It had to be seen to be believed. The room had been torn asunder, opening into a massive cavern where the back wall once was. Only a few bricks of said wall remained, all cracked and on the verge of falling apart. The floor and ceiling were gone. The once-grandiose throne stood alone at the gates of the underworld, covered in cobwebs.

‘What… happened here?’

George stepped forward, dazzled. Until now, the strangest aspect of the scene hadn’t hit him. Not the wall having collapsed. Not the cave behind the throne. Not the violent collapse of the wall.

It’s that all was as bright as daylight.

Streaks of white light with a bluish hue crept into the broken room from the cave, and no speck of dust or pebble escaped its grasp. It flowed like a current into the room, then crashed and surged into the ground upon hitting the back wall, ferocious like a waterfall. The light never ended. No darkness in the distance; all was covered by the lightning tether, connecting the Leader’s Seat to someplace further in the void.

“...Blitzer?” George said, breaking a silence that lasted far too long. “What are we looking at?”

The Charmeleon chittered, feet shuffling backwards while his tail flame dimmed. “I was about to ask you the same…”

“Sisu never said anything about this, did she?” George clenched his fist. ‘She wasn’t fooling us, was she? Because if she did…’

Blitzer shook his head. “Not that I know of. Just that it was going to be dangerous. And that we had to be on our guard. Something like that, agh. Can’t remember what she said anymore, it was all so vague in the first place. I guess that’s a thing with mythical Pokemon.”

George shook his head. “It sure wasn’t dangerous up until now. This is probably what she was referring to. Which means…” He stroked the fur on his head flat with one hand, then reached for a scalchop. “We’ve got a hell of a lot of trouble waiting for us.”

With the lantern in his hand, the Dewott reached out to the light. A blue flash went through his eyes, energy flowing into his fingers. If they wanted to find anything useful for the cause here, they’d have to follow the tether. The very thought gave him strength, the same strength surging through his veins. He knew it was true. It had to be true.

“We’re going in.”

“Wh-what?! Why?” Blitzer asked. “You just said it was dangerous! We still haven’t explored the rest of the base!”

“What we’re looking for has to be in there.” George said, pointing Blitzer towards the light with his scalchop. “Try reaching out to that! It’s safe, trust me..”

Blitzer breathed in deep, a small plume of smoke escaping his nostrils. He held a few digits out, like a man reaching out to God in a classical painting. His knees buckled, however, and his tail hung close to the ground.

George flicked his ears backward. He sensed nothing.

“Egh… George? Am I supposed to feel different?” Blitzer groaned.

“Yes, actually…” George shook his head, then put his best foot forward. “I just did. Don’t know why you can’t. Makes no sense… maybe it’s that hidden power nonsense again. It doesn’t feel particularly psychic, though…” ‘Is it something bigger? Hidden powers in general?’

“You… really don’t think we should go in there on a hunch, do you?” Blitzer asked, tapping his foot on the flat stones under their feet.

George turned around, then put his scalchop away. “Call it a hunch, but I really think we’ve gotta go in there. If the artefact, heirloom, or whatever else Allora and the Smaugus are after is behind us, then don’t you think someone else would’ve found it and taken it by now?”

Blitzer gulped. “Maybe? I just-”

“No, not maybe. Definitely,” George said. “This place has been abandoned for years. And Sisu herself says plenty of other Pokemon went in. Nothing we faced so far has been too strong for us. There’s bound to have been others here with the same experience… they made off with everything else already. We need to go deeper.”

Blitzer folded his arms, his eyes trailing the tether from its end point behind the throne, to as deep as the light would let them see. “Okay. Okay… I understand you. And I shouldn’t be dodging danger in the first place. That’s not the adventurer’s spirit, that’s not the hero’s spirit. Gotta be brave if we want to save the world.”

The Charmeleon pumped his arms several times, then thumped himself in the chest with both fists. “George… I’m with you. If you believe we’ll find what we’re looking for in there, then I’m ready,” he said, eyes focused on the struggles ahead. Not even the distant growls he heard made his posture weaken.

“We’re gonna do this. Get stronger… for a better tomorrow. That’s what my parents always wanted for me, I’m sure of it. I’ll never stop doing my best for them, ever.”

Blitzer’s comment made George smile. “Good… that’s the Blitzer I know and love!” ‘Well, eh, probably shouldn’t have used that last word… oh dear it would be awkward if-’

“Damn straight,” Blitzer growled. “And there’s no Blitzer without George, lemme tell you!” he added, patting the Dewott on the shoulder with a claw, which made all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings bubble up in George’s cheeks.

‘Y-yeah…’

“One thing I still wonder though… How come the artefact would be all the way in there? Did it just… break off with the rest of this room?” Blitzer pondered out loud.

George’s mouth opened slightly. “Eh… dungeon magic, I guess?” ‘That’s a really good question, actually…’

* * *

The answers to the phenomenon unknown for the foreseeable future, George and Blitzer pressed on. Their first footfalls into the cave landed in a greyish sand, the crunch echoing off the walls. Inside, the scale of the cave became apparent. It was as if a massive ravine had been torn into the mountain.

Following the tether as it flowed past, George kept his lantern high above. Sisu’s warnings were keeping him on edge. They could be interpreted in a number of ways. He knew there’d be anomalies skulking about, it was a matter of where. Shambling across the ground, crying by the wall, sleeping underground or screaming as they skittered on the ceiling. For all he knew, it could be all of the above.

The screaming captivated him most of all. Despite walking in front, his eyes were focused on what was above, rather than ahead. The terrain was covered in pebbles and dust, clumps of sand resting on the hard yet smooth ground, which seemed to be getting colder with each step. George didn’t realise his error until his foot slipped, catching himself with both hands just in time.

“Agh, damnit,” he said, his lantern rolling off until it bumped into a rock.

“Hey, you okay?” Blitzer asked, offering a claw for George to grab. He refused.

“I’m fine… of all the places to encounter potholes though.”

Blitzer shone his tail right in front of him. Similar lumps in the terrain reared their ugly heads. “Yeah… is a pothole a special kind of hole?”

“One in a road,” said George while dusting off his kilt fur, ears flat against his head. “You know, if enough carts ride over a road, eventually they break down the road. And you get holes. We call them potholes… well, I do.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I see, I see,” Blitzer mumbled. “We always just called them holes. Potholes work fine too. More specific, actually. I might start using it myself. Always nice, coming up with new words.”

George nodded along while reaching for his lantern. “Uh-huh.” ‘Wonder if Pokemon have other words that humans introduced.’

After a twist in the ravine, the caves opened up further. Several paths branched out before them. A hard choice in theory, except the tether came from the middle. Left and right were thus useless.

Down the centre, a handful of Anomalied Ferroseed blocked the path, extending the spikes on their bodies like a poorly concealed boobytrap. Another row formed behind them. George leaned his shoulder against Blitzer’s, who just shrugged. If this was some kind of ploy to chase out the intruders, it wasn’t an effective one. Too much space in between each row, and too few Ferroseed to even fill out a row.

Despite this, Blitzer saw no issue in practising his Flamethrower. The Ferroseed were all knocked out, like a wave sweeping sandcastles away. Once finished, Blitzer flashed a toothy grin.

“Man… I feel strong.”

There wasn’t much time to celebrate, however. Whips and thumps from powerful vines stomped out of the darkness, courtesy of a furious Ferrothorn coated in a purple-black aura. Blitzer’s grin faded fast, and George scowled as he reached for a scalchop. He sprang into action, dropping his lantern, telepathically launching rocks with him at the enemy, then sliced through a vine while landing.

Ferrothorn’s metal clanked angrily. It looked no less capable, even when missing a vine. All its fury was aimed at George now, and it tried to whip his legs out from under. He hopped backwards just in time.

“Blitzer! Quick!”

He slashed at the vines lashing out at him, and flung more rocks at Ferrothorn’s face. A blue glow raged in his eyes, much like the purple one in Ferrothorn’s. All the while, Blitzer melted its armour, launching blast after blast of searing heat, and whipped attacking vines away with his tail.

In spite of how vastly outmatched it was against Blitzer’s fire, Ferrothorn didn’t give in, until it suddenly collapsed in on itself. Its vines twitched while it lay half asleep, the purple glow washing off into the ground. Blitzer breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew… That was teamwork.”

George exhaled while putting his scalchop away. “Going to need a lot of it. Think the free ride’s as good as over… do you see any more?”

Both whipped their heads around, George’s search including the ceiling. “No. We should get moving again, unless he’s hurt you,” Blitzer said.

“I’m fine,” George said, telepathically pulling his lantern back into his hand. “Let’s get moving.”

Leaving Ferrothorn behind, the tether’s trail continued. Its light was useful for spotting Anomalies in advance. Moreover, only a handful became aggressive. One sad Ambipom sulked by a large hole in the ground, but fled the second he and George locked eyes. In another encounter, a Darmanitan and a Golem sat against a tall rock, merely grunting when Blitzer walked past. They looked sullen, as if they were sick.

Of course, that was far from every anomaly. They ran into a hornless Aggron roaring and whipping his tail at a wall, its enormous arms and claws stretched up above his head. When it spotted them, it roared at a pack of Lairon to attack. Later, they stopped by a pond to drink, only for a Tirtouga and a Dunsparce nip at their fingers.

Battles weren’t easy in this terrain. The deeper they got, the more the potholes turned into open gaps. In some sections, half the floor had collapsed into underground lakes, while in others, stalactites or walls had caved in, blocking the path or leaving large obstacles they had to climb over.

One saving grace, however, was that tether. Unlike most of the caves, the terrain right under the tether didn’t shift or warp. Their paths forward and backward never transformed into dead ends or dark expanses when they weren’t looking. George’s confidence in the tether being the right path was at a high point. If Blitzer had any doubts, they had to have fallen away by now.

“Do you think we’re getting close?” Blitzer asked, pointing into the distance. “I think I see something over there.”

George squinted his eyes, holding his lantern up above his head. The vague outline of some kind of column stood out. “Yeah. That doesn’t look too natural… Neither does the light, but… it doesn’t look like the base either, to be honest.”

“We should check it out,” Blitzer said, as his tail swayed from side to side.

George nodded. “Yeah.” ‘It’s not like we weren’t going to.’

They went ahead with bated breath. A column holding up the ceiling appeared in the distance, just as the tether shot left over a path which snaked through a chasm. On the other end stood the entrance to a building, clearly built by Pokemon given the symmetry. Two small pillars on each side, then a gate of brick.

But something far more suspicious caught their eye first. Several sigils donned the column in front of them, glowing in a faint red colour.

“What is that…?” George held the lantern up to the column. His arms were too short to get a clear enough look.

Blitzer’s pupils dilated, teeth sticking out of his mouth as he pondered. “Some kind of… old language? They look like characters you’d write.”

“Can you read them?” George asked.

The Charmeleon’s tail flame dimmed a little.“I was going to ask you that, actually. Because I don’t know anything. Maybe they were human characters of some kind.”

The Dewott hummed a dull note, the fingers in his free hand itching to rest over his chest. “That’s unfortunate, because I don’t recognise these either. And they’re not similar to any language I know of. There’s different languages and alphabets back home, but none of them look like… this.”

George’s eyes narrowed as he studied the red characters once more. The handwriting struck an odd note. Thick, yet sharp lines, despite being carved into stone by the looks of it. This wasn’t done in a hurry, nor in a clumsy manner. Even the signs he’d seen during his travels around Eravate used paint. Most writing used paper. Woodcarving barely existed, let alone stonecarving.

‘Who writes like this? So… messy. Violent, even.’

Of the five characters written, one in particular caught his attention. Written on the top of the column, it resembled a mask. The glow weakened right around where the eyes would be, and three horns sprouted out above. The one right underneath seemed to have wings, yet it wasn’t as interesting. It took George a few seconds to realise why.

The first character had been used twice. One on the top, then again on the very bottom.

“Blitzer, look. Do you see that, or is it just me?”

The Charmeleon peeked over George’s shoulder. “No,” he muttered, “that’s the same… and look, there’s more columns with the writing!”

Guided by Blitzer’s claws, George stared into the darkness beyond the tether’s reach. What he saw caught him by surprise. Column after column with the same glowing characters, with no sign of it stopping where the light wouldn’t reach. He spun around. The path to the structure in the distance might have been a narrow strip, and the ground around it had fallen apart, but the columns there still held on, their characters glowing ever so true.

image [https://file.garden/ZgQ_WQ_U3BIqPcfY/ZtH%20Chapter%20Specific/Chapter%2086.png]

‘I’ve got a bad, bad feeling about this…’ “We have to ask Allora about this. Maybe she’d know more,” George said, then bit his lip. ‘That’s far fetched. Who’s to say this isn’t a dungeon thing?’

Blitzer dropped into a defensive posture. “Uh… she did say this place was old, didn’t she? Way back in time, decades ago. They might be religious symbols.”

George raised an eye at him. “What gives you that idea?” he said, then turned back to the characters, studying them for anything else he might’ve missed.

“Just a theory,” Blitzer replied, then looked back from where they came. “But George, hear me out. I think we should turn back. The tether, the characters, it… doesn’t feel good. At all.”

“No.” George shone his lantern at the narrow path. “We’ve gotten this far now. And I know it’s scary, but this has to be it. Where else do you think the artefact could be? In the caves?”

Blitzer shook his head. “No, but- agh. This place is nothing but trouble! What if we set off all the Anomalies in here, like Sisu said could happen? We’d be dead, George. Dead!”

The Dewott gritted his teeth. “Don’t think like that. We’ll find our way if that happens… and that’s a big ‘if’. Do you remember all the bugs chasing us near Greenfield?” He shifted his foot, causing sand to slip off the edge of the path. “All the toxic spores in the world couldn’t kill us. Remember the times Gareda attacked us? We made it out then, too.”

He clenched his fist. “We’re not dying here, Blitzer. I’m not letting you die, and you’re not letting me die.”

Blitzer tepidly nodded. “Y-yeah. Alright… I get you.”

“Then let’s keep going,” George said.

Whipping his lantern around, George took the lead, Blitzer keeping an eye on their backs. No anomalies nearby. The walk to the building’s entrance was doable. Narrow as the path might be, it was quite stable. No sign that any part was on the verge of collapse, in any case.

Once inside, the rough grey stones of the cave were replaced by brickwork. The bricks were far larger than those of the old base, and there was no sign of the two places being connected, other than the tether. Still, George didn’t find the blue light a coincidence. Not that he knew any better.

Past a bend at the entrance, the structure turned into a cathedral, one forgotten by time and light. Candles long extinguished sat on holders, the wick pressed flat against the wax. Benches of various sizes to accustom different kinds of Pokemon lay in pieces, and were covered in cobwebs. A handful of Anomalied Galvantula and Spidops skittered around, quickly disappearing once they heard George and Blitzer’s footsteps.

The two continued side by side, shining a lantern or tail flame at their flanks. They were headed for a rickety-looking door, somehow intact despite being made out of the same wood as the benches. If it wasn’t for the blue-lightning tether passing straight through, it probably would’ve escaped their attention.

Nevertheless, the tether’s origins were on the other side, and so the decision made itself. George attempted to push it open with one hand. It didn’t budge. Using two hands also didn’t budge the door. Nor did Blitzer’s claws make any difference. The two sighed.

“Blitzer? Let’s tackle this together.”

“With a literal tackle?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” The Charmeleon breathed out a puff of smoke. “Alright, let’s do it! Three, two, one… GO!”

George and Blitzer rammed into the door simultaneously, bursting it open. Wooden splinters scattered all over the place as the door collapsed. And right when they broke through, there it was. Atop an altar, wedged into a candle holder, flanked by a ring of red wax candles.

A dark red gem.

‘Here we are…’ “I think that’s it,” George said. ‘Strangely familiar though.’

Blitzer clicked his tongue. “Thought we’d be down here for longer, to be honest.”

George squinted at him. “It’s only been an hour, right?” he asked, recounting the time spent on his hands. ‘Base, caves, this place… strange symbols on the wall… some fights here and there…’

“Can’t have been an hour,” Blitzer said. “You can’t tell how much time passes when you’re stuck underground, anyway. For all we know, a whole day could’ve gone by.” He swished his tail ahead, hoping to reveal any Anomalies hiding in the chamber. Nothing but dusty benches, tall pillars holding up the ceiling, and tatters of old banners rotting on the ground. Whatever symbol they once carried had long since faded out, much like the Pokemon who’d used this building for its original purpose.

George let out a soft groan while walking up to the altar. Aside from being underground, which was strange enough in and of itself, he couldn’t puzzle together what on earth the room was even used for. It vaguely resembled a church, what with its altar, benches, even something resembling a tabernacle shoved away in the corner. But what kind of church used red candles, and was this big in the first place? Why was it shoved at the end of a Mystery Dungeon, so far away from the Smaugus’ old base, so far removed from the rest of the world?

He sighed. ‘Maybe that’s why they moved out.’

“Hey, wait for me.”

Blitzer ran up to George while he made his way to the altar, evidently having completed his investigation. Just as he was about to grab the gem, a voice echoed through the room.

“Oh dear. This will make things rather complicated…”