A.N./ Finally, I can add Morgrem to the tags! Here's a chapter with him, and it's not interrupted by Eevee and company, a three-headed dragon, or a band of punk lizard guitarists and bassists.
Morgrem rounded a ninety-degree corner and headed down a narrow corridor within the heart of the mountain. He inadvertently kicked loose stones, and his wet feet slapped against the muddy cave floor. There was no use trying to be quiet.
He had to carry a torch besides, for this area of the mountain didn't have enough air shafts exposed above to provide adequate natural light. How he wished to be like Ruby and faze through walls and avoid this long trek. Or be a toxtricity and not have to ever carry a torch for light. He carried his torch at arm's length, making sure to keep it as far away as possible from him and especially his hair.
The fairy-type learned that the mountain had far more entrances than he heard from Toxicroak on the outside. Many of the air shafts allowed access to the outside and if a pokémon was of small stature, one could exit the mountain and travel on the cliff sides. However, any exits on the lower levels where pokémon could access the forest had been barricaded in the event of a possible attack. Although it seemed to Morgrem that most pokémon in the surrounding areas were too supple in the spine to launch an invasion.
Morgrem wasn't of high rank and where he was walking, he technically wasn't allowed to be. He noted the mountain's routine schedules and knew the pokémon residing near this area often patrolled during the day, which left no one within to supervise. Provided Morgrem collected his berries or gems few bothered him. It was clear that he was out of place in this mountain and others were suspicious of him. He noted the number of dragons he encountered and understood the reason for their apprehension. They were at a disadvantage against him.
He felt threatening and quite powerful. Yet, he knew that his physical growth was being deliberately ignored. These pokémon inside this mountain didn't want him to become any stronger— just like back home in the old forest. Why was this pattern repeating everywhere he turned?
He traveled through the forbidden section to get answers from a pokémon that over the time he spent here kept on mystifying him. He searched down the tunnel until he met an area where a large air shaft let light in. This shaft led to the outside on to a forested, sloping landscape. It was his target's favorite retreat.
Morgrem stabbed his torch into the saturated ground below to put the flame out. Near the exit, a pokémon had built a set of stairs to allow egress. Being of small stature, the stairs raised a bit too much for him, so he still had to use them for a climbing exercise until he got another three feet taller, and he would upon evolution.
Exiting the confined tunnels, Morgrem observed an overcast sky. A light drizzle fell and coated his hair and skin. The wind blew against his face gently as he greeted the warmer air. This side of the mountain was an elevated continuation of the forest below. The knocked over undergrowth suggested the number of pokémon that passed through. Most of the berry bushes he noticed were plucked clean.
Morgrem tossed aside the stub of torch and looked around, his eyes peeled for a wooden structure built somewhere. The higher-ranking crewmates had the benefit of living outside the mountain out of the stuffy air and hard ground. Morgrem preferred the outside too. He hadn't realized how much he liked the forest and the wooden hut Dragapult housed him and his rival.
Yet, the fairy forest of his youth kept popping into his thoughts more, having nothing to see but hordes of dragon, ground, and dark pokémon living inside its rocky, lifeless walls. The dragons probably wouldn't be able to stand the otherworldly, spore-filled forest just like how he couldn't stand poison.
Morgrem walked along a well-trodden path meandering about the mountainside. He looked toward the east, where a faint fog shrouded the forest and most of the landscapes beyond it. The quietness of this area was a stark contrast to the crowded mountain common rooms where the pokémon gathered to eat or make conversation.
He turned and headed west up the mountain's slope a bit more. The path he stepped upon had been traversed by some large pokémon earlier, for their footprints compacted the pebbled path. In other places, where a pokémon stepped in mud, he discovered fresh footprints by one of Hydreigon's most trusted lackeys: Tyranitar.
Morgrem dashed behind a bush and hunched down, tying to see if the large dinosaur-like pokémon was in the vicinity. He probably needed to talk with the same pokémon the fairy-type was seeking. The rock-type's voice carried over a good distance. The goblin relaxed his breathing and focused on hearing for pokémon talking. He heard a low rumble from somewhere nearby, but it wasn't from thunder or within the mountain. He discerned a sharp, squeaking sound and then two distinct voices.
"I'm not doing it," one voice said. It was a female voice, and immediately Morgrem identified it as Hatterene's. "Hydreigon taxes me enough."
Morgrem stood up a bit to locate where Hatterene was. Her voice was coming from the north, but he had been searching west. He looked in the direction and through a thin veil of fog he saw the entrance to Hatterene's residence. It was a compact wooden structure made from stacked logs. The abode had two front windows, one on each side of the door, but their shutters had been pulled to keep out the rain. The home featured a living roof, but none of the vegetation was native to this forest. Around and on top of the house were many samplings of things he recalled from the fairy forest— namely the luminous mushrooms. This confused Morgrem. Why did she have callbacks to the fairy forest? He chuckled to himself as he answered this question a short while ago. Dragons probably couldn't stand the spores.
Hatterene escorted a large pokémon— it was Tyranitar, as Morgrem suspected, from the dwelling. Hatterene's lips were pursed, and she looked mildly incensed. Tyranitar appeared indifferent to her reaction and said, "The boss knows you can. Why not help?"
"I help that ungrateful overgrown reptile enough. He needs to lay the problem at another's feet for a change."
Morgrem shifted slightly to get a better look at Tyranitar. His back was mostly to Morgrem. Doing so, Morgrem roused the leaves on the bush he was hiding behind, which caused a discernable shaking of the wet leaves. Immediately, Morgrem collapsed to the forest floor and froze to the earth.
"Something listening?" he heard Tyranitar ask. "Come on, come out!"
Morgrem didn't know how he was going to escape this one. To return to the cavern Tyranitar would need to pass by the bush he hid behind and being pink had many disadvantages in a normal forest.
Hatterene said, "No one's around." She paused briefly. "The drizzle's picking up, and a tree is dripping water on to the undergrowth."
She knew he was there! Morgrem didn't understand why she lied, or if her diversion was sound, but it seemed that Tyranitar believed it was so. Although her tone implied that she wanted Tyranitar to leave without any more questions.
"I won't waste my time trying to persuade you otherwise," Tyranitar said. "I got other things to do. The young need coaching, and the boss won't let sensitive pokémon handle that task," the dinosaur pokémon said.
"Go do that," Hatterene said. "I can't wait to see how much they'll resent you."
Morgrem crawled out from behind the bush and backed away from the adjacent footpath to find a better location to hide. Unfortunately, climbing a tree wasn't an option so he crept over the flattened undergrowth. Luckily his weight wouldn't crack any large fallen branches.
Tyranitar retorted, "The boss learned from last time. He wants you clear of them and new recruits."
"Then I will stay up here," she said pointedly.
"You won't," the dinosaur taunted. "We know you've an eye for the newbie who came to join us."
"So what? I'm tired of being penned up with the ghosts and the dragons!"
"So emotional, so demanding," Tyranitar said, his voice coming in a bit clearer to Morgrem. The goblin guessed that the commander turned in his direction to leave. The gravel path crunched under the tyranitar's weight, and he returned into the cavern a few minutes later.
Morgrem had been too preoccupied with making sure one of the leaders wouldn't know his presence to acknowledge that Hatterene approached him and now stood right next to him. She looked down at him with a miffed expression. He nearly jumped out of his skin.
"I knew you were coming," the witch pokémon with the pastel hair said. "Yet if that brute caught you, he'd pull you by the ear all the way to Hydreigon."
Morgrem shrugged. "There's no other way to visit you. The boss keeps me out of his chambers now and it looks like you're faring no better."
She smirked. "This is better," she clarified. "No disturbances all the time, and no more doing all that dragon's dumb requests."
Morgrem jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "What was he doing up here then?"
"Trying to solicit a favor. He tried to make it a demand, but I'm not having it." Hatterene looked at Morgrem and sighed. "So, what is it you want?"
Morgrem refocused. Yes, he had a purpose for coming up here that had nothing to do with Hatterene's affairs. "You've talked to one of the ghosts. I call him Ruby. He said that you told him about my relationship with a certain electric-type pokémon that you don't like."
"That," she began. "How do you know her?"
Morgrem shook his head. "Hold up. How did you figure it out? You can't read my mind!"
Hatterene glared at Morgrem. "I can't. But don't be so naïve. I know because your feelings betrayed you, and those I can read without a thought. You have mixed emotions about her."
"I would," Morgrem admitted. "She and I were fostered together for a half-dozen four-seasons. Yet, more confounding is why you kept your lips sealed about it to Hydreigon."
Hatterene rolled her eyes. "He's a buffoon with idiotic ideas that don't work as he planned. Every pokémon that comes in here he has a purpose for, and oftentimes he's foiled."
Morgrem looked at her dwelling and its allusions to the fairy forest. "If you have nothing but problems with him, why don't you leave?"
She looked at her house and then at the goblin. "Were you always in Dragapult's forest?"
He glanced at her and then said, "No." He started to walk toward the shelter, wishing to get relief from the drizzle that was becoming light rain. His hair was becoming uncomfortably wet. He glanced behind and saw Hatterene following silently without protest. Her hair wasn't looking much better.
Morgrem wasn't going to enter her shelter without permission. What he really wanted to look at here were the luminous mushrooms. He approached one with a diameter as wide as he was tall and touched it. The fruiting body of the fungi wiggled and in response the green glow it emanated intensified. He smiled.
He turned toward Hatterene behind him and said, "My friends and I liked to find those big ones." He stretched out his arms in imitation. "We'd jump from high ledges and trees and use them as trampolines!" Morgrem couldn't resist feeling giddy from the pleasant memory. "It feels like a lifetime ago."
Hatterene's eyes sparkled with interest. "You never told anyone that?" she asked.
He waved his hand. "No. They thought it was a place of legend so far down south."
She nodded and skirted around the fungi to enter her abode and get relief from the rain. Her structure had a proper door on hinges: the hallmark of a psychic or an intelligent pokémon. The tall pokémon entered and motioned for Morgrem to enter as well. "On in," she said, poking her head out of the doorway. "You don't know if anyone might be listening."
Morgrem tore his eyes from the mushrooms and followed Hatterene's directive. He entered the shelter and after he was clear of the doorway Hatterene used her head hair-arm to close the door. The first thing to strike Morgrem about Hatterene's shelter was the smell. The air was sweet and filled with a warming, cozy scent. He felt twice as relaxed just from the aroma.
The furniture consisted of a table, a few chairs, and a comfy looking bed and adjoining soft chair. There was no doubt that the witch-like fairy pokémon was an elite member of Hydreigon's team for having such luxuries. A stone fireplace occupied the rear, likely getting most of its use in the cold seasons. The soft furniture was of wooloo fleece and softened by galvanula string, and the table and chairs consisted of sturdy, scented pine. This was her secluded spot to relax and unwind, after all. Since she was stressed by the emotions of others, it was little wonder why her home seemed to be for her comfort.
The hostess approached a cabinet in the corner of the shelter and opened its door to reveal what seemed to be large, wide rags. Hatterene took two of them out, set one on the table, and used the other to begin drying herself off.
"That's for me?" Morgrem asked, looking at the folded fabric.
"Wet hair is the worst," Hatterene said. "And unlike dirty four-legged pokémon, I like to smell fresh as often as possible."
Morgrem smiled. "Same here," he said, taking the offered towel and draping it on his head. "Water creeps through the mountain's walls and the caves are wet where the fire pokémon don't linger. It always drips water inside."
"I'm glad Hydreigon doesn't need me now. His chamber is unnerving by itself." She finished towel-drying her hair and tossed it into a basket near the cupboard. She opened the cabinet again and pulled out a piece of pronged wood and began to run her hair through it with her hair-arm.
Morgrem pointed at the chairs. "Who are your usual guests?"
Hatterene looked at the chairs and her face fell. "No one now."
Morgrem didn't ask about what happened, but he repeated, "You seem not to like it here anymore." He watched as her pastel hair shimmered as she combed it. It was relaxing to observe her doing it, and he couldn't help but stare.
"Before Hydreigon got all ambitious with these grand plans, it wasn't so bad. Then pokémon from all around began pouring in, and half of them don't like each other, and the conflicts have probably caused more harm that Hydreigon realizes. Which is why I didn't want anyone else coming in. I sense all their troubles and it's so burdening now."
Morgrem finished rubbing his hair and then looked at Hatterene askance. "You're not shutting me out, though." He walked over to put the towel into the basket. He looked up at Hatterene standing diagonal of him, feeling a coiling sensation in his abdomen. He didn't know what to identify it as. She ceased refreshening her hair and then placed her comb back in the cabinet.
Hatterene cocked her head at the goblin. "It's been a while since a native from the Tangle ended up here."
"The Tangle is the fairy forest, I'm guessing?" Morgrem asked, and Hatterene affirmed with a nod. "I hardly feel like one. I grew up down south, mostly," Morgrem said with a shrug.
"Would you return to the Tangle if you could?"
"No," Morgrem told her. He hesitated and set his jaw, looking unsure. He finally said, "Maybe?"
"If you defeat your guardian or whatever, what would you do after that?" she asked.
Morgrem stalled. He hadn't thought about it much since he came here. He was too busy trying to work up the ranks and gain some respect in the mountain hierarchy. Would defeating his old guardian do anything for him here? Or would he just be glossed over again, and Hydreigon take the credit for it?
Hatterene watched Morgrem with interest. A smile formed on her face as his inner wheels turned. He recalled that same type of smile before. He looked her in the eye and said, "What are you getting at?"
"You're pretty smart," the psychic-type said. "Yet I sense what you're doing is out of need for childish approval."
Morgrem rubbed his head. He couldn't discern if that was the reason.
"You understand that the more territory Hydreigon squanders, the worse the pokémon who were pushed out might push back, right? Especially since Hydreigon's newest idea involves taking little ones." Hatterene sighed. "I can't stand it."
Morgrem's nostrils flared. "He's doing that?" he asked, his voice rising despite himself.
"Oh," Hatterene said, looking guilty for a moment before shaking her head. "You're not supposed to know that. I can feel the young miserable and crying… I'm at my wits end."
"Why's he doing that?"
"It pertains to what I told you earlier. The recruits fight with each other, as you know, and some go so far as to kill others. Hydreigon needs more pokémon, and those that he can cultivate, Morgrem."
Her using his name made him curious. "You're concerned about me?" he asked her, feeling like the words hadn't escaped his own mouth.
She walked over to her soft armchair and settled into it. "If the big bad boss dragon doesn't start listening to his own crew's advice against this, we're going to crash and burn. He's going to anger pokémon that are driven to fight back."
Morgrem leaned against a leg of the table and asked, "So that's why Tyranitar went up here? It was about the young pokémon."
She nodded. "Hydreigon thinks it's a great idea to get me to seek sources of joy because it usually ensues once a couple's young just hatched." Her hair-arm pounded on the chair. "Why will I comply? The few they have now are unhappy!"
Morgrem cast his hands out with his wrists up. "What can I do about this, Hatterene? I'm no one important!"
"So, you think. The others see it and so do I. The boss doesn't want you to get better or stronger. If anything, he wants you to go away. Which might be why he's letting you patrol so early into your time here."
Morgrem agreed with her. "I've been getting that feeling. I don't like being commanded all the time, and the boss is just doing whatever he wants." He looked around like someone else was listening. Was it wise to hint at mutiny? Then again, he could just leave… Hydreigon was giving him the opportunity. He leapt on to a chair. He propped his arm on the table, holding his head up, and peered at the wall ahead, considering his options. Hatterene reclined in her soft chair, gazing at him with that probing look only she had. Was it just for him?
If he could get up and leave, why didn't Hatterene? She was older and stronger. He looked at her and said, "You're scheming something."
Hatterene got up from the soft chair and took a seat opposite of Morgrem. She had that damn smile on her face again. "You and I are alike. We're used when convenient. Your being here presents an opportunity. If you want to display your strength…" Her voice became a whisper and she leaned over the table. "Help me get rid of Hydreigon."
The goblin's eyes widened. He was almost ready to point at himself and say, me? However, a burst of excitation suffused through his chest. Part of him agreed with the notion, and his mouth curved into a smirk as his mind raced with this new possibility. It felt more thrilling than what he had planned to do.
Yet, another part of him wondered what Hatterene was trying to accomplish, and if he could trust her. Not to mention going against Hydreigon with no allies beside the one in front of him was suicide, even if they were fairy types. Hatterene's pleasant face deflated when she noticed Morgrem's emotions changed.
"I don't know what to say," he expressed. "It feels like an impossible task."
"I'm not saying we do this right now," Hatterene said. "Although I feel that you want to."
Morgrem looked her in the eye. "Why? What will you get out of it? Praise?"
She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong. I want stability. If Hydreigon wants his lackeys prowling around everywhere, where can one find peace?"
It seemed natural that she would want that, considering her empathic perception. "We'll need a lot more help…"
"No worries. That will come to us soon enough."
