Almia of Aidance

The Same?

Crepe woke up to Dijon hugging him tight and rubbing his back. Had he shut down? He weakly clawed Dijon's back to inform him that he was awake. Dijon loosened his grip and paused.

"Morning..."

"Hey..." He purred as they stood up. "Thanks..."

"No problem..." Crepe noticed his eyes were dim and grabbed his hand.

"Come on. We gotta report in." Dijon nodded as they went out. Admiral smiled as she waited for them with Cedar.

"Hey." She nodded to them.

"Before you go to report, the minister wants to see us." The duo paused before following Cedar up to where the minister was waiting. She smiled as they went over.

"Welcome. Thank you for leading them, Cedar. Can you tell the Chairperson?" He nodded before heading off. She smiled at the trio. "It's good to see you all. How are you?" A shaky smile appeared on Crepe's face as Dijon weakly rubbed his eyes.

"Could be better, but it all depends sometimes." She nodded as she paused.

"I heard you all have some... difficulties?" Crepe shot a glare at Admiral, who instantly countered.

"She asked." He simply sighed before smiling.

"You could say that, Minister..." She smiled.

"Before I send you out to whatever the Chairperson has for you, I would like to try to at least help you three get to a stable area so that you can handle the harsh environments." They nodded as Dijon finally spoke.

"And... how are you going to do that?" She hummed as he lowered his head.

"Well... only one way to find out, right?"

???

The trio were assigned to gain access to three gems in three areas. Crepe was sent to the north, Dijon to Boyleland, and Admiral to the desert.

Crepe had it easy as the snow seemed to keep his system up. He was nothing but smiles the whole time. The castle that held his target was swarming with Dim Sun members, but they were nothing when he held the upper hand. One even acknowledged how well he looked before he tore them down.

"You know... I remember when you kept going down on the cargo ship. You look great right now." Crepe paused.

"Why thank you." The grunt shrugged before they clashed.

???

Dijon wasn't too bad in the heated place. He pushed through until he reached near the end. Seafoam had to regain him.

"Dijon?" He was quiet as he was pulled back into reality. "Dijon?" He nodded.

"Seafoam?"

"Oh good... you're still there... I thought I was too late..." He smiled.

"No... you're good... thank you..." He stood up and continued until he saw a rather familiar face. He turned his Voicemail off, concerning the others.

"Dijon? Dijon?! What's going on?" He fell silent as his eyes met another red pair.

"You..."

???

Admiral wasn't as lucky as the boys.

She first had to take an emergency mission to save a Wailord, which she didn't mind because the water welcomed her. She then had to help Sven at an old Altru oil plant while saving Isaac. Then she was in the desert, where she had to put common sense into some guy who accidentally caused an attack on the town. Later, she had to borrow a Doduo's help to catch a Hippowdon to get into the temple. Then there were the horrible traps that encased the temple that made her even more frustrated. But it all was at a good cost as she arrived at the end near the Yellow Gem. But the guardian was difficult. And what followed her defeat didn't make it any better.

???

Crepe's statement still stood. 90% of Team Dim Sun was better than the old Minister.

He had clashed with an admin, Ice, who had a Froslass try to stop him. His system shut down in the middle of the catch. Ice actually stopped his attack to check him. After that, Crepe successfully finished the battle. But then he had to help the admin with his own system stop. Crepe waited for either Ice's system to start back up or for a grunt to come get him. Seafoam reached out in that time.

"Crepe?" He answered with a smile.

"Seafoam. Hey."

"Your system hasn't shut down?"

"It did once. But I'm up now."

"Then why haven't you moved?"

"A Dim Sun admin is having a similar problem. Since he helped me when I shut down, I'm waiting for him to get back up." She hummed.

"That's nice of you. Have you heard from the others?"

"Nope... why?"

"Just checking. They've gone quiet." He hummed with a concerned tone. "Take care of yourself." He nodded as she turned off. Ice finally shifted from his shoulder.

"Welcome back to reality." Ice blinked as he rubbed his neck.

"You..." Ice shook his head as Crepe helped him to his feet. "Thanks..."

"Yeah... take care of yourself." Ice could only nod as two grunts came to check and Crepe ran off to get the Blue Gem.

???

Dijon shut down as soon as he had finished his clash with Lavana, the second admin. He wasn't sure what was happening until he started pulling into reality as a warm hand rubbed his back. He blinked before completing the hug that Lavana was providing.

"Lavana..." She gulped as she held her feelings down.

"Go." She released him before running off. He blinked before rubbing his face and looking back at her escape. Weird. He stood up, took a deep breath, and bolted the opposite way of Lavana.

???

The two boys returned with success. They were thanked before the Minister checked them.

"Not bad... little to no crashes?" Crepe nodded.

"I only crashed once." Dijon didn't answer, alerting the duo.

"Dijon? What about you?" He lowered his head. She paused. "Crepe, you go see if the Chairperson needs anything. Ok?" He nodded. He gave a look of concern to Dijon before running off. She gripped the redhead's shoulders and had him sit down. "Dijon?" He nodded.

"S-sorry..." He mumbled as he rubbed his eyes. "What's happening?" She smiled.

"Did you shut down at all at the volcano?" He paused.

"Once... but... it was weird..." She hummed.

"How so?"

"One of the Admins, one I fought in Fiore, seemed to sorta shut down with me. I don't understand why..." She purred before running a hand through his hair.

"I'm sure you'll learn in due time. Why were you so quiet about it?" He gulped.

"Because me and the admin had started a rivalry and we didn't want anyone to know about it..." He covered his face as it heated up with embarrassment. She giggled.

"Don't be like that. Thanks for telling me. Now, go bother your teammate." Dijon nodded before running to catch up with Crepe.