Location: Showdown Mountain 7F

Uh...so I grossly underestimated how difficult this climb was gonna be. Bunnelby had carried my part during the Citruse Mountain climb more than I realized.

For starters, the mountain wasn't all climbing sections or all Mystery Dungeon. It was a series of Mystery Dungeon cave systems separated by climbing sections on different elevations. The climbing sections were shorter than the Citruse Mountain climb, but it still wasn't easy. Not even close.

Oh! That wasn't Lyra's fault or anything! She's like ten pounds lighter than me, so carrying her up the mountain didn't even make my vines sore. Even so, she found ledges to stand on to give me a little slack. Like the angel that she is.

No, what made the climb difficult was the fact that I'm a freaking quadrupedal dinosaur who's better suited in a forest or field and not a mountain. Bunnelby climbed below us in case I slipped and fell, but I think I made him nervous with the few times I slid down a foot or two. Granted, I was able to regain my footing and make up the distance I lost, but even so...

If hoisting my vines up was as difficult as lifting a steel pipe with one arm, imagine using the pipe to climb a mountain. Possible for some, impossible for others, and a total pain for everyone in between. Guess which category I fell into.

It honestly wouldn't have been bad if my vines weren't so thick. Thin vines may have made it more difficult to hold onto Lyra or pull myself up, but they'd have an easier time gripping the narrow ledges and cliffsides I had to tightly hug myself against. There were so many times I just pulled myself up onto my back legs, hugged the cliff, allowed myself time to breathe, and tried not to psyche myself out with the fact that my imminent doom was mere inches away. One misstep, one moment of lost balance and...boom. End. Worse yet, Lyra would come with me if I didn't release her quick enough.

There's a reason Chikorita's are weak to flying types. You ever see a Chikorita in the air? If so, lay off the drugs.

During those moments I was pressed against the cliff, I wished Eris was there to help me. She's tall and lithe, so maybe helping me climb would've been a cinch. I was lucky there weren't any ledges out of my grabbing range, but that didn't make things easier.

And oh Arceus, the soreness. Lyra might be light, but I'm not. Remember how I said Bunnelby's training where I just hung from my vine made my bulb sore? Yeah, imagine how sore I felt pulling myself up vertical sections of the mountain. Not fun.

Bunnelby allowed me time to rest after that last climbing section where I barely pulled Lyra and myself into the mouth of the cave. I was utterly sore and sweaty and panting and...ugh. My legs were all sore and wobbly, my neck was sore and aching, and I felt just so freaking exhausted. Part of me worried I wouldn't have the energy to fight whoever the petrifying culprit was...

I whined that I wasn't meant to be on this kind of terrain. Heh. Bunnelby said he felt the same when he was first climbing. You think a ground type felt comfortable thousands of feet in the air? He trembled like an autumn leaf. The more he did it, the more his confidence built. Just because you could fall off the mountain and suffer terribly or die, that doesn't mean you will. So long as you were careful, you had nothing to be afraid of.

Ahaha...I appreciated his uh...encouragement, but I still wasn't feeling very confident. Lyra chipped in though and said I looked super cool ascending the mountain like that. She enjoyed the views a lot and promised that she'll carry me up a mountain when she evolves so I can enjoy them too. But uh...if I evolve as well, won't that put me at over 100 pounds heavier than her? Well, she said she'd do it somehow. Maybe she can evolve, but I can't. She then told me to imagine her fully evolved form carrying up my little current form.

Ah...that's a cute image. I playfully ruffled her head feathers with my vine, and we started giggling as Mawile crushed an Oran Berry and rubbed the gunk on my neck. It was...actually very effective at easing most of the pain. Bunnelby was certainly surprised, saying he didn't know that worked. Woulda been nice to know when he first joined the Society...

Regardless we have at least one more climbing section in a few floors.

...Mmph. I'd rather there were none, but...well, whatever. At least these Mystery Dungeon portions were giving my poor legs a break.

Location: Showdown Mountain (return trip)

So, the climbing wasn't the only annoyance we faced in this dungeon. Vibravas and their love of the move Earthquake ate through our Reviver Seeds, and the PP Leech Traps drained my moves! Seriously, I used an Elixir to restore Razor Leaf only to run into another trap that drained Synthesis!

Uuugh, this place was SO annoying. Shoulda figured having Mawile and Bunnelby with us wouldn't have made things easier. Even so, we made it. The last climbing section wasn't bad at all, just a slightly steep hill. Kinda like the slopes I pulled myself up on Fire Island.

On the final path to the summit, Mawile caught sight of...Krookodile? I guess he followed us up here. Mawile went over to where he was and did...something. I didn't get a good look, but I'm pretty sure she snuck something into her satchel. Maybe it was something Krookodile dropped, I dunno.

Anyway, Lyra had to be quieted once we reached the summit. We hid behind a boulder and tried scoping out the area, but there were similar boulders scattered around, so we couldn't really see much. The menace chose a damn good battlefield to lure Entei to. Can't imagine traversing the area was easy for either of them...unless the summit was clear, and those boulders resulted from their battle or something.

We snuck through the area and hid behind the boulders, keeping a sharp eye out for any sudden movements or suspicious activity. Lyra saw something, startling the rest of us and when we joined her...

Eris. She saw Eris studying something and writing notes down in a journal. And the thing she was studying was...oh...dammit. Entei. He was turned into stone.

Of course, Lyra never met Eris before, so she didn't know who "that suspicious Pokémon" was. Despite Eris being an ex-member of the Society, Mawile's face twisted into an ugly scowl and she marched up behind the Zoroark and started hurling nasty accusations at her.

"So, the fiend is revealed at last! You're the one turning Pokémon into stone!"

Eris didn't even turn around and face her. She kept studying Entei as they talked. "Awful quick to jump to conclusions, aren't we? I know you're Ampharos's mindless peon, but I thought he trained you better than that. It's good to see some things never change."

Bunnelby shot me an apprehensive look. I...mm...I didn't know how to feel about that. He looked like he didn't want to be part of this, so I nodded towards Lyra. He was quick to pull her to the side and explain who Eris was and how we met. When I approached Mawile and Eris, Mawile had her arms crossed and was sneering at the other. Eris had her back turned and was dead-set on studying Entei.

"Y'know, Bunnelby told us about how you were there during the Citruse disaster. Between that and you being here now, how do we know you're not behind this?"

Mawile's voice was different. It wasn't the soft and informative tone she always spoke in, but higher-pitched and...grating. She sounded like a snotty popular girl who spoke down to folks she considered "lesser". Maybe she felt like Eris was her rival or something.

Eris wrote something in her journal and looked in the direction Entei's eyes pointed, then wrote something else down. "Feel free to talk to the survivors of Citruse. They'll tell you I was there investigating something unrelated before the attack."

"Right, because witnesses whose 'lives you saved' totally wouldn't lie on your behalf. None of us are buying your story."

Ugh. Mawile sounded like she made up her mind already. I...decided to speak up and defend Eris. I said I believed Eris's story. Mawile shot me a dirty look, but I ignored her.

Eris turned around the moment she heard my voice. A big grin stretched across her face and she stepped over Mawile (who tried stretching out her arms to block her, but since she's like 2 feet tall it wasn't hard for 5-foot Eris) and knelt in front of me. She pat my head affectionately and said it was good to see me.

I told her it was good to see her too, but Mawile had a point that it was a little suspicious of her to be here.

Eris explained how she found it hard to believe that her search for Dotty leading her to Citruse Village just before the attack was mere coincidence. The day she was having me do target practice, she was waiting to hear back from a Remoraid acquaintance...who later reported his informant, Wailord, had been turned to stone. Again, she doubted that was a coincidence. Her investigations were intersecting with these incidents more and more, so she figured joining the investigation was her best bet of getting answers as opposed to letting us handle it alone. However, she still preferred acting as her own agent.

She visited Mystical Forest last night to study Latios and Latias and discovered something unusual. See, Pokémon turned to stone had...well...a trace of something on their stone bodies. Latios and Latias are both psychic/dragon types, but they had "flakes" of something flying-type on them. Curious, Mawile pulled out...um...a red tongue-compressor device with a glass mirror thing on one of the flat ends. She scanned the glass mirror part over Entei's body, and the mirror turned light purple. Then it turned black.

Mawile narrowed her eyes at Eris and said there were traces of dark-type essences as well. It's possible this flying-type had a pure dark-type accomplice who was present when Entei was petrified. I told her making accusations wouldn't get us anywhere. Maybe the culprit was dark/flying type like a Honchkrow or a Mandibuzz, but did we have any proof that those weren't just the essences of Pokémon who interacted with the victims after the incidents? Neither had an answer.

Eris apologized. She arrived in the area only a few minutes before us, so she didn't discover the culprit or see anything suspicious as she was setting up. She was hoping to get answers by comparing her notes of Entei to her notes of Latios and Latias. Mawile mumbled something before going over to Entei to investigate further. Once we were alone, Eris said that if those essences were from gawkers, then we'd see traces of our own typing on the statues, wouldn't we? Plus, Archen, Lyra, and I were first on the scene, so she woulda picked up on Rock, Grass, and Fire typing on Latios and Latias. She only found flying and dark essences, but Mawile didn't need that ammunition to lash out at her with.

Seriously, what was Mawile's problem? She never acted like that before. Eris said it wasn't anything to worry about. She and Mawile never got along even when she was part of the Society. Maybe it had something to do with Eris being slightly stronger than her, or with the critical missions Ampharos favored her over Mawile for, or with Ampharos desperate not to let Eris leave and regretting his actions even to this day. Regardless, Mawile always treated her with nastiness and hostility. She just learned to ignore it.

Well, it wasn't right. You can dislike someone and still treat them professionally. Mawile wasn't making any effort to do that. This isn't high school.

Eris said she was surprised to see me up here. Surely that couldn't have been an easy climb, and I admitted that it wasn't. Both the climb itself and the hostile Pokémon made it an annoying challenge, but we made it through alright. Besides, we had a...heated history with Entei and wanted to come to his aid if it was necessary. She asked if we knew what he was like since she only heard rumors.

"Others described him as menacing and ferocious, but I always thought he'd be refined and stoic. Y'know, like a legendary who had their shit together."

Ahaha...nope. Menacing and ferocious. And hotheaded. And rash. Kinda stupid too.

Lyra and Bunnelby were informing Dedenne of what we discovered over our Expedition Gadget, and I heard her say Ampharos should be joining us any moment. Before we could get a word out, the dude himself strolled in alongside Archen and Buizel.

Since he overheard their conversation with Dedenne, he had a good enough grasp on what happened. We all kinda looked at Entei sadly. He was all those bad things I said about him, but...it...ugh. It didn't feel good knowing we were too late to save him. We got the warning just this morning, and even though Eris arrived before us we still missed the culprit.

Hm...what a formidable and troublesome foe.

Formidable? Troublesome? Was Ampharos being serious? More like otherworldly powerful and terrifyingly deadly. Don't let your quirkiness undersell the gravity of the situation here, dude.

He said we'd discuss this further once we returned to Lively Town, then turned to Eris and said it'd be most helpful if she could lend us her strength. Would she?

Eris looked...unsure. I didn't blame her. She left the Society on uh...sour terms, so to have her manipulative rival invite her back to his territory probably felt all levels of wrong. However, we needed her help. These incidents took priority over an unpleasant history between her and Ampharos, and the information she gathered could lead to a breakthrough.

To help put her mind at ease, I grabbed her hand with one of my vines and smiled up at her. If not for him, maybe she'd do it for me. She looked down at me and said that was unfair as she tried to suppress her smile. She sighed and agreed to accompany us back home. Maybe stay long enough to be part of the tactics meeting or whatever.

Ahaha! Little sis adorableness for the win!

Now, Eris is carrying Lyra and I as we descend the mountain, and I was absolutely 100% correct in thinking it'd be a cinch for her. Technically, she's not carrying Lyra since she's nested up in her mane, but still.

We couldn't save Entei, but...at least we have an epic ally added to our ranks.

Location: Home, Bedroom

Ampharos was surprised to hear Krookodile had been hiding near the summit. He wasn't exactly known for being a good sort. Buizel described him as a notorious crook (well no duh, it's in his name) who would think nothing of turning Pokémon to stone. However, he'd never heard of the dude having such a power. If he did, he'd probably be using it for something worse. Jirachi said that none of this changed the fact that Krookodile was suspicious.

Mawile drew our attention away from him, saying she found an ancient footprint stone tablet and planned on shutting herself in her room to decipher it. Ampharos left the task to her, and tasked Buizel and Archen with tracking down Krookodile. The rest of us were to continue our work as usual.

Eris remained in a corner of the room silently watching the meeting and Ampharos wanted to talk to her once we were dismissed. At first, I was confused why she didn't say anything about the flying-type essence or whatever. Then I remembered the question I'd raised about if we had any proof that wasn't from gawkers. Or maybe she didn't feel like sharing that in front of everyone else.

Ampharos left for his office, and Eris stopped by to talk to us for a bit. She knelt by us and properly introduced herself to Lyra, who was really giddy and excited.

"Eee, it's so nice to meet you, Eris! Thanks for letting me ride in your mane, the view was so pretty! Irau told me you're really cool and not menacing or brooding like I thought you'd be!"

! Ahaha...forgot Lyra sometimes uh...said things unnecessarily. Eris rose an eyebrow at me, and I simply looked away while blushing. I mean...I didn't lie, so...

She joked that she needed to brood more to restore her reputation and pat my head. I told her she's too interesting for that and she laughed. She then turned to Lyra and said it's a complete delight to meet her as well.

"Well, Irau told me that her best friend, Lyra, is a sweet Torchic with lots of energy and peppiness and motivation. That when it felt like her bad memories sucked all the light out of her life, a little ball of sunshine with a beak and stubby yellow wings came and chased them away."

Eris poked Lyra's forehead with one claw and smirked down at her. "Would you happen to be that very same Lyra?"

Aw-hawww, Lyra's beak smiled all bigly and it was up in her sparkling eyes and...it was super cute.

"The one and only!"

Ahaha! Eris pet her with a gentle smile and told her to keep up the good work, then pardoned herself as she left to talk to Ampharos.

Ah, this was...this was the perfect way to end the day. Lyra had a newfound confidence and pride, and zipped off for our room immediately. When I came in, she was excitedly writing away in her journal and she still had that smile on her face.

I think...I think this was the first time someone besides me made her feel special. I mean, I constantly remind her what an impact she has in my life, but to hear it from someone else...I mean...okay. It's like if you helped someone's grandmother cross the street, then the next day someone was at your door and said that a "valiant warrior" had helped their grandmother cross the street and they wanted to meet the "beautiful/handsome person" who made their grandmother's day. It's like that. It's like, aww...that's how your grandmother described me?

I think that's what Lyra felt. She felt like...aww, that's how Irau described me? Or maybe hearing me talk about how cool Eris is and hearing such a cool person call Lyra a blazing light of happiness and goodness made her feel proud. Either way, it put her in a seriously good mood and seeing her all happy and fired up like that put a warm feeling in me.

We need to hang out with Eris more often.

Putting that aside for now, today's events were on the concerning side. Besides seeing Krookodile and finding the stone tablet, we still haven't learned anything new. And the one Pokémon we could've possibly saved was already stone by the time we arrived.

Honestly, I...I don't think the warnings were issued before the incident. We received the warnings that morning and left shortly afterwards. For Entei to travel to Showdown Mountain from Fire Island Volcano, confront the fiend, fight them, lose, and get turned to stone...for all that to happen in less than a few hours...I mean, it took us a bit to get there, but was our foe really so strong where fighting Entei long enough to turn him took no time at all?

Theoretically, it was possible all that happened in a few short hours, depending on who the culprit was, but...I just...I don't know. Something in my gut told me that Entei was turned before the warnings were even issued. It was possible he was lured there and ambushed and the warnings were sent out afterwards, but it also made no sense. Why issue warnings? If the culprit wanted to target Society members, why not attack while our guards were down? Hell, Eris was with Entei after the fact, so the culprit had a perfect opportunity to target her before our arrival.

Assuming, of course, that Eris isn't the one...no, what am I saying? Of course she isn't.

It was possible we simply interrupted him before he had the chance. Krookodile. The idea of him being the culprit was troubling. We ran into him before, and he only talked a big game. Mr. I'm Only Trouble Because I'm A Product Of My Environment? No, he was happy someone was turning others into stone, but I don't think it was him.

Hm...I'm not sure. Today left me a lot to think about, and tomorrow's another long day. Here's hoping we'll get more answers soon.

A/N: Does it bother anyone else how often these Mystery Dungeon games have quadrupedal Pokemon travel to mountains, and the games' equivalent of climbing a mountain is walking up a flight of stairs? I mean, I get it. That's the way the game is designed and it's like that so any of the characters, quadrupedal or bipedal, can fit the game mechanics and everything. However, I thought about it while I was doing the Glittering Mountain segment and...for those who've played Gates to Infinity, remember those little areas outside of Mystery Dungeons that were still kinda part of the dungeon? What if your character actually had to climb those sections?

Don't climb mountains with vines, kids.