Zax was staring outside at the Bridge Tower from the guild entrance. Jet slithered over to him.

"Hey Zax, I'm sure they'll be fine. It just takes a long time to climb Bridge Tower is all."

Zax's look of concern didn't flicker. "I know that. But I still can't help but worry. Make sure if Fuego tries going on a mission today you come with him, I'm sick and tired of his antics and need someone I can trust to handle him."

"No problem, I'll bring Melanie because she hasn't been on a mission today." Jet decided.

Fuego was deciding what quest would net him the most profit for the least effort. Kassidy huffed impatiently.

"Fuego come on, it's taking you longer to be lazy than it would take to just do the quest!"

"Just one second. And... got it! This one right here!" He grabbed a paper from the board. "Just gotta get to Clearing B which has an entrance on floor two."

Kassidy rolled her eyes. "You're a waste of my time."

"Well looks like they've decided on a quest. I better go get Melanie so we don't get left behind." Jet grumbled and he slithered off to his team's room. Leaving the room with Melanie behind him.

Fuego and Kassidy ran upstairs to the portal and jumped in without a second thought just in time for Jet to see them jump in. He and Melanie jumped into the portal after them.

Grand Woods.

Everyone landed at the entrance to the Grand Woods.

Fuego groaned. "Why do I keep getting chaperoned!"

Kassidy let out some gibberish under her breath that might've been cursing in an ancient language.

"You're the ones who can't behave. Soon as you prove you can do that we'll let up on you." Jet said sharply.

Melanie had already moved forward. "Guys there's no enemies, like none at all!" Everyone ran to where she was.

"Care to elaborate?" Fuego requested.

"There's normally a ton of enemies in the Grand Woods but there's none. I can't see any of them and the stairs are right there." She pointed to the staircase not too far from them.

"I bet I scared them off. I am quite scary as Jet has said many times." Kassidy giggled.

"What! I've never said that!" Jet shouted.

Kassidy just giggled more.

Fuego shrugged. "I couldn't care less. Easy mission, I just want to collect my reward." And he walked over to the stairs.

Melanie heaved in a breath. "They really are little gremlins aren't they?"

The group ascended the floor and got through the second floor with the same strange lack of enemies.

The clearing was a small meadow free of trees and appeared to be very inviting. The sound of a rushing river could be heard just a little ways away. The clearing was often considered the closest thing to paradise on the continent. The area was even free of hostile Pokémon.

A cold wind blew through the meadow and the trees shook.

"Alright, the item we're looking for is the Part Live, whatever that is," Fuego stated.

"I've been thinking, nobody's even heard about this Part Live and the name is just weird."

Kassidy frowned. "As much as I hate to say it, you're right. It could be any kind of puzzle. Maybe we replace every letter with the third number from its relative number in the alphabet?"

Fuego facepalmed. "It's just a backward message. It means Evil Trap. Oh, wait."

A furious laugh rumbled through the meadow. "Ha! You guys fell into the trap! That's like, the fifth time! You're so gullible!" The voice seemed to come from the trees surrounding them.

"It's a ghost, the specter is hiding somewhere around here. I can't pinpoint is without fear, which I still don't have any of." Kassidy informed them.

"Trust me, there's plenty of fear to go around!" Melanie snapped. She closed her eyes and concentrated, the trees shook and a yelp escaped from near one of the rustling trees.

"We know you're here! Come out now!" Jet hissed, sick and tired of everything always going wrong.

A shadow dashed from the trees and into the clearing. From the shadow, a Pokémon appeared.

The Pokémon was dark and misty, its eyes had no light and conveyed only pain. The Pokémon was very human-like but it appeared to be wearing a hood of some kind. It also had a little green wisp on its head.

"Hello hello, victims of mine! I am Marshadow, I think. And today I will destroy you in a battle with the help of my good friends! My friends are very nice! They'll help destroy you!" Marshadow babbled.

"Jet what is this thing?" Melanie asked.

Jet bared his teeth. "I think it's the cause of all our problems recently."

Marshadow giggled. "Oh yes, I might've done all that. As a matter of fact, the Alolan forms are my friends!" From the shadows, the strange Exeggutor, two Grimer, Muk, and another strange Pokémon that resembled Golem emerged.

The strange Golem had rounded bodies made of stone with their limbs sticking out, but these Golem had black mustaches and giant black magnets on their heads.

"I've been transporting them over with the power of the shadows! Using them to try to surprise you all, but sadly even they weren't enough. So I've decided, get this, to pick you off in groups! I already captured your friends in Bridge Tower and sent a powerful group of Pokémon to destroy the guild. Now all I have to do is watch you all perish and my job will be done!"

"Why are you doing this?" Jet demanded.

Marshadow shrugged. "I don't know! Maybe to stop the seeping of Shadows! Maybe to free me from the eternal torture of my own creations! Who knows!"

"Something tells me we're going to have to fight," Fuego said.

Melanie's mouth anchored into a frown. "I think he said he was attacking the guild. We have to get back."

"I call the cutie!" Kassidy said and she winked at Marshadow.

"The worst part is that they're perfect for each other." Fuego groaned.

Melanie charged a black sphere in her hand and fired it at the Golem. The colossal Pokémon stumbled backward.

Kassidy giggled and fired two lasers from her eyes, they almost struck Marshadow but the Pokémon barely dodged the move.

Fuego opened his mouth and flames spewed from it, burning the two Grimer.

Jet jumped into the air and his tail began to glow purple, he swung himself forward and struck the Exeggutor in the head, the giant stumbled back and fell on its back.

The Muk surged forward and grabbed Jet, he blasted it in the face with flames and darted away.

A purple aura began to surround Fuego, his face was locked in concentration. Melanie picked up the Golem with her psychic and threw it into the Grimer and Muk.

Kassidy was trying to hit Marshadow, who kept sinking into the shadows to hide. He leaped out of the shadows and punched Kassidy, she was thrown back but she shook it off and just continued laughing. Then she began to sing a song with harsh lyrics before she could finish Marshadow slammed into her with another punch.

Exeggutor was still on its back and couldn't get up but the other Alolan forms were rebounding and moving forward.

Fuego charged forward and his claws began to glow purple, they extended outwards and he struck the Golem in the head. The Titan finally fell to the ground from the attack.

Jet slammed his tail on the ground and fissure formed at the point of him striking. The figure spread and began to kick up dust. The fissure slammed into the Grimer and they fainted.

The Muk was still charging forward, now spitting poison at the ground around the group, trapping them.

Melanie closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose in concentration. A tree behind her uprooted and it flew into the Muk. The Muk grunted but still moved forward. Fuego furiously blasted flames at it as did Jet, the combined firepower was enough to bring down the Pokémon.

"We did it. Now we just need to stop Marshadow." Jet grinned, he held his head high. Then saw Marshadow was destroying Kassidy.

Marshadow zipped around with incomprehensible speed. He kept hitting Kassidy and whenever she got the chance to hit back he just vanished into the shadows. Jet was impressed with just how strong this Pokémon was.

Melanie tried catching it with psychic but she couldn't focus on Marshadow with him constantly moving.

Fuego leaped over the poison. "You guys aren't going to hit it from a distance, you fools need to get up close!" He ran to Kassidy and jumped into the air. He kicked Marshadow in the face. The Pokémon was flung into a tree but he quickly rebounded.

Marshadow's hood suddenly expanded and began to glow green. It furiously punched Fuego in every place he could reach, Kassidy landed a strike on Marshadow with her nightshade and he stopped. Fuego was allowed to fall to the ground with a moan.

Marshadow zipped forward with his fist back when he was captured in Melanie's psychic. "I can't hold him for long! Attack now!"

Fuego stood shakily and began slashing at Marshadow. Kassidy gave a laugh and fired a bunch of shadow balls at Marshadow. Jet finished the alliance attack with a full power poison tail.

When Marshadow was freed from the psychic he was launched so far into the woods Jet was sure he was on the other side of the continent.

Just as they thought they had won a cloud fell over the clearing, coating it with a shadow. Marshadow flew in with his eyes seeming to shoot off sparks. He warped around now that he could slip into the shadows whenever he wanted, striking the group repeatedly while they couldn't land a single attack.

The team was worn down quickly and Marshadow laughed with insanity. "I WIN! Me, winner! Who could've IMAGINED it!"

Jet bared his fangs. "I haven't given up yet. I will not lose. Stay away from my friends, stay away from my guild, and stay away from my continent!" Jet lurched forward and chomped down on Marshadow, catching him by surprise.

Marshadow roared with laughter and vanished. Suddenly Jet was catapulted back and Marshadow faded back into sight. "Loss is inevitable, give up now!"

Melanie stood up shakily but fell to her knees. "I can st-stop you."

Marshadow chuckled. "You? You're the weakest of the bunch. The only use you have is you heal pulse, and you can't even do that clearly. Honestly, I watched you, you're the least threatening. Everything else is good at something, but you? You're just nothing."

"N-no you're wrong. I-I'm not weak!" Melanie protested she had completely forgotten she was supposed to use heal pulse. Marshadow was right. Melanie collapsed unconscious.

"Well, now I supposed I should finish this." Marshadow was about to move forward when an object slammed into him and flung him back.

The object landed on the ground, it was a sheath. The engravings were complex and intricate on the brown iron. A new figure emerged from the forest. The Pokémon was shaped like a sword, at the hilt was a blue eye and a blue and white scarf extended from its hilt, the scarf resembled a hand. The sword picked up its sheath in its scarf hand and pointed its blade at Marshadow.

"If I may be so kind as to warn you, I do think you should yield now." The sword said.

Marshadow just vanished into the darkness. "I'm not quitting that easily!"

The blade began to glow purple and it waited, Marshadow appeared behind it and the blade countered his punch with a blade. The two continued the clash, the sword was hit a few times and managed to land a couple strikes on the Marshadow.

Marshadow landed on the ground, panting. The cloud finally moved away taking away his only chance at escape.

"You all must leave right this instant. The creature said he is attacking the guild, correct? Then that is where you must go. I will finish this duel honorably and silence him temporarily. In that time you must reverse his plan!" The blade ordered.

"Who the heck are you to boss us around?" Fuego snarled, struggling to his feet.

Jet slithered over to the group, his body was covered in bruises. "That's an old friend who saved us back when Dark Rayquaza had risen. Kut Tana."

The blade didn't move its focus from Marshadow. "Jet, you must leave now! The guild is in danger!"

Jet nodded and fished four escape orbs from his bag, he handed one to Kassidy and Fuego, put one on Melanie and kept one for himself. Team WatchYourBack broke their orbs and vanished, Jet smashed the orb on Melanie and then broke his own, rushing back to the guild.

Meanwhile at Bridge Tower.

Zen sat down trying to meditate, find some glance into the future and see a way out of their trap.

Maryland was firing bubbles at the shadow barrier continuously for about fifteen minutes before she collapsed.

"We're doomed. All hope is lost." Ellie muttered as she paced back and forth.

"D-don't worry everyone. We-we'll be fine!" Omega tried to assure them, but there were so many people and he was so scared that he couldn't prevent his stuttering.

Flutter was perched on the Ethereal Orb, shaking his head. "I can't let them down. But am I ready? I need to try. I need to. For Maryland." Flutter's wings began to glow and he flew into the shadow barrier, he continued to slam his wings into the barrier the rest of his body began to glow.

Zen opened her eyes and looked up. "He's-He's a genius!"

Maryland looked over at her. "What? But he's just attacking the barrier."

"No, he's doing much more! He's about to release enough energy to destroy this shadow barrier I know it!"

"What's he doing?" Ellie asked.

Omega spoke now, staring in wonder. "He's evolving."

His body began to grow in size, feathers grew at his tail and hair sprouted from his head. He was more than twice the size of his original form when he slammed headfirst into the barrier, it shattered and vanished.

When the glow subsided Flutter's tail feathers and hair was a bright red while the rest of his body was the same as it had always been, brown and white.

Flutter landed in exhaustion. "I did it! I evolved!"

"Congratulations Flutter!" Maryland praised. "Now we're going to see just how fast you are because we have to go."

"Maryland, you and Omega ride on Flutter. The rest of us will meet you back at the guild, you must warn them if they haven't been attacked yet or help them battle." Zen told her and Maryland nodded.

Omega and Maryland climbed into Flutter's back and Zen took in a deep breath. She punched a hole into the wall that Flutter could barely fit into. He squeezed through and took off, soaring over the plains that laid out before them to the guild. But even from a distance, they could see smoke rising from Central Town.