"Ugh, sandstorms aren't usually this bad!" Amy complained, her voice slightly muffled by the mask that shielded her nose and mouth. She was enthusiastic enough when everyone first set out—in fact, it was her idea in the first place to leave as soon as everyone was awake, before the sun had even risen(It was then, Zangoose decided, that Smith's little meeting at the cafe had permanently ruined his trainer's, and by extension the entire group's, sleep schedule). At the time she was just in a hurry to go and catch those criminals, but now the remaining desert night air left the group to be assaulted by freezing winds and rough sand getting whipped around.
Annette trudged along silently, keeping her head down. Sandstorm or no, she really wasn't going to like this trip either way. Not if it meant facing...No, don't think about that. You're safe now, she told herself, glancing up at the detective beside her for reassurance. At least, I hope so...
Taking her companion's discomfort as just being upset at the less-than-pleasant conditions, Amy squinted ahead. The sand made it difficult to see farther than a few meters, but finally they were nearing a sign. "Aha, there it is! We'll be in Relic Castle and out of this weather in no time."
The teen would have answered with a halfhearted agreement, but she honestly felt that this sandstorm was far better than anything those people could have in store. Luckily for her, there were some guards stationed at the gate when they got there.
"Sorry, ladies. I'm afraid the road's closed."
Unluckily for Annette, Amy was prepared for this. Already she was reaching for her ID. "And why's that?"
"I'm sure you can wager a guess with this sandstorm. Someone or something went and agitated the Sandile, so now they're going crazy and making these sandstorms. It's worse in there," the guard explained, pointing a thumb towards the Desert Resort entrance behind him. "Even if you can get past that, a few of the Sandile might go and take a bite out of you two."
"I assure you, we'll be just fine! I'm a professional here on an investigation," she explained, displaying her ID with pride.
"Well...alright. I'm calling in a rescue squad if you two don't come back in a few hours." The guard hesitantly stepped aside to let the pair pass. As they left, the guard sighed and spoke into a communication device. "There, they're in." Honestly, they don't look too tough. What's the boss so worried about?
As soon as they were in the pleasantly sand-free gateway leading to the Desert Resort, Annette stopped and shuffled her feet nervously. "I don't know, maybe this could wait until later...maybe when the Sandiles calm down?"
Amy paused and shared a glance with Zangoose as if to ask him for help with convincing Annette that they should keep going. Of course, the Pokemon had no complaints about turning back and so offered no help. I can't just give up and go home at the first sign of danger. That'd be a disgrace to everything I stand for! "But...but that's what the criminals want us to do!" The detective argued, spinning to face the teen.
"What, really? How do you know? I mean...it seems like a coincidence."
"True, it may seem that way to the untrained eye..." She put a hand to her chin and continued her bluff. "But I've run into many sneaky foes who have pulled stunts like these. They find out someone is on to them somehow, then they try to ward the threat away! And sometimes..."
"And sometimes...?"
"Sometimes they'll even try to make us run away from them and fall into a trap they set, all to stop us from interfering any further. We'd be in even more danger if we turned back now!"
"R-really? I didn't know that!" Now that she thought about it, the whole idea of Pokemon detectives was new to Annette. She would have to ask Amy how it all worked later.
Me neither, Annette. Me neither. Amy sighed with relief. Her on-the-spot excuse seemed to be enough to keep this little mission going. That appeared to be the end of that as they stepped out into the Desert Resort and fought against the harsh wind in silence. If the sand in Route Four was bad, this sandstorm practically forced the two to keep their eyes shut. The detective began to doubt if they would be able to find the castle anytime soon. "We really should have brought goggles. How are you holding up, Annette?"
Silence.
"...Annette? Oh Arceus no...Hey! Where are you?" Amy called out for her missing companion, assisted by some howls from Zangoose.
Before long, the teen's voice sounded in the distance. "Amy, is that you? I'm right—" Her voice was cut off by a loud shriek and a small chorus of growls.
"H-hang in there!" Zangoose and his trainer rushed toward the sound.
Within the Relic Castle, safe from the weather outside, a Plasma grunt paced impatiently. "Seriously, what's taking them so long? It's bad enough we have to pretend to be captured for this to work..." she grumbled.
"Yeah! The least they could do is try not to keep us waiting," another grunt agreed with his partner.
"You know, you need to be patient for an ambush to work," added a third voice, the owner of which stepped into the dusty, lantern-lit room. Unlike the other two, he wore a Team Galactic uniform.
"I don't want to hear advice from you," the first grunt retorted. "It was your team's branch that bungled things in the first place. We wouldn't have to do any of this if you were competent enough to guard your own bases!"
"If we're pointing fingers here, wasn't it your team that worshiped a child as their king, and then got betrayed anyways?" The Galactic member responded calmly.
The female grunt was about to lunge at him, but her partner held her back. "Hey now..." he began, trying to lighten the mood. "It could be a lot worse. We could be working with Team Aqua for this mission."
The tension faded as easily as it appeared when the two grunts snickered in agreement, a common occurrence. Most of the time, the grunts from each team were never all present in the same room. Seeing as each team's branch was afraid of its bosses, who all seemed to want this collaboration to last for some reason, the grunts had to be content with poking fun at the other teams behind their backs. It usually helped the teams form a small sense of mutual respect, or at least stopped them from starting their own little mini-wars.
"Ha, true! I bet they'd complain there's not enough water for them or even ditch and try to drown themselves in Undella." The female grunt said.
"They would do that," added the Galactic grunt before changing the subject. "...But you're right; those two are taking their time. Our bosses seem to think they're a threat, so they should at least be able to fight off a few Sandiles, right?"
Everyone in the room remained silent, honestly doubting the targets' ability to do even that much.
"...Right?"
"Ugh...hey, someone send a Pokemon out to check on them! I don't think letting them die on the way here was part of the plan!" The first Plasma grunt shouted into one of the darkened hallways.
"Already on it!"Someone answered right before a Claydol floated past them toward the exit.
"Just...really? They can't even...ugh." The Galactic grunt mentally smacked himself, ashamed that his own team let one of these weaklings escape. At the very least, he expected the weakling's new bodyguard to be a decent fighter, but apparently that was wrong. "So, are we making a change of plans?"
"It looks like it, unless they manage to make it here on their own. If they can get here without Claydol teleporting them, I think we should stick with the initial plan," answered the male Plasma grunt.
His partner crossed her arms and scowled. "That'll be humiliating! To think we have to pretend to lose to them..."
"I know, I know. It'll all be worth it when we get those promotions, though."
"It better be," she muttered, glaring out toward the exit.
Author's Note: This chapter took way longer than expected(Not to mention it's shorter than usual, too); I'm very sorry about that! Between a ton of tests and schoolwork and the sudden army of nasty diseases going around in my area, it's been hard to find time for writing. I want to add that while updates will probably be slow until life calms down, I'm definitely not discontinuing this!
Also, thank you to those who have reviewed and offered advice. It means a lot!