CH98 (712), Unnerved Duo

"Alright, seems like we'll be heading to the core to check out what exactly this outbreak is about," I declared seeing the coin land on tails. "{What? You can't do that, it's forbidden}," Duskull cried out at my words resulting in my Pokemon refuting him in a way that left it confused. 

"{If Fortuna says we should go there we have to go there}," Mothra/Butterfree said with conviction, while Thor/Raichu as well as Hades/Gengar nodded in support, leaving only Phantump, who did not know about Fortuna/Togekiss' luck yet, slightly confused, though he remained quiet and did not refute her. Fortuna was very happy with the vote of confidence and thanked them under the watch of the dumbfounded Duskull. 

"Thank you for the help, Fortuna," I finally spoke up. "I'll move you back now. Don't worry about missing out, I'll make sure to stream the next bit," I assured her before transferring her back to Utopia. I then turned to Duskull, who seemed to feel uneasy at the attention since it shrunk a bit. 

I knew I couldn't let it go since that would mean risking that Duskull would alert others of our plan, and a quick check-up showed that he only had light yellow potential, so I was not interested in adding him to my team or Utopia, at least not on his own. Nonetheless, no matter how I looked at it, it seemed that capturing Duskull, at least temporarily, was the best option.

"Well, you've heard about our plans, so I unfortunately can't let you go," I began, and I saw Duskull shiver at my words. "{Please don't kill me, I won't say anything I swear}," Duskull pleaded forcing my next words to a halt. Mentally going over my previous words I could see how they could be misinterpreted like that, so I just chuckled, which incidentally made Duskull tremble even worse.

"We're not going to kill you," I said making him stop trembling and look at me with hope. "I'll just have to keep you inside this until we're done with this place," I declared while taking out a PokeBall and showing it to him. "I'll let you out before we leave. You don't have a problem with that do you?" I followed up and Duskull frantically shook his head. 

"{I don't. I'll do whatever you want}," he immediately declared and I did not bother with any more useless platitudes and captured him before putting the PokeBall away after enabling stasis mode. I had no idea how long it would take us to leave, and there was no need to make him wait who knows how long while aware. It was better for Duskull to be in stasis the whole time.

Well, at least that was what I thought until my brain remembered that I had not asked which way exactly the core was in, so I turned off the stasis mode again and called out Duskull, who was surprised/confused at being let out so quickly. I asked him how to get to the core area without showing any embarrassment and after he pointed out the direction I once again recalled him. I heard everyone snigger while I put the PokeBall in stasis mode, and I told them to go ahead and laugh if they wanted to, which they did.

Honestly, I might have a supernatural mind, but even I could forget stuff or make mistakes. If one could even call what just happened a mistake in the first place. Still, there was no need to act petulant. If they thought it was funny they were free to laugh. Laughing was good for you as they say.

Anyway, since Duskull pointed at the wall and simply said keep going in that direction and you'll eventually arrive at the core area, I had Hades along with Phantump go ahead and phase through the wall until they came across another tunnel. Once they would either share that with us through telepathy or in case they exceeded the telepathy range Phantump would come back and inform us that we could teleport over. Well, as long as Hades was not out of my sensing range as well which I honestly doubted would happen.

The plan worked out perfectly fine, and we knew we were going in the right direction since both Hades, as well as Phantump, were saying that the spectral energy in the air was increasing the further we headed. Interestingly enough, we did come across some Pokemon at first, though they were non-ghost types like Geodude and Diglett with only two ghosts that obviously broke the rules just like Duskull. However, the closer we came to the core area, the fewer wild Pokemon we came across until the 11th jump which was when they completely vanished.

It was clear that the non-ghosts knew to stay clear of whatever the Guardian and his minions were doing. No idea if the ghosts had ordered them to stay away, or if they did it on their own, but their absence clued us in that we were getting closer, and it was after our 14th jump that we finally closed in on our target. I knew that because Hades, who had gone through the wall just a minute ago, whispered through the telepathic channel that he had found the core chamber. 

'Why are you whispering,' Thor jokingly asked. 'It's not like they can hear you think loudly' he said before I saw him freeze up, seemingly coming to the answer himself, because a powerful psychic or ghost might actually be able to pick up something if one thought too loud. 'Sorry, good thinking,' Thor apologized to Hades, directly acknowledging his mistake.

'No problem,' Hades returned before addressing me. 'Boss, there's no way you can teleport over without being noticed by them. I'm seeing a few tunnel entrances around this place, so I'm going to look around and find out which one leads to your place. Stick around until then, alright?' he said and I automatically nodded, which he couldn't see, so I returned an 'Alright'.

'Oh, and boss make sure you don't cause any ruckus over there. There's too many ghosts here, and there's some really weird shit going on. They are all on full alert, and I seriously don't think we want to get their attention right now,' Hades followed up and I could hear his concern. 'What do you mean with weird shit?' Thor spoke up over the telepathic channel before I did.

'There's some shimmering in the air along with changes in the ghost energy thickness that seem to be getting shorter, and that seems to put these guys on the edge' Hades replied, which led me to believe that my theory about there being a gate to the spirit world was true.

'And there are lines all over the chamber that pulse along with the shimmering in the air,' Hades followed up and I honestly could only think of seals when he mentioned those pulsating lines. Those seals were likely related to the state of the gate. 'How is the search going?' I decided to ask since I was interested in seeing the scene for myself. 

'I'm still searching, but boss are you sure that this is a good idea? The air here is very tense,' Hades said worriedly, making me raise an eyebrow since I could feel that the situation in the chamber had Hades on the edge, which was quite unusual. 'Boss, I'm scared,' Phantump, who I just noticed had been uncharastically quiet until now, admitted, and seeing the two act like this I made a decision.

'Alright you two come back here,' I ordered, making the duo a sigh of relief that had to come from the depths of their soul since we heard it even over the telepathic channel. Still, unlike what the two likely thought, I was not planning to give up on entering that chamber. The heavens told us that going there was what I should do, and I trusted Fortuna, so I was going to head there. However, that did not mean that we could not take some extra precautions, so once Hades and Phantump made it to our side, I revealed the new plan.

"Alright, since the situation over there has Hades and Phantump so worried we are changing plans," I declared which first had the ghost duo look relieved before they looked surprised. "{Are we still going to get involved}?" Hades asked and I shook my head. "You guys won't," I returned, but he did not look relieved at my words, capturing that I was still planning to head there myself.

"I'll be transferring Phantump and Thor to Utopia in a moment before bringing out Gaara," I declared, before shaking my head at Thor who was about to protest, making him swallow those protests, though I could still feel the disappointment he felt. Unfortunately, I had already made my decision, so I followed through and moved the two to Utopia.

A surprised Gaara/Gabite appeared in their stead, but I motioned him to keep quiet for a moment before I addressed Hades. "I want you to go find the most inconspicuous spot in the chamber along the other side of this wall. Take your time and make sure you stay undetected. Once you've found it, come back and show it to Gaara so that he can carefully tunnel his way there," I instructed Hades, who first looked a bit hesitant, before putting on a resolute look and saluting. 

He then phased through the wall and only came back around 15 minutes later. "{I think I found it}," Hades declared before looking a bit nervous. "{I'm sure they won't notice us as long as Gaara is careful enough. The pulsing has gotten faster and all ghosts are super focused on the shimmering point}," he shared and I could feel his uneasiness though it was paired with determination.

"Good job," I praised him. "Come on, show Gaara where he has to start," I said and Hades nodded before motioning us to follow him. He led us a bit further down the tunnel before pointing at the wall. "{This is the place}," Hades declared and I nodded before telling Gaara to use a weakened Sand Tomb to erode the wall before using his Sand Control to clear the sand, effectively creating a gap in the wall without making any sound. 

Due to the seals, I did not want to Dig down. Not to mention that Dig could create some sound that could attract some unwanted attention, so this was the best method for us to reach the other side. After I told everyone that we would switch to telepathic talk from now on to avoid making any unnecessary noise, Gaara directly got to work and it took roughly 3 minutes for Hades to call for a stop over the telepathic channel.

'The chamber is right behind this,' Hades declared. 'Alright,' I acknowledged before addressing Gaara. 'Thank you for your help. Once you've pushed through the last bit, I'll move you back to Utopia. You can follow the rest through the live stream,' I told him before motioning him to go ahead. Gaara simply nodded before opening a hole in the wall that was roughly 1 meter in height and 60 cm in width. 

Once he did that I transferred him to Utopia before turning to Hades. 'You've done a good job as well,' I told him and Hades smiled widely at my praise. He had indeed done a good job despite the nervousness he felt at whatever was taking place in the chamber, but it was time for him to go as well. 'Still, you've done enough, and the situation over there seems to make you uneasy, so I'll move you to Utopia now,' I declared, which had Hades vehemently shake his head.

'No way,' he rejected. 'There's no way I'll leave you and Mothra alone with whatever is going on out there, boss' he denied. 'I'll just stick to your shadow for now, but I have to stay around in case you need my help,' Hades followed up, showing that he cared more about me/us than he did for any nervousness he felt. 'Fine, if that's what you want,' I replied and he nodded seriously before diving into my shadow. 

After he did that, Mothra finally spoke up after a rather long period of just quietly listening. 'Since Hades is so worried, it's better if you bring out Nyx as well. She's strong and super stealthy, so she's the best suited to stay with us,' she declared and I had to nod since it was true. Nyx/Umbreon was indeed extremely stealthy, and if not for Phantump's existence I would have called her the stealthiest, though her talent was universal and did not require a forest to work. 

Regardless, since Mothra brought it up, I decided to go along with her suggestion and brought Nyx out after informing her to stay quiet first. Nyx was aware of the situation but I still had to link her to the telepathic channel, though I had to utilize our bond to do so since my telepathy alone was unable to do so due to her dark typing. Once that was done, I crouched down and carefully made my way through the opening Gaara created.

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