Chapter 14: We're almost a third of the way there?
As the three rescue teams entered the cave known as the Sand-Veiled Sanctuary, Chiaki noticed a statue resembling a kangaroo Pokémon with her child in her pouch. He walked up to examine it, wondering what it could be for. The entrance to the mystery dungeon within the cave was also just ahead.
"What's this statue for?" Chiaki asked, poking at it.
"Oh, that's a Kangaskhan statue," Sting explained, walking up to it. "It can be used to store and withdraw items that you currently have stored back in town."
"Ooh, that sounds useful," Chiaki responded. "Why a Kangaskhan, though?"
"We think it's because in other places around the world, item warehouses are commonly run by Kangaskhan for some reason," Mirage replied. "Of course, we're not entirely sure where the statues come from or who or what it is that places them there."
"Another mystery of this world," Chiaki said, smiling. "Cool."
"So, anyways, it looks like we can use this to make some more preparations for this if there's anything more we need that we don't have," Mirage commented, walking up to deposit some items her rescue team had picked up while exploring the mystery dungeon in the desert.
"This is probably also the last chance to turn around if anyone has decided against going through this dungeon," Melody said, giving a somewhat concerned glance over at Sera and her teammates.
"Why did you look at us when you said that?" Sera asked, tilting her head slightly.
"I just want to make sure you're sure about this one," Melody responded. "I mean, I don't know exactly how strong your team is, so I'm just a little worried."
"Hey, no need to worry about us," Sera replied, trying to sound confident in order to convince the Wigglytuff that they were strong enough. "We can handle this!"
"Oh, okay, if you say so," Melody responded, walking over to the statue as Sting moved over to withdraw some items. She didn't seem fully convinced, but it was at least enough to make her stop trying to talk them out of it.
As Chiaki watched the other two rescue teams make their preparations, Sera motioned for Blitz to come closer to her so they could talk privately for a moment, or as private as they could considering they were all still in the same room.
"Do you think we're anywhere close to achieving Silver rank?" Sera asked, glancing at the rescue team badge.
"I can't tell…" Blitz responded, looking at the badge. "Let's see… How many missions have we been on since achieving Bronze rank, and what were their difficulty ranks?"
"… You expect me to remember that…?" Sera replied, glancing over at the other two rescue team leaders to see if they were done making their preparations yet.
"Let's see… First, I believe, there was a mission we did without Chiaki because he was trying to get a chance to speak to Elina," Blitz said, trying to think about what had happened over the past few days. "And then… We went on a mission on the day they announced the crystals had been stolen…"
"Okay, that's two," Sera replied. "Go on."
"We also went on a mission the day after that, after finding out about the crystal in Harmony Forest from Stella…" Blitz said, still thinking over it. "Retrieving the crystal itself was technically not a mission, and we didn't go on a mission the day after that, so the last mission we went on was the one in Nectar Woods yesterday…"
"So, we've only been on four missions since we got Bronze rank?" Sera asked.
"I guess…" Blitz responded, trying to figure out how many points that added up to. "So, with the number of points from each of those missions based on mission rank…"
"Well, how many points does that make?" Sera asked a bit impatiently. "And how many do we need to reach the next rank?"
"Hmm…" Blitz took a few more moments to try to add things up in his head, before responding. "I think we're almost a third of the way there?"
"We're almost a third of the way there?" Sera replied, ears drooping down slightly.
"Hey, that's not too bad, right?" Blitz responded, while rubbing his forelegs together, before quickly glancing over at the Kangaskhan statue. "Oh, I think you can use the Kangaskhan rock now."
"Oh, right," Sera said, walking up to the statue to see what she could do. "Let's see…"
The other two rescue teams waited at the entrance while Sera thought about what to bring and which items not to bring, until she finally decided to just deposit a few of the items she had picked up on the way and not spend too much time worrying about it.
"All right, it looks like everyone is ready," Mirage said. "Let's go in!"
The three rescue teams entered the mystery dungeon one by one, entering a labyrinth looking similar to the room they were just in, a sandy floor with rocky cave walls. There were three paths to choose from to begin with.
"I guess we'll split up, taking one path each," Sting buzzed, hovering to the path on the right.
"Sounds like a plan," Mirage commented, walking up to the path on the left.
"See you guys later, then," Sera said, moving over to the path on the top along with her teammates.
And with that, the three rescue teams went off in different directions, each hoping to get through the dungeon and find the Flygon living within the deepest parts of the cave.
Back in Fenix Town, Elina was taking a nap on the roof of the café, when she suddenly felt a familiar psychic presence. Opening her green eyes and glancing down, she quickly met the gaze of a certain Beheeyem.
"Elina!" Eltanin telepathically called out to his daughter. "I am so glad to see you're safe!"
Elina quickly floated down to her father and hugged him tightly.
"You've been worried about me too, haven't you?" Eltanin asked via telepathy, returning the hug. "It's okay, I'm here now."
While the two were glad to be reunited, Eltanin sensed that his daughter still seemed uneasy about something. He figured it was probably because of the stolen crystals.
"Perhaps we should go home to Axis Tower, sweetie?" Eltanin asked via telepathy. "The other guards have been worried about you too."
Elina looked up at her father for a moment, before shaking her head, much to Eltanin's confusion.
"You don't want to go home yet?" Eltanin asked. "Why?"
Elina held up her hands, the red, yellow and green fingers on her hand flashing in different patterns to answer her father.
"… What?" Eltanin responded via telepathy, his fingers flashing in confusion as well. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean here."
Elina's fingers rapidly blinked in a different pattern, Eltanin trying his best to understand what his daughter was trying to say.
"Slow down, dear, you're going a bit too fast here…" Eltanin responded, waiting for a few moments to figure out what his daughter was communicating through the signals. "… Wait, the night the crystals were stolen? What happened then?"
Mirage and her rescue team were making their way deeper into the mystery dungeon, picking up more items and money and fighting off wild Pokémon on the way. None of them were entirely sure how many floors this mystery dungeon was, but they assumed it was most likely not more than fifteen floors.
"The wild Pokémon here aren't too much of a challenge," Megara commented. "But, at least they still give some decent experience for us."
"Well, for us they're not too difficult," Mirage responded. "But I wonder how that Bronze rank team is doing? Think they can keep up?"
Mirage continued moving forward, when she suddenly felt something under her paws. Before she knew it, a hidden trap activated and sprayed her with mud.
"Oh, ew…" Mirage said, trying to shake some of the mud off.
"Looks like you just triggered a trap," Cordyceps commented.
"I know," Mirage responded, rolling her eyes. "Help me get this stuff out of my fur, will you?"
Sting and his teammates were exploring another part of the dungeon, also picking up any useful items they could find and fighting off some wild Pokémon. Once again, Frosty's ice attacks were proving to be useful.
"I am so awesome," Frosty said, grinning. "We'll reach the end of this dungeon in no time!"
"Yes, your ice attacks have been very useful for this," Sting responded. "But don't let it go to your head."
"Don't worry; I'll keep my head cool!" Frosty replied, snickering a little.
"I see you what did there," Melody commented, rolling her eyes. "So, you think the other rescue teams are doing okay?"
"Since we haven't seen any signs of trouble so far, I'm assuming they're doing okay," Sting responded, looking around for the stairs.
"I guess," Melody replied, also looking around. "So, how far in do you think they are compared to us? I bet Mirage and her teammates probably want to get through the dungeon first."
"Yeah, they are kind of competitive at times, aren't they?" Sting responded.
"Ha, they're not going to be the first ones there, because we're going to beat them there!" Frosty said, grinning. "Let's pick up the pace!"
"Okay, but watch your step," Melody responded. "There might be traps around here."
Sera and her teammates continued to carefully make their way through the dungeon, trying to avoid triggering any traps or having to fight an opponent that was too tough for them to handle.
"How can it be that we're only almost a third of the way to the next rank?" Sera asked, still thinking about what she and Blitz talked about earlier.
"Well, like I said, we haven't done that many missions since we achieved our Bronze rank," Blitz responded. "Plus, we've only done one mission per day, while a lot of other rescue teams usually do multiple missions within the same dungeon in a single day."
"I see…" Sera replied, ears perking up a little as she thought about it. "They probably earn a lot of points and experience from doing it that way."
"Yeah, they probably do," Blitz responded, not realizing that Sera was probably in the process of trying to come up with some sort of plan.
"They probably do lots of difficult, but not too difficult missions to get as many points as they can in one go," Sera said, giggling a little.
"Yeah, I guess," Blitz responded, still not picking up on Sera's train of thought as he was mainly focusing on listening for wild Pokémon that could be lurking nearby.
"Ooh, and get a lot of rewards!" Sera said, seeming more and more excited as she spoke. "Like money and useful items for later missions!"
"Sera, you're acting kind of weird," Chiaki commented, wondering why Sera seemed so excited all of a sudden.
"Oh, it's nothing you need to worry about," Sera responded, wagging her tail happily.
Sera continued cheerfully moving along, not paying much attention to her surroundings as she was caught up in her own thoughts. She was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as she suddenly felt the sandy ground disappear under her, having triggered a pit fall trap. Sera gave a startled scream as she fell down onto the next floor, but luckily wasn't hut as she fell onto the sandy floor.
"Sera! Are you okay?" Chiaki asked, looking down at his teammate from the floor above.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sera responded, shaking herself off. "That was pretty unexpected, though… On the bright side, I guess I found a shortcut to the next floor."
"Oh, okay!" Chiaki replied, smiling cheerfully. "We'll be right there with you, then!"
Chiaki jumped down the hole, landing in the sand next to Sera. After a moment of hesitation, Blitz joined them too.
"All right, let's keep moving!" Sera said, still cheerfully leading her team.
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this…" Blitz muttered under his breath.
Back in Fenix Town, Elina and Eltanin sat on the roof of the café as Elina through the flashing patterns of her fingers told her father the whole story. Eltanin carefully watched the shining patterns to make sure he didn't miss any details, although he was a bit shocked at a few of the things that Elina explained to him and had to ask her to repeat those things to make sure he had understood her right.
"I see…" Eltanin responded via telepathy, nodding his head slightly. "That is… quite the story…"
Elina nodded her head slightly, sheepishly looking down.
"Well… I'm not really sure what to think of this," Eltanin commented, looking rather concerned. "Something like this has never happened before…"
Elina looked up at her father, waiting for him to think things over for a moment and decide what they would do next. Eltanin thought about it, and eventually decided on something.
"Okay, considering the circumstances, I guess it probably would be best that you stay here for now."
Elina looked surprised at this response for a moment, and had her fingers flash in a pattern as if to ask if he was really sure about this.
"Yes, it probably is best that you stay in town and keep an eye on things," Eltanin replied, nodding his head. "However, there is something I would like you to do."
Elina tilted her head slightly, wondering what her father's request was.
"Only I and other Pokémon who use similar communication methods will be able to understand the blinking patterns of your fingers, and there are limits for what you can express through your body language,"Eltanin explained. "That is why I want you to find a Pokémon in this town that can teach you how to communicate via telepathy."
Elina nodded her head in response, agreeing with her father that learning how to use her telepathy would probably be a good idea. After all, she would eventually have to learn to do so anyways.
"I wish I could stay here and teach you myself, but I need to return to Axis tower," Eltanin said through telepathy. "I need to tell the other guards about what I saw that night, as well as letting them know that you're safe and telling them of what you told me today."
Elina suddenly grabbed her father's arm and shook her head rapidly, much to his confusion.
"You don't want me to tell them?"
Elina let go of her father, and began explaining her reasoning for not wanting the guards to know everything about the current situation.
"Ah… I understand," Eltanin responded. "If too many Pokémon knew of that particular detail, it might put your friend in danger..."
Elina nodded her head.
"And if the thief were to learn of this, this whole town could be in danger..."
Elina nodded her head again.
"Okay, then. I won't tell anyone else."
Elina was relieved to hear that, and hugged her father tightly.
"Well, I'd better head back to the tower now," Eltanin said, returning the hug. "Take care, and do your best."
Elina knew there was one more issue neither of them had really addressed after she explained the whole story, but that was something she would rather not think about for now, even if she knew perfectly well that it would have to be dealt with sooner or later…
After exploring for a while, Sera and her teammates had finally made it to the last floor of the mystery dungeon. At this point, they weren't sure if they had somehow gotten ahead of the other two rescue teams, or if they had already gotten to the end of the dungeon. Based on the number of items they had come across on this particular floor, Blitz assumed it was the former.
"Think we'll make it to the end before the other two teams catch up?" Sera asked.
"I don't know…" Blitz replied, looking around. "Something doesn't feel right…"
"What do you mean?" Sera asked. "I mean, we're nearly at the end of the dungeon! What could possibly go wrong when we've gotten this far?"
"Ooh, look over there!" Chiaki said, pointing to the section of the dungeon where they were currently heading towards. "Looks like there's lots of items in there!"
"Hey, you're right!" Sera responded, wagging her tail. "Ooh, there's Gummis in there!"
As Sera and Chiaki walked over to the room, Blitz suddenly froze as he realized something.
"Wait… There are many items in one place, more than you'd expect to find in one room…" Blitz's eyes widened as he realized what this possibly meant. "Isn't that in most cases a sign that… that…"
Sera and Chiaki obliviously walked into the room, but as soon as Sera reached a paw out to pick up one of the items on the ground, a yellow arm with white claws suddenly popped out of the sand and tried to strike her. Sera gave a startled yell as the yellow Pokémon with the brown spikes on its back fully emerged from the ground, followed by even more wild Pokémon appearing by popping out of the ground or dropping down from the ceiling.
"It's a Monster House…" Blitz muttered as he stared wide-eyed at the wild Pokémon surrounding his two teammates.
"Eek, stay away from us!" Sera shouted, using her tail to fling a seed at a Pokémon resembling a bigger Sandile standing on two legs.
The Krokorok caught the Warp Seed in its mouth seemingly by instinct, and was promptly teleported to another part of the dungeon. But even with one of them out of the way for now, there were still several more Pokémon moving towards them.
"Ah, we need more Warp Seeds!" Sera said, looking through the bag. "Do we have any more...?"
"Sera, won't sending them away one at a time take a while...?" Chiaki asked, trying to put up a Detect.
"Well, w-what do you suggest then?" Sera responded.
"Um... Do we have any orbs that can stop all of these guys?" Chiaki asked, using Fake Out on the Sandslash that had tried to attack Sera.
"I… I don't know," Sera responded, panicking somewhat and not being able to remember what orbs they had brought, if any. "I-I've never fought this many Pokémon at once!"
"Sera, pull yourself together!" Chiaki shouted. "W-We have to do something!"
"I… I…" Sera was unable to think of anything.
"Come on, snap out of it!" Chiaki shouted, shaking his teammate slightly.
The wild Pokémon prepared to strike, only to be distracted by a bright light courtesy of Blitz's Flash. Blitz then quickly ran over to his teammates before the wild Pokémon could block off the path.
"Sera, let me have a look at the items we brought!" Blitz said.
"O-Okay…" Sera responded and turned around so that Blitz could get to the bag she was carrying.
"Let's see…" Blitz said, examining the items.
"A-Anything we can use in there?" Sera asked, while dodging to avoid being hit by wild Pokémon's attack.
Chiaki was also dodging moves, having an easier time thanks to his Detect move. He wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep it up, though.
"Sera, didn't you bring any orbs that affect all wild Pokémon in a room?" Blitz asked.
"I-I don't know!" Sera responded, looking around. "How was I supposed to know we needed one of those!?"
"You never know, and that's why you need to be on the safe side!" Blitz replied, using Flash again to momentarily blind the wild Pokémon to buy a little more time.
"Oh, right…" Sera responded, ears drooping down slightly. "I-I guess that's something someone taught me, wasn't it…?"
"Well, we need to try to find a way to get past these guys and reach the other path out of this room," Blitz said, glancing over at the path. "But how do we do that…?"
"Leave it to us!" a male and a female voice called out, as the other two rescue teams came to the rescue.
"Sting! Mirage!" Chiaki called out, grinning.
"You guys okay?" Melody asked while getting into a fighting position as the wild Pokémon turned their attention to them.
"Yeah, we're fine!" Chiaki responded, as both Blitz and Sera gave a relieved sigh.
"Well, let us deal with these guys, and go find the stairs!" Frosty said, forming a large icicle between his hands. "We'll catch up with you when we're done!"
"Okay," Blitz responded, nodding his head. "Clear the path for us, and we'll be on our way."
Frosty smirked as he lifted the large icicle that he had created over his head, before throwing it at the wild Pokémon. The wild Pokémon scattered as they tried to avoid the attack, only for the icicle to shatter upon impact with a dungeon wall, causing the wild Pokémon to be struck by the fragments. Sera, Blitz and Chiaki quickly made their way out of the room while the wild Pokémon were still taking a moment to recover from the attack.
"All right, my turn," Megara said, firing an intense blast of fire from her beak to burn the wild Pokémon, and accidentally(?) frightening Cordyceps in the process.
"This shouldn't take long," Mirage commented, getting down on all fours. "Let's finish this quickly so we can catch up to the others."
"Agreed," Sting responded, pointing his arm-stingers at some of the wild Pokémon.
Sera, Blitz and Chiaki managed to quickly find and make it up the stairs while the other two rescue teams took care of the wild Pokémon. Blitz was glad to be out of that mystery dungeon, although Sera still seemed somewhat stressed.
"Sera, are you all right?" Blitz asked.
"I… I couldn't remember anything of what I had learned…" Sera responded, ears drooping down. "It was like I couldn't think at all…"
"Hey, don't feel bad," Blitz replied comfortingly. "That can happen to anyone."
"Yeah," Chiaki said, with his signature smile. "None of us were really prepared for that Monster House."
"But we should've been," Sera responded, looking over at Blitz. "You said so yourself earlier, you know. A rescue team never knows what awaits them, so one always needs to be on the safe side, right?"
"Well, I guess I did say something like that, huh…" Blitz replied, rubbing his forelegs together.
"I'm the leader of this rescue team, I should've remembered to bring some items that would be useful in the case of a Monster House back when I was making my last preparations at the Kangaskhan rock," Sera said, looking down at the ground. "I failed …"
"Sera, don't beat yourself up about it," Blitz responded. "Everyone makes mistakes, and when we make mistakes, we learn from them."
"Yeah, cheer up!" Chiaki said, petting Sera.
"Besides, in a way, it wasn't all your fault anyways," Blitz added. "Chiaki and I could've helped you look over the items when you were making those preparations at the Kangaskhan rock."
"Thanks guys…" Sera responded, her ears perking up a little. "I promise I'll be better prepared next time."
"Ah, there you are!" Mirage called out, as she, Sting and their teammates walked up to the three younger Pokémon. "Good to see you're all okay."
"Ooh, everyone's here!" Chiaki exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes, and now that we're all gathered, I guess we should go find this Desert Spirit," Sting said.
The three rescue teams headed down the tunnel, surprised as they eventually spotted light shining from the end of the tunnel. They soon entered a section of the cave with a large opening in the ceiling to the sky.
"This must be the place," Sting said, looking around. "But where's the Desert Spirit?"
"Looking for me?" a rough-sounding, but still feminine voice called out.
The three rescue teams saw a winged green dragon Pokémon getting up and emerging from the shadows, curiously examining the rescue team.
"Are you the Desert Spirit?" Chiaki asked, staring in awe at the Flygon.
"That is correct," the Flygon responded, nodding her head. "You may call me Rhythm."
"It is nice to meet you, Rhythm," Sting said. "Anyways, we need your assistance with something, and so do the Pokémon of this desert..."
"This is about the strange sandstorms, isn't it?" Rhythm responded.
"You already knew?" Mirage asked, tilting her head.
"Yes, I've been aware of it for a while," Rhythm replied. "I could sense something strange in the air, but I haven't been able to do something about it yet."
"Why not?" Sera asked.
Rhythm smiled, and gently used the tip of her tail to brush away some of the sand on the ground, revealing a few orange eggs.
"Are those Trapinch eggs?" Blitz asked.
"I laid my eggs pretty recently," Rhythm explained. "I just needed some rest before I could deal with the sandstorm problem."
"Ooh, when are they going to hatch?" Chiaki asked, curiously looking at the eggs.
"Not for a while yet," Rhythm responded, spreading her wings. "But for now, I think I should deal with those sandstorms."
"Is it okay to just leave the eggs alone?" Melody asked.
"Relax, they're perfectly safe in here," Rhythm responded, carefully covering the eggs with sand again. "So, let's deal with that sandstorm problem."
Rhythm motioned for the rescue teams to get onto her back, and then took off, carrying the rescue teams out of the cave through the opening in the ceiling. Once they were outside, she set them down on a cliff, and then quickly started flying towards the areas affected by the sandstorms. The sound of her wings flapping sounded like a mysterious song, which reached the other Pokémon of the desert, as if to tell them that the Desert Spirit had arrived.
The three rescue teams watched as Rhythm began flapping her wings hard enough to whip up some sandstorms of her own, moving in the opposite direction of the other sandstorms.
"Why is she making more sandstorms?" Sera asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Look closely at those sandstorms," Blitz said, pointing to the sandstorms Rhythm was whipping up. "They're moving in the opposite direction of the other ones. Maybe they'll cancel each other out?"
"I assume that is what she is trying to do," Sting commented, watching the Flygon whip up more sandstorms, trying to make them just as strong as the other ones.
"Come on, Rhythm! You can do it!" Chiaki shouted, cheering the Flygon on.
The Pokémon of the desert were starting to gather to watch the Desert Spirit counter the mysterious sandstorms with her own, and it did seem like Rhythm's plan was working. The sandstorms clashed, and soon canceled each other out, and Rhythm repeated the process until the sandstorms had subsided entirely.
"She did it!" Chiaki shouted, as Rhythm flew back up to the cliff where she had left the rescue teams.
"Need a ride back down?" Rhythm asked, letting the rescue team get onto her back again as she flew down to greet the desert Pokémon that had gathered.
"Desert Spirit, you did it!" a Sandile said, as Rhythm landed and let the rescue team climb off her back.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Rhythm responded, taking a moment to catch her breath.
"That's okay, Desert Spirit," the Cacnea the rescue teams had spoken to earlier replied. "At least the problem is now solved, and we can now reach the oasis and the other parts of the desert that had been blocked."
"That reminds me!" the Maractus from earlier said, turning to the rescue team. "You can probably find that crystal you were looking for now!"
"Crystal?" Rhythm inquired, tilting her head slightly.
"Oh, right," Mirage responded, looking up at the Flygon. "The reason we came here in the first place was because one of the missing crystals from the Axis Tower is somewhere in this desert."
"Ah, I see," Rhythm replied, nodding her head while taking a quick glance at the area the sandstorms had previously been blocking off. "But, it'll probably take a while for you to find it if you were to search on your own."
"I suppose you're right," Sting responded. "Even if we limit our search to the previously blocked off areas, it'll still take a while to search for it."
"Yeah, and for all we know it might be buried under the sand somewhere…" Blitz commented, rubbing his forelegs together.
"Which is why the Pokémon of the desert should assist you," Rhythm responded, smiling and turning to the gathered desert Pokémon. "I assume that is okay with all of you?"
"Of course!" the Maractus replied. "These rescue teams were willing to help us out, so it's the least we can do for them!"
"So, you're really going to help us out?" Chiaki asked, looking excited. "Awesome!"
And so the various Pokémon of the desert helped the three rescue teams search through the sands of the desert in order to help them find the crystal. Chiaki also took the opportunity to try to get to know some of the desert Pokémon better, and managed to befriend some of the younger Pokémon present. Eventually, a Sandshrew noticed something sparkly in the sand, and called over some other Sandshrew to help dig it up.
"Ooh, it's shiny!" one of the Sandshrew said, picking up the yellow crystal. "This must be what the rescue teams wanted!"
The small group of Sandshrew ran up to the rescue teams, and presented the crystal to them.
"That's it!" Sera said, excitedly wagging her tail. "We found the second of the eight missing crystals!"
"Which means there's still six more out there," Mirage commented, picking up the crystal. "But if we keep this up, we should have them all back in no time!"
"For now, let's return to town and give the crystal to Stella for safekeeping," Sting buzzed.
"Thanks for helping us out!" Chiaki said, happily shaking the hand of the Sandshrew that had found the crystal. "I hope we can all meet again someday!"
As the three rescue teams began to head back to town, they heard the mysterious humming sound of Rhythm's wings flapping in the distance as she flew back to her cave. Perhaps it was saying good-bye to them, for now.
Cosmo was looking out at the sunset through a window, as Eltanin finally returned to the tower.
"Eltanin, you're back!" Cosmo said, walking over to greet the Beheeyem. "Did you find Elina?"
"Yes, I did," Eltanin responded through telepathy. "She will be staying in Fenix Town for the time being, as a situation has occurred and she needs to keep an eye on certain things."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Cosmo asked, confused at this turn of events. "What has happened?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you," Eltanin responded. "However, when the other guards get back, I do have some other information I need to share, regarding the identity of the Pokémon that stole the crystals…"
End of Chapter 14.