Author's note: A bit of a miscellaneous note, but if you're like me and you like listening to music while reading pages on the web, allow me to recommend "The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls" from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil's extra stage. I can't help thinking it could easily fit right into a PMD game, especially one from the DS era, and it's got the sort of atmosphere that I wanted this next dungeon to give off. (I'm also just a sucker for Touhou Project and anything ZUN composes in general, be that what it may.)
Also, I became aware of some system glitch last week after I posted chapter 34, and for a day or two, it seemed to be deleted without any attempt to do so on my end... I do hope that will not happen this time, hehe.
By all indications, it would have been a lovely day- the serene green surroundings of the mountain were dotted in delicate blooms of nearly every color, the sun beamed down in warm rays from a cloudless sky, and the air was pleasant. Crystalline shards jutted up from the ground that reflected their surroundings and bent light like a prism to scatter little rainbows across the ground, giving the fields an almost ethereal look. Starry Peak itself was fairly steep, almost akin to a big spike sticking out of the ground with a few flatter rock faces jutting off of the sides here and there, and all of them were covered in the same grassy green as the ground below with crystalline fixtures acting as natural ornamentation. They could generally tell where the top of the mountain was by looking up at it, but whatever was on the top wasn't visible where the steep sides suddenly flattened out. Two large prism shards at the entrance to a cave on the bottom practically beckoned any expeditioner in with its enchanting look, but all the same…
"Incoming," Adnea said, quick but still flat.
"SkreeeeEEEEEEE!"
In moments, all of them turned their gazes up to see a screeching Skarmory dive-bombing down at them, and a few startled cries came from the Starstorm trio while Rozen put up a Reflect to block a vicious Metal Claw. Astrid instinctively hardened one wing and held it up in front of her, but she stood down when the armored avian's sharp feathers slashed away with reckless abandon to absolutely no avail.
"Well, 'sup to you too!" Rush exclaimed, getting a shifty-eyed smirk and balling one fist up.
The Skarmory landed and spread its wings out, still screeching away, but with no hesitation whatsoever, Rush bolted up closer to it and pounded his fist into its chest hard enough that the armored plating bent inwards with an uncomfortable thud. A muffled squawk came from the wild one, but whatever move it was planning on making next was cut short when its yellow eyes drooped shut and it fell in a limp heap on the ground.
"Nice try, asshat," the Scrafty laughed. "Next time, try harder!"
Astrid blinked, studying the fainted one for a second and almost feeling a bit sorry for it. She was definitely glad for Rozen's shield keeping them all unscathed with the sharpened wings glinting in the sunlight, for they surely had to feel… unpleasant. Arashi grinned again, but from the way his mouth contorted, she could easily tell he was trying not to look like a fanboy in front of his idols for seemingly the umpteenth time that day.
"I can tell Team Sweetheart is up at the top," Adnea noted, side-eyeing the steep sides of the mountain and glancing up at the upper boundaries. "They don't seem like themselves, to put it lightly. And thankfully, they're all I can get a feel of, so if Squad Fourteen-Five is still in the vicinity, we don't have to worry about them for the time being."
Astrid felt relief at that, but Rush looked playfully downcast and slammed a fist into one palm again.
"Maaaaan, I was kinda hopin' we'd see 'em!" the Scrafty laughed, getting a shifty grin. "Yo, Raijin, you say Nihilegos are supposed to be awful at taking physical hits, so what happens if ya punch one? Do they break~?"
Rozen rolled his eyes at his comrade's inquiry.
"W-well, they definitely can, yes," the Xurkitree replied, sounding rather subdued and tapping his fingers together. "Back when Void didn't have Salem and didn't like others of her species, I was on a team with a Kartana, and they hit a Nihilego with Sacred Sword… It was ugly. Really, really ugly. That poor thing shattered like glass and poison went everywhere."
Rush snickered a bit at the information, perhaps wanting to see if Seven Thousand would shatter like glass too. Astrid fluffed out at the mental picture that her comrade's words gave her, imagining that truly, being shattered like glass would be an awful way to leave the mortal realm. Her partner looked a bit uncomfortable at the idea too, and clearly Raijin was hesitant about conveying it as well when he shuddered and went shrinking up.
Rozen gave the Scrafty another nudge. "Now, now, friend, are you sure you aren't another crazy incident as well? You sound awfully eager to go punching others."
Rush snickered. "What?" he brushed it off. "Fourteen-Five's squad wants to show up, poison Team Sweetheart, and spread Void's bullshit enlightenment. I wanna punch them and tell them 'Welcome to the world of Pokémon, bitches!' and make 'em crawl back to their boss crying! Ain't nothing wrong with that!"
The Coalition boss crossed his arms and looked up at the sky, giving a hearty cackle. Rozen chuckled as well, clearly sharing the sentiment but not feeling quite as strongly.
"Incoming," Adnea flatly piped up again.
Another wild one, a (rather small) Gourgeist, came rushing out from behind a crystalline shard while screeching and trying to tangle anyone it could reach up in its arms, but a quick Throat Chop from Rush cut its rampage short before it could do any harm.
Starry Peak 1F
The inside wasn't as overtly bright and happy as the outside, but it still did not carry the feeling of a dungeon with overly aggressive dungeon-dwellers in the slightest. Dark purplish cavern walls made up their surroundings with a few crystalline plates embedded into them like diamond-esque mirrors, and a few smaller crystalline shards overhead glowed like little prismatic stars (which Astrid assumed the dungeon name came from). More little rainbows scattered across the floor from both the shine of the shimmering shards overhead and Raijin's glow, the light refracted through the prismatic stones. A very small amount of blooming flowers poked up through a few cracks in the ground, but by and large, the lush garden environment of the outside had been replaced with sleek stone.
"U-um…" Raijin piped up, tapping his fingers together, "I don't mean to be a nuisance, but is the floor entirely rock here…?"
Rush chuckled. "You're worried about recharging, yeah?"
"Yes," the Xurkitree answered. "It's hard to do in rocky environments and the longest I've made it in a dungeon without recharging was 15 floors, so if there's 25 here, I probably won't be very useful…"
"Don't worry," Rush brushed it off. "I wouldn't drag ya out here without having a plan for something like that! I'm not that kind of bastard, ehehe!"
Wham!
The next moment, the ground had a Scrafty's fist pounding into it, to which the purple stone shattered and revealed some packed dirt underneath that was much friendlier for plugging into. The Starstorm trio all gave slight jolts of surprise, Astrid fluffing up again at seeing Rush so easily bust through the rocky terrain while Arashi couldn't help grinning.
"Give it a try and tell me if it works," Rush said, not too concerned. "I don't wanna string you along and make you miserable."
Raijin nodded, his tail plugging into the ground. "I-it's fine. It'll work."
"Good," the Scrafty said, looking about at their surroundings, then to Adnea next. "How many?" he asked her.
"Five altogether- one in the room next to us and two to the south," the Orbeetle replied. "The other two are attacking each other and will probably faint soon."
Another laugh came from the Coalition lead. "Hah! Must be havin' fun!"
Nonetheless, of the three corridors to pick from- one behind, one in front, and one to their right- Rush headed for the one in front of them, a swagger in his step and the rest close in tow.
"How many what?" Arashi inquired. "Is that the number of dungeon-dwellers?"
"It is," the Orbeetle answered. "They're all scatter-brained and aggressive too, but I suppose that's to be expected from a dungeon-dweller regardless. It's still a marked difference than usual."
Astrid blinked, thinking that Adnea's capabilities were already proving to be extremely useful.
"I guess I oughtta give y'all a heads-up on what's here," Rush noted, shooting a glance back at the Starstorm trio. "You got some Skarmories here and there, but they're mostly in the upper floors. We'll probably see a Florges or three every floor, and some Gourgeists that get bigger the further up you go. And I should probably mention about those Gourgeists that some of 'em make biiiiig-ass Explosions, so don't just go running up to 'em without Rozen protectin' ya. There's some Flaaffies runnin' around too, and they just love being annoying. Then there's Mr. Mime, specifically the Ice-type variant… and those are annoying as hell too if ya find one with Screen Cleaner."
They took it in, and Astrid catalogued every piece of information. She almost wanted to remember something about Mr. Mime's icy form having a more specific term to a specific geographic location… but she couldn't place where that recollection was coming from, or even what geographic location it would refer to.
"C-can I ask something kinda random…?" Raijin asked, sounding a bit confused.
"What's up?" Rush replied.
"Why is that species called Mr. Mime?" was the inquiry. "I mean… half of them are female, right? Wouldn't those ones be called 'Ms. Mime,' assuming that they don't prefer to be referred to with masculine terms?"
"Oh, some of them prefer to be called 'Ms. Mime,' yes," Adnea noted. "And some of them are fine with 'Mr. Mime' while still being understood and referred to as female. But as for why they're collectively a bunch of Mr. Mimes, your guess is as good as ours. That would require combing over a history of the origins of the Mime Jr. line and why that name has stuck around, something I unfortunately am not in possession of."
Raijin nodded. "… That makes more sense."
"This place is pretty," Arashi piped up, looking around at all the glowing crystals and rainbows.
"You think so, Li'l Blue?" Rush snickered. "I think it's too damn flashy, but apparently I'm close to the only one that does. This is one of those places that some 'Mon like to come to, thinkin' they could run off with some of those glowing crystals 'cause they're pretty as hell or whatever, but then they don't realize that they're locked in for 25 floors with some wild ones that, even without a neurotoxin makin' 'em crazy, can give ya hell. There's been way too many unprepared folks that run in here, get paralyzed by a Flaaffy, and wind up with a Gourgeist tryin' to rip their soul out."
Astrid's eyes went wide at the casual mention anyone's soul getting ripped out. If a Gourgeist showed up, their team definitely had the advantage, but nonetheless she couldn't help piping up, "H-has that happened to anyone…?"
"If it has, the victim wouldn't be able to tell us," Adnea matter-of-factly noted. "We can never know for sure."
She accepted the answer, but nonetheless blinked a few times in uncertainty. She certainly wouldn't be letting any Gourgeists grab hold of her to try.
True to Adnea's words, there were no dungeon-dwellers in the room they entered, but a cracked surface on one of the reflective surfaces indicated that one had at least been there prior. It definitely looked like someone had punched the wall, or perhaps slammed someone else into it, and if two of the dungeon-dwellers were having a fit at each other, it wasn't hard to guess where the damage had come from. There was only one corridor to the room, and the opening had a bit of damage as if it too had taken a hit meant for another target.
The Orbeetle chimed in again, "There's a Florges headed this way. We should stay put so we don't get boxed in."
Rush nodded, and preemptively, Rozen was setting up a Light Screen in front of them. Sure enough, seconds later, an elegant green figure with a mane of pink flowers came floating down the hallway, and immediately on seeing outside company, started snarling and set to revving up a Moonblast while glaring daggers at them all. Whatever it was saying, if it was saying anything, they had no clue, but the fairy sounded nothing short of furious.
"I got this one!" Rush shouted, balling up one fist and spitting a poisonous ooze onto it.
The Moonblast crashed into Rozen's shield and dissipated, to which Rush darted out from behind it and, becoming cloaked in the white aura of the Audino's Helping Hand, Poison Jabbed his fist straight into the Florges while it was in the preliminary of firing off another lunar burst. With a still-angry face, the Florges cried out in pain and reached out one hand to recklessly claw at the Scrafty, but soon enough, it was going limp from the damage and slumped over on the ground with its flower mane and leaves haphazardly strewn around it.
"Don't worry; I ain't gonna steal all the action," Rush remarked, smirking. "I just really don't like fairies when they ain't on my side, ehehe!"
"Why don't you?" Arashi inquired, still starry-eyed.
Astrid had to figure that it was on account of being doubly weak to Fairy-types, which would certainly sour anyone towards wild fairies.
"'Cause if they hit me with a Fairy-type move, I'd be fucked," Rush replied, snickering. "But that's the fun of it! Ain't no fun if there ain't no risk of getting your ass kicked!"
The Frogadier was clearly hanging on the Coalition lead's every word and trying not to turn into a fanboy, but even if he said nothing, Astrid could tell from the look in his eyes that her partner was likely mentally gushing to himself about how cool he thought Rush was. She couldn't help thinking that there being 'no fun' if taking grievous damage wasn't a possibility was nothing short of ridiculous, but she wasn't going to protest it either… at least, provided she wouldn't be shoved in front of a Mr. Mime's Icy Wind for the 'fun' of it.
"Two more down, two left," Adnea noted shortly thereafter.
"They faint?" Rush asked.
"Indeed. Two rooms east is a Mr. Mime with a limp, frost-covered Skarmory's talons sunk into its chest."
"That sounds painful…" Raijin's voice trailed off, the Xurkitree giving an uncertain twitch.
Astrid blinked, and Arashi got a bit of a surprised look. It had to feel like something, and 'painful' was probably as accurate of a descriptor as any.
"One of the wild ones has caught a glimpse of the stairs too," the Orbeetle informed next. "One room west and two south."
"Gotcha," Rush affirmed. "Let's get 'em."
Starry Peak 2F
There was something particularly reassuring about having Adnea update everyone on the locations of the dungeon-dwellers, for all worry of getting ambushed with no warning was virtually gone. A fainted Flaaffy, done in by some other dungeon-dweller, was slumped in the corner of one room with frost stuck to its fur, more icy shards sparkling on the wall behind it that gave the air a slight chill. Perhaps it meant less targets to face, but the ones that did venture close were plenty riled up to compensate.
A snarling and shrieking Gougeist's arms flailed at Rozen's Reflect while its shadow elongated and struck at the Orbeetle staring it down, and a glaring Flaaffy let out a Growl that made Astrid's feathers stand on end for a second.
"Calm down," Adnea forcefully said to the Gourgeist, her eyes glowing ethereally at the one on the other side of the screen as its Shadow Sneak ripped at another shield behind her. "You will not hurt anyone."
The wild one was still growling away even as its own eyes began to glow too. The Flaaffy, on the other hand, sent off a Thunder Wave at Astrid, but her Beast comrade immune to its effects reached a hand out and intercepted it with no problems while the Dartrix stirred up an Ominous Wind. Her spectral breeze definitely upset the Gourgeist too, but the most that the ghostly gourd did was snarl a bit before falling into a hypnotic sleep. However, the fluffy Electric-type certainly didn't take kindly to the attack and started sparking, not nearly as intimidatingly so as Raijin, but nonetheless enough to garner attention.
"Aaaaand that's a Discharge!" Rush exclaimed.
Arashi got an uncomfortable smile and let out a cry of protest, practically hiding between Astrid and Raijin even as a wall of Light Screens surrounded them all. Astrid stuck a wing around her comrade indifferently as if the shields weren't there, and moments later, a flurry of sparks filled the room from their conscious wild company. It definitely didn't have the raw power that their Xurkitree comrade's did, but still, no one particularly wanted to get hit by it regardless.
"Is it just me, or is everything pink and fluffy kinda problematic if you're battling it?" Arashi remarked, easily taking Astrid's wing as a hiding place. "I mean, you can't touch these things because of their Static, Rozen blocks every attack, and it sounds like Ama is basically immoveable!"
Rush laughed. "You ain't wrong!"
Rozen chuckled at the mention.
Nonetheless, once the sparks died down, the Flaaffy wasn't wasting any time in attacking again and dropped onto all fours, still growling and snarling away. It charged in a Take Down, another Reflect going up that Arashi spit an Ice Beam through, and even if the fluffy wild one had taken damage, its aggression was drowning out the fatigue. It smashed into the shield, a pained look on its face while it still tried its best to rake at the Starstorm trio with its front paws, but set back to sparking moments later. Whatever it was planning on using, it didn't get much chance to attack before an Energy Ball flew through the screen and knocked it out. Even if the Gourgeist was asleep and not bothering anyone, Rozen's shields dropped again and Rush Throat Chopped the ghostly one to make it go limp too.
"Two left, and a Mr. Mime just noticed the stir from an adjacent room," Adnea noted. "We should head east if you don't want to get held up by it."
Rush snickered, nonetheless motioning them all into a corridor to their right. "We still got places to be."
"Hey, Adnea," Arashi piped up, grinning. "You hardly ever go on missions, right? Why don't you? It seems like you'd be really great to have around!"
"Because it's far less efficient," the Orbeetle replied without missing a beat, still unconcerned and aloof. "It's more difficult to monitor the world from within dungeon walls, and when I am in a dungeon, my priority is keeping check of our expedition team's surroundings rather than the much larger area around our base. It's much better for everyone that I stay away from running expeditions and concentrate on nailing down where unpleasant things are occurring. As it is now, Salem could come waltzing into Craggy Crossroads and I might not notice until she set to torching whatever she fancied, but that's a tradeoff that's excusable in this case."
"We've all got our niches," Rozen gently noted. "I'm horrendous at battling so I support the team instead, Rush does what Rush does best and jumps into fights when they come, Dren scares away no-gooders, Adnea knows when and where trouble is brewing, Lazuli fits terrain that the rest of us don't, and Cinder is the best at being Cinder."
Astrid had to wonder what 'being Cinder' entailed aside from literally being the Fletchinder in question, but she didn't pay it much mind either as they entered another room. It was empty save for a larger crystalline shard jabbing up from the floor and their own reflections on some of the wall's shinier surface.
Arashi, however, couldn't help getting starry eyes again at the Audino's explanation. "Hah, you guys have amazing synergy…!" he breathed, utterly starstruck and trying (but failing) to keep his fanboyish tendencies under wraps.
The Orbeetle, however, piped up before anyone else could say a word, shooting piercing glances at all three members of the Starstorm trio. "Don't ask. It's an endeavor best left alone."
Astrid perked up again, unsure of what she meant, and Raijin too gave an uncertain twitch.
"Huh?" Arashi inquired, giving Adnea a confused grin. "Ask what?"
"About Cinder being perpetually fussy and not being fully evolved," the researcher easily replied. "All three of you were thinking it."
The Dartrix definitely was, and she wasn't too surprised that her comrades were as well. They certainly all had a few questions lingering in their minds, but a dungeon run to bring back a poisoned Team Sweetheart was hardly the time or place to ask regardless.
The Scrafty laughed. "We don't talk about that," he remarked, smirking mischievously. "Y'all can ask him, but don't ya come crying to me if he Flamethrowers you right after, ehehe!"
At that, Arashi gave both Astrid and Raijin a giddy look. "I already said I would! You guys said you'd back me up! Let's do it!"
"You will not," Adnea sternly shot it down not even moments after it left the Frogadier's mouth. "If you start a fight while in HQ, I will Hypnotize all three of you into sleep and erase the initial inclination from your minds altogether. You are better than such infantile antics."
Astrid fluffed up, Raijin shrank up, and Arashi's grin turned awkward while Rush and Rozen simply giggled softly at the warning. The Orbeetle's trenchant tone made them all feel like they'd been backed into a corner by a foe, even if nothing of the sort was happening.
"N-never mind!" Arashi squeaked in cheerful uncertainty.
Starry Peak 4F
"Oh, jeez! Not this again!" Arashi exclaimed.
Had Adnea not alerted them to a Florges being in the adjacent corridor, the swath of petals that filled their surroundings would've been as good of a warning as anything. Thankfully, Rozen's Reflect shielded them all as a Petal Blizzard rained down, the garden fairy sending it looking as peeved as could be at the expeditioners in its territory.
"A-at least it's not as bad as Lurantis' was," Astrid softly mused.
Her partner gave her a knowing look of concurrence.
"Li'l-li'l Green, harden up a wing and bust that thing over the head," Rush said, still eyeing the Florges with a smirk.
The Florges snarled, and the Dartrix fluffed up, but nonetheless her wing took a steely glow and she darted out from behind the shields. Shortly, the fairy turned its attention on her next and fired up a Moonblast that again made Astrid feel a bit uncertain, but a Light Screen went up to block the attack and her Steel Wing went straight through it. Another vicious snarl filled the air as a flurry of leaves came loose from the Florges' flowery yellow mane and Arashi too spit a Water Pulse, but at the same time, less-than-enthusiastic words shortly came from their Coalition comrades.
"Mr. Mime incoming," Adnea sighed, rolling her eyes in displeasure.
"For fuck's sake," Rush remarked, shaking his head.
Rozen too sighed, looking especially unhappy when his shields started to fade by no doing of his own. Astrid looked over to one corridor, not minding the Florges' Magical Leaf too much, but it was easy to see why the others were disgruntled when she saw a Mr. Mime making a wiping motion with its hands that dismantled all the protective screens about them. 'Angrily' and 'tap-dancing' were two words that the Dartrix never would've put in the same phrase, but indeed, the Mr. Mime appeared to be doing exactly that, glaring while tapping at the ground that froze beneath its feet. Some icy breath formed in its mouth, but before it could breathe an Icy Wind at anyone in particular, Arashi rammed it over with a Quick Attack and made the attack freeze part of the ceiling instead.
The Florges, however, was still throwing a fit at having outside company and fired off another Moonblast at the entourage, to which they all scattered out of the way with no shields to duck behind. Rush balled up a fist and spit more poison onto it, eyes narrowing at the fairy, while Arashi jumped back from the Mr. Mime so as not to be in the way of Raijin's Signal Beam… which was blocked when the mime Protected itself.
"Li'l bastard," the Scrafty snickered, shooting the icy dancer a dirty look while being coated in the white aura of a Helping Hand.
Nonetheless, Adnea was quick to stare the Mr. Mime in the eyes next, and when its own shield dropped, it wasn't raising a ruckus afterwards. It wasn't long before another Signal Beam put it out cold. The Florges wasn't causing trouble long after too, for even if it sent another Magical Leaf at Rush, it fell over limp quickly when the Scrafty Poison Jabbed it.
"So they have Ice-type moves and they can wipe screens…" Astrid's voice trailed off.
"Which makes 'em annoying as hell for you, Li'l-li'l Green," Rush said with a smirk.
She wasn't going to deny such.
"To be fair, I'm not fond of them either," Rozen gently noted. "Those shields don't create themselves, so to have them nullified so quickly is a bit of a pain, especially when doubly super effective moves are at play."
"Pfffft," Rush playfully scoffed. "I can take a Moonblast if I had to!"
"Yes, a singular Moonblast, and barely, only if you had to," the Audino noted with a sly smile.
Rush rolled his eyes, giving the Audino a jesting shove.
Starry Peak 7F
"'Eeeeeeey! Lookie here!" Rush called, getting a grin.
The rest of the entourage perked up, while the Scrafty darted over to a glowing crystalline shard jutting out of the ground.
"What is it?" Arashi inquired, getting excited at whatever the Coalition lead had noticed.
Rush slammed a fist into the crystal and shattered it with ease, the glow ceasing… at least, for most of the shard, since all of the light seemed to concentrate in one place. Multiple smaller shards broke off and went clattering to the floor, but a Shiny Stone mixed among them was fairly blatant.
"Something we're hanging onto," Rush answered the Frogadier, casually chucking the stone at Rozen, who haplessly caught it and stowed it away. "You see stones like that, you take 'em and either sell 'em to Kecleon or trade 'em off with another team! That way, the 'Mon that need 'em to evolve don't have to go dungeon-crawling to get 'em!"
"Yunael and Chira can lend a few to their little cousins when they feel like evolving," Rozen noted.
Astrid couldn't help envisioning a nest of Togetics and a swarm of Minccinos fussing over Shiny Stones.
"There's a very jumpy Gourgeist heading this way," Adnea noted. "We should go west if we want to avoid it."
"I'd head straight for it if we weren't here for Ama's team," Rush remarked, nonetheless motioning them down another corridor.
"You really do like battling, don't you?" Raijin noted, studying the Scrafty a bit.
"Love it!" was the enthusiastic answer. "Life ain't any fun without a brawl every now and then! As long as there's crazy shit happening in this world, this crazy 'Mon is ready to raise some hell!"
Arashi giggled, and Astrid fluffed up a bit. The Dartrix wasn't too sure about needing brawls to make life fun, but she was certainly glad that Rush was on their side and not out to cause them trouble, for even if they were all on the same team, she couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated. Her partner shot her a glance along with a mischievous wink, and it didn't take much thinking to deduce that he was still plotting some way to get the tipsy history of his idols' team. She simply brushed it off, making no gesture one way or another.
There were a few scratches in the reflective corridor wall as if one of the wild ones had attacked their own reflection, and given the circumstances, that was as likely a case as any.
"Shiny Stones and glowing crystals," Arashi said, giving their rainbow-streaked reflection a quick glance. "If this was just a cave and not a longer dungeon, I'd just hang out here! This is cool!"
"You sure you wouldn't just hang out here anyway?" Astrid softly said to the contrary, giving the Frogadier a playfully pointed look.
He gave her an amused glance. "Well, I mean, maybe, but it's not like I can talk with the wild ones! There's Lazuli and Team Wily back in town that are a lot better for that, aha!"
"I thought you liked Sunken Cavern," Raijin nonchalantly noted.
"Well, yeah, but the dungeon-dwellers would've eaten me as a snack!"
Even if they would, Astrid couldn't help but think that her partner hadn't seemed terribly dissuaded even when a Lileep had tried to do just that.
Still, the room they wound up in was empty save for more crystalline shards and little rainbows refracted across the floor, though there were some more marks that appeared to be from a battle of some sort that none of them had been present for.
"It's following," Adnea flatly piped up again. "It'll probably catch up shortly, but a Flaaffy just glimpsed the stairs and they're to the south of us currently."
"Thanks, Adnea," Rush replied.
Sure enough, they'd barely made it halfway across the room's floor before a cacophony of angry screeching and the flailing of arms met them, the source thereof being a furious-looking Gourgeist. It was cloaked in a white glow and appeared to be… flickering, of all things. It was a rather odd sight.
"Explosion!" Adnea cried.
"Oh, holy shit, here we go!" Rush exclaimed.
Instinctively, they all huddled closer together while Rozen walled them off in shields, the ghostly gourd charging straight up before detonating.
KA-BOOM!
"Kyah!" Arashi cried.
"A-ah…!" Astrid whimpered, trying to block out the sound with her wings.
"Jeez!" Raijin protested.
There was a crater left in the ground with a limp and pained-looking Gourgeist at the bottom, clearly spent of its energy, and the walls and ceiling were dented rather heavily. Everyone there was quite glad for Rozen's Reflect, for surely the Explosion would've seriously damaged them all had it made contact.
"That thing just blew itself up!" Arashi exclaimed, still a bit surprised. "Do they even care about taking damage?!"
"They're probably way more concerned with giving damage than taking it, seeing as they're poisoned," Raijin noted, tapping his fingers and studying the slumped Gourgeist. "Th-that's gotta be one unpleasant way to faint…"
"Hell, y'all oughtta see one in the same damn room as a Screen Cleaning Mr. Mime," Rush brushed it off. "That's why we got Warp Wands- make 'em blow up elsewhere."
That seemed as good a strategy as any for dealing with point-blank Explosions, Astrid figured. Thankfully, the one other dungeon-dweller they met (a Mr. Mime) wasn't nearly as destructive, even if it was somewhat annoying with its Protects and Icy Winds.
Starry Peak 9F
Another Shiny Stone and a golden coin could be found lying on the ground, and a fainted Flaaffy was slumped against one wall with some deep and bloodied scratches in its belly probably courtesy of an erratic Skarmory. Any damage given out by the wild ones was practically nullified by Rozen, thankfully letting them all save their items for dealing with Team Sweetheart. Still, there was absolutely no denying that the snarling and aggression was absolutely above what was normal for a dungeon-dweller.
"Adnea, we clear?" Rush inquired as they ventured through one room.
"By and large for now," the Orbeetle answered.
"Great! Break time, y'all?"
They were all in agreement. Rozen slipped the bag off to fish out a few apples and chestnuts while Rush gave the ground a thrashing punch for Raijin to recharge.
"Can ya get a view on the outside?" the Scrafty asked, shooting Adnea a glance while he bit a chunk out of an apple. "We ain't got more company coming, do we?"
"None that I see," the researcher replied, a chestnut glowing purplish and seeming to peel itself. "There are some rather strong presences in the general vicinity- Bramble Peak, the cliffs near the end of Withered Ridge, and close to Vanishing Swamp." She started to concentrate a bit more. "Particularly, let's see… Oh."
Her remark made them all perk up.
"What's wrong?" Arashi asked, eyeing her intently.
Rush smirked. "Someone getting their asses kicked?"
The Orbeetle crossed her arms, looking pensive and staring at nothing in particular. "I wouldn't quite call it that, but there's quite a scuffle going on at Bramble Peak. I'll tell you and show the rest of you later; this is neither the time nor place to be concerned with it."
The Starstorm trio was curious but accepted it nonetheless.
Rush too nodded, not too bothered, and looked at the Xurkitree planted into the crater next. "Is that still working for you?"
"It is," Raijin replied. "It's not as perfect as the soil in the basement, but it works."
"Good. Say something if it doesn't- you're the only one on this team that recharges and I don't wanna screw you over by not knowing what you need."
Raijin twitched a little, gently but haplessly saying, "A-ah, d-don't worry… You're really nice…"
The Scrafty rolled his eyes, snickering in amusement. "That's not called 'being nice;' it's called 'not being a shitty team lead.'"
However, the Orbeetle let out a sigh, casting her gaze down one corridor. "… Run the other way if you have any sense, you pretty little thing," she said to no one in particular- or at least, no one they could see.
Shortly, a mess of shrieking and snarling could be heard coming from further away, followed by a pinkish burst of light down the corridor that could easily be deduced as a Moonblast. A green and yellow burst came shortly thereafter, accompanied by another loud booming sound almost akin to the Explosion from earlier. That certainly piqued everyone's interest, Rush getting a smirk and Astrid carefully studying the source to see if it would come closer.
"A Florges and a Gourgeist came into that room at the same time, and now that pretty fairy is probably about to meet its maker," Adnea noted matter-of-factly. "… What an unpleasant way to end a fight."
… Indeed it was, they had to concur. Nonetheless, they finished their snacks and were shortly on their way again, heading a different way than one that would intercept the fussing Gourgeist. The room they entered was empty save for the crystals and corridors, but shortly the researcher stopped them all again.
"We should stay put for a second if we don't want to intercept a Flaaffy in a hallway," Adnea advised.
They heeded her advice, not moving anywhere while the sound of little footsteps hurriedly pattering down one corridor graced their senses. Moments later, a Flaaffy made its entrance, already wearing an upset look even before laying eyes on them. However, it didn't start to attack straight away, and Adnea's eyes began glowing to Hypnotize it, but at the same time, its eyes and the orb on its tail started to glow too in different flashing colors when it met Adnea's gaze.
"Nnnnnope!" Rush exclaimed, his hands darting to cover his eyes.
The rest followed suit, holding up their arms to cover their faces and block out the Confuse Ray, but while the Flaaffy definitely seemed to be calmer from the Hypnosis, Adnea was likewise disoriented from the wild one's attack.
"Oh my, have I been confused?" the researcher aimlessly inquired. "It appears the ceiling and floor have switched places, and I don't recall being upside down either…"
"You are, Adnea," Rozen gently noted.
"Rozen? Is that you, Rozen? Why is your fur purple? You're not a Shiny."
Unless the Audino had been dying his fur pink for ages, it was apparent to everyone but Adnea that he was indeed not a Shiny variant. Nonetheless, the Orbeetle wouldn't be of any help to them in her state, and when the Flaaffy started sparking, Rozen shielded them all behind a Light Screen when an Electro Ball went flying at them.
"I'll hold 'er, and you get the seed," Rush said, sharing a glance with the Audino and then glancing to the Starstorm trio. "Y'all three have this one."
The Starstorm trio nodded, and as they did, the Flaaffy went to sparking again. Astrid sent a Razor Leaf with a flap of her wings, even if it wasn't very effective, not quite wanting to go making contact with the wild one given its blatant Static. A Thunder Wave, accompanied by a fussing shriek, followed shortly thereafter, and Raijin swooped an arm in front of her to nullify it while Arashi (carefully) ducked out of the Light Screen to spit an Ice Beam.
"Yo, Adnea," Rush said, reaching to grab the floating Orbeetle.
Adnea didn't respond, simply narrowing her eyes and shaking her head at something none of them could make out. Rozen reached into their bag and retrieved one of the Heal Seeds, but the moment the Scrafty's grip tightened around Adnea, she let out a cry of dismay and became cloaked in a psychic glow.
"Gyah! Unhand me, you wretch!" Adnea hollered, shaking about wildly in protestation.
The Psychic she let off likely would've been very unpleasant for anyone else… but Rush certainly didn't care on account of being immune to it.
The Flaaffy, however, went to shrieking again at the ice crystals coating its fur and the ground underneath it, trying to crouch down to charge in a Take Down but finding running difficult. Instead, the sparks on its form grew bigger, and the three dealing with it were again huddling behind Rozen's shield as bolts were Discharged through the room.
"Okay, I know that thing's still got another form, but you call that a Discharge?" Raijin remarked, shaking his head.
"Why don't you show it how it's done?" Astrid said with a slight grin, sending another leaf barrage.
"You know what, I will," the Xurkitree had no protestations.
Adnea, however, started to get glowing eyes again to which Rozen quickly covered his eyes with one arm while shoving the seed into her mouth. Thankfully, the Audino wasn't brought under the effects of a Hypnosis, and moments after, the researcher ceased her more aggressive antics.
"… Ah. Confusion. How troublesome," Adnea remarked, still flat as ever.
Crrrrrrack!
The Flaaffy likely wished that it too had a shield to hide behind when Raijin's bolts filled the room, for not very effective or not, the Flaaffy's fur stood on end and it let out a cry of protestation before going limp. Astrid and Arashi were huddled behind the Light Screen too, the latter still looking startled at the excess of electricity flying around between their comrade and the fainted wild one.
"That is how you do it," Raijin remarked in a gently playful voice, shaking a finger at the Flaaffy.
Rush laughed, turning his attention to the other three. "You tell 'em, pal!"
They were off again shortly thereafter, Adnea informing them that a wild Florges had glimpsed the stairs.
Starry Peak 12F
As soon as its Protect faded, a Mr. Mime fell over unconscious after taking a Steel Wing to the back of its head, the Dartrix delivering the blow eyeing it very carefully while the Coalition lead snickered at it.
"Nice one, Li'l-li'l Green," Rush snickered, holding his fist up that Astrid gingerly bumped with the tip of one wing. "These damn things and their Protects just piss me off when I can't go smashing my fists into 'em, ehehe!"
Rozen chuckled. "And I'm sure it upsets them when you attack them too, friend."
"Pffffft," the Scrafty brushed him off.
If it meant not taking an Icy Wind, Astrid didn't much care who attacked the Mr. Mime so long as it was taken care of in one way or another. Still, they were all following Rush into another hallway shortly thereafter, a few dents in the reflective surfaces on the inside that they all assumed were from a fussing dungeon-dweller. Moments later, though, a loud BOOM could be heard from several rooms adjacent that carried enough force to shake a few smaller crystalline shards loose from the ceiling.
"… Two down, two left," Adnea indifferently informed.
"Was that a Gourgeist?" Arashi asked, looking inquisitive.
"A medium-sized one telling a Flaaffy that it did not want company, to be precise."
Literally exploding was about as good of way to tell someone to leave as any, Astrid figured… the only downside being that the one exploding would not be conscious to enjoy their solitude after the fact.
"Those giant ones are a real mess to deal with if they go blowing up," Rush remarked.
"Do they get stronger as they get bigger…?" Raijin asked. "It seems that way from what you all have been saying."
"Depends on what ya call 'strong,'" the Scrafty answered. "If they grab you, you're probably fucked, but they're slow as hell and can't run for shit."
"So if they grab you, you're probably getting dragged off to the afterlife and there's nothing you can do about it?" Arashi piped up inquisitively.
"You wanna find out, Li'l Blue~?!" Rush jested, his eyes glinting mischievously.
"No!" the Frogadier was quick to answer back, still smiling but looking hesitant. "Not if it means actually getting dragged off to the afterlife, no! Heck no!"
The Scrafty cackled, and Rozen shook his head.
Still, something evidently caught Rush's eyes in the next room, for he went darting over to one corner to pick something up- a very battered-looking bag with a large scratch through the front of it. While signs of a scuffle were absent, the little red splotches on the front flap and the strap made it easy to guess what had transpired. He shook it a bit, and some small prism-casting crystals went clattering to the floor along with a few golden coins.
"… Hah, those poor little bitches," Rush chuckled to no one in particular. "Yes, it's pretty, but no, you can't just waltz in here unprepared and expect to haul some pretty little gems home, ehehe!"
Arashi, though, grinned and asked, "Can we take a few home…?"
Rush shrugged. "If you wanna, Li'l Blue, go right ahead! I ain't gonna stop ya!"
They stowed away the bag's contents in their own bags and went back to venturing.
Meanwhile, however…
Starry Peak Summit
"Oh, this is wonderful~! Just wonderful~!" Ama chirped, patting her egg and happily skittering in circles. "I've never felt so happy~!"
Chira chuckled, wrapping one of her scarves around the very serene-looking Millicent next to her. "I've never felt so full of love."
"Why were we even fighting those wonderful creatures?" Jingle concurred, grinning. "Why, Seven Thousand's enlightenment is glorious! I just have to give this Void a hug if I see her!"
The Alcremie didn't say a word and only made a heart-shape with her hands.
Ama threw her arms out to the side, making one last little spin before skittering closer to her comrades again and hugging each of them in turn (at least, as best as she could without squishing her egg). "We already know that darling Rush's team is out here, and they've got those little Starstorm lovelies with them as well.~ We're sure to meet them if we stay up here a bit longer, and maybe we can share our enlightenment with them as well! They'd be wonderful comrades to have in our newfound purpose!"
Three emphatic nods answered the Blissey, each of her comrades grinning eagerly.
"Well, what do we say, comrades~?" Ama cooed again, clapping with glee. "May love and enlightenment fill the world…~?"
"May love and Void fill the world?" Chira suggested.
"May Void's enlightenment fill the world?" Jingle likewise proposed.
Silently, Millicent made a few hand gestures. (*May the love of Void's enlightenment fill the world?*)
Ama clapped again, squealing in delight at the Alcremie's gestures. "Yes, Millicent! That's it! That's exactly it! May the love of Void's enlightenment fill the world~!"
"May the love of Void's enlightenment fill the world~!" echoed off of the mountain's summit.