Enter the Federation — Thunder Dome

A Clover Guild Story
By Ribombee-anon

Chapter 1: To the Dungeon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngAqP1jrE5w (BGM: Crossing Those Hills - Orchestral Cover)

A Mudsdale hauled a cart through the Capim Region, carrying four dazed guildmates across the fields. The last fifteen minutes had been a blur to them. A pair of unexpected visitors from the Exploration Team Federation had burst into the guildhall with shocking news, forcing the members of the Clover Guild to embark on a series of perilous quests. The entire building became a storm of activity as the guildmates teamed up, discussed their plans, gathered supplies, and began setting out.

Booker the human-turned-Ribombee and his native partner Sneasel had been paired up with Charm the human-turned-Charmander and her native partner Natu. Together, they briefly reviewed the data folder they had received, then rushed to the storeroom to stuff their bags full of items. They only paused long enough to let Sneasel take a detour and apply some green war paint to her face, in keeping with the traditions of her tribe. She believed the paint could grant good luck, and judging by the mission outline contained inside the folder, they would need all the help they could get.

Their minds had been racing all the time they were in the guildhall. Fear and excitement chased each other around their heads as they imagined what this high-level dungeon might hold for them. Now they were alone in the cart on a northbound dirt road, surrounded by green grass, dense forests, and clear blue skies above. The world around them was totally peaceful, ignorant of the stress and exhilaration that gripped the entire guild. It helped the guildmates calm down and clear their minds. This was a good time to consider the upcoming mission.

The four sat in a circle silently. They looked at each other, wondering who would talk first. Eventually, everyone settled on staring at Booker. The Ribombee looked about frantically and shied away.

“W-why are you all looking at me?” he asked.

“Well, I wanna know what you’ve got in mind, partner,” asked Sneasel. “Got any plans?”

“N-no,” he said. “Not yet... but I guess we should recap first. I mean, I’m still trying to wrap my head around what just happened.”

“Me too,” said Charm. “So, let’s get this straight. Some wacky group called the Federation just stormed in and told us we’re not an official guild, huh?”

“Right,” said Sneasel. “That was the gist of it, but they totally could’ve gotten the point across more gently.”

Charm pouted and snorted a puff of smoke from her snout. “Yeah, that Alakazam was straight-up racist to Booker and me, and the other humans. And Chatot was... well, Chatot.”

Booker nodded. “Right. Anyway, they said they were going to... disband the guild...” His voice trailed off, and he glanced longingly at his guildmates before continuing, “They’ll disband the guild unless we finish some jobs for them. And then they gave us a big list of mystery dungeons to tackle.”

Natu said, “I’m not sure if I’d call them jobs, though. They sound more like suicide missions. Going into super-dangerous mystery dungeons and sealing up those ‘rifts’, whatever those are...”

“Yeah, it does sound pretty dangerous,” said Charm. “But that’s what makes it fun, right?”

Natu nodded, while Sneasel glanced at Charm incredulously. “Fun?“ Sneasel repeated.

“Yeah!” Charm said, bouncing up and down. “This is a brand new dungeon, and we’re the first people to check it out! We’re like real explorers! Like Christopher Columbus, or Hernan Cortes, or... all those other old guys!”

“Please don’t get too excited,” said Booker. “We need to be careful, if we’re the first ones there. We’ll have to think fast and plan things out on the fly. Man, I really wish we had some better info so we could plan things out beforehand. I hate diving in without a plan.”

“But I love doing that!” said Charm. “That’s so much more exciting! I don’t care if it’s dangerous, just as long as I’m out there doing stuff.”

“No, Booker’s right,” said Sneasel. “Don’t get me wrong—I think it’s cool that you wanna take risks, Charm. That’s a good way to get stronger and do things you never thought you could do. But you’ve gotta rein it in at some point. Go too far and you’re gonna get yourself killed—especially in a high-tier dungeon like this one. I know how rough these can be.”

Charm’s face fell, but only for a moment. “Well, we’ve got each other, right? And even though the four of us never teamed up before, I’m sure we can work together and beat this dungeon, no matter how tough it is!”

Booker sighed. “You remind me of Taillow. I wish I knew where your enthusiasm came from.”

“Do I need to explain it?” Charm asked. “What’s wrong with enjoying life?”

“It’s wrong if it gets you wrecked,” Sneasel growled.

“Relax!” said Charm. “Man, based on what Gus and Chespin told me, I always thought you liked challenges, and you were all cool and tough and brave.”

“That’s right,” Sneasel and Booker said at the same time.

“Well, then why are you so uptight now, Sneasel?” asked Charm. “This is gonna be a great chance to test our skills, and we can have fun while we’re doing it. Why are you worried about this job?”

Sneasel snarled and gestured at Charm’s bag. “Check the folder,” she said. “Maybe it’ll remind you how tough this dungeon is—and why we’ve gotta be careful.”

Charm took out the crucial folder given to them by Alakazam, President of the Federation. She opened it and spread the papers around on the cart, and everyone gathered together to read them more slowly and methodically than they had at the guildhall.

The papers detailed the dungeon they were about to face. It was totally unexplored, and had been assigned the bland codename Dungeon GT-04 by the Federation. It was located at the edge of Amp Plains, inside a crack in a cliff. Although the Federation had confirmed the dungeon’s location, and sensed that it contained Electric-type energy and a new rift, nothing about its interior was known.

The papers also explained some of the dangers that the dungeon might pose due to the presence of its rift. Rifts were invisible, but their positions could be tracked down by finding “what does not belong”, according to the guildmaster and the guild’s Aura expert KFC. Additionally, rifts’ effects were obvious. The dungeon would increase in danger and distortion, especially as one drew closer to the rift itself. The dungeons could shift and rearrange themselves at random, while the inhabitants would be unusually aggressive, and some of them could even grow in size. It was also possible that unusual items could be located near the rifts.

The only way to close a rift was to open a bottle of rift sealant—Sneasel carried one in her belt pouch—and a successful closure would cause the paper on the bottom of the bottle cap to turn green. Each team taking the Federation’s test needed to return with a green paper for the guild to pass and not be shut down.

“Y’know,” said Charm, “maybe we should’ve brought your jar of face paint with us, Sneasel. It’s green, so...”

Booker shook his head. “I’m pretty sure they’d be able to tell if we faked the results of the test by painting the paper.”

“You never know,” said Charm with a shrug. “Anyway, like I said before, this dungeon sounds like fun. I’ve never been in one like this before, so I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like.”

“Exactly—same here!” said Natu.

Sneasel shook her head. “You just don’t get it. This dungeon is bad news. And since I’m apparently the only one who knows the danger—”

“Um... I do too,” Booker murmured. “It sounds intimidating.”

“Alright, you know the danger too. But I’m the one with the most dungeon experience between the four of us—so what I’m trying to say is, I think I oughta be the leader here. Sound good?“

“Sure,” said Booker and Natu. Charm hesitated, but finally agreed as well.

“Good,” said Sneasel. “So, here’s the plan: no risks, no heroics. We’ve gotta get in and out as fast as possible, but we’ve gotta be careful while we do it, alright?”

“That works for me,” said Booker. “I’m glad you’re actually being more careful for a change. You’re usually the reckless one—I’m always worried you’re going to get hurt.”

“I know, but this dungeon is serious business. It’s gonna be tougher than any we’ve been through before. So like I said: no risks.”

“Not even a little risk?” Natu asked. “Sounds lame.”

“C’mon,” Charm said to Sneasel, “taking risks can pay off, right? Taking no risks at all is just dumb.”

“It ain’t dumb if it keeps you in one piece,” Sneasel said. “You’re the dumb one if you can’t figure that out.”

Charm crossed her arms and huffed. “Man, I never knew you were such a coward.”

That one comment instantly changed the mood in the cart. Booker flinched as he sensed Sneasel’s Aura shift to a storm of rage. She glared at Charm, whose purple eyes widened in surprise.

“You little...” Sneasel growled in a low voice. “I’m not a coward, got that? Don’t ever call me that again.”

Charm sidled away from her guildmate and held up her hands. “A-alright,” she said. “Sorry. But... can you at least tell me why you’re being overly careful? I mean, like Booker said before, you’ve got a reputation for being tough and taking risks, so why change now?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Sneasel snarled, looking away from Charm. “You should just trust me. I know what I’m doing. I know what these dungeons can do to people. That oughta be enough for you.”

The rest of the cart ride was tense. It passed mostly in awkward silence, only broken up on rare occasions when Sneasel and Charm resumed butting heads over the right approach to the upcoming dungeon. Charm wanted to take risks and have fun, while Sneasel wanted to stay totally serious and careful the whole way through. Natu eventually flew up to Mudsdale’s head to get away from them and quietly apologize for the inconvenience; the horse said he was used to hearing people argue in his cart, and he didn’t mind. Meanwhile, the flightless Booker was stuck with his quarreling guildmates. He shied away from them as they kept trying to get him to side with either one of them. He did his best to stay neutral by looking away and mumbling incoherent non-answers.

At long last, they reached their destination: Amp Plains. The dirt path passed into a vast barren landscape of rocks and scattered dead trees. They rode on for a few more minutes, and after consulting their map and the Federation documents to verify the location of the dungeon, they told Mudsdale to stop by a large tree. The horse bade them farewell and vowed to wait patiently as they disembarked from his cart. Sneasel took the lead, and Booker rode in one of her belt pouches, ready to deliver items as needed. Charm followed close behind her, while Natu flew above them and surveyed their surroundings as they left the road and set off across the flatlands. It was an easy walk, and they soon found the cliff mentioned in the documents. They gathered in front of the crack in its smooth face. It was ten feet tall and several feet wide, and quickly plunged into a tunnel of pure darkness.

“We’re here,” said Sneasel flatly. “Stay close. Stay safe. Don’t take any risks, and let’s get through this dungeon quick.”

Charm grumbled as she followed her guildmate. Her tail flame illuminated the dark tunnel, which sloped gently downward.

Natu perched atop Charm’s head and closed his eyes. ‘Feeling okay, Smokey?’ he asked her telepathically.

‘Not really,’ she replied in her thoughts. ‘I mean, I’m still super excited for this—I’m even shaking a bit. This was supposed to be a cool, fun mission. But... Sneasel’s being a wet blanket.’

‘Yeah, and you and wet blankets don’t mix, huh? ...Get it? Cuz you’ve got fire on your tail, and—’

‘I know. I get it. Point is... I understand where she’s coming from, but I think she may be taking this a bit too seriously. I hope she doesn’t hold us back.’

They were taken out of their mental conversation as Sneasel stopped and held up a hand. The tunnel continued on into darkness, but straight ahead was a shimmering patch of yellow mist that faintly hummed. Sneasel glanced back at her guildmates and nodded, then walked into the mist. She faded from view.

“That’s gotta be the dungeon entrance,” said Natu.

“Last one in is a rotten egg!” Charm shouted. She suddenly ran forward, dislodging Natu from her head. The bird fluttered his wings and chased after her. Electric jolts shot through his body as he entered the mist, and his vision blacked out and returned an instant later. The tunnel had given way to a dungeon.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Forest of Thunder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6bcQSFQAsE (BGM: Amp Plains - Remastered)

The team of four had been transported to an unbelievably immense cavern. A domed ceiling towered far above them, higher than a skyscraper. It was comprised of smooth dark stone speckled with shining white dots—likely glowing crystals—which made the ceiling resemble a nighttime sky. Bolts of electricity arced constantly and randomly between the artificial stars, giving off a faint strobe effect and the sound of nonstop rolling thunder. At ground level, the cave seemed to contain an entire forest. A jumble of foliage and trees from all different regions grew densely all around them—maple, oak, redwood, willow, pine, palm, eucalyptus, bamboo, and more. Strange glowing yellow vines grew out of the ground and wrapped around many of these trees. With the vines and lightning above, the entire cave was well-lit with slightly-fluctuating electric light.

“This place is so cool,” Charm breathed as she observed her surroundings.

“Don’t get distracted,” said Sneasel.

Charm groaned. “Oh, come on, it’s literally the first room! Can’t we stop to smell the roses and take in the sights for a few seconds before you start complaining?”

“It’s the first room,” Sneasel replied, “but it can still be dangerous.”

“Well, the room does look pretty safe,” said Booker. “I think we can relax.”

“Oh no, not you too,” Sneasel grumbled.

“W-well, we should still be careful,” said Booker. “Let’s stick together. The dungeon can change at any time.”

Natu had perched on his partner’s head, and was gazing up at the ceiling. “Hey, is the entire floor one big room? Almost looks like you could fit all of Capim Town in here. Let me see if I can get a better look at it.”

“Don’t go too high,” said Charm.

“I know. Trust me, I’m gonna stay far away from that lightning up there.”

Natu flew upward. Before getting as high as the treetops, he crashed into an invisible barrier and came spiraling back down.

“Ow,” he said as he flopped onto Charm’s head again. “I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.”

Unable to get an overview of the dungeon, the team began exploring on foot. The dense foliage formed barriers, forming the same kinds of rooms and corridors that all dungeons had. Sneasel led the group slowly, constantly sniffing the air and flicking her ear around as she tried to detect signs of trouble. She made the group pause at the entrance of every hallway, every corridor’s bend, and every new room. And whenever they found the current floor’s stairs, Sneasel would force everyone down them, even if the current floor was still unexplored. Charm protested each time, spinning tales about the useful items or exciting sights they were missing by leaving each floor early. Sneasel was unmoved.

Despite the team’s caution, the Electric-type feral Pokemon populating the dungeon seemed hyper-aggressive, and always rushed at the guildmates as soon as they saw them. Surprisingly, some of them were actually intangible, unable to cause any damage, as if they were mere mirages. However, most of the enemies were real, and the teammates were forced to fight them. They could maintain their distance using Charm, Sneasel, and Natu’s ranged attacks, but the enemies’ swift lightning-based moves were hard to dodge. Booker was quick to deliver items as needed, and occasionally threw out a Fairy Wind at any foes that drew too close or crept up from behind, but like his guildmates, he was frequently overwhelmed by the fierce enemies.

After five floors, the team was already running low on items. When they found the next set of stairs, they paused to recuperate and check their status. Booker remained in Sneasel’s pouch and reviewed its contents, while Charm looked through her own bag, and Natu hovered above and kept watch for enemies.

“Bad news,” said Booker, poking his head up over the edge of the pouch. “We’re out of Oran and Cheri Berries here.”

“I’ve still got two Orans in my bag,” said Charm. “No Cheris, though. But we still have the two Reviver Seeds I brought.”

“We’re gonna need them, huh?” asked Natu.

“Not if we keep playing it safe,” said Sneasel.

“Playing it safe hasn’t worked so far,” said Charm with a frown. “We’re still getting in lots of fights, and we’re low on items. This is why we should’ve been exploring the floors more thoroughly, so we could restock.”

“Nope,” Sneasel said, shaking her head. “We oughta move on as soon as we find the stairs. Exploring’s just gonna make us waste time and fight more enemies.“

Charm crossed her arms and shook her head too. “Yeah, but it’s worth the risk. We need items.”

“What we really need is to hurry through the dungeon. Every step counts.”

“We’re not on a time limit, are we?”

“We kinda are.”

“Huh?”

Sneasel seemed ready to reply, but bit her lip and looked away. “Like I said, I don’t have to explain myself. I’ve been in a dungeon like this before. I know what they can do, and I know we’ve gotta get out of here as soon as possible. Now, enough sitting around. Let’s get going.”

Sneasel descended the stairs, taking Booker with her. Charm and Natu didn’t follow right away, which gave Booker and Sneasel a brief bit of privacy on the next floor.

Booker took the chance to ask his partner, “Are you still upset about her calling you a coward on the cart ride?”

“Yeah,” Sneasel replied. “You know I hate being called that more than anything.”

“I know, but... come on, just tell her why you’re worried about this dungeon. No reason to hide it and antagonize her. I’m well aware of why you hate high-level dungeons, because we’ve talked about it before. Why not tell Charm too? Don’t give her the cold shoulder.”

“She deserves the cold shoulder after what she said.“

Before Booker could protest any more, Charm and Natu blinked into existence nearby, having taken the stairs. They continued on their way, a frustrated silence hanging over all of them. The tension grew over the next two floors, during which the team lost one of their two Reviver Seeds, as well as their last Oran Berries. Making matters worse, Sneasel’s left arm got paralyzed in an Electric-type feral’s ambush, and without any items to heal it, she was unable to battle as well as she usually did.

Sneasel was growing more agitated with each passing minute. She repeatedly traced the lines of her war paint and mumbled things under her breath, as if praying for the markings to do their job and start giving the team good luck. She lashed out at enemies with more aggression than usual, and she snapped at Charm and Natu whenever they tried talking to her. She even acted uncharacteristically curt and dismissive towards her own partner.

Her mood was lightened somewhat when they found the stairs. Sneasel eagerly hurried to them, but Charm noticed something else and ran off down a corridor instead. Sneasel angrily raced after her, and they stopped before the entrance to the next room. It was devoid of enemies, but contained over a dozen items lying around.

“Look!” said Natu. “It’s the mother lode! Let’s head on in and—”

“It’s a Monster House!” Sneasel and Booker said together.

Natu shuddered. “Oh... I knew that. I was just testing you guys.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Charm. “Well, Sneasel, you know what I’m gonna say next. We’re low on items, but I can see plenty of good stuff in this room. Oran and Cheri Berries, first of all, and also some orbs and seeds. So I say we jump into this room and—”

“That’s a stupid idea,” said Sneasel. “We can’t take on a whole Monster House. We didn’t pack any orbs to deal with this sorta thing. And the stairs are literally in the next room. Let’s just go to the next floor.”

“Are you nuts?” asked Natu. “Look at those items! Let’s give it a try. We can always run away if it doesn’t work out.”

Before Sneasel could snap at the bird, Booker stood up in the pouch and rested a hand on Sneasel’s paralyzed arm, which was dangling limply right next to him. “Sneasel, we really need to do something about your arm,” he said gently. “And that room has the items we need. I normally wouldn’t want to jump into a Monster House, but we don’t have a choice.”

Sneasel shook her head. “I know, but we might be able to find a Cheri Berry in another safer room. Diving into a Monster House for one is dumb. Sorry, Booker, but I’m the leader, so what I say goes.”

Charm took a deep breath. She paused, and Natu could sense the gears in her head turning.

‘You sure about this?’ he asked her telepathically.

‘It’s worth a shot,’ she replied in her mind. ‘Brace yourself.’

Then she stepped forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpMporSwi6s (BGM: Monster House - Remastered)

Sneasel’s cry of anger was drowned out by a booming rumble, much louder than the constant thunder high above. Thick black mist swept throughout the room like a wave. As it faded, an army of Electric-type Pokemon lurched from the darkness. They all glared at the team of four, then surged towards them. The guildmates quickly backpedaled into the corridor, causing the monsters to get funneled into a bottleneck. Only a couple could come in at a time, but they didn’t seem to realize it, as the whole group tried to cram themselves into the corridor at once. They bumped and shoved each other, growling and flailing as they struggled to chase after the intruders.

Charm hopped backwards along the hallway and spat fireballs at the angry mob. Natu took flight and targeted their minds with his psychic attacks, aiming for those that were charging up ranged moves in order to distract them—despite stumbling over each other and moving slowly into the corridor, their ranged moves could have spelled disaster if they managed to use one. Sneasel grumbled in annoyance and started flinging Ice Shards with her one good arm. As she was taller than Charm, she could easily throw her attacks over the Charmander’s head. Booker fired off a few weak Fairy Wind attacks past Charm, but they petered out did little damage. Frustrated, he dug out a Blast Seed from Sneasel’s pouch and held it up.

“Charm, catch!” he shouted, chucking the fireball-shaped seed at his teammate.

She looked back in time to grab it, then bit into it and lobbed it into the crowd like a grenade. The whole room and corridor were rocked by a large fiery explosion. Many bodies flew into the air and faded into smoke. The blast also destroyed some of the glowing yellow vines wrapped around the trees lining the corridor, causing bright yellow fluid to burst out. Sparks flew out of it, harmlessly arcing into the Electric-type ferals—but it also lit on fire due to the heat of the explosion, and the ferals succumbed to the flames quickly, seemingly taking out all the enemies that survived the initial blast.

The team scrambled back all the way into the room with the stairs, putting some distance between themselves and the feral horde in case any survived. It soon became clear that the whole group had been defeated. The flames gradually petered out, and strangely—yet thankfully—did not ignite the trees lining the corridor and rooms. The dungeon became quiet and still again, except for the thunderbolts raging across the dome ceiling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6bcQSFQAsE (BGM: Amp Plains - Remastered)

Safe at last, Charm sat down and looked at the empty hallway. “Great work, guys,” she said. “See? That wasn’t so bad.”

Sneasel came up from behind and placed a hand on Charm’s head. Icy mist spread out from it and drifted down over her. She winced and squirmed, but Sneasel held on tight despite lacking thumbs.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she hissed. “That was such a stupid move.”

Sneasel let her go, and Charm got up and spun around. “How was it stupid?” she yelled, rubbing some specks of ice and snow off her head. “We just got lots of items! C’mon, let’s check out the loot.”

Charm ran off down the corridor. Sneasel followed, muttering to herself. The electrified yellow liquid from the vines had been all burned up, so they returned to the room without issue. Before they went deeper in, Charm grabbed a big branch that had fallen from a tree, then used it to tap the ground before her as she walked, checking for traps. She usually turned up nothing, but sometimes, the ground would dissolve as she struck it with her stick, revealing a metallic square with a symbol carved into it. The group made sure to avoid these.

“I still think that was dumb,” said Sneasel. “We could’ve been hurt. Taking on that many enemies at once, especially when we’re low on items?”

“To be fair,” said Booker, “you’ve done the same thing in other dungeons.”

“This is different,” she said, waving her good arm dismissively. “This is a high-level one. Enemies here are worse. We can’t afford to take risks like that.”

“Are you sure?” asked Charm, holding up a Cheri Berry she just picked up from the ground. “Cuz if we didn’t take that risk, you’d still be stuck with one arm.”

Sneasel snatched the berry and gobbled it up. In less than a minute, she could move her paralyzed arm again.

“Say thanks,” Booker said, poking her fixed arm.

“Thanks,” Sneasel mumbled, barely audible.

The guildmates collected the rest of the items. There were multiple Oran and Cheri Berries, a Heal Seed, two Reviver Seeds, an All-Dodge Orb, a Slumber Orb, and a Tunnel Wand. Charm held on to half the berries and seeds and the lone Heal Seed, as well as the Slumber Orb. The rest of the berries and seeds, plus the wand and All-Dodge Orb, went into Sneasel’s bag alongside Booker. Though the wand only had limited charges, the piercing energy it fired could make up for Booker’s lack of offensive prowess. He grinned as he examined the new weapon. It was less of a wand and more of a staff for a tiny Ribombee like him, but he would still be able to use it.

With their loot stowed in their bags, the team delved deeper into the dungeon. The enemies remained aggressive, but the team’s confidence was boosted after clearing the Monster House, and they were growing accustomed to the danger of this dungeon, so they were able to handle the enemies without losing more than two Oran Berries. The scenery remained largely the same, but anomalous patches of freezing snow and hot sand gradually appeared on the ground, and the electrified vines on the trees became more numerous. Some even stretched out into certain rooms, creating obstacles. At a few points, they formed an impenetrable wall blocking the path forward, forcing the team to go another way.

Meanwhile, the false stars in the dome ceiling began to shift away from white. Each star gradually changed into a different color, until the entire ceiling was speckled with a rainbow of hues. The constant storm of lightning bolts shooting between these light points became tinted in different colors as well, creating an entrancing light show against the black backdrop of the stone dome.

“Man, it’s like a rave in here,” Charm said, squinting up at the bright electric colors above. “We should bring the whole guild here to party once this is all over.”

“I don’t like parties,” said Booker. “I’d probably stay back at the guild, if that’s okay with you.”

“I don’t even know what a rave is,” said Sneasel. “But going into a dungeon just for a party is pretty dumb. Let’s hit the tavern instead.”

“Speaking of parties,” said Natu. He pointed with a wing down a corridor to the side, and his guildmates looked over too. They could spot multiple items in the next room, and they went over to check it out. It gave them a sense of deja vu, and for good reason. The room had no enemies, but many items. The sight was now very familiar to everyone.

“That’s a party, alright,” said Charm, rubbing her hands together. “Monster House number two.”

Booker gulped. “Uh... I know what you’re thinking, Charm, but I say we skip this one. We’re doing good on items, and we’re deeper in the dungeon, so this one might be harder than the last one. I think we should play it safe.”

“That’s a good point,” said Sneasel. “It paid off last time, but let’s not get cocky.”

Charm shook her head. “Remember, we’ve got a Slumber Orb now. We can use that to beat this place easy.”

“Yeah, but... I’m still not sure about this,” Booker said. “Something could go wrong. What if some of the ferals wake up right away? Or the orb doesn’t work? Or they attack as soon as they spawn, and you get hurt before you can even use the orb?”

“Quit worrying,” said Natu. “Getting more items is worth the risk.”

“We don’t even need more items,” Sneasel said. “No reason to risk things now. Let’s find the stairs and move on.”

“So,” said Charm, “we’re just gonna pass up on all that great loot cuz you’re afraid?”

“I’m not afraid!” Sneasel yelled.

“I’m not either. Especially if we’ve got that orb to help us.“

While his teammates argued, the Ribombee had bowed his head and pondered. When he spoke, his voice was even quieter than usual. “I can’t... I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m on Charm’s side. Kind of. I mean, we might get ganged up on and defeated, but there’s a low chance of that, because we have the orb this time. And those items will make the rest of the dungeon easier. So, with that in mind, I say we do it.”

Sneasel sighed and hesitated before replying, “This is totally not a risk we need to take... but that orb is pretty convincing argument. Alright, fine. Let’s get this over with.”

Charm grinned, then took the Slumber Orb from her bag and marched into the room. Just like the last Monster House, black smoke rolled in as soon as she entered, and a crowd of monsters stumbled out of the darkness. Before the smoke even faded away, some enemies quickly lunged at Charm, but she hopped around to dodge them, and Sneasel and Natu helped fend them off with ice and psychic attacks. Charm waited until every enemy spawned and the smoke disappeared, then threw her orb to the ground. Pink mist burst forth from the shattered Slumber Orb, washing over the entire room and making all the feral Pokemon topple over and fall into a deep sleep.

Charm looked back and nodded. “See? Easy. Nothing to worry about.”

“Unless they wake up,” Booker muttered. “So let’s hurry, guys.”

The four guildmates entered the room. Natu could easily fly around and avoid the dozing enemies while gathering the items, but Charm and Sneasel had to be more cautious. They both found long fallen branches near the edge of the room and used them to check for traps, like Charm did last time, while Natu kept flying around and delivering items to Charm.

As his guildmates focused on looting the room, Booker acted as a lookout to make sure no enemies snuck up on them. He saw nothing until almost every item had been gathered—but at that point, he gasped as he saw a Pachirisu wander into the room from a corridor on the other side. By the time he warned Sneasel and she spun around, the feral’s cheeks were already sparking. Sneasel quickly summoned a shard of ice and flung it at the enemy. However, since she didn’t take the time to form it properly, it didn’t fly straight; combined with how the enemy was on the other side of the room, her attack missed entirely.

Unimpeded, the squirrel leaped into the air, and a wave of electrical energy blasted out of its small body, near-instantly inundating the entire room. Natu cried out in pain and fell to the ground, struggling to remain conscious as the electricity made his body seize up. Booker fared no better, and he slumped in Sneasel’s pouch, totally paralyzed. Sneasel and Charm stumbled and grunted against the wave of electricity.

And worst of all, every single feral in the room woke up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV3_4AMEgCM (BGM: Monster House - Remix)

What followed was chaos. Surrounded by enemies and unable to retreat, the guildmates fought for their lives. Their only consolation was that some of the enemies were harmless mirages, but they easily lost track of the false enemies in all the confusion, and attacked every feral they saw with equal desperation.

Charm lit the end of her long branch on fire and swung it aggressively, scaring the enemies to clear a path. She made a beeline for Natu, not caring for any traps that may be in her way. As such, she ended up stepping on one trap, which kicked up a powerful gust of wind that flung her into a nearby enemy. The feral was dazed by the hit, but Charm recovered fast enough to shoot it with fire, leaving it rolling on the ground as she resumed rushing to her partner. She fed him an Oran and Cheri Berry as soon as she reached him. He quickly regained his strength and took to the air, blasting enemies with psychic power to daze them. Charm finished them off with fire breath or strikes from her flaming branch.

Meanwhile, Sneasel chucked her branch at a feral to free up her claws, then made full use of her agility to evade the enemies, all while using both hands to force-feed part of a Cheri Berry to her injured partner. The instant Booker began to move again, Sneasel raised both claws and fought back against the horde. Booker was frozen in fear initially, but as he saw his three teammates working hard to defeat the ferals, he steeled himself and figured out a way to assist. He pulled the Tunnel Wand out of the pouch, shouldered it like a long rifle, and started firing off blasts of piercing energy at the enemies. The wand blew holes right through them. Though insufficient to slay any enemies, the attacks staggered them enough to give Sneasel good openings to defeat them.

For several minutes, lightning viciously clashed with flame, ice, claws, magic, and psychic powers. Sneasel and Charm were zapped and cut, and Natu was shot down multiple times, forcing Charm to pause and heal him. Only Booker evaded injury, as he was able to shelter in his partner’s pouch while tossing items to her and shooting enemies. Despite all their difficulties, the four guildmates emerged victorious in the end. The ferals and mirages faded into nothing while the guildmates remained standing, battered and winded. They had used many items during the fierce fight; even with the new loot from this Monster House, they now had fewer items than they had when they came in. Their bags were nearly empty.

An eerie calm settled over the dungeon. It had a markedly darker tone than the calm that followed the end of the first Monster House battle. The guildmates gathered in the middle of the room and collapsed. They began tending to their wounds. Charm and Booker cast aside their improvised weapons; her branch had shattered when she struck the last feral with it, and his Tunnel Wand had run out of energy.

As they waited for the Oran and Cheri Berries to work their magic, Sneasel glared at Charm. “I told you so,” she growled. “We should’ve just skipped this place.”

“Okay, so I was wrong,” Charm said. “Sorry. But it looked like a safe bet, right? Still, things can always go wrong, I guess. Some random bad luck can ruin everything.”

“Exactly—and that’s why you shouldn’t take risks in a tough spot like this! I keep telling you: we can’t mess around in a high-level dungeon! If we were somewhere easier like Oran Forest or Waterfall Cave, I’d be fine with taking risks—and that’s how I usually roll. But not here. Not in this kind of dungeon.”

“But it’s still worth a shot. We can’t let fear hold us back.”

“Fear? You really don’t get it, do you? It isn’t fear—it’s common sense. At least, it’s common sense if you’ve been through this kinda dungeon, like me. These dungeons are too dangerous to mess around in. Plus, the more time we spend in here, the bigger the chance something terrible’s gonna happen. And taking risks can slow us down—like right now. That fight took a while, and now we’re stuck licking our wounds when we should be on our way.”

Booker added, “Also... I hate to bring bad news, but if you think about it, since we lost so many items, we’ll need to waste more time exploring the floors to get more loot.”

“Fine by me,” said Charm. “I wanted to do that from the beginning.”

“But it’ll slow us down,” said Booker.

“That, and it’s yet another risk too,” said Sneasel, still aiming her angry eyes at Charm. “Exploring these floors with all these dangerous baddies around... we wouldn’t have to do that if you didn’t get greedy and try to take on a second Monster House, Charm!”

Her glare intensified. With her red eyes, sharp fangs, and green war paint, she made an intimidating figure. Natu even took a step away. But Charm held firm and shook her head.

“Don’t blame this on me,” she said. “I had no idea the ferals were gonna wake up. But that’s in the past now. We’ve gotta put that behind us and keep moving on.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Sneasel said. “You’re not getting outta this one. This is all your fault. We took a big chance cuz of you, and it didn’t work out, and now we’re screwed. I don’t even know if we can finish the dungeon now.“

“I said I’m sorry! I can’t change what happened, you know.”

“Of course I know that, idiot. You think I’m stupid?”

Charm bared her fangs. “No, just a coward.”

Sneasel hissed, raised her claws, and scrambled to her feet. “Take that back!” she yelled.

“Please take that back!” Booker squeaked. “I d-don’t... want... want...”

Booker trailed off. He grunted and held his head. Everyone looked at him in surprise as he doubled over and slumped onto the few remaining items in Sneasel’s bag.

“Booker!” Sneasel yelled. “What’s wrong?”

“I f-felt... something,” he mumbled. “A-Aura? Or... not sure. But... something just happened.”

Natu took to the air and hovered in place, his eyes shut. When he opened them again, they glowed faint purple.

“I sense something too,” he said. “It’s like... something rushing at us from below. What—”

The ground quaked and cracked. The very air seemed to shimmer and ripple, and parts shattered like glass, briefly revealing glimpses of alien landscapes before reforming again. A deafening cacophony of groaning and cracking resounded around the dungeon.

“Gods, no,” Sneasel muttered. Then she screamed, “It’s shifting! Stay close!”

Sneasel put a hand over her belt pouch to cover Booker, then used the other to pull Charm close to her. Natu dove down towards his partner, who pulled him into a hug. They crouched low and huddled together as the dungeon tore itself apart around them.

The lights in the giant domed ceiling flickered in and out, and the lightning arcing between them suddenly fizzled out and stopped. The ceiling itself cracked like a giant black eggshell, and through the cracks came orange light and an endless stream of sand. Violent winds picked up and howled loudly, gathering up the rain of sand and swirling it into a vicious dust storm.

Sneasel and Charm leaned into the wind, but it was so powerful that it lifted them off their feet and flung them through the air. They landed heavily a dozen feet away. The impact made Natu slip out of Charm’s grip, and Booker fell out of Sneasel’s bag. The wind instantly swept up the two small Pokemon and hurled them down a corridor. They screamed for their partners, but their voices were easily drowned out by the storm.

Charm and Sneasel scrambled to their feet. They called their partners’ names and tried to chase after them. But the ground quaked and heaved and forced them to fall. They got up and were knocked down over and over again. Despite all their struggles, they drew no closer to the corridor. Squinting through the dense sandstorm around them, they saw the walls of the corridor crumble, sealing off the path. Then an overwhelming gust of wind struck them in the side. They were thrown into a nearby wall and blacked out immediately.

* * *

Chapter 3: The Lonely Desert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFiT-PwRRW8 (BGM: Far Amp Plains - Remix)

Sneasel and Charm awoke in a place that was alien, yet familiar. They appeared to be in the same dungeon, but it was altered now. Above them loomed the same massive dome, which still resembled a night sky, though the “stars” were now all orange, as was the constant lightning that continued to arc between them. At ground level, all trees had disappeared. The floor was made of smooth white sand now, and the walls of each room and corridor were comprised of tall, rough, brown rocks. The same electrified yellow vines from the previous part of the dungeon were still here, and in great numbers, bursting out of the sandy ground and wrapping around many of the rocks.

The two guildmates spent a couple minutes in silence. They lay there on the cool sand, trying to comprehend what just happened and what to do next. They knew they had to save their partners somehow, but the anxiety of losing their faithful comrades froze them both.

At long last, Charm noticed Sneasel sit up and turn to her. She looked over, and gasped as she saw Sneasel’s face was twisted in a mix of anguish and rage. The Charmander shuddered and hopped to her feet, then slowly backed away.

“H-hey,” she said. “Take it easy...”

“This is just what I was afraid of!” Sneasel yelled, pointing at Charm with a sharp claw. “A shift! This is why I wanted us to play it safe and hurry up! I knew this was gonna happen if we took too long. We were already screwed, but now... this is the worst thing that could’ve happened! Cuz now... I lost...”

Her voice cracked and faded. “...B-Booker,” she mumbled.

Her eyes began to tear up, and she quickly buried her face in her hands. She slumped forward, and her shoulders heaved. She was incoherently mumbling things under her breath. And as Charm watched her guildmate sink into despair, she felt the same emotions creep into her own heart. Her usual optimism began to break up as the absence of her dear partner weighed down on her like a ton of bricks. But she held on to hope as tight as she could, refusing to give in. As things deteriorated, she had to stay strong—for herself, her partner, and her guildmates.

And so, even though she doubted her own words, Charm told Sneasel, “It’s gonna be alright.”

“No!” Sneasel yelled. Her voice was muffled as she kept her face hidden, but Charm could tell she was crying with how her voice shook. “It’s over. Booker... I couldn’t protect Booker! I promised I’d keep him safe no matter what! He’s tiny and weak, and he needs me—and now he’s gone, all alone. Don’t even know where he is. Could be... on the other side... of the world now...”

Charm said softly, “Well, us two are still in the same dungeon, judging by the ceiling. And if we didn’t leave the dungeon, I bet our partners didn’t leave it either. We’ve gotta hang on to that hope, right? Don’t give up, Sneasel. We can find them.”

Her words had no effect on her guildmate. Sneasel kept ranting quietly, and her voice slurred. Her sentences broke down, and became nothing but groans and growls. Her whole body shivered violently. Charm even thought she saw a faint sort of smoke forming around her.

“S-Sneasel?” Charm asked. “What’s wrong? It’ll be okay, just... please...”

The dark mist grew denser. Now Charm was sure something was wrong. She took a step back and gulped.

“Hey, Sneasel—” she began.

Sneasel abruptly looked up. Her normally-bright red eyes were dull and dark, and her face was distorted into a fearsome snarl. She roared like a wild animal and lunged at Charm.

The Charmander screamed and dove out of the way. She tumbled on the sand and got back to her feet as Sneasel swung her claws at where she just stood.

“What the hell!?” Charm yelled. “Sneasel, calm down!”

Sneasel dropped to all fours, growled, and pounced. Charm barely evaded her again. As she regained her footing, she spat a small fireball at Sneasel. It struck her shoulder, and the crazed Pokemon stumbled and rolled in the sand, slapping the injured body part and hissing all the while.

Charm backed away, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what to do. She’d heard that Sneasel could get aggressive and violent if pressured enough, but this was worse than she ever imagined. There was something unnatural about this. Was it because of the black mist? Was that some sort of energy from the dungeon? Was it latching on to Sneasel’s heartache and making her go mad? And if so, could she be healed?

As Charm thought and fretted about all this, the feral Sneasel recovered and attacked again. Charm failed to dodge this time, and was finally struck and taken to the ground. Sneasel sat on top of Charm’s waist to pin her down, then slashed her face. Charm flailed and screamed. By chance, her flaming tail smacked against Sneasel’s back. The feral Pokemon howled in pain and fell to the side, and Charm quickly blasted her face with another fireball before she hit the ground.

Sneasel writhed on the sand. Charm shakily stood up and stumbled backward, clutching her face with her hands. Her crazed guildmate had easily sliced through her scales to cut her forehead and left cheek. The wounds were bleeding, but they were shallow and would heal easily—assuming she survived this unexpected fight.

The feral Pokemon stood up and took on a low, aggressive stance. She growled deeply and began to circle Charm, who shuddered and kept turning to face her.

“How do I calm her down?” Charm mumbled to herself. “I bet Booker could do it...”

She gasped. “That’s it! H-hey, Sneasel! Think about Booker! He’d hate to see you losing your mind like this, right?”

The feral Pokemon’s ear twitched as she heard the name of her partner. “B-Book...” she growled. She grunted and clutched her head.

“Yeah!” Charm yelled. “Booker! Your partner! You care about him, right? You want to save him! So don’t go crazy! Keep it together, stick with me, and we’re gonna find him and Natu! You can do it! Do it for Booker!”

Sneasel fell to her knees, holding her head with both hands. She shuddered and cried out wordlessly. Charm could practically see the battle going on in her mind.

It was the perfect time to strike.

Reaching into her bag, she took out the Heal Seed obtained in the first Monster House, then chucked it at Sneasel. It struck her in the head, and the feral Pokemon immediately looked up at Charm. An instant later, the seed exploded into pale mist. Sneasel roared and scrambled to her feet, but then a wave of calm seemed to wash over her. She stumbled and sat down, and the black mist around her faded away. Her eyes lit up again, and her jaw dropped.

“W-what...” she murmured. Her gaze was unfocused. She hardly seemed to notice as Charm let out a long sigh and approached her.

“It’s okay,” Charm said. “You’re back to normal. I’m really glad that worked...”

“What happened...” Sneasel said. Her eyes refocused on Charm, and she gasped. “Wait! You’re hurt!”

She tried to get up, but grunted and fell again. She was rubbing her face and her back, where Charm’s fire attacks had hit her. “A-and I’m hurt. What...”

“I’ll explain,” Charm said. “But first, eat this.”

They leaned up against a big rock. Charm took two of the team’s final three Oran Berries out of her bag. As they recovered from their injuries, Charm explained what happened. Sneasel listened but avoided making eye contact with her. She bowed her head once Charm was done talking.

“I’m really sorry,” she said quietly. “I oughta know better than to lose control like that. I know this whole dungeon trip has been rough, and you’ve been getting on my nerves, but we’re still teammates—and you were trying to be nice too, saying we’ve gotta stay hopeful and all. I’m sorry I yelled and attacked you.”

“Don’t feel bad about the attacking part,” said Charm. “I’m pretty sure that was the dungeon controlling you. It wasn’t your fault. But still... apology accepted. And I’m sorry I kept arguing with you too. We probably should’ve taken more time to talk things over instead of butting heads all the time.”

Sneasel rubbed the back of her head and looked away sheepishly. “Y’know, Booker said the same thing to me earlier. He said I should tell you why I was afraid of taking risks here. But it’s a personal thing, so I never talk about it with people I hate—and you kinda landed in that group after you called me a coward back in the cart.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you so upset.”

“Well, you did, and that’s why I didn’t wanna talk with you about my fears. But after everything we’ve been through, I think I can talk now. Let’s do that while we look for our partners. I just hope they’re around here somewhere, like you said. C’mon.”

They set out, and surprised each other by agreeing on a plan right away. Based on Sneasel’s knowledge of dungeons, she believed it was impossible to be moved back a floor during a shift, so if Booker and Natu were still in Dungeon GT-04, they were either on this floor or deeper. As such, Sneasel and Charm decided to thoroughly explore each floor before moving on. Although this went against Sneasel’s original plan to use the stairs as soon as possible, the situation had changed so much that she agreed to this new plan without issue. Fortunately, Charm had thought to bring a blank scroll, a quill, and an ink bottle from the guildhall, enabling them to sketch out maps of each floor to track their progress.

As they traveled, they encountered plenty of highly aggressive feral Pokemon, but Sneasel far outmatched their level of aggression. Without Booker at her side, she didn’t have to worry about him being flung out of her pouch or hurt by collateral damage, so she could go all out when fighting. Charm watched her. She was impressed, and was inspired to fight better herself. They made short work of the enemies by working together. And during brief lulls between combat, as Charm updated her map, they took the chance to talk.

“So, I’ll start,” said Sneasel. “First, did I ever tell you I’m not from the Grass Continent?”

“Pretty sure you mentioned that before,” Charm replied. “Never said why you came here, though.”

“Well, thing is, I didn’t choose to come here. I was born and raised on an island at the edge of the world, all the way to the north. It had a lotta high-level dungeons. Just like this one. One day, I was exploring one of them with my family, and we got attacked by a monster. And, like a coward, I ran away... and then the dungeon shifted. Cuz I wasn’t with my family, the shift took me away from them, and I ended up on this continent. And I’ve got no idea how to get back home. Never learned where my island was, so as far as I can tell, I’m never gonna see my home or my family ever again.”

Charm’s face fell. “Oh... I’m really sorry. Well... I’m not sure if this’ll make you feel any better, but I kinda know how you feel. All us humans do. We all got taken from our families too, when we left Earth, so we know how much that sort of thing hurts.”

“I get what you mean. Anyway, that incident back home... that’s why I got so mad when you called me a coward. I hate being reminded of why I got separated from my family, and being a coward was one half of it.”

“And the other half was the shift?”

“Exactly—which brings me to why I’ve been so nervous about this dungeon, and kept avoiding risks, and kept trying to get done with it as soon as I could. I didn’t want it to shift and tear us apart from each other. Cuz that already happened once. I already lost my real family, and... I didn’t wanna lose my new family too. Wait, that sounded sappier than I wanted it to.”

Charm smiled and laughed. “Aww... you mean the guild is like your new family? That’s really sweet. I kinda feel the same way too. I love all you guys.”

Charm sketched another room onto her map and tucked it under an arm. As they resumed walking through the dungeon, she said, “Well, I should probably explain my side now—why I’ve been all excited for this dungeon, and eager to take risks. See, back when I was a human, my life was... pretty awful. For some dumb reason, I was just so scared of everything. So I tried to hide from the whole world. I stayed indoors and wasted my time, for years and years. I knew it was dumb and didn’t make sense, and I kept telling myself I had to break out of that bubble, but for some reason, I just couldn’t work up the courage to go out and do the things I wanted to do. And it looked like I was gonna be stuck in that rut for my whole life.”

She grinned and waved her flaming tail around. “And then... this happened. I woke up in a new world with a new body. I got shoved into a totally different scenario, and it felt like the chance I’d been waiting for. I told myself I wasn’t gonna give in to my fears and waste this new start like I wasted my old life.”

“So that’s why you don’t wanna hold back?”

“Yeah! I wanna take risks and have fun. If I don’t, I know I’m gonna slide right back into my old mindset. And I can’t let that happen. Not—”

Charm’s eye twitched, and she grimaced. “Sorry—little headache,” she said. Then she froze up. “Wait. I’ve felt that before... that’s the feeling I get when Natu reads my mind.”

Sneasel perked up. “Natu?” she asked. “Does that mean he’s here? Then Booker—”

“NATU!” Charm screamed, making Sneasel flinch and press her ear down against her head. “NATU? WHERE ARE YOU?”

Charm gasped. “I hear him—in my head! He’s close! Come on!”

She took the lead, and the duo ran onward, following the faint telepathic voice in Charm’s mind. She could vaguely hear it calling for help, but it was too indistinct to pick out all the words. It became clearer over time, though, and Charm grinned widely as she heard her partner’s voice again. But he was clearly in distress, and so her grin faltered.

‘We’re coming!’ she thought. ‘Can you hear me?’

The voice of Natu replied, ‘Smokey? You’re here? Oh, that’s great! I was just sending out my telepathy randomly. I was hoping I’d reach you, but I thought that was a lost cause—after that shift, I thought you got sent to another dungeon!’

‘Well, we’re almost there. Hang in there!’

‘Hurry! They got us surrounded!’

The two guildmates soon reached a large room and saw something they feared they’d never see again: their partners. However, they were in a bad situation. Booker and Natu were huddling on top of a tall jagged rock in the middle of the room, desperately seeking cover from the bolts of lightning being launched by a crowd of Electric-type feral Pokemon.

Sneasel and Charm rushed the enemies without hesitation, launching a flurry of icy shards and fireballs at them. Revitalized by the sight of their partners, Natu and Booker joined in with psychic and wind attacks. The ensuing brawl was violent and chaotic. The sandy ground was quickly mottled with patches of glass, superheated and vitrified by flame and lightning. But the ferals turned to smoke one by one, and the guildmates were left standing, exhausted but alive—and reunited at last.

As soon as the room was clear, Natu and Booker jumped down from the stone and into the waiting arms of their partners. Sneasel and Natu barely managed not to cry; Charm and Booker made no effort to hide their tears.

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again!” Charm cried, squeezing Natu in a firm hug.

“I... I think that’s a bit excessive, Smokey,” Natu replied with a small chuckle. “But I’m glad to see you again, too!”

Sneasel turned her back on Charm and Natu and stepped away, not wanting them to notice her emotions welling up. “I thought I lost you,” Sneasel whispered to Booker as she hugged him tight.

Booker had a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes, but he managed to murmur, “Me too. Sneasel... I’m glad we... made it through that.”

A particularly loud blast of thunder interrupted the heartfelt reunion and reminded the guildmates of their mission. They gradually quelled their emotions, then finally set out. The guildmates were united once more, and they wouldn’t let anything drive them apart again.

* * *

Chapter 4: Ride the Lightning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjL7uXv4FyI (BGM: If You Gaze Long into an Abyss)

The desert continued for several more floors. At the 17th floor, the dungeon broke. The giant lightning-strewn dome was gone, and the constant and familiar background noise of thunder vanished with it, replaced with an ominous droning rumble. The dungeon’s structure was now comprised of compact corridors and rooms like a standard dungeon—though the visuals were far from standard. The floor, walls, and ceiling appeared to be made of dark bricks, with tiny gaps between them that leaked color-shifting light from a luminous void beyond. The bricks of the ceiling and walls shuddered nonstop, and slightly extended and retracted with a regular pulse, forming waves. The floor was stable, though, enabling the guildmates to walk without issue.

There were only a few enemies, which raved and flailed as if their minds had been utterly destroyed by something beyond all comprehension. Some ferals even ignored the guildmates entirely, though most were hostile and vicious, and had to be battled. The guildmates avoided saying anything as they cautiously traveled through this final, unsettling zone of the dungeon.

After three floors of this, they went down one more flight of stairs and found themselves at the edge of a massive cylindrical room, looming up like the interior of a tower. The walls and floor were made of the same blocks as the last few floors, and the same shifting spectrum of light poured out from between them, illuminating the whole area. The ceiling was totally obscured by a dark gray cloud hanging nearly a hundred feet above the ground. Rainbow-colored lightning flashed within nonstop.

Strangest of all was the thing emerging from the cloud: a huge sakura cherry tree, growing upside-down from the unseen ceiling, and covered in bright pink blossoms. One section of the canopy bore differently-shaped purple flowers that resembled oversized lilies. Every other part of the canopy sent down an endless rain of pink petals, casting a thin and vibrant carpet over the floor of the room. The trunk of the tree was largely wrapped up by the same electric vines as the upper floors of the dungeon, and many of them seemed to extend along the branches of the canopy as well.

Aside from this, the room had one other notable detail, which quickly arrested the attention of the team. A giant Manectric was stomping around aimlessly. It seemed to be in pain, occasionally stumbling over its own feet and whining in a deep voice. It was wrapped in a faint red aura, and a ring of dense red mist encircled the yellow crest on its head. The species usually stood an average of five feet tall, so it normally would have towered over Charm and Sneasel (as well as their far smaller partners). But now it was several times that size, and easily the most intimidating enemy in the dungeon so far. The only consolation was that it had not yet noticed the team, as its back was turned to them. They took the chance to crouch and huddle together, glancing between each other and the giant Pokemon.

“Okay, that’s pretty scary,” said Charm. “Booker, did ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ music just start playing in your head?”

“Charm, I’m tiny,” Booker replied. “That music plays in my head every time I run into a hostile Pokemon.”

“Good point. Well, now I know how you feel, I guess.”

“I don’t know what ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ is,” said Sneasel, “but I do know this: even if it’s big, we can still take it down. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

“I bet I can make it dizzy and fall over with some psychic moves,” said Natu.

Booker shook his head. “I think you’ll have to focus on something else, actually. I don’t see any other path out of this room. This must be the end of the dungeon. So I bet the rift is somewhere in this room.”

“Lemme guess: it’s in that big anime tree?” asked Charm.

“Yeah. I’d say that tree is the most out-of-place thing in the entire dungeon. If rifts are marked by ‘that which does not belong’, or whatever Lliam and KFC said... it’s got to be in that tree. Specifically, that purple patch in its canopy. Of course, the only one who can get up there is Natu.”

Natu gulped. “Uh... you guys can distract that monster while I go up there, right? That document said we need to hold the bottle steady for a while, or else it doesn’t work, so I can’t dodge while I’m doing this.”

“Exactly. You need to hold it steady for ten seconds, but it takes twenty for the rift to close. And make sure you keep the bottle cap with you so you see if it turns green. Also, please don’t attack the boss—if you do, you’ll just draw attention to yourself.”

Natu looked over at the Manectric, which was still looking away from the team, staring at the wall as if in a trance. “Are you sure you guys can handle that thing?”

“Totally,” said Charm. “Besides, we don’t even have to beat it. We just fight it for a bit, and as soon as that paper turns green, Natu, come back down so I can use the Escape Orb to get us outta here.”

“Speaking of orbs,” said Booker, as he lifted a blue-and-yellow Wonder Orb out of the pouch. “We’re basically out of items, but we’ve still got this All-Dodge Orb from the first Monster House. This will let us evade a few attacks, and we also have one Reviver Seed, so we have some sort of safety net. But we have to be careful.”

“We will be,” said Charm. “Good luck everyone. Let’s do this!”

Booker dropped the orb out of the pouch. It shattered on the ground in the middle of the huddle and released luminescent blue and yellow mist, which wrapped around the guildmates like a faint aura. The four companions got up and moved out. Sneasel traced her claws over her war paint for good luck as she and her companions went to face their final challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRBj59SWGs (BGM: Zinogre’s Theme)

Charm and Sneasel approached the boss, while Natu flew up towards the canopy’s purple patch as fast as he could. The Manectric finally turned around, saw the intruders, and let out a deafening roar. Everyone covered their ears, including Natu—which meant he stopped flapping his wings and plummeted to the ground. He managed to turn and fall onto his back, protecting the glass bottle from the impact.

“Once again,” he grumbled, “I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.”

Manectric ignored him and pounced on Charm, Sneasel, and Booker. Still stunned by the roar, they were unable to dodge. But just as the huge paws came down on them, they blinked out of existence and reappeared several feet to the side. The paws crashed down and shook the ground, kicking up a cloud of petals, but leaving everyone unharmed.

“Oh, so that’s how the orb works!” Charm yelled. “Felt just like getting teleported by Natu.”

“That... was weird,” Booker muttered, shuddering slightly.

The giant Manectric quickly recovered from the surprise of missing its prey, and pounced again. Sneasel used Quick Attack to dart away, but she slipped and fell on all the petals littering the ground, flinging Booker out of her pouch. Meanwhile, Charm stood her ground, and allowed the orb’s power to automatically warp her to safety, laughing as she did so.

“Missed me!” she yelled.

“Charm, don’t waste the orb’s power!” Sneasel yelled. “It’s only got a few charges!”

“I’m not wasting it! I’m using it to distract this guy! And it’s working!”

Sure enough, Natu had recovered from his fall, and was flying upward without drawing the boss’s attention. He made it to the canopy quickly—but what he saw there made his blood run cold. Mixed in with all the branches and purple flowers was a dense network of electric yellow vines, alongside a tangle of webbing, and a swarm of Joltik crawling over everything.

Charm flinched as she heard a scream echo in her mind. ‘N-Natu?’ she thought. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘This is gonna be harder than I thought!’ he replied in a shaky voice. ‘Keep that big thing distracted—I’ve got my own problems up here!’

‘Got it!’ Charm thought. ‘Good luck!’

Meanwhile, Sneasel retrieved Booker and put him back in her pouch. Then she began launching shards of ice at the boss, aiming for its left leg and paw to try and trip it up. Charm, on the opposite side, spat fireballs at the giant feral, aiming for the same leg as Sneasel to concentrate the damage. Manectric flinched at the attacks, glancing back and forth at the enemies on either side. Instead of targeting one, it reared up and howled loudly. All around it, patches of the petal-strewn ground glowed brightly—and Charm and Sneasel were standing right on two of these spots. They wisely called off their attacks and fled. Bolts of searing lightning crashed down from the storm clouds above, slamming into the glowing spots and vaporizing some of the pink petals.

“Nice of you to give us a warning!” Charm taunted.

“It can still hit us if we don’t notice in time!” Sneasel said. “Be careful! Booker, got anything that can slow it down?”

Booker looked down at the few items remaining in the pouch, and picked up a jagged purple Sleep Wand obtained from the second Monster House. He swung it over his head and blasted Manectric in the face with a beam of purple energy. It stayed awake, but it stumbled and whined, giving Charm and Sneasel a chance to unload more attacks at its left foreleg to the point where it began to limp slightly. It recovered from its daze and resumed pouncing and biting, mixing in a few lightning bolts as well.

Charm and Sneasel stayed apart from each other so the boss would have to divide its attention between them. Whenever Sneasel was attacked, she used Quick Attack to dodge, but after what happened last time, she made sure to stay low and scrape her claws along the rocky ground beneath the petals, which helped her keep her footing on the slippery surface. On the other hand, Charm was too slow to evade, and had to rely on the orb to help her dodge.

“Running out of orb power!” Charm yelled at Sneasel. “Distract it for me! I can’t take any more hits!”

“I’m trying,” Sneasel replied. “But it keeps swapping between us—I can’t keep its attention on me! At least it’s ignoring Natu, though!”

Up above, Natu certainly appreciated not having to deal with the giant Manectric, though he had his own issues to deal with. In the center of the canopy’s purple patch, he saw a tight bundle of electric vines rapidly flickering on and off. That was likely the site of the rift. But to get close enough, he had to maneuver around a maze of vines and webs, and the Joltik refused to let him do so. A cacophony of chittering came from the canopy as the bugs launched shocking webs at him from many angles. The attacks disintegrated before they hit the ground, sparing the combatants below, but they created a dense obstacle course for Natu in the air.

He dodged nimbly, using his wings, teleportation, and sometimes the power of the All-Dodge Orb to evade the attacks. Every so often, he paused for a brief moment to concentrate on random Joltik, piercing their minds with psychic power until their bodies seized up and they plummeted from the canopy. Each one that fell was replaced by at least one more. Natu grumbled in frustration. As the last charge of his orb finally ran out, he pulled away from the canopy and hovered a safe distance away, looking for a better angle of attack. He found none.

‘This isn’t working!’ Natu called out to Charm telepathically. ‘Any ideas?’

‘Talk to Booker—I’m busy!’ Charm replied as she tried and failed to evade Manectric’s next bite. She warped out of the way, and her aura flickered as she did so. She yelled, “Probably just one more teleport left on this orb! Sneasel, you’ve really gotta distract the big guy for me!”

“I’m trying!” Sneasel replied. She rushed at the boss and leaped at its lower leg, sinking her claws into it. Icy mist rapidly coalesced around her hands, forming a thin layer of ice that spread over the boss’s blue fur and down to the dense patch of yellow fur around its wrist. It roared and shook its leg, knocking Sneasel off. She put a hand over her pouch to keep Booker inside as she tumbled in the air. She barely managed to land on her feet. In the same moment she landed, the ground beneath her glowed and a sudden lightning bolt came down. She had to use another charge of the orb to evade it.

“Is it getting faster?” she shouted as she resumed attacking with Ice Shard. “Didn’t have any time to dodge that one!”

Booker barely managed to stay in the pouch during all this, only stopped by Sneasel’s hand over him. He felt dizzy from the rapid movements, and it was made worse by a sudden sharp pain in his head, accompanied by Natu’s voice.

‘Booker, quick,’ the psychic bird said. ‘Gimme some help.’

‘Natu?’ Booker thought. ‘What’s wrong? Are you okay?’

‘Do I sound like I’m okay? I’ve got an army of Joltik up here. Gotta get rid of them.’

‘Um... maybe we can we use a Blast Seed? I think we’ve still got one in the pouch.’

‘Bad idea. That’ll break the vines in here, and they’ll dump that electric stuff on you guys. Gotta do something else. Booker, you’re a bug like these things. What do bugs hate?’

Booker considered that question, glancing around the room as he did so. His roving eyes noticed the smoldering petals left behind from the boss’s last lightning bolt. An idea came to him.

‘Smoke?’ he thought. ‘We bugs hate smoke. Maybe Charm can light these petals on fire and send up smoke to distract those Joltik?’

‘Wait. But the floor is covered in petals. The fire’s gonna spread, right? You and Sneasel are gonna be in a rough spot.’

‘Not if you finish the job before the fire spreads too far.’

‘Sounds risky.’

Booker paused. ‘Yeah,’ he thought. ‘And I never thought I’d say this about something involving fire, but... I’m willing to take that risk.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElAC1Dii2Ec (BGM: Zinogre’s Theme - Mashup)

Booker told Sneasel his idea, while Natu relayed it to Charm. There were no objections. The situation was getting desperate, and even a dangerous strategy seemed acceptable now.

Sneasel dashed away to put some distance between herself and Charm in preparation of the plan. Meanwhile, Charm got to the center of the room and yelled at the boss to draw its attention. As it rushed towards her for another pounce, she slapped her flaming tail on the ground and breathed fire downward, igniting the carpet of pink petals around her. An instant later, Manectric’s paw came down on her, and she warped away with the last of the orb’s power. The feral stepped on the open flame and howled in pain as the bottom of its right foot was scorched. It stumbled back, trying to take weight off its injured foot. Combined with the attacks Sneasel and Charm dealt against its left leg earlier, both of its front limbs were injured, though it was still able to stand and move awkwardly.

Charm, Sneasel and Booker, and the boss found themselves on three different sides of a growing flame. The fire seemed surprisingly strong, given that the only fuel was flower petals. Perhaps their flammability was an anomalous effect of the dungeon or the rift, or the flammable fluid in the vines had been absorbed by the tree and incorporated into the petals. In any case, the bonfire slowly crept out in all directions from the point of ignition, sending up a thick cloud of smoke, while Charm continued stoking the flames. The giant feral stumbled back in fear. Sneasel reacted much the same way, and Booker crouched low and hid behind the edge of the pouch.

“This better work!” Sneasel yelled.

“I... I hope so too,” Booker mumbled, his voice and body shaking.

The boss looked over the inferno and glared at Charm, recognizing her as the cause of this problem. It howled at the sky and called down a bolt of lightning at her. The last time this happened to her, she had a couple seconds to evade, so she was not concerned. But this time, the lightning fell almost instantly. Charm screamed as electricity surged through her. She toppled over and lay still.

“Charm!” Booker cried. “Sneasel, cover me! I’m going to help her!”

“Huh? No, stay in the bag—I’ll take you over there!”

“If you do, the boss will follow us. It probably won’t notice me if I go alone. No time to argue! Trust me!”

Sneasel froze up. She didn’t want her partner to leave her side, not after losing him once in this same dungeon. But he did have a point, so she allowed him to go. Booker grabbed the team’s last Reviver Seed from the pouch, tucked it close to him like a football, and leaped out. He landed on the ground and ran across the carpet of cherry blossom petals. Smoke was gradually filling the room, but this close to the ground, the air was still clean. The main concern was the growing fire, and he made sure to keep a good distance between himself and the inferno towering over him to the side.

Over the sound of the blaze, he heard the boss and Sneasel roaring and attacking each other behind him. Now that he was out of her pouch, Sneasel was once again able to act extra aggressive without fear of Booker suffering collateral damage. And Sneasel made full use of this freedom to lash out at the boss. She took hold of all the smoldering anger and frustration left over from her recent tribulations and used it as fuel. She relentlessly savaged the boss with her claws, ice shards, and fangs. The massive Manectric took little damage from each hit, but with so many of them in such a short period of time, it was surely feeling the pain, and its badly-injured front legs were beginning to buckle. Furthermore, it was unable to hit the agile Sneasel, not even with its quick lightning strikes, as she kept moving and never stopped for a second.

Meanwhile, Booker finally reached his fallen guildmate. Charm was unconscious, and her tail flame was sputtering and smoking. The inferno was inching closer and closer to her, and Booker shuddered as he was forced to approach the blaze. Waves of stifling heat slammed into him, but he pushed himself onward until reaching the Charmander’s face. He shoved the Reviver Seed into her mouth, which was hanging open slightly. She stirred, and she closed her mouth and lazily chewed. After a few seconds, her body shook and her purple eyes shot open, though they seemed glazed over. She quickly ate the Reviver Seed, sat upright, and shook her head.

“What?” she groaned, rubbing her forehead. “What just happened?”

“You got zapped!” Booker yelled. “You’re not hurt too bad, are you?”

Charm looked down and gasped. “Oh—Booker! Didn’t see you there. Yeah, I’m feeling okay now. Did you give me a Reviver Seed?”

“Yeah, and it was our last one... so...”

“Well, then... we’ve just gotta be more careful now. Thanks for the assist. Where’s Sneasel?”

“Fighting the boss. She distracted it so I could come over here.” Booker looked over at the approaching flames and shivered. “Um... now that that’s done, can we get out of here? Like, right now? Please?”

Charm quickly nodded. She picked Booker up, careful not to hold him too tight, then ran away from the fire. Booker sighed in relief as they got away from the heat, though the fire was still spreading around the room, and would soon reach the walls. Charm and Natu could survive, but not Sneasel and Booker. Time was running out.

Despite the fire and smoke, Charm and Booker could catch glimpses of the giant Manectric on the other side of the inferno. It was moving around and fighting something, accompanied by roars and thunderclaps. This proved that Sneasel was still alive and kicking, but it was impossible to see exactly how the duel was going.

“Should we help her?” Charm asked.

“That might be a good idea,” Booker replied. “But... please be careful. I still have some charges from that orb left, but you’re all out. And we can’t heal or revive anymore.”

Charm gulped, but grit her teeth and nodded. “Alright. I don’t wanna make Sneasel fight all by herself. I’ll try to help.”

She hurried around the flames, carrying Booker with her. Along the way, she looked up toward her own partner. The smoke was obscuring much of the air of the room, and she couldn’t see Natu at all.

‘Natu, how’s it going?’ asked Charm in her mind.

Natu appeared and swooped down to his partner, coughing a bit. “I think the smoke’s getting rid of the Joltik,” he said. “They’re falling off or climbing away, and the canopy’s almost clear. It’s not gonna be fun to fly into that smoke, though.”

To help filter it out, Booker suggested using Charm’s scarf. Charm set Booker down and removed her yellow scarf, then quickly tied it tight around Natu so it covered his beak. Before sending him off, she unpinned her badge from the scarf and stowed it in her bag for safekeeping.

“Good luck!” Booker and Charm said.

Natu saluted and soared up into the air, clutching the precious rift sealant bottle in his talons. He screwed up his eyes and coughed as he entered the hot smoke cloud. He carefully maneuvered through the maze of electrified vines and webs, always aiming for the tightest tangle of vines, which flashed like a beacon in the darkness. His wingtips clipped some webs, sending unpleasant shocks through his body, but he ignored the pain and kept moving onward. Once he believed he was close enough to his target, he sat on a thick branch and used his free foot to pop the cap off the bottle. He held the bottle steady, and awkwardly lifted the cap into his range of vision and squinted at it.

The next half-minute crawled by agonizingly. Natu coughed more and more as the smoke kept growing denser. Tears rolled down his face and stained his partner’s scarf and his own feathers. But at long last, the clean white paper on the bottom of the cap rapidly shifted to a soothing shade of green.

As soon as he confirmed this, he dropped the bottle and rushed back out of the smoky canopy, holding the bottle cap tight. He only stopped for one thing: he spotted a shiny silver object caught among the branches nearby. He had never seen anything like it, but its bright metallic color instinctively attracted him, so he took it with him.

When he emerged from the canopy, he dove out of the black cloud and into mercifully cleaner air. He circled the entire room to check for his guildmates. The air was steadily growing thick with smoke, and the flames were consuming almost the entire floor, leaving only a relatively thin ring around the edge of the room. Through the flame and smoke, Natu could vaguely see Charm and Sneasel fighting Manectric, on opposite sides of the boss. Charm was keeping her distance and spitting occasional long-range fireballs at the giant feral, while Sneasel handled most of the fighting and drew the boss’s attention. Sneasel was clearly winded, judging by her slow movements and slouched posture, and her All-Dodge Orb power was almost gone. Natu watched the aura fade completely as a lightning bolt crashed down with no warning, forcing her to teleport one last time.

“Sneasel!” Natu yelled, though his voice was muffled by the scarf. “We’re good! Move it! Get to Charm!”

Natu blasted Manectric’s mind with psychic power, causing it to stumble. Sneasel used the opening to run under the boss and reach Charm. Natu swooped down to join them. Charm was holding Booker in one hand and the Escape Orb in the other. As soon as everyone was together, she threw the orb down.

Bright light enveloped them. The scorching heat of the bonfire and putrid stench of the smoke vanished in an instant. The next thing they knew, they were outside again, standing in broad rocky fields under a bright blue sky.

* * *

Chapter 5: Blue Skies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CYlAwZb4Ws&t=9s (BGM: Crossing Those Hills - Guitar Cover)

For a while, the four guildmates were completely silent. Then cheers and laughter erupted from them all as they celebrated their hard-won victory.

“We did it!” Natu sang. He shook off Charm’s scarf, then launched up and flew in circles over his friends. He coughed some more, still reeling from the effects of the smoke, but he stayed airborne. “Can’t believe we pulled that off! That was great, guys!”

“Take that, Alakazam!” Charm laughed. “Never should’ve doubted the Clover Guild! That’s the power of humans and Pokemon working together! We can do anything!”

“I’m so glad that’s over,” Booker muttered in a quaking voice, as he went limp in Charm’s grasp. “Great... great work, team. You guys were awesome.”

“You put in some good work too, partner,” said Sneasel. She took Booker from Charm and placed him in his usual spot atop her head.

Booker immediately flopped over and lay down on his partner’s head, staring up at the sky with a small smile on his face. His heart was still racing after everything that happened, but the clear blue skies and calm cool breeze soothed him. As he looked up, he also noticed Natu holding something shiny in his talons, alongside the precious bottle cap. Before Booker could ask about it, Sneasel and Charm kept talking.

“We took some chances that paid off,” Sneasel continued, “and some that didn’t. And we got shifted and separated for a while there... but looks like everything turned out okay in the end, huh?”

Charm picked up her scarf and put it on again, then gave her teammates a thumbs up. “Yeah, and after everything we’ve been through, I think all four of us are closer now. And I’m glad you and I could work out our differences, Sneasel. I think we all learned some stuff about courage and risks from this whole mission... I hope.”

“Same here,” said Sneasel. “Not gonna lie, I’m still pretty freaked out by dungeon shifts. But at least this one wasn’t as bad as the one that happened to me way back home, so... I guess I’m starting to get over it. A little bit, at least.”

By now, Natu had come down to hover close to his partner’s head. Sneasel cocked her head to the side and pointed at the metal thing in his talons. “Hey, Natu! What’s that you got there?”

“You beat me to it,” Booker said as he sat up on Sneasel’s head. “I noticed that too. It looks familiar.”

Natu suddenly remembered the shiny object he found. With all the excitement of the last minute or two, he forgot all about it. He flew over to a nearby rock and set down both his items there. First he placed the bottle cap down—his guildmates smiled as they saw the victorious green color it bore—then he set the mystery item down beside it.

“Not sure what this is,” he said as he landed nearby. “Never seen anything like it before. I found it near the rift, in the canopy.”

Booker and Charm recognized it immediately. Charm grabbed it and squealed happily, her tail flame sparkling brightly. “It’s a wristwatch!” she cried. “And it’s mechanical too—doesn’t need any batteries or anything! We can use this to tell time! No more candle clocks or hourglasses or sundials!”

“Okay, hold on—wristwatch?” asked Sneasel. “Is that a human thing?”

“Yeah!” said Charm, as she tried to put it on. Unfortunately, it was too big for her wrist. It fit Sneasel decently well, though. With some help from Charm, Sneasel put it on and examined it.

“So, you wear it, and it tells you the time?” Sneasel asked. “How?”

“You need to wind it up,” Booker explained, “and it’s got some gears and springs inside that make those little arms move at a constant rate, so it can keep time. It’s useful... but I don’t think we should take it with us on missions. I bet this is the only one of its kind in this world, so we should probably just keep it at the guildhall, where it’s safe. Also, it might break before long. These kinds of clocks need to be maintained by an expert, and I don’t know if there’s anyone like that in this universe.”

Sneasel grinned as she moved her arm around and watched the afternoon sunlight glint off the shiny metal watch. “Well... even if it stops working someday, I really like how this looks. I agree we shouldn’t take it on missions, but can I at least wear it around town?”

“You could,” said Natu, “but you’ll get a lot of confused Pokemon asking what that thing is.”

“I don’t care. I can tell them it’s a trophy from a job well done, with my buddies from the guild.”

Charm laughed. “Aww. That’s sweet. We do make a pretty mean team, huh? Nothing can stop Team Oracle and... well, you guys don’t have a name yet, but we can workshop that later.”

“Actually,” said Sneasel, “now that you mention it... Booker, I’ve been thinking about a team name for us over the last few weeks. Guess this is a good time to bring it up. See, we’re both working to get stronger, and getting stronger means we have to be brave. Also, we had to be brave to get through that dungeon. So, one idea I had for us was ‘Team Brave’. What do you think?

“Team Brave...” Booker repeated. He smiled. “Huh. I like the sound of that. Team Brave... I think we can go with that.”

“Not bad,” said Natu.

“Cool!” said Charm. “I like it too! In that case, I’ll say it again: nothing can stop Team Oracle and Team Brave! Oh—and on the topic of names, we still have to do one last thing before we get back to the cart, right? We’ve gotta name this dungeon!”

“Oh, right,” said Booker. “We’re the first ones to complete it, so we can suggest an official name. That’s what Alakazam said earlier.“

“And I had a perfect idea for a name,” Charm said. “I mean, it’s a dome full of thunder and lightning... so how about we call it Thunder Dome?”

Booker smirked. “Hey, I remember that movie. I think that’s a good name.”

“Simple, but effective,” said Natu.

“Sounds cool to me,” said Sneasel. “Well, that’s four for four. From now on, Dungeon GT-04 is the Thunder Dome.”

“Great!” said Charm. She started walking off across Amp Plains, gesturing at her teammates to come with her. “And with that, we’re outta here. Job well done, team. Let’s meet up with Mudsdale and head home.”

Natu picked up the bottle cap and flew after Charm. Sneasel followed, with Booker riding along on her head.

“Can’t wait to see how the other teams did,” Natu said.

“Me too,” said Sneasel, still examining her new wristwatch. “Hope they all sealed up their rifts.”

Booker smiled. “I’m sure they did. Like you said, Charm... no matter how hard and risky things are, when humans and Pokemon work together, we can do anything.”