Author's Note:
So much for monthly uploads. I guess that's what happens when you overhype yourself for something you haven't done yet. To compensate, here's a long chapter featuring another riddle, a new and original Dimensional Scream, and a boss fight. Hopefully the wait was worth it!
"So, how do we get him up?" I asked Crest. With my bed back in its old spot, I managed to be awake before Loudred came around. I woke Crest up as usual but wasn't sure what to do about Jolt. It would be best if we didn't have to startle him awake every morning.
"You don't honestly expect me to have an answer, do you?" Crest replied.
"I asked because I'm out of ideas. If you can't think of anything then I'll have to shake him awake," I said.
Crest thought for a moment. "Well, then I'm just going to try shouting again. Hey Jolt, wake up!"
"Uh… huh?" To my surprise that actually worked. "Is it morning already?"
"You could hear me but not Loudred?" Crest asked.
"I guess you don't sound like thunder," I joked.
Jolt seemed surprised to hear that. "Wait, did I sleep through the wake-up call again?"
"No, Brandon just doesn't sleep. He's always up before Loudred gets here," Crest explained.
"Just because I'm up before you are you claim I don't sleep? Do I need to remind you of what happened yesterday?" I asked. "Anyway, we should get to assembly. We have a long day ahead of us."
"What do you mean by long?" Jolt asked. "Surely it won't be as bad as our Northern Desert exploration."
I was hesitant to admit that I wanted to go back there, given how much my teammates hated that place. "It might be. We should see if Chatot has anything planned for us before planning our own exploration."
Unfortunately, Chatot did not have instructions for us today. Instead, everyone was expected to search for the remaining time gears on their own. When the morning briefing was over, I decided to let Chatot know about my plan to go back to the Northern Desert. Sure, my teammates might hate me for that, but if Chatot knew about my suspicions then they couldn't back out of the exploration.
"Chatot, is it okay if Gligar joins my team during our search today?" I asked.
"And why exactly do you need her help?" he questioned back.
"Well, we don't really have any leads, and I believe there was something at Quicksand Desert that we overlooked yesterday." Just as I expected, Jolt and Crest were not happy when they heard that. "Gligar knows more about desert mystery dungeons than anyone on my team. She may notice something that we wouldn't."
Chatot thought it over. "Surely you understand that I have no authority over non-guild members. I believe Dusknoir wanted Gligar to sit in on our meeting today to answer questions about the Air Continent, but if she would prefer to assist your exploration, that's her choice to make. I'll let her know of your offer, wait here for a moment."
As soon as Chatot left I was hounded by my teammates. "Are you serious? We're going back to the desert?" Crest complained.
"Have you somehow forgotten how much we hated that dungeon?" Jolt added furiously. "And this isn't fair anyway. How would you like it if we suddenly decided to explore a volcano? You didn't even tell us you were planning this!"
"Would you please calm down? It's not like I liked that place either," I explained.
"Which means you have a reason for wanting to go back," Crest concluded, defeated. "Something you didn't mention to Chatot, right?"
I nodded in response. "Remember back at Foggy Forest when I said there was something familiar about that place? I felt the same way at Quicksand Desert."
"So, you're making us go somewhere we hate because it 'feels familiar' to you?" a still-frustrated Jolt questioned.
"If it has something to do with his lost memory then we should look into it," Crest explained.
Jolt wasn't convinced. "But we're supposed to be looking for time gears, aren't we?"
"It's still a worthwhile lead," I defended. "Think about it: if I have a connection to Quicksand Desert, then there is a chance I'll have a dimensional scream there. The vision could be about anything; I could see my past, the desert, maybe even a time gear. Until we know the limits of my ability we can't rule out the possibility, and we have no other leads anyway. Exploring anywhere else would be a waste of time."
Either Jolt realized I was right, or he gave up trying to change my mind, because he stopped arguing after that. It wasn't much longer before Chatot returned with Gligar.
"Alright, Team Strength. Gligar has agreed to travel with you today. Actually, the Guildmaster seemed to think this was a better use of her time than being part of our meeting. Regardless, and this goes without saying, please make sure she returns safely to the guild after your exploration," Chatot instructed before leaving again.
"Are you really going back to the Northern Desert?" Gligar asked.
"That's actually why I wanted you to come with us. Is there any way to reach the Quicksand Pits without going through the mystery dungeon?" I asked. Crest and Jolt seemed to perk up a bit upon hearing that.
Gligar considered the idea. "I don't know for sure, but it should be possible. There are ways to get around the desert on the Air Continent safely, so I think it's safe to assume the same is true for the Grass Continent."
"You mean what we're looking for isn't in the mystery dungeon?" Jolt asked.
"That's right. And if we can avoid the dungeon, we can avoid the sandstorm, or at least get around the worst of it I think," I answered. "Of course, to do that we Gligar's help."
"I get it now. You never intended to go back into the Northern Desert," Crest reasoned. I decided not to tell him that we would have gone through the dungeon if we had to.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Gligar said excitedly.
We made our way to the entrance of the Northern Desert mystery dungeon before letting Gligar take the lead. Just as we had hoped, she was able to navigate the desert without getting pulled into the dungeon. We didn't have to worry about sandstorms, but it was difficult to tell how quickly we were making progress. Still, the lack of hostiles meant this improvised route was much easier to travel than the dungeon was.
Eventually, we reached an area Gligar claimed to be safe. "We should be pretty close now," she explained. "See that sandstorm over there? That's the mystery dungeon's exit, or one of the exits anyway. If we follow it we should eventually find the Quicksand Pits."
"The quicksand was near some sort of rock formation," I recalled, "so keep an eye out for that."
Those rocks turned out to be an effective landmark; they stood out against the seemingly endless sand. "Looks like we're finally here," Jolt said.
"Brandon, you said this place felt familiar, right? Does it still feel that way?" Crest asked.
"Yes. I'm certain there's something here. If we could just find something important, I might be able to use it to trigger a Dimensional Scream," I explained. "We need to find something that stands out."
We began our search for anything interesting. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to find. The rock formations we used to recognize this place were barren; they formed a circle of five pillars around the quicksand "whirlpools" but didn't seem to have any significance. The spiraling sand caught my eye, just as it had yesterday, but I couldn't help but think it was too dangerous to use it for a vision. I would probably fall into the quicksand if I tried.
While the rest of us searched from the ground, Gligar tried an aerial approach. "Hey guys, up here! I found something," she called from the pillar farthest from the dungeon's exit. Luckily, the pillar itself wasn't particularly steep.
We climbed up to where she was and were greeted by some sort of stone pedestal. "I take it this is what you found," I noted.
"Yup! There's something written on it," Gligar pointed out.
Crest examined the writing. "It's another riddle, like the one on the Groudon statue."
"Like… what?" Jolt asked.
"There was a riddle like this one in Foggy Forest. The fog lifted when we solved it," I explained. "Which means this one is probably hiding something important, too." I turned my attention to the pedestal and tried my best to read the Footprint Runes:
Beneath this land of swirling sand,
The cavern in the desert's hand,
A treasure lies for time anew,
Protected by emotions true.
Yet in this place of endless day
Where 'neath the surface lacks decay
A fool you are to try and wake
The secret of the desert lake
"Okay, but what does any of this mean?" Jolt wondered.
"Well, 'land of swirling sand' is clearly referring to Quicksand Pits," I thought aloud, "but the second verse seems meaningless. At most it's a warning, telling us not to investigate this place."
"Beneath Quicksand Pits?" Crest questioned. "In what way? Does it mean 'less important than Quicksand Pits,' or 'actually under the Quicksand Pits?'"
"Hopefully the former," Jolt replied. "You'd have to be crazy to jump into quicksand."
"What about the fourth line? 'Protected by emotions true…' I can't make any sense of it," I added, thoroughly confused. Nobody had an answer. "Well, if we're out of ideas, we might as well try this," I said as I reached out to touch the pedestal.
Crest caught on quickly. "You're going to try a vision?"
"Will that work?" Jolt asked. I was too focused to respond though.
As I closed my eyes I heard a faint ringing sound. The sound grew louder and louder, and with it came a flash of white light. When the light and sound faded, the vision began.
I saw Quicksand Pits, but everything was grey, and the quicksand was still. "There is definitely a cavern beneath the sand," my voice said.
"Oh, so you did have a Scream then?" a human responded. "Should I assume you want me to reveal the cave?"
"Can you manage that?" past me asked.
"It's just some basic Geo Kinesis. Any Stone mage could do it," he answered, beginning to focus. He stuck his hands out in front of him, then rotated his arms across his body in a single, fluid motion. When the motion finished, the quicksand flew into the air, curving into a pile beside us and revealing a cave.
My past self was happy with the discovery. "It's about time we found something. I didn't want to go back empty handed again."
"Then I guess we should start exploring," the human said. He took a step forward only to be interrupted when a Dark Pulse knocked him down.
"Why now?" my voice groaned before announcing, "Mind Lock!" As the spell was cast my connection to the vision began to waver.
"Brandon, you know we can't fight him! You have to run," the human urged me. "Get help from the village!"
"I'm not leaving you behind!" I argued back.
"You have to; if you die then our whole mission becomes impossible. You have to survive," he continued. "Get out of here, NOW!"
The vision was fading fast, but as my past self ran from the battle behind me I could hear another Dark Pulse being fired.
"Stalactite!" the human shouted, shattering the last bit of concentration I had. I was suddenly blinded by white light as the ringing sound harshly returned.
"Ahh!" I cried out as the vision violently ended.
"Are you okay?" Gligar asked, clearly worried.
Crest was also concerned. "Was the vision really that bad? It seems like it gets worse for you every time."
I gathered my thoughts. "I think that's just a coincidence. Something interrupted the vision," I explained. "A lot happened, but I'll keep things simple: there is a cave beneath the quicksand."
"Did you not hear me when I said you'd have to be crazy to jump into quicksand? Or do you think all of us are crazy?" Jolt replied sarcastically.
"Hey, I said there is a cave, I didn't say I knew how to get to it," I defended.
"Is it really that crazy though?" Gligar asked. "I can dig pretty well. Quicksand isn't really a problem for me."
"I take it back, Gligar is crazy," Jolt corrected.
She just laughed it off. "Maybe I am but think about it: if there is a cave, I can fly and dig my way back out to let the rest of you know about it. Either way, I can come back safely, and we'll know if there really is a cave beneath us."
"Well, between my vision and Gligar's confidence, I think it's worth a shot," I said. "Though I am still hesitant to ask anyone to swim through quicksand."
"Like I said, I can handle it," Gligar responded. "Just watch, I'll be back before you have time to worry!"
This was certainly an exciting exploration; I'd never burrowed through quicksand before, but how hard could it be? It's not like I would get trapped or anything.
I jumped into the center of the largest quicksand pit and dug down. It wasn't long before the ground gave way beneath me; the sand itself was barely deep enough to bury myself in. Correcting myself as I fell, I glided to the bottom of the cave and took note of my surroundings.
There were a few piles of sand strewn about the cave's floor, but the ground itself was made of solid stone. It was also surprisingly well lit down here, considering this place appeared to be completely enclosed. As I searched for the source of the light I noticed the sand above me: though small streams of sand piled up on the ground, most of it seemed to be blocked by some sort of barrier. Explaining how that worked was far beyond me, so I could only assume it was the work of a Psychic type pokemon. Perhaps a Claydol could make a tomb like this?
Pushing the question aside, I remembered what I told those other explorers. How long would it take for them to start to worry about me, anyway? I did say I would be back before then after all. I flew up to the sand and clawed at it until I found some grip. After that, digging to the surface proved to be trivial.
"Told you it was easy," I bragged when I resurfaced.
"I still can't believe you did that," Jolt said.
"Was there a cave?" Brandon asked.
"There was, and you don't even have to go that far down," I explained. "It is a bit of a drop though."
Crest seemed to get nervous when he heard that. "That means we have to go down there, doesn't it?"
"That's much worse than a sandstorm!" Jolt complained.
"Solving the riddle in Foggy Forest led us to a time gear, and we just solved a similar riddle here. What choice do we have?" Brandon argued. "Besides, Dusknoir also thought there was a gear here. We just have to find it now."
"Wait, we solved the riddle?" I asked.
"Beneath Quicksand Pits is a cave, right?" he explained. "Now, come on. Our mission just became a lot more urgent."
"Why did I join your team?" Jolt grumbled as the group approached the quicksand.
"With any luck, this will be our last exploration in a desert," Crest consoled him. "Let's just get this over with."
The team jumped into the pit and fell into the cave below, and I followed them. It turns out their landings were not as graceful as mine was though.
"Just once I'd like to land on my feet," Brandon whined.
"You've got four of them, it can't be that hard," Crest shot back.
"It's not," Jolt added, clearly frustrated. "He's just clumsy. And now my fur is full of sand again."
"Okay, I get it, you two hate sand," Brandon exclaimed, growing frustrated himself. "But look on the bright side: once you shake the sand out, you won't have to worry about it anymore. The sandstorms won't reach us down here."
"What part of 'my down is too thick' do you not understand? I can't just shake it out," Crest complained. Meanwhile Jolt had started to clear the sand from his fur.
"Wait, you have feathers? I thought Piplup couldn't fly," I questioned.
Crest just got even more upset at that. "So what? You don't have feathers but fly anyway."
"Can we please just enter the mystery dungeon before our team falls apart?" Brandon suggested.
"Fine," Crest agreed. "You take the lead. Gligar, stay near us in case the hostiles are too strong for you."
There wasn't any need to protect me; I was at a type advantage in this dungeon. Still, I didn't contribute much to battles. My attacks simply weren't strong enough to get past the hostiles' defenses. Well, maybe they were, but Crest's Bubble Beam had me completely outclassed. Actually, even Brandon seemed to struggle to match him. Wasn't he the leader?
We progressed quickly though the dungeon and even found a slumber orb along the way. Although there weren't any natural sandstorms inside the dungeon, some of the hostiles created their own. Those same hostiles got an extra Bubble Beam from Crest.
It didn't take long to reach a rest floor, which Crest used as a chance to get some of the sand out of his feathers, but we didn't stay there long. Since this dungeon had been so easy for us we had nothing to recover from. Sandstorm-using hostiles were more common in the second half of the dungeon, be we still easily progressed until we reached the end.
Okay, so I was wrong when I said we'd be safe from the sandstorms in this dungeon. At least the dungeon itself was relatively easy. "See? It wasn't that bad," I said when we reached a clearing at the end.
"If you ever evolve I'll pour sand in your flower," Jolt growled.
"That's an oddly specific threat," I noted. "But look up ahead of us. It's safe to say we've found the desert lake."
Crest agreed. "And the glow in the center… that must be a time gear. We really found one!"
"So, that is your intention then," a voice echoed from the lake.
"Who said that?" Gligar asked.
"The guardian of this lake," the voice answered, "and guardian of the time gear! I will not allow thieves like you to leave this place!"
"We're not thieves!" I defended, suddenly angry.
"Liar!" the guardian shouted. "Uxie used his telepathy to warn me about you. I will not let you talk your way out of this!"
"Yeah? Then come out here and give us a fair fight!" Jolt taunted. I couldn't believe he did that; as angry as the accusation made me, the last thing we needed was for this to escalate.
Suddenly, a small, pink, pokemon flew out of the lake. "A fair fight?" it taunted, "Against a legend? Can you really manage that?"
'So Mesprit is the guardian then,' I thought. I felt a wave of fear wash over me as I realized who we were up against. "Like I said, we're not thieves," I said, quickly growing even angrier. "We have no reason to fight you!"
My argument didn't do any good though; Jolt charged at Mesprit with a Thunder Fang. The attack was easily evaded, and he was caught in Mesprit's Confusion in retaliation. Something didn't feel right about that interaction though; if I recalled correctly, Jolt never knowingly used biting attacks against explorers. Why didn't he use Spark?
While I processed Jolt's opening attack, Gligar dove into battle with Aerial Ace. As expected from the move, Mesprit was unable to dodge. The impact caused her to drop her psychic hold on Jolt, who darted back to a defensive position. Gligar followed him as our enemy focused a new attack.
"Alright, so a battle it is," I said under my breath as I fired a Magical Leaf. That was when I realized Crest wasn't attacking. "Crest, we could really use your Bubble Beam right now," I ordered.
To my surprise, Crest didn't respond. I looked his way only to find that he was too terrified to attack. That was strange. Normally he was fine once the battle started. Sure, he could be a bit cowardly sometimes, but fighting always seemed to take his mind off of his fear.
I was snapped from my thoughts when a psychic-induced explosion went off beside me. "How do you like my Future Sight?" Mesprit taunted. Meanwhile Jolt rushed to get Gligar off the battlefield. Immediately afterward, he launched himself at Mesprit with another Thunder Fang.
She tried to dodge, so I took the opportunity to land a Poison Powder. When the attack hit, I felt the frustration that had been building within me throughout the battle quickly dissipate before I was batted away by Swift. I recovered with Synthesis as Mesprit prepared another Future Sight and Jolt seemingly lost interest in the battle.
"Jolt, you need to interrupt that," I instructed.
"Huh? Oh, right, Tackle!" he called out plainly. What happened? It was like he wasn't even trying anymore.
Mesprit easily outmaneuvered Jolt before blasting me with psychic energy. "Do you give up yet? After all, I have defeated one, disheartened another, and left that Piplup shaking in terror. You have clearly lost the mental game, and it is just you left."
"The mental game?" I repeated. "That's right, you're the being of emotions. You've been manipulating us from the beginning."
"So, you realize how hopeless it is to oppose me? You give up?" she taunted.
"Why would I? I've already won," I answered. As I finished talking Mesprit winced from poison damage.
"You claim to have won?" she shot back, a twinge of desperation in her voice. "Then how do you respond to this?" she shouted, attempting to trap me in her Confusion.
I simply sidestepped the attack and used Synthesis. "That didn't seem to work. Maybe try something more accurate next time?"
"Then dodge this!" Mesprit fired another Swift.
"Jolt, use Spark," I ordered as the move reached me. Mesprit's attentive focus on me meant she was completely blindsided by Jolt's attack. She was knocked to the ground, where she took another dose of poison damage. I finished the battle with a Magical Leaf. "By the way, the mental game isn't a problem when it's not part of your game plan."
Crest finally recovered from his fright. "Wait, you won? Against Mesprit?"
"You beat her at her own game. That was some bluff, claiming that you'd already won," Jolt noted.
"Well, it seems you two have recovered," I noted before fishing a pecha and oran berry from our bag. "That just leaves two then."
Jolt caught on to what I meant. "Ah, Gligar! Do we have any reviver seeds?"
"We're out. We'll need to take her to the guild," Crest answered.
I offered the berries to Mesprit. "Will this suffice as a peace offering?"
"What?" she asked, confused.
"Like I said before we battled, we're not thieves," I explained. "We came here to defend the time gear."
Taking a bite from the pecha berry, Mesprit tried to make sense of this. "But if you are not the thieves then who-"
"Ahh!" she was interrupted when Jolt cried out from behind us.
"That would be me," his assailant answered the unfinished question. "I'll be taking that time gear. I suggest you three stand down and leave this place."
"Not happening," Crest responded only to get slashed by a Leaf Blade. As he stumbled to the ground I found myself in a stare down with Grovyle.
"For your sake I won't wait for you to make a choice," he said before diving into the lake. A moment later, the blue glow at the lake's center faded away.
That left Mesprit extremely worried. "No… He took the time gear." Suddenly, a violent energy began to spread from the far end of the lake. "We have to get out of here. If that reaches us we will be trapped in time."
"We'll have to use our escape orb," Crest said. "Mesprit, follow us over to Jolt and Gligar."
"Crest, you can walk, right?" I asked.
"I'm a bit dizzy from the attack but I should manage," he answered.
"Lean on me then," I suggested.
As we escaped from the hidden lake, I realized just how dangerous Grovyle was. He incapacitated two of my teammates in a single hit each, and I had little doubt he could have done the same to me. He was destroying time and forcing us to watch helplessly as it happened. Despite all that, he didn't attack me; he let me rescue Mesprit from his crime. Grovyle let us go, but why?