Do Psychic Cats Dream of Electric Sheep?

by SparklingEspeon

[PSMD] Espurr woke up in the woods and was attacked by three sinister beheeyem. Fleeing to secluded Serenity Village and stuck with rowdy troublemaker Tricky for company, the two kids must look to each other for strength as the world beyond their village grows darker by the day... and the shadowy forces stalking them both grow ever closer. A PSMD fix-it fic starring Espurr.

11. Chapter 10 - The Dungeon Test

.3

Today's headline: Unrest on Air Continent following continued silence from Rescuer's Guild

The Rescuer's Guild on Air has been silent for nearly two weeks now, beginning to prompt questions and unrest from many in the local towns. Civilians worry about a lack of law enforcement, shortages in supply, and their loved ones over in the guild.

"I have a daughter over there," said Seviper of Baram Town. "She's only been at the guild for a few months, and we haven't heard from her in weeks. It's taking all my willpower just to stay put like the mayor asked us, but we don't know, we don't know if she's okay."

Mayor Honchkrow declined to comment on the matter.

~ Cloud Nine News Network

~\({O})/~

CHAPTER TEN: THE DUNGEON TEST

~\({O})/~

The Exeggutor

~Mawile and Archen~

Ambassador Primarina was far less pleasant than he seemed. He lounged around in a luxurious bath in the ship's bridge cabin, lazily enjoying the water until the ship made its dock at Lively Town. Braixen had disappeared off to lurk somewhere, while Mawile went over the photos one last time with the now-dying expedition gadgets and Archen milled around the room uncomfortably.

There was the sound of water swishing around, and Primarina rolled himself into a position fit for talking.

"As you know, I've been made aware of the fact that you have photos meant for the possession of Cloud Nine," he said. "In fact, the Exeggutor was just sailing to Lively Town to pick those photos up. Is there any chance we can quicken this exchange?"

Mawile froze, a rare occurrence for her. Unlike Mayor Honchkrow, Ambassador Primarina had complete jurisdiction over any guilds on the Water Continent, and could even overrule a direct order from Ampharos if need be. When Primarina wanted something, he got it. But there was no technology on this ship to extract those photos, meaning she'd need to relinquish the expedition gadgets to him. He would see everything. He would see that she had been making copies. And that was a line Mawile wasn't willing to cross.

"You wouldn't be able to make any use of them," she finally said. "They're buried deep in the photo archives by now. I intend to send them by Pelipper Post once we arrive at the Society and I can use proper technology to sort them out."

"Nonsense!" Primarina waved a flipper in what looked like amused dismissal. "I shall sort them out on Cloud Nine."

"Oh, I assure you Expedition Society technology is quite incompatible with the tech on Cloud Nine," Mawile responded. "Our engineer designed them that way on purpose to ensure no-mon would copycat."

Primarina couldn't stop a scowl from building on his face. "Troubling…" he muttered.

Archen knew that the tech on Cloud Nine was very much compatible with the Expedition Gadgets, but for some reason Mawile didn't want Primarina to know that.

"Very well, then." Both Mawile and Archen's heads turned towards Primarina, who lay his flipper back down in the bath in defeat. "There is no need for the Pelipper Post. I shall await at the Expedition Society myself for the photos. I assume you can host me?"

Mawile jumped upon the offhand comment like it was an escape rope. "We will do everything in our power to make your stay at our Society a pleasant one, Ambassador. Is there a transmission device we can use to notify the others? Our gadgets are out of power, I'm afraid."

Primarina sighed.

"That way," he said, pointing towards an inconspicuous side door. "Braixen will help you if you have trouble. It was his idea to install it."

Mawile politely nodded her thanks, getting up and walking through the door. Archen reluctantly followed.

~\({O})/~

Carracosta's House

~Espurr and Tricky~

There was a long bout of silence, in which Espurr feared the worst. Had she said something so ridiculous that even Tricky wouldn't believe it?

Then Tricky let out a snicker. She couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Bwa-ha-ha!" she laughed. "That's good!" she looked up at Espurr, who was staring at her with that same unreadable expression she almost always had on her face.

"…Wait. You're serious?" Tricky looked at Espurr, bug-eyed. If Espurr was Human… than it made way too much sense. "No way! You're totally serious!"

…

This was awesome!

Tricky resisted the urge to prance around in excitement, leaning in close to Espurr.

"You can't tell anymon else about this," she said, her voice dramatically low for secrecy. "Not under any circumstances!"

"Wait. You… believe me?" Espurr looked surprised.

"Well duh I believe you! Don't you see how awesome this is?!" Tricky pranced back towards the window, then back towards Espurr, then back towards the window, then back towards Espurr, then back towards the window, then back towards Espurr again.

"Meet me at the school library an hour before school begins! I'll be there I promise!"

~\({O})/~

School Grounds

Tricky wasn't there. In fact, she was almost an entire hour late. Which left them just ten minutes before the last day of school officially began. Espurr, who had been examining the spiderlike cracks in the building's wall out of boredom for the last ten minutes, glanced up as Tricky stumbled up the hill and slid to a stop right into her personal space. She was wearing one of the blue scarves from her bedroom today, untidily stuck in her fur.

"Sorry…" she panted, shaking her coat off. "I overslept. I came here as fast as I could!"

The library itself was just an old, dim warehouse full of dusty old books, so Espurr and Tricky had no trouble slipping in through an unlocked window and searching the narrow, tall, crooked shelves until they found the book Tricky wanted.

"See this team?" Tricky shoved a book titled 'Mons and Mystery Dungeons: A Complete History' into Espurr's face. There on the page lay a paw-drawn painting of a charizard, wartortle, and bayleaf. The oils were faded, dulled, but the picture was still clear. "That's Team Go-Getters! They saved the entire world from a meteor almost two centuries ago! Wartortle writes books. I have all of them under my bed."

"How does that relate to me?" Espurr asked.

"Well, get this:" Tricky put her front paws on the book and leaned in close. "Wartortle was Human!"

Tricky's loud voice at close quarters rattled Espurr's hearing a little, but all the sudden it all made a little more sense. Just not sense in a good way.

"Don't you get what this means?" Tricky went on.

"That the world's about to be struck by another meteor?"

"No! Wait—" Tricky stuck her nose in the book once more and leafed to another page, where an artist's impression of a meowth, a litleo, and a shinx sat. "Look at these guys!"

"…Also Humans?" Espurr guessed.

"Nope, just Meowth," Tricky replied. "These guys—Team Ion—were the ones who restarted Time a century ago! And—And—"

She leaved even further into the book.

"Them—Team Anthem—They defeated the Bittercold 50 years ago!" Espurr looked at the pikachu and the dewott on the page, painted with those same faded, flaking oils. "Dewott's the Human."

Tricky snapped the book shut, her tail wagging excitedly. "NOW do you get it?"

Espurr had caught the trend. But she still didn't understand how it meant anything good.

"But if I'm here… doesn't that mean the world is about to be destroyed again?" she asked Tricky. "Which isn't a good thing? I don't see how that's awesome."

"Well…" Tricky's happy look faltered, the wagging of her tail lessening for a second. "Maybe, —but still! This means we have to go on an adventure and get strong enough so we can defeat whatever's coming to destroy the world this time!"

Espurr just gave Tricky an unconvinced look. That was not happening.

"…What?" Tricky asked. "It's a good plan…"

It wasn't.

"Alright, everymon front and center!" The distant, shrill sound of Vice Principal Watchog's voice drifted in from outside the window, catching their attention. Jerking into motion, both Espurr and Tricky scrambled to get out of the library, tripping over as few books as possible on the way out.

On their way back to the school clinic, Tricky suddenly stopped short halfway across the hill, her front paws planting themselves into the ground.

"Berry crackers," she swore aloud.

"What is it?" Espurr came a stop much more gracefully than Tricky had, looking back at Tricky urgently.

"You cut detention yesterday!" Tricky explained. "And I cut class! Watchdog's gonna have our tails!"

Berry crackers. That was true. Espurr hadn't even thought about that. If only…

If only…

…If only Watchog never even noticed them in the first place.

"We'll climb in through the back," Espurr decided. "Just walk in when I tell you to and he won't even notice we were there."

Tricky gave Espurr a perplexed look, but she wasn't arguing.

As they both crept up to the school clinic, Espurr peeked in through the window while Tricky crouched down beside her. Watchog was pacing the classroom stiffly, while the other four students sat on the straw beds. On one of the counters near the far end of the clinic, she could see the baskets sitting beside a window, stacked high. If she could just nudge them a little closer…

It took some concentrating, but the stack of baskets slowly moved towards the end of the counter, and then fell off—

As they hit the ground with a loud clatter, Espurr ducked behind the window and huddled down with Tricky. Watchog let out a high-pitched shriek at the noise; Espurr was pretty sure he'd jumped at least a whole measure back. She couldn't stop herself from grinning. Tricky was trying not to snicker so hard some steam forced its way out of her ears.

"Now!" Espurr whispered to Tricky, who dashed in through the back window like a yellow blur and took a spot near the back of the room. Espurr was right after her.

"Alright, listen up!" Watchog had finished gathering the baskets from the wood floor, returning to his militaristic pace of the classroom. "The final exam before Summer Vacation isn't a cakewalk like the other two. You're going to be heading into the school's very own mystery dungeon, and you will need to rely on the things taught in my class if you want to clear the dungeon with a passing grade. We only use this dungeon for the exam, so you will be forced to deal with things you've only been taught about in books and school."

He suddenly pivoted towards the class, leaning in intensely with a scrutinizing eye.

"First rule! Teams of three! Why? Go!"

Deerling raised her hoof. Watchog waited expectantly for an answer.

"Three is the proper number for a mystery dungeon team, sir?" Deerling guessed.

"That's correct! Second rule! Dungeon safety kit! What's in it? Go!"

Shelmet got that one.

"Two oran berries, a pecha berry, and an escape orb," he answered proudly. "Easy."

"Wrong!" Watchog barked loudly, nearly jolting him out of his shell. "You forgot the elixir! The paralysis wands! The warp seeds! What's it gonna be like if you're in a dungeon and you run out of those things?"

Shelmet shrunk back into his shell, only his eyes peeking out. Espurr decided Watchog was enjoying having the floor way too much.

"Third rule!" Watchog returned to his pacing. "What do you do if you get cornered by an enemy? Go!"

Tricky raised her paw excitedly.

"Use an item!" she called out. The sudden spike of green Espurr saw shoot out of her said she'd realized that was a mistake way too late.

Watchog's gaze turned to Tricky and Espurr, and Espurr froze. Watchog narrowed his eyes, but he didn't say anything to them.

"Correct. You'll find supplies in the Principal's office," he said lowly. "Go on! Get out!"

~\({O})/~

"I can't believe I'm with Pancham!" Deerling stormed. "And Shelmet! They're both creeps!"

Watchog had quickly shooed them all out of the clinic, and then they went around the back and down the other side of the hill. There, the woods beyond shimmered, refracting the light in strange ways. It seemed to drive away the light, casting the woods beyond in darkness. The faintest hints of something rotting danced in the air.

"I'm afraid the teams were drawn randomly," Farfetch'd said, fiddling with his leek. "Even if you didn't get the pokemon you wanted to be partnered with, you'll still be expected to work together as a team."

"Well, can't we have a redraw?" Deerling complained.

"No redraws!" Watchog cut in. "You know as well as I do this test takes all day," he told Farfetch'd. "And if one student gets a redraw..." He let his sentence hang in the air to draw out the impact.

In the corner, Pancham and Shelmet did a victory dance.

Since Deerling was with Pancham and Shelmet, that left Espurr, Tricky, and Goomy on the other team. Each team was allotted by Audino one bag filled with all the supplies they'd need, under Watchog's pretense of 'all real exploration teams having only one supply bag'. Tricky strongly insisted she was going to be the team's bag carrier despite Espurr being best for the job, and eventually both teams were at the foot of the dungeon, ready to begin the test.

"Just… be careful, okay?" Deerling told Goomy in the couple of minutes they had before Watchog walked in to start the test. Goomy nodded, and Deerling reluctantly backed off to join Pancham and Shelmet.

"Everymon ready?" All heads turned, as Watchog and the other teachers walked into the clearing, followed by none other than Principal Simipour himself.

"It's only right that I should be here to see all the students off for the final exam of the Spring Semester," he explained, seeming to notice most of the school was shocked to see him.

"Now I don't wanna hear anything about fights and foul play, you hear me?" Watchog barked. "You encounter each other in the dungeon, you just walk away. Your mission is to capture one of the two red flags placed at the dungeon's anchorstone by myself and Farfetch'd last night. First team to return with their flag wins."

Watchog stood back, and silently shooed them all off into the dungeon. Deerling's team went first, and once the entrance had finished warping around them and had returned to normal, Espurr's team followed.

~\({O})/~

School Forest

"You know we need a team name, right?" Tricky eagerly pranced about with the exploration bag slung over her back as they walked through the school dungeon. "Maybe something like the Adventurous Exploration Squad! Or— ooh— the 'Dungeon Destroyers'!"

Her two teammates were nowhere near as eager. Goomy looked more than a little frightened of the woods around him, but Espurr was worried for a completely different reason: This was it. This was the forest. The one she had woken up in just a week ago. The one where she had been hunted down by the beheeyem. The one where she had broken her arm. It had been the school's very own mystery dungeon!

And now she was back. What if the beheeyem were back too? What if they had never left?

She didn't want to risk another encounter if she didn't have to. Espurr cast a look behind them, just in case the entrance to the dungeon might still have been open.

It wasn't. And using the escape orb to magic herself out of the dungeon meant a failing grade from Watchog for sure.

Not that anymon but Audino and maybe the Principal would listen if Espurr told them about the Beheeyem.

"Tricky?" Espurr began, trying to keep the shake out of her voice. The fennekin looked back questioningly. "Can I carry the exploration bag for now?"

Like she expected, Tricky did not look happy at the idea of losing the exploration bag.

"I guess…" she mumbled, telegraphing her disappointment. "Why do you need it, anyway?"

"Just a bad feeling," Espurr said.

Lugging a heavy exploration bag through the dungeon's many twists and turns was less-than-convenient, Espurr soon found out. By the time they reached the second floor, she was already sagging under its weight. But that was okay—the bag made her feel safer. She clutched its strap like it was a stuffed doll, or a magic shield that could protect her. A heavy magic shield, but she could cope. She thought she saw Goomy looking at her in concern a few times, but for the most part he was busy just sticking with her and not getting himself lost.

Free of the bag's weight, Tricky constantly pranced ahead of Espurr and Goomy, peeking around corners for dungeon 'mon and giving them paw signals when the coast was clear. Espurr thought it was dramatic, but it did save them from dungeon apparitions they would have otherwise walked into.

The Dungeon Anchorstone, Tricky explained, was the patch of land a mystery dungeon formed around. An anchorstone could be a cave or a rock or a tree or a grassy field, but it would always remain the same, no matter where it ended up in the dungeon.

"Everything in a dungeon is made from parts of the anchorstone," Tricky went on, "So you always know what to look for when you find it!"

"But if everything around us is made from the same parts," Espurr asked, "how will we know when we get there?"

"Well…" Tricky began. "You'll just… You'll know it when you see it! And there are the flags too. Unless Pancham got to them first…" she spat.

~\({O})/~

"But dear Deerling," Pancham began, using one of his lame pick-up lines for the tenth time. "—Or should I say, 'Dearling'?"

"Please stop," Deerling groaned. "Don't make me murder you."

"But you wouldn't do that, Dear Deerling," Pancham continued, snuggling up close to Deerling's earth green coat as they walked.

"Try me." Deerling swiftly sidestepped Pancham and let him hit the ground.

"Now that—th—that was just cruel." Pancham picked himself up, trying to make it look like it had never happened in the first place.

"You know," Shelmet panted out once he had caught up reasonably with the group. "I was thinking… maybe we should have a team name of some sort. Like 'The Serenity Village Squadron' or something. Whadyaguys think?" Only seconds later, he regretted ever letting those words leave his mouth. Pancham spun around, giving Shelmet the worst look he could muster.

"Really?" he lectured Shelmet. "You really wanna be like the pest?"

Shelmet shook his head fearfully.

"Thought so." Pancham turned his head back around and stated looking far too proud of himself. And that was just a peg too far.

"Actually, Shelmet," Deerling began. "That sounds like a wonderful activity to pass the time."

"Wait—what?" Shelmet eyed her in confusion. Since when did Deerling of all pokemon pay attention to him?

"You heard me. Let's brainstorm some names." Deerling trotted down the path, smugly savoring the rare cowed look upon Pancham's face. "Me… I think 'The Merry 'Mon' sounds like a good nickname."

"You wouldn't dare," Pancham seethed.

"Watch me," Deerling responded in the sweetest voice she could muster. "Don't you want to be a Merry 'Mon?"

Pancham looked somewhat horrified at the prospect of being a Merry 'Mon, but he simply growled and folded his arms annoyedly.

"Dungeon 'mon ahead!" Shelmet yelled loudly. "To the right! Look!" Both Pancham and Deerling's heads spun around to see what Shelmet was looking at. In the distance, a trio of pokemon were making their way through the dungeon tunnels. Deerling's breath caught, as she realized those weren't dungeon 'mon—they were the other team!

Espurr, Tricky, and Goomy all stopped short at the sound of distant talking to their left.

"I-is it a dungeon 'mon?" Goomy asked.

"No, it's…" over by the corner of the hallway ahead, Tricky craned her neck and squinted her eyes to get a better look.

"…Holy mystery dungeon. That's Pancham's team!" she quickly scampered back to where Espurr and Goomy were standing. "And they're heading this way!"

Sure enough, Deerling, Pancham, and Shelmet were in fact heading straight towards them. Espurr had the creeping feeling it wasn't going to end well.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Deerling lectured Pancham as he strode towards Espurr, Tricky, and Goomy. "You heard what Watchog said—walk away!"

"What Watchog doesn't know don't hurt him," Pancham replied. "This is revenge for the mines."

Shelmet was too busy trying not to get left behind to add anything of substance to the conversation.

"Well, well, well." Pancham came to a stop in front of Espurr, Tricky, and Goomy, who were all standing their ground at the dungeon crossroads. "If it isn't the pests. It seems like we've come to an impasse."

"Just let us pass, you big meanie!" Tricky yelled at Pancham. Espurr silently prepared for a fight, if it was going to come to that.

"As much as I hate to agree with Tricky, she's right," Deerling said. "You guys all know what Watchog told us. Just walk away!"

"Y-yeah! Listen to Watchog!" Goomy added in from Espurr's side.

"Y-yeah," Pancham mimicked, making a crude imitation of Goomy's voice. "L-l-listen to Watchdog. You guys walk away, and maybe we'll return your flag in one piece."

Something snapped. Tricky stepped up, staring Pancham dead in the eye. She took an attack stance.

"Guys?" Tricky asked, her tone making it clear that it wasn't a question. "When have we ever listened to Watchdog?"

There was a brief moment of silence, as all the students tried to think of a single time that they had ever listened to Watchdog. Espurr resisted the urge to slap her paws into her face and groan. Did everything have to end with a fight?

"…Good point," Pancham said, and then he punched Goomy clean across the wall.

"DUNGEON WAR!"

Tricky's declaration of war was cut short when she received a rock to the snout, and then everything became chaos. Tricky attacked Pancham. Shelmet attacked Tricky. Pancham attacked them both. Espurr tried to get to Goomy, who was currently trying to make sense of being splattered across the dungeon wall. The exploration bag she was carrying bounced heavily against her side as she ran, and she found it hard to keep her balance with the bag and dodge the stray debris and attacks from the ongoing fight at the same time.

"Stop this!" Deerling shouted, stamping her hooves into the ground. "Stop this right now! Pancham!" a loose Ember from Tricky hit her square in the face and sent her reeling back.

"U-ugh…" Goomy was still a little dizzy by the time Espurr reached him. She quickly made to grab him—looked for a tangible place to grab—then finally settled for one of his slimy flailing paws. Quietly, they both huddled behind a rock until the fighting subsided.

"That's it! You guys made me do this!" Deerling took a battle stance. She took a deep breath, then charged headfirst at Pancham, Tricky, and Shelmet. All three of them were knocked apart by Deerling's headbutt. Tricky fell on her back, spitting out an ember into the endless canopy in surprise. A tree branch came falling down, and Espurr realized almost too late it was coming down upon her and Goomy—

She did the first thing she could think of. She summoned some of her mind power and shunted Goomy out of the way.

Espurr was lucky enough to avoid being crushed by the branch. The exploration bag was not so fortunate. The seams ripped out from under the branch's weight, sending the combination of an escape orb and a warp seed hurtling right to the ground in front of Espurr. There was a bright flash, and then Espurr was gone.

The dust settled. Everymon picked themselves up. Goomy slimed out from around the branch and looked at the contents seeping out of the crushed bag worriedly. Pancham got up from where he had landed, right on top of his own team's exploration bag.

There was a moment of silence, as everymon took in what they had just done.

"Aww,—"

Pancham then said a word that made Deerling gasp in shock.

~\({O})/~

~Tricky~

The two teams agreed to walk away after that incident. Pancham, Shelmet, and Deerling had walked off in a huff, all for different reasons, while Tricky and Goomy carefully continued down the hallway. The stairs had been grimers and moved themselves while Tricky wasn't looking, which meant that both teams were now searching again. Espurr probably would have said that was a blessing in disguise.

Espurr… just the thought made Tricky's stomach do a little loop-de-loop. But she had teleported out of the dungeon when the tree hit that bag… right? Right. That was what escape orbs did. She had to have. Especially because if she didn't it was Tricky's fault but Tricky didn't want to think about that.

Tricky tried not to think about Goomy, either. He looked scared, but that came with exploring and he clearly wasn't cut out for it. He was just slowing her down. She even had to go back for him a few times, having left him behind in her hurrying onwards. She hoped the stairs were near…

The stairs were in what Tricky had assumed was a dead end the first time around because there was little else it could have been. Except the hiding spot of the stairs.

Tricky wanted to climb them so badly. She'd get ahead of Pancham's team soooo easily. She'd get the flag first! She'd win! She and Espurr would get perfect grades!

But she couldn't.

She couldn't, because Goomy was taking a full hour to get his slimy behind over here. At this rate she was going to run into Pancham and Deerling again.

Tricky wondered where Goomy was, actually. She hadn't really noticed him for the past few turns…

"GOOMY!" Tricky called out into the dungeon. Her voice echoed down the hall. There was no answer. Tricky even went up to the very edge of the passage and peeked out both ways. Nothing but dungeon.

She turned back and scampered down the hall, all the way back several corners until she was worried she'd lose the pathway to the stairs. He wasn't there. He must have gotten lost somewhere along the way.

"GOOMY!" she called again. It echoed down the hall. Nothing.

Well, m-maybe he'd gone ahead. Or bumped into the stairs by accident. Yeah. That sounded like him. She didn't leave him behind, this floor wasn't that large anyway. She'd catch up with him on the next floor and then Espurr after that, and then they'd take the flag and everything would be alright again. She just needed to not get left behind.

Trying not to think about the alternative, Tricky quickly scampered up the stairs.

~\({O})/~

~Espurr~

Slowly coming to. Espurr blinked her eyes open wearily.

She didn't remember the last time an escape orb had spirited her away, but she hoped it had not been as uncomfortable as that. She felt dizzy and like puking.

The first thing she noticed was that she was lying on her back. She rolled over and tried to pull herself to her feet, but she was still too disoriented to stand properly. The second thing she noticed was the sound of the river rushing in the distance.

A river. Espurr's ears pricked up, and that was when she truly opened her eyes.

She recognized this patch of the forest. And although she couldn't see the river, the sound of it rushing by clicked in her head, and then so did everything else: She was back. And all alone.

Half of her wanted to freak out and hide in a tree until somemon found her. The other half pointed out how badly that had gone the last time and proposed that she around for help instead. The third, mostly overlooked part cordially suggested that she use her newfound knowledge of mystery dungeons to try and find her own way out. That was the plan Espurr decided to go with.

Her dizziness had lifted enough for her to be able to stand properly. The bag wasn't anywhere to be found, but she was a bit too rattled to care much about it now. She slowly walked through the woods, ready to unleash a psychic blast on the first thing she saw or heard move. The place didn't have the same feel to it that it had a week ago. It wasn't deathly quiet like it had been before, and the sounds of what sounded like the local wildlife slowly lowered Espurr's guard a little as she went on.

It didn't take her long to figure out that this was the dungeon's anchorstone. It explained why it didn't look anything like a dungeon, for starters. She had no way of knowing how long that uninterrupted rushing river she was currently following was, but now that Espurr had some basic mystery dungeon education, she couldn't believe she hadn't figured it out in the week she'd had.

This was good. This made things so much easier now. One-by-one, all the other students were going to enter this floor—the anchorstone—and then it would be easy cruising to the top. And Espurr hadn't even seen a single trace of the beheeyem, which only made her day better.

Now all she had to was find the flags. Part of Espurr wondered if this dungeon had been crafted from an entire forest simply from how big the anchorstone was, but she also knew Watchog and Farfetch'd wouldn't just drop the flags in any old place. The river was the only thing that acted anything like a map. So Espurr continued to follow it.

Eventually, she saw them—two red flags, waving in the air from their spots in the ground. Espurr began to run up towards them. As she got closer, she could make them out better—they were the flags alright! Now all she had to do was stakeout for the other teams.

Until she felt the heart-wrenching feeling of stepping into thin air, and suddenly she was falling, and then Espurr hit the ground several feet down. And then she whacked her head against a rock and blacked out.

~\({O})/~

School Grounds

~Tricky~

The entrance to the dungeon warped. Then it burst open for a split second, and spat out Tricky. The fennekin hit the ground rolling, a red flag hanging out of her mouth.

"Ab Team Dungeof Rubbers tafes tha prise!" Tricky declared in triumph through a mouthful of flag. She spat it out for good measure, even though she didn't seem to have an audience. None of the teachers were here. But none of the other students were here either. Tricky tilted her head. She didn't see Espurr or Goomy on the way up here, so she thought they made it out first…

"Actually, that's us," said Deerling from the trees. Seconds later, she strode into view, accompanied by Pancham and Shelmet. "The Merry 'Mon."

Pancham opened his mouth to say something to the opposite effect, but just closed it, folded his arms, and pouted.

"But… I was supposed to make it back first!" Tricky angrily declared. "I even got the first flag and everything!"

"You and what army?" Shelmet bounced back.

"Yeah…" Deerling's eyes narrowed, scanning Tricky and realizing something. She slowly clopped forward. "What about Espurr? And Goomy?"

Tricky's face fell. She slowly began to back away as Deerling approached.

"D-didn't they come out with you guys?"

"Tricky, where are they."

Tricky gulped.

"I… lost them?"

Deerling stopped. It was hard for Tricky to tell what she was thinking, but it was clear that cogs of rage were turning inside Deerling's head.

"You sick ANIMAL!" she suddenly shouted, sending Tricky reeling back against the nearest tree for balance.

"You lost them?!" Deerling continued, her face practically red as she stormed towards Tricky. "Espurr and Goomy are living, breathing 'mon, and you LOST them like toys?!"

Tricky's ears could not have drooped any lower. She lay curled up at the foot of a nearby tree, pleading for Deerling's mercy with her eyes. Deerling had none.

"I can't believe you did that," she seethed. "Oh, wait. Yes I can. Because that's what you do. You lose pokemon. Just like you 'lost' Budew. You know that's why Mrs. Rosiela moved away, right? Not because she couldn't handle winter, but because she couldn't handle winter without Budew! I am not letting you do the same thing to Goomy and Espurr. Find them. Now." Deerling stamped her hoof into the ground.

Tricky did nothing but huddle down further and whimper. She didn't want to think about this anymore. She just wanted to go exploring and make friends and not… think…

"Alright, that's enough!"

Everymon looked up. Deerling quickly backed away as all four of the teachers entered the clearing.

"Is that the other team?" Watchog asked. "Can we start grading?"

The teachers stopped short once they caught sight of Tricky, but not Goomy and Espurr. Watchog sputtered for a second.

"Wh—where's the other team?" he asked.

"They got left," Deerling spat. "in the dungeon."

The reaction between the teachers was split. Audino and Farfetch'd both looked horrified, while Watchog's annoyance grew and Simipour's reaction was unreadable.

"Leave it to the troublemaker to lose her entire team… Alright, somemon needs to go in after them," Watchog began.

"I'll volunteer."

Everyone looked at Audino, who was returning with Gabite's old exploration bag slung over her shoulder. It took all of Tricky's willpower not to point that out.

Watchog didn't seem too thrilled at the prospect of spending over an hour alone with Audino, but he didn't contest it. Instead, he silently walked over to the entrance, brashly gesturing for Audino to follow.

"All students, follow me, please..." Simipour's voice rang out in the silence that fell once the dungeon had fully warped around Watchog and Audino. "Let's go back to the school and wait for them to return."

Tricky marched with the rest of the students as they made their way back up to the school clinic with Farfetch'd and Simipour, but she couldn't help but glance back wistfully at the dungeon anyway. If only she could help somehow…

~\({O})/~

~Espurr~

Light slowly trickled into Espurr's eyes. Groggily, she sat up. What had happened? Had it all been a dream? And why was she sitting at the bottom of a tunnel…?

Oh no. Now she remembered. She had fallen. Down several feet, it looked like. Espurr looked up at the hole she had fallen down. A thick wall of mist obscured her vision above. Had she really been in there that long? Espurr got to her feet, then looked at where the cavern she had fallen into went. A tunnel just large enough for a pokemon of her size twisted along in the other direction. Espurr decided to follow it. After all, a potential way out was better than none at all.

Espurr stumbled down the tunnel as fast as she could go. She wanted to make it out before the rest of the students made it to the anchorstone. Otherwise, she was going to be stuck in the dungeon herself again. And it seemed like the tunnel was never going to end. It continued further and further, looking hastily-dug the entire way. Whoever had dug this had wanted to get away from something fast, she realized.

Eventually she saw light. It was distant and at the end of the cavern, but it didn't flicker like the torches in the mines, so Espurr stumbled in its direction. It turned out to be a ramp heading up to the surface, and Espurr readily climbed up it. Emerging into daylight once more, Espurr immediately had to shield her eyes from the brightness. But once the temporary blindness faded Espurr realized that she was no longer near any part of the anchorstone that she recognized.

Now she understood where the green, icky parts of the dungeon came from. It looked like a swamp, if only there had been some water to justify calling it that. But soon Espurr became thankful for the lack of water, because just like she wouldn't have wanted to walk through a flooded tunnel she didn't want to trawl through flooded trees either. The sun was blotted out under the trees just a little more than in the dungeon, but the place still wasn't as evil as it had been when she last woke up in here. It was only when she saw the familiar wall of fog beginning to encroach upon her position that the hope drained from her face. She'd barely outrun it.

In her fear, Espurr unwittingly backed into something. She whacked her head against it, quickly turning and clutching the back of her head.

When the pain faded enough for Espurr to be able to look up, she finally got a good look at what she had walked into: in front of her was what seemed to be a perfect stone sculpture of a riolu, caught mid-run. Espurr was even mildly impressed that the artist had found a way to keep the sculpture's balance without a base… but why here? Who was going to stare at their art in the middle of a mystery dungeon? It was even collecting dirt around its front paws, almost like it had been…

Espurr looked back in the direction of the tunnel. Then she looked back at the riolu.

But that was silly. It was just a statue.

But it was so weird for it to have dirt collecting there.

But dirt got in weird places.

But it was frozen mid-run.

Still… something didn't seem right.

And with all this fog around Espurr really wasn't going to risk playing detective. The sound of the treetops rustling from the deep woods caught her attention. She looked ahead, to the dark, twisted, gnarled trees near her.

A wind blew, and suddenly the stench of something dead hit her face-first. Blinking through the smell, Espurr realized there was something there. Something blacker than the darkness within. It was hazy, barely even there if you weren't looking, but she was looking and she could clearly tell the figure apart from the rest of it. The long, spindly arms that stretched down from its gangly torso and ended near its feet, the way the top half of its body was at a crooked slant, the head that was way too small for the rest of its body, and the glowing, pinprick eyes that sat in the middle of it. It seemed to see her, very still as if waiting for her to move. It looked completely unnatural.

Espurr didn't wait around like she had for the Beheeyem. Nope, this was way above her paygrade. She booked it out of there, and fast.

A thunderous roar erupted after her as she ran, getting further and further away in the distance by the second. Espurr didn't dare look back.

She had to find a way out of here.

~\({O})/~

~Tricky~

The students that had made it out of the dungeon all sat in the school clinic, watched by the weary but ever-vigilant eyes of Principal Simipour. He said nothing, only sitting on the stool in front of them with a sleepy look on his face, but the students all knew better than to try and make mischief under his watch. Because he was watching.

And no-mon regretted that more than Tricky. Deerling was giving her death looks from her spot on the other side of the clinic, but that wasn't what Tricky cared about right now. What she cared about was that Deerling was right—it was her fault that Espurr and Goomy were trapped in the dungeon. And if one of them—gulp—died in there, then it would be her fault too. She couldn't bear going through that again. This wasn't what explorers did! Explorers didn't let things like that happen to other pokemon! Explorers were supposed to stop those things from happening in the first place! And if she couldn't do that… then maybe she wore a scarf, but she couldn't call herself an explorer.

And maybe that was the hardest thing to admit after all. Maybe Deerling was right. Maybe Pancham was right. Maybe even Watchdog was right. Maybe she was just a troublemaker after all, trying to cover her mistakes up so she didn't feel sorry for herself. Maybe she really didn't deserve friends….

…No.

She could do it! She could live up to her title! She could rescue Espurr and Goomy, before Audino and Watchog even knew what had hit them!

But if she wanted to rescue them, she needed to move now.

"Principal?" Tricky asked. Principal Simipour lazily opened one eye.

"Yes, Tricky?" he asked.

"I need to… go…" Tricky did what she thought was a good impression of needing to use the washroom, but just made her look constipated. At least this time she wanted to look constipated.

Simipour stared at her for a moment through those laid-back, weary eyes, and she got the feeling he was onto her.

"Very well, Tricky," he said. "You may… 'go'."

And with that, Tricky was up and out of the clinic as fast as she could go.

~\({O})/~

"I can't believe this is happening," Watchog muttered to himself as he continued through the dungeon with Audino. Already, a sea of mist had descended upon the dungeon, making it extremely hard to see more than two feet ahead of oneself.

"Well, remember, it IS your test," Audino said from beside him, gingerly walking around an ickier patch of the dungeon she had barely avoided stepping in. "It's your responsibility to make sure everything's 'safety-regulated'."

"Well, your test could end with somemon making poison," Watchog mumbled. "What do you say to that?!"

"I take precautions so that kind of thing doesn't happen," Audino shot back. "And I'm there to supervise them. What did you give the students? A bag of items?"

"A bag of items should be enough," Watchog grumbled.

"Well, maybe it wasn't," Audino said. "They're kids, Watchog, not an exploration team!"

"Well, that Tricky seems to think she's one all by herself," said Watchog.

"We aren't talking about Tricky. And Tricky's gotten herself into a fair number of scrapes too," Audino replied.

"It's Tricky's fault we're in this situation," Watchog grumbled back. "And you say she's not a troublemaker?"

"Tricky is a kid. They're all kids, Watchog!" Audino replied, having come to the absolute edge of her temper. "That's your problem—you can't seem to wrap it around your head that kids aren't invincible!"

Watchog simply 'harrumphed' and folded his arms. "I'll believe it when I see proof."

"There."

Watchog opened an eye. "Where?"

But Audino had already run ahead, and Watchog found himself with no choice but to follow.

Soon, they stumbled upon what Audino had spotted—what looked like the wreckage of a battleground. And smack-dab in the middle of it was the pair of exploration bags both teams had been given, laying on their side and leaking with the juices of the smashed items inside.

"There," Audino said, picking up the bags and emptying them to the side. "There's your proof."

Unbeknownst to the two, another 'mon quietly slunk through the dungeon, making sure to stay out of sight. Tricky took a few seconds to make sure the 'mons in the hallway were indeed Watchog and Audino, then continued on her quest for the stairs. While she wasn't a full-blown genius, she knew she could count on Audino and Watchog to bicker and slow each other down enough for Tricky to slink past them unnoticed. She could also count on them not being perceptive enough to notice Tricky sneaking past, which was extremely important to her plan. On both counts, apparently, she had been right.

Now to find Espurr and Goomy.

~\({O})/~

~Goomy~

"A-anymon? P-please h-help?"

Goomy was beginning to get scared. He had been wandering the tunnels of the mystery dungeon for what felt like hours. First Espurr had disappeared, then he had gotten left behind by Tricky… Not even Deerling had waited for him! Goomy was losing hope that anymon was coming back. At some point he'd just had to hide.

The fog was only getting thicker and thicker. He huddled into his hiding spot a little further. The Dungeon Wraith was due any minute now. Any minute now he was going to begin to hear its horrible roars and screeches, and then he would be too scared to move until somemon came to find him… or a dungeon 'mon came to eat him. That last thought made him shiver with fear.

But there came no roars. The Dungeon Wraith didn't rear its ugly head. There were no unearthly screeches from the depths of the dungeon. Every passing second without those things filled Goomy with cautious hope. Maybe the Dungeon Wraith had taken a day off. It must be tiring, scaring all those other pokemon after all. Maybe it had decided to go on vacation! He knew if Deerling was here she would just tell him that the Dungeon Wraith wasn't real, but Deerling wasn't here, so it was on vacation and that was that.

Slowly, Goomy unpeeled himself from the crevasse he was hiding in, and began to slime through the fog. He could do this. He would do this. He would find the stairs, fog or no fog. He would escape all on his own!

He slimed as fast as he could through the dungeon (which wasn't very fast at all), checking through corridors and back-alleys for sight or sound of the dungeon stairs.

Around the fourth corridor, he found what he had been trying so hard to avoid all this time: a pack of dungeon 'mon.

Goomy quickly slunk back. It wasn't like their corridor was the only corridor in the entire dungeon… he could go another way, right? Then he looked again, and he realized that he couldn't—for just past the dungeon 'mon was the very thing he had been looking for: the dungeon stairs.

Goomy went over his options. He'd go another way, but there was no other way. He looked again. There were five of them, all huddled over something in the corridor. A… dead bird—Goomy lurched back. He was going to be sick.

But he had to get them away from those stairs somehow. Shakily, he picked up a stick from the ground with his slime. The dungeon 'mon scared him… but being trapped in the dungeon scared him more. He took the stick, and threw it at the dungeon 'mon with all his might before ducking out of sight.

He couldn't see it, and he was sure the dungeon 'mon couldn't see him. But he heard their horrible cries upon getting hit with the stick, ones that made all the goo in his body stiffen out of fear.

It was all or nothing, and if Goomy was ever going to make it, now was the time. He slimed out into the corridor, where he found to his delight that most of the dungeon 'mon had fled.

Except for the blitzle. It stood to face him, mane glowing. Then it charged.

Goomy didn't know where he pulled it from. He only knew that one second, the dungeon 'mon was charging full-force at him, and then the next thing he knew there was a whoosh of faint white energy, and he had tackled it to the ground. Seeing that he wasn't going down without a fight, the blitzle quickly got back to its feet, dumped Goomy to the ground, then ran off into the dungeon without even looking back. Goomy decided not to push his luck. He hurried for the stairs as fast as he could.

Goomy only gasped when the dungeon began to let out a blood-curdling roar—

~\({O})/~

~Espurr~

—That Espurr heard through the woods she was desperately trying to get out of. She spun. That roar came from the direction she was running from, and it wasn't far off. She made a left turn on instinct, half because the woods looked lighter there and half because it was the opposite direction the roar had come from. She didn't look at what was behind her.

She really hoped the stairs weren't the other way.

~\({O})/~

"What was that?" Audino asked, carrying the two empty exploration bags over her shoulder along with her own.

"Just the dungeon," Watchog replied. "Let's keep going."

~\({O})/~

Espurr could still hear the roars. She ran through the forest as fast as she could. She had been through what looked like the clearing with the flags at least two or three times, but the flags weren't there. Which led Espurr to believe, as much as she didn't want to, that the others had already passed through here and left her behind.

A sound to Espurr's left drew her attention—the sound of somemon warping in from another floor. She quickly changed her trajectory that way.

Stumbling into another clearing, Espurr's eyes settled upon the 'mon that had warped in—it was Tricky!

The moment Tricky noticed Espurr she quickly tackled her to the ground.

"Espurr! Where have you been?"

Realizing that Espurr had not expected to be tackled, Tricky quickly moved back. Espurr got to her feet and tried to brush the dirt out of her coat.

"Looking for you," she said. "Where've you been?"

"Looking for Goomy. You don't know where he is?"

Espurr looked around. "If he's on this floor I haven't found him."

They were both distracted by the sound of somemon warping in to their right.

"That must be Goomy." Both pokemon immediately scrambled in the direction of the noise.

However, upon reaching the area the sound had come from, Espurr realized that it was not Goomy, but in fact Audino and Watchog—

"Get down!"

Espurr didn't have any time to react before Tricky quickly pushed her to the ground. She did her best to get back up as Tricky peered over the bushes at them melodramatically.

"Why?" was all Espurr could muster through her confusion and momentary shock.

"Because…" Tricky began. "If we go with them we'll never find Goomy!"

Espurr finally managed to get into a comfortable spot behind the bushes. "But shouldn't we at least try to look like we've been found?"

"We can't let Goomy wander around here any longer than he already has!" Tricky explained. "…and-I'm-not-supposed-to-be-here-but-that's-not-important-right-now."

Espurr gave her a stare.

"Look—" Tricky began. "Did you see him pass this floor while you were here? Going with Watchog is the absolute worst thing we can do right now! We can't leave the dungeon without Goomy!"

Another bloodcurling roar shook the dungeon, but Espurr seemed to be the only one bothered. Tricky never even flinched. Espurr recalled her saying something about dungeons roaring when they got mad.

"What do you mean you aren't supposed to be here?" she asked.

"I…" Tricky looked to the floor in shame. "…kind of exited the dungeon without you guys."

"You left without us?" Espurr asked.

"Well, I came back now!" Tricky said.

"You just don't want to get in more trouble!" Espurr accused her, her anger taking over. Had everything that happened yesterday meant nothing to Tricky?

"Why would I be here again if I didn't care about you guys?" Tricky hissed indignantly.

"Because you probably got into trouble out there, and you think if you rescue us you'll get out of it again." Espurr folded her arms in finality.

"That's not true!" Tricky howled as well as she could under her breath.

"Then what is?"

"I'm here because…" Tricky began. "…Because that's what explorers do! They rescue other pokemon! They don't leave them behind in mystery dungeons! And if that means getting in trouble then I get into a lot of trouble anyway! I… kinda forgot that. But if we leave Goomy behind… then everymon today fails as an explorer. So tell me, as an explorer: Is Goomy safe?" Tricky peeked out at Watchog and Audino, then slowly bowed her head. "If you think he is… then we'll go with Watchog. I promise."

Espurr felt a warm golden glow coming from Tricky and dancing across her vision. Somehow, some deep part of her instinctively knew what it meant: Honesty.

She took a moment to think on it. There was something on this floor with them. She wanted to leave as soon as she could. But if they left without Goomy… Could she say, with all certainty that Goomy was safe? If several hours had passed, and pokemon were searching for Goomy…

Then she remembered what had happened in the Foreboding Forest, and somehow she knew that he wasn't. And that was why she shook her head no.

"You're right," Espurr finally decided. "He isn't safe. We'll stay. If Audino and Watchog missed something, maybe we'll find it."

She half expected Tricky to have a joy tantrum right there and then and unwittingly give away their location to Audino and Watchog, but nothing of the sort happened. Tricky was all business. She silently nodded and led Espurr through the bushes, making sure to avoid low patches of shrubbery where Watchog might catch a glimpse of them.

"C'mon!" Tricky said. "We don't know where Goomy will appear, but we need to be ready to hear him when he does!"

"Wait," Espurr said. Tricky stopped, and looked back at her.

"You should know: There's something on this floor," she continued. "That's what's making the roars. I saw it coming after me."

Tricky just tilted her head and contorted her expression in confusion.

"Are you sure you didn't just see a big dungeon 'mon?" she asked. "I hear that roaring all the time and I've never seen anything."

Audino and Watchog had already gone to the next floor, it seemed. It wasn't for lack of trying- they had certainly searched the anchorstone for Espurr and Goomy. It was just that Tricky was very good at taking pokemon for a loop (although the fog certainly helped as well). They had never even suspected that Espurr and Tricky were on the dungeon floor.

And now the two pokemon had the run of the place to themselves. Until the dungeon began to lash back at them. Already, they had had to deal with two trees spontaneously falling down upon their heads—two incidents they had barely escaped with their lives intact. Espurr was beginning to worry that Goomy had not made it, that they should just go ahead. She knew that would destroy Tricky, but if it came down to destroying Tricky or destroying them both, Espurr was willing to make the sacrifice.

Until they heard a loud sound to their left through all the fog—the sound of somemon warping onto the dungeon floor. Tricky, who had been almost as ready to give up as Espurr, suddenly perked up.

"That must be Goomy—C'mon Espurr!" she shouted gleefully, bounding off into the fog so fast it was all Espurr could do not to get lost again as well.

Sure enough, once Espurr and Tricky arrived at the area the sound had come from, they were met with the pink-purple visage of Goomy. It was a sight Espurr was elated to see.

Goomy was panting, no doubt from the ordeals he had endured down in the dungeon. He slowly looked up at Espurr and Tricky, his face rising in joy as he realized who the 'mon standing in front of him were.

"Espurr! T-tricky!" He cried, throwing himself against them the best he could. On any other occasion, Espurr might have worried about getting Goomy's goo in her fur. But right now, she simply didn't care.

The dungeon roared. It howled so loudly Tricky's ears lowered in pain, and another tree fell right beside them with a might crash.

Espurr, Goomy, and Tricky stared at the tree in shock.

"…Okay. That's bad," Tricky finally admitted.

~\({O})/~

School Grounds

The entrance to the School Forest warped, and Audino and Watchog stepped out. They were met with the faces of Principal Simipour, and the rest of the students.

"They wanted to wait out here for the rest of the students' return," Simipour explained. "And who was I to stop them?"

Both Watchog and Audino traded looks.

"We… couldn't find them," Audino admitted.

"Got attacked by the dungeon several times on the way out," Watchog added. "It'd take nothing short of a miracle for them to get out alive."

Audino directed her gaze down towards the ground, and then she was silent.

Suddenly, the dungeon entrance began to warp again. Everymon stood back, giving the entrance a wide berth, until the dungeon finally spat out Espurr, Tricky, and Goomy in a pile.

Everymon was silent for ten more seconds, gazing at the students in shock. Then everything exploded into chaos. Audino quickly swooped over to them, helping the three students up and getting them to the school clinic. The other three students quickly followed along, bombarding them with questions. Simipour folded his arms behind his back. Watchog just viewed the whole scene, and sputtered in disbelief.

~\({O})/~

"You three should count yourselves lucky," Audino warned, locking away her medical supplies in the School Clinic's cabinet. "I'm amazed you three got out of that with as few injuries as you did. You just might be the single luckiest kids I have ever seen in my entire career. A bill of clean health for all three of you!"

She sounded put together, but Espurr could tell she had her business face on to hide how shaken she was.

Once Goomy was released, he was almost immediately pounced upon by Deerling, who began bombarding him with a thousand questions and admonishments all at once. That left Espurr and Tricky all alone, and for once with nothing to do.

"So… now what?" Tricky asked. Espurr didn't know.

Then Tricky caught a glimpse of the sun, which was beginning to set.

"Ohmigosh!" she yelled. "Look at the sun! We're gonna miss Ampharos!"

Both Espurr and Tricky turned to leave the school clinic, but suddenly they both felt a pair of claws swiftly clamp down upon their heads.

"Not so fast," Watchog growled, lowering his head to meet Espurr and Tricky's and eyeing them both menacingly. "You know, I was going to let it slide, being the last day of spring and all. But then you both missed it for the last two days…"

Both Espurr and Tricky froze. Oh, berr—

"Detention," Watchog snarled with a grin.

~\({O})/~

Sunset was nearly over by the time Espurr and Tricky got free from Watchog's detention and made their way up towards the Hill With the Big Tree. As promised, Ampharos was indeed waiting for them under the tree's branches, a smallish box tucked under his arm. A westward breeze was blowing, causing him to fiddle with his misbehaving cloak.

"We… we made it…" Tricky panted out after she had caught her breath enough to talk.

"So I see," Ampharos responded. "And you brought Espurr with you too—how splendid! Although I must admit… I have a bit of a confession to make."

"Confession?" Tricky glanced at Ampharos in confusion, tilting her head. "What kind?"

"See, I might have lied when I said there were two Expedition Society Memberships…" Ampharos quickly laughed it off, setting the box down in front of them.

"Behold!" he shouted, opening the box. "One Expedition Society Membership, because one is all you will ever need." Espurr and Tricky gazed inside the box, where a small, hexagonal device sat.

"With this, you can officially register an Expedition Society dungeon team," Ampharos continued. "You just insert your blue orb of choice, type in the name, save it, and you're good as a gastradon!"

Blue orb…

That made Espurr pause. Ampharos knew… he did, didn't he. He couldn't have dropped that orb by accident. He must have known. Who was he? Why was he here?

"Who are you?" Espurr asked, her eyes trained on Ampharos suspiciously.

"Why, dear Espurr…" Ampharos bowed. "You already know the answer to that. I am… the Dashing Wanderer!"

And with that, he threw his cape up flamboyantly, but the wind kicked it up over his face.

"Ah… never mind that," he muttered, muffled as he messed with the garment. He adjusted it into a more comfortable position, batting it down so the wind wouldn't blow it up again. "As of today, you two children can be proud to call yourself Junior Expedition Society Members!"

Tricky was over the moon at the idea of having anything to do with the Expedition Society, and there was nothing Espurr or Ampharos could do to calm her down. She pranced around the tree until the sun began to sink a little low into the sky, and even Ampharos had to leave for the night. Soon after, she calmed down, sitting next to Espurr and watching the sun finish sinking.

Espurr looked down at the box, which had been sitting next to her for a while. She pushed it back over to Tricky.

"It's all yours," Espurr said. "I know you wanted it."

Tricky looked down at the box uncomfortably, like she wanted to say something she'd been stewing on for a while. "Actually, I wanted to ask…"

She pushed the expedition gadget back, until the box sat an equal distance between them. "Do you want to make an exploration team with me? We'd go into dungeons prepared, and…. And only if you want to. You just have to tell me now. I-It's fine if you don't want to."

Her head turned down towards the grass in front of them immediately. Espurr felt put on the spot. They'd just gotten out of a life-threatening encounter with a dungeon… and Tricky wanted to drag her into one again?

"I just don't wanna do it alone," Tricky quickly admitted, breaking Espurr's train of thought. It was little more than a mutter, nearly silent as she studied the grass beneath her. "I wanna do it with a friend."

"As long as we can be friends outside of mystery dungeons?" Espurr asked.

Tricky looked up at her with something resembling shock.

"Th-that means yes?" she asked, sounding shocked. Espurr could both hear and see her disbelief.

"If you'll be my friend as much as I'm yours, then I can go exploring with you," Espurr said. "Does that sound acceptable?"

"Yes!" Tricky exclaimed, nodding her head almost too fast for Espurr to follow. "I promise on the tip of my tail, I'll be your best friend ever!"

"Then sure," Espurr replied brightly, before she could get second thoughts. "You're on."

"Really?" Tricky's face lit up brighter than the sun. Espurr nodded for finality. Before she knew it, Tricky had her wrapped up in a nuzzling embrace.

"Thanksyousomuch! We're going to have the best summer ever!"

The mood was so bright it couldn't last, but Espurr didn't want to ruin the moment. For right now, there was just the blowing of the wind, the setting sun over the lake, and a quiet peace she hadn't felt before. No matter how terrible Pancham was or how scary the dungeons got, at least she didn't have to face them alone anymore. There was somemon who could have her back through everything, and for now, that was enough. Enough to feel like she could conquer anything that came her way. Enough to feel like tomorrow really would be a good day for exploring.

Enough to make this new, unfamiliar place feel just a little more like home.

When the sun finished setting and they both split their separate ways, Espurr headed down the forest path towards the school clinic feeling warm, fuzzy, and excited for the day ahead.

~\({O})/~

Music of The Week!

Launch Vipers - Bear McCreary