Chapter eight: Mother, I'm here.
Entering the dungeon was as easy as entering a hole in the ground, but Sandstorm Caverns was said to be a medium to long dungeon. When we entered Jordan and I were immediately choked by sandstorms, limited only to the local area, but still a problem. The Pokémon there were often ground or rock type. I doubted the berries here had any nutritional value, if anything flourished here I would be seriously surprised. Water probably didn't get in this area, because it was so hot and stuffy. I couldn't talk much as dust and sand would get in my mouth, so Jordan and I tried to stay as quiet as possible, which didn't leave much of communication between us. It was really tough to get my ideas on which way to go across, so I just let him lead. The paths were extremely branching, so much that if I lost sight of Jordan I would not probably see him unless he and I were to enter the same room by chance.
While I was walking I had found a scarf, it was a pinkish color, but I wouldn't be wearing it for fashion, "Jordan! If we find another scarf, or something that we can use to filter out the sand, put it on!" I then motioned for him to tie this scarf to cover my mouth. I spat out sand just after he put it on me, and it tasted like dried wood, an ash tree. "That sand tastes horrible, I'm glad we found this scarf." I then saw Jordan had pulled a greenish scarf out of the bag and tied it around his mouth. "Why didn't I think of doing this earlier? I've had this the entire time." He said, very disappointed, "That's a Pecha scarf, it prevents poisoning. I don't think we'll be poisoned unless there's Skorupis here." I nodded, pretending to understand what he said.
The dungeon wasn't that eventful, it was just a bunch of corridors with huge winds blowing an entire beach's worth of sand down the halls. I was distracted, but luckily only following this time. I could still hear the fiery chicken's voice, or was it voices? I couldn't really tell, but something told me that the scariest thing was the rage that he held back. It was unfathomable, but I knew that the rage wasn't to be feared, but the reason behind it, repressed childhood memories. Those were something to be feared… "Gosh darn it, even though she can't has a body, and I can hear her, I still can't find her! I've been protecting her for so long, even in death. Why must I be unable to now?" The voice was vaguely familiar, although I couldn't tell where from. I looked up and told Jordan to see if we can find the voice. He just shook his head and motioned for me to stay back. I still saw the energy he wakes up with in him, but I was exhausted from pushing against the sandstorm. "And what's worst is I've got to find her in a sandstorm! GAH, I can't believe this!" Something was wrong, although evidently he didn't want to be disturbed.
"I'mma go and ask what is wrong, usually the evil Pokémon are unable to be understood, unless willing to change their ways…" I shook my head as he went, hoping he wouldn't be beaten to death. "Hello there, Torchic… I am part of Team Blanket, and I heard you need help. How can I help?"
"First, by walking away, I've taken care of her for much longer than a day. Second, by not bothering me again, any sort of distraction keeps me from her." He was angry, but I couldn't tell why.
"Hello? Do you mind me coming from around the corner?" I asked, hoping to not provoke any sort of negative response from the Torchic. "I'm coming…"
"YOU! You woke me up from that nightmare! Allowed my sister to escape her HELL!" Oh dear, not what I wanted. "Thanks to you she's outta my head, but now I've got to find her! If your teammate is that guy then I'll gladly let you help me!" Nevermind, exactly what I wanted.
"Just who are you? I want to help, but knowing your name is necessity." I said, coming around the corner.
"I'm the one who wailed on the invisible voice's face. I was tired of living in fear. My name's Jeremy." That's who he was… Huh.
"Huh, never expected to meet someone who wasn't evil out here, how do you know Derrek?" Jordan jumped right onto the case, wanting to move on shortly, we still had an urgent request.
"Alright, let's move! Jeremy just follow Jordan!" I yelled, distracting Jordan.
"But that's just a work around to my answer Derrek!" I shushed him, and we moved on. It felt like we were half way through the dungeon. The halls weren't any less clear, but I could feel the wind wanting to pick up. I knew something wanted to push us back down the halls and into a pit, something with grand wings.
It was a short time after finding Jeremy when we reached the stairs, the wind was blowing down them. I noticed the stairs were smoothing out, being damaged by the sands blowing down the staircase, the wind that was blowing was different from the sandstorms because the sandstorms couldn't be traced, and this wind beat out the sandstorm's breeze.
"Gah, I really don't like this wind. It's ominous… and it seems whatever is making this wind is trying to keep us away," Jordan was obviously disturbed, "but we still haven't gotten those berries… What could be making that wind?"
"I don't know, but it seems to be pretty violent, there's a hatred being carried on it. I can feel it…" Jeremy was irritated with the surroundings.
We were keeping pace through the dungeon, we went through five floors, during those five floors Jordan and I had learned Fury swipes, and got to a strange statue. "This must be the intersection between Sandstorm Caverns and Underground Crossings…" I was confused as to how he knew that, and why the statue was there, he saw the confusion as I motioned to the statue, "Oh, that? This is a Kengiskhan statue, it allows us to take a short rest, and retrieve items, though sometimes you can't retrieve items from these for strange reasons. They usually mark the intersection or end of a mystery dungeon."
"So this is an entrance to another mystery dungeon?" I asked, noting the strange markings around the door, and the wind being stronger.
"Yeah."
"Are you guys an exploration team? I need help finding my mommy!" It was a strange brown ant-thing, evidently a child from it's high pitched voice.
"Yeah, I can help find your mommy. Do you have a name, or are you just called Trapinch?" Jordan is usually the talker of the group.
"Mommy went up ahead, she's been acting weird since touching that purple patch there!" He pointed to the purple patch the Jeremy was reaching to touch, he reacted and jumped away, pulling his wing back from the patch like it burned him.
"Do you mind if we take a small rest here? Then we'll be right on to finding your mom!" Jordan was talking to the child. He enjoyed his job, it made me happy to see him happy.
I lead the way this time, Jordan felt like it would be best. The dungeon wasn't that different, it was just cooler than the previous, it seemed more bearable for life. The wind was getting stronger the longer we tried to get closer. It was a five floor journey, the wind was almost unbearable at the end, the Trapinch had known hidden power, the one time he used it was on the wall, it froze solid… The Trapinch didn't stop blabbing about his mother. He only quieted down when we reached the source of the wind. "Muh… MOMMY!" He rushed in the room, desperate.
"WAIT!" I yelled, rushing after him. I looked into the room, in the room I saw a strange Dragon, it looked nothing like the small brown ant! If he grows into that… It would be cool, but I couldn't see how it happened…
"Leave me alone!" She hurt her own child, and sent him careening into the wall behind her. "I shall teach all of those who want to harm me otherwise!"
"That's too far! You hurt your own child! We're gonna have to stop you!" I yelled, I saw enough abuse. I knew what was right, and I looked at the others to nod and see if they were with me. I could see rage flowing from Jeremy, but Jordan was determined to knock her senses into her. Jordan and I started the battle, We both went to her sides and used Fury Swipes, she responded using Sonic Boom. Jeremy ran under and scratched her underside.
"She's taking a lot" I said, after about 4 minutes of battling, "It seems like she's got a bit of strength in her!"
"Yeah, it's like we might not be able to beat her…" Jordan didn't sound too happy
"ENOUGH!" The trapinch was angry, he wanted to end the fighting, I saw him use something out of the corner of my eye and his mother fell to the floor, unconscious, "Mom, if you can hear me, then I want you to listen, we came here so I can evolve! You determined that it was time I moved away! That purple patch, you need to push out whatever influence it has!" I looked to Trapinch, and noticed something, there was an unconscious figure, and a tree growing a berry.
"SIS! Oh my god, you're okay!" Jeremy ran right up to the unconscious figure and grabbed her.
"There's the berry we need Derrek! Come on, let's go and get it. Then we teleport all six of us back home!" Jordan motioned to the Mother and her son.
"Actually I wanna stay here, still wanna evolve, it's just behind the tree there." The trapinch said, smiling, "I can get out with my mom, and we know were some abandoned buildings are, they're in between Resonant Bluffs, and Flower Meadows."
"Those aren't abandoned anymore. They're pretty populated now." Jordan was proud of the fact that people were moving in.
"Really? Then I might think of moving in…" The trapinch trailed, in thought. We got the berries, and left the dungeon.
"Hey, we've brought the berries, let us in!" It was room 110, the apartments were only kind of busy. The doctor was coming to the door, as heard by the stomping.
"Here! I'll take those, he requested to see you when he wakes up, the berries should have a near instant effect." I couldn't tell what it was, but it seemed to be bipedal, pink and cream, and large ears. "By the way Derrek, I'm Doctor Audino, I am a volunteer doctor, and I'm helping the Abra here…"
"Alright, good. So he's…"
"Unconscious, but for now, he'll be fine the moment we give him the berries."
"What's he suffering?"
"A rare form of the Pokérus that causes bedriddence."
"Is it contagious?"
"Not at this stage, it's stopped reproducing. Though his body might reject the new bacteria living inside him, so the berries are a short-term antibody suppressant."
"Lots of big fancy words… How do you know them?"
"There's a big hospital that I used to work at, lots of machinery and technology. Great place, really stuffy, and I found out that you could do just as much using some Pokémon abilities. Healer really helps with diagnosing viruses, and with my knowledge from the central hospital I can heal some people."
"Ah, why isn't the tech used out here?"
"The people here came here as a refuge from tech used in Avenir city. It's a strange place where neighbors aren't really even acquaintances… I was glad to move out here." I watched as she put the berries in his mouth, he started coughing and sat up, she propped a pillow properly and said, "They finished what you wanted them to, go ahead, if you are in any sort of pain, call me."
"Alright, Doctor Audino, I'll let you know." He coughed, but it was a weaker cough, "I'll let you know that I'm glad I could see you guys again, I told all my friends and told them to tell their friends. The town really became popular, and I've noticed that the vivid dreams have come back two nights out of five." He coughed again, it was stronger than the last, but not by much.
"Hey, don't strain yourself too much, I've noticed the popularity, this town seems to be a safe haven." I said, comforting him.
"All people want is a place to go. I'll tell you about me if you come back tomorrow, I'll still be here, in room 110. I don't really want to talk now."
"I then will make sure to show up tomorrow… Have a good night." I walked out the door, Jordan didn't talk, evidently he wasn't feeling chatty.
"Hey, Derrek, can you fall asleep? I thought so, I've just had the best time exploring with you, but I still don't feel fulfilled. I've done everything that I've signed up for, but I feel like there's something more… Sometimes I wonder if the fortune I got when I was younger was destined to become true… Good night, Derrek." I heard Jordan say every word, and honestly I was too busy contemplating to let him know I was awake, I was wondering what I had to do here, why I was here, and how much my friendship was worth. I knew that I had to keep the promises I make, but I also knew that there was no guarantee to what promises would hold… I couldn't think too far into the future, as there was so little I knew of this world. I had to learn more, but I didn't want to distract Jordan. I drifted off into a restless sleep, dreaming of my past.
Author's notes
Thanks for hanging in there! I haven't been chatty as life has been awfully suspicious. Just went from seeing no shinies to seeing three and catching the Pokérus in one week. It's like life is trying to make up for something in advance... This chapter title is a subtle reference, although the chapter contains none, if you get the reference, PM me! This chapter was almost done yesterday, and I tried to finish it, and post it, but I didn't quite reach my quota. Honestly GLHF for the future, and be sure to get the next Pokémon game!