Location: Cave of the Deep 3F (According to Mawile)

So, this dungeon has Dittos in it.

Dittos like to disguise themselves as items, transform into other Pokémon, and give everyone else the Confused status condition. Annoying, but not overly problematic. Mostly. I find it funny that we're exploring a dungeon with Dittos in it shortly after Lyra told me I shouldn't beat myself up so much. Now I'm kinda beating myself up in a different way.

I'd understand everyone's Confused status condition if not for one little problem - it's obvious which one's me and which isn't because of that stupid Ditto face plastered on the other Chikorita! Seriously, the other one looks so stupid, yet it somehow fooled everyone else. Not that it mattered much since I wrecked it, but even so...c'mon guys, I don't look anything like that! Ugh.

I will say that Dedenne's a master at lifting the mood. Traveling with Archen, Buizel, Bunnelby and Mawile has been all serious business all the time always. Dedenne's upbeat, bubbly personality helped lift the terror and unease Lyra felt, and I even saw Mawile crack a smile once or twice. It's a nice reprieve of the dread we've felt since entering this place.

Even better? She compliments Lyra.

Lyra has a habit of making silly comments when we're traveling through Mystery Dungeons. Stuff like, "Wow, these walls sure are shiny! Don't you just love how colorful those scary stalactites are? Man, the ceiling sure is high up. Imagine how hard it is to keep this place warm during winter!"

Since I let my mind wander as we travel, I mostly just nod in agreement to whatever she said. Most allies we travel with learn to ignore her after a while, but Dedenne pays Lyra compliments for every comment she makes.

"That's a great point, Lyra! Oooh, good catch! I never even noticed that! You're so observant!"

I don't think she was being sarcastic or condescending. Anything Lyra noticed, Dedenne paused to admire and think about. Looking back on it, I guess it makes sense. Dedenne usually spent her time at Society HQ, not in places like this. If she wasn't fascinated by everything Lyra pointed out, she did a great job of feigning interest and fluffing up Lyra's ego.

Dedenne, you're aces in my book.

Location: Cave of the Deep 7F

We found more of those runes on a wall. Mawile relinquished the deciphering to Lyra since it would be faster. According to her, the runes named "Dark Matter" as the source of Pokémon turning to stone.

"Dark Matter absorbs the energy of Pokémon as it turns them to stone. With that energy, it grows stronger. Dark Matter will continue to turn Pokémon to stone to enlarge itself."

Dark Matter...nobody seems to know what it is, even Mawile. I was thinking maybe it's a title for a legendary Pokémon, like Entei being the Flaming Phantom. Maybe it's Yveltal's ominous title. The runes also warned us about something called Void shadows, but the message was incomplete.

Hm...Dark Matter...Void shadows...two pieces of a puzzle we thought we already had all the pieces for. How were we supposed to make them fit into the bigger picture? What even was the bigger picture?

Oh...wait...

He said I'm just a kid who doesn't think about the consequences of her actions, nor do I think about the bigger picture.

"'Course ya don't, who has time t'look at the bigger picture when yer so busy makin' new friends and happy memories and frolicking to and fro without a care in th'world?"

I...I get it now. I get why Nuzleaf was so mad.

If I revealed my human origins and the other villagers found it so strange that they uh...decided to banish me, it would've made luring me up Revelation Mountain that much harder. Nuzleaf had to work really hard to keep his ruse intact, but even then he had moments of frustration. I wonder how intolerable he found me underneath that warm façade. How much of it was an act? How much was genuine? Was any of it genuine?

The "bigger picture" can be replaced with "the part ya play in my scheme" and it'll make a bit more sense.

...

Bah. Sorry for bringing that up. Just something I remembered.

While we were stewing over our findings, Dedenne managed to reach Buizel, Bunnelby, and Archen! All of us were so happy to see them that we kinda group hugged. I was the last to join in, so I wrapped my vines around everyone.

Ahhhhhh...the relief sent chills down my spine. It was so good to see them safe and sound!

With everyone reunited, we brought the others up to speed about our findings thus far. Bunnelby made a fair point that while we're all together, we aren't exactly..."safe" in the traditional sense. Even so, Lyra said everyone being together like this was enough to fill her with hope. Who could deny that? Despite the miles between Revelation Mountain and the Prehistoric Ruins, the seven of us found each other! All we needed was Ampharos, Jirachi, and Swirlix for the Society to be reunited!

...What am I saying? That's horrible! Am I hoping for...ack. Sorry. Trying not to beat myself up too much. I know what I meant - I wasn't hoping for Ampharos, Jirachi or Swirlix to be turned to stone so they could join us, but for us to join them in recovering from being stone.

Anyway, Lyra's words amped up the others, and we made our way deeper into this...cave...place. With everyone together, we formed our own little mob.

Ha! Bring it on, phantom hate fakers! You can't stop us now! Strength in numbers!

Location: ? We're not in the Calm Craggy Area anymore, and I don't know where we are now.

Okay! Hoo...now that I've had a chance to calm down, let me explain what happened.

After traveling for a while, we came across some kinda purple-blue themed dungeon Mawile called the Calm Craggy Area. I don't fancy delving into more Mystery Dungeons in a place like this, but since it's the only path forward...there wasn't a choice. Fortunately, the fake Pokémon didn't stand a chance against us! Heh. Mob benefits.

Oh, by the by, we discovered the difference in behavior between real Pokémon and the fake ones – real ones mistook us for fake Pokémon and fled in terror whereas the fake ones challenged us without hesitation. Makes sense. Living creatures tend to value their lives more than standing up against a mob of possible fakes.

Anyway, we found more ancient runes that laid out Dark Matter's plans – possessing the Tree of Life. According to Mawile, the Tree of Life is an actual gigantic tree in our world that's responsible for giving life to...everything. Pokémon, plants, the planet itself. If this Dark Matter thing took control of the Tree of Life...well, one would assume it would kill everything.

However, our talk was interrupted when we noticed Buizel and Bunnelby were missing! Buizel was nearby, but Bunnelby told us to stay away from him since he's a fake. Bunnelby was prepared to fight the fake Buizel, saying he didn't want to risk losing another brother but he wasn't about to let him hurt the rest of us.

Another brother?

...

Uh. Yeah. So, none of us stopped Mawile when she attacked the fake Bunnelby because we all knew he'd lost his sister, not brother. Then four Void shadows appeared and we...actually, we wiped them out rather easily. Seriously, the fight with sleepy Jirachi was harder than that.

But then Dedenne and Archen got taken away! They were engulfed and we couldn't save them! Pulling the goopy Void stuff off didn't work! Then I was almost engulfed as well! Eugh, I still shiver when I think about the gross warm squishiness and unbearable heaviness that shrouded me. It felt like I was suffocating.

I barely heard Mawile and Lyra arguing about Lyra trying to save me before...well, I guess three Pokémon entered the scene and used their mighty roars to blast away the Void shadow, freeing me. And what Pokémon were powerful enough to do that, you ask? Why, only Entei, Suicune and Raikou, of course!

Lyra kept insisting that we try to save Dedenne and Archen as well, but Raikou teleported us away and now we're kinda...taking a short reprieve from our fleeing.

Ugh...there's so much being thrown at us, and we're not given a lot of time to process it all. I'm not even given a lotta time to recover from that traumatic near-engulfing experience. Geez...

Dedenne...Archen...Bunnelby...Buizel...

They're...they're going to be fine, right? I don't think I would've died from being engulfed by a Void shadow, but I have no way of knowing for sure. Bunnelby and Buizel are probably fine, but Dedenne hardly leaves HQ and Archen has so many weaknesses...

We have to help them! We have to! But...I don't know where we are now or how we'd get back to them. They could be anywhere...

...

Dammit, why can't things just work out in our favor for once? It's not enough we got turned to stone, now we have to lose our allies to these stupid overpowered Void shadow things?

Just...please let them be okay.