.12

Various shortages in Waterport reflective of Grass Continent legislation

Several transports sunk off the western brink of the Air Continent half a week ago, set to affect the supply of various items in the Waterport in the coming weeks. These barges, carrying items shipped from the Grass Continent, sunk after a dangerous journey around the northern cape of Air during winter months. The items could not go through the Air Continent due to a piece of legislation forbidding interaction in the waters between Air and Grass. Grass is one of the largest suppliers of essential items and food to the other continents, which only serves to make this law more outdated.

~ Cloud Nine News Network

~\({O})/~

14.

The Dungeon Runners, Pt II

~\({O})/~

Carracosta's House

~Tricky~

Tricky felt better when she woke up the next day. The sun was already high up in the sky, but it wasn't a school day, so Tricky stayed slumped over in her bed, drifting in the twilight realm between sleeping and waking. It was only when the smell of simmering berries and vegetables came from the hallway that she finally stirred, stretching and then lazily plodding across the hall to the washroom.

Dunking her head underwater for a second brought clarity back to her. Now she remembered what had happened yesterday, and why she had been so shaken up. In the Foreboding Forest. That dungeon 'mon swarm. Espurr had almost died—Tricky had almost died. It was almost Poliwrath River all over again!

For the first time in what felt like years, Tricky wanted nothing to do with mystery dungeons. She had only been friends with Espurr for nine days—she didn't want a repeat of Budew! Not so soon… not ever. They were getting too reckless. It had to stop. Before…

Tricky sat in the middle of the bathroom, breathing hard. Thinking about this was beginning to bring back bad memories. She just wanted to move on and not think about it.

But she couldn't. Not this time.

Maybe breakfast would help. Those berries smelled good.

And with that, she quickly took a large gulp of water from the pot, spat it out the window like Pops had told her never to do, and trotted off to the dining room.

Breakfast was sautéed vegetables and berries, which Tricky quickly ate before they got cold. Those were always gross when she didn't eat them hot. Then she left the house, bounding down towards the village square and quickly taking a hard left through an alleyway up towards the school. It was her little shortcut. She'd go get Espurr, and then they'd find something fun to do in the village square for the day! Something that didn't involve dungeon exploring.

The School Clinic was deserted. Tricky banged on the window, peering in through the windowpanes the best she could. The windows were made for pokemon at least twice as tall as she was.

"Hey Espurr!" she called out.

No answer greeted her back.

"Is anymon in there?"

The clinic was silent. It really seemed like there was no-mon in there. Tricky backed away from the door, staring at it in confusion. But if no-mon was here, then… where was Espurr?

"Espurr!" Tricky called out as she walked through the Village Square, looking around for her friend. Where was she? The sudden absence was beginning to bug Tricky a little.

She flinched as a pebble suddenly whistled through the air and caught her ear. Tricky glanced in the direction it had come from, but there was nothing she could see through all the pokemon who were currently in the square.

"Espurr!" Tricky called out again. By the time she had reached the end of the village square, nearly an hour later, she still had not seen hide nor hair of her friend. Tricky lowered her ears glumly. That was the whole village combed. Oh well. She guessed Espurr would turn up sooner or later. Unless something bad had happened to her… Tricky quickly shook her head to clear her brain of those thoughts. Nothing bad was going to happen. Nothing bad had happened. Espurr would never go off and leave without her. She was sure of it.

"I-I Just want to be left alone…" Tricky's ears pricked up once again. She looked to her left. On the south side of the square, Goomy was sliming towards the eastern exit, and Deerling was following in his wake.

"Are you sure?" Deerling asked. "You'll be all by yourself all day…"

"I-I'm sure." Goomy slimed up past Tricky and continued on his way towards. Deerling clopped up near where Tricky was standing, but reluctantly didn't follow Goomy. Noticing Tricky, she promptly turned her nose up at her and walked away in the opposite direction. Tricky sat on her haunches for half a minute more. Then she took off in Goomy's direction. There was something to fill the time!

Goomy was busy making his way up through the houses when Tricky caught up with and fell into a trot beside him.

"O-oh. Hi, Tricky," Goomy said.

"Have you seen Espurr?" Tricky panted out. "I can't find her!"

Goomy shook his head the best he could. "N-no. I haven't s-seen her. Not since summer s-started."

"Oh…" Tricky let the dejection seep into her voice. "Can you tell me if you see her?"

"I-I'm going back h-home," Goomy said. "I'm hungry."

Now that Tricky thought about it, she was kind of hungry too. Again. All that searching had taken a lot out of her. "Well… wanna come have lunch at my place? Pops won't mind."

Goomy looked like he was thinking it over.

"…W-where do you live?" he finally asked. "I-I never saw your house."

Tricky immediately perked up. "It's this way!" she yipped excitedly, heading straight down the path faster than Goomy could ever hope to keep up with. "Just follow me there!"

~\({O})/~

Espurr was busy cleaning. Audino had woken her early in the morning so they could clean out the dusty mess of the house they'd stayed in last night. It had taken three hours' hard work, and the dust made Espurr's throat scratchy, but finally it was done. The only thing that still needed a major polish was that the luminous orbs fixed to the walls needed to be replaced, but Audino would do that when the merchants came into town later this week.

Which left Espurr to her own devices. After packing the expedition gadget away in her bag, she decided to take a trip to Tricky's house and get her so they could do a mission.

Audino lived near the west side of town, so it only took about five-or-so minutes of walking to get there. Before long she saw Carracosta's house peeking out among the others, its roof decorated with the dark blue colors of his shell. She quickly ran the rest of the way there.

Knock~knock~knock

Espurr knocked on the door. She waited for an answer. After a moment the door swung open, and Carracosta looked down at Espurr.

"Tricky's not here," he warbled out before Espurr could ask. "She left almost an hour ago. Didn't say what she was doing, just said she was going out with friends."

Espurr felt like the words had been snatched straight out of her mouth. It was almost ten seconds before she was able to reply to that intelligently: "…Oh. Okay. Thank you anyway."

Carracosta grunted wordlessly in reply, and then the door closed behind him. Espurr was left there on the porch, wondering where Tricky could have gone. Knowing Tricky… she could be anywhere. With a puff of disappointment, Espurr set out back towards the village.

Ten minutes later, Tricky bounded up towards the house, spinning around and waiting for a panting Goomy to finish sliming up onto the hill.

"C'mon!" she yelled. "You're a slowpoke!"

"N-not everymon was blessed with legs to w-walk on," Goomy stuttered. "I-I can only go so f-fast…"

Tricky waited impatiently for Goomy to finish making his way up the hill, and then immediately ran to the door and began to push down the knob with her paw.

"Pops, I'm back!" she yelled into the house. She trotted in, followed by Goomy. Carracosta was in the parlor, jotting down a recipe with a pen made specifically for his large flippers. He looked up at Tricky, and then his eyes veered down towards Goomy. Tricky quickly took the opportunity to introduce Goomy. "This is Goomy, Pops. He's one of the other kids from school!"

There was a moment before Carracosta said anything.

"…I see." He let his eyes remain on Goomy a little longer, then went back to his recipe writing.

"Are there any leftovers from breakfast?" Tricky asked. She didn't like them cold, but she wasn't the one eating them.

"Have berries," Carracosta grunted. Tricky shrugged. She jumped up onto one of the chairs, then realized Goomy couldn't get up onto the seat. She glanced down at him.

"What kind of berry do you want?" she asked.

"A-appleberry," Goomy replied.

Tricky nicked an appleberry from the bowl on the table with her teeth, then hopped down from the chair and handed it to Goomy.

"Your friend was here, by the way," Carracosta said.

Tricky immediately perked up.

"Really?" she asked. "Where did she go?"

"Didn't see," replied Carracosta.

"Oh..." Another close miss. Tricky's tail lashed impatiently. "How long ago?"

"Ten minutes," came the warble.

Ten minutes... it took half of that to get to the square. If Tricky really rushed, maybe she could catch Espurr. But she had to go now.

~\({O})/~

Village Square

Espurr couldn't find Tricky. She sat with her arms folded by the village square, under the front window of Audino's house where Audino couldn't see her. How large was this village, anyway? It was almost ridiculous when Espurr thought about it, how two pokemon could stay separated in a town this small. She supposed she could have just waited at Tricky's house, but that would be wasting the entire day. She wondered if she could go up to the library and finally get those books–but then she remembered she'd need Watchog's help to do that, and she was currently spying him standing in the ever-present line to Kecleon's in the near distance. Espurr sighed.

Well, even if she couldn't find Tricky, that didn't mean she needed to stick around here the whole day. She could still take a mission. The gears turned in her head: maybe this was better. She didn't need to be part of a team to clear a dungeon. She could do that herself. She had to be a legendary hero after all, right? So if she really was that legendary hero, she could do something as trivial as clearing a dungeon on her own.

Or better yet, clearing one of the harder missions in the area. After they'd been through so many easier ones… that sounded like a good test of what she could do.

She pulled out the exploration gadget, switched it on, flipped it against the house wall, and looked at what missions there were to take. The amount of missions on the board was only beginning to multiply, now that there was somemon to take them rather than leave them collecting dust. Her eyes scanned the virtual billboard, searching for the ones that looked like a challenge. And soon, she found what she was looking for.

It was another retrieval mission just like the one in Wooloo Plains, only this time it was a scarf that was lost. The mission was marked with three stars, more than any of the missions on the display were. Espurr was supposed to retrieve it from Poliwrath River, and the reward listed was a pair of psychic papers. Espurr had no idea what those were, but they sounded useful.

Alright then. That'd be her mission for the day. She'd clear it, easy. It'd be a cakewalk. Espurr just had to do one thing first.

Audino had already finished eating by the time Espurr walked in. "Can I borrow a piece of paper?" she asked.

Audino looked up from the book she was reading. "There's some in the bag, if you want it. Why?"

"Just writing a note," Espurr responded.

"To whom?" Audino asked.

"Tricky. It's normal kids' stuff." Espurr dug in the pair of stuffed exploration bags, finding the pieces of paper that were crumpled up inside and extracting one. Once the note was written, she packed up the quill and ink the best she could. And then she was out the door again, before Audino could question what 'normal kids' stuff' was.

She left the note stuck to the door on her way out:

"Living here now. Gone to Poliwrath River on a mission. ~ Espurr"

~\({O})/~

Tricky walked down towards the village square, her tail drooping behind her in boredom. If Espurr was going to be anywhere, she'd be there. Right?

In passing, she noticed that the old vacant house next the village square that had always been empty had its windows open. That got Tricky's attention. Had somemon broken in?

She crept towards the house, glancing up towards the window. Inside, she spied… Nurse Audino! Reading a book! Tricky gasped sharply, then quickly dived down under the window before Audino could notice her. This was Nurse Audino's house!

Then she noticed the note taped to the door. She walked over to it, and read what was on it.

Tricky's heart skipped a beat. Then sank. And kept sinking.

She wanted to scream in horror. She began to shake all over with terror, her mind running in circles. Espurr had gone to… she couldn't have! She just couldn't!

But the note was right there, right in front of her, and no matter how much Tricky wished it would change it didn't. Espurr had gone to Poliwrath Woods. She didn't know. She didn't know. Tricky hadn't told her yet.

The fennekin eventually broke out of her stupor, taking a deep breath and trying to hold in a sob of horror. She had to help Espurr! She couldn't go back to Poliwrath River… But she had to! She just… she'd die if another one of her friends died in there too, and she knew it. It was better if they both died instead of only her living.

And with that one thought lingering in her mind, Tricky quickly took off in the direction of Poliwrath River. If she kept her mind straight, she could almost remember the way there.

~\({O})/~

Poliwrath River

Espurr walked through the woods, trying to trample as little foliage as possible on her way. It was a ways out from the village to the southwest, and the ground was muddy here. She checked the sun. Afternoon.

The breeze blew in her direction, and Espurr caught a whiff of that familiar rotting stench—the scent of a mystery dungeon. The wind was blowing from her right, so she looked that way. Just through the trees, she could see an unusually shrouded grove of forest, all viny and tangled. That must have been it. Espurr trudged through a small stream as she headed there. The water splashed against her feet and the bottom of her bag.

It was definitely a mystery dungeon. And a powerful one too. Espurr could feel its presence practically vibrating in the air around her. Even from outside, the dungeon felt malevolent. Doubts crept into her head—maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe it was better to go back. She could tackle this another time, w-when Tricky was there with her.

Then, with a pang of shame, Espurr shook the thought off. She hadn't even entered the dungeon yet, and here she was getting scared. Some hero she made. Besides, it wasn't like she was helpless anymore. No, she'd prove she wasn't helpless. Once and for all. With that thought driving her onwards, Espurr took a deep breath, stepped forwards, and felt the hot, humid breeze vanish into the stale air of Mystery Dungeon.

The place was deserted and grimy, even for a dungeon. Tall, dead trees leaned in towards her, gnarled branches grasping down as if to snatch up unwitting travelers from below. Vines hung from everywhere, black as the trees' bark and rotting in places. Almost no light escaped the canopy above, casting the swamp below into a black, murky darkness. Espurr trudged determinedly through the marsh that barely even qualified as mud, looking for that scarf. Despite herself, she was starting to really hope she found it soon. This place sent chills through her.

Every once in a while, Espurr got the feeling she was being watched. There were things that swam silently in the murky water, taking care to stay far out of view. Even though she never caught full sight of any creature other than herself, Espurr kept a wary eye on her surroundings anyway, hugging her bag close like it would protect her. The swamp was vast, and she knew she wasn't alone.

The first floor of the dungeon was cleared without any major incident.

On the second floor, the dungeon suddenly went cold. It wasn't natural cold—it was the kind that sent chills down one's back and made them feel like they were being stalked. This was an evil place. More evil than all the mystery dungeons she had encountered so far. And she still hadn't found that scarf. Maybe it had been lost to the marshes long ago. Thoughts of completing the mission and proving herself a hero were first slowly undone by thoughts of just getting out of here alive.

Maybe something had happened to this place, Espurr thought as she walked through the third floor. The absence of dungeon 'mon was beginning to unnerve her just as much as the surroundings did. Dungeons were almost never deserted like this. Not unless there was something worse around. And there was something worse around—Espurr could feel its presence in the air, making it heavy, getting closer with every floor she passed. And eventually, she'd have to face it. There was no going back: all she could do was be ready.

However far away she felt from being ready.

The dungeon only got more overgrown as she went, and the marsh deeper. It sucked in nearly her whole legs now, and the bottom half of the exploration bag was dragging through the grime. The only relief was that the ground seemed to be thinning out into swamp water instead of just thick mud, and it was getting easier and easier to wade through the dungeon. But even so… any higher, and Espurr might not be able to cross. She was already waist-deep, and feeling a sickening pit in her stomach at the thought of all that mud covering her.

She did not find the scarf on the third floor, either. Instead, she found the stairs, half-submerged by the marsh. Espurr didn't ask questions. She just pulled herself out of the mud with a squelch, her bottom half painted a blackish-brown, and hurried up to the next floor as quickly as she could.

The next floor led onto dry land, and Espurr could finally move her mud-caked legs freely again. But her relief didn't last long—if the last couple of floors had crept her out, then this floor terrified her. The tree branches definitely looked like hands now, twisted decaying claws grasping out as if they were reaching upwards in pain. Everything was a rotting, stinking black, shaded by only the dimmest fragments of light. The plants drooped, blackened and dead. The ground squelched and splashed under her feet, soot-black, liquid muck that smelt like bile. A weak breeze smelling of rotting flesh whistled through the canopy, creating a sound like a distant anguished moan as it blew.

Espurr nearly puked, the smell was so strong. She had to cover her nose as she walked through the wasteland, barely keeping herself from quivering along the way. She was willing to admit it now: this place had her scared out of her wits. Where was that stupid scarf?

Soon, she came to the border of a proper marsh. It was murky, expansive, and looked too deep for her to trudge through even if she submerged herself all the way up to her neck. Tentatively uncovering her nose, Espurr took a few careful steps away from the riverbank, just in case the slippery mud gave way and catapulted her into the water. How was she going to get past that? She had to, if she wanted to leave the dungeon. And she really wanted to leave.

Her eyes wavered to one of the ridiculously large lily pads in the distance. There were a couple of them, floating serenely out on the lake, and they looked sturdy enough to hold her despite the darkened, decaying patches. Could she… it seemed ridiculous.

But could she?

The dungeon suddenly roared. Espurr barely had time to brace herself for the wind as it buffeted her towards the water, but it didn't knock her to her feet or blow her back like the winds of Foreboding Forest had. It felt… weak. It felt like the dungeon was sick. Didn't it have the power to defend itself?

And then just like that, with a whimpering howl, it died out. The dungeon settled into silence again. Espurr slowly uncovered her face, but retched at the smell the wind left behind. She covered her nose tightly, breathing through her mouth. Now she could taste it.

She didn't know what propelled her after that. Maybe the innate desire to survive, blocking out all feelings of terror or disgust. She snapped a vine off a low-hanging tree. She picked a stone up from the ground and tied it to the vine. Then she swung it with her paws, and threw. It landed on one of the lily pads in the distance. The stone caught on the edges of the lily pad, and stayed there. Espurr tugged gently on the vine. The rock didn't budge. That was a good sign. Slowly, Espurr began to pull the vine back towards her, tugging the lily pad across the river as it went. Soon, it was close enough to the shore that Espurr could touch it if she reached hard. Then it bumped up against the mud. That was close enough. Through her covered nose, Espurr fell to her knees, took a deep breath, and then slowly put her front paws on it.

It felt fragile, especially the mottled darker parts, but it didn't break. Espurr carefully climbed onto the rest of the lily pad, staying on all fours to spread out her weight. She put a paw in the murky water, and gently began to paddle forward.

The lilypad cut across the water slowly but smoothly. Espurr carefully paddled with a single paw through the marsh, slow, silent strokes taking the lilypad across the lake at a snail's pace.

She had paddled for almost five minutes when she saw something ripple in the marsh to the left. Espurr barely held in a sharp gasp. It was too large to have been disturbed by the wind, and there was no wind in here. That meant there was something in the water with her. And on this lily pad, in the middle of the lake, she was helpless to do anything about it. Except try to keep calm. And get to the other side. Espurr began to continue paddling like she had been before, breathing a little harder this time.

A minute later she saw the water ripple ahead of her, but disappear just as quickly. It occurred to her that whatever was in the water might just be toying with her. If that was true… she might never reach the other side of the marsh. But she was so close… Espurr began to paddle faster.

Ripples in the still water appeared for another split second, right in front of her, and then disappeared as fast as they came.

A blue slimy fist suddenly punched through the underside of Espurr's lily pad and grabbed Espurr by the stomach—

—Espurr screamed and bit down on the hand with her fangs. The hand jerked, let go of her stomach and sank back into the water slowly. But its absence left a large hole in the middle of her lily pad. And she was taking on water fast. Espurr began to scramble for something to stop the flow—something to fill the hole with, but there was nothing. It was going to sink and then she was going to die and—

—And the shoreline was just over there. If Espurr swam for it she could make it. She was sure of it.

Another blue hand suddenly grabbed the edge of the lily pad behind her and then before she knew it Espurr was flipped into the water—

—She caught her bearings fast, surfaced, and began to swim for it. The shore was right over there. She was going to make it. She was going to make it!

Not fast enough. Something grabbed her leg and pulled her deeper down with a whoosh and then Espurr's body was eclipsed by water and she saw the poliwrath for the first time. It was massive. Scarred. Blue and ugly, covered in warts. Its eyes were black as night. Espurr wasn't having it. She directed all her mental energy in a straight beam towards the poliwrath, and knocked it back a good six feet in the water. Espurr didn't waste any time getting to the shore.

She pulled herself onto dry land, grabbing the waterlogged exploration bag from the water and standing up. Her fur was heavy, and she was freezing. And the swamp was just as revolting as it was before. But before she could finish catching her breath, she noticed a large pair of feet in front of her. Looking up, she found herself face to face with another large, hulking poliwrath. Espurr let out a whimper of fear. The poliwrath kicked her with its powerful legs, sending her soaring straight back into the water.

The marsh was cold and muddy and cloudy and murky. Espurr felt herself sink down into it, still woozy from the punch to the gut she had taken. She saw the underwater poliwrath swim up towards her, and it made to grab her head—

—But then there was a muffled explosion from above. The cloudy water she couldn't see through flashed bright orange for just a second. The poliwrath looked up. Espurr, who was not suited to underwater conditions at all, desperately tried to find her footing in the water. And then the poliwrath swam up towards the surface, ignoring her. Like she had never even existed in the first place.

Fine by Espurr. She was finally getting ahold of herself, and she was completely out of air. She forced herself to swim towards the top, trying not to lose the exploration bag in the process.

Espurr pulled herself onto the shore again, gasping for breath and checking around the immediate area for any more poliwrath. Her stomach ached where poliwrath had kicked her, badly. The pain was just now beginning to fade in, crimson fuzz ebbing at the corner of her vision. She grit her teeth and pulled herself to her knees. The sounds of a battle crashed behind her. Espurr turned to look. Both poliwrath were on the shore, being barraged with small blasts of fire from…

…Was that Tricky?

Espurr quickly stood up, coughing a bit but keeping her balance. "Tricky!" she yelled. Her voice was hoarse.

Tricky looked up at Espurr, but the poliwrath took the opportunity to land twin attacks against her, punting her off into a mud pit. Espurr ran forward on instinct, barely stopping herself at the riverbank. She had to help somehow!

Tricky tried to get up from the muddy ditch she had been punched into, but the poliwrath were already on top of her before she could. She was punched again. The blow knocked the air out of her. The second poliwrath raised its fist, preparing to deal the final blow—

Then suddenly a powerful invisible force yanked it back away from her, leaving one side completely open for Tricky to escape. She looked in the distance—it was Espurr! But there was something Tricky had to do first. As the second poliwrath grabbed for her tail, she spun around and spat a fireball directly in its face. Then she scampered away as quicks as her legs could take her.

Espurr's hold on the first poliwrath slipped—it was too strong! But it couldn't stop what it had been trying to do for the last ten seconds: Charge forward. It collided headfirst with the other poliwrath that had been charging after Tricky. Glancing back briefly to see the poliwrath collide, Tricky ran across the length of the shore towards. Espurr.

"Go! Run!" she screamed. Espurr unfroze. She didn't ask questions. She just quickly grabbed the exploration bag, and the both of them bolted off into the foliage together.

Espurr didn't know how close the poliwrath were to them, only that they were following them and that she could smell the rotting of the swamp mixing with a new scent of something burning. She asked Tricky about that as they quickly made their way through the swamp: "Is something burning?"

"I…" Tricky said between large heaving breaths as they ran. "I kinda sorta maybe by accident… set something on fire a few floors down."

The burning smell was coming from ahead. Espurr and Tricky suddenly stopped short—the dungeon was on fire! And through the burning plants and trees and vines Espurr saw it: A pristine set of stone steps sitting amongst the smoldering shrubbery.

"Look!" Espurr shouted, pointing into the fire. "The stairs!"

An entire twisted tree landed behind them with forceful impact, shattering into splinters of wood. Espurr's head spun around, shielding her face for cover, and saw the slimy blue hides of the Poliwrath as they approached from the other side. She looked between the two hazards—death by poliwrath, or fire?

At least they had a chance of living with the fire. Tricky didn't even think twice—she bolted off into the inferno, sparing only a single look back at Espurr as she ran.

"Come on Espurr!" she yelled, sounding terrified. "It's just fire!"

Tricky didn't seem to understand that not every pokemon was fire-resistant. But the poliwrath were practically on top of Espurr, and she didn't have much of a choice. She dashed into the flames, and the poliwrath followed. Espurr carefully edged and shimmied around the fire as its tendrils licked at her coat. The poliwrath snuffed out the burning as they went and threw aside entire flaming tree branches and objects. Espurr saw a large stone go soaring towards her, but it went over her head and landed in a ditch a couple of feet ahead of her. She kept her head down, dancing around the fire faster.

She was nearly at the stairs now, where Tricky was waiting impatiently.

"Come on!" she yelled once more. Espurr wanted to say that she was going as fast as she could, but that would have taken up too much time. And then she was at the stairs, still running through nasty, soggy mud, and the poliwrath entered the clearing, and they began to charge—

—A grasping, hulking fist almost caught Espurr's foot. But the pristine stairs began to warp, and suddenly Espurr and Tricky were all alone in the cold, dark, dim marsh.

They fell into shallow, grimy water. Espurr could still smell the rotting and the burning. It was distant, but still there.

Tricky caught her breath in the darkness, still recovering from all the excitement. "What… what were you doing in here?" she yelled at Espurr. "You scared me to death! Don't ever do that!"

"Do what?" Espurr asked, frazzled and taken aback. All she'd done was take a mission. How was she supposed to know the dungeon was going to be this terrifying?

Realizing how crazy she sounded, Tricky took deep breaths, trying to calm down. "This… this is the place where Budew died," she said.

Then all of it suddenly made sense to Espurr. No wonder Tricky had come all this way after her!

"…Sorry," she finally said. "I didn't know."

"I never told anymon." Tricky began to trot off stiffly. "I just wanna get out of here," she said hurriedly, her voice shaking. "Can we do that, please?"

Espurr nodded.

The marsh on this floor of the dungeon was overgrown with vines and tangleweeds, which twisted over the ground so badly that nothing could have survived in it. This must have been why it was deserted. Espurr and Tricky traversed the marsh, searching for the staircase to the next floor. The burning smell had gotten stronger, so much now that Espurr was sure the fire had reached this floor somewhere. She wondered why the dungeon hadn't put it out yet. Then she looked at some of the vines hanging off the dungeon's gnarled walls, how dead they were. She remembered the wind. This dungeon was a place of death and decay. It must have been dying too. It was too weak to put itself out.

Good. As far as Espurr was concerned, this place could burn the ground. She just didn't want to be in here when the fire killed it.

Places all along the floor were beginning to smoke and smolder now, and the bristling heat of the fire had evaporated most of the water in the marshes. Espurr was beginning to feel too hot for comfort. She hoped they found the stairs soon.

"I see the stairs!" Tricky announced a little while later, pointing down the hall. Sure enough, there was the staircase. But no sooner had they begun to walk towards the stairs there came the sound of heavy stomping behind them, and both Espurr and Tricky turned to see only one of the poliwrath from before charging towards them.

"Berry crackers run!" Tricky yelled, and then they both sprinted for the stairs and climbed them before the poliwrath could reach them. The stairs warped, and then the poliwrath's unholy screech of rage was cut off like it had been hit with a brick. Espurr and Tricky both caught the breath in the marsh once again.

"…So it can chase us across floors," Espurr finally concluded. Tricky nodded hurriedly.

Three more floors passed in silence. They didn't see either of the poliwrath again, but Espurr was more than sure that the one they had just narrowly escaped from was following them closely. The fires were more persistent. More than once Espurr saw parts of the floor smoldering away or just plain on fire, and the ambient heat that pervaded the entire dungeon was beginning to make her nauseous. There were fires in so many places that Espurr was genuinely scared they wouldn't find the staircase before the flames consumed the floor. But now she could see the stairs to floor nine, which she hoped was the Anchorstone.

"Tricky, the stairs are that way!" Espurr pointed to the right before Tricky could go too far in the wrong direction. Tricky said nothing, just backpedaling and trying to get to the stairs as hastily as possible. Espurr didn't blame her. The distant screech of the poliwrath sent them both sprinting to the staircase quicker. It had caught up with them!

The stairs warped, and then they were deposited on Floor Nine. It didn't have walls. There was no labyrinth filled with endless dead ends and a perfect stone staircase hidden within its many twists and turns. There was only a thick, overgrown, wilting swamp, and at the other side of the swamp in plain view lay a light-filled archway between the trees. It illuminated everything around it. The way out. Both Espurr and Tricky couldn't help but grin widely. They'd made it!

But then Espurr heard a very familiar sound, and her blood turned to ice. No way. It couldn't have been that fast.

But it was. Where there had been empty space just seconds before, the poliwrath was now behind them. It had been burnt badly by the fire, but that was just making it more angry. Both Espurr and Tricky looked up at it with wide-eyed horror.

"Oh, COME ON—" Tricky yelled—and then it punted her straight into the marsh. Espurr ducked and barely avoided one of its punches. She knew she couldn't beat that thing on her own. Not if she fought fairly. She looked at the burnt spots on the poliwrath's body and arms. Maybe those… maybe she could do something with those.

Espurr stayed perfectly still. Like she predicted, the poliwrath raised its left fist to punch her into mush on the ground, and then it brought its powerful fist down. Espurr grabbed a pointy rock from the ground, and before the punch could land she stabbed the poliwrath right where the fire had seared away some of its skin. The poliwrath screeched in pain and rage, and used its other fist to punch Espurr to the side. Espurr bounced back quickly—she had to—and glanced at the riverbank that Tricky was quickly pulling herself out of. She didn't want to bring attention to Tricky. Tricky briefly glanced at Espurr, then quickly began to charge an attack. Espurr backed away and tried to make it look like she hadn't seen Tricky as the poliwrath advanced upon her. Just a second longer…

And then Tricky spat an ember. It landed against the poliwrath's back. The reaction to the fire was visceral. The poliwrath seized up in pain, and then let out a screech of rage. It spun and began to charge for Tricky—

—Espurr was quick. She grabbed the stone again, and jumped forward and slashed the poliwrath in the ankle. All the sudden the large pokemon was brought down to its knees. An ember from Tricky sent it reeling onto its back, and then both Espurr and Tricky retreated a good distance away for good measure.

The poliwrath lay on the ground for a moment, completely silent. Espurr brandished the stone anyway. She and Tricky shared looks, both breathing hard. Espurr looked at the entrance, lying all the way on the other side of the lake. That lake looked deep. How were they going to cross it? Carefully, she began to move away from where poliwrath lay on the ground, edging over to the water.

"Is it dead?" Tricky asked.

"I don't know," Espurr whispered back. She could already feel the floor beginning to heat up under her feet. "But we need to leave. Can't you feel the fire?"

Tricky looked down at the ground. She said nothing, but Espurr could see in her eyes that she did. They needed to get out of here.

There were vines hanging all over the anchorstone. Espurr broke off yet another long one, pulling its long, snaking form out of the trees and tying it to that pointy rock. Then she and Tricky together both hoisted a pair of lily pads over to their side of the marsh.

Slowly, they climbed on the lily pads and began to paddle their way to the other side. Not a single word was uttered between them, silence exchanged for speed.

Then, when they were halfway across the pond, the sudden sound of something bursting into flame caught Espurr's ears. She and Tricky looked back to see that the fire of the dungeon had spread into the anchorstone—the very fringes of the back foliage were blazing, having caught fire as if out of nowhere.

The fire spread quickly. In just a few seconds, it was already burning the plants and trees around the back of the swamp, and spreading at a steady rate. Panicked, Espurr began to paddle faster, but Tricky's shaky question that made her look back a second time: "Hey Espurr? Where did the poliwrath go?"

Espurr snapped her head back—it was true. The poliwrath was gone! That made her paddle so fast she was practically splashing water everywhere.

Then her lily pad imploded. Espurr was pulled into the water so fast she didn't have time to react. She emerged from it silently struggling, with her neck stuck in the grip of the poliwrath. The poliwrath that was staring at Tricky with a glare.

"You killed my friend," Tricky snarled. She began to charge an ember in her throat. "It was you!"

Poliwrath locked featureless black eyes with Tricky. She didn't see remorse in them. Or anything at all. Just pure, simplistic rage. Slowly, deliberately, it began to tighten its grip around Espurr's neck. Espurr was left defenseless, unable to do a thing to stop it but attempting in vain to pry the poliwrath's fingers off of her.

"No!" Tricky shouted. "I won't let you!" she spat an ember in Poliwrath's face, but it didn't even phase Poliwrath. In Poliwrath's fingers, Tricky could see that Espurr was beginning to suffocate. Her eyes narrowed. Then she shot another ember. It flew over Poliwrath's head, and for a moment, it seemed like it had fizzled out into nothing amongst the other flames. Tricky's ears fell.

Then, so did the tree. It crashed into the poliwrath from above, knocking the pokemon into the water and causing it to drop Espurr. Gasping for air, Espurr fell into the water, but Tricky quickly reached out and grabbed Espurr with her teeth—

—And then the lily pad capsized, unable to hold both their weight combined. But thankfully, the water was shallow. They had floated nearly all the way to shore.

Tricky emerged on the riverbank just a moment later, pulling out Espurr with her. Espurr was all woozy from having been punched and kicked and strangled and dunked underwater… berry crackers, she couldn't even remember how many times now, but after a minute of catching her breath, coughing up water, and the heat of the fire to dry their fur off, she was able—not ready, but able—to sit up again. Then Espurr realized what that heat meant. It was enough heat to make the air shimmer around them—the entire swamp was burning!

As sore and beat up as they felt, they both picked themselves up and charged for the entrance that was just ahead. Seconds after they left, the dead vines on the riverbank burst into flames.

~\({O})/~

Espurr and Tricky were sent careening to their sides out of the dungeon. Even from outside, they could see the smoke rising, and plumes of flame flickering from within the hovel of an entrance. The dungeon let out one last ear-wrenching shriek, and both Espurr and Tricky were buffeted with wind that smelled like rotting meat, and then the dungeon imploded upon itself. It collapsed into the ground, leaving nothing but the blackened, twisted remains of a swamp in its wake. The shriek died down into a withered croak before disappearing completely, and then Poliwrath River was no more.

For a moment, Espurr and Tricky didn't move. They just laid on their backs, staring up at the sky. Then Tricky giggled. And couldn't stop giggling. And then Espurr began to laugh, because Tricky was laughing and the whole thing was just so stupid. Neither of them could stop laughing, for a full two minutes. And then suddenly, it wasn't funny anymore.

"…Let's get out of here," Espurr said, completely serious. Tricky agreed.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Outskirts

"It wasn't like that when… when me and Budew went in," Tricky said as she and Espurr both walked down the road back to Serenity Village. "It wasn't a swamp. It had plants. It had ground. There was light. And now…" Tricky glanced back towards the distance, where they both knew the smoldering remains of Poliwrath Woods lay.

"It was evil," Espurr said. "You could taste evil in there. I'm glad it's gone."

"Me too," Tricky replied. Now no-mon could ever die in there again.

They never had found the scarf.

Espurr set the soaked, twice-as-heavy exploration bag down once they reached the stream just outside Serenity Village and dumped out its contents. The waterlogged expedition gadget fell out, followed by Gabite's now-unusable journal, the somehow intact tube of toothpaste, a pouch of oran berries Espurr had packed, an unused wand, and that sack of poke Eevee had given them. Espurr and Tricky both stared at the expedition gadget.

"It's wet…" Tricky said dejectedly. She shared a look with Espurr.

A moment later, Espurr and Tricky both slotted the connection orb into the indent in the middle of the gadget. There was half a moment filled with bated breath—had the water broken it?—but then suddenly the orb lit up! Both Espurr and Tricky sighed in relief. Of course an explorer grade device could handle some water.

It was the beginning of sundown. Espurr and Tricky washed off all the mud off their fur in the lake outside town, and then they dried themselves in the wind that blew by the hill with the big tree. The oran berries had a funny taste from all the swamp water they'd been dunked in, but they made the wounds hurt less.

"I want to say something," Tricky spoke up. They were both lounging against the tree's trunk, idly watching the village in the distance. "From now on, we have to be more careful. I know I wasn't, but... I don't want to lose you in there."

Despite the orans, Espurr still felt every blow that the poliwrath had delt back in there. She knew: If Tricky hadn't shown up, she'd have died for sure.

She tried to come up with a sentence that would say everything she wanted to say, that Tricky had said she was supposed to be a hero, and heroes were supposed to do incredible things all by themselves. But the moment the words came to the tip of her tongue, they all just felt silly.

There wasn't an excuse. She knew it. She looked down and folded her arms.

"I know," she said. "I just… wanted to be one of the heroes from the book."

"But the Legendary Heroes didn't do things on their own!" Tricky cried out. "Heroes had partners and teams! And heroes didn't do dumb things like going off into dungeons without their teammates!"

She screamed that last bit. Espurr was taken aback, even though she knew it was true.

"I'm sorry," Tricky suddenly said, lowering her voice and edging back a bit. "But… today we both almost died. And yesterday too! And then you got trampled by that wooloo herd I thought you did die! And… I couldn't…"

She fought the urge to curl up on the ground, even though it was all she wanted to do.

"You can't ever go into a dungeon without me again," she said, sticking a paw straight against Espurr's chest. "If we do something, we need to do it as a team. You would have been killed if I didn't go after you!"

She couldn't fight it anymore.

"Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe we shouldn't be doing this. I don't want somemon else to… to die."

"Why do you go into dungeons?" Espurr asked matter of factly after a minute.

That made Tricky pause.

"If you're worried about pokemon dying in there, then why do you keep going?" Espurr asked.

"I… I don't…"

It used to be about mindlessly romping off to have fun, copying the heroes that she'd always looked up to. Then it was about hiding, hoping she wouldn't have to face the truth. Now it was about…

Flashes of Budew. She'd never see him again. She realized she'd always known.

"Because not everymon can save themselves from a dungeon. I wanna train to rescue others."

"Then I think we should keep going," Espurr said. "We just need to be more careful. We're the only explorers in the valley. We're the only ones who can help pokemon out. And we did some good. We helped that teddiursa evolve yesterday. And eevee with her money sack before that. If we didn't go, they would have had to go in on their own. I want to keep doing those things. We can do it as a team."

"But we can't keep going if we're gonna be reckless, if one of us is going to…" Tricky broke off.

"Then maybe we can be more careful," Espurr said.

"But how do we be careful?"

"By packing the right things," Espurr said. "By always going together. By only taking the missions with one star. I think those are the ones that aren't dangerous."

Tricky perked up a little at that. She did remember reading something about that in Wartortle's Guide to Dungeoneering…

"If we can be careful and use common sense," Espurr said. "Then we shouldn't end up in a situation like today. Ever again."

Tricky 'hmm'd in approval, drying her eyes on her tail and sitting up. They watched the sun slowly turn the sky from blue to amber as the breeze dried off the rest of the moisture from their coats.

"We still need a team name." Espurr broke the silence that had been held between them for the past five minutes. "We can't be nameless forever."

"That's true..." Tricky sighed. Then she groaned. "Ugh. Why is coming up with team names so hard?! It sounds fun and then you can't think of anything and your brain hurts and…" her words devolved into another groan. She massaged her head with her paws, frustrated.

"What about Team Determination?" Espurr asked.

"Nah," Tricky answered quietly. "Team Incredimon?" she propositioned.

"Too weird," Espurr said. "Team Anthem?" Espurr had overheard the world anthem somewhere and she didn't remember where but she liked the way it rolled off the tongue.

"Too stuck-up. What about Team Scarf Scouts?"

"But what if another pokemon joins our team and doesn't like scarves?"

"Then they don't join! We're the Scarf Scouts! They can make their own stupid team if they hate scarves so much."

"Team Ion?" Espurr asked. Tricky batted at her.

"That's already a team, you doofus!"

Espurr knew she had heard that one somewhere before.

"Team Hellraisers."

"Too much Pancham."

"Team Quest."

"We go on missions, not quests."

"Team Shine?"

"That sounds dumb. We should call ourselves Team Team!"

It was Espurr's turn to bat at Tricky for something up with such a stupid name. A voice flashed in Tricky's head—

"Y'know, 'dungeon master'? 'Cause you know a lot about dungeons? Get it?"

Dungeon Masters.

…Nah, that sounded stuck up too. Tricky and Espurr weren't dungeon masters, but they did do a pretty good job of clearing dungeons. Maybe running dungeons. So obviously that made them…

"The Dungeon Runners," Tricky said confidently. "We're Team Dungeon Runners."

~\({O})/~

Carracosta's House

~Artemis~

It had been nearly a year since Budew died. That was how Artemis told time now. Three years before Budew Died. Six months after Budew Died. One week from fifty-one weeks after Budew Died. And yet, somehow Artemis felt like she was finally getting over it.

The town didn't talk about it, which helped. They called it a "disappearance". Budew was the missing child to anymon who didn't already know, the kid who ran off one day and never returned. Artemis liked to think maybe they were being nice to her, so she wouldn't have to deal with it being talked about. But none of the students wanted to be her friend anymore. All of the adults, even the ones she didn't talk to, shot her furtive and worried looks when she passed. Pops grew distant, unsure of how to help her. No, they weren't doing it for her. Deep down, she knew it was so they didn't have to talk about it. And so no-mon talked about it.

It felt almost like a distant memory now. She had shut it out so much, made every attempt to forget like everymon else was trying to do, and it was finally working. At least it didn't hurt as much if she didn't try to remember it.

She went into mystery dungeons on her own now. As long as she avoided… that one, they helped her pretend like no-mon had ever gotten hurt there and they were still fun places full of mystery and adventure to explore in. And if something did kill her in there, at least she wouldn't be alive to regret it.

Deerling was finally talking to her again. Artemis had gotten the silent treatment from her for almost an entire year, but then Goomy became a student and Deerling clung to Goomy and slowly got better. And the first time Deerling had talked to her in a while was yesterday, so Artemis was sure she was getting better.

Farfetch'd had asked the students yesterday to pick a book of their choice and try to read it before the spring semester started. Artemis had picked a fiction book out of the school library, and taken it home with her. She didn't have much to do nowadays, so she didn't put off reading until the last minute like Pancham and Shelmet were doing. Not that they had much reading to do, they tried to pick out picture books until Farfetch'd stopped them.

It was called Ocean's Descent, and the main character was a lapras outlaw who had to flee to the bottom of the ocean to escape a sharpedo who hunted and ate other sea pokemon. To cover up her crimes Lapras went by a nickname. A different name, so no-mon would ever know what she had done in the past. A clean slate. A new beginning.

Artemis wondered if she could have that. If she could walk around town and not have to think about that poor pokemon she had killed ever again. If she could pretend it had never happened, just like Lapras in the book pretended she wasn't an outlaw…

Artemis spent the rest of the evening coming up with a suitable nickname. It could be anything, after all, and she only had one chance. She didn't want to mess it up!

It wasn't going to be something stuck-up like her real name., She wanted something cooler. More flashy. Fun to say! She wanted something more like herself.

And then, right before dinner, the perfect nickname popped into Artemis' head.

"Pops?" Artemis asked as they ate. "Can I have a nickname?"

Carracosta was stirred from his meal, looking down at his spoon instead of at Artemis. "Why do you need a nickname?' he grunted. "Your real name works just fine."

"I…" Artemis didn't have a comeback. And she really wanted this! "I… just want a nickname!" she gave Pops desperate baby doll eyes in the hopes that it would be enough to sway him.

Carracosta just grunted and shrugged. He dipped his spoon in the soup. Artemis took that as her 'yes'. She cleared her throat dramatically.

"I wanna be called… Tricky."

There was half a moment of silence. Then, Carracosta shrugged again.

That meant yes.

~\({O})/~

Music of the week!

Smokers Sighted - James Newton Howard