Chapter 7: Sierra

Three days later I left the hospital. Or at least I escaped it. Look, I had been bedridden for a week. I could not stand to be trapped there a moment longer. It didn’t hurt to move anymore, and if anything happened Eve knew Morning Sun. What more could the hospital do for me? Nurse Blissey outright refused to let me go, so I escaped. Vix caused a distraction (she seemed awfully good at that) and Eve helped me slip out the door.

Naturally Eve argued with me about it, claiming that I needed to stay until I was fully healed, but I vehemently disagreed. I could not spend another day cooped up in bed, and despite everything I knew that Eve couldn’t argue with that. I had seen her the last two days becoming antsy as she and Vix relaxed by my bedside.

“You know, you can leave. Nothing will happen to me, I’m in a hospital for crying out loud. You and Vix can go and do some jobs if you want.”

I hadn’t even finished before Eve was shaking her head, and I was surprised when even Vix seemed to be reluctant to go.

“No,” Eve told me, “we aren’t going anywhere unless the entire team goes.” She winked at me, “ How will we do anything without you acting like our human shield.” She grinned. “We aren’t going without you. End of discussion.”

So with the choice between help me escape, or go without me, Eve was suddenly very excited about the escape plan.

Of course with my luck, my escape didn’t go unnoticed for long. Kegan appeared at our door the next morning looking as though he had been up all night and also like he had gone through a gauntlet to get to our door.

“Nurse Candice didn’t take too kindly to your little Houndoomini maneuver at the hospital yesterday,” he began as soon as I opened the door.

“Hello Kegan,” I said as he brushed past me into the apartment, “please come in.”

Eve took one look at him and hurried into the kitchen. “I’ll get a pot of coffee started.”

“Thanks,” Kegan said with a sigh slumping into a chair. “She knew you had left only a minute after you escaped. She told me, in great detail, how dangerous and reckless it is that you left before she could clear you and make sure you were healthy. She also told me that it is extremely selfish of you to put this danger and stress on your friends.”

Vix peeked her head over the back of the couch. “Does she know that I don’t care?” She immediately turned back to the TV.

Kegan gave a half-hearted chuckle. “So what?” I asked him. “Are you taking me back? Do I have to stay there until I am fully healed?”

Kegan shook his head. “I can’t force you to stay there, and even Candice couldn’t come up  with a reason to bring you back, but she did have some instructions for you. To keep you from having a problem.”

Eve levitated him a steaming mug of coffee. He plucked it right out of the air and took a sip. “Slink, you and your team do good work. But so help me if you make her angry again…”

“Noted,” I muttered, “so what are these instructions?”

“She says that you have to take it easy for another two days. You can do whatever, but no adventuring and certainly no Mystery Dungeons over that time.”

“Okay,” I said rolling my eyes, but unfortunately I turned and found Eve watching me. For the record she didn’t look happy.

“Oh, no. I don’t care. You got out of the hospital, and I was okay with this, but you are going to follow those instructions or I’ll send you back to the hospital with a real injury, got it!”

“Hey, we escaped because you didn’t want to do any jobs without me. This way we still aren’t doing any jobs for another couple of days,” I tried to reason.

“At least we won’t be stuck in the hospital for another few days. We aren’t arguing this. Understand?”

I shook my head, but I didn’t want to press this issue, especially not in front of Kegan or Vix. “So, Kegan did you have anything else that you needed to tell us?”

The Kedabra was taking a huge gulp of coffee. He sputtered for a moment before he spoke. “Er, um, yes. I did. It’s about your new friend.”

“Oh,” I said, “did something happen to Buzz? When we left he was fine, but did something happen?”

“No, no!” Kegan tried to backpedal. “I was talking about Leo.” The room became dead silent. “Did you three know that he was a part of the Hatred?”

All of us looked at each other. None of us said a word.

“Well?”

“We may have.” I mumbled.

Kegan buried his head in his hands. “You three are members of the Expedition Society. How could you bring a member of the most wanted team on the continent to Society HQ?”

Eve shook her head. “No, we didn’t. He used to be a part of the Hatred, he isn’t now. He risked his life to save us, and he needed our help. Leave him alone.”

“She’s right,” I added. “He told me that if I ever need any information, potentially on the Hatred, he would help me. I saved his son, he won’t betray me.”

Kegan gave us a wary look. He shook his head and sighed before draining his coffee and standing up. “Why do I even try to argue with you guys? Okay, see you back at work in two days.”

As he left I sighed and flopped down onto the three square inches of couch where Vix wasn’t. “So looks like this is our day.”

“Oh, quit moping,” Eve said rolling her eyes. “Come on, I’ll even cook dinner tonight. I’ll have to go to the market but…” she smirked at me, “would you like to come with me? It will get you out of the house.”

“Fine,” I grumbled standing up and grabbing my bag. “I might as well. I have to return all of those ‘Small Camp’ discs that we bought last week.”

“Vix you coming?” Eve asked before heading directly for the door, not waiting for an answer. Sure enough….

“NOPE, I’M GOOD,” Vix bellowed at the already closed door before turning back to whatever she was watching. Some sort of kid show she had gotten really into. I didn’t care. I simply shrugged and followed Eve out the door.

We passed by Mr. Gloom on our way out. We both politely waved before leaving through the front door. We walked down the street for a few minutes, both trapped in our own heads.

Finally Eve snapped. “Oh, quit pouting. This little vacation is to keep you safe. If you get hurt again you might hurt yourself permanently, and then what?!”

“Well if I have to stay here, at least you and Vix could go and do some jobs. It bothers me that we have done nothing for a whole week, and now we have to wait another two days. That hotel was expensive, we’ve eaten out a lot, and we still have to make rent!”

Eve laughed, she actually laughed. “Calm down. We aren’t as strapped for cash as you seem to think. Leo still paid us for the job we did.”

“Yeah, but-”

“And he seemed very grateful that you saved his son. He paid me while you were unconscious, and, well…” She opened her bag and tilted it towards me. Inside was a fat leather pouch bulging with P. “I counted it the other day. There is over 3,000P in there.”

“3,000?” I gasped. That is more than enough to pay rent for the month. “We can pay rent, and we still have 1,000P to spare.”

“Exactly,” Eve said putting the pouch back into the bag, “so you don’t have to be so uptight about doing a job every day. Besides, I figured that we could stop by the library. We can spend the next two days researching the Dreamstone.”

“Sure,” I said with a sigh. Did I want to find the Dreamstone? Of course. Did I want to do it on a day when we could be doing a job? No, just no.

Eve tossed me a smaller leather pouch. It was about half full of P. “That is around 800P. Meet me at HQ in half an hour. We can go to the library together.” I nodded and started for the Expedition half of the market while Eve made a beeline for the food side.

Kangaskhan’s tent was in the exact same place that it was a week ago. I waited behind a Scizor patiently as he haggled a bit with Kangaskhan over the price of shop disks. He bought five, and then it was my turn.

“Well hello there again little Fennekin. How are you?” She said happily. Her baby was sleeping soundly in her pouch, so she kept her voice low. “I heard a rumor that you were in the hospital. What happened?”

I shrugged. “We had a run in with a stubborn Electrode. I was injured fighting it, and when it used Self Destruct I wasn’t ready.”

“Sorry to hear that, but it looks like you are better now hon. So sweety, what can I do for you today?”

I reached into my bag and dug out the pouch of discs. I searched inside until I had pulled out every small camp disc, even the one we had already used, and had them lined up on the counter. “Can I sell these back to you?” I asked. I needed to get rid of these before I could buy larger camps.

“Of course you can hon.” The Kangaskhan leaned over to look at the discs. She stopped at the one that I had already used. “Oh, except for that one sweety. I can only buy them back if they have never been used.”

“Just checking,” I said taking back the used one. “So, here is a question. Have you changed how you make small camps recently? I remember going camping with my dad and my sister a few years ago, and I know my dad used small camp discs. There used to be three tents in a small camp right?”

Kangaskhan nodded. “I don’t make them hon, I just sell them. I do know that whoever makes them changed them last year. You used to get three tents in a small camp, and you could use those discs six times. I honestly don’t know why they changed them, except for the money of course. So was that all for you today, or did you want to buy bigger campsites?”

“I’d like to buy three medium camps if that is alright. Oh, and one large,” I added hastily. I paused for a moment before I asked a question that I honestly should have asked before I left the shop a week ago. “How many tents and uses do you get from each of those?”

Kangaskhan chuckled softly. “The medium camp can be used four times, and it also has four tents. The large can be used eight times and has six tents. Was that all you needed today?”

“Yes,” I said, quickly passing her the P to complete my purchase. “Have a good day,” I said politely as I walked away.

“You too hon.” The Kangaskhan called after me.

Eve had taken the Expedition Gadget, so I had no idea what time it was, but I figured that I should head to HQ anyway. I had been waiting behind the Scizor for a while, and I had had a long conversation with Kangaskhan. If it hadn’t been a half hour yet, it was getting close.

Apparently I had timed it perfectly right because as I approached the HQs front doors, I saw Eve approaching from the opposite direction. We quickly fell into step beside one another and walked through the doors together.

Nobody was in the lobby, so we went straight back to the library. We passed by a few new recruits who were all reading glossy new books. I just managed to catch the title as a Croagunk passed by with the book under his arm.

“Mystery Dungeon Exploration for Dummies.” I whispered to Eve as soon as we were out of earshot. She glanced back just in time to see a Slowpoke take a bite out of his book.

“For Dummies? You don’t say.” I did everything I could not to burst out laughing as we worked our way down to ground level. Dimitri was behind his desk as usual, staring blankly into the blue glow of the Pokémon Nexus. As soon as we approached the desk he whipped around and regarded us with his one huge eye. It started purple, but as soon as he recognized us it turned bright yellow. He vaulted over his desk (much to Eve’s and my surprise) and grabbed us before we could move. He pulled us both into a bone crushing hug before he lifted me up and gave me a thorough once over. His eye had changed to a sickly yellowish-green color.

“He must have heard about your injury.” Eve said. Dimitri had settled her back onto the ground. “I guess he was worried about us.” The Trevenant’s eye turned purple as he nodded in agreement. He carefully set me back down before he looked between the two of us and pointed at the spot between us. His eye turned reddish-brown, the same color as Vix’s fur.

“You want to know where Vix is?” I guessed. I must have guessed right because he nodded and changed back to purple. “She didn’t want to come with us. She’s perfectly fine. You could probably kill me and she wouldn’t care.

Dimitri shook his head, but his eye turned yellow and I could sense that he was internally laughing. Eve laughed as well for a second before she got back to business. “So Dimitri, we wanted to do some more research. Can you get some books for us so we can take them home.”

Dimitri nodded, but he didn’t do anything. Instead he just looked at Eve quizzically. “He needs a subject to search,” I prompted.

“Oh,” she said, “silly me. Umm those same books about myths, legends, and legendaries should work.”

“Oh, and I’d like a book or two about rare crystals, and maybe one on strange types of stones. Also can we get some Expedition Journals about unknown phenomena during missions?”

Dimitri blinked a few times with the amount of subjects we were asking for. He straightened and closed his eye. When he opened it, it was once again the odd bright blue. It swirled around in the socket sickeningly as he apparently searched for the books we had asked for. He was in this trance-like state for much longer than ever before, but moments later he blinked again, returning his purple eye, before scuttling off into the stacks.

“He’s quite a character isn’t he?” I remarked to Eve who rolled her eyes and swatted me playfully with her tail.

“He was worried about you,” she chided with half a grin etched on her face. “Don’t make fun of him, he’s just a big sweetheart.”

“I know, and I’m flattered but-” I wasn’t able to finish my thought, because right at that moment, Dimitri came back to the desk balancing a huge stack of books in each hand. He placed them both on the floor in front of us with a small gesture that seemed to mean “there you go”.

I glanced between Eve and Dimitri before speaking. “Er, thanks. But we kinda wanted to take them home.” Dimitri nodded, obviously not seeing the problem. I reached for the stack of books and pulled one off of the top. I shoved it into my bag. I grabbed another and was barely able to stuff it into my bag. Eve only managed to fit three in her bag, but they were a bit smaller.

“So do we levitate the rest home?” Eve asked. She concentrated for a moment, the gem on her forehead blazing to life, before a thin pink nimbus surrounded the books. She lifted them carefully, but almost instantly lost control. The stack fell to the ground with a thud, and instantly tipped over onto the other stack until we just had a huge pile of books.

Dimitri carefully restacked the books before he ducked back behind the desk. He dug around for a second before pulling out what looked to be a giant, tan duffle bag. He set both stacks inside before carefully zipping it up and offering it to us. Thankfully it was much easier to deal with. Granted it took both of us to lift the surprisingly hefty bag, but it was much easier to lift just the bag rather than each individual book.

“Thanks Dimitri,” we called as we shuffled back through the library, the bag drifting along behind us like some strange parade balloon. Thankfully it wasn’t that hard to carry the bag, and before we knew it we were back in the lobby. As we approached we heard Kegan having a conversation with someone.

“I’m sorry, but the Expedition Society is not allowed to hand out the personal information of our members.”

A deeper voice responded. “Look, all we want to do is go by their apartment and say thank you and goodbye. Seriously, you can’t help us?”

“I’m sorry,” Kegan replied, “but they would have to give you their address themselves.”

We entered the lobby just in time to see Leo and Kegan (both equally frustrated) glaring daggers at each other over the desk. “So is there any way you can get in contact with them so we can get their address so that we can go say thank you and goodbye?”

“Umm,” Eve said glancing back and forth between both parties. “Can we be of assistance?”

“Slink? Eve?” Leo jumped at the sound of Eve’s voice. Buzz peered out from behind his father looking surprised. “We were just about to come see you. That is if we were allowed to find your apartment. Where is Vix?”

“Lost in the TV somewhere.” I said shaking my head. Buzz started laughing.

“I was just discharged from the hospital. So we are headed home. We just wanted to come by and say thank you.” Buzz said happily.

“Home?” Eve asked looking confused. I didn’t blame her. I wasn’t quite sure what had happened after I passed out, but from what I could tell Buzz and Leo’s home was still on fire and a Mystery Dungeon. They didn’t exactly have a home to go to.

“Well, relatively home. We have enough money that we can have another house built. We will probably head back to the same town and start construction. We do still have plenty of land that hasn’t been swallowed up by the Dungeon. You and your whole team are welcome any time, anytime at all. And Slink, my offer still stands. Just send a message with Pelipper and I will respond as soon as I get an answer.” Leo reached out and shook paws with both of us. “I can’t thank either of you enough for helping us out, or for saving my son. Goodbye you two. I expect great things from you both.”

“Thank you too,” I said feeling a bit awkward from all of the praise Leo was heaping on me.

“And if you ever want to come see us we live in the apartment complex just down the street in apartment 2F.” Eve added happily. “You guys are welcome anytime.”

They turned to go, but before they left Buzz broke away and tackled both Eve and me in a hug. “I want to be just like you when I grow up,” he whispered to both of us before he let go and ran to join his father. “Goodbye!” He called over his shoulder.

“Well that was unexpected,” I commented dryly. Eve laughed. “Okay, let’s get this back up to the apartment. We can have lunch and then I guess we can get started.”

“I am getting kinda hungry,” Eve replied. Together we hefted the bag (which was much harder to carry through the crowded streets) and eventually we made it back to our building. Gloom seemed like he wanted to make a comment, but thought better of it as Eve and I maneuvered our massive bag through the front door. Getting it into the apartment was even harder, but we eventually managed to get the bag through the door. Vix poked her head over the couch to check what was happening. I saw her eyes go wide before she ducked back down.

After another ten minutes of wrestling with the huge duffel bag we managed to shove it into the room. As soon as we emerged Vix’s head popped up from behind the back of the couch. “Oh, hey guys. Did you need any help?”

“No we’re good.” Eve said rolling her eyes. I just stuck my tongue out at her. Lunch happened, we ate it, and then Eve and I retreated to our room to try and research the Dreamstone.

We pulled the duffel open and grabbed a few books that we wanted to start with. We retreated to our beds and pulled the books open and started reading. Let me say, for posterity’s sake, the crystal and rock books were boring. Honestly I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting. I could list the properties of any Emera or name every species of Mega Stone, but I received no information on the crystal shard I had found or the Dreamstone.

From what I could tell, Eve was having similar luck. Although I think we actually got useful information from her reading. The Dreamstone was not the nickname of some Legendary Pokémon. Although the book didn’t list half of the achievements of each Legendary. As far as I knew Zekrom could have gotten drunk one night and created the Dreamstone from his godly drool.

We took a break around four and Eve started on dinner. I offered to help, but she physically (or more accurately Psychically) removed me from the kitchen. “When it is your turn to cook, you can. Otherwise get the hell out of my kitchen!” I took the hint and got the hell out of her kitchen. Instead I flopped onto the couch next to Vix who was rapidly flipping through the channels.

“Ugh, there is nothing on!” she lamented throwing the remote down. She had settled on some sort of workout channel that was probably very popular with bipedal Pokémon. I honestly didn’t see the appeal, especially when it was physically impossible for me to do pull-ups, but I could easily put my foot behind my head unlike the Gallade who was struggling on the TV.

“Hey Vix, could I watch the news?” I was honestly a bit afraid of changing the channel without her permission.

Vix shrugged, stretching out. “I guess. There’s nothing else on.” Quickly I snatched up the remote and turned to channel nineteen just in time for Slowbro to start his weather report.

By the time the weather was over, dinner was ready. Eve had made pasta, and as this was Vix’s first time trying this particular dish we both kept an eye on her. We weren’t disappointed. The second she took a bite her face lit up, and as we are used to she proceeded to scarf down her dinner as fast as possible.

After dinner it was more of the same. Back to the bedroom. Back to research. But now we had a slight problem. Unfortunately our east facing window didn’t let in much natural light. I had a lamp right by my bed, but Eve had been reading by the sunlight streaming through the window by her bed. Now, she had the book extremely close to her face and was squinting as she tried to read.

“Eve,” I said making her look up from your book, “didn’t your mom tell you that you will strain your eyes doing that?”

Eve laughed and shook her head. “I guess not.”

I beckoned her with my head. “Come on over here. I’ll scoot over. I have plenty of light to spare.” It was funny. This whole thing should have been awkward especially with what I had said to Eve, and what she had responded to me with after she caught me saying it. But it had been a week, and nothing had really happened about it. Besides, we were only reading. Right?

Eve laughed and hopped up on my bed, levitating the books she was reading over. I couldn’t help but laugh inwardly. A week ago I wouldn’t have even considered laying in the same bed as Eve, even if we were only researching. It felt odd to me, how far we had come as friends. I had met this Espeon about a week and a half ago, and now she was helping me find what my dad had told me to find. I wasn’t allowed to work, and she had stayed home with me. It really was amazing how much she obviously cared, and how much I cared for her.

We kept on. Reading, researching. And slowly the hours slipped away. At around eight-thirty Vix poked her head in to tell us goodnight. She regarded my bed stacked high with books like some child’s attempt at a fort. “You guys really do a lot with your vacation days,” she snickered.

“And what did you do all day?” Eve fired back without missing a beat. Vix simply scowled at her and immediately left the room.

“Goodnight!” I called after her. She slammed the door behind her.

We both decided to try and squeeze in just a bit more reading. Maybe we would actually find a lead tonight. But as the clock passed ten, I felt myself losing focus. I couldn’t concentrate on the book in front of me. I know I dozed off a few times before I finally threw in the towel. “I’m going to bed.” I told Eve closing the book I was reading and pushed it, and all of the other books on my side to the floor. “You staying up?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she responded not even looking up from her book, “I think I’m on to something. I’ll go to bed in a few minutes.”

I shrugged and rolled over so my back was to her, and more importantly the light. I felt her shift as well, pressing her back up against mine. Perhaps it’s weird, but I felt more comfortable with her next to me. In no time at all I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I was awake much earlier than usual. I didn’t get up or open my eyes though. I was warm, I was cozy, and something was pressed up against my back. And it was breathing. I didn’t have to look. It was Eve.

I felt something else pressed into my spine. A book. Eve must have fallen asleep while reading. And honestly… I didn’t hate it. In fact I kinda liked it. It was warm and close. Everything that I had actually liked about that night in the tent. For a brief moment I considered rolling over and making it exactly like the night in the tent, but before I could I felt an awakening of Psychic power beside me as Eve began to stir.

“Hmmm,” she grumbled before I felt her freeze. “Slink, is that you?”

“Yeah,” I said quietly.

“I’m sorry,” she said glancing at me. “I must have fallen asleep before I knew it last night.” She seemed nervous, but she didn’t move. “I mean, I bet it wasn’t that big a deal. Not that I’m saying that you enjoyed it…”

She was babbling, and she still made no effort to get up. In that moment I did one of the bravest, most impulsive, and looking back probably the stupidest thing I have done in my life. I lunged forward catching her completely off guard. She flinched as I pressed my forehead to hers and nuzzled into her. I rubbed my forehead against hers, then down around the side of her head. I rubbed my cheek against hers for a moment before ducking down, scratching my forehead under her chin.

I pulled back so that our noses were just barely touching before I flicked my tongue out and licked the tip of her nose. Neither of us said a word. And neither of us mentioned it again for the rest of the day, but that night we slept right next to each other in the same bed.

And the night after that, and the night after that, and the night after that. Not once did it get awkward or weird. We didn’t let it. We were close enough by that point that we could sleep next to each other and it was perfectly fine. Once we got back to work and back on a schedule the days seemed to fly by, and then the weeks. Before I knew it, three months had gone by. Three months of living and working with Eve and Vix, and despite the ups and downs I treasured every minute. But despite how much time I spent with Eve, our relationship didn’t really go anywhere from there.

That is until one night when we decided to go out to eat after a rather stressful mission. Well “we” decided, because Vix was adamant, she was not going with us.

“I have been waiting for this episode for at least two weeks. The last thing I want to do is miss it!” The little fox was stretched out across our couch with the TV up full blast. She was watching some kind of animated show, where all of the legendary Pokémon had all of their powers switched around. I honestly didn’t care.

“Come on Vix, I know you are hungry. Let’s go to dinner.” Eve glared at Vix, and I could almost see the little fox’s determination start to deteriorate.

It reappeared in an instant. “Then we can order a pizza and stay here. I’m not leaving!”

Eve opened her mouth to argue, but I jumped in. “Vix, you can stay.”

“But-” Eve tried to argue but I cut her off once again.

“She’ll be fine on her own for an hour, we can lock the door behind us, and we’ll bring her back dinner. Is that okay?” I glanced at the two girls.

“Fine!” Eve conceded. Vix wasn’t even paying attention anymore. She had turned back to the TV.

“Shall we go?” I asked with a grin. Eve scowled at me before turning to grab her bag. “It’ll be fun.”

“Oh, shut up,” Eve growled. “You think that we should regulate Vix’s TV time?” She asked once we were in the street.

“I don’t think so,” I shrugged, “I bet it’s the novelty of the thing. I assume we both grew up with a television, but she didn’t. I think that if the obsession continues we should limit her time, but she seems fine for now. She still goes on jobs with us, so…”

“I guess so,” Eve replied as we walked in silence. She moved so we were walking side by side, our bodies pressed together. “So where do we want to eat?”

I tried to remember what restaurants we hadn’t eaten at. There was that Club, definitely not. There was that fancy restaurant, so a no there as well. And then I remembered that Dive Bar on the south end of Festive Town. Born In A Barn I think it was called. Worth a try.

“Really a bar?” Eve said skeptically when I told her.

“Yeah,” I said, “have you never been to one before? They have food there. Usually burgers and wings and stuff but, come on it’ll be fun.”

Eve gave me a small smile. “Sure why not.”

Just for the record, it was fun. Eve and I both had a burger. I had a pecha berry smoothie, and Eve got one with oran berries. The atmosphere was friendly, and the staff (strangely only Mankeys and Primeapes) were extremely friendly. At the end of the meal we ordered Vix a plate of six chicken wings. Three with spicy sauce, and three with sweet sauce. It was always fun to watch Vix try something new.

As we left, Eve jokingly leaned against me, making me have to carry her. She was laughing so hard that she was snorting. I couldn’t help but laugh as well. We had had such a great time.

The sun had gone down while we were in the restaurant, so the streets were dark except for the occasional streetlight. At one point I tripped, sending Eve and me tumbling to the ground. We laid there in a heap, still giggling, staring up at the night sky together. I glanced at her, seeing the stars reflected in her deep, lilac eyes. Everything was perfect.

“Help! Please! Someone help me!”

I bolted back to my feet as the sounds echoed down the dark and mostly deserted streets of Festive town. There was silence for a moment, then…

“Please, I need help. Please, my daughter!”

Eve slowly got to her feet behind me. As we listened for the yells again.

“Sir, please I need help.”

But this time there was a reply.

“Get lost!” The voices were coming from an alley up ahead. Without taking a moment to think I charged down the street towards them.

“Oh, ma’am please! I need help my daughter-”

“I’m sorry, I can’t. Maybe you can get help from the Expedition Society.”

“No I don’t have time for that!”

I turned the corner just in time to see a dark, four-legged figure stumble away from an obviously concerned Hippopotas.

The dark figure turned towards me and charged, stumbling over himself. Instinctively I moved back, setting up a Psychic barrier between this creature and me.

He passed right through it as though it wasn’t even there.

“Please, you have to help me!” the dark figure begged as he stumbled closer. I wasn’t afraid, but I needed to know what and who this creature was before I could do anything.

I heard Eve shout behind me, but I couldn’t make out any words. I was too focused on the creature in front of me. “Duck,” I commanded before I charged a small Flamethrower attack. Whoever this creature was ducked just as I sent a jet of Fire over his head, igniting a nearby trash can and its contents.

The flickering firelight revealed the creature. At first I didn’t recognize what he was. I saw silky white fur, but it was matted and dirty, stained in several places by dirt and blood. Blue skin appeared frequently where patches of hair had either been ripped off or cut away. Deep red eyes, a lot like mine, peered out at me from what might have been a face, but it was so tangled in wild silver fur plastered down with blood from several oozing cuts that I couldn’t be too sure.

The Absol was panting heavily, his leather-like tail beating the ground weakly. “Please, my daughter…” he gasped.

I moved slowly getting closer to him, Eve pressed close against me. “What happened?” I asked softly.

He shook his head. “We need to save my daughter!”

“Okay, okay,” I said trying to appease him, “we will, but first we’ve gotta back up.” He closed his eyes for a moment before he rolled onto his belly.

“Can we at least get your name?” Eve asked softly.

The Absol closed his eyes. “Sierra,” he breathed. He panted silently for a moment before his stomach started growling, violently. Without a second thought Eve pulled out the box of chicken wings and offered it to the exhausted and wounded Absol. He grunted gratefully as he ripped open the box and began tearing into the meat. All too soon he was finished, licking his lips for the last few morsels of food.

“Okay Sierra, now tell us what happened. From the beginning.” I stared at him as he sat there shaking his head.

“My daughter Abigail was kidnapped. We were just north of town, and we had stopped for a drink at this stream. And then all of a sudden we were ambushed! A gigantic Throh appeared and just grabbed her and started running! I chased after them, and they led me into a Mystery Dungeon. I found him in this empty room right by the portal, and he just laughed. Suddenly this Gurdurr appeared. I couldn’t do anything. None of my attacks seemed to make a dent. I tried to go on, to push past them to get to Abigail. The last thing I remember was the Gurdurr charging up his Superpower. I tried to dodge, but he kicked me and then he brought his girder down on my head.”

Eve glanced at me looking horrified. I just stared at the Absol. How had he survived all that?

“They must have thought I was dead. Hell I felt that metal beam connect, I should be dead. I only woke up when the sun went down and I was purged from the Dungeon.”

I shook my head, a pit in my stomach. We had to help this man. There was no way we could ignore this. But something felt off to me. Something felt familiar. Had I heard this story before?

“Sierra,” I asked feeling butterfree fluttering in my stomach, “is there something, different, about Abigail?”

Eve shot me a dirty look, but Sierra just looked shocked. “How did you know?” he whispered to himself. He met my gaze for a moment. “Yes, Abigail is shiny.”

I closed my eyes, terrified of asking my next question. “And the Pokémon who attacked you? What color was the Throh?”

Sierra looked completely baffled. “He was an odd color now that you mention it. I think he was orange.”

My heart sank. I turned away from Sierra, not wanting him to see my expression of hopelessness. Eve simply hung her head, gasping in shock. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what we could do. “Why? What is the big beal here?” Sierra was nearly panicking. He struggled to get to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall. “Who has my daughter? What do you know?”

I shook my head. I didn’t know how I was going to break this to him. “You’re new to the Fire Continent aren’t you.”

“Yes, we are here visiting family,” Sierra said now more confused than panicked.

“Then you probably haven’t heard of Team Hatred. They are a terror group, an evil organization. They are made up entirely of shiny Pokémon.” I couldn’t say anymore. I didn’t have to. Sierra had already figured it out.

“What does this mean?” he said, his voice broken.

“It means that your daughter is long gone-” I tried to explain as carefully as possible, but Eve cut me off.

“Wait, Slink the sun is down!” she shouted.

“What?” Sierra and I both asked completely confused.

“It is night,” she repeated almost excitedly. “How powerful is that Dungeon you were in Sierra?”

I caught on instantly. “Eve, the Expedition gadget! Sierra, where exactly were you, and what time did you go into that Dungeon?”

“Whoa, whoa, what?” Sierra nearly shouted. But before I could answer Eve had pulled up the map on the Expedition Gadget.

“I can only find two Mystery Dungeons close to any stream north of town.” She neatly tossed the Gadget towards Sierra, using her power to levitate it just at eye level. “Which one?” Eve asked frantically.

Sierra regarded the small glowing map. “Umm, that one,” he said pointing with the horn on his head. “Mountain Shadows.”

“How appropriate.” I mumbled to myself. Eve grabbed the Expedition Gadget once again and slammed her paw into the purple orb. The screen flickered for a few moments before lilac lines started crisscrossing the map. We waited, holding our breath until three lines intersected underneath the Dungeon Sierra had indicated.

“What does that mean?” Eve asked me, seemingly desperate for good news.

“Fifteen floors, at least,” I answered excitedly. This was potentially the greatest news I had heard all night. “Twenty at the most. There is a great chance that they are still there.”

Sierra looked like he was about to explode. “What are you talking about?”

I knew what I was about to say was the last thing that Sierra wanted to hear. “We will help you save your daughter, but first…” I glanced at Eve hoping she was on the same page, “… you need to eat, rest, and heal.”

“No,” Sierra protested, suddenly very angry, “I can’t do that. I’ve got to go help my daughter!” He tried to walk past us, but he was leaning so heavily against the wall for support that he couldn’t move.

“Sierra,” I said, “stop before you hurt yourself.” He didn’t listen. “We are still going to save your daughter. Sierra, think about it. It’s night!” The Absol froze as my words washed over him. “Even if we wanted to go, we can’t. The Dungeon is shifting.”

“But, Abby,” he tried to protest.

“But that also means that the Hatred has to be trapped in the Dungeon. They probably used discs to hunker down for the night. And the Dungeon is long enough that it should take them a while to get through it.” Sierra turned to look at me.

“What now? What do we do?”

“The third member of our team has a talent for navigating Mystery Dungeons. We can go home, go to bed. We will get up before sunrise, go into the Dungeon as early as we can, and then with Vix’s help we will catch up to them and rescue your daughter. Now come on, let’s get you back to our place. Eve do you have any Oran berries?”

I came up on Sierra’s left side. “Here, lean on me.” Sierra looked skeptical, but he also knew that there was no way he could move without our help. Eve came up on his right before offering him the two blue berries that she had pulled from her bag. Once he had taken them, Eve tried to use her Psychic power to help hold him up, but he slipped through her grasp like he was made of smoke.

“Right, Dark Type. Forgot about that.” Instead she wrapped her long, prehensile tail just behind his forelegs and helped support him.

It was a complete struggle trying to get him back to our apartment. It took us nearly twenty minutes to get him up the stairs. As we watched him struggle, Eve and I shared a silent thought. We both knew that Pokémon heal faster in their sleep (a fact that Nurse Blissey told me every time she told me to take a nap – I ignored her of course) but would he heal enough by tomorrow morning to help us save his daughter?

I opened the door and went in first to prepare and brief Vix. As soon as I walked in she rolled off the couch and came directly over to me, rubbing against me like a needy cat. “Did somebody miss me?” I asked, more than a little concerned. Vix was never this affectionate. “You didn’t learn Attract and then accidently use it on yourself did you?”

Vix scowled at me. “No. You and Eve are an hour later than you said you would be. I’m hungry. What did you bring me for dinner?” That cleared things up. “Speaking of Eve, where is she?”

Before I could explain anything, Eve eased open the door and lead a limping Absol into the apartment.

“What is going on?” Vix shouted as Eve lead the almost feral looking Dark Type into the apartment. Sierra flopped onto the couch. He was completely weak and exhausted.

“Hey, Eve,” I called heading into the kitchen, “you mind explaining this one?” Eve glanced at me and I pointed at Vix. She nodded and began describing our crazy night. I was looking through our cupboards for berries. I didn’t have any Oran Berries in my bag, and Eve had given all of hers to Sierra. Thankfully we had a pretty good stock of berries, seeds, and a few extra discs just in case.

I rooted through the cabinet, grabbing any healing item that we had. A long string of Oran Berries floated over my shoulder as I levitated each one towards Sierra. In the back I found a pack of five reviver seeds. I split it open and pulled out two seeds, putting them aside. I placed another two in my bag, before I tossed the other one over my shoulder at Sierra.

“So, he got attacked by the Hatred, and they kidnapped his daughter. So we are going to get up early, so that I can lead you through a dungeon, so that we can catch the Hatred before they escape.” Vix surmised. She raised an eyebrow at me. “Aren’t you the one who is always saying that we should avoid the Hatred.”

“The two members that we know are there, Eve and I are strong against. You should also at least be effective against them.”

Over on the couch Sierra was slowly eating the Oran berries, slowly getting his strength back. “Slink seems really mature.” Sierra commented weakly.

“Yeah, he really is.” Eve replied.

“So, are Vix and him like siblings or…?”

“What?” Eve asked completely confused.

“Well, I was just thinking. He is a Fennekin and all so he must be about the same age as Vix.”

Eve shook her head. “Slink is a year older than me. He just never evolved.”

“So we should probably go to bed,” I commented pretending like I hadn’t heard their conversation, “we have a big day tomorrow and we are going to have to get up early. Sierra, you can sleep in that room,” I said pointing at the right door.

“And Vix will sleep?” Vix protested.

“There are two beds in there,” I responded calmly.

Surprisingly Vix looked a bit nervous. She kneaded her paws on the ground and glanced at me pleadingly.

“Or,” I amended, “you could sleep in our room.”

Vix nearly sprinted for our room slamming the door behind her. “Well, looks like she is ready for bed,” Eve commented dryly.

“If you need anything, come get us or help yourself. We will wake you up before it is time to go.” Sierra nodded before he got up and headed for the right bedroom. Before he could disappear into the room Eve caught his tail.

“Please go to sleep. You can’t help your daughter if you are still hurt or exhausted.”

Sierra met her eyes. Bright lilac into red. He nodded before retreating to his room. A few moments later we headed for our room. Vix was sitting on the floor by the desk waiting for us.

“Good going Slink,” Vix snapped as soon as we entered, “you may trust the complete stranger you just met, but I don’t. I’m not sleeping in the same room as the maniac.”

“Sorry Vix,” I said crawling into bed. Eve climbed up next to me, her back to me, and lay down. I settled down and tried to relax. With what we had planned tomorrow, we needed to get to bed, and soon.

“Uhhh, no.” Vix said.

“What now?” I grumbled. I sat up. Vix was still sitting at the foot of our bed, giving me one of her hardest glares.

“You and Eve aren’t sleeping in the same bed with me in the room.”

“Vix, come on, just go to bed,” I groaned almost begging.

“You realize that we’ve been doing this for a couple months now,” Eve commented, her eyes still closed.

Vix shook her head, blushing slightly. “Look I don’t care. I don’t want to think of you two in the same bed.”

“Okay,” I said rolling to my feet, “what do you suggest?”

“I’ll sleep with Eve,” Vix commanded rather than suggested, “you get the other bed.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but I thought better of it and instead hopped off of the bed.

As soon as my feet hit the floor I walked over and rummaged through Eve’s bag, pulling out the Expedition Gadget. I tinkered for a bit before I figured out how to set an alarm. “Do you think that if we get up at four that will give us enough time to get to the Dungeon?”

Eve grunted in confirmation. I shrugged, set the alarm, and turned to climb into the other bed. I felt a slight twinge of jealousy as I watched Vix curl up into Eve’s stomach but it passed quickly. I settled down and tried to relax. “‘Night you two,” I mumbled as I began to drift off.

Neither of them heard me. They were both sound asleep.

---

I slept, but apparently not for long. All too soon the alarm went off, a high whining siren that would wake the dead.

I blearily rolled over and tried to tap the screen of the Expedition Gadget to get it to stop. Vix was far less patient. She pounced on the screaming device, immediately silencing it, and then batted it off of the desk. I wasn’t too worried, those things have to be mostly indestructible because of what Expedition Society Teams go through on a daily basis.

What I was worried about was what we were about to do. Were we ready to actually go after the Hatred? What if they captured Vix, or me? I shook my head. We could beat these guys. They were Fighting Types, we were Psychic. Mind over muscle, brain over brawn.

I tossed Eve my bag. “You get everything ready, and I will get Sierra up.” Vix had curled up once again on the bed and had closed her eyes. “We need to be out in fifteen minutes. Don’t go back to sleep.”

I left the room, quietly closing the door behind me. The apartment was almost pitch black, and the lack on any pre dawn light made me shiver. It was slightly cold without the sun shining in. I walked up to the other door and gathered my power to knock. Before I could, the door swung open.

“Hey, Sierra,” I said carefully, “it is time to go.” He nodded, before pushing past me. I hadn’t gotten the greatest look at him, but he still didn’t look fantastic. He could walk by himself, that was an improvement, but he still looked a bit haggard and his fur was still slightly matted.

“Sierra did you sleep last night?” I asked. He nodded, not looking at me, not speaking. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” he said calmly turning to meet my gaze. “I am mostly healed.” I wasn’t quite sure if he was lying or not. “No matter how bad I look,” he said his red eyes seeming to glow in the darkness, “I am going with you to save my daughter.”

I leaned back slightly. “Whoa, I wasn’t going to say that. I was just asking how you are doing? But you still need to take it easy today. You are weak to these Fighting Types. Let me and Eve take them on.” Suddenly he dropped his gaze and refused to meet mine.

Before I could question him further, Eve emerged from our room dragging Vix behind her. “We’re ready when you are,” she said tossing my bag to me.

I caught it and slipped it over my head. I raised an eyebrow at Sierra. You ready? You good? I tried to communicate.

He met my gaze once again and gave me a tiny nod.