Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Quenched Torch

Chapter 42: A Game Long Called

A deathly silence hung within the ancient tunnel below, one that was only broken as a dull thud sounded out from inside. Our rope went taut, and as the Hitmonchan in the group gave our end a tug to test the knot, we all stared down at the rope leading into the dark hole. As silence hung over the group, I took a moment to look around.

It was hard to believe it'd only been a week since I was last here, but alas, here I was. Where there'd just been rubble and sand when that Flygon had airlifted Sinni and I out, there was an excavated wreck of a ruin, no signs of a scuffle anywhere to be seen. Now as we stood in the eerily calm aftermath of my little misadventure, I hugged the rope and prepared to drop, having enough knowledge of what was down there to confidently go in first.

I shimmied down the rope as Rye quickly crawled in after me, climbing along the ceiling and down the curved wall with his weird Treecko fingers to join me at the tunnel's floor. The two of us took a long look at the round brick tunnel as the others slid down, whispering to each other in awe. The Flying-types on the surface, Pike among them, looked down at us before hopping away, clearly content to stay out of the underground as Arden knelt down to examine the floor.

"Look, these are rails. This was a subway, a subway tunnel," Arden whispered to May as she lifted herself and Mavy down with vines. As he pulled his thick, leather-bound Book of Horrors out of his bag to scribble notes down inside, Delcatty eased her way down the rope, taking a couple looks back and forth before turning to address the expeditionary squad now cramped into the tunnel.

"Teams Ruby and Frontier, you head that way with Hitmonchan. I'll accompany Teams Apex, Joules, and Reach. Return here and call up to the 'mons on the surface if you finish before us," she said.

As our group gave a quiet murmur of agreement and dispersed, we walked away from the comforting sunset light and into the murky darkness ahead. As the darkness became thicker around us, Rye shivered at the lack of sunshine, then pulled an odd-looking metal thing and an orb from our bag. Before he could hold it out, he suddenly perked up and handed to me.

"Here, y-you can light it! Uh, just hold it up and say 'activate.' T-try it!" he said. I looked at him, then at the orb in my paws. Chewing my tongue, I gave it a shot.

"Sh-shak-ta-feh," I tried. Nothing happened, so I kept trying. "Shak-teh-fit. Shagh-da-fah. Shack-teh-fay."

"Come on, kid, this is just sad to watch. Just light it for him, 'mon," Arden quietly told Rye.

"Shak-teh-faah!" I yelled one last time. The orb continued to remain dormant in my paws, so Rye just quietly took it from me, looking quite guilty as someone snickered behind us.

"S-sorry," he whispered before holding the orb up. "Activate!"

The Luminous Orb lit up in the Treecko's hands, and as he turned to shine it in towards the others, he placed it in the metal frame I'd seen.

"Uh, so it won't blow up," he explained to me as Delcatty started leading us onward, holding what now looked very much like a lantern. Our footsteps echoed through the vast tunnel as we walked, looking around for any change in the scenery. After a few minutes, though, something painted on the brick wall caught my eye.

"Hey! Sha!" I called, pointing at the faded text. Arden took the lantern from Rye and peered up at it, leafing open his book as we all gathered around.

"Gazette Square station and Gear Terminal, that way. I think we're on the right track," he said before long. "Good call, Oshawott."

As we all murmured in excitement, he chuckled to himself. "Right track, heh."

"Wait, did... d-did you just read that?" Rye asked. Arden shrugged.

"Got translation in the book of horrors here," he reasoned. "Besides, you spend long enough looking over human shit, you start to get a feel for it."