Lake Lucent B1F
Indeed, the caverns didn't live up to their name, for the inside of the dungeon was rather dim and just a few faint trickles of light could be seen within the vast spread of pools that covered the floor. The ceiling was draped with stalactites that occasionally let a droplet of water fall to a puddle on the floor, of which there were plenty- not a single space of the rock underfoot wasn't damp or standing in liquid. The bright blue of the pools contrasted heavily with the dark grey of the walls and floors, though not-so-luckily for those traversing the dungeon, the pools weren't particularly easy to see into. A few silhouettes stirred in them which could probably be made out as a Goldeen or Remoraid, but there wasn't much telling for sure for how dim everything was.
The room they first wound up in was rather large and rectangular, though only a single corridor could be found clear across it. Three rather large and circular pools took up space on the ground, the occupants (if there were any) obscured.
Arashi giggled. "I like this one," he said, glancing around.
Astrid shot him a slightly playful side glance. "You would."
They went off towards the connecting tunnel, a single Remoraid jumping out of one pool and into another as they strolled past. A startled cry escaped it at seeing visitors in its territory, but before it could attack in any way, it was already splashing into the water. Arashi gave it a playful wave, but Astrid only eyed it cautiously.
"I really wonder what this 'lord' Pokémon is hiding for," Arashi mused. "You think maybe they got attacked by Zariel too?"
"Must be something like that," Astrid replied. "They mentioned her by name… Or maybe it was their friends or someone else close that got hurt."
The Froakie giggled. "Well, they must be smart if they worked out a plan where no one gets hurt!"
Astrid fluffed up just a bit. Not getting hurt sounded fantastic, but somehow… she couldn't quite imagine just what that entailed. Even in the rain, the hits they'd taken from the Charizard hadn't been pleasant, and truthfully, she wasn't looking forward to seeing Zariel again anytime soon if that's what the plan involved. She was sure they'd make do one way or another, but… the Mega Punch and the feeling of being impaled on a crystalline spike wasn't something she would be forgetting for quite some time, if ever. Whatever she'd been doing in her human life, she was sure that nothing had come close to the sheer absurdity of Team Starstorm's escapades.
Upon strolling closer to the tunnel, Astrid paused and Arashi followed suit shortly thereafter, the Dartrix carefully eyeing a figure hanging upside down within the corridor- a Golbat. It appeared to be asleep, but its wings folded over its face made it hard to tell for sure, since it also appeared to be gently swaying back and forth (at least, as much as it could with its legs latched onto the stalactites). The two of them cast a glance at each other and walked as carefully and quietly as they could underneath it, Astrid's head swiveling back to keep watch as they left it behind. Thankfully, it didn't seem to notice them… until they were halfway to the other room, and a mighty screech came from behind them.
Astrid's head and Arashi's gaze both went backwards, where the Golbat detached itself from its roost and turned its attention on them.
"Well, good morning to you, too!" Arashi exclaimed, spitting a Water Pulse.
The Golbat screeched again at the sudden stream, but it flapped its wings in a frenzy and whipped up a Whirlwind that sent both the Froakie and Dartrix flying backwards and into the next room, Astrid hitting the wall and Arashi hitting Astrid. The move itself didn't hurt, but the wall did give them both a somewhat unpleasant thud.
"Agh, sorry!" Arashi cried, quickly giving her space.
"You're fine," Astrid brushed it off, eyes locking on their foe.
The fanged one flew at them and dived for the closest target, Arashi, its fangs bared for a Crunch, though Astrid too darted up in the air and delivered a swift Peck to its head to give the Froakie an opening to dodge. Nonetheless, the Golbat turned to Astrid next and rammed one wing into her.
"Ngh-!" Astrid grunted, the Wing Attack hitting rather hard.
As she gave a flap back, a flurry of the razor-like leaves left her wings, which the Golbat didn't seem to be too bothered by. The fanged creature gave another screech, and as it did, it summoned up some star-shaped discs of energy and sent them her way. She tried to fly out of their way, but the stars homed in.
"Oh, come on!" the Dartrix protested to no one in particular, wrapping her wings around herself in an attempt to lessen the damage.
"It's nice when Lila uses Swift, but it sucks when you're on the receiving end!" Arashi shouted half in a jest.
A Quick Attack from the Froakie knocked the Golbat sprawled out on the ground, and quickly Astrid dove down to deliver one last Peck that finished it off.
"We gotta keep watch for those," Astrid mused tiredly. "I match up pretty bad…"
"Figures they'd be out and about in a cave when they'd otherwise be asleep," Arashi chuckled.
Little more than a few puddles and a rather large pool on the western side met them when they glanced about the new room, though a few tiny Wishiwashi splashed about in the pool intermittently. There were two corridors, one near the pool and one on the back wall, the latter of which Astrid picked while still casting a few glances back. The Wing Attack in particular left the Dartrix feeling rather weak, but thankfully, it started to wear off as they went back to trekking.
However, one thought crossed her mind. "Hey, Arashi…?"
"Yeah?" her comrade answered.
"So… you remember how Lurantis followed us through Brushwood Tangle? I'm assuming that the dungeon-dwellers can move around from floor to floor, right?"
"Of course! It's not very often that you get stalked by a dungeon-dweller though, since the best course of action is to knock them out, but even if you don't do that, well… Most of them just really hate visitors, so if you disappear off to another floor, they don't tend to follow you."
She nodded. "I figured, but… what about the ones in the pools? Y'know, like Remoraid and Goldeen? They can't really reach the stairs if they wanted to move, can they?"
"Well, no," her friend acknowledged. "But dungeon phenomena is weird, right? If we came back here later, we wouldn't see the same pools as when we entered. It's not like they can't move, it's just that we don't see them move."
"Ah…" she took it in, "That makes sense. But that must be stressful if your house changes so much all the time."
Arashi giggled. "Well, they don't seem to be unhappy, do they? Sounds like a never-ending adventure to me!"
The Dartrix got a hapless look that she didn't share with her comrade. He definitely wasn't wrong, that much she could agree with.
However, on the other end of the corridor, another figure lurked with a split, rocky yellow horn on its head and its mouth open to reveal its interlocking jaws- a Drednaw. It scraped at the ground with one front foot and growled on seeing them, a gesture that immediately put them on edge.
"Oh, jeez," Astrid said flatly, shaking some leaves loose from her wings.
It stuck its head down and its horn towards them and rushed in a snarling Headbutt, Astrid's Razor Leaf leaving a few slight scratches on its carapace but nonetheless eliciting a mad, pained growl. The Dartrix flapped up and the Froakie followed by jumping, allowing the Drednaw to rush harmlessly underneath them and come to a plodding halt.
"We are not getting chomped by that thing!" Arashi declared, eyeing it but still grinning. "We're not that tasty, I swear!"
The Drednaw apparently wasn't inclined to agree, for it turned straight around and snarled again with snapping jaws, but it didn't make a move at them straight away. Another Razor Leaf and a Water Pulse came its way, but the Drednaw instead gave the ground a few hard stomps, and when it did, several large and jagged stones shot up from the ground to surround the Starstorm duo.
"No-!" Astrid cried.
"What the-!" Arashi likewise shouted.
A slight cry from the Drednaw on the other side indicated that at least some of their attacks had hit, but largely, the leaves and water jet could be found scattered on the rock immediately in front of them, having been blocked by the Rock Tomb. Had they not been squished together (and rather uncomfortably so), the two expeditioners wouldn't have been able to tell what was in front of them, for the rocks blocked out what little light had been there in the first place.
"This is problematic," Arashi remarked, trying to wiggle free.
The Drednaw growled on the other side, and they could hear its footsteps.
Astrid couldn't move. "You think you can slip out? I'm pretty sure I've got the less flexible form between us…"
"I'm trying," Arashi responded, still wiggling around. "My bubbles are making it easier, at least…"
She could feel a few on her face as her partner tried to get some leverage. Her feathers flattened out as much as she could make them go, but that wasn't doing much.
More of the Bite Pokémon's plodding footsteps graced their senses.
"I wish we knew what that thing was doing," Astrid remarked.
"If I get up there and see that we're completely boxed into this corridor, I am not gonna be happy," Arashi remarked, making just a bit of progress.
The Dartrix felt a limb of some sort on her head, which she hoped was the Froakie managing to crawl upwards. However, they also heard some more footsteps, and they appeared to be growing faster.
"What the heck is it doing?" Arashi mused. "We're in a rocky box! We can't hurt you, big guy!"
The Drednaw apparently wanted to hurt them, for the footsteps quickly plodded closer and the rocky shell holding them in place crumbled when Headbutted. Dodging it was impossible, thus the both of them were rammed by the Drednaw's hard horn, the rocks behind them getting bowled over. Quickly they found themselves in the room they were heading for originally, which thankfully held the staircase they were seeking.
"Owww!" Arashi yelped.
Astrid let out a grunt of pain, brushing herself off.
The Drednaw still snapped at them, but a Razor Leaf elicited another cry of discomfort, making it shrink up a bit. A Water Pulse finished it off.
"Guess we gotta keep that in mind," Arashi remarked.
Wordlessly, Astrid nodded.
Lake Lucent B2F
The room they wound up on once they ascended was more pool than floor, at least half of the room covered by interconnected ponds with fish-like silhouettes stirring just far enough down to be obscured. Astrid kept a careful eye out for any of their occupants that might have jumped out and dragged her down into one, but the water-dwellers didn't seem too concerned with those on the solid surroundings… at least, as far as they could tell. Perhaps if one of them went swimming, that would rouse the dungeon-dwellers into striking back.
Astrid was sure to keep in the center of the floor between them, so as to put as much distance as possible between the pools and herself in case a silhouette inside of one decided to breach suddenly. She didn't know if her wings and stubby legs were any good for swimming, or if a Razor Leaf could even get any traction in the water to do damage, but she wasn't particularly inclined to find out.
"Hey, Arashi, hypothetically speaking…" Astrid's voice trailed off as she glanced about their surroundings.
"Yeah?"
"So, if someone were to… die… in a dungeon… What happens to them?"
Her comrade giggled. "Well, first of all, you'd have to really screw up for that to happen! You hear of Pokémon fainting in them plenty, but anyone dying?! Now, that is rare!" he said, cheerful nonetheless. "I mean, if someone did die, well… It kinda depends! Say, if you were a Caterpie, and you fainted because a wild Fletchinder attacked you, it just might eat you and you'd never be seen again!"
She blinked. That did not sound pleasant for anyone save the hypothetical Fletchinder. "But what if you just… died? Like, took too much damage, got your head bitten off or something? Would you just… disappear?"
Another giggle. "Well, if that's ever happened, I haven't heard about it, and I guess no one else would either, if they just disappeared!"
Astrid too supposed so.
Arashi still wore his grin. "You're not worried about that, are you?"
She shook her head. "N-no, I'm not worried. Just trying to make sure every angle is accounted for… just in case."
The Froakie laughed. "You're good at that, aha!"
The edges of her beak curled up just a bit, then promptly went right back to normal when a splashing sound came from a pool next to them, followed by a Goldeen emerging from the water with its horn pointed at them.
"Oh, here we go!" Astrid exclaimed, shaking some leaves loose from her wings.
"Yiah!" Arashi cried, the Horn Attack colliding with him.
The Froakie jumped back as Astrid's leaves jabbed at the Goldeen, getting a squeak of pain in return from it. The wild one flailed its fins around, apparently caught off guard from being stuck on solid ground for the time being, but clearly didn't take kindly to the move and turned towards them. The Goldeen opened its mouth and spit a Water Pulse at Astrid, who merely flapped up while sending another Razor Leaf down.
"C'mon, you go back in your pool," Arashi said nonchalantly, hitting it with a Quick Attack.
One last cry escaped the Goldeen as Arashi's move knocked it back into the water, the two of them watching to see if it would surface again. It did not.
"… I figured that would happen sooner or later," Astrid remarked, eyeing the pools.
Arashi shrugged. "Well, at least it's not a Gyarados or a Kingdra or something like that!"
"You're not wrong," she chuckled. "We've seen a few Wishiwashi here, too… Definitely don't wanna meet a school of those."
Her comrade giggled. "Wouldn't that make a fun story to tell later!"
… Perhaps it would, or perhaps they would never see the light of day again- Astrid wasn't too sure.
Nonetheless, into the next corridor they went, where a bit of a skittering sound met them halfway to the other side. They both perked up.
"That better not be another Hatenna," Arashi mused.
"I doubt that," Astrid remarked, scanning their surroundings.
The source became apparent fairly soon when a stone overhead started to move and came plopping down overhead, the two of them scurrying apart just a bit to avoid it. It was a nicely carved stone… with a head and pincers that came creeping out, one of the pincers waving with an unhappy chattering escaping the Dwebble's mouth.
"Hey, little guy!" Arashi cried, shooting a Water Pulse nonetheless.
Another peeved cry came from the Rock Inn Pokémon and it turned its attention on the source of the attack, swinging one pincer to Slash the Froakie. Arashi jumped back in avoidance, and Astrid delivered a Peck to its head (not wanting to inadvertently catch her friend in the crossfires of a Razor Leaf).
"This is probably the least strategic position you could've taken," the Dartrix remarked at their shelled visitor, the Dwebble letting out a screech and retreating into its rocky home.
Whether it had recoiled into its shell or not, another Water Pulse made it stay there for the foreseeable future.
Arashi giggled. "That was easy!"
Astrid gave a little smile too, and back to venturing they went.
Lake Lucent B4F
A few Goldeen had hopped out to air their displeasure at their habitat being traversed, and a Golbat or two had swooped down, but…
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding! This is terrible!" the Dartrix cried, beholding the floor-or lack thereof- in front of them.
"Hm? What's so- oh," Arashi noticed too, peeking around his comrade.
The corridor they'd strolled through opened up to another room… if a singular narrow strip of solid ground between two pools could be considered a 'room.' It was more like an extension of the hallway, if anything, only with a habitat full of foes on both sides instead of walls. There wasn't a way around it, either. The first room had lead to another room, which opened up into another singular hallway… which opened up into the bridge. A Remoraid leaped from one section of the pool into the other, and there was no shortage of silhouettes swimming about in the water.
"We're gonna get swarmed, aren't we?" Astrid said flatly.
"Probably," Arashi acknowledged. "This looks like a Monster House."
Astrid eyed him, looking uncertain. "A Monster House? What is that?"
"It's a room in a dungeon where the dungeon-dwellers are particularly concentrated," Arashi explained. "They're usually hidden until you walk in, and then they'll all jump out and attack. Usually you want to go around them, but… I don't guess we have a choice here."
The Dartrix's feather ruffled up, and she tried to watch the silhouettes to see just what they might be facing. "So… once we walk out on that little strip of rock… they're gonna attack us?"
"Yep," Arashi answered. "We've mostly got the advantage here, but y'know, there's gonna be a lot of them. You thinking of something?"
"Well, we have the Pure Seed… But that's rare, right? We should save that for if things get really rough. Maybe if we just… Er, maybe if I can fly really fast… We can get by them without much of a fight."
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea."
The Dartrix fluttered her wings for some lift and carefully clutched her comrade in her feet, then flapped as hard as she could for speed as she rushed into the watery room. The second she did so, several of the silhouettes emerged- three Remoraids, a Dratini, a Corsola, and three Shelloses that clung to the bridge or walls with their sticky pseudopods.
"You weren't kidding!" Astrid exclaimed.
"Nope!" Arashi cried back.
Astrid flew as fast as she could, a few Water Guns and a Bubble Beam missing their marks, but a problem soon became apparent- the Dratini jumped out of the water in front of the opening on the opposite side of the room, and two of the Shelloses slithered up the walls surrounding it. Astrid loosed a Razor Leaf at them, but at the same time, the two Shelloses summoned up an Ancient Power and struck back. The two shelled ones began to glow, and so did some of their rocky surroundings, which were then flung at the Starstorm duo.
Astrid flapped backwards to avoid it, along with another bubble barrage from the Corsola.
"Arceus above!" she shouted in dismay.
A Water Pulse from Arashi hit the Corsola, and another Razor Leaf from Astrid rained down on the ones blocking the doorway, while the Remoraids temporarily retreated underwater. The third Shellos crept up onto the bridge, shooting a Water Pulse that Astrid too flapped out of the way of. The figures of the swimming ones were hard to keep track of, but another flurry of leaves sailed into the water and stirred them into a frenzy. They didn't travel very far down into the water, but their presence was enough to upset the targets.
"Maybe we should've brought Trixie!" Arashi exclaimed.
The Dartrix whipped up an Ominous Wind that struck all the wild ones present, which thankfully took care of the two Shelloses creeping about at their exit, though the Dratini screeched in wrath and shot a burst of purple energy at the two intruders. Astrid held her wings in to drop and let the Dragon Rage sail overhead, but one of the Remoraids poked its head up and hit her with a Psybeam to make her falter.
"Hey! Drop me!" Arashi cried.
Astrid did so, and the Froakie landed on the lone strip of rocky ground below. The Corsola apparently found him a closer target, for it too loosed an Ancient Power, but as it did so, another Razor Leaf took it out. The lone Shellos left tried to Body Slam Arashi, who in turn Quick Attacked it, a few of the glowing rocky pieces of rubble making contact with the both of them. The Shellos was knocked into the water, and the Dratini slithered closer.
The Remoraids perked up out of the pool, two Psybeams and a Water Pulse going for Astrid, and the Dartrix returned with a Razor Leaf while flapping back to avoid them, though one little jet of water made contact. One of the Jet Pokémon let out a cry and went limp, while the two others dove down in retreat. Astrid didn't bother to keep up with them and instead dove for the Dratini, giving it a swift Peck and landing. The little dragon furrowed its eyes in displeasure and spit a Dragon Rage, and the Dartrix was too close for it to miss.
"Ngh-!" Astrid cried.
While the Shellos was finding its way back to the bridge, Arashi Quick Attacked the Dratini, and it too went unresponsive. The Remoraids jumped out of the water with attacks readied in their mouths, but another Ominous Wind knocked them out before they could fire them.
The ones left looked at each other.
"… That was stressful," Astrid remarked, shaking her wings a bit to reorient.
"… So much for that plan, ahaha…!" Arashi didn't disagree.
Astrid turned and headed for the bridge's end where the next tunnel met them, though she gave a glance back and inquired, "Just how common are those…? Is that something we have to worry about…?"
"Not really," Arashi answered. "You don't see them often. We just got lucky this time, aha!"
Astrid wasn't sure if 'lucky' was the right word. The constant darting around and attacks flying everywhere certainly hadn't left a good impression, but they made it out, even if it left them both feeling rather tired.
Lake Lucent B6F
Thankfully, there didn't seem to be an abundance of Drednaws waiting around the corners for them, but Dwebbles, Golbats, and an occasional Shellos were more plentiful whilst walking about the rocky ground. Goldeen and Remoraid seemed to be the most populous species in the pools when they jumped about, but a few Dratinis slithered up now and then. One or two lone Wishiwashis would jump up and disappear back into the water infrequently, but never caused a stir. (Perhaps they were merely looking for their school and didn't want to deal with visitors alone.) It seemed whatever Corsolas may have been present were more at home on the bottom and thus didn't poke up to the top.
Astrid had to wonder just how the walls weren't caving in when there were clearly openings in the rock surrounding them through which water made little pools, but certainly wasn't protesting the fact that they weren't cracking under the outside lake's pressure. Perhaps that too was dungeon phenomena- it seemed to fit the 'strange' category quite well. She was also starting to notice a few pangs of hunger, but it wasn't significant enough to not be ignored.
"I'm gonna laugh if this 'Lord of the Lake' is actually a Fire- or Electric-type or something you'd never find at a lake," Arashi chuckled, giving the room a quick glance.
"Well, they did say they didn't make the name up," Astrid mused. "I doubt they're from around here."
The Froakie started grinning. "Maybe we can get them to join our team! That'd be great! They already have info on Salem, so that's a help in figuring out what she wants with you!"
Astrid wasn't opposed, but still noted, "They might have clues, but… we can't tell them that I'm a human. That's just something I don't want anyone else to know."
"Oh, of course not," Arashi concurred without missing a beat. "If word got out about that, you'd never get left alone! I bet you wouldn't like that very much, aha!"
Her feathers fluffed up, and she smiled awkwardly. "Y-you're definitely right about that."
Something about one corner seemed to catch both her and Arashi's eyes at the same time, for coming out of one trickling crack in the wall was a small shoot with what looked like a pink flower growing on one end, a rather odd sight amid the grey stone and myriad of puddles.
"Ooooh! I didn't think they'd grow in a place like this!" Arashi cried happily, hopping over rather quickly.
"Huh?" Astrid inquired, slightly puzzled and skittering after him.
He carefully grasped the pink object, beaming at the sight of it. "A Sleep Seed! If anyone eats it, they fall asleep! Pretty useful, depending on the enemy!"
"Ah," she said, studying it. "I really should get all these seeds and orbs down- they seem to come in handy…"
When her comrade held it, she could see why it was indeed a seed and not a flower- the ornate and delicately colored ruffled seed coat certainly didn't give the appearance of a mere seed, but it didn't have the texture of a petal either. Nonetheless, if the effects were as her comrade described, it was something to be kept in store, and Arashi was quickly tucking it into the bag.
"That's not getting heavy, is it?" Astrid inquired, eyeing the bag.
It certainly seemed to be filling up, and the edges of several objects stowed inside made impressions through the fabric. It likely couldn't hold much more than what they'd already packed it with.
"Not really," Arashi brushed it off. "It's a little bulky, but it's fine! A well-stocked bag is a good thing to have!"
She wasn't disagreeing.
Off into another corridor they went, Astrid surveying every angle and Arashi peeking around a bit. A slight crunching sound of pebbles could be heard someplace further off, probably from one of the dungeon residents that wasn't in their immediate vicinity. The room they wound up in was mostly pool, the ground not reduced to a mere bridge but nonetheless not being far off from it. Most of the aquatic silhouettes seemed to be further down in the water, not really worthy of being paid much attention to.
There was one occupant, however- a Shellos that immediately crept towards them from the edge of one pool.
"C'mon, you guys are too squishy and cute to be threatening," Arashi chuckled, readying to attack it anyway.
"They're cute until they try to attack," Astrid mused skeptically while shaking some leaves loose.
And apparently attacking was on the Shellos' mind, for it began to glow with an Ancient Power and summoned up some of the rocky surroundings to fling. Astrid sent a Razor Leaf in return and quickly darted upwards with a flutter while Arashi hopped aside, the rocks crashing down onto the ground they'd occupied moments before. The Shellos found itself with some leafy protrusions jabbing into its gelatinous underside, which made it shriek, and a purple fluid began to trickle out from around the leaves. Their shelled company turned its attention on the Froakie and spit a Water Gun his way, but Arashi wasn't too bothered and rushed out in a Quick Attack.
That… apparently wasn't the best of options. While the Shellos did indeed let out a cry indicating that Arashi's move had affected it, Arashi's face fell the second he tried to pull back from it.
"U-um…!" the Froakie stammered, finding himself stuck to the Shellos.
The Shellos only became frustrated at having an intruder so close.
"Oh, Arceus above, it has Sticky Hold," Astrid noted flatly.
The Dartrix dove down and (carefully) delivered a Peck, while Arashi Pounded it trying to get loose. The Shellos let out one last protestation and went limp, though more of the purple fluid oozed from its gel-like body portions.
"Oh, jeez…!" Arashi fussed, trying to un-stick himself.
Astrid carefully skittered around the purple ooze and grabbed the back of the shell with one foot. "Maybe if I try pulling it the other way…"
She did so, tugging the fainted Sea Slug Pokémon (whilst batting her wings for a bit of extra force) while Arashi tried to yank himself loose, and after a bit of work, they were successful… but Arashi still had a few sticky purple remnants that he didn't look too thrilled about.
"Remind me never to go stealing berries or anything from these little guys," the Froakie mused.
He spit a bit of water onto them and tried to rub them off on the ground, being careful to avoid any of the new purple puddles formed by the fainted one. Astrid, however, perked up, noticing the sound of crunching pebbles underfoot drawing a bit closer, but didn't see any foes nearby and thus didn't regard it that much.
"That's gotta be a pain in an aquatic environment," the Dartrix said, glancing at the Shellos. "That sticky stuff must just float around and coat everything…"
Arashi giggled. "You're probably right!"
They set off again towards the nearest corridor, but the sound of heavy footsteps graced their senses again before they saw the familiar source emerging from the hallway's entrance- another Drednaw. Its jaws started snapping almost as fast as it laid eyes on them.
"Aaaaand here comes another chomper," Arashi remarked.
Astrid said nothing, only swooping up her comrade as the Drednaw stomped the ground to bring up a Rock Tomb. The rocks jutted up, but the Dartrix was faster by a few moments.
Arashi gave a glance down at the new stones sticking up from the ground and said with a grin, "Hey, thanks!"
"I don't wanna mess with these ones; those jaws do not look like they'd let go anytime soon," Astrid brushed it off, keeping her eyes on their biting company.
The Bite Pokémon instantly grew unamused at their avoidance of its attack and growled, still holding its jaws open in the event anything wandered close enough to chomp. If fired a Water Gun from its maw, and Astrid sent a Razor Leaf its way in return, to which it hunched up a bit in a failed attempt to lessen the damage.
"Hah! We're harder to reach in the air!" Arashi cried happily.
"Exactly," Astrid affirmed.
The Water Gun sailed harmlessly past and dissipated into another puddle on the ground, and while the Drednaw did certainly seem to want to Crunch them, it didn't appear sure how to do so. Astrid certainly wasn't going to give it the opportunity to find out. Arashi hit it with a Water Pulse, and Astrid hit it with another Razor Leaf to knock it out. The Dartrix let her comrade down and landed herself.
"Hey, Astrid?" Arashi inquired, slipping the bag off. "Snack break?"
That definitely didn't sound bad. "Yeah."
They munched down two apples and were shortly on their way again.
Lake Lucent B10F
"Arceus above! Make it stop! This sucks!" Arashi fretted.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Astrid cried in return.
The Froakie had certainly had better times than the one he found himself in, with a Golbat's fangs latched onto his head and Absorbing his health away. An Ominous Wind hadn't dissuaded it, and the Dartrix perched atop its head didn't seem to distract it either.
"Kyah, I can't reach the bag!" Arashi half-shouted, the object in question also somewhere in the Golbat's mouth.
"Let go!" Astrid hollered, delivering a Peck to the other winged one's face.
A cry of discomfort left the Bat Pokémon, but still, it wasn't turning loose. Arashi reached a hand up and Pounded it as best he could, which made it flutter a bit in uncertainty, but another Peck from Astrid finally roused it enough to take its fangs out of the Froakie and turn on the Dartrix, to which Astrid hopped down from its head.
"Why do the fanged ones always go for me?!" Arashi bemoaned, shakily backing away but awkwardly smiling nonetheless.
One of the Golbat's wings struck out at Astrid, but another Peck quelled it before it could make contact.
She shook her head, looking unamused at the newly fainted one. "I do not like those things."
"I need a berry after that," Arashi mused tiredly, opening up the bag.
He certainly seemed to need one- a few bite marks were plainly visible on his face and a few trickles of blood dripped down from them, which probably was not the best experience even without the added type disadvantage of Absorb.
"Are you okay?" Astrid inquired.
"Yeah," he affirmed, wiping the blood off. "Just feeling a little drained, but I guess that's obvious, aha!"
It certainly was. The bite marks didn't go away, but the Froakie quickly gained his energy back, and off they went for the nearest corridor.
"So we should have less than ten floors left," Astrid mused, gaze darting about for any more feral company that might surprise them.
"Yep! They could show up at any time now," Arashi affirmed.
"I sure hope they're not hiding and we miss them," Astrid remarked.
Her comrade laughed. "Oh, c'mon, that's not gonna happen!"
The odds definitely seemed low… but she'd still be keeping her eyes out for anything that didn't quite belong.
The next corridor didn't have anything waiting for them inside of it, though the next room did have a rather large pool taking up much of one half and a smaller one closer to their entrance point. It looked to be empty, save for whatever lurked in the water.
"This place isn't so bad once you get used to it…" Astrid's voice trailed off.
"There's definitely worse out there," Arashi concurred.
A lone Wishiwashi splashed up once, then vanished back into the water. It caught their attention, but clearly it wasn't worth fretting over, for neither it nor anything else followed behind. The next two corridors were at the opposite end of the room, which the Starstorm duo headed for.
"We should come back here sometime and explore the surroundings," Arashi mused. "It seems like a pretty nice place!"
"Maybe we'll figure out why it's called 'lucent,'" Astrid said, "because seriously- I see nothing lucent about this place. It's not as dark as Tranquil Tunnel or the bottom of Chasm Edge, but it's close."
Her comrade giggled.
Astrid kept some distance between herself and the larger pool, for it was certainly encroaching on solid ground, but the occupants didn't seem particularly keen on jumping out and attacking. However, another splash sounded behind them, along with a distressed cry of a dungeon occupant, and the two of them whirled around to see what the source was. Another Remoraid vanished into the pool for a moment, then peeked back up at them. It was hardly a second later that a multi-colored sphere of energy was gathering in its mouth, then firing off into an Aurora Beam straight at the Dartrix.
"No!" Astrid protested, hurriedly flapping aside.
"Seriously?!" Arashi exclaimed.
Astrid sent a flurry of leaves its way, and it dove back down, not resurfacing.
"We haven't seen one carrying that move the entire time and it just decides to show up?!" she objected to no one in particular.
"Guess we just got lucky," Arashi remarked.
Whether he meant lucky in not seeing one use Aurora Beam beforehand or lucky in finding one with the move altogether, she had no idea. Astrid shook her head, feathers fluffing up for just a second. The pool was passive again, and on they went… for a few moments, anyway.
Another splash made them whirl around once more, but the source was just a playful Wishiwashi that barely breached the surface. However, at that moment, the Dartrix felt something else… something slippery and wet curling about one foot. She looked down, and an Octillery's tentacle grabbed hold of her, the rest of the creature just below the water's surface. It gave a yank almost as soon as she laid eyes on it.
"Hah, maybe you scared it off!" Arashi giggled.
"Ngh-!"
Shortly another splash and a short beat of wings could be heard, and the Froakie whirled back around… but he couldn't find his comrade anywhere. He blinked.
"Astrid?" he asked confusedly. "Where'd you go?"
A glance up at the ceiling and about the room revealed that she hadn't just taken to the air, either. It appeared as though she had just vanished the second he turned around.
"Oh, come on, you're not even a Ghost-type yet and Dartrix can't learn Phantom Force," the Froakie mused, glancing around. "Unless you're that special… And if you are, come out and tell me already! That's cool!"
In the water, however, Astrid found herself in a less-than-ideal situation, even with the lack of breathable air not considered. The Octillery's suction cups were stickier than the Shellos' strange purple fluid had seemed, and one of its limbs had pinned her wings to her sides. Death by Flamethrower had certainly been a troubling prospect, but… death by drowning seemed fairly bad too.
She couldn't see Arashi, and she couldn't see much else save for what looked like a Corsola or two at the bottom of the pool further down, but she hoped her comrade could grab a Drought Orb, and fast. With what tiny bit she could move, she sent a Razor Leaf, or at least, she intended to. The leaves didn't get very far before losing their momentum and floating up, while her assailant seemed to be readying an Octazooka. No, no, no- the word 'terrible' was all that came to mind.
"Where are you?!" the Froakie called.
Arashi cast a glance back at the pool nearby, and noticed some bubbles coming up to the surface that probably weren't coming from any dungeon-dwellers. It seemed to be stirring, too… much more than usual. A few razor-sharp leaves floated up to the surface, followed by a burst of what looked like inky blackness that spread through the water. He studied it for just a second before it registered.
"Oh, Arceus above! Astrid!" the Froakie cried, clamoring to undo the bag's flap. "How?! I didn't even see it!"
The bag was open in less than a second once he slipped it off, and a Drought Orb displaced several of their belongings onto the floor when he yanked it out. A bright flash followed from the orb, almost ridiculously so, and Arashi shut his eyes to avoid looking straight at it. The blinding rays dried up whatever water had been on the floor, startling the wild ones that inhabited the pools. All of them were startled, plopping down onto the bottom (save for the Corsolas already there) in seconds with cries of protest.
Astrid, however, was relieved. The Octillery seemed puzzled enough to let go, and immediately she flew out from its grip and back up to the top, albeit covered in black ink. She could see that the pool was around five meters deep with the water missing, which was certainly convenient on account of several dungeon-dwellers (the Octillery and two Corsola) trying to chase her down but finding themselves unable to scale the side. Several Goldeens and Remoraids flopped about, and some Corsolas and Shelloses looked rather unhappy.
"Are you okay?!" the Froakie called, looking a bit alarmed.
"I am now," the Dartrix replied quickly, giving a glance down at the pool's edge.
They quickly backed away from the pool's edge when a Corsola shot a Bubble Beam towards them.
The black ink was certainly doing no favors, and Astrid tried preening it out with very little effect. Her beak started getting blackened too when she ran it along her feathers.
"What happened?" Arashi inquired. "I turned around and you were gone!"
"An Octillery grabbed me and yanked me in when you were looking the other way," she answered, still trying in vain to get some of her natural color back and fluffing out in a little fluster. "I Pecked it, and I was about to see if Ominous Wind worked underwater, since I couldn't pull off Razor Leaf that well… And I now know for a fact that I don't like swimming."
A little squawk of discomfort followed, the Dartrix puffing out before smoothing back down and shaking her head.
Arashi patted her wing, giggling a bit. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're okay… but you look ridiculous!"
"I do, don't I?!" Astrid fussed in return. "It's not like the Shellos fluid, but… Urgh, this is so uncomfortable!"
Her friend laughed. "Oh, it'll wear off eventually! Don't worry too much- I'm sure the Lord of the Lake will still recognize you even if you're all inked up!"
She whimpered a bit in frustration, but elected to ignore the stains on her plumage. There would certainly be no washing it off, for there was no place left to wash it off. After gathering up their items off the floor again, they went for the nearest corridor, one close on their west, and thankfully the stairs met them in the room connected to it.
Deep Lake Lucent
By the time they left the tenth floor, Arashi was free of bite marks and the both of them felt fully healthy. The next floor looked quite a bit different than those preceding, lacking hallways and branches entirely, save for one lone corridor at the other end of the short room they wound up in and what appeared to be one leading backwards, which they occupied the exit of. The ground was back to being damp, and several cracks allowed water to flow into two little pools along the sides of the room, but no figures seemed to be stirring in them.
"Huh? This isn't the end, is it…?" Astrid inquired, glancing about.
"No, I don't think so," Arashi replied, likewise looking around. "This is a connecting floor. Sometimes you see them in certain dungeons when they're divided into parts."
"Parts…?"
"Yeah, like sections. Still the same dungeon, but more like, say… a grotto, a summit, or in our case, something like a basin."
She nodded, cataloguing that piece of information. "Okay, so… we're still in Lake Lucent. We just got through the first part of Lake Lucent."
"Exactly," her comrade affirmed. "So we can go forward into the rest of the dungeon… Or we can turn around and head back, and that tunnel behind us will put us back at the entrance on the surface somehow. It's part of dungeon phenomena, so don't think too hard about how we end up back where we started."
Another nod. "Well, if the Lord of the Lake isn't here, I guess we gotta keep going."
"Probably," Arashi concurred, then glancing around again, "Hey! Lord of the Lake! Are you here?! It's us, Astrid and Arashi! Y'know, Team Starstorm!"
Astrid too studied their surroundings, but nothing stirred.
"Well, I guess they're not here," Arashi mused, still chipper as ever.
"Let's go, then," said Astrid.
Surely they'd find their target further down if no one stirred on the current floor. And their target indeed waited for them, deep in the bottom, just listening and watching for anyone else to come by. Two long pairs of claws glinted under the water.
