The Unlikely Trio Explore the Ruins! What Mysteries Are Hidden Within!?

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Akuroma fell to his knees and panted, "I-I don't think they'll follow us into the ruins," he managed to say as he let Cracker and Mirage free from his Confusion attack, which had been half dragging them for the past few moments. He caught his breath and stood up looking around the corridor they were in.
"Well...welcome to Monochrome Ruins," he said, still a bit winded from his less-than-thought-through escape plan.

The Ralts didn't protest to the Aipom carrying him, despite the several times at dropping him. He groaned a bit and peered around back, trying to make sure thy weren't being followed.

"Take the next left, then go through the doors to the last right turn. We'll enter a single corridor, it'll lead straight to the middle room. We can rest there for a bit and hopefully I'll be able to walk and take a look at that paw of your's before we try to leave," the Ralts said. He couldn't wait to get in that room, his last attack took so much out of him that he couldn't even sense the Aipom carrying him, and he didn't feel like being unable to even use his psychic senses.

Carrying another Pokemon on his back was not something Cracker was used to, even though he’d decided to be the Ralts’ bearer in Mirage’s stead. So naturally, holding up that extra weight took a little getting used to and much to his embarrassment, he lost his grip on Akuroma a few times as they walked. Rather than make a fuss about it, he scooped up his friend again each time and continued on, already looking happier again despite all the miserable events that had already transpired.

Once we get to that room, they can heal up and we can finally get out of this awful place! Cracker thought gleefully. There was nothing he wanted more right now than to climb the nearest tree and relax without fear of monsters looming out of the darkness with intent to harm.

As the Aipom followed the Ralts’ instructions he began to hum a cheerful tune, shifting the load on his back until eventually he was almost dancing with joy. It was a little weird to be so happy, but maybe he was just excited about the idea of getting back into the trees, even if it was in a scary place like Shadowhue Forest. Any place was better than down here, right now.

Cracker was also glad that Mirage and Akuroma weren’t fighting right now, or otherwise getting jabs in against each other. That peace alone was enough to lighten the Aipom’s mood. Of course, they were both probably too tired to want to continue their rivalry. He just hoped it wouldn’t pick up again as soon as they were feeling better; he really hated it when friends fought over petty things.

“You doing okay?” Cracker asked abruptly, glancing back at the Zorua following behind him at some distance. He could already see she was limping again, before she had a chance to hide that fact. “I can go slower if you want.”

The vixen replied with a mere angered swish of her tail. She obviously did not want to be seen like this, she was a mess, tired, and open for any attack an rescue team might spring on her. She was vulnerable, and she might be taken away to that nasty ludicolo! Her head was low and her ears were back in annoyance. She wanted to be home, out of this cave, and most of all she wanted to be asleep.

It took several more moments for her to finally respond with the same answer she had given before, "I said I'm fine," he voice seemed a bit bitter, as if she were angry at something, and that something was her current state mixed in with the confusion of the thoughts she had been having lately. She remained silent after that, listening as the silence was filled only with the sound of occasional rocks falling.

((I'm a bit brain dead and rushing to get posts done, Sorry lumin ;A;))

As the Aipom began to dance, Akuroma did his best to hold on, "H-hey, Cracker calm down," he said as his weakened grip began to slip form the Aipom's shoulders. As he looked back at Mirage he frowned a bit.

"At least drop the tough 'mon act. If a rescue team happens to be down here and recognizes you, they'll beat you within an inch of your life, or farther if you keep acting like that," the Ralts said before facing forward.

"There, that's the door," Akuroma said when he saw the large, creaky, ajar door near the end of the tunnel they were in. The other door was on the ground, then hinges having become completely deteriorated and releasing the door from the wall. Akuroma sighed in relief. They hadn't met up with any Pokemon since the Mawile and Zubat, and there shouldn't be any Pokemon in that center room.

The irritation was clear in Zorua’s body language well before she answered Cracker with the same line she’d used earlier. Once again she lied, despite her outward disposition being in clear opposition to her claim. Seeing such a sight made the Aipom cringe with worry and then frown. It baffled him how Mirage could border on kindness at times, and show total confidence in herself yet treat Akuroma like garbage and refuse to admit weakness that was clear as day to everyone around her.

Maybe that’s how outlaws are supposed to act? he considered. Cracker had never met an outlaw before Mirage though, so he had no point of reference. To him, she was far nicer than someone branded as an outlaw ought to be. Far as he was concerned, she just had the stubborn-streak of an Ursaring. Perhaps also a bitterness towards Pokemon like Akuroma whose personalities clashed with her own.

Whatever the case, these two needed some time alone to work things out. Maybe the Aipom could find some excuse to slip away when they arrived at their destination; which came upon them quicker than he expected. Before calling out to identify the aged door ahead, Akuroma said some choice words to Mirage regarding her behavior and how it would affect an encounter with a Rescue Team. Cracker didn’t want to see this turn into another fiasco, so he quickly picked up the pace and hurried over to the damaged doors, slipping through the opening made by the one that had fallen away.

Once inside the empty room, he set the Ralts down and hurried back to the Zorua to assist. Of course, he wasn’t sure how to go about it without offending or annoying her so he just sorta… stood beside her, watching with worry as she made her way.

“Um… uh… Y’know, maybe I should look around the room. There might be something helpful lying around, right? You… you guys won’t fight, will you?”

Cracker wasn’t really prepared to wait for an answer. After waiting long enough for Mirage to enter the safety of the room, the Aipom bounced up onto his tail and leapt off into the darkness to search the room. He highly doubted he would find anything, but that wasn’t really his intention. The idea was to give the two some space and hope they’d work out their differences. At least for now they were too weak to hurt each other.

The zorua held her head high as she passed the small aipom, not wanting assistance. Why wouldn't these guys be convinced she really was fine? Why couldn't she trick them!?
"It only looks bad you know," she huffed. She was beginning to grow a bit frustrated that they would not believe her lies.

"I wont do anything unless he attacks first," the zorua huffed as the aipom asked if they would fight if he had left. The zorua sat down, relieved to be able to take a rest while the aipom went ahead to look for something. She figured that the aipom might be gone a while, so she decided to just go ahead and lay down against a wall. Her legs seemed to sigh in relief themselves as she kept herself from doing so, and she relaxed a bit more as the dull ache in her paw refused to disappear.

The area was dimly lit with a torch that seemed about to go out, and the zorua decided it would be okay to rest her head on her paws as well. She did not think about the consequence of perhaps not being able to get up or wanting to get up after lying down, but at that moment all she could feel was sweet relief of her muscles relaxing.

The zorua had ignored the Ralts's comment about rescue teams, there was no way a rescue team would come this deep into a dungeon, it had to be about, what night time now? This would have been around the time the zorua should have been up and prowling about for prey to steal from, but no. She was stuck in this god forsaken cave with a know-it-all ralts and a not-so-bad-aipom she still didn't know the species name to.

Mirage gave a sigh, feeling her eyelids droop a bit from her exhaustion.

Akuroma watched the Aipom set him down then leave once the Zorua was next to him. For a minute he was silent, letting Mirage get comfortable before he spoke up.

"Why?" he asked, staring at Mirage, tilting his head a bit to look at her better. Whether he would admit it or not, the Zorua interested him.

"Why do you become a scared pup one second, but when Cracker ends up diving into the danger, you come up with a plan to not only save yourself, but him? Why do you shrug off your own pain when it'll only make it worse? For all you know your pride will end up making you unable to be an outlaw, though you wouldn't mind that with the way you've been acting, would you?" he questioned further.

Although Cracker had left the two Pokemon mostly to themselves in the large empty room, the cavernous structure carried sound pretty well. Of course, his big ears helped in the department of eavesdropping, even though that wasn’t really his intention. He couldn’t help but tune an ear in to make sure Akuroma and Mirage didn’t pick another fight while he searched the darkness pointlessly for items of use that he was almost certain wouldn’t be there.

Getting away from them was mostly for their sake. His preference would’ve been to hide in a corner with them in front to protect him. But that was just his cowardice talking. After having gotten to know the Ralts and Zorua, he’d more likely try to defend them in their current state than expect them to keep him safe. Such was the nature of his heart. The more he considered someone a friend, the less concerned for his own safety he became. It was actually something of a negative trait. Too often in the past he’d stood up to Pokemon ten times his size in defense of a friend, and such odds rarely worked in his favor.

As he continued poking around the dusty floor at the opposite end of the room, the Aipom hoped Akuroma was right about this room being safe. More importantly though, he hoped the Ralts had a good plan for getting out of this place that didn’t involve anymore unfriendly encounters. After that creepy stalker of a Sableye, Cracker had just about gotten his fill of this terrible place.

The zorua listened to the ralts, wondering why he was asking her so many questions. She had become slightly infuriated when the ralts called her a scared pup, but did not snap back since she really was acting like one. The zorua's ears tilted towards the ralts as he asked about shrugging off her own pain, and she had been about to interrupt him and say she was fine, but finally decided to give it up. She would be the foolish one if she tried to continue even after now, since it was obvious she was not fooling anybody. Mirage remained silent as she thought through her answers carefully.

The zorua thought about the plan comment, which was a rather simple one to answer. She simply had not thought of a plan until just then. She was unable to think of it until the aipom came in, and she was simply reminded of what happened before that could have helped them then. It was not like the aipom coming in an endangering itself had caused her to panic even more and think faster or clearer in that panic...right? The zorua was unsure herself, but decided to go with that answer before addressing the next question.

Why she shrugged off her pain was a simple answer as well. She thought that even the ralts would have been able to think of why she was doing such a thing, but she assumed she must have overestimated him. The zorua was merely trying to hasten their progress out of here! If they were to stop and rest it would take longer trying to recover than it would if they were to keep moving. It was painful and seemed to be slow this way, but she just wanted to get out of there! This had nothing to do with making Crackers worry...right? This was another subject she was unsure of herself on! She quickly decided to go with that answer before beginning to think about it more and causing herself to add to the rising panic within her.

The way she had been acting, what did the ralts mean by that? The vixen gave her tail a swish, not understanding what the ralts was talking about, her tail meant to sweep away the question in a refusal to answer it due to her lack of understanding.

The zorua took a deep breath and made it sound to be of annoyance and spoke, "I simply did not think of a plan until then and it would take longer to rest and wait for me than it would to keep going," her answers were concise and quick as she tried to hide the fact she skipped the last question. The zorua gave a glare to the ralts before giving a question of her own, "Satisfied now?"

Without waiting for an answer, the zorua rested her head on her paws once more, looking away from the ralts. She was still listening, but it did not seem to be as if she were listening from the way she did not look at the ralts directly.

Akuroma chuckled a bit, "No, you forgot one. You've been conflicting yourself this entire time. When we first met, instead of immediately attacking Cracker and myself, you joined us. I know you didn't believe that lie of treasure in here, or at least you shouldn't have. It's common knowledge that this place was raided decades ago in Grassveil. Then after you left us, you again didn't attack us and steal our items but just left. Any other outlaw would've taken us out first. Then you returned once we had reached the falls and helped us defeat the Mightyena, despite me attacking you when you appeared as a Cacturne."

"Then after my last outburst, you offered to carry me. Injured or not, that was stupid, you were in no condition to even be carrying someone a quarter of your weight. A run of the mill outlaw would've left me for dead. Even if you were only trying to comfort Cracker, an outlaw would've said I'd only get in the way, that I'd only slow you two down, and done anything to try and convince him to leave me. Do you still feel that you're an outlaw, because in my eyes, and I'm sure in Cracker's eyes, you're not," the Ralts said, staring at the Zorua. He would've gone deeper, questioned her past and all, but for now he wanted an explanation for her un-outlaw-like behavior recently. As he talked he began rummaging in his bag, not particularly knowing if the Zorua would respond. Even in his psychically weakened state, he could still read body language some.

It occurred to Cracker that he was doing more listening now than searching. The Ralts had gone into a long speech about Mirage’s behavior, to which the Aipom was nodding affirmingly. He really hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, the Zorua would no doubt be unpleased by every single word, so he had to be ready to rush back over to them in case things decided to get ugly again. Until that time though, he had to keep pretending to be busy, if for no other reason than to keep his mind occupied.

He felt a little bad about eavesdropping though. This was a moment between the two quarreling Pokemon. Unfortunately it’s not like he could’ve ignored their conversation if he tried. Big ears heard all, and his especially could’ve heard a pin drop on the other side of the room. He tried to ignore the little pangs of guilt as he pawed through the dirty floor, finding bits of old rotted wood and other small things he couldn’t even identify, but literally nothing of use.

The Ralts was certainly right about one thing, this dungeon was virtually devoid of treasure. And this room in particular was picked clean of anything even remotely valuable. He could see spots on the floor where objects used to reside, all of which had no doubt been absconded with at some point long ago. If this place weren’t so dark and scary one could’ve made a decent abode out of all this empty space. And no doubt some of these rooms down here were in fact occupied. At least we’re the only ones in—

Before Cracker could even finish his thought, a familiar glow caught the Aipom’s attention. It was a pair of eyes floating in the dark, glinting faintly in the dim torch-light. Oh Arceus, no. Not that Sableye again. The glowing eyes wobbled around as the dark-type Pokemon crept a little closer, allowing the weak light to glint off the sharp teeth in its wide grin.

Taking a step back, Cracker considered opening his mouth to cry for help, but for some strange reason the Sableye wasn’t attacking. Instead, it looked the Aipom up and down with curiosity, not saying a word. This is so creepy, why’s it staring at me?

The zorua was silent as the ralts reviewed their entire day. Her eyelids seemed to be growing heavier as sleepiness began to take over. She was out of cards to play, nothing to say, nothing to do. The zorua was confused herself, the confusion changed to anger and frustration as she sat up onto her shoulders an glared at the ralts in the eyes, or where his eyes would be because of the green mask that hid his eyes.

"Shut up. Just shut up. You don't need to know this stuff, my life is mine and your life is yours. Stay out of my business and stop putting your nose where it should not be you scarred scared little pest! I do what I want and there does not need to be any other reasoning behind it other than 'because I felt like it.' Why i felt like it should not matter, maybe I just decided to be nice to you today since you're such a pathetic little rat you can't even handle taking a dumb little insult!"

"I. Am. A. Dark. Type. Therefore, Outlaw. There is no other choice! I don't know why the long tail did not think me an outlaw, but its been made perfectly obvious to me that there is no other life for a dark type other than to lie, cheat, and steal. There cannot be another way other than death, and I do not want to die-thank you very much! To have left you would have certainly meant certain death and only cowards kill, because that means that they're too afraid of the victim to come back and defeat them so they finish the feud there with death. You have your answers now, are you happy? Now shut up, and leave me ALONE!"

The zorua was practically shouting when she had finished. She forced herself up and walked a ways away, before collapsing once more. She wanted to get away from the ralts, he was only making her life worse. She wanted to go back home and forget this all ever happened, these thoughts would never have been in her mind if it weren't for the ralts. Was it controlling her somehow? Did dark types actually NOT have some kind of resistance to psychic types, and the ralts was actually planting these suggestions and thoughts into her mind?

Preposterous! Mirage dismissed that from her mind as she lay with her tail in the direction of the ralts. She was too tired to move and her eyes were watering with exhaustion, but not from frustration. The zorua moved her paws to her ears and pinned them to her head so she would not have to listen to the cursed ralts anymore. The vixen just wanted to go home and sleep all of this off like it was nothing.

Akuroma sighed a bit after the Mirage finished her explanation. After waiting a minute for her to rest, he began to push himself up the wall. He was still a bit shaken, the enraged Confusion having taken most of his remaining energy from him. He slowly left the support of the wall and walked over to the Zorua, falling to his hands and knees every few steps before he finally sat down next to her head.

He looked down at her, "You're wrong. Why I should be putting my nose in your business? Why should I care about an outlaw? A dark type, as you say. It's because you're wrong. Team Yozora of the Grassveil guild has an Absol as one of it's members. Team Howl is led by an Absol. An Absol runs the swap-shop inside the guild. Team Magna has two Sneasel in it. That's just the guild. There are several pure and partial dark types who live and work in Grassveil. I've met a few, I've worked along side a couple. Whoever told you dark types are inherently evil is wrong. They're one of those Pokemon who see the world as black and white, a world where you have no choice."

"They're wrong. I chose to stay in Grassveil after I was taken here from my village by accident. You chose to join Cracker and me in my studies. You chose to work with me against the Mightyena. You chose to help Cracker by warning him to get out of the way before getting me enraged," he said, placing a hand on her head gently, "I cannot say your choices before meeting Cracker and me were ones I would approve of, nor some of the choices you made with us, but that does not mean you no longer have a choice in how your life works."

He smiled down at her. An actual, genuine smile, "Now, let's choose a way out of these ruins."

Both Cracker and the Sableye stood silently in the dark, staring at each other curiously. The Aipom didn’t know what to make of this encounter. Every Pokemon his group had come across previously didn’t hesitate to unleash a flurry of attacks on what they no doubt perceived to be intruders. This Sableye however, just kept watching him with those creepy gem-shaped eyes, unblinking and unwavering except for a faint pulse of light deep inside them. The weird internal glow was the only sign of life in those beady, reflective lenses.

After a few more moments of watching each other, Cracker took the initiative and raised one arm with the intent to prod the peculiar creature before him. The second he made his move though, the Sableye mirrored the action with his own arm. The motion was perfectly in sync, like looking in a mirror; a very creepy, living mirror. The Aipom couldn’t help but jump back a step, afraid the Pokemon was preparing for an attack. Instead though, the dark- and ghost-type mimicked his action perfectly.

This is so weird, why is it copying me? he wondered, tilting his head with growing curiosity. The Sableye tilted its head too, that grin still frozen on its face. Does it even know how to talk or does it just like being creepy?

He considered opening his mouth to pose an inquiry, but he didn’t want to distract Akuroma and Mirage from their moment together unless he absolutely had to. So rather than ruin what he hoped was a resolution between the two, he continued to investigate this weird Pokemon in silence by testing the range of its ability to mimic him flawlessly. He started by striking several different poses, each one goofier-looking than the last, then he moved into a silly jig, bouncing from one foot to the next. After that it was a bunch of funny faces like the ones he’d been drawing on the walls earlier.

The Sableye didn’t miss a single beat. He was literally a reflection of the Aipom’s embarrassing gestures. By the time he ran out of things to mimic, the Pokemon looked like it was barely containing its mirth. Its grin had even grown wider, which Cracker hadn’t thought possible. Boy, this guy’s good. I wonder if… Ooh, I got an idea.

Cracker had one last trick up his sleeve. Preparing for one final pose, he bounced up and down on his feet, the Sableye mirroring perfectly. Then he leapt up onto his tail, balancing on the beefy hand-like appendage. As expected the dark-type copied him perfectly right up until it jumped into the air, after which point it landed on its rump. At that moment, the grin broke and dropped into a surprised frown. The Sableye didn’t have a tail to balance on, so he couldn’t mirror this peculiar pose.

Looking triumphant, the Aipom propped his arms against his hips and grinned. Then the Zorua’s angry shouts echoed through the chamber, catching Cracker off-guard and causing him to fall off his own little perch. He landed on his rump like the Sableye, shaking his head before looking over towards his two friends with worry. Jumping back to his feet, he watched them under the dim light of the single torch as Akuroma walked over to Mirage slowly and started speaking to her. At least they weren’t fighting. The long-tailed Pokemon let out a relieved sigh, not realizing his new friend had vanished until he turned to look for him. The Sableye was nowhere to be seen in the dark room.

No...this ralts had to be the wrong one, how could an entire village be wrong and a little ralts be right? It could not be! The zorua, who had been covering her ears and yet still could not block out the ralts's words that smashed everything she was taught and believed in, would have turned and ripped the ralts into shreds with her own bare teeth in rage and frustration in attempt to silence him if she had not already been low on energy. She would have shook with rage as well if she had not been too tired to.

She would have to take out her rage on the ralts another day, she inwardly declared. For now, she had to settle with merely speaking, "I thought I told you to shut up, now shut up before I shut your trap up myself,"

She tried to get herself up but only ended up failing and falling once more. She placed her paws over her ears and closed her eyes, not wanting to listen or even look at the ralts again. As she submitted her complaining eyes desire, her mind fell into unconsciousness. It was a dark and void of events in her dreams, as she just wanted to be alone.

Her fur was practically brown with dirt, her paw still sent messages of pain to the brain, her body ached from the excessive running and traveling, and overall it has been a harsh day both emotionally and physically for the little vixen. The only real break being given to her was this moment of resting.