OWEN'S POV

For the rest of the day, my mood alternated between boredom and what can only be described as a sense of impending doom.

Quite frankly, I almost wanted the doom to arrive, because it would be better than sitting in this glorified Motel 6 room where everything was covered in dust, as well as perhaps pollen and whatever else was guaranteed to make me sneeze my head off.

Cassius sat on the other bed, reading a book. The volume was so dusty that I couldn't make out the title, but the Lucario didn't seem bothered by it. After all, his eyes were red naturally, whereas mine were only red due to…

"ACHOO!" I sneezed so powerfully that I almost flew two inches off the bed.

Cassius glared at me. "You know, Owen, can't you figure out how to control that impulse to sneeze?"

"It's not an impul-ACHOO!"

"You can control it if you try hard enough," Cassius insisted. "And that's precisely what I suggest you do, because if you don't, the other Pokémon will be alienated."

"Dude, it hurts to sneeze this hard" I replied in a tone similar to a whine. "Do you think I'm enjoying this?"

The Lucario shrugged. "I don't, for what it's worth. But others might think you do, and remember this: Different is dangerous down here."

"Right" I mumbled, before a similarly powerful sneeze nearly sent me careening off the bed.

"Seriously," I continued, "what's the deal with all the dust? There's none of it in the city - it wasn't bothering me at the battle!"

Cassius frowned. "Don't ask me."

In any case, the rest of the day was very uneventful. Some would argue that this was a good thing; if nothing was happening, at least nothing catastrophic came up that would result in a painful end.

Instead, though, I had ample time (near-endless time, in fact) to ruminate about my fate. Sooner or later, something would happen to upset this balance, and not in my favor. And even then, there was the minor matter of my younger brother being locked away.

I have to free him somehow. I need to make things right.

But how could I do that? Such a plane was likely too complex for an individual to take on. I supposed I could have enlisted Cassius, Theseus, or Alana, but that would require telling them the truth about my past (as much as I hated thinking of Matty as part of my past.)

Moreover, it was just shameful to have abandoned Matty like that. I was my brother's keeper, after all - that's what I'd constantly been told, even if this was in terms that weren't so overtly religious. And I had to do whatever I could - whatever it took - to protect him.

Yesterday, I'd failed miserably in that obligation. That was probably why my subconscious had cursed me with the dream of torture - I would always torture myself if I didn't free Matty.

Needless to say, I didn't reveal any of this to Cassius, nor did he press me on what I was bothered by. If he even wondered why I wouldn't speak to him all afternoon, he never voiced his curiosity on that front to me. (Besides, I didn't want to face his wrath if I pulled him away from his book.)

Dinner was a subdued affair at best. Or at least, it would have been if that Krookodile hadn't made a scene over his gruel.

"I'm telling you, that was fraud!" he bellowed, so loudly that one of the baby Pokémon started crying in her high chair.

"What was fraud?" Theseus exclaimed.

"All of it!" This time even I had to cover my ears, which is easier said than done with your elbows.

"Banditt Krookodile, you know that I won't be able to understand you any better if you scream at the top of your lungs!" the Umbreon shouted. "So please, calm down."

"The match was fraudulent" Banditt clarified in between sighs. "We shouldn't have lost all that money. The jaw grab should've been enough to put Ziggy down for the count!"

"Well, it wasn't," Theseus replied. "And I'm not any happier about it than you are. But Father Labrador lost the battle, fair and square. There's only so much you can do about it once the match is over."

"But I'm still losing money on that bet" Banditt complained.

"So are the rest of us, but the others don't seem so bent out of shape over it" Alana muttered. (Considering that she was seated right next to Banditt, I thought it very brave of her to challenge him like that. I was sure the Krookodile could pick her up and slam her against the wall without straining himself.)

Banditt swiveled around in Alana's direction.

"Sylveon, Father Labrador won that match, and you know it. We should storm the betting office to demand our money back."

Alana grimaced, then gritted her fangs. "First of all, my name is Alana. Second of all, you saw the match with your own eyes. You're just seething with blind rage, because you hate being wrong."

"Well, I do!" Banditt exclaimed. "I hate being wrong!"

"All of us do, Banditt" Theseus muttered. "But again, you're the only one who's making such a big scene over it."

I have to admit: I was starting to shake at the thought of what Banditt could do to me if I spoke up. He would likely pulverize me and not lose a minute of sleep over it.

Luckily, I didn't have to take that step.

Banditt sighed. Each rebuke he received, while insufficient on its own to stop him, served as a "tranquilizer dart" if you will. They slowly, well, calmed him down, though they did not put him to sleep.

Instead, the Krookodile frowned. "Fine," he muttered. "But the next time that happens, it's fraud."

This guy is beyond parody. Unfortunately, I'll still need to be very careful around him.

The meal went quickly after that. Honestly, there are only so many conversations you can have over gruel, and we'd soon exhausted all such avenues.

My eyelids grew heavy. "I think I'll head upstairs now," I said.

"Hey, be sure to do a few dishes first," Cassius stated.

Of course, I realized. Chores exist in this world too.

Let me tell you: Doing the dishes is very difficult when you've got four paws rather than two hands. Especially when you hear so many side conversations that you get distracted, and when you're already as preoccupied as I was.

It was only when I heard Theseus direct words at me that I turned to face him.

"Yes?" I wondered aloud.

"Owen, I would like some time to speak to you in private."

My stomach dropped. "Are…am I in trouble?"

Please don't let this be about my transformation. Or about my brother. Anything else is fair game.

"No" the Umbreon insisted, but the devil on my shoulder wanted to tell me that Theseus was lying. Fortunately, the angel won out…this time.

"What's going on?" I asked Theseus on the stairwell, making those annoying snarking sounds to get the muck out of my throat.

"I was wondering if you wanted to enter the Labyrinth with me tomorrow" Theseus proposed.

I frowned. "Wait…the Labyrinth?"

"Yes, Owen," the Umbreon muttered. "The Labyrinth. You know what a labyrinth is, right?"

"Well, yeah" I said awkwardly. "It's a maze, isn't it? An underground one?"

Theseus nodded, though he looked somewhat uncomfortable doing so. "Yes. It's right beneath Ketchum, much like a second skin of sorts."

"Interesting" I muttered, because that's exactly what it was.

"Well," the Umbreon continued, "they say that something lurks in the maze."

I gulped. "What is that? Something good, I hope?"

"Not exactly…" Theseus replied, shuffling awkwardly. "Look, I don't think I should tell you what's in there?"

"Why not?" I wondered aloud. "Shouldn't I have the right to informed consent or whatever it's called?"

"Look, they're just rumors, okay?" he insisted.

I snorted. "As if that's supposed to make me feel better!"

"It should, though," Theseus told me. "I've led lots of Pokémon through the Labyrinth without incident, and there's no reason why it shouldn't be the same way for you. It'll be okay, I promise."

Needless to say, when an authoritative figure tells you that things will be alright, you want to believe them. It's only natural to take their word at face value, even if logic tells you that you should be skeptical.

But I trusted Theseus. At least, I really wanted to, and maybe that was the same thing at the end of the day.

"I'll do it" I said, placing a paw over my heart. "I swear it on…uh, what do you all swear on here?"

If I swore on my brother, that would mean less than nothing. After all, it's my fault Matty's locked away!

"You can just swear by the Book of Catastrophes," Theseus muttered. "It has the same impact as swearing by your family or whatnot. Tell me, Owen - would you be willing to swear on your family?"

I shivered, not wanting to answer that question for obvious reasons.

"I…I'll do it. Trust me" I announced, and it was true. I'd committed to the "quest", and there was no turning back now.

---

I slept better that night than I had the previous one. Of course, that bar was so low that it might as well have been in the center of the Earth.

When I woke up to the sound of Cassius stretching, I asked him if he'd ever been in the Labyrinth.

"I have" he replied with a grimace. I didn't press him any further.

I guess that's a rite of passage here, then, I thought grimly. Just like one of those things they have you do at some universities…but this isn't hazing. It's just something we do to bond with Theseus and grow camaraderie as a group.

Breakfast felt like a funeral party at which I was the one the others were mourning. I didn't have any appetite for the slop that was laid before me, even though my rational side knew that I needed to keep my strength up.

"Come on, Owen," Cassius commanded me. "Eat."

Every bite tasted like cardboard - then again, even if I hadn't had thousands of Butterfree fluttering around in my stomach, I doubted the food would have tasted much better. I just wanted the meal to be over.

"I'm just not hungry" I stated, which was true.

"For what we're doing," Theseus mentioned, "you'll need all the energy you can get. Even if the food isn't what you want, it's what you need. Eat."

My anxiety gave in to the logical side of my brain, and I ate a few spoonfuls of whatever they were serving that day. Even now, I'm not sure exactly what it was - maybe something to do with those pennybun mushrooms?

In any case, as I lifted my head back up from the table, I noticed the looks the others were giving me.

Most of the Pokémon around the table gazed solemnly at me, tears filling some of their eyes. Even the toddlers in their high chairs seemed to be crying (but then again, at that age, just about everybody cries frequently.)

"Guys, stop it" I protested, my face growing hot as I realized what they must have been thinking about me. "I'm going with Theseus. He'll keep me safe."

But the others didn't look convinced, and for the first time I understood exactly why this breakfast felt like a funeral party: At least some of them were mentally planning a funeral.

And it was my funeral.

"You don't have to look so mournful" I insisted after these gazes persisted. "I'm going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine."

Truth be told, I said all of that not to convince the other Pokémon, but rather to reassure myself that this would be the case. I had to wonder if the other residents of the guild hall knew something I didn't.

'Just keep eating', Cassius told me, 'and they won't look so mournful anymore. You have to show them you're strong enough.'

So I did as I was told, putting bite after bite into my mouth. As the "food" settled uncomfortably in my stomach, I couldn't resist the urge to dream of an elaborate home-cooked meal, the kind my mother would make. (And then my mind wandered to a song I'd had to sing in fifth grade - "Food, Glorious Food" from a Charles Dickens play.)

But let me tell you, it's far from easy to enjoy a meal when:

A: It tastes like figurative shit, though it doesn't smell much better than literal shit, and…

B: Most of your fellow diners seem convinced that it'll be your last meal.

At least, I'd cleared my plate, and I volunteered to help do some of the dishes like last night. But Theseus pulled me aside after breakfast, telling me I was exempt from that chore today.

"Because I'm going into the maze?"

"Correct," the Umbreon replied.

"Well, I guess that's a nice consolation prize," I muttered.

"You should probably put this on," Theseus stated instead, gesturing at what looked like a reindeer's harness that lay on the ground near him. "It's a beacon."

I frowned. "Beacon? What would I need that for?"

"It's so that we can find you if you get lost," Theseus said simply.

I shuddered at the thought of what getting lost likely entailed down here. I neglected to mention, of course, that if I were buried in stone, I'd likely be dead even if they found me.

"Honestly, you don't really need it if you're not with Cassius," the Umbreon continued.

"I'll wear the damn thing" I promised, knowing that I needed all the safety I could possibly get. If there was even a Gastly of a chance that it might save my life, I'd do it.

"Right," Theseus replied, helping me step into the harness, which was very different from anything I'd used for rock climbing in high school gym class. It was designed for someone with four legs rather than two, contained a circle around the chest rather than the waist, and of course contained what looked like a walkie-talkie strapped to it. I presumed that this was the beacon.

"We've both got it to TRANSMIT mode right now" Theseus stated. "If you get lost, I'll switch mine to SEARCH mode and find your signal."

I frowned. "What if you're the one who gets lost, though?"

Theseus laughed dryly. "I never got lost" he insisted, and suddenly I found that I believed him.

Once we had left the guild hall, and the urge to sneeze and snark had subsided, the Umbreon led me to a spot behind the building. (It's worth noting that a few days ago, I wouldn't have had such strong nocturnal vision so as to spot an Umbreon in this darkness. That seemed to have changed with my transformation.)

"All right, here we are," Theseus told me, gesturing at what looked rather like a manhole cover in the ground. "If you want to bow out, now's the time."

"Nah, I'm not going to chicken out," I insisted. Of course, this was a function of what most called "peer pressure" - the thought of entering that manhole made me shiver.

Theseus frowned at me, which led me to ask the following question: "What's wrong?"

"You just said chicken," the Umbredon replied. "Don't you mean Torchic?"

I gulped. "Yeah, I do," I clarified. "Sorry about that."

Theseus gave me yet another odd look, but he seemed willing to let it go for the time being. And then he opened the manhole cover, at which point I followed him down the ladder.

"Here we are," Theseus stated. "The Labyrinth."

We'd arrived in a tunnel consisting of the darkest green stone. (Seriously, why was it green?) The substance was coated in a fine layer of sand - at least it wasn't dust.

"I know it's scary in here," Theseus told me, "but you have to trust me to get you through it safely. I'm not going to let anything here harm you - that is, unless you distrust me."

"It's not that I don't trust you," I began. "I just…".

The Umbreon raised an eyebrow. "What reservations do you have? Do you want to talk about them?"

Should I, though? It might reveal the truth if I do. But if I don't…

"I've just never been in a giant maze like this," I admitted. "And how do I know we won't get lost?"

Theseus sighed, taking a few steps forward. When he next turned back in my direction, he sighed again.

"Look, Owen, I'll have you know this: There's a reason I never get lost. It's a gift."

"A gift?" I wondered aloud. "A gift from whom?"

"Well, some would say we were blessed with the preacher's touch. Or Arceus'. Either way, I'm not going to complain about this ability."

"But I don't get it," I replied, though a few of the puzzle pieces were coming together. "Your gift…is that a special power?"

"Indeed it is" Theseus stated. "I have the power to navigate through the Labyrinth, or whatever other maze I am confronted with. They say that the humans had an old story, a myth, about a woman with string who could do just that - I guess I'm that string for you."

"Huh" I said blankly. Judging by the tone the Umbreon used, I felt sure that there was more to the story.

"What's that?" Theseus replied. "You're wondering how I got that power, aren't you?"

"That's exactly what I am wondering."

"Well, I'll give you a quick history lesson," the Umbreon responded. "A while back - eighteen years ago if I can count - a sickness spread throughout the city of Ketchum. It was not like one of the outbreaks that humans induce on the surface with their factory farms and whatnot; it just happened, and sometimes there's nothing that can be done."

My eyes widened. "A sickness?"

Theseus nodded. "Even with our limited medical facilities down here, it's easy for an infant to survive the virus. You just have to make sure they stay hydrated through it, and their mothers' antibodies can also be very helpful. Of course, that's not to say that the symptoms aren't highly unpleasant…".

"What are the symptoms?" I wondered aloud, suddenly inflicted by a morbid curiosity.

"Well," the Umbreon continued, "I'm not sure you want to know."

"Why wouldn't I want to know?" I exclaimed, dragging one of my paws against the sand. (That would probably hurt my paws much like salt irritates those of a dog, but at this moment I didn't care.)

Theseus sighed. "If you knew, you might not have agreed to this little jaunt through the Labyrinth."

"You mean it's still down here?" I bellowed, suddenly feeling rage bubble up within me at this deception.

"That's what some say," the Umbreon admitted. "Personally, I don't buy that at all, just because I've been into the maze with so many other Pokémon, and they've never gotten sick from it before."

Maybe there's a reason for that. A reason, moreover, that doesn't apply to me.

"So lots of infants got it, but they were able to recover most of the time" I said. "Did you get it?"

The Umbreon nodded. "Uh-huh."

"What was it like?" I asked, knowing that this was possibly an invasive question, but also not caring that much.

"Well, I was an infant at the time, just a couple months old. I don't remember it. But there are outbreaks from time to time in the village. Luckily, nobody else in the guild hall has gotten it."

Oddly enough, that didn't make me feel any better about what we were doing. I did not, however, admit this to Theseus.

"It'll be okay," the Umbreon insisted. "Just follow me through the maze, and we'll be fine. This is a rite of passage, you could say."

' After that, Theseus began prancing through the Labyrinth, and let me tell you, that guy was in good shape. I had to power-walk at a minimum just to keep up.

And then I remembered something else he'd just mentioned. "Theseus?"

"What is it, Owen?"

"You mentioned that you had this special power, and that you survived the virus as an infant."

"Yes?" the Umbreon responded.

I decided to just blurt it out. "Are those two things related?"

"Indeed they are," Theseus told me. "But that's hardly important right now."

That only made me want to know more - in fact, I needed knowledge like a drowning man needed air, or a starving man needed food.

"So how does that work? Does the virus activate something inside you?"

Theseus frowned. "I don't even know. Look, Owen, are we doing this or not?"

After that, the Umbreon continued bounding through the tunnels, and I needed all my air just to keep him in my line of sight. (This could have just been my perception, but I was convinced he'd started moving faster, which would have made it harder for me to annoy him with questions.)

The other thing I noticed is that my energy waned each time we reached a fork in the road. Now, it's normal to get tired after jogging for some time, but the effect was far more pronounced than usual, as though I were running on empty.

But I ate all of my breakfast today. Why would I be so exhausted after such a short jog?

In my human form, I hadn't been very athletic. Being good at sports was Matty's "job" - he'd been on the rowing team at our high school, a position that would have been unthinkable for someone like me who disliked team sports. Anything that required me to work with a dozen other high schoolers in a competition was something I wouldn't consider.

Of course, things were different down here. I needed Theseus a lot more than he needed me. Like it or not, I had no choice but to trust him.

"This way, Owen!"

"Bear left, and then we're going to be coming up on a fork where we'll go right."

Sooner or later, this became a routine, and it didn't take long before I implicitly trusted the Umbreon. Whenever he gave a specific instruction, I would obey it.

This all culminated when we arrived at a circular cavern with a path about fifteen feet wide, which circled a giant hole in the ground. Something about that hole made me want to fall to my knees, an urge I was unable to resist.

"What's wrong, Owen?" Theseus barked. "Get up!"

"I…can't" I stammered, gazing into the depths of the black hole. "I don't know what's at the bottom."

Theseus gave me a wild-eyed look. "Listen up, Owen: Just because you don't know what's at the bottom of that hole doesn't mean you should jump in to find out. Quite frankly, I'm not sure you want to know."

"I do" I blurted out, almost involuntarily. "What's at the bottom?"

The Umbreon glared at me. "Are you sure you want to know? Plenty of foolhardy adventurers have flung themselves down it hoping they'll find something, but they're just that - foolhardy. You'd have to be an idiot to do that, Owen."

"I'm not an idiot," I replied breathlessly. "Just tell me."

Theseus took a deep breath, then replied thusly:
"That pit goes all the way down to the Second Level."

"The Second Level?"

"That's correct, Owen. The Second Level. It's where those who are Banished get sent - the train takes them deeper into the Earth's crust, where they're left to fend for themselves. You don't want that to happen to you, do you?"

"Why would it?"

"I dunno, maybe if you jumped in?" Theseus replied.

As though fearing that I'd do exactly that, the Umbreon clarified loudly: "Don't do that! Don't even think about it! If you did, that's certain death, and not just because it's a long way to fall!"

My thirst for information had officially been quenched. Needless to say, I gave the hole a wide berth while we were in that room.

At another point in the maze, I heard a series of hisses.

"That can't be any good, can it?" I muttered.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about" Theseus assured me, but this was done in a tone suggesting that he was lying.

I could only imagine the long, thin, scaly creatures that were able to contort their bodies into any shape they wished. They would crawl wherever you least expected them, and they all had forked tongues. Many of them, moreover, were highly poisonous - if you were bitten, you might have only minutes to be treated before you died a horrible death. The more colorful their scales were, the more venomous they were likely to be.

"Uh, Theseus?" I enquired.

"What is it, Owen? We're almost to the end of the maze, and the sooner we get back, the less likely we are to be caught."

"Caught? Does anyone bother to enforce that rule? If we get lost and end up on the Second Level, why should they care here?"

Theseus grumbled a bit. "Look, Owen…we should probably spend as little time in this tunnel as possible. You just don't know when - ".

Just then, there was a sound that reminded me of a coconut being cracked open, which was followed by a torrent of snakes entering from hundreds of nearly-invisible pores in the ground.

"Snakes!" I exclaimed. "Why did it have to be snakes?"
Theseus didn't say anything as dozens of slick, scaly creatures poured into the tunnel. No, make it hundreds. No, there were thousands of them in a veritable rainbow of colors. If not for the fact that they were snakes, I might have found the image one of undulating beauty rather than unqualified horror.

I screamed; I couldn't help myself.

Theseus jabbed me in the side. "Owen, stay calm. There's a reason the Labyrinth is a rite of passage."

But when you're that scared of something, and it's right in front of you, "staying calm" becomes next to impossible.

"Owen, cut it out!" the Umbreon exclaimed, using one of his paws to slap me in the face.

"Sorry!" I wailed. "It's just…do we wait for them to all pass?"

Theseus shook his head. "Just make a run for it!"

"Are you crazy?"

"No," Theseus replied. "Well, maybe a little. But this is perfectly safe, I can assure you!"

This should go without saying, but in my mind, there isn't much that screams danger more than being in a labyrinth deep beneath the Earth's surface, in a tunnel full of potentially venomous snakes, where nobody can hear you scream. I wanted to turn back, but for all I knew, there were just as many snakes behind us.

"Run!"

I broke out into a sprint - despite the fatigue from earlier, and my lack of athleticism in general, I could still run when I needed to.

There was a door at the end, which Theseus was almost at when I felt a tugging sensation against my rear right ankle.

I screamed, which was a mistake. If the snake that had wrapped itself around my leg wanted to gain any satisfaction from cornering me this way, I'd just given that creature precisely what it wanted. Therefore, it would just come back for more.

Theseus turned around to face me, and he shouted something I didn't hear above all the hissing.

Meanwhile, I tried to keep running. I really did. But seconds later, another snake wrapped itself around my rear left ankle, pinning me to the spot.

I braced myself for the bite. Even if this snake wasn't venomous, the pain would still be unbearable; I was reminded of that tribe in Brazil who had the "bullet ant gloves" as a rite of passage. If this was Theseus' idea of one, I was in for a lot of agony.

The snakes started dragging me backwards, and I wondered if they were going to take me to their lair. (Where was their HQ, anyway?) And I screamed like a stereotypical little girl, as problematic as that analogy may be.

I struggled as much as I could, but before long they'd pinned me to the ground. Though I could not see this snake's "head", I heard one right behind my neck, and that's how I knew that one of them was about to take a chunk out of me.

If this is it, I thought, can I be forgiven for all I've done to get here? I want to think so, but…

Before I could ponder the implications of my potential demise, I heard a splitting noise, followed by the sounds of many snakes hissing in pain.

Suddenly, the pressure around my legs lessened until it vanished altogether. Once I was freed from the snakes' grasps, I felt around for my neck to make sure it was still there.

"Wow…" I mouthed, hardly able to believe what had just occurred. I'd probably have nightmares about it for some time to come.

Theseus came dashing toward me.

"Sorry about that," the Umbreon stated. "I was trying to open the door, then I heard your screams. Sometimes I get hyperfixated on something, like trying to navigate out of this maze."

"I get hyperfixations too, sometimes," I replied. "Are you sure it's not - ".

"We don't have time to talk about this, Owen. Are you okay?"

"I mean, I think so" I said, glancing around my legs for any bite wounds I might not have noticed. "I can still breathe, can't I?"

"You'd still be able to for a couple minutes after being envenomated" Theseus pointed out. "If you have bites, this means nothing."

As though through the power of suggestion, it suddenly became difficult to breathe. My throat felt like it was closing over at the thought of snake venom coursing through my veins at this very moment.

"No bites," Theseus remarked after viewing every square inch of my fur. "We should be good to go."

"Well, that's a relief" I sighed. "You guys have antivenin or whatever it's called down here, don't you?"

"Yes," the Umbreon responded. "We have remedies for snake bites, as well as wounds from the other creatures that lurk in the depths. Still, it's better not to need them in the first place - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

"Right."

"The maze ends beyond that door" Theseus continued. "It's just a staircase back into the middle of the city."

I followed the Umbreon through the door and up the stairs. At the top, we found ourselves back at the surface.

Okay, not the literal surface. Sunlight was still a long way off. But we were in a square in the middle of Ketchum, and I sighed with relief. (I would never have expected to be relieved in Ketchum prior to today.)

"Okay," Theseus whispered, "let's get back to the guild hall without the po-po noticing."

I frowned. "Po-po?"

"You know. Police. Law enforcement. Cops. Whatever you want to call them."

"You know," a sneering tone began, "we don't take very kindly to being referred to using slang."

My heart stopped as a hooded police officer came into view to my right. I felt certain he hadn't been there just a few seconds before.

"I see you're in a harnesssss. The type they use for transceiverssss" the officer hissed, and for a moment I wondered if it was indeed an Ekans - a snakelike Pokémon - behind the veil. "Were you in the maze?"

Before Theseus could warn me against saying a word, I made a snap decision that honesty was the best policy here. Even if Theseus would castigate me later for it, I could worry about that later.

"Yes, we were," I blurted out. "But isn't that a victimless crime?"

"For all we know, maybe not, Shinx!" came another tone, this one far deeper than the police grunt's.

A Krookodile stepped into view now. He wore a police uniform (at least, I thought it was a police uniform judging by its dark blue color and attached badge reading BACK THE BLUE on it.)

"Who are you?" I bellowed, barely hearing Theseus' attempt to shush me.

"You don't know my identity?" the Krookodile officer exclaimed. "Well, that's about to change. I'm Officer Pratt, and I'm pissed off right now."

"Dude, cut it out!" Theseus muttered, though even now, I'm not sure whether this was directed at me or Officer Pratt.

"Who are you mad at?" I asked the Krookodile cop. "Us?"

"Of course I'm mad at you too!" Officer Pratt yelled, stomping the ground. Turning to me, the Krookodile continued: "Considering how narrowly you escaped us the other day, I'm not surprised that you'd wind up in our clutches again. I just didn't expect it so soon!"

I shivered. This cop seemed to be taking considerable pleasure in scaring me. Perhaps that's what they all did down here.

Theseus gave me an odd look, which seemed to suggest: What is he talking about? Do you know?

But Officer Pratt wasn't done yet.

"You!" he barked, pointing directly at me. "Come with me to the station!"

"Right now?" I asked, though I'm not sure what answer I expected other than a nod from Officer Pratt (which is exactly what came.)

"Of course you're coming right now!" the Krookodile bellowed with yet another stomp. "You're going to answer some questions, Shinx!"

I gulped. Answering some questions was about the last thing I wanted to do right now.

"And you, Theseus Umbreon," the officer continued, "are coming as well. We need to know what you two were thinking, entering the maze like that!"

I glared at Officer Pratt. "Sir - ".

"There's no need to call me sir, Shinx!"

"Officer, isn't exploring the Labyrinth a victimless crime, like I said? How does it hurt anyone else if we're only risking our own lives?"

"Because," the Krookodile responded, "not everything is about you two!"