Beyond was total chaos; in addition to the Tsaarena, there were five poison-type Pokémon. With the grass-types outmatched, Shalin provided cover fire for Keenan's plan to ensnare them. "Kiara, FLAMETHROWER!" Shalin ordered. The lioness reared, belching a burning stream of fire toward the Golbat. Their teamwork ensnared the pesky flying-types in ELECTROWEB, but their focus on exclusively the Golbat left the Tsaarena overwhelmed by the three bladed snakes.

Two of the Seviper whipped their bladed tails at the young Pokémon, one of the Tsaarena diving in front to protect its child from the brunt of the blow. The deep cut of a POISON TAIL, followed by a similar cross-cut, grievously wounding the grass-type. Knowing it was a goner, the Tsaarena made one final ENDEAVOR, inflicting similar wounds on the snakes surrounding it before collapsing on the cold floor. Spurring her Pokémon faster, the wild rider finished the job by ramming and trampling the snakes.

The one remaining Tsaarena and children crowded around Kee and Shalin, simultaneously grateful for being saved, but mournful for their mortally wounded family member. "Levy, we need you to help save that Tsaarena," Shalin instructed her Pokémon, sending out the striking serpentine water-type that was more than capable of fighting from a stationary point on land. "We need a dose of your LIFE DEW!"

The Milotic did as asked, but the envenomed grass-type did not immediately stir. Its eyes open and festering body completely still, the wounds may have been too great for Pokémon healing to recover from. As a thank-you for saving most of the family, the remaining adult waddled toward the fallen Tsaarena, pulled loose a red bracelet adorned with a topaz, and presented it to the two of them. "I think this is their way of thanking us. Do you want it?"

You got the MACHO BRACE! With it, you can move, lift, and carry very heavy objects!

Shalin had acted in the moment, and the Tsaarena had lost its life because of her inappropriate action. Kee looked furious, intimidating Shalin into backing away and cowering in a corner. She shook her head. "I... in the moment, I thought they were more threatening than the Seviper were," she admitted, basking in the HEAL PULSE. "I was wrong. I'm so sorry!"

Done skulking, she turned around and slipped the MACHO BRACE on. It did not take long for her to follow Kee and put her newfound strength to the test. She found herself not only able to move the large boulder, but lift it entirely with some effort. Stumbling, she turned in place and set the large rock to one side, uncovering another decrepit-looking wooden chest. While this one did not contain any gems, it did contain something perhaps more valuable in the moment: a MAP of the cave. While she wasn't sure how much she could trust it, everything they had seen of the cave so far was recorded on its parchment with striking accuracy.

[player]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/689309685941272604/1079916214651994244/item_get_1.wav[/player]

You found the DUNGEON MAP! The dark rooms are the ones you haven't been to yet.

She showed the map to Kee, taking a picture of it with her phone before returning it to its rightful place for the next explorer to use. "How do you want to sweep this place, Kee?" Shalin asked as she withdrew her Milotic and got back onto her Pyroar.

Shalin wasn't most people, though; she was empathetic. As fierce as she could be in battle, especially with a Pokémon whose paw-fists could grind foes down with stinging vibration, she was a sweetheart. She was easily taken advantage of by unscrupulous people that deceived her. "I wonder if their nest is nearby," she speculated, still trying to get used to the sudden strength coursing through her arms. She was a scrawny girl, but her new treasure gave her the strength of a fighting-type Pokémon. "Might be better to count our blessings and head another way," she suggested, leading the way eastward.

Provided Kee followed, the two would hear a nearby rumbling sound, followed by the whizzing noise of a large Whirlipede racing past! "Phew, it didn't seem to notice us," she whispered, taking her right hand off Kiara's reins to listen for more of them. "Sounds like there are four of them, but that's just a guess," she voiced her observation after a minute or so of trying to distinguish the sounds. Noticing a gap in their patrol routes, Shalin signaled Kee forward when the coast was clear.

The explorer's route took them into a wide but short dead-end passageway with a small, wooden box in its corner. Shalin slid off her mount just long enough to prop it open, within it another silver-colored SMALL KEY.

You obtained a SMALL KEY! This key will open any one lock. You can use it only in this dungeon.

With timing and the occasional burst of speed from Kiara, Shalin was able to cross through the tunnels the bug-types were patrolling, ferrying Kee if he didn't have his own way across. The duo came to a fork - straight east, a dark tunnel leading down; turning south, an upward-sloping one with a faint light at its end. With her newfound strength, Shalin would be able to push the large rock blocking the tunnel out of the way. "Wouldn't have been fun to come here before finding these things," she remarked, still catching her breath from the close encounter with the highly venomous insects. "Up or down?" she idly asked Kee.

"Right!" Shalin confirmed. Flexing her arms, the female slid off Kiara's back and pushed against the large boulder. With a grunt and a thud, the path to the lit tunnel was open. The fire-type and explorer led the way, the ascending tunnel taking them to the "roof" of the Seviper's Remains. They had a wonderful view of the enormous, fossilized snake scales. Did a POWER SPOT once exist out here? "Incredible..." Shalin sighed, her Pyroar mount treading carefully to avoid slipping and falling in the swamp below. "The prehistoric past must have been something wild if Pokémon could grow this big."

After taking in the striking view of the wetlands, Shalin would wander to the other side of the snake, a tunnel entrance inside one of its "eyeballs". Within was a section of the cave that, cross-referencing her map, seemed to be isolated from the rest of it. Within was a large, open cavern with stalagmites forming a natural maze, several of which look weak and cracked. She pointed to another wooden box similar to the previous ones. "Look down there!" she pointed. "I wonder what's inside?"

As she entered the maze, she felt the ground beneath her mount barely recede, and the slab of rock the wooden box rest upon began to slowly recede into the ground. Acting fast, Shalin hurled Treble's Poké Ball toward one of the cracked stalagmites. "CLOSE COMBAT, Treble!" she commanded. Without hesitation, the Hakamo-o slammed his vibrating fist into the large piece of rock, grinding it to pieces in little time at all. They didn't have much time to spare, though, and there were several more in their way!

Working together, Treble and Kee's Lucario were able to shatter all of the earthen spires blocking their way, moving in a counterclockwise spiral around the large cavern. The swift fighting-type would be able to reach the center with plenty of time to spare. Within the wooden box was another chrome-colored SMALL KEY.

You obtained a SMALL KEY! This key will open any one lock. You can use it only in this dungeon.

With their prize secured, Shalin performed a sweep of the debris-filled cavern, only finding small Pokémon that fled from the powerful fighting-types with all due haste. "What did you end up finding?" she asked Kee. Regardless of whether she got an answer, she would swap Pokémon back to her Pyroar and lead the way back up to the snake-shaped save's roof. As she was crossing, she caught sight of the entrance - the small island where her Beedrill had dropped Shalin off. "We could slide down from here to get back to the entrance quickly," she suggested, pointing to her map, "or we could do back the way we came and go deeper. I'm down for either!"

Shalin wasn't at all mad at Kee. He probably wasn't used to spending tons of time in the wilderness like she was. Being a strong Pokémon trainer required a very different skill set than being an explorer. "No, you're okay!" Shalin threw her hands in the air as she answered, sliding off Kiara's back to take a seat on the roof's edge. "I think I can handle the rest of it alone! You were a big help. Safe travels!"

She watched Kee swim or fly away from the snake-like cavern's entrance, relaxing by observing him until he was out of sight. Refreshed from the brief respite, she had a job to finish. "Come on, Kiara, let's go." With that, she mounted the lioness once more and backtracked through the descending tunnel, reaching the cave's lowest level. The composition of its walls sent chills down the adventurer's spine, looking like they were petrified intestines. Was this place really once a Dynamaxed Seviper, as was rumored?

Midway through the large tunnel, the grinding noise of the movement of four Stonjourner, perfectly camouflaged against the cavern wall, caught Shalin's attention. She squeezed Kiara's sides tightly to put on a burst of speed that let her run underneath the four rock-type Pokémon as they attempted to fall on top of her and crush her under their weight.

The long tunnel led to the Seviper's "tail", on the complete opposite side of the cavern. More large stones would have stopped her had she not retrieved the MACHO BRACE first. Flexing her arm muscles, she slid down from the fire-type, her increased strength letting her push the obstacles out of the way. Those weren't the only hazards, though; her Pyroar sprung into action when a weak section of the floor collapsed beneath her. The lioness lunged toward her, bit into one of the furs she wore on her shoulders, and whisked her to safety. She caught her breath just in time to hear a distant splashing sound, dreading what terrible injury she would have suffered had she fallen such a great distance.

Toward the end of the hall, Shalin caught a glimpse of a purple, highly reflective, palm-sized crystal. On its largest faces was etched the number "50". Perhaps it was some form of currency in the ancient Hoennian world? She smiled, putting the artifact in a relatively cushioned pocket of her backpack before continuing on. After using one of her two SMALL KEYS on yet another locked gate, Shalin felt uneasy, as though she was being watched. Getting back on her Pyroar, her eyes shifted about from the center of the wide open cavern.

Suddenly, a wall of stone formed over both exits, trapping the girl and her lioness. Gasping, she felt her heart pounding through her chest as the ghastly, grinning form of a Hisuian Typhlosion materialized near her. It spit purple fireballs of INFERNAL PARADE toward the ceiling, causing a rain of fire and earth to keep Shalin on her toes! She did her best to guide her mount away from the attack from above, but it was futile; a small fireball or two grazed her, prompting a yelp that gave Kiara cause for concern. She loosed a powerful HYPER VOICE at her rider's command, to no avail: their foe's Ghost typing rendered the deafening shout ineffective.

Staying aboard the Pyroar, Shalin reached for Prance's Poké Ball, hurling the Wyrdeer toward the phantom in an effort to gore it from close range with antlers augmented by a PSYSHIELD. After repeated charges, the Typhlosion fell. As if on cue, the stone blocking the two entrances to the makeshift battle arena fell into the floor, letting her advance. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she also sent Levy out of his Poké Ball, the Milotic quick to soothe the trio's wounds with his LIFE DEW at Shalin's command.

After the battle, the cave opened wider, its walls becoming more unsettling as Shalin found herself in what could only be described as the snake's belly. In its center was a massive rock formation that could be rotated, almost like a turnstile. After experimentation, she grumbled when she realized it would only turn 90 degrees before locking and reversing the direction it could move. With her final SMALL KEY to open a nearby gate, she could access the turnstile from three different directions, meaning it was no longer an impediment against her travel through the innards of the petrified beast.

The petrified gut was as unnerving as ever to look at, twisting and turning much like human innards. It made Shalin's ride a little rougher than she was used to, relieved that the feline's saddle was large to accomodate her pronounced running stroke. The fire-type's speed and precision saw her through a field of capped stalagmites serving as access to a hidden alcove she could only see from the basement level. The hidden corner ontaining another wooden chest, Shalin slid off her mount and creaked it open. Within was a golden, ornate KEY, significant larger than the ones she found on the lower level.

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

With the final key in hand, the green-clad adventurer and her Pyroar backtracked to the turnstile, this time going south. Not long after that did she find the stylized, yellow lock that the key belonged to. Twisting it into the keyhole, the gate it sealed creaked open. Beyond the gate, she heard an echoed, reptilian cry that was so alien she did not know which Pokémon could possibly be making the noise. Whatever it was, it seemed big and angry. She held a Z-CRYSTAL in her hand in preparation for what she expected would be an unavoidable battle, much like when she battled the Alpha Mega Pidgeot alongside Alexei Ivanov .

Taking a deep breath and seated on her lioness once again, she guided Kiara beyond the yellow gate. Making an easterly turn, a slippery slope caught the two off guard, throwing them onto the edge of a large chamber that looked like a petrified stomach. In its center was a dense field of blades not unlike Seviper tails, all pointed upward. Falling into that pit was a terrifying thought.

Snapping Shalin into alertness was a loud and seep hiss that broke the eerie silence, big red eyes staring Shalin and her feline steed down. Its source lunged at her at high speed, the giant frame of an Alpha Seviper looking to come down on top of them both with its knife-like fangs! While the fire-type evaded, Kiara's attempt to counter was met with a powerful tail swipe that sapped the strength she needed to carry Shalin on her back. Shaking ahd roaring in pain, the liobess' trainer withdrew her, calling on her Wyrdeer's help.

Crushing the Z-CRYSTAL in her hand, the white, majestic Pokémon started glowing with the purple light of Z-POWER. Prance lowered her horns, ramming them toward the bladed snake with no fear whatsoever. "Prance, use SHATTERED PSYCHE!"



As the poison-type lunged to attempt to interrupt the Z-Move, a giant PSYSHIELD deflected its fang-blades, leaving it wide open to be rammed and trampled with the overwhelming power behind the Wyrdeer's Z-Move. To Shalin's shock, the foe was still alive, its head and tail twitching, but unable to move! Sliding off her Pyroar again, Shalin stood near the center of the giant snake's body. With a heroic effort made possible by her MACHO BRACE, she lifted her adversary into the air and hurled it into the spike pit. Unable to dislodge itself with what little strength it had, the slithering predator gave up the ghost.

Racing south into a room that could only be described as the inside of the petrified snake's heart, she found a sight similar to what she saw at the peak of the Braviary's Nest: a medallion above a dais, though this one bore the image of the Kalosian death god, the Deathbringer Yveltal. She reached for the jet black medallion, gleaming in the darkness surrounding it.

You got the NIGHT MEDALLION, one of the Medallions of Eight! A relic of the Deathbringer's divine strength, the unparalleled dread it exudes defies the passage of eons.

Exhausted, Shalin slowly made the long trek out of the back half of the cavern, intending to slide down the side of the snake's outer wall and take a similar road home that Kee did. Instead, she passed out atop its surface, her Pokémon keeping watch over her as she slept beneath the sky.