Kite

Chloe was sat at a table in the cafeteria with her friends. They were at a medium sized table – it was about the perfect size for Chloe and Deeps. It was slightly too small for Meteor, and he had trouble with chairs anyway, so he’d decided to sit on the ground. It was a bit too big for Shucu, who was standing on the table instead. Celes could float, so though she was the smallest, the height of the table didn’t really matter to her.

Things were a bit more complicated like that in the pokémon world, Chloe smiled.

Chloe and Celes had been some of the last pokémon to get their breakfast that morning. It had taken the milcery a while to drag Chloe out of bed, who had mysteriously remembered that she was not a morning person – she didn’t see why they all had to be up by dawn.

The cafeteria itself was at the bottom of the staircase. It was open and airy, with tables positioned all around the room, inviting them to sit down somewhere. The upper floors were supported by rounded, wooden beams, and the lighting was warm and friendly. It reminded her of her first impression of the building she’d gotten from the exterior, that it was some kind of fantasy tavern.

Everyone else already seemed to be half way finished with their breakfast. The rest of their friends were sitting at one table, and the teddiursa, staryu, charcadet and mienfoo were at another. Sticky, Arlo, Spiral, and Balance, she went over their names in her head. The four of them were about the same height, so they’d picked out a smaller table.

She hadn’t spotted Piper. Not that she cared.

They’d been served at the bar by an older looking mawile. The mawile hadn’t spoken to them, just handed out their food and nodded at their thank yous. It seemed breakfast that morning would be some kind of porridge, with a glass of fruit juice? Chloe wasn’t sure, but she was excited to try both. They carried their trays to their friends’ table, and tuned into their conversation.

“…used to be a proper tavern, yeah,” Deeps was saying. They’d joined in the middle of something, and Chloe was determined to catch up.

“What, this place?” she asked, setting down her tray next to the frillish. “I thought the same.”

Deeps looked around and smiled. “Morning! Was wondering if you were going to show!”

“Goooood morning besties!!” Shucu bounced enthusiastically. Meteor just waved, smiling through a mouthful of porridge.

Deeps continued his story. “But yeah, I asked Azalea – she’s the mawile – because I was getting serious old timey inn vibes from the place,” he explained. “Turns out I hit the mark. This place used to be a proper tavern, been in her family for like five generations I think she said? But she let the Delvers repurpose the joint.”

Chloe was nodding along. “She spoke to you?” she asked. “She didn’t say a word to me or Celes.”

“She’s just, like, an introvert type, you know?” Deeps answered. “Won’t really speak to you unless you speak to her first sort of deal.”

“FIVE generations?” Shucu spoke with her mouth full. She swallowed loudly. “She just gave it up like that?”

Deeps shook his head. “Not exactly. She said business was NOT good any more, location too remote and demand not there sort of thing. But the Delvers came to her, said they had an arrangement to suit them all.”

“Like a fungus?” Celes asked.

“Uh…” Deeps frowned at her. “No idea what you’re getting at, Pudding, sorry.”

Shucu spat out her porridge. “PUDDING!”

Deeps laughed. “Oh yeah, I’ve been working on a few lil nicknames for you all. Let me know if you don’t vibe with them, though.”

“I am pudding!” Celes sang. “How, how thoughtful, Deeps!”

“Sure!” he nodded to her. “So what did you mean?”

“Hmm?”

“You said it was like a, uh, a fungus?”

Celes looked thoughtful. “Oh, I, never mind!”

Deeps shrugged. “If you say so, Pudding.”

Shucu chimed in. “It’s more like a, a, a symbolic… no, sym… uh…”

“Symbiotic?” Meteor suggested.

“YEAH!” Shucu pointed her spoon at the tyrantrum. “Symbiotic relationship. Thanks for having my back, there, Meteor!”

He smiled back at her. “You’re welcome, Shucu!”

“They got it,” Deeps nodded at Shucu and Meteor. “The Delvers get all the spare inn rooms, for Delving stuff I guess, and they help keep this place open with funding. It’s more like a, a restaurant now I guess? Pokémon can’t stay the night any more but they can still eat here.”

Chloe looked around. “So we might end up sharing this space with a bunch of non-Delvers sometime?”

Celes picked up her spoon. “It, it sounds that way!”

Chloe followed Celes’s lead, ready to eat. She stirred her porridge, noticing some pink streaks. Jam? She took a big mouthful. It was… fine. It was porridge. A bit bland, but she could taste the jam coming through. It reminded her of the pie she’d eaten the previous day.

“Oh!” Celes said, after finishing her first mouthful. “It has, has pecha jam!”

“AND we got pecha juice,” Shucu complained. “I think they must have ran out of every berry but pecha or something but hey at least it’s free!”

Chloe couldn’t argue with that, and took another mouthful. It wasn’t the most glamorous meal, but it was warm and filling, and she found pecha to have a very nice, sweet taste. She was about half way through her bowl when she saw Piper come in through the front door.

She tensed up slightly. Piper’s head was held high, and she had a determined look on her face. Her eyes were towards the bar, and she was clearly looking for breakfast.

Not that Chloe cared. She turned her eyes to her own porridge, taking another aggressive spoonful and shoving it into her mouth. She tried to concentrate on her friends and what they were talking about – some kind of discussion about favourite berries? – instead of whatever Piper was-

“What’s your problem?” the nickit snarled to someone.

Chloe grimaced, and looked up to see Piper in a stand off with Spiral.

Spiral looked incredulous. “Why, I have yet to even utter a word, nickit!” he proclaimed.

“Yeah, but…” Piper started, then stopped. She looked around the room, at the whole room watching her. Their eyes briefly met, and her confidence seemed to shrink. “…Whatever,” she muttered eventually, turning and leaving the cafeteria the same way she’d arrived.

Phew, Chloe thought. At least that’s over and done with-

“What’d you say to her, huh?”

Deeps had climbed out of his seat, and was moving to confront the other table.

Chloe felt like she wanted to hide.

Spiral looked angry, now. “I tell no lie. I said nothing to that vagabond!”

“Don’t call her that,” Deeps said, now face to face with the charcadet.

“I shall call her what I like!” Spiral retorted, not backing down.

“You shouldn’t say such things, Spiral,” Balance said calmly, not looking up from his meal.

Spiral was caught off guard. “P- Perhaps my word choice is overly harsh,” he admitted. “But the fact remains: I spoke not a word to her.”

Deeps looked like he was about to say something when Sticky, the teddiursa, spoke first. “It’s true, Deeps. None of us said anything to her. I’m really not sure what set her off.”

Deeps glanced at Sticky before going back to his stare-off with Spiral. The charcadet folded his arms, looking irritated. Finally, Deeps relented.

“Alright, fine, whatever,” he said, throwing his tentacles into the air. He left their table, but instead of going back to his own, he went to the bar. He spoke to Azalea briefly, who brought him a tray with porridge and pecha juice. He took it, and headed off in the direction that Piper had left. “I’ll be right back,” he said to them as he passed.

The room was silent, and Chloe didn’t know what to think. She respected that Deeps was going out of his way to help Piper, but she wasn’t sure that she deserved it in the first place. By the sounds of things, the nickit was making trouble out of nothing again.

“Awwwwwkwarrrrrd,” Shucu said, only loud enough for her table to hear. “Chloe I’m sorry you gotta deal with her as your team-mate!”

Chloe shrugged. “Tell me about it,” she complained. “I’m not looking forward to it.”

Celes looked torn. “It is very kind, kind of Deeps to bring her her breakfast, I think,” she said.

“Pfft,” Shucu waved her hand. “I dunno, she’ll probably just refuse and throw it on the ground or something.”

“You got that right,” Chloe growled, stabbing at her porridge with her spoon.

Meteor looked nervous. “I don’t know… I b- believe in giving all pokémon a chance, even her…”

“I did,” Chloe said, “and that turned out horribly.”

“You DID?” Shucu leaned forward eagerly. Chloe decided to tell them all about the previous day.

“I did,” she nodded. “I knew she’d been treating me badly, but I don’t know, she seemed really upset when she ran out of the group session yesterday so I was like… maybe I’ll reach out and try and turn over a new leaf, you know?”

Celes smiled. “That was, was a lovely idea, Chloe!” she beamed.

Shucu looked more sceptical. “Yeah but it turned out bad I’m guessing?”

Chloe’s eyes narrowed at the memory. “It went terribly. She didn’t want to hear anything I said. She refused to turn over a new leaf with me, even though I said I’d look past everything she’d done to me.”

“What- what did she say?” Meteor asked timidly.

“She-” Chloe’s words caught in her throat.

I will never be friends with someone who’s prejudiced against dark types. So beat it.

Those were the words Piper had said to her, still crystal clear in her mind.

“She… I don’t even know,” Chloe lied. “She just has it in her head that she can’t be friends with me or something. She’s being stubborn for no reason. It’s a waste of time to even try.”

“Oooooh,” Shucu looked angry. “What is even her problem!”

Chloe shrugged. She quickly went back to eating her porridge, but she’d lost her appetite, due to a terrible creeping feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Chloe was so sure of herself that she wasn’t prejudiced against anyone for their typing, she hadn’t felt the need to even bring that suggestion up to the rest of them, through Piper’s words or otherwise. But still, she felt bad for some reason. She put a spoonful of porridge in her mouth, and forced herself to swallow. She was definitely in the right, here. Ignore those feelings, she told herself. You’re a good person, Chloe.

She was so lost in her own head that she didn’t notice Deeps sitting back down next to her.

“Was Piper in the room last night, Shucu?” Deeps asked, before anyone could say anything else. Chloe perked up, finally realising the frillish was back.

“Okay firstly welcome back,” Shucu waved enthusiastically. “How’d it go with Piper?”

Deeps waved a tentacle dismissively. “Fine,” he evaded the question. “Was she in your room last night?”

Shucu scratched her head. “Well when I got to our room to turn in for the night she was like ‘I’m going out for a walk!’ and left,” she explained quickly. “I think I just fell asleep before she got back and, uh, she also wasn’t there when I woke up so I dunno if she came back in the night or anything why do you ask?”

“Eh, just curious,” Deeps dodged the question once more. Chloe glanced at him, but didn’t really feel like talking about Piper any more.

Celes seemed to read her mind. “Let’s, let’s all finish our breakfast!” she suggested. “I’m sure we, we all have some tasks to do, do today!”

“OH yeah we dooooo don’t we Meteor?” Shucu took to the new subject instantly, and started babbling about the mission she and her partner had been given. Chloe forced down another mouthful of porridge, glad to be off the topic of Piper, but still worried.

After all, once her mission started, she’d have to see her again.

---

Crooked Grove.

That was where Chloe’s first mission was supposed to take place, alongside Piper and Feathers the noctowl, who would be serving as their mentor. After breakfast, she’d said goodbye to her friends, who all had their own tasks with their own mentors, and left the headquarters. She’d made her way down the dirt path that Piper had left her on back when they’d escaped the mystery dungeon together.

She had travelled slowly. She wasn’t exactly sure where they’d come onto the path, or which way the dungeon was from the path. She’d searched for some kind of sign, a familiar tree, some old footprints maybe? Unfortunately, she’d found nothing at all. She decided that the dungeon was somewhere to the left of the path, and eventually just wandered out into the woods, hoping for the best.

She’d been searching for some time when a voice called out to her. “Hoooooo! Chloe!”

She jumped, turning to her right and spotting Feathers waving to her in the distance. She waved back, and flew quickly to meet him.

“Hello, Chloe!” Feathers greeted her warmly. Chloe noticed Piper was there, too. She was sitting a short distance away, staring off into the distance.

“Hey, it’s nice to meet you!” Chloe answered Feathers, deciding to pretend Piper wasn’t there for now.

Feathers smiled. “That it is, that it is!” he nodded, patting her on the head gently. “I’ve been very excited to get to know you both, and to be your mentor in the months, perhaps years, to come.”

Feathers turned and started walking towards Piper, Chloe following reluctantly. “Since I learned you two would be my pupils, I’ve been spending some time in the library, brushing up on my knowledge of your species.”

“You have?” Piper perked up, looking round at Feathers – not at Chloe.

“Why, of course!” the noctowl said proudly. “I have some ideas and concepts for the many directions your team could take strategically, though the decisions are ultimately up to you two.”

Chloe was impressed. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this, Feathers,” she complimented.

Feathers’ smile fell slightly. “Now, you two may have heard some rumours about my name. I should set the record straight, and tell you that my actual name is-”

“FEAAATHERRRS!!!”

A voice called from somewhere in the sky. All three pokémon looked up, just in time to see a flygon coming in for a crash landing.

“Oh Xerneas…” Feathers muttered before being flattened by the larger pokémon. A huge cloud of dirt, leaves and noctowl feathers blew into the air, and Chloe and Piper sprang back in shock.

“Uh, are you okay?” Piper asked, stepping forward as the dust settled. The flygon was laying on top of Feathers, who looked stunned.

“Thanks for the soft landing, Feathers!” the flygon grinned, jumping to his feet. The noctowl looked less than impressed, getting up much more slowly, brushing himself off as he did.

“So-”

Feathers did not allow the flygon another word. “KITE!” he blustered. “You are PERFECTLY capable of controlling your landing. WHAT is the meaning of this?”

“Sorry, sorry!” Kite the flygon laughed. “There was like a gust of wind or something. Anyway, we’re swapping teams, okay?”

Everyone stared at Kite.

Feathers eventually spoke a single word. “What?”

Kite just shrugged. “Boss’s orders. She said she wanted the teams this way round, nothing I can do, bud.”

Feathers looked sceptical. “Cobalt commanded it?”

Kite scratched his antenna. “Yeah, I think she caught wind of Ledyba being a human and she wants me keeping an eye on her or something?”

Chloe’s heart sank. This couldn’t be good.

Feathers, too, looked crestfallen. “I see,” he sighed, defeated. “Remind me, which team were you overseeing?”

“Uhhhhhh,” Kite hummed. “The, uh, mienfoo charcadet pair I think?”

“You think?” Feathers probed.

“No I mean it’s definitely them!” Kite confirmed. “They should be in the dojo waiting for me. We were just gonna do some combat evaluation to start with.”

Feathers sighed again, and turned to speak to Chloe and Piper. “It appears my research was time wasted,” he said sadly. “Enjoy your time under Kite, you two. I shall see you around headquarters regardless, I’m sure.”

With that, he stood tall, spread his wings, and took off in the direction of the Delvers’ base. Kite watched him go, a wide grin appearing on his face.

“…aaaaaand he’s gone.” he smirked to himself. “It’s just that easy.”

Chloe was confused. “What do you mean?” she asked.

Kite jumped slightly, and waved the question away. “Eh, nothing. Nice to meet you both, I’m Kite!”

“Chloe,” Chloe said, still suspicious and confused.

“And I’m Piper,” the nickit added, “since it sounds like you still haven’t learned anyone’s names yet.”

Kite burst into laughter. “Yeah, I kinda suck at names!” he admitted. “Chloe and Piper, huh? You come up with your team name yet?”

“About that,” Piper stepped up to Kite. There was a pretty significant size difference between them, Kite being over three times Piper’s height. She looked up at him. “You’re in charge of us, right? All the recruits?”

“That’s me!” Kite said proudly.

Piper nodded. “Okay. There’s absolutely no way you’d consider letting me swap team-mates with another ‘mon?”

Chloe groaned inwardly. Piper was really starting with this right off the bat?

Kite blinked in surprise. “Uhh… nope, the point is you all gotta learn to work with pokémon you may not normally work with or get along with, right?”

Piper frowned. “Yeah, but-”

“No buts!” Kite interrupted her. “We all gotta learn to work out our differences, I’m sure you two can manage!”

“Figures you wouldn’t even bother hearing me out,” Piper muttered, turning and walking away from the two of them. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Kite swooped around faster than Chloe could blink, to block Piper’s way. Piper fell backwards in surprise.

“Where do you think you’re going without telling me your team name?” he asked her smugly.

Piper was clearly agitated. “L- look. I’m trying really hard not to be rude, because you’re my superior and all, but, like, don’t do that to me,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m gonna follow all your stupid rules, so at least don’t force me to do anything else, or get in my way.”

With that, Piper continued walking, going around Kite. Kite looked pretty taken aback, and a little hurt. He looked at Chloe, who just shook her head, as if to say, don’t ask me!

Kite sighed in defeat. “Alright alright, sorry Piper, forget the team name for now. But seriously, where are you going?”

“Crooked Grove,” she answered flatly.

“Huh? Why?” Kite asked, tilting his head at ninety degrees.

Chloe rushed to catch up with the two of them. “Feathers was gonna take us through the dungeon as our first task together,” she explained.

“Oh,” Kite said. “Why would he take you to such an easy dungeon, and one you’ve already completed?”

“I dunno!” Chloe shrugged. “Maybe you should have asked him?”

“Maybe… I shoulda asked him…” Kite said thoughtfully, craning his neck right around, as if to try and spot Feathers still lingering in the forest for some reason. “Ah well! Let’s just have some fun with it!”

Chloe got the feeling that Kite was a very disorganised, slightly out of touch pokémon, who was used to getting his own way. He definitely wasn’t used to dealing with a pokémon as unruly as Piper, and it was almost funny to watch.

“We just have to get through both floors again, right?” Piper confirmed.

“Uh huh!” Kite grinned cheekily. “I’ll just watch and see how you girls handle it yourselves. Soooo… Team name?”

“Don’t care,” Piper said.

Now Kite was starting to get frustrated. “Come on, Piper! Anyone would think you don’t want to be here!”

“I don’t,” she agreed. “Not with her, anyway. But you won’t let me switch partners. So. Here we are.”

“Uhh…” Kite looked to Chloe again.

“Hey, I have no problems with her,” Chloe threw her hands up. “She’s the one with the problem.”

“Oh, shut up, you arrogant slime,” Piper snapped.

That made Chloe’s blood boil, but she refused to rise to her bait. She grit her teeth, and kept following the nickit, who hadn’t even looked around.

“Well! I have no idea what’s going on between you two!” Kite said jovially, wildly underestimating the rift between them, “but we’re gonna work it allll out. That’s the whole point of this system, right?”

“I hope so!” Chloe agreed, loudly so that Piper could hear her. Piper didn’t react this time, just kept walking.

“We’ll make it happen,” Kite winked at Chloe. “Anyway, get ready! I think we’re about to hit the dungeon!”

---

Last time she’d entered a dungeon, she’d been unconscious. This time, however, Chloe got the full, wide awake experience.

As she walked deeper into the forest, she felt the pressure building, as if she was sinking deep into the ocean. After that, it started affecting her vision. The world around her turned blurry, all the colours swirling into one another as if the world was melting around her. It actually hurt to look at, but she forced herself to keep her eyes open. It was very hard to tell, but everything seemed to be moving, shifting around her, no doubt to create the strange rooms and passageways of the mystery dungeon.

Eventually, all of the sensations faded, and the small group were in the dungeon proper. Chloe looked to Piper and Kite, who had hardly reacted at all. Both of them had experienced it before, after all.

Chloe had a question. “How do peopl- pokémon tell where a mystery dungeon starts and stops?” she asked Kite.

“Good question!” he said, pointing at her. “The answer is: they don’t, really. Not without help from us.”

Chloe looked at him curiously, and he elaborated. “So like, the signs of a mystery dungeon are REALLY subtle. It’s stuff like, the wind is blowing from one direction, but the trees are swaying in another direction. Shadows, too – they don’t follow the logic of the sun. It’s like…”

“It’s like they’re actually somewhere else?” Chloe suggested. “Like a whole other space, with a different sun and wind, kind of shoved into the world in the wrong place?”

Kite laughed. “Sure! I dunno if that’s like, scientifically accurate or whatever but it sounds as sensible as anything else!” He suddenly stopped, and frowned. “I bet Feathers was gonna like, take you to the edge and actually let you see it, huh. Probably wanted to work on mapping the edges of this place a little. Oh well.”

“That sounds like it wouldn’t have been a total waste of time!” Piper shouted from ahead, and Chloe snorted. Okay, that was pretty good.

“ANYWAY,” Kite quickly brought the subject back around. “Your question, Chloe. Experts like me, and someday you, can spot the boundaries of a dungeon, but most normal folk aren’t gonna know. So what the Delvers – mainly Feathers – do, is actually mark out the boundaries to the best of our ability.”

Chloe nodded. “I see. That’ll help keep pe- pokémon safe.”

Pokémon, not people, she had to keep telling herself.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of battle. Chloe jumped, but she didn’t have anything to worry about. Piper had already knocked the oddish out cold.

“Quick work!” Kite grinned. “You should call out any ferals you spot to the rest of your team, though.”

“What’s the point of that?” Piper asked, confused.

Kite strode forwards, closing the distance Piper had made. “Communication is reeeeal important in a serious dungeon. We gotta know what’s up ahead, what sort of traps and ferals we’re up against.”

“Okay,” Piper said, her tone argumentative. “But that was literally just an oddish. I can deal with that myself. There’s no point in calling that.”

Kite scratched his chin. “Sure, but we need to get into good habits early, right? Even if this place is for chumps, let’s get into good communication habits early-”

“I’m not stupid,” Piper said hotly. “If there was an actual threat, I’d call it out.”

“He’s not saying you’re stupid,” Chloe jumped in, “it’s just about practising communicating with each other.”

Piper looked frustrated. “But what’s the point of me shouting out pointless things? The oddish is a non-issue, here. It’d be more confusing for me to shout out oddish, you’d wonder why the hell I’d even bothered bringing it up!”

Chloe searched for an argument, but came up with nothing. She kind of agreed with Piper, though she’d never say that out loud.

“Now if it was her leading,” Piper pointed a paw in Chloe’s direction, “I’d get it, because she can’t even fight properly. Then we’d need to know.”

“Hey, c’mon…” Chloe said, still failing to think of any good arguments.

Kite looked surprised. “You can’t fight?” he asked. “What moves you got?”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I woke up here the other day. I don’t know any moves yet.”

“Oohhhh, that’s right. You’re the human,” his grin was almost too wide, and it was starting to make Chloe uncomfortable. “Gotta start from scratch, huh?”

“I guess so,” Chloe agreed. “What can you teach me?”

Kite hummed. “Uh, I dunno what ledyba can do off the top of my head. I’ll have to figure that out later.”

“Seriously?” Piper spoke unexpectedly. “You know Feathers had like, all our stuff researched, right? So he could be an actual mentor?”

Kite looked guilty. “Hey, come on… It’s not my fault we had to swap last minute!”

Chloe felt her suspicions coming back. “’It’s just that easy‘, that’s what you said when Feathers left. What was that supposed to mean?”

“I-” Kite wavered. Chloe stared Kite down, and Kite looked back at her with the worst poker face she’d ever seen, until finally the flygon burst into laughter.

Chloe was getting irritated, now. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

“Yikes, you’re perceptive!” Kite chuckled. “Okay, okay, I made the thing with Cobalt up so that Feathers wouldn’t argue. There’s no official reason we had to swap teams, I just wanted to!”

The girls stared at the flygon, as he chuckled to himself some more.

“Why bother lying?” Piper asked him. “You’re in charge of the whole recruits thing. You coulda just told him he had to swap with you.”

“Yeahhh, but then he would have tried to argue back about it,” Kite moaned. “I know what he’s like, he would have wanted to know all the hows and whys and I didn’t really feel like explaining myself to him, y’know?”

“Could you at least explain it to us?” Chloe asked. “Why’d you want to mentor us so bad?”

Kite suddenly leaned in close to her, right into her face. “I wanted to mentor you, human!” he grinned.

Chloe leaned back in alarm. “Huh?”

Kite stood up straight again. “Well, I gotta be the one to mentor the human! It’s obvious you’re gonna turn out to be mega important and I need in on this!”

“S- Seriously?” Chloe stammered. She was stunned.

“So I’m like… what?” Piper glared at him. “You’re literally admitting you’re playing favourites right off the bat? Are you serious right now?”

“Hey, hey!” Kite gestured with his claws. “It’s not that deep, P… Piper! You’re both my precious students! I just need to be close to the human, that’s all.”

“Riiiight…” Piper turned away, disgusted. “I’m not even gonna ask if you just nearly forgot my name. I’m going to complete this dungeon, then go.”

Chloe flew to catch up with Piper. “You know what, I agree. Let’s get outta here.”

Kite flew up beside them. “Hey, hey come on!” he tried. “Piper I’m sorry if that came off the wrong way. Look-”

The two pokémon turned and glared at him, and he faltered slightly. “Look! It’s just a fact the human’s important, okay? I’m the strongest there is, so I do genuinely need to be watching her-”

“The human has a name,” Chloe shouted. “You’re treating me like I’m some kind of spectacle or thing or something! I’m Chloe, understand?”

Kite looked stunned for a second, before laughing nervously, scratching the back of his neck. “Yikes, this really hasn’t gone the way I thought it would, huh…”

“Let’s go, Piper,” Chloe stormed ahead of the nickit, who kept up with her at a trot.

Once they’d made some distance, Piper glanced at her. “Don’t take this as some kind of magical bonding experience,” she warned. “We’re still not friends.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I don’t really care about that right now. I just want to get out of here.”

Piper shrugged, and they kept moving.

Chloe looked over her shoulder, and saw Kite hanging well back, giving them some space. He waved to her pleasantly, and she rolled her eyes, turning back to focus on the path ahead.

“Do you think he’s like, a narcissist?” she asked Piper.

Piper stared daggers at her. “I feel like you didn’t hear me,” she said, eyes narrowed. “We’re still not friends. That clear?”

Chloe groaned. “Alright, fine. Whatever.”

She fell into position, flying closely behind Piper. She felt cranky and irritated, and it felt like she could hardly catch a break. She had a partner who hated her guts for no reason and a narcissistic mentor who was obsessed with the fact she was a human.

At least Kite was friendly. She hoped that if she just explained to him that she wanted to let the human part of her fade into the past, and start fresh, he’d respect that, but now was not the time for that conversation, especially while she was feeling so angry.

Besides, they had a dungeon to get through.

---

They stepped into the next clearing, and Chloe was pleased to see the stairs in the corner. One floor down, nice and quickly, and hardly any fighting to slow them down. Piper was already making a beeline for the stairs, and Chloe was quick to follow.

“Waaaaait!!”

The girls stopped, and turned to see what Kite was shouting about. He was knelt down at one edge of the clearing, rummaging through the dirt and grass.

“What are you doing?” Chloe called to him, as he stood up excitedly. The flygon held something out in their direction. It was so small, Chloe could barely see it.

“A seed!” he shouted to them with a trademark grin.

“I literally don’t care. Goodbye.” Piper turned and continued towards the stairs. The crestfallen expression Kite made was priceless, and Chloe couldn’t help but laugh. She also turned, following Piper.

“Hey come on!” Kite tried desperately. “This one’s a blast seed! These are like, a newbie’s best friend, you’re gonna want to hear this!”

The girls ignored him, reaching the foot of the stairs together.

“I want to test taking the stairs at the same time, but without touching each other,” Piper announced without looking at her. “We played it safe last time, but I don’t really want to hold your hand every time we do this if we don’t have to.”

Chloe felt worried. “What if we get separated?” she asked.

Piper shrugged. “Stay still and wait for Mr Strongest There Is to come find you, if you’re scared, I guess?”

Chloe checked over her shoulder. Kite was looking down at the seed sadly, and wasn’t paying them any attention. “Is there another option?”

Piper barked a laugh, and Chloe smiled, pleased. “It’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

Together, they stepped onto the staircase, not making any contact with each other. The world seemed to contort around them, and Chloe felt very suddenly motion sick. The feeling passed quickly, and Chloe checked her surroundings. Another room, similar to the last, with a petilil sleeping in the corner. Standing next to her was Piper, who was looking around in a similar way to her. Their met eyes.

Piper smiled playfully. “Good. I can rest easy knowing I’ll never have to hold hands with you again.”

“You and me both,” Chloe retorted. They both snickered, stepping away from each other awkwardly as they remembered the animosity between them. Kite saved them from further interaction, appearing suddenly between the two of them.

He looked around fervently, calming down when he saw they were both right there. “Slow down you two!!” he fussed. “Did you remember to hold hands going up the stairs? That part’s important!”

Chloe looked up at him, puzzled. “We just tested the stairs without doing that, actually. We both ended up here fine.”

Kite looked just as puzzled. “Oh, huh. We’ve always considered it best practice to make a physical connection when taking the stairs, just in case-”

“Well you clearly don’t need to,” Piper interrupted him smugly. “Looks like you could stand to learn a thing or two about dungeons!”

“I know more than you!” Kite whined. His personality took a sudden one-eighty, and he laughed. “But fair point. Okay girls, lead on!”

Piper didn’t have to be told twice. She moved straight for a corridor, choosing to ignore the sleeping feral, who had somehow not woken up despite all the ruckus.

Chloe let her lead, following closely behind. Kite stayed a few steps back, but close enough for Chloe to ask him a question.

“How come that petilil didn’t wake up?” she asked, while they moved.

“’Cause mystery dungeons are just weird like that,” he explained. “I think they like, uh, force the ferals to sleep sometimes. I guess because if they weren’t forced, they never would get any sleep. I’m sure they still need sleep, right? I dunno!”

Chloe wasn’t convinced. “That answer sounds kind of dumb,” she said.

Kite shrugged. “Listen, and this is probably my most serious answer yet: These places don’t make sense, and they are kind of dumb.”

Chloe cocked her head quizzically, and Kite continued. “I’m serious! Like, did you see the stairs back there? The one consistent thing about these places is that they make absolutely no sense. If you try and make sense out of them, you’ll give yourself a headache. The sleeping pokémon don’t wake up ’cause the mystery dungeon says so.”

Chloe nodded slowly. “But they always follow the same rules, right?” she asked. “The stairs thing happens in every dungeon?”

Kite nodded. “As far as we know. The specifics of dungeon mechanics is Cinnamon’s whole deal, though. You should ask her for a lesson when-”

“Lilligant and shiftry,” Piper interrupted them from up ahead. “Happy, Kite?”

“Uh-huh!” Kite nodded. Piper had gone a ways ahead of them, and was at the end of the passageway. She flew quickly to catch up, and looked past her to the clearing. Like the nickit had said, inside of the false room was a lilligant and a shiftry. The stairs were also there.

“Same plan as last time?” Piper asked. Chloe frowned at her, and Piper sighed impatiently. “Last time I sneak attacked the lilligant and you distracted the other one? You don’t remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, looking over her shoulder. Kite was hanging back, letting them deal with the situation. She looked back to the clearing, at the shiftry. The feral was about the same size as her, this time. Maybe…

“Maybe I can take it out as well?” she said out loud.

Piper snorted. “Pfft, I’d like to see you try.”

“Okay, I will, then,” Chloe said competitively. Piper looked at her dubiously.

“As long as you keep it distracted, and run on my command,” she instructed. “Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chloe handwaved her away. Piper narrowed her eyes, but didn’t press it any further. Instead, she stepped silently into the clearing, eyes set on the lilligant.

It happened the same way as it had every other time: Piper went completely unnoticed, and landed a heavy sneak attack on the feral lilligant. It did not go down, however, being too strong of an opponent to fall in one strike. Both ferals jumped to attention, and set their sights on the nickit.

Now, while it’s distracted!

Chloe flew at full throttle towards the shiftry, looking to bowl it over with a body slam. She didn’t know any moves, but she could still fight in her own way.

WHAM!

She twisted her body at the last second, ramming the shiftry with a shoulder barge. It hurt her, a lot more than she was anticipating, but the shiftry was thrown across the clearing by her attack. She just barely stuck the landing, taking a second to find her balance. She stared down the shiftry, who was quickly climbing to its feet.

The shiftry looked at her with cold, unfeeling eyes, and she felt her confidence evaporate.

This thing wants to kill me. I’m going to die!!

She felt her legs begin to shake, and quickly took to the air. She was a lot more steady hovering like this, and a lot more manoeuvrable. I need to-

The shiftry was running at her, impossibly fast. There was no time to think as it jumped at her, striking her out of the air with its razor sharp fan-hands. She cried out in pain and shock, tumbling to the ground. She could feel the line on her chest where the feral had sliced her, throbbing with white hot pain.

She was on her back, and the shiftry was standing over her, preparing to strike again. She panicked, and opened just her left wing, which levered her over and to the right. She narrowly avoided the feral’s next slash, opening her wings fully and taking to the sky.

This time she planned to fly higher, hoping to get out of its range, but she felt a gust of searing, razor sharp wind cut her out of the sky. She screamed again, losing a lot of height, but she forced her wings to buzz right before she hit the ground. She stayed in the air, barely.

And the shiftry was running at her, full speed.

It wasn’t giving her time to think, time to react!

Stupid, stupid, stupid! You weren’t nearly ready for this!

You can’t lose like this in front of her!

“Rrrragh!” she shouted, flying at full speed towards the shiftry for another tackle. This caught the feral off guard, and it took the full force of her attack. She stayed in control this time, watching the shiftry tumble across the room from the air.

She sped after it, landing on the feral before it had a chance to get back up. Its dull eyes looked surprised. Chloe hesitated.

What now, genius?

Without thinking, she punched it in the face.

And again.

And again.

Yeah, that’ll show it-

The shiftry rolled over, taking her with it. The punches had done absolutely nothing.

Now the shiftry was on top of her, pinning her arms to the ground.

Its teeth looked awfully sharp.

What now? she thought frantically. Her arms were pinned. She tried opening her wings again, but the weight of the feral was keeping her back firmly to the ground. She had no options!

Your middle arms!

She gasped as she remembered her extra arms. They were completely free! She could-

It was like a gust of wind passed over her, and the shiftry was gone.

She blinked, confused.

She got up slowly. She spotted Piper, standing over a defeated lilligant, looking towards the other side of the clearing. She looked towards the other side of the clearing, too.

Kite was also standing over a defeated enemy – the shiftry.

He looked over, and gave her a grin and a thumbs up.

Chloe was furious.

“Why’d you interrupt?” she shouted. “I had it!”

“Whu-” Kite’s grin quickly disappeared. “I just- It was gonna rip your face off! I saved you, there!”

Chloe wasn’t about to back down. “My middle arms were free! I could have fought back and beat it!”

Kite shook his head. “Nah, you’re too puny to even hurt it without more training.”

That stung. Chloe opened her mouth to argue some more, then closed it. She felt the lump in her throat, a sure sign she was seconds away from tears.

“You really love to stick your neck into places it doesn’t belong, huh,” Piper spoke up disapprovingly.

Kite looked hurt. “I’m not gonna let a feral maul one of you!” he pouted.

“Yeah, well, neither am I…” Piper muttered, before storming off towards the stairs.

Chloe swallowed the lump in her throat, wiping away the few tears that had managed to form. She turned shakily and watched Piper take the stairs alone, disappearing. Kite sighed.

Chloe swallowed her pride. “Th- thanks, I guess,” she said, not looking at the flygon. “I just- How am I gonna get strong enough to win fights like that? If you just bail me out?”

She didn’t look at him, but she could tell his grin had come back. “A whole lotta training!” he said. “I think that’s what we should do tomorrow, okay?”

Chloe nodded, not feeling very chatty. In fact, after her fight, she was exhausted, and both her body and mind were bruised. She flew to the stairs and took the first step, not checking to see if Kite was with her. The world span around her, and ejected her back into the real Crooked Grove. She spotted Piper up ahead. She was walking back to town already, not waiting for them.

She should say something.

What should she say?

She opened her mouth, trying to find some words, but nothing came to her.

What did she want to say?

She…

Kite appeared out of thin air beside her. She’d lost her chance to say anything.

Not that she had anything to say.

“Allllllright!” Kite said, clapping his hands. “Great work, girls! Dungeon: conquered!”

“See you tomorrow,” Piper called back to them, not stopping.

Kite swooped around faster than Chloe could blink, to block Piper’s way.

“Ah ah!” he wagged a claw. “We should all walk home together, we-”

“Don’t DO that!” Piper shouted, interrupting him. Her voice, and body were shaking. “I told you not to DO that! MOVE!”

Kite cringed. “I, ah-”

“Just move, Kite,” Chloe called tiredly. She was too beat up to shout properly, and far too tired to deal with Piper. “It’s not worth it, just let her go.”

“I- yeah, uh, sorry Piper, I- yeah,” he stammered, moving to one side. Piper bolted, rushing off into the forest alone.

Chloe was left alone with Kite.

This has to be the most awkward situation of my life.

Kite looked pretty down. “I screwed this one up in pretty much every possible way, huh,” he laughed to himself.

“Pretty much,” Chloe deadpanned, not knowing how he could still be laughing.

Kite scratched his chin. “I got a lotta thinking to do about this one. Gonna have to change my whole approach, I think. Hmm…” he looked at her. “Why does she hate you, Chloe?”

“Uh?” Chloe was startled by the question.

“I need to get inside her head,” he explained, grin plastered all over his face once more. “Gotta find the source of her attitude, and work from there. Why does she hate you?”

I will never be friends with someone who’s prejudiced against dark types. So beat it.

Piper’s words were still so clear in her head. She cringed.

“I don’t know,” she lied. She felt uncomfortable talking about this with Kite. “I think because I got her stuck in the dungeon the first time, and was dead weight. Because I’m a human and couldn’t do anything to help her, basically.”

She felt the guilt increasing with every lie she told.

They’re not lies, Chloe. It’s pretty much the truth, she consoled herself. Don’t feel bad for her, she’s not a good person anyway.

“Interesting…” Kite looked thoughtful. “So maybe if we train you up, she’ll stop seeing you as dead weight and actually start valuing you!”

“I guess,” Chloe agreed half-heartedly. She opened her wings, and flew just above the ground. “Can we just get back to HQ? I’m really beat up, you know.”

“Oh!” Kite snapped back to reality. “Yeah, of course, of course! Let’s get moving!”

Kite also took to the air, hovering without moving his wings. Chloe almost asked how he was doing that, but decided she didn’t really feel like making conversation. Kite flew, and Chloe followed.

Today had been… something. She was trying to decide if she’d enjoyed it or not, but she couldn’t come up with an answer. She’d lost her fight, and her mentor had been replaced with… she barely even knew how to describe Kite, but she knew she didn’t like his attitude at all. But she’d kind of enjoyed dungeoneering, and also teasing Kite? She was filled with mixed feelings about everything.

One thing she did know, though was that she was ready to fly face-first into a big pile of hay. Their return to HQ could not come soon enough.