Chapter Three: Plight of the Arrogant

Apparently this is one of the easiest mystery dungeons I'll encounter. That's what Blaze said, anyway. I still remembered him snicker:"But not as easy as running on four limbs!"

Whatever.

We paused and caught our breath right before an archway of skyscraping trees. It's almost surreal how abruptly such a huge, dark forest just... popped out in the middle of this grassland. Like a black stain on a green canvas. A dark gray fog wrapped around the woods, blocking most of my view, save for a couple yards ahead of the entrance. Gazing up, I saw the top of the dark treeline almost block out the sun's light from the inside of the forest. Not too inviting, if you ask me.

"So we just look for this Caterpie and pull him out and return him to that Butterfree? Easy enough. Let's get this over and go home," I shrugged.

Blaze turned and looked at me with awful concern in his less-than-fiery eyes. "What's the matter?" I asked.

He hesitated for a bit, staring at the tall trees and their shadows. "Don't be too sure; it's not as easy as it seems. Tiny Woods looks like what we call a mystery dungeon." he replied, transfixing his orange eyes toward the towering woods.

"Hmm? What's a 'mystery dungeon'?"

"Ever since these natural disasters started occurring, all the rescue teams discovered these places show up. They just seem to 'pop out' in random places, like this plain."

"What's wrong with that?" I asked.

Blaze looked dead ahead. "Nobody knows how or why they appear. From what I've been told, they're an odd spatial anomaly. Unexplainable by any laws of science."

"So what's so different about a mystery dungeon? I mean, aren't we already inside one?"

"We've haven't even walked past the entrance, Liam. Inside these places are huge mazes which seem to contain more area than conceivably possible. It's like walking into another dimension, where time and space seem disregarded in favor of the dungeon's own laws. Funny thing is, no two dungeons are exactly the same, and even then, each dungeon seems to shift every time an outsider walks into one."

I smiled at his tall tale. "And what makes you the expert on dungeonology?"

I expected a bit of his cheery smile and a warm gaze from his bright orange eyes. Unfortunately, this time Blaze didn't share my humor. "Two things, mister. One: this has been something happening for quite a while; it's common knowledge. Two: I nearly failed to escape from one. Not so funny now, eh, Pikachu?"

"So a really bad maze, then," I awkwardly replied. The rotting smell of dead plants filled the muggy air.

The Charmander calmed down, his tail flame shrinking a bit. "Yes, but here's the bad part; these mystery dungeons - wherever they came from - are destroying the land, twisting whatever there was into a barren wasteland, and anyone caught in one when it pops up gets trapped in it. I've never seen any Pokémon leave from one. Even worse, they're spreading."

I pondered a bit. Maybe this isn't such a great place to explore after all. His explanation only fueled more questions. "But why are they appearing and spreading? And what's so wrong about some random forests?"

"I don't know how or why they seem to appear – that's something Zhish might tell us if I asked. But I – and every other Pokémon – know they shouldn't be here. You see that gray mist covering Tiny Woods?"

The grey mist blanketed the canopy, blocking out the sun's warmth and light. "Yup, I get it, but I don't see what's so bad about some mist?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. You remember how I told you about some malign force within the mystery dungeon? I think that's why the Pokémon attacked Mrs. Butterfree. I've seen territorial Pokémon for sure, but nothing like this; nobody in his or her right mind would just suddenly start a fight with a mother looking for her son."

"You're saying that the dungeon actually caused them to become aggressive?"

"Liam, the last few months I've seen dozens of these appear out of nowhere. After a sudden, odd natural disaster like tsunamis occurring in rivers or an earthquake occurs, these dungeons just 'pop up' all over the place, almost as if the mystery dungeon responds to the disaster. I used to visit Pokémon – friends of mine – who lived here, before any of this mystery dungeon and dark mist crap," Blaze pondered, trying to find memories of a more peaceful era. "When huge, black trees and dark clouds just showed up out of absolutely nowhere and surrounded their homes, I knew something went terribly wrong. My friends lived in these places."

I peered into the entrance, seeing the thin dirt paths cross through the dead trees and cool fog. Cries of creatures filled the air, taunting us as we looked through the woods. My tail seemed to droop a bit in the humid heat.

"...and of course, you know that since they were literally trapped inside the anomaly, they were hostile to anybody - including me."

I tried striking up another question with the shaken Charmander. "So a trick house with enemies, right? I've been in one before. Heck, I think I've even battled in them," I enthusiastically replied while mulling over vague human memories.

"Good, because our objective is not only to rescue Caterpie, but it's also to survive."

Blaze turned away from the dark, crevice-studded forest and gave a toothy grin, trying to get past the conversation. "But we have some rescuing to do, don't we?"

I tried to smile. "Let's go find Caterpie before he gets hurt."

We silently crept into the woods with watchful eyes and worry in our minds.

Tiny Woods B1F

Okay, if Tiny Woods looked pretty miserable on the outside, inside it was absolutely gloomy. I don't think Blaze's explanation did any justice for this place. Tiny cracks in the ground opened up deep crevices; dark, thick tree trunks held up huge, twisted branches that blocked most sunlight; and gigantic rocks poked out of the ground and dotted the landscape. Dead trees and stumps dotted the forest floor as well. Maybe they should have called this place the "Lost Woods" or something like that.

I walked right alongside Blaze at an amicable, yet careful pace, holding his orange tail like a torch to light up the dimly-lit dirt path; even in the middle of the day, the sky was as bleak as dusk here. The labyrinthine trail led to endless side paths and winding roads. But so far, so good; we didn't see anything for the past five minutes, and all we did was walk into the forest. We ventured in deeper and deeper until the entrance faded away into the distance and the woods were dark with the shadows of tall, black trees and thick bushes.

"This is it, Liam," he said while keeping an eye out for... something. "We're in a real mystery dungeon. A sprawling maze of terror. Like all the gods decided to leave this forsaken forest alone."

"So how do we rescue Caterpie and get out?" I asked, casually kicking a small rock away from the dirt path.

"Uhm, well the last time I got stuck in one I climbed deeper down a hole - no I think I just went deeper into wherever I was. I think that's our exit to the rest of the world. It's part of that spatial anomaly thing I heard about; the deeper you dive in, the closer you are to the outside realm. Weird things like that. I mean, we're not exactly in the land of normalcy, of course."

"You're kidding now, right?"

"No, I'm dead serious!" he replied indignantly, "You get out of these dungeons by venturing further inside the maze! Just look around you - can't you tell that we're already walking deeper into the darkness?"

I threw another glance upwards. Nothing. Maybe the sky got a bit darker and some trees grew taller. Growls grew deeper and seemed closer.

"So when's the nightmare over, Blaze?"

He started walking closer to me and looked around a bit more furtively, his orange irises filled with worry. "Not until we get into the deep end."

Tiny Woods B2F

Well that was weird, but I we got thicker into this forest, somehow. It grew noticeably cooler. The air felt a bit heavier and slightly more humid, but the tall, endless tree trunks blocked out the sky with their dark, moss-stained branches. Mossy dirt scrunched beneath my yellow, furry feet, and the stench of rotting wood remained ever so pungent. A couple small bushes added greenery here and there. I guess even in this forsaken dimension, a bit of life still grows on. We plodded cautiously, screening the terrain for any surprises.

I still had questions stuck in my mind, itching to find the truth from Blaze. "So, uh, what's so bad about this place? I mean, it's kinda dark and you said there are some territorial Pokémon, but I don't know why-"

In a sudden pang of fear, Blaze immediately covered my mouth with an orange claw. "Shhh!" he warned in sudden fear.

"mmphphrm?"

"Quiet now!" he whispered in a low voice, still holding his arm around my mouth to silence me, "Do you hear that? I think I heard a couple – no, several – Pokémon moving around."

I pushed off his rigid arm a bit, "Toward us?"

"Unfortunately."

"Friendly maybe?"

"What have I told you for the past few minutes?"

"Okay, okay, so what do we do?"

"Stay calm, and don't move... I think."

"You think?!"

"Jeez Liam this is like the second time I've traveled through a mystery dungeon! Just stick close to me, and we'll figure something out. We'll make it out OK." he blurted as he tried to reassure me. I wish I could believe him.

I heard bushes faintly rustling in the distance. Come to think about it, I didn't notice anything strange like that until just now. Uh-oh. More bushes rustled, some sounding closer. Trees started shaking and leaves dropped. Did I just see a shadow move from behind that rock?

Stay calm. Don't sweat. Rangers tell us that they're more scared of us than we are of them. Usually. I wanted to move along quickly, but something told me that running away wouldn't be too helpful right then.

I turned my back toward Blaze, he turned his back toward mine. Perfect; 360 degree field of view combined. Could that help us? I saw more shaking foliage. Perfect. Hey, what's that? That big bush over there – it's..!

Literally jumping out of the bush, out came a cutesy-looking little, flappy Pidgey with drab yellow-and-brown wings. Aw. Huh?

There was something disturbingly wrong with the bird Pokémon. "Wha- what's wrong with its eyes? They were... glowing red! This isn't supposed to happen, right?" I stammered to Blaze. He nodded, this time without a clue for an answer.

Blaze slowly walked backwards. His back crept ever so precariously closer to mine. "S-stay back Liam! I don't know! J-just don't get close! Gah! This is worse than what they told me!" he chattered.

It flapped its small brown wings around, stretching and advancing closer. Ugh, I could even sense what it's feeling. Anger. Confusion. Hate. Directly at us. Calm it down now. Don't panic. Time to make a new friend?

"Hey there buddy..." I calmly spoke to it, "...how are you doin' today? Nice weather, isn't-"

An ear-splitting screech hit the air. "How dare you trespass here! Get out of the forest!" the Pidgey squawked, flapping to gain altitude and flying straight up.

"Uh, I'll take that as a no, then?"

Immediately, it dive-bombed straight toward my head.

"Wait! Can't we just talk it out?!"

Hmm, it seemed to be listening. Okay, it's slowly flapping down; no wait it's flying at top spee- WAAUGHHH WHAT IT ATTACKED ME OH SWEET RAYQUAZA PAIN PAIN AHH THAT HURTS

Owch!

Pain.

Hot, panging pain.

It hit me straight in the head with its razor-sharp beak. What? Oh, a critical hit of course! Ugh... can't see straight... Seeing stars... I clutched my sore head. Just how low is my Defense? ...Wait, what, that low? But it wasn't even that effective! Ugh. This is going to be so much fun.

Argh.

Painpoundinghotpain.

Blaze turned around a full 180 degrees after hearing the sharp beak go crack! into my skull. I heard a shrill cry, "Liam! Are you alright?!"

I stopped rubbing my aching head for a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine..." Come on now, get up. Pain subsided a bit. Still woozy. I tried to stay alert. Looked up behind Blaze's shoulder. Pidgey flew backwards, whew. It's going away... toward the rest of the group?

What there's four more where'd they come from?!

"What do you think you're doing here?" one squawked.

"Whoever you are, you came to the wrong forest."

Yet another laughed. "Are you asking us to hurt you?"

"This is our territory! Get that Pikachu out of this forest! No one steps in our forest! Get him, guys!" the largest one screamws. Is that a Pidgeotto?

Funny, they all have oddly glowing red eyes, seething with hatred. Who thought such a small feature could make a tiny Pidgey seem so scary?

Stop thinking! Look! Dangit, three more joined in. We became completely surrounded. Blaze lowers his body in some defensive stance.

Hey, they don't look so big when you look more closely, I thought with a feeling of strange confidence. You know what? I think we can scare them away! Maybe talking them down works.

"Trying to outnumber us now, eh? Wow, look how brave you all are right now! Bullying two Pokémon with five Pidgey! And a Pidgeotto to top the mob off? I bet you'll need more to even try to make us scared! I dare you, take your first move at us. Come on now, en garde, fight me like you mean it! This Charmander and I can take you all at once, no sweat!" I shouted confidently, the hope of survival briefly rising.

The Pidgey were initially stunned by my taunt. Hey, maybe it worked!

Wait. No it didn't.

Uh oh. Bad idea Bad idea Bad idea Bad! Instead, they grew angrier and flapped their feathery wings. Two popped out of the thick forest canopy, flying into the fray. Eight now surrounded us. They madly screeched at the top of their lungs - using Growl to scare us? It's clearly working.

I wished I never said a word.

"Liam, that probably wasn't the wisest move." Blaze whispered, his voice quivering in fear.

'Oops' really isn't really the right word to summarize a blunder of this caliber.

The big one - a Pidgeotto - maniacally screamed at me. "You really think you're so tough?! Fine! I'll accept your puny challenge. Let's show you a lesson in pain and broken bones, then! EVERYONE, TARGET THE PIKACHU NOW! MAKE HIM SUFFER!"

The frenzy started. Four immediately dived straight down to Tackle me. Um, let's go? First battle as a Pikachu, I guess.

They're inaccurate, I hope. My Speed stat's pretty high too right? I'm a Pikachu! I'm naturally quick! Let's see how I do here... Get low. I dashed a few body-lengths forward, then rolled left, Poké-ninja style.

I jumped, leaping a surprisingly sprightly three body-heights into the air. A Pidgey's Tackle failed to make contact as I hopped over it - oh hey, it worked! Maybe that should- AUGH!

Of course, I got slammed before I found a chance to sneak away. Those Pidgey, why were they so fast?

And how come I've been getting so tired already?

Liam. Be careful. Conserve your energy. This is your first battle as a Pokémon. Wait, no forget that RUN NOW!

Oof! Wait, too late?! A Pidgey landed another Tackle. Great. I skidded back a couple feet face-first into the dirt. Hello ground, nice to meet you!

Come on, get up, get up, get up, you're not that badly hurt-

OH LATIOS WHAT HOW DID THEY HIT ME BEFORE I GOT UP COME ON THIS IS SO UNFAIR AND PAINFUL

Slammed again by another Pidgey. Definitely a Quick Attack. So strong... Pain again. It's getting harder to push myself up...

Blaze! Where's Blaze? Where did he go?! Is he all right? Did they... is he...? No! I can't let that happen!

Come on Liam get up now! No time for pain anymore! I-I have to find him!

I look up again, and- oomph!

Arrrghh ah ah oh no Tackled again!

Oh no... it's getting hard to see straight. Get up. I tried to escape now... no point in fighting... Blaze, where are you?

UGH! A Quick Attack right into my ribcage. Throbbing pain... I checked myself briefly. Gashes, bruises, wounds - all the like. Probably something broken too. Ugh, less than a quarter of my HP? Great. I shielded myself from the attacks as I tried to gain a quick, hopeless break...

But then... wait!

A voice boomed from behind. "GET OFF HIM, COWARDS!"

I weakly look upwards, and SLICE!

"AACK!" the big Pidgeotto yelled with raw, red Scratch marks newly imprinted on his side, "WHO IN LUGIA'S NAME DID THAT?"

The other Pidgey flapped around furiously to defend their alpha male from a berserking Charmander, who clawed at the bird Pokémon madly like there was no tomorrow.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM, NOW!" Blaze shouted, felling an unlucky Pidgey with a vicious Scratch along the way. His face, full of frantic rage, came into clear view. "ANYONE WANT TO FACE ME?!"

Taking the chance, I pushed myself up and shouted to him. "Blaze, forget them! Let's just get out of here!"

He turned around, and, seeing me, forgetting all about his desire for battle.

"Now Liam! Grab on; let's go!"

He briefly paused to extend his arm to me; I didn't need to think for more than a millisecond before latching onto his arm, finally pulling myself up from the ground. The Pidgey, stunned as they were, paused for only a brief few seconds, but this was more than enough time to get a head start on running away from this forsaken place. Blaze madly ran, pulling me along as I limped right behind. The Pidgey and their leader turned around, snapping back from their initial confusion and flew at top speed to greet us.

Blaze sprinted even faster, desperate to get out. "This way!" he cried, sharply turning to another pathway.

The angry flock – no, more like a swarm – of Pidgey rushed at us, squawking threats and insults laced with hatred. Angry beyond control, they gained ground closer and closer to us...

"Where do we go?!" I moaned in despair. I checked behind. Too many Pidgeys to count; probably more joined into the fray to rout us.

All hints of fury in Blaze's voice were now replaced by tones of fear. "I don't know! Just follow me! Don't think about it, look around!" he responded.

Run. Liam, you can't even defend yourself. Use your godly speed stat. Forget about your aching, battered legs – don't slow Blaze down! Just run.

Run. Don't you dare look back!

Whoops, I just did.

The alpha Pidgeotto screeched menacingly mere feet behind us, leading the pack with intent to maim... or something beyond that. "Come back here now! AACK! You will fall! No prey ever escapes from Aviar!"

Oh so that's his name. That one. You know what? I'm sick of letting him slam me like before. It's time to teach him a lesson now. It's time for revenge.

I paused from running for a second. "Liam! What are you doing?! Come on!" Blaze cried.

I angrily yelled back. "No Blaze, I will not let them do this to me!"

I tensed up my whole body, charging myself with an enormous bank of static electricity.

What in the world am I doing? How am I doing this... is this instinct?

The charge built up as I let my soul take control over my body. A brief moment of power and energy built up inside me. Seconds later, I couldn't hold it any longer. I spontaneously released the charge building inside my body and release a small, flashing, yellow bolt of electricity straight at the Pidgey.

ZAP!

Thundershock! I smelled something smoldering... it actually worked!

"Gah!" the bird Pokémon cried in sudden shock and agony.

Big Pidgeotto got zapped with my bolt, surprising him and his mob of Pidgey for a couple of precious seconds.

I laughed for the brief moment. "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

"Nice job! I didn't know you had that in you!" Blaze commended.

Taking the advantage of the squawking Pidgey, who were pausing to check on their leader, I peered to the left.

"Wait? Lookit that!" I jumped and exclaimed.

I frantically shook his arm. "Blaze! Look! Left!"

"What now?!"

"A crevice; I think we can hide from them in there!"

Now it's my turn to take the lead. "Come on! Let's – aargh (my poor leg!) – go!" I pulled him, along left. I sprinted that way, not even caring anymore about my leg.

We dashed at full speed toward the stairs. Crap, the Pidgey gained on us! How did they cover so much ground already? They're in range to lunge at us. Keep running!

The depths of a gorge came into view. T-minus five seconds. We madly sprinted to the finish line, gaining invaluable inches ahead of the mob. Don't look back!

T-minus two seconds. A Pidgey tried to drive a Tackle into my backside. I can feel its bony wing trying to smash into me. Run a bit faster. Don't even think about how tired you are. T-minus one second. Shelter was mere feet away!... I think we can make it!

I cried a yell mixed with fear and relief as we made it deeper into the maze, away from the angry swarm. We hid in the deeper part of the crag, waiting for them to fly off. Touchdown!

The Pidgey stopped at the top of the crevice. They're not chasing us anymore?

"Huh? Why aren't they following us down?" I asked.

"Maybe they got stopped by something. Makes no sense," Blaze tiredly replied. "Doesn't matter, whatever hocus-pocus force is going on, it's giving us a break this time. Come on, I'm going downstairs," he huffed, disappearing into view as he walked down.

I made one final look backwards. The Pidgey's glowing red eyes stared back at me. If looks could kill, I'd be vaporized in an instant.

Tiny Woods B3F

We hopped off (or rather just plopped ourselves down) the descending gorge onto the grass-patched dirt below, too exhausted to lift ourselves onto our feet. Blaze and I lied down, panting hard for air and waiting until that aching pain in our lungs subsided.

"We... made it..." I weakly mumbled.

It's a wonder how I even made it here in one piece. Right now I can't even move a muscle without that pounding pain coming back. How in fact did I make it? Adrenaline rush?

"Ugh... yeah... let's just rest a while." Blaze moaned, his own wounds just as grievous as mine.

"Why would they – ow – attack us just like that? How are they – owch! – so strong?"

"Maybe their (pant) anger just got the best of them. I've never seen Pidgey so aggressive and strong like that – ugh!"

"But they just came out of nowhere and started smashing me!" I feebly protested.

"Mocking them probably didn't help," he shot back, massaging bright red gashes on his dull yellow belly.

"They would have attacked anyway!"

"We had a chance to run, Liam, until you screwed up."

Oh yeah, right. I guess there's a lesson learned; hubris never pays off. Not unless you can back it up, but I obviously can't with such a terribly, pitifully poor Defense stat. Better work on that. Ah, yes, my fighting skills too.

"... but at least you showed them an impressive Thundershock."

"Thanks pal," I smiled.

"...aaand you need to work on just about everything else. Being a Pokémon isn't that easy, y'know."

Sigh. That's true. I barely made it down here. If it weren't for Blaze...

"Blaze, I'm so sorry for doing that," I glumly apologized.

"Doing what?"

"Placing you in danger like that. It was a mistake, a horribly foolish mistake, for me to just taunt them like that. I guess I didn't know better. No! That's a lie. I knew better. I just... my pride. Yes, that's it. I should not not have done that. I'm so sorry," I mumbled, weak and tired.

"Liam. Please, don't worry. I understand. I really do. We all make mistakes, and perhaps this time you just made another blunder. I guess this only cost us some bruises and cuts, but just don't do that ever again, okay? We're too young to die like that!"

"Does that mean-"

"Apology accepted. In fact, you don't even need to say that. I'm here for you Liam. No matter how stupidly you act."

I rolled my head gently to the right and look at Blaze. "Well, on another note, do you think they would have, uhm... killed me?" I asked.

The fire-eyed Charmander turned his head and laughed a bit. "Heh heh. It takes a lot more than what we just saw to do that," he replied, "but you're still in pretty bad condition right now. It's best just to rest up a bit; you'll feel much better soon."

"Don't I need to spray on a potion or something?"

"A what?" he curiously asked.

"A- er, uhm," ohyeahright this isn't the human world anymore, "or how about a berry?"

Blaze blushed. "Gee, well, uh, yeah, I think I forgot to bring stuff along. Didn't think I'd need one to walk around, but then of course I woke you up and then we meet Mrs. Butterfree, and now a couple hours later we're here..."

"So what do we do?" I said, checking myself out. Yeesh, cuts and bruises everywhere. Something's probably broken too. Maybe my leg; I couldn't seem to move it without some flaming pain shooting at me. Ow Ow Ow. I didn't want to get up at all. Just get some rest...

"We just need to take a break and rest up a bit. Us Pokemon get over our wounds pretty quickly. Let's just take a breather, ok?"

No argument with that.

We lied down on the leaf-littered dirt path, quietly resting up while our wounds gradually healed over time. Too exhausted to move, I took a quick nap where I sat, drifting off into sleep...

Hmm.

Odd. I smelled something again. It smelled like smoke... Holy crap! Was something burning? Wait a minute, that smell, uh oh... déjà vu– GAH!

I cried as I felt a searing heat run through my poor backside. "FIRE! FIRE! MY POOR BACK AUGHH!"

Ack! Not again!

"Uh, sorry Liam, I just had to wake you up..." Blaze sheepishly remarked, pulling away his flame-bedecked tail. That tail of his is a truly dangerous weapon.

"Must you always have to do that?" I indignantly protested, damping out the heat from my back.

"Oh come on! You were asleep for way too long now. Remember we have a mission to complete?"

I lifted myself up with newfound ease. "Yeah," I sighed, "but you said we needed to rest up and- huh? What happened to you? How are you so, well, healthier-looking?"

"I told you, Pokémon heal pretty quickly - that's why we can battle so much, silly. Just look at yourself!"

Well let's see... I looked down, and hey! Funny, when I started napping I remembered there used to be a giant gash on my back from a Pidgey's talons clawing at me. I searched around the spot, feeling a crusty scab begin to heal over the wound area. Hmm... the bigger bruises were also clearing up and getting smaller. Even my (hopefully not broken) leg felt a bit better! I put on some weight, and, wow! Okay, I can sorta walk on it better now! I'm healing!- Ow ow ow. Not quite there yet though. But still, I felt better!

"It's good to see you doing well. Come on, let's get a move on right now! That Caterpie's waiting for us!" he urged, going ahead down the path.

"Oh yeah! Right, uhm, but first we gotta find him, so, any idea where he might be?" I asked.

"Mrs. Butterfree told us he was stuck in a ravine, guess that means we gotta look inside one of these gigantic crevices. I think he should be around here somewhere."

I walked a few steps over and peered into a nearby crack in the ground.

Oh. Goodness.

That's quite deep.

Backtrack. I could hear my echo from all the way down. I do not want to fall into one of those.

"Keep looking! He could be in any one of these," he yelled.

Like detectives snooping around in crime scenes, we carefully looked into every gorge we come across. Interestingly enough, we didn't see a staircase anywhere. Guess this means this was the deep end of the mystery dungeon.

A relatively brief couple minutes passed by, until

"WAAHH! Mommy?! Where... are you?" a scared voice cried from the inside of a gorge.

Yup, that's gotta be him. I ran to the direction of the voice. I stared down the ravine and peeked below.

"Hello? Anybody? Pleeeeease? HELP ME!" the voice – revealed to be no other than Caterpie – hoarsely sniffled.

Finally, at long last, we found him! I cried out to the Charmander right next to me. "Hey Blaze! I think we've got our lost Caterpie!"

Blaze rushed over and peeked into the crevice too. "Alright! Let's go down and rescue him!"

Fortunately, the gorge wasn't that deep – not as much as the other ones, which are frighteningly abysmal. The jagged rock-and-clay walls provided decent footing to climb down. In just a couple of minutes, we scurried down the brown boulders and reached the ground next to the frightened Caterpie. His beady eyes were drenched from ceaseless crying and his small green body curled into a fetal position; he was scared beyond belief.

"Hey there, Caterpie." I gently called out to him.

He spun around in surprise. "Huh?" he asked, bewildered. "Wh-Who are you?! Please don't attack mee!"

The little Caterpie quivered in fear. I can't blame the little guy... what would I do, out here all alone away from my mom and hiding from all the Pidgey?

"Relax; we're not going to do any of that. We came to rescue you. Your mom's waiting. Let's get out of here!" Blaze assured him.

Immediately, the worm Pokémon brightened up to a light shade of green. "Yay! Mommy! Ok!" he cheered. Still, he tended to cower away from the Charmander's blazing tail-fire.

"Come on everybody; let's go home now," I announced, "Hop onto my back, er, what's your name..."

"My name's Caz." the Caterpie replied, beaming at me with glowing eyes which radiated with wonder and awe. Kind of, uhm... perplexing, to say the least.

"Okay Caz, just climb on, and we'll get you outta here."

He latched onto my back tightly, thanks to his suction cup feet, and we climbed up the wall of the brown crevasse back to the forest. Not too difficult.

After clambering back onto the forest floor, we were ready to walk out of the forest with Blaze explaining that the deepest part of a mystery dungeon usually had an exit path or portal to the outside world until we saw-

Oh my sweet Latios why why why not again.

-a small band of Pidgey, patrolling the area for intruders like us. They looked around, squawking a couple times. Luckily for us, they seem to be squabbling and arguing over something.

"Liam! Do you see-"

"Shhh! Don't say a word!" I quietly uttered, "Now follow me and let's move along real slowly so that-"

SNAP!

You gotta be kidding me.

A twig.

Did I just seriously do that. With my stubby little foot. Blaze shot an exasperated look while I felt Caz's sweatdrops of fear.

Oh great, now the five-Pokémon-strong band of Pidgey suddenly turned their heads toward us. We are in seriously deep crap. Urk.

In a brief, tense moment, Blaze and I locked eyes with each other, then we locked eyes with the startled Pidgey. We immediately backtracked, clinging tightly to Caz while eyeing furiously for a path outside.

"Three... two... one..." I whispered.

"RUNNNN!" Blaze yelled, grabbing me along and madly sprinting away for the second time now. The Pidgey instinctively chased us.

"Hey guys! Ya see that?" one yelled to his pack-mates, "Looks like dinner to me! Get that Caterpie, quick!"

I felt Caz latching onto my back even tighter, shaking with terror.

"Don't worry Caz, we got everything under control," I reassured him, "just hang on tight!"

We sprinted down the dusty dirt path between rows of skyscraping trees, half-seconds ahead of the pack of bird Pokémon who are flying toward us. Great, there's no staircase. Now what?

Hold on a minute, this means we're at the end of the dungeon like he said. There must be an exit somewhere!

Seconds later, a light-filled exit shone into view.

"This must be the way out! Come on Liam and Caz! Run!" Blaze screamed, pulling us along by the arm.

Pidgeys flapped harder. Might be possible that a couple were the ones who attacked Blaze and me.

I dashed even faster. We're going to make it!

The light became even brighter. The tall trees at the end arched over, with bright rays of light penetrating through the dark woods. We ran through the trees, narrowly avoiding the pursuing Pidgey as they screech at us, tormenting us to come back and fight them. The mad sprint to the finish line became a blur; the dirt path and trees gave way to open, grassy fields. Suddenly, like exiting out of a portal, we made it out of the forest and romped our way back into a grassy, sun-lit hillside.

We've finally gotten out of Tiny Woods!

"Haha! We did it! We made it out of our first mystery dungeon!" Blaze proclaimed proudly as we walked outside into the sunlight-drenched valley.

"All right!"

Somehow, within the few hours stuck inside of Tiny Woods, I've grown fond of grass and sunlight.

"Yay!" Caz cried, "Look guys! Mommy's here too!"

We both swung around to see a Butterfree flying at top speed toward her son.

"My dear baby! Oh, I missed you so much! Are you hurt? Are you okay? Ah, I shouldn't have left you alone there! I'm so glad to see you!" she gushed, crying and embracing her long-lost son.

"Me too Mommy! I thought I'd never see you!" Caz replies, warmly hugging her back.

Aw, even the sight of this even made me want to cry. Hey, is Blaze tearing up?

I turned over to him. "Hey Blaze are you crying too?"

His tail is flaming a bit more than usual. "Ah! Uh, no! I'm just hm... sweating from my eyes! The light's harsh, man..." he blushed.

"All right, whatever you say," I replied, watching and smiling at the reunited mother embrace her child.

Eventually, they calmed down. "Yes, my baby's safe. I'm so sorry, I don't know how I could ever thank you kids properly," she huffed.

Blaze spoke up. "Aww, don't worry lady. There have been a lot of quakes and fissures and disasters like that lately. It's dangerous. I'm honestly glad your little guy Caz isn't hurt."

"Please, may I have your names at least?" the Butterfree asked us.

"I'm Blaze, and this is Liam," Blaze replied, pointing to me.

"An interesting name for a Pikachu, isn't it?"

"Er... well, he's not from around the area," he quickly stated.

Caz looks at us, beady eyes twinkling with awestruck wonder. "... so cool..."

He, uh, stared at me adoringly. Those sparkly eyes... a little embarrassing. But this didn't feel too bad either. It's like I was a hero! Even though I did kinda lose to some Pidgey and a Pidgeotto back in the second floor. But helping Pokémon in trouble might be a good experience.

"Thank you so much Blaze and Liam!" Caz shouted, oozing with glee with a twinkle from his eye.

"I sincerely thank you as well. Here, I have something for you two," she said, pulling out some round objects from her leaf-and-silk purse, "I know it isn't really enough, but this is a token of our thanks. Please accept it."

She handed us three smooth, juicy-looking, and plump berries: Oran, Pecha, and Rawst. When you're a Pokémon I swear these things are like the size of fruits, or maybe at least things aren't quite the same in this world.

"Again, thank you so much. It's getting late and we have to go home now, so I think you two should also head back too. Good-bye, and hope to see you later," she says, hovering along with Caz close to her side. The two sauntered down the grassy hillside, heading back home, and become smaller and smaller into the distance until they became just little dots slowly walking into the sunset.

Blaze looked happily at me, relieved. "Hey, thanks for helping me out back there. You were pretty tough back there with the Pidgey. Did you see that wicked Thundershock? That was crazy! I never expected anything like that! And I respect it too, at least from a crazy guy like you," he smiled.

"Crazy?" I questioned incredulously.

"You woke up in the middle of a hillside and immediately claimed to be a human. Whaddaya expect?"

"Er, uhm, I still am, you know."

"Whatever, then. At least you were gutsy back there. That's not something I'd see normally in a Pikachu," he mused. "Usually they're quite timid Pokémon - so far the opposite of what I've noticed with you. Maybe you really might be a human..."

Am I blushing too? Oh dear... "Aw, don't worry about that; I just did what I had to do. And besides, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here in one piece, right?"

He chuckled back. "But I still don't believe a fairy-tale creature would just reincarnate as a Pikachu."

Whatever...

We lolled around aimlessly, watching the afternoon sun sink into the orange sky and sharing laughs about running from the hordes of Pidgey. The late afternoon passed too quickly; time flew as we joked and smiled. But this Blaze, the Charmander; I saw two sides of him today - an easy-going Pokémon who woke me up and a fierce warrior who saved my skin. Perhaps he's the partner the spirit lady talked about.

Like Caz and his mother, the sun also became a diminishing speck into the distance, gently fading away into time. "So, uh, what are you going to do? After this, I mean. Do you have somewhere to go?" Blaze asked me as dusk settled in.

"I, er, um have nowhere to go to," I answered flatly. "I mean, after waking up as a Pikachu in some faraway future land, I guess I'm homeless too,"

"No surprise to me this time. Say, Liam. If you don't have anywhere to stay, why don't you come with me to my house? I'll bet that's what humans do too."

Shelter! That means bed! And maybe food too! Aw yisssss!

"All right! Sure, if you don't mind."

"Not at all! Come on, it's getting late now," he smiled, looking up toward the orange, sunset sky. "Let's head back home now. We've had a long day; I'm sure we're both tired."

GRROWWLLL!

A deep rumble wailed from my stomach - I remembered eating nothing since the morning. I smiled back at Blaze, who nodded and giggled understandingly. We walked down the rolling green hills and plains and through the meadow, sauntering side-by-side toward home through the final hours of the setting sun.