The combined efforts of the Wyrdeer and Milotic repelled the wave of ghost Pokémon, forcing their retreat back to the ethereal realm. The clink of a SMALL KEY on the far opposite end of the maze was more than enough for the Klefki accompanying Theo to lead them to it--and the maze's eastern end, requiring the use of said SMALL KEY to exit.

Beyond the locked door was a tall vault, not unlike where the duo found their PHANTOM CAPEs. It stretched from the bottom level of the crypt all the way to the top, Shalin again using her noisy Beedrill's flight capability to investigate. While there were winding tunnels that led to each level of the vault, flying up and down its open center, the greenhead felt it much faster to just soar upward. Plus, any opportunity she had to fly on her Beedrill was one she relished.

When she approached a Dusknoir bust at the top level, an eerie voice echoed in her head:

"BeNeaTH Me, DaRKNeSS. To My RiGHT, DaRKNeSS. oNLy My LiGHT GuiDeS."

On the level beneath the statue was a slab-covered tunnel etched with eldritch light in the shape of a Dusknoir outline, surrounded by four Kantonian-inspired lanterns. If Theo were to near the bust on the top level, he, too, would also be able to hear the voice in his head. "Beneath me, darkness. To my right, darkness. Only my light guides," she softly repeated, then again as soon as her Beedrill landed near the lanterns, loud enough for Theo to hear.

"Beneath me, darkness. To my right, darkness. Only my light guides," Shalin repeated as her Beedrill mount hovered about the top of the tall room. She chucked Kiara's Poké Ball toward the westmost balcony, lighting the lantern on the southwest corner, then relocated the Pokémon to the other balcony with her Espeon's ALLY SWITCH so she could light the one in the northeast corner. Nothing happened with both lanterns lit, despite the two lanterns the riddle was referencing being unlit.

She repeated the riddle aloud several more times before the solution came to her. "Oh, Theo, I'm sorry, I probably overlooked something simple." She pulled out her AVIAN BOW and fired a wind-imbued arrow toward the southwest lantern, snuffing the light out. The slab covering the north exit receded, revealing a small, alcove-like room containing a single, ornate chest whose wood was barely holding it together. Shalin creaking it open, the lid cracked on its hinges with a loud snap. It contained a larger, more ornate variety of key than the simple door keys they had found up to the point, its handle wrought in the likeness of a phantom's scary face. The Klefki floating around Theo was quick to add the large key to its key ring.

You got the BOSS KEY! Now you can get into the chamber where the Boss lurks.

"That's the last thing we were missing," Shalin said to Theo with a smile before retracting her steps to the three-dimensional maze, making her way to the far west section where she had found the door. The Klefki was ready to unlock the door chained shut by the large lock that the golden key would perfect fit into. Beyond the door, both explorers could hear a loud cry that Theo may have recognized as that of a Dragapult, but it came with far more echo than a normal one's cry. "Get your best Pokémon ready, cause once we open that door, we've got a big fight ahead of us. If this is anything like my other six battles, it's gonna be rough."

The Klefki following Theo opened the large lock at the Underboss' ready. Tapping on the slabs covering the passage to the left, they opened, revealing a dimly-lit chamber covered in pooling water no more than inches deep. It didn't impede the movements of the Pokémon at all, but it would make stealth on the ground almost impossible.

Shalin, now aboard Kiara, advanced alongside Theo presumably, given his readiness to take on the guardian of the Forbidden Crypt. Each of the lioness' footfalls loudly echoed in the large, rectangular, arena-like chamber as she crossed it. On the far side was a slab-covered door frame with the wavering image of a Dragapult's head.

Before she had time to ponder its purpose, a similar slab closed shut on the opposite side of the room, with a similar glyph appearing. Echoed Dragapult cries rumbled within the closed arena, four barrages of heat-seeking DRAGON DARTS headed directly for Shalin, Theo, and their Pokémon. Everything happened so fast that for Shalin, there was no evading them.

The Dreepy missiles exploded in Kiara's face and Shalin's side with scathing dragon energy, the rider letting out a pained shriek as she turned toward their source: an unusual Dragapult with four heads. This meant four sets of horns, and most importantly, four times the firepower. Though the four heads did slow the large dragon down somewhat, it was by far the most threatening foe Shalin had ever encountered.

"NOBLE ROAR, Kiara!" Shalin commanded. Her Pyroar's bellow attempted to weaken the four-headed ghost, but the menacing sound went through its CLEAR BODY unharmed. If anything, the repelled effort empowered and enhanced the Pokémon's morale. "Stay mobile, girl!" She nocked one of the precious AVIAN ARROWS she had remaining and took a shot at one of the side heads that looked like it was about to spew FIRE BLAST all over in an effort to restrict her movement. Another head looked to do the same for Theo. While a direct hit would have been ideal for the dragon, ensnaring him in a circle of flames was the attack's purpose.

Theo's strategy was solid: droplets of LIFE DEW kept the duo and their Pokémon healthy, while DRAGON PULSEs aimed at the main body wracked all four heads at the same time. In an explosion, the first Dragapult head detached from the main body and began floating freely and erratically around the chamber, launching singular Dreepy missiles like clockwork. While they were no longer heat seeking after being detached from the main body, the heads were also flickering between material and ethereal faster than the eye could see, making them effectively impossible to attack. Any and all attacks that passed through them would be rendered ineffective, as Shalin found out the hard way by hearing one of her AVIAN ARROWS clink against the far wall.

To make matters worse, as if on cue with the dragon being reduced to three heads, metal spikes emerged from the northwest and northeast corners of the floor, reshaping the same ground to a triangle and restricting the space the trainers could use to dodge both the main Dragapult's and the floating head's Dreepy missiles. It was a lot to keep track of, and Shalin only expected it to get worse as the hydra-Dragapult grew weaker.

Tiring of the serpentine water-types' presence, the main body lit up its long tail and attempted to blind Theo's Pokémon with a strobe-light CONFUSE RAY, the floating head and one still-attached head laying HEXes that would be amped in strength if Theo's Pokémon fell to the delirium.

Taking advantage of its focus on Theo, Kiara lunged toward the ghostly foe's main body, looking to CRUNCH one of its remaining three soul gems to dust.

With two of the Dragapult's heads freely floating about and launching Dreepy missiles at Theo and his two Pokémon, keeping eyes on all the projectiles, whether they be those, FIRE BLAST shrapnel, or other attacks, was getting harder. The Gyarados' HURRICANE slammed the dragon's main body into the south wall, along with Shalin and her Pokémon; as it turned out, dropping such a fierce windstorm with an enclosure would make its wrath indiscriminate. A third soul gem shattered, three of the four heads now danced above the trainers and showered them in projectiles. Even Milotic's SAFEGUARD may have only been able to hold so long. It also came with a price; Kiara had been knocked out of the battle.

The main body was now merely a normal, but excessively large, Dragapult. The medallion guardian's one remaining head looked badly hurt and confused from the HURRICANE. That is, until the unthinkable happened: a translucent crystal body encased the now-refreshed dragon as it TERASTALLIZED into a pure GHOST-type. Shalin scrambled to send out her Wyrdeer and get a PSYSHIELD BASH off, but by the time it could, their quarry had abruptly vanished, leaving them at the mercy of the floating heads' Dreepy missiles until it reappeared to deliver an immunity-piercing, Tersatal-enhanced PHANTOM FORCE toward Shalin's Wyrdeer.

Seeing the Dragapult disappear, Shalin knew what was up, and she suspected she would be safe from the Ghost-type attack, given her mount's Normal typing. How wrong she was, Prance screeching after being hit from behind by the Phantom Force that by all rights should have phased right through her. She bucked and kicked in pain, sending Shalin flying off her Pokémon and rolling toward the spikes. She was unable to stop her momentum before the first row of them pierced even her BLUE VEST, leaving her dripping red as well. Backed into a corner, she felt she had little choice. Retrieving a Z-CRYSTAL from her pack, she held it in front of her and cracked it open, PRIMAL ENERGY filling the air around Prance.

"Prance, use your NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE!"



The crypt gave way to a black dimension glowing with eerie blues and purples, an array of ghostly hands from which there was no escape reaching for the Dragapult. As much as it tried to flee, several of the hands grabbed it by the tail and began wringing the Pokémon's spirit out. When the final soul gem shattered, the three floating Dragapult heads vanished with it. The two slabs locking the explorers in receding, an excited Shalin led the way to a small chamber with an eldritch glow in its center. Floating above the center of a dais with the likeness of a Spectrier embedded within was a purple medallion whose front was engraved with a similar carving.

The Spectral Medallion.

"That's it, Theo!" Shalin cried, the adrenaline rush from at last locating the seventh medallion staving off the stabbing pain she was in from the bloody battle. The moment she touched the medallion, though, all her pain disappeared, Shalin now surrounded in the... could it even be called a glow? The colors were so dark that some may not even call it light. "That's seven! One more and I'll at last be able to unlock the Halls of Origin underneath Sootopolis!"

You got the SPECTRAL MEDALLION, one of the Medallions of Eight! A relic of the divine strength of the Crown Monarch's ghostly steed, its existence bridges the gap among the material, ethereal, and astral.

And that was the smoking gun that could have easily tipped Theo off. It may have been in his best interest to let Shalin open the Halls or Origin up, but after that, all bets were off. With a name similar to the Cave of Origin, the Halls could hold a power that, if left in the possession of the League, could prove tricky to overcome. The Underboss may have been strongly inclined to stop her as soon as she were to naively lead the way to the secluded location deep in his own territory. This power would not be claimed by Shalin and the League. It couldn't be that way.

For the glory of Rocket.