VGS2's notes: Just in case you missed the memo last chapter… don't forget to read the sister fic, Questing For Comrades! (It actually has chapters, now!)
It'll have stuff that's canon to this fic, including an alternate/extended take on an upcoming battle which you won't see here! So you won't wanna miss out! And if you do wanna miss out, then you're strange, mate. XP
If you have read it, though, then don't worry. There'll be different stuff happening in this chapter, so don't be too quick to back out, bucko. XP
Chapter Five: The Specters
Still riding on Corsola's back as she floated on the lake, Buneary stared at the petrified forms of Snorlax and Golurk in quiet horror.
"What in the…? What happened to them!?" she yelped, utterly confused.
"You can ask that again!" Corsola replied. "They straight up got turned into stone, didn't they? Man, we sure missed out on a lot these past ten or so minutes we were gone, huh?"
"Y-Yeah... What even-… Oh…" Buneary shivered in fear. "Oh no. Does this mean Dark Matter's returned? Are we all doomed!?"
"… Dark… what?" Corsola asked, swimming towards the two petrified pokémon.
"Dark Matter! They say that it's some kind of demonic monster that threatened to destroy the world last year, by having everyone turned to stone. Oh, and by sending the planet into the sun! That's how the stories go, anyway."
"… You read some interesting stories, Buneary," Corsola replied in amusement.
Buneary pouted. "B-But… it really happened, though! It affected the whole of the Water Continent for weeks! Did you really never hear about it?"
Corsola's eyes widened slightly. "… Seriously? Huh. Well, I guess last year, before we went guild hunting this year, I was pretty busy with moving into Marine Resort with Whimsicott. Well, near Marine Resort, anyway. So I didn't have much time to keep up with any news…"
"Oh… okay." That would explain it, Buneary guessed. Even though it had been a hot topic for everyone at the time. Even on her home of Wellware Island.
Corsola swam even closer to Snorlax and Golurk's frozen forms. When close enough, Buneary saw some activity in the distance, on the land behind them.
Corsola gasped and pointed at it, apparently noticing, too. "Is… that Yamask? And who's that, above him?" she said.
Buneary squinted. As expected, she could see the wisp. However, he was collapsed on the ground with a pokémon standing over him menacingly. A marowak, from the look of its skull helmet… but a bit of a strange one.
Its scales were black, there was a strange skeleton pattern running down its back, and it was covered in loose bandages. Not to mention a multi-colored ribbon, which was wrapped around its arm.
It also had a treasure bag, which confused Buneary. Remembering Golurk's bag and his badge, though, the thought suddenly occurred to her: was this pokémon a member of Golurk's team? A member of the Donphan Guild, maybe?
The marowak moved into position for Buneary to see it better. Its front was rather flat and masculine, so… a man, maybe?
He suddenly grabbed the side of Yamask's flat face and slammed him into the floor.
Startled, Buneary yelped. "Wah! Yamask!" she called out.
"O-Ohhh, that's not good, is it?" Corsola said.
"Not at all!" Buneary's eyes widened. Wait… what was with all those purple fires clinging to Yamask's body? Was this pokémon the reason for Snorlax and Golurk turning to stone?
… No, no way. No pokémon could be evil enough to do something like that.
All the same, she had to stop this marowak! "I have to go!" she called out, charging energy in her feet. She leapt forwards from Corsola, shooting straight across the lake to smash into the marowak's chest.
He grunted loudly in pain and fell off Yamask. She stayed on his ribs as he crashed to the floor, ready to take further action. However, he didn't move afterwards, so he must have fainted.
She turned to check on Yamask. He looked heavily roughed up, and those purple fires were still lingering on him… but despite that, he was conscious. He was even smiling brightly in relief. "B-Buneary! You saved me!" he called out.
She smiled back at him just as brightly. "Oh, Yamask, I'm glad you're safe!" she chimed.
While readjusting the small bag of money on her waist, she noticed Corsola coming close to shore. "That goes double for me~!" she sang happily, waving to them.
"S-Same to you, girls!" Yamask replied, waving back to the coral.
Corsola grinned even brighter in response. Afterwards, she glanced around worriedly. "Good... legends, though, what the heck happened here!?"
"Well... Golurk, for one thing. Then his friend Marowisp showed up and made a scene. Even froze Snorlax with an orb…" He paused. "... I think they're friends, anyway."
"Yeesh, no kidding they made a scene!"
Buneary let out a breath. So they'd been petrified by an orb? And not some sort of ancient demon magic? That was reassuring…
She looked at the bear's petrified body. In fact, now that she was looking properly... she could see cracks running along the surface, growing bigger with each passing second. She'd heard that those turned to stone by the Dark Matter incident had literally been turned to stone. Here, it looked like this 'marowisp' bad guy had just trapped them in stone, instead. Nowhere near as bad.
"Gosh, I hope everyone'll be okay..." she murmured. "I'm glad it was just an orb that froze them, but…"
"I think they'll get by..." Yamask replied, shakily floating back into the air. He pointed at the big hole in the wall with a concerned frown. "… but I'm a bit worried about Octillery."
Buneary stared at it in horror. "O-Octillery's in there!? Like... really inside?" Holy Dialga, what could have happened to get him lodged in there!?
"Y-Yeah..." Yamask replied with a cringe.
"Oh no, not that scary guy…" Corsola mumbled to herself, barely loud enough for Buneary's sensitive hearing to pick up.
Not commenting on her comment, Buneary continued to stare in disbelief. "W-What even happened for him to end up in a wall!?" she yelped, rubbing her feet together as they itched.
"Marowisp's fire barge attack," Yamask explained. "It-"
Corsola interrupted him with a shriek. Looking at her, Buneary saw that she was pointing straight in her direction. "B-Buneary! Bandages! They're going up you!" she yelled.
Buneary blinked. Huh…? She looked down at her itching feet and noticed that the white straps of cloth around Marowisp had begun wrapping themselves around her. They were working their way up her legs, slithering like snakes.
By the time she was shrieking like a banshee, they were already wrapping around her torso. "Oh, oh, ohhh, it's awful, what's happening!?" she screamed, squirming for dear life.
"R-Relax! It's just Mummy!" Yamask yelled.
"Y-Your mom? What's she doing to me!?" Ohhh, why did everyone have it out for her, today!? Even Yamask's gosh darned mother!
"W-What!?" he yelped. "No, it's my ability! It-"
"Aha!" Marowisp yelled.
Buneary's legs were pulled out from under her and she crashed to the floor. She couldn't get up before he picked her up and held her against him with an arm around her belly.
She struggled, but she couldn't move an inch. He even had her arms completely trapped, and because he was twice her size, her feet were left dangling.
"I'm... I'm not through with you screwballs yet!" the reptile panted. He sounded fatigued enough to faint... but if so, how was he able to hold her so well!? "I'll make sure you all end up unconscious before you know it, trust me!"
"W-Why!?" she stammered. "Y-You're an explorer like Golurk, aren't you? So why are you doing this?"
He huffed. "Ain't obvious enough, huh? It's 'cos I'm pissed. And I think taking out you little idiots should be enough of a pick me up!"
… What sort of logic was that!? "Y-You don't have to do that! Please, l-let's talk things out!" she begged.
Causing a splash, Corsola jumped onto land beside Yamask. "Yeah, let her go!" she shouted. When she looked directly at Marowisp's face, whatever expression he was pulling made her bravado immediately deflate. "Er... p-please," she asked.
"How about no?" Marowisp replied with an arrogant chuckle.
Buneary whined sadly. This was so messed up. As far as she knew, they hadn't asked for any trouble... and yet this man was here, hurting Yamask, taking her hostage and just being generally rude.
... The whole situation made her lose her temper. "Well... fine then!" she shouted. She powered up her ears with Dizzy Punch, bent them backwards and smashed him in his hard face again and again.
Each hit made him grunt in pain. She was sure he would faint any second... until her ears went right through him, like he wasn't even there.
Surprised, she stopped attacking. Oh, what the heck!? And... why were his arms transparent, now?
"Whoa, you're a ghost!?" Yamask yelled in surprise.
Buneary's eyes widened. A ghost? Really?
"Took you long enough to figure that one out, shrimp," Marowisp said with a huff of amusement. "Are you deaf, or do ya need a dictionary for what a 'wisp' is?"
Yamask blinked. He didn't reply, but he looked awkward.
Buneary tried to wrap her head around it. She'd never been able to quite figure out how ghost-types worked. As in, what didn't hurt them, and what did. She remembered something her brother had once said about how normal moves didn't work against them... but she'd gotten a few hits off with Dizzy Punch, so...
Agh, nope, she was lost. Either way, she was in a bad way, now. What could she possibly-!?
"Buneary, don't panic!" Yamask yelled, interrupting her thoughts. He started to conjure an alarming amount of darkness in his hands.
Buneary didn't like where this was going. "What... why? W-What are you doing?"
"Oh... very clever, squirt," Marowisp said in surprise. "'Cos she's normal-type, yeah?"
"That's right!" Yamask yelled, the ball in his hands getting bigger by the second.
So... Yamask had a plan? "O-O-Oh brother..." Buneary mumbled, still not entirely convinced she wasn't screwed.
Corsola was happily hopping about, clearly more trusting than she was. "Wooo~! Go, go, Yamask~! No idea what you're doing, but you can do iiiiit~!" she cheered.
"Y-Yeah! Wooo..." Buneary added, straining a smile.
Staggering slightly from fatigue, the reptile growled quietly. Shortly after, he changed his tone, huffing out what sounded like an evil chuckle. "Hey, here's a present for ya!" he said.
Buneary rose an eyebrow. She noticed him shifting around to free an arm.
Ah, that was an opening, right? She struggled as much as she could, hoping to get free. However, with just one arm, he kept her locked in place. Yeesh, how was he still so strong, even though he seemed close to fainting!?
She stopped struggling to stare at his freed arm in worry. Especially as he held the claw on his thumb up. "O-Oh, legends, what are you doi-?" she started.
The claw was lightly stabbed into her chest before being rapidly dragged around in many directions. He was fast, but she was confused at the lack of any pain. W-What was he up to?
She anxiously looked up at her friends. Corsola was frowning worriedly, and Yamask stared with a raised eyebrow, still continuing to charge some sort of ghostly move in his hands.
Oddly, she felt the lightest sensation of relief in her chest as Marowisp lifted his arm in the air, apparently finished. Immediately, Corsola and Yamask's demeanors changed. The coral's eyes went as wide as they could go, and the wisp's entire face went bright red.
"H-Holy frigging Dialga!" he screamed. In his apparent shock, his attack fizzled out.
Ohhh, that couldn't be good. "W-What's going on?" Buneary cried out to them. She looked down at where Marowisp had scratched her. "What did he-!? … Ah..."
The world seemed to slow to a stop when she saw it. Instead of one large, covered lump... her bosom was completely uncovered, showing off two big, brown bumps with a pale pink nipple on each end.
The blood in her face boiled. "Aghhhhhhh, oh, legends, noooo!" she screamed, instinctively making a move to cover herself. However, her arms were constrained, stopping her. She was on full display and couldn't do anything about it.
She screamed even louder and flailed around, kicking her legs about as hard as she could. Even as she kicked off loose bandages, she didn't stop.
Marowisp didn't care, though. He just laughed. "Oh, whoops! Sorry!" he taunted.
"W-What the heck, you fiend!" Corsola shouted, glaring at him. Her eyes drifted to Buneary's chest, making the rabbit flinch. "... Holy Mew, they're bigger than I expected. Lucky..."
Yamask was saying nothing. He simply stared, and... was he holding his mask near his groin? Was this arousing?
Mortified beyond words, Buneary nearly cried. What had she done to deserve this!?
She kept flailing as hard as she could. After a short while, she barely noticed Yamask covering his eyes. Because he wasn't covering himself, she could see a barely visible lump where his groin was, making her feel even worse for multiple reasons. "I'm so sorry, Buneary!" he yelled. "I'm not looking! I'm-"
"Hah, good!" Marowisp interrupted. He flung Buneary.
She tumbled through the air, squealing. She crashed into something soft in mid-air and wrapped her arms around it in a panic. Calming, she realized that it was Yamask, whose face felt just about as warm as hers did.
"E-Er..." he mumbled, staring awkwardly.
Flustered, Buneary struggled to think of a reply. Before she could, something whacked her in the back of the head, making her forehead ram into Yamask's.
She squealed in pain. Dazed, she glanced around and barely caught sight of a bone flying through the air. It came back like a boomerang and slammed into the back of Yamask, knocking his head into hers again. Owww...!
They crashed into the floor. Groaning, Buneary looked up at Marowisp and saw him grab his bone as it returned to him.
He leered at them. "Heh, prudes and perverts... easy targets, all of ya!" he snarked.
Buneary gritted her teeth in annoyance. Ughh...! It wasn't often she got really ticked off at someone, but this guy was awful!
Not only was he a jerk, but thanks to him, Corsola's and Yamask's memories of this day were going to involve her being half-naked.
Yamask suddenly started to float again. He feebly flopped to the floor after, clearly too injured to do much. It was a miracle he hadn't fainted, yet. She knew how he felt, too. She was aching badly from that Bonemerang attack.
She noticed that, because Yamask had moved, she was on display, again. The embarrassment returned as she used her paws to cover her shame. Darn it! She would cover herself with her fur, again, but... because of Klutz...
She briefly remembered the time she'd been adventuring around Ruby Lakeside with her squad. Earlier that morning, after washing herself, she'd tried covering her chest with her fur without her brother's help, for once. Later on that day, she'd used Bounce inside of a monster house, her chest fur had unraveled, and...
The memory made her face burn even more. No… she didn't want a repeat of that.
"Alright…" Marowisp muttered. Pushing herself up to look at him, she saw the reptile erupt into flames with a nasty glint to his eyes, "... ready to get your asses rocked?" He charged towards Yamask, ignoring any loose bandages left behind.
Buneary gasped. W-What could she do!?
Corsola jumped in the way while surrounded in icy spikes. "No, stop! Stooop!" she screamed.
Sadly, Marowisp didn't stop. "You wanna faint, too? Well, my pleasure!" he yelled, ramming into her with all his might.
Buneary and Yamask called out her name as the coral went flying. She crashed into the lake with a loud splash.
Seeing her land in the water put Buneary on her last nerve. Clenching her teeth, she jumped to her feet and stared down the reptile, who was hunched over in pain while plastered in icicles.
Sparks began to fly from the wounds on her body, and something red glistened from her fluff. She could feel her injuries, adrenaline and anger mesh together into a pool of raw energy, filling her every vein as time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Still covering herself, Buneary lunged toward Marowisp. "[You made me do this!]" she yelled, so angry that she slipped into her species language.
"W-Wha-?" he started, looking up.
She spun around and kicked him in the chest, earning a cry of pain from him. While he stumbled backwards, she twisted her body and hopped to uppercut him with her ear, briefly taking him off his feet.
She twirled around and kicked him in the side, sending him spinning away while barely able to keep himself upright. While hopping to her other foot to kick him again, she lost a hold of her breasts. Unrestrained, they flopped around as they pleased with her movements.
Groaning in displeasure, she bent over and made a desperate grab for them while she punched him repeatedly with her ears. After a while of failing to keep them under control, one of her punches sent Marowisp stumbling backwards, out of her reach.
Her heart skipped a beat at his escape. Agh... forget it, then! If she lost her rhythm now, she wouldn't get it back! With a deep breath and a really warm face, she gave up and jumped forwards to continue.
Marowisp sluggishly put his fists up and began to turn transparent. "Ow, y-you fucking cock whor-" he started.
She ignored him to shove him backwards with her paws, making him stagger with a yelp as he turned solid again. Taking the opening, she jumped forwards to kick him in the face with both feet. Flipping backwards, she landed and lunged forwards for another punch to his gut, which made him wheeze. She almost felt bad for all the pain she was causing, but until he stayed down, she wouldn't stop!
Her embarrassment grew as she noticed her breasts were still jumping around for the world to see. To add to her horror, being exposed to the cold air - and admittedly, the thought of them being exposed in general - had left them poking outwards, erect. Oh jeez, she felt like a freaking miltank...!
Instead of being thrown off, she gritted her teeth harder. If she had to put up with the shame, she would add it to her power! Crying out, she struck him with an arm and kicked him in the leg, toppling him. Now in the perfect position, she backflipped into a kick to his chin, sending him sailing high into the air, yelling in pain.
Landing on her ears during the backflip, she sprung them outwards to launch herself up. She went careening into his chin with her foot, sending him spinning backwards in midair. With a final battle cry, she flipped forwards and slammed both of her heels into his back.
He flew downwards, yelling all the way. His shouting was cut off as he crashed against the ground, sending rock and water flying from the impact.
Buneary fell to her feet just in time for her move to wear off. As time finally kept up with her, a wave of fatigue hit the rabbit all at once. Ughh, holy cow... she really hoped that had done it, because she wouldn't have it in her for another barrage like that...
Panting to catch her breath, she finally wrapped her arms around her chest, bringing instant relief at her restored decency. Staring at Marowisp's unmoving body against the cracked floor, she could tell that he was completely down for the count, now. His groaning implied he wasn't unconscious just yet, though.
She smiled lightly to herself, exhilarated beyond belief at the victory. Wow... that had been the absolute best Reversal she'd ever done! Her injuries, combined with all of her negative feelings, had made for an amazing attack. Even against a ghost-type like Marowisp.
... It was strange, though. Usually, she would need to be on the verge of fainting for it to be that powerful. Or at least, she would need to be having a panic attack because of Run Away, her second ability. Save for some aches and pains, though, she felt pretty stable.
She shook her head to clear her mind. Oh well, it didn't really matter. She was just happy that she'd been successful. Even if she was still rather embarrassed...
Buneary sat on top of Corsola, who was floating on the lake Snorlax's petrified body was currently standing in. Next to him was Golurk, who was also still encased in stone. He had less cracks covering his rock-coated skin than Snorlax, so it seemed he wasn't going to escape as quickly.
While she waited for the bear to finally escape his rocky prison, Buneary looked around at everyone. Corsola was happily waiting with her, now healthy, thanks to her ability bringing her back from fainting.
Octillery was floating in the water next to her, having been revived by a reviver seed earlier. He was tapping his tentacles against the water in what seemed like impatience.
Yamask was floating nearby, scratching at the purple fires that were still clinging to his skin. Unfortunately, he still seemed horribly flustered and distracted.
Knowing why, Buneary cringed again for what felt like the hundredth time in the past few minutes. Earlier, because she'd been unable to cover up her bosom - due to Klutz - she'd asked Yamask if he'd wanted to help. Mostly because she'd figured that he would appreciate being relied on to help someone.
Instead, however, now everything was extremely awkward. Thankfully, Octillery had been happy to fix up her chest - even despite her protests - but that didn't make her situation with Yamask any better.
Still, at least it was better than Marowisp's current situation. After Octillery had been revived, he'd come back to lots of sassing, and learning about what the reptile had done to Buneary. After that, he'd gotten so annoyed that he'd punished Marowisp by... um...
The rabbit gulped and decided not to think about it too much. Honestly, she'd had no idea that a bone could be used in such an awful way.
… Admittedly, her dreams were probably going to be more interesting than usual tonight, if she didn't watch herself with her thoughts, but all the same.
Sighing lightly to herself, she tried to think of a topic to break up the awkward silence. "Um… so…" she started. She grinned meekly. "… I think we all did great, keeping Marowisp at bay!"
"Y-Yeah! Definitely!" Corsola quickly agreed. "That guy was some nasty work, so, um…" She waved her stubby arms like pom poms, "go, go, team~! We're the best~!"
"You're damn right, we are," Octillery replied with an air of smugness to his voice. "That sack of crap had a stupid… Ace Rank badge, I think. And we still beat his ass!"
"Oh, you sure did 'beat his ass'..." Yamask mumbled sheepishly, earning a small giggle from Corsola.
"Is… that high?" Buneary asked Octillery.
"Higher than any of our dumb ranks," he replied. "My team's rank's gold, and that's still friggin' lower. By a lot."
She cringed. "Oof... well, the results spoke for themselves, I guess."
"They sure did!" Corsola replied. "I don't think I've ever fainted so many times in one day…"
Buneary nodded. As she ran this information through her head, she beamed to herself. So... she'd beaten someone higher than a gold rank? Wow... her ego was soaring~! "Yeah, yeah! So we really did do great~!" she sang.
"Um, I dunno..." Yamask mumbled sadly. "Doesn't feel like I helped, much, to be honest. All I did was get in the way..."
Buneary frowned sadly. "Hey... don't say that. You did your best!"
"Yeah!" Corsola agreed. "If it weren't for Marowisp taking out Buneary's little sisters, you would've knocked him out!"
"Y-Yeah..." Buneary agreed, embarrassed by the description. And what did she mean 'little'...?
"They're right, so shaddap, you did fine," Octillery added. "It's all about teamwork and shit, anyway, ain't it? S'what my bro, Kakuna, says, anyway."
"Yeah! No 'I' in teamwork~" Corsola chimed.
"Well... I-I guess so," Yamask replied with an awkward chuckle. He smiled. "Thanks, guys."
"No prob-"
A loud crackle of stone interrupted her. Everyone turned to stare at Snorlax, who had rocky fragments pouring down his body as he brought his arms up. He was finally freed.
"Snorlax! You're out!" Yamask said happily.
"Um, yep! Hey, everyone!" Snorlax replied. He looked at Octillery in surprise. "Er... and you, too, Octillery. I guess."
"About friggin' time!" the octopus groaned loudly. "You asleep in there, or what?"
Snorlax brushed some stone fragments off his arms. "Er... sorry. It's not easy breaking out of being petrified, y'know. Unless someone attacks you, or-" He gasped lightly and looked around frantically. "Wait, where's Marowisp!? He's, um..." He looked off in the direction of the land, where Marowisp was still lying, fainted. His eyes widened. "Oh... is that him over there? Is he... unconscious?"
"No doubt about it..." Corsola mumbled sheepishly.
"Yeah... we, um... beat him together," Buneary replied, a little confused. He was really under-reacting to, um... Marowisp's 'current circumstance'. Then again, Marowisp's bum was facing away from the lake they were in, so...
Snorlax's face lit up. "Oh, congrats! You guys must've worked really hard to beat him!" he praised.
She nodded happily. "We did!" She pointed at Yamask, who gave her a surprised glance in response. "Yamask did most of the work, though."
"Huh? N-No, I..." the wisp started. He bashfully rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I guess I... started on him, but I didn't, like... end it, or anything..."
"So modest, Yamask~" Corsola chimed.
Snorlax chuckled. "Well, in any case, great work! Beating anyone from Team Specter is worth a good pat on the back, if you ask me," he said.
"Team Specter?" Octillery asked. "The Hell were those cockwads, anyway? You can't tell me those guys are explorers."
"Hah... your language is atrocious, as always..." Snorlax mumbled very quietly.
Octillery tilted his head. "... Whazzat? Didn't hear."
"Er, n-nothing!" The bear cleared his throat. "Um... well, you probably guessed, already, but they're an exploration team who are a bit too fond of their dodgy dealings."
"Ooh, I knew it! So they're outlaws!" Corsola exclaimed.
"Ehh, sort of." He waded around Golurk and began towards dry land, beckoning for everyone to follow. "C'mon, I'll tell you while we adventure! No use sitting around in this lake until we catch a cold or something, huh?"
Buneary and the others voiced agreements before following after him. Though Octillery just huffed and stayed put, instead.
"Hey, I've still gotta go get supplies!" he retorted. He held the bag slung around his neck higher. "Runnin' low, now, no thanks to all this bullshit!"
Snorlax stopped to look at him, causing everyone else to stop and turn, too. "Oh yeah, you like to go foraging to save money, don't you?" he asked.
"Yeah, and now I'm down by half the crap in my bag! Gonna have to work my friggin' tentacles off, now!"
Snorlax waved his paws in a defensive manner. "D-Don't worry, Octillery! I'll, er..." He looked around for a few seconds until his gaze met his bag. He patted it enthusiastically. "You can have some of my things!"
Octillery blinked at him. He let out a heavy breath and shook his head. "Naww, screw it. I'll just put up with it, whatever." He swam towards Snorlax and the others, behind Corsola. "I'll just take stuff I find on the way to... wherever the Hell you're goin'."
"Oh, well... if you're sure?" Snorlax replied with a confused shrug. He awkwardly turned around and continued wading again. "Um... anyway, let's get to it!"
Buneary looked at the octopus in surprise. Why had he turned down free stuff?
Hmm, though then again... he had saved her from an attack before they'd even gotten acquainted. He must just be the generous sort~
"Hey, er..." Yamask piped up, "do we... have to do anything about Golurk? We're sorta just... ignoring him."
"Oh, it'll be okay," Snorlax replied. "He was really struggling when he got turned to stone, so I doubt he'll be out for a while. Might've even fainted, already!"
"It won't be permanent, will it?" Buneary asked, concerned.
Snorlax laughed. "Well, I sure hope not, or else I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
She paused. Her face began to burn in embarrassment from her silly comment. "... You never know..."
The others chuckled at her expense, making her face warm further.
"Oh, Buneary, you're so special," Corsola teased. "A big guy like Golurk will work things out just fine, so we should just leave him to it, shouldn't we?"
"Yeah, no worries, Buneary!" Yamask added with a thumbs up. "It'll be... um..." His face went red and he avoided looking at her directly, "... all good."
Snorlax looked back at him with a tilted head. Buneary just cringed, however, knowing exactly why the wisp was acting that way.
She held her arms against her chest. Ughhh... she was absolutely never going to live down the whole Marowisp incident, was she?
Now on dry land, Buneary was walking alongside the others with Snorlax in front. He was leading them down a large, spiraling slope that led down to the next floor. Water trickled down the side of it in a steady stream. The soft trickling sound it made put Buneary at ease, though it was a pity it wasn't hot water. She was still really chilly...
"... So, are you gonna tell us who those jerks were, or what?" Octillery asked while dragging himself along the floor. "You left us hangin'."
Snorlax gave a light, frustrated groan. "Oh, darn it, I nearly forgot." He gave a light, sheepish chuckle. "Sorry. Um, lessie... I guess I'd better start from the beginning. Back when we first started the guild, they were some of the first people to join up. Those two and their leader." He huffed in amusement. "Was always fun teasing them over the whole 'Team Specter' thing, when one of them wasn't even a ghost-type, yet."
"He wasn't?" Yamask asked, floating next to him.
"It's a branching evolution thing, I think. Starting as a cubone, and then becoming a marowak or a marowisp. Took him a while, though. He had to wait until a hot Summer's night before trying..."
"He sounded so cute back then," Buneary said, picturing a happy little kid holding his bone, waiting excitedly to evolve.
"Him? Cute?" Corsola giggled from her side.
Snorlax also chuckled along. "Yeah, not him, I'm afraid. I'm pretty sure he's always been the rowdy, rude sort. Before they started calling him 'Vile Marowisp,' I'm pretty sure his title was 'Quip Cubone.' Seriously, he would just never let up on making sassy comments."
He sighed before continuing. "That and his general unpleasant attitude towards everyone was why we didn't take him to the PokéPark with us, on our fun, yearly 'expedition'," he finished.
Yamask's eyes widened. "Oh yeah, you said that to him, didn't you? When he started attacking."
"Yep. I don't know for sure why he did that, but that's as good a guess as any. It's why he left the guild and went independent with his teammates before he could graduate." He sighed. "He never took it well at all..."
Buneary frowned sadly. Well, that explained why he'd seemed so... spiteful, thinking back on it.
"Well, good friggin' riddance!" Octillery said. His usual frown hardened. "Anyway, who's the big bastard who made the caves shake?"
"Oh, Golurk? Eheh, yeah, we really went at it. Sorry," Snorlax said, glancing back to give him a sheepish look.
"You two better not have wrecked the cave, or I'll kill both of ya!"
The bear cringed worriedly. "Urk! Er, d-don't worry about it, Octillery! We didn't! B-Besides, mystery dungeons always repair themselves after a while, anyway! Dungeon magic, and all that."
The octopus let out a huff. "I guess..."
"Anyway, I didn't wanna fight him... but he insisted."
Corsola gave him a curious look. "Why'd he do that, anyway? Was he annoyed that you kicked him out of the expedition, too, way back when?" she asked.
"No, we didn't kick him. He's just always been that way. He would train day and night, and pick fights whenever he could. Especially with pokémon he considered strong." He rubbed the back of his neck. "... Made things really awkward when he found out about PokéPark's celebrity, Lightning Strike Pikachu, while we were there."
Buneary's eyes lit up. "Oh, he's the hero of a book I'm reading! 'Wonders Beyond: Part 1!' He's supposed to be so tough, he could take down legendaries on his own!" she said excitedly.
"Right you are, miss! So as you can imagine, Golurk really enjoyed endlessly stalking him for the two weeks we were there. Eheh... "
"Gosh..." Yamask mumbled, "did that Golurk have a reason for that big fighting obsession of his?"
"Nothing too complicated. He was just trying to become the 'strongest pokémon,' or something."
"Well, he's got a good pace going for it, then, hasn't he?" Corsola replied. "He was scary, that one."
"Yeah..." Yamask agreed. "None of my attacks even fazed the big guy."
"We didn't call him 'Maximum Golurk' for nothing!" Snorlax replied. "If he hadn't gone independent with his teammates, he would've passed the graduation test, for sure."
"Eheh, I'm sorta jealous."
Buneary nodded while frowning worriedly. "Do any of us stand a chance of beating someone as big as that?" she asked.
"Oh, definitely, and there's a secret to it!" Snorlax chimed.
"Evolvin', right?" Octillery asked.
"Um... sort of. Evolving gives you a huge, immediate boost in power... but it takes a heck of a lot longer to get more powerful, after that. So overall, you probably won't get quite as strong. Honestly, you're better off not evolving 'till later, when you've trained up some." He let out an exasperated breath. "... Not that Golurk listened when I told him that, but..."
"Huh, if it's not that, then what's the secret?" Buneary asked.
"Well, y'see... it's true that bigger pokémon are naturally stronger, and can cover a lot of ground with their attacks. Not too hard to guess that, I'm sure."
He held his claw up, like a scholar. The sight amused Buneary. Someone seemed happy, being a teacher. "Buuut..." he continued, "smaller pokémon are usually a lot more nimble, because there's less weight to carry around. Charging a good powered move is often way, way faster, too. Oh, and not to mention that the bigger you are, the easier a target you'll make, too. Hard to hit something quick and small, after all!"
Octillery scratched his head. "So... big pokémon are useless, is that what you're tellin' us?" he asked.
Snorlax brought his claw down. "Um, well... they can easily make you faint just by stepping on you, so you shouldn't underestimate them, unless you want a hard time. And sure, they might not be able to charge powered moves very fast... but when they can fill an entire hallway with a bog-standard Hyper Beam... well, then that's cause for concern, wouldn't you say?"
"Yikes..." Corsola mumbled. "Yeah, no thank you."
"So it's... raw power versus speed, is it?" Buneary asked.
"Right you are! So big or small, everyone has a chance of winning, if they're good enough." He chuckled. "Or if they're lucky and their opponent's bad enough, I guess." He paused for a second. "... Um, though probably the former for you guys, of course. Agh, maybe one of these days, I'll learn to watch my wording..."
Corsola and Yamask giggled and chuckled in amusement, though Buneary pulled a face. She sure hoped she would fall in the first category and not the second...
The slope they'd been travelling down finally leveled off into a large room, indicating they'd gone down a floor. After all the trouble they'd been through, Buneary was really pleased they'd finally made some good progress.
... Unless a team worse than Team Specter was here, too. She really hoped not.
She blinked as that thought made another one spring to mind. "Wait, Mr. Snorlax, who's the third team member, anyway?" she asked.
"He's..." Snorlax started. He stopped to hum in thought. "Well, to be honest with you, nothing ever slips his notice, so I don't doubt we'll bump into him at some point on our travels. How about I leave his species a surprise for you? Get you excited, and all that!"
"Can't wait..." Yamask mumbled with a worried frown.
"Ohh, is he going to be mean, just like the other two?" Buneary asked, frowning just as worriedly.
"No, no, don't worry," Snorlax replied. "Sure, he's the best fighter of the three, and a bit of a jokester... but he's actually pretty social, wouldn't you know?" He huffed amusedly. "He'll at least have a chat, before he challenges people to a fight for the sake of it."
Buneary felt reassured to hear that, but only slightly. "Oh, well... that's good?"
Octillery huffed. "S'long as he don't blow up half the cave, like that idiot golurk guy."
"I won't say I'm hopeful..." Corsola sighed.
Buneary let out a light breath. She couldn't help but agree.
While walking down one of the many tunnels of the cave with her friends, Buneary furrowed her brow in concern while looking at Yamask. In the confusion of the fight, she'd forgotten all about the shadowy flames clinging to him. They were becoming increasingly hard to ignore, though. They hadn't faded away, yet, and he was still scratching them.
"Gosh... Yamask, are you doing okay?" she asked. "You've been scratching at those flames an awful lot."
Everyone stopped and looked at Yamask, who was still scratching away. He glanced about, seeming sheepish at the sudden attention brought to him. "Oh, er... eheh, don't worry about me," he replied, smiling awkwardly.
"The Hell are those freakin' flames, anyway?" Octillery asked. "I thought it was just some freaky ghost shit you were doin', but what are they, really?"
"Um... it is some freaky ghost stuff, I guess. They appeared when Marowisp hit me with his bone."
"Oh no, that rings a bell..." Snorlax mumbled. "Do you feel a bit numb where the flames are?"
Yamask's eyes widened. "Y-Yeah, I do! How'd you know?"
"Thought so. It's Marowisp's Shadow Bone move. If he hits you, you'll have that ghostly fire following you for a while, making you feel pretty bad."
"Oh, that's just great..." Yamask sighed.
"Poor you, Yamask..." Corsola said, giving him a sad, sympathetic smile. She perked up. "You know, I saw a wonder tile down one of these hallways. Maybe that'll patch you up!"
Buneary tilted her head. A... wonder tile?
Snorlax smiled at the coral. "Ooh, great idea, Corsola! Why don't you lead the way to it, then?" he asked.
Her eyes widened. "Oh, um... s-sure!" she replied. While everyone moved into position to follow her, her eyebrows crinkled in a way that didn't match her smile. "Oh dear... n-not used to being the leader, eheh..."
"Well, you've gotta be!" Octillery retorted. "You're the only one who knows where the friggin' thing is!"
She yelped. "Y-Yeah, I know..."
He paused before waving his tentacles in a reassuring manner. "Uh, no pressure though, or any shit like that. Just... whatever."
"... Th-Thanks?"
Buneary felt a little sorry for her. Despite how much prestige the rabbit wanted, she was a little shy, herself, so she could sympathize.
Coming up with an idea, she offered Corsola a smile. "It's okay, Corsola. I've got just the ticket~" she chimed.
Corsola turned to look at her in interest. "Oh?"
Buneary hopped high to softly land on her back. "Umm... g-giddyup, partner!" Her face burst into heat the second the words left her mouth. Oh, why was she so good at mortifying herself?
She saw some odd looks coming her way, making her more embarrassed. Corsola, however, gave a pleased gasp.
"Oh! The pokémon tower thing!" she chimed.
"Y-Yeah, that's right!" Buneary replied, happy that she remembered.
"Ooh, lovely! We can do 'the Bounce' again!"
Buneary giggled. "Oh yeah! We can do 'the Bounce'! Yay~"
"Er... the Bounce?" Yamask asked, scratching his head.
"It's an in-joke, Yamask~" Corsola replied. "Earlier, we joined our forces and used Bounce! And we were so excited, we sort of forgot to English properly, so now it's 'The Bounce'!"
"Uh, okay..."
"... Women are frickin' crazy..." Octillery muttered quietly, looking very thrown off. Hearing him with her sensitive hearing, Buneary looked off to the side sheepishly.
"You know what, girls?" Snorlax said. "I think I remember, now! You combined your moves to make an icy Bounce! Is that what you're up to, now?"
"You bet'cha, Snorlax~!" Corsola chimed.
"Ooh, that's cooler than cool!" Yamask said excitedly. "Can you show me? Please show me!"
Buneary perked up at the increased enthusiasm. "Sure, we-" she started. Remembering something, she paused, humming in thought. "Actually... why don't you join us?"
His head jerked back in surprise, briefly bringing his floating body with it. "J-Join you? How would I do that?"
"Get onto my head! It'll make more sense!"
"Uh, okay?" He flew above her. Shortly after, she could feel his wispy skin brush past her upstanding ear, and the cold metal of his mask brush against her back.
Shivering lightly at the cold sensation, she suddenly felt his weight on her head as he plonked himself on top. "Y-Yeah, there you go!" she said. "Now you just have to, um… feel my move energy, and then you'll be good as gold~"
"G-Gold?" Yamask stammered, sounding worried.
She raised an eyebrow at his sudden panicking. She began to wobble before she could ask, though. "W-Whoa! Um, c-careful, though! We have to be in sync with each other, or we'll wobble! A-And maybe even collapse!"
He caught his breath. "S-Sorry. I just… Um, I'll try better!"
Buneary felt herself stabilize again. "Okay... cool." She glanced around at the others. She couldn't see Corsola's face from where she was, but she saw that Snorlax was watching on in intrigue, and Octillery was… looking displeased, while crossing his tentacles?
When she noticed what looked like a pout on his tube-like mouth, she felt slightly worried. "Are you okay, Octillery?" she asked.
His head snapped in her direction. "Huh!? Ah, no, it's good. I'm good," he replied.
"Oh my, are you jealous, Octillery?" Corsola asked.
"N-No! I ain't friggin' jealous!" He turned away again with a huff. "I don't care if you're leavin' me out of it. Whatever…"
"Aww, no need to be like that, Octillery," Buneary said. She invitingly patted Corsola's back… er, or rather, her head? "The more of us in a tower, the stronger we are!"
He looked at her, seemingly considering it. "… Really?"
"Sounds good to me!" Yamask said.
"Sure does! Come aboard!" Corsola chimed. "I think this tower thing is making me a bit stronger than usual, so I can handle it~!"
"… 'Kay."
Buneary shifted her feet to correct herself as she stood on top of Octillery, who was spread out on top of Corsola while she walked along. All with Yamask on Buneary's head, holding onto her upright ear for support.
Despite the weight on her head, and Octillery's slippery skin, she didn't have too much issue staying balanced. Their trust in each other - as well as their generally similar sizes - made the tower stable, even with the four of them stacked on top of each other. Their shared strength made their weights a non-issue, too, letting Corsola wander as she pleased.
Buneary could sense Snorlax behind them, probably watching them with intrigue as he followed along. Remembering that she was trying to make a good impression to such a legendary explorer, Buneary took a deep breath and tried to muster up as much courage as she could. She would need it.
Upon rounding a corner, she spotted a cradily a short distance away, as tall as their combined size.
It stared at her tower with irritation in its eyes. "Oh, what're you dumb explorers up to, now?" he growled in a rugged voice. His mouth glowed purple. "I'll knock your dumb tower down!"
"We'll knock your dumb block off, first!" Octillery retorted.
"Y-Yeah! Uh... dummy!" Yamask shouted, earning a snort of laughter from Corsola.
Huffing angrily, the cradily launched a huge ball of purple sludge at Buneary's tower from his mouth.
Corsola yelped and tried to jump out of the way. However, the tower swerved, causing the ball of sludge to barely graze Octillery, who swore loudly in response.
Everyone wobbled, but stayed standing. They were still stabilizing when the cradily launched another, smaller ball of sludge at Buneary.
She flinched, but a steaming jet of water surrounded in red and black rings hit the ball just in time. After a short power struggle, the sludge lost momentum and was washed backwards, smashing into the cradily's face. He was knocked to the floor with a cry.
Buneary looked up and saw Yamask with his arms outstretched and his fingers dripping. He was grinning really proudly, like he'd won a prize. "Oohh, I-I did it! Sweet!" he cried happily.
"Ooh, linking something on your first try! Even without a link box!" Snorlax called out from behind, sounding very impressed.
"Yeah! This pokémon tower thing is so cool!"
"Screw that!" Octillery shouted, sounding truly flabbergasted. "I just wanna know how the Hell you used my Scald!?"
"You try it, Octillery!" Buneary encouraged. "Try to feel my energy and use my Dizzy Punch!"
"So that's what you meant!? Well... I can feel something, so... sure, fine!" He tapped Corsola on the head with his tentacles. "Gemmie close enough, woman! ... Um, please, and stuff!"
The coral jumped in surprise. "Oh! G-Going closer!" she replied. She charged towards the... plant creature?
The cradily jumped onto two feet, surprising Buneary. She'd thought those had been roots! "Oh, no, you don't!" he yelled. He leapt forwards into a lunge, glowing brightly as he sailed through the air.
"H-Here he comes!" Yamask shouted.
Buneary could sense Corsola using Harden. Taking a page from her book, Buneary pulled the top of her fluff up and borrowed the move, stiffening her fluff until it was hard as rock.
The cradily's head smashed into her, and she could tell that his body had simultaneously smashed into Corsola. Everyone squealed or yelled as the tower was sent flying backwards.
Expecting the tower to topple, Buneary clenched her eyes shut. She only ached a little, because of Harden, but yeesh!
She and all of her friends came to a stop when they hit something squishy. Turning her head back, she saw Snorlax's belly.
"Uh, eheh... don't mind me!" he said, gently pushing them until they were standing, again.
"Sorry!" Buneary, Corsola and Yamask all yelled at once.
Octillery grumbled out a "Thanks..." instead.
Looking at the cradily, Buneary saw him heavily catching his breath, like he'd recently run a marathon. He also had steam pouring off his body, like he'd just used Hyper Beam, or something. Did the move he'd used against them work the same way?
If so, this was their chance! "C-Corsola, let's all go in swinging!" she called out.
"Sure! Going and swinging!" the coral cried back, running again.
Buneary instinctively got ready to punch with her ears, though she stopped herself and charged her move with her paws, instead. Phew, Yamask didn't deserve a punching!
Speaking of the wisp, she saw his fists glowing in multiple colors above her. She looked down and saw Octillery looking at his now-glowing tentacles in shock, like they'd suddenly grown heads and had started talking to him. Corsola was just rapidly flailing her glowing hands in front of her while running.
When they were within range, paws, fists, stubs and tentacles went flying, pummeling the cradily with a flurry of Dizzy Punches.
He resisted for a while, but, eventually, he flopped onto his side. "Ughhh, you guys… suck…" he groaned painfully, consciousness rapidly fading.
Everyone stopped their assault, allowing their attacks to fade.
"Oh… we won, I guess~!" Corsola chimed.
"Yeah, and we made that look easy!" Yamask replied happily.
"Congrats, you guys!" Snorlax said from behind. "That was quite a show!"
"You really weren't kidding 'bout that whole 'sharing moves' thing, huh?" Octillery asked, looking his tentacles over, again.
"Nuh-uh!" Buneary said, giddy from her tactic working so well. "As long as we're in a pokémon tower, and we're in sync, we can do all sorts~"
"So cool…!" Yamask said. She could feel him shivering in excitement.
"There's gotta be some sorta downside, right?" Octillery asked.
"There always is to these sorts of crazy techniques," Snorlax replied. "Is it… stamina? Or hunger?"
"Oh, um…" Buneary started. She stalled for a while before fidgeting. "… I forgot. I only ever got the confidence to go on towers when my brother was there. Just so I didn't, um… annoy anyone."
She could sense everyone giving her awkward stares. Yamask quickly broke the silence, though. "Aww, no way, you don't annoy me, Buneary! You're cool!" he said, balling a fist where she could see it.
"Yeah, no arguing from me!" Corsola added. "I thought this trip was going to just be us walking and talking, but you certainly made it one to remember~"
"At this rate, you're gonna fit in real quick, I just know it," Snorlax joined in.
Touched, Buneary held a paw to her chest. "D'aww, well… thanks, everyone," she replied. She was a little embarrassed, she had to admit... but hearing that had really perked her spirits~
"Y'hear that? We think you're cool!" Octillery added. "Now get some confidence, already, or you'll end up like that shitty salandit who runs when I friggin' cough wrong!"
"Er… I-I'll try!" she replied.
Snorlax sighed. "Salandit's not a shi- ... Uh…" He let out a second sigh. "Oh, never mind. She's not a 'shitty' salandit, Octillery… She's just a bit… er, easy to rattle," he chided.
"Yeah, for sure…" Yamask mumbled, joining in on the sighing.
"W-Well… 'kay, she ain't shit, but she's still gotta work on that!" Octillery retorted, flustered.
Buneary pulled a face. Yeesh, she'd been hearing a lot about that girl. She didn't even know what a salandit was, but if she saw a really nervous-looking person, she would have to be careful if she wanted to make friends.
… Making friends… gosh, she'd never considered making that one of her goals. Because her brother had always been so popular, she'd always preferred to stay out of the way. Especially since her constant fumbles often caused grief on missions.
Now, though… the idea seemed very nice. Heck, she was excited to try! Especially if it would help her build the confidence to get as much respect as she possibly could!
For several more minutes, Buneary rode through some more corridors in her friends' pokémon tower. They'd fought off the occasional wild pokémon whenever one had decided to attack, but otherwise, nothing eventful had happened.
While carefully traversing an especially soggy corridor filled with puddles, a few zubat suddenly flew up to them. One of which was holding something with its legs.
Buneary tensed up, ready for another fight. She could sense her friends doing the same. Before anything could happen, however, one of the zubats spoke up.
"Wooow, look at that, guys!" the one with the longest 'legs' said in awe. Buneary could tell from appearance that it was a boy. "Those guys are rocking some huge piggyback... thing!"
The one with tiny wings pulled a face. With no eyes on its face, it was hard for Buneary to tell what emotion it was trying to convey. She could see that he was a boy, though, at least. "Hah? I don't get it..." he mumbled.
Buneary relaxed her fighting stance slightly. She could feel Yamask do the same, as his muscles stopped tensing.
"It's, er... it's a pokémon tower," Yamask explained. "When we're like this, we can fight better."
"Cooool!" the long-legged zubat chimed. "Guys, guys, it's cool! Right, guys!?"
"Yeah, it surely is," the third one - a male, more normal-looking zubat - replied. He fiddled with the gray disc he was carrying with his feet, seemingly in thought. "... Maybe we should try that."
"Yeah, yeah, guys, let's do it!"
They started to haphazardly fly on top of each other. Once they were in position, they looked like some sort of three-headed zubat monster. It was an amusing sight that made Buneary giggle to herself.
"Huh, this is pretty neat, actually," the small-winged zubat admitted.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks, you guys~!" the long-legged zubat said to Buneary and her friends.
"N-No problem?" Yamask replied, sounding rather perplexed.
"Buneary's the one who came up with it~" Corsola chimed.
"Er, y-yeah, sort of," Buneary replied, a little embarrassed by the sudden attention.
"Great work," the normal zubat said. "We'll be the talk of the bluff, now. Here!" He threw the disc he'd been carrying towards Buneary. "A gift!"
She yelped and tried to grab it, but it slipped right out of her paws. Thankfully, Octillery grabbed it as it fell. "Um... th-thank you!" she called out to the zubat, face warming at her little fumble.
The gang of zubats flew past Buneary and her friends to continue down the corridor.
"So like I was saying..." the tiny-winged one started, judging by his voice, "how the heck can we see things with no eyes!?"
The long-legged one gasped. "You can see!? I had to keep listening for sound waves while I talked and flapped my wings, and stuff!"
"... Huh?"
They continued their conversation, but Buneary stopped listening as Octillery piped up.
"... The Hell was that about!? They were wild, right!?" he exclaimed, sounding confused beyond words.
"Yeah," Yamask agreed. "They're usually all about attacking people... right?"
"Well, not all of them," Snorlax replied. "Most of them, sure, but wild pokémon come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and, er... levels of aggression."
"Why are they so violence happy, most of the time?" Corsola asked.
Buneary smiled softly at a memory. "Elder Slowking back in my hometown used to say that wild pokémon were a little hyper," she said.
Snorlax laughed. "Well... he's not wrong, I guess!" He calmed down and started walking again, stepping over puddles as he did. "Really, though... it depends. If it's not 'being hyper', it's either territory reasons, or wanting a fun fight reasons, or... just being angry for the sake of it reasons... There's just too many to list!"
Corsola kept up with Snorlax, walking by his side with her friends on top. "Tsk! You never see townspokémon getting so riled up for no reason," she huffed.
"Um... usually," Buneary mumbled, remembering a huge argument that had broken out all across her town, once. One which had almost even led to a divorce...
"Yeah, why've they all got a stick up their asses, the wild bastards?" Octillery asked.
Corsola chuckled sheepishly. "That's, um... an interesting choice of words coming from you, Octillery."
Buneary cringed while Yamask snorted out a laugh. Octillery just murmured in confusion, as if he didn't get it.
Buneary heard Snorlax quietly mumble, "He sure does have a stick up his backside..." to himself in amusement. She didn't dare explain what Corsola had actually meant, though.
"Um, a-anyway..." Snorlax continued, "to be fair to 'em, most wild pokémon are, er... well, I won't mince words. They're pretty dumb."
Buneary gasped. "M-Mr. Snorlax! That's a bit mean, isn't it?" she said, surprised that he would say that, of all pokémon.
He rubbed the back of his head. "Eheh, mayyybe a little. But trust me, it's true. The clever wild pokémon at least make some kind of effort to move into a town, or somewhere else with better behaved pokémon."
"Er, what about pokémon who are really poor?" Yamask asked. "Are they dumb?"
"Or the ones that really love nature, eh?" Octillery asked.
"H-Hey, they hardly count, do they?" Snorlax replied, flustered. "The ones I mean are the pokémon who don't like towns or the people who live in them. And they can always tell who's wild and who's not. I have no idea why."
"Why wouldn't people like to live in a town?" Buneary asked, barely holding back the urge to stretch her ears, for Yamask's sake.
"Well... my grandpa told me that towns, communities, and... I guess civilization in general only really began about... half a century ago, or so? Something like that." He brushed off some water that had dripped onto his bag. "While most pokémon can't even imagine any other way of living these days, there are still lots and lots of pokémon who are far too stubborn, or traditional to try the civil life. So mystery dungeons are still packed full of them to this day, all full of those wild instincts of old in 'em."
"Well, keeps us in the job, so I'm not complaining~!" Corsola chimed, walking around a puddle.
He let out a chuckle. "Good way of looking at it."
The group went back into comfortable silence for a short while.
Eventually, Octillery broke the quiet moment. "... Wait, this is yours, ain't it?" he asked, looking over the gray disc in his tentacles.
"Whose?" Yamask asked.
"Buneary's," Octillery replied, holding it up for the rabbit to grab onto. "S'what that zubat said, anyway."
"Oh... thanks?" she replied, taking it with both paws. Getting a better look at it, she realized it was a TM. One for Swift, judging by the label on it. She smiled apologetically. "It's lovely, but... I already have four moves. Does anyone else want it?"
Snorlax moved over to take it. "I'll keep it in my bag for now, but you may as well keep it. No harm in having some extra moves lying about!" he said, putting it in his bag as promised. "Hey, in fact, remind me later tonight and I'll lend you some blank TMs to store your older moves. You can swap between them all and experiment, then, can't you?"
Her eyes lit up. "Really? You can do that? Well, okay, thanks so much~!" She paused. "Wait... 'tonight'? Before I've even joined, properly?"
He stalled. "Well... if we haven't scared you off by the end of the adventure, anyway..."
"Oh... you'll join us, though, won't you, Buneary?" Corsola asked with a hint of worry to her voice.
"Definitely~!" Buneary replied. She tapped her paws together. "Um, if I prove myself, of course. That's why we're here, after all, eheh..."
Snorlax huffed. "Oh, when you put it that way, I dunno... this guild is only for the elite, so it'll take some consideration...!" he said.
Buneary's heart skipped a beat. "O-Oh, o-of course!" she replied, shaking from nerves. Oh, she knew it! She wasn't impressing him! She was doomed!
"Hey, don't tease Buneary!" Yamask scolded. "She's- W-Whoa!"
Buneary and her friends began to topple. Her mind raced as she struggled to stay upright. Oh, dear legends, why were they falling over!?
The panic made her shiver harder. As soon as she realized that was the cause, the tower collapsed and everyone fell onto the floor.
Buneary and her friends groaned in pain. The rabbit shivered again as she picked herself out of a cold puddle. Ugh...
Though afraid of seeing everyone's disapproval, she anxiously looked around. Oddly, most of them were giving disapproving looks to Snorlax, who was smiling very sheepishly. Corsola just looked awkward, instead.
"Um... l-looks like I put my foot in it," the bear said, glancing around nervously.
"Yeah, 'cos you picked on Buneary, ya bastard!" Octillery yelled. "You wanna die!? I'll put my foot up you!"
Snorlax's eyes opened wide in shock. "Urk! B-But you don't have any...! Um..." He faced Buneary while sweating profusely, once again squinting. "S-Sorry, Miss! I'm a bit too good at rattling you, huh? Hah..."
"Um... i-it's okay...?" Buneary replied, a bit bewildered by the situation. "I'm... Am I close enough to being elite, or have I got no chance after all...?"
"Buneary," Corsola said, an air of amusement to her voice, "if someone as hopelessly bad as me can get into the guild, what makes you think you can't?"
Standing up, Buneary stalled. "... Well, I, er..." She stalled again before shaking her head rapidly. "Y-You're not bad, don't say that!"
Corsola giggled in response. "You considered it~"
Buneary pouted at the coral, making her giggle harder. Yamask and Snorlax chuckled along, though Octillery just huffed exasperatedly, instead.
"Oh, well," Corsola said as her giggles calmed down, "I think we're nearly there, so should we just go as is?"
"Sounds good to me!" Yamask replied. "Using everyone's moves was starting to wear me out, anyway…"
"Yeah, same here!" Corsola said. "Even though they weren't my moves, it didn't make much difference!"
"Heh, well, there's that drawback we talked about, I suppose," Snorlax said. "Stamina, just like I thought."
"Y-Yeah, I think so…" Buneary replied. Yeah, she remembered now… Back in the Blazing Squad, everyone would always complain whenever they had tried to use her Reversal, because it was such a draining move.
Thankfully, the same hadn't happened today. She dreaded to think what would have happened if Team Specter's leader had shown up as promised, and they'd had no more stamina for their moves.
"Oh, Snorlax, you're a clever one~" Corsola praised, making him beam. She pointed down the hallway. "But yeah, everyone, it's just that-a way, down that hallway~!"
With some words of acknowledgement, everyone continued down the hallway. After a short while, though, they came up to a dead end.
They all stood at the end of the hallway, blankly staring at the wall stopping their progress.
"... Uh...?" Corsola started slowly. Looking at her, Buneary could tell she was completely perplexed and more than a little awkward.
"Oh, don't tell me ya got lost!" Octillery said irritably.
The coral yelped and rapidly shook her head. "I-I didn't! This was the way to where the floor started and that wonder tile was! Honest!"
"Oh, dear..." Snorlax mumbled, paws on hips. "I guess the dungeon must have shifted a bit."
"Shifted?" Buneary asked.
"Yup. Rooms move around... entrances to hallways open and close up on a whim... entirely new places can just show up out of the blue... " He let out an amused huff. "It's really no wonder people get lost in these things."
Buneary pulled a face, though she lightened up when she realized something. "Wow, dungeons really are magical, huh?" she asked.
Snorlax chuckled heartily. "They really are, aren't they? They've always amazed me, even back when I was a kid, living near Mystifying Forest with my parents. They seem so small on the outside, but then you enter one and it gets so mind boggling at how big it is!"
Buneary clasped her paws to her chin in wonder. "Oooh, that's so fantastical~!"
Corsola giggled. "Not too hard to impress you, is it? You're so precious~" she chimed.
Buneary felt embarrassed, especially as the others became amused, too. "... I like stuff like that," she mumbled, holding back a pout.
"Well, I think it's cool, too!" Yamask said. Scratching at the dark flames surrounding him again, he let out a breath. "Really annoying for getting missions done quickly, though. If we could use maps, it'd be so easier!"
"What're you even complainin' about?" Octillery asked. "You and your damn team can go through friggin' walls! All I've got is stupid-ass swimming and sticking to walls and shit!"
"H-Hey, Elgyem can't follow us through walls! Besides, I can't just go through them any time I want, y'know. It drains my stomach dry, so I'm screwed if I don't have something to eat and I don't get out in time!"
"Huh, that happened to an outlaw we were chasing, once..." Snorlax murmured. "Took us forever to find her when she fainted and the dungeon teleported her out." He shook his head and smiled. "Anyway, it's alright. There's no fun to missions if they're too easy, so it's good if you have to explore a bit!"
Buneary smiled along with him. "Oh, it's about the journey and not the destination, right? Like my brother would always say~" she said.
"Haha, yup! Your brother's a smart one, Miss." He turned around. "On that note, let's find our way around."
"Oh, wait!" Yamask interjected. He turned slightly transparent. "If it's through the wall, like Corsola said, I could just... go through, myself!"
"Ooh, another smart one in the team~!" Corsola praised. She pointed at the wall. "It's that-a way~!"
He nodded. "'Kay! I'm-"
A sudden harsh noise startled everyone. An immediate second one made Buneary's head snap towards its direction with both ears outstretched. "O-Oh, my legends, what's going on, now!?" she squealed.
On the wall, she noticed two clean, diagonal cuts, deep enough to lead through to the other side. Through the holes, she barely noticed something moving before two more cuts joined the others in a cross pattern.
"Is this some more fuckin' dungeon bullshit, or what!?" Octillery yelled.
Snorlax sighed. "Nope. I think he's here," he said in bemusement.
"Wh-Who's 'he'!?" Corsola cried.
Harsh gray energy poured through the cracks in the wall until the whole thing exploded outwards, sending rocks flying.
Everyone squealed or yelled in surprise. Looking past the carnage, Buneary caught a glimpse of a glowing purple eye staring straight at her.
A stray rock slammed against her forehead and made everything go black.
... He could see one. An explorer. He could tell, because it was carrying a treasure bag as it trudged up the really long, gentle slope leading his way. In fact, there was another one with it. Some ghostly figure hanging out of its bag.
Bradley let out a deep sigh. Fuck...
Wiping sweat on his forehead away with his arm, he glanced up at one of the walls, all coated with spikes bigger than he was. Against the sky, he could faintly make out Ben, who was inconspicuously watching from atop one of the oddly angled spikes.
Bradley sighed again. Well... time to figure out what he had to do. At least Ben wanted to be the punisher this time, though Bradley still had to lead. He didn't really understand why, but... well, he had to. That was as good a reason as any, he guessed...
Before he could get a good look at it, he noticed that the non-ghostly explorer seemed to be looking his way, eyeing him carefully. Huffing, he turned the corner to go out of view and work out a plan of action. He... really had no idea how to go about this.
But if he didn't do anything, Ben was sure to get annoyed about it.
Clenching his fist, he waited for the pokémon to make its way up. He mentally prepared himself to strike it when it arrived on the floor he was on. As it came into view, however, he couldn't stop his violent thoughts from dissipating.
Ugh... well, whatever. At least he could see the newcomer properly now. It seemed like a stunky, but its fur was red, for some reason. That or some really dark shade of pink. A shiny stunky, maybe?
Even without seeing her chest, he could easily tell she was female. She had long eyelashes, her features were delicate, and the green bow on her head was tied up in the most feminine way he could ever imagine. The way she was gently wiping at her face with a handkerchief helped to complete the image, too.
On spotting him, she seemed startled, though she soon got a strange look in her eyes as she continued to scan him up and down. After a while, she fanned her face, and her cheeks somehow seemed redder.
He tilted his head. Huh? She seemed... special.
She seemed to recompose herself enough to... flutter her eyelashes at him flirtatiously. "Why, hello there, you handsome devil, you~" she greeted in a rather pompous, womanly voice.
"... Er... hi..." he replied, raising an eyebrow in confusion. What the...?
She strolled closer to him, hips swaying with every step. "Do you perhaps... come here often?"
... Oh. Right. She was one of those flirtatious types, wasn't she? Probably what Ben would call an 'utter whore who only wants to be bred', though Bradley wasn't sure if he'd use such strong phrasing, himself.
His frown deepened and he looked away in disdain. Ugh... he'd just reminded himself. It was time for punishment. But to do it to someone who had opened up in such a friendly manner...
She continued on with something else, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to listen. Well, whatever. She... probably didn't mean anything she was saying, anyway.
"Yeah, um... I..." he interrupted, eager to get this over and done with. He let out a breath and looked at her. "I have to mug you, now."
She stared at him, her already concerned gaze growing even more so. "... Er..." she started with an awkward chuckle, taking a step back. "Y-You have a peculiar sense of humor, dear."
Bradley's frown deepened. He wished he was joking...
An apparent ghost-type's purple head suddenly erupted from the stunky's bag. Despite the situation, he was smiling brightly as he warned the stunky of Bradley's intentions.
... Seeing that smile only made Bradley hesitate. Could he really...?
... Ugh, no, he needed to do this. It was like Ben had once told him. The only way to make up for the horrible thing he'd done... was by punishing pokémon for their ill hearts.
... Even if it didn't feel like it was helping, if it kept Ben from wanting rid of him, too... it was something, at least.
Ignoring the growing ache in his chest, he quickly powered a Thunder Wave.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Finished: 13/08 (August)/2020
Word count: 11,643
VGS2's sausage notes: Fun fact! Pokémon have two abilities in the first two mystery dungeons! (Not the DX version, though. Phooey...)
On that note... it might be obvious to some of you by now, but I won't be entirely strict about moves, and stats, and whatever else. I mean, in a certain game that may or may not have inspired the Pokémon towers of this fic, you can learn egg moves by watching other pokémon do them (as long as they're in the same pokémon tower as you).
So yeah... let's not be too literal about game mechanics, eh? XP
Today's shameless promotion: The Ember and the Spark
Author: bc414
Universe: Medieval times
Main species: A vulpix and a shinx
Summary: Princess Valerie from the Kingdom of Payr is kidnapped, along with her best friend, Shane, a dutiful squire of humble origins. As the two find their way back to their castle, Valerie recalls the good old days of growing up with Shane and contemplates the responsibilities and sacrifices that she must make in the future as a princess.
Romance: Things get rocky for them, but mostly very yes!
Wackiness: Fairly grounded!
Lewdness: Not very much, though recent chapters make me wonder!
Action: Very yes! (Uses traditional pokémon moves with different strategies!)
Grittiness: A bit! Death may be possible!
Length: Rather long! (Their journey has pretty much just begun!)
It's a good little fic, with some really relatable characters, so I'd recommend it. Admittedly, at a glance, it looks like a fic heavily inspired by PokéMaster64's series, Bandits of the Forest... but bc414 did tell me that it was a plot he'd been planning for ages. So I guess it's just a very popular topic to cover, eh? XD
Even with that in mind, it takes a very different approach to BotF, so I can hardly call it a similar fic!
Mistakes of the day: #1: 'She'd heard that those turned to stone by the Dark Mater incident had literally been turned to stone.'
(I wouldn't want to be imprisoned by someone with that kind of name…)
#2: 'Buneary's legs were pulled out from under her and she crashed to the floor. She crashed to the floor. "Aha!" Marowisp yelled as she painfully crashed to the floor.'
(While fixing the sentence to be more snappy, I sort of murdered ol' Wallfower, here. Whoops.)
#3: 'he had her locked in place, unable to even more her arms.'
(Buneary wants to be the next Octillery, apparently. Even though she technically has an extra two arms on her head.)
#4: 'How he was so strong, despite bing'
(Everyone's thoughts on Google.)
#5: 'She powered up her ears with Dizzy Punch, bent them backwards and smashed him in the back of his hard head again and again.'
(... How!? Is she made of rubber, or what? Should I ship her with Rubberchu, from J'LoBuizel's Mortal Kombat fic?)
#6: 'It came back like a boomarang and slammed into the back of Yamask's'
(Not really much of an amusing mistake, but spelling this wrong always reminds me of the time I screwed up horribly on that one Warioware minigame, which asks you to spell things correctly in an RPG setting, or face hot death. You'd think I'd learn to spell the bloody word correctly after that, but here we are.)
#7: 'Not only was he a jerk, but thanks to him, Corsola's and Yamask's memoires of this day were going to involve her being half-naked.'
(Memoires? Like a journal? 'Dear diary... today, I got to see bunny boobies! Hooray! They were a bit small, though.')
#8: 'The memory made her face burn ever more.'
(It was just that embarrassing, I guess.)
#9: 'Mariowisp didn't stop. "You wanna faint, too? Well, my pleasure!"'
(*Mario dons the boo costume from Galaxy and becomes Mariowisp* "Wahoo! I'm-a gonna make you faint! Let's-a go!" *Jumps on Buneary, Yamask and Corsola, getting some mad points before Bowser cucks him again*)
#10: 'ho was hunched over.'
(Oh my…!)
#11: 'Still covering herself, Buneary lunged toward Mrowispand and screamed,'
(I'd scream, too, if this abomination came towards me. What even happened!?)
#12: 'She took a deep breath and, with a really deep breath, jumped forwards to continue.'
(I keep making them take too many deep breaths, for some reason. It'll be like what happens if you try to overinflate a balloon and then accidentally let all the air back into your squishy lungs.)
#13: 'Buneary sat on top of Corsola, who was floating in front of Snorlax's petrified body.'
(I didn't note her being in any water, so I guess Corsola's just… floating. XD Is she that weird ghost-type variant, now? Or rather… a corsoula? (Thank ravengal for that name, lol))
#14: "S'what what my bro, Kakuna, says, anyway."
(Is he rapping, or what?)
#15: 'All with Yamask on Buneary's head, holding into her upright ear for support.'
(Ouch! I guess that's one way to stay stable! O,o)
#16: 'She held arms against her chest.'
(Putting Min Min into Smash Brothers had been a good idea, it seems! I wonder how much that game sold since Ramen Woman came to Smash?)
#17: 'Octillery asked, staring looking his paws over'
(Lol, imagine an octillery with furry arms instead of tentacles. Freaky! No wonder he's staring and looking at them.)
#18: 'While carefully traversing an especially soggy corridor, filled with puzzles,'
(Not sure how I managed this one... XD Guess we'd better get Puzzle Solver Donphan on the scene, eh?)
#19: '"Oh... you'll join us, won't you, Corsola?" Corsola asked, sounding worried.'
(Oh, God, she's lost it. Or maybe she's talking to that corsola from the previous chapter?)
#20: "I-I didn't! This was the way to where the floor started! Hoe"
(Corsola really doesn't like Octillery, clearly!)
#21: "Sure does! Some aboard!" Corsola chimed.
(Sorry, Octillery. Not enough room at the inn, it seems.)
#22: 'He glanced up at one of the Ben,'
(As if we need more of that bastard! D:)
#23: 'She seemed to recompose herself enough to... flutter her eyebrows at him flirtatiously.'
(Who is she? Dr. Wily?)
#24: 'Bradley's face deepend'
(Inward or outward? If the latter, he's turning into a horse. If the former, he's turning into some sort of bean faced creature from those CalArts cartoons.)
Welp, that wraps that up! Please review/favourite/follow, make sure you read Questing For Comrades, hope you enjoy your day, and tata for now! c: *Deep inhale*
