Chapter 32: Closing In
by Nikel“You always do this!”
“Don’t pin this on me!”
Ezera stood in the center of his bedroom. He looked down at his hands and got… five fingers on each? He was human again?
He turned his gaze upward, finding the door open. He hadn’t been home in forever— but more importantly, he could see his mom and dad! Ezera ran forward and descended the stairs, excited to hug them, only to find them confronting each other in the living room.
“You pushed him too hard and now he’s gone!” his mom yelled.
“I told him what he needed to hear!” his dad retorted, jabbing a finger into his own chest.
“How many times did I tell you to stop? But no, you never listen. You keep on pushing and pushing-“
“He’ll never grow if we continue to baby him!”
“Mom, Dad, I’m right here!” Ezera exclaimed, getting right in front of their faces. Neither of them paid him any mind.
Ezera’s mom ran a hand through her hair. “You better hope to God he’s safe right now, because if he’s not-“
“He is, okay?” His dad crossed his arms, frowning. “He’s not weak.”
“Oh now you say that, when he’s not here?” his mom said, letting her hand fall to her side.
Ezera tried to grab both of their hands. He needed to send a signal, anything to let them know that he was alright. Instead of making contact however, his hands phased right through theirs.
“What do you mean, I’ve said that to him before!” his dad retorted.
“No you haven’t. It’s always been behind his back. All you tell him is how he’ll always look weak!”
“I don’t…” His dad’s expression fell.
“Guys, come on, don’t fight, please-” Ezera pleaded, but he might as well have not spoken at all.
The scene faded into a space of shifting colors. Ezera was on his knees, in a spotlight of some kind, facing his axew self. When he raised his arm, axew did the same. He put his hand forward and placed his palm against axew’s.
“Have you changed at all?” axew said.
Ezera stayed silent.
“Have you?”
“I… like to think so,” Ezera said.
“That’s not an assuring answer.” Axew put his hand down. “When all is said and done, and you’re alone, would you have the confidence to see things through?” Axew retreated from Ezera, fading in and out for a second. There was another figure there, but too translucent to make out.
“Think about it.”
Ezera awoke to a chill breeze, his heartbeat filling his ears as he shuddered.
‘What- what was I just dreaming? That felt a little too real…‘ he wondered.
He somehow changed to laying on the grass while he slept, so he turned to his side, momentarily forgetting one key detail— he had tusks. His right tusk hit the dirt, causing him to jerk his head up and sit straight.
‘Ugh, I really miss sleeping on my side,‘ Ezera thought, wiping the dirt off. “And there goes all the sleepiness.‘
He inspected his hands, seeing the green body he’d grown accustomed to. Was it weird to call it normal? He never gave the absurdity of it all much thought; he sort of just accepted the fact he was a pokémon and that was it. It felt like a gift, and in truth he did still feel that way a little, but should he have questioned more about it?
For one, was there any reason he became an axew? Was it possible to be anything else, and he got lucky? Or was there another force at work that decided it for him? …Whoever or whatever brought him here, at least it had the decency to not make him a fish.
How did he get here, in fact? That answer was stuck in foggy territory. He also wasn’t any closer to finding a way back.
Then, three, his parents. How worried were they right now? Ezera couldn’t imagine having to deal with the aftermath of going back. Strolling up to them and saying “I became a pokémon for a while” wasn’t exactly reassuring or convincing.
“Can’t sleep?” Litleo’s whisper barely reached him, her face barely visible under the moonlight. She’d taken position near another tree, facing the hollow.
Ezera forgot that they agreed to take watch. He decided to slowly make his way to her side, feeling more of the night chill on his skin without the wood to block it. His joints protested at the movement, signaling that he definitely needed more rest.
“Not really,” he replied once he reached her. “It’s not like the ground provides the best padding. I should totally tell Reuniclus to make an air mattress…” Ezera could tell Litleo was giving him a suspicious glare even without light. “Has it been quiet?”
“There was a minor rumble earlier. Could’ve been an earthquake, nothing worth noting,” Litleo said, eyes going up to the sky. She looked back down at him. “Is something bothering you?”
Ezera’s mouth dropped slightly. “How’d you guess?”
“If I have something on my mind, I can’t sleep. And I asked Indeedee about that once, so put minun and plusle together…”
‘She really is learning.’ “I don’t know, I just dreamed about my parents. I hope they’re alright.” Ezera tapped his fingers. He opened his mouth, but closed it, saving the words. Did Litleo need more to deal with?
“Want to talk about it?” she prompted.
She asked him? Guess there was his answer. “Well, since you’re offering…” Ezera shifted to face her more.
“I was kidding.”
Ezera blinked repeatedly.
“Not.” She smirked. “What’s on your mind?”
Ezera sighed. ‘Her joking game really needs work…‘ “I never thought about how much my parents could be worrying right now. What if they think I’m dead?”
“That’s pretty drastic.”
“I know, but if they’re looking and aren’t finding any clues, what else are they going to think?” Ezera covered his mouth, realizing how close that sounded to their situation right now. “Sorry, I don’t know how I-“
“…It’s not like you’re wrong,” she quietly admitted.
Next time, talking so early in the morning, he’d bring a filter.
Litleo exhaled, picking at the grass with her claw. “Even if they do think you’re gone, wouldn’t it also make them happy to find out you’re alive?”
“I guess it would.” Ezera pictured lots of crying in the hypothetical moment. Most of it would probably belong to him. His parents weren’t big criers. “What about all the worrying they do before that happens? What if it makes them do something they can’t take back?” he said, voice growing even softer. He placed his hands on his legs, unmoving.
“Then it… happens. You can’t control that. It’s not like you can teleport to them and prevent it. You’re here now, best you can do is hope and adapt,” she said, glancing upward once more.
Ezera frowned. Was that how she was dealing with it? Surely there was another way…
Litleo inched back. “…Sorry, that’s probably not what you wanted to hear. I can’t remember anything about my parents. It’s nice to see you care about them.”
“No, you’re right, it’s out of my control. It’s just me and wanting to make sure everyone’s okay.”
Ezera thought back to Roca’s words yesterday, about how people, or pokémon, didn’t change. Looking at Litleo, wasn’t that proof they could? Or did she merely have it all this time, and just needed someone to truly reach it?
…Dang, being philosophical in the early morning really wasn’t for him either.
“I brought your scarves, by the way,” Ezera said, pointing to the satchel laying inside the trunk.
Litleo quirked an eyebrow, looking at him instead of the satchel. “You did?”
“You told me you wanted to give them back to Rockruff, remember? When you saw him again?”
“…Yeah, that’s right. I’m surprised you remember.”
“How couldn’t I? That was one of the first times you opened up to me.” Ezera smirked as she turned away. “It also helps that I’d like to do that with my friend, if I can ever find her.”
“Stealing my idea? Very original of you,” Litleo scoffed.
“Didn’t realize it was copyrighted. Technically it’s not the same because I want to give her something new and you’re giving something back.”
“Doesn’t that just make it a regular gift?” Litleo waved it off with her forepaw. “You never did tell me what her name was. What is it?”
“She didn’t give me her real name.”
“No duh, I know that, I mean whatever name you knew her by. You had to call her something, didn’t you?”
“Oh,” Ezera realized. “It was a mouthful. She went by Elessedil.” Because of the darkness, he couldn’t tell if Litleo frowned or blanked out for a second.
“…Was there any reason she chose that?”
“Good question, I don’t know. I assumed it was something random. It’s kinda common to do that.”
“I see…”
They sat in silence as the gentle wind of the forest blew around them. Ezera inhaled deeply. He could appreciate having more of these. Who knew if they’d get any in the following days.
“You can go back to sleep. I’ll stay up,” Litleo said after some time.
“What? You can’t expect me to do that-” Ezera started, accidentally raising his volume.
Litleo placed a paw on his mouth. “You need to heal. I’m not the one hurt,” she insisted.
“How do you know I’m not-“
She poked his ribs, earning a wince and proving her point.
Ezera made a pouting expression before sighing. “Wake me up if you do get tired, okay?”
“Not happening.”
Ezera stuck out his tongue. He took two steps when Litleo called him again.
“Oh, Ezera?”
Ezera turned his body halfway to her. “Hm?”
“Until you have to go back to your world, can you…” She got to all fours, catching his gaze. “Can you promise that we’ll stick together?”
“It could be your world too,” Ezera replied. He grinned under the soft glow of the moon. “I promise, though.”
It was barely reaching afternoon when Duraludon marched into the guild lobby with his head held as high as possible. The sheriff accompanied behind him, expression set to neutral as they walked up to the Vicemaster.
Rapidash trotted forward from the podium. “Good morning, Duraludon, Manec-“
“Dispatch with the pleasantries, Rapidash. Your organization is in trouble and I’ve no time for it,” Duraludon interrupted, his tone steely.
A flash of pink ran through her mane. “May I ask you to clarify what trouble?”
“Don’t play dumb!” he argued, holding out an accusatory finger. “The prison outbreak! Some of your teams are responsible and I have every intention of arresting them. Not to mention, severe action against the guild as a whole.”
“Our teams? I apologize, who are you referring to?”
Duraludon performed a drawn out huff. “That rascal Pichu and her no good friends, Pipsqueak or-“
“Team Piksqueak disbanded yesterday,” Rapidash interrupted, frowning. “I was led to believe they had a falling out.”
Duraludon’s fury broke for a second. “What?”
“It’s true. Check with Watchog if you want proof,” Rapidash stated, flipping her mane to one side. “It came as quite a shock to us too.”
Duraludon searched for the words to reformulate his argument. “Then- then- Fine! There was a yamper and purrloin, I know they also work here!”
“Yamper and Purrloin are no longer a part of the guild either. They resigned together.”
Duraludon simply stared at her, unblinking. “What about the last two?! An axew and dewott? Or did they also happen to quit?” he spat.
“As a matter of fact, they did,” Rapidash replied coolly.
“WHAT?! How is it possible for your small brain to not piece together what they were planning?!” Duraludon scolded, smacking his head in disbelief.
“My ‘small brain,‘ councilmon,” Rapidash said, drawing out the word like it physically pained her, “was busy trying to organize how our work will continue with the new vacancies.” She looked at him dead on, narrowing her eyes. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t have time to think about pokémon outside my jurisdiction.”
“Rrrrrgh, it doesn’t excuse how the Guildmaster himself aided them in their cause! I don’t give a rattata’s arse if he isn’t the Guildmaster anymore either! He assaulted the sheriff!”
Rapidash’s eyes went wide. “Now how can that be? He was here with me all day yesterday.”
Duraludon and Manectric turned to one another, the former glaring quite menacingly.
“I know what I saw… I’m ninety percent sure it was the Guildmaster,” Manectric defended, slightly squirming.
“That is not one hundred percent,” Duraludon growled.
“Sirfetch’d’s prints went with that Yamper’s team!”
“Of which you lost track of.”
“He- he can’t be here, otherwise we would’ve intercepted him beforehand!”
Rapidash motioned her head to the west hall. “If you want to see him, I am afraid you’ll have to wait. He’s currently asleep.”
“How convenient like everything else!” Duraludon scoffed. “I hope you realize the guild’s final days are near. If you want to save yourself, I suggest coming clean to me. I might be lenient and give you the position of secretary…”
“As far as I am concerned,” Rapidash retorted, “you have evidence of nothing. Is there anymon else besides Manectric that can verify who you saw was indeed the Guildmaster?”
Electricity jumped out of Manectric. “I- I was the only ‘mon. He wore a black bandana, so I couldn’t see his eyes. Maybe- maybe it was a different Sirfetch’d…” he stammered.
“It being another Sirfetch’d is impossible anyway!” Duraludon seethed, throwing his arms up in the air and shaking them. “Why else would he cover his eyes? And- and there aren’t any other Sirfetch’d here!”
“That you are aware of. I hear the residents of Mistii Valley have some,” Rapidash corrected. “You would know if you worked with the wildmon instead of pushing them aside.”
Duraludon grabbed Manectric by the scruff of his neck. “What about other distinguishing features like his voice? Did he say anything to you?”
The sheriff seemed to shrink down. “When I’m in mega form I don’t remember things quite as clearly… Sorry, sir.”
“Useless!” Duraludon yelled, dropping the sheriff. “Wake him up, I don’t care!” He stomped towards the hallway, leaving a sighing Rapidash and nervous Manectric behind.
Rapidash quickly trotted ahead and opened the door. Inside, Srifetch’d sat dozing away at his desk. She went to nudge his shoulder. “Guildmaster? Wake up, we have guests.”
It took a couple more tries before Sirfetch’d jumped awake, flailing the tip of his leek outward. “Hrm? What is it?“
“Duraludon claims you helped in the jailbreak yesterday.”
“What nonsense, I was here doing paperwork,” Sirfetch’d said, scratching the side of his head.
“You’re blind, you can’t do paperwork!” Duraludon shouted, his pitch reaching new heights. His bulky frame shoved the boxes and papers out of the way as he walked further inward.
“Oi! By that logic, how can I fight?“
“Because you-!” Duraludon’s entire frame shook. “Enough of this farce! I will have somemon look into your mind! That will tell me everything I need!”
“You yourself said mind reading is inadmissible and easily manipulated,” Rapidash refuted, perfectly calm. “Unless you’re willing to do the same for Litleo, I do not see how that would hold up in council. Admit it, Duraludon, Sirfetch’d is innocent here.”
The councilmon’s face would’ve twitched uncontrollably had it not been made out of metal. Instead, only his eyes were left to convey the full extent of his rage. “YOU- THIS-” He kicked over a box full of mail. “This is ridiculous! It’s obvious you were behind this!”
“Keep that up and we will have to sue for damages,” Rapidash remarked, sternly clopping her hoof.
“Damn you! I’ll be the ‘mon laughing when I expose your coverups!”
“Both of us have a straight face, councilmon.”
Duraludon stomped out the next second. Manectric uttered a quiet apology then followed suit, closing the door. Rapidash and Sirfetch’d waited for a minute. The former reopened the door a tad, peeking into the hallway to make sure both were completely gone.
“It seems they’ve left,” Rapidash declared.
“It’s a wonder he made it to that position acting like a toddler,” ‘Sirfetch’d’ said. A glitchy ripple traveled over his body. His white feathers fluffed out, the tips of them turning into a deep black. His body enlarged and his frame extended to several feet tall. The milky gray eyes then shifted into a focused blue, leaving a now standing Zoroark to take off the Linkbead attached to his mane. “Thievul wasn’t lying when he said this job might be a wee bit over my pay grade.”
“You did a fine job, dear. I was almost convinced you were him,” Rapidash complimented, using Psychic to fix the toppled boxes.
“Nothing beats the original, however!” Sirfetch’d remarked through the Linkbead.
“That’s right, Guildmaster, and why I’d advise not spending too much time away. The council shouldn’t do anything to us for the time being, but that can change.”
“We have it under control! The answer will appear us to soon!” Sirfetch’d claimed.
“For all our sakes, I hope so.”
Another day had passed before Team Rebound reached the next part of their journey: Creeping Jungle.
The trees were bunched up here, so much so that their roots overlapped each other and created gnarled bundles. Moss grew on the lower bark and rocks in the area. Interwoven vines, branches, and leaves completely blotted out any view up above.
“Oh crap!”
Litleo and Dewott turned around in time to see Ezera trip over the roots of a large jungle tree. He fell forward, but managed to brace his arms so none of his face hit the dirt.
“You good?” Litleo asked, shaking her head and continuing on. ‘He better not hurt himself again before we get there.‘
“Yeah, I just hate these legs sometimes…” Ezera replied, taking Dewott’s paw to get up.
“What’s wrong with them?” Dewott signed.
“Nothing, technically. I just don’t miss being so short.”
“When you evolve you won’t have to deal with them anymore,” Dewott consoled, lifting one paw up before wiping them.
“But then I’d have to deal with those new legs. Won’t I have to learn to walk again?” he muttered.
“When I evolved I adapted pretty fast.”
“I hope that’s the case for me…” Ezera fanned himself at the slight humidity.
The place wasn’t exactly teeming with pokémon. They’d passed by a few toucannon and squawkabilly, but that was hours ago near the outskirts. Shouldn’t it be that the further they went inside, the more they’d see— not the other way around?
“Don’t you think we should have run into some other pokémon by now?” Ezera asked, carefully climbing over a big root.
“It’s good we haven’t. Less contact means less chances of fighting,” Litleo replied.
“But coming this far without seeing anyone else is a bit concerning.”
Dewott nodded, holding one digit up and moving it around. “He has a point. Even a straggler or loner would be comforting to know that we’re not alone.“
“Maybe we’re in some isolated territory right now,” Litleo suggested, slowing down.
“That begs the question of why it’s isolated…” Ezera added. He pulled the Wonder Map out and enlarged the projection. “Don’t think it says anything about that kind of thing.” He squinted. “Huh. Didn’t realize we just need to pass this jungle and then we’re there.”
“You make it sound so simple. This is the largest biome on the continent,” she said, coming to a stop. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Litleo angled her ears, thinking she heard a yelp in the distance. Silence returned to her. ‘Wildmon passing by probably, although…‘ “Something’s wrong with the air here too.”
Ezera took in a big whiff, standing beside her. “I just get earthy. And maybe stuffy?”
“No, it’s… menacing. Don’t you feel it?”
Hands on his hips, Ezera took another whiff. “It does remind me of that Rugged Crags mystery dungeon.”
Litleo nodded, biting her lip. “Which is weird because there shouldn’t be any.”
“I don’t like what you’re implying…”
“I don’t either.”
“Didn’t you two make the Rugged Crags dungeon disappear?” Dewott signed.
“Only after going through it,” Ezera answered.
“Let’s head a little further, then we might know for sure,” Litleo decided.
They advanced together, with Litleo at the front and Ezera and Dewott standing side by side behind her. The air became tinged in a slight red as they went, until Litleo felt like she was breathing in sludge. At last, her suspicions were confirmed when a wall of thorny vines blocked any path forward. A small opening allowed them to see the warp tile lying in wait behind it.
“How long does this go?” Litleo muttered, glancing left and right. It spanned quite a distance both ways. “We need to tell Sirfetch’d about this.” She waited for Ezera to take out the Linkbead, then spoke. “Guildmaster?”
“Luxio? What is it?” Sirfetch’d responded.
“How far are you from Creeping Jungle?”
“We’re around the west edges,” Yamper suddenly answered. “Are you in trouble?“
“Giving you a heads up, there’s a mystery dungeon inside it.”
Sirfetch’d took a couple seconds to respond. “That’s not good.“
Litleo withheld the impulse to further point out the obvious. “What do you suggest we do?”
“The best action would be to find a way around it. You don’t know what awaits in it.”
“Crap, but how long will that take…?” Litleo griped.
“The questionable action is to go through if you feel confident. It’s nothing you haven’t done before, hrm?“
The trio shared a bemused glance with each other.
“I leave the choice to you. I’ll report its existence to the Vicemaster. Be careful, capiche?” Sirfetch’d requested.
“Yeah,” Litleo said.
Ezera put the Linkbead away as it dimmed. They each stayed in their thoughts for a minute.
Litleo sized up the vines. “It’s not a bad idea to enter. The only issue is we don’t know where we’ll come out after we deal with… whatever’s inside. Theoretically it should put us closer to the vale.”
“Uh… what if there’s one of those big pokémon at the end of it? We barely got by last time,” Ezera noted.
“We have Dewott now, we should be fine.”
“Still, I don’t want to rush into it,” Ezera said, hesitation sneaking into his face. He pointed to the right. “Who knows, maybe this wall of vines isn’t as long as we think-“
Litleo rolled her eyes. “And how long do we want to walk if it does seem endless?”
“We could do it for about ten minutes?”
“If we do that will you finally accept-“
Dewott put a paw on each of their shoulders and made them turn to the vines.
Litleo’s tail stuck out as a purple flame-eyed chespin stared at them.
Ezera took one step back. “Wait, is that-“
A stream of Pin Missiles fired out from the chespin. With their limited space, the trio reacted accordingly.
“Aren’t they supposed to stay INSIDE the dungeon?!” Ezera exclaimed, Protecting himself.
Litleo bounded behind a tree. “Obviously this one isn’t!” She flinched at the missiles thudding against wood. “I’m going at him!” Flames coated her fur, and she ran out from her cover and charged the chespin. The grass-type hissed as she toppled him, turning him into wisps.
The wall began to shift, with some vines untangling and seemingly staring at Litleo.
“What the…” she said, tensing up. The vines then lashed at her, causing her to spring back. Litleo gasped as more shot forth.
Dewott jumped in, successfully slashing the tendrils and reducing them to purple wisps.
“Thanks,” Litleo said.
“Is this even a dungeon?!” Ezera exclaimed.
“Let’s back up!” Litleo ordered, wondering the same thing. ‘What kind of dungeon operates on its own?‘
A quilladin and second chespin appeared under the opening while they retreated. The quilladin spat multiple seeds into the dirt, which rapidly grew into tiny sprouts that wrapped around Litleo and Ezera’s feet. Both fell to the floor, and Dewott reached out to grab them.
However, the chespin launched themselves at Dewott, knocking him into a tree. Ezera struggled to rip the sprouts off and Litleo did her best to bite at them. A second later, the vines from the wall descended again, coiling around the trio’s bodies.
“Ack, I can’t move!” Ezera shouted, squirming about.
Litleo didn’t get to reply, as the vines then tossed them towards the warp tile, dulling her senses in a sea of white.
When next Litleo regained her sight and hearing, she immediately found the quilladin charging up a Hammer Arm.
“Ugh, screw off!”
Litleo scorched the pokémon in a wave of fire. The quilladin had long disappeared while she burned the same spot over and over.
“Litleo- hey, Litleo, they’re uh, dead,” Ezera soothed, touching her shoulder.
Smoke left her mouth as she finally stopped, breathing hard. “Stupid thing will probably show up again later… Can you use-“
“Already on it,” Ezera said, checking their Escape Orb. Unfortunately, its light was completely dull. He retrieved the Linkbead next, tapping it but ultimately getting no response. “Shooooot, I guess we’re doing this no matter what…”
“As long as I don’t have to see vines moving on their own anymore, I’m okay with that,” Dewott signed, grimacing.
“Hate to say it but, we might encounter worse,” Litleo said, scowling at the sand underneath her paws. She glanced at the Y-shaped path up ahead.
Their team landed in a square shaped room. Rows of jungle trees acted as the barriers despite the questionable “soil.” Above them, the sky was stuck in a mix of blue, pink, and orange. Whether that was early morning or early evening, they couldn’t tell. And just like the Rugged Crags dungeon, a purple-ish ripple appeared over the trees every few seconds.
‘So much for having a choice. Better us than some other team, though. We have experience with this type of thing,‘ Litleo mused, biting her lip. “The path is big enough for two in the front and one of us in the back. Who’s it-“
A gust of wind rushed through her fur, and before long a flurry of leaves shot out from the trees. Litleo barely sidestepped in time, hissing. “Hey!”
Ezera swiveled in its direction. “What the hell? Was that a pokémon?”
Another gust traveled through the room, followed by two more storms of leaves aimed at her teammates. Ezera and Dewott dove to the ground, equally wide eyed.
“I don’t think it’s a pokémon… It’s the dungeon,” Litleo reasoned, keeping her paws light off the floor in case another round came.
Dewott moved his paws in a backward motion. “I might take back what I said.“
“Alright, hurry up, what’s our placements going to be?” Litleo stated.
“I’ll… take the back,” Ezera sheepishly said. “You guys fight better than me anyway.”
Litleo nodded. “I’ll choose the directions?”
“Feel free,” Dewott signed.
They set off, choosing to go left first. The path went on to reach another two way split of east and west. Along the way, the wind swept by again, bringing another round of attacking leaves. As is, dodging it was easy. During the middle of a battle would be another story…
They headed west, leading to a wide rectangular room where a simisage and pancham awaited in front of the warp tile.
“There they are,” the pancham uttered, clenching their fists.
“Keep the humans out,” the simisage said.
Litleo and Ezera briefly locked eyes. The dungeon knew they were human?
The pancham leapt high into the air, kicking out their leg as they descended. Rebound dispersed, causing a plume of sand to blow up from the impact. Litleo swiftly chomped on their leg while they recoiled at their own damage.
Meanwhile the simisage molded a ball of energy in his hands, focusing on Dewott.
“Let’s put our trick to use!” Ezera exclaimed, bracing himself.
Dewott took the cue to go into Aqua Jet and pick up Ezera, racing to the simisage’s position. Using the momentum, he let go of Ezera as the water surge ended, letting Ezera strike the grass-type with extra oomph in his Dual Chops.
The combination was enough to silence the pokémon for good, turning them into nothing.
“Nice!” Ezera said, high fiving Dewott.
Regrouping with Litleo, they entered the next floor, encountering another set of quilladin, pansage, and paras.
Dewott exhaled. “I am not in my element here.“
“Good thing I am,” Litleo snarled, pouncing. She quickly made work of the pansage and paras, using her fire-type advantage to reduce them to smithereens.
“Why must you side with the humans?! We don’t know anything about them!” the quilladin exclaimed, thorns glowing. They received a double slash from Ezera and Dewott’s scalchop a moment later, silencing them.
“Okay, I learned from Salna that the Rugged Crags dungeon was influenced by stories he knew,” Ezera said as they resumed navigating the dungeon. “What could this human talk be based on? Us?”
“We just entered. It can’t be, unless it read our memories that fast- Bullet Seed!” Litleo alerted.
The three squeezed to one side of the pathway, letting the seeds fly by. However, the wind kicked up at the same time, meaning all three of them were subject to a barrage of sharp leaves from behind.
“Urgh, this is so damn annoying!” Litleo griped.
A ball of dragonfire and Water Pulse rushed by Litleo, taking care of the offending bellsprout ahead.
“What about somemon else who got trapped here? The dungeon took over a lot of the land,” Dewott signed, gripping one paw, before spreading them widely apart.
Litleo sighed, picking up the pace. “Who knows. I suppose we’ll keep our eyes peeled for collapsed pokémon.”
From that point onward, Rebound made sure to thoroughly survey the rooms they entered as they searched for the warp tiles. Thankfully they found no such pokémon— the only ones collapsing were the dungeon’s creations.
By floor nine Litleo was certain there were no trapped ‘mon. She highly doubted they’d find one at the end, it’d be too much of a coincidence to Rugged Crags. On the other paw, her mind went back to the yelp she thought she heard earlier. ‘Why would you yelp unless something spooked you? Could they have gotten pulled in too?‘
Coming to a four way intersection, Litleo halted and turned to Ezera. “Could you pass me an Elixir?”
She waited for the next round of wind to happen before placing the bottle on its side in the intersection and spinning it. Ezera and Dewott scratched their heads while they waited for it to stop. The top ended facing north.
“We’re going that way,” Litleo said, finally picking up the bottle and drinking it.
“Spin the bottle? Really?” Ezera said.
“I hear it usually gives good results.”
“Interesting time to decide to use it,” Dewott signed.
As it happened, north was the right direction. They passed another room to find the next warp tile, but upon setting foot on the next floor, an onslaught of noise invaded their ears.
“Hyah!”
“At your four!”
“Filthy human supporters!”
Litleo whirled in a circle, gathering her bearings. Pokémon swarmed them in every direction. She scanned for a way to run, only to realize this was a singular room.
‘A monster house as the last floor?! Wait, but we’re not the focus-‘ She narrowed her eyes, momentarily glimpsing a gray furred pokémon punch a spinarak several feet back. They were… kind of familiar?
“That’s Kubfu!” Dewott signed, before their sight of her was blocked again by the multiple pokémon in their way.
How are we gonna get over?” Ezera said.
“Petrify Orb, now!” Litleo reminded. She crouched in response to the pokémon now noticing them.
“They’ve brought help!” a venipede screeched.
“We’ll never live in peace with humans!” a second venipede added.
“Ezera? The orb?!” Litleo repeated, growing anxious at the plethora of moves being aimed at them. She glanced to see him clumsily comb through the satchel.
“Hold on! I’m forgetting if this is a Luminous or Petrify!”
“For the love of- JUST USE IT!”
Ezera smashed the orb on the sand. An invisible shockwave erupted from the impact, freezing every enemy on the spot. Fire billowed out of Litleo’s mouth, sweeping the area in front of her. Yips and growls sounded from the dungeon dwellers. A few of the small ones immediately dissipated to dust. The stronger ‘mon silently took it, waiting for the petrify to wear off so they could retaliate.
“What do you know, it was the right one,” Ezera remarked, Slashing down a petalil.
“You’re an idiot sometimes.” Litleo rammed the neighboring quilladin with Flame Charge. “Leave the bigger ‘mon! Take out the weaklings first!”
Rebound had about a minute to work through the sizeable crowd, knocking out pancham after weepinbell after chespin, until a parasect and tsareena remained.
“They’re unfreezing,” Dewott warned, trying to catch his breath.
Taking a better look at them, Litleo groaned at their slightly larger than normal size. ‘Here we go.‘
White, fuzzy spores sprung into the air off Parasect’s back. Litleo held her breath just as the dungeon’s winds whipped at her fur, blowing the spores directly into Rebound’s faces. She jumped away from the ensuing burst of leaves, hoping it would leave her with enough air to outlast the spores.
Ezera and Dewott breathed through their scarves. Tsareena went on the offensive, throwing a rapid assault of kicks at Dewott. Ezera tucked into himself, raising his arms and drawing their foe’s attention using a select few lines.
“Humans are good for you! They’re nicer than you think!” he shouted.
Tsareena glared at him. “Lies! They’ll push us all out!” She hopped up and dropped in an instant. Ezera yelped as the impact broke his Protect. Her foot struck his head, causing him to sink into the sand with a muffled fwoomph!
Dewott dashed in, swinging his watery blade all the way down Tsareena’s back. Screeching, she rapidly spun in place, stirring up sand and kicking him back. The force left Dewott winded, scalchop flying out of his paw and landing… somewhere in the area. Tsareena exited the Rapid Spin with a leap forward. She twirled mid-air, aiming her Stomp at the stunned otter.
A vine snapped at Tsareena before the hit could connect, knocking her to the ground. Dewott blinked at the vine’s source— it was connected to a bipedal, black furred pokémon. Their piercing red eyes met Dewott’s, but didn’t seem to host any hostility. The pokémon followed up their attack by coiling up Tsareena, yanking her toward them and socking her face with their elbow.
“Help your friend!” they called, keeping Tsareena tightly bound in the vines.
Nearby, Litleo ducked and swerved from the venom gathered on Parasect’s pincers. Her stamina was already depleted from clearing out the trash, this was just making it worse.
“Why do you resist? We’re all pokémon!” Parasect urged, more spores forming on their back.
“Speak for yourself!” Litleo responded. Her mane warmed up, preparing to unleash a Flamethrower, when the dungeon leaf storm blindsided her. “Agh, damn it!” She winced as the leaves pelted her body, creating micro cuts under her fur.
Parasect’s Spore exploded over the area again, and Litleo could only gulp a tiny breath to withstand it. Luckily, a couple Dragon Rages raced through the spores, setting them alight and rapidly burning them. Litleo gave a nod of acknowledgement to Ezera as he ran behind Parasect.
She ignited herself, slamming into Parasect’s mushroom. The bug type wailed as flames spread across their back quickly. Ezera threw more dragonfire into the mix. Dewott rushed to the scene about to help, but stayed his weapon since Parasect was seemingly going to KO by themself.
Litleo did feel a little bad for them, but these ‘mon weren’t real, so what did it matter in the end? ‘Just end it quick.‘ She blew one last wave Flamethrower over them.
Parasect’s frantic scuttles came to a stop, crumbling to the floor. “We can’t… submit…” They then became little wisps.
“Is that it?” Litleo said, examining the room.
Kubfu and an unknown pokémon were heading their direction, so she assumed Tsareena was taken care of.
“Ay, thanks for petrifying the monster house!” Kubfu began as she neared. Her brow slowly went up. “Hold up, didn’t we meet at Kaiyo Town?”
“Kubfu, was it?” Dewott signed.
“Yeah!” she replied, smiling. “Wicked to see you out here.”
Kubfu’s friend looked the trio over. Recognition seemed to flicker across his face, but disappeared as he glanced at Kubfu. “You’ve met them?”
“They’re guild members!” Kubfu said. “I never got your names, actually. Do you go by anything? Or is it species name?”
“Ezera for me,” Ezera said.
“Noted! This is Zande,” Kubfu said, patting her friend’s arm. “He goes by Zarude too, if you’re into that formal stuff.”
“You’re guild members without the badge?” Zande asked, staring at Ezera and Dewott’s bare scarves.
“Well we are technically, we’re just, how to put this… kinda…” Ezera started.
Litleo prayed to whatever deity that Ezera had enough common sense to not blurt out they were on the run from the law.
“On leave,” he finished.
Zarude narrowed his eyes. “…For what reason?” He touched the vines around his arms. “Can you prove you’re not a dungeon creation?”
Ezera turned to Litleo for help. His eyes darted left and right, begging her to say something.
“Look, we just helped you guys. You don’t have to thank us, but at least save the interrogation for later,” Litleo scoffed.
“Yeah dude, if they were gonna hurt us they’d leave the monster house alone. Relax,” Kubfu chimed in, pushing Zande’s arm down.
“Forgive me, lads, I had to be sure,” Zande said, not looking apologetic in the slightest.
“You’d kinda do the same,” Ezera whispered to Litleo.
She flicked her tail against him, offended. The wind’s strength was starting to gather again, roughly blowing her fur. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d like to get out of here.”
“There seems to be a warp tile over there,” Zande said, pointing to one that definitely wasn’t there when they first arrived.
The group of five made their way to it, with Kubfu and Zande going first. Litleo went next and recoiled at the new sight greeting her— a skinny, giant jungle tree, spanning hundreds of feet upward. Long tendrils of vines draped down from the non-visible top. Giant leaves were also attached like platforms, accessible by wooden stairs that curled around the bark.
Ezera warped in and instantly craned his head back to the max. “What the…”
“I’m not seeing any way out,” Kubfu remarked, viewing the muted darkness that existed outside the tree’s radius.
Zande tugged on a nearby vine. “Wait here. I’ll go up.”
“I can go with-“
Without waiting for anymon’s input, Zande began scaling the vines, effortlessly getting higher and higher off the ground.
“Or leave me,” Kubfu pouted, readjusting the pouch slung over her shoulders.
Seeing as they had no other pressing matters, Litleo jumped on the chance to get some info from her. “So how did you end up here?”
“Zande and me were doing our daily rounds of checking the dungeon,” Kubfu replied, keeping her eyes skyward. “Next thing we knew, BAM! The vines themself started moving!” She wiggled her fingers to demonstrate. “Then it grabbed us and threw us in.”
“Daily rounds… How long has this dungeon been here?”
“It showed up… about three days ago? Zande wanted to keep it under control when we saw it could create pokémon.”
“Neither of you wanted to alert the guild?” Litleo said, frowning.
“How could we? You guys are located so far, and if the dungeon got worse we both needed to be here to protect the locals,” Kubfu explained.
Litleo couldn’t really argue with that. It didn’t explain why the locals couldn’t send somemon to report it, but wildmon barely interacted with the guild, let alone knew they’d travel that far to help them, so she couldn’t blame them.
The vine trembled as Zande slid down, dropping next to Kubfu. “There’s no warp tile, but I found some mass of energy. My guess is that’s our way out.”
Ezera perked up, stepping towards him. “Oh, is it like a portal or vortex looking thing?”
“Yes.”
“Could you take one of us up there?” Ezera asked, signaling between him and Litleo. “We know what to do with it.”
“It might not be a smooth ride, but I can.”
“What’s wrong with the stairs?” Litleo said.
“You wanna climb those?” Ezera asked, gesturing to the hundred flights they’d have to go through.
Litleo bit her lip. “…Good point. You think it’ll work again?”
Ezera shrugged. “Can’t hurt to try.”
“Then let me do it this time,” she said, holding her paw out for the bag.
“Alright. Just uh, hold the scarves up to the portal and that should be it,” he explained, putting it on her.
Litleo approached Zande, pushing aside her apprehension as the vines on his left arm wrapped her up firmly. Assured she wouldn’t fall out, he embarked on the ascent once again.
She mostly wanted to do this just because she didn’t fully trust Zande. If there was something else on top, she felt the most qualified to handle it. However, her caution was proven unwarranted— as Zande touched down on the highest leaf of the tree, she saw the reported vortex.
‘It’s just like the one at Rugged Crags.‘ Litleo drew near it, fishing out the scarves. ‘Hold them up he said…‘ She raised it toward the swirling mass. Nothing happened at first, but slowly, particles of light flowed into them, rising from a trickle to an entire flood. ‘It’s actually working!‘
“Fascinating…” Zande commented.
Litleo looked away as it grew brighter, until a flash and an ear piercing ring took over.
“Haha, we’re out! Whoo!” Kubfu shouted.
Litleo opened her eyes, breathing in relief at the extra fresh air around her. She couldn’t tell if they returned to the dungeon’s entrance, but at an early glance, no wall of vines was present anymore, leaving a natural calm to settle over the jungle.
Dewott came up beside Litleo. “What happened up there?“
“The portal thing got sucked into the scarf?” Ezera surmised.
“It was just like you described,” Litleo said, checking the scarf’s condition. The tiny bits of gold in it sparkled brightly. ‘So the last times I saw it like this meant it had aether in it…‘ she mused, stowing it away and giving the satchel back to Ezera.
“I’m glad it worked out again. Who knew Rockruff’s gift would be so useful?” Ezera remarked.
‘Did Rockruff even know that?‘ Litleo pushed the thought aside. “Where’d those two go?”
“The dungeon is gone. I don’t see or feel any trace of it left,” Zande suddenly answered, hanging onto a tree next to Litleo.
“It’s great! Now all the pokémon here can feel at ease again,” Kubfu said, joining them.
“Are you part of a settlement?” Dewott signed.
Kubfu shook her head. “Naaah, we’re wanderers.”
“You found out about this dungeon awful quick for being wanderers,” Litleo said.
Zande gestured to the land. “I have roots here. When the forest is in danger, I tend to feel it. You might call it a sixth sense.”
Litleo didn’t feel that was a lie, but being careful never hurt anymon.
“This sense is also telling me you’re searching for something, lass.”
Litleo sharply inhaled. ‘How does he know we’re looking for something?‘ she thought, guard going up even more. “Way to assume.”
“I know so. This isn’t your first time coming to this part of the continent. Me and you have been acquainted, once.” Zande dropped to ground level. He studied Litleo carefully for a moment, as if waiting for her to notice something.
The other three kept quiet, switching glances between Zande and Litleo.
“How? When…?” Litleo uttered, searching her brain. If she couldn’t remember him, did that mean he was related to-
“I dropped you off at the guild. You were very injured.”
Litleo didn’t remember that at all. Was that how she ended up in the infirmary when she woke up?
“If you’ll come to our abode, I can explain more,” Zande gently said.
Litleo moved toward Ezera and Dewott. “…We need to talk it over.”
They waited for Zande and Kubfu to amble out of earshot. Once they got far enough, Ezera said, “I don’t normally say this, but this sounds super sketchy.”
“And here I thought you’d be willing to go with them,” Litleo remarked.
“Hey, I’m not that ignorant.” Ezera folded his arms. “Still, we need to get that answer, don’t we?”
“Kubfu was nice at the festival,” Dewott signed. He cupped his paws over his heart. “If anything, I think we can trust her not to try anything.“
“I suppose…” Litleo side eyed where the two were waiting. “I don’t want to walk into something dangerous.”
“I can tell Sirfetch’d what’s happening,” Ezera suggested. “Then if we get into trouble they could help. They’ll have to search for us though…”
“Sounds fine enough. We can hold our own for a bit,” Litleo agreed. She called out to Zande. “Hey! We’ll go with you.”
Kubfu grew a wide grin, pumping her fist in the air. Zande simply nodded.
“That is good. Follow us.”
“If it turns out they have a normal house and not some creepy, weird dungeon, I hope they have pillows. I could really sit on something soft,” Ezera said, almost going starry eyed.
Litleo shook her head. “They’re not an inn. I’d be surprised if they had any other furniture that wasn’t wood related.”
“I’ll take straw too, anything other than dirt or sand or grass…”
They started after the two pokémon. Litleo zeroed in on the back of Zande’s head. Was he related to Sling and Orbeetle, somehow? ‘Unlikely, but I can’t rule it out…‘
She’d have her answer soon.
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