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-------Ty---------------Thorn--------------Krush

The team of three pokemon approached the gate that would allow them to enter the graveyard. There, a few feet away, was their client. The little Azurill was waiting patiently for Team D-J to come escort him to his mother's grave. With a nod of his head, Ty walked through the gate, with the Azurill close behind him, followed by Thorn and then Krush.




Azurill

First Floor:

B: 5


The four pokemon emerged into the first part of the graveyard. The tombstones here were old and crumbling. The grass wasn't green, but black and dead. The trees' bark had withered away to reveal the rotting wood beneath. The only sound that came from this place of death was the wind rattling the trees, and the crunching of dead grass beneath the feet of four pokemon. "This place gives me the creeps." Thorn muttered making sure not to disturb the silence much. "I know what you mean, I feel so down just being here, and as soon as we set foot here, I've had the feeling that we are being watched." Ty responded as he looked behind him to make sure the little water pokemon was doing alright. "You doing okay?" Ty questioned as the little pokemon looked up. "Yeah... Just a bit spooked I guess. Haven't been able to come here since my big brother moved away." He responded looking back down at his feet. Ty, not wanting to bother the little guy any farther, looked back ahead to search for the entrance of the next floor. As Ty scanned for the next gate, Thorn and Krush moved a little farther ahead, and a bit to the sides of the Azurill, for added protection of the little guy. Ty's eyes locked onto the next gate and began to walk towards it. As the team walked through the gate, the shadow of a pokemon emerged onto the path and began to sniff the where the team stood just a few minutes ago. "Hmmm, back to see your mothers grave, are you? This time, you brought company for protection, but know this. None shall escape the mighty clutches of Houndour! Especially those who are related to that thieving Marill." The pokemon announced as it began to trot towards the gate, following the team.



Floor two:

B: 4.5

The team of pokemon emerged through the gate only to see an almost indentical graveyard. Same dead grass, same dead trees, same gravestones, same sound, and the same feeling of dread. The group contuned to walk forward, only to stop at the screeching of a wild pokemon. "Everyone! On alert." Ty command as he and his team-mates surrounded Azurill. A few seconds later, another screech erupted from the graveyard. "T-t-t-Ty, I don't like this." Throrn murmered in a low tone of voice. "Who dares to enter my graveyard?" A mysterious voice said out of what seemed like out of nowhere. A slight chill seemed to follow the sound, creeping around the group. "I said, who dares enter my graveyard!" The voice yelled, waiting for a response. "We are team D-J, and we are only passing through. We mean no harm." Krush yelled as Thorn and Ty take up a defensive stance. "Haw! You mean no harm? Well, that makes one of us!" The voice yelled as yellow stars seemed to come out of nowhere and attack the team of pokemon. Ty and Krush protected the Azurill while Thorn held her head, trying to protect herself. "Show yourself!" Ty commanded after the barrage of stars ended. "You alright?" Krush asked the little Azurill, who was shaking violently after that attack. The little pokemon slowly nodded it's head showing it was shaken, but not hurt. What seemed like a little floating blob appeared from behind a group of gravestones, and said, "Humph. Ruin my fun by making me appear." "Who are you, and why are you attacing us?" Ty yelled taking a step torward the mysterious pokemon. "Well, I'm Misdreavus, and I'm attacking you because you are trespassers. And trespassers don't deserve to leave here, well, in one piece that is." The pokemon said, followed by a chuckling of sorts. "Now, prepare to join the rest of the pokemon in here!" Misdreavus yelled as waves of all colors shot out of it's mouth towards the team of pokemon. Ty and Krush went back to protecting Azurill, this time Thorn joined in. Once the waves stopped pound the trio, Ty and Krush turned around to face the pokemon. "Alright, Thorn stay here and protect Azurill. Me and Krush will finish this punk off." Ty stated as he and Krush took up an offensive stance. "Alright, our turn!" Ty yelled as he launched himself at the pokemon, while Krush charged on foot at the pokemon. Ty opened his mouth, and latched onto Misdreavus, making sure to hold it until Krush got a little closer. The Sandslash then jumped into the air coating his tail in metal. Ty let go as Krush landed a hefty Iron Tail onto the Misdreavus' head. The ghost pokemon floated from side to side, dazed from the hit landed from Krush. It shook it's head, and began to float straight again. "That actually hurt me!" The pokemon screamed as a dark energy started to condense in front of it. "Now, take this! Shadow ball!" The Misdreavus yelled as the dark energy manifested into a ball that was launched at the two pokemon. Krush and Ty didn't have time to react, and took all the damage head on. The amount of energy stored in ball had enough force to knock the two pokemon flying into the tombstones a few yards away. "Hehehehe!" The ghost pokemon laughed as Ty and Krush slowly emerged from the rubble of tombstones. "This has gone on long enough. Let's finish this!" Ty commanded as Krush took up a fighting stance, ready to take down this foe. Ty then launched himself at the misdreavus, latching on with his mouth as he used Crunch. Krush then jumped in the air, this time coating his claws in the metal. Ty let go as Krush landed the final blow on the little ghost pokemon's head. Krush landed as the little pokemon started to drift from side to side. "This...can't...be!" The Misdreavus yelled as they fell to the ground. Ty and Krush walked back over to Thorn and Azurill, checking to make sure they were alright. "You guys okay?" Ty ask as Thorn removed her arms from the little water pokemon. "Yea...Yeah, I think we are okay." Thorn responded as Azurill looked up at Ty and Krush. "Alright then, lets go. The entrance is right there." Krush said as the group began to walk towards through the gate. The Houndour from before emerged from behind a tombstone a few yards from where the battle took place. "Humph... They actually anaged to take out one of my more powerful minions. But they still stand no chance against me!" The pokemon yelled as he began to run toawrds the exit.[To be continued]

The Team would return to the Guild without further incident, a welcome relief after all that they'd been through that day. Their Pupitar client thanked them amiably when they arrived before heading back, promising to return the next day with their rewards. When he departed, Team Monochrome was left to return to their Team Room, nurse their wounds, and get a good night's rest. A trip to Hell could be quite a trying experience after all, as they had certainly learned that day.

The next morning the Pupitar returned, as promised, a bag of rewards with him that he had mysteriously managed to put in a bag and bring with him although he had no arms with which to do such tasks. His arrival was announced by one loud knock on the door followed by a groan which explained what had happened. "Thanks for that again," he said to them when they had let him inside, "Evolving at the most inconvenient of times, seriously what's up with that? Pupitar and stairs don't go together at all." He continued grumbling to himself, glaring down at the ground for a few moments, seeming to have forgotten what he was there to do. After a moment the Pupitar came to his senses once more and looked back at the Team sheepishly. "Ah, right," he said with an awkward cough, "Your rewards are there."

When they looked inside the bag, Team Monochrome would find several items of interest. On the top lay a Destiny Bond TM gleaming brightly and yet somewhat ominously. Below was an orb that seemed to suck all the brightness out of the area around it, a Dusk Globe to be specific, and beside it was a pile of gold which would amount to 12,000 PD when it was counted. The Pupitar gave what could best be described as a smile although he didn't have a mouth. "I really am grateful to you all," he said, "If it weren't for you guys who knows what could have happened down there." He paused for a brief instant, seeming to ponder something before continuing. "So, hey, I know it's sudden and all but do you think I could join your Team?" he asked, "You guys did save my life after all, and I don't really have any place else to go, so what do say?"

As the Pupitar waited for his answer, the sound of humming was heard from the door, along with a light knock. A familiar Roserade stood there, though notedly without her brother or their Audino friend.

"...If you never try you'll never know, just what you're worth.
Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones
And I will try..."

The last notes of the song receded into a hum and she looked at the others with a smile. "It seems you found your Pupitar then. That's nice." She daintily made her way over to them with a smile. "My brother sends his regards, I thought I'd check up on you all now that we've all gotten out of that god forsaken place."

"You're darn right we did," came the familiar rough voice of a certain Audino who came in after Serenata, "Sera you move too fast." Joy looked slightly hassled and out of breath as though he'd been running to keep up. Recovering his breath after a few more moments, the Audino nodded to the goup. "Howdy," he said in greeting, "Did Sera tell you why we're here yet, or did she forget that part?"

Serenata looked at the Audino indignantly, rolling her eyes. "I was getting to that part Joy," she said before turning back to Team Monochrome with a smile, "I was wondering if you'd let me join your Team, as was Joy."

Even as she concluded, yet another familiar figure wandered into the room, not even bothering to knock. One mentally disturbed Glaceon meandered inside, his eyes taking in the sights of the Team Room with delight. "Oh hello~" he said brightly when he spotted the Team, "I found you a lot faster than I found Cedric!" He wagged his tail happily with a smile, "Turns out that when I went back to look for everyone, they all were gone, vanished, just like that!" he said, tossing his sword into the wall to punctuate the last point. It made a singing noise and brought a rather shocked look to Joy's face as it had only just missed hitting the Audino. "Anyway, since I'm out of the job, can I hang out with you guys? You seemed so nice~"

Rewards
4 Mission Points
Dusk Globe
Destiny Bond TM
12,000 PD
Guaranteed Recruit: Pupitar
Recruit: Serenada, Joy, or Spade (Choose one)

((Great job Red! Sorry that I didn't get around to putting these up for so long, truth be told I read through this whole mission the day you first put it up in the To Be Graded section. ^ ^;; Anyway, I loved what you did with this mission, so many great ideas put into one; the Seven Deadly Sins and the mysterious quest that the Pupitar was on along with all the other characters like Spade and that Misdreavus toward the beginning. Your character development was good too, especially with Jay. I had a great time reading it despite the length, and, as a side note, I loved the drawing you made to go with it. ^ ^ Keep up the good work~))

Client: Azurill
Mission:
"I want to pay my respects to my mother, but it's so scary inside that place. Will you come with me?"
Dungeon: The Graveyard
Floors: 20
Rewards:
Night Slash TM + ???
(My team has this)
Under Construction
Mission One

F l o o r 1
After entering the rusted gates of the ‘Graveyard’ the team of two found themselves face to face with a small Azurill. It seemed rather frail and useless compared to the intelligence of Kalia or the aggression of Marona but regardless of its size, it was now a part of ‘Team Snelheid,’ even if it was just for this mission.

“I go by Kalia, and you are…?” Kalia, a small Natu with a rather tiny exterior, hopped to the Azurill who seemed just about ready to burst with anxiety.
“C-Cody.” The Azurill turned his gaze to the gravel road which led deeper into the unforgiving graveyard.
“Well ain’t that original!” Kalia, after mocking the Azurill’s name, turned back to Marona who was folding her arms and gazing at a couple tomb-stones. “We’ve got to get this done before night-fall. If we wait we’re sure as heck going to be chasing this little guy as he runs from the entirety of ghost Pokemon.”

Marona walked slowly down the gravel road, allowing the rocks and dirt to crunch beneath her feet. As she did so, Cody followed close behind while Kalia brought up the rear. The strategy was to protect Cody from frontal and back-attacks though they both knew that the biggest liability in any of their battles here would be to keep Cody from throwing himself in any danger.
He seemed to stagger when he walked, as though he were too concerned with the tombstones around him to notice if he was coming up on a turn or something.
F l o o r 2
Once the Pokemon were far enough into the graveyard, it dawned on Kalia that they would be traversing through the catacombs of the graveyard. Kalia’s mother had visited the catacombs all the time when Kalia was a child because her grandmother was stored there.
She knew that the further you were in the grave-yard, the more important you were when you were alive because even hooligans wouldn’t dare tamper with the catacombs.

“Your mother’s in the catacombs eh? Wouldn’t imagine that looking at you.” Kalia smirked as she down-graded who Cody was as a person.
“Enough Kalia. Act your age.” Though Marona wasn’t one to get involved in other Pokemon’s affairs, she didn’t allow for others to pick on weaker Pokemon. She couldn’t stand bullies and right now, to her, that’s just what Kalia was being.
“Oh come on Marona! That’s my way of asking what Cody’s mother did durin’ her living!”
Cody soon understood what was up and decided to break his silence with an answer, “My mother was a captain of a cruise ship. She wasn’t the most well-known figure in all of history but before she died she purchased a place in the catacombs, next to her dad.”
Kalia smiled and placed a wing on Cody’s back, almost to assure him that he was being protected. “We’ll make sure ya’ get to see your mother, ain’t that right Marona?”

Marona, instead of giving an answer, nodded accordingly.
F l o o r 3
As Cody let out a simple sigh of relief, a rather sinister Spinarak threw itself

from a weeping willow to the gravel road below right in front of Marona.
“HISS! HISS!” The Spinarak attempted to hiss at the three Pokemon, most probably in an attempt to scare them away, though it only seemed to work on Cody, seeing as how Kalia was trying to force him to stay put. This left Marona to deal with this battle.
“Cody, hold still!”
“No! We have to go! It’s going to eat me!” Cody struggled until eventually, Kalia used her psychic attack to pick him up and keep him motionless in the air.
“Looks like you’re in charge of this battle Marona, I’ve got my wings full at the moment.”
Marona let out a sigh but it seemed all to obvious that this couldn’t be helped.
“Spinarak, move.” Marona folded her arms and pointed her painting tail at Spinarak as though it were about to shoot a laser from it.
“Is your tail supposed to scare me!? AH-HA-HA-HA!” Spinarak laughed a miserable laugh but soon turned the laugh into a poison sting which he shot at Marona.
“Idiot.” Marona unfolded her arms and as she did, her painted tail turned a violet color and stopped all the poison needles in mid-air. “The thing about Smeargle’s is that you don’t know what they possess so you’d better watch out. Psychic!”

Instantly, all the needles that were coming towards Marona were reversed and instead, were launched towards Spinarak.
The needles collided, knocking out the Spinarak in that instance.

“Ha! Looks like he couldn’t handle his own medicine.” Kalia placed Cody on the ground, who instead of running away, apologized for his actions, though both Kalia and Marona weren’t too surprised with how he acted.
“Don’t apologize, just don’t do it again. We can’t keep trying to save you from Pokemon if you want to run and lose sight of us.”

F l o o r 4
As the day grew into a faded darkness that was only lit by the remnants of the sun, all three knew that once the sun was out completely, they would be engulfed in complete, utter darkness of which only Kalia could see in due to her exceptional psychic powers.

“W-Will we make it to the catacombs by night time?” Cody, now standing closer than ever to Kalia, peered towards Marona, as though she might know more than Kalia about the situation.
“I don’t know. If not, we continue what we’re doing now, one foot in front of the other.”

Kalia let out a soft sigh of disappointment for the poor Azurill who she could feel the shaking of since he was so close to her. She didn’t really like to feel sympathetic for others but she couldn’t control how she felt all the time.

“You’re going to be fine. Stick with us and you won’t need to do a thing except walk alright?” Cody nodded to Kalia’s comforting yet demanding statement and continued just as she said, walking.
“We’re almost half-way to the catacombs. We should be there before the night falls unless of course some Pokemon rears its ugly head.” Marona folded her arms and allowed her tail to fall closer to the ground, as though she were letting her guard down a bit now that the sun was down.
“Dropping your tail eh? Do you feel like nothing will attack us?” Kalia snickered and pointed towards the left with her wing, “Something’s following us but I can’t see it.”
At this statement, both Marona and Kalia stopped, Cody however kept walking for a couple more steps until her realized that they had both stopped.

“What do you suppose is following us?” Marona gritted her teeth, a bit disappointed with the fact that she was unable to detect any sort of presence around her.
“It’s a ghost-Pokemon. Not sure which one though. Best we keep walking since it hasn’t threatened us yet eh?”
Cody shook his body violently, as though to stop them. “Y-You’re just going to let it follow us!? What if it’s waiting for the right moment to attack and kill us?”
“I’m a normal type, and so are you, meaning if it chose to attack, it’d probably attack Kalia first since she’s weak to his skills.” Marona turned towards Cody and continued, “If you’re scared of being attacked while standing next to Kalia, move closer to me and Kalia can fly a ways behind us.”

Cody turned to Kalia as though to ask if that was okay, and in return, Kalia nodded.

“Cody do as she says, don’t want to get on her bad side.” Kalia chuckled and allowed Cody and Marona to walk ahead a bit so that she was far enough that if the ghost Pokemon chose to attack Kalia, the other two Pokemon wouldn’t get hurt in the ambush.

F l o o r 5
As the three headed onwards into the darkness of the fog ridden graveyard, Cody grew more anxious knowing that there was a ghost Pokémon that was following them. What made him more nervous though was the fact that the remnants of the sun were depleting faster than he expected.

“We’re not going to make it to the catacombs are we?” Cody brushed himself up against Marona to make sure that he didn’t lose track of her, which caused her to move in an opposite direction so that she could get away from him.
“Don’t touch me while we’re walking. I know where you are. I can still see. If you go off too far by yourself I’ll call for you to come back to me.” With that, Marona folded her arms and continued to transverse through the graveyard.

Sure, Marona could be cold-hearted at times but she truly felt it was for the best if Cody ever intended to grow up. If anything, he’d need to learn how to take care of himself.

“I see we ain’t beein’ nice to the poor kid now are we,” Kalia yelled from a distance. She was travelling further from Cody and Marona for concern that the ghost type Pokémon that was following them might try an attack on her first since she was the only Pokémon travelling that wasn’t normal type.
“It didn’t say be nice in the description. We just need to make sure he gets there safely.” Though she didn’t want to admit it, Marona enjoyed the idea of trying to keep such a worrywart safe since it seemed as though it could be quite the challenge.
“True, but I’d like to get that extra mile now.” Kalia continued her low-flying while keeping an eye out at the mysterious figure that was following them. It was obvious that it had no idea it was already discovered, otherwise it would’ve attacked.

Still, Kalia was getting a bit agitated with the whole idea of pretending it wasn’t there. She was getting tired with waiting for it to attack but if it didn’t plan on attacking, calling out the ghost would be rather rude.

F l o o r 6
As Kalia’s mind strayed to other things besides the Pokemon that was following her, it leapt out to reveal itself as a Misdreavous.

“Ha-Ha-Ha! You fools has no idea I was fulling you! Now prepare for your worst nightmare!” Misdreavous formed a Shadow-Ball in front of her and just as expected, she launched it at Kalia.
“Look out!” Cody threw himself at Marona as a means to keep himself safe and secure.
“Not quite the toughest Shadow Ball now is it!” Kalia flapped her wings violently, forming an Air Cutter attack which shredded the menacing sphere to pieces and also knocked Misdreavous to the ground.
“Way to go!” Marona placed her hand on Cody’s Shoulder as a means to keep him from getting too carried away.

“Oh what this? This ain’t nothin’! I’ve fought tougher opponents in my day.”
The Misdreavous floated back into the air and let out a shrill laugh before launching another Shadow Ball, except this time, she turned and launched it at Marona.
“Idiot.” Marona stood in place and allowed the shadow ball to collide with her. Though it didn’t do anything at all except go right through her and crash into the ground.
“You cheater! You’re a normal type Pokemon! Don’t get involved.” Misdreavous then turned her sights back to Kalia and launched a disable attack forcing Kalia’s wings to stay clipped to her side.

“I’m not just a flying type you know. Psychic!” Kalia’s eyes glowed a bright blue color and as they did, the whole body of the Misdreavous glowed the same color. “Goodbye mate!”
With that, Kalia quickly dropped her head, forcing the Misdreavous to be slammed quite viciously into the ground.
“Good, now let’s go.”
“Already?! But we need to make sure Kalia is okay.” Cody turned back to Kalia whose eyes were reverting back to normal as the motionless Misdreavous lay before her.
“I’m fine. Believe me, I wouldn’t go down so easily.” After Kalia made that statement, she hopped ahead while making sure that Cody stayed in front of her.

F l o o r 7
After that rather startling incident involving a Misdreavous, Cody wasn’t taking any chances. He hid with the best of his ability under the tail of Marona, who seemed all too reluctant to all him to do so.

“Get out from under my tail. I told you you’d be fine and you’ve yet to get injured so why must you act so complicated?” Marona let out a sigh and stopped in her tracks causing Cody to walk right into her.
“O-Ow! Sorry. I said I was scared didn’t I? I even think I said something about it in the mission request.”
“How am I supposed to remember what that thing said. All I know is the end is near the middle of the catacombs.” Marona turned to Kalia, who simply nodded as though she was given a queue to do something.
“ ‘I want to pay my respects to my mother, but it's so scary inside that place. Will you come with me?’ That’s what the note said, if I do remember correctly.” Kalia scratched her head with her wing and tilted her whole body so that she was staring up at the fading sky.
“How did you remember that?!” Cody turned to Kalia in astonishment, as though she were one of those knowledgeable scholars who knew too much.
“What that? It was nothing. I never have a hard time with remembering things if there of slight relevance to me.” Kalia turned her body back to the gravel path, which happened to be fading into patches of grass.

It was obvious they were pretty far into the graveyard since the path they were still walking on seemed to be less treaded than normal.

“Let’s keep moving, as for you Cody, go back to Kalia. Nothing’s following her now so you should be fine.”
Cody let out a disappointed sigh but resigned to his position next to Kalia who simply stared at him with a questionable expression.
“Ready to go?”
Cody nodded and the three headed off, deeper into the unforgiving territory.

F l o o r 8
There wasn’t much to be seen with the scenery at this point. All the tombstones seemed to be less creative then the last until eventually they were just slabs of cement saying ‘here lies so & so,’ pokemon that were forgotten in the changing times. Though Kalia was finding it all rather interesting for she was playing a game in her head to find the Pokemon that died first. So far, her record was 1874 which is quite a ways back in time. However, her game was interrupted with the shivering of Cody.

“I-It’s cold. How long until we get to the catacombs?”
“Not long. We’re more than half-way there. We should be there in just a few more minutes.” Kalia went back to her game of observing the tombstones, seeing as how there wasn’t much else for her to do and she didn’t have to watch her step since she was just gliding off the ground.
“We’re been at this awhile, right Marona?”

Marona snickered and remained silent. She could tell Cody was just trying to make small talk with her. After all, it was obvious that they’d been walking for a while now. The last thing Marona wanted was a reminder about how long they’d been out here.

After deciding that he wasn’t going to get an answer from Marona, Cody turned his attention back to Kalia and tried to make heads or tails of why she was looking at the tombstones.
“What’cha doing Kalia?” Cody smiled cautiously because he knew that Kalia would be more inclined to give him an answer than Marona.
“Well I’m looking at tombstones. There’s nothing else to be done until we get to our destination, so why not just enjoy what we’re given.” Kalia returned her gaze to the tombstones, ignoring Cody again. She could tell she was acting out of nature with Cody, but she couldn’t help but feel extremely patient with him since Marona wasn’t showing any signs of kindness.
“I guess. I’m sort of hoping that we get there soon though! The catacombs are lit by torches hanging from the wall so I’d imagine it’d be warm as well.” Cody closed his eyes and imagined the warm air caress his body. It was dead cold outside and the air almost seemed stagnant almost as if no other Pokemon had been here in quite some time.
“Yes, that will be nice. I imagine we’ll be closer to the dead Pokemon as well. Since their bodies fill the walls.”

Cody shuddered a little thinking of his mother’s still body in the wall he’d soon be gazing at.

F l o o r 9
The Pokémon could actually make out the faded light coming from the distance, most probably symbolizing the catacombs.
“Do you guys see that?! It’s the catacombs!” Cody leapt in sheer excitement while the other Pokémon resigned to the misfortunate mission they were given.
“It sure is. Though be careful there’s a Pokémon following us okay?”

Cody swiftly turned around to look behind them and see if there was another Pokemon following them and sure enough, it was a small Houndour that was trying to catch up with them.
“Wait! You’re going to get killed inside those catacombs,” it yelled from a distance.
Though it wasn’t enough to scare Kalia or Marona, they both knew that it’d probably scare the life out of Cody.
“Ignore him Cody. He doesn’t know what he’s saying. He’s probably just another Pokemon trying to kill us.”
Kalia nodded to this statement and added, “Yes, what could possibly in the catacombs that would stop us.”
Cody shrugged but still remained hesitant in place, allowing the Houndour to catch up.

Once it was caught up to them, it let out a sigh of relief and continued what he was saying.
“There’s a Chandelure in there that’s burning up corpses in there! Other Pokemon have tried to stop it but it’s no use! If you go in there you’ll die!” The Houndour panted heavily and let his head drop so that he could catch his breath.
“You don’t know us. We can handle more than your lot can.” Marona gazed out into the darkness and saw another Houndour approaching them.
“Brother, what are you doing? They’re strangers to our land. Allow them to go inside.” A rather curvy Houndour approached from the shadows and revealed herself. She looked much different from other Houndours. For starters, she had a veil covering her snout and a diamond shaped pendant on her fore-head.
“They’d die though!”
“Have faith in those that you do not know.”

As the sibilings argued about what should be done, Marona decided to go on ahead, the plan she’d had from the beginning. Once the male sibiling caught that Marona was still going forward, he leapt in her way, forcing her to stop in her tracks.

“You get out of my way.”
Without a second thought, the brother leapt at Marona with fangs bared as though he were going to bite her neck off.
“Brother no!”
Just as he was about to bite Marona’s neck, Marona slapped him silly with a ‘tail slap’ attack causing him to retreat into the shadows. As though it weren’t obvious enough, Cody was more reluctant than ever.
“What’s going on?!”
“Please forgive my brother. He means well but has an impatient demeanor that he carries. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rafae. I’m the soon to be inheritor of our turf, which is why I where these foolish ritual items.”
“Your what?”
“Our turf. You see, the graveyard is broken down into different parts, such as the Spinarak’s portion, Misdreavous’s portion, and ours, the Houndour. You needn’t worry yourself with it. Now, I know that you’ve got some errands to be ran inside the catacombs correct?”
Marona, instead of answering, walked onwards into the direction of the catacombs, making it obvious she had no intention of making small talk.
“Y-Yes we do. This Azurill, Cody, would like to see his mother’s grave.”
“May I come with you? I know it is foolish to make a request, me being an inheritor and all, but I must stop this Chandelure for the sake of my family and ancestors within the catacombs.”

It was noble indeed in Kalia’s eyes, but she wasn’t the one who got to call the shots, this was Marona’s job.
“If you’re coming with us, don’t expect special treatment of any kind. Any signs of betrayel and we’ll make sure the Chandelure eats your soul understood?”
Rafae swallowed hard but showed her compliance with the rules.
“Good, everyone let’s go.” With that, the four Pokemon headed towards the catacombs, which seemed more and more ominous every minute.

F l o o r 10
The four Pokémon stared upwards at the ominous entrance to the catacombs. They seemed unforgiving and almost unpredictable, as though it were going to collapse any moment.

“The catacombs were built long before the graveyard was made. They say the graves circle the catacombs because deep within the catacombs lies the un-resting souls of the dead. So in a way, the graves are the catacombs guardians.” Rafae shrugged, as though her words weren’t golden.
“Creepy! I’m glad you’re coming with us, you know a lot more about this place that any of us do.” Cody smiled brightly and instead of standing closely to Kalia, like he had been, he was now standing next to Rafae.
“Aw, thank you. I’m no scholar though. Our elders told us hundreds of stories about the catacombs and the graves that surround it.”
“As we travel, I’d love to learn more.” Kalia smiled happily. She detected no hostility coming from Rafae which was always a good thing since this girl seemed too kind to harm.
“I’m sure I’ll have more stories for you soon, but maybe we should head inside. Misdreavous like to pull pranks on Pokémon that are still inside the graveyard when night falls.”

The four Pokémon headed inside to the top floor of the catacombs. Sure enough, the walls were littered with spider-webs and torches that lit the path.

“Are we going to come by any b-burning corpses?”
“No. My brother over exaggerates everything. The Chandelure is looking for souls in here to devour and let burn for eternity within him. That’s all.” Rafae walked onwards, leading the way deeper into the catacombs. I know this place like the back of my pawn. Though before we go any further, be sure you eat something. The catacombs can become a maze if not walked properly.”

Marona pulled an apple from her messenger back and split it in threes, leaving Rafae from eating any.

“Sorry but us three come first.”
“Now that’s cool. I understand. After all, I just met you all and I’ve already eaten.” Rafae sat down and waited patiently for the Pokemon to finish eating before heading onwards.

F l o o r 11
The four Pokémon were as vigilant as ever when traversing through the ominous catacombs. The lights were dim and everything seemed to be faded, as though the darkness were overpowering the torches strewn across the walls. Even Rafae seemed reluctant when leading the way, as though her word of travelling through them countless times was less accurate than she had said.

“You seem hesitant. Everything is fine I presume?”

Rafae, after hearing the comment made by Kalia, nodded in response. She knew the way, but she was nervous about seeing any ghost Pokémon, but more importantly, nervous about seeing the Chandelure.

“Good then, very well.”
“Yeah, I’m just worried for encountering ghost Pokemon. You see, the only Pokemon that live in the catacombs are Zubat and ghost Pokemon.”
“Remember, I’m not protecting you. I’ve already got to deal with this whiny Azurill.”
“Hey! That’s not very nice!”

Instead of responding to that statement, everyone walked in a quiet manner. None of them had the energy to defend Cody or prove why Marona was right.
However, their silence was short lived when they came to a cross-road that Rafae didn’t seem all too confident about.

“Er, I believe we should go left from here. Don’t quote me on that though.”
“Seriously? You’re lost?”
“If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have even got this far so you should be more generous with your ‘thanks.’”

Marona rolled her eyes and folded her arms. She then turned to Kalia whose eyes were glowing brightly.

“I’m attempting to sense life within the catacombs.”
“B-But I thought Rafae said everything in here was ghost Pokemon-“
“-and Zubat. I sense a Zubat to the left so perhaps you were telling the truth about where we’re going Rafae.”

Rafae let out a sigh of relief and the Pokemon headed deeper into the catacombs.