Chapter 15: All Part of the Plan
"Well, this falls out of projected expectations."
Brook didn't verbally respond to Willow's observations. Instead, he put a claw to his mouth and silently screamed. Nearby, Basil occupied himself by splashing in the shallow water. Sapphire Pond was a Dungeon located where the large bay met land. Over time, the water level had risen to a Skitty's knee height, submerging the immediate land here except for a few rock platforms. The moon shone bright tonight, and illuminated the small wetland with white moonlight that glistened off of the water and wet surfaces.
On any other night, the reflection of the moon on the serene water and the distant crash of waves would have been soothing. The thick cloud of haze that bloomed out in front of them squashed any notions of peace.
"B-b-but..." Brook held his head as he wrapped his head around what he was seeing. "No, were we too l-late!?"
"Evidently. Basil, can you hold my vine steady while I approach?" asked Willow. The young Gligar perked up and splashed over to clasp onto her outstretched vine.
"Sure. What are you doing?"
"D-don't go in there!" warned Brook with an outstretched claw. Willow slithered over right up against the miasmic fog, and glanced back at her companions, a notepad held in another pair of vines.
"A deeper analysis might be necessary, but is not my intention at this time. I am merely trying to ascertain the rate and dimensions of this spread. This is fascinating..."
"Willow, this is bad. It means somebody b-beat us to it, and we couldn't even d-do anything about it," grunted Brook. The Wartortle had his hands on his head and stared at the ground, a grimace on his face. The Serperior didn't respond, piercing eyes trained on the wall of Aether in front of her. Brook heard a sigh to his right, and looked to see Basil's unusually crestfallen face.
"I didn't think the bad guys would be so ahead of us. If I knew they were so quick, I wouldn't have played around as much. Sorry..." offered the Gligar, ears flattened on his head.
Brook outwardly cringed and hurriedly went to pat the boy's head. Basil's eyes flicked up at the attention, and a soft smile wormed its way onto his face.
"Basil, I should b-be the one apologizing. Maybe I should have given you the map instead. Then we wouldn't have spent over an hour going in circles," said Brook, with a shaky smile. In truth, Brook was fairly certain that his own inability to read a map got them into this situation. Foregoing main pathways to avoid being seen meant taking detours through less travelled routes, which made the journey even more difficult.
Honestly, the Gligar's eagerness to please and enjoy the outside kept them on track more times than not on the journey here. He had more trouble reigning in Willow, who frequently dipped off to do Arceus knew what. He side-eyed his cerebral Partner, who engaged in another one of her strange tests.
"But still, what are we supposed to do now that the Dungeon is all messed up?" Basil's question brought Brook back from his thoughts.
"Well, I suppose Willow has a p-point. If we were too late to prevent this from happening, the least we can d-do is learn more about it," he admitted. Basil frowned in thought, but Willow's voice cut over the silent night.
"It's slow," she stated. She stared impassively at her vine, held right to the edge of the miasma. "One inch every minute. Five feet every hour. Assuming this rate is constant, it would take more than a month to spread a mile."
"Th-that's reassuring. But also a big assumption. Maybe you should measure the perimeter of this haze too. Or as m-much as you can."
"Excellent suggestion. Basil?"
"Coming!"
While the Gligar and Serperior made their way around the circumference of what used to be the Dungeon, Brook put a claw to his chin and thought. Barring the few that formed out of buildings, most Dungeons formed out of natural land formations. The entrance to Sapphire pond was actually a cave entrance to a cove built into the rock wall only a few meters ahead, an entrance now shrouded in an aether haze.
Knowing everything he did about Dungeons, he racked his brain to try and figure out as much of the situation as possible, given what was in front of him. Clearly this Dungeon's keystone had been tampered with, and therefore fated to spread, at least according to Vert's sources.
The Dungeons were spreading, but what did that mean, really?
He stepped up closer to the haze, wary of the errant flecks that shed off and into the air. Would entering this mean one would enter the Dungeon proper? Where did it begin and where did it end? He wasn't foolish enough to go inside to figure it out, but there was one thing he wanted to try. As Willow just discovered, the Dungeon would expand over the land given time, but was that the only property that changed?
Dungeons deviated from normal reality on more than just a spatial basis, there was a temporal deviation as well.
Might as well find out as much as he could. An easy test came to mind.
He set his bag down, mindful not to get it too soggy, and pulled out a simple watch on a chain. He noted the time, almost eight in the evening, and with some quick intuition attached a string to the end of the chain, long enough to toss. Without much preamble, he threw the watch into the miasma, but kept a grip on the string. He then started to count out loud until a minute had passed, and then pulled the watch out to view the time.
He creased his brow at the time on the watch. The minute hand had advanced six minutes; double the normal time dilation. The thought made a brief pang of worry sprout in his head.
"H-hey! You two! Can you come back, um, n-now!" he called, doing his best to keep the concern out of his voice.
Willow and Basil made their way back around the Dungeon, the Gligar with a curious expression.
"It seems the spread is uniform all around the perimeter, " confirmed Willow. "Given the distance to the nearest town, I believe it would take around twenty days before it becomes overrun with the Dungeon."
"Okay. That's bad. But also not horrible." Brook sucked in a breath and held up the pocket watch. "That's not the only th-thing though. Time is moving even faster than normal in Dungeons that have become unstable. About d-double the usual dilation. A minute out here is six just beyond the haze," he explained.
"That's, um, that part is really bad, right?" asked Basil. Brook nodded gravely.
"N-nobody should be going into these things, especially not for any long stretch of time. I don't think any of the other guilds have tried to explore these, but I'm worried they'll find this out the hard way. We really need to warn them..."
"Perhaps we should consider that once we've dealt with the local law enforcement," supplied Willow. Brook blinked at her, but the sounds of splashing tore his attention to the side, and he stifled a gasp. A group of Haxorus guild members in red scarves were making a beeline over the wet ground towards them,
They did not look happy.
"On authority of the Haxorus guild, drop your bags and come quietly. You are being detained!" yelled a Lombre in front. The group of hunters were still a ways away, but kicked up splashes of water in their quick approach. On instinct, Brook stood in front of Basil, but waved him down when he tried to reach into his bag.
"What's wrong? Shouldn't we try to fight them off?"
"That will just make things more complicated. Although perhaps we should continue our conversation back at the guild?" asked Willow, a tendril to the guild badge, ready to warp back. Brook had a conflicted look on his face, and shook his head.
"I-I. Um...I think that..." he shook his head strongly again, but looked at Willow with a determined expression, with a glance toward Basil. Willow stared at him, but her neutral gaze widened once she understood what he wanted to do.
She wasted no time.
"Basil, execute fallback maneuver number thirty-five delta," she commanded. The Giligar put a pincer to his chin in confusion.
"Uhh..."
"P-play hide and seek, quick!" urged Brook.
Basil 'Oh'd' and, with a grin, snatched a purple vanish fruit and took a big bite. The oncoming guards yelled in alarm when his form faded from view. With their attention diverted, Brook reached down and hurriedly shifted some things around in his bag, before he set it just as before. Willow wrapped a vine around the invisible bat and reared it back to launch him.
"Out of sight, out of mind. Like we practiced," she whispered. A whip of her vine flicked him off into the night, confident he could glide into the growth of the bushes and palm trees on the land. A second later, they were surrounded with a group of angry hunters in front, and a distorted anomaly of space and time in back of them. A Magneton discharged electricity in threat of an attack, and Brook eeped and threw his hands up.
The Lombre stepped forward and threw a paw out in the direction Willow whipped her vine.
"Two of you, spread out and search for the runaway. The rest, I want these two cuffed and brought in for questioning. Get on it!"
A couple avain gruards dutifully flew up and out of the wetlands. Two others began to walk towards the two, carrying metal bands of different sizes.
"You realize they will confiscate our badges and items. Do you have a plan to get home once we share our findings?" asked Willow.
"Um. T-trust me?"
"Acceptable," she stated, right as her head got yanked down and promptly burdened with a metal neck brace. Brook winced as his arms were cuffed with bands of a similar make. He shivered at the feeling of his innate Energy being dampened, and a part of himself he normally didn't think about became suddenly vacant. Braces like these were common in handling outlaws and bandits once they were caught.
He supposed that's what they were, at least for tonight. If that's what it took to share valuable information, then so be it.
The two were corralled between the squadron of guards and led forward, through the shallow water onto the beach, and into the foliage dense path beyond. The locale here was more tropical. Palms and other wide leafed trees obscured the moonlight, and further darkened the dirt path ahead.
Only a couple of lanterns held by some hunters lit their walk, so Brook often tripped over branches and roots along the way, which only made their captors more rough with him. He knew intellectually that these pokémon believed that he and his guild were responsible for the Dungeon's erratic behavior, but receiving those glares and harsh treatment in person made him shrink into himself.
The vanish fruit Basil found would conceal him for at least an hour, yet he still worried for his safety. The kid didn't deserve this kind of treatment.
They walked for more than half an hour towards the nearest town, an idyllic seaside village aptly named Lunarest. Thatched wooden buildings dotted the town, many of which were elevated above the ground on stilts. Famous for its relaxing atmosphere and beachfront view, this place was normally a good location to wind down and listen to the sound of calming waves. Even on nights like this, the thought of resting on the soft sand and drifting off to sleep on the beach sent a pang of disappointment through Brook's chest.
In an ideal world, they would have accomplished their goal much earlier and perhaps had enough time to lounge on the beach. It would have done wonders for his nerves.
The hunters dragged them through the town, well lit from intricate tiki torches and the bright lights from colorful shops. Their hurried pace clued him in that they didn't want to attract so much attention quite yet. Unfortunately, Willow clocked in at a solid ten feet long and slithered along with her head high, despite the burden on her neck, so a few heads were inevitably turned from what few pokémon were out this evening.
Brook admired that about her, at no point during the journey did she look fazed in the slightest.
They approached an imposing, multistoried building built with deep brown boards a bit further away from the main town, shrouded on most sides by palm trees. The symbol of a Haxorus's twin head blades that adorned its top denoted it as the local center for hunters. Most towns had small centers from each of the four guilds present, although the distribution center for Absol's was probably defunct at this point.
As they approached the building, Brook glanced up at his partner.
"H-how are you doing?" he asked, attempting to keep his voice low.
"Quiet!" hissed a Breloom, having heard him. "You two will speak when spoken to."
"Does that imply I can speak, because I've been spoken to?" questioned Willow. She received a similar glare from the Breloom.
"You keep quiet too!"
"The current directions contradict themselves. How can I keep quiet, but must also speak when spoken too?"
The Lombre that led the group stopped, which caused everyone to halt in their tracks. Brook sucked in a breath as the leader rounded on Willow and strolled right up to stare in her face.
She looked down with about as much emotion as staring at a particularly interesting rock.
"...You think you're funny, don't you? This is just all some kind of joke to you people, isn't it?" he ground out. Willow blinked.
"I don't find the current situation particularly humorous, no."
"Then how about you keep quiet, and-"
"Although, I suppose there is some irony in how much you are attempting to save face from having clearly failed to apprehend the ones responsible for the assault on the Dungeon."
Lombre's eye twitched, but Willow droned on.
"Actually, I retract my original statement. I do find myself quite amused at the ridiculousness of the broader situation. As we speak, a new world crisis is slowly developing, and yet the response of the guild system meant to protect our society is to demonize the only ones willing and able to analyze the threat. Will you even listen to the crucial information we risked ourselves to find for you, or will you discard it to uphold your negative perceptions? A part of me hopes for the latter, as the novel data to be gained from an unchecked catastrophe would be quite interesting, however I have been informed by trusted colleagues and my Partner that such thinking does not lead to ethical outcomes. Therefore, we are forced to play a game of negotiating both our innocence and the validity of our findings, all to an audience who we have known from the beginning could not care less."
She leaned down and stared at the Lombre with wide, piercing eyes. The water type bristled and became visibly more frustrated as Willow's monotone voice droned on and on.
"So yes, in short, I do find this all to be a rather humorous joke," she finished, looking dead into his eyes.
Lombre's arms shook with barely contained fury, and the surrounding hunters had circled the two, clearly ready to attack at a moment's notice. Brook's eyes flicked between the two, and his body shook as he tried to restrain himself from retreating in his shell. The silence stretched uncomfortably long, thick with tension.
Overcome with nerves, Brook barked out a nervous attempt at a laugh, and eased his way in front of Willow.
"U-u-um...she d-didn't...i-it's not a..." his shaky voice trailed off, unsure how to continue. Lombre barely spared him a glance, eyes still locked with Willow's. His eyes closed as, with a herculean inhale of breath, his body lost some of the tension. After he exhaled, his eyes open, rage replaced with cold focus. He addressed the surrounding hunters, eyes still fixed with hers.
"Get these two inside in separate interrogation cells. I want you two," he pointed at Breloom and Magneton, "To handle the Wartortle. Find out everything he knows. I'll handle this one," he stated with authority. The other guard's nodded in affirmation, and Willow nodded.
"That is agreeable, though I recommend speaking softly with my partner. He startles easily."
"Stop talking, Serperior. You're pissing me off." stated the Lombre, resuming their walk towards the large building.
"As I've been told before," she responded, no edge in her voice whatsoever.
With the weight of the other hunter's glares on his back, Brook heaved a shaky sigh.
This might be a long night.
"-and then I ran around and hid in a couple trees until the hunters got bored and left. I guess they're not super good at hide and seek," said Basil, giggling as he finished. He lounged back, high up on a palm tree with the Echo Orb up to his face.
"O-okay sweetie, but are you okay!?" came Purl's frantic voice on the other end. Basil winced and held the small orb away from him for a second.
"Uh, yeah? I mean, I'm still invisible, and Mr. Brook said I'll stay like this for a while, so I'm not gonna get found or anything."
"And where are Brook and Willow now?"
"Oh! I think they're being taken to get talked to by the hunters in their jail place." Basil ignored the groan from the Sylveon and leaned forward to get a better view of his surroundings.
Above most of the dense foliage, he could see the ocean lit by the moon in the night sky. Behind the beach, he saw the lights of the town where the hunters led his guardians. After he had lost the ones looking for him, he slowly made his way over to the village.
"I think it's called Moonrest? Moonyrest? Uh, something like that. I was just gonna wait for them to get finished, and then we'll be back home. Oh, has dinner already started?" he asked, stomach choosing that moment to growl.
"Um, Basil, deary. Brook and Willow are...I mean it's not likely that the nice hunter pokémon will, you know..."
"Aw c'mon Mr. Purl, I know that they're captured. Haxorus hunters took them prisoner, but they'll probably ask 'em a bunch of questions first before then. But it's okay, we have a plan! Fallback maneuver number thirty-five delta!"
"A...what?"
"Brook and Willow taught it to me in case we get caught. I retreat with a vanish fruit, and they let themselves get captured so they can try and help the hunters or whoever by sharing anything we've found out so far about the Dungeons. I think I have about an hour before we're all finished. Brook said that's about how long it'll be before they decide to leave."
"...Brook said that?"
"Yup!" asserted Basil, with complete confidence.
"You don't just decide...Okay, well call me back in an hour, or if anything happens, okay? I'll let the others know. We'll figure something out..."
"Thanks! We'll see you soon!"
The orb's glow died down, and Basil stuffed it in his bag before he stood up to stretch.
His body was still see-through, thanks to the potent properties of the vanish fruit, and he guessed he had around fifteen more minutes before it wore off completely. The smart thing would be to get as close to Brook and Willow as possible before it wore off and lay low until he got some kind of signal.
With that thought in mind, he hopped off the tall tree and glided on the cool air towards the town.
The air that flit through his wings during the glide over gave him a sense of peace, in a way that only the still night could settle one's nerves. The Gligar aimed for the town, but couldn't keep from glancing at the ocean to his left, which was now only a short jog away, given the town's proximity to the beach.
The sight and sound of rolling waves sent a pang of nostalgia in his young heart, and he smiled. Basil liked the ocean, it reminded him of simple times of ships and smiles and little adventures that he couldn't quite remember but he knew for sure were still important.
He should convince Brook and Willow to take a day off and relax at the beach sometime. Brook would be easy, he always looked like he needed a break, but he didn't know about Willow. She might try to forego relaxation in favor of 'analyzing the accrual rate of sediment' or something.
She could be silly like that.
He touched down a while later on a sandy path, and huddled up next to a pillar, underneath a platform that held up a shack. Without many pokémon out, he had plenty of room to maneuver, but a problem soon presented itself. He had lost track of exactly where the two were being kept, on account of needing to evade the hunters before.
As he thought about this, a tingle on his body got his attention, and he looked down to see that his body was now visible. For a moment this worried him, until he reasoned that only the pokémon in red scarves were dangerous. With this knowledge, he crept out and weaved his way through the town, choosing to stay out of lamplight and under the cover of the elevated buildings.
For the most part the seaside town seemed to be asleep, with little activity as he stalked through. However, one building he came up to had sound and light that spilled out of its lit doors. A cabana with tables set outside seemed to be as lively as ever, with some guests out enjoying a drink in the cool air.
Hidden in the shadows of some bushes, Basil let himself observe the guests. His eyes wandered to a large Scolipede sharing a coconut drink with a squadron of Falinks. Basil was not familiar with Falinks, and his mouth opened in wonder at how they all piled around one seat. The many-bodied pokémon chattered animatedly about something while the Scolipede sipped her juice with only a few nods.
Basil watched them for a little while longer before he continued on his way, an eye for anything that might look like a police center. Fortunately, a pair of red scarfed pokémon walked right by him as he hid behind a trash can, and he tailed them throughout the length of the town until he saw them walk inside a large building adorned with the Haxorus symbol.
He trilled, pleased he had found his destination, and hurried over to the side of it. The building was made of sturdier wood with multiple stories. The plan called for him to wait somewhere close by, so without preamble he stuck a claw into the wood and began to scale the building, confident that the best hiding spot would be the last place anyone would look, right on top of their center.
He crested the roof without incident, and found a nice spot that faced the ocean. With not much other to do than to wait, he sat down and let himself get lost in the waves.
A stray thought made him wonder how his guardians were doing. He was sure they were fine.
Things were not going fine.
"Okay, so f-for the third time. We arrived after Sapphire Pond went h-haywire," urged Brook. He sat at a table in a small vacant room, arms still bound with the energy draining bands. The lighting was fixed, perhaps intentionally, to only shine on him, leaving the rest of the room shrouded in darkness. The Magneton from before stood across from him, glaring down impassively. Breloom sat a bit further back, and he could hear her audibly taking notes from what he was saying.
The interrogation was going about as well as he expected: frustrating, awkward, and full of him needing to repeat himself.
"Suppose we say that's true," started Magneton. "That's still an awfully convenient story, considering we had received notice of the disturbance about ten minutes before we found your group there. Care to explain that?"
"Ten minutes!?" exclaimed Brook, leaning forward. "That's...the ones who did this must have just broken the Keystone. They might even still be in t-town."
"I see..." Magneton still didn't look convinced, but still motioned for Breloom to continue writing. "And this Keystone is important because...?"
"A D-dungeon's Aether production is regulated by something called a Keystone, which itself shouldn't ever appear unless there's a greater imbalance. Uh, in theory anyway. We're still figuring out the mechanics ourselves."
"You don't know?"
"U-um...no? We were sent by our guild to survey and possibly defend affected Dungeons in this part of the continent. Alot of what's happening has never been researched or theorized before, so Absol's is still more or less in the dark. What we do know is there's a group whose goal it is to destroy the Keystones for whatever reason. Not us. Another group. Uh...just to make that clear."
By the end of his explanation, Brook's breath came out in bursts. He cringed when, after clenching his fists together, he realized that sweat coated his body, both from nerves, and how stuffy the room was. The eyes of Magneton did not change in response to his words, which made it difficult to tell if his words had meant anything to them.
"Explain the presence of the minor in your group. If you're not as suspicious as you say, you should have no reason to hide one of your members."
"W-well...yes? Yes, we would. Um, Gligar is just a child, we didn't want to expose him to getting detained or questioned like us."
"But you were fine with exposing him to the potentially dangerous site of a Dungeon going out of order?" countered Magneton, voice growing harder. Brook gulped.
"...If you put it like that, it sounds...uh...o-okay! Wait!" He exclaimed. "W-we're getting off topic! There's important information that this and all o-other town's need to know about Dungeons. Beheyem's guild especially needs to know that it takes about-"
A loud smack on the table jolted the Wartortle out of his hurried explanation. Breloom had stepped forward in a flash and slammed a hand on the table. She removed it to reveal a folder with a document on top. Brook took one look at the face on the file and all the color drained from his face. His heart felt ice cold.
His own face, younger than now, stared wide-eyed back at him.
"Name: Brook. Species: Wartortle. Age: thirty-five. Detained fifteen years ago on charges of illegal drug usage and smuggling, aiding and abetting in outlaw activity, theft, and other offenses. Received a lighter sentence after revealing crucial information on the outlaw group known as Ryker's Raiders, and put on parole until joining the Absol guild soon after its inception. To be blunt, it's fitting that place would willingly allow someone like you in."
Brook wilted further into his seat as the words left her mouth. She leaned forward until hardly any space separated them.
"Let me make one thing clear. Given your history, it would be very easy to discount everything you say and throw you behind bars again. So, don't try to change the subject, we're the ones asking the questions. You don't want us to rescind our hospitality," she hissed.
She leaned back, and Brook began to shake his head, eyes still locked on the paper.
It brought back memories.
"I-I'm...n-not. I'm not th-that anymore, That's not m-me..."
"Get the bag? Look for any evidence?" asked Breloom while Brook mumbled to himself. Magneton nodded and went off for a bit before returning with the violet guild bag. He plopped it on the table, loud enough to shake Brook from his stupor.
"Wait...hang on, I still haven't-"
"Open it." commanded Breloom, giving Brook a side glare. The Wartortle leaned forward.
"N-no, I still haven't told yo-please wait, it's not time ye-" Magneton yanked open the bag, and Brook shut up instantly, inhaling as much air as he could to hold his breath.
Out of the open bag came a light blue mist that seeped upward. The two pokémon were surprised by the sudden intrusion, but seconds later their rigid postures soon started to slouch. Magneton groaned and rested on the ground, his three eyes blinked rapidly. Breloom's harsh stare softened as she leaned on the table to steady herself. The mist continued to spread around the room.
Brook sighed and hopped off his chair, then stepped around to the other side to Breloom. With his hands still braced, he patted around her back until he found a small pouch strapped around her waist. Breloom made a light sound of alarm, but could only move her head in his direction, mind and body too light and numb to do anything. Brook found a key in her pouch and carefully undid the lock on his brace.
"What...did you...do to us...?" Breloom's voice was light and airy, as if she could hardly hold a thought for more than a second. Magneton's voice had been reduced to lazy, content buzzes on the ground. Brook put a hand on her back and guided her to sit on the other side of the table, where he had just been sitting.
"Okay...I guess this is happening now..." Brook dove into his bag and pulled out a mask, with a respirator on the side. He attached it to his face, and turned the nob on the side of the mask to filter out the air. Finally able to breathe, he turned his attention to his prior captor and gave her an apologetic smile.
"A powder mixed from a cross pollination of Sleep and Totter seeds. My, um, little assistant called it Puffy Powder once. D-dont worry! You shouldn't feel any pain. Think of it like your body has just been put into a conscious sleepwalking state. It should, uh, wear off in twenty or so minutes," he explained to Breloom, who's head had already lolled to the side.
"You...you're a..."
"Um, here..." Brook took the notepad she was writing from and scribbled some of the notes and calculations he made on the Dungeon.
"Make sure you get this to a Behyemm guild representative, it's very important! Um, sorry about all this, I promise we'll fix all this somehow. We just...can't afford to get arrested now...heh," he finished with an awkward laugh, unsure how to continue the conversation with someone only barely aware of anything. With little else to keep him there, Brook took out a few packets of the powder from his back, and opened the door to the hallway, checking to see if anyone was coming down the hall.
He sighed. He didn't see where they took Willow, but something told him she would be kept out of the way. With the powder bombs in his hands, he stepped out to go find her.
"-town will be overrun in approximately twenty-five days, given the estimates I provided earlier. On the subject, I recommend a push to notify the local populace of the severity of current events. The gross lack of urgency I witnessed as we were escorted here is reflected across the numerous towns we passed through on our way to Lunashore. Perhaps a greater campaign is required to help regular citizens understand and prepare for Dungeon spread."
"Serperior..." tried Lombre, head in his hands.
"Might I recommend an informational pamphlet?"
"This is not-"
"Speaking of information, I have drafted a collaborative initiative across the guilds in order to perform a more robust investigation of dungeon activity. Please be ready to take notes, as it is rather detailed."
Lombre sighed, and rubbed his eyes hard with his hands. He made no move other than to stare back at Willow, who looked at him expectantly.
"Lombre, are you prepared to take notes?"
Lombre blinked.
"...You seem agitated," she observed.
"I am agitated, Serperior."
"Can I help in any way?"
Lombre slowly raised his head from his hands, and openly balked at the Serperior across from him. The stone holding cell for larger inmates had hooks on the walls where reinforced ropes were attached. The large snake was bound entirely by numerous restraints, and forced to jerk her body up in a clearly uncomfortable vertical position. The energy restraining band was still on her neck, and her bag had been removed from her reach.
To top it off, they were at the very back of the basement floor, with a whole building full of hunters between her and the exit.
That was it. She was done. Caught. Any other prisoner would be raising hell to assert their innocence, or cursing the very ground he walked on, angry that they were finished.
So why didn't she give a damn?
"Serperior," he started, after taking a deep breath. "I find myself agitated, because what was supposed to be an interrogation has somehow turned into a school lecture. I feel like you don't quite understand the current situation."
"From my perspective, it is because I feel you don't quite understand the current situation that I am giving you a lecture. The information I have will be invaluable in the coming months."
"I have no reason to believe you!" he exclaimed, some anger beginning to flare up again. "Do you understand that!? You and everyone associated with you are our prime suspects! We have literally no way to verify anything you say, and are incentivized not to trust you."
"My word is very trustworthy. I am a prominent member of the Absol Guild of Dungeon Research and Development, and am a certified scholar besides-"
" Are you!?" Lombre cut her off, and slammed a fist on the table. He reached behind him and tossed a, rather light, file folder on the table. He pointed at it with impunity. On it was only a picture of Willow, with no other information besides her name with a question mark next to it, and her place of work.
The rest of the document was completely blank besides that.
"No place of birth, no family history, no record of you anywhere besides when you began at Absol's approximately ten years ago. Hell, I'm not even sure if this is your real name," He said, pointing to her name on the document. In the first time he had seen her react, the neutral line of her mouth twisted into a frown.
"Lombre, I see our relationship as a purely professional one, so I do not believe I have to verify that for you."
"That's not-" the smaller water type cut himself off with a quick intake of breath. Eyes closed, he inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly. When he opened them again, the hard edge had been replaced with a softer expression.
"Look. I'll take everything you said into consideration, even share it with the higher ups so we can at least take away something from this questioning. But the fact remains that your guild is still at large. You're an intelligent mon, and based on your testimony I might be convinced that at least you're innocent. If that's the case, I don't want to see you get any more wrapped up in this than you already are. If you just tell me where the rest of your guild is, I will personally see to it that your sentence is not as harsh as it should be for aiding criminals, and might even get you off with parole," he promised, voice sincere.
"Unacceptable," she stated not a second after. Taken aback by the swift denial, Lombre sat there as Willow continued. "Present in your offer is the assumption that my colleagues are guilty. Until I have a guarantee that they will not be treated as criminals, you will not have their location."
"Don't do this, Serperior," warned Lombre. "It'll only make things harder for you later. Tell you what, we'll keep you here for a couple days and give you time to think about cooperating with us. I'm sure you'll make the right decision."
"I decline that as well. I will actually be leaving shortly," she informed him. Lombre raised an eyebrow and leaned back, arms crossed.
"Really? And what makes you think you can just waltz out of here?" He asked.
At that moment, the hint of a sweet smell wafted into the room. There was only a faint trace, but Willow's keen senses picked up on it, and her eyes flicked to the bottom of the door. A shadow flitted beneath the door, but she brought her eyes back to Lombre before he noticed. She raised her voice to keep his attention on her.
"It has been about an hour, yes? I'm sure my partner planned to be here longer, but things have a habit of not going to plan around him. In this instance, I believe that might be for the best."
"Your partner? The Wartortle? He's locked up with some of our hunters upstairs. How the hell can you think he can help you no-
"When you can walk again, don't forget what I told you about the Dungeons. If you can, get it to the Rescue guild, they need to understand this," she said to him.
Lombre creased his eyebrows in confusion and was about to ask what she was talking about, but before he could, his body got jerked backward and something pressed up against his nose. He breathed in on instinct and his eyes went unfocused, limbs limp. His eyes fluttered and his body slumped on the chair with a dazed look on his face.
Brook removed the pungent pouch from the other water type's nose with a wince, and used an arm to prop Lombre up so he didn't fall. Willow glanced down at him from her position.
"Did you have any luck? I think this one was mostly receptive to our message."
"Um, I think? I saw them write a f-few things down at the very least. Oh, don't fall..." he settled Lombre so he could at least sit upright, and patted his waist for a key before he hurried over to the bindings that held Willow.
"It will have to do," she replied. Brook hurried to the locks that restrained Willow and untied them, the tension loosening enough for her to use her vines to get the higher ones. Once she had her mobility, he used the key to undo the brace around her neck, and let it clatter unceremoniously to the floor. Willow closed her eyes and exhaled softly as she stretched her body, letting herself get acclimated to the feeling of her Energy coursing through her once more.
"How are you f-feeling?" asked Brook while he bounced from toe to toe, shooting glances at the door every couple of seconds.
"Adequate. I am well enough to move."
"Good, because we might need to-"
A loud bang from outside the room cut him off, and he jolted at the sound of voices that could be heard. His speech was reduced to nervous stammers as he rushed to a back table where Willow's bag sat, and dug his hand through it feverishly.
"Basement has a few hallways, m-maybe fifteen seconds before they find us in h-here, lots more guards upstairs...c'mon..." He stuck his tongue out with his eyes creased in frustration, but he let out a soft yelp as a vine wrapped around his body. He was carried through the air and deposited on Willow's back, right above two leafy extensions. She slithered over to her bag and reached a tendril inside to pull out what Brook had been trying to find.
Wrapped in her vine, a long, thin pipe emerged from the bag. It's body looked to be made from a dark brown wood with lighter highlights. Towards the end of its elegant wooden surface was a glass casing, with a substance inside that bubbled inside the container, no more than a few inches long.
Willow brought the tip of it to her lips and blew a short puff. Out of the thin end of the pipe, a thick stream of blue mist seeped out, and quickly fanned out into the rest of the room to subsume it in a light blue haze. Brook coughed a bit and waved his arm, but Willow just took a cursory sniff and hummed in satisfaction.
"Fortunately I had prepared the sleep cartridges in advance. A suitably non-violent option, you agree?"
"Yeah, it should be f-fine," he had to cough. "Arceus, I'll never get how you can breathe in so much like its n-nothing."
"I let myself be exposed to it to test its potency. Also, I use this fragrance in particular to help me take naps on occasion."
"Th-that can't be healthy..."
Willow shrugged, and then took a deep breath. The sounds of footsteps pounded towards the door, and the moment it opened, she took a long drag of the pipe and let a strong stream of mist expel out.
"Nobody move! Come...quietly..." the voice of the guard, a Mightyena, petered out as they slumped on the side of the door, breath heavy. The other hunter, a Monferno, didn't make it past the threshold of the door before they fell face first on the ground, snoring loudly.
Willow glanced down at them with a neutral gaze, and slithered out of the thick blue mist she had created into the hallway. The walls were a nondescript grey stone, and holding cells lined the right side on the way down. Brook held on tight as she made her way down the hall.
"Do you suppose any of our other teams had the same luck with encountering hunters?" asked Willow conversationally as she slithered along, pipe an inch from her mouth. She continued to blow into it as they made their way.
"I think you already know the answer to that," remarked Brook with a muffled sigh. "I b-bet they're already back home by now, eating d-dinner while talking about how well their missions went."
"Perhaps."
She reached a set of stairs that led to a higher level, and climbed them. Her fragrance followed her like a cloud, and the moment she opened the door to the first floor, it bloomed outward into the next hallway, downing another set of guards. Brook cringed at the sounds of higher activity on this floor, having caused quite a ruckus only moment's earlier.
He hadn't exactly been the most stealthy in his attempt to locate Willow.
"Um, you might want to h-hurry up, I don't think they'll try to question us if they spot us anymore. The exit should be th-that way." He pointed left down the hall. Willow obliged and continued her creep.
"No reason to be hasty, this is a good opportunity to test the Mist Pipe in close corridors."
"S-seriously? What could the test even be?"
"To test if they can even get close to us," she remarked, right as a Numel and a Slugma whipped around a corner and spotted them. She heard sounds from the right, and glanced at a couple more hunters that increased their pace towards them, ready to fight. Willow kept her same, sedate pace, and waited for them to close in. When they were all only a few steps away, she blew a hard drag into her pipe, and let the thick blue smoke spread out into the space.
The Numel's charge stumbled into an awkward canter before he fell in a heap to the side of the hall. An Emolga that sailed right for her head with electricity in it's cheeks missed her completely and went limp in the air as they passed by, making an uncomfortable landing down the rest of the hall. The Slugma and Watchdog guard both ceased their advance as the haze spread around, sent to sleep in moments.
The whole time, Willow slithered with her red gaze focused squarely ahead of her, only moving to avoid the bodies of the unconscious guards that lined the hallway. As she passed, Brook looked down at the hunters with a frown.
While he wasn't at Willow's level, he had also built up a good tolerance to the effects of certain seeds and their different forms, but he knew that a normal pokemon stood no chance against such a heavy concentration. They would be out for at least a few hours.
He tried to reassure himself with the knowledge that they were only sleeping, but the sight of Watchdog slumped over the side of a nightstand had him chewing his lip.
"This is gonna look...really bad," he muttered. Willow continued on her way, not even batting an eye as a Butterfree lost consciousness in midair and tumbled down to the ground. Brook saw they were about to hit their head, and hopped off the snake's back to catch them before impact. He set them on the side of the wall and decided to walk alongside Willow.
The way outside was right in front of them, and another set of hunters screamed bloody murder at the sight of them, but at this point the entire hallway had a blue tint from the amount of mist in the air. Willow glanced down at him, attention fully disconnected from the hunter's approach.
"To be fair, they accosted us. And it's not like anyone has been hurt," she defended, as soon as one of their assailants, a Vaporeon, face planted right in front of her. "They'll just get a very good night's sleep."
"I can imagine the headlines now," Brook sidestepped a woozy Quilava, and helped them gently fall to the ground. The badger sucked a digit with a content smile on his face. He gestured with his other arm in a faux announcer's voice. "B-breaking news! Absol terrorists assault H-haxorus police center in a clear sign of aggression!"
"Perhaps all the attention will make them more inclined to listen to our message," she offered. Her reply made him groan and rub his eyes.
"Willow no...now you really do sound like a terrorist..."
They pushed open the door and walked out into the fresh night air. Brook closed the door behind them before too much of the mist could seep out, and removed the face mask when it became safe. He briefly wondered how long it would take all of it to ventilate, but before he could think too much, he was bowled over by a heavy object from the side. He landed on the sand, and looked up in a daze to see Basil smiling down at him.
"Mr. Brook! You're alright!" he exclaimed, and nuzzled the Wartortle's head. Brook wheezed and patted the boy's back. Although young, Basil actually stood an inch or so taller than Brook, and Gligar weren't light...
"Ugh...are you...alright Basil?" he ground out, to which Basil nodded. The weight was lifted off of him as Willow wrapped some vines around the bat and lifted him to her face. Basil smiled and leaned in to hug her, which she leaned slightly into.
"I'm fine, I did everything you said and ran around until they gave up, then I hid up there," he explained, pointing up to the roof. "Are you guys okay? Did we win?"
Once Brook got to his feet, he shared a look with Willow. He shrugged with a flimsy smile on his face.
"Um...I don't think so?"
"Our mission has in every sense of the word been a failure, but there are still positives. We have sufficiently warned this town of the incoming danger, and ideally that word will spread to neighboring towns."
"Heh, s-sufficiently..." murmured Brook as he glanced back at the center that used to be fully operational about fifteen minutes ago.
"Oh..." Basil looked at the ground with a frown, but a vine on his chin pushed his head up to face Willow.
"Don't worry, my little assistant. At least we have our health." At that moment, a deep grumble emanated from around them, loud enough to catch Brook off guard until he located the source of the noise.
Willow's stomach.
"And a meal to get back to," she finished. Basil giggled at her. Motioning for them to come close, Willow tapped her guild badge.
A moment later, the trio flashed out of sight, leaving a calm night and devastation in their wake.
If he could describe the mood in the Guildmaster's office that night, Lumi would say the room felt charged with energy nobody had.
The chefs were gracious enough to provide everyone with a filling meal of roasted vegetables and sweet bread, but it was all he could do to pick at it with a thoughtful frown, his eyes drooped in a valiant effort to fight off exhaustion. He leaned up against Van, both to make sure the Scrafty didn't fall asleep and to get woken up if he did the same thing. Tonight was the first time he had shared a meal in this guild without any boisterous sound or laughter.
Everyone was tired. Either that, or thinking way too hard for how late it was.
He glanced around at the others. Despite her bruises, Damia had refused to visit the infirmary until after the meeting, and sat with a pensive frown as she bored a hole through her plate. Nevertheless, she curled her body over Clara, who rested against her front.
The Dragonite hadn't let her out of her sight ever since they reunited in front of Windy Spire, and he could relate. Based on what Van told him after they separated, a lot of things could have gone very wrong during his time with Dialga.
Part of him was surprised at the depths of his relief when he found the Scrafty safe and sound, but he couldn't help his feelings. Even if, from his perspective, it had been only a few hours, it was the not knowing that set him on edge. He gave a light shove against Van, and grinned tiredly when it was reciprocated, content.
He continued his scan of the room and frowned when he landed on Purl and Esther. They had never been overtly affectionate with each other before, but something seemed off.
Esther sat at an awkward distance away from the Sylveon, body tilted away from him, as she stared at her still full plate. Purl had a notepad out and attempted to keep his attention on it, but Lumi caught the glances he would steal at her. Numerous times he opened his mouth and leaned over towards her, but seemed to think better of it and stayed put. Was something wrong?
Team Overgrowth had arrived minutes before, and were given time to settle in. The smaller members leaned up against Willow as she splayed out as much as she could in the comparatively cramped space. Based on how Brook pursed his lips and kept clenching his fists together, Lumi guessed that something hadn't gone to plan.
Or maybe everything was fine. It was actually difficult to tell with the Wartortle.
Movement at the front turned his attention to their superiors. Vert and Pandora had been engaged in a quiet conversation this whole time, the Whimsicott the only one here, besides maybe Willow, who looked about as energetic as ever. Vert straightened up and stood to his feet on the steps, and he caught the quick glance in his direction.
He wondered how the hell he was going to explain his part of the story, but a snore from Van distracted him. He shook the Scrafty awake, and helped him focus on Vert, who cleared his throat to bring all attention to him.
"Alright. I wanted to wait for our Team Overgrowth to get here before we got started. We have a lot to go over, and it would just be a headache to repeat everything. First, I want to thank all of you for returning safely from your expeditions. You've done both this guild and the world proud just by going out to learn what you can, despite the circumstances. You all have my gratitude," he commended. Though his voice didn't shift in tone, his sincerity came through as he bowed his head a bit. Lumi felt Van shift in his seat.
"Does that mean we all get raises?" asked the Scrafty as he wiped the fatigue from his eyes. Vert shrugged.
"Once we start getting paid again, sure. Why not."
"Hell yeah," weakly celebrated Van as he threw a tired fist in the air. That sent some chuckles throughout the room, and the mood lifted some. Vert continued.
"If anyone has anything absolutely important they think we should talk about first, feel free to speak up now. I want to get everyone's report on what they saw out there, so-"
"I-I'm sorry!" blurted Brook from the side. All eyes whipped towards him, and he shrunk a little into his shell at the attention.
"We, u-um, we didn't see the...it was all a little f-fast and...erm,"
"We got to the Dungeon late," Basil took over for his stammering guardian. "I guess those bad guys got there before we did, and then while we were checking the place out, Mr. Brook and Ms. Willow got caught by some guards."
"Yeah, we heard that part. Good job on notifying us once you were safe," said Vert.
"It sounds like they weren't very successful in keeping you," chimed Pandora, a sly grin on her face.
"Our time detained was actually below my estimates. Perhaps the standard protocol for proper holding procedures should be revised on the Haxorus guild's end." stated Willow. Across the room, Damia held back a laugh. The large snake continued. "Although we were unable to prevent the destabilization of the Dungeon, we were able to learn valuable data regarding their spread, and also warn the town of the impending danger."
"We have some t-time," followed Brook. "These are all really rough estimates, but the measurements we were able to take showed that destabilized Dungeons expand at a rate of around an inch every m-minute, it would take over a month for it to just spread a mile, so we have some time to think of something. Oh, and, um, don't go inside those types of Dungeons, please? If you do, you'll be gone longer than usual. Uh, twice as long..."
"Excellent observations," commented Pandora. "We'll have to take that into account moving forward. It's paramount that the other guilds are notified of these conditions..."
"We ensured our captors had enough information to pass along a message before our escape. I believe we were quite convincing," stated Willow. As she said this, Brook began to fidget even more, and Vert shifted his gaze to the Wartortle. He let him squirm for a couple seconds more before he sighed in exasperation.
"...How bad is it, Brook?"
"W-well...we're probably going to be in the papers again tomorrow. Don't worry!" he urged with his claws out. "We made sure n-nobody was hurt!"
"I'm sure you did." Vert rubbed his forehead, probably to staunch a migraine. "Is that all? Did you catch any sight of the ones who were responsible?"
Each of them shook their heads, and Pandora chose that time to interject.
"I have some good news on that front. As you might have heard, our team managed to prevent a pair of interlopers from attacking the Keystone, and even managed to capture one for further questioning."
"The Weavile, right?" spoke Lumi. "Where are we keeping her? I don't remember seeing a prison cell or anything around here." Pandora scoffed at his question.
"Prison cell? Dear, you should know that we're much more creative than that. Rest assured she's in a very secure location."
"Is she in a bag? She's in a bag, isn't she," he stated with a knowing grin.
"She will be questioned in the coming days. If you wish, you can visit her for yourself. After I have my fun, of course," she responded with a short giggle.
Lumi began to feel bad for the Weavile, but the sympathy was swiftly forgotten when he remembered that she began discussions by kicking people in the head.
"Be sure you're thorough," interjected Esther, venom in her voice. It was the first thing she had said all night, and the others paid attention. "We'll need to make up for letting the other one get away. Annoying...tasteless Thievul..."
She seemed to shrink back into a funk, and mumbled obscenities under her breath, but Purl spoke right where she left off.
"Ooh, that's a good point! I don't know about the Weavile, but the one we fought had this crazy power we had never seen before. It was like gravity and…space itself just changed however they wanted. It was super disorientating."
"Weavile was capable of ripping portals through thin air. Perhaps there's a connection…" Pandora tapped her chin. "We'll see if we can find out more about their number. If the rest of them have similar abilities, we'll have to be prepared. I'll also get a few in Dynamo to analyze those strange objects they used to gain their power."
"The more we can learn about our enemy, the better," agreed Vert. "Anything else we should be aware of?"
"Oh, we'll also probably be in the news," mentioned Esther offhandedly. "I'm fairly certain the hunters won't appreciate being used as hostages for their own vehicle."
"…You all know we're not actually criminals, right?"
"It was Pandora's idea," countered Purl. Vert side-eyed the Whimsicott, who had a shameless grin on her face.
"Desperate times." Was her only defense. Vert shook his head and turned to the last group of the night.
"Alright. I don't even know where to begin with you four. Is someone able to just take it from the top?" He asked. Lumi shared a quick glance with the rest of his team, and it was silently agreed that Damia would explain.
"I'll keep it brief. After some complications in Rowshore, we were able to make our way into Windy Spire. The Dungeon itself was heavily altered. I'll write a more detailed report later, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that Dungeons with a Keystone active are entirely different beasts than we're used to."
"Guys, there was an entire city in the clouds, Van fell off the side of a flying platform and came down from above us, and don't even get me started on all those damn birds!" Clara huffed in exasperation. Lumi felt Van sigh at the memory, and he patted his back in consolation.
"Before we could enter the floor with the Keystone, we were ambushed by a unit of hunters, and our team was separated in the chaos. Van and I were able to take care of them, but before we could try and look for the others, a wave of…something began to pass over the Dungeon that made it unsafe to stay," she finished. Either she didn't realize or chose to ignore it, but there was visible surprise across everyone's face when she used Van's actual name. Van rubbed the back of his head and spoke up.
"I'm not sure how to describe it, but it was like the color drained out of everything. Once we saw ferals gettin' bursted, we knew we had to dip. We were real worried about Lumi and Clara, but…uh…"
He trailed off, glancing down to the Meowstic. Lumi shared a look with Clara, and the two had a brief chuckle. Vert inclined his head towards him.
"I've been waiting for this specific explanation," he expressed. Everyone else looked to Lumi with interest, some not having heard his little quip regarding Dialga over an hour ago.
"It's kind of a lot, and I don't really understand most of it myself," confessed the Meowstic. He grabbed one of his tails to hold, without thinking.
"That's been this whole situation in a nutshell, so we're fine," offered Vert.
"True. Well, like Damia said, Clara and I got separated from the others. We were pushed to head to the final floor, and right as we got there this Noivern showed up. The guy had actually helped me avoid hunters in town, but turns out he's just a weirdo or something, because he's also one of the ones trying to destroy Keystones. He was able to just summon ferals out of thin air, and we were fighting while he was going towards the Keystone, and…"
He paused then, and his face scrunched in thought as he tried to figure out how to explain the next part.
"I don't know, I can't explain it. One second I'm touching the Keystone, trying to do something. I hear a voice, and next thing I know, Clara and I are warped into this weird, floaty place and brought to another floating stone. We go inside of it and, uh, then we're on Temporal Tower. And Dialga is right in front of us."
Surprised gasps rang out in the room, along with a healthy amount of questions asking for clarification. Even Van and Damia still looked surprised, though they had only been told a hurried version of the events earlier.
"Yeah, so Dialga calls me over, we get to talking, and-"
"Wait wait, okay, time out! You did not just get to talking with a…you're absolutely positive it was Dialga?" asked Purl with his ribbons flared out in confusion.
"Guys I can confirm. He was there, He was tall, powerful, and hot. There's no mistaking it. Definitely no mistaking that…" asserted Clara with crossed arms and a dreamy look on her face.
She got a few confused looks for that, and one exasperated one from Damia. Lumi continued.
"Yeah, it was him. Honestly, he turned out to be pretty chill, but, uh, I think that's mostly because he already knew, we already knew each other. The moment I touched the Keystone and heard him calling, it was like hearing the voice of some long lost relative. Because I think that's what he is to me."
"How is that possible?" asked Vert.
"I said he's like a third parent. According to Dialga, without him putting some of his energy into my egg before I was born, I wouldn't have made it. Said it was some kind of reward for my parents. I'm telling you all of this as I heard it, by the way. I want to be honest, it's just that I hardly understand much of it myself."
"We believe you dear, we are simply trying to process it all. Although if you say it's as a reward for your parents, I suppose that makes some sense," consoled Pandora.
"Some sen- what the hell did they do!?" For a brief moment, Lumi's composure broke, and his ears uncurled just a tad as he threw his paws up in frustration. He caught himself a second later, and put a paw to his forehead.
"No, don't tell me, I don't want to hear it right now. I'll have them tell me when I see them next. It's fine. I'm good," he said, to himself or the others he wasn't sure. He hurried on before anything else could be said.
"We talked a lot, I'll write it in a report or something, but the important thing is that Dialga gave me something, or awakened something in me. Some of his power that he wants me to use to halt the Keystones flow of Aether. I think that was what caused the Dungeon to get all grey like Damia said, the Aether was…put on pause or something. No, I don't know how to use it yet-"
Willow opened her mouth to say something, but Lumi flicked a paw out in her direction.
"Before you say anything, give me like, a day to mentally prepare myself for whatever you have planned. And to pray to Arceus. Don't think I just forgot my first day."
She closed her mouth. Damia barked out a laugh at the spent expression on Lumi's face.
"What's wrong, danger cat? I would have thought you'd be all over a test with Willow," she jeered. He gave a tired smile in response.
"It's been a long day."
"So, if I understand this correctly, you have Dialga's power inside of you to…control time?" tried Vert.
"Allegedly."
"And we can use this power to slow down and potentially stop Aether production in Dungeons?"
"Probably."
"We can work with that. Kid, I knew you were something else, but I wouldn't have guessed this. Does this make you a Legendary?"
"Vert, not even Dialga knew the answer to that. I think this is just as much of an experiment to him as it is to us."
"I got him registered on the Echo orb, so maybe we could update him on how things are going?" Offered Clara.
"You have Dialga on speed dial?" Asked Vert. His voice lacked any surprise, instead there was just the resignation that came with accepting ridiculous things.
"Yeah. I don't know if it'll work though, given he's in another dimension, and all."
"Have you tried?" Her eye swirls spun more as he said that.
"You want me to try now? I mean, I could but…I dunno, is that too early? Like we just met today, and I don't want to come off as desp-I mean, uh, we don't want to…bother him…heh," she tried. Vert rolled his eyes.
"Sure Clara, we'll wait. Anything else major we should know about, that sounds like the biggest thing. Please don't say-"
"Oh we're definitely gonna be in the news mon. No question. We beat the shit out of one of Haxorus' lieutenants. The hunter guild is pissed."
"Mew dammit." Vert groaned and buried his head in his front paws.
"For the record, I beat the shit out of the lieutenant. Van was just…there." Damia said with a dismissive wave in Van's direction.
"So we're just not gonna talk about how I shoved a sleep seed into his mouth? That's what we're doing?"
"Would have been fine without it."
"Cuz that's what fine looked like, alright." Van gestured to the bruises on her form.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Damia had a low growl in her throat, and the fur on Lumi's neck raised at her tone. To everyone's surprise, Van didn't back down.
"It means you look fucked up! Why aren't you in the infirmary or something!?"
"I'm fine, dammit! I've been in worse scraps with-"
"I don't care who beat the shit out of who." Interjected Vert, silencing the argument in an instant. "The point remains that you have all made our reputation somehow worse in the past day alone. We'll have to lay low for a while."
"Perhaps that's for the best, we might need a few days to plan our next steps," offered Pandora. Vert rubbed his head in exasperation.
"I'll need a few days just to process the fact that Lumi's a legendary. The rest of the guild should know the new information about Dungeons and our new guest, but maybe we'll keep that part under wraps until we figure your whole deal out." He said to Lumi, who nodded.
"Okay. I'm calling this meeting over. Good work everyone," stated Vert as he got up to make his way to the door flap. "I know it's late and you're all tired, so just take the next day or two easy. I'll need the guild heads to send a detailed report to our desk by tomorrow."
He opened the flap partway with a paw, and looked back.
"If you need me, I'll be in the Mess Hall getting something else…to…" his voice petered out when he looked forward.
On the other side of the flap was the entire rest of the guild.
A massive pile of Pokémon greeted Vert as he opened the flap fully. They all pressed as close to the flap as possible, stacked and pushed against each other as close as they could. Numerous smaller members had taken residence on the back of a Donphan, and others had used their winged colleagues as a way to get higher leverage. The Hoohoot, Reed, flapped his wings with great puffs of air as his Totodile partner, Dill, hung with his legs dangling below.
Close to fifty Pokémon had been caught red handed, and Vert looked down at the one Audino in front of it all. Who also stood on top of a Vulpix, who visibly struggled to carry her weight.
"Bell. How much of that meeting did you and everyone else hear?"
"…What meeting?" She asked with a straight face.
Everyone cringed.
Vert didn't say a damn thing as he continued to stare at her, and she began to wilt under his stare.
"Um, we weren't…we were all just walking past. At the same time. Together."
"…"
"…So is it true that Lumi is…you know?" She tried.
"Pandora."
"Please don't."
"Three!" Pandora's cheerful voice came from inside. Whatever confidence Bell had steeled her face with melted away in an instant.
"Oh God."
"Two," Pandora's voice came closer. Bell backpedaled and fell off of Vulpix's back, and pointed at the door flap with a shaky paw.
"Crap, She's counting! Scatter!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, the mass of fifty Pokémon became a swarm of movement as everyone scrambled to vacate the premises. Multiple apprentices dove off of the baluster to land on the cushions below, with others making a mad dash to sprint anywhere else.
By the time Pandora came to stand in front of the entrance, nobody was left. She pouted.
"They never let me get to one. Shame."