Curiosity

A squelching sound resonates in the dark tunnels as the lazy explorer steps on something unidentifiable. He flinches but steels himself and proceeds. Beside him, floating a few inches off the ground and emanating a soft glow, Lushian remains focused forwards. The scene repeats a few times until finally the silence is broken with a sigh by the Ghost type.

"Remain focused, Cheeseburger; this isn't a dungeon, so we can't just Escape Orb away if things go south." Lushian admonishes without taking his eyes off the tunnel ahead.

"Easy for you to say, you can just float over the filth! At least you glow too so I can see where I'm going..." Cheeseburger looks to the ground, or what passes for it down here; he's not quite sure what he's stepping on.

"If visibility was a problem, you would take off those goggles. I don't think they help much down here."

"You never know when a wild pokemon will use a field move. Why am I here anyway? This doesn't feel like a job for me." The electric type grumbles as he barely sidesteps another pile of junk.

"Because the kids are afraid of me, I can find them, but they would just run further into the tunnels if they saw me."

"Come on, it can't be that bad. I saw you close to that Espurr at The Park." The Jolteon almost slips to grin up at the floating mon.

"I am a psychic dead zone; he just didn't notice I was there. He almost fainted when he turned around. I don't get kids. How did they even get here?"

"Can you really blame them? A new cave just opened near The Park and is said to contain relics and wonders; I would have been lured here too. The place is a bit disappointing and really dirty, but look at it, doesn't it make you wonder? It's massive and spreads all under The City, like a second city. What did they use it for?" Cheeseburger looks at walls with curiosity, almost trying to manifest ancient scriptures and mysteries on them.

"Nothing good, that's for sure." The Riolu says in apparent dismissal, but his eyes glow red briefly.

"What? What do you mean?" The confusion takes the Jolteon out of his fantasies and into a puddle that he quickly tries to shake off his paw.

"This place isn't dead like the rest, just abandoned, forgotten. But something still happened here." The glow returns, stronger now, more noticeable.

"What's the difference? It looks the same to me."

"I'm glad it does, but it makes things harder to explain." "The difference doesn't matter right now; we got sidetracked enough; the kids could be in danger." Lushian shakes his head; the glow lowers but doesn't disappear. "They are close; I can see them."

"Being a dark type sure is handy here... I wonder if there is a relic for this?"

"Being a dark type doesn't have to do with this. Now pick up the pace; they're not alone." The darkness coalesces around the Riolu's back, forming a pair of shadowy wings, and he shoots forward.

"Hey! Don't leave me in the dark!" The electric type's voice gets fainter as Lushian speeds away in the dark, a slight sound of sparks the last thing to be heard.


The tunnels are dark and look the same; the regularity proves to be a challenge for orientation, the filth and trash accumulated to the point of being unrecognizable and blocking the paths. But none of this mattered for Lushian; his eyes were focused on the small shimmer in the darkness, the materials in his way were more of a suggestion than hard barriers, the disgusting feeling of ghosting into the trash was a small price to pay for speed. Still, he didn't go through the walls, not because he couldn't but because he was hoping to leave a trail for his fellow explorer. He knew Cheeseburger was fast, and now time was of the essence. Some wild Grimers shamble around, unbothered without the heightened aggression caused by a dungeon, but still noxious and dangerous by mere presence alone. The tunnels make a sharp turn; the ghost struggles to stop his advance to turn and sees as the faint blobs of light behind the wall reveal themselves to be pokemon.

A grim scene unfolds: a Stuffle and a Wooper huddle in fear as a Croagunk stands in front of them, paw raised and energy gathering around it. Lushian watches in horror. "I need to be there, faster. I need to Kill the Enemy" Shadows gather around the Riolu's front paw, pulsating irregularly; his body moves to hit by himself, and then... he's there? In front of the Croagunk and the terrified kids, but he missed. The poison toad is too late to stop the attack and hits Lushian, but there is no impact. "What just happened? I was... no, it's not the time. I have to..." As the Ghost-type takes in his surroundings and tries to reorient himself, the Croagunk winds up for another hit; this time poison starts to gather and drip from its paw. Lushian is briefly taken aback, frozen at the sight of poison; flashes of forgotten memories traverse his mind, he's about to disappear. "No, the kids, I can't move." He braces for impact.

The tunnel is filled with a dull thud, but the Riolu isn't hurt; a yellow blur just slammed into the side of the poison frog, sending it flying into a pile of refuse. Cheeseburger steadies himself after landing. "You're lucky you glow in the dark and that I'm so fast." He's not even out of breath.

Presented with an opening and chance to center himself Lushian doesn't waste time in responding; claws of shadow extend from his paw as he slashes the fallen pokemon right across the chest, it falls motionless. "That was... calculated... good job." The Riolu sounds exhausted, from mental stress rather than any physical exertion. The ghost turns to the kids, a slight smile starts forming when he sees they are unarmed, eyes still glowing red as they dim, they flinch away as he approaches. "Well, that's about what I was expecting." He turns to the Jolteon with a sigh. "It's your turn. I'm your eyes, you're my smile right now."

"What the fu- hell does that mean?!" Cheeseburger asks, exasperated, Lushian just shrugs. "Fine. Hey there, kids! Don't worry, the Explorers are here to save you. Even the grumpy, scary one, he's not bad, see?" The Jolteon turns to the other mon, gesturing to his goggles with his front paw a couple of times, then nodding to the kids and pretending to shiver. The Ghost looks confused, then realization hits him; the red glow is replaced by a dull white. "See, he's... not unfriendly." The kids glance around, going from one Explorer to the other; Lushian subtly shifts to cover the victim of the combined assault.

"S-scary. It was really scary." The kids finally disentangle, the Stufful starts to talk. "We just wanted to look at the pretty pictures."

"Then the ligt sid stoped worcin. An we got lot." The Wooper struggled to speak; Lushian barely understood what it said, while Cheeseburger simply nodded reassuringly.

"Wait a moment. What pretty pictures?" The Riolu's voice makes the kids retreat slightly despite not being that different from theirs.

After a brief pause, the small Wooper starts opening his mouth, but the teddy bear cuts him off. The Ghost lets out an involuntary sigh of relief. "We found a book, but we didn't want Mama to ask where we found it, so we left it here. But then we got lost getting back..." The Stufful looks on the verge of crying.

"I see, I understand why you would want to hide this from your parents, but this is way too dangerous as a hiding place. Let us take it to the library, then you can go there to look at it whenever you want, and your parents will not complain about it." The sudden display of diplomacy shocks all present; Cheeseburger is also left speechless for a moment.

"You said you weren't good with kids." The Jolteon whispers after recovering.

"No, I said the kids are scared of me. Also, I'm not good with kids."

The kids shuffle around a bit, then they recover a pile of papers vaguely resembling a book from the pile of trash and offer it to the Explorers. "You cn tace it." Lushian quickly puts the paper in the explorer's bag; it will need to be cleaned later, but that's Tenna's problem.

"Good, now we can go home! Hop on, it's getting late, so we better be quick!" The kids are placed on Cheeseburger's back. In a dungeon simply activating the badge would have worked, but in this filthy place it remains dull and inactive.

"Don't fall. I have a feeling that a Pecha Berry is not going to help with this." The Riolu says, as he floats above the ground, completely clean.

"Well, at least it wasn't all for nothing. We got the kids safe and sound, and we got a relic!"

"Don't get too excited; it's just a pile of paper, nothing mechanical for you to explode. We are lucky if Tenna can translate even a single page."

"But it's still a relic; you never know with those."

The explorers keep talking as they walk, maintaining a brisk pace to not linger too long but also not going too fast for the sake of the kids.


The guild building is quieting down for the day, the sun is coming down, and the Explorers are slowly coming back from the missions of the day. Only a few nocturnal pokemon are now waking up and about to start the night shift. The two explorers enter the building, kids in tow, and leave a trail of mud and trash. Lushian is walking on the ground for now. The receptionist Lilligant spots them and rushes to get some cleaning supplies. From the stairs leading to the second floor descends the thin figure of the Guildmaster, provisional only in name by now.

Wyze takes a look at the surreal scene before him. "Lushian..."

"Wyze..." The Riolu starts floating to look the guildmaster at eye level.

"What happened to Cheeseburger down there, and how did it not happen to you?" The acting guildmaster glances at the kids still on the Jolteon's back and seems to hold back some words.

"Short answer, I'm a ghost." Lushian states calmly.

"Longer answer?" The Lilligant receptionist returns and starts wiping the mud off the floor.

"I would love to make a very detailed report..." The Ghost type almost spits out the word. "But as you can see, it is quite late and we are tired, and Cheeseburger needs a bath. The kids are safe, and I'm sure the parents are worried. As Guildmaster, it should be in your authority to declare the quest complete so the kids can go home. I'll stay behind for the paperwork." The last part is almost a whisper.

"Fine, I don't need both of you for the report. You can get the kids home."

"See ya boss!" Cheeseburger is out of the door faster than they can blink, the only trace being a new set of pawprints on the freshly cleaned floor. The receptionist sighs and starts cleaning again.

Wyze looks at the door for a moment, then turns back to Lushian. "Now, what the fuck was that?"

The Riolu, now resigned to his fate, starts talking. "Remember the cave that opened last week? It connects to the Underground Labyrinth; it's less a cave and more like a giant door. The kids found a relic of some sort and kept going there to look at it. This morning they got lost and kept going deeper instead of coming back. We found them very far inside. The place is dirty and confusing, but it's still not a dungeon; the kids just don't have a sense of time, and possibly of self-preservation."

The guildmaster listens attentively. "So anything else unusual?"

"Not with the place; I should keep that to myself." "Nothing, just wild pokemon and a lot of trash. I can fly and go through objects; most pokemon can't do that. That's why I'm clean."

Wyze sighs. "And I was hoping the cave was just something small. I have to post some guards there now, don't I? We don't want more kids getting lost."

"Don't forget all the groups that want to claim the place; that's a pretty big target. Good news is, they shouldn't know the cave is connected. If you want my opinion, you should give the guards a different story. Guarding a place for no reason raises suspicion; guarding one for a boring reason looks more legitimate but less interesting."

The Sneasler looks troubled, as if countless questions were running through his mind. "I'll have to think about that. Where is the relic now?"

"I still have it. I was going to bring it to Tenna; it's just strange paper, but if you want, I can leave it here."

"If it's not dangerous, she can have it; we don't have time to study it here right now anyway. I declare your quest complete. The reward will be here when you get back. I'll take care of the paperwork; I already have to record this in the guard assignments." Wyze waves dismissively, but his expression isn't as harsh.

"Good night then; I still have a relic to deliver. Don't overwork yourself to death; we can't find a substitute for the substitute."

"Don't get yourself killed again." With that, the Sneasler retreats to the upper floor.


With the sun just over the horizon, Lushian sits on the roof of a random building, looking at his paw and reminiscing about the events of the day. He attempts to recreate the feeling but fails.

"Well, I will have all the time for this later. One more job. I hope Tenna can contain herself; I may not be able to sleep if she starts translating on the spot."

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Pub: 16 Jun 2025 02:02 UTC

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