Adrian had insisted they wait several minutes before proceeding further into the Ruins, seemingly out of consideration for the group of Pokemon that had gone ahead of them. While the delay was mildly inconvenient, Ember felt she really couldn't fault her trainer's approach. The black-furred Espeon had been visibly on-edge around them, and the Absol accompanying him had wordlessly made it clear that she would not tolerate any actions that might endanger the group. It was simply wiser not to risk provoking wild Pokemon if it could be avoided.
The lull in progress provided an opportunity for Raze and Sparky to shed more light on the past history between Marcus' team and the psychic feline. From the sounds of it, Marcus had encountered Shadow twice over the course of his journey, and both times came incredible close to capturing him, only for another Pokemon to intervene at the last second, forcing him to abandon the attempt.
The explanation reminded Ember of the discussion Marcus had with Adrian the other day, on the same morning that Blaze had evolved. She hadn't really been paying much attention at the time, but she remembered the youth lamenting how he had always gotten attacked whenever he ran into a 'shiny' Espeon, and how, apart from those two incidents, he hadn't seen any other wild Eevee. With the additional context, Ember better understood why Marcus might have been envious of his older brother's progress with Blaze. To twice be thwarted from attaining something unique or highly desirable seemed like the ultimate frustration.
Furthermore, if Raze's comments were to be taken at face value, the Espeon's desirability was not exclusive to human trainers hoping to snag a cool trophy or powerful addition to their team, but also extended to Shadow receiving the majority of female attention whenever he was around, often to the exclusion of other males in the vicinity. To be fair, Ember found the claim nearly impossible to refute, and she suspected the other females in the room felt the same way, even if none of them wanted to admit it. There was just something about the Espeon's sleek figure combined with the gorgeous contrast of jet-black fur and radiant silver eyes that completely captured one's gaze and made it easy to forget that there were other males around.
It had taken an uncomfortable amount of effort to remain composed for the duration of the Espeon's presence, although Ember found that it had not been particularly difficult for her to engage him in conversation, however briefly. Maybe it was because she inherently recognized the shallowness of the attraction that she was able to casually chat with him without getting flustered. To desire a male purely because of their physical appearance was the type of superficiality that she detested, reserved only for situations when such shallow qualities were the only factors of importance.
Like heat season, she mused to herself, but just as quickly forced the thought from her mind. That was precisely the kind of thinking that Inferna would advocate for, even if the interest was rooted entirely within fantasy. The Charmeleon's personal philosophy revolved around acting upon selfish desires, and to hell with anything (or anyone) else. That wasn't even an exaggeration...the first time Ember had encountered her mother, two years ago, Inferna had 'graciously' informed her daughter of her viewpoint, with all the air and undue smugness of a GOOD mother passing on words of wisdom to a cherished heir.
"The world isn't going to bend over backwards to make you happy," the Charmeleon had sneered. "Obstacles only exist based on the limitations you set for yourself. No one is special. No one cares about you, and the world doesn't give a damn whether something is 'fair' or 'right'. Instead, the world belongs to those who seize what they desire with their own claws."
"Ember, you okay, girl?" Adrian asked cautiously, distracting Ember from her thoughts, and causing her to realize that reflecting on her mother's words had contorted her expression and prompted her tail flame to burn with greater intensity. The chamber was so dark, even with the trainers holding flashlights, that the shift in lighting must have been obvious enough to notice.
"I'm fine," she muttered, taking a deep breath to relax the tension from her shoulders. And she really was fine. Ember despised everything Inferna stood for in the present, but in retrospect, she grudgingly recalled that the Charmeleon had not immediately acted condescending or hostile towards her daughter. It wasn't until the young Charmander had stubbornly and persistently expressed naive ignorance of her mother's true character that the harshness had surfaced. Ember never looked back on any of her past interactions with Inferna positively...but sometimes she wondered whether Inferna had been trying to give her sincere advice, only to resort to a harsher lesson when the verbal message failed to stick.
Adrian knelt down to her level and gently rubbed Ember's back for a few moments. Once satisfied that she was calm and relaxed, he stood up again, and gestured for the group to follow him before descending the stairs leading further into the Ruins.
The next floor appeared almost identical to the previous rooms, leading Ember to wonder whether taking the wrong path actually led to a dead-end, as had been the case with the entranceway, or if even the incorrect forks led to additional branched passageways that ultimately went nowhere, to further confuse and befuddle encroachers thinking they were clever by checking every possible path until they found the solution. Even with Adrian consulting his notes and double-checking whether they were properly oriented before proceeding, it wasn't impossible for them to have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
Avis seemed to be operating on a similar line of thought, because she was conversing with Sparky in a low voice, and the Luxio was sniffing around, probably following a scent trail of some kind. If Ember had to guess, the electric feline was checking to see if other Pokemon had recently traveled along the same route, but that hardly seemed like a good reason for them to be whispering.
"What are you two doing?" Laura demanded abruptly, and she fixed Avis with a suspicious glare. The Servine jumped slightly, but then widened her eyes innocently. "I can hear you whispering. These ears aren't just for show, you know," the Lopunny pointed out, gesturing towards the oversized ears framing her body.
"Then wouldn't you have heard what we're talking about?" Avis wondered, smirking mischievously, but her expression sobered when Laura scowled. "There's been this strange scent hanging in the air, but Sparky's been the only other Pokemon who's noticed," the grass lizard explained hastily. "I'm just trying to see if we're getting closer to the source or not. His sense of smell is sharper than mine."
"What kind of scent?" Laura asked suspiciously, her bunny nose twitching.
"It's a sweet scent," Sparky answered absently, but Laura nevertheless seemed reassured by having the question answered directly by Sparky, rather than from Avis. "Has a slightly bitter aftertaste, though. I don't recognize it, and it's driving me crazy," he finished with a growl, and sparks leapt up from his fur. Adrian and Marcus flinched and cast the electric feline a concerned look, but Sparky continued to sniff the air incessantly, his eyes glazing over.
"I don't smell anything," Ember said blandly, her nostrils flaring briefly in an effort to catch a whiff of the enigmatic fragrance. Then again, Avis had said before it smelled like smoke or fire, and asking a Fire-type to notice a scent that naturally surrounded them was like asking a Grass-type to notice the smell of leaves. Charmander weren't particularly known for having an acute sense of smell, anyway.
"Me neither," Laura said, frowning to herself. Almost all eyes turned expectantly towards the other Pokemon in the room, and Aureia scowled at the newfound attention.
"I would think, in a room full of Pokemon and people, that our combined scents overpower most smells in the background," she deadpanned. Blaze sniffed the air curiously and purred softly. "What, you're actually getting something?" the Vaporeon asked, sounding slightly taken aback.
"Mm-hm," the Sylveon purred, his crescent tail wagging with subtle enthusiasm. "No idea what is it, but it's fantastic."
"Uh-huh," Aureia said slowly, visibly unnerved by the Fairy-type's behavior. "Can you describe it?"
"It's sweet, like flowers...or honey," Blaze murmured, his ribbons swaying in a non-existent breeze. "Hint of bitterness, but it's a good bitterness. Makes the sweetness smell sweeter. Reminds me of spring...but I dunno why..."
He trailed off absently, and a strand of saliva fell from his slackened jaw, earning a mildly repulsed look from the Vaporeon. The Sylveon stared blankly into space for another second or two, only to be jolted out of his reverie by one of his own feeler ribbons brushing against his side. He jerked away out of instinct, before realizing that no one was close enough to have touched him, at which point he just looked around in startled confusion. Aureia was biting her lip in an effort to keep a neutral expression, but her shoulders were shaking.
The discussion died off as they went down another set of stairs, and emerged in a brightly lit chamber, in contrast to the previous floors. In addition to being significantly larger than the other rooms they had gone through, a multitude of eye-like sigils decorated the walls all around them.
Adrian stopped in his tracks, and many of the other Pokemon did the same, much to the confusion of the Pokemon taking up the rear of the group, and Marcus, who was still on the stairs. Fragments of bone littered the floor of the room, and several sections of the floor had been broken and damaged, as if it had weathered several powerful attacks over the years.
Adrian cautiously took another step into the room, and Ember followed, flexing her claws restlessly as her cerulean eyes darted about, searching for some sign of movement or danger. The group behind them shifted slightly, allowing Marcus to finish descending the stairs, and he too cast an uncertain look at their new surroundings.
"...what is this place?" the younger trainer wondered, and as he stepped further into the chamber, Laura bounced over to flank him, like a bodyguard. Marcus smiled gratefully at the Lopunny and moved with slightly more confidence, his eyes lingering on the Unown markings inscribed upon the walls.
"I have no idea," Adrian answered solemnly. He deactivated his flashlight and slid it into his pants pocket, and when he moved, it was with utmost caution. "Avis, can you use a vine to check the floor, just in case?" he asked, and the Servine promptly complied, cautiously navigating the perimeter of the room and prodding at the floor with a vine before taking another step.
"Does it smell weird in here?" Marcus wondered, and Adrian gave him a bemused glance. "I'm just asking because most of our Pokemon have been sniffing around a lot."
"Hmm...now that you mention it, it does smell a bit odd," Adrian mused, pivoting in place and inhaling through his nose, as if trying to catch a scent carried by a passing breeze. "It's not as musty as most historical sites, and there's some sort of...fragrance...heh, it actually kind of smells like Rachel's perfume."
"She smells like a ditzy rose garden," Aureia snorted, her voice dripping with contempt, but strangely, Adrian took no notice of the Vaporeon's statement, not even to glance disapprovingly in her direction. Instead, he began walking towards the staircase on the other side of the room, his usual caution all but forgotten. He was still inhaling through his nose, intrigued by the curious scent hanging in the air.
Ember exchanged a concerned look with Aureia, and the Vaporeon's face creased, watching Adrian uncertainly. This sort of behavior from their trainer was not normal, to say the least. Even if Marcus or the other Pokemon didn't notice anything amiss, Aureia and Ember had been under Adrian's care for over two years, and had a pretty reliable sense of knowing when something was wrong.
As Adrian drew nearer to the stairs, Aureia abruptly darted after him, moving with fluid grace she rarely demonstrated outside of a body of water. The Vaporeon's natural bulk limited the speed at which she could move, but it was sufficient for her to reach the stairs before Adrian did, and she defiantly stood in his path, growling quietly.
"Huh? What's the matter, girl?" Adrian asked, crouching down to the Water-type's level and absently stroking her head. Judging by the way she bristled and practically hissed at the contact, Adrian must have distractedly brushed his fingers against the fins adorning Aureia's head, an act of carelessness that set off more alarm bells than his lack of caution already had. "I know you don't like it here," Adrian continued, speaking in a soothing tone, and adjusting his finger strokes to better suit the Vaporeon's tastes, but the damage was already done. Aureia was glaring into Adrian's eyes, her gaze distrustful and wary, but Adrian seemed not to even notice.
With ever growing concern, Ember made her way over to where Aureia and Adrian were standing, and Blaze followed a half-pace behind. Unfortunately, this seemed to signal to the rest of the group that they should follow, because Marcus and his Pokemon were not far behind. Seeing their approach, Adrian straightened up and attempted to step around the Vaporeon, only for her to again move to impede his progress.
"Come on, Aureia, knock it off, girl," Adrian said, betraying a hint of impatience in his voice, but overall remaining calm.
The Vaporeon growled and shook her head defiantly, trying to communicate, without words, that she didn't want him going any further into the Ruins. Normally, Aureia showing such obvious signs of distress definitely would have given Adrian pause, but for some reason, he seemed oblivious to what should have been cause for concern. Even Avis was starting to give their trainer a bewildered look.
Once again, Adrian attempted to navigate around the Vaporeon to access the stairs, and she again moved to block his path. The young man's exasperation reached its peak, and he fixed Aureia with a stern look. "Did you just want to go back into your ball for now?" he asked gently, but there was the undercurrent of a threat behind the otherwise innocuous question. Aureia flinched, blinking up at her trainer in stunned disbelief, but then she averted her gaze and stepped back, no longer obstructing his path. Adrian shrugged slightly, as if baffled by the Water Eeveelution's shift in behavior, and he started down the stairs, which winded around in a spiral, causing him to soon disappear from their sight.
Ember felt like her stomach was tied in a knot as she and Blaze drew level with the Vaporeon. Aureia was glaring at the stone underfoot, silently seething. The Charmander swallowed with difficulty and tentatively extended her paw towards the Water-type's shoulder.
"You okay?" she asked, knowing perfectly well that no, Aureia was not doing okay.
"I'm fine," Aureia retorted, sparing Ember a glance, but during that brief moment of lifting her head, Ember saw that the Vaporeon's eyes were glistening, the sight of which made her feel uncomfortable, as if she had unknowingly intruded on something deeply personal or private. Adrian hadn't been excessively harsh or even particularly unpleasant, but he had acted uncharacteristically dismissive of Aureia's intentions, treating her more like a disobedient child than a Pokemon he shared a close bond with. For someone as emotionally distant as Aureia, this was probably like being slapped in the face.
"Aureia?" Blaze ventured cautiously, and touched her shoulder with one of his ribbons, only for her to aggressively brush it away.
"Don't touch me right now," she snapped, and Blaze flinched, not from fear, but from surprise mixed with sudden understanding, indicating that he had also glimpsed the tears in her eyes. Aureia turned away from the Sylveon, hiding her face from them, but her body language was steeped in regret. "I'm fine," Aureia insisted with a growl, and stalked down the stairs after Adrian, her tail loudly slapping against the wall and stairs as she descended the spiral steps.
"Is she okay?" Blaze asked Ember anxiously. "I've...never seen her like this..."
"I don't know," Ember answered seriously, flexing her claws restlessly and she glanced back at the rest of the group. Sparky's nose was twitching, and he went past them without missing a beat, with Marcus only a few paces behind, and Laura at his side. Raze started to follow, but paused upon seeing Ember's expression.
"What's up?" the Buizel asked, glancing between the Charmander and Sylveon with genuine concern.
"I'm not sure," Ember replied, heaving a sigh. "Something's not right, though. Adrian's been acting strangely ever since we got to this room."
"Strangely? How so?" Raze wondered, his twin tails flicking behind him.
"It's hard to explain," Ember sighed, gazing around the chamber uncomfortably. It was difficult for her to articulate exactly what was so odd about Adrian's behavior. It was more a gut feeling than anything concrete, apart from his peculiar lack of caution in proceeding. "He just seems sort of...distracted and oblivious," she stated finally.
"And impatient," Blaze chimed in, earning a surprised glance from Ember. "I know I haven't been around him that much, but he's always seemed, I dunno, really 'chill', like nothing ever gets under his skin," the Sylveon explained, his feeler ribbons flicking as he spoke, like a person gesturing to communicate their point. "But just now, he seemed like he was in a rush and didn't want to talk with Aureia. Like he really needed to keep moving."
"Marcus also seemed really distracted," Raze agreed with a thoughtful frown. "Something about this room...maybe a Hypnosis or something?"
"Wait," Ember interjected with a faint scowl. "What about that weird smell everyone else seems to be noticing? Sparky and Blaze both zoned out earlier when talking about it, and Adrian and Marcus noticed it while in this room."
"Maybe," Raze said doubtfully, rubbing the back of his head with one paw. "Astrid and Shadow noticed the scent earlier, right before we caught up to you guys, but I don't think it affected them oddly or anything."
"But you didn't notice it?" Avis asked, the Servine coming up behind the group so silently that Raze jumped in surprise.
"No, I don't have a particularly great sense of smell," Raze answered with a chuckle. "Least not compared to those two. I just figured it was coming from something further ahead and didn't worry about it."
"What about now?" Avis pressed seriously, her own snout twitching. Raze sniffed the air briefly and shrugged, only for his nose to twitch again a moment later, and he reeled back slightly, as though someone had exhaled on his face after devouring several onions.
"Whoa, that's...potent," the Buizel said, pinching his nose shut and shaking his head. Everyone else stared at him blankly, and he smiled sheepishly. "Ah, um...you see, Astrid said it was reminscent of breeding incense...or a dragoness in heat, no offense to you, lovely."
"Yeah, that was last month," Ember deadpanned, folding her arms across her chest, and Avis giggled. She knew perfectly well the scent was not coming from her because if it had been, Sparky or anyone else would have pinpointed her as the source by now.
Raze chuckled, the laugh sounding slightly nasally, what with him still pinching his nose shut. "Well, let's just say that there might be a good reason why the males are distracted by it."
"Oh shit," Avis breathed, her red eyes widening in dawning realization, and an expression of genuine fear flashed across her face. "It might be a Salazzle."
Without waiting for them to reply, she bolted for the stairs. Ember, Raze, and Blaze exchanged bewildered glances before hurrying after the grass lizard.
"Avis, what's going on?" Ember demanded, taking the stairs two at a time in order to keep pace with the faster reptile.
"Salazzle is a Pokemon that produces a poison gas containing pheromones so potent that the males it attracts are forced to serve it," Avis explained, in a tone so deathly serious that the words sounded completely foreign coming from her. "It's a Fire/Poison-type...that's why it smells like something burning...and some entrepreneurs have tried to dilute those gases into incense or perfumes...that's probably why it resembles those scents."
"How do you know this?" Ember asked in bewilderment.
"Because the facility where I was bred was experimenting with Salazzle incense," Avis answered bluntly. Ember nearly missed a step, forcing her to abandon the conversation in favor of focusing on where she was putting her feet. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found themselves standing within another brightly-lit chamber.
It was a massive room, with all four walls decorated with innumerable stone carvings, each inscribed with the same hieroglyphic text seen elsewhere within the Ruins. Several ornate pillars stood near the center of the room, looking strangely out of place, and devoid of any objects or relics that might otherwise have been displayed upon their pedestals.
Adrian and Marcus were already here, gazing around in awe of the room's design, but Ember felt on-edge. There was something unsettling about this room, an eerie atmosphere that seemed to hang over her head like a black storm cloud. The eyeball aesthetics of the Unown hieroglyphics made it seem like hundreds of eyes were watching her from all directions, and she instinctively growled, her tail flame burning with greater intensity.
Sparky and Laura flanked Marcus on both sides, the Lopunny's eyes darting about the room warily. Aureia stood next to Adrian, but she was hanging back, her demeanor more submissive, which gave Ember the immediate impression that the Vaporeon was sulking.
Blaze immediately went over to the female's side, and although he was visibly tempted to give Aureia a reassuring nuzzle, he settled for just standing beside her and supporting her with his presence. Avis stepped up to Adrian's other side, giving herself a clear vantage point of the room and its occupants.
Ember grumbled in annoyance. With the group fanned out the way they were, and each one of them standing taller than she did, the Charmander couldn't see much of anything directly in front of them, and there was no way she was going to try to squeeze between the humans and their front line of Pokemon. It was normally common courtesy for a group this large to spread out more, so that everyone could stand at the front and have enough space to still maneuver as needed, but it seemed that consideration for one's peers was a concept that no one felt like maintaining right now.
The fire lizard scowled to herself as she circled around to the left side of the group, harboring irrational suspicions that she was being excluded solely because she was the only Pokemon in the group that still hadn't evolved, which was a stupid notion, because she knew that Raze was also an unevolved species, but this was the only way she could internally justify her current mood.
Raze followed in her wake, the Buizel still covering his nose with his paw, which was a slight improvement to pinching his nostrils shut, if only because it didn't drastically affect the sound of his voice. His expression was more solemn than usual, the one indication that he was taking the situation seriously, because his tails were flicking with the same lively energy that Ember normally observed from him.
"Alola, everyone," a feminine voice stated abruptly, and Ember flinched, craning her neck vainly in an attempt to see over Blaze and Aureia's shoulders. With an amused grin, Raze gently touched his free paw to her shoulder, and guided her around to Blaze's left side, where she had originally been heading before being distracted by the voice. With her view no longer obstructed by the bodies of the trainers or her peers, Ember saw what had captured everyone else's attention.
Standing before the group was a tall, bipedal lizard Pokemon with a sleek, feminine body that was undoubtedly the envy of females everywhere, with dark gray scales that contrasted nicely with the pale purple scales covering its abdomen. A trio of pink, flame-like markings decorated its belly, accentuating its alluring figure, and tempting the eyes to wander. A long tail lashed behind its body, the underside of the appendage covered in vibrant pink scales. This was not a female that would have any trouble catching the attention of a male, and that was a fact the lizard was fully aware of, as she stood before them with absolute confidence. Her pale purple-gray eyes glittered with mischief, the slit pupils focusing upon each of the new arrivals in turn, and her mouth was curled into a wicked, yet strangely disarming, smile.
The dark lizard punctuated her odd greeting by waving her paws in an odd, circular motion, displaying that each paw consisted of five spindly digits, like a human with oversized fingers. After a pause, both Adrian and Marcus mirrored the gesture, earning an approving smirk from the seductive reptile.
Ember immediately hated her. There was no logical basis for this distaste, and even she was surprised by the intensity of the emotion welling up within her chest. Her tail flame blazed to life, and she clenched her left paw into a tight fist, her body shaking with anger. Maybe it was how the lizard's demeanor resembled Inferna's, with the way she flaunted her sleek figure and carried herself with impossible confidence. All Ember cared about was that she hated her, and was itching to claw at its face until the smug smile was eradicated, and then leave a few scratches upon her belly, if only to place a blemish upon her otherwise flawless body.
Raze glanced sideways at the Charmander and slid another inch or two to the left, placing a more comfortable distance between himself and the fire lizard's burning tail. Ember didn't even care. Her eyes narrowed into venomous slits, and it was taking additional effort for her to simply keep her breathing pace even. A peculiar haze was overcoming her ability to think rationally, but in exchange, her body temperature was rising, and her tail flame intensified.
"My name is Circe, a Salazzle for those lacking an encyclopedic knowledge of every Pokemon in existence," the dark lizard continued, as pleasantly as if she were meeting with old friends, rather than a group of strangers.
"I knew it!" Avis hissed audibly, but no one paid any attention. Circe's gaze flicked towards the Servine, but continued to address the group as a whole.
"I've been expecting you, but unfortunately, I find your tardiness rather...vexing," the Salazzle mused, and her tone became heavy with disappointment.
Although unlikely that either human understood a word the poison lizard had just said, they both shifted their weight uncomfortably, like children being scolded. This reaction was not lost on the Pokemon standing nearest to the trainers, as Laura and Aureia both tensed and narrowed their eyes at the Salazzle, and even Avis shifted into an aggressive battle stance.
"Oh, you girls want to fight me, yet you brought a male Sylveon with you?" Circe snickered, visibly amused. "How droll."
With a wicked smile, the Salazzle expelled a cloud of purple smoke from her nostrils, which soon diffused into the air. Blaze's nose twitched, and his eyes glazed over slightly, a low purr rising from the back of his throat. Ember glanced warily at the Sylveon, uncomfortably aware of how close he was standing to her, even with Aureia on his other side.
"My patience for further delays grows thin. Permit me to depart, and pacify those who object," Circe ordered.
There was a moment's pause before Adrian and Marcus stepped aside, leaving a gap in the line directly before the staircase leading out of the room. Avis, however, stood her ground, her red eyes narrowing at Circe. With a fluid motion, a blade of green energy extended from one of her arms, and she brandished it threateningly at the Salazzle.
"Really, love? Almost every conscious male in the room is prepared to intervene on my behalf," Circe crooned, gesturing towards the humans.
"I know that," Avis snapped back. "But I'm not going to let you get away with manipulating all of us like this. You can leave once you've nullified the pheromones."
"Nullify?" Circe repeated skeptically. "The effects naturally wear off with time, unless reapplied. So if you aim to prevent me from leaving, you're only prolonging the effects, and I will gladly use the males as a resource in the meantime."
"The effects are derived from poison, so you can produce an antidote," Avis insisted. Circe snorted and blew a wisp of poison directly into Avis' face.
"The male Leafeon over there is purifying the air as we speak," the Salazzle scoffed, leaning into Avis' personal space, and flicking her tongue against the Servine's nose. "He's already bested me in combat, so you need not engage me solely on principle. Why don't you go snuggle up to him if you want the purification process to go faster? I doubt he'll object to a pretty grass lizard asking to...photosynthesize with him."
Snickering, Circe pushed past Avis, and disappeared up the winding staircase, leaving a confused silence in her wake.
