Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Seasons of Heaven

Episode 28: Temple of the North

"One thing at a time," Esther added. Infia gave in and leaned forward to squeeze herself into Lute and shrink their figure.

Now that he was up and looking around, Naivie floated ahead on a path to their right. He never noticed how funny she looked when she moved, bobbing up and down like fish Pokémon.

Even though she fluttered through a cave path, the ground was rough and there was tiny bits of debris everywhere that he accidentally kicked. He froze every time, expecting a spy to detect him out of nowhere.

Fortunately for him, Naivie stopped every now and then to account for the stationed agents, so none of them actually heard him. There were clearings amongst the valleys and hills, and each one had various tough Pokémon hidden on the hills or on the ceilings of caves nearby. The terrain was confusing as a result; Lute felt as though he was constantly walking on a slant or very close to one of the rivers that ran through the cracks, instead of being on a coherent path. The walls and floor were black, dusty, and seemed to rotate all around him wherever he went. It was claustrophobic enough to make him hold his breath, even though he turned out to be well away from water all the time.

Breathing through his nose barely helped, either. Dung had a better smell than this place. His tongue felt like it fluctuated between something burnt and something toxic. Combined with the darkness of the night hiding most of the area in silhouette, and he felt nauseous every time he pricked his foot on a piece of metal or scraped himself on a loose brick or whatever it was he was kicking.

The next thing he knew, Naivie's route took them to the end of a path. These spots had been open areas with flat ground and a Pokémon or two stationed on guard. She stopped at this next one, forcing the group to remain hidden behind a short wall.

"Wait. There are some guys here," Naivie whispered.

Lute gulped. He couldn't sense other Pokémon the way Sophitia and the others could. All he could do was take Naivie's word for it, and sweat hard as he remained as still as he could. Now that he wasn't moving, the stench was became overbearing, and the ground felt too hard. If he had to do this for too long, he could see himself going insane. He tried to stay focused however, and kept his mouth shut and eyes concentrated on Naivie. Infia shuffled and reminded him that she was there.

"It's no use. We'll have to take the water," Naivie whispered. Lute's eyes widened, and he looked around. A little way down to his left was a very thin river that led in the direction he assumed they were headed.

"Seriously?" he whispered with an eyebrow raised.

"They ain't movin'. And be careful, don't make a splash," Naivie said as she led the way. He hung his head as he turned his back to crawl down the cliff carefully.

That claustrophobia was settling in big time, now. This part was far thinner than he saw earlier. He couldn't walk straight without scratching his fur against the walls to his side, and some parts were so jagged and sharp that he would have to slow down to squeeze his way through. Just looking at it made him feel like the walls might close in and crush him, and to that he gulped and moaned a bit.

The worst part was the enforced dive yet again. Even though the area ran this thin, the walls were slanted at such an angle that the clearing where the stationed Pokémon were was in full view, or at least, he could imagine it so from their height. He could make out a Gliscor from where he was too, a Pokémon known for its impressive senses, so he couldn't underestimate that thought. He stared at the water below him once more and frowned. Great. Another long dive. He and Infia took a deep and exaggerated breath, and snuck into the water.

With all this, the water felt a lot colder and more unbearable than before. It was freezing cold, dark, and murky enough to obscure his view of everything via puffs of dust and dirt from everything he touched. He felt Infia cringe and squeeze him harder, as well as whoever was behind him pushing him a bit whenever he stopped due to the path growing thinner. After just a minute without air, he felt his body tighten from its need to surface, but at his speed, he knew he couldn't give in to that. This was the worst thing he ever had to do in his life.