step seven
Sometimes It's Best Not to Ask
Sobek frowned, "A… Magnezone?"
"Look," David pointed over Sobek's shoulder. "It's angled towards us. The shapes are terrible but there's the center eye, that spire on top is the antennae, the dirt mounds are the side bits…? I don't know why, but it's a Magnezone."
"I've never actually seen a Magnezone," Sobek mumbled quickly, "so I trust the amnesiac here—ow, hey! Alright, I get it, your joke, not mine." David rolled his eyes, taking a step closer, unconsciously scratching the back of his skull. Sobek noted the futile effort, then continued. "Magnezone still have magnets right? Well, they're missing a few rocks for those."
"Are those wilds though?" David faded off as he noticed several female Nidoran carrying berries in their mouths, running to a small group of Plusle and Minun off to the side of the rock. While the others were had patches dyed, the pelts of these were at the point where none of their natural colors came through the yellow, blue, and red stains. That's where the paint was coming from, but exactly how they were making it they couldn't see from where they stood. But the paint is just berry juice? It had to be a bit more than that to get that much color out of it. A bit of ochre for the yellow, maybe some indigo for the blue….
…those are things, right?
"Those are wilds, right?"
Sobek frowned. "I'm not sure."
Still, all things considered, it was a rather smooth and well-coordinated operation, and it was all in silence. Thirty-plus Plusle and Minun, fifteen Rattata, maybe five or seven Poochyena, and at least seven Nidoran, and there wasn't a word between them. Even the painters made no sound against the rock as they scampered around it. Their efforts focused on the other side of the rock at the moment.
There was just the wind in the trees and bushes around them.
You know, the diggers were moving far too slow to be effective—it was all done deliberately in silence.
"Sobek, I think we should keep—"
A Minun jolted upright on the very peak of the rock, darting its head around. Its fur was clean of any dye, and its ears twitched. David pulled Sobek behind a tree.
"…keep low and keep moving," the Cubone finished. "This doesn't feel right."
"You think?"
"Myy." For such a quiet sound, the Minun was incredibly loud.
The two recoiled behind the tree as every single head in the clearing snapped up to the lookout, eyes wide in fear. The Minun sniffed the air, bracing itself against an unfelt wind. It turned and looked at David and Sobek—they didn't move fast enough and the entire swarm got a look at them for a brief moment. David tightened his grip on both his club and Sobek's arm.
"Mii…." The lookout toned and most of the swarm looked away. It snorted, flinching for a moment before freezing. It then hummed lowly, a single, unwavering note. The few that lingered watching the two lizards snapping attentively at the Minun. A few of the Poochyena tensed, like they were paralyzed by the decision to run toward the rock or away from it.
…or waiting for a signal for either. What are they on the lookout for?
"Sobek, is there anything in the area that might set them off?"
"Didn't you hear—oh right." Sobek seethed, "When you were out of it, Seve told me that a town just up the road was attacked three days ago."
David flinched, turning back to Sobek. "H-how bad?"
Sobek swallowed, then took a ragged breath, "Seve said it was a sawmill run by a dozen or so families—was literally called 'Sawmill.' Maybe fifty Pokemon lived there? It… it's not pretty—he didn't say much on it, just that it happened and." He swallowed. "And there was a lot of blood."
"What?" David breathed. "Who did it?!"
The Minun sang a constant drone, pausing only to breathe and when it flinched briefly. It looked up, slowly turning its head as if surveying the clearing again, doubling back on itself twice before making its way back toward David and Sobek. If it could see something in the distance, whatever it was was rather indecisive itself.
Sobek shook his head. "Seve said his apprentice was up there managing supplies for the two teams investigating, but… they don't have a lead yet. They haven't found any survivors either. But…" Sobek whispers faded off. He then shook his head, looking up to the top of the spire. "I don't get it. These are wild Pokemon. They're clearly single-minded—did you see that Poochyena, the one that's been moving the dirt for the diggers? It keeps moving the piles around. If it wasn't wild, it would push it as far back as it could from the start, instead of letting it pile up right there."
"You think they know something?"
"Wilds are smarter than most Pokémon realize. Civilized 'mons ignore just them, so they learn all sorts of things. …what else could they be freaked out about?"
"I don't know," David scoffed. "But let's not forget the fact we've been sent for by a Magnemite, and we've found a bunch of wilds painting Magnezone. Hum!"
Sobek glanced at David, then sighed, nodding with an exasperated frown.
After an agonizing minute, the Minun turned back the way it came, shoulders drooping when it had turned completely around.
"Lull," It sighed, and a collective one followed. Work silently resumed. The Nidoran carried berries to the group at the base, who took them and made the paint. The paint was slathered onto the paws of Plusle and Minun and they darted back and forth between the statue and the group, painting the body, the spire, and other parts uneven hues of light blue and red. The Poochyena and Rattata dug and moved piles of dirt around, forming out the side-domes of the Magnezone.
The Minun leaned over the edge of its perch and hissed at the closest Plusle below it, this one's fur clean except for yellow-stained paws. …other than the spire at the top, there were no other yellow parts on the statue yet. It visibly recoiled, skittering back away from it, shaking its head.
The Minun scowled, then immediately cut itself off and jolted upright again—the entire camp froze. It shook its head and lowered itself, and the camp moved again. The Minun hissed louder at the Plusle, stamping softly, beckoning it to the top of the antennae. Another Plusle jointed the first, hissing at it for a moment before shoving it to the antennae. After a long hesitation of dread, the Plusle scampered up the rock. At the top, the Minun tapped tails with it, giving the Plusle a reassuring spark before climbing the spire. It clicked twice loudly. One of the larger Poochyena glanced up and stepped away from the outcrop, shaking the dirt out of its fur.
The Minun made its way down the Magnezone, hopping between pools of wet paint, dodging and leapfrogging over its fellow kin, and finally down the side of dirt domes. It jumped onto the back of the Poochyena and the two headed straight towards David's tree.
"Osha—Sobek…!" David hissed.
"Don't move, just don't move!" The Totodile hissed back. "If they wanted to attack, all of them would be rushing at us. Don't be a threat to them and they won't be a threat to us."
A second later, the Poochyena stopped in front of them and the Minun hopped down. David and Sobek took a step back. David's stomach rolled. The mouse's fur was uneven, overgrown in some areas and patchy in others, ears ragged and gnawed slightly. Counting the ears, the Minun was a few inches shorter David. Not counting the ears, it was just about half his height. Even then, the Minun looked up to the two with fierce eyes but with a calm demeanor, ears lowering halfway behind it in an uneasy respect.
The Poochyena, on the other hand, seemed alright. It was just mud caked into its fur and a very tired look in its eye.
"Nnn," The Minun nodded a curt greeting. The Poochyena quietly grunted its own. Sobek awkwardly nodded to them, David caught on a moment too late.
"Plll!" The lookout on the rock tensed and the camp froze.
Scowling quietly, the Minun pushed past the two, grabbing their arms and pulling them along the path at a fast pace. The Poochyena took one careful last glance at the camp and trotted along behind them.
"Sobek," David whined quietly through a clenched jaw. "What do we do?"
"They're leading us, maybe to the Magnemite? Maybe away from a horde of very on-edge wild Pokemon? I honestly don't know," Sobek glanced to David. "But these are wilds," He hissed, unnerved. "Not only that, but the Minun has a severe case of Dungeon—"
The Poochyena bonked its head against Sobek's, shushing him with a cautionary growl. The Totodile glanced back, then looked again, face clouding in confusion. He leaned to David, "I was wrong. The Pooch is an irrational—t-the eyes are too bright for a wild—there's something more behind them I mean. Maybe the Minun too. I didn't even think to look for that. Not outside a Dungeon."
David fidgeted with his club, unconsciously keeping it away from the Poochyena. It seemed to notice, huffing slightly at him. Carefully, he leaned towards Sobek, "They seem kinda calm for being in a bloodthirsty rage."
"That is what bothers me. They usually spit nonsense or attack on sight. But if there are more irrationals in the group then it would explain every—"
The Minun's ears bolted upright and pulled the two behind a tree. It immediately then hopped up and springboarded off David's nose into the branches. The Pooch sidestepped beside them, pressing them against the trunk moments before a flood of Plusle and Minun surged past them in frenzied silence.
Sobek elbowed David, pointing to a single Plusle that zig-zagged through the rush, eyes darting around, searching until the Minun poked its head below the branches and chirped. The Plusle bolted to the tree, scampering up the trunk.
"Yellow paws," David noted.
"The one that took over lookout duty for the Minun," Sobek concurred with a nod. "Annnd, from the sounds of the sobbing up there, it's a false alarm. David, wilds don't have this much emotion to them. But irrationals don't have this much reason." Sobek huffed and rubbed his shoulder. "I don't get it. I just don't get it."
"Okay, fine, you don't get it. But false alarm of what? What is everyone freaking out about?!"
The Poochyena head-butted them again, snorting lowly but cut itself off, ears perking. It looked around.
Sobek faltered, following the Poochyena's eyes, "Something happened—everyone stopped—oh-move-move-movemove!" Before the Pooch could even push them, they darted to the other side of the tree.
Pokemon still heading right skidded as the ones that ran before them scrambled back the other way, all of them stumbling into each other as the tide slowly reversed itself. Eddies clumped together, causing more and more Pokemon to trip and add to the pile, each one knocking the entire group off-balance before anyone could get a solid footing.
A whipcrack of thunder snapped, and everyone froze where they were.
David automatically glanced up. "But it's a clear sky?"
Sobek shook his head. "Uh, heh, that was a Thundershock. Not a strong one, but I've heard that enough—"
Three more quick cracks and the group around them bolted back to the Magnezone rock in a crazed frenzy, running and hiding behind it. Their Minun guide bounced off their noses on its way to the ground, getting their attention.
"Nnn," It sneered, making a very clear motion to stay still with its paws. It then turned, calmly leaving the cover of the tree but stepped back quickly, suppressing an urge to run and clearly straining to keep a blank face. After a long moment, it looked to the two.
A Magnemite floated into view, magnets charged with electricity. Sobek subtly edged behind David.
"Umm." David started, eyes darting between the Magnemite's single eye and the streaks of yellow making a lopsided figure eight on its steel body, one loop circling the eye and a wide, squashed one on the forehead. The upper, smooshed loop had a small line running tangent on the right side.
It was less a fact of it was there and more of the question of how it got there that confused David. It clearly couldn't paint itself, and the lines didn't seem to be drawn with, well, magnets.
"BZZZZZRRRT"
…it wasn't like any sort of speech…. More like a… clicking… machinery—no that's not it…
David leaned back to Sobek, "The Magnemite hello, right?"
"Magneminte hello—Hello! Um—"
"I AM MAGNEMITE" the Magnemite announced in an ear-splitting drone, tone completely even. Each word pronounced with barely any delay between them. "THIS IS OUR TERRITORY TRESSPASSERS ARE NOT WELCOME"
Pause. It hovered stock-still in front of them. Its magnets slowly, slowly, twitching sparks in an aggressive warning.
David and Sobek glanced at each other again.
"I AM MAGNEMITE THIS IS OUR TERRITORY TRESSPASSERS ARE NOT WELCOME WHO ARE YOU"
"Oh! We've, uh—we're the ones you sent for…?" Sobek fumbled before the lightbulb went off. He slung down his pack and stuck a hand in it, "We, uh, we have your letter right—um. Um! Right-right here!" Out came the half-crumpled letter and he held it up.
The Magnemite's left magnet twirled and sparked once and, at that signal, the Minun leapt up and snagged the paper. It straightened it out and held it taut for the Magnemite to read.
Sobek threw an unsure glare to David; the Minun's trained?
David narrowed his eyes; you're the expert here!
The single eye darted over half the lines—more like the entire body pivoted, the eye didn't move (which is strange since a Magnemite's eye can move independent of its body)— before turning away from the paper. It dropped down to eye-level for the two, magnets decharged of energy.
"WE APOLOGIE TO YOU AND TO THE DUCHESS" It nodded; a bow with its entire body rather. "WE APOLOGIZE TO YOU OUR RESIDENTS ALARMED YOU WE APOLOGIZE TO YOU AND TO THE DUCHESS"
David looked back to the rock, noticing a few of the Plusle poked their heads over it. They darted back under his confused look as he fumbled for words. "…residents?"
"YES WRRRRRRR WE HAD EXPECTED YOU TO ARRIVE NO EALIER THAN TWO HOURS AND SEVENTEEN MINUTES FROM … NOW"
Sobek shook his head, "But what does that have to do with them? And what do you mean by residents?!"
"HAD YOU ARRIVED IN WRRR TWO HOURS AND SIXTEEN MINUTES AND tck FOURTY-ONE SECONDS OUR RESIDENTS WOULD BE HOUSED AND YOU WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ATTACKED"
"Attacked?" David butted in. "They didn't attack us, they were running from—!"
"WE APOLOGIZE TO YOU AND TO THE DUCHESS"
"BZZBZZRRT"
The two whirled to see three more Magnemite surrounding them. Each had different markings from the others. No wait, all of the paint was yellow and each one had a circle around the eye that the rest of the markings sprouted from.
The leftmost had two arcs running from the top and bottom of the eye curving to the right and a small line connecting the eye to the magnet. The middle had a simple line running down and angling exactly ninety degrees right while the right-most had two right triangles, offset above and below and both missing most of the long side.
"THESE ARE THOSE THE DUCHESSHAS SENT TO US TO RECOVER OUR LOST THEY HAD FRIGHTENED THE RESIDENTS AND THEY ATTACKED" the first Magnemite droned.
"Listen!" David shouted, driving the point of his club into the ground for an emphasis lost on the Magnemite. "They weren't attacking us—they were running, and this Minun was leading us—"
"WE APOLOGIZE TO YOU AND THE DUCHESS" They repeated, the exact same tone, the exact same voice.
David drummed his fingers once on his club and pulled it out of the ground, swallowing his words. He sighed quietly, biting his lip as he stretched his neck, glaring at the Magnemite. "They didn't do anything."
"Drop it, David," Sobek mumbled. "They're not listening."
"Yeah. I got that. I just feel better saying it."
The middle of the three newcomers spoke over them, the one with the 'L' shaped line, "MAGNEMITE ASKS YOU TO FOLLOW … MAGNEMITE WILL SHOW YOU TO THE CAVE … OTHERS WILL TEND TO OUR RESIDENTS … MAGNEMITE ASKS YOU TO FOLLOW … FOLLOW"
This one spoke in sentences, or at least paused slightly longer between them. It floated over the two and down the path. "FOLLOW"
Again, the two exchanged unsure glances but the Poochyena pushed them after the Magnemite as the Minun nonchalantly holding up their letter to take, not making eye contact. David slowly did. The Minun and the Poochyena were ushered off by the other Magnemite, the floating Pokemon forming a wall behind them. From magnet to magnet, a silent static barrier sparked into existence.
Neither the Minun or the Poochyena looked back as they were marched off. They walked simply straight ahead, not showing any outside emotion. Not exactly in a defeated manner but… not in a defiant one either. It's like….
What was it what was it what was it what was… Apathetic? It fits but… No, that wasn't it. What was the word for it?! Word, phrase, whatever! What was it!?
The Magnemite stopped and turned. "FOLLOW"
With one last exasperated look shared between the two lizards, they did.
David's fumed as long as he could, waving Sobek off when the Totodile motioned to calm down twice during their march. But with a final snort, he decided the energy would be better spent when he actually got through to the Magnemite. Like with his club. Steel and Electric—that would work freaking wonders on them, now would it!?
The silent trip ended at the cave entrance, a hole in one of the rocky foothills of the mountains beyond. The archway of the hill was painted a bright warning red that bled into yellow and blue jagged stripes that ran away from it. Whether they were intended as some sort of lightning bolt or just sloppy painting, neither could tell.
The… residents that painted them couldn't be found.
David started again, "So what is with all the paint—"
"HERE IS THE THUNDERWAVE ITSELF"
"Yeah, okay. Don't want to answer, just ignore the question, thank you very much."
"Just drop it, David," Sobek sighed.
"No."
"INSIDE APPOXAMATELY ONE HUNDRED VOLTOB DIAMETERS BELOW GROUND LIES THE DEEP POINT … IT IS THERE MAGNEMITE AND MAGNEMITE ARE BONDED INCOMPLETE … YOU ARE TO DWELVE AND RESCUE THEM"
"I don't like what's going on here either," Sobek mumbled under the Magnemite's drone, "But David, you thought the Minun was going to attack us. The entire pack was running right by us, it's really not that far of a leap of judgment."
"You're defending them now?!"
"WE CANNOT REACH THEM OURSELVES AS THE THUNDERWAVE MAY BOND US AND CRIPPLE US"
"Heck no, David!" Sobek scoffed. "But some Magnemite don't think twice about the decisions they made. To whatever logic they're running on, they can't be wrong."
"THE DUCHESS MENTIONED YOUR HELP TO HER IN HER VISIT AND WITH HER BLESSING WE ASK YOU TO HELP US" It bowed again, and backed away from them, motioning them inwards with twirls of its magnets. "YOU WILL BE REWARDED GREATLY"
"Oh, so they're egocentric jerks?"
"No. But it does mean they can't lie either, at least according to what their own truth is. The trick is not to go against the grain, just tangent," Sobek smirked. He walked up to the Magnemite, "We'll do it—but one quick question before we go in.
"YOU WONDER ABOUT THE RESIDENTS"
Sobek glanced a half-surprised nod to David. The Cubone frowned, claws drumming on his club as he paced towards the rock of the hillside.
"APOLOGIES TO YOU … WE THOUGHT YOU KNEW ALL THIS TIME … WRRRRRR THEY ARE THOSE WE RECOVERED FROM THE THUNDERWAVE … WILDS AND IRRARIONALS BOTH … THEY CANNOT REJOIN WILD OR SOCIETY DUE TO DUNGEON PLAGUE IRRATIONALITY … WE OVERSEE THEM"
"And the giant statue of a Magnezone?" David called over. He ran a claw through the paint, scratching a thin, wavy line through it.
"AN ACTIVITY TO KEEP THEM BUSY … TO REAQUAINT THEM WITH PEACE AND SOCIETY WRRRRR FELLOWSHIP AND TEAMWORK"
David rolled his eyes, flicking the paint flakes off his hand and looking at his defacement of the rock, "Seems kinda vain to me."
"IT IS FOR THEIR BETTERMENT, ELSE THEY FIGHT EACH OTHER … THE IMRESSION LEFT FOR STRANGERS IS WRRR MISUNDERSTOOD … WE UNDERSTAND … IT WAS MERELY A SUGGESTION BY THE DUCHESS AND WE KNOW NOTHING ELSE FOR THEM TO DO … IS THIS A SATISFACTORY ANSWER"
"Just, er," Sobek fished awkwardly. "What is your connection to the Duchess again?"
"WE ARE UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE DUTCHESS … THIS LAND IS HERS … WE MERELY LOOK AFTER IT AND THE RESIDENTS IT HOLDS"
After taking a long second to soak it in, Sobek looked to David, shrugging with his hands. David snorted, "Fine. Let's go."
"WE THANK YOU ... WE ASK YOU NOT CORRUPT THE GREAT THUNDERWAVE IN YOUR TRAVELS … BZZZZRBERRT."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," David scoffed as Sobek gave one last cautionary glance around on his way to the entrance. "Don't mess with the great and powerful 'mon behind the curtain, I get it." He pulled Sobek by the shoulder into a swift walk into the cave.
His stomach did a backflip the moment they crossed the threshold of the cave, forcing an unconscious hesitation out the Cubone as he tried to tell his body that there was, in fact, a path there in the realm of nothingness. Fighting every ounce of common sense and reason telling him not to go there, not to step where there was no ground and not to go into a deathtrap, he walked forward.
"Oh, I hate you so much…!" David groaned quietly, just willing himself to take one more step. Then another. Then another. Just one more, now one more. Do it. Do it! You can't go back, you don't have a choice! Another step! Now, not later, now! Another! Another step! Step! Step! Step! Forward!
It took a few minutes, but they finally crossed the invisible line of where the Mystery Dungeon started and David shivered as the feeling of his surroundings came back to him. Though he already knew the answer, he glanced back anyway and let out a whining groan at the sight.
Rock. A Solid wall of rock with no way out. Solid rock that was painted red with a single, thin zig-zagging yellow line that looped around the chamber on the walls. The red wall domed over them and arched to the other end of the chamber. But unlike the rest of the paint they had seen, this was all the same hue of red.
Well, at least this place was clearly a cave this time, no sky, no sun, no trees, no grass. Just rock, dimly illuminated by some quirk of the dungeon. David didn't exactly care how.
"Interesting." Sobek mumbled to himself. David looked to see him poking at the wall, scratching a line in the paint and examining the flakes on his claw. Yet there wasn't even a mark on the wall, so where did the flakes come from?
Sobek glanced back to see David's unhappy look. Sobek ignored it, "It's the paint from the outside, the Dungeon's incorporated it into the walls here. No, they didn't have their residents paint it, David. It's like the hole in Tiny Woods, it sensed the paint outside, so it brought it inside. But the yellow?" He looked up and down the wall, eyes tracing the jagged line of yellow, "Huh. There isn't a pattern to it, but it looks just like a lightning bolt. If… if I remember correctly, might have something to do with that pulse of energy they mentioned."
"Wooooow, amazing," David said flatly, his annoyance igniting into a dim, flickering rage in his eyes. "I'll write home about it. Really, this is great stuff for my bed to tell me when I have trouble sleeping."
Sobek rolled his eyes and sighed as he looked down the only exit from the small chamber they were in. "You know… I think the entire dungeon is painted. Wait—these Magnemite have been at this for, what, three years, at least? Or—no, it can't be five—?!" David pushed by him, marching down the corridor. Sobek swallowed his words with a clenched jaw, pausing for a moment of calm before starting after him.
David rolled his club in his hand, eyes darting around, looking for something, anything to bash. If only so it was having a worse day than he was.
That said, "Any idea what kinds of Pokémon live here?"
"Everyone we saw outside. Female Nidoran, Poocheyna, Rattata, Plusle, Minun," Sobek said curtly, eyes following the yellow line on the wall.
"I figured. You said the wilds get knocked outside when KO them? Great. Just great. More workers for their little idol."
Sobek sighed. He was using every ounce of restraint to keep his growing annoyance out of his voice, "Look, David. If they're rehabilitating Irrationals, it explains everything out there. It makes sense now; why they're not attacking us on sight, why they're smarter than the regular wilds, and why they're not fully civilized." He shook his head, "Social interaction, proper diet, and being outside cures Dungeon Phage and maybe even Irrationality. I… don't really like how they're going about doing it, but that's what they got out there. That Minun had some major Phage, she'd been killed otherwise."
"Just what is this Dungeon Phage you keep talking about!?" David snapped, then flinched at how loud he was. "Right. Sorry. Didn't mean the loudness."
The Totodile sighed, "Come on. Just… just cool it, David. Stop getting so worked up about everything," Sobek shook his head, "But alright. Dungeon Phage. So there isn't any real food in a Dungeon other than the stuff Pokémon bring into it. Remember the Sunkern from yesterday? By now they probably have a pretty serious case. They need the sun to grow, but there wasn't a real sun. If they use the fake sun to grow though, they start developing Dungeon Phage. It's a reliance on the Dungeon's own energy to sustain them. They basically become a part of the Dungeon, and just start rotting away. It's why most Dungeon Pokémon are so bloodthirsty, actual food keeps them alive. And any civilized Pokémon that suffers from Phage becomes an Irrational.
"But if a Phage gets out of a Dungeon… it might just go on a rampage. Most wilds are passive until provoked—it might have even been a Phage that attacked the Sawmill, I don't know." Sobek huffed, frustration rising in his voice. "Yeah, they're going about it the wrong way, David, but the Magnemite are the only things keeping them alive and helping them get better. Something is better than nothing!"
"It just doesn't feel right," David huffed. He snorted and stomp his foot, "That's what Seve was warning us about! It didn't sit well with him either and he told us not to look too hard. Don't look too hard and we won't see the residents because we can't do jack about them!"
"Yeah, well…. I can't exactly help but to."
"And it's my job to look hard at stuff—what?" David froze with his mental back-step, Sobek bumping into him. "What."
"Are… are you remembering something?"
"N-no, it just came out, it just came out," David fumbled, his rage shocked into confusion as he tried anything to further the thought.
His job to notice…? His job to see…? His job to look…? Job as in his living? Job as in just something he does? Hobby, Occupation, Habit? What? What? What?
He rubbed his eyes through his helm, he got nothing. So where did it even come from? "It's—what does that even mean, my job to look hard at stuff? …Sobek?" He looked back for an answer, "You got an idea…?"
"You…? You were a detective?" Sobek said. He moved to scratch his head but his eyes lit up and he stopped mid-move. He snapped his claws, "You were a detective—David the Cubone," His voice dropped low into a sort of cheesy voice that hit a certain nerve in David. He turned, eyeing Sobek with a skeptical, but amused, eye. "David the Cubone, Private Investigator. He was once a big-shot police Lieutenant..." David pointed up. "Captain? That's the highest rank I can think of, okay?"
"Admiral? General? Marshal?"
"Two of those sound like a lot of paperwork and the third is a common name for a Mudkip. Captain? Captain. Big-shot Police Captain who solves murders in his sleep, until a tragic accident struck too close to home—lost his squad? Killed his girlfriend? No, not ringing any…? Er—his obsession with the case has him now out of his job, down on his luck, and only scales and bones—see what I did there? Like skin and bone but with—nevermind.
"Ahem. But then he had one last shot to solve the case that ruled his life for the last four years, and moved in for the kill. But the tables were turned and he wound up in the middle of nowhere, with no past and only his name—"
"Alright, alright, I get it," David groaned before Sobek made another terrible joke or, worse, explained it. He rolled his eyes but was clearly trying not to laugh. "…I do like the idea though. David the Cubone, Private Eye." He nodded, quite satisfied.
No. No, not David the Cubone. Just straight up, plain-and-simple, David Cubone. That's a little better.
No wait! That's still not right! He didn't want his species to be a surname! That's silly! …and, well, not really all that unique…. He needed something else, something that would make him stand out. Something witty. No, something that just rolled off the tongue and sounded cool to say but still fit a sort of theme.
David… David… David—there is more to it! What was his last name? Why can he just remember his first?
Sobek snickered as he saw David's eyes drift deep into thought, "I'm just fooling, David! Come on! …but hey, if you're up for it, I'd think it'd be fun. Solving crimes, chasing down thieves, bringing criminals to justice. I just might sign up as your sidekick. I don't got anything better to do."
"More fun than this." David scowled, turning away; eyes darted to the jagged line of yellow on the walls and noticing the light play off of the sides of the eyesockets of his skull. Was… was the line glowing? "Wait." He glanced around before holding his club up. He waved a hand around it. "There's a shadow. On my helm, there's a shadow. The yellow—is that where the light is coming from?"
Sobek squinted. Sure enough, there was a faint shadow where David's hand shielded the club from the rest of the cave. "I-I think so." He blinked, looking around again. "Well then. That might throw off my time estimate. The Dungeons must have changed since—" He shook his head. "You know what, forget it. Feeling better, David?"
"Barely," the Cubone sighed, "But I'm just going to get mad again when we get outta here soooo... I'll apologize in full when we get ba-aaaaaaack!"
David crashed forward into Sobek and the growling face of a Poochyena shoved itself in Sobek's as it pinned the two to the floor. Sobek sneered back with larger fangs, but the Pooch snapped at him, fully aware that the Totodile wasn't in any position to move. It dove for David's shoulder—Sobek slashed it away. The Pooch recoiled only slightly despite the new gash over its nose.
"I can keep it from biting us, but nothing else!" Sobek grunted, shoving the snout away again.
Another Pooch pounced on David's arm as he swung at the one on his back, pinning it with its paws before its maw snapped down on him.
David froze for a moment before he realized there wasn't any pain. The Pooch pulled—
"It's after my club!" He flailed his tail and managed to shift his weight onto it, "Sobek, water blast them or something!"
"I can't with you on top of me!"
"Well, what do we do? I'm not letting them have it—we'll never catch them if—no-nonono! Get off get off getoffgetoffgetoff!"
The Pooch pinning them down snapped one more time to intimidate and darted after the second, tackling it as it tried to run away with the prize all to itself. The bone club was sent skidding and spinning into the next chamber.
"Oh, nonono!" David pushed himself up and bolted down after them. "No you don't! GET BACK HERE!"
The second Pooch fought back, headbutting the first away and then pounced on it, knocking it to the ground.
"GIVE IT BACK!"
It darted away before it looked up, the only thing that saved it from its comrade's fate of being slammed unconscious by David's tail. His entire momentum spent in the attack, David stumbled over the unconscious Poochyena. He looked up to see his club in the mouth of a Rattata who had the unfortunate idea to steal the thing when no one was looking.
With a loud squeak and a very regretful look on its face from its poor life decision, it dropped the club moments before being tackled into the wall by the Pooch. Biting it by the tail, the Poochyena flung the Rattata over its shoulder before scooping up the bone and started down the corridor.
Ducking under the flying Rattata—it crashed into Sobek as he tried to enter the fray—David charged again.
This isn't going to work! It's a Poochyena, he's a Cubone. It can run twenty miles an hour! He can…
...Cubone, as avid hunters, carries a similar traditional hunting style to early humans when it comes to prey they cannot catch. That is, they chase their prey to exhaustion. But thanks to their unique running gait they had held since millennia ago, they can sustain a top speed of—
"Not now!" David scowled. Oh, now he'll never catch it! If only he had something to throw but the only thing he had was….
He blinked. No. That is a stupid idea.
"It's the only one I have!" He burst forward, running after the Pooch as fast as he could get his legs to go. The Pooch wasn't running full throttle and he was actually catching up to it, but not fast enough to see which way it would go at the next corridor.
Now! It had to be now!
He spun, reaching up and pulling off his helm and using the entire flow of momentum to chuck it forward.
It screamed forward as the air whistled through the eye sockets, the noise caused the Pooch to turn—right as the skull tumbled down onto its head like a lid, the back of the skull slamming into its nose and the rest snapping down, effectively hitting the Poochyena over the head. The thief flew off its feet and tumbled and skidded to a stop, motionless. The skull backwards on its head and the club falling from its maw.
"Ha-ha! Yes!"
Sobek threw the dazed Rattata off him and squinted down the corridor, "David! Did you just throw your skull at the thing?"
"Yesyesyesyesyes!" David cheered himself with a fistpump as he bolted down the path. Sobek's head tilted in a failure to process.
"…yeahhhhh," Sobek said silently as he stood alone in his cavern. "There is no way you are a Cubone if you risk your skull like that. Then again, you'd have to be a Cubone to make the… no, wait. Maple was good with gravelrocks. Yeah, she could hit a Burmy two blocks away with those things." He hesitated, seething through a pained look. He shook it off, eyes catching something on the ground in the corner of his chamber. "Speaking of gravelrocks though."
At the entrance to the next, a quick, careful glance by David shown it to be empty and he sped over to the fallen Poochyena, skidding to a stop, rubbing his hands together and giggling happily to himself.
"Aaaaand this is mine, and this is mine. Thank you."
Sticking the club under his arm for the moment, he gave his helmet a quick once-over. The Riolu skull was fine, it was a sturdy—wait, it's Riolu? He held it at arm's length, looking at its profile. …yeah, it's canine—very close to the first image that popped into his head when he thought of what a Cubone's skull would look like but not exactly.
It was the ears threw him off, not to mention the lack of teeth. If it was Riolu, he expected at least the canines to be there, but the entire rim was a smoothed edge. Still, that image had some sort of horns at the back, these were wider and evenly triangular—a Riolu's ear is bone when it hatches, then degrades into cartilage when it's ready to evolve into Lucario for more flexible and emotive ears. Not that a Riolu's ears weren't emotive, they just couldn't really move them that much and—
David groaned and rubbed his forehead, "How do I know all this?!"
"Know what?"
David looked left to see Sobek entering the chamber. He had the pouch that the berries were in in his hand, something far heavier than berries in it now.
The Cubone bit his lip, glancing away as he put his helm back on. He huffed as he tried to settle the skull, getting into that sweet spot where it wouldn't move even if he was upside down, "You know, I'll explain when we're out of this hole of crazy."
Sobek carefully frowned, "Are you remembering stuff?"
"I…" David swallowed in hesitation. "I really don't know. It's just-just voices. Like last night I had this— …Sobek?" David looked around, finding the Totodile pacing around the room urgently, an extremely anxious look about him. "Um. Sobek? Usually you're the one to ask me this but… are you okay?"
"You don't feel that—course you don't, you're ground-type," Sobek said quickly. He was jittering as he walked, eyes snapping all over the room in desperate search of something. "There's a big—real big electric charge somewhere—sorry if I don't like getting fried."
"I am a lightning rod," David scoffed flatly. "Seriously. The only reason I let myself come is I know I'm immune to that bit of the name of the place that says 'Thunder.' Just stick close to me." He blinked. "Unnnnehhhhh. Unless you're between me and the thing. Then that'd be bad."
"That's why I'm trying to figure out where it's coming from! I think it's that pulse the 'mites mentioned, but it was too much for them to tell us what kind of pulse." He threw up his hands, pacing back to the Cubone double-time. "Did you seriously throw your skull at the Pooch?"
David laughed meekly, again making the futile effort to scratch the back of his head, "Uhhmmm, long-range skull bash?"
Sobek's face fell, "No. Just, just no. You know what? I'm starting to think you're the worst Cubone I ever met."
"No news there."
"I mean there isn't a single Cubone who'd be desperate enough to throw their own skull, David!" Sobek snapped. He flinched, wincing as he looked around again. "Sorry. I really didn't think it would be this bad in here. If you could feel this at all you'd understand how antsy I am—but seriously David! While it ain't exactly easy to find a club, you really don't have any idea how hard it is for a Cubone to get a worthwhile skull these days. What, with the Guild regulating hunting and citizenship and so on and so forth…. Nevermind how many times you've been taking it off—that alone is starting to making me doubt you're a Cubone."
It took David far too long for it to click for him.
"You're not seriously saying that you think I actually am a human-turned-Cubone?" David started carefully, but skeptical. "You're the one who said all of that was bunk!"
"Dave, I'm just—"
"David, never call me Dave," the Cubone flatly said on reflex, startling himself a second after he said it. "Y-yeah."
"Okay then, David," Sobek said cautiously, taking a step back. For an instant, there was a dark venom in David's eyes that sent a chill down the Totodile's spine. "I'm just… the Cubone I knew, it's just, you just don't act like them."
"So I'm not like any of all of the five you knew," David rolled his eyes, then immediately glanced around. Empty chamber. No one sneaking up on them this time. "…doesn't automatically mean I am or was a human—and do we have to do this now? In the middle of a Dungeon where there are Poochyenas trying to steal my club for a chewtoy?" He sighed, turning back to Sobek. The Totodile was a far paler blue than he was a second ago and the berry satchel had fallen from his hand. David blinked. "Uh, Sobek? Sobaaak not agaainnnnn!"
But the Pooch just ran past him, clipping the stunned Sobek on the shoulder and made for the other passage out. Just as it reached it, it skidded to a stop and reversed course, darting back the way it came. Then stopped again, slowly backing away.
Snatching his club before the Pooch got a chance to, David picked himself up. The Pooch was completely ignoring them; it just kept running back and forth between the two passageways out of the chamber like a cornered rat.
Never before had he actually wanted to be attacked by something.
"Sobek. Just how bad is it?"
Sobek shook his head, glancing down both passageways and the Pooch paralyzed by indecision. A female Nidoran darted into the room from where the two lizards had entered, skidding to a stop at the sight of them.
David readied his club as she let a rallying cry, the Pooch finally taking an aggressive stance against him. "We just cleared those rooms though, there was nothing left—hole of crazy?" Another Rattata and Poochyena appeared down the Nidoran's corridor, standing at her sides and the four slowly advanced.
"Yeah, hole oooooh, here it comes."
The yellow paint of the walls dimmed, the light surging out of the room down the corridors and leaving the six in near-darkness.
Sobek backpedaled, pulling David along with him. "Back up, David," he whispered weakly. "Back it up, towards the corner."
The glow flowed back through the lines on the wall, a faint burst that poured in from the depths of the dungeon and emptied towards where they entered. Then another surge; a little faster into the room, a little faster out of it, and a little brighter. Then another and another, the pulses slowly growing from once every ten seconds to once every two.
The wilds were frozen in indecision to attack or to huddle for protection and in fear of what was happening. The Nidoran took five fast hops towards the two, but recoiled at David taking a step forward to receive with his club.
Faster and faster the pulses, the paint on the walls cracking and spitting sparks. The yellow pulsating wider and wider and paint splintered off into the red, forming little lightning bolts that grew farther from the core yellow line with each pulse.
The corridor leading to the depths of the dungeon burst aglow with arching electricity, the bolts cracking back and forth between the walls, surging faster and faster towards them and, before either of them could react, entered the room.
With a single loud crack, the air burst alive with electricity. David felt the strange sensation of standing under a warm waterfall and the water that cascaded around him was filled with raw energy that blasted away his sensation of standing in a dungy cave.
And then, just as he was realizing what he felt, it stopped. The room was silent and dark, and the corridor leading towards where they entered carried on the static charge, slowly dying out as it went. When it hit the next room, there was a single blast of light and thunder as electricity flew from all the walls before then the surge carried on in the other corridor, growing weaker and weaker until it dissipated before reaching where they had started.
The wilds were strewn haphazardly around the far edge of the room, paralyzed by the charge, but still conscious. A few hyperventilating, but all conscious. Well, except for the Rattata. It was standing right next to the wall and got the full brunt of the charge and was clearly out.
Oh right, Sobek.
A glance behind him showed the Totodile had dove to the ground at the very last moment, hands over his head, still bracing for impact.
David stopped a laugh but bit his lip as he let out a very devious grin. Just let him sit there for another minute or so. Let him figure it out it's over.
Slowly, David crept away towards the dropped berry satchel. He stretched as he walked, yawning like he just reluctantly woke from a very nice nap as he made his way over.
"Let's see, what's in here?" He mumbled as he peered inside, "…rocks?" He looked back to Sobek. Still cowering? "Hey, Sobek." The Totodile opened an eye. "Why is there a bunch of..." He faded off as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. The Nidoran snorted and stood. She must have been close enough to him for the whatever whateverness that was to ignore her on its way to David Lightningrod.
No, no that name doesn't work. Too many syllables, or they just didn't roll off the tongue as easily as he wanted. And it sounded really silly too.
The Nidoran advanced. David glanced to Sobek, "One moment."
He stepped forward and bopped his club against her head, just enough to daze her. The Nidoran quickly shook it off and growled at him. David sighed, rolling his eyes and bluntly slammed his club down. "I try to be nice for once…. Anyway, Sobek! Why are there a bunch of rocks in my berry satchel again?"
Sobek sat up, glancing around as the usual glow of the dungeon came back to full strength. The extra little tendrils the yellow paint had made during the surges had disappeared. The line itself was in a completely different pattern.
Sobek gulped, "Well, now we know why it's called Thunderwave Cave."