GALANT'S POV

Everyone had made it indoors to discuss what we would do with the newly found memory gem. Of all the places it could be, I found this one in the restroom sink.

"Okay, so who would take this one?" Rayne spoke cautiously.

"I don't know." I started. "Anyone can take it if they truly want to...I just don't know if it'd be a good idea for me."

"Hm." Zantai crossed his arms in thought. "We could give it to someone who hasn't gotten one before."

"Maybe...or someone who has never experienced the library too." I thought aloud.

"Or we can just pick at random. How 'bout Laker?" Sherwood pointed toward the weasel, who immediately flinched at the idea.

"D-Definitely not me!" The Weavile frantically shook his paws in defiance. "Hell no..!"

"...okay." I muttered under my breath and shook the gem in my hand. "I guess I'll take it. We could try a finders keepers rule."

"Hold on, who's to say we even have to use this thing?" Luster quickly denied.

"Then it will all go full circle." Laker crossed his arms at the Luxray's words. "Sam will come back from her break and then we'll truly be fucked with no information on each other."

"But why would we need this info?" Loki frowned.

"Without this info, we would not have known Aubra was a serial killer." Vanta—much to everyone's surprise—chimed in with the weasel.

"True..." Luster mimicked the Zoroark's frown. "It's still kind of screwed up."

"Whatever." I seemed to end the conversation with that word. "I'll just do it by those rules from now on. This one is mine."

"Good luck." Sherwood muttered lowly.

His words stuck with me. Sherwood was the first to willingly use a memory gem, and his just so happened to change his perspective on Leon forever. I'm afraid something similar could happen to me.

"Phew," I heaved a small sigh, "I just have to say my name, right?"

My head subconsciously turned to Sammy, who gave me a nod of affirmation.

Please don't let this ruin me...

"Galant."

...

A dark void. Endlessly reaching wherever I looked.

Things were oddly peaceful here, the only sounds being a gentle hum and a small droplet of water continuously falling out of my view. Now that I realize, I might just have my eyes closed.

Gaining the energy to open them, I was greeted by—

"Hey!" A voice nearly shook the soul out of my body.

My eyes widened in surprise to find a pair of dark red eyes gleaming at me. I had realized who I was woken up by.

"I know it sucks down here but if I can't sleep then neither can you, dickhead." Xeonix, a rather fit-looking Incineroar, was most likely sent down here to check on me.

Taking a glance at my surroundings, I was deep inside Sinnoh's cave systems. Working here wasn't exactly the most active thing in the world, however. No wonder I fell asleep.

"Who the hell sent you here?" I scowled at the large feline.

"Vanta's orders, little guy." Xeonix chuckled down at me before walking off to prick his nail against the cave walls.

The Incineroar's fire belt was the only source of light here—I wonder what happened to the lamps? Did I let them go out?

"Don't act like I haven't had to wake you up multiple times." My voice raised to catch his attention.

"Uhuh." The large feline flashed me a toothy grin. "Let's be honest, Galant, you shouldn't be down here. You're not fit for the mines."

"What?" I scoffed at him.

"You heard me, little guy." Xeonix quickly turned to hiss down at me, the fire surrounding his waist gleaming ever so slightly more. "You're just doing this job to fund some stupid little fucked up project. I know what you want."

"Aren't jobs meant for money?" I aimed a blade at the feline, clearly measuring the distance that he was allowed to get before I retaliated. "And what the hell do you know about me? That's none of your business."

"It definitely is." Xeonix abruptly laughed into the air. "H'oh, it sure is. You want to fund this sketchy-ass project about reviving the dead?"

He knows nothing. This guy clearly hasn't studied a day in his life to understand what I was trying to fund.

"Someone like you would never understand." I muttered through my gritted teeth.

"Someone like me?" The Incineroar scoffed lightly. "What do you mean by that, huh? What, cause my dad didn't die!?"

...

Xeonix only leaned closer after I ceased to reply to him. "Oh, fan-fucking-tastic! Just because you have a dead father doesn't mean I'll support killing people for another person's life!"

It was all in one ear and out the other. He didn't deserve anything anymore.

"Arceus, you're way too fucking young for this kind of stuff!" He hissed down at me before finally backing up against the cave wall.

Now that I realize it, he didn't bring a necklace with him. Regulations say you're required to bring one in this level of the mines, but it seems he was too stingy to take his.

Glancing down at my chest, I see the braces of my necklace. A small button with psychic energy attached to it, one that would alarm any of the emergency rescue Pokemon.

"Xeonix." I called to him with a small frown. "Try not to burn the crystals in the wall."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He huffed lightly and turned to glare behind him. "I don't see a single cr—"

...

You know, at least I only swung the blunt part of my blade on the back of his head. It was enough to knock him completely unconscious, the feline's body now propped up against a boulder on the ground.

I turned to notice a pillar up ahead. Funny, I always wondered why the whole structure of this tunnel relied on this one pillar. Maybe because it was new?

Either way, it only took one swing to shatter a few of the steel beams.

With the supports gone, a loud crackle was heard above me—almost like something dangerously heavy was making its way down.

I turned to finally look down and tightly grip the necklace wrapped around my neck.

Their timing was impressive; only a few seconds waited until I was teleported up to the surface.

The sunlight was obstructively bright, being in the dark caves for hours will do that to you...

"You better have a good reason to do that." An Alakazam rudely greeted me with a disgruntled look. Looks like they haven't had an emergency in a while.

"Yeah, I do. Tunnel 'A' is collapsing." I quickly answered.

Everyone around me came to a sudden halt.

...

LEON'S POV

Galant had not said a word in a while, but it was only to be expected. A memory gem had yet to bring by a positive experience...I feel as if Sam had selected each negative memory into those gems.

"Thinkin'?" I heard a voice snap me out of my trance. It was Sherwood, accompanied by Loki—who seemed to also be in thought.

"When am I not?" I teased the Sceptile with a small grin and turned away to shut my eyes in focus. "Just wondering about how those memory gems even exist."

"I was wonderin' that since the start." Sherwood chuckled and stepped around the counter I was leaning on.

From what my aura told me, the Sceptile made his way to presumably glance around for some food in the kitchen.

Loki, however, made her way to take a seat directly next to me.

"How does it feel?" The Zoroark's voice held a hint of concern.

"Hm?" I opened my eyes to make eye contact with the fox.

"Your inhibitor." She poked at the metal ring around one of my aura sensors.

"Oh, I suppose I've grown accustomed." Hiding the sadness in my voice was difficult, but my only choice was to just be curt about my situation.

"I see." Loki hummed to herself and fidgeted with something in her paws. "Is that just a Lucario thing?'

I repeated my previous hum of confusion to her.

"You know, to always speak so formally." The Zoroark smirked. "I've never met a Lucario with bad grammar."

"Now that you mention it...perhaps it is just how we're raised." I answered with a small smile. "Why do you ask? Is Hydra the same?"

"A little bit." Loki shrugged and leaped off the stool to begin pacing away. "Anyway, you should follow me. I know your aura is weaker with the inhibitor but I could use your help."

"How so?"

I had yet to look at the Zoroark, but once I did was the moment I saw her lift a pair of golden keys in her claws. She jingled them around before motioning me to follow.

"I found them in an unused bedroom. They have to lead somewhere, right?" She reasoned.

Loki is going somewhere with this...best to follow her.

...

I'm unsure as to how she found it, but at the base of the main stairway, Loki had managed to find a hidden door latched on the right wall.

Of course, her first initiative was to find Hydra and me.

The discovery did manage to attract a fair portion of the group, however.

"The key fits, but I don't want to open anything dangerous." Loki narrowed her eyes at the handle before turning towards us. "Which is why I need you aura wielders."

"Do you want us to look inside?" Hydra tilted his head in confusion. "Odd, I've never seen this before."

"Neither have I..." Sammy frowned and poked at the door frame with a claw. "I thought I knew everything around here."

"Whelp, you know the rules." Vince shrugged and pointed at the taller Lucario next to me. "Hydra gets to go in first."

"What? Did I miss something?" Loki raised a brow at the Greninja.

"Nope, but since the lad's in charge, he can take care of it." The frog swayed his tongue scarf to the side and grinned at the jackal. "No hard feelings."

"Right, it's...probably my responsibility anyway." Hydra mentioned and stepped closer to the door.

I felt a wave of powerful aura emanate from his sensors as he looked inside.

"It's strangely empty." He muttered and turned the key to reveal a completely different stairway—one separate from the one we were standing on. "Huh..."

"Well...on you go!" Vince waved at the jackal, which earned him a couple of glares from the crowd. "Sorry..."

I'm more shocked as to how Sammy had never seen this door before. How well was it hidden? And how did Loki find it?

THIRD PERSON

It didn't take long for Hydra to make his way down the stairs into the pitch-black. To everyone's dismay, there was no lighting to be seen.

This didn't bother the tall jackal, however, his aura would be the only thing allowing him to see in the darkness—ignoring his canid abilities, of course.

By then, Hydra had completely disappeared into the void, at least from the outside in.

"So..." Grace frowned at the open door. "What do you guys think is in th—"

The Eevee's words were cut short by the sound of a loud crash in the newly found basement.

"Everything okay in there?" Loki leaned in the doorway to call for the Lucario.

A small delay...

"Yeah." The sound of Hydra's echoey voice coughed. "There are traps down here. I'll try and get rid of them."

"Traps?" Zantai scoffed in disbelief.

Any semblance of bravery to enter was soon sapped from the group at the utter of the word.

They waited for a while—about a half hour—before another pair of footsteps would be heard returning up the stairs. Everyone re-gathered to the stairway to find that Hydra was back.

But...to say that he was back without a scratch on him was a different story. His torso was coated in blood, along with a large gash on the side of his head.

"What the fuck..." Zantai murmured.

"I'll be fine." The larger jackal cleared his throat. "It should be safe down there."

After finishing his statement, Hydra could only trudge away from the rest of the group and back up the stairs—presumably to his office.

A small wave of silence filled the air.

"Did we really have to make him go in there?" Grace uttered with pity in her voice.

"Who else would have?" Vince turned to cross his arms at the Eevee, an uncharacteristically sad look on his face.

"Whatever, he said it was safe, right?" Rayne quickly questioned and got to work entering the basement door.

"Y-Yeah..." Loki worriedly answered and followed suit behind.

Only a fraction of the group would actually enter the basement. Rayne acted as a light source for the small expedition crew, leading her to be up front.

Inside would be numerous empty boxes, their purpose completely unknown.

"It's really dark." Loki noted in awe. "How could anyone see in here?"

"They most likely had something in here previously for lighting." Vanta gave his hypothesis from splitting off from the light to prod at a certain object.

The Umbreon scraped a claw against the surface of what he had found. It was only a silhouette to him, but the sound consisted of metal.

"Rayne, take the light over here." The Umbreon commanded, causing the Manectric to follow immediately.

As soon as she stopped in front of the dark-type, they were greeted with an abnormally large cage-like door.

"What is this..?" Leon inquired before shutting his eyes and attempting to read its aura.

It took the jackal about a minute to fully gauge what he was looking at, his eyes widening from their previous state once he realized.

"I do not know what it is for, but this is a machine of some sort..." Leon placed a worried paw against his chin. "And there are a lot of memory gems inside..."