Chapter 29: Press Gang
After a trip down the next set of stairs, the team's search came to a floor with more natural rock walls and stalagmites…
"Eh? Nida? Elty? Where's the ceiling?"
As Pleo craned his head up and squinted off into the distance, it became apparent that if there was one, it must be somewhere very far above. Beyond the lips of the walls, there was the dimly-lit shape of askew floors above stacked one atop the other, with features that seemed as far away as the journal Team Traveler had been fruitlessly searching for.
A fabric fragment the team mistook for part of one of Team Taxonomy's scarves had given them hope… until they realized it was merely a shredded and unusable fragment of a Power Band, whose fabric was still undyed beyond the faintly ruddy tinge the Distortion left while changing it. A book-like shadow against the wall had raised their hopes as well... only to turn out to be a stack of rocks in front of a hole with a wisp of earth-fire. And so it went, with every meager lead the team fumbled upon turning out to be naught but a dead end…
"Bah… how long is it going to take to find a stupid book?!"
Literally in the case of the first ruin-like portion the team had run across on this floor- much to Elty's growling consternation. The team found themselves in a square-ish chamber whose brick walls were engraved with strange, dot-like glyphs, offering nowhere to go but back down the passage from where they entered...
"Well, Wally said that he and the rest of Team Taxonomy dropped it while they were fleeing," Nida sighed. The Nidoran scratched a mark into the wall to make sure they didn't wander back into this room later, and shook her head. "And the Distortion shifts things around, so…"
"So we're searching for a needle in a haystack," Elty spat. "Fantastic-"
Pat-pat-pat
Everyone looked around, hearing a small, pattering sound. It stopped, then after a moment of silence, kicked up again.
"Whuh- What's that noise?" Pleo asked. It didn't take long for it to become apparent the noise was of approaching footsteps. Worse, the sound of distant voices joined in, reverberating from further down the passage.
"Sounds like a dead end," one of the voices said. "You're sure the intruders went this way?"
"These are their tracks, and this is their scent! It has to be them!"
Team Traveller blanched as a creeping realization came over them that the Pokémon speaking were…
"It's ferals," Elty whispered. "And they're blocking the passage we came from!"
"Eh?!" Pleo squawked. "B-But there's no other way out of this chamber!"
Nida stood stunned for a moment, before shaking some sense back into her head, and fanning her barbs out from her pelt.
"Come on," she murmured. "Let's see if we can try and get out of here without a fight."
The Nidoran led her teammates along, Elty walking beside her, Pleo behind her, only to come to an abrupt stop as a murky shape began to take form down the passage. The spike ball twitched her whiskers and flicked her ears, but couldn't seem to get a firm bead on what the approaching creatures might be.
"Hey! Are you friendly?!" she shouted. "We just want to head back out of this chamber!"
"Hrmph," a voice called back. "It's nice to want things!"
The sound of footsteps approaching rang out and hushed whispers of "that way!" and "come on!", which made Nida fidget nervously. They needed to get through to these Pokémon somehow, but… how?
She cast a glance at her raised barbs, and the thought came to her. Maybe a warning spike would get the ferals to turn back?
"We're serious!" she cried. "If you keep coming at us, we will fight back!"
Nida flicked a barb down the corridor, and watched as it sailed out of sight into the darkness. After the expected faint plink of a barb slowed by such range landing against the ground...
"Ow!"
...came the sound of a loud yelp, followed by the sounds of hurried footsteps, with a small, brown creature darting into the room. The Pokémon had a bony head with line-like markings under the eyes- Eh?!
Nida watched as the Pokémon tugged at the ossified snout and pulled it lower against her face. So it wasn't a head at all, but a helmet!
"Rrr!"
More importantly, there was a glaring scowl over her face, and a barb stuck in the side of her foot. The Cubone plucked the spike out, shook some feeling back into her wounded foot, and shot a harsh glare in Team Traveller's direction. Nida's ears drooped and her heart sank as she realized the Pokémon was glaring at her precisely because of her attempt to try and warn them off.
"Er… oops... I mean, I did warn you- Agh!"
Before Nida, Elty, and Pleo could talk the creature down, the lined-skull Cubone charged ahead with three helmeted companions: a runty-looking Cubone whose gait betrayed a nervous unease, a larger Cubone with a reed in her mouth, and a final Cubone with a darker-colored helmet than the others. Then Lines, Reed-chewer, Dark-skull, and the runt split into two groups, charging in pairs at Nida and Elty. Nida yelped and hopped back as Lines swung at her head with a bone before running past her along with the reed-chewer. From the corner of her eye, she saw Elty weave out of the way of a club swing by the small Cubone at his leg.
"Świetnie, it's Cubone," Elty snarled, before leaping back from the runt's swipe. "Just the ugly little faces that I needed to run into down here!"
Nida sprinted ahead to try and get some space from her attacker to mount a counterattack, and, after a harried sprint, whirled around to see the dark-skulled Cubone charging her.
"Stand your ground and fight, intruder!" the creature growled. Wait a minute, this was only one Cubone, and not even the one that she stung earlier! Then, where had the other-?
"Gyaaah!"
The creature lost his concentration at the sight of the reed-chewer pinwheeling in an overpowering gust of wind along the dungeon floor into an opposite wall. Without thinking, Nida shifted the bag on her back to the ground, and grabbed the long, wooden-feeling Confuse Wand inside while the dark-skull was still distracted by his teammate getting back onto her feet. The Nidoran pulled it out, almost tripping over in the process as the Cubone in front of her began to run at her...
And swung it.
Tink
The outermost layer of glass on the wand shattered into pieces, flinging a barrage of glowing yellow orbs at Nida's foe. The orbs dissipated, leaving the flinching Ground-Type to stagger disorientedly from their effect as the sound of a loud smack rang out.
"Gwark!"
Nida turned, and saw that Lines had headbutted Pleo from his underbelly and sent him tumbling along. The little Lugia got back up with a panicked squawk and desperately attempted to break away from Lines and the reed-chewer's pursuit.
Elty still had the runty Cubone hounding him, the creature swinging wildly at the Growlithe's head to no avail as he weaved and sidestepped around the forceful, though slow swings.
"Yoink!"
Until during one of the swings, he grabbed his attacker's club and wrenched it free with his maw, pulling the Cubone into a stunned and wide-eyed pratfall.
"A-Aah! My bone!"
"Nyeh!" the Fire-Type taunted, his teeth clamped firmly down on the runt's club. "Not so tough without it, are ya?"
"My bone- You- You stole my-" the creature stuttered, before it threw itself to its feet in a blind panic.
"A-Aah! G-Give it back! Give it back!"
The Fire-Type turned and saw that the small Cubone was now charging him, head lowered, with the desperate, dangerous look of a cornered Pokémon in its eyes. Before Elty could react, he felt a sharp pain on his stomach and tumbled along the ground with a yelp. The bone fell out of his grasp and slid along in front of him as the Growlithe gasped for air, seeing the little Ground-Type running for his position.
"Ack! Alright, alright!" the Growlithe yipped. "Take it back!"
Elty clamped his jaws back down onto the purloined club and flung it behind the Cubone. Without a further thought, the Ground-Type abandoned his pursuit of the little dog and beelined for the club as if it were his heart torn from his little body. During his reprieve, Elty staggered up and started to nurse his tender flank as the sound of a stick clattering to the ground, followed by a loud blow, rang out.
"Nrgh!"
The Growlithe whirled and saw that Dark-skull had knocked away the Confuse Wand from Nida's grasp, only for the Nidoran to counter with a stiff kick at the Cubone's belly. When the Poison-Type drew her leg back and reared up to attempt a second spinning kick to the Ground-Type's stomach, the creature rolled to the side and left Nida to continue sailing on head over heels into the ground.
"Oof!"
The sound of the spike ball tumbling was followed by a flinch-worthy thwack and the loud, shrieking cry of a distressed Nidoran. Elty saw Nida on the ground thrashing, club still pressed against the place where it struck her head, and without thinking further, darted for the poison rabbit. As he closed the gap, the Cubone lifted his club high, ready to bring back down on its foe.
There was no time to do anything… except act.
"Hey, ugly!" he barked. "You've got this 'hothead' thing all wrong!"
Elty inhaled and spat a cone of cinders at the lizard, engulfing its back.
"Eyaaah!"
The Cubone flailed and staggered before it slumped over and fell on the ground, slipping out of consciousness as Nida panted on the ground, still jolted and wide-eyed from her encounter. For a moment, a feeling of pity swept over the Growlithe.
"O-Oi! Are you alright?!" he cried. Elty caught himself and shook his head, growling gruffly as he reminded himself that he just needed her to hang in until they could get back to Aisle Town. "G-Get it together, spike ball!"
"I- I'm fine," Nida said, getting back up to her feet as she eased back into a tensed stance. "I just got a little over- Eh?! You're on fire!"
Elty paused and chuckled a little. He knew that it was a timely save, but this rabbit sure was easy to impress.
"Heh, well, I mean I do-"
"Literally, Elty!"
"Huh?!" he yelped. And sure enough, on his back were the lingering, smoldering remains of embers that flickered for a moment before finally dying, leaving the Growlithe to stare stupefied...
"I didn't know I could do- Ack!"
Until he felt a sudden, dull pain against his hindquarters and tumbled to the ground, followed by the sudden weight of a creature pouncing on him from behind.
"You stole my bone!"
Gah! Why couldn't the stupid lizard let him enjoy his moment a little?! Elty felt claws digging into his pelt, trying to hold him down in place. Without thinking, he jerked his head up, felt something brush against his muzzle and clamped down onto the runt for dear life.
A loud shriek filled his ears, and the Growlithe felt another blow against his head. And another- but he didn't dare let go… until suddenly, the shrieking stopped.
"N-Nrgh…"
The Cubone went limp and fell on his flank. Elty hastily unclenched his jaws and pulled himself free, his vision starting to blur as his head felt lighter…
"P-Pay more attention!"
He could see that Nida was standing in front of him, along with the groaning runt sprawled out behind with a spike lodged firmly in his back. Those lizards had done a number on the rabbit, with how ragged and worn down she looked, she had to be feeling about as awful as he was...
"A-Ack! Nida! Elty! H-Help!"
And the mewa was still in trouble and need of help. The lined-eyed Cubone had clambered up his back and was alternately landing blows and hanging on as Pleo lurched wildly along the ground; meanwhile, the Cubone with the mouth-reed was chasing him from behind, and attempting to pounce and swat at him.
"I don't think I'll last much longer like this," Elty grunted. "If we're going to pull through, we need to make these next few moves count!"
The Growlithe then summoned a series of dancing blue sparks onto his body, and ran up and tagged Nida to let a blue aura pass onto her. As the Nidoran felt a surge of vigor through her body, the dog barrelled on towards Pleo to likewise tap him before the charge faded.
"I'll try and give Pleo a boost!" he cried. "Just don't let that other Cubone get to him!"
Nida turned to see the reed chewer, and saw that she was almost upon Pleo. She had to do something, but the Confuse Wand was all the way on the other side of the room! How was she ever supposed to catch up with it?! Unless…
Nida quickly dumped out the contents of the satchel, and without thinking, grabbed a big and bulky object in her paws…
"Oi! Bonehead!" she cried out. "Swat at this!"
And sent it flying at the Cubone's head. As she watched a red missile sail in an arc through the air, Nida realized… Wait a minute! That wasn't supposed to be an apple!
Thwack!
"Ow!"
The Cubone stumbled for a moment and whirled to look at the apple next to her. It had clearly not been that great of a Gravelerock substitute, but at least it managed to distract her.
Nida sprinted for the Cubone, the creature hastily whirling around to try and brace herself for the Nidoran's charge, only for Nida to stop at a distance.
"Nr-hrk!"
Rather than rush headlong at the creature, she caught the Ground-Type in her stomach with a barb, sending the reptile bowling over in shock.
"Argh!"
The sound of a loud burst rang out from Pleo's direction, prompting Nida and Elty to whirl towards him. He had finally flung Lines off and hit her with a Weather Ball, one that looked a bit more forceful than normal thanks to Elty's Helping Hand. As the two remaining Cubone staggered back to their feet for battle, Nida noticed that they were in a rough line with one another…
And at one end, in the air above, was Pleo, bringing a burst of wind together between his wings.
Whoosh!
Sending an overpowering wind at the lined-skull Cubone that had so harried him, sweeping her up and sending her tumbling along…
Thwam!
Directly into her reed-chewing counterpart, bringing the two to a stop in a groaning pile atop each other as the room became quiet barring the sound of tired panting.
"Hahh… hahh…"
Although the Cubone had been defeated, the Ground-Types had left their mark on the team. Elty was visibly tottering; Nida winced at the tail end of hops forward; and Pleo's course through the air was as erratic and unsteady as his gait darting along the ground.
"Ugh… I really didn't want to use the Oran Berries this fast," she said, shaking her head. "Come on Elty, let's start with you."
The Nidoran went back over to the pile of items she dumped out of the team satchel, and fished out an Oran Berry that now looked about as bruised as the lot of them. She stripped away the rind as she and Pleo made their way over to the stricken Fire-Type as Pleo weakly chirped.
"I didn't think the little Pokémon would be so strong," he murmured
"Oh trust me, they're trouble. They hit way harder than they look, and you can't knock around their heads easily," Elty grunted, wincing from the juice of the berry as it seeped into a scrape on the back of his head. "That's something I've known even before I put my old scarf on and started sailing around."
"Everything's trouble when you're trying to steal from other Pokémon, Elty," Nida grumbled. The Nidoran moved the crushed berry to a spot on Elty's flank, when she felt a nervous peck at her shoulder.
"E-Erm… Nida?" Pleo stammered.
The Nidoran's ears flicked as she heard the sound of groaning coming from the dark-skulled Cubone. The Ground-Type was starting to stir from the spot where he slumped over after Elty's Ember.
"Nrgh… is that tubby furball still there?"
"Oi!" Elty growled, folding his ears back irkedly. "It's fur, not-"
"Not now, Elty!" Nida quickly whispered before dropping the remains of the Oran Berry at Elty's feet. "Eat the rest, we'll worry about patching ourselves up when we're away from here!"
Elty snatched up the partly-crushed berry and snarfed it down as Nida haphazardly shoveled the pile of objects on the floor back into her satchel. The three Pokémon hurried back down the corridor, as Dark-skull dragged himself back to his feet.
"Oi! Get back here!" he huffed at the corridor. "Wherever you are! Stay here and fi-!"
"Urgh, not so loud," a weak, but chastising voice groaned.
One after the other, the rest of the Cubone began to stumble to their feet. They inspected each other's wounds and picked at the spines that the little blue rodent left in them, all the while trying to piece together what had just happened.
"Argh, was that also part of your lorekeeping, Shugodeshi?" Lines' pile companion grumbled, as she staggered up to feel for her missing chew-reed. "If I'd known you'd get me and my patrol beaten like this, I wouldn't have followed that bird!"
"Nrgh... it's not my fault, Machitabi!" Lines, evidently known as 'Shugodeshi' answered with a shake of her head. "That picture didn't say anything about it being so tough!"
"Th-This could be dangerous!" the small Cubone cried, clutching his bone anxiously against his chest. "Wh-What if it's a y-yajū?!"
"Don't worry about it, we'll tell the colony," the line skulled Cubone said, as she glared down the corridor and grumbled under her breath.
"This isn't over."
A little while after sunset, Pladur and Crom waved off a disappointed-looking Delibird at a Storage shop nestled among the treetops, much as they had done with all her neighbors along the riverside walkway. The two had begun their search shortly after Crom returned back to the Siglo Swello after Maranda's debrief. There, after informing the crew, a few small teams were instructed by Beatrix to change back into their more normal blue-and-whites, and snuck back off into the town when the guards were distracted.
Though with how unfruitful their circuit starting from the local Kecleon shop was, Crom couldn't help but wonder if the change of scarves even made a difference. Father and son carried along, mulling over what little they had managed to glean in this leg of their search for Team Traveller.
"Well, he definitely came along this river, at least… All of the shopkeepers on this path remember seeing him," the Fraxure murmured to himself. "But it doesn't sound like any of them really met with him other than those Pokémon at the Kecleon shop. They were Bader, and… 'Alfonso', right?"
All of the places they had tried so far had proven to be dead ends for finding the Pokémon Maranda had said to have helped the team escape. Why would the Pokémon even want to keep it a secret? Wouldn't helping Pleo be something they were proud of, even if they didn't know he was a Protector?
Suddenly, the sound of some excited chattering came from up ahead. The Druddigon and his father peeked and saw that it came from a large-ish hut in the shape of a Drapion's head. Beyond its entrance, a handful of children darted about a colorfully decorated space in front of a counter, playing with Substitutes, stone blocks, and one another. Towards the front, one such group consisting of a Rattata and a Wingull were wrapped up in a simple game with a Bunnelby where they tried to guess what the rabbit was hiding under his small, gray paws, evidently expecting a stone or a stick. Why, this must be...
"A day care? What about this place, Crom?" Pladur asked. "You said the Protector was young, right? Maybe he'd want someone to play with?"
The Druddigon paused, and tilted his head skeptically at the sight of the Day Care. It wasn't what came to mind as a first place the team would have gone to, but...
"I guess it's something Nida and Elty might have done," Crom murmured. The little dragon carried along with his father to the three young Pokémon in the midst of their guessing game, before interrupting with a wave behind the Rattata.
"Hey!" he cried. "Have you seen a white bird?"
The three turned their attention to the pair of larger, tough-looking Dragon Pokémon. The Bunnelby and the Wingull traded quizzical looks with each other, while the Rattata abruptly froze and went rigid; his red eyes widening and focusing on the tall blue-and-red reptile before it.
"A-Aah…"
"He's about as tall as me, and has wings that open out wide like this-" Crom began, spreading his arms and claws along with his wings. Unfortunately, it had the inadvertent effect of making the craggy, sharp-mawed creature seem even bigger than he had first appeared to the unnerved Rattata.
"AAAAAAH!"
The sight sent the small rat screaming and leaping to the surprised shock of his playmates, running deeper into the hut, crying out all the while:
"Auntie Paige! Auntie Paige! Th-There's a monster at the door!"
"H-Huh?!" Crom stammered. The racket was followed shortly afterwards by the sound of heavy, tapping footsteps as a looming Drapion scuttled over. As was her kind's practice, she carried a curiously watching party on her back consisting of three Skorupi, a Chingling, a Weedle, and a Budew, leaving the shivering Rattata to hide behind one of her forelegs.
"It's alright! It's alright!" she reassured, trying to nudge the rodent out with a pincer. "They won't hurt you! You see their scarves, don't you?"
"B-But they're big and have teeth and claws!" the violet rat squeaked. "And-! And-!"
"Eh?!" Crom protested. "But you just ran to hide behind a Pokémon with bigger teeth and claws than us!"
The Rattata stubbornly refused to budge, and continued to shrink behind his caretaker's leg, poking his head out and twitching his whiskers warily. The Drapion sighed, and shook her head as she began to explain the reason for her charge's lack of nerves.
"Apologies for the wariness," the Poison-Type said. "He's still recently arrived from feral company and doesn't fully trust some Pokémon of our sort yet."
That… would actually explain a lot. Back home on Tromba, some ferals would bring their children over to the Day Care to be watched over for a part of their youth so they could grow a bit without the pressures of their lifestyle. When they came, they usually brought along some habits from feral life; sometimes these habits simply didn't go away, leading them to drift back to their old lives instead of staying in town after a few seasons (even if Crom had trouble envisioning the skittish little rat before him having the bravery to return to the wilds).
"Were you looking for a little brother of yours or something?" the Poison-Type chittered. "I don't believe anyone's brought in a Druddigon today."
"Oh, er… have you seen a white seabird come here?" Pladur asked. "About as tall as my son here, blue markings, accompanied by a Nidoran and Growlithe?"
"Sorry," the Drapion replied, shaking her head. "I've seen the Pokémon you're talking about, but he only passed by. Wouldn't he be a bit old for my services, anyways?"
Crom reflexively opened his mouth to try and explain how Pleo was young enough to be here, only to catch himself after realizing that the explanation might let on a bit more than was wise. Disappointed frowns crept over the faces of the two Dragon-Types, as they realized that this place too was but another dead end.
"I see," the Fraxure answered, shaking his tusked head. "Well, thank you for the help anyways."
The two left the Day Care, and made their way back onto the path. As the chattering of the children faded into the background, Crom gave a low grunt and prodded at his father.
"Is there anywhere else left to check, dad?"
The Fraxure looked ahead to see Bader and 'Alfonso's' shop from earlier, meaning that they'd seen everything in their search circuit. The Fraxure reluctantly turned back to his child.
"I don't think so, Crom... and it's getting late," Pladur sighed, shaking his head. "Let's head to that tavern we picked as a meeting place to see how everyone else is doing."
The two dragons turned and retraced the path, following the river's course past the lively, if peculiar, sensations of the town in the evening. Many of the shops they had passed were starting to shut for the night. A raft with crates that smelled of gummis floated lazily down the river, thanks to the efforts of a Volbeat pilot and a red and blue Basculin pushing from behind. A group consisting of a Venipede, Purrloin, and Tepig pressed a partly-obscured black form about 'can't you can tell us what happened?' on some docks near a tree trunk below.
Finally, the pair came to a wooden shack perched in a mangrove's branches overlooking the harbor, raucous chatter emanating from inside it. As they stepped in the open doorway, they saw a wooden hall with long, low tables, stump-seats, and clay cups set out for a motley gathering of sailors of all shapes and sizes. There were an Escavalier and Accelgor arguing in slurred tones over 'stolen armor' at a corner table. By the counter, a large and aged-looking Clawitzer with a white scarf with a red saltire wound around a belt under her head's exoskeleton perched on a stool with a clay cup full of drink and a rag in a bowl of water to stay hydrated set out in front of her, muttering something about 'sailors these days' under her breath...
"Crom! Pladur! Over here!"
And of course there were the Raichu, the Servine, the blotch-headed Scyther, and the waving Swellow, all perched around a table towards the back. The lot of them murmured among each other as they pecked at a crude map with little doodles spread out before them, moving their appendages over various points that were marked out.
"Hey!" Pladur cried. "Any luck?"
Crom and Pladur's companions lowered their heads, giving quiet shakes as one after the other, they delivered a disappointing chorus of "Nope"s and "Sorry"s.
"Yeah, I didn't think so," the Fraxure sighed, as he and his son joined their teammate at the table.
"We've gone through half the town by now!" Crom exclaimed. "Just how many places are there left that Pleo could have gone to?"
"Hrm? Looking for someone?"
The worn-shelled Clawitzer from the counter scuttled over to their table, she seemed to still be damp, as a moist on the floor following her course evidenced. For a sea creature, she seemed to have a remarkable sense of balance on land, steadying her unevenly-sized body by resting upon a curled tail. The shrimp peered at the group with a piercing, if curious gaze.
"Oh! Er… yes, a friend of ours, actually," Crom explained, putting a claw to the back of his head. "He's a seabird. White feathers, about this tall, blue markings..."
"Hrm? If he's a seabird, couldn't you all just agree to meet up at the shrine or the docks if you got lost?" the Clawitzer questioned. "They wouldn't be that hard to spot for a Pokémon that can fly."
Some uneasy glances went around the group. After a few mental fumbles, the Raichu from the Siglo Swellow hastily cleared his throat and offered up an explanation that would hopefully seem plausible to the inquisitive Water-Type.
"Uh, well… you see," the Raichu interrupted. "He kinda got here before us."
"Yeah, what Philips said! We got caught up in that storm a couple of days ago," the Servine added. "The kid got separated from our ship's aerial detail.
"A storm? Just where are you all from?"
"No es obvio?" Kiran answered. "Tromba!"
"Oh, so like the Company crew at the docks right now, then," the Clawitzer nonchalantly replied. The Pokémon around the table froze and blanched at the shrimp's words. As some of the patrons began to cast wary glances at Crom and the others, the six searchers thought that they noticed a satisfied glint in their interrogator's eyes, only for her to shake her head and break the silence.
"Hrm, well, I can't say that I've seen any Pokémon that really fits your description but..." she trailed off. "If you happened to know your friend's species…"
"Ah… er…" Pladur stammered.
"We don't know how to say it in common speak!" Kiran squawked. "Solamente Trombense! So it's not like it would be a big help…"
"Yeah, we were just headed back out to search!" Ander hastily buzzed, as the six quickly dumped some coins on the table to cover a few drinks, and then got up and darted out of the tavern. The group ducked down a side passage, and only after putting a good enough distance between them and the shack, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Th-That was way too close," Pladur said.
"Isn't she a nosy one?" the Servine spat. "For a second I thought she was going to just go ahead and ask why we weren't wearing lavender on our necks!"
"What should we do next? It's getting late and Kiran and I still haven't found any lead beyond a few sightings..." Ander buzzed. "Are we better off staying the course? Or try a different tactic here?"
"Well... we've been double-checking more than we'd like," Kiran sighed, shaking out his plumage. "Maybe if we went in bigger groups, we'd cover the places we searched more thoroughly."
"You might have a point there, Kiran," Philips murmured. "Natrix and I will take Pladur into our group, and his kid's your pupil normally right? We'll take the south side, and you take the north. We'll switch things up again if we haven't found anything by lunch tomorrow."
"Right!" Crom grunted. "We can do that!"
As the three parties of two became two parties of three, the Shuckle's Juice Bar they had left returned to its normal bustle, and the aged Clawitzer scuttled back to her place at the counter. On her way, she chanced to notice an indigo thread clinging to the hem of her scarf, and with a pluck from her smaller claw, snipped it and tossed it away.
"Hmph, I see courtesy's become a rarity in these times," she grumbled. "Hey, barkeep. Got a refill?"
"Oh? Coming right up!" the Shuckle replied. The bug grabbed a clay cup set aside under the counter and poured some fluid in a pitcher before passing it along to the shrimp. As the Water-Type nudged the cup towards herself with her smaller claw and returned to her drinking routine, the barkeep absent-mindedly turned the conversation to the abruptly departed customers.
"So what brought you up here out of the water anyways?" he asked while fetching a berry from the shelf on the back wall and throwing it into his shell. "You do know that I take orders from the dock at the trunk outside, right?"
"Eh, I'm already used to spending a little time out of water here and there," the shrimp said, twitching her antennae as she nipped at the fresh cup. "Besides, I wanted to find out what was going on, and you only get half the picture of what's going on if you stay in the water."
"That's why you went over to that shifty group back there, huh?" he mulled. "You suppose they were trying to hide something?"
"Oh I'm sure they are, though it's probably just smuggling or something of that ilk," the shrimp answered. "Though, changing the subject a bit… There was a Company ship that came in and stirred up trouble before the one in port now, right?"
"Yes…?"
"Mind telling me a bit about what happened back then?"
Like Mystery Dungeons, the one on Kenobi Island had its own stable zones. Most of the small ones were unclaimed by the locals, and provided pockets of shelter for Rescue Teams that had lost their way in the maze.
"You know, nothing is gonna appear out of that fog no matter how hard you stare at it, " a Marowak with a scar from a claw swipe on his back said. The scarred lizard shook his head before turning to his companion, a fellow Marowak with a bone club broken at one end.
"Bah, that's what an intruder would want you to think!" she retorted. "You've gotta keep your eyes trained ahead, paying attention for any little disturbance..."
The larger stable zones, like the one these two Bone Keeper Pokémon defended, were usually occupied by the Pokémon of the dungeon. It had been a long, uneventful day for the pair watching over the small, but steep ledge emptying out into the fog ahead- until the sound of a faint shuffling suddenly reached their ears.
"Ah! Like that!" the broken club's wielder grunted, as she drew her club and braced herself for battle. Her partner did likewise, and cautiously rapped a few beats onto a rock by his feet.
The entrances to such claimed shelters were guarded, with sound and smell the key differentiators between friend and foe for the sentries. The noises and scent of the Pokémon ahead were usually enough to make weaker or more easily cowed intruders turn tail at once. And as for their friends…
Tap tap tap-tap tap
The sound and rhythm of a local's bone-message was enough to dissuade their unease. The two Marowak relaxed their stances, the Marowak with the broken club calling off into the fog...
"Come on through!"
...and watched the battered forms of four Cubone shuffle out of the fog and up the ledge, their condition immediately drawing cries of concern from the duo of guards.
"Ack! You all look terrible!" the scarred Marowak cried.
"Come on, quick!" his partner added. "We'll summon the healer!"
The four Pokémon limped along towards the light down the passage as a message was tapped into the rock behind them, signifying that wounded members of the colony had returned from the maze beyond the fog. As the four approached, it became evident that the light was from a fire at the center of a spacious chamber, started by a small vent of earth-fire and kept alive with a stream of sticks and other combustibles gathered from the Mystery Dungeon. The walls were marked with paintings and runes with eyes in them styled after the Unown that shared the dungeon, while a handful of holes in the cave roof let in foggy light from above. The sides had narrow, but tall dens bored into them where groups of Cubone and Marowak would sleep. In the back was a mound of dirt with a scavenged and beaten exposure chest on it where the colony's leader slept and perched. Finally, a collection of dot-like glyphs could be seen behind the chest.
Not that the four Cubone could really notice them. A crowd of concerned compatriots rapidly gathered around them, their concerned cries echoing off of the stone walls of the chamber..
"Machitabi?! What happened?!"
"We heard your patrol was wounded!"
A Marowak holding a clawful of Oran Berries darted out of a burrow, led along by an anxious-looking Cubone with rounded eye-holes in his helmet, and set about inspecting the four creatures' wounds. The healer peeled and squeezed the berry, revealing its contents to be unusually thick and syrupy with glimmering grains, and began dabbing the strange fluid on their wounds one after the other. The four Cubone traded looks with each other, before the reed-chewer known as 'Machitabi' spat out her chew-twig and grunted irkedly back at the voices in the crowd.
"Shugodeshi got us beaten up by an intruder," she winced, as the healer dabbed the thick, syrupy juice against some bruises and scrapes. "What was your excuse again? 'Lore-gathering'?"
"How was I supposed to know that would happen?" the line-skulled Cubone growled. "The picture that I saw this morning in that book the defilers dropped didn't say anything about that bird being so tough!"
"Well of course not!" the Cubone with rounded eye-holes interjected. "When Tetsuzui-sama showed it to the two of us, we saw it was in town runes and not the sacred inscriptions that- Wait a minute… 'this morning'?"
"Your training's during the evening, and I've been keeping that book in my perch when we're not looking at it," a gruff voice interrupted. Its owner, a Marowak with a femur club that had a gray, metallic tinge to its surface came to the fore, giving Shugodeshi a stern look. "Unless you'd care to explain something that I, your tutor, and Zokuchō of this colony don't already know of."
The gathering went silent as the crowd's eyes focused on the line-skulled student in the center. Acutely aware that she had been made the center of attention, the Ground-Type fidgeted and attempted to deflect an incoming earful about breaking colony propriety.
"I… er… overheard the intruders?" Shugodeshi sheepishly offered. "Th-They said that a 'Wally' set them up to coming here! Wasn't that what the leader of the defilers called himself?"
Some whispering went about the gathered bone lizards, as they realized… that was the name of the banana-saur and his cohorts who had disturbed the burial grounds just two days ago.
"That's right! It was!"
"Now that you mention it, one of the defilers did call himself 'Wally!'"
As the colony's members murmured, a few voices started to become upset that these 'defilers' had dared to return to their territories, even by proxy. Others started to become anxious, as perhaps these others were a sign that the defilers turned the 'knot-necks' from the town below against them on false pretenses in order to do as they pleased to their sacred place.
But everything started to quiet down as it became apparent that the leader Marowak with the metallic club had started smirking, her elderly eyes alight with an impish, knowing expression.
"Tetsuzui-sama, what's that look for?" the dark-skulled Cubone asked.
"I think I have an idea of what these intruders are after," the Marowak answered, casting a glance back at the chest on the mound at the end of the chamber. "Perhaps we could use it to get an explanation of what happened at our burial grounds."
Excited chattering began to fill the chamber. Their leader had something that the defilers wanted? Then… as long as she could lure their cohorts in, the colony had a way to exact justice on them! Then what were they waiting for? It was time to rush off and confront them right away! One voice after another volunteered themselves for the effort, as their leader turned back to the four wounded Cubone.
"Rest up, I'll go arrange for an appropriate greeting for this group," she said. The Marowak turned to return to their chamber, when a young voice suddenly cried out.
"Wait!"
The Marowak paused, before turning towards the direction of Shugodeshi. The little Cubone had stepped forward, and was giving the same sort of awkward look that a prideful creature pleading for some favor might have.
"Tetsuzui-sama, I know that I'm not in my best shape, yes… And, maybe I was a bit reckless earlier," the Ground-Type murmured. "But... if it's not too much trouble. May I join?"
"Huh?!" the runty Cubone squeaked in a start. "Sh-Shugodeshi!"
"Us too, Zokuchō!" the patrol leader grunted.
"E-Eh?! Machitabi?! You too?! " the little Cubone protested. "But we're-!"
"Getting a chance to get even, Keikaiashi!" the dark-skull explained. "Don't you see?"
The runty Cubone paused a moment. While the yajū were tough and intimidating, that bone-thief was with them! And, well… even he had to admit that he wouldn't want to pass up a chance to give that thieving mutt a piece of his mind if it was safe...
"It's part of my duties as a lorekeeper-in-training to learn as much as I can for the colony," Shugodeshi responded, before shaking her head. "And besides… I want a rematch."
The Marowak paused and pondered, before finally giving a smiling nod.
"Very well, then. Be prepared for battle," she answered. The elderly Marowak looked back at the chest on her mound, and then down the passage at the fog beyond. After this pause, the creature shook her head, and continued on confidently. "Though I don't think we'll need to resort to knocking heads around… beyond the fog, anyways."
After twilight gave way to the deeper parts of the night, the full array of stars filled in the heavens, and glass and paper lanterns started to get set out in front of the various abodes of Mossaisle Town. Against this backdrop, the bustle of the day began to simmer down as Pokémon started to retire for the night and trade places with a smaller cast of night owls. Among them was a Beheeyem, who tiredly chatted up a Slowbro in front of the gate to the Kenobi Island Guild.
"I might be a little late coming in tomorrow," the Beheeyem sighed. "I've got business in the morning to tend to."
"It's alright," the Slowbro said. "It's been a long day, so just make sure not to burn yourself out, you hear?"
The Beheeyem waved his counterpart off and began the weary telekinetic float along the way back home after a long day's work... The normal in-and-out pulling of teams was particularly taxing that day, no thanks to having to make an emergency extraction of that Tropius' team bright and early in the morning, or the second emergency extraction after the Grass-Type and his companions went back only a few hours later. After all that, any teleporter would've struggled to throw together the energy and focus to try and make another jump, let alone a jump into the cramped and obstruction-riddled second floor of a wooden shack.
The crescent moon in the sky glinted down on the Psychic-Type as he made his way down Aisle Town's narrow lanes and alleys. He passed a Gogoat and Piloswine arguing over a rough wooden cart laden with thatch blocking the normal path home with a snapped axle. The Beheeyem shook his head and proceeded down a detour past a low-roofed local eatery with a lavender-scarved Aerodactyl cheerily devouring a meal of soup and gummis.
At long last, the Psychic-Type's journey finally took him to one of the riotously-painted shacks that sat along one of Aisle Town's narrower streets. The shack had a gardening shop that sold flowers and sprouts on the ground floor, though its Sunflora proprietor had closed it an hour ago and retired to the burrow of a basement apartment next to the front entrance. More importantly, it also had a rickety wooden stairway up to the second floor that was the teleporter's home. As the Beheeyem floated sluggishly up the steps, beat from a long day's work, he fished out a small, ceramic key from a bag around his shoulder to undo the padlock he had bought for the door.
"Huh?!"
The creature noticed that the door was slightly ajar, and on closer inspection the padlock had been removed. It was common practice in many settlements in the Cradle for Pokémon that lived in buildings to not have locks (and occasionally doors at all) and rely upon a rotating group of neighbors and particularly trusted local guards to perform watch duty (not that there were many of those in Aisle Town with the Company's hiring policies in more recent history)...
Those Pokémon however, usually did not have things to hide from others, and he did. The Beheeyem dashed forward and threw the door open in a panic, and after darting inside, saw that his abode had been untouched. The bedding was still undisturbed, the storage chests didn't appear to be tampered with, everything seemed to be together from a glance...
Except, on the low, circular table next to the window, there was a bag filled to the brim with spiky reddish berries. The Psychic-Type darted over, and bent down to pick up the satchel on the table.
"Oh for crying out loud, Eeden," he grumbled. "If you're gonna drop another shipment on me, don't-"
SLAM
The Beheeyem jumped with a start, and whirled around to see a Yanmega, a Manectric , and a Marowak at the door in lavender scarves. As the Psychic-Type blanched and tried to puzzle out why the three had come, the trio made their way over and ringed the creature beside the table.
"Hey, it's 'Zamora', right?" the Manectric of the group asked. "You don't mind if we have a little chat, hm?"
"Uhm… I… guess I can?" the Beheeyem uneasily began. "If there was something that you needed me for, we could have met at a Juice Bar or something…"
"Oh don't mind us, we'll be out soon enough," Valatos said. "Just had a little matter that we needed to be discussed behind closed doors."
"Deals with something Company calls 'proprietary secrets' or something like that," Nori added.
"Erm, well," Zamora stammered. The Psychic-Type instinctively floated back, only to feel the ledge of the table bump against his rump, leaving him to gulp and try and placate the square-necked strangers. "What do you need to talk about?"
"We're looking for some Pokémon from the Andaku Docks that have been involved in some serious trouble up here," Valatos replied. "We think that they might've taken a job from your guild."
"A female Nidoran, a Gardie, and some strange white seabird with an ugly mug?" Nori questioned.
The Beheeyem stared for a moment, and after letting a brief flicker of relief cross his face, the creature shook his head.
"Sorry, haven't picked up a badge of any team that fits the description," he answered. "I did see a team with a Nidorino, if that helps, though…"
The response made the Marowak frown and give a grumbling whisper to Alvise.
"I told you they wouldn't have taken a job from here-!" he growled, only for the Manectric to cut him off.
"Cestìl, we're not done!" he piped, as the Yanmega ringleader of the group gave a loud buzz with his wings and cleared his throat.
"We figured. We were hoping that you could ask your buddy Eeden at the Andaku Guild for a bit of help. You know, your Drowzee friend? We need him to bend his guild's confidentiality rules and help us out a bit to track those runts down," Valatos grunted. "After all, the unofficial policy here might be to look the other way from what goes down down in Andaku, but there are limits. Stirring up trouble in the rest of the town goes well beyond them!"
"Buddy at the Andaku Guild?" Zamora scoffed. "Me? Hah! You're mistaken!"
"Explain the bag full of Lansat Berries, then," Alvise demanded, lowering his body into an expectant crouch. "Those aren't exactly cheap."
"S-So I like stocking up on fruit while it's in season!" the Beheeyem protested. "What's the big deal about that?"
"Hmm, really now…?" Valatos retorted.
The Yanmega nonchalantly dumped the bag out and a pile of red berries spilled onto the table along with a cloth pouch, a clay bowl, a pestle, and a pot with a spout. The Psychic-Type grimaced as the three Company Pokémon shot satisfied smirks at the now-paling creature.
"Care to explain where this junk comes from then?" Nori asked smugly. "Last I checked, this sort of stuff was used by apothecaries to make vitamins. And you need berries like Camula or Yatapi for that, not Sang."
"I- I've never seen any of that before in my life!" Zamora stammered. "Someone must have switched my bag!"
Alvise rolled its eyes and grabbed a scrap of paper lying amidst the pile of clutter from the bag. On it were some messy runes, which the Electric-Type unfolded and nonchalantly read aloud.
"'Zamora, meet me at Ryūbokuya when the Continent Tower's Traveller crosses the moon for the next batch. Need you to make the syrup at your place this time. Eeden'," the Manectric said. The wolf crumpled up and flicked away the slip.
"Got any other explanations you'd like to try?"
The Beheeyem blanched, and looked around in a panic. The Pokémon closed his eyes and began to make the sweeping motions of a teleport…
"Argh!"
… only to be cut off by a slashing gust of air. The Psychic-Type was sent flying into the wall with an audible crash, tumbling face-first to the ground. Before Zamora could get back up, he felt a pointed leg dig into his back, and turned his head to see Valatos smirking at him.
"Well now, I was going to say that we could understand if you had something a little shady going on since we've gone down that road ourselves," the Yanmega said. "But since you don't have anything going on, and that little stunt there obviously wasn't you 'resisting arrest', I guess it wouldn't hurt for us to go and tell-"
"A-Aah! Wait! Alright, alright!" the Beheeyem cried. "I'll talk it over with Eeden! Just- Just what do you need us to do?"
"We need you and your buddy to help us get the drop on the dweebs we told you about earlier," the bug replied.
The Psychic-Type got up, and after an uneasy pause, relented and shook his head. There couldn't be that much harm in playing along, could there?
"Alright, I think I can do tha-" Zamora began, only to come to abrupt, spluttering halt as he watched the Marowak of the group take out the cloth pouch from the pile, and rifle through a mix of gold and silver-colored coins.
"Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Oh, didn't we mention? We needed to cover a couple things for tomorrow," Nori explained. "Fair trade for the whole 'not ratting you out' bit, don't you think?"
The Psychic-Type froze, grimaced, and furrowed his eyes shut, burying his face into a hand. He could already tell, this was going to be an experience he'd be keen to forget about.
"Hey, don't worry about it, we know exactly what we're getting into," Alvise snickered. "Just play along, and this'll all be over before you know it."
Team Traveller continued on to the next floor after a long and circuitous search for the stairs. The Distortion shaped the floor they came upon into a maze of tight, twisty corridors composed of the same brickwork the ruinous sections of the last floors were. Interspersed among them were cavernous rooms, the only 'architecture' there to speak of consisting of speleothems and piles of stones. After their encounter with the Cubone, the three made a point of being more vigilant, stopping to sniff at the air, to listen for the paces of approaching ferals, to hop up onto rocks in order to gain a better vantage point…
"Yah!"
Including a couple that were a bit more alive than they first appeared and swung back at the team, only to be quelled by a pair of thumping kicks.
Thump! Thump!
"Gack!"
Much like the moody Geodude now splayed in a groaning heap against a nearby cave wall, leaving Nida to pant and shake her head.
"Okay, I should've been paying closer attention."
"No kidding!" Elty growled, casting a wary glance at the unconscious Rock-Type off by the wall. The Growlithe turned and began to continue down the ruin chamber the team came from.
"Look! Look! There's a shiny thing!"
Pleo suddenly turned and flitted off ahead towards a glistening green, teardrop-shaped jewel lying at a forking intersection. The little Protector alighted near the little bauble, noticing that it seemed to vibrate as he drew nearer, and craned his head down to peck at it with his beak...
Tink
...only for it to suddenly burst into pieces. Pleo screwed his eyes shut and flinched as he felt pointy shards glance off his body. After hearing the sound of small shards settling on the ground and Nida and Elty's rapidly approaching footsteps, he opened his eyes, and saw that in place of the jewel were glassy fragments scattered around his feet and a good distance ahead.
"A-Aah! It broke!" he cried.
"Well yeah, they're emeras. They break if they're disturbed too much or brought past the fog of a Mystery Dungeon," the Nidoran explained. "That's usually how Pokémon prefer them. Though maybe we can take some of these shards back to town with us and try to sell them…"
"Eh? Why's that?" Pleo asked, as he watched Nida stoop to gather up some of the shards into the team satchel.
"Well, it's said that their shards help the Distortion to change things inside them faster, so Pokémon like to put them in exposure chests to help give effects to things like scarves or the like," she answered. "Though, when you gather enough inside Mystery Dungeons, sometimes they'll come together and make a brand-new emera. It makes you wonder if they have abilities when they're unbroken, and maybe we're just missing something to draw them out…"
"Oh? But if Pokémon like using their shards, why wouldn't they just break ones that are already there?" Pleo asked. "Like all those emeras and boxes over there!"
The young Lugia gestured with a wing down the passage to the right, and into an approaching cave chamber. Inside, various emeras and exposure chests were scattered all around, the glittering sight making Elty's eyes light up.
"Hey! Not a bad find!" he yipped excitedly. The Growlithe darted off ahead past a line of Unown-shaped runes on the wall, as Nida and Pleo cried for him to wait before following after him in a hurry. Why, with a nose for treasure like that, maybe he oughta offer them a place aboard the Iron Fleet! He was going to go back anyways, and they were on the wrong side of the law already… so why not make lemonade out of lemons-?
"There they are!"
As the three crossed into the chamber, it suddenly burst into growling activity with forms leaping down from clefts in the walls and from behind the chests. A Roggenrola, a Clefairy, a Baltoy, and six Cubone, four seeming rather familiar, were all rapidly approaching on the team's position...
"A-Ack!" Pleo squawked. "N-Nida! It's a Monster House!"
The Nidoran froze and tensed her barbs and in a startled panic. As she struggled to think of what the three of them could do against such a big crowd, she suddenly felt a jerking tug at her bag and something getting pulled from it.
"Don't just stand there, spike ball!" Elty's voice barked.
"H-Huh?!"
Nida turned just in time to see the Growlithe pull out a glassy blue orb with his maw and fling it towards the center of the room where it dashed against the stony floor. Sparks and glass-like shards flew everywhere, as the Poison-Type realized it to be the Petrify Orb they took from Lyn's ship. One after the other, the mass of Pokémon froze in place and a few toppled over, able to do nothing but yelp and cry out in useless surprise as Elty stuck a tongue out at them.
"Nyeh!" he taunted. "How do you like them apples-?"
Just as the sound of something panting running into the room interrupted him, the culprit quickly being revealed to be a Tyrogue popping in from a passage on the left side.
"I'm not too late for the amb- Eh? What's going on here?!" the creature cried.
Team Traveller's members quickly darted in and sent a gout of fire, a flying spike, and a glowing ball after the Fighting-Type to try and quickly overpower him. Unfortunately, the feral caught sight of the incoming attacks and rolled so that they did little more than graze his body. The three braced themselves, expecting the Tyrogue to rush at them at once...
"Wh-What are you all just doing standing here?!" he yelped. "Come on! Help me!"
Only to kick up blue sparks on his body, and run about tagging and causing vaguely electric auras to settle upon the petrified Pokémon. The creatures wrenched themselves free, and much to Team Traveller's horror, stumbled back up to their feet and once again began to advance on the group. This time, appearing more energetic than they were before he threw the orb.
"...K-Kurczę," Elty gulped. "Forget this! We're getting out of here!"
The three Pokémon turned to bolt for the passage behind them...
"Not so fast!"
Only for four of the Unown-shaped runes they passed on the way into the chamber to shake off some dust, and reveal themselves to be actual Unown hiding among the strange script around them. The floating runes quickly interlocked with each other, forming a barricade in front of the way out with their bodies.
"You hut-dwellers aren't going anywhere!" one of the Unown hissed.
"Th-They're all around us!" Pleo cried.
And indeed they were. The three Pokémon backed into each other tighter and tighter as the Pokémon continued to advance on them. As their foes drew closer, it became evident why four of the Cubone seemed familiar...
"Well, I wasn't expecting the orb, but I told you that putting all the Lapis and intruder crates here as bait would work!"
It's because the four that ambushed them from the earlier floor had come back! The line-skulled Cubone was at the fore, leading her companions growling and glaring at her cornered quarry.
"Thanks a lot, Elty!" Nida growled. Ten Pokémon, and no way around them. Even with the items they had left in their bag, this was sure to be a hairy battle. Maybe… they could talk their way out of this one?
"Ehehe… if we let you keep this stuff, you'll let us go?" the Fire-Type offered. The Growlithe gave a nervous grin, folded his ears back, and even threw in a few tail wags to try and look endearing, but…
"You stole my bone!" the runty Cubone shouted.
Rrr…
Yeah, he didn't think it would work either.
"Not likely, Gardie!" the lined-skulled Cubone spat. "This time, I'm gonna strike first-!"
"Hold your club!" a gruff, coarse voice suddenly barked.
The gathered Pokémon of the Monster House looked around, before they saw a Marowak with something tucked under her free arm, perching on a small stone plinth jutting out of the ground. From the deferential looks and bows the Cubone gave, it seemed this creature was their leader, which elicited some confused-sounding words from the other Pokémon.
"Eh? What's she going on about?" the Clefairy asked.
"Yeah! They're intruders!" the Roggenrola cried. "So let's drive them out alrea-!"
The two abruptly shut up after the Marowak with the metal-looking club shot a withering glare at them. She was a fellow resident of the dungeon, and much stronger than them, no point in cutting her off, they supposed. The bone lizard cleared her throat and shifted her piercing gaze over to Nida, Elty, and Pleo, all of them moving heads and limbs near to their badges to try and slip away.
"Gyah!"
Which was quickly thwarted by the Marowak's metal bone sailing overhead, prompting the three to duck and hit the ground. The club arced and returned to its thrower's arm, who caught it and slung it across her shoulder.
"Going somehere so soon?" she huffed. The creature then grabbed at a red, bulky item under her arm, and let it flop open dangling from her free claw. "You three sure seem to be willing to go through an awful lot of trouble for intruders. You wouldn't happen to be looking for something, would you?"
As the three got back up, they warily began to inspect the object in the Marowak's claw. It seemed that it was a red-covered book, now dangling with its spine splayed along some pages filled with messy-looking script. Wait a minute...
"A-Ah!" Pleo squawked. "Is that Team Taxonomy's journal?!"
"Team Taxonomy? Oh, you mean the flying tree and his friends who defiled the burial grounds my colony watches over," the Marowak answered as she shifted her grasp on the ruddy tome and clamped it shut along its spine. "Yes, it's theirs."
"Wait, then just give it to us!" Nida squeaked, hopping up and down, flailing her paws. "That's what we need to complete our mission!"
"Yeah! We'll get out of here like you want and everything!" Elty added.
"Hrmph. I, Tetsuzui, Zokuchō of the Dungeon Colony and Slayer of the Kodora, don't just give away anything! Especially not to intruders like you," the Marowak scoffed. "Why don't you three come along and we'll have a talk at our colony's grounds, hmm? If I'm satisfied afterwards, I'll give it to you."
"Wait, this story about the Kodora again?" the Tyrogue groaned. "Didn't she just steal it from some town grave?"
"I'm pretty sure she did," one of the fresh Cubone grunted. "What kind of 'Slayer of the Kodora' only has a single bone to show for i-?"
The Cubone quickly caught his tongue and clamped his mouth shut, after noticing that Tetsuzui was now glaring at him, her bone slightly raised. As the Cubone nervously put some space between himself and the Marowak, Nida and Elty screwed their eyes shut in frustration, leaving Pleo to wonder aloud what had come over the two.
"Um… Nida? Elty? Why are you two frowning like that?" he asked. With a growling shake of his head, Elty glared back at the Marowak dangling the team's prize in front of their eyes.
"Grr… you're trying to blackmail us!" he spat. "Well, you've got another thing coming! There's no way that I'd ever-!"
"Oi! Tell your leader to butt out!" the Baltoy huffed impatiently at a smaller helmet clad lizard beside it. "I want to tan these three's hides already for that orb they threw at us!"
Elty bit his tongue as he noticed that the Pokémon around Team Traveller still appeared restless and aggressive, clearly itching for the chance to pounce upon them. The Marowak gave a small smirk before shaking her head.
"Or I can let you enjoy your company here and try to flee with one of your wall-talking friends while I give this 'journal' over to the colony's younglings," the Marowak on the plinth continued, pointing with her club at the still-glowering Monster House ringing the team. "The pages with pictures can be pressed up on their den walls for decorations, and I'm pretty sure the rest would serve well as bedding or kindling for our fires. Your choice."
Team Traveller paused, and stared blankly for a moment. Pleo watched as Nida and Elty's ears drooped, the Growlithe seeming particularly unpleased with the turn of events things had taken.
"Urgh…" Elty growled.
"Er… Nida?" Pleo whispered uneasily. "What should we do?"
"I don't think we have many options here," the Nidoran reluctantly said. She shook her head before meeting the Marowak's gaze. "Fine. We accept."
The Pokémon of the Monster House looked at one another, and then at the Marowak perched on the plinth. After realizing that they were serious, the different Pokémon went off their ways, leaving the intruders to the Cubone to deal with, if none too eagerly.
"Some ambush this was!" the Clefairy growled.
"You boneheads better punish them good!" the Roggenrola grumbled.
The Monster House dispersed, leaving behind six Cubone who rapidly circled around the members of Team Traveller, lest they had any second thoughts about the spike-ball's acquiescing to their leader's demands. The Marowak leapt off the plinth and made her way over to the group, giving a wary, inspecting stare at the three.
"Come along now," she demanded. "I'd prefer to ask my questions on some more stable ground. There's a few shortcuts we know for getting around this place, stick close and we'll arrive at our destination soon enough."
The Marowak turned and began to make her way off deeper in the dungeon. With a prodding shove, Nida, Pleo, and Elty were made to follow suit by their captors. Their instincts screamed to fight back or flee, only to remember that with the circumstances they'd left Team Taxonomy under, if they returned to Aisle Town without Team Taxonomy's journal, they'd be lucky if they were merely kicked back into the dungeon to search again.
For now then, perhaps it was best to play along… and to keep their paws and wings ready to go for their badges at a moment's notice.
Author's Notes:
- Świetnie - Polish: Interjection, roughly meaning "(Oh) Great"
- yajū (野獣) - Japanese: "beast" (Hepburn Romanization)
- (¿)No es obvio? - Spanish: "Isn't it obvious?"
- Solamente Trombense - Spanish: "Only Tromban"
- Zokuchō (族長)- Japanese: Title, roughly meaning "clan/family head", used here for name of leader position. (Hepburn Romanization)
- -sama (-様) - Japanese: Honorific, roughly analogous to "Lord/Lady" or "Sir/Ma'am" depending on context of usage. (Hepburn Romanization)
- Cestìl - Venetian: Interjection meaning "Shut up" or "Be quiet"
- Camula( no mi) (カムラのみ) - Japanese: "Camula (Fruit/Berry)". Language version name for "Salac Berry". (Official Romanization)
- Yatapi (no mi) (ヤタピのみ) - Japanese: "Yatapi (Fruit/Berry)". Language version name for "Petaya Berry". (Official Romanization)
- Lapis (ラピス) - Japanese: Language version name for "Emera(s)" (Official Romanization)
- Kodora (コドラ) - Japanese: "Lairon" (Official Romanization)
