By the time the party of four had made it to Lively Town, the afternoon had begun to set in, the sun casting long shadows along many of the buildings as the day began to dim out.

As the group approached the Expedition Society, many looks of awe were shared between the newcomers and the regulars, at the large buildings with their many colours, the high buildings reminiscent of many that Sanvu remembered seeing back home, which bubbled an amount of ranging emotions in his swirling thoughts. More than ever though, they were eager to simply relax.

The small party made their way up to the Expedition Society building, a large lilac tower with primarily yellow trimmings that made it look no less grand and spectacular as any of the other buildings in town.

Upon their entrance, both of the newcomers noted its similarity to Mindscape, but the differences also became apparent, as the floors were more spacious and round, the colours warmer, and it felt more like a large home, rather than something resembling a workplace, despite that they were both one and the same in regards to that aspect.

“We’re back!” Sparky called out, as two large Pokemon approached; Pachuku recognised them as a Mawile and an Ampharos, but Sanvu’s confusion was ever apparent when the large yellow Pokemon appeared; it smiled down at them warmly.

“Look who we found,” Daniel gestured towards the others with his tail. “They’re really the ones, can you believe it?”

“Ah, so you’re the Pokemon who Daniel claimed to have seen for all this time?” the larger yellow Pokemon probed, before striking quite the majestic pose. “Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Ampharos of the Expedition Society!”

Mawile brushed at her head-jaw before introducing herself as well. “I’m Mawile, also of the Expedition Society. You’re really the ones Daniel claims to have seen?”

“Yeah. We saw Daniel as well all that time ago, didn’t we, Sanvu?” Sanvu nodded in response to the small squirrel’s point. “I’m Pachuku, and this is Sanvu!”

“…Hi, there,” he waved, his voice low in volume. None of the Pokemon seemed to mind.

“We can offer to use nicknames if you’d like,” Mawile mentioned. “I’m quite curious to hear your story myself, since investigating any leads on the Pokemon that appeared to be involved within Dark Matter was not exactly an easy task until today. But that can be for later, I suppose.”

“Y-Yeah, do you guys, just, refer to one another by species? Bit weird that Daniel and Sparky get a pass… and us, so…”

“No that’s quite alright; it’s only something that Pokemon generally decided after the last mirage, that all Pokemon should have a nickname preferably, and to only use the species when you don’t know the individual. For instance, Daniel prefers to call me “Dashier,” but in official business, I’m just Ampharos. Mawile was “Aminera” I believe,” Ampharos informed.

“All the Society members did this, but we simply prefer our species in official business. It’s nothing we hold against you, some Pokemon just have different preferences, and that’s all right,” Mawile imparted, which left Sanvu in a small bit of relief.

“Good, hearing ‘Snivy’ all the time feels a bit weird,” the Pokemon in question reckoned.

“We should probably get started on dinner, if you’ve come all the way from Serene Village, you must be hungry,” Mawile noted.

“We ate at Serene Village earlier though…” Sanvu commented, before Sparky practically jolted.

“Oh yeah, better go, quick, before Swirlix eats everything!” he immediately dashed to their right, just as Sanvu had finally managed to voice his confusion with a small hum.

“Um… Swirlix is a bit of a glutton… so if you want to eat anything besides what we had earlier… you’d better do so quickly,” Daniel informed, following after his friend.

It wasn’t long after that the other members introduced themselves to the new duo who Daniel had found, being treated as a guest. They shared much of their story of their time in the fake world with everybody, as well as why Sanvu was familiar with almost the entire crew. Many laughs were shared over dinner with the two new Pokemon, and the atmosphere was lively.

They’d done the same with Mawile and Ampharos when dinner was finished, for the sake of information preservation as they’d put it, since it was worth investigating since they took Dark Matter seriously, even two years later after the major incidents of Pokemon turning to stone.

Once finished, it was clear what they had to do.

“I see… “Mawile mumbled as she wrote down various notes related to their predicament.

“So I suppose if you’re looking to find a way home that you would be looking to the Expedition Society to help make yourselves anew?” Ampharos postulated, to which Daniel nodded.

“Yeah, that’s what we hoped by bringing them here. It’s no big deal, right?”

“Well, if what he says is true, then there’s really no issue with it. They’ve been a team before this, so to reform it only makes sense,” Ampharos nodded again, smiling down.

“So, what do you think, Sanvu? Wanna be the Minders again?” Pachuku asked him, with him shaking his head.

“No… I’m fine with being a team again, but… let’s ditch that name. It gives off too many bad vibes now,” the Snivy murmured, contemplating his next thought.

“Call yourselves whatever you like, I’ll accept anything, provided it’s not offensive or anything, we wouldn’t want to upset Pokemon who would get to know you, or anything like that,” Ampharos mentioned. Sanvu was unsure after that statement; he wasn’t quite sure what was ‘offensive’ in this world to begin with, though he was hardly the kind to not think things through.

“Hmm… how about the Drifters? Cause we’re sort of… aimless, outside of what I want to do otherwise. Plus I kinda like the sound of that word… cause we’re drifting away from Mentage… from Mindscape… so yeah, does that sound good?” the Snivy postulated to his small squirrel companion, who looked thrilled.

“Yeah, I like that. Do you like that, Ampharos?”

“I do, that sounds quite good. Drifters it is, then!” he struck a pose upon finishing. “As for where you’ll stay, you can stay with us for the time being while you figure yourselves out. I’ll go get some badges and all the essentials.”

As Ampharos left, Mawile spoke up again. “We unfortunately don’t really have any leads personally on how one can get back to any human world, never mind yours in particular. But it would probably do to attempt asking other humans to see if they know anything. It’s more than likely that Team Friends or Team Wish, for instance, may know of anything.”

“What of the Believers?” Daniel piped in, to which Mawile could only shrug.

“You could, in fact, that would probably be the best option, but I’ve not heard word that that human has visited this world in quite some time.”

“Visited?” Sanvu echoed.

“Yes, that particular human has the capacity to travel to and from their world at will. The trouble, though, is that it’s really difficult to predict when he’ll come back. Team Friends and Team Wish also have humans in their teams; so it might be better to ask them about the situation, since we still know of their general whereabouts.”

“But first…” Sparky yawned right after, “We should sleep, and I imagine they’re tired too, right?”

“Yeah. Still hate that I missed turning to an adult though.”

“I’m sure Ampharos providing you with your membership was proof of his acknowledgement of that aspect, even if it may not seem like it,” Mawile considered. “But yes, it is quite late; perhaps Daniel and Sparky could show you where you will go?”

It was a peaceful night as they were shown to their room, in particular just across from Daniel and Sparky’s own, originally for temporary guests, but now one made into their own.

*Music: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Spinwheel Library

Months would pass; the cheerful, lively atmosphere of the Expedition Society began to grow on the two new Pokemon working for it, as they began to slowly relax once they could at least be certain to some extent that this world wasn’t a projection. If it was, it didn’t resemble their old world in any capacity.

It wasn’t quite all fun and games though; Sanvu knew almost nothing about Pokemon species and the various types and moves, and Pachuku didn’t know anything about the new Pokemon that had popped up due to the mirage, so both often had to take the kinds of missions that would challenge those ways of thinking. They caught up quick, all things considered, in only a couple of months, it was much easier for each of them to recognise these shortcomings and somewhat manage their way around them. Things would lighten up so as to ease the tension that either of the Drifters would feel due to the wariness they felt around society at large now, which the Expedition Society was more than aware of (so they would hope, anyways, they couldn’t entirely be sure when Swirlix’s sole thoughts seemingly were just about food) and made sure that the duo understood.

Each night they spent in the Expedition Society was something different as well. Both of them finally had normal dreams again, and both were informed as to what Dark Matter may have been doing to them. Apparently, learning new moves wasn’t meant to come with any particular caveat, and the dreams that Sanvu mentioned experiencing that brought about his familiarity with Daniel and the dark landscape from prior all seemed something more akin to a different state of awakening than what normal dreams were capable of.

Ampharos had pretty much recommended that they stay until they can get a clearer idea of how they should approach the task that Sanvu and Pachuku wanted the most; the ideal knowledge of how to get home. Daniel and Sparky couldn’t help much with this; Daniel had no memory of his life as a human both in the distant past and to whether he even ‘went back’ to any human world at all, so while he supported Sanvu in his own endeavour, he was unfortunately as clueless as anyone else was.

So the team spent their time working the two up through regular old missions through Mystery Dungeons to improve the Pokemon Nexus, which appeared to be almost complete, going through a couple of formatting changes whenever they encountered new information not present before in the old version of the Nexus that the Hopes had been building up to for all these years.

It was a couple months later that the air began to fizzle profusely. The duo noted it as the air and not themselves, because Pachuku didn’t really feel any odd sensations coming from inside, and neither did Sanvu at this point.

“Hey, look!” a voice nearby pointed out. Both of them were outside the cafe in Lively Town when this occurred, the plaza being filled with Pokemon. The voice in question appeared to come from a Murkrow, a black bird with feathers on its head resembling a hat.

“Looks like one of them mirages again, alright,” another voice managed out.

It wasn’t anything particularly strange, Pachuku had even considered it somewhat familiar upon feeling it, Sanvu, however had no frame of reference, and so all of this was new.

But it was nothing to really fear, despite their overall apprehension. The air charged with energy, lights appeared to dance across the sky like a stream of fireworks, and sometimes, small red clouds would follow some of the lights that fell all over the place.

“Looks like there’s a whole bunch of Pokemon to learn the names of again, haha,” Pachuku joked, with Sanvu smiling his way so as to provide reassurance in his friend’s capability, after all, nothing stopped the squirrel from being a walking encyclopedia before this point, so nothing would stop him after either.

~~

*Music: Mario Party 6 – Dark Path

Their trust in one another exponentially grew, as did their attachment to the Expedition Society, with caution, since the two were still apprehensive due to Mindscape’s general lackadasial approach to situations, and the Expedition Society at a surface-level glance would appear to follow that general approach, if it weren’t for the many steps they’d taken to ensure they adjusted properly that they could only be grateful to all of them for.

For instance, because both of them had large trust issues with most of everyone else, due to past experiences, Ampharos often gave them tasks that had little to do with direct interaction with too many individuals, or deliveries that were succinct and only required a single Pokemon as the recipient. In somewhat of an odd twist of fate, nicknames became even more common after the second mirage that occurred, leaving purely organisations like the Expedition Society to use species name as shorthand, as exceptions in the new world formed from the lights in the sky. This alleviated Sanvu a little; being referred to as Snivy was still a hurdle for him to cross even many months later.

It was some weeks later while the two were out on a mission. The sky was clear, the day beautiful and bright, brushing blades of grass that stood at their feet that extended all around them in bright green shades. Pachuku was counting berries; their mission today was to simply grab a specified amount before coming back.

Sanvu sat on the grass, taking in the aspects he’d learned over these months, especially the many involving what this world looked like, but also about himself, like right at this moment, how the sun would feel on his skin felt remarkably different than it had in his own world. As he stared at his badge, these thoughts among many jumped in his head, ready to bundle in on themselves whenever he felt prepared enough.

“Okay, all counted, ready to go when you are,” Pachuku pointed out, holding it out for Sanvu to take while he remained preparing himself. The squirrel chose to sit as well, his small paws settling down.

“You know, Aminera’s probably right about that whole thing about our abilities in that other world being all… inhibiting, and all that. I feel like I could branch out into anything now, where it felt totally impossible before, and I’m not sure why that is, but I’m ready to take it.”

Sanvu grunted in agreement, before Pachuku tilted his head in confusion. “What’s up? Worried about something?”

The Grass-type sighed before continuing. “Don’t get me wrong, I trust the Expedition Society, enough. Especially since we wouldn’t be here without them, but…” he looked up at the sky as he said this. “They didn’t hear about our existence for two whole years. Before that, they couldn’t find anything on us. Yet, ever since they’ve found us, we still haven’t heard word of anyone else from that world being found either.”

“Yeah…” Pachuku agreed, head drooping.

“It’s not that I don’t trust them but… it’s hard to know who to trust. It’s like the world still wants to hide things from me, and it’s not exactly… easy to deal with that.”

Pachuku nodded, his face growing determined, managing his lips into a smile. “We’ll get to the bottom of it, all of it.”

It was a short while later as they sat that Pachuku noticed something odd. Sanvu was staring at the sky, seemingly looking at the blue expanse that extended infinitely above. The squirrel knew by this point his friend was more of the introspective thinking type, as many a mission had gone just like this one, where the Snivy would do this just to settle his head. None of them wanted to be in any particular rush, well, save for the larger mission that sometimes had Sanvu particularly impatient, but today, something different occurred.

Pachuku noticed that his leafy tail, which was flat on the ground, had begun to accrue sparkles on its surface for but a brief second, and almost immediately jumped, shouting out in surprise. Sanvu briefly shook out his stupor, the sparkles vanishing, staring at his friend with a silent look of insinuated confusion. Pachuku had learned to read his face better; he often used much more silent communication like this than he had prior.

“Oh, sorry, I just noticed, well, that,” the squirrel pointed at the tail, its sparkles vanishing, as Sanvu caught the last few signs. “You might be close to learning Solar Beam, which would make going through dungeons so much easier.”

Sanvu wasn’t as ignorant as prior, so he had heard its name and what it was apparently capable of, but he was a bit slow to catch on, and so struggled to understand Pachuku’s point. “I think I recall that one, but, don’t I already have a bunch of Grass-type moves already? What makes this one so much more special than those?”

“Honestly, not much, but it’d be a load easier than using Leaf Storm for damage output when it drains you so much, for instance. Imagine; all you need to do is just charge a bunch of sunlight and wham, practically nothing would stand in our way, it’s like, the best Grass-type move.”

“Oh, so like a laser, I think that’s how I remember it being described. That does sound cooler,” Sanvu admitted, smirking.

“Now you’re getting it! You can’t be far off now; especially since I saw the first couple signs of it. Now let’s get on with this mission already, haha!”

Pachuku wasn’t entirely wrong, Sanvu was close to learning it, but any time he attempted to use it in the various missions ahead had himself essentially performing the equivalent of an implosion each time he attempted to spit it out, since Sanvu found the process of photosynthesis not exactly the easiest thing in the world to understand. He’d either get too little sunlight, or too much and it’d all come out the wrong way, with all attempts.

By the time he had perfected it, it was against a type that resisted it; specifically a Flying type, which Pachuku would promptly take down after the fact with his many volts, cheering on his friend all the while. Sanvu couldn’t help but be prideful at that; even if it had done virtually nothing to the opponent he’d wanted it for.

~~

*Music: Pokémon Black & White – Driftveil Drawbridge

However, all was not fine and dandy for the team. Many a night was spent with Sanvu confronting those in his dreams who he’d left behind, which made mornings particularly hard on the duo as he would get up groggily with little in the way of a good rest, and that was besides the fact that they were sleeping on nests of hay now. It got to the point that basic missions were not as motivating as they had prior, even the ones provided in their best interests.

Ampharos and Mawile had looked into a Musharna to deal with the dreams out of concern, and it became increasingly clear that it just wasn’t suitable for them to be continuing these kinds of missions while ignoring the goal with which the former human cared about so much.

Primarily because as the Musharna would explain to Sanvu in his room, the old dreams were related to Dark Matter and his odd state of consciousness while being in it, while these dreams were more like real dreams, and would need to be worked through relevant to his presence in this world.

It was agreed that they needed to move away from the Expedition Society, so that they might find something that would further their goals of getting home. Since it had been a few months now, it only made sense to send the Drifters out on their own missions rather than simply tying them to the Expedition Society, a decision both parties had come to after the duo had been feeling restricted prior in the simulated world that still lived in their heads. It was understandable, if not a little sad, even as Ampharos sent them off.

“You’re welcome back anytime, you know. Take care, out there,” Ampharos mentioned as they stood at the steps. Daniel and Sparky were there too, waving them off with a smile.

“…Yeah,” Sanvu responded, giving Pachuku a look. “We just… need time to ourselves for a while. Thank you… for everything.”

“No problem, good luck!” Sparky shouted, with Daniel giving a quiet wave.

So the Drifters adopted their namesake and left the Expedition Society on a mission; their first task was to find the other Heroes of Legend, to see if they could find any lead on returning home. They were still associated with the Expedition Society so they would be relatively safe on the road given the Expedition Society’s rank in society that surpassed even the most basic of expectations, since even Legendary Pokemon would recognise its status.

However, the two Pokemon desired freedom above all else; which the Expedition Society couldn’t ignore, especially given the description of events in the fake world, it seemed it was imperative to their function, even if they were indebited to Daniel for bringing them here in their time of need, they just weren’t compatible with society, and couldn’t fully warm up, even months later when all of the events of that world seemed like a distant dream.

One could only hope the mission they would take would have the answers they sought.

~~