Chapter 24: Rocks Are Good For Team Building
Mt. Sunset - 1st Floor
The Dungeon materialized around them.
A false sun bathed the mountainous surroundings a soft golden hue. Eternal sunset cast shadows across the rocks and boulders along the side of the walls. The familiar weight of Aether on his fur perked Lumi up, and as he took in the simplistic room structure they found themselves in, he was reminded of his very first Dungeon experience in Whispy Woods.
That felt like so long ago, now. Compared to everything he had seen so far, this place looked downright simple.
"Eyes up, we're starting!" His mother's command jolted Lumi from his musings, and he blinked as he saw her dash away to another corridor, dust kicked up in her wake.
"Huh. Where's she going?" asked Clara. To the side, Clement cracked his neck and started doing some light stretches.
"She's getting fodder so we can see how you operate as a team. We'll move into more focused exercises later, this is just to get a read on what we're working with," he replied.
Seconds after he said that, a dull rumble could be heard from the Dungeon ahead, and the sounds of battle rang out. Crashes and roars echoed around the mountainous surroundings. Lumi spared a glance at his father, who stared on impassively.
The sounds got closer.
"Okay. Damn. Team huddle?" he suggested, looking at the others. Van and Clara nodded with hints of worry on their faces, and Damia simply lowered her head as they all stepped together.
"So, I think this is the part where we make a plan. I don't know how to do that," started Lumi. Van rolled his eyes.
"From the sounds of it, your mom is bringing every feral on this floor our way, and we don't have our items. We should figure out battle positions, or something."
"Uh, so this might be a bad time to say that I sorta kinda don't know how to fight without my staff?" admitted Clara. The Spinda also hopped on one foot and the other with a grimace on her face.
"I also still really need to pee..."
"You haven't gone!?" asked Van. Clara whined.
"We literally haven't had time! Lumi's mom just dragged us in here and-"
"Everyone shut up and pay attention," cut in Damia. "I will engage the ferals head on. Meanwhile, you." she pointed at Van. "Stay back and throw some rocks or something."
She pointed at Lumi.
"You stay back and Disarming Voice. And you."
She pointed at Clara.
"Stay back and find a corner. I shouldn't be too long."
Clara nodded furiously at her words.
"I like this plan."
"I don't!" yelled Van. "Why is everyone hanging back but you? I can fight up close!"
"Like hell you can. Thank Arceus you have good aim, because your stances are all sloppy."
"Can I at least dab you up with Helping Hand?" chimed in Lumi, as Van scoffed. "I mean I can probably do better support than just Disarming Voice..."
"Look, you guys are backliners, I'm a frontliner. Let's just keep it simple, and stay in our lanes."
"Hey kids," chimed Clement. "You should know the ferals are here."
Slowly, the younger pokemon turned their heads towards the Mawile who had infiltrated their huddle. A blast from behind sent a jolt through all their bodies, and they whipped their heads towards the sound.
From within a crowd of ferals that consisted of Mankey, Rockruff, Carbink, and others, Opal had a wide smile on her face as she pranced around the hoard. She shot purple Psybeams from her forehead at random, for no other apparent purpose than to get them more riled up.
The ground shook and the air filled with livid roars as the ferals got more agitated. Opal had to yell to be heard.
"I got them all served up nice for you! Time to eat!"
Opal's lithe, pink body danced out of the way of attacks as she retreated towards them. Lumi had stars in his eyes as he watched her move. He had never seen her move that fast!
"Let's go!" he cheered, and rushed away from the huddle towards danger.
"Wa-dammit, Lumi! The plan!" cried Damia.
"You get that side, we'll get this one!" he fired back, right as he sang out a Disarming Voice at a Mankey. The Dragonite groaned loudly, but jumped airborn to dive into their foes, claws alit with fire and lightning.
Van and Clara shared a look and let out a deep, longsuffering sigh, but sprinted in to go support the others.
From the side, Clement and Opal carefully observed how the nascent "team" handled business.
"Oh, she's not bad..." commented Opal as she watched Damia dive head first with both claws alight with Firepunch and Thunderpunch simultaneously. "Using two moves at once? That takes special training."
"Damia is definitely their powerhouse. She's comfortable wading into the thick of it. Good form too. But I don't like her attitude. Look."
He pointed at how she had effectively split the battlefield in two, and herded off a group of Lairon and Geodude on her own.
"She thinks she can do it all on her own. Won't last long like that."
"Noted," replied his mate. They scanned their gaze to the left, and zeroed in on their son haphazardly jumping around with a smile on his face, barely avoiding getting clipped by the numerous attacks sent his way.
A Rockruff lunged and clamped down hard on Lumi's arm, and Clement took a step forward out of instinct before Opal stopped him with a snicker. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Why is he getting in close? He's not built to take hits, he should be supporting from the back! He gets that foolishness from you, you know."
"I like to think he gets it from Lucent, actually," she responded, giggling as her son used the Rockruff around his arm as a living shield/battering ram against some of the other ferals.
"Knows how to improvise like him too. Gotta admit, the kid knows how to roll with the punches. Ooh, here comes the cavalry!" she nodded her head forward at Van, who sprinted forward and just kicked the thing off his Partner's arm, before he turned and grabbed Lumi by the ears to fling him out of danger.
Clement saw that, and immediately liked Van ten times more.
"Oh thank Arceus..." he breathed, and pressed his hands together, "Thank you for giving him someone with sense..."
"His form could use work, but he's definitely trying his best," commented Opal, who squinted her eyes. She noted how Van seemed hesitant to engage with multiple ferals around, but nodded with a hint of pride as her son cheerfully pointed out targets to go for.
After a few moments, they settled into a decent rhythm of Van alternating between Brick Break and Low Kick to take out foes that approached, while Lumi supported with Disarming Voice from the back.
"Use Psybeam...dammit boy use something other than Disarming Voice..." grumbled Opal. "And Van's so stiff...it's like he's second guessing every move he makes."
"They have the spirit, and they know how to work as a pair, at the very least." Clement rubbed his chin in thought. "If it's something as simple as teaching them proper moves, then we can just beat that into them. They seem motivated enough."
"Speaking of, I see someone who could use a little motivation..."
Opal pointed with her tail towards a spot a ways away from the main action. Clara ran around with her paws above her head, and yelped as she got chased by a few stray ferals.
The Spinda stumbled around. Even though she seemed to be trying to run away, her steps took her left and right, and sometimes back towards the three Carbink chasing her. It gave Opal a headache just to look at, but her movements kept them from getting a hit on her. At some point, she waddled close to the Mawile and Espeon.
"Aaaaah! Stay back! I miss my staaaaaaffff!" she cried. Her eyes flicked to them, and she ran over.
"Could you, uh, help me out? Please!?"
"You're going to have to figure something out, Clara. Your team's counting on you." Clement shrugged. Opal put a paw to her mouth and snickered.
"Here's an idea. Why don't you ask them nicely to stop?"
"Well that's because...! That's because...huh. Why haven't I done that?" wondered the Spinda. She actually stopped, and with the sounds of her friends doing battle behind her, turned to grin at the Carbink who floated closer to her.
"What is she doing?" mumbled Clement, concerned about the way Clara seemed to lose all aggression right as one of the Carbink started to rear back to lunge.
"Wow, this is really some good exercise, isn't it? I mean geez!" she started. Opal blanched and reached out.
"Uh, Clara..."
"Don't you guys get tired of all that chasing though? I mean when you think about it, we don't even need to fight. That's just like, the expectation."
"Kid, that won't actually work, I-"
"Actually," and then Clara stepped forward and placed a gentle paw on one of the Carbink's head. Clement and Opal watched in disbelief as the other Carbink lowered their aggression, and just watched her.
Docile.
"...Do you guys think you could, you know, uh, show me where the bathroom is, heh?"
The three Carbink blinked at her, before two floated away from the battle entirely, and the one she pat floated close, and started to push her in some random direction out of the room.
Clara gave a light laugh as she got shoved away from the action, and the whole time, Clement and Opal watched with blank looks.
"Clem...what just happened?"
"Something beyond us, dear. Something beyond us..." he murmured.
They waited in silence as the battle eventually died down. Lumi, Van, and Damia stood in the center, and turned to make sure no more ferals remained. Once they let their guard down, Damia stomped her foot in frustration and growled down at Lumi.
"What was that, danger cat? Are you trying to make us look bad?"
"I don't know, I think that went pretty well." he responded, panting slightly, but with his arms behind his head. Damia bared her teeth, and Lumi looked up at her with an impish smile, calm as could be.
"Enough," stated Clement, as he walked forward. "Line up straight. Now."
They did so, Damia much more stiff than Lumi or Van. After a moment, Clara wandered back in with a much more relaxed expression on her face. She saddled up next to the Dragonite and looked around.
"Hey, we did it! Whoo! Go team!"
"Oh yeah, 'go team' all right. Abandoning the other three to do your own thing is great teamwork, kid," said Opal. Her words made the smile drain off Clara's face. The Espeon started to walk up and down in front of them, and stared each of them in the eyes.
"Not like there was much to leave behind, with the sorry-ass display I saw. You fought less like a team and more like a bunch of randoms thrown together. I saw no synergy." She looked at Damia, "No communication." She looked at Van, "No strategy." She looked hard at Lumi.
Damia spoke up.
"With all due respect, those ferals weren't the most challenging, and-"
A force clamped her mouth shut. Without warning, something yanked her into the air, and then slammed her so hard onto the ground, it shook. Damia wheezed, and looked up to see that Opal's face took up all of her vision.
She didn't look happy.
"Did I ask for your opinion, Dragonite? Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that? You're half the reason I'm so pissed, you damn girl scout!"
Lumi watched in thinly veiled concern as Opal got up in Damia's face and growled at her, fur raised in agitation. Despite all Damia's strength, Opal's psychic grip was stronger, and she could only lie there and wince.
"You like to do it all yourself, huh? Think you can carry the whole world on your shoulders? Well then, who am I to get in the way of such lofty ambitions? Clement!" she called.
Bid by some unspoken command, Clement turned to the solid rock wall behind them and whipped around on one leg to slam his second mouth into the wall. He walked along and seemed to carefully measure something, before he reared back and punched a specific part of the wall again with great force.
The rock rumbled, and flecks of it crumbled off, before a chunk of the wall abruptly slid off and thudded onto the ground. Clement looked at the chunk, five times taller then he was, and just as wide.
With a grunt, he rammed his hands into the rock, and squatted to lift the whole thing over his head, balanced on his back mouth.
"What the fuuu..." mumbled Lumi, mind blown as so many thoughts and impressions about his boring old dad were shattered before his eyes at the display of strength.
Clement grit his teeth and motioned with his head to a spot next to him, and Opal dragged Damia's large form next to him, leaving treads in the ground. She rolled her over onto her stomach and released her hold, which gave Damia the chance to take a large gulp of air.
That was the only break she got before Clement dropped the rock right onto her back.
Damia gasped and shut her eyes, teeth clenched as she strove to hold a plank position under the rock that must have been at least twice as heavy as she was.
"That rock will be yours during our time here. That burden will never leave you. If you falter and let it drop, I will place it right back on you," Clement stated, voice cold and neutral.
Lumi had gone silent, not quite sure what to say. He glanced to the left and right, and took in the floored expressions of Clara and Van.
An alarm.
Or more like a sudden, cold certainty that something bad would happen if he didn't move at once pulsed from within him.
He looked up just in time to Opal's gem glow. He yelped as he jumped backward and barely avoided the Psybeam she fired his way. The deep purple ray of psychic energy impacted the ground and singed it.
"M-mom?" he questioned, mostly on instinct. She stalked toward him with a frown on her face.
"What's wrong? I thought you loved jumping around. Jump!" Her gem glowed pink, and his eyes widened as he jumped up to avoid another ray.
"You like to move, don't you? So move!" She made him dance as Psybeams peppered the ground he stepped on.
Opal's gem shone a bit brighter, and without looking, made Clara levitate behind her. The Spinda yelped as she got pulled forward, and brought face to face with Opal.
"You like running away, so don't let me catch you," she threatened, and threw Clara forward at Lumi. His eyes bugged out and he tried to catch her, but they both ended up getting bowled over. He ended up underneath her.
"She's mad...why is she mad!?" breathed Clara, worried. Lumi shifted his neck and looked behind her, and his eyes widened.
"We gotta run. Just...run," he muttered. Opal's gem glowed again, so he unfurled his ears to telekinetically shunt Clara away, then rolled from the approaching ray of furious psychic energy. They scrambled up and began to sprint away from Opal.
She scared them just by walking. She terrified them when she started to jog.
"Run until you can't, and Arceus help you when you stop!" she screamed, and started the chase in earnest.
Van watched Opal chase his friends out of the room into the Dungeon beyond. Their screams began to echo around the mountainous walls. A cold sweat lanced through him; Lumi and Clara were now gone, and Damia lay beneath a thousand-something pound rock, struggling.
Which just left him.
"...Fuck," he murmured. He sucked in a breath and turned around.
Clement stood there, arms at his side. Knees bent. Facing him.
He took a step forward. Van took a step back.
"C'mon mon..."
Clement took two steps forward. Van stumbled back.
"Why're you starin' at me like that? At least say something..."
"We got here early in the morning. That gives us twelve hours outside until nightfall, which translates to around four hours in here. We've allotted around three reviver seeds for Lumi, Clara, and Damia each..."
Clement paused his advance and brought his body low, claws out before him in a battle stance. His eyes became sharp, and the massive maw on his head opened and released an angry bellow that assaulted Van's eardrums. The teeth glinted in the sunlight.
"I allotted five for you."
Van's mouth went dry, and his baggy tail swished behind him anxiously. Tepidly, he pulled the skin up until it was tight around his legs, and adopted his own fighting stance, already resigned to what was about to happen.
"Unfortunately for both of us, my son is destined to encounter many dangerous things. If you will go with him, you'll have to be bold to face those things. So I will do all I can to bring that courage out of you. Now..."
Clement held out a hand and flicked it towards himself.
"Paws up, and move with confidence."
Van shook his head once more, but still hopped on his feet to still his nerves. After a second, he ran forward to charge him straight on.
Training had begun.
They ran at a dead sprint for a solid ten minutes.
Hardly any ferals stood in their way. Most of them were rounded up and defeated in the first fight, the only mercy in their current situation.
Lumi and Clara both heaved air, fur matted with sweat as they bounded through the mountain halls. No matter how fast they tried to push themselves, Opal stayed the exact same distance behind, and launched Psybeam after Psybeam. It became very obvious that she mostly aimed for him, and he clenched his teeth as his side burned with the few attacks she had managed to score.
The optimist in him considered this a net win. With him as the main target, Clara got to suffer less, and he also learned to be more familiar with that sense within him. Everytime Opal shot a beam, some intuition he did not recall having compelled him to move a second before an attack landed. Some inherent certainty that warned him of the negative outcome should he not dodge out of the way.
Perhaps he'd ask Celebi about it later, but right now he focused on the frustrated growl behind them.
"Is this all you've learned how to do? I'm getting bored. Figure something out before I stop going easy!" Opal yelled.
"Is your mom normally this...bloodthirsty?" gasped Clara.
"Only when people try to mess with us. She's chill with me and Dad. Well..." he jumped to dodge a Psybeam. "There was that one time I ditched watching the shop to go see a traveling circus. That didn't end well."
She shot one more beam, this one somehow faster than ones before, and it struck Lumi in the back and sent him stumbling forward.
He lost some ground, but Clara hopped back to grab and swing him around her shoulders. It always surprised him how strong she could actually be.
"Crap crap crap crap!" she squealed. "What do we do!?"
"Something different," he muttered in her ear. "Because this isn't working. Also, veer left."
She did, and a Psybeam just grazed her. He forced himself to jump off her back and scamper on all fours alongside her. He winced at the pain but made himself keep going.
"Alright. I feel like we can play this a little smarter," he said. "Running's not working, so let's try fighting."
"Are you serious!?"
"What are our options?"
"Right now, none!"
"Then let's make some," he declared, and glanced at her with a grin. "That's what we're all about, right?"
She met his gaze, and after a moment, smiled back and nodded.
"I might have spent too long running and not enough time thinking. We haven't even tried to look for any items on the floor to help us!"
"Here's my idea." He looked forward to an approaching T-section. "Split up here. You go and find something to help us, I'll keep her busy in the meantime."
"Are you sure? What makes you think she'll even follow you?"
His sense alerted him to pain in his near future, so he hopped left and right to avoid a barrage of Psybeams sent his way.
"Just a hunch," he gasped.
They ran to the end of the corridor. Clara split off to go left, while Lumi cut the corner and dashed right. As predicted, Opal followed right after him.
His fur raised as she cackled.
"Ooh, finally something different. Are you starting to use your brain now? Or did you just want me to give you a little one-on-one lesson!"
He spared a glance back at his mother. His adrenaline spiked as he saw her begin to bound forwards on all fours, much faster than before. An excited breath left him as he picked up his pace, yet he kept his eyes peeled for anything helpful that might have spawned in the Dungeon. He relied on their North Star Ribbon's properties of increasing the chances of seeing some.
Nothing yet. The tight stone walls made it difficult to maneuver, and Lumi had to endure more Psybeams to the side. He didn't need to look to know that bruises had begun to form, and yet despite this, he had the sneaking suspicion Opal was still holding back.
He picked up the pace to a room ahead, and sprinted in, only to skid to a halt and turn to look around.
A dead end.
Pain would bloom in his mind a second from now. He rolled to the left to avoid a Psybeam, and used his momentum to keep going to avoid another salvo. He turned his head to glance at his mother, who stalked at the doorway, gem alight with a neutral look on her face.
Behind her, he saw a pile of pebbles, and one of them was large enough to be a Gravelrock. Better than nothing.
His ears unfurled, and he hopped over where he knew a Psybeam would land. In midair, he sucked in a breath and let sonorous sounds erupt from his mouth, which jettisoned towards Opal. As he predicted, she had to hop away, and he used that moment to let his ears glow and telekinetically fling the Gravelrock towards her head.
She noticed right before it impacted, and ducked her head, but he still scored a glancing blow, right above her eye.
He flung the rock back toward himself and set it to orbit around his head, and faced his mother with a determined smile, ready to respond to whatever she had.
Opal rubbed above her eye and, to his surprise, laughed.
"So you like throwin' shit too! Maybe that's why you haven't learned Psybeam yet..." she mused aloud. He frowned in confusion.
"What do you mean?" he asked. She smirked and pointed at herself.
"Most psychic types need the structure of a move to guide their energy into something useful, but I've always been different. I've always had power, and that only grew into raw psychic energy when I became an Espeon."
Opal sat down and got a wistful look on her face. Her gem began to glow brighter than he'd ever seen it, and he heard deep thumps come from behind her. A loud crack echoed from the wall as Opal simply removed another chunk of it, and wielded the boulder above her head. Lumi's mouth hung open as the massive rock, wreathed in a pink glow, stood steady above her, without any exertion on her part.
"Could hardly form it into a move worth a damn when I was younger, so I improvised by making the environment my weapon. Simple telekinesis, something most Psychics only use for small things, became my specialty." A wolfish grin cut across her face. "Here's hoping some of that passed on to you."
Opal used Rock Throw.
The boulder lobbed toward him like a small meteor, and Lumi blanched when he realized there'd be no way to dodge in time. With his ears completely unfurled, he threw his paws out, and shunted as much psychic energy at the boulder as he could.
He grit his teeth as a searing headache bloomed, and his feet dragged divots in the ground as he was pushed back. The boulder slowed its approach, but it felt like pushing against a mountain with his bare paws. He started to lose more and more ground as Opal incrementally increased the pressure.
"Don't give up on me! I know you have more left!" he heard her yell. He blew out some air, and redoubled his psychic effort.
Whatever psychological blocks he had as a Meowstic that restrained him from reaching deeper were in the way. No matter what he tried, he couldn't push harder. Something in him still didn't want to just explode out with destructive power.
"Woah! I'm coming!" He heard Clara's voice ahead. He forced himself to look up at the boulder that was only meters away now. Behind his mom, he could see the Spinda rushing forward, with wands in her paw. She flicked one, and disappeared for a split second, before reappearing right in front of him with a paw out.
She wielded the other wand and pointed it at the boulder. Lumi blearily recognized the wooden pickaxe structure as a tunnel wand.
"Will that...work?" he ground out.
"We'll find out!" she yelled. It glowed as she waved it, and a burst of power jetted out from the wand. It disintegrated, yet a hurling mass of energy burrowed into the approaching boulder.
Cracks erupted across its surface, and it wobbled in the air before it lost shape. The massive boulder erupted into much smaller chunks of stone.
However, due to the momentum, they now had many smaller pieces of rock headed their way, rather than one massive boulder.
"Watch out!" yelled Lumi. He ran forward, blindly shunted one last burst of psychic energy, with the thought that he really didn't want Clara to be hurt by the rocks.
To his surprise, his energy actually responded.
A clear sheen of light formed in front of them, and the rocks passed through with significantly less strength than before. It still hurt when they hit, but not as bad as they could be.
"Was that...Reflect?" asked Clara in wonder.
"Hell...yeah..." mumbled Lumi. His headache returned with a vengeance, and he coughed and wobbled on his feet. He didn't have much left, and leaned on Clara.
"Wow. That's one creative way to use a wand," commented Opal. The fact that she looked absolutely no worse for wear spoke volumes about her strength.
"Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve, girl?" she asked. Clara fidgeted, but still stood firm.
"W-Wouldn't you like to know!" she yelled. Opal shook her head.
"Good effort. Really," she said, as her gem began to glow. "But I said I wouldn't go easy, and I meant it."
Lumi knew with certainty that the next Psybeam was meant to put them down. Clara wouldn't be able to dodge, and he couldn't prevent it.
He shoved Clara off to move forward and allowed Psychic energy to pour from his ears despite the pain.
The same protective instinct welled up within him, and another shield of light, pink this time, formed in front of them, right as the Psybeam was about to connect. It still passed through the shield, but dimmed the strength of the beam significantly.
He got smacked with the suppressed Psybeam, yet the combined exertion of holding off a boulder and the hits up until then was too much, and Lumi fainted.
Clara rushed over to his side, and glanced up at Opal. She saw a wide smile before the next Psybeam hit.
"It's okay to be paranoid. Turn that apprehension into preparation," stated Clement. Across from him, Van circled the Mawile, and tried to think of some way to approach.
He had already been knocked out once. Clement hit hard, but he never went on the offensive. He always waited for Van to make the first move, and reacted to anything the Scrafty did.
Van grunted, and ran forward. He swept his left leg at Clement's legs for a Low Kick, but readjusted in an attempt at a feint with the other. The Mawile hardly moved, and simply blocked the strike with his leg.
As soon as it impacted, Clement pivoted and swung his head forward, his massive maw glinted steel. Van rolled to the side right as the Iron Head smashed down where he was, and left a deep dent in the floor.
"Better," stated Clement, "but I want you to hit harder next time." Van started to grumble in frustration.
He was itching to use his new spike. It held up well in preliminary tests, but he craved the chance to use it in practice for more data. He had designed it with the means of giving himself more options, and in a fight like this, that's just what he needed.
"Have you noticed you get more confident when you're angry? You should try leaning into that more."
"Let me get my spike and I'll really lean into it!" he yelled back. Van shot up and let his darker thoughts take over, the thought of finally scoring a hit that mattered on the Mawile the only thing on his mind.
He jumped up high with a claw above, ready to chop down in with Brick Break. He hit the ground as Clement swerved to the side. He anticipated the Iron Head, and when he leaned down to dodge, thought only of the split second he had after Clement finished a move.
His thoughts manifested in Dark Type energy, and he finally let himself use a move that he hadn't in a while. He clenched his fist, which started to glow a dark purple, and he pushed off of his feet to slam his fist into the side of Clement's face. Darkness seeped off of his claw.
Clement didn't dodge, in fact he took the hit right on the chin. For Van, it felt like he just punched a solid wall, and he cursed as he brought his hand back to cup against his chest.
"Oooooooh...daammmmmn..." he winced, and rubbed his claw.
"Good use of Payback, but won't be very effective against me," stated Clement. He stepped forward, ready to restart the fight, but paused.
Van looked up in confusion, but after a while he started to sense it too. A low wind began to stir the rocks and dust on the ground, and began to woosh above their heads.
They'd been on this floor for a while. It was time to move on.
Both of their attention turned to the side, where Opal trotted in where they were. Van's eyes widened at the sight of his two friend's limp forms held in her psychic grasp.
"I saw the stairs earlier. Let's get moving," she stated, and gently set them down. She got the travel bag and started to reach inside, before her gaze reached Van's, and she tossed it over to him.
"I don't think my face is the first one they want to see," she said. Van nodded and rushed over to them, before he pulled out a few Reviver Seeds and administered them. Lumi blinked his eyes open and looked around in a daze, but Clara shot up with her paws out.
"PLEASE WAIT STO-oh. Oh, dangit we lost!" she grumbled.
"You weren't supposed to win," said Opal as she looked down on them. "The point of this is to push you, and get you in the right mindset. With that said though, good thinking with the Tunnel Wand."
"Oh, yeah! I guess they're effective against boulders!" exclaimed Lumi as Van helped him up. His cheer turned disturbed as he looked at Opal. "Wait. Mom, did you really just throw a boulder at me?"
"You threw a-!" Clement whirled on Opal, but caught himself, and just walked away with a loud exhale.
"What?" she asked. "He's fine! It was mental strength training!" She walked over to Lumi and patted him on the back. "Boy even learned Light Screen and Reflect out of it, so it all worked out. How did Van do?"
"He's..." Clement looked at Van and squinted his eyes. "...Teachable."
"That's what I like to hear. Alright, let's get moving. Now that we got the blood flowing, we'll move into better technique and repetition for the next few floors," announced Opal. Her and Clement started to move away, but Clara called out.
"Wait! What about her?" she pointed to Damia. The Dragonite's form trembled and sweat glistened off of her scales as she struggled to hold up the boulder. She had been underneath it this whole time, and her breath came out in gasps.
Clement looked, and shrugged.
"That boulder's not coming off. She'll just have to crawl to the stairs in the next...five or so minutes." he said.
"But that's not fair!"
"It's more than fair, she wanted to do this herself. Now don't be late, we don't have long before the floor destabilizes," he said, and then walked off with Opal. They watched in stunned silence as they left.
"Arceus...bro your parents are cold blooded," muttered Van. "They do know most of us aren't exactly warriors, right? I mean, we gotta know a little about fighting to make good items, but still..."
"I swear they're normally really nice. Dad especially never sounds that, uh, distant..." murmured Lumi. "I just never knew they were so strong."
"Your mom had you runnin', that's for sure. And I hardly ever see you move that fast Clara." Van turned to regard her, but saw that she had started to make her way over to Damia, who did her darndest to crawl along the floor with the boulder on her back.
"Hang on sis, I'm coming!" she said. She got underneath the boulder, next to Damia, and turned back to the boys with a huff.
"Are you two just gonna stand there?" she sassed. Van and Lumi shook their heads, and rushed over to go join her. They took sides around Damia's form, and together pushed up on the boulder to help carry it.
Below, Damia managed to ground out words above her breaths.
"What are you...doing..." she wheezed, voice shaky. "He said...I have to..."
The boulder took on a blue tint, and became a bit lighter for everyone to carry as it got a telekinetic boost.
"Wait, did you seriously think we'd let you carry this alone?" wondered Lumi. "That's actually a little sad."
"I bet this is some kinda jacked up team building exercise," grumbled Van as his muscles strained to push up against the rock. "Shit...do we gotta do this for every floor here?"
"Lumi's dad sounded pretty serious, and I don't want to know...oof...what he'll do if she drops it..." ground out Clara.
"Then we'll have to figure out how to make this easier on her," asserted Lumi. Damia huffed as she shuffled on all fours with them.
"Didn't...ask you to-" she sucked in a quick breath. "Didn't ask for...help..."
"Did you two hear something?" asked Clara.
"Nah."
"Nope."
"Great. Then let's keep going."
The stairs were only a few rooms away, but their pace was still glacial, even with four of them carrying it. By the time they hauled the rock to the foot of the stairs, each of them were panting with their tongues out.
Lumi cut his telekinesis on the boulder and just about fell over. His parents looked at them, and then gestured to the stairs.
"Next floor. C'mon, we're burning daylight!" pushed his mother. Lumi glanced at the stairs as he panted and raised a brow.
They really were just a random set of white, stone stairs in the middle of a yellow mountain-themed room. They didn't even look like they went anywhere. They were just...there.
"Huh, so that's what they look like," he mused. "Am I the only one who thinks destabilized Dungeons actually make more sense than normal ones?"
"What are you talkin'...hold up," Van rubbed his chin. "...I guess you really haven't seen these yet. Your sense of what's normal must be all screwed up."
"I haven't had a 'normal' for weeks," responded Lumi.
"Actually, I'm a little curious. Do you Absol apprentices have any theories about these stairs?" asked Clement. Van scratched his head, and Clara put a paw up like she knew the answer, but then rubbed her chin in thought.
Damia cleared her throat from her position on the ground.
"Permission to speak..." she bit out.
"Permission granted," responded Clement. Damia inhaled a deep breath before she schooled her features.
"We don't know for sure but...past scholars have theorized that those things are actually interdimensional portals between layered realities that exist in multiple times at once, and that their purpose serves to notify the Dungeon when someone crosses to another floor, so it knows when to generate one, as a matter of saving resources. What we see as stairs are actually just what our minds create in order to comprehend what's actually there."
Everyone looked down in silent awe at the long winded answer from the very winded Dragonite. She huffed.
"You three should know this. It's in one of the most basic books about Dungeons, dammit."
"If it generates a new floor each time, what happens if you have a lot of pokemon on multiple floors at once?" asked Lumi.
"All current thoughts point to the Dungeon imploding on itself and ejecting everyone after a certain limit. Don't ask me what it is, I don't know."
"Ah," he turned to Van. "We're gonna test that sometime."
Van sighed.
"Okay, you can all nerd out later," Opal picked Lumi up and tossed him onto the stairs. "There's training to do!"
As soon as his back hit the stairs, Lumi's vision filled with multi colors. The mountain environment bled away like washed out paint, and gravity reversed.
Reality shifted and he fell upwards. He only had one thought as this happened.
"Cooooooooooool..."
Mt. Sunset - 5th Floor
Clement stood off to the side and observed the exercises they had asked the younger Pokemon to do on this floor. Lumi and Van played a little game; Lumi put up a Reflect and stood behind it as Van attempted to snipe him with the needles and spikes they had found along the way. The exercise helped Lumi get more comfortable with the move and practice dodging, and helped Van practice his aim.
He forced himself to take his eyes off his son and scanned to the others.
Off to the side, Clara swung her staff repeatedly at the air. Opal observed her form and offered what pointers she could. The Spinda had asserted that she really wasn't much of a fighter without her own weapon, and after a few floors, Opal gave in and allowed the use of her item.
Clement still wondered about that strange episode at the beginning of the Dungeon, when she managed to simply talk the ferals into leaving, but he didn't quite know how to capitalize on it. They were headed into dangerous, unknown territory, so it seemed better to train her offensively for now, which was fine. The kid had a good swinging arm.
Damia remained under the boulder.
For a Pokemon like Damia, strength was not the issue, but her refusal to rely on her team for anything. As soon as he heard her attitude in the beginning, Clement resolved to nip that in the bud straight away and teach her dependence.
At first, he worried it might be too harsh, and the others wouldn't catch on, but his fears were unfounded. Throughout the training, her team never strayed too far from her when they could help it. Lumi lightened the load with what telekinesis he could offer, Van tried to chip off pieces with a spike he found to lighten it, and Clara always gave her berries to eat to restore her strength and muscles.
They tried to do all of this discreetly, of course. He and Opal pretended to not notice. Cooperation needed to happen in more places than just a fight, and they had started to demonstrate that well.
"Somebody's got their thinking face on," commented Opal from the side. He broke from his musings as she approached from the side.
"How are you feeling about them?" she asked. He turned back to the four and crossed his arms.
"They're better than when they came in, that's for sure. I don't think we'll have to worry about babysitting them when it's time to act."
"My thoughts exactly. I wasn't sure if this whole thing would work, to be honest I was worried they'd all be a bunch of bookworms, but they adapt pretty quickly," she said, then smirked and rubbed her chest. "Nothing like putting a little fear of Arceus in someone to get them to straighten up, huh?"
"Scaring them on the first floor was a good idea, and helped them all take this more seriously," he nodded. He thought for a bit, then frowned. "But did you really have to throw a boulder at our son?"
Rather than look ashamed, Opal grinned wider, and came in closer.
"Oh, babe you should have seen it, the look on his face! He didn't back down, he didn't run, he actually stood there and tried to push it back, and he was almost doing something! Ooh, I was so proud but I couldn't show it..." she gushed under her breath. "He smiled in the face of danger! Clement, can you imagine what would happen if we trained him sooner, he-"
"-thankfully had no interest in fighting until all of this craziness happened," interrupted Clement with a hard look. He glanced at the others and then placed a hand on her side to guide her up against a wall.
"Opal, please take this seriously, he is at risk! I don't know what kind of nonsense Vert or Dialga might have filled his head with, about him being the key to all of this, but I hate it. I hate the thought of what might happen to him, and I hate it even more that he seems to welcome it."
His words had lowered into a hiss by the end, and his breath grew heavy as he leaned in closer to his mate. Opal met his eyes with a steady gaze, and placed a paw on his side.
"I am taking this seriously," she said, slowly. "Clement, the reality is that, at this moment, there is nothing else we can do. What other options do we have? Getting him to whatever this Keystone is, is all we got. So we'll do that, succeed because our family is amazing, and figure out the rest from there."
"But..." he tried, and then sighed and massaged his eyes. "...we still have to deal with Gala, you know."
"Like I said, we'll figure it out." She sidled up next to him and sat on her haunches, and watched the younger pokemon train next to him. After a few moments of silence, she glanced down at him.
"Is that why you've been avoiding him?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean. You've hardly spoken to him since we've been here. The only instruction you've given is to Van and Clara."
"I'm being impartial. Good teachers aren't supposed to let feelings get in the way of-"
"Bullshit. You're scared to talk to your own son."
"That's not-."
"Now that I think about it, you hardly spoke to him yesterday after your little outburst."
"Opal..."
"I wonder how he's feeling, about his dad who dropped several bombshells on him at once and proceeded to just not talk to him for a whole day."
"...I don't know what to say," he admitted. His horn drooped as he looked down. "I mean, there's a lot I could say, but I don't want him to lose focus, or make him more confused, and I don't even know if he wants to-"
A shrill whistle cut him off, and he looked to see Opal wave over at the two boys.
"Lumi, get over here! Your dad needs to talk to you!" she called. She winked at him, and he groaned and pinched his forehead.
"I...love you," he ground out through clenched teeth. "I...love...that you do this to me."
"I know," she purred.
Lumi jogged over from where he was and wiped some sweat from his paws.
"Yeah dad?" he asked, and looked at him. Clement blinked back, and opened his mouth a few times to find some words. His fingers tapped each other timidly, though he didn't notice.
"Yes. Um, Over...over here," he stammered, and pointed to a corridor that led out to the rest of the floor. Lumi nodded eagerly, and so Clement led him off and walked for long enough to try and think of something to say.
He didn't.
"So, what did you need me for?" asked Lumi. Clement blanched and bit his lip as he thought.
"I wanted to...see how you were doing," he stated, lamely.
"How I'm doing?"
"Yes, um," Clement looked around, and his gaze landed on an empty room. He nodded his head towards it, grabbed a supply bag, and led his son into the relatively safe area.
"What I mean to say is, your body might be going through some changes. You may have some thoughts or impulses that might feel a little...uncomfortable..." Clement gestured his hands around as he tried to explain what was really on his mind, while Lumi watched with a bemused smile.
"A-and that's perfectly fine! It's nothing wrong with you, it's just how these things go. Think of it when you first evolved from an Espurr to-" Lumi started to snicker, and his father paused. "What's so funny?"
"Dad, didn't we already have this conversation?" he responded. "I hit puberty like, a while ago. You don't need to give me the Pidgey and the Combees talk again."
Clement blew out an exasperated laugh, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No son, I'm not talking about that. I'm referring to your, um, blessing."
"...Oh! Okay, um," Lumi shuffled his feet and idly grabbed one of his tails. "What about it?"
"Do you feel...different at all?"
"Sometimes? I spoke to Dialga the other day." Clement suppressed a wince. "And they said I won't actually be able to do more than the bare minimum with his power, only enough to pause Aether. They said it would take years before more things manifest, and I've been working with Celebi every day to get used to it,"
"You're working with..." Clement groaned, and shook his head. "Of course..."
"There is one thing though. Today, I figured out how to sort of...okay, can you try to punch me?"
"What?" he asked, alarmed.
"Or hit me with your horn or something. Just try to hit me."
Lumi backed up with a gleam in his eye and bounced on his feet. Clement decided to play along, and approached with his hands up. He jabbed forward, intending to only use enough force to leave a small sting.
Before his fist reached even halfway towards his son, Lumi had hopped to the left. Clement was about to congratulate him on a solid dodge, but paused when he noticed something strange. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light, but for a split second he swore Lumi's golden eyes turned blue.
"I knew that hit was coming a second before you threw it. Can't really tell you how, but I'm pretty sure it's Dialga's influence. Doesn't give me much more than a second to work with, though."
"...Again," stated Clement. He squared up fully this time, and after a second began to throw out more punches at his son, who stayed nimble and moved out of the way each time.
Lumi kept his eyes wide open, and trained on Clement the whole time, either unaware or uncaring of how his eyes would occasionally flash blue. It reminded Clement of the move Detect, but if it only activated for a split second.
He narrowed his eyes and faked a high kick. Lumi rolled under it, but got caught off guard halfway through when Clement pirouetted and slammed him in the side with his horn , hard enough that he let out a short wheeze.
"Ooh...thought I cleared that one..." he coughed. Clement walked over and helped him up. He held him by the shoulders and stared into his eyes for a moment, and saw how the blue dissipated entirely.
"...What did I tell you about using Dialga's power? A trick like that has its...uses...but will just make you complacent in the long run if you rely on it."
"Yeah, yeah...whatever..." grunted Lumi. Clement sighed and pulled him closer, just as he tried to pull away. Whatever distance and objectivity he tried to put up for today crumbled as he thought about how out of hand everything had already gotten.
The memories that this whole situation stirred up.
"My poor son...why did it have to be you...?" he mumbled, with a sigh. Lumi shuffled a little bit, but then put his paw on his father's.
"Hey dad?" he asked. "...Been meaning to ask, but can you tell me more about your Partner? What he was like? It seems like he was really important to you, and I had no idea."
"You couldn't have known," responded Clement. As much as it pained him to recall, the thought of sharing a bit about Lucent with his son filled him with some happiness. He let go of Lumi and went over to sit up against a wall, and moved his horn so his son could sit right next to him.
Lumi looked at him with wide, curious eyes, and a soft smile played at Clement's lips.
"...We named you in honor of him, you know."
"Really? That's how I got Lumiere, from Lucent?" asked Lumi, incredulous. Clement nodded.
"You're a lot like him. Actually, almost too much like him." The Mawile leaned his head back, and a rare, mischievous smile played on his face.
"Lucent was impulsive, reckless, messy, irresponsible, almost never took anything seriously, hardly ever took a bath-"
"C-c'mon! I took a bath like..." Lumi paused and sniffed himself for a split second. His nose scrunched. "...Well I took a bath...sometime recently!"
"Uh-huh, sure son." he snickered as Lumi pouted, and then hummed in thought.
"Lucent was also...one of the most fearless Pokemon I've ever met. He could laugh at anything, and I mean anything, and never once doubted us. Never doubted me..."
Clement looked down at the ground in thought for a second, before he glanced up and gently cupped the cloudy pearl around Lumi's neck. Unbidden, Lumi took off the necklace and handed it to his father, who held it by the string between both of them.
"This was mine before I gave it to you. It was my treasure, one of the few things I could call my own that I vowed I would protect. But...I was weak. And a coward."
"I just saw you rip a chunk out of the wall with your bare hands, dad. That's kind of hard to believe."
"It's true!" said Clement. He smiled and pressed a palm to his head. "I couldn't do anything without second guessing myself, couldn't even step to the door of the Hunter guild at the time, I was so terrified. It wasn't long before someone noticed my weakness and robbed me of my treasure. That was one of the worst days of my life, when I truly felt like giving up on everything I thought I could do.
"And then I found a Noibat, passed out on the beach."
"Was Lucent that Noibat?" asked Lumi, leaning in with interest. Clement was about to nod, but then looked up in thought.
"For all intents and purposes, yes, he was a Noibat. But I think he was something...else. He didn't have many of his memories. All he knew was his name, and that he was supposed to be something called a human."
"...Hyooman? I've never heard of that species before."
"That's because they're not from this world, son." At Lumi's furrowed brow, he elaborated. "Palkia brought Lucent from his home to this place, and in so doing Bonded themselves to him, giving him the power to mend the ruptured reality they had caused in their madness, and ultimately enable us to free them from themselves. And his reward for doing all of that?"
Clement dug divots into the ground with his fingers, and stared hard into Lumi's eyes.
"He disintegrated before my eyes, and I never saw him again."
"Oh..." murmured Lumi. "But, how is that fair? Why did Palkia need to do any of that in the first place, when any of the other Legendaries or Mythicals could have stepped in?"
"Because almost all of them are bound by strange rules. Rules that make them resort to interfering in our lives and taking someone to use as they see fit. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to happen all the time."
"Dad, what happened with Lucent was awful, but..." Lumi swallowed and sucked in a breath. "Do you really think every Legendary is awful too? Maybe they...their actions are for some kinda of greater good, or-"
"Maybe the ends justify the means? And what really gives them the right to decide that? Who decides when it is too far? I've seen enough of Legendaries to know they are far from flawl-"
A rush of air wooshed through the halls and sent a chill through both their backs. Clement looked up, alert, and frowned.
"It's time..." he muttered, and then glanced at Lumi. "We can talk more later, but for right now, we've hit our time limit. Training is done."
Lumi nodded, so Clement stood up and fished an Escape Orb out of his bag.
"Oh, wait, that reminds me!" Lumi pointed at the Escape Orb with a smile. "We can't leave just yet, we need to do something to prepare first."
"What's tha-" But Lumi had already scampered off, back to the area where everyone else was. Clement pocketed the orb, and followed after, wondering what he was planning.
The two ran back into the training area. Opal had left Clara to her own devices, and instead sat on top of Van as the Scrafty struggled to do push ups.
"Forty-one. Forty-two. Hey! Don't give up on me now! I'm just as light as I ever was, fifty should be no problem!" badgered Opal from above him. Van's arms shook, and he groaned as he went down for one more.
"Mom, can we take the boulder off of Damia now? Dad says we're done with training!" exclaimed Lumi as he walked in. Opal squinted her eyes and glanced over at the Dragonite.
At this point, Damia's arms had given out, and she simply lay there on the ground, with the massive rock on her back. A strange look of acceptance had been plastered on her face.
"...I suppose..." murmured Opal. She yowled as she was shunted off of Van with a telekinetic burst.
"What the hell boy, how dare you? After all I've done for you!?"
"Boulder."
Opal clicked her tongue and waved him off. While Lumi went around to gather his team for whatever it is he wanted to do, Clement walked over to help her up, and they watched as the three of them worked to push Damia's boulder off.
"Have a good chat?" asked Opal. Clement hummed, and shrugged.
"I told him," he stated. She looked in his eyes, and he knew she already understood.
"All of it?"
"Mmhmm. The important parts," he said. He shifted as Opal bumped him with her side.
"See. Was that so hard?"
"Mmm..."
"Thought so," she stated. Her smug smile got wiped from her face as her stomach growled, and she put a paw to her belly.
"Damn, today was a good workout. I'm starving...ooh, we can get Van to cook for us tonight! That soup last night was one of the best things I've eaten in years."
"Y-years?" stammered Clement. "But...but what about my mystery casserole? Or my-"
"Hey, what's taking you kids so long! The wind's coming, and I'm hungry!" She ignored him.
"We can't leave just yet!" Lumi called back. "We need to get dud orbs for crafting!"
"...Wha!?"
"Just hold tight for a few minutes, and don't panic! It'll sound worse than it is," he assured. Clement and Opal looked at eachother, and shared a dubious look. The wind returned with more intense bursts, and neither of them had ever bothered to see what happens if one would stay too long in a Dungeon. Common sense told anyone to simply leave at the first sound of wind.
But, these were trained apprentices of the Absol Guild. Surely, if they said things would be fine, they had nothing to worry about?
Then the wind turned into a hurricane.
"ESCAPE ORB! ESCAPE ORB NOW!" screamed Clement at the top of his lungs. With one claw he dug into the ground for stability, and the other he held tight onto Clara, who laughed cheerily as she flopped above in the wind, without a care in the world.
"It's fine! This is part of the process! Weeeeeeee!" exclaimed the Spinda. To the right, Opal tried her damdest to crawl against the strong gales towards an item bag, but Damia held it away from her. She cursed as the Dragonite fought against her psychic grip for it.
"Dragonite, you give me that damn bag right now, or so help me I will bury you in the ground!"
"Ma'am, please relax. This is all standard dungeon protocol. It'll die down in a second."
"Standard protocol my a- hey! Why are you laughing boy!? Tell me, who are you laughing at!?" she yelled at her son, who was on his back next to a nervous Van, laughing at the expression on her face. Opal switched targets and began to stalk towards Lumi instead.
Thankfully, the raging gale did indeed die down a few moments later, and an eerie peace settled over the Dungeon. Lumi let his mom playfully shake him around for a bit, and then looked at her.
"Okay, now for the important part. Damia!" he called out. "Do we have any nets?"
"None were packed," she called back, looking inside a bag. "We'll just have to get as much as we can carry. Clara and I will cover the left side of the Dungeon, you and Van can get the right," she stated.
She paused, and scrunched her face, seeming to be in deep thought about something. Finally, she called back again.
"...Does that sound...good? To you?" she asked, like the words were foreign in her mouth. Lumi smiled and nodded.
"Yeah! Mom and Dad, you can watch," said Lumi, and then met with Van to stroll out into the Dungeon beyond. Clement and Opal followed after, both a bit frazzled.
"I don't understand, what's going on? Why are we staying?" asked Clement. Van gave a lazy glance back.
"Oh, uh, y'know how we can make orbs? Well, this is how we get the mats to do it." He pointed to a spot on the ground that had already lost its mountainous hue, and had instead become multicolored.
"Dungeons eventually dissolve and revert back to pure Aether. It's the perfect time to nab some duds."
"D-dissolve!?"
"Perfectly safe mon, trust us."
Clement started to retort, but bit his mouth and aimed to refrain from more comments. Lumi and Van stepped around the quickly dissolving reality around them with nary a thought, and their confidence convinced him to clamp down on the part of him that instinctually worried.
Soon, that multicolored reality bubbled up and floated into the air, and after a bit they had become large enough to resemble the standard size of orbs. The two apprentices grabbed as much as they could carry, and instructed the two hunters to do the same. By the time they filled up, most of the Dungeon had become a pockmarked, psychedelic mess, and Clement looked around with thinly veiled anxiety, eyes twitching around at the ground to avoid stepping into a hole.
To avoid giving his father further grief, Lumi called out to confirm with Damia if they were leaving. She roared back an affirmative, so he got a bag to try and shove all the dud orbs in, and then pulled out an Escape Orb so they could finally leave.
Van wiped sweat from his brow, but congratulated himself on a job well done.
Embers from the campfire sizzled and popped, and the smells of spice wafted in the cool, night air. Although the ingredients in the travel bag were basic, he had somehow managed to cook up pepper and mushroom shish kabobs, with skewers made from the reeds of dried plants around the mountain platform. It took some thinking, but he had been able to cobble together something he hoped the group would enjoy.
At the first bite, everyone assured him that it was delicious (Clement did so too, with less enthusiasm for some reason).
While they ate and rested from the day's events, he and the other apprentices busied themselves with creating new orbs from the clear duds they had gathered. He did his best not to mess up the melding with Clement and Opal watching from the side. They decided to play it safe, and made most of the orbs for utility; Evasion, Luminous, Rollcall, etc.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Damia completed her set of orbs before anyone else, and left them in a pile next to their supplies. He scanned his eyes up and saw that she had flown a ways away, and sat on the edge of the cliff, alone.
Light conversation bounced around as the night wore on, but he only paid half a mind to it. Lumi and Clara were busy giving Clement a heart attack by regaling him of some of the more interesting tests they had seen at the guild, which got a hearty laugh out of Opal, who sat at his side.
At some point, she abruptly stood up, and excused herself from the fire to go walk somewhere else, but he didn't pay it much mind. His focus drifted off to Damia again, and he sighed and tapped his leg, concerned.
Was she alright? She didn't say anything after they returned from the training, and seemed even more reserved than usual.
He must have been even more out of it than he thought, because he didn't even notice Opal had returned until she draped a forearm over his shoulder.
"O-oh, Ms. Opal!" he stammered as he saw her out of the corner of his eye. "Where'd you go?"
"Had to take care of something, don't worry about it," she assured. She craned her neck around his shoulder and nodded over at the brooding Dragonite. "What's up with her?"
"Damia? Uh, I dunno. Wish I did, never really know what she's thinkin'..." he scratched the side of his head. "Couldn't really talk with her too much cuz she was, y'know, under the boulder."
"...You think I went too hard on her?" she asked. His eyes bugged out, and he felt like he had to choose his words very carefully.
"Too hard? On her? Nah, she's uh...she's tough. I think you got your point across," he muttered. She gave a quizzical hum.
"I'm getting the sense you're just saying that," she said. "I have a habit of letting my temper get the better of me sometimes, and I'm hoping I didn't send the wrong message."
"I thought the message was supposed to be that you're terrifyin'?" he replied. She glanced at him, and he put his claws up in defense.
"Cuz, if that is what you were trying to say then, uh, you got it. You were plenty...uh...terrifyin'..."
She held his gaze for a few moments, but then rolled her eyes and laughed.
"You're a charmer, aren't you?" she teased. When he didn't respond, she leaned her head closer to his.
"Go talk to her for me."
"Wh-me!?"
"Mmhmm."
"But I'm..." he stammered, then pointed a digit over at the other side of the campfire. "Clara's her Partner. She should be the one to do it."
"But I'm asking you."
"Why?"
"Because you don't want to do it," she said, a grin on her lips. She didn't give him a chance to retort before she slunk behind him and pushed him forward with her forehead.
Van stumbled and glanced back, only to receive a wink in response. He huffed, but straightened up, and decided he might as well go through with it. He took cautious steps forward towards Damia, who sat at the edge of the cliff a good ways away from the camp. As he approached, he couldn't help but admire how the moon seemed to be in just the right position to highlight her profile, casting her in a glossy sheen. Despite the exercise, not one blemish marred her scales. Her stony expression drew him in, and made him wonder what could be behind those thoughtful, piercing eyes...
He banged his forehead with a fist to knock those thoughts away. Not now. He just wanted to see how she was doing. That's all. He picked up his pace until he was only a few steps away, and rubbed his mohawk down as he wondered what to say. She didn't seem to acknowledge him.
"...Sup?" he ground out, eventually. She turned her head slightly to him, and grunted in acknowledgement.
Better than nothing.
"You doin' alright? Nothing wrong with the food, or..."
"The shish kabobs were fine," she stated, eventually. Her head still didn't turn, but her tail slid to the side a bit.
"Cool."
He stood around awkwardly for a few seconds, hands in his pants, but eventually sucked up enough confidence to stride forward and plop down next to her, feet dangling over the edge of the cliff. After she didn't chase him off, he let himself relax, and actually admired the view from up here, with the wide arid lands stretched out before him, and the eerie sight of the stone forest that marked their next destination, once the time came.
Curious, he leaned over a bit to see more, saw the thousand foot drop to the ground below, and stiffened as he felt some instinctual fear overtake his body. He hoped she didn't notice his heavier breathing, or how he schooched ever so slightly closer to her.
"Van?"
"Huh-wha!?" he asked.
"They were good."
"Uh, what was?"
"The food. It was good, not fine," she stated, and brought her gaze from the horizon to him. "Thank you for cooking. Again."
"Aw, you know it ain't no problem for me. I love to cook for y'all," he assured, but he couldn't help the smile on his face. "Been doing it so long, I don't even think about it."
"Because of all your brothers and sisters, right? That sounds...difficult."
"Pfft, you're tellin' me." He gave a wry grin. "Sometimes I can rope a sibling or two into helping, but by and large, most of the cooking fell to me. Specially with mom bein' sick and everything, someone had to pick up the slack."
"Did she teach you?"
"Some of it, but I learned most of it from my pops," he said, and kicked his feet against the cliff. "He was real big on taking care of family, and I remember he loved to cook. I wanted to do what he did, so he taught me some stuff."
"He was a good teacher," she commended. "But, does that mean your father is..."
"Ah, yeah. He passed maybe...hold up, how old is Kip?" Van did some math in his head, and then nodded. "He passed away around seven years ago. Him and mom did work on ships, you see, would be on the crew to repair them and stuff. They'd leave me and Lou in charge while they were out. One day, only mom came back, and she was crippled, and dad wasn't there."
He looked out at the night sky, but didn't really register it. He focused on recounting the memory.
"Some freak accident where the ocean was way more volatile than normal. Almost tore the ship apart, and flung half the crew off. Water types tried to save who they could, but the waters were just so bad, not everyone could be saved. At least, that's what I was told. Obviously, his body is nowhere to be found so..."
He dug his claws into the ground, and sighed.
"Mom got sick soon after that, and with her unable to work, things got harder. I had to step up to sort of take care of things and run the shop. I mean, that's sort of why I took the dive and joined this guild in the first place. Wanted to, you know, make something great that could maybe make enough money so we didn't have to struggle as much. I send money back and everything but, uh..."
He rubbed his mohawk down and blinked, then looked up at Damia with a sheepish look.
"Sorry, uh, probably more than you asked. Didn't mean to get all heavy on ya, heh..."
"No, it's fine. Really," she assured, and then to his surprise, placed a ginger claw on his shoulder. "That's...I had no idea."
"Nobody does, I haven't even told Lumi," he said, and winked. "He's so cheery, I'd feel kinda bad to bring down his high, y'know."
"From what I've seen, I don't think anything can bring down that cat's high. If he's your Partner, you should tell him. But...erm..."
She petered off and rolled her claws on her leg, not facing him. Her tilted his head in interest at the rare show of indecisiveness.
"Thank you for...sharing that. With me. I thought I was-" she cleared her throat. "I mean, I can relate."
"Wait, for real?" he asked, stunned. She nodded.
"I lost my mother. When I was still very young."
"Oh, damn..." he muttered. "What was she like?"
Damia glanced up at the moon, and closed her eyes in thought. Van waited patiently as she seemed to be lost in recollection.
"Mother was...warm. Gentle. I was told she was a fierce hunter, but I never got that impression from when she trained me. She was always patient.
"Things were...good when mother was around. Life made more sense. I would become a great hunter alongside my brother, father would be happy, and we would make them both proud."
His attention caught on the word brother, but he stowed that away for later. Damia's expression darkened, and her claws dug gouges into the rock floor. On impulse, he risked placing a hand on her arm, probably in some attempt to calm her. She didn't push him away.
"That didn't last long. One day, we received news that she had fallen in a raid. After, father became much colder towards us, and pushed our training tenfold. I evolved much sooner than anticipated because of it, as did my brother. He always pushed us to be better, stronger, and it got to the point where I refused to put up with it any longer, and left. I still hear him in the back of my mind though...sometimes..." she murmured, with a growl under her words.
"...I'm sorry to hear that, mon. That's rough."
"Mmm." She turned from the moon, and glanced down at him with a softer expression. "There. I told you about my mother. Now you know something about me that Clara doesn't even know."
"I'm honored," he said, and puffed out his chest in pride. Her eyes squinted in a smile, but it was replaced with a stern frown, and she leaned closer with a claw tip to his chest.
"Don't tell her, understand?" she ordered, then grimaced. "If she knew anything about my mother, she'd try even harder to get me to reconcile with my remaining family."
"My lips are sealed, trust that," he assured. "But...as I guy with more siblings than he can count, I think it would be a good idea to, you know, get back on speaking terms eventually. N-not that you gotta forgive your dad or anything!" he backpedaled. "Just...it can be hard carrying that around, you know?"
She squinted down at him and, to his surprise, laughed. Not even a chuckle, but a full on belly laugh. He hadn't heard anything like that from her in all the time he'd known her. Her snout crinkled in delight, and her tail swished behind her in amusement.
"Back...back on speaking-" she tried to reign it in, and after a few deep breaths, calmed a bit. "I'm sorry, but Van? There are currently...so many reasons why that can't happen right now."
"Oh...right." he rubbed his mohawk, sheepish. "Being a wanted criminal and everything would obviously make it hard to go back home and talk to your family. Duh."
"Sure. Let's go with that."
They shared a chuckle, and stared out at the moon again. All his anxiety had been washed away, and the conversation had given him enough boldness to finally ask her something that had been on his mind for a while.
"Hey, Damia?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you uh...are you still mad at me...y'know... breaking your emera?"
He tried to play it cool, but he surreptitiously adjusted himself to bolt at a moment's notice. Her silence did him no favors.
"Am I still mad...?" she asked herself, and actually seemed to deliberate it. Then she looked down at him, and locked him in place with her purple eyes.
"Yes. I am," she stated. Van's mouth opened in dismay. "You still have to make it up to me."
"Aw, how!?"
"Find me a new one."
"Fuuuuuu..." he moaned, and fell on his back, devastated.
"Figure it out," she said, coolly.
The Scrafty had his hands over his eyes and groaned, already thinking of how he was gonna get out of this mess.
He didn't see the small smirk she sent his way.