Episode 2: Ruby and the Gentleman

At the bottom of the cliff was more rocky terrain with a river down the middle, but it was so distant that the river appeared as a blue line drawn amongst blurry shades of brown. Crystal leaned over the edge in a whimpering mess, her breath frantic and wails as if she was crying. "No. No no no, no no no no no, this can't be happening!"

"Crystal!" Azu shouted, having to pull her back. "Get a hold of yourself. You couldn't help her even if you jumped!"

"But, but she's!" Crystal choked. Shelly finally stepped in to help Azu pull back, and the group rolled onto their backsides. Crystal gave up and buried her face in her flippers. "I-I can't… that didn't just… this can't be happening… Ruby. Ruby's… she actually just!"

Azu made a noise as if to say something, but hesitated upon hearing Crystal's tone. The Piplup couldn't control herself. Shelly wasn't any better. He stood far back and rubbed an arm in silence.

"Wait, there's that," Azu whispered after a few moments. "Crystal. Crystal stand up, I mean it!"

"Huh?" She responded weakly. She didn't want to see anyone right now.

"Oh thank the gods! They survived," Azu gasped.

"What?" Crystal whispered. Her face flared up, and she edged forward. "Do you think this is a joke?"

"No, I'm serious, listen to me. The Shining Warrior amulets are a proof of status, according to legend. If they fail their quest because a warrior perishes, all the amulets will shatter," Azu explained. "It's been a while, but yours is still intact!"

Crystal hiccupped and held her amulet forward. If a weird rule like that existed, then it was true, her amulet was in perfect condition. It didn't even have any dirt or dust on it from their trip and battles so far. Given the fact that it popped around her neck out of nowhere too, she was willing to believe it would have a strange rule like that applied to it.

Even so, she had to take a minute to hold it to her chest. Other Pokémon who were nervous would feel their chests like this, but she felt nothing. No nervous heartbeat, no shaky breath, not even a sickly feeling. Despite that, she knew she was beside herself with worry.

"Even if that's true, what do we do?" she asked.

Azu played with her hands a bit, and then faced the road ahead. A steep hill with a cave at its peak awaited them. "We find our way down. This is a mystery dungeon that feral Pokémon survive in. There has to be a way down to that river."

"We should be quick too, r-right? Who knows what's down there," Shelly added.

"Don't make her worry more. But you are right," Azu agreed. The trio nodded to each other and took off up the hill.

…

In a flash, Ruby's senses came to. She was out of breath, and bubbles blurred her view. She was deep underwater by a dusty seafloor, with a few pillars of rock nearby. She gurgled as she realised that she was awake. Before anything perilous could happen, she spotted an angelic figure dive into the water from the distant surface.

They swerved through the water with elegance. Of all the times to be captivated, by dance of all things, this had her full focus. The figure scooped her up with the same delicacy as their form, and then leapt out of the water with surprising speed.

Everything was a blur for a moment. She knew she was out of the water as she could breathe, yet where she was or what was going on was unclear. All she could see were blurry colours as she was carefully put down on something hard.

"Ugh, c'mon," Ruby groaned groggily, and rubbed her eyes. It still took a few moments of irritated blinks to focus her eyesight, but it worked.

Her saviour was that Brionne from before, the same one that made easy work of the Lycanroc. Now that she was here, right below him as he fretted over her, she could finally see him in all his glorious detail.

It still felt like a dream. Not only was this guy strong, but he was… adorable. Smooth. Clean. Even though he was calling out to her with a worried expression on his face, something about him exuded a cool maturity that had her speechless. His features were round, but with such slick, shiny fur, shimmering ruffles, dark eyes, and thin eyelashes, there was only one thought that came to her clearly: this guy was good looking.

"Are you okay? Please, say something!" he cried in an unexpectedly cool voice, too. Deep enough to be called mature, but not broken or devoid of tone and emotion like most grownups. Ruby blinked several times, and then sat up.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she murmured blankly.

Brionne slid away from her with a great big sigh. "Thank goodness. I don't know what I would've done if you'd… er, better not to think about that, actually. We should get to a locale, fast. You're totally drained, aren't you? Can you stand?"

Ruby shook herself and stood on all fours. "Heck yeah, of course! A little dip in a river ain't gonna hurt me."

"Wait, really? Falling from that height? And don't fire types…" he trailed off.

She gave him a cocky smile and bounced on her hind legs. "If you're not beaten down, why would I be?"

"Actually, looking at it, you do seem pretty healthy. Okay, that's good. But that necklace you have, do you mind if I see it?" he asked.

"My necklace?" She stopped and glanced at it. She instinctively looked to his neck to see a similar amulet hung there. "Ah! You've got one, too?"

"Yes, I've got an amulet. Er, it's just a thing, though." He turned away as he played with it in a single flipper.

"Did a weirdo Pokémon called Angel give ya it? She gave me mine. It just popped around my neck one day," Ruby wondered, and he instantly stared back. "You're one of those Shining Warrior thingies too, huh?"

"And this is Fossil Hill. The Angel's plan really worked," Brionne muttered, and slid back. His partner emerged from behind him and happily presented their amulet, too. "Well, falling down the canyon probably wasn't part of the plan, but I'm sure we can figure something out."

"That's the spirit! Finding the other heroes was way easier than I thought it'd be. I thought it'd take months or somethin'!" Ruby cheered. And one of them is this awesome guy, too? Score!

The Brionne's partner, a pink teddy bear looking Pokémon, started talking like the feral Pokémon she was getting used to seeing. Growls, hums, and barks came from them in a feminine tone, to which she froze.

"Ugh, no Mimia. Climbing the cliff is outta the question. I doubt you or her would make it very far, especially if you had to carry me," Brionne replied, rubbing his chin with his flippers. "We'll just have to look around. Surely there's a way back up the mountains."

"Er…" Ruby cocked her head.

"Oh, my apologies! We should really introduce ourselves since we're both Shining Warriors," Brionne said. He hopped to stand up tall on his tail and bowed, one flipper in front while the other tucked behind him. "My name is Lucca, I'm a Brionne. My partner here is Mimia, a Stufful."

Mimia raised a paw and gave a pleasant yip.

"It's an honour to meet you, fellow warrior," Lucca finished.

"Hee hee hee, what's with the funny fancy greeting?" She pointed and laughed at him. "Are you a gentleman?"

Lucca's cheeks grew the slightest bit red. "Well uh, I thought that was. Is it not?"

"I dunno. it seems like it, so I'll roll with it. I'm Ruby. Nice to meet you and stuff, mister!" she smiled and winked. "Wa-wait… o-oh gods, my eyes were- sorry if I freaked ya out!"

"Freaked me out?" he replied.

Oh gods, how long were my eyes open? He must be thinkin' I'm the weirdest girl he's ever seen now and stuff. Way to blow the first impressions, Ruby! Gods damn it! she cried in her head as she stomped around a bit. She froze. Wait a minute. He didn't say anythin' about my eyes though. He didn't seem all that surprised that I was fine from the dip in the water, too. M-maybe I'm lucky, and he's never seen a Cyndaquil before…

"Eheh, now you're acting a little funny. Are you sure you're feeling okay? You don't have a fever or anything?" Lucca smiled.

"U-uh no, I-I mean yes! N-no, as in, I'm fine! No seriously, I'm okay," she squeaked. Argh, get it together, Ruby! Why the heck am I nervous?

"There's probably a load of other feral Pokémon around, so we shouldn't stick around here. Let's move," Lucca suggested, and began to lead the way.

Ruby stalled for a moment, watching him and Mimia. "I guess I don't mind you being the boss for a while."

He warned about potential feral Pokémon, but as far as she was aware, there weren't any here. The sandy setting remained, only with the enormous cliffs to their left and right, so everything was rendered in shadow. The river right beside them kept the area damp and cold, too. Even though the stream seemed calm, she could feel moisture in the air as if the water was splashing everywhere.

Lucca's fishy form looked uncomfortable walking across the rocky floor, but she felt she had to walk quite fast to keep up due to him being the bigger Pokémon. That Mimia fellow was even stranger. The Stufful walked close beside Lucca in what could only be described as magnetic accuracy. They kept not a foot in front, not a centimetre behind, and a calculated space apart even when the path turned or tried to force them to separate.

Mimia constantly surveyed the area, too. They kicked chipped rocks aside and edged away from potholes or trip hazards, all without even looking at them. They were always looking at the cliffs and the river, and made not a sound. Then again, he kept one eye closed the whole time, so maybe he had to look that restless.

"This is strange," Lucca mumbled after a while. "The wildlife completely faded away."

"Ain't that a good thing?" Ruby replied, catching up to walk beside him.

"Yes. I'm not complaining, but I wouldn't put it past them to stage an ambush," he warned.

Ruby opened her mouth to mock him for being a worrywart, but that was exactly what the Lycanroc had done to them. Perhaps if not for Azu's warning, they might've gotten jumped by the camouflaged Pokémon, too. That thought had her scan the setting, but even the river looked to be empty.

"Er, we should just go before they show up, if they are?" she added.

"We've had to fight our way here so far. It's kind of difficult not to be unnerved by this," he commented. "But you are right. Mimia, you can take it easy for a bit, too."

"Besides, you're super strong, aren't ya? I am. They can throw a hundred Pokémon at me, I'll just burn 'em all!" she bragged, dancing on her hind legs.

"And if they're water types?" he teased.

"I'll still burn 'em! Or I'll just whack 'em with this. I can't afford to let anything beat me," she said, as she showed off the Parashelter.

"Heh. I like that attitude. I guess all the warriors are going to be strong." Lucca smiled.

That made her slow down a bit. "Well, my sister's got an amulet too. But she's not all that strong, to be honest."

"Your sister?" he tilted his head.

"I dunno if you saw her, the Piplup at the top of the cliff. Somehow, she got chosen as a Shining Warrior, too," Ruby began. She hung her head. "She really doesn't like fighting and stuff. I wouldn't say she's wimpy, but… well actually, that's kinda not your business, is it? Sorry about that."

"It's fine. You're worried about her, aren't you?" he asked, and she nodded. "She made it across the bridge, so all we have to do is get there. We'll find her."

"I guess I can count on Azu to keep her outta trouble. It didn't look like that Shelly kid's gonna help her out much." She tilted her head.

Mimia yipped out loud to get their attention, so they jogged to catch up. Around the next bend, the path came to a dead end. They slowly gazed up the tall wall before them, mouths agape.

"Aww, I really don't want to have to climb." Lucca rubbed the back of his head.

"Then don't. We can keep walking, what's the problem?" Ruby pointed to the river. The current was looked easy to manage and continued into a cave.

"But that's underwater? That's not an option for you," he said.

"Didn't I just say a little dip ain't gonna put me out? C'mon, let's go already," she replied as she ran up to the water's edge. She heard him make nervous sounds behind her, but that wasn't going to stop her. A few deep breaths and she was ready, and dove into the river.

"A-ah oh my goodness, Ruby!" he gasped and dove in after her.

She was right. The water wasn't that deep, the current was so weak that she could push against it without much effort, and to top it all off, it was pretty warm down here, too. The cave ahead was a bit dark, but she could deal with that later. Or not, as right when she was about to leap ahead, Lucca's flippers wrapped around her and pulled back. She made an effort to pull against him, but he had far more strength than she expected.

"Let go!" She glanced back, only to stop at his terrified look. She allowed him to carry her back to the surface after that, where he seemed to catch his breath more than her.

"Are you outta your mind? Are you okay?" he cried. Mimia beside him barked in just as anxious a tone.

She sat up calmly, though her chest twisted with guilt. These two genuinely looked worried for her, even though she was unaffected. She didn't even mind the water that dripped off her. "I'm totally fine. Honest."

Lucca froze for a moment, and then hung his head. "Geez, I almost had a heart attack. But I don't get it. Maybe that stuff I read on fire types wasn't accurate? Don't fire types get badly hurt in water? Being submerged can kill them."

"You're not the first Pokémon to tell me that, yet it's news to me. Yeah, water is a fire type's weakness, and I can't breathe underwater, but it doesn't hurt or kill me being underwater," she stated, and stood up. "Trust me. I trained underwater! And I mean proper training. I'm totally fine there!"

"What kind of training did you do? That's amazing," Lucca said, jaw-dropped.

"Practiced holding my breath, moving, fighting, that sorta stuff, y'know? If nothing happens, I can last a good half an hour or something," she explained.

"Half an hour?" he choked, Mimia squealing with him.

"U-uh… is that… wrong? It's wrong, isn't it?" She shook her head. Damn it Ruby. I should've pretended to fit in. OF COURSE normal Cyndaquil can't last that long in water.

"My apologies. I just, wow, that's incredible. Like, earnestly phenomenal!" Lucca leaned forward. "My sincerest. Because you were fire type and you seemed pretty young, I totally underestimated you. But you're actually really special. If you can do stuff like that, you're wicked powerful, aren't you? That's so cool!"

She didn't know how to respond to that. For a moment, her mind blanked, and then her face became hot. "Well er, ye-yeah, sorta, somethin' like that."

"That might even be a special power granted to you since you're a warrior of legend. Do you think you would have a power like that?" he wondered, and then shook himself. "If you get special powers like that, I wonder what power I could have? Maybe I can learn to fly like I swim!"

Mimia barked at him, and he nodded. "I know I know. Miss Ruby, you might have this ability, but I would still feel more comfortable if you took it easy. Please, I can make it so you don't have to hold your breath. If you'll give me a moment…"

With his flippers by his face, he began to blow a bubble from his nose, one that grew larger and larger until it forced her to stumble back a bit. Was this natural? It certainly looked weird to her. It felt weird when he slammed that bubble to trap her head inside of it.

"Wah! Wait what've you done?" she squealed.

"Don't panic, don't worry! It's only an air bubble," he said, waving his flippers. She still breathed unsteadily and rubbed its surface, hoping she could pop it. She could breathe alright in here, but his and her voice echoed weirdly, and everything looked a little distorted as if she was underwater. "It won't last forever, but it's better than holding your breath, right?"

"I… guess so," she mumbled, still rubbing it. It felt more like a rubber sack than whatever she expected a bubble could feel like, and was uncomfortably damp.

"Don't play with it, you'll pop it," Lucca warned as he gave one to Mimia, too. He turned his back to her and bowed his head. "It's sort of my fault that this happened, so let me make this easier for you."

"You don't need to," she mumbled.

Was he showing her his tail? Or taking extra-long to dive in for some reason? Mimia barked at her, making her flinch and realise. Her heart began to race and she moved to rub her cheeks, already forgetting the bubble was there.

He was offering her a ride, but only now had she seen the two swords strapped to his back. They had white, furry sheaths, and loose fabric ribbons attached to their hilts. A little excessive on top of his natural ruffles, surely? She nervously climbed on and held onto the top ruffle anyway. "You don't have to do this, you know. I'm sure I'd be fine on my own."

"Please, I insist. Hold on tight, now!" he cheered. With a short gallop, he leapt high and dove into the river. She couldn't help but gasp as a loud splash and wave of bubbles obscured her view for a moment, and instinctively held her breath, too. Mimia barked again, and she turned to find him paddling right next to them.

He's totally fine? she realised, and opened her mouth. Lucca's bubble was intact, and her head was no less damp than before. She was well and truly breathing underwater.

Gazing around, the cave grew darker the further they went. She was used to the bubbly noise and floaty weight of being submerged, but not the speed at which Lucca swam. Latched to him like this, it was like she was the one with the graceful movements. She would be excited if not for the unfamiliarity with what could go wrong.

A few minutes later, Mimia let out another series of yips and barks, and Lucca sped up. Light gradually returned to the area. Not the sunny or shaded light of the canyon, but a blue light that radiated from somewhere ahead.

"Why do you keep talking like that? It's kinda annoying. Can't you talk like a normal Pokémon?" Ruby said. Mimia's response was a sad whine.

"Aww, I'm sure she doesn't mean it, buddy. Pokémon just need to get used to hearing you," Lucca replied, making Mimia yip happily. "Mimia can talk, but he's more comfortable talking like that. If there's something especially important, he'll let you know for sure."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would you be more comfortable talking like you don't know how to talk?" she asked. Mimia whined again, and then said something else in more feral noises.

"Hey now, let's not start being silly. We're all Shining Warriors, here. I'm not going to treat her better than you," Lucca replied. He came to a stop next to the wall, allowing her to see it was perfectly flat and covered with engraved runes and hieroglyphs. "Better question now is, what is all this?"

"They don't say anything, do they?" she wondered.

"They're just pictures. But weren't we just in a cave in the mountains? Why is there magical light and glyphs and stuff?" he asked, a flipper on his lip. He shook his head. "Sorry, we should get you outta here before that bubble pops."

"It can pop?" she squeaked, immediately snapping her mouth shut.

"If it runs out of air, it will. But you'll know for sure if that happens," he warned, and continued onward.

For someone who was super nervous about me drowning earlier, you sure as heck sound casual about that! she cried in her head. Now she was just too nervous to breathe normally.

A little ways onward and the path grew too thin for them to swim beside each other, but the roof above them did end. Lucca immediately made for the surface, and leapt out onto dry land. Mimia wasn't far behind, and dashed ahead to scout.

"Whoa. What is this place?" Ruby whispered.

She'd never seen anything like it. Clean, perfectly square walls covered in mystical designs and varied hieroglyphs. Spheres floated high up and gave off an aquatic glow. Thin corridors filled with streams of water lined the room and walls in rows. A set of upward stairs sat at the far end, made of glass that overlooked another stream.

Mimia barked and pointed, making Lucca sigh and slump. "I see them. But… does it have to be stairs?"

"What's wrong with stairs?" Ruby asked.

"Stairs are," he began. He stared at them with a wriggly smile. "When you don't have legs, you wonder what villain invented stairs and why they want to see you suffer."

"Oh c'mon, it can't be that bad. How can you take down a whole herd of Lycanroc, but a some stairs defeats you just by lookin' at 'em?" she giggled.

"Well for one, you're kind of heavy. I don't think I could carry you up them." He looked back at her. Her cheeks flushed red.

"Ahem. That's the last thing you should say to a girl, I'm sure," she said as she crawled off him.

"Shouldn't I?" What's wrong with that?" he inquired.

"You're implying I'm fat!" she cried.

He slowly looked up and down at her, and then cocked his head. "I don't know what your species is meant to look like, but I think so. Your belly is really big and round!"

She choked and shifted back. Wha-what… what's up with that?

"Well I mean it's nothing like Mimia's," he added.

"Geez, you were so nice and cool earlier, and then you drop something like that," She hung her head. I may not look weird to him, but he still pointed out I'm fat.

"Sorry!" he chuckled. "It's not a big deal though, right? I can't carry you up any stairs, but I can swim you places just fine."

She didn't reply, so he dismissed her. Him and Mimia leapt over the streams to reach the stairs, leaving her to dwell on her thoughts. Horrible comments she had heard all too often not to believe echoed through her thoughts. Looking down at herself, her chest weighed heavy as her forelegs pressed into her belly.

Would she even be able to leap over those little corridors of water? Or if they decided to sprint ahead, would she have to push herself out of breath just to keep up? She tried to shake those thoughts away, but she had to know for herself, and so looked over at the water in hopes of seeing a reflection. But the water wasn't reflective, here.

"Is something up?" Lucca called out. She looked up to see them waving at her. "What's the holdup?"

She shook again. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

"Er… need a hand?" he asked, and held a flipper out.

"No! No I freaking don't!" she yelled, and then snapped her mouth shut. Gods damn it Ruby. Get. It. Together!"

She growled and she stepped backwards for a run up. It doesn't matter what he thinks. It doesn't matter what anyone says. And it doesn't matter who the hell they are. We're in this for revenge and we're not stopping until that guy's dead. That's all that matters!

Ruby's roar echoed through the room as she charged as fast as she could, and put all her effort into leaping, to prove herself. Where only a casual skip was necessary to cross the water, she managed to throw herself from one end of the room to the other, and landed with a roll besides Lucca and Mimia. She flipped to her feet right away and flared her back.

"I might be fat, but get this. It'll be you guys struggling to keep up with me," she stated.

"Whoa… way to go." Lucca smirked.

"Don't gimme that look. Stop complaining and deal with it," she said, and marched upstairs. Lucca and Mimia exchanged nods, and then the latter carried him after her.

The stairway was longer than expected. Their transparent surface made for a magical transition between floors, as pure darkness surrounded them while they ascended. They came to a room similar to the first, only far more complex in design. The water-filled corridors were now in the shape of a maze, and looked to be the only way to ascend to high ledges or bypass the metal grating that walled the room into sections. Oddly, the water didn't move even when it should have created waterfalls down the side of the room.

Mimia barked to stop Ruby from running off. "What's wrong now?" she groaned.

"Give him a minute," Lucca said while his friend scouted.

"What're we waitin' for?" she said, dancing on her hind legs. "Wait a minute, I just realised you said 'he'."

"Yeah? Mimia's a boy." He turned to her.

"Seriously? Sure as heck doesn't sound like one. Unless he sounds normal when he talks real words," she remarked. To her surprise, Lucca chuckled.

"You hear that, buddy? You sound like a girl," he called out. Mimia responded with a whine, continuing to scout without looking at them.

Seriously? Wait, I get it. This guy's more of a kid than I thought, even though he's evolved, she realised. Right… that has to be it. Only a kid would say dumb stuff like that without remorse… that or bad guys.

She watched Lucca for a moment. He was content, and his eyes seemed to sparkle a bit. He was either oblivious to her inner turmoil, or was having so much fun that he didn't care. That weight in her chest began to lift a little. Yeah, right. He's just a dumb kid. That's kinda cute, I guess.

Mimia barked to snap her back to reality, followed by a round of feral language which Lucca nodded to. The Brionne put a flipper to his chin as he looked over the room, rubbing that flipper with the other. "That's awkward. You're right though, I don't see any switches or anything, either."

"What now? You decide to start talkin' normally?" she joked.

"Oh er, Mimia scouted the room. The stairs are on the other side, but the maze in the water doesn't lead us through. We can't get through the grating, either," Lucca explained. "Maybe we should turn back? There might be a different path."

"Screw that!" Ruby flared her back and blew fire at the bars, only for the fire to spread over them like a wall. She could tell they weren't melting and intensified her attack until she was out of breath, but the bars were left the same as when she started. "Huh. Not even a budge?"

"Hey er, is that one of your special powers, too? To shoot fire without using Bestia?" Lucca asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"You actually guessed?" she replied.

"More like I hoped. That's good to know, though," he nodded. "Stairs are hard enough, now this place has a puzzle?"

"Less complaining, more actually finding a way through!" she said, and then jumped into the water.

"Wait but Mimia already- urf. We're going to be seeing that a lot, aren't we?" He shook his head and then dove in after her. Mimia barked happily and followed.