Author's Notes: Yes, the school musical is finally over, so I have at least some of my life back now. Not all of my life has been returned to me yet, however, thanks to one Oliver Twist. -stabs Oliver Twist-
You know what? I don't think that Oliver Twist has had enough stabbing yet. -stab- -stab- -stab- -stab-
There, I feel much better now. Anyway, to respond to some reviews…
Cedric: Well, the Ariados was given some sort of orders not to really harm the trainers, I would guess. I'm sure she wouldn't have hurt Tobias terribly…or at least not fatally…I'm sure he hasn't forgotten about Professor Elm, though. We'll have to see.
WindieDragon: They're both hard to control and hard to write about. Generally, the trainer does a lot less of the actual controlling and more just looking over the battle as a whole. And Demsindar shirts would be awesome. I would totally buy one from you.
Act: I name Pokemon after people, too. I'm such a hypocrite. XD
VulpixTrainer: Even without arachnophobia, I'm sure that the spider part of the challenge would not be pleasant. I found it rather humorous when I found your review in my inbox today.
Thanks to everyone else who reviewed!
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Riches
Chris struggled against the neuromuscular effects of the stun spore, straining desperately to reach his Pokeball belt. Just a little bit farther…he felt dizzy, ill. Whatever it was that was trying to paralyze him and the rest of the group would wait until they passed out to stop the attack. He couldn't hope for a reprieve, he just had to keep…reaching…
His half-frozen fingers at last found the Pokeball that he had been looking for. His arm gave an involuntary jerk, knocking it free of the magnetic clip and onto the ground. It burst open, and a puzzled Beth appeared.
"Sseey? Bli…bissey! Ssey bliss!" She gasped as she caught sight of the group of humans, all of whom were in various states of collapse, most on their knees or already on the verge of complete shutdown, only barely retaining consciousness. Her sharp inhalation, of course, brought some of the dangerous powder into her body and she coughed violently, normally cheerful face a mask of surprise and horror.
"Aromatherapy," Chris croaked. Beth acted quickly, reaching down and plucking the egg out of her pouch and cracking it between her fingerless hands before the stun spore could hijack her nervous system. The crushed egg gave off a spicy aroma, invigorating and refreshing. Beth continued to smash the egg, grinding the thin shell down into a fine powder. Each impact released another gust of the restoring fragrance, and Chris quickly felt his breathing ease, his muscles relaxing as the Blissey's attack counteracted the soporific powder. He staggered unsteadily back to his feet, shaking his head to drive off the last remnants of dizziness and confusion. His teammates did likewise, though Cass was apparently still on the alert.
"We have to find out what was sending that powder at us," she said grimly. "It won't be long before Beth's aromatherapy runs out, and then we'll just be back right where we started. They'll send another volley of stun spore at us, and another, until Beth runs out of aromatherapy or we reach the end of the level."
"Why don't we just keep walking?" George asked. "Wouldn't that be a bit easier?"
"Grass-types have legs, idiots. They'll follow us." Cass's eyes scanned the surrounding area, but it seemed as innocent as it had previously. Chris began to catch her agitation, realizing that the sharp scent of aromatherapy was growing thin. It wouldn't be long before the last of Beth's attack faded, and then they'd be subject to another wave of powder. He turned his own eyes to the task of finding the Pokemon that had attacked them. He couldn't see anything suspicious, just a bunch of ordinary flowers and trees.
"There!" Jenny cried, pointing to the base of a nearby crabapple tree. A cluster of ferns hugged the shadow of its spreading branches, clearly planted there by a human hand. No fern would naturally grown in such a dry area, with such exposure to light…or hadn't a human planted them? But no, they looked like perfectly normal ferns to him.
Beth apparently agreed with Jenny, though. "Lissss! Blissseeeyyyy!" she shrieked, waddling as fast as she could towards the fern patch, waving her stubby arms furiously. Chris smiled in spite of himself; the Blissey's wrathful charge bringing back fond memories of some of the comical expressions he'd seen on humans and Pokemon when they'd suddenly found themselves the target of the cuddly pink Pokemon's rage. It was a very painful and extremely humiliating experience.
Tobias was not terribly surprised by the Blissey's attitude. He'd witnessed a rather ugly scene at the Pokemon center in Azalea Town in which an unwise trainer had made impolite comments about the pudgy Pokemon on duty at the time. Afterwards, Tobias guessed that he and his broken nose had spent a great deal of time meditating on the fact that Blissey had the capability to master the mega punch technique. Upon reflection, Tobias decided that the boy was lucky that his nose was all that was broken.
Beth charged straight for the offending ferns. Tobias squinted hard, unsure of what Jenny had seen there. Beth dived into the plants and bent over, grasping something on the ground with her ridiculously short arms, and pulled hard.
An Oddish burst out of the soil, squealing with pain. The Blissey had it by the cluster of leaves that sprouted from its head, and its tiny feet pedaled desperately in the air. With a contemptuous heave, Beth sent it sailing through the carefully landscaped forest. It smacked forcefully into a tree some thirty feet away, tumbling to the ground amidst a hail of crabapples. Now Tobias could see the glossy green leaves cleverly concealed amongst the mundane ferns, shivering slightly as their owners realized that they were in for an unpleasant experience.
One by one, the Blissey plucked all four entrenched Oddish out of the earth and tossed them away. That done, she turned and waddled back to the group, smiling widely. "Sssey. Issey," she chirped brightly.
"I, um, thought you said that you didn't want her battling," George said, looking slightly put out.
Chris grinned mareepishly and replied, "Well, uh, I don't really like to get in her way when she's mad. It's not…nice. And anyway, those Oddish weren't really a problem for her."
"Bliss," Beth agreed with an emphatic nod.
Chris congratulated her on her victory, which she dismissed with a modest wave of a stubby arm, and recalled her. "Well, I guess we should keep going, then," he said. "Shall we?"
They continued along the path, only slightly more wary than before. Tobias spent a moment pondering the Blissey's strange eggs. What was in them? They had seemed to be hollow when Beth had used one for her aromatherapy, which was fortunate, as it would have created quite a mess otherwise, but there must be some substance to them, or they wouldn't have their other healing properties, would they? He shook his head ruefully. That was a question for the professors to debate over and study. Perhaps his Pokedex would know the answer, in fact. He could see about it later.
As the party continued through the eerily quiet forest, Tobias was surprised that no further attacks manifested themselves. Surely, the designers of this level would have put numerous spore traps along the path, so that the five trainers would constantly have to be on the lookout for dangerous powder attacks? He watched the area to the side of the path carefully and, sure enough, caught sight of several more embedded Oddish, quietly clustered amidst bushes or flowers. None of them made any move to attack, however.
Suddenly, he caught a flash of movement near the base of one of the trees alongside the path. A diminutive Pokemon had darted around behind it, trying to hide itself from the view of the passing trainers. It couldn't help but peek back out, however, morbidly fascinated by what were, to its small eyes, a troupe of giants storming past. It was an Oddish, looking rather battered, one of its normally glossy leaves bruised and torn. Tobias smiled slightly as he passed the small Pokemon, though he felt a twinge of guilt as well, however irrationally; it looked as though the Oddish that Beth had rid the team of had gone off to warn their comrades of the approach of the dangerous Blissey. They probably wouldn't have to worry about any more attacks of that nature, then.
"Oh, well, this is wonderful." Tobias returned his attention to the path before him at the sound of the voice, or rather, the lack of a path before him. An enormous clump of brambles sprouted up from the ground ahead of them, their grasping limbs intertwined into a nearly seamless wall of greenery that stretched an impossible ten feet high. The plants themselves sported unnaturally thick branches, and their sharp thorns were nearly two inches long. Cass stood before the obstacle, hands on hips, glaring at it as though it was a personal affront.
"What could make thorn bushes this big?" Jenny wondered aloud, clearly in awe of the deadly plants.
"A Venusaur, I would guess. They can learn frenzy plant, you know," Chris said.
"Had personal experience with this sort of thing?" George asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, uh, let's just say…you'll never look at plants the same way after encountering a Venus flytrap with three-foot-long 'mouths,'" Chris chuckled, reddening slightly as the eyes of the rest of the group fell upon him.
"I don't much care what made them," Cass stated curtly. "Figuring out how to get past them is good enough for me."
"Why don't we burn through?" Jenny suggested, shooting a glance at Tobias.
"Sorry, but Igneous isn't strong enough to use flamethrower yet, and trying to fire punch our way through would take forever and he'd only end up getting hurt, anyway. I mean, look at those thorns!" Tobias replied.
"That's all right, I have a Pokemon that can do it for us," Cass announced, pulling an Ultra Ball from her belt. "Help me out here, Kecleon."
Tobias recognized another Hoenn Pokemon as the powerful capture device disgorged an unfamiliar creature. Though distinctly lizardlike in appearance, it stood upright on its stubby hind legs, shifting constantly from foot to foot in order to maintain its balance as it cocked its absurdly large head back and forth. As Tobias watched, the Kecleon opened its mouth and a long, thin pink tongue rolled out of it, lolling comically. Tobias was surprised by its appearance. This Pokemon had fire attacks? It looked like a grass-type more than anything else to him, green except for an odd red zigzag band that circled its midsection and yellow markings on its head.
"Keclll," the bizarre Pokemon announced with an odd lisp most likely caused by the fact that its tongue was hanging out of its mouth.
"Kecleon, I want you to burn through those plants using flamethrower, all right?" Cass said, gesturing towards the massive wall of greenery. Her Pokemon studied the plants with a critical eye, his tongue absentmindedly curling and uncurling as it did so. He nodded once and then tensed as though with intense concentration, his tongue rolling back up into his mouth. Tobias was surprised as he began to blush, and was further astounded as the blush spread to engulf the rest of his body.
The Kecleon changed color before Team Ghost's eyes, turning a stunning crimson that made his zigzag stripe appear purple by comparison. The change completed, he opened his mouth once more, though this time it was not a pink tongue that appeared, but rather a small tongue of flame. The weak attack fizzled out to nothing almost immediately, and the Kecleon's coloration flickered for a second with surprise and disappointment. For her part, Cass turned a red that almost rivaled that of her Pokemon, whether from embarrassment or anger it was impossible to say. Tobias guessed it was some mixture of both, and that it was probably largely in response to George, who was smirking at Kecleon.
"I'm sorry, new TM move, you know," Cass muttered, pointedly not looking at George. "Go on, Kecleon, try it again."
Kecleon screwed up his face with determination and drew in a deep breath, exhaling it as a raging blast of flame that struck the thorns forcefully. Clearly relieved at his success, Kecleon swept the continuous steam of fire back and forth across the plants, stepping forward as the outer layer of greenery crumbled to ash. The barrier burned reluctantly, the sap coursing through the living plants igniting reluctantly at best. Upon reflection, Tobias decided that this was probably a good thing; if the fire were able to spread easily, they would probably end up inadvertently setting the entire level alight, and where would they be then?
It was slow going, as the cluster of brambles proved to be some five feet deep. Kecleon tired quickly, in the end only able to spit out weak bursts of fire at increasingly long intervals. Cass hurriedly returned him to his Ultra Ball when the last smoldering clump of branches fell before the attack. Team Ghost stepped through the makeshift doorway in the barrier, treading quickly over hot ash. To their surprise, they found themselves within sight of the level's arena as soon as they reached the other side. A meadow stretched to the far wall of the level, broken only the dirt arena cleared in the middle of the space and the familiar path, which had resumed on the other side of the thorny wall, cutting straight across the plants to the battle area at the center. A woman stood at its far end, apparently waiting for them.
"Well, that level wasn't as bad as the last one," Jenny said earnestly as she surveyed the space before them. Tobias decided not to mention that it would definitely have been unpleasant if they'd had to deal with repeated powder attacks from the concealed Oddish.
"Come on," Cass said simply, trotting forward at a brisk pace, apparently eager to complete this level. As they drew near to the arena, Tobias caught sight of the judge, another woman who had been sitting off to one side of the arena, staring out across the meadow with her eyes unfocused, clearly daydreaming. She returned to herself as Team Ghost approached, collecting her flags and rising back to her feet.
The floor master smiled warmly as they approached, brushing her long black hair out of her face. Tobias guessed that if she lay down in the meadow she would be almost perfectly camouflaged, as her dress was a riot of brilliantly colored blotches against a background of light green, mimicking the flower-studded grass. "Congratulations on surviving the second level," she said as Team Ghost stepped up to their end of the arena. "As you may have guessed, this level is intended to represent what the first humans to visit Olivine found upon their arrival. The many grass-types native to the area at the time were, naturally, less than pleased that humans decided to start clearing trees from their land and using their dead bodies to construct dens. I am your final challenge on this level. Choose your Pokemon."
This time there was little hesitation as the trainers selected their fighters. Tobias selected Jinx's chime and rang it. The clear tone that it gave off startled teammates and opponent alike, and they all watched in unabashed fascination as the Murkrow was released from confinement in a cloud of pale vapor. "Wow, you really aren't from around here, are you?" Jenny remarked with a chuckle.
"No, not really," Tobias replied with a slight smile. The other trainers gawked for a second more while Jinx eyed them with equal interest. As they weren't wearing anything of sufficient interest, he grew bored began to survey the arena instead. Cass shrugged and released her Pokemon, one with which Tobias was actually familiar: a Sandslash. The other three selected the Pokemon that they had used in the previous battle, and all five waited tensely as the floor master contemplated her choices.
At last she plucked three Pokeballs from her belt and sent out a formidable array of adversaries. Perhaps the most imposing was a Typhlosion, which let out a triumphant roar at the prospect of battling. Her fiery mane flared to life with a muted whoosh, the air around her body shimmering with the resulting heat. The rest of her teammates moved discreetly to the side, shooting irritated glances back and forth at one another.
"The battle between floor master Sweet and Team Ghost will now begin," the referee announced, raising her flags and looking expectantly back and forth between the opposing teams. Again, the Pokemon charged forward in disarray, save for two. Cass's Sandslash dove immediately into the earth, its long digging claws moving so rapidly that they disappeared behind a blur of flying soil. It vanished from sight almost immediately, leaving only a neat round hole as testament to the fact that it had been standing there a mere few seconds before. Jinx also lagged behind, shooting a confused look back at Tobias.
"It's a five-on-five battle, Jinx," Tobias explained. "You can pick who you want to battle, I guess." He was still unable to make out what was going on in the center of the arena, and guessed that he'd have to wait until the battle started to break up into smaller skirmishes to issue orders.
That suited Jinx just fine. He took to the air, peering keenly down at the battle below. The Typhlosion was wreaking havoc, bellowing with delight as she charged at her opponents. Team Ghost's Pokemon scattered as she approached, unwilling to even go near the searing heat of her body. Only Jenny's Butterfree bravely took a stand against her, sending her sliding back across the floor with a confusion. Though the action elicited a hiss of surprised pain from the floor master's Persian, which had been following behind the volcano Pokemon and was struck by the beast as a result, the Typhlosion herself seemed unperturbed. She reared back up onto her hind legs and sent an almost lazy burst of spiraling flame at the bug-type.
Butterfree, surprised at Typhlosion's quick recovery, unwisely tried to both dodge the strange wreath of flame and deflect it with a confusion attack at once. As a result, she awkwardly fluttered aside as the barely misdirected flame wheel roared past, searing clear through her right wing. With a horrified cry of "Freeee!" she sank to the floor, more than a third of her wing utterly disintegrated, the charred remnant fluttering desperately in a doomed attempt to keep her airborne. "Butterfree has been eliminated!" the referee called quickly, the Pokemon in question disappearing from the field nearly as fast. Jenny looked ill as she cradled the Pokeball that held Buterfree between her hands, apparently unnerved by the way her Pokemon had been injured by the Typhlosion's attack.
Jinx was not much concerned with either the Butterfree or the Typhlosion, however. His interest was quickly diverted to the lithe, creamy Pokemon crouched near the center of the arena. It sat on its haunches calmly, not directly engaging any of his its opponents, though a charred mark along its left side indicated that it was the one that had fallen victim to the Typhlosion's natural shield of heat. Every now and then, when it thought it saw a chance to attack without provocation, it would swipe the air in the direction of its target, the strange jewel set into its forehead glowing mysteriously. A sudden burst of round, shiny objects fountained from thin air and smacked into the selected Pokemon with apparent force each time that it did so, and soon the floor was littered with small, glittering piles of mysterious objects.
This was clearly too good to be true. Why would one of his opponents decide to give away shiny things like that? Jinx fluttered down closer, just to be sure. Indeed, the feline did seem to be tossing shiny items around like they were nothing. Not only that, but Jinx now recognized them for what they were: the kind of shiny things that humans called "coins." The Murkrow had learned that these were particularly special shiny things, for as Tobias had often demonstrated, you could trade them for better, shinier things. He dove down and landed in the clear space in front of the cream Pokemon and flapped his wings wildly, trying to draw its attention. "Kroowww! Murkrowowowo!" he cawed as loudly as he could.
The Persian was considerably puzzled by this behavior. He had never had a Murkrow land in front of him before and start yelling "Throw coins at me! Me me me me me me!" before. Peering intently at the diminutive black bird, he tried to decide if it was up to something. But no, it appeared to be completely serious. Baring his sharp teeth in a catlike grin, the Persian obligingly sent a pay day at it.
"No! Jinx! Jinx, what are you doing?" Tobias yelled as he saw the Murkrow land in front of the Persian and start dancing around. He was nervous, and could tell that the rest of team was as well; floor master Sweet's Typhlosion seemed unstoppable, and they were already down a fighter, putting at them at a one-Pokemon disadvantage. The floor master herself seemed completely confident, not even issuing orders to her fighters as she calmly surveyed the battle. They were doing remarkably well on their own, he had to admit. Having Jinx goof off was certainly not going to help them win. "Attack the Hitmontop! Attack the Hitmontop!"
Peter the Primeape was currently embroiled in a heated battle with the other fighting-type, firing kick after kick at its head in hopes of knocking it off balance enough to tip it over. Magneton finished disposing of the floor master's Farfetch'd, which fainted after the second thunderbolt that it received, and floated off towards the Tentacruel currently sending blasts caustic poison at Peter's undefended back. Typhlosion selected it as her next target, sending a looping flame wheel into its steel body. Spinning around as quickly as it was able, it began to send bolts of electricity at the larger Pokemon, its metallic hide glowing a painful red-hot. Sandslash, meanwhile, resurfaced beneath the floor master's Tentacruel. Erupting from the earth with great force, she dug her long claws into the jellyfish's tender underside. Disgusting globs of clear gel rained down on her face as they spilled from the resulting ruptures in the delicate membrane of the aquatic Pokemon's belly. In response, the strange beaklike structure suspended below its body snapped shut, trapping the ground-type in a firm grip while its dozens of stringy tendrils wrapped themselves around her body. She hissed as the numerous appendages excreted a powerful poison, stinging and burning her skin. In response, she lashed out with her wicked claws, severing tentacle upon tentacle. The fight did not last long, however, as the water-type slowly deflated as its innards spilled out, the referee soon deeming it unable to continue.
Well, it was looking a bit better for them, Tobias amended as the two opponents fell in quick succession. Jinx had ignored his earlier command however, continuing to dart around in front of the Persian as it hurled wave after wave of pay days at him. He seemed to be enjoying himself, but Tobias was at the moment more interested in winning the battle than Jinx's personal enjoyment. "Come on, Jinx! I mean it! Leave the alone Persian and attack the Hitmontop."
Jinx was completely oblivious to his guide's commands, however. He was far too engrossed in this unusual game with the Persian. The cat would hurl a multitude of shiny things at him, which he would dodge, or dodge as best he could, and then wait patiently for him to flutter within reach again as he tried to retrieve his prize, only to send another barrage at him while his guard was down. While he considered this to be quite rude, he didn't mind terribly; he was fast enough to get out of the way of most of the flying treasure, and was building quite a stash of the coins. Still, the rapidly moving chunks of metal hurt when they hit, and the Murkrow squawked angrily at the Persian every time one struck. He had forgotten completely about the battle raging all around him and was now focused solely on amassing as many of the precious coins as he could before the fun came to an end.
Typhlosion at last felled Magneton, though she was beginning to flag after its repeated electrical barrages. Still, she was far from defeated. Snorting and shaking her head slightly as if to rid herself of the occasional shudders that resulted from being subjected to major electrical assaults, she surveyed the battlefield with an experienced eye. The Murkrow and Primeape were both occupied, while the Sandash was creeping up behind her normal-type teammate. She grunted and dropped to all fours, charging with surprising speed at the ground-type. Alerted by a cry from its trainer, however, the nimble insectivore dived back into the protection of the earth, vanishing from sight. The Typhlosion stuck her head into the resulting hole, breathing out another flame wheel at the retreating Sandslash's heels. The ground-type was already too far away for her to reach in that way, however, her powerful fire attack dissipating against the walls of the tunnel. Grumbling at being denied a chance to engage another foe, she withdrew her head and swept her gaze around at the remaining fighters once more.
She was just in time to witness the elimination of the Primeape as Hitmontop delivered a neat triple kick to the ape's temples. Knocked out in the most literal sense of the word, it disappeared from the battlefield in a burst of red energy. That left only the Murkrow within her reach, then. She grinned to herself; whoever had sent that particular Pokemon out to battle a Persian, of all things,wasn't all too bright. Predictably, the bird was utterly absorbed in the collection of riches as opposed to actually defeating its opponent, and Persian was perfectly to content to sit back and whittle his energy down slowly with repeated pay days. She reared back up to her full height and padded quietly up behind the black bird, who was oblivious to his trainer's frantic shouts for him to watch out. The bird was too close to Persian for her to send a flame wheel at him without risking injuring her teammate further, but if she could hit him with a good tackle he'd feel pain enough. She winked conspiratorially to her partner from behind the bird's back, and he replied with a discreet grin. She prepared to pounce while Persian sent another pay day at the bird.
To her surprise, he darted nimbly out of the way and the coins sprayed into her own exposed stomach with surprising force. She doubled over, the wind knocked out of her, as the Murkrow fluttered to a new spot just a few feet to the left. Typhlosion glared murderously at him and, upon regaining her breath, launched herself after him with a quick attack. The coins thoroughly coating the arena in the area proved treacherous, however, and she slipped and careened out of control, clipping Persian as she slid past, spraying coins in all directions as she did so. Jinx went flying, by chance knocked aside by the Typhlosion. He won the fight for control as he spiraled through the air, however, soaring easily up and over the chaos below once more. As Persian limped away from the fallen Typhlosion, heavily favoring his right front paw, Sandslash erupted from the ground beneath Hitmontop, who had been spinning over to aid his comrades in the fray. The sudden appearance of a Sandslash under his head was sufficient to throw him off balance at last, and he crashed to the ground in a daze. Sandslash was on top of him in mere moments, dispatching of the weakened fighter with a rapidly executed set of fury swipes.
Typhlosion, thoroughly humiliated, slowly picked herself up from the pile of coins that she had landed in, many of which were now beginning to melt as a result of contact with her body. She wasn't up for long, however, as Sandslash had no sooner felt his opponent's body dissolve into insubstantial energy beneath his bloodstained claws than he was leaping into the air, spinning end over end as fast as he could in order to dislodge a barrage of needles from his back. A spray of spines struck Typhlosion's side as the swift attack hit home, and she turned to orient herself against this new foe.
Jinx was furious as he found himself suddenly airborne after being swept aside by the wildly charging Typhlosion. His chest feathers badly singed and the bruises he had received from improperly evaded pay days screaming as he flapped his short wings wildly to regain control of his flight, he eyed the massive fire-type with indignant loathing. How dare she! Not only had she injured the coin-thrower, she was now destroying the coins themselves, the precious shiny objects transformed to useless puddles of molten metal at her searing touch. Anger and remorse at seeing his horde destroyed welled up in his small form, and he drew deeply on the dark energy running hidden through the very air around him, sending a powerful night shade at her just as the barrage of spines hit home, one or two of the projectiles whistling disconcertingly near his talons as they passed beneath him.
Typhlosion found her fiery body suddenly enveloped in malevolent, unnatural cold. At the same time, reality seemed to melt away from her vision, replaced by a creeping darkness that wrapped its writhing tendrils around her with frightening voracity. It was not simply darkness, the lack of light, but a living, grasping being clawing covetously at her form. She couldn't breath, she couldn't think…and when she collapsed, shaking with terror and unable to continue, she fell not into the eternal depths of a horrible place that the sun never touched, but the dirt floor of the arena, now spattered with the blood dripping from the wounds she had received from the Sandslash's spines. She had only a second to rejoice in the fact that she was still alive and once again back in the real world before the familiar compressing sensation that accompanied the return sequence of a Pokeball encompassed her.
Jinx crowed with triumph as the mighty beast fell in response to his attack, but was horrified as a pained yowl arose from below. While he had been distracted, the Sandslash had dispatched of the coin-thrower, now standing panting but triumphant as one of the last two Pokemon of Team Ghost. Now, what had the stupid Sandslash had to go and do that for? Now there would be no one to produce more coins for him. Disconsolately, Jinx drifted down to the arena floor and began scooping as many of the remaining coins as he could reach toward him, collecting them into an untidy pile.
"Congratulations, Team Ghost," floor master said with a moody pout that indicated that she was reluctant to offer them any sort of praise, "you have successfully survived your passage through the wilderness."
There was a collective exhalation from the trainers' side of the field as hands unclenched and Tobias's teammates relaxed. It had been a close battle, far too close for comfort, and it had taken a moment to sink in that it was over. Floor master Sweet's words, however, broke the spell, and the agitated teenagers began to smile at one another as they momentarily set aside differences to congratulate one another on their narrow victory. Tobias, however, had one other small problem to deal with. He strode over to Jinx, who was sweeping still more coins into his stack.
"Jinx," he said sternly, "what were you doing out there?"
Jinx rolled his eyes. Humans had an irritating tendency to ask obvious questions like this. Why, he had been collecting coins, of course, and he said as much.
Of course, Tobias heard only a muttered "Krow mur mur" and was not entirely satisfied. "I don't care if the Persian was throwing shiny things around. It was trying to hurt you; you know that, you're not stupid. I was trying to give you advice, but you were too wrapped up in your own greed to notice. You could have been hurt really badly, you know that? It was only luck that that Typhlosion didn't fry you! I was trying to tell you to get out of the way, but no!"
Jinx was only half-listening, more concerned with collecting the spoils of war than listening to the whining of a human. He knew the boy meant well, but really, Jinx was Jinx and Jinx knew best what would be best for Jinx. Simple as that.
Seeing that he was getting nowhere and aware of the critical, impatient eyes of his teammates upon him, Tobias returned Jinx to his chime, muttering, "We'll talk about this later."
"I'll send your cash winnings down to the storage area for you," floor master Sweet sighed.
"Huh?" Tobias asked, turning to look at her in puzzlement.
"Your winnings," she said impatiently, gesturing to the glittering pile of coins that now graced the center of the arena. "Whoever defeats a Persian battle gets to keep the pay day coins, you know."
"Yeah, but my Murkrow didn't actually knock your Persian out," Tobias persisted.
The floor master sighed in exasperation. "I know. I'm going to split it up equally amongst all of your team. Now, get moving. The third floor awaits." She stepped aside, revealing a doorway in the far wall, and waited impatiently for Team Ghost to file past.
The five trainers set foot upon the metal steps with apprehension, secretly dreading whatever the next level might bring their way. Some of them, Chris in particular, were beginning to regret signing up for the tournament in the first place. It just seemed to be more trouble than it was worth. Still, it was too late to back out now. Their teammates needed them. As they circled upward, a distinctly briny smell drifted down from the level above to greet them, giving the team a decent idea of what the next challenge was going to be, though most ardently hoped that they were wrong.
Tobias was the last up the ladder, and was surprised, as he reached the second to last step, to find that no one had thought to move aside from the entrance to the third level to let him pass. In fact, the entire team was huddled just outside the doorway, conversing in low tones.
"It's not deep, Cass. Seriously, I'm guessing about three feet."
"So sure that you're willing to jump in and see whether or not it's just an optical illusion? None of us really came equipped to go swimming, in case you haven't noticed."
"Well, we can't stand here forever," George snapped.
"Fine, you first," Cass retorted.
"What's going on?" Tobias asked, still unable to see around his comrades and into the room beyond.
"The next level is a water level," Chris explained, not turning around.
"Oh, this is silly," Jenny sighed. "I'll go first, I guess. If something nasty comes to get me, though, do any of you have water-type Pokemon that could fish me out?
A brief inventory was taken of the Pokeballs that the trainers had brought along. In the end, it was found that no, no such Pokemon was currently within their possession. There was a gusty sigh followed shortly by a loud splash as Jenny apparently jumped into the water. The trainers in front of Tobias crowded forward to fill in the space previously occupied by the red-haired girl and to peer anxiously down at her to see that she was all right. Tobias made it up to the final step and waited impatiently for someone else to move, his anxiety increasing with each passing moment.
"Are you okay?" Cass asked.
"Y-yes…it's not deep, but it's f-f-f-freezing." Jenny's voice drifted up from somewhere below.
"Well, I'm going in, then," Cass announced boldly, and another cacophonous splash echoed in the air, rebounding from the walls of what Tobias guessed must be a fairly open room. Now there was enough room on the platform for Tobias to squeeze into the room proper, and he gaped at what he saw before him.
A vast pool stretched apparently throughout this entire level, its waters undulating slightly as they lapped against the sides of smooth, weatherworn rocks that sprung up from its surface at apparently random intervals. Whoever had designed the level had actually built up the stairs to this floor with a temporary addition of a couple of steps. The additional height accounted for the new platform upon which most of Team Ghost was standing, which hung about five feet off of the actual floor. The tiles were made invisible by a new layer of waterproof plastic that had been laid down before the room was filled.
A mysterious mist hung over the water, preventing Tobias from seeing more than ten feet across the waters ahead of him. It stubbornly refused to dissipate beneath the bright morning light streaming in from the lighthouse's windows, which were set high up in the level's walls. The waters were illuminated from within as well, however; dozens of soft yellow lights floated quietly beneath its surface, rocking to and fro in the almost nonexistent currents circulating throughout the pool. The light reflecting off of the water cast an entrancing pattern of shifting light patterns against the lighthouse's stone walls, further adding to the aura of mystery that pervaded this level.
Chris shattered the quiet, subdued atmosphere by being the next to take the plunge into the water, flailing helplessly in the air as he did so as though he had changed his mind mid-leap and was desperately trying to claw his way back onto dry land. He landed with a massive crash that left Cass spluttering indignantly as his entry sent a spray of water into her face. Chris himself was thoroughly soaked and looked rather sheepish, apologizing meekly to Cass before moving away from the platform so that George could follow him in.
As the pudgy boy disappeared over the side of the platform, Tobias stepped nervously up to the edge and peered in. He would really prefer not to find out exactly how cold the water was, or what hidden dangers were lurking beneath its pristine surface, but he didn't really have a choice, now did he? He threw himself off the edge before his brain had sufficient time to process the decision, afraid that he'd dither there forever otherwise, and hit the water with a resounding concussion.
Jenny was right; the water was terribly cold. The shock of it took his breath away, and he stood completely still for a moment, experiencing a horrible spreading chill as his clothes absorbed the frigid liquid, wicking it further up his back. He shivered convulsively, holding his arms, which had not yet touched the water, determinedly high in the air and away from the liquid, reluctant to subject them to the same treatment. He guessed that he probably looked pretty ridiculous, standing there half-submerged in water with his arms up over his head, but at the moment, he didn't care; he was cold!
The only sound for several seconds was the slosh of water as it pulsed around the five trainers, still reeling slightly from the shock of their entries, and the subtle chatter of five sets of teeth as the teenagers waited to become a bit more accustomed to the water before moving on.
Naturally, it was Cass who did so first, slogging determinedly forward. She almost seemed to be moving in slow motion, her now waterlogged clothes dragging at her body, as did the water itself, making it difficult for her to forge a path forward. I bet she's going to regret wearing those jeans by the time this level is over, Tobias thought with satisfaction. He felt only mildly guilty afterwards; the bossy girl was really beginning to get on his nerves.
"Well, come on," she grunted, struggling onward. "We didn't come this far just to get stopped by a little water, now did we?"
The rest of the team halfheartedly muttered that no, of course they hadn't, and began to slog through the water after their leader. It was slow going and tiring, Tobias eventually lowering his arms to his sides as they quickly began to ache. Team Ghost leaned forward slightly as they walked, placing each step very carefully after George slipped on the slick plastic beneath his feet and fell face-first into the water. It had taken all of the rest of the team to haul him out again, spluttering and gasping wildly. By this point they were all terribly soaked, and the chill of the water had vanished thanks to the heat generated by their hard labors.
It was soon discovered that the origin of the strange lights that Tobias had seen below the surface of the water were actually Chinchou, resting contentedly on the bottom of the pool as the bioluminescent bulbs on their antennae illuminated the area around them. Their presence had at first worried the team, as the half-electric types could easily devastate them with a single, casual shock that would travel easily through their watery environment. Such an encounter could be fatal, even if it only paralyzed; if you couldn't move, there was no way to return to the surface of the water when you went under. At length, however, George pointed out that there was, yet again, no real way to go around the Chinchou, that the Lighthouse Challenge organizers were presumably not trying to kill them, and that even if they were going to attack he didn't really care much anymore as all that he wanted at the moment was to be dry again and get this stupid tournament over with.
The group agreed with him and moved onward, and indeed the Chinchou did not make any move to attack. They watched placidly as the trainers forced their way past, occasionally darting out of the group's path with a flutter of their small, delicate fins. Tobias found their presence comforting, to some extent. They would presumably keep almost any aquatic predator away as their electrical powers made them the bane of most water-types.
They passed several of the large, mysterious boulders, but found nothing particularly interesting about them. At first, Chris voiced hopes that they would be able to climb out of the water and sit on them a while to rest and get dry, but the rocks proved to be too sheer-sided to allow them to clamber up.
Tobias sincerely hoped that the only challenge for this level was simply to make it to the other side without collapsing from exhaustion. That seemed as though it would be difficult enough to him, at least. He peered constantly straight into the mist ahead, willing an arena to materialize after he took the next step, or the next…
As a result, he was initially ecstatic as the large, hazy bump appeared in the mists ahead. It appeared to be some sort of significant structure, at least, and probably one that would allow him to get out of the water for a few minutes. He pressed forward with renewed vigor, his teammates following suit. As the mists slowly cleared away from the shape, he could see that it was made of stone, what appeared to be a flat slab capped by a large, rounded boulder in the center.
As Cass approached the edge of the island-like formation, however, Tobias felt a sense of foreboding come over him. "Wait, don't--" he began, but it was too late. Cass reached up and gratefully put her hand atop the lower part of the island, preparing to haul herself onto its flat surface. In unison, the lights of the Chinchou went out. Cass and the rest of the humans froze, staring wide-eyed into the now darkened water surrounding them. What had they done?
Tobias shifted his weight unconsciously, his body automatically adjusting to the slight push of something from behind. Soon, however, the shove became too pronounced for him to ignore, however, and he bent his knees purposefully, pivoting slightly to the side to present less of a target to the current.
It took a moment for the work to sink into his conscious. Current! There hadn't been a current before, he realized with a jolt. Suddenly, however, he being pushed and pulled in all directions as the waters roiled and churned around him, brought to life by some unknown force. He struggled over to a nearby boulder and clutched its rough surface desperately, trying to keep from being knocked over or pulled under by the newly created currents. His teammates were doing the same, he saw as he cast a glance back over his shoulder, his splayed fingers trying to worm deep into the rock that he was clutching, desperately questing for better purchase. The only one who hadn't moved was Cass.
It was probably her expression that most terrified him. He'd never seen Cass, the eternally cool, unruffled leader, look so utterly terrified. She was staring fixedly at the large bump in the middle of the makeshift island. Apparently, there was something lying on top of it--something rather different from the rocky surface on which it rested, because as Tobias looked on, it began to move.
