Apologies for the lateness of this update. Not only was I obsessively replaying Mystery Dungeon so I could take some in-depth notes about some things for future scenes in this fanfic, but I was also in Italy for three weeks, and immediately after returning ended up spending a lot of time with friends. I'm not giving this story up, though - no matter how long I take between chapters.
Alti dreamt that night. She was standing in what appeared to be a misty field, although she could not see the setting – she could only sense that it was supposed to be a misty field.
Alti had never been very good at lucid dreaming, so it was a surprise to her when she found that she could actually control her movements – and moreso that she knew she was dreaming at all. Unfortunately, however, there was nothing to do here – she didn't even feel that her normal wish of flying would mean anything, if all there was to see was a misty field – but as she was just thinking about waking herself up or at least ending the dream, she sensed – though again, she could not see – that there was another being here.
"H… hello?" Alti said, her voice coming out quietly. "Are you a dream incarnation of someone, or…" Somehow, though, she felt that this being was more unfamiliar and more real than anything her mind would have independently invented. But this being didn't respond to her, and before Alti could say anything else she felt the dream fading – and in fact the next thing she knew she could feel the slightly scratchy hay around her, and could see light streaming through the windows of the base that she and Cannon shared.
"Uh… huh," Alti muttered to herself, sitting up and crossing her arms. She shook her head to clear the memory of the dream from her mind, though, and stood up. It seems like it's morning. I should probably go check the Mailbox.
She stepped lightly off the bed and headed to the entrance of the base, taking care to step quietly to avoid waking Cannon up – she could hear his soft breathing coming from his own bed and knew he was still sleeping.
It took Alti a minute to adjust to the flood of light she stepped into when she left the base. Squinting, she made her way over to the mailbox and opened it, only to be disappointed when the mailbox was empty. She sighed and closed the mailbox, annoyed. She turned back to the base, supposing she'd take a nap or at least relax a little before Cannon woke up – but he was already standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes.
"You're up early," he mumbled, his voice sounding raspy. Having no reasonable response, Alti merely shrugged. "Did you check the mailbox already?"
"Yeah," Alti replied. "Nothing there."
Cannon nodded. Alti thought she saw a slight hint of indignation in his face, but it was gone before she could be sure. "Well, we did just start the rescue team," he pointed out. "We shouldn't expect much yet. Come on, let's go to Pokémon Square." Agreeing, Alti went back in and grabbed the treasure bag from its corner in the base, and the two Pokémon set off for the square.
This early in the morning, the square was far less packed than it had been the previous night, though rescue teams were still walking around the square, talking and using the services set up all along the square. For the most part, Alti and Cannon ignored them. In the center of the square, though, they crossed paths with a Lombre and a Bellsprout who were in the middle of a conversation and didn't see Alti until they'd already bumped into her.
"I'm so sorry!" said the Bellsprout apologetically as Alti stumbled, and then picked herself up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Alti responded. "Thanks for asking."
"You're new around here, aren't you?" asked the Lombre. "I saw you last night, but not before then. There aren't any Pikachu around here."
"There are now," Alti said, grinning. "I'm Alti, and this is Cannon." As she spoke, Alti gestured to Cannon, who was shifting from one foot to the other impatiently beside her.
"We're just Lombre and Bellsprout," said the Lombre. "Nice to meet you! Are you a rescue team?"
"As of two days ago, yes," Alti told them, nodding. "We're on our way to Pokémon Square to pick up some job opportunities."
"Avoid the Sky Meadow," the Bellsprout put in. "There was a fire, and Team Hydro went to go put it out. But they got back yesterday and said that it's still probably not a good idea to do rescues there for a few days."
"Will do. Thank you!" said Alti, beginning to walk away. "We should get going, though. See you around!" Lombre and Bellsprout waved goodbye as Alti and Cannon continued down the path to Pelipper Post Office.
"… Sky Meadow?" Alti asked quizzically as she and Cannon moved out of earshot of Lombre and Bellsprout.
"A large meadow in the east," Cannon explained. "I don't know a whole lot about it, other than that there was a lightning strike and that's what started the fire."
The thought of a fire raging through the meadow made Alti shiver. "I hope there weren't too many casualties," she said softly. Cannon just shrugged.
"That's what rescue teams are for," he pointed out, and Alti nodded.
It wasn't much longer that the two Pokémon had reached the post office. The bulletin board outside was jam-packed with rescue requests, whose corners continued to flap in the breeze that never seemed to cease.
"The best idea is probably to take requests for Tiny Woods and Thunderwave Cave," Cannon told her. "We've already been to those dungeons and we know that we can handle them, and they're also both pretty close by." Cannon's logic made sense to Alti, who began scanning the board for a rescue request with one of those names. The requests each had the name of the dungeon written in large letters across the top of the request, with mission specifics and the posted reward in smaller letters lower on the paper.
Fortunately, Alti quickly noticed one that had "Thunderwave Cave" at the top. "Here's one," she said to Cannon, who was also poring over the board; he looked over at the one Alti was pointing out.
"Rescue an Exeggcute… approximately four depths in – whatever that means… couple hundred Poké as a reward." Alti looked at Cannon. "Sound good?"
Cannon shrugged. "No objections here," he said, and so Alti tore the request off the board and stuffed it into the bag still slung around her. "Let's head back to the square to prepare a little bit before we go."
Alti simply nodded, and the two Pokémon made their way back down the path to the square. Cannon pointed out a stall manned by a Persian, and they headed for that.
"Welcome to Felicity Bank," said the Persian, whom Alti assumed was named Felicity. "I don't recognize you – are you wishing to start up a bank account?"
"Uh," Alti said stupidly. She looked at Cannon, and then back at Felicity. "I… suppose so? What exactly is the use of that?"
Ignoring Cannon's slight groan beside her, Alti listened as Felicity began to explain. "It's not so much a bank in the proper sense," she explained. "Rather, it's a storage facility for rescuers' money. It's unfortunately rather common for Pokémon in mystery dungeons to drop money, especially if they get beaten by wild Pokémon or any other factors. I hold money here for safekeeping, and I'm very protective of it – you won't see any bank-robbers getting your money any time soon!" At this, Felicity grinned, showing sharp white feline teeth.
Though slightly unnerved by Felicity's toothy smile, Alti couldn't help but admit that it seemed like an excellent idea. "Sure," she said. "Do we just give you the money, or…"
"Yes," Felicity said. "Any money you want to store – and your rescue team's name."
"Of course." At this, Alti began rooting around in the bag for the coins scattered inside it. "We're Team Hydrospark," she said as she collected some coins in her paw. "I'm Alti, and this is Cannon."
"Pleased to meet you," Felicity said, bowing her head. "As you've probably guessed, I'm Felicity."
By this point, Alti had collected all the coins in the bag and scooped them out with one paw. She handed them to Felicity, who quickly counted them up.
"642 Poké," she mumbled, half to herself. "And you want to store all of it?"
"Uh… y-" Alti began, but she was interrupted by Cannon stepping up and saying, "Wait, no." Alti looked at him quizzically as the Squirtle began to explain.
"We just wanted to establish the account," he said. "We're going to go see if there's anything we want at the Kecleon brothers' shop before we store the money. We'll be back in a few minutes."
"… What he said," Alti agreed, smiling in slight embarrassment. "Yeah, we'll be back in a second with whatever we have left."
Felicity simply bowed her head. "Suit yourself," she said, and Cannon and Alti continued back to the market.
The Kecleon brothers' market was a stall, wider than Felicity's, where two Kecleon were bustling about, grabbing items off shelves and from unseen places below the counter top, handing them to Pokémon who were crowded around, exchanging money and items everywhere. It was definitely one of the busier attractions in the square, and Alti couldn't help but look at Cannon, seeking an explanation.
"Only so many items," Cannon explained. "The Kecleon brothers collect items themselves, traveling to dungeons and trading with travelers every afternoon, after most of the rescue teams set off for the day. But this means that the morning is the busiest time, as rescue teams are trying to get ahold of all the items before they sell out. That's why it's so packed."
"Then we should get in on the action!" Alti said suddenly, and rushed over to the group of Pokémon crowding around the booth, waving coins and items around. She pushed her way through the group, keeping one paw on her rescue bag, and eventually made her way up to the front of the booth.
"Hello, Pikachu!" said one of the Kecleon – whom Alti noticed with a shock was purple – cheerfully. "What can I do you for? Berries! Apples! Scarves! TMs and Orbs! And, of course, the elusive Reviver Seeds! What will it be?"
Alti had no idea what a Reviver Seed was, but it sounded really useful. "How much for a Reviver Seed?" she asked quickly.
"800 Poké, no discounts, no haggle!" exclaimed the other Kecleon, which was a more normal green color.
Alti started. "Uh… never mind. I don't have that much." Without looking for anything else she pushed her way out of the crowd and headed back to an impatient-looking Cannon, who raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"No dice," Alti said. "I think we'd be better off saving our money for now." At that, Cannon simply turned and headed back to the bank, and Alti scurried after him. They left their 642 Poké with Felicity, and afterward Alti wasn't quite sure what other shops they should look into – at least until Cannon took the lead and they headed for a huge building near the bridge where they had crossed into Pokémon Square to begin with. It was a vast warehouse, by the looks of it, and inside Alti could see a Pokémon moving boxes around and scuffling, but she couldn't tell what type of Pokémon it was. In front of the warehouse, though, a small baby Pokémon – again, Alti didn't recognize it – sat playing with what looked like wooden Pokémon dolls. It looked up as Alti and Cannon approached, then got up and ran into the warehouse on unsteady legs, saying "Mama, mama!" as it went.
Alti and Cannon just stared. "That was an odd introduction," Cannon commented, and Alti had to agree. No sooner had he said that, though, then the Pokémon that was inside the cave was walking toward them, holding the small baby in its arms, and Alti recognized it as a Kangaskhan.
"I'm sorry about that," said the Kangaskhan, looking apologetic. "Ruth here gets scared when she sees Pokémon she doesn't know. But she also helps to alert me when Pokémon are visiting, so she likes playing in the front." At this, the Kangaskhan took the baby and put her into the pouch on her front, where the baby Kangaskhan – Ruth – looked at Alti and Cannon with wide, curious eyes.
"Anyway, you're new around here," the Kangaskhan commented. "Call me Aunt Kanga. I run the item storage warehouse. You're a rescue team, I take it?" As Alti nodded consent, Aunt Kanga continued, "My storage facility is made for rescue teams."
"So… what, is it just a place for rescue teams to leave items as they go on rescues?" Alti asked. Aunt Kanga nodded, looking slightly impressed.
"Indeed," she said. "After all, a treasure bag can only hold so many items, and you don't want it to be too heavy anyway. This way, you can both leave unnecessary items in storage, and keep them safe in the event that you happen to get knocked out in a dungeon – which often results in losing items."
Wait, what? Alti thought. Losing in a dungeon causes you to lose items and money? What in Arceus' name is up with this world?!
"That would be good," Cannon spoke, snapping Alti out of her thoughts. "Alti, I think maybe we should set up storage here, put in some of our items…?"
"Sounds good," Alti said. She took the bag off from where it was slung around her and handed it to Cannon. "But you figure it out!"
Grumbling slightly, Cannon did as Alti requested, and began looking through the bag, As he found some items, he took them out and handed them to Alti, who was soon holding a few seeds, apples, and berries in her paws.
"That's all," Cannon said after rifling through the bag a little bit more, and so Alti leaned forward and handed the items she was holding to the Kangaskhan, who took them immediately.
"And… your rescue team name?" Aunt Kanga asked.
"Oh, right," Alti said. "Hydrospark. I'm Alti, and this is Cannon." Aunt Kanga nodded at this, and turned and headed back into the darkness of the warehouse. "That's all!" she called from over her shoulder. "Good luck on your rescues!"
"Thanks!" Alti called back, and she and Cannon turned and headed back across the bridge to the rescue base.
"I think we're good to go," said Alti, as the two Pokémon approached the rescue base. "We're all prepped and we have a rescue mission. Shall we?"
Cannon nodded. "Sure, let's," and with that, rescue team Hydrospark began a trek to Thunderwave Cave for the second day in a row.
More than six hours of walking the previous day and now another three hours of walking today was certainly taking its toll on Alti's legs. Cannon didn't seem at all bothered by it, and Alti could only assume that he was more used to it than she was. It didn't really help her any, though, not when she was just getting used to this new body. But she pushed on nonetheless, determined not to show any signs of weakness to Cannon, or indeed anything that might make him think less of her. Now that she could actually use electric attacks – presumably, anyway – battling alongside Cannon in dungeons was going to be significantly easier.
As before, the trip to Thunderwave Cave passed without incident – aside from Alti's poor feet, that is. As the two Pokémon approached the dungeon, Cannon pulled the crumpled rescue request from the interior of the treasure bag and quickly looked over it.
"Four depths in," he muttered to himself, and Alti remembered that she'd seen that phrase herself earlier – and had no idea what it meant.
"Four depths?" she asked quizzically.
It was a second before Cannon responded. "I'm not sure what that really means myself," he told her, looking at her. "I think I've heard it's something like… there's kind of different layers of dungeon? The rescue requests include the depths marker so you know how far in you need to go."
"That doesn't help if we have no idea what depths even are," Alti muttered, rolling her eyes.
"True," Cannon agreed, "but the least we can do is take a look. Thunderwave Cave has mostly Electric-types, anyway – how hard can it be to find an Exeggcute?"
Alti had to admit that his logic was sound, and so when the rescue team approached the dungeon they immediately walked in, both keeping an eye out for the Exeggcute they were looking for.
Before they ever saw any trace that the Exeggcute had been nearby, however, they were first confronted by a Poochyena who charged up to them and stopped shortly in front of them, growling, its fur raised and its teeth bared in a clear indication of hostility.
All right, thought Alti, feeling her muscles tense. Here we go. Time to see if I've learned anything from the Magnemite. First thing is to grab a charge from something…
While Cannon soundlessly rushed at the Poochyena and tackled it head-on, Alti found herself raising her tail, which started tingling as it began to grab an electrical charge from the air itself. When her cheeks started tingling as well, she lowered her tail.
Next thing is to focus on the Poochyena…
Unfortunately, Cannon was still attacking the Poochyena, so the two Pokémon were constantly moving around. Alti remembered that she had to feel the Poochyena's electrical pulse specifically – but what if she got it wrong?
But before she had time to consider the implications, her attempts to focus on the electrical charge in the Poochyena's body had produced a reaction. The cave lit up, and Alti felt her cheeks surge with energy as a lightning bolt arced across the cave and into either Cannon or the Poochyena – which Pokémon it was, Alti couldn't tell until the electrical charge had faded – and there was the Poochyena, lying on the ground, twitching, with Cannon standing next to it, looking at Alti incredulously.
"You finally used an electric attack," Cannon commented. Alti thought she could detect a slight hint of nervousness in Cannon's voice – and Alti couldn't blame him; she still wasn't sure that it hadn't been pure luck that she had struck the Poochyena instead of Cannon, considering their proximity to one another and Alti's utter inexperience with electrical attacks.
"Looks like it," Alti said, stepping up and nudging the twitching Poochyena with her foot. It got to its paws slowly – clearly the electricity hadn't completely paralyzed it, which Alti was grateful for – and with a yelp, turned and limped off, tail tucked between its legs in a sign of defeat.
After it had gone, Cannon looked over at Alti. "Did you actually purposefully hit the Poochyena with Thundershock, or…"
Alti's heart dropped as she realized Cannon had been wondering the same thing as her. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted. "I mean, I tried to focus on the Poochyena specifically, like the Magnemite told me to, but…"
Cannon shook his head. "Of course," he muttered, half to himself, "I'd get paired up with a Pokémon who not only can't control her powers, but is one of only two types that actually poses a threat to mine. Why am I not surprised?"
Alti let out an apologetic half-laugh and shrugged, at a loss for words. "I mean, I'll try my hardest, but…"
"But you're a human-Pikachu who can't use her powers. I know," said Cannon, finishing it for her with a sigh. "Well, it's not like I can do anything about that. Shall we continue?"
Still feeling guilty, but having no objection, Alti simply shrugged again and wordlessly followed Cannon through the rest of the cave.
As the previous day, it was for the most part very uneventful. The two rescuers ran into a few wild Pokémon, but Alti was successful in actually hitting each one of them – and not her teammate – with electric attacks, which she felt getting easier to use with each successive Pokémon she struck down. Is this what Pokémon feel throughout their whole lives? she wondered in awe, after shocking a Voltorb which rolled erratically away afterward. It's kind of awesome!
A little while later, after searching through several roomy areas and tunnels of the cave, Alti spotted some pink among the gloom.
"Cannon," she said, nudging her partner, "look over there."
"Huh," Cannon said, squinting. "Could that be the Exeggcute we're looking for?"
"Could be," Alti said. "It looks like the same shade of pink that Exeggcute are, anyway. Let's go take a look." Without hesitating further she headed in that direction, and Cannon followed suit after a second.
As she approached, Alti heard a faint tittering noise coming from the Pokémon, whatever it was, that increased as it saw Alti. "Don't hurt us!" cried a voice – and Alti realized that it was coming from one of the Exeggcute's heads, and that it was, in fact, an Exeggcute.
"Don't worry, we're not going to," Alti replied, unable to keep a small smile from crossing her face. "In fact, we're here to rescue you."
The Pokémon's tittering ceased instantly and the group of eggs instead hopped over to Alti. "Really?" one head asked. "You're a rescue team?"
"Yup," said Cannon, who had now joined Alti in facing the Exeggcute. "Rescue team Hydrospark, as you can see." He slung the bag over and pointed to the pin that symbolized their status as a rescue team. "It's time to go home."
"All right," said one of the Pokémon's heads. "Lead the way."
Alti did just that. The three Pokémon made their way back out of the dungeon, taking care to stick close to the walls and avoid distant Pokémon in the process. The few that approached them were quickly dispatched by Alti and Cannon's attacks, as they made sure the Exeggcute wouldn't be in any further danger. That was the role of a rescue team, after all – to not only rescue Pokémon, but also to protect the Pokémon they rescued from any further harm on the way out.
Fortunately for them, they made it to the entrance to the dungeon without any mishaps. Upon reaching the entrance to Thunderwave Cave, the Exeggcute they had escorted out of the cave turned to them and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you," piped up one of the smaller heads. "You saved us!"
"Eh, it was nothing," Alti said, flipping one paw modestly, at the same moment that Cannon said, "No problem!" Without noticing Alti's mildly annoyed look, Cannon reached into the treasure bag and rifled around for a second before pulling out the crumpled rescue request. Unfolding it, he looked it over for a second.
"This request was issued by… another Exeggcute?" he said, looking up at the Exeggcute they had just rescued for confirmation as he finished reading the request.
"Yes, that was most likely Anna," said one of the heads of the Exeggcute. "She's always worrying about us. She'll be back at Nortown, most likely. We'll head back there now and let her know we're okay. Thanks again!" The Exeggcute began to hop off, but Cannon stayed rooted to the spot, looking after them.
"Um…" he said, loud enough for the Exeggcute to hear – and indeed, it stopped and turned, looking at him with an expression of confusion. "There was a reward offered," he said, holding up the rescue request pointedly. "Is that from you, or…"
"Oh, goodness, how could we forget?" The Exeggcute made a squibbling sound that Alti could only assume was their equivalent of smacking their foreheads. "Yes, Anna will likely have that reward for you. But she'll be back at Nortown, so… I guess you should come with us?"
Even more walking? The idea of going even further for the sake of the promised Poké, and then back to Pokémon Square, was not pleasing to Alti, who already felt her legs protesting further. Man, when I told Cannon that we should start a rescue team, I was not expecting it to be mostly walking from place to place!
Cannon merely shrugged. "All right, I guess," he said, and started toward the Exeggcute – only to stop as another voice drifted over the three of them.
"We're right here, Ivan!" said the voice. Turning in the direction of the voice – the direction the Exeggcute had begun to walk off in – Alti saw another Exeggcute bouncing toward them, a small pouch slung around one of the heads. It slowed to a stop as it approached them, and one head nodded quickly to Alti and Cannon before turning to the Exeggcute they had rescued.
"We're sorry we couldn't rescue you ourselves," said one head to the rescued Exeggcute, "but you know how much we struggle to go through dungeons!"
"No problem, Anna," replied Ivan. "These kind folks rescued me themselves. Did you bring a reward for them?"
"Of course!" shot back the Anna. "Here you go!" It (she, Alti supposed?) approached Cannon, who gently took the pouch off from around the largest head and emptied it, finding several Poké coins inside. He placed the pouch back around the same head and smiled.
"Thanks," he said. "I'm glad we could help you find your friend!"
"Thank you!" Anna replied, and then turned to Ivan. "Come on, let's head back!"
Without another word, the two Exeggcute began to bounce off in what Alti assumed was the direction of Nortown. Cannon looked after them for a second before turning to Alti.
"Well, that's done," he said, putting the Poké coins and the rescue request back in the bag. "Shall we head back to the base?"
The thought of resting her weary body on the hay of her bed gave Alti new energy. "Of course! Let's go."
With that, the two Pokémon headed away from Thunderwave Cave and back to the rescue base.