"It sounds like... running," Margaret replied as she got closer as well. Her eyes widened. "Wait, didn't you say one of them uses this as its home base?"

"Yeah," Aleron said cautiously. Then her eyes widened. "You don't think it's returning now... do you?"

Margaret was about to reply when a large shadow fell across them and a low, deep growling filled the room. She froze.

"Oh we are so dead," she breathed.

"Don't move," Aleron whispered. "Move your hands away from your belt, and press yourself against the wall." She moved slowly, doing just what she'd advised Margaret to do.

"Not that there's anything on my belt that would do us any good," Margaret whispered back as she did as she was told. She pressed herself back against the wall hard enough she was fairly sure she would leave an imprint.

Aleron stayed very still as the huge form jumped down onto their level, shaking the floor beneath their feet. Raikou moved towards them, still growling low in its chest.

Margaret was trembling as she hugged the wall. Raikou kept getting closer to them, and she kept wanting to edge away, but there was nowhere else to go.

Aleron just held as still as she could manage, watching as Raikou moved closer to them. Stopping a short distance away, it sniffed them both carefully and thoroughly, still growling.

Margaret held as still as she could.

'We're not a threat, we're not a threat, we're not a threat...' she thought, over and over like a mantra. She really wanted to get out of the tower alive.

Raikou snorted at them both and moved over to a hole in the ground against one wall. Jumping through that, the legendary dog disappeared.

Aleron let out her breath in a long, low whistle. "Did we really just survive that?"

"I think we did," Margaret replied, shaken. "How did we just survive that?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Aleron replied, her voice faint. "How do we get out of here?"

"That, I actually have an answer for," Margaret said. She reached for Metang's pokeball, but it took her a couple of tries to grab it because her hands were shaking. "Come on, Metang can get us up floor by floor. He floats and all that good stuff."

Aleron nodded. "Hopefully we can hang on and not fall off and all that," she said, her voice squeaking just a little. She was starting to shake too.

"Just hang on to one of his arms and don't let go," Margaret replied, releasing Metang. She knocked on his side affectionately. "Hey, buddy... Noctowl is still up on the top floor, we need you to get us back up to her and the Pidgeot up there with her."

Aleron did as she was told, hanging onto his arm with trembling hands. She had the feeling they'd both go have little nervous breakdowns later.

Metang slowly took the two up both floors, up to the top. Once there was solid floor under her feet, Margaret sagged down onto her knees for a moment. Immediately, Metang and Noctowl were next to her.

Aleron leaned against the nearest wall, and Pidgeot nudged her worriedly. "I think we should go now," she said weakly.

Margaret nodded.

"Straight back to the pokemon center?" she asked. She didn't care if they had to Fly there. Noctowl knew the move, and had made longer flights than just across town before.

"Yeah, I think so." Aleron sighed. "I think we need to sit down and just cool off for a while."

"I agree," Margaret replied. Recalling Metang, she stood up, shaky, and ran her fingers through Noctowl's feathers. "Come on, sweetie. I need you to Fly me back to the pokemon center. It's not far, just follow the Pidgeot, okay?"

Pidgeot took off towards the pokemon center with Aleron in his grip, for once giving none of his usual attitude.

Noctowl followed Pidgeot, not close enough to be clipped by his wings, but close enough not to lose him. The Fly HM gave her enough power to be able to carry her trainer where they needed to go. Once they got to the pokemon center, she set her trainer down and landed next to her.

Margaret stroked Noctowl's feathers a bit, and then recalled her so they could go inside.

Aleron recalled Pidgeot once they got back and sent him back on his way home through the pokemon center. Then she sat down on a couch, putting her head down.

"What did we just survive?"

Margaret sat down on a chair and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I'm not exactly sure," she said. "I could have sworn we were going to die. Why didn't we die?"