Sorry about the short chapter last time, I have been very busy lately. Another huge thanks to my beta reader, and the lovely Muda!
Chapter 5: Heavenly Messenger
The Grass type paced in front of her grand throne, a bundle of nerves as she awaited the results. She had been at it for hours, attempting to wait patiently for her soldiers to finish the interrogation. The only sounds that broke eternal silence were the 'mon raising their voices, and the occasional rattle of chains as the prisoner shuffled around in his cell. A sudden rush of air and a groan caught her attention as the Stoutland opened the grand door leading to the prison.
"Any results?"
"Plenty. If anything, I'm suspicious about how much he was willing to spill. I can't tell if Agni is so prideful that they believe they will overcome us even if we know all of their plans, or if he is feeding us false information. Based on the fact he is an esteemed general, the latter seems more likely, but since he was sent here to deliver this message, the former holds some ground. The Diggersby said that they are scouting the mountain out, and then sending a small force to wipe out the inhabitants. Seems Ceratot thinks very little of Hennal Mountain."
"If this is true, he will soon learn of his mistake. I have seen firsthand the kind of things Ferrous is capable of, and after years of no contact, I am sure he has some new tricks up his sleeve. Unless the Nidoking himself pays a visit, the king could possibly hold back an entire force himself. And that is without thinking about Sonata and the host of powerful Pokemon at his disposal. King Ceratot will be in for a surprise."
"Should we send any reinforcements, my lord?"
"No, if they really are at the range then whoever he sent will be smart enough to keep an eye on Denaid Forest. The king might have confidence in himself, but most of his commanders have the brains to make real plans. In a few days, we will send a small party of knights to survey the damage and check on Knight Sonata."
"As you wish, Queen Aster. Would you like us to ask him more questions?"
"No, no. Keep him chained, but do not bother continuing interrogation. If Agni wants to trap us, then they will have to work harder than that. I will not throw soldiers into a pointless battle if I can avoid it."
The Big-Hearted Pokemon dipped his head and reopened the door.
"Oh, and Commander Magimo?"
"My lord?"
"Make sure to keep him off the ground, even if the floor is solid rock, a Diggersby can tunnel through just about anything."
"Yes, my lord."
With that parting statement, the Normal type left the room and walked back towards the jail. The monarch walked over to her throne, and collapsed as if she had spent the day training. Her advisor had warned against participating in or even watching the interrogation of their prisoner, and so the dual type had spent all morning in waiting. But now that it was all over, the Roserade had no clue where to go next with the information she was given. She would stand by the decision to send a force later on, but the next few days of waiting would undoubtedly drive her up the wall. If only she could know sooner…
The Grass type sat up straight in her throne, an idea fresh in her mind. She hurried out through one of the many doors leading out of her throne room, and ran straight into her advisor.
"My lady? What is all the hurry for?"
"I have an idea for the upcoming party. Come, walk with me."
"O-ok Queen Aster. What is on your mind?" The Bellossom asked her ruler.
"I still believe we should send the party in a few days' time, but now I am thinking of something else as well. I believe that we should also send one knight through the forest early. We need someone to verify Sonata's status, and for her to know that she is getting extracted soon. It also would not hurt if the Agnians panicked and attacked too early, or perhaps even retreated. A mid ranking knight around Sonata's power would work, we do not need to send a higher ranking warrior to simply send a message."
"Do you have anyone particular in mind?"
"There is one…"
The Fighting type snorted and shook her head. Dau Si hadn't left the kingdom for years, so the time away would have been nice, but she was going through a Dungeon, to a foreign kingdom full of rocks and dirt, and for another knight. Wasn't the point of becoming a knight so that you could take care of yourself and other 'mons? What reason would there be for a knight to call for help? Unless the crown was worried about them, but the Mienshao hadn't heard anything outside of rumors of conflict. There were no wars, no battles to be fought. It had been peaceful in Pasir for longer than she had been alive, and there was no reason that would change any time soon.
Then there was the matter of why the knight was in the mountain range to begin with. Si hadn't been told which knight it was, although she had a few ideas. But why would any knight want to travel there? It wasn't even a proper nation, and its king was a monster beyond any comprehension. It was said he ate his lesser subjects in order to steal their power for himself. And since there were no Pokemon who knew enough about powers to argue against it, the rumor had circulated until it was considered a fact of life, like the necessity of breathing or that fire melts ice.
The Martial Arts Pokemon snorted. There was no way you could absorb the power of another Pokemon, otherwise Agnians would have been doing so for as long as their kingdom existed. Nothing would have stopped those maniacs from consuming the world if that were possible. Mew knows that lot would do anything for a shred of power.
She shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts away. There had been strange noises coming from the forest lately, and stories from merchants about monsters attacking their camps while in the Dungeon. Denaid Forest had never been considered a particularly dangerous Dungeon compared to places like Star Peak Mountain or The Gorge, but lately the kingdom had considered requiring traders to be protected if traveling through it. She needed to be paying more attention to her surroundings rather than thinking about worldly affairs. It was especially suspicious that she hadn't actually encountered anything powerful yet since she entered. A few lower forms like Phantump and Nuzleaf challenged her, but the Mienshao had no difficulty dispatching them. Dealing with weak opponents annoyed her, but it was just a part of the job.
But where were these so-called monsters? Dau Si hadn't seen head or tails of anything powerful, and even the trace of a strong Wild eluded her sharp senses. Part of her wondered if the merchants were just more weaklings she was tasked with protecting, but even if that were true, she couldn't forget the sight of their terrified faces, or the injuries that accompanied them. Whatever they had encountered here had truly rocked them down to their cores, and the Fighting type decided to buckle down and find whatever it was that was terrorizing the travelers.
A few hours later, she realized why the merchants had left everything they owned behind in the Forest. A dragon made of stone followed her endlessly, forcing her to dodge various forms of energy as she made a dash for the stairs. Some of the things seemed to follow her like a male in heat, and others simply chased for mere moments before growing bored and leaving. This oversized lizard had been tailing her for several floors now, and it was starting to wear her out. She had to make a stand, and quickly at that.
With that thought in mind, the Martial Arts Pokemon turned on the balls of her feet and threw a massive Aura Sphere at her pursuer. The Wild took the attack head on, and rushed through to grab her arm with a Thunder Fang. The knight screamed in agony as the electricity ran throughout her body, and used Force Palm on the top of its head, causing a screech as it let her go. She used Bounce to retreat, landing on top of a branch as her opponent looked around for her. Evidently it's patience was pretty low, and it resorted to sending jets of flame throughout the trees. Seeing that hiding within the forest wasn't going to work for much longer, she lept of the branch and onto its back, slamming her flaming leg down on its neck. It roared in anger as it flipped upside down, and Si jumped off to the ground below.
The monster dove to the forest floor in an attempt to grab her once again, and she imbued her arms with draconic energy to hit its wing as she dodged. It was nowhere near as effective as her earlier moves, so she switched back to her natural energy and pummeled the downed beast. Its wing let out an audible crack and she laid into it, and the monster turned on its feet and snapped at her. The knight grabbed the hooked beak and swung on top of the Wild, using Drain Punch on its eye and flipping off when it swung its head around. The monster was on its last legs, and the Mienshao wasn't about to let up anytime soon. She rushed up and jumped, coming down as fast as gravity would let her while gathering energy around her foot.
When the attack landed, the armor around the beast's neck was heavily dented, and it was struggling for breath.
"Not nearly strong enough. I hate weak opponents." She said, stomping its neck in with one last blow.
"Now, I need to get through the rest of this accursed forest."
It took several more hours, and a few more of these strange Pokemon attacked her, but Dau Si made it through Denaid Forest. As she stepped past the tree line, she could feel the eyes all around her. The Fighting type covered herself in energy in a display of power, yet no 'mon came out of hiding or moved. Taking this as a sign of cowardness, the Pasirian continued her trek to the mountain, and upon arriving at the base of it, took shelter under a rocky outcropping, taking a breather before entering Hennal Mountain.
The Oasis was full of Rock and Ground types, which was supposed to be the perfect practice in case they were forced to battle at the mountain. At least, that was the theory. In reality, Filius and the Bunnelby were just avoiding as many Wilds as they possibly could. The sand hiding the Pokemon from their feral counterparts also hid threats, and even with their partial Ground typings, the duo struggled to see anything more than a few feet in front of them. Filius couldn't imagine being one of the other pairs, stuck in this wasteland with even less of an advantage then his group. The Primeape brothers probably pushed through by anger alone, but the snakes? He doubted it fared any better than his own. He had no such thoughts of his mate, who had most likely powered through the Dungeon like a Moxie-powered Scrafty. The Fire type was newly evolved, true, but she was always strong, and the Poison Pin Pokemon had faith in her.
Thankfully, the stairs were fairly easy to reach, it just took some grit and the eyesight of his Normal type partner to get to them. And the Oasis didn't have many floors, just three was enough to leave, and the duo were in a sea of trees, surrounded by Pokemon. He returned the nuzzle his partner gave him, and then looked around the group. The snakes seemed to be frazzled, and the twins had plenty of bruises (from each other, no doubt), but otherwise they were in good shape. Now they just had to wait on their last group, which consisted of Egni the Vigoroth and Yeshin the Leafeon.
"Seen anything of interest?"
"A Pasirian exited the Forest and is currently resting by the mountain. Presumably a knight, although I couldn't say for sure without getting close. She sensed our presence earlier, so I'd imagine moving much further in would alert her pretty quickly. Figured it wouldn't hurt to wait for you, love."
His hind leg came up to scratch his head as he bit the inside of his cheek. Releasing his hold and putting his leg back down, the Poison type looked back at the Arcanine. "Leave her, I want to see what she does. Perhaps she can be useful to us."
"If you say so, little prince."
He looked around once more at the Pokemon gathered around him. "You're going to be taking the same pairs in spots around the mountain to gather intelligence. Celeria, take out the map to show them please."
The Legendary Pokemon reached into her bad and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment. She set it down and one of the Primeapes unrolled it on the grass. The Nidorino pointed out where each group was going to be at, and sent them on their way.
"My lord? Where are we going?" Asked Clust the Bunnelby.
"Ah, you are gonna go by yourself for this mission. I need you to actually go inside the mountain and report back what you see inside. Your kind is apparently found in Hennal Mountain, so we are using that to our advantage. Good luck."
He bowed and took off running towards the mountain. "What about those two, Filiius?"
"I wish I knew what was taking them so long. I thought between the two of their types and moves, it would be easy, but maybe they happened upon something we didn't"
"You did it again~" she teased.
He bumped her with his shoulder and shook his head. "Whatever Celeria, let's go."
"You did it again!"
The Fighting type had a nice nap under the shade of the mountain, and now the sun was moving towards her. The knight took that as a sign to head in, and she used the nearest opening to enter the caverns. Some 'mons came out to watch her, seemingly in interest rather than in an attempt to threaten her, as she made her way through the mountain. The king had to be somewhere with that knight, and she would find them. Even if it took all night.
The Loudred laughed at her smaller counterpart and rubbed the top of his head. "Stay like this forever, Quintus. Change for no one."
He blushed and looked away. "I'd never."
"You say that, but- what?"
The duo looked at the shape approaching them, covered by the darkness of the room. The Normal types tensed up at the unfamiliar 'mon, preparing for battle.
Sonata's eyes widened when the figure revealed itself. "Dau Si?"
"Sonata?"
Thank you for reading! Sorry again for a shorter chapter, I haven't had alot of motivation to write lately and a good bit of this chapter was written over the last few days. See everyone next month!