Last time: After the long and grueling mission they had returned back home for rest, but Bianco was asked to inform the guild of the events while Nero learned more about what had happened to humans and while Pokémon don't seem too keen to trust them.
Location: Athena Forest Mystery Dungeon F5
The mystery dungeon of Athena Forest was lively that morning, several small bug and grass-type Pokémon were roaming around, and a Weedle was resting, peacefully sleeping on a small pouch with a Poke symbol for this world's currency. Nero walked up and picked up the sack to see the money inside. Behind him was both Bianco and Halo. The Weedle woke up and saw the three, before it started to do anything, Bianco used Slash on them, a one-shot hit the Pokémon and knocked them out. "The forest is lively today huh?" Bianco said looking around to see some of the Wild Pokémon around.
"Yeah, good thing they aren't strong right?" Nero said with a smile of confidence.
"Don't get cocky Nero, last time we were here Clay nearly ripped us apart yesterday," Bianco said as they continued. They were on a side mission to look for a specific item, they did find it and since it wasn't an urgent mission, they agreed to keep going to look for items, they did find some stuff they could either keep or sell.
Nero looked at his badge which released a hologram screen that showed his stats, they have been fighting a lot, but he noticed he hasn't been leveling up much, Bianco did explain that weaker Pokémon don't give a lot of experience for them to level up. He wanted to finish the mission as soon as possible to see Sapphire and Rune to review the journal together, he trusted Apollonia with the journal and asked her to let them see it.
Location: Grand Light Guild
The trio made it inside the guild hall to see several members of the guild either minding their own business or watching a particular table. They made their way to the table which had Sapphire the Shiny Kirlia and Rune the Kabutops along with Clay the Golurk looking over them, on the table was the journal along with several papers across it all freshly written. The two of them looked over the papers they had written on and the journal itself both speaking at an intense pace as they worked, it was hard to make out what they were saying. Sapphire was writing several notes with her psychic ability.
Nero looked to see Apollonia carefully watching them with a mug floating with a psychic aura and drinking from it before seeing the team walking up to them. "How'd the mission go?" Apollonia asked, with Bianco answering.
"It was easier than last time." Bianco said as he looked back to the duo working hard.
"How long have they been working for? I gave them the journal before we left this morning." Nero said just impressed about the progress of work they've done.
"The moment you both left, so two hours." Apollonia answered before sipping her drink again.
"Whoa, maybe I should help them out." Nero said as he walked up to the two, unknown to him, Rune saw him in his bladed hands, they then leaped into the air with him landing right behind Nero using his blades with the edged-on rulers to examine them again. "AH! Hey! Rune!"
"Nero! What do you know?! Where is this from?! What are you hiding?!" Rune asks, sounding almost insane. They used the sides of their blades to grab the Riolu boy to pick them up to flip them upside down to make them handstand. Rune was then stopped by getting hit in the back of their head by Apolloina's Iron Tail move.
Nero then moved over to the table, still in his hands before flipping over to stand next to her. "Hey, how's--" Nero wanted to ask before Sapphire grabbed him by his hands pulling him close to look over the notes and paper.
"Nero, look at this!" Sapphire said with extreme excitement, practically shaking with joy. "The journal talks a lot about some figures and locations, these locations however are not labeled on any maps I've seen before, same for Rune! Not just that but they talk almost in code about something!"
"Code for what?" Nero asked with Sapphire pulling him closer and whispering in his ear.
"Humans, it is humans. It talks about cities from an ancient time with them describing something that doesn't sound like a Pokémon but humans." She said as she pulled away from Nero before she spun around like a ballerina with her excitement. "Heeeeee! This is amazing!"
"Many, these two are weird... At least the other two members of their team are normal...Ish." Rusty said as he was sitting at a table far off with his team.
Once she stopped spinning as she went back to working hard. "There is more though, the locations the journal talks about are vague but could still be tracked down. There is also talking about this sword and shield thing--"
"Oh, you mean the Harpe Sword and Achilles Shield?" Nero said with Sapphire looking at him with interest. "Oh, I know about those because of this." Nero said as he raised his arm before summoning his Harpe Sword, surprising almost everyone who hadn't seen it before.
Rune crawled on the ground trying to reach for the sword to look at it. "Must... see... let... me... see!" Rune said, trying to get the sword. Nero just took a step back as Rusty and Havoc walked up and picked up Rune and had him sit down. "Thanks... Nero, sorry, I've been a historian for my whole life, and I was just too excited. Can I see that sword?" Rune asked.
"Um... sure." Nero said as he placed the sword on the table, he never had let it out of his hands before, but this was the first time letting it go. "It also turns into the Shield too; I called them my Harpe Sword and Achilles Shield."
Rune then examined the sword before him, all the historical and fascinating evidence he could find. They used their bladed hands to hold onto the handle to try and pick it up but once they tried to pick it up, it didn't budge. "What?" Rune said surprised, the Harpe Sword felt heavy, so heavy that it couldn't even be moved.
"What's wrong?" Sapphire asked, confused.
"This sword won't budge!" Rune said as he struggled to try and pick it up, he even slipped and fell over. Sapphire then walked up to the sword, reached out to hold the handle to try and pick it up only for it to not move.
Sapphire released the sword and tried to pick up the sword with her psychic powers only for it to not even move by an inch. After her attempt, Rusty tried to lift the sword too, but it seemed to be just like with Sapphire as it didn't move before both him and Havoc tried to rip it off the table. Raider then joined in only for them to fail. Then other members tried to lift the sword off the table, multiple members of the guild such as Gaius, Berserker, Apollonia, Bianco and many more tried only for them to fail, all trying as if it was a game. Halo was the last one who hopped on the table before trying to pick it up with her teeth. Nero then picked up the sword that felt light as a feather to him while to others it was a mountain.
"Is it really that heavy?" Nero asked with the multiple members of the guild looking exhausted from trying to pick up the weapon.
"Kid, what are you made of?!" Raider said as he pointed at Nero.
"I have a theory." Rune said as he walked up to the sword in Nero's hands. "It could be the sword and shield; they might only let Nero wield them and not anyone else. Interesting, yes. I might have to ask for more of this sword in the future, Nero."
"Hey, I can confirm that you can hold the sword as long as it is in his hands. While we were fighting Clay, I picked him up and swung him around like a sword." Rusty explained with Rune pulling out a paper and pen.
Nero agreed and confirmed this and for the future testing, a part of him wanted to tell him about the dreams he has been having lately, a voice telling him what to do and guiding him, but without any evidence he'll just sound crazy. After some of the other members talked about what happened, some of them looked embarrassed over not being able to lift a simple sword.
Elsewhere in the guild hall someone could hear everything in a vent in the ceiling. The vent system of the guild hall was complex to say the least, full of twists and turns along with cages and pipes that blocked off parts of the guild for Pokémon to try and roam around inside of it. The one listening was mentally remembering every detail everyone was talking about and what they saw as they looked at the notes. Luckily for them they had a perfect memory, they then left the vent, flying through the vents without making a sound twisting and turning around before making it outside leaving the vents through an opening at the side of a cliff over the ocean.
The Pokémon was Al the Murkrow who flew up to land on a lithophytes tree where there were two nest where he landed on one that was covered with black feather, he moved some of the branches to pull out a book and one of his feathers that were scattered around and wrote down as much as he learned. "Hmm, this mission is too easy, the Doctor was right, letting them do all the work makes what I learn easy."
"You said it neighbor!" Said another Pokémon from the other nest, a pigeon looking Pokémon with gray and black feathers and yellow eyes. It was a Pidove the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon. "Better to let others do the work, like this nest I stole after knocking out the last guy."
"Don't talk to me."
"Please, I'm so lonely!" Pidove begged for company before Al flew up with his book. "I should have moved into town."
Back inside the guild, Nero was sitting at the table looking over the many notes Rune and Sapphire made, seeing them as mostly seeing that many of the pages did indeed talk about locations that aren't written on any map. He wanted to look for the notes about the door he saw in the journal but he didn't find anything but saw none, he thought they didn't cover it yet but instead looked to find nothing, the pages that had the gate was gone, he didn't see they were ripped out but rather it was as if the pages were missing.
Nero saw Rune walking up to him. "Nero, I am here to collect my notes, I'll make you copies of them when I can." Rune said with Nero handing him the notes, he noticed the uneasy look on his face. "Are you alright Nero?"
"Well, it's just that some pages are missing, yesterday I saw these pages about a gate, and I know I saw them." Nero explained, noticing that Rune looked even more uneasy than he was, almost panicking.
"Um, right, I don't think I saw those pages. Sorry Nero, maybe you imagined them or something." Rune said nervously. Nero didn't believe his words; his voice and body language were giveaways that he lied to him. "I'm just going to talk to Apollonia now. Thanks for the journal, I'd like to look at it more in the future." Rune said as he walked away and up to Apollonia who was making sure Halo wasn't upset about not being able to pick up the sword, he whispered in her ear, and they walked away without anyone seeing them go to a door further into the guild hall.
Once they checked to see they were alone, Apollonia started to talk. "Sigh, I should have known he saw those pages about the gate."
"How much does he know?" Rune asked.
"So far, nothing, they were written in a lost language, I removed the pages the best I could without ripping them out, I gave them to Julius before handing them to you." Apollonia explained before seeing Rune looked betrayed. "What?"
"You didn't tell me right away that you found pages about the gate?" Rune said before falling to his knees and crying out tears like a garden hose from his eyes. "I thought we were friends. I even almost saw you as a daughter."
"Well, you are old enough, but quit crying, Master Julius wanted them to see if there was something new." Apollonia explained as Rune got a hold of himself and stood back up.
"True, but still, anyway, those pages do hold some many secrets that Pokémon would want to know about humans fight to the bitter end for it, I'm also surprise Nero could understand the book easily, Sapphire is the second greatest expert on humans in the guild due to me teaching, but yet he can read the language perfectly." Rune said with Apollonia looking nervous. "Why do you think that is?" Rune asked, getting close to her seeing the nervous look before she shook her head.
"That is something I'll keep to myself." Apollonia said before she walked out of the room, they were in.
"Hmm," Rune said as he looked at his mental notes, he felt like he was right after all. "His connection to the journal, his power, origins unknown, and his knowledge about humans... Julius and I were right after all, the boy is connected to humans or... he was one."
Back outside the room, Nero joined back up with the others of Bianco, Halo, and Artimus who sat at a table eating food that both Apollonia and her sister brought. Seeing them starting to eat, Apollonia dashed over to them to eat alongside them. Bianco stopped eating upon seeing Viola and the others of her team entering the guild hall and dashed over to her to fight as in their nature. Almost everyone looked annoyed at their fighting before it was broken up instantly by Raider and Berserker.
The guild's entrance opened up, most of the Pokémon paid no mind but Nero looked at penguin Pokémon with a red body and white fluffy face and beak, they were wearing a mailman's hat and carrying a bundle on their back. They were Delibird, the Delivery Pokémon. "Special delivery! I have request for some teams and items gifted!"
This caught many of the guilds' attendance as some walked up to the Delibird. Giving some of them items and letters they all took. One Pokémon, a large owl looking Pokémon with a grass green hoodie ran up to the Delibird looking excited, they were the same Decidueye, the Arrow Quill Pokémon that he saw when he first came into two a few days ago. "Oh, what about me, I know my order has to come in today."
The Delibird looked annoyed at the Decidueye before looking as if they had an idea. "Sorry no, your order is still coming next week, but I do have something for you, here..." Delibird said as he reached into the parcel before swinging out his winged hand and slapped the Decidueye in the face as hard as he could, knocking them to the ground. "That's from my sister!" The Delibird said before walking past the Decidueye.
"I recognize her handwriting." Decidueye said clearly in pain.
"Alright, oh, I have a commission mission for some teams, all the same employer who is in town." Delibird said before pulling out some envelopes.
Nero looked confused before turning to Apollonia who gladly explained. "Commission missions are missions for specific teams, only for them to do, the teams also get 100 percent of the rewards." Apollonia explained.
"Let's see, Teams Shade Walkers, Dark Fairy, Truth Seekers, Toxic, and Hope." Delibird explained as he handed each team an envelope that they all opened. "Have a good day." Delibird said as he started to leave but before they left, they walked up to the Decidueye as they were getting back up and jumped up to slap them again. "I forgot the second one!"
"She has a lot to say..." Decidueye said before falling over.
The four teams that consisted of Raider, Rune, and Viola along with their teams and one more that the Morgerm he also saw when entering the town looked at the letters, they received along with Bianco reading his own. "What does it say?" Halo asked.
"To the teams requested, Team Hope, this is an expedition mission to investigate an ancient structure in the Mercury mountains as it is suspected to hold low level criminals..." Bianco explains looking confused. "Low level criminals but yet still asks for two teams with high-ranking members?" Bianco said, confused. These commissions were from the same client, right?
"I see we all have the same assignment then." Raider said as he walked up to team Hope with his own paper that has the same text on it as them only it was for a Team Shade Walker. "Strange though, but you might want to check the client."
Bianco looked further and saw who it was from. "Huh? Zagreus of Underland?"
"Under...land?" Nero said, confused.
"Oh, you don't know?" Bianco asked Riolu who didn't understand who Underland was. "Alright, Underland is one of the three major kingdoms of Inizio." Bianco explained as he pulled out a map that showed the region they were in, with a part of it looking like an arm reaching out and far off from it was a large continent next to an arco pleco. "Inizio has a few minor kingdoms that help govern a majority of the region but the three kingdoms that really run things are the one we're in, Olympia with our king Antony. Next is the kingdom that rules the seas, Atlantis and their king Poseidon. Lastly there is Underland, it may be small, but it is powerful with their ruler being King Hades, the eternal king. He has some children with one being Zagreus. I actually saw them yesterday."
"Whoa, so cool." Nero said as he seemed impressed. "Should we do this mission?"
"Well, sometimes Pokémon would turn down commissions, we don't have to do it, this could be too much for you guys so maybe we shouldn't--" Bianco said before looking deeper into the commission and saw the reward being 100,000 Poke and items where he took a sip of his drink and spat it out. "Okay maybe we could do this."
Apollonia looked over his shoulder to see the reward. "I see why now, think you guys can take this mission on?" Apollonia asked.
"Hey, they claim it is low level so yeah." Bianco said as he got out of his seat. "Alright it says the mission met up point is at the docks tomorrow so we should grab some items, I need to see Rhea anyway." Bianco said as he started to walk up with both Nero and Halo following after him.
"Do you want me and Artimus to go with you both?" Apollonia asked.
"Nah, besides, we can handle it." Bianco said as they left the guild hall. Apollonia hoped, they were sure.
Location: Town of Hermus, Moonlight Inn
The Moonlight Inn, a local inn of the town for many to rest, was around three stories in height with a sign at the cymbal of a cat in a ring filled with stained glass. All the rooms were on the inside with the inside having carpets and tables that had vases along with flowers. Each of the rooms were built to house Pokémon's of almost any type, with one of the guests being Hephaestus of the Inizio knights. They sat at a table with both a duck looking Pokémon with a large leek and a canine looking Pokémon with a blade at the side of their head, both having pendants around their necks that had three rings and blue ribbons.
Across from their table was Zagreus drinking a cup of tea. "Hmm, this is some good tea, such a nice-looking place too, don't you agree Hephaestus?" Zagreus asked the Heatran who drank from a straw and nodded in agreement. "Good, do you think this is a good idea?"
"Of course it is, we need to know just who this Nero character is, Kanemaki agreed to send his nephew to get to know why they are since they are both young. I would send one of my students, but it would be too suspicious." Hephaestus said as he continued to drink his tea.
"Good point, hopefully we'll learn just who he is, he may be a child but with all these connections all aiming at him we need to know who he really is." Zagreus said looking serious and felt something fly above him, looking up they saw nothing.
Inside the inn, something landed outside of a window that opened up to look like they were getting fresh air but really it was to let in Al who was invisible before turning back to normal the moment they entered the top floor in a large luxurious looking room that was in total darkness with a set of large king size beds. He stood on top of a table placing the book he had on it.
Three sets of glowing eyes followed Al as he looked around. "Greetings Ostia, Chios, Hypnos, I am dropping off what I found that the Doctor asked about. When you meet up with Eretria to give them the medical supplies." Al explained to them.
"Alright, we'll also inform him that they were requested for a mission." Said one of the Pokémon hidden in the shadows. Al was surprised at their statement before things came out of the shadows, a bat with what looked like four wings, their body was pink and had lime wing flaps. It was Crobat, the Bat Pokémon. "Hehe, good thing this inn was the same one as the head of the Inizio knights staying here." The Crobat said before their body started to glow before a cloud of smoke burst from them, they changed to noodle shaped Pokémon with its body having two shades of pink with rings around its body. It was Furret, the long body Pokémon.
"Chios, good job, it seems you three are great at spying." Al said to Furret.
"Pan, my name is Pan, Al, I know Orcus said we need to go by codenames, so they won't know who we are, but we honestly don't care. Plus, we're totally nobodies, hey we should be called Team Nobody." The Furret named Pan explained.
"I like that name; I prefer nobody to somebody. I don't mind my codename. Ostia has a nice ring to it and better than my old name." Said another figure that exited the shadows, a tall humanoid bunny-like figure with pink cotton puffs around their wrist, ankles, and edges of their ears. They were a shiny Lopunny, the bunny Pokémon.
"Wasn't your last name also a fake name, I mean Ostia does sound better than Diana." Pan said as they scratched their heads. "What about you Hypnos?" Pan said to the last set of eyes in the shadows before light started to spread in the room.
"I hate it, Hypnos is one letter away from Hypno, I don't want to be named after those things." The last figure said as they stayed in the shadows with their burning yellow eyes glowing.
"Then you'll stay as Morpheus then?" Ostia asked with the third member of the team not responding, she took it as a yes. "Well then maybe we'll head out, we need to meet up and have this information and medical supplies for Eretria when they arrive," Ostia said as they walked to the door. "Alan, you continue to spy on the child, we'll watch this town, it is so nice."
Al ended up flying out of the window before it closed turning the room into total darkness, the door of the room opened with a normal-looking Lopunny with their fluffs being a cream color exited the room with another Pokémon, a bipedal-looking sheep Pokémon with a pink body and white wool around their neck and head, they had spike-like ears on the side of its head with black lines like they had on their tail with a blue orb on the end of it. They were Flaaffy the Wool Pokémon.
The two looked at the entrance, they knew their last member wasn't getting out of the room just yet. "C'mon Morpheus, you know you have to leave as the Pokémon you checked in as." Ostia said almost mockingly.
"I hate this... Why this one?" A voice came from the room, it was full of venom and hate.
"You should have told me to pick something else, you could have been a Lopunny like me and we could have pretended to be a couple instead but--" Ostia said in the same mocking tone as the last member of their team stepped out, they looked like a sunflower with leaf-like arms and root looking legs, they had an enraged looking face. Sunflora, the Sun Pokémon. "--I just picked this to mess with you." Ostia then held in a laugh while Pan just started laughing like crazy.
"HAHAHA! I love it. C'mon, Morphy, smile." Pan said with Morpheus having fire in their eyes, they both felt a chill in the air as they saw their own breath. "EH! Morphy, stop it, you'll blow our cover! I'm sorry, sorry, sorry!" Pan whispered to Ostia looking around to see no one else. The chill was gone, both sighed in relief.
"Once we exit the building, I'm changing to something else, maybe Ninjask or something," Morpheus said as they all walked down the hall.
Location: Town of Hermus, shopping district
The shopping district, full of tents, booths, and actual shops full of supplies for a list of things, from housing supplies such as cooking supplies and small furniture, there was food and other items. Every Pokémon was selling something.
Nero, Bianco, and Halo were walking through it with some Pokémon trying to give them offers or other items they had. Bianco ignored most with Nero and Halo looking with some interest, but Bianco did drag them away. They made their way to a small building that looked nice, an open window showed the inside and the shop's name, called: "Rhea's Trade" in golden letters. The moment they entered the shop a Hitmontop left with a bag looking disappointed and guilty. A childish voice came from the store. "Come again!"
"Yeah," The Hitmontop said looking at their bag. "Went to get some Awaken seeds and I ended up getting more, Rhea taught her kid too well."
They entered the store to find a small Pokémon with a skull on their head, wearing it like a mask with a bone club in their hand. They were Cubone, the Lonely Pokémon. The moment the small Pokémon noticed Bianco they shouted. "Mom! Bianco is here!"
"I'll take care of him but if he starts saying his puns hit him with the broom behind the counter!" Yelled back a voice in the back of the shop.
Nero looked around to see a few items on shelves and stood across the room, some in boxes. The counter at the back of the shop looked like it was mostly made of glass to display more expensive items. The team walked up to the counter with Bianco starting to speak. "Hey Ajax, I see you got another customer to pay more than they asked."
"Yeah, they were looking for seeds to keep them awake but I ended up selling them other items like a defense scarf and escape berries. You want to buy some too; we have a sale on those items." The Cubone named Ajax said with bright eyes that sparkled and their voice sounding sweet.
"No thanks kid, we are looking for other items." Bianco said as he pulled out a piece of paper only for Ajax to jump on the counter.
"Why stop at what you're only looking for, you won't know unless you look." Ajax said before pulling out a box of seeds that had orange markings that looked like eyes. "How about Blinker seeds, perfect for blinding your enemies, or this escape orb!" Ajax said as he placed an orb next to it then pulled out a hard hat with pebbles attached to it from nowhere that he wore and a bag. "How about this Rocky Helmet, you might want to hurt your enemies as they try to hit you up close. Or a bag of sleepy sand to make them sleep." They had a prideful face, only for them to have the list close to them with Bianco's expression unchanged. Ajax then sat on a stool looking upset and looking at the ground, a gloomy cloud over them. "Why... I was trying to offer you cooler and useful stuff..."
Bianco had a look that showed no shame, Nero and Halo looked rather guilty themselves, they wanted to purchase the items he was offering but Bianco stopped them by placing their hands in front of them. There was a short pause with no one talking or moving, the gloom then disappeared with Ajax turning around looking annoyed. "Nice try kid." Bianco said to the Cubone child.
"Yeah, that normally works, one of these days Bianco I'll catch you slipping, and I'll look in the back for other items we have." Ajax said, sounding like their normal self, confusing the others.
"Ajax here was taught by his mother, Rhea, to use his cute little face to swindle others into buying more than they need, her shop offers a lot of stuff, sometimes only items for adventures, explorers, and rescuers can be purchased by getting them from the back." Bianco explained to the others who understood, Ajax took the list and walked to the back. "The kid has done this trick to almost every member of the guild, giving deals that work so often. Hehe, the kid is the real 'deal'! Hehe!" Bianco said as a pun, Ajax returned and picked up a broom, leaped on the stool they were sitting on and swatted him with the head of the broom covering his face with dust, he spat out the dust that got in his mouth. Ajax then walked back to the back of the store.
They looked around to see if they had other items, some standard seeds and healing items they needed, items meant for offense were in the back, they didn't want anything that could be explosive in the back. Halo found a nice-looking white bandana that she wrapped around her neck, looking into a mirror seeing it looked nice. Nero looked at some other items like goggles, scarves, headbands, and even some masks, one looking like a skull with one eye, he didn't know there were so many items.
They then heard the sound of the bell of the door alarming everyone that someone had entered the shop. They all looked to see a Pokémon that looked close to a human, fair white skin, green arms, and their head looking like green hair with their eyes a ruby red color, they had what looked like a flowing gown, and their chest had a crest that was sticking out. Gardevoir, the Embrace Pokémon.
"We'll serve you in a second!" The female voice of the shop owner was from the back.
"Take your time." Said Gardevoir with a very sweet-sounding voice as they entered the shop looking around, they noticed Halo trying to reach for something on a shelf higher than her, they walked over and picked the item she was reaching for and lowered it for her to grab. "Here you go child." The Gardevoir said in their sweet voice as they handed the item with a smile on their face.
"Thank you miss." Halo said to them with kindness.
"Aw, aren't you too kind." The Gardevoir said as she rested their heads on their left hand as they smiled.
"Sorry for the wait," said the voice from the back. Everyone turned to see a large Pokémon came from the back, their body were bulky colored brown with pointed ears and a darker shade of brown on top of their head, they also had a pouch on their belly that was empty, next to them was a smaller version of what looked like them, only baby size and purple. It was a Kangaskhan, the parent Pokémon. They carried a box before placing it on the counter. "Here's your order Bianco, Ajax also told me he hit with the broom?"
"Hey Rhea, hey Junior, I did say a pun, Hehe," Bianco said with a proud smile with a wave, the smaller Kangaskhan waved back.
"Then you deserved it," The Kangaskhan named Rhea stated as she noticed the Pokémon who stood close to him as they returned to the counter with other items. "You're forming a team? I thought you were always solo?" Rhea said as she scratched her head in confusion.
"This is Nero and Halo, Nero's a foundling Apollonia's taking care of while Halo is Apollonia's daughter, she asked me to take them on my team," Bianco explained to her.
"Apollonia's daughter? Oh hey, I remember now, how is she doing, I heard she was back in town." Rhea said in excitement as she heard her old friend had returned.
"Yeah, after the house you gave them burned down... sorry," Bianco said a little guilty as he felt like he could have done something to prevent that.
"It was an old house, I wanted to give it to her after I chose to live closer to town to open up my shop before Junior was born, I'm just happy to know you all made it back." Rhea said with a motherly smile. She then noticed the Gardevoir as they stood behind the group with a basket. "Oh, right, sorry miss I'll get to you in a minute," Rhea said as Bianco looked over the items they had, several different seeds, such as blast, sleep, and stun seeds along with throwing items like spikes of different colors, there was also berries and the white bandana that Halo wanted. The total price was a few thousand Poke that Bianco paid for.
They then got ready to leave the store, but the moment Nero passed by the Gardevoir, he felt like he was walking by a blazing flame, he turned to them who looked down, saw Riolu looking at them, and smiled and waved at them. Nero felt a little uneasy but smiled and waved back before following his friends. "I'll just buy this basket please." Gardevoir said to Rhea.
"Alright, I've never seen you around here before. You new to town?" Rhea asked.
"Oh yes, I was just visiting the town to meet up with friends."
The team kept on walking through the shopping district, ignoring the salesman offering things they didn't need. Nero was thinking back to the Gardevoir, the feeling they had was familiar too, he just didn't know what it was. They then heard the sound of an argument. "Hey! What did you do that for!" Said the voice of an angry Pokémon.
They looked to see a stand with several sets of jewelry on display, the one running the counter was an orange-looking giant rat-like Pokémon. Raticate, the mouse Pokémon, even though it was a rat. They looked furious as they were talking to a Lopunny, none other than Ostia. "How dare you do such a thing! You had better pay for that!
"Pay for what? Cheap metal and fake gems?" Ostia said as she unbaled a fist over the counter of their stand, dropping a broken red stone, reduced to pebbles and crushed metal. "Normally Pokémon would say something so cheap, but you were offering your fake products as if they were the real deal. Seriously, 4,000 Poke for this. The gem was fake, and the metal is like a tin can. Furthermore, those earrings aren't pearls, those are just marbles painted white and covered in wax, and don't get me started on those ring earrings." Ostia said with a crowd forming around as they all wanted to hear.
The Raticate was starting to look worried, everything she was saying was true, and everything they were selling was totally fake, but they didn't want to lose business. "GRAH! You little brat! How dare you! I am a salesman, I offer, and others buy! You already broke it, now pay for it!" Raticate shouted at her.
"No way, why should I pay for your scam." Ostia said as she started to walk the Raticate leaped over his stand to attack her, she quickly turned around with her fist glowing green to ready a punch but before she could hit them, Bianco stood between them, using his Night Slash attack on the Raticate, knocking them down and nearly out. "Thanks, but I had that, I also wanted to make him admit his scam," Ostia said as she passed Bianco and to the Raticate who stepped on them in the gut and moved her foot away, the Raticate's eyes turned into a heart. "Now then, were you scamming others?" Ostia asked.
"Yes ma'am! I was, everything I was selling was fake, I also have been stealing materials from other shops when no one was looking." Raticate admitting their actions.
"Hmm, call it." Ostia said as she started to walk off with another Pokémon asking for police.
Bianco watched as Ostia walked off, he shrugged off the thought of her. "Barely a real thanks just wanted to help."
Ostia kept walking, making her way out of the shopping district where she regrouped with a Flaaffy and Ninjask, both holding bags with items inside of them. "Were you seriously looking for jewelry again?" The Ninjask asked her, it is having the voice of Morpheus.
"I just wanted to see if they had anything I liked, I thought it was a real ruby necklace but no, it was fake. I hate it when things are fake." Ostia said nonchalantly as she had her hands behind the back of her head. She heard a 'ahem' from the two she was with as they pointed at themselves. "I mean objects, not you guys, I love you both like family." She said, sounding sweet.
"Whatever, we need to meet up with Eretria and-- oh I see her," Morpheus said as they turned to see the Gardevoir from Rhea's Trade walking up to them. She had the basket in her hands and smiled at the team. "Hello Eretria, we have everything Orcus asked for."
"Thank you, Morphy." The Gardevoir said in her sweet tone yet again, almost mockingly at his nickname. Morpheus turned to the other two who looked like they were about to laugh at them. "Yeah, they told me about the nickname they came with, Morphy."
"I hate you all..." Morpheus said with a chill in the air that quickly dissipated as they handed the Gardevoir the bag they had along with Pan the Flaaffy. "Just get this to the doctor and get those four back to full strength, we also have intel for him too, both about what Orcus asked Al to learn and that the target is going on a mission."
"Oh, the doctor will like this information, especially for our master." She said taking the supplies they had given her, she then walked into an alleyway out of view, the three blocking the entrance so no one would watch, and tossed a ring at a wall, opening a portal that she walked through when she was through it, it closed on its own.
"Alright, we should return to the inn, so let's--" Morpheus said but was cut off by Ostia.
"Wait, we have been stuffed in that room for what feels like forever, let's just live a little. Eat out and have some fun." Ostia suggested.
"Yeah! What's wrong with having a little fun for us? We did a lot today." Pan said with a joyful attitude.
"No," Morpheus said flatly, he wasn't having it. " Listen, I tend not to care for your antics most of the time, with names for ourselves and for this 'team' we have, but we have a mission, lay low and wait for orders, we have to return to that Inn, which means lie and wait... and answer in our disguises like that... Sunflora... okay, let's go out." Morpheus said with a new reason to have a little fun.
"Yeah! Let's go Team Nobody!" Pan said as he pulled their two friends in a hug that Ostia returned back.
"Suddenly don't like the team's name."
"Too late Morphy!" Pan said as they started to leave and go back to the inn. While on their way Bianco and the others walked out of the shopping district, Team, Nobody saw them, mainly Nero. "So that's the kid our master wants us to focus on, why do you think he wants to know about them so badly?" Pan asked.
"Don't ask questions that'll get the master angry. Remember to just watch from afar until told to." Morpheus said as they walked down the alleyway, basking in the shadows letting their disguise with the silhouettes of a Furret, Lopunny, and a humanoid fox with long-looking hair on the back of their head. "Until then, we wait, then we strike."
Location: Cabin,??? Forest?
Back at the cabin that the Cross-Voids were staying at, in the living room Pompey the Machoke, Corinth the Gallade, Delos the Bisharp, and Ivan the Sneasel were looking better than they did as Eretria brought them medical supplies. Each of them talking about what to do next with one member of their team missing from their little meeting.
In another room, the Beheyeem named Orcus was looking at the papers that Al wrote to them, the notes that were mere copies of what they learned. They were looking at everything, a little disappointed at the results as it wasn't much. One paper was something else, a simple message, the commission's mission, location, and time they took the paper and hovered over the ground to exit the door.
"Doctor, what'd you learn?" Pompey asked with a smile on his face.
"Not much, there must be more I could learn, luckily I have a plan," Orcus said as he showed them the paper. "I'll go here, along with the twins, Ivan, and the new 'friends' we've been making. You'll stay here and recover since you overworked yourself the other day, Delos will stay here with you, along with Ammaia when she returns from her mission." Orcus explained to Pompey who chuckled.
"You think I'll do what you say." Pompey said as he rose from the couch, only to have an aura cover his body and push him back down. "OOF! Hey!" Pompey said in annoyance rather than anger.
"Doctor's orders..."
"Aren't you a doctor in science and biology rather than in medical?" Delos chimed in.
"Yeah, still means I know what's good for you, and I'd rather not have them burn out and die due to them overusing their power." Orcus explained to them. "Now then, let us go and meet up with them, who knows what they are planning in case we meet up again.
Location: Spinner's Restaurant
At Spinner's, team Hope was sitting at a table with empty plates and full stomachs after all the shopping they did for their mission tomorrow. Halo let out a small burp that was a little embarrassing to her and the others chuckled. "Hehe, good one Halo." Bianco said to the Eevee child. They were just relaxing.
End of Chapter
(A/N: Hello everyone, hope you're having a great day. Managed to finish another chapter with the villains having some spotlight in this chapter, along with a cameo of Cubone and Kangaskhan from my "Happy Mother's day Cubone" story I made a few years ago, I was originally going to make a sequel for Father's Day but I thought maybe not, I added them here and gave them names too since they were nameless originally.)