Chapter 2: Moving On Up

I spent the day and night fixing the house, the dry grass was easy to find, just had to walk north a little, the timber I had to purchase, and I had used Drilbur's money. He told me that I could keep what was left, but I returned it anyways. I had no use for it, I was going to sleep under the stars anyways. Half way through Drilbur asked, "Carpentry, huh? Now you seem to have a skill for that, and not just any level of skill, but extreme skill." Drilbur asked half way through the day.

"Memories are locked behind the amnesia, but the skills are apparently not." I said, not expecting him to believe it. We both shrugged it off.

"So are you going to the inn?"

"Nah, I expect to sleep under the stars. I can get a feel of who I am from that."

It was appearing to be a long night, but it was constantly relaxed, the stars were completely unique, I had never seen anything like this before. I kept thinking about what this land was worth, and how fortunate I could be here. The future was unknown, but I had the feeling that I would remain here… Maybe forever even. I drifted to sleep...

"What is friendship worth? Who are these friends? What makes them friends? What makes you trust them?" The voice echoed, it only needed to say the lines once, but I could hear it surround me. A figure appeared in front of me, I had skipped back, and tried to keep my head clear, the voice said, "Why bother here, I know what is going to happen to you… You will die, and the world will end! It's going to be because of YOUR hands that you die, and the world will then die with you. Give up now, as this is inescapable. You have 24 hours… Defy me if you will." It was creepy, it even had an air of power around it. He had known where to hit, when, and how. I thought about it, but then decided that I would defy her because I was dead back home, and my train of thought said that if you die in another dimension, one that only holds your spirit, you're going to be transported back to your home dimension. I let that sink in and said, "Oh you mean that…" I sighed depressed, I felt hopelessness attach and attack. Something didn't feel right about that, it was almost as if something was forcing it upon me…

"Gah!" I yelled, waking up, I reminded myself never over-exert yourself before sleeping. I walked into town and just watched, there was not else to do, except maybe talk, and most people were busy with other people for that. It felt joyous here, inexplicably.

That is until I heard, "Stop THIEF!" I turned and looked, Kecleon was pointing to someone running my direction, I recognized him as a Treecko, he was running as fast as he could, I could tell that he was going to be hard to catch, I initiated chase, I tried my hardest, but I was only able to chase him until the entrance to a Mystery Dungeon. I could tell from the ominous feeling, just a creeping feeling. The Drilbur was chasing after me, I heard him panting, he tried his hardest to keep up with me.

"Sorry 'bout leaving you. You should have told me that you were going to come with me." I said, noticing how he was exhausted.

"No problem, I should have expected that he would have gone here, and cut him off. We should go in and catch him. Kecleon can get his items back." He said, panting in between each word. I told him we should go.

It was the first floor, simple, the easiest enemies were here, I could tell it was going to get harder. I was curious though, it seemed as if this place was familiar. "What's the name of this place?" I asked. Drilbur responded rather quickly that this place was the Resonant Bluffs, named that because psychic energy was directly tied to these hills. The first enemies we came across were Abras, the problem being that Drilbur tolds me they only know teleport. This is going to be easy. I walked up and it didn't teleport away, he tried to use Psyshock! I had taken no damage from the attack, I was confused, and so was the Abra.

"How did you..." He started, he saw something that scared him, "You can create illusions! I thought you were weak to psychic, you're a Dark-type, you're immune to psychic." He explained, which confused me as he stopped to explain to me what just happened. I stood there dumbfounded, the Abra was confused, then he realized that what he did was stupid, and responded in kind, "I shouldn't have done that, should I?" I shook my head, I told him if he was going to be nice to everybody I would spare him. He nodded and ran off, I heard a glass object break.

"Huh, he used an escape orb. He must have gone to town, I wonder why you let him go?" Drilbur commented.

"Why not? He wanted to be nice." I said as we continued on. It was bland, I couldn't do much except walk and use scratch. Floor one was a breeze, but I was confused as to how all the Abras knew Psyshock, luckily I still took no damage, it only seemed to be Abras on the first floor. "Going up?" I asked, pointing to the stairs.

"Yup, but only if you feel as if we're ready to go." He said, I nodded and walked up the stairs. It was a unique experience, it felt as if the world was stretching, and shifting, as we were climbing up the stairs. I felt like this was an experience that I want to keep experiencing, I was trusting him beyond what I should have been, but in a place like this trust is built fast, and burned faster. It was enjoyable exploring Mystery Dungeons, I wanted to keep going, with whoever, it didn't matter. The rest of the dungeon was a breeze, I had taken the occasional damage from a Natu using peck, but I knew something was wrong at the top, I saw a figure dash into a room, it was Treecko, I chased in, Drilbur came in after, I looked about…

"Where's Treecko?" I heard Drilbur gasp, I could tell he was behind me… I jumped and turned as I saw a blur hitting the spot I had just moved away from. I counterattacked with scratch, Drilbur hit his back with a scratch. I dodged out of the way of his attack, he had tried to pound me. He then immediately turned around and tried to use absorb on Drilbur, I dove under his legs and blocked the attack, I had taken a bad hit, I had to keep from taking another hit, Drilbur had used Rapid Spin, I had never seen him use it before, he had just cut up the Treecko, demolished him, and I heard Treecko scream.

"STOP, STOP, STOP! I'll return the items, just so long as you let me explore with you." He promised, it was unique, one bartering his life based on what we did to get him…
"Us explore? I don't think…" Drilbur started, I interrupted him.

"C'mon, it should be fun, it'd be more of this. More spending time bringing justice to those who deserve it, finding secrets to items that have mysteries surrounding them, finding treasure, and making friends! That's what I want my life to be like."

"Well, if we're going to be exploring together, we need a team name, and I need a name to distinguish me from wild Drilburs."

"Team name? Let's sleep on that, but your name should be Jordan. I have been thinking about it for quite a while."

"Jordan huh? I like that, I'll be sure to tell everyone in town."

"So how do we get out?"

"I can solve that! I've got a secret passage to town, let's go, I am so pumped to be working with you two!" Treecko said, I couldn't understand why he was so happy. "I could go with a nickname as well… Any clue?"

"How about Thomas? It sounds like you."

"Alright! Let's go!" We left, everybody was excited to be together, I could understand why, it was a big decision. Everybody was proud of the choices they had made… There was a flash as we left the room, and I could tell something had happened.

We had entered town, it was a quick time while Jordan and I had watched Thomas return the items, and we announced our plans. "What's going to be your exploration team name?" Kecleon asked.

"We decided that we should sleep on it, so we will get back to you soon for that." Jordan took the head, he explained everything that happened.

"Alright, Juice is on me then!" Kengaskhan yelled, it was a party until a little later, when everyone decided it would be best if we went to bed.

"Hey, Derrek, you should come inside, you too thomas, can't let either of you getting sick, come sleep in here." Jordan, already accepting us as friends, he was quick to accept us being together for quite a while. I knew that the future would be bright, no matter what could happen, I knew that I could trust Jordan, even if it put my life on the line. I could tell that something was unique with this connection, there was nothing that could stop me. I was going to move forward, never going to step back from what I was going to do. I could tell that we could be free, brave, and strong. I had gotten it, we would be Team Blanket, to cover those who need protection.

Authors note

I complete the stories early-ish so I can build up a stockpile in case life happens. I have made the major plot decisions. So it's ready to go. The story will go forward. Sometimes if I have multiple chapters done, I might do something strange...