Chapter 33 – The Control Panel
by acti_nerdingtonThe waves rush up against the shore, crashing over each other as the guild stands before the entrance to Brine Cave, massive and open, like a gaping maw. The sun was beginning to set, the sky having turned a vibrant orange once again, reflecting off the shimmering waves of the water.
Lexxi and Rickety stand before the entrance, next to each other, waiting for Chatot to give the word as he makes sure everybody at the guild is present. “My heart’s racing.” Rickety says, glancing down at Lexxi. “We’re… We’re really doing this, aren’t we?”
“What? Time traveling again? Saving the world?” Lexxi asks, glancing up at Rickety.
“That and, well, everything else.” The Riolu chuckles nervously, gently holding his necklace in his hand as he looks down at it, tracing his paws over the intricate patterns adorning the clock. “When I found my treasure all that time ago, never in my life could I’ have imagined that it’d be important as it is… I had this piece to a puzzle this whole time, and I hadn’t even realized it.”
Lexxi smiles and nods, but her brows furrow a bit as she looks down at hers. “There’s still a lot of things I don’t understand, though… Those visions, they were all in the future. If that’s the case… Why did they end up here, in the past?”
Rickety hums curiously, staring down at his necklace a while longer, flipping it over and looking over the “TIME” engraving on the back. “…You know, I hadn’t thought about that. Why would they end up here, in our time?”
“Hmm…” Lexxi’s eyes glance out towards the sea, watching the waves crash against the shore, overlapping each other. “Maybe it’s not as important as we might think. We’ve got them right where we need them, and we’re going to use them.”
Rickety thinks for a moment, then nods. “Yeah. No use thinking of a solution to a problem that doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.”
“Alright, everyone! Now that we’re all here, let’s go through a quick rundown of things one last time!” Chatot exclaims, flapping his wings to get everyone’s attention. “We’re about to head into Brine Cave. Our goal? Reach the very end, to find the symbols of power that Lexxi and Rickety’s necklaces represent. What happens after that? Well… We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Chatot?” Bungie speaks up, trying to lean over the rest of the guild members. “You said that dangerous Pokemon lurk here. Are you familiar with this place?”
The bird nods his head a few times. “Yes. I explored this place with the guildmaster many, many years ago. It was one of our first expeditions together, in fact! We’d run into a group of what I presumed to have been bandits, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what they were… They’d come out of nowhere, and I’d blacked out before I could get a proper look at them. By the time I’d come to, they were gone, and the guildmaster was tending to my wounds.”
“So we don’t even KNOW what we’re up against?!” Loudred exclaims, stomping a bit. “Doesn’t that put us at a HUGE disadvantage?!”
“What’s a couple of Pokemon gonna do to stop us?” Zorora calls out. “I mean, we’ve faced off against worst before, haven’t we? We’re not gonna let a couple of scrawny bandits beat us up! We already hunt down outlaws for jobs, don’t we? This can’t be much different!”
Chatot sighs, ruffling his feathers. “I do wish I could share that same energy and enthusiasm as you sometimes, Zorora.” He shakes his head, looking out amongst the group. “Either way, we all need to tread caution. Everyone, group up into your usual teams and let’s get to it.” He turns his attention back to Rickety and Lexxi. “And just like the guildmaster said, you two will be coming with me. Now… Let’s get moving!”
Brine Cave was an utter mess to navigate.
Physically taxing on just about everyone, winding pathways, strong Pokemon to defeat, whole cave felt even more mazelike and labyrinthian than even a typical Mystery Dungeon.
Lexxi, Rickety and Chatot finally make their way into a small, but open room, light shining down from a hole in the roof of the cave, the sounds of the waves just off in the distance, yet at the same time, surrounding them from all angles.
Rickety sits himself down, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. “Jeeeeez… How long have we been walking for? It feels like hours.”
“Too long, if you ask me.” Lexxi says, sitting down as well, eyes glancing over to Chatot. “You know how much further down we need to go?”
Chatot peeks out to the other side of the room, peering down the twisted pathways. “Hmm… We shouldn’t be too much longer now. I think we’re decently close. Halfway there, give or take.” He scrunches his eyes shut, shaking his head. “Really not looking forward to running into those Pokemon again. The closer we get to that spot, the closer we get to them as well…”
“We could probably take ’em!” Rickety exclaims. “We took down Uxie’s Groudon and we took down a robot Eevee turned Dragon type!” Chatot glances back at Rickety with a confused expression on his face, arching an eyebrow. “…It makes more sense in context, you had to be there.” Rickety chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of his head. “Come on, let’s get- GHHHHAH?!”
Rickety is suddenly punted forward, violently, the DREAMS necklace and DEATH necklace both falling out of the bag from the force as he hits one of the walls, falling down to the floor. “Rickety?!” Lexxi quickly rushes over towards him. “Are you okay?!”
“Yeah, I’m good. I think.” Rickety groans, pushing himself back up. “Nothing an oran berry can’t fix. But what the…”
“Well excuse us.” A familiar voice comes from the entrance to the room… And a familiar stench. “We’re just makin’ our way through Brine Cave on this nice, fine day we’re havin’ ‘ere.” The Skuntank, the Zubat, and the Koffing all make themselves known, an overwhelming, almost fightening sense of anger and determination present in their eyes.
“…Are you serious?!” Rickety exclaims, Lexxi helping him back up. “What are you doing here?!”
Chatot’s eyes quickly dart back and forth between Team Void and Team Skull, his eyebrows furrowing. “Why I- I second that! What have you brutes shown up here for?! We’d cast you out from the guild! And didn’t I recall you were wanted bounties not long ago?”
“Been scopin’ out, bird.” Zubat says, baring his fangs. “Layin’ low, caught wind of a few things. A few very valuable things.” He says, eyeing the necklaces that had fallen to the ground.
Lexx’s eyes widen, keeping ahold of Rickety. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Ohh? We wouldn’t dare? Chaw-haw-haw!” Chief laughs, glancing to the rest of his crew. “She says we wouldn’t dare! Would we dare, fellas? Would we be so darin’ and dashin’ as to dare against this group of punks?”
“I say we would dare! Hoh-hoh!” Koffing’s laughter echoes throughout the cave as he picks up the necklace, tossing them both over to Chief.
Rickety’s eyebrows furrow, eyes shooting daggers at Team Skull. “You better give those back right now. We don’t have time for whatever you two want! We need those!”
“We know.” Chief barks back at Rickety, smirking. “Which is why we ain’t givin’ ’em back to ya.” Chief opens his mouth, launching a quickly charged Shadow Ball at Rickety, Lexxi and Chatot, all three quickly dodging out of the way. By the time they recover, Team Skull is already making their way deeper into the cave.
Chatot picks himself back up, his feathers absolutely ruffled as he stares down the entrance to the cave. “Who do those ruffians think they are?! Engaging in petty squabbles at a time like this?! I’ll show them what’s coming to them!” Chatot begins storming his way out of the room. “You mess with my guild members, you mess with me.“
“Chatot- Wait!” Rickety calls out, stumbling a bit from his injuries. “H-Hold on!- Ow, ow ow ow.“
Lexxi keeps ahold of Rickety, slowly setting him down. “You hold on a moment, too. Gimme just a sec.” Her tail reaches over for the Wonderbag, pulling out a few oran berries, handing them over to Rickety. “Here. You alright?”
Rickety nods shakily, resting his back against the wall. “Y-Yeah, a little dizzy, but I’m alright.” He glances back down the hall, groaning a bit. “Of all the times we just had to run into them, why’d it have to be now? Dusknoir could start invading at any second.”
“We’ll get back at them, just like we always have.” Lexxi says firmly, a confident smile on her face. “We won’t let them get away with this. We’ll get the necklaces back before they have the chance to do anything with them.”
“Mmhm.” Rickety nods, taking a bite out of the oran berry, already feeling much, much better. “I’m worried about Chatot, though… I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get that angry before, did you see that? I hope he’s okay.”
Lexxi glances back over as well, ears drooping a bit. “I’m sure he’s fine, but… Three against one, I don’t know how much of a chance he stands against them.”
Rickety sighs, just staring down for a moment. “…What if we don’t make it?”
Lexxi looks into Rickety’s eyes, reaching a paw out for his cheek, smiling at him. “We will. And when this is all over, we’ll settle down together, let things go back to the way they used to.”
“…Yeah.” He smiles back, leaning into her paw just a bit. “That’d be nice.” He slowly sits himself back up, letting out a quiet groan as he stretches his body out. “Alright, hoooo… Think I’m good to go. Let’s catch up with them.”
The trek through Brine Cave hadn’t gotten any easier. It was a bit more straightforward, but it was still quite the maze to get through. The color of the cave slowly changed the further they went, changing from a deep blue to a dingy brown.
The air had begun to change, too, becoming hot and humid as they progressed deeper and deeper. They could make out the sound of something up ahead. Attacks being thrown, the flapping of wings. Knowing they had to have been hearing Chatot and Team Skull, Rickety and Lexxi immediately begin to pick up their pace.
They round the corner, just in time to see Chatot sliding across the ground, eyes scrunched shut, wincing in pain as he backs up against the wall, trying his best to recover. His feathers plucked in some areas, scrapes and bruises present on his face as he pants heavily, weakly glancing up at Team Void as they enter.
“Get them.” Is all Chatot is able to muster.
Rickety and Lexxi turn their attention towards Team Skull, standing in the middle of the humid, arid room as they also turn their attention towards Team Void. “Well, took ya fellas long enough, eh? We roughed the little birdy up real good while ya took your sweet time, chaw-haw-haw.” Chief chuckles, smirking smugly at the two.
Rickety’s brows furrow as he takes a step forward. “This isn’t the time for this! Give us the necklaces back now!”
“You two brats got wax in yer ears or somethin’?” The Zubat snides, flapping his wings angrily. “We ain’t givin’ ’em back! Not unless ya wanna take ’em by force, that is!”
Lexxi’s tail begins to puff out, standing closely by Rickety’s side. “The world is in danger! The timeline is going to collapse if we don’t stop it! If we don’t get those necklaces back, we might not make it in time!”
“Oh yeah?!” Chief shouts, taking an offensive stance towards Team Void. “Well, if there ain’t no world left, there ain’t no you left, either! Is that a good enough reason for ya?!”
“You two’ve ruined everything!” Koffing exclaims, smoke bellowing from his pores. “You’ve humiliated us on more than one occasion, ruined our lives by turnin’ us into outlaws, we ain’t got nowhere to live since Treasure Town’s been lookin’ for us, lettin’ the world burn is enough payback!”
Rickety huffs. “So that’s how it’s gonna be?” He clenches his fists tightly. “Alright! If you’re not gonna listen to reason, let’s handle this like we always have! Come on!”
Chief, in all his burliness, begins rushing straight for Rickety, getting ready to land a swipe on him with his claw. But Rickety focuses, going into a flow state yet again. Time slows down, all the sound around him is muffled, and the once fierce Skuntank is now just a very slow moving target.
Rickety focuses his energy, channeling his aura as his closes his eyes, hands clenched tightly into fists as he feels energy welling up within him. Charing his energy up, just enough, he quickly opens his eyes back up and swiftly strikes Chief straight in the gut, the flow of time going back to normal as Chief is flung back much farther than even Rickety had anticipated.
Chief skids back, almost crashing back against one of the walls, staggering badly from the blow of the force, scrunching his eyes shut from the pain, but taking it as best as he can. Zubat and Koffing stare back at him in shock and surprise from the amount of force that Rickety had inflicted.
Chief stares back at Zubat and Koffing, frowning. “Don’t just stand there! Get ’em!”
To which Zubat and Koffing remember that they are actually in the middle of a battle, and start rushing towards Lexxi and Rickety. Zubat getting ready to bite Lexxi, letting out a piercing supersonic screech.
Lexxi scrunches her eyes shut, trying to dodge out of the way, but Zubat’s teeth crunch right down on her tail. In Lexxi’s flailing panic, though, she manages to flail her tail fast enough to shake Zubat off, disorienting him as he tries to regain his balance.
Koffing, meanwhile, tries to blow smokescreen after smokescreen at Rickety, the agile Riolu (frighteningly agile from Koffing’s perspective, how does he keep moving so fast like that?!) swiftly moving out of the way of each one. He briefly loses track of Rickety when the Riolu rushes under her, trying to turn around and strike back, but Rickety was already in the middle of striking him before Koffing could prepare anything else.
Chief, after having recovered, starts rushing his way towards Team Void again, charging Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball, hoping at least one of them strikes. But a series of quickly charged Shadow Balls doesn’t have enough blast radius for a fully charged one, so while Rickety and Lexxi do get caught in the barrage, it isn’t enough to do any significant damage to them.
While Zubat is lost in the haze of smoke and dust Chief had cooked up, he doesn’t notice Lexxi running up right towards him, jumping up into the air and giving him a good, firm smack of her tail, sending him crashing into Chief as collateral damage.
Chief staggers once again, forcefully pushing Zubat out of the way as he charges his way towards Lexxi, ready to strike with a poison jab. But in the blink of an eye, quite literally, in fact, Rickety appears right in front of him, decking him straight in the face with a powerful force palm, sending Chief flying and crashing onto his back, dazed, too weak to try getting up.
And with him getting knocked back, so did the necklaces fall back out, clattering on the ground. Koffing, the only one still standing, tries to rush over to the necklaces to pick them up before Team Void can grab them, but Rickety and Lexxi rush him with a tag team attack, sending him crashing back, deflated.
“…Alright.” Rickety breathes, eyes carefully sweeping the three Pokemon. All laying on the ground, defeated, exhausted. “You guys got any more left in you? Feel like inconveniencing us any further?”
The only response Rickety is met with is a fierce glare from Chief, who’s still laying on his back, quietly groaning to himself.
“Good.” Lexxi says, reaching back for the necklaces and handing them off to Rickety. “I’d really prefer if we never have to see any of you again for the rest of our lives, and at this point, I’d imagine it’s the same for you. We’re going.”
Lexxi and Rickety head back over to Chatot, getting him back on his feet, the bird shaking his head. “Wuugh… Shouldn’t have been so reckless. Let my judgement get the better of me.” He glances apologetically towards Lexxi and Rickety. “My deepest apologies, I shouldn’ve known better than to have gone running off like that.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Rickety says, smiling reassuringly. “We’re just happy you’re okay. You still okay enough to lead us the rest of the way.”
“I… I think so, yes.” Chatot nods. “Rested up a fair bit while you were battling, I think I’ve got enough energy to keep going forward. Come, let’s get moving once again.” He eyes Team Skull with a glare. “Before these troublemakers get back up and decide to go for round two.”
Chief, Zubat and Koffing all watch as Team Void and Chatot depart for deeper into the cave, still laying on the ground and trying to recover from the battle. “Uuugghh… I really fricken hate those twerps.” Chief mutters to himself. “If we ever see ’em again, we’re takin’ ’em out for good. They’ve crossed the last-“
“Chief,” Zubat speaks up, slowly pushing himself back up, the flapping of his wings erratic and shaky, but he manages to keep himself stable enough. “There ain’t gonna be a next time, not with me, anyway. I’m quittin’.”
Chief’s eyes go wide as his head suddenly snaps in the direction of Zubat, briefly forgetting the pain coursing through his body as he quickly sits back up. “You’re what?! Y’ wanna run that by me one more time?!”
“Look at where goin’ after ’em has gotten us!” Zubat shouts back, flapping his wings angrily. “We’ve lost more times than we’ve won, got us kicked outta the biggest guild in the region, we’re runnin’ for our lives tryna hide from Magnezone, what has goin’ after those brats gotten us apart from gettin’ us into trouble?! It just ain’t worth the trouble anymore!”
“You ain’t quittin’.” Chief says firmly, narrowing his eyes towards Zubat. “I’m your leader and I ain’t lettin’ ya leave.”
Zubat scoffs. “For a leader, you’ve been leadin’ us down some bogus roads! I ain’t wanna be a wanted outlaw anymore. I’m leavin’, I’m goin’, and neither of ya are stoppin’ me. See you wherever, Chief. I’m out.” Zubat turns away and begins to flap off, heading back the way they’d came.
“…Alright, fine!” Chief shouts angrily. “We can make do just fine without ya, coward!” He huffs, struggling to get back up on all fours, shaking his head and dusting himself off. “So what, just one team member short. We can still go up against ’em plenty fine if we-“
“I think I’m callin’ it quits too, Chief.” Koffing interrupts, slowly inflating back up, smoke puffing from his pours.
Chief jerks his head in Koffing’s direction, eyes narrowed. “What’s yer problem now? You suddenly got a problem with this too?!”
Koffing shakes his head, gaze narrowed. “This ain’t fun anymore like it used to be, Chief. Every time we gone up against those brats, same outcome. It’s exhaustin’, it’s tirin’, and I can only take so many ‘we’ll get ’em next times’ before I’ve reached my limit. And I’ve reached my limit.”
Koffing begins to make his way out, smoke puffing out as he floats away. “Sorry, Chief. It’s been fun.” He says nothing more, leaving Chief sitting in the middle of the room.
Chief sits there, dumbfounded and alone. His eyes dart around the room, completely and utterly at a loss of what to do next. “…Y’know what? Fine.” He huffs, getting back up. “Who needs those worthless brats anyway? I find someone else. Someone who ain’t chicken enough to leave when things get tough, someone who… Someone that’ll…”
Chief groans, shaking his head as he stomps his way out of the cave. “Oh, who am I kiddin…”
The sound of the waves crashing was slowly growing louder and louder as Chatot, Lexxi and Rickety made their way deeper to the heart of Brine Cave, the area only growing more arid and humid the further they went.
“…Chatot?” Rickety glances over at him a little. “You said that a group of bandit Pokemon reside here. How come we haven’t seen them yet?”
“I’m not sure, I was certain we’d have run into them by now… It’s been years since the guildmaster and I had since been here, perhaps they’ve moved on? But…” Chatot shakes his head. “I feel this strange sense of foreboding looming about…”
Lexxi’s eyes sweep the area, carefully looking around the place, as if looking for any shadows that might be looking around any corner, ready to strike at any moment.
“…Hmm?” Chatot catches sight of a few rocks falling down from the ceiling, feeling his heart briefly stopping in his chest. His eyes slowly drift upwards, meeting three pair of glowing eyes, shrouded by darkness in the ceiling. “Oh no.” A knot forms in his stomach, eyes widening as the eyes lurch forward from the ceiling and strike. “Get back!”
Chatot forcefully shoves himself straight in front of Lexxi and Rickety, taking the full force of the strike, causing plumes of feathers to fly outwards throughout the cave, Lexxi and Rickety’s eyes widening as Chatot is struck by the scythe-like arms of the Kabutopsm two Omastar falling from the ceiling just behind.
“Chatot!” Lexxi and Rickety both exclaim, rushing up behind him, before he glances back at them, warning not to move forward.
“…Heh, look at me. An old fool eagerly throwing himself in harm’s way, twice.” His whole body shakes and shivers, only having barely recovered from his scuffle with Team Skull, weakly smiling to himself. “No wonder I rely on the guildmaster so much…” He chuckles weakly, his strength quickly fading, glancing back at Rickety and Lexxi one last time. “G-Go… Save the world…” He collapses to the ground with a thud, succumbing to his injuries.
“Hmph.” The Kabutops stares at the unconscious Chatot, frowning down at him. “I thought he looked familiar… The fool failed to learn the consequences of trespassing, and not only that, he’s come back again.” His gaze turns towards Lexxi and Rickety. “And he brought company again, I see. I doubt you’ll be as challenging as that Wigglytuff was, way back when.”
Lexxi and Rickety look to each other, a bit unsure. “Are we even ready to fight?” Rickety asks quietly.
“I don’t know, I’m still a little winded from our fight with Team Skull…We can’t let Chatot’s sacrifice be in vain, though!”
“If you won’t learn that same lesson either… Then we’ll have to just beat it into you too-!”
Kabutops is cut off when a swarm of leaves it suddenly hurled towards him, sending him flying back. Rickety and Lexxi stare in confusion, as immediately after, a flurry of swift stars comes hurling down towards the Omastars, knocking them back as well.
“…Backup! Too much backup! Retreat! Retreat!” Kabutops and the rest of his team scramble, all going opposite directions of each other.
Lexxi and Rickety stare in confusion, looking to each other. “What just-“
“You didn’t think you were gonna go back in time without us, did you?~” A familiar voice! The two turn around to see Glyph and Pixie coming straight towards them! “You could’ve told us that you were all ready! We’ve been scrambling our whole way here!”
“Pixie! Glyph!” Rickety exclaims, rushing over towards them. “Gosh, it’s great to see you guys again! How’d you get here?”
“Wigglytuff pointed us in the direction.” Glyph says. “We all came as fast as we could.” He glances past Rickety, staring at Chatot downed, with Lexxi looking over him. “…Might not have been fast enough.”
“I can still sense his spirit.” …Another familiar voice? Rickety glances back Pixie and Glyph, seeing Azelf and Uxie not too far behind. “He’s hanging on, and he’s pushing through as best he can. He’ll be alright, if he gets the treatment he needs.”
Lexxi glances over. “…Uxie and Azelf?”
“When we learned of what Dusknoir had done to our sister, we couldn’t bear the idea of simply resting at our lakes while he has her.” Uxie says, speaking up. “This is a personal matter for us now. We’re getting our sister back, whether Dusknoir likes it or not.”
“CHAAAAAAAATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!” And finally, the guildmaster’s voice could be heard echoing throughout the caves as he comes rushing towards the rest of the group, a panicked, fearful expression on his face as he sees Chatot laying on the ground. He rushes over to him, leaning down to the ground beside him. “Chatot! Are you okay?!”
“…Oooooggghh…” Chatot groans, managing to peek his eyes open. “I-I’m okay, Guildmaster. Just- Nnnghh, merely a flesh wound, heh…”
“Chatot, don’t you move!” Wigglytuff exclaims, “J-Just lay there and rest, okay?! Don’t overexert yourself!”
“Can you believe it, Guildmaster? I went and did it again, hahah… Maybe I’m getting too old for this stuff…”
“If only I’d gotten here sooner… I can’t bear the thought of losing my most invaluable partner…”
Chatot laughs weakly, just barely keeping his eyes open. “Such… Wonderful words to hear from you, Guildmaster… S-So happy… To hear that…”
Glyph walks up behind the Guildmaster, walking over to his side. “We’ll handle the rest from here. Get him back to the guild and get him the treatment he needs. Should make it if you rush back.”
Wigglytuff nods, glancing back at the rest of the team, his eyes landing on Lexxi and Rickety. “You two, go… I know things are bleak, but I know you can all do it.”
Rickety gives a shaky nod. “W-We will, Guildmaster. Thank you.”
Lexxi glances down at Chatot, who just smiles weakly back at her. “…And thank you too, Chatot.”
“Just… Looking out, heheh…”
“…This is the place.”
Lexxi’s eyes look over the area, seeing the same exact place that she had seen in the final vision. Giant archway in the side of the cave, a small pool of water washing up to the shore, and on the wall, those same exact symbols.
Time, Love, Dreams and Death.
Lexxi realized they didn’t look nearly as faded as they did in the vision. They looked more vibrant, more fresh, like they were fairly recently painted here. But… This was supposed to be a temporal space, right? It should look different. Maybe she’s overthinking it.
“It’s fascinating how with everything we know, there’s still secrets in this world that elude even us.” Uxie says, curiously gleaming over the paintings. “To be in this world for as long as we have, and still discover new things every single day.”
Rickety walks up to one of the paintings, standing before the image of the clock, speechless, silent. He breathes slowly, just taking it all in. His eyes slowly glance down towards his necklace, gripping it in his hands.
“Never in my life did I think this little necklace would hold so much history and be so important…” He chuckles softly, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. “B-But that’s why I wanted t-to become an explorer, right? To discover the world’s secrets and learn things nobody has ever known…”
“Not to burst your bubble or anything, Rickety, buuuuuuut maybe we should save the emotional celebrations for after we save the world?” Pixie says, eyes still glancing at all the paintings. “Time feels so strange, here… Like it’s everywhere all at once. No past, no present, no future, just existence. Eternally revolving.”
Rickety’s necklace begins to glow, as does Lexxi’s. Glancing over at the bag, they see it glowing as well, Rickety quickly setting it down, pulling out the other two necklaces. All of them were pulsating, making the whole room around them reverberate.
“Well, that’s a little concerning.” Glyph remarks, turning to Lexxi. “Anything in your vision telling us what this means, Lexxi?”
“Uhh… You’re gonna wanna shield your eyes, for one thing.” She says, the wall behind them suddenly clicking. Right down the middle, the wall splits apart, revealing another door. That same skull door from Lexxi’s vision.
Azelf tilts his head, arching an eyebrow. “Could’ve chosen something less… Imposing, don’t they thi-“
CRREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKK!
The Skull door slowly splits open, flooding the cave with a bright, overwhelming light, everyone except for Glyph having to cover their eyes, lest they be blinded from the sheer, overwhelming brightness flooding the room.
Once the light fades down, Lexxi turns to face the door… The figure isn’t there. “…Where is she?”
“Who?” Rickety turns to Lexxi, confused. “Where’s who?”
“I-I don’t know what she was, but in my vision, I saw a figure walk out, she took the Traveler with her, but… She’s not here.”
“Far as I’m concerned, that just makes it all the easier for us.” He glances back at the group. “We finally made it. Let’s go. No time to waste.”
As they walk into the room, the energy is… Overwhelming, unlike any energy they had ever felt before. It felt otherworldly and imposing, but at the same time, a strange comfort washed over them as they stood in the glowing chambers, a single pillar erected in front of them, one with a holographic display and a set of numbers and letters.
“Well, Pixie,” Lexxi glances up at the Celebi. “Your call. Bring us to your home.”
“Gotcha! Lessee here… I think if I just do this…”
A series of beeps and boops comes from the Control Panel as Pixie starts tapping on the holographic screen, strange letters and runes appearing on it. “It’s a biiiiiit further back, so don’t expect things to look as pretty as The Veil! Aaaaaannnddd… Enter.”
The door behind them slowly closes, the sight of the cave’s wall closing back up too.
The energy they all feel suddenly becomes stronger, stronger, overwhelmingly stronger.
A bright light envelops them…
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