Chapter 12: Shifting Twisting Sands

Current Location: Psychic Sands Entrance

Questers: Elin (Swift Scarf and Rookie Badge), Sean (Leaf Neckerchief and Vine Sticker), Sarah (Cute Bow and Stardust Sparkles), Luke (Gangsta Glasses and Battle Jacket), Roggenrola (Big Gem), Starrie (Talonflame Feather)

"Titles?" Sean repeated as our group trod along the grassy path (well, Starrie flew).

"Yeah. Apparently it makes it easier for Quester's to gain recognition." I told him.

"That's so cool!" Sarah cried. "I've gotta come up with a really good Title!"

"Do you think I'll ever get a Title?" Roggenrola asked hopefully.

"It can't be that hard if you've just got to think one up." Luke reasoned, before scrunching his face up in thought. "...Nope, I've got nothing."

As we continued walking, the grass was slowly replaced by barren land and rocks, until we were passing inbetween two canyons.

"I suppose we must be getting close to these Psychic Sands." Sean thought aloud.

"Guys! Guys!" We looked up as Starrie flew down in front of us, obviously in a flap about something (pun entirely intended).

"What's wrong, Starrie?" I questioned.

"I-I see the desert up ahead!" He exclaimed. "But your not gonna believe it! C'mon! This way!" He then flew on ahead of us.

"Starrie! Wait up!" I called after him before we gave chase.

Our group passed through and out of the trench, only to freeze in shock and awe at what we saw. A large desert stretched across our viewpoint, rocks and cactuses dotted all over the place. But the thing about this desert was...

the sand was purple. Bright, sparkling purple as far as the eye could see.

"...The sand is purple." I stated dumbly.

"Way to go, Shellos Holmes." Starrie sarcastically congratulated me.

"It's incredible..." Luke breathed with wide eyed fascination.

"It's delicious." Roggenrola said as he buried his face in the sand.

"Your eating it!?" Sean gasped.

"Yeah! I eat minerals!" Roggenrola reasoned. "This stuff is nice."

"It would take you your whole life to eat at most a quarter of this desert." The Snivy reasoned.

"It's so pretty! This place is amazing!" Sarah cheered as she playfully frolicked in the sand.

"Okay, okay, let's focus." I reminded them, pulling out the Clock Compass. "It says we have to keep going forward, so let us be on our way."

"Gotcha!" Luke saluted before we all headed off.

Our group journeyed across the desert, the footing being surprisingly stable as we walked onwards.

"This place is actually quite nice." I thought aloud, staring up at the sky. Back in Oreace it was a baby blue, but here in this desert it was a cobalt blue, with rainbow lights occasionally flickering. "Even the sky looks otherwordly."

"Its still unnatural." Sean reasoned.

"C'mon, man! It's gorgeous scenery! What's not to like?" Luke said.

"Sorry, I suppose I'm just a little on edge." He admitted.

"What do you mean, Sir?" Roggenrola asked.

"Well-please don't call me that-don't any of you think its somewhat strange that we haven't been attacked yet?" He asked us. "Technically, the Psychic Sands still counts as a Rogue Route, so Rogues should be along here, right?"

"But it's really really big! That must mean there's less chance we'll run into Rogues, right?" Sarah reasoned.

"Sarah does make a good point." I agreed. "Besides, I think we'd see any Rogues coming from a mile away." I gestured to the wide open space around us.

"The only other thing around here are these cactuses." Luke nodded to one.

"See? Nothing to..." I stopped as I looked at the cactus Luke pointed to. "...Wait..." I hurried over to it.

"Elin?" Starrie asked.

I stared at the cactus with narrowed eyes. 'This shape...' Tentatively, I bent down and poked the cactus with my blade.

As soon as I did, the cactus spun 180 and an angry face appeared on it, revealing the cactus to be a Maractus. "Did you just touch my ass!?" The female Grass type screeched.

"Wha-?" I gaped dumbly.

"Pervert!" She cried, smacking me across the face with a Needle Arm and sending me sprawling across the sands.

Everybody gasped as the two other cactuses popped up, turning out to be Cacnea.

"You bastard!" One of the Cacnea's screamed.

"What did you do to Miss Maria!?" The other shrieked.

"I didn't realise! I didn't realise!" I panicked.

"They were hiding all this time!?" Roggenrola cried.

"I was taking a nap!" Maria the Maractus cried. "And how did I get woken up? By some weirdo touching my butt!"

"How was I supposed to know!?" I defended myself.

"Your gonna get it now, punk!" The two Cacnea raged.

"So the Rogues of this route are in hiding?" Sean thought aloud.

"Rogues!? Who are you calling Rogues!?" The first Cacnea shouted.

"We're Questers!" The second Cacnes ranted. "I'm Cob, this is my partner Corn, and our leader here is the amazing Quester! The Dancing Flower! Maria!"

"Don't give away our names to these jerks!" Maria yelled at them.

"Sorry, Miss Maria!" Corn and Cob saluted.

"Wait, your not Rogues?" Luke asked in confusion.

"No!" Cob said. "Don't you know how Rogues work in the Psychic Sands!?"

"All of the Rogues are Ground-Type!" Corn huffed. "So, whenever they want to attack, they-"

He was interrupted as the ground began to shake, and a Sandshrew, Hippopotas, and Trapinch emerged ffom the sand.

"Alright! All of you freeze!" The Trapinch yelled.

"YOU freeze! There's more of us!" Starrie argued.

"Home advantage!" The Sandshrew shouted.

"Did you forget about US!?" Maria shouted.

"Looks like this turned into a three way battle." Sean observed.

"We'll just take 'em all down!" Luke rallied us.

"Enough talking!" The Hippopotas said. "Let's just fight!"

"Agreed!" We all declared before charging into battle.

"Wing Attack!"

"Needle Arm!"

Corn and Starrie clashed wing and arm, bouncing off of each other from the impact.

"Rollout!" The Sandshrew curled up into a ball and rolled towards Sean.

"Vine Whip." He stated as his vines extended out and stopped the opponent at a safe distance.

"...Er...can we talk about this?" The Sandshrew pleaded.

"Nope." Sean stated bluntly as he picked it up and slammed it into the ground.

"Pin Missile!" Cob launched a barrage of sharp needles, which Luke had to avoid by jumping left and right quickly.

"Bite!" Leaping forward, he bit down on the Cacnea's arm.

"OUCH!" The both of them cried, hopping away from each other.

"Yawn..." The Hippopotas yawned, blowing out a pink bubble.

"Ack! No way!" Sarah panicked. "Attract!" Surprisingly, the bubble and the heart cancelled each other out. "Double Slap!" She then quickly hit him twice across the face with her tail.

"Mud Slap!" The Trapinch kicked its feet, launching a small stream of mud at Roggenrola.

"Ah! H-Harden!" Roggenrola solidified his body as the mud splashed into him.

"C'mon! Fight back already!" Trapinch huffed.

Yeah, you can already tell who that left me with.

"I am going to kill you, pervert!" Maria growled at me.

"I'm not a pervert!" I yelled.

"There's a reason I'm called Dancing Flower, y'know." She said as she posed. "Prepare yourself for...Petal Dance!" She spun around rapidly, launching a storm of petals at me.

I only had time to cross my arms in defense as I was battered by petals and lifted high off the ground, continuing to endure until I fell back down into the sand.

"I'm not done!" Before I could even get up I was launched back by another storm of petals, sending me skidding across the unnaturally coloured sand.

"Okay, getting tossed around is NOT fun!" I scrambled to my feet and ran at her whilst my claw turned white. "Metal Claw!"

"Cotton Guard!" Suddenly, a bunch of white cotton puffed up in front of her, and I bounced off of it harmlessly.

"Wait, what!? Petal Dance ended!? Then you should be confused!" I argued.

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Maria told me, gesturing to a blue flower with tilted petals and a swirled centre on top of her head. "This Confuse Flower is a very rare piece of Gear, and prevents me from getting confused from my own attacks."

"What!? That's OP!" I raged.

"Too bad! So sad! Cotton Spore!" I jumped back as several cottony blobs floated at me, and stuck to my body, quickly turning me into a big puffy blob.

"This sucks!" I complained.

"Wing Attack!" Starrie quickly smacked his wing into Corn's face, making him tumbled back with swirled eyes. "Victory for the basic birds!"

"Wow, down after one Leaf Tornado." Sean commented on the defeated Sandshrew, before looking over at Roggenrola.

"Quick Attack!" Luke slammed his body into Cob's, knocking him out, but also wincing in pain. "Bad idea. TERRIBLE idea. Spikes REALLY hurt."

"Harden!" Roggenrola once again defended against a Mud-Slap.

"Arrrrggghhh! Quit it, already!" Trapinch raged.

"I...I..." Roggenrola sweated nervously. (Yeah, a rock sweating. Picture that.)

"Roggenrola!" The Rock-Type looked over at Sean. "Defense seems to be your safe zone, and that's a good thing, but you've also got to attack when you see an opening!"

"Hey! You stay out of this!" Trapinch turned on him. "Or do you wanna go, too!?"

Apparently, Trapinch turning away counted as an opening to the little stone.

"Rock Blast!" The Trapinch was caught off guard as a rock smashed into his side, sending him ragdolling through the sky before landing face first in the sand.

"Way to go, Roggenrola." The Snivy praised him.

"Thank you, Seansei!" Roggenrola cheered.

"What?" Sean turned to stone at the name.

"Gotcha now!" Sarah cheered playfully as she bounced around in front of a very injured Hippopotas.

"Hah...okay...this is looking bad..." He admitted. "I have no choice...it's time for my special attack!"

"Special attack!?" Sarah gasped with wide-eyed amazement. "Showmeshowmeshowmeshowme!"

"Alright...here I go!" The Hippopotas stood firmly. "...Dig!" He quickly burrowed down into the sand.

"...Hey! You just ran away!" Sarah realised.

"Cut it out, already!" I cried as I stumbled away from several green streams of Mega Drain energy.

"Oh no you don't! Petal Dance!" Once again, I was lifted up off the ground by a twister of petals.

"Stooooooooooop!" I almost pleaded at the uncomfortable weightlessness, but it was then that I realised that the Cotton Spore had been blown away by the attack! "Yes! I can use this!"

As the attack ceased, I spun around and aimed directly for her before divebombing.

"What the-!?" She shrieked.

"Fury Cutter!" My claws glowed green as I held them forward like a spear, as I stabbed straight into her in an eruption of sand, and I quickly backed away as she lay in the sand, injured from the attack.

"You...you brute..." She groaned.

"I think this is over." I told her. "I don't really wanna fight you."

"Well, too bad!" She was trying to struggle to her feet. "I...will not lose to someone like-"

She was interrupted as the Hippopotas burst out behind her, jaw wide open.

"Look out!" I pushed her out of the way and uppercutted the Ground-Type in its wide chin, making it stumble back.

"Tackle!" Sarah suddenly charged in and barreled into the hippo Pokemon, knocking it out. "I saved you guys! Yay, Sarah!"

"That was close." I sighed in relief. "Are you o...kay?" She was staring at me with wide eyes.

"Y-You saved me...why?" She practically whispered.

"Er...well, I couldn't just let you get attacked out of the blue like that." I told her. "Plus, I already said I didn't want to fight you so-"

"My hero!" She took me by surprise as she jumped up and hugged me.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" I screamed as her thorns dug painfully into my back.

"So Elin went from pervert to hero, what a jump." Luke praised.

"I'd rather be a pervert right now..." I hissed through gritted teeth as I endured the pain.

"I am sooooooo sorry, dearie! I just jumped to conclusions! I didn't realise you wrre such a brave, kind Pokemon!" Maria said as she increased her hold on me.

"Please let go of me..." I begged. She didn't.

"Miss Maria!" A now conscious Corn cried.

"Does this mean we're friends now?" An equally conscious Cob questioned.

Sean shrugged. "Love works miracles I guess."

"This isn't love, it's Tsundere syndrome!" I croaked as she strangled me.

"Mayyyyyyyybe we should keep moving." Starrie suggested.

"With Elin carrying her!?" Roggenrola cried.

"Yes." The Starly nodded.

"Jerks." I coughed as I got out the Clock Compass, only for my eyes to widen in shock. "Huh?"

"What's wrong, dearie?" Maria asked as she looked over my shoulder, scraping one of her head cactuses across my helmet and creating a horrible screeching noise that sent a terrible chill down my spine.

"Is it broken?" Sarah enquired.

"It's acting very weird..." Everybody looked over as I held the object out. It's needle was vibrating very quickly, and it was spinning left and right like a swinging pendulum, as if trying to get a constant lock on something.

"Now? It was fine back when we started." Sean said.

"Did you break it or something?" Corn asked.

"No! I don't think it can be broken!" I told the Cacnea. "Great, now we don't know where to go."

"That's kinda bad seeing as we're in the middle of a frikkin' desert." Luke pointed out.

"Why don't we go to Quester's Outpost?" Maria suggested.

"Where?" I asked her, making her nuzzle her cheek against mine (scraping right next to my non-existent ears...extremely unpleasant.)

"The Quester's Outpost! It's a small outpost town for Quester's to rest and meet up!" Cob told us.

"It was stationed in the Psychic Sands so that only REAL Quester's could make it there." Corn explained.

"We were originally on our way there, but then we got tired so we decided to have a nap." And Maria made it come full circle.

"Maybe we'll be able to get some information there." Sean suggested. "Plus, I don't think we should stay out in this desert for too long."

"Then it's decided." I nodded, looking at Maria. "Which way do we go?"

"I'LL direct you." She said as she hugged more, causing me further pain and discomfort. "But you'll have to carry meeeeeee."

"W-Wonderful." I hissed.

And so we trekked through the unnaturally coloured desert, occasionally beating up the Rogues that would pop out of the ground (which was difficult for me since I was carrying a Maractus on my back!)

Until we spotted something in the distance, and redoubled our efforts towards it. It looked like a wild west style town, with a little sign saying 'Quester's Outpost' above the entrance. It had everything you'd expect, from a bank, to a saloon to a little sheriff's office, but also included some other areas such as a Quest Center and an Item and Gear shop. The place was filled with Ground-type Townies, with me being able to see a Phanpy, a Cubone and a Marowak, and a Dugtrio.

"Looks like this is the place." Luke observed.

"This is the place where Quester's all come to gather and share stories." Cob nodded.

"Let's go to the bar, darling!" Maria squeezed more.

"Ahhhhhhuuhhhh...about that..." As quickly as possible I performed a suplex, throwing her into the sand and running off. "Go on without me!"

"Darliiiiing! Come baaaaack!" Maria cried as she unfortunately gave chase.

"Miss Maria!" The two Cacnea also ran forward.

"...Okay then." Starrie said.

"What do we do? Huh? Huh?" Sarah asked.

"If I know anything about wild west towns...let's go to the bar." Sean nodded as the group headed over.

I, meanwhile, dived into the Item and Gear shop, where a GLiscor was at the counter. "Um...can I help you?"

"Yes! Please! I-" I stopped when I realised what Pokemon it was, because if you didn't know, Gliscor is my favourite Pokemon. "Oh...my...Arceus." I sprang to my feet. "Your a Gliscor! Oh, man! Your my favourite Pokemon!"

"Oh, um, really? Thank you." The Gliscor coughed. "So, er...is there something you want?"

I quickly remembered my problem. "Yes! I need a piece of Gear that can hide me, quickly!"

"Gear like that, huh?" Gliscor pondered for a moment. "I think I have something..."

At the same time, the rest of the group sat in the bar as a Diggersby smoking a cigar stood behind the counter cleaning glasses. It was clear that other Questers were sitting around, considering they weren't Ground-types. Among them were a Flaffy, a Chingling and a Litleo.

"So, you all are Quester's?" Diggs the Diggersby asked as he cleaned the glasses.

"Yes, we just came here because we're a little...um...lost." Sean admitted.

"I see, I see." Diggs nodded. "You guys got any prestige yet? Titles?"

"Well..." Sean started. "Not just ye-"

"We do! We do!" Sarah interrupted excitedly. "I'm Cute Kitty Sarah!"

"Name's Dark Hound, Luke." Luke grinned confidently.

"I'm Iron Ore Roggenrola!" The Rock type nodded.

"Just call my Sky High Starrie." The basic bird bowed with its wing.

'Seriously?' Sean thought. 'When did you all come up with those?'

"What about you, Grass guy?" Diggs asked.

"I...er..." Sean racked his brain for a Title, and hurriedly settled on an old nickname. "Commander! Y-Yes, Commander Sean."

"Commander, huh? Pretty fancy." Diggs noted.

"It's...just something people used to call me." Sean admitted, whilst discreetly glancing away.

Luke and Sarah were taking the time to socialise with some of the other Quester's, who were looking up at a billboard pinned to the opposite end of the bar.

"What is this?" Sarah asked.

"This is the Rogue List." Flaffy said. "They have a copy in every Quest Center, but the bar here decided to put one up just to discuss over it." The billboard had multiple wanted posters and snapshots pinned to it, all with rewards underneath them.

"Hey, uh...who's that one?" Luke asked, pointing to the largest poster in the center. It depicted a Sableye giving a creepy grin whilst half of its face was shadowed. An incredibly staggering 1 million Pokedollars was underneath it.

"That?...That's 'Rogue King' Sables." Litleo said.

"Heeeeee's the most iiiiiiinfamous and most daaaaaangerous Rogue to ever exiiiiiiiiist!" Chingling sang.

"He's defeated countless Quester's and broken into many high account establishments." Flaffy elaborated. "Very few have ever been able to properly see him."

"Scary..." Sarah whimpered.

Just then, a figure hurried into the room and sat at the counter, hanging his head low. He wore a dark yellow cowboy hat with a bronze Bronzor badge on the front of it and a blue and green zigzagging sash around it.

"...Elin?" Sean asked.

"Shhhh!" I shushed him. "I finally managed to lose Maria. I bought this Weathered West Hat as a disguise."

"Is she really that bad?" Roggenrola asked.

"He thorns hurt and the screeching noises are unbearable." I muttered.

"And...you are?" Diggs asked.

Taking the opportunity, I tried to look as badass as possible. "My name is Silver Sword Elin."

"Oh, come on, you too?" The Snivy huffed.

"Never heard of ya." Diggs shrugged. "You and your friends up-and-coming?"

"I guess you could say that." I shrugged.

"Back to the point." Sean got us back on track. "Listen, we're looking for somewhere we can find...help, information, a direction to go."

"Wanderers, eh?" Diggs chuckled, resting his ears on the counter whilst chewing his cigar. "Well then I'll tell you what I've told others like you. Head to Unao."

"Unao?" I echoed.

"Yeah. Town is full of Psychic-types. If you need help, you'll find it there." Diggs nodded.

"Sounds like a plan." Sean nodded. "We should get moving as soon as possib-"

"Darliiiiiiing!" I froze as a certain Maractus appeared in the doorway. "There you are!"

"Shit! Bail!" Acting on Pokemon instinct, I jumped through the nearest window and sprinted away.

And three hooded figures watched me go past, then started to follow me.

"Ohhhhhh! He plays so hard to get! I kinda like that..." Maria sighed lovingly.

"You'll get him, Miss!" Cob assured him.

"We'll hold him down!" Corn added.

"Sheesh, tough love if I've ever seen it." Diggs harrumphed.

"She's a little Hoothoot if you ask me." Starrie whispered, making Diggs shoot him a look. "Oh come on! I'm a basic bird too, y'know, I'm allowed! Ever heard the phrase your like and Endeavor Starly? That stings too y'know!"

Suddenly, there was a crash outside, making everybody in the bar turn towards the door. "Wh-What was that!?" Roggenrola panicked.

"I'll check!" Sarah offered, poking her head out the doorway. "...Um...we have a teeny tiny problem." Everybody else quickly joined her and saw the commotion.

Scattered all around the town, were Scraggy's, wearing skull face paint and sombreros, like mariachis. They were scrambling around all the buildings, blocking off all windows and doors.

"There we go, amigos." A voice said. "We've been waiting a long time for this." The voice belonged to a Scrafty standing in the center of town. He wore skull face paint like the Scraggy's, only blood red in colour, and his sombrero was much larger and jet black instead of yellow.

"Who is that?" Luke asked.

"Oh, crud..." Diggs growled. "He's the big Rogue in Psychic Sands."

"Hey!" They stopped as several Scraggy's grouped in front of them. "Get back inside, muchacho." They each held up a glowing red fist for emphasis as they slammed the door shut.

"So...we're trapped." Luke said.

"Basically." Sean said as more Scraggy's clamored around the windows.

"These Crafty Bandits have been gaining numbers for a while." Diggs said as he observed the situation. "Never thought this is what they were planning."

Outside, the Scrafty chuckled as he looked around the lockdowned town, hands stuck in his 'pockets' casually. "Si, Si, excellent work, amigos. Looks like Quester's Outpost is ours now, eh?" All the Scraggy's cheered.

Just then, there was an explosion as several Scraggy's were sent flying, and the Scraggy turned around as an Excadrill wearing a gold sheriff's badge walked in front of him.

"El Scrafty...you must be pretty cocky." The Excadrill said.

"Sheriff Exca." El Scrafty chuckled. "Noble as always...trust me, I'm not being cocky. I'm just curing my boredom. I've been having siestas for far too long...punk." He grinned. "It's great crack, fooling around like this, gonna turn it upside down! Have a REAL fiesta!"

"Like hell you will!" He reverted into his drill form. "Drill Rush!" He barreled towards the Dark/Fighting type with incredible speed and power.

El Scrafty, however, just gave a cocky grin, sticking his hands in his pockets. "You think that crap will work on me!?" At the last second, he jumped over the attack, and his right knee glowed a bright orange. "High Jump Kick!" He smashed his knee into the spinning sheriff, causing him to smash into the ground with a giant eruption of purple sand.

As the dust cleared, El Scrafty stood there casually, revealing a knocked out Excadrill beneath him, which he proceeded to spit on. "Tough luck, chump."

"Shit, well, we're officially in trouble now." Diggs said.

"Noooo! My poor darling is out there!" Maria cried.

"Hey, where IS Elin?" Starrie asked.

Meanwhile, I was hiding behind a building to escape from Maria. "Please don't let her find me..." Risking a peek around, my eyes widened as I saw the entire town filled with...mariachi Scraggy's?

"What the...?" I looked around quickly, and timing myself, sprinted past each building, keeping out of sight, until I reached the back of the bar, and knocked on it. "Hey, somebody! Can anyone here me?"

"Elin?" Sarah's voice came through. "Your okay! The towns been overrun by Scraggy's!"

"I saw." I told her. "Don't worry, I'm gonna try and help you ou-"

"Darling!" I flinched as Maria's voice came through. "I knew you'd come to save me!"

"Maria, please!" Sean interrupted her. "Elin! Listen to me! We're all trapped inside, and if you try to fight them, you'll be completely outnumbered. You have to run whilst you still can!"

"No way, I'm not leaving you guys here!" I told him.

"Tough luck." He said. "You have to head on to Unao! Diggs says its northeast, so from where your stranding, just keep moving forward! Don't worry, I have a plan to get out of this, but you need to go get help!"

"But..." I began.

"Hey! There's some sneaky bambino behind here!" A Scraggy called, pointing at me.

"Run, darling! Don't worry about me!" Maria cried.

"Hurry up, already! Or your no better off!" Luke said.

I shook my head in frustration, but it really seemed that at this time I had no other option. "I'll come back for you, I promise!" I then spun on my heel and ran as fast as possible whilst holding my hat, dashing across the sands away from the trapped town...alone.

And the three hooded figures followed me.

Okay, new chapter! Finally! Sorry it took so long, guys!

But yes, this starts off the Yellow Shard Arc by introducing new faces, new places and new problems! And next chapter we'll have not one, but two new OC's joining the gang! Excitement!

...Fine, this time I was distracted by my Undertale fandom. I'm Undertale trash, bite me!

Annnnnyyyyyywayyyyyy, I hope you all enjoyed, and I hope you all like this question of the chapter.

QOTC: What do you want to/think will/expect will, happen this chapter?

Just a nice little theory question for you. If you want to, you can come to the Starfield forum, Pokemon Quest Life Showcase, and chat with each other, or me! Anybody is welcome!

So, once more, I must bid you all adieu, until the next chapter!