ARC 1, CHAPTER 8

“Lofty?”

“My Zari! You sure have grown!” Lofty giggled at her own comment, making Zari blush a little.

Stella exchanged glances at them both. “You girls know each other?”

“Yup!” Lofty said, enthusiastically. “Wow, I’m so happy to finally meet your whole team. Even though… y’know… you’re wanted rogues right now!” Lofty’s carefree smile never left her face. Stella decided not to comment further.

“Uhm, Ms. Lofty?” Ellie said, receiving a nod from her in response. “Your the one who can help us, right?”

“Well, do you see anyone else here?” Lofty asked, though she didn’t wait for any answer. “Of course I’ll help! If you can tell me what’s going on first.”

“W-Well,” Stella explained the story to her furry companion. “We’ve discovered who’s behind the disappearances of pokémon around…” Stella paused when she noticed Lofty snickering.

“I’m just pulling your chain. I already know what happened!” Lofty giggled. Stella was completely baffled at the Furret’s giddiness, but she didn’t have time to think about it before she spoke again. “So, Team Moonlight, huh? Who would have guessed? Can’t say I’m surprised though!”

“B-But you can help us?” Zari asked, hope bundled up in her stomach.

“Mhm! I know where we gotta go!” Lofty responded.

“You do?” Stella said, almost jumping for joy. “W-Well then let’s go!”

“Whoaaa, hold it there, compadre!” Lofty immediately cut her off. “We can’t just go off willy nilly! We’ve got to prepare! Come up with a plan!”

“…Okay,” Stella said, immediately calming down. The idea of helping everyone almost consumed her again.

“S-So what do we do then?” Irima asked.

“Weell, I’ve got a plan. But we might need some more help to pull it off.” Lofty responded. “Anyone got anyone we can recruit?”

Silence followed. Zari’s eyes wandered towards Resmo, who was quiet. Then she remembered something.

“Uhm… Resmo?” Zari said, getting his attention. “You mentioned something about a companion before, didn’t you?” Resmo simply nodded in response.

“Actually, come to think of it,” Irima pitched in. “You seemed to know a lot about rescue teams…”

Stella was able to piece everything together. “So… does that mean?”

Resmo sighed. “Yes… I used to have my own rescue team,” he reluctantly said. “We were Team Spiral. Not anymore, though. We disbanded long ago.”

“H-Hey… could we get their help? Maybe we can bring you all back together!” Zari optimistically said.

Resmo shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s not really possible. Besides me, there’s only one of us left. Amori died in our last mission, and Ferro… we don’t talk about him.”

“O-Oh…” Zari whispered. That was probably why Resmo was so cautious about rescue teams.

“But what about the last one?” Lofty called. “Any help is better than no help, after all! You think they’d be willing to come along?”

“Well… maybe,” Resmo said. “Elysia was always the calmest of our group… if she sees reason to, then she might.”

“D-Do you know where she is?” Zari asked.

Resmo nodded. “In the mountains. There’s a good chance she’ll find you before you find her.”

“I-I can go,” Stella stepped up. “I used to live in the mountains, I know it best.”

“S-Stella, you can’t go alone,” Zari said. “I’ll go with you.”

“I’ll come too!” Ellie chimed in.

“You sure you’ll be okay?” Irima said, slightly concerned.

“We’ll be fine. I promise,” Stella responded.

“Irima,” Resmo called to the frog. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a word with you.”

Irima hesitated, but nodded in response. “Okay… Good luck, girls.”

“Thanks, Irima,” Stella said. With that, she turned to go, her companions in hot pursuit.

---

It wasn’t long before the band reached the mountains. The path surprisingly wasn’t too steep, it was just rocky. That meant navigation wasn’t too difficult. With that, the search started. But it wasn’t long until something found them, and it wasn’t who they were looking for.

“You,” came a voice. It wasn’t feminine at all, so immediately the team knew it wasn’t who they were looking for. But that would mean…

The group heard something land near them, and turned toward it. Once again, they were met with someone familiar.

“So, it’s really come to this…” the Zoroark in front of them said.

Ellie’s eyes widened. “Tamao?” she said.

The Zoroark noticed Ellie with them, but that only seemed to make him more upset. “I can’t believe it. As if working with Team X wasn’t enough, you go and kidnap Ellie too?” Tamao scoffed at the worried group. “I had high hopes for you. You seemed like good people; I thought you would rise up the ranks of Project Moonlight…” Tamao half-heartedly chuckled before continuing. “Guess that’s my mistake. Looks like you were just another bunch of crooked criminals. But you even had my pity. If the capture laws didn’t prohibit it, I would kill you myself.”

“T-Tamao, wait!” Ellie backed up, worriedly.

“I-I can explain! J-Just please listen!” Stella pleaded.

“Like HELL I’ll listen to you again!” Tamao shouted. Without warning, he dashed forward and landed a Throat Chop on Zari. Zari’s wind got knocked out of her, and she tumbled backwards. Tamao turned to Stella, who just stood there, frozen in place. Tamao prepared a Night Slash, and lunged at her.

The attack hit. But it wasn’t Stella that he hit.

At the last moment, Ellie jumped in front of Stella to protect her. She took the slash at full-force, and collapsed motionlessly.

Everyone froze, silence pierced. Slash marks could be seen on Ellie’s skin, and she was bleeding.

“…O-Oh no…” Stella said.

Tamao immediately backed away. “N-No…” he said in disbelief.

Zari stood back up, having witnessed the whole thing. “W-What did you do?!” she said, almost shouting.

“N-No! I-I-I didn’t mean to…” Tamao stammered, backing up more. There was no denying that there was blood on his hands, though. Before long, Tamao broke. He ran off, sobbing at what he did. In just seconds, he vanished without a trace.

Zari and Stella ran to Ellie. “Ellie!” Stella shouted, hoping beyond hope that she was still conscious.

“Ellie!” Zari yelled too. “A-Are you-” Before she finished, though, she cut herself off. She could hear something coming from Ellie.

“…E…E…E…”

It was very quiet, but something was definitely making a sound. Before long, Stella could hear it too. It sounded like a voice. Was that Ellie? Was she calling for help? Was it involuntary? Or maybe it was-

“ELLIE!!”

Immediately, something flew out of Ellie’s tail. It was small and pink, and it had a long tail. It was a Mew!

Stella and Zari were shocked at seeing a legendary pokémon suddenly appear, but the Mew didn’t seem to notice them. It hovered over Ellie, tears in its eyes. It seemed sad, but it wasn’t long until that sadness was replaced with determination. It placed a paw on Ellie’s head, and it started glowing a faint pink. After a moment, Ellie’s wounds closed up, and disappeared.

Ellie’s eyes fluttered open. What just happened? The last thing she remembers was jumping in front of Stella to protect her, and…

Ellie turned over onto her belly and looked around. And the first thing she saw was her little companion.

“Luna?”

“Ellie!” the Mew squealed, and then it immediately hugged the Eevee. Ellie didn’t look surprised at the pixie hugging her; in fact, she returned the hug, looking as happy as the Mew was.

“I knew you’d find your voice,” Ellie whispered, beaming gleefully. The Mew smiled back, happy that its friend was okay. But that’s when it realized something.

The Mew finally noticed the two spectators with them. Stella and Zari were still too stunned to even stammer anything. The Mew squeaked, and flew around in a panic, until it caught sight of its previous hiding spot. It immediately dashed into Ellie’s tail, though in its hurry, it didn’t succeed in concealing itself completely; its tail was still sticking out.

“L-Luna! It’s okay, I promise they won’t hurt you!” Ellie consoled. Another small squeak responded from Ellie’s tail. “It’s okay… You don’t have to come out again… but you’re safe… I promise.”

Stella blinked. “W-Wha…” she stammered.

“W-Was that…” Zari followed. She didn’t finish that statement, though, partially from dumbfoundedness. But another thing came that cut her off.

“My, my. That was quite a display I saw.” There was an unfamiliar voice, suddenly. The three turned toward the calm voice’s direction. They saw an Altaria slowly floating down to them.

“O-Oh!” Ellie exclaimed. “A-Are you Elysia?”

“I am,” the cloud bird responded. “How do you know of me?”

Stella finally snapped back and remembered their mission. “Uhm… we know your friend… Resmo?”

“Ma’am, w-we need your help,” Zari followed up.

“I see…” Elysia said, thinking to herself for a moment before continuing. “Would you care to explain what it is you need help with?”

“It’s about the crisis going on in the region,” Zari explained.

“Well, I’m not caught up with what happens on Anonami anymore,” Elysia said with an apologetic shrug. “I’m assuming it’s bad?”

“M-More than that…” Stella shakily said. “Hundreds of pokémon got kidnapped… We know who did it, but no one would believe us if we told them. A-And then we got framed, and now the whole region thinks we’re on the bad side… C-Can you help us fix this, please?” Stella just hoped she would believe her.

Elysia thought deeply about this. Based on experience, their story definitely was believable. Plus, they knew Resmo. He was very trustworthy, and if he was with them, then she figured they could be trusted too. Even if they weren’t, she had ways to get out of situations like this. But regardless, she always felt like everyone deserves a chance.

“Hm, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Resmo,” she thought out loud. “Maybe it would be fun to go on another adventure…” Another long pause followed, and it was broken by a nod from Elysia. “Alright, I’ll come along.”

“Thank you, Miss Elysia!” Ellie said, her expression immediately lighting up. “We can explain more on the way; let’s go!”

The group headed back to meet up with the rest of the team. Ellie eagerly relayed the story to Elysia, with Stella and Zari’s occasional help. Truthfully, Ellie just wanted to start that conversation to hopefully make everyone forget about the secret she was hiding…

---

“Oh, there they are! And we got a new friend I see!”

The group made it back with no issues, luckily, and were immediately greeted by Lofty. Stella still couldn’t understand how Lofty could be so cheery at this time, but once again, didn’t feel the need to comment.

Elysia surveyed the place they were in, and it didn’t take long to find the Gallade she knew. Resmo and Irima were finishing their conversation, and Resmo turned to Elysia at almost the exact same time as she did. Resmo turned back to Irima, saying one last thing that wasn’t quite audible, then he walked up to the Altaria.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Resmo said to her.

“Indeed it has,” Elysia responded. “But it’s nice to see you again, Resmo.”

Resmo smiled slightly. “Likewise. We have a bit to catch up on, don’t we?”

“Oh, Elliana already caught me up on what’s happening.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Resmo said with a light chuckle.

Irima hopped up to Stella and Zari as the former Team Spiral members continued their conversation.

“Everything went well?” he asked them.

“S-Sorta,” Zari stammered. “But that doesn’t matter now.” Irima now was curious about the adventure, but decided to dismiss it.

“Uh, what did Resmo talk to you about?” Stella asked.

“O-Oh… nothing really important. Don’t worry about it,” he responded. He didn’t want to saunter on it, but truthfully, he knew what he was told might come in handy very soon.

Stella idly looked around at everyone. She still couldn’t believe so many people were helping her on this ordeal. It was definitely more than she thought it would be, which was zero. But while these people were going to help them, right now, they weren’t doing much of anything. Stella turned to Lofty. As much as she was tempted to go off, she knew from past experience that that wasn’t a good idea. Besides, Lofty was the only one who knew where to go. So, instead she walked up to Lofty, who was just sitting on a log, kicking her feet in a carefree manner.

“So, now what do we do?” she asked her, almost impatiently.

Lofty put a paw to her chin. “Well, I have a feeling that this is about all the people everyone knows.” After a pause, she then mumbled something inaudible under her breath, but Stella was able to pick up the word “Sis”. “But, I think this’ll do!” Lofty looked up at the sky and noticed its orange tint. “It’s getting a bit late though. We’ll head out tomorrow, but for now, let’s settle in.” Lofty then got up and walked over to a hole in the stump one could assume was her home. “Come on in, everyone!” Lofty moved the leaves that were covering the entrance and motioned towards it. “Well, if you can fit that is,” she added with a giggle.

“O-Oh, a-are you sure about that?” Stella asked warily.

“Of course! Mi casa, su casa. Oh, that means my home is your home,” Lofty giggled again at her last statement.

---

It was quite late at night. Everyone was fast asleep, and not a sound could be heard. Well, almost.

Ellie had chosen to sleep outside, primarily because she just loved the outdoors. It was quite a peaceful night, but her slumber would soon be broken.

She felt a nudge. Her sleepiness shrugged it off at first, but after a few pokes, she finally woke up from it. She looked up, and was immediately met with a familiar face.

“Come along, ma’am.”

Ellie blinked a couple times, still processing her surroundings. Only to find that her escort was already taking off. Immediately, Ellie jumped up and followed.

They were walking for what felt like ages. Ellie knew the forest pretty well, so she knew she could get back pretty easily. They soon made it to a small enclosure, and Ellie was greeted by some more familiar faces.

“There you two are…”

“O-Oh! Hello, Eon.” Ellie made sure to keep her voice down. After all, they were all a secret, she was told.

“I wanted to come down here to apologize to you,” he explained. “What I put on you was very sudden, and I’m sorry.”

“O-Oh, it’s okay,” Ellie said cheerfully, but still quiet. She clearly had no quarms.

“Well… we wanted to take this time to properly introduce ourselves.”

“Mhm! We all have code names to protect our identities.”

“That’s right! I’m Serene!”

“Serene, keep it down!”

“Soorry, Crown.” Her voice made it clear that she wasn’t really.

“Well, yeah. He’s Crown, and I’m Whip!”

“I’m Libero”

“…Tundra.”

“It’s very nice to meet you all!” Ellie smiled brightly, but then realized that she never introduced herself either. “O-Oh right! My name’s Elliana, but everyone calls me Ellie!” Ellie wagged her tail happily. That’s when she remembered something else. She debated for a moment whether or not she should introduce her, but she remembered that Eon already knows about her… somehow. Well, since he did, and since they were all secrets…

Ellie shifted her body so that her tail could be seen by everyone. She hesitated for a moment still, but continued on. “And this… this is Luna,” she said, wiggling her tail. Silence followed for a moment. But then, something peeked out of Ellie’s tail. It poked its head out and surveyed the area.

“Oh my gosh, it’s so cuuute!”

The Mew was immediately startled and darted back into the safety of Ellie’s tail.

“Luna… It’s okay, Luna. They’re friendly,” Ellie coxxed. Hesitantly, the Mew poked its head out again. It saw nothing but friendly smiles, and slowly but surely, it eased up.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ellie and Luna.”

“I’m glad we could all meet each other.”

“M-Me too,” Ellie responded. Luna had finally floated out of Ellie’s tail, and was now floating up to each individual pokémon. She seemed to be quickly warming up to them all.

“Anyway, I also wanted to give you a heads up about tomorrow.” Ellie’s attention turned towards Eon as he continued to speak. “Serene’s friend is going to lead you to where Team Moonlight is setting up. We’ll be on standby when you make it.”

“O-Oh, that’s good to hear!” Ellie said, happily. She knew the extra backup would be very helpful. This would all be over soon!

Eon closed his eyes. I have a feeling, though, that this isn’t the end of it…