"Piece of damn.. " The titan snarled, returning to his prowl. Shannon didn't seem to have standed a chance upon return. The Tyranitar had easily swung it's tail into Shannon, and combined with a Dark Pulse, had reduced the explorer to tears.

Hex was intimidated by the show of events. The Tyranitar had so easily defeated Shannon that he didn't seem to have wasted any excess energy at all. And Shannon seemed so broken after the one attack. The Amaura was curled up on the cave floor, tears streaming. Several wispy, dark surrounded him momentarily before dissipating into the air. The Dark Pulse must've been awful. She had heard of it before, back in the hive in Birchwood. Some drones had just barely returned to the hive to announce a new enemy within Birchwood Forest. They were beaten up, dirty, and some were quiet and had a distant look in their eyes. Some Sableye had arrived to wreak havoc on the pokemon, some armed with a powerful dark pulse that had nearly sweeped their entire squadron. The Dark Pulse really damaged the Combee, and seemed to have really hurt them. And that was just the Sableye dark pulses. Sableye who probably weren't all that tough. The Tyranitar's dark pulse must've been insane.

Losing herself in her memories, the Tyranitar saw his opportunity. It grinned ferociously, it's teeth grimy and scratched up. An arcing beam of dark, shadowy energy had erupted from the beast. Luckily, it missed Hex by but a millimeter, but it clipped one wing and caused her to lose control, veering off into the cave. The shadowy energy was thrown into one of the glowing crystals, causing it to arc around the gem like lightning. The energy dissipated, but the crystal seemed to give off an almost shadowy, dark aura for a moment, before it dissipated and returned to it's original coloring. Hex, meanwhile, had landed by a large, roughly edged stalactite. The Tyranitar lumbered up, a sneer on it's face. Without a word, the pokemon mercilessly swung it's tail into the Combee, sending it flying into the cave wall, audibly hitting a luminescent crystal with a loud thump. Hex slowly fell to the cave floor. She had almost been completely knocked out by the one attack. Struggling, Hex got into her bag, and ate a reviver seed. She felt new life springing through her, and attempted to get up.

"Hard hitter.. really hard hitter." Hex said, struggling to regain

"Embrace the pain Celes" Kamina told the Eevee "pain lets you know that you're alive. It's your body growing stronger to protect itself better, and weakness leaving your soul. How so you think I got so powerful? Why daily beatings of course, each one more agonizing then the last. Why, I've gotten hurt so much, that my soul can take the pain better then my body can deal with the damage. However, I never let those horrible beatings get me down; for I knew that they were just a long string of trials that I had to overcome to reach my dream, and I was right! After surviving my last beating, I gained the power to weaponize the fire in my soul." He then adjusted his position to face Spruce "I have no doubt that our friend Spruce here is going through such pain. Do not hate it my brother in arms, but embrace it! For you shall emerge from this stronger then before in both body and spirit. Take it from me; someone who's body was tempered with pain"

"I'm almost there!" I tell my self as I walk towards a dense forest. On the other side of it lies my goal, Allure Town. I wander in to the thick forest only to find the sun almost blocked out completely. I had remembered the locals telling me that the name of this place was Birchwood Forest and that I should be careful of the feral pokemon living here. I walked deeper into the forest when I noticed some movement on my left. A small Patrat was eyeing me from within a bush. When it had realized that I had seen it, the small pokemon pounced towards me. Dodging the attack I looked up at my enemy, I prepared a Shadow Ball and the pokemon froze in place. It began to turn around and run when I noticed a large shadow behind me. I looked around to find a large Beedrill glaring down at me. I rotated my body as fast as I could and launched the Shadow Ball. It hit the Beedril and made it even more angry and it flew towards me with a Horn Drill. It almost hit me as I dodged to the right. "I didn't want to have to do this." I say to the Beedril. I prepared a Void Claw on my right paw and pounced forward hitting the Beedril and knocking it out. I looked around for the Patrat but it was long gone. I continued on my way leaving the fainted Beedril behind me.

That particular blast hit us hard. Spruce at least wasn't compounded by shrapnel, unlike us. Damn, what the hell did Davis pack recently?

As I rolled down the hill leaving a fading trail of purple, I realised someone was stumbling up to the crystal. Greg's words echoed in my throbbing head - "You'll kill us all!" Well, it was something similar. And he shouted it, from top of the hill with an obvious wound in his leg. I looked back at the lone Pokemon, as he/she swiped the crystal from its place and left behind a gaping... hole. A 'hole' is the best I can describe what I saw. I just wanted to save us all, lifting my magnet into the air to electrocute that thief, shortly before my vision became black. I failed. Miserably. All because I had taken enough damage for one day. The strange thing was that Desia was on the other side of the hill, busy trying to beat the life out of Davis. So... who was this mysterious figure? Or figures, maybe...

Then again, I was probably delusional. I mean, I had a concussion which was worsened by a bomb going off next to me. And I had suffered grievous wounds, some I which I suspect would require some metal to be smelted into me. Some last words resonated into my head, but were too muffled to make out.

We were all dead Pokemon.

...and only Arceus knew how we were still alive.

"Gah..." I woke up with a bunch of other Pokemon. Mostly my team, but also some apparent... strangers. Within seconds, I realised we were on a rickety cart, passing trees and bushes slowly with the help of a towering Dragonite. They were all talking, as if I forget I was even alive. I didn't mind to be honest. I caught a few words in the conversation, especially 'Scale City.' Greg was snoring, while Spruce still lost colouration. Grabbing a branch and ripping off some leaves, I wiped off the remaining purple on my wounds, thinking about where to dispose of them... after all, I wasn't sure if they could still kill something. So, I just left them beside myself. "Well. That ended well. Let's go celebrate." Sarcasm. Never ceases to exist, because it's such an amazing tool. Meanwhile, Kamina started yapping (admittedly poetically) to Celes. "Kamina, here's a quote I saved for you: 'Pain is weakness, leaving the body.' You don't want to know who made that quote, 'cause he suffered from lead poisoning and always burnt his feet with rockets." As normal as I sounded, the content of the sentence didn't exactly give good connotations.

"Now, I need a recap. What we were discussing this morning? How about the current condition of Spruce? He's gone all monochromatic. Greg on the other hand still has a-"

"M, shut up. I had that weirdly-shaped metal removed when we got rescued by these Pokemon." Greg was alive and well. He had some weird stuff around his wound, but otherwise seemed alright.

[Spruce]

I notice everyone slowly start to get up, and realize that, yeah... we should probably stop adventuring for the day. Whether we liked it or not, we had to stay at the guild. "Good to see everyone's awake, um, Gregory, I'm assuming you don't have much, and I won't require a reward. Unfortunately, I don't think my team would agree with that..." I say to him, realizing how much of a drain this day was on us, let alone him. He seemed to have a rather large wound... but... something didn't look right about it. I then start to feel all the damage I took all over again and though the pain add "We should probably return to the guild... we're in no condition to adventure anywhere." I then start heading back at a slow enough pace for the rest of my team to easily follow, with Gregory walking off in the opposite direction, towards a rather recent addition to town that allows those who aren't in either guild to be healed as if they were, which was probably for the best, given that his wound looked like it needed some medical attention. I finally make it back to the guild, and once I get there, Arnold runs up with a banana pointed at my face and shouts "INTRUDER!" I jump back and show him my badge. "It's just me... Spruce. I kinda had a run-in that I'd rather not discuss at the moment." He then puts away his banana, and starts walking around me, eventually coming to the conclusion of "Oh... okay. Welcome back, Spruce!" he then went back to his own office, and let me head towards my room. I was tired, even if it wasn't late.

---

[Anthony]

The tyranitar wasn't really taking much in the way of damage from any of my teammates, and worse his attacks seemed to hit my teammates like an exploding registeel... heck, Carrol was shaking like something that didn't like the cold, but then I remembered... Wait... he's using PHYSICAL attacks against me, isn't he? Why did it take me so long to do this? I then wait for another attack, eventually shouting "Hey, rocks-for-brains, it's not nice to traumatize kids!" my admittedly pathetic insult seems to grab the tyranitar's attention, evidenced by him charging at me, only to use stone edge on me. Sure, the move cut deep into me, and I was barely standing when he was finished... but that was just what I wanted. As soon as he finished his rock-based onslaught against me, I almost literally threw the attack back at him by using counter, and for once, he took damage. Heck, I even somehow managed to knock him back from that. After I eat an oran in one bite, I say "How's that, huh? Not so great when you're not invincible, or when your supposed 'helpless victims' can fight back, is it?" it was probably humorous to the rest of my team that this was coming from a goomy of all things, let alone the only one to have to use a reviver seed so far. He charges at me again, and I ready myself, however, before he could get to us, I hear someone shout "DAD, STOP!" the mawile from earlier then runs out of the cave, and places herself in front of me for some reason. "They're a team of explorers, not a bunch of wild pokemon. They might even be able to help us." the giant, dinosaur-like pokemon seems to stop in its tracks at the small, almost innocent, humanoid pokemon's words, for some reason. He then says "E-explorers? Have we been causing enough trouble around here to be hunted down? Yeesh... I really do hope they can help us, Terra." the two then head into the cave, and motion for us to follow... which was weird. "Well... that sure took a U-turn..." I then say to the team as I wait for Hex to follow the two into their cave.

Celes started to walk back to the guild also, very tired as well, having taken too much damage there. The pain... the suffering... Kamina constant yapping about how pain and embrassing it. She shakes her head, continuing forwards, looking a bit more... pale a the moment. Just slightly.
"Ugh... I feel like I was ran over by a thousand tauros rushing at the sunset." she then says, moving slowly. When she entered she saw Arnold interrogating Spruce with a banana. She shakes her head and continued to move, before going to her bed... at least she think it was her bed. Her head was too tired to even feel if it was. And with everything that happened, she knew she would need rest for a long while. Her eyes were groggy, and sleepy. She needed to regain her energy and she knew iit.
"Too tired... must rest... must sleep." she then says, before putting her head on the bed, and closing her eyes slightly, needing to regain her energy soon.

I look ahead to find that I am reaching the end of the forest. The darkness of the forest suddenly cuts off into a large plaza. I move slowly into the plaza to see pokemon of all types there. Different shops lay around the plaza and different pokemon are purchasing items and services from them. I wander over to two pokemon, they appear to be a Bellsprout and a Bedew chatting. "Umm... excuse me." I ask politely "Would you happen to know where the guild in this town is?". Both pokemon roll their eyes and walk off leaving me there. "How nice of them.." I say to my self when I hear someone calling to me. "You there! You looking for the guild?" one of the heads of a shopkeeper says to me. I walk over to the stall and reply "Why yes I am." Both of the heads then look at me. One of the head's begins to speak "Arnold's" "or Wally's" the other head finishes. "I think the guild masters name was Arnold." One of the heads sighs and looks the other way. The first head looks at me and says "Just head down that path and it will lead you there." "Thank you" I reply and run down the path.

Eventually I reach the guild building. I look around to see if any pokemon are close by. I start to pace back and forward wondering what to say to the guild master. I finally decide to stay put for now and rest for awhile after my long journey. I move to the side of the path lower my head and begin to rest...

"Ahhh...today was an amazing adventures" Kamina said as he reached his bed. "I must admit that I was quite surprised, when the guild master came at us with a banana, truly he is amazing; to think that's he is skilled enough to make even a delicious fruit a weapon. I can't wait for the day I become as skilled as him, for he is truly both a powerful warrior, and a wise leader." Then addressing the rest of his team, he said "don't worry guys; getting beaten within an inch of your life isn't so bad once you get used to it. The next time we almost die, it won't be quite as bad. Just look at me; I've been getting beaten nearly to death my whole life, and pain barely even phases me now. Remember when M electrocuted me? Even though it cause quite a bit of damage to my body, I didn't let it slow me down"

"Dad?" Hex choked out, trying to get some wings back into her lungs. The Tyranitar really hit hard. "He's a dad?"

The following events happened in a flash. Hex barely had time to register what happened. The Tyranitar returned to it's four legged prowl, slowly creeping around the camp in a defensive stature. It seemed to be attempting to protect something, but Hex was unsure what that would be. Hex, at this point, began faintly stirring up another gust, an audible hiss of air in the cave. Anthony called out for the Tyranitar to attack him, apparently being suicidal. The Tyranitar lashed out with a stone edge, rushing toward the little blob with a jagged, sharpened chunk of rock in one hand. The little Goomy began to glow a bright light. Upon the Tyranitar smashing the rock into him, instead of causing Anthony to explode in a gooey mess, the Tyranitar was flung onto his back, thrown back into the cave. Anthony did a small victory shout before the Tyranitar regained his strength and began to rush again. Now, apparently, he was a father to a Mawile. It was quite the turn of events.

"I, um.. okay." Hex said, still a bit surprised from the events that took place. Her right wing was damaged, and her entire body felt sore, but other than that she felt relieved. "Okay."

Hex began to follow the two back. That was quite a surprise. The Tyranitar was a dad. She was still having trouble registering what the little dragon blob had done. It had done much more damage in one attack than all of their attacks had done combined.

I slowly slid out the cart with the others. The slow and packed Dragonite noticed and bid us farewell, as he dragged the now-lighter cart towards... somewhere else. Not really interested in their business, I decided to follow my battered team to the way back to Arnold's Guild. They recovered more or less from their injuries; Celes and Kamina seemed alright, although Spruce was still discoloured and I had lasting claw marks on my face. If I found Davis, I'd be getting him to smelt some metal into my wounds-

"Oh for Arceus' sake." I hissed. Davis was... well, unaccounted for. I counted my current options: I could always leave. Start drifting around the world, since I don't really have a purpose... or, I could believe he's still alive. Faith seems to be fuel these days. "Meh." I just shrugged to myself and let the matter sink to the bottom of my mind. If anything, I always knew Davis for his amazing survival skills. Did you know if you got a Giggle Counter near him that it would start sending sparks? That's how happy he was. And happiness was the best medicine-

No. I was crazy for a moment. Realising what would happen, I stuck to the latter option of faith. (Hey. I could always try.)

Swinging bags... limping badges... "Oh for goodness sake." I abruptly broke our silence, as if we just survived an apocalypse. "How the Hell did we forget our badges could teleport us?" I complained, cut off by Arnold's imitation of a firearm. Initially, I dismissed it as Arnold's usual mental abilities, until I decided to liven up our situation... after all, I already seemed pretty damn merciless to my teammates. Which Kamina would point out (unwittingly) later on. "That's a knife, mate!" I raised my hands up, using a high voice as I stared at him. In sarcasm. You know, sarcasm. Sarcasm, sarcasm... I got repetitive. I'm sure that would possibly provoke a few memories out of Davis, though. As I floated away, I kept facing him, managing to even avoid several Pokemon in the way and bumping through our wooden door.

"Okay. Today was horrible. That's all we need to reflect on." I said, entering our room as the sun began fading from our room. "Although, we made interesting developments. For example, we fruitlessly tried to defend a crystal from 'Dementia' (Desia, but I think the pun works). And according to the words of Greg, we're all doomed now."

"Oh. Did we get paid for our efforts? Does anyone care about Spruce's current condition, let alone our saviour?" I asked, being admittedly cynical. "...and Kamina, don't push it. Your jolly attitude isn't welcome for the time being, because we just nearly - you know - DIED today. I think a bit of peace is what we require, y'know."

Get up, sneered Shannon to Shannon in a blackened head of thoughts. You're a disgrace. No-one lies down when their compatriots need them. Only filth does that. Oh, they'll lift you up, there'll be comfort, and you won't deserve a trickle of the sympathy you get. Do you hear the seconds? They're counting by and you've yet to earn anything. Isn't that the story of a disappointing life? The inability to evade his own emotion was the strength of self-criticism, destructive, irrational or otherwise. Leave me be, I don't want to hear it, not now, go away, I'm tired, I need to recover, I can't help anyone now- No, you can't, of course not. You never can- Please go away, I'm sorry, just stop- Stop whining GET UP no stop it UP please stop GET UP

Hatred overcame fear. There was a second of delusion between wakefulness and sleep when thoughts felt real enough to hear, but a patient brain dispelled the haze of irrational accusations and Shannon's reflexes twisted him to a furious upright stance. For all his emotional stress, the Amaura's body was as yet unharmed. A vast green figure was visible again, its outline marked by long spikes. Shannon made to exhale a flurry of ice crystals, but slowed when he registered the presence of Team Scarab crowding the Tyranitar, halted when the tail became visible. ...Nothing's moving. Back is turned, yet they're not fighting... Shouting, running, nothing. Was it finished? How much time had it taken to subdue the behemoth when the Team had been trying so hard to as much as scratch its armour? A chain of thought rematerialised and wrapped itself around Shannon's head, conscious or not. He flared at the concept of being useless for so long, for something of this magnitude.

Lowering himself to a sulky prowl of his own, Shannon approached the team again. The Tyranitar was still charged with electricity, to whatever degree, and bruised, but conscious. A Mawile- Recognisable? -was also in view. There was a discussion, and Shannon fell without much resistance into the conclusion that there were bargains being made. For passage, or lives? Ransom? What is this? What explorers are they talking of?

"How long have I been out of it? And who are these two Pokemon? " Shannon hissed, guarded.

Tini

Here he was at last; Scale city. The Dragon capital of the world. Having lived so much of his life in a humble little home, he was awed by the sight of the massive city and the large amount of Pokemon in it "...so big..." his eyes shined with childlike wonder as he took in the sights around him. He had heard about this place from a traveler, and was instantly drawn to it, especially that guild thing. The idea of an organization that took on requests from other Pokemon in need of help sounded like a dream come true for him. He had spent weeks begging his parents to let him leave to go join this guild thing, however they were both reluctant to let their baby boy go. However, they eventually relented and gave him their blessing

...It might have helped that Scale city was less then an hour away from their home at Tini's speed

Tini was so excited, he thought he was about to learn Explode...although that did not happen, as awesome as it sounds. Despite the fact that he didn't have any legs, there was definitely a bounce in his metaphorical step. It might have been the dazzling smile on his face that seemed to discharge more energy then an electric type, or maybe it was in how he was swaying side to side as he squirmed along his merry little way. Either way, it was easy to tell that this little Dratini was a happy little guy. Having already gotten directions to the guild, he made his way there without bothering anyone

"Who's that little guy? I don't remember seeing him around before."

"Aww...he's so cute! Harold, I want one!"

"Ah geez, not this again."

"What smells deliciously minty fresh?"

"That's an odd color for a Dratini."

"I reckon he's one of them darn fruity types."

"Uh dad, I don't think he's old enough to know his own sexual preference yet"

"See! A fruit!"

"Ugh. Come on dad, let's get you home."

"I aint tired yet!"

"Does no one else see the sparkling Dratini!?"

"No Frank, it's all in your head."

"GAHHHHHHH! I knew it! Those damn Mudkip are inside my mind!!!"

Yep, he was completely invisible. When he reached the guild, instead of entering it, he simply yelled "hello! Is anyone in there!? I've have come to join this...guild, so that i can begin my fight for love, justices, truth, hope, peace...and delicious cookies. You can't forget about the cookies, they're very important!"

I stand up, and open my door. It was a slightly chilly day, so I grab my jacket before I set off, due west, to get to the Foggy Plains. I get out, wave to my neighbor, and trek outside of Allure Town's limits, headed to see what was going on with some sort of relic that was apparently stolen. I start off by making sure I had at least 10 sheets of paper and two pencils, and a matchbox. I look off into the distance to see what was over yonder, and I see a storm cloud, so I wasn't going to be able to see, and I was going to be drenched. I sigh in disappointment, and continue walking westward. I stop at a berry bush, and eat some Oran Berries. Those were my favorite type of berries. I sit down at the bush and start to go over what my plan was, and also how to mark which way I went, so I didn't get lost in the fog. I then reach for another berry, but I had eaten all of them, so I started on my walk again. As the rain starts to drizzle, I get a bunch of leaves and tie them together to form a barrier large enough so that I didn't get wet, and my backpack didn't either.

I stop by a lake to get a quick drink and to wash my face off, and look at my reflection. My face was blue with the Oran Berry juice. I wipe it all off, and make a quick little marker for that area, so that I knew later on I was going the right way to get back to Allure. I come across a wild Mankey. I don't think it has seen me yet, so I decide it's best to store my energy and leave the little bugger alone. I write down, as a check list; Find artifact, Find culprits, Possibly find extra treasures if I come across any, Find berries to sell and eat.

I smile and say "I'll most likely eat them before I get back..." and continue meandering around the trees and shrubs to find the Foggy Plains, where my news story would begin.

It seemed like the Tyranitar was going to win. Nobody here could do any noticeable damage to him. Just when Josh started to give up hope, something amazing happened. The Tyranitar used Stone Edge on Anthony, as he had done several times now. However, this time Anthony didn't end up having to use another reviver seed. He managed to survive the attack, and on top of that, he retaliated with an attack that seemed to actually do some decent damage. Josh had seen him use it before, back in Beach Cave, but he was still surprised. He'd almost forgot that Anthony knew Counter.

Despite their small moment of success, the Tyranitar was still standing. He was about to attack Anthony, when a Mawile jumped between them. "DAD, STOP!"
The fight had ceased as soon as they'd realized they were fighting a team of explorers. On top of that, the monstrous, rampaging Tyranitar seemed to be the Mawile's father. As confused as Josh was, he was glad the fight was finally over.
Matt picked up the bucket, bringing Josh with him as he followed the Tyranitar. Hopefully this wouldn't take too long. Josh was drying out fast, and needed water as soon as possible.

I look at the mist and walk through the fog. I bump into a tree and a bush. I try to look around, but I could only see about three feet in front of me. I get out my backpack and light a match, thinking it might help. It doesn't, so I put it out and stick it in my backpack. I walk into a small Riolu and I quickly turn invisible, and stare at him, and he stares back, and then quickly uses Force Punch. I change into a Fighting Type, from my Color Change ability. I grunt and fall on my stomach and I grab his snout, and then use Feint Attack, sending him to the ground, and I take off in a sprint, running into a large tree. I go invisible again and get on my stomach, and crawl around, hiding from the Riolu. After about 15 minutes, I get up and go back to normal, and I slowly walk around, and see if I can find the supposed area of disappearance of 'The Relic' and start writing down something on the papers.

I have come across a feral Riolu. I have absolutely no idea where the 'Lost Relic' is or was. I must find out where it is, and catch those who stole the relic.

I fold up the paper and put it into my bag, then rub my side, where I was punched. It was red from the injury, and I roll down a hill that I tripped down when I walked and fell from walking on air. I stand up and cough, get up, and pass a couple trees. After a while, it got cold and dark. It didn't matter whether or not another match was used, the rain would always put it out.

'Where could the culprits be?' I ask myself as I step on nothing, but I don't fall. I look up, and there was something strange. Something very weird. Something made of stone, and surrounded by a dark, purple thing. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by this dark thing, and I go into a spin, slowly floating upwards. I grab onto the stone thing, and observe the area. I see a red-black scale and some white fur, and I think 'EVIDENCE!' as I jump up to grab the things. I float past the items, and I make my way back down and inspect them. These things would need a test to find out what they were, but I remember my training. Criminals usually commit their first crime close to their hideout, so if something goes sour, they would be able to go there and hide. I mark down the area and describe it, then illustrate it crudely on a piece of paper, and all of the sudden, I feel my leg get grabbed by something. I look back, and see a blackish purple thing. It looked almost like a pokemon... a Snivy, even! I try to float-run away, but its grip was tight. I scream as its grip tightens to a bone-crushing force, and throws me out of, what I would describe it as, the void. I land on my left leg, and *SNAP!* It was broken... I limp away from the area, and breathe scarcely, screaming and whimpering from the pain. I was confused, and terrified. I make it out of the mist and away from the void, and grab some Oran Berries from a bush. I shove them down my throat, hoping to have the pain be enlightened a little bit. I limp down, to my construct, and go invisible as I rest by it.

[Spruce]

I end up laughing at the rest of my team's jokes, and tiredly walk past the mission boards, which were surprisingly empty, and somehow looked old and almost rotted... oh, wait, that was just some ivy that was hanging off of the corner. I smile as I head down the stairs and over to my room, passing by several oddly awake pokemon on my way there, including that bidoof, some random shinx, and strangely enough, a latios. Nah, that couldn't be a latios, they're rare pokemon, and probably wouldn't be caught dead joining some guild. I think as I continue my tired shuffle past the guildmaster's office, which seemed to be covered in dirty, gummy-glazed feathers for some weird reason. Archie was in there and was mumbling something about not letting the guildmaster ever cook gummis on the roof again as he continued to pluck out his own feathers... well, the ones that were covered in liquified gummis that is. The hall seemed to expand into infinity as I walked through it, yet eventually, I came to my room. Sure, something in there smelled like a wet dog, and the beds were in horrible condition from me almost never making mine, but, right now, this looked like the bed in that five-star hotel in Scale City. I coiled up in my bed, and started to drift of... though, something seemed off this time... why was there an extra blanket on my bed?

---

[Anthony]

I follow Hex into the next room, which seemed to be this tyranitar's home. Oddly enough, there was Team ACT memorabilia covering the walls, including a team badge, marked 'Crater'... odd... was this guy their biggest fan, or something? He then answered Carrol's question as to who they are, by saying "Name's Crater, former explorer and former member of Team ACT, and this young mawile is Terra... she's adopted if you can't already tell." Wait... Crater? Wow... who knew we were fighting a celebrity! I think as my eyes drift over to an odd looking egg that was in the center of the room. "Ah, I see you've found Blaze. He's a victini that I, um, found over near the beach... he has a weird issue where he keeps changing into an egg." I begin to head over towards the egg, and Terra adds "We should continue this tomorrow, it's getting late, though, this is what you might be able to help us with." the sableye then comes back into view, and Terra says "It's okay, Randy, they're here to help, well, they will be tomorrow." this area was weird, and actually somewhat large, easily fitting the giant that was Crater. I wander around the place, and notice a few extra beds that weren't in use, heck, the room was even marked as 'guest' the ACT memorabilia didn't just fill the walls of the living room, but just about everywhere... that is, save for the guest room, and apparently Terra's room. I wasn't allowed in there, as once I got close to the door, Terra would run up to it and block the way, glaring at me until I left. For a cave, this place was also very dry, though there was a pool of water next to the entrance... its purpose to the family was completely unknown to me, but that pool of water would probably help out Josh, who seemed to be having some sort of issue, or something.

They all followed the Tyranitar, with no idea where they were going. Josh was getting worse. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open at this point, which Matt immediately noticed. "Oh, that's not good." He said, examining Josh more closely. "He's starting to lose consciousness. We don't have much time left."
Just as he was about to drift off, Josh felt himself drop into cold water. Heimmediately started to feel better. Floating up to the surface, he saw what appeared to be the Tyranitar's home.
Matt was floating beside the pool. "Are you all right?
"I'm fine now."
He let out a sigh of relief. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it. Water can be rather difficult to find underground."

Josh took some time to look around. There were posters of a group known as Team ACT lining the walls. Josh had never heard of them, but from what he was hearing they were quite famous up on the surface. There was also an egg in the middle of the room, which Josh found odd. The Tyranitar, whose name was apparently Crater, explained that he found a Victini down by the beach, who for some reason kept turning into an egg.

I wake up from my hour-long nap, and rip off two large sticks and start to use them as crutches. I hobble back, past the lake, past the bushes, and back behind the gates of the town. I limp-walk with my crutches and try to find a place where I could get some more information. One of the makeshift crutches starts to bend, and I release some tension on it. I couldn't afford to have these break until I found someone who could help me heal. I hop to the building where they hand-wrote the news and handed them some paper and the evidence. They gave back the evidence after a quick inspection and told me that it was most likely an Absol and a Scrafty, Scraggy, or Haxorus. I nod, and take back the materials. I walk outside, and carefully make my way down the stairs, then sit down at a wall and sweat. I rest for a few minutes, and get up. I go to the nearest healer I knew, and ask him for help. He puts a cast on me and I am told to rest for a few days.

"Team A.C.T, huh?" Hex said, skimming over Crater' wall of memorabilia. Countless illustrations, badges, and golden decorations adorned the cavernous walls. "I heard of you guys before. One of the best rescue teams around."

The room was massive in comparison to Hex. Even Crater, the massive Tyranitar, moved around the room with ease and agility. She examined the room for a moment, glancing around. The walls were completely covered with rewards and treasure of Team A.C.T. She learned of them while in the hive, while studying rescue teams. The team consisted of an Alakazam, Charizard, and Tyranitar. They had completed countless missions, taken down outlaws, saved many pokemon. Apparently, however, they split up, and took their own, very different routes in life. Aside from all the memorabilia, in the center of the room, a light, cream egg with various orange markings sat. Apparently, it was a.. Victini egg? Why was there a Victini egg? How was there a Victini egg? She had learned of that legendary pokemon, too. It was much more powerful than your average pokemon, similar to a Latios or a Mew or a Celebi. Victini was in charge of victory and winning, similar to how Dialga's control of time and Palkia's control of space. It had a problem where it kept turning into an egg, apparently. Taking a seat on the bed, she began to realize just how fatigued she was. The Tyranitar really hit hard, and she had to travel through that rocky ravine with all those powerful pokemon trying to snap her up. On top of all that, it must've been pretty late. Her eyes felt heavy. It was all a lot to handle. She curled up in one of the guest beds, trying to get some sleep. Today had been a pretty productive day, and they had a lot to do tomorrow. A lot to do..

Celes had been dreaming all night... a dream that was rather... strange... She felt as if she was not there, only a spectator in this dream. What she saw was someone running... running from some creatures that were of a dark color, gray and such. A bunch of them were chasing the figure. Celes could not see what the figure was, cause it was all blurry. The images also seemed to flash in and out constantly, as if something was wrong in her mind at the moment. The figured continued to run, as fast as it could, trying to get away from the dark figures, before turning around and then suddenly letting out what seemed to be a bright flash of light towards her assailant. Unfortunately a projectile went off and hit the figure, making her fly a couple of feets, and Celes saw something round behind thrown in the air slightly, before getting caught quickly by the figure who then went off to run again, weak, but still with energy. Then the images started to stop, as she saw only darkness.... emptiness. Something that at the same time was there as well as being absent. It took some time before she got a normal dream back.

The next morning, she was woken up by the cry of a pokemon that was yelling to everyone to wake up. She was unsure about what that dream meant. She was still groggy a bit. What was all this dream suppose to meant. She slowly gets back her senses,,, only to feel something that was wrapped around her slightly. She looked down, only to see that Spruce was holding her! She looked at the bed, and saw that she actually went to sleep in his bed instead of hers. She stares at him, blushing hard, unsure what to do. She then tries to move away, trying to not wake him up. This was so awkward.... Seriously, why did she even go to sleep there. God dang fight must have exausted her too much.