I ran through the mountain's labyrinth, blasting the Pokémon who came near with Flamethrower. Though that wasn't extremely effective on the rock- and ground-types, some Pokémon thought it better to stay out of the way of my rage. Of those I did fight, few could direct me to where Azurill and Drowzee went, but it still took time. And I wasn't sure how much of that I had, as Azurill looked too frightened in the vision to comply with Drowzee even if he had wanted to.

Finally, I made it to the peak, and I saw them. They were both walking toward the far cliff face, Azurill seemed to be fine. I let out a sigh of relief and slowly followed them, careful to stay in line with them so if Azurill turned around as I knew he would, I would still be able to have the element of surprise.

They halted when the were close to the far wall of rock.

"Uh-oh," Azurill said, disappointed. "It's a dead end." He turned. "Excuse me, Mister Drowzee. Where is my lost water float? Could you show me where it is now?"

I held my breath. Was it all fake? No, Marill was lost on the journey here, that couldn't have been an accident.

"Sorry, kiddo," Drowzee said, his act over. My rage was just beneath the surface, I was ready to explode like Voltorb and Electrode. I had a sense of dread, but I didn't know where it came from... "Your lost item? It's not here, that's for sure," Drowzee continued.

"Huh?" Azurill must have looked around, as he continued, "My... big brother... My big brother's following us, right? He's coming soon?"

"Nope," Drowzee said simply, uncaring. "You're big brother's not coming." In a stage whisper, he went on, "I'll let you in on a little secret," before returning to normal volume, "This was all a trick. I deceived you."

"Huh?!" Azurill's voice started wavering.

"But let's not dwell on that. There's a little favor I need to ask," Drowzee continued calmly. "See that hole behind you? Well... there's a rumor that a trove of thief treasure inside there! But, as you can see, I'm too big to squirm my way through that hole. And that's where you come in!" He finished off like it was a happy moment for the both of them. Azurill made a little sound out of fear. "Don't worry, just do as I say," Drowzee said calmly. "Do that, then I'll help you get out of there."

I heard the rocks shuffle, Azurill must have moved. "B-but..."  His voice was even worse, now.

"Go on, get going!" Drowzee said, some of his calm facade cracking a little. "Go into that hole. And don't forget to bring back the treasure!"

I was right behind him now. I wasn't going to listen to any more of this, I was preparing to use a move --

Azurill wailed. "I want my big brother!" he cried, and I heard some pebbles get thrown, and Drowzee was suddenly trying to turn around. I made sure to stay behind him as he turned.

"H-hey! Stop that!" Drowzee was running after Azurill, I saw a large rock nearby and dashed behind it. I couldn't see them now, but Drowzee stopped Azurill. "Sheesh! I said that I'll take you home when you're done! If you keep being difficult, it will mean big trouble for you!"

I recognized that, I knew the cry was going to come after.

"H-HELP!"

"Drowzee!" I roared, jumping out from behind the rock. He grabbed Azurill as he tried to run away again. "Let him go, or do you really want to have a fight?"

Drowzee faced me. "I knew you were there, Charmander," he drawled. "You were behind me, and then behind the rock. But you forget I'm a psychic-type, I could sense you!"

I used Flamethrower at him, Azurill wiggled out of his grasp just in time. "Do you really want to fight me?" I growled in a low voice.

Drowzee couldn't do much, so he let Azurill run away. "Azurill, wait for me," I called. "I don't want any Pokémon who lives here to hurt you, okay?"

Azurill hid behind one of the boulders.

"This isn't your problem," Drowzee said, threateningly. "Just leave."

"You made it my problem," I retorted. "I'm not going anywhere without Azurill."

Drowzee was about to snarl some other response, but there was a spark from behind him that arched toward him. I jumped back out of reflex as it struck him.

"And you made it our problem, buddy," I heard Hex growl. "Nice one, Pika."

"Guys?"

     Kip came running around Drowzee, who was still stunned. I was about to ask--  "Later," he cut in, as I opened my mouth to utter a question, "first we've got to take him down," he said, then using Water Gun. I saw Fire Spin start from the other side of Drowzee. Facing us, Drowzee used Confusion. I heard Kip grunt, and I felt the attack on my mind try scrambling my thoughts. Azurill... think of Azurill...

Kip used Water Gun again, and Pika used Thunder Shock again. The two moves collided, and not only did their damage, but added to the fact that Drowzee was getting hit with water and lightning.

Then bubbles started to drift from the other side of Drowzee, hitting him. "What --"

"Take that!" a high-pitched voice called. It was Azurill, and when Drowzee tipped over, it didn't seem like he was getting back up.

"Good job, Azurill," I called, rushing to him and hugging him. "Good job."

"Are you okay, Azurill?" Hex asked. Azurill nodded to her, and buried his face in my shoulder. I felt his tears, but he no longer sobbed. "You were so brave to attack," Hex went on.

"R-really?" Azurill asked. "I was brave?"

"Very brave," Kip assured as the rest of them came over.

"Thank you for coming," I said to them. "I honestly didn't know if I could have fought him alone..."

"You could have," Kip said to me quietly, so no one else could here. "I know you could have."

I shook my head. "I doubt it... my rage wouldn't have gotten me far." Hex started to bite at her explorer badge, I just noticed she had a ribbon on one of her tails and the badge hooked onto that. "Hex?"

She made a noise of triumph and had the badge in her mouth. She placed it on the ground, and pawed it. "The badges are made special," she said, a yellow beacon shooting up from it. "It can get lost Pokémon out of dungeons and can signal for Magnezone and Magnemite, they are the law enforcement in this area, to come get an outlaw. I'm doing the latter, of course," she added, pointing her head toward Drowzee. "We'll need to wait a bit, first. No sense letting him be alone when he could escape."

"So we have time to kill," I commented. "Why did you guys come after me? When I lost you," I looked at Hex, "you didn't seem terribly keen on following."

"Pearl, we care what was to become of you," Pika said. "They were planning on setting me up, and then going after you..."

"But that was before we noticed the outlaw notice board," Kip continued.

I blinked. They didn't immediately answer. "Okay, I'll bite," I said slowly. "Why did that matter?"

Hex started toward me, and nudged me, probably in affection. "He was on the board. Wanted. Pika was the first to notice, he stopped mid-sentence and started to shake--"

"Out of worry for you," Pika interrupted quickly. "You were only awake for a few days--"

"Thank you," I said quietly, guiding Azurill into a team hug.

"We were stupid," Hex said, suddenly shamefaced. "It was a very odd situation, looking back on it. Hindsight is terrible. We should have sent one of us to tail while the rest gathered supplies, even though that is essentially what we did."

The two Magnemite and the leading Magnezone arrived a while later. We'd been able to keep Azurill calm and safe, and gave him an apple. Drowzee was zapped into waking up, and they escorted him back through the dungeon, us five following. No Pokémon was looking for a fight with what was essentially the officers of the region and an exploration team.

Though, against what I had hoped, Marill was waiting at the base of Mt. Bristle. Azurill hopped down from Hex's back and rushed toward his brother. Magnezone and his officers were headed back toward Treasure Town -- now that I thought, I'd not seen a jail or anything -- but we all stayed with the brothers.

"Azurill!" Maril cried, visibly hugging Azurill tightly. "I was so worried!"

"It was so scary, Marill," Azurill said. "But then this exploration team came!"

Marill turned to me, tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much. Was he hurt?" He glanced down at his brother.

I shook my head. "Drowzee wanted to use him to steal rumored already-stolen treasure. The only time he laid a hand on Azurill was when he tried running away."

Marill, now with Azurill clinging to his tail, walked over to me and stared me in the eyes. "We will never forget this."

I knelt down to his level. "It was our pleasure. That's one less bad Pokémon out there, too."

Marill nodded, and we all started the trek back to Treasure town.

At the Guild, Chatot was waiting for us, or it seemed so. He was ripping down Drowzee's wanted poster when we were climbing down the ladder. "Ah!" he exclaimed when he noticed us. "Officer Magnezone just dropped off the bounty for Drowzee's capture, and I've got to say, good job." He turned a fiery glare at me that I met unflinchingly. "Though, next time you should listen to your more experienced teammates."

"No, Chatot," Hex said. "What she did was right. And we're all equals, no one has to listen to orders by another member if they give reasonable explanation, or come up with a new plan," she glanced at me proudly. "Which Pearl did."

Chatot didn't seem happy that he was being corrected. "Well, here's your share for the job," he said, as if the conversation didn't happen. He handed me a small pouch, putting one a bit bigger under his wing. I opened the pouch, and glanced at the slightly-ripped bounty poster for Drowzee. It offered three thousand Pokécoin for his capture. This definitely wasn't that much.

"Chatot," I said, "where is the rest? This isn't even close to the three thousand reward."

"Oh, that's because it's not," Chatot replied simply. "You have ten percent of the reward."

"Are you serious?" I growled.

I got another glare from Chatot, this one much more scathing. "Don't take that tone with me. How else did you think you pay for your training, not to mention the food and room? You get ten percent of the reward, the rest is experience and whatever else you found in the dungeon. Try selling things if you have to." He turned toward the ladder and made his way down.

Pika looked just as disappointed as I did mad. "Pearl, we are only apprentices," he said slowly. "It is kind of fair. The Guild has to make money somehow."

"He could have told us it would be every mission, at least," I growled.

"We should have warned you," Kip said. "Sorry about that."

I turned to him, but my expression wasn't mad. "You know that drill already, it's normal for you," I said. "And you had more on your minds anyway. I can't be mad at you all for everything."

Hex hopped excitedly. "But we did learn how we fight in a group!" she chirped. "And how Pearl can see the future a little," she added in a lower voice. "Tomorrow it will be better, now that you know what to do and expect."

"Right," Pika and I said together. "Let's go get some food," Pika continued. "I'm starving."

"Same," Kip agreed.

"I hope Chimecho has dinner ready, I could do with a bit of food too," Hex said.

I nodded, feeling my stomach rumble. "Ditto."

Chimecho made a wonderful dinner, colorful in taste as well as the fruit itself. I got mostly sweet fruit, and there was next to no conversation -- everyone was hungry from a long day's work.

It was rainy as the sun set after the meal, it was an interesting show out the window of our team's room. Thunder sounded, lightning cracked through the sky. I moved my bed away from the window a bit, as every once in awhile a stray drop got in. However, I wasn't ready to sleep. From the light of my tail, I was reading the next entry of the journal in my bag, after writing down my day in the unused one that I claimed. I learned that they were going to try reviving the dead world, but she didn't tell her friends -- a Celebi and the Treecko -- that they might not exist if they were successful. The writer might not even exist, but she was determined to succeed.

I couldn't see the moon, so there was to me no questions to ask it when everyone was asleep. I was still confused, but I was starting to place my trust with my team -- especially Kip. He seemed to know me, and seemed familiar.

One day, I know I'll figure it out. But for now, I had a busy day tomorrow.

❦ ✦ ❦ ✦ ❦
August 3, 2017
I actually got this out on time! Typing on an actual keyboard — who knew?
I hope you all enjoyed, I'll be sure to work on this much more! (Though I'm kind of sad I didn't get this done by August like have had the last two books, but hey, that's what happens when you aren't fully responsible for the plot anyway).

Edit: Decided to fix some errors, as I didn't read this through before I posted it, which I normally try to do.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky belongs to GameFreak and Nintendo.