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(OOC: After being missing since like page 4, Palmer is ready to make a truimphant return! Except its very late at night, and I just finished reading the pages that I missed. XD So if you guys give me a few days, I have an interesting story on what happened to Palmer while you guys were fighting the shadow forces. I also have a little "I'm Sorry" gift in store for you guys as my apology for missing most of this wondrous story. )

(EDitOOC: OK, well my gift for all of you has been posted! I edited it into the first post so it doesn't get lost, it's been very helpful for me reading along, and I will edit it as the story progresses. I hope you like it! By the way, if there is anything you feel I should add or change, just tell me.
Oh, and, this begins only a few minutes after the group leaves for the Dy'mn Stream.)

..... "Ugghhh... that was the worst sleep I've ever had!... Guys? Guys?" Palmer awakened to find himself on the same hard rock floor that he fell asleep on, in the same damp cave, and yet something was different... Where had his friends gone?
Oh man!... I must have fell asleep by the wall in the corner of the cave and the others hadn't noticed that I wasn't with them when they left! I was soo tired.. the last I remember I was watching Skeletree play with the shadows on the wall... Pyrogeous was there... hmmm, Pyrogeous! Maybe if I'm lucky I can still see Pyrogeous's light and follow it so I can catch up with the group!
Palmer began to run through the caves as best as he could, feeling along the bumpy walls in the dark to makes sure he didn't knock himself unconscious and put himself even further behind the group. After following the cave walls for a few yards, a faint ethereal glow began to shine from the end of the tunnel, slightly illuminating the corridor he was in.
That must be Pyrogeous! I'm getting close! I sure don't like the feeling of being alone!
Starting to run, Palmer's vision began to increase as the light became ever so brighter and he felt as if he was almost on top of the group when he came upon a fork in the cave. Two entrances, both with an equally bright light at the end, caused Palmer to stop in his tracks.
Now what? He thought. Well... I guess there is a 50/50 chance of catching up with the group, and whatever I reach must be some type of good. Anything that is lit is better than this cramped dark place! Hmm... which to choose.. left? Right? Well, there is only one thing to do in a situation like this!
"Eenie, meenie, minie, moe. Catch a Belliger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go. My Wormadam says to pick the very best one and you are not it!" He recited, while bobbing his palm from entrance to entrance, eventually ending with his frond pointing towards the right entrance. "Left it is then!"

It had been a good amount of time that Palmer was walking before he began to get worried that he'd be lost in the cave forever, when he soon came upon the source of the light. But it was not Pyrogeous as Palmer expected, oh no, it was a torch hung on the cave wall. Next to the torch, a large wooden door, and a plaque, whose inscription read:
"Dr. A~o~~e~
Pharmacist"
It was hard to read, some of the letters had worn out.
Well, I may as well get all the help I can get. Palmer knocked on the door a few times before it creaked open just a bit and a voice rang out.
"Yessss...?" (OOC: By the way, for those of you who read this and use different voices in your head, this character would be a lot like Peter Lorre )
"Um, me and my friends came down here to get away fr--" Palmer could not finish his sentence because he was interrupted by the voice, which opened the door further revealing a shadowy, hunched over figure, with a brown cloak covering its face and body, and two bright yellow eyes shining back at him.
"Oh, my! You must be lost! Come inside now, we will make it all better.. heheh.."
Without thinking, he followed the creepy character into his abode, a much more well lit room, but the torches glow still cast long shadows in various sections of the room.
"Come in, sit down! My name is Dr. Apothec, and I would be delighted to have you stay for a while, my little plant... How does some Leppa berry wine sound? Yes, good, good..." he said without waiting for an answer. Palmer had seated himself in a large cushiony armchair, and was startled to feel something breathing on his neck.
"Aaah!" he screamed when he turned around, coming face to face with a Managhoul.
"I see you have met my latest, greatest creat--er, uh, friend, Frankenghou--er, eh Manathan. Manathan, be a dear and help me prepare this boys drink, yes? We want him to be as comfortable as he can be during his stay here, heheh..." The 'doctor' slinked back into a seperate room, and the forboding Managhoul followed with a groan and a loud, thunk, thunk, thunk... Palmer rose from his seat and decided he would take a look around the place, to see if he could make any sense of what was happening.

The room was partly a small living room with what seemed to be a portrait of the doctor's beautiful mother hanging above a makeshift fireplace. The rest of the room was filled with tons of laboratory equipment, test tubes, mortars, pestles, and various other devices that Palmer had never seen before in his life. As he was browsing through the items he heard a faint whimper from the far side of the room. Brushing it off as nothing he continued to look through the equipment when he heard it again.
"Is someone there?" He whispered. No response. "Anyone?" He started walking towards the sound and eventually bumped into a small table, hidden in the shadows, with a cage on top. The cage jostled a bit making a rattling noise, which scared it's inhabitant.
"Aah!... Doctor?" It asked.
"No.." replied Palmer, "My name is Palmer and you are...?" He lifted the cage into the light to reveal a small Shuckle, with it's head just poking out of it's hole. Adorned on it's head, a pretty red bow.
"My name is Cara.... can you help me?" It spoke, it's voice barely a whisper.
"Why of course... what's wrong? Why are you in this cage?"
"Well, you see, this 'doctor' came to my town one day and I guess I was a little rude to him and... well, he just picked me up and took me away. I miss my parents, and my friends... Can you help me get back home?"
"I'll do what I can! Boy, I knew this guy gave me the creeps for a reason. What is his deal?" Palmer said, in a normal speaking voice.
"Shh!" Cara replied "We can't let him hear us speaking, our lives are in danger! I saw what he did to the others..."
"The others?"
"Yes, there was an Arsnic, a Mosslus, a Basigniom... all of them had the same fate. Lost souls looking for a place to stay, coming inside and being poisoned by the doctors drinks... The 'doctor' is no doctor; more of a mad scientist! He has been using innocent pokémon to create his potions and elixirs! And if we don't get out of here soon, we'll end the same way!" The doctor could now be heard coming back.
"Y'know, my little friend, Sprowtana's like you have been known to make amazing sedatives..." His voice sounded from the other room.
"We have to get out of here, now!" said Cara. Palmer opened the cage and let her out just as the doctor had arrived back.
"Yes, yes, this will do just fine---eh, what are you doing? Where do you think your going? Manathan! Stop the specimens from escaping!" Thunking could be heard coming from the other room at a surprisingly quick pace now, and the 'Frankenghoul' arrived just as the two newfound friends began to run for the door (with Cara in Palmer's hands).
"After them!" The doctor screamed. Manathan lunged across the room with a grunt, missing Palmer who darted to the other side of the room, and smashing into one of the doctors laboratory tables.
"My equipment!" He shouted. The Managhoul lunged again, this time knocking straight into a bureau filled with potions and viles. "My lifes work!" Palmer grabbed a few of the viles that had fallen but not broken.
This could be helpful for us later, and who knows, maybe the doctor has found a cure for the Pokérus! He thought. As he made for the door, the Managhoul lunged once more, but Palmer had left and shut the door behind him before it was too late. The Managhoul hit his head on the door with a loud thud.

Running through the corridor, Palmer got acquaintanced with his new friend.
".. and my village elder, Titus, got really sick with the Pokérus and blamed it on the impending darkness. So I set out to make him better and came along my group of friends who had the same motive, to stop this evil force!" explained Palmer.
"Well, I would just like to get back to my friends and family near the Dy'mn stream! I miss them dearly and.."
"The Dy'mn Stream? Well, aren't you lucky! That is exactly where me and my friends are going! I'll make you a deal. Once we find my friends, if you tag along with us for a little while, I'm sure that we will head straight for your town!"
"So, you'll help me?"
"Of course! But, first we have to find my friends. Only they know the way out of here!"

Palmer and Cara made their way through the tunnel with Cara sitting in his palm fronds on his head. The two came upon an opening that led straight into a much larger opening. Inside, it revealed yet another tunnel, but a few feet away, standing near what seemed to be a landslide, was a group of pokémon that looked very familiar...
"Eragriff! Venusaur! Ure-yo! I found you guys!" He said running towards the group. Upon arriving he noticed the addition of a few new members and that some of the others were missing. "Hey guys!... Who are these guys? And where are Pilbarb, Skeletree, and Alberto?"

(OOC: If any of you have read or seen the play Arsenic and Old Lace, than you will understand many of the references I've made to it in this past scene )