*Risk's POV*

A few hours later, Riku finally awoke again, still slightly on edge, but he tried to explain what had happened as best as he could, slightly shivering,

"When I touched her shoulder... There was... There was more than one spirit inside her! I couldn't count all of them, but I guess that there was at least one hundred of them, all warping her mind simultaneously. Suddenly, Tania spoke again, but her voice was eerie and distorted,

"So, you finally found us out! Congratulations, Riku- now we can kill you ourselves!" Tania fell, limp, to the ground, as a purple and green ball of ghostly energy gradually emerged from the Flareon.

"Tania!" Blade quickly rushed over to her and caught her body before it hit the ground.

"Please, wake up!" He pleaded to her unconscious form.

The spirit, unconcerned, continued,

"We are Spiritomb- one hundred eight spirits of pure malice! Now, we will kill you all! Prepare to die- your journey ends here, Team Crusaders!" Laughing, the Pokemon disappeared, suddenly reappearing with an army of various Ghost Pokemon.

"But first, why don't we have a bit of fun with you!?!" In response, the spirits began to slowly draw closer to our group.

"Take care of Tania for me- I'll handle this!" Blade commanded me before setting the Flareon down and erupting into a flurry of horn, teeth, and claws. I could only watch in awe as the entire crowd of Ghost Pokemon was reduced to nothing more than smoldering ash. When Blade had finished, Spiritomb let out an eerie laugh that unnerved me to my core,

"Heeehehehe! A most excellent show!... Well, I might as well handle you myself- Master Gengar will reward me handsomely! En garde!" The Spiritomb began its attack immediately, covering the area around us in a black fog. I could feel this darkness slowly draining my energy and resolve, and I was soon reduced to my knees, not knowing what to do.

"Risk!" Blade shouted to me, although I could barely understand what he was saying,

"Do you see that stone that Spiritomb inhabits? Touch it- the Dimensional Scream could reveal something, maybe a way to beat it!"

"Are you crazy? I can't get close to it, let alone touch the stone under it, but I'll try!" Steeling my nerves, I fought the impulse to run and approached the spirit, painstakingly wrapping one hand around the stone.

"What are you doing?! Stop, this instant!" Spiritomb commanded me, sending more dark energy into my body. My lungs felt heavy, and I could barely breathe, but I clung to the stone tenaciously until I felt that familiar nausea pass over me, and I fainted.

In my "dream," I could see a figure that looked familiar to me, fighting this same Spiritomb, firing bursts of aura at it. The spirit only laughed,

"Fool! You cannot damage me with that wimpy attack!" it said, immersing the area in the same black fog, but the figure didn't seem fazed,

"Hmph! If that won't work... Take this!" the mystery Pokemon said, as it began charge an Aura Sphere large enough to begin absorbing the fog, and launched it at Spiritomb.

"Heeehehehe! Another Aura Sphere? Lucario, you are so predictab... Uwaaah!!!" A bright flash of light enveloped the two, and the Spiritomb exploded, leaving behind its small stone, which seeped into the ground. At that point, I could feel the "dream," fading, and my vision returned.

So that figure is Lucario! No wonder Blade told me to emulate him- he was so strong! Father, I won't let you down!

Beating back the fog, I began to charge an Aura Sphere the exact same way that I saw Lucario perform the move, to absorb the fog and attack the Ghost. Spiritomb, seeing this, reacted with horror,

"NO!!! You can't be... His son! Uwaaah!!" it roared, seconds before the blue and black energy vaporized it. However, unlike my vision, the stone was not left from the attack. I simply stood there, breathing heavily, completely drained of energy. Blade walked up to me, with Tania following behind him.

"Your father was a great Pokemon... I see that he taught you well!" The Absol's face brightened, but I wanted to know more,

"How come... How come you have all this knowledge about my father?! Is there something you are hiding from me?!" I demanded a response from him, but Blade simply shook his head,

"Know him... Hardly, but I have heard many a tale about all he was able to accomplish."

What else do you know, Blade? I must find out!

Tania walked up to me, while I was lost in thought. She had a worried look on her face,

"Forgive me, Risk. I was only following what the spirits told me to do... I know this isn't much compensation, but I have been talking with Blade, and I think he is getting closer to Riku..." The Flareon trailed off, still in her self-pity, so I attempted to reassure her, even though I didn't really trust her yet,

"Don't worry, Tania. Misunderstandings happen all the time, and this isn't the first encounter that we have had with one of Gengar's henchmen. I forgive you."

But can I trust you? was my only thought as Riku walked up to me.

"Well, at least the spirits have left her..." he said as optimistically as he could. After some further banter with the Shaymin, I decided to try something that I had pushed to the back of my mind since our escape from the Guild.

"Blade," I started, turning around,

"Do you trust Riku now? Do you..."

"Risk... I don't need help with it- I can handle it myself!"

"If that's the case... Do you trust me? Paul? Tania? If we can trust him, why can't you?" The Absol was taken aback by my words, and I wondered if I was too forceful with him. Finally, after a long pause, he said,

"Yes... I trust you, but Riku... I don't know why, but I just can't trust him..."

Before I could question him any longer, Tania walked up to us,

"Look, the sun is rising again. We should begin looking for Aegis Cave, where a powerful treasure is said to lie. I'm sure that the contents of those ruins will be the key to stopping Gengar. Here," she said, peeling back the bark of an odd-looking tree to reveal a large treasure map,

"This should lead us straight to Aegis Cave. It's a map that Blade and I found a while back while we used to explore together."

While she was explaining the map, I was intently studying its contents, taking mental notes of any potential landmarks that could direct us to the ruins,

Hmmm, so if we go east here till we hit that water, then north for a bit... It should be around there! Meanwhile, Paul was preparing a fire and heating a few things to eat.

While we were eating, Blade began instructing our group of five,

"Alright, we should set out for Aegis Cave immediately- who knows how close those Weavile are to us now!"

Once we had finished, quickly, our group of five repacked and extinguished our fire, before departing for the cave. However, unbeknownst to any of us, the Weavile were closing in on our group, and the fire we made pinpointed our exact position to them. Luckily (or unluckily), they arrived only a minute after we had left,

"The coals to this fire are still warm- they were just here!" Immediately, the leader sent two of his pack after us, and the rest ransacked our "camp," until they found the treasure map that we had hastily forgotten in our rush to get away.

"The Aegis Cave, hmm?" the leader mused.

"Well, we just have to lie in wait for them," he said, with a villainous grin on his scarred face,

"The rest of you, follow me- I know a secret path into the Concealed Ruins. We can ambush them there! Move out!"