Music in media: Do Something by Eagles

13 January, Thursday, 7 p.m. | Winter

A cold shower didn't do much to wash away the bugs on Icosa's mind and skin, but being more transparent with Rae (she had awoken by the time Icosa returned to Fennel's apartment with Lenora) did them both a power of good. Icosa didn't think she would understand his intentions. Still, he apologised for his rashness.

Over dinner, Lenora filled the group in on her findings, pre-empted by the terrible news of the fake Relic Crown in her hands. With any luck, the real one might be with the Shadow Triad who might still be in Castelia Sewers. She then spoke of the peculiar dust she found in Chilchil's Poké Ball — the dust, even now, accumulating inside the capture tool and his fur — which now had a name: Grit Dust, or Sable Effort, a fancier term that cropped up in the ancient times dating back to the Hisuian era. This was in line with the "time perversion" (again, coined by the beloved Professor Juniper. It appeared she was dead set against this crisis and framed every part of it as the most perverse thing in the world, more ill than the Ruination Quartet sealed in the shrines across Paldea.) likely occurring throughout Unova, the past collapsing into the present.

What of Alder's dream of his old Volcarona, burning like the sun, enveloped in darkness and a chime? It was related to ancient times when Volcarona was believed to be the sacred guardian of truth. During her research, Lenora found out over time the phrase "everything under the sun" replaced the phrase "everything within Volcarona", grown obsolete after Hisuian times, its origin dating back to The Great Volcarona who served the first King of Unova as the soothsayer. Back in those days, a group of Bronzong would gather above the King and broadcast his words to the whole of Unova, hence a bellowing chime was often associated with truth. Word spread of a Pokémon of the moon, though its existence was shrouded in mystery, thought to be illusory, elusive. Perhaps the darkness meant the uprising of this very Pokémon.

Fennel thought Lenora probably hit the mark with her research and complimented her on her efforts, adding that the dream was at once ominous and auspicious.

"Well, there is a Volcarona where the Relic Castle was," muttered Professor Juniper. "The only way through would be..."

"Castelia Sewers," Cheren completed her sentence.

Lenora looked across the table to her friends' faces. While she believed in empirical evidence, the timing was too coincidental for her to see any other angle besides an omnipotent force stringing the region along. She turned inwards and wondered if it was by her choice or someone else's she went to the Abyssal Ruins and retrieved the Relic Crown.

"There's something else," said Lenora, "Nacrene City's music is affected. I don't know how to describe it. But the important thing is, there are no side effects."

Of course she left out the part where she cleaned up the museum with Hawes and reconciled with each other in the process, as if all that cleaning on home grounds was really decluttering the space between them. They didn't have to know that. They didn't have to know she and Hawes kissed for minutes on end after he tripped on the slippery, soapy floor and pulled her by the apron such that they both tumbled on the tiles, soap covering them all over as their lips and tongues met, not quite the struggle for dominance as romance novels often put it, but a physical apology and plea for forgiveness, a stripping down of walls, to be normal and next to normal when in each other's presence.

Icosa caught her blushing and guessed what happened. When he refused to answer Rae what made him loosen up, he gave her the excuse that he was simply relieved she was fine. Amanita had later pestered him for the truth, but he kept his lips sealed. It wasn't something that children would understand. Well, he certainly did not when he was a child.

As he caught his mind drifting back to his parents, he gripped his plate and wolfed down his dinner. "We should go. If we don't hurry, there's a chance the Relic Crown will be gone."

Cheren agreed with his student and the group, including Professor Juniper who, curious about the new Pokémon that appeared, wished to do some field research, left Fennel and Amanita to clean up after dinner. They took the shortest route to the stairs at the end of Thumb Pier that led to Castelia Sewers.

As they descended, they could hear contaminated water sloosh through the pipes, splashing onto the walkways. When they turned right at a corner, however, all the water vanished and left debris in the gutters. A seasoned odour clung to their clothes nonetheless.

"Usually there are some Poison-types here, but it seems barren today," observed Lenora.

"It's pointless to think of field work then," said Professor Juniper with a sigh. She lit up when Lenora reminded her of the strange Pokémon in the sewers, then her shoulders sagged. "It might not amount to anything... What if it was just a Gengar?"

"They don't lurk around here," Cheren offered.

Icosa glanced left and right at the moss-covered pipelines snaking up the walls. "Things change, Cheren, things change."

The tide gates around the sewers were barred. Rae looked over her shoulder every now and then. She couldn't help but feel that something was caged within this place, something malicious and disturbing. It was probably an after-effect of the incident, she supposed. Having been so sheltered, she had her first brush with death. It was harrowing, to say the least.

Noko-Noko, as usual, was the only one out of her Poké Ball. The Dunsparce squealed and flapped her tiny wings when she caught a glimpse of a shadow rolling out of sight. Rae noticed it too and resisted the urge to laugh. The last time she saw something this humongous was probably at her graduation ceremony when Meta Transformed into a larger-than-life Electrode to tease her brother, Kyo. This shadow was different, though, with what appeared to be overgrown conical spikes all over.

The group came to a halt where the four canals intersected. The intersection point bore garnets and diamonds, crystals and pearls, and among the star-studded pile drowned a gem-encrusted crown.

"It's the Relic Crown!" Rae pointed it out and turned to her companions. Then, she leapt off the walkway and sprinted towards it just as a bouncing shadow slinked into the space above her. By the time she spun her head at the shadow and saw at once a Pokémon whose top half was black and bottom half light yellow, both halves clashing in a wave pattern, a wave of vertigo hit her.

Everyone called out to her, ready to summon their Pokémon. While with annoyance the creature directed its small eyes, light yellow with purple pupils, at the group, she seized the Relic Crown and hugged it while crawling towards the nearest ladder. Her knee hit a diamond and the Pokémon looked her way. She gulped. This Pokémon had circular purple dots and puffy purple lips, the contaminated water from earlier leaking out.

It had to be a Poison-type.

This grew evident when it sucked in a whistling breath and readied a Gunk Shot at her. If not for a Whismur Pounding the Pokémon by the cheek and redirecting the jet of purple liquid diagonally to hit a tide gate, Rae might have been too close to death for comfort again. The impact of Pound made the Pokémon back away and bounce off the wall opposite of the group. Just then, Rae noticed a large, flat tail propel the Pokémon forward, purple on the inside, outlined in black, with a pattern that resembled the letter "Q".

Having studied the Pokémon, she was certain it had to be an evolution of Qwilfish, but it was a Pokémon known to not evolve at all. Yet this was the only conclusion she arrived at, as did her friends. If the Pokémon cried they might know a little of its name, but it was deadly silent.

"Don't move, Rae! I'll wreck this gumball!" Icosa wrapped his neck with his scarf and lowered his chin to glare at the weird Qwilfish. "Whismur, Shock Wave!"

A quick jolt of electricity surrounded Whismur as it rammed against the Pokémon more than twenty times its size. The Pokémon, in return, raised a Poison Tail at Whismur, the latter tossing a Shadow Ball to push the tail away but to no avail. Its pink skin faded into a deep purple.

"Does anyone have an Antidote or something?"

Icosa's request baffled Cheren. The boy was hardly the type to use items in battle. Was this character development?

However, no one had any items that could alleviate Whismur's poisoned status. On the other hand, the average effectiveness of Shock Wave and the less than ideal damage dealt through Shadow Ball urged Lenora to work her mental gears till she was sent into the realm of memory. While researching about Grit Dust, she learned of Pokémon that adopted Hisuian Forms and found Qwilfish to be one of them. Unlike its Johtonian counterpart, this one was more aggressive and would later evolve into the savage sea fiend Overqwil...

Lenora snapped her fingers. "It's a Dark/Poison-type! And be careful! Its signature move, Barb Barrage—"

The sound of metal against whetstone echoed throughout the sewers in quick succession. Overqwil Hardened itself. Icosa had to find a way to get through with special attacks now, and Whismur was fortunate to learn a lot of such moves. Only... A glance at Rae's petrified figure hushed the impulse to stoke Whismur's fears for the sake of a resounding cry that might bring tremors across the sewers and even the whole of Castelia.

"What does that move do?" Cheren cupped his ears and hollered over the sounds of Hardening skin.

Lenora shuffled to his side. "Double the damage if the target is under a non-volatile status condition... like poison."

Icosa bit his lower lip. Whatever Barb Barrage would be, it sounded like bad news, exacerbated by Harden, which meant a greater piercing power that might just land Whismur into concussion if hit. Now's no time to be careless. He had to do something and act fast. Even if Whismur could dodge and parry those barbs, the poison would be yet another hindrance.

"Whismur, Round!"

Knocking Overqwil back with sound waves wasn't enough to wreck it, but Rae could climb the ladder without attracting its attention. Battling it wouldn't be wise either, for this part of Castelia Sewers was too narrow, which made the Pokémon's baffling size all the more a threat. Besides, if it appeared only when Rae was about to take the crown, then it was only hoarding treasure. Still, could a Pokémon be this annoyed or was there some other way to go about this?

Time was a luxury Overqwil robbed from Icosa as it tinged dark violet and released venom-coated barbs from its lancelike spikes. They arced towards Whismur who directed a Hyper Voice at the ground on Icosa's command so the Whisper Pokémon could dodge the barrage and stay afloat for a while. Ironically, Icosa found himself in the same tough spot as Rae, found himself biding for time, the very tactic he frowned upon and deemed unchampionlike.

As Whismur drifted down, the guitarist's remark on the power of music slinked into Icosa's mind. He turned to Lenora and grabbed the Insect Badge from her. After reaching into his coat pocket, he wielded the badge as if he had it all along and directed Overqwil's attention to the new treasure. With a flick of his wrist, the badge took flight. Overqwil tumbled towards it and Icosa took the opportunity to toss a shiny Insect Badge which Noko-Noko caught with her mouth. Satisfied with the one badge, Overqwil deflated a little and rolled back to add it to the pile, only to eye an identical one in Rae's hands.

"Go on, Rae! Strike it!"

Lenora, Cheren and Icosa's words encouraged her. Professor Juniper took a while to understand the situation and joined in a little later. Rae brought the Insect Badge down on the emerald in the Relic Crown and a hollow Mi broke the tension. Cheerful jazz music pumped up the city and Overqwil deflated further upon the cadence's awakening.

"It worked!"

Icosa and Lenora hugged as Rae took cautious step by cautious step towards them. The Hisuian Pokémon shrunk and with a sound reminiscent of a shy fart, it became what appeared to be a Qwilfish similar to its previous state.

"The Pokémon devolved?" Professor Juniper fought the hesitation gnawing  at her heart and scooped the Pokémon up. "I'll have to observe this phenomenon!"

She caught the Hisuian Qwilfish and beamed at the quartet. They looked upwards at the shaking pipes and returned smiles.

When everyone gradually calmed down, Cheren frowned at Icosa and asked why he sacrificed his badge. The boy returned Whismur to its Poké Ball and deigned to reply. It wasn't a topic to be easily discussed. How could he admit that it was conveniently a part of his plan to fix his bugs by leaving his Insect Badge in the sewers? Come spring, the waters would surge in and anyone hanging out here would be none the wiser, the same way the people of Castelia accepted without question the jazz band members had twins who banded together through grief to uphold the legacy of the originals, the same way the five of them responded to Linus popping into the sewers, as if knowing they would be there and why they were there, to announce the news, then skedaddling his way home.

"Well? I think we should forge ahead to Relic Passage! Who knows what we may find there?" Professor Juniper picked up her pace, forcing everyone else to chase after her till they reached a set of doors with grains of sand spread across the stone surface unevenly.

"Why's she so excited? Don't we all know it's going to be a Volcarona?" Icosa nudged Cheren.

Cheren shrugged. "Let Professor Juniper be Professor Juniper."

Unable to hold in her glee, the woman pushed the doors open and welcomed the light. Stones stacked up to form walls that closed in the deeper they went. A howling storm of sand coursed through the cave-like passage, but she didn't care if sand got into her eyes or she scratched herself when her elbows grazed stones. Even if it felt like someone had turned up the heat, she steeled herself and led the way.

"I don't remember this place being so hot," Icosa mumbled. "It's like some other Pokémon had been here before."

"Or it's just the Volcarona. Maybe it's lonely and started taking walks in here."

"No way, Aurea," said Lenora, cupping her mouth to stifle a giggle. "It would be more unbearable if that's the case. Though it is bizarre to see a few farm crops thriving where the sun doesn't shine."

"Volcarona is the sun," argued Professor Juniper.

Whatever happened in Relic Passage somersaulted to the backseat of her mind, and also everyone's, when a beige archway greeted them.

Icosa dropped his hands on Rae's shoulder. "Time to face the sun."

Rae nodded and petted Noko-Noko. Excitement bubbled within her as she thought about a sun setting and sleeping in the basement of a castle in the middle of a vast desert while the moon shone outside.

She held Icosa's hand and squeezed tight.