Hey, everyone! Ta-Ni here, bringing you another chapter of The Mystery Makes Scents. I apologize if I haven't been as diligent about this story as I said I would, but we had an issue at home. Long story short, a couple of hunters stumbled upon our sanctuary, and...well...we now have two new residents. Just a warning to any fans out there: don't come looking for me. Regardless, enjoy!
Coming to my senses, I notice that the ground is still trembling slightly; probably the aftershocks of an earthquake. So that's what I felt in my dream, I think. Suddenly, a voice echoes about my room.
"Excuse me, is Team Scent's Base?"
I look around, but the place is empty save for me. "W-who are you? I can't see you," I call out, a little nervous. The last thing I need is ghosts…
"Oh, pardon us," the voice responds. "We didn't realize you cannot see us." A clump of three round heads pop out of the ground in the middle of the room, startling me from my bed. It (He? They?) turn to face me and speak again. "Greetings, we are Dugtrio. Our child was kidnapped by a horrible beast, and taken to the peak of Mt. Steel. Please help; we must go!" With that, they vanish back into the ground before I can even get a word out.
I stare for a moment at the hole in the floor, too stunned to do anything. Shaking my head, I decide this must be a job request, and head for the door to tell Sparky the news. I skirt around the hole, not wanting to fall in, and step outside; I can tell Sparky is waiting for me, as his scent drifts in through the door. Speaking of… I realize, pausing by the hole to take in the Dugtrio's scent; I figure whatever their child is, it would have the same scent as them.
Sure enough, Sparky is waiting for me. "Hey, Lauren," he says. "Did you feel that earthquake this morning? Sure seemed strong…"
"No time," I reply. "We have a new mission…"
Suddenly, the Dugtrio pops out of the ground between us, startling us both. "Yes, we need your help!" they exclaim. "You must hurry to Mt. Steel! We will see you there!" And then they vanish again.
Sparky and I stare at each other, and at the hole they left behind. "…O-okay," he replies. "Not the most…subtle…method of asking for help, but we can't really turn them down now. Let's gather supplies and head out. Mt. Steel is a little farther away than Thunderwave Cave, so it will probably be late afternoon by the time we get there. Thankfully, time moves more slowly in mystery dungeons, at the cost of making us hungrier as we travel."
We stop by Pokémon Square to sort out our items, and then make our way to Mt. Steel. I'm not as nervous this time; maybe I'm getting used to acting like a normal Pokémon? Regardless, as we arrive at the base of the mountain dungeon, we run into Dugtrio again, who informs us that the peak is on floor 9. This will be the longest dungeon we've traversed so far, so we steel our nerves (Get it?) for the climb.
Now that I realize I'm scenting a Pokémon's type, it easily becomes apparent what kind of Pokémon we might run into in the dungeon. At first, the few Pokémon we run into have no scent and are Normal like me, but as we climb, the normal-types disappear and there are more varied types. Some smell like fresh soil or rust, while a few have a distinct sweaty smell, like they've been working out.
Along the way, I notice Sparky picking up various items and putting them in our bag, primarily little round stones. My curiosity got the better of me and I ask, "Why are you picking up rocks? There are rocks everywhere."
"Not these kinds," he comments. "You'll sometimes find special throwable items in dungeons or shops, like these Gravelrocks. If you throw them at an enemy, they inflict a set amount of damage, regardless of possible resistance due to their type. Since Skarmory are Steel-type, we may need something that can do consistent damage."
"Do we have to fight the Skarmory?" I ask. "We can't reason with it?"
"Maybe, maybe not," he replied. "It never hurts to be sure. Even sentient Pokémon can go rogue in a dungeon and attack other Pokémon. It's also possible the Skarmory may be an outlaw, which explains the kidnapping."
"Outlaw?" I ask. "Like, criminals?"
"Of a sort," he replies. "Pokémon can become outlaws for a variety of reasons, be they petty thieves or serial killers. Part of being a rescue team means catching these Pokémon and turning them over to the authorities." He must have noticed the alarm on my face, as he amends, "…Hopefully, we won't be facing anything too difficult at first."
A little relieved, we continue up the mountain, and eventually we reach the top. I spot the child right away; it looks just like Dugtrio, but one has one head. Unfortunately, it appears to be rooted on the far side of a ravine, out of our reach. Sparky whispers its name as Diglett in my ear, which I appreciate. Stepping forward, I call out, "Diglett! Are you all right?"
Suddenly, a sharp cry rings out, and a large bird made of metal swoops down out of the sky to land in front of us. "Stay away from him!" she screeches. "He must be punished!"
"Skarmory," Sparky asks calmly. "Why did you kidnap Diglett?"
"Because it's all his fault, him and his family," she cried. "All of these earthquakes have kept me from sleeping, and they are being caused by them! He must be punished for his crime against me! If you try and save him, I WILL fight you!" She launches back up into the sky, sweeping her wings forward and firing large gusts of wind at us.
"It's no use," Sparky comments as we are pushed back by the Gust. "We need to knock her out." I nod in reply and place a paw on his shoulder, giving him a quick Helping Hand before he launches a Thundershock. The electricity shocks the bird out of the sky, giving me a chance to rush forward with a Tackle. Unfortunately, she resists the attack and knocks me aside with a wing.
I wince from the pain, and Sparky retaliates with another Thundershock, this time getting lucky and paralyzing her. Unfortunately, she was still in the air, so I could not attack. Taking a chance, I grab some of the Gravelrocks and throw one of them at the paralyzed bird. It sails in an arc and strikes her on the beak, eliciting a shriek of pain. She immediately turns on me and swoops down, her all-ready metal wings shiny brightly.
The Steel Wing attack slams into me HARD, and I go flying into the wall, screaming wordlessly in pain. Spots dance before my eyes, and I feel like I'm about to faint. Then, I feel something rising out of the bag on my back and fasten itself to me. I look down to see a seed sprouting in my fur, the tendrils spreading to cover my wounds. A soothing warmth spreads throughout my body, healing the damage I've gathered throughout the dungeon, not just from this battle.
I'll ask Sparky what happened after the battle, I think to myself before rejoining the fight. Thankfully, she was grounded by her paralysis, so I could freely attack. Between the two of us, we manage to knock her out. However, she didn't stay down for long; she quickly got up and flew away, vowing revenge next time we meet.
Unfortunately, we still have a problem: Diglett is still on the wrong side of the canyon! It is too far to jump, even for Sparky, and we have no clue how deep it is, so we cannot climb down and back up. Then, I caught a familiar scent on the wind: a rusty smell intermixed with ozone. Sure enough, the two Magnemite we saved a couple of days ago appear.
"BZZT, we heard you were trying to save Diglett, and thought you could use some help," they comment. I quickly explain the situation, and together we come up with a solution: The Magnemite carry Diglett across the ravine, where we can use our badges to teleport everyone out of the dungeon. They end up carrying a large chunk of the ledge as well, for some reason, but it works out anyway.
Back at our team base, Diglett thanks us for the rescue. Suddenly, a voice spoke up from nowhere, casing everyone to look around. "Well done, you saved Diglett. Thank you!"
"Who said that?" Sparky asks, even though we've heard this voice before.
"Silly us, you can't see us, can you? Sorry about that." Sure enough, it's Dugtrio, popping out of the ground to everyone's surprise. "Hello, we're Dugtrio. We would like to thank you for rescuing Diglett."
"We don't deserve ALL the credit," Sparky admits. "We would have failed if the Magnemite hadn't shown up." I look at Sparky in surprise; I never thought he would be one to admit his own shortcomings.
The Dugtrio turns to the two Magnemite and says, "In that case, we are very grateful to you two."
"BZZT. It was our pleasure," one of them replies. "The fact our evolutions are both joined trios leads us to feel a sort of kinship toward each other."
Evolution? I almost ask aloud, before catching myself. A normal Pokémon would know what 'evolution' is, so I should wait until Sparky and I are alone first.
"Anyway," the Dugtrio continue. "you all did a great job, and you will be well rewarded." He gives Sparky a neat sum of Poké, as well as a few good items, before he and Diglett disappear into the ground.
"BZZ, we suppose we should be going as well," the Magnemites say, before turning to leave. However, Sparky calls out to them to stop.
"Wait a second," he says quickly. "I wonder if you would like to join Team Scent. After all, we wouldn't have finished this last job without your help. It might be useful if we could rely on your help in the future. Right, Lauren?" He turns to me with hope in his eyes, so I couldn't turn him down. I nod and he smiles. "Great, so how about it?"
The magnemites look at one another, before one floats forward and says, "Bzzz…sounds like fun. But if you want us to join you on missions, we need someplace nearby to stay."
"Oh dear," Sparky mumbles. "I forgot about that. I mean, I live close by, but all the properties around me are taken."
Sparky isn't very quiet, so the magnemite overhear him. "If there isn't any place for us to stay, then we must decline. Sorry." He and his friend hover away without another word.
I can tell Sparky is feeling down, so I walk up beside him and wrap my tail around him in comfort. "Oh well, we tried," I say. "Maybe we can find somewhere we can ask new recruits to stay."
Sparky immediately perks up. "That's right! Wigglytuff!" I tilt my head in confusion, and he explains, "Right next to Felicity Bank is a shop run by an eccentric Wigglytuff named Wham. He owns most of the land to the west of town, but will only allow his 'friends' to buy from him. He wasn't in the other day, for whatever reason, but he should be there tomorrow. Maybe he could sell to us."
"It's worth a try," I reply. "Before you go, though, I want ask you something. During the battle with Skarmory, when I was knocked down and almost unconscious, an item flew out of our bag and latched on to me, healing me back to full strength."
"Was it a shiny-looking seed?" Sparky asks. I nod, and he replies, "Great, we used a Reviver Seed. Those are really rare seeds that can revive fallen Pokémon in dungeons; we got one from the Magnemites on our last mission. Oh, well; we can buy more from the Kecleons, though they will be expensive. In the future, we should only bring one or two, so we don't waste them."
"Are there other seeds?" I ask, curious. I know Sparky was picking up lots of things in the dungeons, including seeds with various markings.
"Yes," he explains. "There are seeds that can modify stats on you or your opponent; put enemies to sleep or set them on fire; even make other Pokémon attack them instead of you. Again, we can buy them from Greg, but anything we find in the dungeons will surely be helpful. Sometimes, if you're confident in your levels, it's not a bad idea to explore an entire dungeon for items alone."
"How do you know so much?" I ask incredulously.
"Uh…um…well…" he stammers. He scratches the back of his head in embarrassment, and I regret asking.
"Never mind," I admit. "If you don't want to say, that's fine; I'm just glad you DO know so much, to make up for my LACK of knowledge."
"Ah, shucks," he says. "You're learning quickly, so don't put yourself down. Anyway, it's getting late; if we want to talk to Wigglytuff tomorrow, we should get some sleep and get up early. See you tomorrow!" He heads back to his house, and I retire to my bed as well. Even though I was revived by the seed, I am still exhausted. I quickly fall fast asleep as soon as my head hits the straw.
Once again, I wake in the ever-shifting dreamworld. I catch the scent again, and look around for its source. Finally, I notice an outline of a tall figure in the distance; one that seems familiar, but I can't put my paw on it. "Who are you," I call, hoping for an answer. However, even though a voice seems to answer, I cannot make out what it's saying. The only words I can hear are 'human' and 'role'. "Wait," I ask. "Human? My role? What do you mean?" The outline fades without answering me, and I drift into deeper sleep.
And there you have it. I made it much longer than usual, to make up for it being late. Next time, Lauren meets the 'lovable' Wigglytuff and gains access to Friend Areas, as well as meeting a few characters that will make her life interesting. Stay tuned, and hopefully it won't be too long this time!
Please read and review, and may your Ember never fade!
