Chapter 53
Char stared incredulously at the great Infernape upon his doorstep. Though the old warrior beamed with pride and health, his fire magnificent, Char was filled with guilt upon meeting the one he had so ruthlessly betrayed. He felt honored by this sudden visit, a visit the old one had certainly traveled very far to make, but he could not imagine that the Infernape held any more respect for him, not after the grave mistake he had committed at the top of Temporal Tower.
"May I… come in?" Prince suggested to the dumbstruck Charmander, gesturing with gentle eagerness toward the interior of Team Ember's lair.
"Oh… yeah, sure," Char replied, stepping out of the Infernape's way, bothering with no formalities at all.
The old warrior sighed deeply as he crossed the threshold into the room and tread upon the magnificent red carpet. He moved with reverence, his eyes widening, as he beheld the lair in which Char dwelled. His knowing gaze fell upon the polished silver candelabras, the golden mirrors and tables, and the dancing array of ghostly torches which crowned every doorframe. A sad yet beaming smile formed upon his face.
Kneeling down, the old Prince stroked the rug with a hand, feeling the embroidered silk upon his fingertips.
"So, you have been given these rooms…" Prince spoke deeply, solemnly, hanging his head and fixating upon one the fiery designs imbued into the rug. "These furnishings you see around you were the spoils of some of our more profitable exploits; the candles came from a corrupted Lord's mansion we once sacked, the carpet… the carpet I purchased with the funds we earned after selling some choice artifacts we recovered from a dungeon exploration… I had even stolen some fire-bowls in the aftermath of an annual ceremony that took place in the parks near Iron Town… I wonder if they are still around somewhere…"
Prince lifted his head and stared blankly at the doorway to what was once his bedroom, letting the light from the many glowing candles blur into his eyes.
"See, I wished to be surrounded by the imagery of fire, wherever I turned, so that I and my other fiery teammates would feel at home," he spoke. "… And that, by seeing the majesty of the fire all around us, our den would begin to reflect the beauty of the fire within our own chests. To remind us that we are fire, living fire… I and my teammates turned this dream into reality, and we furnished this room, so that we would stand here, and be encompassed by fire… all around us, like a great circle…"
He turned to look Char in the eye. "And now, I suppose, it all belongs to you…"
"Prince," Char tried to say, feeling a loss of words in his throat. "I'm sorry I… didn't trust you. I'm sorry I trusted Scythe…"
"We both did what we thought was right at the time," Prince told the little Charmander, rising back to his feet. "And that is all that can really be expected of us, isn't it? Ahh… and besides, it doesn't matter now; we are both here safe, and I finally lived to see the true purpose of the Silver Division fulfilled: we put our trust in the Call, and we carried it to the summit of time… and now we finally know that we need to search elsewhere for a new source of hope. That… is all I really asked for. An answer; a simple answer. And with that answer, I have disbanded the Silver Division officially. It has no more need to exist."
"So… what will you do now?" Char asked the Infernape quietly. "Now that you have the answer?"
The fiery warrior smiled. "I'm going to do something I should have done years ago," he said with great conviction. "I'm moving back here, with the Gold Division. This is my home. In truth… I never should have left."
Upon speaking the words, the old warrior could not contain an enthusiastic grin. He beamed with joy so bright that it warmed Char's heart. Char knew the Infernape finally felt that he understood his role in the resistance, and why everything had gone wrong the way it did. He, like Char, finally felt he had a sense of purpose in the world. After speaking with Dialga, he knew what that felt like to see things clearly.
"You're going to… move back here?" Char gasped, feeling a thrill of happiness for the Infernape's sake. "You're leaving Fort Emerald behind? Just like that?"
"Well, we really had no choice, you know," Prince chuckled. "Well, actually, it was a choice, just an unfair one. Lucario kicked us out, and this is the only place we felt we still belonged. Perhaps it was the only place all along that we belonged. But yes; it is time I finally joined forces with Team Remorse and Team Absolution again, and at their side… live up to my potential. And despite all of the disasters and misfortunes that have befallen us, I really only have one cunning human being to thank for it. So, I have come to offer you my gratitude. Thank you for coming to the top of Temporal Tower with me."
Prince crouched to Char's level again and held out his hand; an offer for a handshake. But as Char approached, Prince captured the little Charmander in his arms and picked him off the ground, embracing him against a shoulder. After momentarily catching his breath, Char held on tight, basking in the comfortable warmth of Prince's flame.
"I guess this means we have to give you your room back," Char sighed. "That's alright, I guess. You deserve it."
"No, these rooms are yours now," Prince replied warmly. "Mainly because, I think, that 'ember' plaque above the front door would be too difficult to remove. Don't worry; Alakazam had an empty room ready for us. It's one floor down from here, and about on the opposite end of the division base. I just… felt that I wanted to see this hall one last time, to give it my true farewell. After how Alakazam had so dutifully preserved it for us in case we were to return, it would be a shame not to not stop by and appreciate it just this once."
The old Pokémon set Char back onto his feet, gave an earnest bow, and turned to leave.
"I will see you around the base, Char. But now I need to go. We're about to receive another shipment of our supplies from up north. Speaking of which…"
Once Prince had stepped out of the door, he reached to the side and collected a medium-sized exploration bag, the same kind that had been used at the Emerald Division. He presented the bag to Char.
"After I safely returned from our escapade, Nameless and I took a cursory flight around the tower site and managed to find some particular things scattered around in the snow. I suppose they had been spared from the warping of Temporal Tower and had rained back down to earth; I am not sure why they were there where we found them, but fortune has smiled upon us. Please, take a look inside the bag; you might recognize some of those things."
"Thank you!" Char cried, breathless from the great honor the Infernape had shown to him. "We were all out of supplies. This is just what we needed!"
"You're welcome. And if you ever find yourself in a desperate position of any kind, don't be ashamed to come and ask me and my team for help. Or Team Remorse. Or just about any team that lives here," Prince said gladly, enjoying the Charmander's overwhelmed expression of gratitude. "See, unlike Lucario's ranks, here in the Gold Division we're all in this together."
As Prince walked away, Char unbuttoned the top of the bag and eagerly began combing through. What he found was everything he could have possibly asked for. The mobility scarves, both of them, had been miraculously recovered! And the goggles, and the x-ray specs, and even a few of the reviver seeds! Char could barely stifle his exuberance as he yanked the items from the bag, each one just as precious as the last, wondering how they had survived the disaster at Temporal Tower. The rescue emblems were here, still attached to their emerald-green scarves! At least, three of them had found their way home; the fourth had been taken by Scythe. And there was the detect band, and a pure seed, and…
Char's heart stopped when he found what sat at the bottom of the bag.
Short, gasping breaths passed through his throat. His poor little claws trembled with apprehension as he lifted out a glassy sphere – one that held, at its center, a blue, eternally-still tongue of fire.
He dropped the sphere on the floor and bolted out into the Gold Division base, catching Prince before he had gotten too far.
"Prince! Prince!" Char gasped, his voice several octaves higher than normal. "Prince, you… there was… You left your frozen flame in the bag?"
"So?" Prince chuckled with indifference. "I don't need that thing anymore. I think it's finally time that it passed hands."
"Are… are you sure?" Char squeaked.
"Char, I've been looking for a successor to hold the frozen flame for a great while now," Prince explained plainly. "It has stayed in my team for long enough that we do not rely on its protection; it has become just a minor convenience to us. I would much rather prefer that it could save someone's life in a dire time, rather than saving us a scratch on the knee every once and again. And I have seen no successor more fitting than a particular little Charmander who, while growing quite strong, is still learning how to cope with a body that is not truly his own. So… I pass the flame to you, now. Please accept it?"
Char took deep breaths, calming his frantic heart and his blazing ember. "Prince, it's too much," he said to the elderly one. "I'm not sure if I trust myself with something that valuable…!"
"I insist," Prince said kindly. "Besides, it's not all that valuable, in the end. The rescue emblems would sell for more on the market. I think… I think the only reason I held onto it for so long was because… it reminded me that I was not where I should have been. It reminded me that I had chosen to let my own flame become frozen, for… for, at the time, who knows what reason… But now, it has done its job, and it has brought me back home. Perhaps now… it could bring you back home, to your rightful place at the side of Giratina, Dialga, Arceus, or wherever you had come from."
The Infernape shrugged, the beaming smile never leaving his face. "I really need go now, Char. Canniah will be impatient."
"Thank you…" Char said, a half-whisper, one final time.
Then, he and the great Infernape parted ways.
Char retired to his room to spend nearly an hour staring with awed fascination at the motionless white flame within the transparent glass orb, as though its tiny shape held all the secrets to life, or all the memories of the past which it had witnessed. So captivated, he was, that he completely forgot his own teammates had been waiting for him down in Kecleon's store.
Route 325
At the dawn of the next day, as the Amberan countryside still glowed orange and red from the magnificent sunrise, Team Ember embarked on their first mission in a very long time.
The weather was so gorgeous; sunny, but not sweltering. There was no snow, no ice, no stinging wind to push them back. After spending so many days and nights in Zerferia and the surrounding lands, Char had nearly forgotten that the sun's rays were warm, and that the outdoors were not actually a treacherous realm where the gods of coldness would torture their poor hapless victims. Full of vibrancy and proud to be leading three teammates toward a mission where they had a very high chance of success, Char realized that he could not remember the last time he had felt as happy as he did now; not when he sat in the cradle of Dialga's embrace, not when he woke in the hospital to find Saura and Ray waiting for him, and not even when he basked between the towering fires at the sides of his bed and took his respite with his team. Now, as he marched down the road, he felt, in some small way, that the road would lead him back to Giratina, and to the conclusion of his master plan… whatever it was.
Char breathed in the sweet, dewy air and savored the tingling feeling it brought as the moisture collided with the fire in his chest. Though the majority of summer had passed on his great trip, the early autumn weather was still quite pleasant to the fire-type; the climate of mid-western Ambera around the Gold Division was always very temperate, and he knew that the thought of chilly weather would not even cross his mind until the worst of the winter months.
This day was perfect. Everything was perfect.
After taking inventory of the equipment that Prince had brought them, Team Ember found that money was no longer such an immediate issue; they had more than enough items to make the day's simple mission work. Ray had dutifully packed the bag, taking one reviver seed – just in case – and they had soon embarked out into the streets of Iron Town and down the paths through the countryside. Otto had remained terribly quiet for the duration of the morning, but Char figured it was just his nature. Once outside, the little bird took to the air and kept watch over Team Ember from high above.
Char remembered this particular road; Route 325 was a route taken to several missions before. A mile ahead and somewhere off to the right of the beaten path was the opening to the Iron Crevice dungeon, the place Char had defeated the Steelix. Today, they'd need to journey a bit farther down the road to reach the dragon's garden where the client waited, but Char felt his mind continually drifting back to that cave. He fondly remembered his encounter with the Steelix and the rescuing of Fern the Furret as an example of luck's blessing, but had no intention of relying on such a twist of fate again; today, if he was to accomplish a victory, he and his team would make it happen by their own hands.
Even Saura seemed cheerful and full of energy. Char wondered if his headaches were starting to come under control. He always feared broaching the topic with his friend, as doing so would often cause the pain to return in full force, but he knew he would need to help Saura in some way when the time came. He wondered if he could trust Eva to delve into Saura's mind, but even if not, he knew there was no shortage of skilled psychics living in the Gold Division. Perhaps Hypno or Dr. Orde would be willing to examine him. But as of now, Saura was his old self again, insightful and supportive as ever, and Char couldn't ask for any other Pokémon to walk by his side.
Somewhere behind them, Ray was scampering down the road, singing some kind of exploration carol to pass the time.
Over the mountains and under the sea,
Endless adventures, they're waiting for me.
Marvelous nature, I search for your grandeur,
It's calling to me!
Deadliest monsters will flee from our might,
Dangerous dungeons we'll crawl with delight!
Pose us a question, we'll search for the answers,
from day until night!
'Till the darkness is filled with light!
And the heights, no, they don't scare me,
They're such a sight to see.
And the dark, it cannot harm me
in friendly company!
Nature, you cannot keep us
from witnessing what you hide!
Now nothing you throw into our path
will hold us back, try as you might!
"It's a shame Eva didn't want to come today," Saura mentioned, sighing happily. "I bet she'd like to get some fresh air for once. She would have liked the weather. Char… Char?"
Char didn't hear the song that Ray sang, or the words Saura had said; instead, he had become occupied by staring into the frozen flame, mentally detailing all of the fascinating intricacies of the petrified fire. When Ray had offered to hold onto the priceless heirloom in the team bag, Char had declined; he wanted to try keeping it in a satchel tied to his waist just like Prince had. But it proved to be a bit too bulky for his diminutive form and the twine kept coming off, so Char had just decided to carry the satchel over his shoulder… although the frozen flame was soon spending more time just sitting in his claw, holding his gaze captive.
Saura chuckled, seeing the Charmander so mesmerized by the object. "I still can't believe Prince gave that to you," he said.
"Yeah…" Char replied, absentmindedly.
"Heh, Char, if you don't want to lose it, you should probably keep it in the bag," the Bulbasaur suggested. "You should just give it to Ray. It'll still affect you as long as you're nearby."
But the immunity to rocks isn't the point, Char wanted to say, not tearing his gaze from the orb. In fact, I don't think I'd mind if it didn't have an effect at all. The flame just looks… so wonderful.
But… yeah, I need to lead the team. I can't be distracted by this forever, Char decided, reluctantly dropping the orb back into the leather pouch. He finally let himself entrust it to Ray, who buried it safely in the bag of supplies.
"Cheee-cheea!" Otto called from up above.
Char turned his attention to the Pidgey, finding that it had flown a bit off-course from the road. As the route was now passing through the Iron Outskirts, Char figured the bird was just exploring the nearby area, checking behind the rocks for any prey, or whatever it was that Pidgey searched for. He didn't worry for the little guy; he figured he knew what he was doing.
"Cheee-cheea!" Otto sang again, a bit louder this time.
Just as Char was wondering if Otto was trying to send a message of some kind, he turned to witness a familiar team jump out from behind a nearby rock, blocking the road forward.
"BOO!" Croagunk shouted, followed closely by a Dusknoir and a Seviper.
"Waaaah!" Saura yelped. "Auugh, no! Not you again! Stop doing that!"
Char's body jolted in surprise, but he caught his balance before he tumbled backwards, rolling his eyes at the rival team.
"Bwah-hah-hah-hah, gotcha again!" Croagunk laughed, waving his arms. "Heh, heh, heh! That never gets old!"
"Alright, seriously, do you need to keep doing that?!" Saura groaned at the poisonous team. "You already got into the base, do you need to keep jumping out at us?!"
"Why, of course we do," Seviper said in a mocking, silky voice. "We'd never want to fall out of practice at one of our favorite pastimes, would we, Croagunk?"
"Nope. It's just what we do," the frog replied cockily. "Besides, when we saw you guys headed the same way as us, we couldn't help it. Where're ya headed today, Peanuts?"
"Jormungand's Garden dungeon!" Char replied, speaking the dungeon's name as though it was a deadly and impressive feat to be attempting. "What about you?"
"Actually, I don't know, we're just following boss," Croagunk replied. "Eh, boss? Where're we headed to, anyway?"
"Stabwound Bog," Dusknoir replied. "We're out to find an outlaw. Marshtomp."
"Outlaw hunt, eh?" Croagunk laughed. "And to think, it seems like just yesterday that we were considered the outlaws around here..."
"As it turns out, an outlaw is defined only by the one placing the bounty on their capture," Seviper added.
"Right," Croagunk said. "How hard is it? One-star rank?"
"Three stars," Dusknoir corrected. "This particular Marshtomp is said to have quite the… twisted mind. Though I am quite interested to see if it can match mine."
"Hah! Three-star mission," Croagunk goaded, punching Char lightly in the shoulder. "Can you beat that, Peanuts?"
"Not just yet, but we're kinda broke right now," Ray told the rival. "As soon as we collect some money to get some better supplies, we'll be doing the starred missions! Just you wait!"
"Pffffft, supplies," Seviper hissed. "How adorable. Croagunk, go show them the contents of our bag. Let them chew on that for a bit."
A mean smile formed on the Croagunk's face. He walked around the rock from which he had ambushed Char, reappearing with a bulky, bulging backpack strapped across his shoulders. He slung it to the ground before Char, unbuttoning the pouch and letting the pocket sag down to reveal an impressive collection of gray chunks of gravel.
"Rocks?" Char said. "That's it? Just rocks?"
"About forty of them," Croagunk boasted, buttoning it back up and sliding the straps back around his arms.
"Isn't that… a bit heavy?" Saura said in confusion.
"Uh, yeah," Croagunk replied. "Gotta keep my muscles in shape. Pitching is all in the shoulders and the back."
"But… what can you do with a bag full of rocks?" Char wondered.
"Better question to ask is, what can't you do with a bag full of rocks? Heh, heh, heh…" Croagunk chuckled evilly. "Just watch. Boss? Gimmie a target."
The Dusknoir briefly glanced around, wasting no time in giving an answer. "Sapling, forty degrees to the right, beside the stone."
*Thwack!* The sapling snapped apart as a rock was hurled into its stem. Croagunk reached into his backpack to grab another.
"Too easy," Croagunk scoffed. "What now?"
"Small rock, ten degrees to the right, forty feet down path," Dusknoir instructed.
*click!* The sound of the collision was soft, the thrown rock breaking in two as it fell upon the stone jutting from the ground.
"C'mon boss, there's got to be something harder!" the frog arrogantly begged. "Gimmie a challenge."
"There isn't much around here, until we get to the bog," the Dusknoir responded. "But fine. You want to impress Team Ember? Fine. Try this: Pidgey, sixty degrees to the right, forty-five feet above ground…"
Uh-oh… Char realized.
Acting quickly, Char leaped in front of the stone just as it left the Croagunk's hand.
*Thump.* The stone bounced off Char's belly and fell to the ground.
"Whoaaa, What'yre doin' ?!" Croagunk cried in a panic. "Char, 'ya nuts?! That musta left my hand at two hundred knits! That coulda killed!"
It was Char's turn to put on a mischievous grin. "Really, I didn't even feel anything," he said. "That was a pathetic throw. It felt like a raindrop."
"That is an odd metaphor for a Charmander to use, seeing that a sufficiently large and well-placed raindrop could knock your daylights out," Seviper said coolly. "For the moment, I'll just pretend you said something more fitting."
"Buwwwh! Waah!?" Croagunk stuttered incomprehensibly, wondering why his rock hadn't left a bruise upon Char's skin. "But… but how?! How did…?"
"Are you sure that wasn't one of those foam rocks?" Saura added, joining in the fun. "Try again. Maybe you'll hit a bit better."
"Yeah, go on!" Char goaded to the baffled Croagunk. "Throw one. Point-blank. I won't even move."
"You sure?" Croagunk said, almost in disbelief.
"Yeah, throw it as hard as you can!" Char challenged. "I dare you!"
"Ooooooh, the dare has been uttered," Seviper teased interestedly. "Now there's no going back. Croagunk, you've got to splatter him now. You've got no choice."
"Ehh, if you say so!" Croagunk tried to say, his guise of cockiness wavering as his hesitation mounted. "Alright, Char. Don't be surprised if this kills you! I'm not joking!"
Croagunk drew another jagged, oversized pebble from his backpack and clutched it in his fist. Seviper and Dusknoir watched in fascination, Saura and Ray watched in amusement. There was uncertainty in the frog's eyes, but he soon decided to just get it over with, and he flung the projectile into the side of Char's belly as though to run a hole through him.
*CHRACH!* The rock shattered into four pieces upon contact, leaving Char unharmed.
"Uhh!" Croagunk gasped, staggering back. "Char, how… how?! How are you doin' that?!"
"Heh, well, it looks like he finally found something a bag of rocks can't do," Saura remarked with a grin. "Too bad. He really sounded like he knew what he was talking about."
"Auuuuughh!" Croagunk cried, kicking one of the shattered shards across road in bewilderment. "Alright, alright, Peanuts, You win this time! We got more important things to do than to play games. Mark my words, we'll get you! We'll figure you out!"
"Riiight," Saura said playfully. "Good luck with it. We'll be waiting."
Dusknoir bid the team farewell in a bit more polite of terms than his underling, and the team took off down the road with surprising haste, with Croagunk muttering to himself.
"Did you see that?" Char said to his friends, watching the rivals curiously as they disappeared into the distance. "Croagunk didn't want to throw the rock. He didn't want to hit me."
"You're right!" Saura realized. "He didn't! And you know, I don't even think he threw it as hard as he could the second time. He was worried he'd hurt you."
Char scratched his chin. He gathered one of the stone shards from the ground, grasping it in his claw and staring inquisitively.
"Interesting," Char said, turning the stone over. "I think we might need to keep an eye on these guys after all… We might just need their help sometime."
With a shrug, he waved for his team to follow and they continued down the road.
Augustus Park
With a couple of hours yet to pass before noon, Team Ember arrived at a peculiar patch of wilderness where the grass and the trees were turquoise-colored and the bushes had been trimmed to appear like rows of overlapping scales.
Through their research, Team Ember had learned that Augustus Park bordered on two significant dragon-type habitats and acted as the common ground between them. Char had looked forward to meeting some Bagon or Gabite or whatever lived in these places to gain a sense of a dragon Pokémon's culture, but sadly, Augustus Park seemed deserted so early in the day. Not even a wild bird or rodent could be found, leaving the blue-grassed reservation eerily silent.
"Alright, so our client is supposed to meet us here… somewhere… at noon," Saura mentioned, looking around the lonely park. "At some kind of pillar?"
"You mean that?" Ray wondered, pointing at something in the distance.
They approached a strange sort of gazebo made of pearl-white marble. Beneath the shelter it provided was a small and muddy patch where no grass grew. On the roof, however, there stood a sizable ridged pillar that extended almost past the tops of the nearby trees. Char was surprised when Otto came fluttering down to rest upon the top of the pillar; he had forgotten the little bird had been tailing him in the air for the duration of the morning.
"Alright, so at least we found it," Ray said, peering into the shadowy shelter. "Should we wait for Hariyama or should we try to go into the dungeon now?"
"Let's go to the dungeon," Char decided after a brief moment of consideration. "Ray, you can leave Hariyama a note in case he gets here before we're back. No sense in wasting time. The dungeon is only five sectors long, but we need to get home early so we can research that other dungeon we're doing tomorrow."
"Alright, let's do it," Ray said, pulling out a roll of paper to write the note on. "Let's see. The dungeon is about a forty-minute walk from here… I'd say we'd be back in about four hours or less. Sound right?"
"Depends on how tough the dungeon is," Saura said. "I guess we won't know until we get there. We also aren't very equipped to fight dragons."
"Don't worry, there aren't any strong dragons living in there," Ray told him, scrawling some footprint symbols onto the parchment with a small stick of drawing-coal. "Everything else we can take out. Besides, if we do run into a Salamence or something, we can just paralyze it! Okay, there," the Raichu said, sticking the note to the ground with a rock. "Done. Let's hit the dungeon!"
Jormungand's Garden S1
Team Ember stood at the entrance to the dungeon – or three of the members, at least, as Otto had flown up high to keep watch from the air.
It appeared tame enough, and bore striking similarities to the park they had first visited. Apparently, according to the records, Jormungand's Garden previously served the purpose that Augustus Park had, being a recreational field for the Salamence and Flygon clan that lived nearby. However, once the dungeon curse sprung up, the park was moved closer to the rival clan, and as the clans mingled and spoke with one another in the park, their rivalry faded and they came to find peace among themselves. It was an odd story of a mystery dungeon leading to good fortune rather than discord.
Char tugged upon the emerald-green scarf around his neck, making sure it was secure. The priceless emblem, the trinket that would save his life from a failure in the dungeon, was pinned close to the corner. He stroked it with a claw, hoping that the pin was holding fast. Ray and Saura wore identical scarves and trinkets. Since they could not be lost, even in failing a dungeon exploration, Char decided that they would be taken on every dungeon exploration from here on out. He merely had to make sure they never came off.
"Alright, so what's our mission again?" Char barked at his teammates. "Find some thunderstones, right?"
"Yeah, three of them," Ray confirmed. "But we don't need to find all three. Worst case, we'd only need to find one and we'd get to report a success. That's what the job description said!"
"But we need to go through the whole dungeon, remember?" Saura reminded him. "We're looking for that missing Bagon, too. So if we find all three… we'd need to explore the whole place. That is, unless we want to come back here again tomorrow."
"Good point," Char said, absentmindedly playing with the knot of his scarf as he thought about things. "Alright, so… what kind of enemies are we up against?"
"Wild Bagon, wild Trapinch, possibility of some Salamence, but that's unlikely," Ray recited. "Those are the dragons. There's also the usual, Rattata and various birds, but those are everywhere, you know… Also, there were supposed to be wild Eevee, Mothim, and Shroomish. Although, if we're looking for a missing Bagon, I wonder how we're supposed to tell it's not a wild?"
"See if it answers when we talk to us," Saura said with a shrug.
"Nothing we can't really handle," Char said confidently, clutching his fists and standing proud. "Alright, team. Let's scour this sector. Stick together, watch out for wilds, and let's get this done."
The team fell into a simple formation with Char at the lead, and they began to comb the stubby turquoise grasslands for the missing stones. They paced between trees, back and forth across fields, and peered into dried creek beds, ever vigilant for anything that sparkled in the early-afternoon sunlight. Char found the whole mission to be relaxing so far; the weather was pleasant and there was no sign of any wild Pokémon.
In fact, after the first hour, the walk had started to border on boring. The sector was quite large, and the team made slow progress as they checked each and every nook in the ground that was large enough to contain a thunderstone.
"Cheee-cheea!" Otto shouted, Char nearly mistaking his cry for a wild bird's.
Char looked up to check on him, and found that he had soared quite off-course. He wondered if the bird had become distracted with something.
"Kiiiiiiiiiieeh!" Otto called, sounding like he was trying to get the attention of some animal.
"Oh, Otto, what are you doing?" Char chuckled. "Wonder if he's trying to call us over. Should we go see?"
Before any of his teammates could answer, a wild Pokémon roared in protest.
Char turned to find a peculiar fox scampering across the grass, hastily heading for their position. Though diminutive, the Eevee looked very angry with its teeth bared and its ears cupped back against its head.
"Riiewwww!" the Eevee shouted as it prepared to strike. It made Char hesitate; the little thing was almost too adorable to attack.
"Whoa, watch it!" Saura warned, noticing the wild. He blasted a flurry of seeds at the foe. Only one of them bounced off the ground and struck the target in the leg, tripping up the fox for a moment but not helping to slow it down.
Seeing that the Eevee was about to pounce upon Saura, Char found it within himself to ready his fire and take aim at the little fox, hoping to intercept it before it could clench its fangs down onto Saura's side.
But he never had to. After an explosive brown blur and a pained "yiiip," the Eevee was laying on its side several feet away with red streaks across its flank. Atop the wild stood Otto, who had shot out of the sky without warning to defend his team. The Eevee squealed in defeat; its eyes remained open, but it seemed uninterested in trying to attack again.
The little bird hopped atop the downed fox, pecking at its fur in places. Char wondered if Otto was a bird of prey and was deciding where he wished to begin tearing the little fox apart. But instead, Otto fluttered down from the foe and came to rest near the team.
"You do not know the standard avian signals," he said plainly.
"Standard avian signals? No, I guess we don't!" Ray replied ashamedly. "They didn't teach us those in Team Stripes. Maybe you could teach us?"
"It would take a very long time; there are seventy-one," Otto said.
"Well, maybe just the important ones, then?" Char suggested. "Which signals are you most likely to use in a simple mission like this one?"
Otto fluttered over the team and landed on the other side, as though continuing to check for nearby threats even while talking. "A single short call indicates that I have nothing to report, only that I am maintaining visual confirmation of your location and that I continue to remain attentive," Otto began to explain, turning his gaze toward the team. "Two short calls indicate that I have spotted something of interest which might require investigation at your digression. If the calls are followed by a third call, search in the direction of the call; otherwise, search in the opposite direction of the call. A long mobbing cry indicates I have spotted a hostile enemy and I am prepared to attack or hold at your signal. If you give no signal, I will by default attack only when you are in immediate harm. A long cry followed by a short cry means that I have been separated from you and that I am searching for your location again."
"Hah, that's awesome," Ray laughed happily. "We've never had a bird on our team before, so we don't know what it's like having someone keep watch from the sky! This is amazing. So there are really seventy-one of these signals?"
"Yes, for the many ways in which avian units must communicate with other avian units, or with ground units," Otto said.
"I see!" Ray replied. "So… all these different patterns must mean something, I guess! So what does it mean… when there's a short cry followed by a long cry?"
Otto ruffled his feathers and appeared confused. "That is not one of the standard signals," Otto said plainly. "Its meaning varies between species; in my case, it would indicate I am searching for a prospective mate."
Ray burst into happy laughter, dropping to his side.
"Hah hah hah hah! Right, well, then! Good work, soldier!" He cheered to the little bird, unable to take the ridiculous grin off of his face. "Carry on, then! Keep up the good work!"
Char cracked a smile himself. In truth, the more he learned about Otto, the more he felt privileged to have him as a teammate. He couldn't begin to imagine all of the ways that having surveillance from the sky would make missions faster and easier.
"Hey, speaking of keeping up the work, we need to get going if we want to finish searching this sector," Saura reminded the team. "We're only halfway through…"
"We should proceed directly to the next sector now," Otto said. "I have seen the whole sector with my eyes. There are no Bagon and no thunderstones. There are minimal hostile Pokémon. The locations I could not examine from the air have already been examined by you. We should proceed."
Char didn't have to be asked twice; after seeing the dark-blue grasslands reel past for over an hour, he was already starting to hunger for a change of scenery.
"Alright, you heard him!" Char declared. "Onward. Time for sector two!"
Jormungand's Garden S2
The second zone of the dungeon appeared similar to the first, but a few more bushes and trees had sprouted upon the terrain than last time. This meant that there were more places for objects and Pokémon to hide.
"Alright, let's make this go a little faster," Char instructed, testing his instincts as a leader. "Otto's going to search from above. Let's split up, but don't go far enough that we can't see one another. Saura, you go that way, check the area between those trees. Ray, you go the other way, and look in that field in the ditches. I'll go straight. If you don't find anything, we meet up… at that white thing all the way down there, near the hill. Alright?"
"Got it," Saura said. "And if there's an enemy?"
"If you can't beat it, keep it busy," Char said confidently. "Otto will help, and the rest of us will be right there when we hear the mobbing call."
After a round of confirmations, the team broke apart to comb the terrain more efficiently. Char scampered forward through the grass, stopping to check thoroughly beneath every tree and thicket. He began to encounter a few wicked-looking weeds with leaves and flowers covered in prickles; those which were too thick to examine from the outside he gleefully torched with a hearty stream of fire and examined the ashes for a payload.
Char kept an eye on his friends, but he didn't worry about them; he knew that Otto was watching them much more closely than he could.
Still no dragons, Char thought to himself, secretly hoping they would see at least one. Wonder if there are any actually in here. Maybe they're all hibernating or something. I know they hate the cold just as much as I do, but it's barely even autumn!
Char came to a cluster of large, bushy evergreen trees at the side of his chosen path. The pine needles were bright blue, almost blending in with the afternoon sky as he peered up into the branches of the first tree.
Can Otto see into these trees? Char wondered. Hmm, should I search up there? A thunderstone wouldn't be in a tree, would it?
Tentatively extending his claws, Char approached the magnificent black trunk of the first tree and craned his neck to judge its tallness. He pressed a paw against the rough bark and felt his sharp claws sink into the sappy membrane of the tree.
Well, I guess this is a mystery dungeon, Char decided. Anything can happen, like a stone appearing in a tree. Guess I just gotta make sure my tail doesn't catch anything; I could start a forest fire.
Char began his shaky ascent up the tree, learning to trust his claws to hold him in place.
When he was a little more than a foot up the trunk, a bird's cry resounded very loudly from somewhere up above.
"Caww-Caww! Caww-Caww!"
A crow? Char wondered, tensing his muscles so he wouldn't fall, though the ground was relatively close. Is there a Murkrow here? Wait… no. That was Otto. Otto made that sound! He must be calling us…
Char sighed, wondering awkwardly how he was supposed to get down, and realizing he didn't think his plan through too well. He tried to descend slowly, but he couldn't quite hook the claws in his feet into the bark the same way he had when climbing up. He couldn't quite find his footing. For a moment, he felt like a cat, trapped hopelessly mere feet above the ground, outsmarted by a tree.
With a prolonged sigh and a passing thought of wishing he were a Charizard, Char retracted all of his claws at once from the surface of the tree and landed to the ground with a thump. Strings of goopy sap trailed down on top of him, smearing his hands and feet. The spicy smell of smoke rose into the air as a pad of pine needles caught fire upon contact with his flame.
Wasting no more time, Char ran off in the direction of Otto's call. Otto was perched atop a fallen tree at the edge of a dried creek bed. Not surprisingly, the remainder of the team had already congregated there.
"I didn't know you could caw like a crow," Char said oddly to the bird as he approached. "For a moment, I didn't know it was you."
"It is called mocking," Otto replied simply. "Chatot are the most skilled, however, nearly all birds are capable of intimidating the natural calls of other birds. Learning to mock is a requirement to learning all the standard avian signals."
"Alright, so what was the call for?" Ray wondered eagerly. "I don't remember you saying anything about a caw signal. Did you find something?"
"Yes," Otto reported, turning to gaze into the creek bed. "Look."
Char peered down into the tiny creek basin. It was not entirely dry; in fact, a small trickle of water still worked its way through the gravel. Char scanned the gravel and soon found that one of the rocks was different than all the others.
"Whoa!" Ray shouted, leaping down into the creek bed. "You found a thunderstone! We found one already! Nice!"
Ray gathered the shard into his paws to admire it. It was like a translucent chunk of gemstone, comprised of a green, glassy mineral. In the center, there was an odd shape like a bright yellow streak; it very roughly resembled a lightning bolt. Char knew, from reading about evolution stones, that it was just a vein of concentrated mystical substances that had been trapped inside of the glassy shell, giving the stone its power.
And he knew the power of this stone was a much-desired one; it would allow certain types of Pokémon to permanently mutate into stronger forms. It could allow, for example, the Pikachu on Team Carrier to become a Raichu.
That is, of course, if accompanied by a feral-shard.
That was the great curse of being a civilized, intelligent Pokémon in Ambera; evolution was not possible through normal means. When a Pokémon became impressed by a fellow civilized one, imprinted so that the mind could learn things such as language and mathematics and architecture and foresight, the evolution instinct would simply become disabled. It made a slight bit of sense, in a way; with intelligence (indeed, a level of mindpower beyond those which standard trained Pokémon generally attained), the subconscious mind assumed that power was no longer a dire necessity, since any problem could be solved through enough wit and knowledge.
Thus, if a non-wild Pokémon in Ambera wished to break the barrier and evolve into a stronger form, they needed the assistance of the exceedingly rare, coveted treasures known as feral-shards. Said to be pieces of an ancient meteor, the feral-shards held a frightening power: they could temporarily disable a Pokémon's higher levels of thought, effectively reverting them into a feral Pokémon for a few moments. With the mind's guard down, the evolution could finally take place, if all the proper conditions were met.
Yet, even with the scarcity of feral-shards in the Amberan economy, evolution stones such as this thunderstone were still highly sought-after, becoming priceless family heirlooms or selling for impressive riches on the open market. It was no surprise that the explorer who had lost it dearly wanted it back.
"I remember when I had to use one of these," Ray said darkly, squinting at the stone. "Ahh…"
"Not very fun, I take it?" Saura asked, noticing Ray's change of tone. "Evolution hurts, doesn't it?"
"Well… it's like… evolving with a thunderstone is like… it lulls you down, it fills you with energy and it feels so good," Ray reminisced with a hint of bitterness, "but then… it just hits you with the most awful… gaaahh," he groaned, shuddering and dropping the artifact into the bag. "I think it's like… it's like how it feels to not be an electric Pokémon, and to get struck by lightning from a thunderstorm. That's what it felt like. I got to feel that once."
"…Oh," Saura said, sympathizing with him. "Well, at least you only had to do it once!"
"Yeah," Ray said. "But… wow, that was so long ago. You know, I… I evolved at a very young age. Sometimes you can evolve, but you'll still be a hatchling on the inside. It's weird. You know, with humans, apparently you can look at them and tell exactly how old they are. You know. Beard and wrinkles and stuff? It means they're old, right? But with Pokémon… you can't always tell. Sometimes you can see a grown-up Pokémon like me, all flashy with power in the Raichu body and calling down lightning on my foes like I've been doing it for seventy years… and I might be only six."
A solemn, forlorn look passed across the Raichu's eyes.
"How old are you now?" Char asked him carefully, a question he never considered asking his friend before now.
Ray shrugged suddenly, as though hesitant to answer the question but realizing there wasn't any real reason not to.
"Twenty-five years old," Ray replied, his grin returning to his face, as though proud of his age.
Char sighed uneasily.
"Ray…" Char said, worried for the first time, "How long… have you been a Raichu?"
Ray's smile disappeared as fast as it had come. He tried to hold it, but failed; instead, a sad, faraway look flashed in his eyes again.
"I don't remember, Char," he answered honestly. "I didn't write down my evolution-date anywhere. I don't really care about that, you know? But all I remember is…"
He looked at the ground.
"I was a Pikachu for only about… two months, maybe?" he sighed. "And I think I may have liked being a Pikachu… but… I knew that a Pikachu doesn't really fit on the Resistance, where you're supposed to be as strong as possible… And I really wanted to impress Scythe… so…"
He trailed off, losing track of what he wanted to say.
"Well, you know what? I am what I am!" he cheered, his smile returning as though it had never left. "Where to next, Char? Should we split up again and search the rest of this sector?"
"…Yeah, do that," Char said distractedly, still wondering about Ray's childhood. "Good work, guys. That means we at least succeed the mission today. Now let's find the other two thunderstones. And maybe the Bagon."
"I will return to the patrol path at the point I had deviated," Otto reported, fluttering up and out of sight.
Ray cast a warm, genuine smile at his team leader. Hefting the backpack firmly onto his shoulders, he approached Char and gave him a gentle pat on the back.
"Don't worry," he said quietly. "I don't regret what I am. I am what I am. I just… wonder what it was like to be a Pikachu. I feel like I just skipped over that part of my life too quickly, and I don't really remember what it was like. Don't you wonder what it was like being a human, sometimes?"
"…Yeah," Char replied. "I do."
"But you don't regret being a Charmander," Ray playfully goaded. "You love it. That much, I do know."
"Yeah, I do," Char said again.
"And I love being a Raichu," he laughed. "I love the power. I wouldn't go back if you gave me the Master's throne for it. That's just… what I feel like sometimes. I just wonder what I might have missed growing up. That's all. Sorry I made you worry."
"I understand," Char replied, sighing in acceptance. "Thanks for your help, Ray. You do good work."
"Thank you," Ray said happily. "Coming from my human trainer, that means a lot."
They shared a small smile for a fleeting moment before Ray continued walking.
"Now, C'mon, let's get on with this," he suggested. "Let's get this done with!"
The team split up and continued to scout the turquoise landscape with surprising efficiency.
Jormungand's Garden S4
Though it seemed like it had just begun, it soon dawned on Char that his mission was nearly over with.
The sectors seemed to reel on by, bearing nothing of much interest for Team Ember. They had engaged in battle with several Shroomish, but they had been no challenge to defeat, especially with the help of Char's fiery breath. One of them had managed to land a spore-attack on Saura, but the Bulbasaur was immune, and retaliated with a spirited lashing with his vine. Char continued to wonder where the dragons were.
There had been many less trees in the third sector, allowing Otto to perform a cursory sweep over most of the terrain to confirm that there were no Bagon or thunderstones to be seen. Near the end, Otto came down to rest his wings and the team took a break to nibble on food and relax in the wonderful weather.
At the fourth sector of the dungeon, the trees and flora vanished entirely, leaving only a landscape of fuzzy blue hills. The hills were quite steep, presenting a challenge of perseverance walking uphill and a challenge of balance walking down. They rippled across the land like the waves of a disturbed pond frozen in time.
Char and his team figured they only needed to trek across the terrain and arrive to the final sector, with Otto looking out for anything critical. But halfway through, as the team ascended a particularly steep hill, a shrill cry rang from the air:
"Kiiieeeeeeyyah!"
Char tensed. It was the mobbing cry. There was an enemy nearby.
"Down!" Char commanded, dropping to all fours and clinging to the side of the inclined terrain much in the same way that he had clung to the pine tree. "Wait. See if it comes to us."
"Otto sounds far away," Saura mentioned. "What if we went to the top of the hill? We could at least see what it is."
"Good idea," Char decided. "Ray, go see if you can spot the enemy."
"Kiiiehhh! Kiiieeh!"
Otto's mobbing cry sounded more desperate now. And closer. Much closer. Hurrying, Ray scampered to the top of the hill and peered over. When he reached the top, Char saw his ears fold back against his head in surprise, and his mouth hang open.
"Whoa...!" Ray cried, not ducking back down.
"What? What?!" Char begged. "What is it, a dragon?"
"No, it's…," Ray tried to say. "It's fast! Lookout! Scatter!"
Char didn't have time to twitch; a large yellow figure bounded through the air over the top of the hill, sailing directly towards him.
Char reacted in the only way he could think of at the time: ducking. The four-legged enemy sailed over him, right where his head had been, and with a pained yip, immediately lost its footing on the slanted slope. Its legs became tied in knots, its body twisting head-over-tail as it awkwardly tumbled down the hill and into the gully.
"Huh. Jolteon," Saura said in an impressed tone. "Didn't hear about those guys being here."
"Fast runners, those are," Ray commented, peering down at the unfortunate foe as it struggled unsuccessfully to break its descent. "Some of the fastest land-runners there are, actually."
When the Jolteon's body finally stopped moving at the valley between two hills, its fate was sealed when Otto, his body wreathed in blue flame, shot down from the sky like a thunderbolt and struck the foe.
Otto perched atop the creature just had he had done with several other downed enemies, inspecting it closely. Fascinated, Char decided to descend the hill and look at it up close.
"I was not expecting Jolteon here," Otto said, hopping around on the electric Pokémon's flank. "It was not in the record. Perhaps the record should be updated."
"Uh, Otto, you should get down from there," Saura warned. "It'll discharge on you or something."
"I don't think it will," Otto said, pecking the creature and drawing a needle-like hair from its collar. "This Jolteon is young and inexperienced. The electricity has had no time to charge. The spikes upon its fur have not yet hardened; they are mostly soft. As a matter of fact, it seems as though this Jolteon has just recently evolved."
"Wow, how recently?" Saura wondered, looking in awe at the unconscious canine.
"If I had to judge," Otto said, hopping down onto the ground, "I would say it has been mere minutes since this Pokémon became a Jolteon. Its behavior indicates that it was testing its newfound speed for the first time by dashing around the grass."
"Oh, no," Ray gasped in an odd tone of horror. He nudged the still body of the Jolteon with his front paws, his eyes widening in realization. "He's right. This guy is really young… almost looks like an Eevee still, but with the fresh new coat of fur… That's not good…"
"What?" Char demanded. "What's wrong?"
"Guys, if this Eevee just evolved…" Ray explained, examining the creature for himself, "Well, Jolteon evolve with thunderstones… and since he's a wild, he wouldn't even need a feral-shard, so…"
Ray rolled the spiked yellow canine onto its back, as though searching for something.
"I think we may have just lost thunderstone number two," Ray reported. "I think the Eevee found it before we did."
For a moment, the team was silent as they let it sink in.
Realizing what Ray meant, Char clenched his fists and gave a grunt of frustration.
"Guess that means we don't get the maximum reward," Char said with a defeated sigh. "But we can still find the third one. Let's not give up here."
"I never assumed we would," Otto said before taking to the air again.
After Otto gave a cursory glance to the landscape, Char led his team into the final sector of the mystery dungeon.
Jormungand's Garden S5
The final sector of the dragon-haven dungeon was the strangest of them all. The most prominent obstacle wasn't a tree or a bush, but a pearly-white pillar of marble, repeated endlessly in different orientations. Sometimes it stuck out of the ground at an angle, other times it sat like a fallen tree. Yet other times, several pillars came together to form a sort of structure, reminding Char of the gazebo in the center of the park from which they had come. Combined with the stickle-bushes and the hilly landscape, Char knew it would prove a real pain to explore for that final stone. Wanting to get the search over with as fast as possible, he gave the order to split up the team.
With all the junked pillars cluttering the ground, it was difficult for Char to keep eye contact with his friends, but he trusted that Otto would do so. He turned his attention to the mess of ruins before him, carefully weaving under and over the ridged cylindrical stones for anything out of the ordinary.
At one point, Char became afraid that one of the lopsided structures would fall on him and crush him into the ground. He wondered if the frozen flame would protect him from a falling pillar of marble. As an experiment, he gave a rough headbutt to the nearest column and joyously discovered that he didn't feel a bit of pain.
I'm glad nobody saw that, he realized, backing away from the pillar. That would have looked kinda embarrassing.
As he crawled over another pillar, Char wondered just how useful the frozen flame would prove to be. Many things in the world were technically rocks; did that mean he would be free from damage from all of them? Could he survive in a collapsing building if it were made of brick? Bricks were made of clay, but so were many types of rocks. Could he survive being sliced by the blade of a Scyther, which was technically composed of the mineral iron? Apparently not, since some Scyther-blades had successfully cut through him during the Temporal Tower expedition. Was there a spirit living within the white flame which decided these things? He figured that he would need to learn, through trial and error, all the intricacies and details of which types of harm the flame protected him against, lest he someday make a terrible assumption in the heat of the moment.
Char listened as Otto shouted a single cry down to the surface. It meant that there was nothing to report, except that he retained eye contact with all three members of the team. Yet, the call sounded from far ahead, making Char wonder if he should move faster.
As Char recklessly stumbled down a hill, now unafraid of accidentally ramming into any of the fallen white chunks in his way, something glimmered in the corner of his eye.
Eagerly, he dashed underneath the shadow of a halfway-collapsed structure to examine the treasure.
It was green and shimmering: the final thunderstone!
Except that it wasn't. It was just a small chunk of marble in roughly the same size as the evolution stone; the reflection of the turquoise-colored glass against the white stone in the shadows caused it to appear green. Frustrated, he chucked it away.
Wait… but these thunderstones aren't the only thing we're searching for, are they? Char suddenly remembered. We're also supposed to be looking for this lost Bagon. We can't miss him if he's here. He might be frightened, to be lost and wandering in such a place.
He might be hiding. He might be in one of these weird structures. Or he might just have tunneled into the ground.
Char decided he should begin shouting for the Bagon.
"Bagooooon!" He called at no direction in particular. "Baggooon! Are you here? Come out if you're hiding! We're friends!"
He worked his way through the rough terrain, shouting into the air several times a minute. He wondered if his teammates would hear his cry and sound their own, drawing the missing Bagon out of hiding.
"Bagggooon?" Char shouted, leaping over the stump of a pillar and climbing a steep hill. "Baggon! Come out! We're here to rescue you!"
*Snort!*
At the top of the hill, Char found himself face-to-face with a magnificent dragon.
A Salamence was seated comfortably in the dark center of a still-standing marble gazebo. Its proud, territorial gaze fell upon Char. Its blue scales impressively matched the color of the grass.
Char's breath caught. He decided not to make any sudden movements. Instead, he stood his ground, staring at the dragon and waiting for it to do something.
But the mighty Salamence didn't move. It only stared threateningly at the little Charmander, curling its tail tightly around its body as though protecting young. It continued to snort and growl loudly at the intruder, trying to scare Char away.
Deciding not to panic, Char peered into the air. He could see the silhouette of Otto against the clouds far ahead. Though he had no idea if it would work, Char reached his front claw into the air and waved at the bird, beckoning him to come to his aid.
Surprisingly, it worked. Otto shot forward out of the sky with impressive speed, landing atop the pointed structure which housed the dragon.
"Do you need something?" Otto inquired.
"Yeah, help," Char answered, his gaze shifting between the menacing dragon and the tiny bird. "There's a Salamence right beneath you. In that thing. I think it's going to attack me."
Otto ruffled his feathers in surprise. "I can hear it breathing," the Pidgey said. "I am sorry that I did not spot it. The shadows fell in an odd way, and I assumed the structure was empty."
"That's no problem, just… can you get the others?" Char asked nervously. "I'm afraid that if I move, that thing is going to pounce…"
"At once," Otto replied, darting away into the distance.
Once again, Char was left alone with the great dragon in a moment of great tension. The dragon never lifted its gaze from the Charmander, watching its every move. Char marveled at its size; it was larger than any other dragon he'd seen before, save for the false Dialga apparition. It was even larger than the impressive Dragonite he had flew upon. There was no way he could beat it in a fair battle.
Yet, it remained still.
That's very weird, Char thought to himself. Mystery dungeons usually drive enemies to attack intruders, no matter what. Why isn't it attacking me yet? It's just staying there!
Could it be… no. That's impossible.
Is that the Bagon we were searching for? Did it evolve?
Biting his tongue and knowing he would regret it, Char carefully inched closer to the great creature.
"Hey, is that you?" Char called to it in a tiny, trembling voice. "Are you… Kablo the Bagon? Were you… trapped in here? If so… we… I mean… yeah. We… we were supposed to… help you. We can show you the way out…"
"GRRAWWWRR!" The dragon snarled powerfully, making Char leap backward in fright and nearly stumbling back down the incline. As though to punctuate its threat, the dragon stood itself up, lifting its majestic head to full height and towering over the little fire-lizard.
And Char saw it.
Beneath the weight of the dragon, there it was: the final thunderstone. The dragon wasn't moving because it was hoarding its treasure.
As though realizing it had revealed its possession, the dragon quickly sat itself down and curled itself up tightly around the evolution stone, huffing in Char's direction.
One by one, his teammates returned to his side. Otto had returned first, coming to rest on a nearby marble stump and staring intently at the massive foe as though to analyze it. Ray and Saura arrived moments later.
"Otto says you called?" Saura said to Char, climbing the hill. "Did you need – wow."
"Yeah…" Char said, indicating the dragon. "It has the last thunderstone. We need to figure out how to get it to move. It's sitting on the thing.
"I could zap it!" Ray suggested. "It flies. Flying creatures hate lightning."
"But it is also a dragon," Otto corrected. "The effectiveness of your lightning would be negated."
"Oh, right," Ray said ashamedly, scratching his head. "What do we do, then?"
Char backed himself down the hill until the treasure-hoarding Salamence could no longer see him. The rest of his team followed, and for a moment, they mulled over possibilities.
"Any ideas, Otto?" Char tried. "How would we get it to move?"
"I do not know," Otto admitted. "I have never battled a Salamence. It is possible it could outfly me, especially if I held a thunderstone in my talons. Without prior intelligence about its species, we should not make assumptions."
Char grinned.
"Prior intelligence, you say?" he repeated mischievously. "Well, we know it likes to hoard treasures. Otto, how far away is the dungeon exit? Have you seen it?"
"Yes," Otto replied. "It is one third of a mile to the northwest."
"Hmm, maybe we could run for it," Char said. "You know, I almost hate to suggest this, but… I have an idea."
… … …
The bothersome intruders finally gave up their attempts to harass the mother dragon and steal her treasure. It had taken quite a show of superiority, but she had finally managed to drive them away. The noise they had made, especially that pesky bird, had been unacceptable.
The Salamence rested atop her precious treasure, the treasure which sparkled green and yellow in the sunlight. In the cool shadows, she drifted back into her slumber.
As her eyes drifted shut, something new shimmered in her eyes.
Curious, she peered out from her cozy home and glanced down the hill, at the territory she ruled. There, at the bottom, was something that shined like the sun. It sparkled like pristine glass in the mid-afternoon light.
Instantly, she wanted it. She knew all the other dragons would want to get their claws on it, and she intended to have it all to herself.
Warily, she stood up from her hoarded things and tiptoed down the hill. The intruders were long-gone; she knew it since she could no longer smell them. But they had left something for her. A tribute. Something to honor her glory and magnificence.
It was a sphere of glass encapsulating a white flame. It was so pristine, so blemishless. It was the perfect treasure. Unfathomably valuable. More valuable, she knew, than the rest of her treasures put together.
Roaring with excitement, she pounced at the sphere. But as soon as she had her paws on it, it moved.
She hesitated, confused. Was it a creature? It didn't look like one. Creatures smelled of sweat and meat. This thing smelled like nothing. Yet, it moved along the ground all on its own.
Confused, she pounced at it again, and it rolled away, further up the hill.
That's when she noticed the truth. It was not alive, but something else held the possession of this treasure. Something that smelled more like poison-ivy than animal. Something that had the treasure guarded in long, green, snake-like tendrils.
"I think it saw Saura," Char said, standing at Ray's side in the gazebo. "Can you hit it from here?"
"No, I'd miss," Ray replied nervously. "I'm not Croagunk."
"Alright, then let's get it a little closer…"
With his vines snuggly wrapped around the base of the frozen flame and hidden in the fluffy grass, Saura tugged it back up the hill and towards his hiding place behind a marble stump. The dragon dashed after the sphere with fervor, pouncing and fluttering in an attempt to catch up with it. Snarls of frustration escaped its snout.
Finally, when Saura had run out of room to pull the sphere up the hill, the dragon spotted the source of the vines.
"Uh-oh…" Saura breathed, seeing the angry dragon glare down upon him and holding the frozen flame close. "Guys? Guys, now would be a very good time…"
*Snap!* Ray threw the stun-seed, which struck the dragon upon its red cranium. The Salamence lost control of its body at once, slumping to the ground and rolling halfway down the hill before the contortions of its body would not allow it to tumble any further.
"YESS!" Ray shouted, pumping his fist in delight. "Gotcha!"
"Really good throw," Saura commented, returning the frozen flame to its safe place in the bag. "But I don't think it's going to stay stunned for long. It's pretty big. We don't have any more, do we?"
"Nope, just that one," Ray replied.
Otto swooped into the confines of the shelter, and the four members of Team Ember peered down onto the dusty mound where the dragon had hoarded its treasure.
Indeed, the thunderstone was there, just where Char had noticed it. Ray snatched it up and dropped it into the bag.
"Alright, good." Ray said. "Guess we're done here. Let's get out of this place."
Char blinked. He thought his eyes were tricking him.
"Wait…" Char said suddenly, noticing strange shapes in the dirt below the thunderstone.
He pawed at the dirt, brushing the dust away. And there, underneath the dry earth, was another thunderstone.
"What?!" Saura cried in surprise. "There's another one?"
Char lifted it off the ground, causing the dust to cascade down from the evolution stone. Beneath it were two more thunderstones. Char could not believe his eyes.
"Whoa, whoa!" Ray shouted, scrambling in the dust to find more. "This dragon was hoarding lots of these things!"
"This also wasn't in the record," Otto commented, staring at the pile of precious stones. "The mission document clearly said there were three."
"Well, I'm not complaining!" Char cried happily.
Char pulled the fourth evolution stone in the pile, tilting it and and dusting it off before tossing it to Ray.
"I suggest we run," Otto said suddenly, a hint of urgency in his voice. "With a creature that large, the stunning seed would wear off about now."
"ROAAAARR!"
"Seconded!" Char yelped, dropping to all fours and darting out of the gazebo in the opposite direction of the furious rumble.
Augustus Park
And so, Team Ember emerged from the dungeon with an unexpected payload: five thunderstones. Proud of their victory and anticipating the large boost to their bank account, Char led his team back into the dragon park where their client, Hariyama, was supposed to be waiting.
Char noticed, to his amusement, the dragons had finally come out to play. He spotted a Salamence, much smaller and kinder-looking than the one whose treasures he had stolen, soaring through the sky. On a nearby hill, a Flygon conversed with a Vibrava. He wished he could speak with them, but he was on business.
"I got yer note," the Hariyama said, standing at the side of the gazebo which looked eerily similar to the one where they had found the stones. "Run into any luck?"
"Some luck," Char said wryly, a pointed understatement. "We're here to report a successful mission. Do you have the payment?"
"E'yep, ready!" said the bulky Pokémon, revealing three small satchels of coins in one of his large hands. "Got eight hundred Poké in each bag, just as promised! I tell 'ya, it was painful getting knocked out in there. Those dragons, 'ya know? They pack a punch."
"Yeah, we know!" Saura replied kindly. "One of them almost got us, but we outsmarted it!"
"I appreciate your work, kind fellows," the client laughed, its bulky form shaking with each of its chuckles. "You know, I promised my nephews these stones. We already got the feral-shards and everything. They've been waiting to be Raichu for years!"
"Heh, wow!" Ray said. "Sounds like quite a wait. Well, tell them we said hi! I'm glad we could help you out."
"So anyway, here yah are," he said, thrusting the bags of coins in Char's direction. "One for each thunderstone yah got. How many did you get, by the way?"
Char was about to make a comment about wondering if he had more than three satchels of money, when something disturbed his silent thoughts.
Team Ember, it said, a psychic calling.
Char noticed his friends twitch suddenly. They had heard it, too.
"Yah guys okay?" the Hariyama wondered, noticing their hesitation. "Uh… you guys look pretty busy, you know? Maybe we should get this over with fast."
Team Ember, the voice called again. I need to speak with you. Behind you, there is a tree behind a shroud of bushes. Before the money exchanges hands, please come here.
"Um… I need to speak with my team for a moment," Char suddenly told the client, exchanging odd glances with his teammates. "We'll be right back, alright?"
"Uh… alright, whatever ya'll say," the large Pokémon grunted. "I suppose I'll just… stay here. Hope y'all aren't trying to rip me off, or anything!"
"No," Char reassured him. "We just… remembered… something we need to discuss. We'll be right back."
Awkwardly, Char half-walked, half-dashed around to the other side of the nearby bushes. His team accompanied him.
When they arrived to the specified position, they saw nothing waiting for them. Char began to suspect an ambush or some other kind of trickery, when a soft whisper broke through the silence.
"Hey! Up here!"
Char glanced up a nearby tree to find that a familiar Espeon sat in a low branch, cleverly hiding herself behind the turquoise leaves which lined the branches.
"Wha! Eva!" Char quietly yelped, approaching the base of the tree. "What are you doing here?"
"I was bored," Eva said with a dismissive shrug. "Decided a mission would be interesting after all."
"Uh, how'd you get out of the base without being seen?" Saura asked awkwardly.
"I talked another team into letting me leave with them, then used the memory-wipe to make them forget about it," Eva said cockily. "Anyway, I arrived here after you'd already left for the dungeon, so I decided to stick around and psycho-analyze your client. I have… findings to report."
The Espeon gracefully leaped out of the tree, landing perfectly on her feet. Her tail swayed in gleeful amusement as she stood before Char.
"Nearly everything he says is a lie," Eva told Char and his team. "For starters, he does not have Pikachu as nephews. I did not even need a mind-read to know that; it's impossible for Pikachu to be related to Hariyama."
"Oh, really?" Saura said interestedly, glancing at his teammates in disbelief. "So, what was he going to use the stones for…?"
"This is where things get interesting," Eva spoke, swishing her tail in pride of her work. "He's a merchant. He intends to sell the stones on the open market for exorbitant profits. In fact, he has never set foot inside of the dungeon which you visited today, and his story about getting knocked out and losing his payload has been a complete fabrication. He simply heard a rumor in the merchants' grapevine that Jormungand's Garden had, overnight, become a rich source of thunderstones, and wished to cash in."
"And he wished to acquire the stones cheaply, at eight hundred Poké a piece, to resell them at high costs," Otto said with a nod. "I understand. He is playing games."
"Correct," Eva said plainly. "He's cheating you. You would gain much more money by selling the stones to Kecleon."
"I see…" Char said, rubbing his chin. "He rigged our assignment. But if we don't give him the stones, we take a mark of failure on our mission. What do we do?"
"Simple," Otto said. "Give him one stone and keep the other four. Sell them to Kecleon. That is how we can maximize our profits while increasing our team's rank and not taking a failure on our record."
"You're right!" Char said, almost too loudly, grinning in glee. "We win the mission even if we give him only one. It said so on the assignment! Otto, you're a genius. And Eva… thank you for your help again."
"You're welcome," she said, bowing regally. "I'm finding that it's fun to stretch my legs and travel every now and again. I have missed seeing the sun far more than I realized."
Char stood with his teammates and the Espeon, smiling proudly and savoring the day's victory. In the end, everything had fallen into place. His friends smiled back, realizing what had just transpired.
"We did it," Saura said, realizing the truth. "We actually did it. Nothing went wrong today. We did everything on our own. We planned it all and pulled it off. And it all worked."
"We sure did," Ray said happily. "Maybe we can be a resistance team again after all. Good job, guys! Good job, Otto! Good job, Char! Great leadership skills today. We couldn't have done it without you."
Team Ember exchanged a small cheer, and Eva sat back to admire it. Inside, she was reconsidering Char's offer; maybe life on a team would be best for her after all.
Division Base
The rest of the day had gone very smoothly. Char lied and told the Hariyama that they had only succeeded in retrieving one thunderstone. The Hariyama was furious, claiming he knew he should have hired a more credible team. He accepted the thunderstone and chucked their payment at them, dashing away in anger.
The satchel was filled with plain seeds. Otto happily began pecking at them.
Back at the base, Ray dumped out a bag full of thunderstones before a flabbergasted Kecleon, who generously purchased them all for forty-two hundred Poké. Char's heart leaped in his chest, and his fire sparkled with blue when he realized his team was no longer financially insecure; they could now afford reasonable merchandise from Kecleon for their day-to-day missions. Ray's eyes widened in marvel at all of the things he could now purchase.
Finally, Team Ember retired to their room for the rest of the evening where they had a hearty dinner catered straight to their door. Eva joined in the celebration, sharing the food and listening to the team's story of how they had outsmarted the Salamence. Saura munched down razz-berries like there was no tomorrow, and Otto finished the seeds which the swindling Hariyama had given them as payment.
With his stomach stuffed, Char collapsed onto the floor happily, feeling the soft red rug underneath his back.
For once, everything had gone perfectly. It was a good day for his fledgling resistance team. A very good day.
There was a rapping at the team's front door. Eva scurried away into her room, and Saura answered. At the door was an excitable Treecko.
"Taka!" Saura gasped in surprise. "It's been a while! What's up?"
"There's… it's…" Taka panted, gasping for air as though she had dashed up the stairs in a panic. "I just thought… that… you might like to know… Scythe's back!"
Stunned, Char jumped to attention.
"Scythe?" he repeated in disbelief. "When? When did he come back?"
"Just a few minutes ago!" Taka reported. "Literally, he just got here through the north-east entrance. He was asking how you were, too!"
He made it… Char realized. Scythe… whatever he was doing, he survived…
Unanimously, the four members of Team Ember rushed out the door to find and greet their old mentor.
Ray's song is sung to "Random Dungeon Theme 3" from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky