Chapter III: Diagnosis


"Founded on the ashes of the old Republic, the Empire stands alone in the eternal fight against the most wicked enemy of all: ignorance. The world's only sturdy bastion of civilization and wisdom shall not be expunged by the likes of barbaric fleas. They come to our carefully sown lands, spreading terror and destruction, endangering our citizens with their witchcraft; for it is all their inferior minds can grasp. As we have done in the past, we must rise against this newfound threat. The pax will go on indefinitely, and we will not stop until the tenets of our knowledge have spread to every last inhabitant of this world.

Long live his highness Augustus Adrian. Long live the Empire." SPQU

Recruitment poster for the Imperial Civil Protection Corps, issue #5.


He lay battered as the bombs fell. Though powerless to act, he could hear everything as if it were happening in front of him. Through the darkness, the rumble of falling debris, voices, crackling flames, then a small explosion. Bones cracked and the bodies of the fallen hit the ground as the world shook. He heard alarms and gunshots and felt the dust against his face.

Suddenly, a door opened. Footsteps. A pair of arms wrapped around him protectively.

A voice. "We'll get you out of here."

Those words blurred into the darkness.


Gasping for air, Flame jerked awake. His heart was pounding his chest. Clearing the grogginess out of his eyes, he looked around him. He was in a tent, sprawled on a stack of hay and with two other beds strewn by his side.

Quickly, he remembered. He lived here now. This was his new home.

Rays of warm sunlight filtering through the cloth caressed his scales gently, helping him regain his bearings after the confusing experience he'd just lived through. Though he did feel slightly hot, he figured that was the usual weather around here, something he'd have to become accustomed to as the days went by.

… But he wasn't quite sure he'd ever get accustomed to what he saw that night.

What was that? He asked himself, baffled beyond words. It was a dream, that much he knew, all the available evidence pointed to it; he could distinctly recall going to bed the night before, and he'd just woken up a few minutes ago. So it must have happened somewhere in between. Only a number of disjointed segments came to mind; noises, smells, a phrase uttered by a faint masculine voice.

Who was talking to me? Do I know him? Curious as he might have been to find out, those questions were immediately discarded in favour of another one: Did all that have something to do with my past?

Was that a flashback of sorts, portraying what had happened to him before he lost his memories? While the question was high on hopes, the answers fell flat on their face. No, he quickly concluded, it was much more reasonable that it had been simply the work of his scarred psyche, a fever dream hastily glued together to try to fill the gaping void left behind from his amnesia.

Claws ran absentmindedly through the single straws of hay as Flame frowned. He wished that the dream would have contained some sort of revelation about his past, he really did; but try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to believe that there was some kind of link and still keep a straight face.

"Flame?" Alice's voice reached his ears, drawing his attention away. The Dragonair's head was peeking curiously through the entrance of the tent. "You're up already? I was going to give you a little extra time to sleep for today, but it seems like you've already adapted to our schedule. That was much faster than I expected."

As Flame stood up lazily, she slid the rest of her body into the tent. The first thing he noticed was the loot sack slung half-way around her serpentine neck, the straps fastened in a way so it wouldn't fall back down.

"By the way," Alice started, "Gaius passed by the registration office earlier. He told me to give you this."

Then, looking down at her rucksack, she proceeded to reach its flap opening with her tail – a process simultaneously clumsy and slow.

It took her several minutes of teeth-gritting and meddling with the tip of her tail before she managed to lift the flap and actually keep it still. By then, her face was already tinted a noticeable shade of red, the uneasy expression suggesting that she felt everything but comfortable right now.

"It's in there somewhere. Take it," she said meekly, motioning to the bag with a jerk of her head.

Flame complied unquestioningly, leaning forward and putting a paw inside the bag to search its contents. He found the object of interest almost right away, buried underneath an apple and some sort of shiny blue orb. Grabbing it with his other paw, he held the badge in between his thumb and index claw to marvel at its details.

A stylized helmet complete with a decorative crest was drawn in the centre, with letters circling the drawing which read: ICPC – Task Force Aegis.

"What does Aegis mean?" Flame wondered aloud, twisting the badge on its back.

Alice, most of the embarrassment on her face now shaken off, was quick to fill his curiosity. "Good question. To put it simply, Civil Protection is not an organization that abides to a central leadership like many others. 'Tis a conglomerate of various regional task forces, each of which has its own sphere of influence where it operates. Task Force Aegis, as you might have already guessed, is tasked with defending the northern provinces of the empire."

'Defend' it? Defend from what? Flame thought as Alice carried out with her explanation. He felt tempted to ask her, but figured that they probably didn't have much time left to chat—the thought somehow left him disappointed—and his many questions would end up dragging the conversation on for too long.

"… As for the word itself, Aegis is an Oldspeak term that roughly translates to 'shield'," Alice finished.

Oldspeak? As in, an ancient tongue?

"Before you ask, Oldspeak used to be the spoken a long time ago, and many of its terms are still in use today," Alice added quickly, "Interesting how even though it's found in almost every aspect of our lives, barely anyone studies it anymore."

"And you did?" Flame questioned, unable to ignore that evident detail in her way of speaking.

It may have only been his brain playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn Alice's cordial smile quivered for a moment. "Yes. That was a long time ago, though," She paused a few seconds, before clearing her throat, "Anyways, we should probably get a move on. Our team usually aims to be outside town by eight. You have a couple more minutes to get ready."

Flame spent those few precious minutes sitting on his bed, working out the last knots out of his neck and attempting to set his brain straight for the day ahead.


"Wait, aren't we going to… you know, eat something first?" Flame asked as Alice led him out of the barrack complex, "We're just going to leave? Right away?"

"Exactly," Alice answered plainly, "Even if we did have the luxury of being able to pay for breakfast, the bulletin boards are updated at the break of dawn, so every other team in the entire base is going to try and snatch the most advantageous jobs from right under our noses. The sooner we settle for a job, the better."

"Oh … makes sense, I guess." Flame frowned as they entered the main area of the camp, more and more pokémon rushing past them the farther they walked. Maybe eating breakfast just wasn't a ritual upheld by everyone in this town.

"As soon as we're outside, we'll see if we can find something to fill our stomachs with. Does that sound good?" Alice compromised, an unspoken invitation not to feel bad for himself.

Flame didn't answer immediately. For some odd reason, he felt many gazes stuck on him, watching his every movement, and it was becoming hard to focus on conversing with that one bothersome thought in mind. Looking around, he noticed a small group of pokémon staring curiously, before all unanimously averted their eyes as soon as they noticed they'd been spotted, going back to murmuring something amongst themselves.

Flame was puzzled to say the least, but decided to let that slide, assuming they had simply noticed that his face was a new one. "Y-yeah. Sounds good."

"Oh, and please," Alice implored, "Try not to mention that topic around Gaius. He gets all iffy at the thought of it."

"Alright. Sorry for bringing that up…" he said sadly, bowing his head, She had already done so much to help him; who did he think he was, making such demands of them?

"It's fine," she reassured him, "I know how hard it is to adapt, especially considering what comforts you must have been used to before losing your memories. It sure was for me. Anyway, let's take one thing at a time."

That answer did more than its intended purpose: it sparked an internal debate within the Charmeleon. Was it plausible that he was actually from this South, as Alice kept bringing up? It would make sense if his habits matched with the geographic area he had falsly claimed to have been born in. What if, from uttering a lie, he had actually told the truth inadvertedly?

Of course, he had zero evidence available that could prove the arguments of either side or the other, no way of being absolutely certain that it was anything more than a far-fetched theory of his, but it was definitely something to consider.

It wasn't long before the two finally reached the bulletin board. The problem was, though, that Flame almost failed to recognize it, so thick was the pandemonium of pokémon clustered around it. He couldn't help but feel claustrophobic, with so many colours and smells filling his senses, almost as if they were applying an ever increasing amount of pressure on his body the more joined in the fray. Almost everyone was shouting something at their teammates, and discarded posters littered the ground in what seemed like an absolute mess.

Gee, she wasn't kidding when she said 'every team in the entire base'. Flame noted sourly, sweat beginning to form on his scales. Somehow, Alice was able to carve a path in the crowd and lead him through it—he did his best to ignore all the pokémon rushing and cutting off his step, almost causing him to trip backwards. Sure enough, somewhere at the front of the crowd was Gaius. The Grovyle's eyes looked all but cut off from reality as he scanned every poster individually, mumbling something in resentment.

"Gaius?" Alice bumped his shoulder with her nose, hoping to bring their presence to his attention.

"Uh?" Gaius blinked multiple times and turned around, his eyes darting quickly between his two teammates.

Flame's brain barely registered his slight flinch, possibly because of an acquired fear that Gaius would automatically be mad at him for whatever reason; but his team leader was too preoccupied with other matters to pay him much attention.

"There you are. What took you two so long?" Gaius raised his voice, more to be heard over the chatter all around them than from anger.

"I was just talking him through the process," Alice answered as rapidly as she could, "How about you? Any luck?"

"Nothing…" Gaius groaned in frustration, "Today's another one of those days. Everything I've looked through is either off-limits because of our rank or it pays so little that I wonder what those guys who commissioned it were expecting."

"You know there's not many who can offer large sums of money anymore," Alice pointed out with pity, "We can't blame them for trying to get by."

"Yeah, and how are we supposed to get by? Working for basically nothing?"

It was then, as the two discussed, that Flame noticed something tickling the underside of his foot. Curious, he lifted it off the ground, only to find an old, ragged poster laying there, partially covered by dirt that he must have kicked accidentally. Who knows, he thought, maybe it could help resolve his team's current issue.

He reached down and grabbed it with his claws, trying to shake the grainy material off the paper. The poster was all crumbled up, as if it'd been discarded without a thought, and the corners were full of rips and tears, but the text was still quite legible. Holding it in front of his face and squinting his eyes, he began to read.

Yesterday, a group of independent researchers (headed by Dr. Elmore Breloom) has been reported missing after failing to return from an expedition at Treehound Cove. They are believed to be trapped within the local spacial anomaly. A reward of 12000 Poké will be handed out to any team who successfully investigates the site.

Twelve thousand? Flame thought with increasing excitement, That sounds amazing!

"Hey, guys," Flame waved his paw in between his teammates to catch their attention, "I think you should take a look at this!"

Gaius snatched the poster from his grasp, with Alice leaning to her side to judge its significance.

"Twelve thousand?" Gaius said uncertainly, "That's barely enough to last us a week…"

Flame drooped. How could that be possible? Such a big number, how could it amount to so little value? To avoid plaguing himself with yet another unanswered question, he quickly settled for asking Alice about it later.

"Gaius, don't be such a downer!" Alice remarked, "This is perfect! It's simple enough that we can teach Flame comfortably, and the pay is pretty decent, too. Certainly better than anything you usually see, isn't it?"

After a few seconds of silence, realising the futility of opposition, Gaius heaved in defeat. "Ah, sod it. I guess it's settled. We're going to Treehound Cove," he snuck a look at Flame. "Good job on…" Gaius suddenly hesitated, his face quickly reverting back to its serious state.

Flame was left disappointed. The praise of his team leader was something that would have brought up his confidence—especially with the snobbed treatment he'd become accustomed to. Instead, nothing.

Gaius crumbled the poster and tossed it inside his rucksack. "Alright, now that we got that out of the way, all we need to do is claim this over at the registry and we'll be on our way."

With that, they walked off to the very same path they'd taken yesterday. Flame was about to follow along, when he noticed something wasn't right. The exact words to describe what he was feeling were as though suddenly condensating into vapour, right along with the ability to move his legs. Weary of something not being completely right, his eyes darted around his entire cone of vision in alarm. For a second or so, he could have sworn he saw someone spying him from a distance, some sort of one-eyed ghost… However, it was gone as quickly as he spotted it.

What the—? he rubbed his eyes to make sure that it wasn't just residual sleep playing tricks on him, and once again saw nothing. His legs were still mobile as well.

I must be seeing things… he scratched his head. Maybe I'm just paranoid about everything that's been going on. But right now, I need to catch up to Alice and Gaius before I lose them.


Route 167

Before he knew it, Flame was outside. After catching up with his teammates, the process of validating their job had been ridiculosly quick; the Toxicroak at the desk, Myco, carried evident signs of the dozens of pokémon that went there ahead of them, and signed the warrant in a flash—without even reading it, Flame mused.

From there, it was only a short walk through town until they reached the city walls, and got through the south-western entrance. The guard manning it was the same Bisharp whom he'd met the first day, and although he let them pass without complaint, this was not without its fair share of suspicious looks.

And now, there he was, strolling under the refreshing sunlight along a path leading in the opposite direction from the one he'd used to first enter town—warmth which didn't last very long, Alice warned him, so he ought to enjoy it while he could. Overgrown plants spilled over the pathway's confines, spreading like parasitic wildfire from the untamed prairie nearby.

As they marched on to what would effectively be his first concrete experience of his job's true nature, his fleeting thoughts could all but shy away from what would be expected of him on the field. Already he assumed he would likely have to engage in some form of combat or another, but how would he or his reputation manage to go through that unscathed? He would be crushed, annhilated! A quivering thing he imagined himself, unable to strike a single blow against the enemy! Sure, Alice did reassure him that her and Gaius would teach him through the process, but what meaningful use would they find in having to drag an inexperienced recruit like him around with them, needing so much precious time and resources and giving back none? They'd sooner abandon him on the side of the road and try their luck alone.

It would have helped to know an extra thing or two about what to expect, particularly this 'spacial anomaly' the poster referred to, but when he voiced his curiosity all she said was: "It's… complicated. Too complicated to explain like this. Wait until we get there."

With the awkward silence between the three broken, Gaius caught his chance to lecture him a fair bit. "… and make sure to keep note of everything you will see today, cause there's going to be a lot of things to take in at once." he stopped suddenly, eyeing something on the side of the road. "Wait here. There's something I need to check."

Under Flame's perplexed look, Gaius proceeded to walk off the path and towards one particular plant—a tall and stubby shrub with bright blue berries hanging from its stalks, as well as some splattered by gravity at its base. The gecko climbed the plant with ease, being naturally fit for that kind of activity. Hooking himself with one set of claws and causing the shrub to ondulate under his weight, he used his free paw to inspect the berries within his reach. Some Gaius approved of and held in his palm, others he dropped to join in on the sticky mess that was the terrain below. Before long, the entire shrub was stripped of its precious spoils.

After jumping down, Gaius returned to his team, keeping his paw open to show the meager amount of berries collected. There were only five or six at most. "This bunch was all I could find. Most of the others had been spoiled for a long time," he held out his arm. "Now, take one each and I'll store the rest for later; we're going to need them."

Flame looked down bewildered at the small berry in his palm, not much bigger than one of his teeth.

It was as though something mind-blowing had shattered his perception of the world around him. Yes, Alice did mention that they weren't able to afford a proper meal, but—this! This could barely even be considered a snack, and they all were supposed to accept it as a full-on meal!

Perhaps he didn't really take his teammates' words seriously when they kept bringing up just how much economic strain they were under, hadn't understood the full extent of the situation yet.

Only now, staring at the berry in his paw, did he realise just how bad it must have been.

Is … is this what they do every day? Try their luck with the wilderness? He thought shocked and looked at his companions, which had by now consumed their 'breakfast'. Nothing in their features hinted that this event was anything out of the ordinary, nor did they consider it as such.

That must be why they want my help so badly, why she managed to convince Gaius to take me in! Flame processed, feeling beyond stupid for not having understood this before.

Nonetheless, he gulped the berry down without a word. It was surprisingly tasty for such a small fruit, a sort of bitter-sweet flavour that leaked a strange feeling of vitality throught his body. It eventually faded away though, and the three soon returned to the path.

He almost felt ashamed at the thought of how, before now, his only real aim to set his life straight, to receive decent enough food and shelter to keep himself afloat as he tried to search for clues about his past. How selfish he was being! No, he couldn't reason with that frame of mind anymore. It was his rightful duty, he felt, as a member of Team Phalanx to repay those that had allowed him to even become such.

Flame breathed in deeply. He puffed his chest and clenched his fists, setting aside all worries and insecurities about his identity and past. Those would have to wait. Right now, his teammates needed help to turn their lives around, and he was not about to let them down.

He couldn't afford to.


"…Oh, come on!" Flame nudged Alice for the second time in a row, sincerely hoping that he wasn't beginning to bother her, "It can't be that hard. There must be something you can tell me about these 'mysterious dungeons' or whatever they're called."

"Alright," Alice sighed in defeat, "I would have preferred to let you see everything for yourself, but if you insist. Mystery dungeons are a place where the laws of reality are … distorted."

Flame tilted his head at that last sentence, giving her a strange look.

"See, this is why I wanted you to witness it with your own eyes!" Alice groaned in frustration.

"Oh, nononono! It's fine, really!" Flame shook his head furiously, "What I wanted to say is… it doesn't make any sense. How can reality be changed?"

"Dungeons don't make any sense, Flame," Alice pointed out duly, "You're just going to have to take my word for it. Do you still want me to continue? We're not very far from our destination; I can see the forest from here."

"Please do," Flame nodded softly, unsure why he was insisting in spite of the latter point. Maybe he was just enjoying talking to her.

"Alright. Basically, dungeons are like their own little universe. Once you're in, you can't just turn around and go out the same way. Even if you try running in a direction for a long time, you will still be trapped. The only way to escape is to find the exit. If you don't, if you can't find your way out, you will simply remain there. Forever. Some say you become a part of the dungeon itself."

"Oh," Flame blinked, a queasiness suddenly intruding upon his stomach, "Wow … o-okay. Is there … anything else I should know about?"

"Yeah," Alice remembered suddenly, "Most of these places are bustling with feral activity, so we must keep an eye out for that."

"Uhm…" he gulped, "Don't mean to be such a downer, but this sounds like a place I would not want to be in. Why are we going there, again?"

Gaius thought it would be a good time to interject. "Because the two of us have already gone through dozens of these, and as such have some idea of what we're doing. Just follow our lead, and you'll be f—"

Then, out of nowhere, a gelid wind threatened to knock Flame off his feet, chilling him to the bone for the time it licked at his scales. His vision faltered, and everything went dark for a few seconds. But, faster than his brain could process, all light came back and the wind cut abruptly. Now he was confused and dizzy.

"There!" whispered Alice hurriedly, "Did you feel that?"

"The wind? Yeah, I did…" Flame answered slowly, "Why, does that mean something?"

He couldn't quite get his head around it, but he felt this ominous sensation that something around him had changed. Did it become dark all of a sudden?

Drawing a circle with his head, he immediately noticed that the trees weren't the same anymore. They rose much higher now, their sharp branches interlocking to create what was effectively a frail ceiling of leaves hanging above their heads. Some sunlight managed to seep in through small gaps, but the rest was suffocated outside, leaving the creatures below in a state of partial darkness.

Wary, he quickly came to the conclusion that this was not the same place he was in before the wind hit.

Gaius could only confirm his theory. "Yes. It means we've just entered the mystery dungeon. There's no way back now. Stay sharp."


Treehound Cove - 1F

Not ten seconds into the dungeon, Flame already wished he was outside.

The stench of decomposing plants loitered in the air, summoning forth an unpleasant feeling of nausea in the back of his throat. Even walking managed to feel like a chore, with the ground sporting large patches of this almost gooey substance that latched onto his feet.

This place gives me the creeps, He was tempted to say openly, trying his best to pinch his nostrils shut.

Gaius had spontaneously decided to lead the group ahead—he was the team leader, after all—and Flame didn't utter a word of complaint; his navigation skills must have certainly been superior to his.

"Alright, listen up," Gaius turned to Flame specifically, "We are currently trying to find a path to the next section of the dungeon. There is no way of knowing where that is, so we'll have to rely on blind luck to get there. Until then, stay behind me and keep your eyes and ears open. And for the love of Arceus, do not stray off the main path."

And so, Flame heeded the advice. Just like he'd been told, he took the time to inspect every minute detail of these novel surroundings.

Distant chirps and buzzes echoed throught the forest, accompanied by the occasional crack of dried leaves, and crisp-like roots sprung out of the ground. A branch tore off from the trunk of a nearby tree just as he peered up, narrowly missing his face and forwarding more than a couple of questions about the forest's health status.

"I get the feeling a tree could fall on top of me at any moment…" Flame remarked openly, keeping a small amount of attention upwards as to safeguard against any further incoming objects.

"It won't," Alice said, "Trust me, I've traversed lots of dungeons, some in even more deplorable condition than here, and nothing major ever happened. Well, there was that one time though … Actually, never mind. I'm sure that doesn't count."

Just as she said that, they turned onto a small clearing—one that actually allowed sunlight in for a change. But the feature that immediately caught the eye, sitting right in the middle, was a set of pure-white marble stairs that jugged out of the layer of dried mud and leaves, and extended all the way to a thick aggregatation of the local flora, whereupon it blurred out of sight.

Not very far from it was a quadruped, purple pokémon covered with spikes with its back turned to them, seemingly too preoccupied with feasting lavishly upon the bloody carcass at its feet to notice the intruders.

Flame turned his head away from the sickly display, and Gaius slowly led them to the stairway, a claw held before his nose to call for silence.

As she started ascending, Alice turned when she noticed that Flame was still on the ground, not entirely convinced at what they were about to do.

"What are you doing?" Alice lowered her voice to a whisper, "We mustn't get separated. Hurry up here!"

"But … why are there stairs in the middle of a forest?" Flame asked doubtfully, "Where do they even—"

At this point, the Nidorino lapsed out of its savage lust just enough to discern that it was not quite alone anymore. It turned sharply, flashing its blood-dripping teeth and emitting a soft growl.

Seeing little point in objecting, Flame rushed up the steps.


Treehound Cove - 2F

His brain didn't really have the time to process what exactly had happened, but next thing he knew, he was in another clearing, finding it difficult to sustain himself with both legs, and the stairway had puffed out of existance.

"What?! H-how did we…" Flame stammered and racked up his thoughts, trying to make actual sense of what he just saw, "I'm honestly confused. We went up the stairs, and yet … this is still the same level? We went up … and at the same time we didn't…"

"Don't know," Alice answered with a shrug of her tail, "Nobody knows. It's like I told you: mystery dungeons don't make any sense. You just have to deal with whatever they throw at you."

He scratched his chin lightly; to be honest, the whole deal with the stairs was a little too ridiculous to digest, though her words echoed of truth after what he'd witnessed just now.

Gaius coughed forcibly to catch their attention. A sly grin was burned on his face, giving him an air of smugness. "Hey Flame, since I'm curious as to how well you'd fare with navigation, why don't you lead us through the floor?"

Flame's pupils dilated in surprise, taken aback by the offer. This was it, he realised, this was the way he was going to be judged!

"Wait, I don't think I should—"

"Come on, I'm sure you can handle that! Hell, I'll even let you choose the way. Left or right?" Gaius asked, alluding to the two only paths leading out of the muddy clearing.

I can't opt out. Otherwise he's going to think I'm a coward. Flame's head snapped alternatingly between the two exits. Considering he didn't have the slightest idea of which way the stairs were, he figured following his gut instinct was the best option he had.

"Uhhh … Left?"

"Left it is, then! Onwards!" Gaius echoed, uncharacteristically cheerful.

It might have been his imagination, it might not have been true, but Flame sensed a tone of ridicule in the way he said that. Not letting that thought torment him for too long, he took the path back into the forest, with his teammates now in tow. It was with pleasure that he noted how the terrain was generally dried and less muddy on this floor, and that rendered walking a more bearable activity. Despite that however, the smell of ongoing decay still tortured his nostrils, and the general sense of nervousness brought by the dungeon still persisted relentlessly.

How on earth am I supposed to lead them through here? He groaned mentally, All I know about this place is that it's dangerous and it makes no sense. Making me guide them around almost feels like a way for him to make a fool of me. That's exactly what this is all about, isn't it? He knows I won't be able to do it, and he's trying to find a reason to justify kicking me out. So my permanence on this team depends on this, too!

Still, it could have been worse, he supposed. For a starter, he was simultaneously puzzled and relieved that they hadn't encountered a single wild pokémon yet. Was it a stroke of luck, or was it conceivable that in truth they were being followed, and the enemy was patiently lingering for the right time to strike?

If he had to guess, it was probably the latter.

Eventually, they found themselves at a crossroads, two smaller paths branching off the main one. Flame looked down each passage, but could not find any distinguishing features that suggested going one way instead of the other. He was about to take a step towards the one to his right, when Alice stopped him.

"Hang on. See those vines?" Alice said, using her snout to point at a plant he hadn't really assigned any importance to. It was a mash of green and orange tendrils jutting out of the ground, almost like an out-of-water algae. With its relevance in his brain scaled up, he began to notice that there were many others as the path advanced.

"Carnivine. They pass themselves off as plants, and as soon as you get close you'll be swallowed whole. There are too many to sneak around. I suggest we go the other way."

Flame nodded in understanding. "All right. Thanks for the heads up."

Alice shook her head as if to say 'Why thank me? It's a pleasure to help you out."

Although she didn't say that aloud, Flame was at a loss for words. Instead, he merely smiled back and proceeded onwards.

Now more than ever he felt the nagging worry that something would go wrong; he could already picture the scenario: he would do something idiotic, an action or lack thereof that defied all reasonable logic. What if his teammates were to be put in danger by his ineptitude, or even worse, the entire mission would end up a big, epic fiasco?

That fear would soon be put to the test; not long after they headed deeper into the forest, a high-pitched battle cry sounded from behind them.

"Get down!" Flame shouted and ducked instinctively, just in time to feel something something feathered whizzing past his head. Alert, he rose back immediately and looked around to try and get a visual on the attacker, with the help of Gaius' directions.

"Pidgeotto! Twelve o' clock!"

By the time he spotted it, the bird was already turning back around, its wing coated by a sharp whiteish glow. It took Flame a second to realise something: it was diving right at him!

Suddenly finding himself deep in terror, his first instinctual response was to run, but he found his legs sluggish and unresponsive. Then, as the distance between them shrunk, the strategic portion of his brain imploded spontaneously. His heartbeat was already fluttering wildly when he reacted in the only way he could think of—raising his arms weakly to shield his face somewhat.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Alice draw her head and summon a small sphere of electricity between her jaws, but he ignored that and squeezed his eyes shut; the feral would strike his body any second now!

An audible buzz of static filled the air, followed by a loud squawking. No pain came.

Flame uncovered his eyes to see the Pidgeotto flapping its wings like a madman, veering to the side ungracefully—it almost crashed to the ground—and just barely avoiding the second net of electricity coming its way. Staying aloft solely on its forward momentum, the bird retreated into the narrow space between the thick vegetation, disappearing from sight.

"Stupid feral," Alice spat to no one in particular, "How did it shake my thunder wave off like that?"

"Is-is it gone?" Flame asked breathlessly, feeling his body tremble.

"No," Gaius claimed with an air of knowing, "Ferals don't just give up so easily. Watch your back, it might try and attack us from a better spot."

"O-okay…" Flame muttered uncertainly, suddenly becoming aware of the kind of message his body language must have been sending. He straightened his posture and hardened the expression on his face, but it was far too late.

"And don't think I didn't see that," Gaius hissed in barely contained anger, "You weren't even trying to strike back! Listen, I think it's coming back around; one flamethrower and you can bring this fight to an end … Gosh, do I need to be the one to tell you?"

Swallowing his pride, Flame drove his feet further into the ground to try and gain a better footing. His eyes wandered to every opening between the trees large enough for something to pass through. The Pidgeotto would storm back into battle at any moment, and he knew it.

Okay, Flame attempted to soothe his spirit, I can do this. I remember breathing fire back in the cave, so there's no reason for me not to do it again … Yeah, blast that thing right out of the sky!

Summoning all his mental strength, he closed his eyes and pictured a small tongue of fire crackling happily in his stomach, swaying left and right erratically. He imagined the flame growing bigger and bigger, his eagerness to impress his companions serving as imaginary fuel. The fire had grown enough to fill his belly, and then—!

"Khwaaahhhh!"

His eyes snapped open. For a second, fear corroded his concentration, but he barred it from taking control. Facing the direction of the battle cry, he saw the feral launching itself at him with all its stength, its beak enveloped in white light. This was it! His snout parted, he drew his breath deeply, imagined the fire growing and raging out of control, until…!

… Nothing happened.

If possible, Flame was even more frozen with fear than before. My fire breath! W-where?! Why can't I…? Oh, fu—

A heavy weight slammed into his chest, and just like that all the air was forcibly sucked out of his lungs. His body was pushed back a couple of feet and was well on its way to performing a backflip when he slammed his back painfully onto the ground.

Dazed, he lay there for ten seconds or so, before sitting up as soon as he regained his mental bearings—what was he doing, only lazing about while his teammates were still fighting!

However, they didn't seem to necessitate his help. Even though a second Pidgeotto seemed to have joined the fray, his companions managed to dispose of them with only marginal difficulty; the first flew straight into Alice's short but concentrated burst of cobalt flames and consequently spiralled out of control, before plummeting into a nearby bush. Its shrieks of pain from being set alight didn't stop even after it hit the ground. Shortly afterwards Gaius managed to leap up and deliver the second bird a sharp cut with his leaf blade, slicing through wing tissue and bones and causing it to crash-land a short distance away. It scurried away in a trail of blood, nursing its disabled wing.

Team Phalanx was only granted peace when the first Pidgeotto's screeching met an abrupt halt; then, silence befell.

Sluggishly, Flame alternated looks between his teammates, and then looked back at himself. The wild pokémon's attack hadn't actually hurt him that much; the damage was confined to a shallow cut running along his upper chest, where his protected layers of scales seemed to have held strong for the most part. The gravest blow, however, had been dealt to something else.

"You useless piece of…" Gaius stopped short of insulting him, clenched fists seething with resentment, "What the hell is wrong with you? Why stand there like an idiot instead of using your fire breath?"

Flame felt himself shrink before his grievousness. "I-I tried … I swear I did, but the fire w-wouldn't come!"

"Why, I must have forgotten that you South dwellers are kept so sheltered that your parents don't even bother teaching you the most basic moves!"

"Gaius, cut him some slack," Alice said in an annoyed tone, "It's probably his first time in combat, so stop making such a fuss about everything. We haven't even cleared the second floor yet!"

Gaius' jaw tensed so earnestly that Flame thought he was forcefully denying exit to the stream of colourful insults stacked in his mind.

"Fine, you win. Let's just go."

Much to Flame's thankfulness, the stairs leading to the next section of the dungeon only required ten or so minutes of walking, rousing the hope that Gaius would transfer focus back to the mission and away from his actions during the battle. Yet, he felt the Grovyle's burning gaze char the back of his skull at alternating intervals, and couldn't help but wonder whether his judgment was already set in stone.


Treehound Cove - 4F

The next two floors went by relatively smoothly, a fact that seemed to surprise even his teammates. Only a handful of wild pokémon stumbled across Team Phalanx's path, and all of them were dispatched of in an orderly fashion by either Alice's ranged attacks or Gaius' leaf blade slashes. Flame would have readily been eager to throw himself into battle, even in the line of fire should such a risky tactic have been deemed necessary, anything to clear himself of his now-blackened slate.

Except he couldn't. Shortly after they gained entry to the third floor, Alice had addressed him personally. Regrettably, she advised him to try and keep a distance from any sort of fighting for now, and to instead remain safe in the sidelines while he slowly assimilated tactics and behaviours to mimic from watching the two of them—combat experience, she had called it.

He preferred 'nuisance control'.

It was clear that she meant all the good in the world, that her intentions were unquestionably benign. Yet he still couldn't help but feel like a purposeless fixture whenever a wild pokémon showed up, doing nothing but sit there collecting dust.

"So…" Flame started, munching half-heartedly on the half-rotting apple he'd picked as they climbed up a steep hillside, "How much longer do we have to go? Just how big is this place?"

"I'm not sure, actually," Alice confessed, "Dungeons are always shifting, so the number of floors never stays consistent. It shouldn't be much longer before we get to where those researchers disappeared. If we're lucky, the next floor might just be the last."

Flame grimaced in revulsion and let the barely edible apple fall out of his hold. He'd chewed on the parts that were still somewhat safe to eat, but the rest of the fruit was just too abhorring to even touch—the flies certainly didn't help with that feeling.

Why have I become so hungry ever since entering this place? Flame cursed the mystery dungeon and all its oddities, It would help if all the food around here wasn't already in a state of decay…

"Hey!" Alice exclaimed suddenly, "Look over there! Is that a Sitrus Berry?"

Sure enough, dangling from a poking tree branch, were about a dozen yellow, pear-shaped berries. Most of them were rotten beyond edibility, as testified by the colony of insects swarming around them and the mold that was beginning to form, but Alice had her eyes settled on a ripe one that sat on the ground.

"Holy Arceus…" Gaius said excitedly and picked the fruit up, "I thought these things went extinct! I could make a good buck from selling this. Or maybe save somebody from near death," he chuckled, as if not taking that last part seriously himself.

Flame stood quiet and didn't make any attempt to talk, and soon they were back on their course, with one extra fruit in their sacks.


Treehound Cove - 5F

"Uhhh… Alice? Gaius?"

Something was wrong. Just a moment ago he'd been climbing up the newest set of stairs right behind his teammates. Now, he saw that he was standing in yet another clearing, alone.

"Guys? Are you there?" he raised his voice, looking around in growing uneasiness. The only lifeforms acknowledging his yell were a pair of Pidgey that fluttered away rapidly fom their tree branch.

Oh, great, now I'm lost. How did this happen? They must be around here somewhere. They must be…

An audible stirring rattled a nearby bush, and the unfriendly face of a Nidorino peeked out, locking eyes with him.

Not intending to stick around to find out what it wanted from him, Flame turned around and took the nearest path, kickstarting his plans to rendezvous with his teammates. Just to play it safe, he made sure his pace was moderated to a sort of hasty walking, in the likely event that the Nidorino would interpret running away as an open invite to give chase and maim him.

Everything seems to be okay, Flame reasoned as he kept striding on the dark, muddy path, Alice and Gaius can't be very far. I just have to keep looking.

For a split second, he thought he'd heard a subtle rustling from somewhere behind him, but a jerk of his head revealed absolutely nothing. He shut his eyes briefly and forced himself to march ahead, repeating reassuring phrases in his mind and ignoring the lurking shadow that his brain was already creating of its own accord.

There's nothing there. It's not following me. It's not following m—

"Grrrrrr…"

It is following me, isn't it?

Not looking back, he sprinted ahead into the shrubbery that flanked the path, completely discarding Gaius' warning from the first floor. Crashing through all types of plants, Flame never slowed down for a good five minutes or so.

By the time he stopped, his scales were dotted with scratches and livids. Panting, he briefly cut off his breathing to listen for any possible sign that he was still being stalked. He drew a sigh of relief after a full thirty seconds passed without a Nidorino lunging at his throat. Wow … I ran really far. Somehow didn't start a forest fire, too. Now, where was I?

Paws on hips, he quickly noted that the intricate vegetation cocooned him entirely now. He couldn't have spotted a pathway even if he wanted to. Just how far had he ran? Alice's distressing words suddenly came back to him; would he end up lost forever, eventually becoming one of the primitive ferals that roamed the dungeon in the thousands?

Fortunately though, some of aimless wandering revealed that the land under his feet bulged gradually upwards, and it kept doing so the more he advanced. An idea crossed his mind: if there was a hill somewhere up ahead, maybe he could climb to the top and scout the landscape for his companions!

Flame harboured sincere doubts that the dungeon would lend him such an easy way out of his problem, but there wasn't much else he could do as of right now.

With a deep breath, he carefully peered into the rough path ahead. Crouching under yet another spiny branch, he noticed that there was a roughly circular hole cut out on the sloping hillside, almost resembling a small cavern. The ceiling could barely accomodate the horn on the back of his head.

What is this doing here? Looks like it's been dug out by someone. Flame thought as he stopped at the tunnel's threshold, holding his tail ahead of him to provide illumination, I guess there's no harm in giving a quick peek…

When he got half-way through the tunnel, a sharp gasp escaped his jaws. There, under the wavering light of his tail flame, was a Breloom. Or at least, what used to be a Breloom.

Its whole body—carcass, rather—was tainted by a greyish hue from head to toe, and patches of some kind of fungal growth were starting to form in various places. The eyes, almost too dry to be called so, lacked a distinguishable pupil. Strewn beside the Breloom was a rucksack not unlike the one his teammates wore, and a booklet laying cover-up with its pages open.

Dear goodness… Flame flinched his head away from the crude sight, Poor guy. I wonder if this was one of the researchers we're looking for…

Unwilling to fact-check that theory personally, he instead squatted down and grabbed the strap of the bag, before slinging it over his shoulder. If his current situation could truly be classified as being lost, he figured having a bag with possibly helpful supplies would grant him better odds than having none.

A quick inspection concluded that the bag contained some strange orbs and some kind of map, but the lid was sealed once again. He'd investigate the exact nature of its contents later, right now they didn't matter much.

Next, he reached down for the booklet. Actually, it was more of a diary—at least judging by the title imprinted on its cover: Foundation Record Log, Dr Elmore.

Twisting the journal around with one paw and bringing the tip of his tail closer with the other, Flame began reading. The most recent entry was writen in a confused, shaky writing, as if the author had been seized by a brief state of hysteria. Though mostly smeared, the untidy scrawl that could still be read wasn't any more encouraging.

theyll kill me I cant run theyll latch onto my head ascension I cant run they always latch onto the head ascension theyll––

After that, the entry was unreadable. Right away, a choking knot formed in Flame's throat. He needed to get out of there this very instant. All the psycho babble scrabbled down by the diary's former owner pointed overwhelmingly to there being something that threatened his (or her—Flame couldn't really tell) life, and a quick glance at the decomposing corpse equated to a compelling scream for him to throw everything away and leg it; he might be in critical danger right now!

Just as he was about to turn around and rush out of the tunnel, the light deriving from his tail briefly illuminated something of interest standing hidden deeper in the tunnel. It was an orange, insectoid creature, just barely within reach of his feeble light source to distinguish from the dirt walls. The foremost of its six legs were larger in size, almost scythe-like, and lumps of fungal growths seemed to have taken residence all over its carapace, especially near the two mushrooms that grew out of it. The creature didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that its cover had been blown; it just stood there, watching.

Flame stood still in uncertainty. The Paras, unsettling as it was just spying on him with its little eyes, didn't look like much of a threat, nor was it making any active attempts to assault him. However, despite that, the foremost thought in his mind was to get out of this forest alive and successful in his task, and he was not willing to offer his life up for grab, most certainly not to a disgusting arthropod.

Flame half-threw the journal away in his new bag and turned on his heel, hurriedly walking away in the same fashion that worked oh-so-well not fifteen minutes prior. Sure enough, the clicking of bug-like legs reached his ears from behind soon after, and already cold sweat started leaking from his scales. He almost felt pathetic for being scared of a bug so much smaller than him. But with his fire breath essentially a non-option, how was he supposed to defend himself?

Flame flung his body around. "S-stand back! Don't get any closer!"

That warning was little more than a vestigial action, of course. His words must have been little more than strangely articulated sounds to the Paras, of whom the chances of having any sort of meaningful intelligence were abysmal. Still, he hoped that showing some sort of dominance over the situation would scare it enough to let him get away.

Just as Flame held his tail up to grant him better sight, he saw that the Paras had leaped towards him and was already in mid-air, shrilling in a primal show of intimidation. Before he could figure out what was happening, the Paras had already slammed its weight on top of his cranium and covered his eyes, ears and just about the entirety of his head.

Flame cried out in fright and stumbled backwards as the Paras' foreclaws tried to dig into his shoulders for better grip, and some hidden appendage on its belly pressed against his cranium in an attempt to drill a hole in it.

Having lost basically all perception of balance to fear, Flame tripped on his own legs and fell to the ground, never stopping with his attempts to scratch or dislodge the Paras from his head. He began thrashing violently and rolling on the floor left and right,the pain from his cranium only increasing every second that passed.

At last, in a feat of desperation, the primal portion of his psyche had the good sense to slam his head against the wall. He heard the carapace crack open and its insides splatter crudely against the wall, squeezing one last screech from the drying bug. It subsequently lost grip on his body and fell to the ground, oozing a greenish liquid.

Flame rubbed off as much of that substance as he could from his head, but the strong scent remained nonetheless. He already knew, as he'd mused before entering this tunnel, that the dungeon would leave him naught time to recuperate; plenty of shrills answered the call to arms from the tunnel's depths, and an army of little legs tickling noisily edged ever closer. The entire tunnel must have been a nest to the blighters!

Wasting no time, he strapped his bag tighter and rushed out of the cave and into the forest, never looking back. Even in the thick shrubbery, the Paras were appearing in ever increasing numbers. They came out of every hollow tree trunk, every little hole in the ground. There might have hundreds, thousands! For all he knew, the whole floor was a Paras nest!

After what must have been ten minutes, but felt like hours, Flame entered a clearing, and a sweet sight embraced his eyes: his friends were there!

"Flame!" Alice noticed him first, her face alleviating in a smile, "Thank gosh you're safe! What happened? Are you okay?"

Not even the Paras back there could have ripped the smile off his face at the sight of them. "I-I'm okay. I think…"

"What's with that bag?" Gaius asked him, denying the monologue of how thankful he was that wished to stream out of his mouth on its own accord.

"Oh. This? I found it on somebody's corpse. I think it may have been one of the reaserchers we were sent to look for. The guy's journal said something about a doctor…"

Alice's eyes lit up. "A diary? That's perfect! Finally, we can get out of this place!"

"Yes, but did you have to wake every Paras under the goddamn sun in the process?" Gaius scowled, "And what did I tell you about veering off the main paths?"

Flame's answer was cut off by the sight of multiple Paras peering their heads out of the shrubbery, clicking their little teeth together in quasi-mocking.

"Hang on—you led them straight to us!" Gaius realised angrily.

"Oh, shut it! There's no time to bicker; the exit is nearby!" Alice hushed both of them, "Move!"

Flame couldn't have thought of a better plan. He didn't need to turn his head, as they ran, to figure out that there were at least a couple dozen Paras swarming the clearing and converging to their location. But the impending doom did nothing to erode their pace; safety was within an arm's length!

They dashed into a new, bigger clearing. The entire wall of shrubbery on one appeared to be distorted, shaky, almost like a waterfall with no discernible source above. It must have been the exit! Flame sent more energy to his legs to double his speed. Only a little longer, and he'd be—!

Green tendrils wrapped around his leg.

The sudden halt caused him to tumble backwards from the loss of momentum, but the brief second his eyes connected with the creature was more than enough for him to realise what had him immobilised.

A Carnivine.

The predatory plant 's head emerged from the earth suddenly while he tried his best to scuttle away, completely erasing from his mind the hordes of Paras behind that would rejoice at the chance to take a bite out of him.

Flame let out a cutting shriek when he felt the Carnivine dig into his leg, sharp teeth tearing through his scales as though they were paper and lacerating muscle tissue.

That was when he lost all control of his own body. Without even thinking, his throat muscles clamped much in the same fashion as when one is about to vomit, and a bright, scorching jet of fire streamed out of his mouth and toward the Carnivine's ample head.

For thirty seconds straight it kept up, until his breathing reflex forced him to stop due to the lack of oxygen in his system. Finally, he collapsed on the spot panting; the insides of his mouth burnt horribly and his head felt as if it were spinning wildly on its axis.

"Flame! Flame! Are you alright!?" Alice's voice appeared to be far away, yet she was standing right above him, trying to stop the warm blood that streamed from the tear in his leg.

Through his hazy vision, he could see that the Carnivine had been utterly pulverised from his relentless attack, and the Paras mob was nowhere to be seen, presumably—at least to what extent his limited mental capacity allowed him to guess—frightened away by the boiling rise in temperature and the scorching flames.

Alice soon abandoned her attempts to stop the bleeding, and quickly slung his arm over her neck to act as a support to hold him upright.

"Don't worry, Flame. You're going to be alright. Gaius, help me out over here! Before they come back!"

Flame felt an arm gripping his other side, and could do nothing further than press his head against the Dragonair's body for relief while they limped him through the last few metres to safety. He barely even felt the wave of gelid cold gripping his body as his consciousness slowly faltered.


End of Chapter III