PARAGON

  Hisui Incursion Arc [18]

  Chapter 70 : Mortal Danger

  Sabrina awoke to the snapping of fire and its warmth on her frozen fingertips. As her eyelids fluttered open, she tried to unblur her vision. All she saw now was an indistinct wash of white and gray, with orange in the middle. She moved her arms to stabilize herself and stand.

  That was when she realized something was missing. A weight in her p that should have been there.

  “Yura!” Sabrina choked out, seizing forward.

  “Whoa!”

  Something strong caught her arms and forced her back down. The sudden shock of realizing Yura was missing seemed to have sped up the restoration of her sight and she blinked rapidly as she tried to focus on who had grabbed her. Soon, Akari’s dark clothes and hair came into view, her eyes wide with concern.

  “Just calm down, Yura’s right here.” Akari stepped aside.

  Yura y beside the fire asleep. Some sort of bnket covered her and Sabrina could only barely see her face peeking out of one side. She breathed a sigh of relief and rexed seeing the little girl’s chest rise and fall with each breath.

  “She has a fever,” Akari said pinly. “She should be fine, she just needs rest.”

  Sabrina started to get up again, but Akari pushed her back.

  “You had a fever too when I found you. You’re doing better than her but you’re still not one hundred percent. Please, just rest for now.”

  Sabrina kept her gaze trained at Yura, but she let Akari coax her back.

  “We found some berries you can have. And there’s snow if you’re thirsty.”

  Akari pittered around the fire and Sabrina felt a bit nauseous as she watched her move. She held out a gloved hand and Sabrina saw a few shriveled berries in her palm. But now that Akari was right in front of her, Sabrina could see her well for the first time since she awoke. She raised her hand to the girl’s face.

  “Your face…,” Sabrina croaked.

  Akari’s cheeks, rosy from the cold, also sported a discolored splotch of bruises. A host of scratches also adorned her forehead, the deepest ones crusted in dried bck blood.

  “O-Oh, this.” Akari looked away in embarrassment and touched her face. “Don’t worry about this. There were a couple pokémon attacks st night. Some Sneasel and then a Dusclops. But don’t worry, we were able to fight them off! And without waking you up too!” Akari pumped a proud fist.

  Sabrina was about to ask who the we she kept referring to was, but it soon became obvious as Cranidos meandered back into their camp clutching a bunch of sticks and twigs in his mouth. He emptied them out into the campfire, the fme fred, devouring their new fuel hungrily.

  “Ooh, thanks Cranidos!” Akari said, jogging over to pat his head.

  As Sabrina watched Akari dote on her pokémon, her gaze drifted down to her hands. They were still gloved, but now she realized something else was missing. A spurt of anxiety nced through her system as she saw her left wrist, once again bare of its limiter.

  Not again.

  “Where…?” Sabrina said, fumbling around.

  Akari gnced at her curiously.

  “Where’s…?” Sabrina’s heart hammered in her chest, every second that ticked by only increasing her agitation. Bck spots danced in her vision as she pawed around the snow.

  “Careful!” Akari said, racing forward to catch her as she lost her bance and tipped over. “I think you have a concussion… You’ll have to be careful for the next few weeks…”

  Akari’s voice sounded so far away as Sabrina panted, staring down at the empty snow. Her limiter… She hadn’t taken it off herself…nor did she remember it getting forcibly removed. No, she did remember what happened to it. It was the st thing she remembered. Just before she teleported everyone and she lost consciousness, she remembered seeing it.

  It’s gone.

  Gone, meaning permanently destroyed and lying in pieces in the snow somewhere very far away from here.

  Sabrina’s face wrinkled in fear and she could feel her chest tightening. Her breaths came faster, unbidden, and panic started to swell within her.

  Suddenly, something cold touched her forehead, yanking her from her thoughts.

  “Come on, Master, just rest for now,” Akari said gently, easing her down. “I’ll handle everything here. Just get some more sleep…”

  Sabrina stared up at her longingly and she cradled her head delicately in one hand and pressed snow upon her forehead with the other. As Sabrina’s breath condensed above her, her sporadic breathing calmed, and her vision wavered. Ice water dripped down her face but its coolness was soothing. She didn’t remember drifting off to sleep.

  When she woke again, she heard Akari speaking in a hushed tone. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and felt something fall off of her. Staring into her p, she saw a voluminous pile of bck and white feathers.

  “Those are from Staravia’s Feather Dance,” Akari said, walking over. “It’s not an actual bnket but it’s the best we have now.”

  “Miss!”

  Sabrina almost fell over as Yura barreled into her, burying her face in Sabrina’s stomach.

  “No, Yura! You need to rest!” Akari scolded, trying to pull her away, but her grip was like iron around Sabrina’s waist.

  Sabrina’s heart fluttered upon seeing Yura with so much energy and a fragile smile graced her face. She brushed the girl’s hair aside and stroked her forehead. Her skin was damp with sweat and still felt a bit warmer than it should have.

  “Come on, Yura,” Sabrina said gently. “Let’s get closer to the fire.” Even if she refused to go back to sleep, Sabrina at least wanted to keep her warm.

  Yura repositioned herself in Sabrina’s p and Akari served them both a handful of wrinkled berries. They tasted like nothing but Sabrina wolfed them down, and swallowed several handfuls of snow to wash it down.

  “Are you sick too, Miss?” Yura asked, turning around. Her teeth were stained purple from the berries.

  “Hm? Yeah, I’m fine.”

  Yura frowned and pointed at Sabrina’s forehead. Confused, Sabrina raised a hand to her own forehead. Her fingertips brushed something rough and an aching pain suddenly zapped over her brain. She winced.

  “Oh, sorry, do you not remember?” Akari said.

  Sabrina tried to recall how she’d gotten this injury but she couldn’t remember.

  “Before the battle with Volo, he somehow grabbed you and threw you into a rock. You hit your head, but the Professor was able to stitch you up before…” Akari’s voice trailed off and she looked down, sullen.

  Sabrina did remember facing off against Volo, and now that Akari mentioned it, she did vaguely remember flying through the air, but nothing after that until—

  “Ash!” Sabrina suddenly said. White-hot pain shot through her skull and she clutched her head.

  “Calm down,” Akari said, offering a steadying hand. She gnced away. “I’m sorry… We haven’t been able to find anyone else. Staravia’s been looking, but—“

  “No,” Sabrina moaned. “He’s hurt. He’s hurt very badly! We need to—ahh!” She gritted her teeth as a searing headache assaulted her.

  “Please, just calm down!” Akari urged. “You’ll hurt yourself like this!”

  Yura’s cold and sticky fingers brushed Sabrina’s neck and she shivered. “It’s okay, Miss. He’ll be fine. Just like us, right?”

  Horror bloomed in Sabrina. No! He got butchered! There was so much blood!

  “Sorry, I don’t know how the battle ended,” Akari said. “The st thing I remember is seeing a giant tornado of darkness. The next thing I knew, I was in a snowy pin all by myself with Sneasel’s pokéball missing. I don’t even know how I got there…”

  Sabrina took a moment to process her words. “That was me,” she muttered, still out of it. “I teleported us away.” I didn’t have a destination in mind…and yet I still… There was a reason she could only teleport to pces she’d been before. Without prior knowledge of the destination, it was like flinging herself into complete darkness. But that’s exactly what she’d done. To herself and to all the others…

  Akari suddenly grabbed Sabrina’s hand. Sabrina looked up at her and saw pleading in her eyes. “So you know where Rei is? And the Professor? Please!”

  “I…don’t,” Sabrina said. The words felt like broken gss as they left her throat. “I’m sorry… It all happened so fast, so I didn’t know where to send us…”

  Akari’s grip loosened on her and she sat back down, eyeing Sabrina with a look of defeat.

  “Wait!” Yura said, climbing out of Sabrina’s p. “I don’t even know what you guys are talking about! All I remember is seeing some bck and then when I woke up, I saw you!” She pointed at Akari.

  “R-Right! Let’s put together everything we know first.”

  Akari started, telling the story of her journey through the Icends until she arrived at the forest and found Sabrina and Yura.

  “I didn’t realize at the time, but earlier I climbed a tree and I figured out where we are,” she said. “This should be the Heart’s Crag in the northeast Abaster Icends. We should be pretty close to the Pearl Settlement!”

  “Alright!” Yura cheered.

  “I’m thinking we can get moving again once you two heal up a bit more,” Akari said. “Then, with the Pearl Cn’s help, we can go out and look for the others!” She hesitated, gncing at Sabrina. “I-If that’s okay.”

  Sabrina shook her head. “You know more than I do about…all of this. If that’s what you think is best, I’ll go along with it.”

  Akari blushed and nodded.

  “For me, I must’ve teleported us straight here together with Yura,” Sabrina said. “That expins that.” She pointed at the splintered remains of the tree Akari had first woken her up in. “As for why Yura and I were together but you were by yourself, Akari… I’m not sure.”

  Akari smiled warmly and rested her head in her hands. “I think I know why! Isn’t that because you love her so much so you wouldn’t ever let anything bad ever happen to her?”

  Yura looked over at Sabrina, her face beet red, and Sabrina’s own cheeks fshed a dark crimson. “M-Maybe…” she said.

  “But where’s everyone else?” Yura asked, getting back on topic. “And where’s Volo?”

  Sabrina grimaced. “I don’t know. The st thing I saw was Ash about to battle Volo. He was about to do something to get rid of that tornado of darkness, I think, but for some reason, he deactivated his powers. Then it hit him… That’s when Volo looked like he was about to kill Ash… So I teleported everyone away…” She raised her left wrist. “That’s when I lost my limiter.”

  “I’m sure he’s still alive,” Akari offered. “It sounds like Volo wasn’t able to finish the job. And I’m sure he didn’t expect you to teleport everyone either. However confused we are, he’s probably even more confused.”

  That was an optimistic line of thinking. But the blood… There was so much blood… Sabrina couldn’t get the image of Volo’s cyclone butchering Ash out of her head.

  “Wherever he is, I just hope the others are with him,” Sabrina said grimly.

  The snow fell silently upon their meager camp.

  “Just take him and run!”

  “What about—?”

  “Just go!” Rei roared, clutching his face as blood streamed between his fingers. “Shellos, pulp the ground when it charges again!

  A colossal Drapion ccked its pincers in front of them and snarled, poison spittle flying from its mouth.

  Rei whipped around, and luckily Riley had listened to him. The Guardian heaved Ash’s limp body off the ground, his blood soaking into Riley’s clothes and he began to drag Ash away. Rei suppressed a shudder at Ash’s wounds, but grimaced upon seeing Riley’s complexion. The man’s skin was pale and he was sweating profusely, yet determination burned in his eyes as he limped away.

  That was how Rei had found him. The Drapion had sunk its cws into Riley’s arm and lifted his unconscious form off of Ash’s bloodied body, seemingly ready to devour them both, but Rei had arrived in just the nick of time. It’d spun around far faster than Rei expected and he’d gotten knocked in the head for it, but now Drapion’s attention seemed squarely on him.

  The megalithic poison-type eyed the retreating Riley and hissed.

  Or not!

  “Agile Water Gun, Shellos!” Rei commanded.

  A pressurized jet of water shot from Shellos’ mouth and spttered against Drapion’s face, and Drapion roared in anger, refocusing on Rei. Its legs cttered against the ground as it turned.

  “Now, Shellos!”

  As Drapion charged, the ground beneath it suddenly belched and turned to liquid mud, and Drapion colpsed within. Poison sprayed from its mouth as it screeched and its arms filed wildly, spshing mud everywhere.

  “Now, Bulldoze, Grotle!”

  Rei recalled Shellos and just beside where he’d just been, Grotle stamped his feet and an earthen shockwave bsted outward, tearing through the ruined ground. As the shockwaves pumped into Drapion’s filing body, it screamed in pain, shing out as it tried to free itself from its muddy prison.

  As the attack ended, Rei released Shellos once again. His eyes flicked wildly as he scanned the ndscape around him. He’d awoken several hours ago yet he still couldn’t believe where he was.

  Wet earth shined and dry reeds rustled over rocky hills and ridges. Dark oaks stood like soldiers across the swampish wilderness, filling the air with the scent of moldy wood. Moisture clung to Rei’s skin, and though he’d already peeled off his extra yers, the humidity made him sweat.

  These were the Crimson Mirends.

  It shouldn’t have been possible. But there was no mistaking the Scarlet Bog. Pools of mud littered the ndscape, steam and dust rising from their depths, Hippopotas and Hippowdon no doubt lurking within many of them.

  “Growlithe!” Rei bellowed. His gaze whipped over the swamp, yet he still saw no signs of his strongest partner.

  Drapion roared, charging out of Shellos’ trap, dripping mud, and it lunged toward Grotle.

  Rei clenched his teeth. Damnit! The Bulldoze dislodged it! “Water Pulse, Shellos!” he shrieked. “Dodge, Grotle!”

  Drapion screamed as it tore toward Grotle, but a bst of water from Shellos threw it off kilter, allowing Grotle to lumber to the side. However, Drapion’s eyes trembled with rage and as it tumbled, its arm whipped around and it bashed Grotle in the face, its cws stained purple with poison.

  “No!” Rei screamed as Grotle flipped over. Tearing out his pokéball, Rei recalled Grotle. I need Grotle to stay healthy! It’s over if he gets poisoned! “Strong Muddy Water!” Rei said, recognizing a tiny opening as Drapion struggled back on its feet.

  The mud around them surged up and barreled toward Drapion in a brown froth. Drapion screeched just before Shellos buried it under the deluge. As the thickened water sloshed away, Drapion stumbled, trying to find its footing again, foul water dripping from its body. Its eyes burned with hatred as it turned toward Rei.

  Rei felt his stomach drop. Shit.

  Drapion screamed, barreling toward them, spshing up mud as it went.

  “Agile Mud Bomb!” Rei yelled, but even he knew it wouldn’t be enough to stop Drapion’s rampage. Agile Style wouldn’t have enough power to impede it, but it was far too fast for Shellos to hit it with anything else before it reached them.

  Rei shielded himself as Drapion bared down on him. Its breath reeked of sickness and death.

  Rei heard a high-pitched cng and Drapion howled, rearing back. Cws sshed across Drapion’s hardened exoskeleton and across his face.

  Rei’s eyes widened. A purple feline stood protectively between him and Drapion, whose carapace was now cracked in parts across its body.

  “Sneasel!”

  Sneasel hissed and grinded her cws together.

  Rei gred at Drapion, determined to finish it for good. He threw out Grotle’s pokéball. “Strong Bulldoze! Get out of there, Sneasel!”

  Sneasel snorted and ignored him, but as Grotle smmed his legs into the ground once more, the purple feline scowled and leaped backward. The shockwaves obliterated the remaining ground and surged into Drapion, and the scorpion simply seized in pce as its body was assaulted from within. Its eyes rolling back, it finally groaned and tipped backward, falling into a motionless heap.

  Rei panted and doubled over, resting his weight on his knees. As his adrenaline petered out, the scrape on his head began to throb, and he grimaced. As Sneasel sauntered past him, he turned his attention back to the scene in front of him. He watched as she walked over to a small boulder and began sharpening her cws on it.

  “Where’s Akari?” Rei mumbled. “Sneasel?”

  Sneasel narrowed her eyes and looked at him in apparent disgust.

  “Growlithe?” he asked. “Anyone else?”

  Sneasel smirked and turned back to sharpening her cws.

  No one…? Rei’s face wrinkled into a gre. What the hell happened? He recalled both of his pokémon and started jogging after Riley, careful to make sure he wasn’t about to get ambushed by any other wild pokémon.

  Sneasel watched as he left and decided to pursue a few seconds ter.

  What happened to Ash? What happened to us?!

  Riley had colpsed up ahead and was struggling to get up again. Rei increased his gait upon seeing him and quickly knelt to offer his support.

  “Rei…” Riley murmured.

  “I gotcha,” Rei said, helping him up. “Drapion poison is no joke. We need to get that cleaned fast.” Shellos could create water, but it wasn't exactly sanitary. They’d need to stop and boil it first, somehow, before it could be used. Which would be much easier if I had Growlithe. Pecha berries were probably their best bet at this point, but even then, they’d have to be ground down into a paste, and they’d need a lot of it. Medicinal berries didn’t work the same way for humans as they did for pokémon.

  And that was just for Riley. Rei had his own injury to worry about getting infected. But of course, that was nothing compared to Ash, who looked like he’d fallen prey to a nest of feral Scyther. Blood seemed to soak every inch of his clothes and it ran down his face in a congealed mess.

  “Is Ash…?” Rei asked cautiously.

  “He’s alive…,” Riley said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Need to…treat him. Get somewhere…safe.”

  Safe. In the Crimson Bog? There was nowhere safe in the Crimson Bog, but Rei didn’t even know where they were in the bog for sure, so he couldn’t exactly navigate them to safety either. The Mirends weren’t like the Icends. Everything here looked pretty simir.

  Going off the sun’s position, it seemed to be a bit past noon now. That seemed to suggest he hadn’t been out for too long, but time was still of the essence. Ash would not st much longer with how much blood he’d lost, and Riley would expire soon enough too if the poison wasn’t removed from his system.

  “This way,” Rei said, pointing. “North.”

  North would lead them closer to the Diamond Settlement. That was their best hope now. Depending on how close they got, once night fell, they might be able to see smoke rising from the settlement and orient themselves that way. Whatever the case, they could not stay here.

  “C’mon,” Rei said, pulling Riley’s body up. “We need to move!”

  Sneasel seemed to snicker at his troubles and Rei gred at her. Then he frowned.

  Wait, if Sneasel’s here, then…

  Rei pulled out Grotle’s pokéball and released him once again. “Grotle, help us carry Ash, please.”

  Grotle was just rge enough to support Ash on his back, and though Rei had been reserving him for attacking and defending, something Shellos could not possibly do alone, if Sneasel could fulfill that role, that would take a literal weight off his and Riley’s shoulders.

  He didn’t even bother asking Sneasel. But if they came under threat again, he knew Sneasel would protect them, as she already had versus Drapion.

  But Sneasel had other pns. She leaped up and tackled Riley to the ground, licking her lips.

  “Sneasel, no!” Rei yelled, running toward her, but Sneasel fshed her cws and he stopped in his tracks.

  Grotle released a low rumble and he angled his head toward Sneasel in challenge. Sneasel smirked, as if daring him to attack. Her gaze fshed toward Rei and she moved her mouth toward Riley.

  Rei frowned.

  Sneasel sank her fangs around the wound on Riley’s arm, now oozing pus and blood. Her throat pulsated as she sucked the poisoned blood from his body. Riley groaned but could do nothing else in protest. Once she was finished, Sneasel unhooked herself from him and licked her teeth, grinning.

  Rei just stared at her for a few moments before kneeling down to Riley. “Riley? Riley!” He put his hand on the older man’s neck. His skin was pale and cmmy. I don’t know how much blood Sneasel just drank but it’ll take time for his body to repce what he just lost. Each pulse of Riley’s neck gave Rei hope. But he is repcing it. Better a bit of blood loss than being poisoned and dead.

  Rei furrowed his brows and heaved Riley off the ground. Despite the bnk look in his eyes and his groggy complexion, Riley stood up again without colpsing, though it felt like he was resting all of his weight on Rei.

  Riley mumbled something as Grotle shifted Ash atop his back but Rei ignored him and slipped his arm under Riley’s. “Alright, we can do this! Let’s go!”

  Akari would have to wait. Growlithe would have to wait. The others would have to wait. Two men were dying right in front of Rei. He’d be damned if they kicked the bucket under his watch.

  They’re still alive, Rei told himself. If Ash somehow is, then they definitely are. He elected to ignore the possibility that Akari was simirly maimed.

  The sun beat down on them with each heavy step. Sweat began to drip onto the ground in front of Rei and his head pounded. Soon, his vision was so blurry he couldn’t even tell if the drops from his head were sweat or blood from his wound. The feet dragged across the cracked ground like iron and his arm had long gone numb from supporting Riley’s weight.

  Need…to stay…alert…

  Rei’s eyelids fluttered as he fought to keep them open. The ndscape seemed to blur in front of him but as long as he could still see something, at least he could confirm he was still conscious. But as the day lurched on and the sun bzed down from above, Rei began to see color ebbing away. Sweat pooled on his eyeshes and he blinked it away.

  “Rei…” Riley moaned.

  Rei felt the Guardian’s weight lessen as he straightened himself. Riley raised a finger, pointing toward a small grove of trees that rested in the shadows of a rocky hill. If Rei squinted, he could just barely make out the details, but by now, his head was throbbing so badly it felt like his forehead was about to burst like a bubble.

  “There…” Riley said, his voice hoarse. “Let’s stop there…”

  Rei felt a wave of relief wash over him as they passed into the shade, finally out of the burning sun. Even in winter, the Mirends remained hot and muggy thanks to the foul breath of the many hulking ground types and the noxious fumes of the many morose poison-types that lived here.

  He dropped Riley unceremoniously before colpsing to the ground himself, panting vigorously. The Guardian, however, didn’t fall, but he did rest himself up against a tree. “Thank…you,” he breathed. “And…I’m sorry.”

  Rei didn’t even have the strength to respond. Instead he reached down and pulled Shellos’ pokéball off his belt and released him. The slug stared at him bnkly.

  “Water…” Rei moaned.

  Shellos spat out a stream of water all over him and Rei opened his mouth and gulped down as much as he could. It tasted like mud, but he didn’t care. He was dehydrated and he knew it. Between himself, Riley, and Ash, he was the least injured, meaning it was up to him to keep the others alive. That meant he needed to be in the best shape possible. Once he’d had his fill and his stomach felt bulbous, he rolled over, satisfied, drenched from head to toe.

  “How’re you feeling?” Rei asked after replenishing his lungs with a spell of deep breaths.

  Riley opened his mouth to answer but a coughing spell overtook him. He turned and spat out a glob of blood. “Better, thanks to Sneasel. Thank you, Sneasel.”

  Sneasel sneered cruelly and licked her lips, as if to say, No, thank you for the delicious meal.

  “Gimme a bit and I’ll start looking around for some pecha berries for you,” Rei said.

  “No,” Riley said, and he started limping toward Ash. Grotle cast him a curious look as he approached. “I need to treat Ash first.”

  Rei sat up. “Treat Ash? What about you? You’ll die too, you know? Drapion poison is even worse than blood loss or infection! You need to let yourself rest!”

  “I’ll rest after I treat Ash.” Riley raised his hands over Ash’s bloody body. “He is in mortal danger right now. If he dies, there wouldn’t be a point in keeping my life.”

  Rei frowned in horror. “The Aura treatment? Do you even have the energy for that?”

  Riley’s brows tightened and his palms began to glow azure. The light of Aura was faint and Riley clenched his teeth, his body going rigid as he tried to force out more power.

  Rei stood up and walked closer. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Riley’s head shook once. “You’ve done plenty already.” His Aura brightened and showered Ash in its healing light. Riley’s eyes trembled behind his closed eyelids, but before long, the light of his Aura faded, and he slumped to the ground, breathing heavily.

  Rei looked at Ash. He didn’t look any better, but then again, he was covered in so much dried blood, it was impossible to tell if any of his wounds had closed.

  “That’s all I can muster for now,” Riley panted. “He’ll need more… Far more.”

  “What even happened to him?” Rei asked, just now absorbing how grisly he looked. Now that he had a moment to rex, he realized he didn’t even know how Ash had gotten like that.

  “It was Volo. He also wields the power of one of Arceus’ Ptes.”

  Rei swallowed. Did he really create that giant tornado of darkness? Even Ash didn’t make anything that big during his training… The thought that Ash’s current state had been directly caused by the power within him, that someone had rendered this sort of butchery on him in order to cim it from him… Suddenly, Rei wasn’t so jealous of that power.

  “Why…how are we here?” he asked, turning away from Ash, as the sight of him was starting to become nauseating.

  Riley closed his eyes. “It was Sabrina.”

  Rei’s brows furrowed. “Sabrina? What do you mean?”

  “Just before I lost consciousness, I saw her. I felt her power envelope me. I don’t cim to understand her power, but it seems she teleported all of us as far away from Volo as she could.”

  Rei took a few seconds to process that information. “Well, what about her? And what about the others?”

  The skin around Riley’s eyes crinkled grimly. “I’m not sure. Once I regain a bit more of my strength, I can extend my Aura to cover as much area as I can and search for them.”

  Rei slumped back. “How are we supposed to get to the Pearl Settlement now?” He gnced at Riley. “And I guess there’s no chance of you seeing that traveler in the north either.”

  Riley looked deep in thought. “I wonder if the others are still in the Icends somewhere.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Again, I don’t know much about Sabrina’s powers. But she did say once that she couldn’t teleport anywhere she hadn’t been to before. Since she hasn’t been to the Mirends before, perhaps our being here is a mistake. Or perhaps she meant to take us all here, but could only manage the three of us.”

  Sneasel growled and Riley raised a pcating hand. “Four of us.”

  “Are you saying Akari and the others are still there in the Icends with that monster?” Rei said in a low voice.

  “I’m not sure. But I do know Volo was injured. Ash was able to damage him severely. Though it may not seem like it, Volo’s ambush failed. And since he revealed his true intentions to us, it won’t work again. The smartest move for him to make next would be to retreat to the Temple of Sinnoh, to Mount Coronet’s peak where the temporal rift is. That way, he’d guarantee we’d have to cross him again before leaving this time and returning to our own.”

  Rei nodded. “That makes sense. But if he created that rift, wouldn’t he just be able to close it? Then you guys would be stuck here forever.”

  “Possibly. However, if he keeps it open, he can use it to lure us to him.”

  Rei’s expression darkened and his grip tightened around his legs as he gred at nothing in particur. “Good.”

  Riley frowned. “Good?”

  Volo’s treachery, Rei’s separation from Akari, the psychopathic violence he’d inflicted on Ash… All of it burned like an inferno in Rei’s stomach. When he thought of Volo’s face, it made him want to puke.

  “I have a few words for that guy,” Rei said, his voice steeped in a barely-contained rage.

  Next — Chapter 71 : Diamond in the Rough