Are you coming or what? You know, we came here to study?”

“… Oh! Oh right, coming,” Ari said, and the duo sat too. There was another awkward silence while they took out their books from their bags, so Ari decided to speak. “Uhm… Is your dad okay?”

“No, he’s…” Sanah thought for a moment, but eventually looked away. “It’s… none of your business.”

Ari flinched. “Oh… Right, I’m sorry…”

There was a whole hour of homework, questions and explanations that felt like an eternity as Sanah was still struggling to understand everything. Theory wasn’t as easy as just going to some random place and scanning everything with a GD, and it didn’t help that the air felt tense between them for obvious reasons, even if everything was much more calm than a few days earlier.

Nimb was still very quiet, which upset Ari even more. He wasn’t paying attention to the lesson, so in a way Ari understood what felt like to be a teacher.

“That doesn’t make any sense! How am I supposed to memorize all that?” Sanah complained.

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand in time, it’s not like we’re in a hurry…” Ari reassured.

“In time? How much more is it going to be? It’s no use…” She let herself sink on her chair, limping out of exhaustion.

“… Don’t think of it as something you have to memorize. What works for me is just… understanding everything. Just focus on getting the meanings, and then you’ll memorize it even without trying.”

“And what if I DON’T understand? I still don’t get the difference between deductive or inductive reasoning…”

Ari pondered that, and a metaphoric lightbulb lit on top of his head. “Okay, think of what we did in the mansion. What did we want to know back then?”

“Huh? I dunno… We just wanted to know who was responsible for those apparitions, I guess.”

“Right, and what did we do to guess that?”

Sanah looked a bit irritated at the sudden questioning, but she tried to keep it to herself for once. “Ugh… We searched the whole house for clues. What’s with that?”

“Right, we searched and then based our hypothesis on what we observed. But what if we already thought from the beginning that Anne was behind all of that?”

“… I guess we’d have to focus on finding clues that tied her to the crime, like… Investigating everything related to her, right?”

“Yes, and that would be deductive reasoning!”

Sanah’s frown was slowly disappearing as she took on what Ari said. Having a real example of it was way easier to understand.

“So… Deductive reasoning starts from a hypothesis we wanna prove, but inductive reasoning starts by just observing until we get to a conclusion, just like we did?”

“Yes, you got it! See, you DID understand!” Ari beamed, making Sanah flinch slightly.

She finally got it, and it was… Thanks to Ari? It was the first time in ages that she felt like she accomplished something, even if she needed help for it. But somehow, the Riolu’s smile was making her feel better about it.

“I… I did? Yeah, I guess I did…” She didn’t smile, but her eyes were brighter than ever, which was easy to notice. Ari could tell she wanted to smile, but of course, she wouldn’t let them see it.

“Now that you understand this, the rest should be a piece of cake,” Ari said, as he continued going over everything that was explained in class that day.

It still took a while, but Sanah was more focused than usual, so they eventually finished their study session with good results.

“That’s it, great! It doesn’t seem that hard now, right?” Ari said.

“Huh… Yeah, I guess it’s not. I can’t believe I got all that…” Sanah felt confident for once, she was ecstatic. The usual anger she felt had vanished, replaced with hope and joy.

However, an intrusive thought appeared in her mind and her moment was ruined. ‘You learned because he had to teach you. He’s better than you.’

“Maia’s gonna be so happy when she finds out, right?” Ari interrupted her thoughts. When he didn’t get an answer, his smile faded. “… Sanah?”

“… Whatever, I don’t care.” She stood up and walked away, not looking at him. “I’ll go check on my dad.”

Sanah went further inside the house, leaving them there. Ari was concerned enough for Sanah, but to add to that, Nimb didn’t speak a single word the whole time they were there. They waited a while for Sanah to return, but eventually, Ari sighed.

“Nimb.”

The Archen stared at the window.

“… Nimb, please.”

There was silence. Ari frowned deeply and leaned closer to him, but Nimb only flinched at the sudden proximity.

“Nimb… Please, talk to me. I wanna know what’s wrong… Are you mad at me? Just… I want you to be okay, but if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, things are going to stay like this forever, please…”

Nimb kept quiet, his eyes showing a mixture of sadness and anxiety. Even though he felt slightly better with Ari so close, there was an empty void in his heart.

Finally, Nimb mumbled something. “…I felt safe.”

“Huh?”

He sighed. “I… I felt safe with you, but then you just… laughed at me in front of everyone.”

Ari widened his eyes in realization. He really messed up, and worst of it, he didn’t notice.

“So that’s what you…? Oh… Oh fuck, I didn’t want to… Gah, I’m such an idiot! I’m so sorry, Nimb, I didn’t want to make you feel that way. I wasn’t laughing at you, it’s just that the situation seemed funny! But if I knew you were so anxious about that move, I wouldn’t have laughed…”

Nimb gripped his wings, crouching as he had to talk about something he didn’t really think about.

“You know why I was so anxious? I was used to living with just a few pokémon, but the very first time I was surrounded by a large crowd, I had to battle. And when I used wing attack, that same thing happened to me. I tripped and fell, and then… Everyone laughed at me and called me names.”

Ari gasped. “Oh Arceus… So that’s where your social anxiety came from?”

“I guess…” Nimb started tearing up. “I-I thought I finally c-could feel safe, b-but today I just couldn’t f-feel like that with you anymore…”

“No… No, Nimb, please don’t think like that… I couldn’t have known! If you had just told me, I wouldn’t have laughed, I swear…”

“Are you sure?” Nimb turned around, tears falling from his eyes.

Ari gently touched his shoulder and searched for his gaze. “I promise. Nimb, I’m so, so sorry about this, you know the last thing I want to do is to make you sad…” He shook his head. “Let me make it up to you, I can help you train to properly use that move, in private. If… if you want.”

“I d-don’t know…” He sniffled. “B-but I appreciate it…”

Ari gestured like he was going for a hug. “Can I?”

Nimb nodded, and the Riolu embraced him. They kept silent for a minute, while Nimb sobbed on Ari’s grip.

“I promise I’ll do everything I can so you can feel safe with me again. That’s what brothers do, right?”

Nimb nodded slowly, his breathing slowly becoming stable. Ari relaxed but didn’t let go.

From behind a wall out of their sight, Sanah listened to the whole conversation in silence. She decided not to intervene, so she waited for a moment when it wouldn’t be weird to show up. While she stood there, she heard a loud thump coming from her room.

She turned around, startled, and right in the middle of the corridor, in front of her, she saw a figure of a pokémon. It was a houndoom, but… its eyes were blank and it looked enraged. It was a feral pokémon.

“AAAAAHHHH!”

Ari and Nimb quickly turned around as they heard Sanah scream in pain, and they saw her being launched backwards towards the entrance, with a houndoom on top of her.

“What happened?” Ari asked as he approached.

“It’s a feral!” She yelled while trying to hold the houndoom’s jaw away from her, but then it prepared a fire fang and thrust forward with force. Luckily, before it could bite, an aura sphere impacted it on the side and threw it flying towards the kitchen.

“What’s a feral doing here?” Ari asked, as both he and Nimb arrived and helped Sanah get back on her feet. She wanted to reject their help, but chose it wasn’t the best moment for that.

“It must have entered through the window in my bedroom,” she said in a hurry.

“Yeah, but… What’s it doing in town?”

“Ugh, I don’t know! It’s the same that happened the other day in the academy…”

They didn’t have time to ask more questions, as the feral recovered and charged onwards. Nimb started shaking in fear and shielded behind Ari, who quickly formed a protect in front of the three of them, blocking the Houndoom’s path.

Sanah took her chance to move aside and slash it with her claws, which made it flinch slightly, but it didn’t turn to attack her. In fact, he focused on Ari, who was having a hard time keeping the barrier up.

“I can’t… Hold it… Much longer!”

“What the…? Hey, you stupid monster!” Sanah growled, striking the feral with claws shining green. As the fury cutter hit it, the houndoom finally snapped and turned to her, going for another bite, this time without flames coming from its fangs. She caught it again. “Is biting all you know?”

A bunch of rock fragments impacted the feral, which caught its attention again. Nimb yelped, as he watched the monster suddenly releasing his worst attack yet. A wave of flames was launched from its mouth, but Ari was quick enough to push Nimb out of the way, and both were unharmed. However…

“MY CURTAINS!” Sanah yelled as flames enveloped her most valuable decorations. Ari quickly tore the curtains off and pushed them to a corner so the rest of the furniture wouldn’t catch fire. Sanah frowned as Ari stomped on them to extinguish the fire, but then she turned her angry glare on the houndoom. “You’re screwed.”

The feral couldn’t do anything as an avalanche of slashes came directly for it, finally dealing some important damage. Houndoom retreated, but Sanah wasn’t done.

“You burned my curtains! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

However, before she could land another attack, the feral ran away in panic, trying to search for an exit and jumping through an open window in the process. It had escaped.

Sanah turned to the pile of ashes and stared at it with a blank expression. “… Those were my favorite.”

As Nimb approached them, confident that it was safe enough, Ari spoke. “I’m sorry about that, I had to tear them off so the fire wouldn’t spread… But, um, we could get new ones!”

“No money,” Sanah answered dryly.

“… Oh.”

She sighed. “I don’t even know how my dad is still sleeping with all that happened… But anyway, I’ll clean this later. We should go catch that feral.”

“Ah, right, I forgot! It’s too dangerous to leave it out there!”

Nimb cringed. “Are we really going after it?”

Ari turned to him and smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, you already saw how weak it was already, we can deal with this.”

Nimb didn’t look too convinced but didn’t complain. Once Sanah had made sure there weren’t any more open windows in her house, the three of them left in a hurry, fearing the houndoom might be causing havoc in town.

However, it was far worse than that. They didn’t find the houndoom; what they did find instead was the whole town in a state of pure chaos as some residents were fighting against other ferals.

A feral rhyhorn was charging blindly towards a couple of Gogoat, an enraged arcanine was burning a set of trees while a Carracosta and a Seismitoad tried to stop it, and a bunch of mankeys attacked a family of Pyroar, Luxray, Shinx and Litleo. There was a lot going on.

“W-what is… happening?” Nimb couldn’t hide his anxiety at this point. They weren’t safe in Bismuth Town anymore.

“I don’t know… How did so many ferals escape a mystery dungeon? I… I can’t make any sense out of this,” Ari said. “Should we fight too?”

“N-no, please! Let’s go hide at home…” Nimb begged, gripping the Riolu’s arm in fear.

“But…”

“They can handle it,” Sanah interrupted, gesturing back at the fighting pokémon, who seemed to be slowly gaining advantage over the ferals. Nimb relaxed a bit. “Also, we’re not rescuers, but we are investigators. We should find someone to ask about what’s going on, like… The police.”

“Right! We’re supposed to work with them at some point, so they might give us some information!” Ari said.

With that decided, the three teammates ran ahead as some other feral pokémon caused problems here and there, but they didn’t stop unless there was someone struggling to hold the ferals back. Ari did throw a few aura spheres to save some children from a couple of feral grafaiai, making sure they fainted.

Nimb didn’t do much at first, but when a feral pidgeotto attacked a Scatterbug resident he saw his chance to defeat an opponent he had an advantage against, and launched rock fragments at it. Unfortunately, the attack missed, but it was enough to draw the attention of the pidegotto, who approached Nimb quickly.

An aura sphere stopped it, but it wasn’t enough to defeat it. Before Ari could try another attack, Nimb decided this was his victim, so he launched another set of rock fragments, which finally hit the feral successfully. Once the pidgeotto was down, they continued their run.

Eventually, they reached their destination. The police station was near Maia’s cottage, a bit to the north, but before going there, something caught their attention. Right next to the police station, on the town’s main plaza, there were a few pokémon fighting a horde of ferals.

“Damn, things are way worse over here!” Sanah said, looking around to evaluate the situation.

There were more enraged mankeys, a bunch of pidgeys, a passimian and the houndoom from before. Also, some Magneton were fighting as well, but they didn’t look feral at all, in fact they were helping against the ferals. Some residents of Bismuth Town were fighting against them, one of them being more noticeable because of the police badge showing on the chest. A Floragato, she was. And right beside her, there was… a Toxtricity. He probably had the same idea as them.

“Mylo!” Ari called as they arrived just in time to help their teammate. “Is everything going okay?”

Mylo turned for a brief moment, only to immediately jump to evade a gust coming from one of the pidgeys. “Heh… It could be going worse.”

“Hey, more reinforcments, just in time!” The Floragato said. “Judging by those bracelets, you must be this guy’s teammates, right? An investigation team, in fact.”

Ari, being always the best at talking, was the first to answer. “Yeah, we are! We got attacked by that houndoom before, so we came to see what was happening! Where did all these ferals come from?”

The Floragato didn’t respond immediately, rather focusing on dispelling a couple of mankeys. “Stop moving, you suckers! Ugh…” She turned to Ari. “It’s too soon to know exactly, but… judging by the species, these ferals came from Misty Valley, in the mountain to the north. It’s the closest mystery dungeon from this town, that’s why they all ended up here so easily.”

Sanah slashed a grafaiai and then used it as a body shield when a pidgey tried to tackle her, throwing both ferals away from her. “But why are they leaving the dungeon all of a sudden?”

“We still don’t know…”

Ari slashed the passimian with his metal claw but was too focused on it to notice the houndoom approaching from behind. Luckily, Mylo was there to spark-punch the feral out of the way, finally defeating it.

Floragato charged a sphere of energy, similar to Ari’s aura sphere, but this one was green. She launched it and blasted three pidgeys at once, defeating them instantly. Ari’s mouth went agape. She must be really powerful to defeat three flying types with a grass type move just like that.

Sanah, enveloped by a dark aura, tackled a mankey that was approaching Ari. It was enough to take it down, but she couldn’t evade another mankey that attacked her from behind, scratching her back and leaving a nasty wound. Nimb heard the pained scream of his teammate and came to her aid, crushing the mankey with rock throw.

Mylo was having enough of it all, so he moved in front of everyone and played an intense tune on the organs on his chest, creating an ear-piercing noise that shook the few remaining ferals. All of them fainted, except for the passimian, who was still charging onwards. Then, it changed its trajectory, aiming towards the Riolu.

Ari jumped back, trying to avoid being too close to the feral, but it wasn’t giving up.

“It’s not enough,” Mylo said, then turned to Nimb. “You know wing attack, right? Quick, finish it!”

Nimb froze. “W-what? But I…”

“There’s no time!”

Nimb couldn’t think properly. He hesitated long enough for Ari to act, charging an aura sphere while his pearls shined and his whole body was enveloped by a red aura, and Floragato joined forces with her own energy ball. Both launched the dual spheres, blowing the passimian away. It was over.

Sanah, Mylo and Floragato looked at the Riolu with curiosity after he did that red aura thing, none of them being familiar with that move, or ability, or whatever it was.

“What was that, Ari?” Mylo asked. “Your body did a weird thing…”

“Oh, right, I may have forgotten to mention this… I can boost me or anyone else with my pearls, for some reason.” Mylo hummed, looking at him with interest, while Sanah rolled her eyes.

Nimb looked down in shame as once again he couldn’t do much. As soon as they had time to breathe, Ari came to Nimb’s side and stroked his shoulder. “You did well, even if you don’t think so.”

“I…” He couldn’t finish that sentence, instead, he just sighed.

“Okay guys, take all of these with you.” Floragato directed the Magneton, who were in fact a part of the police force, to trap the ferals in some magnetic field and take them into custody, to the police station.

“I don’t think this is all, there were other feral pokémon around the rest of the town,” Sanah said, walking unsteadily towards the Floragato.

“I know, some of my partners are out there taking care of it, and I probably should go lend a hand too. Also, if you tell me where other places you found more ferals, it would make it easier for me.”

Ari and Nimb moved closer, as the first one explained what they found on their way to the town plaza, including the ferals they defeated themselves. Floragato nodded and pulled some gadget from her bag. It was a somewhat similar device to the GD, but without the fancy golden color in the buttons. She talked to it and then turned to face them again.

“Okay, I’ve sent some Magneton to those places, they’ll take care of it. Oh, and thank you for your help!” She fidgeted with her yo-yo, with her other arm resting on her waist. “We’re probably going to see each other a lot really soon, so I might as well ask for your names, right?”

“Well, I’m Mylo. A pleasure.”

“Call me Sanah.”

“I’m Ari, nice to meet you!”

“Uh… Nimb…”

The police officer nodded. “You can call me Melly. Anyway, I should go help my partners now, you can leave it to me, now that the worst part is done.”

“Wait!” Ari stopped her, and Melly the Floragato turned around. “We can help too!”

“… Nah, leave the rest to us, the police have everything under control. You’re still inexperienced for this.”

“O-oh… Well, at least is there some way for us to get more information about this feral attack?”

Melly thought of that, her paw resting on her chin. “Hmmm, I’m not sure, but you can ask Brynel, he’s in the police station right now.” She then paused. “… Maybe you can help him, after all, you’re students from Gholdengo’s Academy. You’ll be expected to become the best, teehee!”

The best… Sanah thought of that. She wanted to reach that point, and their teachers expected that too. However, she noticed the frown on Ari’s face, likely not having the same opinion as her. That was strange, she thought.

With that, Melly continued with her job, while the nameless team decided to head to the police station, with Mylo joining too.

“Sanah… Are you okay? That wound looks bad…” Ari asked with a concerned look.

“Uh, never mind that.”

“But… Here, I have an oran berry in my bag, let me-“

That made her mad, for some reason, and she snapped. “I’m okay, stop looking at me with such pity! I don’t need your compassion OR help.”

Ari flinched. “I… I was just concerned, but… I’m sorry…”

Mylo frowned, even if nobody noticed. After a few moments, Sanah reviewed the conversation in her mind, eventually reaching a different conclusion. She sighed.

“Ugh… Stop saying you’re sorry all the time,” she looked at him in the eyes with a neutral expression. “It’s… it’s okay, I guess.”

She kept walking, leaving him behind with a stunned expression. Ari was finding it hard to understand Sanah’s reactions, but this was the first time he heard her say something like that.

Soon, they reached the police station. As they entered, a pokémon none of them had ever seen before was wandering around while talking to that same device Melly had. A yellow and black-furred bipedal feline communicated with other police units from his gadget, visibly stressed. The Zeraora turned to the visitors as he noticed them approaching.

“Huh? Are you an investigation team?”

“Indeed. We wanted to know if there was some way we could help with this case,” Mylo explained. “Are you Brynel?”

“Oh… Yes, I am. I’m trying to coordinate everything from here since I don’t usually go out there to fight, but doing this isn’t easy either.”

Brynel looked curiously at the Riolu, something about him calling his attention. Maybe it was the unusual look he had, which was familiar to him, being a rare pokémon too. Ari didn’t mind getting those looks from the Zeraora, being used to it at this point and deciding it wasn’t for a bad reason.

“We wanted to ask… Is there something happening in Misty Valley?” Mylo asked. “Why are all those ferals escaping that place now?”

“Well, if I’m not wrong, something changed there recently.” That caught everyone’s attention. “Some ferals had been escaping, and it finally led to this happening. What we know is that, for some reason, the energy surrounding that mystery dungeon has been fading gradually, and now it’s completely gone.

“What?” Everyone said in unison.

“Yes, it’s really weird… Right now, that place isn’t a mystery dungeon anymore, and without that disorienting energy, all of the ferals managed to find their way out. But the thing is, even if that energy isn’t there anymore, the ferals won’t ever return to their natural state. They’re lost forever…”

Ari looked down, a frown forming on his face. He knew that wild pokémon who lived there turned into ferals as soon as those places started having that weird energy around them and became mystery dungeons. If only that could be reverted…

“And it’s going to get worse,” Brynel continued, drawing some worried looks. He began pacing as he put a paw on his chin, looking to the ground. “As we know, there are other mystery dungeons that are starting to have the same issue, with some ferals escaping and the energy slowly fading. It’s a matter of time before this happens again, and more frequently. This was only a warning of what’s to come…”

“But at the same time, new mystery dungeons keep forming out there…” Mylo added, and the Zeraora nodded at him.

Nimb shivered in fear, gripping Ari’s arm. He wasn’t feeling any better, but he couldn’t show that to Nimb when he was so scared too.

“W-why? I j-just wanted a peaceful life, I d-don’t understand what’s g-going on…” Nimb stammered.

“Hey, it’s okay, bud,” Brynel reassured, approaching him. “Luckily the ferals aren’t stronger than normal pokémon, so for now we can still defend ourselves, don’t worry too much.” Nimb nodded, still frowning.

“Still, could we do something to help?” Ari asked, gently stroking Nimb’s shoulder. “Like, investigating Misty Valley.”

Brynel tilted his head. “That place? It’s a bit dangerous for you guys. A more experienced team will be going there soon, so I’m afraid you can’t go for now.”

Ari and Sanah pouted. Of course, they were going to be trapped in insignificant jobs for a long time. Whatever was going on with mystery dungeons was really concerning for the four of them, but they couldn’t do anything.

Suddenly, Brynel’s device started ringing, and he attended a call coming from another police officer.

“… What? In the clinic? Okay, I’ll send help, hang on in there!” He then hung up and looked to the team in distress. “Oh… Oh no, I forgot. All the police units are busy figthing ferals elsewhere, I can’t send anyone to help!”

“What’s going on?” Sanah demanded.

“There’s someone trapped alone at the clinic with a feral pokémon, and he can’t fight! What do I even do in this situation…”

Ari, Nimb, Mylo and Sanah looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. Well, except Nimb, who was concerned as he knew exactly what the others were thinking and didn’t like the idea, but didn’t complain.

They turned to the Zeraora, Ari being the first to speak. “We’ll go!”

“What? But that’s not your role!”

“Who cares? We already helped your partner Melly out there, we can take care of a single feral without any issues,” Sanah retorted.

“It’s four against one, there’s no way we can lose,” Mylo added.

“I-I hope so…” Nimb said, cringing.

Brynel hummed, evaluating the proposal. Was it wise to send a group of inexperienced investigators for something like this? “Well, it’s not like there are other options… Okay, I’ll count on all of you. But please, be careful.”

Ari beamed. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine!”

With that, the whole team turned around and left, while Brynel watched with his device in hand, expecting more distressed calls from other units. He kept observing the Riolu as he walked away, something about him seeming familiar.

Brynel went to his desk and opened one of the drawers, going over some papers until he pulled a report and revised it.

‘Armarouge with pale skin and white flame seen south from Bismuth Town. Attacked an Archen and a Riolu with a star-shaped tail and red pearls on his body, the latter being severely damaged by it.’

“Hmmm… Still no team has yet chosen to investigate this, just because it sounds hard to believe…”

The Zeraora thought about the Riolu for a moment. That weird appearance, and then being attacked by another pokémon with an also weird appearance? What if there was some connection?

“Maybe I should take this matter into my own hands. I might need to ask that Riolu a few questions…”

 

---

 

The clinic wasn’t too far away from the police station, and they arrived after less than 10 minutes. Inside, they found themselves in a big empty waiting room. Not a single soul was left, probably because it was evacuated as soon as the feral attacked.

“Where the hell is that feral? There’s no one here…” Sanah complained, inspecting the area.

“It must be further inside, along with the pokémon that it’s attacking,” Mylo explained, moving into one of the corridors. “This building is pretty big.”

“H-hey, uh…” Nimb called out, and everyone turned to him. “There’s b-blood on the floor…”

He was right. A few droplets of blood were on the ground, and it was fresh. Everyone grimaced at the sight of it.

“Oh no… You think we might be too late?” Ari asked in concern.

However, Sanah didn’t waste any time thinking about that. “Pfft, I doubt it, it’s just a bit of blood, nothing too concerning. Let’s just go.”

As she turned her back on them and walked away, everyone noticed her limping slightly. There was something on her that was far more noticeable than before.

“S-Sanah… That blood is yours!” Ari said in horror, flinching at the sight of the open wound in her back.

“Yeah, your wound is getting worse,” Mylo added.

Sanah stopped, a familiar thought returning to her mind. ‘They pity you.’

“I’m… perfectly fine, okay? Drop it already.”

“No, you’re not,” Mylo said, his tone more serious.

“Sanah, just accept my oran berry, it will at least stop your bleeding mostly.” Ari approached her, berry in hand, but she stepped back with her arms raised.

“I said I don’t want it! Will you leave me alone or what?”

Mylo wasn’t having any of that. He caught her arm and spoke with anger. “Then you’re definitely not going in there. You’re staying here until we’ve dealt with the feral.”

‘Because they’re better than you.’

Sanah shook Mylo’s arm off. “I’m NOT! You can’t tell me what to do, I don’t care what you have to say!”

“Great, keep acting like a spoiled kid, why not.” Mylo scowled.

“Okay, THAT’S IT!”

Sanah swiped Mylo with a shining claw, which made him stagger backwards. Ari and Nimb gasped in horror as violence was chosen.

“… Wrong choice.” Mylo quickly jumped ahead and punched her in the jaw, which made her spit saliva.

“Guys, no!” Ari yelled. Both he and Nimb were cringing hard, not sure about what to do in this situation.

Sanah recovered from the blow and chose to escalate things. With dark energy enveloping her body, she charged onwards, knocking Mylo off and landing on top of him. She took that advantage to slash his face many times, until he rolled over, being him the one on top now.

Mylo glared with a scary face that made her flinch, suddenly feeling her mind go slower. He then punched her face while charging electricity, which made her shake by the high voltage. The Toxtricity waited to see if she was paralyzed, which wasn’t the case, as she kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying.

Sanah stood with trembling legs with a grimace. “YOU’RE GOING TO REGRET ALL THAT!”

She ran after Mylo, not giving him any time to turn around. A fury cutter hit his back, and he groaned in pain but didn’t go down. Instead, he did a quick spin and tried to hit her with a poison jab, but she ducked and the attack missed by mere inches. Then, the Zangoose knocked him down with another pursuit, cornering him.

“C-come on, don’t fight…” Ari begged, but no one paid attention. Nimb was trembling hard, trying to lean closer to Ari, but the Riolu had stepped back while he wasn’t looking.

Sanah honed her claws for a moment before slashing again, but Mylo rolled and barely evaded it. From the ground, he tried to use his chest organs to produce an overdrive, but Sanah didn’t give him enough time, as she slashed again.

Mylo shielded himself with his arms, and then quickly rolled aside and stood up. Another pursuit was aimed at him, but he jumped to the side and punched his rival with a poison jab, this time landing the hit.

Sanah was having a rough time standing, but she wasn’t going to allow that bastard to show that he’s better than her. She was tired of that. Trembling from the pain, she moved forward with her claws raised, ready for a strike.

However, the fatigue was making her slower, and Mylo could catch her wrist in time, quickly pushing her onto the wall and raising his fist. Electricity started emanating from it, and both him and Sanah went for a finishing blow. But then…

“PLEASE, STOOOOOOP!”

And they did. Both turned to the source of that desperate cry that echoed through the building, and their eyes locked on the trembling Nimb rolled into a ball in a corner. Except it wasn’t Nimb.

“… Ari?” The Toxtricity asked in disbelief.

The Riolu was a complete mess, shaking violently and desperately covering his ears in an attempt to block any of that scene from his senses. Nimb observed him, deeply concerned.

“I… I c-can’t do this anymore… P-please… T-this is too much…” Ari said, his voice breaking, but still holding the tears back, as always. Nimb leaned beside the Riolu and enveloped him with his wings, resting his head on his friend’s shoulder.

Mylo released Sanah and both looked at each other with a confused look. They were still angry, but their attention was on the Riolu now. Mylo approached him, with a soft look.

“Ari? Are you okay?”

“… N-no… P-please, I don’t want you t-to hurt each other…”

Sanah moved closer too, grimacing. “What’s with that reaction? It’s just fighting, nothing you haven’t seen be-” She cut herself as an image of that certain battle class a few days back came to her mind. “Wait, back then, you were also…”

“Ari, listen,” Mylo said in a soothing tone and rested a hand on his shoulder. “We won’t fight anymore, okay? But everything is going to be alright anyway, we’re tough. Sometimes we solve our differences with battles and then… We continue with our lives like nothing happened.”

Sanah crossed her arms and glared. She wasn’t sure that was the case, that wasn’t exactly a friendly battle. She couldn’t just pretend everything was okay. In any case, she chose not to deny that claim, seeing the Riolu in that state.

“… Yeah, whatever he says.”

Ari slowly calmed down and turned to look at them shyly. “I… Okay…”

Once they waited for a short moment to recompose and then remembered there was someone in danger further inside, they decided it was time to move on.

“S-so…” Nimb said, not looking directly at anyone. “Are you both going like that?”

Mylo and Sanah looked at their wounds, the latter being in a worse state, and frowned.

“I… You know, I have these…” Ari said, pulling a couple of oran berries from his bag, and looking with fearful eyes to them.

Sanah pondered that for a moment. “Well… Okay, I’m taking the berry… But I’m still going inside.”

“I can accept that,” Mylo said. “And yeah, that berry is pretty much appreciated, heh.”

Ari sighed in relief. Both of them ate the berries, regaining some energy and stopping the bleeding. Still, the wounds weren’t going to heal just like that, and both Sanah and Mylo looked like they’d been run over by a Revavroom.

Team Violence explored the depths of the not-mystical clinic, which was, indeed, pretty big for a clinic. As it was the only one in town, it had multiple rooms for ill pokémon to rest, for surgery or for specific tests, aside from the private rooms for the staff.

As they traversed the corridors, they eventually heard some intense knocking coming from a room further inside. The quartet looked at each other and followed the noise with careful steps until they reached a door turning a corner.

As they peeked inside the somewhat dark room, they found a test room that was pretty much destroyed. Medical tools were scattered on the floor, tables were completely smashed and some walls were damaged. On the side, a big Primeape was punching a closed door with rage.

“Ah, that’s…!” Ari said, quickly covering his mouth as he realized his mistake.

The Primeape turned around and growled as soon as it noticed the four. From behind the door it was hitting, a male voice could be heard.

“HELP ME!”

Mylo, not wasting any time, stepped forward and produced an overdrive that shocked almost the entire room, but the feral wasn’t too affected, as it ran towards them completely ignoring the pain. It was just in front of them faster than they anticipated, suddenly kicking Mylo in the guts and sending him flying back to the corridor.

“Mylo!” Ari and Nimb yelled, running to his side to help him out. Sanah, instead, slashed the ape with a fury cutter on the side that caught its attention, fully turning to her and scratching her in kind. Luckily, Ari reacted in time now, and Sanah was enveloped by a red aura coming from the Riolu’s pearls.

Sanah took the hit like it was nothing, and stared with curiosity and surprise at the reddish glow that enveloped her. She then glanced at the Riolu and quickly understood what happened.

Without thinking anymore, she tried to lean forward to land another fury cutter, but the feral completely ignored her. It was running towards the trio in the corridor now, so Ari quickly formed a protect in front of them, which managed to stop it. Only, it worked for a moment, because the primeape kept hitting the barrier until it shattered.

Mylo and Nimb jumped to their right to avoid a blow, while Ari rolled to his left and gasped in horror as the monster turned to him. It started slashing the air in front of it, the Riolu quickly crawling backwards to avoid the swipes.

“Aaaahh, leave me alone!” Ari yelled. He stood up and started launching several aura spheres at the primeape, none of them doing much as it kept approaching him.

“Hey, you monster, over here!” Mylo called as he poison-jabbed the feral on the back. It flinched a bit but then caught the Toxtricity’s arm and swung him in the air like he was a whip, finally slamming him on the ground.

Mylo groaned in pain as the air escaped his lungs. He couldn’t take it anymore and fainted.

“NOOO!” Nimb yelled, releasing a bunch of rock fragments that impacted the feral. It didn’t do much, and the primeape ignored it and ran towards Ari once again. The same happened when Sanah slashed it with another fury cutter, as the feral was already focused on someone else.

Ari released more aura spheres but panicked as he saw it wasn’t doing much at all. He didn’t have any useful items to use against the feral; he left them at home because he wasn’t expecting to fight anyone that day. So, he ran away, being chased by the feral through the corridors. It was vicious, not letting its target escape no matter what.

“Hey, what are you doing? Don’t run! Ugh…” Sanah complained. It was hard to know if she was talking to the feral or the Riolu. Probably the latter.

“Ari! What do we do?” Nimb said, hesitating.

“Just go after them!”

Sanah and Nimb followed through the dark corridors, but they soon lost sight of it as both Ari and the primeape were too fast. Still, they kept running for a while.

In a different room, Ari was cornered. The vicious feral had chosen its victim and there was no way to escape that fate. Why him? Was he just really unlucky or…?

The primeape threw a scratch that met a metal claw, blocking the attack at the last moment. However, it wasn’t going to stop. The feral grabbed the Riolu by his head and slammed him against the wall, severely damaging him.

Ari yelled in pain struggling to escape the monster’s grip, with no results. He had a strong sense of déjà vu, but he couldn’t think of it too much because of the attack that came next.

The primeape started beating Ari with a close combat, each punch being stronger than the previous one, and he could do nothing as he felt his energy fading away. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t even use his pearls again since he had used them pretty recently. Was it over…?

However, a Zangoose perched herself on the monkey from behind and slashed it many times, finally making it stop.

“Mess with someone your size!” Sanah yelled.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t very effective, even if the feral looked a bit tired now. It grabbed Sanah and threw her towards one of the walls, hitting it hard.

“Oof! It’s too strong, and my attacks are ineffective…” Sanah said. “What even is that thing? It’s stronger than any feral I’ve fought before!”

“I d-don’t know… This is too much…” Nimb said, trembling.

The feral turned around, facing the Riolu again. Oh no… It was going to attack and finish him off!

“Aaaahhh! Ari, no!” Nimb yelled, quickly using rock throw on the feral, but it didn’t even flinch a little. “It’s not working!”

Sanah tried to think hard. They had to act quickly, the Riolu depended on it. The feral must have had some weakness, but they’d tried everything already… Right?

Unless…

“Hey, you had a flying-type move, right?” Sanah said, turning to the Archen beside her.

Nimb tensed. “T-that? I… I c-can’t use that…”

“Of course you can! Dammit, your friend there is going to be squashed if we don’t do anything!”

She was right. Was he going to let that monster hurt his best friend? But… What if he laughed at him again? He couldn’t think straight, he just stood there, hesitant. The feral was preparing another attack. There was no time!

Nimb extended his wings in his weird manner and stepped forward. However, he found himself unable to move further.

“I… I c-can’t… Why?” Nimb cried in frustration. It was no use.

Then, Sanah approached him and suddenly grabbed his wings. “You have to extend them all the way, even if it looks weird! You’ll always lose balance if you keep cringing like that because of the air friction, just go with everything, even if you think it looks weird!”

She extended his wings as much as his arms allowed and then pushed him forward. Nimb started running towards the feral without being able to think twice, yelling in fear.

“Don’t stop now, go for it! And don’t close your eyes!”

Nimb listened to the Zangoose’s advice and kept running, his mind completely focused on saving his friend on top of everything. His wings shone with an intense white light as he dashed forward, eventually reaching the primeape and, to his surprise, not tripping along the way.

A sharp wing slashed the feral on the side before it could land another hit on the Riolu, and that finally made it stop focusing on him and turn around. It was mad. Nimb froze. He stood there, expecting a devastating blow, but the feral didn’t move. Instead, it collapsed on the ground.

Ari was panting hard leaning on the wall, but a smile formed on his face. “Nimb… You did it! You… Used wing attack…”

Nimb took a moment to understand what had happened. He really did that. And his friend was saved. He wasn’t laughing, he was smiling, proud of him.

“I did… I actually… I…” Nimb quickly ran ahead and hugged Ari, his trust towards him now being fully restored. Tears began falling from his eyes, but they were different. They were tears of joy.

“I knew you… could do it, Nimb… You’re my hero!” Ari said between gasps.

Nimb wiped his tears and looked at him with a smile. “Thank you… But it was Sanah who taught me how to do it. I didn’t even know what I was doing wrong until now…” He turned to the Zangoose. “Thank you, Sanah…”

Sanah was speechless. She didn’t say anything at that, she just kept staring with her mouth open, like she wanted to say something but she couldn’t. She actually helped someone… She was smarter than she thought, and on top of that, seeing the Archen so happy because of her… It felt good.

Is she better than him then? She taught him, after all… Isn’t that what she thought after the Riolu also taught her? But…

“Thank you, Sanah… For helping my friend. And for saving me, both of you,” Ari said, snapping her out of her thoughts. Once again, she didn’t know what to say, she just stood there with a stunned expression.

She felt happy. But then, she also felt there was something else she needed to do, something she felt too embarrassed to do before. But another thought interrupted that.

“That feral… It was going for you,” she said with concern, looking at the panting Riolu, who was being supported by his friend to stand again.

“Yes… It happened again…” Ari frowned. Once again, he felt really scared… Like something was wrong with him and he didn’t have any control over it.

“Again?” Sanah asked. “Now that you mention it… The houndoom did the same. The ferals… They tend to target you, for some reason. Just what’s going on…?”

“This was pretty similar to what happened to us before we came to Bismuth Town… We were attacked by a weird Armarouge, and then it focused on me, and… I could have died, but Maia saved both of us.”

Sanah thought about that. She could see the fear in the Riolu’s eyes, as well as the Archen’s, and she could empathize with that. They weren’t exactly the best fighters, and there was something going on that was too much for them.

“That’s so weird…” She said. She then shrugged it off, noticing the gloomy mood, and turned to the feral. “Anyway, we should do something about that…”

As soon as she said that, another voice called out. “D-did you defeat it already?” A male Wigglytuff was peeking from the door, seemingly being the one that was hiding from the feral before.

As soon as the nurse was put up to date with all that happened there, he thanked them and decided to tend to everyone’s wounds, as most of them looked really bad, except for Nimb, who was mostly okay. The police eventually came to take care of the feral as soon as the situation in town was controlled. They said everything was fine and that they would take care of any feral next time, but they knew it wasn’t that easy, judging by what Brynel said before.

Team Something was rewarded for their help by the police, which they decided to count as an unofficial investigation, just to feel better about it. All ferals were captured and Bismuth Town was slowly returning to its original state, with everyone finally going outside, but everyone had much work to do due to the damages caused by the ferals.

Ari, Nimb, Sanah, and Mylo had to stay a little longer in the clinic as they recovered, in a room with a few beds where they were sitting, but at least they could enjoy some peace now that the invasion was over. Mylo was the first to break the silence.

“Well… That could have gone better.”

“You had bad luck, that’s all. You took the worst of it,” Ari said.

“No, you did. I recall you mentioning that close combat thing, heh…”

“Uhm… I guess I’m tough? Even if I’m not that strong…”

Nimb intervened. “You are strong, Ari! This one was just too much…”

“I guess…”

“Anyway, I think I’m going for a walk now,” Mylo said, getting up.

“Wait, the nurse said we had to stay here for now!” Ari said.

“The nurse isn’t here right now. Well, y’all take care, see you in class.” And with that, the yellow fellow left.

Nimb frowned. “I hope he’s okay, he didn’t seem happy about being defeated like that…”

“He’ll get over it,” Sanah said, and both Nimb and Ari nodded, even if still concerned.

Another long moment of silence came, and Sanah thought it was the right moment. She was so embarrassed just thinking about doing it, even if it was such a silly thing, but she wasn’t used to acting like that with anyone except her father. Still…

“Ari.”

The Riolu’s ears perched up, and he turned to her in surprise. He was pretty sure that was the first time she called him by his name.

“Uh… Yes?”

Sanah took a deep breath and looked at him for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the ground.

“… Thank you.”

“W-what?”

“You know, for… Teaching me earlier today. And… For the berry too, I guess.” She rubbed her arms in discomfort. “Yeah, thanks for that.”

Ari widened his eyes, sparkling with joy. He couldn’t believe he was hearing those words right now.

“I… You’re welcome! You know, any other time you need it, I’ll be happy to help,” Ari smiled warmly.

She nodded, not actually smiling, but she still appreciated that. Her mind had more intrusive thoughts going on and off, but they were different than usual. Still, they made her feel bad. His smile… made her feel bad. But it was for a different reason now.

She would deal with those thoughts eventually. It wasn’t like she was the only one with intrusive thoughts at that moment. Unbeknownst to her, Ari was subtly frowning now, for some reason.

 

---

 

Louis the Reuniclus was a science teacher, but he was also a scientist who dedicated his life to research on all kinds of stuff, like medicine, genes, and pokémon in general. He had his own laboratory outside the academy, in town, where he spent hours and hours doing research when he wasn’t giving classes.

Right now, he was focused on a recent issue that was becoming more and more concerning for all pokémon: mystery dungeons and ferals. The authorities had brought him a couple of test subjects: two ferals that were captured earlier that day, both were inside containment capsules, sedated, so they wouldn’t try to escape.

The first was a pidgey, small and weak, with nothing too special about it. The second was the primeape that attacked the clinic, strong and imposing. There was something off about it…

Louis kept studying the readings that appeared on the screen, analyzing every single gene and fluid that the ferals had on them. It wasn’t the first time he’d done that. He studied ferals plenty of times before but never came to any conclusion at all.

This time, however…

“Huh? What is this?” His eyes were locked in a specific line on the screen. The scan had detected something new in the primeape.

“Hey, Louis! How is it going?” A female voice called. Saga the Ampharos entered the room, her smile dropping as she noticed he wasn’t even looking at her when she came. “Louis?”

He eventually snapped out of it and briefly looked at her. “Oh, hey, Saga. Sorry, I was so focused on this I didn’t hear you coming.”

“I was bored and decided to come say hi. You’re always working, so I thought you could spend some time with a friend. What’s with those… Pokémon?”

Louis looked at her with a concerned expression. “They’re ferals… It’s just the usual, as you see, but…”

“But…?”

“That primeape. There’s something different about it, like, the weird substance that all other ferals had on them, that it’s also present in the energy surrounding mystery dungeons… This one has it too, but it has some altered properties.”

Saga gasped. “Oh, how’s that?”

“I don’t know…” Louis approached the capsule with the primeape and stared at it for a long moment. “As I was told, this one was stronger than the others, for some reason. It’s like they’re… ‘evolving’. Not like when we evolve, but in the same way viruses become resistant to some medicines with time. It’s concerning…”

“I see… I hope this doesn’t become a problem eventually,” Saga said, her voice sounding smaller than before.

“Me too…”

As the scientist kept staring at the monkey, he could notice something else. Its eyes had a bit of blue mixed with its natural color.

 

---

 

I’m in a cave, not too dark because of the small hole in the ceiling. Some stalagmites are adorning the place, giving it a mysterious vibe. In front of me, there’s a Hitmonlee, clearly furious. It’s to be expected, we just found his hideout and we’re going to take him with us.

“You’re not going to stop me!” He said and quickly jumped towards me. That’s a bit intimidating…

I roll to the side and barely avoid the hit, but I definitely should do something as soon as possible. But… Is he that bad? Maybe there’s something bad happening in his life that turned him into a criminal. Is it okay for me to fight him?

He attacks me again and I can’t react in time, as I am lost in thoughts, so I get kicked in the stomach hard. It hurts a lot, and I find myself falling back on my rear and groaning in pain.

“Ari!” Ren yells, he’s clearly mad now. He charges towards the Hitmonlee and unleashes his wrath upon him. In just a few quick swipes, he finishes him off. He’s kinda scary when he gets angry… Which happens every time someone touches me.

He quickly approaches me, gently lifting me from the ground. “Are you okay?” He asks.

“Y-yeah, I just didn’t see that coming, sorry.” It’s painful, but I’ll manage.

He sighs. “You held back again. Why?”

“… You noticed? Uh… I don’t know what to say. I just felt bad…”

He rolls his eyes and turns to the fainted Hitmonlee. “You’re too good. No criminal is going to ever act so kindly with you. Why should you do it for them?”

I shrug. I just think it’s not that hard to be nice to others. Well, maybe if they’re criminals that attacked me it’s a bit harder. “I don’t know, I guess I’m like that… Sorry.”

Ren can’t help but smile at me. “Ah… You don’t have to apologize for that. I like the way you are, Ari. Just… maybe respect yourself a little more?”

I nod. He then approaches the Hitmonlee and stops in front of him. He stares down for a long moment, his glare slowly turning angrier, and that concerns me. Out of nowhere, he starts muttering something, and I can see him clenching his fists.

“Ren? Are you okay?”

Snapping out of it, he turns to me. “Uhm, it’s nothing important.” I look at him with my ‘Are you sure about that’ face, but he waves it off. “Really, nothing you should be concerned about.”

“Okay, I guess…”

I look at the Hitmonlee too, thinking about our battle. I can’t help but feel a bit weak…

“Huh… I wish I wasn’t such an easy target. It’s always like this, I’m hopeless…”

Ren frowns and comes closer, grabbing my shoulders. “You’re not hopeless, you just need training. And even if you were weak, it’s okay. I will always be there to protect you, no matter what.”

He always knows what to say to make me feel better. I wrap my arms around him, and he returns the hug. “Thank you, Ren…”

“I’ll always be with you…”

“I’ll always be…”

He’s slowly fading away.

“By your side…”

He’s not.

Ren…

Ren… Just where are you?

$%&$”/%(&$)%&/”&^¨^*”%$/

This isn’t that cave anymore. This isn’t the guild either. I’m in a weird foggy place, all enveloped in a white light. I can’t see anything…Where am I?

Please…

Huh? What is that?

Please… Help me!

Who said that?

Ari… I need your help, please… I can’t stay like this for much longer…

I know that voice… I heard it in that dream before the Armarouge attacked me. You know my name? But… What do you want from me?

Please, save us! They caught me and my brother, and they’re draining my energy… We’ve been like this for so long, but now they’re going to turn me into one of them…

That sounds horrible… I don’t get it, what’s happening? And what can I do?

Ugh… Please… Find us… Unleash your… AAAAAHHHHH!

My what? Hey, what’s wrong?

The air around me starts warping, suddenly becoming pitch black. I can see even less than before. An endless amount of dark blue tendrils start reaching me, and I panic. They get me, wrapping me and trying to drag me deep down.

As much as I struggle, I can’t release myself. I feel like I’m drowning. This isn’t new to me, I’ve dreamt of this before, but it’s becoming worse each time. And it’s unbearable.

I scream so hard.

I want to run from all this. I’m so tired.

 

---

 

“Ari! Ari, what’s wrong?”

Nimb was shaking Ari to wake him up from his nightmare. The Riolu opened his eyes and jumped.

“… Nimb?”

He was okay. It was over…

For now.