Hello, everyone! School has officially started up again, and so far things are going great! Of course, things are only just getting started, and I'm sure things will get more difficult soon enough. I'm a little nervous, but I'll just have to do my best.
However, enough about that. After all, you guys are here for another chapter. Since I didn't really get a whole lot of answers on the question I asked with the previous chapter, I'll ask again:
Do you feel as if the story has gotten more serious in later chapters? If so, at which chapter would you say that the tone began to shift?
I'd really like to know what you guys think, so if you have the time, please leave a comment/reply! Thanks to everyone who has been following the story so far, and I hope you guys are enjoying it! Let me know if there's anything I can improve on!
Chapter 37: Well, I… I guess it has been a while since I had a reason to smile…
"Cassandra and Pandora agreed to spend the next few days looking over different magic spells, in hopes of finding something that could help them in their current situation. Surely, there had to be some way they could stop Erebos before things got worse. Later that night, while Cassandra was seeking answers from the stars…"
Cassandra carefully watched the stars through the opening in the ceiling, hoping to see something that could give her an idea of what to do next. At first, it seemed as if the visions were just going to be of the mundane kind, showing what the weather would be and what would be going on around town. However, the visions of the various mystery dungeons were much different than normal.
Cassandra saw glimpses of a sickly green mist filling a mystery dungeon, the wild Pokémon in it suddenly acting more aggressive as it spread. She then saw the floor of another mystery dungeon slowly freezing over, while another mystery dungeon seemed to have black, thorny vines sprouting from the ground and rapidly growing to cover the walls.
"These visions…" Cassandra muttered, staring at the sky. "Is it Erebos' work…?"
As she concentrated a bit harder, she heard Erebos laughing maniacally and saw his silhouette surrounded by red wisps of fire as he hovered above one of the mystery dungeons.
"This is bad…" Cassandra whispered. "I didn't think he would come here…"
Cassandra sighed, and thoughtfully held a hand to her chin as she paced around inside the room, pondering what to do next.
"Perhaps I may have to inform the other Pokémon in town about Erebos and Pandora in the near future…" Cassandra said, glancing up at the sky again. "I wonder why he'd come here, though…"
Cassandra frowned as she thought about it for a moment.
"It couldn't be… my fault, could it?" she wondered out loud. "I guess… he might've gotten the idea of coming here since he knows that this is where I'm from…"
Cassandra sighed and sat down on her bed.
"Maybe I should just get some sleep…" Cassandra said, yawning. "I'll try to figure out what to do about this tomorrow…"
Cassandra lay down and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and trying to clear her mind. Of course, it wasn't easy to relax at a time like this. Still, she had to try to get some rest so she would be able to think clearly about what to do and how to do it. She would probably have to talk to both Simon and Pandora about it too.
The next day, as Cassandra was walking through town, she couldn't help but glance over at some of the Pokémon standing around as she overheard their conversations. It seemed they were talking about seeing some strange things in the mystery dungeons, and Cassandra immediately knew what had to be the cause.
"Better find Simon…" Cassandra thought to herself. "I wonder if he already heard about this…"
She continued walking, but suddenly she heard someone calling her and turned to see a Swampert approaching her.
"Oh, hello there, Richter," Cassandra said, waving to him.
"Hi," Richter responded, waving back. "There are some things I'd like to ask you…"
"Huh?" Cassandra replied, glancing around nervously. "Um… Okay, but make it quick."
"Okay," Richter responded, nodding his head. "The other day, I came across something… rather disturbing in one of the mystery dungeons…"
"Cassandra!" three voices called out in unison, Cassandra turned to see Era running over to her and Richter.
"Hey, where have you been the past few days?" the middle head asked. "Strange stuff is happening, and it's like, really… really strange stuff!"
"O-Oh, is that so?" Cassandra responded, giggling nervously.
"Cassandra!" more voices called out, and soon more Pokémon were gathering around.
"Hey, do you have any idea what's going on in the mystery dungeons?" a concerned Leavanny asked.
"Well, I…" Cassandra responded, glancing around at the small crowd of Pokémon.
"What should we do about it?" a purple feline with a long tail and yellow circle patterns in its fur asked, the Liepard's green eyes watching Cassandra intently. "Do we just stay away from the mystery dungeons?"
"Um… Maybe?" Cassandra replied, shrugging slightly while looking around and trying to figure out how to escape.
"What have you been up to the past few days, anyways?" a winged, bipedal mantis-like Pokémon with a red metallic body asked. "Is it connected to the strange things happening?"
"It… might be…" Cassandra responded, nervously rubbing the white ribbon-like feeler on the back of her head.
"Mmph mmmm mmmph?" a gray Pokémon resembling a rag doll with a closed zipper for a mouth asked, or at least Cassandra thought it was asking a question based on the questioning tone.
"Uh… I'll have to get back to you on that one…" Cassandra responded.
"Are you hiding something?" the Liepard asked, giving Cassandra an accusing look.
"If you know what is going on, please tell us!" the Leavanny said.
"Mmph mmmmph!" the Banette added.
"Guys, calm down!" Cassandra exclaimed, using her psychic powers to float past the small crowd of Pokémon. "Listen, I'll answer all of your questions later, but right now I need to go talk to Simon!"
Cassandra hurried off before the other Pokémon had the chance to say anything else, and once she had left, a few of them muttered something among themselves as they went off in different directions.
"… What is she thinking?" Richter muttered, before sighing and shaking his head.
After getting away from the other Pokémon, it didn't take long for Cassandra to find Simon, much to her relief. She explained to him what she had seen in her vision, and what had happened on the way there.
"… I see," Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. "But why didn't you just tell the other Pokémon in town about what is going on?"
"I will," Cassandra replied, sighing. "I just… I need to talk to Pandora about it first."
"So, you want me to teleport you to Silver Woods?" Simon asked.
"Yes," Cassandra responded, nodding her head. "Send me there now."
"If you say so…" Simon replied, holding Cassandra's hands and closing his eyes as he mentally pictured their destination.
"Arriving in Silver Woods, Cassandra immediately went off to find Pandora while Simon teleported back to town. She headed deeper into the forest until she came across Pandora, who was searching for her brother. The two headed over to Pandora and Erebos' home, where Cassandra explained what she had seen in her vision…"
"So… That's what he's doing…" Pandora said, looking away. "I should've known…"
"I know I have to tell the other Pokémon in town about this," Cassandra responded. "But, I wanted to let you know first."
"I see…" Pandora replied, nodding her head slightly.
"What do you think we should do?" Cassandra asked, tilting her head slightly. "I don't think the Pokémon of the town will be happy if I don't let them know what's really going on soon…"
"... I'm sorry, Cassandra," Pandora responded, sighing. "Because of me, the Pokémon of your hometown are displeased with you…"
"Whoa, you don't have to apologize for anything!" Cassandra exclaimed. "You were trying to keep me away, but I refused to listen. So, it's my own fault, really."
"… Should you even be here right now?" Pandora asked, looking over at Cassandra. "I don't want you to get into even more trouble…"
"I can't go home until Simon comes back to pick me up," Cassandra responded, smiling at Pandora. "So, let's try to come up with a plan together! Once we have a plan for how to stop Erebos from using any more dark magic, we can sort everything out, right?"
"… You know, it's easier said than done," Pandora replied, sighing. "But… I guess you're right."
"All right, let's do this!" Cassandra said, grinning. "So, where do we begin?"
Meanwhile, in Illumine Town, Simon was trying to go unnoticed as he walked through town, as he didn't know what he would say if one of the other Pokémon approached him. He could feel a lot of uneasiness from the other Pokémon around town, but wasn't sure if there was anything he could do about it.
"Hey," a voice called out, and Simon turned to see a Swampert watching him.
"Oh, hello there," Simon responded, quizzically scratching the back of his head with one of his spoons. "Um… You are…?"
"Richter," the Swampert replied.
"Ah, right," Simon responded, nodding his head. "I really do need to learn everyone's names one of these days… So, was there something you needed from me?"
Richter led Simon to a secluded spot where they could talk without needing to worry about anyone else interrupting them.
"You know what's going on, don't you?" Richter asked.
"Uh… Can you be a little more specific…?" Simon responded, twirling his long moustache around one of his spoons. "After all, there are always so many things that are going on all the time, so it can be difficult to keep track of everything, you know?"
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," Richter said, looking straight into the Alakazam's eyes. "Cassandra is hiding something, and if there's anyone else in town that would know about it, it has to be you."
"… I guess I can't deny that, huh," Simon responded, giving a nervous chuckle. "So, you want me to tell you everything I know?"
"No, that is not the reason why I wanted to speak to you," Richter replied, shaking his head.
"Oh? Then, what is it?" Simon asked, tilting his head slightly.
"As you can probably tell, the other Pokémon are a bit disturbed by the strange things that are happening in the mystery dungeons," Richter explained, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. "And the fact that the town oracle won't answer their questions about what is going on isn't exactly making the situation any better."
"Well… Cassandra has had a lot on her mind lately," Simon responded. "I'm sure she'll explain everything soon enough."
"Are you sure about that?" Richter asked. "I mean… I don't even know what is going on, but you know what will happen if Cassandra continues to withhold information from everyone, don't you?"
Simon quietly thought about it for a few moments.
"You care about Cassandra, and surely you don't want the other Pokémon to turn against her, right?" Richter asked, looking at Simon.
"Well, that much is obvious, isn't it?" Simon responded, sighing.
"Then, you'll talk to her about this?" Richter asked. "After all, she'll probably listen to you."
"Yes, I'll have a talk with her," Simon replied, nodding his head. "She probably already realizes that she needs to share what she knows with everyone, though."
"Good," Richter responded, smiling at Simon. "I'll just leave this to you."
As Richter walked away, Simon thought about what to do next. After a few moments of consideration, he decided that it was best to speak to Cassandra as soon as possible. With a quick teleport, he found himself in Silver Woods and went to look for Cassandra.
Meanwhile, Cassandra and Pandora were looking over different spells, and it seemed they had finally found something that could help them. Cassandra waited as Pandora held one of her sleeve-like hands to her chin while thoughtfully looking over the spell. The white bow-like feelers on Cassandra's body suddenly flashed as she felt a familiar psychic signature nearby.
"Simon?" Cassandra said, looking out the window to see the Alakazam walking over.
"Ah, so this is where your friend lives," Simon said, waving to Cassandra.
"Simon, why are you here?" Cassandra asked, while motioning for him to come inside.
"I wanted to see if you were making any progress," Simon responded, stepping inside. "After all, you need to tell the town about what is going on as soon as possible, so if you haven't figured out what to do..."
"I know," Cassandra replied, nodding her head and glancing over at Pandora. "But don't worry, I think we've found a spell that might help us with the current situation."
"Oh, is that so?" Simon inquired, looking over at Pandora.
Pandora looked up from the scroll, and noticed Simon.
"Ah, you must be Simon," Pandora said. "Cassandra has mentioned you a few times."
"It is nice to finally meet you, Miss Pandora," Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. "So, what is this spell you're looking at?"
"It's a spell that is normally supposed to be used to free those that are under a mind control spell," Pandora explained, turning her attention back to the scroll. "I don't know if it'll do anything to clear the darkness that has infected my brother's mind from his magic use, but I believe this is the closest thing we've got."
"I see," Simon responded, nodding his head. "It certainly might be worth a try."
"However, since I don't know if it'll be enough…" Pandora said, sighing. "I'm going to see if I can… make just a little alteration to the spell."
"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked.
"I'll… make it so that the spell will erase all memories of the dark magic from my brother's mind," Pandora responded, looking away.
"Whoa, that… sounds kind of extreme," Cassandra replied, blinking a few times.
"I wouldn't do such a thing if I didn't think it was necessary to save my brother," Pandora responded, still looking away from the two psychic types. "It is the only way to make sure my brother can never use the dark magic again."
"… I understand," Cassandra eventually replied, nodding her head slightly. "So, how do we do this?"
"Well, that's another problem…" Pandora responded, turning to look at Cassandra and Simon. "I doubt Erebos would just hold still and allow me to do this, so we'll need to use a certain spell to keep him from escaping."
"I see…" Cassandra replied, holding a hand to her chin. "Do we have such a spell?"
"Yes," Pandora responded, nodding her head. "It is meant to be used to draw certain spirits to your location, but ghost-types are similar enough that the spell can be used on them with only a few minor changes."
"Sounds like a plan," Cassandra said, crossing her arms. "So, should we get started right away?"
"Actually, there is one other thing…" Pandora responded, showing Cassandra one of the scrolls. "Both of the spells we'll be using require certain ingredients."
"Oh, they do?" Cassandra asked, examining the scroll.
"Hmm… It may take a while to gather all of these things," Simon commented as he peeked over Cassandra's shoulder at the scroll. "You'll have to go through several mystery dungeons to reach the places where these things can be found."
"Mystery dungeons, huh…" Cassandra responded, holding a hand to her chin as she thought about it for a moment, before a smile suddenly appeared on her face.
"What is it?" Pandora asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Okay, here's what we will do," Cassandra said, grinning. "We'll have Simon teleport the three of us back to town, then we'll inform the others of what is going on, and then we'll ask everyone to help us gather the ingredients we need!"
"Wait, all three of us…?" Pandora asked, looking away. "I… I don't know if that's a good idea…"
"I think it sounds like an excellent idea," Simon commented. "We do need to inform the town, and if we can get everyone to pitch in, we'll have the ingredients we need in no time!"
"But… they might not trust me…" Pandora said, looking down at the floor. "After all… My brother is the one who is causing all this chaos…"
"It'll be fine," Cassandra responded, walking up to Pandora. "Since you're a friend of the town oracle, I'm sure they won't mind having you around for a bit!"
"... Did you just say that I'm… your friend?" Pandora asked, looking up at Cassandra.
"Oh, sorry, is it too soon to be calling you that?" Cassandra responded. "I know we've only known each other for a little while, so..."
"Friend…" Pandora repeated softly, giving a small smile as she contemplated it. "I… like the sound of that…"
"Pandora, you… you just smiled!" Cassandra exclaimed, and found that she couldn't help but smile too. "This is the first time I've seen you smile!"
"Oh?" Pandora responded, looking a little surprised. "Well, I… I guess it has been a while since I had a reason to smile…"
Seeing Pandora's gentle smile filled Cassandra with determination. She hoped that their plan would work, and that Pandora would have a reason to smile again soon. She turned to Simon, looking into his eyes.
"You know what to do, Simon!" Cassandra said, grinning.
"Yes, Cassandra," Simon responded, nodding his head. "Come closer, you two."
Cassandra walked up to Simon and took his hand in hers, before holding out her other hand to Pandora. Pandora hesitated a bit, before hovering over to the two psychic types and reaching out her sleeve-like hands so that Pandora and Simon each could hold onto one of them with their free hands.
"All right, let's go!" Simon said, closing his eyes. "Next stop is Illumine Town!"
Cassandra flashed Pandora a reassuring smile, and Pandora gently nodded her head before the three of them were teleported away in a burst of light.
Erebos snickered as he watched two wild Pokémon fight each other under the influence of one of his dark spells. He conjured up a magic scroll, and looked over it with a satisfied smirk before making it disappear and conjuring up another. He began reading through the contents of the scroll, occasionally glancing down at the battle below him.
"Hmm… Making a Parasect unable to receive the signals that the mushroom on its back sends out…?" Erebos commented, tilting his head slightly. "That's an oddly specific spell, but certainly something I'll keep in mind if I happen to see a Parasect."
He chuckled a little as the two wild Pokémon were clearly getting tired from their aggressive fight, yet they kept the battle going anyways.
"The spell I used to hypnotize these wild Pokémon worked really well," Erebos said with a satisfied grin. "I think I may have found my new favorite spell!"
Erebos continued laughing to himself as he flew off to find more Pokémon inside the mystery dungeons to try his dark spells on, not bothering to stay and watch the outcome of the fight he had initiated.
"Erebos continued his experiments, while Cassandra, Pandora and Simon were about to set their plan to stop him into motion. Cassandra was certain that if they could get the Pokémon of Illumine Town to help them, then everything would be fine. However, as some of you might have experienced yourselves, things rarely go exactly as you planned…"
End of chapter 37