"Alright, so first things first, we have to get the supplies for the exploration." Jordan said to Derrek, with Urist flying just behind.
"Not that hard, we can just purchase them right?" Urist speed up, and hung just above Derrek's shoulder.
"Depends on if they have the reviver seeds we want." Said Derrek, shaking his head.
"And if they don't?" Urist asked, Derrek just shook his head.
"If they don't then we're busy getting reviver seeds. Mostly through requests." Jordan said, stating the obvious.
"So if we aren't able to get this request, or we don't get a better request, we go explore and hope?" Urist asked, "So do we not have any choice in the matter should we not get there first?"
"If there are less than three, then we aren't taking a reviver seed request. Hey, Kecleon, do you have any reviver seeds?" Derrek asked, walking up to the shop.
"Ah, sorry sir, we do not, I can let you know if we get more in if you pass buy later! A young Cyndaquil took what was left. She managed to buy two reviver seeds." The green Kecleon said, holding his hands together.
"Okay, well, thanks for the information. I'll be going off. Wish me luck." Derrek stated, shaking his head.
"Good luck, strange explorer! May you have good will in your ways." He replied.
The group of three walked down the path to the request board. The request board was mostly full, but there was very little actually worth the time. There was one with an unknown reward, that seemed like the only one that was worth anything. Derrek took that request and noticed it was to a place they hadn't been before. "Ah, Lightning Mesa, it's a place I've been a couple of times. It's not hard, so long as they use electric-type moves." Jordan commented, "It's a very vertical place, with the actual dungeon exploring the inside, while occasionally appearing outside of the dungeon. It's an exploration of how strong you are with holding yourself to challenges. Not really a trap filled place, but more of a challenge site, it was made for people who wanted to steel their resolve in exploring high places."
"That's pretty important, I'm glad that you'd know your way through."
"With what's going on, I can't really help through this dungeon. The region is reacting strangely so it'll be much tougher." Jordan said, frowning, and lowering his head.
"That's fine, we can work through it. Shouldn't be too hard. We've got two ground-types. They are, supposedly, immune to electricity." Derrek smiled as he chatted. He was glad to have such a good set of friends.
"Time to go?" Urist asked, shaking his head, evidently something was bothering him.
"Yeah, let's go!" Jordan cried, setting off in the direction of the road out of town.
It was a long walk, as the dungeon was just outside of the desert. Not the side that was near town, the opposite side. Pokémon were unseen, there were usually two or three people who were walking to town, or walking to another dungeon. This time the walk was completely silent. Worse, the walk was hot, and mostly uphill. Jordan was right along there with me in walking, but Urist had the comfort of flying, he always remained pepped and constantly talked. "So now that we're here, could we, theoretically, just have Urist fly to the nearest open area to the request?" I asked, smiling evilly.
"Nope, I've tried. One of my old friends used to be able to fly, I asked him to attempt to meet me near the top, entering a room after flying to an open point takes you to floor one. Not fun, I had him lift me to the top, and you still get in that way, but then you do the dungeon in reverse. Which includes the people inside of it, EVERYTHING IS BACKWARDS." He yelled.
"I wouldn't mind doing the dungeon backwards, it'd be cool." Derrek said, smiling.
"Yeah, that be cool. I wouldn't mind carrying you up in my final evolution." Urist said, nodding.
"We've got to get to the final floor, then defeat a 'boss.' There was a rumor about the guy, he's apparently a dragon-type. Urist, you've got the ice-based hidden power right?" Derrek asked, waving his hand in dismissal.
"Yeah, I've got that, and Bulldoze, and Dig, and Dragon Breath. Not a very varied moveset, but you probably didn't know I had Dig, I got the TM for it when you were gone and used it." He replied, his voice showing joy.
Derrek just muttered cool before stepping into the mystery dungeon, it was a cold place that just smelled of electricity and danger. The walls were filled with red streaks, and were mostly tan. Derrek thought the stone was called sandstone, but didn't know what the red color was. Derrek figured that if an earthquake went through this area it would collapse really badly, and many would get trapped. Maybe his guild would have to deal with that later?
"So now we just go through and…" Jordan was cut off by an alarm, and a lot of crashes and a couple fwooshes. There was a lot of Pokémon in this room now, and it would be dangerous. "No, a monster house! Be careful!" Jordan cried, Derrek was in front, so he would have to take a bunch of damage from the various sources. He was officially the tank for now, and Jordan wouldn't be able to touch the various Pokémon. Urist attempted to push Jordan out of the way, but it didn't work like that. Derrek was in awe staring at the variety of typing and Pokémon and attacked the one directly to his left, a flying-type, looked kind of like a flying bug-bat mix. There was no straight way out of this, Derrek started worrying, he was surrounded. There was no reward to staying here, and it was dangerous to not find a way to move.
"Jordan, switch with me! I need out of here!" Derrek yelled, leaning back attempting to dodge an attack.
"Alright! I'll take point!" Jordan said, jumping forward while Derrek slid back. Jordan used Earthquake, and that knocked a lot of Pokémon to the floor. He kept using Earthquake and keeping the Pokémon affected by it down, he was still being attacked by one, the one called Gliscor. Gliscor is a dual-type flying ground, unaffected by both ground and electric, one not to be messed with in this poor mesa. The only type that could really touch it was the Ice-type waiting for the group about five levels up. The group would be scared when they saw the challenge ahead. Jordan traded spots with Derrek, and Derrek attacked the Gliscor. Derrek attempted to keep his wits about him as he saw how many knocked out Pokémon were in the room, it didn't quite work. He knocked out the Gliscor, and looked around, just standing there.
"This is…" He started, his eyes glazing over basically, "This. There isn't anything else to say about it. This is a lot of people who don't deserve this, if only they could have chosen a brighter path."
"I've seen too much of this, they would have chosen a better path if they had known of one. They'll wake up eventually. Let's just hope they wise up before then." Jordan frowned, he was unhappy with his response to Derrek's comment.
"Maybe, I don't think that'll happen though. I don't understand why people are so dang stubborn."
"That's just fine. They're allowed to be stubborn, if we take that choice away from them, then we aren't doing them any good. We're forcing them, and they won't learn that way." Jordan replied, walking up the stairs to level two. Jordan's past experiences told him that there were 20 floors. Which would mean that they were one tenth of the way through. It was a short journey to get to the fourth floor, Urist had been silent, which was normally against his nature. He had nothing to say about this situation, and remained seemingly broody. Jordan looked at Urist and noticed a strange face that he was wearing. "Hey, are you okay? Is something bothering you?" Jordan asked, Urist shook his head.
"No, something's bothering me, something about the next floor. Other than that, there's the reward, which I've been wondering, why is it blank? What would be on there that would provide no money, but instead provides an unknown reward? Something just itches me wrong, and I can't scratch it." Urist said, his head shook more. The floor's layout included a strange set of extra rooms, so it was shorter. They walked basically straight to the stairs, and the stairs went straight to floor 5, almost a respite floor, but they'd have to get past the boss first. That boss was part of a different request, which they wouldn't turn in. The boss would flee the site, and leave the stolen object, making one request really simple for the Exploration group who would accept it.
"So we get to rest now?" Urist asked, seeing a pattern in previous dungeons, floor 5, or floor 10 would be a rest spot. There would be no resting this time, it would be a straight push to the top with three outdoor floors. No rest floors in between.
"I think not, otherwise we would see a Kangaskhan statue." Jordan said, "Why are you asking for rest, it's not been very much work other than the two monster houses. You didn't even participate in those. It was just me and Derrek."
"You won't be getting sleep for a long time, if I have anything to say about it." Said a voice, it sounded icy, and the heart could freeze a lake solid with it's intentions. The speaker was a Beartic, and he wasn't planning on letting any person past him, other intentions or no. "I think I'll take prizes from each of you, it'll be grand."
"That's only if you win, and let's be honest, it'll be a tough fight." Derrek said, cold and confidant. It didn't stir the bear's resolve, but it did warm up his two friends. The bear started laughing.
"Two of you are weak to me! How can you think of standing a chance!" The ursine yelled, chuckling every other word.
"Easy, Ice-type only resists itself, all we gotta do is damage you enough, and dodge your attacks." Jordan stated, smiling, knowing where to go with this.
"Fine then, let's see it in action!" The grizzled polar bear yelled. The two ground types immediately used Dig, their enemy growled, "Fine, if you're going to go underground… I'll just wait!" Derrek opened up with a Night Daze, his explosion of dark energy knocked the Beartic back, he responded with an Icicle Crash. The move threw an icicle at Derrek, who jumped on it, and struck back with a Night Slash, Jordan finished his Dig under the Beartic's feet, and forced it up, while Urist attacked using Dig, threw a rock that he had just excavated. It hit the Beartic hard in the side, while the ursine growled. The Beartic used Icy Wind, doing a huge hit to Urist, who just bearly survived it, while doing a chunk of Jordan's energy, he could survive another, but only barely. Both Urist and Jordan used Dig again, but they were both unsure if they would survive coming back out if the bear wasn't out cold by then. Derrek, knowing that if his friends got knocked out, he wouldn't be able to continue. He didn't know how to pick up the fight, but he knew he had to keep attacking. He used Fury Swipes, he hit 5 times, and did a critical hit. The bear appeared unphased, but in reality he was really hurt.
"Gah, maybe if you would stop hiding!" The boss yelled, he attempted another Icicle Crash to hit Derrek, it smashed Derrek and sent him flying backwards, he hit the back wall.
"Ow, you jerk! Maybe my friends wouldn't hide if you wouldn't attack them!" Derrek yelled, he used Shadow Ball, and it successfully lowered the bear's special defence. The bear stumbled, and took a knee, he growled, and both Jordan and Urist hit him with their Dig, smashing the boss with rocks that they had thrown from Dig. The enemy started looking raggedy, he sounded like he was having a harder time breathing.
"Hey, if you stop, I'll let you go." He offered, starting to regret his choice of fighting.
"I think not! We'll not let you go off attacking teams and get away with it. It's wrong!" Urist yelled, Jordan and Derrek stood between Urist and the Beartic, hoping to intercept the Icy Wind and protect Urist for just a little longer. It worked, Urist completely avoided the attack. The bear fell over, his own attack was enough to knock him out. He laid on the floor, as the group began moving past the held room. There were three Deluxe boxes sitting there.
"Hey, if we take these to Klefki, we'll get some cool stuff." Urist said, smiling.
"Do you know her annoying tone?" Jordan asked, shaking her head.
"No, do tell." Urist said, shaking his head.
"Ching, ching, ching, Opening! Ching, ching, it's a thing!" Jordan sang, Urist cried, and Derrek sighed.
"Oh no, I'm going to have that stuck in my head for quite a while." Derrek sighed after saying that, he immediately started whistling the tune. The whistling caused the rest of the group to groan.
"Fine then, let's move on. Just silence for now, unless something needs to be said. Have some Oran Berries and let's move." From Jordan saying that, they went through 14 floors, mostly unharmed, with a couple of monster houses, spaced equally between each other and the final floor. They've only got one floor left, and it was the final floor, the one that held everything of importance to their current quest. The one where they had to rescue the Pokémon from the enemy waiting for them at the top of the vicious 'tower'. At the top there was no guarantee what would be waiting for them.
"So what do you think is at the top? A strong Pokémon? A whole horde? Maybe it's just the Pokémon in the request?" Urist chatted, creating an open air.
"Personally? I think it'll be something that we don't expect. Maybe it'll be a big trap." Jordan said.
"I have the itching feeling it has to do with someone that we've previously met. Something just tips me off." Derrek said, shaking his head.
"Wouldn't surprise me, I mean, technically we've already filled that comment." Urist smiled, talking to hear himself at this point. The team shook their heads in unison, climbing up the stairs they breached the top floor, the light shone brightly into their eyes, and the top most layer of flooring was a loose sand. The cold air helped prevent dehydration, but was too cold to be a refreshing cool. The three explorers were staring at the ground, attempting to let their eyes get used to the bright and annoying light.
"Welcome, are you all here for the request that I forced my captive to send out?" A voice said, yelling at the top of it's lungs.
"Let me out of here, I'm a famous trader! You can't hold me like this!" Was another voice, completely distinct, "Hey, adventurers, he's strong, he knocked out my bodyguard!"
"Quiet you insolent fool! Also, yes, I am, thank you. Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to get my revenge." The first voice said, it sounded like it had a hint of murder in it's tone. Derrek was the first to look up, and the sight he saw was one not to be excused, it was a Jolteon and a Flareon tied up and extremely bruised. The Flareon was knocked out, while the Jolteon seemed to have more than one significant break in it's bones.
"You monster!" Derrek cried, not even looking to see who it was. Jordan looked up next, reacting to Derrek's exclamation. He saw a white and pink being, much taller than Derrek, but didn't look more powerful than him, would this be a joke? The entirety of the battlefield was reflective, and disgustingly bright. The pink being looked like it had no scars, but it certainly was battle worn judging by it's stance.
"Nothing new to me." The strange being said, Urist looked up last, he saw the being starting to change, it was surrounded by a strange object, if Urist knew more of 3d geometry, he would have described it as a geodesic sphere. Mewtwo was mega evolving, a sight unseen, and might never be seen again. No one knew what was happening, and the consequences of it happening.
Author's note
It's been forever, I missed last monday, I'm truly sorry, there's no excuse. Hope you all had a nice holiday season though, mine was okay. Be back next week (I hope).
Post Author's note
I also missed this monday, even though it was done... Oops.