[i]Get up[/i], sneered Shannon to Shannon in a blackened head of thoughts. [i]You're a disgrace. No-one lies down when their compatriots need them. Only filth does that. Oh, they'll lift you up, there'll be comfort, and you won't deserve a trickle of the sympathy you get. Do you hear the seconds? They're counting by and you've yet to earn anything. Isn't that the story of a disappointing life?[/i] The inability to evade his own emotion was the strength of self-criticism, destructive, irrational or otherwise. [i]Leave me be, I don't want to hear it, not now, go away, I'm tired, I need to recover, I can't help anyone now- No, you can't, of course not. You never can- Please go away, I'm sorry, just stop- Stop whining GET UP no stop it UP please stop GET UP[/i]

Hatred overcame fear. There was a second of delusion between wakefulness and sleep when thoughts felt real enough to hear, but a patient brain dispelled the haze of irrational accusations and Shannon's reflexes twisted him to a furious upright stance. For all his emotional stress, the Amaura's body was as yet unharmed. A vast green figure was visible again, its outline marked by long spikes. Shannon made to exhale a flurry of ice crystals, but slowed when he registered the presence of Team Scarab crowding the Tyranitar, halted when the tail became visible. [i]...Nothing's moving. Back is turned, yet they're not fighting... Shouting, running, nothing.[/i] Was it finished? How much time had it taken to subdue the behemoth when the Team had been trying so hard to as much as scratch its armour? A chain of thought rematerialised and wrapped itself around Shannon's head, conscious or not. He flared at the concept of being useless for so long, for something of this magnitude.

Lowering himself to a sulky prowl of his own, Shannon approached the team again. The Tyranitar was still charged with electricity, to whatever degree, and bruised, but conscious. A Mawile- Recognisable? -was also in view. There was a discussion, and Shannon fell without much resistance into the conclusion that there were bargains being made. [i]For passage, or lives? Ransom? What is this? What explorers are they talking of?[/i]

"How long have I been out of it? And who are these two Pokemon? " Shannon hissed, guarded.