When Axle and Eon finally made it back to Wigglytuff's Guild and into its bottom-first-floor, they noticed Shaymin beat them to it and was already talking to Chatot. The two partners were momentarily stunned that a conversation between Chatot and Shaymin was not going with Chatot yelling at the grass-type, but they both knew they had more important things to do. So the two walked up and Chatot immediately noticed them.
"Hello Axle and Eon," Chatot said. "As you can probably surmise, your friend Shaymin here is explaining the situation you're faced with. With surprising clarity, I might add."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Shaymin moaned. "So can you help or not?"
Chatot sighed and looked at Shaymin. "I will alert officer Magnazone about the situation at once. Beyond that, however, I don't know how much help I'll be. Especially at interpreting that Clever's…"
"Clover's," Shaymin corrected.
Chatot just rolled his eyes. "Alright, Clover's stories. They could be just pure fantasy for all we know. We could be looking on completely the wrong track."
"We've thought of that," Axle admitted, "but in all honestly, we don't have much else to go on. I wasn't able to see the kidnappers that well in my vision, so we don't really have that to go by. So this is all we can really think of to go on. They're clearly on a treasure hunt and this is the only treasure we can think of that they could be going for."
"Well, I'll try to be of some assistance anyways," Chatot said. "Now, what are the hints you gained?"
Eon explained to Chatot the four phrases the shaymin elder told them. The Music Note Pokémon closed his eyes for a few seconds as he pondered those phrases. After a few minutes of thinking, by which Shaymin had his mouth open ready to push him, Chatot opened his eyes again.
"These are unfortunately vague," Chatot said.
"Yeah…we know," Eon said. "But it's really all we've got. Can you help us at least come up with some ideas of where to look?"
"I have…some ideas." Chatot walked up to the right side of the room where Chimecho was working. After a quick chat between the two, Chimecho moved a piece of paper towards Chatot, which he grabbed with his wing. Chatot quickly hopped back to Team Aura and laid out the paper in front of them.
"Wait is that…" Eon said breathlessly. "Is that a map of the world?!"
The paper itself showed the region Team Aura was so familiar with on the far right bottom of the map. But also within the map there were two other regions, one to the north and the other to the west of the map. Both regions looked strange from the eyes of Team Aura almost as if…
"This map is incomplete," Axle stated.
"Unfortunate, but yes," Chatot said. "We know all about our continent here, partly thanks to you guys, partly thanks to the multiple explorers on this continent. We also have a decent knowledge of nearby islands around this area. Finally, we know a great deal about the continent north to us. But when it comes to the entire world, we have less experience on it. We know of a continent to the west of us, but we know little about it. And we suspect there are a few other continents in this world as well thanks to some off-hand remarks from Kecleon and some undetailed reports from explorers. But we don't know anything else about this world."
"Why's that?" Shaymin asked.
"Because oversea explorations are costly, time consuming, and much more dangerous then exploring on this continent," Chatot said. "Those that do will often keep that information to themselves instead of spreading it with others, as too keep nosey explorers from the untapped treasures on those continents. A vast ocean is hard to navigate and find areas in with any consistency. As for the continent to our west, there is a large desert sprawling just beyond the waters that is currently impassible. It's unfortunate, but this is really all we know about the world."
"Sorry, but if you're asking us to help complete it, we honestly don't have time now," Shaymin said. "We've got shaymin to rescue!"
"No, I merely have this map to show you possible locations of where you could look," Chatot said. "First, let's start with 'the tree from the beginning of time. This could mean a few different things. The only tree that we assume could have existed since the beginning of time would be the legendary Tree of Life. However, whether such a thing exists in the first place is beyond us, let alone how to get to it. So I would instead look towards the Elder Woods."
"The where now?" Axle asked. "And what's this about a Tree of Life?"
"The Tree of Life is said to be a tree where all life energy comes from," Eon explained. "Legend has it that the Legendary Pokémon Xerneas resides there, protecting the tree so that the life energy flowing to this planet doesn't cease. But beyond that, we don't really know much about it. The tree is only spoken of in ancient legends."
"Therefore, that's likely not where it is," Chatot interrupted. "Or if it is, and our adversaries somehow find it, then we can at least rest assured that our adversaries have an unlikely chance of getting it. I can't imagine the Legendary Pokémon Xerneas would let a group of thieves pass into the tree."
"So back to the Elder Woods then," Shaymin said. "Where are they?"
"This is the closest one to here, so we should start there first," Chatot said. "Do you remember the many trees that were before Crystal Cave?"
Axle and Eon both glanced at each other before nodding. "Yeah, we do," Eon said, looking back at Chatot. "It kinda made the cave a bit difficult to find in the first place. Is it there?"
"Yes," Chatot said. "If you were to go around the cave you would eventually find yourself in some woods that we assume leads all the way to the coast. The woods aren't that massive, however they are quite large. It's part of what made Crystal Cave hard to find for early explores in the first place. It's also large enough that someone exploring around there might consider the woods to have been there 'since the beginning of time.' The natural spring water it gets from Crystal Lake might be responsible for that."
"There was also once a Time Gear there," Axle speculated. "'Beginning of Time' and all that."
"Alright, we've got out place, can we go there now?" Shaymin asked impatiently. "Sorry you guys, but we really need to go now! We need to catch those kidnappers and save those shaymin kids as fast as possible."
"We know Shaymin, and we want to rescue the kids as fast as possible too," Eon said. "But we can't just run in blindly. The more we know, the easier it will be to find the kids."
"I know of two other possible area for now," Chatot said. "It'd be best to have a backup plan should the first area either be not be what we're looking for, or should they beat you to it. The rest I will have to do research on."
Shaymin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah, sorry," he said much more calmly. "I'm just…a little on edge with those kids missing. I know a couple of them and I'd hate for something bad to happen to those poor kids. But you're right. We need to be thoughtful about this. Those kids are depending on it." Shaymin opened his eyes back up. "Alright Chatot, what's next. That weird 'cave of absolute darkness?'"
"Black Hole Caverns," Chatot said. "A system of caves that are said to suck up all light within them, making it pitch black. It's not going to be an easy place to navigate, but you might not have much of a choice."
"Sounds like a fun place," Shaymin said.
"A Luminous Orb is no help either," Chatot said. "Using one will give you a brief flash of light, but not enough to navigate for any length of time. And once the flash is over, you're back in the dark. It won't be an easy place to look through. You'll be stuck in a labyrinth with no easy way to see. Enemies there have no problem, however, as they've adapted to the dark and will attack you from seemingly nowhere."
"Are you trying to tell us something, Chatot?" Shaymin asked, unamused. "No, you're not going to stop us from going."
"I'm just warning you what you should expect!" Chatot said, exasperated. "Would you rather me tell you nothing and leave you guys be unprepared?!"
"Thanks Chatot," Eon said quickly to break the two up. "This information should be helpful."
"We have one advantage," Axle said. "My X-Ray Specs and aura senses should give us a decent idea of where we are and what's around us."
"And Swift never misses, so I should be able to hit any enemies we come across so long as Axle points them out," Eon compounded. "This won't be easy, but we'll make it! So Chatot, where is it?"
Chatot placed a wing on the continent to the north of where they were. "You'll find it here," Chatot said. "It's within a canyon known for its impressive size that makes it difficult for us to cross the land between the towns to the north and any southern landing points. While the canyon itself elevates higher, Black Hole Cave goes deep underground. You'll need to be ready to cross the sea in order to reach it."
"Alright, thank you for your help," Axle said.
"So what about 'within the Fiery Maw'?" Shaymin asked.
Chatot looked between Axle and Eon, and the riolu picked up on exactly what the Guild's head of intelligence was about to say. "…I'd ask whether you are joking or not, but I imagine you aren't," Axle said, his arms crossing and a scowl on his face.
Eon also came to the same realization. "Wait…you're not…the Dark Crater?!" Eon asked. "Are you serious?!"
"I'm not feeling in a particularly jovial mood," Chatot said bluntly.
"'Dark…Crater…'" Shaymin sounded out in his head. "Why's that name sound familiar."
"…It's the place where we fought Darkrai," Axle said. "Eon, Cresselia, and I. I should have guessed that's what 'within the Fiery Maw' meant. After all, it goes underground and it certainly felt like I was being swallowed when going through that place."
Realization hit Shaymin's face, and he immediately became silent. He knew Axle and Eon's experience with the Lord of Nightmares and didn't want to pry any further.
Eon began shivering. "T-that place. B-but…we were there! We were there and we didn't see anything! There was nothing at the end of that place!"
"I'm not saying that's exactly it," Chatot said quickly, noticing how uncomfortable Axle and Eon were. "I'm just saying, with the clues that we're given, that's where the story might be talking about."
"…Thank you for telling us this information," Axle said, quickly changing the subject. "We'll start searching for those outlaws now.
Chatot sighed before rolled up the map and placed it within his wing again. "I will continue searching for possibilities as to where the story could be pointing to," the flying-type said. "You might find the kidnappers in either of those three areas, but it's still best to be prepared for the worst case scenario."
"So that leaves us to prepare," Axle said. The riolu faced Eon first. "Eon, I want you to head to Kangaskhan and get what items and equipment we need. I'll let you handle that, as I'm sure you will."
"Might take me a couple minutes though," Eon said. "If we are going to a dangerous place I want to be sure we've got everything we need."
Axle nodded. "I know you, Eon. You'll do just fine."
Facing Shaymin, Axle said, "Shaymin, I want you to fly over to Lapras and have him go over to the coast north of Crystal Cave. If we don't find anything at the Elder Woods, then we should head over to the Black Hole Caverns immediately, and that'll be much easier with Lapras already there waiting for us."
"Not a bad idea actually," Shaymin said. "Alright, I'm on it. What about you, leader?"
"I'll talk to Officer Magnazone before we go," Axle said. "Even if I wasn't able to see the kidnappers that well, I should still give him a description as best as I can. Anything to help the investigation. …Plus I want him to station a guard at the Dark Crater. The less I have to see of that place, the better."
"Thank you," Eon said breathlessly.
"Let's meet up at the crossroads when we're done," Axle finished.
"Alright," Both Eon and Shaymin said. With that talk out of the way, the trio all ran up and out of the guild in order to do their respective tasks.
