"Alright, break's over! Let's go!" Urist yelled, "It would seem that we're much better off now that we've had lunch."
"I can agree! It was just so tasty!" Eliza called, "It really was!"
"Tooting your own horn much?" I said, "I don't blame you though, it tasted heavenly."
"Thanks!" Eliza replied, "I want to cook again, maybe tonight when we get back?"
"That would be lovely!" Jordan said. We started through the second part of the dungeon. The floor was made of steel plates, and the ceiling was pure red crystals, and the walls were solid white. "Hey, these walls are strange… and the floors! My goodness! The banging's even louder!"
"I can't stand it! We've gotta stop this…" I said, motioning people to move, "No where is it safe to listen to sweet silence." The banging sounded like a hammer hitting metal, and was more… Echo-y? It echoed more, certainly, but something else was coming from that noise.
The rest of the group was finding strange items along the way, toasters, refrigerators, and office chairs. "Hey, why is that there? What even is it?" Urist asked, pointing to a computer.
"What, oh that? That's a computer, it's a… erm, device with the capability of solving complex problems? I don't really know how to describe it, but we can't take it with us." Jeremy said.
"I haven't seen one, my section of the country doesn't have any computers available." I said, "Even though I live in America, it's not all digitalized."
"You live in America? Huh, I always assumed you lived in England like me!" Jeremy called, "Brilliant. Just… Brilliant."
"Huh, wonder where else people are gonna come from." I said, shaking my head, "Let's continue, it doesn't seem too strange." The exploration team was finding ways to entertain themselves. Between the other two humans there was a lot of singing, and even more laughing, between Jordan and Urist there was lots of trading stories, and even more myths spread, "Alright, five floors, check-up!" I yelled, it was time to train a habit.
"Don't worry, It'll be fine." Jordan said, talking about a couple wounds he's taken.
"Hey, this isn't too bad." Urist replied.
"I've taken some wounds, but I'll push." Jeremy nodded, after telling his status.
"Do my nails look okay? Good!" Eliza checked in.
"Great! Let's push forward!" I said, raising a fore-paw into the air. The group had some issues, but none too major… Everything else seemed quick, and the next thing I remember was the next status check.
"It'll be bruised in the morn', I'm fine."
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea… I'm here though!"
"Is my sis still okay? She's my first priority."
"This might leave a couple on my fur!"
"Okay, let's try and get the finishing touches on this dungeon." I said, responding to the comments of Jordan, Urist, Jeremy, and Eliza, in that order, "Don't worry too much, it shouldn't be too much further." I hoped, I didn't wanna tell them that it could possibly go on until we wiped out, it seemed that anything could possibly go on forever, "Let's deal with the bottom! As we get closer it sounds more like a factory, just what we need to hear, that getting closer!" I said, trying to bolster hope. The fight did seem to be renewed, it must have worked, "The scariest that can be down there is a bad Pokémon."
"It doesn't work like that! It could be anything." Urist yelled.
"Although theoretically it could be anything, Derrek's right, the scariest it can be is a bad Pokémon." Jordan said, "I wonder what it could be though? There's only one Fire-Steel mix, so it must not be that."
"Maybe it's a water type? The entirety of the dungeon would be weak to them." I said, hoping that that's how it works.
"This is a big dungeon, so it could be. I dunno though, I've only been studying this for about 5 or 6 months…" Jordan muttered.
"Sweet, I don't think that it's super rare for things to be different than expected with the barrier up, there's just too much against commonalities when something that triggers when something disastrous strikes, it's just too uncommon to allow commonalities." Jeremy philosophized.
"How much did you read? It's pretty strange that I can agree with that though, I find that when something out of the usual happens so suddenly, that even everything I could plan to do, was thrown outta whack." I replied, everyone else nodded their heads, "Gee, thanks, I don't usually think that deep, but even if I did, it seemed that someone else has beaten me too it."
"No problem, I didn't think that someone could be that appreciative about a silly idea. It's strange how the Barrier is up, we don't even know what's actually the problem." Jeremy muttered.
"If we did we probably couldn't solve the problem anyways, it'd have to be pretty hard if the Barrier is up." Jordan muttered, shaking his head lightly, "even the biggest group of bandits didn't bring the Barrier up."
Everyone hadn't stopped walking during all of that, the banging was only a little louder, but loud enough, the walls had slowly shifted as the floors proceded, they became smoother and smoother, and the color looked more pristine as well, "Hey, Notice the walls changing? They've changed as time went on, it's strange…" I said, looking up, I smiled a little, the walls reminded me of back at school, but only the good memories, I shivered, the worst memories were flooding into my head. I returned to the present and tried to close my gateway to the past. I immediately forced myself to analyze the surrounding area: the walls were completely smooth, and looked like steel plates with red lights, I stood still, everyone bumped into each other and shouted something along the lines of oof, "This is a sudden shift, weren't these just crystal? Where'd the lights come from?" I looked up, and saw that the ceiling was made of black carpet, "... Carpet on the ceiling? That's new, and the floor is also steel plating!" I yelled, I looked around, it looked exactly like an upside-down factory's breakroom.
"What? When'd this change! It's strange how this has suddenly changed on the same floor, it wasn't this different last time we looked around." Jordan was spinning, he was certainly startled with the sudden changes to the current surroundings.
"That's cra… hey, where's the hallway we came from? There's just this dead end!" Jeremy cried, "That's… That's…"
"It can't be mysteriosity, mysteriosity doesn't do this. There's all the testing in the world that would prove this impossible." Jordan cried, shocked, but he kept following me. I ran forwards, I knew that we were forced to a single path, so I went as fast as I could down the corridor.
"Come on, if something wants us to go this way, the faster we do it, the better of a chance we have of startling them!" I yelled, trying to go as fast as I could. They all tried to keep up, each with their own shouts of denial. I didn't listen, I had to go find out what forced this strange occurrence. The passage shrunk, I saw the ceiling change into steel plating, and have slits appear, something strange was happening...
"...hey shut up about this! We may have dominated the area, but the fact that what we've created is large, it'll probably bring in teams by the load. We've got to protect the factory, and create the product. It's nothing too much… I hope. There's four of us, and we've got all kinds of advantages." Who was I listening to?
"Yeah, yeah, but the problem is we don't have every type prepared for, we've hardly got enough strength to destroy anyone who's going to just attack, we're gonna need to be careful, especially after we found these two." I couldn't see who he was talking about, what are they doing with the two of them?
"Well, it's strange how these two were just in here, even when we created this dungeon."
"Yeah, yeah, but the problem has been stated before, the dungeon might have been here before, and we've just altered it, they've told us that many, many times before. They could've been here before us. We don't know exactly how this works. We don't even have any sort of comparison, this is the first experiment, and we've got plans for this project. We can't have any intruders until it's made, and completed." I finally found out where it's coming from, and I looked up. I saw through the slits, and saw the two who were talking, they were standing on the ceiling…
"Wait, notice that? Maybe we're on the ceiling!" Eliza cried, pointing up. I stopped feeling the floor.
"Hey, I'm not touching the floor… Is that bad?" I asked, they all nodded, then I noticed them all starting to float too, "Hey, this might be…" I started, then I felt the pull of gravity change, and I broke through the slits of the vent and fell right in front of the two who were talking.
"Darn it, day one and we've got people intruding already! How're we gonna protect the switch factory!" The first, apparently a gyarados, some silly instincts keep telling me the name of these Pokémon.
"Let's end them, can't let them know about… Anything this factory is about." The second said, an Excadrill.
"Alright, fine." They attacked, the first one used surf, and the second one used earthquake. I was feeling sleep enter my mind.
"Hey! Wake up! How'd you do that?" A voice asked, it was male, although I couldn't tell who it was.
"Do what?" I asked, shaking the sleep from my head.
"That thing you did… You know… Where you glowed, and then changed shape, and became what you are now?" He asked, I still couldn't see, something prevented me from seeing.
"You mean evolve? I don't know how he did it, but it was cool. Especially with the timing." A female voice said, it knew more about these Pokémon than I did, that's for sure.
"I don't even know, how I did it." I said, muttering.
"Alright, that was an easy dungeon, we're at the bottom now." Someone said, whoever it was, I haven't really heard them speak, but I have heard it before.
"Yes, I know. They're going to be here, but how, I don't know." Sylveon said, sounding a little more cynical than usual.
"Jordan? Derrek? Anyone?" Flareon asked, yelling.
"I don't know them, but there's a Zoroark and a Drilbur here!" The guy yelled, "Although, the silly Zoroark is attempting sleep under a body."
"Alright, we're coming!" A second unrecognized voice yelled out. They ran into the room.
"Leafeon, Flareon, Espeon! Thanks for coming! Wait, I also see Umbreon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon. I know I heard Sylveon, so did everyone come?" Jordan said, sounding like he was extremely grateful.
"So, where's Derrek? You did bring him right?" Umbreon asked, Espeon took a deep breath in.
"It would be a 2% chance that Jordan didn't bring Derrek to a place like this, and that's only when it's raining." Espeon said, very matter of factly.
"Yeah, I'm here." I said, not even trying to move.
"Where? I only see a… Oh! You've evolved? When'd that happen?" Sylveon's voice told of a smile, "I've never seen anyone evolve in a place like this that wasn't steel."
"I have no clue, it just happened." I said, still staying still, "But apparently now I'm a Zoroark… Whatever that is."
"It's a… erm… Bipedal fox, also has the ability of 'Illusion' although it's stronger. The females tend to have an extremely strong mother's instinct, even with other's children." Espeon nodded, just agreeing with herself, someone moved the thing that was on me off.
"Okay, is it time to go?" I asked, I needed a nap.
"First let me tell what happened to these four. The best way I can think of is in the terms of something I heard of long ago…
Zoroark is moving at quadruple speed!
Zoroark used Fury Swipes, hit four times!
Gyarados passed out!
Zoroark used Feint Attack!
Excadrill passed out!
Zoroark used Shadow Ball!
Mienfoo passed out!
Zoroark used Pursuit!
Raichu passed out!" The girl said, very excited.
"Wow, all four in one swipe?" Umbreon said, surprised.
"Did I do that? I don't remember anything…" I said, shaking my head.
"Yeah, hey, you're Derrek right? My name's Hearthwarm, Brian Hearthwarm! Pleasure to meetcha!" Brian said, I turned and looked, he appeared to be something called a Rotom, personally never saw one before.
"And what about you young missum, what's your name?"
"Oh! Uh… me? L-later!" She said, I took a good look at her, she was apparently a Cyndaquil.
"Don't worry, Cyndaquil, you don't have to tell us." Jordan said, nodding, "Come back with us."
"Uh… A-al-alright! If… You say so…" She seemed very shy, she constantly stuttered.
"Let's go home everyone, it's best if you two come with us. Yes, you and Cyndaquil." Jordan said, he sighed and shook his head, "Maybe we should call our guild the Zoroark Guild, as I doubt you'll be able to evolve from Zoroark, he's the final form of Zorua." I shook my head, "So you agree? Good! It doesn't matter, I'll call it that anyways." He laughed, I shook my head again, silently and reluctantly agreeing.
"Fine, whatever, if you want." I said, shaking my head.
Author's note
Aaaaaaaaaand finished! There! Now to post! This is the first chapter with an OC, this one submitted byGashadokuro Amanojaku.The only one to submit an OC. Oops. Ah well, at least I got one! Got it in on Monday, So it's not technically late, technically, Oh well! Thanks for reading, I'm currently working on a formula for the viewer-chapter relation, it's somewhere along the line of (Viewer)=(Chapter)²+14... Anyone wanna pitch in? Especially if you have personal graph experience.
Also, if you plan on adding a "No offence" to the end of a review, don't! If you toss me this magic thing called "constructive criticism" I won't take offence! My definition of "constructive criticism" is giving a complaint, then suggesting a fix for the issue.