PMD: R&D

by Jusmove

The Absol guild isn't known for amazing expeditions, ace bounty hunters, or even adequate rescue operations. No, Absol's is known for the loud explosions and mad laughter echoing from behind closed doors. The world thinks they're insane, but when Dungeons begin to mysteriously spread across the land, maybe a little insanity is just what the world needs.

13. Ascent

Have another long one.

---

Chapter 11: Ascent

Windy Spire - 1st Floor

An open sky greeted them on the other side. Only this one was tinged purple rather than blue. Underneath those hypnotic pink clouds, wide cobbled terraces spread out before them, girded by thick stone ramparts akin to those from some kind of castle. The landings were dotted with squat, domed towers and cubic buildings pressed close together with wooden doors. Dominating the center of one terrace was a gigantic windmill, erected high with its thin blades spinning slowly in the gentle breeze.

Beyond this set of landings, another similar setup of stone structures could be seen, across a wide divide with nothing but air in between. If one looked closely, they would realize that these cobbled-together structures could pass for rudimentary villages, resting upon the tops of clouds themselves.

Damia and Clara stared wide-eyed at the bizarre sight in front of them, trying in vain to take it all in. The larger of the two put a claw to her head and huffed.

"You...really weren't kidding about this being a funhouse," she muttered. Clara gesticulated with her stubby paws up at the sky.

"But-but we walked into a tower! What is all that even doing up there!?" she exclaimed.

"Hell if I know mon. I think Vert mentioned deviations with increased distortion? Maybe this Dungeon just has a bigger base level of something screwy," reasoned Van. As the two girls came to grips with this new reality, Lumi stepped off to rest his arms over the edge of one of the ramparts. He looked ahead and saw that the whole space beyond the stone structure was simply a blanket of clouds, and a glance down revealed that the structures they stood on were the tops of some impossibly high towers that jutted up from the clouds below.

"This is...beautiful," murmured Lumi, just loud enough to hear.

Clouds above and clouds below, they were walking between two skies. No matter how you looked at it, they had stumbled into a dream. It was intoxicatingly surreal.

"That's one way of looking at it. Come on, stay close," Van called to the Meowstic, motioning him back over. "You know there's still ferals around."

Lumi stepped from the gorgeous view back towards the others. Van pulled out his Seeker Spike from his bag and held it in a backward grip. Clara had set her bag down and pulled out the top of what looked like a wand. To Lumi's surprise, she continued to pull the yellow stick up until it stood just a bit taller than she was, her ears just underneath one of the curled notches on its end.

At his curious look, she smiled.

"You like? I call it a Confuse Staff," she twirled it in both paws before striking a pose. "I figured, doesn't it suck that you can only use wands once? Well, after alot of research, I developed this! It's not one use, and can make for a decent weapon on its own. Only problem is it kind of takes alot to make one, so I've only been able to perfect a few types."

"Kind of takes alot?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Every wand is different, and formed from specific types of wood. I had to get a little lucky that I found a branch big enough and sturdy enough to carve this from Bio. Not to mention all the failed Pattern infusions..." she huffed, slumping on the pole.

"I'd say the effort was worth it," commented Damia as she stretched her arms above her head to limber up, before pulling some other light exercises. Lumi looked at her.

"How about you? You don't also have some kind of weapon?"

"Got my weapons right here," she replied, holding out a claw. "Besides, we have tools in our bag, and should hopefully find more on the way. Now, is everyone ready to go? We need to comb through this place to get our bearings."

Van tossed his spike like a spear out into the distance, catching it smoothly in one hand when it returned just as fast. He nodded in satisfaction and gave a salute. Clara twirled her staff a bit before resting it on her shoulders, a determined smile on her face. Stepping up to them, Lumi gave a simple nod, while glancing at the spike and staff.

Weapons such as these were uncommon, hunters and explorers typically made use of the skills and natural offenses granted to them by Arceus, along with whatever items they carried. Seeing his friends brandishing their own sparked something in Lumi.

Wouldn't it be cool to have his own? The thought stayed with him as Damia led them forward.

They walked to the edge of the balcony they arrived on, and came to a ladder that led down to one of the larger platforms. Damia hopped down to land with a dull thud while the others took turns climbing down. In front of them was a paved street, lined on either side with stone buildings. In front, above the tops of some buildings, the blades of the windmill could be seen. The team crept forward, wary of the doors to the side.

Lumi patted Van on the shoulder, and gestured at one on the left. With a nod, the duo approached the door and threw it open, only to find an empty room with a few Poké on the ground. They pocketed it and walked out, catching the other two doing the same with another door. As they walked up the street, continuing to inspect the buildings for any danger, their confusion grew.

"Am I missing something?" asked Clara. "There are supposed to be ferals, right?"

"That's how it was last time," responded Van as they made their way around the corner of a group of structures towards the windmill. "Something doesn't feel right though, it's kinda...eerie."

"Don't let your guard down, we're just getting started," stated Damia.

After a few uneventful minutes of walking, the group arrived at the other side of the empty neighborhood of stone buildings. To their surprise, an almost pleasant plaza, like the one in Rowshore greeted them, a circular open space with what even looked like the base of a fountain in the center. No water sprung from it, however.

Beyond it, the windmill could be seen in its entirety.

Towering above them on a tall, thick support, the structure's blades were much larger and wider up close. It was stationed in the center of a hexagonal wooden platform with low railings, a thin space of open air between it and the pavement showing it wasn't actually connected to the piece of land they were currently on. As they came closer, the ominous sound of creaking wood, made all the more off putting by the sheer drop underneath, gave the group pause.

Not one to be swayed for long, Damia took the first step onto the platform, putting weight onto her foot to ensure it was secure. Seeing no sign of the wooden deck being unstable, she stepped fully onto it and made her way to the windmill. The others took her lead and followed.

As Van leaned against the side of the windmill, Lumi squinted his eyes at the empty stone town on the other side of the divide. It was far enough away that the buildings looked small, the clouds underneath dominating his field of view.

"Welp, didn't expect to get stuck so soon," muttered Van.

"Do you guys see anything!" called Clara as she inspected the railing on the far side. "Like a button, or something?"

Lumi crossed his arms as he craned his neck up at the windmill. The blades spun idly, and the pole they rested on was bare of anything that could conceivably do anything. He shook his head and thought before an idea popped in.

"Wait, Damia, can't you just fly us over?" he asked. Beside him, Van's eyes bugged out, and he reached his hand out in vain to stop Lumi from walking towards her.

Said Dragonite was busy rifling through her bag, presumably for something to help, before she huffed.

"...I was trying to avoid that. I have a Longtoss Orb, but I don't think we want to risk a bad throw right now."

"Yeah, I'd rather not be yeeted into the abyss, thanks. What's the problem?"

"If I were by myself, nothing. But I don't want to split us up like this, and even a little bit of weight makes flying that much more strenuous. It's the reason why I didn't just fly us all over here in the first place. But..." she stretched her wings out and gave them a few cursory flaps, "I guess it can't be helped. I'll just make multiple...trips..."

She trailed off as she looked to the ground, body stilled. The others noticed her silence, and Clara came over from the far side of the platform.

"Something wrong?" she asked. Damia held her wings out as far as their span could take them, and looked to the sky.

"Do you feel that? That breeze?" she uttered.

Lumi creased his eyes in confusion, not having felt anything. He was about to ask her to elaborate when his fur ruffled in a light, unseen wind. At first, it was nothing more than a pleasant breeze against his fur flowing from the direction they had come from, but he frowned in concern as it failed to die down. Instead, it grew in intensity, enough to make his fur billow out and force him to put his arms in front of his head.

"Yo, what's the deal!" called Van as he hugged his shoulders in an attempt to stave off the wind. "We haven't been in here that long, is the floor destabilizing already!?"

"Calm down Scrafty, I don't think that's it. This wind feels different somehow," she answered. Looking down from the sky above them, she glanced to the front of the platform. "Clara! Get away from the edge and get over here!"

"I'm...trying...!" ground out the Spinda. The wind had ramped up in intensity, enough to hamper the Spinda as she struggled to push against its force. Damia growled in agitation and stomped over to assist her. Pressed up against the pole, Lumi watched her go, but a creaking sound made him look up at the windmill blades.

Because of the direction the wind was blowing, the windmill began to rotate. At this rate, the blades were starting to pick up speed, and it wasn't long before he felt a lurch underneath his feet. Pushing himself from the pole, he stumbled toward the edge of the platform.

"Lumi! What the hell are you doing!?" yelled Van over the sound of the growing gale.

Instead of answering, Lumi looked over the edge and saw clouds moving beneath them. Looking back to check his hypothesis, he saw that they were moving further away from the group of buildings they had come from. His eyes widened when he looked back toward the windmill.

"Hey guys, it's fine! The wind is pushing us to the other side!" He pointed to the blades, rapidly increasing in their spin. "I guess that thing is causing the platform to move."

"A free ride? At least this place is thoughtful!" yelled Clara as she held onto Damia's leg. Lumi was about to agree before the optimism present in her sentence gave him pause. Would the Dungeon really be so kind as to simply let them progress with only an annoying wind as an obstacle?

A collection of screeches in the distance told him that no, that Dungeon would not in fact be so kind.

He looked up and spotted the winged forms of avian Pokémon diving down from the clouds above. A flock of Spearow and Pidgey flew toward them, dark specks across the pillowy ceiling growing larger. Amongst them, the larger forms of a few Braviary, Pidgeot, and even a couple Altaria could be seen. Immediately, he threw his bag down and dug down for something useful.

"Everyone, eyes up! We got company!" he called, mind racing. He considered the collection of orbs he had packed for the trip. A Slow or Petrify would be helpful, but it was just the first floor. Who knows if they would find something worse further on. He decided to forego using an orb instantly, and instead pulled out a pair of petrify wands, an idea forming.

A draconic roar shook him from his thoughts, and he snapped his head up to watch as Damia's claws crackled in furious lightning, flapping her wings once to shoot up in the air and engage the larger flying types. He only had a short time to stand in awe before a spike whizzing past his head brought him back to reality.

Feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up, he scampered forward, just out of reach of a vicious claw swipe. Van rushed up to him with his hand up and caught the Seeker Spike as it returned to him. Wordlessly, they stood back to back, looking up at the flock of birds circling them.

"Think we should make a break for it and help out the girls?" asked Van as he warily held his spike out, turning his head to keep eyes on the sky. Lumi glanced to the side and bore witness to Clara bonking whatever poor bird was sent hurtling her way by the angry force of claws and teeth that was Damia. The Spinda had a grin on her face as, whenever one got ambitious enough to come close, she would naturally juke them out and counter with a nasty swipe of her staff.

Despite the wind making things complicated, it looked like a losing battle. For the enemies, that is.

"I think they're fine, so let's handle this right now. I got a plan," he replied, ears unfurling fully.

"You? Plan? There's no way," snarked Van as he readied his spike for another throw. Lumi huffed as he clapped his paws in a Helping Hand and readied fairy energy in his throat.

"Just piss them off enough so they get close," he replied.

The two began assaulting the birds above with ranged attacks, Lumi screaming out Disarming Voices with Van tossing his spike over and over. They were forced to dance around each other in order to avoid the gusts of air the Pidgey sent down, but one Pidgeot zoomed down with wings spread toward the Meowstic, presumably going for a Wing Attack.

Lumi turned to face the oncoming danger and gripped one of the wands in his paw tightly. Right before the bird collided, he swung the wand forward and released its energy. A purple spark shot out, and the wand crumbled to bits in his paw, but the approaching bird plopped to the ground as still as a statue, wings still outstretched in an attack.

A few meters away, after kicking away a Pidgey, Van glanced to the side and frowned.

"Alright, there's one. We still got like, twenty more here, mon."

"It's fine, this one'll help us out," responded Lumi, grinning. The eyes in his ears glowing, he assumed a more sturdy stance and allowed his psychic power to flow forth, and gripped the bird in his telekinetic grasp. He wasn't versed enough with his Energy to stop a moving target cold in a true Telekinesis, but this worked as a stopgap.

Raising his paws above his head to help focus, he forced the bird to shakily rise in the air. Getting used to the weight, he spotted a Spearow above looking to make a dive, and with a grunt, shunted the Pidgeot in his grasp upward.

As he had hoped, the burst of power from his ears launched the bird toward the other and resulted in a satisfying impact between the two, the Spearow shattering into motes of light on collision. Stunned in the air, the Pidgeot could do nothing as Lumi gripped it again and slammed it against another pair of birds to the side. He continued to use the poor bird as a makeshift weapon, launching it this way and that at confused ferals, until his personal battering ram could no longer handle the strain, and burst into shining balls of light.

Panting heavily with a wide grin, Lumi stumbled to the side, not realizing how much strain releasing his energy like that would put on his body. He turned and his eyes widened at the sight of Van taking on a Braviary and Altaria on his own, and tried to make his way to help.

Before he got far, however, a strong force and stinging pain in his back sent him hurtling to the side, against the middle pole. The second petrify wand was knocked out of his grasp, and he winced as he pushed himself back up.

This bird must have noticed his prior strategy, because it landed right where the wand ended up and pushed it away, causing the Meowsitc to curse in his head. There went the easy way of dealing with them. The Pidgeot raised up in the air and prepared to dive down at him, and he was too tired and caught off guard to focus his Energy into anything resembling a move. With the bird approaching, he did the only thing he could think of, and threw a paw into his bag, taking out the first thing he grabbed.

With a last burst of psychic energy, the orb he picked out was mentally launched at the diving feral, and slammed straight on into its beak. It let out a screech of pain, and Lumi put it out of its misery by slamming the same orb down onto its body.

The immediate threat gone, he didn't give himself much time to rest, the sight of Van being struck by the Braviary's claws making him push himself up. A headache from so much psychic use was coming on, and he procured an oran berry and bit in, the juices refreshing his mind and body.

As he thought about how to best engage these last few birds, the sight of the orb he just used gave him pause. He looked down at it, a simple Quick orb, and took a second to consider how easy it was to bludgeon that feral with almost no effort with the thing.

Typically, all that was considered when it came to orbs was their function when used, but as he levitated it over to him, he appreciated just how light and dense they truly were. He whizzed it from side to side above his head, and thought back to how Damia made him exercise with four at once. Manipulating multiple comfortably might be beyond his grasp, but just the one shouldn't be too hard.

Yeah, this might work. He did want a weapon, after all.

"Van, you good? Hang on!" called Lumi, levitating the orb above his shoulder. The Scrafty had just rolled to the side to avoid a spew of Dragon Breath from the Altaria.

"Could be-oh shi-better!" grunted the Scrafty, using his spike to block a brutal claw swipe from the Braviary. He was on his knees trying to push the bird off, and the Altaria to the side put its wings in front of it as it charged up a concerning amount of purple dragon energy. It didn't get a chance to release it as pink sonic rings slammed into its side, and an orange orb slammed onto its beak.

Lumi walked closer, keeping the bird at bay by peppering it from afar with Disarming Voices and strikes from the orb. Van was able to push the Braviary off and scramble to the Meowstic's side, the large eagle flapping away to retreat. The Scrafty panted a bit, before shaking his head and offering his spike to the barrage. Soon, the Altaria was no more.

Van kept his spike out in a defensive position, eyes scanning the sky to watch for the remaining bird. With spurts of breath, Lumi dug into his bag and offered him an oran which he gladly accepted.

"You see em'?" asked Van. Lumi turned in a circle to observe the sky, but caught no sight of the Braviary. He did note that it seemed Clara and Damia had handled their hoard of ferals, the Dragonite coming down for a landing.

"No, where'd it g-"

"Watch out!" exclaimed Van, roughly shoving Lumi down.

Surprised at the sudden push, he turned to question what Van was thinking, but the words died in his throat at the sight Braviary's talons gripped around Van's shoulder. Before anything could be done, the bird flapped its wings and flew off with the Scrafty dangling with his claws, kicking and wriggling in its grasp to no avail.

"Van!" called Lumi as he scrambled to his feet and gripped his orb. He heard shouts of surprise from Clara behind him, but kept focused on the sight before him. As the bird carried Van over the edge of the moving platform, his heart dropped in his stomach, and he rushed forward in desperation. He threw out the orb in an attempt to stop the bird, but it swooped at the last second to avoid it. Attempts to scream out an attack were met with a similar result.

With a final screech, the bird shook the Scrafty off of its talons, and Lumi watched with a dull ache in his chest as Van dropped down into the clouds below, his scream petering out.

So fixated on the pink clouds below, he barely registered the bird coming in for another swipe. The blur of orange and the sound of a body slamming into the ground over and over again clued him into the fact that he maybe had Damia to thank for that, but he could hardly focus on that.

Without hesitation, the Dragonite dove off the edge of the platform into the sky below, presumably to retrieve his partner. As Clara came alongside him to squeeze his shoulder, he replayed the past thirty seconds in his head.

"Van? Van!?" he yelled down into the clouds. A few moments later, Damia flew back up and over the railing, a bewildered look on her face. Lumi rounded on her.

"Did you see him? Where is he?" he asked, pleading to her with his eyes. His heart dropped when she couldn't meet his gaze, instead choosing to stare wide eyed at the ground. He pulled an ear as he leaned over the railing.

"Okay, okay, shit. That's-we can..." he mumbled a few other things, breath coming out in spurts. Clara rubbed his back as she too looked over the edge.

"Lumi, just calm down. Breathe."

"I just...damn I'm an idiot," he moaned. "I had a quick orb but I just threw it like some kind of rock, what even..."

"Hey, don't say that." she turned him around to look at him sternly in the eyes. He looked at her swirls and gave a sad laugh in response.

"Is it bad that I can still hear his scream. Even now?" he asked, not expecting a response.

She opened her mouth to try and give one anyway, but her eyes creased in confusion as a sound interrupted the solemn silence.

Lumi blinked and his ears flicked on instinct as they picked up a shrill noise from above. He turned around to look up at the sky, back a little ways behind them. His eyes flicked wildly from side to side to find the source of the noise, and as it got louder, he was able to find exactly where it was coming from, hurtling down from above.

A deep relief washed over him as he watched the orange form of his friend grow larger as he fell lower.

Van did not look like he was having fun.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" yelled the Scrafty as he fell closer, slightly behind them as the platform was still moving from where he dropped at first. Lumi watched in awe as he could make out Van's body in more detail. The way his limbs flailed in unrivaled panic and air forced his mouth open in a permanent expression of fear sent true joy through the Meowstic's heart, the signs that the Scrafty was without a doubt alive and it wasn't his fault lifted a weight that only just began forming.

With this new lightness, he climbed upon the railing with a crazed grin on his face.

"Oh my God, Van! You're...wait, Lumi what are you..." Clara's happiness was tinged with immediate confusion when Lumi stood tall on the railing.

And then promptly jumped off, colliding in midair with Van as the two fell below the railing.

Clara tried to form words, but could only stare open mouthed as the two disappeared below the clouds, only to appear a few minutes later dropping from the sky above, the sound of screams and laughter now growing louder. Heavy steps to her side made her glance to Damia who had stepped up to look, face blank.

"You know, all things considered, I think this is a really good bonding moment for them," said the Spinda. Her light smile was wiped from her face when one of the Dragonite's eyes twitched, and her teeth clenched as a low growl emanated from her throat. Clara wisely stepped back when her partner spread her wings and launched from the ground so hard the shockwave sent her tumbling backward.

Approximately fifteen seconds later, the platform shook with the weight of Damia returning, a Scrafty in one claw and a Mewostic in the other. Van had his whole body clutched around her arms, a haunted look on his face as he shook lightly. Lumi was all smiles, seemingly uncaring of the fact that his torso was locked in a death grip.

"So Van, have you finally overcome your fear of heights?" he asked. Van's muttered cursing left him giggling, and he turned his head up to the smoldering Dragonite.

"Thanks for the help, you can set us dow-"

"Lumi, I swear to Mew if you don't shut the hell up I will shove your tails down your throat," she threatened, eyes spearing down at him. He pursed his lips in acquiescence, but the smile remained.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence as the adrenaline from the fight wore down. The wind had calmed slightly after the hoard of ferals, so the platform gradually made its way to the other side, toward the second stone town.

They stepped off once it landed at another plaza area, Damia refusing to let go of the two in her grasp as they made their way through empty stone homes and buildings. Van had ceased his shaking after a bit, but was still unable to wriggle out of her hold. The entire time, Damia verbally berated the two for their performance in the battle, calling them such words as 'sloppy,' 'unprofessional,' and 'asinine,'' to which Lumi cheekily responded that she was the one who asked them to come while knowing this.

He was squeezed just that much harder.

Although Clara enjoyed the banter between her teammates, she was concerned with just how much of nothing they were finding. Sure, they were finding various items as they stalked through the vacant buildings, but there was no sign of any sort of exit.

"Ugh," moaned Clara, slumped on the side of a wall "This is only the first floor? We've been walking for so long..."

"We need to find whatever passes for stairs here. Hey, danger cat, tell us how to get out," demanded Damia. Lumi rubbed his chin in thought.

"Well, we're in a tower, and it likes wind a lot for some reason. Maybe we need to go somewhere high up?"

"You mean somewhere like that?" offered Van, pointing ahead of them to a tall structure that could be seen above the tops of the buildings. The way forward led deeper into the stone town, but while the squat cubic buildings gradually grew into larger buildings, the spire towered above them all.

"That could work, actually, wait..." grumbled Clara, setting her bag down to reach in. She pulled out a shining yellow orb with a spark in the middle.

"Duh, we could just use a Luminous orb to make sure."

"We only have so many of those, are you sure you want to use one now?" asked Damia.

"Well, if it's that big tower, then we would know what the way forward would look like from now on, and we wouldn't need to use another orb, right? Honestly, we shoulda done this sooner," she responded. With the two boys in her claws, Damia simply shrugged, so Clara went ahead and activated the orb.

It glowed white for a bit, before shrinking so it could fit in the Spinda's palm. A second later, a green projection shot out from the orb and expanded into a flat holographic screen, showing a partially filled in map of where they had been. The area just in front of them was darkened, but a white dot much further up blipped on the screen. Eyeing the distance of the tower in front of them and comparing it with the location of the white dot showed they were roughly in the same area.

"Ooh, yup! Looks like that's where we're going." retracting the map, Clara decided to hold on to the shrunked orb as they walked forward.

"...Are you seriously not gonna set us down?" asked Lumi from his captive position.

"Are you going to jump off the edge again, like an idiot?"

"I don't see the problem. I could fall forever and be fine in here."

"Fall forever!? Mon, that is the problem!" exclaimed Van as he clutched Damia's arm even tighter. Lumi leaned forward with a smug grin.

"Really? Is that the only reason you don't mind our current situation?" he teased. Van's face erupted into a blush and he turned his face away. Damia looked down at each of them before opening her claws and unceremoniously letting them fall to the ground, the impact making them grunt.

"You know what, whatever. Just stay close and don't do anything stupid," she huffed, before stomping forward to lead the way. As the two brushed themselves off, they looked at the retreating Dragonite in confusion.

"Did she... actually want to carry us the whole way? That doesn't seem normal for her," wondered Lumi. Van shook his head.

"I'm surprised she wanted me close to her at all. Thought she'd toss me down way earlier."

Clara hung back to come embrace Van in a tight hug, strong enough to make him struggle for breath, and then walked beside them.

"You know, we were all really scared for a bit there. I think she's just not used to feeling like that, and doesn't really know what to do about it."

"You're sayin' she was scared for me? Nah, there's no way." He brushed that aside with a wave of his hand, and Clara giggled. Damia's shout to hurry up kicked them into gear, and they picked up the pace to navigate through the empty streets.

The layout grew in complexity the deeper into the town they went, becoming more akin to a city rather than a simple stone village, and it wasn't long before it felt like they were walking in a maze of silent streets hemmed in with empty buildings that gradually grew taller. The eerie silence grew to be uncomfortable, and soon the group turned to idle chatter as they continued on their destination, made longer than expected by the many turns.

Eventually, a noticeable breeze passed through the streets, and it wasn't long before it picked up like before. They hurried on their way with their heads down as the squall picked up, and were forced to fend off more bird ferals once they arrived.

Damia made brutally efficient use of the nearby buildings, flying up to grab Pidgeot and Braviary by the neck and simply slamming them on the hard stone walls. Her rampage was cut short by a call from Clara, who motioned for her to come join the others in fleeing down a narrow alleyway. Once the Dragonite regrouped with them, Van pulled out a Camo orb and tossed it at the entranceway, ensuring a glimmer of reflected light shone before turning with the others to run.

No ferals pursued through the entranceway, and they hurried on their pace in the direction of the tall building. A brisk run found them coming out into a broad street, with a particularly large building at its end. Needing to arch his head up to see the top, Lumi figured that this was the tower they were searching for. Up close, it looked remarkably like one of the taller commercial buildings found in Lumbell, but with a stone edifice instead of glass.

As they approached the building, a rhythmic whirring sound cloud be heard emanating from the entrance. Curious, Lumi scouted ahead and passed the barren stone threshold to enter the tower. He walked in and was greeted to the strange sight of a gigantic fan embedded in the ground, whirling its blades so fast that a visible current of air shot up from the force of its rotation.

He followed the air current up, and rather than a ceiling, fixed his gaze on a swirling miasma of colors, very similar to the entrance of the Dungeon.

"You think this is what we're looking for?" asked Van, having come up behind him.

"I think so. We haven't seen anything else like this in the other buildings. I think that there is some kind of portal?" he questioned, pointing a paw up to the multicolored circle. Clara skipped past him to better observe the massive fan, sticking a paw above it. She yelped when her paw shot up from the great force of air that blew from it. It would be no issue for her whole body to be pushed upwards in the wind tunnel.

Lumi arrived at this same conclusion and came up alongside her, bending his knees to jump in. He was just about to leap when something roughly shoved him back.

"Wha-"

"Geez mon. Just slow down, would you?" groused Van. "I swear, at least say something before you pull a stunt like that, yeah?" At his exasperated look, Lumi rubbed the back of his head.

"I agree with him," interjected Damia, stepping up to cross her arms at him. "You don't think before you do things do you?"

"I, uh, sorry..." mumbled the Meowstic. Damia sighed before glancing up at the portal.

"You're the one who came up with Team Nova. At least try to do things as a team. Like this." she reached down and grabbed Clara, who squeaked as she was lifted to sit on the Dragonite's shoulders. She then clutched Lumi and Van like before, and spread her wings wide.

"And we're certain that this is the way to the higher floors?" she asked.

"I'm positive it's worth trying!" exclaimed Lumi. Damia nodded.

"Alright. I don't like how long we spent on just the first floor. Let's try and speed things up, we're losing daylight outside."

At her teammate's affirmations, Damia stepped into the strong current, and allowed the continuous gust to lift her in a spiral ascent upward into the portal.

---

Windy Spire - 9th floor

The next few hours were spent navigating the concrete cities and utilizing the wind created by the Dungeon in an effort to find the way out.

As they ascended to higher floors, the labyrinthine nature of the silent structures and ferals proved to not be the only obstacle. The Dungeon soon started to live up to its name as utilizing moving platforms to cross large divides and ascend to pieces of land above them became crucial to progressing. The pattern of a large wind heralding ferals soon became clear, but oftentimes the group had to wait for sporadic updrafts of wind from below to bring a platform higher, or one for a different direction to take them where they needed to go.

Van joked that the experience was akin to some kind of bizarre platformer in an arcade game, and the rest of the team couldn't help but agree.

While the consequence of falling off the platforms was simply a neverending freefall, The Scrafty made sure to stay near the center, making liberal use of his spike. Any feral who came close when he wasn't looking were met with a particularly harsh bludgeon to the face via psychically powered orb. Lumi saw how jumpy Van was as he grappled with his fear of falling off at any moment, and shot his orb with extreme prejudice while they were on a platform.

He didn't want a repeat of the first floor.

Currently, the group was on what Lumi was expecting, and hoping, to be the second to last floor. He was reminded of the rail ride from hell in Match Quarry for how much this current layout deviated from before. They had arrived to the sight of a singular platform and thought nothing of it, however suspicion was raised as the wind pushed it forward for what seemed like an endless period of time, with no other side in sight.

They were kept busy with battle after battle against ferals with no room to breathe and unceasing wind. If anything, the howling gale only grew stronger as they fought with seemingly no end in sight.

There were some problems. Battered and exhausted, a couple reviver seeds had to be used on Lumi and Clara after taking one too many wing attacks. Furious, Damia ordered Van to switch to using blast seeds they had found earlier to knock groups of birds out of the sky, giving them some time to breathe.

Their frantic fighting had left even Damia gasping for breath, and a labored exclamation of joy was heard as a speck of land finally appeared in the distance. As they got closer, they realized with trepidation that this landmass was bigger than any they had ever seen before, and it seemed to carry on top of it a stone replica of the business district of Lumbell city; tall buildings packed tightly together and spanning the width of the expansive stone island.

The only solace was that their destination could be seen clearly in the form of the tallest tower smack in the middle of the city.

The neverending wind died down as soon as the platform touched the other side, as if the Dungeon finally saw fit to give them a break, and the haggard group stumbled off the platform onto solid land. The stone buildings that could pass for skyscrapers loomed ahead of them as they pushed ahead to make as much headway as possible before the next squall.

Damia made the call to duck into a building the moment she felt the breeze pick up again, and for the next while Team Nova sheltered themselves from the wind and hostile Pokémon outside.

To avoid catching the attention of any birds flying closer to the ground, the group decided to head further into the building. Despite the monolithic interior, a flight of stairs led to higher floors that featured hallways with openings to rooms. Perhaps it was his tired mind making things up, but Lumi thought the room they chose to rest in could pass for a small apartment, granted one without furniture and a crappy sense of decor. A singular window let in light, along with a view to the street below.

They sat up against the walls to avoid being spotted, but sitting against the hard stone was a welcome reprieve from the chaos before.

Lumi found himself sitting next to Damia, while the other two rested on the opposite wall. A comfortable silence permeated the room as everyone took their time to catch their breath. Lumi stared into the blue hail orb he had been using as a weapon, mind almost blank as he casually observed it.

His ears twitched at the feeling of eyes on his form, and glanced up to Damia's half lidded gaze. He gave her a tired smile.

"Don't tell me, break's already over?"

"Just this once, I'll cut us some slack. We need it." she leaned forward, head craned down some to his level. "I'm guessing that was your first time getting knocked out? How are you holding up?"

"Welp, it hurt alot for a second, but when I came to I just felt a little numb. Honestly I feel worse knowing I made us waste a reviver seed," he replied, ears flattened a bit.

"Don't worry about that, we've found plenty. Besides, I have to admit, I'm impressed."

Lumi took a second to register the compliment, before his eyes widened in genuine surprise.

"What, is it that hard to believe?" she asked, frowning.

"Uh, yeah."

"Well, it's true." she huffed with a ghost of a smile on her lips. "You fight as if you don't care that you were a civilian not even a week ago, and you don't seem fazed by a lot of what we've seen in here. I respect that."

A blush rose to his cheeks at the praise, and he turned his face away slightly.

"W-well, I'm just trying to make the most out of the situation. Even if we're criminals, no reason not to try and have a good time right? And I think I've only done so well fighting because Van has had my back this whole time. " He shot a glance to the other side of the room, noting that Clara and Van were engaged in their own conversation. He heard the Dragonite 'hmm' to herself in contemplation.

"It's true that he is...improving," she granted. "Maybe he's good for something after all."

"Told you so. Ow." he rubbed the spot where the Dragonite flicked him on the head.

"You and Clara, I swear...but if we're talking about improvements, I want to ask about your bastardization of generations of item usage." she plucked the orb from out of his grasp and held it up to him. "You're supposed to use these things as a trump card, not a rock."

"You're not wrong, but you gotta admit, they make pretty good rocks. Besides, I got more in mind than just bashing enemies with them. Vert's Echo orb has got me thinking of something."

"Oh? You've thought of a new idea already?" she asked. Lumi quickly waved his paw.

"Just a couple thoughts here and there. There is one thing I want to look into when we get back. You mentioned orbs resonating before? Can you tell me some more about that?"

"From what I understand, resonance involves linking two or more orbs together via some process involving their internal Aether makeup. There's not much research done on the technique, and I think Vert is the only one who has made any use of the theory."

"Is there a reason why there hasn't been more study into it? Linking orbs sounds useful, unless I'm missing something," he wondered, reaching into a bag and pulling out a small notepad and a pen, jotting down a few notes. Damia went silent in thought, before continuing.

"I think it's more so a matter of it being more effort than it's worth. Apparently the process is extremely delicate, as well as time consuming. Plus, practically speaking, why use up multiple orbs at once when it's better to save them? The Echo orbs are the only example I've seen of resonance being effective."

Lumi nodded his head slowly, a pensive look on his face. Damia handed the orb back to him.

"Look, when we get back, just ask Vert about it, he can point you in the right direction."

"Won't Vert be, like, busy?" he questioned. She huffed in amusement with a smile that actually curled upwards a bit.

"Vert's always busy, but trust me that won't matter. If anything, he'd be excited that you're showing interest in something nobody but him has researched."

"For some reason, I'm having a hard time imagining Vert excited about anything."

"It's the tail. Always watch the tail."

He chuckled at that. After a bit, Van and Clara got up from the other wall and walked up to them. The Spinda had a giddy grin on her face, but Van was slouched with his hands in his pockets.

"You two look rested. Are you ready to go?" asked Damia, addressing them.

"Yup! But before we head for the tower, Van had a great idea." Clara patted Van on the back, not so subtly pushing him forward. Damia crossed her arms at him with a raised eyebrow.

"And what makes his idea so great?" her question made him briefly look down at Clara, who nodded in encouragement, before meeting the Dragonite's glare.

"Well uh, Clara and I got to talking, and you know how it's been a while since we've been able to do our guild cheer, with everything going on?"

"You mean shooting off the Jubilant orb every morning?" asked Lumi, already leaning forward in excitement. Van grinned at him.

"Yeah. It sucks that we can't do it in public since that would just give the whole guild away, so I was thinking, what if we do it here, in this Dungeon instead?" he finished.

The smile on his face gradually broke down under Damia's unimpressed stare.

"You want to waste time performing the guild cheer here? In this windy hellhole?"

"...Yes?" he tried. Damia squinted at him as if he'd lost his mind and gestured out to the window.

"Scrafty, look outside. There are hostiles above and below us, not to mention we're on a mission. What makes you think we can afford to do something like that?"

"Look, I get it, it sounds dumb as hell. But hear me out okay? It's only been a couple days, but the cheer means alot to me. To all of us. And I don't know if there'll be another opportunity to have it like right now. I mean, there's a wide open sky right above us!"

At that moment, a Braviary let out a cry as it flew by the window, making Van flinch on instinct. Damia simply gestured to outside, as if it proved her point.

"Let's do it on the roof, the view will be awesome!" gushed Lumi, already on his feet. Damia whipped her head down to glare at him.

"Wha- have you even been paying attention? We'd just get attacked."

"Yeah, I've been paying attention. When the wind dies down, the ferals fly back up to the clouds. They only come down to patrol when it's blowing hard. We just have to wait for things to die down outside and then do it," he explained. The Dragonite groaned and put her head in her claws.

"Come on Damia, you can't tell me you don't also miss waking up to that amazing lightshow? Live a little, it'll only take ten minutes tops." pleaded Clara.

"We don't even have a Jubilant orb," Damia's voice sliced through the air. The room was silent for a minute, before all eyes turned to Van as he sheepishly held out the blue orb in question, white spark gleaming brightly in the dim room.

"I might've made one real quick before we left. Just in case."

Damia felt their gazes turn back to her, hopeful. She let out a final sigh before leaning back up against the wall.

"Fine. Whatever. I'll fly us to the roof when we're absolutely certain there's no danger. Worst comes to worst, they're just ferals," she finished, looking away. She grunted at the impact of Clara flinging herself onto her, letting out a cheer as she nuzzled into the Dragonite.

The wind had been blowing for a solid half hour before they took shelter, and it blew for ten minutes more before it could no longer be heard. They waited to make sure no ferals were flying out before heading down to the open street.

True to her word, Damia allowed the others to climb onto her, and shot up the side of the stone high-rise. Lumi's grin grew to match the butterflies in his stomach as he watched the ground get further and further away, but reached a paw out to squeeze Van's shoulder just to reassure him.

They crested the top of the building and Damia alighted on its flat roof, more than enough room for the group to spread out comfortably. Short crenellations bordered the edges, so there was no fear of simply falling off.

Once she felt the three hop off, Damia turned around to say something, but paused at Van holding out the orb to her.

"Here, you can do the honors."

"This was your idea. You made it, you use it."

"Yeah, but uh..." he stepped forward and shoved it into her paw, then backed away. "Just go ahead. It's been a while since it was your turn, yeah?" He said, with a nervous smile. Damia looked to him, then at the orb. Just from holding it, she could feel the boundless energy within waiting to be released, and despite herself, the desire to feel that energy rush through her grew.

That feeling of power was exhilarating. Not once in her years at Absols had it ever died down.

"You're sure?" she asked, voice steady despite her claws itching to release that energy right then and there.

He nodded.

"...Thank you." she uttered earnestly, eyes creased in thoughtfulness. Van grinned and motioned for her to do her thing.

Off to the side, Clara shook Lumi's shoulder and whispered excitedly in his ear.

"Oh my God, dude it's working. I thought last night was good, but this is the most positive interaction they've had for months!" she gushed.

"Be honest, was this what you had in mind when you asked him to make a Jubilant Orb before we left?" he asked, smirking. Clara gave him a coy smile, bobbing her head from side to side.

"Mayyyybe. Didn't think he'd be so bold about it though, I thought I'd have to push him more to make a move. I have you to thank for boosting his confidence while we've been in here."

"C'mon, I can't take all the credit," he shrugged modestly. "All I told him was the next time Damia gives him the evil eye, to push back. She's more fun to be around when you do. Dinner though, that was all my idea."

He put his arms behind his head and grinned. "If there's one thing I learned from mom, it's that girls can't resist someone who can cook some bomb ass food."

"Amen to that brother, amen to that." she nodded, sagely.

"What are you two doing over there?" called Damia. "Come on, you don't want to be blown away."

Everyone crowded together near Damia's legs. Lumi remembered how the force of the orb was strong enough to push his body like it was nothing, so he steadied himself on the Dragonite's shin, the others doing the same.

"Alright, hit it!" cheered Clara. Damia nodded and, after a deep breath, activated the orb, blue light shining brightly. Even from his position below her, Lumi felt energized just from the power that emanated from its flowing surface.

His heart leapt once it shot out of her palms.

Like before, he was jolted up against her leg, feeling Van and Clara pressed up against him. His eyes were glued to the pink sky as the azure spark ascended against the clouds, a stunning contrast of color. A white trail followed behind the spark as it reached the apex of its ascent, before the sky bloomed white in a fantastic corona, a bang of sound reverberating across the entire city.

A strong force almost like the wind that plagued this place shunted into them, and everyone but Damia was blown onto their bottom. As the orbs incandescence died down, she stood unwavering, unshaken by even its brightest flash. With closed eyes, she inhaled a long, deep breath, and slowly let it out. After a few gravid seconds, she stepped forward to address the rest of the group, each still blinking stars out of their eyes but with satisfied smiles on their faces.

"Alright. Did we get that out of our system?"

"Yup!"

"Oh yeah."

"Can we go one more?"

"Don't think so danger cat, we've rested long enough. Let's get go-"

A deafening roar silenced them.

A guttural sound of rage so fierce it echoed throughout the roof made each one of them flinch at its sound. Lumi clenched his teeth, eyes shut as its sound irritated his ears.

"What is that!?" he yelled. The sound seemed to be coming from the direction of where the platform dropped them off, and he raised his head to the side to try and spot something.

He only had time to suck in a breath before a large orange blur slammed into Damia's side, sending them both sprawled out on the side. He watched as Damia grappled with their assailant, a Charizard, before shouting her own fierce roar in his face and roughly shoving him off.

In a moment, the group was surrounded as winged Pokémon carrying others dropped their passengers around them, each of them wearing red scarves. Team Nova backed up against each other, Damia propelling herself back to growl menacingly out at the circle of Pokémon. Thinking quickly, Lumi swapped his hail orb for an yellow flash orb, and raised it in defence as he took stock of who they were facing. From his vantage point, he spotted a Dartrix and Heliolisk snarling at him, wings and frills up in agitation.

A tense silence overtook the roof, only the occasional growl could be heard. Heavy footsteps toward their position sent vibrations through the floor.

"By order of the Haxorus guild of Defence and Enforcement, I am placing each of you under arrest. Come quietly," ground out a strong, commanding voice. Lumi didn't have to guess that it was the Charizard, but Damia's frustrated growl confirmed it.

"Fuck off Damon. You're getting in the way." Her voice was laced with more venom than he had ever heard from her.

"On the grounds of terrorism, disturbance of the peace, reckless and illegal experiment-"

"Shut up, you moron! You don't even know what you're talking about, do you? We aren't the ones who caused what happened at Match Quarry, there's a third party."

"Hey, what's going on, do you know him?" hissed Clara up at her. Her ears flattened back when Damia silenced her with a Look. A powerful stomp that sent the ground quaking and a stifled roar told everyone that the Charizard was losing his patience.

"...First you leave us out of selfishness to join that sham of a guild, then you have the gall to lie to my face? You haven't learned how to accept responsibility for a damn thing have you? You coward."

Damia didn't respond verbally, but Lumi heard the low growl rumble in her throat and the sharp crackling of energy. He turned his head slightly, and watched as she leaned forward, claws bathed in fire and lightning. The aggressive display caused the ones surrounding them to stalk closer, and he got the sense that they were only a hair's breadth away from a fallout.

Maybe now was time to think of a plan.

"Okay." he whispered, keen eyes flitting across their aggressors. "Damia, I think you're just pissing them off. We need to do something, I can distract them for a little bit."

"They're all trained," muttered Van, spike out defensively. "I don't think the flash would hold them for long. How long until the wind picks up?"

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be." Damon's voice rang out above their own. "Just come home. Your sentence won't be as strict if you cooperate. Maybe father can talk some sense into y-"

"Don't bring him into this! If you don't let us go and actually solve the problem, then I'm more than happy to rip through you and everyone here to do it."

Her breathing was heavy, body visibly trembling with some strong emotion, presumably rage. Clara nudged her leg and looked up again.

"Damia, you need to calm down. Remember why we're here. I don't know if we could handle a fight like this, and the world kinda hinges on us learning more about the Keystones."

"This is your last warning. Everyone, if you see them try anything funny, prioritize the smaller targets. Leave Dami...Dragonite to me."

The silence resumed, tension strung tight like a wire about to snap. Lumi, Van, and Clara were all pressed up against each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Finally, Damia crouched her head low and addressed them through clenched teeth.

"Listen. I'm going to count to three. Clara, on two, reach into my bag and pull out a Gravity orb. Lumi, get ready to activate the Flash. Once I hit three, I need both of you to activate them at the same time. Then all of you grab onto me and hold on tight."

They didn't nod, but the message was received. Damia began counting.

"One."

She crouched low, wings extending slightly. The three behind her let out whatever breath they had been holding. Despite the tenseness of the situation, the energy from the Jubilant orb invigorated them, and they felt ready for whatever was about to happen.

"Two."

On queue, Clara turned and swiftly reached a paw into Damia's purple bag. Shouts of alarm rang throughout the ring of Pokémon.

"She's retrieving an item! Engage!" shouted a voice to the side. As one, the hunters began closing in on their position. The Dartrix and Heleoisk in front of Lumi rushed him with an intensity that made him step back once, but he breathed in and kept his cool. The Flash orb was gripped tight in his psychic grasp.

"Three!"

Lumi wouldn't be able to recount everything that happened in that split second after that shout. All he knew was with a cry, he activated the yellow orb, causing a flash of searing, painful light to lance out into the area. He closed his eyes before his retinas could be fried too much and immediately turned to pounce onto a wall of scale and muscle, then swiftly felt his stomach drop as he was dragged into the air. He felt his legs flail in the empty air beneath him, and on instinct his claws extended to dig in a better grip.

Damia would smack him later for that, but now was not the time.

Blinking his eyes open, he was greeted to the sight of stone skyscrapers and high rises rushing past them. Damia made turns to zigzag through the city buildings, and they were so tight that her body turned to where her wings were vertical with the ground, and he couldn't help the surprised yelp at the sudden sight of the ground hundreds of feet below them.

"AHHH! Oh, Mew fuck me!" yelled Van, face pressed just underneath her wing. Lumi was too far to comfort him in any way, and Clara was hanging on for dear life on the Dragonite's leg, so for now he would just have to hold that.

"Alright! So what now!?" Over the sound of wind rushing by them, he was able to make out an apoplectic roar back where they had come.

"I'll drop you all off by the tower and handle the ones here so they don't follow you in." answered Damia, disturbingly calm. He couldn't see her face, but shuddered all the same at the sheer level of bloodlust that lurked under her words.

"Wait, what!?" shouted Clara. "No way! You're not doing that alone!"

"This isn't a discussion."

With strong flaps of her wings, Damia propelled them deeper in the city. At her pace, it wouldn't take more than ten minutes or so before they reached the tower standing in the heart of it. With the amount of twists and turns she made, Lumi was halfway confident they had lost their pursuers. He put a paw in the air and, beside the rush of wind from their speed of flight, detected no abnormal gales from the Dungeon itself. Keeping his head low, he braced himself as they speedily made their way to their destination, no problems in sight.

Then the purple ray of energy from a Dragon Pulse slammed into Damia from below, and suddenly he was in freefall.

Knocked tail up away from Damia, Lumi's heartbeat pounded to a standstill as his world ground to a halt. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, his own breath loud in his skull and the expressions on his friend's faces in haunting clarity.

The glimpse of the Altaria beneath them was ignored as his mind processed what exactly was happening, and it wasn't the feeling of gravity pulling him down that made his heart drop. A stark awareness of the situation brought with it a simple realization in the quarter of a second he had spent helpless in the air.

"I could die." his inner voice whispered to himself.

That should have scared him. All things considered, he didn't have much of a hope of not splattering on the ground. He was twisted in a way that he couldn't reach into his bag for anything that could help, and he hadn't mastered levitation yet to perhaps float to safety. Yet he couldn't bring himself to worry, to scream or to give up.

The shining pearl around his neck, flung so that it was at the center of all he could see, reminded him of board games with his dad and how devious he felt when his mom snuck him candy after another experimental dinner night gone wrong.

It would be a shame to never make more memories like this again. He decided dying could wait.

"Oh, Mew. This is going to suck," he groaned, building psychic energy in his ears.

The sound of screams and shouts started to come into effect, the world speeding up. Van had managed to hang onto Damia, the Dragonite dazed briefly as she fell down. The closest to him was Clara, limbs flailing as she was apparently knocked toward his direction. He didn't have much time to think and prayed the other two would be alright, before he sucked in a breath and strained his muscles as much as he could to get a grasp around her moving form.

He grit his teeth, his grasp and concentration breaking as her limbs moved, but with a shout he pushed more energy into his ears to lock her in place, coated in light pink energy. He repeated the process with his own body, and pushed through the jolt of pain and exhaustion at holding two things at once, figuring now wasn't the time to hold back.

With a glance upward, he noted the distance to the roof of the nearest building in front of them. His mind struggled under the strain of holding him and Clara in the air in a way that severe muscle fatigue could never reach, and he felt himself rapidly losing strength. A piercing pain in his ears let him know that he had already reached his limit, but he forced them to shine bright one final time in a desperate blast of energy that shot them forward.

Despite the meager amounts of power left in his ears, Lumi was still a Meowstic. The Hail Mary was enough to shoot the two up and over to the next building, cresting the top and landing roughly in a roll. He wished he could revel in the accomplishment of finally achieving some kind of levitation, but the searing pain in his ears and the debilitating migraine meant he could only moan helplessly in pain, paws clutching his ears.

"-mi...Lum...good? Hey...ke up!" a female voice bounced around lightly in his head, but he was in too much pain to make out anything other than vague impressions. The outside world was little more than a dull ring in his ears for all he was concerned. Distantly, he was aware of something opening his mouth and slipping something inside, on instinct chewing and feeling the pain slowly recede as the juices filled his mouth.

Head still pounding, he slowly opened his eyes and was greeted to two swirls that somehow conveyed concern in their rotation. He was leaned up on the side of a crenelation, Clara's paw squeezing his shoulder. Keeping a paw on his head, he mustered up the strength to give a smile.

"..Hah...that actually worked..." he breathed.

"You saved us. That was..." a labored laugh pushed its way through her mouth, and she put a paw to her chest. "Arceus, that was bad for a second. How are you feeling?"

"No thoughts...head empty...and pain." he managed. She pet his head in sympathy, and grabbed another fruit from her bag. He recognized it as a persim before he opened his mouth and let her put it inside, chewing gratefully.

"Here, these should help soothe your head."

After basking in the feeling of his headache slipping away, he was able to look at her with more clarity.

"I wasn't able to get the other two. Did you see what happened to them?"

"They're below us I think, Damia got knocked out of the sky for a second. I'm not too worried though, if anything that feral just made her more pissed. Still..." she looked to the side, and he followed her gaze to look. Avian Pokémon flew in the clouds above and stalked the streets below.

"Why are they here now? There's no wind, I thought that was the rule here."

"I dunno but..." He pointed up at a Braviary headed in their direction, one of many flying avians above. "We might have to worry about that later."

Lumi attempted to stand up, but his head felt warm and fuzzy, and he struggled to get his legs under him. Clara gently pushed him back down.

"Just sit this one out, let your mind rest. Besides, I think I got an idea for how to get down." The sight of the approaching hawk was concerning, but he couldn't help but trust the confidence in her voice.

He nodded, and she looked over her shoulder as the Braviary screeched. By some miracle, she had held onto her confuse staff, but she set it down in favor of reaching for something in her bag. She pulled out a wand Lumi had never seen before, a pink and white striped wand with a heart on its end.

The bird gave a mighty flap of its wings and raced down to engage, talons out with intent to maim. In response, Clara turned from Lumi and calmly walked forward, twirling the wand casually in her paw. Right before the Braviary made contact, she flicked her wrist and a pink heart shot out of the wand and impacted its chest. Lumi watched in subdued shock as, rather than clawing at her, the Braviary touched down and rushed to nuzzle her fondly, eyes closed in contentment.

"Alright, easy big guy," she said, chuckling. "Hah! That'll show Esther. And she thought it'd be redundant having both a pair of glasses and a wand that inflicts Infatuate!"

She walked over to Lumi, the Braviary following along like a small puppy. She grabbed her staff and helped him to his feet, a paw around his back.

"Wow Clara, who's your boyfriend?" he joked. The bird glared at him as he came closer, but a bonk from the staff set its gaze back to the Spinda.

"We just met, but really hit it off," she responded, helping Lumi onto the birds back and settling herself in front. "And I just looooove big, strong birds who won't complain when I ask them to fly us to that big tower over there."

She caressed the hawk's head with a paw, who preened in delight. Perhaps emboldened by the sudden command, the Braviary stood up straight and flapped its wings to get airborne. Lumi found a clump of feathers to hold on to, and Clara turned to face him.

"Let me know if it gets too bumpy, I'll tell him to slow down."

"Don't worry about me." he waved her off. "We gotta hurry and find Van and Damia, they might be in danger. Well, actually Van might be in danger from Damia going on a rampage."

"Right!"

With a cry, she urged the Braviary to dive down the side of the building, its two passengers grasping feathers as hard as they could during the sudden acceleration to the ground. Lumi let out a whoop on instinct, and Clara laughed loudly as they leveled out, making a beeline through the buildings.

Their bold flight through the city caught the attention of the flying ferals that shouldn't have been there, and Clara shouted for their ride to dodge the incoming wing attacks and air slashes sent their way.

Unfortunately, the Braviary performed evasive maneuvers much too well, and zigzagged through the buildings with gratuitous use of barrel rolls. Clara was fine because her species was born in the disorientation, molded by it, but Lumi almost lost everything in his stomach multiple times.

They were able to avoid getting knocked out of the sky, but a glance back showed that they had a sizable trail of birds on their tail, and a glance upward showed more diving from the sky. He huffed in frustration and reached into his bag, looking forward. The tall tower was in view, just around the corner of the next high rise.

"Clara! Let's get low, I gotta get these guys off our tail."

"Roger!"

Their ride dipped low so that they were only a few stories off the ground. Grabbing the Hail orb in his paw, Lumi waited until they had turned the corner onto the street the tower was on before he released its energy.

As expected, the sky above darkened just a bit, and thick blocks of ice began to rain from above. He and Clara covered their heads as the thick hail rained upon them, letting out grunts of pain from the impacts of multiple pieces of ice hitting them. Their mount squawked in pain, its course becoming shaky and unfocused, and it wasn't long before the bird careened down to the street below in an ungraceful crash landing.

The landing was uncomfortable, but manageable, as they were already low to the ground to begin with. Lumi and Clara were sent in a brief tumble, but the peppering hail made it unwise to stay put for too long. With a glance ahead, Lumi saw that they were only a quick jog to the entrance of the tower. He grabbed Clara's paw and pointed.

"Let's get inside, the other two might already be there!"

"Whatever you say, let's just hurry! This sucks," she groused, grunting in pain from a chunk that landed square on her head.

They rushed forward, mindful of the hail. They hurried their pace as more and more bird Pokémon crashed down around them, thwarted in their chase by the unfavorable weather. Ferals were forced to the ground all around them, and it was with relief that they finally entered the tower and escaped the hail.

In front of them was a wind tunnel like the ones they had used before to ascend to higher floors, although it was hard to tell at first glance. Rather than a current of wind rising upward, in front of them was a veritable tornado that roared upward towards a swirling vortex. The sound hit them like a wall as soon as they entered, and Lumi could feel the pull of it even from the entrance way.

"Woah, that really doesn't look good." ground Clara, arms crossed in front of her to ward off the wind. A glance around showed that they were the only ones inside.

"Damn, you think they went up already?"

"They might've- oof!" she yelled as she was knocked forward by a blast of air. Lumi yelped as she was sent tumbling forward, and traced the attack back to the Pidgeot that sent it, near the doorway. His ears flattened as more birds stalked outside the doorway, slowly making their way inside from the hail that rained down. Backing away, he thought about their options before a shout from behind made him turn to Clara, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Struggling against the tornado behind her, the Spinda heaved trying to get up and move forward, her body being sucked into the current as she tried to get to her feet. She attempted in vain to use her staff as a cane to get a grip, but it was a losing battle. He rushed toward her and put an arm under her shoulder to help her get a grip, but didn't know how to react next when they were both face to face with a hoard of pissed-off ferals at the door.

"Gotta be honest, figured they'd give up by now..." he muttered.

"If there wasn't this stupid tornado, maybe we could figure something out but..." she paused, giving a quick look to the raging wind behind them. "We might have to go on ahead."

"What? But what about the others?"

"Honestly, I can't think of a safer place to be than right on top of Damia. I'm sure they'll be fine. Plus it won't help anyone if we faint here, we gotta head up and at least learn something," she pressed. He clenched his teeth and looked forward, shuffling back as the ferals began closing in on them. She squeezed his paw and pulled him toward the tornado.

"Hey. Always searching, never lost, right? We'll make our way outta this, trust me." Despite the sounds of squawking ferals in front and a raging wind behind them, the smile Clara gave erased any doubt he had.

"...Yeah, alright." He said, smiling back.

As one, they turned and rushed toward the tornado, not making it far before the strength of the gale swept them off their feet. As they were whisked up toward the portal, Lumi held a paw out, and was grateful when Clara clasped it. It seemed that the ferals were averse to hopping in the tornado to go with them to the next floor, so together they braved the rushing wind that flung them up and through the portal.

---

Windy Spire - Final Floor

The silence was deafening.

Going from the howling din of a spiraling windtunnel to this eerie quiet made him question if everything before now was just some sort of fever dream. As his senses caught up with him, he strained his ears for more information and picked up a low rumble from far above him. He sighed, blinked open his eyes and found himself lying belly-up on a stone floor. To his side he found Clara getting to her feet, and turned to take in their surroundings.

They stood on a wide, perfectly circular space. A ring of strong, stone ramparts bordered the space. He walked over to the closest one to look over the side. A glance down and around revealed no other buildings or structures in sight, simply the tall, singular tower they stood on, stretched high above the clouds. For some reason he couldn't quite explain, this place gave off the sensation of being the apex, an absolution to its sheer loftiness that left an air of finality to it. His fur raised at the sight of clouds so far below them.

The rumbling was heard again, and he realized they were coming from numerous, dark purple clouds above. He was reminded of the strange wall of Aether that was present in the previous Dungeon for how they loomed menacingly overhead, promising thunder, or perhaps something else. Clara came up alongside him and he turned to her.

"I'm getting really thrown off if we're still inside the Dungeon now. Is this the top of the spire? Or some kinda...space that's supposed to represent the top?" he tried, gesturing vaguely around them. She shrugged.

"Knowing these places, the answer to that is almost definitely 'all of the above.' But hey, look." She pointed behind them. He turned to view the most important feature of this empty space.

The Keystone floated in the center of the arena they stood on, a large crystal-like stone colored a subdued blue. As before, white fractures marred its surface, letting out infrequent pulses that allowed fluorescent mist to escape from inside. The mist trailed up until it collected in the air to become one with the purple clouds above.

Nodding to each other, the two made their way towards the Keystone, Lumi taking all of it in. Now that there was relative calm and he could observe it, he couldn't help but find it a pitiful sight.

The thing looked wounded.

Coming to stand right in front of it, Lumi looked upon its surface as if transfixed. He felt compelled to touch it, and so rested a paw on the glowing rock.

"Woah, careful!" warned Clara, paw outstretched slightly. The Meowstic shook his head.

"No, it's fine. It's actually..." he put his other paw on it, surprised at the comfortable warmth of pulsing energy. The texture was rough and worn, but he could feel the immense wellspring of Aether from within.

"Actually what?" his attention was focused squarely on the stone in front of him, a thought in his mind quickly blooming into an idea. He answered her a second later, eyelids creasing in concentration.

"...familiar. I'm going to try something."

Closing his eyes fully, he calmed his thoughts and let the abundant energy take shape in his mind. The process was almost identical to viewing the Aether structure of an orb, but the similarities ended abruptly once he caught a glimpse of the power within.

It was incomparable.

Whereas viewing the latent Aether present inside an orb was akin to a small lake of energy, Lumi felt as if he was viewing the vastness of an ocean, sky blue encompassing all that he could see. He had never felt smaller, more insignificant than right there in that moment, his whole being eclipsed by the sheer scale of power he brushed up against. Aside from the unreasonable amounts of blue that was around him, the space was pockmarked by multicolored scrapes and tears that marred the otherwise pristine space.

On a whim, he allowed his latent Psychic Energy to meld with that of the Keystone's, unsurprised when it failed to even alter the color in any meaningful way, more akin to putting drops of pink dye into the ocean.

A sudden calling shook him.

An urge, an invitation, a longing. There were no words to describe it, nor any audible words that he could hear, but the moment Lumi melded himself with the Aether, there was an unmistakable sensation of being beckoned.

And he knew the source.

Before he could wrap his head around that impossibility, he was broken from his concentration by a rough shove. Blinking the vision of the titanic energy away, he dazedly made eye contact with Clara, who looked at him in concern.

"Timeout! That's...crap are you okay? How are you feeling? Can you, uh...how many spots are on my face?" she shook him lightly, frowning in worry. Lumi raised an eyebrow and lightly pushed her arms off.

"Uh, three. What's the matter?"

"Your eyes. They're glowing," she muttered. He blinked in confusion.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, right after you started engaging with the Keystone. What happened?"

"I...really don't know. There was a-"

A loud clap interrupted him.

Their heads immediately flicked to the source of the noise that rang out in the stillness. Lumi's head tilted in confusion at the new arrival.

The Noivern from before stood proud and with a wide grin on his face. He clapped slowly as he began to stride toward them.

"...The hell? Noivern, what are you doing here?" he called. Clara flicked her eyes to him.

"You know this guy?" he shrugged helplessly in response.

"Damn kid!" exclaimed Noivern. "Gotta admit, I'm impressed. Between the hunters and the ferals, I didn't expect you to make it this far!"

The way he sauntered forward without a care in the world, and with that stupid grin on his face, set Lumi and Clara on edge. It was unnerving how he had simply appeared here, calm as could be, given the amount of chaos present in the floor below. Lumi stepped forward defensively, and Clara repositioned her staff to fit in both paws.

Noivern stopped his advance, claws resting on the ground.

"What? Not happy to see me?"

"I guess that depends. Why are you here? Were you with those hunters down below the whole time?" he questioned. The bat simply chuckled in response.

"Those goons? Nah, I'm here solo. Well, mostly. I did tip those guys off that you were here, but it looks like you were just a little too smart for them, huh?"

"You sold us out?" Lumi barred a fang in sudden frustration. "What the hell is your problem!?"

"Eh, don't take it personal." He shrugged, "Figured I'd just use them to make my job a little easier, didn't want you Absol guys getting here before me."

"And what 'job' would that be?" asked Clara, a suspicious lilt to her voice. In response, Noivern lifted a claw in front of his face with deliberate slowness. With a flick of his arm, his claw was bathed in pinkish energy, his eyes glowing a wild purple. He resumed his advance, casual gait abandoned as he stalked toward them.

"I got some business with that big rock there. Do me a favor and step aside for a sec, I'll be quick."

Lumi's eyes widened at the familiar shade of energy that coated those claws, and he pulled out a Quick orb to levitate next to him in defense. Stepping forward, he threw a paw out in accusation.

"You're a part of the ones destroying the Keystones! You're insane!"

"First of all, rude. Second, trust me kid. This is for the best."

"Oh yeah, because making Dungeons spread out of control and causing mass panic is just the best thing ever!" sassed Lumi, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "Motherfu- I'm a criminal because of you!"

"We all are!" added Clara, just as incensed.

"Alright, fine. How about this," Noivern put his claws out placatingly. "After I finish up here, why don't we hit up this pizza place I found in Rowshore to make up for it? They got a good deal on a special!"

Lumi squinted at him as if he had lost his mind, but Clara's eyes narrowed in increased suspicion.

"...What kind of special?"

"Pineapple!" The response garnered a disgusted scoff from the Spinda.

"Hell no! Lumi, we gotta stop him!"

"Right." he nodded in response and faced Noivern, orb raised to attack. "Like hell we'd just let you break this thing!"

"Welp, so much for talking things out." Noivern rotated his neck and stretched his arm-wings above his head. "Tell you what, in honor of you making it this far, I'll show off a bit. Just for you."

With a strong downward flap of his wings, the bat shot upwards with alarming speed. Despite their bravado, the two stepped back in surprise from how Noivern's large wingspan cut a threatening figure above them. His claw, still wreathed in pink energy, raised as he flapped his wings, and his grin grew wider.

"Sorry to do this to you kiddos, but this is bigger than us."

That pink energy grew brighter, and Noivern snapped his claws. A crisp sound rang out, and the two Pokemon stumbled as the very air seemed to shift.

Seconds later, Lumi watched as purple rifts tore themselves in the sky, like cuts into fabric. Beside him, Clara sucked in a breath as from those rifts, the avian pokemon they had been fighting this whole time shot out above them.

"What the..." Lumi muttered under his breath. Noivern laughed and spread his wings out wide, the group of ferals he had summoned letting out a cry of challenge before diving toward their position.

Diving out of the way, Lumi looked up and swatted an approaching Pidgey, before immediately hopping back to avoid the talons of a Fearow. Clara rushed forward to swat the bird on its head, her Confuse staff shining as it struck and inflicting it with Confusion. They hardly had time to converse with each other as more ferals swarmed them, needing to dip and dodge as it seemed more would appear whenever one was knocked out.

Clara's staff was helpful with turning the tides, any enemy hit by it having the potential of becoming an ally. Lumi trusted her to bonk any approaching birds coming in for a close range attack, so he put himself to the task of watching for any flying types attempting an attack from afar and assaulting them with his orb, ears unfurled and emitting Confusion attacks to frustrate the enemy along with Clara.

Despite the frantic onslaught of enemies, they were able to manage the hoard, albeit with rapidly draining stamina. Breathing heavily, Lumi rolled to a kneel just to the side of a wing attack, and caught a glimpse of the Keystone, along with the Noivern who had positioned himself in front of it. He couldn't see much through the throng of enemies, but he thought he saw more cracks on the stone than normal, pink spiderwebs running across its surface. He cursed under his breath, mind running a mile a minute.

"Clara! He's at the stone!"

"Crap, really!?" she locked her staff with the talons of a Braviary before pushing it away. "Uh, okay! Pop that orb and do something!"

"You sure?"

"No choice now!"

Yelling an affirmative, Lumi brought the Quick orb close to his chest and activated it. The feeling of the world slowing down around him brought some relief, the chaotic movements of the ferals becoming easier to follow. He turned and rushed through the crowd, ducking under wings and clawing talons that moved at half the speed they would otherwise. Noivern was just a few meters away, so he belted out a Disarming voice and extended his claws, pouncing toward the bat to hopefully drag him away from the stone.

To his surprise, Noivern ducked backward from the blast of fairy energy, and caught him by the claws in midair with just one hand. All Lumi saw was a blur of motion, but suddenly he was face to face with those wild eyes like back in the bar, Noivern's other claw resting squarely on the Keystone. The large bat spared him a raised eyebrow and a smirk, before tossing him like a ragdoll back where he came.

Thrown solidly on his bottom, Lumi grit his teeth and pushed himself up for another charge, but a glance at the Keystone made his heart drop. Already its surface was a spider web of cracks, the crystal shaking in the air as it struggled to contain whatever was leaking out of it. Desperate, Lumi rushed to the other side of the crystal and placed his paws on it, keenly aware of the world around him slowly returning to its normal speed.

The sea of blue was a mess, deep gouges of multicolored scars cut throughout. They grew longer, and by the second more and more tears began appearing. On instinct, Lumi sent his Energy out with the intention to stop, to do anything to prevent those tears from destroying any more than they already did.

The calling from before came back, stronger this time. There were no words, but Lumi got the sense that whoever was on the other end was insistent, and he couldn't help the sensation that he was familiar with this person in a way he had never experienced before. A name and a face couldn't be brought to mind, but it felt as if they were close to him in more ways than one.

So much so, he had no issue demanding help.

"Yeah, I'll go! But first, help us out!" he grunted, teeth clenched as the Keystone grew more and more unstable.

As if in response to his wishes, he felt a surge of sheer power so intense come into him from the stone that his paws felt a searing heat just from its touch. In his mind's eye, his insignificant speck of pink Psychic Energy blossomed into a steel blue, so powerful and vast he felt his own energy become subsumed within it. That unstoppable force spread throughout the Keystone's Aether, and upon contact with the scars, halted their advance. Wherever the force went, color was drained and movement was stopped, leaving an ocean of stone in its wake.

From afar, Clara was busy keeping the ferals occupied, hoping to keep them off of Lumi. Her breath was ragged as she dodged attacks from ferals, both from those in their right mind and those confused. The effects of the Quick orb were wearing off, and she was forced to rely on the uncoordinated swipes and shots from ferals to avoid getting hit.

A brilliant flash of blue light wrenched her attention to the Keystone, and she audibly gasped as the crystal was overtaken by two opposing sources of energy; pink on the right by Noivern, and steel blue on the left by Lumi. The Meowstic's eyes were brightly glowing like before, and he was crying out as more and more energy was exerted to overcome the opposing pink.

Coming closer, she squinted as her eyes caught a strange sight. Lumi had both arms pressed against the Keystone, but she wasn't able to see his paws on its surface. As she watched him slowly push in more, her heart dropped as she realized what was happening.

His arms were sinking into the Keystone.

"Lumi!" she called, worried for her friend. She tried to rush over but was forced back by an attempt at a drill peck by a Spearow. She grumbled as more Pokémon spawned in that aimed right for her, the space becoming crowded.

"Oh, screw this..." gripping her staff tight, she focused, letting it shine a bright yellow. With a cry, she slammed it on the ground, a wave of Confusion sent out that was so strong, it pushed back the surrounding birds, leaving them dazed and disoriented. The yellow color of her Confuse staff faded, but she didn't care as she rushed toward the Keystone, it would come back in time.

Coming up behind Lumi, she threw her paws around his shoulders and shook him roughly. He didn't respond, eyes burning azure blue as he screamed. She tried shouting in his ears, but that garnered no response either.

His eyes shone brighter.

She had to close her eyes to shield from the flash, but she could feel Lumi slipping in quicker. He was shoulder deep inside the crystal, and it was rapidly beginning to swallow up his upper body. Unsure of what to do, Clara desperately tried to pull him back, but to no avail. She grit her teeth as she tried to pull, but a strange sensation like water on her paws made her pause and look to see that Lumi had already been swallowed by the crystal, and her paws were beginning to be subsumed as well.

Her heart beat in her chest at the absurdity of it all, but letting go didn't seem like an option. She could still feel Lumi on the other side.

As the shining blue of the Keystone came closer and closer, she turned her face away as she too was absorbed by it.

On the other side of the Keystone, Boon struggled to push back the opposing energy, not having expected any serious resistance. His pink energy was rapidly being overwhelmed by the other, and he hopped back and shielded his face when the Keystone was fully covered. It shone briefly in a powerful upsurge of light, before dying down just as quick.

When he turned back to look at it, the Keystone had lost all trace of color. It stood motionless in the air, a dull grey, like any other ordinary rock. When he placed his claws back on it, he could still sense energy inside, but it was inert. Unmoving.

He squinted his eyes as what he thought was the stone's shadow expanded outward underneath it. The light grey of the stone underneath became much darker, and his feet felt unnaturally cold as it spread under him, forcing him to fly up in the air and observe instead. Dark grey radiated from the Keystone, draining the color from all it touched. Some of his ferals who came in contact with the strange force destabilized on impact, returning to motes of multicolored light that immediately became void of color, disbursing harmlessly in the air. He banished the others away with a wave of his claw, returning them to the Aether they were formed from.

As the tower was overtaken by the spread, he looked up and saw the clouds above were losing more of their color as well, going from deep purple to a still and silent grey. As the Dungeon around him turned to lifeless stone around him, he put a hand to his chin and thought about what just occurred.

Only one thought reigned above all, however.

"Well...shit."

---

So we're clear, I don't hate pineapple on pizza. I don't have an opinion, since I've never tried it. Boon hates the taste but likes it for the irony.

I hope you enjoyed. Writing this was fun, I'm trying to get the hang of visualization. Might be a little wait for the next one, but hopefully not too long.