Author's Note: Longest chapter yet, more main story references, one of my favorite early-game dungeons, and an important reveal? What doesn't this chapter have? I like how things turned out here.
Chapter Seven: Crossing the Peak
Hannah frowned as she stirred the next morning. She'd had more of those dreams last night, hadn't she? They still weren't completely clear, but…somehow, they seemed more urgent than they had last time.
Well, she still didn't know what exactly she was supposed to do, so Hannah wasn't sure if she could do anything about it. But…the voice had said something about "needing help soon," right? What if it was an emergency?
Hannah shook her head as she sat up. It was concerning, but…could she even do anything yet? Maybe she'd get more information eventually, and then she could try to bring it up to the others. But until then…
She felt bad about just leaving it, but what else could Hannah do?
Well, at least Heath was up already, she noticed as she looked towards his bed. Mia was stirring as well, her eyes squeezed shut as she frowned in her sleep. Finally, she rubbed her eyes and sat up, shaking her head as she stretched.
"How's…everyone?" she said through a yawn.
"Wide awake and ready to go," Heath replied. "How about you guys?"
"Give…give me and Hannah a minute," Mia replied, failing to stifle another yawn. "Gotta get up…"
Hannah shrugged. "I'm fine, I think. I guess we can take a minute to decide where to go, though?"
Heath tapped his chin. "Well, I'd kinda like to go somewhere bigger today, but…you don't really know what you're doing yet, do you?"
Hannah didn't take offense to the phrasing; he was right. Sure, she'd done okay last time, but…she'd really prefer to go somewhere simple if they had to explore again.
"Yeah, that would be good," she agreed. "Is there anywhere smaller nearby here?"
"Well, Stompstump Peak's really nice," Mia replied. "Heath took me out there for practice when we first met, and it's not too stressful a place. It's kind of pretty, too."
"I guess that's fine." Heath shrugged. "All right, Stompstump Peak it is. Ready to go now?"
Hannah nodded as she climbed out of bed, and Mia yawned one last time as she followed suit. As they headed towards the stairs, Hannah curiously glanced back at the beds. Umbreon had been joined by an Espeon; she must've gotten there after everyone had fallen asleep last night. Still, Espeon hadn't been there the day before… Maybe they'd gotten split up somehow? Oh, well; Hannah was just glad their conversation hadn't woken up the other two Pokémon.
It was a pleasant day, too, Hannah noted when they got outside. A light breeze rustled the leaves on her head, and it was sunny enough. The weather was perfect for exploring, really.
…Listen to her. Hannah snorted as she padded after Mia and Heath. She almost felt like she was getting used to this. Getting home was still in the back of her mind, but…she could deal with this for now.
And, by the time the trio got to the crossroads, she was actually kind of looking forward to it.
When they got to Stompstump Peak, Hannah was almost blown away by how pretty it was.
Even with the nearby routes, living in a big city meant she rarely got a good view of nature like this. (And, of course, she'd always been discouraged from going out without a Pokémon of her own.) But the mountain had several grassy plateaus, and a river flowed around the exterior, creating small waterfalls around the cave segments.
"See what I mean?" Mia grinned as she caught Hannah's wide-eyed expression. "It really is nice out here. You do have to go through the cave areas for easy access to the plateaus, but…"
Heath shrugged. "Worth it if you like this kinda thing, I guess. The left and right sides are kinda hard to get back down from, though."
Hannah nodded as she looked around. She could see some basic rope ladders hanging down from the far plateaus, but it didn't look like they went all the way to the ground. Her eyes drifted up to the central plateau. It looked taller than the others; did that mean the way up would be harder? Or, at least, it would probably take longer…
"Well, I never was too good at gym class," she commented dryly. "If we're coming back down afterwards, we may as well go up the middle."
Heath tilted his head to the side curiously. "Gym class?"
"Don't you know what that is, Heath?" Mia teased. "Oh, my. I guess young Pokémon don't get much physical education where you come from, then."
"H-hey!" Heath sputtered. "I don't know what that means, but my physical shape is fine, thanks! Let's just go."
The small dragon huffed as he walked towards the center cave. Mia giggled as she followed him, waving for Hannah to come along. There was an awkward log bridge spanning the river ahead of them—almost like someone had just shoved the logs there and gotten lucky with how they lined up.
Hannah carefully stepped onto the bridge, halfway expecting it to break under her weight. Still, it was better than nothing, she supposed. The river didn't look too wide, so she probably could've jumped it if she'd needed to, but…she really had been clumsy as a human. Honestly, Hannah probably would've fallen flat on her face if she'd had to do that.
She was almost across when her foot slipped on a slick part of the log. Hannah grunted in surprise as her weight shifted, causing the log to move as well. She quickly scrambled the rest of the way, barely making it across in time. Well, that was awkward… At least Heath and Mia had gotten slightly ahead of her, so neither of them seemed to notice her little gaffe.
At any rate, they were about to enter the cave now, so Hannah had to focus. Even with her teammates going ahead of her, and thus being more likely to take care of Pokémon for her, she had to be careful. Both of them had more experience with this than her, so Hannah was sure they could handle themselves, but…she didn't want to drag them down, either.
The hallway they'd entered wound around for a while before emptying into a large room, and, soon enough, a wild Tympole rounded the corner. Heath rammed into him with a Headbutt, but he retaliated with a Bubblebeam. Heath was left wiping off his face and sputtering awkwardly, and Hannah had stepped forward before she really thought about what she was doing.
She was pretty good with that Leech Seed attack she'd done the other day, right? Hannah closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to use the move again. However, the seeds launching out of the bush on her head felt…larger and heavier this time around. Tympole yelped as the move struck him, and he hastily retreated back down the hall he'd come from once he recovered.
"Oh, you know Seed Bomb, too?" Heath commented, sounding mildly impressed. "Not bad; not bad at all."
"Uh…yeah," Hannah replied, deciding to just roll with it. "You know, I decided I should try to be, like…a little more proactive, or something?"
"Well, you did a good job." Mia nodded. "Let's hope we don't run into too much more trouble on the way up, though, right?"
Everyone nodded as they started walking again. The path ahead wasn't too bad, though it was rather winding. Hannah was almost out of breath by the time they found somewhere to take a break.
There was a spacious chamber not too much farther ahead, and Hannah sat down near its entrance. Heath's attention was almost instantly caught by something on the opposite side of the room. As he darted towards it, Mia shook her head and laughed, and Hannah looked up curiously.
A small section of the wall was covered in clear stones, and they sparkled lightly. They reflected the light and caused each other to shine even more brightly. A few pieces had fallen to the ground, and Heath eagerly picked up a few of them.
"I know I picked up a couple of these last time I was here," he said, "but I can't help it! Look at them!"
Mia snorted. "How do you even have any room left in your bag?"
"Hey, I'm gonna clean it out eventually! Just…not right now!"
Hannah got up and padded over to the crystals as well. They really were pretty, she admitted. She couldn't help picking up two or three of her own and sticking them into her bag. She didn't know if she'd actually be able to keep this stuff, but…maybe she could use them in some kind of art project if so? Anyway, Hannah glanced up and examined the wall itself.
The material was so smooth that it almost perfectly reflected her appearance. Hannah frowned as she raised a paw to her face. Actually seeing herself as a Pansage somehow made the situation seem worse. Sure, she'd already thought about going home, but…it was now that she really started to miss being human, too.
"Hannah, are you okay?"
She shook her head when she saw Mia approach from behind. The Gothorita put a hand on her shoulder, and she bore a worried expression. Hannah supposed she had been standing there like that for a while, if nothing else.
"Oh, no, I just…have a bit of a headache, I think," she lied. "It's fine, though. We better get going, right?"
"The top's not going anywhere anytime soon." Mia laughed and shook her head. "But I guess we do want to get up there while it's still light outside; the view will be nicer that way. Heath?"
"Uh, yeah!" he agreed. "Let's get going."
The two of them headed towards the hallway on the other side of the room, but Mia still looked concerned. She took one more look at her appearance before shaking her head and scampering after them.
It was fine. Hannah would be fine.
Wouldn't she?
They'd gone a fair distance when they ran into more Tympole—two, to be precise. Hannah's first instinct was to panic. She'd done okay against one, and they'd gotten into a fight with multiple Pokémon last time they'd gone to a dungeon, right? Still, Hannah wasn't quite used to it yet, and she automatically stepped backwards before remembering that she knew a move that would be useful here.
Seed Bomb. Seed Bomb. Not Leech Seed. Seed Bomb—
Her leaves twitched, and Hannah sighed in relief when the proper move fired off, striking the nearest Tympole. Nearby, Heath had charged towards one of them, ramming into it with a Headbutt before following it up with a Bite. Apparently, Mia decided that Heath was fine on his own, as she turned around and blasted the other Tympole with a Charge Beam.
It wasn't long before they both slumped to the ground, and Hannah sighed again as things calmed down. This really wasn't bad at all… She'd been proud of herself before, right? If Hannah could just keep that up, she would be fine if they ran into trouble again.
"Well, I guess that's over with," Heath commented, shrugging. "I think that's the exit up there, though. Wanna go see?"
Hannah nodded, and she and Mia followed after him. Soon enough, they were back outside, and Hannah stretched idly before looking around. She couldn't help gasping at the sight—the view from up here really was incredible.
They were at the higher central plateau, and there was a large waterfall behind them. The river flowed down on either side of the hill, framing the area nicely, and it was easy to see the two smaller waterfalls flowing down the sides from here. Hannah felt her eyes widen again; she wasn't sure what to focus on, really.
"Well, while you're occupied with that, I think I'm gonna go look for stuff." Heath snorted before his attention was caught by something off to his left. "Ooh, I think I see something over there…"
With that, he darted off to investigate, leaving Hannah to look around with Mia. She grinned sheepishly at the Psychic-Type, rubbing the back of her neck as she spoke up.
"Well, I guess you guys have seen this before, so it's not as cool to you…"
Mia shook her head. "No, I know what you mean. I thought this was really nice the first time I saw it, too. I haven't been here as long as Heath has, so it's still…"
She trailed off, and Hannah frowned. That was right; she and Heath had implied that before, hadn't they? Now Hannah was getting curious again…
Not to mention, she was still wondering about Mia's dreams, too. Was this a good time to bring them up? She wasn't sure, but Hannah found herself blurting it out anyway.
"So, uh, Mia," she said awkwardly, "I know this is going to sound kind of random, but…you know your dreams?"
She blinked. "Er, yes? What about them?"
"It's just…" Hannah took a deep breath. "I've been getting some weird ones, too, so I've been wondering if they were anything like mine. Especially since you said you haven't been here for too long…"
Something seemed to dawn on the Gothorita. Her eyes widened, and then she furtively looked around and took a step closer to Hannah. She put a hand on her shoulder, and Mia leaned forwards slightly as she replied.
"Have you been hearing voices, Hannah?" she whispered. "In a kind of weird, blurry, light area?" After Hannah nodded, she added, "It took me a while to be sure, but I think it's a Munna talking to me. She's been getting clearer and clearer, and I'm almost certain I got close to really seeing her last time."
Hannah's heartbeat sped up, and she found herself whispering in return. "I think so. The only time I saw a Munna was right before I woke up here, but that has to be who's been talking to me, too. Has she been asking you for help?"
"Yeah. I don't know what I should be doing, since she hasn't managed to give me any good hints yet, but…" Mia frowned. "If we've both been getting the dreams, then…maybe we can figure something out soon?"
Hannah frowned as well. "Yeah, she has to get through to one of us soon, right? But…why have both of us been getting the dreams? Why not Heath? Wouldn't she want to ask for as much help as she can?"
They fell silent for a few seconds as they tried to process this information. Hannah had been trying to figure that out herself, but now… This was really weird. Why were they both hearing from Munna? Was there something special about them? How many others had Munna reached out to? Why—
"Hannah," Mia said slowly, "are you…maybe… Are you a human, too?"
Her eyes widened again. "What? You're also—"
"Hey, guys! Look at all these gold bars I dug up!"
Heath's voice rang out nearby, and they both jumped as they looked over at the dragon. He had several gold bars—probably at least three or four—in his arms, and he was grinning broadly as he approached them. Soon enough, he noticed the looks on their faces, and he tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"Uh, are you two okay? Did I interrupt something?"
"No, it's fine." Mia shook her head and stepped away from Hannah. "Here, do you need help carrying those? Maybe we should get back to Post Town and sell them to Cofagrigus."
"Hey, no, I wanna keep these!" Heath huffed. "Though maybe…I guess I could sell one or two… I am getting low on Reviver Seeds. Okay, whatever, let's get on back!"
He proceeded to stuff them into his bag, and Hannah took the pause to catch her breath. Her eyes immediately went back over to Mia, and she caught Hannah's gaze. She was a human too. That was what she'd said, right?
Well, now wasn't the time to discuss that. Maybe they could figure things out once they were somewhere quiet and all rested up. Hannah needed the time to process things, too, and the walk back would help with that.
What was going on here?