October 19, 2025

Floor 9

Finally, we had made it to floor nine. Floor nine offered many luxuries, such as Warp Orbs, Trawl Orbs, Petrify Orbs, but especially Escape Orbs. Those were the life-saving orbs that would matter for the rest of the game. The second I got the LA Bonus, I ran up to the next floor and got as many Escape Orbs as I could. Sure, it seemed unfair, but everything was fair game when your own life depended on it. It was either me get all the orbs I could carry or let my almost-guild member's die.

However, my focus was on the item quest for this floor—and it was my turn to pick the quest. This was the "Karate Quest" floor, a small adventure with the Black Belt item as a reward. With my new STAB move in Force Palm, I had completely dominated the past few floors with barely any help. The paralysis chance, compounded with my decent attack stat and the power Force Palm provided, offered some great offense against the early Normal-types and Rock-types that plagued the early floors.

This floor did not, however, have the guild quest yet—that would be floor ten. Of course I would hop on that as well, but since it is still maybe a week away, I figured a two-day quest like the Karate story wouldn't be much trouble. As such, right after our breakfast of, you guessed it, apples, I had Budew accompany me on the first leg of the quest.

Out of the three different parts, this first was the easiest. All I had to do was talk to the NPC Throh, a red-bodied Fighting-type with good defenses, and beat him in a short battle. I had done it towards the end of the beta, so I could definitely do it at level 20, three levels higher than the first time I played this floor.

Budew and I walked through town with caution. I had explained the dangers of Sableye, the destruction he could cause, and we had all kept our eyes peeled for the threat. The most I've encountered were a few nervous feelings, like those where you're being watched. Nothing more. Whether Torchic (well, she was Torchic then. She's a Combusken now) was telling the truth or just messing with me, I was definitely freaked out as a result. She wouldn't do that particular lie; As a Combusken in the last few floors of beta, she, too, faced Sableye a few times. I never understood why he bothered the Fighting-types when there were powerful non-evolving Normal-type Pokémon, like Tauros or Kangaskhan, which were easy to control.

Floor 9 was named Caveston, which was appropriate considering the vast amount of caves in the mountainous region. The town was carved into, and surrounded by a perimeter of, giant boulders and mountains. It was sort of appreciative that they took this step; the seventh floor started at the base of the mountains, the eight was along a little path up one of them, and this was the result. It almost felt like we were going through a real region, town by town. I figured I was one of the only ones who even cared for the scenery.

Throh's cave was lit on either side by a large torch. When we entered it, we began descending stone stairs with a small, yet distinguished, red carpet. Budew looked at me while we were walking and smiled.

"My happiness is almost at the minimum. Once we get this guild official, I have a feeling I'm going to evolve," she said.

I nodded. My happiness was almost at max, but I figured that getting the Black Belt would be just about enough, and then eating a Gummi would cover whatever leftover happiness I required. This floor would be the floor I evolved in for sure. Being a Lucario so early would grant me such easy experiences with the bosses. I could imagine the Aura Spheres, the Close Combats, and the Extremespeeds that would knock out those future bosses.

"I'm glad the guilds are available on the tenth floor," I heard her say.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Well," she began, "the tenth floor boss will be the first one new to us. We already know this floor's boss is a Muk, and all we need is Shieldon and me to take the Poison hits and hope there are some super effective attacks in the other parties. When we're a guild, it'll be on a brand new boss. We'll be together even closer, so there's no way we can lose. With your leadership and abilities, Buizel's determination, mine and Shieldon's defenses, and Fletchling and Whismur for backup, we're the perfect guild. Imagine when we recruit everyone else!"

She was right. If we recruited people like Monferno, Buneary, and maybe even Combusken, then we would really shine in the later floors. Imagine a Lucario and a Blaziken fighting side-by-side. It gave me chills just thinking about it. My nerdy senses couldn't stop piecing together the possibilities. We didn't get to form a guild really in beta, but this time would be different.

We came to Throh and saw the question mark above his head—the sign for a quest. I knew that, with this item, I would be able to still do good damage to Muk with Force Palm. I smiled at the thought and quickly interacted with the character.

"Hello, I'm looking for quite a challenge—are you a strong Fighting-type?" he asked.

I shouted yes louder than he spoke—my own form of overpowering him. He didn't understand any different from a regular yes, of course, but the mentality of it all…

"Then we will have a one-on-one battle, no items, until one of us get to the yellow in HP. Note that if either of us scores a critical hit that would knock another out, the HP will stop at 1 and the life will be spared."

That feature made me sigh in relief. I didn't want to risk dying for whatever region. I confirm the battle and Budew watched firsthand on my excellent fighting skills with the Throh. It was sort of sad because, since Throh was only level 15, his best move was Seismic Toss. The attack would be a four-hit knock out on my HP bar, which was in the 50s at this point. Force Palm would do about the same, but I was faster and paralysis was also possible. As a result, my two Force Palms did just enough damage to knock him in the yellow before his second Seismic Toss could get to me.

The quest wasn't over, though. That was the sad part. I thanked Throh for the battle and he told me I was quite the contender for a great Fighting-type, but the ultimate test would be with his younger brother, Sawk, whose attack stat was far higher.

"He is on the eighth floor of the floor eight dungeon," Throh said.

Sawk looked amazingly strong, and as an NPC again at level 15, he was definitely a threat with his higher attack and speed and Double Kick attack. I had to be ready to rely on luck to beat this guy. The only one that beat him in one try in the beta was a Hawlucha, but that was only because of his Flying-typing. He did lose to Throh on the first try, so I'd call it a tie between us.

Budew and I returned toward our home and I was quickly met by Shieldon and Fletchling. They were waiting nearby the center portal of town, the portal that would lead to different floors, and I stopped while Budew kept going on home.

"You beat him?" Shieldon asked whole-heartedly.

"Of course," I smiled.

"You are the Riolu, after all," Fletchling sighed. "Everyone's talking about how OP you are."

"OP" meant overpowered, at least to my knowledge, so I smiled at the compliment. If everyone was getting jealous of my power, I knew that I was a serious player in this game. Before Budew left, she wished me luck, and I told her I'd miss her healing magic. At the response, she commented about being a nurse in the future, but the idea of her wanting something other than the guild sort of hurt. Maybe she meant being a nurse inside the guild?

"Let's go," I said quietly.

The three of us hopped in the portal and selected "Floor 8" on the menu. We were beamed to the mountainous path and quickly ran through the barely-populated town. Almost everyone kept moving with the latest town; it was a huge trend. However, some found towns that were in their "element" and felt inclined to stay there. For me, I hadn't found such a town. The mountains were nice, but I hated just fighting Geodude time after time. There were a few Fighting-types, but the only threatening ones were the Mankey hoards. This path, however, mainly just had Machop—and Machop were the worst Pokémon I could think of…other than Sableye.

. . .

The three of us made it to the seventh floor of the dungeon. With Fletchling so close to evolving, he was determined to make the last floor count so he could finally get a big power boost.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" I asked. "You look a little banged up."

The bird, bruises and scratches all over its body, nodded its head. "I ate the last Oran Berry, but I have to do this. If I level up, you won't treat me like I can't do anything."

I frowned. "Fletchling, it's just that you don't have that great of an attack stat. It's nothing personal."

"It's nothing personal," he mimicked in a whiney voice.

We made it to the eighth floor steps and quickly ran up them. Shieldon used Take Down to kill a Machop that was sneaking up behind us. The Pokémon fell back and shamefully blew into glass shards. A Pokémon with a quadruple fighting weakness just took down its worst nightmare. The idea made me proud to be with Shieldon.

"So, Shieldon," I said as we ran up to the next floor.

"Huh?"

"You're going to learn Iron Defense soon. That'll make you one of the strongest defenders for sure," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I know! Curse has its benefits, but I'm not much of a slow attacker. My stat is really low…sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with you and Buizel," Shieldon said.

I suddenly felt terrible. Shieldon also felt left out? First Budew—well, technically, first Fletchling—and now Shieldon? I turned back around to him, stopped in the middle of one of the dungeon rooms, and looked him straight in the eyes.

"You're not falling behind us, Shieldon. You are an excellent defender. You saved Buizel's life after he smacked the wall the other day in that boss battle. If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have made it alive."

Shieldon seemed satisfied once I put him in the right perspective. I decided to keep talking. "Besides, you're going to have a huge role in deciding our defense units in the guild. You'll be the star defender! Soon enough, we won't even need the others."

The quadruped looked at me with an upright attitude and a proper posture. "Skarmory won't even be needed when we take over," he agreed.

"Exactly!"

Fletchling, meanwhile, began attacking a Machop in the hallway we just exited. He used Peck, but the Fighting-type began giving him some problems. I ran to his aid, but the damage sustained from a Low Kick apparently put him in the red. I could hear a distress signal coming from his menu, indicating that he needed to heal.

"Fletchling!" I yelled.

"I don't need your help!" he squealed.

I started digging in my bag as the bird Pokémon's HP fell lower and lower. With most of our money spent on Escape Orbs, we forgot to purchase Oran Berries in the market earlier this morning. I throw one of the Escape Orbs to Fletchling and he reluctantly catches it.

"Use it before you get killed!" I told him.

Fletchling dodged an attack and pecked at Machop's back, but then another one came from the other side. He apologized for not being able to handle the quest and used the orb to return to Floor 8's town. He disappeared and I quickly ushered Shieldon to the next room and we found the Gurdurr that was guarding Sawk's location. I went up to the Pokémon and used a Quick Attack move while I had the range advantage. Gurdurr staggered a little and came running at me. Shieldon used Protect and kept me from taking the damage of Gurdurr's Low Kick.

The Gurdurr shouldn't even exit; it was at around level 12, but Timburr doesn't evolve for a long time, even later than Fletchling. This one was just an obstacle. I used Force Palm, backed away from a Pound attack, and hit it one last time with my STAB move. Before going into Sawk's room, I ate a Max Elixir just in case the beta quest had changed some.

The room was actually just a small opening in one of the map walls. Shieldon and I entered to see Sawk standing with an exclamation point above his head. We made contact with him and the NPC suddenly began to move around the room looking for something. He grabbed a Black Belt, the item I sought after, and came back over to me.

"Are you the Fighting-type that my brother told me about?" he asked.

"Yes," I said bluntly.

"And you took out my Gurdurr?"

"Yes," I repeated.

"Well dang," he replied. The Pokémon looked at me, closed his eyes, and tipped his chin up. "Then meet me on the floor seven's dungeon and enter my house on the sixth floor. I know it's quite a ways, but if you really want to fight me for this Black Belt, you have to be willing to walk for it."

I sighed. The quest had stayed the same, but it was also nighttime. I couldn't fight spawned monsters at night—it's too dangerous to do it just for an item. Shieldon and I looked at each other and agreed that I would continue the quest again tomorrow morning.

"I will be awaiting you," Sawk said, and he teleported out of his own domain.

I got the Escape Orbs out and, within minutes, Shieldon and I were in the eighth floor portal. We chose the "Floor 9" option and eventually made it back home by nightfall. The small valley in the mountains was almost suffocating to live in; it was like sleeping in the middle of a sharp bear trap. I felt as if one wrong move would cost me my life. However, it was still more comforting to be in the city—cities disallowed PVP of any kind. The Pokémon after me couldn't touch me here; just spy. And with the Sneaky Team Skill…

I got into my small bed, pulled the green comforter to my chin, and tossed and turned once Budew blew out the candle. That night, I dreamt of two diamonds following me wherever I went. In the Kecleon shops, it followed. In the dungeons, it followed. In the private house I had rented alone, it followed. Would this thing haunt me forever? I had thought the Pokémon wouldn't bother with me now, let alone consider the probability that it got online in time. Then again, my whole party made it, so I supposed anything is possible. There couldn't be more than fifty or so beta testers in the game. Out of the five hundred that even cared to play, maybe half would bother to buy the game—and even fewer would go beyond and get online at the stroke of midnight. Though gamers typically stayed up late, PMD:O wasn't exactly the "shoot 'em up" game everyone begged for in the VR setup. With the possibilities nevertheless opened, my sleep, when I got any, was haunted by a Pokémon Combusken could have been nagging me about.

. . .

The next morning, I quickly grabbed Buizel and Whismur as my two partners. While Budew planned to help in the dungeon conquering of Floor 9, which would be done by the Golden Warriors, Shieldon asked to stay at home and get some errands done and Fletchling wished to fool around. I hoped that meant he would try and level up, but there was no telling what the crazy bird would attempt.

Early that morning, the siblings were dragged out of the house after a quick bite to eat and a short farewell. I made them rub their eyes until they were raw and awake. I told them the game plan, the rest of the quest, and what they had to do. I was in control of the item bag this time, so they only needed a hold item. I gave them Oran Berries just in case the journey got tough. They seemed to understand everything, but based on the results of our little exploration on the fifth floor, I wasn't so sure. I didn't want to risk losing anyone, so the idea that they would even attempt such a mistake again would, without a doubt, cost them their lives and my own sanity.

I ran to the portal of the ninth floor and selected the floor two levels below me. I stepped out of the center of the town and looked at the small settlement overlooked by a massive mountain. Sawk's final meeting place would be somewhere in the middle of the large land mass, though it felt farther up when you were forced to climb several floors of the dungeon. Six floors wasn't anything hard, but the higher you were up the mountain, the more at risk you are to meet the Mankey tribes that occupy the territory. Buizel and I had to really buckle down a while ago when we were on this floor. Fletchling actually came in handy, but not as much as we had hoped.

Buizel and Whismur soon stepped out of the portal and yawned in unison. They walked side-by-side in the same manner right behind me. I felt like I was ordering around foot-soldiers. The three of us entered the dungeon and began flying through the lower floors.

. . .

. . .

After the three of us had moved on, another Pokémon beamed from the portal and watched solemnly. The insect smiled and waited for its friend to come through. Its white shell offered decent defense, but it couldn't be seen by anyone other than its soon-to-be guild. The basic form he was constrained to was not strong enough to take on a Riolu. At level nineteen, however, it was very close to being fully realized in its own eyes. As such, the Pokémon followed my guild slowly behind, and I couldn't even pick up on it. He looked to the portal and saw a Pokémon come out—a Dark-type Pokémon known for playing tricks. He smiled as the Pokémon joined him.

"Let's play a little trick on the 'OP' one, shall we?" the Bug-type asked his friend.

"You're not paying me enough to do this," the other muttered, her voice filled with boredom.

"Quiet! I think I heard him talk about that Karate Quest. Based on the beta, I think we should wait on the sixth floor of this dungeon. Hurry up and come on."

The Dark-type Pokémon rolled her eyes. "If I'm going somewhere else, you're upping my pay."

"We're going to be in the same guild, so you should really do this out of comradery."

. . .

With very few Pokémon on the first few floors, the main issue was the terrain. It was not as flat as some of the other maps, like the Tiny Woods back on Floor 1; there were boulders and ledges we had to cross on foot.

However, we quickly made it to the fifth floor and I began looking around for the stairs. Buizel and Whismur defeated any incoming Pokémon while I tried desperately to find the passageway.

"It's over there," Buizel said in exhaustion.

I looked in the direction he was pointing and frowned. There was nothing but a wall there. He walked straight forward and crashed into the wall, slamming his snout and causing him to wake up from his dazed state. He, Whismur, and I kept going on as we tried to fight slumber and make it up the mountaintop before the Mankey woke up.

Buizel suddenly ran over to a nearby berry and picked it off of a bush. I attempted to get a better look at the item, but Buizel held it in his cupped hands so none of us could get a glimpse of what it truly was.

"It's an Oran Berry!" he screamed in happiness.

However, the berry was a different tint of blue on further inspection. Still, Buizel ate the item in anticipation that he scored a free HP replenishment. After all, I had been hoarding them for the time Sableye came. I was forcing the others to fend for themselves and use the healing items sparingly. I felt bad and started to get more Oran Berries out for the rest of us.

"Ick!" the Water-type gagged.

He coughed up the blue berry skin and made a disgusted face. His HP bar went down 10 points. When I looked at the item name, I noticed it was actually an Oren Berry, a lookalike used to fool us. Buizel was nearly in the red at this point, so I gave the two of them some Oran Berries and kept going to find the stairs.

In the fourth room we visited, which took about three minutes, the stairs were set in the back, gleaming and waiting for me to step on them once more. I quickly trotted up the stairs and found myself in the very room that Sawk was living near. When Buizel and Whismur came up, I instructed the two of them to stay put while I entered a large clearing. Nearby was the NPC, blue and draped in a white karate suit. He had the Black Belt tied tightly to his waist.

"Hello," he said solemnly.

I looked back at Whismur and Buizel; they were guarding the area despite the fact that initiated quests could not be seen by other party members; for example, if Shieldon came up to find us, he'd only find my two guardians. I would be hidden by the arena around me. It was to prevent interference and cheating one's way through the quest system. I was still worried for my friends' safety, though, and I wondered how long this battle would last.

While Sawk began to re-explain the same rules that applied to my battle with Throh, I paid attention to my surroundings. The arena was outlined in white chalk and the land was completely flat. I couldn't use any boulders to my advantage. The mountain was far enough to not be used as support for jumping, and one of the ends of the battlefield led to the edge of a cliff, though because I was in battle, the cliff was impossible to fall down. I sighed and knew I'd have to resort to straight offense—the consequence perfect for a Fighting-type matchup like this one.

"Let us begin. First to the yellow loses," he finished.

I nodded. I quickly went in for a Quick Attack, though he dodged it with his extraordinary speed. I kicked back and dodged a Double Kick, which narrowly missed my right eye. I grabbed one of the legs and used Force Palm, causing temporary paralysis and around 40% damage to his HP bar. Sawk may have had a high attack stat, but that came at the cost of low defense. I smiled and dodged another attack before suffering a Double Kick to the face and stomach, knocking me backwards and causing exactly 49% of my HP to deplete. I was almost in the yellow, though he was, too. It was a close call. I dodged another Double Kick and tried to use Force Palm, but Sawk leaned backward and the attack hit the arena-made invisible boundary.

. . .

Buizel and Whismur chowed down on apples while they waited for me to finish my match. Whismur looked at her big brother with honest eyes and began bombarding him with questions about their future together.

"Jay, tell me about how we'll get out of here again!"

Buizel groaned jokingly and put an arm around his sister. "Again? Alright, sis, whatever you want. Just imagine it—you and me, me and you—on the fiftieth floor of that boss. Riolu is there as a Lucario and I'm there as a Floatzel. You're an Exploud, all loud and mighty—" he started.

"But I don't want to evolve! I just want to be me, a little Whismur," she giggled.

"Alright…You're a Whismur, all loud and proud, and you use your mighty Boomburst attack to deafen that godly Pokémon and make it beg for mercy! You save us all, and we're all proud of you—me, Lucario, Bastiodon, Roserade, Talonflame. You get to send us all home."

Whismur hugs her big brother and nuzzles in his orange fur. "I love that story," she said. "Tell it again."

Buizel knew this was her escape from the shock of the game; they hadn't seen their parents in what felt like forever. He gulped at the thought of all the chores he'd have when he got home. He forgot to clean out his hamper before turning the game on, so the room probably smelled terrible. His sheets were probably dusty by now and the dog hadn't been fed, so there's no telling what could have happened. He thinks about little Whismur, little Ellie, and how she's had to cope with this at an even younger age than his own.

"All right," he smiled. "One more time."

. . .

I turned around and barely missed one of the Double Kicks and anticipated the second one just in time to grab the foot and turn Sawk around. I landed on my feet, as did he, and I knew I'd have to get in close. I let him begin to charge with a Double Kick and, upon seeing Sawk's true speed, I begged for the plan to work. I kicked off the ground at the last second and used Quick Attack in the air to launch an acute angle in my jump and slam Sawk to the ground. The Quick Attack was just enough to bring him slightly under half, so the battle was over. Though I suffered from a quick one-sided match, I had managed to do the damage in just enough time. I sighed in relief and ate one of the Oran Berries from before.

"You are a worthy contender," Sawk bowed, his hands clasped together. "To keep my word, I bestow to you the coveted Black Belt. You are the ultimate Fighting-type. I can only hope we will meet again," the computer told me through the Pokémon avatar.

I thought nothing of his "kindness" since it was all an act. I took the belt, said a measly "thank you," and left the arena with a belt tied around my waist. Now my Fighting-type attacks would be 20% stronger. I would have even more power to attack anything with.

I stepped outside and was brought back into the MMO-part of the game. I looked to the edge of the room and saw a Mankey corpse suddenly disappear into a million shards of glass. The glass evaporated in the air and I quickly felt a knot in my stomach.

"Did you just kill one of the Mankey?" I asked anxiously.

"No," Buizel said, his eyebrows obviously shifted into confusion.

Whismur and Buizel were on the opposite end of the large room, and I knew I didn't have enough time to make it there. I saw the Mankey already swarming the open space surrounding the two Pokémon. I ran full-force and quickly learned of my shortcomings as a mere Riolu. I watched as Buizel and Whismur familiarly felt trapped.

Buizel and Whismur began attacking the Mankey with what PP they had left from the fight. I couldn't throw them the Escape Orbs I'd been hoarding, either, and quickly realized I made an error in their held items. Instead of giving them the orbs, I gave them berries. I kept running, but the Mankey eventually encircled them—and leaving me out. They began to scream. Buizel used Sonic Boom and killed another Mankey, but that only caused more tension. We were on their land and had killed one of their own. The only problem is that we didn't actually kill it…so who did? I instinctively looked at all the possible exits; the one behind me was empty, the one in front was completely full of Mankey, and the hallway to my left—

I turned to see two large, hexagonal diamonds followed by glistening teeth disappearing into the darkness. I screamed. We were set up. I tried to warn them, tried to tell them who was doing this, but they couldn't hear me.

"It's a trap!" I had said. "Sableye set up a trap! I saw his face!"

I caught up to the Mankey and began one-shotting them with Black Belt-boosted Force Palm attacks. However, there were easily four Mankey in between me and Buizel. I couldn't defeat them and the ones beginning to surround me in time. I fished for the orbs and dropped two of them, just for the Mankey to pick them up and hold them until my attacks killed them all.

As I began killing every Mankey to get the orbs back, I knew time was running out. They had already eaten the berries. I hadn't packed enough materials. Whismur and Buizel were about to die. I ignored reality's probability and kept killing Mankey. Force Palm, shattered corpse. Force Palm, glass dissipated. I was a murdering machine. My Intimidation Team Skill caused most of the Mankey to double back in fear of my power. I quickly made it to Buizel and Whismur, both near death, and killed one last Mankey. I breathed at the closeness and we all began walking to pick up the items left behind by the crazy Mankey tribe. I was in front, Whismur in the middle, and Buizel at the rear. I went to pick up the last Escape Orb when I heard scuffling in the ground.

"Buizel, look out!" I screamed in terror.

Buizel turned around to see a Mankey jumping at him with a Low Kick attack. Buizel screamed and tried to dodge, but it was impossible. I ran to him as fast as I could, dropping the Escape Orb, and knew that close-range attack was too close for me to defend. I kept running until my legs were ready to bust.

The rest went in slow motion. I was fully intent on watching Buizel fall backward from the fear of dying, yet I had completely forgotten about Whismur. When I remembered her, I saw that she had jumped in front of her older brother, the one who had saved her countless times already, to save him. The Low Kick attack slammed Whismur hard into the ground, depleting her HP points into the red and eventually at zero. The thud echoed for what felt like forever. Buizel screamed, I screamed. I dispatched the Mankey in an instant. We ran to her and begged for a sliver of health to be left. We looked: nothing.

"Jay," she whispered. "Please make it home okay."

Whismur closed her eyes and we watched her body shatter into a million pieces of digital glass. The shards scattered throughout the sky, presumably the whole dungeon, and the entire mood turned sour. I saw Buizel grabbing at the shards, trying to grab them and somehow put them together to make his sister whole again. She was gone. Whismur was really dead.

"Ellie!" he said softly.

"Buizel…" I said cautiously.

"Ellie's gone, Riolu," he muttered.

"I know, Buizel, I'm so sorry. It's my f—"

"She's really gone. My sister's dead and it's all my fault."

I couldn't breathe. "No," I shouted, my head shaking.

"She's gone and it's all my fault!" he screamed angrily.

I knew what was happening next. I ran up to Buizel and grabbed his arm right before his Slash attack was able to cut his throat. I grabbed it and made it slice through me instead. The damage hurt, but I took it. I grabbed Buizel's shoulders and shook him gently. Tears were streaming from his eyes. My own were beginning to leak. I looked at his face and felt my body shaking.

"Buizel, it's not your time. Whis—Ellie wanted you to go on. You can't just die, just let her death be for nothing."

He fell onto my neck and I let Buizel sob on my shoulder. He hugged my waist hard, but I took the pain and told him to let it all out. We remained on the sixth floor of the seventh floor's dungeon for a long, long time.

. . .

"So you let Whismur die?" Fletchling screeched.

My mouth went open. I was being accused of Whismur's death? She willingly let herself die for Buizel's safety. Sure, I could have given them the Escape Orbs instead, but I didn't know that Sableye was going to attack. I couldn't have possibly known. I put my fist on the dinner table and shook my head furiously.

But you had a feeling, I heard myself thinking.

Shut up, I didn't know a thing! I barked back.

I was going crazy talking to myself. I grabbed my ears and pulled in agony. Fletchling continued with his words of hatred.

"You're the leader. You shouldn't have let Whismur die like that. I thought you were some legendary player, Riolu. You're just as sloppy as the rest of us. I don't want to be in the same guild as someone who lets his friend's sister die."

I made some weird sound from my throat. I couldn't say anything. The accusation was too strong. Buizel was in his bed crying and here I am trying to clear my own name. I should be comforting him, not trying to explain how it's technically no one's fault—at least not mine.

"Riolu," Shieldon said as he shifted uncomfortably. "Why didn't you kill all the Mankey?"

"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't waited to get that stupid item," Fletchling continued.

"Did anyone else see the Mankey?" Budew attempted to ask.

"No," I admitted. "It's-it's my fault."

The room went silent. I didn't know what was going to happen with me. I hadn't planned on everyone turning on me. I looked towards Shieldon, but he looked at the floor. I glanced at Budew, but she watched over Buizel. I could feel Fletchling's eyes tear through my soul.

"You know what?" he provoked.

I gritted my teeth.

"I'm going to take up Skarmory's offer. He wouldn't let me die so he could get some item boost. Enjoy your little guild, guys, I hope you don't mind sleeping next to a murderer tonight," he said. Fletchling packed his bag with a few items from the party inventory and left without another word.

Shieldon and Budew looked at each other and started mumbling.

"I better avoid the drama for now, Riolu," Shieldon said with regret. "Thank you for the offer, though. I hope your guild is successful."

He too, walked out of the building after getting some items. I had no idea Shieldon could heartlessly abandon me like that.

"Buizel, I'm sorry about your sister," his voice whispered as he closed the door.

I looked at Budew, the last person at the table. She was the reasonable one. Surely she wouldn't leave me just because some slip-up happened and I couldn't stop it. However, I saw her get off the chair and start walking toward her bed.

"Riolu, I'm really sorry about this. I know you didn't mean to, but…I think it would be best if we split up for a while. Keep in touch," she smiled, kissed Buizel, and hugged me before walking out of the room.

Buizel and I were left completely alone. I went to his bed and patted his shoulder. I told him it was all going to be okay, that everything would work out the best it could. Whismur would want that. However, that last phrase made him hop out of bed and confront me with a certain viciousness in his eyes.

"What Whismur would want? How do you know what Whismur would want?" he barked.

I had crossed some sort of line. I put my hands up, palms facing him, and told him I didn't mean to say anything out of the way. I just wanted to help him get over this. The two of us could defeat the dungeons easily if we focused and didn't mess up too often. I hugged Buizel, but he kept glaring at me.

"Fletchling was right…you wanted that item too badly, but you didn't get us up in time. You know, I remember you saying that Whismur wasn't strong enough for our team. Do you remember that, Riolu? You said Whismur would slow us down!"

That phrase was back in the beta, but I didn't bother try to correct him. I motioned for him to slow down.

"You're not making any sense, Buizel," I said with a tear forming in the ducts of my eyes.

"No, Riolu, you're starting to make complete sense. All you care about is yourself. Whismur died on your watch. You are our leader. That's what you wanted! Maybe I shouldn't have tried to kill myself out there," he said, death in his eyes. "Maybe it should have been you…"

I couldn't control my emotions anymore. I cried more than I had in a decade. I had never been one to cry, actually, but to think that one mess-up, one fatal mess-up, destroyed everything I had going planned for survival? Was everything I created just for my own benefit?

"You never think of anyone but yourself! You care more about clearing your name than you did protecting my sister. You know what? Just leave me alone, Riolu. I'm going solo. I don't need you. Good luck in the rest of the game. I'm not going to kill you because I'm better than that, but we're done. W-we're through. You're the worst friend a man could have." Buizel cried too loudly for his own words to make complete sense. "I hate you."

With that, Buizel grabbed a bag, got some items, barely leaving me with anything, and walked out the door. It slammed shut behind him. I was the only one left in the party house. I had lost my future, my team, but most importantly, my best friend. I grabbed my brown bag, stored the apples and berries left in the refrigerator, and left my own house to wander around on the ninth floor. I wasn't going to challenge this dungeon's boss. I wasn't going to do much of anything. To be honest, if I ended up dead at the hands of Sableye…well, that would be okay. I deserved it.