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The First Dungeon

Luke shuddered in the beachside cave. This had not been his first time in the cave, sometimes sitting at the entrance when it was raining. This time, something felt off right from the beginning. He couldn't exactly place it but it was unsettling none-the-less.

He looked to Kon but he couldn't really tell what the charmander was thinking due to his strange coverings. He also didn't understand why the human turned pokemon was carrying around that strange object. "Um-"

The pikachu was cut off when a shellos landed on him, looking around in a panic with a small rock landing on Kon's head. "Run! There's a Corrupted here!" It slivered off him in a panic, many more pokemon appearing out of the woodwork.

"So, I would assume that Corrupted are not normal." Konstantin dryly asked, hold out his hand to help the pikachu back to his feet.

"No… they're very different from other pokemon." Luke was trying to rub the shellos slime off him. "They're… more than feral, if that makes any sense. Feral pokemon can at least be knocked back to their senses if you're strong enough."

"Corrupted are too far gone. Their very bodies are warped and some think that causes their minds to just… break." Luke grabbed his stubby arms, shivering at the thought of it happening to him. "No one really knows where it came from but they always take refuge in Mystery Dungeons like this one."

"Mystery Dungeons?" The concept explained to Kon after his questioning glance made no sense to the charmander. What kind of area would just toss you out if you fainted? And why would it take money and whatever items you had? And why was it randomized every time?

As Kon was thinking about the weird nature of Mystery Dungeons, soft scuttling was heard, causing Luke to look up.

"Gah! Look out!" He grabbed Kon and dragged him back when a trio of kabuto landed on the ground.

"Leave! Leave!" One screeched.

"Our territory!"

"Intruders!"

Kon just cursed his inattentiveness, gripping his blunderbuss tighter.

"But, we're just-" Luke was interrupted by one of them scratching him across the chest, a thin line of blood vividly showing up against his yellow fur.

An animalistic growl came from Konstantin as he slipped out a dagger from his belt and charged the dome pokemon that attacked his pikachu companion. Slipping the knife under the shell, he stabbed the soft flesh with uppercut, lifting the poor kabuto up as blue blood slipped out onto the charmander's arm. The other two kabuto looked absolutely stunned at the brutality of the strange pokemon, along with Luke.

Kon pointed to the closest kabuto. "Move, dammit!" He shouted, snapping Luke out of it. The pikachu reflexively reacted by shooting a weak thundershock at it.

The kabuto writhed in pain until the shocking stopped.

"R-" The last kabuto was shaking, before it took off with its weakened friend. "Run awaaaaaaaaaay!"

Luke stared as the two living dome pokemon fled before looking to Kon as he pulled his dagger out of the dead kabuto. "W-why did you kill him?!" Luke exclaimed, horrified. "He was just a feral pokemon!"

Kon was silent for a second before he responded. "He attacked you. I just… reacted in a way I felt was right." Kon looked down at his blood stained arm. What chilled him the most was the fact the blood didn't feel foreign to him. "I thought…"

"I would have been fine!" Luke briefly thought about his mom, wondering if she had been like this as well. He'd have to ask her advice on what to do later. "Let's... we'll talk about this later. I need to get my Relic Fragment back." Luke muttered, starting to walk on ahead.

Kon followed him, sheathing his dagger, his mind storming with feelings and thoughts. Some feeling very contradictory.

The walk was silent enough that they could hear the next group of feral pokemon coming from a mile away.

Oddly enough, this group was composed of shellder.

"Okay, can you just scratch them?" Luke asked, his cheeks sparking.

"Yes." The charmander responded dully, clenching his hand.

"Good." Luke loosed another thunder shock, almost instantly knocking one out, much to the panic of the others.

Said panic only increased when Konstantin rushed right in, punching one of them with his armored fist hard enough to crack the shell.

"That wasn't a Scratch!" Luke yelled, cheeks sparking more as he approached a shellder.

Kon gave off a snort as he picked up the injured shellder and threw it into some water nearby. "I am wearing a glove and a gauntlet. I thought you meant to punch them!"

"You're a fire type, not a fighting type!"

"Of course I'm a fighting type! I can punch, shoot, and stab!"

"Really, I thought the flames on your tail meant that you could spit out flames! I guess I was wrong about the things all regular pokemon know!"

By this point, the shellder had stopped fighting and most were fleeing. The ones who didn't run just kinda hid while the two pokemon got face to face.

"I'm not a regular pokemon! I'm a human! I've never even heard of pokemon before this!"

"It's still not hard to get that flames equal fire type!"

"Well, why should I need to do fancy moves like you say? Nothing says I have to!"

"You are going to evolve into a flying type! You are going to have to learn to at least use Ember!"

"What is that supposed-"

The heated argument was cut off by a pair of screams from deeper in the cave.

Luke's blood ran cold as he remembered what the shellos fleeing had said. "That sounded like-! They must have encountered the Corrupted!" Luke took off for the depths of the cave. Seemingly ignoring the shadows that started to move with an eerie presence.

"Damnations! Slow down!" Kon took off after him, a part of him getting frustrated with the pikachu rushing ahead with no regard to his safety, and for what? A pair of thieves!

With a wary eye to the shadows, he followed the yellow sparking rodent as Luke plowed through any feral water pokemon in the way. The smart ones got out of the way, fast, and stayed out of the way when Kon made his way after.

Said charmander was cursing up a storm, wondering how Luke was so much faster. Sure, his armor was light but it was like the pikachu was… oh yeah. He was.

Luke stopped at the edge of the Pit, the deepest part of the Beach Cave. And at the bottom, his fear was realized with a gasp.

"RAAAAAAGH!" The enlarged shellos roared, looking at him. But the once small, even harmless creature that was not too unlike a sea slug was now twisted beyond nearly all recognition, it festered with many disgusting boils, and dragged itself along on inflamed suckers, no doubt causing agony.

Many horrid, blank eyes clouded with seething, blind hatred sprouted along its head, and as it wailed, a second bloody jawbone forced it's way out of it's gullet, ready to tear and shred.

Luke tore his eyes away from the Corrupted pokemon to see Zubat and Koffing in the back of the pit, bloody but alive, giving the shivering. He looked back to the shellos, just in time to throw himself beck and avoid being grabbed by the jawbone but with the unintended side effect of the creature being right on top of him. "AAAH!"

"Get away from Luke, you-" The cave was filled with sound for the briefest moment as round heated metal balls pierced the monster's flesh, causing it to reel back.

Luke loosed a thunder shock at close range before retreating back to Kon, who's Blunderbuss was smoking from the end. "Thanks, Kon."

Kon just nodded while the two looked on at the former shellos, the poor thing writhing in pain before looking back at them and giving off a roar. "I would assume, due to the massive difference from the ones earlier, that is a Corrupted One."

The Corrupted shellos tried to charge them but Kon reacted quicker, aiming quickly and shooting it in the eyes.

"SKREEEEEEE!" It backed off, just in time for a shout from Kon and Luke to charge forward, covering himself in electricity and tackling the monster back into the pit.

Luke jumped off, putting himself between the monster and the two downed pokemon. "Hey ugly!" Luke yelled out at the monster.

At the sound of Luke's voice, the monster turned towards him. A fatal mistake.

Kon reached the lip of the Pit, taking aim and firing into the abomination's head. At the same time, Luke shocked it mercilessly.

Luke stopped after a few seconds, panting as the creature stayed up, like it had somehow survived.

And then, it slumped to the ground, dead. The shadows started to return to normal as Luke fell backwards, relieved but also shaking.

Kon slid down into the Pit, stomping over to Zubat and snatching the Relic Fragment/Rock from him. He then placed it on Luke's heaving chest. "There. We got it back. Let's go."

"Just give me a minute." Luke was trying to get his breathing under control.

Kon grunted, just sitting down next to him.

And they just sat there, in complete silence for what felt like forever.

What they really didn't know at the time that they had just begun a bond that would drag them both to heights neither of them would have imagined. But for now, the pikachu and human turned charmander were just sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

A/N: Chapter Twoooooo~ And our first big Darkest Dungeon thing that has bled over.

Side note: I based the blood of kabuto on Horseshoe Crabs because I thought they'd be pretty similar. (Also, I edited chapter one.)

Zara, any thoughts?

Zaravan Konstantin's brutality has manifested, time will tell whether it shall be diminished.

Probably not, in all honesty.

Side Note: From now on, after each Mystery Dungeon Konstantin participates in, he will gain a random Quirk, which may affect his behavior. This will only apply to him, however. Stress will also affect him still, too much and it'll be a tossup to whether he will become Afflicted or Virtuous.

The random Quirk Konstantin gains after this is...

Hieromania: Experiences religious visions and delusions.

Kris: We are doomed.