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Team Facinus Dungeon 1: Part 3

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Next Part: Team Facinus Dungeon 1: Part 4
Previous Part: Team Facinus Dungeon 1: Part 2


The ground shuddered as Duncan’s giant girth slammed back onto it. Pebbles from the edge of the pit were shaken loose and tumbled weakly to the ground.

Duncan stood back up and growled. He’d been at the bottom of this damn pit for what he felt was around an hour. No matter how many times he tried to climb back out, he would always slip back down the sheer, smooth wall of the pit. He tried digging out, punching his way out, jumping out, anything, but nothing worked. Each time he would fall back to the bottom, usually landing on his butt.

His fists and fingers hurt from trying the gouge the wall, and his backside hurt from landing on it too much.

Duncan gave another leap. His claws managed to sink into the rock, much to the dismay of his aching fingers. But he was too heavy to remain there for more than a few seconds. For the umpteenth time, he fell back down the pit.

“AaaauuuuUUUUGGGGH!!” Duncan’s groan turned into an infuriated roar. He panted, then sat down.

I’m never going to get out of here at this rate. He thought. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked up. This pit wasn’t even that deep. Hell, if he had a chair or something to stand on he’d be able to make it out of here easy. But he was just a couple feet short of reaching the edge and pulling himself out.

With a sigh, he leaned back and rested against the wall of the pit. He needed to approach this differently.

His eyes wandered over the wall. He examined every crack and crevice, hoping to glean some kind of solution from them. But they remained as quiet and unhelpful as ever.

Duncan looked to the roof of the cavern.

I hope Lacy’s okay. He couldn’t help but think.

He shook his head, shaking the grim thought away. Of course Lacy was okay! She may not be physically strong, but she’s tough and smart. If any trouble comes her way, she’ll be able to handle it.  She always has before.

Besides, not only were those Barboaches quite possibly the least-dangerous Pokemon Duncan had ever seen, but their leader seemed quite invested in Lacy’s safety. He was confident that she’d be okay.

However, that didn’t change the fact that Duncan needed to get out of this pit.

He couldn’t believe he managed to fall into this trap. Of all the gimmicky, simple traps to fall into! A freaking pitfall in the middle of the room! He would’ve felt embarrassed, if he wasn’t so annoyed with the whole situation.

Duncan gave another sigh and shifted his weight. “Ow!” He cried out when a sharp pain shot through his back.

“What the…?” He turned around to inspect his back. He saw he still had his backpack on. One of the sharper rocks in the Spoolstone must’ve poked him…

“Wait a minute…” Duncan sat up straight.

The Spoolstone! Of course! If he used the Spoolstone to make a rope, he might be able to climb out of here!

Duncan quickly plucked the spongy wad of thread and rock from out of the bag. Without hesitation, he bunched up the string and began to braid and twist it into a makeshift rope.

The process took a good while, and Duncan poked himself with the sharp shards of rock many times. But he braided and twisted and knotted the strings as many times as his large fingers would let him.

Eventually, a lumpy rope was formed. It took nearly the whole ball of Spoolstone.

“Alright,” he said aloud as he stood up. “Here goes nothing…”

He took the tiny ball of Spoolstone and swung it above his head like a lasso. He aimed carefully, the sent the ball flying out of the pit and onto the ground above. He hoped that it would catch on to something, like a grappling hook would.

He gave an experimental tug, and the ball came rolling back.

Duncan huffed. This might take a while.

He tried again and again to get the ball to catch on to something. But it would roll back every single time. Duncan was about to admit defeat when the rope suddenly went taut.

“Huh?” He tugged it a few times. The Spoolstone didn’t come back.

Duncan smiled. Finally! He was getting out of here!

He put a foot on the wall, and with a great heave pulled himself up on the rope. It creaked with strain, but didn’t snap.

Duncan carefully made his way up the wall, pulling himself up with ease. He was almost there, he could almost reach the edge.

Suddenly, he heard a distant snap. Dread rose in his stomach.

“No, no, nonononono!!!” Duncan redoubled his efforts and scrambled as fast as he could up the rope.

He had just placed his claws on the edge of the pit when the rope finally snapped. It plummeted downward, and Duncan was left clinging.

He didn’t have a good grip at all. His claws were not nearly enough to keep him up there. He hastily threw his other arm up to grab the ledge, but he wasn’t fast enough. The chunk of rock Duncan gripped fell away, and again Duncan fell to the bottom.

He landed with another loud “THUD”, shaking a few more rocks loose from the top.

“AAAAUGH SHIT!!!” Duncan roared. He panted, furious and tired. His voice echoed throughout the cave.

He pouted. I guess my only hope is that another team of Explorers finds me…

So Duncan sat and waited. He was pissed that his plan didn’t work, and on top of that he probably couldn’t turn in the Spoolstone for cash now that it was all snapped and frayed. This trip had gone pretty terribly so far.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. Getting pissy would only make things worse. This may be going terribly, but he couldn’t count on his fingers the times he and Lacy had been through worse.

There was that one time with the cannibals. Duncan thought. Or that time by that abandoned mansion. Then there was that trip that Professor Squall sent us on. Or that time near the Everburning Plains. Duncan shuddered at the thought of that last terrible experience.

He decided to think of something else.

Duncan sighed and wondered what Geoda City was like. He heard it described as a decently-sized desert city. He and Lacy had never been that far west, but the two did spend a little time in a town a few days outside the city. The Fog in that desert was strange; it was warm and muggy. It took longer for one to lose their sanity there, but it quickly caused some sort of illness in the bones. Duncan guessed it was a result of the warmer temperatures affecting the Fog.

But Geoda City was often described as a “mini-desert-Andalusst”. It was busy, for it’s size, with a good-sized population. Other than that, he didn’t know too much about the--

Duncan was suddenly ripped from his thoughts when everything around him began to shake.

He leapt up. “Earthquake?” He gasped.

Loud tremors rang through the Dungeon. Duncan worried at the thought of a cave-in. His panic intensified as he remembered Gavina’s message.

“You guys be careful of that Whiscash, King Wussy.” Her words rang in Duncan’s mind. “We think he might be a descendant of the Whiscash that sank the old city all those generations ago. As such, he may have the power to cause a whole lot of damage to Andalusst with his earthquakes.”

That Whiscash guy must be doing this!! Is he trying to cause an earthquake?!

Rocks started the crumble around Duncan. Panic was just rising in his stomach when the tremors suddenly ceased as fast as they came. Within a moment, the Dungeon was quiet again.

...That’s it? Duncan gave a sigh of relief. Awesome. Andalusst’s not gettin’ destroyed today.

Duncan looked up and saw something near the top of the pit.

The tremors had shaken loose a few more rocks near where he was holding earlier. He saw a spiked, branching thing sticking out of the wall.

“Is that a root?”

He walked closer and started up at the anomaly.

A thick, sturdy Meatroot protruded from the wall of the pit, uncovered by the earlier tremors.

Duncan smiled. He could use the Meatroot to get out!

He jumped up, pleased to see that the root was easily within reach. He grabbed a hold of it. It shifted slightly, but stayed in place.

He landed back on the bottom of the pit. He definitely should be able to pull himself out with that. He gave one final jump, and latched on to the Meatroot.

To Duncan’s dismay, it shifted a lot more now that his entire weight was pulling it. The root began to emerge from the rocks, sending pebbles rolling to the bottom of the pit. Duncan used this to his advantage and held the root in both his hands.

The root was rapidly coming out of the wall, but Duncan managed to finally get an arm over the rim of the pit. Within seconds, he had finally dragged himself out.

He rolled over a few times, distancing himself from the trap, and lay on the ground. He realized he was panting.

Duncan wiped the sweat off his face and laughed triumphantly.

“Eat that you stupid piece of shit pitfall!!” He cried out as he pumped his fists in the air. He lay there for a moment longer, basking in his triumph.

After that moment, Duncan realized that it might be best if he took that Meatroot. It could make up for the financial loss of the Spoolstone.

He walked carefully back to the edge of the pit. He reached down and pulled the Meatroot to the surface. To his surprise, there was still a good bit of it embedded in the rocks. With a great heave, he forcefully ripped the root out of the ground.

When it was finally torn completely out, Duncan was surprised to see that the root was almost as tall as him, and at least a foot and a half around.

“This oughta cover the lost Spoolstone.” He grinned. His grin suddenly faded.

“Now, where did those Barboaches take Lacy…?” Duncan re-examined the room. The only doorways was the one he and Lacy entered in, and one on the other side of the room.

“I guess that’s as good a place to start as any.” Duncan used the Meatroot like a thick walking stick and made his way to the unopened door.

He was please to see that this door was unlocked, having no keyhole. He casually opened the door and squeezed through into the next room.

This cavern was small and dimly-lit, far smaller than the previous rooms. In the middle stood a small stone obelisk. It’s flat surfaces were slightly cracked, but were otherwise uninteresting. Duncan noticed a group of familiar-looking fungus in the far corner. Fleshcaps, he noted.

However, he also noticed that this small cavern was a dead end. This couldn’t have been the way they took his partner.

Duncan was about to grab the Fleshcaps and leave, but when he took another step he suddenly heard another shrill battle cry. He rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing what was coming next.

From behind the obelisk jumped a single scrawny Barboach. His whiskers whipped wildly around his face, and he held a spoon in his clenched teeth.

“Behold!!” He screeched. “I am the great Volgio! Master psychic and harbringer of your dooooooom!!” He twisted dramatically, then stopped and glared at Duncan. “Watch, as I use my ultimate psychic powers to make your brain melt into a--”

Without a single word, Duncan clutched the Meatroot like a golf club and smacked the Barboach. The tiny fish Pokemon flew across the room, slammed into the far wall, and landed softly in the Fleshcaps, spoon bouncing harmlessly to the side.

He lay there, motionless.

Duncan walked up to examine the grey creature. He towered over him to see him stirring, dazed after hitting his head.

Duncan picked up the Barboach and held him up, face-to-face.

“You gonna tell me where they took my partner?” He asked curtly.

“I’ll never tell!” Volgio the Barboach exclaimed after shaking his head and regaining his senses. “My loyalty lies with His Royal Muddiness King Wussy Whiskey Montgomery IV, and I’ll never betray--”

Duncan rolled his eyes and gave one huge, vicious roar directly into Volgio’s face. His roar echoed for a good thirty seconds, and the Barboach turned white as a ghost and trembled.

“You wanna tell me now?”

“Th-th-they t-t-took her back to ca-camp.” He squeaked. “C-Captain Scotch ordered tha-that she be taken p-p-p-prisoner.”

“Where’s your camp?”

“Near the end of the D-Dungeon! It’s a r-room with green lights fl-floating in it! Y-You can’t m-m-miss it!”

“Thank you.” Duncan gently placed the Barboach back on the floor to tremble and whimper more. He picked as many as the Fleshcaps as could fit in his bag, picked up the Meatroot walking stick again, then promptly left the room, closing the door politely behind him.

Volgio was left in silence.

He began to chuckle.

“The fool!” He cried. “He’ll never find the camp! I told him the lights were green…” His chuckles turned into full-fledged laughter. “When really, they’re blue!! Now when he sees it, he’ll never know that’s where our camp is! Hahaha!!”

Thinking himself very clever, Volgio continued to laugh in his delusional triumph.


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Hi guys! Part three's finally up! Ironically enough, this is the shortest part, but it took me the longest to write...
I also like the art piece! It was fun playing with the lighting!
Comments are appreciated!!

Team Facinus belongs to me
Pokemon belongs to Game Freak
For :iconpmdunity:
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Comments2
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ArtOfTheGame's avatar
Duncan is not a happy camper in that picture. :(

Looks like there will be no more barboach nonsense with Duncan from now on!