Chapter 8: Family and Foes

When they returned to the guild, life went back into the comfortable routine (save for the usual morning grandstanding by Larry the Loudred). Although Kip was considered to be improving, he declined being offered his own Treasure Bag for the time being. He still felt that it was a weakness through which the darkness could attack, so he wanted to avoid the temptation. But the other three members of Team Marmalade noticed that he was putting more effort into being less of a liability.

In fact, he was the one who came up with the day's job. "I found it slipped off the Job Board," he told Stacy.

She took the paper. "Okay, let's see… 'My little sister is badly ill and the hospital has run out of options to save her. Except one thing; Dr. Blissa says that a Gabite Scale can cure her disease. But Gabites only live in Labyrinth Cave, which is much too hard of a dungeon for me to go in. Could a rescue team please help us?' Aw, that's so sad."

Kip nudged Trey. "I knew she'd take it like a sucker," he whispered.

"Kip, Gabites are extremely strong Pokemon," Trey told him, worried. "They're one of the Dragons that live away from normal Pokemon society because they are so powerful. It's good they respect us like that, so most Pokemon respect them by not going and bugging them."

"Are you gonna turn down a sick little girl for that reason?" Kip teased him.

Trey made an embarrassed flick of his tail. "Well, no. But we'd better be really prepared today. Besides, Labyrinth Cave by itself sounds difficult. Have you ever been in there?"

The Skitty twitched his ears. "Actually… no. It always sounded like a killer dungeon with no big reward unless you really needed a Gabite Scale."

Sally made a few signs; she was able to make them quicker, as Trey was getting better at translating. "Let's go for that one," she signed.

Labyrinth Cave consisted of long winding tunnels with many forks leading to dead end rooms, or just plain dead ends. It turned out that Gabites weren't the only tough Pokemon living there, as the group encountered many powerful opponents. The dungeon was kind enough to supply them with more healing Oran Berries, but they were still running low on supplies by the time they reached the bottom of the cave where the Gabites lived.

In the darkness, they found one of the mighty Dragons there. She was four and a half feet tall and seemed to have many muscles in her streamlined form. "What are you fools doing here?" she asked, smirking.

Stacy felt her heart flutter, but she thought of the sick girl they were trying to help. That and the backup of her teammates gave her enough courage to say, "We came to get a Gabite Scale, and we'll challenge you if we must to get one."

The Gabite seemed amused at that. "Really, that's it? Well sure, I'm always up for a challenge. But, it seems to me that you have more than a fair advantage in sheer numbers. Care to take me on with only one of you?"

One? Stacy glanced around. The other three seemed up for the challenge. "Okay, we'll agree to that."

"Excellent. Now… that creature there," she pointed to Sally.

"She's a human, not a Pokemon," Trey said.

The Gabite came up to them. Despite being a big and muscular creature, she was fast on her feet. "A human, really? I thought they were only myth, fairy tales. It is said that they can make amazing things that don't depend on wild magic for power. It is also said that they are capable of great destruction, as with those devices, even the weakest of humans could destroy an entire mountain in one blow."

She made a few signs, so Trey said, "She says that she wouldn't know anything about that."

"Huh. I'll take this human on."

Sally nodded and signed her acceptance. Stacy wondered about the Gabite's words. Humans could destroy an entire mountain in one blow, even if they were too weak to lift a small stone? It seemed to fit, though, with what she had seen. Sally was quite powerful in her armored skin. She had seen her knock out a Machoke in a fistfight that, even though she looked winded and achy at the end, her second skin showed only a few dents which vanished by the next day. Despite that, she was very weak to Poison or any gas and pollen based attacks. One of her most common problems was breathing in something bad and being unable to do anything for several minutes until her mask thing cleared up the bad particles.

Sally and the Gabite first tried to tackle each other, but wound up locked in with equal power. The Gabite tried to break it by sweeping her tail under Sally's feet; she had to let go and tumble aside to avoid being badly hurt. Then, the Gabite showed off her speed by trying various times to knock the taller human down. Sally managed to get in a good kick once, but mostly had to dodge and even then she wasn't always fast enough. The Gabite then dug into the ground. Sally paused, seeming quite cautious.

Stacy was amazed at how well the Gabite dug. Once she was completely under, not a trace of the hole she had made showed on the surface of the ground. She recalled seeing a Dig TM at the Kecleon shop a few times. Perhaps that skill instructed one on how to move dirt that efficiently. Still, Sally was able to feel the ground underneath her move in time to step out of the way and sweep her arm into the Gabite as she tried to attack in coming up. But, too fast for Stacy to see, the Dragon had managed to catch Sally's arm and block it.

Then, the Gabite chuckled. "Well, that was certainly impressive. I suppose humans are as strange as is said. All right." She brushed her hand across her side and came up with a blue-gray scale. "I'll give to this you on one condition: that you walk along the right side of the wall to the warp panel that leads to the exit."

"Why the right?" Trey asked.

"Because I have an egg on the left and if you get near it, I will kill you."

"Oh, we see," Stacy said. "Well then we're sorry to disturb you."

The Gabite chuckled. "It was an entertaining distraction, really."

They did as instructed, walking along the right side of the wall to where the mysterious warp panel was sitting on the floor. The Gabite then handed them her scale with a warning to not return to the Mystery Dungeon for another month. Or else.

Back in Treasure Town, they went straight to the hospital to deliver the Gabite Scale. "Oh, this will do marvelously," Dr. Blissa said, taking the Gabite Scale cheerily. "I will get it prepared and given to the patient straight away." She went back into her workroom.

The Buizel who had posted the notice smiled at them. "Thank you so much for getting it. I'm afraid I don't have much to give you in reward; our parents have been away for a long time."

"It's okay," Stacy said. "We know how important family is."

"I'll give you this, though. It would come in more use for an explorer than the two of us." He handed them a small round device, like a disc of a little bit of depth. It had an arrow on a dial that was labeled with various letters.

"What is it?" Stacy asked.

The Buizel shrugged. "Sorry, I'm not sure what it is. But the arrow thing doesn't move, no matter how you spin the disc."

Sally clapped her hands, then signed something. Trey concentrated on it. "Compass? What's a compass?"

She tapped the disc, then tried to explain it. "That arrow always points north," she signed. "So if you hold it like this," she took the compass and put it flat on her hand, parallel to the ground. Then she handed it back to Stacy. "Then you can always tell which direction you are facing."

"Oh, so it's saying that I'm facing east now," Stacy said. "Is a compass a human device?"

"I guess so." She paused, then added, "It tends not to work right around strong magnets and electrical sources. Sheriff Magnezone would mess it up."

"Well it would keep us from wandering around in circles in the really active dungeons," Trey said. "Thanks."

The Buizel nodded. "I'm just glad that my sister will be okay. I found it on the beach one day; I didn't imagine that it would be a human device, though."

As they left the hospital, they noticed that they had some time left in the day. "I'm going to do some shopping," Trey said. "I've picked up several TM disks that I can't use or don't seem all that good. I'm gonna look into that trade shop."

"The trade shop, huh?" Kip asked. "Mind if I tag along?"

"You don't have any funds to buy anything," Stacy said.

"Well duh. But I know the owner; it's been a while since I've spoken with her."

"That's fine by me," Trey said. "Just don't go wandering off."

He snickered. "Yeah, like I'm gonna mess up my streak of good behavior and make my sparky parole officer mad."

The two guys went to where the specialty shops were, to a building with triangular ears and a gold disc on the front. The trade shop was unusual, as the Meowth owner had her wares on display in cases by her small desk. "Well good evening…" the Meowth started, then stopped. "Kip?"

"That's right, Mindy," Kip said. "Been a while, huh?"

She looked annoyed. "Right. I was starting to wonder where you ran off to instead of being just mad."

"I'm doing public service," he said as Trey started looking over the TMs on display. "I'm part of the Explorer's Guild now."

"Oh." Her ears twisted back. "You are?"

"Right. Hey, whatcha got in back?" Kip skipped into the building without permission.

Mindy followed him. "Now, now you know that I don't do anything wrong," she stated nervously. "My business is legitimate."

He smirked. "Yeah, but your suppliers are another matter. You can still get arrested for that, you know. Did you see that young guy with me?"

She lowered her voice. "The Treecko?"

"He's a lover of justice and such. I know you've got a mess in trying to compete against the Kecleon giants in business. But he might not be so understanding."

"What do you want?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"This might come as a surprise, but don't you dare cheat him. Give him a good deal or I will treat it as if you cheated me." He tilted his ears back. "And you know what I do to people who cheat me."

"Are you trying to go clean or not?" she asked, confused.

"That's for me to know, not you." He strutted back outside. "Find anything good?"

"Maybe," he said, although his tone indicated that he wasn't finding much. "What's this Secret Power?"

Mindy the Meowth came back out. "That's an attack that draws on the power of the land…" she glanced at Kip, then added, "which means if you're in a grassy place, you'll get a Grass type attack."

"But Grass types live in grassy places," Trey pointed out. "You'd have a hard time getting an effective attack with this."

"True," she admitted reluctantly. She was used to pushing anything a customer showed the slightest interest in. But with the Skitty watching carefully… she went back inside and came out with another TM. "Here, this one might be more suitable for you."

"Hmm?" Trey took it. "Bullet Seed?"

"It's a nice one. It fires two to five attacks at a distance for a decent power. The accuracy leaves something to be desired, although you hear of clever fighters who manipulate it, sacrificing the multiple attacks for one accurate shot as necessary."

"And it's same type damage too," Trey mumbled to himself. "Okay, I've got three others to trade it for this one."

"Let me check their values." They arranged the deal to the satisfaction of all three Pokemon.

"Thanks a lot, Mindy!" Kip called, holding his tail high.

"Yeah… see you around, I guess."

"She didn't seem too happy to see you," Trey noted as they went back to the Guild building.

"Eh, we had a falling out," Kip replied. "That's the past, though. I'm all for living in the present."

At dinner time, Charlie called for attention. "Excuse me, but we have an announcement to make. Something terrible has happened. A Time Gear was stolen from Treeshroud Forest."

"A Time Gear stolen?" Trey asked shocked, along with nearly everyone else.

"Oh my gosh, aren't those the really powerful artifacts that keep time running?" Flora asked, putting her leaves up to her flower head. "What happened to all the Pokemon in the forest?'

"A few witnesses escaped, but all the rest," the Chatot shook his head. "They're frozen in time, along with the rest of the forest."

"But who would have done such a crazy thing?" the Guild recorder Mimen asked. "Most everyone knows how important it is that they stay where they are, especially in these days when time is running amok."

"No one knows yet," Charlie said. "But as explorer teams, we should keep alert to any clues or suspicious characters in Mystery Dungeons."

After dinner, Team Marmalade came to Bartleby. "Do you think Uxie is going to be okay?" Stacy asked.

"He might be a target," the Wigglytuff admitted. "But that would require someone knowing that one is there. And we haven't told anything, right?"

"Of course not," Trey said, to the agreement of the others. "We made a promise. And besides, Kip was with us all day."

"Hmph," the Skitty said, turning his attention to his claws. "It would be madness to steal those things and I'm no longer that mad."

"Besides, he can make a convincing illusion of a legendary Pokemon," Bartleby added. "Illusions are always a fraction of the power of the illusionist. So, Uxie can take care of himself."

"That's right. Still, I hope someone catches that theif soon."

-+-

Kip skipped over from the Outlaw board. "Hey, wanna see a place that's a real trick to get through? Here."

"A real trick?" Stacy scanned over the paper. "From: Magnezone Bailey Outlaw: Bloody Claw the Sneasel' Eww, Bloody Claw? 'Location: Poison Rose Marsh Crimes: theft, kidnapping, suspected murder, aggressive assault, breaking out of prison. He was sentenced to death, but escaped for the tenth time. Stop this villain by any means necessary.' Hey, this is rated S. We haven't done anything this difficult before and you say this place is a real trick?"

"The trick is to bring enough Pecha Berries because it's so poisonous. Or," he showed off his modified Pecha Scarf, "avoid being poisoned altogether."

"I suppose the fact that nobody can evolve thanks to time breaking down would help us; it's not like we're going to be running into a Weavile. And we've been doing all right with the few A ranked jobs we've done."

"I've got two Pecha Scarves in storage," Trey said. "So let's do this."

Stacy looked at him. "Trey? You seem more serious than usual."

"I think I've run into this Bloody Claw before, but… well, that's an old story."

That almost decided it, but Stacy wanted to be certain for this difficult of a job. "What about you, Sally? You always have trouble with poisons."

She tapped her face. She would just wear her mask for the whole trip instead of waiting for an attack to hit her.

"Okay… no one else has taken it, so let's give it a shot."

They went to Poison Rose Marsh. It was a damp soggy place; Sally had to constantly look out for rocks and solid bits of land for footing. The hedges of this dungeon were low lying rose bushes. Obscenely thorny roses, with some thorns as long as Sally's outstretched hand. And the waters were murky and off-colored. They even smelled sickly and poisonous. Thus, they ran into many Poison Pokemon in the marsh.

Trey was carefully jumping around the thorny bushes and soggy pits. "You seem to be familiar with this place," Kip noted.

"I was born here," Trey told them.

"In this place?" Stacy asked. "It doesn't seem welcoming to a pure Grass type."

"I know. Mom was a Nidorina, so she was able to keep me safe, mostly."

"What about your dad?"

"Well due to the way family trees work, he had to have been a Treecko or Grovyle, or maybe even a Sceptile. But I never saw him, or any of my kind."

They continued on until they came to a large opening in the dungeon. Some darker waters indicated boggy pits, but most of the water seemed shallow. There, they encountered an odd Pokemon for this dungeon: a Sneasel. Near one of the deeper pits, he was running his claws along the marsh's surface.

"Hey, ye olde Bloody Claw!" Kip shouted out. "We're here to challenge you!"

"Oh, they thinks they want a battles, eh? They thinks like fools. We shall show…" he stopped abruptly, and turned around. After spotting Trey, he glared and hissed with intense hatred. "You!"

"Yes, it's me," Trey said, clenching his paws also in great anger.

Bloody Claw growled low, like a primal beast. "You… you gots away. No one escapes Bloody Claw. NO ONE!" He screamed sharply.

At his scream, three more Pokemon appeared: a Muk, a Roserade, and a Venomoth. They did not seem like normal Pokemon. Their eyes were wild with madness and they went straight into attacking Team Marmalade like berserkers. And Bloody Claw darted forward as quick as a bolt, grabbed Trey, and leapt with him clear across the open marsh to crash into a poisonous marsh.

Stacy was worried; did he still have that Pecha Scarf? She could only hope so. "Kip, get the Roserade!" she shouted. "Sally, you take the Venomoth." She then faced off against the Muk.

It was a rough battle, but given all the Toxic Spikes and Poison Stings that were flying about, it was good that they had all taken protection from Poison for this job. Once the three berserkers were unconscious, they went to check on Trey. He was still struggling against the Sneasel, having taken a great many gashes across his body. But his Pecha Scarf was on, if muddied and tattered. He took heavy hits from Bloody Claw's Ice Shard attacks, but was dealing equally strong damage with Bullet Seed. Finally, Trey knocked Bloody Claw out. However, he seemed overwhelmed with anger, as he tried to attack again, to completely finish him.

Kip raced forward and tackled him in the gut. "Stop it, you moron!"

Trey furiously kicked him away. "He killed my mother!"

Now coated in marsh mud, the Skitty managed to get himself upright in order to hiss at him. "But you can't kill him! We're in a Mystery Dungeon! You do that and the wild magic will overtake you with darkness, turning you into the very same killer that Bloody Claw is. That is not the way to take revenge for your mother."

"Besides, you look awful," Stacy said. "We should leave this place."

"B-but…" Trey seemed to realize how exhausted and injured he was finally, and passed out.

Later, Stacy, Sally, and Kip met with Bailey. "Yes, the others were wanted outlaws as well, from some time ago," the Sheriff told them. "We thank you greatly for bringing all four in."

"What are you going to do with them?" Stacy asked.

"They're irredeemable at this point," Kip said. "Nothing's gonna work on them."

"Right. So unfortunately, the only thing that can stop them is to kill them. Don't worry; we make certain that the executions are swift and painless."

"All right, if that's what needs to be done," Stacy said, still a bit guilty.

"But you performed remarkably once again. Here, take this vitamin drink set. It will do you all good." He passed over a box with three bottles in it. "I don't think it works on humans, though."

After that, they went to the hospital where Trey was. "He managed to get poisoned despite the Pecha Scarf," Dr. Blissa said. "And his injuries are very bad, so he'll have to be here for three days. But he should recover just fine."

"Can we visit him?" Stacy asked.

"Not right now; he'll be sleeping mostly for the next couple of days. I'll send a message when he does gain alertness."

"All right. Thank you for caring for him."

"It's no trouble. He's like one of the grandkids since my daughter raised him for a while."

The next few days, they went on simpler missions. It didn't feel right without Trey. They could always count on him to sneak up walls or trees, then drop down on a foe unexpectedly. He preferred to be stealthy which, with a tall human in bright green armor and a small Skitty that shouted various insults at enemies, it was easy to be stealthy in comparison. So it was different not to have his sneak attacks to back up their own with.

Finally on the third day, they went in to visit him after coming back from a job. "It's a bore without your ninja tactics along the way," Kip complained.

Trey smiled a bit. "Still haven't met any ninjas, though. I gotta keep working on that."

"They've found that another Time Gear has gone missing," Stacy said. "It was in a place called Limestone Cavern."

"That doesn't look good for our friend…" he said.

Sally signed something.

"Oh good." He frowned. "I suppose."

"What?" Stacy asked.

"She said that Bloody Claw is dead now. I still feel like I should have killed him."

"That's not so," Kip said, serious.

"I know," Trey grumbled. "And he's ruined a lot more lives than just mine. But I started this to stop him and others like him."

"You did," Stacy said. "He's not going to hurt anyone now."

"Yeah… I guess I should accept that."

"And I'm sure your mother wouldn't want you lost to the darkness."

Later on, when the guys were in their room, Kip came over to Trey's bed. "The darkness is whispering to you, huh?"

"How'd you know?" he asked, not getting up.

"I know it. So what's it telling you?"

Trey closed his eyes. "It wants me to do something to you, maybe even kill you, for stopping me back there. Or go after the next outlaw without holding back. It's very convincing. I wouldn't know it as darkness if I hadn't heard you talking about it."

"It is charming. We'll have to tell Stacy to avoid the outlaw board for a while." Something thumped by Trey's bed. "Well here. I had to talk Mika into letting me borrow it and then I had to drag the dang thing all the way back here."

The Treecko opened his eyes and sat up. There was a book with a brown cover next to his bed. "You brought me a book?"

"That has the techniques they use to deal with outlaws in whom the darkness isn't strong, like that Drowzee dude we caught way back when. Or like you now, even though you haven't done anything to be called an outlaw yet. I thought, since you like books, this might help."

"Right. Thank you." He picked up the book and checked out the intro.

-+-

Dr. Blissa the Blissey was cleaning the hospital in a quiet moment when, with only a shaft of light, the calm was broken. A small pixie Pokemon was collapsed on the floor, bleeding heavily. "I need help," he said in a shaky voice.

"Oh my, I'll get right to it." She crouched down by the small Pokemon to pick him up, then carry him into the operating room.

"Don't open my eyes," he warned in an odd and serious tone. "My name is Uxie and my eyes hold a terrible curse."

"If you say so. Who attacked you?"

"It was a thief; he got the Time Gear." He sent an image into her mind.