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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Reflecting Balance

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hey again! After that cliffhanger in the last chapter, I bet you're all wondering what's going to happen to Bow, right? Well, luckily, I've managed to finish chapter 31, although I originally intended to have a lot more happen in this one. However, I realized that it would probably be best to split it into two chapters. Anyways, as usual, I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter, and that you'll look forward to seeing what happens next.

----

Chapter 31: You… did it because you were bored?

----

A new day had begun, and the shop owners and rescue teams of Fenix Town had plenty of work to do as usual. It was looking to be a somewhat cloudy day, but still fairly bright and sunny. Blitz was currently talking to Lionel over at the item warehouse, trying to sort out the items in the treasure bag so they would have the necessary items for exploring, while also having enough space for more items they might come across while exploring the dungeon.

While waiting for Blitz to finish organizing the items, his teammates were talking amongst themselves about the weather.

“So, your sister says it’ll be even cloudier tomorrow?” Azure asked.

“Uh-huh,” Sera said, nodding her head. “And she also said there’s a chance it might rain the day after.”

“Huh, interesting,” Azure responded, tilting her head slightly. “Does Amethyst usually get these weather predictions right?”

“Yeah, most of the time,” Sera replied.

“Wow, that’s really cool!” Chiaki commented.

“All right, I think that should do it…” Blitz said, closing the lid on the treasure bag. “Now, let’s go see Bijou to get that treasure box we found yesterday opened!”

“Okay!” Blitz’s teammates responded in unison.

“Don’t worry; your items are safe with me!” Lionel said, with a determined smile. “Just leave it to me!”

“I like your attitude,” Azure commented, looking somewhat amused. “But you do know that the rescue teams are the ones going out on the exciting adventures, right?”

“You have your definition of “exciting”, and I have mine,” Lionel responded, shrugging slightly.

“Right,” Azure replied, waving good-bye to Lionel as she followed her teammates.

Blitz and the others went up to the locksmith stall, where Bijou the Sableye was currently polishing one of her gemstone eyes. Once she noticed that she had customers approaching her booth, she put away the rag and smiled at the rescue team.

“Ah, hello there,” Bijou greeted them. “Do you have a treasure box that you need opened?”

“Yes, we do,” Blitz responded, taking out the red treasure box they had picked up in a mystery dungeon yesterday and placing it on the booth. “Here it is. We need to pay 150 coins for you to open it, right?”

“Ooh, what a cute box you have there!” Bijou exclaimed, her gemstone eyes literally sparkling as she admired it. “And yes, that is right. Want me to open it?”

“Yes, please,” Blitz replied, handing over the coins.

“Ah, thank you for the shiny coins,” Bijou responded, grinning as she pulled out her lockpicking tool. “All right, here I go!”

With much glee, she began picking the lock on the treasure box while giggling maniacally for no apparent reason. Chiaki couldn’t help but stare at her, since he had never actually seen her open a treasure box before. At least it seemed as if she really enjoyed her job, and didn’t care if she got any strange looks from onlookers. After a few moments, they could clearly hear a click as the treasure box was unlocked.

“Ooh, here’s the best part!” Bijou said, giggling gleefully as she opened up the treasure box and looked at its contents. “Here you go! It’s… a Vile Seed!”

“Oh, thanks,” Blitz responded, taking the seed from Bijou and putting it in the treasure bag.

“Is that it?” Azure commented, crossing her arms. “I mean, a Vile Seed is good and all, but… I hoped it’d be something you usually don’t find lying around in dungeons.”

“Come back when you have more treasure boxes!” Bijou said, grinning. “I’ll be waiting!”

After finishing up the rest of their preparations for the day, Blitz and his teammates began heading over to the rescue team HQ. However, when they got there, they noticed that several of the rescue teams were standing around discussing something.

“What’s going on?” Blitz asked, walking up to the gathered rescue teams.

“Oh, you see, Stella stopped by her earlier,” Regina the Servine responded. “Apparently Bow has gone missing.”

“What?” Blitz replied, looking rather shocked at this. “What do you mean she’s missing?”

“Well, apparently she was nowhere to be found this morning,” Regina explained, looking rather concerned. “Stella is really worried about her… Of course, we’re worried too, so we’re going to try to find her.”

“I see,” Blitz responded, nodding his head and narrowing his eyes slightly. “What’s the plan so far?”

“Well, so far we’re basically just going to go to different mystery dungeons nearby to search for her,” Mirage the Zoroark said. “We figured she can’t have gotten too far away from the town.”

“So, basically, your big plan is just look around and hope you find her?” Azure asked.

“I know, it doesn’t sound like the best of plans,” Sting the Beedrill responded. “But we have to try something.”

“Can’t Stella use her powers to try to find out where Bow went?” Chiaki suggested.

“I don’t think she can really focus in a time like this,” Floretta the Bellossom responded, tilting her head slightly. “Maybe once she’s calmed down a bit?”

“That could take a while, though,” Calder the Wartortle commented, looking over at Blitz and his teammates. “And I doubt you guys have any better ideas?”

“… Actually, I may have something,” Blitz said, turning to his teammates. “Guys, we need to find Frederick and Elina!”

“Huh?” Sera replied, tilting her head slightly.

“I’ll explain later!” Blitz responded, seeming somewhat impatient. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Okay, I guess,” Sera replied, shrugging slightly.

“I guess he thinks they can help somehow?” Chiaki commented, looking a bit confused.

“I don’t know what he has in mind, but I’m totally on board with it!” Azure said, grinning.

The other rescue teams watched Blitz and his teammates hurry out of the room, just as curious as to what Blitz had in mind as his teammates.

“… Well, that was strange,” Calder commented.

“I don’t know,” Mirage said, thinking for a moment. “Did you see the look on Blitz’s face?”

“Yeah,” Megara responded, nodding her head. “He looked really serious.”

“So, you think he might really have a plan of some sort?” Regina asked.

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Calder said, crossing his arms.

“I wouldn’t underestimate them,” Sting buzzed. “Remember, that rescue team has brought back four of the missing crystals from Axis Tower so far!”

“Weren’t they just lucky?” Calder responded, shrugging slightly.

“Good luck… bad luck…” Arbolith said, swaying back and forth a bit. “But there are still plenty of trees in the forest… and also plenty of rocks… until some Larvitar come along and eat them.”

“… I don’t even know how to respond to that,” Calder replied, staring blankly at his Sudowoodo teammate.

“The mushroom suggests we resume discussing our own plan for finding the missing Gothorita known as Bow,” Cordyceps said, raising a claw.

“Ah, yes,” Sting buzzed, looking around. “So, which rescue team should we send where?”

----

As she woke up, the first thing Bow noticed was that everything looked darker than usual. As she became more aware of her surroundings, she realized she was trapped inside a dark force field of sorts. She tried using her psychic powers to free herself, but it seemed her powers did not work while trapped inside this dark bubble. Perhaps it was just as well, as a look down revealed that the bubble seemed to be floating in mid-air and that it would probably be a long way down. So, Bow tried instead to figure out exactly where she was.

“Hmm… It looks like I’m at the top of a hill,” Bow said, tilting her head. “But which hill is this?”

“Oh, you’re finally awake!” a voice called out, and Bow turned to see a certain Sigilyph looking at her. “Good morning, Bow! Sleep well?”

“You!” Bow shouted, pointing at the Sigilyph. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Aw, is that any way of greeting someone?” the Sigilyph responded, hovering around the bubble Bow was trapped in. “I even made sure that oxygen could get inside the force field so you wouldn’t suffocate in there! Wasn’t that nice of me?”

“W-What do you want from me?” Bow asked, keeping her eyes on the Sigilyph as he slowly flew around in circles around the bubble. “Are you going to cast an evil curse on me, or something?”

“Hmm… That’s not a bad idea,” the Sigilyph replied, snickering. “But, luckily for you, I have no such plans for you.”

“Then why’d you capture me?” Bow asked again.

“I was bored,” the Sigilyph responded. “I figured that if I captured you, I could lure in some rescue teams that I could have some fun with!”

“You… did it because you were bored?” Bow asked, staring at the Sigilyph in disbelief.

“Yes, I did!” the Sigilyph replied, chuckling. “Also, I wanted revenge on all the Pokémon who live here. So, I stole the crystals from Axis Tower, so that they would all disappear!”

“But… you’ll disappear too!” Bow exclaimed.

“I’m not so sure about that,” the Sigilyph responded, snickering. “But if I do disappear, I don’t really care as long as I take all the other Pokémon on this continent into oblivion with me!

The Sigilyph began laughing maniacally, while Bow just watched in horror. This Pokémon really was insane.

“Somebody… rescue me…” Bow whispered, shivering in fright.

Bow hoped that a rescue team would come for her soon, but then again, this was also what the Sigilyph was hoping for. Just what kind of “fun” was he planning on having with whichever team that would eventually come to her rescue? It seemed all she could do for now was to wait and see what would happen…

----

After heading over to the café and telling Frederick to help them out, Blitz and his teammates were now looking for Elina. Since they didn’t know where to find her, this would likely be a bit more difficult. However, since Chiaki was usually involved whenever she showed up, Blitz was hoping that Elina would appear upon hearing the Mienfoo call out her name.

“Thanks for inviting me along, guys,” Frederick said, following the others. “Although, I’m not entirely sure if you even need my help for this…”

“Your sense of smell is stronger than mine,” Blitz responded. “While I probably could’ve done this myself, I have a feeling you’ll do a better job under these conditions.”

“Oh, you really think so?” Frederick replied, smiling. “In that case, I’ll do my best!”

“Any sign of Elina yet?” Azure asked, looking around.

“I don’t see her,” Sera replied, looking over at Chiaki. “Try calling out to her again!”

“Okay!” Chiaki responded, nodding his head. “Elina! Elina, are you here?”

They kept searching, until Chiaki suddenly heard a voice.

“You were looking for me?”

Chiaki turned around, noticing a certain Elgyem behind him.

“Oh, there you are, Elina!” Chiaki exclaimed, smiling at the Elgyem.

“Hi there, Chiaki,” Elina responded via telepathy, happily waving at Chiaki.

“… Elina, you can talk now?” Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Well, sort of,” Elina replied, shrugging slightly. “I’ve been taking lessons from Kala in order to learn how to communicate via telepathy.”

“Really? That’s great!” Chiaki said, happily hugging Elina. “You can finally talk to me!”

“Yes… I have wanted to be able to speak to you for some time now, Chiaki,” Elina responded, returning the hug.

“What’s going on?” Frederick asked, seeming confused.

“I think Chiaki and Elina are in telepathic contact with each other,” Blitz said.

“Oh? You guys can’t hear her?” Chiaki asked, looking over at his teammates.

“I’m afraid I can’t form a telepathic link with more than one Pokémon at a time,” Elina responded, breaking off from the hug.

“Oh… I see,” Chiaki replied, nodding his head slightly.

“I should be able to communicate with multiple Pokémon at a time once I have had more training,” Elina said. “But for now, this is the best I can do.”

“I understand,” Chiaki responded, smiling at Elina. “So, I guess I should tell the others what you’re saying if they want to know, then?”

“Yes, you should do that,” Elina replied, tilting her head slightly. “Anyways… Was there any particular reason why you were looking for me?”

“Oh, right!” Chiaki said, turning to Blitz. “She wants to know what we needed her help for.”

“Thank you,” Blitz responded, nodding to Chiaki and taking a step forward. “Elina, can you use your psychic powers to help us find Bow, who has gone missing?”

“Huh?” Elina replied, thinking for a moment. “Well… I was able to use my psychic power to track down Chiaki, leading me to this town. So, I suppose I should be able to use my power to find your missing friend.”

“Good,” Blitz responded, with a determined look in his eyes. “Let’s go, guys!”

As they made their way over to Stella’s house to begin the search, Sera couldn’t help but think about how Blitz was acting very different from his usual timid self. She figured it was because of how Bow had been able to relate to how he felt about destiny to some extent, and the possibility that something may have happened to her had caused Blitz’s instincts to take over so he could find her as soon as possible.

Outside Stella’s house, Frederick started investigating by sniffing the ground. It didn’t take long for him to pick up on Bow’s scent, and lead the group in the direction she had most recently walked in. Eventually, he stopped.

“Hmm… I followed the scent of psychic energy and absent-mindedness, but the trail seems to end here,” Frederick commented.

“… How can you smell either of those?” Sera asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Well, it’s not that much different from being able to smell fear, is it?” Frederick replied.

“Um… I guess?” Sera responded, still seeming a bit confused.

“Sorry I couldn’t do more to help find Bow…” Frederick said, looking over at Blitz.

“It’s okay, you did well,” Blitz responded, before turning to Elina. “Elina, it’s your turn.”

Elina nodded her head, and walked up to the spot where Frederick had lost the trail. She touched the spot with her hand, and began focusing her psychic energies. Since the Pokémon they were trying to find was also a psychic type, it would probably be a bit easier for Elina to track her down. After a few moments, Elina managed to pick up on Bow’s psychic signature, but she also picked up on something else... something which sent a chill down her spine.

“Elina, are you okay?” Chiaki asked, noticing that she seemed a bit shaken.

“Y-Yes… I’m fine,” Elina responded via telepathy, nodding her head slightly. “It seems Bow has been taken somewhere…”

“Taken somewhere?” Chiaki replied, partially repeating it so that his teammates could get an idea of what was going on. “What do you mean?”

“In addition to Bow’s psychic signature, I can also feel a sinister presence,” Elina explained via telepathy. “I believe this Pokémon has likely abducted Bow.”

“She’s been abducted?” Chiaki exclaimed. “We have to rescue her right away!”

“How far away do you think they went?” Azure asked.

“I’m not sure…” Elina responded, shaking her head slightly. “Travelling by foot would probably take too long.”

“She says she isn’t sure, but that travelling by foot would take too long,” Chiaki repeated to the others.

“Well, what do we do, then?” Sera asked, looking concerned.

“Hmm… I might be able to teleport to her location, as long as I keep her psychic signature in mind,” Elina explained to Chiaki. “However, I’ve never tried teleporting this many Pokémon before, nor have I ever tried teleporting such a long distance.”

“She says she might be able to teleport us,” Chiaki said to the others. “But she’s not sure if she can pull it off.”

“You have to try, Elina,” Blitz responded, placing a paw on her shoulder.

“I’m sure you can do it!” Azure said, grinning. “Just give it your best shot!”

“Yeah, you can do it, Elina!” Sera added.

“… What they said!” Frederick responded, nodding his head slightly.

“We all believe in you, Elina!” Chiaki said, smiling.

“Oh, I… t-thanks…” Elina responded, blushing slightly. “All right, I’ll try my best!”

Elina took a deep breath while the other five Pokémon gathered closer to her. She began focusing her psychic power, trying to gather all her energy so she could teleport to where Bow was. A psychic aura began surrounding Elina, and slowly began to expand. However, as it kept growing, it became more and more difficult for Elina to keep it going.

“Don’t give up!” Chiaki shouted, smiling at Elina. “You can do this!”

The psychic field kept growing, and began to envelop the other five Pokémon present. In a bright flash, the six Pokémon were teleported to a different area.

“Elina, you did it!” Chiaki said, hugging the Elgyem.

“I… I did?” Elina asked, leaning against Chiaki.

“Well, you managed to teleport us all somewhere, at least,” Azure replied, looking around. “Anybody know where this is?”

Blitz, Sera, Chiaki and Azure began looking around at their surroundings, while Frederick simply sniffed around to see if he could get an idea of what kind of area they were in from that. There were two things that stood out in particular, a nearby hill and a Kangaskhan rock close by.

“There’s an entrance to a mystery dungeon here,” Blitz said, thinking for a moment. “Judging from the looks of it, this is probably Turmoil Hill.”

“I don’t see Bow anywhere, though,” Chiaki commented, tilting his head slightly.

“I can feel it…” Elina communicated to Chiaki via telepathy. “Bow is definitely here…”

“Are you okay, Elina?” Chiaki asked, looking a bit concerned. “You look really tired.”

“It took a lot of energy for me to teleport you all here…” Elina replied, holding onto Chiaki for support. “Don’t worry… I’ll be fine…”

“If you say so…” Chiaki responded, glancing up at the hill. “So, Bow is on top of that, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is,” Elina replied, nodding her head slightly. “However… There is also another presence… It might be dangerous to go…”

“Elina says that Bow is up there, but there’s someone else there too,” Chiaki said to the others, letting them know what Elina had told him. “She said it might be dangerous to go up there.”

“I assume that “someone else” is the Pokémon who kidnapped her?” Azure asked.

“Most likely…” Sera commented, looking over at Blitz. “What should we do?”

“Well, first we need to make sure we have everything we need,” Blitz responded, looking up at the hill with determination in his eyes. “Once we’re ready, we’re going to rescue Bow.”

“You sure are serious today,” Azure commented, grinning. “I kind of like that!”

Blitz, Sera, Azure and Frederick went over to the Kangaskhan rock to discuss which items to bring. Having the necessary healing items were definitely the first priority, although Frederick seemed more concerned about the food, reasoning that they couldn’t fight on an empty stomach.

“Chiaki… I… I don’t want you go…” Elina said to Chiaki via telepathy, while clinging to his arm.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Chiaki asked.

“I don’t want you to put yourself in danger…” Elina replied, looking away.

“But, my teammates are going,” Chiaki said, looking over at his teammates who were still making their preparations. “And Bow is one of my friends too, so I want to help save her!”

“Are you sure about this…?” Elina asked, looking into Chiaki’s eyes.

“Of course I am,” Chiaki responded, nodding his head.

“I see…” Elina replied, looking down.

“You’re really worried about me, aren’t you?” Chiaki asked, smiling and pulling Elina into another hug. “It’s okay. My friends and I will rescue Bow, and then we’ll be back!”

“I… I want to help too,” Elina responded, returning the hug. “But… I’m scared, and… I used up most of my power to teleport everyone here… I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to,” Chiaki replied, giving Elina a supportive pat on the shoulder. “Maybe there’s another way you can help?”

Elina thought about it for a few moments, before she realized something.

“You can use the rescue team badge to send me back to town, right?” Elina asked. “I could go find some back-up for you guys.”

Chiaki nodded his head, and walked over to the others with Elina.

“Since Elina doesn’t have enough energy left to fight, she wants to go back to town and find more help,” Chiaki explained to the other four Pokémon.

“Good idea,” Blitz replied, nodding his head. “I don’t know what kind of opponent awaits us, but chances are we might need some extra help.”

“All right, I wish you and your friends good luck, Chiaki,” Elina communicated to Chiaki via telepathy. “I’ll do my best to help you as well.”

“Okay, good luck to you too!” Chiaki responded, smiling at Elina.

Blitz took out the rescue team badge, and held it in front of Elina. Soon, the badge’s magical power sent Elina back to town in a flash of golden light.

“There,” Blitz said, putting the badge back onto the treasure bag. “Okay, is everyone ready?”

“I’m always ready for adventure!” Azure responded, smirking.

“I’m ready!” Sera replied, nodding her head.

“Um… I guess I’m ready,” Frederick said, tilting his head slightly. “How much food did we bring again?”

“So, we’re all ready to go, then?” Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly. “But, wait… There are five of us here… Don’t the rules say that rescue teams should only go into dungeons in groups of four?”

“Screw the rules, we need to save Bow!” Azure responded.

“… What she said,” Blitz said, rubbing his forelegs together. “Everyone, let’s go!”

Blitz stepped inside the dungeon, his teammates following closely behind. This mystery dungeon was at about twenty floors, if Blitz recalled correctly. He hoped they could get through the dungeon quickly, and not use up too many of the healing items they had brought in the process. After all, a difficult fight likely awaited them once they got out of the mystery dungeon, and if they still had a decent amount of healing items left, then they probably had a chance.

Hopefully, it would be enough to save Bow, or at least to handle the situation until help arrived.

“I don’t know what awaits us at the end of this dungeon,” Blitz thought to himself. “But… I will do whatever I can to save you, Bow.”

----

As she was sent back to the entrance of the town, Elina couldn’t help but worry about what was going to happen. She was still worn out, but still moved as quickly as she could into town to search for help. She tried to reassure herself that there was nothing to worry about, but she knew there was really no telling what might happen.

“There’s no way either of them would realize…” Elina thought to herself. “But… could the encounter change something inside Chiaki? After all… back when Chiaki and I met here in town, something really strange happened…”

----

End of chapter 31.

----
 
Last edited:

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Eep. Suspenseful.

One problem I noticed this chapter is redundant telling instead of showing in places, like "This Pokémon really was insane." Stuff like that is already pretty clear from your descriptions and dialogue.

Though I'm hardly one to complain about that. >_>

Everything else was great.
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Ah, I guess that's a bit of an unfortunate side-effect of my possibly strange writing style, with the narrative randomly commenting on what Pokémon are thinking, which while it's been working for me so far, might not be the best of ways to tell the story. I probably should've made it clear that that line was referring to Bow's thoughts at that moment and was in a way supposed to tie into something. Anyways, thanks for pointing that out.

Glad you enjoyed the rest of the chapter, though!
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Ah, I sure am looking forward to summer vacation starting. Thankfully, it's not much longer now.

Anyways, it's time for a new chapter of Reflecting Balance, and in this one, we learn a few more things, but we'll have to wait just a little bit longer before we find out just what the story behind all this is. Sorry to have to keep you guys waiting!

Also, this chapter might end a bit abruptly, but the next chapter will deal with the aftermath, so I guess you could consider this the second part of a three-parter?

Well, as usual, I hope you guys are enjoying the story!

----

Chapter 32: Guys, he’s not an ordinary Sigilyph!

----

Bow just sat there inside the force field that she had been trapped in; as there was not much else she could do until a rescue team arrived. Her powers wouldn’t work as long as she was inside this dark bubble, and she couldn’t think of any other ways she could escape. At least the one keeping her trapped here hadn’t done anything else to her, but she was still worried about what he planned to do to the Pokémon of whichever rescue team found her first.

Judging from what her mother had told her, he was capable of causing a lot of destruction at his worst…

“What’s the matter, Bow?” asked the Sigilyph, startling Bow by suddenly appearing in front of her. “Are you bored?”

Bow remained quiet, looking away from the Sigilyph.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head,” the Sigilyph said, snickering a little. “I have a feeling that a rescue team is on its way, and the suspense is killing me all over again!”

“… Which rescue team…?” Bow muttered, glancing at the Sigilyph.

“Oh, I don’t know,” the Sigilyph responded, hovering in circles around the bubble. “But they don’t seem all that tough. Still, I can probably have some fun with them!”

“What are you planning on doing?” Bow asked.

“I haven’t decided on anything in particular yet,” the Sigilyph replied. “I was thinking I’d just improvise a bit based on what kind of Pokémon show up.”

“… Why… Why are you doing this?” Bow whispered.

“What was that?” the Sigilyph asked, moving closer to Bow. “Why am I doing this? Is that what you asked?”

“You said you wanted revenge, right?” Bow responded, glaring at the Sigilyph. “But the ones who defeated you are long gone!”

“Well, I suppose I’ll admit it would’ve been more satisfying if my sister and those foolish Pokémon she chose to protect were still around,” the Sigilyph replied, giggling a little. “Ah, I would’ve loved to see the looks on their faces when their home was swallowed up by the distortion!”

Bow wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“Still, even if I won’t have that pleasure, I’ll finish what I started anyways,” the Sigilyph continued. “Plus, I just enjoy messing with the other Pokémon.”

“I figured as much,” Bow responded, sighing.

“Don’t you worry, darling, you only need to wait a little longer,” the Sigilyph said. “Soon, a rescue team will be here… and then things should be getting more interesting…”

----

Blitz and his teammates were making their way through the mystery dungeon, and had made it to the seventh floor. There were still many floors to go, though, before they could reach the top of Turmoil Hill and rescue Bow. Blitz hoped to make it through the dungeon as quickly as possible, and that they wouldn’t have to use too many of their healing items. Even though he didn’t know what they would have to fight in order to save Bow, he was already trying to think of a few battle strategies. The Vile Seed they had gotten earlier that day could prove to be useful.

If they used that to lower their opponent’s defenses, while Sera used her Helping Hand to increase the power of her teammates’ attacks… Of course, in order for that to work, the Vile Seed would have to hit its intended target. Maybe Chiaki could use his Swift attack to launch the seed at the enemy; the same way he used it two days ago back at Mt. Caldera to give a Silver Spike to Inferno so he could dig the crystal out?

Elina had gone back to town to find some more help, which they would likely need if Elina’s frightened reaction to the presence she had felt earlier was any indication. Hopefully they would be able to fight off the enemy at least until help arrived.

“I’m hungry,” Frederick commented, doing his best to keep up.

“Dude, we’re not even halfway through the dungeon,” Azure responded, glancing at the Deino behind her.

“So? I’m still hungry,” Frederick replied, sighing.

“It’s okay, he can have one of the apples,” Blitz said, opening the treasure bag. “That way, we’ll also have more room for other items, in case we find something useful lying around.”

“Thank you, Blitz!” Frederick responded, grinning.

Blitz took an apple out from the treasure bag and gave it to Frederick. The Deino promptly ate it up in a single bite.

“Shouldn’t you chew your food?” Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Oh, um… I forgot,” Frederick responded, smiling sheepishly.

“I’ve told you that you shouldn’t eat too fast, buddy,” Azure commented.

“Guys, focus,” Blitz said, pointing a paw forward. “The stairs to the next floor are just ahead.”

“He’s right,” Sera commented, nodding her head slightly. “We can’t keep Bow waiting!”

Blitz and the others headed up the stairs, and found themselves on the next floor. A few wild Pokémon awaited them on the next floor, two gray pig-like Pokémon bouncing on spring-like tails while keeping a pink pearl balanced on their head. The two Spoink fired multicolored beams of psychic energy from the pearls on their heads, but Frederick quickly defeated them with a couple of Bite attacks.

Azure also easily took down a wild Phanpy with a Bubble Beam attack, before the five of them moved on to further explore the floor.

----

Meanwhile, in Fenix Town, Elina had alerted Stella and Hercules to the whereabouts of Bow and Sera’s rescue team, and the three of them were now on their way to the rescue team HQ. Upon getting the news, Hercules had asked Lotus and the other Pokémon working at the dojo to keep things going as usual while he went out to help with the rescue mission.

“Thanks for coming along, Hercules,” Stella said, glancing at the Heracross while they were heading towards the HQ.

“Well, it’s only natural to want to help, isn’t it?” Hercules responded. “Besides, Blitz and his friends might get into trouble too, so I…”

“I understand,” Stella replied, nodding her head slightly.

Elina glanced at the two older Pokémon, thinking about how both of them wanted to protect someone important to them. This made Elina wonder if her father was doing okay, and she figured he was probably worried about her. It was probably going to be such a relief for him once this whole situation was sorted out, and everything could return to normal. However, Elina herself wasn’t entirely sure if she could feel the same way when it was all over…

The three of them quickly headed inside the HQ, and entered Kala’s room. Stella quickly ran up to the Abra and started lightly shaking her by the shoulder.

“Kala, wake up!” Stella exclaimed. “We need to get to Turmoil Hill right away!”

“I didn’t even touch your rock collection…” Kala muttered, before sleepily opening her eyes and looking up at Stella. “Oh… Hi there. You need anything?”

“Yes, you need to teleport me and Hercules to Turmoil Hill!” Stella responded.

“Oh, is that where Bow is?” Kala asked, sitting up. “I heard from the other rescue teams that something had happened…”

Kala focused her energy, and in a green flash of light, teleported Stella and Hercules out of the room. Kala then yawned and stretched, before turning to Elina.

“Oh, hi Elina,” Kala said, rubbing her eyes. “Anything else I can help with while I’m at this…?”

----

Blitz and his teammates continued making their way through the mystery dungeon, now having reached the fifteenth floor. The group took a short break to catch their break, having been moving quickly through the mazes. A few healing items had been consumed, but they still had plenty left.

“I hope we have enough,” Blitz said, looking over their inventory. “There are still five more floors, and we don’t know what awaits us at the top.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Azure commented, grinning.

“Are you really sure about that?” Sera asked, one of her ears drooping down slightly. “Like Blitz said, we don’t know what to expect.”

“Well, when all of us are working together, surely we can handle anything?” Azure replied, shrugging slightly.

“Yeah, I feel that way too!” Chiaki exclaimed, nodding his head and smiling. “No matter how difficult the challenge, we can get through it together!”

“Now, that’s what I like to hear!” Azure responded, grinning.

“Apples are tasty…” Frederick muttered, happily eating another apple.

“… Will we really be okay?” Blitz thought to himself, rubbing his forelegs together.

“Nervous?” Sera asked, looking over at Blitz.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried,” Blitz responded, nodding his head slightly.

“Well… They do have a point, don’t they?” Sera asked, briefly glancing at the other three Pokémon.

“Yes, we do need to work together,” Blitz replied, taking a deep breath. “I just hope at least one of the possible plans I came up with will allow us to defeat the bad guy and save Bow, or at the very least, stall for time until help arrives.”

“Since you came up with it, I’m sure it’ll work!” Sera responded, smiling at Blitz.

“Oh, um… Thanks,” Blitz replied, blushing slightly. “… So, you ready to get going again?”

“Yeah, I’m ready!” Sera responded, nodding her head.

“What about the rest of you?” Blitz asked, looking over at the others.

“I’m ready!” Chiaki replied, raising his paw.

“Do you even need to ask?” Azure responded, grinning. “Of course I’m ready!”

“Uh… What are we ready for?” Frederick asked, with a bit of apple juice dripping from his chin.

“He’s asking if we’re ready to keep going,” Azure responded.

“Oh, right!” Frederick replied, nodding his head. “Yeah, sure, I’m ready.”

“Okay, everyone,” Blitz said, narrowing his eyes. “Let’s not waste any more time. We need to get through these last few floors in order to reach Bow, so let’s keep moving!”

----

The last five floors seemed to go by so fast, and as they approached the last set of stairs, Blitz mentally counted through the items in their treasure bag. He could feel his heart beating faster as he got closer and closer to the stairs, but he managed to remain calm. Blitz took a deep breath, and walked up the stairs. As he and his teammates reached the top of Turmoil Hill, they immediately began looking around for Bow.

“Bow, where are you…?” Blitz muttered, looking around.

“Up here!”

Blitz immediately looked up to where the voice came from, and saw Bow trapped inside the floating dark bubble.

“Whoa, what’s that?” Azure asked.

“What’s what?” Frederick inquired, tilting his head. “What’s going on?”

“Finally, the fun can begin!” said a certain Sigilyph, laughing ominously as he suddenly appeared above the five Pokémon on the ground.

“What? Are you…” Chiaki muttered, and a strange chill went down his spine upon seeing the Sigilyph.

“So, you’re the one who captured Bow,” Blitz said, looking up at the Sigilyph with a cold stare.

“And…?” the Sigilyph responded, in a playful tone. “Are you going to fight me?”

“Well, I’m assuming you don’t intend to just let her go,” Blitz replied, glaring at the Sigilyph.

“Ooh, aren’t you a smart one!” the Sigilyph responded in a mocking tone. “You figured out that I was the one who captured your friend and that I do not plan on just letting her go just because you said so!”

“Yeah, Blitz is way smarter than you!” Frederick exclaimed, nodding his head. “So, you’d better watch out… whoever you are!”

Chiaki was just staring absent-mindedly up at the Sigilyph. Chiaki wasn’t sure why, but something about the Sigilyph and the sound of his voice… it was giving him a really strange feeling. He couldn’t seem to move at all, but he didn’t really mind or even care.

“Have I… heard this voice before…?” Chiaki thought, continuing to stare up at the Sigilyph.

Strangely enough, Chiaki thought he suddenly heard the sound of thunder and of rain pouring down, even though the weather was clear aside from a few clouds in the sky.

“I… I’m forgetting something… something important…” Chiaki thought.

Meanwhile, the Sigilyph had been examining the five smaller Pokémon on the ground, seeming somewhat amused.

“You’re all just kids, aren’t you?” the Sigilyph commented, snickering a little. “I guess the so-called rescue teams aren’t as clever as they used to be, seeing as a bunch of children managed to find me first!”

“Well, I bet some of the other rescue teams will be showing up soon!” Azure responded, smirking. “One of our friends went to go get some reinforcements!”

“Oh my, so there is an angry mob on the way?” the Sigilyph asked, chuckling. “Ah, just like old times!”

Blitz discreetly pulled some seeds out of the treasure bag, and moved over to Chiaki.

“Chiaki, use Swift to launch these at the Sigilyph,” Blitz whispered, trying to hand the Vile Seed they got earlier that day, along with two Sleep Seeds and an X-Eye Seed over to the Mienfoo. “Come on, hurry up!”

“Huh?” Chiaki replied, blinking a few times and snapping out of a trance-like state. “Oh… right…”

Finding that he was able to move again, Chiaki quickly took the seeds into his paw and then fired them at the Sigilyph in a burst of glowing golden stars. However, before the projectiles could reach their target, the Sigilyph’s eye suddenly flashed dark purple and the stars froze in mid-air.

“Ooh, really neat trick,” the Sigilyph commented, before the stars turned black and then disintegrated, taking the seeds inside a few of them with them. “But you’ll have to do better than that if you want to keep me entertained!”

“What… was that attack?” Azure asked, looking to Blitz.

“I… don’t know…” Blitz responded, looking rather stunned. “I… don’t think I’ve seen an attack like that before…”

“He stopped my Swift attack…” Chiaki muttered, tilting his head.

“Guys, he’s not an ordinary Sigilyph!” Bow shouted. “He’s an evil spirit possessing an ordinary Sigilyph!”

“Uh… What?” Azure responded, looking rather confused.

“Did she just say “evil spirit”?” Sera asked, tilting her head.

“That’s what I heard,” Frederick commented, nodding his head.

“… I don’t get it,” Chiaki said, glancing around at his teammates.

Blitz didn’t even say anything, just staring blankly at Bow and the Sigilyph.

“It’s true!” Bow shouted, hitting her hands against the inside of the bubble. “His name is Erebos and he…”

“Bow, please, I am perfectly capable of introducing myself!” the Sigilyph commented, snickering a little before turning his attention back to Blitz and co. “So, shall we resume our little game?”

And with that, the Sigilyph fired several Shadow Balls at the Pokémon on the ground, forcing the five of them to quickly dodge out of the way.

“Okay, I don’t know what this guy’s deal is, but I say we take him down!” Azure said, glaring up at the Sigilyph.

Azure began firing Bubble Beams into the air, trying to hit the Sigilyph. However, he easily dodged her attacks.

“You can do it, Azure!” Frederick said, cheering his friend on.

“I wonder how we can break that force field…” Blitz muttered, looking up at the dark bubble containing his captured friend.

“Erebos…?” Sera said, tilting her head slightly. “That name… sounds kind of familiar…”

“I think… I’ve met this guy before…” Chiaki thought, staring up at the Sigilyph. “That has to be the reason why I’m feeling this way… Come on, try to remember…”

“Ah, look at all the pretty bubbles!” Erebos said, putting up a force field to block a stream of bubbles.

“Ugh, this isn’t working…” Azure muttered, taking a moment to catch her breath. “Hey, Sera? Give me a Helping Hand, would you?”

“I’m on it!” Sera replied, using her Helping Hand move to power up her teammates.

“Ha, as long as I stay up here, you can’t hit me!” Erebos commented, chuckling. “It’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?”

“Hey, I’ll knock you out of the sky eventually!” Azure responded, smirking. “Besides, I’m not the only one here with long range attacks!”

“Yeah, I know a few attacks like that too,” Frederick said, nodding his head.

“And uh… I can use Swift,” Chiaki added, still seeming a bit out of it.

“No matter what you throw at me, I can easily block it,” Erebos replied, his eyes glowing. “In fact… I could just stop you from using those attacks in the first place!”

“And how would you do that?” Azure asked, looking skeptical.

“Like this!” Erebos responded, firing a strange bolt of dark energy at Azure.

Azure was sent rolling backwards, before bumping into a rock. She quickly got up, albeit a bit dazed.

“Azure, are you okay?” Sera asked.

“Y-Yeah…” Azure responded, nodding slightly. “He just caught me off-guard with that attack, that’s all…”

Azure attempted her Bubble Beam attack again, but to her surprise, nothing happened. She then tried her weaker Bubble and Water Gun attacks, but nothing happened.

“Huh?” Azure said, blinking a few times. “Why isn’t it working?”

She then looked over at her tail, and decided to see if she could still use Aqua Tail. She tried focusing her power as she usually did, but the blue ball at the end of her tail wouldn’t shine with blue light.

“E-Even my physical water attacks?” Azure exclaimed, staring blankly at her tail. “W-What is this!?”

“You know the move ‘Disable’, right?” Erebos asked, snickering. “It’s like that, only better! Because you see, I’ve just sealed all the water attacks you know, and the best part is, this won’t wear off when you leave the dungeon!”

“W-What did you just say!?” Azure exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the Sigilyph. “N-No… That’s not possible!”

The other Pokémon on the ground were rather shocked by this as well. Their opponent could just seal their attacks like that? How would they even fight back against such a foe? Blitz could tell that was what they were all thinking, however…

“… Bow! Do you know of any way to defeat him?” Blitz asked.

“Um… There is a way, but…” Bow responded, but before she could finish talking, Erebos suddenly picked up Blitz with telekinesis.

“Well, still not giving up, are you?” Erebos asked, curiously looking at Blitz.

“I… I have to save Bow!” Blitz responded, trying to make himself look a bit more intimidating despite not being able to do much while stuck floating in the air like this.

“Ah, I see,” Erebos replied, snickering. “Always have to save the girl, even when the odds are against you, huh?”

Blitz was attempting to figure out what he could do while suspended in mid-air by the Sigilyph’s powers. Perhaps if he could reach one of the items in the treasure bag, then… However, before he could reach for it, the psychic energies suddenly shifted, holding Blitz in the air by one of his front paws.

“Hey, I was always wondering…” Erebos said, examining Blitz’s paw curiously. “Those yellow lines… What are they for?”

“Huh?” Blitz responded, glancing up at his paw. “It’s… for charging electricity…”

“Oh, is that it?” Erebos replied, seeming rather intrigued. “Because I always thought it was there to show enemies where they should start if they feel like cutting your paws off!”

“W-What…?” Blitz responded, starting to feel rather nervous. “I don’t like where this is going…”

“Let’s see… Is there anything sharp I can use around here?” Erebos said, glancing around.

Looking around on the ground, he soon spotted some rocks on the ground.

“Hmm… Maybe that’ll do…” Erebos muttered, using his powers to break off a piece of rock and then lifting it up to examine it.

“W-What are you doing?” Blitz asked, squirming a bit.

“Let’s just sharpen this a little…” Erebos said, snickering as he used his powers to sharpen the edge of the rock. “Ooh, maybe this will do?”

“Please, don’t!” Blitz exclaimed, desperately trying to shake free.

“This might hurt a bit…” Erebos said, giggling maniacally as he slowly began levitating the pointed end of the rock towards the yellow line on the paw he was telekinetically holding Blitz by.

“This… this can’t be happening!” Blitz thought, staring wide-eyed at the floating rock. “I… I have to think of something fast!”

“Ooh, I love that frightened expression!” Erebos commented, chuckling. “Ah, I’ll just be enjoying this moment for a bit!”

On the ground, Blitz’s teammates were watching, or in Frederick’s case, listening in horror at the scene playing out above them.

“Is he… really going to cut Blitz’s paws off?” Chiaki asked, watching in horror.

“We’ve got to do something, right?” Frederick said, tilting his head slightly.

“Yeah, but… what can we possibly do?” Azure asked, squeezing her eyes shut and turning away. “I… I feel so helpless…”

“Blitz…” Sera muttered, shivering as she looked up at him.

Bow was also watching from inside the force field, but she quickly turned away.

“I… I don’t want to watch this!” Bow said, covering her eyes with her hands.

Blitz’s heart was beating so fast that it almost felt like it might burst out of his chest at any moment. Yet, as the pointed rock slowly hovered towards his paw, the spirit possessing the Sigilyph clearly enjoying every moment of his fear, Blitz still tried to think of a way out of this.

“There might be a way out of this after all…” Blitz thought, closing his eyes for a moment. “I… just need to wait for the right moment…”

“Just a little further…” Erebos commented, snickering.

Blitz opened his eyes, watching the sharp rock which was getting closer to his paw. Despite his fear, Blitz managed to wait until it was about to hit the paw before suddenly making his fur glow brightly, catching his opponent off-guard.

“Ah!” Erebos shouted, momentarily blinded by the light.

“Well done, Blitz!” a familiar voice called out, and before Blitz even had time to turn his head to see where it came from, a certain Heracross suddenly flew out from the bushes, giving Erebos an angry glare. “I won’t let you hurt him!”

Hercules’ horn was glowing green as he quickly charged at the Sigilyph, and rammed into him with the horn. The attack caused Sigilyph to lose his grip on Blitz, as well as making the force field containing Bow dissolve, sending both Pokémon falling towards the ground.

“It’s okay, we’re here now!” another familiar voice called out, as Blitz and Bow were suddenly caught mid-fall with telekinesis and gently lowered to the ground.

“Mom, you’re here!” Bow exclaimed in delight, before happily running up to the Gothitelle.

“Oh, sweetie,” Stella responded, picking up Bow and hugging her tightly. “I was so worried about you…”

“S-Stella…” Blitz muttered, before sighing in relief and turning to look at Hercules as he landed beside him.

“Are you okay, Blitz?” Hercules asked, gently petting Blitz.

“Y-Yeah…” Blitz responded, nodding his head slightly and wiping away a few tears with his paw.

“Blitz!” Sera exclaimed, running up to the Shinx and nuzzling him. “Thank goodness you’re okay!”

“Wow, you sure know how to make an entrance!” Azure shouted, grinning at Hercules.

“I don’t know what just happened, but thanks for coming to the rescue!” Frederick said, smiling.

“Hercules, I’m really glad to see you and Stella!” Chiaki said, smiling. “Although, is it okay for you to not be at the dojo?”

“Don’t you worry about that, the other Pokémon have everything under control,” Hercules explained, smiling and patting Blitz on the head. “When I heard you guys had gone off to look for Bow, I just had to come to make sure my apprentice was okay!”

“You… came here for me?” Blitz asked, looking up at Hercules.

“Of course I did,” Hercules responded, nodding his head. “It’s my responsibility looking out for you, you know?”

“… Right,” Blitz replied, smiling back at Hercules. “Thank you.”

“Nobody gets to mess with you when I’m around,” Hercules responded, before turning to Stella and Bow. “You two okay?”

“We’re fine!” Bow responded, smiling at Hercules.

“We should hurry back to town before…” Stella said, noticing that the Sigilyph was starting to get back up.

“Ugh… Catching me off-guard… Not bad…” Erebos commented, snickering a little.

“Erebos…” Stella said, glaring at the Sigilyph.

“Ah, Cassandra’s great, great granddaughter,” Erebos said, looking over at Stella. “We finally meet.”

“How did you escape your prison?” Stella asked.

“Well, you see this Sigilyph?” Erebos responded, snickering. “His name is Forks, an outlaw who happened to find the place where I was locked away while escaping from a rescue team. I guess he thought he’d found a treasure, and once he got close, I broke out of the box my sister put me in and claimed his body. Of course, this guy ain't too happy about it, fighting in the back of the mind for control of the body. I mostly just ignore him.”

“I see,” Stella replied, nodding her head slightly. “Since she left this world a long time ago, it’s only natural that the seal would’ve weakened…”

“Yes, I felt her magic slowly fade over the years,” Erebos responded, giggling. “I just waited and waited for the moment where I could escape, and finally get my revenge!”

“You won’t succeed,” Stella replied, forming a Shadow Ball between her hands. “This time, we will make sure to take you down for good!”

“Ooh, more aggressive than Cassandra, I see?” Erebos inquired, snickering. “Well, I won’t make the mistake of underestimating the town oracle this time!”

Stella flung the Shadow Ball at Erebos, but he easily dodged it and then fired a purple wave of energy towards Stella.

“Stella!” Hercules exclaimed, flying in front of her and taking the hit.

Hercules collapsed on the ground, and Blitz quickly rushed over to his side. Stella blinked a few times, before helping Blitz check on Hercules.

“Is he okay?” Blitz asked, shaking Hercules’ shoulder.

“He’s just unconscious,” Stella responded, noting a faint purple glow around Hercules, before glancing back up at Erebos.

“Aw, I missed,” Erebos said, looking somewhat annoyed. “Well, I’ll just try this again!”

“Oh, no you won’t!” a female voice suddenly called out, before something leapt out from the shadows and slashed at Erebos with sharp claws.

“Nice one, Mirage!” another female voice said, as the illusion flickered out, revealing Mirage and her two teammates.

“Another rescue team, is it…?” Erebos commented, snickering a little. “This body isn’t all that strong, but… I can still have a bit more fun with this!”

Erebos’ eye began to glow again, and hit Mirage with an orb of light.

“What was that, a psychic attack?” Mirage asked, smirking. “I didn’t feel anything.”

“Try using your Illusion ability,” Erebos responded.

“Uh… Why?” Mirage replied, tilting her head slightly.

“Just do it and you’ll see,” Erebos said, hovering around.

“Um… Okay?” Mirage responded, and attempted to use her ability. However, nothing happened. “… That’s strange.”

“He can seal abilities too?” Sera asked, exchanging concerned glances with Azure.

“Okay, I don’t know what just happened, but I don’t need my illusion powers to win this!” Mirage said, grinning.

“Oh, not all that upset about losing your power?” Erebos asked. “That’s kind of disappointing.”

“She doesn’t use it all that much, anyways,” Megara commented, shrugging her shoulders.

“The mushroom thinks we should attack all at once,” Cordyceps said, in his usual monotone.

“All right, let’s go!” Mirage shouted, firing a stream of dark energy at the opponent.

“This ought to heat things up a bit!” Megara said, spitting out a stream of fire at the Sigilyph.

Erebos easily dodged the two attacks, and noticed a cloud of spores floating towards him.

“Oh, nice try,” Erebos commented, blowing the spores away. “Is that the best you can come up with?”

“Do not mock the mushroom,” Cordyceps responded. “The mushroom will make you regret your evil actions!”

“Parasect are such funny creatures,” Erebos said, before sending an eerie wave of energy at Cordyceps. “Let’s see how this works.”

“H-Hey, what are you doing?” Cordyceps asked, staring blankly as usual. “Huh? Why can’t I hear the mushroom?”

“Okay, who’s next?” Erebos said while Cordyceps’ confusion had him distracted. “I suppose I should do something to the Magmar next!”

“I’m not scared of you!” Megara responded, glaring at Erebos.

“You’re not?” Erebos asked, snickering. “Well, you should be scared. Now, say good-bye to your fire attacks!”

However, before Erebos could cast his next curse, there was a flash of light, and shortly after, Erebos was struck from behind by an icicle launched at him by Frosty.

“Nice shot, Frosty!” Melody said, bouncing on her feet.

“Ugh… There’s another rescue team here now…?” Erebos asked, noticing two more flashes of light.

“Are we late to the party?” Regina asked, winking as she and her teammates appeared.

“What took you so long?” Mirage responded, grinning.

“Well, I suppose Kala must’ve dozed off at some point between finding and sending you guys here, and finding and sending the rest of us here,” Calder replied, shrugging slightly.

“At least we’re here now,” Sting buzzed.

Erebos looked around at all the Pokémon gathered.

“Hmm… This body can’t handle many more attacks…” Erebos said, sighing. “Well, I guess I’ll retreat for now.”

The Sigilyph soon became veiled in a dark mist, as the leaders of the gathered rescue teams fired a few attacks. Once the mist cleared, there was no one to be found.

“Aw, he got away!” Mirage said, pouting.

“G-Guys, the mushroom has lost its voice!” Cordyceps exclaimed. “What do we do about it?”

“And my water attacks still aren’t working…” Azure said, sighing.

The Pokémon began talking amongst themselves for a few moments, wondering what had been going on. Stella and Bow exchanged glances, before Stella spoke up.

“Everyone, we should head back to Fenix Town,” Stella said. “A lot has happened here today, and I think it’d be best if we all get some rest. Tomorrow, I’ll explain everything.”

The other Pokémon looked around at each other, but agreed that Stella was right. Mirage helped Stella pick up the unconscious Hercules, and the rescue teams then lifted up their badges to teleport home.

----

At the rescue team HQ, Kala was asleep as usual. Of course, she had used a lot of power today with all the rescue teams she had to teleport back and forth, so naturally she was tired. Elina had also been taking a nap in Kala’s room, but as she sensed the return of the various rescue teams, she opened her eyes slightly.

“They’re back…” Elina thought, sitting up. “… I wonder how things went.”

----

End of chapter 32

----
 
Last edited:

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Holy crap.

That battle was amazing. I know you doubt your ability to write fight scenes but that was fantastic.

And Fredrick is so adorable. Erebos, on the other hand, is terrifying.

And I'm worried about Hercules. ._.

Overall, nice job.
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Really glad you liked it! I was a bit uncertain if I'd be able to write out that battle scene, but once I actually got to that point, it wasn't quite as difficult to write as I expected. I still don't feel I'm all that good at action scenes, but I guess I'm getting better at it.

For a while, I'd also been uncertain of writing for Erebos, but I feel like I've really managed to get a good feel for how to write him now.

Chapter 33 is coming along nicely so far, so I'm hoping to have that done soon. I might be going on vacation this Saturday, though, so if I finish the chapter within the next couple of days, I'll likely put it up on Friday instead of Saturday. I won't make any promises, though.

Also, I've changed the original version of the first chapter to the revised version, and I'll probably do the same with the next few chapters. After all, a few details and such have changed as I've been writing the story, which I suppose inevitibly happens when writing a story. I certainly think these changes have been for the best, though, with things such as Kala and Hercules' roles in the story, and Azure joining the rescue team earlier than I originally intended.

Speaking of Azure, at one point during the early planning stages, I briefly considered making the character male. However, I decided to make the character female to make the main rescue team more gender-balanced. I don't know what Male!Azure would've been like, but I feel I definitely made the right choice, since Azure is pretty fun to write for.

Anyways, that's all for now. Hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter!
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone!

So, I've changed the previous versions of chapter 2 and 3 here to the revised versions, and I have a new chapter ready for you guys! Hope you guys enjoy it!

----

Chapter 33: So, you think he’s the one who wiped your memories, huh?

----

The sun was setting on what had been a rather chaotic day. Bow had made it back home safely, but some of the members of the rescue teams that had been involved in the rescue mission were now dealing with the effects of the curse the enemy had put on them. Some of the rescue teams had gone to the café to relax after this stressful day.

“So, still can’t use your illusion powers?” Megara asked, looking over at Mirage.

“Nope,” Mirage responded, shaking her head. “I thought it might wear off upon leaving the dungeon, but I guess not… Although, I’m not the one we should really be worrying about here.”

Mirage looked over at Cordyceps with a concerned look, as the Parasect was staring at a menu with a somewhat panicked look.

“I… I don’t know what to order!” Cordyceps said, shaking as he stared down at the different things on the menu.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Mirage commented, trying to get her teammate to relax. “I can order for you, if you can’t make up your mind.”

“Oh, I’ve never been good at making decisions…” Cordyceps said, sighing. “That’s why I let the mushroom do most of the thinking for me…”

“I’m sure we’ll figure out a way to reverse whatever that Sigilyph did to you,” Mirage responded, smiling at Cordyceps. “Until then, you can ask me and Megara for advice!”

“I… I appreciate the thought…” Cordyceps replied. “But… I wouldn’t know which one of you to ask…”

Azure was helping take orders and serve drinks, although she seemed much less upbeat than usual. Frederick heard her sigh, and walked up to her.

“Still upset about your water moves being sealed?” Frederick asked.

“Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it?” Azure responded, sighing.

“Hmm… Maybe you could ask Giselle about it?” Frederick suggested. “She might know of a cure, or something.”

“… Maybe,” Azure responded, thinking about it for a moment. “For now, I think she’s busy looking after Hercules, though.”

“Oh, right,” Frederick replied, tilting his head slightly. “He hasn’t regained consciousness yet, has he?”

“Nope,” Azure responded, shaking her head. “Hopefully he wakes up soon.”

“Yeah,” Frederick replied, nodding slightly. “I guess the other Pokémon working at the dojo will be able to handle things, though.”

“Sure, but it’s not really the dojo I’m concerned about,” Azure said, crossing her arms.

“What do you mean?” Frederick asked.

“Well, he’s Blitz’s mentor, you know?” Azure responded. “And not only that, but it seems Blitz talks to him about a lot of things he’s not comfortable sharing with anyone else.”

“Oh… right…” Frederick replied, nodding slightly. “Blitz must be really worried about him…”

“Yeah…” Azure said, sighing. “Since there are others with bigger problems, I probably shouldn’t be moping about my water attacks being sealed…”

“Hey, it’ll be fine,” Frederick commented, rubbing his head against Azure affectionately. “We will figure out how to get your water moves back, somehow!”

“I hope so,” Azure responded. “Because… if I can’t go on adventures, I… well, I’d get really bored, I guess.”

“Why wouldn’t you be able to go on adventures?” Frederick asked. “You have other attacks aside from your water moves, right?”

“Yeah, but… I don’t think I’d feel comfortable going on adventures like this,” Azure responded, thinking about it for a moment.

“Oh, okay,” Frederick replied, nodding his head.

“… Thanks for trying to cheer me up,” Azure said, smiling at Frederick. “You’re a really good friend, you know?”

“Well, I try my best to be,” Frederick responded, blushing slightly.

“And you’re great at it!” Azure commented, grinning. “Anyways, I guess we should get back to work, huh? You take the orders, and I’ll serve the drinks!”

“Okay, Azure!” Frederick responded, nodding his head.

And so, things were busy in the café, until the rescue teams went home and it was time to close up the café for the day. Hopefully, it would be a quiet and peaceful night in Fenix Town.

----

Chiaki slowly was making his way through the wet grass, rain falling all over. Lightning flashed, and he could hear the sound of thunder shortly after. However, even if it was pouring down, Chiaki just kept going. He felt as if there was somewhere he had to be, something he had to remember.

“… I know this place,” Chiaki thought to himself, looking around at the trees. “This is… Meridian Forest …”

Chiaki looked around, and thought he could see something moving in the distance. He picked up the pace bit, trying to see if he could get close enough to see what was happening. As he got closer, he thought he could hear a voice.

“Where was it…?” Chiaki thought to himself as he kept running. “Isn’t the place where I first met Blitz and Sera somewhere nearby?”

Caught up in his own thoughts, Chiaki almost didn’t notice a row of trees blocking his path. Luckily, he noticed just in time and avoided crashing into them.

“W-What…?” Chiaki muttered, staring up at the row of trees. “This… can’t be right…”

After taking a brief moment to catch his breath, Chiaki turned around and began running back the way he came, hoping to find another way to reach what he thought he saw. However, it seemed as if the forest was still changing around him, and no matter which way he went, it didn’t lead anywhere. Chiaki eventually had to stop again, collapsing into the wet grass. He shivered from the cold as he looked around in confusion at his surroundings.

“Why can’t I find it?”

“No… I shouldn’t be here…”

“Try to remember…”

“Remember… remember… remember…”


Chiaki covered his ears to block out the sounds of the rain pouring down, the wind howling and the thunder booming in the distance. The maze still seemed to be constantly changing around him.

“It’s no good…”

“Why can’t I remember...?”

“What really happened… back then?”

“I know that I’ve forgotten something… really important…”


Chiaki glanced up, and thought he could see the silhouette of a Sigilyph hovering above him.

“… It was you, wasn’t it?” Chiaki said, staring blankly up at the silhouette before it faded away. “It’s all your doing, isn’t it…?”

The forest itself began fading away into darkness around him, but Chiaki didn’t react even as the ground disappeared underneath him and he fell. Chiaki just closed his eyes, falling through the darkness.

“I don’t want this place to disappear…”

“The friends I’ve made… the friends I have yet to meet…”

“Why does he have to try to destroy it all?”

“…”

“I… can’t… let… that… happen…”


----

Chiaki could still hear the sound of rain pouring down, and opened his eyes slightly. He was lying in his bed, Blitz asleep in the bed next to him. Chiaki sat up, and looked around. He briefly wondered if he was imagining things, but he quickly realized that it really was raining outside.

“Just a dream, huh…” Chiaki thought to himself, rubbing the side of his head.

Chiaki lay back down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling while listening to the sound of the rain outside.

“… I’m pretty sure… that I had heard Erebos’ voice somewhere before…” Chiaki thought, trying to remember. “Back when I first met Stella… she mentioned a vision she saw in which a Pokémon was chasing a smaller Pokémon through Meridian Forest, didn’t she?”

Chiaki closed his eyes, and thought about this for a while.

“I suppose… that’s how it might be,” Chiaki thought, opening his eyes again. “Maybe… I was there the night the crystals were stolen, and… Erebos chased after me, and then erased my memories…”

From what he had seen of Erebos, it certainly seemed likely that he could’ve had something to do with Chiaki’s missing memories. Erebos did seal away Azure’s water attacks and Mirage’s Illusion ability, so why wouldn’t he be able to seal away memories as well? It seemed to make sense to Chiaki, although he felt as if he was probably missing some important details.

“I should tell the others about this tomorrow…” Chiaki thought to himself, yawning and closing his eyes. “But for now, I should get some more sleep…”

----

When morning came, it had stopped raining. Chiaki looked out the window, and noticed that it was still somewhat cloudy, but not much cloudier than the day before. Chiaki thought about Amethyst’s weather prediction the day before, and how she according to Sera had predicted that it wouldn’t rain until the day after this one.

“Guess she didn’t get it entirely right, huh…” Chiaki commented, looking out at the sky. “I guess the weather might’ve changed its plans, and didn’t bother telling Amethyst…”

Chiaki looked over at Blitz’s bed, only to realize that Blitz wasn’t there.

“… Did he already head out?” Chiaki wondered, tilting his head slightly. “I guess I should try to catch up to him...”

Chiaki stepped outside, and began heading into the town plaza. Things seemed to be fairly normal, although he could see a few of the rescue teams standing around, talking about what had happened yesterday. He couldn’t see Blitz anywhere, though.

“Looking for someone?” a female voice inquired, and Chiaki turned to see Marietta looking over at him from behind her counter.

“Oh, hi there,” Chiaki said, waving to Marietta. “Did Blitz come through here?”

“Yeah, he did,” Marietta responded, nodding her head slightly. “He went to the rescue team HQ to check on Hercules.”

“Ah, right…” Chiaki replied, remembering that something had happened to Hercules as well during the fight against Erebos. “Of course, he’s worried about Hercules…”

“I’m worried about him too,” Marietta said, sighing. “I want to go check on him, but I’ve got work to do… I just hope he recovers soon…”

“Yeah…” Chiaki replied, nodding his head slightly. “Well, I guess I’d better head to the HQ too and find out what’s going on. Thanks, Marietta!”

“You’re welcome,” Marietta responded, waving to Chiaki as he headed off to the rescue team HQ.

----

At the rescue team HQ, a few rescue teams were going about their usual business. Some were looking at the missions on the bulletin boards, while others were discussing recent events in the area. In the room behind the pink curtain, Blitz was sitting next to Hercules, who had still not regained consciousness.

“I really don’t understand this,” nurse Giselle commented, shaking her head. “As far as I can tell, there’s nothing wrong with him…”

“Then… why isn’t he waking up?” Blitz asked, looking over at the Audino with a concerned look.

“I don’t know,” Giselle responded, sighing. “I’ve checked and double-checked just about everything I can think of, but everything seems normal…”

“Are you sure you’ve checked everything?” Blitz asked.

“Well, at least everything I can check without having to cut him open first,” Giselle responded.

“I… I see…” Blitz replied, glancing down and rubbing his forelegs together.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to figure this one out on my own,” Giselle said. “There are some things I can’t look into myself, after all…”

“… You mean, like how you couldn’t determine what had caused Chiaki’s amnesia?” Blitz asked.

“Exactly,” Giselle replied, nodding her head. “This is why I’m hoping they’ll soon hire a psychic type qualified for this kind of work to help out with things like that…”

Blitz nodded his head slightly, looking over at the sleeping Heracross beside him.

“You and your friends probably have work to do,” Giselle said, comfortingly patting Blitz on the back. “Just leave Hercules to me.”

“He’ll get better soon… right?” Blitz asked.

“I’m sure he will,” Giselle responded, trying to give a reassuring smile. “So, you and your friends just handle the missions as you usually do.”

“Okay…” Blitz replied, nodding his head slightly.

He began heading out, only to suddenly stop and turn around.

“Oh, I almost forgot…” Blitz said, taking out a card and handing it to Giselle. “Marietta asked me to bring this to Hercules.”

“Ah, a “get-well-soon” card, I see,” Giselle responded, examining the card.

“Yeah,” Blitz replied, nodding his head. “So, um… I guess I’ll be going now.”

“Good luck with today’s missions!” Giselle said, waving good-bye as Blitz exited her office.

Upon leaving Giselle’s office, Blitz met up with his teammates, who had been waiting for him outside.

“How is he?” Sera asked.

“Still the same…” Blitz responded, looking down at the floor.

“Wonder how long he’ll be sleeping?” Frederick said, tilting his head slightly.

“Who knows,” Azure responded, shrugging slightly. “This is all so weird…”

“So… Should we find some missions?” Chiaki suggested.

“I don’t know,” Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together. “Not really in the mood for exploring…”

“And I still can’t use my water attacks,” Azure said, shaking her head.

“… Hey, is it just me, or is this place a bit more crowded than usual?” Sera asked, looking around.

While some of the rescue teams had picked out some missions, they weren’t going anywhere. It seemed as if they were waiting for something.

“Oh, right!” Azure exclaimed. “It should nearly be time!”

“Uh… What are you talking about?” Blitz asked.

“Well, Stella sent out this message asking everyone to gather in the center of town,” Azure explained. “Apparently, there was something important she needed to tell everyone.”

“Oh? What could that be?” Sera wondered, tilting her head.

“Hmm… I guess it’s about Erebos,” Blitz responded. “Remember, Stella said she would explain everything she knew.”

“Speaking of Erebos…” Chiaki said, clearing his throat. “I… think I may have met him before…”

“Huh?” Azure replied, blinking a few times.

“What do you mean?” Sera asked.

Blitz, Sera, Azure and Frederick listened to Chiaki while he explained his theory about what had happened that stormy night in Meridian Forest.

“Hmm… I see,” Azure said, nodding slightly. “So, you think he’s the one who wiped your memories, huh?”

“Makes sense to me,” Frederick commented, nodding his head.

“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” Chiaki responded, smiling.

“Certainly wouldn’t surprise me,” Azure replied.

“So, we might be getting closer to solving the mystery of your lost memories,” Sera commented, smiling. “That’s good news, at least!”

“Hmm… I don’t know…” Blitz said, looking to be thinking about something. “There’s something that doesn’t…”

Before Blitz could finish his sentence, a voice was heard throughout the area.

“Everyone, please come over to the center of town!”

“Oh, I guess it’s time!” Azure exclaimed. “Come on, let’s go!”

The rescue teams exited the building, and headed back into town. Soon, almost all of the Pokémon who lived in the town were present in the center of town. Some of them talked amongst themselves, wondering what was going to happen. It didn’t take long before Stella and Bow showed up, and everyone went quiet as Stella prepared to speak up.

“Thanks for coming, everyone,” Stella said, looking out over the crowd. “I asked you all to come here today because I have some important things to tell you all.”

“So, you all need to listen closely to what my mother has to say!” Bow added.

“Yes… It’s about the thief who stole the crystals from Axis Tower,” Stella said, sighing. “I… probably should’ve told you this the moment I was absolutely sure, but…”

“She’s been busy!” Bow commented, nodding her head slightly. “She’s had work to do!”

“Right…” Stella responded, clearing her throat. “So, anyways… I know that many of those who live here come from different parts of this continent, and for that reason, you might not be familiar with the history of this town.”

A few of the Pokémon in the crowd exchanged confused glances, and whispering could be heard between some of them.

“Sera, do you know what Stella is talking about?” Blitz asked.

“Um… I think I may have heard a bit about it before…” Sera responded, thinking for a moment. “But… I can’t really remember much.”

“What about you, Azure?” Chiaki asked, looking over at the Marill. “You know anything about it?”

“Nope,” Azure replied, shrugging slightly.

“Oh,” Chiaki responded, turning his attention back to Stella. “I guess Stella is about to explain it, so let’s just listen to her.”

“I really wish we had some popcorn about now…” Frederick commented.

The crowd went quiet once more, and listened as Stella began explaining how it all began, the beginning of a story that wasn’t over yet…

----

End of chapter 33

----
 
Last edited:

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone!

It's finally time for the first part of the backstory I've had recent chapters building up to. For that reason, the narration in this one is similar to that of the narration of Chapter 22. The narration in italics is Stella telling the Pokémon the story, while the regular narration shows more detailed just what happened back then.

As always, I hope you guys enjoy it, but if there's anything I should keep in mind for later, feel free to let me know.

----

Chapter 34: It’d be nice if something really big could happen soon…

----

“For many generations, a female Gothitelle has been the “town oracle” of this place. The first of these was a Gothitelle who used her powers to help Pokémon who had gotten lost in mystery dungeons, back when there weren’t any rescue teams. One night, that Gothitelle had a vision of a terrible storm, and warned the other Pokémon. Thanks to her warning, they were able to make the necessary preparations that allowed them to minimize the damage.

Ever since then, a descendant of that Gothitelle has held the position of the town oracle in this town, using their power to see the future to help the Pokémon there. Of course, how much a town oracle was really needed could vary from time to time.

It was in a seemingly peaceful time that this story began. This town was much smaller back then, and the current town oracle at that time was a Gothitelle named Cassandra…”


----

It was the start of a new day, and it was looking to be a bright and sunny one. While most of the Pokémon living in the nearby town didn’t mind getting up early, Cassandra was not too pleased when the sun shone through the opening in the ceiling of the stone building, disturbing her sleep. The Gothitelle sighed, and lazily opened an eye.

“Ugh, go away sun…” Cassandra muttered, raising her hand and telekinetically pulling the cover over the hole used to protect from the rain. “That’s better…”

Cassandra hoped to get another few minutes of sleep, but soon heard someone calling for her outside. After a few moments of trying to ignore them, she eventually opened her eyes and sat up.

“Okay, okay… I’m up…” Cassandra muttered, rubbing her eyes and heading down to the first floor. “One would think being the town oracle would at least come with the benefit of being able to sleep as long as one wants in the morning…”

Cassandra went to see who was at the entrance, and was greeted by a yellow humanoid Pokémon with a long mustache. He was holding a spoon in each hand.

“Good morning, Cassandra!” the Alakazam said cheerily.

“Yeah, sure,” Cassandra responded, yawning. “So, what do you want?”

“My, did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed today?” the Alakazam asked.

“I stayed up late looking at the stars, since that’s what town oracles are supposed to do,” Cassandra responded, crossing her arms and turning away. “Can you really blame me for being tired?”

“All right, fair enough,” the Alakazam replied, nodding his head. “So… See anything?”

“Visions of the future, you mean?” Cassandra asked, looking over her shoulder at the Alakazam. “Well, aside from a few Pokémon getting lost in mystery dungeons, I didn’t see anything particularly interesting.”

“Ah, I see,” the Alakazam responded. “So, if a Pokémon comes here asking about a friend who disappeared, you know where to send them.”

“I guess,” Cassandra replied, shrugging slightly. “Of course, considering how we’re encouraged to avoid the mystery dungeons and Pokémon are always telling their kids not to go near them, I don’t understand why some Pokémon just disregard that and get lost in there anyways!”

“Well, I suppose there are always those who let their curiosity get the better of them,” the Alakazam responded, chuckling a little. “Plus, some Pokémon might want to test their courage by exploring the dungeons. Remember when the two of us did that when we were younger?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Cassandra replied, nodding her head slightly. “I ended up having to do most of the fighting because you kept dozing off.”

“Hey, I was just an Abra back then,” the Alakazam responded, smiling sheepishly. “I needed a lot of sleep to maintain my psychic powers!”

“I know, I know,” Cassandra replied, smiling at the Alakazam. “So… Have you had any breakfast yet?”

“Oh, um… No, I haven’t,” the Alakazam responded, chuckling a bit. “I kind of forgot.”

Cassandra telekinetically picked up some berries from a basket, and began cutting them up.

“So, anyways… Aside from helping Pokémon finding their friends in mystery dungeons, predicting the weather and stuff like that… It doesn’t really feel like I’ve got a whole lot to do around here,” Cassandra explained while preparing the food. “Nothing ever really seems to happen around here, you know?”

“Well, things are pretty peaceful,” the Alakazam responded, nodding his head slightly. “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Yes, of course it is,” Cassandra said, shrugging slightly. “I just… I don’t know…”

“What is bothering you?” the Alakazam asked.

“Well, like I said, I guess I don’t really understand why I’m needed here,” Cassandra explained, telekinetically moving two plates of berries over to a nearby table. “As a town oracle, that is. I mean, once they manage to come up with a better way of dealing with Pokémon who get lost in mystery dungeons, the town oracle would pretty much be out of a job, don’t you think?”

“… Are you unhappy being the town oracle?” the Alakazam inquired.

“I don’t think “unhappy” is the right word for it,” Cassandra responded, sitting down at the other side of the table. “Maybe I… just wish I had more to do around here?”

“Like what?” the Alakazam asked, using one of his spoons to eat the berries.

“Well, town oracles are supposed to help the other Pokémon in this town, right?” Cassandra replied, sighing as she poked at a berry piece with a wooden fork. “Except… they don’t really seem to need my help for much else. They all seem to be doing fine on their own.”

“Ah, I see,” the Alakazam responded, nodding his head slightly.

The two psychic types quietly sat and ate their breakfast, not saying anything for a while.

“Simon, you’re pretty smart, aren’t you?” Cassandra asked, looking over at the Alakazam. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“Hmm… Cassandra, how well do you know the Pokémon of this town?” Simon inquired.

“Huh? Well, um… I know the names of most of them, and there are some I regularly talk to…” Cassandra responded, thinking for a moment. “Not sure if any of them would consider me a friend or not…”

“I see,” Simon replied, nodding his head slightly. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know some of the Pokémon in this town better myself, but I haven’t really gotten around to it yet.”

“Making more friends won’t solve the issue of not having anything exciting to do, though,” Cassandra responded, sighing. “It’d be nice if something really big could happen soon…”

----

“Perhaps you have heard the saying ‘be careful what you wish for’? Cassandra spent her time assisting the Pokémon in town with small things and they were grateful to her. However, even if it felt nice helping out, she just wasn’t satisfied and kept wishing something bigger would happen. Then, one night…”

----

Cassandra was mumbling something in her sleep, occasionally trashing about as something played out in her dreams. She saw a forest, with shimmering silver-colored grass and shining silver leaves on the trees. Then, a strange black cloud seemed to spread through the sky, and the silver plant life underneath it began to wilt. For a brief moment, everything turned red and a dark figure with three red gems below its neck and something resembling a witch’s hat on its head. The figure smiled widely just before Cassandra opened her eyes and saw the stars above through the opening in the ceiling.

She blinked a few times in disbelief, before sitting up and taking a few deep breaths.

“What… what was that?” Cassandra thought to herself, staring up at the stars. “Just a dream, or… was it a vision?”

Cassandra continued staring up at the sky for a while, unsure of what exactly she had seen and what it meant. Eventually, she tried to go back to sleep, knowing it probably wouldn’t be easy when there were so many questions on her mind…

----

The next morning, Cassandra got up despite still feeling rather tired from not getting enough sleep. She knew in her heart that she just had to figure out what that vision last night was about, but wasn’t sure if it would be necessary to tell anyone else about it. Still, perhaps some of the Pokémon in the town knew something about where the silver forest she saw was, and how to get there? She figured that was a good place to start looking for leads.

So she stepped outside, and walked down the path leading into the town. Looking around, one could see small buildings made from wood and a few of the Pokémon standing around and talking about different things that had happened recently. Cassandra soon spotted a wingless, long-legged avian Pokémon with three heads talking to a large, blue amphibian-looking Pokémon.

“… And that’s why I need someone with strong arms like yours to break down that wall,” the Dodrio’s middle head explained cheerfully. “So, will you help us out?”

“Hmm… You said you wanted to prove you could get through the mystery dungeon on your own, right?” the Swampert asked, holding a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “But if I come with you, even if only to help you with that one obstacle, then technically you wouldn’t have done it by yourself, right?”

“Uh, well…” the middle head responded, glancing back and forth at the other two heads.

“Kind of obvious, really,” the head on the left commented, rolling her eyes at the other two heads.

“It’s okay, girls, we don’t need him!” the head on the right exclaimed, grinning. “I bet we can jump over that barrier thing if we just get a really good running start!”

Cassandra had spoken to these two Pokémon a few times before, since they were among the Pokémon who were brave and strong enough to handle the mystery dungeons and locate missing Pokémon within them. Perhaps one of them knew something about the place she saw in her vision? She decided to approach them and ask about it.

“Hey there,” Cassandra said, waving to the two as she walked over.

“Oh, hi Cassandra!” the Dodrio’s three heads responded in unison.

“Good morning, Cassandra,” the Swampert said. “Are we needed for anything?”

“Huh?” Cassandra replied, before realizing what he meant. “Oh, you mean if I know of any Pokémon you need to help out? No, it’s not that.”

“Oh? What is it, then?” the Swampert asked.

“Well… I was just wondering if either of you happened to know something about a mystery dungeon…” Cassandra responded. “Do you know of a forest full of silver-colored plants?”

“Hmm… Can’t say I’ve heard of it,” the Dodrio’s middle head replied, looking at her other two heads. “What about you?”

“I haven’t heard of it either,” the head on the right said.

“Considering we share the same body, it’d be kind of difficult for one of us to have heard of something that the other two didn’t,” the head on the left commented.

“Oh, you have a point there…” the middle head responded, blushing slightly.

“You’re so silly!” the head on the right said, snickering a little.

“Girls, perhaps it is time to let someone else get a word in here?” the head on the left suggested, glancing over at the Swampert.

“Hmm… I think I might know what place you are thinking of,” the Swampert said. “I’ve heard of a place called the Silver Woods, and it’s likely that there might be a mystery dungeon there.”

“Oh, is that so?” Cassandra inquired, tilting her head slightly. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to get there, would you?”

“I’m afraid not,” the Swampert responded, shaking his head. “All I know is that it is quite the distance away from this town.”

“A long way to go, huh…” Cassandra said, putting a hand to her chin thoughtfully.

“Why are you asking about this, anyways?” the Swampert asked. “Did you have some sort of vision, or something?”

“Oh, I was just curious, really,” Cassandra responded, smiling at the two Pokémon. “Well, I think I’ll get going now. Thanks for the help!”

“You’re welcome,” the Swampert replied, waving to Cassandra as she headed off.

“… What do you think she’s up to?” the Dodrio’s left head asked once Cassandra was no longer within their earshot.

“I don’t know,” the Swampert responded. “Probably none of our business, though.”

----

“… You want to go to Silver Woods?” Simon asked, looking curiously at Cassandra.

“Well, you know a lot of things, so I figured you might know how to get there,” Cassandra responded, smiling at Simon.

“Why do you want to go there?” Simon asked.

“Oh, there’s just… something I wanted to investigate,” Cassandra replied. “So, what do you say? Think you can help me?”

“Hmm… I should be able to teleport us there,” Simon responded, tapping his two spoons together.

“Great! Let’s get going, then!” Cassandra said, smiling.

“Now, hold on,” Simon responded. “Since there’s a mystery dungeon involved, we should make some preparations before we head there. One never knows what to expect in those places, after all.”

“Oh, right,” Cassandra replied, nodding her head. “All right, I’ll leave that to you, then!”

----

“Cassandra and her friend Simon met up again later that evening. The two of them teleported to Silver Woods, and arrived at the entrance to the mystery dungeon. As they looked around at their surroundings, Cassandra was certain that this was indeed the same place as the one from her dream.”

----

“It’s beautiful…” Cassandra said, staring in awe at the sparkling silver plant life of the forest.

“Indeed it is,” Simon responded, nodding his head. “This place certainly has a mysterious feel to it as well.”

Cassandra smiled as she looked around at the surroundings, before remembering what she had come for.

“Come on, Simon!” Cassandra said, grabbing onto Simon’s arm and pulling him towards the entrance to the mystery dungeon. “Let’s try to get through the mystery dungeon before it gets dark!”

“All right, all right,” Simon responded. “Just be careful so you don’t tear my arm off.”

----

“Together, the two of them began making their way through the labyrinth. While they didn’t have as much experience with the mystery dungeons as some of the other Pokémon in the town did, they certainly had enough to handle the situation just fine. Plus, Simon’s teleportation powers allowed them to get away from large groups of wild Pokémon, which I presume helped them get through the dungeon faster.

As they went further into the dungeon, Cassandra began to feel uneasy. She began to wonder if it had really been a good idea to go there, but she also felt that since she had already gotten this far, there was no point in turning back. She had just had to figure out what her vision meant.

Near the end of the mystery dungeon, Cassandra and Simon got surrounded by a large group of Pokémon. Simon had run out of power for his Teleport move, but since they were close to the stairs, he decided to keep the wild Pokémon distracted while Cassandra could exit the dungeon. Cassandra was reluctant to leave her friend behind, but…”


----

“Simon, are you sure about this?” Cassandra asked, glancing back over her shoulder at Simon as she moved towards the stairs.

“Don’t worry about me!” Simon responded, sending a few of the wild Pokémon flying at a wall of trees with his psychic power. “I’ll be fine! You just go on ahead, and I’ll catch up to you soon!”

“Oh, o-okay…” Cassandra replied, nodding her head slightly.

While Simon continued to keep the wild Pokémon busy, Cassandra made her way up the stairs. As she exited the dungeon, there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. She couldn’t see anything unusual, anyways.

“Hmm… Is there nothing here…?” Cassandra wondered out loud. “No, that can’t be right…”

Cassandra wondered whether it was best to wait for Simon to catch up, or to head deeper into the forest on her own. As she tried to decide on what to do, she suddenly spotted something purple hovering behind some trees.

“Someone’s there…” Cassandra muttered, taking a step forwards.

The figure must’ve noticed her, as it suddenly flew off as fast as it could to get away. After a moment of hesitation, Cassandra decided to chase after it. It seemed to be faster than Cassandra, and even seemed to be able to fly right through the trees as if they weren’t even there. However, Cassandra refused to give up.

“I can’t lose sight of it, I just can’t…” Cassandra thought to herself.

Without even thinking, Cassandra formed a black orb of energy between her hands and fired it towards the figure. The other Pokémon glanced back to see if Cassandra was still following it, only to see the Shadow Ball attack flying towards it. It quickly moved out of the line of fire.

“No, I’m not letting you get away…” Cassandra muttered, using her psychic powers to make the Shadow Ball stop before it hit a tree, and then made it change direction.

This seemed to have caught the other Pokémon off-guard, and Cassandra heard a high-pitched shriek as the Shadow Ball hit its target.

“Oh! I got it!” Cassandra exclaimed, and hurried over to get a good look at it before it could try to flee again.

Cassandra saw a purple ghost-like Pokémon hovering just above the ground. As she looked at the hat-like tufts on the ghost Pokémon’s head and the gems on the dress-like body, Cassandra realized that it looked very much like the figure from her vision. The Mismagius trembled as it looked up slightly, and two red eyes were barely visible under the rim of the “hat”.

“What do you want…?” the Mismagius muttered softly, before suddenly looking right into Cassandra’s eyes and screaming. “What do you want!?”

----

End of chapter 34

----
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone! I'll be heading out on another trip tomorrow, so I'm putting up this new chapter today!

So, we're still listening to Stella's story about what happened to the past, and this time, we'll learn even more about certain characters that been mentioned in previous chapters.

I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and that you'll look forward to seeing what happens next!

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Chapter 35: This has nothing to do with you!

----

“Cassandra was standing face-to-face with the Mismagius, but was caught off guard by its sudden change in demeanor. It was understandable that the Mismagius was angry with her for attacking her, but Cassandra just hadn’t been able to think of any other way to stop her from trying to avoid her. With the Mismagius looking at her with such an intense glare, Cassandra just couldn’t bring herself to say a single word.

And then…”


----

“… Well? Answer me!” the Mismagius shouted, glaring at Cassandra. “Don’t just stand there!”

“I… I…” Cassandra stuttered, desperately trying to figure out how to respond. “I was just…”

“You were what?” the Mismagius asked, still glaring at Cassandra.

“I… I just needed to…” Cassandra sputtered, nervously taking a step back as the Mismagius hovered closer to her.

“Needed what?” the Mismagius asked. “Spit it out!”

Before Cassandra had the change to say anything else, they suddenly heard the sound of thunder in the distance. Cassandra briefly glanced upwards upon hearing the sound, but as far as she could see past the silver trees, there weren’t any dark clouds to be seen. As she looked down, she suddenly noticed that the Mismagius’ expression had suddenly gone from anger to… fear?

“No…” the Mismagius muttered, visibly trembling again. “Don’t tell me he’s…”

----

“The Mismagius suddenly flew off in a hurry, deeper into the forest. While she had a bad feeling about it, Cassandra decided to follow. It was even more difficult not to lose sight of the Mismagius this time, but Cassandra just had to know what was going on. It didn’t take long before Cassandra suddenly felt a shift in the environment and a chill went down her spine. As she glanced up, she noticed a red cloud in the sky, which was crackling with electricity…”

----

“That doesn’t look like a normal weather phenomenon to me…” Cassandra thought to herself, looking around a bit and noticing that there didn’t seem to be any other clouds around it. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before… Ugh, I’m getting a really bad feeling from it…”

Cassandra almost felt a little sick, but decided to keep going anyways. Eventually, she spotted the Mismagius again, and it seemed to be looking up at something. Stopping just behind the Mismagius, she noticed that the first Mismagius was looking up at another Mismagius. The other Mismagius was snickering as it looked up at the red cloud, and judging from the glow from the red gems on its neck, it was probably the second Mismagius who was creating the strange cloud.

“Yes… more… more…” the second Mismagius said, and Cassandra noted that this Mismagius had a deeper voice than the first Mismagius. This second Mismagius was probably male.

Suddenly, lightning from the red cloud struck some of the branches on the nearby trees, setting them on fire. While both Cassandra and the first Mismagius were both horrified, the second Mismagius just laughed as the silvery leaves burned to a crisp.

“No…” the first Mismagius muttered, before suddenly raising her arms, which looked like two sleeves on her dress-like body. “Stop this!”

The red gems on the first Mismagius’ body shone, and a breeze began to blow through the area. Cassandra thought she heard a whisper in the wind, something that sounded like an incantation of some kind. Somehow, it felt soothing. The second Mismagius was startled as the wind blew out the flames, and looked down to see the first Mismagius. The second Mismagius sighed, and made the red cloud dissipate.

“Pandora…” the second Mismagius said, shaking his head. “Why’d you interrupt my little experiment?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” the first Mismagius cried out. “You could’ve burned the whole forest down!”

“Relax, I had everything under control,” the second Mismagius responded, smirking. “I bet I could’ve made it even bigger if I tried…”

“Don’t even think about it!” Pandora exclaimed, glaring at the other Mismagius.

“What are you so upset about?” the second Mismagius asked.

“Erebos, you need to stop using this dark magic,” Pandora responded. “I keep telling you; these spells are dangerous!”

“Yes, you keep saying that,” Erebos replied, shaking his head. “However, I really think you’re overreacting. All I want is to truly understand the full potential of these dark spells, and there really is no better way to do that than actually using them.”

“I’m not overreacting!” Pandora yelled. “You don’t realize what these spells are doing to you!”

“You worry too much, little sister,” Erebos responded, smirking. “By the way, who is that Gothitelle over there?”

“Gothitelle…?” Pandora replied, turning around and noticing Cassandra. “You’re still here?”

“I… I was just wondering what was going on…” Cassandra said, looking down sheepishly.

“This doesn’t concern you!” Pandora shouted, glaring at Cassandra. “Just… go home! There’s nothing to see here!”

Cassandra nodded her head, and began walking back in the direction she came from. It was probably best to leave these Mismagius siblings alone, for now. Cassandra was certain she would be coming back here later, though. After all, those things the two Mismagius talked about… Cassandra was certain that it was related to the vision she had.

“Ah, there you are!” a familiar voice called out, and Cassandra looked up to see a certain Alakazam hovering towards her.

“Simon,” Cassandra said, smiling at him. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I told you I’d be catching up, didn’t I?” Simon responded, grinning. “So, did you find anything?”

“Yes, I guess I did…” Cassandra replied, nodding her head slightly. “For now, I think it’s best to head back to town, though.”

“That is probably a good idea,” Simon responded, looking up at the sky. “It is getting pretty late, after all.”

----

“That night, Cassandra watched the stars carefully, waiting to see if another vision would come. While she had a few visions, none of them showed Silver Woods or the two Mismagius. Eventually, she fell asleep. The next morning, she began thinking about what to do. After a while, she decided to find Simon, and ask him to send her back into Silver Woods.”

----

Cassandra walked through town, carrying a rolled up piece of paper under her arm. A few Pokémon were standing around and talking about things, others were looking at today’s selections at the nearby shops. There seemed to be a lot of Pokémon gathered around a stand where a yellow flower-like Pokémon with pink petals was selling fresh berries, and the Cherrim was cheerfully telling the different Pokémon about what types of berries she had for sale today.

Cassandra wondered if the other Pokémon were really as satisfied as most of them to be with their lives, or if there might be some who secretly felt the way she did.

“Good morning, Cassandra!” a familiar voice called out, and Cassandra looked up to see Simon approaching her.

“Simon, good timing,” Cassandra said, smiling at him. “I need you to take me back to Silver Woods.”

“Oh? You want to go back there so soon?” Simon asked.

“There’s… something I think I should investigate,” Cassandra responded.

“All right, if you say so,” Simon replied, nodding his head slightly.

“Thanks, Simon,” Cassandra responded, smiling. “Think there’s a chance you can teleport us to where we left off last night, so that we don’t need to go through that mystery dungeon again?”

“Hmm… I suppose I can try,” Simon replied, holding out his hands. “Just hold onto me, and don’t let go.”

“You never letting go of those spoons kind of makes holding hands with you a little awkward, you know,” Cassandra commented, chuckling a little as she held onto Simon’s hands.

“I suppose it does,” Simon responded, chuckling a bit. “Well, let’s head off, shall we?”

----

Only a few seconds later, Cassandra and Simon found themselves in Silver Woods once again. This time, they appeared at the area they had arrived at upon exiting the mystery dungeon. Cassandra let go of Simon’s hands, and looked around.

“Thanks, Simon,” Cassandra said, smiling at him.

“You’re welcome,” Simon responded, smiling back.

Cassandra then handed the piece of paper she had been carrying to Simon.

“Here, I wrote down a list of mystery dungeons where someone might get lost in the near future,” Cassandra explained. “Take it with you, and head back to town.”

“Wait… You don’t want me to come with you?” Simon asked.

“Well, if a Pokémon gets lost in a mystery dungeon, someone needs to tell the ones looking for them where to find them,” Cassandra explained. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure, Cassandra?” Simon asked, looking somewhat concerned.

“I’m sure,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head. “Just come back later to take me back home, okay?”

“If you say so,” Simon replied. “I’ll come back before the sun goes down.”

----

“After Simon went back to town, Cassandra went off to look for the two Mismagius. As she went deeper into the forest, she thought about what she was going to do or say once she found them. She figured the first thing she had to do was apologize to Pandora about attacking her before. Of course, Pandora might not be too willing to talk to her, but she still had to try it.

She had to go even deeper into the forest than she did last time, but finally, she came across Pandora once more…”


----

“There she is…” Cassandra whispered to herself as she finally saw Pandora.

She quietly approached the Mismagius, and eventually cleared her throat to get Pandora’s attention. Startled, Pandora turned around.

“What? You’re here again!?” Pandora exclaimed, glaring at Cassandra. “What do you want now?”

“I… I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday,” Cassandra responded, looking down at the ground.

“Is that all?” Pandora asked, sighing. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Just leave.”

Cassandra was about to say something, when she suddenly heard someone snickering behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see that Erebos had suddenly appeared behind her. He seemed amused by Cassandra’s startled expression, before simply floating right through her and over to Pandora.

“Pandora, my dear little sister, what are you doing?” Erebos asked, still snickering a little. “That is no way to talk to a surprise visitor.”

Pandora simply crossed her arms and looked away, not bothering to respond.

“So, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?” Erebos asked, looking over at Cassandra with interest.

“Um… My name is Cassandra,” Cassandra responded, feeling a bit nervous by the way Erebos was looking at her. “I’m the town oracle of Illumine Town.”

“Ooh, is that so?” Erebos inquired, smirking. “That’s pretty far away from here, isn’t it?”

“Um… Yes,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly. “I asked my friend to teleport me here.”

“When will your friend be back?” Pandora asked, glancing over at Cassandra.

“Very interesting,” Erebos commented, ignoring Pandora. “So, what brings you all the way to a place like this?”

“It’s… kind of hard to explain,” Cassandra responded, looking away.

“Well, as long as you’re here, perhaps you could help me out with something?” Erebos asked, snickering a little. “You see, there’s this spell I’ve wanted to try out for a while, but I need something living to try it out on…”

“Erebos!” Pandora exclaimed, giving him a stern look. “I will not allow you to do anything to this Gothitelle!”

“Not even if she agrees?” Erebos asked, before turning back to Cassandra. “What do you say, miss Cassandra?”

“Um… I don’t think I can help you,” Cassandra responded, shaking her head.

“Oh, too bad,” Erebos replied, seeming a bit disappointed. “Guess I’ll just have to find someone else, then!”

“No!” Pandora responded. “You’re not trying out any spells on anybody!”

“Pandora, are you going to be like this all day?” Erebos asked. “You don’t need to get so worked up about everything, you know.”

Pandora seemed like she was about to say something, but then just stopped and sighed sadly, turning away. Cassandra wondered how long things had been like this between the two Mismagius.

----

“Cassandra was starting to get an idea of what her vision had been about. The dark magic Erebos seemed so fascinated by… Perhaps it was going to cause some sort of disaster in the future. Cassandra wasn’t sure what to do, but knew she had to do something to try to prevent it. She could tell Pandora was troubled by what was happening, and she wanted to do something for her.

However, she didn’t know what to do. Realizing that she probably needed a second opinion, she decided to tell Simon about her vision and the two Mismagius…”


----

“… So, that’s what’s troubling you,” Simon said as Cassandra finished explaining.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you before,” Cassandra responded, telekinetically setting down two cups of tea on the table.

“Well, I’m not sure what to tell you,” Simon replied, stirring his cup of tea with one of his spoons. “I don’t have much experience with preventing potential disasters in the future.”

“I feel really bad for Pandora…” Cassandra said, staring down into her cup of tea. “I was thinking that, maybe… if I became friends with her… maybe something would change.”

“Do you think that can prevent whatever your vision warned about?” Simon asked.

“I don’t know,” Cassandra responded, sighing. “I can’t think of much else I can do, though…”

“Well, I suppose it is worth a try,” Simon said, taking a sip of his tea. “How do you plan on going about befriending her, though?”

“I’m not sure,” Cassandra responded. “I didn’t really make all that good of a first impression on her, and she doesn’t really seem all that interested in talking to me.”

“Considering the situation, it’s likely that part of her attitude comes from having much bigger concerns at the moment,” Simon commented. “Perhaps she doesn’t want anyone else to get involved, or thinks it is better to try to handle the situation on her own?”

“Probably…” Cassandra replied, nodding her head slightly. “I can’t just leave this alone, though…”

----

“After a few days of nothing out of the ordinary happening, Cassandra decided to head back into Silver Woods to speak to Pandora once more. She had taken some time to think about how to go about trying to befriend the troubled Mismagius, and hoped that she at the very least could convince Pandora to give her a chance. When she finally found Pandora…”

----

“Oh, where is he now…?” Pandora muttered under her breath, as she quickly flew past several trees. “I have a bad feeling about this…”

Seeing Pandora like this, Cassandra had a fairly good idea of what might be going on. Maybe this was a bad time to try to talk to her, but then again, Pandora might appreciate some help in locating her brother. Cassandra decided to take the chance, and stepped forward.

“Do you need any help?” Cassandra asked, waving to Pandora.

“… Why do you keep coming back here?” Pandora responded incredulously, before sighing and shaking her head. “And no, I don’t need any help! I can handle this on my own!”

“Are you sure?” Cassandra asked, looking somewhat concerned. “You’re looking for your brother, right?”

“This has nothing to do with you!” Pandora responded. “Please, just leave me alone…”

“But I might be able to help you!” Cassandra replied. “My mother often said that even if one is capable of handling a specific task on their own, one will often get things done faster with the help of others.”

“… You’re not going away, are you?” Pandora asked, glancing over at Cassandra.

“I know it’s a bit strange for me to keep coming back here,” Cassandra responded, looking down with a sheepish smile. “I first came here because I had a strange vision about this place, and… I think your brother and his dark magic may have been involved.”

“You… had a vision about my brother?” Pandora asked.

“I’m not really sure what I saw happen in my vision,” Cassandra explained. “But… I have a bad feeling about it. That’s why I want to help you.”

“But whether you had a vision or not, that doesn’t really change the situation here,” Pandora responded. “We don’t even know each other, so why do you want to help me? Why keep coming all the way out here for a total stranger?”

“Well… It’s just the way I feel, I guess,” Cassandra replied, thinking about it for a few moments. “I’m not entirely sure how to explain it…”

“So, you can’t give me a clear answer?” Pandora asked, looking away. “You can’t give me a good reason for why I should allow you to help me?”

“I… I guess not…” Cassandra responded, looking down at the ground. “Maybe I just… hoped this could lead to something... Something different from what I’m used to…”

“What do you mean?” Pandora asked, glancing over at Cassandra curiously.

“Things have been quiet and peaceful for quite some time, with no major problems for the Pokémon living in my hometown,” Cassandra explained. “Most of the Pokémon living there are happy with the way things are now, but… I guess I’m just different…”

“Different?” Pandora inquired, before looking around. “… Oh, what am I doing? I’m going to waste too much time if I don’t keep looking…” Pandora sighed, and then turned back to Cassandra. “I need to find my brother. If you’re going to explain more about your reasons for coming here, then help me look for Erebos while you talk.”

Cassandra smiled as Pandora finally accepted her help, and used her psychic powers to float alongside Pandora as the two of them searched for Erebos. As they looked around, Cassandra told Pandora more about her hometown and how she felt about her position.

“Hmm… I think I’m starting to understand,” Pandora said, glancing at Cassandra. “You’re not doing this for my sake.”

“Huh? What makes you say that?” Cassandra asked, looking over at Pandora.

“Oh, just admit it,” Pandora responded with a slight smirk. “You’re unsatisfied with your current life and you want to have a bigger purpose. Then you had a vision, giving you just the excuse you needed to get away from that boring little town for a bit.”

“Well, I… I guess that might be true…” Cassandra replied, blushing slightly.

“I bet you’re also hoping to find your true purpose in life by doing this,” Pandora said, snickering a little. “Trying to get closer to me is just a means to an end, isn’t it?”

“W-When you say it like that; you make it seem kind of selfish…” Cassandra responded, looking away in embarrassment.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Pandora replied. “Everyone is a little selfish at times, aren’t they?”

“Um… I guess?” Cassandra responded.

“And I think that’s perfectly fine,” Pandora said, nodding her head slightly. “That’s why I don’t think selfishness is really a bad thing.”

“Hmm… I guess that makes sense,” Cassandra responded, thoughtfully holding a hand to her chin.

Suddenly, both of them sensed something strange. They both hurried over to see what was going on, and soon spotted Erebos focusing on a glowing patch of grass, chanting some sort of spell.

“Erebos, what are you doing?” Pandora exclaimed.

Startled, Erebos turned around to see Pandora and Cassandra. He then noticed that the green glow was fading, and to his dismay, it faded away before he could finish the spell.

“Pandora, why’d you have to interrupt my spell?” Erebos asked, looking rather annoyed. “I was trying to create a giant parasitic plant that would eventually spread throughout the entire forest!”

“Why would you want to do that?” Pandora responded.

“Well, why not?” Erebos replied, shrugging slightly. “Guess I’ll just have to start over…”

“Erebos…” Pandora said, giving him a stern look.

“What’s the matter?” Erebos asked.

“You know perfectly well what it is!” Pandora responded. “These “experiments” of yours with the dark magic keep threatening to damage the forest, and you don’t even care! Please, Erebos, you have to stop it!”

“Hmm… You’re worried about the forest…?” Erebos replied, thinking for a moment before smirking. “So, you’d be okay with it if I did my experiments somewhere else?”

“No!” Pandora responded, shaking her head. “That’s not what I meant!”

Erebos just chuckled, before turning his attention to Cassandra.

“Ah, I see you’re here again too,” Erebos commented, grinning. “Did you change your mind about helping me test that spell?”

“Um… No,” Cassandra responded, taking a few steps back and shaking her head.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Erebos replied, shrugging slightly. “Well, if you do change your mind, let me know!”

“She won’t!” Pandora shouted, glaring at Erebos.

“Pandora, you really need to calm down,” Erebos responded. “Anyways, I think I’ll head home now.”

Erebos floated past Pandora and Cassandra with a slight smirk on his face, while Pandora just sighed. Cassandra wasn’t sure what to say to Pandora, if anything.

“… I should probably be heading home too,” Pandora said, looking over at Cassandra. “What about you?”

“Hmm… Simon should be coming to pick me up soon,” Cassandra responded. “He’ll take me back home.”

“I see,” Pandora replied, nodding her head slightly. “Hey, Cassandra… You don’t have to get involved in this…”

“Huh? But I want to help you…” Cassandra responded.

“I understand that you want to be able to help someone else, but I don’t think there’s much you can do for me,” Pandora replied, closing her eyes. “You’d only put yourself into danger, and I don’t want that.”

Cassandra wasn’t sure what to say.

“I’m sure you can find the purpose you’re looking for elsewhere,” Pandora said, not turning around to look at Cassandra. “So, don’t worry about me.”

“Pandora, I…” Cassandra responded, still unsure of what to say.

“Cassandra, I do appreciate that you were willing to help me, even if it was for your own sake,” Pandora replied, looking over at Cassandra with a small smile on her face. “I… hope you’ll find your happiness.”

“… What about you, Pandora?” Cassandra asked. “What will happen to you?”

“I don’t know,” Pandora responded, shaking her head. “But… that’s my problem, not yours. I hope you understand.”

Pandora floated away in the direction Erebos flew off in, leaving Cassandra behind.

“Pandora…” Cassandra muttered to herself while staring in the direction Pandora went.

----

End of chapter 35

----
 
Last edited:

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Gah! Missed out on a few chapters.

But yay, backstory! I like that we're finally getting a sense of what's going on with Erebos. And he's a delight, as always.

And I can't think of any specific problems with these chapters, (though as always watch out for those Said Bookisms) so nice job!
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
I'm back from vacation!

Anyways, thanks for your reply! I'm glad to see you're enjoying the look into the past so far. I also hope you all find the little bits of trivia I've been bringing up in recent chapters (such as early concepts for the characters of Hercules and Azure) interesting, and expect to see more of it in upcoming chapters, since a lot of it will be quite different from what I originally had in mind. Of course, it's probably for the better, since in retrospect, my original ideas didn't seem very well connected. I'll get into more detail about that later.

Also, I'm going through the previous chapters and fixing a few minor spelling errors.

That's about all I have to say for now. I hope to have another chapter ready for you guys soon, and in the meantime, you guys feel free to tell me what you think about the story/characters/writing/anything else about the fic. I'd love to know what you guys think, after all. :)
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hey everybody! It's time for another new chapter of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Reflecting Balance!

Hope you guys are all enjoying this look into the past, as Stella continues to tell her ancestor's story. Stella was always meant to be sort of a Mr. Exposition (or should I say, Ms. Exposition) character, using her powers to locate the crystals and telling the Pokémon what she knows about the backstory. I guess she's one of the characters who hasn't gone through as many changes as certain other characters from the initial planning stages.

Also, while I was writing this chapter, I realized that writing for a character with multiple heads is kind of awkward. Having a Dodrio character seemed like a fun idea at the time, but writing for three heads with different personalities is a bit tough. I wouldn't mind some advice on how to write such a character, if anyone happens to have any.
Anyways, here's a question for you guys:

Do you feel as if the story has gotten more serious with later chapters? And if so, at what chapter did you feel that this shift in tone began?

Let me know in a review/comment! And now, without further ado, here's chapter 36!

----

Chapter 36: But I don’t want you to suffer either!

----

“Cassandra understood why Pandora wanted her to stay away, but it just didn’t feel right to do so. After Simon brought her back home, Cassandra waited for the sun to go down so she could seek answers in the stars. And so she stayed awake until late at night, staring at the stars shining in the night sky in hopes of seeing something, anything that could help her figure out what to do. She stayed up as long as she could, until she eventually couldn’t stay awake anymore and fell asleep.

The next morning…”


----

Simon was on his way to see Cassandra. Since she had seemed rather troubled after her last encounter with Pandora in Silver Woods, he felt it was best to check on her and see if there was anything she wanted to talk about. As he was making his way through town, he happened to come across a certain Dodrio.

“Hello there, Simon!” the head in the middle cheerfully greeted him.

“Oh, hi there… um…” Simon responded, scratching his head with one of his spoons as he tried to remember the name of the three-headed bird.

“What, you don’t remember our name?” the Dodrio’s middle head asked, looking a bit confused.

“Well, we don’t know him that well,” the left head commented. “Still, one would think someone who is supposedly among the most intelligent species of Pokémon would at least know the names of some of his neighbors.”

“I bet it’s because he only has eyes for Cassandra!” the head on the right said, giggling a little.

“Huh?” Simon replied, blushing slightly. “W-What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know!” the head on the right responded, winking.

“Our name is Era, by the way,” the head on the left said.

“Right, Era…” Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. “Yes, I admit that I don’t really know most of the Pokémon around here all that well. I tend to spend most of my time at home, reading.”

“I see,” Era’s left head replied, nodding slightly. “By the way, what has Cassandra been up to these days?”

“We haven’t seen her around town much recently,” Era’s middle head said while tilting slightly to the side.

“Well, she’s been busy,” Simon responded. “It’s nothing you need to be concerned about.”

Simon then continued on his way, waving to Era as he left. The Dodrio’s three head exchanged glances as Simon walked away.

“Do you think he’s hiding something?” the left head asked, looking over at the other two.

“I’m not sure…” the head in the middle said. “Richter did say he suspected that something was going on, but I can’t tell if there is something or not…”

“Me neither,” the head on the right responded. “I say we forget about it, and find a good place to run around!”

“Ooh, that’s a great idea,” the middle head replied, nodding excitedly.

“… Okay,” the left head said. “I guess whatever those psychic types are up to isn’t any of our business, anyways.”

----

Simon walked up to the stone building, and peeked inside. He couldn’t see Cassandra, but could sense her psychic signature. He decided to teleport inside, disappearing in a burst of light and then reappearing on the second floor of the building. Cassandra was asleep on the floor next to her bed, snoring lightly and occasionally mumbling something in her sleep. Simon gently poked her with one of his spoons to see if she would react.

“Mm… What do you mean you lost the hammer…?” Cassandra muttered in her sleep as she turned over onto her side. “Ah… It exploded…”

“… I’m guessing you were up all night looking at the stars again,” Simon whispered.

Simon smiled and carefully used his psychic power to telekinetically lift up Cassandra and place her down gently onto her bed. He then teleported out of the room, deciding to wait outside the building until Cassandra was ready to wake up.

----

Cassandra didn’t seem to realize that she had been moved from where she fell asleep as she slowly opened her eyes. She sat up on her bed, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She then glanced up at the sky, holding her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun.

“Mm… I wonder what time it is…” Cassandra muttered. “Can’t really remember when I feel asleep either…”

Once she was fully awake, Cassandra could feel a familiar psychic signature. She quickly headed down the stairs and went outside to see Simon.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” Simon said, smiling at Cassandra. “Did you sleep well?”

“I don’t know,” Cassandra responded, shrugging slightly.

“You have a lot to think about, don’t you?” Simon asked.

“Pandora said not to get involved,” Cassandra responded, sighing. “But… I don’t think she’ll be okay on her own…”

“She’s worried you might end up in danger if you stay around her and her brother,” Simon said, tapping a spoon against his forehead. “While you’re worried about the danger she might end up in if left alone…”

“I guess that about sums it up…” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly.

“So… What will you do?” Simon asked.

“I… I won’t give up,” Cassandra replied, looking down at the ground. “I still don’t know what to do, but I know I won’t find any answers if I do nothing.”

“I see,” Simon responded, nodding his head. “If that is how you feel, then I suppose I’ll just have to trust your instincts.”

“I’m even sure if I trust my own instincts,” Cassandra said, looking up at some clouds in the sky. “… Maybe it’s selfish of me, but… Pandora said she doesn’t think selfishness is a bad thing, so… surely she’ll understand.”

“Whatever you do, just be careful,” Simon responded, looking down at the ground. “If anything were to happen to you, I…”

“Huh?” Cassandra replied, looking over at Simon.

“Oh, um… Never mind,” Simon responded, looking away.

“Hey…” Cassandra said, smiling as she walked up to Simon and placed her hands on his face, looking into his eyes. “I’ll be fine, I promise!”

“How do you know that?” Simon asked, staring into Cassandra’s blue eyes.

“I don’t,” Cassandra responded, shaking her head. “But, just trust me, okay?”

“Of course,” Simon replied, smiling at her. “I do believe in you, Cassandra.”

“Well, at least one of us does, then,” Cassandra thought, while keeping a smile on her face as she answered Simon. “Good.”

“So, let me know when you’re ready to head back into Silver Woods,” Simon said. “I will also do my best, for you.”

“Thanks, Simon,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly. “Knowing that you’re supporting me… it makes me really happy. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve a friend as good as you.”

----

“And so once again, Cassandra headed back into Silver Woods, while Simon would stay behind in town to help deal with any problems Cassandra had predicted and written down. Even if the Pokémon in Illumine Town were starting to suspect something, Cassandra felt that checking on the situation with Pandora and Erebos was more important. Besides, the Pokémon of the town would be just fine without her, so she didn’t really feel as if she needed to be there.

While looking for Pandora, she eventually came across Erebos…”


----

“Well, if it isn’t Cassandra!” Erebos said, smirking. “We’ve been seeing each other a lot these past few days, haven’t we?”

“Uh… Hi, Erebos,” Cassandra replied, smiling nervously. “Um… Do you know where Pandora is?”

“Ah, so you’re here to see Pandora,” Erebos responded, nodding his head slightly. “Follow me; I’ll take you to her!”

“Oh, thanks, Erebos!” Cassandra replied. “That’s really nice of you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Erebos responded, snickering a little. “And in return, you could maybe help me try out one of my spells?”

“Uh… I don’t think so,” Cassandra replied, shaking her head.

“I thought so,” Erebos said, shrugging slightly. “It was a worth a shot, though. Come on, let’s find Pandora.”

Cassandra followed Erebos until they reached a big tent built around a large hollow tree in the darkest part of the forest.

“Is this where you live?” Cassandra asked.

“Yes, it is,” Erebos responded, nodding his head. “Not a lot of Pokémon come this far into this forest, so it’s nice and quiet for the most part.”

“I see…” Cassandra replied, looking around.

“Come on, let’s go inside,” Erebos said, floating inside the tent. “Look, Pandora! You’ve got a visitor!”

Pandora looked up from a scroll of healing spells she was reading, and was surprised to see Cassandra.

“Cassandra, why are you here?” Pandora exclaimed.

“Because I wanted to see you again,” Cassandra responded, smiling at Pandora. “I want to get to know you better, Pandora.”

“Why?” Pandora replied, crossing her arms and trying to look aloof. “There’s nothing interesting about me.”

“You’re a ghost type Pokémon with magical powers,” Cassandra said. “What’s not interesting about that?”

“She’s right, you know!” Erebos commented, snickering a little. “So, how about I go get some refreshments while you girls talk?”

“Wait a minute!” Pandora said, glaring at Erebos. “Just where do you think you’re going?”

“Something wrong, little sister?” Erebos asked, glancing over at Pandora.

“I know what you’re up to,” Pandora responded, still glaring at Erebos.

“Relax; I’m not going to experiment with my dark magic somewhere in the forest while you and Cassandra are talking, if that’s what you think,” Erebos replied, with a slight smirk on his face.

“I don’t believe you,” Pandora responded.

“Oh? You really think I’d lie to you?” Erebos asked.

“You lie to me all the time!” Pandora responded, waving her arms in frustration.

“Oh… right,” Erebos replied, chuckling a little. “Anyways, you girls have fun! I’ll see you later!”

Before Pandora had the chance to protest, Erebos quickly flew off somewhere. Pandora sighed, and shook her head.

“I wish we had never found those dark magic scrolls…” Pandora muttered.

“I’m guessing Erebos wasn’t always like this?” Cassandra asked, sitting down in front of a table.

“Well… My older brother was always kind of mischievous, and would use his magical powers to play tricks on others,” Pandora responded, sighing. “He’s also always been very curious, wanting to learn everything he can about magic… I used to admire that, until it got us into this mess…”

“What happened?” Cassandra asked.

“We heard a rumor, of magic scrolls which supposedly held forbidden magic that had been locked in a chest and hidden deep inside a cave to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands,” Pandora explained, hovering over to the other side of the table to face Cassandra as they spoke. “Erebos wanted to investigate the cave, and… we found it, a chest full of magic scrolls.”

“And then what?” Cassandra asked.

“We looked at the different scrolls, and Erebos decided to try casting one of the spells to see if it worked,” Pandora explained. “I… I tried to stop him, but he cast the spell anyways… The magic was too powerful for him to control, and well… long story short, we were lucky that my Rain Dance move was enough to put out the flames.”

“Oh my…” Cassandra replied.

“We both agreed to just bury the scrolls somewhere and never try using them again, but… while I was resting that night, Erebos snuck out and retrieved the scrolls,” Pandora explained, sighing. “When I caught him using another one of those spells, he claimed that he just wanted to try one more spell… of course, that was only the beginning…”

“I see…” Cassandra responded, nodding her head.

“Erebos became more and more obsessed with unlocking the true power of the forbidden spells,” Pandora explained. “It became more and more difficult to reason with him… at this point, he doesn’t even seem to care about what I have to say…”

“Why don’t you just destroy the scrolls?” Cassandra asked, tilting her head slightly. “That way, he wouldn’t be able to use them anymore, right?”

“I’ve tried,” Pandora responded, closing her eyes and turning away. “He… caught me trying to burn them, and then he…”

“He… attacked you?” Cassandra asked, staring wide-eyed.

“Yes…” Pandora responded, nodding her head slightly. “When I regained consciousness, he had hidden the scrolls somewhere and put a spell on the box containing them so I wouldn’t be able to reach them without alerting him to it…”

“So, there’s nothing else you can do?” Cassandra asked.

“I don’t know…” Pandora responded, shaking her head. “Just like you, I too am desperately seeking answers… Erebos is the only family I have, so if I can’t save him…”

“Pandora, please let me help you,” Cassandra said, holding out her hand. “I don’t know what I can do for you, but at the very least, I want to support you.”

“No, I don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” Pandora responded. “That’s why I don’t want you involved in this.”

“I understand that,” Cassandra replied, nodding her head slightly. “But I don’t want you to suffer either!”

“… Why do you have to make this so difficult?” Pandora asked, shaking her head.

“I care about you,” Cassandra responded, placing a hand on her own chest. “I can’t just ignore this.”

“… I guess nothing I say will stop you,” Pandora said, sighing.

“So, will you give me a chance, Pandora?” Cassandra asked, smiling.

“… Okay, fine,” Pandora responded, nodding her head slightly.

“Thank you, Pandora,” Cassandra replied, grinning. “I promise you won’t regret it!”

“Well, whether I end up regretting it or not is not really anything you can control,” Pandora responded, before glancing around with a skeptical look. “… Erebos sure is taking an awfully long time to get those ‘refreshments’…”

----

Erebos snickered as he observed the small town from a distance, the Pokémon in it going about their usual business without any worries. He rubbed his sleeve-like hands together as he glanced around thoughtfully.

“So, that’s Illumine Town…” Erebos muttered to himself, smirking. “Looks like a boring place. No wonder Cassandra would much rather hang out with my sister.”

Erebos conjured up a dark mist, from which a few scrolls materialized.

“I could probably make the place a lot more exciting with my magic,” Erebos said, glancing at the scrolls while thoughtfully rubbing his chin. “As a present of sorts for Cassandra…”

Erebos suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, the scrolls hovering in a circle around him. He then calmed down, the scrolls vanishing.

“On second thought, there are probably a lot of Pokémon living there,” Erebos commented, tilting his head slightly to the side. “Probably at least a few strong ones I don’t want to deal with right now…”

Erebos floated around back and forth for a few moments, before another smirk appeared on his face.

“Ah, but I bet there are a lot of mystery dungeons around here…” Erebos muttered to himself, glancing around as a sinister smile crossed his face. “Good places for experiments without any interruptions…”

----

Cassandra and Pandora were walking around in the forest, looking around for Erebos. Both of them felt uneasy not knowing what he was up to, but as far as they could tell, things were peaceful in the forest.

“I don’t like this at all…” Pandora said, glancing over at Cassandra. “Can you feel anything?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary…” Cassandra responded, looking around.

“Well, if you sense anything at all that might lead us to him, let me know right away,” Pandora said.

“Of course,” Cassandra replied, nodding her head and smiling.

The two continued searching through the silver forest, but neither could detect any sign of Erebos’ presence anywhere nearby. Of course, this just made Pandora even more nervous, and Cassandra wondered if there was anything she could do to help Pandora calm down a little.

“So… You’ve told me a bit about yourself,” Cassandra said. “Is there anything you want to know about me?”

“Hmm… Well, there is one thing I’ve been wondering about…” Pandora responded, looking over at Cassandra. “Just how long have you been the oracle of your town?”

“Um… It’s been a little less than a year,” Cassandra replied, shrugging slightly. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I’ve noticed that you seem rather… inexperienced,” Pandora responded.

“It’s that obvious, huh?” Cassandra commented, chuckling a little. “Well, yeah… I guess I kind of became the town oracle before I was really ready for it…”

“What do you mean?” Pandora inquired.

“It all happened pretty fast,” Cassandra explained, glancing up at the sky visible between tree branches. “As my mother’s only daughter, I was destined from birth to be the town oracle when I grew up.”

“And, you were okay with that?” Pandora asked, tilting her head slightly. “I mean, having your future decided just like that…”

“Oh, I didn’t mind at all,” Cassandra responded, shaking her head and smiling. “My mother was really good at giving advice to and inspiring the other Pokémon in town, as well as getting them to work together when necessary.”

“Hmm… You mentioned something about that before,” Pandora commented, thinking for a moment. “Your mother used to say something about teamwork making it easier to do things faster?”

“Yes, she took those things very seriously,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head. “I looked up to her, and I wanted to help others, so I was okay with following in her footsteps.”

“I see,” Pandora replied, nodding her head.

“She taught me things I needed to know about being the town oracle,” Cassandra explained, closing her eyes for a moment. “She was always smiling, encouraging me to find my own path, my own way of helping others…”

“From the way you’re talking… I’m guessing she’s not around anymore?” Pandora asked.

“... I’m not entirely sure what it was,” Cassandra responded as she stopped walking for a moment. “But… I could tell something was wrong with her.”

Noticing that Cassandra had stopped walking, Pandora stopped moving as well.

“She kept her usual smile, acting as if nothing was wrong,” Cassandra said, staring into the silver grass. “But… she knew perfectly well that she didn’t have much time left… Before she succumbed to her illness, she apologized for having to leave so soon since there were still many things she wanted to teach me, but she also said she believed in me and that I would become a great oracle.”

“… I see,” Pandora responded, closing her eyes for a moment.

“It was a difficult time, but my friend Simon helped me get through it,” Cassandra said, looking over at Pandora. “A few months later, I finally accepted the town oracle position, which the other Pokémon in town seemed happy about, even if some of them were a bit skeptical because of my age.”

“… I’m sorry,” Pandora replied, turning away.

Both Pokémon were silent for a few moments, before Cassandra looked up at the sky once again.

“… Pandora, do you think she can see me from the other side?” Cassandra asked.

“I’m not sure,” Pandora responded, also looking up at the sky. “I know there probably is a connection between that world and ours; I don’t know the exact details of how it works.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Cassandra asked, looking over at Pandora. “Huh, I figured that being a ghost-type, you would know that.”

“I’m afraid not,” Pandora replied, shaking her head.

“I see,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly.

The two were quiet for another few moments, before Pandora looked around and sighed.

“We should keep looking for Erebos,” Pandora said.

“Yeah… Let’s keep going,” Pandora responded, nodding her head.

Cassandra and Pandora continued their search, but there were still no signs of Erebos.

“Where is he?” Pandora thought to herself. “Don’t tell me he…”

----

Meanwhile, in a lush mystery dungeon not far away from Illumine Town, a young Audino was hiding inside a hollow log while waiting for someone to come and deal with the wild Pokémon that were moving about on the floor. He could hear the footsteps of a larger Pokémon making its way towards the room he was in.

“Hurry up…” the Audino muttered, peeking out of the log.

The Audino soon spotted a familiar Swampert enter the room, and gave a sigh of relief.

“Richter, I’m over here!” the Audino said as he left his hiding spot.

“You okay, kid?” Richter asked, walking over to the Audino.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the Audino responded, nodding his head.

“Good,” Richter replied, looking around. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“I had one of those blue things that could’ve teleported me out of here,” the Audino explained. “But, I dropped it somewhere on this floor when the wild Pokémon started chasing me...”

“Understood,” Richter responded, nodding his head. “Let’s go find it, if it’s still here.”

“And if it isn’t?” the Audino asked.

“Then we’ll just have to walk,” Richter responded.

The two began looking through the maze, trying to find the Escape Orb that the Audino had dropped. Eventually, they found a small blue orb… encased in ice.

“Oh, there it is…” the Audino exclaimed as he pointed to it. “But… why is it frozen?”

“Good question,” Richter responded, holding a hand to his chin. “There aren’t even any ice-type Pokémon living in this mystery dungeon…”

Richter picked up the ice cube, examining it for a moment before attempting to crush it in his hand. He then tried using both hands, but the ice cube around the orb remained intact.

“… No use, I can’t break this ice,” Richter said, putting it back down on the ground.

“Guess that means we can’t use it to escape, huh…” the Audino commented, looking down at the frozen Escape Orb.

“Well, if it had worked, there’s a chance the orb would’ve been destroyed too,” Richter responded. “Anyways, let’s just keep walking. I think I know where the stairs might be.”

The two kept moving through the maze, looking for the way out. As they eventually reached the room with the stairs, they noticed that the floor was covered in ice, and a few wild Pokémon in the room were frozen in ice with frightened looks on their faces.

“Eek…!” the Audino exclaimed, looking around at the wild Pokémon encased in ice.

“… What happened here?” Richter wondered, being careful not to slip on the ice as he walked up to one of the frozen Pokémon to examine it.

“T-This is kind of creepy…” the Audino muttered, pressing his ear against the block of ice around one of the frozen Pokémon. “They’re still alive, at least…”

“I don’t think there’s much we can do to help them, though,” Richter responded.

“So… We just leave them like this?” the Audino asked, frowning a bit. “Will they be okay…?”

“I don’t know,” Richter responded, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

“R-Right…” the Audino replied, following Richter up the stairs.

----

Erebos snickered to himself as he returned to Silver Woods in the evening, and didn’t seem particularly concerned when he heard a familiar voice.

“Erebos, where have you been all day!?” Pandora exclaimed, giving him a stern look.

“Ah, Pandora,” Erebos responded, grinning. “Did you and Cassandra have fun today?”

“Answer my question!” Pandora shouted. “Where did you go? What were you doing?”

“That’s a secret!” Erebos responded, winking.

“This isn’t funny, Erebos!” Pandora replied, glaring at him. “If you don’t tell me where you were, I’ll…”

“You will… what, exactly?” Erebos inquired, leaning towards Pandora with a smirk on his face.

Pandora blinked a few times, before sighing and hanging her head so that her eyes were not visible under the brim of the hat-like tufts on her head. Erebos just snickered.

“I thought so,” Erebos said as he with one of his sleeve-like hands caressed Pandora’s “hat” while floating past Pandora. “You can’t do anything to me, Pandora. I’m the stronger of us two, and that’s just how it is.”

Pandora began to shiver, and as Erebos left, she bit her lip and wrapped her sleeve-like arms around herself as she started shaking more, her eyes still hidden under the brim of her “hat”.

“Pandora…” Cassandra said, taking a few steps towards the Mismagius.

“I’m not strong enough…” Pandora muttered under her breath, tightening her grip on herself to try to get herself to stop shaking. “I… I need to be stronger…”

----

“Cassandra couldn’t stand to see how Pandora was treated by her older twin brother, and wondered just what she could do about this situation. Surely, if she and Pandora put their minds together, they were bound to find some sort of solution? However, unbeknownst to Cassandra, the situation was already starting to escalate to a point where Pandora and Erebos’ well-being was not the only thing at stake…”

----

End of chapter 36

----
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Very nice! I like how tension in general seems to be building and Cassandra and Pandora's bonding.

And Erebos is creepy as always.

Can't wait for the next chapter!
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hello, everyone! School has officially started up again, and so far things are going great! Of course, things are only just getting started, and I'm sure things will get more difficult soon enough. I'm a little nervous, but I'll just have to do my best.

However, enough about that. After all, you guys are here for another chapter. Since I didn't really get a whole lot of answers on the question I asked with the previous chapter, I'll ask again:

Do you feel as if the story has gotten more serious in later chapters? If so, at which chapter would you say that the tone began to shift?

I'd really like to know what you guys think, so if you have the time, please leave a comment/reply! Thanks to everyone who has been following the story so far, and I hope you guys are enjoying it! Let me know if there's anything I can improve on!

----

Chapter 37: Well, I… I guess it has been a while since I had a reason to smile…

----

“Cassandra and Pandora agreed to spend the next few days looking over different magic spells, in hopes of finding something that could help them in their current situation. Surely, there had to be some way they could stop Erebos before things got worse. Later that night, while Cassandra was seeking answers from the stars…”

----

Cassandra carefully watched the stars through the opening in the ceiling, hoping to see something that could give her an idea of what to do next. At first, it seemed as if the visions were just going to be of the mundane kind, showing what the weather would be and what would be going on around town. However, the visions of the various mystery dungeons were much different than normal.

Cassandra saw glimpses of a sickly green mist filling a mystery dungeon, the wild Pokémon in it suddenly acting more aggressive as it spread. She then saw the floor of another mystery dungeon slowly freezing over, while another mystery dungeon seemed to have black, thorny vines sprouting from the ground and rapidly growing to cover the walls.

“These visions…” Cassandra muttered, staring at the sky. “Is it Erebos’ work…?”

As she concentrated a bit harder, she heard Erebos laughing maniacally and saw his silhouette surrounded by red wisps of fire as he hovered above one of the mystery dungeons.

“This is bad…” Cassandra whispered. “I didn’t think he would come here…”

Cassandra sighed, and thoughtfully held a hand to her chin as she paced around inside the room, pondering what to do next.

“Perhaps I may have to inform the other Pokémon in town about Erebos and Pandora in the near future…” Cassandra said, glancing up at the sky again. “I wonder why he’d come here, though…”

Cassandra frowned as she thought about it for a moment.

“It couldn’t be… my fault, could it?” she wondered out loud. “I guess… he might’ve gotten the idea of coming here since he knows that this is where I’m from…”

Cassandra sighed and sat down on her bed.

“Maybe I should just get some sleep…” Cassandra said, yawning. “I’ll try to figure out what to do about this tomorrow…”

Cassandra lay down and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and trying to clear her mind. Of course, it wasn’t easy to relax at a time like this. Still, she had to try to get some rest so she would be able to think clearly about what to do and how to do it. She would probably have to talk to both Simon and Pandora about it too.

----

The next day, as Cassandra was walking through town, she couldn’t help but glance over at some of the Pokémon standing around as she overheard their conversations. It seemed they were talking about seeing some strange things in the mystery dungeons, and Cassandra immediately knew what had to be the cause.

“Better find Simon…” Cassandra thought to herself. “I wonder if he already heard about this…”

She continued walking, but suddenly she heard someone calling her and turned to see a Swampert approaching her.

“Oh, hello there, Richter,” Cassandra said, waving to him.

“Hi,” Richter responded, waving back. “There are some things I’d like to ask you…”

“Huh?” Cassandra replied, glancing around nervously. “Um… Okay, but make it quick.”

“Okay,” Richter responded, nodding his head. “The other day, I came across something… rather disturbing in one of the mystery dungeons…”

“Cassandra!” three voices called out in unison, Cassandra turned to see Era running over to her and Richter.

“Hey, where have you been the past few days?” the middle head asked. “Strange stuff is happening, and it’s like, really… really strange stuff!”

“O-Oh, is that so?” Cassandra responded, giggling nervously.

“Cassandra!” more voices called out, and soon more Pokémon were gathering around.

“Hey, do you have any idea what’s going on in the mystery dungeons?” a concerned Leavanny asked.

“Well, I…” Cassandra responded, glancing around at the small crowd of Pokémon.

“What should we do about it?” a purple feline with a long tail and yellow circle patterns in its fur asked, the Liepard’s green eyes watching Cassandra intently. “Do we just stay away from the mystery dungeons?”

“Um… Maybe?” Cassandra replied, shrugging slightly while looking around and trying to figure out how to escape.

“What have you been up to the past few days, anyways?” a winged, bipedal mantis-like Pokémon with a red metallic body asked. “Is it connected to the strange things happening?”

“It… might be…” Cassandra responded, nervously rubbing the white ribbon-like feeler on the back of her head.

“Mmph mmmm mmmph?” a gray Pokémon resembling a rag doll with a closed zipper for a mouth asked, or at least Cassandra thought it was asking a question based on the questioning tone.

“Uh… I’ll have to get back to you on that one…” Cassandra responded.

“Are you hiding something?” the Liepard asked, giving Cassandra an accusing look.

“If you know what is going on, please tell us!” the Leavanny said.

“Mmph mmmmph!” the Banette added.

“Guys, calm down!” Cassandra exclaimed, using her psychic powers to float past the small crowd of Pokémon. “Listen, I’ll answer all of your questions later, but right now I need to go talk to Simon!”

Cassandra hurried off before the other Pokémon had the chance to say anything else, and once she had left, a few of them muttered something among themselves as they went off in different directions.

“… What is she thinking?” Richter muttered, before sighing and shaking his head.

----

After getting away from the other Pokémon, it didn’t take long for Cassandra to find Simon, much to her relief. She explained to him what she had seen in her vision, and what had happened on the way there.

“… I see,” Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. “But why didn’t you just tell the other Pokémon in town about what is going on?”

“I will,” Cassandra replied, sighing. “I just… I need to talk to Pandora about it first.”

“So, you want me to teleport you to Silver Woods?” Simon asked.

“Yes,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head. “Send me there now.”

“If you say so…” Simon replied, holding Cassandra’s hands and closing his eyes as he mentally pictured their destination.

----

“Arriving in Silver Woods, Cassandra immediately went off to find Pandora while Simon teleported back to town. She headed deeper into the forest until she came across Pandora, who was searching for her brother. The two headed over to Pandora and Erebos’ home, where Cassandra explained what she had seen in her vision…”

----

“So… That’s what he’s doing…” Pandora said, looking away. “I should’ve known…”

“I know I have to tell the other Pokémon in town about this,” Cassandra responded. “But, I wanted to let you know first.”

“I see…” Pandora replied, nodding her head slightly.

“What do you think we should do?” Cassandra asked, tilting her head slightly. “I don’t think the Pokémon of the town will be happy if I don’t let them know what’s really going on soon…”

“... I’m sorry, Cassandra,” Pandora responded, sighing. “Because of me, the Pokémon of your hometown are displeased with you…”

“Whoa, you don’t have to apologize for anything!” Cassandra exclaimed. “You were trying to keep me away, but I refused to listen. So, it’s my own fault, really.”

“… Should you even be here right now?” Pandora asked, looking over at Cassandra. “I don’t want you to get into even more trouble…”

“I can’t go home until Simon comes back to pick me up,” Cassandra responded, smiling at Pandora. “So, let’s try to come up with a plan together! Once we have a plan for how to stop Erebos from using any more dark magic, we can sort everything out, right?”

“… You know, it’s easier said than done,” Pandora replied, sighing. “But… I guess you’re right.”

“All right, let’s do this!” Cassandra said, grinning. “So, where do we begin?”

----

Meanwhile, in Illumine Town, Simon was trying to go unnoticed as he walked through town, as he didn’t know what he would say if one of the other Pokémon approached him. He could feel a lot of uneasiness from the other Pokémon around town, but wasn’t sure if there was anything he could do about it.

“Hey,” a voice called out, and Simon turned to see a Swampert watching him.

“Oh, hello there,” Simon responded, quizzically scratching the back of his head with one of his spoons. “Um… You are…?”

“Richter,” the Swampert replied.

“Ah, right,” Simon responded, nodding his head. “I really do need to learn everyone’s names one of these days… So, was there something you needed from me?”

Richter led Simon to a secluded spot where they could talk without needing to worry about anyone else interrupting them.

“You know what’s going on, don’t you?” Richter asked.

“Uh… Can you be a little more specific…?” Simon responded, twirling his long moustache around one of his spoons. “After all, there are always so many things that are going on all the time, so it can be difficult to keep track of everything, you know?”

“You know perfectly well what I’m talking about,” Richter said, looking straight into the Alakazam’s eyes. “Cassandra is hiding something, and if there’s anyone else in town that would know about it, it has to be you.”

“… I guess I can’t deny that, huh,” Simon responded, giving a nervous chuckle. “So, you want me to tell you everything I know?”

“No, that is not the reason why I wanted to speak to you,” Richter replied, shaking his head.

“Oh? Then, what is it?” Simon asked, tilting his head slightly.

“As you can probably tell, the other Pokémon are a bit disturbed by the strange things that are happening in the mystery dungeons,” Richter explained, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. “And the fact that the town oracle won’t answer their questions about what is going on isn’t exactly making the situation any better.”

“Well… Cassandra has had a lot on her mind lately,” Simon responded. “I’m sure she’ll explain everything soon enough.”

“Are you sure about that?” Richter asked. “I mean… I don’t even know what is going on, but you know what will happen if Cassandra continues to withhold information from everyone, don’t you?”

Simon quietly thought about it for a few moments.

“You care about Cassandra, and surely you don’t want the other Pokémon to turn against her, right?” Richter asked, looking at Simon.

“Well, that much is obvious, isn’t it?” Simon responded, sighing.

“Then, you’ll talk to her about this?” Richter asked. “After all, she’ll probably listen to you.”

“Yes, I’ll have a talk with her,” Simon replied, nodding his head. "She probably already realizes that she needs to share what she knows with everyone, though."

“Good,” Richter responded, smiling at Simon. “I’ll just leave this to you.”

As Richter walked away, Simon thought about what to do next. After a few moments of consideration, he decided that it was best to speak to Cassandra as soon as possible. With a quick teleport, he found himself in Silver Woods and went to look for Cassandra.

----

Meanwhile, Cassandra and Pandora were looking over different spells, and it seemed they had finally found something that could help them. Cassandra waited as Pandora held one of her sleeve-like hands to her chin while thoughtfully looking over the spell. The white bow-like feelers on Cassandra’s body suddenly flashed as she felt a familiar psychic signature nearby.

“Simon?” Cassandra said, looking out the window to see the Alakazam walking over.

“Ah, so this is where your friend lives,” Simon said, waving to Cassandra.

“Simon, why are you here?” Cassandra asked, while motioning for him to come inside.

“I wanted to see if you were making any progress,” Simon responded, stepping inside. “After all, you need to tell the town about what is going on as soon as possible, so if you haven't figured out what to do...”

“I know,” Cassandra replied, nodding her head and glancing over at Pandora. “But don't worry, I think we’ve found a spell that might help us with the current situation.”

“Oh, is that so?” Simon inquired, looking over at Pandora.

Pandora looked up from the scroll, and noticed Simon.

“Ah, you must be Simon,” Pandora said. “Cassandra has mentioned you a few times.”

“It is nice to finally meet you, Miss Pandora,” Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. “So, what is this spell you’re looking at?”

“It’s a spell that is normally supposed to be used to free those that are under a mind control spell,” Pandora explained, turning her attention back to the scroll. “I don’t know if it’ll do anything to clear the darkness that has infected my brother’s mind from his magic use, but I believe this is the closest thing we’ve got.”

“I see,” Simon responded, nodding his head. “It certainly might be worth a try.”

“However, since I don’t know if it’ll be enough…” Pandora said, sighing. “I’m going to see if I can… make just a little alteration to the spell.”

“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked.

“I’ll… make it so that the spell will erase all memories of the dark magic from my brother’s mind,” Pandora responded, looking away.

“Whoa, that… sounds kind of extreme,” Cassandra replied, blinking a few times.

“I wouldn’t do such a thing if I didn’t think it was necessary to save my brother,” Pandora responded, still looking away from the two psychic types. “It is the only way to make sure my brother can never use the dark magic again.”

“… I understand,” Cassandra eventually replied, nodding her head slightly. “So, how do we do this?”

“Well, that’s another problem…” Pandora responded, turning to look at Cassandra and Simon. “I doubt Erebos would just hold still and allow me to do this, so we’ll need to use a certain spell to keep him from escaping.”

“I see…” Cassandra replied, holding a hand to her chin. “Do we have such a spell?”

“Yes,” Pandora responded, nodding her head. “It is meant to be used to draw certain spirits to your location, but ghost-types are similar enough that the spell can be used on them with only a few minor changes.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Cassandra said, crossing her arms. “So, should we get started right away?”

“Actually, there is one other thing…” Pandora responded, showing Cassandra one of the scrolls. “Both of the spells we’ll be using require certain ingredients.”

“Oh, they do?” Cassandra asked, examining the scroll.

“Hmm… It may take a while to gather all of these things,” Simon commented as he peeked over Cassandra’s shoulder at the scroll. “You’ll have to go through several mystery dungeons to reach the places where these things can be found.”

“Mystery dungeons, huh…” Cassandra responded, holding a hand to her chin as she thought about it for a moment, before a smile suddenly appeared on her face.

“What is it?” Pandora asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Okay, here’s what we will do,” Cassandra said, grinning. “We’ll have Simon teleport the three of us back to town, then we’ll inform the others of what is going on, and then we’ll ask everyone to help us gather the ingredients we need!”

“Wait, all three of us…?” Pandora asked, looking away. “I… I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

“I think it sounds like an excellent idea,” Simon commented. “We do need to inform the town, and if we can get everyone to pitch in, we’ll have the ingredients we need in no time!”

“But… they might not trust me…” Pandora said, looking down at the floor. “After all… My brother is the one who is causing all this chaos…”

“It’ll be fine,” Cassandra responded, walking up to Pandora. “Since you’re a friend of the town oracle, I’m sure they won’t mind having you around for a bit!”

“... Did you just say that I’m… your friend?” Pandora asked, looking up at Cassandra.

“Oh, sorry, is it too soon to be calling you that?” Cassandra responded. “I know we’ve only known each other for a little while, so...”

“Friend…” Pandora repeated softly, giving a small smile as she contemplated it. “I… like the sound of that…”

“Pandora, you… you just smiled!” Cassandra exclaimed, and found that she couldn’t help but smile too. “This is the first time I’ve seen you smile!”

“Oh?” Pandora responded, looking a little surprised. “Well, I… I guess it has been a while since I had a reason to smile…”

Seeing Pandora’s gentle smile filled Cassandra with determination. She hoped that their plan would work, and that Pandora would have a reason to smile again soon. She turned to Simon, looking into his eyes.

“You know what to do, Simon!” Cassandra said, grinning.

“Yes, Cassandra,” Simon responded, nodding his head. “Come closer, you two.”

Cassandra walked up to Simon and took his hand in hers, before holding out her other hand to Pandora. Pandora hesitated a bit, before hovering over to the two psychic types and reaching out her sleeve-like hands so that Pandora and Simon each could hold onto one of them with their free hands.

“All right, let’s go!” Simon said, closing his eyes. “Next stop is Illumine Town!”

Cassandra flashed Pandora a reassuring smile, and Pandora gently nodded her head before the three of them were teleported away in a burst of light.

----

Erebos snickered as he watched two wild Pokémon fight each other under the influence of one of his dark spells. He conjured up a magic scroll, and looked over it with a satisfied smirk before making it disappear and conjuring up another. He began reading through the contents of the scroll, occasionally glancing down at the battle below him.

“Hmm… Making a Parasect unable to receive the signals that the mushroom on its back sends out…?” Erebos commented, tilting his head slightly. “That’s an oddly specific spell, but certainly something I’ll keep in mind if I happen to see a Parasect.”

He chuckled a little as the two wild Pokémon were clearly getting tired from their aggressive fight, yet they kept the battle going anyways.

“The spell I used to hypnotize these wild Pokémon worked really well,” Erebos said with a satisfied grin. “I think I may have found my new favorite spell!”

Erebos continued laughing to himself as he flew off to find more Pokémon inside the mystery dungeons to try his dark spells on, not bothering to stay and watch the outcome of the fight he had initiated.

----

“Erebos continued his experiments, while Cassandra, Pandora and Simon were about to set their plan to stop him into motion. Cassandra was certain that if they could get the Pokémon of Illumine Town to help them, then everything would be fine. However, as some of you might have experienced yourselves, things rarely go exactly as you planned…"

----

End of chapter 37

----
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Wow, it's almost been a month since the last chapter. This chapter took me a bit longer to finish than I expected. I originally wanted to get it done before I had one of my wisdom teeth removed a couple of weeks ago, but I soon realized I wouldn't be able to finish it by then. The wisdom tooth removal went really well, by the way. I still need to have the other three removed, though. Next one will be sometime in January, I think.

But enough about teeth. After all, you're here for the newest chapter, aren't you?

Thanks to everyone who has been following the story so far, and I hope you're enjoying it! If you have any thoughts about the plot/characters/story or whatever, feel free to let me know!

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Chapter 38: If this works, then surely there won’t be any doubt anymore.

----

“When they returned to Illumine Town, Cassandra sent out a telepathic message to all the Pokémon in town, letting them know she wanted to tell them something. It didn’t take long before they had all gathered in the center of town, wondering what the town oracle had summoned them for…”

----

Cassandra took a deep breath as she prepared to address the crowd, mentally trying to work out what she was going to say to them. She, Simon and Pandora were a short distance away from where the other Pokémon had gathered, and could hear them talking amongst themselves as they wondered just what was going on. Several of them were simply curious and hoped that their town oracle would explain what was going on and what they were going to do about it, if anything. However, there was also a bit of frustration emanating from the crowd, since Cassandra hadn’t explained anything about this sooner.

The tension in the air was making Pandora feel even more nervous about asking them to help gather ingredients for the spell they were going to use to stop Erebos, and she wanted nothing more than to go home and hide in the darkness. As Cassandra was about to step forward, Pandora wrapped her sleeve-like arms around Cassandra’s thin, black arm.

“Cassandra, I’m sorry,” Pandora said, looking down at the ground. “I… I don’t think I can do this…”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” Cassandra responded, touching Pandora’s arms with her free hand. “I’m sure I can convince them to help us out!”

“No, they’ll blame me for keeping you away from town and refuse to help me,” Pandora replied, tightening her grip slightly. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but… this just isn’t going to work out…”

“Pandora, we won’t know until we try,” Cassandra responded, trying to free her left arm from Pandora’s grip. “Just trust me, okay?”

Pandora just remained silent for a few moments, before somberly nodding her head and letting go of Cassandra’s arm. Pandora nervously watched as Cassandra went to address the crowd.

“I don’t know exactly how well Cassandra knows the Pokémon of this town, but it seems she knows at least some of them well enough,” Simon commented.

“What do you mean…?” Pandora asked, glancing over at Simon.

“While bothered by the strange events, some of them are clearly concerned about Cassandra herself,” Simon said, smiling as he thought back to his conversation with Richter. “It’s just nice to know that I’m not the only one looking out for her.”

“I see…” Pandora responded, nodding her head slightly.

“So, if these Pokémon truly believe in Cassandra, I’m certain that she will be able to convince them to trust you as well,” Simon said, giving Pandora a reassuring look.

“… I hope you’re right,” Pandora muttered, staring into the ground.

Pandora tried to hide herself behind Simon as the two of them followed Cassandra. Soon, all eyes were on Cassandra.

“Everyone, there’s something I need to tell you all,” Cassandra said, looking out over the crowd. “So, please stay calm and listen to what I have to say.”

----

“Cassandra began telling the other Pokémon about the vision she had had and how it led her to Silver Woods, where she met Pandora and Erebos. She explained to them what Pandora had told her, about the dark magic and how it had been corrupting Erebos, and that Erebos was the one responsible for the strange things that had been happening in the mystery dungeons near Illumine Town.

After that, she told them of the plan she and Pandora had come up with, and how they needed some help to gather the ingredients for the spells…”


----

“… And, that’s about it,” Cassandra said as she concluded her explanation. “Are there any questions?”

“Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?” one of Era’s heads asked.

“I didn’t want to worry anyone,” Cassandra responded. “However, once Erebos came here, I knew something had to be done, which is why I had to talk to Pandora and come up with a plan before I told you all. I’m sorry for any trouble I caused.”

“Hmm… Can we really trust that Mismagius?” a Liepard asked, pointing a claw at Pandora, who was just silently staring into the ground. “I mean, if the trouble-maker is her brother…”

“She has a point,” a Scizor commented, crossing his arms. “How do we know that the Mismagius won’t betray us?”

“Pandora wants to make sure that Erebos won't be corrupted any further by the dark magic,” Cassandra responded, throwing a quick glance over at the Mismagius. “If she can use her own magic to stop him, and we can provide the ingredients she needs, then shouldn’t we all just work together?”

Pandora nervously looked up at the various Pokémon as she heard a few murmurs from the crowd, some of them looking a bit skeptical while others just seemed uncertain and concerned. None of them seemed entirely sure about what to do.

“I knew this was a bad idea…” Pandora whispered, looking away. “They won’t help me…”

“Don’t give up just yet,” Simon whispered back.

Cassandra just quietly waited for a few moments, looking out over the crowd and trying to get a general idea of how they felt about the idea. She began to feel a little nervous herself as she picked up on the feelings from the crowd, but she tried not to let it show. After all, she was the town oracle. She had to remain calm, and inspire and give advice to the Pokémon of Illumine Town.

She felt as she had to say something, show the Pokémon of the town that she had full control and knew what she was doing. However, what could she say to convince them?

“I… I know some of you might have your doubts, since I didn’t tell you about any of this until now, and again, I’m sorry,” Cassandra said.

“It’s not just that,” Era’s left head commented. “This plan of yours… It sounds kind of crazy…”

“So, you mean it’s crazy enough to work?” Era’s middle head questioned, looking over to her left with a hopeful smile.

“No, just crazy,” the left head responded.

“Oh…” the middle head replied, looking down at the ground.

“Guys, we won’t know if it’ll work or not until we try it,” Cassandra responded, throwing a quick glance over at Simon and Pandora. “I mean… Pandora is the only one who has the knowledge and power we need to solve this, so…”

The Pokémon in the crowd continued to exchange glances and talk amongst themselves, some of them acknowledging that Cassandra had a point, but that they were still skeptical about the whole thing. After a few moments, Richter, who had just quietly been listening this whole time, decided to speak up.

“I’ll do what I can to help,” Richter said, looking up at Cassandra. “Since we don’t really have any better options, I’d say we better get started on this as soon as possible.”

Cassandra couldn’t help but smile, and it didn’t take long before she felt a change in parts of the crowd.

“We’ll help too!” Era’s middle head cheerfully exclaimed, while her other two heads nodded in agreement. “You can count on us!”

Pandora looked on in surprise as more of the Pokémon decided to help. Simon smiled at the Mismagius, and motioned for her to move forward. Pandora reluctantly hovered over to Cassandra’s side.

“Uh… H-Hi everyone…” Pandora said, meekly waving to the crowd. “I… I’m sorry about the trouble my brother has caused, and… I’ll do my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again, I promise…”

“Tell everyone what they need to do, Pandora!” Cassandra said, smiling at Pandora.

“R-Right…” Pandora responded, nodding her head. “Please listen to me, everyone…”

----

“Pandora began explaining which ingredients were needed for the spells. While some of the Pokémon of the town were still a bit skeptical, they still joined in as everyone began putting together a plan for how they would proceed. They soon decided that the Pokémon that were to gather the ingredients would be organized into teams consisting of two, three or four Pokémon, and that they would be sent to the mystery dungeons that they were best suited to explore depending on their type and species.

In order to reach the faraway places quickly, they would make use of Simon’s teleportation powers. However, they also needed a way to make it back to town quickly, and so they had to gather as many Escape Orbs as they could find…"


----

Simon examined the small blue wonder orbs that one of the shopkeepers had brought over, before nodding his head and adding them to the small pile of Escape Orbs that had been gathered so far. He then glanced over at the shopkeeper, a gray moth-like Pokémon with yellow wings with orange patterns.

“These are all the Escape Orbs you have at the moment?” Simon asked.

“Yes,” the Mothim responded, nodding his head slightly. “I still have some other types of wonder orbs left, if you need any.”

“Thanks,” Simon replied. “If we need anything else, we’ll let you know.”

The Mothim returned to check on his shop, while Simon glanced over at Cassandra and Pandora who were just a short distance away from him. Cassandra was currently discussing something with a Leavanny, while Pandora just quietly hovered beside her and listened to whatever they were talking about. Cassandra held a hand to her chin for a moment while she thought about something the Leavanny had apparently suggested, before smiling and nodding her head as she responded to the Leavanny.

Simon couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but seeing Cassandra so excited and cheerful made him smile. Simon just watched for a while, before he suddenly heard someone giggling and turned to see Era looking at him.

“What is it?” Simon asked, taking a step back.

“Working hard for Cassandra’s sake, aren’t you?” Era’s right head asked, cheerfully swaying from side to side until accidentally bumping into the middle head.

“Ow!” the middle head exclaimed, blinking a few times before looking to her right. “Don’t do that!”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” the right head responded, looking down sheepishly. “I totally forgot you were there!”

“... I’m not even going to comment on that one,” Era’s left head said, rolling her eyes.

“Um… Was there something you wanted…?” Simon asked, looking slightly confused.

“Oh, it’s nothing!” the right head replied, winking at Simon. “Just keep working hard!”

“Uh… Of course,” Simon responded, rubbing the back of his head. “I mean, everyone is doing what they can, so I’ve got to do what I can to help as well.”

Era ran off to help with something else, and Simon just shook his head and decided to count the Escape Orbs again to check how many were currently gathered.

“Just what was that about…?” Simon muttered to himself as he telekinetically picked up the orbs one by one and mentally counted them.

“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

Simon turned to see Richter walking up to him, and noticed that a Banette was currently sitting on top of the Swampert’s head for no apparent reason.

“What do you mean?” Simon asked, curiously glancing at the Banette for a moment.

“Well, Simon, the Pokémon of this town may not know you very well,” Richter responded, crossing his arms. “But your feelings for Cassandra… I’m pretty sure everyone in town knows about that.”

“E-Everyone…?” Simon replied incredulously, glancing around.

“Yep,” Richter responded, nodding his head.

“Mmph mm!” the Banette replied affirmatively, snickering a little.

“T-That’s… I don’t…” Simon stuttered, his face having turned red. “I-I don’t see how this is relevant to the current situation at hand!”

“You’re right,” Richter responded. “We should be getting back to work.”

“Mmph mmmph!” the Banette said, cheerfully waving good-bye to Simon as he and Richter walked away.

Simon just shook his head, and looked over at the Escape Orbs again.

“Wonder how many of these we need…” Simon commented, tapping one of his spoons against his face.

Simon glanced back over at where Cassandra was. The Leavanny she had been talking to earlier was now nowhere to be seen, and Cassandra was instead talking to Pandora. Simon decided to go check on how they were doing.

“How are things going over here?” Simon asked as he walked up to the two.

“Things seem to be going well so far,” Cassandra responded, smiling at Simon. “And you?”

“Well, we’ve gathered seventeen Escape Orbs so far,” Simon replied.

“Wow, that’s great!” Cassandra responded, looking over at Pandora. “Isn’t that great?”

“Yes, that is pretty good,” Pandora replied, thinking for a moment. “Since the wonder orbs can only be used once, it’d be good to have some leftover if some of the teams fail to obtain the ingredients they need to find on their first try…”

“That reminds me, do we even know how many teams there will be?” Cassandra asked, tilting her head slightly.

“I’ll go check the status on that,” Simon responded.

“Thanks, Simon!” Cassandra replied, grinning. “You’re the best!”

“No problem,” Simon responded, smiling back. “I’ll do anything for you, Cassandra!”

“Oh?” Pandora inquired, tilting her head slightly.

“Ah, did I say that out loud?” Simon responded, blushing slightly. “Uh, I mean… Because we’re friends, and… um… I’m going to go check on that thing now!”

Simon quickly left to go check on the other Pokémon, breathing a sigh of relief once he was out of Cassandra and Pandora’s earshot.

“Ah, I’m not very good at this, am I?” Simon said to himself, leaning against a tree. “Well, maybe I’ll be brave enough to tell her someday… but for now, I have other things I need to do.”

----

“Soon, the first set of preparations was complete, and Simon could begin sending the different teams of Pokémon to the mystery dungeons in which the ingredients for the spell could be found. A Leavanny had with the help of an Audino made scarves and other accessories for the different teams, to help make it easier to identify which Pokémon were part of what team by the color of the scarves.

Over the next few days, Pandora would stay in Illumine Town during the day, looking over what progress had been made with Cassandra and Simon and what ingredients had been gathered, while returning to Silver Woods at night so Erebos would not suspect anything when he returned home after spending the day experimenting with different spells elsewhere.

Of course, she wished there was something she could’ve done to keep Erebos from using his dark magic so he wouldn’t cause any trouble while preparations were still being made. Since there wasn’t much she could do about it, she just had to hope that everything would be ready soon, and that the spell would work.

Finally, the day when the last of the ingredients were gathered came, and soon everything would be ready…”


----

Pandora watched as Simon used his spoons to dig a pattern into the ground, following the instructions on a scroll. Simon occasionally glanced up at Pandora to check if he getting the details right, to which Pandora responded with a quick nod. After a while, Cassandra walked over to the two with a big smile on her face.

“Two of the teams just returned with the last ingredients we needed!” Cassandra said, grinning.

“Ah, that means our preparations should be complete soon,” Simon responded, looking up at Cassandra and Pandora.

“Yeah, I guess they will…” Pandora replied, thinking about it for a moment. “If I can get everything ready, I might be able to cast the spells later this evening…”

“Well, in that case, I’d better continue working on this, then!” Simon said, and continued working on the pattern on the ground.

Pandora took a deep breath, and looked over her magic scrolls one more time. In only a few more hours, she would probably have everything ready. If things went as planned, she wouldn’t need to worry about Erebos using any more of that dark magic. However, she knew things likely wouldn’t go back to exactly the way they were before. She just hoped that Erebos would realize that she was doing it for his own good, and that he would eventually forgive her for this…

“Cassandra, I…” Pandora said, looking over at the Gothitelle.

“Huh?” Cassandra replied, tilting her head slightly. “What is it?”

“I… I wanted to thank you,” Pandora responded, glancing down at the ground. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“You’re welcome, Pandora,” Cassandra replied, smiling and looking up at the sky. “I guess you can thank the stars too, since they guided me to you.”

“The stars…?” Pandora inquired, looking up at the sky. “But… we can’t see any stars during the daytime.”

“Just because you can’t see them, that doesn’t mean they’re not there, right?” Cassandra responded, glancing over at Pandora for a moment. “I’ve been told that some Gothitelle can receive visions when it isn’t nighttime.”

“Hmm… I guess you’re right,” Pandora replied, nodding her head slightly. “Even during the daytime, the stars are still up there somewhere, even if we can’t see them…”

“Yeah, that’s how it is,” Cassandra responded, smiling.

Pandora looked over at Cassandra again, and smiled.

“You’re actually quite a good oracle, you know that?” Pandora asked, still smiling.

“Huh? Oh, I’m not, really,” Cassandra responded, shaking her head. “I’m still not really sure what I’ll do after this, when everyone can return to their normal lives…”

“But Cassandra, look around!” Pandora said, pointing around at some of the Pokémon. “You convinced them all to work together on this, helping with our plan.”

“Well, yes, I did do that…” Cassandra responded, thinking about it for a moment.

“You may have done a few things wrong, but you’ve made up for that, haven’t you?” Pandora asked, looking over at the pattern Simon was digging into the ground. “If this works, then surely there won’t be any doubt anymore.”

“You’re… sounding unusually optimistic about this,” Cassandra replied, blinking a few times.
“I can’t help it,” Pandora responded, blushing slightly. “When you’re around... I don’t feel as scared, because… I know I’m not alone…”

Cassandra smiled, and took one of Pandora’s hands into her own.

“Of course you’re not alone,” Cassandra responded, looking into Pandora’s eyes. “Even after this is over and we’ve saved your brother… Let’s stay in touch, okay?”

“… Sure,” Pandora replied, smiling back. “I’d like that.”

----

“And so, Pandora prepared the ingredients that had been gathered by the Pokémon of Illumine Town for the spell. With the help of Cassandra, Simon and the others, everything was ready by evening. As the sun was going down in the distance, Pandora was getting ready to begin casting the spell. This was the moment that everyone had been building up to in the past few days…”

----

Pandora took a deep breath, before pouring a mixture of the ingredients she had prepared into the pattern that Simon had dug into the ground. She glanced over at Cassandra, who just nodded and gave Pandora a reassuring smile. Pandora smiled back, and then turned back to look at the pattern on the ground. She closed her eyes, and began chanting an incantation of some sort. The pattern on the ground turned pink, and began to glow as Pandora spoke.

She opened one of her eyes for a moment, letting an orb of ghostly energy for between her hands as she continued chanting the spell, before tossing the orb into the center of the glowing pattern. The orb was absorbed into the light, and the glow got brighter. Suddenly, something shot out from the center of the pattern, and flew off into the distance…

Meanwhile, in a mystery dungeon near a river, Erebos was cheerfully humming to himself while using one of his spells to dry up the water that made up the floor of the maze. The wild Pokémon of the dungeon seemed rather annoyed by this, but Erebos didn’t particularly care and was instead trying to decide on which spell he wanted to use on them. However, before he could cast another spell, he suddenly spotted something in the sky.

A magical force began pulling him away, and as much as he struggled to break free, it forced him out of the mystery dungeon and kept on pulling him further away. In only a few moments, he found himself trapped inside some sort of force field, and examining his surroundings, he realized that he was now in Illumine Town, and he spotted his sister Pandora hovering nearby.

“Pandora…?” Erebos said, narrowing his eyes. “So, this is your doing?”

“Erebos…” Pandora muttered, opening her eyes and sadly looking at the other Mismagius.

“Wow, the first spell worked!” Cassandra said, staring at the scene with wide eyes and a big smile.

“I must admit, this demonstration of magic is quite interesting,” Simon commented.

Erebos looked around at the different Pokémon watching him, before smirking and turning back to Pandora.

“My dear sister, just what are you trying to do here?” Erebos asked. “We both know that my magic is stronger than yours!”

“Erebos, I tried to reason with you…” Pandora responded, sighing and looking away. “But… since it’s clear that you won’t listen, I have no choice but to take drastic action.”

“Drastic action, you say?” Erebos inquired, smirking. “Ha, we’ll see about that.”

Erebos fired a bolt of dark energy at the force field, but to his surprise, the barrier remained intact. Pandora picked up a bowl containing the ingredients needed for the second spell, and Cassandra felt uneasy as she realized what was going to happen next. Erebos stopped attacking the barrier for a moment, curiously looking over at his sister.

“What are you planning on doing with that?” Erebos asked.

“I’m sorry, Erebos,” Pandora responded, her eyes hidden under the brim of her “hat”. “But… you need to forget that you ever used any of this dark magic…”

“Forget…?” Erebos muttered, before his eyes widened in shock. “You… you wouldn’t!”

“I hope you’ll forgive me someday…” Pandora said, still not looking up at her brother. “This is for the best…”

Pandora began chanting another spell, and a green mist began rising from the bowl and swirl around the force field.

“She’s… really doing this,” Cassandra muttered under her breath, her uneasiness building up to a dark feeling that something really bad was about to happen.

“No, I won’t let you take my most powerful magic away!” Erebos shouted, his eyes suddenly flashing red before he began chanting a spell of his own.

A red aura began emanating from Erebos’ body, and the pink force field that was keeping him trapped began turning darker in color as the two Mismagius both continued chanting their spells. The green mist was starting to dissipate because of Erebos’ counter-spell, and Pandora struggled to fight against his magic as the darkness continued to spread through the force field.

“This doesn’t look good…” Cassandra said, taking a step back. “Simon, help me set up another barrier!”

Cassandra and Simon used their combined psychic power to create a barrier to keep the nearest buildings and bystanders safe, as the two Mismagius now fought a magical duel. It was clear that Erebos had the upper hand at the moment, as red sparks of electricity began shooting out from the force field. While it was clear at this point that her original plan wouldn’t work, Pandora kept trying her hardest to keep the spell under control.

Erebos’ eyes flashed red once more, just as a bolt of red lightning struck Pandora.

“Pandora!” Cassandra exclaimed as Pandora fell to the ground.

Pandora lifted her head slightly, glancing over at her brother. Erebos laughed maniacally as the force field continued crackling with red sparks of electricity, which kept shooting out at random. Somehow, the force field had remained intact, although the dark magic had clearly changed something in it.

“Erebos…!” Pandora called out, gasping in pain as she tried to get back up. “You have to stop this!”

“What’s the matter, Pandora?” Erebos asked, grinning as he looked down at his sister. “Are you going to keep fighting even though I’m stronger than you?”

“The magic in the force field… has become dangerously unstable,” Pandora responded, managing to rise up. “I don’t know what will happen to you if it isn’t stabilized right away…”

“Are you trying to trick me?” Erebos asked, snickering a little. “You can’t fool me, little sister!”

Pandora didn’t bother responding, and just started chanting another spell in hopes of stabilizing the force field. However, it only seemed to get worse, and Pandora had to quickly move out of the way to just barely avoid getting struck by the lightning again. Erebos just laughed maniacally, and Pandora couldn’t even tell if he was aware of what was happening around him anymore.

“Erebos, please...” Pandora pleaded, looking up at her brother. “I can’t get it under control… but if we combine our powers, then maybe…”

Before she received any response, Erebos was hit by the lightning and screamed out in pain.

“Erebos!” Pandora exclaimed, staring in horror.

“Ugh… Didn't see that coming…” Erebos said, giggling a little. "But, it'll take more than that to stop me!"

“What… Erebos, are you okay?” Pandora asked.

“Ha… ha… I have everything under control…” Erebos said, grinning. “I control this dark magic! This power is mine, and you can’t take it away from me, little sister!”

“E-Erebos…!” Pandora exclaimed, her eyes widening. “Your arms…!”

Erebos blinked a few times, before looking down at his sleeve-like arms. Both of his arms were burning with red flames, which were slowly working their way up to the rest of his body.

“I’m… burning?” Erebos said, staring at his arms for a few moments, before breaking into hysterical laughter as the flames spread to the rest of his body. “AHAHAHAHAHA! I’M BURNING! I’M BURNING!”

Pandora frantically tried to cast a spell that could save her brother, but the sounds that were coming out of her mouth barely even resembled words. The magical force field was glowing brighter, and the heat could be felt even outside of the psychic barrier that was keeping everyone else safe. Cassandra had a feeling she knew what was going to happen, and tried to warn Pandora. However, it seemed the words couldn’t escape past the lump in her throat.

In only a few seconds, Cassandra realized what she had to do. She quickly opened up part of the psychic barrier, and forcefully pulled Pandora out with telekinesis. She held Pandora tightly as she sealed the barrier again, just before the magical force field exploded. Cassandra and Simon just barely managed to keep the barrier up for a few seconds, before they were sent flying back by the explosion.

“Ugh… Is everyone okay…?” Cassandra asked, looking around.

“I think so…” Simon responded, sitting up and rubbing his head.

Thanks to the psychic barrier, nearby buildings and the Pokémon that had been watching were unharmed, although some of them were visibly disturbed by what had happened. Cassandra was still holding Pandora in her arms, a bit surprised at how light the Mismagius was, as she barely felt any weight on her arms.

“Pandora, are you okay?” Cassandra asked. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“E-Erebos…” Pandora muttered, looking up at Cassandra. “Cassandra, what happened to Erebos?”

“Huh? Well…” Cassandra looked over at the spot where the magical force field had been moments ago.

As the smoke cleared, one could see a giant scorch mark left on the ground, and Erebos was nowhere to be seen. Pandora quietly stared at the burned spot for a few moments.

“No… It can’t be…” Pandora muttered, shaking her head lightly. “Erebos couldn’t be… Cassandra, where is he? Did you see anything?”

“I… no, I don’t know…” Cassandra responded.

Cassandra glanced around at Simon and the other Pokémon, and from the looks of their faces, most of them were probably just as confused as she was. Pandora kept calling out for her brother, but received no response.

“Erebos, where are you?” Pandora shouted, trying her best to hold back her tears. “Please, answer me!”

----

“Pandora kept calling out for him, until she gave up and collapsed on the ground. Cassandra tried to comfort her, but didn’t know what to say. She just sat there next to Pandora for a while, until Pandora finally got up and said she wanted to go home. Cassandra offered to go with her, but Pandora told her she wanted to be alone for a bit. Besides, there was something she needed to do. The scrolls that Erebos had hidden away, the ones that had corrupted him, surely she could reach them now. She wanted to destroy them as soon as possible, so that they could never harm anyone ever again.

Cassandra said she understood, and asked Simon to send Pandora home. As she went on her way home, she wondered if she could’ve prevented this from happening. If she hadn’t gotten involved, would things have played out differently? She wondered about the vision she had back then, the one that led her to seek out Pandora and Erebos. Why did she have that vision?

With how things had turned out, it was difficult to make sense of any of it. She thought she had finally found what she was looking for, a purpose of some sort… but now, she once again felt confused and as if there was nothing she could really do to help anyone. She tried to push those thoughts away as she went to sleep that night, but…”


----

Cassandra was shuddering in her sleep, as she ran through the silvery grass of Silver Woods in her dream. Her dream self could smell smoke as parts of the forest caught on fire around her, and soon she spotted Pandora, covering in fear as a large shadowy figure was partially obscuring the moon and looking down at Pandora with glowing red eyes. Cassandra picked up the pace, trying to reach Pandora, but a wall of flames suddenly blocked her path.

She watched as the shadowy figure moved, its form resembling a black spear as it shot down from the sky towards the ground. Cassandra couldn’t see the past the flames, she only heard Pandora’s scream...

----

Cassandra opened her eyes, looking around at her surroundings before sitting up. Her heart was still racing, and she shuddered as she looked up the stars. A dark cloud was obscuring some of the stars as it was slowly being pushed by the soft wind. Cassandra managed to calm herself down, but she was uncertain if she would be able to sleep again tonight.

“I guess… this isn’t over yet,” Cassandra quietly whispered to herself, before getting up and hurrying outside.

----

End of Chapter 38

----
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
OK, so...

That one scene with Pandora being happy she has a freind is ADORABLE and I wanna see more stuff like that.

But holy wow do things go to hell next chapter. I'm definitely wondering what happens next.

Keep it up!
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone! It's time for another chapter of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Reflecting Balance! We should be getting close to the conclusion of Cassandra and Pandora's story, which I'm guessing has explained quite a few things. After this part of the story is over, we will be returning to our regular cast of characters and hopefully find out how things will go. Since I'm on the topic of it, I suppose I'll ask:

Have you missed seeing the regular cast of characters while the current arc has been going on?

Let me know in a review/comment on this chapter! Although, just so you know, there will be at least one more chapter after this before we'll be returning to the present. I hope you have enjoyed this look into the past, though! And once it's over, I'll probably be sharing some trivia regarding what my original plans were. Hope you look forward to it!

Well, sorry to keep you guys waiting! Here's Chapter 39! Enjoy!

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Chapter 39: I... I really didn’t mean for it to turn out this way…

----

“After returning home to Silver Woods, Pandora found the magic scrolls that Erebos had hidden from her. With his apparent demise, the magic that Erebos used had weakened, allowing Pandora to retrieve the scrolls. She hoped that the other spells that Erebos had cast on the unfortunate wild Pokémon in the mystery dungeons near Illumine Town had worn off as well.”

----

Pandora sadly looked down at the scrolls, thinking about all this chaos they had caused. She wondered what had happened to whoever may have previously owned them, if they had ended up like her brother. She then threw the scrolls down on the floor, glaring at them as she conjured up several small blue wisps of fire. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before letting the wisps float down to the scrolls, setting them on fire.

Pandora opened her eyes slightly, watching with a sad smile as the scrolls burned.

“Now these scrolls won’t be able to hurt anyone anymore…” Pandora muttered, sighing in relief.

As the scrolls burned until there were only ashes left, Pandora glanced outside, looking up at the stars twinkling in the sky.

“I wonder if Cassandra is still awake?” Pandora wondered out loud. "Maybe she's watching the stars..."
“Feeling lonely…?” a voice whispered from the darkness.

“Who’s there!?” Pandora exclaimed, looking around.

“I really wish I'd gotten here in time to stop you from destroying the scrolls…” the voice commented. “Although, I guess it doesn't really matter... I don’t think I need the scrolls themselves anymore…”

“Erebos…?” Pandora said, seeming both nervous and hopeful. “I-Is that you?”

A dark mist began to surround Pandora’s home, and as Pandora looked up at it, she saw two glowing red orbs within the mind looking back at her.

“Hello there, little sister…” the dark mist said, snickering as it swirled around Pandora.

“Erebos, you’re…” Pandora muttered, nervously backing away from the shadowy spirit.

“Oh, don’t worry about me!” Erebos responded. “My body may have been destroyed, but I still have most of my power! Isn’t that great?”

“I... I really didn’t mean for it to turn out this way…” Pandora said, looking away.

“Of course you didn’t,” Erebos responded, snickering a little. “But still, you did try to take my power away… I can’t just let you get away with that, you know?”

Before Pandora had time to react, a bolt of ghostly energy struck her, knocking her down. She glanced up to see Erebos’ corrupted spirit hovering above her as she tried to get back up…

----

Cassandra was running as fast as she could towards Simon’s house. Since she sometimes had visions when she slept, it could at times be difficult to tell them apart from the regular dreams. However, this time there was no doubt that this was not simply just a nightmare. She finally reached Simon’s house, and called out to him:

“Simon! Simon, you have to wake up!”

She waited a few moments, before the rather sleepy-looking Alakazam greeted her.

“Cassandra, what is it?” Simon asked, rubbing one of his eyes.

“You have to take me to Silver Woods right away!” Cassandra responded.

“Now…?” Simon asked, tilting his head slightly. “Isn’t it a little late for that?”

“You don’t understand!” Cassandra responded. “This is an emergency!”

“Emergency…?” Simon replied. “What are you talking about?”

“I had a vision…” Cassandra explained, taking a few deep breaths. “I saw… this… this thing attack Pandora, and… I think she might really be in trouble!”

“I see…” Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. “And you are sure it wasn’t just a regular nightmare?”

“Yes,” Cassandra replied, nodding her head somberly. “This feeling is so strong…”

From the look on Cassandra’s face, Simon could tell that this was really serious. He just nodded his head, and wrapped his arm around Cassandra.

“All right, let’s go,” Simon said.

“Thank you…” Cassandra responded, holding onto him tightly as they teleported away.

----

The two psychic types quickly made their way over to Pandora’s home. Upon reaching it, they discovered that something had torn the tent-like structure apart, and several of Pandora’s notes and pieces of broken furniture were scattered around. Pandora herself was lying face down in the grass, not moving.

“Pandora!” Cassandra exclaimed, rushing over to the Mismagius and picking her up.

“Is she okay?” Simon asked, also concerned for the ghost-type Pokémon.

“I don’t know…” Cassandra responded, examining Pandora. “She’s unconscious…”

Simon walked over, and took a closer look at the unconscious Mismagius.

“Well, at least the gems on her body appear to be unharmed,” Simon said. “So, her life shouldn’t be in any danger.”

“Oh, really?” Cassandra responded, sighing in relief. “Thank goodness…”

“We’d better take her back to town,” Simon said, putting a hand on Cassandra’s shoulder. “It is probably safer there.”

“Yeah…” Cassandra replied, nodding her head and glancing around. “Look at this mess…”

“Poor Pandora…” Simon commented, picking up and examining a piece of paper. “She’s lost her brother, and now her home too…”

“Looks like some of her notes are intact, though,” Cassandra responded, noticing the writing on the paper Simon was holding onto. “They might be useful later, so we should bring those along as well.”

“Understood,” Simon replied and nodded his head.

Simon took a moment to telekinetically gather up the papers scattered on the ground, before teleporting himself, Cassandra and the unconscious Pandora back to Cassandra’s house. The various papers with notes on magic written on them were placed in a pile on a table, while Cassandra put Pandora down on her bed.

“You’re safe now, Pandora,” Cassandra whispered as she sat down next to her and held Pandora’s sleeve-like hand.

“What do you think did this to her?” Simon asked, sitting down next to Cassandra.

“I’m not sure,” Cassandra responded, thinking for a few moments before looking over at Simon. “Hey… Do you think Erebos… might have survived whatever happened to him?”

“Oh?” Simon replied, tilting his head slightly. “You think Erebos might’ve done this?”

“Who else could it have been?” Cassandra responded, closing her eyes. “Pandora wouldn’t have tried using that spell she did if it wasn’t for me… and if Erebos attacked Pandora because of it…”

“Cassandra…” Simon replied, unsure what to say to her. “Well, um… We won’t know what happened until Pandora regains consciousness, so until then…”

The two psychic type Pokémon quietly sat there for a while. Simon tried to think of something he could for Cassandra, but everything that had happened coupled with the fact that it was getting really late and he hadn’t gotten much sleep yet made it difficult to come up with anything.

“I wonder what is going to happen from now on…” Cassandra said, glancing towards the starry sky visible through the opening in the ceiling.

“Cassandra… It’s really late, you should get some rest,” Simon commented, putting a hand on Cassandra’s shoulder. “I think I’ll stay here for the night, if that’s okay with you. And if anything happens, I’m sure I can teleport the three of us to safety even if I’m asleep!”

“Thank you, Simon…” Cassandra responded, smiling and nodding her head slightly. “If you’re here, then… I might just be able to get some more sleep tonight…”

Cassandra eventually fell asleep, still sitting by the bedside and holding Pandora’s hand. Simon sat there and watched them for a while, before he too eventually fell asleep. He hoped that tomorrow would be a better day…

----

The next day was a cloudy one, and most of the Pokémon seemed rather uneasy, yesterday’s events still fresh in their minds. Aside from that, everything seemed to be back to normal in Illumine Town. Era’s three heads were chatting amongst themselves, occasionally glancing up at the light gray clouds.

“Sure hope it won’t rain,” Era’s middle head commented, seeming a bit concerned. “Don’t like running around when the ground is all muddy…”

“I know, right?” the right head responded. “It’d be better if it was sunny all the time, don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, it’s much better to run around when the ground isn’t all wet and slippery!” Era’s middle head replied, nodding. “Plus, the sun is so nice and warm…”

“Girls, it has to rain once in a while,” Era’s left head said.

“Well, why can’t it just rain during the night, then?” Era’s middle head asked. “That way, it wouldn’t bother anyone since most Pokémon sleep during the night!”

“Ooh, that’s a good point!” Era’s right head responded, smiling.

“… That’s not how it works,” Era’s left head said, sighing.

“Oh hey, there’s Richter!” Era’s middle head exclaimed, noticing the Swampert standing near the center of the town. “Maybe he can tell if it’ll rain today or not!”

Era quickly ran over to Richter, and who seemed to be watching the sky as if he was looking for something.

“Hey, Richter,” Era’s left head said, glancing up at the sky for a moment. “What are you looking at?”

“I thought I saw something…” Richter responded, squinting a bit as he kept his gaze on the cloudy sky above them. “It was only for a moment, but I’m sure there was something there…”

“It might’ve just been a Pokémon that was flying past, or something,” Era’s left head replied.

“You know, it’s really strange how we’re part flying type, yet we can’t fly,” Era’s middle head commented.

“Well, we can jump really, really far!” Era’s right head said, smiling. “Isn’t that kind of like flying, except that we’re not actually flying?”

“You have a point there…” Era’s middle head responded, tilting sideways.

“So, was there anything you wanted from me?” Richter asked, looking over at the Dodrio.

“Oh, right!” Era’s middle head exclaimed. “You’ve seen how it’s all cloudy today?”

“… Considering I was watching the sky just now, then yes, I’ve noticed,” Richter responded.

“Do you think it’s going to rain today?” Era’s middle head asked.

“It’s very likely,” Richter responded, nodding his head.

“That means “yes”, doesn’t it?” Era’s middle head replied, frowning a bit. “Ah, I don’t want it to rain!”

“I wouldn’t mind some rain, actually,” Richter commented.

“Eh? How can you say that?” Era’s middle head asked. “Rain makes everything all cold, wet and muddy!”

“And he’s probably okay with that,” Era’s left head commented, looking over at the middle head. “After all, he’s part water and part ground type.”

“So? We don’t go grazing just because we’re part normal type!” Era’s middle head responded.

“… What?” Era’s left head replied, blinking a few times.

“I don’t get it,” Era’s right head said, tilting to the side quizzically.

“Well, Miltank are normal types,” Era’s middle head explained, grinning. “And Miltank like to eat grass!”

“Oh, I see!” Era’s right head responded, smiling and nodding her head. “That does make sense!”

“… What?” Era repeated, staring incredulously at the other two heads. "Listen, I... I don't even... If you wanted to make an argument about not all Pokémon doing what is typical for their type, why didn't you just go with the whole flying thing that you brought up just a few moments ago?"

Richter chuckled as he watched Era’s three heads continue to talk amongst themselves, before noticing Simon walking by.

“Hey there, Simon,” Richter said, waving to him.

“Oh, good morning,” Simon responded, waving back.

“Morning?” Richter inquired. “I think it’s already past noon.”

“Ah, well… I only got up a few minutes ago,” Simon explained, tapping his spoons together sheepishly. “I spent the night over at Cassandra’s house…”

Ooh!” Era’s right head said, grinning and looking over at Simon.

“… No, it wasn’t like that!” Simon responded, blushing slightly. “Cassandra had a vision of Pandora being attacked, and asked me to bring her to Silver Woods. Turns out something did attack Pandora, and we brought her back here to keep her safe.”

“Huh, is that so?” Richter asked.

“Yeah…” Simon responded, nodding his head. “We don’t really know who or what did it…”

“Hmm… Do you think this turn of events is something we should be concerned about?” Era’s left head asked.

“Huh, why would we need to worry?” Era’s middle head inquired. “I mean, I hope Pandora gets better and all that, but the thing that attacked her attacked her while she was at home, and that means the thing that attacked her is there, and not here, where we are, right?”

“Oh, but what if it leaves the forest?” Era’s right head asked, tilting slightly to the side. “And then decides to come over here?”

“Ah, you think that might happen?” Era’s middle head responded, looking somewhat worried.

“Well… Cassandra did have a theory regarding the identity of the attacker, but…” Simon said, rubbing the back of his head. “We won’t know anything for certain until we’ve asked Pandora about it.”

“Maybe we should be keeping our eyes open,” Richter responded, crossing his arms. “Keep an eye out for anything unusual.”

“What kind of unusual things?” Era’s middle head asked.

“I think just about anything you don’t usually see around here,” Era’s left head responded.

“Like Rayquaza?” Era’s right head asked.

“Oh, that is indeed something we don’t usually see around here,” Era’s middle head responded, nodding slightly.

“… I doubt any legendary sky deities will show up, but at least you get the idea,” Era’s left head said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, I’m going to go buy some Oran and Sitrus berries,” Simon said and started walking towards one of the shops. “The healing properties of those berries should help Pandora recover faster.”

“I hope everything turns out okay,” Richter said.

“Me too,” Era responded, nodding all three of her heads.

“Thanks,” Simon replied. “Well, I’d better get going, then.”

----

Cassandra was still keeping an eye on Pandora while she waited for Simon to return. She had this nasty feeling that something horrible was going to happen, but she didn’t know what. She occasionally glanced towards the opening in the ceiling, wondering if the stars were trying to send her another message that had failed to reach her during the night. As she sat there lost in thought, Pandora began to stir.

“Ah… E-Erebos…” Pandora muttered as she slowly opened her eyes.

She looked around, taking a few moments to realize she was no longer in Silver Woods, and who was currently by her side.

“Cassandra…?” Pandora said, blinking a few times. “Where… is this…?”

“Pandora, you’re awake!” Cassandra exclaimed, sighing in relief. “Thank goodness…”

“Is this… your house?” Pandora asked, looking around. “Why am I…?”

“Simon and I found you passed out in Silver Woods,” Cassandra explained. “We thought you might be safer here, so… we brought you with us.”

“I… see…” Pandora responded, closing her eyes for a moment. “Yes… I remember now…”

“What happened to you, Pandora?” Cassandra asked.

“I… I had just destroyed the dark magic scrolls,” Pandora replied, opening her eyes again and looking up at Cassandra. “And then… Erebos showed up…”

“So… He did survive…” Cassandra said, holding a hand to her chin.

“Yes, but… he’s no longer a Mismagius…” Pandora responded, sighing. “His body was destroyed by the spell, but… his corrupted spirit is still around…”

“So… He went from ghost-type Pokémon… to actual ghost?” Cassandra asked.

“I… suppose that’s one way of putting it,” Pandora replied, nodding her head slightly. “He still seems to have access to his dark magic too.”

“I… see…” Cassandra responded, looking away.

“I’m back,” Simon said, as he teleported back into the room with a handful of Oran and Sitrus berries. “Ah, I see Pandora is awake.”

“Oh, hello,” Pandora responded, looking over at Simon.

“Nice to see that you’re up,” Simon said. “I’m going to make you some berry juice, so just relax.”

“Oh, you don’t need to do that… I’ll be fine, really,” Pandora responded, trying to get up.

“I don’t doubt that you’ll be fine,” Simon replied, glancing over at Pandora. “However, this will just help you regain your energy faster.”

“… Understood,” Pandora responded, nodding her head slightly. “Thank you.”

While Simon prepared the berry juice, he listened to Cassandra explain what Pandora had told her regarding Erebos’ fate.

“So… That’s what happened?” Simon said, handing the cup of berry juice to Pandora.

“Yes…” Pandora responded, taking the cup. “I don’t know what he will do next… He has to be stopped as soon as possible…”

“How do we do that?” Cassandra asked.

“Perhaps there might be a spell I could use…” Pandora responded, taking a sip of the berry juice. “I’d need to go back to Silver Woods to retrieve my magic scrolls, though…”

“That won’t be necessary,” Cassandra replied, smiling and pointing to the pile of papers on the table.

“Ah, you brought them with you?” Pandora asked, giving a small smile. “Thank you… That saves us some time…”

“I’m surprised the scrolls weren’t destroyed when your brother attacked,” Simon commented.

“That’s because I was able to cast a spell on my most important scrolls during the fight against him, so I would be sure that there was still something I could do…” Pandora explained. “The first thing I need to do is cast a spell to make sure that evil spirits can’t get into this house, so that Erebos won’t be able to attack you. Then, I need to cast the same spell on the rest of the town.”

“I see…” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly. “And then what?”

“I’m not sure yet…” Pandora replied, taking another sip of the berry juice.

“I understand,” Cassandra responded, sighing. “This… must be very difficult for you.”

“I… I don’t know if I’m able to do… whatever it might take to stop Erebos now,” Pandora replied, looking down so that her eyes were hidden under the brim of her hat. “But… at the very least, I need to protect…”

“Uh… Sorry to interrupt, but…” Simon said, looking rather nervous. “Do either of you smell smoke?”

“What?” Cassandra responded, suddenly getting a nasty feeling that something terrible had happened while they were distracted.

Cassandra and Simon rushed outside to investigate, and were greeted by the sight of Illumine Town engulfed in flames.

“N-No, this can’t be…” Cassandra muttered, staring blankly at the burning town.

“Wait here,” Simon said, before teleporting away.

“Be careful, Simon…” Cassandra whispered, silently praying for things to turn out okay.

----

Richter shot a stream of water from his mouth at one of the burning buildings, but it didn’t seem to be having any effect against the flames. Era was running around in circles behind him, despite the left head complaining that this was not helping them at all. As far as they could tell, they were trapped in this area as flames were blocking them off from the other parts of the town, as well as blocking the nearest way out of the town.

“Why can’t I extinguish these flames?” Richter wondered out loud, looking around. “Are these… not normal flames?”

“I don’t know,” Era’s left head commented, as she finally got herself to stop running around on the spot. “But instead of wasting your energy, I guess we should try to think of something else, although… there might not be much we can do in this situation.”

“Ah, it’s over!” Era’s middle head shouted. “We’re all going to end up as roast fowl!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Simon said as he teleported over to them.

“Simon!” Richter exclaimed, grinning.

“We’re saved!” Era’s right head said, smiling.

“Oh, thank goodness…” Era’s middle head replied, giving a sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you guys out of here now,” Simon said, motioning for them to come closer.

“Thank you, Simon,” Era’s left head responded, nodding.

In a flash of light, the three Pokémon disappeared and reappeared a good distance away from the burning town.

“All right, you two wait here,” Simon said. “There are still more Pokémon I need to save.”

“Go for it,” Richter responded, nodding his head slightly.

“Good luck, Simon!” Era’s three heads said in unison, as Simon teleported away.

----

A Scizor and a Leavanny were struggling to stay standing from the heat, the flames slowly getting closer to them. Two Audino were trying their best to support the two, while a Banette was sitting on the Scizor’s head in hopes of staying safe there. The Banette quietly wished that his body was made of a fireproof fabric, and hoped the flames wouldn’t reach him. He glanced down with a concerned look at the Scizor and the Leavanny, wondering how they were going to get out of this situation.

“W-What are we going to do?” one of the two Audino with the group asked the other, looking rather worried.

“I don’t know…” the other Audino responded, shaking her head. “These guys don’t look like they can resist the heat much longer…”

Suddenly, Simon appeared in a flash of light.

“Look, Cassandra’s boyfriend is here!” one of the Audino exclaimed.

“Please, help us out!” the other one said.

“I-I’m not Cassandra’s… oh, never mind,” Simon said, holding out his hands. “I’ll get you guys out of here.”

----

A Liepard and an Audino were attempting to figure out a way to get past a wall of fire that was blocking their path. As far as either of them could tell, there was no safe way to get around it. Jumping over it wasn’t an option either. The Liepard had no intention of giving up, however.

“Come on… There has to be something we can do!” the Liepard said, looking around.

“Um… We could call for help?” the Audino suggested.

“Hmm… I suppose that would be a good idea…” the Liepard responded, sighing. “If it weren’t for the fact that everyone else is probably in danger too…”

As if on cue, Simon appeared. This time, he didn’t bother waiting for them to say anything before he grabbed them and teleported them to safety. Then he teleported back to the town, as he sensed there were still more Pokémon to save. He paid little attention to the wooden buildings that were burning around him as he tracked down the various Pokémon that were trying to avoid the flames. The important thing was to find all of them and get them to safety.

----

Cassandra and Pandora were watching the burning town, quietly rooting for Simon and hoping that he would be able to evacuate everyone. Suddenly, Pandora heard a familiar laughter, and glanced up to see the dark spirit hovering amongst the smoke.

“Erebos…” Pandora muttered, glaring at the dark spirit.

“Huh, didn’t except to see you here, little sister,” Erebos commented, snickering a little. “So, what do you think? Doesn’t this town look much more illuminated now?”

“Erebos, put this fire out, right now!” Pandora shouted, before wincing in pain.

“Pandora…” Cassandra said, looking over at her friend with a concerned look.

“I-I’m fine,” Pandora responded. “D-Don’t worry about me!”

“You want me to put the fire out?” Erebos inquired, snickering some more. “And why should I listen to you?”

“Erebos… I’m warning you…” Pandora responded, shaking a little. “I’ll… I’ll…!”

“Pandora, try to save your energy,” Cassandra said, putting her arm around the Mismagius. “You haven’t fully recovered yet.”

“Cassandra…” Pandora muttered.

“Look at you, Pandora,” Erebos said, two red orbs of light staring down at the two Pokémon below. “Someone as weak as you could never defeat me.”

Pandora didn’t say anything. Cassandra didn’t say anything either, even though she wanted to tell Erebos that Pandora was much stronger than he thought. She had a feeling that it was best to just remain silent for now.

“Well, I think I’m done here, so I think I’ll go look for something else to do now!” Erebos said, as he slowly vanished into the smoke. “Perhaps… we’ll meet again.”

----

Thanks to Simon’s efforts, the Pokémon of Illumine Town were all evacuated and brought to safety. The flames continued to burn on, until the buildings were reduced to nothing but ashes. Until Illumine Town was no more. The Pokémon looked out over the remains of their home, unsure of what to do now. As it started raining, they realized that they had to find somewhere else to stay for the night, preferably somewhere where they were sheltered from the rain.

Cassandra followed the other Pokémon, even though her own home was still intact. However, she just didn’t feel like returning home.

“I must be the worst town oracle ever…” Cassandra muttered to herself. “I couldn’t even do anything to protect my town, and now… there’s not even a town for me to be the oracle of…”

Pandora quietly shed a few tears as she watched Cassandra from a distance. She could tell that Cassandra was crying too. Pandora closed her eyes for a few moments, before heading back to Cassandra’s house. She began looking through her magic scrolls, before she found the one she was looking for.

“It’s strange…” Pandora said to herself, reading through the scroll. “Even though he did this horrible thing… I just can’t bring myself to hate him…”

She quietly rolled up the scroll, taking it with her as she went back outside.

“I don’t want to do this,” Pandora muttered, before taking a deep breath and looking up with determination in her eyes. “But… since it’s for Cassandra’s sake… I’ll do whatever it takes.”

The rain continued to pour down as Pandora flew off into the night. Even though she hadn’t fully recovered yet, she wasn’t going to wait. She knew what she had to do, and nothing was going to stop her.

----

End of Chapter 39

----
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Simon/Cassandra/Pandora OT3

Hi everyone! It's been a while, but I finally got another chapter 40 done! Whew, took much longer than I intended. Been really busy with school work, but I finally managed to finish this really big assignment a few days ago. Finally a break from all the school stuff, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. Plus, yesterday was my birthday, and I had a really good time.

Well, enough about that! It's finally time to see how things went with Cassandra, Pandora and the others. With that in mind, I guess I'll ask:

Which of the characters from chapters 34-40 do you like the best, and why?

Leave your answer in a comment/review. Also, I'll probably be sharing some trivia regarding my original plans for the town's backstory sometime after this chapter. Hope you'll look forward to that! Also, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Chapter 40: W-When did you become this strong!?

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“Over the course of the next few days, Pandora made her way through many mystery dungeons on her own, and gathered up certain materials as she went along. She had no idea what kind of chaos Erebos might’ve been causing in the meantime, and so wanted to gather all the parts she needed as soon as possible. Even though she had told herself that she would do whatever it took, she wasn’t entirely sure if she would actually be able to bring herself to do it.

Meanwhile, the Pokémon of Illumine Town had managed to set up a camp somewhere, and were managing pretty well despite everything that was happening. However, before they could go back and begin rebuilding their town, they had to do something about Erebos...”


----

Cassandra was sitting on a rock while quietly watching the sky. She had been spending the nights seeking answers from the stars, and so had gotten much sleep. She had briefly returned home a few days ago to look for Pandora, but hadn’t been able to find her. Cassandra just hoped for a vision to give her a clue about what to do next, whether it was how she could help the Pokémon she had failed, or how to locate Pandora.

“Mother… What should I do…?” Cassandra muttered, staring at the sky. “What can I do at this point?”

Cassandra closed her eyes, feeling the soft breeze blowing against her face.

“Cassandra?”

Cassandra opened her eyes and glanced over her shoulder to see Simon approaching her.

“Simon…” Cassandra said, looking away.

“Cassandra, this isn’t your fault,” Simon said, putting his hand on Cassandra’s upper arm.

“Yes, it is,” Cassandra responded, sighing. “I’m the worst town oracle ever…”

“Even if Illumine Town was burned down, everyone is still here,” Simon said, glancing over at the other Pokémon. “If we all work together, we can rebuild our town.”

“I’m sure you can,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly. “After all, you guys manage fine on your own, so you’ll probably all be fine without me.”

“That’s not true,” Simon replied, looking down. “I… I certainly wouldn’t want to live in a town without you in it…”

“… Just what do you see in me, Simon?” Cassandra asked, turning around to face him.

“Uh, what do you mean?” Simon replied, blinking a few times. “You’re... inexperienced as a town oracle, but I know your heart is in the right place. What you want most is to be able to help others, right?”

“Well… I suppose…” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly.

“Cassandra, look around,” Simon said, pointing one of his spoons to the other Pokémon. “Do you see these Pokémon? They need you, Cassandra.”

“Me…?” Cassandra responded, pointing to herself.

“Before we can build a new town, we need to do something about Erebos,” Simon said, smiling at Cassandra. “However, we don’t know where he is, or how he can be stopped.”

“But I don’t know what to do either,” Cassandra responded, looking downwards. “Just how am I supposed to be of any help…?”

“You’re the only one who can read the stars,” Simon replied. “Surely, they will give you the answers you need eventually.”

“… Do you really think so?” Cassandra asked, looking up at Simon. “You… think I can still make things right?”

“I know you can,” Simon responded, still smiling at Cassandra. “But you look kind of tired. So, why don’t you get some rest, and once the sun goes down, you can continue seeking out answers? It might be easier when you can see the stars clearly, after all.”

“I… suppose I should do that,” Cassandra replied, yawning.

Cassandra lay down near a tree, while Simon looked around at the other Pokémon that were heading off to gather food and other supplies. Everyone was doing their best at what they could do for now, but they would need a way to track down Erebos before they could do anything else. Surely, Cassandra’s visions would help with that, but then there was the issue of what to do once they found him.

“Hmm… I wonder where Pandora disappeared to,” Simon said, holding a hand to his chin. “She might be able to do something…”

He thought about it for a few moments, before he had a sudden realization.

“Perhaps… That’s why she went off somewhere on her own,” Simon said. “She’s planning on dealing with her brother all by herself…”

----

Pandora made her way through a maze-like cave, trying her best to fight off the wild Pokémon on her way. As she finally reached the end of another mystery dungeon, she took a few moments to catch her breath before looking around. Using her Will-o-Wisp move to light up the final room of the cave, she managed to spot several small crystals sticking out from the ceiling. She then charged up and fired a Shadow Ball attack at the ceiling, and made sure to move out of the way as pieces of rock came falling down.

The blue flames formed a circle around the fallen rocks. She could see the crystals glisten among the fallen rocks, and smiled as she gathered them up.

“Good…” Pandora said, as she examined the crystals. “This should be just what I need…”

She put the crystals into a pouch in which she were keeping the items she had picked up on the different floors of the mystery dungeon, before looking back at the rocks and picking up one.

“Better take some of these as well…” Pandora said, putting away some of the rocks. “Just in case…”

Having finished her mission, Pandora retrieved an Escape Orb from the pouch, and used it to exit the mystery dungeon. Reappearing outside of the cave, she floated over to some bushes where she had hidden a basket full of different materials she had retrieved from other mystery dungeons.

“Hopefully, I have enough now…” Pandora muttered to herself, taking a scroll out from the basket and looking over it. “Let’s see…”

----

“While Pandora continued working on a way to stop Erebos, Cassandra kept a close eye on the stars in an attempt to figure out when and where they would have an opportunity to do something about Erebos. Eventually, the Pokémon from the ruined Illumine Town were joined by a few of the Pokémon living near the mystery dungeons nearby, who wanted to help in the battle against Erebos because he had been messing up their homes as well. Since they could use all the help they could get, Cassandra decided to assign them to different teams. They would help gather food, or search mystery dungeons for signs of Erebos.

Eventually, Cassandra finally received a vision that gave her the clue she needed…”


----

“… So, he’ll be headed for the Axis Tower?” Simon asked, looking at Cassandra. “Why would he go there?”

“I’m not sure,” Cassandra responded, shaking her head. “All I know is that he will be going there, and we should try to get there first.”

“But… when, exactly, will he be going there?” Simon asked. “And what exactly are we supposed to do?”

“Hmm… I don’t know,” Cassandra responded. “I doubt luring him into a trap will be easy…”

“Even if we manage to lead him into an ambush, what would we do then?” Simon asked.

“I really don’t know,” Cassandra replied, sighing. “Pandora probably knows more about this than anyone else here, but I don’t know where she went off to…”

“About that…” Simon said, looking away. “I… I have a theory as to what Pandora might be up to…”

Cassandra listened as Simon explained what he thought.

“I see…” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly. “So, Pandora might be trying to find a way to stop Erebos all on her own…”

“Do you think we should look for her?” Simon asked. “If we combine our power, I’m sure we can track her down.”

Cassandra held a hand to her chin as she thought about it for a few moments, before shaking her head.

“No, I don’t think that will be necessary,” Cassandra responded, shaking her head. “I have a feeling that she will come find us once she has figured out what to do.”

“What makes you think that?” Simon asked.

“I guess you could call it a hunch,” Cassandra responded.

“You really believe in her that much?” Simon asked, tilting her head slightly. “Remember, it’s her brother that is behind all of this.”

“I know…” Cassandra responded, sighing. “It doesn’t feel right to rely on her to handle this, but she’s the only one who can… She knows that too.”

“Even if she knows that… Do you really think she can bring herself to do it?” Simon replied, looking away.

Cassandra didn’t answer him. She just turned around and sent out a telepathic message to all the Pokémon that had gathered in the area. Even if she didn’t believe it was possible to defeat him without Pandora’s help, she still wanted to try to come up with a strategy for confronting Erebos. Since she knew where he would go in the future, she hoped that there was at least something they could do.

----

“Once again, Cassandra helped with preparations to head over to the mystery dungeons near the Axis Tower, organizing groups of Pokémon into teams, gathering up available items and trying to think of a battle plan. If nothing else, she hoped that they at the very least could keep Erebos from causing any more chaos until Pandora could find a way to stop him for good. Simon did what he could to help, and even though Cassandra kept a smile on her face as she tried to boost the morale of the other Pokémon, he could tell that she still had her doubts.

In the meantime, Pandora was working on building a small dark-gray chest made from stone, decorated with purple gems. A part of her hoped that she wouldn’t have to use this magical item, but she knew that she couldn’t let her resolve falter. If she didn’t have the willpower, there was no way the spell would work. Pandora just kept working, quietly reminding herself that it was for Cassandra’s sake.

Once preparations to head for Axis Tower were complete…”


----

Cassandra quietly watched a few teams head into Meridian Forest, taking a deep breath in order to relax. As she thought about everything that had happened, Simon walked up to her. The two psychic types just quietly observed the other Pokémon, until Cassandra finally turned to Simon and spoke up:

“Simon, what do you think will happen from now on?” Cassandra asked, once again looking at the teams by the entrance to the mystery dungeon. “After all of this is over… We’re going to rebuild our town, aren’t we?”

“I suppose so,” Simon responded, nodding his head.

“And then… we’ll all go back to our normal lives?” Cassandra said, holding a hand to her chin. “Well… Maybe normal isn’t the right word…”

“You have a point there,” Simon replied. “It’s not possible for things to go back to exactly how they were before, but with your guidance, I’m sure we’ll be able to create something new and wonderful.”

“… Thank you, Simon,” Cassandra responded, smiling at him. “Although, sometimes I wonder if you might have a bit too much faith in me…”

“Perhaps I do,” Simon replied, chuckling a little.

“… Well, I suppose it is about time we get going as well?” Cassandra asked, looking over at the entrance to the mystery dungeon. “Most of the teams are probably already on their way, so we’d better go after them.”

“Yes, let’s get going,” Simon responded, nodding his head. “I’ll just go get the items.”

While Cassandra waited in front of the mystery dungeon entrance, Simon quickly went over to pick up a set of basic items needed for exploring mystery dungeons that had been prepared for this occasion. As he joined Cassandra by the entrance to the dungeon, something occurred to him.

“Cassandra, wait…” Simon said.

“What is it, Simon?” Cassandra asked, looking over at Simon.

“Well, it’s just… this will be a dangerous mission,” Simon responded, nervously tapping his spoons together. “And, um… if anything were to happen… I mean, not that anything bad will happen to either of us, but… I have something I want to say anyways…”

“Yes?” Cassandra replied, nodding her head slightly. “Go on, I’m listening.”

“C-Cassandra… I have always… I mean, for a long time, I’ve…” Simon stuttered, blushing slightly. “The way it is… you see… I…”

“Don’t worry, Simon,” Cassandra said, smiling and putting a hand on his shoulder. “Just say what it is you want to say.”

“I-I’m trying…” Simon responded, nodding his head slightly. “I just… can’t quite seem to find the right words…”

“But you know what it is you wanted to say, right?” Cassandra asked.

“Y-Yes, but…” Simon responded, glancing around as if to make sure no one was watching or listening in on their conversation. “I’m sorry, I… I guess I’m just not brave enough…”

“That’s not true,” Cassandra replied, shaking her head. “Don’t you remember how brave you were, when Erebos set our town on fire and you just teleported in there and started evacuating everyone?”

“Ah, I… I did do that, didn’t I?” Simon responded, rubbing the back of his head.

“You certainly did,” Cassandra replied, smiling at Simon.

“Well, then… I guess I’m a little brave…” Simon said, blushing slightly.

“You’re very brave,” Cassandra responded.

“Oh… Thank you, Cassandra,” Simon replied, smiling back at her.

“No problem,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head. “Should we get going, then? If we want to catch up to the others, we should probably head inside the dungeon now.”

“I guess you’re right,” Simon replied, nodding his head slightly.

Cassandra walked over to the entrance to the mystery dungeon in Meridian Forest, and was about to step inside. Simon closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath.

“Cassandra, I love you!” Simon suddenly blurted out.

Cassandra was startled by Simon’s sudden outburst and turned around, while Simon covered his mouth with his hands upon realizing what he had just said. The two psychic type Pokémon quietly looked at each other, until Simon managed to speak up once more.

“I… I finally said it…” Simon said, sighing in relief.

“Simon…” Cassandra responded, smiling and embracing the Alakazam. “I love you too!”

“… Really!?” Simon replied, looking up at Cassandra.

“Of course I do,” Cassandra responded. “You’ve always been there for me, supporting me, helping me… Even when I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing or not, you’ve always believed in me… I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.”

Simon just quietly stood there in an almost stunned silence for a few moments, before a smile appeared on his face. He grabbed Cassandra’s hand, and the two went into the Meridian Forest together.

“Don’t worry, Cassandra,” Simon said, confidently smiling at her. “I’ll protect you from any wild Pokémon that get in our way!”

“Of course,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head slightly. “Since you finally found the courage to tell me your true feelings, I'm sure nothing can defeat you now!”

“That’s right!” Simon replied, confidently leading Cassandra. After a few moments, he suddenly realized something. “Since I finally found the courage… Wait a minute… Cassandra, did you… already know?”

“Well… Yes, I did,” Cassandra responded, smiling sheepishly. “I’ve known for quite some time, actually, but I didn’t say anything because I knew you would tell me when you were ready.”

“Ah, I see…” Simon replied, blinking a few times. “But… how did you find out?”

“Simon, I’m a psychic type Pokémon,” Cassandra responded, giggling a little. “Keeping secrets from us isn’t easy, as I’m sure you know.”

“Oh… right,” Simon replied, blushing slightly.

“Come on, let’s hurry up!” Cassandra said and smiled at Simon.

“Yes, let’s pick up the pace,” Simon responded, nodding his head.

----

“Cassandra and Simon followed the different teams of Pokémon headed for Axis Tower. Elsewhere, Pandora was adding the finishing touches to the magical stone chest…”

----

A purple aura surrounded the chest as Pandora charged it with her own ghost energy. The gems on the chest began to light up one by one, and soon they were all shining brightly while a purple glow remained around the chest even after Pandora stopped charging it. She picked up the box with her sleeve-like arms, and examined it. She smiled as she admired it.

“It’s done…” Pandora muttered, putting the stone box into her bag. “Now, I just need to find Erebos…”

Her smile faded a little, and she left the cave she had been hiding in. She floated further away from the cave until she reached a pond, and began chanting a spell. Soon, an image began to show in the water.

“… Is that Axis Tower?” Pandora asked, staring into the water. “Why would my brother want to go there…?”

She stared down into the pond for a few more moments, before her eyes suddenly widened.

“No, he couldn’t be after…?” Pandora muttered, before turning around and quickly flying off in the direction of the tower. “I can’t let this go on any longer…!”

----

“Axis Tower is where eight crystals help maintain the balance of our world, and protect this region. At the time, no one knew exactly what Erebos’ intentions for coming here were, but now, I think we can all guess what he was probably planning to do. The various teams soon arrived near the tower, and prepared to ambush Erebos the moment his shadowy form appeared. However, Erebos realized what they were doing, and forced them out from their hiding spots with his dark magic.

Cassandra and Simon did their best to lead the various teams in the battle against the evil spirit, but neither side was gaining an advantage. Erebos’ shadow form and his dark magic allowed him to resist most of the attacks thrown at him, while the other Pokémon were able to resist the various dark magic assaults by helping out each other.”


----

“What should we do, Cassandra?” Richter asked, glancing over at the Gothitelle while trying to pull off some vines that had tangled themselves around Era’s legs.

“At this rate, this might go on forever…” Era’s left head commented.

“I… I’m thinking about it…” Cassandra responded, looking up at the shadowy form fighting against the Pokémon on the ground.

“At least we’re able to do something,” Simon commented. “Although, I wonder how much longer we can keep this up…”

“Cassandra, it’s coming this way!” Era’s heads shouted in unison, as the large shadow suddenly flew towards them.

Simon quickly moved in front of Cassandra, glaring at the dark spirit as it headed towards them.

“I won’t let you hurt her!” Simon exclaimed, stretching out an arm as if to block the path.

Erebos just laughed, swirling around the two psychic types.

“So, you intend to protect her?” Erebos asked mockingly. “Just how do you intend to do that? Do you honestly think you can fight me?”

“If it’s for Cassandra, then I certainly won’t lose to you!” Simon responded.

“Oh, so that’s how it is?” Erebos replied, seeming rather amused. “Willing to fight a foe you can’t beat, just to protect your special somebody… For an Alakazam, you’re not very bright, are you?”

Erebos suddenly wrapped his shadowy form around Simon, much like a snake, and lifted him up from the ground.

“Simon!” Cassandra called out, reaching out for him.

Erebos just laughed, and watched as Simon struggled to try to free himself.

“Tell me, did you think that the power of love would allow you to do something?” Erebos asked, tightening his grip around the Alakazam slightly. “While love is probably a powerful thing and all, you can’t exactly use it to fight evil spirits, now can you?”

He might not be able to defeat you, but perhaps I can!” a familiar voice called out.

Cassandra smiled, and Erebos seemed surprised as they saw who it was.

“Pandora, I knew you’d come!” Cassandra said, sighing in relief.

“Pandora…?” Erebos said, staring at his sister. “Hmm, what is this…?”

Pandora glared at her brother, before sending a wave of ghostly energy in his direction, forcing him to drop Simon. Cassandra quickly ran over to the Alakazam to make sure he was all right, and Simon gave a quick thumbs-up to show that he was. Erebos shuddered for a moment, before recovering from the attack.

“Pandora, what do you think you’re doing?” Erebos asked, snickering a little.

“Erebos, one way or another, I’m putting an end to this now,” Pandora responded, setting down the small stone box on the ground. “If you surrender now, and help fix the mess you made, then I won’t have to take you down by force.”

“… Pandora, I thought you knew this by now,” Erebos replied. “But you are the weaker of the two of us, which means you can never defeat me!”

“You underestimate my power, Erebos,” Pandora responded. “I do have the power to defeat you, and I will use it unless you surrender now!”

“Ooh, I am so scared,” Erebos replied mockingly. “My silly little sister is going to punish me!”

Erebos laughed maniacally as he blocked off an attack by one of the teams on the ground, before using his dark magic to stop their movements. He then turned his attention back to Cassandra and Simon.

“You know, Pandora… I’m glad you came,” Erebos said, giggling gleefully as he stared down at Cassandra with glowing red eyes. “Now you can watch as I kill your friend!”

“I already told you I won’t let you hurt Cassandra!” Simon shouted as he once again moved to get between Cassandra and Erebos.

“Oh, how rude of me,” Erebos responded. “If you want to die first, then that’s okay too!”

Simon grabbed Cassandra’s arms and teleported out of the way just as a bolt of dark energies were about to hit them. The two reappeared a short distance away.

“Simon…” Cassandra said, embracing the Alakazam.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” Simon responded, smiling at Cassandra.

“Ah, teleportation,” Erebos commented. “Very clever, but it’ll only delay your demise.”

Pandora sighed as Erebos fired off a few more bolts of darkness, Simon just barely managing to teleport out of the way with Cassandra. She stared down at the stone box for a few moments.

“… I guess I have no choice,” Pandora muttered.

Pandora closed her eyes, and began chanting a spell. One by one, the purple gems on the chest lit up, and the lid opened up. As light started shining from the empty box, Erebos stopped his attacks and turned around.

“What are you doing, Pandora?” Erebos asked.

Pandora did not answer him. She just closed her eyes and continued to chant. Soon, Erebos felt as if he was being pulled towards the box.

“W-What’s happening!?” Erebos exclaimed, trying to resist the magical force pulling him in.

“This spell will seal away a dark spirit,” Pandora explained, opening her eyes and looking up at Erebos. “You left behind some traces of dark magic near our home, so I used those to make sure that the spell would target you.”

“P-Pandora, you… you can’t do this!” Erebos shouted, glaring at his sister. “Make it stop!”

“I can’t,” Pandora replied, solemnly shaking her head. “The spell can’t be stopped now, and as long as my magic powers it, you will never escape.”

“You…!” Erebos snarled, firing a bolt of dark magic towards Pandora. Pandora simply raised one of her sleeve-like arms, instantly creating a barrier to block it.

“Impossible!” Erebos exclaimed. “W-When did you become this strong!?”

“I… I’m not sure,” Pandora responded, looking away. “However, no matter where this power came from, it’ll allow me to put an end to this chaos!”

Cassandra, Simon and the other Pokémon watched in awe as Erebos struggled against the power of Pandora’s spell. Eventually, Erebos just laughed and stopped fighting it.

“Fine, I’ll let you win this time,” Erebos said as his smoke-like being was being absorbed by the box.

“Erebos…!” Pandora gasped out, a few tears falling from her eyes.

“But this isn’t over,” Erebos said, snickering. “Your magic will run out eventually, and when it does…”

As the rest of Erebos’ spirit disappeared into the box, the lid slammed shut. Things were quiet for a few moments, before Pandora picked up the box once more. Pandora just stared at the box, while Cassandra carefully approached her.

“Pandora…” Cassandra said, reaching out a hand.

“Cassandra, just…” Pandora choked out, not even turning to look at her friend. “I… I need some time alone…”

Cassandra watched as Pandora floated away, holding onto the box tightly. Soon, Pandora had vanished from sight.

“Pandora…” Cassandra muttered, barely even registering Simon’s hand on her shoulder.

----

“The next few days were rather busy. Cassandra and the others returned home and began building a new town, which they named “Fenix Town”. Cassandra motivated and helped the Pokémon with the rebuilding, helping them find good materials. They decided to make most of the new buildings out of stone, since stone doesn’t burn as easily. Simon had moved in with Cassandra, and as usual, did what he could to help support her.

Pandora hid the stone chest containing Erebos’ spirit somewhere, and after a few days, felt like talking again. Cassandra sent some Pokémon over to Silver Woods to build a new home for Pandora, and allowed Pandora to stay with her and Simon in the meantime…”


----

“The new town is coming along nicely,” Pandora commented, as she and Cassandra were taking a walk.

“It is, isn’t it?” Cassandra responded, smiling at Pandora. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here? You, me and Simon… I’m sure the three of us would be happy together!”

“Thanks for the offer,” Pandora replied, smiling back at Cassandra. “But… I don’t really feel like I’d fit in here that well.”

“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked. “There’s room for all types of Pokémon here!”

“Even so, my home is in Silver Woods,” Pandora responded, shrugging slightly. “That’s just how it is.”

“Well, if that’s where you feel at home, then… I guess that’s fine,” Cassandra replied, sighing. “Really would’ve liked it if you’d stay, though…”

“We can send each other letters,” Pandora said, smiling at Cassandra. “And you’ll come visit me, won’t you?”

“Of course I will!” Cassandra replied, nodding her head.

The two Pokémon continued walking, when they noticed Simon, Richter, Era and a few other Pokémon apparently discussing something.

“What’s going on over there?” Pandora asked.

“Oh, it’s about a new system for dealing with the mystery dungeons,” Cassandra responded, looking over at the other Pokémon. “We think it’d be more organized if we had actual teams dedicated to helping out lost Pokémon and such.”

“Hmm… That does sound interesting,” Pandora replied, holding a hand to her chin.

“We’ve already been trying out such a system when we’ve been gathering materials for building our new town,” Cassandra explained. “But it needs work.”

“If you keep working on it, I’m sure you’ll find ways to improve, and keep improving on it,” Pandora said, smiling at Cassandra. “Maybe there’s something I can contribute as well.”

“Really?” Cassandra asked, looking over at Pandora. “Like what?”

“Well… To get out of dungeons quickly, you need Escape Orbs, right?” Pandora said, tilting her head slightly. “However… Escape Orbs can only be used once, meaning they’re rather impractical if one intends to explore mystery dungeons on a regular basis.”

“Hmm… You have a point there,” Cassandra responded, holding a hand to her chin.

“If only we had something that would allow us to escape mystery dungeons quickly, something that could be used over and over again…” Pandora said.

“That would be nice,” Cassandra responded, nodding her head. “Can you make such an item?”

“We’ll see,” Pandora replied, winking at Cassandra.

“Thanks, Pandora!” Cassandra responded, smiling and looking up at the clear blue sky. “Ah, the future is bright, isn’t it?”

“… I suppose it is,” Pandora replied, nodding her head.

----

“… I think this is a good place to stop. For those of you wondering what happened afterwards, I can inform you that the new town continued to grow bigger, and while Cassandra had a lot of work to do helping with the development of the town and the rescue teams, she was just happy to be able to help. Cassandra and Simon lived happily together, and eventually had two daughters together. The older of the two daughters eventually became the new town oracle, while the younger decided to leave on a journey to see other regions and how Pokémon in other parts of the world live their lives. She would often send letters to her older sister back home, and supposedly the older sister got a lot of new ideas for the town from the things her younger sister described in her letters.

Pandora wrote down everything that had happened, with her, Erebos and how to recreate the spell she had used to seal him away should it become necessary. She hoped this knowledge would come in handy for future generations. Pandora and Cassandra stayed close friends, and when Cassandra reached the end of her lifespan, Pandora followed her to the next world not long after.

Cassandra’s oldest daughter realized that with Pandora gone, the magic she had left behind would gradually fade. This of course meant that the seal on Erebos would eventually weaken as well, and once it had weakened enough, it was very likely that he might escape. Therefore, she decided to look for someone who could study the magic Pandora had left behind, and if Erebos ever escaped, there would be someone who could stop him.

The stars eventually led her to a young Mismagius named Samara, who had the magical potential needed. Samara was looking to improve her skills in magic, and so agreed to the town oracle’s request. Samara moved into Pandora’s old home in Silver Woods, and regularly sent letters to the town oracle to let her know of the progress she had made.

And she would later also act as sort of an advisor and friend to future town oracles. In fact, Samara and I have been working together to try to figure out how to deal with the current situation…”


----

“Huh?” Azure suddenly exclaimed.

“What is it?” Stella asked, looking over at Azure.

“Oh, um… Sorry,” Azure responded, smiling sheepishly. “Just a little surprised to hear that this Samara is still around, since… you know, she’d have to be really old.”

“Well, as you probably already know, Pokémon tend to age at different rates,” Stella replied, nodding her head slightly. “And for ghost type Pokémon, it’s a little different. It’s… difficult to tell when their life spans might end. They claim that they stay in our world for as long as they need to.”

“Ah, right,” Azure responded, nodding her head.

“Anyways… The story is not over,” Stella said, taking a deep breath. “What happened back then was merely the first part of it.”

“So, because Pandora left this world a long time ago, her magic weakened over time…” Sera said, looking up at Cassandra. “And Erebos was able to break the seal because of that?”

“Pretty much,” Bow responded, nodding her head.

“I suspect that the unfortunate Sigilyph currently being possessed by him may also have unwittingly helped break the seal,” Stella added, crossing her arms. “He most likely stumbled upon the place where Pandora hid the chest, and tried to take a closer look at the “treasure” he found.”

“Stella, I have a question,” Blitz said, raising a paw.

“Yes, Blitz?” Stella responded, looking over at the young Shinx. “What is it?”

“Your friend Samara… Can she reverse the spells Erebos cast on our friends?” Blitz asked, rubbing the yellow rings on his forelegs together. “Can she help Hercules and the others?”

“She can,” Stella responded, nodding her head. “She’s already working on something that can reverse the effects of the spells Erebos cast. She will send me another letter once she finishes working on them.”

“I see,” Blitz replied, sighing in relief. “I hope she manages to finish them soon…”

“Same here,” Azure said. “I want my water attacks back!”

Chiaki had been paying close attention to Stella’s story, and was now in deep thought. He barely even noticed that there were other Pokémon around; talking about what Stella had just told them all. To think that he and his friends were involved in something that began such a long time ago, and that they would probably have a role in finishing it. So much had happened in just a few days. Chiaki hoped that once this was all over, he and his friends could spend some time together and just relax and have fun.

However, before that time could come, there would probably be even more challenges for them to face. They had found four of the crystals, and four more were still hidden somewhere. And like with the four first crystals, Erebos had probably set up his magical traps around the remaining ones as well. They had found ways to get around the previous obstacles Erebos had put in their way, so surely they’d be able to get to the remaining crystals, right?

But there was also the issue of his lost memories… Could Samara perhaps restore his memories? Or would his memories come back once Erebos was defeated? He wondered where Elina was…

“Chiaki, you okay?” Sera asked, poking the Mienfoo with a paw.

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” Chiaki responded, shaking his head. “I was just… thinking.”

“Oh, I see,” Sera replied, nodding her head.

“Maybe we should head home?” Blitz suggested, looking over at Chiaki. “I know the sun hasn’t even gone down yet, but… I kind of don’t feel like doing any missions today.”

“Me neither,” Sera said, looking down at the ground.

“Well… See you tomorrow, I guess,” Azure responded, shrugging slightly. “I suppose I’ll head back to the café or something.”

“I’ll go with you!” Frederick said, nodding his head.

Azure and Frederick headed off towards the café, while Sera said good-bye to Blitz and Chiaki, before heading home. Blitz and Chiaki began walking back to their house as well.

“I hope Stella hears from Samara soon,” Blitz said, staring at the ground as they walked.

“Yeah…” Chiaki replied, nodding his head slightly.

Now everyone finally knew Erebos’ true identity, and it had given them some things to think about. However, at least there was one bright side to it, and that was the fact that Stella and her friend Samara were already in the process of thinking up a plan for how to defeat Erebos. Until then, the only thing the other Pokémon of Fenix Town could do was continue to go about their everyday lives.

----

End of Chapter 40

----
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Hey guys! It's been a while since the last chapter, hasn't it? I've been very busy with school and stuff, and from the looks of things, I'll continue to be busy with school stuff for the next few months or so. Ah, but time sure goes by fast, so surely I'll be done with all this school stuff before I know it. Anyways, before getting to the chapter, I guess I can share that trivia I promised last time.

- First of all, Erebos' original backstory had him as a Pokémon who was executed for the crimes he performed using his dark magic. Returning as a dark spirit, he continued to cause all sorts of trouble until Pandora provided a way to seal him away.

- Also, I had a lot of difficulty deciding on a species for the main villain. I ultimately decided to make him the same species as a character who was on the side of good, and since dark magic was involved, I figured a Mismagius made the most sense. Thus, he became Pandora's twin brother. The two of them were originally not related, which leads into...

- Pandora's original character concept. Originally, she was going to be a stoic character who didn't show much emotion, who Cassandra sought out when needing to find a way to stop Erebos. With the changes to Erebos' backstory, Pandora ended up getting an expanded role as well.

- Simon was created as someone for Cassandra to confide in, and... well, considering that two of her descendants are major supporting characters in the story, it was kind of a foregone conclusion that Cassandra must have had a boyfriend. :p

- This one isn't quite about the backstory, but Era kind of reuses some of the ideas I had for Frederick, who I intended to have evolve into a Zweilous at some point. His two heads would've been similar in personality and wouldn't be entirely sure which one of them was the original. However, realizing I already had a lot of subplots and such, I decided to scrap the idea and so Frederick will be staying a Deino throughout the rest of the story. I did enjoy writing for Era, even if writing for a character with multiple heads felt a bit weird at times.

There, I think that's all I wanted to say. Interesting how much the story has changed since the early planning stages, isn't it? Anyways, sorry for the wait! Here's chapter 41! Hope you all enjoy it, and feel free to leave a review/comment! I'd really appreciate knowing what you guys think about the story so far!

----

Chapter 41: Some things will never change.

----

No matter how different things seemed, the fact that tomorrow would come still stayed the same. Another new day had begun, and while most rescue teams were probably already on their way into the main part of town to make their preparations for today’s missions, Sera had not even gotten out of her bed yet. She was awake, though, unlike her oldest brother Yoru, who was still asleep in his bed. Sera was quietly thinking about what Stella had told them all yesterday, about who Erebos was and when this had all started.

She kept thinking about Erebos’ sister, Pandora, and how she had ultimately been forced to magically seal away her own brother. Sera felt sorry for her. Pandora had really cared about her brother a lot, yet she couldn’t do anything else to stop him. Sera glanced over at Yoru, who was still snoring and seemed to be trying to ignore light of the sun shining into the room as a way of telling him that it was morning and time to get up.

While watching the sleeping Umbreon, Sera heard light footsteps coming into the room and turned to see Flare standing in the doorway.

“You’re still in bed, Sera?” Flare asked, tilting his head slightly. “You’re not feeling ill, are you?”

“No, I’m fine,” Sera responded, getting up. “I was just thinking about some things.”

“Ah, I see,” Flare replied, nodding his head. “As you get older, I guess you tend to start doing that more often.”

“Oh? Did you think about a lot of things when you were my age?” Sera asked.

“I suppose I did,” Flare responded, nodding his head slightly. “Anyways, it’s time for breakfast.”

Flare then looked over at Yoru, and walked up to him. He then started lightly shaking the Umbreon with his paws.

“You need to get up too, Yoru,” Flare said.

“Why…?” Yoru muttered, opening his eyes slightly.

“Because it’s morning and it’s time to eat breakfast,” Flare responded. “You can probably take a nap later this afternoon, if you want to.”

“Okay, fine…” Yoru replied, yawning and stretching.

----

“… And even though it was an accident, Irvin still gets a bit nervous around Svanhild,” Sirena explained, having been telling Amethyst about some of her friends while helping prepare breakfast. “Other than that, they get along just fine.”

“I see,” Amethyst responded, nodding her head slightly. “It’s nice to hear that you have such good friends.”

“I could introduce you to them sometime,” Sirena suggested.

“Ah, sure,” Amethyst responded, smiling at Sirena. “I would like to meet them.”

“Did you have any friends like that when you were my age?” Sirena asked.

“Hmm… Not really,” Amethyst responded, shaking her head. “I think that when I was your age, I spent most of my time with you and Yoru.”

“Oh, I see,” Sirena replied, nodding her head. “I remember those times… Back when I was an Eevee, I thought you were like, the most amazing big sister ever.”

“Yes, I remember that,” Amethyst said, smiling. “You were always following me around, asking me questions and wanting me to show you my powers…”

“Yeah…” Sirena replied, smiling sheepishly. “I must’ve been really annoying back then, huh?”

“No, I didn’t mind it at all,” Amethyst responded, shaking her head. “I really enjoyed spending time with you.”

“You did?” Sirena replied.

“Of course,” Amethyst responded, nodding her head. “I spent a lot of time with you and Yoru, not just because I had to look after you while our parents were at work, but because I loved spending time with my younger siblings.”

“… I see,” Sirena replied, nodding her head slightly.

“I haven’t been able to develop quite the same connection with Flare or Volt, though,” Amethyst said, sighing. “And while Sera seems to be quite fond of me, I don’t really feel like I’ve really gotten to spend enough time with her either.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sirena responded, smiling at Amethyst. “There’s still plenty of time for that, isn’t there?”

“… I guess so,” Amethyst replied, nodding her head.

Volt soon entered the room, and shortly after, the other three siblings joined them as well. While the six of them were eating their breakfast, Sera kept quietly observing her older siblings. As she looked around at them, she thought that something seemed different somehow. Her gaze lingered on her two older sisters for a while.

“Sirena has a really pretty smile,” Sera thought to herself. “Come to think of it, she hasn’t complained as much lately… and Amethyst seems to be happy as well. It’s nice to see them get along…”

Sera thought about how she cared about her older siblings, even if they could be annoying at times. She knew it was the same for them. Even if they didn’t get along at times, she didn’t need to worry about it. There was no way any of her siblings would end up as enemies the way Erebos and Pandora did.

“Yoru, perhaps you and Volt can go for a walk later?” Amethyst suggested, looking over at the Umbreon.

“Uh… Why me?” Yoru asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Because you need more exercise,” Amethyst responded.

“What do you mean?” Yoru replied, looking down at himself. “My body looks just fine…”

“But you won’t be able to keep that figure of yours if you don’t start doing some more exercise!” Amethyst responded, giving Yoru a stern look. “Not to mention all the possible health problems you might develop if you just lay around doing nothing all day every day when you are capable of doing something.”

“Um, but… I doubt I can keep up with Volt,” Yoru said, glancing over at the Jolteon. “He’s so fast, and I’m… not.”

“It’s not a race, though, is it?” Volt commented, looking over at the others. “In that case, don’t worry if I outrun you.”

“… I don’t think that’s the problem here,” Flare said, looking over at his younger brother.

“Besides, Sera manages to do fine without supervision when she’s out with her friends on missions and stuff, right?” Yoru said, smiling at Amethyst. “So, surely Volt would be fine on his own since he’s older than Sera, right?”

“Whether that’s the case or not, you’re still going with him,” Amethyst responded. “If you’re not going to help me and Sirena with the daily chores, then at least spend some time with your younger siblings and get some exercise!”

“Listen, I really do appreciate your concern,” Yoru replied, still smiling. “But keep in mind that I’m a Pokémon that prefers staying up at night. The day… is really not my thing.”

“Yoru, when you move out and get a place of your own, you can manage your own sleep schedule,” Amethyst responded, sighing. “But as long as we’re all living together, you have to try to sleep at night like the rest of us do.”

“I know,” Yoru replied, nodding his head. “It’s because mom and dad have to get up early for work, isn’t it?”

As she listened to the conversation between her two oldest siblings, Sera realized that Amethyst was bringing up something that she hadn’t thought about all that much. She, her siblings and their parents wouldn’t all be living together like this forever. At some point, Amethyst and the others would leave and find their own places to live. Even Sera herself would probably be leaving this house someday, as hard as it was for her to imagine.

Soon, her train of thought led her to think about her friends.

“I wonder… just how long will we all be together?” Sera thought, staring at nothing in particular.

How long would Blitz be staying in Fenix Town? Would he eventually have to return to Lightning Plateau and become the leader of the Luxray pride? And what would happen to Chiaki? Would he eventually get his memories back, and go back to wherever he lived before? Did Azure or Frederick have any plans for the future? As more and more questions came to mind, Sera wondered if she’d have to pay a visit to Stella and ask her about the future.

“The future is… kind of scary, when you think of it like this…” Sera thought, her ears drooping down slightly. “I guess this is why Blitz doesn’t like to think about it…”

Once breakfast was over, and Amethyst finally convinced Yoru to take Volt with him for a walk, Sera wondered what she was going to do now. She wasn’t sure if she felt like joining her teammates on a mission today, but if she didn’t go, they might worry about her. They already had worries of their own, so they probably didn’t need another thing to worry about.

“Sera, are you okay?” Flare asked as he sat down next to her. “Still got a lot on your mind?”

“Uh… Yes…” Sera responded, nodding her head slightly. “Hey, Flare? How long do you think we’ll all be living together?”

“Ah, concerns about the future, is it?” Flare replied, giving her a friendly smile. “You know you’re growing up when you start thinking about these things. However, I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to your question.”

“I see…” Sera responded, sighing.

“Sera, even if we can’t be together forever, we’ll always be siblings, right?” Flare said.

“Uh… Yes, of course,” Sera replied, nodding her head slightly.

“Some things will never change,” Flare explained, smiling at Sera.

“So… Even if we move to different places, we’ll still be a family,” Sera responded, thinking about it for a moment. “And… even if Blitz and Chiaki were to leave somewhere, we’d still be friends…?”

“Exactly,” Flare replied, nodding his head.

Sera thought about it for a few moments, before a smile crossed her face.

“Yeah, that sounds about right!” Sera said, beaming. “Thank you, Flare!”

“No problem,” Flare responded, smiling back at Sera.

“I guess I’d better go see my friends now!” Sera said, grinning.

“Yes, go do that,” Flare replied, nodding his head. “They’re probably waiting for you.”

Sera hurried outside and made her way towards town, feeling a little better now. However, things seemed unusually quiet in the town plaza. Normally one could hear the confident voices of rescue teams chatting with the friendly shopkeepers as they made their preparations for their next mission, but today neither the rescue teams nor the shopkeepers seemed to be in the mood for talking as much. Sera could hear hushed voices of rescue teams talking about how distortions in space had started appearing in more locations. Just how far would they continue to spread? Some of them were also talking about what Stella had explained to everyone, and seemed frightened at the thought of Erebos’ dark magic.

Wade the Lombre seemed to be trying to go about his business as usual, greeting customers to the shop with a smile and asking what he or Vic could do for them today. Vic the Nuzleaf just sat there next to him, absentmindedly polishing a wonder orb with a distant look on his face. Then again, this kind of behavior was pretty normal for Vic. Over by the item warehouse, Lionel the Linoone kept checking and double-checking the lists over everything the rescue teams were currently keeping stored with him. Sera assumed it was his way of trying to relax in this current situation.

Marietta the Ledian was just sitting there with her four arms resting against the counter, not really seeming to be paying much attention to the Pokémon walking past the bank. It seemed as if her thoughts were elsewhere. Sera wondered just who or what Marietta was thinking about? Hopefully she’d be able to focus on her job if any customers were to show up.

Zap the Rotom seemed to be more fidgety than normal, although Sera wasn’t sure if it was because of the current situation, if was because he hadn’t had that many customers lately and he was getting impatient, or if he simply had too much electricity built up within his body at the moment. Then again, considering Zap’s body seemed to be made of electrical energy, was it even possible for him to have too much electricity stored inside of him?

Bijou the Sableye didn’t have any customers at the moment either. She was currently just sitting there, rolling a round rock back and forth over the counter with a bored look on her face. At least Sera assumed it was an expression of boredom, since it was kind of hard to tell with Bijou due to her gem stone eyes and the fact that her mouth wasn’t visible when it was closed. As she walked past, Sera noticed that the rock that Bijou was playing with had a bite taken out of it. While she knew it wasn’t good manners to play with ones food, Sera decided not to comment on it.

Celio the Togetic was checking on one of the eggs he was looking after, smiling as he felt it move slightly in his small arms.

“You’re going to go grow up to be a strong and kind Pokémon, I just know it,” Celio softly whispered to the egg.

Celio didn’t seem to be worried at all. Since it was in his species’ nature to spread happiness, he was probably one of the few Pokémon in town who had absolutely no doubts that things were going to turn out okay. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing to be worried about. Sera wondered if Pokémon that had yet to hatch could feel anything that was outside of the egg? If so, then surely Celio’s feelings would reach them and let them know that there was nothing to be afraid of.

“I hope they find a way to stop Erebos from causing any more trouble,” Sera muttered to herself. “And that we find the remaining four crystals soon…”

Sera left the town plaza and continued making her way up to the rescue team HQ. Inside, rescue teams were standing around as usual, checking the bulletin boards and discussing which missions to take. Sera looked around for her friends, and spotted Chiaki standing outside of Giselle’s office, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

“Is something on your mind?” Sera asked as she approached the Mienfoo.

“Huh?” Chiaki said, opening his eyes and smiling as he noticed Sera. “Oh, hi Sera!”

“Hi,” Sera replied, waving her paw. “Is Blitz here too?”

“Yeah, he’s currently checking up on Hercules,” Chiaki responded, nodding his head. “Hercules is still asleep because of that spell Erebos put on him…”

Soon Blitz came out from behind the pink curtain and joined his two friends.

“He’s still the same…” Blitz muttered, sighing.

“Don’t worry, Blitz,” Sera said, trying to give a reassuring smile. “Stella said that Samara is working on a cure for the ones Erebos cursed, right? She’ll probably have it ready soon!”

“I hope so,” Blitz responded, nodding his head.

“Soon, Azure, Hercules and the others will be back to normal…” Chiaki said, holding his paw to his chin. “… I wonder if this means that I’ll be getting my memory back too.”

“Oh, right!” Sera exclaimed, looking over at Chiaki. “Erebos is the one who caused your memory loss, isn’t he?”

“I think so,” Chiaki replied, nodding his head.

“Actually, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Blitz said.

“What do you mean?” Sera asked as she and Chiaki turned to Blitz.

“It’s about our encounter with Erebos when we went to rescue Bow,” Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together. “Back then… Erebos didn’t seem to react in any way to Chiaki being there, not even just a quick glance over at him to suggest that he recognized him.”

“Huh, you remembered something like that?” Sera asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Yeah,” Blitz replied, nodding his head. “Erebos doesn’t seem like the type who would just ignore someone he had cursed like that…”

“But…” Chiaki said, looking somewhat confused. “I’m sure that I must’ve met Erebos somewhere before…”

“I’m not saying you didn’t,” Blitz responded. “However, I think we may have to consider the possibility that Erebos isn’t the one responsible for your memory loss. There might be another reason.”

“Another reason…?” Chiaki muttered, staring at the ground.

“I’ll admit that I can’t really think of anything else that might’ve caused it,” Blitz responded, sheepishly rubbing his forelegs together. “But I felt that I had to tell you my thoughts on the matter anyways.”

“… I see,” Chiaki replied.

“… Maybe Elina knows something?” Sera suggested.

“I haven’t seen her since we went to rescue Bow,” Chiaki responded, shaking his head. “I want to talk to her, but I don’t know where she is.”

“Ah, I see…” Sera replied, sighing. “That Elgyem… She’s a tricky one to track down, isn’t she?”

“… Maybe Kala knows where she is,” Blitz said, looking over at Chiaki. “Didn’t Elina say that Kala was the one teaching her to communicate via telepathy?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Chiaki exclaimed, grinning. “She did tell me that Kala was the one giving her telepathy lessons!”

The three of them walked over to Kala’s room, and found that the Abra, as usual, was asleep on her pillow. Chiaki walked up to her, and began shaking her by the shoulders.

“Kala, wake up!” Chiaki said as she lightly shook her. “I need to ask you something!”

“We’re out of purple…” Kala muttered in her sleep.

“Come on, Kala!” Chiaki said, continuing to shake her.

Kala eventually opened one of her eyes slightly, looking up at Chiaki.

“Oh, it’s you guys…” Kala said, yawning. “All right, where do you want to go?”

“Actually, we haven’t decided on a mission yet,” Chiaki responded. “We just wanted to know if you know where Elina is.”

“Elina…?” Kala replied, rubbing her eyes. “Haven’t seen her today…”

“Oh…” Chiaki responded, looking down.

“Was that all you wanted?” Kala asked, lying down again on her pillow. “If so, then get out and don’t disturb me again unless you need to teleport somewhere…”

“Okay, understood,” Chiaki responded, nodding his head slightly. “Thanks, anyways.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever…” Kala replied, turning over on her side and going back to sleep.

Blitz, Sera and Chiaki left Kala’s room and returned to the main area within the rescue team HQ.

“So… Should we just try to look for Elina ourselves?” Sera suggested.

“Surely she has to be somewhere in town,” Blitz said. “If the three of us split up and search, one of us will probably find her.”

“Ooh, good idea, guys!” Chiaki replied, grinning. “Let’s do that!”

----

Meanwhile, Yoru was doing his best to keep up with Volt, who kept excitedly running ahead of him on the path. Yoru wished that he could be at home taking a nap about now, but Amethyst had insisted that he get some exercise. At least Amethyst wouldn’t worry about him as much if he did this, and Volt seemed to be pretty happy to be running around like this.

“Need me to slow down, Yoru?” Volt asked, glancing over at his older brother.

“Nah, just do whatever you want,” Yoru responded.

Volt grinned and ran back over to Yoru, deciding to walk next to him.

“You know what I like about you?” Volt asked, grinning. “You never tell me to not do this or that, or get angry when I accidentally knock something over and things like that!”

“Uh… Thanks, I guess,” Yoru replied, shrugging slightly.

“I think it’s really cool how you’re just so okay with everything,” Volt said.

“Cool?” Yoru commented, blinking a few times. “I don’t know if that’s the word I’d use to describe myself, I mean… I don’t really have any talents or anything I’m good at, really.”

“I don’t believe that,” Volt responded, shaking his head. “Surely you must be good at something.”

“Oh, I’m perfectly okay with not having any talents, really,” Yoru replied.

“… Really?” Volt responded, looking skeptically at Yoru.

“Yeah, really,” Yoru replied, nodding his head. “I’ve never really been especially good at anything, but I don’t really see any reason for why I need to be.”

“… And you’re really okay with that?” Volt asked, leaning in closer to Yoru’s face.

“I am,” Yoru replied, nodding his head once more.

“… I don’t believe you,” Volt responded.

“Well… I suppose I’d be pleasantly surprised to find something I’m good at,” Yoru finally admitted. “But I don’t see the need to worry about it too much.”

“Maybe I can help you find out what you’re good at?” Volt asked, smiling at Yoru.

“Oh, that’s really not necessary,” Yoru responded, chuckling.

“And I could ask Flare to help too!” Volt said, grinning.

“Uh, I appreciate the thought, but…” Yoru replied, but Volt didn’t seem to be paying attention.

“This is going to be fun!” Volt said, excitedly running in circles around Yoru. “With our help, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure out what you’re good at!”

“… Just what have I gotten myself into?” Yoru said, chuckling a little. “Well, I suppose he’s already made up his mind, so might as well just go with it.”

----

Sera, Blitz and Chiaki had been looking around for a while, but none of them had found any signs of Elina. Considering that Elina could sense their presence with her psychic power and teleport away if she didn’t wish to be found, they eventually decided to give up on finding her for now.

“I wonder why we couldn’t find her…” Blitz muttered. “Why would she not want to tell Chiaki the truth now that she can…?”

“I’m sure she has her reasons,” Chiaki responded, shrugging slightly. “Don’t worry too much about it.”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted to talk to her about your lost memories?” Sera asked, looking over at Chiaki.

“Well, the whole thing about Erebos is kind of confusing, but… I’ve waited this long, I can wait a little longer,” Chiaki responded, nodding his head.

Noticing that the sun was starting to set, Sera realized she had to hurry home and said to her teammates that she would see them tomorrow. They didn’t handle any missions today, but maybe tomorrow. Sera didn’t pay much attention to her older siblings telling their parents about how their day was as they were all eating dinner together. She found herself wondering what could possibly have caused Chiaki’s memory loss if Erebos was not the one responsible.

Chiaki seemed certain that he had met Erebos somewhere before losing his memories, but Blitz’s observation about Erebos seemingly not recognizing Chiaki during their rescue mission… She couldn’t make sense of this.

“Sera, how was your day?” Sera’s mother asked, smiling as she looked over at her youngest daughter.

“Huh?” Sera replied, snapping out of her stupor. “Oh, um… I’ve been thinking about a lot of things today.”

“Oh?” Sera’s mother asked, tilting her head slightly.

Sera continued to stare off into space as she continued to think about things, her parents and siblings exchanging some concerned looks. Flare, however, just smiled.

“Isn’t it nice?” Flare said, looking around at the others. “Deep in thought like that… It’s a sign that Sera is growing up.”

“Our little Serafina is growing up…” their mother said, blinking a few times.

“Huh, time sure flies,” the father commented, tilting his head slightly. “It’s been going by so fast that, I guess we hadn’t really noticed…”

“Hold on, what do you mean?” Volt asked, looking somewhat confused. “I don’t get all deep in thought like that… Are you saying that Sera is more grown-up than me?”

“Well, some do say that girls mature faster than boys,” Sirena commented, smirking.

“No way!” Volt exclaimed, shaking his head.

“Volt, relax,” Flare said, trying to calm him down. “There’s no need to be in a hurry to grow up.”

“Easy for you to say,” Volt responded, looking over at Flare. “Ugh, you’re not even that much older than me, and yet you’re so mature compared to me… I don’t get how this works at all!”

“Volt, really, it’s not that big a deal,” Flare replied, chuckling nervously.

After dinner, Sera returned to the bedroom, still deep in thought. She kept staring out of the window while thinking about everything until she fell asleep. After all of the siblings had gone to sleep, their father noticed that his wife seemed to have something on her mind.

“Summer, is something wrong?” the Leafeon asked, looking over at the Glaceon.

“… It has been a while since all eight of us did something together as a family, hasn’t it?” Summer said.

“… Yeah, it has,” the Leafeon responded, nodding his head.

“… Next time we have some time off from work; we should do something about that, shouldn’t we?” Summer asked, smiling at her husband.

“Yes, we should,” the Leafeon replied, smiling back. “For now, we should get some sleep. Good night.”

“Good night,” Summer responded, laying down next to her husband and quickly falling asleep.

----

In Silver Woods, a young Misdreavus watched as her mentor placed a few vials containing different colored potions into a basket, telekinetically moving a quill and crossing off items on a list as they were placed inside the basket.

“All right, that’s everything,” the Misdreavus said, giggling.

“Good,” the Mismagius responded, nodding her head.

“So, should we get going now?” the Misdreavus asked.

“No,” the Mismagius responded, shaking her head. “I don’t think Erebos knows about me yet, but I don’t want to risk getting caught in an ambush on the way to Fenix Town.”

“So, how are we getting there, then?” the Misdreavus asked.

“Hand over the quill,” the Mismagius responded.

The Misdreavus nodded her head, and levitated the quill over to the Mismagius, who grabbed it with one of her sleeve-like arms.

“Time to let Stella know that I’ve finished my preparations,” the Mismagius said with a smirk as she conjured up a blank piece of paper and began writing a letter.

----

End of Chapter 41
 

Sike Saner

Peace to the Mountain
"Since you two have already concluded that the mission in question is too difficult for you, the mushroom will take it" a strange monotone voice called out to them.

Blitz and Sera turned around to see an orange bug with a large mushroom growing on its back approaching the mission board, staring up at the board with its blank white eyes.

"Hey, I've seen you around here before," Blitz said. "You're one of Mirage's teammates, right? Or do I have you confused with another Parasect?"

"You are correct, I am indeed Mirage's teammate," the Parasect clarified, still speaking in a creepy monotone. "My name is Cordyceps, by the way."

"I thought Mirage already have a mission she intended to do today?" Sera asked.

"Indeed, but the mushroom thought it might be a good idea to check what other missions were available, in case we find something Mirage might be interested in," Cordyceps explained.

"Well, I think there are some missions with a high reward on here," Blitz said, gesturing to some missions on the board with his paw. "If that helps..."

"The mushroom thanks you for making this observation, this pleases the mushroom," Cordyceps replied, picking off a mission from the board with his orange claw. "Mirage will be pleased as well."

I like this guy(s). Really comes across as a double entity, or at least something that believes he is because of massive fungal infection.

"Yes, it's definitely a Reviver Seed and not one of those silly Reviser Seeds!" Sera responded excitedly.

Yeah that's definitely not a mix-up you wanna make.

"So, it's against the rules to reveal the existence of the rules?" Chiaki asked once again.

"Sorry to interrupt, but can we please just fight these guys?" Azure asked, seeming rather impatient and itching for a fight.

Agreed; getting your butt handed to you in the middle of an infodump is a tragic way to go down. X3

"Well done, Chiaki!" Sera commented, walking up to him. "And as we all gain more experience, we'll eventually learn to use even more attacks! Oh, and there are also other items besides the Blast Seed that we can use to give us an edge in battles!"

"Walk while you explain!" Azure said, bouncing past the two.

Azure is a relatively smart cookie.

"What were you trying to do?" Chiaki asked, wiping the foam away from her mouth with the baggy skin on his arm, seeing as the Azurill species did not have hands until it evolved.

Well that was certainly thoughtful of him.

Her best guess was that it probably involved a giant pink gummi. After all, who hadn't had a dream like that?

I know I have them at least three times a week!

"No way, that place is way too hot!" Frosty protested. "Don't you remember? The last time we were there, my epic icicle beard almost melted!"

EPIC ICICLE BEARD okay that's pretty funny.

"Very funny," Sera responded, wiping some sand off her face. "What else can you do? I was kind of expecting something… a bit more impressive, maybe?"

"Oh, well in that case…" Riley said, pressing the palms of his paws together and concentrating. A blue aura began emanating from his body, and soon started lifting some of the sand up into the air. A small whirlwind of sand began to take form, and soon began moving in Sera's direction.

"Uh-oh," Sera said, as she realized what was going to happen next. She managed to take a breath and close her eyes, just before the sand came crashing down on her, leaving only her ears sticking out from under a small pile of sand.

"Was that impressive enough for you?" Riley asked, while Sera just gave the Riolu an annoyed look from inside the pile of sand.

PFFFFF Gotta watch your mouth!

"Oh," Chiaki replied, tilting his head slightly. "But why can't I just avoid attacks by running around?"

Lotus hit the palm of her hand against her forehead once again. Hopefully this time it would be easier to get the Mienfoo to stop getting distracted and pay attention.

Chiaki might seem like a mienfoo, but in reality he is a giant, sentient question mark.

"Yes," Lotus responded. "However, promise me that if you do come back for more training, that you will pay attention right from the start, okay?"

"I promise!" Chiaki said, eagerly shaking Lotus' hand. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Lotus responded, smiling somewhat awkwardly as Chiaki continued shaking her hand. "... You can let go of my hand now."

Pfff. These two make a great duo.

Somehow, Sera's training session with Riley eventually degenerated into just playing around in the sand. At least the two of them seemed to have a lot of fun while running around and tackling each other into the sand.

Cute!

the mushroom will punish the weasel

I can honestly say that's a sequence of words I never expected to read, ever.

However, the Wooper didn’t seem to hear them, giggling a bit in its sleep and mumbling something about bubbles.

That's kind of adorable.

“Why don’t we just do this?” Chiaki said, grabbing the Tympole and lifting it out the water.

The Tympole seemed very surprised and confused at suddenly being picked up like that.

“Do you mind if I take this?” Chiaki asked, taking the apple from the Tympole’s mouth.

The Tympole gave Chiaki an annoyed look, and spit out a stream of bubbles at him to get him to let go of him.

Pffff. What an image.

“I don’t know…” Blitz replied. “Think we should be concerned about the fact that she apparently has a collection of weapons?”

“Nah, I’m sure there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Sera responded, keeping an eye out for the entrance to the mini-dungeon as they walked.

She might even be willing to share some.

“Blitz, it’s a plant we’re talking about here,” Sera replied, taking a few bites out of her apple. “It’s not like it can actually fight back, or anything.”

Somewhere a bellsprout is all "why I never!" and starts waddling off in her general direction.

A few moments later a blue paw emerged from the ground, reaching for something to grab onto so he could pull himself up.

I can't help but wonder what would've happened if the effects of the orb had worn off somehow before he could surface.

“The mushroom would like to object to the claim of not being any fun,” Cordyceps said. “The mushroom can in fact be quite the fun guy.”

The other three Pokémon stared in complete silence for a few seconds.

“Get it?” Cordyceps asked. “It’s funny because it sounds like fungi.”

Cordy, I'd kick you, but I'm wary of effect spore.

“That’s one Leppa berry juice, one Rawst and Nanab berry smoothie and one iced Pecha tea!”

Iced pecha tea sounds really effing tasty.

Evolution seemed like something one had to put a lot of thought into, especially as an Eevee. She wondered if her siblings had gone through the same routine when deciding on what they wanted to evolve into back when they were Eevee. For now, she figured it was better not to worry too much about it.

If it weren't for the timestamp on this chapter, I'd predict she's destined to become a sylveon.

“Yes! We are all individuals!” replied every single Combee in the hive in unison.

snorts

“You know, saying what attacks you’re going to use out loud kind of makes it easier for the opponent to avoid it,” Azure commented, looking unimpressed.

I like this azurill.

“Isn’t there another way we can reach the desert spirit?” the Cacnea asked. "Aside from, you know..."

“Look!” the Sandshrew said, pointing to its scribbles in the sand. “I drew a Trapinch!”

“Oh, that’s cute,” the Maractus commented. “But it doesn’t exactly solve our problem in any way.”

I also like this trapinch.

“All right, my turn,” Megara said, firing an intense blast of fire from her beak to burn the wild Pokémon, and accidentally(?) frightening Cordyceps in the process.

That little question mark makes this sentence at least 30% better.

“Well, Amethyst is better at giving me advice about other things,” Sera responded. “But it seems you can teach me some things that she can’t, so I guess you can both be my role models.”

“Meh, I suppose that’s good enough for me,” Sirena replied.

One thing I'm curious about: the rest of Sera's family's names fit what they evolved into rather well. Were those always their names, or did they change them after they evolved?

“Don’t worry, daddy, I’ll get your spoons back from the Krabby…” Kala mumbled in her sleep, before turning over on her side.

There's a story behind that dream; I just know it.

“Don’t use hot wax to soothe enraged Krabby…”

Duly noted.

“Shame Frillish are not among the ghost types that can turn intangible and phase through walls,” the male Frillish muttered to himself.

He read my mind.

“Ah, there you are, Soapy,” the Tentacruel said, swimming over to the Alomomola. “How did it go?”

“First of all, my name is Sophie,” the Alomomola responded, looking somewhat annoyed.

But alas, it was too late. I would forever have a very hard time not thinking of her as Soapy.

“So?” Chiaki said, looking at his teammates. “It’s still a mystery dungeon, and we’re a rescue team. It can’t be that hard to figure out how we’ll use our moves here!”

“Hmm… I guess you have a point there,” Sera responded, thinking about it for a moment.

“I don’t know…” Blitz replied, glancing around.

“It is a mystery dungeon, and we’re a rescue team,” Sera said. “Exploring mystery dungeons is something rescue teams do.”

“Well, that’s true, but…” Blitz muttered.

...What would happen if he used an electric attack underwater?

“Wait, Sera!” Blitz responded, as Sera began swimming towards the next room. “Shouldn’t we check which of our items that Glue Trap may have affected?”

However, Sera didn’t seem to listen, and so Blitz and Chiaki couldn’t do much else but continue to follow her.

Y'all are gonna regret that...

“Well, I’ll just use the Petrify Orb I brought to freeze these guys, and then we can move onto the next floor!” Sera responded, reaching into her bag. “… Huh? Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

The Petrify Orb was covered in the green glue that had sprayed out from the Glue Trap from earlier, preventing Sera from using it.

Told ya. :B

“Why don’t you guys pick on someone your own type?” the Marill said, smirking as she slammed her tail against one of the remaining two Staryu, knocking it into the other and simultaneously knocking both of them out. “Come on; show me what you’ve got!”

I bet I know who this is!

“Wait… Azure? Is that you?”

“Yep!” the Marill responded, giggling a little as she swam in a circle around her three friends.

Called it!

“Does anyone want to hear my opinion?” Missile asked, smiling at the other two.

I do, I do!

“Your opinion on what?” the Starmie inquired. “Do you even know what we are talking about?”

“… Are we talking about yogurt?” the Sharpedo responded. “I like mine with fruit at the bottom!”

Missile and that trapinch from earlier ought to have their own show.

“Ooh, I wish I had a cute tail like that…” Missile muttered, distractedly watching Azure’s tail for a few moments.

Bum-looker!

“You don’t understand!” Sera responded, shaking her head slightly. “I always tell Blitz about things that happen, about my feelings and stuff, but apparently Blitz didn’t even trust me enough to tell me he has a younger sister!”

Whom, unless I'm mistaken, she never asked about.

It's funny, how a sense of entitlement can cloud one's vision.

Blitz took a step forward, and then took a deep breath. He then attempted to let out a powerful Roar, but the only sound that he was able to produce was more of a high-pitched squeaking noise.

“… What was that?” Azure asked, tilting her head slightly.

“I… I guess my Roar needs work…” Blitz said, looking rather embarrassed.

Blitz, you are a precious kitty.

“Ah, thank you for the shiny coins,” Bijou responded, grinning as she pulled out her lockpicking tool. “All right, here I go!”

With much glee, she began picking the lock on the treasure box while giggling maniacally for no apparent reason.

...is it strange that I thought she was just gonna bite it open

“Hmm… I might be able to teleport to her location, as long as I keep her psychic signature in mind,” Elina explained to Chiaki. “However, I’ve never tried teleporting this many Pokémon before, nor have I ever tried teleporting such a long distance.”

“She says she might be able to teleport us,” Chiaki said to the others. “But she’s not sure if she can pull it off.”

“You have to try, Elina,” Blitz responded, placing a paw on her shoulder.

“I’m sure you can do it!” Azure said, grinning. “Just give it your best shot!”

“Yeah, you can do it, Elina!” Sera added.

“… What they said!” Frederick responded, nodding his head slightly.

“We all believe in you, Elina!” Chiaki said, smiling.

“Oh, I… t-thanks…” Elina responded, blushing slightly. “All right, I’ll try my best!”

And then they all got splinched. It was the worst, most terrible mess in the history of messes. The end.

...oh wait, there's still more

“Mmph mmmm mmmph?” a gray Pokémon resembling a rag doll with a closed zipper for a mouth asked, or at least Cassandra thought it was asking a question based on the questioning tone.

laughs

“We’re out of purple…” Kala muttered in her sleep.

laughs again

I like Kala's dreams. :D
 
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