Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Seasons of Heaven

Episode 27: Loneliness Together

"But how? How could they do something like that to Esther? That's just impossible!" Infia gasped.

"No... no it's not," Lute said. He gulped aloud. "Spirle kidnapped her that one time. And then they handed her back to us without much of a fight. That was when we first met Tetra."

"You catch on quickly, thankfully. Whilst we initially thought the act to be a petty little ransom game, it turns out that they predicted they might get useful information out of whatever agent came to rescue her. Or more specifically, you, Lute," Athens stated. The Eevee was shaking. "Don't worry, we're not accusing you anymore. With the absurdity of this scenario, even our veteran teams would have fallen for it. I assume they only picked you because they knew you were a new agent, a young one who might overlook details."

"Thank goodness, anyway. With the base gone, they aren't gonna sneak any new info from us," Sophitia said.

"We can't take any chances, though. We've begun preparations for your punishment, as well as what to do about Esther's condition," Athens continued.

"You are still going to punish us?" Phoenix questioned.

"At the end of the day, your team is responsible for a mass damage to the entirety of the Agents of King's Shield. And don't forget, I saw you with Kuri. You are fully aware that he is a high priority for capture, yet you were aiding him," Silver replied. "Add in the continuous disobeying of Lassic's orders to stay away from the temples and the Aseria legend, and well, your group's been asking for a punishment for a while."

"You are one rotten group, you know that?" Naivie popped out. "You're seriously gonna lock these guys up for stuff that you just admitted is barely even their fault? That's a real dick move, and trust me, I know about being a dick!"

"Esther's operation comes first," Athens said.

"Operation?" Phoenix said. Athens nodded.

"She was operated on to place that camera in her head in first place, so we'll have to reverse the procedure to remove it. Although," he said, tilting his head.

"Although?" Sophitia said slowly.

"I can't quite picture how this might go. Our scientists and doctors are saying that they definitely won't be able to remove it without serious damage to Esther in general," Athens explained. He cleared his throat. "I'll be blunt. Esther is going to lose her sight and hearing."

Everyone's mouths hit the floor, and Esther gasped. The Hitmonlee let her go however, to which she growled and closed her fists. "Is this some kinda joke? You guys are gonna make me deaf and blind?"

"For the sake of Aseria's future safety, we have to remove that camera. We're being respectful in letting you know before we do this," Silver said.

"This is some kind of sick joke. Do you seriously expect us to be okay with this?" Phoenix raised his voice.

"This is her whole life we're talking about here. The rest of her life will be ruined!" Lute said.

"You don't have a choice in this matter. They could redirect the camera source at any time. As long as it's there, what happened today is liable to happen again," Silver warned.

"Are you listening to yourself right now?" Phoenix said, livid. "We are supposed to just sit here and let you take away this young girl's life just because of what Spirle did to her? Would you do the same thing to yourself?"

Silver audibly took in a breath, and she shifted back a bit. Her face barely changed though, something she was obnoxiously good at. "I would. For the sake of Aseria—"