Heading through the formerly locked door, Josh breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't slam back in his face. The green light, as sickly was it was, was enough to see by, and the room itself appeared to be unoccupied. Guiding his Jolteon around in a curious walk, his eyes shifted toward a blue, lantern-like light sourcce with a square floor indentation near it. "Curious..." Josh hummed as he continued to circle the chamber's perimeter looking for clues.

Near the center was a stone cube about a third of Josh's size, one of its faces painted red, another blue, and a third white. As he circled it, he found that its opposite faces were like-colored. He could only presume the top and bottom faces were the same, as well. With only one way to find out, he hopped off his mount and gave the cube a shove. Though he could not push it, he could find purchase beneath it to lift it onto another face with some effort. It was surrounded with a half-height enclosure that prevented it from getting stuck in a corner. How thoughtful of the Gym Leader, making her puzzles fool-proof!

Josh suspected it would be a simple matter of flipping the heavy object to the correct face. Rolling it in a straight path and into the slot, the red face was the one up the first time, not the blue face. Climbing out of the small pit, he pushed the colored stone out of the slot. With tedium, he flipped it from the right, then from the far side, then the left, and lastly from the near side to get the blue face up. Panting, Josh switched Pokémon to Kairi and let her AQUA RING wash over him to invigorate him. That was a lot of work!

So this challenge did seem to use the logic of a top-down action adventure title. Josh had plenty of experience with those, and with his Pokémon being stand-ins for an adventurer's inventory, he felt he had enough tools to solve whatever Elise Calcifet 's maze had in store for him.

The clink of a SMALL KEY falling surprised Josh in terms of the maze's design. If that locked door led to just a key, then wouldn't it be possible to permanently lock that key inside its own room? Unless there was an extra key somewhere, or there was a hidden entrance he missed? Thinking about it, he would circle the room one more time, making sure to be thorough before climbing onto Kairi's back.

With a gentle squeeze of Josh's legs, the Vaporeon trotted out of the chamber and back to the original fork. Heading to the east side, he inserted the SMALL KEY into the keyhole, the golden object disappearing as soon as the chains holding the door fast fell. The panel disappeared into the ground, letting the two advance onward.

The sight of blue torches, a large treasure chest on the other side of the gate, and a red-eyed Banette meant that this was likely the dungeon's sub-boss! The Gym Leader was one for puzzles, but he loved action! He gave the Vaporeon a gentle pat before talking to her. "Sorry Kairi, but I gotta switch you out." Grasping Kairi's and Pinky's Poké Balls at the same time, he performed an expertly-timed mounted quick switch, Kairi disappearing into a beam of red light just as Pinky materialized from another. He fell part of the way to the ground before the Sylveon's saddle pushed him back up, the young man now astride the fairy-type.

Pinky leaped beyond the blue torches and into the octagonal arena, expecting some sort of gate or obstacle to lock him inside. Not wasting any time against the Banette, the Mauville Leader squeezed Pinky's sides, the charging Sylveon pointing MYSTICAL FIRE-laced feelers toward the ethereal doll.