Chapter 5: The Library

It was growing late as we left Society HQ, and the most important thing on everyone’s mind was food. Honestly, I wasn’t in any mood to cook and neither were Eve or Vix. Eventually, even Eve conceded that we would have to go out to eat.

Thankfully, the Honedge we had helped out was the son of a very wealthy Aegislash who wasn’t frugal when it came to rewarding people. My eyes had nearly bugged out of my head as the Kedabra tallied our reward.

“1000P for our first job?” I asked incredulously.

“With what we went through today,” Eve whispered to me, “I expected at least 2000P. She grinned, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

The sun was setting as we passed our apartment building heading into the main area of the town. “Okay,” I said cheerily looking back at my tired team, “where are we eating tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Vix whined, “I’m just hungry.”

Eve grimaced, “I’m not sure either. I haven’t been here in awhile, so I don’t even know what restaurants are around.”

“Fine,” I said setting off down the street, “I guess it’s my choice.”

We passed several restaurants, but none of them were going to work. There was a simple dive bar (honestly more a club than a bar at this point. Not exactly a place where we wanted to take a nine-year-old) and a fancy, fine-dining eatery run by a stuck up Furfrou (not to be snobby, but we didn’t really want to spend all our money on one meal. Plus we were so dusty and grimy from the day’s events that I doubt they would have let us in anyway).

Finally, I led the team into a small diner. A neon sign above the door proclaimed that it was called “Sparky’s”. We plopped down at a table and an obviously overworked Hitmonchan slapped a few menus on our table before nearly running back into the kitchen.

I looked at Eve who shrugged before picking up a menu. Vix and I followed suit, but I had to raise an eyebrow. “Vix, you know how to read?”

She gave me a dirty look. “Yes, I know how to read.”

I grimaced apologetically. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I meant how do you know how to read?”

“How do you know how to read?” Vix snapped.

“Er… I guess my parents taught me.”

“And the same goes for me,” Vix said disappearing behind her menu once again. About a minute later she reappeared. “Being able to read doesn’t help when you don’t know what things are. What’s a hamburger?”

I had to laugh, but Eve was simply scowling at me. “Don’t make fun of her.” I raised an eyebrow. Soon her expression cracked and she burst out laughing as well.

We took turns explaining the different menu items. Vix seemed really excited about the concept of macaroni and cheese. The Hitmonchan came back soon after that and we ordered.

When our food came, Vix was starting to get a little desperate. As soon as the Hitmonchan placed the bowl in front of her, Vix buried her muzzle in it and noisily slurped up the pasta.

I shared another quick glance with Eve, but neither of us said anything. We were eating a bit more conservatively, so Vix finished before us. In fact, I offered her the other half of my hamburger and she wolfed that down too.

The Hitmonchan handed us our bill which Eve quickly snatched up. I glanced at it over her shoulder. It was only about 100P which honestly wasn’t that bad. Eve quickly counted out the coins and left them on the table.

“Alright, to home and to bed.” I said as we left the diner. Vix nodded. Now that we had eaten, the amount of crap we had gone through today finally hit us.

The apartment building seemed farther away now that we were full and happy. I was ready to collapse once we crossed the threshold. Vix tried to escape into her room, but Eve caught her first.

“I think you need to go take a bath, Vix.” I looked at her and couldn’t help but smile. Vix still had cheese sauce coating her muzzle, almost up between her eyebrows.

“Really,” Vix protested weakly, “I hate baths. You’re as bad as my mom was!” She hung her head, slowly heading towards the bathroom. Before anyone could react she sprung up and made a mad dash for her room.

Beside me Eve stiffened and Vix was suddenly lifted into the air. A nimbus of pink energy glowed around her.

“Bath time,” Eve chirped happily as she carried a struggling Vix into the bathroom.

I chuckled and settled on the couch turning on the TV. There was no way I was going to be able to go to bed while Eve and Vix were in the bathroom.

The news popped up as soon as the TV turned on, and Meowth was giving a special report. “…Yes we are receiving reports that the Pokémon terrorist group known as the Hatred has been spotted West of the Fire Continent’s Spine mountains.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. The Hatred had left, so we didn’t have to worry about going into any Dungeons. Of course Meowth wasn’t done yet.

“Earlier today they raided a mountain village and we are now receiving reports that they then attacked several members of the Expedition Society within the Deep Forest Mystery Dungeon. Sources agree that none of the Society members were shiny. One, an Espeon, had reportedly aided Shane Umbreon, a known and outspoken member of Team Hatred, in escaping the law in their home village.

“Another member, a Fennekin, seems innocent and unconnected to the Hatred, but investigators seem to have found a connection. As many of you know, earlier this week Team Hatred attacked Helopian Town where they massacred a family… of Delphoxes.”

Meowth paused for dramatic effect as my blood ran cold. How had they figured all of this out? I hoped that Eve hadn’t heard about this. Both of our biggest secrets were now public knowledge.

“Is this seemingly innocent Society Team as oblivious as they appear? To find out we asked Kegan, the director of the Expedition Society here on the Fire Continent.”

The video cut to a shot of the Kedabra that had helped us at the Society. “All three of them are really just kids. They didn’t tell me much about what had happened in that dungeon, but all evidence pointed to the fact that they had been attacked by Team Hatred. Anyone going through this ordeal would be traumatized, so I didn’t press the matter. The most important thing is that none of them are part of Team Hatred.”

Meowth reappeared. “Are these kids a part of Team Hatred? Do they know more than they let on? All we know is that we here at channel nineteen news will be keeping a close eye on Team Mindfire in the future.”

I turned off the TV in disgust. I would tell Eve and Vix, but it could certainly wait until tomorrow.

They came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. Vix’s fur was still matted down, and her long silky tails looked like a tangled mess, but she didn’t have cheese sauce everywhere anymore. Eve was a different story. Her short fur was completely soaked. It hung off her like ragged curtains and dripped water onto the floor. Despite how wet she was, she looked proud of herself.

“Goodnight Vix,” I said ruffling the long tuft of hair between her ears. It flattened over her eyes and she huffed. As soon as I removed my paw, she scrambled into her bedroom and quickly slammed the door.

Eve ducked into our room and I followed closely behind her. “Aren’t you going to dry off,” I asked. She rolled her eyes at me as the gem on her forehead began to glow. A sound like fabric flapping in the wind filled the room before a towel slapped me upside the head as it rushed towards Eve. Instead of rubbing it on herself to dry off, she instead spread the towel on the floor and stepped onto it.

Her gem glowed again and a purple cloud of energy appeared by her tail. Eve squeezed her eyes shut in concentration before forming the energy into a ring. She clamped the ring on one of her tail tips and began dragging it up her body, wringing the water from her fur and letting it drip onto the towel.

Eventually she was almost completely dry, and the towel was the one that was dripping wet. Eve hopped on the bed before commanding the towel to jump up and hang itself on one of her bed posts to dry. “Night Slink,” she said.

“Night Eve,” I replied before climbing into bed and turning off the light.

---

The next morning Eve was, unsurprisingly, awake before me. I woke up about nine o’clock and found Eve in our little kitchenette making breakfast. She cracked a few eggs into a bowl with her mind and used her tail to whisk the mixture until the yolks and the whites bled together.

“Good morning Slink,” she hummed happily. “Eggs?”

They didn’t take long to cook and so we settled on opposite ends of the couch eating. Eve used her tail to operate the remote and turn on the TV as she ate. She channel surfed for a while between bites of food. I wasn’t really paying attention.

By ten, Vix had finally padded quietly out of her room. The fur on her head was a literal rat’s nest. It was tangled and matted down between her ears. She leapt up on the couch between us and curled up with her head propped up against my leg. She didn’t seem like she was quite awake yet. I pushed my plate towards her offering her the rest of my eggs. She nodded vaguely but didn’t move to eat them yet.

“Yesterday we reported on the recent activities of the Pokémon hate group known as Team Hatred.” Meowth was on TV again doing the morning news. I tensed involuntarily. Surely he wouldn’t repeat the story from last night. “They had raided a small mountain village in the Scale mountain range before attacking Team Mindfire-“

“Turn it off,” I said glancing desperately at Eve. She looked puzzled, but thankfully she trusted me enough to turn off the TV.

“What was that about?” Eve asked grumpily.

“Yeah, they were talking about us!” Vix added.

I glanced at Eve and Vix before letting out a sigh. “I only tell you this because you both deserve to know, but Vix I can only tell you my part of it. Eve will have to tell you her’s.” I licked my lips and swallowed before continuing. “Vix remember what I told you about my mom? Well she isn’t the only one dead. My entire family is, and those Pokémon from Team Hatred we saw yesterday… they were responsible.” Vix gasped, seemingly at a loss for words. I met eyes with Eve. “I saw that story last night, and I don’t know how but that Meowth figured everything out. My side and your side. Eve, our secrets are both all over the news. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you last night, and that I didn’t let you watch it, but I thought you should hear it from me.”

Eve visibly blushed, the pink fur at her cheeks turning a bright red. “So the entire Fire Continent knows about me and Shane?”

“Whoa, what? You and who? Who is Shane?” Vix looked excitedly between Eve and me.

“You’re up.” I told Eve, “It’s your story after all.”

She glared at me before turning to Vix. “I ran away from my home village a few weeks ago, a year after… my former partner… an Umbreon.”

Vix raised an eyebrow. “Okay, why is that a problem?”

“Well that Umbreon was named Shane.”

“Again, what is the problem.”

Eve rolled her eyes. “He was Shiny…”

It took a minute, but eventually Vix figured it out. Her eyes widened and she started moving her lips but nothing came out. “That Umbreon from yesterday… that was… Eve what did you see in him?”

At this point I had to get up and wander around for a minute trying to wrap my mind around that response. Eve on the other hand burst out laughing, almost falling off the couch.

Once we recovered from that it essentially became a lazy, relaxed day. Eve had moved past the news and had found a nice, family-friendly TV sitcom about a Rescue Team. I had never been anywhere except the Fire Continent so I only really knew about the Expedition Society, but the Rescue Teams weren’t that different. The team was made up of the main pair of a Dewatt and a Pignite, who had to get along despite their personalities being exact opposites. The writing was good, and it was definitely funny, but you could tell that it was clearly staged.

Around two that afternoon I began to get a bit antsy. I got up and had paced around for a bit, but it wasn’t working. A single issue in the back of my brain kept nagging at me. Sure I had joined the Expedition Society, but I wasn’t any nearer to finding the Dreamstone. I had been busy before, but here I was on my first day off just watching TV.

“I want to go to HQ for a bit and do some research,” I announced during a commercial break, “does anyone want to come with me?”

Eve shook her head. Vix regarded me for a second before standing, stretching, and hopping off of the couch. “I’ll go,” she said with a shrug, “I’m always up to go exploring.”

“Okay,” I said without much enthusiasm. Honestly, I had hoped that Eve would have gone with me. She knew about my search for the Dreamstone. On the other hand, Vix didn’t know and unlike my past with the Hatred, I was hoping to keep that secret under wraps.

I remembered Vix’s cries yesterday. “They are all I have.” I didn’t want to tell her that I was leaving once I found it.

“One sec, then we’ll go.” I ducked into the room and grabbed my bag off of the desk. I also pulled thirty P from Eve’s bag and put it in mine. Who knows when that might come in handy.

I left the door unlocked behind us. Hopefully, Eve wouldn’t lock us out or worse lock herself out. I made a mental note to find someone to make another copy of our key. Gregory the Gloom was sitting at his desk reading the paper. I normally wouldn’t have noticed, but the largest picture on the front page was our team symbol. We ducked out the door before he noticed us.

Town was rather quiet that afternoon. The sidewalks were nearly empty, except for the occasional Rattata that scurried across our path.

The emptiness was probably why I noticed the sound of running footsteps so quickly. I turned around to find Eve sprinting as fast as she could towards us with her bag slung over her shoulder. “I changed my mind,” she called to us.

We waited a few moments for her to catch up. “Thanks,” she panted. “I wanted to see the library at HQ, check out a few books. I hear it’s almost legendary.”

“Come on!” Vix whined darting off down the street.

“I also realized that you might want a little help looking for the Dreamstone. Sorry, I forgot about that.” She glanced toward where Vix’s six long tails waved as she ran down the street. “I don’t think we should involve her in this.”

I nodded in confirmation. “I wasn’t really planning on telling her unless we have to.”

Society HQ was nearly deserted when we got there. But then again what else is new? Kegan the Kedabra was behind his desk as usual reading the paper. “Excuse me,” I called up to him. He folded his newspaper carefully before placing it on the desk and facing us.

“Can you believe what Meowth is saying?” he asked. Obviously he had seen the news report and was probably reading the paper with the article on us.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. I was half tempted to play dumb, but to be fair this guy had stuck his neck out for us. “I mean, what he is saying is true.”

The Kedabra scoffed and rolled his eyes. “That’s what makes him so powerful and so dangerous. He tells the truth sure, but he spins it to make it look bad. That interview from the news last night, he doctored the footage. I also mentioned that we had run thorough background checks on you before you joined. I found your Hatred connection, and Eve’s, but both of them showed me that you would never join the Hatred.”

“Er… thank you, sir.” I said glancing at Eve.

Kegan seemed to calm down. “So what are you three needing today?”

“We would like to do a little research,” Eve said, “where is the library?”

Kegan nodded. “Of course, right this way.”

I never got a chance to get too far into HQ. Really, I had only been in the lobby and in the room we had warped back to yesterday. I knew that the building was a short, squat, cylinder with an observatory dome on top, but I had no idea what actually filled all of that space. Kegan led us straight back through the building. We passed a few dorm areas for solo new recruits, but nothing stuck out.

That is until we reached the library.

The hallway opened up through a grand arch to a beautiful room with a tall pointed ceiling. Windows, both stained glass and regular, lined the walls filling the room with natural light. We stood on a grand balcony lined with shelves on the third level of this massive room. Another, much larger balcony below us strained to hold the hundreds of bookshelves lined up upon it. On the ground floor, in the center of everything, there was a tall, solid, wooden desk surrounding a brilliant blue globe that I knew had to be the Pokémon Nexus.

“I believe you will be able to find what you are looking for here. If you need any help, just ask Dimitri,” Kegan said gesturing to the desk. “Good luck.”

“Dimitri?” Eve asked as we walked down to the main desk. I could only shrug.

Up close, the Pokémon nexus was almost blinding. It was essentially a glowing blue map of the world, but it was a perfect representation. If we had been able to zoom in on the HQ building and look inside we would be able to see ourselves. Every Pokémon on the planet existed on this map. Unfortunately the system wasn’t perfect. For example most of the oceans were covered in impenetrable cloud layers. Most of the land also had quite a few clouds covering it. Naturally the Water continent and the Fire continent were the only places largely devoid of clouds. The Pokémon nexus could only “see” where members of the Expedition Society had explored. Everywhere else was obscured in an impenetrable layer of fog.

I wondered briefly whether I would find the Dreamstone on that map or not. I had my doubts.

What was odd, however, was that somebody seemed to have planted a tree behind the desk. The tree was tall with thick grey bark, and it was also mostly dead.

“Who would plant such an ugly tree in here?” I asked Eve. There was a rustling and a snapping sound as said ugly tree began to turn. It scuttled in a circle on six stubby roots. Twin thick limbs bent downward as the Trevenant turned to regard us with a rage filled red eye.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I protested, backing away. Vix simply bolted, darting between the bookshelves to hide.

“Hey, I take it you’re Dimitri?” The killer tree froze for a minute before turning to regard Eve. He blinked his purple eye at her. Wait, purple? The Trevenant nodded slowly. “Well, hello there Dimitri. We needed to use the library for some research. Can you help us?”

He seemed to shrug before he suddenly whipped around to glare at me with a blazing red eye. “Whoa, wait,” I shouted, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you were there. I thought that someone had actually planted a tree behind the desk, and that struck me as odd and out of place. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

Dimitri glared at me for a moment before he shut his eye. Bark creaked as he blinked and when he opened his eye again it was bright yellow. I could feel him projecting a general feeling of happiness. His expression didn’t change, but he looked like he was attempting to communicate forgiveness.

“Well, now that you two have made up, can you help us?” Eve grinned. “Dimitri we are looking for a thing called the Dreamstone. Do you know where we can find information on it?”

Dimitri closed his eye again, and when he opened it it was a bright blue, almost white. It spun around in its socket almost sickeningly before Dimitri slammed his eye closed again. When his eye opened it was green. He exuded the feeling of frustration.

“No such luck, huh?” Eve glanced at me. “Any ideas?”

I shrugged. “Maybe we can just look. Maps, reports, newspapers. We might just run across it. Dimitri?” The large tree glanced at me. “Can you help us find some news reports and some books on mythical or legendary phenomena?”

Dimitri blinked and once again he had a bright blue eye. It rolled around for a minute before he blinked revealing a bright yellow iris.

“I take it you have good news then?” Eve asked happily. Dimitri nodded before he scuttled out from behind the desk. He hooked his arm in the universal “follow me” gesture.

He lead us back into the library to a row of tall metal filing cabinets. I opened the bottom drawer of the first one revealing stacks and stacks of newspapers with dates going back fifty or sixty years.

As soon as I opened the cabinet, Dimitri scuttled off. Just as quickly he came back and placed a stack of thick books at Eve’s feet. “Thanks Dimitri,” I said. Then something important occurred to me. “Hey, could you go find Vix for us?”

The walking tree nodded. His eye became the strange light blue once again and roved around in its socket. It hardened into the purple color again, and he hurried off into the stacks.

“He’s an odd Golduck isn’t he?” Eve asked once he was gone. I shrugged and turned to the newspapers while Eve opened a large brown book. Instead of immediately reading however, she watched me for a while.

“Can I help you?” I asked looking back.

“Why did you want the newspapers?”

I sighed. “I know it’s kinda stupid, but my father knew about the Dreamstone. Therefore he, or someone else within his lifetime, had to have discovered it or found it or whatever. This thing, whatever it is, probably has the power to bring Pokémon back to life. If that happened in the last forty years, it had to have been in the news. You saw what lengths Meowth went to, to find our secrets. He would have found out about that.”

Eve half-grimaced, half-grinned. “I guess that might work. Just don’t get your hopes up.” She turned back to her book while I turned to the newspapers.

I didn’t scan every single article in every newspaper, in fact all I did was pull them out, one by one, read the headline, and put them back. Hopefully what I was looking for would be headline news.

“Whatcha lookin’ for?” Vix asked making me jump. Dimitri ‘s eye was yellow and he seemed to be laughing as he followed her.

“Um,” Eve said glancing at me. Vix flopped down next to Eve and pulled open a book.

I had to say something. “We’re looking for the Dreamstone.”

“What’s that?” Vix asked flipping through the pages of the book.

“It’s…It’s…” I couldn’t tell her. “It’s something that my father asked me to find. You don’t have to help me if you don’t want.” I glanced pointedly at Eve. “You don’t either?”

Eve glared at me. “I want to!”

Vix grinned. “I don’t.” She looked down at the book. “Who is this Arceus dude? Why is there this big book about him and Mew?”

I had to stick my head in the cabinet to stifle my laughter. I paged through a few more newspapers, but I didn’t find anything about the Dreamstone. I skipped back a few weeks, and tried again. In a newspaper from nearly a month ago I found an article that caught my eye. It wasn’t about the Dreamstone. It was about the Hatred.

The Hatred’s New Strategy

Last week, deep in the Scale Mountains of the Fire Continent the Hatred attacked the small village of Arceus Rock. They attacked, destroyed, and carried off a victim. The patterns of the Hatred are well known, but no less horrifying. Last night, however; they did something that has everyone confused and worried.

“They came out of nowhere,” the panicked mother of the victim told our reporter. “They prowled over the rooftops, burst down doors, and rounded us all up in the town square before the Temple. We tried to fight back, but then there came this roar. An Umbreon landed at the very top of the temple. He leapt down into the middle of everything, just a bright blue blur against the night and unleashed his Dark Void attack. I don’t remember much else. I woke up the next morning and… and… my little boy was gone.”

Fires were raging in the town when members of the Expedition Society rescue squad made it there. Thankfully they were able to contain most of the damage, but unfortunately they were unable to stop the Hatred, or rescue their hostage.

But this is where the twist comes. The victim was twelve-year-old Tod Vulpix, a normal little kid from a small town. That’s right, he wasn’t shiny.

My heart nearly leapt from my chest. I dropped the paper. Another Vulpix? A non-shiny Vulpix somehow connected to the Hatred. I scrambled to pick up the paper.

Team Hatred, a terrorist group, is notorious for ransacking villages and kidnapping only the young shiny Pokémon. This recent kidnapping raises some extreme concerns. Why have they suddenly changed to kidnapping non-shinies? Is it simply a random attack, or was this targeted?

Thankfully, just last night, this young Vulpix reunited with his mother. “I don’t know why Tod was taken, I honestly don’t care as long as he is home safe.”

An un-shiny kidnapping by Team Hatred, only for the child to be returned a week later? Is this a developing pattern? Or was it simply a random attack. In our current climate of uncertainty this is worrying. We can only hope that the Hatred don’t have plans to expand this current trend.

The article ended there. THAT WAS IT!? I had a bad feeling about it. But why? Why did the Hatred kidnap that Vulpix, why did they attack Vix? I needed to know.

“Guys,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “I need to go look something up.”

“Okay,” Vix said, not really paying attention. “So Mew is his daughter? And he sent her to earth to help Pokémon?”

Eve narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you okay? Did you find something?” She was suspicious, and I didn’t blame her.

I forced a smile. “Everything is fine.” I ducked into the stacks. “Dimitri? Dimitri!” I hissed quietly. Where was he?

The shambling ghost-tree nearly ran me over. “Dimitri! Hey can you help me find a book about all of the kinds of Pokémon. Ya know, abilities, moves, lore?” Dimitri used his creepy light blue eye search before his eye turned purple again and he shambled off with me in hot pursuit.

He stopped on the second floor, suddenly shooting his arm out and snatching a light green book from the shelf. He handed it to me.

It was made from a soft green leather with Bulbapedia stamped on the front in dark green ink. I pulled it open to the Article on Vulpix.

Vulpix

Types: Fire

Avg. Weight: 22 lbs

Avg. Height: 2’0″

Egg Group: Field

Vulpix is a small fox-like Pokemon. This four-legged Pokemon has a short, red-brown coat covering most of its body except for its cream-furred underbelly and its darker brown socks. It has six curly tails that are a bright orange color similar to the long, curly tuft of fur between its pointed ears. Its large eyes are deep brown and pupil-less.

Vulpix have a high amount of Fire control due to having a flame within itself that will only go out upon their death. This ability allows them to create floating tongues of flame that are sometimes mistaken for ghosts. To avoid overheating, Vulpix will blow flames from its mouth and nose to vent the heat. Vulpix originated on the Grass Continent, and feral Vulpix are known to prefer Dungeons located within the plains.

That was… helpful? This wasn’t teling me anything. Why was the Hatred after a Vulpix? In desperation I opened to the page on Ninetales.

Ninetales

Types: Fire

Avg. Height: 3′ 07″

Avg. Weight: 44 lbs

Egg Group: Field

Ninetales is a graceful, fox-like, quadruped Pokemon. It’s slender body is covered in silky, golden-white fur. Ninetales has nine thin tails, each tipped with darker orange fur. Long fur tops its head, forming a tall crest, and around its throat, creating a thick mane.

Ninetales has blood-red eyes that it uses to deploy its limited Psychic powers. While they are normally calm, feral Ninetales are known to be very vengeful. Most of a Ninetales’ powers are concentrated in their tails, each imparting a different power * on the Ninetales or those around them. Despite its Typing, Ninetales does have the ability to swim; however, it will only do so in an emergency. Ninetales originally came from the Grass Continent. Feral Ninetales are known to prefer Dungeons that reside within grasslands.

I scanned down the page for any other clue and stumbled upon the footnote.

Power * : These powers seem to vary between each Ninetales. The common rumor about curses only seems to apply to one tail, marked with a red ring of fur at the tip, that carries a curse of reduced luck. Other powers have been recorded, but they appear sporadically at best and have no identifiable markings. Note, this only applies to Ninetales. Before they evolve Vulpix has no other mystical abilities. Those powers only exist once they evolve.

(One exception does exist, but it is extremely rare. Occasionally a Vulpix, and only a Vulpix, may have the Navigation ability that allows them to see the complete layout of a Mystery Dungeon, including traps, portals, feral Pokémon, obstacles, and other dangers. Some more powerful Pokémon can use this ability to manipulate a Mystery Dungeon. They can create paths where none exist, can force paths to close, and can (although at a high energy cost) hold off the nightly shifting of a dungeon. This occurs only in 0.1% of all Vulpix, and is recognized by a thin black ring at the base of a tail. This ability will be lost if/when the Vulpix evolves into a Ninetales.)

I had to force myself to take a deep breath, and I slowly let it out through my nose. I was deaf to the world for a moment as I tried to slow the heartbeat pounding in my ears. I put the book down leaving it on the floor. I had to force myself not to sprint back to where Eve and Vix were.

It was fine, I tried to tell myself, the Hatred isn’t here. Besides we had at least twelve hours before we would probably leave town and the Hatred would have even a remote chance of even coming into contact with us. There was no way they would set foot in Festive town with the Expedition Society protecting it.

I passed Dimitri on my way, and I stopped just long enough to ask for his help. “Please, can you get Kegan down here? I need to talk to him about Vix.” The hulking tree nodded, before scuttling off through the library.

“Hey Slink,” Eve called happily. “Well, I finally got Vix caught up on Arceus and Mew. That was long and awkward.”

I laughed half-heartedly. I glanced at Vix and there it was, on her second tail, a thin band of black fur right near the base. My stomach jerked as my blood ran cold. I was right. Vix was in trouble.

“Eve, I need to talk to you.”

“Okay,” she said rolling her eyes at me.

“No, I need to speak to you. Alone.”

Eve immediately sobered up. She got up and I lead her over into the stacks. “What’s going on? Did you find the Dreamstone? Do you need to leave?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not about that. It’s about Vix. Look the Hatred is after her.”

“The Hatred is after all of us,” Eve said.

“No, they are after me to kill me, they weren’t really after you, but they want to kidnap Vix and make her a part of the Hatred.”

“Why, she isn’t shiny?” Eve glanced at Vix who was back to reading a book.

I groaned inwardly. How was I going to get Eve to understand everything I had found today. Should I tell her the whole chain of events that lead me to this conclusion? The string of kidnappings, the Ninetales’ abilities, and Vix’s unexplained affinity with Mystery Dungeons? Or should I just skip to the point. I regretted leaving the book behind. It certainly would have been useful right then.

“You have to trust me on this. I read something about Vulpix, and the abilities they can have. Vix has a specific marking, and that means she has a rare ability. I think the Hatred are searching for a Vulpix with that ability. She could be in danger.”

Eve still looked uncertain. “Okay, what do we do about it?”

“What?”

“What are we going to do? To keep her safe? What is your plan for that?”

“I don’t know, but we need to keep her safe. I sent Dimitri to find Kegan. He’ll know what to do.”

“What will Kegan do? The Hatred found us in a Dungeon in order to get to you. What can Kegan do that will stop them from getting to Vix?”

Eve fell silent, looking a bit guilty. I turned around, planning on going to find Dimitri and Kegan. Vix was standing there, her head cocked in confusion. “The Hatred is after me?”

I grimaced. This was not how I wanted her to find out.

“Slink, Vix, Eve?” Kegan had arrived. “Are you three okay? Dimitri said you needed my help.”

“Over here.” I called while moving over to Vix. “Yes, Vix they are after you. But we are going to keep you safe.” I braced for her reaction. Would she be scared? Angry? I honestly should have known. This was Vix afterall. She simply shrugged, like I had told her that it was going to rain tomorrow.

Dimitri lead Kegan over to us. “What’s going on?”

“Kegan, I was doing research… and I am fairly certain that… well I’m certain… that Vix is being hunted by the Hatred.” I couldn’t get my words out. I already felt uncomfortable talking to the Leader of the Expedition Society, and then I had to explain a line of evidence and inquiry that I couldn’t even explain to Eve. Where was that damn book?

“Whoa, Slink, calm down. Explain what you found.”

I took a few deep breaths. “I was looking through the newspapers, and I read about the Hatred kidnapping non-shiny Pokémon, a Vulpix. When we found Vix, her mother had been killed by the Hatred. I found that odd, so I started researching Vulpix and Ninetails. I found out that certain Vulpix have a power to perfectly navigate and occasionally manipulate dungeons. Vix has that power. I think Team Hatred is after her for this power.”

Kegan and Eve looked stunned. Vix had a half grin fixed on her face. “This is awesome!” she said.

Eve glared at her while Kegan scratched at the back of his head. “This is troubling.”

“Can you help us keep her safe?”

Kegan bit his lip. “I’m honestly not sure. We probably can’t with you going off on missions all of the time.”

“So?” Eve sounded a bit apprehensive.

“So I’m not sure if I can help unless,” he grimaced, as though his next words tasted bitter, “you turn custody of Vix over to me and the Expedition Society as a whole. We’ll board her here at Society HQ and keep an eye on her until the threat from the Hatred is averted.”

“What?!” Vix exclaimed. “No way I’m staying here!”

“Slink you are technically her legal guardian because you are the oldest. If you request that she stays here, then we will help protect her.”

Eve and Vix both looked at me. Eve accusingly and Vix hopefully. What was I going to do? I went with my gut. “Please,” I said to Kegan, “keep Vix safe.”

“What? No.” Vix said looking between me and Kegan. “Don’t I get a say in this? I don’t want to stay here.”

“Vix,” Kegan tried to console, “this is the only way to guarantee that you stay safe. You will have full run of HQ, and Slink and Eve can visit all the time. It just isn’t safe for you to leave town anymore.”

” I was perfectly safe outside of town for years!” Vix snapped angrily. “Maybe I should go back.” She tried to run off but I reached out and stopped her.

“Vix, please I’m sorry but-“

“Leave me alone!” Vix shouted breaking away. “I hate you!” She ran off into the depths of the library and vanished.

Everyone was silent for a minute. Kegan looked a bit awkward. “I think you need a chance to talk this over. I won’t do anything tonight.” He turned to go. “Dimitri and I will make sure she gets home okay.”

He left me alone with Eve. She looked like she wanted to kill me. “What was that?” Her voice was deathly silent and boiling over with anger.

“I just wanted to keep her safe.” I tried to keep my voice steady. I had done the right thing. But then, why did I feel so horrible?

Eve growled at me. “We could have kept her safe. What you said about family, what happened to that? Considering the state we found her in, you of all people would have thought through that more carefully. You basically abandoned her.”

“I didn’t have a choice!” I protested.

“Why not? We can protect her!”

I snapped, all of the worry and panic and fear I had been holding in all shot out of me at the same time. “Because that worked out so well for me last time the Hatred threatened the people who are important to me. I already lost one family to Team Hatred, I’m not about to lose another!”

Eve was speechless for a few moments. Then she shook her head. “Well good job Slink, you may have just lost this one.” She left me there, on the bottom floor of the library. Alone once again.