“We need to go,” Grovyle said suddenly.
Shaun looked up. He had been carving furrows into the ground out of boredom because Grovyle wouldn’t let him out of his sight. “What?”
Grovyle started off without another word, not bothering to bury the campfire like he had last time. Shaun followed in slight alarm. “What’s the matter?”
“Somemon else just entered the dungeon,” Grovyle said, fighting off a particularly aggressive plant thing.
“Oh.” Shaun reflected on this. “I can see how that’d be bad for you.”
“It’s probably not good for you either,” Grovyle replied, throwing down the unconscious plant. Shaun thought it rather looked like a potato, but it was black and had three leaves poking out the top.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked, miffed. “They’re trying to save me from your kidnapping, right?”
“I’m only trying to verify something,” he insisted. “If I’m correct, they’ll probably want you too.”
Shaun was unnerved by this. “What is that supposed to mean? And who is ‘they’?”
He didn’t get an answer, unnerving him further. He hadn’t gotten an answer about the “future of darkness” thing, either.
Despite this, they didn’t see anyone else in the forest besides the native inhabitants. It grew later and later, with the sun beginning to set behind the trees. Shaun obligingly lit up his tail when it got too dark to see properly, even though he was sure it wasn’t that dark outside. “You know, I’m not sure why I’m going along with this,” he said suddenly. “What if I just stopped cooperating?”
“I don’t like using threats,” Grovyle replied. “But I will carry them out if necessary.”
“So you’ll actively force me to,” Shaun said dryly. “Got it.” He was starting to get tired of the same forest scenery after walking through it for more than a day and a half.
Grovyle turned to say something, but froze, looking at Shaun. Shaun looked behind himself in case there was something behind him, but all he saw was an empty forest hallway. “What?” Shaun asked, turning back to Grovyle.
Grovyle snapped his mouth shut. “Nothing,” he said. “It’s nothing.”
Shaun did not believe this. “Seems like an odd reaction to nothing, but alright,” he responded.
The forest path seemed to be going in a mostly straight line at this point. As they continued down it, Shaun began feeling faintly strange. He ignored it until they passed by a stagnant pool where he caught his reflection out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and stared into the water.
His form was about the same- four legs, half black, half blue, cowlick in the middle of his forehead. But a new addition was a glowing green halo with ten spikes that circled it, descending in size, with what looked like two pendulums separating the spikes into two groups of five. He could also just barely make out more of the glowing spikes coming from his back in some sort of wing pattern.
He stared at the reflection like it didn’t belong to him before abruptly whirling away from the water and jerkily walking to Grovyle, who had stopped to wait for him. “I now understand why you were staring at me,” Shaun said in a strained voice.
Grovyle didn’t say anything, just continued down the path with Shaun following.
The trees started to thin out, indicating that they were almost at their destination. Shaun felt a sense of reverence grow in him. He was approaching sacred ground.
They entered a clearing, where he understood why.
It was a large clearing, with the trees forming a wide circle around what looked like stone ruins. They were stone steps leading up to a stone platform, flanked by four pillars that had presumably held up a long-gone roof. From his place on the ground, Shaun could just barely make out more of the green lights that now followed him.
Grovyle and a hesitant Shaun climbed the stone stairs to the top of the platform. Shaun recognized the green halo that was now following him, but this one was floating in the air, seemingly missing something.
“And here it is,” Grovyle said softly. “Where the Time Gear is supposed to be.”
“Uh huh. And where you were supposed to steal it from,” Shaun added.
Grovyle turned to Shaun thoughtfully. “You know, I only had a hunch about you. But it seems to have paid off.”
These words set an alarm ringing in the back of Shaun’s mind as he also turned to face Grovyle. “So do I pass the test, or what?”
“Unfortunately for you, you do,” Grovyle replied. “Which means I can’t let you leave.”
Shaun was tired. He was tired of walking, he was tired of not getting enough sleep, he was tired of being pushed around, and he was tired of doing nothing. “What if I want to leave?” he challenged.
“I can’t let you do that,” Grovyle replied simply.
They stared at each other for a long moment before Shaun leapt off the platform and made a break for it.
He didn’t get far. A Leaf Blade slammed into the ground in front of him, kicking up dirt and causing him to desperately scramble away from it. He dashed the other way but the same thing happened. He turned and saw Grovyle standing there, another Leaf Blade at the ready.
Shaun leapt at Grovyle in a Tackle, which Grovyle dodged handily, causing Shaun to stumble and trip over himself. He righted himself quickly and just barely dodged another Leaf Blade.
There was no taunting. There was no room for error. This was a genuine, desperate bid for freedom.
Shaun began running away from Grovyle around the platform to give himself time to think. Grovyle followed him, hurling more Leaf Blades after him to try and slow him down. He dodged most of them, but took a few that curved unexpectedly squarely in the back, reminding him of his plight.
A pathetic little plan formed itself in the back of his mind. If he could either knock Grovyle out, which was unlikely, or manage to stall long enough, help might arrive to save him.
Shaun clung onto this hope as he dodged another Leaf Blade that embedded itself in the ground next to him. He suddenly turned around and rammed into Grovyle.
Again was the strange sensation of energy leaving his body. As he recovered from throwing himself at his attacker, Shaun realized that he could keep doing that, he just had to build up enough speed first.
Panting, he watched as Grovyle slowly pushed himself up off the ground. A crackle of electricity sparked off of his arm, causing it to falter for a moment before he was standing again. Grovyle tried to throw another Leaf Blade at Shaun, but another crackle of electricity caused his aim to be way off, making the attack whiz off into the trees.
They watched each other, both panting from exertion. Shaun had done something to Grovyle that had made his aim worse, which he was immensely proud of. He watched, grinning, as Grovyle slowly, slowly reached into his bag with great effort.
As Shaun watched, he realized something was wrong. Grovyle rummaged around in the bag a little before pulling out a small red berry with the most elaborate stem that Shaun had ever seen. Grovyle popped the berry, stem and all, into his mouth and chewed slowly. He swallowed and inhaled through his nose, like it was spicy. He then rushed at Shaun with astounding speed.
Shaun hadn’t been expecting this and received the full brunt of the blow, which knocked him flying across the clearing. He slid across the still slightly slick grass before coming to a stop by the foot of a tree. Grovyle walked over and stood over him, contemplating. “Not bad, but you lack any sort of experience.”
Shaun glared at Grovyle. He was too spent to do anything but watch as Grovyle raised his arm over his head to knock him out.
Something inside him clicked.
Shaun blinked and looked around. Everything had turned black and white, like he was in some sort of old photo album. Grovyle was still there, arm raised but frozen in time.
He rose to his feet, suddenly feeling like he hadn’t just been fighting for his life. He quickly backed away from Grovyle, in case it was some sort of trick, but he remained frozen there.
Before he had time to consider running away, time unpaused. Grovyle suddenly had his back to Shaun and was looking around wildly for where he had gone. Shaun automatically hit Grovyle in a Volt Tackle.
Grovyle, predictably, was not expecting this. He was knocked reeling, stumbling a fair distance away from Shaun as Shaun assumed a defensive stance.
Grovyle turned and studied Shaun for a moment. He again lunged at Shaun quickly, but something clicked again and he was behind Shaun, looking around.
Shaun Tackled Grovyle again, though there wasn’t an electrical discharge this time. Grovyle took noticeably longer to recover from this attack, and was panting when he turned to face Shaun, who was smiling determinedly. He finally had an edge in this fight.
Instead of rushing him again, Grovyle burrowed into the soil. Shaun felt his smile fall off his face as he ran over to where Grovyle had been moments ago, but the grass was almost entirely undisturbed. He shuddered a little at the uncanniness of it.
Then Grovyle slammed into him from underground.
It wasn’t the hardest hit in the world, but the combination of the ground slamming into his underside and being caught off-guard was a brutal one. Shaun felt himself black out for a moment as he spun in the air and hit the ground with a muffled thump.
Shaun pushed himself up and reflexively coughed. “Ow…” he groaned.
Grovyle rushed at him again, most likely intending to finish him off, but something seemed to change.
Shaun felt himself suddenly unable to move his body. He tried to move his head and found that it still was able to move just fine, but he couldn’t move anything else. Grovyle was also seemingly affected by the same sudden force and was also looking around confusedly.
They were suddenly both lifted off the ground, causing Shaun to yelp in surprise. “Oh, good, my mouth still works,” he muttered to himself.
“Tch. Killing each other won’t do anymon any good,” said a new voice.
Shaun turned as much as he was allowed to see Meowstic standing there, arms folded. “You’ve both got some nerve, coming to this place.”
“Hey, I was dragged here against my will,” Shaun said, both relieved and worried. “Uh, can you put me down now?”
“No.” Meowstic turned to a Pokemon behind him. “I told you.”
“Yes, well.” Shaun’s shocked eyes made out Ampharos behind Meowstic, who didn’t look too happy. He also barely made out the weird dog-thing that he vaguely remembered as Lucario. They all stepped forward into the clearing, making Shaun suddenly feel immensely nervous.
“So you’re the one who’s been trying to steal the Time Gear,” Meowstic said wonderingly to Grovyle. “No wonder I wasn’t able to figure out who it was.”
“I would think that a Grovyle of all Pokemon randomly showing up would be a red flag,” Lucario dryly mused. “Especially one with a bag that wasn’t ever searched.”
“Speaking of.” Without any outside help, Grovyle’s bag opened itself and out floated three Time Gears.
The number was a shock to the group. “Good Arceus, man!” Meowstic yelled. “How many ‘mons have you doomed to a fate almost worse than death?!”
“None,” Grovyle replied calmly. He seemed utterly unconcerned with his predicament. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Obviously not, if you’re talking like that!” Aghast, Meowstic floated the gears out of Grovyle’s possession and into his own, placing them at his feet. “And you were trying to snag a fourth for your collection, too?!”
Grovyle didn’t respond, merely looking faintly bored with the whole ordeal.
“And then you!” Shaun’s head turned to Meowstic, who was talking to him now. “You just appear and then suddenly everything goes wrong!”
Shaun felt unjustly accused. “You can’t blame me for just waking up here!” he said, miffed.
“I can and I will,” said Meowstic. “I have no idea what to do with you. No one does. I’m honestly shocked that none of us figured out what you were sooner.”
Shaun felt his heart fall out of his chest. He looked at Ampharos, who made a point of not meeting his eyes. “What-?”
“Alright, what do we do with these two?” Meowstic turned to the other two Pokemon behind him. “I vote we throw the green one into the ocean and chain the blue one here.”
“Entirely unethical,” Lucario said immediately. “We’d at least need to take the Grovyle to trial before doing something like that.” He considered Shaun for a moment. “But I do unfortunately agree with your second idea.” He glanced at him again, his eyes tracing his form as if it was looking for something.
“I don’t.” Ampharos folded his arms and stared at Meowstic, much to Shaun’s surprise. “He can’t help what he is. Besides, that’s also ‘entirely unethical’, as Lucario put it.”
“You seriously can’t expect me to just let him wander the streets,” replied Meowstic, gesturing at Shaun. “He’s dangerous, whether he knows it or not.”
“He has ties to a Legendary, Meowstic,” Ampharos said quietly.
Meowstic flinched at this. “The- I know. That just makes him even more unpredictable.”
“This is one of the most harmless mons I have ever seen.” His glance flickered to Shaun for a moment. “The last time he was in a battle, he was sick immediately afterwards.”
“Correlation,” Meowstic said dismissively. “I’ve done my fair share of research on the topic.”
They stared at each other for a long time before Meowstic burst out, “He’s a TIME GEAR, Ampharos! What do you even want us to do?! I know it’s unethical to just chain him here, but what else can we even do?!”
Shaun felt like his brain had just exploded. “What?”
“Why did you think I took such a sudden interest in you?” Grovyle told him in a low voice. “It’s in your eyes, you know.”
On the ground, a row started. Meowstic was passionately yelling about how Shaun was a danger to himself and others, and how it was best for everyone if he was forced to stay here. Ampharos eloquently argued against this, stating that Shaun was also a person and how messed up it was that they were even considering the option.
As the argument got more heated, Shaun realized how alone he was. Even with Ampharos arguing for his rights, he still felt entirely, utterly alone.
The ground beneath him seemed to go ghostly. Shaun didn’t notice, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to realize that he was slowly being dragged somewhere.
He still didn’t notice until he was set gently on the grass behind the tree line, where his legs threatened to collapse under his sudden weight. “Ow! What the-“
Someone grabbed Shaun by a paw and started off at a run through the forest. Behind them, the commotion got louder as they realized Shaun had suddenly disappeared.
Buizel awoke with resoundingly sore legs.
He groaned as he pushed himself upright on a bed, vaguely recognizing the room he was in as the village clinic. Minun was sitting on the baseboard, and as he awoke, he toppled onto the bed in excitement. “You’re awake!”
“Yeah,” Buizel said, wincing as he moved a leg that complained as he did so. “What happened?” he asked. “I only remember punching Haunter and then everything went dark.”
Minun sat up from where he had been lying on the bed. “Oh, you passed out from overexertion,” he explained. “Ms. Chansey wasn’t too happy that you had been fighting, but she said that ‘that’s an issue for their parents’.”
Plusle rounded the curtain and saw Buizel. “He’s awake!” he said enthusiastically. He dashed out of sight, leaving Buizel feeling slightly confused.
“What’s with him?” he asked.
“You were really beat up,” Minun said. “It was really hard to drag both of you to the clinic, and Plusle was sure that you were dead even though I told him you weren’t.”
“Oh.” Buizel was still feeling a little dazed.
“Oh! Oh! I didn’t even tell you about the cool thing!” Minun bounced up and down with excitement. “So y’know when you punched Haunter and then fainted? That attack was actually Thunder Punch!”
“Huh?” Buizel stared at Minun, who had a certain air of pride about being the one to have told him this. “Th- isn’t that impossible? For me to know an Electric-type move, I mean?”
“Iunno.” Minun shrugged. “We were all shocked after Haunter fainted after hitting the wall.” He gazed at Buizel admiringly. “It was so cool.”
“Hey! I had dibs on telling him about that!” Plusle came racing around the curtain again, this time with Sneasel following. “No fair!”
“You could’ve told him if you hadn’t ran off,” Minun retorted.
The twins were quickly reduced to petty bickering over who should’ve told Buizel that he used Thunder Punch. He ignored them and looked at Sneasel. She looked about the same, if a little more tired than he had last seen her. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” Buizel responded. “So, uh, what was with needing Haunter to find Shaun?”
“He knows several shortcuts to get to the center of the mystery dungeon,” Sneasel replied. She looked up at the ceiling. “Yes, I know you two hate each other, but we literally can’t find Shaun without him.”
“Ah.” Buizel still didn’t know how he felt about this. “You’re sure that there isn’t anyone else?”
“Nope,” Sneasel said. “I’d ask several other Pokemon, but they’re all really busy with preparing for the supply Lapras tomorrow.”
He blinked. “Oh. That is tomorrow.” A sudden thought occurred to him. “What if that’s why he was kidnapped now? So that they could leave the island by tomorrow?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the Grovyle’s plan.” She shifted her weight slightly. “We need to reach Shaun before that happens.”
“So we have noon tomorrow as a deadline.” Buizel groaned, resting his head on the headboard. “Great. So we have around twenty four hours?”
“Closer to sixteen hours,” she corrected. “You’ve been out for a while.”
“Sixteen?!” Buizel yelped. He leapt out of bed and felt his legs promptly collapse under him amidst the cries of the other Pokemon. Sneasel helped him stand on very unsteady legs. “Easy there. You still haven’t recovered properly.”
“But Shaun’s in trouble!” Buizel gingerly tried his weight and found that he could just barely stand. “Ow.”
“Like you’ll be able to help him in this condition,” Sneasel replied dryly. She helped him back onto the bed amidst his complaints. “You can’t even walk yet.”
“From what I’ve heard, you’ll have to do a lot of walking,” Plusle remarked unhelpfully. They had stopped arguing when Buizel had failed to stand properly.
“Who is Shaun, anyway?” Minun asked. “You seem really upset about him.”
“Shaun is the Shinx that Buizel found a week ago,” Sneasel clarified.
“Oh.” Minun still looked puzzled.
“How’s Haunter doing?” Buizel asked, trying to steer the conversation away from how he felt about Shaun.
The other three Pokemon stared at him in shocked silence. Buizel blinked as he glanced around at their faces. “What?”
“I’ll go check,” Plusle volunteered. He slid off of the bed and ran down the length of the sick wing, leaving Sneasel and Minun looking at him.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you ask about my wellbeing,” a familiar voice quipped from beside Buizel.
Buizel startled and backed away from Haunter, who had appeared next to Buizel’s bed. “Oh,” Buizel said. “It’s you.”
“It is,” Haunter replied airily. He seemed less keen on bullying Buizel than usual. “You need me to show you the shortcuts to the Time Gear, correct?”
Sneasel nodded. “That’s correct.”
Haunter sighed dramatically. “Unfortunately, we might be delayed by our… friend’s lack of legs.” Ah, he still hates me, Buizel thought ruefully.
Plusle came running back into the stall. “Guys, Haunter’s gone…” He jumped up onto the bed and noticed Haunter immediately. “Oh. Never mind,” he said.
Sneasel grinned, unbothered by the sudden interruption or their predicament. “Good thing I had Meowstic make these.”
She produced a bundle of shimmery cloth. Buizel stared at it, trying to figure out what it was before she unfolded them and held them up for everyone to see. It just looked like two squares of pearlescent cloth that shimmered prettily in the light.
“Neat,” Buizel said amidst the twin’s oohs and aahs. “What is that, exactly?”
“Something I’m gonna call ‘Shimmer Scarves’,” Sneasel replied. “I’m not entirely sure what they do, but they’re full of power.”
“Neat,” Buizel repeated dryly. “How is that supposed to help with…?” He gestured at his legs, which were laying limply on the bed.
She handed him the squares of cloth. “Here, put them on.”
Buizel looked at the cloth for a moment. “Both of…?” He shrugged and tied both of them around his neck in a sort of double bandana.
Once he was done, the twins jumped up and down excitedly. “You look perfect in it!” they chorused. They immediately began bickering over having said it at the same time, causing the three older Pokemon to roll their eyes.
“I do have to agree,” Sneasel said appraisingly. “They look made for you, almost.”
Everyone in the room turned to look at Haunter, who had been watching without saying anything. “What?” he asked. “Do you want me to compliment him as well?”
Sneasel shrugged a little. “Comes with the territory, I suppose.”
Haunter groaned. “Fine. Buizel, those scarves… don’t look absolutely atrocious on you.”
Buizel snickered a little. “Coming from you, that’s high praise.” He gently slid out of bed again and felt his legs support him, even if it was a little unsteadily.
“Are you sure you’ll be able to walk?” Sneasel asked. “I don’t want to have to haul you back here if you fall and can’t get up.”
Buizel nodded, a determined gleam in his eye. “I’ll manage.”
It took some convincing to make the twins go home. They desperately wanted to tag along, but all three of the older mons forbade them from going.
“We don’t know what we’re walking into!” Buizel was saying, exasperated. “Pokemon could get badly hurt!”
“Then why do you get to go?” Minun asked sulkily.
Sneasel folded her arms. “It’s my job to do stuff like this. I’m only taking the other two guys along because I might need backup.”
“But we can be backup, too!” the twins chorused.
“If we aren’t back, say, this morning, then we need someone here at the village to tell everyone else why,” Sneasel said. “That’s arguably more important than whatever we have to do.”
Plusle looked like he wanted to complain further, but Minun put a paw over his mouth. “Okay! That works!” He practically had to drag his brother away from the group as Plusle casted backwards looks at the other three Pokemon.
“Smooth,” Haunter remarked. “Shall we get going?”
The sun was starting to set at this point, casting long red rays over the landscape. For some reason, the sight put trepidation into Buizel’s heart as they walked towards the woods. Something about the air felt different, and not in a good way.
The light faded quickly as they walked through the woods. It quickly got hard to see, but the scarves Buizel was wearing faintly glowed, casting the surrounding world in shadow.
Buizel stared up into the deep, dark blue sky as they walked. Something about it felt off, and it took him a few minutes to realize why.
“Hey, does that star look exceptionally bright to you?” he asked no one in particular.
Sneasel and Haunter stopped and looked up. “Which one?” Haunter asked sarcastically. “There’s a lot of them.”
Buizel pointed. “That bright red one right there.”
Once it was pointed out, it was hard to miss. A very bright, red star sparkled ominously in the sky, directly overhead.
“Hm,” Sneasel said. “That’s a bit worrying.”
“Isn’t it just a star?” Haunter asked. “We’re burning valuable time by just standing around.”
Buizel had truthfully wanted to take a bit of a break. His legs were still sore from the earlier battle, and he wanted to sit down. The other two Pokemon seemed eager to push on, though, so he tried not to complain too much.
Eventually, they returned to the dead end where Buizel had found Shaun. Buizel tried not to look too long at the place Shaun had lain less than two weeks ago as they passed it and continued into the forest.
It got significantly darker after that. Haunter had to practically drag Buizel and Sneasel through the woods because they couldn’t see five feet in front of them. “This is child’s play,” Haunter said at length. “How in the world do you keep losing me?”
“Dark,” Sneasel replied succinctly.
Haunter let out a long suffering sigh and grabbed both of their arms, towing them through the woods and taking seemingly random turns. Eventually, they seemed to get somewhere different.
Something in Buizel’s bones told him that he was approaching somewhere sacred. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“Forgotten already, have you?” Haunter taunted. “To where the Time Gear is supposed to be, of course.” They stopped behind a line of bushes that separated the forest from a clearing, and Buizel immediately saw why it was sacred.
A tall platform stood in the middle of the clearing, moss and vines climbing up the sides of the four pillars that flanked it. An ornate green symbol floated in the air, looking like a glass window without the walls to support it.
Shaun went flying through the air and tumbled to a stop at the foot of a tree.
Buizel tried to rush into the clearing to help, but both Haunter and Sneasel both grabbed his arms.
“Are you insane?!” Sneasel hissed. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“You really are an idiot,” Haunter whispered at the same time. “Don’t.”
Buizel watched in agony as the Grovyle walked up to Shaun and raised his claws. It was going to kill him. It was going to-
It slammed its claws into the ground. Buizel struggled with a wordless cry and slumped in despair. It had done it. It-
“Where the hell did Shaun go?!” Sneasel whispered frantically. “He’s not there!”
Buizel straightened up, still restrained by Sneasel and Haunter. “What?” His voice cracked even though he was whispering.
Shaun was standing a few feet behind the Grovyle. Buizel stared as the Grovyle looked around wildly for a second before Shaun barreled into its back with a Volt Tackle.
Buizel would’ve cheered if it didn’t compromise their position, so he had to settle for fist pumps, which was a bit awkward for the Pokemon restraining him. “Would you cut that out?” Haunter whispered. “We get that you’re excited.”
The Grovyle had regained its bearings and rushed at Shaun again, but Shaun seemed to fizzle out of existence before it got there. The Grovyle skidded to a stop and looked around wildly again just as Shaun appeared again and Tackled the Grovyle.
“How is he doing that?” Buizel whispered. “He’s just… disappearing!”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Sneasel replied.
Just as Shaun looked like he finally might stand a chance, the Grovyle burrowed underground.
“No.” Buizel watched in horror as Shaun dashed over to where the Grovyle had been, obviously confused. “No no no no.”
“What is he doing?!” Sneasel looked like she wanted to rush in herself. “He’s weak to Ground-type moves and that’s Dig!”
Shaun took a direct blow from underground and was sent flying through the air before hitting the grass with a muffled whump and a groan. Buizel couldn’t do anything as he watched the Grovyle rush at Shaun, seemingly intending to finish him off before he was able to do anything else-
The Grovyle suddenly stopped in its tracks, like it had suddenly been frozen.
Buizel blinked, confused. “What…?”
They were both lifted off of the ground, eliciting a yelp from Shaun. Sneasel involuntarily inhaled. “Why is he here? Why is he here now?”
From the proper entrance stepped Meowstic, and to Buizel’s larger shock, Ampharos and Lucario. His vision seemed to go fuzzy as he watched three Time Gears float out of the bag and deposit themselves at Meowstic’s feet.
The prisoners and the imprisoners debated back and forth for a minute before Meowstic started arguing with Ampharos. Halfway through the argument, Meowstic shouted, “He’s a TIME GEAR, Ampharos!”
Buizel felt like his world had just imploded. “He’s- what?”
Sneasel reacted in a very similar way. “What? He- how is that-“ she stuttered.
“While you two process that, I’m going to go free him from his psychic prison,” Haunter said dryly. He floated into the clearing and vanished, leaving Buizel and Sneasel standing behind the bushes.
Haunter leaving reminded Buizel that they still had to get out of here with Shaun in tow. “What do you suggest we do?” he asked Sneasel. “Run?”
“Sounds as good a plan as any,” she answered faintly. “A Time Gear! How does that even work?”
Shaun drifted down as Haunter invisibly lowered him onto the grass. As soon as he was let go, his legs buckled. “Ow!” he said in surprise. “What the-?!”
Sneasel grabbed his paw and they started running deeper into the forest, as far away from the clearing as possible. Behind them, a small uproar started as the other Pokemon realized that Shaun had disappeared.
“What the heck?” Shaun said as Sneasel let go of his paw so that he could run more freely.
“You’re being rescued,” she replied. “Less talking, more running.”
His brain processed who was talking. “Sneasel?”
“Less talking, more running,” she repeated as they ran. “You’ll give us away.”
Shaun seemed to want to ask more questions, but he shut up. He was having a hard time navigating through the darkness, tripping on unseen hazards and he kept having to be pulled back to the group.
Shaun stumbled particularly badly over something and collapsed, bringing the entire group to a halt. “Oh right, you’re probably exhausted after all of that,” Sneasel said sheepishly.
Shaun was gasping for air. “You could… huff… say that…”
“I’m more shocked that he’s still alive,” said Haunter musingly. “I thought that the Grovyle would kill him before we’d get the chance to step in.”
“Wouldn’t… kill me…” Shaun wheezed. “Too… valuable…”
“So we gathered,” Sneasel replied dryly. “Congratulations on being a Time Gear, by the way. I think you’re the only Pokemon in the world to have that particular distinction.”
“Thaaaanks,” Shaun said, deadpan.
“Come on, we need to keep going,” Buizel said nervously. He didn’t want to be caught by those three Pokemon in particular.
“Buizel?”
Something about the tone of Shaun’s voice made Buizel pause. It sounded like relief mixed with faint incredulity, and something else that Buizel didn’t recognize.
“Two of three,” applauded Haunter. “I think he’s smarter than I gave him credit for.”
Shaun pushed himself off of the ground. “Sure, man.” He obviously didn’t recognize Haunter’s voice. “I don’t think I can run any farther than this.”
In response, Sneasel picked him up off of the ground and slung him over her shoulder. “Ow,” he complained. “Right in the gut punch.”
Buizel was sure that the running made Shaun even less comfortable, but Shaun refrained from complaining as they ran through the woods. “So what have you been up to while I’ve been kidnapped?” he asked jokingly.
“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” Buizel said as they navigated through a particularly dense part of the forest. “I’ll tell you later.”
“Less talking, more running,” Sneasel said with exaggerated patience. “We really don’t want those Pokemon catching us.”
Buizel had no idea how lost they were until they stumbled out of the woods and into farmland.
Farmland, probably 3 acres in total, stretched wide in front of them as they ran through bushes of unidentifiable berries. “Where the heck is this?!” Buizel panted as they ran through it.
“I don’t know,” Haunter said, floating along. “I have literally never seen this place before.”
“Hey, there’s a cottage over that way,” Shaun said from Sneasel’s shoulder.
They turned and looked. At the very edge of the woods was, in fact, a cottage. The lights were on, providing a small ray of hope to the group.
“Do you think the Pokemon will help us?” Buizel asked as they ran towards it.
“Depends on if there’s anymon inside,” Sneasel replied from the front of the group.
They reached the cottage after a minute of sprinting. Buizel collapsed onto the ground, heaving exhausted breaths. Sneasel lowered Shaun to the ground and also collapsed, breathing heavily. Shaun hadn’t run the entire way and felt energetic enough to walk up to the door and knock politely.
After a tense minute, the door opened, revealing a Tropius. Shaun took an involuntary step back due to the sheer size of the mon, but he asked politely, “Um, excuse me, sir, may we stay in this house for a little while? We’ve been running from some, uh, less than paragon people.”
The Tropius’ long neck curved around the door to survey the rest of the Pokemon outside of its house. “Odd little group,” it said, “But yes, you can stay in here for a while.”
Sneasel entered the house first, followed by Shaun. As Buizel stepped foot on the doorstep, he glanced back at Haunter, who saluted him with a grin. “I’ll see you again soon, friend.” He floated away backwards, fading into the darkness as he did. Buizel stared after him for a moment before shrugging and stepping inside the cottage.
The interior of the cottage was very simple. A table sat underneath the window which looked out onto the dark farmland. Two stools were next to the table, which Sneasel and Shaun occupied, Sneasel with her head in her claws.
Buizel sat down on the dirt floor and leaned against the wall. “Well. What the heck do we do now?”
The question lingered in the air, unanswered. Shaun stared out the window at the night sky, which had taken on a faint purple tint. “Dunno,” he said after a few minutes. “We can’t exactly ‘go home’.”
Buizel laughed, a little hysterically. “Ohhhh my gosh, I’m going to be in so much trouble if I go home.”
“Ugh, if you think you have it bad.” Sneasel finally looked around the house they were in. “Where did that Tropius go, anyway?”
“He said something about tending to the farm,” Shaun said. “I’m slightly worried that he’s gonna sell us out.”
“He better not,” Sneasel growled.
Buizel had a sudden thought. He stood up and untied one of the scarves that was wrapped around his neck. “Hey, Shaun. I have something for you.”
Shaun glanced at Buizel and his eyebrows shot up. “Whoa, nice scarf.”
Buizel took the cloth that had been a second scarf and walked over to Shaun with it. “Can I put this on you?” he asked.
The question took Shaun by surprise. “Oh! Um, sure?” He sat still while Buizel carefully tied a knot behind his neck, looking down as Buizel stepped back to admire his handiwork.
“Looks great on you!” Buizel grinned, his exhaustion trying to put a damper on his spirits. He adjusted his own scarf so that it matched Shaun’s. “We have matching scarves now!”
Shaun stared at the scarf he was wearing for a few seconds. “This is for me?”
“Yeah!” Buizel bobbed his head enthusiastically. “It’ll set you apart from the multitudes of other Shinx we have around here,” he said jokingly.
Shaun raised a paw to the scarf and let it fall again. “I don’t know how to thank you for this,” he said, looking into Buizel’s eyes honestly. “This is such a gift.”
“You can thank me by getting out of this alive,” Buizel said. He walked back over to sit by the door and lean against the wall, where he yawned. “I want to sleep.” The entire day’s events were starting to catch up with him, and all he wanted to do was lie down and rest for a while.
“Why didn’t you?” Shaun asked. “You didn’t have to… rescue me.”
He said the words as if he was ashamed of needing to be rescued. Buizel looked up at Shaun, who was studying him and Sneasel. “You could’ve stayed home and been safer,” Shaun continued. “And probably in less trouble, too.”
Sneasel laughed heartlessly. “If we didn’t rescue you, then Buizel would’ve worried himself to death over you.”
Buizel felt his face flush. “That’s not true! I would’ve just…” He trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought. “Anyway, you’re safe now, and that’s all that matters.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
The group of Pokemon stared at Meowstic as he walked through the front door and surveyed the room. “And you’re all in deep trouble.”