Edited on 01/11/2022

From her position, she could only see the pointy mountain tips passing by as they entered the Dungeon, like granite teeth waiting to close shut behind her. The cacophonic lull of silence slowly enveloped them as they went deeper and deeper into the pikes' depths, until there was nothing left but the dark cracks and wrinkles in the gray stone, the forever-threaded flattened ground, and the stinging, frigid air.

"...alright, I'm going to say it". The Galvantula's sputtering voice broke the silence. "Don't you think this place is, like, unusually quiet?".

"I was just about to say the exact same thing", the Zangoose admitted, before pointing to a deep, pitch-black cave. "Isn't this the territory of that hyper-aggressive Aggron we fought yesterday? It-".

Suddenly, the loudest, most outraged roar in the world echoed through the mountains, sending a shiver down the Espurr's back. She shouldn't have run away! She should've listened to her mother and stayed home! Now she was going to get mauled to death by a wild Aggron, and then it was going to eat her, and then nobody would even know she had died, and then- and then- and then-

Her line of thought was interrupted when the Mudsdale neighed, stomping her hooves on the ground.

The electric spider jumped on the ground. "Bessy says it's getting closer".

"What?". The Zangoose blinked. "Wait, what?".

"Trust me", his partner in crime replied, caressing the Mudsbray's nose. "I have been around horse 'mon since I was a little kid. I've developed, like... a special connection with them, y'know what I'm saying?".

A second roar, much closer to them than the first one, prevented the Zangoose from replying. Instead, the Cat Ferret Pokémon merely climbed down from the cart, walking up to the Galvantula's side, his claws shining in the late morning's sunlight.

The Espurr could now hear the beast's heavy steps shaking the ground as it got closer and closer, vibrations traveling through the ground, up the cart's wheels and into her bones.

The Galvantula slowly assumed a fighting stance, ready to protect his friend with fierceness, and Bessy with HIS LIFE if necessary! The Aggron was getting closer now; he could literally feel the quakes through his exoskeleton.

As for the Zangoose, he sharpened his claws against each other - sure, the idea of fighting a hulking eight-hundred pounds agglomerate of flesh and metal wasn't particularly enticing, but if his partner in crime was ready to lay down his life for the sake of the mission, THEN SO WOULD HE! HE WAS RUNNING ON TWO HOURS OF SLEEP, DEEP-ROOTED ANXIETY AND AN OREN BERRY, HE WAS READY TO EITHER FIGHT GOD OR BECOME HIM!!!

The Restraint Pokémon, restrained in the cart, could feel those emotions, and found herself unable to disagree with the fact that she was also feeling anxious as all hell, mostly because A GIANT FERAL BEAST WAS COMING THEIR WAY WITH WHAT SHE COULD ASSUME WERE MURDEROUS INTENTS!!!

Finally, the head of the monster emerged from the depths of the cave, it's steely scales vehemently shining in the sunlight with the glimmer of a thousand Suns. The creature crawled out of the tethering darkness, before standing on its hind paws and roaring once more, slamming its tail on the ground. A warning signal.

The Galvantula squinted his eyes menacingly. "Bring it on, mate...".

With a last, furious roar of extreme anger and murderous vibes, the Aggron attacked.

The Espurr couldn't really see the battle happening - mostly because she was tied in a cart with no way of performing even the most minuscule movement, and her proficiency with Psychic moves was laughable -, but she could damn well hear it. The crackling of electricity, the clanking of metal, the swishing of claws, perfectly harmonized in a cacophonic dance of violence and destruction. Not like the outcome would matter; being torn apart by a furious Aggron didn't sound much worse than going back home.

She started wondering how her mother would react upon seeing her. Would she be... angry?

...yeah, probably. She was very likely to metaphorically kick her ass to dust. And ground her for a thousand years at best.

Oh. Oh, now she was crying again. Of course.

She hated this. She hated all of this. She hated how the escape she had planned for months was cut short in less than a week; she hated how easily those two had kidnapped her; she hated how there was nothing she could do to change the situation.

She hated how utterly weak she was.

"Hey, there!".

The Espurr's brain was quick to craft and send a signal to her body to jump in surprise upon hearing an unknown, feminine voice a few inches away from her face. Of course, with her being paralyzed, the signal failed to reach the body, so the girl couldn't really scream in surprise and flee, even though she really wanted to.

...that said, the voice sounded weirdly... familiar. She felt like she had already heard it somewhere before. If only she could turn back and see who it belonged to....

"So first of all, I say we get the heck out of here".

Then, she felt herself being grabbed by her silky harness and dragged down the cart and on the Dungeon's rocky pavement. As she watched the cart, the criminals and the Aggron shrink away into the distance, her mind became clogged with questions. Who was this Pokémon? Why was she helping her? Where had she heard her voice before? Where was she taking her? If they managed to escape the Dungeon, what would happen next? What did she want from her?

...why would she bother helping her?

Her head started to hurt - an intense spurt of interrogatives, lack of sleep, and the fact she had been paralyzed at least twice in twenty-four hours probably played a part in the throbbing pain hammering her skull like a... like a... like a hammer.

Her brain was too tired and hurting to come up with similarities.

Soon, she felt herself slow down, and her gag and constraints fell to the ground a moment after. The paralisis was starting to wear off as well! Now she could move her joints a bit, though the rest of her body was still very much numbed.

"Uuuuh, thaaaaank yooouuuhhh-!". Oh. Oh gods, that sounded so stupid. Having been prevented from speaking before, she hadn't noticed how stiff her jaws and tongue were. "Ah, s-shorryhyeh, I-".

"N-No, no!", the other interrupted her. "I s-should be the mon to apologize- I mean, you probably have no idea what's going on right now- b-but not in the 'you are dumb' sort of way- oh gods I am so rude I've basically kidnapped you and I haven't even introduced myself and-".

"Wuh- n-noooh!". The Espurr sluggishly managed to get herself in a sitting position. "I-Ih anyhing, Ih nheehd t' t'hank you fhorr... for shaaaving me! Ah, wait a sekhondh...".

She turned around, wanting to face her savior. The Psychic cat soon found herself looking at a small, pink, fluffy critter with brown legs and a white snout and ears. A Stufful. She was wearing some kind of leather harness around her shoulders, and a satchel on her back. Her eyes were like dark emeralds, each pierced by an abyss of black. It felt like staring into puddles of jade. The Espurr couldn't help but find them a bit... captivating. Charming, even....

"...uhm...". The Stufful raised one of her forepaws, frowning. "Why are you staring at me like that...?".

"Oh- sorry". Fuck. She had just made a complete fool of herself in front of the mon who had probably just saved her. "Uh- t-thaaanks for saving me- wait...". Something didn't quite sit right with her, and it took her brain a few seconds to realize exactly what it was. "How did you find me?".

The Stufful didn't answer immediately. Instead, she lowered her ears and averted her gaze. "...uh, right, I... because you, uhm, you, I mean, I, uh, uhm, uuuuuh...". She squeezed her eyes shut. "This is going to sound really hard to believe, but, uh... you know that... weird dream you've had... I suppose last night?".

The Espurr blinked a couple times. "...why do you know about that dream...?". She got up and took a few steps back, the paralysis having now completely faded. "Who are you?! Why do you know all this stuff?!". She tried to assume a fighting stance. "What are you planning to do to me?!".

"I- I don't know!". The Stufful clenched her harness with her two forepaws. "W-Well, I do know, b-but I also sort of don't- y-you have to t-trust me, though- I mean, I k-know it could sound c-crazy, but... but I have met you in my dreams, I t-think? A-And... and I tried to talk to you, b-but you weren't r-responding? A-A-And, and so I was like... I woke up, aaaaand I could... feel this weird... pull towards a certain direction, a-and I followed it, because I was... I wanted to know who you were...".

A saggy silence fell over them, with the psychic feline's brain trying to understand what the heck was going on.

...it couldn't be, right?

There was no way in heck she had accidentally communicated dream-to-dream with someone! It was something only Legendaries and a handful of Psychics could do!

There's no way, she wanted to say. You got me confused with someone else, I cannot enter people's dreams, I am not strong enough, I am not smart enough, I am not experienced enough, I....

"...I can't...", she said in the end, lowering her head in shame. "You must have confused me with someone else...".

The Stufful seemed taken aback by her response. "B-bwuh? But... b-but that can't possibly be! It was you I felt in my dream! I'm sure of it! A-and the pull! How could I have found you if... if I hadn't been somehow drawn to you?!".

...how... did she find her? Yeah, that... that was a good question... as far as she knew, the only mons who knew of her location were her kidnappers and... well, herself. This was... weird. Had her mother hired that Stufful as well, or something? But... no, no, she was interfering with her kidnapping, and... and... and-.

"Uh, i-it's totally fine if you don't believe me...", the Flailing Pokémon said, interrupting her line of thought. "Y-You probably want me to leave you alone, so, uh...". She turned around. "Y-yeah, good luck with... whatever you're doing, s-sorry for butting in-".

The Espurr raised her heliotrope gaze. "W-what? N-No! Wait!". When the Stufful looked back at her, she began to explain: "I-I'm sorry, I... I've just... I've been through a lot, alright? I... I'm running from home, I got kidnapped, and... sorry, I... I might have overlooked the fact that you quite literally just saved me, so, uh... y-yeah, thanks for that, I guess...".

"...". The Flailing Pokémon stood silent for what seemed like an eternity, just... staring at her with wide-eyes. "...what?".

...well, that was not a reply she was expecting. "Uh... thank you for saving me, yeah...".

"Oh!". The Stufful pursed her lips. "Uhm... t-thanks? I-I don't- I'm not- I-I mean, you, but, also, us, uh, I mean we, uh... we... we should probably get out of here".

Upon hearing a distant, furious roar, the Espurr nodded. "Yeah, we... we probably should".

"R-right!". With that said, the Stufful began walking northwards. "Uh, m-my name's Ursa, by the way!".

"...you can call me Espurr", she replied. She still didn't feel like sharing her real name.

"Ah, that's... great", Ursa replied. "It is a pleasure to meet you".

Espurr nodded in acknowledgement, and after that, they both remained silent for a while, venturing the weirdly empty dungeon. It was... surreal. She was half expecting to be swarmed by a flock of Zubat at a moment's notice, but... nothing. Just the cacophonic lull of dead silence on their shoulders. Ione gulped a bit of saliva while pursing her lips.

This wasn't normal.

This wasn't normal at all.

If there was one thing Enzo had learned during his years as an Explorer, it was that life in a Guild was never dull. So, when the heavy, rusty doors suddenly burst open, he wasn't too surprised. "Welcome to the Aqua Guild, what can I do for you?", he saluted the newcomers out of habit, without looking up from his crossword puzzle. Four vertical; explicit for excrement- really? Who made this?! The Braixen sniffled upon suddenly smelling salt, and raised his gaze.

Right in front of him was a Riolu. Well, they looked mostly like a Riolu - they were pink, though, with the exception of the white ears, Aura feelers, the stripe of fur between them, and the brown neck, arms and legs, and eyes the color of emeralds. They had some sort of yellow bag slumped on their shoulders.

...they looked a bit like a Stufful. Were they a Hybrid?

He then noticed the seaweeds on their snout, left eye, and shoulder. And seawater, slowly dripping on the floor. And the Shellder biting their tail.

"Hello!", they- she, that sounded like a feminine voice- she saluted cheerfully, waving with her free hand, like she didn't look like the almost victim of a wild Dhelmise. "We'd like to register as a team!".

Enzo remained silent for a second. "Wha- oh, of- of course". He opened a nearby drawer to get the paperwork ready. "Wait, what do you mean 'we'? Is there someone else with-".

"AAAAGH!", the yellow sack gasped, writhing, before seemingly spurting water on the Hybrid's back. "Hblfthhh... how are we still ALIVE-".

"Look, you don't need to worry about that". The Hybrid smiled. "All that matters is that we're here- no, seriously, can we register as a team, I'm getting kind of impatient-".

Enzo pulled himself out of the stupor induced by the scene, and quickly muttered: "Of course, of course...".