Chapter 8: A Foe Arises

Alice awakens with a startled shout, her heart pounding in her ears after witnessing such a terrifying nightmare. Her whole body shook as she could only stare at the floor. Though she was broken out of her stupor by a voice. “Hey! A-Are you alright!?”

Alice looks behind her to see Eric & Riley, the Eevee & Riolu she had gone to help the night before, both of them now gazing at her with looks of worry. She blinks twice, not saying anything at first as she turns her attention to Eric who had spoken prior. “Oh! It’s you two! Uh hello.” She straightens up a bit & stretches while Riley slides off the bed he was laying on.

“You alright? You looked like you were having a rough time sleeping.” Eric says to Alice, who shakes her head in response.

“Uhh, no not really. I had a nightmare actually.” Alice admits, letting out a low sigh.

“A nightmare? Aww I’m sorry. Do you uhh, wanna talk about it?” Eric asks, giving a slightly nervous look, though Alice shakes her head once more.

“No, don’t worry about it. Anyway, how are you two? Last night was rather rough I’m sure.” Alice questions while shifting her gaze to Riley, who was adjusting his glasses resting on his snout.

“Oh me? I’m perfectly fine now! It’s like nothing even happened to me yesterday! Here, watch!” Riley says with a cheerful grin before doing a quick little pirouette, holding the pose for a few seconds before stepping back.

“Huh, impressive.” Alice remarks before she makes her way to the door. “Well, if you two are eager to get moving, come with me. We can grab a bite to eat while I need to discuss something with you two.”

Eric & Riley glance at each other briefly, before they each give a nod to Alice & proceed to follow her, with Riley moving first, followed by Eric, who lags slightly behind to stretch his limbs a bit. As he follows along, Marco suddenly pipes up in the Eevee’s head.

“Oi, I’d be careful kid. You never know what clans are up to.” Marco warns, though Eric only rolls his eyes.

“Yeah I hear you loud & clear Marco. Can you just chill out with all that? Alice doesn’t seem all that bad to me.” Eric replies in a low whisper. “Besides, Riley and I both promised to help her out with something since she helped us first.” He adds before trotting quickly to catch up with Riley. Marco was going to continue his protests, but they fell to deaf ears as the Eevee opted to try & ignore him for now.

Walking along, the duo following Alice could see the same village as before, except now it appeared a bit darker, mainly in the foliage up above. No glowing moss or anything of that nature was on display. When asked why that was so, Alice went on to explain the cycle of the nocturnal plants & such that only blooms & glows when exposed to moonlight, so the village was lit up with more torches during the daytime. “Say, where is everyone? Village seems a bit quieter than it was last night.” Riley asks as they walk along.

“Well you see, we of the Dream Wards, we are more night-owls as it were. Most of us anyway. A good portion of our usual responsibilities occur during the night, so we don’t have a lot to do during the day other than sleep.” Alice explains. “Granted, a few of us, like myself, still go out and about during the day. I’d wager a couple of us are out as well doing other things, but that’s beside the point.” The Absol goes on to lead Eric & Riley to what was assumed to be the mess tent, a large tent that was on the far side of the village, where a pair of long tables stood, & at the far end, was a lone Sabeleye who was cleaning a few dishes in a large wash basin. There was a little chef’s hat that was perfectly nestled on the Sabeleye’s head as they glanced back, spotting the trio of pokemon coming in. “Ohh howdy Alice and guests! Ya missed out on the big breakfast rush, but there’s still some stuff left!” The Sabeleye spoke, pointing to a few large baskets that still had food in them.

Alice thanks the Sabeleye who returns to cleaning up as she, Eric & Riley grab some food & take a seat. “Now then,” Alice begins while the other two start to eat. “You two remember I asked you both to help me with something, right?” Alice asks & was met with the two of them nodding their heads in agreement. “Good, because I know what that is going to be now.” She says before taking a few bites of her food.

“Ooookay, so what is it?” Riley asks, tilting his head slightly, curious at what she was going to ask of the two of them.

“Since you both claim to not be in cahoots with that Bisharp from before, I’d like to ask that we go out and investigate further on this whole matter. There are some folks I believe who are patrolling the lake already, but with me around, we can look around pretty much wherever. I do know my way around this forest after all.” Alice says, looking at the two of them. “You’ll help me with this, right?”

Eric & Riley look at each other briefly, Riley having to swallow his food before he looks back to Alice. “I mean yeah, sure. You helped us out when we were in a tight spot. Only fair we return the favor and help you out. Right Eric?” Riley asks, & Eric nods his head.

“Yeah, once we finish, let’s go. I mean, I dunno how much help I can be, but I can certainly try.” Eric says, sounding a bit nervous, though Alice still smiles at the two of them.

“Thank you. Both of you. I really do appreciate it.” Alice says after finishing her meal. “Once we’re all set, I’ll lead the way. It is daytime in this forest now, so the forest is rather obscured now.”

After finishing their food, Eric & Riley, now being led by Alice, all make their way out of Crescent Grove Village, with Alice opening the hidden entryway then closing it behind the three of them. She then starts to head through the pathway that they had previously taken & would eventually arrive back at the lake where Eric & Riley were attacked the previous night. “Welp, we’re back.” Riley states, looking around the place with one hand on his hip.

“Yes. Although…” Alice trails off as she glances around, she very quickly notices that something was amiss here. “There’s no one else around.” She says, taking a few steps toward the lake’s edge.

“Isn’t there supposed to be no one here though?” Eric inquires, glancing around as well but Alice shakes her head in response.

“No, given what has happened as of late, the Elder insisted that some of us go out to patrol the lake for a while, keep an eye out for anything or anyone else suspicious.” Alice replies, looking back to Eric. “However, there doesn’t appear to be anyone else here, which concerns me…” The Absol glances around some more before sighing softly to herself. “Though then again, I’m sure they’re all just taking different paths or something. It’s not like they’ll get anywhere or find anything off by just standing around.” Alice muses, shifting to a more calm expression as she takes a few steps toward the lakes edge.

“Ya know Alice, your clan seems to be really proactive despite being called the Dream Wards. With a name like that, it seems more like you’re all a bunch of dreamers.” Riley remarks, to which Alice scoffs lightly.

“Oh please, that’s just a dumb stereotype to try & make us look lazy. Believe it or not, we of the Dream Wards work tirelessly to ensure that Pokemon all around the Stratos Region are blessed with good dreams from Lady Cresselia. And when we’re not doing that, we’re making our ways around the forest, ensuring the paths are well maintained, & helping anyone that’s lost find their way.” She explains in a bit of a matter-of-fact tone.

“Huh, guess that was a bit narrow minded of me. Sorry.” Riley looks away briefly, to which Alice shakes her head.

“You don’t need to apologize, it’s fine. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that sort of thing.” Alice replies, giving Riley a little smile. “I didn’t mean to sound so stern. I’m just proud of what I do. That’s all.”

The two look at each other for a brief moment, both appearing to be in understanding of one another, before Alice turns her attention to the lake once more.

“But anyway, why leave the lake completely unattended? It’s like a hallowed spot isn’t it?” Riley asks, tilting his head at Alice with an incredulous stare.

“Yes, but it’s supposed to be a place only accessible to those of the proper clans.” Alice replies, not looking back at Riley. “Come. We can look around elsewhere too.”

At that, the trio continued on into the now darkened forest with Alice still taking the lead, Riley following behind her, & Eric bringing up the rear. Though as Eric looks around, trying to keep his bearings & not be separated from his traveling companions, it would give Marco ample opportunity to have yet another riveting conversation with the nervous Eevee. “So kid, think you’re gonna actually see this nonsense through?” Marco asks in his usual blunt tone.

“I… Yes. I am.” Eric replies in a whisper under his breath.

“Even though you technically have nothing to do with all this? You were literally dragged into this whole mess by that Riolu friend of yours.” Marco retorts.

“That may be true…” Eric looks over at Riley, who was walking along with his hands resting behind his head. “But even still, Riley’s my friend. One of my first ever friends. I don’t want to just leave him to potential doom. He might need me.”

Marco guffaws at that, making Eric jump slightly, followed by a quiet huff of annoyance. “Are you serious!? Him!? Need you!? Oh man kid! That’s gotta be the funniest, but also dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! And you’ve said some DUMB things in the past!” Marco continues to bust a gut laughing in his head as Eric just looks down, clearly upset by the harsh words. “Ohhh man… but seriously kid, think about it. That Riolu’s the one who got himself into all this trouble. And like I said before, you don’t have any real stake in this, that Absol’s with ya now. She can take care of whatever’s going on around here. Sure you can help out, but just so you know, if anything bad happens, you gotta make sure to keep yourself-keep us alive. Got that kid?” Marco says firmly.

“I-I know that, but I dunno, to me it sounds like you’re trying to say that if something bad were to happen, I should just cut my losses and run.” Eric’s whispering voice quivered at the thought of potentially leaving Riley & Alice to whatever fate might befall them if all of their lives were potentially in danger. Something about that line of logic just did not sit well with the Eevee, but his thoughts were interrupted by Marco’s swift reply.

“If it comes down to it, then yeah.” Marco says matter-of-factly.

“You can’t really mean that!” Eric raised his voice all of a sudden, his ears & tail perking up in shock.

“Can’t mean what?” Riley turns his head to Eric, glancing over his shoulder at the Eevee as he had heard his little outburst. “Are you talking to yourself again?” He cocks an eyebrow at Eric, who just nervously chuckles & nods his head in return.

“Uhh, yeah! Sorry, I umm… I just talk to myself whenever I’m nervous. Sorry…” Eric says while looking away from Riley, who then just shrugs & adjusts his glasses on his snout.

“Okay then, just seemed more like you were having a full blown conversation with yourself I’d wager-” Riley laughs to himself at that, making Eric sigh. “No biggie though. Doesn’t bother me. Just don’t go responding to yourself or whatever. That’s when I’ll get worried.” He gives Eric a quick little wink before turning his attention forward once more.

Eric groans mentally while Marco goes silent. The Eevee’s thoughts were swimming as Marco’s words were on repeat in his mind. Though said thoughts would be cut upon hearing a startled gasp come from Alice, followed by her taking off in a sudden sprint. Eric & Riley look to each other briefly before they both take off after her.
Coming to a stop in a small clearing, there was an alarming sight before them. All around in this clearing, there were slash marks all across a number of trees, one tree had even been felled by a remarkably clean cut & was collapsed to the ground. However the most alarming thing of all was the figure on the ground sitting against the fallen tree, a Sandslash wearing an armband just like Alice’s who looked to be wounded, but still conscious.
“Mason!” Alice hurries to the Sandslash, who lets out a low groan. He was holding his clearly bleeding side as he looked up at Alice.

“Ohh… A-Alice, what’re you doing here?” The Sandslash named Mason asks before letting out a quiet groan of pain.

“Never mind what I’m doing here, what happened to you!?” Alice replies while she looks around the immediate area. Spotting a small bush with bright blue berries, she hurries over & grabs a few, bringing them over to Mason. He takes them, recognizing them as oran berries-berries known to help in healing wounds once ingested, though these ones were smaller than the average sized berry & he eats them.

After taking a moment to chew & swallow, the Sandslash speaks. “Well… I was doin some investigating, and wouldn’t you know it, I came across a pair of pokemon-both wearing cloaks. They were talking about some stuff but I couldn’t quite hear them. Next thing I knew though, one of them spun around and let out an air slash at me. I dodged that, but the other one spewed some poison or something at me after that.” He goes to sit up but then winces sharply in pain.

“Hey! Take it easy, don’t force yourself.” Alice eases Mason back down as he opted to keep still for now. “Were you able to get a good look at them?” She asks, to which Mason looks away, going into thought for a moment.

“Yeah, I slashed at them in retaliation and I saw one of them was a Salazzle, and the other a Bisharp.” Mason replies. “By then I went to attack back and we got to fighting, but when the Bisharp dodged, he grabbed me and then slashed my side real good.” He briefly holds up his hand, showing the gash in his torso.

Upon hearing of the Bisharp, Riley’s body tenses. He makes a fist as his tail bristles slightly. “That guy, so he’s still around.” Riley mutters under his breath. “Is he still close by?” Riley asked, taking a step forward.

Mason looks over to his left, raising a claw & pointing in that direction. “Last I saw, he went that way. The Salazzle split off from him, said something about checking in on other business…” Mason trails off before he exhales & closes his eyes.

“Mason! Hang in there!” Alice urges the Sandslash who puts a hand up to her.

“Don’t worry about me Alice. The oran berries helped. I just need to rest. If you’re gonna go after him though, be careful.” Mason sighs.

Alice takes a step back, looking back to Riley & Eric. “Well you two. Seems like he’s close. Let’s hurry.” She then takes off running in the direction Mason pointed to. Riley was about to go after her but he stops as he sees Eric wasn’t moving.

“Hey, you alright buddy? You haven’t said a word.” Riley asks, stepping toward Eric who was trembling.

“Uhh, Riley. Are we going to… you know, actually fight?” Eric asks hesitantly.

“Yeah, it sure looks like it.” Riley replies with a tense look on his face. “Are you scared?”

“I mean, yeah. That Bisharp nearly killed you. He cut your leg really bad.”

“Yeah but I’m all better now. See?” Riley lifts his leg, to which no visible scars could be seen. “Look, the only reason I got hurt was because he caught us off guard last time. I think we can take him if all three of us work together.” Riley pumps a fist in front of him as he sports a more confident grin now.

“A-Are you sure? Like, really really sure?” Eric asks. He had a look of growing apprehension on his face as he was just a brown ball of nerves.

Riley stares at his friend, then walks over & puts a hand on the Eevee’s head. “Hey, I get that you’re nervous, fights are always nerve wracking. But just be careful, and you’ll be okay. And look, I don’t really say this often, but if things get really bad, you can turn tail and run. Live to fight another day as folks say.” He pats Eric once on the head, then turns around. “Now come on! Alice ran ahead so we ought to hurry up and catch up after her.”

At that, Eric watches Riley run off further into the darkened forest. Now he was alone, his thoughts were swirling, unsure of what he could even do here. “Hey, look at that, they’re both going off on their own. Now’s probably the best chance you got to go and leave, kid. Riley even offered you the chance.” Marco says, to which Eric sighs heavily.

“Are you seriously still suggesting that? Eric asks in disbelief.

“Uhh yeah. I am. And you know why I am.” Marco quips back.

Eric huffs once more. “I can’t believe you! You think this whole problem can be solved just by leaving them to fight that Bisharp?”

“I mean, why not? Like I said before kid, you don’t have any real stakes in this.” Marco retorts. “And it’s not like you’d be any use to the other two in a fight either… unless you think you can prove yourself wrong?”

Those last few words would be the words to make Eric let out an angry growl.

“Alright that’s it! You know what? I’ll show you Marco! I can fight! I fought with Riley against that mean Excadrill before, I can fight alongside Riley again! You just watch!”

“Not like I got much of a choice…” Marco says with a sigh of resignation.

And with that, Eric stamps a paw on the ground & takes off running after Riley & Alice, now dead set on taking part, much to Marco’s previous insistence otherwise, in the coming battle between the three of them & their Bisharp assailant.

Hurrying through the darkened wood, Eric had to take a moment to make sure he wasn’t going to get himself lost, but before long, he found himself in a small clearing, where he found Riley & Alice. Good, they were here, but what made his stomach drop was the fact that standing at the far end of the clearing, appearing to have been on the way of leaving, was the Bisharp himself, & it looked as though they were already in the middle of talking. Eric could see that the cloak that the Bisharp was supposedly wearing was off now, revealing the tall, imposing red & black figure, like an animated suit of armor seemingly with blades for hands & feet.

“You were planning on something that involved our clan’s sacred lake! Weren’t you!? Answer me!” Alice demands as she takes a step toward the Bisharp.

The Bisharp simply clicks his tongue in response, half-turning his body to Alice. “And why would I tell you what our plans are? They’re not your business. Especially to someone as weak as you.”

“Weak? You really think I’m weak!? Even after the fact that I was the one who stopped you from striking down these two over here!” Alice states, a firm look in her eyes as she briefly gestures to Eric & Riley.

“Bah, who cares what he’s talking about? Let’s just get him Alice!” Riley proclaims as he gets into a fighting stance. “I need to pay this guy back for attacking us last time!”

The Bisharp on the other hand, raises an eyebrow at the mention of the Absol’s name. “Alice…? So you’re Alice. Interesting.” The Bisharp chuckles to himself as Alice only looks more confused.

“So you know me then? Who in Arceus’s name are you!?” She asks, lowering her body a bit as she gets ready to fight.

The Bisharp looks between the two of them, then notices Eric in the middle of them, then lets out a grunt. “Well, I suppose you ought to know my name. It’s not as though it will matter in the end. After all…” With a deft flick of his arms, the sound of blades unsheathing rings out through the forest as the Bisharp raises his arms, & extended from the forearms, long slender blades come out as he readies himself. “I, Fane Bisharp, am going to be the only one leaving this forest alive.” With that, the Bisharp-named Fane lunges forward at Alice first, his arm blades seem to give off their own shine even in the lacking amount of sunlight in the forest. Alice’s eyes widen as on instinct, she turns her head slightly as a resounding clang of clashing blades resounded around them. The curved sickle blade on the side of the Absol’s head clashes with Fane’s as the two of them push against each other. Before Alice would feel herself start to lose some ground, she spots a blue blur of movement that gets a mix of red as Riley comes dashing to the Bisharp’s side, spinning once before driving a blaze kick into Fane’s torso, the flames spread briefly against the Bisharp’s steel body, making him hiss in pain before backing off. Glaring at the Riolu who just struck him, some wind gathers around his arms-to which Riley quickly recognizes as the move air slash, & after the wind concentrates to his arm blades, Fane swings his arm, unleashing a fast moving blade of air that flies toward Riley.

Thinking quickly, & moving even quicker, Riley leaps up & out of the way, twisting his body over the air slash as it flies & makes a deep gash in a nearby tree trunk. Then after landing on his feet, Riley glances to Alice as he sees her rush forward, her claws extend slightly as she drives a quick sucker punch into Fane’s stomach, causing him to stagger back slightly on his feet. “Why you!” Fane then goes to retaliate as his other arm blade becomes enwreathed with a pale green light as he deals a fast fury cutter attack to Alice, nicking her side as she went to jump back. As the three of them squared off, Eric glances around, looking rather lost in the heat of the moment as Riley had taken a brief step back, appearing to calculate something in his head.

“Well kid? The fighting’s started! Got a plan?” Marco says, jumping Eric out of his somewhat frozen state.

“Umm I-I uh…” Eric stammers slightly before he quickly shakes his head. “I can do this! I hope…” The Eevee takes a deep breath, then with a flick of his tail, it starts to glow white as he readies himself. Putting one paw forward, he flicks his tail forward as he manages to cast out a volley of swift stars-each ray of star shaped light flies out at rapid speed & appears to strike Fane in the side, but he seemed unperturbed. If anything, it only made the Bisharp grow more irritated as he turned his attention to Eric. “Uhh… d-did that work?” Eric says quietly as Fane pushed Alice aside & started to run toward Eric.

“I mean it hit him! And here he comes kid!” Marco exclaims but right before Fane could strike, there was that blur of blue & red as Riley dashed over & went for a sweeping blaze kick to Fane’s leg, tripping the Bisharp & knocking him down to a knee before Riley follows up with a force palm, slamming his open palm infused with aura into Fane’s back, making him grunt in pain.

“Little nuisance!” Fane then whips around, leans his head back & slams it down on Riley, headbutting the Riolu square in the forehead. Riley yells out in pain as he gets knocked backward, falling to his back, clutching his head. Fane lets out a slight chuckle before he gets hit with another sucker punch from Alice, this time in the arm. Fane felt the pain shoot up his arm, but that would not stop him from going to strike Alice with another fury cutter, slashing Alice once more in the side as the pale green glowing of his arm blade seemed to intensify slightly when the attack landed its mark. Alice hissed in pain before she got kicked off to the side.

As Fane turned around to face Eric again while getting back to his feet, the Eevee was not in his original spot as he took the opportunity Riley & Alice gave him to move away & get some distance, which he greatly preferred. Eric did his utmost to not fully panic but it was turning out to be a taller order than he initially anticipated. A bit of relief came to him however when he saw Riley & Alice get back to their feet, the two of them still looked raring to go.

“Grrr, I’m hating this guy more and more by the second.” Riley mutters as he then takes a very brief moment to check his glasses-which thankfully, were undamaged from the headbutt he had received, then he takes a breath to focus as this time, wind gathers around the steel circular plates on the backs of his hands & with a little circular whirl of his hands, followed by a fast punch, Riley unleashes the move vacuum wave as a blast of air fires out from his punch, flying forward & impacting Fane.

“What!? Did you just-OOF!” Fane grunts as he turns around, only to get struck again by another vacuum wave. Riley grunts with exertion as he uses vacuum waves again & again, though as he tries to aim his attacks better, Fane seems to catch on somewhat as he brings up his arms in defense, blocking the blasts of air that the Riolu sent his way. Though that would give Alice the chance for her to dash forward once more, the blade on her head glows white briefly before she swings wide & slashes Fane in the torso, causing him to stagger once more. “Hrrr… you lot are becoming more of a nuisance than I thought.” Fane holds his cut side briefly as Alice spins around to face Fane again. Riley was on the move once again but the Bisharp had a plan. With his arm blades still extended, he takes one of them, & in one swift motion, grinds the side of it against his metallic arm, letting out a horrible grinding metal sound that echoes loudly through the forest around them all. All at once, Eric, Riley & Alice scream in shock & pain as the metal sound disorients all three of them as they stop to cover their ears. Then, before any of them could react, Fane dashes forward, using fury cutter first on Riley, the blade slashing across his side as the green glow intensifies further. Then he spins around & slashes Alice with fury cutter, this time across her back, the both of them getting knocked down to the ground as they take the full brunt of the attacks. And finally Fane turns to Eric, who was just recovering from the metal sound. “Well, this took longer than I would have liked.” Fane says as he steps toward Eric, who looks up in fear at the intimidating glare of the Bisharp. “But at least I saved the easiest for last.”

Eric was in shock. His two friends were now on the ground, neither of them having gotten back up yet from the fury cutters they took & now he was the last one standing. And as his whole body shook, his heartbeat quickening more & more the longer Fane stared down at him, something within Eric seemed to stir. But before he could wonder what it was, Fane’s fury cutter blade-now brimming with power from each successive strike he had landed previously, was now descending upon him & in that moment, Eric shrieks for his life before everything suddenly went dark around him…

Darkness encompassed Eric as his eyes were tightly shut, waiting for the impending slashing, but for some strange reason, it never came. Slowly opening his eyes, he looks around & sees only the familiar void of darkness surrounding him on all sides. And then, the ever present voice of Marco appeared. “Gods above I cannot believe you! What the hell is the matter with you!?” Marco yells, his voice echoing around the Eevee as the familiar blue eye manifests before him.

“What!? What did I do!?” Eric yells back, but he curls in a bit as Marco continues to lay into him.

“Nothing! That’s what you did! You didn’t do jack! Or squat!” Marco fires back. “You said you were gonna prove something weren’t you!? What were you trying to prove exactly!? That you could get us killed in the fastest way possible!? Well!?”

Eric didn’t know what to say. He truly did want to prove that he could do this, do all of this, but as far as Marco was concerned, he was just leading the both of them to an early grave. All the Eevee could do now was simply lower his head. “…Are we dead now?” Eric asks, breaking the silence, to which Marco heaves out a sigh.

“No, not yet fortunately. But that’s beside the point.” Marco says while Eric heaves out a sigh of relief. “Clearly kid, you can’t be trusted to lead the charge in times like this.”

At that, Eric was confused. “Lead the charge? What do you mean by that?” He asks, tilting his head slightly.

“You’re real lucky kid. It turns out coming to this forest, to Alice’s little clan, seemed to have been of more benefit to me than I initially thought. Because it’s allowed me to regain some of my lost strength. Soooo, I can do this now.”

Eric only grew more confused as Marco spoke aloud, but his confusion would get put on hold as the eye seemed to expand in size. “Alright kid, take five. It’s my turn now.” The eye then flashes a bright blue, & with it, a wave of drowsiness begins to overtake Eric in a matter of moments.

“Wh-Huh? Wait… Marco what’re… you …” Eric trails off bit by bit as his eyes slowly close, the sudden hypnosis lulling him to slumber in mere moments.

Once the Eevee was still, Marco sighs. “Alright then, time I go clean up I guess.” He mutters before the eye slowly closes, leaving Eric alone, suspended in darkness…

Mere seconds before the blade was to make contact with Eric’s body after letting out his shriek, there was a sudden loud CLANG! Fane felt his blade bounce off something hard. It wasn’t the flesh of a terrified Eevee, but instead, a wall of semi-transparent force had materialized between him & his target. “What!? Protect!?” Fane was bewildered. He could have sworn he was about to cut this Eevee down the moment he shrieked for his life. And that was when something was off. Rather than the timid posture this Eevee had put on before, the stance was a bit wider, the fur on his neck was bristled somewhat & his tail was straight up rather than down between the legs. And the moment the Eevee opened his eyes, was when Fane took another step back as the cerulean eye he had seen, appeared to emit a soft glow for but a brief second.

As the protect barrier fades, the Eevee takes a breath, then exhales & with it, comes a voice Fane did not recognize before, in a cadence that was by all accounts, a complete one-eighty compared to what he heard before. “Alright asshole. I’ve had about enough of this.” The deeper, gruff voice spoke compared to the softer, more timid tone that came out of the Eevee’s mouth originally. And without missing a beat, the Eevee tilts his head upward as ghastly, shadowy energy gathered in front of his mouth & with a shout, he unleashes a powerful shadow ball, it impacting Fane square in the chest with a resounding blast & knocking him off his feet.

In that moment, Riley lets out a low groan before slowly getting back to his feet. “Eric! Hang on buddy, I…” He winces sharply before looking around, seeing the Bisharp on his back, then at the Eevee standing a few feet away. “Eric…?” Riley tilts his head slightly as the Eevee meets his gaze.

“Oh, you’re still alive? Good. Let’s get this asshole already. How’s the Absol?” The Eevee says bluntly, though in that moment, Alice was getting back to her feet as well.

“What the…? Eric?” Alice looks around before resting her gaze on the Eevee, who merely scoffs in her direction.

“Alright. This should be over in no time then.” The Eevee states, taking a few steps forward.

“Wait wait, pause one second here! Eric, is that really you right now?” Riley asks, utterly bewildered, to which the Eevee sighs.

“Look I’ll explain stuff later, just call me Marco for now okay?” The Eevee, Marco states before setting his gaze on the Bisharp who was getting back to his feet. Alice narrows her eyes at Marco before turning her attention back to Fane.

“Alright, I dunno what you’re trying to pull here, but it seems now I just HAVE to kill you three!” Fane proclaims as his arm blades extend a bit more. The fury cutter energy on one of them had vanished at this point but he didn’t care. As he charges forward once more, Marco clears his throat for a moment before gathering energy for another shadow ball, to which he fires without delay. Fane sees this one & dodges to the side, only to be met with a leaping blaze kick to the face by Riley. He lets out a shout of pain before Alice follows up with another attack, this one being her slashing twice in rapid succession with her head sickle, the slashes crossing as she attacks with an x-scissor. Fane yells out as he gets knocked back further from the sudden barrage of attacks. Fane glares at the three of them, then looks at Riley as some wind gathers around him. He goes to use air slash once more, attempting to slice at the Riolu but he gets interrupted with some well placed swift stars in the face. “AH! My eyes!” Fane yells as Marco lets out a scoff. Alice takes this chance & she dashes forward with Riley, who had also went to seize the opportunity & together, with Alice using night slash-her blade becoming enwreathed in a dark, shadowy energy, & Riley with force palm, the two of their attacks connect, unleashing a resounding BANG as Fane gets sent flying into a nearby tree, slamming hard against it & sliding down to the ground in a daze.

“Yeah! How’d you like that!?” Riley yells out at the Bisharp as he hops in place a bit, still appearing to have quite a bit of energy in him. Alice on the other hand, was still calm & focused even through her injuries as she approached the downed Bisharp. Before Fane could make any further moves, he was suddenly met with Alice’s curved blade right to his neck.

“Don’t you dare move. On behalf of the Dream Wards, you’re not going anywhere. Stand down. Right now.” Alice says in a firm tone.

Fane looks past Alice briefly to see Marco & Riley standing behind her, shadow ball & force palm both primed & ready to fire at a moment’s notice. After much grumbling, the Bisharp finally relents. “…Fine. You got me…” Fane admits defeat as Alice takes a step back. As she does, she reaches with one paw to the armband she wears & touches it. With that, it begins to glow softly as she closes her eyes. A moment passes & she opens them once more.

“Good. Some of my fellow clan disciples are on their way now. We’re finished here.” Alice says firmly, then she glances back at Riley & Marco. “And you two. Thank you so much for-” She stops mid-sentence when all of a sudden, Marco lets out a low groan as the shadow ball fades out & he promptly collapses to the ground.

“Eric? Hey!” Riley hurries over & kneels down to the Eevee, checking him over. “Huh, guess the adrenaline rush stopped for him.” He says with a shrug. “Man… All of a sudden he started calling himself Marco & started kicking some serious ass…” He rubs his chin in thought before shaking his head. “Well, whatever. We won, so that’s what’s important, yeah?” He says as he then goes to pick Eric up, holding the Eevee in his arms.

“Wait, are you not the least bit concerned about all of that?” Alice asks, tilting her head as she looks incredulously at Riley. “I uhh, I think there might be more to that whole Marco thing, Riley.”

“Bah! Does it really matter right now? We won didn’t we?” Riley says with a rather pleased look on his face, as if the sudden dramatic shift in demeanor in his friend was nothing more than a common everyday occurrence, which only made Alice even more perturbed.

“Uhh huh… you say that, but…” Alice still looked skeptical. There was very much more to this as far as she was aware. But at the end of the day, Riley was right. The trio had indeed won this fight had it not been for the sudden appearance of this Marco fellow, they very well could have been slashed to ribbons if not for him. “You are right, but even still, we ought to get some answers out of Eric when he wakes up.” Alice suggests as she looks back to Fane briefly, shooting him a glare. “Something about all that just seems off to me…”

Riley nods in agreement right as the sound of rustling bushes & undergrowth could be heard & appearing from within, there was a few other pokemon that emerged-notably a Polywhirl, a Girafarig & a Lunatone, each of them wearing the same type of armband Alice was wearing on various parts of their bodies. After greetings were exchanged & an explanation of events were given, Fane the Bisharp was soon on his way to being held by the Dream Wards for interrogations & the like. And the trio of Eric, Riley & Alice would all be led back to Crescent Grove Village for rest, recovery, & accolades, followed by their next step forward.