Dungeon 15 – The Kids Aren’t Alright

Lance woke up, seeing himself in the cave where he and his brother went in while following the Snover’s call for help. There was the Zorua, who had just woken up in front of him. And, deeper down, the Sigilyph who had made them both remember those deep memories.

The Riolu got up, growling in anger. He stopped to collect his thoughts and realized he had gone through those terrible experiments and days again. With his whole body shaking, he threw up and fell to the ground, not knowing what to do.

“H-Hey!” Scared, Brian noticed what happened. However, his anger was greater than his fear and he turned to face the enemy Pokémon.

Sigilyph was still flying, but he stepped back, muttering something to himself.

“Ah, I wanted to kill you while you were sleeping, but it seems you got rid of the effect so fast…”

“Using a status move on us after we were weakened…” Lance panted, clenching his fist. “This strategy worked, but now?!”

“You made a very terrible mistake…” the Zorua’s blue eyes started to glow as he put himself in a combat position. After eating one of the Oran Berries he had, he was ready to attack.

“Did I? And what would that be, little Zorua?” The Sigilyph mocked Brian, keeping himself in the air away from him.

“You hurt my brother… I don’t know what he saw, but knowing that he saw something it’s enough for me to kick your ass!” The boy’s body was then wrapped in a red aura, and he disappeared, activating his illusion.

“Did you forget that you are no longer immune to my attacks?” the Psychic-type gave a small laugh directed nowhere in specific, as the zorua wasn’t visible.

“Of course I know, but here’s the thing… I think you need to taste your own medicine!” his voice came from behind the psychic Pokémon as the Zorua suddenly became visible.

Imitating the previous movement, Brian used Hypnosis on his fore, hitting the Sigilyph, who started sleeping.

The Zorua fell to the ground, growling, his fur standing on end as he stared at the enemy, still angry at him. Then Brian’s body was surrounded by a dark aura as rammed against the Sigilyph. His claws also glowed, extending and sharpening.

“Nobody messes with my family! Nobody!” he declared as he attacked mercilessly, the Sigilyph could only get hit.

The psychic was still floating while asleep, but was slowly being dragged to the ground by Brian’s attacks, until he woke up by the damage, screaming in pain.

“I’m not finished with you yet.” Brian took another Orb and became invisible again.

“You idiot! You could have had a painless death, moron!” Flapping his wings, wind gathered around Sigilyph, morphing into the distinct shape of a blade, until he was hit by the orb, falling to the ground without being able to move even a muscle.

“Let’s go…” Brian appeared behind his opponent, his body once again shining in a red tone. To finish the Sigilyph off, he shot a dark energy ball at point blank, knocking him out. Undoing the illusion, the boy fell to the ground, having spent all his energy in the fight.

“Brian…” his brother staggered when getting on his feet, seeming like he could fall at any moment, but even so, Lance decided to get closer.

“We won…” panting, the Zorua closed his eyes.

“You did all this for me? I can’t believe it…” he murmured, lips trembling.

“Relax, you’re important to me,” Brian grinned.

Lance didn’t know how to react. During all the years since he had been kidnapped, the boy closed off his emotions. But this time, it seemed he could finally feel something, some genuine happiness. Looking at the ceiling and pondering for a few moments, he then fell next to the other, exhausted. Thinking fast, he opened his backpack, taking the last Orb he had.

“Come on… we need to go back and leave this guy with the detective…” he said, poking the Sigilyph’s body.

“Okay…” Brian agreed, leaning against the orb.

The Riolu hit the Orb against the ground, where it shattered, making the three of them shine, disappearing from there. Another battle was won by the duo, but not everything seemed to be fine.

---

A day had passed after the confrontation and the explorer duo were now at the police station, seeing their opponent being taken to jail. Lance looked at the Sigilyph with his arms crossed, until the psychic went out of the Riolu’s field of vision when he heard the noise of someone pigeoning. When he turned around, he saw detective Apollo.

“Thanks a lot, guys,” the Arcanine smiled at them, showing his teeth.

“You’re welcome. But I’d like to warn you that we won’t be able to execute the plan today, my brother and I are exhausted,” the Riolu said, glancing at the Zorua.

“Yeah… we still need to talk about some things in private,” Brian agreed, yawning and scratching behind his ears.

How cute. Apollo chuckled and nodded to them. To be honest, he was tired too, but those kids? They were still in a very bad shape, with bruises and a few cuts. Apollo wondered why they seemed to be taking all that so well, considering they were a newly-formed team.

“Hm, no problem! Oh, by the way, I already put Pikachu into witness protection, so you don’t need to worry about her!” Apollo explained with glowing and sparkly eyes. “Anyway, meet me here tomorrow!”

The two siblings left the place, walking the streets of the city. During the trip to their apartment, they looked at the nearby citizens, who remained doing their activities normally.

“They don’t seem to suspect about the dark side of things here,” Lance sighed.

“Well, it’s not as if those guys were killing indiscriminately…”

“They still have to pay,” the Riolu clenched his fist, growling.

“I understand… by the way, I was serious at the police station, we need to talk!”

“I… know…” biting his lip, he kept walking.

---

When they arrived at their home, both of the siblings went straight to the apartment upstairs. After locking the door behind them, they sat down on the couch, staying a few moments in silence. Neither wanting to say anything.

“Ok! I’ll start it here…” Brian said loudly, looking at his brother.

“Go ahead,” hesitating a little, Lance averted his gaze.

“I kept remembering a few things because of that Sigilyph,” lowering his ears, he didn’t seem to want to talk about it, yet he built up the courage to continue. “From that time you disappeared.”

Those words hit the Riolu like a stab in the boy’s heart, and his scar stung. The subject of the conversation was very delicate, even after eight years of what happened.

“I also did. My dream ended with Blitz.”

“Blitz?! Wow, I wish things had worked out between you two,” Brian noticed that he had deviated from the subject and shook his head. “I never knew what happened when you got taken. If you want—”

“No,” Lance cut his brother’s sentence, breathing deeply.

This was supposed to be them both finally talking things out. In the end, it was awful that they had to endure all the trauma.

Forcing a smile, the blue Pokémon spoke again. “I’m sorry, I… I went through a lot there. I had to kill to survive, because of the crazy scientist who drugged and tortured me for a month…”

Killing? Lance had to kill? Oh. No wonder how much his personality changed after the events. Gone was the happy and carefree Riolu Brian once knew, and that… version of Lance replaced him. The fox bit his lower lip, a bit unsure what to say.

He couldn’t blame his brother, it wasn’t his choice. The other option was Lance dying in that lab, and this one felt like a big boulder crashing against Brian’s head. No. He had to take things slow and be gentle.

“I’m sorry Lance, I shouldn’t have asked,” Brian gulped, ears lowered. Ah, how he wished things were different, that he could turn back time and fix everything. But it was impossible.

“That’s ok. It was hard to go through all that alone, I… thought I had overcome it. The worst part is, it’s the second time I thought that. The last time was when I was with the Blitz … during the time we were together I felt happy,” Lance looked down, his ears drooping as he reminisced. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Using him to try to solve your problems was not a good thing to do, even if you both loved each other,” Brian said, and his brother just nodded. “Even so, I know I can’t make your trauma disappear, but… I hope I can help you get through it.”

“T-Thank you, Brian,” Lance blushed,embarrassed. “You’re my partner on this journey and my brother on this life. I trust you, I just don’t know how to show it.”

“I also care about you, know that I will be here for whatever you need,” Brian gave a faint smile, wagging his tail. “You don’t need to hide anything from me!”

“Okay. I can’t promise anything, only I guarantee I’ll think about it. I’m really tired. I’ll see you later,” yawning, the boy got up, going into his room.

“Hopefully, everything will be fine,” stretching, the Zorua did the same thing as his brother, entering the room and throwing himself into bed, immediately falling asleep.

---

While Lance was lying in bed, he began to reflect on the last part of the dream he had during the fight. The Riolu remembered the time they had spent together, where he was happy, despite all that had happened.

I loved you, but… I hurt you a lot… I wish it had worked out, I’m not good with relationships, I guess. Not with everything that happened to me.

The boy gnashed his teeth. I don’t have time to think about it, I need to plan how to get rid of those three… for better or for worse. He closed his eyes, finally falling asleep.

In the other room, Brian was already sleeping, moving on his bed and sweating. In his mind, he could see himself at the exit of his city. The place was covered with a dense fog, and you could hardly see what was far away. Striving to see, the boy saw a silhouette with a familiar shape.

Squinting his eyes, he recognized it as his brother and started running, but he didn’t seem to move from place, even if he tried, while Lance moved further and further away. The zorua fried in despair, unable to catch up with his brother.

“AH!” Brian gasped, waking up from the nightmare. With his body still trembling, he began to breathe slowly, in an attempt to calm down. “I have to be strong… as Uncle Shiron said, I will protect him and none of that will happen again!” Pondering this, he went back to sleep.

---

At dusk, detective Apollo was leaving the police station after a long day of work. The plan he had made with the two boys was about to be executed and until now, everything was in accordance. When he entered his residence, he saw, standing there, a Gothitelle, staring at him in silence and holding an envelope.

“The mayor’s secretary!” narrowing his eyes, the Arcanine waited to see what she would do. Making enemies would not solve that conflict, only escalate it.

“My name is Jane, detective. But that doesn’t matter much at the moment,” she put the paper on a desk. “I know you’re still conducting the investigation and the mayor would like to make a deal with you.”

“He wants me to stop…”

“Well, you can continue if you want, after all, you’re free to do it… however, I can’t guarantee that everything will go the way you expect it to.”

“And you think I’m just going to ignore a case of corruption that’s in front of me?!” he shouted, growling and preparing to attack.

“The choice is yours, but like every choice, it has consequences… You have until tomorrow to decide,” the woman walked out the door of the house in silence.

“Shit!” Apollo said, a puff of smoke coming out of his mouth.

---

After they woke up and had breakfast, the siblings were prepared to execute the plan, which meant they would have to go to the police station to pick up the recorders. And so, they left that way.

“Even after that last fight, we will still have to arrest the other three,” Brian pointed out. “Which means… planning! Right?”

Lance nodded. “I had an idea that should allow us to settle the score with those guys,” he smirked. “You helped me think this, actually. They need to get a taste of their own medicine.”

Brian stopped walking, pondering about the meaning behind those words. He knew Lance didn’t throw them in randomly into the conversation, so where did that come from? He had helped?

Wait. Back with the Sigilyph! That was it! The fox smiled, proud at himself for figuring it out and followed his sibling, giggling all the way.

“I think I know what you’re getting at, but we’re gonna have to get this right first…”

“Well, Brian, for this particular plan of mine, you’re going to play a big role, I trust you with it.” Lance’s smile widened as he kept walking. “You do wanna help me, right?”

“O-Of course!” Brian had a goofy grin on his face.

The two of them stopped at the entrance and then went inside the place, going to the Arcanine’s office. As they arrived, the explorers saw the policeman walking in circles, while he mumbled a few words to himself. When he noticed the boys, Apollo turned to face them.

“Good morning, and I have some… not very good news for you,” he said, lowering his ears.

“What happened?” The Riolu asked, sitting on a chair.

“The mayor’s secretary tried to bribe me, and honestly, I don’t know what to do now,” he sighed.

“Do they even know our plan?” this time, it was the Zorua who asked the question.

“I don’t know, but messing with the most powerful Pokémon here is pretty dangerous,” Apollo grumbled, still unsure what to do about that.

“No. That’s how they win,” Lance closed his eyes, analyzing the situation. “If we fall into their game, nothing will change.”

“My brother’s right, I don’t want to see someone like that get away with murder!” Brian stared at the cop.

“Right,” Apollo scratched his chin. “I understand, so let’s get on with it. Will you two go to your positions now?”

“Exactly,” Lance nodded.

Well, that went better than he expected it, and he was glad it did! Apollo’s tail wagged as he heard the two saying those sweet and gentle words.

“Ok. So let’s do it,” opening the drawer with his mouth, he took two devices, delivering them to the duo.

The devices were rectangular-shaped, and had a few buttons on the side of them. On the front, there was a large microphone, and a few areas of the devices had holes in them.

Brian took notice of what they were meant for and smiled wider than he ever did before, now wagging his tail.

“Oh! Oh! That’s a recorder, isn’t it?! That’s so cool!” he proclaimed, yelping and turning into a Loudred, beating his chest. “DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW THIS THING WORKS?!”

Apollo wasn’t as amused as Brian, but to humor him, he decided to fake ignorance about the subject. “No clue, kiddo. How does it work?”

“IT’S PRETTY SIMPLE!” Brian smiled, the small Zorua tail swished. “WE USE A MICROPHONE TO CAPTURE THE SOUND, THEN WE CONVERT INTO AN OSCILLATING ELECTRIC SIGNAL, THAT PRODUCES AN ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD, WHICH—”

Lance elected to shut up his brother, knowing very well how he could go on those explanations for hours, a time which they didn’t have at the moment.

“Our plan… will not fail,” he put the recorder in his backpack and left with his brother.

“Good luck, kids!” Apollo gulped, hoping for the best.

---

After leaving the police station, they both went in opposite directions, Lance going to the Black Skull guild, while Brian went to the city hall. Determined to solve the case, the boys wanted to accomplish their task nicely.

“I wanna kick that guys’ ass, but I’ll have to control myself,” sighing, the Zorua ran, getting closer and closer to the building. Once he arrived and entered, he saw the Gothitelle on the desk.

“Good morning, do you have an appointment?” she asked without even looking at the boy.

“For him, I will make an exception. It’s always good to see what explorers have to say to me,” the Alakazam spoke, head raised and rubbing his mustache with his left hand. He came down the stairs.

Let’s do this Brian, you can’t screw it up! For that Tyrunt… taking a deep breath, he went up next to the psychic Pokémon’s office, sneakily turning on the recording device and putting it back on, where it slowly moved.

“So, can you tell me what you came here for, boy? I’ll have to get used to all of these visits,” he said, sitting on the chair.

“I’ve been here before if you didn’t know!”

“Yes. Dark-types. You are immune to my psychic attacks,” he got up, looking at the city through the window. “Well, let me ask you something. What do you think you’ll gain by continuing on this journey? Recognition? Fame? Things like that come and go.”

“At the moment, bringing closure to someone who is suffering… but the question. I want to know… the reason behind this. What led you to hire those mercenaries?” Brian’s ears dropped as he backed away, hoping that the recorder was working properly.

“Whoever controls the city controls a lot of things, kid. He was an obstacle that had to be eliminated.”

“So he only got killed for being in your way?! He had a family!” That was the last straw. Brian snarled, his body glowing red.

If only he were more powerful… then that fiasco in the cave would be avoided, if he evolved… he could face up against more powerful opponents, like the Alakazam standing in his way.

“And you’re the one who’s going to end up losing someone if you keep this up,” the Alakazam turned around, staring at the Zorua. “Next time, they won’t fail.”

“That’s what I needed… thanks!” Becoming invisible, the boy ran outside the room, turning off the recorder.

The mayor squinted his eyes at that, without understanding why he just ran away.

“Strange, there’s no reason he did that, unless… the police!” he clenched his teeth, calling the secretary. “Don’t let him escape, he must have recorded the conversation!”

Brian was almost leaving the place, when something grazed the Zorua’s head, causing a small explosion that distracted him, making him visible again. Looking back, he saw the Gothitelle standing before him, holding some seeds in her left hand. Extending her right arm, the boy’s backpack shone, being lifted in the air by telekinesis.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you get away with this…” she said as the bag got near.

“Shit! Lady, I don’t have time for this!” Brian dashed forward, enveloping his body on that black aura from before, and he colli with the female, decentralizing her and making her backpack fall to the ground.

After the collision, the secretary threw another seed at Zorua, which exploded on contact, throwing him to the ground. As he tried to get up, he realized that his body was not responding correctly, making an effort not to fall on the ground due to the dizziness.

“You may be immune to my attacks, but you are not invincible,” she took the backpack with her free hand, moving inside.

“Totter… Seed… shit… !” Brian tried to use Pursuit, but instead, he hit himself, losing balance and falling to the ground.

When he got up, concentrating as much as he could, he fired a dark energy ball into the seeds that Gothitelle was carrying. Some of the seeds exploded in her hand generating another burst that knocked her out.

Suddenly, one of the seeds shone and Gothitelle got up, her energy restored.

“You had a Reviver Seed?!” he gasped, shaking his head. “Focus, Brian! The effects are already diminishing!”

“Tsc… Brick Break should do it!” seeing that her items no longer worked, she stood up, her arms shining. Then, the woman advanced against the boy.

Without having time to react properly, Brian was hit with the full force of the impact, falling to the ground with his body sore from the attack. Even so, he didn’t plan to give up on that fight and got up with difficulty, his eyes shining in a red tone, determined to overcome that obstacle.

“I c-can’t let you… keep doing… this!”

The shine intensified, covering the boy’s entire body as he ran in the direction of the opponent. As he walked, he grew in size and his paws developed claws. The hair clump on his head stretched out on his back, becoming a full crimson mane.

“I… I’m finishing this now! We’re not giving up!” Brian declared, jumping back after approaching. “This is what our team stands for! Whenever there is corruption and crime, we’ll strike it down!”

Brian dispersed the red aura that was on his body. Despite trying to dodge, the Gothitelle wasn sent flying until she collided with the wall and fell to the ground, fainting.

Panting, the newly evolved Zoroark took his backpack, and, before the mayor could return, he ran out of there. Stumbling and falling flat on the ground, Brian got up, running again.

“Okay, I’ll need to get used to walking on two legs… but at least I made it! I hope Lance made it too…”

So, the boy went back to the police station with the recorded conversation, stumbling a few times while getting used to his new shape. Until now, everything was going as planned. It was up to the boy to trust that his brother would fulfill his part of the strategy too.