Chapter 9: The Swampland Maze
Liza had read up on the dungeon briefly during her visit to Azureport, but it still didn't prepare her for seeing it in person. It was like she blacked out completely when she entered the fog, but then she just opened her eyes like she had just blinked, and the terrain had changed around her completely. The ground was filled with wet mud, with sparse patches of grass and roots. But what really surprised Liza is how the trees and taller foliage had formed seemingly impenetrable walls.
"Come on. I believe time moves slower inside this dungeon, but the Eons are still on our tails." Gates told Liza, who was still staring at the surroundings.
"Right…" Liza answered as she once again focused on her partner. "You do realize I haven't been in a dungeon nor fought before, right?"
"Well…" Gates answered her, as he started walking. He hadn't really thought of that, but wanted to keep pretending like he had some control of the situation. Both for his and Liza's sake. "This dungeon is an easy one. This is probably going to be your best chance to figure something out."
Liza sighed, and started following him. It wasn't much of a plan, but she ultimately had to agree. She wasn't likely to get many chances to practice while on the run. Though just hoping she would learn how to use her powers while in danger sounded risky.
"What powers am I even supposed to have?" she tried to ask Gates. This caused him to briefly stare at her before sighing.
"Water Gun would be a basic one to begin with." He finally answered her.
"Okay. How do I do it?" she kept inquiring. Now she really wished she had tried this before they got two demigods after them. But to be fair, she read about those powers just a few hours before that happened.
"Have you felt like one with the water while swimming? Like it was flowing through you?" Gates tried to explain. Though the feeling sounded weird to Liza as he put it into words, but she couldn't deny that she hadn't felt it. When she was swimming from town especially. Back then it had felt like the water itself was pushing her forward. She nodded as an answer.
"That is your natural aura flow. The source of all our powers. Your moves require you to manipulate it's element and form." Gates explained. "For us Water-types, the water element should be natural. Try focusing that flow in your throat to build pressure, then unleash it."
It didn't really make sense to Liza, but she stopped walking and tried to summon that feeling again. Gates also stopped, and looked at her as she tried his suggestion. She tried to focus on the feeling she had when she rushed out of town. Though much weaker than before, she did feel it coursing through her body. And when she tried to move it like Gates said, she did feel it shifting around in her. Finally, when she managed to stop it in her throat, before releasing it. A small jet of water flew out of her mouth. It didn't seem that impressive at first, but the pressure dented the bark of the tree it hit.
"Not bad for a first time." Gates said "You'll get a hang of it in no time."
As a demonstration, he fired a jet as well, though his was visibly larger, and blew a piece of the bark clean off.
"But we have to keep going now."
Luckily, Liza visit to town had given her some theoretical preparation of what to expect inside the dungeon. The magical nature of the items, the fog wall separating the floors, and the brief pocket of stability. Though the one thing theory couldn't help very well with was the husks. It didn't take long to find it. In just the next open space they entered, a purple snake slithered towards them. The body seemed poised to strike at any moment, with cold dead eyes glaring at them. She could quite nail it down, but something about it's visage scared her a little bit.
"Try handling this one. We won't get any better chances." Gates told Liza as he took a step back, though he was still on guard ready to step in.
Liza once again fell back on the one technique she knew at heart, firing her Water Gun at the snake. Though her aim proved itself to not be quite on point. The jet of mater merely grazed its body, dealing minimal damage. In retaliation, the snake lunged towards her. In a panic, she tried jumping out of the way. But then her aura took over with a different jet of water, this time surrounding her and launching her across the room. Though definitely effective, the landing was a bit more clumsy, earning her a face full of mud.
Not having time to worry about that, she got up and faced the snake once again. But in the moment she had not noticed a second opponent emerging from the mud. A small dark brown body with leaves on top ran at her with purple spores spreading from its shaking leaves. With it coming from behind, Liza's first instinct was to swipe her tails at it. Upon doing so it produced a shockwave in the air, knocking the plant thing away from her. But as she turned back towards the snake, she saw it already lunging at her again.
Luckily, Gates was ready to step in. The snake was struck mid air with a jet of water, knocking it sideways. He quickly followed up with another, causing the snake to dissipate into fog. This let Liza focus on the plant, firing a Water Gun at it. This time it landed, though it didn't seemed very faced by it. So she tried using her tail again, with another shockwave finishing off the husk.
As the adrenaline rush went over for Liza, she suddenly felt like she had to puke. As she went down on one knee, Gates approached her with a pink fruit in his hand.
"That Oddish poisoned you. Eat this." he told her.
She did as she was told, and as soon as she had eaten the berry, she felt her sickness fading away.
"Be careful with poison. We only have so many Pecha Berries." he warned her. "Though, that wasn't too bad. Seems like you can use Sonicboom and Aqua Jet as well, even if you could work on the landing. We can work with this."
"Considering the fact I've had this body for about a day, this is way better than expected." Liza answered, happy with her performance, but not quite as much with her faceplant.
"Maybe, but right now the expected outcome is to be captured by the Eons. If we want to remain free we must surpass expectations." Gates retorted.
This grim reminder swiftly brought the seriousness back to the situation. Liza did not respond, neither did Gates push the issue further, as they both continued through the dungeon in silence.
Latias' cutoff-maneuver had not yielded her any direct results, though hopefully it had slowed their target down enough for her brother to track down their targets. As she headed back to rendezvous with Latios, she sensed him having stopped in a small cave by the shore. She slowed down as she approached the cave, entering it as well.
"They rested here tonight." Latios told her without turning around, as she approached. "But then headed back."
"I couldn't sense their presence at all. They must have a Blackout Jewel with them for me to have missed them." Latias responded. "After all, we both got a good enough read on Liza to detect her."
"The Buizel?" Latios asked, only to be met by a serious looks from his sister. "Right… Luckily their aura trail isn't as easily hidden."
"So, did you find out where they are headed?" Latias asked.
"They must've seen you pass them and headed onto land to avoid you." He answered. "So they will be moving a lot slower from now on."
"You think we will be able to catch up soon?"
"Yes… But there is one possible complication." Latios answered.
"What?"
"It is very much possible they start using mystery dungeons to throw us off their trail." Latios stated matter-of-factually.
"So why are we waiting? We have to find them before they get hurt!" Latias told her brother, now starting to worry about how the lost girl she met before would fare in a dungeon.
"Let's be on our way then." Her brother said as a response, taking flight.
Latias followed her brother. They were not flying anywhere max speed, but detecting aura was a delicate process, and didn't come nearly as naturally as psychic detection. So she knew her brother was going as fast as he could without losing the trail. As they flew she mumbled something to herself.
"Please don't do anything dangerous Liza."
The dungeon hadn't proven too difficult for Liza and Gates. The husks they encountered were mostly poison-types, which had taken a bit of a toll on their supply of the poison-curing Pecha berries, but they had also found a few along the way, lightening the toll on their supply. Though other than a few berries and ores Gates said could be traded in for money, nut much of value had been found. The battling experience had done wonder for Liza though. After a few tries, she was now somewhat accurate with Water Gun and Sonicboom, even under pressure. She even figured out how to activate Aqua Jet on command, though her landings still needed work. Even still, it was clear to her Gates was way stronger than her. He mostly took a passive role, letting her get some practice in, but whenever he stepped in, the husks fell in a single blow. She had seen him use a Water Gun like her own, as well as attacking with his jaws, even freezing something he bit.
Now, they had stopped in a small room for a short rest, described by Gates as a stable pocket.. A fog wall blocked off both where they came from, and one with a more golden tint blocked off their way forward. Gates had told her the golden wall was the exit.
"Here, take this." Gates said as he handed her a dark blue fruit, like the one both ate back in the cave. "As soon as we leave, we won't be stopping before we reach Riptide Ravine."
"What even is this thing?" Liza asked, eyeing the berry which had managed to hold her awake.
"A Chesto berry. Stops you from falling asleep, even from magical means." Gates answered her. "But keep in mind, it can not completely replace sleep for long. That's why we stopped in the cave, even if it was just for a couple of hours. Going solely on Chesto with no sleep will soon cause you to shut down both mentally and physically, but you can't fall asleep. From what I've heard those hours until the effect wears off are absolutely torturous. Still, they go on for longer each day, and even short naps will let us go on for much longer."
"Wow. All that from a fruit, huh? These dungeon fruits really are something." Liza said, now slightly scared of the fruit she was nibbling on. But ultimately she had to admit they needed them. "I briefly read about them, but never imagined them being this potent."
"We can chance a longer rest after getting through the currents. After that, any pursuers would need a long time, or insane luck to find us soon. Until then, we will use the time dilation in the dungeon for what it's worth."
"Time dilation? How much are we talking about here?" Liza asked, once again remembering time also not acting consistently in dungeon.
"I think this dungeon has a fairly high one, with time moving about twice as fast inside. So resting here for an hour would only give the enemy half of one to catch up." Gates answered her. Having seen Latias fly last night, she knew how fast their pursuers were, this was not enough time to put her mind at ease. Then again, collapsing on the way would be even worse, so this the best they could do in an impossible situation.
Their break had not felt anywhere close to long enough when Gates motioned for her to get moving, but she understood that every moment they waited was a risk. She got up, and followed him as they both crossed the final fog wall of the dungeon.
As the fog faded from their visions they once again found themselves in the swamp they entered from. Thought from where they were there was no sign of the dungeon. Gates took a second to orient himself, before deciding on a direction. As he started running, he turned to Liza and shouted.
"Come on! Not time to lose."