So, in the original story this and the next chapter were one, but I decided to split it into two here.
"Ow," Sean grunted as Chimecho removed the bandages.
"And… there we go!" Chimecho had taken them off as gently as she could, but the bandages tugged at Sean's fur a bit and he didn't enjoy that. "Your wounds look healed, I'll just clean the rest of the blood off."
Sean sat still as Chimecho did her work, the basin of water she had growing steadily pinker as she scrubbed dried blood off his body. "Those pokémon did quite a number on you," she commentated. "Not the first either," she tutted.
"Pardon?" Sean asked.
"You have a lot of scars underneath your fur," Chimecho said, brushing several faded lines she had found between the fur. "Here and here and there and here."
While she counted the scars, Sean mused. "My head still hurts but thank god for a pokémon's healing rate. If I was still human those marks would take weeks to disappear."
He blamed all the pokémon that seemed drawn to attack him for everything else.
"You have quite a few," Chimecho continued, clicking her tongue. "Not as obvious as that new grovyle, oh and not nearly as much as the one of Team Celestial. Goodness gracious, that was alarming upon first sight," she continued, adding that last bit under her breath. "And… done!" Chimecho pulled back, formally white cloth pink and red and black. "All spick and span and ready to go!"
"Thank you so much, Chimecho," Sean said gratefully. He stretched and stood up with a wince as it pulled at his still-recovering body.
"Here are the items you were wrapped in." Chimecho hovered over Sean's ribbon and Rai's scarf. "All cleaned and ready to be worn again!"
"Thanks again," Sean said politely, taking both. He fiddled with the pair, not wrapping either of them around his neck just yet.
She set the objects away into a pot to be washed later, some to be discarded as well. As she turned back, he was still there, and she smiled. "Something on your mind, Meowth?"
He shrugged. "Not much, I don't know. Just a little curious."
"Oh?" She beamed. "About what?"
A lot of things, actually, but Sean didn't voice them all. They would be busy soon. "Just since I have you here, I was still curious about that Psychic Network thingy?"
She nodded, it wasn't the first time someone had been curious. "What would you like to know?"
"Where did it come from?" he asked seriously. "I've never heard of anything like that, it's hard to even imagine really."
And it was. It wasn't in the game, he knew that. He saw no connection orbs or anything like that either, just these pokémon who developed their web of communication.
Chimecho hummed for a moment as she pondered the question. "Exactly where? I can't say. It's been a thing for many years now, I do not know how long exactly. I do know a little of the history, others in the network have been kind enough to explain."
She smiled at him. "I don't see many pokémon wondering about history, ah, if Indeedee could have you for an hour she'd talk your ear off," she giggled.
He smiled back as she sobered, finishing putting her tools away. "Well, as I understand it, the network was designed by The Legendary Lucario." She said Lucario with emphasis that Sean immediately thought was a little unusual. "As a way of building community and surviving dungeons."
"Lucario did this?" he asked. He remembered the Lucario rank in Rescue Team and the brief bit of history we had of that person.
Chimecho bobbed in the air, her version of a nod. "Indeed. It is said that Lucario was the first explorer, rescuer, all things to do with dungeons and beyond. She could find people within them during the times that no one knew what dungeons were and began to teach others. The network was made by her to act in her place as she left to help others."
Her eyes were a little far away. "Oh, imagine meeting her. That would be a highlight of my life."
"Meet her?" he asked, a little thrown. "Sorry, I thought the dungeon stuff, Explorer Federation business was pretty old."
"Oh, it is," Chimecho replied. "Lucario. Well, goodness, cannot even begin that history in the time we have. Excuse me, it's a little funny to me." She giggled. "Everyone knows about Lucario." Again with that emphasis. "It's something taught in school even and even wild pokémon have heard of her, at least that's what I've heard. Hard to imagine anyone who hasn't."
He felt a little in the deep end as Chimecho giggled again. "I apologise, I'm not meaning to laugh at you. It's simply so odd, you are a charming young pokémon, Meowth."
She smiled and then turned to the tent flap.
"Chatot would like to speak to everyone again," Chimecho said, leading him out of her tent. "While you were sleeping he went over a few things, but said he'd talk again once you were ready."
"Kind of him," Sean said as he stepped out into the glorious day. Fog was still there, glorious fog.
"Meowth!" Rai called, bounding over to him as soon as he saw him. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," he said, brushing non-existent dirt off his shoulder. "How about you?"
"Better 'cause you're better!" Rai said, nuzzling him along the side that hadn't been wounded. "Was weird sleeping without you there."
"Here's your scarf back, thanks for giving it to me." Sean began to hand the scarf over before realising Rai couldn't really put it on himself. "Should I?" With an affirmative nod from Rai, Sean clumsily tied the defence scarf back around Rai's neck before putting the joy ribbon around his own.
He fumbled a little with tying them, but he was getting more used to his paws.
"Ahem, attention please," Chatot called to gain Sean and Rai's focus, everyone else was already waiting quietly, but old habits die hard. "With everyone now at the base camp safe and sound, rested and recovered." He didn't look at Sean, but everyone else did. "We will now proceed to our exploration of Fogbound Lake!"
Smiles were shared, and glances spun as Chatot turned around. "As you can see, we are in a densely forested area. Somewhere within this forest, Fogbound Lake is supposedly concealed… but so far, that has been nothing more than a rumour."
"Exploration teams of all types and pokémon have mounted many attempts at finding the lake," Wigglytuff cut in, Chatot bowing out gracefully to let the Guildmaster speak. "But so far the lake hasn't been found. No one has been able to crack the mystery."
"Hey-hey-hey, so is it there or what?" Corphish started, taking the limelight for himself. "Is Fogbound Lake really there or have we come this way for nothing?"
"Silly Corphish," Sunflora said, shaking her head. "You'll wreck the hopes and dreams saying stuff like that."
"YEAH!" Loudred roared. "DON'T SPOIL THINGS NOW!" Sean couldn't help but quirk a small smile he swiftly hid at that.
"Hey…." Corphish hunched down in his shell.
"Um, may I?" Chimecho asked. "Um… while we were travelling, I heard about a certain legend."
"A legend you say?" Chatot asked.
"Yes." Chimecho nodded, swaying in the wind. "A legend about Fogbound Lake. According to the legend, Fogbound Lake is home to a pokémon called Uxie. Uxie is supposedly exceedingly rare, perhaps even a Legendary Pokémon, and has the power to wipe the memories clean of anyone who meets its eyes. That is why, even if someone was to find Fogbound Lake, they wouldn't remember it after Uxie removed their memories, effectively muzzling any attempts to reveal the truth about the existence of the lake."
More than a few eyes turned to Sean, Rai's most noticeably.
"I've heard of this legend myself," Grovyle commented. "Best to be careful, most legends are built from a kernel of truth."
"G-golly, that sounds terrible." Bidoof shook in place. "Positively hair-raising yup-yup."
"Meh-heh-heh, I've heard of this legend myself," Croagunk said. "I grew up in the Bubbling Swamp that we passed by. That legend's been around for some time, no one has ever proved it, but, how would they? It's never completely faded either. Meh-heh-heh, perhaps there is some truth to it?"
"What would we do if our memory was erased?" Dugtrio gasped. "The implications are terrible!"
"Are you… talking about we as in all of us, or we as in you?" Sunflora asked curiously.
"We as in Dugtrio! We might forget our love of the ocean, that would be an utter outrage!"
"You're so weird sometimes you make me go eek!" Sunflora exclaimed, shaking her head. "Not your love of your son?"
Dugtrio puffed up in outrage. "No amount of amnesia would ever make us forget our love of our son!"
"Ahem," Chatot coughed politely. "You should all realise that places of this sort can be expected to have a folktale, or a legend attached to them. Our guild has overcome difficult challenges and obstacles when conducting successful explorations before!"
"That's how the guild earned its reputation of first-class right?" Sean asked.
"That's right." Wigglytuff nodded. "We never give up. Never surrender! Yoom-TAH!" His voice nearly blew the guild away, but everyone managed to hold firm, getting a satisfied nod from Chatot in the process. "Hahaha so don't worry. Everything will be alright. Let's believe in success for this adventure too, and let's try! Let's try! No reason not to try, lalala!" His overwhelming positivity reinvigorated the whole guild.
"HOORAY!"
"Let's move on with our plan," Chatot said, bringing the conversation back to its role. "The Guildmaster and I shall remain here to gather intelligence from the teams in the field. You. All of you shall go off in teams to explore this forest. Be aware that this forest is enshrouded in a deep fog. Once you enter it, your visibility will be severely restricted. And electric attacks." Chatot turned to Rai. "Will be affected by this to a degree as well, so be aware your attacks may not be as effective as normal."
"Right." Rai nodded. He also relied on his eyesight to score his hits; he knew this would be doubly difficult.
"The Guildmaster and I believe that Fogbound Lake has defied discovery due to this constant fog," Chatot continued. "There has never been a recorded time of this fog being lifted, possibly meaning it is being kept in place by some means. Therefore, your search is twofold. One, search for Fogbound Lake. And two, find a way to lift this fog."
"I'm guessing Defog wouldn't work?" Sean asked as the apprentices nodded.
"No move has ever been able to shift the fog," Chatot answered, shaking his head. "If you accomplish either task, return to base camp and inform either the Guildmaster or myself. That is all. Alright everyone, let's give it our best as always!"
"YES, SIR!"
"Let's all try our best!" Sunflora said right after the cheer.
"It'd be nice if we made a discovery or two," Bidoof agreed, sharing a smile with Sunflora.
"We'll find the LAKE!" Loudred roared. "AS MEMBERS OF THE WIGGLYTUFF GUILD THERE IS NOTHING LESS WE CAN ACCOMPLISH!"
"We'll find the lake," Chimecho agreed as everyone staggered from Loudred. "I'm sure of it."
"Dad?" Diglett asked, coming to his father's side. "I was thinking, maybe we should try looking under the ground. Maybe the lake is underground?"
"Not this one," Sean thought as Dugtrio beamed.
"Ah my son, my pride and joy, you make me proud. Let's look underground." He nodded with all his heads at Diglett before looking to the group. "Alright everyone, we will be off. A lot of ground to cover." And with that, Diglett and Dugtrio disappeared into the ground.
"Hey-hey-hey, we can't afford to dawdle either!" Corphish hopped to his feet.
"Yup-yup, we need to hurry."
"Meh-heh-heh, let's give it our best shot."
"Let's get this done Sean!" Rai turned to the meowth and received a nod from Sean. "We'll search every inch of this place!"
"You two," Grovyle said, stepping up to them. "Have any ideas on where to start?" Sean felt uncomfortable as Grovyle seemed to barely glance at Rai as he came up to them, speaking right to Sean.
Rai nodded, bouncing in excitement. "We're both fast and have good eyes! I can glow and Meowth worked out the pathway through Boulder Quarry! We've got this!"
"Boulder Quarry?" Grovyle asked.
Sean tried not to wince. "Sure did," he said, as Rai turned an expectant look on him. "Hard to explain, weird place."
Grovyle eyed him for a moment before nodding. "Forgive me for this, but I believe it'll be better for us if we were to split up from here. Cover more ground that way." He then smirked and damn was it a good look on him. "I'm eager to get ahead of you two, see if you can catch up."
Rai immediately reacted, sparking with electricity. "We'll give you a head start," he said confidently, also a really good look on him and Sean's eyes drifted from Grovyle's smirk to Rai's confident grin.
Grovyle and Rai eyed each other for a moment until Rai's grin began to crack a little under the pressure of being stared down by Grovyle. Then, Grovyle laughed.
"Very kind of you, I'd better run then. Take all the advantages I can get. Best of luck you two, and keep working on that Night Slash." And then he was off, dashing incredibly fast into the mist.
Rai breathed out a sigh of excited emotion as Grovyle disappeared, Sean was still staring. Rai shook it off and then flashed a grin at Sean. "What's with the look?" he asked.
Sean finally blinked and he shook his head as well. "Oh, uh. I don't know if I've seen you look that confident before, it's a nice look."
Rai went red. "U-Uh, well. That, I."
Seeing Rai's confidence begin to go up in smoke, Sean immediately tried to backtrack. "No! It's good. Really good. I bet we can do it as well, get ahead of Grovyle. Impress the whole guild! I know we can do it!"
And at that moment he resolved to cheat his hardest in the trials coming up. Because Rai deserved to look that confident all the time.
They waved to Chatot and Wigglytuff as they went by.
"Chatot I'm bored."
"It's been a minute. Please don't do this already."
"But Chatoooot."
Their voices fell quiet quickly though as Team Ion wandered the mist.
"Creepy place," Sean observed, withholding a shiver. "Charming."
"So, I was thinking," Rai began, not looking at him. Sean didn't move his eyes off the trees either, it felt like something was watching them. "What Chimecho said about the legend, Uxie I think she said."
"Yeah?" Sean asked when Rai didn't continue.
"She said that Uxie could remove memories… do you think that's what happened to you? You came here, and then Uxie took your memories?"
Sean frowned, the topic wasn't a huge surprise, but he hadn't looked forward to it either way. "Maybe," he said, not willing to just say no. "I don't feel any déjà vu or anything. It doesn't feel like I've been here before."
"Probably would be part of Uxie's goal though?" Rai said, feeling confident in his points. "Maybe if we meet this Uxie, we can ask them? Even if they didn't take your memories, they might have an idea of what did or a way to get them back!"
"Let's focus on finding Fogbound Lake first," Sean said, distractedly rubbing the chill off his arm. His eyes went left and right, looking for that stone he remembered. "If Uxie's there, it would be a good idea to ask."
"Good, let's find Fogbound Lake then!" Rai didn't rush off like he normally would, sticking close to Sean instead. They both preferred it. The forest was difficult to see through, and very quiet.
A subtle shift in the feeling the place gave out caused them both to avert their eyes and glance to each other. The trees in the mist became more oriented to positioning and the fog only seemed to grow heavier.
"I think we entered the dungeon," Sean said, feeling the bottom of his stomach drop. They didn't have the stone!
"Yep." Rai nodded. "No doubt."
"Let's get to this then." Sean gave Rai a confident smile he didn't feel. Grovyle was not with them, the fog was still there, and everything was coming back to the way he liked it.
Except.
Sean's smile fell as Rai began leading him through the dungeon. He was sure the stone was meant to be on the path in, was he completely wrong? Was it further in? Or had someone already grabbed it?
In a different part of the dungeon, Grovyle began his journey to the Groudon statue. "Alright," he said to himself, patting his bag and the key hidden within it. "Time to do this."
"Um… Rai?" Sean asked once they had gotten well into the dungeon. "You don't need to work so hard."
"What do you mean?" Rai asked, sending a furret to the land of dreams with a powerful zap.
"You are kind of doing… everything for me."
Sean and Rai had been storming their way through Foggy Forest for nearly an hour at this point. Sean had his claws ready, ignoring the occasional jab of pain through his abdomen, and had a plan of attack.
Rai electrocuted every enemy they had come across. From the Flying-types to the Normal-types to the Grass-types. He had refused to allow anything to get even within talking distance to Sean, exerting his electricity through the fog.
He was even carrying the Treasure Bag.
Sean, being completely honest with himself, didn't exactly mind having less work to do, but this was getting excessive. Rai's electrical attacks were being dampened by the fog and the shinx was having to push himself a lot harder to make them effective.
"Well, you know." Rai shrugged, rolling his shoulders and avoiding the question. "I'm pretty strong, and I attack from a distance all the time! I don't see the problem!"
"The fog IS making it harder for you to hit stuff," Sean pointed out, literally pointing a claw to multiple scorch marks across the room they were in. "Took you four tries to hit that noctowl."
"I'm still getting better with my aim!" Rai insisted. "Thunderbolt takes some time to master, that I know."
He demonstrated his greater proficiency by striking down a zigzagoon on the first shot. "That's all well and good," Sean said, crossing his arms. "But you're doing everything. I'm not even carrying the bag, and I'm the one who uses items."
"I didn't think you needed the weight on your back," Rai continued to insist upon his point. "It's not like I can't get an item out if I need it."
Sean stared him down for a moment. "Rai, please," he said softly and the shinx wilted.
"I… you got really hurt in Mount Horn," Rai said shamefully. "Part of that is because of me, I just want to make it up to you."
"Rai, I'm fine," Sean stressed the word. "And I forgave you as soon as I woke up."
Rai shifted, still looking a bothersome mix of guilty and defiant.
"Can I at least have the bag?" Sean asked, stretching out a paw to Rai. "I feel better with it anyway. I mean, if something happens and you can't protect me, what am I supposed to do without it? It has all the seeds that I use, like that sleep seed I used on the aerodactyl."
Sean's light, almost flippant, tone towards getting carried off caused a small shiver through Rai, but he did concede the point. "You do good with the seeds, that's for sure," he said as he shrugged out of the bag.
"Crammed it down the beast's throat." Sean grinned proudly, feeling a lot better with the Treasure Bag slung around his shoulder. "And this isn't even heavy, I'm sure I can manage," he added to Rai's concern.
Smiling at his friend, Sean decided to lead the way for once. "I've got a paw on three seeds right now," he said as Rai shot him a mixture of annoyed and concerned looks. "And I'm fine. Barely even have any new scars under all this fur!"
Sean's bravado remained as they made their way further into the dungeon. The fog was still smothering everything in its oppressive embrace, but it could do nothing to Sean's keen eyes.
"Here comes a hoothoot," Sean said, spotting the bird flying towards them. Rai squinted, trying to get a lock on the slow bird and began to charge electricity. "Let me take this one," Sean said, sweeping a paw out to block Rai's line of sight.
"What?" Rai asked as the claws in that paw extended.
"Let me," Sean repeated before dashing forward.
Heart pumping furiously in his chest, Sean readied his claws as the hoothoot spotted him and swooped down at him. "Scraaah!" Sean yelled, beginning to say the name of the attack before just slipping into a battle cry.
Hoothoot's beak shone white as Sean's claws did and Scratch met Peck in an almost embarrassingly underwhelming moment. Hoothoot's dive had given it some extra force and Sean yelped as his paw was pecked hard.
Recoiling, he managed to sidestep the hoothoot tackling him and the bird landed in the dirt. "Ow-ow-ow!" Sean yelped hopping on his feet and shaking his paw. "FfffRICK!" With his other paw's claws glowing white, Sean slashed out with that one, delivering a much better blow upon hoothoot's face.
The feral pokémon screeched loudly and darted back, right as Rai decided to step in and shock it with Thunderbolt. Hoothoot crumpled like a sack of bricks and Rai came trotting over to his side.
"Good battle!" he said politely as Sean stopped making a fuss. Admiring his paw, he quickly found there was only a small spot of blood and even then, it wasn't flowing. He felt an odd fascination with the drop of blood for a strange moment, wanting to see it change.
"Thanks," Sean breathed, a little relieved Rai had stepped in. His heart hammered in his chest, and it was just a hoothoot. "That… thanks. I feel better knowing you have my back."
Rai brightened and nodded to Sean. "And I'm happy to know I have you to do the same."
"Yeah," Sean sighed, rubbing his injured paw against his hip to wipe the blood away. "Let's keep going."
"Right."
Without any more dawdling around, Team Ion stormed the Foggy Forest with the force of a stiff breeze.
Pokémon fell before them once Rai had shocked them enough times or Sean threw seeds with the precision of a champion shot-putter. In a feat of great irony to the pair, Sean had the stronger presence in this dungeon.
The eyes of the meowth were keen and sharp and were able to spot things that even Rai's eyes didn't pick up on. A sharp slash with his claws or a precise seed thrown at the right angle was enough to ward a considerable number of pokémon off.
Needless to say, Sean was feeling much better about the hoothoot from earlier.
"And that makes twelve," Sean said as a furret scampered off into the fog. He flexed the claws on his left paw at the retreating figure for a moment before retracting them and beaming in delight. "Scared that one off for a while I bet!"
"You're doing fantastic!" Rai cheered, simultaneously happy for his friend, reassured Sean was in fact healed, and relieved that he could restore some of his energy. Shocking enemies through all this fog was really dragging him down.
"I know, I know," Sean said waving him off facetiously. "You're too kind."
"How can I be too kind?" Rai asked, cocking his head as Sean gave him a bright look of adoration.
"Never change," he said, poking Rai on the nose. "You are far too cute as you are."
"Change is good though," Rai insisted before fluffing up and barking. "Stop calling me cute!"
"Who's going to hear me?" Sean laughed, running forward through the empty room they had entered.
"I AM!" Rai yelled, chasing down the slower pokémon.
Sean dodged Rai's first pounce, but he couldn't avoid the second one due to laughing far too hard. "Ah, you're too heavy, help! Someone help!"
Growling, Rai pressed down on him, really pinning him now. "Who's cute now?" he asked pleasantly.
"You," Sean replied without hesitation, even with his mouth pushed into the grass.
Rai growled, but he wasn't the only one. "Eep!" Was all Rai managed before something tackled him.
"Pleh, what's going on?" Sean yelled spitting out grass, tone changing to alarm as he pulled himself up. Yips and barks from the two pokémon wrestling. One was Rai, Sean could tell, especially when the yellow light of electricity blasted the other one, off Rai.
"Oh, go to distortion!" he yelled at the pokémon that had attacked him. Sean had to bury a snort of amusement once he saw Rai's face, all concern being washed away. A big blotch of green paint was striped across his face, and he gave Sean an equally filthy look for the laughter.
Rai shot off a Thunderbolt, but the smeargle avoided it by rolling to the side. Its tail waggled in a few rapid positions, green paint somehow remaining in the air as the tail swept through. Like it was painting the very air.
"What's it doing?" Sean asked in surprise, he could guess but this was just weird.
"I don't know, but I don't like!" Rai answered, charging a second Thunderbolt. Before he could, however, the smeargle finished sketching Rai's Thunderbolt and the green paint turned bright yellow before it sunk into the smeargle's body.
"That's weird," Sean said, backing away as the smeargle turned to him. "Looks like it's going to AH!"
The smeargle flashed with light and used Thunderbolt, blasting Sean off his feet.
He landed with a crash and a groan. "Why does this feel familiar?" he asked before twitching as the remaining electricity caused his limbs to spasm.
Even now, the smeargle made no noise, simply staring forwards with glassy eyes narrowed into a foggy fury.
Rai, upon Sean getting blasted, abandoned charging electricity and instead chose to just charge the smeargle himself. "BACK OFF!" he roared, slamming headfirst into the smeargle's chest.
With contact made, Rai unleashed the built-up electricity and for a moment the fog around them lifted from the light and energy the attack gave off.
Smeargle did not get back up.
With the threat unconscious, Rai calmed down and turned to where Sean had fallen. To his surprise, Sean was already up and rubbing his neck.
"Ow," Sean said to Rai's wide-eyed staring. "Also, wow. You really took that thing out."
Sighing in relief, Rai trotted back over to Sean. "Glad you're alright," he said, rubbing against him for a moment. "When you got shocked I…." He glanced away, shame flashing across his face.
"I'm okay," Sean said, pulling himself up with Rai to hold onto. "You don't need to get too upset when I get hurt though, I don't want you winding yourself in a dungeon." He groaned as he popped his back, the tingly feeling fading as Rai absorbed the lingering voltage off his body. "I'm pretty tough."
"Shush," Rai said, but without any heat to it. "You really are tough. That joy ribbon must really be doing some work."
Rai trailed off, but to his relief, Sean laughed. "Yeah, this thing was a great idea." He fiddled with the bow the joy ribbon had been tied to. "Not quite as snazzy as my bow, but much more useful really. I'll be stronger than you in no time!"
"I don't think it works quite like that." Rai began but shrugged as Sean pointed the way. "As long as we are both alright!"
"I survived Boulder Quarry AND the disaster that was Mount Horn," Sean pointed out as they left the room. "I think I can take some Foggy Forest and come out swinging."
They continued fighting through the dungeon, beset at every turn.
Multiple pokémon began to appear at once and Sean and Rai were forced to fight back-to-back to divert and defeat several enemies all at the same time.
Try as he might, Sean couldn't quite form a Night Slash yet. His claws would glint black for a moment as he tried to remember what Grovyle had said, but his mind continued to flip back to the aerodactyl or worse the parasect and distract him.
Rai was getting tired. He had eaten most of their supply of orans to keep his energy going and two of their three apples. Sean didn't mind, he was the one who suggested it. Even with his better capacity to fight, Rai was still the powerhouse of the duo.
To Sean's dismay, he accidentally used the blast seed they had on a duo of pokémon. Except he missed his throw, and the explosion occurred a few feet before the noctowl and skiploom, it managed to scare them off at least.
They fought their way deeper into the dungeon until the roaring sounds of water attracted them. The walls of the dungeon began to melt away into proper trees and plants, the oppressive air of the dungeon drifted away, and even the fog was a bit lighter here.
"Wow," Rai gasped as they entered a wide clearing. The fog, while thinner than the dungeon, was still quite thick when looking up, but had mostly lifted on the trail to a large stone statue. "Water is coming down in waterfalls all over the place."
All around them, lined with shrubs and pleasantly cool grass, water fell from great heights. It splashed out in a fine misty trail, invigorating the pair as they were cooled and refreshed by the mist of the falling water.
"But, where are we?" Rai asked, glancing around. "Is this the deepest part of the forest?" He looked around a little more, but there was no object of interest blocking the back.
Sean smiled as the thunderous sounds of water crashing down filled his ears and he shivered pleasantly. Rai caught the movement and turned to him.
"Are you cold?" he asked.
"Nah," Sean replied, shaking his head and rubbing an arm. "I just enjoy the sound of water. Gives me goosebumps." He shivered again, enjoying the tingly feeling the sound of rushing water gave him. It felt a little different with a meowth's ears and yet also like there was no different.
The world was sharper, brighter, in many ways compared to his old self and yet it felt normal. Delving into the feeling was what made him uncomfortable as memory and instinct began to come at odds.
Further conversation was halted as they had stepped too far into the clearing and the sound of water crashing down completely drowned out all other noise.
Sharing a look, they walked forward quickly to escape the loudest part of the waterfalls.
"Meh-heh-heh, what do we have here?"
Both Sean and Rai jumped in alarm once the low voice reached their ears. Spinning around they found Croagunk standing inches from them both. "How long have you been there?" Sean gasped, clutching his chest dramatically as Rai wheezed.
"A few minutes," Croagunk answered. "Exited the dungeon about a minute after you. I said hello, guess neither of you heard me. Meh-heh-heh."
Sharing a nettled look with Sean, Rai pushed a smile forward. Croagunk was unsettling occasionally, but he was a good guy still. "Sorry, the waterfalls were so loud."
"Meh-heh-heh, no offence taken." Croagunk waved them off and they stepped aside as he walked forward, eyes trained on the statue. "I'm more curious about this sunken statue to be honest."
They were much closer to it now and the pair hurried to keep up with Croagunk. The venomous frog was surprisingly quick, striding through the softened, squelchy, ground as if he'd grown up in it.
"Very possible," Sean thought as the three of them came to a stop. "That's fun." Sean grimaced as he got a first-hand look at Groudon.
Or really it was a second-hand look. This was a statue. A gargantuan statue that was still likely nothing in comparison to the real thing. Sean's mouth curled in a few bizarre directions as he looked over it.
Face: Gigantic and snarling, mouth wide enough to eat him in one gulp.
Body: Rough and spiky all over, perfect for battering his feeble meowth form into paste or impaling on any one of those barbs.
Hands: Thick and crushing, wide enough to crush the organs out of him.
Feet: Broad and also spiky, capable of crushing or spearing in equal measure.
Everything: Absolutely terrifying. This was the form of a deity, the embodiment of the land, the one who lifted the earth from the primordial sea, a being so ancient and powerful that Sean was nothing in comparison. It was covered in moss that had tiny little things wriggling through it.
"What is this?" Rai breathed, amazed. In his eyes, it was a relic of an ancient time before they had writing or history that was recorded, crafted by limbs he may not even recognise. Ancient, unknown, mysterious.
"Dunno," Croagunk answered, shrugging. "Has to be a pokémon, but what kind?"
"I've never seen a pokémon like THAT before," Rai said, taking a deep breath and calming his nerves. "Okay, it's just a statue, maybe there's something to this thing?" He stepped forward without, much, hesitation and began looking over it closer. "Sean, you've got good eyes, take a look!"
Sean's instincts told him not to stop looking at the monster's face, but the rational part of him mutinied and he shook his head. "Just a statue," he confirmed and strode forward with his own confidence. Now was not the time for dilly-dallying, he knew where to look.
"Rai, here," Sean called once he had gone around to the statue's left side. "There's something here and, err, I can't read it."
"An inscription?" Rai asked, gaining Croagunk's interest enough for him to come around himself.
"Meh-heh-heh, looks like it," Croagunk confirmed. "Footprint runes, local dialect too. It says…" Croagunk stared at it for a brief moment, Sean was a little surprised but had nothing to say about this. "Reignite the life that burned within Groudon. Then the sky shall blaze with the sun's heat. The path to treasure shall be revealed."
"The path to treasure!?" Rai gasped. "Croagunk that's incredible! The key to finding Fogbound Lake could be right here!"
Croagunk's easy grin never shifted as he chuckled, "This is a mystery we've got to solve then."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Sean said, smiling a little bitterly as he just had an idea. He gave Rai a meaningful look, only to receive a questioning one back.
"Shouldn't be too hard?" Rai repeated, frowning. "Um… reignite the life that burned within Groudon. Then the sky blazes with heat. The path to treasure shall be revealed. This seems pretty tricky; do you have some idea Sean?"
They didn't have the stone. He hadn't had time to think about it up to this point, but it was occurring to him now. Who else knew about the inscription ahead of time? And had gone ahead of them?
"Dammit, Grovyle. I need that."
"Uh… Sean?" Rai asked as Sean had gone very still indeed. "You figured something out?" He could be optimistic.
"Uh no." Sean's voice was very hoarse, and he cleared his throat. "Besides the fact that it looks like there's a piece missing in the chest here."
"Uh…" Rai frowned and looked around, settling on the statue for a moment. "Huh. Yeah, between all the moss." He gave it a light shock to clear a bit out. "I wonder… hmm, Fire-type attack maybe could do something? Any that make ash or so?"
"Not that I've heard of," Croagunk answered, stepping back from the statue. "I reckon this could be the key forwards, I think we'd better get back to base camp. Maybe the Guildmaster has an idea?"
"Yes, that's right!" Rai nodded. "Wigglytuff is a legendary adventurer, he'll know something I'm sure!"
Sean wasn't sure. He was pretty sure now that Grovyle had grabbed it on his way in, but maybe he'd just missed it… he resolved to look more carefully.
He didn't enjoy the idea of going through Foggy Forest again though.
They began to walk back, passing the thunderous waterfalls and enjoying the spray of water again. Rai was energized, Croagunk was… Croagunk, he was difficult to read at the best of times.
Feeling uneasy about the whole thing, but determined to get this done right, Sean glanced back to the statue.
"Oh." He blinked, but a flash of green only reaffirmed his belief. "Oh, you son of a bitch."
He thought fast, but his mouth moved faster. "Hey, Rrrrshinx?" he asked, mind going blank as he had nothing prepared.
"Hm?" Rai asked, stopping and glancing back at Sean.
"Maybe we should look around here for a bit?" he asked, eyes trained on where he saw movement. "I mean, we only just got here, and it isn't like all three of us need to go back to base camp?"
Rai looked to Croagunk who shrugged. "Could be a good idea," he said.
"Yeah!" Rai smiled and broke from Croagunk's side to join Sean's. "We might see everyone back at the statue!" he said and Croagunk nodded.
His eyes focused on Sean, and he felt like Grovyle was staring at him again. Croagunk just smiled good-naturedly. "Good luck," he said, giving a wave and disappearing into the mist.
"Okay," Rai said, walking back with Sean. "Where should we look first?" he asked, quickening his pace once he realised Sean was powerwalking.
"To the right, I think," Sean said firmly, still acting on autopilot. His mind was yelling at him to slow down, but Sean was not listening to Sean at the moment.
"Uh, okay," Rai agreed, turning right as Sean was already crossing the path. He glanced back to the statue, but Sean didn't pay it a second look. "Where are we going?" he asked, a little alarmed. "Shouldn't we look around the statue first?"
Sean came to a stop, breathing raggedly for a moment before shaking his head. "Sorry, I think I saw someone go this way," he admitted, gesturing forward with his paw. The claws were extended, and Sean made a conscious effort to pull them back in.
"You saw someone?" Rai asked. "Who?"
"It looked a bit like…." Sean hesitated, he knew Rai really liked Grovyle and he wasn't jealous about that at all. "Grovyle. But I don't think he saw us, he probably didn't even realise we were here."
"Grovyle?" Rai cocked his head, and for once Sean didn't call him cute for it. "He probably would be this far, if not further. Maybe you're right if he's around he might have some idea!"
Smiling suddenly, perhaps a little too much in Sean's opinion, Rai bounded forward. "Hey, Grovyle? Are you here?" he shouted, voice carrying in an echo but drowned in a waterfall before long.
"Doubt he'd be able to hear you," Sean said, figuring Grovyle wouldn't emerge even if he did. "We should just look."
"Yeah, yeah, okay let's go."
"Do you even see the path to Steam Cave?" Sean wondered as he and Rai walked carefully. The fog had grown incredibly thicker in a few short moments, limiting their vision to just a few meters. The sound of water falling slowly began to drift away as the fog seemed to drown it all away.
"Where are we?" Rai whispered. Whispering seemed right, the area had gone eerily quiet.
"Somewhere," Sean answered, falling back to sarcasm in face of his nerves.
"Yes, I can see that," Rai grumbled.
"I can't," Sean responded, smiling despite himself.
Rai gave a small giggle, and he felt a bit better.
"I think we should stick to the left," Sean said, angling them in the direction he chose. Their feet squelched on soft ground. It wasn't quite mud yet, but it was right on the edge of it. Sean had left the horrific feeling in the back of his head as the fog was of greater concern.
"Normally we'd be able to find the entrance no problem." He frowned, thinking further. "Should we even look for it? Can it be found with all this damn fog? Okay, I'm going to call out."
"Grovyle?" Sean called, voice almost immediately being lost to the fog. "GROVYLE?"
"GROVYLE?" Rai joined in, voice only a little higher. "GROVYLE?"
"Good lord this place is unsettling," Sean commented after their shouting did nothing.
"I'm amazed we can even breathe through fog this thick," Rai mumbled.
"A charming thought," Sean said dryly, stepping forward into new territory. "Wha?"
He froze, and Rai froze with him, having also stepped onto new ground. They looked down, even this close the fog still fuzzed up their features. Still, both could see they stood onto ground no different than what was before, except it was different.
"Is the ground warm?" Sean asked after a moment of them staring at their feet. He lifted his foot, grimacing at the moist feeling.
"Yeah," Rai answered, after testing the ground out a little more. "Really warm."
"It wasn't warm before," Sean said, his mind automatically thinking about horrible land monsters, which led him to think about a real Groudon being right underneath them.
Rai thankfully spoke, moving him away from such thoughts. "No, it wasn't. This is… weird."
"Could be…" Sean paused as a thought slammed into him. "Steam Cave! It must be warm, we might be close!" He held his tongue, not sharing that amount of knowledge. Instead, he nodded firmly to Rai. "There might be something ahead. Remember what the statue said, about reigniting fire or something? This is warm, this might be what we're looking for."
Rai's eyes widened before he grinned widely. "That's really clever!" he gasped. "I hadn't even considered that."
Sean chuckled, rather pleased. "I won't say race ya, maybe hang onto me?" he suggested.
Rai grinned. "Let's link tails!" he replied, snaking his tail to curl around Sean's. "That way we won't lose each other."
Sean felt a little odd as their tails wrapped around each other, sometimes the tail still gave him strange bursts of feeling not himself and having a fifth limb was the worst of it. He swallowed it down though, pushing the funny feeling to the bottom of his stomach.
The fog began to thin as they walked forward as the air itself began to heat up. It didn't go away completely, but the hotter air caused it all to rise a bit further and the pair were able to see further.
They were able to see the death and/or pain coming in time due to this.
"Woah!" Rai froze and yanked Sean's tail, causing the meowth to yelp. "Sorry, that pool of water just ahead, that must be boiling hot."
Sean grimaced, both in pain in his leg and from the realisation he had gotten unfortunately close to stepping in that. "Okay, more careful," he said, backing away and going a safer route.
Sean and Rai pressed together, confident the other would spot any danger they missed, and stepped forward carefully. They reached a few dead ends in terms of boiling water and had to back away.
"I didn't think there would be a maze here," Sean grumbled as they had to carefully turn back again.
"Wish one of us could fly," Rai said, agreeing with the sentiment. "Chatot would be really helpful here."
They continued, making their way further and further, turning back, going way back, going further, circling back, going further and further and further until finally.
"There!" Rai called, pointing forward with a paw. "I think I see something!"
The pools of water suddenly seemed to part, instead of the frustrating maze there were simply two large pools on either side. Neither raced forward just yet, wary of a trap, but nothing happened as the two walked up to a cave opening that was positively belching at them.
"Mouth of the beast much," Sean said, frowning at the fissure-like opening.
"We can go in through here I'm sure," Rai said, stepping up to look over it. The heat from the cave had caused a blind spot in terms of fog, but steam was also wafting out of it anyway.
"It's going to be so hot in there," Sean moaned. "Steam from a cave opening? Oh my god."
"It's too late to get cold feet," Rai joked, getting a Look from Sean. "Heh."
"You are funny," Sean said completely flatly. "Hilarious."
"Thanks." Rai smiled, blissfully ignoring the expressions of bemusement that crossed over his friend's face. "Whatever is in here probably lifts the fog, my pulse is racing just thinking about this."
"Maybe it's the real entrance," Sean joked, being completely serious. "And we've just bypassed the lifting of the fog?"
"Could be," Rai agreed, surprising Sean. "Either way, something important is in there and I can't wait to find out!"
Sean nodded, smiling at the enthusiasm of Rai. "Right," he agreed, nodding. "My pulse is going like crazy myself. Whatever's up there…"
They drew closer, and took in the cave entrance for what it was. The sight was shimmering because of the heat, no. It was the curious optical illusion of the dungeon entrance.
Rai glanced to Sean, but the meowth was staring forward with a fixed expression of determination. "I think it's a dungeon," he said, less sure now.
Sean nodded. "It must be." Even though he had assured himself he'd cheat for Rai's benefit, Steam Cave was still something else now that he was here. They'd found a way around the missing stone, he wondered how no one had found the dungeon.
And then remembered that people had and Uxie simply removed their memory afterwards. What was coming up there, the Groudon illusion. Yet one that was dangerous, nonetheless.
He did not feel ready to go up there.
Rai was looking at him, reading his expression of nervousness and dread. Something he didn't know the true context too, but he could make a guess. Fear of meeting Uxie and knowing for sure if his memories had been tampered with here.
Or not.
Sean looked to him and there was a look in his eyes. One that knew more than he was telling. "Ready?" he asked.
He was willing to do this. Go forth into this. Rai felt warmth in his chest at such a brave pokémon. He wanted to be like that. To be afraid, to be weak even, and still do the bold and brave thing. He knew there was a pretty sharp difference in their strengths, but even though Sean had been carried off by the aerodactyl, he'd survived.
Rai believed Sean could do this and hoped that he could do the same.
He nodded. "Let's show the guild who they're messing with!" Rai said with confidence he wanted to feel.
And Sean, seeing the confidence he wanted Rai to have, banished his own fears and grinned back.
With that, Team Ion entered Steam Cave.
A small bit of my ramblings here at the end. Just some differences between the original and this version. Sean being more supportive and brave for the sake of Rai, as well as that bit of world-building at the start