"Among the frozen stones and in the deepest depths beneath the great peak is where you will find your prize."
Lucario looks at the Scanner Orb, seeing the mirage a gear emblazoned by those red glowing flanges. It seems to be floating above a rocky lake sequestered among clusters of tall hexagonal stones.
"Basalt Peak. Lemme take a wild guess: there's a mystery dungeon?"
"Very astute of you. But the Dungeon is the least of your worries, dear. You aren't the only pokemon desperate to get their hands on those gears.
Lucario barely makes it to safety as a flamethrower swooshes over his head, searing the already dark basalt black. Was this who the ghost was warning him about? Who knows, but someone's beaten him to a punch and isn't about to let him pass without becoming a barbecued mutt.
"You're not going any further than this!"
There's a big round cavern, a gateway of sorts to what lies in the deepest floor of the dungeon. Blocking a hexagon-shaped hole on the back wall is a Charmeleon, flames flicker from his mouth whenever he shouts.
"As if it wasn't obvious!" Lucario picks up a chunk of the hexagonal rock. It's flat and heavy. "You come from Calico Town?"
Charmeleon answers back with another flamethrower, spewing it over Lucario's head in warning. The basalt protecting Lucario is starting to glow red. He's probably right, then. Where's the other fire-types?
"You're not making many friends by burning them alive. I saw you outside with two other fire guys. Are they your buddies, partners in crime? Homeboys?" Lucario peeps behind cover to see Charmeleon giving him a death stare. "I didn't see them on the way. Don't tell me they left you behind.""
"I didn't get left behind! Charmeleon growls back. "I knew someone from that tavern was gonna follow us here! You fell right into my ambush, you stinky mutt!"
"Some ambush! I should be roasted by now."
A third Flamethrower batters the stone down, melting the tips of the pillars into molten slag. This is when Lucario decides to make a break for him.. Lucario sprints across the cave, a chunk of stone clenched in his fist. Charmeleon draws a deep breath and Lucario whips the disk at the Lizard, knocking the wind out of him for a split second - enough time for him to conjure up a Bone Club and close the distance.
Charmeleon answers Lucario's first swing with shining Metal Claws. The claws snap the club into two, turning it into a tiny pointy stick. Charmeleon's smirk turns to terror when Lucario simply fwips the broken club around, and slams it into the fire-type's side pointy end first.
The would-be dragon lets a kind of dreadful noise; a mix between hatchling screams and a creaky door. As he's reeling back Lucario trips him up, planting his boot into his back with a stomp. Charmeleon squeals out.
"Okay! Okay stop!" He squirms under Lucario's heel. "I give, I give!"
"Give? Give what?" Lucario spots a satchel dangling from the pokemon's side and nudges it with his other foot. "How's about everything you've got?"
"W-What!?"
"Seeds, Orbs, Money - all the good stuff. Hand it over!"
Charmeleon's tail flickers in intensity, and before it could do whatever a charmeleon tail supposedly does Lucario grabs the thing, strangling it. This finally gets Charmeleon to do what he's told. He squirms around awkwardly until he manages to cut his satchel loose. Lucario swipes it and starts counting the goods: an Oran Berry, a plain seed, an apple and an illustrious five hundred in coins.
"Thank you very much!" Lucario guffaws, stuffing the goods away. "Now tell me where your friends are."
"They're up ahead. The hole in the wall was here when we got here, they-"
"Really?" Lucario cuts him off. "You schmucks tailed a guy here, didn't you?"
As someone who loves to pick up the goodies explorers leave behind, it's something Lucario would've done themselves. Thieves think alike. This guy's probably new if he's surprised by Lucario figuring it out.
"Um…yeah, we did." Charmeleon admits. "It was typhlosion in explorer gear. A complete stranger in town shows up the night this bounty gets put out, and we see him take off out of Calico Town like he's got something. We're not dumb, right?"
Going after an explorer's pretty dumb, making the connection wasn't. He knows exactly who he's talking about: the weirdo with the purple flames spewing around his head with the same hat as the bard. If he's gonna have to beat a guildie up this early then things are gonna get real complicated from here, nevermind the bounty on his head. Lucario groans.
"Y-you're gonna let me go now, right?"
Lucario replies by kicking Charmeleon's side, sending him off to dreamland with an unkind farewell.
"No."
Stealing a quick bite of Oran Berry, he moves on. Whatever typhlosion did to open the door he went with the hammer method. There looks to have been a wall here, maybe a puzzle of some kind, but it's been painted over with intense score marks. There's a perfect, hexagonal shaped panel on the ground - like it had popped out of the socket. A dark polygonal passageway lies behind it. The sound of flowing water echoing from deep within. The Lake is surely up ahead.
Just as he enters the hallway purple fire flashes down the corridor and two pokemon let out cries of despair. Lucario moves as fast as he can, cold stream water splashing down his feet.
Crimson light begins to flood down the corridor. The gear is close. Lucario takes in a deep breath, spins up an Aura Sphere, and enters the glow.
Outside of the enterance, ghostly smoke lingers on the unconscious bodies of a Magmar and Heatmor. Immense pillars of basalt stand in the lake like monolithic tombstones. The sand along the beach and the water it borders are impossibly dark, the water in particular is dark enough to swallow the gear's light above it.
Quite literally standing between Lucario and his freedom is Typhlosion, who upon noticing from the beachside turns around without a hint of urgency. His flames sway like locks of floating hair as a restrained smile lights his face. He doesn't seem surprised in the slightest bit to see him. In fact, he looks relieved, resting his hands on the novelty cages around his belt like a town deputy.
Lucario's gaze doesn't leave Typhlosion for a second as he slowly approaches the two bodies, relieving them of whatever looks like a bag of goodies. The supernatural smoke coming off their bodies wafts upwards as though it were reaching out to him, but Lucario quickly darts away. He moves a few paces towards Typhlosion, then plants his feet into the sand.
The air is bone chilling. The caves are silent. The only sounds are a stream and the Aura Sphere whirring inside Lucario's hand. Typhlosion eclipses the Time Gear behind him, its shimmering runes surround the stranger like a red halo.
"Minstrel told me about you."
Typhlosion's voice is light and subdued. If this wasn't about to end with a fight, he may have mistaken him for not taking himself seriously.
"Good or bad things?"
Typhlosion briefly admires the ceiling.
"He didn't say anything negative about you, but he did tell me you got set up. You were the first to find the Time Gears here, on the Dusk Continent, are you?"
Not for a second did him stumbling onto a mystical artefact feel special, the feeling of being robbed of it was far too overwhelming. The taste of defeat doesn't just go away.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna get what I'm owed starting with the one back there." Lucario holds the Aura Sphere up, Typhlosion tenses up. "Get out of my way."
His ears twitch when he hears a sizzling sound to his left. There's smoke rising from the bodies. Lucario tries not to look away from his opponent.
"I'm sorry you got put into a bad position. You can keep what you've swiped off those two, better you have it than the dungeon." Typhlosion exhales a drawn out sigh. "I don't think there's rules yet for this treasure hunt, but I think Finder's Keepers are universal. I can't let you have this one."
"The Gear is mine." Lucario snarls. "Minstrel's told you all about me. I'm not gonna let another gear slip away, I'm not letting anyone steal it from me again! I need this gear - I need that money!"
"I don't want to fight someone with the advantage, but if beating a second fire type to a pulp is what it takes to get my hands on that gear, I'll do it! You have until the count of three, or it's light's out!"
Three seconds, give or take, not enough time to read Typhlosion's aura from a distance. Although it's enough to line up a good shot with Aura Sphere.
"One!"
As Lucario barks, the sizzling from the bodies grows. Typhlosion's doing something to them, a surprise attack maybe?
"Two!"
Typhlosion grips those two cage things tight. His feet find their footing in the sand. His posture is tense, his smile washes away.
"Three!" Lucario shouts. "Draw!"
Two moves simultaneously activate. The aura sphere leaves Lucario's palm, and whatever was sizzling explodes towards his left into a hail of purple fire. Aura Sphere grazes Typhlosion, hitting at his feet and making him leap backwards. Lucario attempts to throw himself away from the fire but the flames still catch him, searing his side with a horrible, cold sensation. Then there's the sound of a splash.
They traded. Not good. Typhlosion fell into the water. That's good.
Lucario leaps back onto his feet ready to capitalize, but Typhlosion's just gone. Where he landed in the water there's this strange formation: a gigantic splash frozen in time. It's like the cave at the end of Pyrite Passage. Time and space are nothing in the gear's presence. Typhlosion is in a better position, not a worse one. He shouts from his miraculous cover.
"Infernal Parade!"
"What?"
"Infernal Parade - that's what I've named my signature!" Typhlosion appears from the waves as though they were a curtain of distorted space. "The flames are life-seeking spirits. I begin their parade with a fire of my own. They will march until they sputter out or meet their mark, whatever comes first!"
Typhlosion spits a globule of flame into his hand while Lucario prepares a second Aura Sphere. When Typhlosion throws his attack over the wall it splinters off into a orbs of fire which float towards Lucario in marching order. Lucario makes a wide berth around the spectral flames. The orbs barely keep up, it's like they're taking their time.
If he's not lying then Infernal Parade stuff works exactly like Aura Sphere, except several times slower and automated. Typhlosion can sit there and wait out his flame's dirty work. But if the conductor of the parade were to suffer an unfortunate accident involving an Aura Sphere, then he can beat this trick.
It's simple: get close enough to read his aura, establish line of sight, then let the aura-fireworks fly. He clutches the orb tightly in his palm.
The Violet flames chase Lucario out onto the water. It feels like running on tar, every step he takes, every little splash or ripple shapes its surface. After a split second the waves harden, becoming ice-like formations like the one Typhlosion was using to shield himself.
Lucario sprints along the water's surface like a two legged surskit. Just as he rounds the corner their eyes meet and Typhlosion launches a second glob - spitting it in Lucario's direction as it splinters off into a second Infernal Parade. Lucario however, takes a page out of Typhlosion's book. Unslinging the fire-type's stolen pack he whips it down infront of him with all his might. A huge splash erupts, big enough for him to run up, and jump right in the nick of time.
Purple flames light at his feet, turning his ramp back into putty. His legs felt on fire. He was tumbling down like a pile of bricks, but the aura sphere was still in his hands. Lucario lands where he needs to be: right in front of Typhlosion. The sphere lights up the look of surprise on Typhlosion's face.
"Finders keepers!"
Aura Sphere shoots up like a cannonball. It goes straight through his face, through the fur, through all the bits therein. There is a perfect circular hole here an eye once was, and dense, violet smoke billows out of it like ichor. He got him, got him better than any he's ever gotten anyone-
A powerful punch rips into Lucario. Typhlosion unleashes a flurry of thunder punches, sending electrified shockwaves through his metal bones like he were a living circuit. Lucario blocks the last of the barrage with a bone club, and looks Typhlosion dead into his eyes.
He's perfectly fine. There's no wound.
"You had a hole in your face! You should be in pieces right now!" Lucario shouts, heart racing. "That doesn't make any sense!"
He bats Typhlosion away from him with wild, careless swings. Sweat running down his brow, tears welling in his eyes, if he weren't in the midst of combat he'd be screaming in frustration. Typhlosion is calm in the face of Lucario's furious barrage. Lucario gets a good hit on his leg, tripping the fire-type on one foot Bone Rush, leaving Typhlosion right open for the perfect knockout swing.
Then, the fur on his back stands. He turns just in time to see the first of these ghostly fireballs explode from behind, sending him careening into Typhlosion. A quick one-two Thunderpunch puts Lucario down. He crumbles onto the lake's surface, defeated.
He can't move. He can't swing the Bone Rush even if he wanted to. The punches must've shocked a vital muscle. His limbs feel like rubber. And to make matters worse, Typhlosion is completely fine. His eyelids are becoming heavy. His consciousness is slipping, leaving him like every o-
Typhlosion cuts his self-loathing off with a smack to his face. The fire-type's standing over him like he's some kinda little creature.
"Come on!" Lucario groans out. "Don't slap me - punch me! Knock me out! You've won! Go take your Time Gear and leave me be!"
"You sure?"
"Yes, yes I'm sure! I already said you won!" It's almost impossible to move, but he achieves the strength to turn away from Typhlosion. "Go ahead, rob me blind while you're at it! I don't care anymore."
"You certainly do care if you're still talking."
Instead of tugging on his things, Typhlosion grabs arm like a child, trying to pull on his dead metal weight. Lucario practically screams.
"Didn't you get the memo, leave me alone!"
Typhlosion isn't listening. He drags Lucario all the way to the shore whereupon he flips Lucario on his back like a pastry. He's forced to lie paralyzed, bruised by all the thunder punches to his chest as Typhlosion digs through his things, throwing out the contents like useless trash till he finds what he's looking for - the half eaten oran berry. Typhlosion spits fire onto it until it turns into a black-blue crisp, and forces it down Lucario's throat.
Unless he wants to asphyxiate, Lucario reluctantly scarfs it down. The burns give it a crunch. It tastes like overcooked self-loathing.
"Paralysis goes away after a while, the berry will help you get outta here without you dropping all your goodies."
Typhlosion starts cleaning up his mess, putting coins Lucario's money back into their purses, stuffing used up Seeds in his pockets. He's treating him the same way one treats an untidied house, taking his dear time putting things back into place, remarking little things about what he finds. After Typhlosion is done with him, he dusts off the bits of watery gunk clung to his clothes, giving him a smirk and just…standing there.
Does he want a thank you? He obviously wants him to ask a question or say something. Lucario could have gotten out of this dungeon no problem, he doesn't need to be pampered by someone who he would've laid to rest weren't it for…
His typing? That can't be right, he's a Typhlosion. Typhlosion are...
"Why didn't you roast me, huh?"
Typhlosion chuckles. Did he say something stupid?
"You didn't have much to really hit me with, it wouldn't be fair."
In what appears to be an act of respect or kindness Typhlosion removes his feathered hat. The flames around his head drape down like sets of purple curls. Lucario doesn't know what the look in his eyes is. It seems earnest.
"People will do anything for those gears, you know? I understand why, but I don't like hurting people, I don't like stealing. I wouldn't want to do anything to you that few berries or a Reviver Seed couldn't fix." Typhlosion sighs. "And for a second, I thought you were one of those types."
He motions past Lucario to the two bodies, a Heatmor and a Magmar, both clad in some kind of red attire. Both of them are still breathing, if barely. The smoke has long left them.
"I had them good, they lost, but they kept on fighting. I had them screaming about the coins until they made me put them to sleep. Then comes you, ranting about money as well, sounding more desperate than those fiery opportunists. I was inclined to think you were no different."
Typhlosion lays a hand on Lucario's shoulder. His look is a warm one.
"It takes a lot of humility to admit defeat."
After this long discussion, Typhlosion has successfully spoken his piece. He slicks his two ears back, slaps on his hat, then goes to collect his gear-shaped prize. Lucario is left to his thoughts.
Forty thousand is a lot of coins, he could've made it back working for the 'Krows. Now he's become a jobless fool with exploration skills on a continent about to be flooded with explorers looking for those gears. He can't rob those guys, this one explorer beat him down like it was nothing. There's no way he can get that money alone.
There's a crick in his back when he forces himself upright. Lucario reaches for Typhlosion's shadow.
"Hey! Can you hear me out?"
Typhlosion spins around at the water's edge, staring back. A second passes by like an eternity.
"I'm ears."
He can't believe he's trying this. It feels like begging for a treat, he feels utterly pathetic. Just treat it like medicine, he reminds himself, just swallow it down and be done with it. It's this or nothing.
Lucario can hear his brass teeth grinding against each other as forces his pride down the proverbial gutter.
"I'm a criminal with Forty Thousand poke to my head. Dirty deeds have put me into this position and I know those gears can get me outta this. I need that money in a month to walk free."
There was something different to this explorer. Typhlosion isn't scowling, he isn't judging him, the only word to describe his expression was "wise".
"I don't want the gears, nothing matters other than getting out of this bind! It's the most important thing in this world right now, I'll do anything to get it!" Lucario's chest is pounding. "You've shown me my limit. This Continent's gonna be flooded with explorers in the coming days. If I can't put up a fight against you, then there's no way I'll make the money on my own. Not with this stupid bounty making everyone crazy!"
Breathe in, breathe out. Admitting all of this feels worse than fighting the freak Braviary, feels worse than losing the gears five times over. Is it the hopelessness of the situation, the lingering paralysis? He's sweating like a fool dreading Typhlosion's response.
"I travel alone."
Typhlosion's glances at the two bodies, the two fire-types who forced his hand. He's thinking it too; about the madness the bounty's stirring.
He moves across the sand, casting a ghastly shadow on Lucario. There's no smile as he extends his hand.
"I keep the gears, everything else is up for grabs. Try anything queer…"
Lucario takes his hand. It's cold, much unlike the man it belongs to.
"I know."
They shake hands, and with a mighty pull the explorer lifts Lucario onto his feet. Before Typhlosion goes marching off to the gear he gazes over his shoulder.
"Masters." Says the Typhlosion. "Call me that, okay?"