Chapter 9 – Flowers on the Wind

Tracklist

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A low rumble made the pipes running across the walls shudder, giving Ennea a chance to clear her mind. The white noise of it was relaxing, almost making her drowsy, ironic as that was. She let out a sigh and looked at the sight in front of her.

The sunken city really was incredible, and advanced beyond belief. Buildings as tall as mountains stretched up from the seabed. They almost reminded her of massive Duraludons, though they had long since fallen to ruin. Through the coral that was reclaiming the structures, glints of silver could be seen like hidden bits of treasure. They came from the glow of the crescent moon beaming down upon them, the only light they needed, even at the bottom of the ocean.

She and her partner were safe in a preserved chamber, able to look out at the beauty of the lost civilization through a massive, reinforced window. Much of the construction inside had oxidized unevenly, leaving them in a tapestry of greens and coppers that mirrored the growth of plants over the ballroom’s tiles.

It had come out beautifully. Not a detail was missed. The things in Ennea’s dreams were always perfect, because that’s what her dreams were. And so…

Ennea turned around to finally take another look at the Vulpix who’d patiently been waiting right behind her. Long, windswept hair, a worn indigo cape, a subtle expression, and even fur patterning that made it look like he was wearing eyeliner.

But that eyeliner framed inexplicably bright eyes.

Ennea groaned and shooed this stranger away. He wasn’t Autumnal. No matter how closely she tried to make a match, she just couldn’t make him.

“…I don’t get it. Why can’t you come here?”

“You know, Ennea. It’s possible that your Dungeoneer would object to being puppeteered around in your dreams,” Bezel said.

Ennea looked at the Swablu suddenly at her side. “I thought it was ‘puppeted.’”

“No, no.” Bezel puffed up with pride. “The proper word is ‘puppeteered.’ I must know these things if I’m to fit in with high society.”

“I can make you just fine. Even to the point where you tell me things I don’t know.” Ennea sighed, pawing at one of the plants snaking through the tiles. “And it’s not as malicious as you’re saying. I can make things better here. Watch.”

With a wave of her paw, Ennea fixed up the ballroom to look good as new, and summoned Polaris for good measure.

“…Now kiss.”

Bezel chuckled. “You do know how to win me over. Fine then, if you insist.”

“I… do get a say in this, do I not?” Polaris asked.

“Of course you do.” Ennea had heard just how well their meeting had gone. “Polaris, do you wanna kiss Bezel?”

Polaris adjusted her glasses and looked away. “…I wouldn’t object to it.”

There we go. Ennea decided to let them have their fun while she meandered about the other chambers. Since she’d fixed up the ballroom, all of them had adjusted to be in great condition. Look at that, Ennea restored an entire lost city in a single dream.

…She wished Autumnal was here to see it. She had spent so much time, so many years creating this world for herself. She could even take her friends, though they wouldn’t remember on the other side. This was a world where things were perfect.

Except for that one thing.

Ennea paused. She ran a paw across the railing of the walkway she’d stopped on, letting another rumble from the ocean lull her thoughts. Bubbles skirted against the glass, likely making for a great backdrop for whatever romantic stuff Bezel and Polaris were getting up to in the other room. But otherwise, it was quiet here.

“…I think I’ll just wake up now….”

 

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Hot. It was too damn hot.

Ennea grimaced as she lazily flailed out of her tomb of blankets. Her nose had gotten all stuffy from sleeping in such stifling heat. Terrible. She’d be feeling lousy like this for at least the next hour and a half.

Without the energy to do much else, Ennea just laid flat on her back, trying to recover now that she’d gotten those sheets off. She must’ve chosen to dream of the city under the sea to beat the heat. Living somewhere with cooler springs might be nice.

A gentle breeze washed over Ennea like a soothing wave. Perhaps the dream hadn’t quite ended? Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a window had been opened.

Phew, that’s a lot better…. Did I open it last night? I don’t remember doing that.

Wait a minute.

Finally sentient enough to look around, Ennea found her couch free of any surfers.

“Autumnal…? Are you seriously already awake?”

“Mhm.” Autumnal’s head popped up from behind the sofa. It might’ve made her jump if she wasn’t half-asleep.

But seeing his eyes were dark… that just made Ennea smile.

“Sheesh. Early riser, huh?” Ennea stretched her paws out and arched her back. Seemed she’d gotten a small burst of energy. “Guess I finally met my match. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you hadn’t slept at all!”

“…Ur’a wlauwe rglr qlt.” Autumnal tumbled over onto the couch’s cushions, his bag landing atop him. He didn’t even react, and just brought his head up like he was wearing a very strange, oversized hat.

“You going through your stuff in there? Probably a good idea considering our plans.” Ennea hopped off her bed.

Clink-kaclink-clink!

The sudden sound actually did make Ennea jump this time, and the coolness under her paws made her do it twice.

She looked down to find the offending object: a pile of coins that had been placed at the foot of her bed.

“Wha—?”

Sifting through the puddle of cash only made Ennea more confused. By her estimate, it totaled somewhere around 900 Poké. Was this some kind of joke?

Ennea raised an eyebrow. “What is this?”

Autumnal responded with a couple taps to his mouth.

“I—Wait!” Ennea ran through some calculations in her head. If she counted up all the times they’d had meals together….

“Wha—this is payment for all the food you’ve eaten?! How did you even keep track? I didn’t tell you how much most of it cost!”

Autumnal shrugged, then slid a paw through the air. Now we’re good.

“No, we are not!” Ennea flicked a coin over Autumnal’s way. “You don’t gotta pay me back for all that, you’re my friend! And you were in a tight spot! Besides, what else is that money gonna go to? Furnishing this dump? Back to my parents?”

Autumnal dropped to the floor, picking up the coin and pretending to drop it into a box.

“How is this not charity? No way! I’m not accepting a single Poké from you!” Ennea flicked over another coin.

Clink! The other flew in and blocked its trajectory, impact sending it sliding right back into her pile!

Ennea blinked. “Huh?”

She looked back to Autumnal, finding him prepped and ready to block her again, a determined pout on his face.

“You did not just—!”

Oh no, Autumnal was not going to beat her on this! Ennea sprung into action, using both paws to flick over dual coins his way.

As planned, he only had enough coins of his own to block one of the two Ennea had launched! It slid on in, joining the one ricocheting back to him!

“Ha, now the score’s 900-something to 2!”

And Ennea wasn’t going to stop there! She started shooting coins over one after another, a veritable hail of metal sliding across the floor. Autumnal put up a good fight, but it was too many to block, even for an adventurer. Clinks rang out as the Vulpix gained his own small pile from the onslaught.

Then something smacked Ennea’s leg.

She looked down to find a new pile of coins by her side. Autumnal hissed to himself as a missed shot let Ennea find him out.

“Wha—?! You were sending them back, too?!” Ennea’s eyes went to his paws first, but she’d seen all the attacks he’d made with those! Looking to his side revealed the trick: Autumnal had been using his tails as well! By stretching them outside of her field of view, he’d smuggled tons of attacks her way completely unseen!

Shoot, I can’t beat him if tails are involved! I only have one!

No, think! There’s a way! There’s always a way! If we’re playing dirty like that…!

The beam of light from the window finally reached Ennea’s ears, making them twitch with a spark of inspiration! She found the highest denomination of coin she could and flicked it, but straight up instead of across! It flipped into the air, and Autumnal couldn’t help but follow it!

He flinched, covering his dark eyes with a paw. The coin had caught the light and blinded him! Now was Ennea’s chance!

She grabbed as much of the pile as she could and shoved it on over! She couldn’t get it all, but now most of it was on Autumnal’s side. Victory for Ennea!

“Ah!” Autumnal cried out as he finally caught a glimpse of her glorious attack. Such perfect strategy demanded a moment of awe, if not several!

The rays crept down to completely spotlight Ennea as Autumnal bowed to her. She just had to bask in it.

“…Hey, aren’t the piles smaller than they should be?”

“Ah.” Autumnal looked around the room. Coins were littered everywhere. Turns out neither of them were as accurate as they felt in the moment.

“Shoot. Gonna have to clean that up later.” Worth it though.

“Aieet.” Autumnal bowed and mimed giving Ennea something. I’ll make it up to you.

“No way! I didn’t win that game for nothing!” Ennea’s eyes lit up. “Actually, I know exactly how you can make this up to me! Keep the money.”

Autumnal squinted in disbelief and swapped his paws. Isn’t that backwards?

“Not with you, apparently!” Ennea hopped up and grabbed her bag. “Besides, we’ve gotta get going! There’s a breakfast we need to be at!”

After they got themselves prepped and ready, Ennea couldn’t help but shoot through the door, flying down the stairs to take the road ahead at a full sprint. She was real lucky Autumnal could match her speed. She felt way too good to go any slower!

The clock tower chimed off in the distance. It hadn’t even been half an hour since Ennea had woken up.

 

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Ennea and Autumnal opened the door, sending them to a remarkably cushy dining room. It was one of those cafés for wealthy folks pretending to be commoners: in public, but completely inhospitable for anyone without a lot of money to throw away. It was worrying for Ennea’s wallet, but they did need this advantage.

Despite the early hour, there were already patrons at nearly every table, most of them prettied up with extra accessories. Autumnal’s eyes went straight to a stage near the back where a trio of musicians were setting up. To Ennea though, this whole place felt like a stage. Stifling, full of expectations. Not so much of a magical otherworld.

But they had friends on the inside, given that one of those tables had a bespectacled Meditite daintily waving for them. A Swablu was sitting on the seat right next to her… and it looked like they’d pushed their chairs to be closer together.

“Why hello there, Bezel,” Ennea began as she approached. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Bezel stifled a scoffing laugh. “I should hope not. We were the ones who invited you.”

“Sorry, just… this is familiar, is all.” Ennea took her seat and made sure to point Autumnal to his immediately, avoiding a repeat of last time. “This is pretty much exactly how we met the first day of the investigation, just with an expanded roster.”

“I would personally call it an improved roster.” Bezel gave Polaris a knowing smile. “Although if you wish to act things out, I suppose I could oblige. Let us see… I likely asked you something of the town council next, yes?”

There was totally a bit about your stalkerisms first, but we can leave that out for now. “Good news: they didn’t meet today. My morning was a lot more fun.”

Autumnal pretended to tie a knot behind his neck. Polaris’s eyes widened, it probably seemed like a much darker gesture out of context.

“Ha, you remember how it went too, huh? If I’d realized, we totally could’ve brought the collar for a full reenactment.” They’d been allowed to keep it after the case. Made for a good memento.

Bezel seemed to notice Polaris’s discomfort and cleared her throat. “Well. We’ll save reminiscing for after we order our food. Thank you for indulging us on such short notice.”

“Yes, this seemed like such a fun idea!” Polaris chimed in.

“Really?” Ennea raised an eyebrow. “I’d have thought you’d wanna avoid having both a third and fourth wheel.”

“Oh? But I was under the impression the point of a double—”

Polaris cut herself off thanks to a tap from Bezel. She leaned down so the Swablu could whisper in her ear, slowly drawing a hand over her mouth.

“Sheesh, now you’re keeping secrets?” Ennea tried to give a smile, but she honestly really hated being left out of the loop like this….

“Mm.” Autumnal used a paw to mime a snapping mouth under the table where only Ennea could see it.

True. Guess we’ve got our own. Maybe theirs will be revealed at the end, too.

“Anyway,” Ennea continued. “So you want us to order some food, right?”

“I believe I can be of assistance,” a monotone voice interrupted from behind.

Ennea nearly fell off her seat scrambling to turn around. “Wha—?! Urania?!”

The Golduck gave a bow. “At your service. What would you like to order today?”

“You work here?!”

“I do not. However, their service leaves much to be desired. Young Lady Polaris and her date are not to receive anything less than the best.”

“It is quite embarrassing…” Polaris admitted. “But mother insisted upon it. Wherever I go, Urania shall follow. Not that it isn’t appreciated, of course.”

“Yeah that really is—” Ennea sat straight up. “Wait! Urania just said ‘her date!’ It’s already official?!”

Polaris fidgeted around. “Oh, well… yes, I suppose it is.”

“Gosh, you two move fast! And the rest of the family’s cool with it?”

“Of course,” Urania explained. “By my own personal evaluation, Miss Bezel seems quite proper and educated. Suitable company for Young Lady Polaris.”

“Oh, you flatter me.” Bezel was clearly preening. “This way simply makes things easier for the ball. Given recent events, it’s a bit more exclusive than once planned.”

Polaris clapped her hands together, eyes shining behind her massive glasses. “Of course! We’d like to extend our invitations to you as well, Ennea.”

“Oh, that’s—” Ennea stopped, smile fading to something a bit more conflicted. “…Just me?”

“Aha, you see….” Polaris reluctantly acknowledged Autumnal. “Not that we aren’t grateful to him as well, but….”

It took Ennea a moment to realize that Polaris’s eyes weren’t even on Autumnal himself, but instead his cape. Practical and clearly well worn, it stuck out against all the overly flashy accessories the patrons of the café donned.

“…He is a Dungeoneer,” Polaris mumbled. “It would be difficult for him to find acceptance in something more high class, is all.”

Ennea’s eyes followed the flow of Autumnal’s cape until she was left staring down at the ground.

Was this her fault? She’d been the one to tell Bezel of Autumnal’s… less than glamourous career path. Now it seemed word was getting around, and the word did not do him any favors.

With just one conversation she’d barely put any thought into, Ennea had destroyed Autumnal’s reputation. Now he wasn’t invited to the ball of the family whose savings he nearly died to save. How awful….

“Mm.”

Ennea almost flinched at his hum, but easily relaxed when she looked back up at his eyes, dark and free of any contempt. In fact, he’d barely reacted to the news, and was instead trying to point out something on the menu with a blank expression.

He circled the pancake trio. It featured the café’s finest selection of their fancy collection, all in a stack. It was a good bit pricier than the other items on the menu.

“Oh…” Ennea realized. “You want me to buy this to make it up to you…?”

And suddenly Autumnal’s emotions returned, ears going askew and eyebrows quirking in a resounding “huh?”

He pointed between the two of them, then pretended to set one plate down on the table where they could both reach it.

“Oh!” Ennea realized. “You wanna share this between us?” She glanced back at the menu. He was right, sharing just this one big order would still be cheaper than getting two separate ones, and it looked to be enough food for them both! “…You’re really not mad?”

Autumnal gave a reassuring smile, pointed to himself, and slid a paw through the air. I’m fine. Then he gave a shrug, because of course he did.

He was used to this. He was a Dungeoneer. He’d tried to keep that second fact a secret, even from Ennea. It was no surprise he knew what happened when the news broke out.

But that didn’t mean Ennea had to accept it. She turned back to Bezel and Polaris, who’d quickly become wrapped up in their own shenanigans with the menu.

“Sorry Polaris, but I’ll have to decline your invitation.” Ennea managed a casual smile. “Going to a party without my friend honestly just seems kinda mean.”

“Oh, so I’ve been replaced, have I?” Bezel chuckled.

“Shush. You know what I mean. No Autumnal, no me.”

Polaris laid a hand on her cheek. “That is difficult. Are you sure? It really would be much easier for it just to be you.” She ended with a lilt and left a pause where Ennea was expected to relent. “…Very well. We’ll need to brainstorm quite a bit… at the very least, he’ll certainly need new clothes.”

“Well, if I remember correctly….” Ennea waved a paw all around until it settled pointing at Polaris. “Someone promised to help when I mentioned how difficult getting done up for the ball would be.”

“Ah.” Autumnal gave Ennea an apologetic look, and once again slid a paw through the air. Really, I’m fine.

“C’mon Autumnal, you don’t gotta demean yourself like that! We can totally figure out a way to get you to the ball! Even if it requires smuggling you in!”

That made Autumnal think, idly patting his bag with the curl of a tail. After shifting through at least a half-dozen variations on a frown, he turned to Polaris and hesitantly tapped his head. I might have an idea.

Yes! Victory for Ennea! Oh man, now she was wondering just what that idea was. Were they actually going to smuggle him in? Put him in a box, pretend it’s a present for Polaris, then bam! The present is an adventurer crashing the party! Ooh, if that was the case they had to find some fitting wrapping paper to use, a kind that would serve as ironic foreshadowing to those who knew the twist!

Ennea was jolted out of her reverie by a plate landing in front of her, their food being delivered. She gave an incredulous glance to Urania, who only bowed in response.

Shoot, I could’ve been telling Autumnal about all those ideas that—whoa.

Ennea had expected the pancakes to be fancy, but not multicolored. The stack had a blueberry pancake, red velvet pancake, and lemon ricotta pancake from bottom to top. And they’d gone through all the effort to make the bread match, so that blueberry pancake was overwhelmingly blue.

“Sheesh, is this meant to be a reference to the other arms?” Ennea eyed the yellow pancake suspiciously. Its lemon garnish had been cut up into a starburst shape, likely meant to mimic the Northern Arm’s flag. “That’s real over the top.”

She turned to Autumnal with a snicker. “Alright Autumnal, which dukedom do you want?”

“Hm.” Autumnal pretended to take one pancake, give one pancake, and chop the third.

“Yeah, that seems fair! Oh, how about this—you take the Western Arm.” She slid the red velvet pancake out to him. “You are Fire-Type, after all. I’ll take the Northern, and since it’s the kingdom, we’ll split the Eastern.”

“Goodness,” Polaris sighed. “I believe you could cause a diplomatic incident with all of that talk.”

“Yes,” Bezel sighed as well. “That’s Ennea. I’ve likely saved her image more times than she knows.”

Ennea couldn’t just let them have the last laugh! She straightened herself up in the best imitation of militant posture she could muster. “Admiral Autumnal, now that we’ve violently conquered the other arms and usurped their rulers, do you wish to consume them as well?”

Autumnal took the cue, looking down upon the pancakes with a heartless expression. With no more warning than a single nod, he snatched up a knife and agonizingly drew it over the blue blueberry pancake, splitting the lands of the Eastern Kingdom in twain and finally crushing what little hope they had left.

“Excellent… the sun shall never rise above their lands again.”

Bezel facepalmed—or face-winged. “Arceus have mercy….:

“Hey, just living up to the family name!” Ennea stuck out her tongue. “House Harmonie sends their regards.” And to finish things off, she turned to her loyal Admiral Autumnal and gave him a sal—

BANG!!

The door was slammed open right off its hinges, halting everything within the café. All eyes went to the intruder.

“…Shoot.” Predictably, it was a Zweilous who stood in the open doorway.

Bezel gave a tired look. “…Ennea.”

“S-surprise!”

After a moment of his heads scanning about the room, Salute spotted Ennea and Autumnal at their table and stomped on over, only to be stopped halfway by Urania.

“What?!” he growled. “Why are you here?!”

“Goodness, that won’t do.” Urania slipped past the dragon towards the broken door, swiping their hands all around in a ritual that somehow had it fixed within moments. “Sir, I’m afraid that table is already taken.”

“I know that!” One of Salute’s heads jabbed at Ennea. “She told me to come here!”

Now both Bezel and Polaris were glaring at Ennea. She could only offer a nervous laugh to them. “Sorry.”

She looked back at the dragon. “Hey Salute. Look, I’m just gonna come right out and ask it: can you let us into the lake?”

“WHAT?!”

Good news, the café was no longer silent. Bad news, now the patrons were all muttering to each other, clearly losing their patience.

“Sir,” Urania chastised. “You are disturbing the guests. I will have to escort you out now.”

Salute dodged their palm, not about to be excluded a third time. “You don’t even work here! I’m on important guard business, you can’t—!”

Oh shoot, this wasn’t going how Ennea planned at all. This was getting kinda ugly, in fact! At this point, another friend of hers was about to have their reputation ruined for something she caused! Ennea whipped her head around, trying to look for anything that could fix this, but she didn’t know how!

“Mm.”

A soft hum from Autumnal managed to pause Salute’s fit. The Vulpix’s face was completely neutral.

“What?!” Salute cried.

Without missing a beat, Autumnal picked up their plate of pancakes and held it up to Salute, giving a small tilt of his head.

Salute just clenched his jaws. “I can’t take that. It would be bribing an officer.”

Autumnal shook his head. He brought a paw close down to the ground, then pointed to the invisible person it represented. Not for you. For ‘lil Justice.

“…Thanks for thinking of them.” Salute relaxed, leaned a head over, and snatched up nearly half of Ennea’s lemon ricotta pancake, wrapping it up in some napkins and storing it in his bag.

With a guilty smile, Autumnal gave a small aside to Ennea. “Aieet.”

“No, that was great!” Ennea whispered. “Thanks Autumnal.” Though she would be taking half of his pancake in return.

“You can’t enter the lake,” Salute finally continued. “It’s restricted.”

“I know, and we’re civilians, but we need to get in there.”

Salute glared them up and down. “Why?”

Oh boy, here we go. It was kinda funny, to be in something of an interrogation with him again. But that was why Ennea had sent word to Salute that he should come here: so that she’d have strength in numbers.

“Me and Autumnal want to talk to Uxie.”

Salute recoiled like he’d been attacked. “What?! You can’t do that! There’s a reason only guilds are allowed. Letting in others could upset him!”

“But we solved a case!” Ennea showed off Autumnal. “And in doing so brought knowledge to the courtroom. Shouldn’t we pretty much be on Uxie’s good side at this point?”

“Maybe, but you don’t even know if he knows about that!”

“It would be ridiculous for the God of Knowledge to be out of the loop,” Bezel scoffed. Just as planned! “Not only that, but the whole first day of the festival was dedicated to him. I’d suspect he would be in a good mood at the moment.”

Salute stood strong. “All the more reason not to ruin it, especially for nothing.”

Ennea stood up on her seat. “It’s not nothing! We need to ask him about Autumnal’s speech.”

“You’re just asking him a question?! He’ll hate being disturbed for that!”

Polaris watched Bezel for a moment before nodding to herself. “If I may say something… it is more than just a question. I confirmed myself a little while back: the difficulties with Autumnal’s speech go far beyond traditional sources of knowledge. It is likely that none other than Uxie could even begin to explain it.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Salute could counter. “That may be true, but it’s still dangerous! The lake’s a Mystery Dungeon, and according to the teams I’ve seen, it has… strange effects.”

“We can handle it!” Ennea beamed. This was her and Autumnal’s wheelhouse! “We braved Epiphany Sewers for the case, after all! And just yesterday we climbed up Mt. Cephalo!”

“You trespassed on Mt. Cephalo?!” Salute growled. “So you’re the ones who slipped past Osteon!”

“Um. Whoops.” Ennea got a bit carried away there….

Salute gnashed his teeth at Autumnal. “I thought you were supposed to keep her out of trouble!”

Autumnal just gave another tilt of his head. Clearly this was not something they’d agreed upon. He pointed to Ennea and gave a thumbs-up with his tails.

“…Indeed,” Urania said, perhaps sarcastically. “Sir, if it would cease your shouting, please consider that Ennea Harmonie has proven herself to be quite capable.”

“Yeah!” Ennea showed herself off. “See, we went through Mt. Cephalo, and there’s not a scratch on us!” Well, Autumnal got a bit banged up, but that’s besides the point!

She sat down and looked right at where Salute’s eyes probably were. “And… you saw. We fought together. Against Hiketeria.”

Neither of them said anything for a moment. It was impossible to forget just how brutal combating her had been. And despite it all, Ennea had survived with a tear in the ear to show for it.

“How… is she doing, by the way?” Ennea couldn’t keep a smile anymore.

“…She won’t talk. Not about the crime, at least.” Salute’s heads both gave a bitter look to the ground. “Other than that, she talks too much. She asks how the rest of the guard is doing, congratulates me on my new responsibilities, gives me advice, even chastises me when I make mistakes. She acts like nothing’s changed.

“I haven’t been able to bring myself to see her since Friday.” Salute stood at attention. “Apologies for my negligence.”

“So we still don’t know. She could’ve been the one to do this to Autumnal. Isn’t it unjust for part of her crime to continue?”

“It is. And I want her to tell me why, already….” Salute still stood strong. “But this could affect people if it goes wrong.”

“I know.” Taking a chance, Ennea decided to say what she really felt. “And to be honest, I really just want to do this for Autumnal. Something has to be able to fix this for him, and I want to find it.”

Autumnal smiled at Salute. “…Wbbwl’a lb lscwbryewe.”

“I don’t get it,” Salute complained. “I guess that’s the problem.”

“If I may,” Bezel added. “You’re not going to beat her on this. She’ll pester you until you give in. Believe me, we’ve been dealing with her all morning. Why, just last night I heard her shouting across town and making a ruckus.”

Ennea’s face went hot. Turned out a lot more people heard her and Autumnal’s announcement last night than she’d expected….

“So that was you.” Salute worked his jaws like he was just another patron of the café. Then both his heads gave a single nod.

“Fine then. Ennea, Autumnal. You both have conviction. That’s a virtue. For the purposes of explaining Hiketeria’s motives and clearing up any remaining injustices, I’ll grant you access to Lily-Filled Lake.”

“Yes!” Ennea jumped right off her seat. “Thanks, Salute! I promise, you won’t regret it!”

“We’ll need to head out right away. Take the rest of your food to-go.”

“Oh.” Ennea turned back to Bezel and Polaris. “Sorry, guess we’ve gotta cut this off a bit early.”

Polaris waved it off. “There’s no need to apologize. Go. I’m glad that we could help you on this.”

“Yeah!” Ennea nodded to Autumnal as he joined her side. “And we’ll both see you at the ball!”

“Good luck, Ennea.” Bezel gave a small chuckle. “Try not to do too much of your ‘stupid stuff’ in front of the God of Knowledge.”

“No promises.”

 

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At the very end of the lakefront, a long pier stretched out into the waters. A shimmering mist hung above, shrouding both the end of the dock and the source of the lilies endlessly drifting towards shore. The poles on this dock were especially tall, bordering it like a wall-less hall. Thanks to church services running, things were deserted, making the scene look utterly ethereal.

Ennea could barely contain herself as they drew near. This was really happening!

“Stay here,” Salute ordered. “I have to talk to one more guard first.”

“O-oh!” Ennea blurted out. “Okay!”

She did a drumroll on the cobbles as she waited for the Zweilous to march off into the fog, staring at the wooden floor just ahead hard enough to strain her eyes.

Then she couldn’t hold it anymore and jumped on. The wood gave a satisfying creak under her weight, flexing just enough for her to feel it.

“Oh my gosh, we’re really doing this!” Ennea’s tail smacked the ground a couple of times to draw out even more croaks from the dock. “Everything’s working out! We’re going to meet a god today!” She spun around and madly gestured for Autumnal to follow. “C’mon, c’mon, get up here!”

“Ah.” Autumnal tip-toed onto the dock. Still wasn’t enough to keep it from creaking.

“Y’know, I’ve never been on a dock before.” Ennea looked all around, nearly giving herself whiplash. “This is probably a pretty weird one, huh?”

“Mhm.” Autumnal traced a paw up one of the poles until it was too tall for him to keep going. Silks were hung across the tops, giving thin ribbons of shade for him to hide in. “Ack.” He gave a hop to the side, getting a pretty loud creak this time.

Ennea copied the motion, getting a good croak of her own. “You’ve been on a few? What else sticks out?”

Immediately, Autumnal pointed to a small stone shrine posted in between the posts. Thanks to the red gem embedded near the top, it wasn’t hard to guess who it was for. Then he hopped to the side again.

“Oh man, you think they’ll ask us to donate? Or I guess it’d be paying up, since—” Ennea slapped a paw to the wood with a sharp crack. “Oh shoot, we totally didn’t pay for breakfast! Guess we—”

Autumnal sucked air through his teeth and hopped to the side yet again.

Ennea blinked. “Um, you good there? I was playing along at first, but it kinda seems like something’s up.”

Autumnal quickly shook his head and hopped once more.

“…Seriously, what’s going on?” Ennea reached out without thinking.

Suddenly, her paw was in a sauna. It was sweltering around Autumnal; it was even making mirages!

“Whoa! What’s with you?!”

Autumnal hissed and hopped again. This time, a set of paw-shaped burns were left in the dock.

“Y-you’re burning up so bad I can feel it from here! Oh, wait a minute!”

It took long enough for Ennea to remember! Lots of Fire-Types, Vulpix included, had their body temperature build up over time. In fact, just yesterday he’d boiled the water he stepped on!

“You haven’t vented your fire at all?”

Autumnal winced and shook his head.

“You know you can just let it out, right? I don’t mind! I’ve got an Flareon older sister, so I’m used to it!” He didn’t need to know that Ennea hadn’t seen that sister since she’d evolved.

He also didn’t follow her advice, as Autumnal leaped off the dock straight into the lake! The splash sent lilies drifting every which way, and Ennea could hear the water sizzling. Oh, and yep. Just a moment later came the steam.

Autumnal fished himself out of the lake and splatted back onto the dock, last of the dampness evaporating off of him.

“…Really? I mean, I can appreciate being a bit extra, but you couldn’t just breathe some fire?”

The sigh Autumnal gave was so deep that Ennea must’ve said something wrong. He looked right at her, took a big breath, and—

It must’ve been something really wrong! “Wait-wait-wait, don’t aim it at me!”

Ennea dove behind the shrine, taking cover as the black flames lashed past her, scorching everything they—

Wait, black?

Ennea peeked out and waved off the cloud of smoke Autumnal had breathed.

“Wha—? It didn’t come out?”

“…mhm….”

“Wait!” Ennea slid over to Autumnal. He was still doing his best impression of their pancakes. “Does that mean it never comes out?!”

“…mhm….”

And that was when Ennea realized. She’d never seen him breathe fire at all. Iron Tail, Hex, Weather Ball, Smokescreen. Those were the only moves she’d seen him use. Not a single flame had left his mouth.

“You seriously can’t breathe fire?!”

“…U’n ainwrgubf id l dlukyew.” He didn’t even look up.

“Is this also thanks to the speech thing?!”

Autumnal shook his head as best he could while still lying on the ground. He tapped out a 4 on the wood. 4 years.

“But that’s nearly as long as you’ve been adventuring!” Ennea flopped down to join him. “You’ve really managed all of that without your main Type?”

Autumnal wobbled a paw, pointed up to the sun, and gave a thumbs up. Weather Ball is still good.

“Hey. What’re you two doing?”

Ennea looked up to find Salute looming over them, one head to glare at each.

“Just figuring something out.”

“It better be figured out, then. Come on.”

Ennea sprung up right away, Autumnal reanimated a bit after. They both had to jog to catch up with Salute’s march.

“Hey, on the bright side, this probably isn’t going to be a Dungeon where you need it anyway!” Ennea encouraged.

Autumnal just shrugged as they passed by a good handful of guards. All of them stared with naked suspicion, monitoring the pair like they were criminals of the lowest variety.

But they’re still letting us go… I guess Salute has more sway with the rest of the guards than I thought. I wonder if beating Hiketeria is why….

“…Alright.” Salute stepped to the side, putting Ennea and Autumnal right in front of an ornate wooden gate. Its poles were carved to look like pillars, and yellow and red silks were wrapped all around the top. Beyond that gate was a hallucination of water and lilies. “From here on out, you’re on your own. I’m not the investigative type, so Uxie wouldn’t want to see me.”

“Yeah,” Ennea sighed. “I figured. Thanks for this, Salute.”

“Don’t thank me. Just find the truth. That’s justice.”

“…Sheesh, it’s throwback central today.” Ennea stifled a laugh and turned to Autumnal. “Hey, no matter what, we’ve got this. We can just add your fire to the list of puzzles to solve. You’ve got my back, right?”

“Tiy lewb’r fucubf yo ib nw, wcwb rgiyfg U’n veijwb?” There was a moment of hesitation. “Tiy ewlkkt lew xelmt.” Autumnal nodded in confirmation, shedding whatever lethargy his ignition issues had given him. He adjusted his cape, pawed through his bag….

And then they both jumped right in.

 

---

 

“Okay, one last suggestion: what if you purposely let your temperature build up, then tackled an enemy to burn them?” Ennea offered as they walked. “Wouldn’t that still be a way to utilize your Fire-Typing?”

“Hmm….” Autumnal used the tip of a tail to make a pinching motion. It would be a small one. “Ah.” He pointed down. We’re here.

“Wait, we—aw damn it!” What did she mean by “last suggestion?!” Did the Dungeon just rob Ennea of her own dumb ideas?! That had to be some kind of violation.

Ennea shook her head, bucking the frustration off. “Well, let’s see what we’re working with there….”

The first thing Ennea noticed: this Dungeon had walls. Walls of silk, hung from poles just like those on the pier, though these were sticking out from far more nonsensical positions, framing an interlocking web of docks resting just above the water. What ground wasn’t wooden was mossy beds of stone that the lake periodically washed over.

Of course, lilies and their pads were all around them, drifting and swaying in the gentle waves. The sizing of them was all over the place. Some were as tiny as a single digit, some were big enough to hold an Aggron!

“Whoa….” Ennea drifted as well, right on over to an island, splashing the water atop it for a moment. “Glad we don’t have to deal with a million abberants this time.”

Immediately, a loud CLUNK! rung out, and a Wooper flew past Ennea, skipping across the lake like a rock. It probably sank like one, too.

Autumnal sighed, tails losing their metallic sheen.

“O-oh. Guess there’ll still be a couple….”

Autumnal hopped up onto an outlying dock, gesturing from his eyes to the water around him.

“Keep an eye on the lake?”

“Mhm.”

“Right! Don’t want a repeat of the Tentacool situation.” Ennea followed behind, letting the expert take up the vanguard.

True to her word, she kept watch over the waters to their side. There wasn’t actually much else to look at, unless she wanted to gawk at Autumnal from behind. Didn’t seem like the time for that!

So many lilies in this lake, both pads and flowers. Many of them remained static, resisting the current even as others lost the good fight. They helped the place live up to the name, the water was practically only visible in polka dots! It was almost like an optical illusion, watching the shifting lilies and tide beneath as their spots grew and shrunk.

A jolt shot up through Ennea’s fur. She whirled around, thinking she must’ve been hit by an Electric attack, only to find the wall of hanging silks behind her and a very large, Kricketune-shaped shadow.

“Holy—!” She jumped back, nearly stumbling off the dock.

Autumnal flailed for her attention, and threw one tail behind the other.

“Right, right!” Ennea was just seeing the silhouette of an aberrant on the other side. “…Can it see us?”

Autumnal cleared his throat, got right up in the shadow’s face, and laid down a barrage of gestures utterly demolishing the thing’s tragically sub-par moustache. It just walked on by.

“Well, that’s a no! Thank goodness, I really wasn’t wanting a repeat of Mt. Cephalo.” Ennea stalked along the wall, following the clueless Kricketune. “We should probably stick to places like this then, huh?”

“Mhm. Ah—” Autumnal charted the aberrant’s path. Given there was a sharp turn where the wall ended just ahead, they were about to run into each other whether they wanted to or not!

Just as it was rounding the corner, Autumnal gave a big breath. Those “black flames” once again flowed out until the wall had a smokey extension keeping them from view.

He was gearing up to meet the aberrant with an attack, but a snap from Ennea got him to stop. She had an idea! The boardwalk was real noisy, so a thoughtless aberrant would probably—

Creak….

There! With its rough location pinpointed to be just ahead to the left, Ennea jerked her body and tossed out a couple of Swift stars. They sailed into the plumes, burrowing deep into the smoke until a sparkly impact was heard, with a splash shortly following.

“Boom!” Ennea gloated. “Despite the rumors, Swift isn’t actually 100% accurate, but if I know where they are I’ve got a real good shot!”

Autumnal’s ears shot skyward in appreciation of the trick.

He turned back to the smoke, and with a jerk of his own body, sliced it with his tails. The center parted into a smoldering curtain, and Autumnal ever so politely bowed to present the opening to Ennea.

“Why, thank you, Admiral Autumnal! Glad to see someone knows how to treat nobility properly!” Ennea sauntered on through in the best impression of her mother she could manage. Pretending to be real nobility was actually really fun….

“…But you should probably take the lead.” Ennea just as quickly stopped the fun and stepped to the side. “I’m still new to this and all.”

Strangely, Autumnal’s response to that was a shrug, though he went on ahead right after, eyes and ears scanning the surrounding lake intently.

“…Yeah, I wonder just what we’re looking for,” Ennea murmured. She gave a grimace as they splashed down onto a mossy path. “I, um, really hope it isn’t stairs.”

Autumnal shook his head. The swaying of his hair made it easy to tell, even from behind.

So not stairs. Made sense, those would look quite out of place, which probably violated the weirdly inoffensive quality the paths forward had.

Incidentally, this path forward was something of a dead end. At the end of another pier was just more water and the endless lilies drifting by.

Sorta. There were clearly more islands and boardwalks a block or two away, but nothing connected them. Now the lake was acting more like a river, and fording it with a Vulpix, no matter how literally hot blooded, was not a good idea. Who knew how many aberrants were swimming underneath the blanket of lily pads!

Autumnal’s head bobbed back and forth for a bit before he turned to Ennea. He pretended to hold something, waving it around like a….

“A wand? You want me to use one?” Ennea reached into her bag. “I’ve only got the weird one I picked up in Mt. Cephalo.” Sure enough, she pulled out that wand with the brick-shapes at the end. “Will this help?”

Autumnal tilted his head with a pout, brought a paw to his chest, then to Ennea. I gave you one.

“Wait, you did?” He’d given her a bunch of items before they’d set out. “What kind?”

Autumnal waved the invisible wand, pointed to himself, then arced his paw in the direction he’d waved.

“That’s um… a Pounce Wand, right?” Ennea’s paws waded through all the junk in her bag. “I can’t find it… you sure it was one of the ones you gave to me?”

“Mhm.”

“Oh.” Ennea’s split ear flattened a bit. “I think… I might’ve lost it then.”

“Ah.” Autumnal’s ears flattened with hers.

“Sorry! Was it rare?”

Autumnal started to bring a paw up, then thought better of it and shook his head.

Then he started pacing around, each wandering step drawing another groan from the dock. He glanced at Ennea’s mystery wand, back to the gap in front of them…! But gave up on the idea with a dismissive shake of his head.

“Jeez…” Ennea tried to be helpful and gazed out across the lake. “The worst part is that all these lilies almost make it look like we could walk across.”

The creaking stopped.

Ennea’s ears perked right back up. She turned and gave Autumnal a look.

“That cannot actually be a good idea.”

“Mhm!” Autumnal protested. He pounced to the edge of the dock, looking for something on the water. He’d thrown himself into the search completely, leaning in to the point he was about to go overboard.

“Ah!” He found the mysterious, problem-solving object, exactly where no one else could see it.

Well, Ennea hated being left out of the loop. She plopped down right beside him, having to crane her head all the way under the dock to find his.

“So… what were you looking for?”

Autumnal pointed up—well, down, but it was up from their perspective—at yet another lily pad, one of many in the crowd, utterly unremarkable. Minus the fact that it was 5 feet wide.

“Wait! You’re not seriously thinking—!”

“Mhm, mhm!”

“Autumnal.”

Autumnal looked at Ennea, bangs going straight up/down into the water.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m in.”

So they got to work getting the oversized lily pad out from under the dock. It was a tough one, thanks to an appropriately thick stem. Tearing the pad away from it nearly sent them on an impromptu swim, in fact. Even when detached, the lily was chunky enough that guiding it into the light was an exercise.

Autumnal ducked out early, likely to wring his hair. It forced Ennea to use both paws on the lily, but things were working out!

“I think I’ve got it!” she grunted.

A pair of creaks made Ennea’s ears twitch. Just behind her, Autumnal had gotten into a fighting stance!

“Shoot, we were seen?!” Ennea yanked herself back on board. “What’re we looking at—?”

Way too much green was moving in her peripheral vision. She snapped her head back to see the lily pad they’d worked so hard for drifting away!

Just in the nick of time, she lunged for it, managing to just barely catch it by the edge! The only thing keeping her from falling into the water was her tail hooking around a pole back on the dock!

“Autumnal! Y-you’ve got this, right?!” She couldn’t even look back, so she didn’t know if he did, or what he was saying—!

No, c’mon, I’ve gotta do my part! Autumnal can handle this, he’s an adventurer!

Ennea stretched her paws into position, then swung around by her tail, flinging the giant lily over to the front of the pier. Given the current, she could rest it against one of the dock’s poles and it’d hold for a little bit!

“Okay, the lily pad’s good!”

Just as she was turning around, Ennea finally saw the aberrant: a Whirlipede zooming right for her, spraying a trail of poison as it spun!

Her whole vision went orange as a set of fluffy tails blocked her, then went silver as they turned metallic.

Clang!

The bug was sent into the air, collision with Autumnal’s Iron Tails popping it up!

Ennea leaped with a Quick Attack, allowing her to catch up with the flying aberrant. Before she even knew what she was doing, she kicked it, spiking it down into the water in the ultimate cannonball!

The creak she got from landing was the most spectacular yet, but paled in comparison to the waves her unfortunate dunking victim had made.

“Woo! I told you I’m a master of baseball!”

Autumnal made a clacking with his teeth to mimic clapping. No paralysis this time, he was just having to hold the lily pad against the current she’d caused. Then he gave an amused look and a head tilt.

“C’mon, you’ve gotta agree, that was the perfect way to follow up a bunt!”

His amused expression only deepened.

“Do you not know how to play baseball or something? Oh well, we’ve got our ride!”

“Si tiy?” Autumnal shook his head and waved her over.

Ennea pranced up to the lily pad. It was finally time for their master plan!

“Alright, on three, okay?” Ennea stuck out her tongue. “Three!”

They both hopped on the lily pad. It rocked, but managed to hold under their weight. They now had the world’s stupidest boat.

You know what? Nah. The world’s coolest boat! How many people get to do something like this? Screw Polaris’s room, this is something actually out of a fairy tale!

As a bonus, no underwater aberrants noticed them. They probably had no idea this lily belonged to the adventurers!

Ennea laid back and enjoyed her hard-earned ride. Autumnal had taken up the stern, using a fan of Iron Tails to row. He kinda looked like a gondolier like this! And given this quite over-the-top water installation, it was practically a taste of the Eastern Arm! Or a second one, given the pancake from earlier.

Sightseeing like this was fun, even if all sights to see were nonsensical Dungeon formations. Random poles jutting out from the water, some as part of silk walls, some just existing for the heck of it. One pair even had a nice little arch of wood connecting them!

She stared at that arch for a while, even as the opposing dock drew near. She wasn’t sure why, it barely felt like she was even looking at it.

Wait.

Ennea squinted, burning a hole in the center of that dang arch. But she got nothing.

“…Hey Autumnal? You think we could change course? I wanna see that thing over there a bit closer.”

Autumnal shrugged and dipped his tails back into the water. He shifted around a bit, adjusting the angle of his rear-attached rudder until they were swinging around to the nebulous arch.

“Oh….” He understood after barely a moment.

“Am right, aren’t I?! Oh man, that’s gonna be a pain on later floors, isn’t it?”

“Mmmm…?” He wobbled a paw before hopping that paw in the direction of the dock they’d abandoned.

“It might be on land?” Ennea stopped paddling the water for a moment, although she didn’t notice when she’d ever started. “…I actually don’t know if I want it to be or not. This is probably the most relaxing Dungeon diving could ever be.”

Autumnal gave a pleasant sigh, pulling his tails into the boat with a flourish.

But whatever show he was trying to make was cut off as his whole body went stiff. With a concerned look, he pointed deep into the water, dipping his paw past the layer of lilies.

“…What do you mean by—?” Ennea fought to keep in a snort. “Oh my gosh, you’re right! We better hope this doesn’t literally turn into Dungeon diving!”

Ennea flopped onto her back. “But I did say it’d be relaxing. So get comfortable!”

Before he could, they drifted off into the distance.

 

---

 

Ennea foolishly uncovered her ears.

“Gah!” And had them blasted with noise for her mistake. The roaring was unbearable, so loud she couldn’t even tell what it was! All she could do was duck and return to holding her ears down to her cheeks.

Somehow, Autumnal was managing just fine. He cautiously checked the waters around them with an empty expression.

It made it clear what the source was. The current on this floor was harsh. More like rapids than a lake, sweeping away poor lilies to make way for more rushing water. But even that wasn’t enough, no. The lake was also overflowing with aquatic aberrants, splashing and leaping and generally making a mess of things.

Autumnal hopped back, a jet of water shooting past him. It was finally enough to draw an expression from him: concern, as he saw just how narrow the path away from this initial landing was.

Her ears still hurt, but Ennea could focus enough to see the problem as well. They were surrounded by Water-Types who’d go agro the moment they got too close to the edge of the dock. Luckily, that dock they’d started on was a pretty large one, enough that remaining close to the center kept them hidden. But that meant they were stranded here.

Could they use an orb? Ennea wasn’t sure. Most orbs had their effect stop once they reached a wall, and whether the surface of the water counted as one was unknown. Theoretically the silk walls from earlier did count, so complete solidity wasn’t required. Being wrong would mean wasting another of Autumnal’s items. She already hated that she somehow lost one of them….

A particularly rowdy Goldeen leaped out of the water and flopped onto the dock, only for Autumnal to easily swat it away. These things kinda sucked on land, didn’t they?

…Oh Arceus I think I’m about to one-up Autumnal’s Lily Pad Raft.

“Autumnal!” she called over the din. “I’ve got an idea!”

He just tilted his head and pointed to an ear.

“Shoot!” It was too loud for him to hear her! How in the world was she supposed to relay this dumb idea to him without being able to talk?

Ennea’s sympathy for Autumnal increased tenfold in that moment.

Autumnal opened his mouth for something, but only the crashing of the lake came out. He pointed to Ennea, tapped his head and gave a thumbs up. Then he pointed to himself and had a paw start on a path, with the other joining in soon after.

It took a second of blank staring before Ennea sat straight up, the pride welling in her chest demanding she get off the floor. Alright then, if you say so! You’re a musician, so I trust you can improvise!

She had to still her wagging tail. It was important for this! In fact, to keep it down, she figured it’d need a little extra weight! So she dipped it down into the water, swishing it against the current, and….

A pinch at the tip was the signal. Ennea sprung up and swung as hard as she could, hoisting out a Basculin by its mouth before it could even react! The flying fish was sent straight at Autumnal, a perfect pitch! He met it expertly as well, and with a crack! batted it out of the park using Iron Tail.

“…Ijlt, rglr ibw xlb vw xlkkws vlawvlkk.”

They managed to fish out the rest of the fish like that, with Ennea’s tail the rod and Autumnal’s tails the bat. Standard fishing equipment. It was easy to get into a rhythm: reel, then crack! Reel, then crack! Things even started to quiet down a bit once they’d whittled the numbers!

“Hmm.” Ennea’s tail had been in the water without being nipped for a couple minutes now. “I don’t think they’re biting anymore.” She lifted an ear, still hearing splashing over the current. “I think the ones left don’t attack that way. Either that or they’re finally learning.”

Autumnal gave a quiet “psh” and tapped the deck. The first one.

“Maybe we need to take this fishing up a notch. It’s time we actually bait them!”

“Ah.” After a moment of thought, Autumnal pretended to eat something, then widened his eyes like a kid on a sugar rush.

“Something sweet, huh?” Ennea held out her tail expectantly. “Whatcha got for me?”

Autumnal pointed to Ennea’s bag, looked queasy for a moment, and ate some air to quell it.

“A Pecha Berry? Wait, you gave me one of those?” Ennea didn’t remember feeling any in her bag earlier.

“Mhm.”

A frown spread across Ennea’s face as she rifled through her pack. Sure enough, nothing.

“Is there a hole in my bag or something…?” Turning it up and down and all around didn’t reveal any. That was twice now that Ennea had managed to lose something of his.

“Shoot, um….” Ennea needed to change plans fast so Autumnal didn’t notice and lose all the faith he had in her! “Screw it, we’ve cleared most of them out. Let’s just book it and hope for the best!”

To spurn him on, Ennea gave Autumnal a shove. It worked too well, as the resulting panic sent him flying. She was struggling just to keep up with him!

Jets of water sailed behind them, arcing side to side as flanking aberrants tried to nail the duo. The lake had become a fountain, and it wanted them soaked. Autumnal led them down winding paths, but even still they had to duck and weave around well aimed Water Guns and Bubblebeams, their desperate flight looking like some kind of parkour contest.

They reached an unconventional path: a trail of giant lily-pads not unlike the one they’d rode before. It’d lead them past a wall, so with a couple of skips they’d be home free!

The moment he jumped on, Autumnal stumbled and almost fell. Then he started drifting away! The pad’s stem must’ve snapped, because the current carried him off, too far away to reach after just a second!

“Ah! Autumnal!” Ennea called from the dock.

He was a little preoccupied by blocking attacks with Iron Tail, but Autumnal managed to get in a single gesture, an arcing point. Go around!

“Shoot! Okay!”

Autumnal was stuck taking most of the heat. Ennea dug her paws into the wood as she watched him fend off at least a dozen aberrants trying to board his boat. He was going to have to use his tails to redirect it, but his lily could eventually reach a dock that distantly connected to Ennea’s.

There was no time to waste, then! Ennea shot off as fast as she could, with a fraction of the danger to slow her. As she raced around, having to take the perimeter of the docks, she constantly stole glances back Autumnal’s way to make sure he was okay.

Autumnal narrowly avoided sailing off a cliff, even managing to trick a couple of unlucky aberrants down for the trouble. A poor Magikarp fell over to the bottom of a waterfall. They never stood a chance!

Ennea skidded to a halt at the edge of the dock, a stone’s throw away. “Autumnal, I’m here!”

For just a moment, their eyes met, and everything was going to be okay.

Then a serpent erupted up between them, spraying droplets of water from its massive, draconic form. A Gyarados?! It loomed high, spit dripping from its yellowed teeth, eyes scanning beneath it for prey, wandering towards the perimeter….

A ball of clouds smacked it across the face, and Autumnal was instantly chosen as its foe. A shrieking roar was all the warning he got before it lunged, slicing through the sea of lilies and leaving a graveyard of shredded petals in its wake.

Autumnal leaped off his ride a stop too soon to meet Ennea, but just in time to stay alive! He didn’t wait to watch his boat get torn to bits and sprinted off towards a junction the two of them could meet at.

Ennea ran alongside Autumnal, separated by just a few yards of water. The Gyarados came too, tearing through wood just behind, firing shots ahead, and sending the viscera of the pier hailing down upon him.

A section of the dock collapsed when a pole was hit. Autumnal barely cleared the gap. A Twister tore gashes in what remained. Autumnal was grazed by the attack. Whirlwinds raged. Planks collapsed. Splinters flew. And then—

Silk. All Ennea saw was silk. There was a wall between them!

She stumbled as a black serpent drew up to the top of her vision. Silhouettes! Autumnal’s foxy shadow staggered back from the beast in front of him. The Gyarados outsped him from below, and now was blocking the dock ahead!

She saw his plight play out in shadow theatre, details hazy and uncertain. Autumnal continued to move, to dodge, but that was her only way of knowing he was still alive. He was trapped with the Gyarados, nowhere to run but forward!

He leaped, trying to slip by the aberrant before the boardwalk was completely lost, but it smacked him back with its tail, sending his body to the ground with a terrible thud. No! Please be Dragon Tail, not Aqua!

Autumnal’s shadow picked itself up. He threw out a paw, and the Gyarados began to thrash, smashing down the few remaining planks of wood, rampaging right towards him!

I-I have to help! Ennea threw a paw into her bag, but her mind was drawing a blank. Something! I don’t know what, but there’s gotta be something in here to help!

All she felt was fabric. Her paw desperately raked through the bag, somehow not finding a single item.

No, no, no! I have to have something! Ennea’s other paw thrust in. I need to help Autumnal! I need to help!

Her paws found only each other, colliding by the pads—

CLAP!

The sound reverberated throughout the lake. Ennea felt something in that sound as it seemed to flange and phase and endlessly echo. Something of herself.

Something on the other side burst. The Gyarados reeled back so high it was visible over the wall, wreathed in ethereal, violet flames that dragged it down into the water. It was the strongest Hex she’d ever seen, far beyond what had been used in Epiphany Sewers.

A familiar shadow appeared on the other side of the wall. Autumnal’s head tiled, and he jabbed a paw at Ennea. Was that you?!

“I… I think I helped….” Ennea brought her paws out from the bag. Experimentally, she put them together with a quiet clap. On the other side, Autumnal jolted.

“I did help! I literally gave you a Helping Hand!” Ennea clapped a couple more times, enjoying the funny little twitches they gave him. So weird… it was like they were connected!

Using the move that many times that quickly had them both panting messes after just a second. Man, it’s lucky I didn’t hit any of my items in there. I totally would’ve swung the mystery wand as a last resort!

Her paw grazed the bag and was poked by the wood jutting out from it. Wait. This is way too big to just… miss. It was right there, clearly visible. It took up half the space on its own.

Wha—?

Ennea understood all at once. “Autumnal! Let’s get moving! We need to meet back up!”

A short sprint later and they were reunited. Ennea nearly tripped over herself hopping over to him.

“I think I figured something crazy out!” Ennea’s hopping hadn’t yet stopped. “Remember how Salute said the lake had weird stuff?!”

Her energy was infectious, making Autumnal nod quick enough to send his bangs flopping around.

“I don’t think I lost your items! You gave me a Pecha, right?!”

“Mhm!”

With a single swipe into her bag, Ennea presented the berry. “There! I’ve still got it! I just couldn’t find it at the time! You wanna know why?!”

Autumnal’s ears perked straight up. He even leaned in a little in anticipation of the answer.

“I forgot!”

He waited for the other shoe to drop. Then slowly began to tilt his head as it never did. “Rglr’a… ybdieryblrw.”

Ennea flashed him a massive grin. “No, literally! I forgot you gave me the Pecha, and that’s why I couldn’t find it! The Pounce Wand, too!”

Six tails smacked the ground simultaneously. He got it!

“Yeah! You only have what you remember in here! Anything you don’t, disappears!”

Autumnal covered his mouth, tails flexing behind him tighter than ever before. His eyes bored into the Pecha as he tapped twice.

“…Wait, you gave me two? Really?” Can’t believe I forgot them both! Ennea reached into her bag, and sure enough pulled out one more Pecha.

It made Autumnal gasp like he’d just seen Arceus themself.

“What, what? What is it, what’s up?” Ennea scrambled over so close their noses nearly booped.

Their eyes locked, allowing her to see just how wide his had gotten. He gave a single tap. I only gave you one.

“But that means—holy shit!” Ennea reached into her bag and pulled out another Pecha. Then another. Then another. Then another. There was no end!

“It’s not that you have what you remember! It’s that you have what you know! Oh my gosh, what’re the limits?!”

Ennea’s smile went massively lopsided. She reached into her bag and pulled out a worn indigo cape. Giggling like a madwoman, she threw it over herself and gave a dramatic pose, complete with as subdued of an expression as she could manage.

“I’m Autumnal now.”

The actual Autumnal stared at Ennea, mouth even slightly agape. A paw delicately touched his cape—as in, the one he was still wearing.

“What?” Ennea stuck out her tongue. “Shocked that there’s two of you?”

“Tiy kiij fiis ub rglr….” A paw shot to Autumnal’s mouth. He averted his gaze and waved for her to follow.

They continued searching the floor, now side by side. Ennea sure as heck wasn’t gonna let them get separated again! Besides, this way allowed her to try and mimic him as closely as possible, which she found hilarious.

Just as she’d gotten down his sneaking, wanderer’s walk down, Ennea felt a strange pressure on her neck. She stopped mid-step, putting a paw to her collar by reflex.

…Then she saw Autumnal had done the same. She wasn’t even trying to copy him this time! Weirder still, that feeling hadn’t ended. It was like something was pulling on her….

“Wait!” Ennea pawed at the cape, and sure enough, the pull moved with it. “It’s this?”

“Mm!” Autumnal was already off sniffing around the edge of the dock for something.

“I thought your cape was just there for looks! Oh man, what’s it leading us towards?”

The water, as it turned out. The pull led directly off the dock and into the lake. Huh. There’s no way it’s broken, is there?

“Oh!” Reaching into his bag, Autumnal pulled out a familiar wand: a mysterious one with a shape like stacked bricks at the end. Now they were both copying each other’s junk!

With a flourish, Autumnal brought the wand down low. When he began to raise it, the sound of rushing water once again overwhelmed Ennea’s ears. Waves washed out in multiple directions, parting to reveal a newly raised bridge of land in front of them!

“Whoa! That’s what the wand does?! It can raise the ground?!”

“Mhm!” Autumnal gave a smile and swapped two tails. Or lower it, too.

“Awesome!” Ennea was the first to test their new bridge, finding it unsurprisingly wet. Each step further out only deepened the pull Autumnal’s Wanderer’s Cape gave, until with one last paw placed, she suddenly knew this was the spot.

For a brief moment, Ennea’s vision blurred, and the world faded. With a snap, she caught herself just before falling under. It was a feeling like barely staying awake.

“Wha—?!” A new trail of giant lilies had formed ahead of them, leading off to an island that wasn’t there before.

“What the heck?! Was that the Dungeon or the Cape?!”

“…twa.”

Ennea raised an eyebrow, never losing her grin. “Pfft, alright, very clever! Now let’s go!”

A couple of hops across later (taken at exactly the same time to avoid another Gyarados incident), and they made it to the new island, which even had an exit arch for their troubles! It was covered in flowers, and not just lilies! They were in various states of bloom, likely not fully grown since they’d just been generated.

One bud in particular caught Ennea’s eye. It was massively bulged out, petals somehow contorting around an object bigger than Ennea’s fist.

“Um, Autumnal.” Ennea felt really stupid having to ask this. “Can flowers… get pregnant?”

Autumnal took a deep breath, raised a paw, then let both go with a soft wheeze.

“O-okay, I’ll take that as a no!” Ennea must’ve right when she said she wasn’t great with plants.

She experimentally poked the growth, as gently as possible so as not to cause any issues. The flower keeled over and wilted.

“Oh no! I’m really terrible with plants!”

The flower flicked back up, petals flaunting out and finally getting whatever was stuck inside out. It rolled onto the ground in front of Ennea, and she immediately recognized it: an Orb!

“Whoa! That’s just how you get items here! Aw, we should’ve been checking more flowers then!” Still, they had one prize, at least!

This Orb was perfectly round, and dark on the inside. Light gleamed from the center of that darkness, piercing it and almost looking like the end of a long tunnel.

“Ah!” The Orb reflected off Autumnal’s eyes, light piercing his darkness, too. He pointed it to Ennea’s bag.

“I should have it? You sure? It looks pretty special.”

He nodded forcefully, pointed to Ennea, and slid a paw through the air. You’ll be fine.

“Pfft, of course I’ll be fine! I’ve got you!” Ennea became bathed in light as she hopped up to the gate beyond, wagging her tail back at Autumnal. “We can take on anything this Dungeon throws at us!”

 

---

 

Lily-Filled Lake went on for 5 more floors, each filled to the brim with fully evolved aberrants, winding mazes, traps around every corner, and much, much more. The highest ranking Exploration Teams would have struggled with the grueling gauntlet such challenges posed. And as Ennea and Autumnal emerged into the heart of the lake, she only had one thing to say about their astronomically unlikely victory.

“That was easy!”

Ennea was right, they could take on anything this Dungeon threw at them, thanks to that little item exploit they’d discovered. The routine for those last 5 floors was to spawn and smash a Slumber Orb, Trapburst Orb, then pop a pair of Pure Seeds to warp right to the arch. It wasn’t even worth recounting them individually.

The grassy path they were walking down now was more interesting. Flowers had begun to dot the edges, serving as a border to keep the tide from washing over. It wasn’t terribly effective given the wet squish under Ennea’s paws, but it still gave a nice bit of finality to the pathway.

Adding to that feeling was Mt. Cephalo towering overhead. Its sheer size could finally be appreciated, taller than even the buildings in Ennea’s dream. The mountain’s cliff had the lake surrounded like a bowl, casting a curtain of shade the duo were finally crossing into.

“Sucks that all our duplicated items vanished, I liked having your cape. I wonder just how many teams go through without figuring out the trick….” Ennea idly chatted as they walked on. “Maybe that’s why access is so restricted? It’s too dangerous for them?”

“Hm.” Autumnal swapped two of his tails.

“You think most figure it out, and that it’s too easy? I guess that’d make sense too, if they’re worried about Uxie getting bothered. They probably wanna keep Dungeoneers out for both reasons.” Ennea thought for another second about what she’d said. “But you don’t count!”

Autumnal just shrugged, then forgot all about it as they reached something much more important. He even gave a soft “ooh….”

An utterly massive flower bud sat at the end of the path, like the one they’d found inside the dungeon, but as big as a house. Petals colored in alternating reds and yellows cocooned around something in the center. Something moving. It tossed and turned inside like it was at the tail end of a nap.

This flower didn’t contain an orb. It contained a god.

Ennea gave a giddy, wide-eyed look to Autumnal, reaching her paw out to touch a petal larger than she was. He understood, and followed suit with a nod.

A deep rumble was all the warning they got before the bud began to rise! Water cascaded off the stem as it emerged, bringing with it flowers upon flowers, and lilies upon lilies. The air was filled with the loveliest smell, and the bud’s petals began to unfurl, unwrap, bloom. And with a final flourish that sent enough mist into the air that a rainbow formed, the flower had blossomed, and a single figure emerged.

“Greetings, mortals.” A yellow pixie spread his arms, floating high into the air. “I am Uxie, God of Knowledge. Who has approached me on this day, and what is it that you—?”

Uxie paused. It was difficult to tell what for; Ennea had been staring awestruck the whole time, and with his closed eyes, Uxie was a bit hard to read.

“Oh.” Finally, the god crossed his arms at Autumnal. “It’s you.”

“Wait, what?” Ennea murmured. “Wait, what?! You know him?!”

“Uh, yeah I know him!” Uxie swooped down to jab an accusatory hand right in Autumnal’s face. “He’s the biggest jerk I’ve ever met!” Then he circled around, scowling at Autumnal from another side. “What made your sorry ass come back here, huh? You better have come to apologize!”

Autumnal’s tails were twisting into knots. “A-aieet?”

“…Oh.” Uxie backed all the way off to lounge around a meter above his flower. “That explains a lot.”

“Hold on, back up!” Ennea wasn’t even sure who to address anymore. “You’ve met?! When?!”

Water flung from Autumnal’s paws as he furiously waved them. “U sib’r jbiq! U sib’r ewnwnvwe nwwrubf gun….”

“Oh, so you don’t even remember it!” Uxie growled. “Get a load of the biggest asshole in the world here, folks!”

“Remember—?” Ennea felt like she was about to pass out. “D-did you just understand what he said?!”

Uxie raised an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah? It’s just a simple substitution cipher.” A beat passed. “Hm. I guess it might be hard to tell just from hearing it. You know, for a mortal.”

“So he’s—it’s a—how would you even—? What in the world happened?! What made him start talking like this?!”

Uxie gave a sigh with enough petulance to outdo even the moodiest teenager.

“Yeah, so I guess if you really wanna point fingers, I’m your guy.”

“You’re—?” It took a second it to sink in for Ennea. “It’s your fault?!”

“Oh no. Don’t get it twisted.” Uxie waved a hand Autumnal’s way. “He’s the one who made this a problem.”

“For the love of Arceus, just tell the story already!”

“Don’t order me around,” Uxie scowled. “So, like 3 weeks and some change ago I was just trying to get some fresh air, right?” He used a foot to point out the gigantic flower he was lazing above. “It gets stuffy in there. You mortals don’t get how necessary a little morning stroll is.”

“I think we do, actually….”

“Yeah, shut up. Anyway, so I’m out on that stroll, trying to mind my own business….” Uxie swooped in again, getting right up in Autumnal’s face. “And this jerkwad just crashes into me!”

Autumnal flinched, but at Uxie’s words, seemingly. “Ah… U aww. U’n ai aieet.”

“Yeah, you better be!” Uxie kicked back above the flower once more. “So yeah, totally his fault. Get it now?”

“No! First of all, he just ran into you? How does something that small cause this?”

“Hey, he was going fast. I thought I was being attacked!” Uxie lazily waved his arm around. “I dunno if you realized, being a mortal and all, but I’m a god. Attacks like that happen.” He snorted. “’Course, they never work, this time included. I gave a burst of my power, didn’t even have to think about it, and got him off my back. It looks like some stuff in his head got scrambled in the process.”

“And what got scrambled was his language… into a cipher. Like an encoded version of Arcaic?”

“Oh yeah, the most basic kind, too. Letter for letter.” A gasp turned Uxie’s frown into a massive grin. “Hold up, lemme check something!”

Uxie reached behind himself. When he pulled his hand back out, a paper and pencil was inexplicably in it. It looked like the lake’s weirdness was still in effect….

“Here!” Uxie threw his conjured items at Autumnal’s feet. “Write ‘I’m a stupid mortal’ on this!”

Ennea rolled her eyes at the God of Knowledge. “We already tried that, and it doesn’t work! You really think we’d miss something so obvious?”

“Shut up for a minute!” Uxie didn’t even look at Ennea, he just stared—or whatever you’d call it with shut eyes—at Autumnal’s page while the Vulpix awkwardly wrote on it.

As expected, the result was completely inexplicable. Random gibberish that didn’t even match what Autumnal would say aloud.

“Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha!” Uxie, however, found it hilarious. His laughs came out in bursts of two, and he practically doubled over from it.

“Oh man, get this! So, when he talks, it’s a cipher based on letters, but when he writes, it’s a cipher based on phonemes! Isn’t that, like, totally backwards?!”

“Um….” Maybe?

Uxie’s smile dropped off the face of the earth. “…Ugh. Yeesh, should’ve expected it’d go right over the head of a mortal.” He turned back to Autumnal. “You forgot the ‘stupid’ part, by the way. Dunno if you noticed.”

“Nyar vw rii aryous ri.” Autumnal shrugged. “L xuogwe, huh….”

“Who cares about all that? So you messed up his speech—”

“He messed up his speech,” Uxie corrected.

“…When he ran into you, and your freak-out screwed with his knowledge of language, I guess. But then how come he can still understand me just fine?”

“Uh, because language processing and speech production are controlled by two completely different parts of the brain? Arceus’s sake, what’re they even teaching you mortals in school these days?”

“Wha—?” Wait, do they normally teach that in school? Now I really wish I’d been able to go….

“Uh….” Autumnal started to gesture, before blinking. “U nwlb, ua rgua owenwblbr?”

“Nah, shouldn’t be. It’s my power that did this, so by using a little bit of logic, even you could probably figure out that the opposite would also be true.”

Ennea pouted. Left out again. “Are you talking about fixing it?”

“Uh huh. I can do it right now.”

Ennea’s pouting was gone and forgotten. “Wait, really! You’d do that for us?! Yes, please!”

“Yeah yeah, if it’ll get you mortals off my back.”

Uxie cracked said back, disinterestedly floating on over to Autumnal like he was laundry or something. His twin tails slapped to Autumnal’s temples, making the Vulpix flinch and try to pull away.

“Hold still, you idiot.”

With a grimace, Autumnal nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, face going completely neutral otherwise. For a long moment, they just sat there, uncomfortably meditating. Once in a while, a gleam from the red gem in Uxie’s forehead would remind Ennea something was happening. Then Uxie anticlimactically pulled away, tails drooping as he floated back over his flower.

“…Ugh.”

Ennea blinked. “What do you mean ‘ugh?’”

“I mean ‘ugh!’”

“Did you fix his speech?”

“…U sib’r rgubj ai,” Autumnal sighed, brushing the hair out of his eyes.

“So you couldn’t do it?”

Uxie locked his hands behind his head. “Oh no, I totally could. But, you know, it’d be….” One of his tails finished the sentence with a dismissive wave.

“…It’d be what?”

“It’d be a total drag!” Uxie scoffed. “Yeah, no. Not ruining my day, thank you very much.”

“So you’re—?! You’re not gonna fix it. You did this to him, and you’re not even gonna fix it!”

“Hey.” Uxie got up in Ennea’s face for once. “He did this. I just checked, and it’s even more his fault than I thought. Me and my siblings go together, right? His emotions and his will are all messed up, so a bit of my power made his mind adjust to fit, and that’s not my problem to fix. If you really want therapy so bad, go talk to Mesprit.”

Ennea didn’t dignify him with a reply. She just scowled at the brat as he returned to lazing around where no one could touch him.

Thanks for nothing, I guess. Some “god” you turned out to be.

“Hey,” Uxie repeated. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not the villain here.”

“Mm.” Autumnal tried to put on a brave face for her, too. He pretended to search for something, and pointed off in the distance. We can look somewhere else.

“…Yeah, you’re right.” Tail drooping, Ennea turned to leave. “We’ll find a god who can actually help us.”

And thus they started down the long road home, grass giving sad little squishes beneath their paws, a prelude to the—

“Hey!” Uxie dropped down in front of them, hands on his hips. “What do you mean some god who can actually help you?! I can, I just don’t wanna!”

“Sounds like an excuse to me, especially since you’re the one who did this in the first place!”

The God of Knowledge growled. “I told you I’m not the villain here!”

“From our perspective?” Ennea sneered. “You totally are.”

“Look.” Uxie pulled out another scrap of paper, and with a levitating quill scrawled something out on it. “I’m not taking the time to sort through that mess of a head for you. But I do know of something that can fix this, better than any other gods can manage!”

He threw the thing into Ennea’s paw, psychically forcing her to grab it. “My predecessor made this thing. We call it ‘Uxie’s Dictionary.’ It won’t just fix your idiot’s speech up, it’ll give him knowledge of 8 other languages, too! Way more helpful!”

Ennea furrowed her brows at the paper. “9 total languages, huh… wha—” It was an address: 999 Treasure Street, in the town of Acropolis. “Alright, very funny.”

“What?” Uxie looked—well, “looked” around at the paper. So it wasn’t his fault this time, but life’s.

“So we go to this address and pick up your dictionary?”

“What? No! You think it’s just lying around? That thing’s invaluable! This is only the first hint to find it!”

Invaluable? “…But it only has 9 languages?”

Uxie drew an offended gasp. “I’m sorry, is instantaneously becoming a polyglot not good enough for you? Languages are big, and not many mortals realize, but they change! My predecessor had to come up with a crazy work around for that one… but, y’know, I probably could’ve done better.”

Autumnal cleared his throat, done watching their little comedy act. “L gubr… ai ur’a gusswb?”

“Super hidden,” Uxie bragged. “No one’s found it so far. A shame, it was a commission straight from the Queen.”

Ennea’s ears perked back up. “Wait, Queen?” The Southern Arm had never been the kingdom since the arms were united. That left only one option. “You mean Queen Prota?”

“The very same.” Uxie gave a snrrk. “It’d be hilarious if you were the one to finally find it! But yeah, speaking of: that hint’ll lead you to a library. A special one, I know the owner. Ask her about a children’s book starring the Queen. It’ll have what you need to find my Dictionary.”

“So it’s… a puzzle.” Ennea’s eyes flashed, then started beaming pink. “No, it’s a treasure hunt! One that’s never been

solved?!”

A quiet breath drew Ennea’s eyes over to Autumnal, who had a concerned smile. He hesitantly pointed to the paper and tilted his head. You sure?

“Of course! It’ll fix your speech, and it’ll be crazy fun! Why wouldn’t I be?”

Autumnal swallowed something, then raised a paw off to the distance. It took a second for Ennea to understand.

Acropolis. This wasn’t in the town of Epiphany. It was miles and miles away. This wouldn’t be a simple morning trespassing, or even a 3-day investigation. This would be a trip. And given this was just the first hint, it would be a long one.

The waves gently lapped against Ennea’s ankles, at the center of the lake, in the shade of Mt. Cephalo, in the heart of Epiphany. Suddenly it seemed like a much smaller town.

“Yeah.” Ennea brightened as she said the words. “Yeah, I’m sure! I told you, didn’t I? We’re in this together. And I’m not stopping ‘till you can speak again!”

She turned back to Uxie. “Thanks, then. We’ll go find your special Dictionary, and solve your special puzzle, no problem!”

Uxie just yawned. “Yeah, you’d better. Now leave me alone, I’ve been way tired as of late. Need my beauty rest and all that. Don’t forget that I’m the god who helped you.”

For the problem you caused, but… “Sure! Nice to meet you ‘Smartest Being on the Planet,’ Uxie!”

“Glad you know who you’re talking to.” Uxie began to fold his flower up around him like some kind of weird tent. “Some mortals are too stupid to.”

Ennea and Autumnal nodded to each other and began to squish away—

“Hey.”

Ennea looked back, but found it was Autumnal being addressed.

“…You’re welcome, by the way,” Uxie grumbled.

“Ah.” Autumnal gave a bow. Just as he was closing his eyes for it, Ennea saw something regretful in them. “Rglbj tiy.”

Then he turned to Ennea, and quickly trotted off, ground splashing beneath his paws as he forced her to follow.

 

---

 

Ennea had a bit of a habit: she would run her paws over things. It helped her think, to just rub or stroke something, especially if the texture was nice. She hardly even thought about it anymore, it was just something she did.

“Hold still,” Urania drawled. “You needn’t fidget.”

…Except for when she wasn’t allowed to.

Ennea took a deep breath, planting her paws as Urania took a brush to her fur collar. This brought back a lot of memories, many of them intentionally forgotten.

“Relax. You mustn’t be tense.” Urania thought after giving their order. “Perhaps conversation will ease you.”

Really, it might make things worse. But Ennea still gave it a shot.

“Sorry. I just wasn’t expecting so much… um, pampering.”

Urania gave the finishing touch to Ennea’s hair. One bit stubbornly popped back up, but the Golduck made it look intentional and moved on to fastening her dress.

“It wouldn’t do for Lady Ennea to be given any less than our very best.”

It had been a long time since Ennea had been called that one… the perception of her in Merx Manor had really turned around after the case. Looked like she wasn’t just pretending anymore.

“…Though I do believe you would have looked better in green,” Urania admitted.

Ennea’s dress was instead a pale yellow with pink accents—her request. Quadrupedal dresses had to be loose, fastened over the chest rather than the legs, with a skirt draped over the back half. Hers was flowing and multi-layered, with a gentle slant down as it approached her hind legs. Said legs had short, detached sleeves set around her ankles for extra flourish, though her front legs were left alone to leave room for her bangle. That lone piece of jewelry served as a reminder that the glamourous girl in the mirror was still her.

Ennea managed a smile. The goofy, lopsided expression looked completely out of place on her now. “I’m not here as a member of House Harmonie, Urania. I’m just Ennea tonight, here to see some friends.”

“If you insist, Lady Ennea.” The Golduck worked on getting Ennea’s tail properly situated through the dress. It was too darn fluffy to just fit under. “How have you found yourself since I last had the pleasure of meeting you?”

“Well…” It took everything for Ennea not to bring a paw to her chin. Had to stay still. “Things have been good. Enjoyed some more festival stuff these last few days, read all the books I had checked out of the library. Did this, obviously.”

“You do not sound particularly satisfied.”

“I mean, I’ve had fun. I just….”

A pause had to be taken for Ennea to relax herself again.

“Autumnal hasn’t really been around. I mean, I get why, he’s had to prep for this quite a bit.

“…But I dunno. Maybe it’s weird I’m so bothered by this. It isn’t like we’re gonna have any shortage of time together soon. But he was basically off practicing or rehearsing every day. It was weird to be alone again, and it was for longer than I wanted to be.”

Urania popped out Ennea’s tail, then bowed. “I apologize that Young Lady Polaris was not available. I’m certain she would have been thrilled to have your company.”

“Yeah, well.” Ennea smirked. “I’m sure she was real busy.” …With Bezel, of course. It shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that the two of them immediately devoted all of their time to each other.

“Indeed. Now then, let us away.”

Urania led Ennea through the winding maze of Merx Manor. In addition to the visual cacophony of wealth, the muffled sound of the crowd began to overload Ennea’s senses as they approached.

They stopped at a pair of double doors, too fancy for the Guard’s Hall, but just as imposing. Urania held a webbed hand on them, ready to open.

“I will be unable to accompany you, as I’m afraid Young Lady Polaris is also in need of preparations. I trust that this is acceptable?”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine.” Brave face. “I handed stuff like this a ton as a kid.”

“Very well. Then without further ado….”

And the doors flew open, flooding Ennea in the light of the ballroom and its splendor. She gave it a moment, then strode on in, allowing herself to be seen. The murmurs of judgment followed of course, but Ennea kept her chin up. Had to, couldn’t even move it. That meant she could only look around with her eyes.

The Merx ballroom managed to outdo her dreams. There were the usual features of course, elegant floor tiles, baroque walls. But what truly impressed was the ceiling. A multitude of hanging lights webbed around a massive, glass chandelier beaming down on Ennea. In fact, all of the lights were glass. Looking up met her eyes with a kaleidoscope.

Alright, let’s get out of the way now…. The crowd had their time to gawk. Now Ennea could fade into the background before she broke out in a nervous sweat. She slowly sauntered over to a corner with a few unoccupied seats. It had a view of the balcony, so she could say she was just waiting for Polaris to arrive.

“Well now, fancy meeting you here.”

Ennea jumped and gave a full 360° before remembering to look up. Bezel dropped off one of the many glass lamps, seeming to flutter down in a shimmer. The amount of jewelry she had on helped with that.

“I never thought I’d have the chance to meet Lady Ennea Harmonie herself!” she trilled.

“Well, you’re in luck. Here I am.”

“To be frank, this is a good look for you, Ennea. Perhaps one you should don more often. But I digress.” Bezel raised an eyebrow. “Choosing to be a wallflower so soon?”

“I told you, I’m not really the type for a ball.”

“That may be, but even before a single dance?”

“Well….”

Ennea’s eyes wandered down below the balcony. In the shade, where all others would forget about it, was the chamber orchestra providing all the music for the night. An eighteen-piece band, with Violins, Violas, Celli, Double Basses, Piano, Harpsicord, Vibraphone, Horns, Bassoon…

And one flute.

There he was, in the far left of the second row. Autumnal was here, “smuggled” in as a sub for the flautist. He was done up just as Ennea was, hair brushed to silky perfection and wearing a full tuxedo to match the rest of the band. She sorta liked the look it gave him, finally tipping the scales enough to make him easily identifiable as a boy. Though a dress would likely do the opposite. That’d be fun to see….

He played through a waltz with the rest of the ensemble, keeping a cool face even as he was tasked with a solo. The practice paid off. It was a good thing he spent so much time away from Ennea. Still, she couldn’t help but gaze across the room, listening to Autumnal’s music as he waltzed the only way he could. In this hall, his tone was utterly gorgeous.

“…I don’t have anyone to dance with.” Ennea’s voice came softly, under the music.

“Goodness gracious, how tragic,” Bezel sighed. “I can keep you company in the meantime, then. My dance partner is still getting ready, of course.”

“Yeah, glad all of that’s worked out so well for you.”

“Well.” Bezel coyly hid her face behind a bejeweled wing. “I can’t take all the credit unfortunately. A certain someone got the ball rolling, so to speak.”

Ennea turned and gave Bezel a big grin. “You’re welcome. Glad I could do something for you at least once.”

“Oh, but where’s the fun in that? I didn’t even call in that favor.”

“It’s payback for the one I never asked of you.” Ennea’s tail began stroking the ground in her paws’ stead. “Without you, I wouldn’t have had any friends in Epiphany for all those months. I’m really in your debt.” A chuckle escaped her. “Or, I was.”

“Happy to oblige. The flattery is appreciated, as well.”

“Hey, you’ve really helped me a lot. We’d have been screwed on the case without you. I guess I just wanna say thanks.”

Bezel looked Ennea up and down. She wasn’t scrutinizing the dress, make-up, or posture like everyone else, though. Bezel was looking for a sign of something else.

“…You know, it truly is strange we only ever talk in-person,” she finally said. “Such a shame, especially considering it’s only around once a week or so. We ought to remedy that, shouldn’t we? I need a good excuse to work on my penmanship.”

Ennea smiled, eyes getting all dewy. “Yeah. We ought to.”

The oohs and ahhs of the crowd took their attention away. Polaris had arrived, taking helm on the balcony with her gown flowing behind. The birthday girl had properly stolen the show.

“Well now, I have a dance to take.” Bezel readied for takeoff, but first gave a quick look back. “Enjoy tonight, Ennea. And be sure to enjoy what comes next even more.”

Polaris leaped, Gravity slowing her fall as she twirled all the way to the dancefloor. Her girlfriend met her at the perfect time, all looking coordinated. A dance that began before the dance. They took each other into their arms, and began to spin, occasionally taking to the air and making their way around the whole ballroom.

Right at the climax, Polaris dipped Bezel down low, just an inch off the ground. And right as it was looking too good to be true, she went in for the kiss. A perfect fairytale moment. As expected, the crowd loved it. Their roar momentarily deafened the music.

Yep, that worked out, alright. Ennea gave a smile Autumnal’s way. She wasn’t entirely sure why.

He was still playing, even if it was impossible to hear. He really was dedicated to music, wasn’t he? Ennea wondered if he’d even been able to see her dress. He had to have, right? It’d be unfair for only her to see him all prettied up.

If you didn’t… I’ll make you make it up to me. A solo performance when we’re alone, treat me like real nobility. Yeah, that’ll do.

But for now, Ennea enjoyed the performance he was giving. She didn’t know it, but she was the only one listening to his voice.

 

---

 

One last time, Ennea and Autumnal stood on the outskirts of Epiphany before the sunrise. This time, it was at the town gate, staring out at the rolling fields beyond. The grass was a bright, youthful green, with patches of yellow where it wasn’t so lucky. But in every direction across those fields was something different. Forests, ravines, ruins, the ocean, mountains.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Ennea beamed, turning to find Salute chasing after them. He’d even brought Thyreos along!

“Hey Salute!” Ennea’s smile softened. “And… we’re leaving.”

“I knew that!” The dragon threw out a paper for her to sign. “But you can’t do that unrecorded! It’d be disorderly.”

“It’s necessary,” Thyreos explained. “We need to keep a tight ship while things settle.”

“We, huh?” Ennea’s ears went in different directions as she looked between the Zweilous and Excadrill. “…Which one of you’s the chief, then?”

“Me. The votes were conclusive. But…” Thyreos looked at the perfect posture Salute had right next to him. “I made sure to name this idiot as the Vice Chief. In a few years, I’m planning on stepping down.”

“It’ll be a smooth transition!” Salute boasted. “Perfectly civil. That’s justice.”

“Well, congrats! And thanks for all the help. I’m gonna miss you, Salute.”

Salute gave a sharp exhale. “Nothing keeping you from visiting.”

“Well, nothing but money.”

“Money?”

Ennea pawed at the cobbles. “Well, yeah. I’m leaving my job behind, and the money my family sends for it. Plus, once they find out, I’m definitely getting disowned. I mean, I was always waiting for them to do that, but now I’m ensuring it.”

Salute’s heads tilted. “Why don’t I just forward you the money?”

“Wait, really?”

“Of course. Send me a letter from wherever you wind up. I’ll start sending your mail there. And I won’t be checking it, so it’s not a crime.”

“B-but still! Won’t the town council tell them?! Or my family will eventually send someone to check on me!”

“I won’t let the council tell on you. You’re doing what you need to. To let them stop that would be an injustice.” Salute turned up his snouts, looking uncharacteristically snooty. “And if someone comes asking, you just left on an important business trip.”

“I—!” Sheesh, now Ennea was getting all teary-eyed again. “Thank you, Salute! You’re really both okay with this?”

Thyreos shrugged. “You’ve helped the town. You’ve earned it.”

“Hey.” Salute gave a fanged smile Autumnal’s way. “Make sure to keep her out of trouble this time. Or at least no more than is needed.”

Autumnal bobbed his head back and forth, but finally settled on giving a salute to the dragon.

“Good. Take care.”

And then the guards marched off. One last goodbye before the end.

No, before the start. Ennea had a whole world waiting for her, and free reign to explore it as she saw fit. That world outside the gate, with its yellowed plains and abandoned towns, was the biggest world Ennea ever had access to. It was honestly daunting.

But she didn’t have to figure it out on her own. She nodded to Autumnal, and he nodded back. Complete understanding.

They took their first steps onto the wide open fields together and finally left the town of Epiphany. The wind seemed crisper out here, carrying the leftover petals from the Sky’s Bloom out into the wild. Flying. Free.

A soft jingle stole Ennea’s attention to her side. In Autumnal’s bag, a metal collar was sticking out. Opened. For some reason, when she looked at him, his tails twitched, curling up, squishing together, almost crushing themselves.

“What’s up?” Ennea gave a weary smirk. “You doing alright there?”

Autumnal nodded, sliding a paw through the air and accidentally smacking a petal. I’m fine.

Just as Ennea was about to break away, Autumnal gave a quiet cry to bring her back. He pointed to himself, but averted his eyes as the gesture died.

He took long, deep breaths, clearly agonizing over something.

With every bit of willpower he seemed to have, he looked right at her, dark eyes meeting her glowing ones.

“Ennea.”

Ennea blinked. She opened her mouth, but only the wind came.

In the wake of her silence, Autumnal prepared to try once more. His face wasn’t a smile, and it wasn’t a frown. And yet it wasn’t emotionless, either. His expression was far too gentle for that, too affectionate. There was gratitude in it, an unspoken thank you that went along with that single word he had said. And there was hope, too, blossoming and floating and soaring high into the sky like the festival had never ended.

It felt like she was staring right at the belief he had in her.

“Ennea,” Autumnal whispered again.

Ennea was still. How? How in the world had he said that? It shouldn’t be possible.

No, it was. He was speaking in a cipher. If he figured out which letters would translate to her name, then gave a definition to the nonsense word it would make it, he could say it.

But he would have to try to pronounce a word that might not even have vowels in it, and figure all of that out without any way to write notes, and contend with the fact that letters had multiple sounds to them. She couldn’t imagine how much work it must have taken him.

Was that… what he was doing while away? He was figuring out how to say her name?

Ennea’s heart began to beat again, and she gave a big, lopsided smile back, trying to give as much gratitude to him as he was giving to her.

“Autumnal,” she cooed. What else was there to say?

A smile came to Autumnal’s face, too. A small, subtle one that could sap the fear right out of her.

“Ennea.”

“Autumnal.”

She thought back to the big speech she’d given when he first recovered. How she wanted to go somewhere, to make things better than they were before, and do it together. He’d missed it then, but she had her chance now, didn’t she?

Nah, Ennea had found a much better way of saying all of that.

“Hey Autumnal?”

“Ennea?”

The sun rose over Ennea as she spoke, peeking halfway out from beyond the horizon in a perfect dawn.

“Let’s have an adventure!”

And then they began, with Ennea racing off onto the grass, feeling its soft crunch under her feet. Autumnal followed, chasing right behind, shadowing her. They swerved and zigzagged across the countryside.

They’d finally found their dance, and it would take them somewhere incredible.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Noble Dungeoneers

Act One End

…

 

…

 

…

 

…Somewhere far away, the crescent moon shone overhead, a lone source of light piercing through the dead of night.

Hiketeria stomped a hoof down, forcing herself up the cliff onto a small landing. A table and two chairs were set atop it. A kettle was out on the table, and one of the seats was occupied.

“…Reverend,” she began, speaking with dignity even as her lungs fought for more of the cold, thin air. “I have returned.”

“Welcome back. You were supposed to arrive over three weeks ago, were you not?”

Hiketeria glared at the empty seat. It was put out for her, but she was not meant to take it. “…There was a complication.”

“So I’ve heard. Gracious, the righteous Chief Hiketeria was arrested, even. What is this world coming to?”

“Nothing good. Such filth in that town, I can’t stand it. My arrest was only temporary, of course. I taught my guards well, but I never taught them how to deal with me.”

“Good, good. We can see to it that your leg is tended to, and those shackles removed as well, aha. I trust that you did not let too many secrets slip?”

Hiketeria took an attentive stance. “No. The Mystery Dungeon was discovered, but they did not go deep enough. Epiphany is still prepared.”

“That is such a weight off my shoulders. A friend’s return, a charity maintained… this night truly is a blessed one.” The Reverend gazed up at the moon and took in a deep, sagely breath. “Now then, where is the money?”

Hiketeria tensed up. Laurel branches choked her legs until the answer was forced out of her. “It was already returned to the family. I do not have it.”

“…Oh dear….” The Reverend stood up from his chair, the sound of its legs scraping giving a greater pain than what was in Hiketeria’s own. “This is what I was afraid of… you are sounding quite disloyal, Hiketeria.”

“Do not start with that.” Hiketeria bared her teeth. “I requested assistance numerous times, and you refused!”

“It was a test of your conviction, Hiketeria. You grew so attached to that town… enough that it seems you may have prioritized it over good in the end. Just how long did you sit on that plan of yours, even knowing the necessity of those funds….”

“Wait!” Hiketeria panted. “Reverend, allow me to defend myself. I do not have the funds, but I come to you tonight with something far more important. There is someone you must know about.”

“…Oh?”

Hiketeria let out a soft sigh. “…Incidentally, she’s the one who ruined my plans. I thought you had sent her.”

“I did not. And just who is this ‘she,’ exactly?”

“Ennea Harmonie, the unwanted child of House Harmonie.” Hiketeria’s stance shifted, anxiety turning to energy as the tide shifted in her favor. “I could hardly believe it when I discovered her. And she isn’t aware of her potential whatsoever.”

The energy was shared by the Reverend. “When you speak of ‘potential,’ are you to mean…?”

“Reverend. I have found us the human’s Partner.”

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TRACKLIST:

 

1. Quick Unravleing                                                  END POINT

2. Fuzzy Memories ~ for Lily-Filled Lake                               END POINT

3. Uxie, God of Knowledge ~ Stupid Mortals…                         END POINT

4. Distant Affection                          END POINT

5. Ennea Harmonie ~ The Endless Dream                          END POINT