Well, here it is, another bonus chapter. I don't know how I'm gonna go about the next chapter yet, so this one is stalling for you. I'd like to round out a few more characters, so this one...

BONUS CHAPTER

Lampshade

"Thank you so much!" Coran beamed. Squirtle smiled at Shuppet over her shoulder, giving a silent thank you as they left the store after paying.

Shuppet took her place back at the counter. "Man...I am so bored..."

"Prepare yourselves! The wilting Drasil Roots will be the end of us! Your town will be a maze! Your business will be a Mystery Dungeon! You'll never leave home again! Stay safe while you can!" A strange Mawile roamed up and down the streets. Shuppet didn't pay attention.

Ugh, she thought, there's one in every town. Those end-timer guys.

"Shuppet? Don't look so apathetic. It's bad for business!" Banette's voice called from across the street. Shuppet perked up immediately.

"Mr. Banette! You're back!" She said happily.

Banette smiled. "Yes, I am. And I've got supplies!" He gestured to his bulging treasure bag.

"Hmm...It's not as big as your last haul," Shuppet commented.

Banette scrutinized his bag. "Yes, you're right. Maybe I'm losing my touch," he frowned.

"No, I didn't mean it like that! I certainly-" Shuppet yelled, trying to correct her mistake.

"It's fine, Shuppet. Actually, while we're still on the topic, I've been meaning for you to take over Banette's Bazaar for a while now...but for you to do that, you're going to need to learn to venture out into the field and get items," Banette started.

"Wait...you don't mean..." Shuppet trailed off.

"We're closing up shop and going on an expedition. Together."

"Really!?" Shuppet was ecstatic.

"Well, you're going to be doing it alone, eventually, so I figure now is a perfect time to start your 'training'."

"Alright, here we are!" Banette crossed his arms.

"Um...I've never heard of this place before. What is it?" Shuppet tilted her head in confusion.

"Treasure Cave. Not a very creative name, but if you know your way around, it's extremely profitable." Banette stated.

"What do you mean, if you know your way around?"

Banette turned to Shuppet. "It's a maze. If you don't know left from right, you're doomed. Luckily, I know left from right. So without further ado," Banette turned back towards the cave, "let's begin."

The cave was strangely lit. The fact that it was lit at all was strange. There were no light sources that Shuppet could see. The cave was pretty standard as far as caves go. Stone walls, hollowed out, stalactites and stalagmites lining the path. The most interesting part was the lighting...

...and the turns.

Left, right, path number 3, middle, left, far left, second from the right...Shuppet couldn't keep track of it all. But before she knew it, Banette's treasure bag was huge. Again, not as big as she'd seen before, but still quite a respectable amount.

"The more valuable items are deeper in. We've got a good stock of those, so we won't go there yet-" Banette began to explain before being interrupted by an earthquake.

The ground shook beneath them like a toddler having a freakout. Shuppet wouldn't normally be fazed, except some of the stalactites were coming loose, crashing toward the ground at a frightening pace. Huddling close to Banette to minimize surface area, she squinted her eyes shut.

The ground stopped. The two shopkeepers opened their eyes.

And they couldn't recognize a thing.

"W-what? I don't recognize this..." Banette's voice was laced with confusion as he pulled out his Wonder Map.

"Is something wrong, Banette?" Shuppet asked nervously.

"Aah! You can bet something's wrong! My Wonder Map is blank!"

"Your what?"

"My Wonder Map. It's what I used to keep track of the twists and turns in here. It's been erased!"

"Then how do we get out?!" Shuppet was frantic.

Banette was suddenly stern. "First of all, we don't panic. Second, we...erm...go this way."

"You're bluffing," Shuppet deadpanned.

"Well, do you have any better options? Look, we'll just find some stairs and make our way back up."

"...I guess."

The cave was definitely different now. The nature of it was the same; still strangely lit with no light source, otherwise looking like a generic cave but with items strewn everywhere, but there was one big difference. The cave was now divided into floors. Perfectly horizontal floors. And each of these floors had parallel and perpendicular hallways snaking through them, leading to many rooms. One of these rooms held the stairs and their escape.

"This is certainly different..." Banette marveled at the cave around them as he filled out his Wonder Map.

Shuppet wasn't in as good a mood. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"By finding the stairs, Shuppet. I've told you already."

"Wait, we're looking for stairs? In a cave?"

"This isn't just Treasure Cave anymore, Shuppet. It's a Mystery Dungeon. Things work differently here now. One thing is that there should be - WAH!" Banette jumped in surprise as a Geodude came out from behind a corner.

"Um...Hi, there. Mind letting us pass?" Shuppet asked.

The Geodude said nothing. Instead, it curled into a ball and rolled towards Banette at breakneck speed. It rode up his body and hit him in the jaw.

"Ouch..." Banette rubbed his jaw in pain. "Well, if that's how you want to go about this..." He raised his hand and summoned a ball of dark energy before throwing it at the Geodude. It was enveloped in the black sphere, then laid upon the ground, fainted.

"Okay, let's keep going-" Shuppet started before witnessing the Geodude fade away before their eyes. "AAUGH! What happened to it?!"

"That's what happens when hostile Pokémon faint in Mystery Dungeons. Don't question it. Just...keep moving," Banette winced, as if remembering something. He led Shuppet to some stairs, then they appeared in a room.

"W-Where'd the stairs go?" Shuppet exclaimed, looking around wildly for the stone steps they had just come up. Banette shook his head and kept moving. They saw another hostile Pokémon in the distance.

"Shh! Don't move a muscle." Banette stopped Shuppet in her tracks.

Shuppet looked over Banette's shoulder to see another Geodude. It obviously saw them; its eyes were flickering with hatred. But it was not moving an inch. "Why's it doing that?"

"All hostile Pokémon in Mystery Dungeons have to wait for you to move before they can. Don't question it; it's better this way."

"Mystery Dungeons are weird places," Shuppet commented.

"Now...follow my lead. If we move carefully, we should be able to lose him."

"O-okay," Shuppet nodded.

They moved carefully for the nearest hallway. The Geodude followed them, but as soon as it broke the line of sight, it completely forgot about the two. They emerged into another small room, with two piles of Poké, a sleeping Graveler and stairs.

"I don't understand..." Shuppet said. "This is hurting my head!"

"Only a few more floors," Banette whispered, almost comforting himself as much as Shuppet.

"How can you know that?"

"I don't."

Before heading up the stairs, they felt a faint breeze blow past them, as if a warning to hurry up.

"Well, we're almost out." Banette remarked.

"How in the world can you tell!?" Shuppet screamed, completely fed up with this strange place.

"I can feel it in my bones."

"You don't have bones! And...I'm sorry for doubting you, but why are we going down stairs if we want to get out?"

"Just...trust me. I've been in this situation before...It wasn't that long ago, actually...Ah! Here!" Banette found what he believed to be the last set of stairs.

They led to a dead end.

"Ugh! See? I told you! Now we have to-"

Banette and Shuppet successfully cleared the Dungeon!

"Wait, wha-" Shuppet started.

Suddenly they were outside Treasure Cave.

Banette chuckled lightly. "Well, I guess we aren't going back to Treasure Cave for a while..."

Shuppet was back at the counter of Banette's Bazaar, happily tending to every customer's needs. "Hi, welcome to Banette's Bazaar, how may I help you?...No, you're thinking of Poicasso's shop down the street. He sells jewelry. We're more of a general store. Mmhmm. Thank you for visiting. Oh, hey, can you not play with the displays? There's Wonder Orbs in aisle 2 on that side of the store. Thank you! Hi, welcome to Banette's Bazaar, how may I help you? Oh, excuse me for a minute - Miss, could you please get your Spoink under control? He's disturbing - oh, I apologize, she's disturbing some of the customers."

It was an overwhelming job, but Shuppet did it happily, shuddering at the alternative.

Mystery Dungeons are weird, don't you think? And sorry for not getting this up yesterday; I'll try to get two up today to make it up to you guys and gals and other things that somehow made it onto the internet.