Chapter 24:Where day four begins.
The morning after the third day arrived.
Despite Mo's hope neither Hilarius or Axel and Amy have returned by now.
Well, it was early in the morning and probably everyone was still asleep. The sun hasn't even risen now.
Mo tried to sleep as hard as he could. He knew what was coming to him and to everyone else in the guild would be much. But Mo was just too nervous.
Time was running, if it wasn't too late already and he was unsure if he should wake up the others now or wait until after the briefing.
The room was dark and his team mates, Aaron and Charlotte, were still fast asleep. He did not tell them. He did not tell anyone. Not jet.
Mo turned to Aaron. He was laying on top of the hay and snore without any rhythm. Charlotte was laying next to him. She scratched her hip for a moment and then turned around, now facing Mo.
Mo raised his claw and poked her.
"Charlotte? Are you asleep?", he asked her in a quiet voice. The same moment he realised this was a dumb question.
Charlotte first not reacted but suddenly stood up.
Mo looked at her baffled. In his mind he was not thinking it through.
"I ... I need to talk to you and Aaron. It's ... important. ", Mo whispered.
Like before, Charlotte did not react at first. She looked at Aaron, still fast asleep. She reached for his small nose and honked it. In response Aaron slapped her softly with one of his ribbons.
Charlotte looked back to Mo. He did not know what to say.
Charlotte grabbed Aaron's nose again, this time he just flinched and turned around, now presenting his behind to both Mo and Charlotte.
Charlotte looked back at Mo again, this time handing over her log to him, much to Mo's surprise. Charlotte then climbed up the hay some more, put both her hands on Aaron's side and without warning pushed Aaron of the hay bed.
As he rolled over, Aaron woke up and let out a short but scream right before he hit the cold stone floor. This kind of wake up call was too harsh in Mo's eyes.
"What happened? What...?", Aaron confusedly and now awake asked and look around the dark room.
Charlotte pointed at Mo.
"I ... need to tell you something very important. I don't think I can wait longer.", Mo explained and handed Charlotte her log.
"And you can't wait till morning? How late is it?", Aaron said as he climbed back on the hay.
Mo pulled out a sheet of paper from under his disguise and showed it to both of them.
"I must confess ... I actually saw Axel and Amy leaving that night three days ago. They said, they knew where Team Blue and they key were and gave me this.", Mo told them and handed Aaron the letter.
"Amy said I should read it if they didn't returned within three days. I fear they need our help now.", Mo further explained.
Aaron began to read. Shortly after he looked back to Mo.
"It's to dark.", he said.
Realising how dark it was in their room, Mo quickly went outside and dragged in one of the torched from the corridor to light up their room. In the shine of the fire, Aaron, Charlotte and Mo looked at the frayed letter.
"Hello, if you read this something must have gone wrong and we need help. Not just us but the world is in danger. You have to contact a friend of our, who will assist you. She will tell you what you have to do next and guide you. Our friend lives on the peak of Mt. Steel and his hiding there. The Forces of Evil are after her. She might be hostile towards you, so please bring this letter to her as a sign you are truly friends of our. She may be intimidating first, but don't let that discourage. She is nicer than she looks. We wish you good luck and hope both Alfons and guild master Hilarius won't be mad at us. It was something we had to do. -Amy"
P.S. Sent for a small group. It more inconspicuous this way.
At the bottom she signed the letter.
"Mt. Steel.", Mo repeated.
Aaron slowly turned his head to Mo and looked at him in silence, judging him.
"How long do you have this?", he asked Mo and waved the letter. It was rare to her him so serious.
"Like I said, three days. They told me to not open it until the time arrived!", Mo told him.
"We need to tell the others.", Aaron declared and stood up.
"I don't think this is such a good idea.", Mo suggested and tried to reach out for Aaron.
Aaron, who was about to leave the room turned around and seemed confused to what Mo said.
"First, I had too much trouble with Alfons lately.", Mo said and looked over to Charlotte in regret. "Suppressing clues would not make it better. And second, ' Sent for a small group', I believe Amy gave it to me because the trust us. WE need to go!"
Silence.
"And beside, who would be better to sent? Team Orange?", he added.
Aaron looked at the letter and began to think.
"We haven't been out for some time.", he finally said and smiled.
"But there is one problem. The only exit is guarded by the twins. Both of them.", Aaron remembered. "We NEED to tell Alfons about this to go out. We can't just leave like this. My bruises still hurt."
Aaron shuddered.
Mo climbed down the hay and began to walk up and down, thinking about a way get out. Just asking? By force? Mo once read about a way to get past guards like this. Maybe ...
"Aaron, Charlotte ... I have an idea.", Mo told his team. "We need to pack our things and leave a soon a possible. And Aaron ... I want you to take the blame on you when something goes wrong. I own you one."
Aaron gave Mo the letter back.
"And what do you have in mind?", he asked.
A few minutes later Team Purple was once again ready for an adventure. This time maybe the greatest they will have.
Both Mo and Charlotte climbed on Aaron's back, who was also carrying their bag. Mo was holding Charlotte, so she would not fall down during what was about to happen. They stood at their door and waited for Mo's signal.
"You remember your line?", Mo whispered in Aaron's ear."
"Got it.", he replied.
"Let's go.", Mo gave Aaron the signal.
As if his tail was on fire, Aaron ran as fats as he could out of their room, down the corridor to the entrance hall. There the two Graveler where still standing at the big entrance door, guarding it so no Pokémon would get in or out. They immediately noticed Aaron and the team, especially because they where coming right at them.
At the same time, Alfons was just passing by. The morning briefing was soon about to start.
Because the twins could answer, Aaron screamed in total terror:
"FIRE! FIRE! THE GUILD IS BURINING! BURINING!"
Alfons and the Graveler twins where shocked
"I did nothing!", King Kamili could be heard roaring.
"What?! Where?!", Alfons asked distraught.
Aaron mumbled nonsense and pointed down the hallway where they just came from with all his ribbons.
Alfons and the twins went to Aaron's direction.
While the others were distracted, Aaron and Mo both quickly opened the door and rushed out with the same speed as before, getting away as fast as they could.
The sun was still rising and Mo felt a fresh breeze blowing through his cloth. It was about time for some air.
"No! No! Nooooo! Stooop! What are you doing?! Come back here!", they heard Alfons shouting after them.
Mo turned around and saw Alfons desperately trying to follow them. But Aaron was still much faster than the Delibird.
"Where are you going?!", Alfons shouted.
"We're going to save the world!", Aaron answered joyfully.
Alfons gave up and soon disappeared out of their sight. He was far away but Mo still could see how upset he was. And it worried him.
As soon as they knew no one would follow them anymore, Mo and Charlotte climbed off Aaron and walked the rest of the way to Mt. Steel in their own pace.
"Mo.", Aaron said to him along the way. "Take care of not falling off the cliff again."
"That's was not funny. I almost died.", Mo reminded him annoyed. "You know I don't like heights."
"What do you think will we meet up there?", Aaron tried to change the subject. "Who will be the one Axel and Amy wants us to meet?"
"They're some weird kids. I'll expect much.", Mo answered.
"Wasn't there this Skarmory once who kidnapped that Diglett boy?", Aaron loudly thought.
"I think she got arrested later and moved to another mountain. I still wonder how she managed to capture and hold a Diglett.", Mo said and did a grabbing motion with his claws. "I mean, how do they look like? Do they even have legs?"
Aaron smirked and tried not to laugh.
"What?", Mo asked him because of what he just did.
"I know you for years, but ... do YOU have legs?", Aaron asked Mo back and still smirked.
Mo knew. Aaron did not, but Mo did.
Under his disguise Mo smirked as well and his eyes glow up. As they did Aaron's smirk vanished from his face.
"You want to know?", Mo said with still glowing eyes.
As he said this Mo noticed Aaron began to walk faster than before.
While trying to keep up with Aaron, Mo suddenly felt like he was dragging a weight behind him. Someone was pulling on his fake tail.
Mo stopped and turned around to discover Charlotte, who held Mo's tail with one hand and her log with her other hand.
"What are you doing?!", Mo asked her upset.
Charlotte let go, pulled out a sign and began to write on it.
"How is your 'tail' attached?!", she wrote.
Mo looked at Charlotte for some time, thinking what to say. He turned around and saw Aaron right behind him, also wondering.
"... I rather not tell you.", Mo answered.
After some time the team finally arrived at Mt. Steel. Aaron was preparing a torch so they could see once the entered the dungeon. Mo had an idea he wanted to try. He still had not learned how to make a fire himself but he thought to have found another, faster solution.
Mo told Aaron to lay the not yet lit torch on the ground and him and Charlotte to step a few steps back for safety. Mo prepared and uses his thunderbolt attack on the torch in order to lighten it up. It only partially worked, as Mo overdid himself and turned the torch into coal in just a matter of seconds. All three were astonished. Mo tried to pick it up but it turned into ashes in his claw.
"... I go and find another piece of wood for our torch.", Mo suggested.
Not long after they went inside the dungeon to work their way up to the last level.
Aaron and Charlotte stood close to Mo, who held the torch and was lighting the way through the darkness. It didn't took long for Mo to notice something was off in this dungeon. Something the he never noticed in another dungeon they entered before.
"Aaron, Charlotte. Don't you think something is weird?", Mo asked them and stopped on their way.
Aaron looked around through the dark.
"What do you mean?", he asked.
"There are no other Pokémon except us.", Mo told them.
"Mo. We're always in a group of three. We never had backup, if you meant that.", Aaron informed Mo.
"I mean no wild Pokémon.", Mo explained further. "This dungeon seems to be empty. There are always wild Pokémon ready to attack us, to ambush us. Where is everybody? We're here for, I don't know, 10 minutes or so? That is not normal, right?"
This gave Aaron to think.
"Do you think it is because this 'friend' we're looking?", Mo questioned.
"You mean he or she has chased them all away?", Aaron asked.
"Well, something like that.", Mo said. He was thinking they maybe went straight into some kind of trap. "We need to watch out. I have a bad feeling. At least we don't have to trouble about Spearow to peek our eyes out now."
"What kind of Pokémon chases away a whole dungeon?! From what I heard, super strong Pokémon at the end of mystery dungeons didn't bothered any wild Pokémon before.", Aaron doubted Mo's thought.
Mo took a deep breath, breathing in the cold air of the dungeon and the smell of different kinds of minerals. He wasn't sure himself.
"We will see when we get to the top. Then we will get to the bottom how this.", Mo said and continued to lead his group through the dungeon.
Just as he suspected, the whole dungeon was empty.