Hey everybody! It's time for another new chapter of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Reflecting Balance!
Hope you guys are all enjoying this look into the past, as Stella continues to tell her ancestor's story. Stella was always meant to be sort of a Mr. Exposition (or should I say, Ms. Exposition) character, using her powers to locate the crystals and telling the Pokémon what she knows about the backstory. I guess she's one of the characters who hasn't gone through as many changes as certain other characters from the initial planning stages.
Also, while I was writing this chapter, I realized that writing for a character with multiple heads is kind of awkward. Having a Dodrio character seemed like a fun idea at the time, but writing for three heads with different personalities is a bit tough. I wouldn't mind some advice on how to write such a character, if anyone happens to have any.
Anyways, here's a question for you guys:
Do you feel as if the story has gotten more serious with later chapters? And if so, at what chapter did you feel that this shift in tone began?
Let me know in a review/comment! And now, without further ado, here's chapter 36!
Chapter 36: But I don't want you to suffer either!
"Cassandra understood why Pandora wanted her to stay away, but it just didn't feel right to do so. After Simon brought her back home, Cassandra waited for the sun to go down so she could seek answers in the stars. And so she stayed awake until late at night, staring at the stars shining in the night sky in hopes of seeing something, anything that could help her figure out what to do. She stayed up as long as she could, until she eventually couldn't stay awake anymore and fell asleep.
The next morning…"
Simon was on his way to see Cassandra. Since she had seemed rather troubled after her last encounter with Pandora in Silver Woods, he felt it was best to check on her and see if there was anything she wanted to talk about. As he was making his way through town, he happened to come across a certain Dodrio.
"Hello there, Simon!" the head in the middle cheerfully greeted him.
"Oh, hi there… um…" Simon responded, scratching his head with one of his spoons as he tried to remember the name of the three-headed bird.
"What, you don't remember our name?" the Dodrio's middle head asked, looking a bit confused.
"Well, we don't know him that well," the left head commented. "Still, one would think someone who is supposedly among the most intelligent species of Pokémon would at least know the names of some of his neighbors."
"I bet it's because he only has eyes for Cassandra!" the head on the right said, giggling a little.
"Huh?" Simon replied, blushing slightly. "W-What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, don't pretend you don't know!" the head on the right responded, winking.
"Our name is Era, by the way," the head on the left said.
"Right, Era…" Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. "Yes, I admit that I don't really know most of the Pokémon around here all that well. I tend to spend most of my time at home, reading."
"I see," Era's left head replied, nodding slightly. "By the way, what has Cassandra been up to these days?"
"We haven't seen her around town much recently," Era's middle head said while tilting slightly to the side.
"Well, she's been busy," Simon responded. "It's nothing you need to be concerned about."
Simon then continued on his way, waving to Era as he left. The Dodrio's three head exchanged glances as Simon walked away.
"Do you think he's hiding something?" the left head asked, looking over at the other two.
"I'm not sure…" the head in the middle said. "Richter did say he suspected that something was going on, but I can't tell if there is something or not…"
"Me neither," the head on the right responded. "I say we forget about it, and find a good place to run around!"
"Ooh, that's a great idea," the middle head replied, nodding excitedly.
"… Okay," the left head said. "I guess whatever those psychic types are up to isn't any of our business, anyways."
Simon walked up to the stone building, and peeked inside. He couldn't see Cassandra, but could sense her psychic signature. He decided to teleport inside, disappearing in a burst of light and then reappearing on the second floor of the building. Cassandra was asleep on the floor next to her bed, snoring lightly and occasionally mumbling something in her sleep. Simon gently poked her with one of his spoons to see if she would react.
"Mm… What do you mean you lost the hammer…?" Cassandra muttered in her sleep as she turned over onto her side. "Ah… It exploded…"
"… I'm guessing you were up all night looking at the stars again," Simon whispered.
Simon smiled and carefully used his psychic power to telekinetically lift up Cassandra and place her down gently onto her bed. He then teleported out of the room, deciding to wait outside the building until Cassandra was ready to wake up.
Cassandra didn't seem to realize that she had been moved from where she fell asleep as she slowly opened her eyes. She sat up on her bed, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She then glanced up at the sky, holding her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun.
"Mm… I wonder what time it is…" Cassandra muttered. "Can't really remember when I feel asleep either…"
Once she was fully awake, Cassandra could feel a familiar psychic signature. She quickly headed down the stairs and went outside to see Simon.
"Ah, you're finally awake," Simon said, smiling at Cassandra. "Did you sleep well?"
"I don't know," Cassandra responded, shrugging slightly.
"You have a lot to think about, don't you?" Simon asked.
"Pandora said not to get involved," Cassandra responded, sighing. "But… I don't think she'll be okay on her own…"
"She's worried you might end up in danger if you stay around her and her brother," Simon said, tapping a spoon against his forehead. "While you're worried about the danger she might end up in if left alone…"
"I guess that about sums it up…" Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly.
"So… What will you do?" Simon asked.
"I… I won't give up," Cassandra replied, looking down at the ground. "I still don't know what to do, but I know I won't find any answers if I do nothing."
"I see," Simon responded, nodding his head. "If that is how you feel, then I suppose I'll just have to trust your instincts."
"I'm even sure if I trust my own instincts," Cassandra said, looking up at some clouds in the sky. "… Maybe it's selfish of me, but… Pandora said she doesn't think selfishness is a bad thing, so… surely she'll understand."
"Whatever you do, just be careful," Simon responded, looking down at the ground. "If anything were to happen to you, I…"
"Huh?" Cassandra replied, looking over at Simon.
"Oh, um… Never mind," Simon responded, looking away.
"Hey…" Cassandra said, smiling as she walked up to Simon and placed her hands on his face, looking into his eyes. "I'll be fine, I promise!"
"How do you know that?" Simon asked, staring into Cassandra's blue eyes.
"I don't," Cassandra responded, shaking her head. "But, just trust me, okay?"
"Of course," Simon replied, smiling at her. "I do believe in you, Cassandra."
"Well, at least one of us does, then," Cassandra thought, while keeping a smile on her face as she answered Simon. "Good."
"So, let me know when you're ready to head back into Silver Woods," Simon said. "I will also do my best, for you."
"Thanks, Simon," Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly. "Knowing that you're supporting me… it makes me really happy. I don't know what I ever did to deserve a friend as good as you."
"And so once again, Cassandra headed back into Silver Woods, while Simon would stay behind in town to help deal with any problems Cassandra had predicted and written down. Even if the Pokémon in Illumine Town were starting to suspect something, Cassandra felt that checking on the situation with Pandora and Erebos was more important. Besides, the Pokémon of the town would be just fine without her, so she didn't really feel as if she needed to be there.
While looking for Pandora, she eventually came across Erebos…"
"Well, if it isn't Cassandra!" Erebos said, smirking. "We've been seeing each other a lot these past few days, haven't we?"
"Uh… Hi, Erebos," Cassandra replied, smiling nervously. "Um… Do you know where Pandora is?"
"Ah, so you're here to see Pandora," Erebos responded, nodding his head slightly. "Follow me; I'll take you to her!"
"Oh, thanks, Erebos!" Cassandra replied. "That's really nice of you."
"Don't mention it," Erebos responded, snickering a little. "And in return, you could maybe help me try out one of my spells?"
"Uh… I don't think so," Cassandra replied, shaking her head.
"I thought so," Erebos said, shrugging slightly. "It was a worth a shot, though. Come on, let's find Pandora."
Cassandra followed Erebos until they reached a big tent built around a large hollow tree in the darkest part of the forest.
"Is this where you live?" Cassandra asked.
"Yes, it is," Erebos responded, nodding his head. "Not a lot of Pokémon come this far into this forest, so it's nice and quiet for the most part."
"I see…" Cassandra replied, looking around.
"Come on, let's go inside," Erebos said, floating inside the tent. "Look, Pandora! You've got a visitor!"
Pandora looked up from a scroll of healing spells she was reading, and was surprised to see Cassandra.
"Cassandra, why are you here?" Pandora exclaimed.
"Because I wanted to see you again," Cassandra responded, smiling at Pandora. "I want to get to know you better, Pandora."
"Why?" Pandora replied, crossing her arms and trying to look aloof. "There's nothing interesting about me."
"You're a ghost type Pokémon with magical powers," Cassandra said. "What's not interesting about that?"
"She's right, you know!" Erebos commented, snickering a little. "So, how about I go get some refreshments while you girls talk?"
"Wait a minute!" Pandora said, glaring at Erebos. "Just where do you think you're going?"
"Something wrong, little sister?" Erebos asked, glancing over at Pandora.
"I know what you're up to," Pandora responded, still glaring at Erebos.
"Relax; I'm not going to experiment with my dark magic somewhere in the forest while you and Cassandra are talking, if that's what you think," Erebos replied, with a slight smirk on his face.
"I don't believe you," Pandora responded.
"Oh? You really think I'd lie to you?" Erebos asked.
"You lie to me all the time!" Pandora responded, waving her arms in frustration.
"Oh… right," Erebos replied, chuckling a little. "Anyways, you girls have fun! I'll see you later!"
Before Pandora had the chance to protest, Erebos quickly flew off somewhere. Pandora sighed, and shook her head.
"I wish we had never found those dark magic scrolls…" Pandora muttered.
"I'm guessing Erebos wasn't always like this?" Cassandra asked, sitting down in front of a table.
"Well… My older brother was always kind of mischievous, and would use his magical powers to play tricks on others," Pandora responded, sighing. "He's also always been very curious, wanting to learn everything he can about magic… I used to admire that, until it got us into this mess…"
"What happened?" Cassandra asked.
"We heard a rumor, of magic scrolls which supposedly held forbidden magic that had been locked in a chest and hidden deep inside a cave to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands," Pandora explained, hovering over to the other side of the table to face Cassandra as they spoke. "Erebos wanted to investigate the cave, and… we found it, a chest full of magic scrolls."
"And then what?" Cassandra asked.
"We looked at the different scrolls, and Erebos decided to try casting one of the spells to see if it worked," Pandora explained. "I… I tried to stop him, but he cast the spell anyways… The magic was too powerful for him to control, and well… long story short, we were lucky that my Rain Dance move was enough to put out the flames."
"Oh my…" Cassandra replied.
"We both agreed to just bury the scrolls somewhere and never try using them again, but… while I was resting that night, Erebos snuck out and retrieved the scrolls," Pandora explained, sighing. "When I caught him using another one of those spells, he claimed that he just wanted to try one more spell… of course, that was only the beginning…"
"I see…" Cassandra responded, nodding her head.
"Erebos became more and more obsessed with unlocking the true power of the forbidden spells," Pandora explained. "It became more and more difficult to reason with him… at this point, he doesn't even seem to care about what I have to say…"
"Why don't you just destroy the scrolls?" Cassandra asked, tilting her head slightly. "That way, he wouldn't be able to use them anymore, right?"
"I've tried," Pandora responded, closing her eyes and turning away. "He… caught me trying to burn them, and then he…"
"He… attacked you?" Cassandra asked, staring wide-eyed.
"Yes…" Pandora responded, nodding her head slightly. "When I regained consciousness, he had hidden the scrolls somewhere and put a spell on the box containing them so I wouldn't be able to reach them without alerting him to it…"
"So, there's nothing else you can do?" Cassandra asked.
"I don't know…" Pandora responded, shaking her head. "Just like you, I too am desperately seeking answers… Erebos is the only family I have, so if I can't save him…"
"Pandora, please let me help you," Cassandra said, holding out her hand. "I don't know what I can do for you, but at the very least, I want to support you."
"No, I don't want anyone else to get hurt," Pandora responded. "That's why I don't want you involved in this."
"I understand that," Cassandra replied, nodding her head slightly. "But I don't want you to suffer either!"
"… Why do you have to make this so difficult?" Pandora asked, shaking her head.
"I care about you," Cassandra responded, placing a hand on her own chest. "I can't just ignore this."
"… I guess nothing I say will stop you," Pandora said, sighing.
"So, will you give me a chance, Pandora?" Cassandra asked, smiling.
"… Okay, fine," Pandora responded, nodding her head slightly.
"Thank you, Pandora," Cassandra replied, grinning. "I promise you won't regret it!"
"Well, whether I end up regretting it or not is not really anything you can control," Pandora responded, before glancing around with a skeptical look. "… Erebos sure is taking an awfully long time to get those 'refreshments'…"
Erebos snickered as he observed the small town from a distance, the Pokémon in it going about their usual business without any worries. He rubbed his sleeve-like hands together as he glanced around thoughtfully.
"So, that's Illumine Town…" Erebos muttered to himself, smirking. "Looks like a boring place. No wonder Cassandra would much rather hang out with my sister."
Erebos conjured up a dark mist, from which a few scrolls materialized.
"I could probably make the place a lot more exciting with my magic," Erebos said, glancing at the scrolls while thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "As a present of sorts for Cassandra…"
Erebos suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, the scrolls hovering in a circle around him. He then calmed down, the scrolls vanishing.
"On second thought, there are probably a lot of Pokémon living there," Erebos commented, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Probably at least a few strong ones I don't want to deal with right now…"
Erebos floated around back and forth for a few moments, before another smirk appeared on his face.
"Ah, but I bet there are a lot of mystery dungeons around here…" Erebos muttered to himself, glancing around as a sinister smile crossed his face. "Good places for experiments without any interruptions…"
Cassandra and Pandora were walking around in the forest, looking around for Erebos. Both of them felt uneasy not knowing what he was up to, but as far as they could tell, things were peaceful in the forest.
"I don't like this at all…" Pandora said, glancing over at Cassandra. "Can you feel anything?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary…" Cassandra responded, looking around.
"Well, if you sense anything at all that might lead us to him, let me know right away," Pandora said.
"Of course," Cassandra replied, nodding her head and smiling.
The two continued searching through the silver forest, but neither could detect any sign of Erebos' presence anywhere nearby. Of course, this just made Pandora even more nervous, and Cassandra wondered if there was anything she could do to help Pandora calm down a little.
"So… You've told me a bit about yourself," Cassandra said. "Is there anything you want to know about me?"
"Hmm… Well, there is one thing I've been wondering about…" Pandora responded, looking over at Cassandra. "Just how long have you been the oracle of your town?"
"Um… It's been a little less than a year," Cassandra replied, shrugging slightly. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I've noticed that you seem rather… inexperienced," Pandora responded.
"It's that obvious, huh?" Cassandra commented, chuckling a little. "Well, yeah… I guess I kind of became the town oracle before I was really ready for it…"
"What do you mean?" Pandora inquired.
"It all happened pretty fast," Cassandra explained, glancing up at the sky visible between tree branches. "As my mother's only daughter, I was destined from birth to be the town oracle when I grew up."
"And, you were okay with that?" Pandora asked, tilting her head slightly. "I mean, having your future decided just like that…"
"Oh, I didn't mind at all," Cassandra responded, shaking her head and smiling. "My mother was really good at giving advice to and inspiring the other Pokémon in town, as well as getting them to work together when necessary."
"Hmm… You mentioned something about that before," Pandora commented, thinking for a moment. "Your mother used to say something about teamwork making it easier to do things faster?"
"Yes, she took those things very seriously," Cassandra responded, nodding her head. "I looked up to her, and I wanted to help others, so I was okay with following in her footsteps."
"I see," Pandora replied, nodding her head.
"She taught me things I needed to know about being the town oracle," Cassandra explained, closing her eyes for a moment. "She was always smiling, encouraging me to find my own path, my own way of helping others…"
"From the way you're talking… I'm guessing she's not around anymore?" Pandora asked.
"... I'm not entirely sure what it was," Cassandra responded as she stopped walking for a moment. "But… I could tell something was wrong with her."
Noticing that Cassandra had stopped walking, Pandora stopped moving as well.
"She kept her usual smile, acting as if nothing was wrong," Cassandra said, staring into the silver grass. "But… she knew perfectly well that she didn't have much time left… Before she succumbed to her illness, she apologized for having to leave so soon since there were still many things she wanted to teach me, but she also said she believed in me and that I would become a great oracle."
"… I see," Pandora responded, closing her eyes for a moment.
"It was a difficult time, but my friend Simon helped me get through it," Cassandra said, looking over at Pandora. "A few months later, I finally accepted the town oracle position, which the other Pokémon in town seemed happy about, even if some of them were a bit skeptical because of my age."
"… I'm sorry," Pandora replied, turning away.
Both Pokémon were silent for a few moments, before Cassandra looked up at the sky once again.
"… Pandora, do you think she can see me from the other side?" Cassandra asked.
"I'm not sure," Pandora responded, also looking up at the sky. "I know there probably is a connection between that world and ours; I don't know the exact details of how it works."
"Oh, you don't?" Cassandra asked, looking over at Pandora. "Huh, I figured that being a ghost-type, you would know that."
"I'm afraid not," Pandora replied, shaking her head.
"I see," Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly.
The two were quiet for another few moments, before Pandora looked around and sighed.
"We should keep looking for Erebos," Pandora said.
"Yeah… Let's keep going," Pandora responded, nodding her head.
Cassandra and Pandora continued their search, but there were still no signs of Erebos.
"Where is he?" Pandora thought to herself. "Don't tell me he…"
Meanwhile, in a lush mystery dungeon not far away from Illumine Town, a young Audino was hiding inside a hollow log while waiting for someone to come and deal with the wild Pokémon that were moving about on the floor. He could hear the footsteps of a larger Pokémon making its way towards the room he was in.
"Hurry up…" the Audino muttered, peeking out of the log.
The Audino soon spotted a familiar Swampert enter the room, and gave a sigh of relief.
"Richter, I'm over here!" the Audino said as he left his hiding spot.
"You okay, kid?" Richter asked, walking over to the Audino.
"Yeah, I'm fine," the Audino responded, nodding his head.
"Good," Richter replied, looking around. "Come on, let's get out of here."
"I had one of those blue things that could've teleported me out of here," the Audino explained. "But, I dropped it somewhere on this floor when the wild Pokémon started chasing me..."
"Understood," Richter responded, nodding his head. "Let's go find it, if it's still here."
"And if it isn't?" the Audino asked.
"Then we'll just have to walk," Richter responded.
The two began looking through the maze, trying to find the Escape Orb that the Audino had dropped. Eventually, they found a small blue orb… encased in ice.
"Oh, there it is…" the Audino exclaimed as he pointed to it. "But… why is it frozen?"
"Good question," Richter responded, holding a hand to his chin. "There aren't even any ice-type Pokémon living in this mystery dungeon…"
Richter picked up the ice cube, examining it for a moment before attempting to crush it in his hand. He then tried using both hands, but the ice cube around the orb remained intact.
"… No use, I can't break this ice," Richter said, putting it back down on the ground.
"Guess that means we can't use it to escape, huh…" the Audino commented, looking down at the frozen Escape Orb.
"Well, if it had worked, there's a chance the orb would've been destroyed too," Richter responded. "Anyways, let's just keep walking. I think I know where the stairs might be."
The two kept moving through the maze, looking for the way out. As they eventually reached the room with the stairs, they noticed that the floor was covered in ice, and a few wild Pokémon in the room were frozen in ice with frightened looks on their faces.
"Eek…!" the Audino exclaimed, looking around at the wild Pokémon encased in ice.
"… What happened here?" Richter wondered, being careful not to slip on the ice as he walked up to one of the frozen Pokémon to examine it.
"T-This is kind of creepy…" the Audino muttered, pressing his ear against the block of ice around one of the frozen Pokémon. "They're still alive, at least…"
"I don't think there's much we can do to help them, though," Richter responded.
"So… We just leave them like this?" the Audino asked, frowning a bit. "Will they be okay…?"
"I don't know," Richter responded, shaking his head. "Come on, let's keep going."
"R-Right…" the Audino replied, following Richter up the stairs.
Erebos snickered to himself as he returned to Silver Woods in the evening, and didn't seem particularly concerned when he heard a familiar voice.
"Erebos, where have you been all day!?" Pandora exclaimed, giving him a stern look.
"Ah, Pandora," Erebos responded, grinning. "Did you and Cassandra have fun today?"
"Answer my question!" Pandora shouted. "Where did you go? What were you doing?"
"That's a secret!" Erebos responded, winking.
"This isn't funny, Erebos!" Pandora replied, glaring at him. "If you don't tell me where you were, I'll…"
"You will… what, exactly?" Erebos inquired, leaning towards Pandora with a smirk on his face.
Pandora blinked a few times, before sighing and hanging her head so that her eyes were not visible under the brim of the hat-like tufts on her head. Erebos just snickered.
"I thought so," Erebos said as he with one of his sleeve-like hands caressed Pandora's "hat" while floating past Pandora. "You can't do anything to me, Pandora. I'm the stronger of us two, and that's just how it is."
Pandora began to shiver, and as Erebos left, she bit her lip and wrapped her sleeve-like arms around herself as she started shaking more, her eyes still hidden under the brim of her "hat".
"Pandora…" Cassandra said, taking a few steps towards the Mismagius.
"I'm not strong enough…" Pandora muttered under her breath, tightening her grip on herself to try to get herself to stop shaking. "I… I need to be stronger…"
"Cassandra couldn't stand to see how Pandora was treated by her older twin brother, and wondered just what she could do about this situation. Surely, if she and Pandora put their minds together, they were bound to find some sort of solution? However, unbeknownst to Cassandra, the situation was already starting to escalate to a point where Pandora and Erebos' well-being was not the only thing at stake…"
End of chapter 36