"Two seconds."

"No."

"Please?"

"... no."

"Why not?"

"How can we torture the others if you're not there?"

"True..."

What exactly happened? Let's rewind a bit.

~_~

The duo had found Sven, but not like how they thought.

They first found his Luxray trying to keep them from a certain area of the ruins. The path to the original Altru building. Ice was glad Crepe knew how to calm it down so that Shedinja could talk to it. It hummed.

"It won't exactly tell me, but it says that something is wrong and that something ahead isn't what we think." Crepe hummed.

"Then let's go find out."

~_~

It wasn't wrong. When they got to the small hut, there was someone inside that made the duo freeze.

"S-s-sven?"

The taller boy turned and frowned. Alarms went off in their heads at the sight.

The first one was the eyes. While Sven was known for his low brightness eyes, his eyes were almost blackened.

His outfit was another story.

His hat matched it as he looked at them.

Then his voice. There was almost no emotion in it as he spoke.

"Who's there...?"

The duo fell silent as they tried to sort things out. Did he not see them? Ice then cleared his throat, knowing how to answer this.

"11th and 13th Top Rangers, Ice and Crepe. Who are you?" Sven paused. While his voice was emotionless, his face had a huge emotional shift. He gulped.

"I..." He turned fully around. "I'm not answering that."

"Sven... right?" Ice quickly cut him down, making the taller male paused.

"How do you know that...?" Ice hummed.

"It was either that or another name related to the number 7. After all, Sven comes from that root, right? And you answered to that." Sven seemed to nod at his words before blinking.

"What do you want?" Crepe hummed.

"Just want to ask some questions."

Sven didn't take that answer well as darkness clouded their vision.

~_~

I think we're caught up enough.

"Two seconds."

"No."

"Please?"

"... no."

"Why not?"

"How can we torture the others if you're not there?"

"True..."

The two boys had been woken up by Ice's Spiritomb, who had attempted to stop Sven from escaping. While it was unsuccessful, it was able to get them back on their feet. Crepe rubbed his eyes.

"I didn't even see him attack. What did he use...?" Ice shrugged.

"I don't know... but if this is like what happened with us..." Crepe gulped.

"You don't think..."

"Joel mentioned something about a man tearing us off the trail. I hope that's not what's happening." Crepe nodded as Ice helped him up. "Thanks Spiritomb." The ghost type nodded as it went into its stone. He picked it up and smiled.