Spice of Life: The Rainbow Lense
 
“Good morning, everyone. Welcome to another day of adventuring,” Cyn greeted the gathering of pokemon with a wave of her paw, “I'm sorry we're still meeting in the office and you're all still sleeping in the wild and the inn, we should have our new HQ set up soon. Just waiting for the Gurdurr to be done with the reconstruction.”
 
“No rush, but I'm not skimping on room service. I'm staying in a five star room, so I'm going to enjoy it.” Malus grinned cattishly. The Persian had become a source of never-ending for Cyn, perhaps even more so than Spice. Still, that was why both their names were on her 'no team' list.
 
Her eyes drifted to the mission boxes as she remembered. Auric had scolded her for spreading their group so thin, but to keep up a steady supply of Reviver seeds they needed to go out in pairs rather than teams of four. She cleared her throat, gesturing to the set of boxes, “Okay, Time to see what everyone is going to be doing today. Auric, would you mind?”
 
The Lucario nodded and dipped his hand into the first box, taking out two slips of paper. He opened them up and read them aloud, “Today Volt and myself will be...” he took out a slip of paper from the second box and read it out to finish the sentence, “Working at the Den.”
 
“Sounds like it'll be a slow day for business.” Typh muttered, crossing his muscular arms over his flabby chest, “The two most uptight pokemon catering to the needs of our customers. Maybe you want to redraw that, Auric?”
 
“Don't misjudge me, Typh. I have quite a wild streak.” The Manectric grinned over at the Swampert, his paws sparking gently, “I assure you, our customers will leave satisified, no matter what their fantasies.”
 
“Just make sure you eat a Reviver seed once you're done if one wants you to show them the Hunger Room.” Cyn spoke up before looking over the office once more, “Speaking of which, if anyone has any ideas for other rooms, please leave them in the suggestion box.”
 
“I swear we didn't used to have this many boxes.” Typh blinked. Things had really changed since Auric had come in and started doing all the admin work, leaving Cyn to do the more 'hands-on' work. The Liepard didn't mind, of course, she was more of a practical leader anyway.
 
“Rune and Leaf will be...” Auric began again, having taken out two more slips of paper as the group talked amongst itself, “Doing missions in the Crazy Canyon.”
 
“Ha, nice~” Rune chimed, bouncing on his paws as he heard the news. He grinned over at the Leafeon and grinned at him with a wag of his tail, “Bet you're glad to hear that, huh Leaf? A whole day with me.”
 
“I'm pretty excited,” Doc Leaf admitted with a blush, putting a paw on his tail to stop it from wagging as he looked over at the Umbreon, “Just remember, we're there to complete missions. As I understand it we'll be looking for a missing pokemon today, and finding someone's lost Totter Orb.”
 
“Or you could spend the whole day in my butt.” Rune smirked, sticking his tongue out at the Leafeon and wiggling his rear before getting a slap across the back of the head from Typh, “Ow! Hey, I was just kidding. I'm taking this seriously, honest!”
 
Cyn blinked as she began to notice the choices wittingly down. Her only chance to avoid either of the annoying pokemon her 'no team' list had fallen drastically. But how? She had planned everything perfectly. Her eyes drifted over to the Swampert as she waited for the next team to be called.
 
“Typh and...” Cyn held her breath as Auric drew the second name. Time seemed to slow down as he opened the paper, leaving the Liepard on the edge of her seat as she awaited the name, begging it would be-
 
“Malus.” Auric finished before taking out the mission from the other box. Cyn's ears drooped and her tail curled around her as she bit her lip to hold back her annoyance. Auric opened the slip of paper and read it out, “Will be scouting the Underground Mystery Dungeon to see whether it is a suitable location for us to adventure.”
 
“I have not had much trouble down there myself, I assure you the pokemon there are nothing to be afraid of.” Volt noted to the two, “Though I must ask that as you travel through my and Rune's den to reach the dungeon you do not stray from your path.”
 
“He's just worried you'll find our 'naughty room'.” Rune smirked over at the Manectric, who covered his face with one of his paws and blushed. The Umbreon snickered and shook his head, “Honestly, I don't care. What's mine is yours, y'know.”
 
“Thank you for your hospitality you two, I'm sure Typh and Malus will do their best not to interfere with your home while they search the Underground.” Auric spoke up before drawing the last two names, though the suspense was gone as Cyn already knew what they would be, “And finally we have Spice and Cyn exploring the Dark Woods.”
 
“Wonderful.” Cyn replied dryly before glancing about the room for the Ninetales, realizing how unusually quiet he had been during the meeting. She finally spotted him dozing at the back of the room as the teams began to move out. She glanced over at the Lucario beside her, “Auric, can we talk?”
 
“I know what you're going to ask, Cyn.” Auric replied firmly, tucking the mission boxes back under the desk as he watched Volt head through the door to the Den, leaving only himself, the Liepard and the sleeping Ninetales in the room.
 
“Good, then I can cut to the chase. What the heck am I doing in a team with Spice?” Cyn flicked her ears back, glaring up at the Lucario as she awaited his answer.
 
“I noticed you had not been in a team with him for some time, and upon checking the boxes I found that there were multiple slips of paper with your name, and yet only a few with Spice's, and Malus' too for that matter.” the Lucario replied stoically, his eyebrow raising at the shiny Liepard, “I do hope you understand that this system is designed to be fair and random.”
 
“Spice and I don't work well together. For one thing, I actually know what I'm doing out there.” Cyn snapped, trying to keep her voice down so the Ninetales wouldn't wake up, “Just let me go by myself and tell Spice he got picked for Den duty, alright?”
 
“The draw of the names is final, Cyn. I'm sorry if you're not pleased with what you got.” Auric replied as he sat behind the desk and began to rearrange Cyn's papers for her, “Rest assured I would rather be adventuring and making a difference in the world rather than catering your fetish club. But the box put me here, and so here I will be.”
 
“Fine.” Cyn growled, rolling her eyes like a teenager being forced into chores. She turned and stormed over to the Ninetales, giving him a slap on the back of his head to wake him up, “Okay Spice, today it's you and me.”
 
“Mmhr?” Spice replied dazily, rubbing the back of his head as he slowly got to his feet. He yawned loudly before shaking his head to wake himself up, “Sorry, what was that, Cyn?”
 
“You. Me. The Dark Woods.” Cyn summarized before moving towards the door. She flicked the Ninetales' nose as she went, glaring back at him, “Don't screw this up, Spice. We've got a quota to hit.”
 
Spice watched as the Shiny Liepard left the HQ, leaving him a little bewildered as he tried to process what had happened, not to mention finish waking up. He finally turned over to Auric and raised an eyebrow, “Did I do something wrong?”
 “You were chosen to be in a team with her. While I would not consider this wrong, it appears that Cyn just might.” The Lucario replied, resting back on his chair as his metal pauldrons clanked against its wooden frame, “She seems to think you're incompetent.”
 
“Where would she get an idea like that?” Spice pouted, his tails curling over as he puffed out his chest. He marched towards the door, “Well, I'll show her. I'll prove to her that I'm just as good an adventurer as anyone else on this team!”
 
“I'm glad to hear your resolve, Spice. I'm sure you'll do well today.” Auric replied with a little smile as he watched the Ninetales go. He turned his attention back to the report before him, and after a moment to consider the day's objectives he took his pen and began to write:
 
'Today we will discover the secret of the statue in the Dark Woods, and determine what The Shadow was looking for there.'
 
* * *
 
Cyn breathed out a sigh as she looked up at the Mystery Dungeon gate, an old tattered banner reading 'The Dark Woods Mystery Dungeon' hung between the two trees that marked the entry to the dungeon. Beyond that point, there would be no maps to guide their way, no going back to previous floors to double-check their loot. It was just deeper and deeper until they reached the center.
 
So, it was probably a good thing Spice had packed half the group's resources in his backpack. The fox's bags clunked and clanked as he walked along, the unfortunate berries at the bottom squelching on occasion as one more of them gave way under the pressure put on it by the items above. Spice posed as he reached her, grinning widely as he raised an eyebrow, “Impressed?”
 
“I hope you left enough room in your bag for loot, Spice. It's half the reason we're here.” Cyn reminded him as she took a few more steps towards the dungeon gate. She took a deep breath to compose herself before looking over her shoulder at the Ninetales. “How many Reviver seeds did you bring?”
 
“Two for each of us.” Spice replied, puffing out his chest in pride at his answer.
 
“You were meant to bring one for each of us. They're more important than anything else we own, or anything we'll find down here. We need to conserve them.” Cyn scolded him as she took her first steps into the dungeon. The forest began to shift around her, forming clear cut paths that lead to the distant clearings, “How many Oran berries?”
 
“Seven. This will be a long trek, we'll want to make sure we don't starve.” Spice replied, struggling to keep up with the Liepard as his bags began to weigh him down. He pushed up against the gravity, forcing himself onwards after the dark-type, “It was eight, but I ate one on the way over.”
 
“Five. We only needed five.” Cyn corrected his answer, flicking her tail tip against his nose in a scolding manner, “Between us, I mean. Oran berries aren't food, they're to be used in emergency healing situations only. If you wanted food for this adventure, you should've brought apples.”
 
“I did, I brought eight apples too.” Spice replied. The answer caused Cyn to stop in her tracks and glare over her shoulder at the Ninetales. He gulped nervously in response before whining, “Well, what if we ran out of Oran berries?”
 
“Here's a question I think you actually can answer: How are you so bad at this?” Cyn asked, her tail flicking in aggitation as her claws began to protrude from her paws, “You've been with the team for weeks now. I've seen you go on missions, but all you ever seem to do on them is screw around.”
 
“Well, in my defense it's not as though I've had much training on the matter.” Spice replied, flicking his mane with a 'hmph' as he turned away from the Liepard and stroked his paws along his tails, “I shouldn't even be here, really. You asked me to help you defeat Guzzler and I did.”
 
“You did, at the cost of all our Reviver seeds.” Cyn reminded him coldly before turning back to the path and storming along it, blasting a nearby Rattata with a shadow ball as it came within biting distance, “Do you have any idea how long it took us to collect them? Do you even know how many there were in that jar?”
 
“One hundred and seventy two, I have an excellent eye for detail.” Spice noted, swishing his tails as he finally answered one of the cat's questions correctly. He narrowed his eyes on the shiny Liepard's bag before grinning, “And I think you'll find that you didn't pack your badge this morning.”
 
Cyn paused once again and reached into her bag. After a moment of fumbling around in it with her paw she retreated it and returned it to the path, continuing to walk along in silence. “...Shut up.” she muttered.
 
“See? Sometimes being prepared can pay off.” Spice huffed, turning his nose up at the Liepard only to return it to the forest floor as he stepped on a Pecha scarf. He gasped and picked it up, though as he went to stuff it into his bag he found its contents beginning to spill onto the forest floor.
 
Cyn turned and looked over her shoulder, giving the Ninetales a chance to flail as he tried to catch the falling berries, apples and seeds, not to mention the orbs and what appeared to be half of a tent. As he laid in the center of the path covered in his hoard of items he reached a squirming paw out, snatching at the air as close to the pecha scarf as he could.
 
“Little help?” he asked, glancing over at Cyn as he found himself completely trapped under the contents of his bag.
 
The shiny Liepard made her way over to the Pecha scarf and looked it over briefly, then tossed it off into the bushes, much to the Ninetales' dismay. Cyn looked down at him with a cruel grin. “It's not really your colour.”
 
“Well, no. But it -was- yours.” Spice offered, raising an eyebrow and grinning up at the Liepard as he tried to seduce her with his sweet-talk. Cyn's glare slowly shifted into a blank expression as she looked down at the feeble Ninetales before beginning to take some of the items and put them in her own bag.
 
“This doesn't mean you're forgiven. It only means I don't want us to waste our resources.” Cyn informed him, putting the final orb in her bag as she turned to the path ahead, “And seeing as I don't have my badge, maybe bringing the extra supplies was a good idea. I need you to be able to warp us back.”
 “Of course, Cyn. I wouldn't want us stranded out in the wilderness after dark.” Spice shuddered at the thought as he got to his feet. He took a moment to pick the leaves and twigs out of his tails before shaking them to get the dirt off of them, “Shall we press onwards to the statue then? It's the center of the dungeon.”
 
“Sure. Just don't step on any warp traps this time.” Cyn replied, returning to her cold attitude as she turned on the fox and continued to lead the way deeper into the dungeon. It wasn't long before they found the stairway to the next floor, and as they stepped on it the forest shifted around them once again.
 
* * *
 
Three floors, three apples and five oran berries later, Cyn and Spice took a moment to catch their breath. The Liepard shook her head as she looked around the forest, even with how deep into the mystery dungeon they were it still all looked the same. Trees, grass and the occassional lake... and bushes. Lots of bushes.
 
“Maybe we should just report back home, I think we've explored enough for one day.” Spice insisted, sitting down on his haunches and wincing as the sore bitemarks on his rear touched the ground, “Erf. Who knew Venonat could bite so hard?”
 
“At least you weren't fighting off the Beedrill.” Cyn replied, picking a needle out of her flank and tossing it into a nearby bush. She had to admire the pokemon's accuracy, that was right in the center of one of her heart-shaped spots. She breathed out a sigh and rested back against one of the nearby trees, “You might be right though, it's getting pretty late, the sun'll be going down soon... do you still have that escape orb?”
 
“We dropped it so we could pick up the X-Ray specs, remember?” Spice replied, holding up the sunglasses. Their lenses shimmered a mysterious blue when the light caught on them, and as Spice put them on and looked around he flicked his ears back, “There aren't any other items on this floor, I suppose a wild pokemon must've picked it up. There are still quite a few about.”
 
“Ah well, we've still got your badge at least.” Cyn said as she rested on her side, looking over at the Ninetales as she yawned. “I'd say we've found enough loot to call this day a success. Warp us back to the Den, let's hope the others managed to recruit someone.”
 
“Right.” Spice grinned, digging through his bag for the badge. He paused and cleared his throat, trying to find some way to break the bad news to her. As she stared at him he cleared his throat again, deciding to start over. “So, regarding my badge...”
 
“Yes Spice, your badge.” Cyn replied, looking over at the Ninetales as her ears folded pre-emptively. Spice could already see the fur standing up on the back of her neck, “Golden thing, teleports us back to civilization?”
 
“Well, if you can call Clearspring 'civilization'.” Spice scoffed at the thought before peering into his bag, “But no, I don't actually see it in here... I may have forgot to pack in it all the steps I took towards being prepared.”
 
“Great, we're stranded.” Cyn growled, twisting her whiskers as she kicked angrily at the air, “I am going to shove those boxes so far up Auric's ass he'll be coughing up shredded paper.”
 
“Calm down, Cyn. We've got the tent, enough food to last us the night. I'm sure they would come looking for us tomorrow.” Spice began, trying to reassure the Liepard. As he got no reaction from her he began to set up the tent, finding the poles toppling over and the components of the tent getting tangled in his tails. “Could you give me a little help?”
 
“Help yourself, you have a substitute, remember?” Cyn replied before getting back to her feet and storming off up one of the paths, “I'm going to go hunt, see what I can find for us tonight. Hope you like bug types.”
 
Spice shivered at the thought as Cyn disappeared into the wilderness. He breathed in deeply before swishing his tails and focusing deeply. His tails rustled for a moment, then a perfect copy of him climbed out from them and shook itself off.
 
“That was a surprise, I thought you might just handle it yourself. Glad we're on speaking and summoning terms again though.” Spyce grinned over at his master, his tails wagging gently back and forth, “Though between you and me, I think we were doing splendidly at being romantic and helpful, Cyn's just in a bad mood today.”
 
“Would you mind helping me set up the tent, Spyce?” Spice asked his duplicate as he carefully arranged the poles holding up the cloth that formed the tent's walls, “And yes, I really wonder what's going through her mind sometime.”
 
“Well, she seems like a lost cause to me. At least you'll always have yourself, right?” Spyce grinned over at him, helping the Ninetales set up the tent as he talked, “I'd say forget about her. If she doesn't want you, you can find another pokemon. You're stunning enough to get the attention of anyone you desire.”
 
“I know this is going to sound crazy but... I don't know if I want another pokemon,” Spice looked over into his duplicate's eyes. The thoughts running through his mind didn't sound like himself, and yet he couldn't deny they were his true feelings, “I think... I might even love her more than myself.”
 
“Stop right there, Spice. That's the first step towards losing your perfection,” Spyce shook his head before making his way over to the Ninetales and running his paws through his tails to groom them, “Suppose you admit to Cyn that you love her, that you truly want to be with her. If she says no you'll look like a fool, and what are fools not?”
 
“...Perfect.” Spice answered, flicking his ears back as he pushed his copy's paws away, shaking his tails to be rid of them. “But Cyn is important to me. She may be keeping me from returning to the city, but I don't want to just leave her behind.”
 
“You're not seriously thinking of staying in Clearspring after you've repaid your debt, are you?” Spyce gasped in disbelief, hugging onto the Ninetales as he wrapped his tails around him like a protective blanket, “Spice, you don't belong in the wild. There's mud and dirt and hungry pokemon out here. You're lucky you've survived this long, get out while you still can.”
 
“I know it's dangerous but...” Spice whined, his tails tucking between his legs as he argued with himself, both in a literal and metaphorical sense, “What if Cyn loves me? What if the Winners really do need me?”
 
“Spice, we both know they don't need you.” Spyce nuzzled at the fox's cheek, giving him a gentle kiss as he whispered into his ear, “As perfect as we are, we just can't live like this. All this running around and fighting. Goodness, the fighting. I'm surprised we still have our beautiful coats intact.”
 
“I-I suppose when you put it that way-” Spice began, only to glance up as he heard pawsteps stepping through the grass towards them. His eyes snapped to Spyce as his ears swivelled towards the sounds of the incoming pawsteps. “It's Cyn! She's already back.”
 
“Hide!” Spyce gasped, shoving the Ninetales through the bushes. Spice found himself rolling down the hill on the other side, his fur getting covered in dirt and grit before finally landing with a splash in a muddy puddle as he hit the bottom. He shakily got to his feet, bewildered by the sudden shove from his Substitute. He glanced back up the hill and carefully began to climb it, whimpering all the while over how dirty he had gotten from his fall.
 
“Oh hey, you finished setting up the tent.” Cyn noted as she approached the campground, “I didn't manage to find anything we'd want to eat when it comes to live pokemon. I figured picking between a Caterpie and an apple you'd pick the latter.”
 
Spice smiled a little as he heard her, glad to hear Cyn wouldn't make him eat anything he didn't want to. He blinked and watched in concern as Spyce moved over to her with a sneer, “Well, clearly you're not such a great hunter then, you stupid bitch. Perhaps I'm not the only useless member in The Winners.”
 
Spice's ears pinned back and growl rumbled from his throat as he heard his substitute's words. Cyn narrowed her eyes on the Ninetales, her tail flicking back and forth as she moved to step past him. “Yeah yeah, very funny Spice. I could hunt your fluffy tails if you'd prefer.”
 
“I think I'd rather hunt your's!” Spyce replied, pouncing and pinning the Liepard to the ground. Cyn let out a yowl as she fell and squirmed underneath him, pushing back as hard as she could but finding herself pinned beneath the Ninetales, who looked much more menacing now that he was standing ontop of her.
 
“I guess that training from Volt paid off.” Cyn panted, finding herself out of breath from exhaustion from all the walking around, she hadn't expected the Ninetales to pull something like this, “Nice going, Spice. You win. Now are you going to get off me?”
 
“Now, what sort of hunter would I be if I just let my meal go?” Spyce licked his lips, his drool splattering over the Liepard's face as he lowered his muzzle to hers, “I'm sure no one would care if a bossy, nagging, catty whore were to go missing in the Dark Woods. After all, I did all I could 'when that Arbok came and swallowed you alive without a Reviver seed~'” he chuckled, already rehearsing his story.
 
“Spice, what's gotten into you?” Cyn gasped, pushing back against the Ninetales as she realized he wasn't joking. Her eyes went from being filled with rage to fear as she struggled, only succeeding in tiring herself out as she did so. “Get off of me! You're acting crazy!”
 “I'm acting justily, you insufferable wench. All this time you've kept me in Clearspring rather than letting me return to the city like I wanted to. After I trusted you, after I risked my life to save you!” Spyce growled down at Cyn, opening his muzzle and shoving her head into it, “Mmmh, well now you'll finally pay me back!”
 
“Spice!” Cyn let out the muffled yell, pushing against the Ninetales as she tried to summon the stamina to fight back. Spyce lowered his muzzle over the cat, gulping heavily to bring her lithe chest and forepaws into her body, murring away at her flavour as his tails wagged back and forth. “Sp-Spice, Please don't do this! I-”
 
Cyn widened her eyes and let out a sharp scream as the fleshy walls burst into ash around her. She landed on her face, the blow to her head leaving her dazed as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. There was nothing of her predator, just a pile of ash... and stepping out of the bushes, a very relieved Ninetales. Spice blew the last of the flaming wisp out of his mouth, finishing his flamethrower move.
 
“Thank Arceus, you're safe.” Spice gasped, running over to the Liepard's side and sheltering her from the cold with his tails, “I-I had no idea Spyce would try something like that.”
 
“Spyce..?” Cyn mumbled drearily. She recalled the comment she had made just before leaving and hugged the Ninetales back, nuzzling into his chest, “Erf, your stupid substitute. I guess that makes twice you've saved me from a predator.”
 
“Well, you've saved me more than that.” Spice replied with a little smile as he nuzzled down at the Liepard's ears, “I'm sorry, Cyn. He pushed me into the bushes and by the time I had climbed back up-” he hesitated, trying to explain himself, “I wasn't sure what he was thinking but...”
 
Spice looked down at the pokemon as she rested in his tails, hugging onto him and looking up into his eyes dreamily. He could feel Spyce grinning somewhere in the back of his mind. Suddenly he knew exactly what the Substitute was thinking. He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the Liepard's cheek, “So, apples then?”
 
“Yeah, apples.” Cyn replied with a little smile, climbing out of the Ninetales tails and making her way over to the tent. She looked it over before turning her gaze to Spice, “Looks comfy. I hope it's warm.”
 
“You'll be sharing a tent with a fire type, Cyn. I'm sure you'll be warm enough.” Spice replied with a grin, his tails swishing as he reached into his bag and took out two of the apples. He tossed one over to Cyn before biting into the other, “Mmph. They're not bad, only a little crushed.”
 
“Thanks for being so prepared, Spice.” Cyn said, taking a bite out of the apple before laying down by Spice, finding herself looking into his eyes as she nibbled the apple. His fur seemed to glow in the light of the setting sun, soon it would be dark and they would be staying the night in the mystery dungeon together. Her ears folded back as she recalled what Spyce had said moments before he tried to devour her, “Spice... do you hate me?”
 
“What?” Spice replied in a muffled voice. He gulped down the food in his mouth before turning his attention to the Liepard. Maybe he could avoid answering the question. He shook his head, “I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.”
 
“Do you hate me?” Cyn repeated, rolling the apple with her paw as she posed the question. After a moment of silence from the Ninetales she breathed out a dejected sigh, “Spyce was right, I'm keeping you out here in the wild when all you really want to do is return to the city and get your life back.”
 
“Cyn, this -is- my life.” Spice replied, beaming with enthusiasm as he felt some inner understanding beginning to push Spyce out of his mind. He made his way over to the Liepard and rested his paws on hers, staring into her eyes as he spoke. “I want to go on adventures with you, I want to rescue pokemon and explore dungeons...” his tails curled around her back, leaving her with nothing to do but stare into his deep purple eyes, “I want to be the Spice of your life.”
 
Cyn's ears perked as she stared into the Ninetales eyes, seeing the goodness she had seen with him the night they had rescued Clearspring. She almost felt like melting in his arms, but she remembered how that had gone last time. She instead chose to grin up at him and press her paw to his fluffy chest, “...That is the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me.”
 
“But it did get through to you.” Spice noted with a little smile. Before Cyn could give her response a blinding flash caught their eyes. Through the trees they could see a strange glow, it sparkled in all the colours of the rainbow and only seemed to be getting brighter.
 
Cyn gasped and grabbed her back, bolting through the forest towards it as the Ninetales struggled to keep up, leaving the tent behind them as he ran after the Liepard, stumbling over his paws. “Wait, where are you going? It wasn't THAT cheesy!”
 
Cyn skidded on the dirt path as she turned the corner before bounding forward towards the clearing. She finally found the source of the glow atop the statue of Cresselia, coming from the crystal ball on the tip of its head. Cyn's gaze followed the stream of light to the grass, where it shone over a single sapling with several Reviver seeds surrounding it. Her heart stopped, she felt like she was dreaming. Her eyes kept shifting between the sapling and the glowing crystal, watching it in disbelief.
 
“Is that..?” Spice began breathlessly, both from the running and from the sight before him.
 
“A Rainbow Lense!” Cyn's eyes lit up as she ran over to the statue, bounding up its side gracefully and snatching the crystal ball from the top. From the top of the statue she could see the hole in the tree line where the light shone through, it was so low to the ground the sun would have only shone through it at sunset, “This is it! This is the secret of the Dark Woods statue!”
 
“I can't believe it, we've found one!” Spice cheered, spreading out his arms and catching the Liepard as she leaped down into them. He span her around joyfully before the two of them hopped on their hind legs while their fore legs locked together in a hug.
 
“We can make all the Reviver seeds we want!” Cyn cheered, laughing away as she held the crystal like a trophy.
 
“I can finally go back home to the city!” Spice cheered alongside her. They both stopped jumping at the outburst and the Ninetales quickly stepped back and covered his muzzle, “I mean, not that... why did I say that?” he shook his head, “I'm sorry, Cyn. It just slipped out.”
 
“Well, we'll have plenty of time to talk about it while we wait for the others to come rescue us.” Cyn replied, rolling the orb in her paw before slipping it into her adventurer's bag, “Without our badges, we're not going to be able to warp back.”
 
“Ah, about that.” Spice began awkwardly. Cyn's blank expression slowly shifted to a glare as the Ninetales brought both their adventurer's badges out from his bag. He grinned nervously, “I just wanted us to adventure together a little longer.” he explained, “I mean, it's not often we get this close to-”
 
“You stranded us so you could convince me to bang you, didn't you?” Cyn flicked her ears back, glaring daggers at the Ninetales. As Spice gave a little nod in response she smiled gently and made her way over to him, “Aww, Spice. You didn't have to go through all that trouble just for me~”
 
“Well, I thought you might appreciate a romantic date. The Spyce thing wasn't my idea though, really.” Spice insisted, murring as he wrapped his tails around the Liepard, “So, shall we go back to the tent and settle in for a night of steamy romance?”
 “Maybe~” Cyn replied in a sing-song tone before backing off, revealing that she had taken both their badges from the Ninetales while he was distracted, “Though I think this would be more fun.” she finished her sentence, tossing Spice's badge into the bushes before holding her own up to the sky and warping herself out of the dungeon.
 
“Cyyyyyyn~!” Spice howled pathetically at the fading warp light before pouting and going to retrieve his badge. Of course it had landed in the grossest mud the Dark Woods could offer, for a moment Spice considered leaving it there, but the idea of spending the night alone in the forest left him feeling nervous. He cringed and looked away, reaching around blindly as he tried to snatch it off the ground.
 
The Muk grabbed his paw and dragged him into the bushes, soaking his fur in it's slime as it pulled him into it's gaping maw. It let out a loud belch, sending his mud-covered adventurer's bag flying into the clearing with a splat. It looked as though the Ninetales would be spending the night in the wild after all, and perhaps longer if the Muk decided to leave the clearing to go hunting other pokemon... still, at least he had the Reviver seed in his scarf to reform him once the Muk was done absorbing him.
 
And with the Winners finally being in possession of a Rainbow Lense, he'd have plenty more Reviver seeds to come.