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Description
The Gold Needles 6.2
Illusions of the Future

It had been well over an hour since Charcoal took the teams into the forest. In spite of the young Zorua's insistence on silence, the Pokémon she was leading could hear an occasional scream that may have come from Mike's group. Some Rogues struggled to ignore them, the rest, as well as PK, didn't react. Either she's really focused or she doesn't care, thought Leilani. The Sewaddle studied the Kecleon from her vantage point on top of her teammate Ice's head. Is this about the trees you spent money on, or Jasmine?

Leilani realized that she had stopped moving. Sly and Ice, her two young teammates were studying a bush. "It's probably just an illusion," she whispered. "Stay on track you two."

"I thought I heard something," whispered Sly.

"The leaves moved," added Ice in her version of a whisper, which since her accident was what most Pokémon called an indoor voice.

"Keep it down," said PK. Everyone stopped and stared. "Let's keep moving." The line proceeded. Sly stepped to follow it, but Ice-who Leilani was riding on- didn't move.

"Miss Ice, let's get going," she whispered into Ice's good ear.

Ice shook her head and pointed somewhere ahead of the group

"Yeppers, Ice, we needta go that way to get to eeevryone else," whispered Sly. He continued moving forward.

"No," she hissed. "It moved that way. I'm gonna catch it." She pulled Leilani off her head and put her down, then hopped in. As a Sneasel, the girl was able to move far quieter than she spoke.

"Do you think we can catch up to her and bring her back?" asked Leilani. This was one of the places where she was dead weight.

"Nooooo, this is how she wins at hide and seek," said Sly.

"You can't track her?"

"Nopers."

Leilani crawled up onto Sly's back. "We better catch up with the rest of the group then."

Sly nodded and pranced forward.

Others noticed Ice's absence and let Sly and Leilani move towards the front.

"Miss PK," whispered Leilani. "Our teammate snuck off, she thought she saw something and went to track it. We can't follow her."

"And you didn't stop her?" PK's voice was still a whisper, but her gestures made it clear that she wanted to yell at the two Rogues and possibly hit or even throttle them.

"She's a Sneasel," whispered Sly. The Purrloin either was ignoring or did not notice PK's outburst. "She goes lickity-splitity in a forest, then is gone. Like poof."

"Then let's hope she can take care of herself until we deal with this Zoroark."

"She's a kid," hissed Leilani. "Really, does anyone in this village care about child endangerment?"

"Your teammate, your problem. I'm sure the old man has the same policy." PK crossed her arms and turned her attention to Charcoal. The Zorua paused and looked around. "C'mon fluffy we don't have all night."

At that moment another Zorua stepped into the clearing. He was a little smaller than Charcoal, but had the same gold eyes and bead. "Why'd you bring 'em here? Momma's gonna be mad," he growled. "Send 'em back."

"Tohne, we can't let Momma get rid of the green fairy," whispered Charcoal. She moved into a defensive position. "I'm doin' what I hafta."

"I won't let ya do this to Momma." The two Zorua began circling.

PK stood on Iceberg's back and swiped one hand over the other in a sweeping motion. The signal to use a status move.

"Called it."

Ice jumped out of a bush and aimed the blunt end of her claw at the Zorua. He deflected it and ran off into the bushes.

"What was that?" whispered PK. "You blew it."

"Momma probably heard you two, now we gotta hurry," added Charcoal.

"And your brother?"

"We'll go after him," said Leilani. "Sly and I didn't act, and Ice acted too rashly. That's why he got away. We'll catch him, tie him up, and try to rejoin you." Plus, we can help save Miss Jasmine without fighting a powerful Zoroark, thought Leilani.

"What're you waiting for, go." PK gestured at them to move before kicking Iceberg into a faster pace.

Sly did his best to close the gap between him in the Zorua. Ice was having a far easier time. She was moving on all fours- adding a long gait to her already fast pace- and was closing the distance. Ice approached from the side away from their destination. Tohne responded by trying to move closer to the trees and box her in. Ice leapt onto the side of one and launched herself forward- or would have, if it was a real tree. The tree was an illusion, and the end result was her tumbling out of sight.

Sly and Leilani stayed focused on Tohne. They knew Ice, they knew she wouldn't give up over something like this and would jump back in immediately. Except she didn't.

"I'm going to check on her," said Leilani. "You keep chasing." Leilani then used String Shot to propel herself forward. She landed in the bushes near where Ice was, but couldn't see the Sneasel. She crawled around as best she could. "Ice," she called. "Where are you?" She began crawling further in to look.

The girl was on her knees and doubled over. Her entire body was shaking as if she was crying. "Ice?" asked Leilani. The Sewaddle wrapped a String Shot around the girl's arm and used it to pull herself closer. The girl muttered something about Gunpowder and shrunk into a smaller ball. Whatever illusion she was caught in was strong. "Ice, Ice, it's me Lei. No one's here but the two of us. Tell me how to help you, or Sly will end up being the one who can catch that Zorua boy. Which means he'll never be caught." Leilani tried to smile as she climbed onto the girl's shoulder. Ice liked taking jabs at Sly, maybe that would cheer her up.

"I d-don't wanna be a traitor," whispered Ice. The girl completely broke down.

Leilani pulled back a little. Ice mentioned Gunpowder. Was she going to betray the Rogue's Guild, or someone else? If she was, it might be because of her siblings. It was bad enough that they fell into PK's group of Sneasels (her brother, Silver, even became a Merchant), but both the older Sneasels gave off a vibe of being sneakier than Ice. When she and Ice were doing their last missions, they both failed miserably-in part because of Ice's naivety- but Silver's team had no way of benefitting because they spent the whole time recovering from helping in the tunnels. If anything they had a minor setback because they scavenged for their own food instead of risking eating Ice's cooking. But the sister, Frost. What did she want? Leilani had never gotten to know her- not even to the basic level she was acquainted with Silver's team. Ice rarely talked about her, but visited her often, especially after Sorbet's attack.

What should she do? If she reported this to Devonshire and Gunpowder, it was unlikely that they'd treat Ice well when they tried to get answers, but if she snapped her out and got her back she could be putting Sly and her guild in danger. Let 'em have her, whispered a voice in Leilani's head. Sacrifice her. They'd be kinder to you and Sly if you told 'em. Or d' ya want em t' find out and punish the whole team? Don't forget what you an' Sly wanted t' do. Have fun. Make friends. Take a break from Sapling Village.

But Ice was one of her friends. Leilani remembered the way the little girl's face lit up when she got the hang of sewing. The bizarre- and at times mildly disturbing- contests she and Sly had always done put a smile on the Sewaddle's face (even if the end result sometimes was one or both getting sick). In the sudden winter that Sorbet brought, the two snuggled together, and during the recent hot summer, Lei did her best to give Ice a little shade. She didn't want to lose that. No, she enjoyed the adventures just as much at Sly and Ice, but she was the oldest, she had a second job: to protect her best friends.

Leilani felt her body expand. She fumbled with her scarf and managed to remove it. Her body shifted into a larger and more circular shape, and her leafy clothing was changing to accommodate that. She had evolved into a Swadloon.

The surprise evolution knocked Ice over. Leilani toppled next to her.

"Wha?" mumbled Ice. "Wha happened? Who are you?"

"You were in an illusion," replied Leilani. "It's me, I've evolved."

"How do I know it's not a trick?"

"Your favorite berry is Spelon, you second favorite is spicy. In our old base I was supposed to make you a hammock, but never got around to it because we always shared a hammock and then the forest was ruined. Your least favorite letter in the alphabet-or number as you sometimes call them- is all of them. One of your goals as a member of the Rogue's guild is to learn how to punch something so hard it goes through a wall."

Ice lightly rapped on Leilani's head, and then sniffed the Emerald accent she gave to her friend. "It's you!" she picked up Leilani and twirled around with her. "Let's find Sly an' the Zorua."

Sly was panting. He and the Zorua were playing a game of cat and mouse. Sly would chase the Zorua down, but as soon as he caught him, he was dodging the Zorua's moves until the pup ran away. Sly had absolutely no idea where they were going. Worse, he wasn't sure if anyone would find him. The Purrloin's tail and ears drooped at this thought.

He was also hearing noises. Creepy noises. But they had a rhythm like the stuff the Scolipede in Spinda's Café played. They always moved closer to the noises. Maybe he was being lead right towards the center. If he got their before the other group he and the fairy would not be able to go to the tree growing festival. Well, he was banned anyway after what happened during planting, but the fairy should be able to go to the festival.

Sly sped up and jumped in front of the Zorua. As soon as he was on all fours he shifted his weight to his back paws and slapped his front ones together for Fake Out. The Zorua flinched and backed up, then growled. Tohne leapt forward and began Swiping at Sly's face. The Purrloin could no longer safely use Substitute, so he had to struggle with the Zorua. It was truly pathetic.

A different tune filled the air. It was pleasant and calming. It reminded Sly of the wind blowing through grass. The Zorua yawned and struggled with Sly a bit more before his eyes drooped and he fell asleep.

Sly turned around. Ice was holding a round yellow bug-thing. The bug put down the leaf near her mouth and smiled.

"Leelee, Ice Cream," whispered Sly. Ice knocked his paws out from under him for using the nickname, but Sly still rubbed himself against her side anyway. "Thanks you two. I was afraid I'd be lost in the forest, and since the Zorua kids probably hate me I'd be all alone, but now you're here, so we can be lost together!"

"Or we can finish the mission an' go to our own forest," grumbled Ice.

"Ooh, that works. Let's go."

They tied up the Zorua with String Shot and he was carried on Sly's back as they went. Between the music that Sly was hearing and Ice's sense of smell, they managed to slowly move towards the forest, and finally found the cent.

Jasmine was meekly struggling with some chains. She fluttered her wings and pulled on them with her large arms. Every time she pulled, the Zoroark across from her would tighten her focus. A red stripe was visible from across the clearing.

Description
The Gold Needles 6.2
Illusions of the Future

It had been well over an hour since Charcoal took the teams into the forest. In spite of the young Zorua's insistence on silence, the Pokémon she was leading could hear an occasional scream that may have come from Mike's group. Some Rogues struggled to ignore them, the rest, as well as PK, didn't react. Either she's really focused or she doesn't care, thought Leilani. The Sewaddle studied the Kecleon from her vantage point on top of her teammate Ice's head. Is this about the trees you spent money on, or Jasmine?

Leilani realized that she had stopped moving. Sly and Ice, her two young teammates were studying a bush. "It's probably just an illusion," she whispered. "Stay on track you two."

"I thought I heard something," whispered Sly.

"The leaves moved," added Ice in her version of a whisper, which since her accident was what most Pokémon called an indoor voice.

"Keep it down," said PK. Everyone stopped and stared. "Let's keep moving." The line proceeded. Sly stepped to follow it, but Ice-who Leilani was riding on- didn't move.

"Miss Ice, let's get going," she whispered into Ice's good ear.

Ice shook her head and pointed somewhere ahead of the group

"Yeppers, Ice, we needta go that way to get to eeevryone else," whispered Sly. He continued moving forward.

"No," she hissed. "It moved that way. I'm gonna catch it." She pulled Leilani off her head and put her down, then hopped in. As a Sneasel, the girl was able to move far quieter than she spoke.

"Do you think we can catch up to her and bring her back?" asked Leilani. This was one of the places where she was dead weight.

"Nooooo, this is how she wins at hide and seek," said Sly.

"You can't track her?"

"Nopers."

Leilani crawled up onto Sly's back. "We better catch up with the rest of the group then."

Sly nodded and pranced forward.

Others noticed Ice's absence and let Sly and Leilani move towards the front.

"Miss PK," whispered Leilani. "Our teammate snuck off, she thought she saw something and went to track it. We can't follow her."

"And you didn't stop her?" PK's voice was still a whisper, but her gestures made it clear that she wanted to yell at the two Rogues and possibly hit or even throttle them.

"She's a Sneasel," whispered Sly. The Purrloin either was ignoring or did not notice PK's outburst. "She goes lickity-splitity in a forest, then is gone. Like poof."

"Then let's hope she can take care of herself until we deal with this Zoroark."

"She's a kid," hissed Leilani. "Really, does anyone in this village care about child endangerment?"

"Your teammate, your problem. I'm sure the old man has the same policy." PK crossed her arms and turned her attention to Charcoal. The Zorua paused and looked around. "C'mon fluffy we don't have all night."

At that moment another Zorua stepped into the clearing. He was a little smaller than Charcoal, but had the same gold eyes and bead. "Why'd you bring 'em here? Momma's gonna be mad," he growled. "Send 'em back."

"Tohne, we can't let Momma get rid of the green fairy," whispered Charcoal. She moved into a defensive position. "I'm doin' what I hafta."

"I won't let ya do this to Momma." The two Zorua began circling.

PK stood on Iceberg's back and swiped one hand over the other in a sweeping motion. The signal to use a status move.

"Called it."

Ice jumped out of a bush and aimed the blunt end of her claw at the Zorua. He deflected it and ran off into the bushes.

"What was that?" whispered PK. "You blew it."

"Momma probably heard you two, now we gotta hurry," added Charcoal.

"And your brother?"

"We'll go after him," said Leilani. "Sly and I didn't act, and Ice acted too rashly. That's why he got away. We'll catch him, tie him up, and try to rejoin you." Plus, we can help save Miss Jasmine without fighting a powerful Zoroark, thought Leilani.

"What're you waiting for, go." PK gestured at them to move before kicking Iceberg into a faster pace.

Sly did his best to close the gap between him in the Zorua. Ice was having a far easier time. She was moving on all fours- adding a long gait to her already fast pace- and was closing the distance. Ice approached from the side away from their destination. Tohne responded by trying to move closer to the trees and box her in. Ice leapt onto the side of one and launched herself forward- or would have, if it was a real tree. The tree was an illusion, and the end result was her tumbling out of sight.

Sly and Leilani stayed focused on Tohne. They knew Ice, they knew she wouldn't give up over something like this and would jump back in immediately. Except she didn't.

"I'm going to check on her," said Leilani. "You keep chasing." Leilani then used String Shot to propel herself forward. She landed in the bushes near where Ice was, but couldn't see the Sneasel. She crawled around as best she could. "Ice," she called. "Where are you?" She began crawling further in to look.

The girl was on her knees and doubled over. Her entire body was shaking as if she was crying. "Ice?" asked Leilani. The Sewaddle wrapped a String Shot around the girl's arm and used it to pull herself closer. The girl muttered something about Gunpowder and shrunk into a smaller ball. Whatever illusion she was caught in was strong. "Ice, Ice, it's me Lei. No one's here but the two of us. Tell me how to help you, or Sly will end up being the one who can catch that Zorua boy. Which means he'll never be caught." Leilani tried to smile as she climbed onto the girl's shoulder. Ice liked taking jabs at Sly, maybe that would cheer her up.

"I d-don't wanna be a traitor," whispered Ice. The girl completely broke down.

Leilani pulled back a little. Ice mentioned Gunpowder. Was she going to betray the Rogue's Guild, or someone else? If she was, it might be because of her siblings. It was bad enough that they fell into PK's group of Sneasels (her brother, Silver, even became a Merchant), but both the older Sneasels gave off a vibe of being sneakier than Ice. When she and Ice were doing their last missions, they both failed miserably-in part because of Ice's naivety- but Silver's team had no way of benefitting because they spent the whole time recovering from helping in the tunnels. If anything they had a minor setback because they scavenged for their own food instead of risking eating Ice's cooking. But the sister, Frost. What did she want? Leilani had never gotten to know her- not even to the basic level she was acquainted with Silver's team. Ice rarely talked about her, but visited her often, especially after Sorbet's attack.

What should she do? If she reported this to Devonshire and Gunpowder, it was unlikely that they'd treat Ice well when they tried to get answers, but if she snapped her out and got her back she could be putting Sly and her guild in danger. Let 'em have her, whispered a voice in Leilani's head. Sacrifice her. They'd be kinder to you and Sly if you told 'em. Or d' ya want em t' find out and punish the whole team? Don't forget what you an' Sly wanted t' do. Have fun. Make friends. Take a break from Sapling Village.

But Ice was one of her friends. Leilani remembered the way the little girl's face lit up when she got the hang of sewing. The bizarre- and at times mildly disturbing- contests she and Sly had always done put a smile on the Sewaddle's face (even if the end result sometimes was one or both getting sick). In the sudden winter that Sorbet brought, the two snuggled together, and during the recent hot summer, Lei did her best to give Ice a little shade. She didn't want to lose that. No, she enjoyed the adventures just as much at Sly and Ice, but she was the oldest, she had a second job: to protect her best friends.

Leilani felt her body expand. She fumbled with her scarf and managed to remove it. Her body shifted into a larger and more circular shape, and her leafy clothing was changing to accommodate that. She had evolved into a Swadloon.

The surprise evolution knocked Ice over. Leilani toppled next to her.

"Wha?" mumbled Ice. "Wha happened? Who are you?"

"You were in an illusion," replied Leilani. "It's me, I've evolved."

"How do I know it's not a trick?"

"Your favorite berry is Spelon, you second favorite is spicy. In our old base I was supposed to make you a hammock, but never got around to it because we always shared a hammock and then the forest was ruined. Your least favorite letter in the alphabet-or number as you sometimes call them- is all of them. One of your goals as a member of the Rogue's guild is to learn how to punch something so hard it goes through a wall."

Ice lightly rapped on Leilani's head, and then sniffed the Emerald accent she gave to her friend. "It's you!" she picked up Leilani and twirled around with her. "Let's find Sly an' the Zorua."

Sly was panting. He and the Zorua were playing a game of cat and mouse. Sly would chase the Zorua down, but as soon as he caught him, he was dodging the Zorua's moves until the pup ran away. Sly had absolutely no idea where they were going. Worse, he wasn't sure if anyone would find him. The Purrloin's tail and ears drooped at this thought.

He was also hearing noises. Creepy noises. But they had a rhythm like the stuff the Scolipede in Spinda's Café played. They always moved closer to the noises. Maybe he was being lead right towards the center. If he got their before the other group he and the fairy would not be able to go to the tree growing festival. Well, he was banned anyway after what happened during planting, but the fairy should be able to go to the festival.

Sly sped up and jumped in front of the Zorua. As soon as he was on all fours he shifted his weight to his back paws and slapped his front ones together for Fake Out. The Zorua flinched and backed up, then growled. Tohne leapt forward and began Swiping at Sly's face. The Purrloin could no longer safely use Substitute, so he had to struggle with the Zorua. It was truly pathetic.

A different tune filled the air. It was pleasant and calming. It reminded Sly of the wind blowing through grass. The Zorua yawned and struggled with Sly a bit more before his eyes drooped and he fell asleep.

Sly turned around. Ice was holding a round yellow bug-thing. The bug put down the leaf near her mouth and smiled.

"Leelee, Ice Cream," whispered Sly. Ice knocked his paws out from under him for using the nickname, but Sly still rubbed himself against her side anyway. "Thanks you two. I was afraid I'd be lost in the forest, and since the Zorua kids probably hate me I'd be all alone, but now you're here, so we can be lost together!"

"Or we can finish the mission an' go to our own forest," grumbled Ice.

"Ooh, that works. Let's go."

They tied up the Zorua with String Shot and he was carried on Sly's back as they went. Between the music that Sly was hearing and Ice's sense of smell, they managed to slowly move towards the forest, and finally found the cent.

Jasmine was meekly struggling with some chains. She fluttered her wings and pulled on them with her large arms. Every time she pulled, the Zoroark across from her would tighten her focus. A red stripe was visible from across the clearing.