Teams Farsight and Marigold: RG Icebergs M2

Bunker Breakout: Minutes to Meltdown

Nothing but floors…endless floors…

Farr and Syte had been knocked a few meters apart just before the floor collapsed. Farr hadn’t seen what happened to his sister as they plummeted past pipes, doors and who knows what else--one moment he saw her, and the next he couldn't. Destruction and metal surrounded him through the long, painful fall until the moment he hit something that refused to give way. Winded, bruised, battered and slightly bloodied, he laid there for a while, face down against the cold surface. He would’ve thought he was dead if he didn't hurt so much. From somewhere around him, the echoing shouts of Jay and Tiva encouraged the scattered Icebergs to begin the long climb to safety. He needed to get up, check Syte was okay, and-

Wait. Syte?

All Renault could remember was his candle partner crying, "WHEEEEEEEEE!!!" He was torn between yelling at Dia, laughing at her, or panicking over the suddenly high chance of death--all at once. Falling further underground easily solved his emotion dilemma by making him pass out. Now, groaning as his blurred vision worked to correct itself, he inhaled once before coughing hard. The air was stagnant and filled with dust, dirt, and debris. He felt no sign of earthly life. It was dark, except for the eerie glow that permeated throughout the area. He glanced to the right from his rough rubble cushion--a sharp pipe dangerously near his face. “HOLY--!” he screamed and immediately crawled away, only for sweeping pain to stop him at once. His heart pounded against his chest. I was almost in that, I was almost in that--!

"SYTE!"

Renault cried out again as he turned towards the sharp yell from his left. Farr jumped in response, eyes wide as he spun around. An Espurr's haunted eyes staring at you in the dark was probably not on the Roselia's list of favourite things, but it was what the poor guy would have to deal with regardless. Tensions between them were immediately relieved as soon they saw each other’s scarves. Renault cleared his throat and stood up, attempting to calmly clean himself and regain his composure. He spoke up first. "Are you alright, sir?"

"I'm... I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding somewhere, but nothing I've not felt before..." Farr replied, words only slightly muffled by the dust-choked scarf. "And I've not exploded yet either, so we should be good. That said...you know how Espurrs have that psychic organ in our heads that we need to use our ears to suppress, or else it'll blow us up along with anyone on the same street? And how it’s what gives us... Well, this?" He indicated his own eyes. He knew he looked creepy, especially in the dark.

"I can control it fine, but my sister, Syte—“

Wait. Hold up. He was being serious, wasn’t he? About the exploding?

A man screamed throughout Renault's soul. They were all going to die, weren't they?

“—Ardent Cinders losing their competition. That being us. Since we'll all be dead." That should have brought this Roselia up to speed. "So...would you mind if we did our introductions on the move?" Farr knew he was being a bit rude. He just wanted the Icebergs to not get wiped out by his sister panicking and blowing the entire bunker to kingdom come. But the Espurr had completely lost Renault. Even when Farr began moving, the Roselia just stood there trying to process everything. He had entered full panic mode but it wasn't obvious to see; perhaps trying to figure out a plan? Nope, just frozen from shock.

But he had to remain calm. In fact, focusing on that brought him somewhat back to his senses. Doing this for the sake of his temporary partner gave him a directive, and the urge to move.

"So, erm, what's your name?" Farr asked, limping out into the corridor. Renault quickly caught up while saying, "A-ah, apologies, good sir...my name is Ren--" They both stopped, staring down the corridor. The dead Porygon filled corridor.

"Oh," said Farr. Renault let out a piercing scream.

-----

"WHEEEEEEEEE-OMPH!-WHEEEEEEEE-OMPH!-WHEEEEEEE-!!!"

CRASH! Well, she arrived at her floor. Disappointing.

As fun as that ride was, it was actually quite painful. Dia giggled over the excitement, and whimpered over the subsequent ache. She wasn’t too worried though, since her flame still flickered as bright as before. Heck, one could argue it was burning even brighter. She wanted to lay there though. Give the pain some time to go away. There was no rush. “That was something, huh Renault? Renault?” She looked around her, her partner nowhere in sight. “Renault? Ow…”

Syte bolted upright in a panic, wide eyes surveying the room. As she adjusted to the gloom, she saw the opening of a long, rectangular metal tube beside her, rusted and collapsed. That was right, she had hit something on the way down, ended up in some kind of chute that was breaking and warping all around her with some other Pokémon. She had fallen out just as the ceiling collapsed on top of it. There was no way she was getting back up there. Any doors in the room were lost behind the debris as well, the only source of light being a strange flickering panel on the wall. No, wait, there was something...someone else. A Litwick laid not too far from her, its tiny flame still burning. "H-hello?" The Espurr croaked, her voice wavering from residual shock. The other Icebergs were nowhere to be seen, no sign of Farr. No way out of this room. A sickly blue light. She was trapped...

No, she had to stay calm, she had to stay calm, had to stay calm, stay calm…

Dia winced as she forced herself up. Dust tickled the nose she probably had, forcing a cute sneeze out of her. “Renaaaaault?” She casually cried out, looking around the barely illuminated room. She looked at the debris, the foreign objects that were still intact, the laying Porygon corpse or two, a mere “huh” escaping her. “Renaaaaaault?” She made her way off her hill as she realized she was covered in dirt, paused to consider cleaning herself, then moved on with her life. “Renaaaa—oh hi!” She stopped, smiled, and waved at the Espurr that was clearly scared to death. “You lost too huh?”

Syte desperately did her best to not hyperventilate as she felt her heart rate spike, the reality of the situation sinking in. She was trapped in a small room in some underground ruin, with barely any light, a limited supply of air (she felt no breeze nor saw any way for air to get in), no supplies, a crazy Litwick, and-

She clamped her paws over her mouth to muffle her terrified shriek as she finally saw the Porygon corpses half-buried in the dust and collapsed ceiling. Where am I, anyway?! No...no, no no no, have to stay calm. Remember what Farr said: I can’t lose control. Ears flat. Deep breaths. Inhale. Count to five. Exhale. Repeat. Just had to find a way out, without bringing the whole building down on top of me. Then, just find a way up, some stairs maybe, and find everyone else at the top. Simple.

Dia watched the whole thing with a blank, naïve smile. "Lost? I...guess so, yes," Syte eventually replied, taking another deep breath. "Do you...you know what just happened, right?" To her, the Litwick seemed as if it didn't fully understand the situation, or just didn't care. She wasn't sure which one was worse.

"Mhm!" Dia nodded. From here she re-enacted the events, with sound effects to boot: she pretended to be the Furfrou tossing the bomb, cocky and confident in his and his cohort’s getaway; she made a BOOM gesture while saying "PSSSHHHH!"; for the finale, she cutely cried "WHEEEE!!" while indicating she was falling. Syte, completely transfixed, gaped.

"That's...what happened, yes. You...enjoyed it?"

Pleased with herself, Dia happily wiggled as she responded, "Mhm!!"

The Espurr sat there in baffled amusement--terrified knowing the person she was trapped in a small room with was not going to be much help in escaping said room. Very, very sma-

No no no no no, calm, calm...!

It wasn't helping.

Wait, what was she doing? She was supposed to be finding a way out of here! Standing up and looking over the walls, ceiling, and floor, she tried to figure out a way for her...no, them to escape. A Psyshock could be enough to break through into an adjacent room, maybe even a Psybeam would do the trick. The downside was probably a good chance of bringing yet more of the bunker's structure down on top of the already dazed and injured Icebergs. So, that was officially labelled Plan B. Or maybe Plan C.

"Dia!" The Litwick cried out as she pointed to herself as a way of introduction.

"Huh? O-oh, Syte. I'm Syte," the Espurr replied, her voice weak and wavering as she tried to find something, ANYTHING to give her a clue as to where to go. Muffled shouts from further into the bunker were barely audible over the low droning of the large screen on the wall, thin cracks running like a web along the dimly glowing glass. "Maybe if we make enough of a noise, someone will come and find us..." she muttered, trying to think of any way at all she could cause one without killing herself.

Come on Syte, you have to do something.

Taking a deep breath, and a second, she began powering up a Psyshock. So long as she hit the debris, it should be fine, right? Three orbs of psychic energy materialised around the Espurr. Syte slowly expanded their orbit, their speed increasing, their power growing. Sweeping her right paw forward, the Psyshock slammed into the steel blocking the exit. Dia, looming over a Porygon corpse, was pondering the mystery of its death when she turned in awe. The orbs impacted half a second part from one another, kicking up dust into an obscuring, choking cloud. Syte fell to her knees, coughing to clear her tortured lungs, until the smoke and debris parted to reveal...nothing. She barely made a dent.

O-of course... Psychic moves are weak against steel... She'd need more power than that to break through…

"My turn!" Dia happily cried, shuffling to Syte's side. She smiled as ghostly flickers of blue, white, and purple faded into existence. Slowly the flames collected together, more and more appearing out of nowhere to join the merge, until a large fireball floated above the girls. The tortured, nearly unbearable hissing of melting steel assaulted the Espurr's senses.  Syte’s eyes clamped down as hard as possible to stop her frustration at herself, Dia and this bunker from spilling over into a localised armageddon. It didn't take long for the fireball to push through until a bright sizzling hole remained, the fireball disappearing with its job done.

Syte felt the small candle-like girl tug at her arm. Staring at the hole, the Espurr had an expression that would probably be shock--if it wasn't the same creepy visage that she always had. "How did...never mind," she muttered before cautiously ducking into the hole and out into the hallway. They were immediately greeted with more dead Porygons. "What IS this place, anyway? Must have been important to have this many of these things around...and even some Porygon2s." She shuddered at the thought of just how many dead Pokémon there were down here…if every room was packed with bodies.

-----

Farr, for his part, was staring at the Porygons with silent, open-mouthed horror while 'Ren' was shrieking just behind him. They were EVERYWHERE: some buried under rubble with only their beaks showing, others sitting perfectly upright—motionless, many haphazardly scattered around seemingly at random. All blankly staring dead ahead. And ESPURR were considered creepy.

Once the Roselia had finished screaming and Farr's body unfroze from shock, he swallowed and turned his head to his companion, attempting to keep some kind of mundanity to the situation. Mundane things were easy to deal with.

"Well, nice to meet you 'Ren', I'm Farr. Two r's." He stopped there, not sure what else to add. Instead, he started making his way through the corridor, being sure to not touch the angular birds, or their smoother comrades.  

Renault was practically Farr's shadow, trailing close behind while trying to avoid the corpses as best he could. In any way he could. "Ren...forgive me sir, I am Renault," he corrected, after some hesitation. "A pleasure to meet you, sir Farr...though I wish it were under better circumstances." A small chuckle escaped him, unable to control that joyous part of him that slowly began to resurface under the comfort of companionship.

"Erm...you must have a partner too, right? Should we be looking for them as well?" You know, just in case his partner could kill them all too, Farr thought.

"Ah, yes! Dia!" Renault perked up and stopped, looking back down the corridor to the room they had just left. He hadn't thought to search for her! What if she was buried under the rubble!? He stepped forward but stopped in hesitation. She couldn't have been in there, could she...? He turned back to Farr, his sad expression looking for answers.
"I...can only assume that--if they were right next to you when we fell--that they would be somewhere in there. Though, me and Syte weren't that far apart and we landed in separate areas...maybe Dia will be with another group, like my sister? They could even both be together." Farr turned towards the corridor to try and get his bearings. "I think Jay's voice came from this direction...so if we keep heading that way and upwards, we should catch up to them sooner or later. I have to hope that Syte is with them, someone who can keep her calm until I get there..."

He stopped for a few seconds, looking at Renault again. "If you want to go back and look for Dia, I can try and leave some kind of trail for you to follow." He looked down at his leg, the point of a searing pain he was dealing with for the sake of getting the job done. "...My own blood, maybe."

That answer was more than enough for him. Renault furrowed his brows, now in full control of himself. "No," he replied, shaking his head. "No, sir, let's continue on. I have a feeling you're right. But before we do..." He approached Farr and examined him. The Espurr had mentioned being wounded earlier. He felt guilty for not tending to the damage sooner. "Permission to bandage? I'm no medic, but we can't just let that bleed."

“Go right ahead. Though I don't see any bandages on you, what're you planning on using?" The curious Espurr asked, his thousand-yard gaze directing itself towards Renault's rose-hands--just in time to see his softly-spoken new friend rip what Farr could only assume were the guy's own fingers off. Giving a small yelp of panic, he stared up at the flower Mon’s face, expecting the pained expression of one who...well, had just ripped their own 'fingers' off. "Doesn't that hurt?!"

Renault looked at Farr, confused by the question. Only a minute later did he realize and laugh, waving his blue rose. "Relax, my friend, it does not hurt one bit. It's...a little tough to explain why," he calmly reassured.

Once Renault was done, Farr flexed his leg once to check it was still fully capable of moving, his paw touching the ground just in time to hear an explosion off somewhere behind and above him. No...three explosions, and he recognised them. "That sound like a Psyshock to you too?" He asked the Roselia, before taking off in the direction of the sound. How far away had it been? And where were those stairs, anyway?!

Renault tensed up. That better not be you, Dia…  He quickly followed after Farr. Admittedly he had no idea that the explosions were specifically from a Psyshock--heck, he didn't even know what the move was. To him, it was just three dull booms from somewhere in the underground. But clearly Farr knew whom the attack came from and simply followed, quietly praying that Dia was safe. Due to his smaller stature and the littered corpses he had a hard time keeping up. "S-sir, wait up...!"

-----

Dia was completely surprised by the amount of bodies around. She quickly shuffled over to the nearest Porygon2 and analysed it. It was just like the other one in the room they'd just escape: blank-eyed and visibly damaged. So this was a Porygon2? Perhaps the evolution of what she assumed was the blockish Porygon? She had no idea, she had never seen nor heard of these 'Mons before. Placing both her hands on its surface, she felt the cold smooth exterior. It felt exactly the same as the blocky version, minus the sharp edges. She made sure to remember this so that, if they ever met a life one, she could compare the differences. Yet this one felt alive...?

A darkness faded in, further blackening the silent hall as Syte spoke. Now, quietly burning like a dying flame, floated a dim white orb within the bosom of the corpse. Dia quietly gasped. It was a miracle that something so small still lived--it made her both proud, and sad. She turned towards both ends of the hall; many of the dead were engulfed in the darkness, only three other embers fighting to stay alive. All of a sudden she had all new decisions to make: leave these souls to their fate, or release them from their earthly shackles. Yet were these really her decisions to make...?

Dia remembered her Espurr companion, who probably thought she was creepy for touching the dead. She giggled at the thought as reality returned to normal. Syte, though Psychic, seemed like she could never truly understand Dia's bond with the dead.

Syte, in the meantime, had felt an unsettling...something when Dia touched the dead Porygon2. The Espurr wasn't used to not being the creepiest thing in the room, so standing in a hallway filled with dead Pokémon and a Litwick who seemed to zone out of reality for a short while was a trip far beyond Syte's usual comfort zone. But just as she wondered what exactly the Ghost-type was up to, she heard an altogether familiar noise from up ahead. "I know that attack...uhh, hey, Dia, want to make another new friend?" She asked, unsure of how exactly to motivate the seemingly scatter-brained Litwick. Maybe they could try and find her partner, that...Renault, or whatever she had yelled before? Hoping that her brother didn't need bailing out of yet another fight, Syte started down the corridor, hurrying as fast as her shaking, battered legs would carry her.

Dia perked up to the sound of “new friend”, smiling and nodding quickly in excitement. She moved before Syte did, shuffling a few steps forward before stopping and looking at the bodies. A quiet sigh left her. She knew she couldn’t leave them here in this state--in this prison. She couldn’t think of any other Iceberg that could save them. She had choices to make…and she chose one. “Forgive me,” she whispered, as her flame flickered once more. The dark world transitioned quickly this time. Four energy trails travelled from her flame to the four embers, all igniting as if fed with fuel. Two burned as they shrunk into peaceful nothingness. The other two were much more resistant, these once tiny orbs now furious flames as they fought to resist their fate—but she was much too strong for them. And so they, too, were turned into nothingness after exploding in brilliant white lights, the hall now in complete and utter darkness. All this time another bond had connected to Syte, however the Espurr could feel nothing but a strange and subtle exhaustion that lasted only mere seconds. Dia shuffled after Syte as if she had been following all along.

-----

Farr looked over his shoulder at the struggling Roselia, reluctant to slow down while his sister was in danger. "Sorry, but the quicker we find Syte, the sooner we can be sure that we don't all die," he simply replied. Having to live with forcefully stopping yourself from accidentally killing everyone in a large radius gave him a certain 'big picture' perspective. While it was true he was close to his twin, he would act the same towards any other Espurr, or even a troubled Meowstic. Preventing a devastating psychic bomb from detonating took priority over most other things.

Renault opened his mouth, ready to retort about the Espurr possibly exaggerating the whole "we're all going to die" situation, but decided against it. It couldn't be that serious...could it? Suddenly, Renault remembered Dia. He remembered her immense curiosity, how--if she got wind of the power that Espurrs held--she would want an immediate demonstration. Even in this place, which could collapse on their heads in any moment. And even if she couldn't, fate always had some way of giving her what she wanted. Slowly that dread crept back into his soul.

Turning the corner, Farr at last found the staircase leading up to the next floor. That was good. However, it was going to be a right pain to climb; random debris littered the various steps, not leaving much solid ground for a Pokémon to stand on. That was less good. A loud groan escaped Renault. There was no way he was going to make it up there quickly, even if the rubble was gone. If the steps were almost Farr’s height, then they were most certainly Renault’s--which meant climbing. And unfortunately for him, he couldn’t call up vines. "So, any ide-?"

Farr had a plan.

Standing at the very bottom of the stairs, he raised both paws in the direction of the next floor. Each one gathered up his body's innate psychic power, multi-coloured sparks and licks of lightning-like energy dancing around his arms. Bending his elbows slightly to give himself a wind-up, he then shoved both paws forwards to shoot a wide blast of Psybeam. The crackling beam shoved the wreckage upwards, slamming into the above floor’s roof; the already strained steel gave way under the impact of so much junk, buckling and tearing as the obstructions were blown away two floors above the Iceburgs. "Be careful, sir! You might hurt someone--!" Renault cried out too late as he recoiled from any falling chunks caused by the destruction.  And up the stairs Farr went, running--or more accurately, jumping--as fast as his legs would carry him up the oversized steps. The Roselia prayed no one was above them before groaning and resigning to his fate, starting the long climb on the stairway to heaven.

Farr had known he could have caused harm with his sudden Psybeam, combined with the flying metal, but again his big-picture thinking won over. Pokémon were tough enough to take a hit like that. It would hurt, of course, perhaps severely. But the risk was worth the extra safety of finding Syte before everyone got very, very hurt indeed. It wasn't a worldview that he particularly liked to have; it was in fact outright depressing sometimes. Right up there with knowing that if you carelessly scratched your ear you could vaporise whoever was unluckily next to you. Did he LIKE ignoring Renault? Of course not, the Roselia had done nothing wrong at all. Would he do it if it meant finding Syte a little faster? Yes.

Renault had only reached halfway up the stairs before stopping to take a breather. He was not made for this. Heck, he was surprised he made it up this far. He wiped his face clean of sweat before looking up at the top of the stairs. Not once did Farr stop to look down and check for him, too absorbed in the search for his sister. So absorbed, in fact, that he seemed like he would ditch Renault if the Roselia didn't get up there in time. At this point it didn't matter to him though; his true focus needed to be on Dia. Arceus only knows what kind of trouble she was up to. Having regained a bit of strength, he continued his climb up.

Upon finally reaching the top of the stairway, Farr looked about in an attempt to get his bearings. The sound of the Psyshock had come from up these stairs, but beyond that he had no idea where to go next. This ruin, whatever it was, dwarfed any building he had ever seen or been in. Pulling down his scarf for a moment to expose his mouth to the open air, he placed both paws onto either side of his mouth and yelled out into the eerily silent, echoing corridors. "SYTE? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

-----

Syte stumbled as she felt a sudden wave of lightheadedness sweep over her for a few seconds, the Espurr having to brace herself up against a wall to avoid dropping to her knees. What WAS that? An after-effect of her fall? It must have been. Her head did hurt. And something was popping between her ears...

NO.
A highly-pitched yelp of fear escaped Syte's mouth as she clamped her paws down onto her ears. She'd almost lost it there. The purple, psychic energy had been crackling in the space her partially raised ears had, for just a second, allowed to exist. How could she have been so careless?! She always had Farr keeping an eye on her; he knew that she struggled to maintain the focus that simply being an Espurr required. Her eyes screwed shut and her heart pounding, she tried taking more deep breaths to relax herself. Inhale. Count to five. Exhale. Repeat. In. Five. Out. Repeat. She was so focused on regaining her concentration that the sound of her name being called from around the corner completely passed over her, unheard by her muffled ears.

Dia had stopped and watched Syte yet again have some sort of episode. What was wrong with this 'Mon? Was something causing her pain? She knew Psychics had a lot of tremendous power, but either this one was ill-trained with hers, or the Espurr simply had a lot of it. That made her very curious. Do all Espurrs have this trouble? What did this power look like? What could it do? Her questioning ended as she heard a loud voice from further down the hall. The voice had specifically called for Syte, but it seemed the female Espurr was far too distracted to notice. So Dia ran down the hall to retrieve the caller, stopping and waving her eyes as she cried "Oo! Oo!" to get the male Espurr's attention.

-----

Farr pulled his scarf back up over his face as his voice echoed down the hallway, hoping for some kind of reply. A few seconds passed, and nothing seemed to happen. Where was his sister? She had to be around here SOMEWH- Eh?

"A Litwick?" He asked aloud, to no-one in particular. "D-Dia...!?" Renault exclaimed after hearing Farr's outcry, only to be ignored. What was a random Litwick doing down here? Farr thought. And with strange markings on her face, at that? He was already about to follow the small 'Mon, when he spotted the small blue feather up next to her flame. Another Iceberg? Was she with Syte? Wait...was Syte hurt?! Needing no further provocation, he sprinted after the Litwick, forgetting all about poor Renault.

Syte was doing everything she could to not hyperventilate, the pressure in her ears threatening to overwhelm her. Her eyelids were clamped together as tightly as possible, scrunching up her face with the strain of simply not exploding. It was too much. She was going to lose it. She was going to let Farr down. Farr was going to die. She was going to die. Everyone was going to die. She was going to-

She was suddenly aware of being caught in someone's embrace, eyes jumping open in shock. What wa-FARR! In spite of the danger, her arms instinctively flung themselves around her brother. Tears leaked from her eyes as she once again closed them, the drops disappearing into her fur. "Come on Syte, just bring yourself down..." Her brother's worrisome voice soothed her ears. Slowly the psychic pressure in her head, and the popping of purple lightning in her ears, began to ease down.

"D'aww," Dia cooed, tilting to the side and smiling at the cute reunion. She was sort of disappointed though, since she wanted to see the psychic power in action. She went up to Farr and tapped him gently, pointing to his ears with a curious expression. He looked over his shoulder, confused. Could she not properly speak, or something? "Thank you for looking after Sy- Huh?" The small candle 'Mon seemed to want to know what was up with his ears. She must have seen Syte about to lose it then...but it was probably best to give his sister some more time to recover. "Oh...erm, in a little bit, maybe. Uhh, there's a Roselia called Renault back at those stairs I just came up, can you go see if--"

"Renault!?" Dia dashed around the corner before the Espurr could finish. Just as Renault reached the top he was virtually tackled by a bullet. "Uwaaa....." He moaned, the air knocked out of him.

"Found you!!" Dia cried with a smile, hugging and cuddling him. Renault couldn't help but smile as he said, "Nice to...see y....t...." before passing out. Dia noticed him slump onto the ground and tilted her body, curious and confused. "Renault? Renaaaault?" She proceeded to poke him.

"Come on sis, let's find Jay and Tiva and get out of here..." Farr whispered, helping Syte up onto her feet. The younger twin nodded silently, up until the moment her downward-cast eyes, keeping an eye on her trembling legs, spotted the makeshift bandage around her brother's leg. "Farr, what happened? Are you hurt? You shouldn't be walking if-"

"It’s nothing," Farr interrupted, ignoring the pulsating pain in his lower thigh. "Just a bad scratch from the fall, that's all." He wasn't technically lying, the wound WAS shallow, but it was still a sharp, burning slice through his leg muscles that would take a lot of rest to really heal. "The stairs are this way, the others should be waiting at the top by the time we get there..." Changing the subject, Team Farsight started limping back the way Farr had come, over to Dia and Renault.

"Renaaaaault!" At this point Dia was shaking her comatose partner. Renault had a rather goofy grin on his face, clearly enjoying whatever dream he was deeply invested in. Dia huffed before finally noticing the Espurr twins passing the corner. She gave them a disappointed look while pointing at the Roselia. She didn't want to burn him, it'd hurt for a while. And he wouldn't like that. But she had half a mind to.

Farr settled his sister down against a wall to sit for a minute, her legs still a little shaky. "Too tired, is he?" Farr asked the Litwick he still didn't know the name of, his more relaxed, sarcastic side emerging now that the immediate crisis was dealt with. "I can give it a shot..."

Kneeling down next to Renault, the male Espurr cleared his throat and leaned down towards the Roselia's head. If shaking him about hadn't done anything, then perhaps something else might. Disarming Voice, for instance. His words became highly-pitched, with a strange, piercing echo to them as he spoke, "Renault. Your flowers are wilting."

Renault's jolt was a silent mini spasm. From his change of expression it's clear that the trick worked--and he was not happy about it. At all. He slowly opened his eyes to Dia and Farr with the biggest frown known to Huana. He seemed ready to hurt someone. "With my deepest and sincerest of apologies," he slowly began with a croak, "I hate you all." Dia simply smiled at him innocently as he sat up groaning, holding his aching head. His entire body was completely numb and he did not feel like getting up, however Farr helped and steadied Renault to a sitting position.

"Sorry about everything so far, but it turns out I was right to worry," Farr apologized, glancing back at Syte who nodded silently. He turned to Renault and the probably oblivious Dia. "We were about three seconds away from Syte exploding. I have to thank you for looking after my sister, miss...erm, what is your name again?" He asked, looking to the Litwick with his usual fixed stare. Somewhere behind him, Syte rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

Renault gazed at his partner, that sprouting dread from earlier slowly festering in his soul. His fears were realized for all to see as Dia's eyes ever so slowly widened with Farr's straightforward explanation. Something had activated in her. One could interpret her wide eyes as shock or surprise--except she still had her grin on her face. "Diiiaaaaa," she replied as if she were Wally. Because of the way she was positioned, she could see both Farr and Syte clearly. She was looking at Farr, but now she saw straight through him to his sister. She had also seen Syte roll her eyes and feigned obliviousness--but that didn't matter now.

Farr nodded and returned to looking at Renault, giving a smile that would probably look sheepish if it wasn't for those eyes. "Also, I'm sure you would have preferred that little trick to what Dia had planned. I think she was going to set you on fire."

Renault, terrified and silently praying to fate for mercy, had his attention suddenly caught by Farr's words. His face was a mix of confusion and anger, but inside he was just an emotional mess. "Wha-?" was all he could croak before turning to Dia, who was caught off guard. She looked at Renault sheepishly, trying to seem innocent. "Seriously?"

"Nooooo!" Dia cried out in denial, waving her stubby arms. "I wasn't gonnaaaa, I sweaaaar!" She glared at Farr with a childish pout. Farr's mouth curled up into a small smile. Renault found himself grinning at her, now an even more emotional wreck, as he knew she didn't mean any real harm. Still, was pretty mean.

"Anyway...." Renault called out. "Now that we're all reunited, we should focus on getting out of here." The male Espurr helped him up onto his feet. "You're right, let's go." Farr agreed, nodding to the adjacent door. Whoever had built this place had at least some logic to their design; the stairways going up and down were right next to each other. Though, based on how far they'd fallen, and how many stairs they'd had to walk up just to go up one floor... "Might take a while, though..."

Syte shivered as she stood herself back up, her breathing uneven as she still struggled to overcome her shock. "...We can just rest after each flight of stairs. There's a long way to go-"

"-And the others won't leave without us." Farr nodded as he wrapped Renault's arm over his shoulders. Renault gave a brief nod of appreciation. He stumbled as soon as he stood, body still in pain. He looked at the flight of stairs with visible disdain—Dia groaning out loud. If Renault could barely climb one flight, then there was no way Dia could. Not for long, anyway, without eventually resorting to energy consumption. "Well hold on ladies and gentleman—“ Renault quickly spoke, “--perhaps we should try finding another way...? One that we could all benefit from.”

Dia stared at her partner before looking around as the Espurr siblings responded. She had realized Renault's lack of connection to the earth not long ago. He could save them all a lot of trouble if even the slightest sign of dirt in this decrepit place was found. If it could be found. Only Arceus knew how large this place could be...and, perhaps, the dead. But, unfortunately, she felt no entrance to the Ghost World. Dia nodded to her decision and went up to Farr and Renault. "Boom?" she questioned, pointing at a wall. A prickle crawled down Renault's back. "Madam, please..." he replied, half begging. “This is not the time for games...” Dia shook her head furiously and cried out, "Dirt! Dirt!"

Renault quickly understood and looked at Team Farsight. "Madame suggests having me take us out of here...if I could find a breach of sorts into the earth--surely the world begins somewhere?--I could easily take us through this place. But that's if we could find a breach. We may very well have to tear through this place..." He coughed away an accumulation of dust. "It is a valid suggestion...but we will follow any decision you agree on..."

The Espurr twins debated for a long time--understandable, since the stairs were the more obvious answer to an exit--but even they knew the uncertain climb would exhaust them all of energy. They both gave an approving nod, to which Team Marigold responded with smiles. "I promise you, it'll be worth it," Renault reaffirmed, Dia sharing his confidence with a nod. Going on gut feeling alone, she dashed towards the direction of the hall that both she and Syte had emerged from.

"D-Dia, wait--!" Renault called out weakly yet immediately gave up afterwards. "Well...onwards then?" He looked at the Espurr twins and chuckled. Farr helped Renault limp on, Syte bringing up the rear while occasionally glancing backwards for signs of life. Renault noticeably avoided the Porygon corpses as best as he could. "Is she always like this?" Farr asked, half out of disbelief that anyone could possibly have that much energy in them after all that had happened…and half to distract Renault's mind from the dead Porygons. “You have no idea, sir…” Renault chuckled.

They didn't travel far to catch up to Dia. The hall turned a sharp corner to the right--the other direction was completely barricaded by rubble--yet she stared at the wall straight before them. Realizing their presence, she turned to them and pointed at the wall with adorable seriousness before facing the wall again. Once more, flames faded in from nowhere and gathered into one giant fireball. This wall, unlike the other one, virtually melted it like butter as her fireball pressed true. Before the liquid steel could cool, Dia vanished behind it.

"Dia, hold up!" Renault cried out before sighing and chuckling. "So eager, that one." Farr dryly commented, "Well, this makes things-"

"-A lot easier." Syte finished, owing her own escape to Dia's surprisingly potent fire. She once again checked behind them, glancing back into that corridor where she had broken down. She very quickly turned away.

"Indeed," Renault replied with a quiet chuckle. He wasn't surprised of Dia's wall-melting power; in fact, it reassured him. The fact that Dia was energetic was a clear sign that her flame was still very much full of energy. They had all passed by another hole--which seemed just as melted as this one--that he figured Dia also made. He wondered how she didn't seem at all fazed despite making two of these huge fireballs without so much as a hint of exhaustion, but he brushed it to the back of his mind.

-----

"Come on you idiot, this place will be crawling with those fools! We get out of here and wait for those losers to leave, they've got no idea what's down here!" Kudos snapped at his partner, checking every corner as the two bandits darted through the ruined facility.

"Well whose fault was it to begin with!?" Calypso yelled back, quickly floating after her irritable partner. The entire time down here he'd made it seem like she was at fault--when it was his ingenuity for throwing a bomb straight at a wall! She knew this job was going to be a disaster from the get-go when he had initially told her about this dump. Now she just wanted to get the heck out and forget whatever treasure was down here.

"If that sign was right, there should be stairs this w-" He called over his shoulder, turning back to his front just in time to see some dumb Litwick cross his path, followed closely by more of those blue-clad meddlers. Kudos' teeth flashed into a growl, looking to intimidate them to buy himself and Calypso some time to deal with them.

Dia was virtually unfazed by the growling poodle. In fact, she just stood there and kind of smiled at him. She knew who the thief and his lumbering partner was but her face said otherwise. "Dia, move! Sorry, sir," Renault cried out, removing himself from Farr’s hold. Hearing her partner, she quickly darted behind him as he aimed his blue rose at the thieves. Orange spores immediately shot out at them.

"Woah!" Calypso quickly flew in front of her partner, shielding Kudos. Her sheer size, as well as her backpack, blocked a majority of the spores that rested on her. "Stop messing around!" She yelled down to her partner before sweeping her body towards the teams, sending many of the spores back at the smaller 'Mons. Kudos was already fishing something out of his bag. "I'm on it, I'm on it!"

Syte was in no state to fight, and both of the twins knew it. Fortunately, Farr was the one who fought defensively, and once again he would be covering his twin. Syte hung back to keep herself safe as Farr rushed forwards, throwing up a Light Screen in front of himself and Team Marigold. Unfortunately for him, in his tired and stressed state, he failed to realise the nature of the attack he was attempting to block. The spores passed straight through the barrier, latching onto and stiffening his body rigid as he fell backwards onto the floor. The sole benefit he had provided was that the other three Icebergs were unharmed. Calypso laughed. She looked back and saw her partner pull out yet another bomb--because the first time was a brilliant plan, right?

"This time, STAY BURIED!" The canine snarled at the Iceburgs, lobbing the explosive up towards the ceiling and turning around to dart back the way the two thieves had come. This old ruin would take care of the rest.

"FARR! GET BACK!!" Syte screamed in terror as she forced her weary body into action, sprinting to the side of her fallen brother. Renault and Dia would have no way of carrying an immobile Espurr in any sort of a hurry, and even her currently diminished strength would be more suited to the task. She lifted up Farr as much as she could and scrambled backwards just as the bomb went off. Armageddon was upon them yet again. Instead of the floor below them collapsing, the floor above was collapsing on them. Renault was completely frozen. He stood there, staring at his impending doom as a large chunk fell towards him--Dia coming out of nowhere and tackling him out of the way. The impact knocked the wind out of him once more and he passed out, out of commission. "Renaaaault!" Dia cried as she shook her tiny partner to no avail. Syte had just about managed to pull her brother to safety before small blunt slabs of steel knocked them both flat to the ground, stunned but conscious. Dia quickly spotted the Espurrs and grabbed her partner's arm to drag him. She was almost to their location when an enormous shadow appeared, looking up confirming that a major part of the floor was now crumbling down upon Team Marigold.

Dia reacted immediately. She tossed her partner towards the Espurrs before a pyre of spiritual flames formed below her. The destruction eventually dislodged the spores from Farr's body, waking him up and spurring him back into motion. It didn't last particularly long, though. Not when a flying Roselia crashed into his face. To his credit, the Espurr took the hit like a champ, cushioning Renault's fall nicely. Dia’s head flame ignited as swarms of fireballs appeared around her, combining with the pyre and forming a fireball shield. Hissing and sizzling roared in the chaos as Dia quickly began to melt through the floor. Within a few seconds the fireball sank and disappeared into the floor below.

Destruction faded into silence. Clouds of dust and darkness lingered in the air as Renault coughed alive. If he wasn't already in pain, he was definitely feeling it now. "Urrggghhh…" was all he could groan before going into a coughing fit, forcing himself to ever so slowly stand. "E-everyone...alive..?" he croaked, eyes struggling to see. Syte, knowing her brother was okay, strained through the dust and debris to see what had happened to Dia. She'd lost sight of the Litwick just as Renault hit Farr, but did manage to make out a muffled orange glow from somewhere under the rubble. So, she at least knew where to start looking. As the only one able to stand, she hurried over to the mountain of metal that had seemingly buried Dia, and attempted to get some of the slabs to budge; no such luck. While she might have been the physically strongest of the four, Espurrs were still quite small compared to many other Pokémon. Solid steel was not an easy thing to budge when there was this much of it.

"Dia...?" she heard Renault call out. "Dia...!?" Fear and panic slowly arose within him. "DIA!?" His thumping heart was audible at this point. He tried to convince himself that she was alive by debating whether or not Ghost types could die to begin with--but clearly that wasn't working out. He already had this chat with her when they first met: they could definitely die. He saw nothing but piles of rubble and plenty of locations where she could've been crushed. The entire room looked nothing as it did before. Their entrance was blocked.

Syte knew she'd have to do something. There was no way to dig Dia out at this rate...then again, perhaps she didn't need to. "I can do this..." she muttered to herself, taking a few steps back as she started charging a Psybeam. All she had to do was push it back. If she was lucky, she might even hit those bandits on the other side. A few sparks crackled under her ears, the unstable Espurr clamping the large extremities down to keep her power in check. Renault heard the crackles and turned towards Syte, eyes widening. "What're you...?" He froze.

While a solidly built wall could resist a Psybeam, loose rubble was not so sturdy. The blockage was blown ten feet back, an extra push making it fifteen. "What have you DONE, madam!?" Renault shouted. Harmless rubble-turned-deadly projectiles tore through a couple walls and disappeared into the hallway. He fell onto his hands and knees, praying for all the unfortunate souls that'd get caught in that mess. "Holy Arceus..." escaped his lips. Syte was yelling something, but he was far too gone. Dia was gone.

No…no, he didn't see a body in that blast. Maybe...maybe she was alive? Maybe...maybe Syte had found her? Maybe that why she was yelling at him to check out the steaming hot hole in the fl-- "DIA!!" Renault yelled as he dashed to the hole, once more on his knees as he leaned rather precariously into it. Fortunately, his side of the floor had cooled.

"Uwaaaaa...." Dia moaned, laying on a pile of dirt. She seemed pretty pooped. Tears poured from her partner's eyes. "Oh thank holy Arceus....!" Renault smiled with a sniffle, his fears drowned in hope and relief. He continued to cry, along with a few sniffles, for a few seconds before finally clearing his throat and wiping his face with his flowers. Boy, was he glad that she landed on dirt instead of metal rubb-

Wait. Wait. Dirt? Renault blinked and peered into the hole again. No doubt about it...that was genuine dirt. He gasped...and smiled very brightly. "Finally," he murmured. All was still as, a moment later, the world around them began to shake. "Do not worry, my friends!" Renault cried out joyously to reassure his Espurr friends. "We're finally getting out!"

Almost on cue, giant roots erupted from a wall near Dia and shot towards the three of them. The roots proceeded to wrap around Renault and Team Farsight into a ball, Dia popping in seconds after by a stray root. Renault cradled his unconscious Litwick partner with a smile as the ball rumbled around them, presumably taking them to the surface.