Dungeon Diving

The sun’s already glaring into the room as Mayr wakes, the space in the bed beside him already empty and as a hand reaches out to touch the area, it’s already cooled back down, so it means he’s been gone for a while, the fire-types part of the bed always gets so hot. Mayr likes it though, it always gets cold at night, so the fact he now gets to sleep beside an actual furnace is more than a positive for him, it prefers to get hot at night rather than cold.
A soft groan escapes its throat as it makes him realise it’s time to get up. Get out of bed and start out whatever chaos this day is going to turn into. He doesn’t want to get up, and honestly, he’d much prefer it if Cassius came back to bed with him, the pokemon isn’t normally lazy, but there’s something about now having a partner that makes him just want to snuggle into their side. Despite having now accepted the fact he needs to get up and out of the bed, it doesn’t, savouring the last of the warmth still wrapped up in the covers. It shifts, getting more comfortable and lets its eyes flicker shut again – maybe he can get away with sleeping in for a bit longer, even if they have no idea what the time could be, part of that is even more appealing to it in regards to sleeping in. Any excuse to put of the chaos a bit longer is a positive, he’s not sure who attracts it but there is yet to be a normal day in this household. Maybe, he wonders, if that’s just what Coldour is like during this time period, that or Cassius is a chaos magnet – that’s believable.
“Are you going to lay their all day?” A warm chuckle comes from the doorway.
Begrudgingly, Mayr rolls over and once again cracks his eyes open, staring across at his partner stood in the doorway, it makes eye contact for a second before dropping it to look the pokemon up and down. It smiles at him, though that also makes a yawn escape - sleepier then expected,
“Considering it.”
Cassius grins, walking across the room, Mayr hopes he’s going to join him back in bed, instead he earns a shock to the system as the nice and warm blankets and duvet are tossed off of him, the only benefit right now is the closeness of the fire type. A soft snarl comes out of Mayr, it sort of bats at him with his claws, but there’s no real effort put into it so all of it is brushed off by Cassius. His grin however, as turned into a softer smile and it pets Mayr’s curls, gently tugging its fingers through the curls which does tame the slightly cranky pokemon a bit more, at the very least it’s stopped growling and its eyes are closing a bit again, which makes Cassius tut just above his breath.
“No falling back asleep on me, Schatz. We have things to do today.”
“But do we have to do them today?” Mayr leans up into the pets, away from its pillow slightly, maybe he’ll put up with having to be awake if it means Cassius keeps petting him like that.
“Are you sure you’re not part Luxio rather than Wooloo?” Cassius teases.
Mayr’s eyes snap open before narrowing into a glare, pulling away from the pets and further back into the bed, trying to bundle the blankets back over him as he goes. Cassius just laughs again, as if this further proves his feline point, which honestly it does,
“You are a horrible man, Cassius.” The words have no malice behind them as Mayr now reburies himself under the massive pile of bedding, “I was going to get up but now you’re just being mean to me.” He pouts before sticking his tongue out, the obviously most mature way to take this conversation.
Cassius moves, turning his back to Mayr for a moment before sitting on the bed, at just the right angle that he can see it, but also, it’s back still facing it enough that its flame ends somewhere above Mayr, who preens into the warmth it provides. It’s the reason he used to hate fire types so much, so personally susceptible to the flames and the heat that they provide that it scared him.
They’re both silent for a couple of minutes, Mayr slowly creeps back along the bed, blankets now in tow before curling up around his sat down partner.
“I was going to get up before you disturbed me.”
“Sure you were, liebling.”
Cassius’ hand reaches down again, gently stroking the tips of his fingers across its horn, something that makes Mayr shudder. Unlike most people, Cassius is more than aware at how it’s horns work, made more of keratin so he can feel everything that happens to them – though it does mean he panics more when Mayr bumps them into walls that he walks too closely to. Silence falls once more, it’s calm and soft, pleasant between both parties, points are getting across that don’t need words.

“You two are gross! I thought you had a dungeon to go sort out?” Circe fake gags from the doorway before hurriedly floating off with one glance at Cassius’ expression.
This does however, get Mayr’s attention, stretching up to now sit in the bed, though practically laying on Cassius to do so.
“Oh?” Is all it says, knowing Cassius knows his point.
“Well, Liebe, I did tell you we had something to do today. There was a posting for some ‘mons to go to the Moonlit Oasis, there’s a high feral warning but we should cope better when not enclosed in a both too long but also too tiny corridor.” Cassius explains, and as Mayr leans around it’s face it notices the soft frown that’s formed.
This isn’t related to any of its words, no, he can tell its partner’s genuinely sad that the moment they had is now gone. So, Mayr reaches around and places a soft kiss onto his jaw,
“I think that sounds like date night, I’d love to see you actually fight something.” Mayr purrs out, “Not to mention, maybe a lie in tomorrow.”
It's words both cheer Cassius back up but also earns a soft chuckle for the second half, and he tilts his head just as Mayr went in for another jaw kiss to get it on the lips.
“Yeah, that sounds good. We best get packing, I would say we want to get there before dark but it’s always dark there,” He shudders slightly, “Which I must admit, little unnerving.”

It takes the two a while to get their stuff ready and packed, mostly because Mayr is struggling to actually let go of Cassius, every time the two even slightly step towards each other, Mayr leans into him or wraps a hand around it. Both know this dungeon is going to be a lot, this dungeon is nothing to be scoffed at and honestly, it shouldn’t just be the two of them and they really shouldn’t just see this as a strange date night, it would be wise to invite others along, but both of them are far too stubborn for that, some may even say stupid. Honestly, even the pair may realise that they’re being stupid, but it’s not something that they’re going to back out of, they’re both looking forward to really pushing themselves to the limits. They hoped the Forsaken Manor would do this, but with how enclosed those corridors were, they really had no chance. Mayr’s used to having room to curve his weapons around, Cassius works better pushing them to a distance before coming in closer with his flames when he’s ready to make his own move.
Circe scoffs at them from her place in the kitchen as they get their bags dropped in the hallway, Mayr asks if that means she wants to join them, which just leads to her having a fit of giggles. Of course, she wouldn’t want to, she’s not stupid and knows how dangerous these dungeons are, and she is far too under levelled for that. Neither of them push it, they don’t actually want her to come with them, Cassius is also pretty sure that it’s rude to ask someone their level – though he’s not too sure how true any of this is, one of those things he’s been told but doesn’t dare clarify so no one makes fun of them.
Mayr hesitates by the door, his bag in hand and Cassius stares over at him, a questioning look on his face.
“Are you okay Mayr?” He asks softly.
Mayr slowly nods, trying to clear its head and focus only on his partner, there’s a lot on his mind, including how badly his last Legendary dungeon went – not that he’s really wanting to dwell on that.
“Yeah, just a lot of thoughts, you know?” He smiles, reaching out with his other hand to try to grab Cassius’ hand. He accepts it, pulling Mayr away from the door slightly and stumbling into his chest, this earns a soft laugh from Mayr and a lot of the panicking thoughts are now disappearing away.
“Well, thoughts are important; but let’s clear them away for a little bit, or at least until we get to the Oasis.” Cassius says with a slight purr.
Mayr likes the sound of that, he really does.

It takes quite some time for them to get to the Oasis, and it’s strange as they travel. They had to camp over for the night, they know the Oasis is always lit in cool moonlight but, they don’t want to be arriving while already exhausted from traveling all day. Camp would have been easier to set up if they were both a little more sensible about it. Cassius wanted to show off with how he lit the campfire, and Mayr wanted to see how willing to it’s face he would light the fire, the answer is not close enough for Mayr’s liking but also not far enough away for Cassius’ liking. We don’t talk about how hard it was for them to put the tent up, it seems like it would have been easier as a two-man job but it really wasn’t, maybe because they’re both slightly idiotic pokemon who want to show off to the other one. It’s not manly of either of them, but it does make them both fall into fits of giggles as the other fails to do something the other claims is simple even if it really isn’t,
The two of them mellow out as the vast oasis begins to stretch out in front of them. It’s strange to see it, as the sky darkens above it and night falls over the sand, it’s unnerving to say the least and Cassius comes to a stop just as they’re reaching what must count as the desert itself, from the looks of the ground and the sky above them. His wings flutter from behind him, clearly nervous but he hopes Mayr doesn’t pick up on it, and if it does, hopefully it has the honour and respect to not bring it up,
“This is going to be intense, isn’t it?” Cassius asks, looking over at Mayr and his glowing points, something that Cassius will always be fascinated by.
“I don’t doubt it… We can turn back, there’s no harm in it, no one will care, I won’t care.” Mayr’s tone is soft as he tilts his head to make eye contact with his partner, though this has meant it’s tilted at an angle something which makes Cassius laugh softly, none of it cruel and that makes Mayr smile back. Both tighten their grips on the others hand,
“We don’t need to do that, not yet. We go in and see how we cope, if need be, we then run.” Cassius replies, his chipper nature returning.
With those words said, the two break their gazes before returning to stare back at the vastness of the Oasis, and they’re both so glad that they’re not bad at directions otherwise this could be even more dangerous for the two of them. Mayr can feel his heart racing as their hooves slog through the sand, it’s not going to be easier for them to run, any ground or rock pokemon are going to have a big advantage over them if it comes down to needing to run. Oh, they both so hope that it won’t come down to that, even if he needs to run, then they’ll have to, but it’s going to be difficult. Cassius jumps slightly, he can hear the snarling of a Salamence in the not distant enough distance from them, and he turns to see it, which was clearly the mistake here.
It's massive, either it’s an alpha or Cassius hasn’t seen enough Salamences in his time, and it’s swirling red eyes are the most visible part of it in this dimly lit Oasis, he can see why so many feral pokemon are currently drawn here – perfect hunting ground for stupid adventurers.
“Not to worry you Mayr, but there is a massive feral Salamence behind us and I think we need to get a wiggle on.” He states, trying to ignore how his voice is upping in pitch.
Mayr turns his head to look, and the arm not attached to Cassius instinctively has its blade summoned. With no further words, it gently tugs on Cassius’ arm begging him to keep moving. If they’re both in luck, then it will stop hunting them once they’re out of its territory, if they’re unlucky the pokemon is going to hunt them until they’re out of the Oasis and possibly well beyond that. The Salamence lets out another snarl of warning, sand kicking up around it and Cassius is very glad at this point that most feral pokemon don’t tend to use their moves, as he lets himself in on Mayr’s tugging and follows him along further into the Oasis. The two refuse to look back now, they just keep walking, the Salamence is still behind them snarling, but it’s not getting any closer, keeping a distance as if it’s seeing them out. This is a worry. You’d like to think that a massive, feral sudo-legendary not actually chasing after you is a good thing, however, if that’s not chasing you in what currently looks like an empty desert – then it implies there’s probably worse things that they’re about to bump into, and there’s not many good options that are worse than a feral Salamence.

The two come to a stop by a small lake they come to. The Salamence’s hisses and roars are well into the distance now. With the fact their motion has stopped, it has also now become very clear how exhausted they’ve became from speed walking across the sand for so long. Mayr shakes his hoof, but then has to let go of Cassius’ hand for the first time since they got into the Oasis, picking sand out from between the digits as it’s beginning to irritate him. A soft sigh comes from Cassius,
“Would it be bad luck to comment on how that went?” He asks, and Mayr shoots him a glare.
“Very. We make no comments until we’re back out of this Oasis.”

“That’s a smart move.” A feminine voice snarls out from just in front of them.
Hesitantly the pair of them look up to see a Cresselia floating above the lake, her colours the tell-tale dim of being a feral pokemon, though she seems to be in her tamed form, or she has mastered her feral state. Not something Mayr would put past a god being able to do. Cassius stares, his mouth dropping open, and Mayr quickly bats his hand across to shut its mouth, muttering quickly across to him so only he can hear, or at least hopefully,
“Don’t be rude.” It hisses.
The Cresselia grins, the tusks look so wrong within its mouth, and a sinking feeling of dread begins to build within Mayr’s gut.
There’s the sound of shifting sand beside them, Mayr looks to his right, spotting a snarling Terrakion covered in sand dig its way into vision. It looks almost monstrous, its horns twisted and gnarled, scars litter its face and the rest of his body. Eyes the burning red swirls of a feral pokemon. Not that Mayr needed any warning, pretty sure that it could have guessed what it was without needing to have seen it, the fact it has shiny colouration does not help alleviate any nerves, those twisted front horns a blood red.
At the same time, Cassius stares off to his left, watching the Tapu Bulu that appears, sand covering the top of its head. He’s not sure exactly where it came from, he wasn’t paying enough attention, but what he can also tell is his feral nature. It somehow looks more refined though, like he is in between the Cresselia’s and the Terrakion’s control of its state.
Both feral pokemon however, are clearly at the beck and call of the Cresselia. She’s front and centre between them, and they didn’t appear until after she made it clear they should be. Mayr should have trusted his gut over how this is clearly a trap, he new it but left them both to get snarled up in it.
“Now I wonder little adventurers. Are you brave or stupid for coming here alone? We have a lot of power over both of you – and I doubt you will stand even a smidge of a chance against us.” She laughs, it’s unnerving and Mayr can’t help but reach out and grab Cassius’ hand again, needing the comfort and support for what’s going to happen. Cassius’ hand was shaking, but it stops from the force that Mayr adds to it, relaxing and comforting, even when they need to give up on this to fight, because they know there’s a fight coming.
Maybe part of it is to convince the feral pokemon to go easy on them, or it’s simply because they are both very anxious about this and need the comfort it is supplying them both. They’re both excellent fighters alone, maybe it’s simply the fact that they’re together that’s letting them down, making it harder for them to actually fight to their full potential. Both of them take a deep breath, calming their nerves and getting themselves ready to fight, they have no idea how these legendries are going to do this, be it they’ll be kind or curious and take turns, or all three of them are going to go for them at once. Mayr would like to hope they could cope as long as the Cresselia doesn’t join in, and speaking of her that laugh echoes out and around them, seemingly going on forever. Cassius’ hand shakes, squeezing Mayr’s.
No words are shared across the two of them, they dare not not even look at each other, knowing that the minute either of them let up any form of weakness that is when the legendries will strike, something neither ‘mon is looking forward to.

The two try to relax, they’re going to get back out of this Oasis, hopefully relatively unscathed, they don’t have anyone on the inside that can get them out this time. Mayr’s a warrior, a guardian from the future, he can do this. Cassius may have no title but he’s a dang strong fighter, and even more so when it comes to helping protect his boyfriend, even if the other pokemon is more then capable of doing so.
Cassius really doesn’t want to test this, doesn’t want to vocalise in case he’s wrong or it changes any of the plans, but he’s pretty sure that they don’t actually want to kill them – hurt yeah, they want to do that – but this feels more like something people would do who want to test themselves, to test others. He thinks this is all some game for those legendries, he doesn’t doubt that it would be even if they were trying to kill them both – honestly, Cassius is pretty sure that they’d rather have that feral Salamence on their back again, that was one pokemon who could only do so much damage.
Mayr mutters a prayer, to a pokemon that he’s pretty sure doesn’t even exist at this point in time. Begging it, begging if it has any control over this time, that at the very least Cassius will be able to walk out of this Oasis alive – he’d love to be there too of course, but you can’t be too picky or ask too much of someone. Both of his blades now summon out of its arms with a soft hum, and he judges his energy levels, pretty sure that if push comes to it, it’s been long enough and he’s not used his powers too much, he should be able to summon the spear at the same time if he really needs to. It’s not something he’s willing to do if he doesn’t really need to, it’s draining and the last thing he wants to do, the least helpful thing would be to pass out because he’s exerted too much energy when it wasn’t needed.
They’ve got this though, the both of them, they can do this.
Everything all happens at once, and Mayr’s pretty sure he blanks it all from his memory as they both end up stumbling home from the Oasis, they’re not dead, that’s all his mind focuses on as it goes blank.