Team Dark Stars Mission 4

It would be nice to say that Merlot's library was a small, gothic room. It would be nice to say that no-one ever went in it and that dust lay everywhere. It would be nice to describe the candles sat flickering on high alcoves, creating tiny islands of light in the great sea of pitch-black.

However, it would also be wrong, so let's try again from the top.

It was enormous. People don't use these kinds of words properly. They say 'big', as in 'We're having a big party later', or 'large', as in 'I have a large amount of things to do today,' or 'huge', as in 'I tried to go shopping at PK's stall and now I have a huge bill to pay', but the library was enormous. Bookcases stretched as far as the eye can squint in the light and then further. People had been known to bring bits of chalk and rolls of string with them. You had to check whether the librarian had said 'three aisles' or 'three miles', just in case.

And people were there, too. If nothing else then the battered (and curiously burnt) librarian's chair by the door was always occupied. And the Chandelure guard never gave up patrolling.

And the lighting...

The Creeping Forest outside was always cloaked in darkness, but inside the library was as good as daylight. The Chandelure saw to that, too.

And at the edge of just one of very many bookcases, a head poked round the end and looked around. 'Ok, it's clear.'

Stealthily, the figure emerged with its partner in tow and crept down the side of the bookcase. At the (very) far end they flattened themselves against the side.

'Geez...' one of the figures said quietly. 'How did we get ourselves into this mess?'

Her companion cleared his throat. 'Well...'

'I don't actually want you tell me, I already know.'

'Earlier this morning...'

'I swear, if you continue...'

---

'WHAT?!'

'Teams must've completed two or more missions t' go wi' Devonshire,' Gunpowder repeated. 'Don't blame me, matey, he wrote the letter.'

'But we got all those ingredients and everything!'

'Two missions.'

'Hmph.' Harley the Sneasel slouched dejectedly - he was in the kind of mood where he could slouch while standing up. 'Fine, what other missions are there?'

'Hmm...' Gunpowder flicked through the various notes and memorandum Devonshire had carefully arranged on the small desk. 'How's about... Ah, here ye go! We need a book on that 'Kyurem' thing that scurvy landlubber PK brought back with her. So ye need t' go an' pinch one from Merlot's library in t' Castle. Be warned, mind, there be a Chandelure guarding those books, an' the librarian ain't exactly normal either. What do ye say?'

'Sounds pretty good here,' Harley replied. 'What about you, Cross?'

Cross, his Mawile partner, smiled. 'Harley, we'll be using stealth, pinching things, breaking into secure areas and there's a reasonable possibility of a huge fight. How can I possibly resist?'

'Arr, that be splendid. An' also, before Slasher... ye know...'

Harley and Cross nodded. They did know. Everyone knew.

'...He had a big stash o' loot hidden in the Creeping Forest. Need I be saying more?'

'No sir!'

'Good! Now, begone!'

'Yes sir! At once sir!' The pair burst out of the door and sprinted off into their next devious plan.

Gunpowder smiled. He was actually very impressed. Out of all the teams that he'd commissioned so far to find the gold none of them had asked if he was going to sleep on it.

He was, but that wasn't the point.

---

'Ok...' Cross said, looking up at the imposing castle. 'Where do we actually start?'

For one of the first times since he'd joined the Rogues, Harley honestly didn't know. 'Where' was a very good word to use here. The castle was simply so big and sprawling that it was daunting just to look at. 'Well, what about the library door?'

Cross looked at him. 'Harley, if we just walk into the library then, since we probably won't be checking the book out, someone's going to wonder why we entered and then didn't leave again. Besides, that means going through the rest of the castle.'

She left the threat hanging in midair. Harley gulped at the thought. Everyone knew what the castle's owner did to visitors, let alone intruders.

'Ok, not that. So instead, let's make sure no-one knows we even entered.' He gestured with a hand. 'Take your pick.'

'Of what?'

'Windows. Incidentally, can you give me leg-up?'

---

'...And that's how we got into this mess,' Harley finished.

Cross rolled her eyes. 'Wow, that was pointless. Let's get moving before that Chandelure finds us.'

They snuck down the sides of the cases and paused at an intersection. 'I can see a sign labelled 'Biology',' Harley said after a couple of minutes of looking around. 'Should we head there?'

'Yeah, I think that's what we're looking for.'

After a few minutes of walking lightly, they eventually rounded the corner into the 'Biology' section, at which point the enormity of the job hit them. The bookcases were taller than their house. Every conceivable inch of free space had had a book squeezed into it. All the shelves were as small as possible while still allowing room for the books in them, thus conserving space for the shelf above to be fitted. It was like one of those visual puzzles where you realise that the space between two shelves is in fact another shelf. They weren't in neat rows going across, instead they bore more resemblance to a bar chart after a particularly interesting set of readings (or not enough sleep the night beforehand). There were eight shelves in one column and thirteen in the one next to it. It was hard to spot because of the way your eyes watered.

'Wow...'

'How do we even start?'

'Well,' Harley said, 'I'll start at the left,' he took another look at the shelves, 'make that top-left, and you start at the bottom right, ok?'

'Ok,' Cross answered and strolled away to far end. When she spoke again, her voice had an echo.

'What should we look for exactly?'

'Er... Anything on Ice or Dragon types, I'd guess.'

'Well, this is all Ground types, so I'll move over towards you.'

'Hm...' Harley looked up, gauged the distance and leapt upwards, scrambling up the shelves until he stopped near the top. He took a book off the shelves and looked at it. Pyropedia - Everything You Wanted To Ask About Fire Types But Never Did. He remembered something he'd always wondered and idly flicked through the pages to the section marked 'Chimchar', and read the heading on how the flame on their backs is made.

Oh. He was quite grateful he'd hadn't asked, actually.

Carefully he returned the book to the shelf and looked at the ones next to it. They were all about Fire types - whoever managed this library took great care in keeping it organised. That would come in helpful.

'Tell you something I heard in Spinda Café,' Cross' voice came from below. 'I heard two people saying that just the other day Chill and Gunpowder were being nice to each other.' This was said in the kind of voice normally associated with UFO sightings and flying pigs.

Harley laughed. 'Cross, PK will start giving out freebies before that happens.'

'I know, right? Just shows the kind of thing people make up.'

'Yeah, exactly.' Harley said, carefully dropping to shelf below. Poison types... Flying types... 'Ah, here we are!'

'What is it?'

'I found the bit on Dragons. You keep going.' He looked over the spines of the various books. Encyclopaedia Draconica... How To Train Your Axew... 'Ah, this looks about right,' he said to himself, pulling out a volume titled Legends Of The Frozen South. 'Cross, I'm coming down!'

'What've you found?' Cross asked as he hit the bottom, sliding down the sides of the shelf like a ladder. He extended the volume towards her and she took it. 'Yep, that should do... Just got to get out now-'

'Were you intending to withdraw that?'

Harley and Cross nearly jumped out of their skins. Standing - well, floating - behind them was a Chandelure.

'I hope you were planning to withdraw that book properly,' it continued.

'Uh... Yes!' Harley said, panicking. 'Yes we were!'

'Oh, good.' Immediately the Chandelure's tone softened. 'In that case turn left at the Economics section after you turn right at end of the shelf. Then just keep going until you reach the section on Physics, at which point it's left again.'

'Uh... Thanks,' Harley replied, not knowing what else to say.

'No problem. Happy to help.' With that the Ghost floated off round a corner.

Cross wiped her forehead. 'Phew... let's get out of here, quick.'

'Well...' Harley shifted, the large book under one arm. 'You never know, he could be watching us. It's probably better to try and check it out.'

'Oh, all right. Where did he say the desk was?'

'Er...'


-Some time later-


The two Rogues burst into the empty space like jungle explorers. 'Hey... we found it!'

'Alright! Guess we do turn left at Geology after all.'

'Told you so. Anyway, is that the desk there?'

It was. A large and antique desk stood near the door, with a plate on it that read:

Lexy

Behind it was an equally large chair on which it appeared someone had left a book open propped up against the back, until you spot the tips of the brown ears and the end of the rain-drop shaped tail and realised there was someone sat behind it, although the size of the book made it impossible to see who or what.

'Er, hello?' Harley said awkwardly.

There was no reaction, other than the sound of a page being carefully turned. This took several seconds.

'Er, we'd like to withdraw a book.'

'Lexy' remained unvocal.

'This one,' Cross added, aware that the two of them were doing the entire conversation. 'This one that I've got here.' She waved the book vaugely, despite the fact the librarian couldn't possibly have seen it.

'No problem,' came a uninterested voice from the other side of the book.

'Oh. Well, that's good.' Cross risked a peek at the book the librarian was reading. The gold-leaf writing said 'Dictionary'. He's reading the dictionary?

'Library card?'

'What?' Harley said, surprised at the sudden amount of communication.

'Can I see your library card?' the librarian repeated patiently.

'Oh... we don't have one. Is that important...?'

There was silence for a few seconds. Then-

'You don't have a library card?'

'Er... No... Is that a problem?'

There was another pause, then the book was lowered.

'You don't have a library card?' the Eevee said, shocked at the thought that in a decent and well-run society people go around forgetting things as important as library cards.

'Well, no... We already said...'

'You tried to borrow a book without a library card?!' the librarian continued as if this was the eighth cardinal sin.

'Well, yeah... Why, is it important?'

'Is it important? Is it important?!' The librarian - Lexy - seemed appalled at very thought. 'Of course it's important!! What were you thinking?!?'

'Er... sorry,' Harley said awkwardly, 'we didn't realise. Do we need one?'

'Well of course!! What would the world be coming to if people didn't bring library cards?!?!'

'Oh... yeah, absolutely,' Cross said, aware that Lexy was exclaiming slightly less rationally than a normal person would. 'Do we need to pay you for one?'

'Pay? Pay?!? Good heavens above, no!!!'

'Why not?' Cross asked, and felt the need to change gear slightly. 'After all, money is valuable.'

'Ha!' Lexy jumped up onto the desk-top. 'Money can only be traded for other things. But in a book you have access to knowledge!!!!'

'Gosh, really?' Harley said, checking out of the corner of his eye to see if the door was still open.

'Yes!! Knowledge equals power!!!' Lexy continued. 'And with all the knowledge in this library you could have power beyond your wildest imagination!!!!'

'Wow. How do we get a library card?'

'Oh, you want a card?' In an instant it was as if the last two minutes hadn't happened. Lexy's expression showed nothing more than innocent interest. The exclamation mark counter had dropped to one.

'In that case you must defeat me in a battle of wits. When you are ready.'

'Oh, right.' Harley cracked his knuckles. Wit was something he was very good at.

'But before we start, what guild are you?'

'Huh? Why does that matter?' Harley said, taken aback.

Lexy sighed. 'We've been having a problem with Rogues breaking in and stealing books lately. Therefore we are not offering library cards to Rogues for the time being.'

Harley looked at Cross. 'Oh, that's ok. We're Merchants.'

'Oh, good. Now, to begin. I will-'

The door to the library creaked open and a Zorua entered, followed by a Spinarak.

'Are you Lexy?' the Zorua asked.

'Indeed I am,' the Eevee said calmly. 'And you would be?'

'I'm Sid of Team Duplex and this is Zibb. We need a library car- Hey, do I know you?'

'Uh... Do you?' Harley replied, trying to keep his voice level.

'Yeah, you're Team Dark Stars! We've seen you around,' Sid continued, 'but you might not have seen us. How's Gunpowder doing?'

'Er... How would we know?' Harley said, panicking slightly.

'Well you're in his guild, aren't you? Is he better now?'

'Oh?' Lexy said behind them. 'Is this true?'

Harley and Cross looked into each others eyes. 'Run!'

'Oh dear,' Lexy said in a voice of faint annoyance as the pair ran off, 'it appears they're trying to steal a book. How bothersome. Anyway, can I help you with something?'

'Uh...' Zibb the Spinarak looked down the aisles at the fleeing team. 'No, it's probably better if we find the book first, thanks...'

'As you wish,' Lexy said. As the pair wandered off into the bookcases he settled back into his chair, picked up his book and began to read about the zoetrope.

---

'Come on, come on!'

'I'm coming!' Cross shouted. She caught up to Harley at the corner of a bookcase. 'One sec.' She dashed round the side and re-emerged a few seconds later fiddling with the huge jaws on her head. 'Right, let's go!'

'This place is a maze,' Harley said as they ran past a shelf on the Local Flora Of Sandsong Desert. 'We could be lost in here forever and-'

Suddenly the two of them froze in place mid-step, as if someone had taken a photograph. They couldn't move a muscle.

'You didn't honestly think you could get away from me, did you?' came a voice as Caldera descended from above. 'After all,' he continued, 'this is our library. And if you're so desperate to get out,' and at this an evil smile spread across its face, 'why don't I help you?'

---

'Umph!' Cross landed hard on the ground. She looked up to see the window high above close. 'Ow... Harley?'

'Yeah?' came a voice nearby.

'You ok?'

'Not too bad, given that I just got thrown out of a window.'

'I think I landed on something soft.'

'That was me.'

'Oh.' There was a bit of struggling in the dark as Cross pulled Harley up.

'Ow... Thanks. I think I landed on something hard. What on earth was...'

Harley's voice tailed off as he realised what he'd landed on.

'Cross, this is...'

'Oh my...'

Underneath where Harley was just before, gold glittered.

'This is Slasher's lost loot!' Harley yelped excitedly.

Cross scooped up an armful of gold and gems. 'We could be millionaires! This is amazing!'

'Oh, imagine it...' Harley smiled as an image grew in his mind of him sat in a pile of gold tossing coins in the air. In Cross' imaginations she stretched out and lay back on a pile of gems. 'That would be wonderful...'

'But... We have to take it to Gunpowder,' Harley said sadly. 'If we claim it then we'll be bringing his wrath upon ourselves.'

Cross shuddered at the thought. 'Yeah, you're right...'

Harley smiled as he stuffed the gold into a sack, handfuls at a time. 'Eh, I'm not said, Cross. It'll be fine. Besides, who knows, he may be in a generous mood, especially given that we brought the-'

Suddenly his paws flew to his mouth. 'Cross! The book! Where is it?!'

Cross smiled. 'Keep your fur on, big boy. Watch this.' She opened the large jaws on the back of her head and shook them.

Legends Of The Frozen North dropped out.

Harley stared. 'Did you just...'

Cross smiled. 'I stowed it away while we were on the run in the library. He'd never look there.'

Harley smiled. 'You sneaky, devious little thing. That's brilliant.' He picked up the sack of Slasher's loot. 'Gunpowder will be pleased.'

---

He was.

'Arrrr! This be incredible!' he said, his arms full of gold and the light glittering in his eye. 'Ye really did it! Ye be truly amazing!'

'We also got you the book, sir,' Harley said, holding the volume in question.

'Oh, ye, an' that too. This be a triumph! Congratulations!'

'Oh, sir, it was nothing,' Harley said. 'You know,' he continued slyly, 'since we've technically done two missions now does that mean we can go and accompany Devonshire?'

'No.'

'AWW, WHAT?!'

Some things, it seems, don't change.