Having escaped the forest, the two raced back towards Greenfield with bated breath. It had seemed like a peaceful day, what with its bright sun and scarce clouds, the gentle breeze and balanced temperature. Yet here they were running for their lives. The bugs had gone silent for a while. They had probably given up the chase by now. If Blitzer’s stories were to be believed, they never strayed far from their home. At least, the ordinary insects wouldn’t.

After running past the sign at the dungeon’s entrance, the question of what in the world they had even seen came rushing up. It was almost like a blur, a figment of the imagination that had gotten out of their control. But the cuts, the lack of energy, and the stains on George’s face were all too real. Something had gone terribly wrong. George’s head was spinning. Even Blitzer was awestruck. Years of visiting this same Mystery Dungeon hadn’t prepared him for what he’d seen. That unnatural, abhorrent force.

On their run back into the village, they were attracting eyes from all over like a village fool would. A fool was amusing, at least. Even with their rushed breathing, clumsy footstes, and the puke on George’s face, the villagers weren’t laughing. Not a smile to be seen, even. Behind the comedic surface was something very bitter. All the bravery from earlier had vanished into thin air, and all he could feel now was fear. Back at the house, he shivered as Blitzer cautiously knocked on the door, the occasional whimper escaping his throat.

‘What the heck was that…’

The door swung open. Nera was on the other side, the expression on her face switching from jolly to shock in the blink of an eye.

“Blitzer? What’s the manne- oh Arceus almighty, what happened to your arms? George, are- Wh-what happened?! You look like you’ve ran straight through a Beedrill hive!”

George took one glance at his arms; several stingers were poking out. Some bugs must’ve snuck up on him. With how many there were back there, he had to have missed some. He exhaled a lungful through his nose, and stared at the back of Blitzer’s head as he put a claw on his belly, unable to look his mother in the eye.

“Mom, we really need to talk with you and dad.”

“You don’t say? What in all of Eravate have you kids been doing?”

“That’s not what I meant-”

“Nero! Come here for a second!”

Shuddering, Blitzer followed his mother into the hovel with light feet, George following behind a short distance away. He put his stinger-covered forearms over his scalchop. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

* * *

“So, you mean to tell me that you went out playing in the middle of the woods, and you were attacked by these… shadow bugs out of nowhere,” said Nero as he yanked a stinger out of Blitzer’s body.

“Yow! Y-yes, that is very true!” Blitzer chirped, rubbing the spot on his arm. ”They weren’t like ordinary bugs at all, they were huge! They had a black aura around ‘em, and these purple glowing eyes. There were thousands of them, thousands! Insanely strong for bugs, too! I couldn’t bring them down with a little fire like normal,” he rambled. Nero simply rolled his eyes once he was done, and let a dull growl simmer in his throat for a while.

“Right… And this is different than you getting into trouble every week, how?”

“You’ve gotta believe me, dad! George was there with me, he can confirm all of this! Someone has to go and take a look, what if they attack Greenfield one day?”

Nero took one mediocre look at George, then at his wife who was cautiously plucking stingers out of George’s fur, then back to Blitzer.

“Yeah, something tells me you’re exaggerating, lad. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Blitzer banged his fists on the dinner table they were seated at. “It’s not an exaggeration, it’s how it is! We were attacked by shadowy Pokemon, and they were out for blood! I swear!”

Nero raised a brow. “Just like how you said Lance was ‘possessed’ that one time when you were trampling all over his berry field?”

Blitzer shook his head back and forth. “N-no! Not like that! I mean literally possessed, like they weren’t in control of their own bodies! Sure bugs get angry, but they’re never this out for blood! When have I ever come back this messed up from fighting bugs, dad? This didn’t happen even when I was little!”

Nero sighed. “Have it your way then, son. If you’re so determined to hold onto this little story of yours, then I’ll guess we can go and inform the rest of the town. The weekly medicinal trip will happen tomorrow, won’t it.”

“Weekly medicinal trip?” asked George, hands resting on his feet as Nera kept on pulling stingers out of his arm. The Nidorina leaned up to his ear.

“Oh, it’s a little field expedition to go look for berries and other plants, dear. Medicine is not the easiest to come by out here, and Mystery Dungeons do sometimes produce oddities that are quite good for making medicine.”

“Mystery Dungeons can do that?” George asked.

“They sure can,” Nera replied with a slight smile. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

George gave a gentle nod in response. Greenfield wasn’t a thriving settlement, that much was clear after living here for over a month. Given the state of Agate Township, the rest of the region wasn’t faring much better, in all likelihood. Every little bit must help out, and everyone had to help out. It wasn’t like the city back home with all of its comforts, and all the shadiness and thuggery, everyone here had to toil away if the settlement was going to last. Only the kids were free to mess around all day, some light learning here and there aside.

“But yes, they’re going tomorrow,” Nero said. “I’ll tell ‘em to keep an eye out for your bugs. If they even exist, that is.” He gave a smug chuckle, much to Blitzer’s chagrin.

“Why do you never believe me?”

“You being right about something would be a new one to me, laddie.”

“But it is true.”

“Sure it is. We’ll hear about it tomorrow, won’t we?”

Their argument trudging along like a cart through a bog, Nera let go of the stinger she was pulling out of George’s arm and slammed her foreleg onto the table. “Cut it out, both of you,” she said, then shook her head. “Blitzer, honey, I’m willing to believe you, but do you realise what this means?”

Blitzer nodded. “Yes, that something bad is happening in the-”

“No, not that,” Nera said, defiantly turning her head away from the Charmander. “You won’t like hearing this, but we’ve once again let you go too far. First you get into trouble in a cave, then the Soldiers come, and now these shadowy bug Pokemon. It’s only getting more dangerous out there. We can’t keep letting you run off like this.”

For a few agonising seconds, it was quiet enough in the house to hear a pin drop. George felt a shiver pass through spine. ‘This again.’ he thought to himself, swallowing his saliva as the nerves creeped back up.

“Mom, no, don’t say that,” Blitzer pouted, his facial expression having become a sour mixture of anger and fear. Nera put her paw down on the table, thumping it several times as if banging a gavel.

“It is what it is, son. You’re putting yourself and your friend in danger out there. Look at how much he’s been stung!” She hovered her paw over the spots in George’s arm.

Blitzer gritted his teeth. “He’s still new to this, mom! You know that!”

“Yeah, and that’s why he shouldn’t be going out there,” Nero continued from behind Blitzer, wiping the Charmander’s arms with a wet rag. “You’re bad enough as is. He? Looks like he’s about to drop cold any second.”

Deafening silence is what Blitzer replied with. George, feeling the need to do something that wasn’t sitting there and fiddling with his scalchop, raised a hand into the air. “Sir, I feel fine.”

Nero chortled right back at him, as if everything was all a joke gone out of control. “Come on, laddie, you believe that yourself? Look at your face. You reek of vomit, kid. You were poisoned, weren’t ya?” he said with a wink. George reeled back against Nera’s chest.

“Wh-what? No, I-”

“Yes you were. Why are you even bothering to hide it? Nera and I are both of poison, come on now. We know this crap like it's breathing.”

George sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. It was poison, I guess.”

“From a Dustox,” Nero added, then tilted his head. “Look, l;ad. I know this ain’t easy for you to hear, but you’re little. The world is big and dangerous, and you don’t even know the beginnings of it. We’re not letting you run around like that. We don’t want to find either of you dead one day, alright? Or worse. What if someone discovers who you truly are? It’s not every day someone from another world comes to visit.”

It seemed so innocent on the surface, yet Blitzer wasn’t having any of it. He stomped his feet down at the base of the stool he was sitting on, a sudden spark from his tail almost catching Nero by his horn, eliciting a low yelp in the process.

“HEY! Watch it there, mister! What did I tell you about keeping that fire of yours under control!” Nero tried putting a lone finger against Blitzer’s chest; the Charmander smacked it away.

“Dad, how many times have you told me I’ll have to get out into the world someday? You can’t keep me locked in here forever, you admitted as much!”

Nero rubbed the finger against his flank. “Blegh, it’s that time alright,” he said, then kept his mouth shut. Nera took over for him.

“Son, right now is not the time,” she said with a pained expression. “It’s not getting better anytime soon. And besides, you have the cramps.”

Blitzer frowned. “I know that. You’ve never even told me what the cramps even are, other than suddenly being unable to walk like normal.”

To this, Nera couldn’t help but crack a smile, just like the last time Blitzer had mentioned the achings all over his body. To make matters worse, his father too struggled to suppress a loud belly laugh; the frown on his face grew deeper.

“What’s so funny?!”

“Nothing, son, it’s just, it’s just that you’re taking this very hard, you know? Not how I was thinkin’ you’d react to the cramps, hahahahaha…” Nero chuckled. A faint shimmer shone in his eyes. George bit at his cheek.

‘Is it really that funny? He’s having problems walking.’

Blitzer’s tail flared up: Nero was ready for it this time. “Do you know how painful this is? I can’t even walk without my legs itching. Or sleep without feeling like I got hit over the head!” he exclaimed. Nero shook his head.

“Lad, me and your mother both experienced this too, it’ll go away, and you’ll be glad. More than that, even. Patience.” The Nidorino cleared his throat. “Ahem. Enough of this jabber. I’ll go and ask the gatherers to keep an eye out for your shadows, yes? ”

Blitzer stared out in front of him with clenched fists, having let his teeth slip out of his jaw out of frustration. He didn’t say a word. Neither did George, who was looking out of a window. He was fortunate the sun wasn’t shining through at this time. Their sudden disinterest in the conversation wasn’t going unnoticed, and Nero was having none of it.

“Cut the attitude. You wanted this, didn’t you?”

“...yes,” Blitzer huffed back after a few seconds. Nero wasn’t impressed.

“Unclench your damn fists, Blitzer. If I were you, I’d be up praying to Jirachi wishing that the gathering team won’t see whatever’s got you all panicked, you hear?”

“Yes…” Blitzer said with a soft growl.

“Good.”

After the parents had finished taking care of George and Blitzer’s injuries, the two went about their day with sizable reservations. In times like these, it was hard to be optimistic about much of anything. Either they’d look like idiots or they’d be locked indoors. Blitzer didn’t seem to care about the latter anymore, though. Despite all his fears of that happening a few days earlier, he seemed very eager to prove a point this time around. George went to bed that night with throbbing head, even with the flute piece now gone. The argument wasn’t even a drop of rain in the storm. What about that horrible rash that had captivated those ferals so? It was left unchecked, yet Nero and Nera shrugged it off like it was nothing. What if it spread to the settlement? Who was going to stop it?

* * *

One day later, the gatherers returned from their trip just as the sun peaked in the sky. There were four Pokemon among them: A Poliwhirl, a Roselia, a Simisage and a Fearow.

“What do you mean, you didn’t find the shadowy bugs? They were everywhere just a day ago!”

A Poliwhirl at the front looked off past the Charmander stomping the dirt right in front of him. “Sorry lad, but I did not see anything out of the ordinary. We found a few bugs, yes, but none of them had shadows or purple eyes. Nothing else of the sort, either. It was peaceful in there, all things considered.”

Blitzer’s mouth fell half open. “What, no, this, no, you’re not, this,” he stammered. A purple foreleg patted him on the back.

“See? Told you it was going to be nonsense. My son doesn’t like admitting he was wrong, you know ‘im, Todi.”

The Poliwhirl’s belly swirl appeared to twist around a little. “Oh yes, we all know, Nero.”

“But I saw it too,” George said. The Poliwhirl tapped the upper part of the swirl on his belly.

“Who is this, Nero?”

“Oh, just Blitzer’s friend. He’s a bumpkin from the north, don’t mind him.”

The Poliwhirl tapped the right side of the swirl. “Sure. If you don’t mind, we’ve got some goods to deliver, yes?”

Nero nodded. “Oh yes, don’t let me stop you,” he said. And just like that, the gatherers were on their way. Nero patted Blitzer on his back a few times, before turning homewards. “See? Knew you were making this up again,” he chuckled.

“But… I know what I saw… It’s not a joke…” Blitzer said, gritting his teeth. His posture disintegrated into a slouch. Nero turned his back on the two of them, still laughing at Blitzer’s expense.

“Evidently, you didn’t. Son, it’s okay to say you stumbled into a Beedrill’s nest by accident, you know. Sure, I’ll still tell you to watch what you’re doing, because you have a knack of forgetting that, even with that little bundle of freckles you brought home standing next to you. And that’s fine, ‘s just the way you are. No need to hide that with some vague story about shadowy Pokemon that aren’t real, you know. Chin up, eh? You should mess around with your friends.”

The Nidorino walked back homewards without a second glance back. Only George watched as he disappeared over the bridge and up the hill, arms folded and a frown smeared over his face. Wind blew through his fur, making it stand up a little in the process.

“I don’t get it… we weren’t hallucinating yesterday, were we?”

Blitzer’s legs buckled. He sat down on the dirt, both hands on his head, like he’d usually do when a cramp-induced headache came rushing up. Whether this was another case of that, George didn’t know. The air around Blitzer had a slight smell of ash to it. Sure, it always smelled a little smoky around him, but this wasn’t the same. Whatever the cause, it didn’t give him any confidence in the Charmander’s emotional state.

‘Was his dad normally this rude and dismissive before I arrived here?’

George pinched himself on the arm. “No we weren’t. And how is that even possible, anyway? We’re not the same, yet we both know what we saw.”

Blitzer sighed. “Maybe it was something we ate beforehand, I don’t know,” he muttered.

“Wouldn’t your parents be hallucinating then as well?” George asked.

“I don’t know,” Blitzer replied, tail curled protectively around his side. The frown on George’s face grew deeper. The sun was coming out from behind the clouds: This wasn’t the time to hunker down and sulk. Back home, he’d be lucky to see the sun much at all, let alone be able to enjoy its presence for long before someone would scold him for staring out of the window.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really.” Blitzer ran a claw over the back of another, his eyes half closed off as he was inflicting scratch marks upon his own skin. The very tip of his tail would bob up and down over the dirt, as if petting it like a kitten. “I should pray to Jirachi more.”

“Who’s Jirachi?” George asked. The name sounded familiar, somehow. Blitzer hummed a dull note in return.

“A Pokemon that makes wishes come true, that’s all. Maybe they can make my parents stop treating me like I just came out of my egg.”

Blitzer titled his head away slightly. George felt a cramp of his own and reached for his scalchop, biting his lip as he took it off.

‘This is bad. He won’t even talk about his own world now. How can I even help him out like this? I can’t just say it’ll get better, can I? It never does. But I can’t say nothing, either. Ugh, some great friend I am…’

George started to taste the bitterness of defeat as well. That Charmander always had his back, no questions asked. This was the time to return the favour, and yet he couldn’t. He was reminded of back home all of a sudden, until he tasted pain and iron in his mouth.

It was then a shade was cast over them both.

“Excuse me, do you have a moment?”

George and Blitzer looked out of their miseries to see a Magmar standing over them. She had her claws clasped out in front of her chest, and what appeared to be a smile stretched over her snout; George didn’t know for sure. But the green band wrapped around the Pokemon’s forearm left no margin for error.

“What do you want?” Blitzer asked, his throat producing a soft rumble as he spoke. Compared to the flow of the stream close by, it stood out. The Magmar nodded, no, bowed in return.

“Oh, not much, laddie. I’m just a little lost, and I can’t help but notice a fellow Ruby native when eyes meet! I’d love to stay and talk a little, but I’m afraid my commander wouldn’t like that very much. So uh, do you happen to know where the cafe is?”

Blitzer said nothing back, preferring fidgeting with his claws over telling a soldier much of anything. George kept his scalchop tight in his hands, his tail inkling to start slapping the ground whenever George would allow it to.

‘Who does she think she is, asking us for help? She was with that creepy shark dragon too, wasn’t she? Like all the other Soldiers.’

After about ten seconds without receiving a response, the Magmar turned her overly cheery gaze across the stream. “Hm, is it over here and up the hill?” she said, pointing in the direction of the hovel.

“No, that’s where I live,” Blitzer angrily chirped.

“Oh, my apologies,” the Magmar said. “Uh, would it be to the right, then?”

“...Yes,” Blitzer said in a dull tone.

“Ah, thank you! Have a grand ol’ day, laddie!”

As fast as she had come, the Magmar disappeared over the bridge. George put a hand on his face. The inside was hotter than the outside, even with the burning tail waving by not far. He shot a glance at Blitzer, who simply stared out in front of him.

“I’d like to forget this day ever happened.”

“Shall we go back to the others?” George asked Blitzer, hoping to cheer him up a little. He seemed on the verge of tears.

“I guess,” Blitzer said with a huff, taking his tail into his hands. “If my body allows me to. The cramps in my head got worse. I feel them in my tail now, too.” He shook his head. “ I don’t get it. How can all those shadowy bugs have disappeared? And why were they even like that in the first place? They’re never covered in black… vapour, whatever it was.”

George looked off to a sky greying in the distance. It wasn’t going to be so pleasant for much longer.

“I wish I knew the answer myself.”