Chapter 13: We overheard you saying something about a Desert Spirit?
In Axis Tower, a vaguely star-shaped pink Pokémon with long ears and small fairy-like wings was looking after one of the other guards, a brown Pokémon with a big head and his body somewhat resembling a coat. He had been asleep since the mysterious attack the night the crystals were stolen, and the Clefable had volunteered to stay behind at the tower and look after the Beheeyem while the guards went out to search for the crystals. It seemed like the Beheeyem had been drained of his psychic energy, and therefore had to rest to fully recover.
The Clefable looked out through the window, seeing that the morning sun was shining brightly outside. She wondered when she and the Beheeyem would join the other guards in their search. Of course, once the Beheeyem woke up, she knew he would first need to find something else that was much more important to him than the crystals.
"I wonder how the search is going?" the Clefable wondered out loud. "Oh Cresselia, please let this be a good day for them."
"Cosmo, not to criticize, but wouldn't it make more sense to pray to the legendary Pokémon representing the crescent moon and sweet dreams during nighttime?" a voice said to the Clefable through telepathy.
The Clefable turned to the Beheeyem, who had now opened his green eyes and was slowly getting up.
"Eltanin, you're finally awake!" the Clefable said; glad to see the Beheeyem had recovered.
"Yes, I seem to have finally regained my strength," the Beheeyem responded through telepathy while rubbing his head. "That Sigilyph sure was an unusual opponent…"
"Wait, you saw the thief?" Cosmo asked.
"Yes, but I have more important matters to tend to at the moment," Eltanin responded, beginning to move towards the stairs.
"You're heading out?" Cosmo asked, looking a bit concerned. "You just woke up, so maybe you should take it easy…"
"I appreciate your concern, but I must go," Eltanin responded. "Even while I was asleep, I managed to use what little power I had to telepathically keep track of what was happening around me."
"Ah, I see…" Cosmo replied. "So, then you already know…"
"Yes," Eltanin responded, Cosmo didn't even need to finish her question. "And then you probably understand why I must get going as soon as possible."
"Of course," Cosmo said. "We've all been very concerned, so I hope you find her quickly."
"I will," Eltanin responded, nodding his head. "Now that my powers have fully returned, I should be able to find her without too much difficulty."
In Fenix Town, rescue teams were making their preparations for missions as usual. Sera was depositing some items at Lionel's warehouse to make room for more items, since they had picked up quite a few berries during their mission in Nectar Woods yesterday. Shortly after finishing up at the warehouse, Sera met with her two teammates.
"Good morning, Sera," Blitz said.
"Oh, hi," Sera responded, happily wagging her tail as her teammates walked up to her. "I've already made some preparations, so let's go find ourselves a mission!"
The rescue team began making their way towards the rescue team HQ; however, on the way there they spotted Mirage and her teammates talking to Stella.
"So, you're sure about this?" Mirage asked, sounding rather interested in whatever she was discussing with Stella.
"Yes," Stella responded. "The vision was rather fuzzy, but I am certain of what I was able to gather from it."
"All right," Mirage replied, turning to her teammates. "We're going to Clarion Desert!"
"Why?" Chiaki asked, walking up to them with his usual cheery smile.
"Because Stella just informed us that one of the missing crystals from Axis Tower is currently somewhere within the aforementioned desert," Cordyceps responded.
"Cordy! Why'd you tell them that?" Megara asked.
"The mushroom was not aware it was supposed to be a secret," Cordyceps replied.
"So, one of the crystals is in Clarion Desert?" Sera asked just to make sure she had heard correctly.
"Indeed," Mirage replied, smirking at Sera. "And now I'm guessing you and your teammates are planning on heading there to search for it as well?"
"You bet we are!" Sera responded.
"We are?" Blitz asked, glancing around nervously.
"Well, then, let's all head over to the rescue team HQ," Mirage said, grinning. "We'll see which team finds that crystal first!"
The two rescue teams began running in the direction of the rescue team HQ, catching the attention of Sting and his teammates on the way.
"Hey, what's the rush?" Melody asked.
"One of the missing crystals is in Clarion Desert!" Chiaki explained. "We're going to go find it!"
"Oh, is that so?" Melody responded, looking over at her teammates. "Should we get in on this too?"
"I'm up for it," Frosty replied, looking over at Sting expectantly.
"Well, I suppose they could use all help they can get," Sting said. "Let's join their search."
"Cool," Melody responded, as they began running to catch up to the other two rescue teams. "Hey, wait up!"
At the rescue team HQ, the three rescue teams made their way into Kala's room, the Abra being fast asleep as they entered. Mirage walked up to the sleeping psychic type, and lightly shook her shoulder. Kala slowly sat up and drowsily rubbed her eyes.
"What are all you Pokémon doing in here…?" Kala asked, sounding rather groggy. "Don't you know that Thursday is my "sleep-until-Friday day"?"
"Kala, today is not Thursday," Mirage responded. "And the reason we're all here is because we need you to send us over to Clarion Desert."
"Okay…" Kala replied, yawning and stretching. "Good luck with whatever you're doing…"
And in a flash of light, the nine Pokémon disappeared from the room and found themselves in the sandy Clarion Desert.
"Wow… So much sand…" Chiaki commented, looking around. "Where do we begin?"
"If I remember correctly, there should be an entrance to a mystery dungeon around here somewhere," Blitz responded, looking around.
"I see it!" Megara said, pointing to a mystery dungeon entrance between two rocks.
"All right, let's go!" Mirage shouted, as she and her teammates entered the dungeon.
"Hey, why did they get to go first?" Frosty asked, crossing his arms. "They didn't even call dibs or anything!"
"Neither did we, so what's your point?" Melody responded. "Let's just go after them so we don't fall behind."
"Yes, let's go," Sting buzzed, and so the three of them headed inside.
"We shouldn't fall behind either," Sera said, grinning. "Shall we?"
"Let's do it!" Chiaki responded.
"Wait!" Blitz said, getting his teammates' attention. "Do you really think this is a good idea? I mean, sure, we did manage to find the first crystal, but that time we had luck and some of the Pokémon of the forest on our side, but this time…"
"Blitz, we're already here, so we might as well do this," Sera responded.
"But… there will probably be a lot of ground types here, and my electric attacks won't do much against them," Blitz replied, rubbing his forelegs together. "Plus, there are two rescue teams with higher ranks than ours on the case, so why not just leave it to them?"
"You do have some good points there," Sera responded, thinking for a moment. "But, we can still try to help search, right? Every little bit of help counts when it comes to getting the crystals back, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, we should help out!" Chiaki said. "It's not like any of us could make finding the crystals more difficult, after all."
"Oh, okay…" Blitz replied, sighing. "Let's go."
"All right," Sera responded, glad that she and Chiaki were able to convince Blitz to give it a try.
Mirage and her teammates quickly found their way through the first and second floors, and were now exploring the third floor. While they wanted to quickly get through all fifteen floors, Mirage also wanted to carefully search the dungeon for money or any items that might be worth something. Since this wasn't a mission and they weren't going to be paid for finding the crystal, she figured they could at least still try to obtain some money.
"Sure is nice and warm here," Megara commented, enjoying the feeling of walking through the warm desert sand.
"The mushroom does not see the appeal of this place," Cordyceps said. "The mushroom thinks this place is much too warm and dry."
"If you think this place is hot, you should visit the volcano where I used to live," Megara responded. "It is way hotter there."
"The mushroom would rather not visit that place, then," Cordyceps replied. "No offense."
"None taken," Megara responded. "Besides, non-fire types usually can't handle the heat of that place unless they wear a special item."
"Sounds pretty intense," Mirage commented, panting a bit. "Oh, look, stairs."
As they entered the room with the stairs, Mirage picked up a faint familiar scent, much to her confusion.
"Bear… with a hint of frost," Mirage commented as she sniffed the air.
"You mean Sting and his teammates got here before us?" Megara asked. "How did that happen?"
"Well, since I managed to pick up on Frosty's scent like that, they were probably here just a moment ago," Mirage responded. "They can't have gotten far, so let's keep moving."
Sting and his teammates were already close to reaching the stairs by the time Mirage and her teammates made it to the fourth floor. Sting thought about how this would probably be a good story to tell Queen Miele the next time he saw her, assuming they were able to find the crystal.
"I hope my beard doesn't melt…" Frosty commented, gently stroking his icicle beard. "Why couldn't the crystal have been hidden away in a cold place?"
"Relax," Melody said, as they walked up to the fifth floor. "We're already a third of the way through this dungeon."
While Frosty wasn't too fond of the heat, his ice attacks were proving to be very useful against the wild Pokémon in the mystery dungeon. Most of the wild Pokémon they encountered were ground types, with the occasional grass type in the form of the cactus Pokémon Cacnea.
Sera and her teammates were slowly making their way through the first few floors as well, having a somewhat easier time than usual since the other two rescue teams had already made it through, and knocked out most of the wild Pokémon on the floors on the way. Although, due to the strange nature of mystery dungeons, even if one were to presumably defeat all wild Pokémon on a floor, more tended to appear, seemingly out of thin air if one stayed on the same floor long enough.
"I guess the others already picked up most of the items around here…" Sera commented, looking around. "Oh well, we've already got what we need, so we're good."
"Do you think we'll run into some strange things again?" Blitz asked, still seeming a bit uncertain about this.
"You mean like that giant plant thing in Harmony Forest?" Sera responded, noticing the stairs to the next floor and leading the rescue team to them.
"Yeah…" Blitz replied. "Think we'll have to do deal with another thing like that when looking for this crystal?"
"I don't know," Sera responded, looking around as they arrived at the next floor.
"Hey, whatever awaits us, we can handle it, right?" Chiaki asked, walking along cheerfully. "Besides, this time Sting and Mirage's teams are here too, they'll help out!"
"Chiaki's got a point there," Sera commented, choosing which path to take. "It'll be fine."
"How can you be so sure?" Blitz quietly muttered to himself.
After a while, all three rescue teams eventually made it through the dungeon and met outside the dungeon. Now having gotten further into the desert, they tried to figure out where to go next. They didn't really have that many leads to go on.
"So… Does anyone here like, happen to know anything about this place?" Mirage asked, looking around.
"Oh, we should find someone and ask for help!" Chiaki suggested, smiling and glancing at his teammates. "Remember how the elemental monkey tribes helped us get the first crystal from Harmony Forest?"
"Suppose that's a good idea," Melody responded. "But is there even anyone around here to ask?"
"I think I see something over in that direction…" Blitz said, squinting slightly as he pointed a paw in the direction specified. "I think it might be other Pokémon, as it seems to be moving slightly."
"… Wow, you're good," Mirage commented, impressed by the young Shinx's eyesight.
The three rescue teams began moving in the direction Blitz pointed out to them, and as they got closer, a few rather concerned looking Pokémon gradually came into view. There were two different cacti Pokémon, one smaller with two short legs, four needles on each arm and a yellow flower on the top of its body, and a taller one with two pink flowers on its head and which seemed to make a maracas-like sound whenever it moved.
The Cacnea and Maractus seemed to be discussing something, with a small sand colored crocodile with membranes around its eyes resembling goggles occasionally commenting on what the two cacti Pokémon were talking about. There was also a small yellow plated pangolin Pokémon sitting nearby, drawing something in the sand.
"You're right, these sandstorms have lasted way longer than normal," the Maractus said, making maracas sounds when nodding her head. "Is there really anything we can do about it, though? I mean, we can't exactly control the weather."
"No, we can't," the Cacnea responded. "But, I bet the Desert Spirit can dispel those sandstorms!"
"Aren't the sandstorms blocking the way to the Desert Spirit's cave?" the Maractus asked, tilting her head slightly and thus making more maracas sounds. "We can't really reach the Desert Spirit if we can't get through those sandstorms."
"So, we need the Desert Spirit's help to get rid of the sandstorms, but we can't get to her cave because the sandstorms are in the way, and if we want to get rid of the sandstorms and get to her cave, we need her help…" the Sandile said, thinking about it for a moment. "It's like an unsolvable riddle or something…"
"Isn't there another way we can reach the desert spirit?" the Cacnea asked. "Aside from, you know..."
"Look!" the Sandshrew said, pointing to its scribbles in the sand. "I drew a Trapinch!"
"Oh, that's cute," the Maractus commented. "But it doesn't exactly solve our problem in any way."
"Um… Excuse me?" Sting buzzed as he and the other rescue team Pokémon approached the desert Pokémon. "We're on a mission, and could use a little help. Do you mind answering some questions?"
"Oh, I guess not…" the Maractus replied, curiously looking over the three rescue teams. "What do you need to know?"
"Well, we're investigating the case with the missing Axis Tower crystals, and we've been told that one of the missing crystals may be somewhere in this desert," Mirage explained. "Would you happen to know anything about where we might find it?"
"Oh, a crystal from Axis Tower?" the Maractus asked, tilting her head slightly. "I believe I've heard something about this, but I'm afraid I don't know anything about one in the desert, or where in the desert it would be."
"Ah," Sting responded, thinking for a moment. "We overheard you saying something about a Desert Spirit?"
"Well, the Desert Spirit is said to be the protector of Clarion Desert," the Maractus explained, cheerfully swaying back and forth a little. "But it's not really a spirit; it's really just a Flygon and the "Desert Spirit" thing is a title."
"The Flygon lives in a cave called the Sand-Veiled Sanctuary," the Cacnea added. "Unfortunately, we can't reach the entrance to said cave due to those harsh sandstorms blocking off part of the desert."
"Wait a minute…" Blitz said, thinking for a moment. "Something just occurred to me…"
"What is it, Blitz?" Sera asked, tilting her head slightly.
"These sandstorms have lasted pretty long, even the native Pokémon of the desert finding it strange," Blitz said. "So, if this situation is anything like how it was in Harmony Forest, then chances are…"
"I see," Sting buzzed. "You believe the sandstorms may be a lead as to where the crystal is."
"Yes, exactly," Blitz responded, nodding his head.
"Ooh, that's brilliant!" Mirage said, petting Blitz on the head, messing up his fur slightly. "I bet the crystal is somewhere within the area blocked by the sandstorms!"
All three rescue teams quickly agreed that this had to be the answer, and even the small group of desert Pokémon seemed to support the theory. Of course, none of them was sure who or what had the ability to make such long-lasting sandstorms, but right now the important thing was to figure out what to do about them.
"Maybe you should try to find a way to reach the Desert Spirit?" the Maractus suggested.
"How do we go about that if we can't reach that cave you guys talked about?" Mirage asked.
"Well… There is another way in," the Cacnea said hesitantly. "But it happens to lead right into a mystery dungeon that none of us really dare to enter…"
"Ah, I see," Sting responded, thinking for a moment. "Now that I think about it, there is another mystery dungeon marked up in this area on our maps."
"And while these guys won't enter it, we could probably get through it," Melody added.
"So, where is that other entrance?" Mirage asked, the desert Pokémon exchanging a few glances.
"Um… We don't really remember exactly where it is," the Maractus replied sheepishly.
"… You don't remember?" Megara asked, looking somewhat annoyed.
"Relax, Megara," Mirage said. "We can probably use our maps or something to get an idea of where we can find the entrance to this mystery dungeon."
"Assuming the sandstorms aren't blocking that too," Megara responded, crossing her arms.
"Well, good luck," the Cacnea said. "Sorry we can't be of more help to you guys."
"That's okay!" Chiaki responded. "We'll handle this, so don't worry!"
"Ooh, let me know what the desert spirit is like!" the Sandile said. "I've never seen her in person, but I bet she has a colorful voice and a beautiful personality, or something like that!"
"Okay!" Chiaki responded, as he began following his teammates and the other two rescue teams further into the desert. "Bye!"
Eltanin was making his way towards Fenix Town, which was where a psychic trail was leading him. The Beheeyem had many things to think about, but the most important was to make sure his daughter was safe. She had been missing since the night the crystals were stolen, and none of the guards knew what had happened to her. Eltanin was relieved to find that she had apparently made it safely to Fenix Town, where the number of rescue teams and other Pokémon living in the town could help keep her safe.
While she hadn't yet learned how to communicate via telepathy, he knew she was an intelligent young Pokémon and that she could probably look after herself until he or one of the other guards could find her and follow her back home to Axis Tower. The only thing he wasn't entirely sure of was what had led her to Fenix Town, but he would probably find out soon…
The three rescue teams were now standing a short distance away from the harsh sandstorms blocking off a part of the desert, observing it and looking over their maps while trying to decide on how they would go about searching for the entrance to the Sand-Veiled Sanctuary.
"So, are we absolutely sure we can't cross these sandstorms?" Megara asked.
"Megara, you're not seriously thinking about trying to get through those things, are you?" Mirage responded.
"Well, I'm still pretty annoyed with how unhelpful those Pokémon were earlier," Megara replied. "And if I'm angry enough, I'm pretty sure I can march right through those sandstorms!"
"Megara, that's ridiculous!" Mirage said. "Don't do this!"
"Relax, I'll be fine," Megara responded, starting to walk towards the sandstorms. "I'm not going to let some bad weather stop me!"
"That is not what she was saying when it was raining yesterday," Cordyceps commented.
"Shut up, Cordy," Megara responded, closing her eyes and trying to push through the sandstorm in front of her.
The other eight Pokémon watched the Magmar attempting to cross the sandstorms, only for the sandstorms to lift her off the ground and fling her through the air. Melody quickly moved over to where Megara would land, and inflated her body in order to soften Megara's landing. Melody winced a little as Megara's Flame Body ability activated as she landed on her.
"Whew… Thanks Melody," Megara said, climbing down from the inflated Wigglytuff's belly.
"You're welcome…" Melody responded, deflating herself back to normal size while trying to fan herself with her nubby paws to cool off the spot where Megara landed.
"Did you get burned?" Frosty asked, handing Melody a Rawst berry. "Here, this'll help."
"Thanks, Frosty," Melody replied, eating the berry to heal the burn.
"So, now that we're absolutely certain that we can't walk right through these sandstorms, what do we do now?" Mirage asked.
"Maybe we'll have a better chance of finding the other cave entrance if we split up?" Sera suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Mirage replied, grinning.
The three rescue teams quickly came up with a plan, and so each rescue team went off in a different direction, while still remaining close to the area where the map suggested the dungeon entrance would be, hoping to find the other cave entrance quickly.
Mirage and her teammates walked around the rocks and tried to find out where on the large rock formation the entrance would be. They tried to move as quickly as they could without that hindering their ability to observe everything around them, in hopes of finding the entrance first.
"So, did you guys see today's newspaper?" Mirage asked, glancing over her shoulder at her two teammates. "Apparently small distortions have been spotted in some areas."
"Well, at least it's only a few small distortions in a few areas, right?" Megara responded. "It's nothing too serious yet."
"I know, but still…" Mirage replied, looking somewhat concerned. "I read that one of the distortions had been spotted in the forest where I lived before I came to Fenix Town."
"The mushroom assumes you are concerned about your family?" Cordyceps asked.
"Yeah…" Mirage responded, nodding her head slightly. "I know there's probably nothing to be concerned about as things are now, but…"
"Hey, I understand," Megara replied. "Even though no distortions have been spotted around Mt. Caldera yet, I still got a little concerned about my friends back home when I read that. I'm sure things will be okay, though."
"The mushroom agrees," Cordyceps said. "Once we find the crystal, it'll be one step closer to restoring the balance."
"You're right, Cordy," Mirage responded. "So, let's find that cave and get this over with as soon as possible!"
Sting and his teammates were moving along, Frosty occasionally using his ice attacks to cool himself and his teammates off. Melody seemed to be more bothered by the desert air rather than the heat, though.
"I hope it's a bit cooler inside that cave," Frosty commented.
"I'm a bit more concerned about that mystery dungeon the desert Pokémon talked about," Melody responded. "I mean, the three of us can probably handle it, and I think Mirage and her teammates can too, but what about Sera's team?"
"What do you mean?" Frosty asked. "They managed to get through the dungeon leading into the desert just fine, so why should this other one be much harder?"
"Yeah, but our team and Mirage's team did most of the work, thus clearing a lot of the way for them, remember?" Melody replied. "While I know a bronze rank team probably can handle that particular dungeon without help if they're strong enough, we don't know exactly how strong Sera and her teammates are."
"You think the mystery dungeon in the cave might be too much for them to handle?" Frosty asked, stroking his icicle beard.
"Don't worry too much about it," Sting buzzed. "After all, our team and Mirage's team are here too."
"Yeah!" Frosty responded, grinning. "If they get into trouble, we'll just help them out!"
"Assuming we're able to get to them in time," Melody commented, still seeming a bit concerned.
"Hey, don't say that," Frosty said, patting Melody's back. "I'm sure nothing that bad will happen."
"And Blitz is a pretty smart cub, who can probably help keep them out of trouble," Sting added.
"If you say so…" Melody replied.
Sera and her teammates were searching as well, Blitz keeping an eye out for anything that might be the entrance to a mystery dungeon. Chiaki kind of wished the desert Pokémon from before had come with them so they could get to know each other better, but since they did seem somewhat scared of going into the dungeon, he understood why that didn't happen this time around. Maybe they could at least make friends with the Desert Spirit, or get to know Sting and Mirage's teams a little better?
"See anything cave-like yet, Blitz?" Sera asked.
"Nope," Blitz responded, looking around. "And I'm still kind of nervous about this…"
"Oh, don't worry," Sera replied. "I'm sure we can avoid fighting most of the ground types, if that's the problem."
"Yeah, and the other rescue teams are coming along too!" Chiaki said, grinning. "Maybe they'll give us some rescue team advice on the way?"
"Ooh, that would be nice," Sera responded, smiling and wagging her tail.
"I guess you two have made up your minds already, huh…" Blitz said, looking down at the sand.
Suddenly, they noticed several balls of fire being shot into the air and exploding in the distance.
"Whoa, what's that?" Chiaki asked.
"I think its Megara sending some kind of signal…?" Blitz responded.
"Ooh, maybe they found the cave entrance!" Sera said. "Come on, let's go check it out!"
Megara fired a few more Flame Burst attacks into the air to make sure that Sting and Sera's teams would see it, while Mirage examined the cave entrance.
"Whew, that should be enough," Megara commented as she stopped to catch her breath.
"Was it necessary to use your fire attacks for that?" Cordyceps asked, shuddering a bit.
"It's not like you had any better ideas," Megara responded.
"The mushroom was very nervous when you did that, and is still feeling rather shaken from the sudden use of fire attacks," Cordyceps said, although his voice's usual monotone made it difficult to tell.
"Well, it's not like the attack was targeting you, or anything," Megara replied.
"So?" Cordyceps responded. "You're afraid of rain."
"Hey!" Megara replied, looking rather annoyed. "Do you want me to burn you?"
"The mushroom is just saying how it is," Cordyceps responded, backing away from Megara a little bit. "Please do not roast the mushroom."
"Okay, you two, that's enough," Mirage said, deciding to intervene before either of her teammates got hurt. "The other rescue teams should be getting here soon."
"Do you think they saw my signal?" Megara asked. "Should I fire a few more Flame Bursts just to make sure?"
"Nah, I don't think that's necessary," Mirage responded, shaking her head. "Save your energy for when we enter the dungeon."
"Thank you, Mirage," Cordyceps replied, looking over at the Zoroark.
It didn't take long before they heard the familiar buzzing sound as Sting and his teammates made their way over to the cave entrance, with Sera's team showing up shortly after. With all three rescue teams gathered, Mirage pointed to the cave entrance.
"We think this is it," Mirage said, looking over at the other Pokémon gathered.
"I see," Sting responded, examining the opening. "Good work."
"Thank you," Mirage replied, grinning. "So, now that we're all here, should we go in?"
"Yes, let's go find this Flygon," Sting responded. "The sooner we find it, the sooner we can help the desert Pokémon with the sandstorm problem and find the crystal."
And so, the three rescue teams entered the cave, where they hoped to get through the mystery dungeon waiting for them inside, and that they would reach the Desert Spirit.
End of chapter 13.