Trevor felt a familiar sense of numbing fear as he stared down the gaping cave entrance which towered imposingly over him. From within the threshold shone a reddish glow which made the opening seem more akin to the mouth of a demon. Rows of jagged rocks formed a gnarled set of teeth which jutted out in all directions. Trevor gulped, his breathing become harsh and shallow as he imagined becoming swallowed up upon entering.
"Could you relay the mission one more time?" Trevor tentatively asked, shivering uncontrollably.
Aiden rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Treph, we've already been through this twice now!" She reached into Trevor's satchel and pulled out a flyer acquired from the Bronze Request Board. "Our mission is to go into Crimson Cave," she motioned towards the massive, glowing hole, "and find ourselves a Thunderstone. Some green rock with a lightning bolt on it. It's not that complicated."
Trevor looked back towards the cave entrance with a reluctant expression. "Is this really worth it? I mean, look at this place - its like a portal to the underworld! I know we need the money and all, but is there no other way to get it?"
Aiden stared into the red maw, puffing her chest outwards to try and subdue her nervousness. "We're gonna be fine!" she shouted loudly, pointing her nose high in the air. "Stalling is only gonna make this harder on us! We can't let this stupid dungeon scare us, not after everything we've been through so far! C'mon, let's go!"
Straightening his scarf and adjusting his goggles over his eyes, Trevor followed Aiden into the demon's mouth and the pair quickly disappeared into the jaws of the crimson abyss.
-
Any questions regarding the source of the crimson glow instantly dissipated as Trevor entered the mouth of the Crimson Cave. The interior was filled with rows upon rows of red crystals, each of which pulsed a dim light which illuminated the walls with an ominous glow. The entire cave was awash with a murky shade of red alongside a plethora of stretched shadows which lined the cracked and muddy walls.
It didn't take long for their first crawler of the dungeon, a blank eyed Cranidos, to jump out from behind a pair of boulders to face them. After scraping the ground a few times with its spiked feet, it began charging headfirst towards the pair at a breakneck speed.
"Treph," Aiden shouted, "Like we planned!"
Shaking away his fear, Trevor pulled a blast seed from his bag and threw it towards the ground in front of the Cranidos, the resulting explosion causing the crawler to stumble backwards. Aiden swiftly rushed in front of the crawler, and with a single flashy movement, Aiden flash kicked the crawler with enough force to send it hurtling backwards. Her flame engulfed legs formed a brilliant wheel of fire which caused Trevor's jaw to go slack from sheer amazement. After crashing directly into one of the many glowing crystals illuminating the area, the crawler let out a violent hiss and scurried away.
"Yeah!" Aiden gleefully proclaimed, giving Trevor a playful slap on the back, "We're awesome, aren't we?!"
"That was all you - that kick was amazing," Trevor muttered dazedly before noticing the glowing shards of crystal which now littered the ground. An idea surfaced onto his mind as he hastily began scooping the pieces and shoving them into his bag. The pair made their way further into the cave shortly thereafter.
-
"Aiden, I've been wondering," Trevor suddenly said after some time had passed.
"Yeah? Shoot."
"You mentioned the Legend Rank a couple days back. The highest ranked explorers." Trevor's eyes subtly lit up in excitement. "Who's the strongest?"
It was as if Aiden had been waiting to be asked this question for years; her grin stretched to the corners of her face as she began fidgeting in childlike glee. "Well," she answered, "there are ten Legends in all, and all of'em are insanely strong in their own right. But the greatest explorer of all time has to be Zephyr."
"Zephyr?"
"Yeah, Zephyr! Every self-respecting explorer knows about him! You remember the Explorer's Heart back in town? That statue of a Lucario? That's him!" Aiden's eyes sparkled with passion. "He was the first Pokémon to clearly surpass Platinum Rank back in the day, to the point where Legend Rank was called 'Lucario Rank' when it was first created! And he accomplished all of his amazing exploits alone, without a team to help him! Man, reading stories of Zephyr's exploits were the only thing keeping me going back at home!" She heaved a great sigh and gazed dreamily towards the ceiling. "I'd love to become a Legend myself!"
Trevor recalled one of the many poster hangings on the walls of Aiden's house, one of which depicted a beautiful illustration of a stoic-faced Lucario bathed in blue light and adorned with a long white robe which, despite being a still image, seemed to flow impressively in the wind.
"That was fun," Aiden said happily, "Now I've got a question for you."
"What is it?"
"You manage find anything about why you're a Pokémon? About why you're in this world?"
Trevor grimaced. Any attempts at discovering why he had been sent to the Pokémon world: meditation, reading from borrowed texts, even occasional visits to the local fortune teller, had all ended in failure. He felt a gnawing sensation of helplessness as he was reminded of how, after a handful of months since his arrival into this world, he was nowhere closer to finding out his purpose in this world than when he had started.
"No, huh? Hey, don't sweat it," Aiden remarked, giving Trevor a hard slap on the back. "With enough effort, I'm sure everything'll resolve itself eventually!"
"That's...a very optimistic outlook."
"You can't let your doubts drag you down, Treph. I'm positive that anything can work out if you stay determined!"
"...You sure that determination can solve anything?"
"Well, yeah! Hearing stories of explorers back home's taught me that as long as you don't give up, anything's possible!"
The pair continued traversing the dungeon, Trevor remaining completely silent as he pondered how Aiden's could possibly be so confident.
-
An hour of navigating the Crimson Cave led the pair to a massive, checkered blanket lined across the stone floor. Each square was outlined in golden stitching with a spiral pattern dominating the center.In the middle of the blanket sat a Kecleon, its pitch-black silhouette juxtaposed against a dim sea of red.
"Hey, look! It's Camo!" Trevor exclaimed excitedly, waving towards the distant, shadowy Kecleon. "What's he doing here?"
Trevor turned his head to find Aiden quivering, breathing heavily with beads of sweat traveling down her face. "That's not Camo," she whispered shakily. Upon closer inspection, Trevor recoiled in horror at the Kecleon's featureless, unblinking voids for eyes as Aiden forcefully tugged at her scarf. "This is...a dungeon shop."
As the pair carefully treaded onto the massive checkered blanket, Trevor took note of an assortment of items scattered within, each one placed neatly within a square and accompanied by a price card. There was no rhyme or reason to the items; a Luminous Orb was listed under a mere fifty Poké while a random rock next to it cost five times as much. What truly unsettled Trevor, however, was a nearby satchel piled alongside a set of bronze badges similar to his own, all of which were noticeably stained by splotches of blood.
As Trevor passed by, he took notice of a round, plump seed covered in a yellow zigzag pattern. The Kecleon twins' voices echoed in his mind, still fresh from earlier that day.
"This is a Stun Seed," Kino explained enthusiastically, "Once thrown, it'll produce a cloud of gas which'll paralyze anything it comes into contact with!"
"Pretty useful, I guess," Camo sleepily added, "Good for temporarily immobilizing hostile Pokémon. The effect duration depends on the strength of the Pokémon affected, yeah? Now can I get back to sleep now, sis? I was in the middle of this crazy dream..."
"Whatever you do, don't touch anything," Aiden said sharply, breaking Trevor out of his expository flashback. "We're good as dead if any of these items leave this blanket without being paid for, you get me?"
Trevor slowly nodded, then managed to catch sight of a green rock by his feet which matched Aiden's prior description. Upon pointing it out, Aiden groaned in frustration. "Of course. It just has to be here of all places. Aiden saw the price of seven-hundred fifty Poké. "Wonderful, just our luck. We ain't got that kinda cash! How're we gonna finish the mission now?"
The crawler Kecleon's head instantly shot up and began gluing its blank, featureless eyes on Aiden as she picked up the Thunderstone and began looking at it intently. It didn't matter which direction she walked towards - the crawler's eyes followed relentlessly like a lion hungrily eying a potential meal. Trevor watched the crawler with an unsettled expression before noticing a familiar blank eyed Cranidos emerging from the shadows, its sturdy body covered in soot and ash.
"Aiden, look out!" Trevor screamed as the Cranidos began charging towards Aiden at an even faster speed than before. She barely managed to dive away as the crawler rammed its head towards the ground,turning the orderly array of items into a jumbled and disorganizedmess. In her surprise, she failed to notice that she had dropped the Thunderstone as it tumbled beyond the shop's gold-lined borders.
The Cranidos popped its head from the ground and swiftly turned to face Team Spirit, its eyes darkening in bitter hostility as both Aiden and Trevor braced themselves for a messy fight. This rematch was abruptly cut short, however, when the Kecleon crawler slammed its palm onto the Cranidos' head, then effortlessly crushed it with a firm squeeze. Streams of red tinted dust littered the floor as the crawler's now headless, twitching body fell to its knees, then collapsed to its side.
The Kecleon swiftly snapped its head towards the scattered Thunderstone, then towards Aiden and Trevor who stood wide-eyed in terror. Empty, featureless eyes contorted in murderous intent as the crawler's lips hissed a single, solitary word.
"...thieves..."