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hotcheetohatredwastaken · 4 months

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Febuwhump 2024 Day 1 — Helplessness

Time wished he’d listened to his gut.

A portal had dropped them off in Hyrule’s Hyrule that afternoon. It was a blighted land—wilted grass and trees, a dark sky, riverbeds empty of both fish and water. There wasn’t any civilization nearby, at least none that Hyrule disclosed, so the rest of the boys grumbled underneath the baking heat of the sun and slapped at mosquitos—the only thing that seemed to live in this particular section of the wasteland that was Hyrule—as Hyrule led them on towards “somewhere they could find some shelter until they figured out where they were going.” Time looked over them all, counting heads: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, himself making nine.

It had been a hard day—a hard week. Running from hordes too large and too dangerous to fight, little injuries and little arguments that piled on and on until all of the boys seemed like they’d shatter underneath them. Wild and Twilight walked apart, some spat about dinner the night before driving them away from one another. Legend hung at the back of the group, brooding over something Hyrule had said when they’d been first dropped into this world. Four seemed lost inside his head, so much so that Time had to occasionally prod at his back to keep him from going off of the trail or falling behind. Each time he just mumbled, swiped at his eyes, and corrected his course until he went off it once again. Sky’s near-permanent smile was absent from his face, and his expression was twisted into a tight frown. Even Wind and Warrior were silent, their usual banter absent from the air that seemed to drone and drone in a high-pitched whine. They'd all had a fight earlier that day, one that Time had stepped out just in time to miss, but it left the atmosphere tense and bitter.

As they walked, they were given a reprieve from the sun by dark clouds that rolled in from the south. Some of them seemed relieved; others, Legend particularly, flinched at the first frigid raindrops and the rumble of thunder in the distance. Time noted it.

“We’re close,” Hyrule promised. “Just a few more minutes out, and we can all take it easy for the night.”

“Where are we going, anyways?” Legend snapped from the back of the group. “We’ve been walking forever, and there’s still not a building in sight. Gonna park us under a tree or something? Got nothing better out here?”

“No, no.” Hyrule let out a little strained chuckle, like he was trying to play it off like a joke, but it was clear that the jab had cut him deeply. Time shot a disapproving glare at Legend, but he just rolled his eyes and looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. “There’s a cave ahead we can stay in while we wait for the storm to pass.”

“Cave?” some of the travelers sounded dubious.

“Yeah, just a cave, not some dungeon. I’ve stayed there many times—it’s perfectly safe, unless we run into some rogue Keese.”

Even that sounded like too much to deal with. But the rest of the boys’ protests petered off under the strengthening rain, and they trudged in miserable silence, scarves and sailcloths and cloaks held over their heads, until they reached the cave—a dark opening in a cliffside. As predicted, a few keese flew out to confront them, hissing and flapping their wings so loudly there seemed to be millions of them instead of just a few in an enclosed area. The boys dealt with them, then ducked into the dry cavern, complaining of aching joints and wet clothes as they started a fire and set down their equipment.

It was a convenient cave. Almost too convenient.

“When were you here, Hyrule?” Time asked, standing in the mouth of the cave as he did another headcount. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Good. “You know this place well?”

“Oh, just here and there,” Hyrule answered, looking up from setting out his bedroll. Time couldn’t help but notice that he and Legend had set up on opposite sides of the cave, as had Twilight and Wild, as had Warrior and Wind. Time would have to talk to each pair. But tomorrow. “It’s perfectly safe. There’s even an air draft up that a way, so if something did happen to block the opening, we can all still get out.”

If only that had been true.

That night, they all settled down to sleep, and it was peaceful for the first time in days. Unnaturally so. Time took first watch, and he sat facing the opening of the cave as his boys snored. Some of them, at least. Legend’s eyes shone from the opposite side of the cavern, and he seemed to get smaller with each concurrent flash of lighting, followed by an earth shattering peal of thunder. It was getting rough out there.

With the next rumble of thunder, Time stood and crossed to Legend’s side of the cave. The boy didn’t look up at him, so Time didn’t say anything as he lowered himself down next to him with a groan. Wind or Wild or Hyrule he could’ve broken with a simple “are you all right?” Sky or Warrior or Twilight or Four would’ve cracked under whatever horrible pun he managed to come up with in the moment. But this was Legend, so Time sat, and he waited for him to be the first to speak.

“They’re all just a bunch of kids, you know?” Legend mumbled into his knees at last.

“I know,” Time answered, because there was nothing else to say. They were, to Hylian standards, all still children.

“And I know that, and I still get surprised when they act like it. Wild was picking at Hyrule for not knowing how to read, and Wind joined in, and I just lost it on them. If you want to know what happened earlier,” Legend offered up. “Pissed Twilight off for yelling at his kid, and Warrior scolded the rest, and now everybody is mad at each other, apparently.” He buried his face into his knees, hugging his arms around his shins. “How do you do it? I just seem to treat them like they’re fully functioning human beings when they’re just little shits.”

“It’s an art.” Time said, “Doubt I would have found that balance without Malon. You know you aren’t much older than them yourself, you don’t have to be a leader.”

Legend looked like he was going to scoff and launch into some tirade about responsibility and the number of his quests, but a peal of thunder that seemed to shake the whole world cut him off. Instead he chuckled drily, dragging a hand up through his bangs. “Yeah, I guess… I just... this world and all... I'm supposed to be the hero before Hyrule... but..;”

The thunder was still rumbling, growing louder and louder, shaking the walls and the very air itself. Time and Legend looked at one another with wide eyes, realizing what was happening at the same time—an earthquake.

“Boys, get up!” Time shot to his feet, clapping his hands. Heads raised blearily, some of the travelers reached for their weapons. “We’ve gotta get out of—”

The ceiling exploded. Rocks fell down onto their fire, dust clouded the air, and everything was cast into darkness.

Screams followed Time into the darkness.

When he woke up sometime later, it was quiet, so quiet.

It was dark. For a moment, Time couldn’t tell if he’d opened his eye or not, met with such an inky blackness as he was. He blinked a few times, then, groaning, tried to raise a hand to wipe at his eyes. He couldn’t—it was stuck firmly at his side, weighed down by something pressing against his back.

Time furrowed his brow, closing his eye to think. His thoughts felt sluggish, dragging through molasses to reach him. There had been… a cave in? The boys had been situated towards the center of the cavern, sleeping soundly through even the largest peals of thunder outside. They hadn’t even been able to stand before the ceiling caved in. Legend… Legend had been just to his right, hadn’t he?

Time tried to draw a breath to call out to him, but something in his chest caught painfully, and he choked. He tried to move, but found that he couldn’t—his left side seemed to be pinned down to the floor of the cavern, and he realized then that he could feel nothing, nothing at all, on that side of his body. Not pain, not cold, not even pins and needles. The absence of half of his body unnerved him. He still had feeling in his right arm, though, and he could move it. Gasping shallowly for air, he grasped blindly with it, feeling around his surroundings blindly. Rock below him, rock to his left—had he been hit by a falling boulder? He’d still been wearing his armor, when the cave-in occurred. Had his armor protected him, and he was merely pinned? Or had the weight turned the metal of it into a weapon against him, which was why he couldn’t feel his own body? Finally, his fingers hit the soft texture fabric.

“Legend?” Time managed to draw enough breath to wheeze. There was no response. He gripped onto the fabric and pulled. “Legend!”

A hacking cough—the most blessed sound Time thought he’d ever heard—filled the air, and then that fabric pulled out of his grasp.

“Time?” Legend’s voice asked. “Time, where are you? What happened?”

“Down here.” Time shifted with a breathless groan, testing how trapped he was. Little bits of debris spilled down onto his head, clattering against the stone floor. He stopped moving before he brought whatever was holding up the rest of the cave. “I’m a bit… indisposed, at the moment.”

Legend gave a little inhale. It seemed so loud in the small place they were trapped in. “Is everyone else okay?”

Time… didn’t know. He went back in his mind to where everyone had been positioned, before the ceiling fell. Wild and Wind had been on the far side of the cave, sulking after their respective scoldings, apparently. Hyrule had been curled up near the back of the cave, his back turned to the fire. Twilight and Warrior and Sky each had been around the fire, dealing with their armor and swords. Four… he didn’t remember where Four had been. Why couldn’t he remember where Four had been.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine with himself sitting with Legend on the near side of the cave. Now reduced to two.

“GUYS!” Legend called. The sound reverberated around the tiny space they were in, making Time’s ears ring. “GUYS! Rulie? Warrior! Can anyone hear us? Are you guys okay?”

In the wake of his shout, stifling silence fell. No one called back.

“They… maybe they… got out,” Time managed to gasp out, though he didn’t believe it. It was getting harder to breath, and his side was starting to hurt now, with pins and needles so fierce that they made his teeth chatter. “Do you… do you have… have anything? A light… or… or something.”

“No, no, I don’t.” Legend sounded so small. “It was all on the other side of the cave, with the rest of my stuff. D-do you?”

“Same… same situation here… I’m afraid.” Time swallowed with difficulty. “I think… I think we’re going… going to have to wait for rescue.” The sentence left him completely out of breath, and he struggled to regain it. His own breathing seemed so loud in the small area they were trapped in.

“No, no no no no.” Time heard Legend’s breath speed up as he started to hyperventilate. “We can’t be trapped here, there must be something we can do, we have to make sure that the others are okay, if we just…”

He heard fabric shift as Legend stood, then a curse as he apparently hit the ceiling of their stone prison. Time just focused on nothing other than breathing. He could feel some sort of metallic liquid pooling in the back of his throat, and he determinedly swallowed it back down without giving it another thought.

“What if the others aren’t okay? What if they’re trapped too. What if some of them were killed? Time, we’ve gotta get out of here.” Legend paced and paced around their stone prison, growing more and more frantic. But eventually, he ran out of energy, and he collapsed back down to his starting position by Time’s head. “Are you okay? I-I can't see you.”

“I’m fine, don’t—” a wet cough interrupted him, and his mouth suddenly tasted coppery. He spat out the taste. “Don’t worry about me,” Time finished vaguely. It was a lie, they both knew it. “Just… just pinned.”

“O–okay. Time, I don’t know what to do. There has to be something that we can do, isn’t there?”

Time didn’t answer, and they didn’t speak to one another again. The silence was deafening, the air thin, the darkness all-consuming. Time was suddenly overcome with a feeling of helplessness to help his boys he knew must also be trapped. So he laid his head down, listening for any sign of life, and he prayed they were all right.

#linked universe #lu #linkeduniverse #cheetowrites #febuwhump 2024 #febuwhumpday1 #febuwhump #linked universe fanfiction

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asimplearchivist · 1 month

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𝓐 𝓦𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝓕𝓾𝓵𝓯𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓭

𝐂𝐇. 𝐈𝐈 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍, 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐕 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓.

[𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓼𝓽'𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽] [ 𝐏𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ] [ AO3 | SPOTIFY | PINTEREST ] summary ✨ ⤏ meeting a mythical isn't as novel as it used to be, but it still has its benefits. pairing(s) ✨ [tba] word count ✨ 3.3k a/n ✨ [header credit] | [divider credit] ⤏ this took way too long to finish, but the great thing is that I have to write one more chapter before I can post a couple that are already prewritten. maybe I can stay ahead after that point. :) I promise we'll get into the meat of this soon, and I hope y'all enjoy! ✨ MASTERPOST ✨ ✨ PREVIOUS CHAPTER ⤎ ✨ ⤏ NEXT CHAPTER ✨

“This is it?”

Lu lowered the Wonder Map so Eliana could squint at it. “…Yes. It matches the description that Bidoof gave us. I double-checked the old tomes in the Guild this morning while you ran our errands to make sure I had the right location. This is it.”

“No wonder so few have stumbled upon it,” Lu murmured, gazing into the narrow cave entrance with no small amount of trepidation as he rolled the map back up and stored it securely within their prepacked Treasure Bag. “With all the foliage growing around it, we almost walked right past it.”

“It’s not the worst place we’ve had to explore, though,” Eliana pointed out. “And if Bidoof was able to traverse it with relative ease way back then, it shouldn’t be too difficult of a challenge for us now.”

“Not accounting for Jirachi’s temper,” Lu responded quietly.

Eliana glanced up at him, frowning. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“What? No1” he said, ears perking forward. “Just—I worry that he might be less inclined to answer our wishes if we’re waking him back up from his nap just a couple of years after Bidoof did.”

“It just means that he won’t be in as deep of a sleep this time,” Eliana replied wryly, curling her tail around his waist in an easier approximation of a hug that she could manage while standing on all fours. “If he doesn’t want to grant us anything, that’s fine. It’s just for the sake of exploration, right? Finding out for sure? It’s not like we have anything really vital riding on this.”

“…Right,” Lu admitted, but the apprehension in his eyes matched his flat, noncommital tone. “Nothing vital.”

Eliana elected not to comment on it. He’d still refused to reveal his wish during the last week they’d spent wrapping up the most pressing of their job list and preparing for the veritable repeat expedition into the Grass Continent’s unforgiving southeastern mountain range, despite her gentle, if curious, teasing. Star Cave was closer to Treasure Town than Mount Horn was, but the journey was not an easy one nevertheless. Their limbs were already achy and sore as they both had grown unaccustomed to traveling such far distances of late, since it had been almost a full year after they’d completed their own personal challenge of exploring the farthest reaches of the map in search of hidden treasure and undiscovered history following their shared, simultaneous evolutions (which Eliana had considered a sort of ritualistic shedding of their old forms and thus the hardships they’d faced before that moment). She figured that they ought to alleviate that—take some time to venture out again before the summer was over, maybe towards the northeast where the weather was cooler. She missed camping, honestly, the peace and quite of the wilderness.

They entered the dungeon with equal parts caution and inquisitiveness. Eliana’s suspicions were correct that the feral Pokémon contained within were manageable between hers and Lu’s advanced skill sets and experience. They faced no issues picking their way down the winding, crystal-illuminated corridors to the pit of the cave, where a large clearing nearly distracted them from the gaping, crumbling hole in the far rocky wall.

“Well,” Eliana remarked, “I suppose that answers the question of whether the deepest recesses are still accessible.”

“I still wonder what Guildmaster Wigglytuff’s parents fed him as a child,” Lu murmured somewhere between awe and intimidation. “It is honestly a miracle we were able to pass the graduation exam.”

“It helps that he was holding back,” she reminded him. “He doesn’t have the heart to hurt anyone he considers a friend.”

They made their way through the lower portion of the dungeon far more carefully, not knowing what to expect around every corner. It grew darker and darker, and their eyes struggled to adjust to discern the shadows from their lurking foes.

The pit of the cave was illuminated around the rim with glowing blue crystals that glittered like starlight, casting an ephemeral hue across the smooth stone floor. Eliana tensed when she spotted a Pokémon hovering in the center over a slightly raised platform shaped like a star. Pale yellow and ivory, with billowing tails and dangling tags…and noticeably awake. Lu stopped at her side, warily watching who could only have been the Pokémon they sought.

“Heyyy!” the stranger chirped, his face crinkling with delight. “I wasn’t expecting visitors! Who are you?”

Eliana and Lu exchanged a glance. They expected outright aggression upon treading into the Myth’s territory, like Bidoof had described. Not…excitement?

“I’m Lucario,” said her partner hesitantly, then gestured to her. “And this is Eliana.”

Jirachi’s eyes lit up. “Ohhh! You’re the pair that restored temporal tower!”

Eliana blinked. “How…how do you know that?”

“Ohhh, there isn’t a Legend in the whole wide world that doesn’t know about you two!” Jirachi crooned, floating over and circling their heads to get a good look at them. “We communicate via telepathy, you know. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf told everyone how you stopped time from freezing and knocked Dialga back to his sentences! Not to mention taking that nasty piece of work Darkrai down a peg or two!”

“That’s right. I almost forgot that the Lake Guardians had telepathy,” Lu realized, nodding. “But I didn’t realize that all of the Legends had it.”

“Yyyep! How else do you think we work together to keep the world at peace?” Jirachi giggled, covering his mouth with both hands as he twirled to a stop in front of them. “Buuut I digress! I take it that you came here to have your wishes granted?”

Lu blinked rapidly, peering down at Eliana in shock. “I—yes, you’re correct to say we came here to see you, but…”

Jirach tilted his head. “What’s wrong? Do you not have any?”

“It’s not that,” Eliana said with reticence. “We were just expecting…I don’t know, more of a challenge? We were told that it isn’t easy to have you grant wishes.”

“Thaaat’s correct!” the wish-maker said brightly. “Normally visitors have to rouse me from my naps in order for me to do anything, buuut I was already awake because one of my fellow Legends was communicating with me earlier. They’re loud enough that it woke me right up!” He giggled again, then spread his arms out wide. “Aaand I’ve been told that you two have been through quite a lot, what with saving the world and all—not once, but twice! I think that warrants a couple of freebies in my book! I think that it’s the least I can do as a reward for all your hard work!”

“Oh,” Lu said, relaxing slightly and letting out a breath. “I see. Thank you, Jirachi.”

“I should be thanking you! Now, tell me your wishes! Or would you like some suggestions? Some Pokémon like to have money, or power, or new friends, or—”

“No, nothing like that,” Lu interrupted him hastily. “I, um…how much do you know about us?”

Jirachi considered them carefully. “Weeell, I’ve heard through the grapevine that you,” he looked at Eliana, “are actually a human! Is that true? I couldn’t hardly believe it when I was told that!”

“I was a human, yes,” Eliana confirmed. “I…was attacked at one point, and it transformed me into a Pokémon.”

“Oooh, I see!” Jirachi nodded. “I have to admit, there is something different that I sense in you.”

“It also caused her to lose all of her memories,” Lu informed the Myth. “She was traveling from the future through the Passage of Time on her original mission to save the planet. She doesn’t truly originate in the present, but she’s been trapped here because of the distortion of reality’s fabric around her since she’s traveled through time. She’s unable to return home to the other Pokémon she cares about. That’s…the background for my wish.”

Jirachi perked up. Eliana stared at Lu. He didn’t meet her gaze.

“What is your wish, then?” the Myth asked.

“I wish…” Lu swallowed, then finally looked down at Eliana with tears brimming in his eyes. “…I wish that Eliana would be able to go back to the future, if she wants.”

“Lu,” Eliana murmured, her heart twisting. “I had no idea…”

“I know you have complicated feelings about all of it, understandably so,” he said quickly, interrupting her because of his fraught nerves, “I know that you haven’t really talked about the idea of trying to travel back, but…I also know that you miss them terribly and that you don’t like to discuss it because you’re afraid it will hurt my feelings or make me feel like you care about me less than the others. But it doesn’t make me feel that way, Eliana. I…you seemed so happy, having reconnected with the Pokémon from your past, and when you lost them…I’ve worried about you. You’ve seemed so sad and I don’t know how to fix it and—”

“Lu,” Eliana interrupted him gently, leaning back into her haunches to touch a paw to his. “It’s all right. I understand. Thank you for thinking about me.” She frowned. “I don’t know that it will be possible for me to return to the future. What Palkia said…”

“Yes, but we’ve been able to evolve since we stopped Darkrai!” Lu reminded her, eyes sparkling with passion. “There is a chance!”

“Possibly,” she admitted, “but…are you certain that you want to waste your wish on me? On something that might never come to fruition? There are so many other things that you’ve said you’d wanted so badly in the past.”

“Time and space are realms I rarely have influence over,” Jirachi added thoughtfully, watching the pair of them with interest. “It is likely that I will be unable to manipulate anything like that…but, if that is your wish, I will grant it to the best of my ability, as part of my promise to repay you however I can.”

“I’m sure.” Lu clasped a paw over his chest, expression determined. “Above all else, for everything that you’ve done for me, Eliana, I would do anything to see you happy.”

Eliana swallowed thickly, a knot coiling at the base of her throat. She nodded slightly. “Alright. Thank you, Lu. From the bottom of my heart.”

He kneeled to squeeze her into a brief, tight hug, then straightened and turned to Jirachi. “That’s my wish,” he confirmed. “For Eliana to be able to return to the future.”

“Aaalright!” Jirachi beamed. “I’ll do my best to make it come true!” He focused on Eliana next, expectant. “And you? Do you have a wish, too, Eliana?”

“I…” She dropped her chin into the draped material of her Virid Collar, her skin prickling with heat beneath her fur. “…I feel almost ashamed with mine, after Lu requested something so selfless.”

“I think I can guess,” Jirachi surmised. “Do you wish to have your memories restored?”

Eliana’s head snapped up to stare at him, startled. “I—how did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Jirachi giggled, waving his hands. “But with how close you seem to have been with those Pokémon Lu was talking about…it doesn’t surprise me one bit that you’d like to have your amnesia restored. I would feel the same way! I couldn’t imagine forgetting everything and everyone I ever knew.”

“So…you don’t think that’s selfish of me?” Eliana ventured, uncertain.

Jirachi’s expression shiftted into something like recognition. Then he smiled. “I don’t think that at all. You sound just like someone I met once before.” He giggled again and shook his head, gazing knowingly at the both of them in a new light. “I think it’s the exact opposite, actually. That you would want to carry on the memory of those closest to you, even if I am unable to return you to the future, is a sincere one. I can tell that you care deeply, Eliana, for everyone you know. I think I quite like you for that.”

She blinked, then returned his smile. “I…thank you. Really. That’s a great comfort to hear.”

“Of course!” Jirachi closed his eyes, pressed his hands together, and Eliana and Lu watched his tags glow for a moment before he returned to normal and stretched with a gaping yawn. “Aaah, it’s been a while since I’ve answered anything quite like that! It’s maaaking me feel kind of sleeepy…”

“Thank you for hearing us out, Jirachi,” Lu said warmly. “We appreciate you trying.”

“Ooof cooourse,” the Myth mumbled. His tails curled around himself and his floating grew more listless as his eyes began to drift shut. “Juuust don’t be disappointed if nothing haaappens…”

“We won’t.” Eliana brushed against Lu’s flank, her tail curling around his. “Sweet dreams, Jirachi.”

“Goodnight, Eliana. Goodnight, Lu.” With one last yawn, Jirachi curled up into a tiny ball and disappeared in a shower of sparkles that dazzled their eyes.

The sudden silence in the cavern was deafening. Eliana swallowed and turned. “Let’s go home.”

“Yeah,” Lu agreed softly. “I’m tired.”

The cave had quietened, thankfully, and gave them no trouble upon their exit. The sun was only just starting to set when they emerged from the tunnel, squinting against its harsh light until they acclimated. They decided to head back to Treasure Town rather than camp for the night, longing for the comfort of their beds and the rhythmic slosh of waves against the bluff that always lulled them to sleep. Even though there had been very little fanfare, and they hadn’t perceived any of Jirachi’s direct influence, they still felt exhausted.

It was approaching midnight by the time they turned to Treasure Town. All the shopkeepers and residents had retreated into their homes, leaving the square empty and peaceful. Shuffling down into their home with the cool, salty wind ruffling their fur was a palpable relief.

“Here, let me put all that away.” Eliana took the Treasure Bag from Lu’s paw with her tail. “Can you start the fire?”

“Of course.” Lu moved over and squatted by the pit they’d dug to house their open hearth, picking up the flint and steel to start scraping sparks onto the kindling he’d placed in the ashes that morning out of habit. “Say…do you really think that Jirachi meant what he said?”

“I don’t know, honestly.” She pushed open the chest they used for their rotating adventure inventory to start putting away the extra things they’d found in the mystery dungeon for sorting and trading the following day. “He seemed earnest.”

“Yeah. I’m glad we didn’t have to fight him. I feel like, one of these days, we’re going to run into someone who won’t appreciate that,” Lu chuckled. The crackle and hiss of a new flame preluded a flicker of warm orange light that flared across the floor. “There.” He stood with a groan and a sigh, moving over to the corner of the room. “Say, I think that chest is almost full. You might have to use this other crate for now.”

“You’re right.” Eliana dragged the bag over to the open box and peeked inside as Lu shuffled things around. It was a bit dusty, as they hadn’t used it in while. Him removing a few valuables stirred it all up and made her sneeze. He laughed quietly under his breath, and she heard the crinkling crumple of an errant sheet of paper.

She froze, heart stuttering against her ribs as she realized what the old relic he’d inadvertently rediscovered was.

Lu drew it up out of the crate into the burgeoning firelight, expression softening as he read the letter’s words silently. He set it to the side carefully, with respect, and Eliana drew in a deep breath as her eyes lighted upon the blocky footprint runes inscribed in ink long dried.

The first week or so after Eliana had returned from her untimely disappearance she had clung to that letter like a lifeline, tracing the strokes with her paws as though to imprint the weight of them into her memory. She had been relieved to be reunited with Lu, that went without question, as he had been her anchor for months throughout all the confusion that she had felt—but she had felt Grovyle’s absence acutely, someone with whom she had shortly (re)built an unshakeable bond and relied upon to guide her through the chaos they had single-handedly stood against. She had missed him terribly. She still did, and she couldn’t even explain the breadth of that feeling with words—her gut had never been wrong before, and she had trusted him wholeheartedly. It never truly went away, an acute and gaping wound she couldn’t seem to close with any distractions she’d tried. Her original partner, lost for a second time.

“You know…” Lu started, “…if you do go back to the future, I won’t be upset, right?”

Eliana regarded him without a word, gauging his pensive expression.

He continued unbidden. “I’ll miss you. And I’ll hope beyond hope that we’ll meet again. But…as long as you were safe and happy…I’d support your decision no matter what, Eliana. I don’t know what it’s like to be separated so starkly from yourself, I can’t even fathom how it feels…and I hope that you don’t think I’m trying to get rid of you. I just feel that I’ve had you for longer than I should have been granted.”

“You didn’t steal me from Grovyle, if that’s what you’re afraid of,” Eliana told him firmly, drawing his attention. “I hate that we were separated, and I regret that he had to endure what he did all by himself for so long, but…I feel like we were meant to meet. You saved me, Lu. I owe you my life.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, his muzzle crinkling at the corners as he fought an embarrassed smile. Always so humble, her partner. “Okay. As long as you know that I care about you.”

“I do. And I care about you, too.” She picked up a gold scarf and dropped it into the crate. “Maybe we should go to the Keckleon’s shop tomorrow and—”

She stepped on the letter. Vertigo crashed over her like the waves that had once threatened to drag her under the icy, crushing depths of the sea so many moons ago, biting into the wound in her transformed shape. The storm had dragged her to shore, a blessing and a curse at once—the current had dashed her head against a stone, wounding her further and robbing her of her identity. Her first impression after that had been Lu’s frantic spew of words at seeing all the blood welling from behind her ear and soaking into the sand beneath her weak, limp body. All she’d remembered were her name, the fact that she was supposed to be human, and not, in fact, a Pokémon, and a vague sense of loss that had never resolved until she’d encountered her original partner face-to-face in the Underground Lake.

Her partner, whom she had rescued and nurtured and protected with her life. Her partner, who had devoted himself to fixing his world at the cost of his own life for the sake of those that would come to be. Her partner, who had refused to grieve her before he’d ever accepted that he could have lost her forever before their time, but had lost her anyway because she hadn’t recognized anything about him except a faint sense of familiarity and trustworthiness.

The memories flooded like the tide, overwhelming and sharp like the pelting of frigid rain against bare skin, and when she came up out of it Lu was already holding her steady, repeating her name urgently with concern in his eyes.

Eliana reached out to him as best as she was able, clung to him tightly, and wept harsher than she ever had before.

#fisara's codices #fanfiction #pokemon #pmd #pmd explorers #pmd2 #pmd 2 #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon mystery dungeon explorers #pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky #explorers of sky #leafeon #lucario #jirachi #ao3: in the morning light

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eldritcmor · 1 year

Text

Independent Sources

Minors DNI 18+ possible smut ahead.

Summary: Storm makes a deal for information not easily accessible.

All characters are 18+

Again, Minors DNI

The church was a tall imposing building. Dark stone carved to reflect the Victorian Gothic style. High arches, wide spaces, patterns whispering of old gods. Gargoyles standing or crouching, proud wings and binding chains on display. The heavy ash wood door, gleaming with fresh polish despite the many hands that push those doors each night. The call of pleasure spilled out the door to greet You like an old friend. Cloth draped from the beams of the church in various shades of purple and blue. The materials are mostly silk or sheer cloth. The room is always near hazy with perfumed smoke. A scent of carnal pleasure and burning woods. Braziers of dancing flames are set up at various points. Casting extreme shadows along the stone walls. Piles of pillows, low sitting couches, and rugs can be seen all over. Their fabrics are worn but all still beautiful. Doors line up along one of the walls. A peek shows various dungeons from the mundane to the extreme. Most are occupied but others are bare and cold. Music can be heard thumping throughout the building, like a heartbeat to a titan of pleasure. Above it all at the back of the church sits a dais leading up to a throne made of ash wood and silver. The throne while pretty is not what draws Your eye. No, it’s the giant spider web of red rope framed in the churches cathedral window. And in the middle of this web is a person. They are clad head to toe in black, form fitting latex. They seem to be squirming in pleasure but not a single sound is heard from them.

Chos sits on the throne tonight. Lounged back like a bored lion. You know he is anything but.

"Hello dear." Chos's voice floats just under the music but you can hear like a clear bell. "Been a long time since You decided to darken out doorstep, darling. You look exquisite as always." You had dressed like you were going to a event. Navy corset vest paired with a silver tie. Black slacks and a white shirt sleeve button up. Simple bracelets and a single silver ring decorated your arms. Nothing too eye catching. Nothing that can be pulled or interfere with a fight. You knew the rules of the court and you were not here to be a threat.

"I need a favor."

Chos tilted his head to the side. "Oh. And here I thought we would have to drag you back into the fold. But you always did have your priorities straight. Shall we take this to the lower levels then?"

You nodded. Chos hummed as he stood up. A member of security approached as Chos stepped away from the throne. The throne was never unguarded. Many had learned that the hard way. Chos beckoned you deeper into the cathedral. The cathedral wasnt bound to the rules of reality as some places were and it was always amazing to walk through the paths outside of your reality. Stone became wood. Wood became soft grass. Soft grass became a lightly traveled path through olive orchards. A small dirt path became the base of a temple.

The Temple stood above you, solid and unyeilding in its alabaster glory. But something was off. The braziers were dark with long burnt charcol. The carvings were covered in moss and vines, obscuring the stories and warnings. The wood and bronze of the doors was bleached and tarnished. It took you a minute to recongize it, but you were oddly sad to see it in such a state. You glance at Chos.

”She really kept it up?”

Chos chuckled. “She had hope, as strange as it is. And look, here you are.”

You licked your lip nervously. “I need Information. A Group has been giving my current employer some trouble to put it lightly.”

Chos hummed. “You work covert ops, darling. You’re bound to run into issues eventually. So why the need for information?”

You hummed as you sat on the temple steps. “This group has displayed abilities and tactics associated with well, our side of the world.” You pull out your phone and quickly pulled up a video.

The video was taken from security footage. You watched Chos’s reaction as the personnel rushed the scene of what appeared to be a shooting only to slump lifelessly to the floor as smoke choked them out. The smoke condensed and pressed itself into a vague human shape before forming a solid person. Another being entered the frame and snapped their fingers. A corpse at their feet sharply jerked before pushing itself up to its feet. Chos’s face twitched into a minute frown. The three exit the frame not long after that.

You take a deep breath. “That was two months ago. Since then, there have been other robberies and multiple ambushes. We tracked them back to a group known as Váli. A pharmaceuticals company specializing in biotech. On our side, Cryptozoology and Less than savory experiments on humans. Unfortunately, the trail ends there. Orochi is as tight lipped as ever. Man, I never understood how she managed to get them to bend an ear."

Chos hummed. "She is rather good at getting what she wants but then again best to feed her so she doesn't eviscerate you on sight. Orochi deals heavily in her favorite food. I can get you names and possible last known locations. But you know the rules, I will need something in return."

Storm leaned back against the steps. "One night. I return for one full night."

Chos smiled, a cruel thing. “Deal.”

Kate jerked as a loud thump landed right next to her head. She stared at the tall stack of files on her desk. Her eyes traced the hand resting on top to Storm’s face before blinking and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked down at the files again. It clicked.

“Storm?” A light hum came in response. “How did you get these?”

Storm chuckled. “I made a deal with a sibling.”

kate narrowed her eyes. “What kind of sibling, Storm?”

Storm hummed as they tapped their fingers on top of the stack. “The kind that sheltered me when no one else would.”

#call of duty x reader #cod mw2 #taskforce 141 #eld writes #storm au #kate laswell #141 x reader #captain john price #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #kyle gaz garrick

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teshamerkel · 1 year

Text

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 44]

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AO3 Link

Tobias, Nia, and Samir explore the mine and put a plan into motion. But they might find more than they bargained for beneath the town...

Tobias is tense as he leads the way into the darkness of the tunnel, trying to keep his steps light just in case anyone is lurking inside. His tail flame throws bouncing shadows around the rocky walls, showing the remnants of rotting wooden support beams and broken lamp lights.

It’s cool in here, and eerily silent.

Nia and Samir follow him, sticking close to the halo of light he provides. They’re quiet as they carefully step over rocks and debris, the occasional broken tool or remnants of a crate scattered about.

They’ve only been walking for a minute or two, so Tobias is surprised when they reach the back of the tunnel, where a cave-in has blocked off the rest of the mine with a slope of dirt and rock. A lopsided old mine cart missing a wheel sits off to the side of it.

“That’s it?” He asks, tense shoulders dropping.

Nia pads past him, her brow furrowed. “That…can’t be it. I could’ve sworn the mines would have something to do with all this.”

Tobias had thought the same—it seemed like too big of a coincidence to have a network of underground mines surrounding a town suffering from earthquakes.

Samir sighs and shakes their head, sitting heavily on the ground and giving them another tired look. Tobias can just imagine the quiet I told you so.

Tobias crosses his arms, irritated. “Well now what? We just go back to town and hope we stumble on a lead? Lotta good that did us yesterday.”

“I mean…the town probably needs our help with repairs anyways,” Nia points out. She’s been padding around the perimeter of the cave, paw trailing along the wall as if she’ll find a secret switch or something. She drifts over to the rickety remains of the mine cart with her usual brand of curiosity.

Samir gives a nod of approval, and Tobias rolls his eyes. He doesn’t disagree, necessarily, but—

“Oh,” Nia says, only her tail visible from behind the mine cart. There’s a quiet clink, and then she shuffles out backwards, into the light of Tobias’ flame. “Look at this!”

In her paw dangles an oil lamp, unlit but half-filled with a clear liquid.

Samir stands, a bit too abrupt to be casual. Their brow is furrowed.

“Something weird about this?” Tobias asks, suspicious. He glances at it again, making sure it doesn’t look like some kind of trap.

Samir doesn’t look alarmed necessarily, but they do nose the lamp, staring hard at the way the oil within the container moves with the motion. Slowly, they nod, before writing in the dirt.

FRESH

“Right,” Nia says, frowning as she tilts the lamp and watches the oil move around inside. “If this was left behind from the old mining days, it surely would’ve dried up by now. Right?”

“Could Calder or one of the townsfolk have brought it here?” Tobias asks. “Recently, I mean. Maybe when he and Pan were investigating before the cave-in?”

Samir’s eyes flick to the mine cart. They jerk their chin at Tobias, urging him closer to it. Tobias doesn’t like being bossed around by the skiddo, but he moves to the cart regardless, following the grass type’s direction and shuffling behind it to bring his tail flame to the lamp’s previous hiding spot.

In the thin layer of dirt, there are faint circular impressions left behind. Many of them, actually—upwards of ten, easily. Some of them overlap, some of them are a few inches apart from each other. Tobias can tell just looking at them that they would match the bottom of the lantern they’d just found.

The only reason Tobias can think of for such a thing is if someone had been placing the lantern here, over and over again. A quick examination by Calder wouldn’t cause that.

“Did you find something?” Nia asks, trying to peer behind the cart to see.

“What do you think of these?” Tobias shuffles back to the cave wall so his tail will still illuminate the little wedge of space, careful not to step on the rings in the dirt.

“Are those…imprints?” Nia asks, glancing over her shoulder. “From the lantern?”

“Think so.”

“There’s so many…”

Tobias glances up at Samir, whose brow is furrowed. “Finally think there might be something weird going on?”

Samir’s mouth flattens, but they continue to stare at the rings. Slowly, they nod.

“So what do we do now?” Nia asks, crouching to get a closer look. “Do we tell Calder?”

“Then we’ll get in trouble for being here at all,” Tobias scoffs. “No, this isn’t solid evidence. We need to make sure we can convince him that something strange is actually happening before admitting to coming to the mines.”

Samir looks unhappy about that, but also doesn't protest. Since they know Calder better, Tobias guesses he’s spot-on.

“Okay, but how do we find solid evidence? Catch someone in the act of doing something, um…suspicious?” Nia asks, paw on her chin. “Since we don’t have cameras, I guess we would just have to stake out the cave until someone shows up?”

Her tone is half-joking, but Tobias considers it. “...Not a terrible idea, actually.”

Samir gives him a doubtful look, shuffling back into the tunnel proper. Nia and Tobias follow after putting the lantern back in place.

Samir is scratching something into the dirt. Tobias moves his tail closer to read it.

HOW KNOW THEY’LL COME BACK?

Tobias’ mouth twists. “I guess we can’t know for sure. But if those marks are anything to gauge by, they’ve been here pretty often.”

CAN’T STAY ALL DAY

TOWN NEEDS HELP

“We could take shifts,” Tobias suggests, though he’s reluctant. He doesn’t want one of them to get caught alone with someone who could be dangerous.

“Well,” Nia says. “If they don’t want to be seen they’re probably coming here at night, right? We could help out the town today, try to catch a nap in the evening, and then come out here after night falls?”

Samir and Tobias exchange a glance. Tobias can’t think of anything wrong with that plan, aside from them being exhausted come morning. Samir still seems uneasy, but doesn’t protest.

“You think Takeo will let us leave?” Nia asks. “He already looked kinda suspicious after we talked about the mines last night.”

“He’s not our parent,” Tobias scoffs. Still, the spidops could definitely ruin their plan if he finds out they disobeyed him and Granite and went to the mines anyways. “We’ll just have to sneak out. There’s a window in our room.”

Nia clearly isn’t thrilled about that, but she doesn’t argue. Instead, she plays nervously with the collar of fluff around her neck and looks to their companion.

“S-Samir, are you going to join us?”

The skiddo slumps with defeat, but nods.

Tobias nods. “Meet us on the edge of town where we left today, after dark settles in.”

Once they’ve got their plan settled, Tobias leads the two of them back outside (after thoroughly erasing Samir’s words in the dirt), blinking in the almost painfully bright light of late morning. Slowly, the shapes and colors of the canyon and distant town come into focus.

“Nightfall, then?” Tobias confirms with the skiddo.

Samir nods before springing down the rocks and back towards town. Nia and Tobias hurry to follow.

—————————————————————————————

Calder is visibly relieved when the three of them approach him about how to best help the town. The inteleon immediately directs them to where the most dire assistance is needed, splitting them up to cover more ground.

The day after the quake is no less busy, but slightly less frantic. Less damage control for injuries, but lots of deliveries needed for patients’ medication and other supplies. Less huge structural concerns, but plenty of signs needing rehung and planks of wood needing straightened and nailed down.

Tobias, sweat hissing from his skin within the hour, passes frequently by Nia, Samir, and Calder, as well as the town doctor. They’re all busy at work, trying to help the town back to its feet. A few of the townsfolk come forward to offer to help too throughout the day, but most ‘mon are busy enough trying to tend to their own problems.

Aurum, the weirdly cheery hakamo-o, requests Tobias’ help with sealing up some cracks in her bank’s stone steps. She chatters happily to him the whole time, which is annoying, but at least she doesn’t expect more from him than the occasional grunt of acknowledgement.

He’s helping Nia drag some heavy bags of grain to a house down the street when they pass by Pyre, the angry camerupt not even sparing them a glance as he stomps by with some lumber strapped to the small volcanoes on his back. Nia cows away from him, clearly still guilty for suspecting him after learning his daughter was injured in the quakes. Tobias ignores the grumpy old fire type completely.

Tobias helps Samir fix a cracked window next, which apparently belongs to the skiddo's boarder. The lilligant dotes on Samir as the two of them work, making sure the grass type and their “little friend” (Tobias glares at Samir at that) have refreshments. Still, he appreciates the hydration berry she bustles off to find him, and her sweetness is too much like Maggie for him to feel genuinely annoyed.

The three of them take a late lunch when Nia tracks him down whining about their skipped breakfast. They move to grab some food at Deidra’s saloon—not wanting to risk interrogation from Takeo or Granite if possible—until they’re reminded of the terrible damage done to the place when they can see the inner workings of the building from down the street. The building is closed for the day as the construction crew puts aside their most recent project to clear out the worst of the damages.

“Hurry it up with those!” Eddy shouts to one of his workers. The dewott is busy chopping through lumber with deft, precise slices of his razor shell.

“Just making sure they’re in good,” the primeape they saw yesterday says. Cody the aggron is helping him, using a heavy arm to hammer a huge wooden stake into the dirt.

“‘We don't want 'em coming loose if we get any more rain,” Cody adds.

Eddy barks a laugh. “We won’t get any more rain for now. Keep it moving.”

“Awful confident,” the primeape grumbles.

“He is a water type,” Cody points out, finished with his hammering. He leans back to survey his work with a satisfied swish of his heavy tail. “He would know best.”

“Less talkin’, more working,” Eddy grunts, but doesn’t berate them further.

Samir moves away from the construction crew, gesturing for Tobias and Nia to follow. The skiddo doesn't lead the group back to Granite and Takeo’s shop, but instead across town to the little house where Tobias helped replace that window earlier.

Sure enough, Samir’s lilligant boarder is on the porch, sending a petilil off with a wrapped lunch carefully balanced atop her tiny head.

Tobias and Nia step out of the way for her, and Samir gives the little grass type a smile and a nod as she passes by with a chipper, “Hi, Sammy!”

The lilligant, who Tobias doesn’t remember the name of, notices them with a pleased scrunch to her eyes. “Samir! Oh, and your charmander friend, too. Are you here for lunch?”

Samir almost seems bashful, glancing back at Tobias and Nia as if unsure of their presence.

“Oh, we’ve got enough for everyone, don’t worry! Come on in, kids. My name is Lara.”

The lilligant turns and shuffles inside, and the group follows.

“I-I’m Nia!” Nia says, once they’ve entered the homey little living space. She gives Lara a warm smile and a bow. “Thank you for having us!”

Lara laughs. “Well, ain’t you polite! Nice to meet you. My little one could learn some manners from you. Go on and get comfortable and I’ll find a little something for y'all to eat.”

Samir gives her a grateful nod that Tobias copies. Then, the skiddo sits comfortably one one of the large, flat cushions bordering the nearby low table. They're clearly familiar with the space.

“So this is where you’re staying?” Nia whispers, taking a seat beside them. Tobias follows her lead as she looks around with wide eyes. “It’s so cozy!”

It is. The space is packed close but not tight between the table and walls, the cushions beneath them worn but still soft and comfy. Two bookshelves sit against the walls, holding trinkets, a few books, a stack of board games, cards, and other things like sketchbooks and paint supplies in tiny jars. A stack of well-worn quilts and blankets sit next to the nearest bookshelf, ready to grab on chilly nights. Paintings and sketches line the walls in little frames, and a small table with a vase of half-dead flowers sits beneath the window.

“Here you go, kids. Still hot.”

Lara shuffles into the room with three plates along her arm, cushioned by a towel. She places a steaming plate in front of each of them, which Nia eagerly brings closer. Looks like some kind of thick vegetable stew. It smells pretty good, even if the veggies themselves seem a bit scrawny beneath the savory sauce.

“Apologies for the scrappy servings,” Lara says, wiping her leaves on the towel. “The town is a bit tight on food right now thanks to the quakes messing up our crops and keeping merchants away. I can barely keep our harvest running at half its usual output.”

“You’re a farmer?” Nia asks, clearly surprised. She pauses in blowing off her hot food.

Lara laughs. “Sure am! Fourth generation. I may not look it, but I’m actually quite good with the soil ‘round here. This rain is something else. Never seen anything like it.”

Tobias pauses as he picks up his fork. He’s heard offhanded comments saying much the same thing, and even thought himself that it seemed like a lot of rain for a desert town. Could it be connected to the quakes? If they suspect someone of causing those, could someone also intentionally be causing the rain? He can’t imagine why they would want to, but…

“Could a water type be causing the rain?” Tobias asks, taking a bite. Oh, it’s good. Much better tasting than it looks. He hurries to take a second mouthful, grateful for his heat-resistant mouth so he doesn’t have to wait for it to cool.

Lara smiles at his enthusiasm. “I s'pose a water type could bring in rain like this, but the only water types in town are Calder and Eddy, and they know we don’t need any more.”

Tobias refrains from saying anything in response. There’s not an ounce of suspicion in Lara’s voice, and Samir is glaring at Tobias as if to say that if he starts interrogating the lilligant, he has a headbutt in his future.

But he quietly takes that information in as they eat, thanking the lilligant for the meal.

Calder and Eddy are the only water types in town, huh? Tobias didn’t feel anything particularly off about either of them. Calder seems to genuinely care about the town and is clearly still grieving the loss of his partner. Likewise, Eddy just seems like a hard-working ‘mon doing his best to help the townsfolk after their homes and businesses have been ravaged by the quakes.

Maybe the rain is just a freak coincidence after all?

Tobias mulls it over as they eat, idly listening to Nia and Lara chat. The meal is on the smaller side, but it’s hearty and filling and delicious. By time they finish and say their goodbyes, heading back into town to continue their work, Tobias is full and feels rejuvenated. Nia hums happily as they seek out Calder, clearly feeling the same, and even Samir seems to have an extra skip to their step.

With their newfound energy, they get back to work.

—————————————————————————————

It’s early evening when Calder dismisses them all to go back to their lodgings and rest for the day. Tobias, sore and exhausted and with more than a few knicks on his fingers from a variety of tools, doesn’t argue. He and Nia part from Samir with a whispered confirmation of their meeting later that night, then drag themselves back to Granite and Takeo’s place.

The donphan and spidops are amiable but gruff as usual, and the four of them have a short, tired meal before Tobias mutters something about heading to bed early to get some rest for tomorrow. Nia yawns as she agrees.

Luckily, Granite and Takeo don’t seem suspicious, and let them trudge off to their lodgings with little fuss. When they get to their room and shut the door, Nia immediately flops into their pile of cushions.

“I’m never getting up again,” she whines. “I’m so sore.”

Tobias follows her, plopping down a little heavier than he usually would at her side. He can feel her brushing by him, but he’s too tired to move.

“Too bad,” he grumbles. “Because we’ve gotta get back up in a couple hours to do your stupid stakeout.”

Nia turns her head to pout at him in the slowly setting light. “Hey! You agreed to it.”

Tobias makes a noncommittal noise and lets his eyes slip shut.

“How do we make sure we wake up in time?” Nia mumbles, voice already slurred with sleep.

“I’ll just doze,” Tobias answers, hoping that his usual light sleeping habits will be enough to keep them on schedule.

Nia doesn’t argue, either because she trusts he’ll wake back up or because she doesn’t want to think about it anymore. A quiet little snore escapes her.

Oh. Or she’s already asleep.

Tobias huffs, amused, and lets himself drift into a light sleep, face pointed to be able to see the window if he opens his eyes.

It feels like a brief moment later that a quiet noise wakes Tobias. He startles from his nap, but stays still in the dimly lit darkness of their room. The window outside is a deep gray-black. What time is it?

Another sound makes Tobias realize what woke him: the quiet creak of the door closing. The doorknob settles back into place as it shuts. The gentle, rhythmic thump of footfalls—light and staggered, so it must be Takeo—fades away.

Was he checking on them? Suspicious that they’d slipped out?

Whatever the intent, Tobias is grateful for it waking him up. He waits another few seconds before pushing himself out of the comfy pile of cushions, groaning. He’s so sore. His entire body feels tired and heavy. But they said they’d investigate, and Samir is probably waiting for them.

Tobias peeks out the window, glad to see from how the shadows fall outside that the moon isn’t very high yet. They might be a little late, but not drastically so.

Tobias wakes Nia, basically having to roll her out of the nest completely to get her out of her deep sleep.

“Whuz happening?” She mumbles, bleary-eyed as she sits up.

“Stakeout time,” Tobias answers, grabbing her arms and yanking her to her feet.

She stumbles, but stays up, rubbing at her eyes. “This was a terrible idea.”

“Reminder that it was your idea.”

“My judgement stands.”

Tobias bites back a laugh and moves to the window, unlocking its latch to swing it open. Cool night air drifts against his face and into the room like a blot of ink in water. It wakes him up, at least, and from how Nia whines and shakes out her fur behind him, it does the same for her.

Tobias glances at the door one more time before crawling up and over the windowsill. He makes sure the dirt below is clear before gently dropping to the ground.

Nia slowly clambers out the window after him, clearly trying to be careful and not make extra noise.

“Oh! Wait!” Tobias hisses.

Nia freezes, looking at him with wide eyes.

“Go back in and grab our bag,” Tobias whispers.

Nia nods, slipping back into the darkness of the room and rummaging around for a few moments. Then, she reappears, looping its thick strap over her shoulder and across her body.

“Got it!”

“C’mon then.”

Nia carefully climbs over the sill again, turning to lower herself to the ground and stretching out a searching paw to the dirt.

“We’re gonna have another quake before you actually get out of there.”

“Nope, no more earthquakes,” Nia responds, finally reaching solid ground. “I had enough hiding under bars yesterday, thank you very much.”

Tobias reaches up to close the window, hoping that Takeo won’t think to check on them again yet tonight. Then he turns to lead them to the edge of town, glancing around for anyone who might spot them. Unfortunately, his tail flame makes it a little hard to sneak around in the dark, but they can at least try to avoid the townsfolk.

They dart from alleyway to alleyway, moving between buildings in quick bursts. Two ‘mon are talking loudly the next street over, so Tobias leans back against the wall to wait for a chance to slip across. “I’ve been meaning to ask—how’d you know what to do during that earthquake yesterday anyways?”

Nia is busy readjusting the satchel across her shoulder, but spares him an amused look. “We did a lot of earthquake drills in school. Way too many for living in the Midwest, honestly.”

Tobias frowns at her. “Earthquake drills?” Like a drilbur’s drill?

Nia smiles at his confusion. “Yeah! Like…doing a practice run of what we’d do in an emergency, y’know? We would sit under our desks and put a book over our head and neck.”

Tobias frowns. “Are natural disasters getting more common in the human realm too?”

Nia starts to shake her head, but then hesitates. “Actually, they are, but I think ours are due to climate change. Anyways! No, we just kind of had to cover stuff like that for school regulations. Still don’t know why I was so convinced quicksand would be such a concern in my adult life, though.”

Tobias snorts. The voices of the two ‘mon finally move along, fading into the distance, so he waves for Nia to follow before darting into the next alley.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the edge of town, and Samir steps out of the darkness between some barrels right away. Tied to their back is a bulky brown sack, although the weight of it seems light.

“Samir! Were you waiting long?”

The skiddo shakes their head, but jerks their chin in the direction of the mine, clearly wanting to get going. Tobias can’t argue with that, so he gestures for the grass type to take the lead.

The trip across the canyon is quiet, even Nia too busy watching her feet on the uneven terrain (and sending the occasional nervous glance over her shoulder) to strike up a conversation. The sand and rock underfoot is cooling now that the sun has set, and the path ahead is dark, Tobias’ tail offering the only light aside from the dim glow of the stars and moon. He’s grateful that Samir seems to remember the path to the cave, only having to stop occasionally to get their bearings.

Once they reach the edge of the canyon, Samir hops up the tumble of rocks first, stopping every few feet to look back and make sure Tobias and Nia are following. Tobias lights the way for Nia, grabbing her arm to haul her up one of the larger rocks when she slips.

“Where should we hide while we wait?” She asks, looking around.

“Somewhere I can hide my tail flame,” Tobias says, peeking behind some nearby rocks.

Two distinct taps get their attention, and Tobias looks up to see Samir’s head peering over some nearby boulders, at a slightly higher vantage point than they're currently at. The skiddo gestures for them to come up.

Tobias and Nia do so, scrabbling up the sediment and rock a little too loudly. When they reach Samir they find a little spot tucked away behind some large stones, but with a good view of the path leading up to the mines.

“This is perfect!” Nia whispers, sitting down. There’s a gleam of excitement in her eyes. “Good find, Samir.”

Tobias grudgingly agrees. He sits next to Nia as they all settle down onto the cold, hard ground. Small rocks jab into his skin, and he shifts constantly for a minute or so, trying to get comfortable. He tucks his tail flame away at the base of the larger stones, stacking a few small rocks around it to form a little tent and hide away some of the light.

“Think that’s good enough?” He asks.

“I'll check!”

Nia slips out of their hiding place to make sure she can’t see his tail from the path. After a moment, she climbs back up to them.

“You can tell something is off about the lighting if you’re really looking for it, but I don’t think anyone will notice.”

Tobias isn’t satisfied by that, and carefully restacks the stones around his tail to try to contain the light a bit better. He's used to having his tail free to move around and he really doesn't like the feeling of forcing it still.

By time Tobias finally stops fiddling with the rocks, Nia is already not-so-subtly scoots closer to him, visibly trembling now that they aren’t moving about.

Tobias raises a brow, amused. “Cold?”

“F-Fire types don’t get teasing rights in sub-zero t-temperatures,” Nia chatters.

Samir makes a quiet rasping sound that Tobias realizes after a moment is a laugh. Then they reach back over their shoulder and tug open the tie on the brown sack they’d brought along, shoving their short muzzle right in.

“S-Samir?” Nia asks, giving Tobias a questioning look. He shrugs.

Samir pulls their head out of the sack, a well-worn blanket gently clamped between their teeth. It looks familiar, and Tobias realizes after a moment that it must be one of the blankets from Lara’s house. Samir drops it in Nia’s lap, then gives her a stern look and a point of their hoof.

Nia gasps, gathering the blanket in her paws and unfolding it. “Thank you! I’ll be careful with it, promise!”

Samir nods, apparently satisfied, and pulls out a second blanket for themself. They unfold it with their snout and then tug it over their body until they too are covered.

“Thank God we have someone to remember the important stuff,” Nia says, happily wrapping herself up in the blanket. “You’re the best, Samir.”

Tobias feels a stab of irritation at that, but it dies away just as quickly when Nia opens one arm of her quilt and gives him a pleading look.

“You have to come over here," Tobias points out. "I can’t move my tail."

He stays put as Nia hurries to his side and envelops him in the other half of the blanket cocoon. Some part of him is embarrassed about the close quarters, but the rest of him is just pleased that he still has something over Samir.

“You should pay me for how often you use me as a personal heater,” Tobias grumbles. “Cozy?”

Nia makes a happy hum and presses cool fur against his side. “Yup!”

Samir gives the two of them an amused look, clearly content under their own blanket.

And then they wait.

The night is cold but calm, the canyon walls a towering presence of black around them. After a little while, the town’s distant lights start to go dark, one by one. The only sound is the wind and the occasional shift from one of Tobias’ companions.

Tobias’ tail, tucked away and hidden among the rocks, only offers a small circle of light. Otherwise, their surroundings are doused in a level of blackness he’s unfamiliar with. But thanks to that, their adjusted eyes can see more than usual, too.

Overhead, the ragged circle of sky is absolutely filled with stars. Tobias can see how the night sky is layered with them, like thin sheets of crystal. Nia and Samir have followed his gaze, and the riolu in particular looks awestruck by the sight, eyes wide and mouth ajar.

Tobias loves the sight of the stars, but feels a painful knot of nostalgia tug at his chest. The night sky was like this in the mountains, too, open and endless.

When the skies were particularly clear and calm, Tobias’ parents would take him and Vivi flying. Tobias can recall with painful clarity the breathless feeling of being one with that night sky, surrounded on all sides by galaxies and stars that felt close enough to touch. Close enough to fall into. But he’d always felt safe with his parents, grinning from atop one of their backs and occasionally calling out to Vivi. His family's tails looked like shooting stars as they drifted through the dark sky.

Tobias moves his gaze back down to the black stretch of the land. He takes a breath that is audibly shakier than he would like, and Nia, pressed close to his side, notices. She gives him a concerned look that he ignores.

Nia sighs, but loops her arm through his to give what he thinks is supposed to be a reassuring squeeze. He swallows down the embarrassed heat in his throat, the kind that makes him want to snap and push her away. He’s reluctantly enjoying the sensation of her so close and so solid at his side. It's grounding.

Nia tries to start up a hushed conversation with Tobias and Samir once or twice, but each time she does Tobias gives her a frown and glances towards town, nervous about their voices carrying across the canyon. Eventually, she falls silent again. Probably wishing she had a book or something to pass the time.

Hours crawl by. They must, for the stars to slowly migrate overhead and the moon to rise higher and higher into the sky.

Their hiding spot isn’t exactly comfortable, out in the frigid cold and atop rocky terrain, but they try to keep quiet as they readjust, stretching and shuffling when their muscles grow tight and stiff.

Even Tobias is feeling antsy by midnight, torn between exhaustion from the long day and keyed-up tension from their stakeout. Samir looks as calm and unflappable as ever, gazing out towards the town. Tobias thinks Nia has nodded off a few times, until he sees her ear flick or feels her squeeze his arm in the warmth of their blanket cocoon.

“Hey, Samir?”

The riolu’s soft voice feels loud and out of place after the silence. Tobias gives her a warning look, but this time she ignores him.

Samir glances at her.

“You don’t have to answer, but…” Nia takes a breath, the exhale clouding the night air. “Why are you out here on your own? In Asra, I mean. You’re a Seeker, right? At the Lexym Guild, all Seekers have to have a partner.”

Tobias watches Samir’s face, curious despite himself. The skiddo looks caught off-guard at first, but then they look away, their expression closed-off. There's something there, though, poorly hidden just under the surface. Something Tobias recognizes.

Anger.

“I-I’m sorry,” Nia hurries to say. “You really don’t have to talk about it, I just—“

Nia cuts herself off as Samir starts writing in the dirt with the tip of their hoof. They write one word. Pause. Write another. Much slower than they’ve written anything else.

When they’re done, Tobias leans in with Nia to read.

HAD PARTNER

NOT ANYMORE

“Oh,” Nia whispers, her free paw coming up over her mouth. “I…I’m so sorry.”

Tobias feels a lump grow in his own throat, remembering all too clearly how just a week ago he thought Nia might die from her illness. Leaving him alone again.

But Samir shakes their head, as if to correct them. They write again with sharp drags of their hoof.

ALIVE

DIDN’T WANT

Nia frowns. “Didn’t..? You didn’t want them to be your partner?”

Samir winces. Moves to add a single word to the end of their sentence.

“Oh,” Tobias says, quiet. “They…didn’t want you.”

Samir goes still, staring down at their hoof still poised to write. Their face is hard and almost blank. A practiced kind of expression.

“What?” Nia whispers. “But…why wouldn’t they want you as a partner? You’re like the perfect Seeker! You take your job seriously and you’re observant and nice and—“

Samir looks her dead in the eye, an uncharacteristic spark of hurt in their expression. Then, they tilt their chin up and pat the flat of their hoof against their neck, twice.

At this angle, Tobias can see the edge of a large scar peeking out from the mane of leaves around their throat, even in the darkness. Still pink—relatively fresh. A few months old, if that.

Tobias’ hand drifts up to his own scarf.

“They didn’t want to be your partner because you can’t speak?” Nia asks, clearly bewildered.

“I think they were partners, when Samir lost their voice,” Tobias rasps.

The skiddo nods once at Tobias, looking even more tired than usual.

If that was supposed to soothe Nia, it only does the opposite. Tobias can feel her fur bristle against his side.

“What?!”

Tobias shushes Nia, glancing below them at the dark path.

Nia lowers her voice, but is no less incensed. “You were already partners and they just…gave up on you because you got hurt?”

Samir nods. The skiddo’s discomfort is clear enough that even Tobias is about to elbow Nia and urge her to drop it.

But Nia lunges forward, free paw slapping to the dirt. “That’s terrible!”

Samir looks surprised by the heat of Nia’s comment, leaning back and blinking at her.

“What kind of partner—heck, what kind of decent person does that?!” Nia fumes. “What, they couldn’t learn freakin’ Morse code or something? What a stupid excuse!”

Samir frowns at Nia, but looks more frustrated than anything. They shake their head and hurriedly scribble something in the dirt.

MISSIONS TOO FAST

HAVE TO TALK

Well, it would be a bit difficult to communicate in the middle of a fight without speech. Especially when Samir can’t even use sign language thanks to their hooves.

But Nia fervently shakes her head. “No! No, that’s—don’t make excuses for them. We’ve been communicating with you just fine for days and we literally just met you!”

Tobias’ brows lift. She does have a point. He looks back to Samir.

The skiddo’s eyes narrow. They huff, writing again and underlining the last word with an angry jab of their hoof.

WRITING SLOW

MISSIONS FAST

Nia huffs, crossing her arms. “There are other ways to communicate besides talking, even in the middle of a mission.”

Samir gives Tobias a wide-eyed look, clearly hoping for backup. Tobias just lifts his hands in surrender.

“She insisted on partnering with me. And I used to be even more of a jerk than I am now. Good luck.”

Samir’s mouth twitches like they’re fighting a smile. Before they can write a rebuttal, their ears prick to attention. They snap their head up, looking towards the path to town. Nia’s gaze follows the skiddo's, her own ears tilting forward.

They must hear something. Tobias double-checks that his tail flame is hidden.

“This isn’t over,” Nia promises—threatens?—with a point of her finger at Samir. The skiddo gives her an unimpressed look and bats her paw away with a hoof. Tobias shushes them both.

Sure enough, a half minute later, movement catches Tobias eye. It's hard to make out in the darkness, but as the shape gets closer Tobias recognizes a smaller figure, likely just a bit bigger than himself. Bipedal. They’re in a cloak, hood up, which is suspicious in itself.

The figure picks their way across the rocky terrain and starts the climb up to the mine, just a few feet away from their hiding spot. Tobias holds his breath, Nia and Samir still as stone at his sides.

The figure disappears over the lip of the rocks, into the cave, and silence falls again.

“Should we follow them?” Nia murmurs.

“Let’s give ‘em a minute or two. Make sure they don’t just come back out.”

They wait, tense and gazes locked onto the yawning darkness of the cave. Tobias’ breath leaves him in a quiet cloud of steam. His heart beats steady and swift against his chest.

“Okay, they’ve gotta be doing something in there,” Tobias whispers. “Let’s check it out. Just be ready for a fight.”

Nia slips out from the hiding place first, and Tobias moves to follow. Samir stops him, stepping in his path with a shake of their head.

“What?” Tobias asks.

Samir frowns, then writes something in the dirt. Tobias glances again at the cave before pulling his tail closer to read it.

STAY

TAIL BRIGHT

Tobias’ face flushes, and he flicks his tail self-consciously behind him. “I can’t just let you two go in there alone!”

Nia gives him a sympathetic look. “Sorry Tobias, but, uh…Samir’s got a point. If we’re trying to be subtle, then your tail is pretty noticeable.”

Tobias huffs, crossing his arms. They’re right. Doesn’t mean he has to like it.

“Fine. I’ll wait outside. But call for me if anything goes wrong.”

Nia gives him a smile and a nod. Samir leads the way down to the cave, peering cautiously around the edge of it. After a beat, they slip inside. Nia treads after him on quiet paws, blending into the shadows with her blue and black fur.

Tobias stands just outside the cave, off to the side to avoid being a literal beacon, and strains to listen for any sign of a fight. He doesn’t doubt Samir's (or Nia's) capabilities, but he doesn’t like his partner going in there without him if there’s a potentially dangerous criminal lurking about.

Thankfully, it’s only a minute or so before Nia jogs back to the opening. She looks perplexed, but not panicked.

“We can’t find anyone.”

Tobias frowns. “But the tunnel’s blocked off.”

He follows the riolu in, glancing up at the roof and from side to side as they walk deeper. It only takes a minute for them to reach the same spot they’d hit this morning, with the caved-in tumble of rocks and dirt and the broken-down mine cart. Sure enough, there’s no one here but an equally unsure Samir.

Tobias turns around, suspicious. “They couldn’t have just vanished!”

“Could a ghost type do that?” Nia asks, feeling around the rocky walls again. “Turn invisible or go through the cave-in or something?”

“I don’t think so,” Tobias murmurs, glancing at Samir for confirmation. The skiddo seems like they’re barely listening, also nudging around rocks and debris. Still, they take a moment to meet Tobias’ eye and shrug. Helpful.

Nia has made her way back over to the mine cart, peering behind it. “Tobias, can you come here for a sec? Maybe the lantern moved.”

He moves to her side, pulling his tail around and look into the dark wedge of space where they’d found the lantern this morning. But all Tobias sees are the imprints in the dirt.

“It’s gone,” Tobias confirms.

Samir steps past him, leaning down to sniff at the imprints. Then, their head tilts ever so slightly, looking instead at the nearest wheel of the mine cart like something caught their eye. Nia crouches to inspect it too.

Tobias follows them, brows shooting up as he notices what they have. There’s a faint line in the dirt behind each wheel: drag marks where the cart was scooted over a foot or so before being dragged back into place.

“Oh, good find!” Nia says.

“The cart was moved?” Tobias asks.

“Should we look underneath?” Nia asks in return. She doesn’t wait for an answer, lying on her belly to peer beneath the cart. She slips a paw under and a faint blue light spills out at she uses her aura to take a look.

She gasps. “There’s a hole under here! Big enough for someone around our size to fit through.”

“Sneaky,” Tobias murmurs. “Help me move it.”

“W-We’re following them down there?”

Samir shakes their head, expression hard. The skiddo writes a quick note in the dirt.

DANGEROUS

GET CALDER

“Samir’s right,” Nia says, shifting uneasily. “We don’t know if this’ll turn into a fight or what’s waiting for us down there.”

But if they go get Calder, will he just insist on taking a look himself, without their help? What if Rosalind and Granite don’t count that as Team Scarlet solving the problem, and don’t give Tobias the information they’ve worked so hard for? What if this is nothing malicious and they’re kicked out of town for trespassing in the mines before they really can solve the earthquake issue?

Tobias’ stomach sinks at the thought.

“We'll just take a quick look,” Tobias says.

Samir gives a quiet stomp, shaking their head and glaring at Tobias. They underline the word DANGEROUS in the dirt.

“Samir’s right—we don’t know what’s down there,” Nia hedges, clearly wanting to keep the peace. “Maybe Calder will let us help investigate?”

“And if it’s not connected to the quakes and we’re kicked out of town instead?” Tobias presses, trying to sound rational instead of desperate. “It was only one ‘mon! We can take ‘em if they put up a fight.”

Samir huffs and shakes their head again, but Tobias can tell he’s winning Nia over. He feels a bit bad taking advantage of the riolu’s peacekeeping nature, but he can't risk the possibility of them failing this mission and missing out on Rosalind’s info.

“I’m going,” He decides. He presses his back to the cart and leans his weight into it. “You two can wait up here if you want.”

Samir snags Tobias’ scarf with their horn, yanking him away from the cart. Tobias hisses and swipes at the skiddo until they back off.

“Don’t touch that! You aren’t stopping me!” Tobias growls, a few embers climbing up his throat. He clutches at his scarf protectively.

“Don’t fight!” Nia says, stepping between them. She looks back and forth, nibbling on her lip. “O-Okay, how about we just take a peek, see if we can see anything. Then we can go tell Calder if it looks suspicious.”

Samir is clearly as unhappy about that compromise as Tobias is, but neither one offers a protest.

Nia joins Tobias in pushing back against the cart, just until it rolls a foot or so across the dirt. They try to take it slow to avoid the old rusted metal squeaking too loudly.

When it’s pushed aside, Tobias holds out his tail to see a fairly large hole dug into the ground, just as Nia said. A fraying rope ladder is staked into the dirt at the top, leading down into impenetrable darkness.

“Looks inviting,” Nia says weakly.

Samir huffs, tapping their hoof to one of their previous words in the dirt.

CALDER

Panic gnaws at Tobias chest, and he tries to keep it out of his words as he says, “This could still be something completely unrelated. Let’s just go down to check it out.”

Nia wrings her paws. Samir stares at Tobias with a hard gaze, clearly understanding exactly what it is that Tobias is doing.

“Look, you two don’t have to come with me, okay?” Tobias grumbles, rolling his eyes. “I’ll go check it out myself.”

Tobias doesn’t give Nia or Samir the chance to stop him. He swings himself over the lip and puts his weight down on the first rope rung, feeling it dip under his foot.

“Tobias!” Nia whisper-shouts, clearly freaking out. “Stop! W-We should really go get Calder.”

“You two go get him,” Tobias says, easing his way down one step at a time. “I’m checking it out.” And hopefully whoever he finds will be weak enough for him to handle on his own.

Nia whimpers something under her breath. Then, the rope ladder sways and jerks with a movement not Tobias’ own. He looks up, not entirely surprised but very relieved to see Nia stepping down after him. He wasn’t going to force her to follow him, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t let him go alone.

Tobias continues his descent, taking the next few rungs step by step. The rope creaks under their weight.

The ladder suddenly jerks, a bit rougher than before, and Tobias’ head snaps up again. But Nia is looking up too, lighting a ball of aura in her paw and holding it up as she whispers, “Samir?”

Tobias can barely see the vague silhouette of Samir clumsily making their way down the rope ladder after them, making the ladder sway and shake as they try to hook their legs around the rungs.

Tobias feels more of the nervous weight on his shoulders melt away. A small part of him feels guilty for basically forcing the other two to follow him down, but he shoves it away and continues on. This is important. They’ll be fine with all three of them.

They go lower and lower, drowning in tense silence. The walls of the tunnel close in on them, dark and stifling all sound. Tobias is grateful for his tail flame, letting them see where their footing is.

Finally, Tobias sees a faint glow of light below. He hurries his steps, gripping hard to the rope as Samir’s clumsy movements rock the ladder.

Tobias touches down on cold dirt in a small, enclosed space. As Nia follows, hopping to the ground and helping Samir down the last few steps, he turns.

The smaller space opens up to a much larger, much brighter cavern that is bathed in a low, rosy light. He steps into the cave, craning his head back to take it all in.

Much like the tunnels under the Lexym Guild, the dirt and rock of the cavern is lit by chunks of crystal sticking out of the walls and floor, embedded in both large and small chunks. Some are a deep pink, and some are a golden yellow. Tobias takes a step closer to one to touch it, startled by the warmth at his fingertips.

They almost seem...familiar, in a way. After a moment, he realizes where he’s seen them before. These must be the crystals used in weather-lengthening battle items, like heat rocks and smooth rocks. Huh.

“Tobias!” Nia whispers.

He turns, something in his partner's voice putting him on edge. Nia is hurrying closer to him, staring nervously at the opposite wall of the cave. It’s only after Tobias catches movement flashing along its surface in patches that he realizes what he’s looking at.

“Mirrorstone?” He asks, cautiously moving closer to investigate.

“I thought Granite said the town ran the mirrorstone supply dry,” Nia murmurs, following.

“He did,” Tobias confirms, frowning as he reaches out to touch one of the stones. It’s cool, its reflection clear enough that he can see the minuscule scales of his skin this close up.

Nia whimpers and tugs at Tobias’ arm. He gives her a look.

“It’s a reflection, right?” She whispers. “W-What if Giratina can see us through there?”

Tobias’ heart skips a beat. He hurriedly steps back and away from the wall, Nia stumbling along with him. Samir, who had followed them over, looks between them and the wall, clearly alarmed by their reaction.

“Maybe he can’t find us down here,” Tobias says, more out of a desperate attempt at reassurance than any actual faith in the thought.

Nia doesn’t answer, which tells him he didn’t quite sell it.

Before anyone can say anything else, there’s a distant shout, echoing into the cave. Tobias’ head snaps up to follow the noise, only now noticing the large tunnel dug into one of the walls, leading off to the side and around a bend.

Almost immediately after, the ground beneath them, around them, above them, begins to shake. Tobias curses and grabs onto one of the larger chunks of crystal. Nia huddles against him, and Samir braces against them both.

Tobias fears this will be another big quake, but it only lasts a few seconds, and it doesn’t rip apart the ground like the earthquake that hit Deidra’s saloon. This one feels more gentle, quickly petering off into stillness once again.

It’s not until a second voice, deeper and louder but still indistinguishable, sounds off from the same direction that Tobias registers the vibration for what it likely was.

That wasn’t a quake, was it? It was a Pokemon moving. Digging around beneath the earth.

Tobias shuffles closer to the opening of the tunnel, ignoring Nia’s quiet protest. His eyes trace the walls of it as it leads away from the cavern.

While the cave they’re in feels naturally-made, what Tobias can see of this tunnel looks more…artificial. There are huge, rhythmic grooves set into the walls, and many of the gems embedded into the surface are cracked or sliced in half. As if something very, very big dug this tunnel. Burrowed right through the earth and stone with ease.

Nia and Samir follow his gaze, and Tobias can see them piecing it together as well. Nia’s ears pin to her head, and Samir takes a cautious step backwards.

“C-Could the Pokemon we saw do all this?” Nia asks.

Tobias swallows. The distant voices are audible again. Voices, plural. There’s definitely more than one Pokemon down here with them.

Tobias takes a step towards the voices. Samir grunts and hurries to stand in front of him, head lowered and horns pointing straight at his face. The message is clear.

“W-We should really go get Calder,” Nia whispers in agreement, glancing up at the tunnel walls again. “We don’t know what kind of Pokemon is up ahead.”

They’re right. Tobias knows they’re right.

But the thought that somehow, someway, if they don’t take these guys down all on their own then they won’t get the info that Rosalind promised as a reward…

That thought fuels the determined fire in his chest.

“I’m checking it out,” Tobias says, stepping around Samir.

“Tobias!” Nia grabs his arm, yanking him to a stop. She looks scared. “Please, we can go get help and come back. We—“

“Have to figure this out on our own,” Tobias hisses, pulling his arm free. “If Rosalind doesn’t think we carried our weight, she might not…this trip can't have been for nothing, Nia!”

“It wasn’t for nothing!” Nia snaps, blinking back tears. She glances down the tunnel, then back at him with a frown. “We’ve helped so many people in this town, Tobias! That’s not nothing!”

“But it’s not what I came here for,” Tobias growls.

Before she or Samir can argue further, he spins and hurries as quietly as he can down the tunnel, to the next bend in the path. His reflection follows him in the corner of his eye, showing bits and pieces of his visage in the patches of mirrorstone embedded into the walls.

Nia, of course, follows, though her distress is palpable as she alternates between shooting the walls nervous glances and giving him a pleading expression. Samir hesitates farther back, glancing over their shoulder as if considering going to town to grab Calder. But then they shake their head, visibly angry, and follow.

Tobias checks that the coast is clear, the voices a bit louder but still a bit of a ways away. Then he hurries forward again, stepping carefully around sharp, broken stone and crystal.

He slows considerably as the voices grow in volume. The yellow glow of a lantern—probably the one they’d found this morning—paints the cave walls ahead in a slightly brighter light that winks and gleams in the pieces of mirrorstone. Tobias can hear the voices grow louder and sharper as they approach. One of them, the higher one, sounds vaguely familiar. The second voice with the much deeper tone is completely unknown.

Tobias peers around the edge of the tunnel. After a moment, Samir huffs and ducks under Tobias’ arm. Nia leans lightly against Tobias' back to peer over his head.

Ahead, in another open cavern, are two Pokemon. The figure they'd followed into the tunnels has pulled down their hood, and Tobias recognizes the dark pointed ears and turquoise fur even from behind. Eddy, the dewott construction crew manager.

Facing Eddy, dwarfing his form, is a massive silver face. It’s peering out from the darkness of the tunnels with a heavy jaw of blocky teeth and black-rimmed eyes. The cavern's colorful stones and the lantern’s light reflects off the Pokemon’s thick metallic hide.

“A steelix,” Tobias murmurs, a nervous chill rolling down his spine. Now that's a Pokemon who can cause some damage. Guess they know for sure who dug these tunnels now.

Tobias' eyes trace the heavy split of a scar cracking through the steelix's shell, starting over the Pokemon's left eye and trailing all the way down to his jutting lower jaw. The blood red color of that iris is dulled slightly, clearly damaged from whatever left such a mark.

“You almost took me out with that quake yesterday!” Eddy is snarling, paw waving. “Half of Deidra’s saloon came down!”

The steelix snorts, kicking up dust and grit with his breath. “You asked for destruction. I gave you destruction. Not my fault you can’t watch your own tail. Sounds to me like I’m just doing my half of the job.”

Well, there’s the confirmation they were looking for. So these two are working together to cause destruction aboveground? Who even is the steelix? Tobias knows he would remember seeing him around. Not easy to miss a ‘mon that big.

“Can it. Unless you suddenly figured out how to use rain dance, the quakes won't cause half as much damage without me. Heck, remember that I’m the whole reason this operation even works! You wouldn’t get paid without me.”

The steelix rumbles something in response, looking irritated, but Tobias is occupied decoding that information.

Getting paid? The construction crew is making big bucks repairing all of the damages from the quakes, but could money really be the motive behind this?

Pokemon died due to these quakes. And Eddy just…doesn’t care?

Tobias almost doesn’t want to believe it, but the dewott basically admitted it himself. And Eddy is a water type—it would make sense he would know rain dance, would be able to loosen up the soil so the “quakes” do as much damage to the buildings’ foundations as possible. Add on the steelix tunneling around down here right under the town, and they don’t even need moves to cause massive, devastating damage.

Suddenly, Tobias recalls a few moments from the past couple of days in a new light. Eddy turning them away from interrogating Cody, redirecting their investigation when they were getting too close to the real culprit. The dewott slapping down an obscene amount of poké at Deidra’s saloon. Eddy telling his crew so confidently that there won't be any more rain for a while.

Nia’s paw, balanced on his shoulder, tightens. He has a feeling she’s thinking of the same thing. All the clues they missed.

Meanwhile, Eddy and the steelix are still arguing. The dewott is saying something about bringing in more ‘mon to help mine the mirrorstone in these caves and outsource it to another location. He really does only care about the money, doesn’t he?

Tobias stuffs down his anger and pulls back, glad when Nia and Samir quietly follow his lead. His partner stares at him with a pleading, desperate look. Samir glares at him, clearly telling him this won’t end well if they attack.

Tobias hates it, but he knows the skiddo is right. As much as Tobias wants to rip into these jerks, he knows logically that they need to get out of here and get backup from Calder, threat to Rosalind’s info or not. Tobias is confident they could take Eddy in a fight, especially with Samir’s advantage over the water type. But a seasoned steelix, big as a building and powerful enough to burrow so easily through the desert earth? Even Tobias can admit they aren’t ready for that.

But as if the universe itself were out to spite Tobias for such a thought, a pebble slips from the wall they’d just been leaning against. It bounces to the ground, impossibly loud. Tobias freezes, Nia and Samir going wide-eyed and still as well.

Eddy and the steelix fall silent.

Tobias holds his breath, glad that they’d at least ducked back around the lip of the tunnel.

Until he glances up, to one of the clusters of mirrorstone embedded into the tunnel wall across from them. In its reflection, he can see Eddy and the steelix around the corner, clear as day.

Which means the crooks can see them, too.

It’s quiet enough for Tobias to hear the dewott hiss, “Thought I heard something. Take those brats out or we both go down.”

“Run!” Tobias barks, shoving Nia back the way they came. Samir bolts ahead of her.

Behind them the steelix growls and gives chase, making the walls of the tunnel shake. Tobias doesn’t dare look over his shoulder, sprinting as hard as he can and willing Nia not to trip over one of the rocks embedded in the uneven ground.

Somehow, they make it back to the cavern with the rope ladder. Samir is hopping impatiently from hoof to hoof at its bottom. Stupid self-sacrificing grass type, waiting to start climbing after Nia and Tobias so they don’t slow everyone down.

Nia’s ahead of Tobias, longer legs at work, and for a moment Tobias thinks they’re going to make it. It’s Samir—suddenly stopping their nervous movement, confused eyes trained over Tobias’ shoulder—that clues him in that something is wrong.

And Tobias realizes too, once he notices the lack of noise through his lung-ripping gasps.

Why is it so quiet?

Tobias glances over his shoulder, only to see…nothing. No one chasing them. There are only the faint vibrations of the tunnels. Growing stronger, shaking, and then—

The ground beneath their feet crumbles and cracks.

Nia yelps and Samir hurries to her side to steady her. Tobias curses and stumbles, gritting his teeth against the painful tilting of the attack. And this time it is an attack. Tobias can feel it, feel the ground type energy assaulting his very being.

Then, the ground isn’t just shaking and cracking, it’s opening up beneath him. A yawning maw of black that swallows him whole and steals the breath from his lungs.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #charmander #riolu #skiddo #pmd seekers of soul

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dbcoatl-art · 8 months

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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Hunters of Ruination

Chapter 3: Spicy Problems, Sweet Solution [13 Pages]

Jin introduces Mila to the rest of the Pokémon in Trueno Village. Some are confident that Mila will help them in their search for George and the "beast of the valley", while others don't trust her. But before a decision can be made, a new, more aggressive adversary appears...and Mila ends up in her first battle!

Happy Thanksgiving Monday!

Mila followed Jin through the overgrowth as the two backtracked to the clearing where they had left the Scovillain behind. As she took careful pawsteps to avoid tripping over any stray roots or fallen branches, she couldn’t help but wonder how Jin’s uncle would react. Would he be more accepting of her? Or would he end up ousting her as this so-called “beast” terrorizing the valley?

In spite of all, one question still remained in her mind: What was the real beast of the valley…and when would they strike again, if they were still about?

She didn’t notice Jin had stopped until her nose suddenly bumped against his rear leg. She fell back with a squeak, clutching her snout and rubbing it to make sure it wasn’t too badly hurt.

“Why did we stop?” she asked him. “What’s going on?”

Jin put one paw over her mouth to stop her from speaking. Then, with his other paw, he slowly parted the leaves of the brush, allowing her to get a clear view of the scene that lay before her.

She realized that they had returned to the same clearing with the pitfall trap she’d made earlier before, except now there was a crowd of Pokémon gathered around it. About half the group held pitchforks and torches (because why wouldn’t they?) while others were gathered around the pit, pulling on ropes to haul the Scovillain out of the pit. Mila noticed that more ropes were tied around the Scovillain’s two snouts, as well as its legs and torso – probably to keep it from attacking the villagers.

Once the Scovillain was out of the pit and onto the ground, a Dedenne wearing a blue waistcoat and white cravat hopped onto the helpless feral’s back. He was saying something, but unfortunately Mila was too far away to make out the words.

Jin took a deep breath and removed his paw from Mila’s mouth to point at a Luxray standing a few ways off from the crowd. It didn’t seem like he was focused on the feral at all, but rather lost in thought about something else. As he turned his head to the side, Mila squinted to make out two scars that ran across his muzzle, one of them going just underneath his left eye.

“You see that Luxray over there?” Jin whispered to her. “That’s Uncle Volt. And the Gogoat with the daisies on her mane is my Aunt Leif.” He pointed to the aforementioned Gogoat who had just come up to nuzzle the Luxray, perhaps in an effort to calm him down.

“So, what now?” Mila asked, keeping her voice as low as she could.

“First, I need to let Uncle Volt know that I’m okay, and that nothing bad has happened to me,” replied the young Shinx. “When that’s done, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crowd. I’ll give you a signal to let you know when to do so.”

Mila still wasn’t so sure if Uncle Volt and Aunt Leif would be as accepting to her as Jin was. Besides, she was pretty sure that Volt was a seasoned battler who could easily take her out in one hit, if those scars were anything to go by. And any Grass-type moves she could have on hand would be useless against Aunt Leif, provided Leif had Sap Sipper in the first place.

However, she had to trust Jin, and trust that he was doing the right thing. Once this ordeal was over and done with, she could start worrying about other things…like, where she would stay. Hopefully this village would provide her with some form of hospitality. Maybe she could aid in the search for George, and bring the real beast of the valley to justice.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “Alright,” she whispered. “I trust you.”

Jin smiled before jumping out of the bush, dragging his hind paws to cover up Mila’s tracks as he did. Once he was sure his tracks were the only ones that were visible, he scampered over to the mob, calling, “Uncle Volt! Aunt Leif! I’m over here!”

Mila’s ears twitched as she heard Volt call Jin’s name. She peered through the hold in the bush, watching as the Luxray nuzzled Jin on the crown of his head. She fought the urge to giggle at the motion, noticing how uncomfortable it made Jin.

“Thank the guardian you’re safe,” Volt purred. “I was worried sick! What if something had happened to you?” He turned and flicked his tail at the bound feral Scovillain.

“But nothing bad happened to me, see?” Jin spun around. “Not a scratch on me!”

Volt opened his mouth, only for a wiry tail to wrap itself around his foreleg. The Dedenne had hopped off of the Scovillain and had made his way over to the family. “What’s done is done, Voltmire,” he said.

Volt clamped his mouth shut and nodded. The Dedenne smiled as he turned to Jin. “So, boy, were you able to find the beast?”

Jin glanced over at Pacha, noticing a hopeful glint in her eye. He looked down at his paws, hesitant to break the news. “… No,” he replied. “I couldn’t find it… I’m sorry, Mayor Sparky.”

Murmurs of disappointment rippled across the mob. Not only had the most adventurous child in Trueno Village failed to find George, he had also failed to find this so-called beast that kidnapped the little Phanpy.

“B-but I did find someone who might be able to help,” Jin quickly added. “In fact, she’s the one who made that pitfall trap in the first place. She even saved me from that Scovillain!”

Volt blinked with surprise. Mayor Sparky, on the other hand, seemed interested. “Really now?” he said, putting a paw to his chin. “Then why not show us this little rescuer of yours?”

Mila watched intently, digging her claws into the dirt with a nervousness she couldn’t quite explain. She then noticed Jin giving her a side-eye before he flicked his tail. That must be his signal, she thought. She took a deep breath. Here goes nothing!

Slowly, she crept out of the bush, putting one paw ahead of the other as she walked. She made her way across the clearing, aware of the multiple pairs of eyes that were now staring at her with utmost curiosity, until she finally came to a stop near the pitfall trap, on the opposite side of where the villagers were.

The mob looked at her for a moment, most of them bearing faces of curiosity. Some of them hushed out whispers to one another while maintaining eye contact. She couldn’t exactly make out much of the mixed conversations, but she could tell that they at least didn’t think of her as a beast.

She glanced at Jin, noticing that he was beckoning her to come over. Letting out a small smile, she trotted over to his side.

“This is Mila,” Jin told the others. “She’s the one who saved me from that feral Scovillain. She might have some of the qualities that Mrs. Pacha described, but she’s actually a hero!”

“H-hello,” Mila said, shyly waving a paw. She wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about being a hero. All she did was blind the feral Scovillain with rocks and get Jin to a safer place.

She stole a glance at Mayor Sparky. His eyes were closed as he rubbed his chin in thought. The tip of his wiry tail twitched, as did his antenna-like whiskers.

After what seemed like forever, the Dedenne opened his eyes and put his paws on his hips. “Well, she does have them blue eyes, all right,” he finally concluded.

Mila felt her heart drop. If Mayor Sparky ousted her as the beast, that was it. She would be finished for sure.

Luckily, however, Mayor Sparky wasn’t quite finished yet. “However, if what you say is true, then she might be of help to us. After all, if we want to save George, then we can’t afford to turn down a helping hand!” He grinned as a mischievous glint appeared in his eye. “After all, she might grow up to be a mighty fine beauty for you someday, Jin.”

That was enough for both Mila and Jin’s faces to heat up red. “M-Mila isn’t what you think she could be, Mayor,” Jin stammered. “B-besides, I just met her!”

“E-exactly!” Mila agreed, rapidly nodding her head.

Mayor Sparky let out a laugh – a deep guffaw that rumbled from within his belly. “Relax, I’m only joking,” he said with a snort. “But at least we got one more on our side. And if Miss Mila knows how to build traps like that pitfall over there, then surely we might be able to catch that beast!”

The villagers turned to one another, mulling over the mayor’s words. Hope fluttered in Mila’s chest. Things seemed to be going well so far, and Mayor Sparky was even willing to let her aid in the search, even though this was their first meeting.

The clearing of someone’s throat broke into her thoughts, bringing her attention to Volt. Right, she forgot he was still present.

“Mayor Sparky, I do have to commend your commitment to help out this girl,” he said. “But some of us have also known that you can be much too trusting for your own good.”

Mayor Sparky blinked in surprise. “What do you mean? Even my cousin over on the Water Continent took the time to get to know the Heroes of Life before acquainting herself with them.”

Volt’s tail-tip twitched as a look of slight irritation crossed his scarred visage. “Yes, and even after befriending them, she was still wary of any other Pokémon they were acquainted with. Have you forgotten how the second Dark Matter crisis nearly destroyed the world twenty years ago?”

Heroes of Life? Dark Matter crisis? Water Continent? This was all new and confusing information for Mila. Her head felt like it might burst from all this questioning.

“But Uncle Volt,” Jin spoke in protest. “Mila isn’t a bad Pokémon. She doesn’t even remember anything – she told me so.”

“Or maybe she’s faking it, and hiding the fact that she’s actually a spy,” squawked a new voice. Mila turned her head towards a bird Pokémon – one she had not seen before (or had she?) He was covered head to toe with blue feathers bearing black accents, and had a blue-grey beak with talons to match. He glared at her with red eyes accentuated with white markings that could very well act as eyeballs over the black feathers that stretched over his face like a mask.

“Jin,” she whispered to the Shinx. “Who’s that?”

“Niko, the village’s local nutjob,” Jin hissed under his breath. “And he’s what you would call a Corvisquire.” He then glared at the blue bird. “What are you talking about, Niko? What do you mean by spy?”

The Corvisquire, Niko, smirked as he casually sauntered up to quartet, stopping once he was within wing’s reach of Mila. “Well, think about it this way,” he said. “For starters, this girl is a Sprigatito. And it’s pretty common knowledge that one of the few places you can find them is in the Misty Woods, where their so-called queen makes her home.”

“That makes zero sense, Niko!” Jin spat back. “Mila doesn’t even know what the Misty Woods is. She told me so.”

“Or, like I said, she’s probably faking being an amnesiac and trying to earn everyone’s trust so she can scurry on back to the queen. And then, the entire clan will end up staging an attack on our village and take over,” Niko hissed back. He glanced over at Mila, the smirk on his beak growing just a tad larger. “Either way, I’m sure Officer Magnezone will be thrilled to finally have something better to do than boring old paperwork.”

Just like that, Mila’s stomach dropped. She knew Niko was making up the “spy” thing on the spot, and she knew that she didn’t remember anything. She didn’t even know what the Misty Woods were, nor did she know anything about a “queen”.

If only she could tell him what she really was…just get that nagging feeling out there! But she knew she couldn’t. It wasn’t worth the risk. Besides, would anyone believe her? Or would they oust her anyway? And what if it only added fuel to the fire that was Niko’s spy rumour? What would happen then?

A loud roar derailed her train of thought, almost scaring her out of her fur. She whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice.

“What in tarnation was that?” Mayor Sparky demanded. The Dedenne had dropped to all fours, and was also trying to figure out what had caused this untimely interruption.

“Jin, stay close to me,” ordered Volt. Jin wanted to open his mouth in protest, but immediately snapped it shut and did as he was told.

Niko began to take a few steps toward Mila, but a hoof quickly blocked his path, followed by the large body of a Gogoat. Mila instinctively clung to Leif’s leg and watched as Leif gave Niko a glare, forcing the bird to back off (though not without a scowl).

With Niko out of the way, Mila could catch a glimpse of the Scovillain that was still tied up. It seemed to have regained its eyesight, but now both of its heads were swinging wildly in a panic. Muffled whimpers rumbled from within its throats, as if it was afraid of something bigger.

Something worse.

Before she even realized what she was doing, Mila suddenly dashed underneath Leif’s belly, ignoring Leif’s bleat of surprise. She ran over to the feral Scovillain and leaped onto its back. Baring claws and fangs, she began to gnaw and slash away at the ropes that bound the twin-headed Pokémon. Shouts of shock and surprise assaulted her ears, but they were too muddled up for her to pay attention to them as she kept at the ropes.

Eventually, the last of the ropes fell away (save for the ones on the Scovillain’s snouts – there was not a snowball’s chance in the Distortion World Mila was going to let the creature set something on fire for its gratitude). Quick as a flash, the Scovillain rolled onto its feet before suddenly running out of the clearing, disappearing into the thick foliage.

Mayor Sparky scampered over to Mila, who was spitting out bits of the ropes that had clung to her teeth. “Now what did you go and do that for, little missy?” he demanded, despite sounding more confused than outraged.

“Pteh! You probably would have done the same, if you saw the way that Scovillain was panicking,” Mila retorted. “It was obviously frightened by something, and it wanted to run away!”

Mayor Sparky stiffened at the response, but held his ground nonetheless. Throughout his career, he never had anyone dare talk back to him like that, especially not in a situation like this. Yet, here was this stranger telling him off, all while speaking through her heart.

He let out a sigh of frustration and crossed his arms. “While I appreciate the sentiment, the way you acted was reckless,” he scolded her. “You were smart to keep that Scovillain’s snouts tied up, but think about the damage it could have done with its physical body.”

Mila flinched at his words, before looking down at the ground with sadness. She hadn’t even considered the consequences behind that. She was lucky that the Scovillain just straight up fled instead of fighting back. Yet, she knew that if she didn’t do something

In the distance, the squawking and fluttering of various bird Pokémon could be heard as they scattered in the sky. The roaring noise became louder than before. Several trees fell, causing the earth to rumble a bit. But hardly anyone paid much attention.

At least, not until a red blur suddenly bashed through the trunk of a nearby tree, snapping it in half like it was just a toothpick. A green head soon followed suit, letting out a fearsome roar.

“You gotta be kidding me,” whined one villager.

“Another freaking Scovillain?!” yelped another villager.

This seemed to draw attention to this new Scovillain, revealing a pair of glowing ice-blue eyes. It stomped out of the foliage, revealing its heads to be attached to a yellow upper torso with a blue torso underneath. Then, it reared its heads back to let out a deep, deafening roar.

“Everyone, battle formation!” Mayor Sparky squeaked. “Any families with children, get them out of here!”

At his command, most of the villagers got to work. Mila could only stand there in amazement as some of the villagers escorted their youngsters out of the clearing, while other stayed with Mayor Sparky, forming an arrowhead formation with their mayor at the helm. She tried to take a few steps forward, only for a pair of slender vines to wrap themselves around her and drag her back towards Leif. The Gogoat wasted no time in placing Mila in some kind of black pouch, where she was plopped right next to Jin. She felt the world move as Leif turned and sprinted out of the clearing, Volt following not too far behind.

“Mila, are you alright?” Jin asked. “What even was that anyway?”

“I…”

Another roar interrupted her, and the two popped their heads out of the pouch to find a scene that unfolded. Many of the villagers had descended upon the massive Scovillain. Claws and fangs raked its body, while fire, ice and electricity danced about. The Scovillain let out pained shrieks as it swung its head about in an effort to fight back. The read head spewed fire to try and torch something, while the green head snapped with jaws at anyone who dared to come close.

“Typical Shiny ferals,” Mila heard Volt mutter under his breath.

“What’s wrong with Shiny Pokémon?” Mila asked, causing Volt to jump a little. “Aren’t they supposed to be…y’know, rare? And also harbingers of good luck?”

She wasn’t entirely sure how she knew that. But there was something about that Shiny Scovillain that caused something in her blank slate of a brain to resurface.

Volt looked away for a moment, his tail-tip twitching with nervousness. Mila noticed that the star on the end of his tail seemed to spin at times, while a small needle-like structure protruded from it at odd intervals. Was that her imagination playing tricks on her?

“Y-yes. That’s what most people say,” she finally heard Volt reply. “But Shiny ferals…well, to put it lightly, they are far more aggressive than a normal feral. And they’ll fight for any kind of territory they can get their marks on. It’s best not to engage them, especially when they’re this enraged.”

Mila opened her mouth to say something, but a sudden roar interrupted her. She quickly turned to find a horrifying scene unfold: the Shiny Scovillain’s red head had started spewing flames at the villagers, while the green head spat out some kind of orange powder before swinging around to crunch at them.

“F-fall back!” one of the villagers screamed, as a crowd covered in the orange powder rushed past the quartet.

“Not good!” Volt hissed in distress. “If that Shiny Scovillain gets into the village, there won’t be anything left but ash and spices.”

Leif trotted forward to the scene of the battle, before recoiling with a horrified gasp. “Mayor Sparky!” she exclaimed. “They left Mayor Sparky behind!”

“WHAT?!” Volt roared. “Oh, for the love of… Can’t those idiots be bothered to rub their two brain cells together?!”

Mila and Jin hopped out of the pouch and clambered onto Leif’s horns to get a better look. Both their eyes widened as they saw what Leif was talking about.

Right in the clearing, Mayor Sparky was facing the Shiny Scovillain alone. The formerly-wielded torches and pitchforks lay scattered around him, having either been snapped into splinters or burned to useless piles of firewood. Several clouds of orange powder covered his pristine waistcoat, as well as on the ground surrounding him. Yet, in spite of all, he stood his ground as he bravely squared up the twin-headed beast.

“I’ll admit, yer a pretty gutsy fellow,” he said with a smirk. “But yer luck is about to run out!”

Mila crouched atop Leif’s horns, tail twitching with anticipation at the battle. She wondered what kind of power the Dedenne would hold within his tiny body.

Then, to her amazement, Mayor Sparky opened his mouth as wide as he could. As he did, the singular bucktooth in his mouth began to glow white before elongating and…sharpening? He then charged at the Shiny Scovillain with all the speed he could muster before leaping up high into the air.

“SUPER FANG!” the mayor screeched as he bit hard right between the Shiny Scovillain’s necks. Mila couldn’t help but let out a surprised gasp. Super Fang was a powerful Normal-type move that dealt a great amount of pain to its target! No wonder the Shiny Scovillain was squirming now, screaming as it spewed flames and spices from its maws. Yet, Mayor Sparky held on, refusing to let go as he dug his Super Fang deeper.

Some kind of greenish fluid – almost like blood – began squirting out of the wound, splattering the ground. Mila winced, yet could not bear to look away. Was Mayor Sparky really trying to kill the Shiny Scovillain? Or was he trying to leave enough of a scar as a reminder?

Finally, the green head of the Shiny Scovillain had enough. With one swift movement, it suddenly lunged forward and snapped its jaws around Mayor Sparky’s tail. Then, it yanked the Dedenne off of its body and flung him to the ground, where he bounced once before rolling to a stop.

“Oh no,” Leif whimpered, shrinking back behind the bushes. “Not Mayor Sparky!”

“Only been elected for two months, and this is how it ends?” Volt hissed.

Mila looked between Mayor Sparky and the Shiny Scovillain that was now slowly advancing on him. Greenish blood was pooling the ground beneath the feral’s feet, but it paid no mind to its injury, its icy-blue death glare fixed on the downed mayor. Her claws were sheathed and unsheathed as beads of sweat dripped down her face.

“We have to do something!” Leif whispered urgently to her Luxray husband. “And quickly!”

Mila glanced over at Volt, noticing that the star on his tail-tip was spinning again. This time, she was certain she saw a silvery needle protrude from one of the points. She also thought she saw a purplish fluid leaking out of the needle.

“Don’t worry,” Volt reassured his Gogoat wife. “That two-headed pest won’t know what stabbed it!”

An idea formulated in Mila’s mind. She wasn’t going to stand by and watch.

She was going to help!

In an instant, she leaped off of Leif’s head and sprinted towards Mayor Sparky.

“Mila, NO!” Jin cried out, but his words fell on deafened ears as the Sprigatito dashed through the foliage.

The Shiny Scovillain’s jaws were drawn back in a snarl as it watched Mayor Sparky struggle to his feet. But the impact had weakened him by a margin, and he collapsed on his belly. Panting, he looked up at the two faces of the creature.

Right in the two faces of death itself. One, red as a Tamato Berry, letting loose sparks for a devastating Flamethrower. The other, green as a Rabuta Berry, hissing out orange clouds in preparation for a Spicy Extract.

Yet, he wasn’t afraid. He had always been a fighter to the bitter end. If this was how his run as mayor was going to end, then so be it!

He sighed as he closed his eyes. “Do your worst, monster,” he whispered.

The green head roared as it lunged forward…

…only for a pair of tiny, green forepaws grab its jaws, interrupting it mid-attack.

Mayor Sparky opened his eyes and gasped at what he saw.

Standing right in front of him was Mila. She grunted as she gripped the Shiny Scovillain’s green jaws with all the strength she could muster.

“Leave…him…alone!” she hissed.

Before the Shiny Scovillain could properly react to this new adversary, Mila quickly unsheathed her claws and raked them hard on the green snout. The green head shrieked in pain as it reared its head back, scattering droplets of green blood.

Mila stepped back towards Mayor Sparky, looking back to find him staring at her in awe. She then returned her focus to the Shiny Scovillain, watching as the green head continued to thrash about in pain while the red head glowered down at her.

She took a deep breath and began to assess the situation at hand.

OK, so I’m a Sprigatito. That would make me a Grass-type Pokémon, she thought. What’s a basic Grass-type move a Sprigatito would know? Razor Leaf? Leafage? Vine Whip? Absorb?

The Shiny Scovillain’s red head glowered down at her, fiery sparks shooting out of its maw.

Now or never, she thought. She arched her back. “GO!” she shouted, hoping to unleash her first move.

Nothing happened.

The Shiny Scovillain’s red head smirked amidst its fiery sparks before launching a jet of red-yellow flames at Mila. She yelped as she leaped backward, all the while internally cursing whoever decided to make her a Grass-type.

How did Pokémon unleash their moves, she thought frantically. There must be some kind of special trait in their biology that let them use their moves!

She charged forward and arched her back again. She grunted, trying to use something, anything, to at least send the feral retreating. She didn’t care how low-level the move was, just as long as it was a move!

A forepaw grabbed hold of her flank, nearly causing her to jump. She glanced back to find Mayor Sparky, on his feet and holding onto her like she was his support. He grinned as he nodded at her, despite his injuries.

“Concentrate,” he told her. “Think of what your heart wants…and then, unleash that energy.”

Think of what…my heart wants? Mila thought, confused. She wanted to ask what Mayor Sparky meant by that, but the Shiny Scovillain roared again. It looked like she was going to have to find out for herself right away.

Mila took a deep breath and she put one hind paw back and one forepaw forward. She concentrated as much as she could, putting all of her thoughts straight to her heart.

Almost immediately, the dark green ruff on her neck began to glow a brighter shade. Before she knew it, a flurry of glowing green leaves shot forward at the Shiny Scovillain, scoring a direct hit right on its belly. The Shiny Scovillain roared as it staggered back, caught off-guard.

Mila’s eyes widened with surprise. “What…how…?” She looked down at her ruff, realizing that it was still glowing.

“Nice use of Leafage there, missy,” Mayor Sparky chuckled beside her. “Told ya it would happen if you just listened to yer heart!”

Mila looked down at her ruff again, brushing a forepaw against it. Was that all it took to use my moves, she thought. Because I listened to my heart? Was that what Mayor Sparky meant by “thinking about what my heart wanted?”

She looked down at her paws as realization settled in. If that was a Leafage attack, and all I had to do to unleash it was to think about what my heart wanted…then it is true, she thought. I really did become a Pokémon!

She grinned, feeling a surge of confidence flood her body. “I just did Leafage,” she yowled. “I just did Leafage!”

A loud roar interrupted her, bringing her attention back to the Shiny Scovillain. The feral had just recovered from the surprise Leafage, and was now towering over her and Mayor Sparky. More fiery sparks gathered around the jaws of its read head while the scarred green head began hacking up small orange clouds.

Right. Got that thing to focus on, she thought with a slight wince. At least I have something to hurt it now. And if it worked once, then surely it could work again!

“Leafage!” Mila cried, sending out another flurry of glowing green leaves. This time, however, the Shiny Scovillain was ready. The red head quickly spewed out a Flamethrower that torched the leaves, burning them to mere cinders.

Mila winced as a sweat drop rolled down the side of her head. “Right…Grass doesn’t work against Fire,” she groaned.

Before she could retaliate, the green head reared back before spitting out a cloud of orange spores at her. Mila coughed and hacked as it made contact with her fur.

“Guh!” she hissed, spitting out some of the spores that had gotten onto her tongue. “What is this stuff? And why does it taste so…spicy?”

“That’s Spicy Extract,” Mayor Sparky replied, gagging at the spices. His face was covered in more of that orange powder that had gotten onto him. “Greatly strengthens your attack power, but also weakens your defense significantly. That’s how it almost got me.”

Wait.

Did he just say it “greatly strengthened her attack power?”

Did that mean her Leafage could be boosted?

Did that mean she had a clearer shot?

Before she could ask, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A glint of a small needle, connected to a star-tipped tail. A pair of glowing yellow eyes from within the foliage.

Uncle Volt was in position, ready to strike with whatever he had planned.

A rush of determination swept through her. Whatever Volt was planning, he was going to need her help. And help she would!

She took a deep breath as she kneaded her forepaws together, allowing the scent of morning dew on mint leaves to overtake her senses. She had to do this. She had to finish this fight, no matter what!

She looked up at the Shiny Scovillain, noticing that the feral two-headed Pokémon seemed to be mesmerized by the scent. The fiery sparks in its red maw were beginning to die down, while the green head appeared to be nodding off. She looked down at her forepaws. Was this her doing?

She noticed the Shiny Scovillain sway from side to side, struggling to resist the sweet scent. Mila saw her chance. She stopped kneading and leaped forward, the ruff on her neck glowing again. She hoped that the attack boost from the Spicy Extract would deal some more damage to it.

“LEAFAGE!” she yowled. Almost immediately, a bigger flurry of green leaves shot forward from her ruff. The leaves swirled around the Shiny Scovillain, slicing through it like a thousand knives before eventually ending their trajectory right at its stomach.

The Shiny Scovillain roared in pain as staggered even further. It shook its two heads, realizing that it had been duped. It reared its heads back, preparing for one last attack. Mila braced herself for the inevitable.

But nothing happened. Not a Flamethrower, nor a Spicy Extract.

Mila opened her eyes and found the Shiny Scovillain standing stiff as a statue. It lurched forward before collapsing on its belly, out cold. A small stab wound was on its back, with some sort of purple fluid leaking out of it.

“Phew! Thank the guardian that actually worked.”

Mila looked up to find Volt standing behind the Shiny Scovillain. A purple fluid dripped from the needle that sat upon his star-tipped tail. As for the Luxray himself, he seemed both relieved and a little stressed.

Volt noticed Mila standing before him, mouth agape. Sighing, he retracted the needle back into the tail-tip before bounding over to her and Mayor Sparky. “Are you two alright?”

“I am, thanks to Miss Mila over here,” Mayor Sparky replied with a chuckle.

Volt breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Mila. “Mila, what on Earth were you thinking,” he scolded. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

Mila’s ears flattened as she looked down with guilt. In her haste to save Mayor Sparky from the Shiny Scovillain, she seemed to have abandoned all sense of self-preservation. And if Volt hadn’t stopped that Shiny Scovillain in time…she didn’t want to think about that!

“No matter,” Volt went on. “What’s done is done.” He then turned around and began to make his way through the foliage, Mayor Sparky following close behind.

Mila looked back at the Shiny Scovillain, only to do a double-take as she noticed that its eyes weren’t blue anymore, but a deep black.

Odd.

She wondered what could have happened.

“Mila!”

Mila’s ears twitched at the sound of Volt’s voice, drawing her attention back to the Luxray as he stepped back into the clearing once again.

“Are you just going to stand there all day…” he asked. A soft grin then appeared on his face. “Or are you coming with us?”

Mila blinked in surprise. “Wait, really?” she said. “I-I can… I-I can c-come…with you?”

Volt’s smile grew bigger. “Of course,” he replied. “You helped my nephew in a pinch. It’s only natural I do something to return the favour.”

Mila looked beyond the clearing, recalling today’s events. Meeting Jin, saving him from a feral Scovillain, learning her first move, experiencing her first battle…she couldn’t believe all that had happened within the span of a single day. And yet, it felt like she somehow belonged here, like there was a place for her.

Besides, how could she waste an opportunity like this? It would at least help her get acquainted with some of the Pokémon living here. She slowly got to her paws and smiled back at Volt. “Then, I accept your offer,” she answered.

#cyber art #cyber drabble #Mila the Sprigatito #Sprigatito #Scovillain #Pokemon #Pokemon Mystery Dungeon #PMD Hunters of Ruination #artists on tumblr #writers on tumblr #tw blood #eh sort of since I'm not sure how Scovillain would bleed #I tried avoiding the standard red colour since it's a plant with peppers for heads #so I thought about pepper juices for the thing

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lyranova · 2 years

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Hello, Lyra! New reader here!

So excited for your autumn event.

May I request for Julius "full moon" prompt?

Please make it super fluff. I just start working in a new environment and it's quite stressing me out. So I need mental support (and physical too ofc) from the wizard king himself ❤️❤️😘

Looking forward for your stories 😊

Hiya there Reya 🥰! Of course you can, I hope you enjoy it! It’s not quite as fluffy as I wanted it, it’s more subtle, but there is a little kiss at the end and a “promise” hehe 👀😁! But hopefully your new work enviorment is getting better and it’s not stressing you out as much 🥺🫂💕!

Word Count: 666 (👀😈 /lh)

Warnings: None

Y/N woke with a start as she heard a twig snap, she looked around as she grabbed her grimoire. A few of the Grey Deer were out on a mission together to investigate a report about a dungeon nearby, the group so far hadn’t been successful at finding it, but they still had a day to search for it.

Y/N looked around with a frown, someone was missing, and she looked closer she noticed it was their squad leader Julius Novachrono.

She sighed before getting up and going to search for him.

She walked and walked through the woods trying to sense Julius’s mana, but she wasn’t the best at doing that, plus with it being so dark she couldn’t see a thing.

Y/N froze as she heard something behind her, she pulled her grimoire out again before turning around to face whatever it was.

“ Wait Y/N it’s just me!” Julius whisper-shouted at her as he held his hands up, Y/N let out a sigh as she put her grimoire away.

“ You scared me! What are you doing out here?” Y/N asked as she crossed her arms, and Julius just gave her a sheepish smile.

“ Nothing, I was just taking a walk.” He told her with a laugh, but Y/N frowned suspiciously at him.

“ You were looking for the dungeon weren’t you?”

“ N-No! Maybe…okay fine I was.” He admitted with a sigh before he rubbed the back of his head. “ But I found something even better!”

“ Something better than the dungeon?” Y/N asked before Julius nodded, reached out to grab her hand, and began to lead her through the woods.

The two walked for a while before they came out to a clearing, Y/N frowned as she looked around. There was nothing here?

As Y/N turned around to ask Julius what he was talking about she noticed he had disappeared.

“ Down here!” Julius said happily as he waved at her, she frowned as she noticed that he was laying down on the grass looking up. “ Lay down and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

Y/N frowned but did as he asked and lied down next to him, when she did her eyes widened and a soft gasp escaped her lips.

There was a full moon shining brightly above them, it was much bigger than when they saw it in the Capital. She heard Julius chuckle beside her.

“ This is what I wanted to show you, just look at how beautiful and amazing it is!” Julius said softly as he stared up at it, Y/N nodded before she turned to look at him.

Ever since she joined the Grey Deer she had been close to Julius, he was only a couple of years older than her, and they had a lot in common, so it was inevitable that they would become fast friends. But she hadn’t expected to fall in love with him as well.

“ Yeah it is.” She muttered softly, although she wasn’t really talking about the moon. Instead she was talking about the blonde haired, purple eyed man lying next to her.

The two laid there talking and watching the stars and moon, eventually Y/N fell asleep curled up against Julius’s side.

The man chuckled before he moved her hair out of her face, he knew she was beginning to develop feelings for him, and ever since he figured it out he had been trying to put distance between them. Although now that they were lying here together, he realized it wasn’t working and instead he was growing feelings for her as well.

“ Maybe once I become Wizard King I can finally tell you how I feel and we can be together. Just wait until then okay?” He asked her softly as he placed a gentle kiss on top of her head.

He let out a soft sigh before he stood, picked her up bridal style, and carried her back to camp.

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day 🥰!

#asks #reyalee #lyra’s autumn event #black clover #black clover oneshots #black clover fanfic #black clover fanfiction #julius novachrono #black clover x reader #black clover x you #julius x reader #julius x you #black clover julius

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fantasies-fairytales-n-fics · 2 years

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Thranduil and Josie Part 81- Paint It Black

Summary: Halloween 6pm. Pre-party. The surprise guest is revealed as he is freed from his 7 year imprisonment. One, two, a certain warlock is coming for you Caroline. The gang meets up with Aragorn, Rumil and Orophin in the forest. Someone lurks and is caught by the highly skilled Strider. A battle almost ensues but Josie shuts it down asap. Thranduil is on the Elvenking edge from all the evil trying to devour his light. The crow speaks. Selene translates. Thranduil comes clean to his Josephine about one thing. The King and his Queen prepare for the ball. Jo catches a glimpse of someone outside her window.

A cyclone arose in the dark depths of Chateau de Lioncourt. The recharged warlock broke free of his iron prison and vanished into the dungeon halls. With a vengeful smile upon his face, the alive and well Julian went to reclaim the last 7 years of his life and his daughter, but first....he had an old score to settle and would wait for the most opportune time to do so.

Legolas, Haldir, the King and you went to find Aragorn who disappeared into the forest and find out why he was still here. You had a very strong feeling it had something to do with your dream of him and the Nazgul. You all must have walked for a good 15 minutes searching for him.

"Why would he just vanish after revealing himself to us?" you asked while you stood looking around for the lone ranger.

"To make sure the surroundings are safe." Legolas replied as he lusted over his reclaimed bow like a kid on Christmas morning.

"If you were not fondling your stick and breathing so loud, you would have noticed that he is standing right behind you." Haldir snarked.

Legolas grimaced and turned to see a smiling Aragorn whom he quickly and happily greeted.

"My gratitude knows no bounds to your loyalty of us." Haldir humbly stated.

Aragorn then turned to Haldir and offered him a hug. He and the marchwarden had become quite close after Haldir's near death experience in Rivendell in which the King and his Queen, Arwen, saved him. It was quite clear why Aragorn did not retreat when Lestat ordered them to, and why he had even offered to assist in this journey in the first place. It brought tears to your eyes.

"You are most welcome son of Orodreth."

Aragorn then turned to Thranduil and offered a head bow. "King Thranduil." Even Aragorn knew that no one touched the King unless it were you or his son.

You were taken aback for a moment as you gazed in awe at your striking husband. It was like the forest had bowed to him as well and the heavens opened up to grace him. The fading sunlight beamed down through the trees upon only him and even the snow on the ground parted, revealing a bed of green grass and flowers for him to stand upon that the wintry temperatures should have put to rest for the season. It was like looking at an angel with his almighty sword in hand. A glorious vision of an elf in his 6th millinium. A true King. This time, a tear escaped the corner of your eye.

"Your father, Arathorn, was a good man. You have also grown to be a great one." Thranduil responded with a corresponding bow.

The next to arrive were Haldir's brothers. Rumil standing at his right shoulder, and Orophin at his left. It was a sight similar to triplets as you had never met them. Haldir provided introductions for you and his kin. The two Lothlorien elves graciously bowed with kind smiles.

"Why have you come back?" Haldir then asked of Aragorn.

"Something sinister is near, other than what is in plain sight. We have camp set up at the base of the mountain near the water's edge. I highly recommend that we all leave here now before it is too late. Tragedy will fall this night."

Aragorn's words chilled you to the bone only validating what you knew was to come as well. Thranduil saw your fear and came to your side.

Aragorn suddenly snapped his eyes off into the distance. A black cloaked figure walked through the forest.

You gasped as all you thought of was your dream of seeing Stephane in one....

Aragorn took off like a bat out of hell after them.

The elves followed suit and you went after them with Thranduil at your side.

"HALT!!" Aragorn commanded. The figure stopped and stood still with their back to him as all weapons were drawn.

"Narcisse??" you whispered to the paralyzed entity.

"Remove your hood and turn...slowly. Hands where I can see them!" Aragorn ordered through his teeth.

They did as instructed in which the reveal was none other than....Selene.

"You!!" Thranduil scowled and marched towards her.

"No!!" you shouted and ran in front of him, shielding her which took both him and the vampiress by surprise.

"Get out of my way!" The Elvenking growled.

"I will not! You will not harm her. None of you will! I command it!" you stubbornly and assertively stood your ground. The way Thranduil glared at you was that of a raging bull.

"You command nothing woman! Nothing!"

Thranduil was so angry that he jolted his sword into a rock embankment that was beside him. The ear piercing sound of the metal ringing against it made you jump and squeal.

Legolas immediately placed himself in front of you as Haldir stood at your side. "If you harm her...you will have to kill me." The Prince bravely stated to his irate father.

The look in Thranduil's eyes was maddening.

"How dare you insinuate I would ever harm my wife!!! Either of you! My target is merely the blood sucking fiend that cowers behind you!"

"I cower to no one elf!!!" Selene shouted and drew her own sword.

"STOPPPP!!!!" you screamed causing your blinding shield to radiate over your husband.

The fact that you protected him and not her instantly drove the Elvenking into submission as he stared at you in remorseful reverence.

You placed your hand on his face and the other on his rapierlike hand that held the searing blade, coaxing him to lower it. "Thranduil....my love. She is on our side. I beg of you to trust me on that. I understand your anger towards her but I ask you to believe my words. And something tells me that you already know what I speak is true. Thranduil...what is going on with you?"

"Then why was she stalking about us?" he asked, completely deflecting on your question.

"I was not stalking! I was....looking out for you....ingrate! There is a bounty on your head by Josie's oh so sweet mother. You know? The same vampire we both want dibs on??"

"I second that." Haldir chimed in. It was clear that not only Thranduil was harboring something....again....but also that Haldir was. You already knew that Haldir hated Caroline, and with good reason but after the drugging incident, something more than just the pendant going missing was eating at his very soul. And when Thranduil came back from looking for her, he was not acting right either. It was like the King knew something big and he was dying to tell you but didn't know how. Your intuition was screaming at you on all of this.

"Aragorn is right. Something terrible is coming and you should all just leave now while you still can." Selene warned. She knew exactly what it was per her agreement with Lestat but she could not reveal that to you. It could jeopardize everything as you might decide to defend Caroline....and be killed in the process. The dealers give no mercy. Their mission is clear cut. To kill all who break the rules and anyone that gets in their way will also suffer the consequences. She had come to care for you and was not going to let that happen.

"Wait...what do you mean my mother has put a bounty on his head??"

"Josie...you yourself have seen the signs. You know it its true. Your dreams do not lie...mostly. Caroline wants him dead, I assure you that. If you all go now, your King will be safe." Selene vowed.

The crow's call came again from trees above. 7 times. "Tell me what it means!!!" you shouted up at him.

"I can tell you." Selene cut in. "3 caws as you know signifies death....and times 2 is 6...plus one caw for yes....totaling 7.... 2 will die here tonight."

Suddenly there was a crimson glow hovering over all of you. The castle was now lit up with blood red lights.

"And so it begins...the black crow speaks." Selene whispered. "Please do not go back in there. I beg of you all."

Thranduil could not listen to anymore. He knew what she spoke was true after what had occurred earlier. He could only hope Julian would make himself known very soon. "I have heard enough. Josephine...Tul- hi." (Come now) Off he went trapesing back to the castle of doom. You turned to Haldir with pure fright in your eyes.

He took your hand. "Jo...go. Do not worry about us. We will not be far. I will not leave you..." As much as you wanted to believe him, everyone who told you that...left. Garrett instantly came to mind. You both reluctantly let go of each other's hands and you then ran off after your King.

"Thranduil!! Tell me right now....what did my mother do to you!! What is happening!??" you shouted in demand as you slammed the chamber door shut.

"Josephine, we do not have time for this. It is time to dress for the occasion and be on our way."

"Bullshit! You know something and as usual, you are keeping it from me!!! Haldir is too! You tell me right now or I swear to god Thranduil Oropherion....I will walk out this door and leave like Selene begged us to!"

His face fell in shame and he poured a drink, then guzzled it down, but first swished it vigorously around in his mouth trying to wash out the taste of the filth. "I...I lied earlier. I did find your mother. I attempted to trick her into revealing what she had done....by taking the gem." He was lying again but he had to keep his word to Julian to protect you. He couldn't reveal what he knew just yet. Not until the warlock disclosed his presence. For he himself had not actually seen Julian's face. Thranduil was far from agitated that he hadn't done so already but knew Julian was a master of smarts and was carefully planning his next move.

"What do you mean, trick her??" Now you were extremely worried. "My god...Thranduil...you didn't....tell me you didn't..." you squeaked and held your chest.

His eyes grew wide and came right up to you. "No...No Josephine." Thranduil took your face onto his hands. "I could never! But I..." His hands dropped to his sides and his head hung low.

Now your hands went onto his face. "Baby...what happened. Tell me. I can see how distraught you are."

"First....I must apologize for earlier. I frightened you. My anger was not geared towards you. You must know I would never hurt you. And.....I was not trying to make you feel....beneath me like I have made you feel so many times. These odious malefic vampires bring out the worst in me. An elf cannot endure such adverse conditions for long. Why do you think the elves that were banished to the dark forest turned into what they did?"

"Shhhhh. I know. You wanted to stay long enough to find out the truth about my father's death. Is that what happened? I truly feel this is about more than that emerald. Thranduil...what did you say to me hours ago? You asked me if I trust you. Well now I ask the same. Do you trust me?"

"Of....course I do. More than anything or anyone."

"Then tell me the truth."

Thranduil's gut twisted because he knew he couldn't tell you everything just yet. "I....I...kissed her. She...came on to me...so I took advantage of it to get information from her."

Your hands slid down his cheeks and rested upon his chest as your heart skipped a beat. "Ok....it's....ok."

"It is.....ok?" His expression was priceless. He expected nothing less of being berated for his actions.

"Yes....The turmoil you have been in has not eluded my sight. This has truly traumatized you. I..I am so sorry you felt you needed to go to such extremes. But...why? All for that necklace? I do not understand."

Thranduil sighed heavily and walked away. "It is much more than that." He then turned back to you. "May I ask you again....do you trust me?"

Now you knew this was much bigger. He knew something else. "I...do. Always."

"Then know...it will all come to light soon and you will understand then, why I hold back. Please...let us prepare and get this night over with."

You went to kiss him and he held back on that too. "No...don't you do that. Kiss me....."

Thranduil melted at your puppy eyes and whiny tone. He kissed you hard and deep as he held your head in his large hands. He then diligently peered down into your eyes and stroked the back of his hand down your cheek. "Im mel cin na i ithil a back a haer all i elena in i aiwenor." (I love you to the moon and back and beyond all the stars in the sky.)

"Right back at ya baby." you sweetly smiled and gave him another soft peck upon his lustrous lips.

You both rummaged through the wardrobe but Thranduil waited on seeing your choice as he wanted to match his Queen. You picked one and ran off with it into the washroom as you giggled. "No peeking." The dress you chose was all black as you felt it appropriate for the occasion. You pulled your hair back and left a long pony tail hang wishing Haldir could have braided it for you. You then held the silly mask to your face and came out. "Well? What do you think my King?"

Thranduil's jaw dropped a mile wide as he stared at your radiant beauty. He was truly speechless and it made you chuckle. "I take it you like it?'

"Like....is an understatement for the most beautiful woman I have ever seen aside from my mother. The stygian color accentuates your scarlet hair and your skin of a porcelain doll. Do not get me started on your eyes of the moon."

You knew you were blushing as you have never been complimented in such a way. You felt like a true beauty queen in that moment like you dreamed of as a child. You walked up to the gushing King and wiped his lip. "What is this? The King of the Woodland realm has a little drool coming out." you giggled.

He grinned from ear to ear. "My turn." He then went to find coordinating attire. You gazed out the window while he searched. Speaking of the moon like he mentioned...it was full with a reddened sky, and quite windy.

You were just getting ready to turn around when you caught sight of something flash across the moon.

You yelped and jumped back. "My love? What is it??" Thranduil exclaimed as he came over to you....half naked. Once you saw that, you thought nothing more.

"Oooo la la my love. You better get dressed soon or we will be late due to me ravaging you."

Thranduil was very turned on by your playfulness. "Something makes me want to become very confused on what to choose and stand bare backed before you while I decide."

"Oh you wouldn't!"

"Oh but I would."

You threw a strawberry at his bare ass cheek that he flaunted to you. He whipped around and caught it with his impressive agility. "Get dressed my King."

He grinned, seductively ate the fruit, then walked off to the washroom with his choice of attire while bearing all of his frontal self to you.

"Tease!!" you shouted and laughed.

Your attention went back to the window wondering what you saw. Was it Selene swooping by to check on you? Oh god, you hoped she didn't catch an eyeful of your king, you thought...and then lightly chuckled.

15 minutes later, Thranduil walked out and took every breath in you away. His earlier vision in the forest was already breathtaking, but this....you had no words. His platinum locks laid finely straight over his chest and back with the top succulently slicked back. The ebony satin suit fit perfectly under the matching velvet cape with a pattern of gold draping down to his knee high black leather boots. He did not sport a mask though. The King was definitely a fan of dress up but concealing his face was not one of them. One might think it was his ego but you knew better. It was because he has worn an invisible mask for thousands of years concealing his scars from the dragon fire.

Tears came to your eyes as you noticed the only rings he wore was his moonstone and wedding ring. You had none of yours, including your moonstone necklace. It was somewhere in his halls after he had found it on the beach when he thought you had drowned and your rings he had never had the chance to give back to you after he took them from you in Rivendell when he had lost his memory.

"My love, is this not suitable?"

"Oh god Thranduil no...it is perfect. You...are perfect. I...." You held your hand with your other and stared at it. "My rings...I just...miss wearing them. And my necklace."

"They are safe in our chambers back in Mirkwood. I promise you, you will wear them as soon as we return home. Besides...We do not need jewels to signify our love, for it burns brighter than all of them combined."

Now you were crying. "I love you so much."

Thranduil cradled you against him. "Not near as much as I love you my Queen. Enough tears. We will be home soon and all will be well again. Let us go now."

"Ok..." you sniffled with a smile. "Let me just grab my mask." You went to the vanity by the window and as you picked it up....there was Garrett standing down below with teary regretful eyes and a smile. The reformed vamp then sped away once you saw him.........

@redeemer46

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canongf-archive · 2 years

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Support System

Pairing: Semi-Charmed (Me x Eddie)

Word count: 1,304

Warnings: a few curse words!!! no real season 4 spoilers, just a few details abt Eddie that we learn in the first episode!!!

Summary: Eddie and Liv hang out and talk about their hopes and dreams.

i’ve had this headcanon since episode one that Eddie’s biggest dream is to play music so i started thinking about sharing my biggest dream with him and!!! here we are!!! i love him i love him i love him!!!

"What do you wanna do after you graduate?"

The question catches Eddie off guard.

He doesn't know if anyone's ever asked him that before. There's always been a conversation about him graduating, sure, especially after he learned he'd have to repeat more than once, but it never felt like this, like curiosity. Usually it felt like doubt. When people asked him about graduating, it didn't feel like they wanted to know if he was going to, it felt like they wanted to make sure he hadn't. It felt like no one ever really believed he'd get there, let alone find something to do afterwards. But Liv did. She asked him like he already had the diploma.

"I don't know," he answers. He lies. He knows what he wants to do; he's known for years. But the people in this town already didn't understand him, already didn't understand the way his mind or his heart worked, already had casted him out because of the things he was passionate about. And for the most part he had gotten used to it, didn't mind it much anymore, sometimes even embraced it, but there's something about her and the way that he feels when they're together that makes him think that if she were to do the same, it would break him beyond comprehension.

"No idea?" she presses. She's so pretty, so pretty sitting in the open back of his van, long legs stretched out before her, so pretty in the way that she looks at him and talks to him, so pretty in a way that makes him nervous; he grabs a stick and begins to swing it mindlessly at the tall grass just so he has something to do with his hands.

"I mean..." In Dungeons & Dragons, he's powerful. He is strong and he is feared and he can do anything. But this isn't a game, it's real life. There's a real life girl sitting a few feet away, a real life girl that agreed to come to Lover's Lake with him just to get away and to watch the sunset, a real life girl that he likes, and he's just Eddie again. He's weird and erratic and loud Eddie, and it's something new for him to realize that when he's with her, being just Eddie is actually kinda nice. "I play guitar. I'm in a band."

"You are?"

"Corroded Coffin," he nods, whipping the stick he had busied himself with down towards the water. "We play at the Hideout on Tuesdays. There's usually about five drunks that really seem to dig us," he jokes. She smiles and he grins back, happy to be the reason. "It's not the garden, but... you know. Gotta start somewhere."

"So that's what you wanna do after you graduate? Play at the garden?"

"Hell, I'd settle for any place outside of Hawkins with a capacity of more than 20." Her smile widens, breaking into an actual laugh, and the sound goes straight to his chest. "But yeah, the garden would be nice. It's kind of a lofty goal-"

"It's a good goal," she interrupts. "I think you can do it."

A feeling blooms in his chest like the one that found him when she asked what he wanted to do in the first place. She makes him feel like he can do anything, and he thinks for a moment that if he can make her smile, if he can make her laugh like he did a second ago, then maybe he really can.

"Yeah? You haven't even heard me play," he counters, though the corner of his mouth is quirked up when he says it like he's not trying to challenge her, not really. She scoffs and pushes herself onto her feet. The two circle each other in the small clearing at the shore of the lake, an inadvertent almost dance.

"Doesn't matter. It's not about that."

"What's it about?"

"It's about you." He cocks an eyebrow, silently urging her to continue. "Playing the guitar is something you can always get better at, but you're already you. You just have this energy, you know? Like you have a stage presence even when you're not on a stage. You can't learn that. You can learn how to play the guitar but you can't learn that."

His heart rate is picking up in his chest as he listens to her talk about how she sees him and he's sure that he's probably blushing but he can't bring himself to care enough to try to hide it.

"Just don't forget about me when you become a big rockstar, okay?" she adds. He knows she's kidding but he wants to tell her that he couldn't, not even if he wanted to. He wants to tell her that he can't imagine ever wanting to.

"Yeah right," he rolls his eyes. "I should be the one worried about you forgetting me. Pretty soon you'll be off God knows where doing God knows what, showing up everybody in Hawkins. Won't even remember this stupid little town or anyone in it."

"I wanna model," she confesses after a moment's hesitation.

"What?"

"I want to model," she says again. "In front of the camera, you know? Do photoshoots, maybe walk a runway or something." It's vulnerable but she wills away the embarrassment that threatens to bubble up; Eddie has big dreams too. Eddie will understand. And he does.

"I think you can do it," he repeats her earlier sentiment. He catches her eyes and there's an unspoken question there of you think so? that she doesn't ask but he answers anyway. "You kiddin' me? Prettiest girl I've ever fuckin' seen. Fuck yeah, I think you can. They'll put you up on a billboard that everyone in this town will see when they drive into the city. You'll be in all the magazines, goin' to all the parties, runnin' around in New York."

"I gotta be in New York, I gotta be front row when you sell out MSG."

"No, I want you side stage. It'll be easier to find you after the show."

"Might have to compete with some groupies to get your full attention," she teases. He shakes his head.

"You have no competition."

There's something between them, something they haven't acknowledged yet. Something sparking, catching fire, setting their hearts alight. He liked her before, liked when she'd come to pick Mike and Dustin and Lucas up from Hellfire, liked when she'd stop to talk. He liked the way she asked him how he was and really wanted to know. He liked her hair and her eyes and her smile and her laugh and the way that she dresses. He liked laying in bed at night and thinking about how it would feel like to hold her. But after tonight, after some time spent with just the two of them, after crossing a few lines that they had previously so obediently stayed behind, he's starting to think that he's in love. Sometimes he catches her looking at him in a way that makes him wonder if she is too. And she thinks she is. She won't tell him yet, won't tell him that she offers to pick Mike and Dustin and Lucas up after their game just so she has an excuse to see him, won't tell him that she likes his hair and his eyes and his smile and his laugh and the way that he dresses, won't tell him that after he drives her home tonight she'll curl up in bed and she'll lay next to a pillow and she'll pretend it's his body pressed against her back, but he'll find out soon enough.

Corroded Coffin plays at the Hideout the following Tuesday and in the crowd there are five drunks and one pretty girl.

#HELLO MY FIRST EDDIE FIC!!! :')#i love him i love him i love him #canon fics #otp: semi-charmed #self ship #self shipping #self ship community #self shipping community

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esmecol · 2 years

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Neverland Paradise Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of my PMD Fanfic I made back in March (still writing Chapter 2...)

Nothing can save you from the lightless, dark abyss of a Mystery Dungeon except yourself, and Monty quickly realized this as he sat outside the entrance to the depths of Ahajimi Cave, a familiar but unwelcome feeling making itself known. Fiddling with his fingers, the young Eevee sat apprehensively in the bright, beautiful grass field laid out before the cavern, dropping his bag from his back beside him. The cave, with its visible inside area being filled with dark browns and grays, made a harsh contrast to the surrounding area, a peaceful green grass field that transitioned into a small path surrounded by forest that served as a shortcut to Realza Town, Monty’s hometown. He tried to suppress this uncomfortable feeling, which was starting to resurface. 'Come on, you got to try, well, something. Can't be too hard,' he attempted to persuade himself unsuccessfully.

The topic of the cave brought him back to his older memories of Ahajimi Cave, when he would be dragged by the wrist through the clearing by his friend, a Teddiursa named Kobai. The marking on her head, shaped like a crescent moon, seemed to always shine brightest when she was getting pumped up. Just like each time they came here before, she rushed out of her home that morning, grabbing Monty by the arm and basically dragging him with her to try and explore the cave again, seemingly at random. Trusting her fists in the air and stomping with her boots in the grass, she took a look back at Monty, who was sitting down in the grass, fidgeting with his paws and looking at the ground nervously.

“You’re not gonna come with me?”

“N-no…”

“But we never go! You gotta conquer your fears or whatever Supervisor Leon said.”

“It’s a Mystery Dungeon, those are really dangerous! I haven’t even learned Vine Whip yet, and Fury Swipes can’t defeat a single Zubat. Even if we make it out alive, what would we tell our parents?”

“Okay, fine. But promise me.”

“Promise you what?”

“Promise me that you’ll explore the cave someday, and then we’ll both explore it together. Alright?”

“....Alright. I promise.”

“Great, then let’s go prank Matt again. Your dad taught you some new tricks, right?”

“Never doubt the tricks of someone with the blood of a Whimsicott,” Monty responded with a cocky smirk.

The two of them got to planning. Matt was a pretty clumsy Raichu, who always had a cold when he first came to Realza Town having come from Alola. Despite being an adult, everyone was close friends with him and were entertained when he told scary stories from his hometown or showed them a new move he learned.

Back to the present, Monty got to his feet and glanced up at the cave again. His stare turned into a glare, as if he was having a staredown with the dungeon. Monty wavered, trying to keep his cool, but it failed, and his face turned to an angry pour as he dropped to the ground again, slouching in self defeat. Tons of other people have entered Ahajimi Cave before, and Kobai would have definitely tried if it wasn’t for him.

A wind started to blow, pressuring the leaves in the grass to sway and dance, uncaring for anything in the world. Monty looked up to the sky. It was a bright light blue, signifying mid morning, and translucent clouds slowly inched their way through the sky, with a white ray of light, the sun, in the northwest corner, shone its warm rays upon everything in sight, giving him a lot of energy. For a moment, Monty forgot about his hopes of entering Ahajimi Cave and spent time basking in the warm light and soft grass, closing his eyes and leaning back to fully take in his surroundings and enjoy the warm comfortability of spring.

The wind swayed and moved everything nearby, particularly in the forest. There was a small rustling sound, probably some twigs falling from a tree. Then more fell. The sound got louder and louder, and then caught the attention of Monty, who sat up and glanced at the forest. ‘Is Kobai trying to scare me or something?’ This reminded him of why he came here. ‘What the heck, me? Kobai put this on hold for you. You have to try… something. The dangerous Pokemon only live in the lower levels, and you just have to go down to around the third floor. You just go in and leave. It can't be that hard, especially with the blood of a Chesnaught.’ The thought of his mother's strength gave him the boost he needed, as he began to walk towards the entrance. ‘Although I should probably tell Kobai first. … Wait…’

Kobai didn’t make all that noise when sneaking up on Monty, she just went for it. This wasn’t Kobai. This was probably some little kid from the village, who weren’t that good at walking through the forests without making a lot of noise and attracting attention to themselves. Or Matt. Monty stood up and turned around, facing the forest. “Hey, come on out. You really scared me for a second,” he called out to the green backdrop, waiting for a response. But there was only the sound of continuous rustling coming from the forest. Monty was growing nervous. “D-did I annoy you? Sorry,” a small blush of embracement powdering his face.

This time, the rustling stopped and there was a second of blissful silence. Then, a blur shot out from the bushes, clawing at Monty and dropping him to the ground with a soft thud as the figure almost fell to the ground themself. Monty turned around to look at his attacker. It was a Sneasel, with a very expression on her face that bordered between anger and seriousness and bloodied claws. Feeling his face, Monty realized that this was his blood, as the pain started to kick in now. A second figure came out, a Machop with a piercing grin that communicated a more violent expression than the Sneasel. The two stared at Monty for a few seconds as if waiting for something, and finally the Sneasel spoke.

“Looke here, Chop. We got ourselves an idiot ready to call out to a suspicious sound from the woods. For someone my age, you sure are stupid,” the Weasel taunted in a cold and smug voice that didn’t match her expression in the slightest.

“Hey!” The Machop yelled at the Sneasel, turning towards her in a fighting stance. “My name’s Riley, not Chop, and you got another thing coming if you think you can call me that!”

“I would’ve called you Riley if you told me your name when you joined forces with me. Sweet Arceus, it’s been 10 minutes and you’re already bitching,” the Sneasel retorted, saying the last part to herself.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Monty very slowly reached for and grabbed his bag, and began to look around for places to escape, hoping the two strangers didn’t notice. ‘They’re straight ahead, so that rules out forward. Left leads to the mountain up to the Guild, but these two would definitely catch up to me before I get there, especially the Sneasel. Behind me is Ahajimi Cave, so that’s an instant no-go. And to my right… is the road beside the river. Good luck to them crossing it safely. So I’ll go ri-’

His thoughts were interrupted by a rough punch to the stomach by the one named Riley. Monty flew back, crashing into some rocks nearby, knocking the wind out of him and scraping up his back, as he slumped for a second. Before he could counterattack, Riley landed a second and third hit back-to-back on him, dropping him to the ground. Double Hit. As Monty dropped to the ground, coughing up blood, the Sneasel dashed over, pushing aside Riley and clawing Monty with another Scratch, but this time it was much stronger, trading speed for brute force. Monty dropped to the ground a second time, staining the grass in red once again as the strap on his bag ripped. The Sneasel gave him a smirk, ripping the bag from his hands as the Machop held him down. “S-stop it… p-please,” Monty begged, stuttering through strained gasps.

The stranger with Monty’s bag stopped examining the bag and looked down at him, and dropped it to the ground, just out of his reach.

“P-... please…”

Riley let out a cruel chuckle, and the Sneasel stayed silent. “Please don't, Eevee,” she said, with much less malicious intent in her voice. “I feel bad enough as it is. We’ll just be taking your bag. Let’s go, Riley. You’ll get your part of the reward-”

“If you pieces of shit do anything else to Monty, I’ll-!”

All three of them swiftly turned towards the source of the voice, coming from the forest. Out came Kobai, fists raised ready for a fight. She slowly stepped towards the attackers. Monty pushed himself off the ground. “Kobbi, don’t come over here!” Riley turned towards the Teddiursa, cracking his knuckles and neck. “Sounds like someone wants to play the hero, eh? I can kick your stupid ass with a single attack. Just watch-” Before Riley could act on this promise, Kobai slashed at Riley’s arms and shoulders, making good use of her claws as he clamped over his shoulders and fell to the ground, holding back tears in pain and staining more of the ground in bright red. She then turned to the Sneasel with a glare of anger, while the Sneasel was standing her ground, but seemed visibly nervous.

“Where’s your confidence now, huh? For someone who felt ‘real bad’ about robbing a defenseless Pokémon, you sure seemed real smug about it. Give the bag back and leave, or I‘ll-” The Sneasel had lunged at Kobai, who had seen this coming and got ready to block. However, the Sneasel simply jumped off her arms, landing next to Monty’s bag. Grabbing it, she dashed into Ahajimi Cave without a second thought for her partner. Kobai and Monty stared into the cave’s entrance, very confused and thinking the same thing. ‘She went for the Mystery Dungeon instead of the river?’ Kobai then turned her focus towards Monty, lending him a hand.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s alright,” Monty lied, as he started to struggle to stand, holding Kobai’s shoulder for support. He fought to hold back tears. “I can’t even protect myself.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Kobai tried comforting him. “It was a two-on-one, and you don’t fight too good anyway. We should go call Supervisor Leon from the guild, he’ll arrest these assholes.”

“…Why don’t we follow that Sneasel and catch her ourselves?”

“Wait, really? I mean, normally, I’d be all for it, but you’re hurt pretty badly.”

“Please just trust me on this. Something’s up about that Sneasel’s behavior. I’ll tell you what I mean, but first, please. Something’a telling me to go after her.”

“I believe you one hundred percent, man. We’ll catch up to that asshole Sneasel, but before I forget, if you don’t excuse me-“ Grabbing rope from Monty’s bag, she walked over to Riley, who was slowly but surely crawling away. Pulling him back, she brought him to a nearby tree and tied him up, dropping an apple of her own on his head. “There. Let’s see you run now, Mr. Machops.”

Riley turned and struggled to escape from the rope, trying to kick at Kobai. “My name’s Riley, not Mr. Machops! Also, let me go!”

Ignoring Riley, Kobai turned around, grabbing Monty’s arm and dashing into the entrance of Ahajimi Cave. “I didn’t expect my first time exploring a Mystery Dungeon to be like this, but now I get to catch a criminal,” she hollered, turning her head towards the sky. “ALRIGHT,” she yelled at the top of her lungs, as the two of them made their descent into Ahajimi Cave.

* * *

Ahajimi Cave, 1F

By now, Monty had finally come to realize the situation he had put him and Kobai in. ‘Great, Monty, look what you got yourself into. You ran into a Mystery Dungeon with no items, and you’re gonna fight a Sneasel with the strength of a Nidoking.’ Monty gripped the sides of his head in anger at this realization, and afterwards began to finally look at his surroundings. Despite its reputation as a Mystery Dungeon full of wild and dangerous Pokemon, the cave itself had an aura of mixed peaceful beauty, which made itself difficult to make out from Monty’s lightheadedness. The dark browns of the cave’s ceiling and light grays of the ground were almost entirely drowned out by the shining rays of light coming from the ponds that lay about alongside the pathways. The walls were decorated with moss and shining crystals; Monty had heard that they weren’t worth anything, but they still shone beautifully with the sky blue water. Unlike the darkness of the entrance, the inside of the cave was bright and beautiful. Monty couldn’t hold back his admiration for the dungeon’s sights, and neither could Koabi.

“This place is really pretty,” Kobai mumbled in awe. “I wonder why no one talks about this?”

“Probably because Rana, that Piplup from the guild, is always going on and on about how he took down a Monster House here once before he joined the guild.”

“As if! I heard from Leon that he couldn’t even beat a wild Kabuto. Wait, there’s a Monster House here? He never told me that.”

“Because it was a test, and you just failed. I’d never come here if there was a Monster House.”

“Oh, come on, give me a heads up next time!” Kobai gave Monty a playful punch to his arm, and the both of them chuckled over it, their childish laughter echoing in the corridors ahead of them, as they both forgot about their problems. After they finished laughing, Monty began to analyze his surroundings, seemingly looking for something that wasn’t there.

* * *

Ahajimi Cave, 2F

“Weird, there’s nothing jumping out at us. You’d expect a Shellos or Shellder to come out of nowhere,” Monty said, stealing a glance of the corridor ahead of them. As if on cue, out came a wild Pokemon flew at them from a distance away by the pond. Upon seeing this shape swoop in, Kobai assumed a fighting stance to the best of her ability and Monty simply took a step down, as they both had fatigue from earlier. As the shape revealed itself as Golbat, it then… dropped to the ground and frantically ran right past them, screaming, paying no mind to the two Pokemon before it. They watched as it dashed in the opposite direction to the cave’s entrance.

“There aren't wild Pokemon because of something that even scared the Golbat…,” Monty mumbled. “I think we should-”

“You'll be fine. Please trust me.”

Monty stumbled back upon seeing this sudden voice. It sounded similar, but he had never heard it before. It was gentle and kind, like a parent speaking to their child in a moment of emotional anguish.

‘What the hell? Are you speaking to me through telepathy,’ Monty responded in his mind. ‘How can I know you’re safe to trust?’ But the voice didn’t respond, leaving his mind in silence once again. Thinking of this, Monty didn’t notice that Kobai was looking at him with concern.

“...Earth to Monty. Are you there, man?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Something was bugging me.”

“What was it?”

“Okay, hear me out here. I’m not insane, alright?”

“After that time you told me that you heard about these things that look like Lillipup called dogs, nothing else you say can make you seem insane.”

“Alright… I got the idea of coming here from a voice in my head, and I don’t know if it’s my head acting up, but that voice just talked to me again. I don’t know who it is, but they sound familiar.”

“Huh. Let's narrow it down. Are they a dude or girl?"

"Guy."

"Do you get the feeling of dark thoughts and uncomfortability? Maybe it's just a ghost type acting like a jerk."

"No, it was… oddly comforting."

"Well, I got no clues," Koa I shrugged. "Maybe ask Mana the Xatu about it later. My money's on a Ralts." She made a mock shocked gasp after Monty shot her an intense glare. "What? You two are probably just friends. Really close friends."

"Hey, stop it! I don't know any Ralts!"

"Then why are you getting so mad about it?"

“Well, um…Anyway, they sounded older than me, but they’re probably not an adult.”

“Maybe it’s some Haunter messing with you or something. I heard those guys are pretty sneaky.”

“But that voice sounded genuine, so I doubt- wait, look at this!”

Monty pointed to the ground ahead, where he found streaks of blood that were still bright red, signifying that they were quite new. Upon this revelation, the two Pokemon began apprehensively looking all around them for some sign of life and especially an easy escape. There was nothing, the corridor becoming completely silent except for the quiet waves and strained breathing from Monty. Their theory from earlier was confirmed. There was something in this dungeon, and it’s far stronger than anything else Monty or Kobai had ever encountered. There seemed to only be one way in or out, the entrance they had come from. From the floor they were currently on, there was no way that they could quickly make their getaway, as they walked for so long, they had lost track of time. Kobai was patting down the wall, looking for something. Then, she found a piece of cobblestone that felt particularly loose. Pulling at it with all her strength, she took the hole off the wall to reveal a giant hole. Looking into it, she found a rope going through a dark area, which was big enough to give a Lucario wiggle room and seemed to have no starting point, continuing up the hole in complete darkness, and vice versa for the end point. However, it wasn’t stationary, as the rope was shaking up and down. Someone was tugging at it.

“Monty, I found something,” Kobai called over to Monty, who was looking for something on the opposite wall. “I found this rope, and someone’s pulling at it. Come help me.” To her request, Monty rushed over, and the both of them squeezed their arms into the hole, tugging at the rope and pushing their feet at the wall just below the hole as they leaned back, Monty doing much less so. As they struggled, a figure slowly emerged from the darkness. With one final pull, the bottom of the rope flew out of the hole, with two figures coming up with it. They dropped onto Monty and Kobai, the four figures crashed to the ground, the rope dropping to the ground before sliding back into the dark depths.

“Let me help you up.” A voice directed itself to Kobai and Monty from a figure that swiftly got to their feet before everyone else. As they both grabbed for one of the figure’s arms, they finally identified the figure as the Sneasel, who now had blood dripping down her head, a mixture of her own and of an unknown source. Upon this realization, Kobai promptly shoved the Sneasel’s hand, opting to hoist herself up with Monty’s support.

“Helping someone up isn’t gonna make up for anything you did,” Kobai shot down with a glare.

“Who said I’m trying to make up for something? It was just a misunderstanding, because I thought that Monty had the item I really need. Here.” The Sneasel tossed the bag over to Monty, who managed to slip it on, and abruptly stopped himself from thanking her out of instinct. “Sorry.”

"Excuse me? You call that an apology, you bit-"

"Kobai, it's alright, it was a misunderstanding. At least I still have my stuff. But," Monty looked up to the Sneasel, who met his gaze. After a short second, Monty continued. "For now, I'd prefer that you just call me Eevee, since I don't know you and stuff. And I guess I forgive-”

“Hey, I’m over here,” a voice whispering from behind them. “Welp, guess they ignored me,” it mumbled to itself. Turning around to face the source of the voice, the three brought their gaze to an Espurr, getting to his feet and brushing dust and debris out of his bloody fur, blank purple pupils glittering like amethyst amplified by the sparkling gems encased on the walls. “Hi-” The Espurr’s legs gave way, and he fell to the ground, coughing up blood from the impact. Monty went over to him, helping him back to his feet. The feline wobbled, but kept his composure, standing uneasily. He walked up, turning to the group. “Sorry. It’s just… best not to stay here,” he said, turning his eyes to the wall.

Monty nodded in agreement. “Yeah, especially from the Golbat we saw earlier.” After the Sneasel and Espurr turned towards him and Kobai, with a look of mixed morbid curiosity and fear, Kobai continued for him. “Over on the second floor, there was this Golbat that saw us and ran away. There’s something dangerous here.” Upon finishing, Kobai closed the distance between her and hole with the rope, looking into the depths above and checking the rope with two strong tugs, which was now tattered and scratched in places but still seemed to be safe enough to climb. She jumped onto the rope, and called for the others. “Don’t worry, it’s safe!” She started to climb up the rope, as the others followed suit, Monty right behind Kobai and the Sneasel and Espurr short behind him.

Going into the hole, completely contrasting the bright and colorful corridors and rivers of the dungeon, the depths of the ‘shortcut’ were entirely pitch dark, and Monty found himself tightly gripping the straw cable at all times to avoid what could very well be a fatal fall, ignoring the uncomfortable friction made from the fur around his neck. “When did you guys find the rope,” Kobai questioned the Sneasel and Espurr from above, creating an echo that bounced between the walls.

“I found a hole in the wall,” the Espurr hollered, who turned his whisper into a yell into one that still came off quite quiet. “I was on the fourth floor, by myself.”

“So, if we dragged you guys up that quickly, then the floors below must not be that long,” Monty yelled. “Wait, why were you on the fourth floor?”

Silence followed, only occasionally interrupted by the quiet shifting of the rope from wear. Why isn’t he answering, a voice echoed in Monty’s head. I don’t know him so I probably shouldn’t push it.

A light clearly shone from a short distance above them, meaning they were now approaching the second floor, only a few minutes after the climb began.

“It’s coming, run.”

Monty flinched from the sudden reappearance of the voice, shifting in surprise. His movement slowed, scanning his brain for a hint at the voice’s source. ‘What’s coming,’ he questioned.

“It’s a giant Pokemon controlled by a force I can’t inform you of yet, but you must run,” the voice responded for the first time. “Get to the safe spot on the second floor before-” The voice cut off, disappearing as quickly as it appeared. Monty quickly realized the urgency of this message. As the light was no longer a minusie dot but now an illuminated corridor that was now blinding, Monty climbed out of the exit hole after Kobai, which was larger than the hole they entered through, and faced the others. “There’s something dangerous coming for real,” he promptly informed them. “We need to get to the safe spot.”

The others had varying reactions, with Kobai giving him a nod indicating that she trusted his words, and the Sneasel giving him a look of doubt. The Espurr, on the other hand, jumped back, eyes widened. His attention swerved to Monty, fidgeting and quickly turning his eyes to the ground.

“What else did the voice… What else did they tell you?”

Monty felt the room spin around him, the colors and shapes blurring together as the Espurr’s fearful words fully sunk in and his lightheadedness finally caught up with him. Time slowed and sped back up again inconsistently, and he could feel each breath enter and escape his body as they became manual. He could only stand there as the more defined colors moved away from him, muffled distorted yelps filled the air as if he were underwater, and his vision filled with one giant purple blotch and small streaks of red.

One second, the room was a mix of shapes in liquid form, the next it was a corridor with a river set to its left as Monty finally focused back in. The ‘purple blotch’ was actually a giant Pokemon of near indeterminable species, as it had a giant crab mouth, eight long bent legs that seemed to twist in every way, plate-like indents in its scales, and numerous spikes lining its back and head. He noticed that the claws on two of its legs were colored red in blood. It wasn’t just his blood.

Monty felt something pull him away by the fur of his collar, prompting him to run. Turning around, he noticed it was Kobai, and going to her side, they met up with the Sneasel and Espurr as they all ran at full speed, with the Sneasel in the front. The creature’s numerous limbs made it difficult for the monster to gain speed, and taking advantage of this, the four of them lunged at the creature, hoping to make it lose its balance. The Sneasel let forth a short and concentrated beam of icy wind, the Espurr let out a cry as a beam of light shot towards the creature, causing it to stagger back, and Monty and Kobai slashed at the beast. This caused the monster to fall down upon its back, with a loud thud as it cried out in pain.

Monty took a second to pull out an item from his bag: a flare. Signaling to Kobai, she pulled the top off as a red mist began to spill from the contents of the flare. Monty then jerked his head in the opposite direction, tossing the flare in the direction of the monster as far away from it as he could.

“That should buy us some time,” Monty informed the others. And so, they continued to run towards the direction of the entrance.

“We can’t make it back to the safe area like this,” the Espurr murmured. “That thing could still outrun us. How will we even know where it is?”

“I don’t really know,” Monty immediately responded. “But we should still be on the lookout and hope to Arceus that this works.”

As they ran, everything around them. Their feet turned into blurs as they ran with all their power, the walls turned into constantly shifting light browns and sparkling whites. All of them were very exhausted, but this was a situation of life-or-death. Blood spilled from Monty’s head onto the ground, as he tried his new injury, which he found was coming from his head. He found his surroundings to spill into each other, becoming shapes once again before then separating and becoming whole again, causing him to stagger. But he couldn’t let it stop him. Not as the sounds of distorted screams broke through his delirious state.

“Here! Left side!”

The voice reappeared, and fizzled out right after. Monty stopped immediately. “It’s here,” he called out to the others. He scanned the wall looking for an opening, as his vision was now failing him, with the others joining in. Finally, the Espurr fell into something, hitting the ground below with a soft thud. The Sneasel followed after him, carefully climbing through the hole he had fallen through. After Kobai stumbled into the hole, Monty got onto Kobai’s arms as he slowly hoisted himself up.

That was when he was sliced by the distorted creature, cutting him in two.

˙ʇʍo ᴉu ɥᴉɯ ɔnʇʇᴉuƃ ,ɔɹǝɐʇnɹǝ pᴉsʇoɹʇǝp ʇɥǝ qʎ slᴉɔǝp ʍɐs ɥǝ ʍɥǝu ʍɐs ┴ɥɐʇ

***

Monty dropped to the ground, rushing with Kobai out of the creature’s grasp. The entrance was too small for the monster to get into, as it uselessly clawed at the air, and finally let out a piercing yell of defeat.

Monty dragged himself to a smooth slant situated in the middle of the room, too exhausted to study any part of his surroundings. As he dropped alongside Kobai, he fought to keep his eyelids open, a continuing struggle, with a million questions running through his head the most.

‘Who’s the Sneasel and Espurr? What was the Espurr doing on the fourth floor? When did this place exist?’

Three questions boggled his mind the most, just as he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

‘Who’s that voice? What the hell is that monster thing? …And didn’t I die?’

*Chapter End*

#pokemon #pokemon mystery dungeon #fanfic #why did i do this #pmd #pmd oc #eevee #sneasel #teddiursa #espurr

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