Chapter 10: Three Powers
⽯ Caleb's POV ⽯
We walked alone now, the three of us. Nincada dug ahead, setting traps wherever. Sarah kept trying to chat with me. I tried to ignore most of it. I had impressed her too much with my little show of leadership, and she was particularly chatty.
I can't be with you. Please. This needs to stop.
I could not make myself tell her that out loud. She would be hurt, and launch into denial. Why is she so insensitive to my plight? what leads her to pretend that it would be acceptable for me to stay? She knows perfectly well how this will work out; I told her exactly why I couldn't stay. "Come on" she said sweetly "talk to me".
"No".
Well, that silenced her for a bit. Perhaps I should be harsher more. Problem was, I felt bad doing it. She did not deserve my anger. Above everything else, I need to get home, but… if Sarah could not accept that, I don't know what to do.
My only option is to be mean to her sometimes. That hurts me more than anything. I have to be the harsh, cold leader.
Problem was, I was incapable of acting like something I am not. Seriously, I think the last job I could possibly take is an actor. I can't act out other personalities.
A job. Im thinking about a job. I have a job: To get through waterfall cavern. I'm barely seventeen. A job can wait.
The road ahead was twisting and turning, but always going straight overall. We met absolutely no enemies at all. What's up with this floor? Nothing to be found anywhere. There were no stairs. We just walked on and on, for maybe an hour. The walls were soaked with water, and the ground was saturated. Nincada hated it. He eventually got out of the ground and climbed back on Sarah. Sarah kept looking at me. Her gaze was longing and fully attentive to everything I did. I supposed if she had nothing else to do, she could go ahead and do that. I just had to ignore her. Nincada was evidently very bored.
Sarah moved closer until she was right next to me, and I mean right next to me. I sped up, and she did likewise. I was horrified that she was so intent on stopping me.
Get away from me!
I couldn't say that either. It would feel so wrong to do that. Nevertheless, Sarah was too close for comfort. I moved to my right until I was near the wall, pretending to inspect the walls for something. Something to distract Sarah. Too late, I recognized that I had trapped myself as she moved closer again, pinning me between her and the wall. I could only go forward and pretend not to notice.
This is too much. What if I fail to keep my mission in mind? I will be trapped here as an Absol, with only Sarah to keep me company. Nincada is great, but he is too quiet to keep me focused all the time. As long as he is speaking, I can focus on the mission.
Speaking of the mission, we finally, finally arrived in a room. However, there was an issue. This room was exactly the same size and shape as the first one! That made no sense. When I turned back, the entrance back to our corridor was gone. Our path had twisted and turned, but it always went right, then left. Or left, then right. We always went straight overall. What on earth was this?
Nincada had noticed too. "We did not go in a circle. This is the same room anyways. Will someone tell me what is going on?"
"Wish I could" I admitted, inspecting the new (or old?) room. I pushed past Sarah and walked to the other end of the room. Nincada jumped off of Sarah's back and dug down. "Caleb!" Nincada called me "The wall you are near is hollow!"
Really? interesting. Nincada could feel vibrations underground, so I assumed that he was not playing some joke.
I brought Crystal Star around and held it at the ready. The wall seemed strong, but it could not be strong enough to take a strike from my sword. I lunged forward, bringing the weapon down on the wall. The wall cracked, but it held somehow. My attacks did not do enough damage to break through. I remembered my abilities, and started to prepare for my next attack.
⻤ Nincada's POV ⻤
I was not too surprised that Caleb tried to attack the wall, or that the wall was not damaged that badly. I resurfaced, getting out of that horrid wet ground. "Caleb-" I began, about to tell him that attacking was not going to work. I should dig through. What I saw caleb doing stopped me cold. He had taken a stance on the wet ground, and large white swords shimmered into existence around him. They spun slowly around him for a few seconds, and then shot upwards, disappearing as they neared the ceiling. As they shot towards the ceiling, Caleb glowed red for a moment. What was that attack? It looked like it had done nothing, but Caleb was preparing for another attack on the wall.
It won't work, Caleb.
He lunged, and his strike with Crystal star was more than devastating. the wall blew apart under Crystal star, and behind the wall was a simple room with a staircase.
"Swords dance" Caleb simply said as he inspected the staircase. "We should go"
With that, Caleb walked right up the stairs. I climbed on Sarah's back, but not before noticing how Sarah was staring at where Caleb was. Her eyes shone, impressed with his attack.
Sarah, you need to let him go. He needs to get home.
I would talk to her about it later. For now, Sarah walked up the stairs and into the next room.
⽊ Servine's POV ⽊
Waterfall cave had never had such a challenge in it before. We walked through that corridor twice before we began tearing apart the initial room, destroying everything until the stairs appeared out of the dust. Now we walked on. This floor was odd as well. it appeared to be a normal dungeon level, but there were still no enemies. We walked around, making certain that we did not go in circles. This floor had many small rooms, and one massive room in the center. The center room had an object in the center with twelve small indentations in it, each a different size and shape. It looked like another freaking puzzle.
"This place is different" My teammates said together. They did not talk much, but when they did, they said the exact same thing at the exact same time. I have never heard one of them ever say something on their own.
"You mean the dungeon? Or this room in particular" I said, keeping an eye out for enemies. There were none.
"The dungeon itself" the two of them said "It never had puzzles before"
"And let's hope it never does again" I said tartly "this object has something to do with our next challenge. I hate puzzles!" They laughed at my discomfort. Why were they so eager to make fun of me nowadays? Perhaps that blasted Caleb had something to do with their new issue with authority. Caleb. What a ridiculous name for a Pokemon. He influences those around him massively, and then just walks away, leaving me to clean up my team's act. Jerk.
"You two, behave" I commanded, taking control of the situation again "we need to find whatever goes in these indentations. hop to it you two"
They got control of themselves and began to check the twelve small adjacent rooms for clues while I checked out this odd object. It was large, and looked like a massive ellipsoid, just sitting there. The indentations were in the side of the ellipsoid, a little higher than my eye level. This thing looked like a large artifact with pieces missing. each hole faced an entrance to a small room.
Twelve holes, twelve rooms. Each room must contain an item that corresponds to the holes in the artifact.
That in mind, I wandered over to the room that clearly contained an item shaped like a meowth's headpiece. as I walked in, I saw absolutely nothing. It was an empty room. I walked towards the center.
Is there some clue in the walls?
No marks were visible anywhere. The walls were seamless. the floor flat and made of the same set dirt as before. The ceiling was basic. I wandered about in that room, checking every corner closely. I checked almost every spot within the room, as if standing somewhere specific would make something visible. As if. My team checked on me, shaking themselves in an expression that loosely translated as Nope. Nothing there.
Wonderful. I walked over to them, and tripped. I landed face first on the dirt. I heard the Tangela laughing. What had I tripped on? There was nothing there. I got up and turned towards the spot where I had tripped on something. Nothing was there. I had felt something hit my feet. I reached down, reeling ridiculous until I came in contact with some object. it was invisible!
No wonder we saw nothing. These things are completely invisible.
The Tangela began to laugh harder, thinking that I had lost my mind. I picked the object up, and found it to be barely light enough to carry. I turned around. my teammates were rolling on the floor laughing. I walked right past them, the item in my hands. Eventually, I made it to the ellipsoid in the center of the room. Whatever I held in my hands, it was in fact the correct shape that I could push it into its spot on the structure. immediately, my Tangela friends were hurled out of the room by some unseen force, and the room disappeared. The item rippled into existence, becoming part of the stone. There was no trace of the hole or the room.
"Tangela, Search the other rooms for more invisible items" I commanded, walking over to the next room, this one should hold a item shaped like an eye.
They complied without a word, realizing what had happened. using vines now, we probed the surface of the ground for the remaining invisible items. they were so much easier to find once we knew what to do. The disc, eye, arrow, flame, leaf, and some other symbols I could not identify were located and pushed into the appropriate places. once the spaces and rooms disappeared, the ellipsoid was complete. It stood there, finished, and we waited for something spectacular to happen and show us the door. And waited. And waited. Nothing happened!
I became enraged. Was this whole thing a joke!? I began to attack with my vines, striking it over and over. I jumped on it. I stamped on it. "Move, won't you!?" I yelled at it. I jumped off and summoned glowing multicolored leaves, sending them towards the stone. Nothing moved it. Nothing damaged it. The rock did not care.
I'm being beaten by a stupid rock! I hate this!
I screamed in rage and slammed it. I only managed to harm myself in the process. I cursed a few times and finally stopped myself. "You two" I said without turning around "encase it in vines. We're moving this thing."
They obliged, and I added my vines to the mix. Pulling was useless. Lifting was also useless. What was this stupid thing?! Was I wasting my time? I let go, and the Tangela followed suit. Stupid rock. "Search this room" I commanded strongly "Find something. Tell me about it. This rock has nothing"
The two of them began probing with vines I jumped onto the rock and viewed the room. If something else was invisible, we would find it.
We searched for hours. Nothing. We were trapped in one room with one rock. Why on earth was this so difficult? We became hungry. We ate apples. We paced around, staring at the ellipsoid, wondering what could possibly move it. Eventually, we just tired out. We were forced to go to sleep, hatred of this puzzle in our hearts. I was much more tired than I usually was, even though I honestly tired out pretty quick.
As I fell asleep, I thought that I was being dragged into sleep. It was like I had been slowly inhaling sleep powder.
It must be the stone. It's putting me to sleep! I cant...
…
I woke up slowly. My eyes registered a bright light that was hard to look at. My legs felt like stone. I waited until I could get up for a while.
We fell asleep! We're late! We need to go!
I forced myself up. The room looked very similar, except that the ellipsoid had begun to glow a brilliant blue. The light was not coming from the entire stone; It had a glowing, complex pattern on it that defied all explanation. Its glow hurt my eyes, but I knew I had to get close to it. The Tangela joined me, blinking away sleep. We needed to get to that thing. The air was dense around the stone as we neared it, and it was like walking underwater (Yes, I do know the feeling). we reached it, and jumped on with difficulty. as soon as we were secure on it, it began to sink, just sinking into the ground. the floor turned into crystal clear water, and we saw another floor underneath it. The stone carried us ever so slowly to the new floor, which looked very much like the earlier one, but to my delight I saw a staircase. We raced to it, no longer caring about what that stone was. It was too annoying to stick around in our minds.
We're on our way
⽛ Mightyena's POV ⽛
Well, that was beyond annoying. We had spent several hours pacing around that stupid rock before it eventually put us to sleep. Machoke had fallen asleep right on top of it, and Bastiodon and I were forced to take the quick and startling way down as the ground turned to water and just dropped us through. I still had water in my fur. This floor, curse it, had tricks as well. When we arrived, we saw a few statues around the room. One Psyduck statue near the exit to the room, and a Grimer statue behind where the stairs were. A Tangela statue stood next to Machoke, who thought it was very weird. "Odd statues" he rumbled "What are they for?"
"Perhaps they are there simply to unnerve us" Bastiodon said in his low, metallic voice.
I hoped that was the case, because no matter how tough you were, you did not like random statues that were just there. No explanation. These things would give a Dragonite the creeps. "Lets move on" I said, hoping my voice sounded less shaky to the others than it did to me.
We did move on, finding room after room full of statues. This floor was a massive maze, much bigger than the average dungeon floor. We found no staircase. Nothing but freaky statues of Pokemon. I shivered, though I was not even thinking about the statues for a moment. I wondered what caused my reaction, and I realized it was smell. Something was around and ready to attack.
"Prepare yourselves" I said to my team under my breath. We whirled around, but only statues were in the room again. I was losing it. I growled angrily "Nothing. Absolutely nothing"
We continued on, feeling generally creeped out. Machoke kept glancing around, viewing each statue in each room. Bastiodon would occasionally send a mild ground type attack into the earth, as if to flush out any attackers. If any of these suckers moved, they would be destroyed by earthquake, smashed by Machoke's karate chop, and wiped off the map by my shadow ball. I smelled it again: the smell of a Pokemon nearby. I turned, but the statue of a wooper was what greeted me. this statue looked like it was about to attack: head back and mouth open, preparing the fire off a water gun. It was frozen in that position. I smelled it; It smelled exactly like a wooper. I stared at the thing, and it being a statue, it stared right back.
"It doesn't smell like any statue" I told my team. Machoke nodded, and Bastiodon made a rumbling noise in his throat. When Bastiodon did that, it meant that any sort of scare could result in a flash cannon to the assailants face faster than any bastiodon should be able to move.
Machoke went to the wooper statue and picked it up. "It's heavy" he grunted. That was surprising. If it was heavy enough to be a hindrance to Machoke, that meant it was seriously heavy. "Let's just find that staircase" I said. "drop the statue"
Machoke did. It slammed into the ground, but it did not break. We turned and continued exploring the dungeon. There were no stairs. The stone floor dry and unyielding, very unlike the waterfall cavern, which is supposed to have soaked walls, saturated dirt floors, and pools of water everywhere. This place was more mazelike, with smooth gray walls, floor and ceilings. Even the statues were the same light gray. no items lay around, nothing moved, no sounds but our own evident. I heard nothing but our footsteps. That meant that nothing else was making noise; My ears are the best out there.
We wandered around the floor, now not finding any new rooms. Not a single room had a staircase. We wondered how long until we had to use our resting badge power; Pour ghost energy into our badge and sleep, unnoticed by our surroundings. For now, we were starving. We ate apples and a banana that apparently came from team edge before they came to the guild. It had kept well, and it tasted excellent (according to Bastiodon who had eaten it). The team seemed surprised that I did not take the thing for myself. Its true, I used to be like that, but I felt changed. Sarah had done that to me in one day. I'm not sure myself how that happened.
Why do I think about you so much? Why do I think about you now? I have a job to do.
It was infuriating to me that I could not place a title to the feeling I had. It was a mix of emptiness, sadness, and that awful pressure in my body. I shook more dark sparks out of my fur.
Ow…
In my musings, I had failed to pay attention. I was pulled back to my reality by Machoke making a loud noise of surprise. I spun around and saw Machoke being wrapped by vines, a tangela was attacking him. Problem was, it was still a statue. the vines holding Machoke in place were stone. Despite Machoke's incredible strength, he was stuck fast. Bastiodon began charging a flash cannon. I let him, because we had made the effort to use those gummis that we found. Bastiodon should not be able to harm Machoke.
Bastiodon launched the incredible white laser at the stone tangela, blasting it to pieces. Or at least, it was supposed to. The statue appeared unharmed, and was simply thrown across the room, Machoke still stuck in it's grasp. The enemy and Machoke clattered to the ground. Bastiodon and I raced to the pair, trying to free Machoke, but nothing could be done. "Machoke!" I yelled, and was going to say more, but I felt the telltale force of water to my side. I was flung across the room by my unseen enemy.
I was done playing. There was no way we were being stopped by this ridiculous test. I rushed the statue of a whiscash, changing my tail until it was a reflective silver, and slammed the statue. Nothing happened. The stupid stone was unaffected. I blinked, and that was my big mistake. I felt something slam into me full force while my eyes were closed. The thing landed on top of me, a statue again. It was too heavy for me. The stone whiscash just sat on me, and I felt like I was being crushed by it's weight.
It was Bastiodon who saved me. In a quick moment, the stone was hurled away. I jumped up "Thanks" I said to Bastiodon, possibly the first time I had said thanks to either of my teammates. Machoke was being squeezed by the tangela, crushed by a power most tangela don't have. I rushed forward, but I was too late. Me, too late. Machoke was too hurt, and fell unconscious. I began to reach for a reviver seed, but Machoke was transported away in the same manner that she would have if I sent him home with my badge. Machoke was gone. Hopefully, Machoke was now safe. We were not. I kept my eye on the tangela, and Bastiodon watched the whiscash.
"if you take your eyes off them even for a second, you get attacked" I told Bastiodon "i was slammed by that thing, and all I did was blink" He nodded slowly. "We must keep them in sight at all times" he rumbled "we must exit this room"
We moved very slowly over to the entrance of the room. "Keep an eye on the statues" I told him "i will go forward and watch the road ahead, you keep right behind me watching backwards"
He said "Yes" and we slowly made our way over to the hallway. We would have to keep every statue in sight until we found those stairs. It took ages, but we managed to do it. After almost an hour of searching the maze, we found a large room with a staircase in it. Problem was, it had dozens of pokemon statues in it. two tangela statues had a vine netting around the stairs. we were not leaving anytime soon. These things could not even be damaged. What was up with that?
"We need to be careful, Bastiodon" I said "there are only two of us now"
Bastiodon nodded. We would have an advantage, because Bastiodon's vision was very wide, but we could only see so much. we needed a better angle. "We need to go along the walls. Find a spot where we can sneak forward" I told Bastiodon. We snuck along the walls, keeping a view on every statue in the room. Most faced the hallway, and only some were facing random directions. On the opposite end of the room, we discovered a spot where the statues were thin enough to maybe get through. We crept forward, keeping everything in sight. Eventually, there were too many to keep in sight all at once. I whipped my head back and forth repeatedly, constantly checking to make certain that none of those awful things noticed us. We reached the back of the stairs, and began to sneak around them. The vines were a problem, they blocked most of the entrance other than the area right next to it. I could squeeze through, Bastiodon could not.
"Run up as fast as you can" Bastiodon intoned "if you make it, I will be transported to you". I went to protest, but he was absolutely right. I needed to make it up, but was I fast enough? Would these monsters knock out Bastiodon while I was getting up there? I only had one choice. "OK" I said, and shot upwards using quick attack. I felt vines try and grab me, but I made it. I made it up, and Bastiodon appeared next to me, badly battered but standing. I took out many Oran berries and gave them to him. as he ate, I viewed our new floor, and saw the freakiest place I have ever seen.
⽯ Caleb's POV ⽯
I stared in awe at our new scene. It was familiar to a childhood memory, but way more extensive. There were bumps in the ground, every wall was wavy and erratic, the ceiling sometimes connected to the floor in a pillar, though I could barely see them.
It's a mirror house. A giant mirror house. I can't tell what is where.
Getting through that last floor had been creepy as all get out. It even kept Sarah from trying to bond with me for a bit. We had an easier time of it than I suspected the others did, because Sarah and I could sense our surroundings. we saw the things moving behind us, and just bolted. they caught up to us quick, but we amended that by staying back to back, watching every statue. The last room had been difficult, but Nincada just slipped up the stairs and we found ourselves with him. Now we were in the most extensive mirror house I have ever seen. It amazed me that this could be a thing here.
Why did nobody tell me that waterfall cave had this stuff?
Perhaps it had not before. Perhaps this was new, and had everything to do with our mission. I reflected on that word. Mission. was this a mission? Frankly it sounded like a treasure hunt. Sarah and Nincada pulled me out of my musings.
"This place is amazing!" Sarah yelled, and her voice echoed down the hall. Nincada agreed with her "I have never seen anything like this" he said. Our reflections showed on a rare flat bit of wall. To my utter horror, I saw my reflection look at me from the corner of my eye. I blinked, and it went back to normal. I must have been imagining it, unnerved by the statues of the last floor. They reminded me of Weeping Angels, a fictional monster from the TV show Doctor Who. They moved so fast, and they were stone when looked at. I wondered if this dungeon was using my memories for that challenge. how else could it have worked like that? and now we were in a mirror dungeon. Something that according to my team, is not normal.
Could it be using my memories? Is that possible?
It should not have been, but this was one of the freaky dungeons of this world. I had to accept that weird things were going to happen. My thought process was interrupted by my promptly running face first into something invisible.
Bong!
"Owww…"i muttered, silently cursing myself. Of course. this was a mirror maze. all good mirror mazes had glass walls as well, so that you would bump into things. This was not basic glass, however, because I could not see it at all. An actual invisible wall. Well, that complicated things. Sarah tried to bound over to me, only to hit her own invisible wall. She bounced off and hit the ground, too surprised to land on her feet. That wall was between me and the others. When had it gotten there? It must have just appeared. I was separated from the group.
"We're separated!" I called out to my team, realizing how redundant that was. Nincada tried to save the day as he does best: by digging. Unfortunately, he could not make a dent in the reflective surface. I inwardly cursed a few more times. This place was annoying me. "Try to find me some other way" I told them "if any of us find the stairs, go up immediately. We should find ourselves with you"
Sarah started to argue, but I gave her a glare. She grew frustrated and stormed off, Nincada still on her back. Perhaps that helped me keep her away, but it still felt bad. It felt wrong. I shook my head and turned around, straight into another invisible wall. Striking the wall was useless, I just had to weave through this horrible maze. I wandered around, bumping into things, and generally having a terrible time. there were so many mirrors, and it started to look like a funhouse of sorts. the walls waved like frozen ripples in water, and my image was distorted in them. I hated mirror mazes. I came to a room like the inside of a giant polyhedron. all the mirrors perfectly flat, and I saw hundreds of myself in the walls. Again, I had a scare by thinking that one of the images was looking right at me. I looked away and looked back. The image was back to normal.
I'm losing it in a mirror maze. This would be a horrible way to go.
That in mind, I pushed through to the other side of the room, jumping to the door. It was not a door, it was absolutely fake. I slammed into another invisible wall. The door I had come from was similarly blocked, which I found out with my face. The entire polyhedron began to rotate, forcing me to walk along the bottom. When it stopped, a hole that was in the top initially was now a doorway to the side. This thing was taunting me, but I had to go through it now. This door, thankfully, was not blocked. My next corridor was circular and reflective, spinning slowly like some attraction in a fun house at an amusement park.
I hate this. Hate it. There is nothing worse than this challenge. At least the statue one was constant.
The spinning corridor thinned until I practically had to crawl through it, still rotating. I don't know how to crawl as an absol, and I was going very slowly. it was so small by the end that I was pressed to get through, and was getting spun around by the rotating thing.
I feel like a clown in a clown car. I feel like a lab rat. I feel like if I ever get out of here, I may kill the next thing that talks to me.
If I was having homicidal thoughts, it was time to think about something else. My horn was no help here, grinding against the surface of the narrowing cylinder. At this point, I was getting spun around constantly, sideways, upside down, sideways, normal. I tried to focus on getting to the end, which I could not see because the entire floor was made of mirrors. I found that I could see the edge of something, and a tiny hole became apparent to me as I inched forward very slowly. Two feet, one foot, one inch away. My claw caught it's edge, and I forced myself through.
Finally. On to the next horrible challenge here.
I had forgotten to wait until I was the correct way up when I got out of there, landing painfully on my back. Because the ground was not malleable, my horn struck the ground and whipped my head to my left. That hurt too. I forced myself up. I put one paw out in front of me, and felt an invisible wall. It may have taken me hours to get through the next few rooms, despite their small size. I had to eat. I took out an apple, and tried to chomp it down. My teeth made no impact on the apple at all! it was indestructible here.
You will either get out of here, or starve The dungeon seemed to be saying. I put the apple back and began my slow trek forwards.
I hope the others are all right.
⽕ Sarah's POV ⽕
I muttered under my breath as we walked. we occasionally hit invisible walls, took turns into dead ends, and generally had a slow time of it.
"Why did he have to be so mean?" I complained to Nincada. I was of course talking about Caleb. Why was he being so harsh all of a sudden?
"Sarah" he began in a tone of voice that told me this was a delicate subject "Caleb needs to get home. You need to let him. He is acting this way to push you away, for his sake, and yours"
I thought about that. Caleb wanted to go home. Did he really think that he would find something? It was extremely unlikely that he would find anything. I don't care what he thinks or says, he is staying with me. Nothing he can do about it. I feel lighter when I think about him. He gives me courage and energy just by being around. He's a kind and generous person. How could I let him just go? I would have nobody. Again.
I understand perfectly that he needs to leave My logical side said.
Shut up, me I shot back. Caleb was not leaving me. Ever.
This mirror maze was awful. I smacked my face into another invisible wall. To anyone on the other side of the wall, the sight of my face smashed against the invisible wall would have been extremely humorous. I'm glad Caleb wasn't there. I looked through the wall at another mirror. My reflection…
I gasped despite myself. The absol I saw in the mirror was colored like an average absol. I checked myself, but my claws were still red. What was going on? "That's freaky…" Nincada said. I agreed. I stared at the image of the absol in the mirror. I still saw Nincada on my back. Suddenly, I noticed something else. The mirror image of me was more muscular, so much stronger than I was. It was Caleb!
I stared at the mirror, at Caleb, and he stared right back. It was clearly a mirror image, but I saw my love instead of myself. I moved, and he did likewise. His horn was on his left side instead of his right because it was a mirror image. His sword was missing. He matched me, moving the way I did. This mirror was some dungeon trickery, but it was very realistic. When I turned, another reflection of me was me, like it was supposed to be.
"Let's go, Sarah" Nincada said, a bit of fear in his voice "I don't like this"
I did not either, and I walked away from the mirror. From that point forward, One of my reflections looked like Caleb at all times. This was incredibly freaky. I still found myself walking close to him.
Why am I doing that? It's not Caleb. Its a reflection. Nincada Is uncertain, I think he thinks i'm crazy at this point. Maybe I am.
I hoped we would find the real Caleb soon.
⽯ Caleb's POV ⽯
I was feeling miserable. I absolutely hated this. Now I walked into the first normal room in the entire floor. It was smooth, still made out of mirrors. Except for me, it was empty. I was feeling really hungry, as if the dungeon was sucking away the food in my stomach. I felt like I was being watched, and I looked at the wall. Again, I thought that my reflection did something I did not, but I thought I was finally going insane here. I walked into the room, and managed not to run into the dozens of invisible walls that were likely in here. The door disappeared behind me.
I'm trapped
I don't like being trapped. It felt awful. I walked around the room, and found no unseen walls anywhere. The room was not perfectly square, and the walls angled very slightly so that it made a sort of trapezoid. The result was me seeing a spherical room, with one of me in every section.
Click!
I froze. I had stepped on something hidden. It had clicked like a button. Panic filled my thoughts, but I had not moved. The ground suddenly became liquid underneath me, and I was slowly being pulled down. It was like quicksand, and despite my thrashings, the reflective liquid began to pull me down
I can't die here!
"Help!" I called "Please!"
No help came. My team was somewhere else, and I was about to be drowned in a liquid mirror. Slowly, my head was pulled under.
Help...
I woke slowly. Where was I? I felt like something had changed. My body felt weird for more reason. I opened my eyes, and saw nothing.
Another dream?
There was a room to my right, and I saw the room I had left. I was on some surface, but I could not see anything. I could not hear anything. How long had I been asleep? I got up slowly. I felt no pain. I looked at the nothingness below me. I was standing there, on blackness, and the room now ahead of me seemed to just be a floor and a roof, and only the far walls were visible. It was like looking at a diorama. It was the same shape of the room I had just been pulled out of. I moved forward, hoping to get back, but I struck another invisible wall. I was trapped in this blackness out of the room. I moved back, and found another wall in the darkness. Where the heck was i?
I searched the blackness, realizing that it was like a corridor. I began to walk along it, only able to get a few feet away from the rooms, and unable to enter the rooms. I took inventory as I walked. Crystal Star was gone!
That was not good. I had become attached to the weapon, and losing it was hard on me. My body still felt weird. I froze.
I'm so stupid!
I searched my nervous system, and my body felt mostly normal, except for one glaring issue.
My horn is on the left side of my head! What?!
I tried to calm myself, but no amount of self control could stop me from freaking out right now. I was switched, My body's left and right sides flipped! What was causing this? I needed to get out of this place. With horrible dread, I recognized the concept.
I'm in the mirror. I'm the reflection now.
Not good. Really not good. I was a reflection. I was in the mirrors. I raced along now, trying desperately to get out, but my attempts to smash through the wall were ineffective. All I could do was run along this dark corridor and panic. What could I do? Nothing apparently. My sword was gone, and I was trapped in a mirror. The layout of the place was different, and I ran along a hallway, it's mirrors still smooth. Whenever I passed a mirror with an odd shape, my body painfully distorted, but I could still move easily. The Wavy and bent mirrors hurt bad, but I pushed through.
I will not be defeated by something as simple as pain. One thing I have learned: Pain is a message that can be ignored. Just a message. I can put it on hold.
It could have taken twenty minutes to an hour, i'm not certain, but I eventually found my team. They walked along, Sarah kept glancing at the mirrors, and Nincada searched for danger in the way he does. I was glad they had not let their guard down. I could catch their eye! In the corridor with me was another version of the two, but they just walked along with my team. they were actually reflections. If I touched one, would They feel it?
I decided to give it a shot. I reached forward and tried to grab Sarah. The moment I touched her however, I was sucked right into her reflected self, and took her place. I was stuck! I could no longer move my body. Instead, My body followed Sarah's movements.
Now i'm Sarah's reflection! I took the place of her own reflection!
eventually, she would notice me I hoped. I faced forward, unable to look at her, and until she looked at me, I would not be able to. We moved along, passing painful distorted mirrors and awful sharp corners. Occasionally, I moved positions to a different mirror. The time came when they saw me: Sarah smacked her face into an invisible wall, and I was in the mirror directly before her. She stepped back, and noticed me. I was still being forced to match her movements, and shock registered on my face as well. Sarah lifted her right foreleg, and my left foreleg moved accordingly. I felt extremely embarrassed at this point.
I'm a freaking puppet!
Sarah apparently thought that this was some freaky trickery, and that I would go away if she moved on. We walked together, Sarah being closer to the mirror than I felt comfortable. She clearly thought it was not me, right? She had moved on, but she was still attached to me in general. She enjoyed being near even an image of me. Why did she remain infatuated even though I had done many things to counteract that?
I would only look at her if she looked at me, and occasionally I switched locations as we turned a corner. On her left, on her right, sometimes above. At one point, I was her reflection in the floor, and I could actually feel her paws hit mine. she looked down at me as she walked, and I could only look back. "Where are you, Caleb?" she muttered, and I said it with her, though no noise came from me.
Nincada kept looking at me. He clearly thought something was wrong with the freaky reflection of me. They looked on, running into things, facing reflections of themselves (or me), and clearly having a terrible time.
I looked forward as Sarah stopped watching me for a bit. I saw that our path had less turns in it, and that the path was about to turn into a tunnel of sorts, the walls, ceiling, and floor not clearly defined, more circular. It was painful to go through, as my body distorted with the mirrors, and if I was physically capable of it, I would have screamed with the pain. Sarah walked through it, and Nincada still watched my reflection. Eventually, the tunnel turned into a normal corridor again, and came to a corner. I was on the far end of the tunnel, walking towards the corridor while Sarah neared the corner. Nincada jumped off and came up to me.
Help me! I wanted to call to Nincada, but I could not even look down until Sarah looked at Nincada. Even then, my field of view was not perfectly on Nincada. He watched me, and Sarah stopped looking at him and came up to the mirror herself. She was very close. uncomfortably close. She put her paw up on the mirror and I was forced to do the same.
What on earth is she doing!?
I felt the warmth of her paw, but she clearly only felt a mirror. "Hopefully we can find him soon" we said, and Nincada replied: "Perhaps we can find the stairs eventually" We both looked at him, and I felt myself smile "That should get him back to us" we said.
Maybe that will work
But what if I was still not there?
I could be Sarah's reflection for the rest of my life!
I was panicking now, my mind racing. If I remained a reflection of Sarah, my chance of going home was zero. Zip.
Please no please no please no I don't want to be stuck like this forever get me out get me out get me out!
I ordered myself to stop panicking. Sarah had begun walking again, and I had not noticed in my panic. My mental battle for sanity faded as I noticed that I was walking again, this time into a room with a large mirror ahead of us. I found myself in front of the others, at the mirror
I was not mirroring Sarah anymore! I could move! I glanced to the side quickly, and saw Sarah's reflection next to me, with Nincada's reflection on top. My eyes shot to Sarah, who saw me in the mirror. She whipped her head to the side, but saw that I was not there. I drove the point home by rushing to the mirror and slamming into it, trying to break free. Sarah noticed and ran to me "Caleb!" she shouted with obvious happiness "Its-"
She broke off, realizing that I was in a mirror "what are you doing there?!"
"Break it!" I tried to yell, but my voice still was not working. I slammed it, but nothing happened. She jumped back and generated a dangerous looking blue sphere near her horn. She fired the powerful blast right at me. I thought I was done for, but the attack was completely useless. It exploded violently upon impact, but the smoke simply rolled away from the surface. I set my head against the wall and began to push. I was making no ground, despite my new strength. I poured normal energy into my body and tried to push harder. My quick attack gave me no ground. Sarah could only watch while I struggled to get out of the mirror. Sarah came up to me, closer than normal, and her reflected body on my end pushed me out of the way. Sarah saw it, and apparently got an idea. she backed up, moved right in front of me, and I noticed that her reflection was now behind me. she moved forward, and I got pinned in between the wall and Sarah's reflection.
What on earth is she doing?!
Apparently, she thought that she could push me out like that, but the only thing she did was squish me against the wall. When pain became evident on my face, she backed down. I collapsed against the darkness, my side horribly damaged from being crushed. Her reflection showed no restraint, and my body did not affect it's progress. Sarah's own progress was unaffected as well. I was trapped.
I remembered when I had been Sarah's reflection myself. I had felt her, her paws warm. If I could feel her, than there was a way out. There was certainly a connection with the outside world. I looked at Nincada, hoping he could get my message. He just stared blankly back. Not being able to speak was frustrating. I put my paw onto the mirror. Immediately, Sarah tried to do the same.
Opportunistic, huh? Oh well, I need to try anyways.
I focused, and when Sarah's reflection was about to bump me aside, I tried to force myself into the reflection again. It worked, this time I connected and became Sarah's reflection again. I needed to make physical contact with Sarah to get out of here, and I could not with her reflection in the way. Once I became her reflection again, I noticed that I could still move. I moved backwards, and Sarah did too. I was in control this time!
It is lucky that I am in control this time. Sarah is going to kill me, but I need to get out of here.
I moved forward until I was close enough to put my paw on the mirror, and Sarah was forced to do the same. I felt the warmth of her paw.
My contact with the outside world. I can get out of here.
I focused on that feeling, pulling the warmth through the mirror until I felt warm, alive again. I was real again. I pushed forward. Sarah did the same, but I could overpower her with my physical strength. It was slow going, but I began to force my way out of the mirror. It bent under my force, breaking away like I was slowly surfacing out of a pool. it was slow and mildly embarrassing going, making such close contact with Sarah, but eventually I got through. I tumbled out, crashing into Sarah, and we both collapsed.
"Ow" I said, and then screeched in pain as my own voice rattled my eardrums. Sarah was not faring much better, staring at me. "you took control of my body" she said, looking stunned.
I had, and I should have told her what I was going to do, maybe by making her talk for me, but that was over now. I looked back at the mirror. All three of us had reflections now. I was out of there. I sighed with relief "I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life trapped in mirrors" I said, glad I could get out of there. I got up and looked at the mirror, seeing us all. Our battle was not over yet. My reflection was wearing a expression of anger, an expression i was not making. I blinked, but it did not go back to normal. Sarah's reflection now was looking at us, despite that Sarah was still staring at me. Nincada made a small squeaky noise as he saw it too. Our reflections walked right out of the mirror, and prepared for a fight.
⽕ Sarah's POV ⽕
I stared at Caleb, not saying a word.
He took control of my body! What does that mean?
The action confused me a lot. He had evidently figured out how to get back, and was prepared to use me like a puppet to get out. It had been scary, suddenly not being able to control myself. It must have been what had happened when He showed up in my reflection. When he did that, it was extremely painful, like a powerful attack was ripping through me slowly. when he got out of there, He had apparently forgotten that he had just done that to me.
On the other hand, he was willing to bond with me to get out, instead of just accepting his fate. That had to be a step in the right direction, right? Now he was looking at the mirror, and i wondered what he was thinking. I heard Nincada' squeak of freight, and I finally snapped out of it. Turning slowly, I saw us. Our reflections had walked straight out of the mirror, and now looked ready to attack us. Mirror Me was charging a water pulse and aiming at me, Mirror Caleb pulled out his Crystal Star, and Caleb saw that he had his own back. He pulled out his own. Nincada's mirror self had it's claws glowing with white energy.
Nincada Jumped off of me and prepared his own attack, and I was ready to fight myself. Suddenly, Mirror Caleb lunged at Caleb, and the two clashed. Nincada dodged an attack by his mirror self, and the two watched each other warily. I was just watching, and that was my mistake as i was smashed by a glowing blue sphere and flung away. I needed to stop fooling around. Our mirror selves were only focusing on themselves. "Caleb!" i called "attack one of the other ones!" and started to run towards Mirror Caleb. Caleb lunged to block a Water pulse by Mirror Me that was headed for my face. Mirror Caleb raced after Caleb, but i got in between them and blasted the guy. he was flung back by the water pulse, and i heard a CRUNCH as Caleb smashed Mirror Me flat with a water type smash. I had stopped paying attention to the battle and was watching Caleb again. My distraction cost me as Mirror Caleb went to attack Caleb, his Crystal Star glowing blue. I could not make it in time. "Caleb!" i screamed.
CRUNCH!
Mirror Caleb had not hit Caleb, rather Nincada had gotten in the way! Nincada Was flung into the far wall, instantly taken out of the fight. The fool had put himself into the path of a water type attack. Caleb shouted "Nincada!" and raced toward him, pulling out a reviver seed. Nincada simply disappeared before Caleb could get to him. "The heck?!" Caleb said, looking around. I stopped focusing on that, because i had to entertain Mirror Caleb. unlike the other two, had no cloud in his eyes. he was conscious and prepared to take us apart. Why was he conscious? is Caleb's being trapped there causing it? I glanced around. Mirror Me was disappearing, and Mirror Nincada was too. Mirror Caleb seemed to no longer have a single target. "I will run you through" he promised in a very un-Caleb like manner. His Crystal Star began to shine red. Caleb appeared next to me, His blue weapon drawn as well. It was over, and Mirror Caleb saw it. Still, he fought bravely. His powerful attacks outweighed Caleb's somehow, but he just got himself torched by my flamethrower. He fell unconscious real quick from his burns.
After he faded away, the mirror just fell apart. A staircase was behind it, and we finally, finally got out of there. As we left, Caleb asked "Nincada should be at the guild, right?"
"I think so" I answered.
⽊ Servine's POV ⽊
I wandered alone in the new floor. My Tangela teammates had both been wiped out in that ridiculous reflective maze. I was badly injured by that mirror clone of me. The rest of my oran berries were gone. Now, i was in a single room. The stairs i had come up had not disappeared, and there was nothing in the room. I was going nowhere near that staircase. the mirror floor was unacceptable, and i was not touching it. I moved about the medium sized room, attacking the walls, nothing was wrong. the walls broke easily, and i realized that there was nothing here. this room was a fake. i needed to find the real staircase down below in the maze. i grimaced at the thought of going back in there, but there was no choice. I walked right back down the stairs.
⽛ Mightyena's POV ⽛
Bastiodon and I walked along, mentally reviewing our latest challenges. The mirror dungeon was very problematic, and took many hours to get through. after that, the next test was ridiculously easy in comparison. We just had to walk back down the stairs, and found ourselves in our next test. Fighting ourselves was no problem at all, because the mirror versions of ourselves only focused on us. I took Mirror Bastiodon out quickly, and Bastiodon just blew my mirror self up with a flash cannon. It was over quick.
"Which way now?" Bastiodon asked. we were in front of a crossroads, and every time we made the correct choice, we fought an enemy and arrived at a different crossroads. if we took the wrong path, we just found ourselves at the first one. It was a memory game of ridiculous proportions. I shook more sparks out of my fur when Bastiodon looked away. This really hurt, but we needed to move forward. I wondered how many were here total. Bastiodon had a great memory, and we never made a mistake twice. We got to a crossroads that looked like the final one, with many images on the walls, like a relic cavern. pictures of Palkia, Dialga, a third i could not identify, an odd pokemon that looked like it was flying, and one that was surrounded by circles. We turned left, and fought an enemy, meaning we had succeeded. The pokemon was powerful, but flash cannon takes out just about anything. i fired off a shadow ball this time anyways.
"It seems we made it" i said, looking at the staircase. i wondered what the next test would be. If we could handle it. To my surprise, we surfaced in a small room with a gate. the gate was large, and made of metal bars. where you would expect a lock was a hole, shaped like a leader's badge. I immediately walked forward, and my badge shone with a brilliant light. its power made the pressure lessen in my body, and the indent on the gate shine. it swung open slowly and loudly. I walked into it, and found myself with Bastiodon in a massive room. The mission briefing correctly described the result. This treasure hunt was resulting perfectly, and above expectations. we had expected something that three teams could separate into three, but this was beyond what three teams could possibly use. the mountain of Poké and rare items and treasure in front of us would last the three teams the rest of our lives and generations ahead. Caleb and Sarah showed up with us, and Servine was there. We had made it. The Tangela were gone, and Nincada and Machoke had been defeated. Despite this, we stared at the mountain of treasure. Only one remained unimpressed. Caleb stood there, his eyes looking like he had not found what he had wanted. What did he want? What could possibly be more important to him than this treasure? It could only be something money could not buy to stop him from being excited. What could it be?
I should ask Sarah. She will tell me. Perhaps I can learn what is up with this guy. Maybe i can learn why Sarah likes him so much. Maybe is the best i can do. Maybe.
Things! Excitement! Character development! I hope you enjoyed!
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Thank you all!
-Hyperjade