Chapter 2: All According to the Plot

A/N: Half an inch is about 1.27 cm.

Standing in front of a cave entrance gives off very different vibes from the ones that just watching it on a screen gives you. On a computer screen, it's just a clump of colors that forms something. Nothing would jump out of the screen and maul anyone to death out of the blue, since it's literally just a flat surface on a very thin wall. When you stare at any cave at all in real life, much less Beach Cave, it more or less stares back. Or worse, some sort of monster would start crawling out of it the moment I look away.

It was either walking into Beach Cave or going to Treasure Town. From what I've seen so far, a more intelligent and sensible person would start making their way to the Town and start asking for directions or something to get started with their new life in this place. By that logic, I would be the complete opposite; or, rather, was.

My first impression of the cave did make me have second thoughts for a bit. If it was this threatening-looking, then surely it must also contain something dangerous, right? Well, the Pokemon inside the dungeon could be thought of as dangerous in a way, but that wasn't enough reason to turn my back on it now. There probably wouldn't be anything worthwhile waiting for me at the end, but for some reason, I still chose to go in.

Was this really the only "right" option or was I just forcing myself to do this because it's what happens in the games? This was no longer a video game. Why should I still follow the intended route? There are countless other things far better than just wandering inside some wet sea cave! I could try swimming out to the sparkling sea. Mews can do that, so why wasn't I just doing that? Better yet, I could just travel through the forest right next to this cave. It's definitely better than wet sand and damp air, so why wasn't I doing that? Even better, I could just do a 180 and go sign up at the guild like a normal person! What reason do I have to intentionally go for the hard way out of this problem I got forced into?

Maybe the plot was the closest thing I had to a tour guide here.

I already started my journey moments ago, when I began walking into the dark opening. I kept looking back to see how far I had gotten into the cave at the time, but I eventually lost sight of the light.

I kept walking further and further into the dark, nonetheless.

Now that I've been moving around for this long without further complications, maybe giant paws weren't that terrible to have. Oddly enough, it didn't feel too different from walking with giant shoes. Of course, that might feel strange to some people, but once you get used to it, you wouldn't be complaining at every given opportunity.

I didn't know when or how, but the dark somehow brightened up a little bit. Not even close to bright, of course, but it was just enough to let me see my surroundings. Must have been the light reflected from somewhere. It turned out I was in a typical clearing. Blue rock walls, some parts covered in moss, a way to go further just opposite of me, red rocky ground, the smell of fish and sea musk in the air. Yep. Typical Beach Cave. Thank the heavens this was one of the many things that didn't change.

There was also this passage that seemed conspicuously like a set of stairs. Yep, nothing out of the ordinary here.

…

Wait, hold on, what?

Swiftly, I turned to face the stairway. It was still dark, but I could make out the steps, at least.

Getting the stairs to appear right in the first room is the sort of luck that only rears its head at ridiculous times, like some sort of deus ex machina. Any piece of media I've been consuming over the years would tell me this would not happen, but now…

Brushing that thought aside, getting the stairs to appear anywhere near me was a blessing, and I should be grateful enough to follow where that luck guides me.

There didn't seem to be anything lying around on the ground, so getting to the stairs was a cinch. With that done, I headed down the stairs, pressing my feet onto the steps as I went further.

It didn't take long before I saw the ground again. Although, the brightness of the place didn't seem to change, even though this was a completely different floor? It'd make sense if it didn't get any brighter since I was going down, but it didn't get any darker, either. Well, whatever. This was a good thing for me, at least.

The room I was in didn't differ too much in appearance to the last one. Blue rock walls, moss growing in some spots, the same rocky floor… The only difference here was the lack of stairs, and that there were two hallways opposite of each other. Now, the question is: Which one of these hallways should I follow? Considering my options, either one of them could lead to a dead-end, with the other leading to the stairs. Or both of them would end up leading me to the stairs. There were no hints to let me know which one to follow, either, so I could only resort to one thing: Making a blind guess! I've done plenty of that while playing, it shouldn't be far too different to do that right now.

After a bit of staring out at the wall between the two passageways, I ended up heading over to the one on the right. There really was no way to tell where these two paths would lead me, but my gut feeling told me the right side would be more convenient for me. Naturally, I listened to it and went to the right.

And more convenient it was. When I reached the other side of this hallway, I landed in another empty room, sort of. The most notable change here was where the two ways out were: one was on the right and other was at the end of the chamber. There were no Pokemon to be seen here, which I was very glad for, and the overall scenery didn't change at all compared to the last room. Plus, there were some coins on the ground! Sure, it was in a corner, but it's thanks to that that I could breathe a sigh of relief. As anyone would, I went over to the corner to pick them up. Mews are pretty short, so I had no trouble just leaning over and taking the coins.

Taking hold of a coin, I held it up to my face. Like any other coins out there, this one looked like a small disc of some sort and felt like touching hard metal. Unlike the coins I was more familiar with, though, it wasn't in any way as small as those, nor as short as those. Thankfully, it was just small enough that I could hold it with one paw, and it was just a little higher than those types of coins. Maybe just a centimeter higher? I didn't have any measuring tools, but it certainly felt like it. From what I could tell, it's completely covered in some sort of yellow coating, probably gold. There's also a letter "P" in orange in the middle of it, too. This was a Poké, that's for sure.

Flipping the coin around, it didn't seem much different from the front side, only now the letter was replaced by the number "10", or, at least, that's how I saw it. Maybe dungeon money runs on some sort of base 10 system equivalent? It definitely seemed like it, but I've been in enough series to know how different basic things like this differ from world to world.

Looking back at the paltry pile on the ground, I picked up another coin. This one was a little smaller in scale compared to the last one, but these two looked pretty much identical otherwise. Flipping the smaller one over, it had a "1". There was just one more of the big ones on the ground, and probably about seven small ones scattered all over. Adding these numbers up, that would be a total of… 27 Poké. Definitely not as much as I had hoped, but this was a starter dungeon, after all. It's a normal thing. At least I had some money now, rather than no money at all.

There was just one very small issue: I had nothing on me. No Treasure Bags, no dedicated money sacks, nothing. But I couldn't just leave the Poké here, could I? Unless some other Pokémon decided that today was a good day to go inside Beach Cave, this small amount of money would not see the light of day anytime soon.

Well, taking about half of this pile shouldn't hurt anyone. This just meant I would have problems carrying whatever else, but getting a little money in exchange should balance things out in the long run. Holding onto two of the big Poké coins, I went back to looking at the room I was in.

As soon as I turned away from the pile of Poké, though, I immediately let out a loud yelp. There was a pink coral coming toward me just inches away! While my sight frantically scanned the room for a way out, my mind was trying to formulate a decent plan. I could probably run back to the last room right now if I was quick enough, but there might be something blocking the other end by now, so that might not be worth it. Trying to evade whatever this coral-looking Pokémon was by going to the side would probably not be an option, either; it would get to me before I move! Unless…

Glancing back and forth between the pile of Poké and the Corsola, I had to take my chance right now. It was now or never!

With a paw hurriedly gathering up as many of the coins as my paws allowed me, I chucked the coins at the pink walking coral. Right after that, I made a dash to the left and ran toward the exit at the end of the room. The Corsola wasn't even there just moments ago, so it must have come in from the path on the right, so following the one path left should be safe enough. With my feet frantically tapping on the stone cold ground to take me to wherever I thought was the "safe zone" at the end of this hallway, I kept my eyes on the end of the tunnel in front of me. Whether throwing the Poké actually did something or not, I didn't know, but it didn't matter since I got away in the end.

I quickly glanced around the room I went to. That Corsola definitely was still moving, so it might catch up at any moment. Luckily enough, there was a flight of stairs just in the middle of this room. Instead of taking my time and think whether I should go to the hallway on the left wall, I just ran to the stairs. These Pokémon wouldn't be able to follow me downstairs, right? If that was the case, then I should be safe going down there. There was nothing stopping me, thankfully, so I was able to run down the stairs rather easily.

A/N: I have put this on the back burner for so long now, but at least I can continue now. Don't expect far too frequent updates, but when it comes, it comes.

Shoutouts to Jackboy0815 for help with proofreading this chapter!