Unfortunately, Lilac couldn't express her worries or even hint at it for the next two days of travel they made. She certainly wanted to ask, but any opportunity over their days of travel were met with her feeling too selfish to ask. She wasn't even entirely sure how to tell the two about her problems. So she instead just focused on the passing scenery until they finally reached the Kalah Port.

When they got there, though, Lilac's mind immediately went off the subject of her own worries and instead she was focused on the situation at hand. When Light mentioned earlier that there was no Deposit Box, Lilac didn't really think of the implications of that statement. But that should have been her first clue something was wrong. Every town or port they had been in, including the secluded Serene Village, had a Deposit Box. So the fact that this place didn't should have been her first clue that…

"This place…is a ghost town," Lilac breathed.

Fennix flinched at that statement. "D-don't mention ghosts…but you're right."

Kalah Port was completely empty when they stepped off Lapras and onto the rotting wooden pier. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but sand and dust. If there was anything close to a 'town' it was all half-broken buildings or unidentifiable pieces of wood sticking out of the ground. A wind blew through the area, kicking up dust and sand that threatened to cover any sign that there was once life.

Lilac turned her gaze to Light. "Do you know what happened here? Why this port is…like this?"

Light shook his head. "I've heard of this port a few times from the locals of the Sand Continent, but this is the first time I've actually seen it. And while they talk about how it's nothing but a ghost town, nobody ever mentioned how this place got this way."

"It is believed that this place was destroyed around the same time that the Golden Continent itself became barren."

Light, Lilac, and Fennix all looked up from their conversation to see Ampharos and Mawile walking across the barren desert sands quite close to them. Of course, while Light and Fennix were surprised, Lilac just nodded in their direction, having sensed the two Pokémon approaching already. Still, she herself was amazed at how silent the two were during their approach.

"Chief, Mawile, good to see you," Lilac nodded as soon as the two got close. "But why are you here and not at the ruins?"

"We've unfortunately hit an impasse, and since we knew you were coming, we agreed it would be best to see the two of you to the ruins rather than try and go further," Mawile explained. "As I'm sure you're well aware, with the rumors floating around the tomb, we want a solid grasp on what we can expect before we attempt to dig further in."

Light nodded. "Makes sense."

Lilac stepped forward, facing Mawile. "You said this port was destroyed when the Sand Continent became the desert it is?" she asked for clarification. "How did that happen, exactly?"

"The Golden Continent was thrived thanks to constant exports to other regions. It was rich and abundant with many resources, twice the amount that can normally be found on either the Water Continent or the Grass Continent. However, the climate shifted, and they experienced something known as the 'Great Drought' by the locals. The entire continent was unable to get the rain it needed anymore, and the land wasted away. As you can imagine, without their exports, their trade died as well, and this port was soon abandoned. Now it has wasted away into the ghost town you see here."

Light took a thoughtful glance around the port. "…Wonder if I saw this place in its prime?" he mumbled to himself. Lilac could tell by his look that the pikachu didn't recognize anything, even though it was likely he wouldn't even if he still had his memories. Still, the pikachu seemed to be examining the environment for any stray area or object that he might recognize.

"Considering this would have been the major port during the time of your quest with Mew, and not Sahra Town which was founded much later, it's very possible," Mawile confirmed. "Though now is not the time to be hanging on sobering facts such as this. We cannot change the past, no matter how much we might wish. We can only research it and not make the same mistakes."

Fennix stamped down a paw with determination. "Yeah! It's really sad what happened here. Especially since this was Puriah's home and I'm sure she'd hate to see it like this. But she wouldn't want us to be sad like this! We gotta keep going, right? We've got our own mission to do, so we shouldn't really stand around here."

"Well put, young Fennix!" Ampharos cheered. "Now then, shall we go, crew?"

Light took a glance at Fennix before looking forward determinately as well. "Yeah, we should. Fennix, Espurr, let's head to the tomb."

"Yeah!" Fennix cheered.

Lilac paused for a moment but smiled at the thought that Light still remembered her. She gave Light a curious nod before the three of them caught up to Ampharos and Mawile and the small crew walked their way out of the ghost town and into the desert.

Despite it being later in the day, and the skies were as yellow as the sands they walked through, the heat of the desert was still rather overbearing. Thanks to the thoughtfulness of both Light and the leaders of the Expedition Society, there was more than enough water to pass around for everyone to avoid dehydration. However, Lilac could still feel the fatigue and the beads of sweat that rolled down her face.

"Yep, you can really tell it's getting close to summer," Light mumbled before wiping the sweat off of his forehead. "The hot desert gets hotter."

"I'm having no difficulty," Fennix teased with a smirk on her face, the fennekin almost looking lively within the desert heat. She skipped across the sand with great leaps and bounds and was ahead of the pack.

"Good for you," Lilac deadpanned back. She was the farthest behind, her eyes mostly on her two paws, making sure they were still going back and forth.

"Luckily, the path to the tomb will take us through a mountainous cavern." Mawile wiped the sweat off her brow before pointing forward. Lilac followed her gaze and save that, indeed, there was a large mountain range that towered high into the cloudless sky.

Lilac breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I can't wait to get out of this heat."

"The bad news is that the cavern itself is a Mystery Dungeon."

Light chuckled at the thought. "Welp, I guess we have to go around then," he said with a straight face. "It's not like we explore Mystery Dungeons on a regular basis or anything."

Lilac stopped for a moment, sensing Mawile's reservation even without her psychic powers. "Is the Mystery Dungeon dangerous?"

Mawile nodded. "We'll explain more once we reach there."

It wasn't much longer until they finally reached the mountainside. A large misshapen opening hung before them, one that seemed to be created by sudden shifts in the earth rather than erosion. Going in the light of the sun was darkened slightly, though not so much that it was difficult to see. And without the hot sunlight pouring down, the cave was cooler than the outside.

Lilac breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally. That was certainly…hotter than I was expecting. Too bad we don't keep a Water or Ice type around as company."

"Welcome to the Earthshaken Caverns, you guys," Ampharos announced. "While we've beaten the heat, be on your guards."

Lilac closed her eyes and focused her psychic power on detecting the area. "I assume you guys have gone through this place before?" she asked while she was focusing.

"We took it as a shortcut to reach you guys," Mawile said. "The dominant type here is Ground. Golem, dugtrio, sandslash, donphan, and diggersby can all be found here."

Lilac opened her eyes back up. "And drilbur if I'm not mistaken. And let's not forget, there are likely many Pokémon I'm unable to sense."

Light crossed his arms and tapped the ground with his right paw, his normally smiling face turned to a frown. "Great, so we're at a massive disadvantage here, then."

"The enemies themselves we're not too difficult for Ampharos and I to take care of," Mawile explained. "However, that was when it was just us."

Light nodded in understanding. "…Espurr, can you get a good gauge on where all the enemies are in the dungeon?"

Lilac immediately shook her head. "Sorry Light. The distortions that Mystery Dungeons create prevent my Psychic powers from working that well in them. I can sense the Pokémon, but where they are is beyond me. They feel like they're everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I'll be able to tell you when one gets close, but that's it."

"Understandable." Light took a quick look around before tapping his paw again. "Then when we can, we should explore in a double triangle pattern. Ampharos, Mawile, and I will lead the front while Espurr and Fennix can be behind. We'll form a wall while you two can attack from long range."

Fennix nodded and a fierce look appeared on her face. "Heh, Ground-types don't scare me! We'll show them!"

"I'll do the best I can as well," Lilac confirmed.

"Do you have a plan for when Earthquake or Earth Power is used by the enemy?" Mawile asked, her gaze tearing holes through Light.

Light didn't back down at all from her gaze, though, and instead he looked towards Lilac. "Espurr, with Psychic, how much weight can you hold and for how long?"

Lilac paused for a second at the suddenness of the question. However, she quickly thought through it and answered. "I can safely lift about thirty pounds safely for five or six seconds. It's not much, but that does far exceed my own weight." Lilac smiled. "I'm actually quite proud of my power."

"Alright, that'll be enough. Then, if you see a Pokémon about to use Earthquake, use Psychic to lift Fennix up, would you? I'll use Iron Tail myself to get off the ground, so I shouldn't need it."

For a moment Lilac felt a pang of jealousy shoot through her as Light prioritized Fennix's safety over everyone else's, but logic quickly pushed that feeling back. If Light could spring himself up then between herself and Fennix, the Fire-type was more vulnerable. Though a part of her still said that he would probably have still focused on Fennix's safety over her own, at least in this situation, what Light was suggesting was more logical.

"I'll do that," Lilac promised.

"Good." Ampharos turned to towards further in the cavern. "Now that we have a strategy, shall we be off crew?"

"Yes sir!"

The inside of the cavern itself wasn't too much of anything to look at, despite them having more than enough light to see through it. Dull gray rocks were scattered haphazardly across the path as if they were thrown there by some uncaring force of nature. The smaller rocks were pains on the souls of everyone's paws as they walked while the larger rocks that barred their path at some points required them to use their energy climbing over it.

"Was it an earthquake that created this cave?" Lilac eventually asked as they walked through.

"That would be correct, young Espurr," Ampharos cheerfully responded, looking back at the young girl. "Whether natural or created by the wild Pokémon in the area, we are unsure, but this area has been hit by several earthquakes."

"The cavern itself is a newer one to the Sand Continent, created only a year-and-a-half ago," Mawile continued Ampharos's point. She had her eyes still carefully looking through the cavern for any possible fights they might get into. "It was formed only a few months before it became a Mystery Dungeon."

"Ooo, so we're exploring a newer dungeon!" Fennix said with a skip in her step.

"Temper your excitement, there's nothing here but enemies," Mawile confirmed. "Speaking of which, Espurr. Have you sensed anything yet?"

"The enemies are certainly on the move, but none of them have come close to us ye…"

Lilac's words fell short as she sensed something in her mind's eye. She quickly closed her eyes to concentrate on the sensation. It wasn't long before she found exactly what disturbed her, her muscles tense as she noticed.

Lilac's eyes snapped open. "Two enemies coming from the front, a sandslash and a golem. At the speed they're going, they'll be here in a few seconds!"

The reaction was immediate. Everyone else tensed up those who weren't facing forward immediately did. Light himself crouched down to stand on four paws instead of two. Lilac focused all her psychic energy into attacking energy, ready to blast whatever came when they finally appeared.

"Chief, Mawile, Espurr, focus on the sandslash." Gone was Light's soft, comforting voice. In its place came quick commanding whispers. "Fennix…"

"Grass Knot Solarbeam on the golem," Fennix responded before Light could even finish his command. "Easy peasy."

"Be wary of how powerful the Solarbeam is," Mawile warned. "We don't know how unstable the cavern is."

The battle came to them before Fennix got the chance answer Mawile. As Lilac predicted, a sandslash and golem came into their field of vision, both Pokémon making a beeline for the five explorers. Light and Mawile both reacted instantly by rushing at the two opponents. Light reached the golem before anyone had time to even breath, his tail wreathed in silver. Once he got close enough, he jumped into the air and came spinning down with his tail on the golem. It all happened before the enemy could possibly do anything more than tilt his head away as Light hit its midsection with his Iron Tail. The impact was enough to push both opponents a few feet away from each other, Light professionally landing on his feet.

Meanwhile, Mawile reached her opponent once Light was done with his first clash. However, the sandslash was the one who chose to take the initiative, it's claws glowing white as it attempted to crush Mawile on both sides with those claws. Mawile showed no fear of the attack, letting both the hits from the Crush Claw bounce off her with no signs of visible damage. While the sandslash was reeling back from the failed impact, Mawile bit onto its outstretched right arm with the large jaw on the back of her head. With the sandslash securely clamped, Mawile threw it towards back towards her back and pinned him in the direction of Ampharos and Lilac.

"Attack when ready," Mawile grunted. The sandlash kept swiping at Mawile with his free claw, but none of its attacks affected her nor did she seem to be willing to let it go. "Worry not about me, I'll be fine."

Despite Mawile's words, Lilac hesitated at attacking it. However, Ampharos had no such qualms. From his gaping mouth came a stream of purple energy that soon covered both the sandslash and Mawile. Lilac's eyes widened as soon as she realized what Ampharos was doing. His Dragon Pulse, no matter how strong, would do no damage to Mawile. Seeing that gave her the confidence to launch her own attack.

Lilac focused on her opponent and brought her paws together. From those paws came a large wave of psychic energy that soon converged onto the opponent. It was powerful, swift, a successful Psychic attack, and that attack combined with Ampharos's were both enough to knock out the sandslash. Mawile soon let go of it and left it tumbling towards the ground.

With their opponent defeated, Lilac was about to see how Light and Fennix were doing, however a large green light appeared out of the corner of her eye before she could. She still turned to look, but she immediately recognized Fennix's Solarbeam. And when her eyes locked on Light's side of the battle, she saw the golem knocked out, Light getting up from having his left arm planted on the ground, and Fennix looking confident at her work. She knew without needing to even ask that Light used Grass Knot to hold the golem down while Fennix used her powerful attack. A painful reminder of the synergy that those two held.

"Pfft, that was it?" Fennix asked, her eyes moving towards Mawile. "I thought you said this cave would be dangerous. That was easy."

However, Mawile and Ampharos still were looking warily around the place. While Fennix was being nonchalant about the battle being done, they still looked like things weren't over. Light noticed their expressions and his gaze went towards Lilac. However, Lilac could only shake her head, as a quick telepathic scan told her nothing. So Light turned back towards Mawile.

"Chief, Mawile, is there something else?"

Mawile gave everyone a deadly look. "Get in the air, now!" she harshly commanded.

Lilac paused for a moment at the suddenness of Mawile's request. However, nobody else hesitated. Light's lightning bolt shaped tail glowed silver once again and he slammed into the ground to send himself into the air. Mawile's large maw on her head glowed silver as well, allowing Ampharos to step on it and be sent up in the air. They both had enough momentum to send themselves high up, to the point where they were inches away from the ceiling of the cave. Fennix, meanwhile, was looking desperately at Lilac. And while Lilac wasn't sure exactly what was going on, she understood the urgency and she quickly reached out to grab Fennix with a Psychic hold.

Unfortunately, the moment's hesitation she had was long enough. Before she could pull Fennix too high into the air, the ground around her violently shook. Lilac lost her footing and fell to the ground, which broke her psychic concentration. Therefore, while Fennix was able to avoid the start of the sudden Earthquake, she still landed on the trembling ground and got hit by the brunt of the attack. It wasn't long after when a loud scream pieced the cavern walls.

"Fennix!" both Light and Lilac yelled at the same time when they heard the scream. Soon after, the ground stopped shaking, allowing Lilac to finally get her bearings. She was hurt from the attack, could feel the scrapes and scratches of every part of her body that had contact with the ground, but she wasn't too worse for wear. Her main worry was how everyone else was.

Light and Ampharos soon landed, Light using another Iron Tail to help lessen the impact while Ampharos used a Dragon Pulse to do the same. Mawile, despite being weak to the sudden attack, looked no worse for wear either. That left only one Pokémon, who Lilac immediately turned to face.

Similar to the injuries that Lilac gained, Fennix also had several cuts and sores all across her paws and stomach. She was standing up by the time Lilac looked at her, but she looked like she was having trouble staying that way. Her knees were shaking, and she had both eyes clenched shut from the pain.

Light turned to her and Lilac was already one step in the process of reaching Fennix, but the ground shook once again before they could get to her. Instead of being another Earthquake, though, two Pokémon came out of the ground. A krokodile and an excadrill. Mawile and Ampharos were both ready to fight, but Light and Lilac were both more concerned with their injured friend.

"…Light, give me your bag and focus on the enemies!" Lilac recommended, her earlier hesitation gone.

Light nodded before throwing his bag at Lilac. While they were doing that, both the excadrill and the krokodile attempted to attack Mawile and Ampharos respectively. The excadrill slashed Mawile with Metal Claws, but Mawile blocked with Iron Head. The krokodile attempted to clamp it's jaws down around Ampharos's neck, but he managed to take a quick step back before hitting the outstretched maw with a Fire Punch. Light ran up to Ampharos's side once he gave his bag to Lilac.

"Chief, focus on the excadrill," Light commanded quickly.

Ampharos nodded and moved towards his right to join Mawile's side. Light rushed straight at the krokodile, who tried to take a bite out of him while he approached. However, Light's run was low enough that the krokodile missed, giving Light the perfect chance to crouch low and hit the krokodile in the stomach with his two glowing white paws. The Brick Break caused the krokodile to keel slightly, so Light slammed his giant red maw with an Iron Tail, sending the krokodile back.

Lilac didn't see much of the fight though, her focus on healing Fennix. Since Fennix was still awake, if in serious pain, Lilac felt around in the bag with her right paw for a small, round Oran Berry. She eventually felt one and quickly pulled it out to give to Fennix.

"Quick, eat this, it'll help," Lilac said as she pressed the berry to Fennix's lips.

"T-thanks, Lilac." Fennix quickly ate the berry. A few seconds after swallowing, Fennix was able to at least open her eyes. Her legs still shook, but she had a determined look on her face, so she was at least able to mostly ignore the pain. She immediately focused on the battle at hand, and Lilac joined her.

Mawile had moved from fighting the excadrill to helping Light against the krokodile, the two standing side-by-side. It tried swiping at Light and Mawile at the same time with its claws, but Light ducked easily past its right claw and Mawile deflected the blow going towards her. Light responded with a Brick Break to its stomach to send it reeling back and Mawile finished it off with her Play Rough attack.

Meanwhile, Ampharos was all on his own against the excadrill, but he seemed no worse for wear. In fact, the excadrill was completely unable to hit him. Slashes with its claws, its attempts at flinging earth at him, all of them were dodged easily by Ampharos with what could almost be described as graceful steps and poses. It almost looked like Ampharos was dancing as he dodged blow after blow. And when the excadrill attempted to use Earthquake, Ampharos went on the offensive with a Fire Punch to stagger it before it could get off such a devastating attack.

"Chief!" Fennix yelled. "Flamethrower, coming your way!"

Fennix opened her maw wide and a large stream of fire came from it. Ampharos easily dodged to his left side with a twirl for style allowing the Flamethrower to engulf the excadrill. Once the fire dissipated, the excadrill was knocked out on the ground.

With both enemy Pokémon defeated, Light turned around and immediately rushed towards Fennix. "Are you okay?!" Light asked.

"Pfft, what do you take me for, Light?" Fennix asked. "Gonna take more than a tiny Earthquake to get me down!"

Lilac paused for a few seconds as she felt guilt welling up inside of her. "Light I…"

However, Light looked at her and shook his head before she could finish that statement. "No, it's my fault. I didn't even think of the fact that you need to concentrate to use Psychic, and that'd be hard during an Earthquake. I should've came up with another strategy."

"We can save this circle of self-doubt for later," Mawile interjected. Everyone's eyes went towards her. "It seems the Pokémon here are extra sensitive to the vibrations made from combat. If we stay in this spot for too long, a horde of enemies will be upon us."

Lilac made a quick telepathic sense of their surroundings. "Mawile's right. I can already sense a large number of Pokémon approaching from all sides. We need to move, or we'll be surrounded."

"Then let's get moving!" Fennix said. However, as soon as she took one step, she flinched.

"Oran berries ease the pain and help the healing process, but they don't heal wounds instantly," Mawile said upon seeing Fennix's pain.

"Yeah, so what?!" Fennix growled. "We need to move, don't we? I'll…survive." And as if to prove it, Fennix ran a few steps forward so she was ahead of the group. "Come on, you guys, let's go!"

"Mawile, you said it's the vibrations from our battles that are attracting them, right?" Light asked quickly. Mawile nodded, so Light turned to Lilac. "Espurr, can I have my bag back? I got a plan."

Lilac quickly complied, levitating Light's bag over to him and around his shoulder. Light immediately reached inside his bag and grabbed out a small seed. Holding it firm in his left paw, Light looked in the direction they came from. There, he chucked the Blast Seed as hard as he possibly could. It went beyond their sight, but they did still hear the explosion that came from it. Lilac could also sense the shift in their enemies.

"There, if we're careful we should be able to avoid everyone now and still move slowly," Light said. He turned around to follow Fennix. "Let's go."

"This will only be a temporary measure, but your plan should grant us a small reprieve," Mawile mused.

So, with the enemies distracted, everyone moved slowly into the nearest branching path of the cave they could find. Light and Fennix took charge, so everyone could go the same speed Fennix was, with Ampharos right behind them, and Mawile and Lilac leading the back. Lilac still felt slightly guilty at what happened earlier, and going so slowly because of it didn't help either. However, while they were walking, Mawile tapped on her shoulder.

"Don't dwell on a single mistake for longer than it takes to learn from it. Nobody blames you."

Lilac looked over to Mawile for some sort of an explanation, but before she could get one, Mawile had moved ahead to join Ampharos's side in the group. Despite what Mawile suggested, though, after analyzing the battle in her head, Lilac knew that she was the weak link. Even beyond being unable to do her part in Light's plan, both him and Fennix along with Ampharos and Mawile had good synergy in the battle. But Lilac didn't. And that fact left a bitter taste in her mouth as they continued through the dungeon.

AN: While large fight scenes with many players can be really annoying to pull off, one good thing they do is they show how the various characters work together and around each other. These early on fights aren't that important, obviously they're going to make it through and none of these wild Pokemon are going to become major players in the plot. So what's more important is to define something within the fight, something thematic to the overall story, and work through those definitions further on in the story.

Beta read by TheGoldCrow