Chapter 12: Office Party

Typhon's charge ripped the doors off their hinges, sending them flying in. A cacophony crashed around him as the doors crushed everything in their path, crumbling as they did. Glass shattered, metal clanged, wood splintered, a bell even rang out.

Through the chaos, Typhon landed deftly on his feet, his breathing rough and labored as he took in the destruction he caused. The doors lay in pieces across the ground, broken beyond repair. Shards of glass littered the floor like sand in the desert, with odd pieces of warped metal mixed among them. A comatose bronzong was there too, on their side and covered in wooden debris.

Across from him, in front of a window that showed out to the sandstorm still raging outside, was Aurelian at his desk. His silver mask and the purple cloak he wore were still pristine. Another bronzong floated in front of him with their arms crossed.

"Well," the sandshrew began, "it's about time we… ended things." He hesitated when he saw Typhon standing alone. "That's not good."

Typhon held back his amusement at hearing Aurelian say something he agreed with. "Yeah. Now give me back my friend and I might go easy on you."

"Your partner's here, don't worry," Aurelian said stoically, as if he'd never lost his composure, "but that's not what I'm talking about."

He rose from behind his desk and picked his way in front of it, as if the broken glass and splinters were nothing more than mud he was trying to avoid getting dirty in. Following behind him, shaking with every step, was Mojave. He focused on the floor, as if one wrong step would kill him on the spot.

He looked up for a moment, and in the split second his eyes met Typhon's, his face lit up with joy. Worry and anguish washed away, replaced with what Typhon wished he could be expressing.

"It's you!" he cried. "It's really you! I-I don't believe it! What are you doing here? How'd you even get here?"

Typhon forced himself to remain in place, to suppress the oncoming rush of emotions. He had to remain intimidating, he couldn't give Aurelian anything to exploit.

"Of course it's me," he said, overdoing it with the indifference. "You're my partner, I couldn't just leave you behind."

A frown crossed Mojave's face.

Aurelian didn't let him respond. "I'm glad to see you two reunited, I truly am, but Gible, you've put us all in a corner."

He stood ahead of Typhon, leaving a large distance between them. Bronzong flanked him tight, crowding out Mojave.

"Just give me my friend and come back to the Resistance with us," Typhon demanded. "It doesn't have to be any harder than that."

"Gible, I'm not concerned over matters as trivial as my surrender. If I was, do you really think I'd only have two guards?" He gestured to them, even the one that was still on the floor. "I want you to know that even now I still have hope for us. I still believe that the three of us can work together, despite what you've now done. But if something happens between us today, I can't guarantee that it won't get out. I can't guarantee that the Legion will be happy with you."

What was that supposed to mean? "Do you think I care about that?" Typhon scoffed. "The only Pokémon whose opinion I care about is Mojave. Give him back."

"Well, while I've got you, at least listen to me," Aurelian asserted. "I've got plenty to say that you should care about."

An odd wave spread over Typhon's mind. A terrible flood of water, freezing cold and sluggish, surged across his brain and burrowed into every wrinkle.

Carried along with it was a massive headache that followed the wave's course, dissipating as the wave did. Aside from the pain that came from the headache, the ends of his limbs went numb, like they were made of stone and stuck onto his body. They didn't respond to even the smallest of movements.

He tried to speak, but it was the same story with his mouth. Not this again, he groaned on the could sit him down and force him to listen all he wanted to, but that didn't mean that he had to pay attention.

The numbness ended a moment later, but Typhon still had no intention of playing nice. As far as he was concerned, Aurelian gave up on that the moment he dragged Team Dune into his mess.

"We're caught in an influential moment in history," Aurelian warned. "Everything that happens next depends on you two." He turned to Mojave. "Go on. If we're going to discuss, we should do it properly." He stepped to the side, leaving ample room ahead of him, not counting the debris on the floor.

The trapinch took a pensive look at Aurelian. He merely nodded. Mojave took it as a sign to run to Typhon as quick as he could, not caring about anything he might step on.

He slowed down just in time to not knock the gible over, with a smile as wide as his head spread across his face. He leaned into Typhon and angled his head to the side, catching him in the crook it created, like his version of a hug. Typhon held him and patted him awkwardly on the back. He wanted to put out more emotion, like Mojave deserved, but he had an appearance to maintain.

"It's really you," Mojave choked out, tears dripping from his eyes. "It's really you. It's really you."

Typhon allowed his partner to have his moment and said nothing.

Aurelian clapped his paws. "Ah, that's better. Some things just belong with each other, don't you agree?"

"And you think the desert all belongs to you, don't you?" Typhon accused. He took a step forward, drawing Bronzong's attention.

Aurelian waved off his guardian's concern. "No, no, it's quite alright. He is allowed to express his opinions, as misinformed as they may be." He turned his attention back to Typhon. "I don't intend to rule the desert, or own it, or anything of the sort. I'm trying to put it back together, the way it should have always been. The way it has been.

"That's not something I can do alone, and Alexander and his Legion won't be enough for what comes next. I need Pokémon like you – both of you - to help me once the dust settles. We'll rebuild the desert to be like it had never even fallen apart in the first place. I have a grand vision, and I'll need all the help I can get." He looked to the two expectantly.

Typhon had nothing to say.

Mojave remained silent.

Seeing that neither of them were going to speak, Aurelian continued. "We've been granted a golden opportunity here. I know the Resistance enough to know that they'd never send a lone Pokémon after a target like me. You've gone against orders coming here alone, haven't you? Lucky for us, you've given us one last chance to salvage our future."

He murmured something to himself. "Though, just to be safe-" he clapped his paws together, "would you wake up, please? We'll be needing you."

On cue, the second bronzong rose in a shower of wooden chunks. Their psychic power caught the pieces as they fell and threw them out. They sailed over Typhon's head with little room to spare.

The message was not lost on him.

Aurelian strode closer to Team Dune, the bronzong clearing his path as he went.

"I know how it feels to have tough decisions thrust upon you," he said as he neared them. "To feel so completely unprepared to face the challenges ahead, that you'd rather not face them at all." He stopped a short distance ahead of Team Dune, just close enough to respect their space.

"I can only begin to imagine how great that feeling is within you now, Mojave. In such situations, I've found that the strength you need to make them already lies within you, even if you don't know it. They are tests." He looked Mojave in the eyes, who couldn't bring himself to match. "Why would the gods make you choose if they did not think you capable?"

"We've given you our choice," Typhon growled. "Ask again-"

"You've made your choice!" Aurelian barked in a rare moment of emotion. A mental wave blasted across Typhon's mind again, amplified by Aurelian's outburst. It took much longer for the pain to subside this time, but the numbness didn't leave. It hung on him like his scales did. "Your partner has not. Mojave, I understand you work on a team, but speak of your mind and your mind alone. The only answer I'd hate is a dishonest one."

Typhon's claws started to shiver, rumbling in place under the grips of miniature earthquakes. He could understand Aurelian asking him to stop talking; they were at war, after all. Really, it was surprising that they had remained civil this long.

But this? There was something else going on and Typhon knew it. He might not have known much about the world, but he knew enough about sandshrew to know that they couldn't take control over other Pokémon like this.

Whatever Aurelian was doing, it was wrong. It wasn't right of him to use whatever power this was. It wasn't right of him to decide when a Pokémon got to speak and when they had to stand aside.

The rumbling in his claws worsened.

"I'm sorry," Mojave finally said. "But I can't. I can't be a part of this. It's not my place. I can't work for you. I'm sorry."

Aurelian didn't speak, or move, or react in any way. He just stood there, considering the duo from behind his mask. His black eyes always had a malicious tint to them before, but any pretenses about them were gone. They were cold and lifeless voids of pure darkness that stared remorselessly into Team Dune's souls.

He clapped his paws. "Well then. Maybe next time," he said amused, like he had lost to a friend in a game. "If only I'd had more time to explain myself. Perhaps then we wouldn't be in this situation," he remarked. "We'll have much to discuss once this is all over."

"No!" Typhon spat, breaking free and stopping him before he started again. "There's nothing left to discuss! You've heard us both, and we're done! Now do everyone a favor and give up!"

The bronzong hovered closer to Team Dune.

"That won't be happening," Aurelian said sternly. "Stand to the side and wait. Both of you." He turned his attention to the bronzong. "Prepare for what remains of the Resistance. They'll be less cordial than Team Dune, but I doubt they'll put up a fraction of the fight."

A blizzard crashed over Typhon's mind, fit to expand from there and across his entire body. It wasn't just his feet and claws that refused to answer, it was every muscle and scale that he had. It became hard to breathe as even his lungs started to freeze up.

His control over himself was taken away, leaving him a prisoner in his own body. He could only watch in despair as his legs-

No. He wasn't going anywhere. Aurelian was not getting away with this.

Typhon remained where he stood, defying Aurelian with every bit of willpower he had. His whole body shook violently, his muscles waging their own civil war with each other. Half of him fought to stand and challenge Aurelian, the other slaved away in obedience.

Mojave seemed unaffected. It looked like Aurelian's attempt at ordering him had similarly failed, but Mojave wasn't putting up a fight at all. He just stood there confused, looking at Typhon with concern. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Aurelian's head tilted in curiosity. "Yes, are you alright?" he said, beginning to waver. "I haven't seen someone react like this before. Let's all calm down, why don't we?"

Typhon wanted to scream out that he would do absolutely nothing of the sort, but he had to admit to himself that it did give him an idea.

Fighting his initial urges, Typhon let himself come to rest. The war in his body paused, and in that brief moment he reasserted his control. It took every bit of strength he had, but he managed one, single step forward. The air fought against him like he was moving through stone, but still he moved.

Aurelian jumped back in alarm. "Let's be rational here. Typhon, please," he pleaded, paws raised in surrender.

Typhon ignored him. He took another step, this one coming easier than the first. Aurelian tried to maintain the gap between them, but it narrowed with every step Typhon took.

"Please, calm down. I'd rather we not resort to violence," Aurelian tried, unaware that Typhon couldn't even hear him anymore. There was a droning in his ears that drowned out Aurelian's voice in the same way the sandstorm outside blotted out the Sun.

Someone shouted, but to Typhon they came across in nothing more than garbled gibberish. It didn't matter. His focus was on Aurelian and Aurelian alone. It took a blue-green metal arm swinging for him to turn away.

He dodged the attack narrowly, feeling the air brush past him. He saw the bronzong that attacked him, still in the motion of their swing. Typhon retaliated in turn, striking them with a Sand Tomb while their guard was down. The attack landed easily, catching Bronzong in the center of a whirling tornado of sand.

Their body made an odd assortment of sounds as the tornado ravaged them, from chillingly smooth scrapes of sand on metal to the small bell hits that rang out as the tornado jerked them around.

Typhon couldn't help but savor his luck that the Sand Tomb landed, but he didn't know what for. Was there something that should have prevented this from happening? A chance he unknowingly took on using Sand Tomb? Didn't matter. It worked, now it was time to move on.

As much as he wanted to knock Bronzong out completely, Typhon knew that there was a better opportunity to seize. The tornado wouldhold them long enough for Typhon to see to Aurelian. If he could knock him out, he could force both bronzong to surrender. He could force every legionary there was to surrender. That's why the Resistance was there in the first place, wasn't it? Use Aurelian to stop the Legion.

Hunting for Aurelian, Typhon turned away from Bronzong. He found his target standing resolute amidst the chaos of the room, pressed against his desk. His focus was on Mojave, who had his own brawl with a bronzong. He'd leap at the bronzong and use Bite, trying to bring them down to the floor.

Aurelian noticed Typhon's glare and said something to him, but Typhon heard nothing more than deadened mumbles, like he was speaking through a wall. Typhon couldn't make out a single word he said or where his sentences started and ended, but he wouldn't put it past him to be making one last appeal, even now.

His vision narrowed on the sandshrew, everything else losing its definition as it all devolved into blotchy spots of color. Only Aurelian retained any kind of sensibility in Typhon's sight, from the purple of his cloak to his silver mask.

Typhon rushed at him, intending to slam him with a full force Tackle. Aurelian nimbly sidestepped the attack, leaving Typhon too committed to course-correct. He smashed into Aurelian's desk, rendering it nothing more than a pile of splinters.

Not wanting to get caught off-guard like Bronzong was, he immediately went for a punch where he intuited Aurelian would be. His claw brushed against silk for a moment when Aurelian stepped back. He launched into another Tackle before Aurelian could react, this time hitting his target like he intended. He followed up with a punch and then another, just for good measure.

Aurelian was tossed around by the attacks, sure, but the way he took them told Typhon more than anything his garbled words could have. He was going to stand firm, and it would take much more than that to knock him down.

Typhon was happy to oblige. He went for another Tackle, putting everything he had into it. At that close range, the smart move would have been to use Sand Tomb and wait him out, but that wouldn't be enough for him. Aurelian had to feel the weight of his actions.

There was only one way to make sure of it.

When the Tackle landed and Aurelian was thrown off balance, Typhon hit him again, his claws smashing into the mask and deflecting off. They left scratches where they scraped against the edges.

Then he struck him again.

And again.

And again.

And he didn't stop.

Not until Aurelian gave in, not until he fell to the ground where he belonged. If he wanted to show Typhon how determined he was, Typhon was more than willing to do the same.

He only stopped when Aurelian's mask was flung from his face and clattered to the floor, coming to rest next to the broken point of a sword. The sandshrew was sent sprawling to the ground in front of Typhon, his cloak covering him like a shroud.

Typhon took a deep breath. It was over.

He recollected himself and waited for the world to come back. But with every ragged breath he took, reality around him stayed the same. Everything remained blurry apart from the purple blob of Aurelian in front of him. The rest was nothing but a sandy beige mish-mash of color, and the horrible ringing in his ears refused to leave.

He looked to his claws, the two other things he could make out. They were clean. A little bit of sand was stuck to the back of his left and a few dry splats of blood that could only have been his own were on his right, but they were clean.

Didn't feel like it.

The world came back to him when someone tackled him to the ground. "Typhon, stop!" they shouted.

It was Mojave, wrestling with him on the floor until it was clear that Typhon wasn't putting up a fight. He eased off and stood in front of him, wordless. Typhon pushed himself back to his feet, wincing as something in his ribs clicked painfully.

For his part, Mojave looked to be doing much better. His breathing was ragged and he heaved with every breath, but he'd easily recover.

Where Typhon expected to see glaring eyes and a powerful jaw clenched, there was nothing of the sort. No anger or vitriol, just confusion… and sadness.

"Are you okay?" Mojave finally said after a painfully silent eternity.

"…No."

Mojave met Typhon in the eyes and sighed. "Now's… not the time to talk about this." Team Dune had won, but Mojave had never before sounded so defeated.

A clang rang out as a bronzong fell to the ground, the Sand Tomb that held them dissipating. Their arms fell to their sides, limp. The other bronzong was in a similar state, lying on the floor with a massive dent in the wall behind them. Typhon didn't want to know how Mojave put that there.

The two of them stood in silence, not sure how to proceed. They'd won, right? What now? Wait for Castra and let her deal with the-

Someone clapped. "I suppose that's over," he said casually, stunning Typhon. Everything he had put him through, and he was already back on his feet. Team Dune turned to see Aurelian standing, clutching his side and leaning forward, his mask once again on his face. He coughed violently. "I will say, as far as beatings go, that's not the worst one I've been through. Though, a sample size of two is hardly anything to draw a meaningful conclusion from, so take it as you will."

Typhon didn't know what to say, and it didn't sound like Mojave did either. All Typhon heard was the sound of his partner's jaw hitting the floor.

Unconcerned, Aurelian turned to the open doorway behind him and held his paw up to his ear, listening for something. He looked to Typhon, head askew. "Is there anyone else from the Resistance coming? Castra should be, right? I know her well. She should be here by-"

The ground shook violently beneath them, worse than anything the battle could have caused. This was no explosion, this was the very earth ripping itself apart. The three of them were all thrown to the floor, and the bronzong helplessly rolled and bounced around, tumbling like boulders down a mountainside. Cracks splintered on the window, threatening to let the sandstorm loose on them all. It wouldn't hurt anyone, but dealing with one natural disaster was enough already.

The earthquake continued mercilessly, refusing to end. Huddled on the floor, Typhon could only hope for it to stop. Aurelian screamed out in pained wails, worsening things. Just minutes ago he barely reacted to Typhon's attacks, but here he shrieked like he was about to die.

With one squinted eye, Typhon peered at him to see what was wrong. Curiously enough, he looked fine, all things considered. Nothing from the roof had landed on him, and he certainly hadn't been flattened by a bronzong.

The earthquake ended as abruptly as it began, coinciding with when Aurelian stopped screaming. Trembling and weakened, the three of them rose to their feet. The bronzong remained on the floor, rocking back and forth.

"Just to be clear," Aurelian said wearily, "that wasn't one of yours, was it?" One arm was pressed against his stomach, and the other was rubbing his mask, as if it could feel him trying to soothe it. Despite the pain he seemed to have just gone through, he looked fine enough, at least in the same state as Team Dune.

"No," Typhon said without hesitation. "That couldn't be an explosion. Everything we had was set to be used at the start… I think. It wasn't exactly my role to know the minutiae of the plan."

Mojave looked at him, confused. Typhon hoped he was wondering what "minutiae" meant, and not who "we" referred to. Something told him that Mojave might not approve of some of the lengths Typhon had gone to, even if it was all for him.

Aurelian sighed. "Then we – and I do mean we – have a problem. A big, big, problem." Underscoring his point, an aftershock rocked the castle.

"What do you mean?" Mojave stuttered. "It was an earthquake! I…" he slowed down, letting his mind catch up to his voice. "I don't see how that… applies to us." He looked to Typhon for an answer.

Typhon shrugged.

"I will explain on the way," Aurelian said hastily. He limped past Team Dune, back to where his desk once stood. Typhon didn't blame him for making the obvious effort to avoid him and pass by Mojave instead. He rooted through the debris that awaited him, fixed on whatever was left in there.

Typhon stood slack-jawed. Really? Really? Even after everything that had happened, Aurelian was still going on about working together? If that sandshrew was anything, he was persistent.

"No!" Typhon shouted. "We're not doing this! You-" he jabbed a claw towards Aurelian, "Did you already forget what happened? I don't know how you're taking this so well," he admitted. "Do I have to do it again to-"

Mojave stepped in front of him and pushed him away. "Typhon, please. Don't… Not right now. Maybe let me handle this?"

"Typhon," Aurelian said, not looking away from his search, "had anything else happened after our fight, I would not have been so fast to move past it. However, we must leave our disagreements behind us if we are to avert total catastrophe."

He stopped digging and met Typhon in the eyes. "What we've done in this room has caused something terrible to happen." The ground beneath them shook again. "And I know you won't like this, but our partnership is now necessary."

Typhon attempted to speak, but Mojave stopped him, intent on hearing what Aurelian had to say.

"That earthquake was only the beginning," he continued. "More will be coming soon, and they'll make this one look like Mojave was just using Bulldoze." He gave a satisfied sigh and grasped into the rubble, pulling out an old, tattered piece of papyrus whose squiggly lines vaguely resembled a map. "Here we are." Aurelian looked it over, nodded to himself, then shredded it to pieces.

"Hang on!" Mojave shouted. "I- what?! Helping you before was one thing, this is something entirely different! How could any of us have anything to do with that earthquake! Are you trying to say you want us to stop more from happening?" His voice rose to a level Typhon didn't think possible for him. "Can you even hear yourself right now?"

Aurelian took a moment to respond. "You make a fair point. You deserve as much of the truth that I can tell you at the moment." Aurelian clapped his paws, and the two bronzong were at his side at once. They rose from their defeat like they were simply waking up from a nap. "Guard the entryway, do what you must to protect us." They silently hummed over in compliance.

He continued immediately. "We'll start with my mask." He held his head up, displaying his mask like Team Dune had never seen it before. "Like I've said, it was a special gift from a special friend. She gave me another gift as well, one that I assume you're quite familiar with."

Typhon's face scrunched in contemplation. Was he familiar with it? Besides the mask, there was only one other thing he knew about Aurelian that stood out. "The thing you do with your voice!" he said with a snarl. "How you made me stand still when I should've been at your throat! Are you telling me that someone letsyou do that?!" He didn't bother trying to hide his contempt.

Aurelian nodded solemnly. "It's not something I enjoy using. I think you two might be the Pokémon I've used it on the most, even in the brief time we've had together."

"Excuse me?" Mojave piped up. "I don't… What are you talking about?" He turned to Typhon in confusion. "Is that why you were shaking? I thought you were just- never mind."

Thought I was what? Something to bring up later, far, far away from Aurelian.

Aurelian nodded. "It appears I was correct. You are unaffected by it. Strange." He shook his head dismissively and addressed Typhon. "And for the record, this ability is not as strong as you're making it out to be. It's more persuasion than it is mind control."

"Okay, what? I'm more lost than before!" Mojave shouted. "Mind control? What is going on here?" He stamped his foot, then quickly apologized. "Sorry, I hate being out of the loop, especially on things that involve me. Can you please explain this? In a way I can understand?"

Aurelian shook his head and sighed. "I apologize, we're on a tangent. Let me start over. A powerful Pokémon is heavily concerned with my safety, and she's given me gifts to help protect myself. My 'Silver Tongue,' so to speak, is one such example." He shook his head and rubbed at his mask again.

"The earthquake we experienced was not a natural occurrence," Aurelian continued. "I can only assume that my benefactor could sense when my mask was knocked off, and now grieves for me. I told her I would never remove it, and I've stayed true to my word. I thought that putting it back on would be enough-" a small aftershock shook the castle, cutting him off yet finishing his point.

"The only option remaining is to see her in the flesh," he continued, "and end her rage before it gets out of paw. The only way I can accomplish that is with you two at my side; none of the other Pokémon in this castle are fit to make the journey."

"No. No, no, no." Mojave backed away, shaking his head. "No- That's- Please no," he begged. "Please don't tell me you're talking about who I think you are." The discomfort in his voice was infectious.

"A powerful Pokémon capable of bestowing gifts and causing earthquakes?" Aurelian mused. "Lives in a desert? If you've put all that together, I don't think there are very many pieces left."

"No! That's ridiculous!" Mojave shouted. "Urgh, this just keeps getting worse! First we get roped into the war, then we end up in here, and now… this?! Now I know I've lost it."

Typhon patted him on the shoulder and tried to calm him down. "Look, I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as you think it is." A small silence passed between them. "Now, um, asking for a friend of a friend of mine, what exactly is… it?"

Mojave exploded. "It's Groudon! Groudon! The embodiment of the earth itself! A literal goddess!" He started breathing heavily, his outburst having emptied his lungs. "She could kill us and not even realize we were there! We're not even dust compared to her! Aurelian, this is a trick, right? A last-ditch effort to persuade us?" He spun to Typhon. "You were lying with what you said about the voice thing, right? You made it up like you did that story about your past?" Typhon could hear Aurelian's eyebrow rise in intrigue.

He sucked in air through his teeth. He wouldn't claim that he knew everything about what Mojave was saying, but enough sounded familiar for him to know that it was bad. From the scraps of recognition he was working with, there was a big chance that Mojave wasn't exaggerating.

"Nope," he said bluntly. "I hate to say it, but I think he's telling the truth."

"I am," Aurelian cut in. A small tremor shook the castle. "Now, we really must get going. The damage done already is incalculable, and that's just in the Attaman. If we don't stop this soon, there will be devastation across the continent on levels not seen since the Cataclysm." Mojave shuddered on hearing that.

"And where exactly arewe going?" Typhon asked.

"An old tomb far to the west," said Aurelian. "Its location was on the map I consulted. It's a long journey, even if we take every mystery dungeon along the way, but we'll make it soon enough if we leave now." He clapped his paws together. "Shall we depart?"

Mojave mumbled under his breath. "If grandpa could see me now…"

Aurelian leaned forward. "I'm sure that he'd be proud to see how far his grandson has come. Now, are you ready?"

Mojave sighed and rose to make eye contact with him. "Sandshrew Aurelian," he said resigned, "Team Dune will take your request."