Ch. 11

When the light subsided, we found ourselves to be inside a cave similar to cave that allowed us to get to the Great Glacier. Instead of dull grey rocks, the scenery was far brighter with it still being a dark cave. This was the dungeon that Umbreon and Espeon had created as a way for us to travel to the volcano significantly faster.

"There it is. This is the entrance to the dungeon. If we can just make it through this dungeon, we should get to where Munna is. It's a bit scary to go without any backup, but… Let's do it! Just the two of us!" Silvy declared.

This dungeon wasn't very different from Telluric Path. The only real difference was the scenery's coloring and the indigenous Pokémon. The real danger from Kilionea Path was the various traps that littered the dungeon area. Some of these traps were triggered by the wild Pokémon that wandered about.

"Wait. Look over there."

A prime example of traps was about to be displayed. Silvy was curious as to why I had stopped all of a sudden and peered over my shoulder to take a look.

A Deino, the Irate Pokémon, had wandered into the room we were about to enter and leisurely strolled about. At a glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but something inside me told me that we had to stop. Deino had not or maybe had no sense of danger as it continued to walk about happily. A Dragon type, it had dark coloring to emphasize its Dark type attributes. Part of its coat was a midnight black that covered its eyes and allowed it to have a sharp single point on the top of its head. The violet spots on its black coat complimented it while gave it a unique contrast to the rest of its cobalt skin.

Then my intuition finally bore fruit as Deino was startled by the appearance of trap it had stepped on. This trap induced sleep and left its victim helpless for a variable amount of time. Despite any forceful attempt to wake the victim, the sleepiness would still persist. As far I could see, only an item could dispel the sleep. After viewing the trap activate, I heard Silvy give out a soft gulp.

"H-how did you know that trap would be there, Shin?"

"I didn't. I just felt something was wrong with this room. At first I thought it was the Deino that had wandered in, but I guess it turned out it was the trap."

"So now we're going to have to be on the lookout for traps, huh? This certainly will slow us down."

"There isn't much we can do. We'll just have to be careful as we hurry along."

"Got it!"

With matter of the traps settled, we proceeded along the path as quickly as possible. There were times we triggered traps but these traps ended up to be minor, sometimes even comedic. One such trap was a Fling trap. This trap basically launched the victim in a random direction. By luck, when I had triggered this trapped, I was launched towards a pool of water that cushioned my fall. Even though it was a trap, Silvy still couldn't help but laugh as she fished me out of the water.

An example of a dangerous trap that was triggered was an Ambush Panel. As the name implied, it basically hid a Pokémon until the trap was triggered thus making the hidden Pokémon attack. Silvy had triggered this trap and was ambushed by a Pansear, the High Temp Pokémon. With a tuft of hair at the top of its head that resembled a burning fire, Pansear was a Fire type that resembled a bright red chimpanzee. Surprised by the sudden emergence of Pansear, she stumbled and fell on the ground and could not get away from Pansear quick enough.

"Look out Silvy!"

I sent out a Thunderwave to immobilize Pansear before he could deal severe damage to her. Silvy was a Grass type and that gave her a significant disadvantage against Fire types. Paralyzed by my move, Pansear crashed to the ground only mere centimeters from Silvy. Snapping out of her surprise, she quickly got up and got behind me. I disposed of Pansear with an Electro Ball and turned back to Silvy.

"Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"

"Y-yes. Thank you, Shin. You saved me there."

"Ahh… Thank goodness."

"Um…Shin? You can let go of me now. As you can see, I'm unharmed."

"Oh!"

I unconsciously held her shoulders and stared at her intently as I questioned her wellbeing. More concerned about her, I failed to realize how close we were to each other.

"Oh, um…sorry. I didn't realize how close I was. I'll just give you some room to breathe."

"Ah…no, it's okay…I guess…"

Giving out a weak protest of being separated, Silvy reluctantly stepped back. Seeing as she was okay, I coughed a bit and got ourselves refocused on our efforts to leave this Mystery Dungeon. Before we left, I noticed an object by Silvy's feet that caught my interest.

"What's that next to your feet, Silvy?"

"Hm? Oh! This is a Wonder Orb! How lucky!"

According to Silvy, a Wonder Orb was a mysterious item that had the power to fulfill a certain role it was imbued with. The orbs varied in purpose from the most basic of item retrieval to the more complex complete immobilization of entire wild Pokémon in the area.

"This one seems to be a strengthening type Wonder Orb. It'll give us a big boost in power. It may not be rare, but it's still useful to us. Let's keep it just in case."

I happily agreed and Silvy packed it away in our bag. We weren't that far from the exit so we hurried along to our next destination.

"Look, Shin! There's the exit!"

Silvy was excited by the visible light ahead of us. The exit to this dungeon was only meters ahead but a room was in between us and the exit. It was a wide room capable of being used as a room for rest. Everything could be considered as an easy walk towards the exit.

"C'mon, Shin! We've wasted too much time going through this cave!"

"Wait, Silvy! We should be careful-!"

I tried to warn Silvy of the dangers of proceeding hastily, but it turned out to be for naught. The worst possible trap anyone could encounter was triggered, a Monster House. The Monster House trap was a type of ambush trap that allowed for numerous Pokémon to appear out of nowhere and home in on the helpless victim. Silvy and I were no different as we were confronted by my count nine enemies. Palpitoad, Deino, Pansear, even a Pawniard appeared from nowhere and where glaring at us, full of killing intent. The most troublesome Pokémon also appeared towards the back, seemingly the guardian of the exit, was a Conkeldurr, the Muscular Pokémon. Conkeldurr was the final evolution of Timburr and Gurdurr and as such, was carrying a tool with it. In each hand were two slabs of dry concrete that would sure to deal great damage if swung around. Its body retained the veiny sinew of a Gurdurr but was now emphasized on its bulkier arms. Conkeldurr's face looked older as it sported a beard and age lines on its brow.

"What are we supposed to do? These Pokémon are all that's stand in our way…" Silvy said worryingly.

"…Still got that Wonder Orb?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Use it and break through the crowd. We just have to make it to the exit. Winning here doesn't involve beating all of these Pokémon. Winning is reaching the goal, understand?"

"I got it. I'll follow your lead."

We agreed upon the plan in order to reach the exit. Silvy took out the Wonder we found and the orb then gave off a mysterious light. I was filled with an overwhelming sense of power surging forth from my body. I felt stronger, so much I felt I could take on all of our foes by myself.

"You ready?"

"Let's do it!"

Our confirmation alerted the enemies of our intentions and they began swarming towards us.

"Haa!"

I unleashed a Thunderbolt that had caught several Pokémon off guard. Some Deino and Pansear that were caught were instantly incapacitated. The sight of their allies falling made them wary and gave us a wide birth.

"Now!"

I signaled Silvy to move up as we traveled together closer to our goal. Conkeldurr was beginning to place itself in a defensive stance as it saw through our intentions. It was going to be the hardest part of leaving here, but we still had the other Pokémon to deal with.

"Watch out, Shin!"

Silvy shot out a Vine Whip at a Palpitoad that snuck up behind me. She then proceeded to unleash a Leaf Tornado to blow away the other Pokémon ahead of us. It managed to blow away the foes that were in between us and Conkeldurr. The others were either behind us or staying towards the sides of the room. Most of them seemed shaken by how easily we had cut through the mass in order to reach Conkeldurr.

"Step aside, Conkeldurr. We need to get to other side," I declared.

Conkeldurr looked silently at us, pondering on what to do. The both of us were prepared to challenge it if it stood in our way. Just when we were ready to make the first move, Conkeldurr stepped aside for us. Conkeldurr even motioned for us to proceed.

"Thanks, Conkeldurr!" Silvy said graciously.

We then proceeded towards the exit. Something was off about the exit, though.

"It's, uh…pretty dark here… I can't see a thing."

"I guess we'll just have to feel our way through," I said.

"I think…this might be the dungeon's exit, but… Shin, you wanna check it out?"

We tried our best to get to the other side. The light we saw ahead of us turned out to be farther than we anticipated. When we had finally got out, we came into a forest clearing.

"It's dark out here, too!" Silvy said.

"It's not as bad as back there, but at least there's enough light to see what's around us," I noted.

"When did the sun go down? And how did we end up in a forest?! How much time could have passed…"

"I guess Umbreon did explain Entercards call up dungeons by twisting around the ley lines. You never know what'll happen when you do that… Maybe this is what he meant. Maybe the Entercards can even affect time. That's why the light we saw was different from what was out here."

"They said we'd be able to go straight to the base of Mount Kilionea. So I guess this must be it, but…"

"Well, that means Munna should be somewhere around here. And Hydreigon…"

"But there's no way we'll find them when it's so dark… And we don't want to run smack into Hydreigon by accident! I guess there's no other choice. We'll just have to camp out here for now."

"My thoughts exactly."

Since it was getting dark, we decided to rest and proceed early in the morning. With what foliage we could find, we made ourselves some beds and lit a fire. As I searched for suitable material for a bed, I stumbled upon a tree that just so happened to be growing apples. I grabbed a bunch and took them back to share with Silvy.

"Mmm. These apples sure are tasty. Good thing you found some nearby," Silvy said.

"You can't go on an empty stomach after all."

Cheerful small talk filled the night air as we ate by the fire.

"Say Shin, I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time now: how do you know so much about Pokémon?"

"Well, just like you believe humans are a myth, humans believe Pokémon don't exist as well. In fact, some of them have made stories about Pokémon. The stories have many pictures of Pokémon and what they're like. No one knew you all actually existed. Like many others, I was amazed by the pictures of Pokémon and so I read about them in my free time. They even made games about Pokémon."

"Wow… I guess that explains how you know so much. I wonder how humans found out enough about Pokémon to describe us perfectly…"

"It does make you wonder, doesn't it? Maybe some other human came here before me and then found a way back home," I said half-jokingly.

"If that's true, then there's a way for you to go back home too! I'm glad that you decided to stay, though."

"It is quite fun here. Certainly more adventurous than being the caretaker of an orphanage."

We both laughed at our mentioning of a way back to the human world. Somehow, one the laughter was filled more with loneliness than joy.

"….It's been a while, hasn't it Shin?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's been a while since we've adventured just us two. Remember when we first started out? We didn't even have a house to sleep in, hahah."

"Oh yeah. It was quite cold that night even with a fire. Sitting here like this really feels nostalgic."

"It may be selfish and wrong of me to say this, but I am glad that it's just the two of us going out to find Munna."

"Why is that? We've been together in every adventure and request that we've undertaken. There isn't many times where we have been separated."

"No, that's not what I mean. It's like, we never have the chance to go on adventures together, alone, just the two of us. We always have backup and I feel safer with them around to help us, yes, but…I don't know. I just get this slight irritated feeling sometimes. Maybe I'm just tired?"

Silvy did not feel very convinced about her own feelings. As for me, I already knew what she was feeling. I had seen this plenty of times at the orphanage. Feelings of jealousy and such; it was all a part of growing up. It was funny how Silvy was experiencing this without much insight as to what it could mean. I could easily reveal what she was feeling, but that wouldn't be any fun, would it?

"Heheh. Who knows?"

"Aww… You know, don't you? Tell me!"

"It'd be more fun for you to find out by yourself."

"Hmph. You're no fun."

Laughter helped us relax. In the situation we were facing, rest was a luxury we couldn't partake in often. These precious moments may end up being our last for quite a while. After a while, only silence and the voices of the forest could be heard. The fire was beginning to weaken so I added more wood to keep it from going out. Some more time passed until Silvy spoke again.

"Anyway, it's a pretty creepy forest, though, isn't it? I wonder…how long do you think it's been since we set out? It would normally take several days to get to Mount Kilionea on foot, so we used the Entercards to try to speed that up, but…"

"That's right. I hope it hasn't been too long. If a lot time has passed, Munna might not even be here anymore…"

"Munna… I hope she's alright… …Well, I guess worrying isn't going to help her, right?"

"We should just go to bed early so we'll be ready for tomorrow."

"But what if… What if Hydreigon attacks us while we're asleep or something? N-no… I've just got to stop thinking like that. If I start, I won't be able to stop. Sleep. We just need to sleep. Goodnight, Shin."

"Yeah, goodnight, Silvy. Let's get some rest for tomorrow."

Ugh…Mmm…

"… … …me… Can you… …hear me…? Shin!"

"You're…Munna! Are you OK, Munna?! You're not hurt?"

"Yes! I've somehow managed to keep out of trouble! Y-you actually came to save me… Thank you! Thank you!"

"Where are you now?"

"When you leave the forest where you are now, I think you'll see a rocky area. I'm hiding in the shadows there, among the rocks. But…Hydreigon just keeps getting closer… I can't move from my hiding spot, and if Hydreigon finds me… Please…help me!"

Just like before, somehow I felt like our conversation was cut off. I started to worry something may have happened to Munna.

"Munna? What happened, Munna? Are you there? Munna!"

The shock of the disconnection woke me from my sleep again. I was left startled and struggled to regain my composure.

Hah…hah… That was… I've got to wake Silvy at once!

I started to shake Silvy, attempting to wake her up.

"WAAAUUUGGGHHHHHH!"

She was greatly startled and was frantically searching her surroundings.

"Shin! Wh-what is it?! Hydreigon? He's attacking us?! …Huh? He's…not here… Oh, uh… Maybe I jumped to conclusions just a tiny bit…"

She was laughing dryly as her face showed her embarrassment.

"So why'd you wake me up, Shin? It's still night, isn't it?"

"Silvy, we need to go save Munna. We need to leave right now."

"Wha-? You want us to go save Munna right now? Why all of a sudden?"

I proceeded to tell her about the dream I had. I told her how at the end, the dream was suddenly cut off.

"Oh! Another dream?! So…if we don't go right away then Munna's gonna be-! …Alright. It seems pretty dangerous to stumble around in the dark, but… It looks like we don't have time to worry about that kind of thing right now. Let's go."

"Right, let's get going."

Trodding carefully further into the forest, we came upon the entrance to this forest's maze. The both of us were starting to get accustomed to the night and its darkness.

"My eyes have gotten pretty used to the dark now," Silvy said.

"Mine too. It looks like the forest continues on this way for a while."

"And beyond the forest, we should reach the rocky place where Munna is, right?"

"Yes. We'd better hurry or she'll be in trouble! Let's go, Silvy!"

"Lead the way, Shin!"

According to Silvy, the forest was known as the Forest of Shadows, aptly named as moonlight danced among the shadows of the trees. Even with moonlight shining down, the forest was still dark and visibility was low. This made it easier for the wild Pokémon to attack us with our guard down. Some of Pokémon were harder to spot than others. Vaporeon, the Bubble Jet Pokémon, had sea blue skin and fins for ears and a horn. Its white collar gave the impression that it was also a type of fin. A navy blue line of spikes outlined its spine and went all the way down to its two-finned tail. Vaporeon's cellular structure closely resembled water molecules and thus allowed it to melt away into water, allowing it to become invisible. Using this natural ability, it would ambush us whenever we passed near puddles or bodies of water.

The shadows of leaves would sway more violently whenever Druddigon were close by. Druddigon, the Cave Pokémon, were Dragon Pokémon that were no slouches in fights. Although it was a flightless dragon, the jagged wings on its back still looked intimidating. Brick colored spikes could be seen covering the shoulders to the hands and its tail. The same brick color encompassed its entire head, a sharp contrast to its cobalt body and gold belly.

Other residents of the forest were Conkeldurr, Pansear, Archeops, the First Bird Pokémon, and Krokorok, the Desert Croc Pokémon. Archeops was the evolved form of Archen and as such, it gained the ability to fly. It had gained a more serpentine like head rather than an avian head with a teal line tracing the nose all the way back to the neck line. Another characteristic that enforced its serpentine resemblance was the long tail that had barely any feathers. As it could now fly, its wing span had grown to allow for more feathers necessary for flight. Most of the Archeops we encountered were sound asleep and were easily avoided. Others were leering at us with hostility as we cautiously found another way around them whenever we came across one.

The Krokorok were the most annoying to encounter in the forest. Evolved from Sandile, it had grown to have legs strong enough to support its body standing upright while its hind legs became small and regarded as normal hands. Its coloring was virtually identical to its previous state but the eyes had become more form fitting to that of a genuine crocodile. What made it an annoying opponent was the fact that it could see in the dark without hindrance. They had a special membrane that shielded their eyes from sandstorms and allowed them to see the thermal heat from prey. A Ground and Dark type, I had to be especially careful whenever one challenged us. More often I would suffer a critical blow and could not retaliate because it would then melt away in the darkness to find another opportune time to strike me. It would take Silvy's Leaf Tornado to get to break cover. Then I would stagger it with a Quick Attack leaving it open for Silvy to topple it with a swift Leaf Blade.

"Do you feel that?" Silvy asked.

"What?"

I couldn't sense anything until the rain started to fall.

"Is this what you meant?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yes, yes it was."

Even though there wasn't a single cloud in the sky in the previous area, this area of the forest suddenly had rain showering down on us. This was part of what made dungeons Mysterious Dungeons. Anything could happen without a moment's notice. Rain and intense heat were common occurrences in outdoor dungeons. With rain, Water-type moves were strengthened and Fire-type moves were weakened. Although the benefits and disadvantages of this weather didn't particularly affect us, it did benefit the Vaporeon that stood between us and Munna. Every now and again when Vaporeon attacked us, Silvy and I had to use more effort than usual just to subdue them.

"This rain isn't going to let up until we move away from this area," Silvy said.

"Then we have to hurry on to the next area. Time is running out…" I said.

Even though I wanted to get out of this forest as soon as possible, we still had to be cautious. Even in the next area, wild Pokémon were prowling the forest and we had to be aware of any traps waiting like land mines. Suddenly, I felt something cold beneath my feet. My entire body then felt as if I was sinking.

"Monster House…" I whispered.

Sure enough, a dozen foes appeared before us, materializing out of nowhere.

"What do we do now? We're outnumbered!" Silvy said in despair.

Got to think…!

We were severly outnumbered by Archeon, Krokorok, Vaporeon and Druddigon. It was as if the forest's representatives all came to greet and stop us. Every one of them did not move and simple leered at us. They were waiting for us to make the first move. There wasn't a clear path towards the other side where the entrance to the next area was. We didn't have much energy left to battle and our restorative items were dangerously low. What could we possibly do?!

Wait… Maybe we can get through here without a fight!

"Silvy," I whispered, "do we still have that Wonder Orb we found?"

"Which one?"

"The one that petrifies all the enemies in a room."

"Let me check."

Silvy quickly went through our belongings and found the Wonder Orb in question. This Wonder Orb allowed the user to petrify all the enemies in a single room. It was the lesser variant of the one that petrified all of the enemies in the area. I took hold of it and held up high for all to see. It began glowing and the wild Pokémon then had shocked expressions as they soon could not move an inch. So long as we did not harm or disturb them in any way, they would not be able to move until after we left the area.

With the enemies immobilized we carefully stepped around them towards the other side. Many of the Pokémon snarled or growled at us while we walked past them. Others could only shoot venomous glares as we passed them. When we got to other side, we quickly found the exit and pressed on to the next area.

"Oh! Shin! Over there! The trees thin out up ahead and I can see some rocks!"

"That must be where Munna is! Let's hurry!"

We quickly made our way to the clearly that Silvy saw. Just like Munna described, there were boulders littered about the volcano base.

"Hey, Shin. If we don't want Hydreigon to notice us…"

"We'd better whisper from here on out. Munna should be somewhere around here."

"But Hydreigon is probably close by, too. We've got to be on guard as we search. If we spot Hydreigon…we should just hide and watch to see what he does first."

"I don't like it, but you're right."

We then split up and began searching for Munna. We looked for clues, anything indicating where she could be or where she could have run off too. I went closer towards the base of the volcano when I suddenly felt a presence nearby.

"…Shin? Are you…there…?"

…Oh! Was that—?!

I made my way towards the voice that was calling out to me. This voice could only be Munna's so she had to be close.

"…Shin, did you find her?!"

Silvy noticed me wandering off and hurried to catch up to me. When she came next to me, she saw what I had found.

"…Whoa!"

"Sniffle…"

"Sh-she's hurt!"

"You're Munna, aren't you? Did… Did Hydreigon do this to you?"

"…Y-yes… Hah…hah…"

Munna was struggling to answer as her expression clearly showed she was in pain and close to passing out.

"We can't let Hydreigon find us, so we've gotta whisper, OK?"

"…I understand… Hah…hah…"

"You're breathing really hard. Are you sure you're OK?" I asked worryingly.

"Y-yes. I'll be fine. My wounds aren't as bad as I thought and…besides… I finally got to meet you, Shin… I'm so…glad."

"Munna…"

Silvy began surveying our surroundings, searching for hostiles.

"…I don't see any sign of Hydreigon."

"…Where could he be? I mean, there's no chance he's nearby and headed straight for us, right?!"

"…I don't know, but we've got to move while we have the chance! Munna, can you walk?"

"I…I think so…"

"Then let's get out of here, quickly. We'll all go back to Paradise together," I said.

"We can't…do that…"

That was when Munna said something strange and surprising.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because… You see…Shin is… No! I'm done with this act!"

Munna then got up. She appeared to have recovered her wounds. At least that's what I thought as she had no visible wounds that needed tending. Her expression, though, still looked dark.

"Shin is… gonna get taken down right here!"

Her sudden declaration of my demise caught us off guard. Neither of us understood what she was talking about.

"Wh-what?"

Silvy was left speechless. Munna began floating away from us as the both of us sensed something was amiss. We began taking steps back, unsure of what to do. As we did, the entire area suddenly glowed as two Chandelure appeared and flanked us. Their glow eventually lit the entire area and it became so bright we had to cover our eyes. When we got used to the brightness, we could see we were surrounded. Even worse, Munna had enemies we were familiar with behind here.

"WAAAUGH!"

Silvy let out a yell from being surprised from the number of enemies that surrounded us. Munna then let out an evil snicker.

"Heh-heh-heh… I finally caught you, Shin!"

"Nya-ha-ha-ha-ha! Good job, Lady Munna! What a masterful perrrformance!"

"Croa-ka-ka-ka! No way… These are the dopes you were looking for, Lady Munna! What a fantastic coincidence, croak! We just happen to owe these punks a little payback, croak!"

"You know what to do, everyone. They're not getting away!

""YEAAAAAAAHHH!""

As soon Munna yelled out her order, a bloodcurdling cry was made by everyone. Their intentions were evident as we looked at our foes. Two Chandelure, Purrugly, Toxicroak, two Drilbur, two Gigalith, the Compressed Pokémon and two Excadrill, the Subterrene Pokémon, surrounded us.

"M-Munna?! Wh-what's going on here?! Why're you—?!"

"I don't get it either… I really have no idea what's happening, but…we're obviously in some serious trouble! That at least is clear! We've gotta run!"

The surrounding Pokémon drew closer to us as we still couldn't understand the situation. We had no choice but to retreat. If we wanted to make it back alive, we needed run now!

"Silvy, listen up!"

"…?"

"We'll only get one shot at this!"

I then whispered my plan to get us out of here.

"…Those Pokémon that are lighting everything up, the Chandelure. Let's aim at them!"

"…Right! I'm on board!"

"…No time to hesitate! GO!"

We then sprinted towards our targets and unleased a swift tackle to knock out the Chandelure.

""Aaaargh!""

The whole area then grew dark once more.

"Croak! Everything's gone black, croak!"

Now that everything's gone dark—!

"Shin! Now's our chance—let's run!"

"Ugh! Like we'd let you get away! After them! AFTER THEM!" Munna barked.

"Got it, croak! Come one, fellas! Let's get 'em!"

""YEAAAAAAHHH!""

They had let out a roar in order to snap themselves back from confusion. They started to chase after us, but they were still left in the dark.

"Mrrraaaaawwwr! Who was it?! Which one of you stomped on my prrrecious tail?!"

"Apologies! 'Twas me!"

"Ooof! Everything's spinning, croak! My head feels like I just split it on a giant rock or something, croak!"

"Gigaaaaaah! Was that you, Master Toxicroak?"

"What are you doing, you ninnies?! Just catch Shin and that other one! Don't you dare let them get away!"

""YEAAAAAAAHHH!""