Anam, and only Anam, heard the deep boom of metal bells.
The Abandoned Temple—the original name lost to the ages—stood four stories high, despite only having a single story inside. The building was made out of marble with intricate designs along the walls in the shape of spirals, flowers, and all sorts of Pokémon. A broken, circular window of colored glass gazed from the top of the temple. Several rounded, tall windows sat along the walls. What the windows depicted, unfortunately, was difficult to decipher, as most of the glass was gone. But Anam remembered. He saw the windows as if they were still new, depicting the Pokémon of legends.
While the temple may have once been a pristine, white marble, it was now reddened with the dusty winds of dirt and time, sitting in the middle of an empty field of brown, dry dirt, like even the grass refused to grow there.
"What a loud bell," Anam said, a serene grin spreading across his face.
The boom reverberated through Anam's mind: a deep metallic echo that shook the ground beneath his feet and the goo in his chest. It rang slowly, once, twice, three times...
Zena and James exchanged glances. The Milotic eyed Anam with concern. "What?"
"Don't you hear it?" Anam asked.
He listened to it chime three more times. His feelers twitched at the vibrations, and Anam pointed his head skyward, toward the topmost tower at the center of the temple. There was no bell there, but Anam could see it. Swinging with the wind and the rope of the bell ringer a room below. The bell ringer that was no longer there. But he used to be. A strong Tyranitar. Anam wondered, would he like to ring it again?
The temple was silent.
"No, Anam. This place is completely devoid of noise," Zena said. "I think we're the loudest thing on the property."
Yet, the Goodra stared at the building for a while longer.
It rang three more times. Anam felt something well up from deep in his chest. A strange swelling of warmth. He breathed deeply, closing his eyes with a tranquil smile. And then, he breathed out.
The bell stopped after the ninth ring. Anam put a hand to his chest.
"Do you like it?" Anam asked to neither Zena nor James, holding a hand to his chest. "It's okay. It might be fun."
Confused, Zena slithered a few paces forward. "We should not waste much time. Shall we enter? The Normal Guardian is inside."
"Yes. Come, Anam."
Anam followed silently, but he walked at a slow, agonizing pace. His slimy hand brushed against the dusty walls of the entrance. There was no door, but it looked like there used to be.
The interior was like night and day, and Anam's eyes shined so brightly that Zena almost had to avert her own. The marble walls on the interior were cleaned to a blinding shine; the open room was completely clear of debris. At the far end was some kind of altar. It looked like a Pokémon would stand there to address a crowd. Faded murals—so faded that the actual contents were unrecognizable—lined the high walls and broken windows.
"I've never seen a building like this before," Zena said. "This is nothing like Kilo Village. Or even Hot Spot."
"Hrm," James hummed. "It is of a time long passed, Zena. A relic. This used to be a place of worship, back when Kilo had a significant interest in such things. While we still have a few ceremonies now and then, we're quite secular. Kilo Village used to host congregations every moon, and this temple was one of those places of worship. It may be one of the few ones standing. For why the Normal Guardian would reside within..." James fluffed out his feathers. "I'm not quite sure. Star said he was quirky. Perhaps he's spiritual."
"Aren't we all technically... spiritual?" Zena repeated, looking at one of her ribbons as it formed a small, aura ember.
"Hm. Good point."
Anam advanced, and Zena and James followed until they all reached the middle of the room. With a smile on his face, he walked straight toward the altar at the back of the room with an eager spring in his step.
Click.
Anam's foot sank into the tile and he stopped his advance. "...Was that bad?"
"Very," Decidueye James replied, puffing out his feathers. "Anam, whatever you do, do not lif—"
Anam lifted his foot.
The fiery explosion that followed sent Anam, Zena, and James flying in completely opposite directions. The ground shifted instantly; the floors collapsed in patches and rose in others. Spikes skewered tiles from below, and strange, metal stalactites fell from above. A giant spike shot out from one wall and went straight for—
"Pfwoooh—!" It pinned Anam against the wall; the huge, stone thorn went right through his gooey chest, narrowly missing his heart—if he had one. He brought his slimy hands over it and tried to push it away, but it was jammed in too tight. His paw disintegrated into goo from the strain. "J-James!" Anam called in a gurgle, waving his handless, melting arm. "Help! I'm stuck!"
"Can't quite help at the moment!" James replied, narrowly dodging a concentrated beam of light that carved the stone ground that it struck. Anam finally pushed the stone spire free and dropped to the ground with a loud splat, his lower half becoming a purple mush on the ground. He needed a few seconds to recreate himself—it seemed that as a Mystic, the goo half of his kind was very pronounced.
"Is this the Guardian's doing?!" Zena called to James, emerging from the ground. She was hiding in cracks of the temple's ruined foundation as water, hoping to avoid the Normal Guardian's strikes. Another Hyper Beam spooked the Milotic enough for her to hide within the cracks again.
"I'm quite certain!" James vanished in a fine, black mist, dodging a second Hyper Beam. Something about these blasts felt dangerous even for his Ghostly nature. "He must feel threatened by this. Perhaps Rim already tried to defeat him. Clearly, she failed!"
Zena emerged halfway to speak. "We haven't even seen him yet!" she said. "Where could he be coming from?" Another blast of concentrated light carved a line out of the ground, leaving molten marble in its place. "These beams are coming from every direction! Surely he can't Teleport and use Hyper Beam at the same time!"
"I doubt that is the case," James said, "but it is possible. But I've seen this strategy before... These might be a variant to Owen's approach when he battles. Traps. Hyper Beam-traps, perhaps stored in empty Wonder Orbs, or—" James jumped to the right. A passing spike tore off a feather from his face. "Urf—the actual Guardian might be deeper insi—" Another line of hard light vaporized James where he stood, and he became nothing but an ember that returned to Anam's body. Even a Ghost Type was not immune to these attacks.
"Oops," Anam said, cupping James' spirit in his good hand. He dipped him into his chest, where the ember vanished completely. "Um, Z-Zena! Let's try to keep going!"
Thankfully, it seemed that the traps had exhausted themselves. Aside from the ambient sounds of rubble collapsing in small pieces against the walls, there were no further attacks.
Anam used his hands to piece his lower half back together. So far, he had most of his belly and tail reconstructed, but he couldn't find any spare material for his legs. He puffed his cheeks and pushed—new little feet popped out from the base of his thighs, followed by the rest of his missing appendages. He sprung to his feet, and Zena marveled at the Guardian's regenerative abilities. If any of that happened to her, she'd be nothing but a dead puddle.
"Of course," Zena finally said. She returned to the cracks and advanced further into the temple. They passed the altar and entered a back room. The further they went, the more it appeared to be... less abandoned. The entrance was a crumbling stone palace—mostly due to the traps that had gone off—but further inside, the walls were back to their pristine polish, constantly maintained, like it was an eternal routine.
Anam panted, tiny arms on the ground. "Th-this is way too much running... Why is this temple so big on the inside? It's not a Dungeon, is it?"
"You're Mystic. Can you not just restore your own stamina?" Zena asked.
"Anam is... typically focused on other aspects of his Mysticism," James said, summoned again by Anam. "He largely focuses on self-preservation and high defenses rather than... offensive prowess."
Zena stared at Anam with a flash of a memory in her eyes. "That reminds me of an old friend," she remarked. "Anam, do you happen to know an Emily?"
"Huh?" Anam said. "What did you say? Emily? That sounds..."
"Let's not get distracted," James said. He pointed a wing forward. There was a single Pokémon there, floating at the back of the smaller room. Twitching. Watching. "Are you the Guardian?"
It was a strange Pokémon with a smooth surface—one that Zena had never seen before. Anam and James, however, knew of its kind.
The Porygon-Z buzzed with anxiety. "You do not have permission to create a guest account!" he said. His voice was like a buzz in the air, as if he was speaking through the crackle of a Thunder Shock at all times. "403 - Forbidden! Access to the back rooms is not allowed! Those traps should have deleted you!"
"Deleted?" James said. "Strange terminology, Porygon-Z, but we mean you no harm. We have no intention of deleting you, either. Yes?"
"Authentication required."
James sighed, glancing at Anam. "The Badge, if you may."
"Oh!" The Goodra dug through the bag partially submerged in the right side of his chest and pulled out the circular emblem. "This! Yep! That's my Thousand Heart Association Badge! I'm the leader, and our entire purpose is to make this place safe and peaceful for everyone! Including you!"
Porygon-Z buzzed with uncertainty. "Your data has not been verified and may be corrupt. Checksum required!"
James blinked. "...I do not know what that is," he said, "but I imagine this has something to do with your species' strange origins. I can assure you that we are not lying. Anam is a fellow Guardian, as is Zena. Meanwhile, I am a spirit, here solely because of the power of a very kind Mystic." He pointed a wing at Anam, who blushed and giggled.
Porygon-Z stared at the two, and then looked at Zena. "Are you a Guardian?"
"Yes, of Water," Zena replied. "I am Zena. This is James and Anam. What is your name?"
"Profile data corrupted. Fallback data in use: I was once designated as an Absolutely Deadly Autonomous Machine. Therefore, my name is ADAM."
"ADAM, huh?" Anam said. "That's close to my name! Except you spell yours out. And it's a D instead of an N. Can we just call you Adam?"
"That is my primary PC title," ADAM said. "Such a title is reserved only for users with administrative permissions."
"Oh, okay," Anam said. "Well, you can use my name whenever you want! I'm Goodra Anam."
"It seems that the Porygon-Z still has a sense of culture," James said. "How long have you been here?"
"The word 'here' must be further defined."
"In this temple. How long has this been your home?"
"I have lived within this temple for approximately 1.5e10 seconds, base ten," stated ADAM.
Anam counted on his gooey fingers.
"I see," James said. "I imagine this is a very long time? How long does that compare to the lifetime of the average Pokémon?"
"Compared to my time in this temple, the average life of a Pokémon, is not negligible, but is significantly smaller."
"So, a really long time," Anam said, nodding. "Um, mister ADAM, does that mean maybe your... brain... head... has been damaged and corrupted?"
"My hardware is incapable of degrading due to Mysticism," ADAM replied. "...But perhaps my software requires repairing, and my file system, defragmenting. The data may be corrupted. However, I cannot reinstall my own operating system. Those files may have also been corrupted."
Anam nodded, noticing that ADAM was starting to become easier to understand. Perhaps when he wasn't so frantic, his instincts didn't in the way of his behavior.
"Well, would it help if you came with us to... rest... your software?" Anam asked. He leaned toward James, "What's a software? That sounds like a Nev-Nev thing. Like those screens in the hospital, or those little beep-boops in the new buildings."
James shook his head. "ADAM, we only request that you come with us," he said. "Such a temple is not suitable to a Pokémon such as yourself."
"Oh, yeah!" Anam said. "And if more Hunters come by, we can keep you safe!"
"Hunters are not a security threat," ADAM said. "More persistent are Pokémon that do not appear in my database, but instead appear to be corrupted files."
"Mutants," James said. "If I am not mistaken, you are describing mutants. I imagine such a landmark would pique what semblance of curiosity they have." He nodded. "We can protect you against those, too, ADAM."
The Porygon-Z analyzed James carefully, then Zena, then Anam. He then scanned—for the umpteenth time—his polished temple. While Anam could not see an expression on the Pokémon's face, he did feel his distinct lack of interest in the temple at large. "Very well," ADAM said.
"Nice!" Anam pumped his fist in the air. A wad of slime flung from his hand and toward ADAM, who drifted to the side to avoid it. The Goodra pulled out their silver Badge, the communicator. "Hey, everyone! We have the first Guardian! He's okay! He'll come with us, and he's super cool! ...Guys? Hello?"
"They may be occupied," James said. "Let's return home."
<><><>
The World's Wound.
That was the other title of the Great Crevice, among many lesser nicknames. Nature's Scar. The War's End. All sorts of titles and nicknames for the great fissure that carved out a large portion of the land's eastern side. On the map—the only place one could truly see its full size without entering the outer atmosphere—its lower, tapered end kissed the southeastern beaches, while the upper end was much like an expanding fan, covering an entire portion of the map in the shape of a jagged, narrow triangle. While swaths of the northern portions of the fissure were clothed in forestry, the narrower portions were still steep and rocky.
Rhys and his terrible trio followed the subtle traces of Mystic aura that radiated from a cave near the northern side of the narrow portion of the fissure. Star knew that general detail, but nothing more. They had spent the better part of the afternoon simply finding the cave.
It might have taken less time, had it not been for the fact that Demitri took longer than anyone to go down the rocky trails of the fissure. His legs trembled with almost every step, hugging the wall despite the fact that the path itself was several feet wide. Eventually, Mispy wrapped him up and held him on her back, where he still trembled.
"Are you okay?" Mispy asked, squeezing her vines around his abdomen.
"Yeah. I'm... I'll be okay." He nuzzled the vines a bit.
"Feh, still scared o' heights?" Gahi clicked at Demitri in a jeer. "Too bad yeh'll never grow wings."
"Good!" Demitri squeaked, hugging Mispy's neck from behind.
They continued along until Rhys held out his paw. "There." He pointed at a small alcove in the fissure. "I sense a Mystic aura coming from this general area, and there's a small cave here. The Guardian of the Rock Orb is somewhere inside, certainly."
"N-no more cliff-climbing?" Demitri asked. As if to provoke him, a howling gust wind blew over the rocks.
"No. Let's go inside." Rhys motioned for them to follow, taking the first step into the lightless cave. He held out an Aura Sphere and maintained it several feet in front of him, producing a soft light to lead the way.
"Finally." Gahi wobbled next to Rhys.
With the cliffsides far enough away to forget, Demitri relaxed his muscles and flopped forward on Mispy's back. Now, he was just cautious of the cave. Rocks wouldn't fall on them, right? No, he had to distract himself from this. He stared at the Aura Sphere that lit the way, thinking about how if Owen had been with them, they wouldn't have needed it. The blue color was more comforting, though. It reminded him of dragon fire.
"Rhys?" Demitri asked. "What's wrong with having Owen with us for this, anyway? I feel like we'd work really well together."
Mispy perked up, as did Gahi, for the answer.
"It's simply not a good idea to have four non-Elites in one team for something such as this," their mentor stated. "We need to have strong and competent members—both qualities in one Pokémon—on all teams. You three simply aren't experienced enough yet. The same goes for Owen, who just entered the Thousand Hearts."
Demitri frowned. "I guess..."
"Just feels like..." Gahi tilted his head left and right. "I'unno. Fighting with'm feels... right, y'know? The four of us as a team. Yeah..."
"Well, that simply cannot happen right now," Rhys said simply. "Let's focus on the task at hand. That is—the Guardian of the Great Crevice, home of the Rock Guardian."
They turned another corner; they finally saw it. It was very faint, but it was a glow visible even to those who couldn't see auras, like Demitri and Gahi. They continued to walk in total silence.
It only broke when Demitri spoke up. "Rhys?"
"Hm?"
"What's a Divine Promise? Owen was talking about it with us. Something between you and Zena?"
"Hmm..." Rhys continued walking. "It is something that only Mystics can do—that is, those with powers related to the Orbs. Simply put... making a Divine Promise is keeping yourself to your word—or face the consequences. In the case of a Promise... breaking it would mean relinquishing your Mystic power to the Pokémon you made the promise with."
"Y-you mean, if you broke your Promise with Zena, then...!"
"Then I would no longer have any form of Mysticism. I would not have enhanced power. I would be nothing but a simple, mortal Lucario." Rhys turned to look back at Demitri. "That is why Zena was so surprised when I accepted the agreement. Even the cleverest Pokémon in the world cannot break a Divine Promise without also losing their power. I phrased my Promise in such a way that there is no loophole—or, if there is one, I hadn't thought of it."
"W-wow... so you really don't want to be a Hunter any more, huh?"
"I do not," Rhys said with a bit more firmness than before, making Demitri flinch. His voice softened after. "Long ago, I fought for Star. But some fought harder, I suppose. And Star became disillusioned with her own cause, and asked for us to stop. We thought she was simply losing heart, and we pressed on. But I later realized that some Hunters... simply wanted more power. It had nothing to do with Star."
"O-oh, and... and Nevren is the same way?"
Rhys nodded. "It seems that Nevren has quietly distanced himself from the other Hunters, too," he said. "I haven't seen him with the others for quite some time, even if we chat with them now and then, in our own pocket of the spirit realm."
"Wh—wait, when do you visit there?" Demitri asked.
"When I meditate," Rhys said.
"Oh."
More walking—the glow was getting abnormally bright, but there was still no sign of the actual Guardian. Demitri felt Mispy's back tense and her pace stiffen; she must have been trying to formulate her question in the silence. Then, she spoke. "Did you kill... the Grass Guardian?"
Rhys' steps lost their rhythm, but he regained it quickly. "I have many regrets regarding my past as a Hunter. But I was not the one who killed the Grass Guardian. In fact, I was largely unsuccessful in those efforts. Wholly, actually."
"Y-you mean, even if you're super strong...?" Demitri asked.
"It wasn't necessarily strength that stopped me," Rhys said, "but perhaps... willpower. Mystic power is largely tied to the will. If, so to speak, your 'heart is not in it' when you fight, that Mystic power will not help you. In fact, it could hinder you. Meanwhile, a Guardian is fighting to survive. Their willpower could be... significant. In the end," he said, "My will to gain power was lesser than their will to live."
"Didn't stop yeh from beating Owen ter a pulp of Cheri dust," Gahi clicked.
"D'you think the others might have trouble with that?" Demitri said. "If a Guardian is scared they're being attacked..."
Rhys shook his head. "We can only hope things work out."
Demitri frowned, rubbing at one of his axes awkwardly. "Too bad we didn't bring Anam. He'd just convince them by being friendly."
"Yes, well," Rhys said. "I'm sure I can be friendly."
None of his students looked convinced.
The light was growing stronger. Rhys held his arm out to stop the other three. Mispy stopped first; Gahi bumped into her rear, which made Demitri topple onto her neck again. They squabbled amongst one another, but Rhys shushed them firmly and they listened.
"The Guardian is just ahead."
They walked uneasily forward. Rhys didn't feel a particularly powerful aura ahead, but it was distinctly Mystic. And a lot brighter than usual. A bit abnormal, but considering the lack of light, perhaps it had to do with keeping things bright.
Demitri and Gahi were less informed. The Axew leaned to the side to see past Mispy's leaf. "Wow! Cool statue!"
In the center of the end of the cave—in a cavern large enough to fly in for a short distance—there was the statue of a Shiftry, accurate to the last detail.
"Whoever made this must be pretty good at the whole chisel thing," Gahi said.
The cavern rumbled softly.
Rhys, giving them all an incredulous look, said, "That is the Guardian."
"Cease..."
The four stiffened. "Wh-uh—what was that?"
"Cease... your movements..."
The voice came from nowhere. It sounded masculine and deep, but nothing that they'd expect from a statue.
"What do you mean, cease our movements?" Rhys said.
"All movement must cease... spirits must know stillness..."
The four looked at one another. Their mission was to befriend the Guardian... Perhaps they could play his game for now. "Very well," Rhys said. "May we get into a comfortable position before, er... tuning ourselves to the stone?"
The cavern rumbled angrily. "I will allow it."
"Into your meditative positions, everyone," Rhys said. "We must comply, as we are mere guests. We can converse later."
"Meditate?" all three of them whined.
"CEASE."
The three scrambled to separate spots. Mispy sat down with her rear down, but her front legs propping the rest of her up, and closed her eyes. It wasn't very different from how she normally sat, but she kept her spine straighter than usual. Demitri sat down and tried to cross his legs, though they were too stubby for that, and it instead became a sort of position where the bottoms of his feet touched. It always tickled, but at least he could tune it out once he got in the zone. Gahi couldn't do much of anything in terms of contorting his body. The Trapinch rested his head on the ground, splayed his stubs for legs outward, and remained still. Rhys sat, legs crossed, and closed his eyes.
Rhys watched the chaotic auras of the trio. They were warped things, those auras; the light that they radiated had strange, lopsided sparks now and then that spurt from the edges of their flares. When they meditated, this light stabilized—at least mostly—into the gentle flames that they should appear as. Demitri's and Mispy's, in particular, looked quite stable.
As the late morning bled into noon, Rhys realized that this would be their eternity if they did not try to speak with the Guardian. How could they convince him peacefully to come along? His aura was too weak to fight; if they hit him too hard, he could...
And then, suddenly, the silence broke.
Hey, everyone! We have the first Guardian! He's okay! He'll come with us, and he's super cool! ...Guys? Hello?
Anam's voice echoed from Rhys' bag. The Lucario didn't even react.
Gahi mumbled aloud out of boredom. "What kind of luck is this?" Gahi muttered. "All this anticipating ter get here and the main Guardian's as boring as Rhys."
"I dunno about that," Demitri said. "He's probably even more boring."
"ALL MOVEMENT SHALL STOP," the Shiftry boomed. He didn't move, yet he was clearly the one speaking—through the vibrations of the cave.
Rhys didn't react. He kept meditating.
Gahi flinched and stayed put. Demitri softly said, "This test is to just not move? For how long..."
Mispy shifted where she sat, sighing.
The ground rumbled again and the Shiftry roared. "ALL MOVEMENT... SHALL STOP!"
The cave walls heaved, threatening to collapse around them. Mispy stiffened and shut her eyes, trying to meditate. Demitri and Gahi did the same. Rhys remained motionless.
A seemingly endless amount of time passed. Rhys watched, worriedly, as the auras of the three members of Team Alloy faded to the gentle undulations that indicated drowsiness. They weren't meditating at all, now—they were about to fall asleep.
And then, without any sort of stimulation and the overwhelming feeling of boredom, Mispy's head and leaf drooped slightly—and then, she fell over to her side, asleep.
The Shiftry roared through the mountain, screaming enough to startle Mispy awake. "YOU HAVE RUINED THE ATMOSPHERE OF STONE!" The ground heaved, stones already erupting from below, jostling everybody into a battle position.
Rhys cursed and stood up. Their chances of ending this without a fight evaporated completely.
"I wanted to do this peacefully!" He aimed his Aura Sphere at the Shiftry, but just then, he saw his paw glow with a strong, yellow light. Rhys flinched and stopped his attack, as if he'd seen his very soul nearly slip from his body. Was this Guardian so weak that a single blast would kill him? How was he supposed to subdue someone that his weakest techniques would annihilate?
Gahi hissed. "Rhys?! What're you doing?!"
The Guardian wasn't moving. In fact, the Shiftry in general hadn't moved since they arrived, making it an easy target. It also made its attacks quite slow. There were a few seconds of dead air that they could think about how to approach and, for Rhys' case, safely subdue this Guardian.
"I—I can't fight him right now," Rhys said. "My attacks could kill. I—I can't do that."
"Wh—nggh, fine!" Gahi said, rushing for the Shiftry. The ground heaved; rocks fell on top of Gahi, burying him.
"No, don't fight! He's too weak!" Rhys urged.
"G-Gahi!" Demitri and Mispy yelled. They rushed after him, helping him free of the Rock Slide, but Gahi was already growling from within.
"Guardian! Stop this!" Rhys said, but his words fell on deaf, rocky ears.
The Shiftry roared; more rocks fell from the ceiling. Rhys deftly avoided the attack with precise jumps, readying an Aura Sphere out of reflex. His paw lit up again—his Divine Promise in danger of breaking—and he held off, growling. He had to keep his students safe—but he couldn't attack the Guardian too much. But he wasn't going to listen to reason. His mind, like many Guardians who had become isolated for too long, had warped into something else thanks to their isolation.
Surely the spirits that resided within his mind had conformed in one way or another to the Guardian's whims, and now he was focused on only one thing—stillness. Any violation of that angered him. Perhaps a friendlier voice like Amia or Anam—or even Star, in person—could help this broken mind. But they had to convince him otherwise—and fighting with their own techniques was too much.
Gahi would be fine; he was stronger than that to let a few rocks subdue him. What worried Rhys was what came after: A great, white light shined from the cracks—Demitri and Mispy stumbled back, covering their eyes.
"No!" Rhys hissed, watching Gahi's aura flare and shift, crackling, black lightning coursing through the nearest rocks to the former Trapinch. One of the sparks zapped Mispy, and she was enveloped in that same evolutionary light—followed shortly by Demitri right next to her. Rhys watched anxiously, but then looked at the Shiftry.
The white light of evolution sparked black. Rhys glanced worriedly at them, but then it faded away. Emerging from this light was no longer a Trapinch, Chikorita, and Axew. The Vibrava, Bayleef, and Fraxure briefly paused to marvel at their new forms.
"That corrupted light..." Shiftry rumbled the caves again, too soft for the three to hear, though Rhys heard it. "What was that?" Whatever it was, Rhys noted that Shiftry was stunned enough to stop his attacks.
Gahi beat his new wings as if he'd had them his whole life. Demitri stared—and gasped in fear, slightly—at his new distance from the ground. Mispy struggled with her longer legs and neck, feeling awkward and lanky. But they adjusted quickly, and they let their instincts take over in the midst of battle. They jumped back into the fray.
"STOP!" Rhys suddenly roared, holding out his arms. Mispy, whose leafy buds glowed with gathering energy, dimmed. Gahi flipped a few times in the air to cut back on his speed. Demitri toppled over himself, landing flat on his face.
Shiftry rumbled again, but the rock slide stopped. Rhys feared that the ceiling would collapse on them if they upset the statue further, but they couldn't take him on. "He's too weak," he said. "We don't want to hurt him. We're here to bring him with us, remember?"
The trio looked at one another incredulously, then at the statue.
"How dare you call me weak," said the Shiftry. "You fear fighting me because I would smite you with my undeniable power."
"Undeniable?" Gahi challenged. "I bet I c'n take yeh on!"
"You DARE—"
"N-now, let's hold for a moment," Rhys said, raising his paw. "We don't know want to fight. Who is stronger than the other is irrelevant." Even though Rhys was certain that this Guardian could probably fall to any of their unrestrained strikes, and his aura was barely present, it wouldn't be worth it to bring such a thing up.
"Um, Mister Guardian, er," Demitri waved at him, but that made the statue growl. He quickly stopped and straightened his spine. "We just want to bring you to our home. We are gathering the Guardians, you see, and it will be safer for you there."
"Is there movement?"
"Er..."
"I mean, even Rock Types move, don't you think?" Demitri reasoned, his voice stuttering now and then. "Geodude, Aerodactyl, they're Rock Types and they move around all the same! And you're a Shiftry! You can move, too, right?"
"No. I am Rock. I do not move."
"...Literal statue," Mispy said.
"I am... stillness." Shiftry hesitated. "I... I won't move. I refuse to move!"
"But it's safe to move," Demitri said. "How about we carry you instead? It's better than the Hunters finding you, right? And then you'll just, uh, stay still in our cave next. Stuff moves all the time in the world. In fact, the whole world spins! So you're always moving!"
"AaaAAAAA!" The whole ground rumbled at that, toppling Demitri and Mispy off of their feet. Gahi beat his wings and Rhys stood his ground. "N-no! Don't say that! How DARE you... say such horrible things. The spirit must be still. It must stop movement. Stop thinking. Tranquil."
"You might be confusing meditation with a total lack of movement," Rhys said, easing forward with gentle gestures. "You recognize that you are unsafe right? Are you familiar with the Hunters? What about Star?"
"Star approached me. I told her where I was. But her movement irritated me. I do not care for her philosophy of directly interfering with mortals."
"Well, I suppose I don't, either, but I imagine you also don't care about Hunters disturbing your... movement further?"
"...Then I must choose between being killed, and living in a world of movement?"
"What, that's a choice?" Gahi growled irritably. "C'mon, Rhys, let's just carry thus nutcase back."
"W-wait, not so violent," Demitri urged.
"Funny comin' from you!" Gahi said. "Yer the one with the hardest punches!"
"I—I know, but... but be gentle..."
Mispy frowned, nudging Demitri. "He's right," she agreed, then glared at Gahi.
"Feh..." The Vibrava looked back at Shiftry. "So you coming er what?"
"I... I don't... I can't..." The cavern shook. "I haven't moved in so long. I can't remember how I came here. And to suddenly leave this place—what if it's all unfamiliar? What if—"
All the rumbling finally shook something loose. A stone fell from the ceiling and landed nearby; the statue made something akin to a scream, but then went completely silent. Demitri flinched. "Wh—what happened?" he said.
Rhys quickly stepped to Shiftry, barely able to sense his aura, but...
"He's fine," Rhys stated, releasing the breath he had been holding. "He must have panicked and passed out from shock. Let's bring him back before he wakes up. Hopefully he will be... at least slightly more tolerant of it all with exposure; he seemed to just be worrying over the thought of it, even though we have been moving around him the whole time."
Demitri nodded, sighing with relief. "Good..." Then, once Mispy and Gahi relaxed their stances, Demitri's arms trembled from his excitement. "We evolved! We finally did it!"
The energy from Demitri spread to the other two of Team Alloy. Mispy beamed, awkwardly stumbling forward to headbutt Demitri in the chest. Gahi buzzed his wings and rammed into Demitri next. "Heheh, and I evolved first."
"Barely," Mispy countered.
"First is first," Gahi said, flying above them.
"And how are you three feeling?" Rhys asked.
"Never better!" Gahi said. Demitri and Mispy nodded.
Rhys could sense the excitement from them, even though it was a bit subdued due to a combination of mental exhaustion from the meditating and physical exhaustion from the battle, easy as it may have been in the end. Rhys suspected, however, that their less than explosive celebration was due to the fact that Owen had already beaten them to it. There was nothing to celebrate in their competitive hearts—only a fire to beat Owen to evolving when it really counted.
Demitri shook his head and leaned down to get a hold of the statue. "Urgh—he's solid rock!"
"Uh, duh," Gahi said, descending.
Mispy smacked Gahi behind his head with a vine—as a Bayleef, they were much thicker, and the Vibrava slammed into the ground with a groan. Mispy flinched. "Um, sorry."
Gahi just hissed and crawled away.
Demitri managed to balance the fallen Shiftry over his shoulder, using his massive tusk to keep the statue level. With his free hand, he pulled out their Badge—both the silver and gold ones. "Oh! That's right!" He fumbled with the silver one, pressing a claw on the center button. "Hey, guys! We did fine! Our Guardian is just fine!"
Rhys nodded. "Let's meet the others at the village."