Chapter 30: Uncertainty


After wandering for several hours through the open plains, Vincent has finally found himself at the foot of a tall, rugged mountain, which seems to extend into a much larger range to the east. He stops and takes a look up at the monstrous rock formation standing before him, an imposing presence to be in the eyes of any wary traveler, unsuspecting of what would await them.

As he gazes over the mountain, he shakes his head and utters a quiet sigh. "Mt. Bristle. How could she have wound up here?" He stretches his limbs out and shakes off a bit of fatigue from the day's travels, before glancing around for a path to take. After a moment, he comes to a crevice between two cliffs. Looking on briefly, he finds it to be a suitable passage, and treads on.

Along the way here, Vincent had come across some wild pokemon in the fields. After asking, they informed him of someone who seems to fit Melissa's description very well, and told him that she came this way. However, what they said about her made him even more concerned for her than before. Going on their word, he found his way to this mountain, and has now decided to search this place everywhere he can for his sister.

As he scales the mountain, he eventually comes to a small cavern under a rocky cliff. Peering inside, he can hear the sounds of quiet whimpering. Curiously and cautiously, he squeezes his way through the tiny entrance to look around. It is inky black in here, and his blue rings begin to glow. However, as soon as they do, he catches the sight of a deep blue flame rushing directly at him.

On instinct, he rolls quickly to the side to evade the torrent of flames, which quickly go out after hitting the cavern wall. He then stamps his paw on the ground, creating a wave of bright light to illuminate the tiny cavern. Only a few feet away from him, he can see a smaller pokemon crouched down, staring at him in panic: a Cyndaquil. Vincent looks in surprise at the little pokemon, but quickly catches onto the flames which erupt from its back, and it curls up and rolls at him.

He jumps over the fire-type to avoid its Flame Wheel and then turns around and shouts, "Melissa, stop!"

The Cyndaquil comes to a halt in her movements and turns back towards him, puzzled and appearing to be in disbelief. Soon, she lowers her head and utters in a quiet, weak voice, "Vincent...?"

The Umbreon looks over the smaller pokemon for several moments before taking a few steps closer to her. "I've been looking all over for you. I thought for the longest time that you didn't make it..."

He runs over to his younger sister and embraces her, and the Cyndaquil remains quiet, but it's clear that she's shaken by the encounter and she presses her long snout into his shoulder. The orange stone around her neck glimmers slightly with the light-blue one around Vincent's.

"Vincent... What happened to us? How did we get this way?"

Vincent soon pulls back from her and lets out a quiet sigh. "I don't really know... I think it had to do with what happened when we traveled through time. I think we were attacked. But...I'm not sure what happened. I blacked out, and when I woke up, I was like this."

Melissa looks up at him with a worried expression. "And...Christina and Raven?"

"They're okay. They're with an exploration guild in the town we woke up near. We should go back and meet them."

The Cyndaquil nods and then looks down in though. "What about your friend?"

Vincent shifts a bit and glances at the hole leading out of the small cavern. "...I've yet to find Grovyle. I hope he's doing alright."

He motions towards the exit and Melissa follows after him, stopping for a second and shaking her head, seeming somewhat disoriented. Vincent glances back at her, stopping in his tracks.

"Are you feeling okay?"

The smaller fire-type moves up behind him with a small, even unconvincing, nod. "Yeah, I think so... Let's go."

The Umbreon eyes her, hesitant, but deciding to wait a while before pressing the matter. He is worried about what happened to her after they arrived, and is wanting to make sure she'll be okay. As the two crawl back through the hole, they glance around the area again. Vincent shifts uncomfortably when he realizes this isn't quite the same as it was when he came, recalling what he'd said about the Beach Cave before.

"It's happening here too..."

Melissa looks over at him with confusion as he steps forward. "What is?"

"Melissa, have you ever gone through an area in this realm, and you couldn't tell how you got to where you were?"

The Cyndaquil tilts her head, perplexed by the question, then shakes it. "I don't know. I was mostly too busy running away from pokemon attacking me and finding somewhere to hide."

Vincent looks around again before turning back towards her. "Pokemon aren't always hostile here. Mostly just in places affected by the mystery dungeon distortions."

Melissa paces up to his side and takes a glance around the rugged mountain terrain surrounding them as far as they can see. "I think I heard about something like that... But I don't quite get it."

"It's complicated. But you've never gotten lost anywhere and unable to find your way out?"

"Not that I know of. But like I said, I wasn't paying attention."

Vincent is somewhat tense at the notion, wondering if she may have been influenced by the same power he has which he can use to escape the distortions. Of all things, why did it have to be this? He utters a quiet growl, one barely noticeable by the fire-type, but expressing his uneasiness to the thought.

Still, he decides it would be better to investigate further later on, and proceeds to make his way ahead and find his way through the area. As the two travel, Melissa catches a glimpse of two pokemon wandering through the small valley below the cliff they're on. Vincent turns his attention to idly look at the pair: a Drowzee and Azurill.

For a moment, he stares at them. He seems to vaguely remember a passing glance of the small water pokemon from Treasure Town while he was making his way from Sharpedo Bluff, but until now, he'd never thought of it. He begins to wonder why the child is here, of all places, and who the older psychic-type he's with is. The two couldn't possibly be a part of the guild, particularly the young Azurill.

Vincent looks back at Melissa, who seems to be pondering the same things, and they make their way along the top of the cliff. From here, they're too far to get the pair's attention, so they first decide to look for a way to get down to them.

Little would they expect, however, that pursuing the two are Raven, Christina and Silva. A short ways down the mountain, the trio ventures on in search of Azurill and Drowzee, intently pressing on to save the small, unsuspecting pokemon from the clutches of a dangerous outlaw. The further up the mountain they get, the more anxious Raven becomes to find the pokemon he saw only a few hours earlier in a vision, threatening the poor child. He never thought he could let such a person get away, knowing what he intended to do.

Raven stops near a small boulder to catch his breath, then smacks it with his paw in frustration. Christina pauses a moment, looking over at him, before smacking his shoulder. "Hey, stop it already. We'll find them, okay?"

The male Pikachu sighs, irritated and in distraught. "I know. Just, he was right there and we didn't even stop him."

Silva walks over to him, speaking in a low voice. "We didn't know... Whatever it is you saw, there was no way of knowing whether it was real or not."

Raven growls, causing her to tense up and stagger back a step, but then he lets out a quiet breath. "Come on. We'll never find them just standing around."

He wanders off and the Chikorita watches him, the leaf on her head dropping a bit as she sighs, unsettled by his irritability. She sticks close to Christina as they go on, until Raven eventually comes to a sudden halt, staring ahead. Just as he expected, the Azurill can be seen trembling up against a cliffside with the larger Drowzee drawing closer to him. Immediately, Raven charges up electrical power, and unleashes it in a quick bolt, striking the ground behind the psychic-type and throwing up some dirt.

The Drowzee jumps and quickly turns around, staggering somewhat at the sudden attack and the sight of the three pokemon facing him, Raven in the lead and glaring at him heatedly.

"H-huh!? How did you three get here?"

Raven shouts back, "Cut the act, Drowzee! We know who you are!"

The outlaw looks bewildered and taken aback by his agression. "So you're here to..." He suddenly blinks and eyes Silva, who's standing next to Christina, appearing to be shivering. Just at the sight, he begins to grin.

"...Ohoho. Look at you!"

Raven and Christina both glance over at her and she jerks her head the other direction. The Drowzee then laughs with great amusement.

"Ahah! I get it. You're an exploration team, right? But you're just a bunch of rookies! How pathetic!"

Silva winces and looks to the ground, and Raven clenches his paw. "Silva..."

"Yeah, I'm an outlaw, alright. Got a pretty big bounty on my head, too. But of all the teams who've chased me, I've never seen a sorrier bunch than you! You really think you can apprehend me?"

Silva takes a deep breath, then steps forward, looking up at the uncouth pokemon. She musters up what determination she can and stands up straight. "Yes... Yes, we can!"

The Drowzee sneers, giving a threatening glance at the smaller grass-type. "Oh, this should be a laugh."

Raven moves up next to Silva, his cheeks sparking. "It's three against one. You can't possibly walk out of here in one piece."

"Heh... Come and get me, then."

- - - - -

Vincent freezes in place, overlooking the scene below. Now, he's gotten close enough to be able to hear everything, and is taken aback by it all. But even moreso that Raven, Christina and Silva have come to take him down. Instinct rushes in and he makes a move to try and get down to them and help, followed by Melissa. But they are halted in their advances by a group of Nidoran, a small pack of several males who've become protective of their home and targeting the two for entering their territory.

Vincent crouches down, glaring at the group, his gaze shifting for just a split second to see the Drowzee effectively taking on the three below and putting up a tough fight. "I don't have time for you, so get out of the way."

He swiftly steps forward and phases into the middle of the group, catching them by surprise and then stamping his paw down. Several bursts of light shoot up from the ground around him, knocking the group of rodent pokemon, and he looks back at Melissa. "Come on!"

The Cyndaquil nods, staggered by Vincent's display but quickly composing herself rushing past the group. Several yards ahead, Vincent spins and smacks the rocky cliff face with a glowing tail, causing part of it to collapse and quickly running off to avoid the falling boulders which would block the pack's attempts to follow them.

As he looks down at the valley, he can see the Azurill quivering against the wall while Drowzee tosses Silva to the side with his psychic power, and then lures Christina to sleep when she runs after him. Raven comes back to his feet and launches a Thunderbolt at him, which he narrowly evades, before rushing him and striking him down forcibly with his paws.

As he approaches the downed Pikachu, he makes a low, taunting chuckle. "You've got some spine, but you lack experience. A pity I have to take you out here."

Silva staggers up and then swings her head leaf, firing several more leaves at him and he swings his arm back out, tearing them apart with psychic force. They fall helplessly to the ground and he snorts at the Chikorita before turning back to Raven. But he suddenly looks up to see a figure leaping down from the nearby cliff just before several streams of light are shot up from the ground in a path headed straight for him.

The Drowzee shrieks in surprise and jerks off to the side, but is clipped by one of the beams and knocked over. "Agh...! W-wha-"

As he stumbles to his feet, Silva takes the very brief chance she has to run forward and swinging her leaf, releasing a gust of purple particles at the psychic-type.

The opponent is bewildered as he is covered in the powder-like substance, and gasps...to his great blunder. Almost immediately, he heaves and falls to his knees, trembling. "W-what is this!?"

Silva glares fiercely at the downed pokemon. "Have a taste of my Poisonpowder, you bully!"

The Drowzee coughs and grunts in pain, clutching his stomach as he tries to stand, but his legs won't respond. Raven makes his way to his feet and looks over at him, then towards the Azurill still sitting up against the cliffside. He shakes off his fatigue from the fight and runs over to the little water mouse. "Hey, are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

The small pokemon shakes his head and stutters, "N-no... I was so scared!"

"It's fine now, you're safe. Can you come back with us?"

The Azurill nods quickly and gets up, and Raven walks with him back to Christina and Silva, then looks at Vincent, who's standing in front of the fallen Drowzee.

"How did you intend to get out of here after you'd finished your job?"

The psychic-type groans in discomfort at the poison spreading through his body. "I nabbed one of those badges off a team that came after me a few weeks ago... I've been using it to get out of these places and escape all the pokemon trailing after me."

Raven walks over to him and immediately reaches his paw into the tiny pouch he's carrying on him, and he grunts out, "H-hey!"

The Pikachu pulls out a small, white, spherical object shaped like a ball with two gold-colored wings on its sides. On sight of it, Vincent lifts up and steps backwards, and Raven looks at him in confusion.

Vincent stares at the badge for a moment and Raven stares back at him. "What?"

The Umbreon shakes his head slowly. "Nothing... It's nothing. Just thought I felt something."

Raven grasps the badge in his paw and looks down at it. "You've never seen one of these before?"

Vincent shifts a bit. "No, actually. I never hung around exploration teams so I didn't ever get to see what their badges looked like."

"Well now you know."

The Umbreon nods halfheartedly. "Now I do..."

Drowzee looks between the group, puzzled, still holding his stomach and choking out a single question. "Who are you people?"

As Christina comes to, she lifts her head up and looks around, dilusional, before spotting Vincent and Melissa. She furrows her brows at them, surprised to see her brother, and curious at the smaller pokemon with him. But it soon clicks when she sees the orange necklace she bears.

She sits up and stares at the Cyndaquil for a moment, as though in disbelief at what she sees, and then she puts her paw around her own purple necklace. In response, both Melissa's and Vincent's glow in the same color, radiating a soft light.

Melissa looks down at her necklace, before setting her own paw on it, and Vincent does the same with his. Soon, all three release a wave of energy across the valley, a calming aura. Vincent blinks at the wave and Raven looks between them, baffled at what's happening.

"That was...interesting." Vincent takes his paw from his necklace and sets it back on the ground. The Azurill bounces a few times with apparent glee and they glance over at him.

"It makes me feel so giddy!"

Vincent can't help but utter a quiet chuckle at the sight, then looks over at his sisters, Raven and Silva, and then down at the Drowzee. "You'll come with us now."

The psychic-type looks down in dejection at the order. "Oh, alright. I can't do much else anyway..."

With Raven and Christina's help, he gets back to his feet and Silva holds her own badge in the air, causing a distortion throughout the valley before a passage seems to extend directly down the mountain. Taking the single route, the group manages to make it down to the base after a short while, only to find Marill waiting with a Magnezone and a small group of Magnemite.

Upon seeing the group, Marill immediately runs over to meet them, and Azurill jumps out to see his older brother. The young water-type crying, Marill makes his best effort to comfort him. Drowzee watches in apparent discomfort as the two are reunited. The sight of the little Azurill in tears in front of his brother seems to draw, for the first time, a feeling of guilt from the outlaw who's spent so long hurting others for his own benefit. Now, he has been captured, and the last thing he gets to witness before his arrest is the bitter consequence of his actions- the emotional trauma he has brought to a child.

Vincent eyes him silently as the Magnemite surround him, and Raven and Christina let go of him, causing him to drop weakly to his knees. He grunts pitifully before two of the small robotic pokemon hover on either side of him and lift him up by his arms. He struggles to his feet and growls in pain.

Soon, Raven clenches his paws and walks over in front of them as they start to walk on, and the Magneton eyes him cautiously. He reaches into his sack and pulls out a pecha berry, before handing it to the Drowzee, who eyes the small fruit questioningly.

"Eat it. This will help heal your poisoning."

The psychic-type is taken aback by his offer and takes the berry in one hand. He stares down at it in surprise, before looking at Raven.

Before he can speak, Raven asserts himself again. "I'm not being nice. You put a child's life in danger and probably scarred him for life. But if you're to make it to the jail, you're going to need that."

Without another word, he steps away and the Drowzee looks down to the ground, staring as though something truly meaningful were lying there at his feet. And then the Magnemite proceed to carry him to the sheriff Magneton.

The larger electric-type moves around to face the group and then speaks up in a mechanical voice, like that of an old computer AI, with a buzzing sound behind it. "Thanks to you, we have been able to arrest a wanted outlaw. We owe you great thanks for your cooperation. We will send the reward to your guild."

The officer then glances at Vincent and Melissa. "However...you two don't appear to be part of an exploration team. Confronting an outlaw puts you at great risk, and your well being cannot be placed in the responsibility of the exploration guild. I strongly advise you not to try and apprehend any criminals in the future, for your own safety."

Vincent doesn't respond, as though the Magneton had said something absurd but he feels no reason to attest to his capabilities. Instead, he lets the group of officers go about taking Drowzee away. The Magnezone faces Drowzee and its red and blue magnets begin to flicker in rotation as it says sternly, "Now you come with us."

The exhausted pokemon sighs as they wander off and eventually out of sight, and Raven looks at the two brothers. "Are you alright?"

Marill nods and looks at his younger brother. "Yeah, thanks to you. Really, I don't know what I'd have done if you didn't come to help..."

Christina smiles a bit at them. "It's really nothing. Let's just get back to the town, alright?"

The Marill nods quickly. "Right!"

She then turns towards Vincent and her tone lowers somewhat. "Will you go with us, Vincent...?"

The Umbreon looks back at her for a moment, then sighs softly. "I don't see why not."

Christina goes over to him and wraps her arms tightly around his neck, then looks over at Melissa, who smiles lightly back at her, and she lets out a quiet breath. "Thank you..." She then pulls back. "It's good to see you again, sis."

The Cyndaquil nods back to her. "You too, Christina. I missed you guys."

Raven looks over at Vincent, seeming somewhat concerned, as well as curious. But before he's able to bring anything up, he's interrupted by the bouncing of the young Azurill, and Marill chuckles.

"I think we should go now."

Raven glances back at them, and rolls his eyes at the bubbly display of the little child. "Right. Come on, guys."

The group starts off towards Treasure Town, where they would eventually return to the exploration guild. Along the way, Vincent begins to ponder several things. He hasn't felt the same since talking with Lucas, and many questions sear through his mind, yearning for answers. But he wonders if it would be right for him to go looking for them. He mulls it over while walking, and decides only time will tell what he should do.