Explorers of Origin: A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Fanfiction, Volume 1

Chapter 24: Turbulent Intel

The hollow day is nursed by the earnest night.

As the citizens of Flussufer Town slowly rebuild their community amid the tragic loss of their friends and family, Ampharos and Hydreigon fully regain their consciousness after being freed from the pillars of ice. Scanning towards her left, the woolless pink sheep finds Noctowl approaching themb to share his discourse.

"Is that you, Noctowl? It seems our calls for help were answered..."

"You need not be worried, Excellency. We heeded your plea, albeit I regret how late our arrival was."

"Excellency? So this Ampharos is some important figure?"

"Indeed, Pikachu. I'll have her properly introduce herself."

"Thanks, Noctowl. I'm Ampharos, mayor of Flussufer and Consul General of the Grass Continent. The Hydreigon beside me is my secretary, and also one of the Diplomatic Representatives."

"My pleasure."

"Yeah, I guess."

"My condolences for the Pokémon we couldn't save. If only had the time..."

"Your Majesty! Fancy meeting you here. None of you are at fault for what happened here. That damn Gumshoos and his cult ruined our day-to-day the moment they showed up."

"That's not even the threat we care about."

"Is that so?"

"Tell 'em, Mawile."

"Oh, right."

Inhaling a deep breath and releasing it towards the sky, Mawile starts her explanation of the impending crisis.

"We're here to chat about the Amartoloí. I'm sure everyone here's heard at least a little bit of them, yeah?"

"We did, though we aren't sure how much validity such information has."

"Oh, it's valid, all right. Ever since we set off on our journey from Neo Treasure Town, we've fought off lots and lots of waves of them. They've spawned in Açaí Town, Koruno City, and even the highly protected Delta Base."

"She's right on that. As soon as we began walking out of the base's perimeter, those purple bastards popped in front of us. It took a good amount of our energy to thwart them."

"It got really ugly while in Koruno: there was this Vortex Cell that we had to jump into to destroy its Core and prevent it from causing more chaos."

"Vortex Cell... Vortex Core... this sounds familiar, Ampharos. There's research papers inside the office."

"That's right! We need to pull those out."

"But not before inviting Mayor Noctowl and his allies inside first. They were a huge help."

"Very true."

"Another invite, Espeon?"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that! At least our team's getting popular!"

"She's got a point, Sora. Imagine all the resources we'll get out of this!"

"Not right now."

"Boo. You're no fun."

"Quit the damn pout, Gardevoir. You're not some guy's mom who joins him in an MMORPG."

"But you're still the one boy I treasure most! Do you really want to depreciate 'big sis' here?"