Rubbing his temples utilizing his single real hand, Viper burst into loud laughter, recalling how they spent the entire night searching everywhere for Ronnie's abusive sister without using any logical thought.
"Where the hell is the rest of the squad?" Enzo asked urgently.
"I have absolutely no idea, but the best way to find them is to retrace our steps and check everywhere we went last night," Viper suggested with a lazy shrug.
Agreeing to the logical plan, Enzo reached for his belongings, and he froze when he realized his head felt strangely cold. At the same time, his shoulders lacked their usual weight.
Frantically patting himself down revealed his signature beanie was completely gone.
Still, true panic set in when he realized his bag was missing as well.
"Dammit, I lost my bag," Enzo cursed loudly, looking around the foggy woods in total despair.
"I remember you giving your bag directly to Ronnie for safekeeping," Viper explained, pointing his ridiculous beer can arm toward Enzo.
Enzo couldn't believe that, out of everyone in the world, he had drunkenly entrusted his most valuable possessions to the absolute most irresponsible member of the squad.
"Where do we even start looking? Where did we go after leaving the private bar?" Enzo asked.
Smiling brightly through his severe hangover, Viper remembered their very first destination.
"We went straight to a Spikemuth nightclub called Coffin," Viper replied cheerfully.
Knowing the exact location of that specific club, Enzo sighs heavily, preparing himself for a long day.
Summoning Porygon-Z allowed him to bring the veteran, using several consecutive teleports to cross the region until they successfully reached the dark outskirts of the Spikemuth reserve.
As Enzo approached the Coffin nightclub, he found the doors closed to the public. Inside, the staff was busy cleaning up after a rough night, and signs of a significant altercation were evident.
The familiar bartender recognized him, frustration clear on her face as she wiped down a sticky counter, a reminder of the lively nights this place usually hosts.
"You guys? What do you want now? Was yesterday not enough?" the bartender snapped angrily.
Lacking any real memory of the events, Enzo smiles nervously, offering a polite apology to the frustrated worker while attempting to de-escalate the tense situation.
"I am sorry, we do not want any trouble; we just came to ask if you saw any of our friends," Enzo explained smoothly.
"They are not here, but I remember seeing that weird guy leaving with two girls, so your best chance is a cheap hostel," the bartender stated firmly.
Opening his eyes wide upon hearing the suggestion, Enzo instantly remembers the specific hotel where he left Anna earlier that night back in Motostoke, deducing that Ronnie likely took his new companions to that exact same building.
Thanking the bartender profusely for the valuable information, Enzo turns around, preparing to leave the messy establishment to continue their desperate search.
Stepping outside the nightclub, Enzo dragged a hand down his face and let out a long, tired breath. The cold air helped a little, but not nearly enough to ease the pounding in his skull. He glanced sideways at Viper.
"All right," Enzo said. "What exactly did we do in there to make the entire staff hate us that much?"
For a moment, Viper just looked at him. Then he burst out laughing.
Enzo stared at him. "Instructor, please..."
"I'm sorry," Viper wheezed, clearly not sorry at all. "I really am. It's just... that was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life."
Viper took a deep breath, still grinning like an idiot. "Right. Fine. So it started with Nero wanting to kill Ratchet."
Enzo stopped walking. "What?"
"Yeah," Viper nodded casually, as if that were a perfectly normal sentence. "He thought Ratchet was a spy."
Enzo closed his eyes for a second. "Yes, and..."
"He was actually very committed to it, too," Viper continued. "I'm talking full murderous intent. But then you stepped in."
Enzo slowly opened one eye. "I saved Ratchet?"
"Oh, you absolutely did." Viper's grin widened. "Just not in a way that preserved his dignity."
Enzo already hated where this was going. Viper pointed at him. "You looked Nero straight in the face and said Ratchet was Ronnie's greatest asset when it came to getting women."
Enzo stared at him in silence.
"You did." Viper was enjoying this far too much. "Then you explained it very passionately, by the way. You said Ronnie was ugly enough on his own that he needed support. But if he stood next to someone even worse, suddenly he looked better by comparison."
Enzo felt something in his soul shrivel. "Oh no..."
"Oh yes!" Viper nodded with absolute delight. "You said, and I quote as closely as I can remember, 'Ratchet is not the problem; Ratchet is the solution. He makes Ronnie look like a snack.'"
Enzo covered his face.
"Wait until you listen to the best part!" Viper said cheerfully. "Because after that, you came up with a plan."
"You referred to it as a tactical social ronnisertion." Viper paused for a moment, chuckling. "The concept was straightforward: Ratchet would approach two girls initially to grab their attention. Then Ronnie would swoop in at just the right moment, rescue them from Ratchet, and emerge as the hero."
Enzo lowered his hand very slowly. "...That's not the worst plan I've ever had while drunk."
"No, actually, the plan itself was disturbingly functional," Viper admitted. "The problem was Ronnie."
"Of course it was, Ronnie..."
Viper nodded. "Ratchet went over, started talking, and the girls were listening. The setup was working. Then Ronnie came charging in like a lunatic, took one look at Ratchet, and started beating the hell out of him."
Enzo blinked. "He what?"
"He skipped the saving part entirely." Viper was openly crying from laughter now. "No speech, no charm, no dramatic entrance. He just attacked Ratchet like he had found his mortal enemy."
Enzo could already picture it, and somehow that made it worse. "And the girls?"
"They screamed."
"of course..."
"The staff rushed in. Nero got involved because he thought Ratchet might still be a spy and was trying to study Ronnie's fighting style. Somebody threw a bottle. I think Surge challenged a bouncer to a fight. Ratchet was yelling. Ronnie was yelling louder. You were trying to explain the plan to everyone as if that would somehow calm the situation down."
Enzo made a strangled sound. Viper kept going, merciless. "Then the entire floor turned into a riot, and we had to run for our lives."
For a few seconds, Enzo said nothing. He just stood there in complete silence, staring straight ahead with the expression of a man who had just realized that every terrible decision of the previous night had, in fact, been real. Finally, he rubbed his temples and muttered, "I've changed my mind. I do not want any more details."
Viper smirked. "That is wise."
Heading for one of the commercial teleport stations that connected to Motostoke, Enzo and Viper paid the absurd fee without hesitation. The service was far more expensive than taking the train, but it was also incomparably faster, and right now, speed mattered far more than money.
A jump later, the two arrived in Motostoke and headed straight for the same five-star hotel they had booked the night before. Since the place was already familiar to Enzo, it did not take them long to find the rooms.
Enzo knocked on Anna's door a few times before hearing movement inside. A moment later, the door opened, and the young woman appeared, still half asleep, one hand rubbing her aching head while the other held the doorframe for support.
"Good morning," Anna mumbled groggily.
Enzo gave her a quick look over, checking that she was at least physically fine.
"How are you feeling?"
Anna winced and pressed her fingers harder against her temple. "My head really hurts," she admitted. "But I will be fine."
Even as she said it, her eyes flickered away from him, her face turning faintly red. The memory of what she had said to him the night before, and the way she had behaved after drinking far too much, was clearly coming back to her in painful pieces.
Enzo remembered that part perfectly, but he chose not to show it. His expression remained calm and almost blank, as if he had no idea what she was embarrassed about.
"We need to find the others," he said, smoothly moving past the awkwardness. "No one remembers much of what happened last night, and I want to know where everyone ended up before something worse happens."
Anna blinked, clearly relieved that he wasn't bringing up her drunken confession, and nodded quickly.
"I think something already happened," she said.
Enzo frowned. "What do you mean?"
Anna pointed weakly toward the next room. "I remember hearing shouting from the room next door last night. Not normal shouting, either; it sounded bad."
Enzo immediately turned to Viper. The two men exchanged a single look before Enzo moved at once, striding quickly down the hallway toward the door. He knocked hard.
No answer.
Then there was movement from inside—a thud, a muffled voice, and some rustling.
Enzo knocked again, louder this time. "Open the door."
Still nothing.
By this time, Anna had stepped into the corridor behind them, looking worried. Enzo's mind raced through possibilities, none of them good: drunk fights, intruders, a body, or Ratchet somehow getting stabbed again. With this group, none of it felt impossible.
He stepped back from the door and looked at Viper. Without hesitation, Viper drove his foot into the lock. The door flew open with a violent crack, slamming against the wall. Enzo rushed in at once, Viper right behind him, with Anna hurrying in after them a heartbeat later.
For one brief second, Enzo prepared himself to see blood, weapons, or at the very least a scene of complete chaos. Instead, all three of them froze.
Proton was lying in bed beneath the sheets, a woman tucked under each arm.
There was a long, stunned silence.
Proton blinked at them, wearing the exhausted expression of a man who had not expected his morning to start with a home invasion. One woman stirred slightly against his chest, while the other pulled the blanket higher without even opening her eyes.
Enzo stared. Viper stared. Anna went completely red.
Proton glanced at the broken door and then back at them.
"Good morning, boss," Proton said, his voice rough with sleep. "Can I help you with something?"
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Enzo stood there, staring at the scene in complete silence, one hand still on the broken door, while Viper slowly turned his head toward him, the grin on his face becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.
Behind them, Anna had completely flushed and quickly looked away, as if staring at the floor would somehow erase what she had just witnessed.
Enzo cleared his throat.
"Nice," he finally said.
Proton glanced down at the two women under the sheets and then back at Enzo, surprisingly calm for someone whose room had just been kicked open.
"Thank you, boss."
Viper let out a snort of laughter.
Enzo dragged a hand down his face. "Get dressed. We need you."
Proton gave a small nod. "Right away."
Without another word, Enzo turned around and stepped back into the corridor, with Viper following him and Anna hurrying out after them, still visibly flustered. They waited outside in awkward silence for a few moments until the door finally opened again.
Proton stepped out, now fully dressed, although the faint embarrassment on his face.
Deciding not to make the moment any more uncomfortable than it already was, Enzo got straight to the point.
"Do you know where Ronnie is?"
Proton shook his head. "No. I stayed behind at the nightclub."
Enzo frowned. "You didn't go with him?"
"I tried to find the rest of you first," Proton explained. "But by the time I started looking around, everyone had already vanished. I couldn't find Ronnie, I couldn't find Viper, I couldn't find you, and I definitely wasn't going to start wandering through Spikemuth all night with that much alcohol in my system."
Viper smirked. "Wise choice."
Proton continued, "So I stayed at the bar for a while, thinking maybe someone would come back. While I was there, I overheard two girls talking about some guy with green hair who was apparently a complete psychopath."
Anna blinked. "Green hair?"
"Ronnie," Enzo and Viper said in unison.
Proton nodded. "That was my guess, too. They sounded disturbed, but intrigued enough that I thought staying near them was the best use of my time."
Viper gave him a flat look. "A strategic decision, I assume?"
"Naturally," Proton replied without shame. "I kept drinking. They kept talking. One thing led to another, and eventually, I ended up back here."
There was a brief pause.
Enzo slowly nodded. "I see..."
Anna looked away again, clearly wishing she were somewhere else.
Enzo exhaled through his nose and turned toward Viper.
"After the nightclub, where did we go?"
Viper went quiet for a moment, actually thinking this time.
Then his expression shifted.
A grin spread across his face, and a second later, he started laughing again.
Enzo narrowed his eyes. "That reaction doesn't inspire confidence."
"Oh, it shouldn't," Viper said between laughs. "But I am serious. I have almost absolute certainty that we went to Turffield."
"Turffield?" Enzo repeated, perplexed. "Why in the world would we go to Turffield?"
Viper lifted his shoulders. "I have no idea. But I can almost visualize it. Us walking into Turffield like complete lunatics."
Enzo stared at him for a few seconds, silently debating whether that idea sounded insane enough to be true.
Unfortunately, it did.
Letting out a tired sigh, he rubbed his temple and nodded. "Fine. Then we go to Turffield."
Unable to understand why they would ever go anywhere near the future Grass Gym city, Enzo let out a weary sigh and accepted the clue for what it was. The entire search had already devolved into a ridiculous chain of drunken disasters, so one more absurd destination hardly registered.
With Viper's Kadabra and Enzo's Porygon-Z's assistance, the group swiftly traversed the region, teleporting from location to location until they finally reached Turffield.
The moment they stepped into town, Enzo sensed that something was wrong.
For a place that should have felt calm, rural, and slow-paced, the streets were far too busy. There was an unusual amount of traffic, crowds gathered in various areas, and an atmosphere of agitation hung over the town, putting him on edge.
Then they reached the construction site.
All four of them stopped in their tracks.
The future gym had been completely vandalized.
Paint covered the outer walls, support beams had been defaced, and signs of reckless destruction were visible all around the perimeter. In enormous red letters splashed across the main wall was one message that stood out above all the others:
YOU JUST GOT LAMBDA
For several long seconds, Enzo simply stared.
Then his gaze shifted away from the building and toward the surrounding field, where the situation somehow grew even worse. Several Wooloo had been painted in ridiculous colors, their poor coats covered in sloppy layers of dye as if someone had genuinely tried to pass them off as shiny variants.
Enzo was speechless.
Next to him, Viper burst into laughter so hard that he nearly had to hold his sides.
"Oh, this is even better than I remembered," the mercenary said between laughs.
Enzo turned to look at him with the weary expression of a man already suffering enough. "You remember this?"
"Bits of it," Viper admitted, still grinning. "We needed a distraction. A big one. And then you had a brilliant idea."
Enzo already dreaded where this was going. "No."
"Oh yes." Viper pointed toward the painted Wooloo. "You said if we painted enough wooloos, people would panic and start thinking shinies were everywhere."
Proton stared at the sheep for a second, then suddenly laughed too, unable to contain himself.
Viper nodded enthusiastically. "You were very passionate about it, too."
Enzo slowly turned back to the ruined construction site, then glanced at the Wooloo, and finally at the giant message on the wall. He exuded the miserable aura of a man who wished the earth would open up and swallow him whole.
"Let's look for Ronnie," he said flatly.
"Okay, boss," Proton replied, still laughing.
As he walked through his assigned section of the town, Enzo eventually found himself in an area that felt strangely familiar. Something about the slope of the land, the placement of the path, and the old tree nearby reminded him of one of the hidden item locations from the games—a Leaf Stone.
Of course, the real city was far larger than the version he remembered from the screen, making it little more than a vague guess. Nevertheless, curiosity pushed him to search the area more carefully, moving through the grass until his eyes finally caught a faint green glimmer near the roots of an old tree.
Bending down, Enzo picked up a small Leaf Stone and turned it between his fingers.
It wasn't especially high quality, but it was real.
A small smile appeared on his face as he stored it safely away. Even a lower-grade evolution stone was still a useful find, and after the disaster that had been the entire morning, he appreciated this tiny victory far more than he normally would.
After searching through Turffield and finding absolutely no clues, the group gradually regrouped, their faces displaying the same tired frustration.
"I found nothing," Viper said.
"Same," Proton added.
Enzo clicked his tongue in annoyance and looked around at the busy streets one last time. "There has to be something. We didn't come all this way for nothing."
Before anyone could respond, Anna suddenly paused and reached into her pocket.
"My phone," she said. "I still have my phone. We can check the news."
This caught everyone's attention immediately.
Anna unlocked her phone, opened the local news feed, and began scrolling. Barely a second later, her eyes widened.
"What?" Enzo asked.
Anna turned the screen toward them.
The headline read:
KANTO GYM LEADER HOSPITALIZED AFTER DEFENDING RURAL GALAR TOWN.
All of them froze.
"Open it," Enzo commanded.
Anna tapped on the article and began reading aloud.
"Lt Surge was hospitalized last night after defending the town of Turffield from an act of vandalism carried out by unknown criminals. Despite not being from the region, the Kanto Gym Leader reportedly stepped forward to protect local citizens and property. The Galar League expressed deep gratitude for his bravery and service to the community."
Silence followed.
Then, slowly, everyone turned to look at each other.
Enzo was the first to speak. "What hospital?"
Anna glanced back at the article. "He is still being observed at Turffield General."
Proton frowned. "He may still be there, but that creates a problem."
Enzo raised an eyebrow. "What problem?"
"We can't exactly walk into a hospital and ask to see him," Proton explained. "If the police are involved, they might be monitoring for suspicious visitors. And none of us can pretend to be family."
He stopped mid-sentence, and his gaze shifted. Viper's eyes widened in response. Enzo slowly turned his head, and all three of them focused on Anna.
She stared back at them in disbelief. "What?"
Viper shrugged. "You're blond."
Anna blinked. "That's your plan? I'm blond?"
"You could pass as his niece," Proton suggested. "Maybe a younger relative from out of town. You could go in alone, check on his condition, ask what he remembers, and then come back out."
Anna looked unimpressed. "This is a terrible plan."
"It's the best plan we have," Enzo replied.
She glared at him for a moment before letting out a long sigh. "ok..."
A little later, Anna entered Turffield General while the rest of them remained out of sight.
With a worried expression and a hurried explanation, Anna managed to convince the staff to let her through without too many questions, especially since she looked believable enough to be related to the Kanto Gym Leader.
When she finally reached Surge's room, she found the massive man completely unconscious in bed, snoring loudly enough to make the glass vase on the bedside table tremble.
Anna stepped closer and quietly said, "Sir?"
There was no response.
She reached out and shook his shoulder.
Still nothing.
The snoring continued.
Frowning, Anna glanced around the room and spotted a flower vase beside the bed. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled the flowers out, lifted the vase with both hands, and dumped the entire contents over him.
Surge exploded awake.
He shot upright with a violent gasp, rolled off the bed, and immediately crouched behind it, using the mattress as cover as if he were back on a battlefield.
"CONTACT LEFT, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" he shouted.
Water dripped down his face.
Anna stood there holding the empty vase, staring at him.
A few seconds passed.
Then Surge slowly peeked over the bed and squinted at her.
"What the hell are you doing here, kid?" he asked.
Anna lowered the vase. "We're trying to find the others. Nobody remembers where everyone went after last night."
Surge blinked a few times, still looking half asleep. "Hell of a night."
"Do you remember anything?" Anna asked quickly.
He rubbed his wet face and winced. "Not much. I remember us painting the Wooloo. Then the police showed up. I told the guys to run and said I would stay behind. Figured I'd sacrifice myself for the mission."
Anna stared at him.
He nodded with complete seriousness. "Heroic stuff."
"And after that?" she pressed.
Surge shook his head while laughing. "Nothing. It's blank. I woke up here with Galar reps thanking me for my heroic feats in defending the town."
Anna let out a disappointed breath. "So you don't know where the others went."
"Nope."
She gave a small nod. "All right. Thanks."
Surge grunted and pointed at her with one thick finger. "Tell Enzo that the next time he sees me, he owes me a drink. Or five. And tell him the Wooloo idea was stupid, they don't look shiny!"
Anna almost smiled. "I think he already knows that."
Leaving the room, she made her way back outside to rejoin the group.
Enzo stepped forward immediately. "Well?"
Anna folded her arms. "He remembers painting the Wooloo. Then the police showed up, he told everyone else to run, and stayed behind. After that, he remembers nothing."
Viper laughed. "That definitely sounds like him."
Anna gave Enzo a meaningful look. "He also said the Wooloo idea was stupid."
Enzo sighed. "I know."
After finishing his sweep of the area without finding any trace of the missing squad, Enzo suddenly came to a stop.
His eyes widened in realization as he slapped a hand against his forehead.
"Fuck me, I'm dumb," he muttered. "How did I forget the tracking device?"
Anna, Viper, and Proton all turned toward him, confused.
Without wasting another second, Enzo spun around and jogged back to Proton. Since his own secure TR device was gone, he snatched the Grunt's screen the moment it was offered and quickly installed the tracking application. His fingers moved across the display with increasing urgency as he entered the code linked to the digital tracker he had previously injected into Ratchet's arm.
For one brief second, nothing occurred. Then the screen flashed. A blinking signal appeared on the map. Enzo's expression immediately sharpened.
"I found him."
Viper stepped closer. "Where?"
Enzo narrowed his eyes at the display. "Deep in Glimwood Tangle, on the road toward Ballonlea."
Proton folded his arms. "What kind of place is that?"
"A weird one..." Enzo replied.
This time, it took longer to arrive in the north. They passed Stow-on-side and reached the entrance of the massive forest known as Glimwood Tangle.
The moment they crossed into the forest, everything changed.
The woods were immense and unnaturally dense, so thick that daylight barely penetrated the canopy above. Within just a few steps, the path around them darkened enough that it felt like evening had fallen early.
The only real light came from the strange glowing mushrooms scattered throughout the undergrowth and wrapped around the roots of ancient trees, bathing the forest in soft blue, violet, and green tones that created a beautiful yet deeply unsettling atmosphere.
Enzo studied the tracker one more time before looking at the others.
"We stay together this time," he said firmly. "No splitting up."
Nobody argued.
He slipped the device into one hand and continued walking. "Be careful. Impidimp live here. They are small but vicious little creatures. If they think they can make our lives difficult, they will."
Anna instinctively moved a little closer to Enzo.
The deeper they ventured, the stranger the forest became. Twisted roots curled over the ground like traps, shadows moved in bizarre ways between the glowing fungi, and every now and then, a rustle from the undergrowth made it feel as if something just out of sight was watching them pass.
Then they heard it.
Enzo slowed his pace.
At first, the sound was faint—little more than a distant rhythm echoing through the trees. But as they walked farther, it became clearer. Strange noises. Movement. Something that almost resembled music.
Viper frowned. "What is that sound?"
Proton listened for a moment, then sighed. "It sounds like music..."
Enzo frowned and said, "Let's check it out."
Following the flashing point on the tracker deeper into the glowing forest, the group pushed through a wall of thick vegetation and stepped into a clearing that was lit far more brightly than the surrounding woods.
All four of them froze.
The sight in front of them was so absurd that Enzo's brain needed several seconds to process it.
Ronnie was sleeping soundly on top of his Steelix as if the massive steel serpent were some kind of royal throne built specifically for him. One leg hung lazily over the side of the giant Pokémon's body, his head tilted slightly back, his mouth half open in drunken sleep.
Around the clearing, several Impidimp danced in excited circles around a roaring campfire, shrieking and chattering to each other in delight.
Then Enzo's eyes shifted upward.
Ratchet was tied to a wooden pole directly above the flames.
The local thug twisted desperately against the restraints, his body jerking every few seconds as he tried to free himself. A tight gag had been shoved into his mouth, reducing all his furious screams to muffled noises of panic while the delighted Impidimp prepared to cook him alive.
For one brief second, Enzo simply stared.
Then he noticed Ronnie's right hand.
It was still wrapped tightly around the strap of Enzo's missing bag.
A wave of relief washed through him so suddenly it almost made him laugh.
"Nice," he muttered under his breath. "At least one thing survived last night."
Without hesitation, he looked at his shadow.
"Gengar."
At the same time, Proton moved.
"Muk, Weezing."
The three Pokémon appeared in quick succession, and the effect on the Impidimp was immediate.
The little creatures let out startled shrieks and scattered in total panic, diving behind Steelix's enormous body for cover while peeking around it with wide, suspicious eyes.
Enzo stepped forward and looked up at Ronnie.
"Ronnie."
There was no response.
He tried again, louder this time.
"Ronnie."
Still nothing.
The cadet remained completely unconscious on top of Steelix, snoring like a man unaware that a nearly roasted thug was only five feet away from him.
Enzo's eye twitched.
Slowly, he bent down, picked up a heavy rock, weighed it in his hand, and then threw it straight at Ronnie's head.
It hit with a solid crack.
Ronnie jolted upright with a scream.
"What the hell?! What happened?! What happened?!"
He nearly slipped off Steelix in the process, flailing wildly before managing to catch himself. Then his unfocused eyes landed on Enzo.
The panic vanished instantly.
"Boss!"
His whole face lit up with pure joy.
Meanwhile, Enzo pointed upward without even looking away from him.
"Gengar. Get Ratchet down."
With a grin, Gengar floated up toward the fire and carefully removed Ratchet from the pole before the flames could do any real damage. The moment the thug was brought safely to the ground, Proton stepped forward and pulled the gag from his mouth.
Ratchet exploded.
"What the fuck is wrong with all of you?!" he screamed, voice breaking with rage. "I was going to die! They were cooking me! He was sleeping! Sleeping! This is the worst night of my entire life!"
Ronnie blinked down at him from atop Steelix, still confused. "But... you didn't die."
Ratchet turned toward him with murder in his eyes.
"That is not the point!"
Viper folded his arms and stared at the scene with open amusement. Anna looked horrified. Proton closed his eyes briefly, as if accepting that this had somehow become normal.
Enzo, on the other hand, just stood there in silence, staring at the campfire, the dancing Impidimp, the half-roasted Ratchet, and Ronnie on top of a giant steel snake.
Then he let out a long breath.
"I am glad you are safe, Ronnie," Enzo said at last. "And thank you for keeping my bag safe."
Ronnie's entire face brightened.
"Of course, boss," he said proudly, lifting the bag a little higher as if presenting a sacred treasure. "No problem. I protected it with my life."
Enzo gave him a small nod. "I can see that."
Ronnie grinned, clearly pleased with himself. Then, as if recalling something important, he blinked and looked around.
"By the way," he said, "where is mine?"
Enzo frowned. "What?"
"My bag," Ronnie repeated.
Enzo stared at him for a moment. "I do not have your bag."
The words struck Ronnie like a physical blow. His smile disappeared instantly. For a terrible second, he sat frozen atop Steelix, staring at Enzo with widening eyes as the full meaning of that answer slowly sank in.
Then his entire expression shattered.
"No," Ronnie whispered.
Enzo's confusion deepened. "Ronnie, what are you talking about?"
"My bag," Ronnie repeated, this time with a trembling voice. "My bag. The one we swapped."
Enzo blinked. "Swapped?"
Ronnie looked at him as if he had just committed the greatest betrayal in human history.
"You told me to trade bags with you," Ronnie said. "You said it was a tactical move. You claimed that if someone came after us, they would never know who was carrying what."
A brief silence followed. Then Enzo's expression turned completely blank. Somewhere in the back of his mind, through the haze of alcohol and shame, a vague memory stirred.
Ronnie clutched his head in despair. "Noooo!" he cried. "My pajama collection!"
The clearing fell silent. Even Ratchet stopped shouting momentarily. Ronnie looked as though she might cry.
"I spent so much money on those!" he said, his voice cracking with genuine heartbreak. "Do you know how hard it is to find good ones? I had the Pikachu one, the Gengar one, the Eevee one, the matching slippers—everything!"
Ratchet stared at him in disbelief. "You're crying over pajamas? You almost let me get cooked alive!"
Ronnie turned to him in pure outrage. "They are not just pajamas! They are a collection!"
Ratchet threw his hands into the air. "Of course they are."
Ronnie looked back at Enzo, utterly devastated. "Boss... my whole collection might be gone."
Enzo rubbed his face, feeling exhausted by the conversation. "Ronnie."
Ronnie sniffled, clearly upset.
"I will buy you new ones," Enzo said.
That statement changed everything.
Ronnie's grief disappeared almost instantly, which was unsettling.
"Really?" he asked, his eyes lighting up. "Good ones?"
Enzo sighed. "Yes, good ones."
Ronnie brightened immediately. "Then it's okay."
Ratchet stared at him with open disgust. "Is that all it took?"
Ronnie shrugged. "I am choosing forgiveness."
Viper snorted, and Proton looked away to hide his laughter. Anna pressed a hand over her mouth, somewhere between horrified and amused.
Enzo simply took his bag back and slung it over his shoulder.
"Wonderful," Enzo muttered. "Can we please continue before this day gets even worse?"
"But boss," Ronnie said suddenly, pointing downward, "what about those guys?"
Enzo followed the gesture and looked toward the cluster of Impidimp still hiding nervously behind Steelix, peeking at them with wide eyes from the edge of the clearing.
Ratchet immediately snapped, still furious.
"Kill them all!" he shouted. "Those little bastards were going to cook me alive!"
Ronnie looked genuinely offended by that suggestion.
"No!" he protested. "You can't kill them!"
Ratchet stared at him in disbelief. "Why not?!"
"Because they are followers of my new Pokémon," Ronnie explained, as if that simplified everything.
A heavy silence followed.
Enzo slowly turned toward him. "Your what?"
Beaming with pride, Ronnie reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball.
"My new Pokémon," he repeated.
With a dramatic flourish that stood in stark contrast to the tense mood of the situation, Ronnie released it.
A flash of light burst into the clearing.
When it faded, a Shiinotic appeared beside Steelix.
The mushroom Pokémon stood in the dim clearing, its eerie bioluminescent cap glowing softly. Its strange little body swayed slightly while its vacant, unsettling expression made Anna instinctively take half a step back.
The creature looked deeply unsettling.
Ronnie, however, appeared delighted.
"Look at it!" he said proudly. "Isn't it amazing?"
Ratchet pointed at the creature in absolute outrage. "That creepy mushroom is the reason I was almost turned into dinner!"
Ronnie frowned. "That is very rude. She's trying her best."
Proton narrowed his eyes at the Shiinotic. "Did you catch that thing last night?"
Ronnie puffed up a little. "Yes."
Viper folded his arms. "How?"
Ronnie blinked. "I don't remember."
"Of course you don't," Enzo muttered.
Still, his eyes remained fixed on the Pokémon.
As unsettling as it looked, a Shiinotic was actually a pretty good find.
Curious despite himself, Enzo quietly activated the System and turned his attention to the strange mushroom.
[ SYSTEM SCAN — TARGET IDENTIFIED ]
Specimen: Shiinotic
Level: 29
Potential: DEEP GREEN
Ability: Effect Spore
Typing: Grass / Fairy
Moves Detected: Strength Sap, Moonblast, Stun Spore, Giga Drain, Confuse Ray
Obs: "Awkwardly creepy."
For a brief moment, Enzo was silent.
Deep Green.
That was good and rare.
He shifted his gaze from the System window back to the oddly unsettling mushroom, then glanced at Ratchet, who was glaring at the entire group as if he wanted revenge on all living beings.
Enzo let out a small sigh.
"Sorry, Ratchet," he said. "We can't kill them."
Ratchet looked personally betrayed. "What?!"
Enzo pointed at the Shiinotic. "That thing is actually valuable."
Ronnie looked down at the Impidimp and smiled proudly. "You hear that? You're safe."
The small, dark fairies blinked back at him, still clearly afraid of Gengar, Muk, and Weezing.
Anna rubbed her temple again and stared at the Shiinotic with visible discomfort. "I don't like the way it's looking at me."
"It looks like it's judging all of us," Proton said.
Ronnie crouched down a little and gestured toward the Impidimp as if introducing loyal subjects to their king.
"They were following her," he explained. "I think she's their leader, or their queen, or their weird mushroom prophet. I'm not really sure."
Ratchet's eye twitched. "They tied me to a pole!"
Ronnie pointed at him. "That wasn't very nice, no. But in fairness, you were screaming a lot."
"I WAS ABOUT TO BE COOKED ALIVE!"
Enzo raised a hand before that argument could escalate further.
"Enough!" he said. "We are taking the Shiinotic and the Impidimp. Nobody kills anyone. And before something else ridiculous happens, can someone here remember anything useful?"
Ratchet folded his arms and muttered darkly under his breath.
Meanwhile, Ronnie was still crouched proudly beside his new capture, smiling at it as if he had just won a championship.
The Shiinotic stared back with that same eerie, unreadable expression.
Enzo looked at it one more time, then sighed.
Enzo looked at Ronnie for a moment, then pointed around the clearing.
"Ronnie," he said, "why did you even come here?"
Ronnie blinked, as if the answer were obvious. "Because you told me to, boss."
Enzo frowned. "I told you to come here?"
"Yes," Ronnie nodded confidently. "You told me to bring Ratchet and look for a supplier of glowing mushrooms for the new base."
That made Enzo go still. For a moment, he just stared at him in surprise. The worst part was that it actually made sense. He had been thinking about securing a source of glowing mushrooms for the base. They were useful, valuable, and could make certain underground areas much easier to manage. He simply hadn't expected his drunk self to be responsible enough to remember it, let alone give actual orders about it.
"...Right," Enzo muttered. "I did want that."
Enzo looked back at Ronnie. "Did you find anyone?"
Ronnie nodded again. "Yes."
Enzo's expression sharpened. "And?"
Ronnie pointed off to one side of the clearing. "There."
Everyone turned. A short distance away, half-hidden near the roots of a tree, lay a scattered pile of bones.
Silence fell.
Ronnie scratched his cheek. "The Impidimp ate him."
Enzo slowly looked back at him. "They what?"
Ronnie shrugged. "He refused to give us a good price."
Anna looked away immediately.
Enzo slapped a hand against his face. "Okay," he muttered. "Right. Fantastic. Good work, everyone."
After a few seconds, Enzo forced himself to move on before his head started hurting even more. "Fine. New priority." He looked at the others. "We need to find Nero. Where could he be?"
That question naturally made everyone turn toward Viper. Out of all of them, he was the one who understood Nero best.
The veteran thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Somewhere cold."
Enzo narrowed his eyes. "That is your great insight?"
Viper nodded. "Nero likes cold places."
Enzo rubbed his temple. "Nice. Somewhere cold. Very helpful."
Still, he began to think it through. There weren't many real possibilities. "Crown Tundra is too far," he said. "And if he is still in mainland Galar, the best guess is Circhester."
Viper gave a small nod. "That does sound like him."
Enzo looked at the rest of the group. "Then we go to Circhester first."