Dungeon 12 – Highway to Hell

“A mission? Right when we’re in the middle of another? Where did you get this?” Brian asked, sitting on the couch in his apartment. Next to him was Lance, holding a pamphlet.

“That Swalot gave it to me. To be honest, I thought it was suspicious, but… we’d better go, if it’s true and we don’t go, someone will remain missing…” Sighing, he read the paper. “Missing Pokémon named Harold.”

In the document was the black and white image of a Snover. Placing the paper on the sofa, Lance got up, analyzing the situation.

“Man, you have to admit this is kind of weird… where was he last seen?” the fox Pokémon asked, staring at the drawing. He was still unsure what to do.

“In a dungeon outside this city, it’s a cave, just like that Luxray’s. Specifically, a magma cave.” The Riolu tapped his feet on the ground while talking.

“Look, we have to make a quick decision, if it’s true at all.” Frowning, he jumped down from the couch.

“Come on, if it’s a trap we’ll be ready,” he said putting his backpack on.

---

The duo then decided to take their chances and go search for him. After leaving the building, the two explorers went towards the exit of the city, at the south of the condominium where they lived. Walking along the road, Lance took the map, looking at the locations.

“In a few meters there is a divide, according to the map, we have to go east when we get there…” the boy put the paper in his bag, walking faster.

In contrast to the technologically advanced city of Bright Dawn, the road where the duo was located was more rural. Having only a few signs to indicate the nearby dungeons, the road was surrounded by trees and some Pokémon walking in the background. At their right the boys could see berry fields with some farms on them .

After walking for a few minutes, the team arrived at a path that branched in four separate directions.

“Endless Inferno, that’s what this dungeon is known as.” Lance looked at a sign indicating the directions and then turned his face to the left. He went on the eastern path.

“I should have bought a Rawst Berry…” Brian said, lowering his ears before following his partner.

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Endless Inferno

As they entered the cave, they realized that it was illuminated by lava wells. The soil was mainly composed of magmatic rocks and extended even beyond the vision of the two Pokémon. Feeling the sweat dripping down their bodies, the duo decided to advance.

“I’ll tell you, if this Snover is here, he was unlucky enough to end up in such a hot cave.”

“Yes. With his fourfold weakness against fire-type moves, he made a bad… decision… but we don’t have time to talk about that. I can see the hallway in front of us,” the Riolu stated as they went ahead.

After they crossed the passage, they found a wide corridor, next to another gallery in the background. The temperature kept rising and they were sweating even more. Stopping to analyze the situation, Lance sighed.

“Something’s wrong.” Looking around, he growled. The feelers around his head were moving.

“What are you talking about?” Moving his ears, Brian tried to identify the enemy.

Lance concentrated, his eyes and his left paw shining in a blue tone, he moved that arm in a circle around him, trying to locate any Pokémon using his aura. Opening, Lance turned around in the direction they were first facing at. In front of them, there were three Pokémon similar to black haired dogs coming down the corridor. The biggest of them had large horns and their muzzle and belly had an orange coat. He let out a howl, looking at his enemies while showing his teeth.

“One Houndoom and two Houndour,” the Zorua said, analyzing their foes before adopting a combat position.

“Brian, if you don’t want to get hit, get out of my way!” Snarling, Lance began to charge energy in his paw, while looking at his foes.

Not even waiting to hear the fox’s answer, the blue canine ran through the corridor, clashing against the dogs while rage filled the Riolu’s body. He jumped and started to spin, releasing an energy wave from his hand all around that area.

…Force Palm! he declared as he landed on his feet, recoiling back after the move.

The other Pokémon that were in the place barely had any time to dodge. The enemy leader jumped back, narrowly avoiding being hit. One of the Houndour on the other hand, got hit first by Lance’s attack and was immediately thrown against the wall, pushed away by the sheer force of the swing,fainting almost instantly. The remaining one advanced against Brian, narrowly dodging Lance’s shot before charging at Brian with his fangs on fire.

“Urgh!” Grazed by the hit, Brian felt his fur starting to burn. The Zorua instinctively created an illusion that rendered him invisible,using the brief respite to distance himself from the dog.

One of the Houndour sniffed the air, searching for the smell of burned fur that came from Zorua. Suddenly, he took a full blow that made the pup lose his balance. Undoing the illusion, Brian reappeared behind the Houndour. The boy’s claws seemed to grow larger as a white light shone of them, and then the dog was struck repeatedly by the small fox.

“Come on, now!” the Houndour was thrown away, after being hit by the consecutive blows. Brian panted, trying to stay on his feet.

On the other side of the corridor, Lance was now dashing towards the Houndoom, his arms crossing in X shape in front of him. His enemy growled at him in response, an aura of flames wrapping the dark type’s body. The Riolu kept advancing without caring, his eyes focused on the black canine as if his sole goal in life was to finish the enemy in front of him. The Houndoom howled, shooting a stream of flames at the boy.

“Have to endure, argh!” A white aura surrounded the Riolu a second before he was hit by the fire, he cried out in pain, but kept holding on without fainting.

“Lance!” Brian ran to rescue his brother, just as the same Houndour from before appeared, his fangs with an electric charge. Thinking fast, the Zorua turned invisible again.

Lance fell to the ground,coughing. His body was in immense pain, he could feel the burns all over his skin, making him tremble with pain. Even so, he got up again, staggering as he stood back on his feet, determined to use all the strength he had left.

Meanwhile, Brian was planning how to knock out the Houndour. Attacks of the dark type would not be very effective, much less the ghost. In this case, he would have to improvise.

“I can just buy more Orbs in that store…” Pondering his options, with his snout, he took one of the blue spheres from his backpack, getting ready to shoot.

The cub was looking for the smell once more, his mouth oozed a purple liquid that was now covering his snout, he advanced towards the general direction he had tracked Brian to. Undoing his illusion, Zorua jumped, throwing the sphere against the Houndour.

Blowback Orb! Do your job! Brian shouted inside of his head. The sphere broke, releasing a strong gust of wind, throwing the dog against the wall, the canine pokémon slid to the floor, already unconscious before he hit the ground.

Falling to his feet, Brian saw his brother facing the Houndoom again, and soon he ran to help him. Lance, struggling to stand, carried energy in his hand to shoot the big dog again.

“That’s enough, man! I’ll take care of him, you can barely stand!” Brian Complained, “We’re very lucky that our backpacks are fireproof… but you can’t keep up like this!”, The Zorua took a step forward.

“Shut up.” Lance answered, taking an Oran Berry from his bag and eating it before heading towards the Houndoom again. “I have to finish this guy…” His voice became raspy as he talked. The Riolu’s vision was getting blurry, but his eyes were still locked on the Houndoom.

“I won’t let you die here, I swore I would protect you…” Brian too was looking at their enemy, who was getting ready to throw another blast of fire at them.

“So be it…” Looking at the Houndoom, the Riolu raised his paw, preparing to shoot.

“Two can play this game…!” Brian’s body glowed for one second and he opened his mouth, which was also filled with the same energy as Lance’s palm.

The Houndoom’s flames collided with the dual blow the brothers had thrown, creating an explosion that threw everyone against the walls. The sound of the snap of the Houndoom’s bones echoed through the chamber, and the dog fainted right after. On the other side, the boys fell, feeling a great pain in their spines, but remained awake. Panting, Lance began to slowly walk towards the Houndoom.

“Force Palm,” he said, giving the dark pokémon another shot.

“Lance, what are you doing?! It already fainted, we have to move on!” Staggering, the Zorua went after his friend.

“Quiet…” he said while charging another shot, sweat running down his fur. “I’m. Finishing. This. NOW!” every time he said something, he shot Houndoom, looking desperate as he did.

Brian bit Lance’s arm, pulling it back with all the strength that was left in Zorua’s little body. Both brothers fell, unable to move or leave the place. They both started to hear a laughing voice in their minds, as a flying Pokémon came out of the same hole as the trio of dogs. The Sigilyph laughed, even without having a mouth, while looking at the boys with his three eyes.

“It was easier than I thought,” he said with telepathy.

“Shit… it was a trap!” Gnashing his teeth, Lance clenched his fists.

“We fell like fools!” Raising his eyes, Brian just noticed what had happened. “Who sent you here?!”

“I owed those metal heads a favor…” the bird’s eyes changed color, turning pink as he looked at Zorua.

“Well, it doesn’t matter! I’m immune to his psychic attacks! You’ll regret having deceived us!” he gave a toothy grin, ready to take the attack.

“You seem very confident in your ability, Zorua… I’m sorry…” the Pokémon’s three eyes were glowing and he fired a beam in the shape of a triangle.

“That move from before… Brian! Dodge!” Screaming, Lance tried to run, but his body didn’t have the strength for it anymore and he just fell face down.

“Hehe, relax bro! I’m gonna kick his ass…” The boy was hit by the attack, his eyes opened wide with surprise before he hit the ground, sleeping.

“You son of a bitch… Did you use Miracle Eye on him?!” Getting up, Lance was staggering.

“An insightful observation Riolu, but not insightful enough to save your brother. But don’t worry, you’ll join him soon enough.” Laughing, he threw the same blow at the boy.

Unable to deflect, Lance fell to the ground, trying to resist as much as he could, even if his arms and legs didn’t respond to the command. With his eyes almost closed, he saw only the psychic Pokémon in front of him, then he too fell asleep.