Chapter 18: Crystals Are Forever

Milotic slowly slithered into the room, craning her neck up. Unlike the tunnels, the ceiling in this room was so high she couldn't properly see it. Emera ores stretched up to the point where they became purple spots in the distance.

"Do you suppose this was some sort of emera reserve?" Milotic wondered.

"Wouldn't know, luv," Marshadow replied, striding toward the shattered crystal on the far side of the room. "Frankly, I'm amazed this many could gather in one location."

"Maybe that's the big conspiracy you're chasing after," Milotic thought aloud. "A group of Pokémon started stockpiling emera ores. Or perhaps they learned how to grow their own ores instead? And other Pokémon didn't like that, so they attacked and somehow the stockpile ended up underground."

Over by the entrance, Serperior and Dragonair exchanged looks that showed they'd reached the same conclusion: Milotic was playing dumb to keep Marshadow from getting suspicious. After all, they didn't need him suddenly turning on them.

"Don't you want to look inside?" Dragonair asked.

"Nah, I'm good here," Serperior answered. She remained in the entrance while Dragonair slithered toward one of the nearby ores to get a better look at it. She glanced over at the ground and managed to find a pebble. Wrapping it up in her tail, she gently tossed it against the giant gemstone. A bright flash of purple light burst forth from the ore, sending Dragonair into a hasty retreat.

"Okay, that was a bad idea," she concluded.

"I'll say it was, luv. You trying to get us blasted to bits?" Marshadow sneered. "These puppies are stuff with massive amounts of energy. Set one off, you could very well start a chain reaction that could make this part of the Catacombs crumble."

Dragonair gulped. "I hadn't considered that." She coiled herself up, bringing her tail close to her body.

Satisfied her teammate was safe, Milotic turned back to Marshadow. He had knelt beside the gray crystal and was currently examining one of the shards. "This is quite interesting," he muttered. "I've never felt anything quite like this."

Her curiosity aroused, Milotic reached out and ran her tail across a nearby crystal shard. She raised a brow. "This is so weird. It's almost like I'm touching water. But the crystal's completely solid." She picked up the shard and brought it up toward her face. "I can't explain how something like this might happen."

"An ice-type move getting used on a body of water?" Serperior heckled from across the room.

"Does this look like a glacier to you?" Marshadow scoffed. "If it was, we'd be freezing our faces off." Milotic gave him an annoyed look. "What? It's pretty much the only thing we've got in common," he said, throwing in a laugh for good measure.

Milotic rolled her eyes. "So, if this isn't a glacier, maybe it's some kind of remnant from an attack?" she proposed, approaching the remains of the large crystal. It was tough to look at the lattice squarely with all the purple light bouncing off it. Milotic instead stuck her tail up. The rainbow light flickered onto the walls.

"Now's not the time for shadow puppets," Marshadow criticized.

"I'm not goofing off," Milotic said, running her tail across the crystal. "I'm examining this thing. And there's a pretty sizeable impression in the middle of it."

Marshadow crosses his arms. "I should think so, luv. It did break, after all."

"No, that's…" Milotic cut herself off. "Ugh, how do I explain this? I think this crystal was hollow on the inside. It has a rounded basin."

Dragonair looked over in surprise. "You're kidding. All these emera ores are completely solid. So, why the difference?"

Marshadow walked up beside Milotic and put a hand inside of the crystal. "I think you're right, luv. This is far too smooth to have come from this thing breaking." He traced his hand along the outline. It didn't follow the edges of the crystal. Rather, his hand initially curved outward, only to move back toward the center. At which point, he moved his hand up toward the top of the crystal.

"I may be off the mark, here," Milotic said, "but I think something was inside this crystal."

"That's an amateur opinion. It wasn't a something, it was a someone," Marshadow claimed.

"You know what I meant," Milotic huffed. "But then, does that mean this big conspiracy you're investigating involves some sort of Pokémon?"

"Sorry, luv, that's a piece of information I'm keeping a tight hold on," Marshadow said.

'Which means it totally does. So, did Zoroark tell this guy about the conspiracy? Or did he find out on his own?'Milotic thought. But she put on a frown in order to maintain her façade. "Aww, you're no fun," she whined.

"I can be plenty fun in the right situations. This just isn't one of them," Marshadow quipped, winking at Milotic.

"Hey, there are a couple of small crystal clusters next to the broken one. They're grayed out too," Dragonair announced, standing in a corner of the room and looking toward her teammate. Milotic stretched her kneck out and found one of the clusters Dragonair referred to.

"These look like emera ores," Milotic observed. "So, I guess they don't have unlimited energy. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Forget the energy amounts," Marshadow dismissed. "There are a bunch of cords shooting out from the ores to the big crystal." He knelt down and ran his hand across a small, circular band in the floor. "And the cords feel exactly like the broken crystal. I think we can safely conclude these emera ores were powering this big thing."

"And then they ran out of energy and the crystal just shattered?" Milotic said. "How very strange."

"Try looking at it from another angle, luv," Marshadow said. "We think there was someone sealed inside, right? So, when the ores ran out of power, the sealed creature could've woken up and busted its way out."

"But then whoever or whatever was inside would start rampaging around the Catacombs," Serperior stated. "Don't you think we'd have heard about something like that?"

"Who's to say when exactly this all happened?" Marshadow asked, shrugging. "For all we know, it could've been decades ago."

"I think I may have found something that could help us answer that," Dragonair cut in. "Behind this crystal, there's something written on the wall." She beckoned Milotic toward her with her tail. Milotic weaved her way around the crystal and accompany emera ores, with Marshadow tagging along behind her. They found Dragonair looking at a stretch of stone wall.

"Yeah, it sure looks like something was carved in there," Milotic said. "But, I don't think I recognize those symbols. They don't resemble any footprint writing I've ever seen."

"That's because your guess is a bit off the mark there, luv," Marshadow said. "This is the Unown language. I'd recognize it anywhere."

"The Unown language?" Milotic parroted. "Hang on, isn't that just the species of Pokémon with a bunch of different symbols around an ey–" Her eyes widened. "Oooooooooooh, duh. I see what you're getting at."

"I'm afraid none of us know anything about reading Unown," Dragonair said.

"No worries. That's where I can step in," Marshadow offered. "You've helped me piece a bit of this whole mystery together, so it's the least I can do. May I?" Dragonair moved next to Milotic, allowing Marshadow to approach the writing. He knelt down and stared intently at the wall, sweeping his head back and forth.

"Good gracious," he muttered. "This is… very unexpected."

"Hey now, it's not nice to keep a pair of lovely ladies in the dark, you know," Milotic chided. "What's it say?"

Marshadow smirked. "A little patience goes a long way, luv. I just wanted to make sure what I was reading made sense. Listen to this…"

Sealed within this crystal is a terrifying monster that should never be allowed to see the light of day. My team tried to create a Pokémon that could protect us from any manner of danger. We wanted a controllable creature that could adapt to fend off enemies, including Legendary Pokémon. But we have failed. Our creation immediately turned on us, slaughtering my colleagues before I could subdue it. Hence, I have used magic from my emera ore stockpile to form the crystal imprisoning it.

I have tethered as many emera ores as I could manage to the crystal. But I fear the effort may not be enough. This failed experiment must remain sealed. I have left this message here so that the Pokémon who discover this place in the future can connect more emera ores to the crystal and keep our creation imprisoned.

If, by some chance, you have discovered this message and find the large crystal behind you is broken, then my creation has escaped. In which case, you must be on guard for a Pokémon with a large, stone helmet covering its entire face. If you cannot outright destroy the creature, then you must either subdue it or flee before it can attack you. Though the helmet I forcibly melded to the experiment is meant to subdue its aggression, there's no guarantee it won't display hostility.

I imagine reading this will make you angry. Just understand that I was doing what I thought was best for the future of our world. My only regret is that my team made mistakes with this experiment. Hopefully, our second attempt will prove more successful.

"… and there you have it." Marshadow stood up and massaged his throat. "Quite a mouthful, eh, luv? Though, I'm not quite sure what to make of the symbol at the bottom."

"The winged heart?" Milotic asked, following Marshadow's gaze. "Yeah, it's kind of strange. It's got horns poking out of the top and... is that an eye in the middle? It looks rather ominous. Just what do you suppose was going on down here?"

"Can't say for certain, luv," Marshadow replied. He knelt down to continue examining the glyph.

Dragonair and Milotic proceeded to slither a fair distance back from Marshadow. They exchanged panic-stricken looks. "A Pokémon wearing a large, stone helmet over its face? We have one of those in the guild," Milotic whispered.

"Yeah, that Null fellow," Dragonair whispered back. "Didn't Braviary say our guild mates found him in Glyphic Falls?"

Milotic's eyes widened. "If that's the case, then he's probably the Pokémon that's written about here. Which means we've let a monster into the guild!" Her jaw stiffened. "And he's running around with Riri and that Vulpix!"

"Are you okay?" Marshadow called. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He smirked. "Well, you have seen a ghost. But I'm talking a less-handsome, not nearly as dashing ghost as me. Aha ha ha."

"Err… nothing! We're totally fine," Milotic lied. She then spun around and whispered, "We need to do something about this. Those kids could be in danger."

"If our Gear-Com works down here, I could ring up the group in Sunset Shoals and tell them about what we've found," Dragonair suggested. "But if we try using it in front of Marshadow, then we're gonna tip him off that something's wrong."

"Then we just need to excuse ourselves for a little bit. Or maybe have Serperior d–"

"Hey, check it out! What's a looplet doing sitting around down here?"

At once, everyone's heads turned toward the entrance of the room. Serperior stood tucked between several emera ores. A silver band dangled from the tip of her tail. "Ah well, I ain't gonna complain about finding some treasure."

Milotic and Dragonair approached their teammate. The former raised an eyebrow as she got a better view of Serperior's discovery. "Err, that sure doesn't look like any looplet I've ever seen. There aren't any slots for emeras in it. That would make it totally worthless."

Serperior hoisted her tail up. "Huh. You're right. I just saw a band and thought, 'looplet.' Maybe this is, like, an early looplet prototype or something? In which case, this is an important bit of history I just stumbled across."

"Actually, there is a curious part of this band," Dragonair spoke up. "Look here in the center. There's some kind of golden wheel surrounding a gemstone."

Serperior gave the band a closer look. There was a cross-shaped pattern running through the middle of the wheel. Each corner also held tiny gemstones. "Would you look at that?" Serperior whistled, eyes sparkling. "I've obviously scooped up something big!"

Marshadow tensed up. "Golden wheel with a cross-shaped pattern?" He took a cautious step forward. "Mind if I take a look, luv? I think I may have heard about what you're describing."

"Um, I don't think it has anything to do with this room," Milotic declared. "From the looks of it, it must've tumbled in here from the tunnels we passed through."

"Come now. Just a quick glance and then I'll give it back."

Serperior backed away toward the room's entrance. "No way. I'm invoking my self-proclaimed first law of dungeon exploration: 'finders, keepers, losers, weepers.'" She stuck her tongue out at Marshadow.

"I thought your first law of dungeon exploration was 'don't get knocked out, dummy,'" Dragonair mused.

"Eh heh heh, let's not bring that up," Serperior dismissed with a nervous laugh. "Anyhow, are we just about done here? Because we should probably be getting a move on."

Unbeknownst to Team Captivate, the red wisps sitting atop Marshadow's eyes extended in length. "Yeah, I'd say that just about wraps things up here." He took a step back behind the shattered crystal and melted into the ground.

"Great. Here, Dragonair. Why don't you hold onto this until we've exited the dungeon," Serperior suggested, handing her newly-discovered treasure over to her teammate.

But before she could complete the handoff a massive black shadow overtook her, muffling the terrified screech that followed. "Serpy!" Milotic gasped. She opened her mouth and spewed scalding water. However, the shadows had retreated before her attack struck, leaving a dazed and scuffed-up Serperior to get blasted.

"Gluuugh! H-Hey! Watch where you're aiming," Serperior moaned.

Dragonair started scanning the ground, looking for any signs of what hit her teammate. "It has to be Marshadow," she concluded. "I don't see him anywh–"

Another shadow completely enveloped Dragonair, who yowled in surprise. Milotic whirled around only to find herself staring at a pair of large, beady, yellow eyes in the midst of the shadow. Before she could even start to form an attack, the shadows retreated. Milotic lunged toward the ground by her friend, only to find her progress halted. She gasped in surprise.

"What the–? What's pinning me down?" she wondered, turning toward her tail. Her eyes went wide when she saw that her tail had inexplicably gotten tangled up into a knot. And within it, she made out the ends of both of her teammates' tails. "How the heck did this happen?"

A loud sigh echoed through the room. "And here I was hoping we could part on friendly terms, luv."

Milotic turned toward the center of the room as best she could. There, Marshadow rose up from a puddle of ectoplasm. In one hand he clutched the band Serperior found. And in the other, he held Team Captivate's item pouch. Not only that, the wisps on the ends of his helmet-like head and palms had flared to life. They now glowed bright green.

"Hey, what's the big idea attacking us while our backs were turned?" Milotic hissed. "You said you weren't here to collect any treasure."

"Yeah, I lied," Marshadow said with a shrug. "Again, sorry to deceive you. You seem like a fine bunch of ladies. But, well, this band is precisely what I wanted to find down here. And I wasn't about to let you waltz off with it."

"So, he's a no-good thief. I knew it! I knew we couldn't trust him," Serperior declared.

"Save the I told you so routine for another time," Dragonair sighed. "Assuming we even get out of this messy business."

"No-good? Because I lied to you? That's rather hypocritical of you, luv," Marshadow scoffed. "Seriously, Team Charm? That was the best pseudonym you could come up with under duress? You're the worst looking Medicham, Gardevoir, and Lopunny trio I've seen in my lifetime. And I've been around longer than I'd care to admit."

Milotic bit her lip. "Th-There's an actual Team Charm?"

Marshadow smirked. "Of course you wouldn't know about them. Unlike you lot, I'm rather well-travelled. Clients expect nothing less from the elite globe-trotting thief, Marshadow!" He thrust one arm to the side in a pose. "I'm the master of mischief... and the maker of misfortune for exploration teams from Aeon Town to Pokémon Square and beyond! I never fail to make off with my prize!"

"Well, I think I've showed off long enough," he said, chuckling. "I can see you three are a bit tied up at the moment–"

"You rotten little outlaw!" Serperior snarled and lunged for Marshadow. In the process, both Milotic and Dragonair lurched forward. Their faces struck the stone floor and their combined weight stopped Serperior well short of Marshadow. She fell to the ground in front of him. Her mouth opened and crackling blue bolts started to gather up in it.

"Ah, ah, ah," Marshadow taunted, wagging a finger at her. "If you try that, I'll just duck into the shadows. Then your attack will hit an emera ore and, well, that could make things really messy for you lot."

"Keep your temper in check, Serperior," Dragonair said, trying to get back up. She struggled without the balance provided by her tail.

"Your friend's got the right idea, luv," Marshadow laughed. "Besides, you've got much more pressing matters you need to deal with." He rummaged through the team's pouch and tossed two apples and two oran berries onto the floor.

"Hey, those are our items. Stop that!" Serperior hissed.

"If you insist," Marshadow teased. He reached inside his collar and produced a small, square-shaped tile. "I'll give them back to you. They just won't be quite as good as you'd like them to be."

Milotic's eyes widened. "That's a trap tile!" She glared at Marshadow. "So, that was you setting all those up in the Catacombs?"

"Ah, what can I say? You got me there, luv," Marshadow chuckled. He threw the tile to the ground and stepped on it.

Click!

The four items Marshadow tossed to the ground started to tremble. Serperior tried shrinking back, only to get tripped up by her teammates. "You… you have a Pokémon trap?" she gasped.

"Correction: I had a Pokémon trap. I'm afraid it's your problem now, luvs," Marshadow chuckled. He started walking toward the room's entrance. "But, since I'm a sporting gent, I'll at least do you girls a favor and activate this wonderful Monster House seal I've got on me. That way, you don't accidentally blow yourselves up. Consider it a parting gift!"

Marshadow turned and touched the wall, revealing a hidden switch. A circular wall of bright, red light surrounded the room, leaving Marshadow standing on the outside. He smirked and blew a kiss toward Team Captivate. "Well now, I must be on my way. It was lovely meeting you three. Take care. Aha ha ha!"

He retreated into the shadows. "Grr… why that little creep," Serperior seethed. "How dare he do that to us!"

"Save the anger, Serpy. We've got bigger problems on our hands here," Milotic declared, poking her head out to look at the trembling items. White light overtook all of them, and the items immediately started expanding in size, forming up into four mineral-filled Pokémon.

Dragonair frowned. "Archeops, Klefki, Carbink, and Probopass. Talk about a rocky match-up."

Serperior glared at her teammate. "And you were harassing me for not acting appropriately? That's about as bad as one of Haunter's jokes," she growled.

The four wild Pokémon immediately became aware of their surroundings. Their eyes fell onto Team Captivate. "Both of you be quiet and listen to me," Milotic hissed in a whisper. "We've got no way out of this situation so we have to make the most of it. Klefki and Archeops could be big problems, so leave them to me. Serperior, you take Carbink. Draw it toward you with Leech Seed. Dragonair, you're gonna have to keep Probopass busy somehow. Waterfall isn't an option, so get creative."

"But how are we gonna move, chief?" Serperior asked.

"We won't. Stand your ground. Spread out so we don't get in each other's ways," Milotic said. "If you lose one of your targets or an attack is veering toward your teammates, then say something. Got it?"

She opened her mouth and sent boiling-hot water gushing toward Archeops. He hovered higher to avoid the attack, screeching angrily. At the same time, Serperior spat a large green seed between Carbink and Klefki. This forced Kelfki closer to Milotic, while Carbink barely skirted the attack. It ended up opposite Serperior.

Dragonair likewise unleashed a stream of blue-purple dragonfire on Probopass. It was not nearly as quick as its fellow wild Pokémon, and the dragonfire washed over it. This gave Dragonair an opening to whip up a sudden twister. It proved just strong enough to grab the levitating Probopass and hurl it in away from the other wild Pokémon.

"Nice work, Airy!" Milotic shouted, inching forward to put more space between her and her teammates. As she did, Klefki floated forward, releasing waves of static electricity in Milotic's direction. Milotic extended her head, letting the electricity strike her. It crackled around her body, making her muscles twitch erratically.

"Millie, are you nuts?" Serperior gasped, ducking a set of fossilized rocks hurled at her by Carbink. "We need you at your fighting best!"

"I know. That's why I'm triggering Marvel Scale now," Milotic said. "I've got far more defense this way. Plus, I can use Recover to make up for items getting stolen." She pivoted, flinching from the paralysis, but managed to send a short burst of ice up toward Archeops. He easily dove under the attack and darted toward her with a sudden burst of speed. Klefki floated behind Archeops and, gathering bright-pink energy in its ring.

Milotic allowed Archeops to barrel into her and unleash a flurry of acrobatic strikes with its beak and talons. She grimaced from the pain and momentarily seized up while Archeops backed away from her. But he was still in close range when Milotic regained her movement. She released a torrent of scalding water that swallowed Archeops up, blowing him back. Archeops smacked into Klefki, who lost concentration and dropped the fairy energy it was gathering onto Archeops' back.

Archeops crashed to the ground, flopping about like a beached Magikarp. Klefki floated about in circles, trying to reorient itself. Milotic smiled when she noticed small flames had gathered on Archeops' pelt. "Yes! Looks like Tapu Fini's given us a bit of good fortune," she cheered.

"Duck, Millie!" Serperior yelped. Her teammate complied and a quartet of brightly-glowing gemstones raced over her. Klefki shrieked and floated upward to dodge Carbink's attack. "Sorry about that. Didn't think this little devil was packing Power Gem."

"Is everythiiiiiiing okay?" Milotic asked, the paralysis cutting in while she spoke.

"I've got Carbink seeded s– whoa!" Serperior cut herself off, spitting a blue beam of raw dragon energy forward to blow apart fossilized rocks summoned by Carbink. The attack continued forward and harmlessly brushed across Carbink. The seeds covering its body flashed brightly, draining energy out from it and back to Serperior. She capitalized on the moment, sending leafy-green energy tendrils forward. They wrapped themselves around Carbink and siphoned even more of its energy, restoring Serperior's health.

However, a sudden burst of electricity struck her back, cutting off the soothing sensation. She fell to her stomach, the wind knocked out of her. Milotic likewise lurched painfully to her right, shrieking.

"Sorry, ladies. I had no idea this guy could use Discharge," Dragonair squeaked. Milotic struggled to right herself. Archeops and Klefki quickly pounced, both charging her at once. Dragonair glanced her teammate's distress. She ignored Probopass as it gathered glowing gemstones of its own and spewed flame breath over Milotic's back. The quicker Klefki floated right into the attack and drifted backward with a yelp.

Archeops crashed into his teammate and they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and metal. Archeops squawk painfully as his burn took effect, giving Milotic the necessary time to right herself. Soft light encased her body, gradually restoring her stamina. The sight gave Dragonair a brief moment of relief before Probopass' glowing gems peppered her backside.

The attack struck with enough force to knock her back. Unfortunately, this upended both her teammates in the process. Carbink seized on the opening, gathering a ball of vibrant, pink light over its head. It locked eyes with Dragonair and hurled the fairy energy forward. Serperior shot upward, taking the blow for her teammate.

However, because she went airborne, the force of the blow sent her reeling. And this led her teammates to get dragged across the floor with her. They ended up on the opposite side of the room, right next to Klefki and Archeops. The former released a pink, lip-shaped burst of energy that struck Dragonair, draining her life force as she cried in pain.

This gave Milotic a second wind to fight through her paralysis and down Kelfki with a quick blast of boiling water. "Fan out again, girls," she ordered, awkwardly hopping forward and shooting ice crystals at Archeops. He easily dodged the attack and then doused Milotic in dragonfire. Milotic hissed from both the pain and the paralysis taking hold again.

Serperior noticed her teammate's distress, but was too busy blowing apart a line of fossilized rocks with a blue energy beam. She paused to catch her breath as more stamina returned from the seeds on Carbink. It also tripped up Carbink enough for Serperior to unleash more grassy tendrils. Carbink managed to roll past the first two, but the other three nailed it. The floating gemstone cried in pain before its consciousness faded.

"Carbink's down," Serperior declared. She turned to her right and immediately fired a small green seed at Klefki. It skirted the attack, but Serperior managed to draw Klefki away from Milotic. This let Milotic focus squarely on Archeops. She took in a deep breath, only to seize up from the electricity.

Archeops divebombed her. Milotic again faced the flurry of wing strikes and talon scratches from Archeops, but they didn't feel nearly as painful as they did earlier. She easily held her ground and drenched Archeops in boiling-hot water. He fell to the ground and twitched a few times before going still.

"How you holding up, Airy?" Milotic asked.

"Not good!" Dragonair hollered, sweeping dragonfire in front of her to try and destroy all the gem fragments heading toward her. A crackling-blue bolt cut through the bits of the attack Dragonair couldn't destroy.

"Hey, back off, you big lug," Serperior barked. "You're outnumbered now. Give up or you're gonna end up like your friends over there." She jerked her head behind her, indicating she had knocked Klefki out.

Probopass merely raised its floating limbs in response. Electricity started gathering around it. Before it could discharge the lightning, however, a stream of Scald raced across its side and blasted it back across the room. Probopass managed to get back into the air, however, and released the Discharge.

"Duck and cover," Serperior hollered. Unfortunately, the trio of Team Captivate found themselves lunging in different directions to try and dodge the attack. Their knotted tails created a stalemate that shot them into one another. Electricity then wracked their bodies, hurting Milotic in particular.

"Agh," she gasped. "K… keep him busy, girls. I… I've got to heal up." Her paralysis took hold once again, hindering her movements. Serperior coughed up another seed at Probopass and Dragonair whipped up a small twister to limit its ability to dodge. The seed struck Probopass' giant nose and covered its body in tiny vines. It flinched as the vines sucked out its energy and gave it to Serperior.

Milotic managed to push herself up. Soft, glowing light surrounded her body once again, restoring her vitality. "Alright, let me at that suck–" she started to say, only to look over her shoulder and realize Probopass was already knocked out and the red barrier had dissolved back into the ground.

"Sorry, you're gonna have to take a rain check on that one, chief," Serperior chuckled. "I don't know how we did it, but we managed to get out of that jam."

"Hardly a consolation," Dragonair sighed. "We're still tied together and who knows how far Marshadow's managed to get. With our movements hindered like this, it could take us a whole day to get back to where we entered from."

Serperior frowned. "So that slime ball is gonna get away with this? Unbelievable!" She turned to Milotic. "C'mon, Millie. Isn't there anything your super-strategizing brain can think of for this situation?"

Milotic's brow furrowed and she looked around the room. Her eyes fell upon one of the emera ores jutting out from the wall. "Well, there is one thing that comes to mind. But you're not gonna like it."

"What could possibly be worse than getting tied to your teammates?" Serperior scoffed.

"I have a way out. But it's not forward. It's up." Milotic jerked her head toward the emeras.

"Wait, you're not suggesting we destroy them, right?" Serperior asked.

"No. We're going to climb them," Milotic declared.

Her teammates eyes widened. "Have you gone completely mental?" Serperior gasped. "There's no way we can manage that. And it's a pretty steep climb. If we fall… it's SPLAT! And that's game over."

"It's the fastest way out," Milotic insisted. "You can use Vine Whip to grab hold of the emera ores and keep us from falling. Dragonair can use Waterfall to help us ascend and I can support with a Hydro Pump or two if necessary."

Milotic's teammates exchanged nervous looks. "Hey, it's that or we hop our way through the Catacombs and pray we don't come upon any wild Pokémon," she pointed out.

Serperior extended a green vine from the leaves encasing her torso and tensed it. "This is just turning into one of those miserable days where I wished I hadn't gotten out of bed," she grumbled. "Fine, let's do it. But what happens when we reach the top? There's a big ceiling there."

Milotic's gaze sharpened. "We're gonna have to blow the roof off this joint. Literally."

Next time: rock climbing! Explosions! Impromptu white-water rafting? Nobody said being Horizon's top explorers was easy.