DeliriousAbsol
*Crazy Absol Noises*
A/N - Well I did the thing! This is what apparently happens when you allow Del to mess with your OCs. They get put in a silly crack-fic like this! XD I hope you enjoy it anyway! It ended up being way longer than I anticipated, and I've put the nose to the grindstone to get it finished for today - Christmas Eve - as I really wanted it to be up in time for Christmas.
It's been a lot of fun! I wanted to do a bit of art for it, and have one sketch done. If I do more, I'll post them in a separate post in this thread ;)
Character list:
The wind whistled by the trio’s ears as they drew closer and closer to the drifting continent. Finally, Switch spread his wings and brought them to a halt. He swung his lucario passenger forward with his talons to free them up to land comfortably in the soft grass. With a groan, he lowered himself so the luxray could dismount, then stretched out his wings. A loud popping came from his spine, and he shook out his rusty feathers.
“Here we are!” he said. “Cyan Island.”
“Thanks, Switch!” Shine turned to the talonflame and beamed. “That was much more enjoyable than riding on a dragonite!”
“I wouldn’t know, but thank you.” Switch turned to Curio, who was stood tapping her foot as she gazed around the island. “No offense, but… maybe I can take you guys back one at a time after this? You’re a little heavy. I mean… you’re almost the same size as me when I was a human!” He let out a nervous laugh.
Curio fixed livid eyes on him. “What, you were a short-ass?”
Switch’s beak dropped at her comment. “No, I was only fifteen-”
“Besides, I’m not heavy!” she went on. “I just drank a lot before we left. Where is this place, anyway?”
Switch exchanged glances with Shine, catching his apologetic smile.
The talonflame waved a wing towards the far end of the continent. “It’s this way.”
“What, that ruin?” Curio seemed to perk up at that. “Cool! Wonder what treasures are hidden in it?”
She took off ahead of them, leaving the pair to catch up.
“There aren’t any,” Switch said quietly.
“Leave her,” said Shine. “At least she’s happy.”
The ruin stood at an odd angle, unimpressive at first glance. A spiral staircase took them down towards the underground. Shine cast a curious glance at a flickering light that cast erratic shadows along the walls. If it weren’t for the cheery voices rising up from below them, it would have been quite eerie.
A long table had been set in a wide room, holding a spectacular spread of food. Pokemon of various species flocked around it, helping themselves to food or sitting chatting to one another. Each one had been invited by an odd little card from someone who didn’t even live on the drifting continent. Someone by the name of Guildmaster Stokes. The typhlosion sat at the head of the table, nattering with a lillipup. At the other end of the table were four mawile, three of which were wearing scarves. The fourth had a bow around her horn, fit with a mega stone.
Shine found Curio at the table looming over a cranidos, already helping herself to a plate of berries. Switch left the pair to join Stokes and the lillipup.
Stokes looked up and gave the talonflame a warm smile, before turning to address the room. He tapped a claw on his glass, letting out a soft ring. The entire room fell into silence, and all eyes turned towards the typhlosion.
“Well, well, well!” he said. “It looks like we’re all here?”
Switch cleared his throat, drawing the guildmaster’s attention. “Not quite, sir. I believe we’re missing two?”
“Oh?” Stokes reached into his bag and pulled out a list, giving it a once-over. “Oh yes! I believe you’re right! One anonymous RSVP and…”
“’A powerful fire type’.” Switch tapped the list with a talon.
Stokes looked up at Switch and raised an eyebrow. “That one wasn’t you?”
The talonflame chuckled and turned oddly bashful. “You flatter me. No. No, it’s not.”
Confused expressions filled the room, and the pokemon leapt into conversation once more.
“Who would sign off as ‘a powerful fire type’?” an odd-coloured sneasel, Nip, scoffed as he leant on his hand.
“I reckon it’s a flareon!” Pixie flicked her six-and-a-half snowy tails. “Those things practically ooze arrogance!” She turned to the espeon sitting opposite her. “Am I right?”
Espeon licked berry wine off her nose and shrugged her shoulders at the vulpix. “Like… how would I know? I’ve never met one.”
“You practically are one,” said Pixie.
Espeon looked down at herself with some confusion. “I am not a flareon! Do I look fiery to you?”
“You’re an eevee,” said Pixie. “Pointy ears, crazy DNA…”
Nip rolled his eyes. “Girls! Stop fighting. Yikes.” He slipped from his seat to move one down, closer to Guildmaster Stokes.
Curio wiped a paw across her muzzle and glanced over at the typhlosion. Then the door.
“So what crazy technology keeps this island in the air?” she asked Shine. “Any idea?”
The cranidos on her other side shifted in his seat. “That’s what I wanna know. I think it’s some kind of engine.”
Curio looked down at him. “An engine? In this primitive thing?”
Cabot shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. All I can tell you is I am much more comfortable at sea.”
Curio looked the cranidos over. “You do look a little pale. Scared it’s gonna fall?”
Cabot stiffened and Shine nudged the lucario in the side. “Curio! Stop scaring the guests!”
“I’m not scaring him!” she said. “I’m scared this thing’s gonna fall!”
“It’s not going to fall.”
The joyful voice came from the floor beside them. The lillipup Stokes had been talking to sat smiling up at them, wagging his little tail.
“This island is super reliable!” he said. “It’s stayed airborne for thousands of years! Besides, you’ll all be on the ground again soon enough!” He held out a small paw. “Name’s N00b. Your pilot for the day.”
Curio turned oddly pale. “You’re the pilot and you’re here talking to us!? Go fly this thing already!”
N00b laughed and rose to his feet. “Don’t worry! It’s going in the right direction!”
Cabot eyed the lillipup curiously. “You actually fly this thing?”
“Yup!” N00b grinned.
“Could… could you please show me how it works?”
“Sure!” N00b nodded his head for the cranidos to follow him. “It’s right this way!”
Cabot slid from his seat and joined N00b’s side. “Is it much different to a ship?”
“Depends what kind of ship,” said N00b.
The vulpix shivered as she watched them go, then turned to Curio. “Is this island really going to fall?”
“It’s not going to fall,” Shine assured her.
Curio grinned and kicked her feet up onto the table.
Shine looked up at his friend and narrowed his eyes. “You look much too pleased with yourself.”
Curio scratched a claw inside her ear. “I’m just trying to have some fun. Besides… this thing is just a giant rock. Isn’t that what meteorites are? And they fall from the sky, they don’t just float around in the atmosphere.” She turned to Shine and shrugged. “Read that in one of your books.”
“Please stop,” he said.
A furry cannonball rushed across the table, knocking glasses and flipping plates. Pokemon reached out to steady them, although some received an unfortunate sticky splashing. The bundle of fur skidded to a halt before he crashed into a small dedenne, and rose up to his full height.
“Oi! Tiny Mouse!” he squeaked. “Stop eatin’!”
Spark looked up from her berries to narrow her eyes at the emolga. “Tiny? Stop eating?!” She pointed a claw. “Two things I don’t like to hear, kid!”
Spark’s meowstic friend bristled slightly, watching the dedenne cautiously and preparing herself to intervene.
The emolga didn’t care. He held out a cracker, almost bopping Spark on the nose. “Pull this with Mushu!”
Spark perked up and dropped her half-eaten cheri back onto her plate. “All right!” She wiped her paws on her torso and grabbed the other end of the cracker.
The two small rodent pokemon tugged at either end, staggering and flailing with the effort. A loud bang exploded from it, and both rodents fell flat onto their bottoms.
The meowstic beside Spark’s plate let out a squeal, unfolding her ears. Every plate across the table rose several inches into the air, wobbled, and fell down one seat across from where it had been. Cleo smoothed out her ears and cleared her throat, returning to her stoic demeanor.
“Sorry about that!” she said. “That’s not happened since I was an espurr.” She reached for the torn cracker in her tiny companion’s paws. “What is that?”
Mushu scooped up the prize. A shiny red berry. He bit into it, meeting hard plastic. He frowned at the fake berry and turned it in his paws.
“Mushu can’t eat this!” he grumbled.
“Huh.” Spark’s nose twitched as she sniffed it. “Guess it’s a toy.”
Mushu looked between the dedenne and his prize, then held it out to her. The dedenne took it, and Mushu turned and scampered back along the table.
Everyone exchanged their plates back, and suddenly grew distracted by their own crackers. Although not everyone. Fake berries weren’t all that popular with all pokemon, but the loud bangs sure were fun.
“Yikes! What’s with all the banging?”
Guildmaster Stokes turned towards the door and clapped his paws together. “Oh! The ‘powerful fire type’ has arrived!”
All eyes turned towards the door, and blinked in confusion. Then, all at once, lowered towards the floor. Some pokemon had to stand to get a better look, or shift from their seats.
“Oh thank goodness!” said Pixie. “It’s not a flareon.” She cast a side-ways leer at Espeon. “Although I could totally take one.”
“Of course you could,” Nip scoffed. “Just like I could.”
Pixie narrowed her eyes at the sneasel. “Is that sarcasm I detect?!”
“I was laying it on thick enough,” he retorted. “Now cut your yapping. I want to know what’s so powerful about a tiny charmander.”
The charmander certainly was tiny. Especially compared to Guildmaster Stokes. Expressions of confusion, interest, and disappointment spread across the room in the sudden silence.
“Nice of you to join us, Owen,” said Stokes. “Please, take a seat.”
Pixie glared at him as he shuffled into a seat between her and Nip.
“What’s so powerful about a charmander?” she asked.
Owen smiled at her, but it did nothing to melt the frown off her muzzle. “I actually get really great marks for my skills! I’m possibly the strongest of my kind! My name’s Owen. What’s yours?”
He held out his paw and she stared at it before meeting his eyes.
“Really?” she snorted. “I could snuff you out with a breath. It’s not as if you’re a charizard or something.”
Owen’s mouth turned down in a sad frown. “Hey! I’m just a late evolver. I’m as strong as any charizard.”
“Ignore her,” said Nip. “She’s been at us all. You’re just another ‘mon on the list.”
Owen didn’t want to be ‘another ‘mon on the list’ and it had soured his mood which was already wavering due to his unexpected lateness. So he slipped from his seat and moved down towards where a nosepass just happened to be standing. Somehow actually on a stool, with impeccable balance.
“G’day,” the nosepass said as Owen sat beside him.
Owen had barely sat down when Mushu scampered across the table and skid to a halt before him.
“Hey!” the emolga squeaked. “You’re powerful, yes? Small but mighty, just like Mushu!”
“I… I guess.” Owen blinked. “What’s a Mushu?”
Mushu jabbed a thumb-claw into his chest and his cheeks sparked.
Owen laughed. “Oh! I see.” He leant towards the nosepass. “Why does he talk in the third person?”
Before Karo could answer, Mushu was up in Owen’s face.
“Allow Mushu to test your strength!”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Owen. “We’re indoors and there’s no arena.”
“We need no arena!” shrieked the emolga. “We need to test who is the smallest and mightiest!”
“No you don’t!” Curio grabbed Mushu by the scruff, much to his protests. “C’mon, Ratbag.”
Mushu squealed and flailed all five limbs. “Unhand Mushu! Mushu shall triumph!”
“Of course you will.”
Sparks leapt from his cheeks to engulf Curio. She placed her left hand on the wall, grounding it all, and flopped back down beside Shine. Totally unfazed.
The luxray stared slack-jawed at his friend. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Neither did I.” Curio stared at her metal arm and deposited Mushu back onto the table, then shrugged. “Oh well. Islands can apparently fly, so…”
Mushu leered at her and smoothed out his fur.
She winked. “Chill out, Squeaky. Here.” She flicked her thumb and tossed a cheri berry at the emolga.
He caught it and looked between it and her before flopping to his bottom and tucking in. A small mutter of ‘okay you’re fine’ emerged between mouthfuls.
During all this, Guildmaster Stokes had been waiting patiently by the door. He checked the time on the wall then turned to address the room. A few claps of his hands dragged the crowd into a reluctant silence.
“It would appear we are still missing one,” he said. “But we really need to get the ball moving if we are to start this little endeavor before nightfall.”
“Don’t worry yourself.” The voice was followed by a repetitive and pleasant tinkle of a bell, and a banette emerged from the shadows. “I’m here.”
Spark stuffed an entire berry into her mouth. “Fashionably late as always, eh?”
“Enigma?” Stokes quirked an eyebrow. “How long have you been here?”
The banette winked a crimson eye and toyed with the hem of his heavy scarf. “Long enough to get a read on this place. Looks to be quite the party.”
“Then take a seat.”
Stokes gestured to the two remaining seats - the one Owen had abandoned beside Pixie, and the one that had been forced between Curio and Espeon much to Shine’s chagrin at being smooshed against the skitty beside him. The pink feline’s fur poofed out with the static, and she slumped forwards on her paws.
“Oh man,” she muttered. “This’ll take forever to fix!”
The flames on Stoke’s back ignited out of irritation, and he narrowed his eyes at Enigma. “Things would have been going much faster if you’d just announced your arrival. It’s not as if anyone can miss your bell.”
Enigma let out a chuckle. “You lot clearly did!”
He leapt into the air and vanished, reappearing right above the seat next to Curio and landing with a loud jingle. That meant the blazing and irritated fire type had to sit next to Pixie who tried in vain to get away from their intensity.
The typhlosion muttered an apology to the two ice types on either side of him and did his best to shut off his flame glands. Instead, they smoked in thick black clouds like the nostrils of a sick tepig.
Stokes blinked at the banette and inclined his head on one side. “Now that I think of it, didn’t I invite two of you? Where’s your friend, Harlequin?”
“Busy.” Enigma said nothing else, instead occupying himself with his mane.
“Very well.” Stokes linked his claws together and looked up and down the table. “The reason I’ve called you all here isn’t just for a fancy dinner party.”
“N’aww, dang it!” Spark looked mournfully at her plate.
“It’s for something much better,” Stokes went on. “I’ve called you all here for a treasure hunt!”
The room exploded into conversation, and at the far end Cabot spoke excitedly with Owen. Stokes had to bang his paw on the table to bring everyone back to some level of calm.
A large smile split the typhlosion’s muzzle. “I know it’s exciting, but allow me to finish, please! You’ll all be split into teams and dropped off in the Shimmering Canyon.”
“Shimmering Canyon?” Cabot pulled a map from his bag and frowned down at it. “But that place is peaceful!”
“Precisely!” said Stokes. “There’s no sense in sending you all into danger, is there? Besides, with different power levels between you and so many different types some would be at more of an advantage than others. No. This isn’t a test of strength. It’s a test of wits. Intelligence. Smarts. And above all, the ability to work and co-operate as a team.”
Pixie deflated and her head fell onto her paws. On Stoke’s other side, Nip rolled his eyes.
Mushu narrowed his eyes at Stokes. “Mushu doesn’t need a team!”
“Of course you don’t.” Curio patted his head, causing him to bristle from ear to tail. “You’re all small and mighty!”
The silent room stared expectantly at Stokes, urging him on. The typhlosion reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook, already open at the right page.
A list.
“I shall sound off the groups of four or more,” he said, a little poetically. “Team One will be Curio, Shine, Enigma, Owen and Mushu.”
Curio high-fived Shine, but the luxray looked less than happy with the arrangement. He shook his head at the excited emolga who had begun running in sparking circles.
“Team Two,” Stokes went on, “shall be Pixie, Espeon, Skitty and Nip.”
Pixie stared daggers at Espeon, who flicked her tail vehemently. Nip groaned and lowered his head into his claws.
“Team Three,” said Stokes, “shall be Cabot, Karo, Cleo and Spark.”
Cabot leapt up and down beside his three team members, and Espeon looked on longingly.
“Can’t I be with them?” she asked Stokes. “The meowstic, like, might be able to teach me something useful. Besides, I should always be with like-minded individuals.”
Pixie snorted out frozen air, peppering Stoke’s dark fur. He swiped it off his arm and placed a paw on Pixie’s back before she could say something cruel.
“Now, now,” he said, retracting his paw as the air turned frigid around it. “You know what they say. Team work makes the dream work.”
Pixie glared up at him as he stood. “Well I wanna sheer cold whoever says that!”
Stokes ignored her, listing off the other remaining teams. Five in total.
Once he’d done, he looked up towards the back of the room. “How are we doing, N00b?”
The lillipup, now a little oily, stood wagging his tail. “We’re pretty much there, Guildmaster!”
“Excellent!” Stokes turned to Switch who was waiting by the stairs. “Ready to help drop everyone off? There’s only one ladder after all.”
Switch saluted with a wing. “Of course! Just tell me when.”
All five parties were dropped in Shimmering Canyon, dotted around the entrance. Each team had been given a bag of supplies, and a map. Well…
Curio turned the map at angles in both paws.
‘Map’ might have been a bit of a stretch. ‘A vague rendition of the canyon with writing scrawled across it’ would have been a better description.
Mushu stood between his four team-mates, rapidly tapping his tiny foot. Patience failed him, and he stuck his paw in the air.
“Show Mushu map!” he demanded.
Curio ignored him, frowning at the blue paper.
“Map!” Mushu continued, bouncing up and down.
“Patience,” said Owen. “You have to remember we’re a lot smaller than these three.”
Mushu shot the charmander a glare, then returned to bouncing up and down beneath Curio. When the lucario didn’t cave, he clambered up Shine’s leg to scramble onto his head.
“Hey!” Shine protested. “Do you mind?”
Mushu stopped between his ears, pushing them out at either side with his paws. Then he stood, reaching for the map.
Enigma plucked it from Curio’s paws, much to her surprise, and took a couple of steps away to avoid the now sparking emolga.
“I can’t make head nor tail of it.” Curio tucked her arms behind her head. “What about you, Jingle Bells?”
Enigma shrugged and scratched his nose.
Shine frowned up at his friend and closed his eye as Mushu’s paw slipped over it. “I dunno, maybe Mushu can?”
“Mushu is amazing with maps,” said the emogla.
Curio chuckled at her friend. “You just want the little rodent off your head.”
Mushu scrambled around to face Enigma, and his busy tail swiped Shine’s nose. The luxray let out a stifled growl and his tail drooped.
“If you’d let Mushu help, we’d be on our way by now!” Mushu sat down and folded his arms.
Enigma sighed and leant against the sandstone wall. “I don’t think this is just a map.”
“Huh?” The others stared at the banette, and Shine shook his head to clear Mushu’s tail from his face, almost dislodging the emolga entirely.
“Yeah.” Enigma turned to face them with a soft jingle. “I think it’s a riddle.”
Cleo’s ear twitched several feet away from them, and Spark poked her tiny head out of her ruff.
“Hear that?” The dedenne twitched her massive ears.
“Oh yeah.” Cleo stared down at the ‘map’ and then offered it to Cabot. “What do you think?”
The cranidos took it and his eyes narrowed in a frown. “I dunno. There’s a chance that banette is just trying to throw the rest of us off. We are working together, after all.”
“That would be so like him,” said Spark. “But also, a little too obvious? Maybe he’s right, and banking on us believing he’s not.” She paused and her tiny nose twitched. “Did that make sense?”
Cleo nodded and crouched beside Cabot to read over the text. But it didn’t look right to her.
“Can you read it?” she asked.
Cabot inclined his head on one side. “It looks to be written in ancient Unown.”
Spark slumped across Cleo’s shoulder. “Well that’s me out then. I struggle with modern Unown.”
Karo turned thirty-five degrees to face them. “I happen to be fluent in ancient Unown.”
The trio looked up at him with a start, and Cabot’s jaw went slack.
“Seriously?” he squeaked.
Karo nodded as best a nosepass could, which involved a lot of tilting back and forth and a minor trembling of the ground.
The cranidos beamed from ear to ear and held up the riddle so Karo could see it. The nosepass fell silent as he read over the text, his expression becoming calculating.
Pixie bristled as she looked between Cabot’s group and her own team-mates.
“Come on!” she hissed. “That nosepass looks smart, and I’m not willing to lose to a pokemon that has to face north most of its life!”
“That’s a myth,” said Nip.
“Eh?” Pixie’s muzzle crinkled and she bared her canines. “What was that?”
“I said it’s a myth.” Nip looked up at her, unperturbed by her sudden aggression. “Just because they’re slightly magnetized doesn’t mean they have to only face north. But they are more drawn to it. A bit like birds when they migrate-”
“I don’t need a biology lesson!” Pixie snapped.
Nip waved her off and returned to the riddle he was crouching beside. Skitty was deeply engrossed in it, tracing her small paw over the peculiar letters.
“They look like unown,” she said. “Maybe it’s written in their funny language?” She looked up at Espeon, who was busily grooming her paw. “What do you think?”
Espeon didn’t look up from her grooming. “Dunno. Can’t read.”
Nip and Skitty raised an eyebrow.
“I can only read minds.” Espeon gave a warning glance to Pixie.
The vulpix shuddered with disgust. “Oh look! Yet another reason to hate eevee!”
Espeon poked out her tongue and Pixie’s blue eyes widened, flaring with rage.
“Do that again!” she said, cold frost coiling from her mouth. “I dare you!”
“Really?” Espeon flicked her tails.
“Yes! I’ll freeze it right off!”
“Oi!” Skitty leapt to her feet, fur bristling.
The two warring pokemon froze and turned to look down at her.
The small feline took in a breath and her fur flattened back out. “Whew! Sorry about that. I lost my cool there. Now listen, you two. We’ve been put together in a team, and as such we need to work together. We can’t go on with you two at each other’s throats. So please, set aside your differences for like… I don’t know, a day? So we can finish this treasure hunt?”
“And come out of it alive?” added Nip.
Pixie jerked her eyes back towards Espeon. “Three of us might.”
Skitty groaned and returned to the riddle. “This is going to be a long day.”
“Ooh! Ooh!” Nip tapped a claw at the symbols. “I think I’ve worked this out.”
“Oh?” All his team-mates looked at him expectantly.
“Yes. This isn’t Unown at all,” he said. “We’re meant to follow the clues on the map it’s written over to try and translate it.”
“What clues?” Espeon asked.
“The symbols are the clues.” He smirked up at her. “Shall we get a move-on while everyone else is still working it out?”
Skitty picked the map up in her jaws and offered it to the sneasel. “Since you’re a biped, you can be in charge of leading us.”
“Fine.” He turned to lead his team into the canyon. “Then you can keep our team mates from killing each other.”
“I’m not going to kill her,” Espeon muttered.
Pixie snorted out a frost cloud, keeping Skitty between herself and Espeon.
Curio strolled along ahead of her team, arms behind her head and dribbling a pebble between her paws.
“I still think we should have thought this over a bit more,” said Shine. “We might be going about this the wrong way.”
“Nope!” Mushu scampered along between the two. “Too slow for Mushu.”
“And too slow for Curio,” said the lucario. “Besides, I’m impressed Enigma’s theory got everyone else thinking. Gives us the chance at a head start.”
The banette scratched his long mane and grunted. “No, I still think it’s a riddle.”
Curio glanced back at him over her shoulder. “I still think it was a sugar-coated trick.”
Enigma’s hidden bell jingled as he shook with laughter.
“I think you’re right with it being a riddle.” Owen looked up at the banette and pointed a claw at a string of incoherent text on the map. “The positioning of this text is all weird. Where the first word is, I think we’ll find something significant at that tree.”
“Yup!” Curio punted the rock ahead of her and it bounced off the sandstone walls. “And if not, everyone is back there trying to decipher Ancient Unown.”
Shine bristled slightly and lowered his head. “The dishonesty doesn’t settle well with me.”
“It ain’t dishonest.” Curio retrieved her rock and bounced it on one foot, hopping along a little. “If they wanna earwig into other’s conversations, it’s on them.”
“Exactly,” said Enigma. “I had nothing to do with that. Cleo’s team tangled up that yarn.”
Shine wanted to add something, but found his nose smooshed against Curio’s hip. The lucario didn’t seem to notice as she was practically bouncing with glee.
“I think I’ve found our little tree,” she said.
Shine stood back and rubbed a paw over his sore snout. A huge, rugged trunk rose up out of a crack in the dry ground, its roots pushing up the earth and curling across it in a tangled mass. The trunk forked off at three intervals, spreading its knotted branches out to provide a respite from the blazing sun. Not that it was currently sunny, but on a hot day the pokemon that lived in the canyon would likely find it quite blissful.
“That’s not little!” Mushu squeaked, waving his paws at the tree. “That’s like… five-hundred Mushu standing on top of one another!”
Shine blinked at the emolga. “Did you… just measure that tree in Mushus?”
Mushu stared back up at him and lifted a paw from his waist to his ear. “One Mushu-”
“You…” Shine winced back from Mushu. “You don’t need to demonstrate.”
Owen stepped forward, looking between the map and the tree. “Over-exaggeration aside, it is a pretty big tree.”
“And pretty leafy,” added Curio.
“If we’re going to find the clue,” Owen went on, “we’ll need a very good climber to find it.”
Curio shook her head and looked at her companions. “Are you kidding? Someone could get lost in that tree.”
“I vote Mushu,” said Shine.
Everyone turned to look at him, and Mushu folded his arms.
Curio raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Wanna get rid of him that badly, huh?”
“What?! No!” Shine paled slightly. “He’s an emolga. They climb! Better than any of us, anyway.”
“Yes, but he’s tiny!” Curio protested. “Tiny, and cute, and-” A sharp pain radiated through her foot and she yanked it up into her paws. “And bites!”
Shine leered down at the emolga, who was tapping his foot rapidly.
“Mushu is an amazing climber!” he squeaked.
“But alone?” Curio dropped her foot back to the ground. “At least take someone with you?”
“I could warp up that tree,” said Enigma. “I actually spend a fair bit of my time leaping along branches. I could help him.”
“I could also do it.” Owen spread his arms. “I’m not a fantastic climber, but… well… actually…” He turned his head to eye his flaming tail, which everyone else had automatically noticed embarrassingly before the bold charmander. “Yeah… Okay, I’m out.”
“And if I can climb a windmill,” said Curio, “I can climb a puny tree.”
“Tree is not puny!” Mushu stood at the base of the tree, perched on one of its many exposed roots. “Tree is spectacular! Has many hiding places for Mushu! A great place to build a drey!” He turned towards his team-mates and puffed out his furry chest. “Mushu shall look for clue!”
Before anyone could interject, the emolga shot up the tree like a magnetized canonball. The leaves overhead rustled as he clambered away, hidden from sight.
“So no one’s going with him?” asked Owen.
“Apparently not,” said Shine. “Who can keep up with that?”
Owen shrugged and let out a defeated sigh. “Then I guess we wait, and help him from the ground?”
Curio took a side-ways step towards Enigma. “While we’re waiting… where do you hide that bell?”
He glanced at her, remaining silent.
“I mean, you’re not carrying a bag,” she went on. “And you don’t exactly have pockets.” She paused, eyes widening as he stared back at her. “Do you?”
His muzzle split into a grin and he chuckled.
Curio’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? You’re not gonna tell me?”
“That’s a dangerous game you’re playing,” said Shine. “She’s not gonna let this go.”
Curio stared intensely into Enigma’s crimson eyes. He shifted uncomfortably and took a couple of steps away.
Loud muttering came from the canopy, and everyone turned their attention back on it.
“Are you okay, Mushu?” Owen asked.
“Mushu is fine!” came the abrupt reply. “Lots of holes. Lots of place to hide treasure!”
“What do you think?” Curio asked her team-mates. “Think we should go up and help him?”
“I dunno, he might push us back down,” said Shine.
Enigma laughed at that, a little too hard. He sank to his bottom against the trunk of the tree.
Shine shook his head and turned back to the canopy. Perhaps the little squirrel pokemon could use some help? He switched on his golden vision, and the tree faded slightly, revealing the warm shape of Mushu bounding around in its branches. While the emolga scurried back and forth, Shine searched the tree for anything out of the ordinary.
He started slightly as he spotted something square sitting between the branches higher up in the tree.
“I think I see something!” he said. “Mushu, try going higher!”
Mushu froze, stared down at them for a moment, then took the luxray’s advice. He scrambled further up the branches, following directions as Shine guided him to the box. It lay in a groove at the base of a bundle of spindly branches.
The branch bucked and swayed as Mushu ferreted about, then came to a sudden stop as he leapt from it, scrambling down the other branches. No longer needing his golden vision, Shine switched it back off and sat patiently.
Mushu poked his head out from amid the leaves and landed on all-fours in the fork of the tree. He held something in his paws, and his muzzle twisted with confusion. It was a small, grey box, locked shut with a typical key-hole.
Owen inclined his head on one side. “Are we meant to open it?”
“Clearly,” said Curio. “I’m gonna guess there wasn’t a key up there?”
“No key,” said Mushu. “Mushu checked.”
“So how are we meant to open it?” asked Owen. “Will the next spot have a key?”
Enigma plucked the box from Mushu’s claws. His paw vanished inside it, and there was an audible click. He retracted his paw and the box flipped open. Everyone leant over to see inside, and Mushu hopped onto the banette’s shoulder. A small, red item sat inside the bare, unimpressive box.
“A plastic berry?” Enigma grunted.
“That’s what we were finding in our crackers!” Curio exclaimed.
Owen took it and turned it so light reflected off its shiny red surface. “This one’s made to look exactly like a tamato berry.”
“Mine wasn’t a tamato, though,” said Shine. “It was a belue, and tasted nothing like it.”
The other four stared at the luxray, speechless. He shifted under their gaze and shook his head.
“Well, we know for one thing fake berries don’t grow on trees,” said Owen. “I think this might be what we’re looking for here.”
“Either that, or the next thing really is a key.” Curio popped the tamato into her bag, then beamed at the grumpy emolga. “Well done, Mushu! You found the first clue.”
Mushu folded his arms and pouted. “Mushu was expecting treasure.”
“This might help us find the treasure!”
Mushu’s frown warped into a grin and he put his tiny paws on his hips. “Then Mushu will find all the clues!”
He zipped from his perch and zoomed on ahead of them.
“Wait up!” Curio took off after him, leaving the others to watch aghast.
“We should probably catch up with them before we lose them,” said Owen.
Shine nodded. “Definitely.”
“We won’t lose them,” said Enigma as they joined Curio and Mushu’s trail, following their jovial voices.
“She can be a bit loud,” joked Shine.
“Even if they weren’t, it’d be a piece of cake.” Enigma closed his eyes and grinned. “A good assassin never loses his prey.”
Shine’s spine bristled and Owen visibly shuddered.
“Well that has some dark overtones we didn’t really need,” said Shine.
“Don’t worry,” said the banette. “You’re not on my list.”
Shine and Owen watched Enigma’s tail as he moved on ahead, following closely to Curio and Mushu’s trail.
Owen looked up at Shine, his face now pale. “At least he didn’t say ‘yet’.”
Cabot balanced on one foot on Cleo’s head, steadied by a psychic bubble. Cleo stood atop Karo, straining to see up beyond the cranidos. He had his head inside a hole big enough for him to wriggle through, but that would inevitably leave the larger pokemon behind.
“What can you see?” Spark asked from Karo’s head.
“I see a dark hole!” Cabot pulled his head back out and peered down at them. “Nothing beyond that. It’s pitch black inside.”
Spark made a thoughtful noise and twitched her nose. “No idea how much space is in there?”
Cabot shook his head. “Nope.”
Spark exchanged a worried glance with Cleo, then gave a determined nod. “I’ll pop in and light it up, yeah? Cleo, could you drop the bubble for a moment?”
Cleo grunted as she reached up to steady Cabot’s legs. The dinosaur wobbled a little and flailed his arms to keep his balance.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Cabot watched the small dedenne as she clambered up his tail and onto his back. “You said you don’t like small, tight spaces.”
“If you can get your head in there, then I might be okay.” She bounced off his head and vanished into the hole.
Cleo promptly threw her psychic bubble back up, alleviating some of the weight from the rock type.
The hole lit up with a soft, warm glow and Spark let out a squeal of surprise. Cleo twisted, almost sticking her foot in Karo’s eye. The patient nosepass merely closed it, not wanting to move for fear of dropping his team mates.
“Are you okay?” Cleo shouted.
Spark poked her head back out. “I’m fine! Hey, Cabot, you gotta see this!”
She vanished again, and Cabot raised an intrigued eyebrow. He popped his head back into the hole and gasped. It wasn’t as small as it had first seemed. The small tunnel spread out into a cave, dotted with colourful jewels that shimmered in the light radiating off Spark’s body.
“Wow,” he said quietly. “If it’s this big, we might struggle to find the next berry!” He poked his head back out to address Cleo and Karo. “I’m going in. We’re going to need to have a good look around.”
Cleo nodded. “If you need any help, just let us know.”
Cabot grinned at her, then shuffled his way into the cavern. It was a snug fit until he reached the wider part of the cave. Spark gazed at her reflection on the surface of a round, red gem, distorting her figure dramatically. She joined Cabot’s side and they slowly strolled through the cave.
“I wonder if it’ll be in a box like last time?” Cabot mused.
“I hope so,” said Spark while she upturned a loose gem, then discarded it since it wasn’t a plastic berry. “Otherwise it’s gonna be super hard to find one of those sparkling away among all these gems.”
Cabot grimaced slightly and rubbed his paws together. “I just hope we don’t disturb some angry dragon guarding its treasure.”
“I thought you said this place was peaceful?”
“It is! But I don’t know anything about what lurks in these caves.” Cabot spread his arms and shrugged. “I didn’t even know there were any hidden caves.”
They rounded a corner, and the entire wall was covered from top to bottom with shimmering glassy jewels. Cabot let out a yell when he found himself face to face with an equally startled rocky dinosaur. He back-peddled then let out a sigh, running his claws over his head.
“Whoa.” He gave Spark an apologetic smile. “I thought I’d gone and evolved for a second there.”
Spark nodded and pursed her lips. “It is a pretty big reflection. Makes you look a bit tall and bottom-heavy.”
Cabot laughed. “Says you!”
Spark frowned at the pear-shaped dedenne staring back at her. “I do not look like this. What on earth is this place?”
“Maybe it’s a Hall of Mirrors?”
“A Hall of What Now?” Spark shuffled after Cabot as they wound their way through the maze of glistening jewels.
“It’s like a room that shows your reflection everywhere.” Cabot glanced warily at the walls as his reflection warped and distorted as it kept pace with him. “It’s a little disconcerting.”
“You’re telling me.” Spark hugged her arms around herself. “Eyes everywhere.”
The tunnel came to an abrupt end, and they found themselves face to face with three matching reflections. Written above it were the words ‘One of these is not like the other’.
“That looks fresh,” said Cabot.
“Smells it, too.” Spark scratched her nose. “Cheri paint.”
Cabot ventured closer to the mirrors until he was almost nose to nose with one of his reflections. “What do you think it means?”
“Maybe the jewels are different?” Spark placed her paws on the right-most pane. “I’ve no idea to tell what jewels these even are! I mean, is it a diamond? Crystal?”
“Quartz?” Cabot shrugged. “I’m not a professional with jewels either.”
“You’re a rock type.”
“It doesn’t make me a professional,” Cabot explained.
He tapped the left-most pane he was staring at, creating a musical ‘ting!’ He let out a small ‘huh!’ and looked down at Spark. She stood back from the jewel and he tapped on that, creating the exact same noise.
“Do it to that one!” Spark pointed at the one in the middle.
He tapped it with a claw, then yelped, stuffing his paw into his mouth. The noise had been similar, but more watery.
“It’s ice!” he squeaked.
“Yikes!” Spark’s ears drooped. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He shook his paw and frowned at the sheet of ice. “But I’m guessing this is the thing that’s not like the others?”
“Then maybe the berry is behind it?”
Before he could reply, Spark charged at the ice. She struck it head first and bounced off it, rolling backwards until she was sitting on her bottom. She shook her head, ears flopping around on either side of her face, then blinked a few times.
“I think it’s my turn to ask if you’re okay?” Cabot asked, stifling a laugh.
“Oh yeah, I’m springy,” she said. “But that thing is as solid as ice gets.”
“I don’t think we’re meant to solve these clues with violence anyway,” said Cabot. “Stokes said to use our heads.”
“I was.”
“I meant our wits.”
Spark grinned up at him, and Cabot groaned when she realized the dedenne had been joking. He sighed and took a step towards the ice, careful not to touch it this time.
“So if it’s behind it,” he said, “then how do we get past it without attacking it?”
“Maybe there’s a door?” Spark clambered up his tail onto his shoulder, and glared up at the sheet ice. “But I don’t see a handle. Or a lock.”
Cabot inclined his head one one side and tapped his foot in thought.
Spark turned to face him and suggested, “Maybe we have to wait for it to thaw?”
“That could take forever,” he said. “It might even be Nevermelt Ice.”
Spark threw her arms in the air and sat down hard on his shoulder. “Then I’m outta options.”
Cabot sighed and shuffled his foot. Something soft slipped between his claws and he froze. Then he moved his foot again.
Soil.
He leapt back, almost sending Spark tumbling off his shoulder. “The earth is soft here!”
Spark stood up suddenly. “It’s buried!?”
“It might be!”
Cabot carefully lowered Spark onto the ground then dropped onto all-fours. He began digging away with his fore-claws at the base of the ice sheet, and before long, the soft wooden shell of a box greeted him. He prised it from its soily prison and sat down heavily, a huge grin plastered on his face.
“I think we’ve found it!” he said.
Spark hopped onto his knee, and he turned the keyhole towards her.
“Do your thing, Spark!”
She rubbed her paws together, then stuck her whiskers into the keyhole. A quick zap and the lock popped open. Cabot reached inside and pulled out a sparkling, green hondew berry.
“Huh.” Spark flicked her tail. “So that’s a tamato and a hondew. But what does it mean?”
Cabot popped the berry in his bag and stood back up. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough?”
Thick, wiry branches poked out from the side of the steep drop, reaching up like clawed hands. Nip steadied one in both paws as Skitty clung onto one for dear life. All four limbs were wrapped around the branch as she stared down at the drop below her.
“Come on!” Pixie barked. “It’s right there among those leaves!”
“I’d like to see you do any better!” Skitty snapped back. She screwed her eyes shut, pushing her face into the bough. “I’m terrified of heights! I told you this before you voted me to get that box!”
“I offered to get it!” Espeon sat a few feet away with her tail tucked around her legs. “But Pixie threatened to push me off if I climbed onto that branch.”
“And I’m the only one here equipped to steady it,” said Nip. “It’s fine, Skitty. I’ve got hold of it. Just reach out a paw and-”
The entire bough trembled as Skitty’s body shook. Her legs fastened tighter around the branch.
“She’s a lost cause.” Pixie turned to Nip. “Let’s just call that box a dud and go find the next one?”
“What? And leave her?” Nip scoffed. “I’m not leaving her!”
“Exactly!” said Espeon. “If she falls down there, she’ll die!”
The branch shook with so much violence Nip had to practically wrestle it into submission. He rounded on the espeon. “Not! Helping!”
“Yes I was! I was saying we can’t leave her! I mean look at all those rocks!” Espeon nodded to the slope of scree creating a deadly blanket below them.
Nip groaned and turned back to Skitty. “Okay. Reverse slowly towards me.”
“I can’t!” Skitty whined.
“Then stay there. I’ll come and get you.”
He began to release the branch when Skitty flew into a panic. A stationery panic, but a panic nontheless.
“No! Don’t let go! Don’t let go!”
Nip sighed and dragged his claws down his face. “Then what do you want me to do, Skitty?”
The feline whimpered and smooshed her face into the bark.
Pixie groaned and rolled her eyes. “For goodness’ sake!”
She marched over to the branch and nudged Nip aside with her muzzle. The sneasel watched aghast as the snowy vulpix stepped onto the bough. She grabbed Skitty’s scruff roughly in her jaws and jerked her head back, dragging the cat from the branch and tossing her over her shoulder. The branch bucked and swayed, and Pixie balanced herself with an uncanny sense of balance.
Skitty struck Nip in the chest as he dove to save her, and the pair rolled tail over head across the canyon floor.
“Are you okay?” Nip asked the cat.
She said nothing, whimpering with her face buried in his chest. He grimaced slightly as he tried to prise her free, but she was not for budging.
Pixie snorted out frost and turned to the box wedged in the branch’s spindly claws. She grabbed it in her teeth, then turned back towards her allies. All gloating had to be done by eye alone since she couldn’t speak around the box. As she stepped forward, her paw found the frost she’d accidentally dusted over the bark, and slipped from beneath her. The box flew from her jaws to land at Nip’s feet, but it was kicked aside as Espeon bolted towards the drop.
Pixie’s squeal died in her throat as sharp teeth snagged at her ruff. Espeon scrambled with all four paws against Pixie’s weight, dragging the vulpix back up over the edge of the drop.
The pair sat panting as the reality of what had just happened sank in. Pixie looked up into Espeon’s stunned face, and they stared wordlessly at one another.
“Did…” Nip blinked at them over Skitty’s pink head. “Did you just save her life?”
Espeon’s ears stiffened and she swished her tail. “Yeah… yeah, I think I did.”
Pixie snorted.
“I mean, I wasn’t just gonna, like, let you die, was I?” Espeon added. “What kind of monster do you take me for?”
Any retort Pixie wanted to throw back just wouldn’t form. Her legs had turned to jelly. She stared down at the deadly slope of scree, then turned her back on it.
“What happened to the box?” she asked, her voice wobbling uncharacteristically.
Nip held it in his free claws. “I kinda can’t open it right now.”
“No…” Skitty pushed back from him and sat down, still shaking. “I’m fine. Open it.”
He nodded and toyed at the lock with one of his smaller claws.
Skitty looked between Pixie and Espeon, her eyes as wide as two moons. “Are you two okay? I mean… Pixie… you saved me, and…”
“Stop it,” the fox warned.
“No. You did a good thing and you almost-” Skitty’s eyes began to water.
“I said stop it!” Pixie snapped, her eyes also turning watery.
“Oh come on!” Espeon stood and lifted her tail, a happy smile on her face. “We’re a good team! We, like, worked as a team! It was awesome!”
Pixie rounded on her, the air around her turning frigid. “I said stop it!”
“Aspear berry, everyone!” Nip waved the glassy fruit around above his head. “We got an aspear berry.”
The Shimmering Canyon was becoming more and more barren of plant life the further Shine’s team ventured. Dry cracks spread up the sandstone walls, revealing the hidden quartz beyond it. Despite the time of year, the sun glared down, baking the earth drier than it already was.
“If we’ve worked it out,” said Owen, “then we’re well on track to finding the last berry.”
“I just don’t understand why this one is so far away,” said Shine. “The other four were much earlier on in the dungeon.”
“Well I’m up to the challenge.” Despite her words, Curio gave a wide yawn. “The others have been pretty easy.”
“Easy for you to say,” said Shine. “You haven’t done a single one yet! It was both Mushu and I who found the one in that tree, and Mushu and Enigma went into that jeweled cave. Owen risked life and limb on that branch.” Curio opened her mouth, but Shine wasn’t finished. “And don’t even get me started about that game of Diglett Chess!”
Cleo scratched her ear and exchanged glances with her team. Karo was watching the field before him with such intensity she feared time had frozen.
“Bishop to 5D,” he said.
The diglett wearing a pointy hat vanished into its hole and popped back up several squares away, replacing the diglett pawn.
Curio folded her arms. “Well I don’t play Chess.”
Shine snorted. “Thankfully Enigma and I between us could work that puzzle out. Otherwise we’d still be there now!”
“Mushu doesn’t like Chess.” Mushu kicked out at a rock, sending it bouncing along the dry ground. “S’borin’.”
“It is a bit of a slow game,” Owen agreed.
Enigma laughed, causing his bell to tinkle. “I quite like the game, except for when my opponent takes a decade to decide.” He glanced up at the sky. “Although it does give me some time to think.”
“What? About how to kill them?” Shine smirked, mainly at Curio’s surprise.
Enigma tucked his arms behind his head and met the luxray’s eye. “You make it sound like I’m just some kind of heartless murderer.”
“Assassins are murderers,” said Owen. “The only difference is you get paid to do it.”
Enigma laughed again.
Curio wagged a claw at the banette. “Yanno, I kinda like this whole assassin shtick. Makes you an interesting character. Especially since you carry a bell. Like… what’s all that about? And you’ve still not told me where you hide it.”
Enigma winked and turned back to following their path.
Curio puffed out air and looked away from him. “I’ll find out where you hide it.”
Shine’s fur prickled along his spine. Enigma hadn’t proven to be a threat to any of them, so far anyway. But Shine had seen what he could do with those shadowy claws. Solid surfaces were nothing to him.
Shine’s thoughts were cut short as a sandstorm erupted across the canyon. A helolisk that had been enjoying the sun let out a surprised squeak and abandoned its rock to vanish into a crevice in the wall.
The five pokemon screwed their eyes shut and braced themselves against the storm. Curio stood beside her one-eyed friend, using herself as a shield, and squinting through the blanket of sand. But it subsided as quickly as it had started.
“Where on earth did that come from?” she asked.
“I’ve no idea.” Owen scratched his head in thought. “Maybe a pokemon did it?”
Shine shook sand from his fur and frowned at the walls around them. His golden vision flicked on almost of its own accord. It gave him a good view of the canyon, revealing an intricate system of burrows and tunnels in the sandy walls. Warm shapes wriggled and scurried along them as pokemon went about their business, hidden from the prying eyes of those outside.
But one shape wasn’t quite hidden away inside. A short run from them sat a chunky, reptilian creature with its lower half hidden inside a tunnel.
Shine’s vision returned to normal and he lifted his head to see into the distance. “I think I’ve found the culprit.”
Mushu shook sand off his feet and dusted down his white fur. “Mushu is not impressed.”
Curio chuckled. “Get stuck in a sand dune then, did you?”
Mushu ruffled his face with his paws to dislodge some more sand. But he soon vanished as the storm kicked up again.
Owen groaned and hugged his tail to himself. “This is a little ridiculous.”
“Just follow me,” said Curio.
They fell in line behind her, but she was hard to see in the raging sand. Owen kept between her and Enigma, holding his tail before him like a torch. Shine fell to the back, given he could see all of them clearly with his golden vision. That way, if anyone strayed, he could get them back in line.
The sandstorm settled once more, revealing the chunky reptile responsible. A silicobra lay half-out of his burrow, muttering to himself. As they drew closer, Curio looked him up and down and cleared her throat, drawing the snake’s attention.
“Are you okay there?” she asked.
“Quite alright, ma’am, thank you.” The silicobra took a breath and held it.
The group stood watching, equal expressions of confusion etched on their faces.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Enigma asked.
The silicobra nodded, letting out a muffled ‘mhm!’
“You don’t look it,” said Owen. “You’re turning a little purple.”
The silicobra let out his breath as an involuntary hiccup shook his entire body. Sand spewed from his nose, raging across the canyon.
The group of scavenger hunters raised their arms, or ducked, to try and protect themselves from it. The silicobra spewed a string of apologies, and after a few moments the sand settled again.
“Okay!” Curio beat down her fur. “A silicobra with hiccups! I can see how that could be a problem.”
“This is actually where we’re meant to be,” said Owen. “Maybe this silicobra knows where the final berry is?”
“Gathering berries, eh?” The silicobra took a few slow, steady breaths and lifted his head. “Not many berries in this part of the-” He let out another hiccup and yet another sandstorm raged. He cleared his throat and said through it, “Might’ve seen something though.”
The storm subsided and Curio smacked her paw against her head to dislodge some sand from her ear. At their feet, Mushu let out a frustrated growl and popped his head out of a small sand dune.
“Sand-Snake needs a hiccup cure!” he shrieked.
The silicobra turned sheepish. “Terribly sorry. But yes, your small friend may be ri-” He cut himself off as he sucked in a deep breath.
Curio raised an eyebrow. “Gonna blow again?”
The silicobra nodded and slipped from his tunnel. He waved them inside with his tail, and the group ducked in one after the other. The snake finally let out his breath, and a look of relief crossed his face.
“Oh!” he said. “Looks like it-”
Hiccup!
Sand raged, and Shine let out a sigh. “At least we’re sheltered this time. I’m not sure how much sand I can take!”
Enigma scratched beneath his mane, flicking out a few grains of sand. “I think Mushu has a point. We cure this snake’s hiccups, and then ask him what he knows about this final berry.”
Shine nodded. “He didn’t seem surprised to see us. Chances are, he knew we were coming.”
“Either that, or he was too distracted by his hiccups,” said Curio.
“No.” Owen shook his head. “I’m with Shine on this one. The location we are at is where we’ll find this berry. This silicobra might have been our next challenge. You know. Before he caught hiccups and became… well… useless.” The charmander stared mournfully out at the silicobra who was trying to calm his sandstorm before his next hiccup. And failing.
“Any suggestions?” asked Enigma.
“Well…” Owen wound his claws together. “My mother always gave me nomel juice to cure mine.”
Curio stuck out her tongue with a ‘bleh!’ “Man, that stuff would cure anyone’s hiccups. And make them barf.”
Shine pursed his lips and addressed his team, “Does anyone have any nomels?”
“Only berries we have are fake,” said Enigma. “And not one of them resembles a nomel.”
The sand calmed and the silicobra lowered his head to peer back into his hole. “Again… I am terribly, terribly sorry.”
“No worries,” said Owen. “We’re actually trying to think of a way to cure your hiccups.”
“Oh, please!” the silicobra pleaded. “Anything! I am actually starting to feel really… really tired.”
“Of course you are!” said Owen. “You keep activating your ability! If you’re not careful, you’re going to run out of sand!”
Curio jerked her head towards the charmander. “Are we sure that’s a bad thing?”
“Are you kidding?” Owen waved a paw towards the silicobra. “He needs his sand! It’s his defense mechanism!”
Curio shrugged.
Enigma opened one eye to look at her. “Put it this way. How would you feel if every time you hiccuped, your arm fell off?”
Curio clutched her mechanical arm and leered at him. “You seriously comparin’ my arm to this snake’s sand pouch?!”
“Yes,” said Enigma flatly.
The sand kicked up as the silicobra hiccuped yet again.
Shine rounded on his team-mates and flicked his tail. “Okay. There’s five of us here. Surely one of us knows how to cure hiccups?”
Blank stares were exchanged around the hiding hole.
“No nomels, no solution,” said Owen.
“Mushu?” Shine addressed the emolga.
“Mushu bites things,” was his reply.
“We meant to cure hiccups?” said Shine.
Mushu nodded. “Exactly. Mushu bites things.” Pause. “Mushu gets very irritated.”
“Alright! No solution from the irate emolga.” Shine turned to Enigma. “You?”
The banette shrugged. “I just hold my breath.”
Shine sighed and shook his mane. “That’s what I do, but the silicobra has already tried that.”
“Oh!” Curio shuffled on her bottom towards the hole. “I have an idea! Something I heard once, long ago. Oi! Silicobra!”
The snake peered at her through his sandstorm.
“Try blocking your nose and sticking your claws in your ears, then swallow some water!” she said.
The sandstorm settled, and the silicobra continued to stare at her. His eyes trailed down towards his tail, then back to Curio.
“Oh…” She found Shine and the rest of her team giving her the same look. “Oh yeah. Snakes don’t have paws.”
Mushu rolled his eyes and marched outside. “Mushu will block Sand-Snake’s ears!”
Curio sat up as Shine clambered over her. “What, we’re actually doing this?”
“Yes,” said Shine. “If it’ll work. We just need to do it for him.” He looked back at her. “Can you block his nose?”
“What, me?” She jabbed a claw into her chest. “You want me to block his nose?”
“Yes,” said Shine flatly.
“What about-?”
Enigma strolled past her, pulling out a bottle of fresh water from her bag. “I’m on water duty.”
“You just don’t wanna touch snake bogies!” she said.
The silicobra raised his head. “Actually, my nose is pretty clean from all this sand.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Curio grabbed his snout. “Bottoms up, Snakey.”
He lifted his head as best he could with a lucario on his nose and an emolga across his crest. Enigma tipped the bottle into his mouth and the silicobra swallowed. His eyes widened briefly, and Curio released his snout.
“How’s that?” she asked. “Bit of an old-wive’s tale, I think, but…”
The silicobra stared past her at the wall. He took a few steady breaths. Then he looked up at her and smiled.
“They’re gone!” he said. “My girl, you are a genius!”
“Steady on,” said Shine.
“No, seriously! I’ve tried everything!” The silicobra grabbed her paw with his tail and shook it. “Thank you so much!”
“Eh, it was nothing.” She waved him off. “We were just looking for this berry, and the sand-”
“The berry! Yes.” The silicobra slithered past her and vanished into his hole. He poked his head back out again, and clutched a small box in his jaws. “Here you go.”
Enigma took it and flicked the lock open. “Huh! A wiki berry.”
“A fake one, right?” Curio asked.
Enigma held it up to reassure her.
“I was to be your last challenge,” said the silicobra. “Take it.”
“Wow, thanks!” Curio pocketed the berry and leapt to her feet. “Take care now! Don’t go getting hiccups again!”
The group bade the silicobra farewell and rushed off towards the finish line.
“If only it were that easy.” The silicobra sighed and slipped back into his hole. He gazed at a small pile of ripe wiki berries tucked away in his food store, leaking their tart juices. “Well… I guess I should prepare for the next team then.”
He swallowed one whole and braced himself for the onset of hiccups.
Skitty tried to keep her team chatting, but since their experience on the scree slope everything had turned a little awkward. Nip had nattered back, but was more distracted by his surroundings, and as for Pixie and Espeon, they’d been following silently behind. Keeping their distance from one another. No insults, jibes or threats. Skitty couldn’t decide if it was an improvement or not.
Her idle chit-chat was cut short as the sky darkened. A thick cloud of sand rose overhead, and raged through the narrow canyon path.
“I think we need to find some shelter!” she squeaked.
Her team didn’t need telling twice. They rushed towards the wall, squeezing into a little tunnel. It widened out ahead of them, giving them the space to stand up straight. The sand hissed past the entrance, dusting the tunnel mouth with fine grit.
“Where on earth did that come from?” Nip asked.
“I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised,” said Pixie. “This is meant to be Shimmering Canyon, but all I’ve seen of that is some sparkly rocks hidden away. It’s mainly sandstone.”
Espeon made a thoughtful noise and stared back outside.
“Well.” Skitty flicked her tail. “I guess we should work our way through these tunnels. There’s no sense in sitting around to wait out a sandstorm. Who knows when it’ll end!”
Nip unfolded his map and scratched his grey ear feather. “We’re pretty close, actually. There’s a chance that berry might actually be inside these tunnels.”
Skitty looked left and right, then back at the tunnel mouth. “Well then! I guess we move forward?”
She turned and skipped along, leaving her team-mates to follow after her in single file. Once again, they continued on in silence. Including Skitty. She didn’t like how her voice echoed, and the shuffles from adjoining tunnels warned that they were intruding on another pokemon’s home. Maybe even several pokemon. Sure, they’d been told the canyon was peaceful. But how would they feel about having strange pokemon just waltz through their tunnels?
Heavy panting came from behind them, and Skitty ventured a glance towards the back of the line. Cold frost came from Pixie’s gaping mouth and misted in the warm air, and her blue eyes were oddly wide.
“Are you okay?” Skitty asked softly.
“Fine,” the vulpix retorted. “Just… it’s a little tight in here, is all.”
“Claustrophobic?” Nip asked.
Pixie flicked her tails, but said nothing more.
Skitty picked up the pace and turned to their right. It was an attempt to find their way back out. If Pixie was going to fly into a glacial panic, that would only make their presence even more unwelcome.
The ground around them rumbled, pushing their fur on end. All eyes went towards the ceiling.
“That’s not an earthquake, is it?!” Espeon squeaked.
Pixie puffed up like cotton candy.
“No. No, I-” Skitty shook her head. “I don’t know!”
She made to advance down the tunnel, but the rumbling grew louder and the ceiling began to shake. Loose rubble rained down on them, and Pixie’s entire body went taught. She glanced up at the ceiling, then at her allies.
“Look out!” she barked, barging into them and knocking Espeon flat on her back.
The ceiling exploded, and a huge spiky ball dropped down into their tunnel right where Espeon had been standing. It rolled away from them, and the rumbling faded into the distance.
Espeon looked up at Pixie, aghast. “Th-Thanks!”
Pixie climbed off her and looked away. “Don’t read into it. I lost my cool. That’s all.”
“Ooh! That’s never a good idea for an ice type!” Espeon grinned at Pixie’s leer, then scrambled to her feet and joined Skitty’s side.
“Was that a sandslash?” Skitty asked, looking back up at the tunnel above.
Nip placed a paw on her shoulder and steered her away from the still crumbling hole. “Let’s just be glad it wasn’t an earthquake and get out of this tunnel before it collapses on us?”
Pixie let out a small whimper.
The group wound their way through the tunnels, following the smell of clean air. Eventually they reached another opening to the outside…
“Whoa!”
…But it was a fair way above the ground.
“I think I’ve had enough of heights for one day,” said Skitty, reversing back into the tunnel.
“Hey, look at that!” Nip pointed a claw to the canyon below. “There’s a silicobra just sat there, and I think it’s-”
Sand kicked up outside, reaching up towards their floor. Nip pulled his head back inside and swiped some from his muzzle.
“You think it’s…” Espeon urged.
“I think it’s distressed,” he said.
“Then we have to help it!” said Skitty. “How do we get down without scaling the wall?”
Pixie nodded behind her and she followed her gaze towards a tunnel. It sloped gently down away from them.
“It’s a start,” said Skitty.
The tunnel wound downwards without leading them off into random other tunnels. The way it curled suggested it had been dug out by a pokemon that… well… curled a lot. When clear air greeted them again, they found themselves toe-to-tail with a silicobra.
“Excuse me?” said Skitty.
He looked back at them with some surprise, then cleared his throat. “I didn’t expect anyone to be in my tunnel.”
“We were avoiding the sand,” Skitty explained.
He took a deep breath then looked back out at the sandstorm. “Yes, that would be me. I am so… deeply sorry.”
Epseon inclined her head on one side. “Are you, like, ill or something? You look a bit pale.”
“How many silicobras have you met?” Pixie scoffed.
“Some were dropped off at the daycare!” Espeon retorted. “They liked to play in the sand pit.”
“I’m actually running a little low on sand,” the silicobra explained. “Hiccups.”
On cue, he hiccuped, and the tunnel filled with sand. Skitty ducked and pulled her head into her chest. Something looped around her waist and she was dragged out of the tunnel, yowling as the sand pelted her small body. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on her back outside, sprawled beside her three companions.
The silicobra looked down at them, concern etched on his friendly face. “Are you okay?! I wasn’t expecting- I-”
“We’re fine,” Skitty gasped. “Hiccups? I think you need to get those sorted.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said.
Skitty leapt to her feet and grinned up at him. “I know just the trick!”
Five minutes later…
The silicobra’s manic laughter filled the air, while Nip and Pixie watched Skitty and Espeon tickle his neck with their tails. The two ice types had been shunned from the experiment, given their paws were much too cold and would only cause the sand snake pain.
The two felines halted and stood aside while the silicobra tried to catch his breath. After a small pause, he smiled down at them.
“I think it’s worked,” he said.
“Of course it has,” said Skitty. “Now go and replenish your sand!”
He nodded. “But first… I need to give you something for your help.”
They sat patiently as the snake slithered away back into his den. When he emerged, a small box was clasped in his jaws.
Skitty’s jaw dropped. “The final berry?”
Nip folded his arms. “I think you were the final test!”
The silicobra chuckled as the sneasel took the box. “You are right! But still… I can’t thank you enough for your help. Only kind-hearted pokemon would stop and help another in need. If you’d walked straight past, you wouldn’t have received your final berry.”
The four stared at the box as the silicobra’s message sank in.
“He’s right,” said Pixie. “We’d have lost.”
Nip picked the lock open, and sat inside was a green, plastic wiki berry.
Cleo’s team was the last to join the groups at the back of the Shimmering Canyon. The various teams sat spread across the smooth floor. As the sun set, the jewels adorning the walls shimmered, casting a vibrant spray of red, green and blue across the ground.
Guildmaster Stokes greeted them as they entered, and watched smiling as they picked a spot against one of the walls.
“So what do you think of my idea?” Cabot asked. “That each of these clues is the name of the berry we found?” He tapped the text on the map.
“We can only try it,” said Cleo.
Cabot spread the map before them, and they sat around it as they gathered each berry onto the floor.
“The tree was the tamato berry.” Cabot set it in place on the map.
“And that tunnel was the hondew,” said Spark.
“We found the aspear on the scree slope,” said Cabot.
“And the figy-”
Cleo cut Spark off with a wave. “We do not talk about Diglett Chess.”
“I thought it was fantastic, personally,” said Karo.
Spark made an obscene noise with her lips. “Only a sadist would have enjoyed that! It was as if time stood still!”
“And yet we kept aging.” Cabot shuddered and popped the figy in place.
“Last was that silicobra’s wiki berry.” Cleo dropped the wiki onto the map.
“Five berries.” Cabot eyed them and nodded. “I think I’m seeing a pattern. If you were to write ‘tamato’ here, the letters would line up with those strange unown-like symbols.”
“So it’s a key?” Spark scratched her whiskers. “We solve it to work out that long string of text across the bottom of the map?”
“Pretty much.” Cabot grinned. “I might be onto something! Do you have any ink?”
Cleo reached into her bag and pulled out a small inkwell. Cabot dipped his claw in it and got to work.
With all berries written out, they could start deciphering the code.
“I think we’ve got it!” he said as he added the letters in place.
“I’ve already worked it out,” said Karo. “But I’ll let you finish writing it, so as not to burst your bubble.”
Cabot grimaced and looked up at him. “We’re a team, Karo. If you have it, just say.”
“Yeah, before someone beats us!” said Spark.
“Very well.” Karo cleared his throat. “It says ‘Team-work, friendship and kindness’.”
Cabot stared down at his scrawl. The letters he’d written out did certainly fit that statement. But what did it mean? Was it a clue to the final treasure of this scavenger hunt?
Stokes turned to face them. “I think I’ve heard it!”
“Eh?” Cleo’s team looked up, and Karo turned with jerky movements to face the typhlosion.
“Cleo’s team has it!” Stokes waved a paw at them. “Has anyone else worked it out yet?”
“We’re on it!” Shine called from his corner.
“Yeah, no spoilers!” Curio added.
“Are you kidding me?!” Pixie squeaked, waving a paw at her team’s map. “This is some kind of cryptic clue with letters and all that?! I don’t know how to read!”
“That’s what ‘team-work’ is about,” said Skitty. “We all have our own unique skill set!”
Pixie’s muzzle creased. “That’s something a human would say.”
“Of course!” said Espeon. “They have to, like, juggle a team of six pokemon, so strategy and team-work comes into it!”
“The same goes for us Mystery Dungeon divers.” Nip tucked his paws behind his head and leant against the wall. “We all have to work together, or we’ll get nowhere.”
Pixie snorted out frost, but her expression softened and she nodded. “I guess I get it.”
“Of course you do,” said Nip. “Otherwise we’d still be stuck on that scree slope trying to coax Skitty off that branch.”
“Or you’d have fallen down the slope yourself, if it weren’t for Espeon,” Skitty added weakly as the memory resurfaced.
Pixie grimaced, and Espeon matched her expression perfectly.
“And I’d be smooshed under a sandslash butt if it weren’t for you,” Espeon told the vulpix.
Pixie flicked her tails and turned her head towards Stokes. Then she muttered, “You’re right.”
Stokes clapped his paws together, bringing the canyon into silence. “Have we all now worked it out?”
Nods and shouts of ‘yeah’ echoed around the various groups. Although a lot of them were laced with confusion.
Curio waved her team’s map. “What’s this about, Stokes?”
“I thought it would be pretty clear, actually.” He tucked his paws behind his back. “The treasure to this hunt was key to your challenge the entire time.”
“So we were looking for ‘team-work, friendship and kindness’?” Cabot asked.
Stokes nodded. “Precisely. Your teams were set up to add personalities that clashed, or might be too different to work together. Although some have surprised me. Your team, Cabot, was perhaps the most co-operative of the bunch!” He paced back and forth as he went on. “This little game was meant to be a fun learning curve for you all. Learning to work with difficult pokemon you’d never consider if you had to choose yourself. For example, a vulpix who cannot get along with the eevee family, a stubborn luxray who finds children somewhat vexing, someone talkative stuck with a more silent individual, or a massive pokemon put with someone so much smaller than themselves. Whereas you might not get along in some of these areas, many of you possess skills valuable to others. Bravery, handling small spaces well, great at heights, better on the ground, seeing things others can’t. And above all, a kind-hearted nature that is willing to help others. Be it in your team, or chance encounters.”
The canyon fell into silence, but many nods rippled around the teams. Along with many smiles as pokemon exchanged pleasantries with those they’d found themselves placed with.
Curio stretched out her biological arm and grinned. “Hey, I had fun! That’s what counts, right?”
“Mushu wanted treasure,” said the emolga.
Curio looked down at him. “But did you have fun?”
Mushu stared up at his team-mates, and his scowl dissolved into a grin. “Mushu enjoyed!”
“So did I,” said Owen. “This has been a blast.”
“But of course,” Stokes went on, “we’re going to end this off with a party while we travel back to your own universes. It’s a long trip, and Zero Day is scouting out the right wormholes as we speak.”
Cabot turned to Karo. “That’s that weird Porygon Z thing, right?”
Karo nodded.
“Switch will be here soon to help us all back to Cyan Island,” said Stokes. “In the mean-time, make the most of it!”
Curio’s green eyes sparkled and she stood up. “Oh, I think I will.”
Shine watched as she strolled casually away from their group, pausing behind a semi-dozing banette. She flexed her bionic paw and stuffed it into his mane.
Enigma leapt into the air and vanished, appearing a couple of feet away from her.
“Curio!” Shine barked. “You can’t just go sticking your paw into another ‘mon’s mane!”
Curio stared at her empty paw. “Aww! I seriously thought I had it…”
Enigma shook his head and tutted. “Your friend is right, Curio. Boundaries.”
Curio, Shine and Owen stared at the banette, speechless. He winked at them and strolled off to mix with the other teams.
“Seriously, Curio!” Shine hissed.
She waved a paw. “Ah, pish-posh!”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” Shine squeaked.
“Eh!” The voice came from their feet, and they looked down to see a dedenne. “I wouldn’t let him get to you. All bark and no bite.”
“You’re from his world, right?” Curio leant down towards Spark. “Do you know where he keeps that bell?”
Spark stuffed an oran berry into her mouth and waddled off to vanish into the crowd.
Curio stood up and sighed. She caught raised eyebrows off Shine, Mushu and Owen.
“What?” She spread her paws. “I really want to know!”
A shadow fell over them as Cyan Island floated overhead. The crowd fell quiet, and Stokes beckoned them all together.
“Time to start heading back,” he said. “I’m pretty sure our hosts have a fantastic dinner waiting for us.”
Karo waddled towards the neon ladder as it began to descend. He paused beside Stokes and asked, “Will there be belues?”
“Of course,” said Stokes.
And he stood aside to let the pokemon begin their ascent.
It's been a lot of fun! I wanted to do a bit of art for it, and have one sketch done. If I do more, I'll post them in a separate post in this thread ;)
Character list:
Shine and Curio - NebulaDreams
Guildmaster Stokes - Umbramatic
Ekunasic Karo - Sike Saner
Skitty - Negrek
Pixie - Persephone
Nip - Windskull
Cabot - Virgil134
Owen - Namohysip
Espeon - The Walrein
Cleo, Spark, Enigma, Switch, N00b, Mushu - DeliriousAbsol
Guildmaster Stokes - Umbramatic
Ekunasic Karo - Sike Saner
Skitty - Negrek
Pixie - Persephone
Nip - Windskull
Cabot - Virgil134
Owen - Namohysip
Espeon - The Walrein
Cleo, Spark, Enigma, Switch, N00b, Mushu - DeliriousAbsol
The Berry Nice Treasure Hunt
The wind whistled by the trio’s ears as they drew closer and closer to the drifting continent. Finally, Switch spread his wings and brought them to a halt. He swung his lucario passenger forward with his talons to free them up to land comfortably in the soft grass. With a groan, he lowered himself so the luxray could dismount, then stretched out his wings. A loud popping came from his spine, and he shook out his rusty feathers.
“Here we are!” he said. “Cyan Island.”
“Thanks, Switch!” Shine turned to the talonflame and beamed. “That was much more enjoyable than riding on a dragonite!”
“I wouldn’t know, but thank you.” Switch turned to Curio, who was stood tapping her foot as she gazed around the island. “No offense, but… maybe I can take you guys back one at a time after this? You’re a little heavy. I mean… you’re almost the same size as me when I was a human!” He let out a nervous laugh.
Curio fixed livid eyes on him. “What, you were a short-ass?”
Switch’s beak dropped at her comment. “No, I was only fifteen-”
“Besides, I’m not heavy!” she went on. “I just drank a lot before we left. Where is this place, anyway?”
Switch exchanged glances with Shine, catching his apologetic smile.
The talonflame waved a wing towards the far end of the continent. “It’s this way.”
“What, that ruin?” Curio seemed to perk up at that. “Cool! Wonder what treasures are hidden in it?”
She took off ahead of them, leaving the pair to catch up.
“There aren’t any,” Switch said quietly.
“Leave her,” said Shine. “At least she’s happy.”
The ruin stood at an odd angle, unimpressive at first glance. A spiral staircase took them down towards the underground. Shine cast a curious glance at a flickering light that cast erratic shadows along the walls. If it weren’t for the cheery voices rising up from below them, it would have been quite eerie.
A long table had been set in a wide room, holding a spectacular spread of food. Pokemon of various species flocked around it, helping themselves to food or sitting chatting to one another. Each one had been invited by an odd little card from someone who didn’t even live on the drifting continent. Someone by the name of Guildmaster Stokes. The typhlosion sat at the head of the table, nattering with a lillipup. At the other end of the table were four mawile, three of which were wearing scarves. The fourth had a bow around her horn, fit with a mega stone.
Shine found Curio at the table looming over a cranidos, already helping herself to a plate of berries. Switch left the pair to join Stokes and the lillipup.
Stokes looked up and gave the talonflame a warm smile, before turning to address the room. He tapped a claw on his glass, letting out a soft ring. The entire room fell into silence, and all eyes turned towards the typhlosion.
“Well, well, well!” he said. “It looks like we’re all here?”
Switch cleared his throat, drawing the guildmaster’s attention. “Not quite, sir. I believe we’re missing two?”
“Oh?” Stokes reached into his bag and pulled out a list, giving it a once-over. “Oh yes! I believe you’re right! One anonymous RSVP and…”
“’A powerful fire type’.” Switch tapped the list with a talon.
Stokes looked up at Switch and raised an eyebrow. “That one wasn’t you?”
The talonflame chuckled and turned oddly bashful. “You flatter me. No. No, it’s not.”
Confused expressions filled the room, and the pokemon leapt into conversation once more.
“Who would sign off as ‘a powerful fire type’?” an odd-coloured sneasel, Nip, scoffed as he leant on his hand.
“I reckon it’s a flareon!” Pixie flicked her six-and-a-half snowy tails. “Those things practically ooze arrogance!” She turned to the espeon sitting opposite her. “Am I right?”
Espeon licked berry wine off her nose and shrugged her shoulders at the vulpix. “Like… how would I know? I’ve never met one.”
“You practically are one,” said Pixie.
Espeon looked down at herself with some confusion. “I am not a flareon! Do I look fiery to you?”
“You’re an eevee,” said Pixie. “Pointy ears, crazy DNA…”
Nip rolled his eyes. “Girls! Stop fighting. Yikes.” He slipped from his seat to move one down, closer to Guildmaster Stokes.
Curio wiped a paw across her muzzle and glanced over at the typhlosion. Then the door.
“So what crazy technology keeps this island in the air?” she asked Shine. “Any idea?”
The cranidos on her other side shifted in his seat. “That’s what I wanna know. I think it’s some kind of engine.”
Curio looked down at him. “An engine? In this primitive thing?”
Cabot shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. All I can tell you is I am much more comfortable at sea.”
Curio looked the cranidos over. “You do look a little pale. Scared it’s gonna fall?”
Cabot stiffened and Shine nudged the lucario in the side. “Curio! Stop scaring the guests!”
“I’m not scaring him!” she said. “I’m scared this thing’s gonna fall!”
“It’s not going to fall.”
The joyful voice came from the floor beside them. The lillipup Stokes had been talking to sat smiling up at them, wagging his little tail.
“This island is super reliable!” he said. “It’s stayed airborne for thousands of years! Besides, you’ll all be on the ground again soon enough!” He held out a small paw. “Name’s N00b. Your pilot for the day.”
Curio turned oddly pale. “You’re the pilot and you’re here talking to us!? Go fly this thing already!”
N00b laughed and rose to his feet. “Don’t worry! It’s going in the right direction!”
Cabot eyed the lillipup curiously. “You actually fly this thing?”
“Yup!” N00b grinned.
“Could… could you please show me how it works?”
“Sure!” N00b nodded his head for the cranidos to follow him. “It’s right this way!”
Cabot slid from his seat and joined N00b’s side. “Is it much different to a ship?”
“Depends what kind of ship,” said N00b.
The vulpix shivered as she watched them go, then turned to Curio. “Is this island really going to fall?”
“It’s not going to fall,” Shine assured her.
Curio grinned and kicked her feet up onto the table.
Shine looked up at his friend and narrowed his eyes. “You look much too pleased with yourself.”
Curio scratched a claw inside her ear. “I’m just trying to have some fun. Besides… this thing is just a giant rock. Isn’t that what meteorites are? And they fall from the sky, they don’t just float around in the atmosphere.” She turned to Shine and shrugged. “Read that in one of your books.”
“Please stop,” he said.
A furry cannonball rushed across the table, knocking glasses and flipping plates. Pokemon reached out to steady them, although some received an unfortunate sticky splashing. The bundle of fur skidded to a halt before he crashed into a small dedenne, and rose up to his full height.
“Oi! Tiny Mouse!” he squeaked. “Stop eatin’!”
Spark looked up from her berries to narrow her eyes at the emolga. “Tiny? Stop eating?!” She pointed a claw. “Two things I don’t like to hear, kid!”
Spark’s meowstic friend bristled slightly, watching the dedenne cautiously and preparing herself to intervene.
The emolga didn’t care. He held out a cracker, almost bopping Spark on the nose. “Pull this with Mushu!”
Spark perked up and dropped her half-eaten cheri back onto her plate. “All right!” She wiped her paws on her torso and grabbed the other end of the cracker.
The two small rodent pokemon tugged at either end, staggering and flailing with the effort. A loud bang exploded from it, and both rodents fell flat onto their bottoms.
The meowstic beside Spark’s plate let out a squeal, unfolding her ears. Every plate across the table rose several inches into the air, wobbled, and fell down one seat across from where it had been. Cleo smoothed out her ears and cleared her throat, returning to her stoic demeanor.
“Sorry about that!” she said. “That’s not happened since I was an espurr.” She reached for the torn cracker in her tiny companion’s paws. “What is that?”
Mushu scooped up the prize. A shiny red berry. He bit into it, meeting hard plastic. He frowned at the fake berry and turned it in his paws.
“Mushu can’t eat this!” he grumbled.
“Huh.” Spark’s nose twitched as she sniffed it. “Guess it’s a toy.”
Mushu looked between the dedenne and his prize, then held it out to her. The dedenne took it, and Mushu turned and scampered back along the table.
Everyone exchanged their plates back, and suddenly grew distracted by their own crackers. Although not everyone. Fake berries weren’t all that popular with all pokemon, but the loud bangs sure were fun.
“Yikes! What’s with all the banging?”
Guildmaster Stokes turned towards the door and clapped his paws together. “Oh! The ‘powerful fire type’ has arrived!”
All eyes turned towards the door, and blinked in confusion. Then, all at once, lowered towards the floor. Some pokemon had to stand to get a better look, or shift from their seats.
“Oh thank goodness!” said Pixie. “It’s not a flareon.” She cast a side-ways leer at Espeon. “Although I could totally take one.”
“Of course you could,” Nip scoffed. “Just like I could.”
Pixie narrowed her eyes at the sneasel. “Is that sarcasm I detect?!”
“I was laying it on thick enough,” he retorted. “Now cut your yapping. I want to know what’s so powerful about a tiny charmander.”
The charmander certainly was tiny. Especially compared to Guildmaster Stokes. Expressions of confusion, interest, and disappointment spread across the room in the sudden silence.
“Nice of you to join us, Owen,” said Stokes. “Please, take a seat.”
Pixie glared at him as he shuffled into a seat between her and Nip.
“What’s so powerful about a charmander?” she asked.
Owen smiled at her, but it did nothing to melt the frown off her muzzle. “I actually get really great marks for my skills! I’m possibly the strongest of my kind! My name’s Owen. What’s yours?”
He held out his paw and she stared at it before meeting his eyes.
“Really?” she snorted. “I could snuff you out with a breath. It’s not as if you’re a charizard or something.”
Owen’s mouth turned down in a sad frown. “Hey! I’m just a late evolver. I’m as strong as any charizard.”
“Ignore her,” said Nip. “She’s been at us all. You’re just another ‘mon on the list.”
Owen didn’t want to be ‘another ‘mon on the list’ and it had soured his mood which was already wavering due to his unexpected lateness. So he slipped from his seat and moved down towards where a nosepass just happened to be standing. Somehow actually on a stool, with impeccable balance.
“G’day,” the nosepass said as Owen sat beside him.
Owen had barely sat down when Mushu scampered across the table and skid to a halt before him.
“Hey!” the emolga squeaked. “You’re powerful, yes? Small but mighty, just like Mushu!”
“I… I guess.” Owen blinked. “What’s a Mushu?”
Mushu jabbed a thumb-claw into his chest and his cheeks sparked.
Owen laughed. “Oh! I see.” He leant towards the nosepass. “Why does he talk in the third person?”
Before Karo could answer, Mushu was up in Owen’s face.
“Allow Mushu to test your strength!”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Owen. “We’re indoors and there’s no arena.”
“We need no arena!” shrieked the emolga. “We need to test who is the smallest and mightiest!”
“No you don’t!” Curio grabbed Mushu by the scruff, much to his protests. “C’mon, Ratbag.”
Mushu squealed and flailed all five limbs. “Unhand Mushu! Mushu shall triumph!”
“Of course you will.”
Sparks leapt from his cheeks to engulf Curio. She placed her left hand on the wall, grounding it all, and flopped back down beside Shine. Totally unfazed.
The luxray stared slack-jawed at his friend. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Neither did I.” Curio stared at her metal arm and deposited Mushu back onto the table, then shrugged. “Oh well. Islands can apparently fly, so…”
Mushu leered at her and smoothed out his fur.
She winked. “Chill out, Squeaky. Here.” She flicked her thumb and tossed a cheri berry at the emolga.
He caught it and looked between it and her before flopping to his bottom and tucking in. A small mutter of ‘okay you’re fine’ emerged between mouthfuls.
During all this, Guildmaster Stokes had been waiting patiently by the door. He checked the time on the wall then turned to address the room. A few claps of his hands dragged the crowd into a reluctant silence.
“It would appear we are still missing one,” he said. “But we really need to get the ball moving if we are to start this little endeavor before nightfall.”
“Don’t worry yourself.” The voice was followed by a repetitive and pleasant tinkle of a bell, and a banette emerged from the shadows. “I’m here.”
Spark stuffed an entire berry into her mouth. “Fashionably late as always, eh?”
“Enigma?” Stokes quirked an eyebrow. “How long have you been here?”
The banette winked a crimson eye and toyed with the hem of his heavy scarf. “Long enough to get a read on this place. Looks to be quite the party.”
“Then take a seat.”
Stokes gestured to the two remaining seats - the one Owen had abandoned beside Pixie, and the one that had been forced between Curio and Espeon much to Shine’s chagrin at being smooshed against the skitty beside him. The pink feline’s fur poofed out with the static, and she slumped forwards on her paws.
“Oh man,” she muttered. “This’ll take forever to fix!”
The flames on Stoke’s back ignited out of irritation, and he narrowed his eyes at Enigma. “Things would have been going much faster if you’d just announced your arrival. It’s not as if anyone can miss your bell.”
Enigma let out a chuckle. “You lot clearly did!”
He leapt into the air and vanished, reappearing right above the seat next to Curio and landing with a loud jingle. That meant the blazing and irritated fire type had to sit next to Pixie who tried in vain to get away from their intensity.
The typhlosion muttered an apology to the two ice types on either side of him and did his best to shut off his flame glands. Instead, they smoked in thick black clouds like the nostrils of a sick tepig.
Stokes blinked at the banette and inclined his head on one side. “Now that I think of it, didn’t I invite two of you? Where’s your friend, Harlequin?”
“Busy.” Enigma said nothing else, instead occupying himself with his mane.
“Very well.” Stokes linked his claws together and looked up and down the table. “The reason I’ve called you all here isn’t just for a fancy dinner party.”
“N’aww, dang it!” Spark looked mournfully at her plate.
“It’s for something much better,” Stokes went on. “I’ve called you all here for a treasure hunt!”
The room exploded into conversation, and at the far end Cabot spoke excitedly with Owen. Stokes had to bang his paw on the table to bring everyone back to some level of calm.
A large smile split the typhlosion’s muzzle. “I know it’s exciting, but allow me to finish, please! You’ll all be split into teams and dropped off in the Shimmering Canyon.”
“Shimmering Canyon?” Cabot pulled a map from his bag and frowned down at it. “But that place is peaceful!”
“Precisely!” said Stokes. “There’s no sense in sending you all into danger, is there? Besides, with different power levels between you and so many different types some would be at more of an advantage than others. No. This isn’t a test of strength. It’s a test of wits. Intelligence. Smarts. And above all, the ability to work and co-operate as a team.”
Pixie deflated and her head fell onto her paws. On Stoke’s other side, Nip rolled his eyes.
Mushu narrowed his eyes at Stokes. “Mushu doesn’t need a team!”
“Of course you don’t.” Curio patted his head, causing him to bristle from ear to tail. “You’re all small and mighty!”
The silent room stared expectantly at Stokes, urging him on. The typhlosion reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook, already open at the right page.
A list.
“I shall sound off the groups of four or more,” he said, a little poetically. “Team One will be Curio, Shine, Enigma, Owen and Mushu.”
Curio high-fived Shine, but the luxray looked less than happy with the arrangement. He shook his head at the excited emolga who had begun running in sparking circles.
“Team Two,” Stokes went on, “shall be Pixie, Espeon, Skitty and Nip.”
Pixie stared daggers at Espeon, who flicked her tail vehemently. Nip groaned and lowered his head into his claws.
“Team Three,” said Stokes, “shall be Cabot, Karo, Cleo and Spark.”
Cabot leapt up and down beside his three team members, and Espeon looked on longingly.
“Can’t I be with them?” she asked Stokes. “The meowstic, like, might be able to teach me something useful. Besides, I should always be with like-minded individuals.”
Pixie snorted out frozen air, peppering Stoke’s dark fur. He swiped it off his arm and placed a paw on Pixie’s back before she could say something cruel.
“Now, now,” he said, retracting his paw as the air turned frigid around it. “You know what they say. Team work makes the dream work.”
Pixie glared up at him as he stood. “Well I wanna sheer cold whoever says that!”
Stokes ignored her, listing off the other remaining teams. Five in total.
Once he’d done, he looked up towards the back of the room. “How are we doing, N00b?”
The lillipup, now a little oily, stood wagging his tail. “We’re pretty much there, Guildmaster!”
“Excellent!” Stokes turned to Switch who was waiting by the stairs. “Ready to help drop everyone off? There’s only one ladder after all.”
Switch saluted with a wing. “Of course! Just tell me when.”
...
All five parties were dropped in Shimmering Canyon, dotted around the entrance. Each team had been given a bag of supplies, and a map. Well…
Curio turned the map at angles in both paws.
‘Map’ might have been a bit of a stretch. ‘A vague rendition of the canyon with writing scrawled across it’ would have been a better description.
Mushu stood between his four team-mates, rapidly tapping his tiny foot. Patience failed him, and he stuck his paw in the air.
“Show Mushu map!” he demanded.
Curio ignored him, frowning at the blue paper.
“Map!” Mushu continued, bouncing up and down.
“Patience,” said Owen. “You have to remember we’re a lot smaller than these three.”
Mushu shot the charmander a glare, then returned to bouncing up and down beneath Curio. When the lucario didn’t cave, he clambered up Shine’s leg to scramble onto his head.
“Hey!” Shine protested. “Do you mind?”
Mushu stopped between his ears, pushing them out at either side with his paws. Then he stood, reaching for the map.
Enigma plucked it from Curio’s paws, much to her surprise, and took a couple of steps away to avoid the now sparking emolga.
“I can’t make head nor tail of it.” Curio tucked her arms behind her head. “What about you, Jingle Bells?”
Enigma shrugged and scratched his nose.
Shine frowned up at his friend and closed his eye as Mushu’s paw slipped over it. “I dunno, maybe Mushu can?”
“Mushu is amazing with maps,” said the emogla.
Curio chuckled at her friend. “You just want the little rodent off your head.”
Mushu scrambled around to face Enigma, and his busy tail swiped Shine’s nose. The luxray let out a stifled growl and his tail drooped.
“If you’d let Mushu help, we’d be on our way by now!” Mushu sat down and folded his arms.
Enigma sighed and leant against the sandstone wall. “I don’t think this is just a map.”
“Huh?” The others stared at the banette, and Shine shook his head to clear Mushu’s tail from his face, almost dislodging the emolga entirely.
“Yeah.” Enigma turned to face them with a soft jingle. “I think it’s a riddle.”
Cleo’s ear twitched several feet away from them, and Spark poked her tiny head out of her ruff.
“Hear that?” The dedenne twitched her massive ears.
“Oh yeah.” Cleo stared down at the ‘map’ and then offered it to Cabot. “What do you think?”
The cranidos took it and his eyes narrowed in a frown. “I dunno. There’s a chance that banette is just trying to throw the rest of us off. We are working together, after all.”
“That would be so like him,” said Spark. “But also, a little too obvious? Maybe he’s right, and banking on us believing he’s not.” She paused and her tiny nose twitched. “Did that make sense?”
Cleo nodded and crouched beside Cabot to read over the text. But it didn’t look right to her.
“Can you read it?” she asked.
Cabot inclined his head on one side. “It looks to be written in ancient Unown.”
Spark slumped across Cleo’s shoulder. “Well that’s me out then. I struggle with modern Unown.”
Karo turned thirty-five degrees to face them. “I happen to be fluent in ancient Unown.”
The trio looked up at him with a start, and Cabot’s jaw went slack.
“Seriously?” he squeaked.
Karo nodded as best a nosepass could, which involved a lot of tilting back and forth and a minor trembling of the ground.
The cranidos beamed from ear to ear and held up the riddle so Karo could see it. The nosepass fell silent as he read over the text, his expression becoming calculating.
Pixie bristled as she looked between Cabot’s group and her own team-mates.
“Come on!” she hissed. “That nosepass looks smart, and I’m not willing to lose to a pokemon that has to face north most of its life!”
“That’s a myth,” said Nip.
“Eh?” Pixie’s muzzle crinkled and she bared her canines. “What was that?”
“I said it’s a myth.” Nip looked up at her, unperturbed by her sudden aggression. “Just because they’re slightly magnetized doesn’t mean they have to only face north. But they are more drawn to it. A bit like birds when they migrate-”
“I don’t need a biology lesson!” Pixie snapped.
Nip waved her off and returned to the riddle he was crouching beside. Skitty was deeply engrossed in it, tracing her small paw over the peculiar letters.
“They look like unown,” she said. “Maybe it’s written in their funny language?” She looked up at Espeon, who was busily grooming her paw. “What do you think?”
Espeon didn’t look up from her grooming. “Dunno. Can’t read.”
Nip and Skitty raised an eyebrow.
“I can only read minds.” Espeon gave a warning glance to Pixie.
The vulpix shuddered with disgust. “Oh look! Yet another reason to hate eevee!”
Espeon poked out her tongue and Pixie’s blue eyes widened, flaring with rage.
“Do that again!” she said, cold frost coiling from her mouth. “I dare you!”
“Really?” Espeon flicked her tails.
“Yes! I’ll freeze it right off!”
“Oi!” Skitty leapt to her feet, fur bristling.
The two warring pokemon froze and turned to look down at her.
The small feline took in a breath and her fur flattened back out. “Whew! Sorry about that. I lost my cool there. Now listen, you two. We’ve been put together in a team, and as such we need to work together. We can’t go on with you two at each other’s throats. So please, set aside your differences for like… I don’t know, a day? So we can finish this treasure hunt?”
“And come out of it alive?” added Nip.
Pixie jerked her eyes back towards Espeon. “Three of us might.”
Skitty groaned and returned to the riddle. “This is going to be a long day.”
“Ooh! Ooh!” Nip tapped a claw at the symbols. “I think I’ve worked this out.”
“Oh?” All his team-mates looked at him expectantly.
“Yes. This isn’t Unown at all,” he said. “We’re meant to follow the clues on the map it’s written over to try and translate it.”
“What clues?” Espeon asked.
“The symbols are the clues.” He smirked up at her. “Shall we get a move-on while everyone else is still working it out?”
Skitty picked the map up in her jaws and offered it to the sneasel. “Since you’re a biped, you can be in charge of leading us.”
“Fine.” He turned to lead his team into the canyon. “Then you can keep our team mates from killing each other.”
“I’m not going to kill her,” Espeon muttered.
Pixie snorted out a frost cloud, keeping Skitty between herself and Espeon.
...
Curio strolled along ahead of her team, arms behind her head and dribbling a pebble between her paws.
“I still think we should have thought this over a bit more,” said Shine. “We might be going about this the wrong way.”
“Nope!” Mushu scampered along between the two. “Too slow for Mushu.”
“And too slow for Curio,” said the lucario. “Besides, I’m impressed Enigma’s theory got everyone else thinking. Gives us the chance at a head start.”
The banette scratched his long mane and grunted. “No, I still think it’s a riddle.”
Curio glanced back at him over her shoulder. “I still think it was a sugar-coated trick.”
Enigma’s hidden bell jingled as he shook with laughter.
“I think you’re right with it being a riddle.” Owen looked up at the banette and pointed a claw at a string of incoherent text on the map. “The positioning of this text is all weird. Where the first word is, I think we’ll find something significant at that tree.”
“Yup!” Curio punted the rock ahead of her and it bounced off the sandstone walls. “And if not, everyone is back there trying to decipher Ancient Unown.”
Shine bristled slightly and lowered his head. “The dishonesty doesn’t settle well with me.”
“It ain’t dishonest.” Curio retrieved her rock and bounced it on one foot, hopping along a little. “If they wanna earwig into other’s conversations, it’s on them.”
“Exactly,” said Enigma. “I had nothing to do with that. Cleo’s team tangled up that yarn.”
Shine wanted to add something, but found his nose smooshed against Curio’s hip. The lucario didn’t seem to notice as she was practically bouncing with glee.
“I think I’ve found our little tree,” she said.
Shine stood back and rubbed a paw over his sore snout. A huge, rugged trunk rose up out of a crack in the dry ground, its roots pushing up the earth and curling across it in a tangled mass. The trunk forked off at three intervals, spreading its knotted branches out to provide a respite from the blazing sun. Not that it was currently sunny, but on a hot day the pokemon that lived in the canyon would likely find it quite blissful.
“That’s not little!” Mushu squeaked, waving his paws at the tree. “That’s like… five-hundred Mushu standing on top of one another!”
Shine blinked at the emolga. “Did you… just measure that tree in Mushus?”
Mushu stared back up at him and lifted a paw from his waist to his ear. “One Mushu-”
“You…” Shine winced back from Mushu. “You don’t need to demonstrate.”
Owen stepped forward, looking between the map and the tree. “Over-exaggeration aside, it is a pretty big tree.”
“And pretty leafy,” added Curio.
“If we’re going to find the clue,” Owen went on, “we’ll need a very good climber to find it.”
Curio shook her head and looked at her companions. “Are you kidding? Someone could get lost in that tree.”
“I vote Mushu,” said Shine.
Everyone turned to look at him, and Mushu folded his arms.
Curio raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Wanna get rid of him that badly, huh?”
“What?! No!” Shine paled slightly. “He’s an emolga. They climb! Better than any of us, anyway.”
“Yes, but he’s tiny!” Curio protested. “Tiny, and cute, and-” A sharp pain radiated through her foot and she yanked it up into her paws. “And bites!”
Shine leered down at the emolga, who was tapping his foot rapidly.
“Mushu is an amazing climber!” he squeaked.
“But alone?” Curio dropped her foot back to the ground. “At least take someone with you?”
“I could warp up that tree,” said Enigma. “I actually spend a fair bit of my time leaping along branches. I could help him.”
“I could also do it.” Owen spread his arms. “I’m not a fantastic climber, but… well… actually…” He turned his head to eye his flaming tail, which everyone else had automatically noticed embarrassingly before the bold charmander. “Yeah… Okay, I’m out.”
“And if I can climb a windmill,” said Curio, “I can climb a puny tree.”
“Tree is not puny!” Mushu stood at the base of the tree, perched on one of its many exposed roots. “Tree is spectacular! Has many hiding places for Mushu! A great place to build a drey!” He turned towards his team-mates and puffed out his furry chest. “Mushu shall look for clue!”
Before anyone could interject, the emolga shot up the tree like a magnetized canonball. The leaves overhead rustled as he clambered away, hidden from sight.
“So no one’s going with him?” asked Owen.
“Apparently not,” said Shine. “Who can keep up with that?”
Owen shrugged and let out a defeated sigh. “Then I guess we wait, and help him from the ground?”
Curio took a side-ways step towards Enigma. “While we’re waiting… where do you hide that bell?”
He glanced at her, remaining silent.
“I mean, you’re not carrying a bag,” she went on. “And you don’t exactly have pockets.” She paused, eyes widening as he stared back at her. “Do you?”
His muzzle split into a grin and he chuckled.
Curio’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? You’re not gonna tell me?”
“That’s a dangerous game you’re playing,” said Shine. “She’s not gonna let this go.”
Curio stared intensely into Enigma’s crimson eyes. He shifted uncomfortably and took a couple of steps away.
Loud muttering came from the canopy, and everyone turned their attention back on it.
“Are you okay, Mushu?” Owen asked.
“Mushu is fine!” came the abrupt reply. “Lots of holes. Lots of place to hide treasure!”
“What do you think?” Curio asked her team-mates. “Think we should go up and help him?”
“I dunno, he might push us back down,” said Shine.
Enigma laughed at that, a little too hard. He sank to his bottom against the trunk of the tree.
Shine shook his head and turned back to the canopy. Perhaps the little squirrel pokemon could use some help? He switched on his golden vision, and the tree faded slightly, revealing the warm shape of Mushu bounding around in its branches. While the emolga scurried back and forth, Shine searched the tree for anything out of the ordinary.
He started slightly as he spotted something square sitting between the branches higher up in the tree.
“I think I see something!” he said. “Mushu, try going higher!”
Mushu froze, stared down at them for a moment, then took the luxray’s advice. He scrambled further up the branches, following directions as Shine guided him to the box. It lay in a groove at the base of a bundle of spindly branches.
The branch bucked and swayed as Mushu ferreted about, then came to a sudden stop as he leapt from it, scrambling down the other branches. No longer needing his golden vision, Shine switched it back off and sat patiently.
Mushu poked his head out from amid the leaves and landed on all-fours in the fork of the tree. He held something in his paws, and his muzzle twisted with confusion. It was a small, grey box, locked shut with a typical key-hole.
Owen inclined his head on one side. “Are we meant to open it?”
“Clearly,” said Curio. “I’m gonna guess there wasn’t a key up there?”
“No key,” said Mushu. “Mushu checked.”
“So how are we meant to open it?” asked Owen. “Will the next spot have a key?”
Enigma plucked the box from Mushu’s claws. His paw vanished inside it, and there was an audible click. He retracted his paw and the box flipped open. Everyone leant over to see inside, and Mushu hopped onto the banette’s shoulder. A small, red item sat inside the bare, unimpressive box.
“A plastic berry?” Enigma grunted.
“That’s what we were finding in our crackers!” Curio exclaimed.
Owen took it and turned it so light reflected off its shiny red surface. “This one’s made to look exactly like a tamato berry.”
“Mine wasn’t a tamato, though,” said Shine. “It was a belue, and tasted nothing like it.”
The other four stared at the luxray, speechless. He shifted under their gaze and shook his head.
“Well, we know for one thing fake berries don’t grow on trees,” said Owen. “I think this might be what we’re looking for here.”
“Either that, or the next thing really is a key.” Curio popped the tamato into her bag, then beamed at the grumpy emolga. “Well done, Mushu! You found the first clue.”
Mushu folded his arms and pouted. “Mushu was expecting treasure.”
“This might help us find the treasure!”
Mushu’s frown warped into a grin and he put his tiny paws on his hips. “Then Mushu will find all the clues!”
He zipped from his perch and zoomed on ahead of them.
“Wait up!” Curio took off after him, leaving the others to watch aghast.
“We should probably catch up with them before we lose them,” said Owen.
Shine nodded. “Definitely.”
“We won’t lose them,” said Enigma as they joined Curio and Mushu’s trail, following their jovial voices.
“She can be a bit loud,” joked Shine.
“Even if they weren’t, it’d be a piece of cake.” Enigma closed his eyes and grinned. “A good assassin never loses his prey.”
Shine’s spine bristled and Owen visibly shuddered.
“Well that has some dark overtones we didn’t really need,” said Shine.
“Don’t worry,” said the banette. “You’re not on my list.”
Shine and Owen watched Enigma’s tail as he moved on ahead, following closely to Curio and Mushu’s trail.
Owen looked up at Shine, his face now pale. “At least he didn’t say ‘yet’.”
...
Cabot balanced on one foot on Cleo’s head, steadied by a psychic bubble. Cleo stood atop Karo, straining to see up beyond the cranidos. He had his head inside a hole big enough for him to wriggle through, but that would inevitably leave the larger pokemon behind.
“What can you see?” Spark asked from Karo’s head.
“I see a dark hole!” Cabot pulled his head back out and peered down at them. “Nothing beyond that. It’s pitch black inside.”
Spark made a thoughtful noise and twitched her nose. “No idea how much space is in there?”
Cabot shook his head. “Nope.”
Spark exchanged a worried glance with Cleo, then gave a determined nod. “I’ll pop in and light it up, yeah? Cleo, could you drop the bubble for a moment?”
Cleo grunted as she reached up to steady Cabot’s legs. The dinosaur wobbled a little and flailed his arms to keep his balance.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Cabot watched the small dedenne as she clambered up his tail and onto his back. “You said you don’t like small, tight spaces.”
“If you can get your head in there, then I might be okay.” She bounced off his head and vanished into the hole.
Cleo promptly threw her psychic bubble back up, alleviating some of the weight from the rock type.
The hole lit up with a soft, warm glow and Spark let out a squeal of surprise. Cleo twisted, almost sticking her foot in Karo’s eye. The patient nosepass merely closed it, not wanting to move for fear of dropping his team mates.
“Are you okay?” Cleo shouted.
Spark poked her head back out. “I’m fine! Hey, Cabot, you gotta see this!”
She vanished again, and Cabot raised an intrigued eyebrow. He popped his head back into the hole and gasped. It wasn’t as small as it had first seemed. The small tunnel spread out into a cave, dotted with colourful jewels that shimmered in the light radiating off Spark’s body.
“Wow,” he said quietly. “If it’s this big, we might struggle to find the next berry!” He poked his head back out to address Cleo and Karo. “I’m going in. We’re going to need to have a good look around.”
Cleo nodded. “If you need any help, just let us know.”
Cabot grinned at her, then shuffled his way into the cavern. It was a snug fit until he reached the wider part of the cave. Spark gazed at her reflection on the surface of a round, red gem, distorting her figure dramatically. She joined Cabot’s side and they slowly strolled through the cave.
“I wonder if it’ll be in a box like last time?” Cabot mused.
“I hope so,” said Spark while she upturned a loose gem, then discarded it since it wasn’t a plastic berry. “Otherwise it’s gonna be super hard to find one of those sparkling away among all these gems.”
Cabot grimaced slightly and rubbed his paws together. “I just hope we don’t disturb some angry dragon guarding its treasure.”
“I thought you said this place was peaceful?”
“It is! But I don’t know anything about what lurks in these caves.” Cabot spread his arms and shrugged. “I didn’t even know there were any hidden caves.”
They rounded a corner, and the entire wall was covered from top to bottom with shimmering glassy jewels. Cabot let out a yell when he found himself face to face with an equally startled rocky dinosaur. He back-peddled then let out a sigh, running his claws over his head.
“Whoa.” He gave Spark an apologetic smile. “I thought I’d gone and evolved for a second there.”
Spark nodded and pursed her lips. “It is a pretty big reflection. Makes you look a bit tall and bottom-heavy.”
Cabot laughed. “Says you!”
Spark frowned at the pear-shaped dedenne staring back at her. “I do not look like this. What on earth is this place?”
“Maybe it’s a Hall of Mirrors?”
“A Hall of What Now?” Spark shuffled after Cabot as they wound their way through the maze of glistening jewels.
“It’s like a room that shows your reflection everywhere.” Cabot glanced warily at the walls as his reflection warped and distorted as it kept pace with him. “It’s a little disconcerting.”
“You’re telling me.” Spark hugged her arms around herself. “Eyes everywhere.”
The tunnel came to an abrupt end, and they found themselves face to face with three matching reflections. Written above it were the words ‘One of these is not like the other’.
“That looks fresh,” said Cabot.
“Smells it, too.” Spark scratched her nose. “Cheri paint.”
Cabot ventured closer to the mirrors until he was almost nose to nose with one of his reflections. “What do you think it means?”
“Maybe the jewels are different?” Spark placed her paws on the right-most pane. “I’ve no idea to tell what jewels these even are! I mean, is it a diamond? Crystal?”
“Quartz?” Cabot shrugged. “I’m not a professional with jewels either.”
“You’re a rock type.”
“It doesn’t make me a professional,” Cabot explained.
He tapped the left-most pane he was staring at, creating a musical ‘ting!’ He let out a small ‘huh!’ and looked down at Spark. She stood back from the jewel and he tapped on that, creating the exact same noise.
“Do it to that one!” Spark pointed at the one in the middle.
He tapped it with a claw, then yelped, stuffing his paw into his mouth. The noise had been similar, but more watery.
“It’s ice!” he squeaked.
“Yikes!” Spark’s ears drooped. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He shook his paw and frowned at the sheet of ice. “But I’m guessing this is the thing that’s not like the others?”
“Then maybe the berry is behind it?”
Before he could reply, Spark charged at the ice. She struck it head first and bounced off it, rolling backwards until she was sitting on her bottom. She shook her head, ears flopping around on either side of her face, then blinked a few times.
“I think it’s my turn to ask if you’re okay?” Cabot asked, stifling a laugh.
“Oh yeah, I’m springy,” she said. “But that thing is as solid as ice gets.”
“I don’t think we’re meant to solve these clues with violence anyway,” said Cabot. “Stokes said to use our heads.”
“I was.”
“I meant our wits.”
Spark grinned up at him, and Cabot groaned when she realized the dedenne had been joking. He sighed and took a step towards the ice, careful not to touch it this time.
“So if it’s behind it,” he said, “then how do we get past it without attacking it?”
“Maybe there’s a door?” Spark clambered up his tail onto his shoulder, and glared up at the sheet ice. “But I don’t see a handle. Or a lock.”
Cabot inclined his head one one side and tapped his foot in thought.
Spark turned to face him and suggested, “Maybe we have to wait for it to thaw?”
“That could take forever,” he said. “It might even be Nevermelt Ice.”
Spark threw her arms in the air and sat down hard on his shoulder. “Then I’m outta options.”
Cabot sighed and shuffled his foot. Something soft slipped between his claws and he froze. Then he moved his foot again.
Soil.
He leapt back, almost sending Spark tumbling off his shoulder. “The earth is soft here!”
Spark stood up suddenly. “It’s buried!?”
“It might be!”
Cabot carefully lowered Spark onto the ground then dropped onto all-fours. He began digging away with his fore-claws at the base of the ice sheet, and before long, the soft wooden shell of a box greeted him. He prised it from its soily prison and sat down heavily, a huge grin plastered on his face.
“I think we’ve found it!” he said.
Spark hopped onto his knee, and he turned the keyhole towards her.
“Do your thing, Spark!”
She rubbed her paws together, then stuck her whiskers into the keyhole. A quick zap and the lock popped open. Cabot reached inside and pulled out a sparkling, green hondew berry.
“Huh.” Spark flicked her tail. “So that’s a tamato and a hondew. But what does it mean?”
Cabot popped the berry in his bag and stood back up. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough?”
...
Thick, wiry branches poked out from the side of the steep drop, reaching up like clawed hands. Nip steadied one in both paws as Skitty clung onto one for dear life. All four limbs were wrapped around the branch as she stared down at the drop below her.
“Come on!” Pixie barked. “It’s right there among those leaves!”
“I’d like to see you do any better!” Skitty snapped back. She screwed her eyes shut, pushing her face into the bough. “I’m terrified of heights! I told you this before you voted me to get that box!”
“I offered to get it!” Espeon sat a few feet away with her tail tucked around her legs. “But Pixie threatened to push me off if I climbed onto that branch.”
“And I’m the only one here equipped to steady it,” said Nip. “It’s fine, Skitty. I’ve got hold of it. Just reach out a paw and-”
The entire bough trembled as Skitty’s body shook. Her legs fastened tighter around the branch.
“She’s a lost cause.” Pixie turned to Nip. “Let’s just call that box a dud and go find the next one?”
“What? And leave her?” Nip scoffed. “I’m not leaving her!”
“Exactly!” said Espeon. “If she falls down there, she’ll die!”
The branch shook with so much violence Nip had to practically wrestle it into submission. He rounded on the espeon. “Not! Helping!”
“Yes I was! I was saying we can’t leave her! I mean look at all those rocks!” Espeon nodded to the slope of scree creating a deadly blanket below them.
Nip groaned and turned back to Skitty. “Okay. Reverse slowly towards me.”
“I can’t!” Skitty whined.
“Then stay there. I’ll come and get you.”
He began to release the branch when Skitty flew into a panic. A stationery panic, but a panic nontheless.
“No! Don’t let go! Don’t let go!”
Nip sighed and dragged his claws down his face. “Then what do you want me to do, Skitty?”
The feline whimpered and smooshed her face into the bark.
Pixie groaned and rolled her eyes. “For goodness’ sake!”
She marched over to the branch and nudged Nip aside with her muzzle. The sneasel watched aghast as the snowy vulpix stepped onto the bough. She grabbed Skitty’s scruff roughly in her jaws and jerked her head back, dragging the cat from the branch and tossing her over her shoulder. The branch bucked and swayed, and Pixie balanced herself with an uncanny sense of balance.
Skitty struck Nip in the chest as he dove to save her, and the pair rolled tail over head across the canyon floor.
“Are you okay?” Nip asked the cat.
She said nothing, whimpering with her face buried in his chest. He grimaced slightly as he tried to prise her free, but she was not for budging.
Pixie snorted out frost and turned to the box wedged in the branch’s spindly claws. She grabbed it in her teeth, then turned back towards her allies. All gloating had to be done by eye alone since she couldn’t speak around the box. As she stepped forward, her paw found the frost she’d accidentally dusted over the bark, and slipped from beneath her. The box flew from her jaws to land at Nip’s feet, but it was kicked aside as Espeon bolted towards the drop.
Pixie’s squeal died in her throat as sharp teeth snagged at her ruff. Espeon scrambled with all four paws against Pixie’s weight, dragging the vulpix back up over the edge of the drop.
The pair sat panting as the reality of what had just happened sank in. Pixie looked up into Espeon’s stunned face, and they stared wordlessly at one another.
“Did…” Nip blinked at them over Skitty’s pink head. “Did you just save her life?”
Espeon’s ears stiffened and she swished her tail. “Yeah… yeah, I think I did.”
Pixie snorted.
“I mean, I wasn’t just gonna, like, let you die, was I?” Espeon added. “What kind of monster do you take me for?”
Any retort Pixie wanted to throw back just wouldn’t form. Her legs had turned to jelly. She stared down at the deadly slope of scree, then turned her back on it.
“What happened to the box?” she asked, her voice wobbling uncharacteristically.
Nip held it in his free claws. “I kinda can’t open it right now.”
“No…” Skitty pushed back from him and sat down, still shaking. “I’m fine. Open it.”
He nodded and toyed at the lock with one of his smaller claws.
Skitty looked between Pixie and Espeon, her eyes as wide as two moons. “Are you two okay? I mean… Pixie… you saved me, and…”
“Stop it,” the fox warned.
“No. You did a good thing and you almost-” Skitty’s eyes began to water.
“I said stop it!” Pixie snapped, her eyes also turning watery.
“Oh come on!” Espeon stood and lifted her tail, a happy smile on her face. “We’re a good team! We, like, worked as a team! It was awesome!”
Pixie rounded on her, the air around her turning frigid. “I said stop it!”
“Aspear berry, everyone!” Nip waved the glassy fruit around above his head. “We got an aspear berry.”
...
The Shimmering Canyon was becoming more and more barren of plant life the further Shine’s team ventured. Dry cracks spread up the sandstone walls, revealing the hidden quartz beyond it. Despite the time of year, the sun glared down, baking the earth drier than it already was.
“If we’ve worked it out,” said Owen, “then we’re well on track to finding the last berry.”
“I just don’t understand why this one is so far away,” said Shine. “The other four were much earlier on in the dungeon.”
“Well I’m up to the challenge.” Despite her words, Curio gave a wide yawn. “The others have been pretty easy.”
“Easy for you to say,” said Shine. “You haven’t done a single one yet! It was both Mushu and I who found the one in that tree, and Mushu and Enigma went into that jeweled cave. Owen risked life and limb on that branch.” Curio opened her mouth, but Shine wasn’t finished. “And don’t even get me started about that game of Diglett Chess!”
...
Cleo scratched her ear and exchanged glances with her team. Karo was watching the field before him with such intensity she feared time had frozen.
“Bishop to 5D,” he said.
The diglett wearing a pointy hat vanished into its hole and popped back up several squares away, replacing the diglett pawn.
...
Curio folded her arms. “Well I don’t play Chess.”
Shine snorted. “Thankfully Enigma and I between us could work that puzzle out. Otherwise we’d still be there now!”
“Mushu doesn’t like Chess.” Mushu kicked out at a rock, sending it bouncing along the dry ground. “S’borin’.”
“It is a bit of a slow game,” Owen agreed.
Enigma laughed, causing his bell to tinkle. “I quite like the game, except for when my opponent takes a decade to decide.” He glanced up at the sky. “Although it does give me some time to think.”
“What? About how to kill them?” Shine smirked, mainly at Curio’s surprise.
Enigma tucked his arms behind his head and met the luxray’s eye. “You make it sound like I’m just some kind of heartless murderer.”
“Assassins are murderers,” said Owen. “The only difference is you get paid to do it.”
Enigma laughed again.
Curio wagged a claw at the banette. “Yanno, I kinda like this whole assassin shtick. Makes you an interesting character. Especially since you carry a bell. Like… what’s all that about? And you’ve still not told me where you hide it.”
Enigma winked and turned back to following their path.
Curio puffed out air and looked away from him. “I’ll find out where you hide it.”
Shine’s fur prickled along his spine. Enigma hadn’t proven to be a threat to any of them, so far anyway. But Shine had seen what he could do with those shadowy claws. Solid surfaces were nothing to him.
Shine’s thoughts were cut short as a sandstorm erupted across the canyon. A helolisk that had been enjoying the sun let out a surprised squeak and abandoned its rock to vanish into a crevice in the wall.
The five pokemon screwed their eyes shut and braced themselves against the storm. Curio stood beside her one-eyed friend, using herself as a shield, and squinting through the blanket of sand. But it subsided as quickly as it had started.
“Where on earth did that come from?” she asked.
“I’ve no idea.” Owen scratched his head in thought. “Maybe a pokemon did it?”
Shine shook sand from his fur and frowned at the walls around them. His golden vision flicked on almost of its own accord. It gave him a good view of the canyon, revealing an intricate system of burrows and tunnels in the sandy walls. Warm shapes wriggled and scurried along them as pokemon went about their business, hidden from the prying eyes of those outside.
But one shape wasn’t quite hidden away inside. A short run from them sat a chunky, reptilian creature with its lower half hidden inside a tunnel.
Shine’s vision returned to normal and he lifted his head to see into the distance. “I think I’ve found the culprit.”
Mushu shook sand off his feet and dusted down his white fur. “Mushu is not impressed.”
Curio chuckled. “Get stuck in a sand dune then, did you?”
Mushu ruffled his face with his paws to dislodge some more sand. But he soon vanished as the storm kicked up again.
Owen groaned and hugged his tail to himself. “This is a little ridiculous.”
“Just follow me,” said Curio.
They fell in line behind her, but she was hard to see in the raging sand. Owen kept between her and Enigma, holding his tail before him like a torch. Shine fell to the back, given he could see all of them clearly with his golden vision. That way, if anyone strayed, he could get them back in line.
The sandstorm settled once more, revealing the chunky reptile responsible. A silicobra lay half-out of his burrow, muttering to himself. As they drew closer, Curio looked him up and down and cleared her throat, drawing the snake’s attention.
“Are you okay there?” she asked.
“Quite alright, ma’am, thank you.” The silicobra took a breath and held it.
The group stood watching, equal expressions of confusion etched on their faces.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Enigma asked.
The silicobra nodded, letting out a muffled ‘mhm!’
“You don’t look it,” said Owen. “You’re turning a little purple.”
The silicobra let out his breath as an involuntary hiccup shook his entire body. Sand spewed from his nose, raging across the canyon.
The group of scavenger hunters raised their arms, or ducked, to try and protect themselves from it. The silicobra spewed a string of apologies, and after a few moments the sand settled again.
“Okay!” Curio beat down her fur. “A silicobra with hiccups! I can see how that could be a problem.”
“This is actually where we’re meant to be,” said Owen. “Maybe this silicobra knows where the final berry is?”
“Gathering berries, eh?” The silicobra took a few slow, steady breaths and lifted his head. “Not many berries in this part of the-” He let out another hiccup and yet another sandstorm raged. He cleared his throat and said through it, “Might’ve seen something though.”
The storm subsided and Curio smacked her paw against her head to dislodge some sand from her ear. At their feet, Mushu let out a frustrated growl and popped his head out of a small sand dune.
“Sand-Snake needs a hiccup cure!” he shrieked.
The silicobra turned sheepish. “Terribly sorry. But yes, your small friend may be ri-” He cut himself off as he sucked in a deep breath.
Curio raised an eyebrow. “Gonna blow again?”
The silicobra nodded and slipped from his tunnel. He waved them inside with his tail, and the group ducked in one after the other. The snake finally let out his breath, and a look of relief crossed his face.
“Oh!” he said. “Looks like it-”
Hiccup!
Sand raged, and Shine let out a sigh. “At least we’re sheltered this time. I’m not sure how much sand I can take!”
Enigma scratched beneath his mane, flicking out a few grains of sand. “I think Mushu has a point. We cure this snake’s hiccups, and then ask him what he knows about this final berry.”
Shine nodded. “He didn’t seem surprised to see us. Chances are, he knew we were coming.”
“Either that, or he was too distracted by his hiccups,” said Curio.
“No.” Owen shook his head. “I’m with Shine on this one. The location we are at is where we’ll find this berry. This silicobra might have been our next challenge. You know. Before he caught hiccups and became… well… useless.” The charmander stared mournfully out at the silicobra who was trying to calm his sandstorm before his next hiccup. And failing.
“Any suggestions?” asked Enigma.
“Well…” Owen wound his claws together. “My mother always gave me nomel juice to cure mine.”
Curio stuck out her tongue with a ‘bleh!’ “Man, that stuff would cure anyone’s hiccups. And make them barf.”
Shine pursed his lips and addressed his team, “Does anyone have any nomels?”
“Only berries we have are fake,” said Enigma. “And not one of them resembles a nomel.”
The sand calmed and the silicobra lowered his head to peer back into his hole. “Again… I am terribly, terribly sorry.”
“No worries,” said Owen. “We’re actually trying to think of a way to cure your hiccups.”
“Oh, please!” the silicobra pleaded. “Anything! I am actually starting to feel really… really tired.”
“Of course you are!” said Owen. “You keep activating your ability! If you’re not careful, you’re going to run out of sand!”
Curio jerked her head towards the charmander. “Are we sure that’s a bad thing?”
“Are you kidding?” Owen waved a paw towards the silicobra. “He needs his sand! It’s his defense mechanism!”
Curio shrugged.
Enigma opened one eye to look at her. “Put it this way. How would you feel if every time you hiccuped, your arm fell off?”
Curio clutched her mechanical arm and leered at him. “You seriously comparin’ my arm to this snake’s sand pouch?!”
“Yes,” said Enigma flatly.
The sand kicked up as the silicobra hiccuped yet again.
Shine rounded on his team-mates and flicked his tail. “Okay. There’s five of us here. Surely one of us knows how to cure hiccups?”
Blank stares were exchanged around the hiding hole.
“No nomels, no solution,” said Owen.
“Mushu?” Shine addressed the emolga.
“Mushu bites things,” was his reply.
“We meant to cure hiccups?” said Shine.
Mushu nodded. “Exactly. Mushu bites things.” Pause. “Mushu gets very irritated.”
“Alright! No solution from the irate emolga.” Shine turned to Enigma. “You?”
The banette shrugged. “I just hold my breath.”
Shine sighed and shook his mane. “That’s what I do, but the silicobra has already tried that.”
“Oh!” Curio shuffled on her bottom towards the hole. “I have an idea! Something I heard once, long ago. Oi! Silicobra!”
The snake peered at her through his sandstorm.
“Try blocking your nose and sticking your claws in your ears, then swallow some water!” she said.
The sandstorm settled, and the silicobra continued to stare at her. His eyes trailed down towards his tail, then back to Curio.
“Oh…” She found Shine and the rest of her team giving her the same look. “Oh yeah. Snakes don’t have paws.”
Mushu rolled his eyes and marched outside. “Mushu will block Sand-Snake’s ears!”
Curio sat up as Shine clambered over her. “What, we’re actually doing this?”
“Yes,” said Shine. “If it’ll work. We just need to do it for him.” He looked back at her. “Can you block his nose?”
“What, me?” She jabbed a claw into her chest. “You want me to block his nose?”
“Yes,” said Shine flatly.
“What about-?”
Enigma strolled past her, pulling out a bottle of fresh water from her bag. “I’m on water duty.”
“You just don’t wanna touch snake bogies!” she said.
The silicobra raised his head. “Actually, my nose is pretty clean from all this sand.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Curio grabbed his snout. “Bottoms up, Snakey.”
He lifted his head as best he could with a lucario on his nose and an emolga across his crest. Enigma tipped the bottle into his mouth and the silicobra swallowed. His eyes widened briefly, and Curio released his snout.
“How’s that?” she asked. “Bit of an old-wive’s tale, I think, but…”
The silicobra stared past her at the wall. He took a few steady breaths. Then he looked up at her and smiled.
“They’re gone!” he said. “My girl, you are a genius!”
“Steady on,” said Shine.
“No, seriously! I’ve tried everything!” The silicobra grabbed her paw with his tail and shook it. “Thank you so much!”
“Eh, it was nothing.” She waved him off. “We were just looking for this berry, and the sand-”
“The berry! Yes.” The silicobra slithered past her and vanished into his hole. He poked his head back out again, and clutched a small box in his jaws. “Here you go.”
Enigma took it and flicked the lock open. “Huh! A wiki berry.”
“A fake one, right?” Curio asked.
Enigma held it up to reassure her.
“I was to be your last challenge,” said the silicobra. “Take it.”
“Wow, thanks!” Curio pocketed the berry and leapt to her feet. “Take care now! Don’t go getting hiccups again!”
The group bade the silicobra farewell and rushed off towards the finish line.
“If only it were that easy.” The silicobra sighed and slipped back into his hole. He gazed at a small pile of ripe wiki berries tucked away in his food store, leaking their tart juices. “Well… I guess I should prepare for the next team then.”
He swallowed one whole and braced himself for the onset of hiccups.
...
Skitty tried to keep her team chatting, but since their experience on the scree slope everything had turned a little awkward. Nip had nattered back, but was more distracted by his surroundings, and as for Pixie and Espeon, they’d been following silently behind. Keeping their distance from one another. No insults, jibes or threats. Skitty couldn’t decide if it was an improvement or not.
Her idle chit-chat was cut short as the sky darkened. A thick cloud of sand rose overhead, and raged through the narrow canyon path.
“I think we need to find some shelter!” she squeaked.
Her team didn’t need telling twice. They rushed towards the wall, squeezing into a little tunnel. It widened out ahead of them, giving them the space to stand up straight. The sand hissed past the entrance, dusting the tunnel mouth with fine grit.
“Where on earth did that come from?” Nip asked.
“I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised,” said Pixie. “This is meant to be Shimmering Canyon, but all I’ve seen of that is some sparkly rocks hidden away. It’s mainly sandstone.”
Espeon made a thoughtful noise and stared back outside.
“Well.” Skitty flicked her tail. “I guess we should work our way through these tunnels. There’s no sense in sitting around to wait out a sandstorm. Who knows when it’ll end!”
Nip unfolded his map and scratched his grey ear feather. “We’re pretty close, actually. There’s a chance that berry might actually be inside these tunnels.”
Skitty looked left and right, then back at the tunnel mouth. “Well then! I guess we move forward?”
She turned and skipped along, leaving her team-mates to follow after her in single file. Once again, they continued on in silence. Including Skitty. She didn’t like how her voice echoed, and the shuffles from adjoining tunnels warned that they were intruding on another pokemon’s home. Maybe even several pokemon. Sure, they’d been told the canyon was peaceful. But how would they feel about having strange pokemon just waltz through their tunnels?
Heavy panting came from behind them, and Skitty ventured a glance towards the back of the line. Cold frost came from Pixie’s gaping mouth and misted in the warm air, and her blue eyes were oddly wide.
“Are you okay?” Skitty asked softly.
“Fine,” the vulpix retorted. “Just… it’s a little tight in here, is all.”
“Claustrophobic?” Nip asked.
Pixie flicked her tails, but said nothing more.
Skitty picked up the pace and turned to their right. It was an attempt to find their way back out. If Pixie was going to fly into a glacial panic, that would only make their presence even more unwelcome.
The ground around them rumbled, pushing their fur on end. All eyes went towards the ceiling.
“That’s not an earthquake, is it?!” Espeon squeaked.
Pixie puffed up like cotton candy.
“No. No, I-” Skitty shook her head. “I don’t know!”
She made to advance down the tunnel, but the rumbling grew louder and the ceiling began to shake. Loose rubble rained down on them, and Pixie’s entire body went taught. She glanced up at the ceiling, then at her allies.
“Look out!” she barked, barging into them and knocking Espeon flat on her back.
The ceiling exploded, and a huge spiky ball dropped down into their tunnel right where Espeon had been standing. It rolled away from them, and the rumbling faded into the distance.
Espeon looked up at Pixie, aghast. “Th-Thanks!”
Pixie climbed off her and looked away. “Don’t read into it. I lost my cool. That’s all.”
“Ooh! That’s never a good idea for an ice type!” Espeon grinned at Pixie’s leer, then scrambled to her feet and joined Skitty’s side.
“Was that a sandslash?” Skitty asked, looking back up at the tunnel above.
Nip placed a paw on her shoulder and steered her away from the still crumbling hole. “Let’s just be glad it wasn’t an earthquake and get out of this tunnel before it collapses on us?”
Pixie let out a small whimper.
The group wound their way through the tunnels, following the smell of clean air. Eventually they reached another opening to the outside…
“Whoa!”
…But it was a fair way above the ground.
“I think I’ve had enough of heights for one day,” said Skitty, reversing back into the tunnel.
“Hey, look at that!” Nip pointed a claw to the canyon below. “There’s a silicobra just sat there, and I think it’s-”
Sand kicked up outside, reaching up towards their floor. Nip pulled his head back inside and swiped some from his muzzle.
“You think it’s…” Espeon urged.
“I think it’s distressed,” he said.
“Then we have to help it!” said Skitty. “How do we get down without scaling the wall?”
Pixie nodded behind her and she followed her gaze towards a tunnel. It sloped gently down away from them.
“It’s a start,” said Skitty.
The tunnel wound downwards without leading them off into random other tunnels. The way it curled suggested it had been dug out by a pokemon that… well… curled a lot. When clear air greeted them again, they found themselves toe-to-tail with a silicobra.
“Excuse me?” said Skitty.
He looked back at them with some surprise, then cleared his throat. “I didn’t expect anyone to be in my tunnel.”
“We were avoiding the sand,” Skitty explained.
He took a deep breath then looked back out at the sandstorm. “Yes, that would be me. I am so… deeply sorry.”
Epseon inclined her head on one side. “Are you, like, ill or something? You look a bit pale.”
“How many silicobras have you met?” Pixie scoffed.
“Some were dropped off at the daycare!” Espeon retorted. “They liked to play in the sand pit.”
“I’m actually running a little low on sand,” the silicobra explained. “Hiccups.”
On cue, he hiccuped, and the tunnel filled with sand. Skitty ducked and pulled her head into her chest. Something looped around her waist and she was dragged out of the tunnel, yowling as the sand pelted her small body. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on her back outside, sprawled beside her three companions.
The silicobra looked down at them, concern etched on his friendly face. “Are you okay?! I wasn’t expecting- I-”
“We’re fine,” Skitty gasped. “Hiccups? I think you need to get those sorted.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said.
Skitty leapt to her feet and grinned up at him. “I know just the trick!”
Five minutes later…
The silicobra’s manic laughter filled the air, while Nip and Pixie watched Skitty and Espeon tickle his neck with their tails. The two ice types had been shunned from the experiment, given their paws were much too cold and would only cause the sand snake pain.
The two felines halted and stood aside while the silicobra tried to catch his breath. After a small pause, he smiled down at them.
“I think it’s worked,” he said.
“Of course it has,” said Skitty. “Now go and replenish your sand!”
He nodded. “But first… I need to give you something for your help.”
They sat patiently as the snake slithered away back into his den. When he emerged, a small box was clasped in his jaws.
Skitty’s jaw dropped. “The final berry?”
Nip folded his arms. “I think you were the final test!”
The silicobra chuckled as the sneasel took the box. “You are right! But still… I can’t thank you enough for your help. Only kind-hearted pokemon would stop and help another in need. If you’d walked straight past, you wouldn’t have received your final berry.”
The four stared at the box as the silicobra’s message sank in.
“He’s right,” said Pixie. “We’d have lost.”
Nip picked the lock open, and sat inside was a green, plastic wiki berry.
...
Cleo’s team was the last to join the groups at the back of the Shimmering Canyon. The various teams sat spread across the smooth floor. As the sun set, the jewels adorning the walls shimmered, casting a vibrant spray of red, green and blue across the ground.
Guildmaster Stokes greeted them as they entered, and watched smiling as they picked a spot against one of the walls.
“So what do you think of my idea?” Cabot asked. “That each of these clues is the name of the berry we found?” He tapped the text on the map.
“We can only try it,” said Cleo.
Cabot spread the map before them, and they sat around it as they gathered each berry onto the floor.
“The tree was the tamato berry.” Cabot set it in place on the map.
“And that tunnel was the hondew,” said Spark.
“We found the aspear on the scree slope,” said Cabot.
“And the figy-”
Cleo cut Spark off with a wave. “We do not talk about Diglett Chess.”
“I thought it was fantastic, personally,” said Karo.
Spark made an obscene noise with her lips. “Only a sadist would have enjoyed that! It was as if time stood still!”
“And yet we kept aging.” Cabot shuddered and popped the figy in place.
“Last was that silicobra’s wiki berry.” Cleo dropped the wiki onto the map.
“Five berries.” Cabot eyed them and nodded. “I think I’m seeing a pattern. If you were to write ‘tamato’ here, the letters would line up with those strange unown-like symbols.”
“So it’s a key?” Spark scratched her whiskers. “We solve it to work out that long string of text across the bottom of the map?”
“Pretty much.” Cabot grinned. “I might be onto something! Do you have any ink?”
Cleo reached into her bag and pulled out a small inkwell. Cabot dipped his claw in it and got to work.
With all berries written out, they could start deciphering the code.
“I think we’ve got it!” he said as he added the letters in place.
“I’ve already worked it out,” said Karo. “But I’ll let you finish writing it, so as not to burst your bubble.”
Cabot grimaced and looked up at him. “We’re a team, Karo. If you have it, just say.”
“Yeah, before someone beats us!” said Spark.
“Very well.” Karo cleared his throat. “It says ‘Team-work, friendship and kindness’.”
Cabot stared down at his scrawl. The letters he’d written out did certainly fit that statement. But what did it mean? Was it a clue to the final treasure of this scavenger hunt?
Stokes turned to face them. “I think I’ve heard it!”
“Eh?” Cleo’s team looked up, and Karo turned with jerky movements to face the typhlosion.
“Cleo’s team has it!” Stokes waved a paw at them. “Has anyone else worked it out yet?”
“We’re on it!” Shine called from his corner.
“Yeah, no spoilers!” Curio added.
“Are you kidding me?!” Pixie squeaked, waving a paw at her team’s map. “This is some kind of cryptic clue with letters and all that?! I don’t know how to read!”
“That’s what ‘team-work’ is about,” said Skitty. “We all have our own unique skill set!”
Pixie’s muzzle creased. “That’s something a human would say.”
“Of course!” said Espeon. “They have to, like, juggle a team of six pokemon, so strategy and team-work comes into it!”
“The same goes for us Mystery Dungeon divers.” Nip tucked his paws behind his head and leant against the wall. “We all have to work together, or we’ll get nowhere.”
Pixie snorted out frost, but her expression softened and she nodded. “I guess I get it.”
“Of course you do,” said Nip. “Otherwise we’d still be stuck on that scree slope trying to coax Skitty off that branch.”
“Or you’d have fallen down the slope yourself, if it weren’t for Espeon,” Skitty added weakly as the memory resurfaced.
Pixie grimaced, and Espeon matched her expression perfectly.
“And I’d be smooshed under a sandslash butt if it weren’t for you,” Espeon told the vulpix.
Pixie flicked her tails and turned her head towards Stokes. Then she muttered, “You’re right.”
Stokes clapped his paws together, bringing the canyon into silence. “Have we all now worked it out?”
Nods and shouts of ‘yeah’ echoed around the various groups. Although a lot of them were laced with confusion.
Curio waved her team’s map. “What’s this about, Stokes?”
“I thought it would be pretty clear, actually.” He tucked his paws behind his back. “The treasure to this hunt was key to your challenge the entire time.”
“So we were looking for ‘team-work, friendship and kindness’?” Cabot asked.
Stokes nodded. “Precisely. Your teams were set up to add personalities that clashed, or might be too different to work together. Although some have surprised me. Your team, Cabot, was perhaps the most co-operative of the bunch!” He paced back and forth as he went on. “This little game was meant to be a fun learning curve for you all. Learning to work with difficult pokemon you’d never consider if you had to choose yourself. For example, a vulpix who cannot get along with the eevee family, a stubborn luxray who finds children somewhat vexing, someone talkative stuck with a more silent individual, or a massive pokemon put with someone so much smaller than themselves. Whereas you might not get along in some of these areas, many of you possess skills valuable to others. Bravery, handling small spaces well, great at heights, better on the ground, seeing things others can’t. And above all, a kind-hearted nature that is willing to help others. Be it in your team, or chance encounters.”
The canyon fell into silence, but many nods rippled around the teams. Along with many smiles as pokemon exchanged pleasantries with those they’d found themselves placed with.
Curio stretched out her biological arm and grinned. “Hey, I had fun! That’s what counts, right?”
“Mushu wanted treasure,” said the emolga.
Curio looked down at him. “But did you have fun?”
Mushu stared up at his team-mates, and his scowl dissolved into a grin. “Mushu enjoyed!”
“So did I,” said Owen. “This has been a blast.”
“But of course,” Stokes went on, “we’re going to end this off with a party while we travel back to your own universes. It’s a long trip, and Zero Day is scouting out the right wormholes as we speak.”
Cabot turned to Karo. “That’s that weird Porygon Z thing, right?”
Karo nodded.
“Switch will be here soon to help us all back to Cyan Island,” said Stokes. “In the mean-time, make the most of it!”
Curio’s green eyes sparkled and she stood up. “Oh, I think I will.”
Shine watched as she strolled casually away from their group, pausing behind a semi-dozing banette. She flexed her bionic paw and stuffed it into his mane.
Enigma leapt into the air and vanished, appearing a couple of feet away from her.
“Curio!” Shine barked. “You can’t just go sticking your paw into another ‘mon’s mane!”
Curio stared at her empty paw. “Aww! I seriously thought I had it…”
Enigma shook his head and tutted. “Your friend is right, Curio. Boundaries.”
Curio, Shine and Owen stared at the banette, speechless. He winked at them and strolled off to mix with the other teams.
“Seriously, Curio!” Shine hissed.
She waved a paw. “Ah, pish-posh!”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” Shine squeaked.
“Eh!” The voice came from their feet, and they looked down to see a dedenne. “I wouldn’t let him get to you. All bark and no bite.”
“You’re from his world, right?” Curio leant down towards Spark. “Do you know where he keeps that bell?”
Spark stuffed an oran berry into her mouth and waddled off to vanish into the crowd.
Curio stood up and sighed. She caught raised eyebrows off Shine, Mushu and Owen.
“What?” She spread her paws. “I really want to know!”
A shadow fell over them as Cyan Island floated overhead. The crowd fell quiet, and Stokes beckoned them all together.
“Time to start heading back,” he said. “I’m pretty sure our hosts have a fantastic dinner waiting for us.”
Karo waddled towards the neon ladder as it began to descend. He paused beside Stokes and asked, “Will there be belues?”
“Of course,” said Stokes.
And he stood aside to let the pokemon begin their ascent.
