Chapter 12: Trial by Fire
by poper466Hey, I’m still not dead, sorry this took a while to write, let’s just jump into it!
January 30th, 2:00 am
Team Echoes’ Base
Coast Continent
Cloak and Razor were patrolling the halls of Team Echoes’ base at the crack of dawn, making absolutely sure that a certain metal bird didn’t break in and murder Rory and friends while they slept, the two were passing the time by talking about their honeymoon thus far, “Man this trip’s been well, a trip to say the least.” Razor remarked.
“Tell me about it, human Pokémon, weird labyrinths, magic seeds, there’s so much I don’t understand about this place.” Cloak sighed.
“I’m sure we’ll have it all figured out soon, I mean our little guy’s probably gonna drag us into another one of those labyrinths at some point so worst case scenario we just figure things out then.”
“I’m not so sure going in blind is such a good idea.”
“Well knowing how impish our son is, that’s probably what’s going to end up happening whether we like it or not.”
“Ugh…”
“Hey, it could be worse, at least we can actually defend ourselves, could you imagine what would happen if we weren’t as strong as we are?”
“We’d probably get torn to bits in minutes…”
“Yup, but we’re strong, so that’s not gonna happen.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
The couple kept walking through the hall when they heard something strange, “Did you hear that?” Razor asked.
“Yup, loud and clear, that was definitely the sound of leaves rustling, looks like it’s showtime!”
Cloak and Razor ran off toward the source of the sound, when they arrived they saw Skarmory standing in between the other Pokémon that were supposed to be keeping watch, they had all fallen asleep in an instant, collapsing just as the couple arrived, “Huh!? What happened!?” Razor blurted.
Skarmory kicked a Sleep seed off of the floor and caught it in between two of her wing blades, “Tch, what idiots.” She scoffed, “No amount of caffeine will save you from these extra-potent Sleep Seeds.”
“So you put them to sleep!?” Cloak shouted.
“Wow, finally someone with a slight semblance of a brain, yes I put them to sleep you dimwit!”
“Cut the crap and fight us already!” Razor demanded.
“EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!” Skarmory cackled, “The only thing you’ll be fighting is the drowsiness you’re about to feel.”
Suddenly a black aura enveloped Skarmory, “What’s she doing!?” Cloak asked.
“I-I don’t know, but it can’t be good!” Razor squeaked.
Suddenly, the pair began to feel the effects of their coffee wear off, mere moments later Skarmory chucked two Sleep Seeds at them, the pair yawned just in time for the seeds to land in their mouths, the next thing they knew everything went black.
Skarmory let out another sadistic cackle, “EHEHEHEHEHEHEH, too easy! Now to grab the girl and get out of here!”, Skarmory tiptoed into each of the rooms one by one without finding a thing, just as she was about to leave Joseph’s room she caught a glimpse of a red eye peeping out from under Joseph’s bed, Rory had woken up just as Skarmory had come to take her away, she was just about to scream when she caught a Sleep Seed in her mouth, as her consciousness faded she could only hear one thing, “Sweet dreams blueberry.”
January 30th, 7:00 am
Team Echoes’ Base – Joseph’s room
Coast Continent
Joseph woke up with a stretch, “Ahhh… I feel rather refreshed.” He said before jumping off of his bed, “You sleep ok Rory? I mean I know that there was a big scary murder bird out there, but surely you got at least a little bit of sleep right?”
There was no response…
“Oh I get it, you’re just sleeping a little longer because you had trouble falling asleep, in that case I’ll leave you to it.”
Yumi yawned and jumped out of bed, “Morning Joseph, morning Rory!”
“Good morning Yumi!” Joseph beamed.
But Rory didn’t respond…
“Uh, I said good morning Rory!” Yumi reiterated.
There was no response from Rory…
“RORY!?” Yumi shrieked as she began to panic.
“Wait is she not actually under there!?” Joseph blurted.
Yumi dove under the bed and confirmed that Rory had indeed gone missing, “NOPE! SOUND THE ALARMS! RORY IS GONE!”
Yumi dove toward the door but stopped just before it to ensure she didn’t have a repeat of her incident yesterday, Joseph followed her as quickly as he could, practically ripping the door off of its hinges, the two ran into the hall to find Cloak and Razor explaining the events that transpired that night to Mesprit and the rest of Team Echoes, “She used this weird black fog stuff to rip the caffeine from our systems and then she threw these weird seeds at us and we passed out!”
Mesprit let out a sigh of relief, “So it wasn’t your fault… That’s good…”
“THERE’S NO TIME FOR THIS WE NEED TO GO SAVE HER RIGHT NOW!” Sammy burst.
Mesprit sighed, “Look I’m sorry to say this but she’s probably long gone, I mean I can go check with Xerneas but I doubt you’re gonna be happy with the resul-“
“I DON’T CARE, JUST DO IT!”
“Jeez, what’s gotten into you dude!?” Cinder asked, “I mean I get it Skarmory snatched our friend but-“
“Rory was more than a friend to me! And if she dies here I’ll never get to tell her how I truly feel!”
The room went silent for a moment, Mesprit broke the silence by nodding, “Alright, I’ll check with her as quick as I can!” She said before teleporting away.
The room sat in silence again, but this time Yumi was the one to break the silence, “Sammy, I know things look a little grim right now, but just know, I have faith that Rory’s still alive and that we can still save her.”
But before Sammy could respond Cinder jumped in with a comment of her own, “Hold on, you two had something going on this whole time!?”
“Well it’s more like I had a crush on her and I told Yumi about it when we were alone together a few days ago.”
“How does that even work though, you couldn’t have possibly developed a crush in a week!”
“Well Yumi suspected that my love for Rory was so strong that my brain was able to preserve it even through my amnesia.”
“That sounds strange…”
“Love can do that to a man.” Vulcan interjected, “When I first met Ember she told me that I’d probably never walk again, yet look at me now.”
“Ember!? Who’s Ember!?”
“Oh, she nursed me back to health all those years back, she also taught me how to cook food and stuff, and she’s also probably worried sick about me right now because this is probably the longest we’ve been apart for.”
“Jeez, is anyone else secretly hiding their love life from me!?” Cinder asked before looking at Joseph and Yumi and chuckling, “Don’t answer that you two.”
The pair just rolled their eyes, “I’m a human! I don’t care what this world wants me to do, I would never fall in love with a Pokémon.” They said in unison.
But before this whole conversation could continue Mesprit returned, “Gather your team, we’re going to the Lava Continent!”
“Right!” The team chorused.
The team quickly got their things and returned to Mesprit, “Ok, I’m gonna teleport you all to the Lava Continent, but doing so is very taxing, so I can only afford to do one round trip, are you all ready to go?”
“I’m always ready for an adventure!” Cinder chirped.
“How are you still so positive!?” Flint asked, “This is literally a hostage situation!”
“I’m not… I just like to pretend I’m positive to mask the fact that I’m feeling a ton of dread.”
“Is that why you were so cheery when you first met Joseph?” Specter asked.
“Yeah, I mean it was just a mask at first but when I found out he was a human I was legitimately pretty happy.”
“Look we can discuss this later! Rory is in danger!” Sammy reminded the group.
“O-oh right… Mesprit, send us off!”
Mesprit snapped her fingers, “You got it!”
The group was enveloped by a pink glow and before they knew it they were teleported far FAR away from their original location.
January 30th, 7:10 am
Tiki Town
Lava Continent
The team arrived in the very simply named Tiki Town, there were small huts and tiki torches everywhere, somehow this place was even more tropical than the Coast Continent, the sunlight was also blaring making it almost impossible not to break a sweat, well unless you were a dragon or fire type that is, “Phew, is it just me or is it super hot here?” Flint asked as he started fanning himself with his wings.
“Oh, it’s boiling alright!” Vulcan said, “Just the way I like it!”
“Wait, do they have lava pools here!?” Cinder asked.
“Oh yes we do!” A voice called out.
The group turned and noticed that an Emboar was approaching them, “Welcome to Tiki Town tourists!” The Emboar said with a wide grin, “Are you here for a tour, or are you fine just exploring on your own?”
“We’re kinda here on some important business so we’d appreciate it if you just let us through that’d be great!” Joseph said.
“Yeah what he said, it’s kinda a life or death situation.” Sammy added.
“A life or death situation!? Here!? Man, you really need to de-stress, but if you insist, I’ll leave you to it.”
The Emboar walked off and the group began walking through town a bit aimlessly at first before Mesprit appeared before them, she had a fresh pair of shades and a tropical drink in her hands, “Do you guys even know where you’re going?”
“What’s with the shades?” Joseph asked.
“Look I just teleported you all like halfway across the planet, I’m gonna need some time to chillax before I can send you back.”
Sammy was struggling to keep it together, tapping his feet restlessly, “Look it doesn’t matter, where is she!?”
Mesprit paused to take a sip of her drink before answering, “I sense her aura at the top of the volcano.” She said, “Oh, and don’t worry I got you guys rooms in the nearby hotel so once we save Rory you all can chillax too.”
“Uh ok? Thanks I guess?”
“Don’t mention it.”
Mesprit floated off somewhere as Team Echoes sprinted off toward the summit of the volcano, unfortunately for them however, the trek wouldn’t be an easy one.
January 30th, 7:40 am
Heatran’s Keep – Entrance
Lava Continent
The team arrived at a cave at the bottom of the volcano, Joseph was a little nervous about scaling the volcano but he pushed his worries aside, ‘We have to save Rory, and if that means scaling an active volcano then so be it!’ He thought to himself, ‘Rory’s my first actual friend, I can’t lose her in some freak accident!’
Cinder walked up beside Joseph and flicked the gem on the necklace around his neck a few times, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, what’s with this necklace?”
“Oh, Delphox gave it to us yesterday after we had another run-in with Scovillain, he said it makes the wearer immune to lava.”
“That’s pretty convenient, I mean what do you got to be afraid of if you’re immune to lava?”
“I still can’t swim, so if I fall into a deep pool of lava, I’m just gonna drown.”
“Oh, right… Well in that case I’ll just pull you out or something.”
“Wait how are you gonna pull him out if you can’t touch the lava?” Yumi interjected.
“Uh, I can touch the lava, I’m a fire type, what’s it gonna do burn me?”
“Well I was thinking it would probably melt you down to the bone.”
“That’s not how we fire types roll.” Vulcan chimed in, “Water is usually the only thing we really have to fear, lava’s nice for swimming but water is deadly.”
“That sounds so backward!”
“Guys!” Sammy shouted.
“R-right hostage situation got it.”
“We should split up, I’ll take Flint, Cinder, and Joseph with me, while Stumpy, Slippy, Yumi, Vulcan, and Specter can go together.” Sammy suggested.
“H-hold on, can I come with you instead, I want to be with Joseph.”
“You should go with Specter, that way he can teach you how to use your Swift attack.”
“Wait Yumi knows Swift?”
“Technically.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that yesterday!?”
“W-well because-“
“Come on I’ll teach you how to use it like a pro!” Specter said as he grabbed Yumi’s bag and began to drag her into the cave.
“W-wait! I didn’t agree to this!”
“Well I think that’s our cue, let’s roll out B team!” Slippy bubbled.
“Well that was awkward.” Sammy said, ‘Whatever let’s just get going.”
The A team entered the cave and immediately began sweating bullets, “I already want to leave.” Flint said as he continued to fan his face with his wings.”
Sammy rolled his eyes, “Complaining doesn’t fix anything dude.”
“I get that, but like come on, this place is torturous!”
“We just got here!” Cinder pointed out.
“Yeah stop being a big baby.”
“Easy for you to say, you’re a water type! You probably don’t feel a thing!”
“I bet even if I wasn’t a water type I’d be fine.” Sammy shot back.
Flint sighed before looking at Joseph, “You’re not a fire or water type, how do you feel right now?”
“Not great.” Joseph replied, “Having black fur makes this place feel significantly hotter than it really should, I bet if I was still a human this would be a bit more tolerable, but now it just feels like my legs and my tail are on fire.”
“See!? I’m not weak, you’re just heat-resistant!”
“Eh, Joseph gets a pass because he’s got black fur on the lower half of his body, you on the other hand are still a wimp.”
Flint rolled his eyes, “Whatever, you’re just trying to get on my nerves.”
Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, causing the group to shut their mouths, once the rumbling stopped, Tiny peeked out of Cinder’s bag and immediately began freaking out, drawing the attention of a few feral Litleo, “Crap! Well time to fight guys!” Joseph said as he got ready to pounce at the Litleo.
“Way ahead of you!” Sammy affirmed, drawing his shells from his hips.
Sammy slashed one of the Litleo knocking it back a bit and causing it to cry like a baby, the other two weren’t happy about this and began shooting Flame Bursts at Sammy, Joseph managed to grab one of the Litleo with his Psychic Fangs, he then slammed it into the ground before chomping down on it, “How do you like that you ugly Shinx clone!”
“Woah! What was that attack!?” Cinder asked.
“Psychic Fangs, long story short Porygon-Z messed up and got Specter the wrong TM so he bought that one too and gave it to me.”
“That’s super cool!”
“Wait hasn’t Razor already used Psychic Fangs?”
“I must’ve missed it if he did.”
While the two were distracted the last Litleo shot a Flame Burst at them hitting Cinder dead on and catching Joseph in the crossfire (I apologize), it was then promptly kicked in the face by Flint, it collapsed before Flint could even shoot his follow-up arrows, causing him to give a disappointed sigh, “Pathetic.” He scoffed.
“S-sorry, Joseph, I didn’t mean to distract you.” Cinder apologized.
“It’s fine, it only grazed me.” Joseph replied.
Cinder sighed, “Well that’s a relief… I’m really afraid of accidentally getting my friends hurt…”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.”
“B-but what if-“
“We’ll be fine!” Sammy interjected, “Just don’t sweat it!”
Suddenly Cinder began looking a bit sad, “C-can I talk to you all about something?”
Sammy was about to shoot her down in the interest of time but he noticed the look on Cinder’s face and decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea, “Ugh, fine, but walk and talk ok?”
“O-ok…”, The group began walking again and Cinder began talking, “So you guys remember how I said I’m from another world right?”
“This is the first I’ve heard about this.” Flint mentioned.
“Well yeah, I’m also from another world, I had an accident similar to the one you and Yumi had, I was just minding my own business when a Space Time Distortion formed and a big scary Pokémon beat me up and I woke up here.”
“Ok… Where are you going with this?”
“W-well unlike Yumi, I tried to stand up to the Pokémon that appeared, it was the only choice I had otherwise it would’ve killed me, my friends, and everyone else in Treasure Town, that turned out to be a mistake however as that Pokémon ended up killing one of my friends.”
“Wait, did he take a hit for you!?” Joseph blurted.
“Yep, Blublin the Spheal took the Pokémon’s attention away from me and took a hit that was meant for me and he paid the ultimate price…”
“Ouch! I’m sorry!” Sammy said, “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have been so mean about it…”
“You’re fine, I understand that you’re stressed out about Rory and all.”
“N-no! That doesn’t excuse how I’ve been acting! I shouldn’t be this worked up over this! She’s going to be fine!”
“W-well let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” Flint said, “There’s no guarantee that she’s safe right now.”
“Yes there is! I’m here, and I’m gonna save her!” Sammy snapped back.
“O-ok then… I was just trying to be realistic but I guess that kinda comes off as being a bit pessimistic now doesn’t it?”
“Flint just stop talking.” Joseph said.
“R-right sorry, I’m not really that good at making small talk.”
“O-oh yeah, uh Cinder you look like you could use a hug.”
“I could… Can we take a short hug break?”
“Sure!” Sammy chirped.
The group all stopped to hug out their problems, Tiny even got in on the action, it was then that Joseph was hit with a massive realization, “Wait Cinder what was your friend’s name again?”
“Blublin, it’s a stupid name Christian came up with, I find it quite cute.”
“Hold on a sec, I think that Spheal cheated death!”
Cinder broke off from the group hug and jumped back, “Hold on are you for real!?”
“I’m dead serious! Just yesterday I met a Spheal who looked just like Slippy, they said they couldn’t give us their name but eventually a friend of theirs convinced them to open up and they introduced themselves as Blublin.”
“Ok, I know you guys aren’t a fan of my realism but hear me out.” Flint interjected, “There’s no way that could be the same Spheal Cinder’s talking about, I mean she watched him die didn’t she?”
“W-well yeah I thought I did, but maybe there was a way he could have survived that.” Cinder mentioned.
“That would explain the bandage on their head.”
“And their name, because I severely doubt that a single other entity in this multiverse shares his name.”
“Maybe once this is all over we can look for him and see if it’s really him.” Joseph suggested.
“Alright, but you better not be toying with me.”
“Yeah, if you’re toying with her then we might as well out you for being a human, I mean at that point you kinda deserve to be treated like a monster.” Sammy added.
“Trust me I’m not toying with you, I have witnesses, besides I would not do that to you Cinder, you’ve been through enough torture as is.” Joseph promised.
“Alright, well the pressure’s on human.” Cinder teased as she punched Joseph on the shoulder.
Joseph chuckled awkwardly, “Heh heh…”
January 30th, 8:15 am
Heatran’s Keep – Floor 2
Lava Continent
The team continued onto the next floor, the heat grew even hotter and Joseph and Flint were practically dying from heat exhaustion, “Hey Sammy could you aim your next Water Gun at my face?” Flint asked, “I need to cool down or I think I might pass out.”
Sammy promptly sprayed Flint with a Water Gun, which cooled him down rather nicely but the atmosphere in the cave was so hot that Flint was back to panting and fanning almost immediately afterward, “Is it really that hot in here!?” Sammy asked.
“Yes.” Joseph answered, “In fact I think I’m hallucinating.”
“Oh, that’s not good.”
“That pool of water looks so real…” Joseph said as he practically fell over.
“W-woah! Joseph! You alright!? You’re struggling to stand!” Cinder burst.
“Water… Looks… So… Nice…” Joseph rasped as he crawled over to a lava pool.
“Wait Joseph don’t!” Sammy shouted.
It was too late however, Joseph had already plunged head-first into a pool of lava, thankfully his necklace activated and Joseph emerged from the lava pool with a huge crystal chandelier on his head, “Woah this changes everything!” He said, “Suddenly it feels super cold in here!”
Cinder chuckled, “Welcome to my world bud, this volcano ain’t nothin’.”
“But wait didn’t Joseph say something about not being able to swim?” Sammy asked.
“Oh, uh the pool’s rather shallow here, my feet can still touch the bottom.”
“Oh, well that’s good, I’d hate to have to watch Cinder fish you out of that lava pool.”
Joseph jumped out of the lava and landed safely on his feet, a few moments later a Druddigon popped out of the lava and roared, “Uh, I think you were standing on that guy’s back.” Cinder squeaked.
Joseph turned around to bear witness to the beast towering over him, “Huh, he doesn’t seem too happy about that huh.” He said sheepishly, “Uh, my bad?”
The Druddigon roared as it swiped at Joseph who jumped at least 6 feet into the air out of fear before landing on his feet and running away, “Wait, Joseph! Where are you going!?” Sammy shouted.
Joseph turned around and rejoined his teammates, “S-sorry, my first instinct was to run away!”
“Screw your instincts we’re gonna send this clown back to the Jurassic era!” Cinder declared.
“R-right.”
Cinder flared up her flames before shooting a Fire Blast at the Druddigon, Druddigon shrugged it off and swiped at Cinder with a Dragon Claw, striking her on the belly and leaving a nasty but familiar gash, “Oof…” She cried out as she fell over.
“Cinder!” Joseph exclaimed as he ran to Cinder’s side, Joseph lifted her up and noticed the gash on her stomach, thankfully it wasn’t that deep so she was probably going to be fine, but Joseph couldn’t tell, he just saw blood and immediately started panicking, “She’s bleeding! Oh god, she’s bleeding!”
“We’ll tend to her after we take this ugly feral out!” Sammy shouted.
Joseph turned his attention to the Druddigon and growled, “I’ll make you pay for that!”
Joseph grabbed the Druddigon’s arm with his Psychic Fangs and slammed him onto the ground, Sammy followed up with a Razor Shell to its chest and Flint finished it off with a Shadow Sneak, unfortunately the Druddigon’s rough skin managed to leave everyone with some minor cuts, including Joseph who didn’t even make physical contact with Druddigon but Psychic Fangs still somehow makes contact so it sorta makes sense how he received some cuts too, but none of that mattered, what mattered is Cinder was injured and needed help, Flint walked over to Cinder and inspected her wounds, “Yeesh, that looks rough…”
“She’ll be fine, we’ve got tons of Reviver Seeds, she’ll be back up in a jiffy.” Sammy said.
Joseph pulled out a Reviver Seed and fed it to Cinder, suddenly the wound sealed itself and she woke up, “Phew… You were bleeding everywhere, I was afraid that the Reviver Seed wasn’t gonna work…” Joseph sighed.
Cinder chuckled, “Not gonna lie, I kinda had a little bit of déjà vu there, I fully expected to wake up in the guild’s infirmary again.”
“Excuse me?”
“When I first met Nail he gave me a huge gash just like the one that Druddigon gave me, I almost died that day but thankfully Lanturn was able to get Nail to calm down and he rushed me into the infirmary.”
“Oh, that sounds terrible!” Flint exclaimed, “I’m sorry you had to go through that!”
“Eh, it’s fine, I’m an explorer, I’m used to almost dying.”
“Well I guess that’s all settled.” Sammy said, “Onward!”
“Hold on, you’re all still dinged up, don’t you think you should heal up too?”
“Eh, I think we’ll be fine.”
Joseph pulled out an Oran Berry and munched down on it, “Well I’d rather be safe than sorry.” He said with his mouth still full.
“Ooh, pass me one of those!” Flint exclaimed.
Joseph tossed Flint an Oran Berry and the two became berry bros, chowing down on their berries without a care in the world, that was until Sammy spoke up, “Fine… I’ll take one as well.”
So Joseph tossed him a berry as well, as Joseph and Flint finished their berries Sammy chomped down on his, once the berry break was over the group continued moving, “So I guess that lava pool was pretty deep after all huh.” Cinder commented.
“Yeah, I probably would have sunk to the bottom had that Druddigon not been there.” Joseph admitted.
“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t, considering that lava pool was big enough to hide a freaking Druddigon in it I probably wouldn’t have been able to save you.”
Joseph let out a nervous chuckle, “Y-yeah, good thing that Druddigon was there…”
The team continued on, until they eventually came across the stairs, Flint sighed and shook his head, “I hate these wretched stairs, like what’s with them!? Why do they have to be all weird!?”
“Eh, it doesn’t bother me too much.” Cinder said, “It’s not like they can really hurt you, well unless you stop moving.”
“I kinda agree with Flint on this one, I mean the stairs don’t personally bother me too much but they feel like something out of a horror game.” Joseph replied.
“What’s a horror game?” The group asked.
Joseph rolled his eyes before explaining, “They’re like normal video games except they’re meant to be scary.”
“Why would you want to play them then!?” Cinder asked, “Video games are supposed to be fun! Getting scared isn’t fun!”
“I think to fully understand the appeal of horror games you kinda have to play some for yourself.”
“I’m good, I don’t think I want to go back to having nonstop nightmares again.”
“Suit yourself I guess…”
January 30th, 8:35 am
Heatran’s Keep – Outer Area 1
Lava Continent
The stairs led the team out of the cave and onto a small area on the side of the mountain, “Huh, this is new.” Cinder said, “I think I heard something about dungeons in the Mist Continent having outer areas like this but I’m not 100% sure because I haven’t been to the Mist Continent.”
Joseph took a look around, he wasn’t sure how to keep moving forward, the only thing he could see was a gap with a collapsed bridge in the middle of it, “How are we supposed to keep moving!? The bridge is out!”
Flint rolled his eyes before flying over the gap, he then realized that he was the only one who could fly, “Oh… Right… You guys can’t fly…”
Joseph facepalmed, “Does it look like I have wings to you!?”
“Well no… But there are some Pokémon that can fly without them.”
“Well we’re not any of those Pokémon so we’re gonna need to figure out another way across.”
“I have an idea actually.” Cinder said, “Flint can carry you two over while I try using Rollout to clear the gap!”
“Why not just have Flint carry all three of us?” Sammy asked.
“It is way too hot for that! I might be able to manage the two of you but there’s no way I’m going to be able to carry the three of you! Especially not Cinder.”
“Huh!? Why not!?” Cinder questioned.
“My back’s got a weight limit!”
“HEY!” Cinder burst as her flames flared up violently, “I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW I’M BELOW THE AVERAGE WEIGHT FOR A CYNDAQUIL!”
“Your belly and eating habits say otherwise.”
“UM ACTUALLY NO THEY DON’T! WE NEED TO EAT THAT MUCH TO KEEP OUR FLAMES BURNING!”
“Cinder! Calm down!” Joseph blurted.
Cinder hadn’t noticed that her temper was getting out of control until Joseph said something, but once she noticed the worried look on his face she let her flames die down as she took a deep breath, “S-sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten that heated…”
“Don’t apologize, this is Flint’s fault!” Sammy accused as he pointed one of his scallops at Flint, “If he would just shut his beak and stop being a massive jerk then everything would be hunky-dory but nooooo he just has to keep being a jerk!”
“Tch, fine then, you guys can find your own way over the gap!” Flint huffed as he stomped one of his talons.
Flint turned around and continued walking for a moment when suddenly he was struck by a blast of fire, causing him to collapse on the spot, suddenly a Heatmor emerged from the cave entrance that Flint was about to enter and began climbing the cliff to reach the rest of the team, “Well I guess that explains how we get across, now we just gotta take this weirdo out!” Sammy declared.
“Weirdo!?” Joseph blurted, “Heatmor is sick! I’d love to have one on the team if we had room for one more member!”
“I agree with Sammy,” Cinder said, “Heatmor have weird tongues and they really gross me out.”
“I mean yeah they have weird tongues but they’re able to attack their foes with them which is pretty unique, they also look very pretty in their shiny form.”
“Uh, guys, I think that the Heatmor’s almost done crossing that gap.” Sammy warned.
“How about we stop him then?” Cinder said as she pulled out a Sleep Seed from her bag.
“Hold on wouldn’t that kill it!?” Joseph asked.
“Eh, there’s a lava pool down there, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Cinder chucked the seed into the Heatmor’s mouth and watched as it fell into the lava pit below, once it hit the lava it created a big splash that definitely would’ve killed any non-lava immune Pokémon in the splash zone, thankfully there weren’t any passing by at the time but if there were things could’ve gotten ugly, “I guess that takes care of things.” Sammy said.
The trio started climbing across the gap, things were going well until Sammy’s foot slipped, but thankfully Joseph was there to catch him before he fell, “Woah! Careful there, one wrong move and you’re a goner!” He said as he helped Sammy back onto solid ground.
“Oh good Arceus I almost had a heart attack!”
“Yeah same here! I did not come all this way just to have someone die in a climbing accident!”
“I guess that makes two of us then…”
“Three, I would’ve been so ticked if we came all this way to save Rory just to have you die along the way!” Cinder added.
“Ugh…” Flint groaned.
“Oh right, him.” Sammy scoffed
“Maybe he’ll be a bit nicer if we help him out?” Joseph said with a hint of uncertainty.
“Why should we!? He’s done nothing but get on our nerves this whole time!”
“Well he helped us take out some of those feral Pokémon earlier.”
“Yeah probably because he had nothing better to do.”
“Look Flint is Yumi’s friend! If we just leave him like this how do you think she’d feel!?”
“Ugh, fine, but only because I care about Yumi.” Sammy walked over to Flint and hosed him down with his Water Gun, extinguishing the flames that were burning up his feathers, he then shoved a Reviver Seed into his mouth aggressively, “Hey tough guy, get up or we’re gonna throw you into the pit!”
“H-huh!? What!?” Flint exclaimed as he shot up, “O-oh, uh hey…”
“You’re welcome.” Sammy huffed, maintaining his aggressive attitude.
Flint noticed the look Sammy was giving him and looked down in disappointment, “Look I’m sorry… I know I’ve been a bit of a jerk but it’s because I’ve been on edge this whole time.”
“That doesn’t give you permission to be a big bully!”
“I… Know… It’s just… I’m not used to having friends…”
“I figured that much.”
“Sammy, maybe you should tone it down just a bit.” Cinder suggested, “He seems… Upset…”
“I am upset… I’m upset that I let myself say those things… You guys were right I should just keep my beak shut.”
“Hold on a sec.” Joseph said, “I don’t think you should shut your beak entirely, just try to keep the mean stuff in your head.”
“I’ve tried, but it always seems to creep its way back out…”
“Well maybe you should just change your mindset then, whenever you think of something mean about someone think of something nice to balance it out, then maybe your brain will push out the nice things instead.”
“Uh… Ok…? I mean it’s worth a shot I guess…”
“That’s the spirit!”
“I really wish I could match your enthusiasm…”
“Was that a compliment or an insult?”
“Well, it wasn’t the original mean comment I thought up so I would assume it’s the former.”
“Wow, I never expected my words of wisdom to have instant results!”
“Can we just get moving? I want to leave this place already, I miss my bed.”
“Yeah, let’s just keep going…”
January 30th, 8:53 am
Heatran’s Keep – Floor 3
Lava Continent
The group continued their trek through the mountain and for one reason or another everyone was sweating, Cinder, Joseph, and Sammy were sweating because climbing the side of a mountain is exhausting and it wore them out a bit, and Flint was sweating because he still couldn’t handle the blazing hot heat and considering there were now little embers flying through the air things have only gotten worse the farther they got, “I think I’m gonna pass out again…” Flint groaned, “When are we going to be out of this place!?”
“My watch says that this place has at least 6 floors and 3 outer areas.” Cinder answered, “We’re gonna be here a while.”
“And that’s not factoring in the time it’d take us to beat up Skarmory and save Rory.” Sammy added.
“I hate this… This whole time I’ve just felt all sticky and gross…” Flint complained.
“Well, I’ve felt like a massive distraction this whole time.” Joseph said, “Why hasn’t my Terastallization worn off yet?”
“Probably because you still need it! You’d probably pass out right about now if it weren’t for those gems.” Cinder said.
“That reminds me, why is Joseph covered in gems?” Flint asked.
“Oh, uh these gems make me a fire type.”
“How does that work!?”
But before Joseph could give an answer he felt something sharp dig into one of his ankles, he pulled one of his forelegs up to his face and noticed that a Capsakid had bit into his leg, “Hold on, if I use my Tera Blast now does that mean I can breathe fire?” He asked himself, Joseph opened his mouth and let a stream of flames loose, covering the Capsakid’s face in ashes and causing it to release its grip on Joseph’s leg and fall to the ground comically, “I guess so, that’s neat.”
“You know what, forget it, if it works it works I guess…”
“Alright then…”
But right as the team thought they were in the clear, they were ambushed by a Graveler, who stuck Joseph on the back of the head with a Smack Down, knocking him off of his feet, “Joseph!” Cinder exclaimed.
Cinder ran over to help Joseph, but when she made it to him Tiny jumped out of her bag, “I’ll take this guy, you help Joseph!”
“Are you nuts!? You couldn’t take that guy even if there were 100 of you!”
“Just trust me!”
“O-ok then…”
Tiny faced the Graveler and shouted, “Get ready to eat my Flash Cannon peasant!” Before shooting said Flash Cannon.
The Flash Cannon hit the Graveler like a truck, but Tiny failed to account for something, Graveler held on with its Sturdy ability, the Graveler retaliated with a Magnitude attack, hitting the entire group pretty hard, “Tiny take it out!” Cinder shouted, “If it keeps hitting us with that attack then we’re done for!”
“Ugh… I know…” Tiny groaned as she picked herself back up off the ground, “It just clung on with Sturdy! I’m gonna knock it out now!” Tiny said before firing another Flash Cannon at the Graveler. Tiny hit the Graveler head-on and knocked it out, she celebrated by taking her head off and tossing it around a bit before placing it back on her shoulders, “Just like old times.”
“Thanks Tiny!” Joseph bubbled as he picked himself off the ground.
“No problem!”
“Wait since when did you know Flash Cannon?” Cinder asked.
“Since a few days ago when you bought that Flash Cannon TM.”
“Oh, so that’s where that went, I had to go buy another one because of you!”
“Why did you even have one!? It’s not like you can even learn it!”
“I was going to give it to Rory once she evolved!”
“Oooooooh that makes sense…”
“Well you managed to put it to good use so don’t sweat it I guess.”
Joseph opened his bag and noticed that his Oran Berry supply was getting a little low, not super low, but low enough to make him a little uneasy, “Great, at this rate we’ll be out of Oran Berries by the end of this dungeon…”
“You mean those things that you mortals eat to regain health?” Tiny asked.
“Yeah, those.”
“Dang, Cinder seems to be running a bit low too, maybe we could find some or something?”
“Yeah I think there’s a fat chance of that happening here little Ms pocket goddess.” Sammy teased.
“Oh, right, I forgot we were in a cave on the side of an active volcano…”
Flint walked up to Tiny and eyed her curiously, “What are you?” He asked.
“I’m a Meltan! I’m pretty weak at the moment but if I combine my strength with others of my species I can become a force to be reckoned with.”
“Well you’re certainly… Interesting to say the least…”
“And what are you supposed to be? You look like a Decidueye but your wings are way too short and you have a weird hat instead of a hood.”
“What do you mean I look like a Decidueye!? I AM one!”
“You are!?”
“Yeah! We don’t have hoods or long wings, we have hats!”
“B-but, then-“
“He’s a Hisuian Decidueye Tiny.” Joseph interjected, “Some Pokémon have different forms depending on where they’re from.”
“What does Hisuian mean?”
“It means he’s from Hisui which is a place from another world.”
“Oh, so you’re like another world’s version of Decidueye, I see.”
“So that’s why he was giving me Decidueye vibes.” Cinder said, “I don’t think anyone’s actually stopped to ask Flint what he actually is until now.”
“Usually because where I’m from scary is enough of an identifier.” Flint replied.
Tiny smiled and hugged Flint’s leg, “I don’t think you’re scary, I just think you put on a scary face to protect those you’re close to!”
“You really think that?”
“Yeah, when you’re not calling Cinder fat that is.”
Flint’s eyes shot wide open, “You heard that!?”
“I hear everything.” Tiny teased.
“The bag creature is starting to scare me.”
Cinder started laughing hysterically, “‘The bag creature’, I was not ready for that one!”
“Well I mean she sits in your bag instead of walking like the rest of us, so that’s immediately what came to mind.”
“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE LEGS TO YOU!?” Tiny roared.
“Oh boy, this again…”
The group started laughing for a bit, once the laughter died down, Sammy smiled at Flint, “Maybe you aren’t as bad as I thought after all.”
“I was never trying to be a bad guy! I just don’t know how to hold my tongue!”
“Well hopefully someday you’ll figure things out, I’d hate to see you getting isolated because you said something mean.”
“Yeah… That’d suck… Especially because I’m already pretty lonely…”
“Maybe once we get back we can hang out or something?”
“That sounds nice.”
Having made amends, Flint and Sammy fist bumped and the group kept moving until eventually, you guessed it they found the stairs, “I think I’m gonna have to hop back in the bag.” Tiny said, “There’s no way I can keep up with you guys climbing the stairs with this legless body.”
“Alright…” Cinder sighed, “Well it was fun having you fight alongside us for a bit…”
“I’m not gonna leave you guys hanging! I’ll be out of the bag when I can be!”
“Oh duh! I forgot about that!”
“That being said I might just go back to sleep, I mean my dreams are definitely trying to tell me something.”
“Tiny! Rory is in danger! We kinda need all hands on deck here!” Joseph shouted.
“I was kidding! I’ve been doing nothing but sleeping and gathering more Meltan for like the past two days now! I need some variety!”
“Alright then, let’s get going!”
January 30th, 9:25 am
Heatran’s Keep – Outer Area 2
Lava Continent
The team climbed up the stairs and arrived at the second outer area, this time the bridge was still intact but there was a bit of a bigger problem, the next cave entrance was surrounded by lava, but thankfully there were a few rocks that poked out of the lava, so the team could just play hopscotch to get across if need be, I mean it’s not the safest way across but it works I guess… Oh yeah and climbing the side of the cliff wasn’t feasible either thanks to the lava flowing down from the side.
“Jeez! Who looked at this place and said ‘Yep, that looks safe for tourists’!?” Joseph asked.
“No clue but they were probably fired very quickly.” Sammy said.
“Fired as in burned to death by the flowing lava right?”
“Probably…”
“Alright, Joseph and I will swim through the lava while Sammy hitches a ride on Flint’s back while he flies over this mess.” Cinder proposed
“What about me!?” Tiny asked.
“Just stay in the bag, it’s fireproof, so you’ll be fine.”
“Wait your bag is FIREPROOF!?”
“Yep, I mean it probably would just be a pile of ashes at this point if it wasn’t.”
“Oh, right, I almost forgot you were a fire type…”
“Mine must be fireproof too considering it survived getting submerged in lava.” Joseph pointed out.
“It’d honestly be weird if it wasn’t, fireproof bags are kinda the standard these days, even in this world.”
“It begs the question though, how do the items inside not burn up?”
“The bag has a sort of magical barrier that protects them from being damaged in any way.”
“Oh, neat.”
The two continued talking about bags for a moment when suddenly a tiny yellow star flew past them, they looked toward the source of the star and noticed the B team standing right behind them, “Sup!” Specter greeted, “You two were so lost in your chit-chat that you didn’t even notice us coming up behind you.”
“Oh, right… I almost forgot about you guys…” Cinder said as the life in her voice died out, “Now how are we gonna keep going?”
“I’ve got it!” Slippy bubbled.
Slippy rolled across the bridge and over to the lava, he then sprayed icy cold water from his mouth, turning the lava into obsidian, “Problem solved!” Specter chirped.
“I didn’t even think of that…” Cinder praised, “That’s awesome!”
“You’re welcome!”
The B team started to walk off when Yumi stopped to check up on Joseph, “H-hey Joseph, is everything alright?”
“It’s been going good, I mean I dove head first into a pool of lava and almost got taken out by a Druddigon but other than that nothing too insane’s happened yet.”
“That’s great!”
“I know right!?” Joseph chirped, “How are things with the B team?”
“Things are going alright, I mean at first we didn’t really know what to do about the lava but Slippy accidentally hit some of it with one of his attacks and that gave Specter the idea to use Slippy’s water attacks to cool down the lava!”
“Maybe we should copy that idea and have Sammy do the same.”
“Maybe you should.”
Yumi chuckled for a bit before hearing Specter call out, “Hey Yumi! Are you coming!?”
“Oh, uh I got to go, see you at the top!”
“Yeah, see you at the top!” Joseph returned.
Yumi ran off and rejoined the B team and the trek continued, Joseph’s group ran over the obsidian and into the cave entrance, continuing onward.
January 30th, 9:32 am
Heatran’s Keep – Floor 4
Lava Continent
The team arrived at floor 4 of the dungeon and immediately noticed that something was definitely off, “Is anyone else getting a weird feeling about this room?” Flint asked.
“I think there’s a secret room nearby!” Cinder exclaimed, “Maybe we could stock up on Oran Berries at a Secret Bazaar!”
“That’s a great idea! I mean assuming your hunch is right…” Joseph said.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out! Guys, let’s search this room!”
The group began searching around the whole room until eventually Tiny stumbled upon a button that once pressed revealed a set of stairs, “Hey everyone! I found the stairs!”
“Sick! Let’s check out this secret then!” Joseph exulted.
January 30th, 9:37 am
Heatran’s Keep – Braixen’s Hideout
Lava Continent
The team climbed the stairs and entered a strange room filled with black bricks and torches, “Jeez, who would’ve thought there’d be a medieval castle in the middle of a volcano?” Joseph asked.
“Not me that’s for sure.” Sammy said.
“Who goes there!?” An unknown voice shouted, “Answer me before I start flinging spells!”
“We’re explorers!” Cinder blurted, “We thought there was a Secret Bazaar here!”
“Well there’s not!” The voice shouted as they revealed themselves, the voice was coming from a very angry-looking Braixen wielding her stick as a wand.
“O-ok then we’ll be leaving now.”
“Wait don’t go! This might not be a Secret Bazaar but I still have stuff for sale!”
“Wait really!? Like what!?”
“I sell magic stuff, some of it’s made by my brother in the Coast Continent but most of it’s made by yours truly!”
“Wait so Delphox is your brother!?” Joseph asked.
“Wait you’ve met him!?”
“Yeah, he has a place just like this somewhere under the guild! He even gave me this charm!”
Braixen was glowing with happiness, “So you’re from the guild!? That’s awesome! I wanted to join the guild but my brother said that it might be a little too early for that, I mean I know Lanturn’s a bit of a chill guy but surely the guild’s developed enough for me to join now!”
Braixen kept fangirling for a bit until eventually Flint stopped her, “So are you gonna sell us stuff or not?”
“O-oh right! I got so caught up in obsessing over the guild that I almost forgot that I have a shop here, sorry about that…”
“So what do you sell?”
“Well as I said before I sell magic items like Lava Charms and other talismans, I also sell what I like to call Berry Potions, they’re not real potions, just some Oran Berries mixed with some stat-raising berries.” Braixen explained, “So you guys want to buy something?”
Joseph was still a little unsure as to what exactly Braixen was selling but he figured he might as well support Delphox’s little sister, “Sure? I mean I’m still not exactly sure I understand what you’re selling but I mean it sounds interesting.”
“Alright then! Follow me!”
Braixen ran over to a counter with some potions sitting on it, behind the counter there were a few shelves mounted on the wall and a cauldron sitting underneath said shelves, “What is all this stuff!?” Flint asked.
“Witch stuff! The best kind of stuff!” Braixen exulted as she pulled her wand from her tail and raised it in the air, “Magic is like the coolest thing in the world!”
“So you’re like a magician?” Cinder asked, “Can you show us a magic trick then?”
Braixen’s face lit up, “Of course!” She bubbled as she twirled her wand, “Alright watch this, BANG! Magic Missile!”
Braixen waved her wand but nothing happened, filling the room with silence and causing a sweat droplet to roll down her head, “Dang, not enough mana I guess.” Joseph said, “Maybe try using a spell that takes less mana like Water Bolt or Crystal Storm.”
“Those… Aren’t real spells…” Braixen sighed, “I mean they sound cool though, maybe you could make a book where those are real spells or something.”
“I mean that would be kinda cool.” Joseph said before whispering under his breath, “Assuming copyright law doesn’t follow me into this world…”
“What was that?”
“Nothing!”
“Uh, ok? Well take a look at my wares while I try to wow you with my magic again.”
Joseph began scanning the wares on the top shelf when he noticed a deep purple potion, “Uh hey what does that potion do?” Joseph asked as he pointed toward the potion.
“O-oh that’s not for sale! It’s a rather potent potion that turns the one who drinks it into obsidian.”
“WHAT!?” Cinder blurted, “AND IT’S JUST SITTING HERE LIKE IT’S NOTHING!?”
“Yep, just don’t mind it.”
“I THINK I’M GONNA MIND IT A LITTLE BIT!”
“You know, Cinder’s got a point, why is such a deadly concoction just sitting out in the open like this?” Flint asked, “Surely you could’ve put it in a safe or something, right?”
Braixen facepalmed, “Why didn’t I think of that!?”
“Alternatively, you could’ve just not made the potion in the first place.” Sammy added, “Because unless you’re planning a murder, I fail to see how such a potion would benefit you.”
“It was an accident! The potion I was trying to make needed two Heart Scales and I only had one, so I threw it in there and hoped for the best.”
Joseph rolled his eyes, “That turned out nicely.” He gibed.
“Look, I’m still learning witchcraft, ok!? It’s not as simple as it sounds!”
‘Well I mean it doesn’t sound simple at all but ok…’ Joseph thought to himself, “Alright then, can you tell us about the stuff that is on sale?”
“That would be the stuff on the counter here and the stuff on the lower shelf, everything else will either kill you or make you grow like 3 extra heads and like 30 extra tails, oh yeah and like 40 head tails.”
“Should I even ask what a ‘head tail’ is?” Sammy asked.
“Oh, it’s like a tail with a head on the tip.”
“This is getting a little too weird for my liking.” Flint said, “I’ll wait at the exit for you guys, just don’t buy anything too sketchy.”
Flint walked off toward a set of stairs and took a seat beside them while the rest of the team browsed Braixen’s wares, “So what do the potions on the counter do?” Cinder asked.
Braixen picked up her wand and began pointing at the potions one by one, “This green one makes you super slow, and this blue one lets you walk on water but only temporarily, and this black one gives you immortality.”
“Really!? Then why haven’t you drank it yet?”
“Because immortality sucks, like yippee you get to watch all of your loved ones die, yay…”
“That’s a fair point…”
“There are more reasons but I’ll stop myself there before this gets even more depressing.”
“So what do the potions on the shelf do?” Joseph asked.
“Ima be real, they all kinda suck, most of them are useless because either they don’t have good effects or their effects last for less than three milliseconds.”
“What about that bright green one?”
“That one’s the worst offender, it’s a permanent potion of luck.”
“And that’s bad how?”
“Luck isn’t real and my witchcraft career proves it.”
“Pfft… That’s a weak mindset!” Cinder exclaimed, “I’ll take that potion and prove you wrong!”
“Ok, just don’t say I didn’t warn you…” Braixen said as she handed the potion to Cinder, “That’s 150 Poké.”
“Wow, that’s super cheap.”
“Yeah, that’s because I’m too nice to charge you a ton of money for literally nothing.”
Cinder pulled out 150 Poké and handed it to Braixen, “Look, I’ll show you that luck is in fact real and once I do these things will sell like hotcakes, you hear?”
“Whatever, just drink the potion already…”
“Oh, uh, I’m not gonna drink this.”
“Then why’d you buy it?”
“I’m gonna give it to my brother Vulcan! He’s been talking about how he’s been feeling really unlucky as of late so I thought this might help.”
“Ok, just don’t come crying to me if he doesn’t drink it because I’m NOT giving you a refund.”
“Hold on what’s with this shift in tone all of a sudden?” Joseph asked.
“You guys called me out for being a failed witch, I’m no good at this stuff, that’s why I want to join the guild, but my big bro insists that I keep trying to learn magic.”
“Well I mean he might be onto something y’know.” Cinder said.
“What are you talking about?”
“Well just think about it, you tried showing us a magic attack, I mean it was a fictional one but still a magic attack nonetheless.”
“Go on.”
“If you were to master your magic attacks you could do some serious damage!”
“Hm… I guess you’re right, and the Berry Potions I sell here could come in handy as well now that I think about it!”
“Exactly! You’re selling yourself short! You might not be the best at magic right now, but you’ve got something that most Pokémon don’t! Potential! And Delphox sees that! He just wants you to unleash your true potential before you start delving into dungeons and stuff, you know?”
“It all makes sense now, thanks dearie!”
“Dearie!? What kind of strange slang is that!?”
“It’s a witch thing, haven’t you read stories about witches?”
“No, I can’t say I have…”
Braixen slammed a fist onto the counter and pointed her wand at Cinder “YOU’RE UNCULTURED!” She shouted.
Flames spouted from the tip of Braixen’s wand and magic shot out at Cinder, narrowly missing her as she dove down under the counter, “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!?”
“O-oh! I’m sorry! That was meant to be a joke!”
“Jokes don’t involve shooting magic at Pokémon Braixen!”
“I didn’t mean to!”
“Oh…”
“Yeah, it’s like when I actually try to cast a spell it doesn’t work but when I make a joke and pretend to threaten someone with magic I accidentally shoot a transformation spell down the hall, sorry…”
“I think we should just take some Berry Potions and get back to our travels before Braixen turns us all into frogs or something.” Sammy interjected.
“Alright, Oran-Starf berry blends coming right up.”
January 30th, 9:57 am
Heatran’s Keep – Floor 5
Lava Continent
The team stocked up on healing items and went on their merry way, floor 5 was basically what you would expect at this point, lava pools, fire type Pokémon, and everything in between, however Cinder wanted to stop to take a small break, “I can’t resist it anymore, I HAVE to dive into that lava pool right there.”
“Can it wait until after we save Rory?” Sammy asked, “I mean since Mesprit was kind enough to get us hotel rooms you could just take a lava bath after we scale the mountain.”
“Nope, I can’t hold back anymore! It’s been way too long since I had a good lava bath!”
Cinder tossed her bag aside and dove into the nearest lava pool, after being submerged for a relatively long time she reemerged at the top, “Joseph! Hop in! The lava’s fine!”
“Uh, I don’t know, it seems kinda deep…” Joseph quavered.
“Come on, I’m right here! If you start sinking I’ll just pull you up!”
“I’m still not sure if that’s a good idea…”
Cinder was just about to continue her persuasion tactics when she was lifted up by Vulcan, who just so happened to be chilling in the same lava pool, “Come on Joseph! Don’t be such a downer!”
“Vulcan!? When’d you get here!?”
“I told the group I was gonna hang back and join up with you guys!”
“And by that you mean you couldn’t resist diving into the lava either, could you?”
“Guilty as charged!”
“Look I’m not a fan of sinking into the lava without a good way to get out so I think I’ll pass on the whole ‘lava bath’ thing.”
“Lame…”
Joseph was about to turn around and continue exploring when suddenly he was scooped up by Flint, “Come on kid, live a little! It’s not every day you get to swim in lava!”
“Put me down!” Joseph protested.
“Look I’m only doing this to help you, ok? The sooner you learn how to swim the better!”
Joseph tried squirming free but it was too late, Flint had already chucked him straight into the lava, wow what a great friend… Joseph created a big splash as he hit the lava, a few moments later he emerged at the surface, flailing frantically, “Help! It’s too deep!”
“Calm down dude, you’re not gonna drown, we’ve got you.”
“That’s not very reassuring!” Joseph exclaimed as he struggled to keep his head afloat.
“Ugh, fine, we’ll give you swim lessons.”
Cinder swam across from Vulcan and started treading lava, “Ready when you are Vulcan!”
“Alright, so you’re gonna want to slow your movements down.”
Joseph predictably kept flailing, “Can we just skip to the part where I stop sinking!?”
Vulcan rolled his good eye, “Just watch my movements.”, Vulcan started to doggy paddle over to Cinder, stopping beside her and turning around to face Joseph, “Now you try!”
Joseph stopped flailing and imitated Vulcan’s movements, managing to shakily swim over to Cinder, “Phew… I thought I was gonna sink…”
“Alright now that you’ve got the basics down, let’s get more advanced.”
Vulcan began swimming back to where he and Joseph started, he did his normal doggy paddle but this time he threw in a barrel roll propelling him forward a bit faster, this caused Joseph’s jaw to drop, “H-how did you do that!?”
“Don’t think just spin.” Vulcan replied, “If the cyclops can do it anyone can do it.”
“R-right…” Joseph stuttered.
Joseph once again imitated Vulcan’s movements, this time perfecting the doggy paddle, when it came time to spin however, Joseph put too much force into it and crashed straight into the edge of the lava pool, Vulcan chuckled and began to clap, “Well done human! You’re officially the coolest human I know!”
“You can stop patronizing me now!”
“Patronizing!? I’m not patronizing you! You did great! I mean you messed it up a little bit but you pulled that off spectacularly! I wasn’t expecting you to actually pull that off!”
“Thanks I guess…” Joseph sighed as he stepped out of the lava pool, “I think I’ve had enough lava swimming for one day…”
“Alright, let’s get back to adventuring then!” Cinder chirped.
The siblings jumped out of the lava pool and landed beside Joseph, “Alright I’ll lead you guys to the stairs!” Vulcan said.
January 30th, 10:12 am
Heatran’s Keep – Outer Area 3
Lava Continent
Vulcan led the group up the stairs and out to the final outer area, the rest of the team was waiting on the other side of a bridge, this time however there seemed to be nothing holding them back, “Hey, what’s the holdup?” Joseph asked.
“There’s a giant stone tablet in our way.” Specter said.
“WHAT!? How does that happen!?” Cinder blurted.
“The same way Fiora can just control whoever she wants.”
“Hmph.” Flint scoffed, “I’ll shatter that stone in one kick!”
“W-wait! I don’t think that’s gonna work!” Stumpy exclaimed.
“Say’s who?”
“Say’s my aching tail, that’s who…”
“That’s not gonna stop me from shattering that thing!”
“Alright then… Just don’t say I didn’t warn you bud.”
January 30th, 10:15 am
Heatran’s Keep – Floor 6
Lava Continent
Flint stormed into the next area and prepared to kick the big rock to the next Stone Age, once said stone was in sight he laughed, “This won’t take long.”, Flint dashed forward and kicked the stone tablet with all his might, the tablet stood strong, causing Flint to stumble back, “It’s still standing!?”
“Yep, I told you, it won’t break!” Stumpy huffed as he stomped angrily.
“Hold on, let’s actually read the tablet.” Joseph suggested.
“We can’t, it’s not in a standard script.” Slippy said.
“Yeah it’s all just weird symbols that look like they have eyes, they give me the creeps!” Specter added.
“Wait a sec…” Cinder said as she walked up to the tablet, “I’ve seen these before!”
“You have!?”
“Yeah! I saw them when I was exploring a place called Aegis Cave back in my world!”
“Great! That means you can read them right!?”
“Nope… Unfortunately my friend did all the reading, he said the symbols looked oddly familiar.”
“Hold on let me try to read them.” Joseph said.
“Here, let me help.”
Cinder and Joseph inspected the tablet, there was text engraved onto it in Unown characters, “Just as I suspected, it’s Unown.”
“Yeah, I could’ve told you that!” Specter shouted.
“No, not unknown, Unown! Like the Pokémon!”
“I have no clue what an Unown is.”
Yumi pulled out her Pokédex, flipped to the page on Unown, and pointed at its picture, “This is an Unown, they’re pretty creepy Pokémon with an unknown purpose.”
“I’ve seen one of those before!” Cinder exclaimed, “It was also in Aegis Cave, they dropped these weird stones with more symbols on them and we had to use them to progress.”
“Strange… Why are these creatures based on these symbols?” Sammy asked.
“Probably because some crazy guy thought it’d be a funny way to encode messages.” Vulcan said.
“None of that matters! Joseph can you read the Unown!?” Specter burst.
“Yeah, I mean it’s basically just the English lettering system with eyes on them, well except g, g is really weird.”
“Well then get on with it! We need to get going here!”
“Alright! Alright! I’m on it!” Joseph blurted. He began reading the characters, “Let’s see here, ‘Strength will do you no good, let loose the wave’s song.’ uh… Any guesses?”
“One Water Gun coming right up!” Sammy declared.
“Wait! I don’t think it means waves as in water!” Specter shouted.
“Huh? What other waves would it be referring to!?”
“Radio waves, sound waves, stuff like that.”
“Wait, that’s it! Radio waves!” Joseph burst, “Does anyone have a radio!?”
“I have one on my watch, Lanturn said it might help me sleep better back when I was having nightmares.”
“Ok pull up the radio and don’t stop tuning it until you start to hear weird sounds!”
“Uh, ok?”
Cinder did as instructed, she pulled up the radio app on her watch and started tuning it, eventually, the radio went from playing static to playing a strange yet familiar noise, Cinder let the noise play for a bit until eventually she heard a large cracking sound behind her, “That’s it!” Joseph exclaimed, “The tablet’s cracked! It’s gonna fall apart, which means… AH! WE GOTTA MOVE!”
Cinder and Joseph dove out of the way before the tablet’s remains could crush them, once they were safe they both took a deep breath, once they had calmed down from being almost crushed by a giant crumbling stone tablet Cinder turned to Joseph, “How did you-“
“I’ll tell you later! We need to save Rory!”
“R-right!”
January 30th, 10:18 am
Heatran’s Keep – Peak
Lava Continent
The team scurried over the rubble and through the opening, once they were through they continued along the path and ended up at the top of the volcano, once they reached the top they saw Rory all tied up on the ground next to the edge with Skarmory standing over her, “How does it feel? You’re about to die and nobody’s gonna save you!”
Rory started shivering uncontrollably until she noticed her friends, “GUYS!” She exclaimed as sparkles appeared in her eyes.
“Oh, wow they actually showed up, uh, I was not expecting that, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t account for it, I’ll just kill you all in one fell swoop so that Fiora can destroy this loveless world!”
“YOU LET RORY GO!” Sammy demanded.
“Yeah, how about no.”
Sammy slashed Skarmory across the face with one of his shells, “I WASN’T ASKING YOU, I WAS DEMANDING THAT YOU LET HER GO BEFORE I MAIM YOU!”
“Tch, I’d like to see you try.”
“Hmph…” Flint scoffed, “Your funeral.”
Black fog gathered around Skarmory’s wings, “Oh, is it now?” She cackled, “I don’t think you know who you’re up against.”
The black fog spread from around Skarmory’s wings and surrounded Sammy and Flint, cutting them off from their teammates, Sammy looked at the black fog behind him and smirked, “Heh, what a wimp, you can’t take all of us at once so you cut us off from the rest of the group huh.”
“Ever heard of getting rid of the weakest link?”
“Oh, I have, but I’m gonna let you know right now, your target priority could use a bit of work.”
“Ugh, I’ll be sure to pick the less chatty and annoying ones next time.”
That witty comment earned Skarmory another shell slash to her face, “En garde you psycho!”
“‘En garde’ what a nerdy thing to say in the face of death.”
Skarmory flew up into the sky and prepared a dive bomb, meanwhile Flint tried to strike her down with an arrow, the arrow bounced right off Skarmory’s tough metal armor and fell to the ground unceremoniously, Flint’s eyes went wide open as the arrow fell, “Uh, huh, so the psycho bird is made out of metal, that’s good to know…”
Moments later Skarmory started to barrel toward Flint at a breakneck pace, “Look out!” Sammy shouted.
Sammy dove over and pushed Flint before Skarmory could hit him, saving him from getting knocked out in one hit, “Phew, that was a close one.”
“Yeah don’t mention it.”
Sammy charged at Skarmory and hit her with another Razor Shell, which he followed up with yet another Razor Shell using his other shell which happened to scratch Skarmory’s armor, lowering her defense, “UGH! I’ve had it with your stupid shells!” Skarmory screamed.
Sammy went for one more slash with both of his shells when Skarmory flicked them away with her wings, they flew out of Sammy’s hands and went through the black fog, “Drat, I guess I did still need Aqua Cutter after all.” He said as he drew his Aqua Cutter blades.
“HOW MANY BLADES DO YOU HAVE!?”
“Enough to kill you in a hundred different ways!”
“I think the real question is how were those shells able to hurt her through that armor when my arrows can’t!?” Flint asked.
“Hmph, he was just lucky, thankfully though his luck’s run out, those flimsy blades won’t pierce my armor!”
“We’ll see about that!” Sammy shouted as he slashed at Skarmory again, sparks flying off her armor as his Aqua Cutter scratched its surface.
Skarmory retaliated with her own slashes, swinging her wing blades at Sammy, they clashed blades for a bit until Skarmory had finally had enough and kicked Sammy to the ground before getting a good slash in on his chest, this didn’t go unpunished however as Flint hit Skarmory with an axe kick cracking her armor he followed up by dipping into the shadows and striking her right in her back, “Heh, I guess it’s time to get serious then!” Skarmory roared.
The black fog began to close in, narrowing the arena and causing Flint to start sweating nervously, ‘That black fog is really creepy, if I had to guess touching it is a bad idea.’
Suddenly the duo heard cheers coming from outside the arena, “Come on Flint! Show her who’s boss!” Yumi shouted.
“Really!? The best you could do for a phase two was a smaller arena!? Just pack it up and go home already, you lost!” Joseph jeered.
“We got your shells here Sammy! Just finish the job!” Cinder exclaimed.
“Right!” Sammy shouted back, “Time to end this!”
Swords appeared around Sammy, boosting his strength and his spirits through the roof, he then lunged at Skarmory and slashed at her with his Aqua Cutter once more, leaving a giant gash in her armor, Flint followed up with a Brave Bird, the attack’s impact was so strong that it dented the spike atop Skarmory’s head, Skarmory countered by slashing them both with her wings violently leaving the two bloody and battered, but their spirits were only growing stronger with each blow until eventually Sammy and Flint looked each other in the eyes and nodded, Flint picked Sammy up and placed him on his back before flying up into the air and preparing to dive bomb Skarmory, Skarmory also flew up into the air in an attempt to take the two out by knocking them out of the air, however, she was too slow, as soon as she was at an eye level with the pair they came barreling toward her at jet speeds, she tried to slash at them but Flint just narrowly dodged the attack before crashing into Skarmory sending her spiraling toward the ground, as she fell Sammy jumped off of Flint’s back and onto hers, he then began slashing her over and over and over and over and… You get the point.
Eventually Skarmory crash-landed on the ground having been beaten within an inch of her life, the black fog began to fade as Skarmory passed out in front of Sammy and Flint, “Well, That takes care of that.” Flint said as he dusted off his wings.
“That… WAS AWESOME!” Sammy shouted, “DID YOU SEE THAT MOVE WE DID!?”
“Yeah, I was there.”
“OH MAN IT WAS SO SICK! WE GOTTA DO MORE TEAM ATTACKS LIKE THAT!”
“Eh, don’t count on it, I’m not the biggest fan of carrying other Pokémon on my back.”
“Darn… Wait… RORY!”, Sammy burst as he remembered what he was fighting for in the first place.
Sammy ran over to Rory and slashed the rope binding her with an Aqua Cutter blade, once she was free Rory jumped up and scooped Sammy up in a hug, “OHTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” She said as tears poured from her eyes.
“Well all’s well that ends well I guess.” Cinder beamed.
“How are we gonna explain this to Lanturn?” Joseph asked.
“No clue, but we’ll bridge the gap when we get to it I guess…”
As the group was beginning to celebrate Yumi gave Sammy a look that said, “Go for it!”
‘Right, I can’t squander this opportunity…’ Sammy thought.
Sammy took a deep breath before breaking off from the hug, it was at this moment that Skarmory began to open her eyes again, “Ugh… What happened…?”
Not having noticed the metal psycho, Sammy continued, “I-I uh- have something I want to tell you.”
“What is it?” Rory asked.
“Well- I- er- it’s… Really hard to explain…”
“Well then get explaining! I’m sure I’ll understand what you’re trying to say!”
“Well… I think this is the best way to explain it.” He said before diving straight in to kiss Rory on the cheek.
Rory began to blush so much that her cheeks began to glow and I don’t mean metaphorically, I mean LITERALLY, Rory was starting to evolve before Sammy’s eyes.
It was at this point that the rest of the team noticed that Skarmory had gotten up, “Uh guys, SKARMORY’S UP!” Specter yelled.
The entire team turned to face Skarmory, but then they noticed that she wasn’t moving, she was just… Staring… Staring at the newly formed couple as Rory underwent her metamorphosis like a lovely butterfly spreading its wings for the first time. When the evolution light faded and Rory emerged no longer a Riolu but a magnificent Lucario she just stopped to stare Sammy in the eyes, Sammy flinched thinking she was upset with him, “I-I-I-I’m sorry- I didn’t-“
“I understand what you were trying to say.”
“Y-you’re not mad are you?”
Rory kissed Sammy on the cheek, “Not at all.”
Skarmory kept staring with sparkles forming in her eyes, “I-it’s beautiful…” She rasped.
Sammy jolted back to face Skarmory, “AH! She’s back up!”
“Your love… It set me free from her control… I-I’m… I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions… I thought you were just rotten kids who hated love, I guess I was wrong… So wrong in fact that that demon was able to exploit my misguided anger and control me…”
“N-no! It wasn’t your fault!” Cinder blurted, “She was controlling you!”
“I let her control me… My anger was uncontrollable and unwarranted, leaving the perfect opening for her… I’m sorry… Just… Forget about me… I don’t deserve mercy after what I’ve done…”
Joseph looked a little worried, Skarmory was a bloody mess and she was begging to be left behind, ‘But I can’t just leave her here! It was all just a misunderstanding! An accident! A fluke! It really wasn’t her fault! Everyone deserves a second chance!”, Joseph thought, his body began to act on its own as he dug through his bag for Oran Berries, once he found some he ran over to Skarmory and held the berries out to her.
“What are you… What are you doing?”
“Here, take these.” Joseph said.
“After all I’ve done… You still offer me mercy? Even after I told you not to?”
“Everybody deserves a second chance, especially since this was all a misunderstanding.”
“I… Thank you…”
“Uh, not to ruin the moment but like what do we tell Lanturn now?” Cinder asked.
“We tell him exactly what happened, Skarmory’s emotions let Fiora take control of her so we defeated her to free her from being controlled, plain and simple.”
“But won’t he get mad at me for getting mad at Rory?” Skarmory questioned.
“Yeah, about that… We already considered the possibility of you getting mad at Rory, and Lanturn said he would step in if he needed to.”
“Ah, I see, so I’m probably about to get an earful from Lanturn then huh.”
“Eh, probably not considering what just went down, I’m sure he’d understand.”
“I think the real question is how are we gonna explain this to Pinkie.” Specter interjected.
“Pinkie?” Skarmory questioned.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Ok… Doesn’t make it any less strange…”
“I think we should start heading back before we worry about that.”
“I agree.” Vulcan chimed in, “I think we should just head back and chillax, it’s been a long day.”
“I second that!” Rory bubbled, “Today’s been a little too eventful for my liking.”
“Yeah… I’m sorry about that…” Skarmory sighed.
“It’s alright! I mean just look at the results!”
“Well… Yeah… I guess I can’t argue with the results…”
January 30th, 10:56 am
Tiki Town
Lava Continent
Skarmory chomped down on the Oran Berries that Joseph had given her, the healing effects of the berries mended the cracks in her armor and somehow fixed the dent in her head spike, once she got back to her feet Skarmory pulled out an Escape Orb and took the group back down the mountain as thanks for snapping her out of her trance and setting the record straight, once the group returned to Tiki Town Rory was left with one question, “So now what?”
“Now we kick back and enjoy the sun.” Joseph answered.
“Shouldn’t we be heading home though?”
But before anyone could say anything Mesprit teleported in front of them, “Hey hey! I knew you could do it!”
“Mesprit!? What’s with the shades and the drink!?”
“Well after I strained my psychic powers to bring your friends here I decided to kick back and relax.”
“Oh, that’s how they got here so quickly… Thanks.”
“You’re welcome!” Mesprit said with a wink, “By the way you look nice as a Lucario.”
“RIGHT! I almost forgot! I evolved!” Rory blurted as she looked at her new form, “I’ve got these cool metal spikes everywhere! This is so sick!”
“And you can sense auras and stuff!” Cinder and Joseph chorused.
“Huh? Auras? What are those?”
You could almost hear the record scratch sound effect as the pair’s expressions went from ecstatic to utterly shocked, “WHAT!? YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF AURA!?”
“I have but… I’m not really that interested in it, it’s just not my thing.”
“Um, you’re a Lucario now! It kinda is your thing!” Cinder insisted.
“Eh, I still think being made out of metal is cooler than reading auras.”
“Girl you are so misguided.” Specter added.
Rory rolled her eyes, “Whatever, I guess having different tastes is illegal now.”
“Well if it is then I’ll look forward to spending the rest of my life with you in our cell.” Sammy said.
The two started laughing, drowning out their friend’s negativity, when they stopped laughing Cinder pulled out the TM she bought Rory, “Here, I meant to give you this sooner but a certain someone took the first one I bought.”
“Sorry!” Tiny said as she popped out of Cinder’s bag.
“It’s ok!” Rory said before realizing what Cinder was actually holding, “Wait! IS THAT A FLASH CANNON TM!?”
“Yep!”
Rory swiped the TM, immediately yanked it out of the case, and slapped it onto her head with a dangerous amount of force, once she learned Flash Cannon successfully she scooped Cinder up and went to hug her, but stopped once she realized that there was a metal spike coming from her chest now, “Right… I should be a bit more careful about that… Or should I!?” She said as she yanked Cinder back in for the hug.
Cinder surprisingly didn’t get impaled by the spike on Rory’s chest, in fact she barely even noticed it was there, “Huh, I guess you don’t really need to be careful huh.”
“I guess not! Guess it’s not really that sharp!”
“So what did you guys end up doing with that Skarmory?” Mesprit asked.
“Once she was defeated she was freed from Fiora’s control and Rory and Sammy cleared up the little misunderstanding that led to this whole thing so… We let her go.” Joseph replied.
“You WHAT!?”
“Yeah, we let her go… She wasn’t a bad Pokémon she just thought that Rory was responsible for Corviknight’s death, I think she thought that Rory was jealous that Skarmory was in love so she decided to get her lover killed, clearly though that’s not what happened.”
“Uh, ok…? That still doesn’t explain why she would team up with the actual killer though.”
“It’s because her anger made her vulnerable, she didn’t want to join Fiora she was just forced to because of how Fiora’s power works I guess.”
“Whatever that’s not that important, what is important is that you were able to defeat Fiora’s minion, I think that alone is a massive victory, you all deserve some time off.”
“How do we explain our little break to Lanturn though?” Slippy asked, “Wouldn’t he get mad if we just took a whole bunch of time off without asking?”
“Well considering we just saved Skarmory I’m pretty sure he’d understand.” Specter said.
“I’ve already asked Zapdos to create a weeklong storm in the Coast Continent.” Mesprit said, “You’re fine, just enjoy your time off.”
“ALRIGHT!” The team chorused.
And thus Rory was saved and Team Echoes earned some much-needed time off…
But we aren’t done quite yet…
January 31st, 6:15 pm
Tiki Town
Lava Continent
The next day was spent partying and chilling in the sun, that was until around sunset, Stumpy and Joseph were wandering around Tiki Town when suddenly they noticed there was some sort of raffle going on at the pier so they decided to check it out, they walked up to a wooden stand being run by a Magmar, “Ayo, wazup?” He asked.
“What’s going on here?” Joseph questioned.
“What does it look like bub? We got a raffle going on!”
“I see that, but like, what are the prizes?”
“Do ya live under a rock or somethin’!?”
“Uh, no…? I was a bit busy yesterday, why did I miss something?”
“Uh, YEAH! You missed possibly one of the biggest discoveries in the past hundred years!”
“And that is?”
“Oh man this guy’s dense…” Magmar mumbled, “There was an island discovered not far from here! It’s incredible!”
“What does this have to do with the raffle?”
“Well, the grand prize of this raffle is the island!”
“EXCUSE ME!?”
“Yep, the whole island, just being given away, anyone can win it!” Magmar exclaimed before mumbling, “Except me…”
“Sick! How do we enter?”
“The entry fee is 1000 Poké.”
“Alright, here you go!” Joseph said as he handed the Poké to the very grumpy Magmar.
The Magmar rolled his eyes and sighed, “Sign here.”
Joseph did as instructed, he dipped his paw in ink and stamped it onto a piece of paper, “Done!”
The Magmar rolled his eyes again before mumbling to himself under his breath, “What an idiot, he hears about an island being raffled away and he thinks he has a chance to win it as if he’s not the 10000th name in the bowl.”
“Hey Stumpy you want to enter too?”
“What would I do with a whole island?” Stumpy asked.
“Well that’s the thing! You could do literally anything with it!”
“Well now that you mention it… I could make a nice vacation home that doubles as a flower paradise…”
“Assuming you could find someone dumb enough to build something for you…” The Magmar mumbled.
“What was that?” Stumpy asked.
The Magmar realized just how massive Stumpy was and opted to keep his mouth shut, “Nothing!” He gulped.
“Thought so.”
“Look are you gonna enter or not?”
“I’ll enter, I don’t exactly know what my odds of winning are but any chance is a chance worth taking.”
“You know, that’s not a bad attitude, I’d feel the same way if I was allowed to enter…”
Stumpy took a piece of paper and placed it on the ground, he then dipped his foot into the ink and stomped on the paper crumpling it a bit, then he handed the paper to Magmar, as he handed the paper to Magmar he asked, “What would you do with the island if you won it?”
“Isn’t it obvious!? I’d start digging for treasure!”
“That sounds fun, I mean there’s no guarantee you’ll find any but it’d be worth a shot I guess.”
“That seems like a waste of a perfectly good landmass, I mean what good’s an island with a bunch of holes in the ground and no treasure?” Joseph asked.
“That’s- a fair point actually…” Magmar said, “Maybe I wouldn’t do that then…”
“I personally would probably just do what Stumpy wants to do, turn the island into my personal vacation home and grow a whole bunch of plants there, although I think I’d grow a bunch of endangered plants there instead of just flowers.”
“That’s not a bad idea, I mean it’s a little derivative but that’s not a bad thing…”
“So when are the winners being drawn?”
“Winners are being drawn at 8, so like go find something to do until then.”
“Alright…”
Joseph and Stumpy explored the town a bit more, eventually finding themselves at a flower shop, “I wonder if they sell berry seeds here.” Joseph wondered.
“Were you thinking about trying to grow something yourself?” Stumpy asked.
“Yeah, I was gonna wait until we got back to our base first though, I mean as much as I love the atmosphere here I don’t think it’s the best for growing plants.”
“Have you seen the flowers here!? They’re practically dancing! They love the sunlight!”
“Yeah and I bet they love the lava burning them up too.” Joseph ribbed.
“Oh, I almost forgot about that…”
Joseph walked up to the flower shop’s counter and greeted the Slakoth behind the counter, “Hey there! Welcome to my flower shop, I haven’t gotten around to naming it yet, but I have gotten around to stocking up on some of the world’s finest seeds.” Slakoth said.
“Do you have any berry seeds?” Joseph asked.
“Oh boy do I.”
“Cool! Can I see them?”
“Yeah just hold on a sec.”
The Slakoth slowly pulled out a box with various seed packets in it, Joseph began looking through the box looking for berries, however the box wasn’t sorted at all so that was proving to be a little difficult, “Let’s see here, Peas… Sunflowers… Cherries… Is this even the right box!?”
“Maybe… I didn’t bother checking though… That’s a future me thing…”
‘Man talk about the world’s finest apathy, this guy’s so lazy that he hasn’t bothered to make sure that he’s even selling the right stuff! There doesn’t seem to be a lot of flowers here…”
Stumpy saw that Joseph was struggling to find what he was looking for and decided to lend a hand, luckily he didn’t have to look long as he found quite a few packets of various types of berries, there were Pecha, Chesto, Cheri, Oran, Sitrus, and Salac berry seeds all just sitting in this mess of a box, “Hey, I think I found what you’re looking for Joseph.”
Joseph looked at the seed packets that Stumpy was holding and smiled, “Thanks bud!”
“You’re welcome!”
Joseph took the seed packets Stumpy was holding and handed them to Slakoth, “How much for all these and a pack of sunflower seeds?”
“That’ll be around 650 Poké sir!”
Joseph handed Slakoth the Poké and smiled, “Pleasure doing business with you!”
“Thanks for your patronage friend!”
Joseph shoved the seeds into his bag, but before he walked away he looked at Stumpy and asked, “Do you want anything?”
“Lemme see really quick…”
Stumpy scanned the plant seeds again before grabbing a couple of packets of poppy seeds, “These ones look pretty.”
“How much are these?”
“60 Poké sir!”
“Sold!” Joseph bought the poppy seeds and handed them to Stumpy, he then handed Stumpy some Poké, “In case you want to buy something else going forward.”
“Oh, uh thanks.” Stumpy said.
“Don’t mention it.”
The two went to leave when they spotted Vulcan passing by, “Oh, hey guys, whatcha up to?”
“We were buying plants and stuff, I was going to try to pick up gardening when we get home.”
“Wait! Do they have tomato seeds!?”
“Uh, I don’t know, you’re probably gonna have to sift through their inventory and see.”
“I need tomato seeds! I’ve gone so long without being able to make things with tomatoes!”
Vulcan ran up to the counter and began speaking with the Slakoth while Joseph and Stumpy walked off, “Well I guess all that’s left to do is wait for the winners to be announced for that raffle.” Stumpy said.
“Yeah, here’s hoping we get lucky.”
January 31st, 8:00 pm
Tiki Town – Pier
Lava Continent
As 8 pm rolled around Joseph and Stumpy returned to the pier and noticed a HUGE crowd was forming around Magmar’s stall. Joseph and Stumpy joined the crowd and waited patiently for the winners to be announced, a few minutes later a Fletchinder flew up above the crowd with a piece of paper in its beak, after perching up somewhere high the Fletchinder held the paper in its wings and spoke up, “Ahem, It’s time to announce the winners of the raffle.”
The Fletchinder read out the winners of some of the more minor prizes which ended up taking a super long time, Joseph ended up winning the money he spent back but other than that nothing too special happened, that was until it came time to announce the grand prize winner, “And our grand prize winner iiiiiiiis… Pause for dramatic effect… Drumroll please… Uh… Whose footprint is this?”
Fletchinder presented the footprint signature to the crowd, Stumpy looked at his foot and noticed that the footprint was his, “O-oh! That’d be mine!” He said.
The Fletchinder flew up to Stumpy and raised a nonexistent eyebrow, “What even are you?”
“I’m a Dracozolt, my name’s Stumpy by the way.”
“Does the name Stumpy have anything to do with the fact that this whole area looks like a tree stump?” The Fletchinder asked as she pointed at the weird middle section connecting the bird parts of Stumpy’s body with the dragon parts.
“I think? I’ll have to ask my friend Cinder about that.”
“W-well it doesn’t matter, you my weirdly proportioned friend are our grand prize winner!”
“Wait what!? I am!?” Stumpy blurted as his eyes flew wide open, “YIPPEE!”
Groans filled the air as the crowd dispersed leaving Stumpy, Joseph, and the Fletchinder at an empty pier, “Congrats! We’ll give you a warp panel that leads to your new property along with the deed and some stuff to furnish it.”
“Sweet thanks!”
Fletchinder flew off and left Joseph and Stumpy on their own again, “What are the odds!?” Joseph exclaimed, “It must be your lucky day or something!”
“I know right!? There were like hundreds of other Pokémon that entered that raffle but somehow I managed to be the luckiest one!”
Fletchinder came back this time accompanied by Magmar, who was carrying a big box of stuff, “Here you go!” Fletchinder bubbled.
Magmar dropped the box on the ground unceremoniously, “Here you go big guy… I’d appreciate it if you carried this back to your house so that my back doesn’t snap like a twig.”
“I got you, my home’s pretty far from here anyway.”
“Dang, you mean to tell me you aren’t even from here!? MAN the locals are gonna be ticked…”
“Yeah, I almost feel a little bad for them, I mean I kinda just blew in on vacation and won an island that I had no right winning.”
“Well as long as you put it to good use I’m not gonna be too mad, I’m just a little gutted that I couldn’t get in on the raffle…”
“That’s a bummer…”
“Eh, it’s no big deal, as long as it goes to someone who’s gonna take care of it I’m happy.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to dig for treasure there?” Joseph asked.
“Yeah, but you two had a fair point, I shouldn’t have wanted to ruin the island for my own selfish gains.”
“Well that’s enough chatting, we gotta get going!” Fletchinder said.
“See you!” Magmar said with a smile on his beak.
“See you dude!” Stumpy waved, “So you want to start heading back now?”
“Not yet, I think I want to just stop for a moment and enjoy the beach for a bit, I mean it was summer back home and I didn’t get to really enjoy that before getting ripped out of my old life and straight into this one…”
“That’s cool, there’s no rush.”
“Thanks… You wanna dip your feet into the water with me?”
“Sure, that sounds nice right now.”
Joseph and Stumpy walked to the edge of the pier and sat by the side, letting their feet dangle off into the water below, “It’s kinda funny actually… I haven’t really taken the time to think about my old life much since I got here… Mostly because I’ve had bigger things to worry about…” Joseph said softly.
“Yeah, I feel the same way… I haven’t really had a lot of time to process my situation either… Not that it really matters too much, I’m happy to be surrounded by wonderful friends like you.”
“That’s nice… I love being around our friends too… It makes me feel less lonely…”
“Were you lonely in your old life?”
“Not entirely… I had my mom around, she was sweet but sometimes she could be a bit strange, other than that I had… Well… Actually I think my mom was really the only one I talked to… I never really had any friends because I struggled to find people with similar interests and the rest of my family was either really far away or in the case of my dad missing entirely, so I’m still kinda new to the whole ‘having friends’ thing.”
“Well for someone who’s new to having friends, I think you’re an exceptional friend.”
“Thanks bud.”
“You’re welcome.”
“That reminds me… I’m still not exactly used to this form yet… I’m still not used to the feeling of charging up electricity and my tail is super awkward…”
“YOUR tail is super awkward!? Mine isn’t even meant to be mine!”
Joseph chuckled, “I guess that’s true…”
“I feel you though, getting thrown into a new body is hard and Yumi and I are probably the only ones who can relate.”
“Yeah… I kinda wish things would slow down a bit so I could ask her how she’s holding up…”
“I’m sure you’ll get your chance.”
“Yeah… I just wish that chance would come a lot sooner.”
“Not everything’s meant to happen immediately, you have to give things time.”
“I know… My mom used to tell me that all the time… She’d always get really mad at me when I didn’t listen to her.”
“Well that’s not nice… I mean it’s not like you could really help being impatient.”
“I mean I eventually learned to be just a little more patient but I always want answers immediately instead of having to wait for them.”
“Trust me we all want answers but answers take time.”
“Speaking of time, I wonder how long it’s been since I got here, you know, back home.”
“There’s no way to really know until you get back, I bet your mother’s worried sick about you.”
“I… I’ve been having dreams about her lately… It feels like she’s trying to reach out to me through my dreams… They feel so real yet so wrong at the same time, it’s like someone’s messing with my dreams.”
“That’s strange… my dreams have been normal for the most part, I mean there was that night when I woke up in that lab with you but other than that I’ve just been dreaming about frolicking in a huge valley of flowers.”
“That’s cute… I wish I could have normal dreams like that… Ever since I got here though it’s just been me waking up in that lab with those weirdos, the weird dreams with mom, or something else that doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m sorry to hear that…”
“It’s alright, it’s better than having constant nightmares like Cinder was having back when we first met.”
“Maybe you should tell her about your dreams, she might know something.”
“Eh, I doubt it…”
“Well it’s worth a shot right?”
“I guess… So uh… On a related note, how do we tell the others about the fact you just won an entire island all to yourself?”
And that’s that! Hopefully you enjoyed that emotional rollercoaster of a chapter, the next one will probably be a bit more chill, well assuming the next one isn’t an April Fools special, I have an idea for one but I also had a funny gimmick for the chapter that might make it take a bit longer to write (And by a bit I mean potentially the rest of march bc of reasons that will become clear when the chapter is actually released), so if it doesn’t come out on time I’ll probably just shelve it to keep working on the next chapter, as for what that gimmick is? Well I’m not gonna spoil the surprise (Even though it’s not exactly gonna be the most obvious thing but whatever you’ll know when and if it comes out.)
Anyway you know the drill at this point boss bios and review stuff coming right up.
Boss data downloaded successfully!
Skarmory of Team Lovebirds
Skarmory was devastated by the loss of her other half, so devastated in fact that she outright blamed Rory for his death, she felt nothing but hatred for Rory for indirectly taking her beloved Corviknight from her, nothing but anger, hatred, and resentment from here you can start to piece together what happened to her, she was attacked by Fiora in an attempt to quickly destroy the Coast Continent with resentment goo stuff, but that’s when she realized that she could control those who were feeling how she felt, bitter toward the world and those in it, that leads us to today, where a mind controlled Skarmory brought Rory to the top of an active volcano with the intent of killing her in the most painful way she could think of (Which ironically wasn’t a very slow and painful method but I digress) luckily Mesprit was able to locate Rory’s aura before it was too late and our heroes were able to save her and Skarmory! But something feels wrong… I can’t shake this feeling that future encounters with Fiora’s minions won’t go as smoothly.
And finally review stuff.
To KirgizovVlad: Yeah I’m sorry things have been going a bit slower, I swear I won’t abandon this thing if I can help it! I’ve been working on this chapter for a while now, and to be honest, I kinda struggled to think of how I could make the dungeon part more interesting, as for your other comments uh, I’m not exactly too sure about how I thought of the character’s relationships and stuff, like I knew I wanted Rory and Sammy to be together since the start, mostly because I feel like Hero X Partner is a little too common of a ship in these kinds of stories (No offense to anyone who likes that kinda thing in PMD stories), but I think a lot of the things I thought of for everyone’s relationships was more of a spur of the moment kinda thing, I don’t really know though, I’ve never been too into romantic stuff and I myself haven’t been in any relationships as far as love is concerned so it’s probably just my subconscious picking up inspiration from somewhere, TDLR: I’m not exactly sure how I write relationships I kinda just go with what my gut tells me, as for evolution stuff I may have hinted at Yumi’s thoughts on evolution just a little bit back in chapter 10, but that’s all I’m really gonna say you’ll just have to wait and see if and when anyone else evolves. Thanks once again for the constant support and feedback on these chapters!
And before I sign off I’d like to update you all on that thing I mentioned last time, I’m not exactly sure about how I should go about posting this on that other website I mentioned last time, like my first thought was to just upload everything as is albeit with the little review replies removed so it doesn’t seem like I’m talking to nobody, but then again I feel like that’s a little rude, I don’t know, I’ll probably just add an addendum, saying like “hey, these people I’m talking to at the end read this on another site, so if it looks like I’m talking to ghosts I’m not” but I don’t know I think I’m worrying too much, I’ll have it up there at some point in the near future (Probably around when this chapter goes up here)
Uh and if you’re reading this on that other site I mentioned last time, just disregard me being anxious over nothing, I guess.
OK, that’s all the time I’ve got. Now, I’ve got to get back to playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, on my Nintendo 3DS. (Totally not a hint toward the April Fools special if it ever happens lol)
Alternatively, if that chapter ends up being late then join me next time for gardening or something.
And that my friends is all I have for right now, stay tuned for future chapters (Which will be posted both here and on the original FFN page) also let me know if things look a bit awkward, I used this site’s block converter thingie to convert the classic style block into the normal blocks here, what does that mean? It has something to do with how the text is displayed, TLDR: If things look weird, tell me and I’ll fix it, Anyway the next chapter’s coming along nicer than I thought all things considered, it might even be done before the April 1st “deadline” so work on chapter 13 might begin before then although we’ll just have to wait and see on that one, anyway see ya! (Again!)
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