Chp 20

	They all awoke later, except for Zys, who seemingly did not sleep. He did close his eyes and become motionless, but he was always conscious, looking at every little sound he heard. 

	"So you took care of it?" Ashley asked during the morning cleaning routine. 

	"Yup. They estimated a week." Mystic explained.

	"Dammit, I wanted to be out of here by tonight. And we're getting thicker curtains." 

	A knock sounded out from the other side of the curtain separating their room from the hall. Harrison the farfetch'd poked his head in. "Excuse me, but Hunter asked specifically for you, ASAP, in his office." 

	"Work never ends..." Ashley muttered. 

	"What are you talking about? You just started." Mystic retorted. "Oh yea, Phantom, I wanted to ask you why all the stores have scanners for our badges."

	"I can answer that. Rescue teams aren't the only ones with bank accounts. Common folk like me can get things that charge your account. Not every bank offers them though." 

	"Well that's fancy." The conversation ended as they arrived at Hunter's office. When they entered, there were three extra pokemon, a charizard, a tyranitar, and an alakazam.

	"Good. You're here." Hunter greeted them. "This," He waved a claw towards the three new pokemon. "Is Team ACT. Alakazam, Charizard, and Tyranitar."

	"Wait, Team ACT?! Like the one from the history books?!" Phantom said, his eyes growing wide.

	"No, no, young one." Alakazam said. "That was many years ago. Our grandparents were the pokemon you think of. We merely carry on their legacy. Now, Mystic, please step forward. I am here to help you with your memory troubles." Mystic swallowed nervously. "No need for that. It will be very gentle, I assure you." 

	"Now you sound like a perv." Charizard grunted quietly.

	"Silence. I need focus." He held up his spoon and pressed it to Mystic's forehead. All was silent for a short time, until he removed the spoon. "I'm sorry. Whatever happened to you, it is outside of my power." Mystic lowered her head in sadness. "Fret not, I have an idea. There is one pokemon I know that could help you." 

	"Are you really suggesting..." Hunter said.

	"Yes. If your assumptions are correct, and she is involved, her memory could solve the matter, and save lives in the process." 

	"What? Who?" She asked. 

	"A very important pokemon. I apologize, but I can only teleport so many pokemon, so I must ask that you leave your companions behind."

	"But... How about you leave your teammates here and Phantom can come?" 

	"If it will make you happy, I suppose. I can simply teleport the three of us there and back." He held out both hands, pointing the spoons in them towards them. "Hold onto these." 

	The moment they both touched them, they were transported to another place. They were on top of some kind of structure, and the clouds seemed a lot closer. The air was also much thinner, causing both of them to begin breathing hard in an attempt to cope. 

	"Welcome, to Destiny Tower. This was built as a place of worship to Arceus."

	"Arceus?" Mystic asked.

	"Not right now. I'll explain later."

	"Yes. This place is old, ancient even. Only one pokemon resides here currently." Alakazam pointed forward, at a lone figure sitting in front of some kind of statue. The statue was huge, but in terrible condition. It looked like it was once some four legged pokemon, but was so crumbled and damaged that it was nearly impossible to see much else. "Be quiet, please. This is still a sacred place."

	He lead the way and slowly walked up to the pokemon. He was sitting cross legged, facing the statue, and had two pairs of what looked ornaments hanging from his head, though they were attached. 

	Alakazam bowed before him, before speaking. "I beg your pardon, but we have need of your services."

	He did not move, but his four head things twitched. 

	"Please, we need your help. Lives are in the balance."

	He stood up and turned around. He said nothing, at least not physically, but they all heard his voice. "Very well. Tell me quickly. I really don't like guests..." He said, his voice sounding authoritative, but his tone not matching it. He sounded irritated. 

	"I know you could read our minds. Thank you for respecting our privacy. This vulpix, Mystic, has lost her memory, and no one has been able to help her. We believe that-"

	"You believe? I don't like my time being wasted." 

	"I apologize. But the lives of many innocent pokemon could be saved if she remembered." 

	"Fine." He walked forward, letting out an annoyed sigh. He placed his paw on Mystic's head, and the aura sensors on his back drifted up. Mystic felt a bit odd, like there was some kind of force overtaking her body. A faint nagging feeling began to creep around her thoughts. Just as quickly as it started, it was over. Her entire body ached, and she let out a breath she hadn't tried to hold. She felt exhausted after so little. "Nothing." He said.

	Mystic's heart sank. "But..."

	"Yes, please tell us more." Alakazam asked.

	He let out another annoyed sigh. "It is... buried. Hidden. Your memories have been tampered with, artificially. Only the pokemon who did it can correct it without any damage. I could try, but you would lose much of the memories in the process." 

	"Oh... Thanks I guess." Mystic said, still looking sad. 

	"There, now could you leave?" The lucario said disdainfully. 

	Alakazam put his spoons on both of them, and they were back in Hunter's office.

	"Well? Well!?" Ashley said, insanely excited. 

	"What was with that guy?" Phantom asked.

	"That 'guy' is Aeon. The only living direct descendent of Eternity, the lucario who founded the rescue foundation." 

	"That was the descendent of Eternity!?" Phantom exclaimed. 

	"Yea, okay so whatever, what happened!? What'd he say?" 

	"He said... He couldn't help. But now, we now have a target. They took my memories, and only they can give them back. We're going to get them back!" 

	Phantom was surprised, as was Alakazam. They had both suspected her to be depressed after such bad news, but all it seemed to do was light an even greater passion in her. 

+++

	"They are moving out." 

	"Huh?" Hearth looked around, and eventually spotted the head of a decidueye sticking out of a corner. "Oh, Reaper. Stop surprising me like that. Give me a full report then."

	"I cannot go into the foundation. It is too dangerous. They bought land outside Journey Town. Construction started earlier today." 

	"Well that's good. Anyways, go on Carver." 

	"Yea. Reaper, seriously, you act all cool and collected, but I think you secretly enjoy scaring people." The absol looked up to where he had been, but he was gone. "That guy." He shook his head.

	"They have two new team members." Reaper said. Carver leapt forward, spinning around to face the ghost type who had appeared behind him. 
	
	"See, told ya you enjoy it." 

	"A alolan form vulpix and an unknown species."

	"That's funny. I bedded one of those a few days ago. Sexy little thing." 

	"An unknown species?" Hearth said.

	"No, the vulpix." Carver said, but Hearth ignored him.

	"Yes. Very powerful. He might be a threat." 

	"Yea, okay, my turn." Carver said. "So, as I was saying, if they did some investigating around, they might find something out. That's where I was from before I signed on with you. If my identity was compromised..."

	"Actually... That could be a good thing. If they know you are a missing pokemon, you could play them." 

	"Yea, I'd rather not put myself in the line of fire. You know I'm only here for one reason. If you need a spy, find somebody else."

	"Well, that's just it. We have spies, several, but none of them are close with them." Hearth put his head in his hands. "Shit. Everything was going so well. Hunter's the real instigator. If he was gone, we'd have nothing to worry about, but that damn vulpix. If we deal with her, he loses his biggest lead. If they find some way to get her memories back, we are fucked." He stayed silent for a moment. "Reaper!"

	"Sir." The decidueye said. 

	"Kill her. It's too risky now. I don't care how messy it gets. Go wild. But don't fight Hunter. He is too strong."

	"It will be done." Reaper faded into the wall and was gone for good this time. 

	"Carver, you make the rounds again, make sure no one is missing and everything's still secure. Everything is a liability now."

	"You got it. I know a few people I wouldn't mind seein' again."

	"Business, not pleasure. You're in on this too. If we go down, we all go down together."

	"Yea, yea, my business is my pleasure, and vice versa, so on and so on." Carver said while leaving the room, his voice trailing down the hall.

	"Hah..." Hearth sighed. "What a tangled web we weave..." He muttered to himself.  

+++

	"So, any new leads for us?" Mystic asked. Team ACT had left, leaving only the five of them in Hunter's office. 

	"Not really. I'm currently working on something. I've asked for a compiled list of missing persons from the last few years to be sent here, from every civilized town on the continent. From there, we'll ship it out to all the bases. If any of those missing pokemon are still around, we'll find them." 

	"That sounds like a great idea. I can't be the only one who got away." 

	"Exactly. But as you can imagine, it's been slow. I'll keep you posted." 

	"Well I guess we'll just head out then."

	"We could do some jobs." Phantom suggested. 

	"Nah, I think we should relax. Chill out till the house is done." Ashley said. 

	"Speaking of which, come find me when your new base is done. I can bind your badges to it so you'll recall to there instead of here." 

	"That's convenient. Let's go. I think we can take a day off today. And I've got plans for the week." Mystic said, leading the way out. "So, how about a real vacation?" 

	"Where? Wasn't Frostorm enough?"

	"Not really. Lovely meadows is the place. I went there for the fairy gem. There's this awesome cave you have to see. And it's a pretty place, all the trees are pink." 

	"Oh-hoh, I see what you're getting at." Ashley said. 

	"What?" Phantom asked. 

	"It's a relaxing place. Good to get our minds off of all this for a bit, you know." Mystic said. 

	"Yeah. We should totally head there for a day." Ashley agreed, smirking a bit. "Why don't you go get some lunch and meet us at the room." She said. "We can just hang out for the day." Once he was gone, she turned to her sister. "Okay, I'll play along, but I get some too." She said.

	"So you've heard of the place?"

	"The sex capital? Yea I have. So, care to share your boyfriend?"

	"I don't see why not. It should be fun for him." She said, causing them both to giggle. 

	A short while later, they were back in the room and Phantom came in. He set down his box and popped it open to reveal three small lunch boxes. The girls each took one and he took his, and they gathered in the middle of the floor, all facing each other. 

	"So Phantom, with all our family drama, how's yours?" Ashley asked after a bit. 

	"Oh, uh, nothing much really. I moved out a few years ago and came to Journey town. I haven't seen them since."

	"Maybe you should go see them sometime."

	"I guess." He muttered, going back to eating. After a while, he looked over to Mystic. "Are you gonna be okay?" 

	"I'm... I want to make them fell the suffering they've done to everyone. They have to suffer. Pay for everything. I'm so angry!" She smacked her box of food, flinging leftover french fries over the floor. "I'm going to crush them! WE will destroy them!" She roared, crushing on of the fried potatoes under her paw. She began panting heavily. "Sorry. I just..." 

	"You're right." Phantom said. "If they are hurting other's like they've hurt you, we have to stop them. Hunter told me something a while ago. He said... that the Shadow are kidnapping pokemon and selling them as sex slaves. And with your memory, they're probably erasing them to make them more... docile and then drugging them up." Phantom said, his face a tight grimace. 

	"That seals it. They're done. I won't see any of them walk away from this." 

	"Wait, so that means... they kidnapped you for sex? Holy shit." Ashley said, her usual energy fading away. "Arceus, I mean, what if you hadn't gotten away?"

	"But I did. And now, I'm going to end them." Mystic said, a crazy look in her eye. She took a few deep breaths. "Phantom, you promised to tell me about Arceus." 

	"Oh yeah. So some people believe that the universe was created by a single pokemon, called Arceus, the religion of Alphanism. He's supposedly existed since the beginning of time. I don't really believe it though. No matter what, the belief in Arceus has shaped the world, like Destiny Tower for example."

	"Wait a minute, you don't believe in Arceus?" Ashley asked. "Weirdo." 

	"I dunno, I just never really thought He was real." Phantom said. 

	"Whatever. So what's the plan then, Mystic?" 

	"Well, tomorrow we'll take a one day vacation to Lovely Meadows. It wouldn't hurt to look around there at the same time. Then I guess we'll just wait around until something happens. Maybe do a job or two while we wait on the house. So where did you guys get your gem?"

	"This total shit hole. Like a wasteland canyon thing." Ashley said.

	"And there were dragons." Phantom added. 

	"Okay then. Let's never go there." Her terse tone caused Ashley to giggle, setting her of as well, until they were all laughing.