THE VALLEY BELOW WIND

It was the day after Team Enforcers had arrived at the Valley Before Wind village. Now they were eating the breakfast Alice had prepared in their hotel suite. "Are you sure these toasted sandwiches haven't been poisoned?" Seth asked sceptically. He had forgotten what Alice had told to him a couple of days ago. Alice gave Seth a sweet and evil smile. "Seth, would you like me demonstrate one of clan traditions?" Seth considered this for a moment, remembered what Alice had said before and started eating his breakfast as quickly as he could. He didn't bother to swallow.

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Now Team Enforcers were having a walk around the village because they were bored. The village was a very modern one, most of the houses were made of wood and the hotel they were staying in only had a few light bulbs. Seth thought that this was lame. Gaia disagreed; he thought that the fresh air and lack of tarmac was rather refreshing. As they rounded a corner, they saw a Kirlia and a Grumpig staggering towards them, both bruised and weary. It was Team Psyclone. "Holy crap!" Gaia exclaimed, "What happened to you two?" Immediately Alex screamed "GAIA-DEAR!" and went tearing after the Grovyle. Unfortunately, her injuries were too severe and she fell to the ground like a ton of bricks. What the hell...thought Gaia. "We were attacked by a shiny Umbreon..." rasped Zyphra. She too fell to the ground like her partner. "Aw, crud." said Seth. He ran over to the fallen Psychic Pokémon and applied glowing palms to their foreheads. "How are they?" asked Gaia. "They'll be fine. A good night's sleep should fix them up. But..." Seth turned to his leader, "Who do you think that Shiny Umbreon was? Never heard of anyone like that." Gaia shook his head. He didn't know, "Alice, do you know?" Alice closed her eyes and thought for a while. "Yeah...I think I may have heard about her."

"Her?"

"That's right. I think that Umbreon was Nasuada, the Criminal Queen of the Night. She's a very dangerous outlaw, with a rank of 5 stars." Seth clicked his fingers. "Oh, yeah. That' right. I have heard of her. Dammit Gaia, what do we do now?"

"We take the both of them to a hospital. I have a feeling that they won't be joining us for the rest of expedition. Alice, can you carry them?" Alice nodded and slung Zyphra and Alex over her shoulders. "Dear Arceus," she grumbled, "Alex is heavy."

"One more thing," Gaia stated, "When we go home, we won't be going through Burning Plains."

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After Team Enforcers had successfully dumped Zyphra and Alex at the local hospital, they met up with the other teams and Master Dusk. "Hey loser," Don said "What happened to Team Psyclone?"

"Oh, nothing," Gaia said calmly, "We just dropped them off at the hospital."

"You haven't exactly answered my question, idiot."

"They got attacked by Nasauda," Don stared at Gaia in shock. "What?"

"What?"

"Did you say that Team Psyclone was attacked by Nasauda, the Criminal Queen of the Night?"

"I did. So?"

"That's horrible!"

"I'm aware of that. But panicking isn't going to make things better. Besides, we're on a expedition, not a bounty hunt."

"It's good to see that everyone's getting along," Master Dusk interrupted Gaia and Don's conversation cheerfully. Gaia couldn't figure out whether he was being serious or sarcastic, "But now's not the time for idle chatter. We have plans to do. I'm sure that you all know why we're here?" All of the teams nodded, "Good, because the final stage of the expedition starts now! I want all of you to gear up and then enter the Valley Below Wind dungeon. If you see anything remotely suspicious or strange, contact myself or Sensei Embers immediately! Dismissed!" The teams scattered into different directions.

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"Oh man, I am so excited! Hurry up Gaia, let's go already!" Seth was bouncing about with excitement (annoying Alice at the same time) and urging the Grovyle to go, as he stood in front of the Kangakstan Rock getting their supplies ready. "Could you please shut up?" Alice scowled, "This is a serious expedition, not one of your video games!"

"I know, I know, but think of the things that we could find! Gold! Jewels! Ancient Artifacts! We could be famous!"

"You do realize that there has been many expeditions to the Valley Below Wind in the past, and all of those failed?" Gaia said. "Damn you, Gaia! Why do you keep ruining my fun!"

"Because this is like Alice said, rather serious." Gaia zipped up his bag and put it on his back. "I'm ready, let's go."

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Team Super Cool were at a local shop, waiting in the queue for supplies. "Do you have any Reviver Seeds?" asked Janua. "No, sorry." said the Arcanine shopkeeper. Janua glared at him, punched him on the nose (causing the shopkeeper to howl in pain) then stalked away angrily. "Was that really necessary?" Mitt questioned when Janua got back to her team. "I'm sorry," Janua sighed, "It's just that it really pisses me off! We don't have any Reviver Seeds! That could mean that we fail the entire mission!"

"Let's ask if any of the other teams have Reviver Seeds." Raydir suggested. So they went searching for the other teams. When they asked Team Claw, the members of that team merely scoffed and told them to get lost. Team Don had already entered the dungeon so that they beat Gaia. When Team Super Cool met with Team Enforcers, Mitt dropped to his knees and begged, "Please Gaia, Seth and Alice, will you give us some Reviver Seeds?" This caused much embarrassment for Janua and Raydir. Gaia, Seth and Alice stared at Mitt with huge sweat drops on their faces. "You know Mitt," Gaia said slowly, "You don't have to do that."

"Sorry, I've always wanted to try that out. Anyway, can we borrow some Reviver Seeds?" Gaia thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He reached into his bag and took out some small yellow seeds. "Here you go."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" Mitt grabbed the seeds with two of his hands and started doing a little dance. More embarrassment for Janua and Raydir. "Uh...yeah, we'll be going now." Team Enforcers entered the dungeon.

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Meanwhile, the Altaria that had attacked Team Enforcers in the Blue Mountains was watching the scene and was killing himself laughing. Unfortunately (or fortunately) no-one could hear him unless he chose to. "Oh dear Arceus," he cackled, "That was hilarious! I haven't laughed this hard since that incident with Yuxai!" The Altaria wiped a tear from his eye, "Anyway, it seems those three are entering the dungeon, eh? I better get everything ready? After all, I wouldn't want them to miss it." He disappeared in a swirl of clouds.

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The Valley Below Wind Dungeon was, to put it simply, bleak and barren. The treacherous wind currents that usually flowed down here ripped away most plant life. Only a few grasses survived. "Even in a place full of wind currents," Seth noted, "There's still Pokémon."

"Come on Seth," Gaia urged, "Let's go."

"Coming!" The three of them started walking through the dungeon. On the first floor, Alice picked up 45 Poke and got shocked by a Xatu's Psychic attack. Seth defeated it with a Shadow Claw. Gaia found that the Xatu had been concealing the stairs underneath its body. He motioned the others to follow and ran up them. On the second floor, Alice Slashed a Murkrow that had used Wing Attack on Gaia. Seth picked up a Heal Seed that was in the room. After walking down a path south-east of the room they were just in them, they found the stairs room. On the third floor, they fought a Staraptor that landed some heavy blows onto the team. Gaia eventually defeated it with a well-aimed Thunderpunch but it was clear that he was suffering. "Eat this!" Alice tossed Gaia an Oran berry. The Grovyle caught it in his mouth and swallowed it. "Thanks Alice."

"Let's go!" They continued exploring. After a few encounters with some Taillows and finding a Warp Orb, they found stairs and went up them. On the fourth floor, they found the stairs without any incident. On the fifth floor, Gaia took a single step forward when the ground under him caved in. "Whoa!" Gaia instantly jumped back and got into a guarding stance. He then felt rather silly when he saw that some stairs had emerged. "Hidden stairs?" Gaia said, "I guess we better go in."

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Team Don had just finished the 25-floor valley below wind dungeon and now they were at the other side of the valley. "Hey," Wart cried, "There's nothing here except a few rocks!"

"Back to the dungeon we go!" Don declared, "We can't let team Enforcers outdo us!"

"Right!"

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When Gaia, Seth and Alice emerged from the stairs, the found themselves on the high ground that overlooked the valley. "Where are we?" Alice asked nobody in particular. "Who cares? Check out this slab!" Seth was peering at a nearby stone slab. Gaia was with him, "There's something written on the slab," Gaia noted, "The power of the wind lies within the tower. Huh. Wonder what that means." Gaia reached out a brushed the stone slab with his hand. All of a sudden, the ground began shaking violently. "Gaia," Alice growled, "What the hell did you just do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Gaia looked like a child who had just been caught stealing cookies. "Quite daydreaming you two and run!" Seth screamed.

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The whole of the Valley Below Wind was in panic. Well, everyone except for Master Dusk and Sensei Embers. They were trained to handle such situations in a calm and orderly fashion, even though something like this happened once in a blue moon. "What is going on?" Master Dusk whispered.

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Team Super Cool was exploring through the tenth floor of the dungeon when an earthquake happened. Chunks of stone dropped from the ceiling and Raydir, Janua and Mitt had to run around to avoid them. "We're leaving!" Raydir shouted and used and Escape Orbs. Pillars of light teleported the three of them out of the dungeon and into relative safety.

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Gaia, Seth and Alice were running away when the tremors stopped. Cautiously, Gaia turned around and gaped. "Wow. Look at that!" Seth and Alice turned around and also gaped. A blue tower with carving of Flying-type Pokémon had risen from the ground. It seemed to touch the sky. Seth saw a large inscription on the front of the tower reading: Tower of the Wind. "Dear Arceus," Gaia said in a hushed voice, "This must be the secret of the Valley Below Wind." He turned to his teammates with an excited look on his face. No-one had ever seen him like this. "Come on guys, let's go! We have to find out what's at the top!" They hurried into the tower.

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Meanwhile, the Altaria looked down at Team Enforcers with an amused look on his face. It was strange how the young Grovyle reminded him so much a dear friend he once had...