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Chapter 74
The digging phase went a little… too well.
Everything seemed fine at first. Combining their efforts, the capable recruits tore down the eroded section of the ceiling from the surface above. Zona's light shielded the workers from the Watcher swarm, which had come out in full force once the sunlight was completely gone.
…Then they dug into a second, previously-unnoticed patch of structural weakness, and over a third of the entire hideout caved in.
Or at least, that was the story Kerzek was giving. Scarlet certainly wasn't going to tell everyone that Gemstone was the one who panicked, thinking the job wouldn't be done before Zona's light would fade, and knocked the ceiling down with a badly-conceived "earth power" attack.
And in return for not telling anyone, Gemstone had agreed to let Scarlet give the next order for the logistics team: that everyone was to take a break, gather beneath the still-standing half of the ceiling, and get some sleep. They needed to conserve energy for morning when the construction supplies would arrive and the real work would begin. So Char assigned a cycle of night-watch shifts, and Team Ember called it a day.
Alongside Lyre and Kerzek, Scarlet served her shift under the watchful eye of the sleepless Umbreon warrior, who found this a perfect opportunity to give his Watcher-fighting lessons. An occasional Watcher would sometimes drift into the exposed half of the shelter, making itself easy target practice for the recruits.
"In many ways, it's just like any other battle," the Umbreon had told them. "The only pressure comes from knowing it's a battle where you can't make a single mistake. But you can't think about that. If you think about failure too much, your body is just going to act out the failure you're thinking about. So concentrate as you fight, focus on each decision you make. Pretend you're overconfident, but without actually being overconfident, if that makes any sense. Use projectile attacks if you can. Keep the healthy fear in the back of your mind, and just fight them to win."
Of course, this was nothing remotely new for Scarlet. She'd fireballed plenty of Watchers in her time. She knew the whole trick about "pretending you're overconfident". She even had a certain knack for teaching her skills to children, and could probably have done a better job than this Umbreon did at explaining how to protect oneself under the cover of night.
In fact, Scarlet knew more than she cared to admit. Now if only she knew how she was supposed to have a conversation with Char about it…
The Umbreon's voice echoed into Scarlet's ear as he began his lessons for Glower and Brace, the next two in line for the night watch. As she set herself down against the dusty, moldy wall of the chamber, she snuck a glance at the Charmander sleeping nearby, and to the Talonflame and Raichu who rested beside him.
Hm. Odd, Scarlet thought. The one I'm actually worried about is nowhere to be seen. I wonder if…
Don't you even think about it, said an aggressive telepathic voice.
Scarlet tore her gaze away from Char and flopped herself to the floor. She'd worry about it later. Now it was time to try following her own orders and getting rest.
But the voice in her head wouldn't even let her do that. You're not fooling anybody, Quilava, it said. I know what you're doing.
Against her better judgement, Scarlet decided to reply. I just want to talk to him, she silently sighed. Tell him something important.
Over my dead body, was the chilling response. If you have something important to say, say it out loud. I already know your secret, anyway. I read it from your mind days ago. There's really no need to keep it hidden anymore.
Scarlet replied, if you've read my mind, then you'd know that I've fallen for that trick before, and I'm not falling for it again. Sorry to disappoint. And it'll be Char's decision whether or not he wants to tell you about it.
You are smart, fussed Eva. Perhaps smart enough to have been worthy of Char, were he not already taken. But make no mistake: there is no competing with me. You cannot fathom all that I will do for him. I kindly suggest you forget about it. I would not like to see things get… ugly.
After that, Scarlet laid still for a while, listening to the quiet murmur of her own inner fire.
A fire which, after a few moments, became simmering laughter.
"Heh. Heh heh. Heh."
The Quilava grinned to herself. Fine. We'll just have to see about that, kitty.
Time to see if I've still got what it takes to be clever.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"HEY! EVERYONE AWAKE! BREAKTIME IS OVER!"
Fifteen Pokémon jumped awake at the sound of Tallie's full-volume mobbing call accompanied by a tiny, impatient Nidoran.
A very groggy Ray tried to clear out his ears. "Ahh! Hey! You don't have to do that!" he whined. "We're supposed to teach them how to wake up to the mantra!"
Tallie fluffed out her feathers and gave him a smug look. "I don't know… it seemed like that works much more efficiently than the mantra ever has," she chided.
"Amazing. I feel like I only slept for three hours," Zachel groaned.
Gemstone hopped around the room and nudged everyone, threatening to poke them with poison points if they didn't get on their feet in five seconds. The only Pokémon that didn't respond to the pushy little team leader was Raon, who refused to even budge after having drained every ounce of his energy on his overnight lessons. The Nidoran wisely chose not to bother him further.
"No more sleeping! Watchers are gone, it's time to get back to work!" she insisted at the top of her lungs. "See? We have visitors! Everyone! Outside, now! Get moving! Char, you 're the one who does official business. Get out there."
"Alright, alright, I'm on it," Char mumbled, crawling on all-fours until nearly at the bunker's doorstep. Then he stood up, straightened himself out, and sixteen Pokémon in various states of awareness followed behind him.
Outside, in the barely-there morning sunlight, Char beheld the Kecleon brothers unloading something from a Tauros-pulled wagon. An iron I-beam. It was so long that the brothers struggled to haul it off the wagon and staggered while carrying it over the dirt road.
Then Char noticed everything they had already unloaded.
Several equally-large I-beams. At least five blocks of lumber in varying shapes. Boxes overflowing with nuts, bolts, and nails. A tub of concrete mix. Several toolboxes with their lids open and their contents on display. A pyramid made of at least a hundred cinderblocks.
Char was supposed to conduct the business, but he found himself speechless. He panned his gaze around and the pile of supplies kept going. The whole patch of land in front of the broken-down bunker had suddenly become a fully-supplied construction yard.
He felt the tremor in the ground when the Kecleon brothers dropped the metal beam into the dirt beside the others.
"Oh! Look who it is!" said the purple brother, noticing their company. "Char! A pleasant morning to you, and to your team! Seems that you've brought many helping hands today! That's good! I think you'll be needing them!"
The green brother waved to indicate the massive supply-yard they had unloaded. "And here you are, just as promised! One full-featured, do-it-yourself remote team base! All-expenses paid, courtesy of a certain mutual furry acquaintance! Please pardon us while we unload the last one-third of the delivery."
"This… this is only two-thirds…" Char tried saying. "So… I wasn't planning to rebuild the entire bunker…!"
"Use whatever you'd like, and let us know if there's anything left to take back! We'll hire a crew to haul it away," said the purple brother.
"Uh… good, thanks," said Char. "I take it… you're not actually going to… help us use all of this?"
"Heavens, no! We deal only in supplies, not in construction!" said the green brother, setting down a wooden crate of who-knows-what. "I'm afraid you will need to find someone else to hire if you want the base built for you. We were under the impression you were building it yourself!"
Char let a nervous chuckle escape his throat. He glanced down at Gemstone, finding her in twice as much shock-and-awe as himself. Her eyes twitched between all the different piles of junk. Her ears stood on high alert, like she was trying not to flee in terror.
"Still want to be the leader?" Char asked of her.
"No. I mean… no, I not giving up on this. We're doing this. Uh. Hm. Logistics team? Any thoughts?"
"We need more hands," Scarlet muttered, looking down at her claws. "I mean that in the literal sense. We have too many paws, not enough hands. This is articulate work."
"I'm going to need more ghosts," Kerzek grunted. "No way in hollow Earth I'm plotting all the weight distribution on my own."
"Aaaa-and… and we need muscles," Gemstone decided. "Yeah. Muscles. Lots of them. Hey Char, just checking, we are allowed to hire other teams for this project, right?"
"Y-yeah, of course, if you can pay them, or get them to do you a favor," Char told her, knowing full well that his team wouldn't make any progress otherwise. "So what do you have in mind?"
Kerzek spoke up. "My turn to make some decisions," she said. "Scarlet. Take three members, run back to the Gold Division, and bring us some help."
"…Wait. Me?" Scarlet squeaked, glancing nervously back towards the bunker. "Why me?"
"Because I say so. And because you're part of the logistics team and I trust your judgment. Bring me… three ghosts. Try team Cog, I don't care. I don't care what team they're from, as long as they're ghosts and they can wall-crawl and they're willing to spend the day here. And then get me three or four Machoke. We need them to help lift all this stuff. Try Team Grindstone and Team Carrier. Take two teammates with you and do the split-up thing on the way back."
"Maybe I should just fly there? Seems like that would be faster," offered Brace.
"Uhhhhhhhhh, no," said Kerzek. "We need the lookout team to stay together and stay on guard. And we need someone to lead them back here in separate groups. So we use ground forces."
Before Char could even weigh in on any of the choices, there was a displeased voice in his head. I'm going with them, Eva decided. I'm not about to let that Quilava out of my sight. Unless, of course, you would command me otherwise, master.
Yeah, that's fine. Go with them, Char replied.
When Char announced he was sending Eva with the return team, Scarlet visibly flinched. She tried to hide her discomfort as Eva stepped towards her, swiveling her tail assertively and looking very pleased with herself.
Scarlet chose Ray and Asunder as her two other companions, and they quickly went on their way. Char gave one last mental shout to Eva, reminding her not to treat Scarlet unfairly, but got no reply.
"Now," said Kerzek, "Now what I need – "
"Hey! My turn to make the decisions!" shouted Gemstone. "Now, I want this entire bunker clear before they come back with our help, got that? All this gravel and metal. Shovel it, toss it, teleport it if that's what you do, I don't care. Char, you direct the cleaning. Tallie, take your birds back in the air."
"And me?" Kerzek sighed.
"You? You go back into the wall and check your structural integrities or whatever it is you ghosts do in walls."
"Yeah, like that did a lot of good last time," she said with a hint of accusation. "Apparently I missed a whole rotten dent in the ceiling last night. Somehow."
"Shut up or I'm going to fire you," Gemstone grunted. "Now get to work. Everyone! Get to work!"
Char wasn't left with a lot of help. Between Tallie's group who'd gone back on sentry duty, and the group that Scarlet took, Char was only left with… Leo, Zachel, Nincada, Evan, Kerzek, and Gemstone. And Lyre. And Zona. And a useless, sleeping Umbreon. It was something, but there was also a lot of rubble on the floor, so Char wasn't sure how he was supposed to have it all done by the time the reinforcements would arrive.
"I don't know if I should call it brilliant or lazy, that you give Gemstone control over the logistics team and she gives the responsibility right back to you," Zachel remarked quietly to Char. "Where I come from, that's called setting you up for failure."
Char smiled at himself. "It's fair enough," he sighed. "If I can't get the job done, I'm not sure how I would have expected her to do it either. Besides, it's a good call having the fire-types here to use the Frozen Flame."
"You're too generous to assume Gemstone thinks that far ahead," Zachel groaned. "I sure don't."
"Gemstone has very good reasons for things," Lyre said mysteriously. "You'll see."
After they carried a sleeping Raon out of the construction zone, and positioned the Frozen Flame where it wouldn't get buried, everyone got to work clearing out the rubble caused by the collapse. Char sliced the larger pieces apart with his favorite old metal-claw technique. Evan and Leo did surprisingly well in headbutting the boulders apart. Lyre chomped them apart with ease. Zachel stole some of the construction supplies and set up a pully system to help lift large rocks and loads of dirt up through the hole.
When the collapse from the previous night was about a third of the way clear, Kerzek stepped out from the wall.
"Hey. Char. I need your opinion on something," she said. "I was looking at the western wall here, and I found something concerning." She held out her ghostly claw and beckoned for Char to take it.
"What? Did you find something else that's going to collapse?" Char asked.
Kerzek waved her hand urgently. "It's difficult to describe. Better to show you," she said.
Char looked back at the teammates all still hard at work. They were in the middle of lifting some large stones with the rope and pully. He thought about telling them to wait for a moment, but figured they were doing a good enough job on their own. So he took the Sableye's hand and let her pull him into the wall.
For a moment, he felt the sickening sensation of having to hold his breath and being completely blind while inside of the solid rock, but Kerzek gave a hard yank and pulled him into a tiny hole she'd dug out. It was only large enough to accommodate about half of Char's body, but that was all she really needed.
"Okay, look, I don't have much time to tell you this," Kerzek hissed. "Scarlet wants to have a private talk with you. Without your girlfriend tagging along."
Immediate dread overcame Char, fitting for the painfully cold experience of standing inside of an underground stone. He was afraid of this whole Scarlet thing becoming an issue, especially after Eva raised such a fuss about it.
"I… think I know what this is about," Char muttered. "And I don't think that's a good idea."
"She said you'd say that," Kerzek whispered. "She says it's definitely not what you think it's about. Look, between you and me, she's not stupid. This whole thing with sending Scarlet back to the base was a diversion she came up with last night to get that cat out of the way for a moment."
Char blinked, even though it made no difference to his absolute blindness. "Good plan," he admitted. "I wouldn't have even thought of doing that. Now what?"
"She needs a time. She needs a place. You need to give them to me right now. A time. A place."
"Somewhere Eva won't follow, I take it," Char said with a small sigh. "That's tough. She rarely lets me out of her sight anymore. Or out of her mind."
"You got about thirty seconds before you run out of air in here, so be snappy about it," urged the Sableye, gripping his arm ever tighter. "You know Eva best. So this is happening on your terms. But it needs to be arranged right this moment so I can pass the info to Asunder."
…Why did Scarlet need to avoid Eva? If not for the obvious reason, then what other reasons were there? Was it really so urgent? Char wasn't sure if it was a good idea to be taking such unsolicited demands from one of his recruits who went through the trouble of manipulating the whole mission for her own sake…
I could just fire her from the team right here and now… it would solve everything, Char considered. No drama, no competition, no secrets tearing rifts in the team… Maybe I should have listened to Eva's warning in the first place.
But no. If this is something important, and Scarlet really did put this much effort into setting up a meeting, I want to give her a chance. Even if I have to fire her immediately afterwards, I'll at least she'll have her say.
"This is sudden," Char said. "But… with Eva being Eva, it probably has to be this way. Even if I were to ask nicely, I'm not sure if Eva would even respect my request to be alone with Scarlet."
Kerzek snapped her fingers. "Oh. Almost forgot. If it helps, she says you're allowed to tell Eva afterwards. But only if you decide that's a good idea."
"Alright. Alright," muttered Char. "A place. Right… I know somewhere she absolutely would not follow me. Isn't there a three-sector mystery dungeon to the south-east of here?"
"Restless Plains. Got it. What sector?"
"Better make it the second one," Char decided. "I feel like Eva could still interfere if we met near the very entrance."
"And time?"
That question was harder. "Time. Um… how about tonight, after I announce the results of the mission? I want to get this over with as soon as possible. Oh. Wait. But that doesn't give Scarlet a chance to…"
A thought struck him. A sour thought, one he wasn't entirely happy with.
"Alright. I know how I can make this work," Char said ruefully. "But this had better be good. I mean it."
Kerzek yanked Char's arm and dragged him back outside the wall, where he took a huge breath of fresh air. Or as fresh as the air could be when it was filled with all the dust from all the quarry-work. His teammates had hardly noticed his absence.
"So, what do you think? Tear down the wall or keep it?" Kerzek asked.
It took Char a moment to realize what she was asking, and then he played along. "Keep it," he said. "It looks strong enough. If it falls apart, we can deal with that when it happens."
If only the same could be said about my team, Char silently added.
Grayleaf Reserve
Grayleaf, the mighty Venusaur, lumbered from his den at the beckoning of three particular children. In a proud and booming voice, he said, "About time you took an interest in something, Saura! I've been trying to get you into gardening all your life. But you were always stubborn as a Cacturne! What's changed your mind all the sudden?"
"Well dad, it's not gardening exactly," Saura croaked. "It's more like…"
"Let's say you already have a garden," quickly offered Saurvor. "And you were growing veggies. How would you go about keeping the wilds from eating them?"
Grayleaf ruffled out his petals and gave Saurvor an odd look. "Traps. You're asking how to build traps. Is that it?"
"…Yeah. That's it," admitted Saura.
"I'm not sure why you didn't just come out and say it in the first place," snorted Grayleaf. "But now I get the feeling this has nothing to do with gardening at all."
Saura pawed at the ground, choosing his words carefully, as he watched Grayleaf lumber over towards one of the supply chests. "I was thinking… what if intruders get in here? All of my sisters and… most of my brothers don't know how to fight. I just want to be able to protect them if something is going to happen."
"Nobody's getting in here with the Master guarding us, you understand that, right?" Grayleaf said. "He's got us on watch every hour of the day. And most traps can be set off by animals, cause needless harm to the local wildlife. Nevertheless…"
With his vines, the Venusaur thumped some tools onto the ground, including a rolled-up fence made of thin metal wire, a few paw-spades, some rope, several wooden stakes, and a chisel. "I'm not about to refuse my son's request for my wisdom. Not when you're the reason we're safe here in the first place. So… how about I start by teaching you how to make a pitfall trap?"
"Ohh! Like where you dig a hole and cover it with leaves?" Saurlee wondered.
"Naah, that's the novice kind. Anyone can make one of those," replied Grayleaf with a wry smile. "But Venusaur can do much, much better."
After picking out a patch of land for demonstration, Grayleaf instructed Saura and his two siblings to put the paw-spades on and start digging a hole deep enough to fit two entire Venusaur. This didn't take very long with their father's help.
"Now's the part where we get leaves, right?" guessed Saura.
"Yes… but not the kind of leaves you're thinking of," Grayleaf said. "How about you three run to the swamp and bring back some lily pads? I'll need about four medium-sized lily pads. Just watch out for Lombre. You know how to spot Lombre, right?"
"Yep! They have triangles on top," Saurlee answered.
About fifteen minutes later, that errand was finished too. Grayleaf showed his children how to tie a pair of stakes together with a strand of rope, then sink the stakes into the ground so the rope stretched across the hole a few measures beneath the mouth. Then he did the same with a second rope that crossed perpendicular to the first. And then he set the lily pads to cover the gaps.
"This is good, but it's still not quite the work of a Venusaur," Grayleaf said. "Not until we add the finishing touches."
Finally, he showed the children how to cover the tops of the lily pads not with leaves, but with the soil that they'd dug out of the ground to make the hole. He showed them how to pad down the dirt just enough so it stayed flush with the surrounding surface.
In the end, Saura stood in awe of the pitfall trap, which had no telltale signs whatsoever. It actually looked like a continuous patch of the forest floor, which was mostly kept clean thanks to the family's daily chores.
"So… what do you think?" asked Grayleaf roughly an hour after they'd begun work.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I feel like I could blink and forget where we put the hole," Saurvor said. "That's crazy."
"That's why we always, always mark the traps we set," Grayleaf instructed. He picked up a tiny twig with a sweetgum pod hanging from it, and carefully stuck it in the center of the trap like a miniature flagpole. "Now there are a number of different leaves you can use for this type of trap, like giant sycamore, but I've always preferred lily pads. They last a bit longer before they dry up and collapse. And they're very sturdy. Saurlee, want to try walking on it?"
"Nnno thanks, I'll – yeeea!" she squealed as her father strung her into the air by a vine and carefully set her down next to the sweetgum twig. She cringed for a moment, then carefully tiptoed circles around the twig, and finally tried hopping up and down. The ground beneath her paws betrayed no signs of treachery.
"See? Perfectly sturdy. The smaller critters like Pachirisu won't even know it's there. And if you want, you can even chisel some logs into spikes and put those at the bottom to make it a bit more deadly."
Saura went over all the steps in his head, making sure he remembered them. "That's amazing. Thanks, dad!" he said. "Do you know any other traps?"
"Are you joking? I know at least twenty kinds of traps," Grayleaf said. "I am not a hundred years old for nothing. All depends on what you want to know."
Saura thought for a moment. This knowledge helped, but it wasn't enough. "Can you teach us how to make a trap that works on birds? Or maybe ghosts?" he tried.
Grayleaf hummed. "I know about three kinds of traps that work on birds, and exactly one that works on ghosts, but only if you're very, very lucky."
Though Saura wanted to learn to make all the kinds of traps his father knew, there just wasn't enough time. Already, he was envisioning that by this time tomorrow, he would have no fewer than twelve pitfall traps set up all around the den.
I'll work all night if I have to, even under the Watchers, Saura promised himself. This is my family's safety we're talking about. This is a matter of life and death.
And I get the feeling that everything's resting on me right now.
Construction Site
After a long morning of hard labor by the handful of Pokémon left at the bunker, Scarlet's team returned with some helping hands just before midday. Like a good sentry, Brace reported Ray's approach approach about fifteen minutes before they arrived.
"Auuuugh!" Gemstone shouted, stomping angrily around and kicking at the rubble. "No! Too soon! We're not even close to done!"
Char only shrugged as he and Leo helped one another roll a large rock onto the makeshift pully-elevator. "I did the best I could with what I had," he said. "It's like she said: we just have too many paws and not enough hands for a job like this."
"Yeah! Well! Whose fault is that? I didn't pick the recruits!" Gemstone moaned. "Why didn't you send out a call for more useful Pokémon? What happened to your Bulbasaur friend, huh? Just having a couple of prehensile vines would have made a big difference! Ughhhhhhhhh, this is a DISASTER!"
Char crossed his arms. "Is this how you're proving yourself a good leader? By whining about things you can't change?" he said oddly.
Gemstone stopped herself in mid-rampage, and tapped her front foot against the metal floor. "Okay, okay. You're right. You said that good leaders adapt. And it may not look like it but I am a good leader. I'll show you." She looked at the floor as she paced away from Char. "Okay. We need to clear a room of rusty iron scraps and rocks and all sorts of filthy junk. And we need to do it as fast as possible, because it's going to take long enough to build the place. And we need to clean and furnish it too! How is this possible? How, how, how?"
"Can I say something?" asked a very bored Nincada who sat in the corner.
"What? If you're asking for a job, I don't have anything for you to do yet," grumbled Gemstone. "You'll just get squished by rocks. And aren't you like, halfway blind anyway?"
Nincada wiggled his antennae. "I'm a ground-type. I can get squished just fine, thank you. Bugs can harden their shells in case you don't know. Also. I can see up close as long as it's dark. Like how I can see you're frowning at me. But that has nothing to do with what I wanted to say."
"Yeah? So what is it?"
The little bug squinted as he looked up at the large hole in the ceiling. "In my opinion you should focus on the construction. Leave the furnishing part for later. If we're accepted onto Team Ember we have plenty of time for the details. This is going to be our base after all."
"Eh. Fair point. I guess you were good for something," Gemstone sighed. "So construction. Top priority. But we can't construct anything unless all this junk is out of the way. What we need is more hands. But we're not getting many more hands besides the ghosts and the Machoke. So what we really need is… more tools. Better tools. But what tools can do what we need? I'm not a tool expert. And I don't think anybody else here is…"
Gemstone hopped excitedly in place for a moment.
"Oh! Oh! Idea!" she shouted. "Kerzek! Where are you? Come here for a moment."
Kerzek dropped in from the ceiling, hanging in place like she clung to monkey bars. "Yesssss…?" she said, as though she'd been trying to avoid Gemstone for the past half hour.
"I did my homework. Ray is the item expert on Team Ember. Go and ask him what kind of items would be useful to clean out this junk," Gemstone commanded.
The Sableye frowned. "And we can't just wait for him to get here, because…?"
"Because it's going to save him some steps if he needs to turn around and go back. Get going… we're short enough on time as it is."
"Gemstone, have you ever heard the saying, 'A lack of planning on your part is not an emergency on mine?'"
"Well have you ever heard the saying 'I'm your boss and you do what I say or you're fired?' And besides, what exactly are you doing right now anyway? Sleeping?"
"GAAH. Fine." Kerzek barked. "Be right back. But don't blame me if the whole place collapses again while I'm away."
Kerzek climbed back up through the ceiling and up onto the surface. Once she found the road, Brace helped guide her in the right direction, ignoring her request to have Tallie swoop down and carry her the rest of the way. Not too far off, she encountered an approaching group led by a Raychu and Poochyena. Behind the Raichu there followed a procession of large, muscular, humanshape Pokémon.
"Oh, hi!" said Ray. "I hope we're not too late!"
The Sableye took one look at the hired help. "What are these guys? I thought I asked you to get Machoke," she flatly said.
"Oh, but I got us something better!" reassured Ray. "These are Gurdurr and Conkeldurr!"
"Never heard of 'em. Are they even from the base?"
A Gurdurr replied. "Affiliates with the Gold Division, but we don't live in the base. We live in the warehouse district of Iron Town. Too much work to be done up on the surface."
The daunting Conkeldurr stepped forward. "Ghost lady, all you need to know is that you got construction work to do and we're the right guys for the job. We're Team Framework. We build structures from the ground up. It's our thing."
"Fine," said Kerzek, waving for them to continue walking. "Guess we'll see how good of a job they do by tonight, when the mission is supposed to be over. The results are the important part, if you get what I mean."
Asunder's ears perked. "Hey! How come you ran all the way out here?" he shouted. "I thought the birds spotted us and told you we're coming?"
Kerzek thought for a moment. "Ah. Well. I just wanted to make sure you didn't wander too far south and get caught in a mystery dungeon or something. You know there are a few of those around here. There's one called Restless Plains right to the south, in fact."
Asunder nodded in understanding. "Got it," he said. "Yeah, I get what you mean."
The dark-types quickly shared a knowing glance. Then Kerzek set her sights forward again. "Aaanyway, our almighty boss of earthquakes and destruction sent me to ask you a question, Ray. She says they aren't getting enough progress done on the cleanup. She wanted to know if you could speed up the progress by using dungeon orbs or something."
Ray grinned. "Of course! That was the first thing Scarlet thought of!" he said, indicating the item bag he now carried. "She sent me right to Kecleon's store as soon as we got there. I found a few things that might work. Trawl orb, rock smash orb, levitate orb… yeah, we got this!"
"…Yeah, somehow I figured she thought of this," Kerzek said, sounding very unimpressed. "And what about ghosts? I take it they're on their way, too?"
"Yep, separate team, just like we talked about," Ray said. "They're probably fifteen minutes behind us. Got some real good ones. I think you'll be happy."
Kerzek nodded. "I'm satisfied. Good. Now let's get this job moving already. Get in there and work your magic. Then maybe we'll actually have something for all this hired help to do."
As Kerzek led the group back to the new base, she couldn't help but cast several more secret glances at Asunder, who always winked at her in return.
When Char told us to demonstrate our leadership skills, I bet this isn't what he had in mind, she humorously thought. But I've got to admit… Scarlet is doing a bang-up job at this. So far. I bet nobody has even the slightest idea what's really going on right now…
Once Ray returned with his reinforcements, everyone took a rest from the back-breaking labor and let the items-master find a more efficient way to clear the room. He started by using a trawl orb to try and warp the rubble out of the room, but it only worked on the frozen flame. Then he used a levitation orb, and that did the trick. With the gravity inverted, the worst of the rubble floated right out of the hole in the ceiling. Then it only took a little help from the birds and their strongest wind attacks to send the junk flying, scattering it back into the woods. (When the rocks rained down, a few even smacked into Raon, but he didn't so much as twitch…)
From there, Team Framework took care of the rest of the cleanup, as they said it was a normal part of their job.
As the Gurdurr began work, the giant Conkeldurr stood over the purple little Nidoran, as though he was thinking about stomping her flat. "We can build this base for you, but I'm afraid we'll need some specifications," he gruffly said. "There's only so much we can do without clear specs. So, got any blueprints to show us?"
Gemstone blanked out. "Uhhhh…" she looked pleadingly at Char.
Char just shrugged and leaned back against the wall. "Don't look at me! I want to see how you handle this," he said with a smirk.
She thought for a moment. "Uhhhhh… we don't need anything complicated," she tried. "Just put the roof on and make sure it's strong enough not to collapse. I think that's all we really want."
"That ain't much help to us, I'm afraid," grunted the giant. "We build. We don't design. Anything we do without a blueprint is going to take ten times as long, and we can't guarantee it will be sound."
"Well, uh, uhh… we don't have a blueprint and we don't know how to draw those," Gemstone argued back. "So hey, can we work out something?"
A new voice spoke up from an unexpected direction.
"Seems like this is your lucky day. This is a Squirtle-class bunker," said the voice, coming from the ceiling-hole. "There are dozens of these built across Midwest Ambera, all in stages of decay. But they are very well-documented. And it just so happens I've got a blueprint of them right here. I was told that I might need one."
A nice chill swept over the chamber. Down through the ceiling floated a large ghost – a Frosslass. It was tall enough to look the Conkeldurr in the eye, even if it wasn't floating over his head. She produced from inside her body a large roll of paper, offering it to the leader of Team Framework.
"Oh… Oh no," whispered Kerzek to Char, clawing at her forehead. "Oh. Why'd she have to go and get her…"
"Why? What's the matter with her?" Char asked.
"Oh nothing, just that she's kind of my boss. On Team Cog. She's the leader of my branch. I was hoping I would get to spend some time away from her… Hey, if you don't mind, just… don't ask her about my performance history, alright?"
"I'm Ether, of Team Cog," said the Frosslass, giving a respectful bow. "It seems we will be working together on this project today."
"Mattock. Team Framework," replied the Conkeldurr, accepting the blueprint paper. "Welcome to the project. I have the impression it will be a pleasure to work with you."
As the two team leaders discussed their partnership, Char noticed a familiar Espeon peering down the hole, followed by a familiar Quilava.
Welcome back, Char said telepathically. Do you have anything to report about Scarlet?
Eva turned up her nose. Disappointingly, no, she said. No, she's done nothing scandalous, or questionable, or the least bit interesting. She's done her job quickly and efficiently with a respectable turnaround. I'm actually sorry that I bothered.
Char had to chuckle. Thank you for being honest, he replied. And what about the other ghosts that Kerzek asked for? There are more, right?
Yes, there are, she reported. They should be arriving shortly… oh no.
Great. Another 'oh no'. What is it now? quietly sighed Char.
Oh… there might be an issue with one of the ghosts we brought along. An… indirect issue, said Eva, with a glimmer of worry in her eyes. I was too busy keeping an eye on Scarlet to make the connection. But… ah, you'll see shortly. It's too late to do anything about it.
The next set of visitors didn't come through the hole in the ceiling, but through the proper entrance. And they were sure to make a grand appearance as soon as they entered the room.
A Croagunk, a Seviper, and a Dusknoir.
"Heya, Char!" a smug Croagunk called from across the room. "Heard boss was hired to help someone build a base. When we heard who he was helping, we had no choice, we had to tag along too. Heheheh, I hope you don't mind if I play some target practice with your fire-phoenix up there…"
But just as Dusknoir looked like he would float forward and join the logistics meeting, he visibly winced and halted mid-air.
"You… FOOLS." He growled, curling his hands into fearsome fists. "YOU… FOOLS! YOU BLASTED FOOLS!"
Dusknoir's yell drowned out all other sounds in the room, and everyone fell silent.
But it was too late for anyone. Those who realized what was wrong already had their breaths firmly held.
A certain member of Team X locked eyes with a certain Team Ember recruit.
Zachel and Seviper.
The two mortal rivals came forward from their opposing groups, stopping just out of one another's reach.
"Hey," Zachel called. "You again."
"Yes. Me again," sneered Seviper.
The two Pokémon sized one another up, trying to intimidate the other into submission. The room was so tense that Char thought he could hear several heartbeats besides his own.
"Seems like I'm always running into you," Zachel growled. "I'd say, a little much for my liking."
"Not my problem," replied Seviper. "I'm jussssst doing my job."
"Then maybe you should back off and let me do mine," Zachel warned. "This is Team Ember's mission here. You have nothing to do with it."
"I beg to differ," returned Seviper, coiling his tail around himself. "You hired my boss. And we come as a unit."
"Seems like we might have a problem."
"Certainly seems that way. What do you propose we do now?"
Zachel curled her front claw into a fist and stood as though ready to battle. Char wondered if he should do something. After all, Zachel was his responsibility now. He thought about all the orders he could issue to defuse the situation– maybe Ray could rush in and paralyze them. Maybe Eva could cast one of her barriers to block the first attack. Or maybe the stronger Pokémon in the room – namely Dusknoir, Mattock, and Ether – would take it upon themselves to act.
On the other hand, maybe they wouldn't. Nobody in the world wanted to get between a bloodthirsty Zangoose and Seviper. Nobody. Most Pokémon would sooner yank on Raikou's tail or jump into Jeliicent-infested waters. It would prove a much less painful fate than to try stopping the fight everybody knew was about to happen. Because apparently, once they lose control, they are no longer themselves. Their minds are completely replaced by a primal, unstoppable drive to resolve the rivalry at all costs…
Char whispered quietly to Kerzek. "Hey… you're on Team Cog. Isn't it your guys' job to take precautions about this? Keep these two apart? Like redirect them in different hallways so they don't meet? How come you guys never did that…?"
"Normally, yes, we take care of it," Kerzek replied. "But this is a special case."
"Special case? How so?"
"Classified information. Team Cog knows a lot of secrets. This is one of them. Lips are sealed. Even ghosts have their honor."
Char was about to ask for much more clarification on the matter… but Zachel suddenly made a move.
"I have a proposition," Zachel said, taking a wary step forward. "How about we end this nonsense right now?"
"Hm…? You really think you can defeat me?" hissed the snake, coiling to strike. "I think you may wish to… reconsider. You're still on a training team. Whereas I - "
"No, I mean… I'm getting pretty tired of all this."
"…Oh."
Zachel let out a sigh and finally tore her gaze from her mortal enemy. She looked around at all the eyewitnesses staring at her.
"Can you guys keep a secret?" she yelled. "Yeah. I'm talking to all of you. Char, Scarlet, Frosslass… whoever you guys are… You all swear to keep your mouths shut about this?"
After nobody spoke for a few moments, Zachel continued. "I'll take that as a yes. So… Seviper and I don't actually hate one another. Never have."
To everyone's amazement and horror, she pounced forward and gave the snake a warm and earnest hug.
"Yeah… We're actually besties," she said, rubbing the viper on the head. "We were only faking the whole rival thing because that's what everyone else expected us to do. But I'm so tired of it by now."
"IS THIS TRUE?!" Dusknoir demanded loudly, pointing a finger at Seviper. "This whole time we've OPERATUED UNDER THE ASSUMPTION that you were EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED by the Zangoose, and now you're telling me it was all for NOTHING?! IS THIS TRUE?"
Seviper only sighed, rolled his eyes dramatically, and melted into Zachel's hug, coiling tighter around her. "…Yes. It is all true," he admitted with a contented smile. "We have been friends from the moment we met. We agreed to project a rivalry for… certain mutual advantages. And we will continue to act out our rivalry in public. But if Zachel is to be joining Team Ember in the near future… For the sake of the respective productivity of all our teams, I believe it is time the truth be told."
Collectively, the room breathed a sigh of relief. Except for the ghosts, who didn't generally need to breathe in the first place. Ether only laughed and explained how she already knew about this from the start. Ray and his friends from Team Stripes looked absolutely heartwarmed. And Char just slumped back against the wall, trying to mentally process everything.
"I guess that's one secret you don't have to worry about anymore," he awkwardly laughed to Kerzek.
But the Sableye said nothing. She only walked away in annoyance, refusing to look back at Char.
The rest of the room congregated together around the rivals, whether to congratulate them on their friendship or, in Dusknoir's case, to berate them for lying to their own teammates. But Char just sat in place for a moment, thinking about something.
Eva, he said telepathically to the Espeon still sitting at the lip of the skylight, when we interviewed Zachel… you said that she was lying about not being rivals with Seviper.
That I did, replied Eva.
So… I guess you were wrong? Char asked.
No. I said that she was lying about not being emotionally compromised by the Seviper, Eva said, emanating annoyance. As of now, I am either to believe that Zachel is very skilled at deceiving mind-readers… or there's something else going on here. They are still lying about something, and I will find out what it is. I believe, for the sake of Team Ember, you have a right to know the truths about your team members.
Thank you, Char said. I appreciate the –
Char had to stop himself hard before his mind drifted in the direction of a certain recent memory… namely, a conversation with a Sableye, and a secret that Eva was apparently not supposed to find out. Yet. At least until Char learned it first.
…What's wrong? Eva quickly asked.
Nothing… it's fine, Char quickly said, focusing those thoughts far to the back of his mind. I appreciate all you do for me, Eva.
She responded with very pleased thoughts. You are always welcome, master, she said. It is why I am here.
Basin Canyon
In a dark corner of a dusty cave, a Marowak awoke with a splitting migraine. In the aftermath of some very strange dreams, his thoughts still ran in incoherent circles.
He blinked his eyes open, trying to focus on the caves and tunnels.
Down one tunnel, a complex labyrinth.
Down another tunnel, the exit.
Down another tunnel, the meeting room.
The meeting room.
Marrow jolted to his feet in a strange panic.
There's something… I have to tell them something, he realized.
Something important. I have to tell Scythe something important.
Something…
He tried to clutch his head, only to feel the ivory of his helmet in the way.
…something I can't remember… he realized.
Great Groudon… Why… why in the blazes can't I remember?