"I think they didn't even bother with them. Too weak for those Pokemon." And then, Vine (although at the time I was unaware of his name), as soon as we found the second alter. Would this be a running gag? Probably, but I did have hopes that it wasn't.

...

Remember that submarine, full of algae and inert missiles and torpedoes? One of the goons had a striking resemblance to Spruce, but since pretty much every Pokemon looked the same, I didn't bother to bring it up. I was practically chased out of there by him and another shadow Pokemon. Should've at least tried to arm those things - Davis shared me a few relics from the past, including a hasty scribble of launch codes.

If that wasn't disturbing enough, then it appeared I hadn't lost him. Oh, and my wound was glowing purple again. I didn't expect it to be too much of any help. "Erm... my Arceus, didn't I lose you already?!" That wasn't supposed to come out of my mouth. Regardless, we had bigger problems. Out in the distance, I could see Desia swimming to shore with that other goon. She had already tried to backstab me, right after that period of peace. It didn't seem quite fair, but we were dealing with something that could be counted as an infection... which made me worried, since that wound could infect me any second now. Damn dream traumatising me to the point where it actually begins to happen.

Thankfully, I wasn't fully organic yet. At least, according to my typing. I got smacked with a Dragon Rush move, whirling around and taking more damage from that, rather than the actual attack. I wasn't immune though, so you can tell how painful it was to not only take such a powerful move and only resist it, but also suffer the aftershock of it. "Argh-argh-argh-" Somehow, I managed to regain my balance, with my bubble being intact as my second miracle. I was about a few metres higher up than normal, being now the eye in the sky. "Ar... woah. Spruce, why are fighting a shadow twin?!" Contradictory to previous saying, but it was supposed to be limited to my thoughts. I was trying to brush away any association with Desia by pretty much forgetting I said something about losing the Snivy.

Being rather pissed, I would've attacked the twin. Unfortunately, I was more or less drained from before, so another one of my attacks would probably put me into submission. Not a good thing, and already the bubble around me was my only protection.