Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Azure Rescuers

First topic message reminder :

Heya, Gengarzilla here. I mentioned earlier in the July news thread that I was collecting ideas for a PMD fanfic mostly based upon the Rescue games. Well, here's the first part for you all. I hope it's enjoyable.




The... the pleasant breeze... This girl very much enjoyed it, feeling it rushing across her oddly diminutive form and hearing it sweep amongst the trees. She couldn’t quite recall how she had ended up here, laying within what seemed to be a forest of some sort. The only possibility she could even invent was that she had stupidly taken a nap inside the small wooded area near her home. It didn’t account for how she felt... a little unusual. As though she were in someone else’s body. She just had to wonder what was going on at the moment...

“Hey, you ok there? Wake up!”

A voice? Someone else was here? Was it someone from a search party? She didn’t want anyone to be making a scene over this and so decided to get up, though this did come with a little bit of difficulty however. She still felt a tad strange... and round.

What she saw next nearly made her fall over again. The voice came from someone possessing a round body, four stumpy legs, a large head, and a zigzagging mouth that was lightly hanging open. A Pokémon? This individual immediately expressed relief that she had come to, adding to her confusion. She had no idea how long she might have been out for... or any idea about anything else for that matter. What surprised her most was that this Pokémon was actually talking. “Are you speaking? I didn’t know that a human like me could hear that.”

“Hah, you say you’re human? You look like a pretty normal Togepi from this angle, you sure you haven’t bumped your head somewhere?” the Pokémon immediately retorted.

...

...

Then it hit her, the decreased size and strange shape of her body. She looked at her hands and instead of seeing humanoid hands with four fingers and a thumb on each, she instead found herself looking at... stubby yellow hands. A quick glance down also unveiled an eggshell encasing most of her body, red and blue shapes dotted around it.

“T-Togepi? What?! I’ve turned into a Togepi?!” the former human exclaimed in shock. They were admittedly an adorable species of Pokémon but she wasn’t sure if she was entirely on board with this revelation. “What happened...?” she outwardly asked as she tried to recall how this could have possibly occurred. “I can’t remember anything either...”

The individual bearing witness to this episode could only watch with a mixture of curiosity and bemusement. “You’re a bit odd... Well, never mind. Do you remember your name?”

That’s right. Her name. “My name is...”

...

Now she was really beginning to get scared. “...I’m sorry, I can’t even remember that.” This day wasn’t going well, she had somehow been found as an amnesiac Togepi by a talking Pokémon. She began restlessly looking around for any way to figure out her predicament before catching sight of a Pidgey flock flying above them both. She didn’t know this for obvious reasons but Flying type Pokémon were her favourites as a human. “Something’s up with that flock, I wonder what they’re fluttering away from.”

Fluttering... Flutter... Something about that word sounded nice. It calmed her down a little. She had decided. “In place of my human name, just call me Flutter.”

“Alright then. Flutter it is. Nice to meet you. I’m Terack, a Trapinch.” the Pokémon next to her replied with. Trapinch, huh? It was good to know that. Before the newly named Togepi could respond, she heard shouting. A Butterfree was soon passing by them. “Are you alright? What’s the problem?” Flutter said without thinking twice. Whatever had this Butterfree so worked up sounded rather serious.

As it turned out, her assumption was right on the money. “I-it’s my baby Caterpie, a fissure opened up in the ground and he’s fallen in!” Terack’s only reply was a shocked “What?!” and Flutter felt an air of unease creep into her as she heard of how the Butterfree had been attacked by other Pokémon when trying to retrieve her child and couldn’t get past them. They were seemingly startled and angered by the fissure, from what the butterfly thought.

Forget her apparently bad day, this was way worse. There was only one thought on Flutter’s mind at present... “We gotta save that kid, let’s move!” she exclaimed, immediately rushing off with Terack hot on her proverbial tail...


Soon, Flutter’s decision had led her and Terack deep into the forest, where navigating their way through the trees felt like some sort of maze. Several agitated Pidgey, Sunkern, and Wurmple previously made attempts to attack but they weren’t able to hold up that much of a fight against the duo.

“Do you think we’re getting close to the Caterpie now?” Terack asked her as he used Sand Attack on a Wurmple, the sand kicked into its eyes causing a Tackle to miss before defeating it with his Bite move.

“I’m not sure, we could be close by now. Heads up!” Flutter replied, letting loose with a Growl to unnerve the Sunkern behind him. As he defeated the Seed Pokémon, Flutter found herself glad for this opportunity to move about and attempt to adjust to this new form. Aside from the aforementioned Growl, she also knew Charm and the unpredictable Metronome. She had also seen her new Trapinch companion use Mud Slap on top of his Sand Attack and Bite.

There was still no sign of Caterpie though, nor was there a quick and easy way to find the fissure that this kid had fallen in. Just as her eyes skimmed past some bushes while she looked around for this fissure though, a wave of tiredness suddenly collided with her. For some ridiculously obscure reason, a nap sounded like the best thing in the world right about now... wait a moment. No.

Now wasn’t the time for that. Instead of letting herself drift off, Flutter looked harder at the bushes. Hard enough to the point where she could have sworn to somehow see the outline of six ovoid shapes within one of them. What she didn’t know is that this was her Foresight move.

“Terack, something’s in that leftmost bush!” she called to him in her slight daze. He took the cue, readying himself with Focus Energy before lunging straight into the said bush with Bite at the ready. Within it was an Exeggcute that had been attempting to covertly lull Flutter to sleep with Hypnosis, and the super-effective critical hit defeated it on the spot.

Just like that, her mist cleared. “Good call.” he said upon emerging, taking the lead now with her at his back. Within a few more moments they had found the fissure and Terack began to dig a sloping tunnel, just like the sand pits he used to make, down into it after getting a look at the drop. They’d be able to use that to bring the young Caterpie out from the crack. Flutter slid down after the Trapinch once the tunnel was completed and caught sight of a caterpillar-like creature nearby, back turned to them and crying. She could tell right away that this was Caterpie.

“Hey, we’re here to help.” she said gently to the scared child. “Your mother’s waiting”.


“My baby’s safe!” Butterfree called out in joy when Flutter and Terack returned, Caterpie on the Trapinch’s back. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know how to repay you two. What are your names?”

“I’m Terack.” he answered. “This one here is Flutter. You don’t have to do anything, we’re just glad to have been here when you passed by.”

Caterpie’s eyes lit up at this sentence. “Terack and Flutter... C-cool...!” he had to say, adoringly staring at the two. Terack found it just a little embarrassing but reprociated with a friendly smile. Flutter, primarily due to her memory loss, couldn’t remember the last time she felt this happy. She had undoubtedly taken a quick shine to the youngster.

Butterfree then appeared to have an idea. “Ah. It’s not much, but these are a token of my appreciation. Please take them.” In her hands were an Oran Berry, a Pecha Berry, a Rawst Berry, and a Chesto Berry. Both Flutter and Terack graciously accepted the berries before Butterfree and Caterpie left the area.

Terack then turned to face Flutter as she spoke. “I’m glad that went without any problems, what a sweet kid.” she said. The Trapinch replied with “Indeed, and you really did well out there. What are you going to do now though? You’ve somehow lost your memory and became a Pokémon, do you have anywhere to stay after this?”

The Togepi really wasn’t too delighted with this thought. Now that Terack had brought it up, she really didn’t have anywhere she could go... “N-no, I don’t...” she answered, looking very subdued and defeated as she stared blankly at her feet. Her Togepi feet.

“Alright then. Don’t worry about it, just follow me.” Terack said to Flutter after taking note of her expression. He headed eastwards out from the woods, the human turned Pokémon following close behind.


“And here we are!” he said once they reached a three-way intersection. In front of them was a small and simple looking wooden cottage with one floor. The roof bore a resemblance to the top of a strawberry, complete with a green stalk at the top. Situated outside was a mailbox, currently empty.

“Is this your home then?” Flutter asked. Nothing could have prepared her for Terack’s answer. “It was. This is going to be your home now. There’s only one place to sleep in there but you can take that. I’ll find somewhere else to stay.” She was blown away by these words. Here he was, with a place of his own to call home, and he was moving out to give it to some amnesia-struck Togepi that he randomly encountered in the woods. “T-thank you...” she managed to reply. “I really owe you one...” He’d just taken a massive load off of her mind and shoulders with this action.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You just get yourself settled in and rested up. I’ll drop by and see you tomorrow.” he said back to her, looking up at the sunset before leaving down the left path. Flutter waved goodbye to the Trapinch and went inside the house.

The fluffy mat located near the back of the interior looked nothing short of immensely inviting. Ok, now was the perfect time for a nap...

This one felt kinda daunting to write since it had the very first sad disappearing scene of the PMD series, but it's finally here.




"Flutter and Szaeracier... You two... are siblings."

Flutter and Szaer, hearing this from Gardevoir in their shared dream, both looked at each other and her with shocked expressions. "Y-you're serious?" Szaer asked Gardevoir as he stared at the Togepi who had apparently been his sister when they were both humans. Younger sister, clearly. Flutter was too stunned to say anything. Gengar, watching this with Dream Eater, wasn't much better off.

"Yes. It's partially why I was most glad to see you with her near Mt. Freeze. She was very worried about you."

"If I'd been worrying, then we must have been close. I'm glad to hear that." Flutter finally spoke up, giving Szaer a smile. "Why are we both Pokémon in this world though?"

"Tonight, you will finally know. Both of you came here to save the world from the approaching star. We learned of the star's decent and its collision course, and so sought a hero from the world of humans."

"I see, and you found both of us? Stopping the star's impact is our role here... I still feel that there's something missing, Flutter arrived here long after I did." Szaer said, that thought immediately crossing his mind.

"You're right. Before you, Szaeracier, I encountered a human and sent him to this world. It wasn't long before this Magby... was unfortunately discovered and killed. Many others followed, and all met the same deeply regrettable fate..."

Now it was Szaer's turn to be struck silent, a gasp having to suffice instead. "T-there were others besides us two, now all gone...?!" Flutter asked in an astonished hush. "I'm so sorry to hear this... They must have loved ones back in our world still looking for them..." This got Flutter thinking, is she being missed just as she did with Szaer?

"Not a day goes by when I don't think about those humans, Flutter. We were becoming very desperate by the time I encountered Szaeracier. He was certain that he wasn't strong enough for the task ahead, but strength wasn't what we sought. Szaeracier, you then requested something that surprised us. A test, to show your worthiness. You asked that, in addition to becoming a Pokémon, we also erase your memory as a human to perform your task with a clear heart..."

"I... I did that...?" Szaer muttered. A heavy feeling weighed him down. He'd been tested this entire time, even when he was causing problems... The Sneasel was filled with regret for his past actions that he didn't voice out to Flutter or Gardevoir.

"Indeed. You soon vanished from my sight however, when you blocked me out from your dreams. I was eventually forced to presume you deceased too, much to my lamentation. After two other humans also perished afterwards, we began to grow discouraged. And that... is when I met Flutter."

Flutter nodded in acknowledgement of her name, listening closely to Gardevoir. "What happened next?" she immediately asked.

"You asked if I knew where your brother was, and I told you what he'd left to do. I told you about how this world inhabited solely by Pokémon was at threat of extinction. We sought true courage and you were convinced that you had none of this. Upon being told of the test your brother took upon, you insisted on also being tested. We were hesitant this time but your tenacity won us over..."

"That sounds like her... I guess her courage has been proven..." Szaer guiltily spoke up, certain that his past behavior prior to meeting Articuno had revealed him as unworthy. His clear heart hadn't lasted long. "She bears the role of saving this world and its inhabitants, right?"

"No, you both do."

At Gardevoir's words, Szaer sunk to his knees in a similar fashion and emotional state to when Ninetales cleared him of involvement in the legend. Flutter went over for a cuddle with the Sneasel. "You need to stop thinking so badly about yourself. Forsaking your respected public persona and going against all those Rescue Teams to aid a Pokémon you knew was innocent... that's definitely true courage. You're much better than you realise." she said with tears building up. "Thank you for believing me..."

Flutter might have admired him, but it was moments like this that made it entirely mutual. Throughout his time in Team Celeste and during her persecution, he'd come to really respect his newly rediscovered sister.

"She's very right. What you did, helping someone perceived as a villain to clear their name with no care to your own image... it was incredibly selfless. You've come a long way from your difficult days and have proven yourself. This is your shared role."

"Both of you, this means far more than I can put into words..." Szaer said in a barely repressed sob. Flutter had one more thing on her mind. "You've said that this star is why we're here." she started, now fully understanding the link between herself and the natural disasters which Xatu spoke of. "What happens after it's been destroyed?"

"Upon the star's destruction, you must return to your world. It was never our intention to keep anyone here for longer than we found necessary."

Szaer simply gave a resigned shrug. "Anything to save this world." he told Gardevoir. Flutter wasn't taking it as well, the horrible implications setting in. "I-I... Terack and Kyan... I have to leave them...?" she desperately asked.

"Both of them feel great kinship towards the two of you. Team Celeste has become a very close group, but I'm afraid that there's nothing to avoid this breakup..."

"I can't do this... No..." Flutter immediately said, very downcast by the revelation. Szaer went to try and comfort her. "I don't like this either, but what other choice do we have? They either live on without us or don't live on at all. We need to save their lives..." he gently told her, wiping off her tears with a paw. Flutter nodded, still disconcerted but otherwise resolved now.

"I too, one had such a friend beyond measure... My trainer. He may not have been a perfect being, but I will... always, always cherish our time together..."

Hearing this, Gengar immediately began tearing up. "G-Gardevoir... really?" he asked in a repressed sob just as Szaer asked the same question.

"Really and truly. I don't know where he is or what Pokémon species he's become... but I believe that we will meet again one day. I hold on to this belief in the hope that he shares my sentiments now.

"Nngh... Gardevoir... I'm so... so..." Gengar somehow said through the despair crushing him underneath its weight, tears dripping down. He couldn't bear to watch any more of this. Ending Dream Eater, he ran out from the team base in a tearful dash...

The three Pokémon in the dream noticed the rippling green glow of their surroundings move unusually. "Uhh, what was that?" Flutter inquired with a puzzling look upon her face.

"Someone appears to have been looking into this dream... It is no cause for alarm or concern, all that remains here now is only sadness... They have most likely ran off crying."

"I wouldn't blame them either. Between our own fates after the star's destruction and that wish to meet your friend again, this did take a turn for the glum." Szaer said, looking at Flutter again. Her face was unreadable. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

Flutter almost jumped, still mulling over the impending departure. Szaer's words still stuck in her. She couldn't just do nothing and let the star crash. "I know that we've got to leave them after all is done, but... don't expect me to like this." Szaer nodded, understanding her feelings on this matter.

"It will be morning soon. Au revoir, and... good luck. You two and your team carry all our wishes..."


Flutter and Szaer both woke up early and cast each other knowing looks, understanding what must be done. "So, what do you plan on telling them?" Szaer asked her once the two of them had gotten out of their beds.

"Szaer... Brother... I can't tell them. It hurts to keep this important information from these guys, but I don't want to make them less willing to do this. Especially not Terack. He's been my soulmate from the minute I arrived here..." she told him, her eyes lightly glistening.

The Sneasel took one of her hands in his. "Then I promise to respect that wish. I won't say a thing to either of them." he assured the Togepi. "We just need to act as though this won't be our last adventure with them. Go about things naturally, as you've always done." Szaer advised her.

Flutter nodded just before Terack and Kyan woke up. "Good morning, did you both sleep well?" she said to them. Szaer was right... it was better for these two to live on without them rather than not living on at all. She was ready to do this.

"Yeah, we've both had a nice sleep." Terack replied, as did Kyan. "How do we look on supplies?" the Trapinch asked. "Everything we need is in here." Szaer said, slinging the bag over his shoulder. "Let's move it to the Hill of the Ancients, Alakazam and Xatu should be waiting."

"I guess we're cutting through the Great Canyon along the way? Should be good for an early morning workout to loosen us up..." Kyan said as they went downstairs and out of the base.


"Ah, impeccable timing. Welcome." Alakazam said to Team Celeste's members as the four of them reached the hill at the top of the dungeon. Szaer had never been up here before, underneath the powerful sunrise.

A small pink gem was floating in front of Xatu, psychic energies very gently pulsing from it. "As this is a matter of great urgency-" Xatu started. "-we need to get down into business immediately. This is the Teleport Gem. Created overnight by the combined amplifications of our Teleport moves and the support of a Ghost type Pokémon whom couldn't remain to see this. Only a Psychic type Pokémon can activate the gem."

Flutter briefly wondered who this Ghost type assistant was before subsequently refocusing herself on the task at hand, taking the Teleport Gem on behalf of the team. Alakazam spoke up next. "I must ask you this one last time. There will be considerable danger in this path ahead, and we will be unable to help after you arrive. Will you still go?"

"Without any doubt. If doing this will finally bring peace to the world, then I won't back down against anything. There's nothing I would want more at this stage." Terack adamantly replied, his resolve truly showing in that moment. Flutter silently decided to honour this resolve by giving this task her level best.

"I'd say we're ready to go." Kyan said with a look at his three teammates. The quartet gathered around the gem as the Steel/Psychic type Metang activated it. The pulsing energy suddenly spiked before all four of them were completely enveloped in its expanding pink glow.


As the glow gave out, Team Celeste's three walking members immediately realised exactly what they were now standing upon...

"W-we're walking on clouds...?! No way..." Terack said, beyond astonished. He knew that he should never use Dig under any circumstances here. Szaer took the gem and placed it in their bag as he and Flutter observed their surroundings. "Just in front of us, there's a huge tower made out of clouds." Flutter pointed out. "That must be where Rayquaza is..."

"A tower in the sky... It's not the most creative name in the world, but I'm going to call this dungeon the Sky Tower for simplicity's sake." Szaer declared. "Let's get moving quickly, time is of the essence." he said as he went in, Flutter and the others following in his wake.

Alakazam definitely wasn't joking, this dungeon was proving to be a long and challenging one. Shuppet and Duskull were lurking everywhere and assaulting the team with moves such as Confuse Ray and Night Shade while invisible. Flutter immediately took charge in these moments, using Foresight like never before to reveal these attackers to her teammates.

More significant troubles later came when a Venomoth started to collect a few stat boosts with Silver Wind at Szaer's expense before Flutter's Ancient Power countered this, as well as an Aerodactyl's Ability and Pressure before Kyan's speedy Bullet Punch halted that.

The weather was also somewhat unpredictable. Sometimes it worked to Flutter's own favour, sunlight giving her an instant Solar Beam to hit Lunatone, Solrock, and the occasional Claydol once the waypoint had been passed. Other times it resulted in the team running from a hailstorm.

Terack was overall struggling with the Sky Tower due to Dig being downright dangerous here and this came to head against a Metagross, Kyan's own evolved form, near the very top. This began causing the team to falter somewhat before Kyan's Telekinesis/Dynamic Punch combination inhibited it enough for Terack's Superpower to finally muscle through. During this, Szaer had been locked in combat with a Salamence, recognising the species from his Frosty Forest investigation.

Finally reaching the top, Terack let out a relieved sigh. "Ohh, that last one was tough..." he muttered to himself while the others looked around for Rayquaza. "Rayquaza, are you here?" Szaer asked out loud.

"Who?! Who goes there?! Who is it that dares to trespass upon my airspace?!" a powerful and regal voice responded in reply. "Is that you, Rayquaza?" Kyan called, none of the team able to locate the source of this voice.

"Indeed, young one! I command you to depart immediately, the very sky itself is my domain!" Rayquaza replied to him. Flutter began to get desperate at Rayquaza's apparent unwillingness to hear them out. "We can't leave! We need your help!" she cried.

"My help?! Never!!" Rayquaza roared out, the green serpentine dragon flying down to them. "I stopped a conflict between Groudon and Kyogre for my own reasons! Not because a ragtag band of land denizens made desperate pleas! The very same goes for falling stars! I am not subservient to your request! I am not honour-bound to obey you!" they ferociously called, not budging in the slightest. "For you, who possess the temerity to invade this pristine tower, I shall show no mercy!"

"We've got no choice here, everyone... Let's knock Rayquaza off its pedestal." Szaer said in a resigned voice. Using Icicle Crash against Rayquaza's opening Dragon Claw, the two clashed and fought each other for a fleeting moment before Szaer's weapon shattered as though it were glass. The glowing green claws slashed him back before he retaliated with a strengthened Payback that Rayquaza endured.

Evading Terack's Rock Slide and taking a hit from Flutter's unavoidable Shock Wave, Rayquaza took on a vivid green-yellow hue all over its serpentine body, crashing into the entire team with a mighty Dragon Ascent. Kyan took it marginally better than the rest of his companions and noticed Rayquaza looking a little bit out of it after that move. Taking the initiative, he held Rayquaza in place with Telekinesis before whittling down the Legendary Pokémon with his Bullet Punch.

This wouldn't last long, however. Rayquaza soon broke free from that immobilisation and struck Kyan down with an Iron Head once Team Celeste's other members managed to collect themselves. "We're going to need some serious teamwork if we want to be triumphant here." Szaer exclaimed as he helped Kyan up.

"I know, we'll try that combo of ours again!" Terack suggested to Kyan as he got onto the Metang. Their Bullet Punch/Rock Slide combo soon followed but Rayquaza began tearing through the oncoming rocks with Dragon Claw.

Flutter and Szaer watched from below. "It's effective, but they need help. Do you have a plan?" Szaer asked. Flutter watched the Rock Slide, an idea taking shape. "I'll give this a try..." Forming rocks from nowhere with Ancient Power, she amassed them into a platform for them to stand on. "...You continue to amaze me, little sis." he said as she sent them upwards to join the aerial battle.

Szaer took full control of the offense on their part to keep Flutter's focus on moving their Ancient Power platform, striking with gradually strengthening Power-Up Punch hits as she sent them past. This distracted Rayquaza enough for Terack and Kyan to finally land some hits, but it was still anyone's game.

A horrible rumbling noise then struck all five Pokémon before they could continue. "Wah! What's that?!" Terack called. "Those are shockwaves! Massive ones!" Rayquaza replied, now yelling out of necessity rather than anger. Szaer soon spotted the source. "Look! The falling star!" he exclaimed, pointing it out to the team and Rayquaza.

"It's... far larger than I imagined...!" Rayquaza said in shock and disbelief. "Yes, large enough to destroy the whole world! We're begging you, please help us!" Flutter reiterated their plea.

Rayquaza said nothing for a short moment. "Very well...! This one time! A Dragon Ascent shall suffice but before that, I must know the true strength of your resolve!" they said. "Our proximity is too close, none of you will be escaping this unharmed!"

"We accepted the possibility of that before we even entered this tower! No danger is too great for me!" Terack announced. This answer pleased Rayquaza, it was clearly no fluke to them that these Pokémon made it to this point. "Very well said! May fortune smile upon you!" they exclaimed as a green-yellow hue once more appeared.

As Flutter watched Rayquaza fly forcefully towards the falling star as she held on to Szaer tightly, a fully formed set of words spiraled out of her mouth without prior thought. "You can do it, Rayquaza!!" she suddenly cried in a fervent plea. This inexplicably triggered something in the Pokémon.

"What is this... this new power I feel...?" Rayquaza silently wondered as a bright light overtook its entire body. Bearing Flutter's heartfelt wish, the light faded to unveil Mega Rayquaza as its Dragon Ascent crashed into the star.

Time seemed to stop for a split second before a savage and violent explosion burst forth from the star, buffeting Mega Rayquaza and sending all four of Team Celeste's members flying away from the force.

Out of the sky, away from Sky Tower, all falling separately towards the newly saved planet...


The next thing Flutter knew, she was laying down hurting. Very badly. She couldn't manage any form of movement and was too pained to get a good grasp of her surroundings. All she had were terrifying thoughts. Thoughts about Terack, Kyan, and Szaer. Were they hurt like her? Did they... survive the fall? She felt cold and empty inside at the very thought of this.

"Kekekeh! Just like an egg, it's a long fall that takes you out! How very fitting!" a voice mockingly said. Flutter recognised this as Gengar, the absolute last Pokémon she wanted to see her in this state. She was completely at his mercy. Her nightmare was coming true.

Gengar looked at her unmoving and heavily injured form, feeling both delight and sorrow. Although he truly hated this Togepi laying in front of him, he couldn't bring himself to end his injured nemesis right here. Not after what he'd heard from Gardevoir and her intentions for Flutter next.

"...Consider yourself very, very lucky." he said as she fell back into unconsciousness...


"S-she's not coming around..."

"No... please, someone say she'll be alright...!"

"I'm afraid the dearie took more grievous injuries than her friends. There's nothing more I can do..."

"Wake up, sis... wake up..."

A large gathering of Pokémon were at the Hill of the Ancients, surrounding the lifeless Flutter. Alongside the now healed Terack, Kyan, and Szaer, there was also Caterpie, Metapod, the Beldum duo, Bellsprout, Lombre, Snubbull, Shiftry, the Jumpluff duo, Alakazam, Charizard, Tyranitar, Androma, Blastoise, Octillery, and Golem. The last voice came from Szaer, attracting some attention as he begged for her to awaken in an almost distraught state.

"Sis? You mean that Flutter is actually your sister?!" Terack asked in shock. "Yes, exactly! We were siblings as humans! Come on, p-please wake up...!" Szaer replied and called in panic as he started to tear up profusely... After recently rediscovering her in this world, he couldn't bear to lose her again...

Finally, she began to stir and come round, awakening to a very deeply relieved crowd. "Urff... W-where...?" she groggily asked as Szaer wrapped her in a loving embrace that Terack and Kyan joined. Ann watched this happily, her views on humans beginning to fall into question.

"At the Hill of the Ancients." Alakazam answered her. "You... had us all so worried. That explosion scattered the four of you all over the world. Rescue Teams of all shades and stripes took up the task of finding Team Celeste's members once word of the star's destruction came out."

Flutter lightly nodded, still a little sore but not as much as earlier. Thinking back, she recalled Gengar and came to a monumental revelation. For some reason, he'd saved her...

"What about the star?" Szaer asked. He'd been too wrapped up in panic over Flutter to give that star a second thought. Xatu turned away from watching the sunset and joined the crowd. "The star, it has been destroyed. The unthinkable has been averted. It will take some time but the disasters shall also abate."

"So..." Terack said, eyes glimmering as the realisation started to set in. "We've... done it. We finally have peace..." he uttered in overwhelming delight as the crowd's jubilation reached a fever pitch. "Now this is an event worthy of celebration!" Charizard enthusiastically roared.

"Absolutely!" Blastoise agreed, the two having formed a friendship when Flutter was out cold. "Hey, I'll start the festivities with my Hydro Cannon!" he laughed, cannons pointed at Lombre. "Hold on just a moment! Don't go pointing those at me!" he pleaded in protest.

"Nah, let her rip!" Shiftry called with a joyous laugh, everyone except for Lombre really starting to get into this idea of a celebration. Octillery even joined in, restraining Lombre from behind. Many other Pokémon joined her, including Terack and Kyan after some consideration. Flutter and Szaer instead felt a slight dizzy sensation as Gardevoir appeared before them.

"...Thank you. Flutter and Szaeracier, we owe everything to you both and your team. Now, your role has regrettably finished. The two of you must return to your own world."

"Then it's finally time..." Szaer muttered with a look at the crowd. Flutter's heart slowly broke at the sound of this. "Please... no..." she quietly pleaded with the spirit.

"Flutter, I'm so sorry for this. I truly am... Bid your farewells..."

Gardevoir then vanished, looking deeply apologetic for this. Both of their bodies, Togepi and Sneasel alike, soon had some sort of faint yellow light emanating from them. "Please don't do this..." Flutter begged, as though Gardevoir were still there.

Kyan turned around to see them both and noticed the light. "Huh? You two, is something up?" he asked, immediately setting the attention on them. "What's that light? Are you both ok?" Terack carried on.

"I... I'm afraid... it's time to say goodbye..." Flutter managed to say. "H-huh? What do you mean?" Caterpie stuttered, the poor kid only feeling confused.

"We both became Pokémon in this world solely to stop that star. Now that it's destroyed and peace has been won..." Szaer explained, a gentle nod at Terack. "...we must return to our human world."

"Go... back...?! Leave?!" Tyranitar exclaimed in horror. "No...! Things were just about to get better...!" Charizard said, tears forming as he watched this. Alakazam and Xatu both had a quiet moment of understanding, while Ann was actually upset to see them go despite Deuvide being better off without them both.

"B-but... I don't understand this...! Why?! Flutter! Why do you both have to leave?! After everything... Aren't we friends?!" Terack asked, confused and muddled up by this turn of events. Seeing him this way hurt Flutter far more than the fall from Sky Tower. "Yes, Terack... You... You'll... a-always... be... be my... I just can't do it!!" she finished in a sob, completely breaking down into tears as she hugged Szaer. "I don't... want to go...!"

Szaer wrapped an arm around her as she let it all out, the yellow glow intensifying. "It has been a privilege and an honour to have been a rescuer in this world, both as the cloaked vigilante Black Ice and as Team Celeste's Szaeracier. Terack, Kyan... For Flutter's sake, please keep the team alive..." he stated. "I promise... Kyan and I, we're gonna continue as rescuers." Terack replied, Kyan silently raising an arm in glum acknowledgement.

"To everyone else here, rescuers or otherwise... Please... enjoy and protect this hard won peace you now have. I'm counting on you all..." Szaer implored. Flutter looked back at the group with a tearstained face. "Goodbye..." she said before the glow proceeded to conceal their bodies from view. Both glowing yellow balls rose up into the air before finally beginning to shrink, leaving nothing behind...

"No! NO!!" Terack bawled with tears in his eyes as he ran towards them, tripping up along the way. By the time he got back up, Flutter and Szaer were both gone...


As imagined, this put the kibosh on Charizard's celebration. Everyone was sad for the sudden departure in one way or another...

"But... why...? Why did it need to be so...?" Charizard asked, as confused as everyone else. He and Blastoise were sat together. "Flutter... she... she inspired me more than I could say. Her speech about our... pride as rescuers, it brought me back from the brink of surrender..." Blastoise recalled.

"Even when we were all chasing her, she... never lost her integrity..." Tyranitar sorrowfully sobbed nearby. "Szaeracier saw it... and I'm now ashamed to have even considered thinking badly of her..."

Octillery and Golem were also recalling the speech, but Shiftry was perhaps the most despondent of all the team leaders. "She... saved my life... Me, the leader of the selfish and greedy Team Shifty... I've always wanted to thank her in some way, but now I can't... I don't deserve to call myself a rescuer..."

Alakazam approached him softly. "That you're now accepting your faults should be enough thanks." he said. Shiftry nodded. "I'm... going to disband Team Shifty and start a new team on a clean slate. In her memory..." he decided. "She's become my inspiration..."

Kyan was sadly talking with with his Beldum friends, Caterpie, and Metapod, alongside Androma and the Jumpluff couple. Bellsprout, Lombre, and Snubbull were all talking to themselves. Terack had joined Xatu in staring at the sunset, having not said a single word since Flutter and Szaer left this world behind.

"I think I understand a little bit more now..." the Trapinch finally spoke. "Gardevoir... She must have brought them both to this world in order to destroy the falling star. I'm sure this was the connection Flutter had with the natural disasters... Szaer and her were both here to stop them... and that's why they had to leave afterwards."

"A logical conclusion..." Xatu replied. "I recall, when Flutter claimed the Teleport Gem... The look in her eyes, it was one of regretful resignation..."

Terack almost began tearing up again. "If they... if they both knew this was coming, why did they hide it...?!" he implored. "Those words simply couldn't be spoken..." Alakazam said as he joined them both. "As much as you are heartbroken now, Terack... Flutter... she was devastated to leave. I surmise that they hid their impending departure to avoid making you unwilling to do this. Please try and understand." he said.

Terack thought over this in his head. "I understand, but... I'm really going to miss them... Flutter..."


Meanwhile, two glowing yellow balls, Flutter and Szaer wrapped within them, were both gently floating up into the sky. Szaer was filled with a sort of apprehension. Would they suddenly regain all their human memories? Would they... not remember the time they'd spent in the world they'd just left?

Flutter had the same questions in her mind, the last one prompting her to resume her protest against this. "No... I can't leave them... I don't want to forget..." she could be heard faintly murmuring, frantically trying to push herself downwards and back towards that world. A voice echoed through their heads at this. They first thought that it was Gardevoir, but a closer listen proved otherwise...

"Your friends are heartbroken..."

"Both true and loyal friends... Both friends for life..."

"If the two of you wish, a wish of legendary strengths... then perhaps you may just meet again..."

Emboldened and reinvigorated by this, she turned to face Szaer.

"Szaer... I refuse to go through with this. My future lies with Team Celeste. I wish to go back, I wish to go back, I wish to go back..."

As Flutter repeated the last part over and over again like a mantra, something unbelievable happened. The glowing ball containing her suddenly stopped and began going down instead. Overjoyed, she kept repeating her wish.

Szaer watched in stunned astonishment. If that was her decision, then he had no other choice...

"Then I refuse to leave you behind again! I wish to go back too!"

There was no mantra, but the single declaration was strong and forceful enough to start his decent too. Before either of them could think of anything else, Flutter and Szaer both felt their feet touch solid ground...

They had landed outside their team base, and the glow around them faded out to reveal the both of them to a sad crowd. Surprised exclamations aside, everyone was overjoyed to see them return.

Flutter was just as euphoric, running straight for Terack and Kyan with tears in her eyes. This was where she wanted to be, where she wanted to stay... as a permanent resident of this world...


However, seven Pokémon in this world were not celebrating. Zeninthia the Umbreon was conversing with her lord, the leader of Deuvide. A Pokémon enshrouded in a brown cloak.

"My lord, I regret to inform you that Flutter and Szaeracier have returned for as of yet unknown reasons..." Zeninthia told him. "Androma sends this report. It appears that they will be staying in our world on a permanent basis..."

"This news displeases me. They do not deserve such a privilege. They might have saved this world, but their actions have caused significant collateral damage. Many Pokémon habitats have been hit by fragments of the destroyed star..."

"I see..." she responded. "What will our next course of action be?"

"Bring Dr. Rubix to me, at once. I have plans for the star fragments that would benefit from his aid..."

The post-credits story starts with a new development for Team Celeste.




"Hey, Flutter. It's morning." Terack said as he gently nudged the sleeping Flutter awake. It was the day after she and Szaer returned, and the ensuing celebration had lasted most of the night. She and the others hadn't gotten much sleep as a result, but she managed to get herself out of bed. "Mmm, good morning..." she muttered, giving him a smile.

Szaer soon followed her in getting up, but the last bed was empty. "Looks like Kyan got up early." he noted. The Metang then arrived shortly after. "Morning, you two. I've just been by the post office. Rescue Jobs are still being posted on the Bulletin Board out there, it looks like there's many Pokémon in need of help despite the world's balance being restored." he told them.

"So it's business as usual?" Szaer quickly asked, brushing off the sleep from his eyes alongside Flutter. "Ok, let's make our way there and pick out some jobs." The team followed in his wake, downstairs and outside. They had some visitors outside however, Caterpie and Metapod. "Hello kids, nice to see you both. Something up?" Kyan asked them.

"It's about Snubbull, there's something really strange going on with him!" Metapod replied. "Strange? What could you mean, Metapod?" Kyan continued asking, needing a bit of clarification. "He looks totally different for some reason! Snubbull's at Whiscash's pond with Alakazam right now!" Caterpie explained.

Something was definitely afoot if Alakazam was involved, Flutter thought. She and the team followed Caterpie and Metapod through the square and towards the pond, seeing Alakazam and the Beldum duo speaking with Whiscash and a Pokémon that she didn't recognise. A purple bipedal canine Pokémon.

"Caterpie and Metapod told us that there's something strange going on with Snubbull." Terack explained as they arrived, looking around for him. "Where is he?"

"It's me, I'm Snubbull." the Granbull replied. Terack was taken aback by this. "Wha...? You don't look anything like him..." he responded. Flutter approached the Granbull. "They did say that you looked totally different. What happened?" she asked him. "I don't exactly understand. All I did was go into that cave over there-" he told her while pointing out the cave in question, a gaping hole now in the large rock at the middle of the pond. "-and I came out looking like this. There was some weird voice too."

"I see..." Alakazam concluded. "It appears that Snubbull has undergone evolution. He evolved into a Pokémon called Granbull." Something about this was familiar to Szaer. "Evolution? I've heard of that before. Couldn't nobody evolve because of all those natural disasters?" he asked.

Alakazam nodded. "Correct. With the star's destruction and thus the restoration of the world's balance, it appears that we are able to evolve once more. Evolution brings about changes in appearance and enhancements in a Pokémon's abilities. The Beldum were just telling me of Kyan's exceptional case."

The Metang recalled it well. A strange electromagnetic wave had surged through Thunderwave Cave, forcibly fusing him with a younger Beldum friend to cause a spontaneous evolution. "It was before Team Celeste even formed, there was just Flutter and Terack. Two Pokémon teaming up. I don't know if I even want to evolve further after that frightful experience..." Kyan decided.

Flutter was in no mind to push him. "That's ok, I understand why you'd feel that way about evolution." she kindly told Kyan before turning back to Alakazam. "So we should go in there if we want to evolve?" the Togepi asked him for clarification, interested in this development. "Yes, but whether or not it can be done will depend on the circumstances. Some Pokémon species will simply need a sufficient level, others require certain items." Alakazam explained to her.

Szaer was thinking hard over this. He wouldn't mind trying it out. One of their number was scared thanks to their unusual experience, but he was interested in knowing what Flutter and Terack's thoughts were. "I'd like to chat about something." he finally said. "Flutter, Terack, what do you think about this whole evolution thing?"

Terack gave it a little thought. "I'm open to the idea of evolving someday, but I think I'm gonna stay as I am for the time being." he decided. "Cool, that's a good way to put it." Szaer replied. "Flutter?"

"Hmm... Give me a moment..." she said, mulling this over for a bit. She didn't know what she could end up evolving into, but Alakazam did say that this would enhance her abilities. She was very much tempted by this prospect. "I'm up for this." Flutter replied. It also felt like a way to make a new start, now that she'd outlived her reason for existing here...

Szaer gave her a small grin, catching on to her reasons. "Ok, what circumstances do a Togepi and Sneasel need?" he asked Alakazam, certain that he'd know. "Hmm... Both require items. Togepi need a Soothe Bell, Sneasel need a Lunar Ribbon and Razor Claw." Alakazam soon told him after some recollection. This disappointed Szaer a little, with neither item in his possession he had no choice but to wait.

"Soothe Bell... That's somehow familiar..." Terack murmured. "Oh! It's that bell Ann wanted me to give you on our first day back from the fugitive trip! That's when you were ill from exhaustion." he exclaimed with a gasp. "T-that bell?" Flutter asked in equal amounts of shock, rushing back to the base to retrieve the bell necklace and bringing it over.

"That's unmistakably a Soothe Bell." Alakazam said as Flutter put it on over her Defense Scarf. Kyan, Caterpie, Metapod, Whiscash, Granbull, and the Beldum duo all watched alongside him, Terack, and Szaer as Flutter approached the hole in the rock and went down the staircase underneath it.

At the bottom, there was a sight that took Flutter's very breath away. A crystal blue spring with a large diamond breaching the surface and pointing up high. She hadn't expected to see this vast pool located here. Before any words could be spoken, she heard a soft voice echo through the room as the diamond took on a blue glow...

"A visitor...? A visitor who seeks awakening... This is the Luminous Cave. Do you seek an evolution?"

"I don't know who's talking to me here, but you're right. I do seek an evolution." Flutter replied to the voice, a little caught off guard.

"You have no cause for concern. I am the guide here. Do you require an item for your evolution?"

Flutter was very much reassured by this. "As a Togepi, I was told that I needed a Soothe Bell." she told them.

"That is correct. A Soothe Bell shall facilitate your evolution into a Pokémon species called Togetic. Please, step into the spring and we shall commence..."

She took a deep breath and looked at the water in front of her. Clearly, this water possessed some sort of mystical or mythical quality to it if she were being asked to step in. A thought passed through her head. She'd chosen to stay here instead of return to her own world. She finally felt like a Pokémon resident in this world now, it only felt right to make the most of her decision.

Without looking back and with the Soothe Bell being worn, Flutter stepped into the Luminous Cave's spring. A warm and tingly sensation quickly cocooned the Togepi as her whole body took on a white glow and began painlessly reforming. Her shell peeled off and dissolved, she grew legs and a neck, small wings also sprouted from her back. Now doubled in height, the glow vanished to reveal a Togetic.

"Should you seek further evolution, do return here..."

Further evolution? Flutter decided against that for now, wanting to enjoy this new form first. She took a moment or two so she could reorient herself. Her new wings felt natural already as she left the spring and headed back up the staircase, towards the waiting group of Pokémon. The Soothe Bell and Defense Scarf were both around her neck now.

Once she arrived back out, everyone except for Alakazam were caught in a hushed surprise. "...You've gotten wings?" was truly all that Szaer could say. "I thought that your cute face would go all craggy like mine, but you look very pretty now." Granbull remarked.

The eyes of Caterpie and Metapod were almost sparkling. Both of them were now really wanting to evolve. "Flutter? Just... wow..." Terack said, barely avoiding a stutter. He'd expected her to grow a bit larger if Granbull was any example, but sprouting wings was too left field for him to predict.

"Yep, it's me~!" she happily chirped, having not changed at all in terms of personality. It was probably a result of being newly evolved but Flutter felt thoroughly elated, expressing this by floating up in midair without moving her wings and sending a shot of sparkling pink wind skywards, to more surprise.

"Fairy Wind? Today's going to be quite fun..." Szaer remarked.


He wasn't wrong. The rest of the day went by very smoothly thanks to Flutter employing this new form of offense and her greater mobility in their rescue missions alongside her previous capabilities of Foresight, Solar Beam, and Ancient Power.

Szaer was glad to see his sister enjoying her evolution. It got him eagerly awaiting his own planned one once they found a Lunar Ribbon and Razor Claw. Terack was also pleased for her and even Kyan was complimentary despite his own unwillingness to evolve. With the path towards Platinum Rank now over halfway done, it was a successful day for Team Celeste overall.

Flutter woke up rather early the next morning and rose above her bed as she brushed the sleep from her eyes. Deciding to give her teammates some more time to rest, she headed outside for a walk.

Before she could reach the crossroads outside, a whooshing noise could be heard, followed by a blue blur zooming past and into the square. Curious, the Togetic decided to follow.

What she saw when she arrived was nothing short of shocking. There was a blue and white Pokémon, somewhat resembling a jet, helping themselves to the TMs in Kecleon Wares. "Hey! Those aren't yours, you know!" she called, catching the thief by surprise. "G-go away, leave me alone. I need these..." they replied, looking around as though they were unwilling to be seen by more Pokémon.

Taking the initiative, Flutter whipped up her Fairy Wind for a super effective hit upon this Pokémon, knocking them down and causing some TMs to fall out of their bag. They scrambled to gather their loot once the noise of this commotion caused some lights to turn on, using one TM in an obvious state of panic to fire an Ice Beam at Flutter that struck her hard.

"Don't follow me." they said to the downed confronter, zooming off in the direction of Whiscash's pond and over it as Flutter struggled back onto her feet with her wings lightly beating, lamenting her new Ice weakness...


"Hey, wake up." Szaer said to Terack not long afterwards as he shook him and Kyan awake. "Uhh... W-what's going on?" Kyan mumbling as they both got up.

Terack first noticed Flutter's empty bed. "Where'd Flutter go?" he immediately asked. "Lombre told me. He's waiting outside right now." Szaer replied. "There was a thief stealing TMs earlier, Flutter caught them in the act but they stopped her with a newly learned Ice Beam and escaped."

All tiredness suddenly vanished from the both of them at the sound of this. "Ice Beam? She'll be weak against that now, is she ok?" Kyan quickly asked. "She's fine, Alakazam and the elder Kecleon are speaking with her now about what she saw." Szaer told him. Terack immediately led them out, a sense of urgency in his gaze. He simply had to see for himself.

His concerns were unnecessary however, as he discovered when Lombre led the trio to the square. Flutter was indeed fine and discussing the incident with Alakazam and the purple Kecleon. "Flutter, what did the thief look like?" Alakazam asked her as they arrived. "They were blue and white with a red triangle on their chest." Flutter described from memory. The Kecleon was slowly taking on a reddish tint, he was so far beyond livid at the theft.

"After that Ice Beam, they flew off over Whiscash's pond. Our thief could be in almost any northern location now." she continued, Team Celeste's other members joining the discussion. "Thunderwave Cave isn't big enough to serve as a hiding spot for such a Pokémon..." Terack speculated.

Szaer had a sudden thought. What if they were in... that place? "There's the Northern Range. It would be worth checking there." he suggested. As he'd earlier told Terack and Kyan, this was the location where he first arrived in this world as an amnesiac Sneasel. He was loath to return to this beginning, but the Pokémon there being almost exclusively Flying type meant that he felt obligated to help out.

"Northern Range? That sounds right. Let's go, team!" Kyan called. They all headed for the crossroads but Flutter stopped herself just outside Kecleon Wares when she saw a TM that the thief didn't take. An idea took shape once she saw the contained move.

"Kecleon, how much is this TM?" she asked. "The move inside would be great against that Ice Beam."


The Northern Range immediately caught Flutter and Terack in a chilly breeze. Szaer nonchalantly started by taking out a nearby Ninjask with Icicle Crash while Kyan's Bullet Punch kept a Dodrio busy long enough for the Togetic and Trapinch to pull themselves together.

Following this, the dungeon wasn't anything to write home about. Szaer led the team onwards through the mountainous landscapes and into a gentle sprinkling snow. Flutter was keeping a sharp eye open for the thief with Terack and Kyan both helping out either of the two when needed. A close call came when Flutter took a hit from a Seviper's Poison Tail, Terack's Dig and Kyan's Zen Headbutt defeating this foe as Szaer went to check on her. To his relief, she wasn't poisoned.

The group soon came to a location behind two mountains that was being blanketed in the glow of the rising sun. Flutter looked around and finally saw the Pokémon she'd previously caught red handed in the square. "Guys, there they are..." she whispered to the team, using the TM she bought to learn a new move over Solar Beam.

"I've never seen that kind of Pokémon before." Szaer muttered as Flutter approached their target. "Found you!" she called. The Latios in question turned around to see her. "You again? I told you not to follow me." he exclaimed. "I need these, as I've also told you once before."

Terack stepped closer as he watched Flutter confronting Latios. "She's not alone this time!" he boldly declared as Kyan and Szaer also joined them. "We're Team Celeste, of the Gold Rank. The four of us have come for the TMs Flutter saw you take."

"I can't give these back yet!" Latios desperately replied, seeing no other alternative. He couldn't just give up on his precious sister... "I-if you persist, then I'll use force!" he called, preparing an Ice Beam. Flutter was ready, immediately using her new Flamethrower to counter it with a billowing stream of fire from her mouth, scorching Latios. "Not this time!" shouted the triumphant Togetic as she caught Latios in a Fairy Wind and slammed him into a rock wall.

Flutter's teammates took this as their cue and charged at the Latios. He was hard pressed to dodge all of them, avoiding Terack's Superpower and taking a narrow graze from Szaer's Icicle Crash before Kyan's Bullet Punch caught him. Latios's retaliatory Dragon Breath then engulfed all four of them in blue flames, to which their reactions were mixed. Flutter was unaffected entirely, Kyan shrugged it off, Szaer just backflipped away, and Terack came out of it paralyzed. He hid underground with Dig while Szaer surreptitiously slipped a Cheri Berry into the hole.

Aiming and firing another Ice Beam at Flutter, Latios was surprised to see Szaer intercept the attack. His Payback, supported by Flutter's Fairy Wind, inflicted significant damage to the Psychic/Dragon type. Landing upon the ground in order to use Roost, further troubles emerged in the form of a now not paralyzed Terack suddenly striking him with a Focus Energy strengthened Dig. Kyan immediately began pulling Latios inwards with Telekinesis, Szaer using this to jump onto the Metang and land a clean and unavoidable slash with an icicle from his Icicle Crash to conclude the battle.

Latios collapsed in a heap, looking pretty beaten up right now. "P-please... let me go..." he moaned fearfully, but not for himself. "There's somewhere that I... need to be..."

Flutter stared at Latios and took a step closer. "Where would that be?" she questioned him, interested by this admission. "This isn't important to you... I've gotta go... right now...!" he called as he tried to get up, visibly straining and in a state of terror. "If I don't hurry there... m-my dear little sister will be... No! Gah!" With a pained cry, Latios passed out.

Hearing this, Flutter looked at Szaer. "L-little sister?" she asked. "There might be more behind this than we first thought. Let's bring this Pokémon and those TMs back to the square and get some more information from him when he wakes up." Flutter carried on. "Agreed, it would be good to discover the motives behind these actions." Szaer concurred. With Kyan's Telekinesis holding him, Latios was soon being carried along in their return trip.

The battle had one eyewitness, and he'd loved the spectacle. "Hah, Flutter's evolved?" Derkomai the Salamence exclaimed in delight. "What a remarkable display. She and her team are fast becoming worthy opponents..."

His objective in the Northern Range had turned up fruitless however. Derkomai landed upon the now vacated location of that clash and contacted Rubix. "There are unfortunately no fragments of the star in the Northern Range, I regret to say. Shall we have someone search the Pitfall Valley?"

The holographic image of Dr. Rubix the Golduck, forming from the communication device, gave a curt nod. "It's a risky dungeon to search in, but the lord sees promise there. I shall arrange for him and Mistress Zeninthia to send you alongside another member immediately." Rubix responded.

"As you desire..." Derkomai said before ending the call. He hoped to have the opportunity to encounter their foes again.

Following Latios's plea, the team soon begin doubting earlier conclusions...




"Latios... it looks like he's waking up."

"About time! I have a bone to pick with that thief!"

Latios awoke to the sounds of these voices, one sounding knowledgeable, the other furious beyond compare. He was in the middle of Pokémon Square, being watched and surrounded by Flutter, Terack, Kyan, Szaer, Androma, Alakazam, and a red Kecleon. His bag of stolen TMs, minus the used Ice Beam and Roost ones, was being held by the clearly enraged shopkeeper.

"How... how dare you steal my fine wares!" Kecleon angrily yelled at the cowering Latios with Shadow Claw at the ready. To Latios's surprise, it was Flutter who stepped in at the sight of this. "Wait!" she interjected to Kecleon. "I've brought him all the way back here because I'd like to hear him out. He mentioned a sister after we confronted him. "

This immediately reminded Latios... Latias, she still needed help... "T-that's right... She needs help...!" he called out as he tried to get up, failing extraordinarily at this. Szaer's decisive Icicle Crash still stung. Flutter watched Latios before approaching him, all of her animosity dissolving at this sight. "Please, tell us everything." she softly and tenderly requested.

He and the Togetic had a quiet moment of eye contact. "You remind me much of her... Ok, I'll tell you." he relented. "I have a younger sister, her name is Latias... My dear sister, she's crashed somewhere in the Pitfall Valley..."

Szaer was immediately gripped with concern by that location's name. "I've heard bad things about that dungeon..." he quietly exclaimed. Team Celeste's other three members were a little confused by this. "Pitfall Valley? Not ringing any bells up here." Terack admitted.

Alakazam was on the scene to explain. "It's close to the Northern Range and mostly uncharted. They say that anyone so unlucky to fall into one of its many pitfalls has no hope of ever emerging." Flutter immediately felt cold inside. "Latias..." she fearfully murmured.

"Latias and I, we were both flying above the Northern Range when she was struck hard on a wing by what appeared to be a meteorite... She couldn't remain airborne with that injury and quickly plummeted into the valley..." Latios continued recalling this painful memory. Flutter took a moment to speak with her teammates, something weighing heavily upon her. "A fragment from the star we had Rayquaza destroy..." she told them.

Kyan was the one to speak after this discovery. "Oh dear... What a horrible freak accident." the Metang replied before Latios resumed the story. "I've tried several times to save her, but... I could never make more than a little bit of progress... I wasn't anywhere close to being up for the task..." he went on. The situation was gradually beginning to fall in place for Flutter. "This is why you arrived before dawn and stole all those TMs? To help you accomplish this?" she asked.

"Correct... I'd always intended to make some form of reparation for my actions the moment Latias was safe-" Latios told her before looking at the Kecleon, the shopkeeper's red colouration melting back into his usual purple. "-but I see now that nothing could have excused them... I'm deeply sorry for the trouble I brought to you and the Togetic, Kecleon..."

Latios was now out of the danger zone, but Alakazam still had some words for him. "Even if you were to find Latias, what would become of you both? The very depths of the Pitfall Valley are said to be a void. They hold no escape for any Pokémon. How did you intend to leave with her?" he asked.

"It's... been so long since my dearest sister fell into the valley..." Latios replied in a downcast tone, coming to the discovery that he, in fact, had no sort of plan. "She must be all alone down there, unable to fly out... If I were to share that same fate, then so be it... I don't want her to suffer by herself... Not her..."

Szaer's expression narrowed, the Sneasel approaching him. "Flutter here is my little sister." he told Latios as he held Flutter's hand. "She would never want me to condemn myself to that same fate if she were in Latias's position. If Flutter reminds you of your sister then I'm sure she'd feel the very same way." Flutter nodded at this as Latios looked thoroughly ashamed.

Kyan quickly approached Alakazam with a question. "If all of those tales about Pitfall Valley are true, then how could a rescue even be performed down there?" Alakazam considered his query for a little moment before coming up with a way. "The Teleport Gem."

"That gem?" Kyan wondered out loud, using Telekinesis to carefully pull the pink gem out. "It got damaged when we were blown off the Sky Tower." he told Alakazam. The gem was pockmarked by cracks and looked very fragile now. "It's in no condition to transport you such a long way ever again, but shorter ranges should still be within the gem's capabilities. I must advise you to safeguard it at all costs if you're going to plume the depths of the valley to save Latias. If it's lost or broken down there..." Alakazam muttered, disliking the thought.

Flutter and Szaer weren't too pleased with the implications either and called Terack and Kyan back to talk. "I think it might be best if some of us stayed back on this one, it could be our most dangerous rescue yet."  Szaer told them. "Here's my plan. Flutter and I can head in. If we don't return by... say, tomorrow evening, then you two have some Rescue Teams gather here for help. I don't want all four of us getting trapped in there..." He had a pretty solid expression upon his face.

"If you both run into trouble, we arrange for a Magma Cavern style rescue? I understand what you have in mind." Kyan replied, giving him the gem after activating it. Terack firmly stared at Szaer. "You're right. Should all four of us get stuck, that's the end. We're better prepared for the worse case scenario this way. Just... please, look after Flutter."

"You have my word." Szaer replied. Androma left the area for a location with less prying eyes and began sending a message. "Derkomai. Flutter and Szaeracier will be in the Pitfall Valley. There's an injured Latias they're out to rescue, she's been hurt by one of the star fragments. It's most likely in the valley too."

Derkomai was glad for the strong evidence of a star fragment there, sharing all the news with the operative accompanying him. A holographic image of this Pokémon soon joined that of Derkomai. "This information is most valued, Androma." Rubix told her, to the Clefable's surprise. "The lord desires for myself to secure the fragment in question." he answered her unspoken question. "There's the chance that you both will encounter the humans on their rescue mission. What might you intend on doing?" she instead asked.

A few moments of silence passed as he began to carefully formulate a plan. "Something that will benefit Deuvide immensely. You'll find out soon..." Rubix shrewdly replied.


Later that day, Flutter and Szaer arrived in the Pitfall Valley with the Teleport Gem on hand. Flutter took a deep breath to try and quell her nerves. Her legs felt like jelly so she remained airborne with steadily beating wings. "Relax a little..." Szaer told her, staying cool and collected. "You know that I've got your back here."

Her worries mostly soothed, Flutter immediately took down an attacking Ledyba with Flamethrower before they went on. The Pitfall Valley was also mostly filled with Flying type Pokémon and Szaer was taking full advantage of this, backing her up on numerous occasions.

A while afterwards, they came across a wide and deep hole in the ground. "I can't see the bottom..." Flutter said after looking down. "Hmm... This may be where Latias fell. We've passed by a few smaller holes here that weren't as deep." Szaer mused.

"I'll carry the bag, I can go down slower." Flutter suggested, taking the bag with the beyond valuable Teleport Gem inside. She began hovering above the hole and started her decent as Szaer jumped in. Down, down, and down he fell, going into a forward roll as he landed inside an eerily quiet cave system. "Good plan." he told Flutter as she softly floated down to the ground. "The gem wouldn't have survived my drop..."

There were no sounds to be heard and no Pokémon in sight. This only added to Flutter's growing anxiety over their mission, she wasn't very comfortable with being trapped down here until further notice should something happen to the gem. The cave itself was very much like a maze and remarkably unsettling with its many dead ends. After a while of searching, the two finally encountered another Pokémon. Red, white, despairing, and injured.

Flutter could immediately guess who this was due to a large resemblance to Latios. "Hello, are you Latias?" she asked. The Pokémon nodded, in visible pain from a nasty bruise on her left wing. "Good. We met your brother earlier, he's told us what happened. I'm Szaeracier and this is my little sister Flutter. We're going to get you out of here." Szaer explained.

"B-brother..." Latias muttered, touched beyond words. "Thanks. I hate this place..." she told them.

Flutter was just about to get the Teleport Gem out when a Salamence approached them from behind. "I do hate to interrupt... but you're both Flutter and Szaeracier, right?" Derkomai asked. "I've been eager to meet you both in person for a long while now."

Szaer recognised this species. "A Salamence? You wouldn't happen to know a Breloom named Reishi, a Steelix named Hebyacel, and a Typhlosion, right?" he immediately started up, recalling everything from his prior investigation. Derkomai was saved from answering to him by the arrival of a Golduck holding a star fragment. "I can answer this and much more." Rubix told them. "My name is Dr. Rubix. The inventor in and leader of Deuvide, a group that seeks to sustain this world's new peace. The Salamence with me is called Derkomai, he is a colleague of mine in the group." Derkomai gave Flutter and Szaer a nod. "This is a great pleasure..." he simply replied, going along with Rubix's ploy.

"It's nice to meet you both, but what about those three Szaer's just mentioned? Are they in this Deuvide group too?" Flutter asked. Rubix continued to carefully set his tale out to them. "Ah... Yes, they're our more... zealous members. Even after Flutter was vindicated, Reishi and his duo were still convinced of her danger to the world. Once I discovered the attacks that the Breloom had been orchestrating, I was forced to step in and scold this trio. Rest assured that they will not be causing Team Celeste any more grief now." Rubix explained. The Golduck's intention here was to remove Deuvide from Szaer's radar, and he was quite successful in this immediate front.

"Ahh, I understand now." Szaer said in realisation, convinced by his half-truth. "What could you two be doing down here though?" he asked. "We're here for this." Rubix told him and Flutter, showing them what he was holding. "T-that's what hit me when I was flying with my brother!" Latias gasped in realisation.

Rubix quietly nodded. "I'm afraid that this is not an isolated case. Many Pokémon habitats and livelihoods have been disrupted by star fragments just like this. Deuvide's primary aim is to find and remove them, to restore tranquillity. By the by, what brings you both here?" he finished by asking. He already knew of their task here thanks to Ann though.

"We're here to rescue Latias." Flutter said as she carefully took out the Teleport Gem. "This gem will teleport us back to Pokémon Square with her." Derkomai looked interested. "Quite a remarkable little artifact..." he stated. Rubix had an idea. "We had our own means of getting out of here but your method sounds quicker. Tag us both with it too."

Flutter did so, with the gem having been activated by Kyan beforehand. The five Pokémon were all teleported away under its expanding pink glow.


The next thing they knew, they had landed in Pokémon Square. Terack, Kyan, Alakazam, Androma, and Latios had all been awaiting Latias's safe return. "Latias!" Latios called out in relief as they approached each other for a hug.

Everyone else was delighted to see them arrive, but they were also mildly confused to see Rubix and Derkomai with Flutter and Szaer. Alakazam in particular recognised the Golduck quickly. "Rubix... It's been a while since I've last seen you." Rubix started his reply with a curt nod. "It has indeed, Alakazam. Derkomai and I were searching for this, the piece of the star that struck Latias." he explained, showing him it. "We encountered Flutter and Szaeracier after finding it." Receiving a brief telepathic message from him, Androma knew that he'd tell her more of what happened later on. For now, he was to be a total stranger.

"Derkomai, we must be off. That next fragment must be located." Rubix quickly told the Salamence, getting on board. "Until we meet again, Team Celeste." Derkomai said to the quartet before he and Rubix left with the fragment in their possession.

With them gone, all attention returned to the Lati siblings. They were still hugging and now silently crying. "Team Celeste... Thank you all so much. If there's anything we could do to repay you, please name it." Latios told them.

Flutter thought this over for a short moment. "Well, you won't be able to join our Rescue Team proper since we don't know about any suitable places nearby for you to live. You could still be like honorary members though, if we're ever needing help with a rescue task then please feel free to help us out." she told them both.

"That works. Once Latias heals, I'd be very glad to offer Team Celeste my aid." Latios told her. "Count me in too." Latias joined in, still hurting but otherwise happy now and still capable of flight.

With Latios subconsciously holding her hand to keep them from being separated again, the duo flew off into the sunset.


"So... Rubix, Derkomai, Reishi, Hebyacel, and the Typhlosion are all in a group called Deuvide?" Terack asked Szaer. He and Flutter had just finished telling them what they learned in the Pitfall Valley. All four of them were around the table bugged by Androma previously.

Flutter nodded. "Yes, that's right. Rubix leads the group and they seek to sustain peace. Reishi was apparently too zealous to believe my innocence after that Ninetales legend stuff was cleared up, so he got Hebyacel and the Typhlosion to continue his attacks. Rubix intervened, they won't be bothering us anymore."

Kyan was relieved beyond measure. "Good, we can rest easy now." he declared. Szaer still had some things on his mind. "This closes the book on my investigation, but something new is weighing heavily on me... Rubix told of how many locations have been hit by other star fragments like that one. There may be more Pokémon in the sad state that we found Latias in."

"Then we've got to keep up with our rescue work!" Flutter piped up. "However much of an accident it was, there's no escaping the fact that we bear some responsibility for Latias's troubles. It's only right that we find and help any more Pokémon like that." she called out.

Terack almost jumped in agreement. "Absolutely! We'll be certain to keep our ears open for such stories from tomorrow onwards!" he decided, to the approval of the entire team.

Through the device on the bottom of this table, Zeninthia was hearing each word, as were the accompanying Rubix and Ann. "...Dr. Rubix, consider me impressed. Your stratagem has turned our former situation on its head. Szaeracier's suspicions have been quashed and our path is now that much more wider as a result." the Umbreon told him. "Very commendable."

"No disrespect intended, mistress, but I feel that Ann deserves the credit. I could only invent and prepare that story ahead of time because she alerted me to Flutter and Szaeracier's upcoming business in the Pitfall Valley." Rubix came clean. His praise of the role she played made her feel as though she were floating in the air.

"Regardless-" Zeninthia resumed, an approving nod sent to the Clefable. "-we can now conduct the lord's plan with less eyes upon us. The image of Deuvide you gave to the humans as its apparent leader will also serve us well. I shall converse with the lord on where the next fragment may be. This news is certain to please him greatly."

"I imagine so." Rubix responded. "His... no, our ambition is now a step closer to becoming reality..."

Too much wa... No, not going there.




Early in the morning, Flutter left the team's base with a mildly suppressed yawn. It had been a few days since their rescue in Pitfall Valley and the Togetic was still pleased with that work, having let it fuel her since then.

"Looks like the Pelipper haven't been by yet..." she mumbled as she checked the mailbox. She was just about to go back inside when she heard a small titter nearby. This grabbed her curiosity hard so she floated around to find the source.

The said source was Medicham, formerly of Team Meanies before they disbanded following Flutter's return from Mt. Freeze. "Oh, hello Medicham. I thought I heard someone there." Flutter replied. She didn't hold too much dislike towards Gengar's two cohorts now.

"Flutter? Long time no see, you look well. Different too." Medicham simply replied with much less malice than would be expected. She and Ekans were both all over the split now. "I take it that you visited the Luminous Cave? Ekans has been interested in evolution there."

Flutter nodded in response with a beat of her wings. "Is he now? I can't blame him, it caught my attention pretty quick. What were you laughing about just before?" she asked.

Medicham held in a snicker. "You see, I was recalling the tale I heard yesterday, about Lombre. It's far too funny. This water-dwelling Pokémon almost drowned at sea." she told Flutter. "Oh, his pathetic little self has given me something to laugh about~"

The attentive Togetic could only roll her eyes after Medicham left. This Pokémon clearly didn't need Team Meanies around to be unkind. "I guess old habits die hard." Flutter quietly remarked to herself as she headed into the square to get an account from Lombre himself instead of someone out to tease him over it.

Lombre wasn't too delighted with this take on his tale. "I wasn't drowning... Medicham's making that up..." he moaned, now understanding how it felt to have someone ridicule him with falsehoods. "I guessed that she wouldn't have the best source of information. What really happened to you out there?" she pressed him.

"Ok, I went out to the water a while back to play and try out my new Dive move. I'd been washed out to sea before I even noticed what happened, I was enjoying myself that much." Lombre told her. "Clouds then arrived and a violent storm soon began, revealing a dungeon beneath the waves."

Flutter almost jumped in surprise. "An underwater dungeon?" she asked, her voice a modicum higher. "Yeah, sure was. I hightailed it outta there before I could learn much else but Whiscash might know a little more about this dungeon if you're interested." He was right, this story had caught her. She thanked him and headed off to the pond.

Metapod was training with the Beldum duo there, using Iron Defense to repel one Take Down and meeting another one with his Tackle. Caterpie told Flutter that the Beldum were helping him raise his level so he could evolve. Flutter noticed that the Beldum were very eager to raise their own levels too.

"Ahh, so you wish to know more about that underwater dungeon?" Whiscash asked Flutter when she brought up the subject. "It is an area in the southwest, far away from our coast. Embroiled in a flurry of vicious waves and roaring currents, it has been most appropriately dubbed the Stormy Sea."

She was almost instantly seized by her interest. "Hoho... Young Flutter, you look most eager to go there yourself." Whiscash noted, quickly picking up on this. "To go into a dungeon located beneath the sea, a Hidden Machine containing the move Dive is needed. The Stormy Sea is too far underwater for a land bound Pokémon to survive otherwise..." he explained, looking at Flutter. Her face quickly convinced him of her readiness. "I happen to have come across such a HM recently." he admitted to the Togetic before retrieving a golden coloured TM hidden behind the waterfall ahead. "You may have it."

Flutter took the HM and listened to Whiscash closely as she examined it. "It was found in a location called the Solar Cave. You must have this HM in your bag or have one of your teammates learn Dive from it if you still wish to discover the dungeon's secrets." he explained.

"I understand." It was time for a group discussion.


"This is from the Solar Cave?" Kyan asked. All three of Flutter's companions were awake now, talking over this. "That sure takes me back. I used to live there with the other three Beldum before we moved to this area. We decided to explore Thunderwave Cave one day and you all know the rest." the Metang recalled.

"I'd heard a little bit about that place and the HMs inside it, though only from rumors. I've never actually been to the Solar Cave before." Szaer told them. "HMs can easily be explained as reusable TMs."

Terack looked at the HM. It was easy to see how one came to this conclusion. "Whiscash said that we'll be able to check out this Stormy Sea place if we bring this Dive HM or if one of us learns the move..." he said out loud. Everyone looked at each other and their three teammates. "I doubt any of us can learn Dive, so let's just bring the HM." Flutter concluded. "I don't really like the idea of going underwater, but this needs to be a team effort. Count me in." Terack replied to her.

Kyan and Szaer were also in approval, so the quartet checked on their supplies and the map upon the wall before heading off.


Far away from them, Deuvide's brown cloaked leader was in a dark room on his own, staring at the star fragment retrieved by Rubix and Derkomai from the Pitfall Valley. With one of these in his possession, he could now attempt to discover the rest.

"Seven fragments, three artifacts..."

He was concentrating heavily as he looked at it, trying hard to sense the location of another one. Such a place finally surfaced.

"Wyvern Hill? I see..."

Summoned by his telepathic message, Zeninthia soon arrived to see him. "My lord, you've located the second piece?" she asked of him, her red eyes wide open. Those eyes reminded him of when she was one of his two sole confidants, his two comforts in the world...

"Indeed, Zeninthia. It is in the Wyvern Hill, a dungeon in the southeastern peninsula."

"Ah, a long way from Team Celeste's location..." she said out loud. "Who do you wish to send for it?"

"As this was Derkomai's home before you recruited him to Deuvide's cause, I feel it suitable to delegate this task to him. I leave the arrangements to you..."


Having arrived at the torrential sea with help from a group of Pidgeot, Team Celeste's members parted from their transport and dove into the deep blue. Terack immediately found himself incapable of swimming thanks to his body and opted to remain on top of Kyan for the duration, the Metang managing ok underwater once his arms were pointed back.

Flutter and Szaer soon found their own rhythms too, she alternatively moving her legs up and down for movement and he extending his claws out to pull himself forward through the water with his arms. Once they had all found their bearings, the group gathered around.

"Ok..." Flutter started, looking at them all. "That HM is somehow letting us breathe underwater, but we'll really need to stick together at all times. Getting separated here could be dangerous." She felt oddly confident despite the unfamiliarity of their situation. "I'll take the lead in this and have Foresight ready if things get too dark." she told the three, laying out her plan to them.

Terack looked very uneasy. "This is seriously weird..." he murmured as Kyan and Szaer followed Flutter onwards. He could now sympathise with Kyan far more over the Metang's dislike of fire.

With the novelty of this dungeon being underwater now behind everyone except for the Trapinch, it wasn't anything particularly spectacular. Possibly the most defining feature of the Stormy Sea was, as Team Celeste discovered, its depth. It was the largest dungeon they'd encountered by a significant margin.

Flutter and Szaer were both able to handle themselves against the aquatic Pokémon in their way, such as Tentacool, Omastar, Seadra, Starmie, and Carvanha. As she'd planned earlier, Flutter's Foresight enabled her to move seamlessly through the darker depths as she navigated the team, her eyes taking on a blue luminous glow during this.

On the other end of the spectrum, Terack was still having issues with this blatantly incompatible environment. Dig was unfeasible and Rock Slide was being hampered by the water slowing its descent. Outside of joining in on Kyan's Telekinesis and Dynamic Punch with Focus Energy and Superpower, his chances of contribution were markedly more limited than usual.

Following Flutter, the team entered a cavern on the seabed and continued diving down until a u-bend led them up to the water's surface. Beyond this was a vast blue room with an odd red pattern emanating from the middle of the floor. "This... doesn't look normal..." Flutter breathed, rapidly beating her wings to shake the water off.

"Visitors? A most unusual sight to behold..." a voice uttered, almost as though in response to her. The speaker was in the room with them. A large blue Pokémon resembling a whale was at the other end of the room, some sort of rock behind it. "I am Kyogre, lord and personification of this seas..." she told them.

This name was somehow familiar to the team, the four of them approaching her as they tried to remember. "Kyogre? We've heard about you twice before." Szaer recalled. First at Mt. Freeze from Alakazam and then again at Pokémon Square from Xatu's telepathic message.

Kyogre lightly chuckled at him. "How flattering. I presume that you've heard stories of my last clash with Groudon, of how I savagely fought that brute in my bid to claim the powers of nature before an incessant Rayquaza halted us..." she exclaimed to the four Pokémon in her presence. Flutter shuddered for some reason, the Kyogre in front of them gave off a powerful presence that made her spine tingle.

"You're the one Groudon clashed with?!" Flutter said in a jolt of realisation. "He'd caused us a headache once when some earthquakes disturbed his slumber..." she muttered.

"...you've overcome him?" Kyogre questioned, her expression unreadable and yet dangerous. "Like him, I too took to a long and deep slumber out of exhaustion. I waited millennia in this cave for my powers to return... and the rock behind me, which I found almost a week ago, has accelerated this recovery. It will not be long now..." Terack recognised that rock now. "Guys..." he quietly whispered to the team. "It's a piece of the star..."

Kyogre watched their quick discussion, a plan forming. They were clearly something else, to have quietened Groudon... "You, girl." she said to Flutter, having picked her out as the one running this group. "Lend me your ear for a brief period." Flutter floated closer towards her.

"When my recovery is completed... when I am finally ready... you and your friends will aid me. You've defeated Groudon. With such subordinates at my disposal, he shall be outmatched and the powers of nature will finally be claimed by Kyogre!" she said, building up to a roar. Flutter was legitimately scared now and Kyogre's proposition was swirling around in her head like a torrential wave, but her answer was a rock solid one.

"No. We will have no part in your fight. Groudon caused everyone a lot of trouble and fear, I refuse to help you repeat this." she unyieldingly told Kyogre, building up every last particle of her nerves. Terack, Kyan, and Szaer didn't need to say anything, Flutter had just said what they were all thinking.

A brief hint of rage flickered in Kyogre's eyes at this defiance. "I believe you've misunderstood me, young lady... It was not a choice... I will have your powers as my own, even if I must crush you myself and recondition you with my most valuable of treasures..." Kyogre responded with an astringent tone to her words. "You four will not leave until your allegiances belong to myself and myself alone."

Flutter floated back to her team as a mass of dark clouds formed above everyone. Rain quickly began pouring down heavily as Kyogre shot a forceful spray of water upwards, her Water Spout drenching the entire team and almost knocking Terack out on the spot. Szaer let out a strained gasp as he unleased Payback, which Kyogre countered with an Origin Pulse.

"N-not... good..." the soaked Terack muttered as he coughed out some water. Kyogre singled him out as the most vulnerable of the group and began targeting him with another Origin Pulse, the fast shots of blue water orbs forcing him to run all around to avoid taking another hit. Flutter watched this, having all but locked up upon feeling an immense amount of guilt bubbling away inside her. Going here was the Togetic's idea...

Kyan and Szaer rushed to his defense instead, striking Kyogre with a Zen Headbutt and Power-Up Punch combination. Kyan continued on the offence, following this up with a Bullet Punch and then swapping that out for a punch with the force of a meteor. "Meteor Mash, nice work..." Szaer observed as he helped Terack up. Kyan's new move snapped Flutter out of her state, joining in with a Fairy Wind.

Kyogre, caught off guard by this group attack, used Aqua Ring to give herself gradual healing with a ring of water droplets. Noticing Terack use Focus Energy before digging underground, she timed a Water Spout spray with her Origin Pulse to send both moves straight into the hole. Flutter was completely horror-stricken at this sight.

What happened next surprised everyone. Right underneath Kyogre, Terack was launched out in a blast of water reminiscent of a geyser, Water Spout and Origin Pulse also damaging her significantly alongside the Focus Energy-Dig. The double dose of powerful Water type moves was unfortunately enough to render Terack unable to continue.

"Three to go." Kyogre exclaimed, her attention now upon the Togetic who'd defied her to her face. Flutter's Fairy Wind was completely consumed by a Blizzard, the deeply chilling wind in conjunction with Drizzle's deluge of rain being sufficient enough to freeze her wet form solid. "I'll save you for last, girl." she replied, Aqua Ring slowly but surely healing her and thus recovering Water Spout's lost power.

Szaer's temper peaked at the sight. "You..." he exclaimed in a growl, he and Kyan dodging a Water Spout that Szaer took advantage of with Spite, locking her out of the move. Kyogre reacted to this with a frustrated roar and was about to use Origin Pulse instead before Kyan put her on the receiving end of his Telekinesis-Dynamic Punch combo, heaving her into the wall and causing her to become confused.

As much as he wanted to continue the battle, Szaer had to quietly admit that they'd still lose at this rate. He had only one option left. "Give Flutter an Aspear Berry and prepare the Teleport Gem." he quickly told Kyan before sprinting headlong towards the star fragment and swiping it. "Kyogre won't be using this on our watch!" he called as he ran back to the group.

With Kyan activating and using the gem, all four members were teleported back home, a mere instant before Kyogre regained her bearings...


The four of them landed outside their team base in a bad state. Kyan and Szaer looked absolutely ragged, the newly thawed Flutter was shivering profusely, and Terack was still unconscious. "W-w-what a complete disaster that was... I'm never g-g-going there again..." Flutter somehow managed to say.

Ann had heard their arrival as a result of a Clefable's sensitive hearing and ran over, immediately noticing the star fragment in Szaer's hands. "Oh dear, what happened to you lot? You're all completely soaked!" she asked. "We had a less than wonderful run in with a powerful Water type Pokémon..." Szaer revealed, Androma following them inside.

"That's not good. Please sit down and tell me all about it." she told him after Terack was left in his bed upstairs. They sat around the bugged table for the story, just as she intended.

As a result, Zeninthia also heard of today's events in the Stormy Sea and Team Celeste's acquisition of a star fragment. "Hmm... They've found one for themselves? This has quickly become very interesting." she muttered to herself, the yellow circles on the Umbreon's body glowing as an indicator of her anticipation.

A message soon came in on her communication device from Derkomai atop the Wyvern Hill. "Mistress Zeninthia, I have good news." the Salamence told her. "I have secured the second star fragment for Deuvide's cause."

"Very good, but a new development has just arisen. Team Celeste also found one in the Stormy Sea." she replied. "It appears that the Legendary Pokémon Kyogre was using its energy to hasten her recovery. They took it and barely escaped from her."

Derkomai was pretty surprised by this news. "You're not kidding here?! Kyogre?!" He knew that Team Celeste were a plucky bunch, but this was beyond his expectations. "I never kid, Derkomai." Zeninthia coolly responded. "Return here with that star fragment at once, the location of the fourth piece must be uncovered by our lord as soon as possible."

"As you wish, mistress." he said before ending the message, leaving Zeninthia to herself again. She sent a message to Rubix with haste. He needed to know this.

"Dr. Rubix, meet me in the lord's chamber. I have a startling turn of events for you and him regarding the star fragment situation..."

It's road trip time!




It was another early morning. Following Team Celeste's utter wipeout of a dungeon investigation in the Stormy Sea yesterday, in which Terack had struggled immensely with being underwater and was quickly defeated by Kyogre once they stumbled upon her place of rest, Flutter had taken it upon herself to watch over him.

"Morning, how are you doing...?" she asked him as he woke up, still feeling responsible for his difficult time in there. "I'm doing alright now, but that look on your face is worrying me. Is there something you need to say?" the Trapinch questioningly responded.

Flutter looked at him for a little bit before looking around. Kyan and Szaer were still asleep. "I'm... really sorry for putting you through that fiasco... I should have had you stay behind and away from it..." she shamefacedly mumbled as she looked down at her feet.

"I'm not holding anything against you, pal." Terack kindly told Flutter, trying to cheer her up. "In fact... Thinking about it now, I want to say thanks. If you hadn't wanted to go there, Kyogre would still be using that star fragment to speed up her recovery. We've delayed another big disaster."

Quickly becoming delighted by his response, she gave him a happy smile. "Yeah, that does pick me right up. Let's head off and take some job requests!" Terack was glad to see her rebounding, but that last battle had put an old topic firmly back in his head. "Actually, I'd want to drop by that Luminous Cave first. After what happened in the Stormy Sea, I want to evolve now so I'm can help the team more." he admitted. It greatly frustrated him, having been overwhelmed.

"If that's what you want, then I'll stick with you no matter how you look afterwards. You'd still be my closest friend Terack." she replied. With that declamation, he immediately felt bolstered and encouraged. "Thanks, that's sweet to say..." he managed to tell her.

The duo quickly rushed out of the base and through the square. Within a handful of moments, both were staring at the entrance to the Luminous Cave. "Here we are. I'll see you in a bit." she said before watching Terack head down the staircase.

Reaching the bottom, he, like Flutter before him, was stunned by the sight. The voice soon began ringing in his head.

"This is the Luminous Cave, visitor. Do you seek evolution?"

"You're that guide?" Terack asked, looking over the surroundings for the source. "Yes, I want to evolve."

"Do you require an item for your evolution?"

This threw him for all kinds of loops. He didn't actually know that he needed for the process. "I'm sorry, I don't know what is required for my species. I'm a Trapinch." Terack told the guide.

"A Trapinch... No item is needed to facilitate your evolution into a Pokémon species called Vibrava. Now, please step into the spring and we shall commence..."

Flutter waited outside the Luminous Cave for him, feeling somewhat nervous. She had no clue what he'd look like afterwards. A quiet buzzing sound could soon be heard before a Vibrava emerged from inside the cave, his yellow dragonfly body carried by two pairs of green insectoid wings.

"Terack...? You got wings too? That is so awesome!" Flutter happily chirruped as she looked at him. His wings took upon a metallic silver colour as he showed her his new Steel Wing move, taking the place of Superpower. "I am so definitely ok with this." he replied, looking ready to take on the whole world now.

The two left the pond and were on their way to the post office when some sort of commotion to the left of the square caught their attention. A cream coloured Pokémon with some red spots on their head was stumbling around in an exhausted stupor before passing out in plain sight.

Acting quickly, Flutter floated over and laid an arm on this Pokémon's head. "Something's not right here. Let's get them into the base, quick." she told Terack.


"I have found it. The whereabouts of another star fragment."

Having stared at the two fragments they had currently secured from the Pitfall Valley and Wyvern Hill dungeons, Deuvide's leader just got a  location for the fourth one. "You have? Do tell, my lord." Zeninthia said, the Umbreon having watched this.

"It is in the Buried Relic, an ancient ruin that has laid undiscovered for many millennia. This fragment making impact revealed an entrance inside for the world."

"I-I see... We must move quickly before word of this hits Pokémon Square. There will be many Pokémon wanting to investigate." she stated. "Where might this dungeon be located?"

"In the southeastern peninsula, Zeninthia. It is a very large and expansive ruin. Rubix and Derkomai alongside Reishi and Ignephra will be taking this task."

"The more eyes, the better..." she responded. He didn't reply immediately, instead getting a strange vision of some sort. A small pink Pokémon... Three pieces in the ruins... forming into... "Did something else come to you? Tell me..." Zeninthia quietly told him. His eyes briefly flickered underneath the brown cloak and hood.

"One of the three artifacts is also there. Without them, we cannot execute our plan. It is imperative that both the fragment and artifact are claimed by Deuvide..."


"Hey, looks like they're waking up..." Szaer observed. Both he and Kyan were now up and had set aside their delight over Terack's evolution to concentrate on the Pokémon he and Flutter had arrived with. "W-where..." they mumbled upon picking themselves up from Flutter's bed.

"I'm glad to see you awake. This is Team Celeste's rescue base." Flutter explained. "I'm Flutter, these are my teammates Terack, Kyan, and Szaer. Terack and I saw you collapse before." The Pokémon looked around at the four with googly eyes.

"Thanks for the help. My name is Spinda." he introduced himself. "I've been travelling all over the world for a while now, inspired by my dad's stories in his café outside of Treasure Town in a northern continent."

This brought back a memory for Szaer. "You mean Spinda's Café? I've been there once after finishing some business abroad. An Exploration Team had scaled the Sky Peak and everyone was in a rambunctious all night party over this when I arrived in the café. The owner was quite a delightful fellow." he reminisced. "He's your dad then?"

"Oh yes, that's him!" Spinda said with a gasp before getting back to his tale. "Anyways, it was on my travels that I heard a story about this mirage Pokémon living somewhere in this continent. I've been looking all over for it since then, but I've had not the slightest bit of luck... It seems like I caused some worry when I passed out in the middle of civilisation..." he went on, looking crestfallen and very much defeated. "I... I give up, I just can't find the mirage Pokémon..."

Flutter's heartstrings were immediately tugged. Spinda reminded her of herself when Gengar had cornered and crushed her with his Ninetales legend accusations. "You're sure you won't regret giving up now?" she asked him, coming closer. "We could help you look if you want..."

Spinda gave the Togetic a faint smile. "I do appreciate this offer to help, but I just don't think I could keep up in this state... I'm too worn out..." A possibility then struck him. Maybe... "There is something you all could do though." he decided, showing them a crystal clear white feather.

Team Celeste's four members looked at it. "This is a Clear Wing." he replied to their collective unspoken question. "It doesn't look to be anything valuable, but I've done some checking around and discovered that this feather has some link to the mirage Pokémon. Please take it." With this, he left it in Flutter's arms. "If you can learn more than I could, do tell me..."

Still looking quite down, Spinda stumbled out from the base. Flutter watched him leave with an odd look in her eyes that Szaer noticed. "I'd ask Alakazam about this if you're wanting to take over Spinda's search for him." he immediately suggested. "He might know something about that mirage Pokémon."

Flutter agreed with this deduction, so the team soon went off back to the square to speak with Alakazam. She saw Spinda telling his story to the concerned Lombre and Granbull along the way. "Hello, Alakazam. There's something I need to ask." she said once they found him, holding the Clear Wing. "That Spinda gave us this, saying it had something to do with the mirage Pokémon."

Alakazam quietly nodded in acknowledgement. "You seek my wisdom regarding that Pokémon our visitor seeks... I regret to say that I know little about the mirage Pokémon itself, but three other Pokémon exist who are said to be its emissaries. The shadows of the mirage Pokémon. They live in an island to the northwest that has been called the Three Fields, one of them taking up residence within the Fiery Field."

"Fiery Field?" Kyan exclaimed out loud. "I don't like fire all that much..." Flutter just looked at him. "You can stay here on standby if it's that much of a bother." She didn't want a repeat of yesterday.

"On an unrelated note, now that you're here..." Alakazam started up. "There is a peculiar weather anomaly afflicting a certain area. A large whirlpool is enveloping the Legendary Island. There's been no sort of damage but it is cause for some concern."

Legendary Island... Something about that name was very vaguely familiar to Szaer, but he couldn't quite pinpoint why. "We'll make sure to look into that too." Flutter replied.

The group gathered in their base once more to discuss this. "We're going to be quite busy for now. Mirage Pokémon on one side, weather anomaly on the other..." Terack summarised. Szaer hadn't spoken since Alakazam mentioned the Legendary Island. "That place stricken by the whirlpool... I know I've heard of it before..." he finally spoke up, truly stumped by this conundrum.

"Oh? Well... see if you can come up with something." Flutter told him. He nodded and folded his arms as he delved into his memory for a bit. "As for the Fiery Field, it looks like we'll need some help getting there." Terack said as he studied their map, looking at the Three Fields. "It'll either be a side trip to the Solar Cave for a HM that might work, or get Latios's help. I'm not certain if Latias is healed enough for a long flight..."

As the Vibrava went over a plan, Szaer finally had his eureka moment. "That's it!" he suddenly and triumphantly exclaimed, catching all three off guard. "Articuno mentioned it once! She said that she used to meet with Zapdos and Moltres there to discuss important matters, but this stopped when Zapdos began his long slumber." he explained further. "Then here's a plan. Szaer and Kyan will visit Articuno and tell her about this, passing by Zapdos in Mt. Thunder and Moltres in Mt. Blaze along the way. Meanwhile, Terack and I will head for the Fiery Field and that Pokémon there." Flutter decided.

Kyan was all on board with this plan. "Good idea. We've cleared Mt. Blaze before, I shouldn't have any problems there now." Szaer just had one thing to say.

"Terack, look after Flutter while you're both out there. Use that new form of yours well..." He had a look in his eyes that displayed plenty of concern, understandable considering their sibling connection.

Terack quietly returned this in kind. "She'll be safe. I'm going to make sure of that."


"Here we are, that Fiery Field is just up ahead." Latios told Flutter and Terack as they got off him. Their surroundings were charred but certainly not desolate. "You both can take this from here?"

"Yeah, we have an Escape Orb ready for later. You can get back to Latias now. Thanks for helping us out~" Flutter happily replied with a wave that Latios reciprocated before he sped off back over the seas. Both she and Terack looked at each other after he left, locking eyes. "Let's get this done, pal. You and me". Terack said.

Within the moments that followed, the duo were making heavy use of their flight capabilities to avoid much of the roaring flames in this landscape. Terack's undeveloped wings however, as with all Vibrava, meant that the last portions had to be traversed on foot.

"Hah... Sorry about this..." he muttered along the way as he looked at Flutter's wings. She had clearly gotten the better immediate deal in comparison, with the Togetic able to hover unaided. "Don't worry about it, we've got to keep moving." Flutter replied as she avoided a Metal Claw coming from an attacking Charmeleon. Their Smokescreen then engulfed her before she could make any offense.

As a Combusken nearby kept Terack occupied, Flutter was left to deal with the Charmeleon herself. She managed to see them through the smoke thanks to Foresight and strike her foe down with Ancient Power, taking them out as Terack's Dig defeated the Combusken.

A little further on, they arrived at a clearing surrounded by tall flames, the sky above taking on a red hue. "I am so glad we didn't take Kyan and Szaer here, this really is worse than Mt. Blaze..." Flutter absentmindedly muttered as she took in this landscape.

"Mt. Blaze, hmm? You make it a habit to intrude upon prohibited locations?" a voice replied to her. Both of them were immediately set on edge, looking around for this Pokémon. "Hey, who's there!?" Terack called out off the bat.

A short moment passed with no sort of reply, until a brown and quadrupedal beast Pokémon walked through the flames in front of them. "I am Entei, the being who rules the Fiery Field. What could have compelled you outsiders to trespass in this conflagration?"

Terack stood his ground at the sight of Entei and his complete disregard for the flames that he and Flutter were avoiding. "Entei? We've been looking for you." he responded. Entei wasn't looking too thrilled at their presence here, evident in his glare at them. "Regardless of your reasons, this land is off limits to the likes of you. Leave."

"No, we have a very good reason to be here." Flutter instantly spoke up. "We can't leave yet." Entei's hair bristled amidst his annoyance towards her tongue, a moment before his body spontaneously burst into flames for a scorching tackle. Flutter and Terack both split to avoid this Flare Blitz.

Choosing to deal with Flutter for now, Entei leapt above her with his face taking on a metallic silver colour, hitting her with a super effective Iron Head before following that up with a Crush Claw. Elongated and glowing white claws were soon forcefully pinning her down on the ground front first.

"Depart from here, or you both shall regret your folly." Entei growled, the Togetic trapped under his paw not finding any room to loosen herself. Terack flew into the action instead, catching him across the face with a Steel Wing. Another use of this was quickly stopped by a Reflect force field forming in front of him but Flutter then used this moment to pull herself out from his now slackened hold and roll onto her back for a Fairy Wind, hitting him straight on and creating some distance. "Let's think this one through carefully..." she whispered to Terack as she thought up a plan, looking at their foe's Reflect.

With an idea in place, Terack burrowed underground at her command as she watched Entei closely. Another Crush Claw went for Flutter which was avoided, upon which she caused some damage with an Ancient Power. Entei was about to retort with Flare Blitz before a Rock Slide strengthened by Focus Energy rained down from above him.

"What?!" Entei roared in great shock. His Reflect was only good against physical frontal attacks and not those from other directions, highlighted by Terack shooting out from underneath with Dig for a solid strike. Entei's response to this was in the form of a Flare Blitz that knocked him flying, but the new Dragon typing prevented it from being too overly damaging.

Flutter seized this opportunity with both hands, hitting Entei with another Ancient Power alongside Terack's Rock Slide. Their opponent was now staggering slightly. "Formidable... Very well, I shall hear you out. What are your intentions here?" he asked.

Floating towards him with Clear Wing now in hand, Flutter stated their case. "We came across this earlier today and did some asking around. A wise Pokémon led us here to you, Entei." she told him. "You... you both are in possession of the Clear Wing?! This changes everything..." he muttered, a red outline taking form around him. Waves of heat emanated from the flames in the area to engulf the white feather in Flutter's arms.

She dropped it in shock and watched as it seemed to absorb this warmth while floating down, changing from clear white to a crimson red colour once it landed. "That is the Red Wing, imbued by my power." Entei told the two. "Take it and go west, to the Lightning Field. You will meet a Pokémon named Raikou there and he shall guide you further in this quest. Be wary, he won't be any more initially accommodating than I."

"I understand." Terack said as he collected the Red Wing. "Let's head west now, to the next Pokémon." With a nod, Flutter followed him over the fire and away from Entei...


By comparison, Kyan and Szaer were having a far easier time in Mt. Thunder. None of the Pokémon there were causing any form of significant problems to this duo and they were soon at the mountain's summit as a result.

Szaer looked around for the bird they sought. "Zapdos, are you there? We have something to discuss!" he called. The Pokémon in question landed in front of them soon after, immediately recognising Kyan.

"The Metang... So, a member of Team Celeste is finally back." he said with a knowing stare. "Who is your companion today?" Szaer stepped forward to answer that. "I'm Szaeracier, it's good to finally meet you in person. I'm a more recent addition to Team Celeste." he explained with his introduction.

Zapdos scrutinized Szaer carefully, sizing him up. "It appears that the team who humbled me that day has grown much since then. Before we get to your business here... I wish to see how much. Demonstrate this to me." he requested. "Of course. It would be our honour." Szaer replied.

The battle commencing, Zapdos let out a screech with the ambiance of scraping metal. Kyan's Clear Body suppressed this Metal Sound but Szaer had no sort of protection. A Heat Wave swept both of them back with the Sneasel's response of Payback catching Zapdos unawares.

Holding his own against Zapdos's Fire type attack much better this time around, Kyan then caught Zapdos in his Telekinesis and hurled him into the ground before slugging him upwards with a Dynamic Punch. Szaer took advantage of Zapdos's incoherent state by using Kyan as a platform to leap up and deliver an Icicle Crash hit.

Now recollecting himself, Zapdos threw out an Air Cutter that Szaer took and used to throw another Payback at him. Kyan followed on this with a demonstration of his Meteor Mash, chaining this into a Zen Headbutt hit upon avoiding a Zap Cannon.

Their target landed within a few moments and took some breaths. "Enough. This was a fine battle, your prowess is quite noteworthy... Now, to your business here." Zapdos said. "Zapdos, we've been told by Alakazam that there is a whirlpool surrounding the Legendary Island. The two of us are out to spread the word." Szaer told him.

"L-Legendary Island?!" Zapdos asked in shock, taken aback by the news. "I presume that you're going to be paying visits to Moltres and Articuno next... I shall leave Mt. Thunder behind for now and await their arrival there. Once we are all gathered, I expect you to join us." he declared. With one last look at them, he took flight and flew off west.

Both Kyan and Szaer watched him leave before facing each other. "Mt. Blaze is next, let's keep moving." Szaer said firmly.


Far away from all four members of Team Celeste, Deuvide's own quartet of Rubix, Derkomai, Reishi, and Ignephra were making quick progress through the Buried Relic. "This place is boring me..." Ignephra muttered as he effortlessly blew back a Machop with Extrasensory, the golden beam knocking them out cold.

"The residents aren't puttin' up much of a fight, but this benefits us. Less time wasted." Reishi stated while beating down a Porygon with Power-Up Punch. Derkomai was with Rubix nearby, blowing down a part of the wall with Dragon Pulse to reveal some Poké embedded inside it. "Although we're here for the fragment and artifact inside this dungeon, I cannot argue with some extra items of value on the way..." Rubix mused.

Moving ever onwards, the group encountered a sort of statue made of rock, standing there in an otherwise clear room. "...That's a Regirock." Rubix told them. The Pokémon's holding a piece of the artifact our lord seeks."

"Then we retrieve it from them." Derkomai decided. He and Rubix started with his Hydro Pump and the Golduck's Water Pulse, waking Regirock up and causing huge damage off the bat. Water Pulse had also confused the Rock type, causing its Stone Edge to completely miss everyone.

A glimmer appeared in Ignephra's eyes as he caught sight of an opportunity coming forth. "I'll enfeeble it further." he remarked coldly as he called Stun Spore from his Nature Power, paralyzing Regirock. Reishi dashed in with his tail taking on a metallic silver glow as he closed the distance, stopping just in front to swing an Iron Tail upwards. A brown piece of Regirock's body broke off from this hit, the golem lifelessly toppling over before their eyes.

Rubix approached this piece and picked it up. "I wasn't aware that it gave Regirock life, but... this is the Rock Part." he told Derkomai, Reishi, and Ignephra. "This rock?" Reishi asked Rubix, the Breloom seeing little of note in it.

"Yes, Reishi. This rock. In combination with two more parts, it creates one of the three artifacts Deuvide desperately needs..."

The three quests continue.




"Mmm..." a sleeping Togetic contently moaned, curled up next to the Vibrava whom she was travelling throughout this island with. She and Terack had both gotten through the Fiery Field earlier and were taking this moment to have a nap in a safe place before they went towards the Lightning Field.

Terack slowly awoke to her noise and looked over at Flutter. "Hey, Flutter. It's about time we got back on our task." he said as he gently nudged her awake. They were both in a quiet and unremarkable plain situated not far from their next destination. "Oh... Hi, Terack. That was a nice nap." Flutter mumbled, floating up from her sleeping position before landing upon her feet. "I wonder how Szaer and Kyan are doing with the trio of birds."

"Don't worry about either of them, they'll be just fine. Moltres and Articuno will certainly hear them out even if Zapdos doesn't." Terack quickly told her in a bid to quell her worries. This worked like a charm, but the mention of Articuno had set her thoughts on Szaer's time before Team Celeste. She'd discovered that Terack was ironically the teammate she knew the least about.

Now greatly intrigued by this, Flutter sat down next to him. "Articuno saved and took Szaer in before he returned as the Black Ice, Kyan and the Beldum lived in the Solar Cave, but what about you? It's just occurred to me that I don't know about you before we met." she laid out, eager to hear his tale.

The Vibrava was caught by surprise as he thought back. "Y-you're actually right. Just... wow, I can't believe I've never actually shared this with you of all Pokémon..." He had absolutely no idea why this was the case. Now that the topic was out and in the air, he was dead set on rectifying this situation.

"Alright then. I'm from the Desert Region, an area not far off from the Great Canyon. As a little Trapinch, I always admired the grandpa I've never met after being told stories about him from my parents. He was a Scizor who left for another continent and became a renowned explorer long before I hatched. My Focus Energy move is passed down from him." Terack told her at long last. Flutter was quite amazed to hear this. "That's really cool... I had no idea that you have such a famous relative living far away..." she uttered.

Terack's response started with a nod before he continued as they both began walking on. "All those tales are rather old though. I've never heard anything more recent about him, it sometimes makes me worry. There's been no news in my lifetime... It's as though he's just vanished..." he admitted. Flutter looked over at him, concern in her eyes. This wasn't what she expected to discover.

"Wherever Scizor is today, if he knew of all your rescue work here then I'm sure he'd be very proud of you." Flutter replied. Tears immediately filled Terack's eyes, he hadn't expected to hear this sort of touching and heartwarming praise, even from her. "Flutter... Thanks, that's really sweet of you to say... I'd never thought of it this way before either..."

Flutter gave him a cheery and radiant smile before pressing her companion further. "So, what made you want to go for a Rescue Team instead? I'd have thought you'd be more interested in exploration with a grandfather like that." she asked him, sincerely interested in this subject. Terack thought back to why. "I fell into a fissure when I was very young and a Rescue Team saved me. There was a Sceptile, Raichu, and Togekiss. I've always dreamed about being in a team like that ever since."

"That makes so much sense. I can understand why." she audibly pondered over his explanation. "You moved to that house outside the square at some point, didn't you? What brought you into the Tiny Woods that day?" she continued. He looked over at her, both of them still on the move. "I heard an earthquake in that direction and rushed over there as fast as I could. Truth be told, I was expecting to find a Rescue Team there that would let me join. I instead found you." he recalled fondly.

She remembered this so clearly, waking up to Terack's voice and discovering that she had somehow become a Togepi. "After we saved Caterpie from my old situation, you then told me that you had nowhere to go..." Terack kept going. "It... really struck me hard. You looked so scared and upset in that moment. Between your expression, amnesia, and transformation, I'd never seen someone in such desperate need of help. I absolutely couldn't do nothing and leave you there..."

"So you gave me your house. Your roof..." she finished for him. "Even today, I'm forever grateful for that and your friendship. You made everything much easier for me to manage." Flutter truthfully admitted. Terack looked over at her with a delighted grin. "And it was the best decision I ever made~" he told her with a wink.

Before Flutter could reply, the Lightning Field came into view. Thunderclouds were heavy and thickly amassed around this dungeon. "Good timing. It appears that we've reached the Lightning Field." Terack remarked with a single look at the sky above it. "Ready?"

Flutter replied in the affirmative. A bit of lightning wasn't going to deter her.


Of course, determination couldn't mask the fact that she was at a significant disadvantage in this dungeon. Flutter did have Flamethrower to combat the Magnemite, Tropius, and Magneton roaming around, in addition to her Fairy Wind against the Cacturne, but she otherwise left the inhabitants of the Lightning Field to Terack. This was a role which he took on with ease, powering through the Electric type obstructions which she struggled against.

By the time they arrived in a clearing reminiscent of the one in the Fiery Field, minus the fire, Terack was very much raring to go. Flutter looked over their surroundings for the Pokémon they sought. "Raikou, are you here? We've been looking for you." she called out.

A voice came back to her in response, this snarling undertone highly audible in it. "You two... Are you drawn to causing trouble, the way a Volbeat swarm is drawn to an Illumise?" the yellow and black Pokémon asked as he approached them from the grass in front. "I am indeed Raikou, and this Lightning Field is the domain of myself and many Electric types..." he growled at them, a dangerous look in his eyes.

Flutter suppressed a surprised gasp at the Pokémon's arrival, quickly wheeling into a set of words before another fight could break out. "W-we've been looking for you..." she got out before being interrupted. "Forget it." Raikou snarled at them. "The both of you have already caused much strife in this field, just as any intruder would do. I see no reason to hear you out..."

Following this, he let out a bark that appeared to stimulate the thunderclouds above them. The sound of thunder echoed forth as a sudden downpour of rain began, Raikou's Rain Dance taking effect. "You aren't the first fools to freely arrive here, however... What happened to them, you now ask of me?" Raikou had torn the question straight out from their mouths. "Allow me to demonstrate..."

With this highly ominous declaration, a savage bolt of blue lightning immediately tore out from the clouds at Raikou's call and struck Flutter dead on. Blinded by the swift stab of pain, she could only shriek before the Thunder attack blew her backwards into Terack as a paralyzed and dazed mess of a Pokémon, her wings uselessly twitching as she laid there. Another Thunder was quickly called down upon the Togetic, but Terack leapt into action by landing on top of her and using his own Ground type body to shield her from another vicious zap.

"Terack..." Flutter softly responded once she looked up to see his action, barely conscious but beyond touched. He gave her a Cheri Berry to eat before rapidly vibrating his wings at enough of a pace to generate ultrasonic waves and following this with a Rock Slide against the startled Raikou, carrying her up with him to avoid a Water type Weather Ball afterwards.

Tossing herself back into the battle now that her paralysis was a thing of the past, Flutter sent a Fairy Wind down upon Raikou from this position accompanying a Rock Slide empowered by Focus Energy. An Aura Sphere soon caught them however, the homing ball of blue energy sending them plummeting down. Terack very quickly made his next move by diving underground with Dig. Flutter followed him down the hole and avoided another Thunder as a result.

His strike from behind began tilting the bout away from their opponent's side but a Weather Ball, the orb filled with rainwater, swept him away afterwards. Flutter's Ancient Power soon rose out from the entry hole now out of Raikou's attention for a free hit that seemed to trigger something within her. Emerging from her hiding spot, she felt... empowered... for some reason or another, demonstrating this by exhaling a Flamethrower at the oncoming Thunder for an even clash.

Raikou was very much astonished by her action. "Just how did you do that with my Rain Dance pouring down?" he stopped to ask her. Flutter wasn't entirely certain of this herself. It was unexplainable. "I'm just as surprised..." she replied in turn before the adrenaline from their tough fight ebbed away and left her on all fours, the damage from that first Thunder returning in full force. "Ugh... Please listen to us, we meant no harm to any Pokémon here... The two of us only came here for you... We'd have left everyone else alone if given the chance..." she pleased to him as Terack approached and helped her up.

The two of them were placed under intense scrutiny as Raikou carefully judged them, the rain ceasing as he went into his deliberation. "...Why are you here?" he finally asked upon making the decision to give Flutter and Terack this one chance. Flutter floated closer and left the Red Wing in front of him.

"It... can't be...?! The Red Wing?!" Raikou roared in shock at the very sight. "So this is Entei's doing... Stand aside, now!" Flutter quickly did so, just in time for him to channel some of the field's charged atmosphere directly towards the feather. Just as with before, this was absorbed to change its colour, now from a crimson red to a two-tone design of the said red at the top and a bright yellow at the bottom.

"The Red Wing is now the Sunset Wing, a representation of Entei and I." Raikou explained as Flutter picked it up. "There is yet one more of us that you must meet if you seek an encounter with the mirage Pokémon. Go northeast from here and you shall soon find the Northwind Field, the home of Suicune..."

Before they do that, Flutter thought, she'd need an Oran Berry. That initial hit still stung...


Meanwhile, her intentions with Kyan were working like an absolute tee. He was having far less of a tough time in Mt. Blaze than before. Szaer kept him company on the way up, shadowing him in case things were to go quickly south.

Passing the waypoint and the Pokémon following this, the duo finally reached Mt. Blaze's peak. "Moltres! Are you here? We need to talk to you!" Szaer called out upon their arrival. Within the moments, the Pokémon landed in front. "You again, unmasked this time... and one of that trio accompanying you? To what do I owe your return visits?" he asked, in a much better state of mind now thanks to Team Celeste fulfilling their word.

"There's something strange going on at Legendary Island, we've been told about a whirlpool surrounding it." Kyan started explaining. "The two of us have alerted Zapdos about this and he's waiting there now." Moltres listened closely to the Metang from the very moment he mentioned that place. "I see. This is a matter of great urgency... but Zapdos must regretfully have patience. It's been a while since you four Pokémon scaled this mountain and the both of you appear more honed than the last time we met separately. I wish for a brief spar."

"Wish granted." Szaer replied, followed by Kyan. Moltres's own response was in the shape of a Sunny Day, amplifying the rays of the sun above them all before firing a strengthened Flamethrower from his beak. Kyan and Szaer both split to avoid this.

Moltres continued pursuing Szaer after this, chasing down the nimble Sneasel with more streams of fire and eventually cutting him off for a very near hit. Upon seeing Kyan engage with Moltres using an avoided Zen Headbutt, Szaer caught Moltres with his Spite, the thin black beam nullifying Flamethrower's energy before Kyan could be scorched.

Looking between the two, Moltres was most surprised by the turnaround. "Impressive..." he remarked as he charged and launched a Solar Beam almost instantly, catching Kyan straight on. "Ahh...?!" he gasped, wondering how Moltres had shot it so quickly before recalling Flutter doing so against Groudon back when she knew the move as a Togepi. Szaer went in to cover him against another Solar Beam and used the hit to retaliate with Payback.

Szaer got on top of Kyan to continue the battle in the air, Moltres following and splitting the two up with an Air Slash as Szaer jumped to dodge the sharp blast. He landed upon Moltres himself and struck with two Power-Up Punches followed by an Icicle Crash. A close range Air Slash blew him off afterwards but a Telekinesis caught and placed him back onto Kyan.

Another Telekinesis grabbed and held Moltres in place while Kyan flew in, skimming a Solar Beam as he closed the distance with Meteor Mash in one arm and Dynamic Punch in the other. Both hits made their mark and knocked Moltres back to the ground.

"I applaude those techniques..." Moltres told them once Kyan and Szaer landed, conceding the match. "Especially Spite, I wasn't expecting to have my Sunny Day empowered Flamethrower extinguished in such a manner..." he admitted to the two.

Szaer gave him a curt nod. "Thank you for the kind words. We wouldn't have done half as well if Flamethrower weren't taken care of..." he thought out loud. "We must do this again sometime."

"Indeed." Moltres agreed. "I'll leave for Legendary Island and await Articuno there. I assume you'll be telling her the same news." At Kyan's confirmation to this, Moltres flew off."

Szaer watched him go before looking in the direction of the Frosty Forest. "Moltres is right, it has been a while..." he quietly mused.


Now deeper in the Buried Relic, Rubix and the others were continuing to go ever deeper into this unexplored territory. Ignephra's open flames were making themselves very useful as they plumed towards the depths.

"Is it just me, or did this place get a little chillier all of a sudden?" Reishi asked them, shivering a little bit. Derkomai watched him, feeling this even more but not making it known to any of them. Rubix looked ahead for a possible source for this, he and Ignephra not very debilitated by the low temperatures.

Ignephra soon saw some sort of statue ahead, reminiscent of Regirock but made of ice. "This might be the cause." he told the group as he pointed forwards. Rubix approached the statue and stared at it for a moment. "Regice. Another bearer of what we seek..." the Golduck explained. Without another word, he formed a Mud Bomb in his arms and launched the solid ball in conjunction with Reishi's Rock Tomb and Ignephra's Eruption, quickly overwhelming Regice immediately.

It used Hail in an attempt to recover health through the Ice Body ability but Rubix's own Cloud Nine ability stopped the hailstorm before it started, a Blizzard subsequently matched by his Icy Wind. Derkomai then joined in with Air Cutter, the blade of wind chipping off a part of Regice's body and ending the fight.

"I assume this is very similar to Regirock's Rock Part?" Ignephra asked Rubix as he went forward to collect the light blue chunk of unmelting ice. "Correct." Rubix responded. This is aptly named the Ice Part."

Reishi was still a little confused by the whole thing. "Just what's this all about? Now we've had two of these golems holdin' those rocks?" he wondered. Rubix thought hard for this answer, soon recalling something... "I've just remembered a short story that may explain this for you..." he spoke up.

Three parts there are. Guarded and protected by three constructs of a slumbering titan of old...

When the three parts are finally reunited, awakened the titan can be...

Derkomai quickly added two and two together as he looked at the Ice Part. "The completed artifact can awaken the master of these golems in this dungeon?!" he called in shock.

Rubix silently nodded. "Of course, but we're not going to allow that." he very coldly exclaimed. "The artifact shall belong to Deuvide from the moment of recreation and no old legend shall have a say in this fact..."

A fourth party enters the scene.




"How are you doing?" a Vibrava asked the Togetic companion on their task upon this island. Terack and Flutter had both gotten through both the Fiery Field and Lightning Field dungeons, but the two Pokémon ruling these fields had both given them a very tough time.

Flutter looked over at him, her Oran Berry long gone. "I'm back up to speed." she responded with a few flaps of her wings to demonstrate it. They were both at the end of a short tunnel dug out by Terack, just outside the Northwind Field. "This mirage Pokémon hunt has been rather difficult but we only have this Suicune to find." Flutter summarised. "I guess they'll lead us to that Pokémon, you think?"

He gave her a small nod before exiting their hiding place, the same guess on his own mind. The field ahead of them was lightly blanketed in a thin mist and had a very quiet air to it. "This place..." Terack muttered as he stared at it. "Somehow, it gives me the chills... You ready to go in?" He would like to get this one over and done with as quickly as possible.

"Yes, I'm all set to go. Let's stick close together." Flutter decided as she adjusted the Defense Scarf around her neck. She flew into the mist covered landscape with Terack following her lead.

Discounting an embarrassing incident early on in which a male Delcatty's Attract caused her to become completely lovestruck for him, Flutter was having an easier time here in comparison to the last field. Flamethrower wasn't seeing much use here but her other two offensive moves were coming in quite handy against the likes of Delibird and Poliwrath.

Terack was holding up alright in spite of his initial misgivings, but a close call came along in the form of a Croconaw with Ice Fang. Flutter had to jump in and take the second hit of this move for him, much to his surprise. She fought through the Pokémon's cold fangs using her Defense Scarf and swept their assailant off her and away with a close range Fairy Wind.

An even more dangerous situation emerged near the end, where a Politoed's Perish Song caught Flutter in its effect like an earworm. Terack avoided this affliction by rapidly vibrating his wings in response as he slammed into the singer hard and hastily with a Steel Wing to knock them down before helping Flutter with a Heal Seed. He didn't know what would happen if their foe's move was unchecked and allowed to continue, but he didn't want to find out.

Proceeding further into thicker mist, such that it was beginning to obscure their vision, the duo finally arrived at a clearing next to a deep lake filled with crystal clear water. Flutter's breath was immediately spirited away by this picturesque sight laying out in front of her. "T-this is... beautiful..." she said in a stunned gasp.

"Indeed..." a voice replied to her before the mist was blown away by a wind coming from the direction of the lake just north, revealing a blue quadrupedal Pokémon with two white tails somehow walking upon the water's surface towards them. "Unfortunately, all of you outsiders are desecrating this sanctuary with your foul ills. Remove yourselves from my sight." they went on, a voice with the same bitter chill as their Tailwind move.

Terack immediately sprung forward into conversation, quite eager to avoid another misunderstanding. "You're Suicune, right? Raikou sent us here to find you." he explained. Suicune stared at him as he spoke up, the look in her eyes shifting somewhat. "...Others before you have sought me out in their own searches for my master, the mirage Pokémon. They only sought glory. How am I to know that the two of you aren't similarly unworthy?" Suicune replied.

An impression of Suicune immediately came to Flutter. This member of the trio must be harder to earn the approval of, she thought. Flutter decided to come clean. "We're doing this to help out a Pokémon." she confessed. "A traveller passed out close to our Rescue Team base and gave us the Clear Wing, we checked with an intelligent friend of ours and he pointed us to this island." the Togetic summarised.

"...I see. That's a story I've never heard before." Suicune quietly remarked. "Your mission... Battle me and display your conviction for it!" she decided, another Tailwind serving as the start of this bout.


"Ahh, the Frosty Forest. It brings back plenty of memories..." Szaer thought out loud as he and Kyan approached the entrance to the dungeon. "Now that the natural disasters have ceased, it feels colder than ever before..." the Sneasel stated, adjusting the Detect Band around his head feather.

Kyan shook off some of the snow falling upon him. "Articuno will be at the same place we last saw her, right?" he asked. "Yes, you three didn't see it last time but she has a nest tucked away on that plateau... and don't worry. You just got a bad first impression of Articuno, she's a rather decent sort when one gets to know her." Szaer explained to Kyan. "I'll guide you there, it should keep the Pokémon of the forest from going after you."

Just as Szaer said, Kyan found himself to be completely free of attacks as a result. They passed by a few Azurill and Nosepass but nothing was suddenly aimed at the Metang. Szaer led him through the forest, past the waypoint, and up the gentle incline leading towards Articuno's perch. "Here we are." Szaer said upon their arrival, seeing a very familiar blue bird flying towards them for a landing. "Articuno! It's me!"

She touched down in front of the duo, wings folded back. "Szaeracier, you're back? It's wonderful to see you again!" she said with a nod and open wings. Kyan was completely blown away by how much different she seemed. "You're with one of Team Celeste's members too..." Articuno also observed.

"I joined their team immediately following your departure and we've done many things. The others have business elsewhere but Kyan and I are here to tell you something." Szaer quickly summarised things up for her. "There's a strange whirlpool surrounding the Legendary Island, the two of us have told Zapdos and Moltres all about it. They've flown over there to see."

Articuno's expression was one that was rather difficult to get a read on, she appeared to be thinking of something as she stared at the two Pokémon in front. "With all three of us at the island, a solution can be formed. You've both done very well..." she finally replied. "Before that, however... Szaeracier, I wish to see how much the Black Ice has grown and developed since joining hands with Team Celeste. Kyan is welcome to join in."

A battle request from Articuno... Szaer lightly shivered in anticipation, he hadn't done so well last time they sparred, so long ago. She had been complementary and encouraging though. He shelved that thought and turned to Kyan. "What do you want to do?" he asked. Kyan was somewhat conflicted, this felt like Szaer's own personal test but he still wanted to help. Finally deciding to act on his second thought, he went to Kyan's side.

"Thank you." Szaer said, deeply touched by his choice before turning to face Articuno. "Before first encountering Team Celeste, I wasn't interested in any long team teammates. Seeing how the three of them were supporting each other at this very spot despite Flutter being a wanted Pokémon is what convinced me to give this a shot..." He knew that he'd changed much.

"Then let us discover what you're now capable of." Articuno stated, starting with her recent acquisition of Mind Reader and using that to make the first strike on them both with a carefully aimed Bubble Beam stream. Szaer threw out a Payback in response but she predicted that and took flight to avoid it.

Kyan joined the fight at this point, zooming up towards her with a Zen Headbutt that she avoided and leeched some PP from with Pressure before hitting him with her tried and tested Powder Snow. Szaer used Payback again in response to his struggle, although the black projectiles were much weaker as a result of him not taking damage immediately prior, the light hit diverted Articuno's attention enough for Kyan's Meteor Mash to make contact and knock her downwards. Szaer then got in a pair of Power-Up Punches before she could recollect her bearings.

"Looks like it's not just us who've been learning some new tricks." Szaer observed, thinking quickly of a way to overcome Articuno's Mind Reader. He already had an idea however, the thinking was a bluff that he hoped she would pick up on with this move. Going in with the Icicle Crash that she read and dodged quite comfortably, Szaer suddenly transitioned this into a Spite that caught her off guard and missed by a hair. "Indeed so." she simply responded before sweeping him away in her Hurricane/Powder Snow combination.

Returning on the offense at the sight of this, Kyan grabbed Articuno in the green outline of his Telekinesis and held her still as Szaer picked himself back up from the frost coated ground. The two of them followed up on this with Icicle Crash and Dynamic Punch in succession, her Mind Reader aided attempts to evade them being foiled by Kyan's favourite move. Quickly shaking herself loose from both this and confusion, Articuno caught Kyan in a Bubble Beam spray that knocked him out.

His efforts were certainly not wasted though, she had visibly felt the Meteor Mash and Dynamic Punch hits. Another Hurricane caught Szaer in its spin, during which he had the idea to let it carry him high up. The result of this being him shooting out from the winds high above Articuno with his arms crossed in front of him. Going into a quick dive from this point, he soon unleashed Payback at point blank range before pushing off from her in a jump, falling to one knee and panting roughly afterwards.

"That shall do." Articuno stated as she righted herself, offering Szaer an Oran Berry for himself and a Reviver Seed for Kyan. In a few brief moments, they were both back up and ready. "You both fought very well... Szaeracier, it's clear that joining Kyan and your other companions has done you a whole world of good. I am so... very proud of how much you've grown since we met."

A very brief thought flickered through her head as she said this. If these rumours were true, the Luminous Cave was finally open once more... "I have a pair of items that you've proven your worthiness for today..." she decided, heading towards her nest and retrieving them from behind it.

One of them was a deep blue ribbon with images of the moon decorating it. The other was a sharply hooked claw. "A Lunar Ribbon and a Razor Claw. I have kept these evolution items safely stored away, awaiting the time when my former charge would earn his evolution. They are both yours." she explained, feeling just like a proud parent.

Szaer looked at both items, his eyes uncharacteristically glistening. He had absolutely no clue that she had been hiding them for the right moment... "I... Articuno, thank you so much. This and everything else you've done for me, it means a lot." he managed to mumble before going for a hug, one wing around him. "Ahh, that's wonderful. What a nice scene..." Kyan said as he watched this.

"Now, to our business." Articuno went on once the hug was broken. I'll take you both to the Legendary Island with me." This offer pleased Szaer, but a look at his gifts from her quickly dictated his own next move.

"Drop me off just outside the cave, I'll make my own way from there." he decided. He could wait no more...


"Terack, no!!" Flutter cried out as the Vibrava plunged below the surface of the lake, his wings completely frozen solid. Suicune hadn't let them have an easy go of it with her combo of a sharp Air Slash to cut at them on top of Tailwind speeding it up, followed by Brine, a stream of saltwater for any open injuries.

Terack had narrowly avoided a Sheer Cold later on by going underneath it, but the intense chill alone had frozen his wings and robbed him of flight. As Flutter took a deep breath and dove in to rescue him after tossing their bag aside, Suicune's eyes widened. She stood on the water's surface in shock as she observed the Togetic's actions, Flutter reaching his desperately struggling form and beginning to carry him upwards despite him weighing almost five times more than her.

Though difficult on her as a result, Flutter eventually breached the lake's surface with a gasp and began taking Terack to the shore. "F-Flutter..." he mumbled during this after a few coughs. Although he expected her to do this, it didn't lessen his immense gratitude. He knew full well that his closest friend had just saved his life here.

"I've... seen everything I need to... With a selfless rescue like that, there's no doubt that you're in a Rescue Team..." Suicune stated once Flutter got Terack on dry land, thawing out his wings and warming him up with a light Flamethrower. She soon noticed Suicune approach them. "Prioritising the ailing companion over the glory of battle... Show me the proof of your meeting with Raikou, I'm convinced of your worthiness now!"

Retrieving their bag, Flutter placed the Sunset Wing in front of her. "Hmm,  so I'm the last of us three..." she observed as she looked at the red half symbolic of Entei's contribution. Flutter stepped back as the north winds took form and swirled around the Sunset Wing, transforming its red and yellow combination into... a truly mythical and otherworldly colouration of all seven colours in the rainbow. Flutter's breath was robbed for the second time in this dungeon.

"In front of you two is a powerful artifact that defies any and all attempts to place a price on. The Rainbow Wing. The mirage Pokémon itself will only reveal itself to those who possess this treasure." Suicune explained to them. "The Pokémon lives atop one of the world's tallest mountains, one which reaches beyond the clouds themselves. Take the Rainbow Wing to Mt. Faraway, just west of here, and you will finally find whom you're tasked to seek..."

Flutter nodded resolutely in response as she stared at the treasure in front of her, carefully collecting it for the team. "Thank you, Suicune." she finally said before turning to Terack, him now looking none the worse for wear thanks to her warming him up. "We're at the last step, let's move on out and meet this Pokémon." she told him.

"Right, no use sitting here." Terack replied, the both of them taking flight. He could still vividly recall Flutter coming to his aid as he thrashed and decided to thank her by throwing in nothing but the best on their next task...


Making his landing just outside the Luminous Cave with a Lunar Ribbon and Razor Claw finally in hand, Szaer watched Articuno continue flying towards the island with Kyan on her back before refocusing his gaze on the staircase leading into the cave. So very ready for this, he made his way downwards.

Arriving at the spring with the large diamond going above the surface, Szaer was pretty surprised by the sight. The spring's guide soon spoke up into his head upon sensing this new arrival.

"This is the Luminous Cave, visitor. Do you seek evolution?"

"Yes, I do seek evolution. You're the guide I've heard about?" Szaer asked out loud, somewhat curious over the source of this voice.

"You have heard correctly, but that is neither here nor there. Do you require an item for your evolution?"

Szaer held up the pair of required items. "I'm a Sneasel, so I require two items. I have a Razor Claw and Lunar Ribbon with me for my evolution." he explained to the voice.

"Very good. Those will facilitate your evolution into a Pokémon species called Weavile. Now, please step into the spring and we shall commence..."

This is it, Szaer thought. Flutter and Terack's accounts dictated that this was harmless and permanent. He stepped into the spring with his two items held tightly and was soon wrapped in a glow that began reforming his body...


At the Buried Relic, Rubix and company were still going very strong as they continued onwards. They were still facing no sort of real opposition or obstructions with the Pokémon challenging them.

"Who else wants some?!" Derkomai roared enthusiastically as he fried a Shedinja in front of him with his Fire Blast, the Salamence's competitive side now being fuelled by the frequent battling in this dungeon. Rubix was also finding some delight of a quieter nature through the visible history in this ruin.

By contrast, Reishi and Ignephra were getting rather bored. They would have likely used an Escape Orb by now if not for their mission. "That star fragment and third part better show themselves soon..." Reishi impatiently muttered. Ignephra sighted another statue up ahead not long afterwards and led the group to it.

Rubix looked closely at this third statue. "Registeel..." he muttered to the other three. "Beat the part out of this one and the artifact is ours. We'll make this quick. Ignephra and Derkomai, start with Eruption and Hydro Pump." the Golduck commanded.

Both of them initiated the battle as commanded, heating and then rapidly cooling Registeel's body. It lumbered towards the group with a Metal Claw ready that Reishi  blocked and overpowered with his Power-Up Punch, knocking it down. Another round of heating and cooling followed this, now from Derkomai's Fire Blast and Rubix's Icy Wind while Ignephra used Nature Power.

Forming a Shadow Ball in front of his mouth from this, the Typhlosion ran headlong on all fours towards Registeel next and slammed his summoned move into their target directly, blowing it into a wall and knocking off a white piece of its body from where he, Rubix, and Derkomai had been focusing. The golem didn't get up.

"Good work, that's the Steel Part." Rubix told them in a congratulatory voice as he picked it up. The Rock and Ice Parts previously obtained from Regirock and Regice began to shake in response, they and the Steel Part floating up into the air above the Deuvide members before starting to merge.

The product of this scene was a jewel in the shape of a small stellated dodecahedron, bearing either a stone grey, arctic white, or steel black colour depending on the viewing angle. Just as Rubix recollected this object with a triumphant look on his face, a voice echoed out to them.

"You did it! You did it! You recreated the Relic Gem!!" this delighted voice said, a small pink Pokémon floating towards them in a truly joyous mood. "Thank you so much! I've been wanting to revive my friend Regigigas for so long but his golems wouldn't give up those parts!" this Pokémon quickly exclaimed.

Derkomai looked over at this newcomer curiously. "Who might you be?" the Salamence started, this question on everyone's minds. "Ooh, so sorry! I got really excited when I saw someone with this gem... I'm Mew, it's nice to see some company here!" she replied happily.

"Good to meet you, I'm Dr. Rubix of Deuvide and we've been investigating this newly uncovered relic." Rubix told Mew, keeping their reasoning under wraps. "These are my colleagues Derkomai, Ignephra, and Reishi." Mew looked over at Rubix's entourage, familiarising herself with their names. "Great meeting you all. Hey, did you all come here looking for that space rock I found earlier?" she suddenly piped up, her eyes wide open in a child-like curiosity and her head tilted to the side.

Rubix decided to go with Mew's assumption, a plan developing in his head as he looked at this Pokémon. "Exactly right. We're here for that rock you've got, and we'd be most grateful if you could lead us all straight to it." he asked. "Yup, I sure will! I've been needing that Relic Gem you've got so I'd be very happy to trade this place's treasures!" Mew obliged, quickly taken with this group.

Although his words indicated a willingness to give away the artifact, Rubix had absolutely no intentions of doing such a thing. Once this Mew had taken them to the fragment, his oldest and most effective move would take care of everything else...

Wish, request, force.




"This... Wow, that's the Legendary Island?" Kyan asked Articuno as he rode on her through the sky, this said location coming into view. "I've never seen anything like it, ever."

Surrounded by a torrential whirlpool as earlier detailed by Alakazam, it consisted of three smaller islands joined by a stone bridge. Moltres saw them arrive from atop the volcano on his island while Zapdos also caught sight of them as he waited on his island's grassy field. Both of them approached the small shrine structures at their individual islands and retrieved something from them before flying to the third island which Articuno landed at, a snow covered mountain behind them.

"Now we're just waiting on Szaer." Kyan explained with a look at Zapdos and Moltres as he got into this gathering, happy to see the two of them here. Underneath this, however, he didn't know what the Sneasel would look like now.

He didn't have long to wait for this answer. Shortly afterwards, Latios also arrived on Articuno's island with a Pokémon riding him. They had sharp claws on their paws and feet as well as a crown and collar of wide red feathers. Two tail feathers were also present, and a Detect Band tied around one of their two ear feathers clued Kyan in to this visitor's identity. "Wow, Szaer?!" he called, appearing quite surprised.

"Exactly. The guide said that I'm a Weavile now." the now evolved Szaer told those present before he turned to Latios. "Thanks for getting me here, it's a great help. I'm glad to hear that Latias is doing better too." he said to the blue Pokémon. Latios nodded in reply. "I'm very certain that she'll also be happy for your evolution. Good luck on your task." he responded before flying off.

With Latios gone, everyone's attention was now on the whirlpool underneath the island. Zapdos and Moltres's initial surprise about Szaer's enhanced form was now a thing of the past. "Now, we've somehow got to stop this whirlpool." Kyan stated. "Any ideas?" he quickly asked of the bird trio.

"It could be possible that..." Moltres stared as he looked at the whirlpool. "Something may be bothering the guardian of the sea, a being to whom Articuno, Zapdos, and myself have previously answered towards." he explained. "This is all I can theorise however. We have little else to go on at present."

Zapdos gave him a small nod of agreement, approaching Kyan and Szaer afterwards while Articuno went to her own island's shrine. "The sea guardian is a flying Pokémon known as Lugia, appointed by Kyogre herself to protect the very seas. He does this from within his domain at the seafloor of the Silver Trench." he informed the two. "Us three were once at vicious odds with each other centuries ago until Lugia helped us resolve our differences. With his help, this island was formed above the trench as a symbol of our newfound harmony. I'd emerged from these power struggles the weakest and most tired of the trio though, so I eventually chose to recuperate at my home atop Mt. Thunder in a deep slumber. It was vital that I regain my strength..." he went on, trailing off as he finished.

"It explains why you were so furious with Shiftry when he ended up disturbing you during a rescue." Kyan recalled. Zapdos's fury in the Silent Chasm and first trek up Mt. Thunder definitely felt just a little more understandable thanks to the history lesson. "Lugia... That's a new name on me." Szaer admitted. "The Silver Trench is below this island too, huh? How are we going to get past the whirlpool?" he asked as he looked down at it.

Articuno approached them upon this question with Moltres at her side, she bearing a blue orb and he a red one. "We've devised a method for such a situation." she said, Zapdos joining her other side. Kyan and Szaer noticed now that he was also holding an orb, his one was yellow. "On each of our islands rests an object with the individual powers each of us wields. You two shall know by now what these powers are." Articuno told them. "Zapdos's Lightning Treasure, Moltres's Inferno Treasure, my Frost Treasure." she explained as each of the three laid their orbs down upon the ground. "Stand back."

Articuno then unleashed a Powder Snow at her orb, followed by Zapdos and Moltres similarly using Zap Cannon and Flamethrower on theirs. All three orbs reacted to each of the elemental moves and began merging together with glows of blue, yellow, and red. The product of this combination was a silver coloured stone in the shape and visage of a whirlpool.

"What you are both seeing is the Vortex Stone, an artifact of legend with control over whirlpools. It also allows its bearers to enter the Silver Trench. The two of you should go in there, uncover the cause of this event, and put a stop to it." Articuno requested, finally laying out the plan. "Lugia lives very deep underwater but I have confidence in your combined abilities. Off you go."

Szaer gave Articuno a wave before looking down at the whirlpool, the Vortex Stone in hand. "Kyan, do you still have the Dive HM and the Teleport Gem?" he asked the Metang, getting an agreeable reply. The stone in his paws started glowing silver and halted the whirlpool below them. "Wow..." Kyan gasped. Of course, he thought, it couldn't be a permanent fix. They had to reach the root cause.

All ready to go, Szaer left the stone in the spare bag around Kyan's arm and leapt into the water in a dive with his arms clasped in front of him. The Metang watched this and followed suit.


Flutter and Terack's journey in the Three Fields had finally brought them to the foot of Mt. Faraway, the home of the mirage Pokémon. "Just like Suicune said, this mountain goes above the clouds..." Flutter recalled while looking up. "I don't think it'll be easy but there's no other way to do it but to just do it." she added.

"Absolutely." Terack responded to her in turn. "We've come this far now. All that's left is for us to scale Mt. Faraway, let's get this done!" the Vibrava declared eagerly before he moved forward into the dungeon.

As Flutter predicted, this dungeon was rather challenging for the both of them. This wasn't because of all the Pokémon this time however. Much of the difficulty came from the height and how the landscapes became more treacherous further up. Neither of them were particularly delighted when some heavy snowfall along the way necessitated a rest in a frigid cave.

It was thus with an incalculable amount of deep relief when the two of them finally reached the summit after this long and steep climb, both feeling bone-tired as they looked around. With a deep gasp, Flutter recognised something in front of them. It looked just like the star fragments that she had previously seen in both the Pitfall Valley and Stormy Sea.

"I must applaud your efforts." a voice softly called out, spiriting Flutter away from her thoughts. A large bird Pokémon of red, yellow, and white landed between the pair of rescuers and the star fragment, eyes fixated upon this duo. "You both, merely being upon the summit of Mt. Faraway tells me so much about you two. I can sense more than just the Rainbow Wing. What I sense is true camaraderie. I am Ho-Oh, the mirage Pokémon..." he stated.

"It really is you then...?" Terack murmured, feeling oddly humbled. "Yes, we have the Rainbow Wing." he explained before Flutter took it out for Ho-Oh to see. She also chose to take over the talking from herein. "It was a struggle, but we gained the approval of Entei, Raikou, and Suicune." she said, recalling each of the clashes as she mentioned their names. "My name is Flutter and my companion is Terack. The two of us have known each other for a long time." the Togetic said as she lightly nodded.

Ho-Oh continued to closely observe them. "It shows, young one. No Pokémon have taken their mirage Pokémon expeditions this far. You are both here now, with that artifact bearing the powers of my disciples... Should you wish, it grants you the right to engage me in combat."

Immediately rushing back to Terack, Flutter was captured by a mix of surprise, excitement, and nervousness. "What do you think? Shall we go for it?" she breathlessly asked him. "Um... Why not? We don't often get the choice to battle these Pokémon at the end of dungeons, this is a rare moment. You said earlier that there's no other way to do it but to just do it." he stated, using her words from before.

Very much emboldened by that, Flutter went back to face Ho-Oh. "Sure thing, we'll battle you!" she exclaimed confidently. The general atmosphere in this vicinity had suddenly taken a spike in intensity. "Very well... Now! Abandon all your limitations! Display to me everything you can offer!" he suddenly screeched as he held his wings out, both of them ready for his Steel Wing opening. Flutter avoided the otherwise super effective move while Terack tried and failed to repel it with his own Steel Wing.

Flutter hovered up and made an attempt to gain back some of their immediately lost ground in this conflict with her Fairy Wind, but Ho-Oh reacted with startling speed and loosed a rainbow coloured burst of light from his crest before she could attack, the sheer intensity of his Flash blinding her and causing her move to miss entirely. As she flailed in a panic, the rose coloured flames of Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire blew her down from behind to the mountaintop with a searing burn to her back and wings.

A golden glow next overtook his body, the sign of Ho-Oh charging up a Sky Attack. As he zeroed in on Flutter, Terack managed to right himself and witness this. Flutter had taken the heat off him and was now in line for another hit. He tried to use Rock Slide, but something unusual happened. The rocks instead shot up at Ho-Oh from below, smaller and more jagged than usual. His new Stone Edge forced Ho-Oh to abort the Sky Attack in order to avoid the hit, just in time for Flutter to finally open her eyes.

"T-thanks for the assist..." Flutter responded, grimacing from her burn. As Ho-Oh went for her with another Steel Wing, she fought through this ailment and very narrowly evaded it by skimming above the glowing wing while Ancient Power's rocks formed around her. She then turned around in midair to face him and launched her attack, feeling a strange yet familiar power permeate her whole body afterwards.

Now matching his Sacred Fire with her Flamethrower, Flutter used the rising rocks from Terack's newly missed Stone Edge to climb high above Ho-Oh aboard one of them. Arms outstretched after leaping off from the rock, she fought through a wince to serve a Fairy Wind that caught Ho-Oh and sent him plummeting down with it. Almost as though he were planning to do this all along, Terack used Stone Edge one more time to catch their foe in a vertical pincer attack which ended the battle in their favour.

"I... Very well done..." Ho-Oh muttered as he got back up. Flutter landed after this but fell to her arms with a rattling gasp, her wings lightly quivering in pain. Terack was quickly there to fix the situation with a Rawst Berry that brought her a great amount of relief once she began eating it. "That was the toughest battle I've won for a long time..." Flutter finally replied to Ho-Oh once that burn was a thing of the past.

He gave them a quiet nod. "As proof of your triumph today, you two Pokémon may make one wish of me." Ho-Oh suddenly revealed. "Take some time to decide." Flutter didn't really need said time however, she had just remembered about the star fragment she saw at the peak earlier. Terack shared her expression.

"We've already decided. We wish to have the mountain's star fragment." she stated. "It's part of a destroyed falling star, we've got one safely kept away and there was another one that struck a Latias as it fell through the sky. As a Rescue Team, we hope to find all the pieces and help any more injured Pokémon." Flutter explained to the watching Ho-Oh.

He was silent for a little interval. "That meteorite? I found it a few days ago on the heights of the mountain. It appeared to have hit one of the Glalie living here..." Ho-Oh revealed, much to the great concern and discomfort of the two rescuers. "I suspected that it wasn't an isolated incident and you have delivered the proof. Your wish is granted, take it with you and heal any strife that the others may be responsible for. I'm leaving this in your able hands." he soon decided, their teamwork having won his acclaim.

"Thank you, Ho-Oh. We'll hold up to your request." Flutter thanked him as she gave the mirage Pokémon a light bow. "Thanks for your time too." she quickly added, picking up the star fragment before leaving him be and returning to Terack.

"We're all finished here, get the Escape Orb." Flutter told him. She was quite eager to have a rest now.


Sadly, Kyan and Szaer were nowhere near close to their rest. The Silver Trench's depth was unimaginable and Szaer was fully certain that the air would have been pushed out from his lungs by the water pressure if he and Kyan didn't have the Dive HM. They had both reprised their swimming techniques from the Stormy Sea and were progressing steadily forwards as a result but this dungeon was over twice as deep.

Without Flutter and her Foresight to navigate them through the dark depths, Szaer had to make do with an alternate method. He got out a Luminous Orb and shattered it by using the black outlined claws of his new Assurance move. The bright burst of radiance from the broken remains of the blue orb was quickly and effectively used by the two Pokémon to finally plume their way to the bottom of the trench.

Kyan, the Psychic type, soon noticed something strange about a part of the sheer rock wall on their left. Moving closer for a feel, he was surprised to see his claws passing through it as though this wall wasn't there at all. He passed through it and had to suppress further shock when he discovered that this illusory wall was blocking the water, resulting in the path ahead being on a dry surface. Szaer quickly followed behind him. "This is unlike anything I've ever seen..." the Weavile softly exclaimed while running a claw across the walls.

He and Kyan quickly continued onwards through this silent corridor, finally arriving at a wide and deep blue room with silver pulsing spots scattered around. A large silver Pokémon was there when they arrived. Behind them, however, was a star fragment. It was giving off a powerful energy that caused Kyan to shudder for some reason. "Someone... found this place?!" the Pokémon asked in visible shock, this shock quickly reforming into a sort of territorial fury at the sight of them. "None are permitted to enter here, by my order! I am Lugia, guardian of the seas!" he roared.

"We have good reason to be here, Lugia!" Szaer called back, very much intent on getting his point across. "The two of us are investigating the cause of a strange whirlpool forming above the Legendary Island!" The large Pokémon's full attention was now firmly upon Szaer, Lugia trying to get a read upon him.

Misfortune very quickly befell the duo next however, as Lugia decided to stick to his guns. "I don't ever recall giving either of you two my permission to get involved in such a matter. Remove yourselves from the ocean depths this instant!" Szaer groaned at Lugia's unwillingness to trust them and Kyan decided to try instead. "We mean no harm or offense by being here. Articuno and the other two birds sent us down here with the Vortex Stone after we told them about the whirlpool." he explained.

"...Fools. After their bickering began to disturb the ocean's currents, I arose and ended their conflict. The Legendary Island was formed under the condition that they never again interfere with my matters... That said, I understand their concerns and recognise the trust they've clearly placed upon you both..." Lugia outwardly thought. A moment of silence passed over this room, during which Kyan could still feel a strange force from this star fragment that had been absent from the other one he'd seen in the Stormy Sea...

"Come. We shall do battle." Lugia finally decided. "Should you sufficiently impress me, I shall pardon all five unsolicited investigators and accept your aid." he exclaimed, powerfully unfurling his wings. "I highly recommend fighting as though your very lives were on the line. A Pokémon's true power can only be fully utilised... when all semblance of thoughts are abandoned! Begin!" Finishing with a fearsome roar, a crackling ball of pink energy took shape in front of Lugia's mouth and was launched at Kyan with an explosion, Psycho Boost inflicting a sizable amount of damage straight away despite the Metang's Zinc Band and significant resistance against Psychic type attacks.

Szaer understood that he needed to turn this around quickly. Noticing that Lugia appeared to be a bit out of it after such a powerful move, he immediately dashed in on the offensive with his vastly improved speed and hit him with an Icicle Crash, quickly following up with Assurance's claw thrust at the same spot for greater damage. Lugia's retort was a most unusual one, Psych Up to copy Szaer's stat alterations and remove the Special Attack drop in the process before firing a Signal Beam that was avoided with a backflip.

The following Aeroblast wrapped Szaer within a vortex of air that slammed him hard into the room's ceiling, but he made to otherwise safely land and swing a Power-Up Punch upwards at Lugia's jaw in a jump before again hitting that point with Assurance on top of the Attack boost. Kyan rejoined the battle at this moment with a Meteor Mash that Lugia dodged before he caught the Metang in an Aeroblast. However, Kyan had the idea to use the strong rotation of that move to pull off a spinning Meteor Mash from both arms with them outstretched, similarly to the move Gyro Ball.

"Nice move!" Szaer called out as Kyan crashed into Lugia. He ran straight towards their opponent with Power-Up Punch and Assurance once more, following up on it with a barrage of more Assurance hits on the same spot as Kyan held Lugia in place with Telekinesis. Lugia's Pressure soon wore that down but Szaer's own Pressure did the same with Aeroblast and a Spite similarly stopped Signal Beam after a hit.

Now left with only one option for offence, Lugia shot a Psycho Boost that both of them avoided. Kyan and Szaer then landed decisive and combined hits with their Meteor Mash and Icicle Crash. "I... I yield." Lugia said in a rough pant following this. "Your prowess deserves commendation... Very well, you may continue your investigation." he decided.

Now winding down from this clash, their attention shifted to the star fragment behind Lugia. Kyan could still feel an odd power from it. "That rock, when did you get it?" he asked Lugia. "Very recently. I was forced to take it when a Kabuto on the water's surface was harmed in its descent. I keep it here to avoid a repeat situation but this part of the sea hasn't been the same since then." he told them.

This was a very familiar scenario to Szaer. "It's part of a destroyed falling star. We saw Kyogre using another piece to speed up her recovery, the area she lives in was also experiencing heavy waves." At the sound of this, Lugia's expression darkened. "You say you witnessed Kyogre using it for her own gains, to resume her feud with Groudon? That irresponsible creature... She may have been the one who allocated my job to me but I won't stand for such behavior!" he roared.

"The deal is, things settled down once her fragment was removed." Kyan explained to the annoyed Lugia. "It might similarly fix your situation if we take this one with us, should you allow it." he requested. Both of them stared at each other for a bit. "...It sounds plausible. Take it and leave this place behind, I must speak with Kyogre about her actions." Lugia responded.

Szaer took the star fragment as Kyan got out the Teleport Gem. Shortly upon its activation by him, the two of them were warped out of there.


"So, how long have you been in these ruins?" Rubix asked the Mew presently guiding him and the other Deuvide members towards the star fragment she'd found. "Ever since the rock you're looking for landed here. I've been watching this area for a long time, waiting for the day when I could finally get the Relic Gem and see Regigigas again." she told the group.

The five Pokémon soon arrived in a dimly lit room, the exceptionally large and moss covered statue of a Pokémon serving as the centerpiece. Next to it was the star fragment. "Rubix, everyone, that's my friend Regigigas. He's been asleep for so long but I can finally wake him up thanks to all your help~!" Mew cheerfully thanked them as she gave Rubix the star fragment.

"That's wonderful, but I must apologise..." Rubix replied in a sinister undertone, dropping the act now that they had what they needed. "Regigigas shall sleep for now. As will you." he said as he used Hypnosis, the gem on his forehead giving off a pulsating red glow that enthralled the distressed Mew.

Looking at the Golduck, Mew was already dissolving into a tired mess of tears. She'd come so, so tantalisingly close to her dream... "N-no, please... I really need that gem... Why are you doing this, Rubix...?!" she cried, devastated by this betrayal. Rubix looked at her with little emotion. "My group's grand design can't work without the Relic Gem. You don't understand now, but you'll come to thank us in due time..." he explained. His Hypnosis brought Mew into a deep sleep shortly after.

Turning his back on Mew, Rubix faced Derkomai, Reishi, and Ignephra. "We're done here, let's leave this place."


"You've actually found the mirage Pokémon?!" Spinda loudly exclaimed in shock. Flutter and Terack had returned to Pokémon Square and were now telling Spinda all about their adventure in the Three Fields. "Yep, it was a large red bird Pokémon called Ho-Oh." Flutter told him.

Spinda gave them a series of happy nods. "I see, and you did this even after I'd given up. You've opened my eyes and taught me a valuable lesson, I can't ever give up travelling! Thanks, Flutter and Terack, you've both given me renewed hope!" he joyously remarked. "There must be something I can give you in return... Aha!"

An idea arriving like a fresh wind. Spinda retrieved a shiny stone in a necklace from his bag. "My father gave this to me when I left, but I want you to have it now." he decided, giving it to Flutter before stumbling off as usual with a happy wave. The shiny stone was exactly that, a Shiny Stone. Terack looked closely at it. "Flutter, you should keep this. I'm never going to forget you saving my life in the Northwind Field..."

Kyan and Szaer arrived after Flutter put on the necklace and found it to be a good fit. "Hi Kyan and... wha? When did Szaer evolve?!" she asked. "Just before we arrived at the Legendary Island. Everything's all taken care of now, Articuno and the others have gone back to their homes too." he told them. "Flutter, Terack, how did things go with Spinda?" Kyan asked.

"Things went great, we've got a lot to tell you." Terack replied, in a good mood. The reunited team finally returned to their team base to share more about the two adventures with each other, sitting around that bugged table and giving Zeninthia the news as well. Rubix, Ignephra, and Deuvide's leader were with her.

"WHAT?! They've got three fragments and the other two artifacts?!" Ignephra furiously yelled once this news was revealed to them. This earned him a reproachful stare from the other three Pokémon present.

"Remain calm, Ignephra. Their gains shall become ours in due course..."

These words prompted the Typhlosion to restrain himself. "Yes, my lord. I'll trust your judgement on this matter, as Zeninthia and I have always done." he decided. "This news means that there is only one more fragment out there..."

"Indeed so. If a situation unfolds that brings Team Celeste to that fragment, then we shall be engaging them in a battle soon enough." Zeninthia observed. "Dr. Rubix will ensure that Androma is on the alert, ready to inform us if they are approaching the last star fragment."

Rubix grabbed his cue. "Consider it done, mistress. It will not be long now until the plan is realised."


Back in the Buried Relic, Mew was looking up at the slumbering form of Regigigas, feeling more desolate than she ever thought imaginable. "I'm... so sorry... They had the gem, I trusted them, and I... I really let you down..." she sobbed, her heart and resolve completely shattered. She had hit rock bottom.

Looking at the corridor through which Deuvide's members had arrived in this room, she felt a fresh wave of despair. This was quickly intermixed by something else upon another look at Regigigas however. It was almost as though he were talking to her. Mew could remember some of the good times they'd had in the past.

"Wait for me, Regigigas..." Mew decided, done with crying and suddenly filled with new hope by those memories. "I'll get back the gem and wake you up. You'll be able to see the smile you treasured soon, I promise..."

Floating down the corridor and leaving Regigigas behind for now, Mew's new search for the Relic Gem had begun...

At long last, the masks and gloves of Deuvide are finally removed!




Deep into the wee hours of the night, deep in a hidden base where none could find him or his seven compatriots, a brown cloaked Pokémon was staring at the three star fragments placed within three of the seven slots of a machine resembling a doorframe, created by the combined intellect of himself and Deuvide's Dr. Rubix. Even if this Pokémon wasn't also concealing his face with a hood, his expression would be absolutely unreadable.

"...! Found it!"

A hidden triumphant look spreading across his face upon finally determining the location of the seventh and final star fragment, he sent a telepathic message to Zeninthia as a way of summoning her. The Umbreon very dutifully arrived on schedule as he had requested, he knew that he could trust her to do such. "You've found the last one, my lord?" she immediately asked.

"I have. It's the largest one, located inside an unnamed dungeon at the northcentral area. This cave is northeast of Mt. Thunder."

Zeninthia was delighted by this news. Deuvide and Team Celeste both had three fragments each at present but they only had one of the three artifacts also necessary, the Relic Gem, in contrast to the Rescue Team's Rainbow Wing and Vortex Stone. She was quietly eager to see them regain the overall lead as quickly as it was lost a few days ago and had been committing both the original locations and present ownership of the first six fragments to memory. Pitfall Valley, Wyvern Hill, Buried Relic for Deuvide, Stormy Sea, Mt. Faraway, Silver Trench for Team Celeste. "Understood. Whom shall I send for this?" she finally replied.

"Zeninthia, I've also sensed a foreign lifeform attached to this fragment. Send Rubix, Derkomai, Hebyacel, and Reishi tomorrow, this being may lash out."

"A fair assumption. I shall make this clear to your designated group that failure isn't an option." Zeninthia firmly replied. "Androma hasn't yet seen any sign of Flutter's team unknowingly targeting it as they've done with the Mt. Faraway and Silver Trench fragments." she told him. Upon listening to this, the Pokémon took down his hood and added a stern undertone to his voice.

"...It matters not if they don't know of the fragments, artifacts, or our uses for them. The two humans and their team have complicated this project for long enough due to their lucky encounters with the objects we seek, and I expect these wretched creatures to be crushed if they stand in the way again."


In the days following their separate trips as two duos, Team Celeste's work with rescue missions had taken some significant leaps and bounds. They had saved Shiftry's new team, consisting of himself and a Whimsicott and Abomasnow, when he'd gotten into a spot of trouble on the way to the Buried Relic. The Air Cutter move that Flutter had learned over Ancient Power at the Makuhita Dojo had been very useful on this trip.

This was a mission lucrative enough to elevate the team to the Platinum Rank at last. As Flutter soon discovered to her shock and surprise, this was one rank below Team A.C.T. themselves. She hadn't been doing the slightest bit of homework on the order of these team ranks and made a quiet resolution to do this in future.

The day following this rank up, she had risen from her sleep bright and early to begin mulling over the last rescue. This was now twice that her team had saved Shiftry but it was an admittedly less critical situation here. After a good while of this, she headed downstairs and out of the base with Szaer now awake and following her.

This was when all hopes and prospects for an ordinary day were dashed beyond repair. Passing by the base, on their way from the square, was a Pokémon whom neither Flutter or Szaer had seen since they both left this world at the Hill of the Ancients. "Xatu? Wow, long time no see! What brings you to this area?" Flutter called out, delighted to see him again.

Truth be told, the wise bird was a Pokémon that Flutter initially wanted nothing more to do with. Their first meeting at Alakazam's recommendation was highly uncomfortable for her and also witnessed by Gengar, who promptly used this to publicly expose her now abandoned human origins and vilify her. Flutter's thoughts now trailed to Gengar, just where was he now after suddenly deciding to save her after the falling star's explosion?

"I have visited Pokémon Square to do some shopping, Flutter." Xatu explained, bringing the Togetic back to reality. He recognised both her and Szaer without any problems at all despite both of them having evolved since their last meeting. Before any real conversation could be had between the three Pokémon, Team Hydro's Blastoise came rushing up from the southern path looking as though he'd been the witness to any number of fresh horrors.

Being fully aware of Blastoise's capabilities thanks to a brief team up with him as the Black Ice the night after he'd first met his little sister Flutter, Szaer was particularly concerned by this spooked expression. "Blastoise, it's Szaeracier. Or Szaer, as Flutter took to calling me. What's happened?" Szaer asked him.

"I've... been exploring the cave northeast of Mt. Thunder, but that place was completely crawling with these very weird spectre things. Some are unbelievably fast, others are very resistant, and the rest come packing a serious punch. It freaked me out so I got away from that place quickly." Blastoise explained to the audience of three, still very much shaken. "I'm honestly not sure if these things were even Pokémon. Would you or Alakazam happen to know more?"

Eavesdropping upon this conversation with a Clefable's sensitive hearing was Androma. With the existence of the cave now revealed to Team Celeste, she intended to listen very closely. "Regrettably, I cannot envision the identity of those beings and I don't believe Alakazam knows either." Xatu slowly admitted, drawing up nothing but blanks this time. "I do know of the cave itself, however. When the falling star was destroyed, seven of its pieces rained down upon our world. The largest one formed the cavern you speak of when it landed. I shall call it the Meteor Cave."

"Fitting name, I'd say." Szaer spoke up. Flutter was thinking about these seven pieces. She'd seen four of them so far, originating from the Pitfall Valley, Stormy Sea, Mt. Faraway, and Silver Trench. The latter three were with the team while the first one was taken by Rubix upon duping the Togetic and then-Sneasel with a cunning half truth about Deuvide's intentions. This recollection of the meeting with the Golduck and Salamence was interrupted by Szaer, who'd had a shocking thought. "It's just occured to me, could those things Blastoise saw have possibly arrived with the star fragment?" he asked Xatu.

"Perhaps." Xatu simply told the Weavile. "The creatures being otherworldly in origin isn't a theory to be thoughtlessly ruled out. Some Pokémon species upon this planet are indeed thought to hail from outer space, the Cleffa evolutionary line are one such example.

Androma could have disproved that rumour but she wasn't about to draw attention to herself. Upon hearing Flutter conclude that the whole team go to the Meteor Cave and investigate this, she left them be and passed through the square before finding an empty area near the Pelipper Post Office. Her call was sent directly to the base's meeting room, in which her holographic image was coming from a large and wall mounted version of Deuvide's communication device. Ignephra was in the room to see this. "Neph, bring the others here!" she told him with a bit more force than intended.

Despite him being much, much higher up in command than her, the Typhlosion willingly obliged without a fuss. He was rather fond of the younger Clefable and had actually been the one to create her Ann nickname. Ignephra returned shortly after with everyone following him. Deuvide's leader, Zeninthia, Rubix, Derkomai, Hebyacel, and Reishi. "I've just heard this moments ago. Team Celeste are also going to the Meteor Cave, the name given by Xatu to the location of the last fragment." she announced. "They're out to investigate the lifeform that arrived with it, so a direct confrontation is going to be unavoidable."

Zeninthia passively took this confirmation on board. "Thank you for replying to us so quickly. Although neither you or I will be there, I have no doubt that your contributions will be felt." she assured Ann. "Don't forget your other task either!" the Umbreon added before the call ended.

"Ignephra, I would like you to join the assigned four members. We now know that they will engage the humans in an altercation. Their time is overdue and your time is now..."

"As you desire, my lord..." Ignephra responded, his fiery hatred for humans being a contrast to the leader's cold hatred. He left the room alongside the original quartet, leaving Zeninthia and the leader to themselves.

She had something to ask this close friend of hers. "I don't presume to question your judgement, but is it necessary to send Ignephra there too?" The Pokémon she was talking to looked at her and removed his hood. His purple eyes glimmered as he began to recall his earlier days.

"You two... are my hands, my fellow founding members of this group, being ever at my side from your days as an Eevee and Cyndaquil when nobody would. While you embody my analytical and cold side, Ignephra embodies my hatred for the human race. I have little doubt that he shall deliver a swift end soon...


Upon their entrance into this dungeon, Team Celeste discovered that the Meteor Cave was quiet... Too quiet...

This wasn't its most distinct feature though. It instead went to the clear fact that this place turned out to be deserted of Pokémon entirely. The only other things to be found here were the strange transparent mirages that Blastoise spoke of. Flutter understood entirely why the Team Hydro leader had been so spooked earlier, seeing these... things ambush her and the team was indeed very scary. She'd have almost though them to be actual ghosts if there wasn't a possible extraterrestrial origin.

Also as Blastoise had told them, the three different shapes appeared to have a different approach towards battling. One form was a heavy hitter with defenses comparable to that of a wet tissue, another could take a lot of punishment but couldn't dish out much in return outside of Counter and Mirror Coat, while the last one was in possession of unmatched speed with decidedly average capabilities everywhere else. Needless to say, Team Celeste's foursome were having their work cut out for them today.

After a particularly scary moment in which a speed form teamed up with an attack one in a remarkable display of teamwork, during which Szaer was forced to bypass them entirely with a set of four Pure Seeds, the team arrived upon a descending corridor which ended in a spacious room. Two Pokémon were there and they were both familiar faces to Flutter and Szaer in particular...

"...Rubix and Derkomai? Are you both after the star fragment here?" Flutter asked them. The duo turned around to see them, Rubix thinking fast. "Team Celeste, it's a pleasure to meet you again." Derkomai said. This was entirely true. Enemies they might be, but the Salamence was eager to finally battle them for himself. He could barely contain the raw, unbridled anticipation.

As was the plan, Rubix pretended that he wasn't expecting Flutter and her entourage to show up here. "Indeed we are, young Flutter. Most perceptive. Have your Rescue Team come here for the same purpose?" he coolly asked them, feigning ignorance. He knew full well that they hadn't. "No, we heard about the thing attached to it." Kyan responded. "I'm Kyan and this is Terack, by the way."

Rubix had no need for that introduction. Thanks to everything... Androma's frequent reports, Reishi's correspondence during the Flutter hunt, the bugged table... he and all of Deuvide's members knew much more about these four than they'd expect... At this moment, Reishi and Ignephra both arrived.

"Oh. Reishi." Flutter stiffly responded. Even though Rubix had placated her with the assurance that he'd been scolded, she still wasn't delighted to cross paths once again with the Breloom who'd almost killed her in the Lapis Cave. All three of her teammates had the same expressions before Szaer turned to see Ignephra instead. "The assassin from the Frosty Forest boundaries..." he remarked. "It's been a while, Szaeracier. I believe none of you have been properly introduced to me. The name's Ignephra."

"I'll remember it." Szaer assured the Typhlosion. The arrival of Reishi and Ignephra had created a very... interesting atmosphere in the room. Rubix was the one to finally speak up and break the ice. "I suppose it's been on your minds exactly what the name Deuvide means? I'll admit to not being the leader, a founding member, or even a deputy. I'm merely an advisor to a founding member in addition to my capacity as the inventor, but the name was my creation." he told them.

Flutter had to admit, Rubix was right with his assumption. She had absolutely no clue what he was leading up to with this however. "You see, "Deu", or "Deux" to use the full word, means "Two" in another human language. It's a quiet nod to our leader, who sadly couldn't be here to greet you and your team in person." he told Flutter. Slowly but surely, he was approaching the sting...

"Following on from this, "Vide" means "Void" in that same language. The full name of Deuvide also sounds like "Divide", doesn't it? I'm proud of that." the intellectual Golduck told Team Celeste's confused members.

"You see..." Rubix went on, building up to this. "Just as "Deux" represents our leader, "Vide" represents his... no, our goal. Void means nothingness, being empty of everything. That's just what we want. Our goal... it is for a world completely void of humans!!" he powerfully finished, Deuvide's true intentions finally made clear to them.

Flutter's heart must have skipped about fifteen beats at this revelation. "You can't do that!!" she almost screamed at Rubix, now recognising him and the others for who they truly were. Everything now made sense. Reishi attacking her, Hebyacel attacking her longtime friend Terack, Ignephra attacking Szaer. Deuvide's members had been trying to pick off her and the team ever since the fugitive trip and she was only now realising this... Terack and Kyan took battle positions while Kyan's Icicle Crash formed in his hands. "If you've been plotting this all along... then we're not going to let you have that star fragment!" he declared fiercely.

Rubix had nothing more to say towards Flutter, Szaer, or their two Pokémon companions. He turned his back on them and moved forwards out of the room. Flutter made to fly after him, but a Steelix burst out from underground to block her path. "H-Hebyacel?! Not you too!!" Terack blurted out, suddenly afflicted with vivid memories of being crushed under his Heavy Slam last time they met.

"Hahaha, I'm flattered to see that I've made such an impression on you! Just like how you made an impression on the Howling Forest cave's floor when I flattened you! Let's get them!"


As the other four Deuvide members kept Team Celeste busy according to plan, Rubix rushed onwards through the ascending corridor. He'd never felt more exhilarated, breathless, alive, than he did right now. Confidence in his own colleagues about as sky-high as Rayquaza itself, he continued running until he reached a room smaller than the one in which Flutter and her band were currently fighting for their lives.

A Pokémon was present, appearing to be a solid version of the same mindless yet sentient copies he and the others had encountered on the way there. Yet at the same time, it was different. It didn't resemble one of the three forms exactly.

"Who... who's there?" they nervously asked. "I am Deoxys. Only Deoxys, I mean no harm..." the being named Deoxys told the Pokémon in front of it. "My name is Rubix." he told Deoxys, taking notice of the star fragment behind it. This one was indeed larger than the others.

Deoxys nodded in acknowledgement at Rubix's introduction, forming a hand at the end of one of its arms to show that it meant no harm to this visitor. Team Celeste's members, if they'd gotten here instead, would find it to be an even less territorial final opponent of a dungeon than Ho-Oh. "R-Rubix..." it replied in a stutter, learning this name and associating it to him. "I'm... happy to finally m-meet someone... Do you know what h-happened here...? I heard a sudden, scary explosion... and awoke in this cave..." Deoxys explained.

Rubix understood the situation now. Deoxys was the extraterrestrial creature that Zeninthia mentioned when he and the others were tasked with obtaining the fragment. The explosion must have been when Rayquaza destroyed the falling star, Rubix realised. It appeared as though the leader's concerns of the foreign creature lashing out were unfounded, Deoxys looked as though a simple Pidgey would send it into a fitful and distressed panic.

"I'm afraid I don't know what happened." he lied to Deoxys's face before subtlety starting his Hypnosis. He would normally be very intrigued and curious about Deoxys as a whole, but finally exposing Deuvide to Team Celeste had brought upon him a sensation that he would be wasting valuable microseconds with that. Making this quick, he brought the Deoxys to sleep before the alien Pokémon even noticed something wrong.

Retrieving the star fragment at last, Rubix left the room before a thought stopped him in the corridor. Before they'd arrived in the larger room now in front of him, Hebyacel had mentioned feeling a strange power flowing inside him, beckoning the Steelix towards this star fragment.

Taking out the magnifying glass that he kept on him at all times, Rubix decided to take this gamble. He wasn't entirely certain if his guess was true but a correct guess here would swing the ongoing clash in Deuvide's favour...


In all honesty, however, it really wasn't needed. Team Celeste were overall getting absolutely crunched, chewed up, and spat aside by the remaining Deuvide quartet with little effort.

Kyan had long since been knocked out of the battle, having not stood a single chance against Ignephra and his Eruption. Terack tried to take over for him but was intercepted by Derkomai and now being thoroughly outclassed in a battle against the older and more experienced Dragon type. The Salamence was easily avoiding numerous Stone Edge attacks and viciously attacking back with Air Cutter.

Szaer was trapped in a rematch with Hebyacel and their battle appeared to be a bit of a stalemate at present despite Szaer's evolution since the last time they fought. The Steelix once more couldn't seem to hit him but he was enduring Szaer's attacks much better, as well as dodging Spite.

Meanwhile, the Flutter vs Reishi rematch was a whole different story altogether. The Togetic was the only one of the four who had a definite upper hand against their Deuvide opponent. Taking a "Float like a Butterfree, sting like a Beedrill" approach, she was floating away from Reishi's Rock Tomb and Iron Tail just enough times to annoy him before delivering savage critical hits with Air Cutter against the Grass/Fighting type, Super Luck aiding her well here.

Finally appearing to realise that he was actually at a very serious risk of losing to Flutter this time around, a stark contrast to their brief Lapis Cave battle, the Breloom had to get some aid. "Oi! I'm really goin' to need some help with her!" he cried out. It was Derkomai who answered his call, now having put Terack out of the battle with Dragon Pulse he flew in to shred apart Flutter's Air Cutter with his own and strike her down.

"Somehow I'm not surprised that you let this happen! You truly are the most junior of us all in battles, lunkhead!" the Salamence growled at the beaten Reishi behind him, annoyance lightly tinting his voice. Reishi had no excuse for his shoddy performance here, so he simply slid away to lick his wounds and pick up his pride. "...No matter. Now I get to battle you myself, Flutter." he continued, his competitive side showing itself.

However, the dragon was to find himself disappointed. Flutter couldn't keep up with her fellow Flying type despite having another significant advantage. A Fire Blast and Hydro Pump duo in succession finally put her out of the battle, leaving only Szaer left.

The Weavile's battle against Hebyacel was still very much a deadlock, they were both evading and enduring, respectively. Until Rubix returned... "Hebyacel! This is what was tugging you!" he triumphantly called for the five conscious Pokémon to hear. Rubix's hunch turned out to have been right on the money...

As time seemed to stop, the Golduck threw a small, spherical stone that resembled a marble. It hit Hebyacel and resonated with him, engulfing the Steelix in a rainbow coloured glow. Everyone, Szaer and Deuvide member alike, watched in shock as Hebyacel appeared to undergo evolution.

He emerged from this glow as a Mega Steelix with a mighty roar, now over a metre longer and almost twice as heavy. "THIS IS IT!!" he called out in sheer ecstasy before the large metallic shards orbiting his body were thrown down to restrict his foe's movements. Now having successfully boxed in his opponent, he went in for a massively improved Heavy Slam and crushed Szaer like a bug, knocking him out in a single hit.

"HOW'S THAT FOR PAYBACK, ANNOYING BUG!?!?" Hebyacel roared in delight at having bested the Pokémon in front of him this time around before he reverted back to a Steelix. The stone responsible for this turnaround was now resting by Rubix's feet. With the star fragment held underneath one arm, he picked it up. "Steelixite." Rubix told them. "One of many Mega Stones. I found it within the star fragment here."

Ignephra was officially impressed. "Nice find, Dr. Rubix! This is an unexpected surprise!" he declared while punching the sky. He hadn't forgotten about their fallen foes however. "Now... I'll finish the job!" the Typhlosion growled as he turned towards the four brutally beaten rescuers, his glare positively murderous as he aimed for a four-in-one hit on them with Eruption.

Unfortunately for him, his own opponent Kyan was beginning to come round. He could make out all five of their opponents still standing, though Reishi was looking very pathetic in that corner. Ignephra was also very much visible despite Kyan's blurred vision. Noticing Flutter, Terack, and Szaer all being out for the count horrified the Metang and prompted him to weakly hover up. Only one thought was on his mind right now...

"You're back with us? Not for much longer!" Hebyacel called out. He was rather amused by the puny looking Steel type's resilience.

Escape... He managed to reach for the team's bag...

"Whatever you're doing, it's futile! You're finished!" Ignephra yelled as he prepared to fire his most heavily anticipated Eruption yet.

Escape... He pulled out the Teleport Gem...

"Wait, is that...?!" Derkomai asked, recognising the gem that Flutter and Szaer used when they were in the Pitfall Valley. He didn't like this...

Escape... He activated the Teleport Gem...

"It's the Teleport Gem! I didn't know they still had that!" Rubix answered. He couldn't believe that he'd overlooked that one detail!

Escape... He got all four of Team Celeste's members teleported away mere moments before they were incinerated by a deluge of lava...

"...I hate that flammable runt!" Ignephra wailed furiously as he stared blankly at the puddle of lava. Nobody else had any words before Rubix spoke up. "It's an unfortunate conclusion, but we've still won the day and got the last fragment. Let's get out of here..." he told them.

Perhaps, he hoped, Ann's day was just as successful as their one had been...


If the four Pokémon looked like an absolute mess when they arrived back from the Stormy Sea, this was way worse. Kyan shook the other three awake once the gem dropped them off outside their base.

"I... ow, can't believe that loudmouthed Steelix repaid the favour there... Szaer groaned, visibly limping and looking the worst of the group. Even Articuno hadn't handed him such a shattering loss. Flutter followed him upstairs, feeling more upset than anything else. "I... nearly beat Reishi one on one... Ugh, stupid Derkomai..." she sadly grumbled.

An equally weary Terack and Kyan watched them go up, Terack feeling something other than pain and despair. Concern for Flutter and Szaer. "Rubix said that Deuvide wanted a world void of humans, didn't he...?" he asked Kyan, more to get some conversation going than anything else. "I'm worried about what this could mean for those siblings..." Terack thought out loud.

All he and Kyan could do in light of this event was to keep a careful watch on the three fragments in the team's care. They didn't know what Rubix and company wanted with the star fragments but knew now that it wasn't good for any human.

If they'd only known about the importance of the two artifacts also with them... The artifacts that were now missing...


"My mission has been successful. While Team Celeste were out, I've taken their Rainbow Wing and Vortex Stone." Androma declared happily to everyone in the meeting room later that night during her call again. Hebyacel now had his new Steelixite fitted on a band around the base of his tail.

Rubix was most delighted for this news, it was the perfect way to top off their earlier triumph. Deuvide now had all three artifacts in their control and only lacked three fragments. "I'm very proud of you, Androma. Truly." he told her, now back to his usual mindset in the aftermath of today's events. He so wanted to study that Deoxys...

Androma's call ended a short while following this. Derkomai, fresh out from particular praise from Zeninthia for beating Terack and Flutter practically on his own, took it upon himself to take Ann and the artifacts to the base. Reishi was doing his very best to look as miniscule as possible, but he couldn't escape the Umbreon's gaze.

"Reishi." she firmly called, approaching him with a steely stare. He tried to back off but she and her Mean Look weren't having any of it. "You should know that the lord and I are very displeased with you today. You nearly let Flutter defeat you, in single combat no less. What do you have to say?"

The Breloom might not be as smart or cunning as some of his colleagues here, but even he knew that Zeninthia was angered. He thought his response through carefully for what felt like the first time in his life. "She's gotten too good... I'd say that the girl's almost unrecognisable from the Togepi I quickly put down in the Lapis Cave... If I were you, I'd focus on her... and get her alone..."

As petty as he sounded right now, Zeninthia had to quietly admit that the last part sounded interesting. "Like... a trap? Do go on..." Reishi was surprised to hear her prompt him further and began thinking hard on the spot, since that's exactly where he was rooted to at present. "She's a dedicated rescuer by now, right...? If we were, um... to play on that part of her character by leavin' a false rescue mission in her mailbox, courtesy of Androma... then have someone stronger than me ambush her there..."

The Umbreon couldn't help it. She let out a surprised gasp. "Reishi...! You may be an oaf, but I've underestimated your vindictiveness... This could actually work..."

Deuvide be plotting, Medicham be trotting.




"So, Reishi has proposed that we set a trap for Flutter?" Ignephra the Typhlosion asked, an eye raised in interest towards this idea. He was speaking to Zeninthia in her room within Deuvide's base. "What sort of scheme did he invent to warrant escaping being reprimanded?"

Zeninthia, looking at the Typhlosion and reading his face, was rather curious to privately hear the opinion of who was Deuvide's effective executioner. "It's actually very devious. We use her kind heart for our own gains and have a false rescue mission slipped into her mailbox. Androma can do that part, Flutter and Team Celeste's other three members still remain unaware of her true allegiances."

What the Umbreon wasn't privy towards, however, was the Clefable's slow but steady recent growth of respect for their Togetic target, different from the sort that Derkomai would hold for a challenging foe. That development wasn't even known to Rubix, Ann's superior and mentor even outside of their work in Deuvide.

Ignephra was taken aback by this concept, especially considering the fact that it came from the most recent of Zeninthia's four recruits and the most recent member aside from Ann. "Hold on, Reishi truly suggested that? I never would have thought him capable of concocting such a plot, Zeninthia... I like this." he exclaimed, a poignant mix of surprise and delight evident in him.

"I'm glad to hear your approval. He caught me off guard too but this is a stroke of brilliance on his part. We lure her out on our mission into a distant dungeon, preferably on her own, towards one of us..." she explained further before closing her eyes in deep thought. "Towards you." she soon added. "Your vast experience in ending the pitiful lives of these... human invaders makes you a natural candidate here."

As could be picked up on in her tone of voice and the now glowing yellow circles on her body, Zeninthia despised humans. She hated them for what they did to the Pokémon leading Deuvide and Ignephra shared her sentiments. The two of them had both seen the darker side of humanity with their own eyes, setting them apart from Deuvide's other members.

His decision was an obvious one. "Zeninthia, consider it done. Flutter lives on borrowed time and I intend to bring about her ruination."


The very next morning, Terack woke up from a not very comfortable sleep with last night's discussion of the Meteor Cave events still hanging around him like a thick fog. He looked at the still sleeping Flutter and let out a dispirited sigh.

The Vibrava had been told about how Flutter backed Reishi into a corner and was very pleased by this, but discovering that Derkomai had intervened and took her down as well as himself... It was difficult news to swallow. Terack had since been beating himself up for not lasting long enough to deprive Reishi of the Salamence's aid.

More than that however, he really hated losing so badly. Ekans, Articuno, Hebyacel, Kyogre, now Derkomai. Each of them had overpowered him with little effort on their parts. He found this most recent one to be the worst yet thanks to Derkomai's subsequent actions. He felt as though he'd let Flutter down, his longtime teammate and closest friend, by blowing it there.

Recalling that his motives for evolving the day after the disastrous battle with Kyogre were to avoid such a scenario from occurring again only served to amplify how down he felt at this moment. He'd been doing rather good between the Kyogre and Derkomai battles, he thought. Finally coming to a decision on what he was wanting to do next, Terack nudged his Togetic friend awake.

"Uhhhh..." Flutter sleepily mumbled, coming around after a short dream about the Deuvide members they'd encountered. The sting of betrayal still fresh in her mind was the likely cause of this. "Terack, what's wrong? Is it morning...?" she asked him as she floated up from her bed and onto her two feet.

Terack felt ready for this, but what he wanted was for Flutter to come with him. "I'm gonna go back to the Luminous Cave now and evolve again." he told her. Flutter's eyes widened at his choice. None of the team had yet to undergo a second evolution. She unknowingly had her evolution item, the Shiny Stone, in her necklace but still didn't feel ready to do this herself. Kyan was still outright unwilling to evolve and Szaer couldn't evolve any further. "Alright. I'll come with you to the pond."

The two of them proceeded to make their way there and Flutter saw Terack go down the flight of stairs leading to the spring. A hushed discussion nearby caught her attention however. She turned to her left and saw Medicham of the long gone Team Meanies talking with an Arbok. The Togetic pieced two and two together as she made the observation that this Arbok was the evolved form of Ekans, based upon her recollection of Medicham telling her that Ekans was interested in evolution.

In the cave, Terack had landed in the water and his body was now reforming quite drastically from a dragonfly shape into one more reminiscent of a dragon. His four wings merged into a single large pair and he also grew slender arms alongside a long and powerful looking tail, the light around him soon vanishing to reveal a Flygon who stared at his claws in a dumbfounded shock at the magnitude of his alterations.

Thinking hard about any new moves he may have just picked up, a silver colour wrapped itself around Terack's tail as his now much stronger wings carried him aloft, an odd singing noise being audible throughout the room and somewhat to the waiting partner outside with each flap. He performed a frontflip in the air to give his Iron Tail a test run before landing and walking out of the cave, feeling so far beyond rejuvenated and refreshed as he emerged from the opening in front of Flutter. "How do I look, pal?" he happily asked. Now standing at around two metres, he was significantly taller than the Togetic.

Flutter was, to put it in one word, amazed. "Just... wow. I wouldn't have expected this, you look far more powerful than before." she cheerily remarked. Terack responded to this with a pleased grin before he too noticed Medicham and Arbok. "Seems it's not just me who's evolved recently..." he muttered, quietly approaching the two.

Both of them were in the middle of an intense discussion and hadn't noticed Terack nearby. "You've really found the Wish Cave?!" Arbok spluttered in excitement. Medicham watched his reaction with an amused stare. "Indeed. Now, this is our little secret. We can't tell anyone." she replied.

Arbok gave her a nod. "Understood. Now, our wishes..." It was so obvious to the pair of onlookers that he was really looking forward to something. "I want... I want a scarier body pattern. Something that tells fortunes about my new power..." the cobra thought out loud. Neither Flutter or Terack could see it perfectly from their angle but the pattern on Arbok's front was already pretty intimidating as it is.

Staring quietly out over the pond, Medicham recited her wish. It was one that she'd been craving for so long. "My wish, it is for a place in which I can meditate in peace and tranquillity... with no interruptions from anyone nor anything. A place in which I could even meditate for many years without the slightest amount of food, so I can truly discover my inner powers..."

She soon snapped out of her reverie and turned back to face Arbok. "Of course, the dungeon is very difficult. We should make it a habit of remembering what the other is wishing for. If one of us were to fall, everything may still work out in that case..." she began planning out loud, bracing herself for a tough journey...

"Wishes in this Wish Cave place, huh?" Terack suddenly decided to ask out loud. "You two really have been busy since I last saw you." Medicham and Arbok both jumped like Spoink on the moon when they noticed the Flygon. Flutter was hanging from his left shoulder with a grin upon her face. "Nice to see you both again, we couldn't help but overhear something about a dungeon you've uncovered." Flutter told them.

"Oh. Flutter and... Terack." Medicham acknowledged, taking a guess on Terack being the larger one due to Flutter's very visible familiarity with him.  "I don't know a thing...!" she said in a clear panic. Arbok was beginning to sweat as he frantically nodded to them both. "I'm completely clueless too! A dungeon that grants wishes? I've never once heard of such a thing!" he very nervously declared.

With these as their parting words, the pair fled the scene quickly. Flutter and Terack watched them book it and were silent in their bemusement until the Togetic spoke up. "Those two are such bad liars~" she exclaimed, holding back a giggle at the scene.


"Haha, sounds like that duo will have their work cut out for them." Szaer chuckled when Flutter and Terack told him and Kyan about what they'd overheard. "I've heard precious little information about the Wish Cave. All I know is that it's somewhere on the southwestern island." the Weavile managed to recall, pointing out said island on their map upon the wall.

Kyan had been listening intently to the news Flutter and Terack had brought back. "So what are we gonna do today? Follow them?" he asked everyone. "Mmm, probably not. Medicham seemed to be saying that the dungeon was very difficult." Flutter said back. "We should just leave them to it and check the board."

"Before that, there's something I heard in our... um, escapade yesterday that's been eating at me." Szaer revealed. This was something he neglected to mention last night amongst his sheer indignation and embarrassment over Hebyacel's fluke of a victory. "Rubix mentioned that he'd found something Hebyacel had been feeling, right before that transformation I saw. I think it came from that star fragment..."

Almost immediately, Kyan remembered feeling an odd power coming from one of the three fragments their team now had. "I-I think I had a similar sensation from seeing the one we found in the Silver Trench...!" he recalled with a gasp. Szaer turned to see him, surprise in his eyes. "From what I could gather, Hebyacel was having stronger sensations than you were. This surely can't be a coincidence though..." he thought to himself.

He appeared to have finally arrived at a conclusion upon a few minutes of silent thought. "Tomorrow, I'm going to go and tell Alakazam everything. Fragment hunt, Deuvide, everything. I'll have him keep hold of this one and look into what it contains, even if we need to bring Xatu into it." he decisively stated. "Not only that, it would be safe to have one of them out of our hands. I haven't the foggiest idea what those Pokémon want the star fragments for, but they can't be allowed to have all of them." Szaer went on.

Flutter faced Terack after he finished, she was now looking rather apprehensive and a little bit nervous. "I guess it would help to have him in on this. I'm just kinda worried since he and Rubix did seem to know each other, that's all... Anyway, shall we head to the board and see what's up?"

Although she'd made an attempt at masking that, it was apparent that Flutter was seeing this as the calm before the storm...


Early next morning, she and the gang were all awoken by a series of... bizarre knocks on the door. Flutter brushed off the sleep from her eyes and went downstairs to find none other than Arbok on the other side once she opened it, their armless visitor himself being an explanation for the strange knocking.

Even more strange though, was the panicked and fearful state he seemed to be in. "Flutter, y-you and your team have really gotta help us...!" he frantically told her. Flutter quickly invited him in and led him upstairs, where Kyan and Szaer were both surprised by their unfamiliar guest before Terack cleared up this confusion.

"Alright, tell us everything." the Togetic requested of him. Arbok initially hesitated before he seemingly decided to fess up for Medicham's sake. He confessed to their knowledge of Wish Cave, the use of a Surf HM from Solar Cave to reach it, the prospect of a wish for those who reach the very end, and their ill-fated attempt at achieving just that.

"...I see, that's how things proceeded in the dungeon?" Szaer asked after Arbok finished. "You fell first and Medicham went on as you both planned ahead of time, but now she's down too?" Arbok replied in the affirmative before he turned to Flutter in particular.

Although she had physically changed since then, looking at her brought some memories back. "Flutter... I know Medicham and I caused you so much grief in Team Meanies, especially with that Ninetales stuff... I don't expect forgiveness but she really needs your team's help... I'm begging you..." he told her in a strangled sob, his head and body lowered close to the floor.

Flutter still vividly remembered everything about the Ninetales legend fiasco. She still considered being chased out of civilisation to be the most difficult and distressing part of her life in this world. No matter how she looked at Arbok now though, her response wasn't changing... "I'm over everything now. We're cool. I promise that we'll have Medicham back here." she ensured him with a smile.

He looked at Flutter and gently nuzzled her with his head, tears flooding his eyes. "Wahhh... You're really too kind, you know...?" Arbok happily bawled as she rested an arm on his head. Watching this scene, Szaer was honestly a little surprised by Flutter here. He knew that his little sister had a very forgiving nature, but never to the extent he was witnessing here. The Weavile had seen how the fugitive trip sent her spiraling down into a distraught mess and yet she still found it in herself to let it go... Deciding to take a leaf from her book, Szaer voiced his support and was soon followed by Terack and Kyan.

"Ok, gang. How shall we go about doing this? That place isn't going to be very easy." Kyan asked them once Arbok left. Szaer sat there in deep thought. "We've also got to see Alakazam about the Silver Trench star fragment, so a full team will be out of the question... Aha!" he exclaimed upon coming up with a plan. "Meteor Cave aside, I've been having a good run since evolving. This could also be a good way to let Terack's new form get some use. He and I can head into the dungeon while Flutter and Kyan speak to Alakazam." he proposed.

"It sounds good." Terack told him, Flutter and Kyan approving of this. "I'd feel a lot better if we had some additional help though..." the Flygon soon admitted.

Szaer gave him a small grin and a knowing look. "Leave that to me, I know the perfect pair for such an occasion."


And so it was that Terack flew over the sea, towards the Wish Cave with Szaer on his back. "I must say, your flying has really improved from when you were a Vibrava." he remarked, rather impressed. "I can't wait to see you in action now..."

Flanking them both were the Pokémon that Szaer had met up with and asked for help. The siblings, Latios and Latias, were flying alongside them. "It's so great to fly again. I've missed doing it..." Latias cheerfully said. "I forgot to ask, how's Flutter doing?" she asked Szaer. Although they'd only met once, she was quite fond of the Togetic. "She's doing great, I'm sure she'd be very happy to see you back in the air. How are you both now?" he asked back.

"Never better, Szaer. We're both in peak condition. That Northern Range and Pitfall Valley business is all behind us now, thanks to the square's kind support following the rescue. Everyone's been pitching in to help however they can." Latios said. Terack happily glanced over at their accompanying duo. "That's wonderful, I'm so glad everything's worked out for you two." he honestly replied.

The foursome soon landed outside the Wish Cave in due time and stared at the entrance, Szaer getting a very bad feeling about this. "Somehow, this cave doesn't seem... normal. I can't explain it..." he muttered with a shiver before leading the group in.

The dungeon was difficult, yes, but it was an entirely different flavour of difficult. The group discovered early on that the cave had somehow weakened their attacks exponentially when Pokémon like Marill and Jigglypuff were putting up a fight against their assorted attacks. They pushed through with full use of their greater numbers but things only got so much worse when they were ambushed by a Skarmory pack later on.

This group of Pokémon, despite being cut down to one individual during the struggle, had been giving Team Celeste's weakened members and their company an exceptionally difficult time. Latias had been making excellent use of both a Mist Ball and Charge Beam combo alongside Latios's Luster Purge and Ice Beam against the others earlier, in addition to their dual Dragon Breath. The last Skarmory was adamantly refusing to stay down though and inflicted plenty of damage with a swift Night Slash on the Psychic types.

Terack truly leapt into action upon Szaer narrowly avoiding a Steel Wing, adeptly swinging a Focus Energy strengthened Iron Tail under it to strike the Skarmory in the blind spot and drop its defense. Instead of seeing his Stone Edge follow up however, a royal blue aura engulfed his whole body as their foe took upon the golden glow of a Sky Attack. Both of them clashed with their vicious charging attacks.

"Dragon Rush, a strong and very menacing Dragon type attack. So much so that it can instill fear in the opponent." Latios explained as he saw the Skarmory recoiling after that collision. Terack hadn't gotten off lightly however, he'd taken a critical hit from the Sky Attack. Szaer rushed in with both paws outlined in black, striking the inhibited opponent with a perfect pair of Assurance hits to end the brawl.

He then went to help Terack up. "That was a great new move. I'm sure it'll help out in future missions." Szaer told him, pleased with the outcome. They and the Lati siblings continued further into the cave and thankfully found Medicham without any more problems.

"A-ah... Terack, you're rescuing me? I have never been more pleased to see you..." she muttered when they approached her, looking absolutely exhausted. "I thought my Fire Punch and Thunder Punch would have been enough against the Skarmory but that wasn't the case... Please get me out of here..."

Making use of his team badge, Terack obliged. He warped the group out of this anomaly of a dungeon without any further words.


"Medicham!!" Arbok called out as Szaer led him towards the crossroads where she, Flutter, Terack, Kyan, Latios, and Latias were waiting. "Y-you're actually safe, I'm so relieved..." he muttered while approaching her. "We're not going to forget this, Team Celeste. Thanks so much." the thrilled Arbok told them.

Medicham turned to face her friend with a disappointed look on her face. "I'm sorry, Arbok. It was too much, we'll have to forget about our wishes because I never want to go back in that horrible place ever again...!" she quickly exclaimed. "That's alright, you're more important than a scarier body pattern." Arbok decided.

Throughout this ordeal, it was clear as crystal to Flutter that Team Meanies wasn't the only thing that held these two together. Watching this scene made her genuinely happy. "You know, I'd almost forgotten about the wish thing. Could you tell us more about it?" Terack piped up.

Medicham was totally willing to share the story this time around. "Of course! They say that if you bring a certain stone with you to the deepest point of the Wish Cave, you can have a wish granted." she told them before showing off the stone in question. It was a crimson red colour and in the shape of a musical note for some reason. "That was a task beyond the two of us but perhaps your group could do better. The Wish Stone is yours to keep, as a reward for Team Celeste." she decided, giving the stone to Terack before she and Arbok left. The remaining six Pokémon looked at it.

"I guess we could give it a try someday, now that Terack and I have discovered the cave's strange gimmick..." Szaer thought. Another order of business came back to mind as he faced Flutter. "How did things go with Alakazam?" he asked.

Flutter diverted her attention away from the stone and towards him. "All taken care of. Kyan and I did exactly what you wanted." she told him, looking pleased. She immediately noticed afterwards that there was something in the mailbox and went to check it. "Oh, a rescue mission! An explorer Cyndaquil has gotten lost in the Remains Island..."

However, this was the fake mission planted there by Androma while Flutter and Kyan were with Alakazam. Reishi's revenge plan was underway...

I've been envisioning this one for a long time now, and it's finally time to type it out. Reader discretion is totally advised.




"An explorer Cyndaquil?" Szaer asked as Flutter read out a rescue mission that she'd discovered in the team's mailbox following his and Terack's trip in the Wish Cave earlier alongside the Lati siblings. "Let's come inside so we can check the map for that dungeon they're in." he suggested.

All four of them, plus Latios and Latias, headed inside and upstairs to see the map hanging on the wall. It had now seen extensive use by the team whenever they needed to locate a new dungeon. Szaer thoroughly examined it as the others watched.

"I think it's part of four lesser known dungeons, the others being Oddity Cave and the underwater duo of the Marvelous Sea and Fantasy Strait. Not many Pokémon pay attention to them so I assume that this Cyndaquil was hoping to find something that everyone overlooked. Vast riches could potentially be found in that last one, for example..." he explained, not towards anyone in particular. "Here it is, a small island just south of the main landmass."

Flutter looked at the location on the map he was pointing towards. It was indeed small, but situated a bit far away. "I think this is something I can do myself. Latias, can you get me there quickly?" Szaer appeared to be slightly uneasy by that decision but soon decided to trust her with the task. "...Alright. Take the activated Teleport Gem with you and stay safe." he told her.

Once Kyan took care of this for Flutter, the group followed her outside as she thanked him and left upon Latias. Szaer and Latios watched them both head towards the horizon sharing the same concern for their little sisters. Androma was nearby too, having also witnessed the departure and heard their conversation she hid herself in the woods behind the base and sent a message to both Rubix and Ignephra.

"Neph, Dr. Rubix. Flutter is on her way to the Remains Island as we speak." she told the duo, both of their holographic images separately emerging from the device. Ignephra was at the cave in the island and Rubix was back at Deuvide's base. "She'll be arriving with a Latias but is going to do our mission herself."

Ignephra was, to put this very lightly, thrilled by the news. He knew that he could take Flutter down quite easily in a one on one scenario. "Thank you for the heads up. I will await her here." he told them before hanging up. His image sunk back into the device and left them both alone.

"...Is there anything else you need to tell me?" Rubix asked, catching sight of an uneasy look on her face. She very quickly hid this from him before replying with "No, it's nothing. Everything's fine here." and hanging up on him.

Truthfully though, the more she cared for Flutter, the more uneasy Androma felt over her part in this plot. By a gradually growing amount, she was hoping for the Togetic to somehow overcome this and safely return...


The said Pokémon had now arrived upon the Remains Island with her eyes unflinchingly focused upon on the natural untamed growth ahead. She got down from Latias and checked on her supplies.

Latias couldn't quite hold it in any longer. She grabbed one of Flutter's arms and looked at her. "Be safe in there, please. There's no shame in retreating if the situation gets too difficult..." she pleaded. Flutter listened to her and was soon sporting a smile. "I understand. Thanks for getting me here."

As Flutter began her task in this dungeon however, Latias still had business to do here. Her brother had telepathically requested that she keep an eye on Flutter prior to their departure. Using her glass-like down to become invisible through the refraction of light alongside the Eon duo's unique talent of Sight Sharing, she followed Flutter closely throughout the dungeon while relaying what she could see to Latios and those around him. Namely, Flutter's three teammates.

"I'm impressed, Latios. It's as though we're actually at the Remains Island." Szaer had to marvel. Flutter's trek proceeded very smoothly, the very common Hoppip and Ledyba being quick pickings for Air Cutter. As she and her undetected company entered a cave and had these Pokémon exchanged for ones such as Scyther, Masquerain, and much weaker Togetic, the two brothers looked at each other. Their shared worries were fast beginning to appear entirely unfounded.

However, the deepest part of the cave was unbelievably and extraordinarily hot. A shimmering haze of heat was concealing a Pokémon from view. "C-Cyndaquil, are you in here?" Flutter asked with a gasp, feeling a bit too warm for her liking.

"Flutter of Team Celeste? Great, you're finally here-" a voice called out from the haze, which gradually subsided... to reveal Ignephra charging up a Solar Beam! "-and right where I want you!" he exclaimed with a dangerous expression. His move missed Flutter completely, instead being aimed at the roof of the corridor behind her. Rocks tumbled down and not only blocked off her escape route but also unintentionally stopped Latias from entering, thus preventing everyone else from seeing any more.

Team Celeste's members had witnessed enough to know who the Cyndaquil really was though. "Ignephra?! What's he doing there?!" Szaer immediately yelled before catching on to the Typhlosion's plan. "Did he seriously have a fake request sent out to lure her there?!" he asked, beyond disgusted and very fearful for Flutter now.

Almost immediately, Flutter released Air Cutter as several crescent shaped blades of wind, which Ignephra dodged with relative ease. He then stopped to take her Flamethrower with a delighted and terrifying grin upon his face. A rippling red glow appeared around his body as he absorbed that Fire type move with his Flash Fire ability and used it to power up his next Eruption to blistering levels, bringing Flutter to the very brink of defeat with just the one hit.

The sight of her struggling to get up was greatly pleasing to Ignephra. He used Nature Power to call upon Rock Slide, a deluge of rocks falling hard upon Flutter and burying her underneath them. Turning his back on her afterwards, he got out his communication device and sent a call to Rubix. "The plan is a complete success, doctor. I have defeated the target with very little effort expended on my part." he said with a pleased sneer.

The Golduck on the other end was also glad for their success. However, he was a little more observant on things in Ignephra's end. "Good work, but she's clearly stronger in will than you've expected. Look behind you." Rubix noted, as though he'd come to expect this from her. Ignephra did so and noticed that Flutter had been crawling out from under that Rock Slide while his attention was diverted. Quickly ending the call and growling in frustration, he ran towards his badly bruised opponent and brutally kicked her straight into the nearest wall, her left wing hitting it first and getting completely crushed by the impact.

Catching sight of her mangled and crumpled wing upon landing on the ground, Flutter immediately gasped in unrivalled horror through her tears of agony. She could just barely make out Ignephra's feet carrying him towards her and began willing herself to just wake up from this terrifying nightmare, even more so when he intentionally stepped on the Teleport Gem to shatter it along the way after she lost it during the kick. Her uncomfortable dream from just before Terack's evolution was now nothing in comparison to... this.

Instead of another kick, or a stomp, Ignephra carefully used a forearm to pin Flutter against the wall by her neck, enough to not restrict breathing. For the very first time, they were both at eye level, staring at only each other. Eyes of rage and hatred met eyes filled with fear and pain. Flutter was so far beyond terrified of him by this point but she didn't have any fight left in her...

"You... you dare embarrass me in front of Rubix, vile human girl?! Then allow me to see just how strong that will of yours actually is..." he muttered in a quiet tone that only magnified the deep fear consuming her like a noxious gas. This was the same way all those other humans met their ends... All the other humans sent by Gardevoir... "I know you're familiar with the Clefable you frequently call Ann. Has she told you about her run in with Team Meanies?" he asked.

Flutter stared back at him, lightly quivering. "N-not directly, I heard it f-from Terack... W-wait, are you saying y-you know her?!" she stuttered. Her brain was whirring like an absolute dervish right now as she tried to process this.

"Indeed I do. Just as I created that nickname for Androma, she calls me Neph. You see, Dr. Rubix is the individual who encountered her back then. She's since joined Deuvide as his pupil and has been a very useful spy, befriending you to get information about your team and its actions." he revealed, a spiteful grin emerging as his words began to visibly pierce Flutter through the heart. "You see, she told us about your team going to the Great Canyon, she told us about Terack going to the Howling Forest, she told us about the upcoming Meteor Cave conflict... and she was the one to leave my false mission in your mailbox, setting up your death at my hands!"

At all this, Flutter just... hit her lowest point ever. She considered Ann to be her closest friend outside of her teammates. She truly trusted that Clefable... "N-no..." she whimpered, a fresh wave of tears arriving to her empty eyes. She wasn't just sad, she was so far beyond devastated to the point of being inconsolable. "No... no... you're s-saying it was all a lie...? Everything...?" she shakily gasped. Ignephra had done it where Gengar once tried and failed. He'd broken her.

"T-that can't be... I cared about her... no, you're... you're... STOP LYING!!" she desperately screamed before dissolving into a complete mess in front of him. Ignephra only grinned, having no pity for a human. The race that he and Zeninthia had seen cause similar despair to their leader.

"The truth hurts, but I'll make sure this hurts more. Good riddance." Ignephra responded before grabbing both of Flutter's legs with his free hand and viciously swinging her down towards the cave floor head first, knocking her unconscious as a sickening stab of pain tore through her.


Meanwhile, a large gathering of Rescue Teams was taking place at Pokémon Square on Shiftry's request in Szaer's behalf. Instead of losing his head over what he'd witnessed through Latias's eyes, the Weavile had instead taken a more careful route. There were stronger Pokémon than him out there.

Watching the group from his place at the eastern end with Felicity Bank, the Wigglytuff Club, Shiftry, Latios, Terack, and Kyan behind him, Szaer could recognise plenty of familiar faces. Teams A.C.T., Hydro, Constrictor, and Rumblerock were all in attendance, as were the two teammates of Shiftry's new team, Whimsicott and Abomasnow. Even Medicham and Arbok had turned up, alongside Caterpie, Metapod, Diglett, Lombre, Granbull, Bellsprout, Androma, the Beldum duo, and the Jumpluff couple with a Hoppip. Then there were Pokémon he only vaguely recalled from the Magma Cavern events, and even some new faces entirely.

"Ahem..." Szaer started up, clearing his throat. "You're likely wondering why so much of you were called here today." he exclaimed to the crowd in front of him. "You see, I am Szaeracier of Team Celeste. The leader Flutter is in peril."

A thick discussion quickly enveloped the crowd. "Flutter? That same former human who fought Rayquaza with her team?" a Krokorok asked his Croconaw partner. A Venusaur and Toxicroak were also recalling Team Celeste's Platinum Rank while a Ninjask, Accelgor, and Greninja trio also remembered them. It was quite evident how well known the team in question had become.

Szaer waited for silence to return before continuing further, deciding that the time was right to finally reveal a certain fact to the world. "Flutter isn't just the leader and a close friend to me. She's my little sister." It was something he'd previous told a smaller group at the Hill of the Ancients but never to one of this magnitude. Now with attention firmly placed on him, Szaer continued speaking. He told everyone present about how a Typhlosion enemy of theirs sent her a fake mission to lure her out.

"A hoax?! That's disgusting!" Blastoise angrily shouted out, to an approving call from the entire crowd. "What a reprehensible action." Octillery added on. "It is the solemn duty of a Rescue Team to help Pokémon in need. What Ignephra has done is truly deplorable." Alakazam exclaimed. Throughout this, Androma was trying ridiculously hard to not let her deep sense of guilt be known by anyone. Hearing the general revulsion of all those Pokémon was really starting to hit everything home...

"Indeed. Latios and I-" Szaer started again, inviting Latios to join him. "-arranged to have her watched over by his sister Latias, but a cave in from Ignephra's Solar Beam stopped her from observing further. I must warn everyone that this Typhlosion is very powerful. I am seeking experienced and confident rescuers to venture into the Remains Island and save Flutter."

This was exactly why he'd approached Shiftry for his help in gathering this crowd. Szaer knew full well that this continent's rescuers were capable of banding together during such a situation. Many of these Pokémon had also been present when Flutter, standing on the airborne Kyan, brought them back from surrender after an initial failure in the Team A.C.T. rescue.

After some mutterings throughout the gathering, one Pokémon did step forward. "I'm in." this extremely famous rescuer stated as he approached Szaer. A massive collective gasp came forth from the crowd, while Alakazam and Team Celeste's trio were sent into a startled silence.

"You're... Lucario?!" Szaer finally broke this silence. Their volunteer was none other than the legendary rescuer held as a role model by Alakazam and many others, the same Lucario who had an entire rescue rank named after him. "I'm aware that I bear a type disadvantage against the opponent, but Flutter's actions saved the entire world from ruin. It is only right that her selfless contribution be repaid by helping her in this desperate hour." he told everyone.

Greatly moved by his statement, Alakazam and both of his teammates also stepped forward to an outbreak of cheers. "Lucario said it better than I ever could. As rescuers, we must work as one to overcome this obstacle." he responded.

Androma couldn't bear to watch anymore. Not really thinking straight at this point, she ran off towards Team Celeste's base instead and entered it, finding their Stormy Sea and Mt. Faraway star fragments inside. Grabbing both of them and rushing out towards the dark Secretive Forest in a mild panic, she immediately sent a call to Rubix.

"T-tell Neph that he's going to have company. Flutter's teammates watched her up until she encountered him thanks to an accompanying Latias relaying her sight to a Latios with them." she quickly exclaimed. "Sight Sharing... It must be the same Latios and Latias that Team Celeste helped out earlier. Latias can also refract light to become invisible too..." Rubix responded, completely caught off guard by this news. "What can Ignephra expect?" he asked of her.

She bit her lip before responding. "Trouble. Szaeracier had a meeting set up, Lucario himself volunteered his services alongside Alakazam's team. There is one piece of good news however. I used the commotion to take two of their star fragments and I'm waiting in the Secretive Forest." Ann informed him. Rubix looked at her in mild surprise, intertwining with his previous concern regarding her last call... "I see. It wasn't in Reishi's plan but I'm not one to disapprove of any improvisation that benefits us. I'll send Derkomai your way and alert Ignephra. Thank you for this." he replied.

She hung up and let out a scared sigh. Between her worrying about Flutter and bearing witness to the meeting, Androma was reaching her limits...


Making use of a Surf HM given by Medicham, Lucario and Team A.C.T. arrived upon the island and immediately began their mission with the task of locating Latias for her assistance. Charizard took care of the front line offensive through the use of his recently learned Acrobatics, nimbly striking down the opposition with a string of gliding tackles while enveloped in a turquoise glow. Tyranitar served as the sturdy backbone, significant use being made of his Iron Defense and Focus Punch.

Meanwhile, Alakazam and Lucario combined their strengths to create a rather effective leadership and support duo. Their strongest attacks, Psybeam and Aura Sphere respectively, were helping greatly in the trip throughout the dense forest and subsequent cave, as were Alakazam's highly polished Ally Switch and Teleport. Such was the ability he possessed with the latter that Lucario found himself impressed by the Psychic type.

With their combined powers, the four rescuers soon reached the path leading into the room where Flutter and Ignephra fought. Latias had since broken through the rock wall which had earlier stopped her but she was having major trouble simultaneously fighting off both Ignephra and his backup, Rubix and Reishi. Behind the battling Pokémon was the still unconscious Flutter.

"Her wing...!" Charizard quietly muttered to his teammates and Lucario upon noticing that earlier injury. The group quickly formed a plan while Latias's Charge Beam was stopped by Rubix's Mud Bomb. Right when Ignephra let rip with Eruption, Charizard sped in with the speed of his Acrobatics and was switched with Lucario once he got between the two, allowing the legendary rescuer to throw a Water Pulse down to stop the stream of lava and wash the three Deuvide members away.

All three picked themselves up to see who'd intervened, coming face to face with Lucario as Team A.C.T. also approached, Alakazam and Rubix having a moment of recognition. "Hmmph, Szaeracier's quartet has arrived. I'll give the human credit, he knows how to handpick a powerful group of Pokémon..." Rubix greeted these new arrivals before the battle resumed. Charizard and Tyranitar both went for Reishi while Lucario teamed up with Latias against Ignephra. Alakazam was thus free to fight Rubix himself.

Reishi had earlier been taking plenty of hits from Latias before this group arrived, so the Breloom wasn't really in peak condition at this point. He sprayed out a relentless Bullet Seed stream that Tyranitar endured with several uses of Iron Defense, a following Focus Punch being dodged however but a Payback upon being hit by his Power-Up Punch caused him to stagger. Charizard flew in afterwards to pound Reishi in the face with a Rock Smash punch that lowered his defense and left him completely open to a series of Acrobatics tackles that defeated him. This Flying type move was fast becoming one of his favoured tricks.

Latias and Lucario were also doing pretty well against Ignephra once the younger Lati sibling revealed her fourth move. She sprayed the entire battlefield with droplets of glowing blue water, her Water Sport providing Lucario with a form of protection from Ignephra's Eruption. This Fire type move was also being gradually weakened from the accumulated damage they were dealing to him. Although an Extrasensory still struck Lucario following this, the paralysis he then received from Latias's Dragon Breath allowed the duo to finish him off with a combination of her Mist Ball and Lucario's Water Pulse.

This left only Rubix against Alakazam, and the two highly intelligent Pokémon were matching each other move for move. "Flutter and Kyan told me about Meteor Cave, Rubix! What reason could Deuvide have for wanting to eliminate all humans?! What is your motive?!" Alakazam called as he shot a Signal Beam from his crossed spoons, the Golduck intercepting this with a Water Pulse formed and fired from in front of his gem. "My motive is for me to know and for you to not find out yet, old friend." Rubix coolly retorted before letting out an Icy Wind that Alakazam stopped with Psybeam.

"Xatu never advised this! When you and I met him, he never suggested that you destroy an entire race! What's happened to you?!" In contrast to Rubix, Alakazam was sounding more emotional in this debate. "I'm perfectly fine, and you are wasting your breath." Rubix once more exclaimed, his Mud Bomb being repeatedly avoided by use of Alakazam's Teleport. One of the stray shots was pulverised by an Aura Sphere originating from an unknown source. A source that soon revealed herself. "I finally tracked you down, Rubix! Give me the Relic Gem!"

Rubix let out a mildly annoyed groan when Mew turned visible for all to see. "Mew, from the Buried Relic?! I don't have time to deal with you as well..." he shot back as his gem glowed red with his Hypnosis. Mew was prepared for that move now though, enveloping herself in the yellow outline of her Magic Coat and reflecting his hypnotic waves right back, putting him to sleep instead. She went to frisk him afterwards but found nothing.

"He doesn't have it? Ohh, what am I going to do now...?" Mew asked out loud, upset that her search for Rubix had ultimately come up with nothing. She soon sensed the Pokémon behind her and turned around to see Team A.C.T., Lucario, and Latias watching with perplexed stares. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? It looked like you knew Rubix too." she said to Alakazam. "I'm Mew. Who are you Pokémon?"

All five of them gave their introductions to this newcomer. "Alakazam, Charizard, Tyranitar, Lucario, and Latias? It's nice to meet you all~!" Mew cheerily called. The earlier encounter with Rubix and company hadn't damaged her friendly nature in the least. "What brings you all into conflict with Rubix's group though?" she asked. Lucario quickly answered this by pointing at Flutter. She still hadn't woken up. "We're here to rescue that Togetic. Her name's Flutter and she's got three teammates worrying for her safety, one of them being her brother. Ignephra lured her out here with a fake rescue mission." he explained further.

"Oh no, they set a trap for that poor Pokémon?! How awful..." Mew gasped as she floated over to Flutter and rested a paw on her neck. "She's still with us, but I don't like the look of that wing or all those bruises. Especially not the nasty one on her head..." she told everyone. "Take me back with you and I'll do whatever I can to help."

With that now taken care of, Lucario picked Flutter up and carefully cradled her in one arm as he used his Rescue Team badge to teleport all seven Pokémon out of the dungeon.


This triumphant return to Pokémon Square was initially marked by a rousing cheer for the victorious quartet from all the assembled Pokémon, but the sight of Flutter's body in Lucario arms immediately served to sober this. Latias broke off from the hug of her worried brother to lead him and Flutter's teammates in for a closer look.

Amongst this waiting crowd was Androma, who felt her entire world crumble all around her once she saw Flutter's injuries. Upon catching sight of the basically destroyed wing, she... almost passed out there and then from her sheer terror. The Clefable was visibly shuddering and becoming pale from the very sight. She ran off without a single word to anyone, which Mew noticed and raised a curious eye at before her attention returned to Flutter.

Ann just couldn't take any more of this... Rushing past Team Celeste's base and straight towards the Beau Plains north of the square, tears flooded her eyes at the thought of Flutter not waking up from this. Just as the Togetic considered Androma her closest friend outside of her teammates, she was also seeing Flutter as such outside of Deuvide's members. Staring at the idyllic rainbow and lake which in now way reflected her current mood, Ann got out her communication device and desperately punched in a call to Rubix.

He and the other two defeated members had returned to the base by now. "Doctor! F-Flutter's been brought back to the square by that group!" she called out with no effort being made to hide her tears. "I know. The lord is very cross with myself, Ignephra, and Reishi for this... wait, are you ok?!" he asked her. His previous grumpy expression quickly gave way to that of startled shock.

"I... I..." Ann started with panicked and terrified gasps, ready to break the news. "I'm so sorry! I know that I promised to follow your command when you took me in, but I can't do this anymore! I quit! I want out!" she sobbed as she recalled leaving the fake mission for Flutter to take.

Rubix almost dropped his device in shock at her words. He absolutely couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean, you quit?" he asked her. "Is this because of Flutter?!"

The name only made things worse for Ann to bear. "I like her! I care about her! She's one of the nicest individuals I've ever met, and she's restored my damaged trust in humans!" Androma finally confessed, falling to her hands and knees and letting everything explode as the tears ran down. "If Flutter had been around to witness your lord's suffering, I know that she would have tried to help him! Everyone in Deuvide can say whatever they like about her, but they and you are WRONG! Flutter isn't my enemy, she's my friend and I should never have led her into such danger! This is all my fault!" The fact was, she was fearful for Flutter's life and grief-striken by her part in this plan.

Rubix stood still, flashing back to when he first met Androma. The little Cleffa was in tears and blaming herself for standing up to Gengar's team, just like she was doing now for Flutter's predicament. At this point, he made his most critical decision yet...

"Alright... Discard your device and run. Hide. I'll invent a story to cover up your disappearance." he told her. He was making the conscious choice to favour the happiness of his pupil over the use she posed to the group. "I don't know if we'll ever see each other again after we finish our message, so... this is a farewell. Please stay safe, Ann..."

She forced a smile upon her face, startled by his words but deeply happy that Rubix was respecting her decision. "I promise... Goodbye, Dr. Rubix, and thank you for everything..." she managed to say before ending the call. Getting back on her feet, Androma stared at the lake in front of her and took some deep breaths.

"Three... Two... One...!" she counted down before tossing the device straight into the lake, where it sank to the depths... never to emerge...


Back at the Deuvide base, Rubix was still staring at his own device, highly troubled by what he'd heard come out from the mouth of his otherwise loyal pupil... "Androma..." he muttered. "I... I had no idea how much of an impact young Flutter's had on you..."

For the very first time, Rubix was having some serious doubts... "M-my judgement of the girl when I first saw her at Mt. Steel... could it have been... wrong...? Is Androma right...? Could Flutter have healed the lord's torment after all...? Can she...?"

It was time for him to make another choice. Androma or Deuvide.

Heeeeee's back!




"You're... you're saying she's gone...?" Ignephra asked Rubix hollowly, fighting off the powerful urge to smash something. He, alongside Zeninthia, were both in the Umbreon's room in Deuvide's base, in which Rubix was telling them his own version of Androma's departure from the group.

The Golduck nodded somberly as he looked at the Typhlosion, continuing his report. "Unfortunately so. It appears that the Mew we previously encountered in the Buried Relic and now the Remains Island... she discovered Ann and saw who she was talking to when I was last being messaged by her. That's the last I've heard, and every single one of my subsequent attempts to contact her have failed." This was the story he'd created to cover the true reason for Ann leaving, the Clefable had come to genuinely like their target Flutter and couldn't continue opposing her anymore. Rubix had accepted this and encouraged her to run.

With both eyes closed, Ignephra dropped to his knees in an uncharacteristic display of grief. With no evidence to the contrary he was believing her to be no more. "Nngh, no!" Ignephra despairingly growled before looking at his old friend for some words.

"Zeninthia... I don't understand this. You and I have both seen how depraved the human race can be, so why does everyone defend Flutter so...?" he asked her. Just like every other member of Deuvide, he honestly believed that he was doing the right thing. The Pokémon knew in his heart of hearts that killing off any humans here would be doing this world a favour. It was this motivation of his, those hidden noble intentions, the side of him beyond his anger and hate for humans, that had been what Androma liked in him.

Watching him seek some form of comfort from her, Zeninthia obliged and sat next to him. "The problem is that they don't know humans like we do. Flutter and Szaeracier's activities as rescuers in this world have all but eliminated many of the negative stigmas their race received in this continent from the Ninetales legend. It's harder to remove what everyone wants..." Zeninthia explained. Ignephra sighed and nodded, albeit unhappily. "But now Flutter's growing fanbase has taken Ann from me... from us... This is a heavy loss..." he replied.

"There is one piece of news that may serve to lift you up. While Szaeracier was presiding over a meeting in Pokémon Square earlier on, Androma stole two of their three fragments from under the team's noses." Rubix told him. "Her final contribution was safely brought here by Derkomai." Ignephra immediately got back on his feet as he heard these words. "Then there's only one star fragment left between us and our goal..." he exclaimed with a hushed whisper, daring to believe how tantalisingly close they were.

Androma's disappearance was still a tragedy for the Typhlosion but he couldn't afford to wallow around like this, not now that he knew about her using the uproar of his attack on Flutter to bring Deuvide closer to that special moment... "Alright... For her sake, I'll rededicate myself and deliver a decisive kill next time!" he roared in a refreshed and renewed tone.

Right then, Rubix got an incoming message from his device. He answered it and discovered that it was Hebyacel on the other end at the base of Mt. Freeze, the Steelix carefully holding his device with his tail and looking delighted with himself. "Hebyacel? Have you uncovered something in your scouting?" Rubix asked.

"You bet, Doctor! This is great news!" Hebyacel stated. "I've finally found Gengar at last!"


Returning to his hideout in the Howling Forest cave after yet another failed attempt at climbing to the summit of Mt. Freeze, Gengar, formerly the leader of Team Meanies, was feeling more than a little annoyed. "Geh... Just what is up with that place anyway?! It's too difficult..." he moaned upon heading down a small side path that led to the room where he slept.

Ever since he saved Flutter following her fall from the Sky Tower, Gengar had been making an effort to stay away from her. He knew that if he were to meet her again following his unusual action then it would just be very awkward for all parties involved. She would ask why he did it after all the bad blood they shared and it would outright require him to admit to his past with Gardevoir, which he knew would generate nary a single drop of sympathy with Team Celeste.

Still, he suspected that Flutter's team would have improved even more by now. Gengar recalled how they had reached the Gold Rank last time they saw him... He didn't have very much time to think further on it though as the sound of footsteps behind him had stolen his attention. "Gengar... I've awaited this day for a long time..." a vicious voice called.

Gengar turned around to see Ignephra, a special kind of hatred in the Typhlosion's eyes. Ever since seeing him watch Team Celeste at the Hill of the Ancients, Ignephra had been fantasising over the prospect of not just destroying, but completely annihilating Ann's tormentor. He'd jumped straight into this opportunity and grabbed it with both hands once Hebyacel reported in about the location of Gengar's hideout. "Do you remember a Cleffa called Androma?" Ignephra asked.

Cleffa? Androma? Apart from Flutter and Terack, Gengar honestly hadn't remembered every last Pokémon that his team had accosted for rescue requests. "...Kek! Doesn't ring a bell!" he replied. The day Androma's team was split up might be one she'd never forget for as long as she lived but it was simply another normal day for him.

Ignephra basically lost it here. Discovering how flippant Gengar was about what he'd caused was just enough to completely drive him off the edge. He screamed in unbridled fury as he unleashed the golden psychic waves of his Extrasensory attack to land a savage blow. Gengar hurriedly forming and tossing a Shadow Ball afterwards. Ignephra's Nature Power created a Shadow Ball of his own, the two clashing against each other and letting out black and purple sparks before Gengar's move gave out and left him to take another hit.

Knowing that he stood no chance here, Gengar floated towards the wall behind him, the Ghost type dodging an Eruption before passing through that wall and leaving his tangible foe behind. Ignephra's eye lightly twitched and his jaw hung open in disbelief as this sunk in...

Just like Szaer before him, Gengar had escaped. The Typhlosion silently walked over to the point where Gengar had passed through... and furiously screamed again as he began repeatedly punching that spot of the wall, tears of frustration beginning to well up.

"No... NO! GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET! I WANT YOU TO SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU DID TO HER!!" he screeched. Between losing to Latias and Lucario, Ann's disappearance, and now this, he was quickly going down a nasty spiral...


"Owwww, my head feels like it's going to split open..." Ignephra's less fortune surviving prey moaned as she sat down on her bed, pained tears rolling down her face. Flutter was in her team's base with Terack, Kyan, Szaer, and Mew watching over her.

Just yesterday, Flutter had been rescued from the Remains Island by Lucario and Team A.C.T. after Ignephra defeated her in a battle that gave her some brutal injuries, chief amongst them being a crumpled left wing that was beyond repair and a serious bruise on the back of her head from being swung into the cave floor. This had necessitated the use of some bandages around her head, as suggested by Mew when she and Szaer teamed up to treat the Togetic in Ann's absence. Upon hearing about Flutter's situation in more detail on her arrival in the square, their new acquaintance simply had to help in the recovery.

As a cruel twist of irony however, the head injury did have a silver lining. Ignephra had spitefully revealed to Flutter that Androma was in fact a spy for Deuvide and also left the false mission, news that completely tore Flutter apart. News that she could no longer recall now as a direct result of the knock to her head.

"You'll feel better soon now that you're safe in your home, Flutter~" Mew reassured her. "I can't imagine exactly what you went through with Ignephra out there and I'm really sorry that we couldn't do anything to fix that wing, but trust me when I tell you this environment will help to heal the hurt." she said. Mew had quickly made a distinctive place in the hearts of Flutter and Szaer during these events.

The Weavile nodded, understanding the gist of what she meant. "Well, thanks for lending me a hand with this. I hope you get back that gem you were looking for." he said, the both of them shaking paws. Mew had also told him and the others about the events that took place in the Buried Relic during this. "Thanks, and I don't plan on letting up. Since we share the same foes we may even bump into each other again sometime~!"

Bidden goodbye through a wave, Mew went downstairs and left the base to resume her Relic Gem hunt. Szaer approached the team's map and surveyed it. "So they got a fragment from Mew at the Buried Relic... That brings them to five but I'm certain that they've also gotten number six by now. I don't get it though, why also take the Relic Gem that Mew wants? Am I missing something?" he puzzled.

"Either way, it appears that they're stumped without the Silver Trench fragment that Alakazam's looking over. We've done all we can for now." Kyan added. "Y'know, this just slipped my mind before now. Where's the Teleport Gem?" Terack asked, changing the subject.

Flutter didn't feel too great now. The gem that had helped Team Celeste's members several times wasn't with her anymore. "It probably got destroyed when I was fighting Ignephra. I'm really sorry about this." she admitted. Details about that altercation were very hazy but this was a conclusion she could draw without problems. The Flygon gave her an understanding look when she began apologising, really seeing the magnitude of what she'd been subjected to. "Better the gem than you, pal. Alakazam and Xatu could always meet with the Ghost type Pokémon again to try and make a new one, but you're irreplaceable and can't just be recreated like that if you break. I'm so glad you'll be alright..." he told his hurt friend, offering her a hug that she took with some tears around her closed eyes.

Truthfully, it wasn't just the gem that had been broken. The now forgotten discovery of Ann's deception absolutely devastated Flutter when she found out. This would be what made that lost memory somewhat of a good thing, she could continue warmly and favourably remembering the Clefable for just a little longer. Regardless of what she did or didn't know however, Flutter derived a happy sense of comfort and safety from the hug of her closest friend. She deeply regretted not going with him...

Her thoughts were stopped by the sound of that very same Ghost type knocking on their door...

After escaping Ignephra, Gengar had finally decided to ask for the team's help. He really didn't want to be doing this but he truthfully saw no other option at this point. Kyan opened the door and was very surprised to her him. "Gengar? What's bringing you here?" the Metang asked, eager to get to the bottom of his reason for being here.

"I'm needing a bit of help with something." Gengar stated. Perish the thought, reducing himself to the sort of level that his past self would mock him for. "Are those other three in?" Kyan looked upstairs as he listened to Gengar further. "They've all evolved since we last met so you might not recognise them at first. We also have a bit of a situation that cropped up yesterday, but I'll lead you upstairs." he decided.

Gengar followed him up there, picking out Flutter and Szaer from the three Pokémon present and thus identifying Terack by process of elimination. Flutter was now fast asleep, laying on her front as she snoozed. "Long time... hold on, what's happened to her?" he asked.

"Wow, Gengar? She had a really bad run-in with a Typhlosion yesterday." Terack explained, to the surprise of their visitor. "Huh, go figure. I got attacked by one too and I slipped away from the nutter." he told him. "It's old news now, but he went after me as well. Ignephra's his name and he's been a problematic foe for a few days now. We know that he's been hunting this world's... former humans..." Szaer interjected before trailing off, instantly understanding why Ignephra would also target Gengar.

This wasn't proceeding the way Gengar had imagined it, but he was pleased to see things unraveling in a fashion that kept Gardevoir out of the topic. "Yes, I used to be human too. I'm here because I really need some help climbing to the summit of Mt. Freeze. I've got to speak with Ninetales." Gengar explained, hastily covering his mouth afterwards. He'd let slip a little more than he wanted to tell them at this point.

Szaer glared at him as he came to the conclusion which Gengar was trying to keep under wraps, furious with him. "...You're the human from the Ninetales legend, aren't you?" he stated in a sort of cold anger. Gengar nodded in a nervous sweat, shocking Terack and Kyan. "So... In essence, you knowingly set Flutter up as your scapegoat... Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you out of here myself for the misery you caused her..."

Although these words did leave his mouth, one look at his sleeping sister reminded the Weavile of a particularly convincing reason. "Actually, never mind... You did save her after the star's explosion sent all four of us flying. I might be disgusted by your actions involving the legend but I still owe you that much. I'll escort you to Ninetales." he decided. "Terack and Kyan, keep an eye on Flutter for me while we're out."

Both of them agreed to let him take care of this task, so Szaer and Gengar left the base. It was still sunny outside and the two were both hoping to finish this before nightfall. "By the way, why are you wanting to see Ninetales?" Szaer asked, the question getting no answer. Gengar had already let slip more than he'd bargained for.


This return trip to Mt. Freeze once more had Szaer making it a surprisingly easy time for his company. Yet again however, this wasn't an even contribution. Gengar had apparently been hiding the prior damage inflicted upon him by Ignephra, as made clear when he started having issues against a Pineco of all things.

Following that moment, he simply leapt from wall to wall in Szaer's wake and left all the battling for him to do, which the Weavile delivered upon with frequent usage of Power-Up Punch and Assurance. This one Pokémon job eventually prevailed though, as the duo soon reached the summit. Ninetales was there too.

"Szaeracier?" she asked in mild surprise upon seeing their arrival. "I wasn't expecting any guests today..." Gengar stepped forward after this, a somewhat annoyed look to his eyes. "He's just the escort, I'm the one who has business with you." he interjected.

Ninetales's expression instantly soured once she heard Gengar speaking up. She had little interest in hearing him out but decided to entertain his request nonetheless. "...Hmph. What do you want now, accursed human?" she replied with very little emotion to her voice.

"What do I want?! Isn't it all thanks to your words that I'm like this?! It's entirely your fault!" Gengar suddenly shouted, aggravated by how she appeared to be playing dumb. Ninetales glared back at him, a savage and dangerous glint to her red eyes. "I shall not claim any responsibility for your current state. Your Gardevoir is the one who fell under my curse in your place, you are like this now because of the way you... selfishly abandoned that undyingly loyal companion. I am the one who gave you the chance to save her, which you failed to take." she retorted without missing a beat. Ninetales didn't need to raise her voice for Szaer and Gengar to know that she was still upset with what that human did...

"Gegeh...!" Gengar muttered to himself, visibly trembling as he and Ninetales made eye contact. "Well... About that chance... I'm taking it now! Remove the curse!" Gengar ordered, greatly stunning both observers. "You... dare make such a demand of me?" Ninetales gasped, his words having been impossible for her to predict.

The usually ever present grin had now returned to Gengar's face as he bore witness to Ninetales's surprise. "Kekeke! You heard it here first! I want that curse lifted even if it means that I, or more accurately, he, must take you on!" he very boldly stated. "Oh, but I'm just the escort! Remember?" Szaer quickly interrupted, cleverly borrowing Gengar's earlier words. He had absolutely no intentions of coming to blows with Ninetales, much less on Gengar's behalf. That was where he drew the line.

Szaer's words had pretty much taken the wind straight out of Gengar's sails, and Ninetales didn't help matters either. "Even if you were to defeat me in battle, and trust me when I say that it would take a miracle-" she started, the glow of an Overheat emanating from her tails as a statement of the power she held. "-the curse still wouldn't be lifted. Ninetales are vengeful creatures by nature; our curses are final once they are successfully laid. You only had the chance to save Gardevoir back then because her curse had yet to take effect." she revealed. "However..."

"However...?" Gengar repeated, now feeling a bit uncertain. Ninetales didn't immediately answer, she instead gave him a strange looking rock initially reminiscent of a Fire Stone but with an image of a Ninetales's nine tails in place of the fire pattern. "Take this, the 9-Tail Crest, to the depths of the Murky Cave. This is where Gardevoir's physical form is sealed. If you were truly speaking from the heart when you demanded that I remove the curse, then you could have your wish there..." she explained.

"Kek, I see now! Go to that cave with this thing and we break the curse at last! That's all I need to hear!" Gengar summarised. "Let's move out!" he called, satisfied with their work here. Szaer didn't immediately leave though, he had something to ask Ninetales now.

Szaer turned back around to face her. "This has been eating at me for a little while now, Ninetales. We know full well by now that your legend is true but how did you end up in this world yourself if you've encountered a human before?" She stared at him in a rare blend of surprise and intrigue, nobody had thought to ask this simple thing. "A good question, Szaeracier. Travel between those two worlds was freely possible for many at the time Gardevoir was cursed, a likely reason for Gengar also now being here." she explained.

"On that matter, there is something I wish to tell you. I am aware that you and Team Celeste have recently come into conflict with a group calling themselves Deuvide." Ninetales revealed. She had happened to bear witness to Hebyacel's conversation with Rubix, in which the Steelix ended up saying far too much than would be considered safe for a member of such a group. "Their leader and two subleaders wish to return to the human world for some reason. I would suggest that you keep an eye on that gathering of Pokémon." she suggested to him.

Although surprised, he managed to responded. "I will. Thank you for your time." he told her with a courteous nod before finally leaving her to think over Gengar's new behaviors...


"You're really wanting to free Gardevoir, huh?" Terack asked Gengar. Everyone was now back inside Team Celeste's base and discussing the events of today. "You really should have told me your intentions sooner. I'd have been a lot more open to helping you out if I knew you'd wanted to fix things..." Szaer remarked. "Well, it's water under the bridge now. You'll be going to the Murky Cave tomorrow?" Kyan added.

Flutter was awake now and listening to their discussion, a bit upset that she was scheduled for more recovery time then. "Exactly, and I'll certainly need some help again so expect me to drop by then." Gengar told the quartet. "We'll be expecting you tomorrow, see you later!" Szaer said as he saw Gengar off.

With their guest gone, he went straight in with what Ninetales subsequently told him, to the complete shock of all three members of his audience. "Deuvide's top three... are from your world?!" Terack called out in alarm. "They're wanting to return there... so that's their plan. Knowing about how Ignephra and the others hate humans though, it can't be a good thing." Kyan thought out loud.

"I'd thought that too." Szaer replied to the Metang. "We should stay on their case after we're finished with Gengar's request. Now, who's going with him because I certainly will."

Flutter could stand no more of sitting through this event. "I'm going too...!" she shot out upon shakily standing up. "No you're not, you need rest. You're still injured." he shut her down. Although he was absolutely right, Flutter quietly admitted as her body ached, she didn't want to let Ignephra's brutal assault keep her down...

"I'm in this world with you three because of that Pokémon, brother... Even if I have to crawl, I want to be there to help break her curse...!"

As one story closes, another emerges.




"I'm in this world with you three because of that Pokémon, brother... Even if I have to crawl, I want to be there to help break her curse...!" Flutter called out to Szaer. Discussions had began on who would be willing to accompany Gengar into the Murky Cave tomorrow, with Flutter stating her interest against Szaer's wishes. "D-don't try and stop me... You know that I want her freed just as much as you and Gengar do..." she added on in a mutter as her head throbbed.

Though she appeared a little unsteady on her feet, it did not lessen how resolute she was about this. "Flutter..." he whispered, taken aback by just how determined his little sister had become over her time in this world from the first time he encountered her in the Sinister Woods. The Togetic wasn't in any way wanting to be held back by her present state.

All she had to do was pull up something to convince him, and she delivered. "I know that all three of you must have been fearful for my life during the rescue but I refuse to let Ignephra's actions rule it. I'm a rescuer." The more she spoke like that, the more her most lingering injury, a nonfunctional crushed wing, stood to her teammates as visible proof of this fortitude she was presently displaying.

Szaer finally relented, but under one condition. "Make sure you respect your limits. Remember that you're still recovering, so don't think twice about asking me for help." he told her with his eyes giving out a hard look at her and the wing. "I'll go too! I'll help the three of you get through this!" Terack suddenly added after listening to them, as did Kyan. "Terack and I might not be related to either of you, but we're still a family in every last sense of that word. We'll face this with Gengar together." the Metang declared.

Flutter looked around at them, her eyes glistening with a poignant concoction of admiration, joy, and hope. "You're truly the best teammates I could have wished for..." she murmured in a deeply moved hush. Now that Kyan mentioned it... yes, they pretty much were a family...


"Rise and shine..." Szaer gently called as he very lightly nudged the sleeping Togetic. She woke up to this and appeared to be very rested, having made sure to get a good amount of shut-eye throughout the last night.

As Flutter floated up and onto her feet, Szaer couldn't stop himself from feeling a sudden pang of admiration for the girl. Her facial expressions told him that she was still feeling somewhat sore and tender in a few places but she displayed absolutely no sign of wanting to call off her involvement in today's mission. If Ignephra and the rest of Deuvide's company were hoping that she'd been at least rendered inoperable by the brutal attack, they were greatly mistaken.

Still, he felt the need to at least ask her again about it. "You're certain about doing this? None of us would look any less favourably upon you if you've changed your mind." he told her while Terack and Kyan were waking up. "Thank you, but I'm certain." she responded with a smile, putting on her Defense Scarf and her Shiny Stone necklace. Although there was no chance of talking her out of this, Flutter was still happy to see this concern for her welfare.

Gengar arrived not long after this, he was both pleasantly surprised and privately thankful to see that the entire team would be joining him for the Murky Cave. The four Pokémon went back upstairs with Gengar in tow to check for the Murky Cave on the map. "I can see it, at the northeastern edge of that arid terrain." Terack exclaimed, pointing it out. The trio of former humans within their number looked at this spot and then to each other, coming to a mutual understanding.

Gardevoir was in there, her physical body sealed within. The time had finally arrived...


Following some travel, the group found themselves standing in front of a cave entrance that more resembled that of a large tomb or ruin. The way in was shaped like that of a rectangle rather than a circular or otherwise natural hole. "Thisplacegivesmethechills..." Gengar very quickly whispered before clearing his throat, hoping that none of the accompanying Team Celeste heard him. "Keh, we're not gonna accomplish anything by loitering here! Let's move it!" he commanded before leading the group in.

This take charge mindset turned out to be very helpful since the dungeon's inhabitants were primarily of the Poison type, of which Gengar fared rather well against defensively. He was also now in better shape than yesterday and was actively helping everyone out by lulling these foes into a fitful sleep with Nightmare before defeating them with a super effective Dream Eater.

Against the many Shuppet and Misdreavus however, he was struggling with their numbers despite the use of Shadow Ball. Flutter intervened upon his behalf and tagged them all with her Foresight to allow Szaer to hit these spectral Pokémon with a string of gradually strengthening Power-Up Punches.

Overall, Flutter was the least fortunate in her matchup against the dungeon's primary type. The Dustox were falling prey to her Air Cutter but she took Szaer's request of yesterday to heart and left all other Poison type attackers for the beyond phenomenally advantaged Kyan to take out for her, which he was happy to oblige. Szaer saw this after taking out a Shedinja with Assurance and wore a smile at this sight.

Terack was also performing well, upon tackling down a Crobat with Dragon Rush and nailing an uppercut slash on a Swalot through his Dig move, he swept aside a Muk using a flick of his Iron Tail to clear the path leading down to the cave's depths. All five Pokémon proceeded through this way, nobody daring to speak as a result of the rising tension that was suddenly ever-present in the air around them.

This pressure became more thick and palpable from the moment they arrived at the end of this path, which contained a very wide room with a reflective purple floor and similarly coloured marble columns decking the walls. "This place gives me the chills..." Gengar said again, now for all to hear. Flutter slowly nodded in agreement before pointing out a dais as she stood next to him. "I think that 9-Tail Crest is meant to go in there, I can see a hollow spot on that raised platform." she told him.

Not saying anything to her, nor to anyone else for that matter, Gengar approached the circular dais near the middle of the room and placed the stone in the hollow indentation as Flutter suggested. As Team Celeste's members also went forward to see this, a voice echoed out from seemingly nowhere.

"Welcome... to the Hall of Judgement..."

Everyone was startled by this, but none more than Gengar as he looked all over the room in a futile attempt to see who was speaking to them. "Gegegeh...?! Who's there?! Who is this?!" he called out, already quite scared by this disembodied presence.

"I am the Judge of Darkness. None of you Pokémon should feel any cause for concern here, my intentions are not harmful. A stone was placed upon the dais to break a curse... The 9-Tail Crest... Gengar, so you seek to break the curse laid upon Gardevoir?"

"Yes, that's exactly it! What do we need to do?" Gengar asked the judge almost immediately. Throughout their journey through the Murky Cave, he'd been nurturing the suspicion that there would be more to breaking Gardevoir's curse than he'd initially thought. "Is there a boss Pokémon here or a minion of yours that we've got to defeat?" he went on.

"Hohoho... No, no, nothing so base and barbaric. All I wish are for words. For some questions to be answered. But..."

From out of the purple floor, a colourless glass-like shell rose underneath Gengar and encased him within it like a crystal ball, blocking him off from the outside world and even stopping his attempts to pass through it. "Geh?! What's this about?!" he immediately shouted in his indignation. Flutter and company looked confused and worried.

"Gengar, you will not be answering. Your heart is tightly woven and intertwined with deeply conflicting emotions. I doubt that you will provide me with the judgement I require to break Gardevoir's curse. My questions shall instead be directed towards the four members of Team Celeste. Breaking the curse falls upon them.

Listening to this, Gengar was beyond infuriated, beyond embarrassed, and most of all... beyond terrified... "But... I'm the one who set out to free her..." he mumbled without much thought before turning to his company. "If you lot screw this up for me then you'll never hear the end of it for as long as I live!" he yelled as they passed by him and stood next to the dias. Flutter stared back at him with a pitying look, as if to say sorry for his situation.

"Now... We shall begin the proceedings at once...

At this precise moment, a torrent of purple wind flooded out from around the crystal encasing Gengar, consuming everything and everyone in the room...


If the Hall of Judgement wasn't already scary enough, it undoubtedly was now. The only part of the room still visible was the circular dais which Team Celeste's four members were standing in front of, all other traces were replaced with a pulsing deep purple glow, undulating and rippling gently. Gengar watched them from behind, feeling positively helpless.

"First, why has Gengar come here to break the curse?"

Szaer took this one, having been the first to know why upon witnessing Gengar's talk with Ninetales yesterday. "He wants to save Gardevoir." the Weavile replied without a single ounce of doubt in his voice. He was 100% sure about this one now. In his eyes, Gengar was well on the way to redemption.

"But is that not a lie? Gengar abandoned her long ago and fled. What would compel him to now come here and attempt to break the curse on her?"

None of them were completely certain about why Gengar was suddenly willing to go through with this, but Terack decided to try saying something. "I'm not sure since we've just recently got back into frequent contact with Gengar after so long, but I think he's now come to understand how Gardevoir felt about him. He was clearly very important to her, despite his faults." the Flygon carefully spoke. His heart, along with those of the other Pokémon present, were rapidly beating.

"I see... Yes, the Gardevoir species have long been incredibly loyal towards their human trainers, irrespective of this trainer's disposition. To the extent of laying down their lives in the face of adversary. It makes sense that Gengar would want to save her now that he knows the true extent of Gardevoir's loyalty. However..."

"N-no, surely there's more to it than just a species trait..." Kyan suddenly blurted out, unwilling to believe that any other Gardevoir in this situation would have done the same thing. He had a gut feeling that Gardevoir had a special and more personal bond with Gengar if she'd defend him after he grabbed the tail of a Ninetales. This was something he'd brought upon himself, after all...

"...Very well. Flutter, I know that Gardevoir was frequently contacting you in your dreams. I ask you personally, when we disregard her species what do you claim to be Gardevoir's personal feelings towards Gengar?"

The judge was humouring Kyan's statement here. Flutter desperately racked her brain and tried recalling all the dreams that she'd seen Gardevoir in, while Terack, Kyan, Szaer, and Gengar all watched her with bated breath, Finally, after an absolutely agonising silence, the Togetic spoke.

"Gardevoir said once that she doesn't hate her trainer. She looks back at him fondly despite his flaws, considers him an irreplaceable friend, and still hopes that they'll meet again someday." she recalled. Tears welled up in Gengar's eyes as Flutter continued talking. "I didn't exactly understand how and why she could hold no ill will towards Gengar for how he left her behind like that, but... the journey here has helped me finally see things her way."

Everyone looked at her saying all of this but she kept going, quite oblivious to the stares. "Gengar isn't as irredeemable or evil as he's depicted in the Ninetales legend. Gardevoir still cares a lot for him... and now so do I..." Flutter ended by finally admitting. She was taking a leaf from Gardevoir's playbook. Despite all the junk he'd pulled on her ever since they met, she was officially burying her hatchet. After a longer silence than usual, the judge spoke again.

"Caring for Gengar, you say? Gardevoir became a spiritual presence without a physical form as a result of taking the curse meant for him, but to be without an overall negative opinion of her trainer even to this day... Perhaps there is something more to them, as Kyan pointed out..."

Another question hadn't been asked yet. All five of them were waiting on tenterhooks and Flutter was beginning to feel lightheaded from the tense situation they were in...

"We are done... My questions are now finished."

As suddenly as it had arrived, their strange purple surroundings then faded away without a trace...


"I am now ready to render my judgement."

The Hall was now back to its previous state, reflective purple floor and marble columns around the walls. Flutter let out a gasp as she felt her legs turning to jelly, completely unaware that she'd been holding her breath since she finished talking. That was a rather scary moment.

"The curse... could not be lifted. It shall remain for all eternity.

An immediate wave of despair crashed into the five Pokémon like a Surf attack, swallowing them whole. The crystal around Gengar melted away as he fell to his arms amidst a fresh wave of tears. "Alright, just what did we do wrong...?!" Szaer called out in a choked mix of anger and sadness at the result. Terack and Kyan were speechless.

Flutter only had eyes for Gengar at this moment. "W-when Ninetales spoke to me all that time ago... I was scared. Scared that the curse was going to fall on me instead... That's what I thought she meant and that's why I ran..." he muttered almost soundlessly as Flutter approached. "I've been so selfish and lived so carefree since then as a human and a Pokémon..." Gengar sobbed.

"Oh, Gengar..." Flutter said upon hearing exactly what was going through his mind and out his mouth at the pivotal moment. "I'm so, so sorry for how this turned out... I know how important it was to you..." she exclaimed. Looking at the tear filled eyes and genuine regret of the Pokémon he'd viciously antagonised, Gengar basically melted.

He grabbed her arm as the two of them looked at each other. "I'm sorry too. For every single moment when I've kicked you around... even when I painted you as that human of the legend. Your brother's right, it was a disgusting thing for me to have done." he told her through a series of sobs while her teammates came over. "Your whole team still found it in themselves to put up with me and take me here though... Thank you all for that, I'm very... grateful..." he genuinely told them from deep within his heart.

Upon his last word, a sound reminiscent of shattering glass could be heard all over the room. From all the way at Mt. Freeze, Ninetales awoke from a nap in her den with a start, immediately sensing that her curse had just been broken. She made haste for the Murky Cave with incredible speed in order to see Gengar at once.

"The lock bearing the curse... is no more. The curse has been broken."

Gardevoir's body then materialised on the dais as the 9-Tail Crest vanished. Gengar ran straight over there to see this, too overcome with emotion to say very much at present. "That's Gardevoir?" Terack asked, he and Kyan having never seen her before.

"Gengar, you've finally done it! You've broken the curse!" Ninetales called as she approached the five, looking more pleased than anyone had ever seen her. "I didn't... do anything though... Flutter and everyone else were speaking for me." Gengar quietly spoke to her, so very confused by this sudden shift in fate.

Ninetales shook her head. "No, she's here now because of you. It was your sense of gratitude which shattered my curse. You've undoubtedly changed in so many ways since that day we encountered each other." Deep down, she was very proud of him.

"So Gardevoir will be alright now?" Kyan happily asked next. A joyous mood was beginning to set in on everyone. "You may all rest easy, she is unharmed and will awaken in due course... but... Gengar, I'm afraid that she won't have any recollection of you or anything prior to the curse. I do apologise..." she told him with her head bowed low in regret... "She... won't remember me?" he responded, everyone now falling silent.

Finally, Gengar spoke again. "It's alright. She's safe now, that's all I need to hear." Flutter cracked a delighted smile at his words.


"You're leaving already?" Flutter asked Gengar later on, shortly after the team returned home to their base. The sun was begining to set as he looked in the direction of the square, where Terack, Kyan, and Szaer were currently helping Gardevoir settle down in. "Yeah. I'd rather not run the risk of accidentally telling her about our past. I'm sure Gardevoir will be fine with you and your team nearby." he decided.

Flutter nodded in a slow yet understanding fashion. "Alright... then take care of yourself. We've had our rough spots but I consider you a friend now. I hope we'll meet again one day." she replied, holding out an arm for him. Saying goodbye to a friend, old or new, was always difficult.

Looking at her arm, Gengar took hold of it with one hand and gave her a grin that was far removed from the spiteful ones she used to receive from him. "I hope so too. Again, thanks for helping me through this. Make sure you get well soon." he told her, an eye on her dead wing.

He broke off from this handshake afterwards and began walking down the southern path. Flutter watched him leave before remembering something she'd forgotten to tell him. "Wait!" she called as she floated closer to him. "Ignephra's got powerful friends, he doesn't work alone. Please stay safe out there..." she nervously begged, not wanting him to get attacked by the same fivesome from the Meteor Cave.

Gengar fully understood her tone of voice and let out a light chuckle. "Kekekeh, I promise! See ya later!" he called back, waving to her as he walked further away. Flutter waved back until he was out of sight.

Missing Gengar... Back in her Togepi days, she would have never expected herself to do that.


And so, the days turned into a whole week as Gardevoir settled into a place of her own at the square. Team Celeste's members visited her frequently and she also did the same with them. Flutter went back into her time off before she was finally ready to get back into her regular rescue work, an occasion which was greeted by jubilant celebration from all.

Her wing was still ruined, but the Togetic didn't mind too much. She was wearing this with a smile and as a visual reminder of her near death experience, now drawing a new kind of inner strength from the recollection. Should she encounter the Typhlosion again, Flutter promised herself that things wouldn't end the same way as before. Things were looking up for the former human.

The same thing certainly couldn't be said for Ignephra, her attacker...

"Hebyacel!" Reishi called to the Steelix after they finished a short session of practice with his Mega Evolved form. The Breloom had taken it upon himself to help Hebyacel by sparring with him and the two Pokémon were developing a closer bond as a result. "It can't be just me who sees this, right? Ignephra's definitely been crankier than usual lately..." he remarked.

Ignephra's recent mood hadn't escaped Hebyacel's attention either. "You're right on that. He's been like this ever since Gengar slipped away from him. I'd rather not be the one to approach him when he's this grumpy..."

As Reishi and Hebyacel had noticed, Ignephra was falling into a sullen and depressed state after having failed to destroy the one responsible for ending Ann's rescue career. This was only beginning to degrade his sanity ever so slightly, as well as worsen his already notorious hair trigger temper. He was quickly becoming prone to furiously snapping at some of the other Deuvide members with little to no provocation too.

This conversation was quickly silenced by Zeninthia entering the room they were in and calling them both over, a very solid expression in the Umbreon's eyes. "Mistress? Has somethin' come up?" Reishi asked her curiously.

"...Two rescuers have discovered this cave. I want the both of you to confront them. The lord and I shall join you in the effort shortly."

Deuvide’s leader, revealed at last!




"Hey! Blastoise! Come on, hurry up back there!"

These were the words spoken by Charizard of Team A.C.T. towards his company in this challenging cave dungeon far west from the main continent that the duo had taken to calling the Western Cave for the sake of giving it a name, just like Szaer had previously done with the Sky Tower. "You’re the one who pulled me out here to explore this dungeon you’d found, don’t you go lagging behind now!"

Blastoise struggled forward into the nondescript hallway that Charizard had entered, absolutely exhausted by the long trip and many tough battles they had been through to get this far. "Urgh... This is... really rough going... I didn’t expect it to be so difficult, see..." he explained in a series of deep pants. Charizard wasn’t too delighted by the sight, this normally light-hearted Pokémon giving off an annoyed stare that his teammate Tyranitar would be proud of.

Then an idea struck him. "I went along with you because I thought our combo would have merit but you’re just holding me back. I should have gone here with one of Team Celeste’s members; at least they didn’t run from those mirages in the Meteor Cave. Pathetic!" Charizard suddenly remarked.

His intention was to rile up his company by pressing a few buttons and it worked like a charm. Blastoise considered that Meteor Cave experience to be the most embarrassing moment of his entire rescue career. "D-don’t you dare bring that up!" he suddenly shouted, feeling greatly insulted. "You haven’t even seen half of what I can do either! On no account am I to be sold short!" Blastoise thundered. Seeing red, he turned to his right and shot an Ice Beam to freeze part of the wall before completely obliterating the ice in front of him with an aqua blue Aura Sphere as a demonstration of what he could still offer.

"Hahaha, see! I knew you had more to give! That’s how we get things done!" Charizard called triumphantly after watching this display. Blastoise immediately caught on to what he had been planning all along and cracked a grin at the Fire type. "I get it now, Charizard. You were out to motivate me... Thanks for that." he replied. Charizard responded to him in kind. "Don’t worry about it, buddy. Let’s keep things going, we can’t be very far from the end now."

The sound of something large approaching the two then reduced Blastoise’s agreeable reply to an inaudible level. Hebyacel the Steelix was moving his way towards them, the Breloom known as Reishi was perched atop the serpentine Pokémon’s head. "You’re the two intruders, huh?" Reishi asked before jumping down and making a perfect landing.

Charizard recognised him fairly quickly. "I remember you from the Remains Island! You’re from that group who has it out for humans!” he called in surprise and anger. The last time they met was during the Flutter rescue mission, where the Breloom had been defeated by him and Tyranitar. Reishi bore an annoyed look on his face as he too remembered this. "Ugh... Don’t think I’ll be losin’ to you this time, hear me!?"

Meanwhile, Blastoise looked even more cross than either of them as he pieced two and two together. "Intruders... so this is where you lot are based?! You two bring Ignephra out here! I have a massive bone to pick with him! Sending out a hoax mission to lure out and savagely attack someone who wants to help this world’s Pokémon is about as disgusting as it gets!!" he furiously roared at Reishi and Hebyacel, pointing a finger at the two as he spoke. He considered the Typhlosion’s actions to be absolutely appalling.

"The plan was originally my idea, you know. What are you goin’ to do about it?" Reishi quickly taunted him. Like Charizard did earlier, he was deliberately antagonising the guy. Blastoise fired an Ice Beam that Reishi dodged and used as an opening to run in and trip him up with a sweeping Iron Tail that knocked him onto his shell. Charizard attempted to take Reishi down with Acrobatics but found himself colliding with the steel hard body of Hebyacel as he Mega Evolved using the Steelixite held in the band on his tail, the Flying type attack being deflected by the Mega Steelix. Hebyacel’s crystalline spikes then started to spew out a torrent of sand, the Sandstorm consuming him and Charizard while Reishi dealt with Blastoise.

Try as he might, but Charizard just couldn’t get enough flames around his fist for a Fire Punch with all this sand swirling around them, a situation exasperated when Hebyacel added a Sand Force boosted Sand Tomb into the mix to trap him in place. The similarly boosted Heavy Slam then heaved the immobilised Charizard bodily into the wall, from where he took a crushing Aqua Tail to the head as the Sandstorm wore off.

While this was going on, Reishi had been unrelentingly peppering the vulnerable Blastoise with a focused Bullet Seed spray. He then watched Hebyacel‘s Aqua Tail hit on Charizard and had an idea on how to finish this off. With the use of a carefully placed yet still strong Power-Up Punch, the Breloom sent Blastoise violently spinning towards Charizard on his shell, the impact knocking the wind right out of him.

The fight within him was a totally different scenario however, as both he and Blastoise were able to get up in spite of the damage already inflicted upon them both. Reishi and Hebyacel stared the two rescuers down fiercely just before a third member arrived. Something about this Umbreon who had just joined their foes caused Blastoise to shudder a little. He couldn’t explain exactly why but he thought that it had something to do with the apparent authority she seemed to hold over the Breloom and Steelix, the pair stepping aside and leaving this to her.

"Not another one..." Charizard exclaimed in an annoyed grumble as he roughly panted. This day was getting worse and worse. Zeninthia the Umbreon was giving him a very cold stare as she sized them both up. "Hmph... Though it appears that you’re both merely here by chance, the order to defeat all intruders still remains." she decided while two orbs of crackling black electricity formed and floated above her. She launched her two Zap Cannon attacks at them without another word, Charizard was hit and powerfully electrocuted into full paralysis during an attempted Rock Smash but Blastoise used Protect to neutralise the Electric type move completely.

This proved to be a fruitless endeavour though, as his Aura Sphere was then broken through by a Dark Pulse that knocked him out. That display caused Charizard to growl in annoyance while he tried and failed to get an Acrobatics going "G-gah, you’re no slouch... Just who are you...?!" he gasped. The voice of yet another new Pokémon answered this before anyone else could.

"Good. Zeninthia, I will take this from here."

Deuvide’s leader had arrived. Hidden within his usual brown hooded cloak, he floated towards the struggling Charizard and unconscious Blastoise, a long purple tail trailing behind him. Zeninthia gave him a respectful nod before joining Reishi and Hebyacel behind him. "This just gets better and better... How about you reveal yourself and face me!" Charizard boldly commanded despite it taking an extraordinary amount of effort just to stand up. The cloaked figure stared at him with piercing purple eyes before deciding to oblige.

"You demand that of me? Very well... Behind Deuvide is..."

With that, the hood was lowered to reveal his face to an outsider for the first time. His grey head had two blunt horns and a tube that extended from there to his spine. "...a Pokémon crafted with and engineered by the cold, cruel, and twisted hands of humanity. Intended to be a weapon... a tool for their desires..." Mewtwo exclaimed. "That is all you need to know, rescuer."

He had nothing more to tell the supporter of a human anyway. Mewtwo extended one hand outwards and moved it around in a circle as it took on a pale white glow, causing a vicious Hurricane to form underneath Charizard and Blastiose, mercilessly ragdolling them around for a bit before slamming Charizard into the ground. The last thing he saw prior to blacking out was Blastoise’s body falling towards him...


"I’m telling you, Regigigas is the strongest!" Mew fiercely responded to Bellsprout. "Who else could tow the continents with ropes?!"

A... debate of some sort was erupting in the middle of Pokémon Square. Mew had arrived for a visit just when Bellsprout and Lombre were wondering who exactly the strongest Pokémon was, and found herself quickly wrapped up in this discussion. "Who else shaped and created those continents but Groudon? Even Alakazam’s team couldn’t win!" Bellsprout replied. Lombre, Granbull, and Gardevoir were watching this unfold.

"I’d say that it’s Rayquaza. That falling star back then didn’t stand a chance against it." Lombre spoke up as he threw his hat into the ring and created a third option, to which Granbull gave him a nod in agreement. Rayquaza had, after all, unwittingly created a good reputation for itself amongst the square’s residents following the destruction of the falling star.

Flutter passed by the group on her way to the post office, and their topic was brought to a screeching halt as Mew saw this and floated over to her with a joyous expression on her face. "Flutter? Oh wow, you look so much better now! How are you feeling?" she asked. The Togetic was happy to see her too. "I feel wonderful, thanks to you and everyone. I’m back into rescuing now." she graciously told Mew. The bad wing remained but that was the only sign of what happened.

"I’m so happy to hear that. Hey, can you come and join us for a minute?" Mew asked Flutter next before leading her into the group. "We’ve been talking about who we think this world’s strongest Pokémon is. Who would you say is the most powerful?" she asked. Flutter had to think long and hard over Mew’s question, recalling all of those encounters she’d had with difficult foes throughout her entire rescue career before finally coming to a decision. She still remembered one individual Pokémon in particular who’d manhandled her entire team and froze her solid with a wet Blizzard. "I’m going to say Kyogre, she was really strong." Flutter told the group.

Gardevoir serenely nodded. "That’s the legendary Pokémon who embodies water itself. The very water capable of bringing both life and death. I would certainly agree with Flutter." she thought out loud. She would have said more but another Pokémon had joined the discussion and he was one that Flutter wasn’t delighted to see. "Unfortunately, you’re all wrong. My lord is the most powerful Pokémon of all."

With the unconscious forms of Charizard and Blastoise on his back, a Salamence landed in front of those before him and shook off this load he was carrying. "Derkomai? What are you doing here?!" both Flutter and Mew asked him. He took no time at all to remember this duo from previous encounters, especially Flutter. "What did you do to them?!" Mew also demanded.

Derkomai gave both of them a light chuckle. "You may not believe me, but I did nothing and mean no harm by this arrival. I am merely returning these rescuers here on Mistress Zeninthia’s command. They unknowingly found our base and no alternative was seen but to incapacitate the intruders." he told the two. Both were just confused by his explanation. "Now I have more questions than answers. Who’s Zeninthia and why are you returning Charizard and Blastoise to us?" the puzzled Togetic questioned.

"She is one of Deuvide’s founding members and the right hand Pokémon to our lord. Flutter... you should know that we don’t kill indiscriminately-" Derkomai started until Flutter interrupted him in a sudden shot of anger. "Look at this wing, Derkomai. Do you really expect me to believe that after Ignephra disfigured me for life on the Remains Island? I’m not stupid." Truth be told, she’d had a few recurring nightmares about that moment while recovering. Although she viewed Kyogre as a stronger foe, it was the Typhlosion who really scared her. "...I know you aren’t. Former human or not, I respect your gutsiness." he quietly admitted. "It’s still truth though. The lord could have removed their memories of the encounter with him, but he saw it time for you to see what we strive for. These two can point you towards us if you wish."

Without another word, he took off and left the small collection of Pokémon in a silent shock. He never truly left however. Derkomai watched and observed from above today’s low hanging cloud cover as their inconspicuous gathering swelled into a meeting with Pokémon like Terack, Kyan, Szaer, Alakazam, Tyranitar, Feraligatr, Swampert, Empoleon, Shiftry, Whimsicott, Abomasnow, and even Lucario entering discussion. All rescuers of varying statures and repute, coming together in this moment of need to offer their aid, he noticed. Indeed admirable.

Once he saw Charizard and Blastoise waking up and relaying what they had witnessed, Team Celeste had predictably decided to go to the Western Cave and investigate. They were joined by Mew, Alakazam, and Lucario in this journey. Derkomai had witnessed everything he needed, so he flew east to the top of Mt. Moonview, so named for its stunning views of the full moon, and began sending a message to Zeninthia. "The bait has been taken, mistress. Team Celeste are on their way to the Western Cave as we speak. There’s one little snag however..." he told her.

The Umbreon on the other end raised an eye in curiosity. "What might that snag be?" she enquired. Derkomai took a moment before responding. "They have Alakazam, Lucario, and the Buried Relic’s Mew coming with them. We can’t expect an easy confrontation." Zeninthia tilted her head in understanding. Aside from the... unwanted company, they’d gotten what they wanted from this gambit. "Return to us immediately, we’ll need all members in place when our guests arrive..." she replied before the call ended.

Before taking off again, he thought he’d heard a noise coming from the cave situated behind him. Derkomai’s orders were more paramount at this point in time however so he let it be and left to join the rest of Deuvide. A close call for the Clefable who’d chosen Mt. Moonview as a hiding place after leaving said group. Androma had heard the entire conversation.

"F-Flutter... Please tell me you’re not walking towards them again..." she muttered as she approached the cave entrance and watched Derkomai’s departing shape grow smaller and smaller. She didn’t know what to do...


Having made use of Team A.C.T.’s Surf HM, Flutter’s team and their three companions were soon making land at the small island which housed Deuvide’s base of operations, the Western Cave. "I can sense many Pokémon inside that cave." Alakazam exclaimed once the group reached the way in. "Affiliated with Deuvide or not, I cannot say..." he told the group. "They’re still going to be tough, if Charizard struggled here even with Blastoise’s help." Szaer chimed in.

"Indeed. We should proceed with caution and keep an eye out for this Umbreon at all times." Lucario added. After they woke up, both Charizard and Blastoise told the group everything they’d seen inside the dungeon, though neither of them knew of Mewtwo’s species. Tyranitar and Feraligatr were watching over the injured duo now. Flutter took a deep breath to ready herself and received an arm on her shoulder courtesy of Mew. "Terack and I have got your back this time. Don’t worry about... um, him." she muttered gently.

Their progress through the cave system was smooth and the Pokémon within weren’t causing them much problems until a point where the path ahead began to descend seemingly below water level, at which point their opposition suddenly got much tougher. The trio of leaders, Flutter, Alakazam, and Lucario, all banded together in response and created a triple unit at the front to continue pushing forward. Szaer and Mew both similarly combined their efforts and provided backup to the frontal triad when necessary. Terack and Kyan were left to defend the rear.

Once Alakazam and Lucario blasted aside a stubborn Venusaur with a combined Psybeam/Psychic shot, the group reached the hallway where Charizard and Blastoise were confronted and passed through it, going through the ascending path and arriving in a room that appeared more artificial than natural.

"You’ve kept me waiting. We meet at last, I am she who is known as the mistress..." a sharp voice spoke. Zeninthia was facing down the arriving Pokémon with a glint to her eyes.

Unlike Blastoise, Mew was only driven forward by her presence but still surprised nonetheless. "You’re Zeninthia? I want Rubix out here, I know he left the Relic Gem somewhere!" she called. The Umbreon merely cast an amused look in her direction. "I presume you’re the Mew from the Buried Relic? Dr. Rubix has told me about you. He’s busy at the moment but his presence isn’t needed, we shan’t let you have the gem nor any of our fragments."

At this declaration, Derkomai, Reishi, Ignephra, and Hebyacel all arrived and stood behind Zeninthia. "Aside from Rubix and the leader, it looks like the whole gang’s here." Flutter said. Szaer had something else on his mind. He was remembering what he learned in his recent journey up Mt. Freeze. "Zeninthia, why exactly do you and Deuvide want to return to our world... your world?"

This knowledge of her origin was enough to actually unsettle her for once. "W-what?! How did you...?" she simply gasped. "Ninetales told me when I last met her, she said that she overheard Hebyacel’s message to you." Szaer told her. Zeninthia gave the Steelix a furious glance before resuming her conversation. "Very well... Yes, I’m from that world just as you and Flutter are. What else did Ninetales tell you?"

Szaer went on without a beat missed. "She said that your leader and one other founding member are from our world too. Knowing this group’s hatred towards humans, I’m not going to let you have your way." Zeninthia froze for a bit before turning to said founding member. "Ignephra, he knows too much. Start the attack now."

"With pleasure..." the Typhlosion told her with a grin, staring straight at Flutter and Szaer. He noticed Flutter’s dead wing, the mark she bore, and sneered. Mew also got a vicious look from him; Rubix’s cover story for Androma had the unintentional side effect of Ignephra holding Mew fully responsible for the disappearance. He wasn’t even above viewing her as a murderer. His grief clearly hadn’t been dealt with in a healthy manner.

Ignephra took only one step towards Flutter before Terack inserted himself between them. "Don’t you dare lay another finger on her, you monster." the Flygon dangerously told him with wings outstretched in a defensive manner. Ignephra lightly growled in frustration, these human sympathisers were beginning to seriously annoy him. "Fine. I’ll take you down first, treacherous fool. Their disgusting species has no place here."

This was the view that provided the spark to set off the powder keg, everyone opposing Deuvide chose a foe to face. Terack went for Ignephra, Kyan chose Reishi, Szaer ran for Derkomai, and Alakazam began battling the Mega Evolved Hebyacel. Flutter, Mew, and Lucario were subsequently left to team up against Zeninthia herself.

Thanks largely in part to their strong companions, Team Celeste’s second battle against Deuvide was proving to be a more evenly contested one. None of the twelve Pokémon present had any intentions to let up for a second. The first individual fight to be concluded was between Kyan and Reishi, a ferocious collision between Zen Headbutt and Power-Up Punch knocked both of them out for the count. A very significant victory then arrived for Team Celeste next, as Szaer stood in front of the defeated Derkomai.

However, it came with a price. The Weavile had only been able to win through his significant type advantage and had received heavy damage in addition to a rather serious burn on his left leg from Derkomai’s Fire Blast. He looked around just in time to see things take a very bad turn. Despite Terack’s Dig and Dragon Rush doing enough damage to make Eruption less of an overbearing threat, a Solar Beam made a dead on hit and knocked him out. The situation only worsened after Alakazam and Hebyacel’s battle culminated in a draw when Mew came out the worst and unable to keep going after a Dark Pulse sideswipe between herself and Zeninthia. With Ignephra now joining her, Flutter and Lucario were beginning to struggle.

As much as he wanted to help, Szaer couldn’t do much in his present condition. He had fortunately escaped the attention of the four remaining Pokémon though, so he slipped down the corridor that the Deuvide members arrived from with the intention to find something... anything... that could help in their dire situation.

He was definitely in a form of panic, very much out of character for him, as he sped off in a rush through Deuvide’s base. After nearly falling over upon wincing at his burn, he rounded a corner and collided headlong with Rubix, an armband with a marble-like stone inside it being dropped from the Golduck’s hold and onto the floor, stone first.

"S-Szaeracier?!" Rubix exclaimed as he picked up the armband that he made after Mewtwo sent Derkomai off to Pokémon Square earlier. Szaer got back on his feet before noticing who he’d bumped into, beginning to form an Icicle Crash before staggering and falling to a knee. His luck couldn’t be worse, he thought.

This was where his judgement turned out to be entirely wrong. One look at Szaer reminded Rubix of the Meteor Cave altercation, during which he vaguely recalled the necklace Flutter wore at the time. He remembered it as the Shiny Stone, which evolved a Togetic into a Togekiss. The moment Rubix had been waiting for since Ann’s resignation was finally at hand.

"Follow me. There’s something I must show you, I’ll explain when we arrive." he told his ailing company.


"There’s nobody left to protect you now! This time, you will perish at my own hand!" Ignephra roared at Flutter in a ferocity fuelled by pure hatred. An earlier Extrasensory/Zap Cannon combination from him and Zeninthia had taken Lucario out despite his valiant efforts and deprived Flutter of her last comrade, leaving her in a desperate bid to fend off both of them alone.

The scared Togetic attempted to float upwards and put some distance between her two opponents but a yellow ray of light emitted from the ring on Zeninthia’s forehead shone upon her like a penetrating flashlight, this Confuse Ray completely bedazzling her and inducing a dazed sensation in her head. Ignephra took charge of the opening provided, running straight at Flutter and delivering a violent punch to the gut that sent her sprawling and tumbling across the ground in a painful fashion. Tears welled up in her eyes as she laid there, throbbing all over again. She couldn’t give up now though... not after everything...

Zeninthia gave Ignephra the signal to end this farce and he again took it. Flutter could feel his footsteps, she chose to let him approach. She knew full well by now that Ignephra possessed a preference towards harming her with his own hands and feet instead of using moves. As he raised a foot above her for the killing stomp, she suddenly waved an arm upwards to throw an Air Cutter straight at the underside of this foot. While he hollered in pain, Flutter got back up and repaid her tormentor for the punch by tackling him in the chest full on.

To the shock of both Flutter and Zeninthia, these attacks in combination with the prior damage from Terack and Lucario were just enough to knock Ignephra out. "Hmm... You’re a fascinating one, child... Perhaps you may yet be useful..." Zeninthia quietly noted while staring at Flutter. The girl was unsteady on her feet and visibly shivering in both fear and pain, but still resolute in her opposition towards Zeninthia and Deuvide.

Her grit was an utterly meaningless factor by this point however, as several sweeping Fairy Wind attacks from Flutter were predicted and avoided by way of Zeninthia’s Detect. She flawlessly evaded each and every move sent her way, be it Fairy Wind, Air Cutter, or Flamethrower, until Flutter collapsed in exhaustion. Her foe was just as relentless as Ignephra, if not more, which Flutter discovered when she got savagely electrocuted and paralyzed by the black electricity of Zeninthia’s highly polished Zap Cannon blast, such force heaving her into the wall from where she was also afflicted with confusion from Confuse Ray once more.

"This battle is over. Your end is nigh. Sit tight and await your fate, the arrival of my lord. Your race caused him endless amounts of torment and misery, which is why Deuvide seeks the complete destruction of all humans. Know now that we will grant you a swift death if you tell us where the last star fragment is..." Zeninthia whispered in an interrogative fashion to the defeated and completely immobilised former human sitting in front of her. Pulling information from those in Flutter's position, those trapped in their own bodies and minds, was her most effective method of obtaining information. "Yes, I could tell by your desperation today that you are aware of its location. I witnessed someone who fought as though everything was at stake. You can’t hide anything from me, especially not in your current mental state. We want to hear what you know..."

Zeninthia’s voice was all that Flutter had. She felt herself swimming in a hazy sea of nothingness, those words wrapping themselves tightly around her stupefied and suggestive mind. Her resistance was beginning to quickly melt like ice on a hot summer's day. Given just a few more moments, Flutter would completely spill the beans and doom every last human in her world... She would reveal to Zeninthia where Alakazam was hiding the last star fragment... then she would be imprisoned and later destroyed in front of the activated portal to mark the beginning of Deuvide's war against humanity...

Someone could be heard approaching the two Pokémon, but Zeninthia could sense that something wasn’t right. Mewtwo didn’t run like this person seemed to be. She had the sneaking suspicion that Deuvide had overlooked something. That something... was a fully healed Szaer holding a vial filled with water! Zeninthia attempted to stop him with Confuse Ray but he smacked her aside with a backhanded Power-Up Punch swing and poured the vial’s water on the head of his helpless sister.

In front of him and Zeninthia, the Shiny Stone around Flutter’s neck glowed white upon the water’s contact with her, followed afterwards by her entire body. She began reshaping before their eyes, her arms and neck receded back into her body, which expanded into an ovoid shape. To Szaer’s delight, both of her wings, even the dead one, moved from her back to her sides and grew into a long, broad, triangular shape. The white glow around Flutter’s body finally ebbed out to reveal the newly evolved Togekiss.

"What?! Did you find Rubix’s collection of springwater?!" Zeninthia demanded of Szaer in a sudden fury. She had been so close to getting all that information from Flutter... So, so close... "You won’t get away with this... you won’t... I refuse!!" she screamed before forming and shooting a Zap Cannon at Szaer. Flutter soared forward, now freed from both her paralysis and confusion, and shielded him with a white glowing ball of energy that formed between her wings. "You learned Aura Sphere? That’s amazing!" Szaer called out to her as she fired her new attack. No matter how much she used Detect to avoid it, the sphere kept following her as Flutter continued to send more out to join the chase, finally taking the upper hand once all of them finally made their mark.

Zeninthia growled in frustration and some mild desperation of her very own before engaging in a fresh bout of combat with the two siblings, and although she was still stronger than both of them put together, this greater strength had no meaning in the face of Szaer’s agility and Flutter’s newfound aerial dominance. "I am not... letting your filth... in our base...!" their foe angrily called as she panted and stood in front of the corridor leading further in. "This is our sanctuary, animals!!"

"Calm yourself, Zeninthia. You’ve earned a rest. My old friend, leave them to me..."

Floating down said corridor was Mewtwo, Deuvide’s cloaked leader. Zeninthia looked behind her and saw him approach. "My most sincere apologies are in order, lord... These humans were getting under my skin with their sheer tenacity..." Zeninthia muttered in an aggravated voice before stepping back to observe. "Brown cloak and hood... You must be the leader of Deuvide." Szaer deduced.

Mewtwo raised an eye at them. "That is correct." he said before removing not only his hood, but the entire disguise altogether. His purple tail swished around behind him and the armband Rubix made earlier was being worn by him. "Upon our arrival in this world inhabited solely by Pokémon... I created this group, alongside Zeninthia and Ignephra, in order to uncover a way back into our world. The humans who created me desired nothing more than to use my power for their own ends... the power that I will now display to you false Pokémon."

Quick on the mark, Mewtwo charged an Aura Sphere of his own, a purple colour to it, and knocked Szaer clean out with this single shot. Flutter flew back to him in deep concern and then turned back to face Mewtwo. "Humans aren’t all bad! Haven’t we proved that to so much Pokémon in this world?!" the Togekiss called desperately.

"I have no reason to trust the words of you or any human, especially not when your only other option is to surrender and die." Mewtwo shot back coldly and with little emotion before a familiar rainbow coloured glow shrouded his body. Flutter recognised this thanks to Hebyacel, it was Mega Evolution. A Mega Mewtwo Y was suddenly right up in her face as the glow vanished, psychic ripples forming around him. Psystrike, his most powerful move...

For some reason, it never saw fruition. A shattering noise echoed forth from within Mewtwo as his Mega Evolution suddenly reverted, bringing him back to normal. "...What’s going on?" he asked nobody in particular. Flutter had no clue why Mewtwo’s Mega Evolution wasn’t holding like Hebyacel’s one had previously been, but she knew that it made no difference. She stood no chance against him anyway, regardless of this turn of events.

Suddenly flying towards Team Celeste’s bag during Mewtwo’s momentary lapse in concentration, Flutter hurriedly searched it and used an Escape Orb within to warp her and the six companions out of the dungeon. Mewtwo watched their departure, trembling with suppressed anger before looking at the Mewtwonite Y embedded in his armband.

The Mega Stone that he'd sensed in the Stormy Sea fragment had a crack running across it. It was the result of being dropped on the floor earlier. "Zeninthia, summon Dr. Rubix immediately..." he motionlessly commanded.


Several hours after Team Celeste and their company returned from the Western Cave, deep in the dead of night, Androma was pacing around in front of the team’s base with a nervous expression on her face after arriving just a few minutes ago. "M-maybe I just haven’t seen them return earlier... They could be safe in bed..." she muttered in deep concern. She’d been fearful for Flutter’s wellbeing ever since overhearing Derkomai earlier.

She wasn’t alone, as she would soon discover a few moments later. “Huh?” she exclaimed, rather startled by the noise that her exceptional hearing picked up on. "Who’s there? Flutter, Team Celeste, is that you?" Ann asked. Although it wasn’t them, this Pokémon was someone else whom she was glad to see.

"A-Androma... I can’t believe it’s actually you...” Rubix responded in an emotional reply as he stepped into view. "What brings you into this area?" the Golduck asked her. "I... Doctor, I could ask you the same thing..." she told him, hugging him while holding back a sob. She’d deeply missed his company and his moving response prompted her to dissolve into tears...

"My time with Deuvide is finished. I plan to tell Team Celeste everything I know about the group. You’ve known Flutter far more than any of us, and now I will trust in your judgement." Rubix revealed. Between Androma and Deuvide, he’d chosen Androma.

Here it is, what everything's been building up to...




"In retrospect, effectively inviting them into our base may not have been a good plan..." Zeninthia thought out loud. The Umbreon was in a thick and dense forest, dense enough to blot out the sun if it weren't currently a pitch black night. As the beam of yellow light from her forehead, a Confuse Ray, acted as a flashlight of sorts, her leader came into view at her side.

Mewtwo gave her a light nod. She was one of the only Pokémon that he would allow criticism from. "Of course. It was a risky play." he admitted. He was wearing his cloak again but with the hood down, showing his face. "This wasn't your fault, my friend. I have no intention to pass blame. You fought valiantly in my absence and I thank you for that." he told her. Both of them took a moment to proceed further before he spoke up again. "Has Derkomai found Dr. Rubix?"

She didn't reply for a split second. "I'm afraid that there's been no sign. We can't contact him, he's vanished without a trace like Androma did" she admitted. The worst part about Rubix's disappearance was that he'd already left when the damage to the Mewtwonite Y was discovered. If it had been fixed sooner, Mewtwo's Psystrike would have torn Flutter to shreds. "How unfortunate." Mewtwo softly responded as he remembered how his Mega Evolution sputtering out gave their foes the time needed to escape. "I trust that the rest of Deuvide are preparing for the relocation here?" he questioned her.

"Indeed, Ignephra is heading the work there. I'm certain that he would want to pay Flutter back for her impertinence, but his leadership is required." Zeninthia explained. As a result of Team Celeste and their company slipping out of Deuvide's grip, the Western Cave had to be abandoned. Mewtwo and Zeninthia were thus going ahead to perform the preliminary cleaning in a new location.

Something could be heard flitting around in front of the duo, followed shortly by a voice. "Huh? Wait, what? What are you two Pokémon doing here tonight?" it called out in a startled tone. Quick in her reaction, Zeninthia shone her light straight ahead and caught a small green Pokémon in its glare. "A Celebi?" Mewtwo mused in a sort of mild surprise before the Pokémon named Celebi quickly lost altitude as the Confuse Ray took hold on his mind. Zeninthia looked down upon him with a cold stare once he was laying down upon the forest floor, not quite as helpless in comparison to Flutter earlier but still a nonthreatening presence regardless.

"...I foresee no use for us with this forest guardian. Let's ensure that our encounter doesn't become known." Mewtwo concluded. He formed a Shadow Ball in one hand while Zeninthia prepared her Dark Pulse. Neither of them could afford another mistake.


However, there was another snag that couldn't be fixed by them. At this same moment, back in the main continent, the defecting pair of Rubix and Androma had made their presence known. A tired Flutter shuffled over to see who these late night visitors were. "Androma and..." she started before trailing off at the sight of the Clefable's company. "Rubix?! What are you doing here!" she bristled.

The Togekiss's teammates all came downstairs and displayed equal shock, but it was Szaer's reaction that caught them completely off guard. "Hello, I've meant to say thanks for the help you gave me at the Western Cave." he told Rubix. None of the other Team Celeste members really knew what to say.

"You're very welcome-" Rubix said back before looking at all the stunned faces. "-and this should prove to the whole team that I bear no more ill will tonight." he continued in an outside thought as he approached their table and pulled off the device underneath it. "This was planted in your base as a means for Deuvide to monitor your movements. Zeninthia had a direct feed, but she and the rest of them will now have to do without it. Will you trust me now?"

This action of removing Deuvide's last remaining advantage was enough to convince all four rescuers. The six Pokémon gathered around the table and Rubix took central stage, telling his former adversaries about the existence of the three artifacts and their present locations, in addition to their use alongside the star fragments. "I see, you've also been after the Vortex Stone, Rainbow Wing, and Relic Gem? I thought there might have been something I'd overlooked when Mew told us about the gem." Szaer thoughtfully replied.

"Yes, the seven fragments alone wouldn't have been enough to get Deuvide into your world." Rubix told them. Flutter still had another question however. Exactly what was Androma doing here? Why was she with Rubix? She resigned herself to a quiet period of thought as everyone spoke before a dull throbbing in her head brought something back: Ignephra's brutal revelation.

"Something on your mind?" Androma asked Flutter, as her expression was becoming darker. Flutter emerged and stared at the Clefable. "I... I remember now... Ignephra told me in the Remains Island that you're with Deuvide... that you'd befriended me for the sole purpose of spying on us..." she replied in a quavering tone. "Great Canyon, Howling Forest, Meteor Cave, and R-Remains Island... all possible because of you... I trusted you..."

Looking between Flutter and Androma, Rubix felt an odd need to intervene. "You still should. After your return from that distressing situation, Ann called me in a fit of tears and told me that she wanted to quit." he revealed. Under no circumstance did he ever want his pupil to be viewed as an unfeeling and deceptive Pokémon. "Ann truly does care about you, she said that you had restored her trust in humans. It was at that moment when I finally saw her innermost thoughts. When I realised what she'd been hiding from Ignephra and the other Deuvide members all this time. I didn't want the Pokémon I nurtured and guided myself to go through any more torment, so I encouraged her to hide."

His words struck something in Terack. "Wait, so you were the one who helped her all that time ago?" The Flygon remembered her telling him about that shortly after returning to civilisation upon Flutter being cleared of those accusations. "Indeed I was." Rubix replied. "Androma talked some sense into me when she left Deuvide. She's a bright Pokémon and I trust her judgement. If she was choosing to believe Flutter in spite of everything we at Deuvide stood for, then it's clear to me that I've misjudged the human target too. I was naught but a blind fool." he told the group. "That's why I aided Szaeracier earlier and that's why I'm here tonight. I've left Deuvide too, you have my aid."

Szaer quietly nodded as he took this in. "That does explain a whole lot. I was wondering why you gave me some Luminous Cave springwater with a Sitrus Berry and Heal Seed. Now, to business. I'm pretty certain that Deuvide will be forced to relocate since we've lived to tell the tale. Do you know where they'll move to?" he asked with a sudden brainwave.

Rubix nodded, a glint in his eye as he spoke. "I do. The lord Mewtwo favours one certain location..."


"They'll be hiding in the Purity Forest?" Alakazam exclaimed the next day, surprise over his face. Team Celeste, with Rubix and Ann in tow, were telling him, Lucario, and Mew what they learned last night. "Yes, and I believe that they could still be in the process of settling down. Mewtwo and Zeninthia won't be expecting another attack so soon." Rubix went on.

The Golduck's gaze next went to Mew, who looked positively scared. "Purity Forest? That's where my... close friend Celebi lives, he'll be in danger." she revealed, more concerned than anyone had ever seen her before. "Celebi? I've heard about that Pokémon being there, having lived in the nearby Joyous Tower once upon a time-" Rubix started to reply before Mew spoke up over him. "You might not believe it after our last two encounters but he's more important to me than the Relic Gem!" she suddenly snapped in a spat of panic.

Everyone looked at her in surprise, while Rubix appeared to catch on to something. "I see, then that's one more reason to end this quickly." he motioned before turning to face Alakazam. "I know that I've made some mistakes in recent days, but will you and your team consider aiding us?" Alakazam's reply was an agreeable one, and one shared with Lucario. The fledgling discussion on how to go about this assault was soon interrupted by someone leaving Whiscash's pond. "Kyan, we've... I've been looking for you!"

The approaching Pokémon was another Metang, whom Kyan recognised with a startled look in his eyes. "You're my... two Beldum friends! You evolved?!" he called. Flutter and Terack also looked over in surprise. "Why? Didn't you remember that the stronger of a Beldum duo takes full control?" Kyan asked. This was the same way with him, only one of the fused Beldum lived on.

"It's a choice the two of us both made after hearing talk about what happened to Charizard and Blastoise. We worked as one mind to help us get this far." Metang told him. "If you're wanting to evolve now, then we're here for that."

Kyan was utterly speechless, he didn't know what to say. "B-but... After all the experience I've gained, I know that it's you who won't exist afterwards... There's no way I can do this to you..." he stated. All those present simply watched this scene unfolding in front of them. "That wouldn't matter. This is why we both went through with evolution ourselves. Flutter and Terack also wanted us to join Team Celeste after our help in the Diglett rescue, but we turned them down. Now we want to help them stop that group as part of the team and as part of you." Metang replied, looking Kyan dead in the eye.

Flutter immediately went to Kyan's side and placed a comforting wing on his back, her face sorrowful and understanding. "I know you're afraid to evolve and I know you'll miss them. We all would. I find farewells difficult but they'd still be with us and you in spirit." she gently said. "I see why this is difficult for you but I can't think of a more noble way to go out, strengthening a Pokémon who's set to defend an entire world of humans. That's truly a brave thing to do." Szaer continued.

"Whatever you want to do, this team's always got your back. We're in it together." Terack said, quickly brushing off a tear before anyone noticed. Kyan listened to all this support from his teammates, and, with memories flooding his head, made a decision. "...Alright. You win, let's go to the cave. I'm going to really miss you both but I know that you want nothing more than this." he muttered.

As the two Metang descended into the Luminous Cave together, everyone else went into discussion outside. "Rubix, I'd like to know what gave you the idea to take some of that cave's springwater. I never knew that it kept those properties when removed from the source." Alakazam spoke while looking at the entrance, with Flutter and Szaer also asking. "It was actually Reishi's idea. He told me of one time in his home continent when he gathered some from a spring to help two friends. I can only guess that these Pokémon had no access to it." he revealed.

A Pokémon soon emerged from within the cave once they finished talking, a four legged and fearsome looking robotic arachnid Pokémon that Team Celeste's members recalled vaguely from high up in the Sky Tower. "Hmm, a Metagross? Powerful species there... How are you feeling?" Szaer asked. Kyan looked around at the group, new power and knowledge flowing through him. "I... feel so much stronger now. Us four Beldum are one. For both my three friends and three teammates, I won't let this go to waste." the newly evolved Metagross replied.

Some sort of voice, not of his own, was beginning to reverberate in his head following a few more moments back in the square, to which Rubix became quiet within his recollections once Kyan voiced this. "That's the same sensation Hebyacel felt when we were looking for the Meteor Cave star fragment, which I found a Steelixite inside. The last fragment could be nearby and with...!" he gasped. He and Alakazam knew that this may potentially play a huge part in a Team Celeste victory today.


Within an hour, Team Celeste's quartet, Team A.C.T.'s trio, the former Deuvide duo, Lucario, and Mew all arrived outside a forest that defied the expectations held by most of them. Even considering its location on the little known and mysterious southwestern island, the Purity Forest looked like a place that was completely and wholly untouched by the rest of the world.

"I will give Deuvide credit here, they chose a good location to hide, Nobody is known to have entered this forest for many years. Purity Forest is known as one of the world's Ultimate Dungeons." Lucario explained out loud. Mew hadn't spoken at all on the journey there, although Flutter was certain that she had heard "Don't worry, I'm coming..." being quietly muttered a handful of times.

Szaer and Alakazam both stared into the growth ahead, creating a plan together. "It might be helpful for us to split up into individual groups here. An eleven member group like ours would be quite limited in mobility." Szaer thought. Alakazam gave his approval to the idea and continued. "Yes, indeed. Team Celeste one way, Team A.C.T. another, then that leaves Rubix, Androma, Lucario, and Mew to constitute a third team." he decided.

Unfortunately, they were overheard by the Deuvide member who had begrudgingly taken on the lookout job for today. Reishi was hiding behind a tree. Infuriated by the betrayals of Rubix and Androma, he rushed off through the forest to spread the word. The Breloom ran straight towards Mewtwo and Zeninthia, Ignephra also present at the scene, as was the gateway that would bring the group to the human world. "W-we've got... a really big problem here..." he panted, out of breath and very worried. "Team Celeste are here already, w-with Team A.C.T. and... Dr. Rubix and Androma are actually helpin' them...!"

Zeninthia gazed at him with a sort of fury in her eyes. "...I knew it. I suspected that Androma's sudden disappearance was his doing." she stated. "I just didn't want to believe it."


Along one path, the three members of Team A.C.T. were making steady progress. Charizard and Tyranitar were clearing the way through foe and tree alike with their physically imposing bodies while Alakazam guided them. The team arrived in a clearing close to the sea when he sensed a presence watching them.

This presence, without prior warning, shot a Bubble Beam at Charizard and Tyranitar, which they couldn't avoid in time. "Whoever that was, you'd better get out here now!" Charizard immediately called out in the direction of that jet of blue bubbles. The Pokémon that emerged was, to their surprise, Ignephra. The Typhlosion moved aside from Alakazam's Psybeam and used Bubble Beam again through Nature Power.

"I see why you chose to ambush us here." Alakazam remarked as he shielded his teammates with Psybeam. "Just as you lured Flutter into a location where Nature Power becomes Rock Slide, you attack Charizard and Tyranitar in an area that gives you Bubble Beam... However..." he said before teleporting behind Ignephra. "You still won't prevail!" the team's leader declared. Ignephra fired off an Eruption against him but an Ally Switch put Tyranitar there instead, who easily weathered it and hit hard with Payback.

Meanwhile, Team Celeste's group were also making good progress through the forest. Szaer leapt from tree to tree in order to scout ahead for his three teammates, the result being that they arrived at a clearing further in without any significant problems. Through his four clawed feet, Kyan could feel something moving underground.

"Gang, get ready!" he called out just before Hebyacel burst out in front of them from underneath them, as he'd done twice before. "Hah! We meet again, and for the last time!" the Steelix roared at them. His Steelixite was present in the band around his tail.

His entrance could mean only one thing. "Deuvide know that we're here then?" Szaer wondered. This wasn't a good sign, the element of surprise was an important aspect of their plan. "We know that you're here with a pair of traitors too! Rest assured that they won't get far either!" Hebyacel thundered back, right before he noticed something around one of Kyan's legs. "No... No, it can't be!" he yelled, immediately Mega Evolving and using Sandstorm to entrap them in his own personal arena.

The cause of Kyan's pull towards the Silver Trench star fragment was around that front right leg, held in a band just like Hebyacel's. Wasting no time, Kyan used the Metagrossite extracted from the fragment by Rubix to Mega Evolve for the first time, Hebyacel's Heavy Slam meant for Flutter instead being intercepted, blocked, and deflected by the Mega Metagross's superior weight. The two Steel types threw themselves at each other in a titanic collision of Heavy Slam against Meteor Mash that put Hebyacel on the back foot. Their clash had the ambiance of scraping metal.

Under cover of the sandstorm, Terack took aim at Hebyacel with Focus Energy and dug underground. His Dig emergence served to further pressure their large foe by creating another source of damage. "This one's payback for our first battle!" Terack called, avoiding an Aqua Tail and hitting Hebyacel square on the head with the end of his Iron Tail.

Further troubles arrived when Flutter, the only one of the team that he'd not battled before, decided to outright abuse the flawless aim of her Aura Sphere. Hebyacel managed to block a couple of the white balls with a swirling Sand Tomb before it gave out and cost him some significant hits. Kyan's Telekinesis and Dynamic Punch combo caught him next, allowing Szaer to join the party with multiple hits of Assurance and Power-Up Punch before concluding with his longtime trump card Icicle Crash.

Finally, Hebyacel collapsed under their combined strength. He and Kyan both returned to their normal states as the victorious quartet looked amongst themselves. "Kyan, you were phenomenal... Keep this up and the other Deuvide members would be hard pressed to fend us off." Szaer exclaimed in delight. "Aside from Ignephra, perhaps..." he added.

Evolution hadn't entirely solved Flutter's woes. A slight shudder showed that she was still scared of him, but she suppressed any further signs of this and joined her teammates in moving onwards.

Speaking of Ignephra, he wasn't doing much better than Hebyacel. He had raw power on his side but it was falling short against Alakazam's own strengths, cooler head, and the masterful command he had over his team. "Gah! No!" Ignephra growled, pulling himself up after another hit, this time from Tyranitar's Stone Edge. Eruption had lost a lot of its luster by now.

Team A.C.T.'s members had no intentions of giving him a moment to rest, Charizard's rapid Acrobatics strikes making this more apparent than anything else. Alakazam's melding of Psybeam and Signal Beam sent him into a truly confused stagger, Tyranitar following with a devastating and decisive Focus Punch that blew him into a rock, shattering it on impact.

"That is that." Alakazam said upon looking at their unconscious opponent. "Let's stay on the move, we can't afford to fall back. Flutter and Szaeracier deserve as much."

On the other side of the forest, much further along the trail than the rest, was the third group. Rubix, Ann, Lucario, and Mew. Though they weren't exactly the best of friends, Rubix and Mew had smoothed things over enough to cooperative effectively enough with Lucario's aid, while Ann's movepool of Dazzling Gleam, Heal Pulse, Aromatherapy, and Helping Hand was a large factor towards their more than satisfactory progress.

In a clearing, this group was confronted by Derkomai. "...Dr. Rubix. While I'm glad to see that Androma is alive and well, I demand to know what you and her mean by helping Flutter and her friends." the Salamence immediately asked. Although Derkomai enjoyed battling, he saw the value of words in a situation such as this.

"I'm doing something I should have done as Ann's teacher. Listening to her. Understanding her. Helping her. I should have realised that the friendship between Androma and Flutter was genuine." Rubix animatedly spoke, Ann watching him and feeling deeply appreciated by him with each word. "I became so wrapped up in Deuvide's goal that I was blind to what she's seen from the first time she met Flutter. I was wrong to think, near Mt. Steel, that the child couldn't sway Mewtwo. No, I believe now that she can do it."

Listening to him, Derkomai was very surprised by Rubix's motives. "You too, yes?" the Golduck continued. "I know that you respect Flutter as a worthy opponent just as truthfully, regardless of her loss to you in the Meteor Cave. The way she's kept going and kept standing in our way, even after Ignephra nearly killed her... Derkomai, doesn't she stir something inside you? Doesn't she make you feel as though any cause is worth fighting for?" he implored, attempting to appeal to his thoughts on Flutter.

The Salamence didn't speak for a bit, instead locking eyes with Rubix while thinking about all the moments he'd seen the former human. He especially recalled that time when she spoke back to him in the square despite her injured wing. "When I revealed the location of our base, I was surprised to see her still in the forefront of our conflict. It does... take something very special to stand up and continue opposing a foe like Ignephra. That she earlier took on his fake mission too, it showed me that Flutter has a very good heart." Derkomai finally responded.

"Hmm... Alright, I'll pull back and report that your group defeated me." he decided, stepping aside to let this foursome pass. "Perhaps you and the rest of us really did misjudge her after all..."


With this, all three groups had succeeded in getting past the Deuvide member sent to stop them. The trio of individual paths merged together at a location near the forest's depths, reuniting said groups once they arrived at this point. "Oh good, we're all here. Hebyacel held us up." Flutter said once her group turned up to find everyone awaiting them.

"Ignephra attacked us along the way in an area where his Nature Power became Bubble Beam, but we got through him." Tyranitar explained. "We ran into Derkomai. You won't believe what Rubix managed to do." Mew told them next. "He completely talked that Salamence into letting us pass. It was amazing~!"

Everyone in Teams Celeste and A.C.T. were astonished by this news. Although it remained to be seen if Derkomai would help them further, having a third member of Deuvide behind them was something that Flutter found highly motivating. The collection of Pokémon continued further along the forest trail until finally, in front of their eyes, stood the hooded and cloaked Mewtwo. Zeninthia and Ignephra were both flanking him, while Reishi, Hebyacel, and Derkomai were behind the leaders.

Mew spoke up first against the Pokémon who'd taken over the Purity Forest. "Y-you...! You! What have you done with Celebi?! she cried out in an entangled combination of fear and anger. Mewtwo was momentarily stunned to see a Mew opposing him, recalling that he himself had been cloned from the DNA of another Mew by the unfeeling scientists who caused his hatred of humanity. He took himself back to the present and replied to her.

"The Celebi is safe. Zeninthia and I encountered that forest guardian last night and defeated them. You may have Celebi if you so wish, it's of no consequence to me now." As Mewtwo finished, the unconscious Celebi was telekinetically levitated towards her from behind the Deuvide members. "By no consequence, you mean that you wiped her memory of that battle with you? Derkomai did say you could do that." Szaer recalled.

Seeing Mew try desperately to wake Celebi up with a frantic and tearful fervor that she hadn't seen her in with the Relic Gem really struck Flutter deeply. It was clear to the Togekiss exactly how much Mew must care for her. This prompted her to step forwards and speak. "Look at them, Mewtwo." she gestured at Mew and Celebi with one wing. "Have you even noticed what your hatred towards humans has been doing to good Pokémon like them? I can understand the cause, but I won't let you force your beliefs on everyone else in this world! I'm a rescuer and-"

"You are a delusional human fool!" Mewtwo cut in on her with a raised voice, lowering his hood as a flicker of dislike flashed across his cold eyes. "Do you take me for a fool myself?! I know about the Ninetales legend, the true story detailing the way a human willfully left their Pokémon companion for dead. Proof that humans are no different in this world!" he spoke for all to hear.

Flutter was extremely nettled and frustrated now. It really upset her to see Gengar, the changed and reformed Pokémon, used as an excuse for Deuvide's actions. "You're wrong!!" she cried out as Terack went to her side. "I've been with Flutter from the very beginning and I'd do it all over again if I could, don't you dare call her a fool!" the Flygon angrily struck out in defense of her. Szaer was about to step up but decided to let Terack handle this. "You're blind. Ann and Rubix both saw in her what you, in your hatred, choose to ignore. That's why they left you guys." Terack added.

Just like Terack said, Mewtwo ignored this. "The traitors will regret this day. I have nothing more to say now. Zeninthia, Ignephra, make an example of this human and fantasist. Reishi, Hebyacel, Derkomai, eliminate the rest." he simply said. The Umbreon and Typhlosion both stepped forward to face Flutter and Terack while the nine others went against a Deuvide member in groups of three.

With Derkomai, the new silent supporter of Flutter, feigning defeat very early on, the duo of Reishi and Hebyacel had to play out the long game. Hebyacel's Mega Evolution was truly tested like never before with such a plan. Flutter and Terack weren't having such an easy run of it. "Watch out for her Confuse Ray!" Flutter called, Terack narrowly avoiding the ray of light.

Ignephra had learned his lesson from his last encounter with Flutter. Though he wanted nothing more than to brutally pound her into complete submission like he did on the Remains Island, he stuck to his moves this time and made sure to avoid hers, both Fairy Wind and Air Cutter, while using Extrasensory to stop her Aura Sphere. Terack could try all day against Zeninthia but he was completely outclassed and outperformed by Mewtwo's left hand Pokémon, taking a blindside Confuse Ray upon her purposefully close Iron Tail dodge.

Confused, Terack fell to the ground in a heap, an easy target. Zeninthia's Zap Cannon was soon heading his way alongside Ignephra's full strength Eruption. What Flutter did next would stun Mewtwo to the very core of his being...

She went in front of Terack with her wings outstretched wide and shielded him with her own body. Within moments, the black orbs of electricity and the searing hot lava crashed powerfully into Flutter and heaved her hard into a tree, causing her some critical damage. All eyes were on her. Ignephra was about to make the finishing blow with a second Eruption, savouring this long overdue moment.

"Stop." Mewtwo spoke, halting Ignephra in his tracks. He looked questioningly at the hurt Flutter, then at Terack, attempting to comprehend the moment. Something didn't compute. "A human... protecting a vulnerable Pokémon from attack..." He remembered first meeting Zeninthia and Ignephra, protecting the Eevee and Cyndaquil who would be his only companions in a similar way.

"Now do you see why Androma and I are siding with her, lord?" Rubix asked, bringing Mewtwo out of his recollections as he approached Flutter and helped her up. "This is a human from your world who would do anything to protect and rescue this world's Pokémon. Flutter stands as solid evidence that good humans truly exist. Why else do you think that fake mission of ours was so effective at drawing her out?" he stated.

For all his knowledge, for all his experiences, Mewtwo had no answer to Rubix's questions that would comply to the dislike of humans that he had been nursing for so long. "I... Rubix, Androma, you are both wiser and better Pokémon than I... If but one human like Flutter can exist, it may be time to give them another chance." Mewtwo finally decided. Zeninthia looked up at him before returning her gaze to Rubix. "The lord's wishes are my wishes. He shall still have my company regardless." she responded loyally.

"No!" Ignephra suddenly exclaimed, less than happy with the way things were headed. "You're giving up now?! After how close we came to our success?!" Gengar escaping from him had completely tipped him off the edge, a fluke loss to Flutter made things worse, and now he was watching Deuvide completely stop all hostilities with those humans. He'd had all he could take. "Why are you of all individuals believing them?!"

Mewtwo went from shocked to displeased in a matter of seconds. "I have just seen how far one human would go to defend a world they don't originate from. I should have known this when the falling star was destroyed. Ignephra, don't be foolish." he sternly replied back, but his furious old friend wasn't having any of this."FOOLISH?! I only hope Reishi, Derkomai, and Hebyacel aren't foolish enough to be so easily swayed!"

Ignephra was to find himself even more infuriated, as Reishi and Hebyacel claimed that they were backing Mewtwo's judgement. Derkomai, convinced earlier by Reishi, flawlessly played along with the two. "Fine... fine... I'll have to take matters into my own hands!" Ignephra replied in a sinister fashion. Hidden in one of his hands was a small red crystal that glowed with the red spots on his back. Using Eruption as the base, a huge molten fireball formed in front of his mouth.

"When did he find a Firium Z?!" Rubix called in the utmost shock as the fireball swelled to greater proportions and was finally blasted straight towards Flutter as an Inferno Overdrive, who was still reeling from earlier. In a decision that he never could have predicted last night, Mewtwo flew in front of the intense fireball and Mega Evolved into Mega Mewtwo Y, using Psystrike in an attempt to repel it.

Everyone looked over in surprise before Zeninthia predictably joined Mewtwo and aided him with a Dark Pulse. Rubix's Water Pulse, Derkomai's Hydro Pump, and Androma's Dazzling Gleam also joined the struggle when their users went to support Mewtwo. Finally, Ignephra's Z-move was stopped, though the heat had burned away Mewtwo's disguise. "W-why...?" the Typhlosion moaned, burned out and utterly exhausted from expending that much energy. "W-why must one example change your mind...?"

"This one example has told me that I was wrong in my desires. I can't proceed with Deuvide's plan if it means that good humans like Flutter are destroyed. You can either join hands with us and accept this, or we part ways here." Mewtwo said after his Mega Evolution broke again. Behind him, Ann's Heal Pulse and Aromatherapy were helping Flutter and Terack recover.

Ignephra watched on as the nine remaining Pokémon, Kyan, Szaer, Alakazam, Charizard, Tyranitar, Lucario, Mew, Reishi, and Hebyacel all joined the gathering. With Mewtwo's change of heart, Deuvide was dead in every sense of the word. "I'm not joining this parade of forgiveness and I still don't like Flutter, but... urgh, I'll leave her and everyone here alone for Ann's sake. I'm glad she's alive..." he forcefully replied before turning his back to them and leaving.

All those who'd held their breath took a sigh of relief. "It's good enough for me." Flutter exclaimed with a cheerful Ann and Mew at her side. Mewtwo turned around to face allies and former foes alike. "I'll still need the last star fragment, but now I wish to try coexisting with humans. I'm going to give them another chance." he stated. Zeninthia joined his side. "I'm not certain what Ignephra's future plans are, but I will continue to accompany my lord as he turns the page on this chapter. The rest of you-" she addressed Rubix, Ann, Derkomai, Reishi, and Hebyacel "-do as you wish. Create your own paths."

"Yes, this is a good resolution." Alakazam replied. "If a return to that world is still desired then I can assist you. I have been hiding the last fragment for Team Celeste, from the Silver Trench."


Sometime later, during which everyone was getting better acquainted with their former foes, Alakazam finally returned with the one remaining fragment and Mewtwo led everyone forward to the gateway. The three artifacts and the other six fragments were placed in slots all around it. With Mewtwo adding the seventh one, a blue light formed inside the empty space of the door-like structure. It was finally time.

Mewtwo and Zeninthia both stepped up to it. "Once we have left, the fragments and artifacts are all yours to take." Zeninthia told everyone. "My way of saying... well, thanks. We won't forget ever meeting you Pokémon."

"Oh, wait! It looked to me that Mewtwo's Mega Evolution wasn't working right." Rubix called out. Mewtwo turned back to face him. "The Mewtwonite Y is chipped, but that's not a problem now. Zeninthia and I can seek out a new one together." he replied. Rubix simply nodded in understanding before the two Pokémon left this world behind.

Before anyone else could get it, Rubix took the Relic Gem to deactivate the gateway before approaching Mew. "My apologies for the Buried Relic. Here's the Relic Gem, for real this time." Mew almost burst into spontaneous tears as she took it and hugged Rubix, then Androma when she offered to help Celebi recover.

"After that, I'm going back to the Meteor Cave to investigate the Deoxys there before going on a journey with Ann." Rubix said when the Deuvide members began discussing their plans with their new friends. "I'll be going back home for a bit before travelling too. There's sure to be some powerful Pokémon in other continents." Derkomai thought out loud.

Hebyacel wasn't sure what he wanted to do now, short of just returning to his home in the Southern Cavern "Hebyacel, buddy, how about you come with me? I'm goin' to return to my home continent and I could use a pal to try formin' an Exploration Team with. What do you think?" Reishi suddenly asked. "Yes! Exploring with you is sure to be a blast!" the Steelix roared in delight.

Watching these five Pokémon, Szaer found himself with a delighted grin on his face. "It's wonderful to see all of them starting new lives." he remarked to his teammates. "As for us, let's continue to keep up our work as Team Celeste."

Flutter agreed wholeheartedly. Looking at these Pokémon eagerly discussing life after Deuvide, she felt as though everything was right with the world...