(Merla)
The dark mist seeped through the air, convulsing as it swept through the room. It caressed the family's possessions with great care. Rax's old toys, her mother's fireproof books, and her father's potted plants were all touched. As the mist touched the possessions, it warped them. Toys became statuettes of horror. Books filled with nightmarish imagery, imagery that would shatter the mind. And the potted plants… Best not to talk about them.
Rax watched her from his position in the rafters, his fear obvious. Merla could sense him as he tried to avoid touching the mist. He was a fool - the mist wasn't bound by the rules of matter. It could pass through anything.
Merla, in vain, tried to hold the mist, the miasma, back, but she continued to fail as it spread throughout the room. She didn't have enough energy to call it back to her at the time.
(Although, she was curious what her mother's book would read in its corrupted form. After a second's thought, she decided that she was better off gathering energy. She would need it for the eventual tug-of-war against the miasma.)
"Merla?"
Merla whipped around, and everything - Rax, the room, the miasma - flew out of focus. Glacia was looking at her in askance. Her lady whipped her head around as she tried to view everything (she avoided the plants, though).
"What… is this where…?"
Merla smiled with a note of sorrow. "Yes, my lady. This was the house I lived in when I was younger."
"... a bit dreadful, isn't it?" Glacia commented, with no small amount of nervousness - she, like all others, feared the Miasma. Merla remembered the dream in which Glacia saved her somewhat, the one that came true.
Calling it a dream would be somewhat inaccurate, though. That rocky world where they had fought against the Miasma was still accessible. Merla could leave into it any time. Through raw luck, she was in the rocky world at the time she had met Glacia. They had been able to purge the Miasma from within her because of it.
Merla had a few theories about why the rocky world was special. But she decided that they were too insubstantial to take note of.
In the meantime…
"Yes, the miasma was awful." Merla gestured around her. "I only know what a normal family looks like because I read books often. They were the books that I managed to keep the Miasma from corrupting."
Lady Glacia didn't seem very pleased with the scenery, so Merla decided to exit the dream. Rax, the miasma, it all disappeared as they appeared back in the rocky world. Merla looked at the veins running through the world. Glacia postulated that this place represented her mind. Merla prayed it wasn't so.
It would mean she would have to confront why her mind looked so… barren.
Lady Glacia gasped. "Back here again?"
Merla nodded. "Where would you like to go?"
Glacia considered the question for a few seconds, catching her breath.
Then she spoke. "I… I remember that the first time I was here I saved you from the Miasma. I replaced Catal from that disk-like thing. A copy of me appeared there, right? I wish to see it again."
Merla nodded, and they were off.
They walked back to where she had used to pray and worship Catal. Even now she looked at that period with disgust, remembering the… lengths… she had to go to please him. Merla supposed she should be glad Catal only had a god complex and nothing else.
They reached the disk. There, instead of Catal, glowed an ethereal version of Glacia. Her skin was lustrous, her eyes beacons in an unforgiving world.
The real Glacia gazed at the prettier version. The prettier version gave them both cold, hard looks. It was reminiscent of Catal, in some way.
Finally, Glacia spoke up. "Why do I… look like this?"
Merla didn't know what to say. If Glacia was right, this would be Merla's mental representation of Glacia.
As if reading her thoughts (which might be possible in this world) Glacia continued. "Am I this… angel… to you?"
The prettier version only glared harder.
"I don't know." The fake stared at them some more before it sniffed and snubbed them.
Glacia was silent for a minute. Then, her voice wavering, she asked another question. "Do I look this… cold?"
Merla didn't know how to respond. There was no simple answer to that question, after all.
The events at the tournament, with Catal's Torment and the Miasma, had thrown everything back to the way it was. It had thrown it to the way Merla feared. Merla was alone with the Miasma once again, and it had flown back into her. She had resisted it, and Vinia had managed to burn the Miasma away, but she could feel vestiges of it in her system.
She had checked her mind for any remnants of the Miasma and found small pockets of it.
She had burned it away. Immediately.
Now there was no Miasma left in her, but she still felt infected. Merla was thinking of pranking Catal. She might as well put some of the skills he taught her to good use, and what better target than the teacher himself. It would be a good revenge, either way- Merla knew that Catal was the source of the Miasma.
Merla berated herself - why wasn't she suspicious of Catal? He happened to have a glowing rock that could suppress the Miasma - how could she have been so stupid!
Merla shook herself, bringing herself back to the situation at hand. "I…" she tried to form.
Merla's mouth was dry, and she found that she couldn't move her mouth very well. She knew that she should tell Lady Glacia, as she had asked, but…
Merla raced to the boundary line - Tom could hurt Lady Glacia!
"Merla… stop." Glacia's whisper echoed throughout the arena! Merla immediately snapped to attention, forgetting what she was there for. Lady Glacia needed something of her!
"Yes, my lady?" Merla attempted to sound as subservient as possible, which was new for her.
Then Merla chances upon a look at Glacia's face, and what she saw chilled her. A dead, dark view, holding nothing but that all-too-familiar hatred. Merla could almost feel the oppressing Miasma in the air
"Merla." Glacia's voice, laced with poison, asked. "Do you think I'm incapable? Of… not being able to win?"
"N-no…?"
"Then why are you here? I didn't ask for your help… and I didn't want it." Glacia dismissed her with hate broiling in her eyes. "Leave, you bother… I'm going to finish this Arceus-cursed fight."
"Bother…"
"Bother…"
"BOTHER…"
"BOTHER…"
Glacia's rejection echoed louder in her head, reverberating and giving her a headache. Merla shivered and held herself back. She could almost hear it sounding out loud in the rocky world of her mind.
No, she could hear it!
Glacia's pale and cruel rejection sounded throughout the world. It went "bother, bother, bother, bother". Every time Merla heard another consecutive "bother", she curled up further into herself.
The luminescent Glacia on the pedestal shook and crumbled. The cold smile turned hostile and bared its teeth at her.
"Stop!"
Glacia's voice - her real voice - cut through the din in her mind. Almost immediately the echoes fell to a constant murmur in the back of her mind. Merla paid full attention to Glacia.
Glacia was shaking and sweating, her fur matted from sweating. But that was nothing compared to the room on her face.
Glacia was afraid.
In the month that they had been together she had been Merla's shining beacon of hope, her last island. Whenever Merla had felt sad (which was often), she would look upon Glacia's face and see raw determination. Whether it be in studying or practicing moves or even debating with Vinia - she never felt fear.
The notion of Glacia in fright - it rocked her to the core. Sure enough, images of Glacia's frightened face adorned every surface of the rock. Like demented mirrors, Glacia's visage of terror faced her no matter where she turned.
Glacia saw this too, and this time Merla could see sadness on her face.
"Why is my being… scared so important to you?"
Merla could have answered in many ways. She could have said it was because Glacia was her Lady. She could have said it was because Glacia was her friend. She could have lied and said it didn't matter. But her mind took the liberty of answering for her, in a most unsatisfactory way.
A new mantra echoed - "You're safe now, Merla - I'm going to be here for you." It echoed over and over again. Every time Merla heard it she felt a little more confident, a little stronger, a little more ready.
The real Glacia spun around, hearing her past-self promise safety to Merla again and again. She teared up. "Merla… why?"
"You are my everything." It wasn't said in the way trashy romance novels she had read once or twice usually depicted. Instead of a tearful male or female pokemon reciting it to a lover, it was a slave to her master, for that's what she was.
"You are not." Merla jumped a foot into the air. Glacia looked at her with an intense gaze. For a moment, Merla couldn't breathe.
"You are not my slave, and I am not your master. It was a… mistake… of mine to let those notions fester in your head." Glacia admitted with reluctance. "It was a mistake, Merla. I shouldn't have let you rely on me so much."
"But… I…" Merla tried to form words, but couldn't. Luckily, the rocky world substituted for her. It showed images of Glacia staring at her with malice and dropping off a cliff. On second thought, the images could go die a painful death.
Glacia ignored the images. "Merla, I am not abandoning you. I will never in my right mind abandon you - never. I was… angry and upset with you on the day of our tournament, and the Miasma took control of that, turned me against you. I'm not a bastion of hope, either - I'm as mortal as you are, and hold… fears… of my own." Glacia bit the last part out.
Merla didn't know what to think. She tried to straighten her thoughts. "I… why were you angry and upset with me?" Merla clung to what Glacia had said earlier. If she could figure out the problem and identify and crush it, everything would go back to normal!
Glacia replied with care. "You… attacked my… pride." She admitted the last bit in a whisper. Merla couldn't see why. "You were much stronger than I was. Yet, you forfeited to me because I was too weak to hurt you; because you losing on purpose was the only way I could win." The confessions came in intermittent pauses.
Merla felt her breath stop. Glacia had known about the deception. Merla had been able to recognize that Glacia wanted a good, fair fight. Merla knew, though, that if they fought for real, she would have won with ease.
"I know it… wasn't my fault that you managed to beat me. You were better than me, and I'm coming around to accepting that. But… at the tournament, I hadn't understood that - not to the degree I have now, at least. I thought that even if I lost, I would at least force you to desperation or something like that. I hadn't expected the utter defeat.
"It made me feel like… I wasn't good enough. Like I needed help to win any sort of fight. I felt angry, upset… hurt. The Torment afterward weakened me further. It made me more susceptible to the poisonous ranting of my mind.
"It came to a head with the battle against Tom. I felt desperate and angry, and I don't think I was thinking straight. All I could think about was winning, to restore my pride, to remove my doubts, to… prove… to myself that I wasn't helpless. To prove to myself that I didn't need to have my paw held.
"When Tom turned the tables with that glowing… Pain Split?..., and you came to my aid, I couldn't suppress my anger anymore. I had to snap at you. I had to... relieve… some of the tension."
Merla could only shake, the ground tremoring along with her.
Glacia recognized this. "Yeah, I know, that's a weak apology. It's all true, though. I was angry with you, but it was more my fault than yours. The day before yesterday, I was the one at fault.
"But right now, this scares me." Glacia waved to the entirety of the rocky world, and a spike of panic ran through Merla. "My words… they have an effect on you. Too much of an effect on you. I've seen loyal servants, had loyal servants, but they would have been afraid of this as well."
"My words… they shouldn't affect you this much. As my servant, they should have some effect on you, but this is ridiculous. One bad word from me and your world will crumble around you."
Merla couldn't speak, spellbound by Glacia.
"I need to help you, Merla. You need more pokemon helping you. If I have another bad day and I forget to moderate my words, your world shouldn't crumble around you. I'm not much of a Conkeldurr, but even I know that you need more than one pillar to support a building. Right now, I'm your only pillar - and every time I crumble, you crumble along with me."
Merla's mouth was dry again, rasping. "More Pokemon helping me?"
Glacia nodded with resolution. "Friends, Merla. Friends. Tom and Vinia told me how they tried to help you, to be a friend, but you rejected them in favor of serving me. I've had servants before, but as far as I could tell they had a social life as well. I had a Musharna called Sharon, who was my closest confidant and my most loyal friend."
"If I demeaned her, mocked her, she wouldn't throw a fit, her life in disarray. She would have taken it and later accepted my apology. That's what I need you to be, Merla. Not a mindless slave whose only purpose is to do my bidding, but a servant, a friend. I need someone I can rely on when everything is crumbling around me."
Things cleared up in Merla, the turbulence calming down. "You want me to be your… friend?" It was strange. Merla thought, from the days of Catal, that a friend was someone who did the dirty work and served the other friend.
Glacia nodded. " But I don't want you to be only my friend, but also to be Tom's friend, and Vinia's friend, and Naetle's friend, and Shift's friend. I need you to be able to rely on more than me, in case I fall. I need you to have more than one pillar, Merla - because if I fall, you fall too."
Merla sweatdropped. "I… need time. I don't think I can do this right now, Lady Glacia"
Glacia was beginning to emit sparks of light. "It's alright, Merla. You can have some time. We'll work on your friendships later, but I'm feeling myself start to disappear. It's time for me to wake up, now. Let's go and relax, for now." With that, Glacia disappeared into a shower of lights.
Merla decided that this rocky world didn't serve her tastes. She followed Glacia into wakefulness.
(Tom)
Tom trudged to Team Ness's room, feeling exhausted. He wasn't able to go to train with Alice the night after the tournament due to the pain caused by the Sand Attack. Alice demanded to know why - and when he told her the reason, she was livid.
"She what?"
"She flung dirt into my wax, Alice."
Soon, Tom found himself having to use his might to drag Alice back to the training room. Alice immediately tried to run as fast as possible to Team Ness's room - most likely to teach Glacia lesson.
Alice raged in the training room, the ethereal flame in her lamp glowing brightly. "I can't believe the nerve of her! Do you know how much damage that could have done to you!"
"I thought that Sand Attack didn't cause any damage?" Tom asked, perplexed.
"It doesn't - not to non-Litwicks, anyway." Luckily, Alice slipped into teaching mode and away from rage mode. "Our nervous system, the way we sense, think, and act, is in our wax, Tim. If debris gets into our wax, the debris will chafe against the system. It will cause unimaginable pain - well, you can imagine it now, but I bet it was unimaginable when you first felt it."
Tom nodded, understanding somewhat - then he thought of something. "Why was the Sand Attack so special - how was it so much worse than the dirt I usually touch? Why don't I double over in pain if I touch normal dirt and sand?"
Alice whistled. "You only doubled over? That's impressive - when I was first hit by a Sand Attack, I almost fell unconscious from the pain."
Tom rubbed the back of his head and grinned unabashedly.
"Either way, the reason why the Sand Attack was special was that of the aura in it," Alice explained.
"Aura?"
Alice sighed. "Aura, Tim, is the force behind our attacks. It allows Tackle to be more than a tackle, Quick Attack to be more than a fast tackle, and Astonish to exist as a move at all. Aura is in every attack, refined into a form of Typed energy, even if only Lucario and Riolu can use it in its raw form. Every pokemon that can learn a move, though, can use a form of Type-refined aura to some degree."
Tom was pensive. "So… because of this 'Aura', I can use moves?"
Alice nodded. "It's also what makes Sand Attack and Sandstorm different from normal dirt. Litwicks have a special film over the wax that keeps anything from going in. It's a protective layer, to be more concise. The layer of film repels normal dirt, sand, and dust, so you are safe from that. Moves like Sand Attack and Sandstorm? They're charged with Aura, meaning they can punch through that film and enter your body."
"Oh…that's... neat," Tom spoke.
Alice sighed. "Tell that Eevee friend of yours -"
"Glacia."
"Whatever. Unless she wants to cause mental trauma to you, she should not use those moves when you are anywhere near her. If she doesn't agree or breaks the promise, I'll sort her out for you."
Tom flailed around. "No, No! She'll agree, she'll agree!"
"Hmph - she'd better. That Sand Attack won't work on me, as my iron is completely unaffected by it. She'd regret her life choices."
Tom felt like he needed to defuse the situation. "A-Anyway, Alice, what are we working on today?"
Alice grinned, and her smile took on a feral edge. "I heard you learned Pain Split, right?"
Tom nodded, feeling a little nervous. "Yes?"
Alice rubbed her hands together, and a maniacal glint grew in her eyes. "Well, we'll have to practice that, won't we."
Tom gulped.
Tom touched one of the wounds on his wax, hissing as he felt a spike of pain. Training consisted of a barrage of attacks at him, which he dodged or endured. Once he suffered a lot of damage, he used Pain Split on Alice to heal himself up.
He got a lot of practice in with Pain Split - and a realization of how slow he was.
He entered Team Ness's room to find Naetle flitting about in a panic. Once Naetle heard him, though, he turned and breathed a sigh of relief. "Tom! There you are - I couldn't find you when I woke up, where were you?"
"Training?"
"You were training? At night?"
Tom nodded. "Yeah - I'm a Litwick, meaning I don't have to get a lot of sleep. I'll sleep once a month or so, for some internal repairs to the wax or something. For the most part, though, I don't need it."
Naetle pouted a little bit. "Ugh, I wish I could train like that! I need to get stronger! I need to to be near the level I was at before."
Tom then remembered something. "Hey, that reminds me. You said last night that you were able to face Dialga and Mesprit, right?"
Naetle nodded. "Yeah?"
"How? You couldn't beat Catal the day before yesterday."
Naetle sighed. "Let's say that that the time travel robbed me of my strength and power. I lost muscle memory for moves, and I forgot a lot of things from my old life. Oh, I remember the important parts, sure, but I forgot a lot of things."
"You think you should check that out?"
Naetle gave him an unimpressed look. "Says the Pokemon who had his memories removed?" At Tom's flushing, he chuckled. "Yeah, no. Amnesia doesn't scare me - do you remember I told you I had a partner?"
Tom nodded. "Yeah, you told us last night."
"Well, what I didn't tell you is that my partner was an amnesiac as well when I first met him."
"More amnesiacs?" Tom didn't know how to react to that. He decided to go for levity. "I didn't know that losing your memories was so popular lately."
Naetle gave him a deprecating smile. "You forgot it as well."
They smiled together.
They smiled together, aware of how far they had fallen… well, not Tom.
Naetle gave off a tired sigh and stretched a little bit. "You two would have gotten along - you were a lot like him. Strong, courageous, always nice, etc."
Tom was then reminded of something else. "Say, why did you time travel in the first place?"
Naetle looked bewildered. "The first, second, or third time?"
"All three?"
"The first time I time traveled, a pokemon dragged me and my partner into a Dimensional Hole. We landed in an apocalyptic future where time was dead. The sun never rose, the wind never blew, water never fell, etc."
"Why didn't you freeze to death?"
Naetle grew an even more bewildered look on his face. "What?"
"I heard somewhere that heat is motion energy. If time stopped, wouldn't that mean that everything became super cold? You're a Turtwig, right? Why didn't you freeze to death?"
"I guess… instead of time stopping, everything froze into place...I'm not sure, I'm not that smart." Naetle gave off a helpless shrug.
"Oh… continue."
"So, the second time we time traveled, it was to go back to our previous time. We used that Passage of Time I mentioned last night. The third time… it's all a little blurry. I'm somewhat sure something dragged me into another Dimensional Hole, but it's all a little blurry. What I do know, though, is that I was on a level higher than Captain Falcon. The time travel ripped away my fighting ability to its last drop."
With a bang, the door to the girls' room opened. Glacia trudged and swayed through the door, Merla trailing her. Glacia let out a huge yawn and spoke with exhaustion. "So… are you guys ready?" She managed to ask, her shoulders slumping.
Tom went over to help her up (with Merla, of course) and answered her question. "Yeah, but are you?"
Glacia yawned again. "What do you…" another yawn "What do you mean?"
"You look like you didn't get a wink of sleep last night."
Glacia looked through him with baggy eyes and slurred an answer. "I golt plenty off sleep last nIght." With that, Glacia fell asleep.
Merla went and picked her up, sighing. She turned to the two other confused members of Team Ness. "I don't know why she's like this - we both had a full night of sleep." Merla slung Glacia over her back to lie next to her bag. "We need to get going. Oh, and I've decided that to maintain my social abilities, I will become your friends." Merla said it in her usual standoffish way, but Tom could feel a form of vulnerability in the statement.
Not that he was complaining, no siree.
Naetle smiled. "Let's make this a great day, team!" Naetle leaped forward in a buoyant bounce, leaving Tom and Merla to scramble behind him.
For a Pokemon that reminded Tom of a turtle, Naetle was nimble. They ducked and weaved through the crowd of surprised Venturers. Of course, the Venturers looked at them with annoyance as they came through. Many of the Venturers didn't want to have to deal with these annoying little brats, but hey, what can you do?
There was one team, though, that Tom made a note of not to cross in the future. A Dragalge, Florges, and Volcarona gave them a dark stink-eye as they made eye contact during the chase. In fact, now that Tom thought about it, the Volcarona was the one they met during their first day in the base. It was the one that pointed them to Ms. Kiss's medical ward. Tom hoped he didn't do anything to offend the Volcarona.
Speaking of the medical ward, Tom wondered how Vinia was doing. She was going to be working there full-time now, as opposed to only for a couple of hours per day like she used to. Tom resolved himself to go to the ward later that day so that he could visit her, to see how she was doing.
He would have to wait for more than a day for that visit.
Soon, a panting Tom and Merla caught up with Naetle in the Amphitheatre. A crowd had already formed there and was growing larger by the minute. More Venturers trickled in from their own respective mini-bases.
Captain Falcon stood upon the stage, surrounded by flickering lights. Tom had to wonder how often they ventilated the room to take care of the torches - flames need fresh air, after all.
With a wave of his hands, Captain Falcon called the Base to order. "Hello, and Good Morning!"
"Good Morning," everyone chanted back - well, except for Team Ness. Glacia was pretty much out cold at this point, with Merla busy taking care of her. Tom was abstaining on principle and Naetle… well, he didn't feel like it, as far as Tom could tell.
"One!" Captain Falcon began.
"Don't Shirk Work!" At this, Tom could see Naetle light up and join in with the chant.
"Two!"
"Run Away and Pay!" Now Tom felt like joining in, but still, he refused.
"Three!"
"Smiles Go for Miles!"
Naetle then piped up, louder everyone else. "Hip-Hip, HOORAY!" Naetle then, disobeying his biology, jumped up high in the air with his stubby legs.
The entire Amphitheatre went quiet at Naetle's outburst. The smile that formed on Naetle's face gave way to bemusement. "Why was I the only one who said it?"
No one talked. Then…
"Four!"
"Peace to Restore!" Naetle fell back, his mouth gaping open, his eyes wider than Tom's mouth.
"Five!"
"Maintain your Drive!"
The chant went on and on, adding more and more numbers and mantras to the chant. With each number past three, Naetle fell into a deeper panic, his pupils dilating.
After ten or so, the chant came to a stop. Captain stood up straighter, a smile on his face. "Great job, guys! Way to show the Base spirit!" He waved his hand in a sweeping motion. "No important news for today, other than the introduction of two new Teams - Team Knight and Team Ness! Please give them a warm hand."
There was a large clapping motion. The Venturers near Team Ness congratulated and commended them on their graduation. Tom saw Alice, along with a few other Pokemon, move to talk to them. Other Venturers blocked them, though. Tom signaled to Alice and her team that he would make time to talk to them later.
Alice received the message and backed off, her other team members following her. The rest of Team Ness, though, still had to deal with the onslaught of Venturers. Well, the rest of Team Ness except for Merla, who was alone. Oh, and as Tom was a Ghost Type, the Venturers shunned him as well
If you thought about it, Glacia and Naetle were the only ones congratulated. Glacia seemed to have redeemed herself in the eyes of the base by ostracizing Merla. When Glacia told them that Merla was still her friend, they acted like they didn't hear her.
It had to end, though, and soon enough the crowd trickled out. Everyone had left, except for Team Ness and Alice's team. Alice's team, which consisted of her, a Greninja, and a Galvantula, made their way over to where Team Ness was standing.
"Tim! Nice to see to you in broad daylight!" Alice waved her posts in an eager manner. "Is this the rest of the team you've been so proud of?"
Glacia flushed. "Wh… Tom, do you know her?!"
Tom let out a nervous laugh and explained himself. "So, uh… you know how I've been gaining a lot of strength so fast? Well, Alice here has been training me every night so I can be stronger. It started out as something to make me strong enough to fight Catal. We continued, though, even after she thought I was ready to take him on."
"Wrong, you're still not ready enough to take him on. You couldn't beat Glacia, who lost to him a while back." Glacia growled under her breath and Merla's eyes flashed red. Tom needed to perform damage control.
"That's exactly why I could take him on! Glacia could take on Catal right now with a paw tied behind her back, and since I tied with her, I could beat him as well!"
Alice looked at Tom in disbelief while the Greninja snorted. "Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that. We took a look at the tournament for a couple of minutes two days ago and saw Catal beat down that Spheal. Kid's gonna grow into a monster. Based on Alice's reports on your progress, you're still unable to beat him in a straight fight. You might be able to beat him if, for a second, he was stupid enough for you to trick him to cross the line, but it would be a 50-50 split."
The Greninja destroyed Tom and Glacia's pride with ease. Glacia shook with near-unsuppressed anger. She blocked Merla, though, when she moved forward to deliver retribution.
Alice would have continued to rub salt in the wound if the Galvantula didn't knock their heads together. "Alice, Koga, knock it off. Keep it for the outlaws, not the allies."
Alice pouted. "Myga, you ruined our fun!" Even as Alice said this, Tom could tell that Alice and Koga were expecting this.
Myga rubbed her buggy temples. "I can't believe you're sixty years old, Alice. You act like you're a quarter of that most of the time."
"S-sixty?" Tom's eyes bugged out. "You're sixty?"
Alice turned to him confused. "Why is that…?" She hit her head with her post. "Oh Arceus, I forgot to explain to you our lifespan and aging." Alice turned to Koga. "How much time do we have until we should report to the Mission Office?"
"... twenty minutes?" Koga shrugged.
Alice considered the time limit, then nodded. "Yeah, we can fit an explanation." She turned to Glacia. "Unless you can explain it, Glacia. Tim's mentioned that you're a smart cookie."
"Uh… no, I don't think I've read about the lifespan or aging process of Litwick. Have you, Merla?"
Merla shook her head. "I don't focus on trivial facts."
Alice sighed. "Well, guess I'm teaching, then. Mind, your team should pay attention if you plan to be friends for a while." That snapped everyone to attention.
"We do have a nervous system in our body, which can decay over time. Our immortal spirit supports the rest of our body, though. Our body repairs with ease as a result. Since we don't have a conventional genetic code, we don't have the problems that come with that genetic code. We don't age - or to be more precise, we're not forced to age."
Glacia had a look of confusion etched on her face, followed by realization. "You control your age!"
Alice chuckled. "Well, yeah! While I'm sixty years old, I haven't changed my looks of personality since I was fifteen! Of course, when we evolve our age changes with it - to Lampent, it's a teenager, while to Chandelure it's a mature adult. An adult Litwick can revert to a teenager as a Lampent, and can regain youth and vigor!"
Myga decided to pipe in. "Alice told us she's been looking for a Dusk Stone so that she could evolve for decades! As Alice is sixty, her nervous system is decaying. Unless she wants to lose her non-spirit sensory or motor systems, she needs to find one fast. The age of the nervous system is the only thing you guys can't control."
Alice grinned. "I'm not some crotchety old pokemon yet, though. Don't underestimate me!"
Tom, who had been silent for the most part, decided that now was the best time to speak up. "Wait, so that means I can become an adult right now?" Tom was a little scared. He felt like he was ten, but the knowledge he can become more than that…
"Nope! Your maturity only increases like that when you evolve. The Litwick line has a faux lifespan of around 60-80 years, same as a human. It's the length of time you'll live if you don't decide to stop your aging and don't evolve."
Myga groaned. "Alice, why are you bringing your imaginary humans into this? You're the only one that thinks they're real."
Tom felt the world shake around him as Alice smiled.
"W-what?" Tom heard both himself and Naetle say, both of them looking pale. Glaica and Merla looked confused at this response.
Myga sighed. "Humans are some imaginary cocktail creature Alice invented when she was young. She always refers to them, even when she knows they actually don't exist."
"But they do!" Tom shouted, Naetle echoing his words. "Humans do exist!"
As Alice's eyes sparkled, Myga moaned. "Oh, she corrupted them, Koga. How are we going to get the idea of humans out of their head?"
Koga chuckled. "Geez, Myga, you need to calm down. It's only some imaginary humans, it's not like its going to hurt them or anything."
Myga continued to fret. "Still…" She pinned Alice with a furious look. "You should stop sharing this, Alice. Pokemon will think you're weird or an idiot or something."
"Don't pokemon do that already?"
"That doesn't make what you're doing any better, Alice!"
"But it's only a legend, Myga! No harm done!"
"Legend? You have an entire parallel history lined up for them! You have extensive notes on their biology! Legend - yeah right!"
"B-but humans are real!" For the first time ever since he had woken up as a Litwick, Tom felt vestiges of something more. He couldn't recognize it, but somehow it made everything feel a little more unreal.
Myga opened her mouth to educate Tom on exactly how wrong he was being. Before she could say anything she had her mouth clamped down on by Koga. "Anyway," Koga began, "we have to go get our assignment, remember?"
Myga nodded. "Yeah, we've wasted enough time here."
Koga continued. "Alice, you got to say hi to your little protege, so can we please leave?"
Alice nodded and kicked back while relaxing on the air. "Yeah, I've had my fun."
"Then we're leaving. Come on, team." With that, Team Zelda left the Amphitheatre. Before they exited the room, though, Koga turned back to Tom.
"Oh, and Tom? Thanks for the Link Box - we're making good use of it." With that, they alone in the Amphitheatre.
The rest of the team was silent for a while, giving Tom a lot of time to think about what happened. Even as his team managed to pull themselves from their thoughts, he couldn't help but think of what he had learned.
Humans… he knew that they weren't around Naixe. He had yet to see any reference or recollection of them in the general populace. Tom never thought about his past, where he was before waking up on top of Castle Rock. He knew that he was a human, and that was pretty much it.
Why hadn't he been thinking about that? How had he accepted being a Litwick without complaint or question? It was easy to think of himself now as a living candle, given that he had been so for a month. But it had felt easy anyway, since the very beginning. After a few minutes of disbelief, he had come to accept his transformation. He never even bothered questioning it!
Tom stared down at the white and waxy appendages, which waved as they walked to the Mission Office. While he didn't have any memories of being a human, he had a clear picture in his mind of what they were like. They were tall by Pokemon standards - a hairless monkey except for the top and fronts of their head. He remembered that they built cities like the medieval Jeden City. They were much more advanced in their technology, though.
Tom knew that he should be freaking out. He knew that the fact that his mind decided to throw out any remnants of humanity should concern him. Yet he couldn't muster the effort to actually care.
Tom resolved to talk to Alice and Naetle about this later. They could tell him more - Naetle reacted as much as he had during the initial mention.
After the long walk from the Amphitheatre, they stepped into the Mission Office. Captain Falcon stood in his wicker chair and looked at them with a strange serenity. Milla was glaring daggers at them for some reason.
"Ah, Team Ness? Ready for your first day on the job?"
They were all silent, none of them daring to open their mouths.
Falcon chuckled. "Nervous, eh? Don't worry, you'll do fine. For now, you're too inexperienced to handle a serious mission. You'll be tagging along with Team Link for today - Tom and Glacia, you two are already acquainted with them?"
Tom and Glacia nodded, Glacia with a smile on her face.
Captain Falcon clapped his hands together in joy. "Wonderful! I always like it when my Teams get along well." He then winked. Tom felt sick.
Captain Falcon reached under his desk and pulled out a clipboard of papers. He removed two of the papers and handed them over to Glacia. "These are two missions to Platinum Canyon. You'll be splitting the jobs with Team Link to gain experience. The exact divisions will be up to you. Details are on the paper!" He stood up with a smile. "Dismissed!"
"Hi, guys!" Peng waved to Team Ness as they entered the main lobby. "Hope you guys are ready for your first official mission!" The other members looked over at them, deep and dark bags hidden in their eyes. Rokka, the Krokorok, gave him a look telling him that he should have moved faster. Nonetheless, he remained quiet.
Gel was morose, only looking at them for a second before staring back at the ground. Looking at Gel's unhappy face, Tom realized that Gel had a few new scars spotting his body.
Kol gave them a look over, his frame tense. "Hello, Team Ness." His eyes grew cold over Merla's form. Merla glared in return. "It's nice to see you all whole-hearted and well." Kol sighed. "I apologize if I seem on edge. We've had a… busy week. Peng deciding that she was going to volunteer for the exam wasted some of our valuable time." He shot a half-hearted glare at Peng, who responded with a cheerful grin.
Kol shook his head. "Either way, we need to get a move on. We'll be doing two missions in the Platinum Canyon today. You should mentally prepare yourselves if you haven't already."
Tom and the rest of Team Ness affirmed what Kol said, and Kol turned to the doors. "Right - onward."
Team Link was sedate as they traipsed forward into the grassy yet soggy hills. The glum mood soon carried over into Team Ness, and they too sagged. The weight of the past few days weighed down hard on Tom's mind. He missed Vinia and Shift, even though he knew Vinia was in the medical ward with Ms. Kiss. He still didn't know where Shift worked. He knew that Shift had to generate power for the base, but he didn't know where.
Yet it wasn't only that.
Tom recognized that strange black mist that had appeared at the tournament. He didn't remember from where exactly, but the mist had awakened a strange feeling in him.
It was of… brotherhood. Like the mist was an old friend that he had reunited with. Tom felt a bond with the mist grow, and it remained even with what happened to him.
He tried to help Glacia up due to her sudden collapse during their battle. He had another reason for approaching her, though. He also felt like he needed to inspect the mist he felt a kinship with.
That… was a mistake. As soon as he touched the mist, it seeped into him, blackening his wax. The mist, once it was inside him, tried to drag something out. Tom resisted - somehow, he knew that once the mist dragged what it wanted out, something would change.
He wouldn't like it, either.
Vinia saved him, though, and expunged the mist. Of course, there was a strange dark patch in his wax that remained from the attack. The mist fascinated yet scared him so, mystifying Tom. Shaking his head, Tom brought himself back to the trek.
The gloominess of the wet hills pressed upon him from all sides. The journey to Platinum Canyon felt like forever, even though it lasted only an hour or two. The rest of Team Ness looked as entrenched in their own thoughts as he was. They had varying degrees of happiness, though.
Merla was, as usual, surly. She glared especially hard toward Kol. Tom could tell that the two would never be particularly close friends, if at all. When she wasn't glaring at Kol, she was shooting strange looks at him and Naetle. All in all, Merla confused him like she usually did
Glacia, though, was much more cheerful. Of course, the mood served to dampen her spirits somewhat, but for the most part, she was cheery and chipper. Peng wrapped her in a deep conversation about the test scores. Tom almost envied their ability to not mull things over.
Naetle… Naetle was silent. Ever since the chant, he refused to speak, only responding to the human argument he and Alice had with Myga. Naetle wouldn't meet his eyes, even when Tom asked him what was up. Tom would have to talk to him later today.
Yeah… Vinia, Alice, Naetle… he had a lot of pokemon he needed to talk to.
They finally reached the Platinum Canyon. Giant silver crags loomed in front of the teams, making Tom feel a little small.
Kol faced both of the teams in a regal stance and surveyed them all. Merla glared at him hard as his eyes passed over her, yet he didn't flinch.
"Alright, we're splitting into teams. Two pokemon from each team will form a four-pokemon squad to tackle one of the missions. We have a rescue mission directed to the general dungeon. We also have a pesky outlaw that has reportedly decided to use this Dungeon as a resting place."
Before anyone could say anything, Rokka immediately decided to make his opinion known. "I'm not going anywhere with the bratty 'princess'. You guys can figure out the rest - wake me when you've figured it out, I'm taking a nap." Then without any further warning, he nodded off to sleep.
"Uh…" Kol looked unsure of himself for a second, before pulling himself out of it. "Okay, so I won't pair Glacia and Rokka together. Any other opinions or requests for their team?"
"Pair me with Glacia, and not with you," Merla said at once, irritated eyes filling with malice.
Kol was silent for a few seconds. Then he sighed. "Alright, sure. Are there any objections to that?" There were none. "Alright, I've decided the teams."
Naetle's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"
Kol gave him an unimpressed look. "Two pokemon from each team per squad… Naetle, was it?" Naetle gave him a terse nod. "Well, we have the position of four members already established - Merla and Glacia on one team, Rokka and I on the other. That leaves you and Tom to come with us, while Peng and Gel go with the other two. Understand?"
We nodded. Kol handed Glacia a copy of one of the missions. "Glacia, as team leader, you'll have to guide your team in future missions. You'll have partial control over my team, and I'll have partial control over your team. After the mission, Gel and Peng will score you on your efficacy."
Kol stepped out of the way and gestured to the dungeon's entrance. "You guys will go first. Since we have separate missions, we will be separate ourselves. Team 1, which will be you guys, will go first."
Glacia nodded, and the four of them (Glacia, Peng, Merla, and Gel) headed through the dungeon.
"... and now we wait."
After thirty or so minutes, Kol judged it was high time they get started with their own mission. They were taking the outlaw mission. Kol made sure they knew the proper procedure. They were to beat the outlaw to unconsciousness, feed them some Doom Seeds, and hit them on the head to be sure. They then tie the outlaw up so hard that there was no chance of escape. Tom felt that it was a little excessive, but he didn't make the rules.
Naetle grumbled like he usually did. In class, if he didn't agree with something, he was very vocal about it. Well, he was at first. Mrs. Gaw gave him so many detentions that Tom had to wonder when Naetle managed to find the time to train.
The detentions managed to get through to Naetle once it was clear that protesting wasn't going to work. Mrs. Gaw wasn't going to take it to the top, no matter what. The outlaw procedures weren't something Captain Falcon had devised anyway. Unlike other questionable things in Jeden City, it was a practice around other Bases.
Nonetheless, Naetle protested. "It isn't right - we should incapacitate them, so they won't be able to escape. We shouldn't knock them unconscious!"
Kol gave Naetle an unimpressed look. "Do you plan on making your every opponent run away in fear, Naetle? Do you think that the outlaws will wake up and decide that they should remain as convicts?"
Naetle looked a little flustered. "I… well… they'd be too afraid to run away, for fear of worse retribution! They're scared and hurt - once they're caught, they won't fight too hard!"
Kol shot Naetle with a hard stare. "Do you think outlaws are cowards, Naetle? Do you think that they'd break the law for the fun of it?"
Naetle didn't reply, yet his silence was telling
Kol's look turned unimpressed again, and he sighed. "Look, even if you're a coward, that doesn't mean that they will be."
Naetle looked dumbstruck. Tom went in to defend him. "Naetle isn't a coward! He has a higher faith in outlaws!" Even as Tom said that, Henka flashed through his mind. Even a month later he still haunted him. The word 'outlaw' was all it took to bring him to mind.
Kol looked disappointed. "Even with all you've been through? You still think that Naetle is right in his assumption? That outlaws break the law for the fun of it, that at heart they're cowards?"
"Y-yes." He lied, the words stuck in my throat. "I… believe him."
The disappointment grew. "I now see that regardless of experience you two are still naive and cowardly. You'll have to watch us during our capture, Naetle. You too, Tom. You've forgotten how dangerous an outlaw can be - today will serve as a good reminder."
The four of them, including the now awake but grumpy Rokka, traveled through the Dungeon. Tom was beginning to become somewhat desensitized to Mystery Dungeons. He had gone through three already without any major consequences. It had left him somewhat confident, although that confidence may be misplaced.
(Platinum Canyon 1F)
Platinum Canyon was full of Steel and Rock types. Nosepass, Aron, Solrock, Lunatone, and their ilk dotted the landscape. Kol divided the team based on type advantage, and he made sure they knew that. While they were walking, Kol told Team Ness he wanted them to relay to Glacia the strategies.
"While your earlier strategies might have been usable, there is always a stronger foe. You four need to learn to conserve your energies and pick the right battles. Remember, Mystery Dungeons throw foes at you to slow you down and tire you. Fighting every enemy you come across is tantamount to playing the Mystery Dungeon's game."
"So you're saying we shouldn't fight the enemies?" Tom asked, bewildered, before blasting a Solrock they came across with an Astonish. Afterward, Tom felt winded
"No, I'm saying that you shouldn't fight every single battle," Kol replied, irritated. "Pick and choose your battles, and pay attention to Type advantage. It hasn't mattered that much until now for you, as your attacks have been so weak that they might as well be any type. Once you get to our level, though, they start mattering much more."
Rokka decided to interject after hitting an Aron with some heavy Mud Slaps. "Yeah, well, that only applies so far itself. If you ever get to the level of the Ring Breakers, you'll leverage your skills for strength rather than your type. Remember Henka, Tom? He's on that level."
Naetle, who had been silent, interrupted after using some Razor leaves to take down a Nosepass. "Henka?"
Before anyone from Team Link could respond, they reached the Staircase. Team Link climbed onto the Staircase instead of answering Naetle's question. Naetle huffed.
(Platinum Canyon 2F)
"Henka? You wanted to know who he was, Naetle?" Kol asked as they continued to traipse through the Dungeon. Naetle nodded to the question. "Well, I'm a little surprised that Tom didn't tell you. It's a rather harrowing and exciting experience for someone your age."
Naetle looked over to Tom in askance. Tom shrugged before hitting a Beldum that had tried to sneak up on the group with an Ember. "It never came up. When was I supposed to say, 'an outlaw kidnapped me and Glacia'?"
Naetle began to make choking sounds. "At some point!"
"Oh. Well, yeah, an outlaw kidnapped me and Glacia when we first met. Along with a shiny Vanillite girl, Henka planned to sell us off for some money. But we rescued ourselves and Team Link, who was after Henka for a mission or something, beat him up."
Naetle was nodding his head. "Yeah, I get it now. He's in prison now, and you guys had to come work off your… debt," Naetle spat, "at the Base?"
"Well, we had to pay off the debt, yeah, but Henka escaped the night afterward. Somehow he managed to escape his icy prison and run away."
They had reached the third floor's Staircase. After scrambling onto the Staircase, they were on the third floor.
(Platinum Canyon 3F)
"Icy prison?"
Tom sighed. "Yeah, ice prison. Look, do you want me to explain it to you in full, Naetle?" Naetle nodded with excitement.
As they traveled through Platinum Canyon, Tom told Naetle the full details the day. He told Naetle about waking up on the top of Castle Rock and rolling down the slippery slope. He told Naetle how Henka kidnapped him, and how he found himself next to Strawberry. Tom told him with the rest of the details. He included the escape, the capture, the Twisting, the Monster House, and the Araquanid.
After he finished, Naetle raised an eyebrow. "Wow, that's kind of impressive. I could see you and Glacia managing to beat that Araquanid now." Naetle then adopted another look of confusion. "But what do you mean, 'he ran away'? You froze him in ice - I don't think you can escape from that."
"We don't know how he escaped, only that he did. We don't have anyone that can… shed some light… on the situation, either." Kol answered while zapping a Zubat that had come to close for comfort. "We only know what happened afterward."
Tom felt a chill crawl down his back. "W-what do you mean? Henka's still at large, isn't he?"
Rokka, who had been silent until then, answered. "Yeah, brat, but he hasn't stopped what he's doing. As we speak, he's kidnapping Pokemon and selling them off."
Tom felt himself turn green if that was possible as a Litwick. Naetle, though, turned a bleached white and started muttering. It was too fast for Tom to catch its entirety, but Tom heard names like "Azurill", "Drowzee", and "Skull" thrown about.
Rokka frowned. "And he didn't forget about us, Tom. He especially didn't forget about the pokemon who captured him in the first place - Gel."
The chill ran down his back again. "What do you mean?"
They had reached the Staircase, but it only registered deep in Tom's mind. He was completely focused on the conversation at hand.
Kol, sorrow dancing around in his eyes, answered. "Henka took his revenge against Gel. He kidnapped Strawberry again."
The chill solidified into ice as Naetle gasped. "W-what happened?"
"One day, Gel returned to his home to find that Strawberry was missing. By asking the pokemon who had last seen her, we found out that a 'Dragonite' carried her away. We knew what that meant." Kol cast his downtrodden eyes toward the Staircase. "The missing Strawberry has been worrying Gel sick for the last couple of weeks. He's been losing sleep - you saw him, right?"
Naetle seemed to have found his voice again. "W-we'll find her. We'll help bring her back home!"
Kol and Rokka refused to meet Naetle's eyes.
Tom found his voice activating. "We won't lose hope - I won't lose hope, not until I see Strawberry in front of me. We will save her - you'll see!"
The group had gone silent after Tom had made the declaration. Naetle's mouth was open, his eyes shining. Then a resolve crept into his eyes, a resolve that put Tom's to shame.
"Right!" Together, Tom and Naetle looked at Rokka and Kol.
Rokka snarled and huffed at them, while Kol rolled his eyes. "That's alright with us. But in case you have forgotten," Kol gestured to the rickety Staircase, "we have a different outlaw to capture right now."
(Platinum Canyon 4F)
"Alright, squad, we're on the floor where the outlaw is. Once we find the outlaw, we'll capture them, tie them up or encase them, then carry them through the dungeon until the end. This is another small outlaw, a Corsola, so we won't need any special bonds, only some weights tied to their feet. Got it?
Naetle and Tom nodded, with reluctance.
"If you can't take your opponent down and knock them unconscious, then leave the final blow to one of us, got it Naetle?"
Naetle nodded. "Am I going to take the Corsola on alone?"
As they walked through the corridors of the fourth floor, Kol answered. "You and Tom will be the ones to take on the Corsola - especially you, considering you have a double type advantage. This is your Mission, after all - we're only helping. We'll take the Corsola if you can't, but we'll expect you to be able to take on this small-timer. "
They came to a fork in the corridor and stopped. "To cover more ground, we'll split up. Naetle and Tom will go together, while Rokka and I will go together. If you two find the outlaw, defeat and capture them or signify us. If Rokka and I find the outlaw, we'll come for you two so you can fight them instead. Understand?"
Tom and Naetle assented. Kol signaled Rokka to follow him, then left through one of the paths.
In the tunnels, Tom walked with Naetle, chatting under his breath. It was an inane chatter, but he couldn't help but avoid serious topics. His earlier bravado had left him, leaving him with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
He felt that Naetle knew this too. The chatter between the two died away in the echoing caverns.
They walked in silence, the earlier unity gone. Without the link of Glacia, they couldn't find any two points to connect.
The silence culminated when they reached a dead end. There were no further corridors to go through.
Tom's voice rasped open. "We… should head back."
Naetle nodded, a sorrowful look smeared on his face. "Yeah."
Something about Naetle's face triggered something within Tom. He soon found words spilling out of his mouth. "Naetle… you look a little sad."
Naetle plastered on a fake smile. "Nah, I'm alright."
Tom couldn't help but see that as a lie. "You know, Naetle, I… if you have any problems, you're free to tell me."
Naetle's smile began to crumble like dirt into dust. "I… I'm… you wouldn't believe me. Not after what Myga said earlier today."
Myga? What did she… oh.
Tom decided to reveal what he had been harboring. "I'm a human, Naetle."
Naetle's breath caught as he gasped. "W-what?" Despite Naetle's visible shock, Tom could see vestiges of hope forming on his face.
"There's one thing I remember from before I was a Litwick, Naetle - I remember being a human. It was why I found it so hard to move as a Litwick - I was only a human beforehand."
Hope continued to blossom on his face until something shut it down. "Describe one."
Tom blinked. "What?"
"Describe a human to me, Tom. I want to see whether you can describe one."
Tom sighed. "Uh, sure. Humans are weird bipedal creatures. It's a bit like a cross between a Machoke and a Gardevoir. We have muscles like a Fighting-Type, Pecha-colored skin, and hair on our heads."
Tom would have continued, had a weeping Naetle not Tackled him. Tom was a little worried until he realized that Naetle was smiling.
"You… are you Sky?" Naetle asked his face pleading, begging.
"Sky?" The heartbreak on Naetle's face was devastating.
Naetle stepped backward and got off Tom. "I… it was too much to expect that you would be Sky, huh. I…" Inspiration flashed across Naetle's face. He raced over to one of the walls and picked up one of the pieces of rubble with his mouth and brought it over to Tom.
"Pick it up and concentrate hard on it, Tom," Naetle commanded.
"Um… what?" Tom felt a little confused but decided to humor Naetle's odd request. He picked up the random piece of rubble and concentrated hard.
As Tom expected, a whole lot of nothing occurred. He continued to concentrate hard on the piece of rubble. He tried to probe its deepest mysteries.
The anticipatory look on Naetle's face fell away to crushing disappointment.
"It… was too much to expect, wasn't it?"
Tom nodded with regret. "You were expecting something, weren't you?"
"I… thought that you would be able to activate the Dimensional Scream."
Tom blinked. "The Dimensional Scream?"
"The Dimensional Scream is a prophetic ability only Sky, my partner, had. He could see important things related to what he was holding in the past or future only by touching it and concentrating."
Something clicked in Tom's mind. "He had clairvoyance?"
Naetle nodded. "Yeah, his visions crossed time and space. It would work with anything, as long as he concentrated on it hard enough. You… don't have it, Tom."
The fact didn't surprise Tom. "Well, we'll have to tell Glacia and Merla when we get back to the base." Something sparked in Tom's mind. "Hey, weren't we supposed to catch on outlaw?"
"Uh… yeah."
There was an EEP behind them, and Naetle spun around. A Corsola appeared out of nowhere. Their appearance etched a look of horror on her face - Tom assumed it was a girl.
"I… I heard nothing!" Suffice it to say, Tom was not fooled.
(Back at the Base)
Taking out the Corsola was easy. The Corsola put up a token fight and her Regenerator ability made the battle asinine. It seemed, though, her real strength was a talent with Camouflage.
Drop a couple of Embers here and there, to keep track of air flow, Tom ripped that from her as well.
Tom and Naetle brought back a trussed-up and struggling Corsola to the crossroads. Once Kol and Rokka saw the captured Coral Pokemon, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, that's some skin off our backs. We'll bring her straight to the Base, so we can cart her off to Night's prison."
Corsola immediately stopped struggling. "Night's prison! Are you serious?! Great!" All eyes were on Corsola. "I mean, uh, oh no. Not Night's Prison." Corsola resumed her struggle.
Tom wondered why Corsola would be happy to go to prison. After all, weren't prisons supposed to be miserable?
Kol coughed. "Corsola, Night won't give you the V.I.P. treatment. You'd have to impress or interest Night to get that sort of recognition, criminal or not. If you don't, I'm pretty sure it'll be like any other drab prison." Corsola, who had perked up, drooped back down again.
Naetle had a look of intrigue etched on his face. "Night is… a local prison warden, right? What do you mean by V.I.P. treatment?"
Rokka snorted. "Night's a Gardevoir, which means that she's all lovey-dovey and stuff. She says that if we give prisoners joy, they'll become good pokemon or something, like a miracle." Rokk scoffed. "No one should have ever given the idiot control over a prison."
There was a large crackling in the air at this point. Kol had an aura of raw electricity around him, his eyes sheathed in malice. Rokka gulped.
"Rokka, as your Team Leader, I… suggest… you don't talk about our esteemed warden like that." The tips of Kol's claws glittered. "You would regret it."
Rokka shut up.
They passed through all three of the remaining floors without incident. Once they went outside, they found the rest of Team Link and Team Ness waiting outside for them. Glacia told them the psychic who assigned the missions had gotten the floor number wrong. They found the missing Roggenrola on the fifth floor rather than the fourth floor.
The Roggenrola (Granite) had decided that the inside of a Mystery Dungeon was a great place to play. He still wanted to go inside too, and wasn't afraid of the Dungeon.
Anger and frustration were palpable on the other squad's face. Peng and Glacia had a ticked off look on their face. Merla was looking murderous. Gel was apoplectic with rage.
Gel's attitude was in such stark contrast to his demeanor a month ago that Tom wasn't sure it was the same pokemon. Strawberry's disappearance must have made more of a difference than Tom thought.
They made it back to the Base, tugging along a chatty Granite. Once they arrived, some Magnemite apprehended the Corsola. Captain Falcon pronounced a job well done
Then Team Ness found themselves back in their base.
"... alright, Team, let's go to bed." Glacia commanded, looking stressed and tired beyond belief. Naetle, though, coughed.
"Uh, Glacia? We found out some important things during our mission today. You guys might like to know."
Glacia gave Naetle an exasperated look. "Can it wait until morning?"
"... no?"
Glacia, with an irritated sigh, allowed Naetle to continue, Merla listening in as well.
Naetle described what had happened in the Dungeon. Glacia looked intrigued, the stress having relieved itself.
"So, you're saying that Tom is a human?" Glacia glared at Tom. Tom gave a timid little shrug. "Anything else that you've forgotten to tell me, Tom?"
"Um… nothing important."
Glacia stared at him. "You know, you have to reassess what's important and what's not, Tom." With that cryptic statement, she turned to Naetle. "Your partner has the 'Dimensional Scream'? Does an ability like that exist?"
Naetle nodded without hesitation. Glacia grinned. "Well, that sounds excellent. Once we get used to this whole Venturing thing, Merla and I will be spending our time in the library researching. You two, since you seem to believe in these things so much, will be handling non-academic research. I know how bad you two are at researching with a book." Despite herself, Glacia chuckled.
Those chuckles soon turned into a pained frown and a pensive look appeared on Glacia's face. "Henka has kidnapped Strawberry again, huh?" There was no answer. "No wonder Gel was so cranky and irritated today. If someone kidnapped my brother or sister, I'd be tearing up the world to find them."
"Brother? Sister?" Tom asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I have a brother and a sister. Their names are Volt and Nymph, respectively. I try not to think about them because they pestered me more times than I can count. Still, if someone kidnapped them…" Glacia's silver eyes hardened. "They would pay."
Merla stepped forward. "Don't worry, Lady Glacia." A pained look appeared on Glacia's face. "My apologies, Glacia. Don't worry - we'll find that despicable fiend that captured you two and Strawberry. I will make sure he faces my justice."
Merla could get dangerous when she was protective.
Glacia offered a small smile. "Thank you, Merla. We'll find them, don't worry." She yawned. "But for now, let's get some sleep. We'll talk about this more in the morning."
So Tom bid the rest of Team Ness goodbye and headed off to train with Alice again.
Things were looking up.
"Hey, Corsola, guess what?" A monotonous voice rang out.
The Corsola, who had only been recently captured, turned to the blank-eyed Gallade. "Uhh… yeah?"
"Night has determined you have the chance to become a V.I.P. prisoner."
The depressed Corsola, who had been expecting a miserable prison stay, turned cheery. "Yes!" Then a confused look appeared across Corsola's face. "But why?"
"We read your mind when we put you in a holding cell, in case our teams retrieved the wrong Pokemon. You were guilty, as expected. Night, though, found some of the information in your head intriguing. She has decided that we will reward you because of it."
The Corsola looked interested. "What did I know? I don't think I knew anything interesting."
"You have no idea of the importance of humanity, do you?"