Aegis Cave

[Tanuki]

Zane wondered for a moment if he could stay behind in the cave, hide eternally from the shame before reluctantly following her lead. Humiliation followed him no matter the dimension.

 

[NebulaDreams]

"Zane, she's way outta your league anyway. Find another Zangoose to bump claws with."

Curio had watched this post-battle commotion from the sidelines. This was becoming a bad habit of hers, like she wasn't controlling her own actions or when to react, but someone else was pulling the strings. No. Now wasn't the time to break the fourth wall. Brisa and Zane were heading for Wigglytuff Guild, and she needed to follow them. She took out her badge, which was inexplicably tucked all the way in her tail, and held it. The sensation of white light coursing through her felt like being in a Pokeball again. She didn't miss that.

And with that, she left Aegis Cave. Good riddance.

 

[Namohysip]

<><><>
​

"Still nothing."

A small team had been sent to various parts of Cibus to investigate whether it had any adverse effects--well, more adverse than usual--from the Sword sightings. Shield, of course, spearheaded these efforts, and had been going nearly nonstop on missions to investigate old areas that had been touched by Blacklight to see if there was any pattern or relation to Darkwhite's apparitions. So far, nothing has really been found, and Shield continued to scan by aura for anything strange. Meanwhile, Owen was there for his Perceive, which was great and fully-developed for catching details they may have missed in the past. And finally, Cynthian accompanied them as well, for extra support in case things had gotten chaotic.

Aegis Cave was still empty, devoid of Unown or their Regis. It was eerie, aside from the occasional Darkwhite appearance, which only stared at them. It left for a lot of time to talk to fill in the silence.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Try as she might, Cynthian couldn't completely conceal her apples and lemony fragrance as she followed behind Shield and the others to search for Sword. There was once again another Darkwhite apparition, just staring at them with white eyes.

"Do you think we could try talking to one of these darkwhites?" Cynthian asked, attempting to make small talk. "We might learn something, maybe?"

 

[Namohysip]

"We've tried before," Shield muttered, "but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try again. Sword! Can you hear me?"

The apparition giggled, hands only barely covering her oversized mouth, as she sank into the wall. Her eyes and smile lingered longer than the rest of her body, even as it had completely disappeared into the wall.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Well, she sure seems... Cheerful." Cynthian said, maintaining a composed face.

"She almost reminds me of Ivy..." Cynthian paused to blink. Did Darkwhite inspire Ivy's personality without Cynthian even knowing?

"Can you still sense her through the wall, Owen?"

 

[Namohysip]

Owen winced, glancing at Wishkeeper. His head looked fuzzy, like he was having trouble maintaining his form.

"I'll be honest," Owen said. "Something about Darkwhite is always really hard for me to read, and it's like these apparitions are only half-there. I can't make out anything specific about it... Sorry. I know something is there and it's weird, but that's all. It's like she's somewhere between tangible and... not."

"Like a phantom... or something." Shield hummed.

"Even Ghosts can be sensed in a way," Owen said. "Darkwhite is even less than that right now..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"That sounds so complicated. Here and not here... almost like a quantum particle." She paused to clear her throat. "It's something I read in a book once."

Cynthian walked around, eyes hovering over the rocky walls and the various charmanders. She brought her bouquet to her chin and tried recollecting everything she could remember about Darkwhite.

"Hey Darkwhite. Would you like to play a game with us?" Cynthian asked out loud. Maybe she'd respond to that?

 

[Namohysip]

No reply at first, so Shield and the team continued on. The Lucario's ear twitched. "I hear giggling," he said. "It's Sword. But..."

"I think I hear it, faintly," Owen said. "But your hearing's better than mine."

"What, your Perceive can't hear anything?"

"No. Only physical objects, not really energy. I have trouble reading those badge screens, too. I can read books, though, because of the--"

"Wait." Shield held up a paw, then closed his eyes.

"...Uhuhu..."

But then it faded away again.

"...Guess she's just giggling."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Do you think anything would happen if we tried humoring her?" Cynthian asked in a hushed voice as she walked up beside Shield, all the while trying to listen to more of that giggling.

"I obviously haven't known her as long as you have, but the Darkwhite I know is a fan of games, messing with folks... and getting attention while she's at it." Cynthian paused to listen for any signs of Darkwhite's voice again.

"Come on, Darkwhite! You want to have some fun, don't you?"

 

[Namohysip]

And again, no substantial response. "I'm beginning to wonder if they can even understand us. They just operate at some basic level..."

"Maybe they're illusions, and she can't really see us right now?"

"No. Their eyes follow you. But..." Shield sighed. "I don't know. This is all so strange. And for it to be happening across all Dungeons..."

"How can she do that?" Owen asked. "What's somewhere that's connected to all Dungeons?"

"They say that Ley Lines connect all Dungeons, and not very many places are linked to them in that way," Shield commented. "But... that isn't my field at all. I don't know anything more than that. I don't even know what Ley Lines are..."

"The term's new to me," Owen muttered.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Wait, did you mention Ley Lines? Why, I've read about them before!" Cynthian's eyes lit up and she grimaced and scoured her memories to recall it. She knew for sure that it was one of the books she'd borrowed from that red hooded espurr.

"Ley lines... They're almost like portals, but not quite. I remember it was explained as a means of quick travel by creating dungeon spaces connecting two points," Cynthian said, bringing her flowers close and constricting a vine of each together.

"I heard that during the time of the heroes that defeated bitter cold, they used to use things called Entercards to utilize ley lines." Cynthian sighed and shook her head. "It's a rare technology in my world now. That aside, quite a few places are said to be strongly tied to the ley lines. Among them were the worldcore, hidden land, reverse world, tree of life... I think even the void lands was such a place too..."

"That reminds me!" Cynthian gasped and snapped her gaze towards Shield. "When I was discussing with Skara, I brought up the possibility that Darkwhite was put into some other dimension and that's maybe why she's both in and out of existence." Her expression darkened, followed by a strong scent of apples.

"If she's in a place strongly tied to the ley lines... Could that be why her influence is leaking into dungeons everywhere?"

 

[Namohysip]

Shield frowned, pensive. "Just because a place is strongly tied to Ley Lines doesn't mean it's going to let them go in all directions like that. Unless..."

"Unless there's a place that's explicitly mentioned to be tied in that way," Owen said. "Isn't the Tree of Life that way?"

"But we've been keeping an eye on the Tree. Eternatus is there, but not Darkwhite, unless she's being hidden because of the sheer power of Eternatus..."

"Uhuhu..."

Shield ignored it, even as they passed through the Ice chamber that was starting to warm up from so long of being without its guardian. Puddles of cool water littered the floor.

"Is there another place that could be messing with the... Dungeon supply, like pollution in a river?"

"Send a message to Pop and see," Shield said, his voice a little hastier. "Maybe we can stop exploring empty Dungeons and focus our efforts on something else..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Pollution in a river? More like a honeysuckle plant slithering and smothering a garden..." Cynthian took a deep breath to try and calm her racing heart.

"I hope Pop can even find something, what with his vision being obscured by this whole blacklight happening everywhere. Maybe for once we'll actually be lucky?"

 

[Namohysip]

"He probably can't see anything, but maybe he can give us insight on what it means," Owen said. "He's replying now."

Shield passed through the Ice chamber and continued onward with Owen, Cal, and Cynthian.

"Okay. Pop says... that the only places that would be a risk to something like that would be the Tree of Life, the Worldcore, and the Reverse World. And that last one is more on the receiving end than anything else... Distortions had been funneled into the Reverse World to keep Cibus as a whole safe, or something. Wonder what the Reverse World is looking like right now..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Eternatus potentially not being the only thing we have to worry about in the tree of life doesn't sit well with me at all," Cynthian said, holding her head with her bouquets as a minty scent filled her senses.

"Could it really just be a coincidence that Darkwhitesstarted popping up everywhere after Diyem and Arceus borrowed some energy from it?" Cynthian asked with a gulp.

"And, do we know of any way to look into the tree for Darkwhite without setting Eternatus off too?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't know," Shield said. "We should probably hold off on trying to find Sword first in places that don't involve that kind of risk. We already plan to look into the Tree of Life, after all..."

"...I guess that's all we know," Owen said. "Maybe we can investigate a few of those places later. Or now, after we get out of here. It doesn't look like there's anything to see..."

"Yeah, just... the usual creepy smiles," Cal remarked. "No wonder wild Pokemon are fleeing Dungeons..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I don't know... they kind of look cute with those smiles if you ask me." A silence followed.

Cynthian cleared her throat and knocked her bouquet over the other. "Anyway, yeah it doesn't look like we'll find anything more here. Unless the missing Regi golems are somehow sleeping in the last floor of this old dungeon and no one's noticed yet."

She glanced at Owen. "They aren't, right?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Unless they moved in after we rescued Thyme's team... no." They weren't too far from the end anyway, but it was still worth checking.

"We're running out of places to check," Shield said. "They must be somewhere. Not to mention those Unown... You never know what you can create with Unown in large numbers..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"It's common knowledge not to mess with unown in my world... though they're as rare to come by as the legendary pokemon we have." Cynthian keeped her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. She almost wished she had heightened senses or something to help out more.

"I'm really worried about Darkwhite. Wherever she is, I hope she isn't hurting too much. We'll find and rescue her, whatever it takes."