By the time the group reached the tower, everyone was tired. After all, it’d been a long walk.

Luigi sat down. “I’m tired,” he moaned. “I need a break.”

Aika collapsed onto the grass. “I agree. We’ve been walking for so long.”

Lethe shifted out of her cat form. “You’re all pathetic,” she taunted. “I’m not tired yet.”

Lucia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, you can have four legs. You run faster, too. It’s no wonder you’re not tired.”

Mia was sitting with Wes, petting Espeon. “What a cutie!” she said, happily. “You say your home is full of little guys like this?”

“Well, yeah,” said Wes. “But not all Pokemon are cute and cuddly. There are plenty that aren’t.”

“I’m glad yours are,” said Mia.

After a while, Alph stood up. “All right, break’s over,” he announced. “Time to go in.”

He opened the door to the tower. The group walked in. At first, there was nothing. Then, something flew down from the ceiling and latched itself onto Locke’s back. He screamed, and tried to pull the thing off, but it was stuck on tight.

Celes muttered a few words, and the thing caught on fire. It burned for a little while, then dropped off onto the floor.

Locke took a few deep breaths. “Thanks, Celes,” he said, relieved.

Celes took a look at the charred remains of the thing. It appeared to be somewhat batlike, with a lizardlike face. It had a long, whiplike tail, and the sides of its wings were sharp.

Locke looked nervous. “I’m not hurt, am I?” he asked.

Xelha walked over and inspected his back. There were a few tears in his shirt, and a scratch or two, but there didn’t appear to be any real harm done. “Looks fine,” she told him. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Just a little unnerved, that’s all,” he answered.

Luigi stood away from the group, looking terrified. “M-maybe we should leave,” he suggested.

“No,” said Lucia, firmly. “This tower has to be where we’re supposed to go. We can’t just leave.”

“Besides,” added Alph, “this isn’t just about you. It’s about your home, our homes. Is there someone you care about, back where you’re from?”

Luigi hesitated. “I think so,” he said.

“Well then, be brave. Keep going, for their sake.”

The group continued up a set of stairs. When they got to the top, a monster awaited them. It was a gigantic spider, about the size of a table. It hissed, then charged.

Xelha pulled a card out of her pocket, and brandished her wand. “Fire burst!” she shouted.

Fire exploded from her wand. It engulfed the spider, which shrieked, but kept moving.

Alph pulled his rifle off his back, and started shooting at it. A few shots and it crumpled to the floor, dead.

Wes stared at it. “Someone better put that out,” he said, simply.

Mia stepped forward. “Douse!” she shouted.

Water appeared out of nowhere, and fell onto the spider’s corpse, putting out the flames.

Alph grinned. “It looked tough, but that thing was a total pushover.”

“Agreed,” said Xelha. “It’s been a while since I fought something that was that easy to kill.”

“I call dibs on the next one,” said Aika, laughing.

As if they’d heard her, two more spiders dropped down from the ceiling. Aika ran at one of them, and threw her boomerang at it. It hit it, and knocked it into a wall.

Meanwhile, Umbreon and Lucia were taking on the other one. “Umbreon, use Confuse Ray!” commanded Wes.

Umbreon growled, and a ball of dark energy appeared in front of it. The energy shot towards the spider, and hit it. The spider stopped attacking for a moment, then proceeded to maul the other spider.

Lucia held up her rod. “Sun Flare!” she cried.

A ball of light appeared above the two fighting spiders. It split into two, and bounced around, incinerating the spiders.

Aika pouted. “Kill stealer!” she said to Lucia.

Both of them laughed.