Searching... Part 1

     Balance was restored. Peace slowly returned. A month had passed since Rayquaza’s Hyper Beam destroyed the meteor that threatened the world. With the exception of a few rescue missions here and there, things seemed to have gotten calmer…
     Perhaps a bit too calm.
     Sanura wandered aimlessly through Pokémon Square in deep thought. Only one thing had really been on her mind since the day after the world was saved.
     Gengar. Where had he gone? Why had he disappeared? When will he ever come back?
     Sanura longed to see him again. The last time she had seen him, he had saved her life. He had brought back her drifting spirit to her dead body. But when she had reawakened, he was not there, and she had never gotten to thank him. It saddened her.
     She had seen Gengar’s teammates, Medicham and Ekans, a few times in the past three days, overhearing their conversations about wishes, but before Sanura could ask them anything, they freaked out and ran off. It was becoming disheartening.
     Sanura then happened across the bulletin board covered with rescue missions. “I might as well do some rescue work…” she mumbled to herself. She skimmed through the list of help requests, and one caught her eye.
     It was from Medicham. Sanura pulled off the request and read what it said: “My name is Medicham. We had no trouble entering this dungeon… But it’s horrible here! It is much too difficult! Ekans, he was defeated right away. It makes me want to scream! Somebody! Please help me! The place is Wish Cave. The reward is a secret~! But it’s really very nice—you can be sure of that~!”
     
     “S-Sanura?” Ekans had come up to her with a hopeful gleam in his eye. “Are you going to save Medicham?”

     Despite all conflict with Team Meanies in the past, Sanura couldn’t refuse to help when help was needed, especially as the leader of a rescue team. “Of course,” she replied with a reassuring smile. “I’ll bring her back safe and sound.”

     “That would be great!” he exclaimed.

     Sanura nodded and ran back to the base to get her partner, Keahi.

***

     Wish Cave was ridiculously difficult. Even from the first step into the dungeon, Sanura and Keahi felt their power decrease significantly. The opponent Pokémon were small and cute, but even they gave them a hard time. The two found themselves running through most of the cave until they finally found Medicham on the twentieth floor.

     “There you are!” Sanura called out in relief.

     “Oh! You?!” Medicham was surprised to see Sanura and Keahi, of all Pokémon. “…Perhaps… You have come to rescue me?”
    
     “Of course! Now, let’s get out of here!”
     
     Medicham jumped with joy. “Yes, yes!” I am so lucky!” And they used the magic of the Rescue Team Badges to teleport themselves out of Wish Cave.

***

     The three arrived back at the base where Ekans had been eagerly awaiting Medicham’s safe return. “Medicham!” he exclaimed in delight. “You’re safe! Yesssss!”

     “I’m so sorry, Ekans,” she apologized. “That dungeon—it was too much for me.” She turned to Sanura and Keahi. “Thank you for saving me,” she said in her singsong voice. “I appreciate it~!”

     “You’re welcome,” said Sanura with a smile. “It was no trouble at all.”

     “Yes, it was…” Keahi mumbled to himself.

     “…Ow, ow, ow…” Medicham cringed. “My body—it hurts all over even now… But that dungeon… What is it about it?” She became angered at the thought. “They say it makes a wish come true. So, I went… But it was hard in there—most terribly so! Kiiih! I never want to go again! At first, I made an SOS call because I did not want to lose this…” She clenched a small stone in her hand, and then held it out to Sanura. “But I will give it to you. Here! You’re reward for my rescue~!”

     Sanura took the stone and examined it. “What kind of stone is this?”

     “They say if you take that stone to Wish Cave… To its very depths… Wonder of wonders! A wish—it comes true! You see~” she sang. “A rich reward, won’t you agree?”

     “Yes!” Sanura agreed. “Very much so!”

     “Yeah,” Keahi added with doubt, “if we could actually reach that far into the cave…”

     “However…” Medicham warned. “If you lose that Wish Stone along the way, the wish cannot come true. For me, it was impossible. But you must try~!”

     “Maybe eventually,” said Sanura, although she’d rather not return to the cave, as well. “Thank you!”

     Medicham smiled and nodded.

     “All right,” Ekans said, stomach rumbling. “Now that you’re back safely, let’s go eat!”

     Medicham and Ekans left, and Sanura and Keahi decided to call it a day. Sanura stored the Wish Stone in Kangaskhan’s storage and went back to the base to sleep.

     Then, after nearly falling asleep, Sanura shot up at a returning thought. “I forgot to ask where Gengar was!”