Author's note: I know I said I'll try to limit the POV's, but I'm just bending the rules a little. Just for this certain part.

Dare POV

    I watched in silence as Aurora crumpled to the ground, covering her face with her paws. Gardevoir silently glided over, sitting down best to the Espeon and patting her on the head. I wasn't sure what to do- should I say something? But before I could come to a decision, Aurora lifted her head and whispered, "Everything is hopeless."

    I didn't know what to say to that either, so I stayed silent. Our team of six was sitting by a potted tree, while the sky gradually darkened into the night. Aurora continued, with Sapphire, Gardevoir, Flicker, Asha, and I watching. "We- We- We're going in circles. We go to The Snow Camp, and we find out a legendary is after us. Then we come back here and realize Julie's vanished. What now? Ace said Starry the Staraptor will come find us when The Forest Camp responds but what's the point? How do we know the Camps will help? All we can do is wait here while our team is falling apart!" She began to cry. "Shadow left, Julie's missing, and everybody hates each other!"

    Sapphire and I looked away guiltily.

    Aurora took a deep breath and said, "I don't know what to do."

    Gardevoir patted her on the head again. Sapphire mumbled, "Neither do I."

    I suddenly spotted something about ten feet away, next to a bush. My stomach lurched when I realized it was a small orange Torchic, shifting his feet as if unsure what to do.

    "Torch!" I said suddenly.

    Asha squinted. "What?"

    "Torch!" I said again, standing up. Torch stared at me, his eyes oddly blank. Then he blinked a couple times and tiptoed over to us, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "Shadow".

    "Why are you here?" I snapped, with a bit more aggression than I hoped.

    Torch avoided my gaze and stared at the ground. "...Shadow needs your help."

    "What?" Said Sapphire suddenly.

    "Shadow needs help!" He repeated, glancing up, realizing we were staring, I looked at the ground. "So you better listen to me."

    Torch POV

    I explained to them what happened as fast as I could- Shadow's mom, the cave, and that Shadow was stuck. The whole time Dare was fuming, the Espeon was staring, and the Snivy was covering her face with her hands.

    "So," I finished lamely, "...That's why he needs help."

    There was a painfully long silence, in which I refused to make eye contact with anyone. I could tell Dare was thinking hard.

    "I... I suppose," he said.

    "You suppose?" I snapped. "You're supposed to be his friend!"

    "He left," the Lucario grumbled.

    "I'm sorry, but who's Shadow?" The Charmander asked curiously. Nobody answered.

    "Fine, yes, we will!" Dare snapped.

    The Gardevoir stepped forward. "You do realize," she said seriously, "that to save the Zorua you will have to work together?"

    Dare and I stared. 

    "What!" I cried.

    "No!" Dare shouted.

    She frowned. "Well... I mean... You both want to help him, right?"

    "I thought he would just leave!" Dare said, eyeing me.

    "That's what I thought about you!" I responded in shock.

"He's my friend! Of course I'm helping!"

"Yeah, right! I'm pretty sure the last time you saw each other he blasted a Shadow Orb in your face!"

He opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing. He looked furious, and very embarrassed. He muttered something under his breath.

"You see?" The Gardevoir said softly. "You two can't even last a minute together."

Dare and I both glared at each other. "I don't think he should come," Dare said finally.

"Well, I'm going, Wether you like it or not," I shot back.

"There we go. You're both going to rescue Shadow, so you work together," Gardevoir said simply. "Deal?"

I resisted the urge to burn something. "Fine," I growled. "Deal."

"Deal," Dare said heavily. He shot me a look of hate before saying, "Let's go save Shadow."

Shadow POV

I waited by the rock for what seemed like days. (Who can tell underground, anyways? I can't see the sun!) I was slumped on the ground sleepily, wondering briefly if those footsteps and voices were Torch and the others...

I sat up. Footsteps and voices.

"Yeah, I'm getting really frustrated, Zits is still out there."

"It's basically work every single day! I guess we do get a couple hours off each day, but still, I-"

I jumped to my feet in a panic. The voices were nearby- way too close. They were coming from the exit, where Torch escaped- and the voices were definitely not Torch.

I couldn't run- they would hear my footsteps. So I shut my eyes and set an illusion over me- a small gray rock.

The voices got closer.

Then I remembered what Mother had said- "Most skilled illusionists can see through illusions."

Before I could think of what to do, the rock that was blocking the exit was pushed aside. As two Zoroarks stepped inside, I smacked a small pebble, and it went flying into the other wall. The Zoroarks turned away from me, and I took the chance to step behind them, still covered by the rock illusion. Maybe I could slip out through the exit!

    But one of the Zoroarks- a male with crimson eyes- turned and rolled the rock into place. He didn't look at me, so I decided he didn't notice me.

    "I thought I heard something," the second Zoroark said. He had yellow eyes and teeth of the same color. "Must have imagined it," he finally decided, shrugging. "Anyways, Red-Eyes, do you think we'll get in trouble if we get to work late? Because I'm pretty sure we were supposed to get there five minutes ago."

    "What!" The other one cried. (Was his name really Red-Eyes? Jeez, his parents were creative.) "You shoulda told me that sooner! We gotta hurry up!"

    Red-Eyes kicked the other in the shins. Then he grabbed his arm and began leading him along the passageway, muttering.

    I was planning to stay in my spot, until I heard Red-Eyes mention someone. Did he just say "Liana"?

    I looked guiltily at the exit, then turned and followed the Zoroarks.

    As I followed them through the tunnels, I listened intently, but they didn't mention Liana again. They only kept muttering about someone named "Zits" and how their work is sooo hard. I wondered what their work was.

    And I found out what it was when they entered a cave.

   ...Well, kind of.