» Sub Divo Fraglantia [Ajax&Nyx] «

[Rin]

► Ajax was glad for the bit of comic relief when Chatot tried to piggyback on one of the Baltoy, giving a childish giggle at Chatot’s disgruntled squawk. ”Hehe, you can sit on my shoulder if you want,” he said, patting the shoulder that was covered with a metallic Scizor’s exoskeleton (as opposed to his normal left shoulder). Both he and Nyx listened carefully to the Baltoys’ answers to their questions. Ajax still felt very nervous – just because this tunnel was the strongest didn’t mean that it couldn’t randomly collapse on his head at any moment. He wouldn’t even be able to run out of the tunnels if they collapsed on him because he himself did not know the way out. «

► The group of Baltoy reached a dead end – and after a small rather cryptic-sounding (to Ajax anyway) speech, the Psychic-Ground types began to meditate. The Scizor boy tried to stay very quiet at first so as not to disturb them, but he agitatedly kept staring around and straining his hearing, wanting to try to figure something out so he could leave sooner rather than later. Feeling Ajax’s unease growing stronger, Nyx’s fur prickled – but as she stayed perfectly still, she heard the scratching on the ceiling and saw the dust trickles, then the muffled noises from behind the cave in. If they could hear noises, the cave in must not be too large. The Ninetails-shaped daemon tossed her slender head with frustration; normally they could have Ajax and Styl kick and slice through the rock, but such a disturbance might cause another cave in.«

► Nyx then blinked; it occurred to her that the muffled noises would happen and then an echo would follow. There must be some path this sound is following… she thought to herself. I wonder, if we used Weedy – tired though he is – to spread a very thin smokescreen for the last few passageways, perhaps whichever chamber where the burrowing creature is in will be the one where the air, and therefore the smoke, is lightly disturbed. Yet the Baltoy had said to wait, so she simply padded up and down about three to four meters of the passageway on her small, silent paws. «

[Birdybot]

Chatot gladly took the perch on Ajax's shoulder. The weird exoskeleton of the skinny ten-year-old felt weird under his feet, but hey, at least his wings could have a break. Ajax would be better company than those Baltoy, anyway. The clay thingies were unbelievably dull. All serious and speaking in riddles. Maybe a creature that found them annoying had just started destroying their tunnels out of spite. As soon as he thought that, he glanced at them again. Could that be the truth? Would anything destroy something else's home just because they were annoying?

The Baltoy carried on sitting perfectly still. The beeping one noticed Nyx's pacing and moved towards her down the passageway. It turned to face the tunnel the echo was resonating from, falling silent and observing the tunnel closely. Finally, it let out a low whistle and started moving smoothly along. Chatot stared. The other Baltoy did not even seem to notice that one of their number had just wondered off of its own accord. In his opinion, the weird one that had just wondered off had the most sense out of all of them. It knew, or appeared to, that nothing was to be gained just sitting there. The parrot cleared his throat, hoping to gain the group's attention. This failed.

The Baltoy let out a hum from a few metres down the passageway, halting. The two Baltoy that had spoken previously and had always remained close to it stirred, returning to life and darting forward to see where their friend had gone. At first this hum seemed to have been an alarm call for those too, but it could be considered that it was actually a means of finding the correct path. Baltoy had listened intently for an echo, processed the time intervals to work out how long the tunnels were and where the scratching was coming from, then chose a branching path based on that. "I know we should be observing, but that Baltoy is our sibling. It's different, but not stupid. We need to follow it or it will get itself in trouble; it doesn't understand benefits of being in a group. It probably just wants to find out what's wrong, it's been frustrated by the collapses," one Baltoy explained to Ajax, already starting along the path. The larger Baltoy moved off as well. "The others will stay here and see if they can find anything else. I hope you can fight, kid," it was speaking clearly for once, glancing down at Ajax's formidable claw.

[Rin]

► Ajax felt a little disbalanced with Chatot's weight on his shoulder, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He quickly grew bored of watching the group of Baltoy meditate though, and turned his attention to the beeping Baltoy moving down the hall, so he wasn't surprised when Chatot cleared his throat. Nyx, glad to have something to do, padded after the beeping Baltoy, sniffing at the air delicately, although she could only smell the scent of sandy rock, and Ajax, growing uncomfortable with having her so far away (even though he had trained to bear it, the feeling was always unpleasant) jogged after her, trying to keep his footsteps quiet as possible and keeping his Scizor-like wings still. «

► Ajax wasn't really sure why they were following the Baltoy instead of staying with the group, while Nyx suspected the Baltoy was following some sort of intuition or had found some sort of pattern she hadn't figured out yet. She did notice, however, that the scratching noises seemed to be getting louder as they snaked through the tunnels that the beeping Baltoy was leading them down, and while she wanted to talk to it to hear what it was thinking, she wanted to let the other Pokemon concentrate. It seems to have a better idea of what it's doing than we do, anyway, she thought wistfully, feeling cross with herself for being useless in this situation. Ajax simply walked behind her, but nodded at the other Baltoys' comments. "That makes sense. I'd be pretty frustrated too," he said in a hushed tone. "And yeah, I can fight...though I'm a trainer, so I'd prefer to use my Pokemon if I can." he clacked his large claw in nervous assent, but kept his left hand on Styl's Pokeball. «

[Birdybot]

The Baltoy siblings seemed pleased by Ajax and Nyx's responses, following towards whatever the the third Baltoy could sense. The scratchings were growing louder all the time. The larger Baltoy hurried along to check all the side passages ahead of them, examining the earth and stone with experienced eyes for any sign of collapse. It all seemed to be safe, but the movements of earth were hard to predict. Everything might look fine, but then something could give and a great domino effect could be set off, stone buckling and cracking under great built up forces.

Finally, the odd Baltoy at the front stopped and fell silent. The other two moved to its sides, looking around before seeing the problem. "Ah. See there, trainer?" the smaller one gestured to what looked like a small lump of earth near a wall. On closer inspection, it appeared to be moving. "Whatever or whoever is there will be our problem," the larger said confidently.

Whatever it was had heard their voices, for the mound writhed and grew. Something shiny and silver emerged, and Chatot gave a caw of recognition - that must have been whatever he saw earlier on. It became more visible in the dim glow of the Baltoy as it grew nearer. The Pokémon had a strong looking claw for a mouth, and moved on six legs. The Durant did not seem happy. It was also not alone. Another crawled up from where they had been burrowing into the wall. And another. And another. Four Durant formed a line across the tunnel before the group, glaring at them. It was clear they would attack should any of them make a move.

"Do you have any idea what you've done? You've been destroying our homes! How many of you are there?" the largest Baltoy understandably seethed with rage.

"Many more than this. Have you ever thought that maybe you are the ones in our way?" one of the Durant hissed back.

"Ridiculous. We've been here for countless centuries and have never noticed a Durant nest anywhere nearby. Leave at once or we'll make you."

"Well, if you're going to be like that..." the Durant lunged for the smaller Baltoy, catching it off guard in Fury Cutter attack. The other three used Iron Defense in preparation for what Ajax and the Baltoy might do in retaliation.