FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Alright, so everyone's here? Then we can begin."

At midday, in the lobby of the underground guild hall of Sahra Town, Leander summoned the explorers under his command for a meeting. The herdier guildmaster, wearing the badge of his authority upon the thick, black fur hanging over his chest, stood beside his assistant, a glaceon in an ice-blue neckerchief named Frost, as rookies and veterans alike had gathered around in a semi-circle. Team Foxy found themselves in the center of the group of explorers, flanked by their peers, mostly adorned in the accessories that passed for uniforms. And, like most of the explorers, they knew not what the meeting was about. Only Frost would have known the details, and the glaceon's unquestionable loyalty to the guildmaster meant not a kernel of truth reached the grapevine. But plenty of conjecture had passed about as the explorers waited. New threats from the mystery dungeons? A lecture on conduct? Commendations from the Expedition Society? What could it be?

The casual chatter soon died down as Leander called for their attention. "There's much to cover, and little time to cover it. First, promotions." Leander sighed. "The Expedition Society has seen fit to recognize the recent contributions of Team Foxy."

Luna and Brush's ears immediately perked up. "Wait, us?" Brush spoke up. The fennekin grew starry-eyed at the news.

"Congratulations, your team is now Bronze rank," Leander said coldly. Inversely, the explorers burst out in a round of applause. Luna froze in place, caught off-guard at the sudden attention. The eevee couldn't help but be annoyed at her guildmaster's lack of enthusiasm, but Brush was quite happy nonetheless, as Team Foxy was surrounded in clapping and cheers.

"Wow, Finally! We made the next rank!" Brush clutched Luna's paws with her own as she turned to her. "We're moving on up, Luna. Next stop, Silver!"

Leander waited for the applause to die down before he continued. "You've been sent a larger satchel through the Pelipper Office, and also been given a raise. You'll also be expected to take on more dangerous expeditions, so you best be prepared, Team Foxy." The herdier's tone remained stern.

Luna suspected that the guildmaster detested them for the promotion gained from over his head, but she took it in stride. "We won't let you down, Guildmaster," the eevee answered.

"Absolutely!" Brush added.

"Tch. I'll hold you to that," Leander said. "Moving on. I must broach a sensitive topic that applies to all of us. I've been hearing more and more from the townsfolk their opinions of us explorers. It's generally positive. However, some of you are getting...popular."

Luna and Brush immediately felt singled out as tension seized the explorers, many casting an awkward gaze at some of the worst offenders.

"While it's one way to stay in good graces with Sahra Town--and yes, I'm aware of how instinctive such affairs can be--it can be dangerous to mix work and pleasure," Leander continued. "So I must reiterate some guidelines: It's better to leave plans for intimacy back home. If you're not prepared for the possible consequences, reconsider. And remember that out in the field, being openly active can be exploited. You can end up abused, or become an abuser yourself. So, no matter your desires, your job comes first. Otherwise, your explorer career might just get derailed. Do I make myself clear?"

The herdier's eyes fell upon Team Foxy on his last few words, his gaze piercing. Luna clutched her paws against the floor as she bit her lip. Brush looked back with confusion, pondering why the guildmaster had such an axe to grind with them.

"Yes, Guildmaster," answered the explorers, with unease.

"Good. Now, onto the last topic," said Leander. "By now, you've all heard of a new troublemaker. A wild jolteon has left his mystery dungeon to roam the Sand Continent at large, ambushing and paralyzing explorers to rob them blind, especially our rookie teams. And he moves with such speed that he's been nigh-impossible to pin down. Sahra Town has even given him a nickname: The Lightning Bandit." Leander grumbled. "I refuse to call him that. Frost has interviewed the victims for anything we can learn of this jolteon." He turned to the glaceon. "Frost, if you may."

"Thank you, Guildmaster. I will be brief," Frost said. His tone was warm and emphatic compared to Leander, an irony not lost on the explorers. "From the testimonies of the jolteon's targets, especially from Team Dazzle, we have learned much."

"_Thank_you!" Star, a member of Team Dazzle, burst out with newfound appreciation. The shinx's outburst caught her partner, a pikachu named Sandy, off-guard, who then petrified as Leander glared at the team in pink neckerchiefs. The pikachu's notched tail visibly trembled.

"Let Frost finish, before you chime in," Leander replied. "Understood?"

Star huffed. "Yes, Guildmaster," she said.

"Thank you. Frost, please continue."

"Of course, Guildmaster," Frost said, "So, here is what we've learned: the jolteon goes by the name of Graaff. Usually alone. Sometimes works with a crew of Electric-types. Though he migrates quickly, his course has broadly circled clockwise around the continent. Team Dazzle picked up on this pattern and thus has attempted to intercept Graaff multiple times. This made them a favorite target of his, so they learned to travel light. Through their multiple confrontations, we've learned that Graaff not only strikes quickly, but also thinks himself a lady-killer. With every encounter, he's grown more flirtatious."

Leander dropped his face into his paw as the explorers murmured. "You have got to be kidding me."

"She totally wants to bang him," Brush whispered to Luna, joining in on the murmuring as cover.

"Yeah, she does," Luna admitted, keeping her voice low so Leander wouldn't hear. The growing blush on Star's face said plenty.

"I bet he'd be up your alley too," Brush teased.

"Brush, he's an outlaw!" Luna said, trying to keep her voice down.

"Oh, please. You know that's kind of hot," Brush said, "Seduced by a handsome rogue? Sign me up."

Frost continued, after waiting for the murmurs to die down. "We've deduced that Graaff's next destination will likely be Stone Tree Mountain, and because of the Electric-types that live there, he will more than likely have a crew. He will be especially dangerous for unprepared teams."

Leander lifted his face, looking ready to down a whole bottle of berry juice to numb his misery. "This bandit mocks me, Frost. Who the hell does this jolteon think he is?" He turned to the explorers. "We may need to get creative to deal with Graaff. Until we have a plan to take him down, expeditions to Stone Tree Mountain will be put on hold, for _all_teams."

"What?!" Star burst out yet again. "But we've got him right where we want him!"

Leander glared, quietly, until he stepped past Frost to approach Team Dazzle. The other explorers close by anxiously pulled away, as Star glared back defiantly. Sandy looked ready to die on the spot.

"I will only say this once," the herdier said, his words cutting to the bone, "You're infatuated, and being incredibly naive. The moment you relent to his advances, Graaff will use you. He's pulled you along like a pet on a leash, waiting for his chance to take all that you can give. And then, he'll discard you like the bandit he is. This is exactly what I warned about, not even moments ago. And to drag your partner into this mess against her better judgment is reckless. You're fortunate that I'm just warning you, instead of benching Team Dazzle entirely. I'm telling you now, for your own good: Forget about Graaff."

The herdier leaned in close to the shinx's face. "Do I make myself clear?"

Star bit her tongue, as her tempers flared. Her claws cut into the floor, as she seethed an answer: "Yes, Guildmaster."

"Good." Leander pulled away from Team Dazzle, addressing the explorers as a whole. "That is all for today. You're dismissed."

Leander turned and left, heading towards his office as the explorers dispersed. Luna stood still, as she watched Star closely with worry. Frost gave her a conciliatory pat on the head before turning to join the guildmaster, but it did little to raise her spirits.

"Hey, Luna! Why don't we get that fancy, new satchel from the Pelipper Office?" Brush beamed. "Luna?"

"Brush...I think she needs help." Luna said. Brush's gaze turned to Star. The shinx glared down at the floor of the lobby, mortified, as Sandy looked on anxiously with no clue what to do.

"You sure she doesn't need a moment alone?" Brush said.

"If someone doesn't do something, Star's going to run up that mountain, with or without Sandy," Luna said, "And someone would have to go after her and bail her out. Do you want to face down a bunch of flirtatious bandits?"

"Um, maybe?" Brush answered. "It'd be really risky, though."

"Well, I don't," Luna said, "So let's nip this in the bud."

"Okay. We can try," Brush relented.

Team Foxy approached Team Dazzle, as the lobby began to carry on with its daily business. Star peered up as she sensed the vixens' approach. She looked utterly miserable.

"Oh, um, hi, Team Foxy," Sandy greeted. The pikachu nervously tapped the tips of her fingers together. "Good job on the promotion, but I hope we catch up to you soon!"

"Aw, thank you!" Brush said, "I bet that won't take long."

"Star, are you going to be okay?" Luna asked. "The guildmaster really dressed you down."

Star sniffed, as she wiped away tears with the back of her paw. "I can't believe he talked like that to me. If he wasn't the guildmaster, I'd fry him to a crisp! Why can't he be more like Frost?"

"I know, right?" Brush said, "That glaceon's way cooler than our jerk of a guildmaster. I bet he's just biding his time until the seat's open. So, uh...whatcha gonna do today?"

Star looked about, making sure no one listened in. "I still want to go after Graaff," she murmured.

"Uh, yeah, about that," Luna said, "You know that's risky now, right? You might get kicked out even if you manage to bag that bandit. And, uh...other things could happen."

"I know! The guildmaster had my number, and I hate it. But what else do I have?" Star answered, her dismay growing. "All the other rookie teams are outpacing us because we've been chasing Graaff, but we're so close! And besides...he's the only one that wants to get close to_me_."

"Here we go," Sandy said, her dismay also growing. Star could not be stopped in her state.

"You don't know how good you've got it! None of you light up like an electro-ball when you're tense. But Graaff, he's not afraid of my shocks. I want to believe in him! And I know that's stupid. But if I can't catch him, I'd at least have someone who'd touch me!"

"...Oh, wow. I didn't know you had it that rough," Brush said, as she and Luna eyed each other. "And I thought my fire breath could scare guys away. But hear me out: if you're after a relationship, and not just a fling? He's not worth it."

"Totally not worth it," Luna affirmed, shaking her head. "I mean, think about it: Bandits only care about taking what they want. You want to turn that into a project? He'd end up abusing you before he turned a new leaf, if he ever turned at all. Would you want to put up with all that, just so someone keeps you warm at night?"

Star's eyes darted along the ground in contemplation. "That...that would be a big ask," she admitted.

"A really big ask," Brush affirmed. "I can already see how bad it'd get. Say you go up that mountain, confess your feelings, and get busy. He could get real greedy. He'd try to convince you to stay with_him_, instead of going back with you. And you start telling yourself, 'This is fine! I'll put all my eggs in this basket, because he loves me!' And then the romance dies off, he acts entitled for more, and just like that you've become a plaything in the middle of nowhere for a criminal who never respected you in the first place."

Luna, Star, and Sandy were left stunned.

"And that's assuming that plays out over days. That bandit could rip the mask right off before you know it!" Brush continued. "And if he's got a crew, they just might pile on, too. Is that what you want?"

"I...I don't think Graaff would let them do such a thing," Star stammered.

"Um, Star? Anytime he's got a crew, they're definitely eyeing us over. Haven't you noticed?" Sandy said, starting to blush. "Whenever Graaff's making a pass, they'd want in too!"

Star squirmed. "I know, but...Graaff always kept them at bay! He's robbed and captured us, but he's never hurt us, because he likes us! Why would he start now, even if we said yes?"

"Oof," Brush said. "Star, that's a big red flag if I've ever seen one. I bet if Luna and I went after Graaff and his crew, we'd be in it deep. At least you can't get paralyzed. It could be a _real bad_time for anyone more like us. So yeah, the guildmaster's awful, but he's right. You deserve way better than those bandits." Brush concluded.

Star slumped over, as she started to grow teary again. Sandy rubbed the shinx's shoulders in consolation. "There, there," Sandy said.

"I...I have to start over. I've got no choice. Back to the grind. Back to scaring off all the guys at the café whenever I lose my nerve."

Luna frowned. "It won't always be like that, Star. Besides...if they're scared off by a little shock, that makes them wimps. You wouldn't want a wimp, either, honestly."

"Um, I suppose not? But that sure counts out most of the town," Star sighed. "Sandy, let's just...try to find a job today. I've got to take my mind off of Graaff for a while."

Star waved a sad, little paw to Team Foxy. "See you later, guys. And thanks for the talk."

The shinx in the pink neckerchief turned and began to make her way towards the job board. Sandy stopped a moment to bow deeply to Luna and Brush, mouthing the words THANK YOU before she scurried off after her partner.

After Team Dazzle was gone, Luna left out a sigh of relief. "Okay, that ought to buy us some time. She might still go for the long shot, though."

"Geez, the _both_of them really need to get laid," Brush said, "Anyways...I painted a pretty good picture, don't you think?"

"Well, yeah, you did," Luna admitted, "But I've got to ask: After saying all that, you'd still take a chance with those bandits?"

"Only if they were nice bandits. I'm like Star that way: I want to believe, too."

"_Ugh._You're both hopeless," Luna said.

"Let a girl have her fantasies," Brush lightly pushed back, "You've got your own, too, after all."

Luna sighed. "Point taken."

Brush looked around. "So, fearless leader...where are we going today?"

"Somewhere besides Stone Tree Mountain. The guildmaster was pretty clear on that," Luna said. "And he definitely has it out for us, so I'd rather not lose the Bronze rank we just earned."

"Oh, now that you mention it...you don't think he's the reason it took so long to get promoted, do you?"

"You know what? I do." Luna narrowed her gaze as she turned to look at the guildmaster's office. "If it was up to him, we'd never have been promoted. He doesn't think we deserve it at all. So yeah, at this rate it'll take forever to get to Silver."

The thought left Brush feeling trapped in a predicament. "What are we supposed to do? We never get the chance to get on his good side. He barely talks to rookies like us, even on the job!"

Luna smirked. "Remember what he said about more dangerous expeditions? I say we go ask what he'd want us to do. Then he'd get to see how serious we really are. I don't know if he'll ever like us, but he'll at least respect us for getting the work done."

"The direct approach? Yeah, that might work!" Brush agreed.

"Better than waiting for Frost to take over," Luna added. "Come on. Let's give the guildmaster a knock."

Team Foxy worked their way through the lobby of the guild hall, passing through the crossing traffic of fellow explorers, until the vixens reached the wooden door of Leander's office. As they drew closer, Luna and Brush could hear the muffled voice of the herdier dictating a written warning for the guild to his glaceon assistant. Frost learned such talents by encasing the grip of a brush or quill in solid ice, which he affixed to his chilled wrist like an extension of himself. His body kept such ice intact until discarded. It spared his neck the strain of writing by mouth, and made him a talented scribe for a vulpine pokémon. His penmanship was plastered all over the job posts, as well as messages from the Sahra Town guild like the one he wrote now.

Luna waited for the sign that the message was finished, then raised the back of her paw and rapped it against the office door. Leander's words came to a halt, as the herdier raised his voice. "Come in, and be quick about it!" he barked.

Leander raised a bushy brow at the sight of Luna, then Brush slipping quietly through the crack of his office door. He had not seen the two in his office since the First Day Orientation. The dusty scrolls of guildmasters past still filled the shelves behind him, and a map of the Sand Continent still covered his desk, now marked by tokens of the jolteon bandit's trail. Frost was writing the message on parchment laid flat upon the floor beside the sizable, decorative rug in the center, colorful and weaved in the Sahra Town motif. The glaceon shot a warm smile at Team Foxy's arrival, both easy on the eyes for a sharp, youthful reynard. "Hello," he greeted, "It's not often we get to meet like this."

"Eh-heh, not for a lack of trying," Brush replied, letting slip a nervous laugh. Luna promptly elbowed her to focus.

"Team Foxy," Leander greeted coolly, "Why are you in my office? Now's not the time to be flirting with my assistant. We just went over this."

Luna could not suppress her groan of frustration. "That's not why we're here, Guildmaster! We came for work."

"That's what the job board is for," Leander answered. "Anything else?"

"Not just any job," Luna pressed. "You said yourself we're expected to take on more dangerous expeditions. Isn't there something Team Foxy can take on, so you can focus on dealing with Graaff? Something you wouldn't just put on the board?"

Leander narrowed his gaze. "Tch. Secret work can be quite dangerous. What even makes you two so eager? You'd barely qualify with your new rank."

Luna paused, before she gave an answer: "We just want our rank to matter, to you. Not just to the Expedition Society."

The response gave Leander a pause of his own. He eyed Team Foxy with great scrutiny, looking momentarily to Frost for a second opinion. The glaceon gave a nod with a gentle smile. To this, Leander reacted in a way the vixens didn't expect: he chuckled.

"So, the aspiring, popular vixens of Team Foxy want to impress their bitter dog of a guildmaster. So be it. Luna and Brush, you have my interest. Frost, post our warning about Stone Tree Mountain, and then head to the Pelipper Office to fetch Team Foxy's new satchel for them. Return as quickly as you can, and remember to appoint someone to hold the fort in the lobby. We'll be leaving soon."

"Yes, Guildmaster," Frost confirmed. He rolled up the parchment and took it between his teeth.

Leander hopped down from the seat of his desk and approached Team Foxy. He stood right before them, eyeing Luna and Brush with new contemplation, as Frost slipped out the office door. Luna and Brush weren't entirely sure what exactly the herdier was up to. "Team Foxy, there is in fact a way you two can help me. But aside from Frost, we must keep it a secret from not just the explorers, but from Sahra Town as well."

"Um, where are you going with this, Guildmaster?" Luna pressed.

"I think I know where," Brush said, smirking.

"Tch. Don't get ahead of yourself, Brush," Leander said. "What kind of guildmaster do you take me for?"

"Well, you could have threatened our jobs for fooling around, but you didn't. That means you'd rather keep your options open, or else you'd be a giant hypocrite."

A very long silence passed between Team Foxy and the guildmaster, as Leander stared at Brush like a deer in headlights, while Luna's stomach quietly turned into knots as her eyes bounced back and forth between the two, mortified that Brush dared to provoke their guildmaster. Eventually, Leander broke off his stare with an annoyed grunt.

"The time and place for such notions is not in the guild hall, because that's an abuse of my rank. I advise you respect that, Brush, for both our sakes." Leander warned, looking at the fennekin out of the corner of his eye.

"Whatever you say,Guildmaster," Brush sang.

Luna slowly blinked, utterly dumbstruck. It was at that moment Frost quietly returned, paying no mind to the tension that arose while he was gone. If anything, he seemed to have expected it, with much amusement. He took a moment to lock the office door, swinging down the wooden bar into place, before returning to Leander's side.

"Your new satchel, Team Foxy," Frost presented, after placing it down beside Luna and Brush with his teeth. "The Expedition Society included supplies for your next expedition. How convenient for us."

"Aw, thanks!" Brush said. She quickly put it on, quite happy to look the part of an up-and-coming explorer.

Leander turned to face Team Foxy directly once more. "Let's go over the mission at paw. Have either of you heard about the Djinn's Bottle?"

"Huh? The what-now?" Brush cocked her head.

"Brush, come on. How haven't you heard of it? It's a popular folk story around here," Luna said, seeing her first chance to impress the guildmaster. "They say that somewhere in Sahra Town, there's a strange-looking bottle, with a hole in the body, and golden rings tipped with jewels, and even a cap that looks like a horned, purple face. There's a mythical pokémon who lives inside it, a troublemaker named Hoopa who can warp anyone and anything to his side. And if you release them from the bottle, he'll use that power to help you! But you have to be careful what you wish for."

"I could not have recited it better myself, Luna," Leander commended. "But it's not just a story. It's because of Hoopa that the guild hall stands today, carved deep inside the sandy rock here. But the guildmasters before me learned first-hand how much trouble Hoopa can cause. They hid the Djinn's Bottle in the deepest depths of the Sahra Town underground, after Hoopa had asked for a long rest, and advised every guildmaster before me not to go find it again unless there was no other choice. Tch. Well, if I had Hoopa, I'd wish for Graaff to be ripped right out of Stone Tree Mountain and put into a cell. That would save me the trouble of asking you two to serve as bait."

"Wait, what?Bait?" Luna repeated.

"Please understand, Team Foxy," Frost spoke up, "The guildmaster and I don't want to put you in such a spot. But you two would be the best candidates to make Graaff and his crew let down their guard. By now, the jolteon would have inflated his ego over buttering up Star, so a pair of pretty vixens would be irresistible to try his luck upon."

"Hmph, indeed," Leander said detestably. "We're not going to get help from our_superiors_ for a local issue like this one. If we can't find Hoopa, that's the only shot we'd have at nabbing Graaff. And it's only because you two are Bronze rank that I'd even consider it. But I'd rather not have to."

"Well, it's nice to know you wouldn't just throw us to the wolves, Guildmaster," Brush said, "Unless you had to. Ah-heh."

Luna felt the knots in her stomach grow tighter.

"The four of us will enter the Sahra Town underground to comb for the location of the Djinn's Bottle, and convene at a secret base to report our results." Leander explained. "Brush, you will team up with Frost, and I will team up with Luna. We'll cover more ground that way, with less risk of one of us getting lost."

"Um, Guildmaster? I've got to ask: Are you expecting anything else down there?" Luna pressed.

Leander eyed Luna. "No. But If we find Hoopa, the four of us will have reason to celebrate, preferably at the juice bar. And the drinks would be on me for a job well-done."

"Oh! Um...that's good to know," Luna said.

"That'll be something to look forward to, Guildmaster," Frost said with a smile, looking at Brush.

"Hee! Well, we'll have to comb every inch of the underground, then," Brush said.

"Then let's be thorough," said Leander. "Frost, satchel up. I'll open the way down."

"Right away, Guildmaster," Frost said. He walked to the packed satchel hanging from a hook in the wall, as the herdier slipped his head beneath the heavy rug to grasp a hidden panel with his teeth. With a grunt and a heave, he lifted the panel wide open, holding it up with one paw and the top of his head. Stone stairs led down from the heavy trap door into the torchlit dark of the Sahra Town underground, where the Djinn's Bottle laid somewhere in wait.

"Take the lead, Team Foxy. And watch your step. It's a long way down before we reach the underground proper."

"Well, after you, fearless leader," Brush chimed.

Luna took in a very deep breath, calming her nerves. Her thoughts dwelled on what might transpire below in the depths. She didn't expect Team Foxy approaching the guildmaster would lead to such a task, and the offer of a casual night out afterwards as a reward rekindled long-dormant thoughts of Leander potentially growing interested in her. The tremendous canyon between their ranks and his curmudgeonly demeanor had made such thoughts easy to squelch before. But not anymore. Not when she was about to work right beside him.

"Luna? You okay? Brush asked.

"Y-Yeah! Of course," Luna stammered. "Let's go, Brush." As she started down the stairs, she stopped to address Leander. "Um, thanks for giving us a chance, Guildmaster."

"Heh. The feeling's mutual, Team Foxy. But while we're down there, call me Leander," answered the herdier.

"Um, sure!" Luna nearly blurted. She began to hurry down the steps. "And call us Luna and Brush, okay?" she called back, as Brush started to follow her.

"Understood," confirmed Leander. He turned to Frost, who was tightening the knot on the back of his ice-blue neckerchief. "Go on, Frost. And let's hope we find that bottle quickly."

"And do I get to call you Leander, Guildmaster?" Frost teased.

"No. I'd honestly rather you didn't."

Frost had a warm laugh at that. "As you wish, Guildmaster."

The glaceon disappeared down the dark stairs. Leander then finally slipped his way down. The trap door shut beneath the rug with a heavy thud. And like that, Team Foxy, the guildmaster, and his assistant left the office without a trace.

*****

The deep Sahra Town underground smelled of salt and bones. Leander took care to warn Team Foxy: stay quiet, and don't touch anything. As the four explorers reached the bottom of the stairwell and weaved through ancient stone corridors to the secret base, they saw rows upon rows of sarcophagi, urns, and masks, lit by the glow of Frost's torch carried in his mouth. It left Team Foxy with growing unease. As the four reached the secret base, a large room with inscriptions from Sahra Town's ancestry and thankfully clear of remains, Luna and Brush had a sigh of fleeting relief.

"You never mentioned this place was a burial site, Leander," Luna said to the herdier.

"It used to be one, until it became haunted by wild yamask and cofagrigus," said the guildmaster, "That's the reason Sahra Town now buries their dead at sea."

"Cofagrigus? You mean like that big coffin guy in Lively Town that's obsessed with gold?" Brush asked.

"_That_cofagrigus took a long time to earn the trust of those from Sahra Town. Some townsfolk still suspect he'll entomb a pokémon like a fresh mummy, if given the chance. But down here, that's exactly what to expect if we come across one. The cofagrigus down here think of explorers as trespassers and thieves, and will be eager to catch us for disturbing the dead."

"Hmm, yes," Frost concurred, after the glaceon mounted his torch on the wall and stepped to stand beside Brush. "And don't forget how dangerous a yamask can be if you mess with the memento they carry. There's even accounts of desperate yamask possessing pokémon and trying to escape with their new bodies."

"That's awful!" Brush responded. "The ghosts around the Mist Continent are way nicer than that."

"Pardon?" asked Leander, as he stepped closer to Luna's side.

Luna hastily gestured with her paw at Brush to zip it.

"Oh, nothing," Brush quickly dismissed, putting on an anxious smile to save face.

Leander scrutinized Brush for a moment, before letting the matter go. "This underground was part of Hoopa's gift to the town. You can see it in the carvings on these walls, the way the townsfolk revered him long ago. He'd be disappointed with what's become of this place. But today, we'll get him out.

"Frost, I will have to take that satchel of yours from here. You and I will wear the crystals."

"Right away, Guildmaster," Frost said.

The glaceon slipped off his satchel and put in his head to produce two blue, glowing crystals that hung by loops of string. Leander and Frost helped each other adorn each crystal around their necks like a pendant, as Team Foxy looked on curiously.

"It's funny you mention the Mist Continent, Brush," remarked Leander, "For these crystals are a popular export of theirs. These will let us see where we are going as our eyes adjust. Better than shining a light like a beacon."

"Oh! That's, uh, very cool!" Brush replied, hoping they wouldn't dwell on the subject further.

"Yeah. Better than trying to carry a torch," Luna added.

"I'm glad you vixens agree," Leander said, as he slipped on Frost's satchel. "Frost, you and Brush go south from this secret base. As for Luna and I..."

The herdier gently dropped a heavy, brown paw on Luna's shoulder, prompting the eevee to perk up her ears and turn her gaze nervously to him.

"...We'll go north. Remember: stick close to your partner, and be thorough in your search for the Djinn's Bottle. We'll start with the tombs of the former guildmasters, then work our way down to their families. No one else knows we are down here. Let's try to keep it that way."

"Duly noted, Guildmaster," said Frost.

"You got it, Leander!" said Brush.

"Um, s-sure thing," Luna stammered. "Brush, you keep yourself and Frost out of trouble, alright?"

"The same goes for you and Leander, Luna," Brush said, with a teasing smirk. "See you in awhile!"

The four parted ways with their two new groups, pairing the aspiring rookies with the leading veterans of their guild. They left the burning torch in the secret base, and soon all they could see was whatever showed in the soft glow of blue crystals. Together with new partners, the four began their slow and cautious dungeon crawl, hoping to find Hoopa's bottle sooner than the dangerous spirits that lurked in Sahra Town's catacombs.

*****

"Hey, boss! What gives? No explorers are showin' up. Like, at all."

"So it seems, Thunder. Their mongrel guildmaster has finally put the rank-and-file on a leash."

"Even the shinx and pikachu you've been talking about? Dammit!"

"Don't be so quick to dismay, my raichu friend. Team Dazzle has been chasing me for some time. Star will yield for only so long while I'm the one that completes her. And Sandy wouldn't dare let her come after me alone."

"You sure, boss?"

"Very sure. And I've bribed some insurance to make sure, which Storm and Rip should have handled by now. So worry not: we'll at least get our chance to catch them, and this time I expect they'll be ready to join us. And while they keep us company, we'll find out the price their guildmaster is willing to pay to get them back."

"Oh, that sounds real good. What do we do if the guildmaster doesn't bite, though?"

"Team Dazzle would be a prime pick when their heat comes around. Once you see them, I'm sure you'll agree."

"_Damn,_boss. You're really selling these two."

"They're worth it, Thunder. I've worked on Star for a long while. Our time to consummate is overdue, and someone will have to catch poor Sandy when the yearning sets in."

"Heh, that can be arranged. But you're not going to hog the shinx to yourself, are you, boss?"

"...We'll see. But they need reasons to stay, Thunder, not reasons to leave. You are better off leaving Star to me, and treating her partner delicately, before we find out how adventurous they want to be. Our plans would fall apart the moment they regret trusting us."

"Geez, Boss, you make it sound like the boys and I have no class."

"We're playing a gambit, Thunder. If you raichu want those cute explorers to stick around and sate your urges, it's time to take things seriously and follow my lead. Otherwise, you can kiss the hot sex goodbye."

"...I'll make sure Storm and Rip don't overdo it."

"Smart decision. Patience is a virtue, my raichu friend."

"Boss, can you just call me Thunder?"

"No. Because I'm the boss."

"Ugh..."

*****

Luna followed Leander beside him out of the secret base. The underground corridors remained quite dead, and for a much longer spell than Luna had expected. If the yamask and cofagrigus that lurked about schemed to possess or mummify the two, they took their sweet time, as if waiting for the right moment to strike. Luna didn't want to dwell on the risks. She was here with the guildmaster to prove herself, and yet the guildmaster took point with such silence that she felt invisible. Useless, even. Soon, a question came to the eevee's mind to break this silence.

"So, guildma- I mean, Leander," she prompted softly, "Why did you want us to pair up like this? We're both Normal-types."

"Simple: it limits the options for the Ghost-types that lurk here," Leander answered, without pause. "Our natural defense means they can't dogpile a partner without it. As for Frost and Brush...their best defense is a good offense. I expect they'll compliment each other."

"Makes sense, I suppose," Luna said.

"The mission comes first, Luna. Maybe you've grown accustomed to such exploits on the job, but I didn't bring you down here alone with me just to seduce you out of sight of your peers."

"Um, so that means you wouldn't want to do that, right?" Luna asked.

Leander stopped and turned to stare at Luna. The explorer suddenly felt on-edge as she stopped beside her guildmaster, withering under his quiet, scrutinizing gaze.

"Tch. You're more like your partner than you let on. Have you considered that you might be projecting?" said Leander.

"P-Projecting? What do you mean?" Luna stammered.

The guildmaster drew in closer, lowering his head to look at Luna eye-to-eye. Luna's breath drew short as the herdier's chiseled face loomed inches from her own, seizing her with temptation.

"You like males who are assertive, who don't hesitate to sweep you off your feet. Am I wrong?" Leander asked.

The remark drew a nervous laugh from the eevee, as she took care to tuck her tail between her legs. "Ah ha ha...can we cut this short before you pull that thread all the way out? I'm down here to show how good an explorer I am, not, um, get us derailed. I think, if I somehow made my straight-as-a-spike guildmaster drop everything out of the blue just to take me, then I'd die of embarrassment."

After a moment's thought, a moment that lasted far longer for Luna than she would have liked, Leander began to pull away. He stood beside her like moments before.

"So I see. I agree with you, Luna. To do such an act, in the middle of such important work, would be downright mortifying," said Leander.

Leander let slip the tiniest crack of a smile. "We still have that work to do. We should carry on," Leander said.

Luna took in a deep breath and let out a very big sigh of relief.

"Thank you," Luna said, trying to get back on track, "So...how much longer until the first guildmaster's tomb?"

"We have a ways to go. I advise you to save your energy, and keep on the lookout for masks and sarcophagi moving in ways they shouldn't be," said Leander.

"Okay. I can do that," said Luna. "As long as you focus, too."

"Heh. As your guildmaster, Luna, I know a thing or two about restraint," Leander said.

They pressed on quietly.

*****

"Screeeeeee!"

A yamask burned by flames let loose a scream that could wake the dead, as Frost and Brush turned tail and ran. That scream soon joined in a growing, frightful chorus that swelled behind the two explorers as they fled.

"Stay ahead of me, and keep moving!" Frost warned. "If they weren't after us before, they're after us now."

"What else was I supposed to do? That creep wanted my body, and wouldn't take no for an answer!" Brush protested, her voice panicked.

"You're not at fault! But we must stay ahead of them or they'll surround us. Keep straight!"

"But what if they surround us anyway?!"

"I'd like to see them try."

The two explorers sprinted on, as Frost's crystal violently bounced on chest and cloth. The two kept pace with vulpine speed, as the angered spirits grew in number and tried to follow their trail. The crystal's glow barely lit the way forward, as their surroundings rushed past in a faint, blue blur.

"Wait, stop!"

Frost called out a warning to Brush, and the two skidded to a halt upon the dusty stone. Another second, and they would have crashed into the wall before them. They found themselves in a small room with a lonesome urn.

"Um, dead-ends seem really bad right now," Brush said.

"We can make it work in our favor. Hide against the wall besides the entrance, and we'll see if any of them aim to barge in this way," Frost replied.

"Okay!" Brush said, in quick acknowledgment. She hurried over to the stone wall on the left and leaned close against it, facing towards the entrance. "Like this?"

"Perfect. Now keep quiet. We must wait."

With quick steps, Frost approached Brush from close behind. He leaned against the wall for balance and placed one paw ahead of her to stand over the fennekin as his other paw reached for the glowing crystal. He slipped that crystal entirely in his mouth, the neckband protruding out one corner of his muzzle. The room and the adjacent hallway turned pitch-black, as Frost leaned further ahead to peek around the corner and keep watch for angry yamask. Their angry wailing could still be heard in the distance, lingering and sharp like close thunder.

His chest brushed against the fennekin's ears, cool to the touch and smooth as velvet. Brush slowly blinked in the sudden dark, taken aback by the loss of sight amplifying her other senses.

"H-hey," Brush whispered nervously, "Sorry, but...I've never been in the dark like this before."

Frost paused, unable to say much with the crystal in his mouth. After a moment's thought, he slowly drew a paw along the floor to press over one of hers. It felt just as cool to the touch as his chest, and yet familiar and comforting. As Brush felt a returning sense of ease, she shifted her weight from the wall, and rested her cheek against the side of his leg. Were it not for the distant wails of the yamask, it would have been easy for her to forget the present danger.

They waited. And waited. And waited. For awhile, it felt like the yamask lost their trail but still relentlessly searched for them, on the threshold of investigating their lone room and hallway. Brush quietly wondered if the two explorers would get the chance to take things further in the enticing dark. She hoped the yamask would recede, just long enough to encourage someone to make a move.

But that hope was soon dashed. In the far distance, Frost saw several pairs of glowing, red eyes round the corner. "Screee! That body! That explorer girl! Where did she go?!"

Brush's heart nearly leaped out of her chest, recognizing the voice from earlier. Frost slipped the crystal out of his mouth as he quickly pulled back from the entrance and stepped back from Brush. "It's time. Brush, I know you won't like this, but I want you to bait them down the hallway first."

"What? Um, okay," Brush said. "But what do I do after that?"

"Take cover, so they focus on me, then get out of this room the first chance you get. I'll take them down."

"Take cover, then get out, got it," Brush said. "Okay, here goes!"

Brush took in a deep breath to gird herself, before rushing out to the hallway just outside the dead-end room. She spat out a burst of flame in the direction of the yamask, and immediately felt their collective glares zero in. She immediately stepped back, intimidated.

"I'm over here, you creeps!" Brush barked, further steeling her nerves. "And my body's not yours to take!"

They responded by giving chase. From the branching halls of the Sahra Town catacombs, many more yamask flowed in like a ghastly wave behind the one Brush burned in self-defense. Their voices grew deafening as they rushed forward like a flood, aiming to drown her. Brush's eyes widened at the sight, nearly paralyzing her.

"Now, Brush!Move!"

Frost's sudden bark snapped Brush to her senses. She turned and ran back into the room behind her as Frost took position in front of the urn. She dove right for the same wall as before, covering her face. Moments later, the yamask rushed in right past her, their masks clattering together as their red eyes quickly swarmed towards the lone glaceon and his crystal's glow, until that light disappeared behind the mass of undead. She clenched her teeth and desperately held her breath, too terrified to make a sound.

"Where did the other one go?! Tell us! Tell us!"

Their very voices struck Frost with pain as they kept chanting their demand and got closer, nearly forcing him to the ground. He clenched his teeth, flinching from the relentless, verbal onslaught of the spirits.

"TELL US! TELL US!"

Frost groaned in pain and forced himself to stand. "You had your chances when you crossed over to our world..."

Ice grew along his pelt and limbs. His neckerchief froze solid. A sudden chill seized the room, and everyone inside.

"...Now you want to steal our lives for your regrets?!"

Brush ripped her paws from her eyes and leapt to her feet with a gasp. Frost's eyes rapidly glazed over, the smooth film of ice evoking a monstrous gaze, before he ducked his head to hide his face beneath his paw. Brush ran along the wall in the dark for the exit, as the yamask yelped in newfound fright.

"I won't let you!"

As Brush ran out, blinded by the dark, a chilling blast nipped at her heels. A howling tempest engulfed the room, amplified by the tortured wails of the yamask now swirling helplessly inside. The fennekin stopped and turned before she strayed too far, hoping to see Frost's crystal amidst the raging storm of snow and ice. She could not see such dim light behind the unbridled attack, but she could still hear the screams. The yamask clutched their masks desperately to protect them from harm. As they tumbled, they felt the merciless, violent chill freeze their mementos and their very selves into place, until most fell upon the ground like balled-up, frozen husks. Others fainted outright and collapsed, their masks scattering along the floor.

The urn in the room flung out as the storm reached its peak in ferocity. It shattered beside Brush into pieces, giving her a fright. She puffed out flame by reflex, and the contents of the urn flashed before her eyes:

An explorer badge, covered in ashes.

Brush recognized the design immediately. It had the same design as issued by the guilds back home. Her old home. And from not too long ago.

The sight of it perplexed her. She thought she was seeing things, a trick of her fleeting flame. But she had more pressing concerns. As the wails died down, the glaceon's attack had started to peter out, and she could see the crystal's glow again. She rushed back into the lone room, seeing Frost standing alone with chunks of ice falling off of him. The ice over his eyes had peeled off, returning his sight to normal. He hunched over as exhaustion kicked in.

"Frost! Are you okay?" Brush asked, coming right up to him. She looked around, now seeing the frozen, ghostly husks, and hearing the whimpers of the few yamask that barely withstood Frost's attack. It felt like walking into the scene of a massacre.

"It's not often I have to do a Blizzard attack, but I'll be alright," Frost answered, looking over to her. "I can't say the same for the yamask in here."

"...I feel kind of bad for them," Brush admitted.

"It was them or us, Brush. We had no choice. I did worry, though, that you'd still get caught in the attack."

"Well, even if I did, I'm still a Fire-type," Brush reasoned.

"True, true. We better go, while these yamask thaw out. Hopefully they'll have the sense to leave us alone now."

Amidst the whimpering, Frost and Brush heard faint, sorrowful words as they began to walk out of the room.

"I can't go back...I can't...I can't..."

Brush's unease grew. She tried to change the subject, as the yamask's whimpering fell out of earshot. "So, uh...does the guildmaster know you can use Blizzard?"

"It's not meant to be a secret. It's just not something a guildmaster's assistant should have to use. At least, not in the guild hall."

"Uh, right. I'm glad you think that way, but it's still kinda scary knowing how_strong_ you really are."

"Well, that's unfortunate. That's sure to set me back, after how comfortable we've grown with each other," Frost said.

The spilled contents of the urn began to appear in the crystal's glow. Brush tried to ignore it.

"Oh! I won't hold that against you, Frost. You saved my life!" Brush replied, a bit too quickly. "When this mission's over, we're definitely picking up where we left off."

"That's good to hear. We could both use the company to take our minds off this place, especially if we're the ones stuck waiting at the secret base."

"Well, that _might_be a little premature," Brush said, remembering the last time she fooled around ahead of Luna in a secret base, "It could happen, though!"

At that point, Brush's paw bumped against the explorer badge. She looked down and she stopped, then back to Frost. He frowned with newfound regret.

"Oh...I forgot about the urn in there."

Brush couldn't ignore it any longer.

"Okay Frost, I gotta know," Brush pressed. "Why's a Grass Continent explorer buried in the Sand Continent? That design's from the days of the Temporal Crisis!"

The glaceon placed a paw on the ash-covered badge. "The townsfolk don't like to talk about it. When Hoopa helped build this underground, Sahra Town wanted to bury the most special pokémon of all in here. It's who you'd suspect."

Brush frowned. "The humans..."

Frost nodded. "There's almost never a human that wants to leave. But some never let go of who they used to be. And when they die, they're terrified of what waits for them when they cross over. All the regrets of their former selves anchor them here. And that regret takes the form of a golden mask, and a desperate ghost pokémon. That forced Sahra Town to change their traditions, when the problem grew too big to handle. The yamask...they multiplied on their own as they turned to each other, and to a number far greater than the humans that have visited this world and passed on. They share similar memories, but the same desperation and regret runs through them all. In great numbers, that makes them dangerous."

"...How do you know all this?" Brush asked, in disbelief.

"I'd rather not talk about this, but if you must know...a yamask once got the drop on me down here. I was possessed, and the sob story of their former lives and their existence in the underground were laid bare to me like an open book. I knew, right then, that it would never let me go by choice. If the guildmaster wasn't there to bite me and rip the mask right off, who knows how long I'd have been a puppet of theirs?"

Frost picked up the old explorer badge by the very edge, right between his teeth. "Come with me, and keep an eye out. We have to put this back."

Brush squirmed at the thought of going back in, but relented. "Okay. I'll be right behind you."

They took cautious steps back into the dead-end room, stepping over the frozen and whimpering yamask on the floor as they crept back to the spot where the urn used to stand. Brush's eyes darted about, increasingly paranoid that a mask would come hurtling right for her. Or, even worse, Frost. Her breath stilled as Frost leaned down to place the explorer badge back on its quaint, little ledge, turned, and then began to creep back out. Brush followed the whole way.

Once they were finally out again, she remembered to breathe.

Frost looked over to her. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so," Brush said. "We should definitely get out of here soon. This place is too sad. Sad and creepy."

Frost sighed. "Let's hope we find that bottle, then. With Hoopa, we could reunite with our partners and escape together with ease."

"Yeah, here's hoping!" Brush agreed.

The two pressed on.

As the explorers departed, the grasp of a burned yamask reached weakly up from the floor to the ledge. It clutched the lone explorer badge. It brought the ash-covered memento to its eyes, staring quietly.

The yamask relived memories it could never experience again, and of what could have been. It wondered where it had all gone wrong, and why it now lurked aimlessly in the dark, easily swatted aside as it dwelled in a cowardly limbo. It squeezed the badge in newfound frustration.

It rose weakly from the floor, with badge and mask, and quietly followed the faint, blue glow.

*****

"Oh, no. Star, what are you doing?"

"What's wrong, Sandy? I bought something that'd help us finish our job."

"You just blew our entire savings on a wonder orb! What happened to buying apples?!"

"Look, it's not every day there's a Kecleon Shop on the trail to the mystery dungeons selling wonder orbs at a discount. And it's not just any wonder orb. It's a Foe-Hold orb! Don't you know what it does? We whip this out and bam! Petrified bandits."

"Bandits? What happened to finding a lost scarf in the Holey Meadow?"

"Forget the scarf! We're not going to the Holey Meadow anymore. We're going to Stone Tree Mountain!"

"No-no-no-no-no. Wait a minute. Star, the guildmaster banned everyone from going there."

"Yeah, and?"

"Graaff would be expecting us. He'd want us to show!"

"Of course he would. But this time is different! Now we've got the edge on him_and_ his crew. This time we're setting the trap."

"Star, this is crazy! Don't you remember everything Team Foxy said? What the guildmaster said? Now you're going to drop everything and go after Graaff because a Kecleon Shop had a surprise sale? Can't we at least wait until that help arrives? We go up there now, and we might not come back down tonight!"

"I'm not letting anyone else steal our thunder! I want to see the looks on their stupid faces when we haul in Graaff ourselves. We're the only team that even lifted a paw to chase after him. That dumb dog of a guildmaster is gonna grind his teeth when the Expedition Society gives us a promotion. He'd hate it even more than Team Foxy's promotion. I can't wait."

"...This can't be happening..."

"Sandy, this is our big chance."

"More like a tiny, smaller-than-a-joltik chance."

"A chance is a chance! We're taking it."

"More like _you're_taking the chance. I'm just trying to make sure we don't end up bandit groupies."

"We're _not_going to be bandit groupies! Do you really think we're that desperate?"

"Yes."

"...I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

*****

"...Terrific."

Leander muttered to himself as spied around the corner, pushing his crystal just far enough to peek into the burial chamber of a former guildmaster. The walls recorded accomplishments of a by-gone era with Hoopa prominently depicted, similar to the room that served as the explorers' secret base. But this was a smaller chamber, dedicated to the former guildmaster's life. He noted the existence of two sarcophagi, one notably larger and with more luster than the other.

"What's wrong?" Luna whispered, standing close behind Leander. "Is it more yamask?"

Leander pulled back from the corner and turned to the eevee. "Luna, do you want the good news first, or the bad news?"

Luna bit her lip. "Please start with the good news."

"This guildmaster's chamber has several depictions of Hoopa helping out over their lifespan. There's a good chance they're buried with the Djinn's Bottle."

"And the bad news?"

"There's also a cofagrigus who thinks they're being clever."

"Oh, great. The scary golden coffin ghost. Totally wanted to deal with one of those." Luna took in a breath. "We can still bite it, right?"

"Not if we get trapped inside that 'scary golden coffin'. And it's called a sarcophagus."

"Can you be pedantic some other time? We have to get in there, then get out fast."

"Heh. Fortunately for us, the late guildmaster's sarcophagus is close to a wall. We can push off the stone lid without turning our backs to the cofagrigus. Simple. Our combined strength should do the trick."

Luna sighed. "That's the best we can do, I guess. I wish we had something like a stayaway wand, though."

"You can be the first to file a formal complaint over our supplies," Leander said. "Hopefully, the Expedition Society won't tell you to pound sand like they do to me."

Leander then turned around. "Stay close, and keep your fangs ready."

"Got it," Luna said.

The herdier guildmaster and eevee explorer entered the burial chamber single-file, taking care to keep their distance from the seemingly dormant cofagrigus. Leander led Luna to the space between the late guildmaster's sarcophagus and the nearby wall. He leaned down, quietly offering the eevee a boost up towards the same level as the lid. She climbed up, taking care to keep an eye across the chamber, and stretched out her legs to get ready for the push-off. Moments later, the herdier joined her by her side.

On the count of three," Leander instructed. "...Three!"

With much exertion, they pushed their hind legs against the wall with all the force they could muster. As they clenched their teeth and grunted, they heard the slow grind of stone against stone, as the lid slowly shifted. Before it moved half-way off, Luna lost her footing and dropped halfway over the lip, as Leander tried his best to keep pushing. The eevee took care not to tumble in beside a corpse.

"Eeergh...See anything?" Leander asked.

Luna preferred not to see such remains, but the sooner they could leave with what they came for, the better. She held her breath and lowered her head to take a look inside with the help of the crystal's glow.

She immediately whipped her head back up. "It's empty!"

Leader's gaze shot to Luna, his eyes widening. "Get out of h-"

"Oh no, you don't!"

A dark, ghostly hand reached over and ripped off the lid, as the sarcophagus suddenly twisted. Leander and Luna both tumbled right in with a yelp, landing hard on their backs. In the next moment, the lid slammed shut above them. They soon flipped back upon their feet with newfound panic.

"No! We're trapped!" Luna exclaimed.

"Remember me, you bushy-faced bastard?" taunted the cofagrigus. "I learned a new trick since last time! Now who has the last laugh?"

The Ghost-type pokémon tipped over its sarcophagus body on one end, pounding the floor to shake off the caked layers of dust obscuring its golden exterior. Luna fell upon Leander as they bounced inside painfully against stone, soon clutching the herdier's belly for dear life as Leander fell repeatedly upon his coarse pelt. Leander felt the air get pounded right out of his lungs.

"There! All cleaned up! Now I can lay down and enjoy my first-ever two-fer."

The cofagrigus laid back down on the floor with a fast falling over in the air and a slow float down. The motion dropped Leander right upon Luna. The eevee_oofed_ from the impact and was soon smooshed by the herdier as he kept gasping for air.

"Leander, don't breathe so hard!" Luna warned, as she tried to slip out from under him with the push of her paws. "There's only so much air in here."

"Oh, I wish it was airtight," the cofagrigus continued taunting, "But you two get to slowly die from starvation instead. You've got what, a day's worth of food at best in that bag of yours? You're practically dead already! Ha-haaaaa!"

Luna just about had it with the insufferable pokémon that captured them. "Leave us alone, you monster!"

Leander managed to pull himself back onto his feet. "You must be so proud of yourself, Kamuzu," he snarled, "I can understand going after an old dog like me, but Luna's a maiden in her prime. Her kind barely even have vixens at all. Do you get anything out of snuffing out a life so young and full of potential?"

The remark caught Luna off-guard. It was the most roundabout way she'd ever been complimented, and she never thought she'd hear such words from her guildmaster. The eevee quietly stared at him, seeing the herdier in a new light.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before bringing her down here, you dumb mutt!" Kamuzu snapped back. "Don't worry, though: You get to spend your final days telling her how sorry you are, and I'll get to hear_every moment_ of it."

Leander looked over to Luna, falling quiet. Their dire predicament was starting to sink in. Words of an apology nearly formed on the tip of his tongue. But before he could speak, Luna approached and firmly put a paw on his lips.

The eevee rose up on two feet to lean against the herdier. She lifted her muzzle to his ear.

"Don't,' she said in a whisper, "I'm not giving up yet. Isn't there anything in your bag we can use?"

"...Blast seeds are too dangerous in here," Leander whispered back, "Food and reviver seeds would just buy us time. I...I'm not sure what we can do. Frost and Brush might have to save us."

Luna paused with hesitation. "...There's still something we can try."

The eevee pulled away from the herdier, and raised her voice for Kamuzu to hear. "Wait, Guildmaster, you're wrong! You're not at fault...it's all my fault!"

"Oh, this is getting good," Kamuzu remarked.

"I'm the reason we're even down here. I bit off more than I could chew, just so you'd believe in me. Now I've doomed us both," Luna went on with dramatic flair, "I'm a failure that killed my guildmaster. What am I even good for?"

Leander looked back to Luna, slowly blinking, as he stood perplexed. Luna gestured with the roll of her paw for him to keep things rolling. And then, Luna's plan began to click. The herdier quietly dropped his face in one paw as he let out a long, prolonged sigh, before turning back to the eevee.

"Our exploring days may be over, Luna...but you can still prove how good a _vixen_you are."

"Guildmaster...what are you saying?" Luna said, feigning surprise.

Leander began to close the distance, stepping forward to sit and peer down close to Luna. He lifted a paw to cup and cradle the back of Luna's head. "Do you know one of the greatest things a vixen can do? They can be lovers for a male in need. And since we're not long for this world, my needs are immense. As are yours."

"Uh, what?" Kamuzu chimed in.

"Oh! I...didn't think you could tell," Luna said.

"I'm a dog, Luna. I can smell your heat like any reynard. I could mount you here and now and seed your yearning womb, day after day. We'd lather this miserable grave in our fluids. And I wouldn't stop, even after you laid egg after egg. After all, we'd have nothing else to live for."

"What!? I don't like where this is going!" said Kamuzu. The cofagrigus' face turned quite uneasy.

"G-Guildmaster! I don't know if I'm ready for that." Luna said, as if astonished.

"Y-Yeah, she's not ready for that!" Kamuzu insisted.

"You've got the rest of your life to be ready, Luna," Leander parried, "Don't worry. You'll soon know every pleasure a vixen can have."

His paw began to reel in Luna's head, pulling her closer down. The eevee's eyes widened as blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Now, let's see what you can do with that mouth of yours," he rumbled. "Good thing you're an explorer, Luna, because you're about to go deep."

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

Kamuzu yelled out, as every fiber in his being rejected entombing the guildmaster and explorer for a moment longer. The cofagrigus immediately flipped upside down and popped his lid. Luna and Leander tumbled out with a yelp, reflexively spinning to avoid landing on their heads. They managed to painfully land on their sides, both looking quite disoriented as they now lay sprawled on the floor. Before they could even begin to lift themselves to their feet, Kamuzu shot away from them towards the exit.

"I'm not letting that happen in me, you sick freak!" Kamuzu declared, as he briefly stopped at the room's exit. "Next time, I'll just catch you alone! Aaaaaah!"

And with that, Kamuzu fled on his four ghostly limbs. As he stormed off cursing, the late guildmaster's tomb fell quiet. As the present guildmaster and his explorer subordinate began to pull themselves up upon their feet, their eyes fell upon each other, as the tension in the room began to swell to an unnerving degree.

"S-So, that worked!" Luna said, blurting out her words. "You, uh, ran with it way better than I thought you would. Ha, ha..."

Leander said nothing. He looked like he struggled between admonishing the eevee, or pouncing upon her. Luna quickly took note of this.

"Look...I know you'd never approve of doing things this way, and I get that! But it was the only shot we had. Waiting for Frost and Brush would have been worse," Luna reasoned. "We're lucky that cofagrigus got squeamish before things, um, really got going, to show how serious we were. So we can just go back to the mission and see what's in the real coffin, right?"

Leander hesitated to respond, as an internal struggle contorted his bearded face. Luna soon realized: the moment they shared in Kamuzu's sarcophagus actually left him shaken. The words the guildmaster finally uttered left no doubt:

"Luna...I just crossed every line imaginable with you, and it could have been far worse. I was moments away from turning our ruse into anything but. Any witness to my words alone would have me expelled in days. Aren't you disturbed? Repulsed? Frightened, even?"

The eevee quickly shook her head. "No! Leander, don't be like that. It was my idea in the first place, not yours! I'm not going to hold it against you. So, please, don't beat yourself over it."

"Luna, I could have taken you like a beast," Leander said. "What if you really were in heat? What if our plan didn't work? I'd have been the worst hypocrite of all. I'd be driven right out of Sahra Town, nevermind the guild."

Luna stomped her feet in exasperation. "Hrnf! Can we turn down the drama for one_second? First off, Leander, I wouldn't put myself in that...um, nevermind, but that's besides the point! I'd been fine in the end if you got carried away moments ago, no matter how weird or embarrassing it got between us. We were _roleplaying, Leander! I know you don't want to hurt me."

The eevee explorer stepped up to place her paws on the herdier's as she peered up to look at her guildmaster. She felt her heart pounding as she crossed the rubicon. "Look...I know I said I'd die of embarrassment if we dropped everything for sex down here. But if you got so worked up over playing pretend, m-maybe we ought to do it for real, and soon. You know, before we both explode over this."

Leander stared down at Luna's trembling paws, hesitant to pull away from them. He quietly dwelled on the nervous vixen's offer, before speaking again:

"Luna...I'm your guildmaster, and you're only one rank above the rookies I'm supposed to set standards for. And a guildmaster embracing their explorer, on the mission that explorer took to impress them, sets a bad precedent."

He pulled his paws to slip them over Luna's, cupping those trembling, vulpine feet beneath his notably larger pads. "If we wait until the mission's over, we'd have less secrets to keep. After all, the Expedition Society handles the promotions now. If they take issue with who keeps me warm after-hours, I can tell them to pound sand."

Luna's ears wilted. "No way. I can't believe you still want to wait. This whole mission's a secret already, Leander! We could get this awful urge out of our systems anytime we wanted. Right now, even!"

Leander pulled his paws away. "I know. We still could. But It'll be all the sweeter, Luna, if we try to do it right." He turned towards the former guildmaster's tomb. "Let's see if the Djinn's Bottle is in the real sarcophagus. And if so, you could spend the night with me before long. That's the way we ought to do it."

Luna burned red in the face as she turned away from Leander. "Okay...b-but the offer's still open if you change your mind, alright?"

Leander cracked a small smile. "Alright. I'll make note of it."

*****

"Gwaaaaaaar!"

Thunk! the charizard fainted and fell like a stone upon the ground before a pair of extremely ragged and hungry explorers. Team Dazzle barely eked out a victory. The hike up Stone Tree Mountain was peppered with many a powerful foe, forcing Team Dazzle to choose their battles carefully. But sidestepping an enemy like a charizard proved nigh-impossible, forcing a confrontation they were quite fortunate to win.

The look on Sandy's face was misery. "Star...we still have a chance to bail. That was close."

The shinx violently shook her head, her eyes lit with determination. "No! No, no, no. Graaff can't be far from here. We've been saving that wonder orb all this time for him and his crew. We can't give up now!"

Star carried the satchel for Team Dazzle, and the weight of the wonder orb inside still hung heavily on her back.

Sandy clasped her paws together and ducked her head, speaking in whispers.

"What are you doing?" Star asked.

"Praying, because my partner's totally lost it," Sandy said.

"You're not even the praying type! And I have not lost it," Star insisted angrily.

"It's never too late to ask a favor," Sandy answered back, "And yes, you have. If I was a raichu, I'd be dragging you back by now."

"Ugh! Well, I still have a chance to prove you wrong," Star shot back. "And besides, you told me you never wanted to be a raichu, because pikachus are cuter!"

"Well, I'm really starting to regret that," Sandy said. "If Stone Tree Mountain doesn't get me, those bandits might. All the wild raichu wandering around here puts me on edge. They'd chew us up and spit us out in a fight, and Graaff's going to have a whole crew of them. And they'd be a bunch of wild guys raring to go on us, if you give in to Graaff. You know that, right?"

Sandy dropped her brow into her hands as she started to turn red. "And who'd they go on first? Me! It's burning me up just _thinking_about it."

Star placed a paw on Sandy's back. "We're not giving in to Graaff and his crew today. Not with our wonder orb," Star said defiantly, dipping her head to look straight at her partner. "And if you're still worried we could end up throwing ourselves at a whole gang of bandits, I could try to do this alone while you hang back and get ready to bail. You know...in case I screw up, big time."

"What?" Sandy turned to Star in disbelief. "And let you face them all by_yourself?_ They'd eat you alive if you give them what they want! And...we wouldn't be a team anymore..."

"Then trust me, Sandy. We will catch them! Come on, let's go while the big guy's down and out. And one more thing..."

Star reached over with her muzzle to pop open the satchel. "Take the wonder orb. I want you ready to smash it into the ground if any of them try to jump us."

"What? But they'd see we've got a wonder orb!"

"Graaff thinks we're hopeless rookies that can't afford any decent wonder orbs. He'll underestimate us and make his move anyway. But we'll prove him wrong! You'll see."

Sandy gritted her teeth. She didn't like this plan at all. "I'm making extra-sure I don't lose my grip on this," she said, as she reached into Team Dazzle's satchel and pulled out the wonder orb in both hands. The smooth, shiny blue sphere now hung in Sandy's grasp.

*****

Brush and Frost had continued exploring their half of the Sahra Town underground, remaining wary of yamask and cofragrigus that still roamed about in the dark. Despite the danger, their search proved thorough, but ultimately fruitless. This unfortunate result had one silver lining: with no sign of the Djinn's Bottle to be found, they could beeline back to the mind-easing torchlight of the secret base. The glaceon assistant and fennekin explorer soon arrived side-by-side and sat together in the center of that room, putting the explorer satchel and crystal to the side. And Brush, alone with a handsome bachelor, felt tempted to do more than just admire the murals and the architecture. In the end, she could not help herself, and Frost soon raised his brow in surprise as Brush slipped in close between his legs.

"Didn't you say this was premature?" Frost gently pressed, as he looked down at the thirsty, young vixen eyeing his sheath.

"Hmph," Brush replied defensively, looking back up at Frost. "For all we know, Leander could already be taking Luna for a ride. What's even taking them so long? A little taste won't hurt, Frost. It'll take our mind off this underground for awhile, and you can return the favor sometime."

Frost raised a paw to give Brush a cool, gentle pet on the head. "In that case, who am I to deny a cute girl her desires?"

"I knew you'd come around," Brush teased back.

Brush scooted in closer and dropped down her head upon Frost's emerging tip, gently lapping up the glaceon's growing, masculine warmth amidst a brisk, pleasant flavor. Frost cupped the back of her head in turn, his breaths turning heavy as Brush coaxed out more of his shaft to lick. "Uuun..."

Brush ran her paw up the middle of Frost's length as she looked up with a smile. "Mmm...you're real fun to please. When you're the guildmaster, I could be your assistant anytime."

She dropped her head back down to suckle upon Frost's tip, stroking her paws idly along the sides of his cock. Frost hardened more in Brush's care, his paw curling against the back of her head as he closed his eyes and coasted on the lewd sensations.

"Mmm...you're quick to offer, Brush," Frost said between breaths, as he leaned down to stroke his paw along her back. "But I have ways I could work you hard."

"Do tell," Brush invited, plopping the tip of our her mouth for a moment to speak. She slipped Frost's cock right back into her mouth to suck as the glaceon continued:

"Messages to deliver, jobs to post, records to keep...and when you keep me warm after-hours..."

Frost poured cool breath down the back of Brush's neck. "...you'll see what else my ice can do."

"Mmmh!" Brush's tail swished with eagerness as she clutched Frost by the hilt with both paws and sucked deeper. Her enthusiasm caught the glaceon off-guard as he outstretched his other paw to keep balance before leaning further back. Soon, both paws clutched Brush's head, lustfully encouraging the fennekin's rhythm and pace as she moaned passionately upon the glaceon's malehood. Frost's breaths turned lewd, coasting on Brush's open thirst.

"Frost...dare I ask where Brush may be?"

The glaceon and fennekin froze in place, two sets of eyes popping at once. Leander's voice had spoken out from the side of the room in the other direction of the underground, signaling his return. He and Luna now stood some distance away from behind Frost. The eevee explorer frowned with renewed frustrations as the guildmaster scrutinized his assistant with disapproval.

Frost gently pressed Brush back by the chest to slip her mouth off from his cock and wipe her mouth clean. "She's right here, guildmaster," he answered.

"I gathered," Leander remarked.

Brush leaned out to the side. "Here I am!" she greeted, as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. She put on her best face to get past the awkward moment and trotted her way to Leander and her partner with a smile.

"I'll join you in a moment," Frost said, "Once I'm more...presentable."

"Understandable," affirmed Leander.

"We were wondering what took you guys so long," Brush said, "Did something hold you up?"

"A run-in with Kamuzu slowed us down," Leander answered, "His trap nearly worked this time."

"Kamuzu?" Brush asked.

Frost sighed as he turned his head to speak towards the fennekin. "The guildmaster and I have crossed paths with that cofagrigus on more than one occasion. He seems one of the most determined to catch us in his sarcophagus. How did you two escape?"

Leander paused. "We got creative. That is all I am going to say about it."

"_Oh?"_Brush pressed, looking over to Luna. The eevee turned almost as red in the cheeks as her neckerchief.

"Look, nothing you're thinking of actually went down in that coffin, okay?" Luna insisted.

"You don't sound very happy about that, though," Brush teased.

"There's more important news than that!" Luna volleyed, "And we can get to it if we stopped lingering on our love lives for a change!"

Frost fully turned in place with surprise. "You mean you found it?"

Leander cleared his throat as Luna's gaze fixated with surprise between Frost's legs. Soon, the source of that surprise hastily disappeared behind two blue paws tucked awkwardly close together.

"Sorry," Frost apologized.

Leander sighed. "To speak frankly, Frost, we're both fortunate this mission is off the record. That being said..."

The guildmaster herdier took off his glowing crystal and slipped the satchel he wore down to the floor, now noticeably taller and bulkier than the last Frost and Brush had seen it. With his teeth, he pulled open the satchel's flap, pulled down the opening, and revealed a telltale, purple head.

"...We got what we came for," Leander revealed, as he stuck one paw through the hole in the middle of the six-ringed bottle, steadied the neck with his mouth, and lifted the rest of it out of the satchel. In the next moment, the bottle that contained Hoopa, the sleeping architect of the Sahra Town guild hall and underground, stood tall before the explorers, assistant, and guildmaster.

"Whoa...that's the Djinn's bottle?" Brush asked, as she and Frost were struck with awe. "It's so huge!"

"Getting it in the bag took a bit, that's for sure," Luna admitted.

"And we were also fortunate no ghosts were around to see us take the bottle from that guildmaster's tomb," Leander added, "But we did have to slow our pace to return safely."

"So, guildmaster...was that the easy part or the hard part?" Frost asked.

Silence fell upon the group as all eyes turned to the Djinn's bottle.

"...Only one way to find out," said Luna.

"Luna, Brush, secure the bottom. Frost and I will open the top," instructed Leander.

"You got it, Leander," Brush replied, half-singing. Luna suppressed a grumble.

Team Foxy stepped forth, circled around to opposite sides, and held their paws against the base of the Djinn's bottle inside the ring. Frost and Leander perched themselves up on the remaining sides of the bottle and leaned in their muzzles to push up both sides of the top by their noses. Brush quietly enjoyed the view from below, while Luna stared incredulously at Brush before averting her gaze down towards the floor. Her eyes still shifted, however, for the briefest, conflicted glance.

"Nnff...something's...holding the top in place," Frost observed.

"Okay...lay it on its side, then push out the top harder. Don't drop it," Leander warned. "Let Luna and Brush help lay it down."

Team Foxy obliged. Brush turned to the side close to the base of the Djinn's bottle as Luna, Frost, and Leander gave a push. After the bottle tipped over, Brush slipped out, and the bottle laid on its side. The fennekin joined the eevee's side to hold down the bottom once more, as the guildmaster and assistant moved forward to push out the top.

"It's like it doesn't want to be opened," Luna said with worry.

"Perhaps. But we can apply more force," said Leander. "Frost, we push together on the count of three...three!"

The herdier and glaceon combined their strength and pushed the head of the bottle from the neck. With much strain, the seal began to give way.

"It's starting to-!"

Frost cut himself off with a shout of surprise as the top of the bottle suddenly popped. A plume of magical energy shot forth from the now-open neck, lighting up the room with a flash, as Team Foxy caught the reactive force and the head of the bottle tumbled away. All eyes turned towards the spectacle that followed that nearly blinded them, reflexively covering their eyes with their paws until they adjusted to the newfound light. The mass of violent magic continued to erupt from the Djinn's bottle until it finally coalesced close beside the explorers and their superiors. At that point, the top of the Djinn's bottle slid across the floor to seal the opening once more. Calmness slowly returned to the secret base as a diminutive, horned, green-eyed ghost with golden rings, detached arms, and signature hues of dark pinks and purples finally materialized on the floor.

Hoopa was finally free. And he was sprawled, snoring, and totally oblivious.

The four other pokémon looked to each other, uncertain how to proceed. "Well then," Leander spoke up, stepping forward before things turned more awkward, "That's not how I expected him to appear. I'll...try to wake him up."

"Hey, doesn't he look smaller than he looks in the murals? Where's the huge guy with the six beefy arms?" Brush asked, as Leander closed the distance and gave Hoopa a few gentle pokes.

"It's said that Hoopa's magic can be confined, changing his form to a smaller one in the process," Frost answered. "That may be a choice to keep his own power in check."

"I don't think we want to meet Hoopa unbound, if all the stories are true," Luna stated with worry. "Leander, you know what you're doing, don't you?"

Leander peered over briefly to the concerned Bronze-rank eevee he held himself responsible. "Yes...and no." He went back to prodding Hoopa awake.

"Can't you give me a more assuring answer?" Luna pressed, her ears wilting.

"This was always a long shot," Leander said, "But we've come this far. My authority will hopefully be enough for Hoopa to help us. Otherwise, we are in for a mountain climb to bait a bandit with some vixens, and that may end up the least of our worries, too."

Luna grumbled as she looked aside. Instead of feeling assured, her frustrations quietly brewed harder than before. However, she was caught off-guard by Frost's paw resting upon her shoulder in assurance. "It's worth letting the guildmaster try, Luna," said the glaceon, "But whatever happens, we'll make sure we protect you." And then he rested his other paw on Brush. "And that goes for you, too."

Team Foxy couldn't help but look back to Frost. "Why, thank you," Brush replied with a smile, as Luna blushed.

"Y-yeah...thanks," the eevee nervously acknowledged, as she turned back to watching Leander and Hoopa, quietly mulling. Brush looked to her, knowing her state of mind, and amused by the state of affairs.

But then their attention was caught by Hoopa jostling awake.

"H-huh, whuh? What time is it? Ah! Someone's here! H-hold on a sec!"

Hoopa hopped straight up, threw up a ring that enlarged above his head, and immediately drenched himself in a portal of pouring seawater, startling everyone else in the room. Team Foxy and Frost got up and retreated a short distance away as Leander defensively stood his ground, befuddled, the splashing water flowing around his feet. The portal quickly closed the flow like a spigot, only to quickly reopen into a strong gust of air straight from the Valley of Strong Winds. Hoopa quickly dried off, reclaimed his ring with a bombastic twirl, and met eyes with Leander, now rejuvenated.

"There we go! Now the great Hoopa is ready for ya," Hoopa greeted the herdier, grinning widely and mischievously. "You're the one that woke me, right? How long was that nap of mine, anyways?" He floated up to Leander and eyed the emblem on his thick, dark coat. "Whoa, that explorer badge got fancy!"

Leander cleared his throat as the others looked on. They were all somewhat unnerved by Hoopa's casual use of his power, but his friendliness left a spark of hope.

"It's an honor to meet you, Hoopa," Leander began. "It's been a long time. There's now an Expedition Society to direct the guilds worldwide, but we still have guildmasters to lead them, too. I'm Leander, the guildmaster of Sahra Town. My friends and I sought you out in the underground to wake you and ask for your help once more. I hope we prove worthy of your aid."

"Hey, loosen up, big boss!" Hoopa teased back, closing in to hug Leander from the side with one arm. "I may be strong, but I'm no god. Save the worship talk for Arceus." He pointed his mitten-hand between the two of them. "You and I are more like pals, ya get me? That's how it always was with me and the guildmasters."

"...R-right. Sorry," Leander said, trying to adjust, "Then let me introduce the rest of the team that helped to wake you." He turned and pointed to the others with his paw. "Frost, my assistant, and Luna and Brush of Team Foxy."

"Nice to meet you," Frost greeted.

"Hello!" Brush also greeted, eagerly waving a paw.

"Um, hi," Luna greeted nervously.

"Hi there!" Hoopa greeted back, before turning back to Leander. "That's the company you keep, huh? Nice."

Leander nearly lost his composure on that remark. "Th-thank you?" He said, turning red. Frost looked on with surprise as Luna seized up and turned redder. Brush couldn't help but giggle.

"Anytime, you lucky dog," Hoopa replied, as he pulled away from the friendly hug. "So about that help you wanted...does it have to do with my underground? Because it's dark and dusty in here like crazy!" He floated up to one of the murals and blew off years upon years of accumulated dust. "What gives?"

Leander hesitated, but knew in the end the topic couldn't be avoided. "...I'm sorry, Hoopa. The human explorers Sahra Town buried here became yamask, and they multiplied. Some even became cofagrigus and now zealously guard the tombs. It's not been safe to come down and pay respects for some time. The yamask want to possess us, and the cofagrigus would trap us here."

"Aw, geez, really? What a mess!" Hoopa exclaimed. "I guess we should've seen it coming. But if I can't untie that knot of a problem, who could?"

The explorers and their superiors looked to each other, surprised. "It's not a problem we can solve overnight, Hoopa, at least gracefully. But if you're committed to help make the underground safe again, the Sahra Town guild will back up your efforts. You have my word. That being said...there's another matter you could help resolve more quickly."

Hoopa floated back down to Leander. "Oh really? Okay, big boss, I'm all ears."

Leander made his pitch: "A jolteon bandit named Graaff has been causing trouble around the continent with ambushes, and the explorers committed to chasing him down are falling for his charms. He should be somewhere on Stone Tree Mountain with a like-minded crew. Can you find him, figure out his next move, and help us arrest and jail him? If we keep the element of surprise, Graaff won't have the chance to escape."

Hoopa stroked his chin. "Hmm...is that all? That's easy!" He took a ring from one of his horns and held it up in front of his face. "You guys come on over here, we're gonna take a peek up high."

"Huh? Um, I mean, sure!" Luna said. "Coming over."

"Right behind you, Luna," Frost said. He and Brush and Leander followed suit, and soon everyone stood behind Hoopa and his ring.

"Alright, guys, watch this," Hoopa said. The ring magically enlarged, and soon everyone felt a fresh breeze of the Sand Continent's mid-day sky. The ring portal before them looked straight down Stone Tree Mountain from a bird-eye's view.

"Ah!" Brush flung her gaze away, shielding herself from the sight of the long way down. "That's so high up!" The others shared her unease.

"Oh, sorry! Just needed to scope things out," Hoopa said, "By the way, try not to reach through the ring, guys. You'd get pulled in by the gravity on the other side."

"Duly noted," Leander said, trying not to get queasy.

"Oh, there they are! A jolteon's in hiding, and some raichu are heading straight for him. Well, they can't hide from me," Hoopa boasted.

"How can you...nevermind. Hoopa, can you get close enough to hear what they're planning, without giving us away?" asked Leander.

"Sure! I just have to get to ground level."

"No, wait-!"

Hoopa's portal dropped down towards the mountainside, the air rushing into everyone's faces as though they were hurtling to their doom. Luna, Frost, and Leander all rapidly turned away like Brush, seized by a newfound fear of heights.

"Uh, guys? We're on the ground now," Hoopa told them. "I'm going to get closer to the jolteon. We gotta be quiet for this, though."

The explorers and their superiors breathed a collective sigh of relief. The ring portal now hidden amongst the foilage on the other side, they spied upon Graaff some distance away. They soon saw the three raichu approach the jolteon, and they spoke unaware of the others listening in:

"Boss?"

"Yes, my raichu friends?"

"You were right. The shinx and pikachu are really cute."

"So Team Dazzle's coming this way? Splendid. They must have taken the bait, then."

All four guild members raised their eyes in alarm.

"You want the boys and I to get into position?"

"Of course. But be on guard. The rookies do have a dangerous wonder orb, and you don't want them to set that off. Try to get it away from them first before you help me catch them, and then let me handle the talking."

"Did we have to bait them with a wonder orb, boss?"

"That's the gambit we played to bring them here, Thunder. But they're still rookies. Now, we play for the queen, and her partner, too. Don't fail."

"You got it, boss!"

Leander heard enough. "Hoopa, close the portal," he whispered, growing angry.

"You got it," Hoopa whispered back. He swiftly closed the portal, the bandits none the wiser, and placed the ring back on his horn.

"Oh, no. Star and Sandy went up the mountain after all," Luna said.

"They're walking into a trap, after everything I warned them about," said Leander, "Unbelievable."

"We tried to warn them, too," Brush said.

"Hey, I gotta ask," Hoopa chimed in, "Is everyone in the guild these days so thirsty?"

"It certainly feels like it," Leander seethed.

"Hey!" Luna protested, "That's so unfair! No one in town gives Team Dazzle the time of day because of their shocks. Of course they're thirsty! Brush is going to Brush, and everyone knows that's just what she does. And as for me, I've been trying to play it straight this whole time! Is it my fault you and Frost are so hot? And you could've taken me inside Kamuzu, Leander, and you would've _liked_it. Would that have been so bad in the end?! Would it?!"

Tempers quietly flared between explorer and guildmaster, as the rest looked on in awkward silence.

"You don't have to protect me, Leander," Luna insisted. "Not from yourself. You can use me. But we have to put it off _again_because we have to save Team Dazzle now. I hope you're happy."

Hoopa looked back and forth between Leander and Luna, and raised a brow. "Oookaaay...so you guys want me to yank Team Dazzle out of harm's way, right?"

"If we did that, they'd feel robbed. They've got a wonder orb now, didn't you hear? If we don't let them take their shot_,_they'd hate us!" Luna argued.

"They should never have disobeyed my orders in the first place," Leander fumed.

"Ugh! You're impossible!" Luna exclaimed.

"I can't take it anymore!"

All attention turned to a lone yamask rushing towards the center of the room. Brush immediately recognized that ghost as the one that she burned earlier. But before the yamask got close enough to be attacked, they stopped before Hoopa to genuflect.

"Architect, please! I just want to be an explorer again. I want to be loved again! That's all the yamask want here, but the guild left us to rot!" He pleaded, as he held up the explorer badge of a life long over. "They never bothered to wake you to save us from our misery. There's so many of us down here! Help us! The guild doesn't deserve your help, not for something they're supposed to handle on their own."

Brush grew upset. "Hey! If Frost and I didn't defend ourselves, you would've possessed us!"

"I'm sorry, but we're desperate," said the yamask, "If Hoopa doesn't help us, no one will!"

"Enough!"

Hoopa threw up his arms with a surprisingly strong proclamation, bringing the entire room to silence. It was a taste of his unbound power, intimidating all who were present. But once he had the entire attention of the room, his voice returned to a more laid-back tone.

"This is what I'm woken up for? Geez," Hoopa said, "I'm already fed up. Sorry, big boss, but if your mess is this complicated, we're doing things my way. You're all way in over your heads."

Everyone present suddenly grew uneasy. "Um...what does that mean?" Luna asked.

"Oh, I think you'll like what I have in mind," Hoopa said.

*****

Team Dazzle entered a narrow passage single-file, with Star taking the lead. Up ahead they could see a clearing. Though usually a welcome sight, they listened for the roaming of the mountain's inhabitants, and not heard much. It was one of those instances where it was either a false alarm, or the Lightning Bandit lying in wait. Star dreaded the possibility of wasting their one advantage on thin air. But after such a long and dangerous trek up Stone Tree Mountain, both explorers felt their window of opportunity running out. Their moment grew near.

Star slowed her pace as they reached the clearing, and checked behind to make sure no one crept behind them. She mouthed words to Sandy: Be ready. The pikachu clutched the wonder orb extra-tight, ready to smash it on a moment's notice.

Star stepped in.

Nothing.

She stepped further in.

Still nothing.

Sandy followed, trembling, finally out of the narrow passage.

_Still_nothing.

Star tossed her gaze about, her eyes narrowing. Part of her wanted to call them out, but for all she knew such words would also be wasted on air. Sandy began turning in place as well, trying to catch anyone in hiding. But no one seemed to be waiting for them.

Star could see another passageway straight ahead. All they had to do was start cr-

THWACK!

Sandy yelped. The brunt of a raichu tail snapped up between her arms, catapulting the wonder orb out of her hands. She recoiled in shock, as Star's eyes widened at the sight of the wonder orb hurtling across the clearing.

"Grab it!" Sandy yelled. She faced a raichu towering over her, and she at once shimmered into multiple copies in a great burst of speed to throw his focus off her. Meanwhile, the shinx took off in a sprint for the wonder orb.

_Thump!_Another raichu landed hard on the ground, his attempt at slamming Star grazing the tip of her tail. She kept running. The wonder orb kept rolling away. As the second raichu began to rise and give chase with a grunt, a third burst into the scene and copied Sandy's technique to counter her evasion in hot pursuit. Both sets of copies confronted each other, the pikachu's illusions all thrown off-guard as she gasped.

Star twisted around and gave off an immense flash, sending the second raichu staggering off and clutching his eyes with groans of pain as she spun back to chase the wonder orb. Sandy reflexively leapt and slapped her tail across her pursuer's face, cutting off both sets of copies as the third raichu reeled back from the blow. He lunged in retaliation to try to grab Sandy, but his paws swished through open air as Sandy hopped back upon all fours.

"Star, hurry!AAH!" Sandy called out, right as the first raichu exploited her flank and dropped his weight hard across her to pin her down. "Get off me, you brute!" She clenched her teeth and pressed her paws against the ground with all her might, but couldn't even lift her chest. The raichu's girth smooshed most of her body against the ground with ease. The third raichu looked down at her as he held his cheek, cracking a smirk through the lingering pain as Sandy flopped down and huffed in frustration.

Star's heart thumped hard against her ribcage. She still had a chance to counter the raichu, as long as she reached the wonder orb. She dared not lose hope now. By now, its roll had slowed. She'd pounce upon it within seconds.

A yellow flash leapt out to intercept her. Star skidded hard to a halt as a jolteon now stood before her, in the way of her wonder orb.

"Good to see you, Star," Graaff greeted, bearing a soft smile. "I was beginning to wonder when you'd arrive."

Star clenched her teeth and attempted to bolt past. Graaff cut her off, repeatedly, as they dashed back and forth in the middle of the clearing.

"Fast on your feet, as always," Graaff complimented.

"Out of my way!" Star demanded.

"You don't really want to use that wonder orb on me, do you?"

"It's how I'd finally turn you in!"

"What, and end things so soon? I rather enjoy the chase, Star, not to mention catching you. By the way, you should watch your right."

Out of the corner of her eye, Star caught the sight of the raichu she blinded attempting another slam, and shot away as he landed hard on the ground again.

"Dammit!" the raichu cursed.

"Disappointing, Thunder," said Graaff as he and Star kept light on their feet, "That's what happens when you use a thunderstone too soon. Storm and Rip certainly has you beat for speed. Now, make yourself more useful and fetch that wonder orb instead."

"Ugh, got it," Thunder acknowledged, quickly pushing himself up to his feet to beeline for the wonder orb on all fours.

"No!" Star shouted. With a great burst of speed, she grazed past Graaff and sprang to pounce on Thunder's back, bouncing ahead to kick him straight into the ground. As Thunder dropped with a grunt of pain, Star soared towards the wonder orb, ready to land right upon it and unleash its power upon the bandits.

A sudden weight sent her crashing down inches from victory. She bared her claws, prepared to swipe back at the bandit that pounced upon her, but a set of yellow paws pinned down her own as a swift bite took hold of the back of her neck. Star's eyes popped open with a gasp as she felt a pacifying wave wash over her. Moments later, she crumpled in the jolteon's grasp.

"Caught you," Graaff said to her, through the bite of his teeth.

Star looked on helplessly as Thunder rushed past the both of them and stood up to pick up the wonder orb in his paws. He let out a big sigh of relief.

"Handle that with care," Graaff warned, "That's made for explorers. There's no telling what would happen if a wild pokémon tried to use it."

"You got it, boss. Sure glad Storm knocked it out of the pikachu's hands when he had the chance," said Thunder. He looked over to Sandy, Storm, and Rip. At the sight of the orb now in the raichu's arms, the pikachu ducked her head beneath her paws, struck hard by bitter defeat.

"Oh, no. Not again! We were so close!" Sandy said.

"Now, Sandy, you know I've always let you two go to try again, if you weren't in the mood to stick around. But something feels different this time," Graaff thought aloud, keeping his bite close to Star's neck as he talked. "There's been a dearth of explorers up Stone Tree Mountain today. Did your guildmaster try to rein you in?"

Sandy immediately clammed up.

"Cat got your tongue? Then let's ask the cat," said Graaff, "Tell me, Star: did that flea-bitten mongrel try to hold you back?"

The shinx let out a huff. "Of course he did," she said softly, "He banned us from going after you, because he thinks I'm crazy. But we're the ones who put in the hard work. We're the ones that are supposed to catch you! He would've taken that all away, because we're just rookies to him!"

Graaff paused for a moment, in thought. As silence hung in the air, all eyes were on the jolteon and shinx. Star's frustration at another failure burned on her face as Graaff held her scruff and she glared towards the ground. That look stayed on her even as the jolteon quietly let go, slipping off to sit beside her.

Graaff shot a gaze at Storm and Rip, waving his paw to tell them to ease off Sandy, and with a bit of hesitance they followed his command. Storm slipped off the pikachu and rose to his feet, and Rip awkwardly offered his paw to help Sandy up. After a moment to process this shift, Sandy took hold, and the wild raichu pulled up the pikachu explorer until she stood upright as well. Both raichu now flanked Sandy as the three of them and Thunder watched their respective leaders share their moment of quiet contemplation. Even so, Sandy could still feel their wandering eyes look towards her, their hope for her prolonged company still quietly brewing.

Graaff turned to Star and spoke up. "You know you're not just a rookie. Not in my eyes."

Star looked up to Graaff. She said nothing, but Graaff could tell from her frown that she felt undeserving of praise.

"Your guildmaster would have you think you're a failure," Graaff continued, "But you have a tenacious resolve. You're determined, indomitable, as strong-willed as you are pretty. He's a fool not to admire you the way I do. You deserve so much praise, for all you endure."

Sandy bit her lip. She could already tell Star began to melt against those soothing words.

"You don't have to go back to your guildmaster," Graaff continued, as he placed a comforting paw on Star's back, "Why face the scorn of an old mongrel, who could disband your team out of spite? No, Team Dazzle deserves better. You deserve better. You have so much to gain, right here, if you stayed with us, even for just a spell. You'd grace us with your company, and we'd treat you like queens."

The choice of words drew a blush from the shinx. Sandy began to fret. "Star? You know it'd be crazy to say yes now, right? He's got a whole crew!"

"Are you worried about my raichu friends, Sandy?" asked Graaff.

"They all want _me,_Graaff. Wh-what'd keep them from going overboard?" Sandy stammered.

"Pikachus rarely stay a pikachu for long up here. That makes you exceptional in their eyes," Graaff said, "You're a rarity they'd be fools to mistreat."

"Yeah, he's right!" Thunder spoke up. "I really hope you stay, Sandy. You're_cute,_ and we want to treat you right. Without you, we'd never have a chance like this."

"True that. You're really cute," added Storm, peering down at Sandy with a smile.

"The cutest!" exclaimed Rip with an enthused, raised paw, before reflexively clutching his face again. "Ow, my jaw..."

Sandy, sidelined by the open praise thrown her way by the raichu, buried her face in her hands, red as a cherry. "Aaah!"

Graaff smiled. He turned his attention back to the shinx, still petting her. "What do you say, Star? Will you and Sandy finally stay with me?"

The jolteon could see Star's blush grow deeper. "I...um..."

Brush's warnings and yearning desires clashed in the shinx's mind, leaving her teetering on the precipice.

"Was that a yes?" Graaff teased.

Star's words began to form on the tip of her tongue...

...but before she could give her answer, another voice called out from the edge of the clearing.

"Wait!"

The bandits and explorers turned with surprise towards the direction of the new voice. From the same direction that Team Dazzle arrived, an eevee explorer in a red neckerchief stood alone, and without a satchel to call her own.

"Luna?! When did you get up here?" pressed Star. "Where's Brush?"

"I'm here on my own," Luna explained, growing nervous. "Brush had to go elsewhere. But I had to go after you, after realizing what you were doing."

Graaff raised a brow in Luna's direction. "So you're the eevee Star's told me about. You're a bold one. Surely you know I'm the bandit Team Dazzle has chased all this time. And yet you came up here all alone, with no supplies, and against your guildmaster's orders as well. Were you hoping to catch me with just your looks, vixen? Because that would be a first for the likes of me."

"Hey boss, you want us to zap her?" Storm offered. In response, Thunder walked all the way across to promptly slap Storm upside the head, keeping the wonder orb close to his person all the while.

"Does she look like she has to be zapped?" Thunder chastised. "She's a friend of Team Dazzle, you moron."

"Thank you, Thunder. No, Storm, we don't have a reason to 'zap' her. At least, not yet," Graaff pointed out.

Luna huffed. "Do I look like I want to throw down? No! I...I had to make sure this is really what they want."

Star got up on her paws, annoyed. "Hmph! Maybe we couldn't catch Graaff the way we wanted. I don't care anymore. There's no way the guildmaster won't punish us now for trying. We've got nothing left to lose." Star cozied up beside the jolteon, nuzzling his foreleg. "Graaff could make me happy. He'd treat me right."

Eyes fell upon Sandy, waiting for her to say her piece. "I want a boy who'd hold me, too," Sandy confessed, looking to the raichu in her midst. "There's at least three right here who would."

"Maybe four," Graaff teased, making Star and Sandy do a double-take.

"...Okay," Luna replied, "I'm not here to stop you two. But I don't trust these guys, either. I gotta make sure you don't get hurt. Neither of you are built to handle someone like Graaff..."

The eevee took a step forward. "But I am. S-So if you can't handle him, then I will."

A new wave of surprise ran through Team Dazzle and the bandits. Thunder, in particular, turned red at Luna's proposition. Storm murmured "nice" as Rip looked on incredulously as he held his sore jaw. But the jolteon bandit was all smiles, much to Star's dismay.

"If you wanted a stud of your own kind to take you, vixen, you could have just asked," Graaff needled. "I'll make note of your offer. But if you think this is a roundabout way to get your paws on a wonder orb, you're gravely mistaken. You'd sooner be bred.Thoroughly. But not before my friends have their fill of you."

Graaff reached down and slipped Star's satchel off her body, tossing it over to Thunder. "Here. Store Team Dazzle's wonder orb before the cute, young eevee gets any bright ideas, then keep her occupied with the rest of the boys however you please. I'm sure Sandy could use the help. But only I can breed her."

"You got it, boss," Thunder acknowledged, after clearing his throat.

"Mmf! Graaff, I don't want to share you like that," Star protested. "Aren't I enough?"

"She's in for a very long wait," Graaff replied, running up a yellow paw along Star's back that evoked a coo. "Let her see how we're made for each other, and her worry misplaced."

Luna eyed the raichu now approaching her, intimidated by the crotch now looming close as she peered up. By the lucky strokes of Graaff's ego, no one suspected that the eevee aimed to stall Graaff's movement to catch him with a hoop-delivered rescue team in the event of Team Dazzle's failure. Luna intended to keep it that way. But she didn't know the timing of said rescue. The only others that knew her whereabouts were still in the Sahra Town underground, now obligated to first help Hoopa mollify the dangerous ghosts down below.

Hoopa's plan? Supervise the possession of Leander, Frost, and Brush for a ghost-fueled sexcapade in the secret base. Just the thing to help make the ghosts happier and also "loosen up the big boss." Hoopa's words. What happened in the underground would stay there, and until they were done, Luna had a bandit and his minions to slow down and keep pleased. At least Team Dazzle would also be there, sating their harbored fantasy until the rescue arrives...whenever that rescue actually arrived.

As Team Dazzle began to grow intimate with their jolteon and raichu studs, Thunder sat down, his legs spread wide, and leaned over to reel Luna in closer. The eevee explorer eyed Thunder's hardening cock with thoughts of how close she got to doing the same with Leander. The chance to embrace the guildmaster proper felt so distant now. If only Team Dazzle hadn't put themselves at risk. Luna knew Leander was still upset that Hoopa's power led to her becoming the bait after all. And she felt at fault. Her frustrations had poured out of her at the worst possible time, and Hoopa had acted accordingly.

Thunder cupped Luna's cheek. "Are you just going to stare, or...?"

"...Sorry." Luna began to lower her head.

At that point, Thunder brought his gaze back up in front of him...and immediately recoiled.

"Boss! Amb-!"

A shadow ball walloped Thunder in the face, knocking him back and away from Luna's muzzle. Alarm quickly spread amongst Team Dazzle and the bandits alike, shooting the electric types back up on their feet in a frantic attempt to defend themselves. Luna stood in place, not understanding at all what just happened. She soon realized, however, what just transpired, the moment a cofagrigus hovered right past her head.

"I got more where that came from, you damn, horny meatbags! Eat this!" taunted Kamuzu, chasing after his quarry as Graaff barked orders to fall back. He got blasted by a thunder shock that shook his voice with electrocution, but the attack seemed only to encourage his bombardment. "Go ahead, keep shocking! You can say hello to my little friends!"

Several yamask flew past Luna on both sides. They kept up the shadow ball barrage as the bandits retreated.

"Bandits only, Kamuzu!" warned another voice. It sounded like two voices in parallel, one familiar to Luna, one not.

"I am just going for the bandits, you damn bag of bones!" Kamuzu snapped back from a distance, "It's not my fault they dragged the broads back with them!"

"Be more careful, then. We've cut off their means of escape, anyhow."

Luna began to turn towards the double-voice, as Kamuzu and the multiple yamask chased the bandits and Team Dazzle out of sight. Standing before her, she saw Leander once more, flanked by Frost and Brush. The glaceon and fennekin both carried the satchels brought with them for the exploration of the underground. All three wore the telltale golden mask of yamask possession upon the sides of their heads, and the old explorer's badge was now pinned on Brush's neckerchief. The eevee explorer's eyes widened with surprise at the sight of them.

"You must be Luna," said Leander, in double-voice. "Hope you don't mind that we moved up the schedule."

"Um, not at all! But it's so...unexpected," said Luna, looking to her possessed companions. "What changed?"

"The guildmaster's life reflected our former lives in a painful way: full of emotional baggage and regrets. He was suffering greatly over you, over what could have been," said the possessed Brush.

"We felt quite small wanting to possess him for pleasure. Talk about a mood killer. That's when Hoopa suggested we cut things short and help the guildmaster mount a rescue instead," said the possessed Frost. "Speaking of..."

The yamask pulled their golden masks off Leander, Brush, and Frost, restoring the three to their normal selves. "We'll keep pursuing the bandits until they're cornered. You can join us when you're ready to fight. Sorry again for making you wait!" said the yamask that had possessed Leander. The three ghosts took off in pursuit of Kamuzu and the rest...but one quickly hurried back to reclaim the old explorer badge from Brush's neckerchief.

"Thank you...and sorry for acting terribly," the yamask apologized, who quickly about-faced, badge in hand, to fly off and rejoin his ghostly comrades.

"You better be!" Brush called back, before crumpling down in relief.

Frost and Brush's gazes, however, soon turned to Leander and Luna as they looked eye-to-eye, quietly, uncertain who should go first to uncork everything that just transpired. They ended up speaking at the same time: "I'm sorry- No, I'm sorry."

"I've been selfish," Luna admitted.

"And I've been cowardly," Leander admitted. "We were lucky Hoopa and the yamask he summoned had a heart in the end." He turned to Frost, "We need to make serious plans about the underground. It's the only home those ghosts know, but if we can normalize relations with at least some of them, the townsfolk can start paying their respects again."

"I could be an ambassador for Sahra Town until we work out the details, guildmaster," Frost offered.

"Sounds good." He turned back to Team Foxy. "Luna, Brush...the secret part of our mission is over. But to keep up appearances, I will suspend Luna along with Team Dazzle for three days for disobeying orders on the record. In light of what's happened, I'd consider that a light slap on the wrist. Make use of your spare time as you see fit."

"Um...I might have an idea or two," Luna admitted, "To make up for lost time." Brush giggled.

"I'm certain you do," replied Leander, shooting a wink.

"And my door is always open for you both, if you're so inclined," reminded Frost.

"Um, good to know!" Luna said, as Brush smiled.

At that moment, the explorers and their superiors noticed a distant flash. "Was that Team Dazzle's wonder orb?" Brush asked.

"We better go see what it did and help clean up," Leander directed, "We owe it to the ghosts for their help today."

"You got it, guildmaster," Brush affirmed, half-singing.

"Please...call me Leander."

The four set off.

***

Hoopa, unbound, laid face-up by his lonesome in the middle of the secret base in the Sahra Town underground, two arms behind his head as the other four rested within their sockets. He looked quite content for a giant, mythical monster that just carried out the logistics of a rescue operation.

"Mmm...I barely had to do anything this time around. I just had to give some pokémon a nudge out the door," Hoopa remarked. "When did I get so boring? That's what a long nap does to me. Makes me rusty!"

He eyed the Djinn's bottle left laying on the floor and picked it up between his fingers. "Well...look what they left behind. Heh."

Hoopa opened a ring portal above his head. "How about hiding in plain sight for a change? It's about time Sahra Town met me proper. We'll see who finds me."

He clutched the top of the Djinn's bottle with the tips of his fingers. "Will they actually make a wish this time? Could be fun."

Hoopa flicked the Djinn's bottle through the portal. As the top popped open, he disappeared back inside, the top re-sealed, and the ring portal in the secret base imploded into nothingness. His bottle dropped conspicuously upon the roadside somewhere in Sahra Town, waiting to be opened once more...

***

"Well, Star, I was caught in the end."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. Now you know where to find me, whenever you please. The sight of you would always make my day. I'm sure your partner would have similar plans, too, for the raichu caught with me."

"I'll visit you when I can, Graaff. You still mean a lot to me. But they won't let me in with you."

"Unfortunate. But by the time I'm out of this cell, my yearning for you will only be stronger."

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

"...Only if you can. You're not the one in jail. The punishment is mine alone. If you get a shot to be happy, no matter how long, you should take it. But I'll be honored if you have my love again."

"Thank you, Graaff...Love you."

"Love you, too."

THE END