//------------------------------//
// Ch 3: A Dog and Pumpkin Show? 
// Story: A New World, An Old Haunt 
// by Professor Frogenshtein 
//------------------------------//


Diamond Dog underground hidey place


Outside gem cave


Rover was having a good day. Biscuits, one of the look-around-ers, had found 2 new shinies above ground that morning: a big gold sword and shield with a purple gem in it and a gold circle with a face on it. All the new shinies were put in the gem cave, and Rover was taking Fido and Spot to count their treasures.

As the 3 diamond dogs approached the large cave full of gems, their sensitive dog ears picked up odd sounds.

"Yama, mask yamask ya."
"Gen gen gar gengar?"
"Bleye sab; sab-sableye"
"...That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Rover didn't remember letting anyone in the gem cave...

"Thieves!" whispered Spot, "they're here to take our gems!"

"We're the only ones who steal gems around here," said Rover. "Fido, open the door!"





"No, I'm serious," I said with a skeptical gaze, "you just dug your way to the nearest source of gems?"

Two diamond eyes stared back at him as a claw indicated the tunnel in the celing. "Ravid could smell them, Master. They smelled so delicious." Ravid grabbed a ruby the size of a baseball and ate it whole. "They taste delicious as well!"

"Pardon me for interrupting, Sire, but do you see my shield?" Durendal was floating about, rummaging through piles of gems with his cloth-like arms.

"It's over here, D," called Lucius, pulling the large golden shield from a heap of emeralds. Durendal rushed over to grab it from the shadow's ghostly grasp. "Be careful," said the sword, "you'll scratch it!"

I moved to get up, but the doors suddenly burst open, and three... creatures rushed in. The creatures didn't look like any pokemon I'd ever seen; the best I could describe them would be sort of like mightyenas or growlithes mixed with vigoroths. I stared at them, confused, and they stared right back.

"What are they?" Asked Lucius.

"We are diamond dogs. What are you?"

I blinked; the question had come from the large blue-grey one. Before I could reply, however, a loud crunch caught the attention of everyone in the room. All eyes turned to the source; Ravid had just bitten into a rather large orange crystal.

"It's eating the gems!" Shouted the medium-sized 'diamond dog' in the red vest. "Guards!" It pointed a front paw at us, "get them!"

As armored brown dogs started pouring through the door, I decided now would be a great time to make an exit. "Lucius, D," I shouted, "shining shield combo, stat!"

Both teammates acted immediately, Durendal grabbing Ravid and myself before bringing up his shield as Lucius placed himself in front of the guards.

"King's shield!"

"Dazzling gleam!"

Lucius let out an enormous burst of light, and the guards all threw up their arms to shield their eyes as I expected. Unfortunately, I didn't count on the light refracting through all the gems in the room, nearly doubling the move's power and sending scattered beans every which way.

"My eyes!" Shouted Ravid as the super-effective move bounced behind Durendal's shield, "The light! It burns Ravid!"

"D, get us out of here!" I ordered. Durendal wasted no time, flying out through the tunnel Ravid came in, and a flash of darkness told me that Lucius was following close behind. We surfaced near the border of some kind of quarry and a dense forest, and quickly fled to the darkness of the trees.

"Were we followed?" I peeked cautiously through the branches, looking for any sign of the so-called 'diamond dogs'. Lucius huffed, crossing his arms. "I doubt it," he said, "we ghosts are master escape artists, remember?"

A pained whine to my left caught my attention. "Oh jeez," I groaned, "Ravid's out of it. Anybody have a revive?"

"Here's one."

"Thanks, Jack." I reached out and took the medicinal crystal before doing a double-take at the hand that offered it. "Jack?!"

With a round black body, a tall orange head, and long hair-like arms, Jack was a gourgeist. Gourgeist are known for their heightened activity on the new moon, skipping down streets and singing cursed songs, and are said to take pleasure in the suffering of prey as they're ensnared in the gourgeists' arms. As a ghost researcher, however, I can tell you that's mostly nonsense; Jack is just a very... huggy pokemon. Case in point, I was currently very glad I didn't have a ribcage to crush as Jack squeezed me within an inch of my newfound afterlife.

"Dan, buddy," said Jack, a little too cheerful, "you didn't tell me you were going to die soon! I was going to take you trick-or-treating next week!"

"It wasn't planned," I said, trying to use my new physiology to escape the crushing embrace, "and Halloween isn't for another three months. Lucius, a little help?" Lucius was, for his part, trying his best not to laugh. "I don't know, boss," he sniggered, "you go out every day wearing that mad scientist costume."

Durendal decided to cut in. "If I may interrupt, Sire," he said, "we still don't know where we are, or where our remaining comrades are located. I suggest we attempt to gather some more information."

I thought about it. Durendal had a point; we had no information on where we were, or how scattered the rest of our group could be. I wrest myself from Jack's grasp and moved to the front of the group. "Alright," I said as I fed the revive to Ravid, "let's go find some answers."