The air of the forest was wrong from the moment they entered, but there was no turning back. This had been a long, fruitless journey with a single lead, and the group had to at least see this one through before they admitted defeat.
Pharaoh was rather irritated with the fact that he hadn't just taken Burnout and disappeared to find the criminal on their own, without being weighed down by the mortals. But at the same time, he had grown strangely attached to them, and for some reason the idea of Hawthorne finding out they had abandoned them was undesirable.
Plus, nowadays, the money rewards weren't even that great. Only a few thousand. So, it was better to just stick it out. At least, that's what he told himself.
When reflecting on the journey, he found a lot of strange things stuck out that had never been important before. Usually his only companion was Burnout, and they had stuck to a philosophy that any more partners in crime would only breed jealousy and slow them down, but these seemingly doting Pokemon were doing surprisingly well for something as large-scale as a murder-mystery bounty hunt. There hadn't been one single scrabble concerning the money reward, or who would bring the criminal in, or who got the most credit in a contest of selfish pride. It seemed almost unfathomable that anyone would be doing this for anything other than money, and yet the others seemed completely content to wander around Unova with barely any leads as if friendship was anything of value. Oh, well. There were just some things he would never understand.
Unfortunately he had started to develop a rather annoying habit of wanting to protect one of the idiots whenever they got themselves into trouble, and being mildly interested in their conversations. But that was different.
"There! I think I see something!" Hawthorne said eagerly, bouncing up and down. Through the trees, the light of an opening shined invitingly.
"Ugh, finally! This forest is endless," Chiluly groaned, straightening up. Chevali had been half-dragging her for the last hour of the trip.
Always walking. A miniscule part of Pharaoh hoped that they would find the power of Virizion here after all, so that he could stop staring at his teammates' tired, vaguely unhappy faces. The other, much larger part of him believed that the story was some sort of red herring and they wouldn't find anything at all, but he was careful not to say it aloud.
Burnout floated forward and peeked through the wall of trees. "It's- I think it's the back of it, but it looks like a cave! We just have to go around!"
The group was filled with excited energy as they skirted the trees until they could see the mouth of the cave. Pharaoh kept a careful grip on his staffs, suspicion still brewing within him.
To be fair, he was actually surprised there was a cave at all, though usually it took much more to impress him. He was out of shape these days. Much stranger had happened on his ancient bounty hunts.
Indeed, the mouth of a mysterious-looking cave yawned at them from across the clearing, covered only by…
Beside him, Chiluly and Chevali tensed. "Who is that…?"
A rather large Serperior was coiled neatly at the entrance of the cavern. For the most part, she looked ordinary, but the heavy, unnatural accents of black along her face and neck stood out in a rather pompous way. Some sort of charm was dangling from the choker around her neck, but she was too far to tell what it was.
Hawthorne gave Chevali a questioning look, but the knight just shook his head. "Is that… the guardian? Of the treasure?" Chiluly asked in barely a whisper.
At the sound, the Serperior's head swung towards them and stared in faux surprise. Pharaoh could tell she was faking by the practiced smoothness of her movements and the over-exaggerated expression on her face.
"Oh! Hello there!" Her voice was sweet and smooth like honey, almost too alluring to be real. "I didn't think I'd meet somebody else today. What are you all doing all the way out here?"
Pharaoh's defensive instincts flared to life. Decades of bounty hunting and hard-earned street-smarts screamed warnings in his head. Her reactions were well-rehearsed enough to fool the others, perhaps, but the tense muscles in her back and the way her slitted eyes scanned each of them, resting on their most exposed points, was a dead giveaway for any guilty party.
This is the murderer. This is who we're looking for. It was a rather quick conclusion to jump to, but some deep, ancient instinct told him it wasn't a bad guess.
The Serperior kept her nose turned down and her doe-eyes fixed on them, but Pharaoh could see the malice practically crawling all over her. For the moment, he kept his expression carefully neutral. If he alerted the others, she would realize the act was over and possibly attack. The idea of her lunging for Hawthorne made his claws curl. And though he thought she was alone, it wasn't a risk he was willing to take.
"Hello!" Hawthorne called back. "We were just looking for the cave you're standing in. Sorry to disturb you!"
Pharaoh bit back a growl of exasperation, but let the Serperior pretend to come to a surprising realization. "Oh, my! You must be looking for the treasure, then, too?" She shifted, and something silver flashed behind her back. He made a mental note to disarm her as quickly as possible as soon as the tension broke.
"Come here! I was just about to head in. We can go together."
Hawthorne's weight shifted forward ever so slightly, but the Sawsbuck let out a squeak of surprise when one of Pharaoh's claws clamped around his leg with staggering force. "Do not move," he growled, and the others tensed, suddenly wary of the stranger.
The facade was finally up, as hard as she tried to disguise it. The Serperior's face twisted into irritation for barely a second before she recomposed herself with a smile that was much more dangerous. "No, really? Why don't you join me?"
Pharaoh's claws were already lunging forward before the words were out of her mouth, shadow slicing through the trees and coating the area with a sickly purple haze. The outlaw screeched in dismay and twisted out of harm's way, slicing at one of the arms with the leaves on her tail. It dissipated into smoke and retracted, but Pharaoh felt nothing.
Before he could even give the order, Chiluly, Chevali and Burnout were already charging forward. Hawthorne hesitated before following them.
The Serperior's eyes burned with fury as she realized what was happening. "Stop them!" she shrieked to somebody invisible, and the sound of wingbeats filled the air.
The others cried out as feathered figures fell upon them from the trees. An Unfezant and a Braviary had materialized seemingly out of nowhere, and now the clearing was full of the screams of battle.
Pharaoh hurried to join them, slamming the Braviary out of the air as it dived for Chiluly. The bird snarled in fury and glared up at him with cold, yellow eyes.
A tremor of shock went through him. This was the same bird from the Victor's Road, he was sure of it! Had Shao betrayed them? Or was she the one who had been betrayed? Before he could decide, the Braviary winged back into the air and prepared for another attack.
Chevali fell in next to him, keeping the Unfezant at bay. "That Braviary! From the valley!"
"I know," Pharaoh growled back, flexing his claws. Now that the battleground looked a little more even, the Serperior had reappeared at the mouth of the cave with a malicious grin on her face. Why hadn't she tried to escape with the diversion?
She must have something planned, Pharaoh thought grimly. Or perhaps she just thought that her servants could weaken their group enough for her to pick them off.
Another bundle of feathers screeched by his face and obscured her view, and his attention wavered as he slashed at the shrieking bird.
When his vision was clear again, the Serperior was gone, and Hawthorne's back legs were scrambling into the cave after her. "No! Damn it!" Pharaoh snarled, grabbing the stupid Braviary by the leg and throwing it to the ground. It whimpered once and didn't try to stand up again.
He hissed in fury as another Pokemon- a Mandibuzz, now- landed in front of the cave mouth and slashed at his arms when he tried to approach. Already, thick vines were growing over the entrance, preventing them from entering.
"What's wrong?" Burnout yelled as a stray blast of fire barely missed Pharaoh but singed the bird's wing.
"Hawthorne is in there! With the Serperior."
Burnout's expression dropped even further, and he rushed to the other ghost's side, violet flames at the ready. "We can burn our way in there! Chiluly and Chevali are handling the birds."
"Be careful!" the Cofagrigus snapped, holding out an arm. "We don't know how deep the cave is. It could be shallow, and if you burn through the vines too fast, the smoke could suffocate them."
At that moment, a bone-rattling screech echoed through the sky, so chilling that even the Unfezant and the injured Braviary hesitated. They all stopped and looked out over the trees, trying to get a glimpse of whatever was coming. All Pharaoh could see was a fast-approaching dust storm. Not good.
"There's- there's something else coming, I think!" Burnout said nervously, still trying to burn a big enough hole through the web of vines without filling the cave with unbreathable smoke.
"I'm aware," Pharaoh growled, looking to Chevali and Chiluly. As much as he disliked the Escavalier, he trusted that he would be able to handle whatever was coming.
"You need to get whatever that is away from here. Burnout and I will keep the other birds away and get to Hawthorne." Chevali nodded sharply and hurried across the clearing with Chiluly close behind.
"Hide!" Pharaoh hissed to Burnout as the dust storm blew overhead, making the Pokemon left in the clearing duck their heads. He pulled Burnout to the side of the cave, peeking out only enough to try and get a glimpse of whatever the storm held.
At the first sight of glowing greens and blues and spindly wings, his claws were knotting themselves in frustration. Suddenly, he wasn't too sure if the other two could handle what was coming on their own.
Chevali and Chiluly hurried across the road, trying not to spare a backward glance. Behind them, the desert sands howled again as they rushed over the trees.
"GO!" Chiluly shoved Chevali forwards as they finally broke from the tree cover and sprinted across the asphalt road. On the other side was a chain link fence, and beyond it, she could see the yellow sands of the ancient desert. As soon as they hit the fence, they frantically sawed at one of the weaker links until it gave way and made a small hole for them to wriggle through.
"Where to now?" Chevali panted, looking back and forth wildly.
"This way!" Chiluly gasped, grabbing his arm and pulling him further into the desert. "We just need to get that thing away from the others!"
The harsh desert winds tried to push them back, but they forced their way through the sand until the dust storm was so thick it was nearly impossible to keep their eyes open. Even Chiluly winced as the grains of sand pelted their faces.
"I don't think this was a good idea," Chevali told her, having to yell to be heard above the screaming storm. "The sandstorm is too strong."
Chiluly shook her head furiously, refusing to give in. "No! I know how to navigate the desert-"
The scream of whatever creature was following them echoed over the dunes again, much closer than before. The Maractus spun around, feeling her heart drop into her stomach. Thankfully, the dark, dusty air was devoid of any winged figures. "We just need to lure it away long enough so that they can-"
She turned back to Chevali and startled with shock when she saw he was no longer by her side. "Ch- Chevali? Where are you?" She thought she heard a distant yell, but the roaring of the sand and wind was so loud that she wasn't even sure which direction it had come from. "Chevali! Come back!" she screamed into the darkness, but the sandstorm snarled back at her with twice the anger.
It was then, as she stood alone and unguarded in the storm, that she glimpsed the Sigilyph. It was flying through the sandstorm with ease, its spindly wings seemingly parting the air around it and giving it passage to its prey.
Chiluly gulped and dug her claws into the wooden hilt of her sword so tightly they left gouges in the surface. She tried to think of Chevali and his strength and his bravery, tried to imagine him cutting through the creature with ease.
I- I can do it. I have a sword, too. They're gonna be so impressed when I- when I stab this stupid thing through the face…
The Sigilyph appeared to have spotted her, though she guessed it had known exactly where she was from the moment it had appeared. It began to light down in front of her, hovering on its many wings and stick-thin limbs.
Up close, it was terrifying. It looked like a grotesque, ancient painting, something you'd see on the walls of an ancient tomb. Chiluly had only ever heard legends of their existence, how their only known role in history was to guard the ancient treasures they were bonded to, but she didn't know why they had to pick such creepy guards.
The single glowing eye and the cacophony of mismatched, multicolored patterns across its body made her feel like she was looking into a fever dream. She particularly hated the horizontal zig-zag across its stomach area that reminded her of a sharp-toothed mouth.
"I'm not scared of you! Come down here and fight me!" she shouted over the constant drone of the storm. The Sigilyph didn't move closer, but she hissed and swung the sword at it regardless, hoping it would flutter away and give her time to think of a plan of attack. The creature stayed hovering in midair, as if she hadn't tried to attack at all. Dread crawled up her arms like a living thing.
One moment, the sounds of the desert were overwhelming, and the next, they were nonexistent.
All at once the scene dropped into silence, leaving her staring up at the monstrous harbinger. Slowly, the jagged patterns on its midsection began to glow. Began to open.
She figured her heart should be dropping into her stomach by now, but still, everything was quiet and calm. The maw of the desert monster loomed closer, swirling with light and bright colors seeming almost inviting. If she leaned forward right now, she might fall headfirst into an entire other world.
It's… not that bad, right? I mean…. It's only…
One moment, Chiluly was being hypnotized to death, and the next, the Sigilyph was being stabbed through the stomach.
She jumped in shock, snapped out of the trance by the sudden movement and the return of the roaring desert sounds. The Sigilyph screamed its terrible scream, and Chiluly felt herself being ripped from the clutches of its control like light pouring into a pitch-black room. Before her now-clear eyes, its body slowly melted away into white and blue sand that eventually was caught and blown away into the storm, though the raging sand around them was now beginning to calm.
As her head and the storm cleared, she saw that only Chevali was left standing there, ragged but triumphant.
For a moment, she could do nothing but gawk. "What- how did you-"
He grinned at her. "You're welcome."
She frowned and rubbed at her face. Her thoughts had become murky again, and suddenly the last few moments seemed as though they had fallen behind a wall of fog. "What happened? I lost you, and then that awful thing appeared, and then…? I can't remember."
His expression turned serious. "I don't know. I lost you in the sandstorm, and when I finally found you again, that thing looked like it was about to eat you." His mouth turned down further than Chiluly thought was possible. "It was unsettling. I did not think that the Sigilyph guardians could be malevolent."
"That's an understatement," she muttered, though her claws were still trembling. His words made a thought dance just outside her reach.
"Wait. The… Sigilyph guardians? Yeah, you're right. That's what that thing was." She rubbed at her face again.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm just thinking."
"Wow. Don't hurt yourself." She grinned at him and gave a mildly rude gesture before continuing. "The Sigilyph were important, right? And that was because…"
An old memory of standing inside Magistrate's royal castle finally fell into place, and her stomach dropped a considerable amount. "Because they guard the ancient treasure!"
Chevali blinked at her like he wasn't following. "Don't you remember? That Audino at Magistrate told us that we should follow the Sigilyph because they might lead us to a treasure- one that the murderer stole from the queen!"
The knight narrowed his eyes. "But why would it attack us? If they're meant to guard…" His expression became stiff with recognition. "That Serperior can use the relic to control ancient guardians?!"
"We shouldn't have left the others! She could have summoned any number of creepy old monsters to hurt the others by now! We have to go help them!"
Chevali hooked her by the cape (that had somehow survived all this time) as she tried to turn and run. "Wait. If that is the case, then perhaps we should come up with a plan to help them first instead of running in and adding to the chaos." He thought for a moment, his gaze focusing on the desert horizon. "We should try and get whatever the treasure is away from her."
"What if it's Virizion's Grace?" Chiluly gulped. That would certainly be… inconvenient for their group.
Chevali shook his head. "I don't think so. Remember how she asked us if we were also looking for the treasure when we arrived, and if we wanted to find it together? Not that that's how it would have happened at all, but I think we caught her at an inopportune moment."
Chiluly frowned. "Do you remember anything else? Was she carrying anything?" She tried to picture the Serperior in her mind.
"I saw something silver behind her back, but I believe it was a knife or a dagger. Though I guess there's no saying that it couldn't be some sort of ancient artifact."
"Wait- what about the collar? Did you see that too?" Chiluly tried. The outlaw had been wearing a black choker with some kind of charm attached to it, she was sure of that. She just wasn't sure what the charm actually was.
Chevali looked unconvinced.. "I feel as though you would be a rather terrible criminal to wear your prize on your chest. Literally."
She shrugged. "Well, that's all I've got." The sand around them had almost completely settled now, and she was getting restless.
He dipped his head. "Then it's what we'll have to try. Okay, let's go. We need to approach quietly and carefully and-"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Stealth mission. Before we go, I need to do something."
"Hmm?-" Chevali let out a squawk of something between surprise and indignance as Chiluly wrapped her arms around his neck and grinned. "Calm down. It's called a hug."
"I know that!" he snapped back. "But- why?"
Chiluly had never loved someone romantically, but she knew what it was like to love a friend so deeply that even their naive little remarks about friendship that nobody should ask were enough to make her laugh.
"Because you're my best friend. And you deserve it. For saving me, of course, but also for being- well, you."
Chevali was quiet for a moment. "Fine. I guess it's alright. Just this once."
When Chiluly and Chevali arrived back at the clearing, they were both out of breath, but their stealth was unneeded because of the emptiness of the area. All of the bird Pokemon from before had seemingly disappeared- either fled or been disposed of by the ghosts, no doubt. The only Pokemon left were Pharoah and Burnout, who were arguing in raised voices.
"We don't have time to wait for them! We need to go in, now. I'll go by myself if you're too much of a coward," Pharoah growled, pointing into the cave. A layer of wilted, charried vines lined the mouth of the cave.
Burnout stood his ground. "No! We need to wait for the others! We have no idea how strong this Serperior is-"
"Which is why Hawthorne could already be hurt!" Pharaoh snarled so suddenly that Chiluly and Chevali hesitated for a moment.
They exchanged a glance and then hurried out of the shadow of the trees. "Well, we're here now. Let's go. We gotta make sure Hawthorne's okay." Chiluly told them, trying to ignore the knot of worry in her stomach.
Burnout nodded, but Pharaoh, for all his harsh words, hesitated. "Premonition tells me that something is different here today. Keep your guard up."
It was just a simple warning, but enough to send chills down Chiluly's back. She trusted the spirit's paranoia, no matter how rude he could be, and having that warning after her and Chevali's discussion did nothing to help her rising anxiety.
Chevali shook his head. "We already knew that. Let's not waste any more time. We can't leave anyone in our group behind." With that he disappeared into the cavern, the others close behind him.
Chiluly cast one more look at the sky above and hoped this wouldn't be the last time she looked at it.
