Unfortunately, I couldn't find Anthony's whereabouts or the rest of his team. When I said everyone scampered off, it really seemed they just immediately left the cave and went elsewhere, possibly on more adventures or taking a break elsewhere. I didn't even notice Kamina's disappearance as I was lost in my thoughts, alone in the dimly lit cave - it seemed darker and eerie, with the ice that helped brighten up the cave melting and disappearing without Kyreum's influence. The air became still and a bit damp, not exactly forgiving on my steel coating but certainly warmer than before. If we hadn't just fought a good portion of ice Pokemon in existence, I wouldn't have recognised it as Kyreum's dungeon.
I let my magnets droop, eye furrowed as I scanned around the cave, coming up empty about the creeping darkness. Scowling to myself and with not much else to do, I hovered over closer to the pedastal. "Just you and me crystal." I whispered to myself, keeping my eye on its points. It seemed to be out of place against the rounded rocks and wind-carved walls, and if anything it seemed better to take it away for aesthetics. Even if we were saving the world, the idea of taking it didn't sit well with me: Last time we took a crystal, an entire ocean somehow got replaced by Giratina's dimension. I'm surprised we haven't been targeted for that.
With a croak in my first word, I spoke out. "Tell me... is this the right thing to do?" No response from the grey crystal, floating and bobbing in the air without wavering. "Are there alternatives? How do we limit the damage? Only five minutes in and I'm already talking to myself." I knew it was a stupid idea to talk to a hunk of glass, but at least it wouldn't judge compared to the townsfolk, who might do more than politely disagree with what I was about to do. (They had no idea, but if I informed them then they probably wouldn't want me to create an exclusion zone to stop some unknown threat.)
Something else came to mind: What if I was just overthinking it? Am I just melodramatic? Would anyone really miss a dungeon being a potential exclusion zone? It wouldn't really be the end of the world compared to something we were trying to prevent. Yes, my thoughts were careless, but I couldn't quite disagree with myself - the more time I spent waiting, the less time we would have to convince Giratina to stay away from our realm.
So with that, I picked the least worst option. I slowly reached out to the crystal with unease, magnets facing flat beneath the points. The next moments were quite surreal, remembering only a rush of grey beyond my vision as my magnet impulsively slammed at my badge. A quick white flash distracted me from blinking as I suddenly found myself within the familiar warmth of Arnold's Guild, noticeably quieter than usual as I took deep breaths. Potentially dooming a whole town was worringly easy, and I didn't even have the guts to warn anyone. "Arceus damn... I hope it was worth it." I muttered to myself, keeping to myself as I passed by the local board and some watchful Pokemon, heading to our room. I was somewhat surprised to see Kamina splayed just beyond the massive-size bed he was on, and I was sort of expecting someone else from our team to be around to talk to. There wasn't really anyone though.
I settled myself in, hovering into our room and closing the door as we came in. Our placed looked as diorganised as before, with blankets strewn around and a few of our belongings in the wrong places. I eyed Kamina for a moment as I set the crystal down with a clink not far from the door, as I lied down in bed and tuckered a blanket or two over myself. It took a while for me to fall sleep in the dull grey light of the crystal as I closed my eye, troubled at both what I just did and the dreams that followed.
Member
