One of us.

No.

Chompers refuses to say another word. I decide, like any good friend/alterdimensional partner to butter him up later and then ask. Curiousity gnaws at me like... rats.

The easy part is getting back out of the cave. The survivors of the Pokemon massacre of Glittering Cave are unwilling to attack anyone, much less those who helped defeat the ones who killed their families.

Pyro's limp body now rests at the bottom of the cave. It's fitting, and some Sableye, even the greedy creatures they are, have put jewels to decorate the tiny grave, which is the highest honor they must have thought possible.

I still believe firmly a creature of air should be put to rest near the sky. I don't want to think about Pich dying, and somewhere in me I'm sure she won't.

She's so strong and brave... just like you were, says a voice.

Her and Rune go back into the Pokeball as we ride into the sandstorm.

Here's where the hard part kicks in. Three people, one Rhyhorn, and two huge rocks that could fall and splinter below the Rhyhorn's grinding feet at any moment. If it bucks, or even gets the slightest bit scared, we're all going to get crushed beneath it's feet.

Bronze holds the Rhyhorn, directing it like they're one and the same, or he's some sort of Rhycentaur. The mental image that condenses from that is a terrifying one, so I blink and pretend I never thought of anything.

Grains of sand are now in my eyes, and I realize distraught that none of us have a Pokemon out, so we're treading on shifty ground. If the Rhydon sees a Pokemon, it panics, our ride is gone, and we're sitting face in spiky ground with two broken stones with prehistoric origins.

Definitely not on my vacation plans. If you can call being turned into a human after dying and spending an indefinite time in purgatory a vacation.

We finally make it across the newly dubbed 'Tedious and Dangerous Route' and back towards the Lab. After a full fifteen minutes of Chompers balancing them like he's going to slip on a banana any minute, I just take the Jaw Fossil and Bronze takes the Sail Fossil.

"Better?"

"Y-y-yes." He says, nervously, and proceeds to trip on a nearby rock. I try not to laugh as he brushes himself off, glaring at the rock like it murdered his family.

"Should we get going?"

"First, let me bring my team out." Chompers lets his team come out, and they all relax as my team and Bronze's team join them. Bronze looks at the empty Pokeball which once held his first catch, and with a moment's notice grinds it into the rock Chompers tripped on.

"What was that for?" I ask as sparks and machinery fly narrowly past me.

"We can move on now." He says simply. I sigh.

The two deaths have worn hard on me, but I always keep the Pokeballs.

We go into the lab, where they take the fossils and ask us to sit down. Bronze whips out his Pokegear and starts playing Rare Candy Crush. I shove him and then go to Pikapad, and hand my Pokegear to Juliet. She starts typing with her ears, the furiously precise movements like that of a dancer's as they fly across the keypad.

After an hour of me pushing Bronze's fingers in the wrong direction, and it inexplicably working even better that way, a young african-american scientist comes out and hands us each a Pokeball.

I send out my new Tyrunt, and Bronze sends out his new Amaura.

"He's really cute."

"Cute!" The Tyrunt snaps at his leg, and Bronze pulls away, laughing a bit. He nuzzles it under the jaw and it purrs like a cat and rolls over, twitching.

"What are you going to call yours?" I ask.

Amaura is already socializing with Bronze's other Pokemon, talking to Shruikan and Pacifica.

"I guess Iris sounds good." He says. "You?"

I think for a bit, but nothing seems to work. Crusher, Jaws, T-Bone... nope, all too cheesy.

Chrona comes over to Tyrunt, holds his mouth closed with a Vine Whip and decides, "Crypt."

Crypt it is.