Author's Note: Apologies about the wait! I have been setting up to start things with a new job, which coupled with my other creative projects draw alot of my time away from Guardians of Balance. But now things have been set up again, I should be back up and doing some more chapters at a quick pace! Again, sorry for the wait and I hope you enjoy!

Always Audacity

Chapter XVI - Earth Crack

The teams didn't have that long to recover. It was a good job that Pokémon injuries healed pretty quickly, especially when said injuries weren't severe. Indeed, with one decent Oran berry and a little bit of care, Sam's arm had almost completely healed. All that remained was a faint red mark where Dan had tried to chomp it to bits. Even the ache had gradually faded away.

As a result, Sam was perked up again and ready to go when Esper summoned the teams one last time around the entrance of the third dungeon. Sam glanced across the faces of the teams. No longer did the Pokémon here seem as excited or at the very least, as relaxed as before. Now they seemed stiffer and more focused. They all knew this was the final dungeon they had to clear. Get through this, and perhaps, just perhaps they would have a chance to make it into the Guild as rescuers.

Well, not all of them now.

Whilst they had waited at the camp, Edward and Denver's group had quickly arrived not far after the rest of them. But then there was a delay. The other two teams took longer. Minutes crept by with neither team emerging from the dungeon. The worry had only began to grow amongst the recruits at their absence until finally, together, the two other teams emerged. Physically, they seemed fine, but they looked deflated. Sam frowned in confusion, before quickly feeling sorrow as their contacts emerged from the dungeon directly behind them.

There wasn't much time to work through this, as not long afterwards, Esper and Oscar had arrived. Esper took a moment to move the two teams to one side in order to talk things through with them. He didn't know what Esper said to them, not that he actually saw her lips moving, but they seemed to perk up a little bit at whatever was said. As if some of their disappointment was washed free.

They were being escorted back to Robinswood now alongside their contacts. Now just the four teams remained.

The Skiddo-Skorpi duo of Edward and Denver.

Team Forest, with Bruce at its head alongside his Yanma and Ducklett companions.

The now reassembled trio of Nia, Dan and Alice, where even the latter seemed more upright and at attention.

And finally, Aidan and Sam himself.

Well… here's to hoping we can all get through this.

Sam's fists tightened, eyes narrowing as he looked towards the entrance. No! Forget about hoping. We'll beat this!

"Well done everyone." Esper started, hands placed behind her back. "You've done well for your first set of dungeons. But this is going to be the final test before we can consider you to potentially join the Guild."

She began to slowly walk across the front of the group, Jack and Oscar hanging back to give her space. "This third Dungeon is the largest fragment left in Broken Wood. Nine floors total. You don't have an item to retrieve or a Pokémon to rescue. Instead, you simply have to reach the top."

Sam blinked, the tension in his body fading away. "That's it?" he asked uncertainly.

"That is it." she confirmed. "Don't think that means it's going to be easy for you. This is a tougher dungeon, and you have more floors to clear."

Aidan crossed his arms, the frog's face tightening. "There has to be more to it than that."

"Nup nup." Oscar said.

"Nope. We wouldn't be cool if we said that." Jack added.

Undeterred, Aidan simply lifted a finger up, "Yeah, b-"

"Aidan." Alice simply stated, pulling a shrug. "Best just play along with it."

Aidan opened his mouth again, as if ready to spit out some kind of rebuttal. Oh no you don't.

The Scorbunny let slip a quiet cough, and the Froakie froze. His eyes flicked between the two rabbits, before with a wiggle of his fingers, he lowered the hand.

And with that, Esper continued her short stroll in front of the assembled Pokémon. "To prewarn you, this dungeon is looking in a more dire state than the others. So keep moving. We'll be giving you Escape Orbs as a precaution."

Oscar and Jack then stepped forward, passing out the orbs to each of the team members. As the Butterfree handed the Orb to Sam, he took a moment to examine the strange object. It was smaller than he imagined, fitting quite neatly into the palm of his hand, it's bluish-green surface barely flashing any reflection save for a tiny flicker of sunlight. It was pretty light too, and easily slipped into his satchel.

"Remember, unless it is a genuine emergency, using that Orb will count as a failure." Esper stated.

"B-But if we get to the top… how do we get out?" Dan asked.

Denver's pincers clicked excitedly, "Ha! I actually know this one. If you just walk back the way you came, you should find yourself back at the entrance."

An ear dipping, Sam rubbed his neck. "How does that even work…"

"Magic!" Nia cheered, shattering the tension as Bruce let out a hearty laugh at that and the group began to relax. Even Alice seemed to loosen up, a tiny flicker of a smirk emerging.

Esper seemed to struggle herself to hold back the tiniest flicker of a smile, before she and her fellow rescuers stepped to one side. "With that, I have nothing else to say. Good luck."

As Bruce's team stepped forward, the Bulbasaur hesitated before turning back to the others. "Hey, how about we all step in together? You know, just for one hoorah?"

With a flutter of her wings, Nia bounced up into the air. "Yeah! We can do that!"

Edward nodded, "Sure. Why not?"

Sam and Aidan shared a glance, the Froakie's lips pulling into a grin, confirming the support. The water-type must have seen Sam's own forming smile as he turned back towards Bruce. "Sounds like a plan, forwards and onwards!"

With a few laughs spreading, the ten Pokémon gathered round into a tighter cluster and with their spirits high, stepped into the blackness of the tunnel.

The joy quickly vanished as they emerged onto the first floor. Sam blinked as a chill settled into his chest. Esper wasn't lying when she said the Dungeon wasn't faring that well compared to the first. The walls were darker, as if burnt or charred from intense heat. The boulders were bigger and more defined with sharp cracks. All that made the walls that surrounded them looked like they had chunks bitten out of them, and made the place feel like a hastily excavated mine rather than a well-built series of rooms. Even the entire chamber felt darker… and warmer too.

But the bigger problem was that other than Aidan, no one else was with them. His limbs shivering, the Scorbunny spun on his heel, trying to see if the others had just appeared further away from them.

But none of them were there.

Aidan raised a brow for a moment, before pulling an unsurprised shrug. "Well, should have figured that would happen."

Sam turned towards his friend, directing all of his focus onto him. "Aidan, tell me this is a normal thing." He asked, searching for any sign that said something bad had happened. But the frog merely nodded, "It can. If multiple teams enter at once, sometimes they get split up. It's not exactly unheard of. They'll be fine. We should focus on just getting to the top of this dungeon."

Feeling the chill roll off him much as the initial worry did, the Scorbunny straightened up. "Alright… let's get this finished."

And with that, the two began their ascent. It was easy than before, there were still feral Pokémon to battle, but there wasn't as many as before, as if even they had started realising that this dungeon was on its last legs. A faint dripping sound echoed through the corridors and occasionally, they could hear the sound of crumbling rocks, somewhere out of sight.

Indeed, that only emboldened the two Pokémon to speed up, and hurry on through the dungeon. They barely stopped to gather what few items were available on the floors, nor did they chuckle or laugh in the fights as before. They moved as fast as they dared, pushing up towards the upper floors until finally, they emerged once more into the light.

The summit of the dungeon was open air, with a hard floor made of almost completely smooth stone. Surrounding them on all sides was an impenetrable line of damaged trees and directly before them a spire of rock towered above even them by at least a dozen metres.

"Looks like this is it." Sam noted breathlessly, glancing back behind him to find nothing more than a rock wall and the tunnel they had emerged from. "So much for a pretty view."

"Hey, enjoy it." Aidan replied with a smirk, "Most dungeon ends aren't that bad."

The Froakie glanced around, "And to the looks of it. We've got here first."

"Either that, or the others have already got here and left." The Scorbunny pointed out. Tapping his foot, he glanced around at the trees once more, looking for some other feature amongst them. "So… what are we supposed to do?"

"We can have a look around." Aidan said, "Then we can head on down. As long as we don't use the Escape Orb, we should be-" his yellow eyes widened. "Look! At the base of the spire!".

The Frog Pokémon hopped on ahead, and Sam's gaze drifted down towards the rock pillar. His heart soared as he let out a faint gasp.

Sat at the base was a single, large wooden chest, secured with a metal clasp.

Blinking at the shocking sight, Sam jogged after the Froakie. "I-Is this supposed to be here?"

"Who cares?!" Aidan exclaimed as he stopped a metre off from the big treasure chest. "Either it's got some really cool loot, or it's part of the test!"

A warmth settled into Sam's chest as he struggled not to laugh, the memory of finding that odd chest still fresh on his mind as he tugged his red jacket down. "You're not wrong there Aidan b-"

His voice trailed off, the warmth fading away. "W-Wait a second. Part of the test?" A heavy fog clouded the Scorbunny's mind as he recalled the brief before entering the dungeon. Of how the objective in mind was so mindbogglingly simple and yet… here was a treasure chest, ripe for the taking.

This feels… this feels like too much of a trap.

His body already beginning to tense up, he could just make out Aidan's hand reach out for the chest. "Aidan wait! I think this is-"

The sky seemed to darken at the corner of his vision, and instinct compelled Sam to look up.

And naturally saw the shining bird screaming down towards him and Aidan.

Adrenaline rushing through him, he leapt towards his companion, "Aidan! Watch out!"

"Hu-"

Sam grabbed hold of Aidan's shoulder and yanked him back, away from the chest and the incoming missile. He ignored Aidan's yelp as they hit the ground, the silver shape flashing over their heads. "Arceus what the hell is that!?" Aidan barked.

"I don't know! It's fast whatever it is!" Sam snapped, pushing himself back upright.

"It is I!"

The attacker shot out from above the trees before pulling up to a halt. It was a silver metallic bird with red, sharp blades in place of feathers on the wings. Yellow eyes locked on to their pair, it's blue claws glinting in the light. "I am Skarmory! What are you doing on my territory!?"

Sam jerked back, "Wait-what? Your territory!? This is a dungeon! Isn't it dangerous-"

"It is my territory!" They exclaimed, beak clicking, "I set this up after brats like you drove me from my home! Causing all those terrible earthquakes! I could never get any sleep! And I kept losing my treasure!"

Aidan hopped on forward, his eyes narrowing. "Unless you happen to be a legendary Pokémon, I doubt any Pokémon can just cause earthquakes! Sure, we've had more lately but that's nothing to do with the Pokémon here!"

"And I can say Aidan knows what he is talking about!" Sam shouted, clenching his fists tight, before sighing, forcing his body to relax, before taking a step forward towards Skarmory, palms open and facing the avian. "Look, we didn't know you were here, we'll just… head back the way we came and-"

The Skarmory let out a painful screech, enough that Sam recoiled as if knives were stabbing into his ears. Desperately, he yanked them down with his hands, he really had enough of getting deafened now! "No! You will just come back with others and drive me from my home again! I will not allow this! You will die here, forgotten by comrades!"

The bird screeched again, and Sam pulled his ears down even more, his head throbbing at the cry. "Sam!" Aidan shouted, barely audible over the cries of the Pokémon. "I don't think Skarmory is gonna listen!"

As the cry ended, Sam released his ears, springing back up as he glared at the bird. "I think you're right." He uttered, rubbing his feet against the rocky ground and feeling the fire warm up within him. Across to his left, he could make out Aidan's main rising back, as if ready to fire off a water attack. "We've got the type advantage." Aidan stressed, "Just keep hitting him until he goes down!"

Yeah… if Skarmory wants to kill us, then he's got another thing coming!

The bird Pokémon touched down on the ground, wings stretched out and the red feathers glinting, ready to kill. "Then come then! I shall re-"

Suddenly, the ground shuddered. Sam blinked, his focus cracking. Huh?

The ground stilled, then began to shake again underneath him. Gently at first, then more sharply, enough that Sam had to push a foot over to one side to maintain his balance. The trees swayed around them and a quick glance to his left showed Aidan was compensating himself, a grimace forming across his face. Earthquake? There's an actual earthquake here? Does… does Skarmory have a point?

As the shaking ceased again, Sam turned back to Skarmory, "Hey, is that typ-"

His voice trailed away as he watched the metal bird staring down at the ground, eyes blinking rapidly as their head shook from side to side. Sam took another step forward, "Skarmory, are these the earthquakes-"

The bird's head snapped up, yellow eyes wide as they shook their head. "No! This wasn't part of the script!"

Sam blinked again, his heart missing a beat. "Script?"

With a flash of a wing, a sheet of paper flopped down onto the ground in front of the pair. On its surface were… symbols that Sam didn't even recognise at all. But the structure was obvious. Lines running from one side to the other, running down the page in separate lines. "I wasn't going to kill you! My name isn't even Skarmory anymore! I was just helping the Guild with the trials!"

Aidan growled, rubbing his forehead. "Of course, send us up here, place a big chest to lure us in and then have us fight a stronger Pokémon… I should have seen that coming."

The Froakie's eyes widened though, his head snapping back up. "Wait… so if Skar- sorry, what's your name?"

"Emrys."

"If the earthquakes Emrys is talking about are supposed to just be the backstory of this fight, then that means…"

"These are actual Earthquakes." Sam quietly said, his eyes drifting back to the tunnel, his entire body going cold. The state of that dungeon, with its crumbling walls and the sounds of collapse, even the dripping water… all of that was a sign of what was coming. And that was on top of the knowledge that the Mystery Dungeons were collapsing. That could only mean one thing.

"…shit."

And on cue, the main quake hit. The low, but loud rumble rang through the earth as the ground suddenly shook beneath him. Sam stumbled again, his knees buckling as he tried to stay upright. The trees shook again, far more violently, branches snapping free and collapsing the ground.

Aidan's eyes widened, his head snapping around at the shuddering ground. "We need to get out of here!"

Sam turned back to the tunnel, "What about the others!?" he barked. "They're still in there!"

"They have the escape orbs!"

"But what if they don't work!?" Sam pointed out, gritting his teeth, "What if they try to press on?!"

Cursing under his breath, the Froakie spun back on him, "Even if we head back down, we'll just end up where we started!"

"Use your's!" Emrys screeched, wings stretched wide. "I'll wait for as long as I can in case anyone else arrives, but you must leave now!"

"Sam!" Aidan shouted, "We don't have much a choice!". Reaching into his satchel, Aidan pulled out the greenish-blue orb. Sam flicked his gaze between the tunnel and his own bag, half begging for an excuse for him to stay, at least make sure they knew what was happening. But logic won out and with a curse of his own, he pulled the orb out of his own satchel. "How do these things wo-"

The almighty crack rang out, the ground jerking away from underneath him. His foot twisting under him, Sam cried out and landed flat onto his face, the orb bouncing out of his grasp. He could barely hear Aidan's and Emrys' own cries as something thundered over his shoulder.

The cave entrance was crashing down, boulders shaking loose and tumbling down with a painful bang, each rock adding another piece of barrier to the entrance of the jungle.

"The escape orbs!" Aidan screamed, and Sam spun round to find the two orbs side by side. Pushing himself to his feet, Sam stumbled forward, reaching out.

Another crack shot through the air like a gunshot, the ground splitting open before his eyes as the earth shook even harder. He reached out, to try and at least grab on of the orbs. But his fingers clawed only at thin air, the orbs slipping over the edge. Peering down, he could only watch in horror as the escape orbs fell down the fissure towards an orange glow in the darkness.

"Shit!" Sam barked, rolling back up right only to find that the fissure was widening. Aidan stood shakingly at the other side, head darting left and right as the two different sides tremored in different directions, more cracks forming across the surface. Emrys' was luckier, the metal bird already airborne and hovering above their heads. "Hang on! I'll fly you out!"

"You better hurry!" Aidan shouted, fear now flooding through his voice as another crack sprung into existence right in front of him. But as he stumbled back, there was a sickening snap in the air, and the patch of ground Aidan broke free of the rest. Sam's heart missed a beat, fearing the rock would fall into oblivion. But it jerked to a halt, a thread still holding it.

But it was enough, Aidan slipping onto his back and sliding down the rocky slope towards the abyss, clawing to hold on. "Aidan!" Sam screamed, throwing himself to the edge the fissure and landing on his front, he already knew Aidan had no chance of stopping his fall, so he the next best thing, "Jump for my hand!"

"I'll try!" Aidan shouted, hands failing to slow himself down as he shoved himself back onto his feet, still sliding closer to the edge. He steadied himself, and seconds from the edge, he bounced up into the air and towards the Scorbunny. Sam reached out, fingers straining to grasp onto his friend. Aidan reached out. Come on, grab hold-

The ground rushed upwards, crushing into his chest and lifting him upward.

Aidan flailed in the air, out of reach, before his eyes widened and the Pokémon began to fall.

Sam screamed as the Froakie fell. A second later, the Skarmory dove after him, claws reaching out. A burst of hope flared in the Scorbunny's chest. But then the bird to cried out as steam flashed across their path, blasting the poor bird and forcing them to pull up.

Aidan vanished out of sight, deeper into the expanding fissure.

Sam wanted to scream, beg for Emrys to get down further, but he didn't have time to process this, as the ground beneath him shuddered again, steam erupting randomly all around him. Another jerk, and Sam was grasping onto the ledge of his own broken platform, trying to stop himself from flying off head first into the depths

Emrys, their silver armour scorched, ascended up next to him, eyes strained as they ignored the pain no doubt running across their skin. "Come! Take my claw!"

Sam blinked, somehow managing to get back upright even as the ground was breaking apart around him. "But A-"

"We have no time! We'll find another way!"

After a flicker of hesitation, followed by painful realisation, Sam leapt forward and into the air. He winced as the claws of the Skarmory tightened round his arm, his jacket flapping in the wind. With a beat of their wings, Emrys started to gain altitude above the summit. "I'll take you down to the second camp! Esper and Team S-"

Another hiss rang through the air, and Emrys' scream nearly shattered Sam's eardrums. Sam screamed with them, his head in agony as the knives sank in once more into his skin.

But when they faded away, his eyes snapped open to find Emrys being shoved away by a blast of red-hot steam.

Pushed away…

His eyes widened, and his heart raced as he realised that Emrys' claw was no longer wrapped around his arm…

Sam could only scream as he fell into the fissure and into darkness…