Dedicated to Ashley, my friend who is addicted to this game!

MYSTERY DUNGEON

I stared at the water and looked at my reflection. After the blast, I felt different. I looked straight at a Glaceon. I tried to find my reflection, but there was nothing in the water but a Glaceon.

"I'm now a Glaceon," I whispered. It took time before the truth sank in. I hyperventilated. I backed away after staring back at my new reflection. I never realized or thought my future was to be a Pokémon. I never even thought I would be a Pokémon. It was crazy. I suddenly missed my family and my friends. Did they know I was a Pokémon? I lay on the ground and stared at the sky. How cruel could life be?

Drops of water splashed me; from the lake came out a Vaporeon. The creature poised itself and sniffed me.

"I never saw a Glaceon before. How rare," the Vaporeon said, inspecting me.

"I had a Pokémon who was a Vaporeon." I tried to look proud.

"What? Pokémons don't own fellow Pokémons." Vaporeon laughed.

"I was a human. Well, until I turned into this figure." I pointed at myself.

"Blah blah, say what you want. You want to be a human? I have dreams too. I'm gonna go be an explorer."

I tried my best not to laugh. "You're a Pokémon!"

"I know! That's why it's hard. I wanna be human." She said with a sad look. "I'd start now . . . but I'd rather be with someone else than alone."

"No." I backed away. "You are never going to convince me—okay, fine!"

"Yes!" Vaporeon shouted in victory and glee. I followed her stroll to the woods.

"The woods are dangerous," I said to her.

"Yeah, I know that." She replied.

We carefully walked to get past the forest and into a route, hoping nothing will notice us. Something hooted in our left. Our heads whipped to that direction and saw nothing. Stop hallucinating, I thought.

We walked farther and the sun began to set. We heard ruffles of bushes and twigs breaking. Vaporeon clutched my arm in fear. "It's okay, Vaporeon. Few more steps and we'll—" he was cut as two figures jumped at them. A violet, light creature tackled me to the ground as a white-and-pink figure pinned Vaporeon to the ground. "Vaporeon!" I shouted in desperation.

"Don't kill us, please." Vaporeon begged, eyes closed.

I finally saw the figures clearly. They were Pokémons too. The one that tackled me was an Espeon. But for the other? It's the first time I saw that Pokémon. It's beautiful. It had pink paws, a white trunk and a pink tail. But that's just its basic characteristics. Its eyes were completely blue, her forehead pink. From her head were two ears. A small portion was blue and the rest was pink. On its neck was a bowtie-like thing. From it were two ribbon-like structures that moved around her. There was also one on her left ear.

"We have no food." I declared.

"Sylveon, all clear. They don't have food." Espeon said. Oh, the other creature was a Sylveon. I had seen it before but I've never caught it.

The Sylveon stared at me. "You sure?"

"You're gorgeous—I mean, yes, yes, I'm sure."

Vaporeon stood on all fours and sneered at Sylveon. She looked mysteriously at Espeon. "Haven't we met before?"

"Oh, maybe?" Espeon answered nervously.

"Guys, guys! Let's make it all clear. Who wants to go with us to 'explore' the cities?" I asked.

"Of course!" Espeon nodded.

"Count me in!" Sylveon nodded.

:::

We arrived the city almost sunrise. Breathing fresh air, we walked in a group. People passing by looked at us and referred to us as "the family of Eevees." It's the time I only realized that we were all Eevee evolutions. Three females and one male.

Later on, we split apart and explored the city. Espeon, Sylveon and I checked out the trees while Vaporeon stared at the flowers outside the flower shop.

"Guys look at this!" Vaporeon said and gestured for us to come. When we were walking to her, some random guy grabbed her and covered her mouth. Strangled Pokémon cries escaped her mouth. They were muffled.

We ran to her and ran until we couldn't find the random guy. I lay on the ground sadly. This day was bad. We couldn't find Vaporeon, much less save her. We needed a human.

"We have to save her," I say to Espeon and Sylveon. "We need her."

"Why?" Sylveon asked.

"Because she's . . . she's special to me. She's the one who kept me going when I turned into a Pokémon. Yep, I was a human, and I don't wanna talk about it. You could call her my BFF."

"Fine. Let's call this Mission 101."

We searched and searched for maybe a cave or something that people can hide on. None. "Espeon? Can you track her?"

"No, she's somehow blocked from my mind . . . I sense someone who knows about the group nearby. . ." Espeon replied. We followed her through a maze of trees and we stood before a clearing.

Espeon quietly stepped forward and she quickly ducked as flames soared above her. "Arcanine, stop this! We're here to ask questions. Don't you remember me? We used to be co-Pokemon until our owner died."

"Wait, how did he die?" I asked and Espeon and I regretted the question. "Oh, nevermind, sorry."

"Arcanine, did you see a random guy grabbing Vaporeon?" Espeon asked.

"That Vaporeon was the Vaporeon? Our Vaporeon?" Arcanine asked.

"Yeah, well kind of." Espeon mumbled. "Anyway, back to the question!"

"Oh yeah, he went to the cave. Cross the lake and walk more." He led us the way. I used my ice powers to freeze a pathway for us to cross. Arcanine took rear because he tended to melt the pathway.

:::

We stood in front of the cave. It was dark inside and no doubt full of bats. Arcanine lit up some flames and led up front. This time I took the rear.

Our first attackers appeared: one Crobat and one Noibat. Crobat used Acrobatics but we all dodged. I shot him ice shards as Arcanine dodged Noibat's Gust attack. Sylveon used Fairy Wind on Noibat. Noibat used Gust against the Fairy Wind. Arcanine used Fire Blast on Noibat and he exploded into the upper cave wall, fainted. Crobat dodged my ice shards perfectly. I lunged on him and used Ice Fang. Crobat fainted.

The second wave appeared almost instantly. A Spiritomb and a Drapion stood before us. Spiritomb lunged at us but Sylveon jumped and kissed him. A yellow orb of energy flies into Sylveon as the Pokémon falls to the ground, red. Drapion tackled Espeon and used Pin Missile on her. Sylveon screamed her name and Espeon used Quick Attack. Drapion fell off her. I made an Ice Shard and stabbed Drapion, who fainted.

We ran to the end of the cave. No more attackers appeared. Before us stood two humans, and on their hands was a gun-like thing. "Don't move, or else, we'll turn you into human," one of them said.

"If you become human, I can make you a Pokémon again." The other said.

It hit Glaceon like the iceberg hit Titanic. He can't speak for the humans won't understand him. Rage appeared on his eyes.

He heard Vaporeon's strangled cry. "ATTACK!" I shouted.

Arcanine used Overheat at the first one. He dodged but got a few burns. He grabbed a Pokéball and threw it. "Blastoise, go!"

Arcanine and I went to the other side. Espeon stuck with Sylveon. The other human threw a Pokéball and a Clefable appeared. Clefable used Psyshock at me and I fell to the ground. Arcanine used Fire Fang on her. Clefable received a burn. I used Icy Wind on her and she fainted.

The girls were having a hard time. "Go help the girls I'll free Vaporeon!" Arcanine nodded at my command and I ran to the glass tube that contained Vaporeon. I used Strength and broke the glass. Vaporeon broke free and used Hyperbeam at Blastoise. He fainted instantly.

We huddled together and clapped each other at the back—er, trunk.

"You filthy Pokémons!" shouted one human. He grabbed a spear from one corner of the cave and threw it at Arcanine.

"Arcanine, watch out!" screamed Espeon as she jumped at him. The spear impaled her and she fell to the ground. Arcanine was shocked. He turned his head slowly and looked at the humans.

"Why don't we kill them?" Arcanine grinned.

"Agreed." I said and used Blizzard. I aimed it at the humans and made it stick to their skin. They froze. Arcanine used Overheat and the humans completely melted. As they melted, their guns flew out of their hands and those two guns accidentally shot the beams. It hit me and I felt myself expanding, turning into something else.

I looked at myself and saw a hand—a human hand. I'm back. I'm human again. I'm Louis. I looked over to where the other beam hit. I watched Vaporeon become human. She was gorgeous. She had platinum blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a blue dress with intricate designs.

"I'm . . . human," Vaporeon whispered. She looked at me and gasped. "Louis, it's you,"

"Oh, you look like my Vaporeon's namesake, Ella, my friend."

A cry of pain emanated from beside Sylveon. "Espeon!" Sylveon shouted. It was weird that Vaporeon and I understood. It was like as if a part of the Pokémon language stayed in us. We huddled over her.

"Thank you everyone. I love you so much. Oh, Louis, my master." Espeon said.

"What?"

"I'm your Espeon. You disappeared from us. Arcanine, Vaporeon and I were separated from you. I met Sylveon and we became friends. I missed you. Thank you for everything . . ."

"Espeon, I can't . . ." Tears streamed down my face. It's my Espeon.

Her eyes became empty. She's passed away.

"That's it. I don't want to be a human anymore. Sylveon, can you turn me into a Pokémon again?"

Vaporeon nodded vigorously too. Sylveon flicked her hand and she glowed white. Two orbs of magic flied to my chest and to Vaporeon's too. We felt ourselves being Pokémons again. I opened my eyes and saw myself as a Glaceon again.

"Okay, so I owned all of you, except for Sylveon—thanks by the way."

"Yeah. Technically." Vaporeon said and ran to me. We hugged each other. When we looked at Sylveon and Arcanine, they were holding hands—er, paws, smiling.

"C'mon, let's go save some Pokémons." I smiled and together, we excited the cave and into the woods.