My hand didn't even reach the doorknob as the door swung open to reveal a blue-haired woman wearing a pair of dark purple pajamas and white slippers. There were bags indented under her eyes while her hair flew in different directions, barely staying in the bun it was always trapped in. Her mouth curved down into a frown, causing me to shiver a bit.

Plusle must've noticed as she snuck closer towards me until she was practically clinging onto my neck. Swanna, on the other hand, stayed behind me, watching to make sure no one saw us. If things would've worked out, no one would've caught us going into Rena's Widgets at twelve o'clock at night, but that didn't happen, not when I was caught by the inventor herself.

"Get your ass in here right now," Rena growled.

Before she could say another word, I quickly scurried inside and grabbed Plusle to lower her to the ground. The moment her feet touched the ground, Swanna flew over towards her and nudged the Electric-type to head somewhere else. I stood up and looked around the main floor of Rena's building. Everything was pretty empty except for the front desk where her pink-haired secretary slept soundly. It was almost as if she didn't even notice that she had fallen asleep on top of some papers with a pen inside her hand.

My eyes widened a bit as I saw her, but I was quickly interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around me, pulling me into a tight squeeze. I felt the air being forced out of me, making it hard to breath.

"I'm so happy you're back," Hilda squealed. "When you didn't come back like you should've, we got worried."

"Hilda, give her some personal space please," Hilbert's voice scolded.

The moment I was about ready to pass out due to lack of oxygen, Hilda let go. I took a deep breath and smiled at the four people standing in front of me. If anything, I was expecting to see them all tomorrow morning, but this made things easier, even if they all looked like they had just gotten out of bed.

Hilda looked the most awake out of all of them. Then again, I don't think I've ever really seen her tired before. Beside her, Hilbert placed a hand on her shoulder while his other hand started rubbing his eyes. When I first met Hilbert, I was warned he hardly got up in the middle of the night, despite going through nightmares like me. By the time he woke up, he never really seemed tired. Now, it looked as though he was about ready to fall asleep once again.

That was different from the brunette standing behind them with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes looked like pools of steel glaring into mine. My teeth grabbed the inside of my cheek, biting on it out of fear of what might come out.

Despite being younger, Lethe carried himself around like a mother Combusken.

"We were so worried about you," Rena broke the silence. I turned to look at her, watching as she placed both hands on her hips. "Why didn't you say anything? I gave you an earpiece for a reason."

"It broke," I told her. "They took Swanna and Plusle and forced them to fight. I tried everything I could, and during the midst of it all, it fell out of my ear and broke."

Rena stared at me for a moment as the room fell silent. I just watched the inventor as I quickly recognized my mistake. It wasn't that I should've lied to her, but if there was one thing that made Rena angrier than anything in the world, it was one of her inventions failing. Or, in my case, having it broken.

We just stared at each other for a moment. As each second ticked by, I tried to brace myself for what would come. The mere fact that she didn't blow up right away was impressive, but even more so, it scared me.

The inventor took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. "Please tell me you didn't just say you broke one of my inventions."

My lips pressed tightly together as I looked down at the ground. At first, I was just going to have the silence take over. I thought things would go well if I didn't say a word. The longer time ticked by, the more I started to feel the palms of my hands clamming up. Even as I rubbed them on the sides of my legs, the sweat only got worse.

"It was an accident," I told her.

In seconds her hand shot out and grabbed the collar of my shirt as she pulled me closer to her. I had no choice but to see her face turn red, except it wasn't Rena's face I saw.

My body shook as I noticed her eyes melt into a deep green. I felt the air stilled as they shifted into a brown. Both colors were ones I saw before. None of them belonged to Rena.

For a moment, I noticed her body shift. Long blonde hair replaced the blue strands that were once there. Even her skin color darkened a bit as her features began to melt away. Rena was no longer standing in front of me. No. The woman standing in front of me was the one I thought I had escaped the moment Swanna and I left The Underground Bandit. Her face was even as furious as I could remember.

"You little bitch!" a voice rang inside my head. "Let this be a lesson for you, Swanna Girl."

I couldn't breathe as I could hear her voice, and it didn't help that she appeared to be standing in front of me. Seeing that, I wanted to run, but I just froze. For once, I couldn't move a muscle like I wanted to. All those times I had faced Gila, I was able to at least move, but now, I couldn't. Even as I stared at her in the face, with her fist around my collar, I couldn't do anything.

What sort of punishment would she put me through?

Suddenly, I was freed from her grasp. The moment I was, my hand slapped over my chest, feeling my heart racing. I blinked a few times, finding that Gila was nowhere to be found. Instead, the person who stood in front of me was Rena. She was no longer angry either. If anything, she looked shocked.

Gila wasn't there. The whole thing had just been my imagination. While none of it had been real, my heart was pounding out of my chest as sweat started to drip around my face.

Another hand grabbed my shoulder. Not knowing who it could've been, I turned around, grabbing Braviary's Poké Ball off my belt.

It was just Hilda standing there. Her eyebrows knitted together as her mouth deepened into a sad expression.

"Sylvia, calm down," Hilda said. "I think it's about time you got some rest."

I pulled myself out of her grasp as I placed Braviary's Poké Ball back on my belt. When I looked up, I could tell everyone was looking at me differently. No one was tired or angry or relieved that I had come back. Instead, fear had found home on everyone's face. Even my brother—who was pretty angry just moments ago—seemed to break a bit like the others.

That was no excuse for everything going on.

"No. I—I lost the Lunar Wing I got from the Underground Bandit," I explained.

Hilda shook her head. "What are you—"

"How many more days do we have to find the other two?" I asked as I turned to look at Lethe.

"Syl, calm down," he said as he walked up to me.

Lethe reached out his hand to grab ahold of me, but I took a step back, away from him, feeling something hit my lower back. I turned my head to see the front desk sitting there. The pink-haired secretary still sound asleep as if she didn't hear a word.

"Lethe's right," Hilbert chimed. "You're not going to get anywhere unless you get a good night's rest. We'll figure this thing out first thing—"

"Easy for you to say," I snapped. "My Pokémon's lives are on the line. Evil organizations are still plotting their revenge on this region. And all you're worried about is—is sleep?"

Everyone froze for a moment, unsure what was going to happen next. I could feel the fatigue weighing down on me, but at the same time, something cursed through my veins more so than ever. There was no way I could stop right now, not when Audino's and Mienshao's lives could be taken away from them in just hours.

There had to be something I could do to stop that.

Rena was the first to move. She walked over to Hilbert and whispered something in his ear. The brunette didn't look too happy about it, but nodded his head in agreement. I watched as Rena slowly walked away while Hilbert slipped his hand into Hilda's.

"Look, being sleep deprived isn't going to get you anywhere. I'm sure Lethe will fill you in on what we have planned on retrieving that last Lunar Wing. In the meantime, Hilda and I have to go to bed. N's trial is in the morning," Hilbert explained. "Either he'll be a free man or be locked up due to his past crimes."

I didn't respond as I watched Hilbert pull Hilda away. They slowly followed Rena to the back, where an elevator dinged opened.

N's trial. I had almost forgotten what happened the last time I had seen the green haired man. It was my fault that the police arrested him. My mind might not have been in the right place, but I should've stayed quiet. If I did, maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did. He could've helped us put an end to Team Oblivion. Who knows. Maybe he could've even prevented any of this from happening.

That was a lot to ask of one person though. N wasn't a powerful Pokémon who could make life's problems disappear.

Besides, the only one at fault was me. I was the one who always screwed things up.

"Hey, everything is going to work out in the end," Lethe's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see him standing in front of me. His hands shoved into his pockets. "We just need one more Lunar Wing to get your Pokémon back to health. Once we get N back, I'm sure he can help us—"

"One Lunar Wing?" I asked. "I need two."

Lethe shook his head. "I didn't know there was going to be two feathers back there. While you were creating a distraction, Hilda and I found the manager of that place and talked him into giving us the feather."

I wasn't sure what to say at first when he broke the news. One of my Pokémon would be safe. We would just need one more Lunar Wing, and then, they could be freed from whatever prison they were enslaved to.

As if to provide proof, Lethe grabbed a Poké Ball off his belt and handed it to me. I grabbed the red and white Poké Ball and stared at it for a while. Mienshao would be alright. With Audino being in a Heal Ball, we might have an extra day or so. That is if the Heal Ball counteracted whatever device coiled around the capsule.

Despite that, I needed to make sure he got out of there quickly. Audino still needed my help. We might have gotten lucky with getting Swanna and Mienshao out fairly quickly, but I don't think going to bed and procrastinating was going to help my Pokémon.

"The boss of the Underground Bandit claimed the third one was lost years ago, but you had it, right?" Lethe asked.

I shook my head. "I lost it. I think I lost it in Chargeston Cave. I—someone wasn't feeling the best and the feather was going to heal him."

"Lunar Wings don't have the power to heal. They just have the power to show the light. It's why you use them for nightmares and stuff," Lethe informed.

"Well I don't have it. And if we need one more feather I should head back and look for another one," I told him.

"You can't. You need sleep. You're going to pass out if you don't." Lethe told me.

I took a few steps back as I saw Plusle and Swanna slowly walking back. I drew in a deep breath before I grabbed Plusle's Poké Ball and returned her inside. Swanna gave me a look, but I didn't say a word. Instead, I just motioned for him to come over.

"There's too much to worry about," I told my brother. "I need to do this."

"No you don't! Sylvia, you look as if you haven't slept in days. If you want to do your best in helping your Pokémon and saving the world again, you need to take care of yourself," Lethe argued. "Your well-being matters just as much as theirs."

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "I don't need help. I'm perfectly fine."

"No you're not!" Lethe yelled. "You have marks all over your body, and tears all over that suit. If that's not bad enough, I don't think you're thinking straight. You need time for—"

"I know what I'm doing," I growled. "I don't need you babying me all the time. I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

Lethe looked as though he was going to say another word, but I wasn't going to have it. Instead, I pivoted on my foot and stormed out of the building. If Lethe had something to say, or if he did actually say something, I didn't hear it. I was done listening to people telling me what to do.

My arm pushed the front door open when I heard the footsteps rushing towards me. When I turned my head, I found Lethe realizing what I was going to do. He ran towards me, as if he was going to stop me.

There was no way I was going to let that happen. I mounted onto Swanna's back and took off.

I didn't need sleep. I didn't need to take care of myself. I was fine. I had to be fine. There were other things that mattered more than my well being.

Besides, I needed to make sure my Pokémon were safe.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long break between updates. There are lots of reasons why updates have been slow. Updates will still be pretty slow to my off-Wattpad life; however, I have a few goals for this book. The first is to have the next two chapters out before Easter. My next goal is to finish prewriting this story before summer starts. Finally, I plan on actually finishing publishing this entire book by the end of summer. Whether that all happens or not is a whole other story, but that's where we're at with this story.

Again, I apologize for how long it's been taking for these updates, but life gets busy, especially when I like to bite off more than I can chew.

Meanwhile, I just received fanart from ImberLapis . The following is the cover she made. Thanks for creating such a beautiful cover.

Unfortunately, I don't have a question to go with this chapter, but if all goes well, the next chapter should be up soon (how soon is soon, I don't know, but it shouldn't be as long of a break as it was this chapter from the last).

Take care y'all.