[ti]closed[/ti][Instance][C/Altair] LEVEL-1: Gnarled Root

The reply didn't take too long; it seemed Altair was doing some kind of idle activity, or was in the middle of a mini-game. Maybe he was playing poker in the Firewater Saloon or something? Regardless, it was a pleasant surprise to get such a speedy answer. Typing up his message from aboard Raiden, he gave the bird-lover an equally expedient answer:

DIRECT MESSAGE> Rather tell you in person. Like I said, I'm outside Briarbane's west gate right now. I'm riding a Zebstrika. Not hard to miss. Don't want to go too far without you, cause the Instance is pretty far from town. What's your ETA?

A bit snippier than his normal tone over text, no doubt because of difficult callers...

Reasonable; Josh needed to have his Pokémon spar a little more. He couldn't do it now, though. He had to save as much energy as possible. Just because the dungeon was low level didn't mean he could slack and waste resources.

DIRECT MESSAGE> Noted. Maybe we should brawl at the Arena sometime soon. See you in a few.

With a few minutes to spare, Josh clicked open Goroh's Poké Ball and watched the excited Cyclizar perform wheelies on the open road. One day, soon, he would be in the dragon-type's seat. Perhaps after returning from the Gnarled Root, he would be level ten and be able to saddle up the Paldean dragon.

On the tail end of that ten-minute estimate, the cavalry had arrived. "Hi there, Altair!" Josh waved to both the Greninja and the trainer. "Glad you could make it. Mostly I just wanted to get to know you and our Pokémon better through a nice, easy Instance. We're actually overleveled for it. Should be relaxing. Besides that, the usual. XP and treasure. You never know what you might find in here. Look what we found in Sector Jarzick after all, on top of the pile of XP that Invasive Species was worth."

Once the two were ready, Josh content to keep pace with Altair as they headed westward toward the Gnarled Root, he would make good on his promise. "I don't know if I told you this, but I work remote, normally doing emails. They were apparently so busy that they had to pull me off emails and put me on the phone. And I dunno about you, but I can't stand talking to thick idiots."

The whistle got Josh's full attention as he rode toward their destination, making sure Altair could keep up regardless of his mode of transportation. "Never seen it before, but it was terrifying. An electric-type that can use Power Whip is scary stuff," Josh remarked. "I don't think I'd want one. I doubt the game would even let you mount one at all, if you could even find a place to strap a saddle to such a strange creature." His second point was even more puzzling. "Probably a boss thing. Z-Moves, from what I understand, don't bypass immunity like that."

Josh frowned when he mentioned UberEats. "I haven't worked an in-person job for over four years," he revealed as Altair related his own job's woes. "Being remote saves so much on gas money, and we even get reimbursed for our internet bill based on how many hours we work. For a 40 hour week, it's about a quarter of our bill."

The conversation would meander until the duo had reached their destination, an error message popping up as Josh reached the red zone line:

Error> You must dismount from your Pokémon to proceed.

"What do you mean, I have to get off my Pokémon?" the scout whined. "I'm tired of not being able to ride in Instances. First Jarzick, then the Wing Dungeon, now here?" Reluctantly, he slid off his Pokémon's back, the zone line turning blue. As he stepped through the loading zone, a calligraphic title drew itself on the center of his UI:

LEVEL-1: Gnarled Root Dungeon

A mini-map would appear in the corner of Josh's UI, as well as Altair's if his settings were similar. The decor suggested that the duo were on the inside of a colossal tree's root system, dimly lit by out-of-place seeming wall and box torches. As he led the way through the entry hall, were Altair to follow him, a wooden slab would seal the room from behind them. The only traditional door was to their left, and it was locked and chained. All three other cardinal directions were locked. "There's a puzzle in this room. Do you see anything out of place?" he asked, four roots sticking out of the floor roughly halfway between its center and each corner.

{Map}

The oddity the frog Pokémon could see was obvious to him, but not to Josh... until he pointed it out. There was an indentation near the root closest to the northeast. Pulling on it, it stretched toward the corner of the woody, dirt-covered chamber. A curious jingle played as all three shutters opened. "Simple enough."

Poking his head inside the room to the north, Josh stepped inside, only to find the ghost of an elderly man standing between two box torches keeping the interior of the petrified tree lit. A subtitle would appear on the bottom of both their HUDs:

NORTHERNMOST PENNINSULA IS THE SECRET.

Josh rolled his eyes at the typographical error and the brevity of the message. "Altair , are we playing a Pokémon game or a Zelda game? Sometimes I wonder. Don't get me wrong, Zelda is my second favorite series next to Pokémon, but this wasn't what I was expecting when I came in here."

With their newly-discovered information at the center of his mind, Josh headed back to the room with the four roots, pushing the same one aside to re-open the doors. Were Altair to follow him to the east, both of them would be locked in another woody chamber with a low ceiling. Pokémon larger than a tall human might have trouble maneuvering about. As if on cue, three Bramblin began bouncing about the chamber, having enough angle control to try to stab Josh, Altair, and their Pokémon with their thorny bodies!

{Map}

Having seen the spindly Pokémon before, Josh knew they were grass Pokémon. Though the powerful WATER SHURIKEN kept them at bay by virtue of the attack being strong, it simply redirected their angle of attack... off two walls and back toward the scout. "Flying-type attacks!" he urged his partner, sending out his Charmeleon to attack their weak points. "Ares, EMBER!" The flame-tailed lizard grabbed his tail and lashed it toward one of the foes, incinerating it in a single volley. One bowled toward Ares and the other toward the water-type.

If Altair was able to handle his Bramblin, perhaps with something other than a water attack for maximum effectiveness, the shutter they entered from would open, and the clink of a SMALL KEY would echo from the center of the room. "I think this will get us in the west door," Josh assumed aloud as he picked up the metallic object. To the north were a pair of box torches that flanked another shuttered door. "See if you can light these, Ares!" With a nod, the Charmeleon whipped his tail toward the center of one. It briefly caught alight, though the flames petered out quickly. "Probably not strong enough. If this is a Zelda-style dungeon, I bet we'll find some item that will light them."

Opening the lock to the west, Josh saw a treasure chest in the open. Ares and the scout jogged up to it and creaked it open. While its contents were not required to progress, it would most certainly be helpful.

Information> You got the DUNGEON MAP! View it in the Dungeon Menu. The dark rooms are the ones you haven't been to yet.

"Would you look at this," the young man whistled. "Pretty big place. Given our levels, though, it should just be about the puzzle--"

A whistle of something falling overpowered the game's other sound effects as four Ferroseed fell around the chest, filling Ares with SPIKES. Had he pursued the BOLTER class any sooner, those spikes would have hit Josh, too!

{Map}