AUTHOR'S NOTES
Hey, folks! I'm trying something new, this time! That being: I wrote this chapter (some of it) on my phone instead of my PC. If you notice any weird oddities (outside of my usual), that's probably why!
As well, I wrote some more of it using voice to text while I was laying in bed in the dark, so that might get even weirder!
I went back and edited everything manually by hand on my PC in the end, of course.
Thanks for reviewing: Ravengal, and Jammer!
Snute let her tails curl around herself comfortingly. She sat at the edge of a balcony atop the SS Cryogonal. The ninetales' icy stare remained fixed on the rising sun.
Snute let one paw lightly caress the cool, porous surface of a closed pendant.
Her eyes narrowed into a leer. She squoze the object as her glare remained fixated on the rising sun. It wasn't until the radiant object had surmounted the horizon that she took her eyes away, gaze flicking down to her pendant.
The ninetales flicked the trinket open with a practiced flick of her paw. A delicately carved wooden goose sprang up, called upon by a simple mechanism.
Snute focused on the micro-sculpture for only a moment before once more closing the pendant and stuffing it into her bag. She gave it one last squeeze before letting go.
With a huff and a nod to herself, the ninetales stood up, turning to walk off. Before leaving fully, however, something elicited a twitch of her ear.
Turning back with a narrowed gaze, she looked down below. Her tails flicked in mild intrigue upon spying the minccino receptionist seemingly in a debate with an unfamiliar espeon. The ninetales swiveled her ears to listen in.
"Face it, Taffy!" the espeon hissed. "You're a coward! You just sit back and scribble on your papers all day, while the rest of us do the hard work! Don't try to tell me how to solve my problems when you refuse to get your paws dirty to solve any yourself!"
Taffy scoffed, face turning deep red.
"Now, hand on, one second!" the minccino growled. "First off, just because I do paperwork doesn't mean I don't know anything! Secondly, said administrative duty is important, and I will not have you disrespecting it! Thirdly, I've had my fill of being an explorer already, and I still do go out on missions!"
The espeon glared, baring her canines toward the rodent.
"Your so-called 'field research' is nothing! So you know a thing or two about how mystery dungeons work. Big deal! You've never had to navigate the dangerous ones like we have. You and your P.H.D. have allowed you, and frankly, your brother as well, to get out of doing real work."
Taffy stomped on the ground frustratedly. Much to Snute's amusement, it didn't make much audible noise.
"Don't you dare insult my brother, Amethyst! Let us not forget who fixed your leg after the gorge incident!"
Amethyst's eyes narrowed. She looked away, refusing to meet the minccino's eyes as she spat a retort.
"How about, instead, we don't forget who's the one who failed to save Alena?" A single tear dripped down the espeon's cheek, her tone filled with venom.
Taffy's cheeks puffed up in outrage.
"Look! This killer has gotten several of us, okay?! You can't blame me for being too weak to fight them off! I didn't see you helping."
Amethyst growled.
"You two were blocked in there alone! I could only clear the blockage so fast!" she sniffled a bit, tears beginning to flow freely. "If you had just listened to me and not rushed off ahead, we wouldn't have gotten separated, and Alena would still be with us. We'd have been better off if it were you, instead!"
Tearing up herself, Taffy gave an angered shout.
"Forget it!" cried the minccino. "I'm going for my walk!" She abruptly fled down the stairs, then taking off into town.
Snute kept her head low, minimizing potential eye-contact with any other pokémon nearby. She found herself seated at the same table she had during her previous night's supper, seated with the same group of pokémon, plus one extra.
She let her eyes drift up from her breakfast sandwich for just a moment, observing as the lopunny wildly gestured. The glameow, simisage, and gardevoir watched on with varying degrees of interest and excitement, with the latter generally decreasing further into the list.
Shaking her head, Snute unzipped the seven-inch wide binder strapped to her in place of her bag. She began to idly shuffle through various folders and papers, before coming upon a blank sheet of paper. She carefully jotted down notes with a pencil as she silently listened to the conversation.
"I'm tellin' ya," Ooka promised, her brown hands waving. "It must've been the ghost! There ain't not no other explanation." She let her arms cross with an irritated huff as the simisage quirked an eyebrow.
"So, you mean to tell us that a ghost creeped on you in the shower? And I just so happened to not wake up when you screamed?" The grass-type's words seemed to grow more incredulous as he spoke.
Ooka gave an exasperated groan, throwing her arms into the air. The salad she'd been eating went up with them, the bowl flying into the air. The gardevoir silently caught it within a telekinetic grasp, sitting the meal gently back down onto the table.
"It wasn't creepin', hun'!" the lopunny protested. "It just knocked everything down in my shower! And ya' didn't hear me screamin' because I was in the pool bathrooms. Water runs hotter there than in our room."
"Wait, wait, wait," Snute shook her head, closing her binder with a click as she spoke. The others' attention soon focused on her. The simisage, in particular, fixed her with a steely glare. The ninetales soon continued. "You guys get a bathroom in your quarters? And, this airship has functioning plumbing?"
The simisage's gaze narrowed.
"She's talking about pervert ghosts, and the plumbing is the part that makes you skeptical?"
"Actually," Aundei interjected, "Touchy here made it very clear that her ghost friend was not perverted!"
The simisage sent the glameow a glare, which was returned with a smile. Ooka gave a small giggle, whilst Snute and the gardevoir just shook their heads.
"Whatever the case," Snute sighed, "Kinda hard to doubt. I have first-hand experience with the supernatural."
Aundei soon swallowed the last of his spaghetti. Still without sauce, Snute noted. The glameow spoke soon after.
"Oh, Silly! You don't have hands! Speaking of why you're here, though, we get to go on our first mission today! Exciting, no?"
Snute was about to reply when she was cut off by the simisage.
"About that, Au'. Why are you calling her that?" His eyes narrowed, arms crossing. "Isn't that a bit disrespectful?"
Aundei flinched just a bit, but maintained his smile.
"She would not have minded; do not worry!"
Snute felt mildly confused at the use of past tense, but elected not to comment on it.
"Whatever," sighed the ice-type. "Just show me how we get the job or whatever."
The glameow beamed widely. He reached into the ninetales' binder, eliciting several growls and barks of protest. Within a minute, Aundei had plucked out her APER Gear with ease. He placed his own on the table beside it, inserting his badge to turn it on.
Snute quietly seethed at the invasion of privacy. In spite of her pride, she followed through with activating her own device. Ooka giggled at the interaction.
Aundei tapped a few buttons on his touch-screen as he explained.
"You see, Silly, we'll first need to navigate to the forums!" He paused, looking up, awaiting Snute's confirmation. Once it was given, the cat continued. "From there, you'll find two boards up top! One is the Job Request, and the second is the Outlaw Notice. You with me?"
Snute took in the information on screen, then giving a nod.
"I see."
"Icy!" Aundei smirked. "We'll be taking a normal Job Request, for now, but the same method will apply to Outlaw Notice. Once you enter the board, you'll see numerous topics; those are all job requests! I prefer to keep mine sorted by urgency first, difficulty second, reward third."
Snute nodded, eying the sorting options. With a few taps, she had them set up in order of reward first, difficulty second, with urgency not a factor.
"'Kay, mate. Now what?"
Aundei flicked a pad along the screen, scrolling down until he located a mission of low difficulty. He selected the option.
"From here, you'll see all sorts of information. The submitter, a brief description, the reward, all that jazz! At the bottom, there's a button to mark it as a job you're interested in! Nearby will be a list of every pokémon in the guild who has marked it as such. From there, you can either opt to take on the mission, or potentially discuss going in together with other interested parties."
Snute nodded. As Aundei pressed the "interested" tick, she did the same.
"So," the ninetales began, "am I to assume that the reward will be split between all pokémon involved?"
"Correct," Aundei nodded. "And, some will go to the Guild, naturally! Any loot you find on your own is yours to keep, however!"
Snute smiled.
"Treasure-hunting," she muttered. "That's where I excel."
Snute, realizing she hadn't actually looked at the mission they'd opted into yet, decided to look over the information.
TOPIC: Delivery Gone Wrong!
CLIENT: Peppy Iabu Fennekin
URGENCY: 7/10
So, I was picking up an ingredients order, right? I'm talking a really big shipment, for one of those fancy high-class work-place meetings! I decided to cut through the dungeon to get home faster, but... Oh, dear! It's just terrible! Those awful awful ferals stole my shipment! All of it! Do you know how much money I could be losing on that?! Not to mention, my reputation will be in shambles! I CAN'T lose these clients!
Please, please help me get it back! I'll be waiting outside of the Suto Mine Dungeon from 10:00 to 10:15 AM!
REWARD: 2000p, Momma Peppy's Pizza XL 3 Topping Pizza for 450p Coupon × 2
INTERESTED: Aundei (T), Snute (Y), Moddy, Kaley, The Alder, Chao, Mopey, Ringue
Snute hummed to herself. While she'd wished there was more cash on offer, cheap pizza was not something to pass up.
"Yeah, sure, let's do it I guess."
Aundei grinned before speaking.
"Icy! That's my second favorite place to eat, too!"
Ooka rested a cheek in her palm, eying Aundei curiously.
"Am I to assume this cafeteria is your favorite?"
The cat beamed, nodding.
"Yes! Absolutely! And, on that note..." Aundei paused, turning to loudly call to the other end of the lunch room. "Thanks again for the meal, Bouncy!"
Numerous pokémon turned to look at both the glameow and the bibarel he'd called to. Yei gave a bright grin, calling back in response.
"No problem, sugar-plum!"
A zorua carefully scooped up the fifty poké he'd found on the ground. The damp carpet of the mystery dungeon felt oddly comforting against his paw pads.
A few feet away, his partner gave a short sigh. He turned to see the espeon dejectedly batting a marble around in the shallow stream.
The zorua walked over, lightly poking the espeon's side with his nose. The psychic-type was briefly startled, but soon relaxed, leaning down to affectionately nuzzle the top of their head.
It was after a momentary embrace that the zorua spoke up.
"What's on your mind, Amy? You've been silent all morning." As the zorua spoke, he held the espeon's cheek in one paw, caressing it lightly as he met her distant gaze.
Amethyst gave a soft sigh. She sat down in the stream of water, simply basking in the feeling of the liquid rushing through her fur. The soggy carpet underneath squelched under the pressure of her rump, much to her distaste.
"I... Let my big mouth loose, again. I said some pretty hurtful things."
Understandingly, the zorua gave a pat on the back, eliciting a short grunt.
"Worse than usual?"
Amethyst nodded with a sigh.
"Way worse than usual. Maybe even the worst I've said. I was... Just... So angry, you know? I want to apologize, but..."
The zorua shook his head.
"No buts, Amy. You mess up, you own up. It's only as hard as you let it be."
With a miserable whine, the Espeon face-planted into the moist carpet.
"Arceus, damn it all! I'm letting it be really really hard!" She brought her forepaws up to cover her eyes. "Why can't I just think before I speak, Marco?!"
"Ames. You're just an honest soul. Perhaps it gets you into trouble, sometimes, but it's an admirable trait to be able to do freely speak your feelings. Just give things a while to cool down, and go have a talk with them. Okay?"
Sniffling, the espeon nodded.
"O-okay... I'm just... I'm really mad about what happened, you know? Like it easily could have been prevented... If I just moved those rocks faster, if Taffy just didn't run ahead, if Alena just didn't rush to make sure she was okay, if we were all more prepared... If that stupid stupid stupid miserable excuse for a pokémon would stop taking lives!"
Marco carefully rubbed her back, a frown settling onto his features.
"We all miss her, Amy. Perhaps Alena's death was preventable, perhaps it wasn't. Thinking about the 'what if?' won't do us any good, now. She wouldn't want us to beat ourselves up over it. We just have to carry on her memory with a smile. When we see her again, after our own time is up, she'll be pleased to know we didn't let her loss hold us back."
"A touching sentiment, truly. One you'll get to share with her sooner than you'd imagined!"
The two stiffened up at the sound of the third voice. Marco and Amethyst turned abruptly to eye the silhouetted figure at the opposing end of the room.
The Draco-shredder lurked. They were veiled in shadow, but the shape was unmistakable to the two explorers.
Amethyst quivered in place, muscles completely refusing to respond. She felt her teeth chattering as the shorter figure drew closer, step by step.
She was snapped out of her stupor as Marco aggressively yanked her tail, eliciting a yowl of surprise. Turning to see him beckoning, she gave a nod. The two took off down a hallway as fast as they could, nimbly escaping their presumed assailant.
The Draco-shredder ceased their pursuit. Instead, they opted for a satisfied nod, turning to depart in the opposite direction.
Five pokémon each walked out of the ship's main entrance and onto a platform. Each tended to their own tasks.
Snute carefully stuffed a box of leftovers into her binder, Aundei looked over his and Snute's equipment, the simisage and gardevoir examined a map on their APER Gear, and Ooka casually slipped on her sports bra.
"Well," started the simisage, "it was good to see you, Au'. It is time we part ways, now."
Ooka gave a nod, stretching out her arms and cracking her knuckles.
"Have a good one! Hope you and the grump's first outing together goes well."
Snute silently snarled, whilst Aundei gave an enthusiastic nod.
"I'm sure it'll be a blast! Silly, here, seems to have plenty of potential!" He turned to walk toward the stairs, only to see Snute already walking down, back turned to the group. Aundei looked to face the rest of them, giving a wave. "Bye bye, friends!"
Ooka eagerly waved back.
"Bye bye, Au'!"
The simisage gave a grunt, before joining in.
"See you."
The gardevoir gave a polite nod and a smile.
Aundei turned and quietly began to descent the stairs, humming to himself all the while. He shimmied, spun, and hopped all about, smiling all the while.
Snute growled, turning around.
"Stop it!" she quietly hissed. "We don't have all day to waste on your nonsense!"
"A bit dejected, though still smiling, Aundei began to descend at a faster pace with a normal gait.
The simisage's eyes narrowed, having been the only one to hear Snute's snap. The grass-type's head whirled back around to catch Snute's eyes. Maybe it wasn't intended to be as rude as it seemed?
The disdain he saw within the ninetales' gaze immediately casted away all doubt, flaring up anger within his system.
"Snute, is it?" came the simisage's seething voice.
The ninetales cocked an eyebrow.
"Yeah. What do you want?"
The grass-type took one step forward, jutting an accusing finger out toward her. This caught the attention of the lopunny and gardevoir.
"You don't seem too happy about being paired with Aundei," the simisage observed. "Why is that?"
The ninetales scoffed, visibly offended.
"What?"
Ooka and the gardevoir turned to look at the simisage. Ooka seemed uncertain, whereas the gardevoir gave nothing of her feelings away. Neither of them caught wind of Snute's venomous smirk, which vanished as soon as their attention had returned to her. The simisage fumed further.
"It wouldn't hurt to be a bit kinder to your supposed team-mate."
"No, no, she's right!" Aundei interjected with a stretch. "I'm fine! Don't worry about it, Grumpy! I'm sure she didn't mean any harm."
Ooka, the simisage, and the gardevoir all seemed to relax upon noticing the glameow's recovery. The grass-type remained tense, however, fixating his glare on the once more smirking ninetales.
He lifted two fingers to his eyes, then flicked them out toward Snute in a silent gesture. The ninetales returned the treatment, mockingly beckoning him with a paw.
As the simisage turned to depart with his team, he thought to himself.
"Something isn't right about that ninetales." The grass-type's arms crossed. "What does Aundei see in her? Better yet, what is he blind to?" He paused for a moment, frowning. "Is it just because she's a ninetales? Whatever the case, I must keep my friend safe."
Team Stop Calling Me That approached the meeting site fairly quickly. Aundei glanced around the familiar scene with a beaming smile. The entrance to Suto Mine was inside of the mountain before him. The large land-formation consisted largely of light brownish-red rock with steep, rectangular formations.
Around them, numerous hardy plants have taken root within the relatively soft rock.
"Oh, Aundei!" The shorter fennekin bounded up to the cat with relief, nuzzling against his leg in greeting. "So good to see you, buddy!"
The glameow gave a small chuckle, carefully patting the top of her head.
"Good day to you, Chef!"
The fennekin backed away, a spike of self-consciousness flushing her cheeks upon realizing how affectionate she'd gotten. She then felt a jolt of surprise as her eyes fell upon a ninetales.
"A-Alena?!" The fennekin barked. It was then that she fully took in the visage of the much larger fox towering over her. The fennekin's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as Snute's critical gaze seemed to analyze her.
"Who?" Snute grumbled, raising a brow.
Aundei pulled Snute into a sidelong hug, eliciting a sneer.
"Well well, Chef! This here is Silly! Silly, meet Chef!"
The fennekin quivered under the ninetales' leer.
"I-I-I-I-I... I..." Her words failed to leave her throat. She could not look away from Snute's eyes. Those horrible, horrible eyes. Within them, she could see the exact same disregard for others that she'd seen in the eyes of ferals so many times.
That wasn't what truly scared her, however. Rather, instead of the single-minded determination of a feral, Snute's eyes seemed to be watching, calculating, planning. Planning what, the fennekin did not know, nor did she wish to find out.
Snute's muzzle formed into a forced smile. Her eyes, however. Oh, dear arceus, those eyes never changed. No amount of cheer anywhere else could take the fennekin's attention off from those damned soulless eyes.
...Or, maybe they weren't so soulless? But, they sure seemed that way to the fennekin at first glance.
"So," began the ninetales in a casual tone. "I assume you are the 'Peppy' we've taken an assignment from?"
Peppy swallowed the frightened ember building in her throat. She gave a wince as it burned her stomach, but otherwise attempted to shake off her trepidation. It was rude to judge people by their looks, she told herself.
"U-uhm..." the fennekin continued to stammer for only a moment. "Y-yeah! That's me! A-and you are...?"
The ninetales gave a polite nod.
"Snute." she let her smile drop back into a frown. "I hope you pay well."
Peppy chuckled nervously.
"Oh, hehehe... O-of course I do!" She gulped after speaking, suddenly feeling a bit more conscious of the weight her coin-pouch carried. Perhaps she'd have to double that original offer.
Aundei gave a smile.
"Oh, but don't fret too much, Chef!" the glameow trilled. "Helping others is its own reward!"
Aundei didn't appear to notice Snute's shift into a scowl, but Peppy sure did. Granted, she'd really wished she didn't, but she did.
"U-uhm... So... Uh... It was a p-pack of eight p-pidgey that stole my cart. I don't think they c-could've gotten into it yet, with the locks and all."
The glameow gave a chipper nod, turning to spring on forward toward the dungeon.
"Don't you worry, Chef! We will get your pies back in a jiffy!"
Snute advanced forward as well. She turned to catch Peppy in her steely leer one last time, speaking with a dangerous edge.
"Pay well."
"I-I-I..."
Peppy shook violently in place, breaths coming in quick bursts. The ninetales made a show of digging her long, sharp claws into the stoney ground, creating sparks with a shrill screech. The fennekin squealed in terror. Peppy hoped she'd just been imagining the sensation of her bladder evacuating its contents.
"O-of course!"
Satisfied, Snute turned to follow Aundei, humming a jaunty tune all the while.
Peppy shakily let out a relieved breath. She opted to move a few feet away before laying down, as to not find herself within the puddle of unclear origin.
"I feel a bit bad for her, Silly," Aundei sighed. "Poor, poor Chef! She always seems to be getting attacked by wild pokémon on her deliveries... And, that's not to mention the rude civils who still walk all over her!"
Snute gave a dismissive grunt.
The two walked into the dark cave. Two wooden posts appeared to hold up the entrance, with several more lining the walls ahead.
The walls were composed of a mixture of the same red rocks of the exterior, as well as the occasional blob of toughly packed dirt.
As Aundei flicked on his APER Gear's flashlight function, more of the tunnel came into view. A shiny set of minecart rails stretched down the tunnel, before taking a turn out of sight. The faint sound of rushing water somewhere deeper in the dungeon could be heard.
Aundei gave a concerned grunt.
"The dungeon feels... Almost hostile, today."
"What?"
Aundei shook his head.
"Probably nothing!"
Snute raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. She opted to instead look around.
"This place looks suspiciously like Minecraft."
Aundei blinked, head tilting.
"What's that, Silly?"
Snute snickered to herself.
"You'll get it when you're older."
With a chipper grin, Aundei nodded.
"Oh, okay!"
Snute huffed. She soon sneezed out a cloud of dust.
"What are a couple o' birds doing down here, anyway? Don't they have, like, super pretentious lungs?"
The glameow gave a shrug. His eyes fell closed with a smile.
"Perhaps they just enjoy the scenery!"
Snute rolled her eyes.
"...Right."
As the pair rounded the corner, Snute blinked in surprise. One of the dirt patches on the wall burst open into a cloud of dust and debris, with a drilbur popping out and landing in front of the pair. It brandished its claws, pointing toward the two threateningly.
Aundei gave a small chuckle.
"Well well, Silly! Show me what you've got!"
The ninetales quirked an eyebrow.
"You aren't going to help?"
"I'll step in if things get dicey. rookie!" the glameow spoke in response.
"Fine." The ninetales shook her head, looking down on the smaller mole. It stared back with a fierce determination, though she could see the unconfident waver in its posture.
With a practiced ease, Snute began to cool the air around her, whilst concentrating any moisture she could find into the surrounding area.
Before long, the tunnel was filled with a thick cloud of fog, leaving the drilbur unable to see. Squinting its eyes closed, it let out an aggressive squeak, charging forward and leaping toward where it'd last seen the ninetales. Instead of connecting with its intended target, however, it stepped onto a slippery sheet of ice and stumbled onto its tummy.
Not a moment later, a thin beam of icey aura pierced through the cloud, impacting the drilbur and freezing it in place. It appeared nearly knocked out by the blow. All intent to fight had been drained from its body.
As the fog began to dissipate, Aundei took notice of Snute advancing toward the mole with a disdainful sneer. His head tilted a bit.
"Uh, Silly?" he called. "You already got him! You won!" He cheered with a smile. The smile faltered, however, as Snute lifted a leg over its head with the intent to stomp. She closed her eyes tight, gritting her teeth, trying her best not to think about what she was about to do.
"May the lord grant you mercy where I have not."
The drilbur's eyes widened. It attempted to scurry away, but the damage it had sustained left it helpless to move.
Acting fast, Aundei uncoiled his tail with a whip-like crack. The end fastened around Snute's leg, before the forward inertia of the tail lost its edge over its desire to compress. The ninetales was pulled back toward her team-mate with an alarmed cry, only barely managing to avoid stumbling over.
Snute turned her now furious gaze onto Aundei, brows furrowed with rage.
"What?!"
The glameow gave a weak smile.
"You had it immobilized, Snute. There was no need to keep beating on em'!"
Snute snorted, a cold cloud leaving her nose.
"Why does it matter? Death is a mercy."
Aundei shook his head wildly as he spoke, utterly baffled. "They're pokémon, just like the rest of us! As proper explorers, part of our duty is to protect them just as we would any other! That means that our attacks on them should never go past what is needed for self-defense!"
"Whatever," Snute growled, turning her back. With the drilbur no longer present, the path forward appeared clear. The ninetales advanced forward, trailed hesitantly by her worried companion.
Aundei attempted to dawn an optimistic smile as he caught up.
The pair found themselves taking several more turns. Much to Snute's mild annoyance, Aundei stayed behind her the whole time.
"Shouldn't you be leading?" Snute finally snorted, halting in place. She turned her head to throw the glameow a glare. "You know, being an experienced explorer and all."
Much to the ninetales' chagrin, Aundei smiled brighter.
"Why, I've gotta see your skill set, Silly! Know how good you are, and all."
Snute rounded her body to fully face her partner.
"I am no stranger to mystery dungeons," she spoke with a patronizing tone. "You can rest assured that I'm perfectly up to the task."
Aundei nodded, smiling brighter. Snute's eye twitched before he spoke.
"Great! Then, there shouldn't be a problem with you leading, Silly!"
Blinking once, then twice, then thrice, Snute gave a short sigh. With a shake of her head, she turned to resume walking.
It was only a moment, and a few more drilbur dispatched, before the hallway opened up into a larger room. Upon entry, the sound of running water increased in volume, echoing about in a cacophony of white noise. Snute glanced around, eyes widening in horror.
The cavern they'd entered was so spacious that, even shining her flashlight, she couldn't see the walls. Much to her dismay, this proved true for the floor beneath the suspended wooden platform as well. The ninetales felt her limbs turning into jelly as she observed the inky blackness below.
Waving her flashlight around more, Snute found more platforms, similar to the one she stood on. One parallel to the right, another down and to the left, and one more running perpendicular far above them.
"...How big is this place?" Snute breathed. A mixture of awe and fear filled her soul as she gazed about the wonder of the complex aimless construction and impossible natural formation of the mystery dungeon's incomprehensibly complex agenda.
Her train of thought was interrupted as Aundei offered an answer.
"It's a pretty big one! You can see that sort of information on your APER Gear, too!"
Snute raised an eyebrow.
"What? Does it, like, scan the dungeon?"
The glameow shook his head.
"Nope! It's just up to the first explorer in a dungeon to log that information!"
"...I see."
"Icy!"
To verify, Snute flicked on her APER Gear. It was set on the grid map mode, with a pixelated ninetales and glameow depicted in the center of a large square with many lines branching off from it.
She tapped on the dungeon name at the top of the screen, revealing more information about it. She let her eyes glance over some of the general information.
As promised, the size, difficulty, known pokémon inhabitants, structural trends, hazards, and other such information was listed.
Taffy carefully adjusted her glasses, an embarrassed red tinge on her cheeks.
"I, uh..." the minccino stuttered, wringing her paws together. "It'll be okay, darlin'! No need to fret!" She gave the most sincere smile she could down to the slurpuff that groveled at her feet. It was quite the accomplishment, Taffy mused, considering her own fairly short stature.
"But it's not okay!" the pastry dog wailed. "Those mean, mean rich folk are threatening to write a really nasty review!"
Taffy carefully stroked the snuffling slurpuff's cheek.
"I'm sure it ain't that bad, Ringue! Everyone gets a bit of negative press now and again."
Ringue's face seemed to scrunch up in dismay, much to Taffy's befuddlement.
"It's not just any bad press, Taff'! This is an influential company! Peppy's business will be ruined! She'll have no money! And... And... Know what's even worse?" The slurpuff began to hyperventilate as she spoke. Her voice threatened to crack as she answered her own question. "That means... N-no more pizza!"
Taffy could swear that she felt her eyebrows enter orbit.
"I don't think the pizza is more important than Peppy's job, darlin'."
The slurpuff merely broke down even more.
"I know! I'm horrible!" she sobbed into Taffy's chest with a tight embrace.
The minccino awkwardly looked around the lounge. Much to her relief, a set of double-doors swung open, with a smeargle waltzing in soon after. Taffy quickly waved them over.
"Yuja, darlin'? I think your team mate could use an uplift.
The smeargle gave a nod, walking over carefully. She patted the slurpuff on the back, before carefully leading them off from Taffy.
Relieved, Taffy let out a breath. She removed her glasses, opting to polish the lense with a cloth.
As Ringue continued to tremble, Yuja carefully stroked her head before speaking up.
"Taff', we have a problem."
The minccino's ears perked up. She placed her glasses back onto her face.
"Oh? What's up?"
The smeargle took a seat on a nearby bench with her slurpuff companion. She took out a bagle stuffing it into Ringue's maw. The slurpuff seemed to brighten up instantly, carefully munching away.
Yuja, after a brief smile, took on a more serious expression.
"It appears that, while you were out on your walk earlier, we had another incident involving our latest serial killer. We're gonna be doing another interview tonight."
Taffy gasped, covering her mouth with her paws.
"Gosh, really?! What happened?"
Yuja crossed her arms, leaning to the side as Ringue invaded her bag for another bagle.
"Well, you see, Team Radia were out on an assignment within the Jeki House Dungeon. The Draco-shredder reportedly appeared to threaten them, and advance forward. Marco and Amethyst fled the scene, but our killer reportedly didn't make too much of an effort to catch up." Yuja looked into the minccino's eyes. She spotted a flash of guilt. After a moment, the smeargle spoke up. "You seem troubled, Taffy. What's up?"
The minccino jolted a bit, before shaking her head. She twiddled her paws together nervously.
"It's just... We had a big fight earlier. I guess it's just really hitting me hard. If the Draco-shredder got her, we might have lost our opportunity to resolve things..."
Yuja raised an eyebrow.
"Your main concern here is that your little fight wouldn't get patched up?"
Taffy shook her head furiously.
"No, of course not! It just... Hurts... Of course I care more that she'd be dead, but that doesn't mean I can't lament on how we may have remained irreversibly on bad terms!"
"...Uh-huh." Yuja narrowed her eyes.
Snute gave a short yawn, glancing down and over the edge of the suspended platform.
Stretching down as far as her light would shine, numerous other bridges hung below, having supported her and Aundei's weight mere moments prior.
She glanced back to the end of the platform she stood on, seeing Aundei staring contemplatively toward the wall it led into.
"Well well," Snute huffed, "we've traveled every path available to us, yet none lead anywhere. What do we do now, Mr. Dungeon Expert?"
Aundei glanced back, smiling at the perceived praise. He spied the ninetales impatiently leering his way, tapping a single paw in a repeated motion.
"Well now, Silly, we haven't explored every path!"
Snute blinked. She angled her APER Gear to allow the glameow to see, demonstrating that every path on the map had indeed been taken.
"See? Nothing."
Aundei nodded, sitting down with a grin.
"That's half correct! Every open path has been taken! Sometimes, as an explorer, you'll have to use your brain and make your own path!"
Snute blinked.
"Hm." A plain response, but an acknowledgement. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but the advice was rather sound.
"Taffy explained it to me this way! A mystery dungeon is like a puzzle. It may not make sense to us, or anyone for that matter, but each one has its rules it follows! It is up to us to figure out said rules and exploit them!"
Snute took a seat herself, thinking back on the events up to that point. It didn't take long for her to conjure an idea.
"The drilbur have been popping out from behind walls," she thought to herself. "Perhaps..."
Aundei stepped aside as Snute approached, the ninetales staring at the wall before them. It appeared to be made of the same packed dirt that the drilbur had been popping out of.
Leaning forward, she put her muzzle up to the wall. With a tentative few snuffles, she gave a firm nod.
"Definitely space back there. Definitely a lot of it, too."
Aundei gave a tilt of his head.
"Huh! You can smell all that?" the glameow queried. "I knew ninetales had good noses, but I didn't know they were that good!"
Snute stood up straight, snout pointed high as she basked in the praise.
"Well, with my variant being adapted to cold temperatures, my ancestors needed stronger noses for hunting compared to one of a warmer climate."
Aundei gave a thoughtful hum.
"So... How does that work? Smelling the size of the space?"
"Well, I'm not so much smelling the space, so much as I'm smelling the quantity and distance of the pokémon occupying it."
"Icy!"
With a brief stretch and a flex of her forepaws, Snute set to work digging away at the tightly packed soil. While, not as efficient as the fifteen or so drill moles she'd dispatched, her canine biology once more proved useful, granting paws perfectly suited for burrowing.
Within moments, Snute and Aundei had traversed through the remainder of the dungeon. They once more stood within the large central chasm, now at the highest point. At the end of the walkway was an entry where sunlight could be seen streaming in.
The glameow and ninetales both peeked around the corner of the wall they hid behind. Outside, a large circular ledge jutted off from the side of the mountain.
As Peppy had earlier informed the pair, eight pidgey stood guard of a large wooden caravan, Four of them were attempting to peck through the structure to no avail.
Snute felt into her bag for the treasure she'd collected. About four-hundred-fifty poké, numerous scraps of metal, and a few plastic bottle caps.
Satisfied with her haul, Snute considered turning back at that moment. After a moment longer of thought, however, she supposed that it wouldn't be worth sacrificing any potential goodwill. She'd be needing that, after all.
"Well," Snute whispered, "it's just eight pidgey. Should be a cakewalk."
Aundei gave a nod.
"True that! Let's go!" Without another word, the glameow began to skip off forward.
Eyes widening, Snute lunged forward after him.
"Aren't we going to come up with a plan?!" hissed the ninetales.
"Nope!" Aundei denied. "We've got this!"
By that point, the pidgey had spotted the pair. With angered squawks, they all rose into the air, assuming a circular formation around the explorers.
Aundei and Snute stood back to back, eying down the ill-tempered birds. The ten pokémon maintained a standoff for several moments, none backing down, yet none moving forward.
As Snute stood, a cool mist could be seen falling from her maw.
It was after another few seconds that a pidgey finally lunged toward the ninetales. With a swift motion of her jaws, she clamped the bird's neck into a firm bite. Its eyes seemed to almost bulge out as the fox began aggressively throwing her head back and forth, teeth wrenching into its flesh and quickly draining the heat from its body.
Spying their friend getting mauled, the remaining pidgey settled into a state of panicked fury, each of them all swarming Snute at once.
As Snute felt sharp beaks and talons pecking and scratching her from all sides, she had no choice other than to release the bird. It fell to the ground limply, before feebly flopping away.
The ninetales wrinkled her nose as it was stung by the scent of blood, both her own, and that of her latest victim. Upon realizing what she'd done to the poor bird, she felt her limbs beginning to quiver, regret wrenching her heart. Snute shut down at that moment, collapsing to the ground as she was soon swarmed on all sides by angered pidgey.
Aundei, spying the assault on his teammate, quickly began drawing upon his aura, manifesting it as a blast of water. The wall of liquid crashed upon the pidgey, knocking most of them off from Snute, with the ninetales herself only being left somewhat wet.
She quickly turned to kick the remaining two stunned pidgey away. They stumbled backwards, then taking into the sky with the other five.
The seven pidgey circled high in the air, far out of reach. Snute opened her maw to begin firing thin ice-beams toward them, most being dodged but a few hitting their mark.
"Silly!" Aundei called, gaining the ninetales' attention. "Remember how we got atop the ceiling?"
Shakily standing up, Snute attempted to shake the guilt out of her system. She furrowed her brows in confusion.
"Uh, yeah? Why does-" her eyes widened in realization. "Oh."
With a shared nod, Aundei tightly compressed his tail, with Snute soon leaping on top. With a powerful spring, she was launched into the air.
One of the pidgey, shocked by the new development, received a somersaulting smack in the face from Snute's tails. The force of the strike threw off the rhythm of its wingbeats, sending it into freefall for a few meters before it regained its balance.
On her way down, Snute shot out a hind leg to kick the bird, sending it over the edge. Much to Aundei's relief, it flew back up a moment later, before quickly fleeing from the fight.
As Snute neared the ground, she found Aundei underneath her once more, springing her right back into the air.
Three pidgey dove for the ascending ninetales at once. She just barely managed to contort her body as to make them crash into each other. Stunned by the impact, they all fell to the ground.
At the apex of her bounce, another pidgey abruptly rammed into her chest with a heft thump. She was sent flying backward, letting out a cry of pain. Once more, however, Aundei shifted position to cushion her landing, bouncing her back into the air.
Two of the remaining three pidgey took off toward Snute. The ninetales was about to repeat her previous evasive maneuver, but found it unnecessary as their trajectory took them below her. She smirked at what she'd assumed to be a blunder, until they flew directly up toward her.
Snute began to struggle mid-air as four sets of talons gripped onto one front leg and one back leg. She growled at the futility of her flailing, accomplishing nothing. The growl turned into a pained shout as the pidgey dug in their sharp claws, then began to fly outward from their captive. The ninetales could feel her body being stretched past its intended limits, sending a searing pain through her. This was not helped by the third pidgey having joined in, taking advantage of her restraint to begin buffeting her with mid-air tackles.
Aundei observed Snute's predicament with a frown. His brain ran at what felt like four-hundred miles per minute in an attempt to figure a solution.
With no other options, he settled on the best idea he could. The glameow began to channel electricity through his whiskers, focusing on the three birds. Distracted by their target, they did not see the attack coming until it was too late.
Snute felt another jolt of pain as electricity entered her system, though she could tell that her three captors were having it far worse than her. They convulsed violently, soon releasing the ninetales, the four pokeémon sent into freefall.
After only a moment, the stream of electricity ceased, with Aundei catching Snute on his tail. Instead of springing her again, he held the panting ninetales atop him, with the pidgey soon impacting the ground around them.
With a long groan, Snute rolled off from Aundei, letting her paws shakily meet the ground. She looked herself up and down, noting that she'd taken quite the beating. Much to her annoyance, however, Aundei was entirely unharmed.
"You made me take all the damage!" Snute accused, pointing a paw toward the glameow.
Aundei simply smiled.
"Sorry, Silly! Just took the best tactical decision I could! We can switch roles next time, if you'd like!"
While the two were distracted, seven pidgey quickly got up, flying away in a panic. Aundei frowned, turning to the remaining pidgey. It laid on the ground, having been thoroughly maimed by Snute.
He knelt down next to the wild pokémon, carefully reaching into his bag. He applied a mixture of sitrus and aspear berry spray onto a sheet of gauze, before carefully wrapping the pidgey's wound with it. The bird gave a weak trill of appreciation, with Aundei carefully stroking its head.
"...I'm sorry." Snute mumbled, looking away.
Aundei turned his head, leveling the ninetales with a disapproving glare.
"Snute. You can not go around injuring pokémon this badly."
"Mhm." Snute sighed.
"I'm not joking!" the glameow snapped with a growl. "You could kill someone if you aren't careful!"
The ninetales bowed her head in shame. Aundei had outlined her intention perfectly.
Aundei gave a defeated sigh, looking down to the pidgey. The glameow's eyes held an even mixture of sympathy, guilt, and disappointment.
He shook his head, standing up. He carefully lifted the pidgey over to the caravan, securing it onto the vehicle. He then hooked himself up to the large wagon, walking forward to pull it.
"Come on, Snute. Let's get back home."
"Okay."
The two walked back into the dungeon.
As they walked along the wooden platform in silence, Snute found her usual scowl turning to a worried frown. She stopped, with the sound of rolling wheels soon stopping behind her. She turned back to meet Aundei's distracted gaze.
"Glameow."
"Hm?" Aundei blinked, shaking his head. "What's up, Silly?"
"Something doesn't smell right."
"Really?" Aundei looked around curiously. He gave a thoughtful hum. "I don't smell anything, but it certainly feels off in here." It was a moment later that his eyes widened. "Oh, no. We have to get out of here, now!"
Alarmed, Snute's eyes widened.
"What?! Why?!"
"I know that feeling anywhere!" Aundei called. "The dungeon is about to shift!"
Snute felt a pang of ice somehow chill her already frozen heart.
"Got it. Let's go."
As the two began to run forward, they could hear rumbling begin to pick up. The walls shook, debris fell, and the bridge began to violently rattle beneath their paws. A large crack opened in the ceiling, beginning to illuminate the entire space.
Snute turned back to see the exit close up, with the bridge beginning to peel upward behind them. They'd barely made into the cavernous hallway when the last of the boards had risen up.
The pair rushed past the nonchalant wild pokémon, who simply went about their normal routine.
Snute shivered as the stone of the walls bent and warped around them. The entire hallway soon began to rotate, with the room at the end coming close to being blocked off.
Aundei closed his eyes to focus, channeling flying-type aura into his legs.
"Silly, hop onto the cart!"
Without protest, the ninetales hopped onto the vehicle. Aundei put his all into dashing forward, accelerating to blistering speeds.
They made it into the next room just in time, with Snute giving a short yelp as a few furs were plucked from her tail by the closing wall.
Combined with the wheels of the cart, Aundei realized that he had too little momentum to slow down. He opted to roll with it, widely turning into the next hallway. It took them downward at an ever steepening elevation, in turn increasing the glameow's speed. His legs had no issue keeping up, but his mind was beginning to lag behind.
Snute felt her teeth chatter as she clung onto the cart for dear life. Every small pebble and pothole was amplified by their velocity, violently jostling the caravan into the air.
The ninetales felt a breath evict her lungs as a large pile of rocks collapsed over the exit ahead. With no time to change course, she acted in the small window available to her, shooting a beam to freeze the pile solid.
The expanding formation of the ice crystals were just enough to weaken and fracture the structure of the rocks to a point where Aundei was able to shatter through them with the force of his speed alone. Shards of icy rock buffeted each of the pokémon present, with the cart unsettlingly rattling with the impact.
As they exited back into the chasm, Snute felt a seed of rage bubble within her chest. Of course, the next exit had to be blocked off, too. It was one thing after another, she swore. The wall appeared to be completely solid, so there was no chance of breaking through.
"Aundei!" Snute screamed. "Bank right!"
The glameow nodded, altering his course by ninety degrees. The explorers were sent flying off from the walkway, gravity beginning to take hold. Before long, they landed on a bridge below, running perpendicular to the one they'd just been on. They both shouted in terror with the landing, Snute holding onto the groaning wagon for dear life.
The impact tore a board and a wheel off from the caravan, sending them hurdling into the abyss below. The bridge cracked violently, threatening to collapse beneath them.
Before long, they made it into the next tunnel. After rounding a corner, a stream of sunlight could be seen up ahead. The tunnel began closing in, seemingly giving one last attempt to trap the explorers within its grasp. As the walls crumbled together, it quickly approached the pair, with the exit approaching in equal measure.
Aundei pumped his legs with all his strength. His breathing came in pants as he exerted his body with everything he could. He cringed at the combined shriek of stone beginning to grind against the back of the cart and Snute screaming in horror.
One, two, three, four more bounds. The glameow held his breath, closing his eyes. With a fifth leap, he channeled all of his flying aura into his tail, using it to abruptly spring forward, accelerating them to the highest speed he could manage.
Peppy jolted up with a start as Snute, Aundei, and the fennekin's caravan rocketed out of the dungeon's entrance just in time for it to close with a crash. The fennekin tilted her head to follow the trajectory of the cart. It soared through the air, before landing on the ground with a rattling jolt. Aundei dug his paws into the dirt, leaving trenches several meters in length before they slowed to a stop. Aundei's exhaustion and Snute's relief led the two to fall over onto the ground, panting heavily.
Peppy approached the pair timidly, a small bag held within her muzzle. Shuddering, she deposited it in front of them.
Nodding in satisfaction, Snute picked up the payment, investigating the contents. Five-thousand poké, and three coupons.
As Peppy undid the locks on the back of her violently beaten and battered wagon, she was relieved and shocked to find all of her ingredients completely unharmed.
"Huh..." she murmured. "I would've expected at least some damage a-after that exit."
"I guess Silly just has the magic touch! She's got two giant cushions to do the job with!"
Snute growled lowly, self-consciously flicking her tails to cover her hindquarters.
Peppy spotted Aundei removing the fainted pidgey from the caravan. The fennekin gave a shrill gasp upon spotting its injuries.
"G-goodness! What happened to it?!"
Snute turned her head away in shame.
Aundei's smile vanished. He gave a sad shake of his head, sighing.
"There was an... Accident. Nothing the doc can't fix up!"
Peppy shuddered.
"An accident... R-right..." The fennekin couldn't help but notice the traces of dried blood around Snute's maw.